#so here i am reading Scarface <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[eyesofshan-if]

CHAPTER TWO: PART ONE IS NOW LIVE!!

noot noot everyone!! i am a couple of days off schedule and slightly unhinged due to it being some ungodly time in the morning, but here is the next update of precious: the eyes of shan!! we have finally moved past the first chapter with a frankly pathetic amount of words, but i wanted all of you to meet wooyoung, so... there. that’s all the explanation i have.

in this update, you get to:

realise that i have changed a piece of key dialogue with the emperor

customise from painfully limited earring choices (i’m still thinking over some shan cultural aesthetics, so bear with me for now)

read a codex with some background information about hae

choose what to do with our favourite bandit scarface (important note, there is an option with a torture scene with a warning label, so please keep a lookout for it if you’re sensitive to this sort of stuff)

meet a chaotic ball of sunshine, lee wooyoung

please note that much of the stats have been changed and updated, so your saves will not work with the current version!! apologies for that.

if possible, please leave feedback or reviews or any errors (strange breaks in story flow, bad grammar, suggestions about story pacing, etc.) on the choice of games forum so that i can refine the story accordingly!! your feedback is what keeps this story going, many thanks to all of you and i hope you enjoy what i’ve put out

wishing all of you a very happy reading!!

word count update: 95k >> 111k words (w/o code)

date: 3 march 2023

[valandhirwriter]

Pick 3 of your favorite characters. Tell us when and how you fell in love with them. Inquiring minds want to know :)

Then tag 3 or more people, hopefully who aren't shy :D.

3 of my favourite characters.... that's quite the challenge I have to admit. Because I read a lot and had a lot of favourite chars accordingly. But, here we go, I will try to give this a bit of bandwith, because I have character types that speak to me much easier than others.

Boromir of Gondor

When did I fall in love with this character? At about 13, when I first read Lord of the Rings. I remember reading through the story, and wondering why none of his companions would try and reach out to him. Legolas and Gimli waste time arguing whether bow or sword is the better weapon, while beside them their comrade is slowly drifting off into darkness. Boromir also had some vibes of Hagan of Tronege from the Niebelungenlied to me, also a character who is considered dark, fierce and also fiercely loyal. While many consider Hagen the bad guy of the story, I also liked him best. The early picture of Boromir that I had in my mind, was close to the book describtion, black hair, very tall, haunted grey eyes and a scar on his forehead. Naturally when the movies came along, my favourite actor Sean Bean had the role, and the picture changed around a little. Watching his interpretation of Boromir seeded the first ideas for a story arc about him in my brain, though it would take me another ten years to sit myself down and write the story. In that story i then explored many of the questions I had since first reading the novel: What drove Boromir to such extremes? What happened to Gondor? How did Aragorn leaving after the Umbar campaign impact Gondor long.term? Even after finishing that huge arc, I still love Boromir as a character. His story has been with me for a long time, and will hopefully remain with me for a long time still.

2. Raistlin Majere

I discovered the dragonlance books by accident in my teens. And while the quality of the novels can be called into question, their humour certainly still echoes with me. That and... Raistlin. He was the character I found fascinating at once, and not just because he was the only one in the group actually using his brain. Unfortunately the authors had set up his split from the group and later his "fall" in War of the Twins, instead of really exploring the character with more depth. There was so much potential there, so much aspects to tell a story. Raistlin had the potential to be one of those compelling dark characters, who casn make the heroes torn, because while not with them on principle, their help is still invaluable. I sometimes consider writing a story about him, beginning from before his trials at the Tower of Wayreth and building the AU from there. But I would have to take huge liberties, and have yet to find just the right story companion for him. What draw me to Raistlin is his intelligence, also his detachment, his ability to see the situation for what it is, and not need delusions about hope or good, to sustain himself. He sees what is, and doesn't despair but come up with a plan. That nickname "the sly one" hit me hard when I first read about him, because it told me how judgemental those friends of his were.

3. Eskel

Ciri arriving in Kaer Morhen, and getting frightened by one of Geralt's comrades, because his face is clawed up in some manner... I still remember reading that scene, some time in the 90ies. I was curios at once, especially as scarface, ahm Eskel, proved to be a nice guy in the few scenes he had in the book. I liked him, and I wanted to know more about him. I came up with several stories how he had gotten his scars, and who he was outside of just one of Geralt's brothers. Unfortunately the author never bothered to tell us more about him. Then came the games and I was only marginally enticed by them. Some aspects are good, others are meh... and I will honestly admit that I am still so-so about the Diedre tale. Then came Netflix... and wow was I pissed. Eskel needed his own heroic story I decided and well... it happened. He's still my favourite Witcher, and hopefully will remain so.

Honourable Mentions

Lan al Mandragoran

Wheel of time was another series I devoured in the late 90ies (and on as new books came out), and Lan was my favourite character in them. I was sure he would die in Tarmon Gai'don, but that did not hinder me devouring everything about him. And what a confrontation in the last battle. Reading that, i was sure, so sure, he'd not come out of this alive, and so happy when he did. I would love to write a story about him and Tam meeting at the Blood Snow and upsetting the entire applecart of events.

Athos

Athos from the Three Musketeers is another childhood hero, from reading the books (Three Musketeers/Twenty Years After/ The Viscount of Bragelonne) when I was a young teen. I like Athos, is aloofness, his honour, is utter reality-defying sticking with said honour, and also his haunted past. He was one of my first fanfic subjects (cringe, the stories were so bad) and i still adore him to this day.

Tagging @regis-favorite-raven, @do-androids-dream-ao3acc, @lohrendrell and @eskel-loves-lilbleater to talk about their favourite characters and how they encountered them.

[yestolerancepro]

Tolerance project extra blog 25 greatest movie posters of all time well 3 of them anyway

Introduction

Hello there and welcome to another Tolerance project blog this one celebrates the power of the humble film poster this blog is based on an article by the collider film website titled 25 greatest movie posters of all time you can read the original article by clicking here. The 25 Greatest Movie Posters of All Time, Ranked (collider.com)

We will be concentrating on three of those 25 film posters as they have links to the Tolerance project

25 Jaws (1975)

We didn’t see the famous great white shark in the Tolerance film but we did hear him

We used the famous Jaws theme twice in the Tolerance film once when Robert is nearly knocked over by a passing car only to be saved by a passer by

And the 2nd time time as a spoof with a slight nod to Jurassic Park to introduce the man with a hellium voice Mr Grosenberg played by actor Tony Green.

The Poster designed by the late Roger Kastel proved just as a powerful as John Williams music Collider said this about Roger Kastel’s poster for the film

There are plenty of great "man vs. creature" movies out there, but few resonate quite like the original Jaws. This was the film that made Steven Spielberg a household name, and arguably kicked off the idea of what a blockbuster movie was. The plot's simplicity was one of its greatest strengths, with three men going on a deadly mission to kill a giant shark that had been terrorizing their coastal town. The straightforward nature of Jaws' premise is reflected beautifully in its instantly striking poster.

Well, the title helps as well, and on the poster in question, those four letters spelling out a single word appear bold against a white background, the colour of the letters blood-red. Below the title swims a single figure, and below the swimmer looms a considerably larger shark barrelling straight towards her. It encapsulates the film's opening sequence perfectly, and given that sequence establishes the tone for the entire movie perfectly, it's pretty easy to call the poster for Jaws essentially perfect.

16 Rocky (1976)

First I have a confession to make our Rocky Spoof hit the cutting room floor so really it shouldn’t be included in this article but I am writing this blog so I am including it anyway the artist of this poster is not on record but whoever designed it he or she did a great job.

Anyway here are Colliders comments There are a couple of similar posters often seen for the original Rocky, with the variations making it difficult to track down one person who can be given credit for them. Stylistically, they're similar to the aforementioned Scarface poster, making use of striking black and white colors and bold text up the top. One well-known variation depicts a silhouette of Rocky Balboa and love interest Adrian holding hands, while the arguably better-known version has him standing atop the staircase to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This latter poster utilizes the same strategy as the La Dolce Vita poster, emphasizing one of the film's most iconic elements in a visually distinct and eye-catching way. And the simplicity works, partly because Rocky is a fairly simple yet utterly satisfying underdog sports movie, with the titular character appearing triumphant in the poster, even if he's shown to be a relatively small part of said poster. The image suggests he's standing up to the world, in a sense, and striving to defy the odds, which is indeed what he aims to do throughout the movie itself.

This wasn’t the original plan for the poster though as Silvester Stallone revealed on his own website  In a recent Instagram post, Stallone shared an image of the first poster ever made to promote the film Rocky.

The hand drawn image by the American graphic designer and artist Tom Jung is the only one known to exist. One of the most interesting aspects of this piece is the characters selected for inclusion, and those that are missing. Check out this great piece of Rocky history. Click on the link below https://www.instagram.com/p/BeBh7kaD80r/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=013beca0-0b1b-4203-ba61-dd8c25894a46

13 Halloween 1978    

Again another film that  shouldn’t be including as a Micheal Myers spoof once again it end on the cutting room so as with Rocky before I am writing the blog so I am including it anyway ha ha.

This is what Collider said about that original Halloween poster from 1978 designed by Robert Gleeson

While it could sound like a bold claim, it may well be the case that horror movies tend to have more iconic posters than any other genre of movies out there. That's not to say all horror movie posters are automatically great or even good, but there are countless beloved ones. The blunt, strong emotion-heavy nature of the horror genre just translates well to bold, memorable images placed on posters, and the wonderful straightforwardness of the original Halloween's poster, for example, demonstrates this excellently.

A slasher movie classic that helped establish John Carpenter as a great director and Jamie Lee Curtis as a star, Halloween is all about a dangerous individual breaking out of a psychiatric hospital and going on a murderous rampage during the titular holiday. The poster uses one of the most recognizable icons of Halloween - a jack-o'-lantern - and pairs it with a hand holding a knife, all against a pitch-black background. The title's Halloween, there's a carved pumpkin, and a scary-looking knife. What more do you need to know?

 According to this article on the slash film website film website the poster for the original Halloween film (1978) has a creepy hidden detail and it happened by accident

The poster design of John Carpenter's 1978 slasher "Halloween" is scary, subtle, and quite brilliant. The poster was painted by artist Bob Gleason who once said in an interview with Fangoria Magazine that he came up with the design while working for the Santa Monica-based graphic design firm B.D. Fox and Friends. Gleason noticed that the grooves that circumvent a pumpkin could be shadowed in a jagged, knife-like shape, and that he could use that image in conjunction with an actual knife. The poster features the hand of Michael Myers holding a large curved kitchen knife, melting into a repeated pattern that forms the face of a jack o' lantern.

Gleason's managers weren't too fond of his idea, feeling that Michael Myers' white-faced mask should be placed front-and-center, not the knife. A few days later, however, Gleason's managers came around and let him do the poster he wanted. It took him three or four days. Gleason would return 44 years later to paint the poster for David Gordon Green's 2022 film "Halloween Ends." Gleason also painted posters for John Carpenter's "The Fog," the Chuck Norris film "Force Vengeance," and Bruce Lee's "Game of Death."

In 2016, Gleason's original poster design sold for $84,000 at auction. According to a 2022 article for Insider, Gleason had to explain in a special auction letter that a hidden symbol in his design wasn't supposed to be there. If one looks closely at Michal Myers fist on the poster, one might be able to make out a face in the knuckles and veins. The second knuckle looks a little bit like a nose and the third and fourth knuckles might be seen as lips. The veins could be worms crawling out of the face's orifices.

It's a fist, not a face

Gleason's letter explained that the face-like image in Michael Myers' fist was indeed just a coincidence. The artist wrote:

 "While painting the hand my thought was to have dramatic lights and dark shapes to match the strobe stabbing effects of the pumpkin. [...] I did not consciously know I was infusing in the back of the hand a screaming monster with worms coming out of his mouth, eye and nose. [...] his kind of freaks me out. I couldn't have done it better if I had tried to do that. What dark nightmares lurk in my psyche?"

When one sees the monster face, it's hard to unsee. It's easy to believe, though, that it was unintentional.

A code that I and many of my peers hear circulating throughout the 1990s was that the jagged pumpkin "teeth" on Gleason's poster, paired with the knife, spells out two capitals M's, clearly meant to indicate the initials of Michael Myers. This, too, was likely a coincidence. Indeed, it's likely that most "codes" you find hidden in movie posters are merely unusual caprices of the artist.

One might recall the minor scandal surrounding the VHS video cover of John Musker's and Ron Clement's 1989 animated film "The Little Mermaid." Early versions of the cover featured a large undersea castle made up of glittering golden spires. The spire in the center just happened to be incredibly phallic and the poster was eventually changed. There were rumors that the phallus was included deliberately by a disgruntled artist who had lost her job and wanted to paint a penis out of spite.

Read More: https://www.slashfilm.com/1420495/halloween-movie-poster-hidden-monster-accident/

Pictures

Posters for Jaws Rocky and Halloween

If you have read this blog and like it please consider giving a donation by clicking on the above link

[the-acid-pear]

ALRIGHT ALRIGHT last spin-off before Baki-Dou! This one actually happens after Baki: Son of Ogre and it's more about Hanayama so this will be fun! Time to read Baki Gaiden: Scarface ☺️

Chapter 1

No hace falta decir que quede re fisura de mi pelado pero bueno el Yakuza es bueno tambien

I looove color 😍

He's just 5 cm taller than Yuji-chan 🤣

Red eyes 😳

This is boring af but i will give it another chance

Chapter 2

Mean af kid smh :/

That mf hot as FUCK but we all know that

He's stupid 😂

Nakey

Ooohhyugyy flashbacks to his fight with Spec 😍☺️

Hana you are literally younger than him

HEHEOKJEJSHWG I MISS THE PRISONERS SM

WASN'T IT 4? STOP LYING YOU ASSHOLE

That ending was a bit 🥺 ngl

Chapter 3

I love that they have clothes his size

Kizaki is this you bro?

Mmm patas (judging Itagaki here)

OH SO THIS HAPPENS BEFORE THE CHILDHOOD SAGA?

SO HE WASN'T LYING HUH

It's been weeks but i need to read more

Chapter 4

"well, don't"

Kizaki has girlboss vibes

Same meal as when he was a kid... So cute

I love the effect Hana has on ppl

Chapter 5

Where... Is this gout thing going?

Why would Hana just, destroy a train?

ALI?!

Oh, no :/

I think i know who this T-Rex lad might be 😳

Mf went 😰

Aw bro this is sad af

Fang OwO

"the big muscle guy from America" beautiful description of Oliva

IGARIIII I MISS YOUUU 😭😭😭

It's funny how Kureha can revive ppl but cannot cure arthritis smh

Chapter 6

Damn he's LORGE

God i relate to this guy so bad

HE'S CRYING BRO 😢💔

Chapter 7

Hana needs to wear hats fr

STUFFED BEAR?!

I'm literally going to cry

Child? Idk if he's younger than you Hana

Chapter 8

BROOOO HAPPY ENDING IM GONNA CRYYY 🥺😭💞

Chapter 9

This is wholesome as fuck

"HANAYAMA IS BUDDHA"

T-Rex my beloved

Chapter 10

FISHERMAN HANA OBSESSED

Big fish!!!

A woman as example? Wow 😳

Motherfuckers took his ass smh

Glad he learnt how to swim, he didn't know when he was 15 <3

HOHWKHLSKDG 👁️👁️

Obsessed

Chapter 11

Um, orcas are literally right there??

He's pissed off >:D

AAYUTWUTQUWRURQRUWUSR

Small brain LOL!

Like boobs

King

Chapter 12

K-Kizaki. You are wearing a suit.

YESSS HANA GET HIS ASS 😍

THE FIRST VICE GRIP YOOO

Chapter 13

OBSESSED WITH BABY HANA

Men, WOOO

Girl what

Yo ignoring this freak, it would be cool af if Jack n Hana ever fought

A... Mf in the comments doesn't know Ricardo Milos is gay 🧍

Chapter 14

Drip

I love how kind he is

WAUSRAYEAYEEASYRS

At least there were no civilians hurt

Chapter 15

That WAS cool yeah

OF COURSE YOU PISSED YOUR PANTS

LOOK AT THEM ARHAJSJAJ

RED PANDA

I mean he's not wrong but he's past a hunk man

Chapter 16

Dilf

FOURTH TIME THEY SAY FAG WOOO NEW RECORD 👏

A penguin :y

This guy is kinda cool

Chapter 17

OH HI T-REX BABY 🥺

He's just trying his best man ough, this is sadder than Toba's backstory 😢

HEHEHE

UGZYFSYDyes GOD I LOVE HIM SO MUCH IM GOING TO CRY

Okay i looked it up and T-Rex is 17 I'm going to try avoid jail time and not say i want to kiss him

Chapter 18

Are those his gums? Is he toothless?

Bro he looks so peaceful 🥺,,,

Oh my god.

Chapter 19

Hey isn't this the cop from the second book?

This mf more op than Dorian or Baki (in the illusion sense)

NOOO I THOUGHT HE WAS A PET

Oh NVM utdduayeysrsyrate

Chapter 20

C'mon he's trying :/

I mean queen idk maybe a lil hot? I like idk girl

Pimp

He isss a gentleman~

Chapter 21

I have no idea what this guy is saying

Freak

Yo that's too far :/

Chapter 22

Oh shit that's true i never thought of it but all these men must suffer a LOT when it rains, especially considering all the broken and broken and broken bones they have

HEHEHE THIS DUD

OwO

Chapter 23

It's like that post of the hedgehog, legit funny tho

Oh no 😰

Oh he didn't have teeth fr i see

YUJIRO WIG? 😳

Fucked up man

Chapter 24

Shit this was a short one tf

Chapter 25

HE PUNCHED THE ILLUSION AWAY YOOO

This midget a freak bro

Chapter 26

Smoking his weed, dream blunt rotation

Idk man they bad guys but i like these assassins

Rip 😔💔 /j

Chapter 27

How did his pants fall?

Also he fights naked sm seeing him like that isn't even like 😳 lmao

Hey Hana? Hana bro? Don't die here bro

HEY HANA PLEASE???

Chapter 28

OH THANK GOD

T-REX AUGH BLESS YOUR SOUL 😭💞

OH MY GOD BABY DONT DIE OUT THERE

USTYEAYATEAEAA THIS WHORE

Oh hey Tokugawa

ITSSURYEAYSRSYEYES BALD 💀

Mf couldn't put on pants no pussy out sort of doctor

Chapter 29

RETSU, KATSUMI! Wait, wasn't this during the Raitai tournament? HE KNEW AND DIDN'T TELL BAKI? Brooo :/

A WOMAN YAHAJAHAFA poor kureha

WIG 😭💀

Yessss Shiba 😢💞

Assholes y'all are making me cry

"My boy Kureha always coming in clutch to deus ex machina the shit out of every dying character" he's our hero

Chapter 30

Kureha passed out is cute

They are gonna arrive and he's gonna be gone already i bet

I called it

Fucking legend

Chapter 31

Hana don't die NOW

Chapter 32

OH HEY YUJI-CHAN, THIS IS UNEXPECTED!

I'm gonna lose it.

Imagine thinking you can get a finger from Yujiro lmao

Moustache assassin hot

NICE

I was willing to believe that

Chapter 33 and last

He's stronger than Yujiro, he knows how to use doors! 😍

Yuichiro who? Hanayama babey

Hehe the dudesss, i recognize that noseless guy. I was gonna point him out when he first appeared but i chose not to

That outfit lmao

AUGH T-REX DONT DIE PLSSS 🥺

AUGH FUCK WORST CLIFFHANGER EVER PAIN AGONY DEATH AND HATRED IN THE WORLD!!!!

NVM GUYS THERE'S ONE MORE

Chapter 36

YOU GO T-REX KILL MAIM DESTROY

Oh god he's pissed off 👁️👁️

YESSS SHIBA YOU KING, MY SWEET BOY IS SAVED

Okay even bigger of a cliffhanger now :/

[dcnzels]

mic check , mic check. comin' to you live from new york ... issa introduction from ham. a recent college graduate as of yesterday morning ( i am so tired. not gonna lie ), currently wine tipsy and singing along to the homecoming live album for the millionth time. i’m ecstatic to be here and this is like, my first group i’ve been in for a year so if things have changed, pls let me know. so seriou s and bear with me while i get my stuff together. anyways... here’s my honey bun, denzel. heart eyes for days. if you wanna chat, lmk. my discord is scottpligrims ♡ #9126 . open to friends. open to jokes . just open ‘cause i really be chilling, y’know? now that’s over - we live, baby! let’s get this thing on and popping under the cut.

new york’s very own denzel fletcher was spotted on broadway street in doc marten boots . your resemblance to keith powers is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your twenty-fifth birthday bash . while living in nyc , you’ve been labeled as being irresolute , but also sybaritic . i guess being a libra explains that . 3 things that would paint a better picture of you would be late nights & early mornings, long midnight drives brimmed with playlists, and classic films projected on their bedroom walls . ( his parents are oblivious to the fact that he dropped out of college to pursue his career ) & ( cismale & he/him ) + ( ham , 22 , she/her , est . )

　🍾 ゜ ．𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒.

 full name: denzel langston fletcher. 

meaning of name & reason: "from the high stronghold" / because his mother really loved denzel washington. 

nickname(s): de, d, zel.

age: twenty-five. 

sexuality: birthday: september 25th, 1995. 

place of birth: brooklyn, ny. 

parents: diane (née agnew) and william fletcher.

siblings: two. an older brother named donald ‘ donnie ’ and a younger sister, winifred ‘ freddie ’.

gender: cismale. 

current location: new york, new york. 　

🥂 ゜ ． 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎. 

languages: english but he thinks the few words he knows in spanish is impressive to others. more importantly, women. 

religion: spiritual, not religious. like, he believes in God but the concept of religion turns him off due to childhood experiences with his late paternal grandparents. 

education: high school diploma. some college ( dropped out junior year ).

occupation: formerly? child actor. currently? actor, rapper, & future director. 

drinks? smokes? drugs? : hell yes. yes, weed but if he does smoke, it’s because of stress. one substance at a time is the motto.　

💸 ゜ ． 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘.

zodiac sign: libra. 

mbti: esfj.

likes: (  films  ) juice, the godfather, do the right thing, nightmare on elm street, scarface, titanic, new jack city, the lost boys, friday the 13th, cruel intentions, house party, & more. ( general ) his wife, beyoncé. getting high. late nights in the studio... and on set. learning new things. finding new music to listen to. women. being on twitter. the color red. shopping. 90s & 00s rnb. drinking. the blue barracudas from the legends of the hidden temple. ranch on pizza. having the ac on whenever he’s sleeping. leaving people on read.

dislikes: sleeping alone. people being in his business. people making assumptions. rumors. family holidays. having strangers in his house. quadruple texts. the invasion of his personal space. funerals. death. being too hot. groupies, especially those who steal his clothes, et cetera. crowded rooms. liars. 

bad habits: biting his nails. smacking his gum. interrupting others when they speak. checking his phone whenever at dinner/in the company of someone else. not sleeping for days. 

secret talent: can moonwalk. tbd. 

hobbies: playing piano, photography, basketball, stargazing, swimming. tbd.

fears: spiders. mice. flying. death.

💸 ゜ ．𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄.

piercings: 3 lobe piercings on each ear. wears small gold hoops or diamond studs. it depends on the day & the mood he’s in. helix piercing on his left ear. had a nose piercing and wants one again. wants an eyebrow piercing. wants

scars: on his forehead from falling off the swing when he was a kid. recently, minor dark spots on his right cheek from popping a few stress pimples. recently, on his knee from one of his drunken nights. he’s a clumsy boi.

tattoos: none at the moment but wants one. just wait on it. 

[pandamambo5]

It’s a me!

Here I present you the more or less exiting things (depending if you are into reading long posts) about me so you have somewhat of an idea of who you are dealing with.

Name: Kate (Pugsley or Pookie for the GF)

Hogwarts House: Proud Slytherin

MBTI: INTP

Age: 30

Relationshipstatus: Happily taken by @bookscoffeeandracoons

Orientation: Chaotic Bisexual

Pronouns: She/Her

Most prominent character traits: snarky, sassy, salty, I’m also funny but probably not for everyone, open minded and understanding

Nationality: German

Languages: German and English and drunk Spanish

Colour: Black and dark eerie green things

Drink: Coffee, coffee, coffee and... Coffee

Food: Carbs and Chocolate

Music: Rock Music and it’s endless subgenres

Book(s): The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by JR Ward, It by Stephen King, Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling, The Hobbit or There and Back Again, and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, and so many more. But to name them all would take me a century and a half.

Movie(s): Soooo many... The Drak Knight Trilogy, Harry Potter, The Hobbit Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I love The Crow, Scarface, must-see Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Matrix Trilogy (that’s where i got the Leather-kink from), the original It (1990), The MCU, Green Street Hooligans, The Football Factory, Star Wars, Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) and more I can’t even think of right now.

TV Series: Sons of Anarchy, Supernatural, The Witcher, Game of Thrones, my all-time go-to is Medical Detectives, The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, Carnival Row, Homeland until Season 3 (when Brody died, for me, the story was told), Star Trek: Picard (i’ve seen all the others as well),  The Mandalorian. I like a lot more but these are my faves.

Scents: Coffee, Patchouli, Bergamot and Verbena combined, stinky sleepy doggo paws, the smell of new and old books, the smell of Pookie’s ( @bookscoffeeandracoons ) chocolate-banana bread

Perfume:  Quelques Notes d'Amour

Random Fact: I purposely mispronounce names

Last but not least and most importantly I am the Mother of a Dragon, two Puppers and four Fancy Mice.

If you made it until here my sincere thanks for wanting to know all those random things about me.

Cheers.

[ithinkthingsaboutstuff]

What is with Birds of Prey criticism?

i have seen BOP 

and i have read comments and review’s from different people (male and female) and i have decided to throughout my observations into the void. 

now personal taste is personal taste and everyone is allowed to like or not like whatever they want. 

but i will be looking at this from a ‘structured’ pov so i will be breaking the movie down into what others have got to say about it.

and with that in mind i will be taking things out of context but i will be summarising and linking to the sources when possible.  

i will be looking at how people have persevere them (again male and female) and why this might be so (but i will say now that it is only my best guess, and i will try to be as fair as possible)

and i will also add i have only seen the movie once at this point so i may miss some things or misremember others 

so from here on out we this will be nothing but 

------------------------------------------SPOILERS-----------------------------------------

ok so with that out of the way. 

PLOT 

the plot is basically 

Harley and the joker have broken up (joker, dumped her) 

this makes Harley lose her immunity in Gotham as she was protected by the fact she was the jokers girlfriend.

black mask is one of these people and is one of the most powerful in Gotham.

but he needs a diamond (that belongs to Helena) to be the most powerful in the city,

but when Zsasz and Black canary, get it take off them by a street girl (Cass) 

Harley says she will get it back to square herself with mask and he will protected her afterwards 

(there is also a b plot with Helena going around kill everyone who was involved with the death of her family)  

things happen 

and they all end up fight Black Mask men in a amusement park 

and Harley kills him on a dock.

then they all part ways.

now this is an oversimplification. 

but that does allow the movie to explore the characters and their relationship's with the world and the story.

but over all an average plot but no so more them say 

-the avengers (2012)

-thor (2011)

-age of ultron (2015)

-spider-man homecoming (2017)

and so on.

Criticisms

this is what one critic had to say about the movie

review from  Mick LaSalle

“but no, even that makes things sound better than they are. There’s no character there at all. There’s a look. There’s an attitude, and there’s an assemblage of mannerisms, but these are all veneers surrounding a vacuum.”  

“None of them suggest a personality, beyond some generalized zaniness.”

now i am no expert but is having a look, an attitude and mannerisms all things that make up someone’s personality? 

i can see if he was trying to say she has not much to add to the overall story or if it over shadowed everything in the movie, for sake of being “zany”   

but it was integrated into the movies narrative as a the main story telling tool,

e.g. Harley’s narration and the cartoons/ animation that came with. those where there to add character to the movie through Harley’s, so basically Harley’s personality is the films personality. 

and this is what he had to say about the plot

“If she wanted the Joker back, that would be something. That could be a movie. If she wanted revenge, that would be a weak motive, but it would still be something.”

now this has some interesting connotations,

what he was trying to say with this sentiment is only something i can guess, but i will want to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he was asking for a story similar to ‘mad love’  from the s4 of the Batman new adventures.

looking more at the sickness of that relationship (that some people admired and fawned over in suicide squad) so if that is the case then its not a bad thought,

however the way it is phrased makes it sound like more like Harley needs the Joker to be major part of the story for it to be any good. 

but Harley has had comic’s for year’s that prove the opposite.

now to compare this what he had to say about the Joker (2019)

“What’s terrifying and brilliant about Phoenix’s Joker is that he seems to be operating from an intricate yet alien form of logic. There is very little common ground between the character and the viewer, no shared understanding of right and wrong, real or unreal. He erupts into laughter without warning — a terrifying, piercing laugh that he can’t control. He sits in the audience at a comedy club, joyously and maniacally laughing at setups, not punch lines.”

now i am not saying Joker is a bad movie, I am just saying that he complained about the lack of story and character in one film and praised it in another.  

now i also understand that these films are different, and they have different tones and messages. and ever genre (one is action, the other is drama)

but basically

he is saying Joker’s lack of clear “personality” made the movie good and Harley’s made it bad (again this is apples and oranges, and way to simple)  

but the main point is that he has failed to look for WHY Harley is that way, or how that adds to the movie like he did for Joker.

now moving on to

Anthony Lane

“ No one could call Harley Quinn a recluse. She loves to go out, get wasted, meet people, and fight them. In onscreen graphics, she proudly reports what it is about her that vexes her opponents. (“Voted for Bernie.” “Have a vagina.”) Yet Harley is often alone in the frame—marching toward the camera in her T-shirt and shorts, smiling madly through lips of fire-engine red, and peppering us with unceasing chatter, as if words were buckshot. She lives on her own, too, with a stuffed beaver in a tutu and a pet hyena named Bruce. (As with the title, note the surfeit of nuttiness. Rarely have I seen a movie strain so hard to seem out-there.) Our heroine needs some kindred spirits, and quick.”

ok benefit of the doubt this is just a colourful way to describe the movie and Harley’s set up,

however with the next paragraph that follows i don’t think so

“No surprise, then, that Yan’s movie, peopled as it is by women who talk among themselves, with only fitful reference to men, doesn’t so much pass the Bechdel Test as ace it, while also ticking the profanity box, the ear-splitting box, and the bone-snapping box—every box, in fact, except for the tricky one that requires a motion picture to be good”

the strange thing is that he was so close to an epiphany

yes Harley is social but she is lonely that is the point of her being with the BOP, taking in Cassie.

and saying someone who is social is not able to be lonely is the dumbest thing i have ever heard.

and i can name dozens of movies off the top of my head that is a group of guys ‘talking among themselves, with only fitful reference to women’

like 

-  the hang over (1,2 and 3)

- die hard

- pulp fiction 

- fast and furious (all 9 of them)

- the other guys

- Sherlock (RDJ movies)

- the dark night 

- scarface

-  any Adam Sandler movie for the last 20 years

-memento

- rush hour (all 3)

- fight club 

like damn dude your getting all bent out of shape for women having the nerve to want to tell story’s about other women.

(and i would also like to point out that very on in the movie was a ‘bad guy’ or did bad things all throughout the film and the men are just what they are up against you know like some kind of antagonist??? fucking wild idea right, and as we all know every female villain in movies are always written with respect and dignity, can you feel my sarcasm)

and this is what this man also said about ‘ford vs ferrari’   

“Ford v Ferrari” is directed by James Mangold, and it may be his strongest film.

like dude you are showing your hand here.

but i am not wasting any more time on this dude.

 let us move on to the lady’s

MOLLY FREEMAN

“the movie ultimately embodies different kinds of liberation - not only of women breaking free from their abusive boyfriends, psychotic employers and the restrictive boy's club, but also the freedom and power that comes with finding a group where they feel accepted and supported.”\

“Cathy Yan's directing and vision for the film, which is realized in the action, costumes and music. The fighting sequences are absolutely brutal and choreographed in a way to showcase the characters' respective abilities. Harley's gymnast moves make a return, and when she gets her hands on a bat, the Cupid of Crime really lets loose - and it'll leave audiences breathless with exhilaration. Birds of Prey stands out because it's uniquely female, from the characters' fighting styles down to the details of Harley pausing mid-fight to give her friend a hair tie. This further extends to the costumes, designed by Erin Benach (A Star Is Born), which are exquisite and perfectly showcase each character's personality.”

Susana Polo

“Each character’s storyline is given a slightly different genre and tone, as well, one of a number of tactics the production employs to mimic Harley’s manic internal life. Huntress stalks around Birds of Prey like it’s a Kill Bill-esque revenge epic, while Renee Montoya is in a hard-boiled cop flick. The main heroine ensemble actors all breathe a wonderful amount of life into little-known characters overdue for mainstream attention.”

“Winstead delivers a comedic twist on the Huntress’s classic personality that I hope makes its way to comics as soon as possible, and the 13-year-old Basco deserves particular credit for holding her own alongside Robbie in their many scenes together. Robbie’s Harley Quinn is just as scene-stealing as she was in Suicide Squad, appearing to operate on at least 20 percent cartoon logic at all times — a useful skill for an occasionally fourth-wall-breaking narrator. Cartoon-channeling is also a useful skill for the star of a movie with such splendid fight scenes.”

 now i am not saying every man hates the movie, and every woman loved it that is insane and dumb.

but what does seem to be a common theme is that positive or negative, men and women are looking at different aspects of the movie 

women look at the movie on its own terms and men seem to look by comparing it to other “guy movies” 

now this a generalisation but this is a common idea that seems to run through it.

and here is some general thoughts from some people who have made comments, online.

female 

“I am sick and tired of being told what movies I need to like as a woman, this is a bad movie. It isn't a zero nor is it a ten and anyone rating it that way isn't being honest either with you or themselves. The storytelling is odd and the flashbacks are weirdly placed to the point where they take you out of the movie. This movie has too much exposition and then not enough which I congrats I guess. I don't think men are rating this film low because they are "man babies" I think they are rating it low because there are far better superhero and anti-hero movies out there to choose from.”

this is based on personal taste and why it didn’t sit right with them (and that’s fine)

male

“A rush movie without any type of storyline and God knows where they are heading with DCEU and it's characters..It's only Harley and Harley who has never been in BOP in comics...Mis usage of characters and movie..Just make a decision where do you wanna go with your movies”

now this interesting, when this people has the same feels as the person above 

they don’t look to the movie itself they look to find out evidence to discredit instead of anything in the film itself.

again i am not saying this person is wrong to feel this way i simply think the method of expressing it, is interesting.      

(and for the record this is actually an incorrect statement Harley and Poison Ivy have been apart of the team at different points) 

male

“The girls looked terrible like they were going Break-Dancing or something and Harley Quinn was dressed up like a Bird with makeup?? The ending was ridiculously stupid and predictable and the misogynist male pig attitudes towards the females in the film were jaw dropping cringe moments, like who acts like that??”

now this is about appearance, and the male characters, now this is showing that men see a violent, man who literally gets someone to cut a MAN’s face off  

and the only thing they focus on is that ‘oh he is mean to women damn SJW’s’

that is the weird’s thing? like you the bad guy is bad to the hero’s? shocking.

now i am not saying that the character is perfect and well crafted like loki or kilmonger but he serviced the purpose he was meant to, he was powerful intimidating and unpredictable.

(and black mask has always been a nut case)  

but i also think its interesting that these men who cry about SJW’s and how they mock men (and that does sometimes happen, it would be dumb to say they didn’t) 

never seem to mind that that women get called bitch’s and whores in every other movie.or that women are used shallow props to move the movie along. 

almost like it is distressing when you see someone you can identify with is treated like the peace of garbage. 

female

“The Film was decent enough for a lowkey Friday night out with the girls. Nothing you'd rant & rave about or even remember seeing in a few months but it was entertaining in places. The script felt a little bit underbaked & the story itself felt a bit disjointed. The direction of the film was lacking for me. In a world where Todd Phillips pulled off Joker (2019) this seems like a more rushed project that would've been better at Netflix or even Amazon Prime for release. I think the deserve another crack at this movie & another attempt at something with a bit more substance”

honest to the point and is looking at the movie on its own term's

notice how she does not need to devalue other women to get this across, not the character’s, not the write or director but was looking at it from a personal taste and rewatchablity,

the anger about this movie is so strange 

like how many hero movies have been worse then this and was not taking very chance they get to bash the creators and that they should not do their job’s because the movie had women as most of the cast and was mainly about them.

anyway i hand it over to all of you.    

[ravenlilith-02]

Losing You Was Blue

This is my first attempt at a Zutara fic :D

So I found this list of prompts and I thought I’d write a little fic cuz it’s been over a decade and I am still bitter about Zutara not happening. I chose prompt 3 and 18 :D

It’s really sweet and not that much smut. I just really wanted to explore the soft, emotional side of Zuko and the strong, independent side of Katara.

——————————————————————————

The Gaang has been camping out somewhere in the South of the Earth Kingdom for the past few days. They all slept in separate tents — well, except for Sokka and Suki, though (thankfully) their shared tent is strategically located slightly farther way from everyone else — but in the middle of the night, when everyone is asleep, Katara would tip-toe her way carefully into another tent. She’ll silently crawl next to him while he’s asleep, and no matter how tired he is, he always manages to muster a little consciousness to wrap his hand around her and pull her in. Zuko lightly caresses her head and feels his nails scratch her hair as she sighs softly. He was thinking about the time he first joined the Avatar. Sokka showed him to his room and as he was looking at a photo of his uncle, reminiscing the younger him fresh from his abandonment, he catches Katara standing by his door with a stern expression on her face. 

“Give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you don’t have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I’ll make sure it ends then and there. Permanently,” she said. He turned his head to look at the girl sleeping next to him right now, and can’t help but chuckle, they’ve come a long way. None of their friends know about them yet — maybe Toph — and he hasn’t been thinking about how to explain this to them, especially to Sokka. Katara is his baby sister, after all. But he chose to push that thought to the side, all he cared about right now was Katara sleeping soundly next to him. 

“Zuko?” she whispered so softly he almost didn’t hear her. 

“Oh you’re awake? Yeah, what’s up?” he asked as she shifted her position to sit up. Even though they were only half-open, he couldn’t help but stare into her cerulean eyes. They were mesmerizing, and they were the first thing he saw of her when he “saved her from the pirates”.

“How long are we going to keep this up?” she asked him. It was as if she could read his mind. He tried to act like he didn’t understand.

“Keep what up?” 

“You know what I’m talking about, Zuko. This, you and I. Sooner or later we’re going to have to let them know. And honestly, I think Toph already does with her stupid micro-hearing abilities,” she finished with a chuckle. 

“You might be right. I mean, you’re not exactly what I would call silent either,” Zuko replied with a smirk. He looked at Katara’s face and saw her blush as she punched him in the arm. Flashbacks of them on the night after they confronted Yon Rha came back to her mind. The feeling of his hands on her waist, his warm breath tickling the skin of her neck, his lips against hers kissing passionately, and the growing bulge in his trousers that she could feel gradually poking her... Katara is no stranger to the male touch; she spent days and nights in Jet’s treehouse. But nothing could’ve prepared her for Zuko’s intensity. His inner fire engulfed them both as they lost themselves in each other. Her feelings for him developed from pity, to hatred, to confusion, to deep love. She tried, again and again, to push him away, only to realize her efforts were all in vain. 

“We’ll tell them when the time is right, and for what I know, it probably isn’t right now. We all need to stay focused, Sozin’s comet isn’t changing its course any time soon.” Zuko said. In reality, he was just slightly afraid to tell the group because in his mind, so many things could go wrong. Their friends might not approve. Even worse, Katara could leave him... For what reason, he doesn’t know. But he’s seen so many people he loved leave him that at this point he’s just afraid for no reason.

“Now let’s get some rest, we need to get up earlier than everyone so they don’t see us coming out of the same tent,” 

Katara nodded and slid back lower then rested her head on Zuko’s arm. He smelled of tea and smoke, but somehow that felt like home to Katara. She wrapped her arm around his body and felt his steady breathing as her mind drifted off into a dream where she was wearing a crimson robe and a pair of strong hands were gently placing her onto red silk sheets.

The next day, the group decided to head to the marketplace for food and a little shopping (Sokka’s suggestion). Katara wanted them to all stay together so no one gets lost.

“Katara, we all want to do different things. Stop being such a mom, have a little fun!” Sokka whined. He clearly just wanted some alone time with Suki, she thought. 

“Yeah Katara, don’t ruin the party with your motherness,” Toph added, arms crossed. Katara sighed and gave in. They split up to do their own thing and Zuko casually suggested that he’ll go with Katara. Surprisingly no one gave much thought about it, but Toph smiled suggestively and told them to have fun before walking away together with Aang. 

“Yep, she definitely knows,” Zuko murmured. He looked at Katara and couldn’t help but laugh as her cheeks turned bright red. “C’mon, let’s just go,” he urged while pulling Katara by the wrist. 

They weaved through the crowd hand in hand. Katara was still bitter about the group calling her motherly as if it was a bad thing. She knew how to have fun! Plus she was just looking out for them. Then she wondered if Zuko thought of her the same way Toph and Sokka did. I’ll show them, I’ll show all of them how badass I can be, she thought. 

 Zuko spotted a stall that sold fire flakes and meat skewers. He suddenly remembered that Katara had never tried his favorite snack.

“Wait here, I’m gonna go get something,” he told her as he made his way to the snack stall. Unfortunately, he got there one step too late as the vendor said the couple before him had already bought the last two bags. He turned to the boyfriend and asked if he would sell him a bag. 

The man snorted. “Better luck next time, scarface,” he said. That stung deep in his heart, but it also enraged Zuko. He was about to throw a fire punch at him, but he remembered Katara was watching, so he tried to control his anger. His expression flattened as he walked back to Katara to tell her what had happened. Katara’s eyes lit up with a brilliant idea in mind. 

“Zuko, I got an idea,” she said to him. He slowed down and gave her a curious look to urge her to continue. 

“I saw that couple, they were fighting about something. And I think I can find a way to get the guy back,” she went on to explain her plan from start to finish, which didn’t take long since, unlike Zuko, she had no problem with words. 

“This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you’ve ever had,” Zuko slapped his palm against his face, covering his expression. Katara was disappointed because she was so eager to carry it out at first. But as Zuko lowered his hand, she caught his mischievous smirk and his eyebrow raised. “Of course I’m in,” he finished.

They hid behind the corner and watched the couple quarrel and bicker. Then, Katara stomped out towards the two as Zuko silently watched. 

The man saw her approach with a confused expression on his face. “Who in the hell—” He was cut off by Katara’s swift hand to his face. She hit him so hard, she felt a stinging sensation in her own palm. Fake tears started trickling down her face. 

“You coward!! How could you do this to me?!” she yelled at the man. “I loved you, and you leave me, for HER?!” 

“L-lady, I don’t know who y-you are!!” he stammered. His girlfriend glared at him with fire in her eyes. This is working, Katara thought. 

“You don’t remember me? YOU DON’T REMEMBER ME?! We were in love, Yong! I even have your baby in me-” she bawled while rubbing her stomach. 

How did she know his name? Zuko wondered from behind the corner.

“You listen here, I-” his words were again cut off by a slap to the face. This time by his own girlfriend. “You disgusting scum of a man, I can’t believe you! We are over! Now get out of my sight!!” she all but screamed. He ran away, completely and utterly confused. Katara was still crying on the outside, but in her mind she was jumping for joy. She had won. She ran back around the corner to meet her boyfriend, still covering her face. She stopped crying and was now laughing, but she couldn’t expose herself. 

“Katara I cannot believe you just did that!” Zuko said as she landed into his arms. “You didn’t have to do that for me”

“No, I didn’t,” she couldn’t suppress her laughter. “But didn’t it feel good, seeing that douchebag get slapped not once, BUT TWICE, and have his girlfriend leave him?” 

It was Zuko’s turn to laugh. “I mean, yeah. It really did.” Agni, I will marry this woman one day even if it ends me, he thought. “How did you know his name was Yong?” he asked.

“I didn’t. I-” Zuko nudged her side with his elbow before she could explain herself. She sees the girlfriend walk towards them. Oh, shit.

“Hey, I’m so sorry for what happened to you with him. I can’t believe he just left you. I know you must probably hate me, but I just feel responsible somehow. I’m so so sorry...” the young lady was holding back tears. “I mean, how much more of a piece of shit can he be? He didn’t even tell you his real name! And he left you with a child? I thought I’ve seen the worst of him but I never thought...” Zuko and Katara exchanged a quick glance, Zuko swallowed nervously. 

“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault at all.” Katara consoled while wiping her tears from her face. Her motherly instincts kicking in, yet again. Dammit, Katara. You were doing so well!

“I know you,” the lady said as she saw Zuko. “You wanted to buy the fire flakes from us just now. I’m so sorry my boyf-, ex-boyfriend insulted you like that.”

“Yeah, uh, it’s fine, it’s nothing. I just wanted to get them for- my girlfriend,” he said as he brought Katara closer. He realized that was the first time he referred to Katara as his girlfriend to someone else. It felt odd, but he’d have to get used to it. 

“Here, take it. As my way of saying sorry to both of you.” she handed Zuko the bag, got up and smiled then walked away.

“Well that was unexpected,” Katara said, stunned. 

“Yeah, no kidding. But hey, I mean, we got fire flakes I guess?” he replied, holding up the paper bag. Katara then remembered what he said just now in the heat of the moment. She’ll drill him on it later. They made their way to a tree with no one nearby and sat there eating snacks. Her head on his shoulder. 

“So... Zuko... about what you said back there,” Katara’s voice trailed off. Zuko felt his pulse spike. “Girlfriend, huh?”

“Well, I- uh-, I was just, um, trying to keep up the act. I didn’t want our cover being blown or anything,” Zuko turned his head away, he felt his face burning. Katara’s expression dropped. “Oh, so you weren’t being serious?” she asked, furrowing her brows.

“What? I- NO, I meant it! I just- well-” he really was not good with words. He stopped, took a deep breath, and continued. “I mean, Katara. Yes I meant what I said, I’ve liked you a lot for a while now. And I really want you to be my girlfriend but I guess I was just too nervous to ask before. But what I said just now, it wasn’t just for show. I’m so in love with you Katara, I just can’t-” Katara pressed her lips against his and cupped his jaw with her hand. When they finally broke away, he stared into those deep blue eyes again, getting lost in them, in her. 

“Zuko, I never thought our relationship would come to this, but I’m so glad it did, because now whenever I think about my future, about how my life would be like after this war, I can’t see it without you being a part of it.” His vision started to turn misty as he noticed that he was tearing up. He cannot afford to lose her, he’s lost too much and if she leaves then he’d shatter. He leaned in to kiss her again, his lips trailed from her mouth to her jawline, to her ear.

“Please don’t leave me, Katara. I can’t lose you, I need you with me,” his voice trembling. Katara ran her hand up the nape of his neck, then kissed his forehead. 

“I won’t leave you, Zuko. After all that we’ve been through, I promise I’ll be with you till the day the moon never rises again,” she reassured. He rested his head in her neck and his body slowly stopped shaking. He breathed in deeply, she smells so good, like lilies and cedarwood. When he finally lifted his face to meet hers, she couldn’t help but marvel at how perfect this man was. This version of Zuko, is the Zuko that no one gets to see; the Zuko that hasn’t had his heart ripped out over and over again by people he loved; the Zuko that wanted nothing more than to love, and to be loved. She ran her thumb gently over his scar, she could almost feel his pain. And, as if instinctual, he moved his face away, like he was ashamed of his scar, like he was waiting to see the look of disgust on her face, even a glimpse of it. But it never came. Her warm smile never faltered. 

“You’re beautiful, Zuko. You’re perfect. With all your flaws and your wisdom from all the battles you’ve faced. The Gods have blessed me with you and I’ll never let go.” she said softly, still admiring every inch of him. 

“I never thought you’d forgive me after what happened in Ba Sing Se. Every day I look at you and I don’t even think I deserve someone like you,” he said with his head down. “But I just feel so at ease with you. I don’t have to be anyone I’m not, because I know you don’t judge me. You have such a kind heart, Katara.” she felt tears welling in her eyes as she pulled him in for a tight hug. “I love you, Zuko” she whispered. And they both sat there for God knows how long, in each other’s embrace, while the sun set over the horizon. 

“I guess this is the time to tell the group about us?” Katara suggested. He thought about how that would go down, how each of them would react. He thought about the worst possible outcome of Katara leaving him if her friends disapproved, but one look at her and he knew that was not going to happen. 

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he replied, smiling down at the beautiful Water Tribe warrior next to him, picturing her in a stunning Fire Nation gown.

[littlehollyleaf]

why did Ed kill Penn?

I’ve been thinking about this A LOT since 508, as well as the fantastic way Penn and Eddie and their respective relationships with Oswald, and the identity issues caused by their relationship with Oswald, were mirrored in the episode

and I absolutely concur with the general fandom reading of JEALOUSY on Ed’s part (something similar to his former rivalry with Butch resurfacing maybe, but also possibly a match to Ozzie’s killing of Isabella)

I also think there’s something to be said for the idea that Ed honestly was acting out of a sense of self preservation (or Oswald preservation :p) - recognising, from personal experience of a fractured personality, that destroying the puppet/dummy had NOT made Penn safe and that he was likely to continue to be a threat to himself and Oswald in the future if left alive

but I feel like you can argue for something DEEPER at play as well relating to Penn and Eddie’s mirroring/similarities and Eddie’s compulsions

because it seems to me like Penn’s confrontation with Oswald was a bit of a replay of Ed and Ozzie’s infamous first Dock’s Scene -

we have Ozzie telling them both to ‘listen’ and going on to express concern over the mental/emotional influence on them killing him will have -

“you need to listen to me when I tell you by doing this it will change you”

“Arthur, I want you to listen to what I’m saying - you accuse me of manipulating you by what about him? I never asked you to kill anybody”

then we have Ozzie appealing to the emotional connection between him and the others (as he perceives it) and literally reaching out -

“this will be the cold-blooded murder of someone you love”

“think of everything that we went through together - Sofia Falcone, getting cut off from the mainland, starving!”

both assertions that Ed and Penn/Scarface are quick to shoot down as inaccurate -

“I don’t love you”

“You mean Penn was starving!”

this is followed by Ed and Penn both raging for a bit, I’ll just paraphrase - you killed Isabella so I wanted you to suffer and now you need to die, you gave your dog steak while I ate scraps!! 

there’s a little addition at the docks where Oswald interrupts Ed to say they need each other and ‘you can’t have one without the other’

but the next comparable part as I see it is how after being raged at Ozzie responds in kind by getting angry himself -

“When I met you, you were a nervous, jittery loser! You were nothing! I created Edward Nygma”

“I welcomed you into my home!”

and in 508 it’s at this point we get a quick reaction shot of Ed (the first since this exchange between Ozzie and Penn started) and that interests me -

he turns to glance first at Oswald and then at Penn, and I know plot-wise he’s looking for an opening to set off the sonar machine as a distraction (or whatever he did to make that high pitched noise), but... 

after all the above similarities, I wonder if this shot is doubling up as a indicator that Ed is clocking just how similar Penn’s situation is to his own past with Oswald (esp. since it’s the line ‘I welcomed you into my home’ that makes him look - since that is exactly what Oswald did for him prior to Isabella ofc) 

if so, I think Ed may also be noting (with, perhaps, a touch of exasperation/disapproval) that Ozzie is reacting to Penn’s legitimate anger and pain in the same dismissive way Ed felt HIS anger and pain over Isabella was treated... meaning that quick glance at Penn could, just maybe, be one of understanding... (maybe, possibly, also sympathy?)... 

and in understanding Penn’s current situation as a match to his past Ed could feasibly have been calculating the most likely direction the exchange was about to take ie. Ozzie’s angry words and dismissive attitude pushing Penn into going through with shooting him, as happened with Ed at the docks

EXCEPT THIS TIME, instead of being dismissive and belittling, OZZIE GOES COMPLETELY OFF SCRIPT -

“And yes, I was not a good friend”

no insults 

no insisting on his superiority

instead he offers the opposite - he shows Penn RESPECT by acknowledging that he treated him badly and that the anger and pain Penn feels is therefore valid

and he doesn’t stop there but goes on to include Ed in this moment of humility -

“To you, or anyone”

and he really REALLY DIDN’T HAVE TO DO THAT - Ed was already on side and in the middle of a plan to save them both, so it’s not like Ozzie needed to butter him up or anything

no, this was presented as a genuine moment of growth I think

this was Ozzie given a ‘do over’ of sorts (oooh maybe kinda like Selina got with Jeremiah’s attempt to recreate the Wayne murder?)

with Penn he is faced with a similar situation as he had once been in with Ed and THIS TIME he shows he has grown enough to be able to acknowledge his faults and treat the other person with respect 

AND is able to retrospectively do this with Ed himself at the same time - finally giving Ed what he’d been lacking back at the docks ie. acknowledgement that his behaviour (killing Isabella) had hurt Ed, showing he accepted that hurt as valid and thus accepted Ed, as a person, as valid

which is part of why Ed just LOSES IT at that point I think -

it’s everything he didn’t know he needed! <3

the comparisons continue with Ozzie talking about how he ‘sees’ Ed and Penn -

“I am the only one in the world who truly sees you as you are. Who you could still become”

“I saw you for what you are and I valued that”

and this makes both Ed and Penn falter a moment -

but ultimately stick to their resolve -

“I loved her Oswald. And you killed her” [bang!]

“You’re a liar and a thief. All you do is take, take, take! And you never give anything. You worked me to the bone. Forced me to be your puppet. Well no more. You hear me? No more.”

as Penn advances on Oswald, clearly ready to shoot him now, we get one last reaction shot from Ed -

and, idk... I think you can read bit of AFFINITY in Ed here? He’s absolutely locked on to Penn and I can imagine him thinking ‘god yes, I remember how that felt’ - quickly followed up by ‘shit, I know what happens next!’ as he recognises that Penn has reached a point where his compulsion to shoot Oswald can no longer be reasoned with

but maybe there’s also a little bit of - ‘no don’t do it!’ in Ed’s expression? or perhaps - ‘what are you doing? he admitted his fault, you don’t have to go through with this, not like I did!’

then ofc Ed DASHES over to activate his machine, saving Oswald’s life

Penn is subdued

but Ed shoots him anyway, cold and calculated

which brings us back to - why?

well, I put forward that it’s partly because of the way the whole confrontation became a repetition, or return to, or ‘do-over’ of that first docks scene

see, throughout the show we’ve seen various ways in which Ed finds significance in repetition eg. taking Oz back to the docks to kill him a second time, repeating the same 3 riddles with different academics in order to get a satisfactory answer, even hooking up with Isabella was a ‘second chance’ at what he had with Kristen and so on (we even see it in small things like leaving Oswald a second origami penguin at Arkham)

if we assume Ed came to feel like he WAS reliving/repeating the past here, then I feel that because Ozzie did something different Ed would have therefore considered himself ‘free’ to do the same

and that difference was him FORGIVING Oswald for his betrayal in killing Isabella, or at least MOVING ON from it

so, basically, I’m thinking that in Ed’s mind the whole scenario with Penn became an opportunity to ‘reset’ his and Oswald’s relationship back to the point before it fell apart and have it play out better - ie. with Ozzie showing remorse for the pain he’d caused (if not outright apologising) and with him forgiving Ozzie and the two of them remaining friends and moving on together

BUT

for Ed, I think that meant the experience and it’s revelations and conclusion became no longer about or anything to do with Penn at all, it became SOLELY ABOUT HIM AND OSWALD

because it was about replaying THEIR past and reshaping THEIR relationship

meaning that from the moment Ozzie ‘flipped the script’ and gave Ed that chance to restore their relationship, Penn became superfluous

or worse, an impediment - because if Penn went on to forgive Oswald, as he seemed to after the puppet was destroyed, and Oswald went on to welcome him back into his life, then I imagine to Ed that risked the whole thing becoming just about Oswald and Penn after all, and the important shift in Ed and Oswald’s relationship, the ‘reset’ of it back to them being proper friends again, might no longer have applied

ergo, removing Penn was simply the necessary/logical thing to do, because he didn’t belong in the picture/narrative Ed had crafted - he’d been a means to an end and with the end reached his purpose was over

y/n/m?

I mean... I guess this is just a fancy way of reinforcing the ‘jealousy’ reading :p because it’s Ed muscling Penn out and being all - yeah, sorry, but no, this is actually about Oswald and ME, not you

but I just liked the idea of Ed’s compulsive side being ‘activated’ by all the parallels/mirrors!

[raiswanson]

15 OC Questions/Character Interview Tag-- Reg

Rules: Pick a character from your WIP, and have them answer these 15 questions!

Tagged by @fictionshewrote! (you’re tagged back below, if you have another interview you’d like to do!) Thanks a bunch!! Since it’s been my current obsession this month, I’m answering with Reg! (There’s a Cliff interview to go with this, right here!)

1. What is your full name?

Reg. Yes, just “Reg”. Not “Reginald” or “Reggie” or “Reg-whatever you can come up with”. Just. Reg. If you could help get that through Clifford’s thick skull I’d appreciate it.

2. What does your full name mean?

It means “mind your business”.

3. What are your nicknames/other names?

Oh you name it: brat, street rat, punk, little shit, street trash. One clever fellow in the Watch took to calling me “Scarface” for a little while. Yeah, he was a real hoot. Easy to pickpocket though.

...Clifford calls me “kiddo”. He’s...irritating.

4. What’s your gender?

I am male.

5. What’s your sexuality?

Did...did Clifford put you up to this question? I don’t know why he thinks it’s so amusing to--he knows I like men, and he knows it doesn’t matter, because anyone that looks at me for too long starts throwing up in their mouth. This is...this is stupid. Next question.

6. Where are you from?

Bristor. Do I look like I would have made it here from somewhere else without dying in the wastes along the way? I don’t know any more than that. Does it matter? None of my theoretical relatives would take me in at this point anyway, if you’re trying to pawn me off. Not that Clifford would let you. I’m practically shackled to his damn desk.

7. How old are you?

I’m seventeen. What, don’t I look it? Can’t you see the youthful glimmer in my eyes?

8. What is your magic form/What species are you?

Wow. That’s...blunt. I know I’m hideous but you don’t need to say it like that. Biologically I’m human, despite my appearance. Sorry to disappoint.

9. What does your human form look like?

I wouldn’t know. The last time I saw it I was five. As far as I’m aware it was an unsuspecting, cute little boy with black hair and big brown eyes. Now there’s only me.

10. What’s your aesthetic?

...what kind of interview is this eve-- Okay, fine, I agreed to this stupid thing so I guess I’ll... I don’t know, books? Muddy cobblestones and leaky ceilings? What kind of aesthetic can an orphan living in a crack in the wall with his piles of stolen banned books have?

11. Who’s your best friend?

[shifts, tucking a novel deeper into his jacket. The cover reads “Dance of the Moons” and features fangs digging into a throat with blatant sensual intent]

Don’t have any friends. Watch runners don’t get the luxury. Anyone you get close to gets eaten by wolves...or murdered by the bastards that hunt them.

12. Would you ever get a piercing/tattoo?

One of the older kids running for the Watch gave me a few ear piercings a while back, before he “mysteriously” vanished. But yeah, I could go for some more if I had the chance. Dunno what kind of tattoo I’d get, though. Be hard to find a design that wouldn’t be ruined by preexisting marks.

13. When are you happiest?

...if any part of this interview goes public I swear to the gods I’ll find yo-- Fine. Fine, I said I’d cooperate to get the old man off my back. Fine.

I’m happiest when I find a new book to read, okay? Are you happy? Yes, lets pity the mangled brat for only being able to find joy in life through literature, why not. Won’t be the first time. Just get your laughs in at the punk who can only get fulfillment through illicit vampire porn, har har.

14. What’s your biggest secret?

I should think the last question about covered that. What more do you want from me? There’s not much else to tell. The rest of my life is clearly displayed in the patchwork the wolves have made of my skin.

15. What was your first impression of Clifford?

“Why is this stupid fucking guard still chasing me and how is a guy that huge able to move so fast.” And then I swiftly realized it was just because he’s too goddamned dumb to let something like muscle mass stop him from being a pain in the ass to everyone he meets, and the people he can’t keep up with he just traps with those stupid blue eyes of his, and there’s no fucking escaping the man because--

[audibly snaps mouth shut, refuses to engage further with the interviewer]

Tag game tag list!  (Join is you want!)

@helenpowers @typeaadventures @tundra-tiger  @jesse-is-inarguably-purple @inkandkeyboard @scribbledwriting @lilymaidofgallifrey @booksaremymeth @otramble @dqwrites @jade-island-lives @jaidynwrites @lady-redshield-writes  @authorloremipsum @thewitchthetimeladythehuntress @midgardianthief @dwobbit-under-the-mountain @sincerestaffect @universalfanfic  @siarven @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword  @authordai @vulpixofwin 

And some new tag-ins for some new acquaintances? (if you don’t want to be tagged in tag games just gimme a shout!) @incandescent-creativity @dove-actually @fictionshewrote @ren-c-leyn 

[thesinglesjukebox]

VEGEDREAM FT. NINHO - ELLE EST BONNE SA MèRE

[4.86]

La moyenne, pas si bonne...

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: This is mostly dumb club music, but I can't help but at least crack a smile given 1) the totally odd sample of what sounds like medieval French chamber music, 2) the decision to make the chorus, "Elle est bonne sa mère, elle twerk sur la piste", and 3) the recent revelation that Vegedream named himself after a Dragonball Z character. [5]

Edward Okulicz: The opening synth sounds like the very bad "harpsichord" preset on a very old organ my grandmother owned (which is not to say it sounds like a harpsichord at all), so I am tempted to give a lot of points for nostalgia. But the drums also sound like little sticks hitting something not suited to percussion (so not very much like drums at all) and the voices sound like.. well, you get the the picture. People actually go to effort to make something sound this cheaply incompetent. [3]

Iain Mew: The synth string hits and rounds of processed singing add up to enough marshmallow fluff to be a new experience, if not one I'd rush to repeat. It's a shame because in the tiny bits of more forceful sing-rapping there are hints of a more compelling new voice waiting to get out. [4]

Will Adams: The combination of the MIDI flute and string sounds with the Auto-Tune smears of both vocalists create an appealing texture that's enjoyable from start to finish. That's good for the song, because there's little to latch onto otherwise. [5]

Kylo Nocom: Ninho and Vegedream have on their hands here an Auto-Tuned fantasy in which decadence is given a uniquely heightened drama by way of sequenced strings, and a welcome reminder for me to get back into Old School Runescape. [7]

Tobi Tella: I liked the sound of this way more than I anticipated; the mid 2000s Auto-Tune wails completely work for me, and the beat is fun and bouncy. Unfortunately the lyrics are generic brag rap, but I'll give them props for the range of references going from Nicki Minaj to Scarface! [6]

Michael Hong: While it's easy enough to enjoy the energetic bounce of the beat during Ninho's verse, Vegedream's impenetrably dense verse and the growing use of Auto-Tune quickly make the whole thing drag along, and "Elle est bonne sa mère" quickly loses all of its charm. [4]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[oscopelabs]

3D, Part 2: How 3D Peaked At Its Valley by Vadim Rizov

I didn’t expect to spend Thanksgiving Weekend 2018 watching ten 3D movies: marathon viewing is not my favorite experience in general, and I haven’t spent years longing to see, say, Friday the 13th Part III, in 35mm. But a friend was visiting, from Toronto, to take advantage of this opportunity, an impressive level of dedication that seemed like something to emulate, and it’s not like I had anything better to do, so I tagged along. Said friend, Blake Williams, is an experimental filmmaker and 3D expert, a subject to which he’s devoted years of graduate research and the bulk of his movies (see Prototype if it comes to a city near you!); if I was going to choose the arbitrary age of 32 to finally take 3D seriously, I couldn’t have a better Virgil to explain what I was seeing on a technical level. My thanks to him (for getting me out there) and to the Quad Cinema for being my holiday weekend host; it was probably the best possible use of my time.

The 10-movie slate was an abridged encore presentation of this 19-film program, which I now feel like a dink for missing. What’s interesting in both is the curatorial emphasis on films from 3D’s second, theoretically most disreputable wave—‘80s movies with little to zero critical respect or profile. Noel Murray considered a good chunk of these on this site a few years ago, watching the films flat at home, noting that when viewed this way, “the plane-breaking seems all the more superfluous. (It’s also easy to spot when these moments are about to happen, because the overall image gets murkier and blurrier.)” This presumes that if you can perceive the moments where a 3D film expands its depth of field for a comin’-at-ya moment and mentally reconstruct what that would look like, that’s basically the same experience as actually seeing these effects.

Blake’s argument, which I wrestled with all weekend, is that these movies do indeed often look terrible in 2D, but 3D literally makes them better. As it turns out, this is true surprisingly often. Granted, all concerned have to know what they’re doing, otherwise the results will still be indifferent: it turns out that Friday the 13th Part III sucks no matter how you watch it, and 3D’s not a complete cure-all. This was also demonstrated by my first movie, 1995’s barely released Run For Cover, the kind of grade-Z library filler you’d expect to see sometime around 2 am on a syndicated channel. This is, ostensibly, a thriller, in which a TV news cameraman foils a terrorist plot against NYC. It features a lot of talking, scenes of Bondian villains eating Chinese takeout while plotting and/or torturing our ostensible hero, some running (non-Tom Cruise speed levels), and one The Room-caliber sex scene. Anyone who’s spent too much time mindlessly staring at the least promising option on TV has seen many movies like these. The 3D helps a little: an underdressed TV station set takes on heightened diorama qualities, making it interesting to contemplate as an inadvertent installation—the archetypal TV command room, with the bare minimum necessary signifiers in place and zero detail otherwise—rather than simply a bare-bones set. But often the camera is placed nowhere in particular, and the resulting images are negligible; in the absence of dramatic conviction or technical skill, what’s left is never close enough to camp to come back out the other side as inadvertently worthwhile. I’m glad I saw it for the sheer novelty of cameos from Ed Koch, Al Sharpton and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa—all doing their usual talking points, but in 3D! But it’s the kind of film that’s more fun to tell people about than actually watch.

But infamous punchlines Jaws 3-D and Amityville 3-D have their virtues when viewed in 3D. The former, especially, seems to be the default punching bag whenever someone wants to make the case that 3D has, and always will be, nothing but a limited gimmick upselling worthless movies. It was poorly reviewed when it came out, but the public dug it enough to make it, domestically, the 15th highest-grossing film of 1983 (between Never Say Never Again and Scarface) and justify Jaws: The Revenge. Of course I was skeptical; why wouldn’t I be? But I was sucked in by the opening credits, in which the familiar handheld-underwater-cam-as-shark POV gave way to a severed arm floating before a green “ocean.” Maybe flat it looks simply ludicrous, but the image has a compellingly Lynchian quality, as if the limb were detached from one of Twin Peaks: The Return’s more disgusting corpses, its artifice heightened and literally foregrounded, the equally artificial background setting it into greater relief.

The film’s prominent SeaWorld product placement is, theoretically, ill-advised, especially in the post-Blackfish era; in practice, it’s extremely productive. The opening stretches have a lot of water-skiing; in deep 3D, the water-skiers serve as lines tracing depth towards and away from the camera over a body of water whose horizon line stretches back infinitely, producing a greater awareness of space. It reminded me of the early days of the short-lived super-widescreen format Cinerama, as described by John Belton in his academic history book Widescreen Cinema (recommended). The very first film in the format, This is Cinerama, was a travelogue whose stops included Cypress Gardens, Florida’s first commercial tourist theme park (the site is now a Legoland), which has very similar images of waterskiiers. Cinerama was, per the publicist copy Belton quotes from the period, about an experience, not a story: “Plot is replaced by audience envelopment […] the medium forces you to concentrate on something bigger than people, for it has a range of vision and sound that no other medium offers.” Cinerama promised to immerse viewers, as literalized in this delightful publicity image; Belton argues that “unlike 3-D and CinemaScope, which stressed the dramatic content of their story material and the radical new means of technology employed in production, Cinerama used a saturation advertising campaign in the newspapers and on radio to promote the ‘excitement aspects’ of the new medium.” There’s a connection here with the earliest days of silent cinema, short snippets (“actualities”) of reality, before it was decided that medium’s primary purpose was to tell a story. It didn’t have to be like that; in those opening stretches, Jaws 3-D’s lackadaisical narrative, which might play inertly on TV, recalls the 1890s, when shots of bodies of water were popular subjects. This is something I learned from a recent presentation by silent film scholar Bryony Dixon, and her reasoning makes sense. The way water moves is inherently hypnotic, and for early audiences assimilating their very first moving images, water imagery was a favorite subject. It’s only with a few years under its belt that film started making its drift towards narrative as default; inadvertently or not, Jaws 3-D is very pure in its initial presentation of water as a spectacular, non-narrative event.

If this seems like a lot of cultural and historical weight to bring to bear upon Jaws 3-D, note that it wasn’t even my favorite of the more-scorned offerings I saw that weekend, merely one that makes it easiest for me to articulate what I found compelling about the 3D immersion experience. I haven’t described the plot of Jaws 3-D at all, which is indeed perfunctory (though it was nice to learn where Deep Blue Sea cribbed a bunch of its production design from). I won’t try to rehabilitate Amityville 3-D at similar length: set aside the moronic ending and Tony Roberts’ leading turn as one of cinema’s most annoyingly waspish, unearnedly whiny divorcees, and what’s left is a surprisingly melancholy movie about the frustrations, and constant necessary repairs, of home ownership. There’s very little music and a surprising amount of silence. The most effective moment is simply Roberts going upstairs to the bathroom, where steam is hissing out for no apparent reason and he has to fix the plumbing. The camera’s planted in the hallway, not moving for any kind of emphasis as the back wall moves closer to Roberts; it doesn’t kill him and nothing comes of it, it’s just another problem to deal with (the walls, as it were, are settling), made more effective by awareness of how a space whose rules and boundaries seemed fixed is being altered, pushing air at you.

Watching a bunch of these in sequence, some clear lessons emerge: if you want to generate compelling depth by default, find an alleyway and block off the other half of the frame with a wall to present two different depths, or force protagonists to crawl through ducts or tubes. This is a good chunk of Silent Madness, a reasonably effective slasher film that, within the confines of its cheap sets and functional plotting, keeps the eye moving. It’s an unlikely candidate for a deep-dive New York Times Magazine article from the time period, which is well worth reading in full. It’s mostly about B-movies and the actresses trying to make their way up through them, though it does have this money quote from director Simon Nuchtern about why, for Bs, it’s not worth paying more for a good lead actress: “If I had 10,000 extra dollars, I’d put it into lights. Not one person is going to say, ‘Go see that movie because Lynn Redgrave is in it.’ But if we don’t have enough lights and that 3-D doesn’t pop right out at you, people are going to say, ‘Don’t see that movie because the 3-D stinks.’” Meanwhile, nobody appears to have been thinking that hard while making Friday the 13th: Part III, which contains precisely one striking image: a pan, street morning, as future teen lambs-to-the-slaughter exit their van and walk over to a friend’s house. A lens flare hits frame left, making what’s behind it briefly impossible to see: this portion of the frame is now sealed off under impermeable 2D, in contrast to the rest of the frame’s now far-more-tangible depth. The remainder of the movie makes it easy to imagine watching it on TV and clocking every obvious, poorly framed and blocked 3D effect, from spears being thrown at the camera to the inevitable yo-yo descending at the lens. (This is my least favorite 3D effect because it’s just too obvious and counterproductively makes me think of the Smothers Brothers.)

Friday the 13th was the biggest slog of the 3D weekend, and the one most clearly emulating 1981’s Comin’ at Ya! I am not going to argue for that movie, either, which is generally credited with kicking off the second 3D craze; it’s a sludgy spaghetti western that delivers exactly as its title promises, using a limited number of effects repeatedly before showing them all again in a cut-together montage at the end, lest you missed one in its first iteration. It’s exhausting and oddly joyless, but was successful enough to generate a follow-up from the same creative team. Star Tony Anthony and director Ferdinando Baldi (both veterans of second-tier spaghetti westerns) re-teamed for 1983’s Treasure of the Four Crowns, the movie which (two screenings in) rewired my brain a little and convinced me I should hang around all weekend. This is not a well-respected film, then or now: judging by IMDb user comments, most people who remember seeing it recall it playing endlessly on HBO in the ‘80s, where it did not impress them unless they were very young (and even then, perhaps not). Janet Maslin admitted to walking out on it in her review; then again, she did the same with Dawn of the Dead, and everyone loves that.

An unabashed Indiana Jones copy, Treasure begins strong with a lengthy opening sequence of tomb raider J.T. Striker (Anthony) dropping into a cave, where he’s promptly confronted not only with a bunch of traps but, for a long stretch, a small menagerie’s worth of owls, dogs, and other wildlife. There are a lot of animals, and why not? They’re fun to look at, and having them trotted out, one after another, is another link back to silent cinema; besides water, babies and animals were also popular subjects. The whole sequence ends with Striker running away from the castle above the cave, artifact retrieved, in slow-motion as Ennio Morricone’s score blares. There is, inevitably and nonsensically, a fireball that consumes the set; it unfolds luxuriously in detailed depth, the camera placed on a grassy knoll that gives us a nice angle to contemplate it looking upwards, a nearly abstract testament to the pleasures of gasoline-fueled imagery. Shortly thereafter, Striker is in some European city to sell his wares, and in every shot the camera is placed for maximum depth: in front of a small city park’s mini-waterfall, views of streets boxed in by sidewalks that narrow towards each other, each position calibrated to create a spectacular travelogue out of what’s a fairly mundane location. There’s an expository sequence where Striker and friends drop into a diner to ask about the whereabouts of another member of the crew they need to round up. Here, with the camera on one side of a bar encircling a center counter, there are something like six layers of cleanly articulated space, starting with a plant’s leaves right in front of the lens on the side, proceeding to the counter, center area, back counter, back tables and walls of the establishment. Again, the location is mundane; seeing it filleted in space so neatly is what makes it special.

The climax finally convinced me I was watching forgotten greatness. This is an elaborate heist sequence in which, of course, the floor cannot be touched, necessitating that the team perform all kinds of rappelling foolishness. At this point I thought, “the only way I could respect this movie more is if it spent 10 minutes watching them get from one side of the room to another in real time.” First, the team has to gear up, which basically means untangling a bunch of ropes—clearly not the most exciting activity. The camera is looking up, placed below a team member as they uncoil and then drop a rope towards the lens. This is a better-framed variant of the comin’-at-ya principle, but what made it exciting to me was the leisurely way it was done: no more whizzing spears, but a moment of procedural mundanity as exciting as any ostensible danger. Basic narrative film grammar is being upended here: if a rope being dropped is just as exciting as a big, fake rip-off boulder chasing our hero down the cave, then all the rules about what constitutes narrative are off—narrative and non-narrative elements have the exact same weight, and even the most mundane, A-to-B connective shot is a spectacular event.

This isn’t how narrative cinema is supposed to work, and certainly not what James Cameron’s conception of good 3D proposed. The movie keeps going, building to a bizarrely grim climax involving a lot of face-melting, scored by Morricone’s oddly beatific score, which seems serenely indifferent to the grotesqueness of the images it’s accompanying. (This is a recurring trait in the composer’s ‘80s work; the score for White Dog often seems to bear no relation to the footage it’s accompanying.) That would make the movie oneiric and weirdly compelling even on a flat TV, but everything preceding convinced me: 3D can be great because it’s 3D, not because it serves a story. I’ve spent the last decade getting more angry about the format than anything, but that was a misunderstanding. Treasure of the Four Crowns is, yes, probably very unexceptional seen flat; seen in all three dimensions, it’s a demonstration of how 3D can turn banal connective tissue and routine coverage into an event. The spectacle of 3D might never have been its potential to make elaborate CG landscapes more immersive, something I still haven’t personally been convinced of; as those 19 non-CG shots in Avatar showed (undermining Cameron’s own argument!), 3D’s renderings of the real, material world and objects have yet to be fully explored. 3D’s ability to link film back to its earliest days is refreshing, in the way that any rediscovery of forgotten parts of film language can be, while also encouraging thought about all the things narrative visual language hasn’t yet explored, as if 3D could take us forwards and backwards simultaneously. In any case, I’m now won over—ten years after Avatar, but better late than never.

[megwritesfanfiction]

A/N: …. I did not plan on this being so long. I thought this was going to be like 2,000 words shorter! My husband (beta) said I needed more so, I added. Anyway, here we go!!

Also! Next week is a holiday, so I will probably be late updating cause socializing, family, and stuff… Just a heads up

AND... Thanks for all your comments and love! This was supposed to be a one shot, but here we are! I’m glad you guys put with my foolishness. Until next time loves <3

Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia/My Hero Academia this is work of fiction that I am not making a profit off of.

Chapter One: Tumblr Chapter Two: Tumblr Chapter Three: Tumblr

Chapter 4 Chapter Summary:  The grainy black and white image showed a clear profile. The baby looked as if it were cradled in a black pit. Laying on its back, they could clearly see the head and body. Little legs bent up a little while the faint image of the arms stuck out into what looked to be open nothingness.

“I can’t believe it already looks like a baby,” Ochako breathed quietly, staring at the image in awe. Her fingers tightened around Katsuki’s, feeling warm excitement spread through her chest.

It was real. The pregnancy test she’d taken at home had done nothing but confirm her suspicion. She hadn’t given herself a chance to move beyond a diagnosis. But now…

He hadn’t slept in almost thirty-six hours.

Katsuki yawned, holding his arms tightly against his chest as he slouched deeper into the small chair. His head drifted back against the wall behind him as he sighed.

“You didn’t have to come.”

“Tch,” he snorted. A small smirk curling on his lips at the sound tissue paper wrinkling as she fidgeted on the exam table across from him. “Shut up.”

“I’m serious,” Ochako huffed as she adjusted herself on the table. “You’re falling asleep.”

“I’m not falling asleep.”

“You definitely were asleep like two minutes ago.”

“I wasn’t,” he sighed, stifling another yawn. “I was just resting my eyes.” His legs stretched out in front of him as he relaxed his body.

“So I didn’t hear you snoring?”

“No.” In all likelihood, he probably had been snoring.

For some reason, crime seemed to always skyrocket in January and Katsuki never seemed to remember until he was trapped working a twenty-four hour plus shift. He’d lost track of how many calls he’d responded to or the number of reports still awaiting his attention.

“Katsuki,” she groaned, digging her hands into the table as her legs kicked in frustration.

“Tch.”

“Don’t ‘tch’ me.”

He sat up, opening his eyes to stare at her. Dragging a tired hand over his face with a loud yawn, Katsuki pulled himself out of his chair and made his way over to her. His fingers gently pinched her chin as he pulled her in for a gentle kiss. “Tch,” he breathed against her lips.

“You asshole,” she chuckled, kissing him once more as she smacked his chest playfully. “Seriously,” Ochako started. Her arms looped around his midsection to pull him between her legs. Her ankles crossed behind the back of his thighs to keep him in place while her fingers fiddled with the buttons of his shirt. “You should probably be home sleeping.”

“Hey,” he murmured, pulling her attention back to his face. “I wasn’t missing this.”

She shook her head, resting her head against his chest. “You’re not missing much. They already poked and prodded me.” Ochako held out her arm showing the bandage from the nurse drew blood. “We could stay home tonight if you want? ”

That wasn’t a terrible idea. “But you want to go to scarface’s stupid birthday party.”

“I really wish you’d stop calling him that.”

“It’s true.”

She sighed, closing her eyes as she shook her head with disapproval, “He’s our friend.”

Katsuki snorted. “Whatever.” Though he was less aggressive these days, he never seemed to completely mend fences with Todoroki. They tolerated each other. He didn’t have much of a choice with his wife being best friends with Todoroki’s boyfriend and being friends with him herself.

And since he was, somehow, kinda friends with Izuku now.

“We do have a stack of family history papers to fill out,” Ochako frowned. “We could stay home with some take out and get a jump on them.”

“Family history?”

“Yep. The doctor wants to know quirks, diseases, genetic conditions, how people died, I think blood type might be on there? I don’t know.” She’d stopped looking once they asked about third cousins and great-great-grandparents. Ochako wasn’t sure she even knew her great-grandparents’ quirks, let alone their names.

“What the hell do they need all that for?” Katsuki was prepared to give some family history after reading over some of the information her doctor had sent, but this seemed ridiculous.

“They need to know if either of us carries something we could pass-”

“We don’t!”

“Or-” In some strange way, his stubborn optimism was reassuring. “If either one of us has a mutant quirk somewhere in the family, it could complicate the birth.”

Maybe.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, sighing into his chest. “We just have to fill out the forms before the next appointment.”

“That means I need to call the old hag sometime to get that information.”

“We need to tell our parents.”

They did. “And our friends,” he listed. “And our agencies.”

She nodded, inhaling sharply as she pulled away from him. Her hands rested against his shoulders. “Let’s see how this appointment goes, huh?” Ochako looked up at him as her lips twisted into a shaky smile.

“You’re still worried?” he whispered, placing a kiss on her forehead. His hands gently cupped her face as he brought their foreheads together. “It’s fine.”

“I know.”

“Then stop worrying.”

“I’m not.” She had been. Ochako had spent most of the last week either completely forgetting about the positive pregnancy test or trying to feel completely overwhelmed by the thought of growing another human being. “I'll feel better after we talk to the doctor.”

“Okay,” he acknowledged. His thumbs traced her cheeks. “How’s your nausea?” Despite the morning sickness, her already rosy cheeks seemed twice as bright and her skin glowed.

Her nose wrinkled. “I only threw up a few times today and yesterday. Nothing too bad.”

A sharp knock at the door caused Katsuki to step from between her legs, moving to the side of the exam table.

“Hello there!” A fairly tall woman with long silver hair tied back in a tight bun walked into the room. Her eyes looked down at the chart in front of her before looking up at the couple. “How are you doing Ochako-san?”

“I’m alright.” Ochako forced herself to smile as she bowed politely to her doctor. “Oh, this is my husband.” She figured she needed to get used to saying it, now would be a good start. “Bakugo Katsuki this is Chiba-sensei.”

She smiled merrily, turning to Katsuki. “Nice to finally meet you, Bakugo-san” she grinned. “I’ve heard a lot about you. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Katsuki bowed politely.“Nice to meet you, Chiba-sensei.” Gritting his teeth as he stopped the urge to tell the doctor to get on with whatever news she had for them. He placed an arm on her shoulder as he looked pointedly at the clipboard in the doctor’s hand.

“Well, first,” the doctor sat on the stool in front of them. “Congratulations. You are indeed pregnant.”

Ochako exhaled loudly, bringing a hand to her chest in relief. “Okay.” She turned to Katsuki as he squeezed her shoulder and gave him a bright smile, ignoring the ‘I told you so’ shining in his eyes.

“It looks like you are at about nine or ten weeks if we go by the date of your last missed period, but,” Chiba sat her clipboard on the table, pulling a rolling cart toward the bed. “We’re going to take a peek so we can get a better look and see for sure, ok?”

“Alright.”

The doctor stood by the table, coaching her into position. “So, I need you to lie back and pull your shirt up over your stomach for me.”

Shifting back against the table, Ochako pulled the bottom hem of her shirt and adjusted the band of her leggings to sit a few inches below the small swell of her lower belly.

“When the hell did that happen?” Katsuki questioned looking at her stomach in awe. That definitely wasn’t there yesterday morning.

Ochako placed her hand on the barely there bump on her stomach, “What?”

“That!”

“It’s hardly anything.”

“It wasn’t there yesterday!” He would have definitely noticed if it had been. “Isn’t it too early for her to have a stomach?”

“It’s not that big.” Ochako had mistaken it for being bloated.

“This is good news. It means your baby is growing.” Chiba assured as she prepared to place the gel on her stomach. She turned to Katsuki, “All women are different. Some women don’t start showing until there second trimester and some don’t get much of a bump at all. Though, it looks like your wife has started now. Nothing to worry about. Now,” Chiba turned her attention back to Ochako. “This is gonna be cold.”

“I don’t know how,” Ochako winced at the feeling of the gel oh her stomach. “I haven’t been keeping anything down.”

“You said it’s ‘nothing too bad’!” Katsuki barked.

Ochako shook her head, looking at the doctor and rolling her eyes playfully in her husband’s direction, “Is he gonna be like this for the next six months?”

Chiba laughed at Katsuki’s growl. “It’s good he’s speaking up-”

His lips curled into a smug smile as he stepped closer to the exam table.

“Sometimes people dismiss things when they could be serious symptoms, and even if they aren’t it’s better that you said something. I would honestly rather have you tell me something you don’t think is a big deal or stupid, than you keep going without the information,” she told them. “So in terms of morning sickness, as long as you aren’t dehydrated, losing weight, or fainting, it’s okay. It looks like your managing it well. Your preliminary lab work was good. Now,” she picked up the ultrasound handle. “We’re going to do a quick ultrasound to check on how far you are and give you guys a chance to take a little peek, alright?”

Ochako nodded, turning her head to the monitor. Hand blindly reaching for Katsuki’s as she felt the handle of the ultrasound machine press against her stomach.

“Okay, right there,” Chiba smiled, pointing on the blob on the monitor. “There is your baby.” She told them as she studied the image. “And right now, the baby is about the size of a kumquat,” the doctor explained, punching information in on the keyboard. “Looks to be a little longer than an inch and a quarter.”

The grainy black and white image showed a clear profile. The baby looked as if it were cradled in a black pit. Laying on its back, they could clearly see the head and body. Little legs bent up a little while the faint image of the arms stuck out into what looked to be open nothingness.  

“I can’t believe it already looks like a baby,” Ochako breathed quietly, staring at the image in awe. Her fingers tightened around Katsuki’s, feeling warm excitement spread through her chest.  

It was real. The pregnancy test she’d taken at home had done nothing but confirm her suspicion. She hadn’t given herself a chance to move beyond a diagnosis. But now…

Her chest constricted as her mind drifted to all of the possibilities she couldn’t fathom before.

Was it a boy or girl?

Would they have brown hair like her? Or would they be blonde like Katsuki?

What kind of quirk would they have?

What would they name them?

Tears flooded her eyes as she swallowed a wave of emotion. “Katsuki, look,” she sniffled quietly, dabbing at her eyes with her free hand.

Katsuki nodded as he stared at the screen unusually quiet and wide-eyed. “I see.” He moved closer to her. His hand rested on the top of her head, pulling it to rest against his stomach as his fingers curled affectionately against her scalp.

“Do you guys want to hear the heartbeat?”

“Yeah,” Katsuki answered, eyes still on the monitor.

Chiba chuckled quietly as she moved the position on the handle and clicked a few buttons on at the keyboard resting on the cart. “Alright, here we,” she muttered clicking one last button. “Go.”

Staccato little beats pulsed from the speakers and filled the room.

Ochako clasped a hand to her mouth, burying her face into Katsuki’s stomach as she sobbed happily. Her free hand dug into the fabric of his shirt to keep him close to her.

“Hey hey,” he tried to grumble, but his voice broke softly as he cradled the back of her head. He pushed down his own lump of anxiety and happiness threatening to choke him. “Don’t cry about it.” Katsuki watched the sound wave play across the screen, eyes still focused on the image of the child inside her.

“I take you all would like some pictures then?” the doctor asked, not really needing an answer to that question.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Ochako laughed, swinging their arms as they walked down the street toward a restaurant, “I think I should be asking you that question.” She gently tugged at his hand, pulling him next to her as they strolled.

“Tch.”

She rolled her eyes at his signature sound, pressing her lips into a firm line to keep from laughing.

“I’m fine.”

“We can skip the party,” Ochako offered as they continued to walk in the chilly January evening. “The offer of take-out and medical forms still stands.”

He shook his head, “We’re almost there.”

“So? We can still turn around and not be almost there.” Hugging his arm close, she rested the side of her face against his sleeve. “I know you don’t wanna go.”

He really didn’t. “You want to though.”

“Yeah,” she nodded with a little smile, looking up at him. “It’ll be nice to see people.”

“We see them at work.

“Not everyone.” Tsu had ended up at the same agency as Ochako, but she was mostly stationed on the coast. “And I only work with Tsu, you’ve got way more people from school at work with you than I do.”

“I didn’t ask those idiots to follow me. And we won’t see everyone tonight either,” Katsuki argued staring out in front of him as they walked. “Are we gonna tell them you’re pregnant?”

“I don’t know.” Her lips twisted into a thoughtful frown. “I don’t think it would appropriate to mention it now.”

“Why?”

“It’s Shoto’s birthday.”

“And?”

“And,” she drawled, tugging at his arm. “It’s not about us tonight.”

He shrugged, “That bastard doesn’t care.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s Shoto’s birthday, not the baby’s. Though,” she spoke firmly, pausing for a moment. “I just thought about something.”

“Hmm?”

“If the baby comes a little early, they could have the same birthday as Izuku.”

Katsuki froze, looking at her eyes wide and stunned. His mouth dropped open in horror. “No.”

“Wouldn’t that be cool?”

“You will cross your legs and wait until the next damn day!” There was no way he’d allow it.

Ochako cackled, pulling him along, “I don’t think it works that way.”

“I mean it!”

“I’m teasing,” she told him gently. “You heard Chiba-sensei, I’m not due until August fourth anyway.”

“Just make sure the brat knows that,” he mumbled. Eyeing her suspiciously, he wrapped an arm around her waist.

“I’ll be sure to relay that message.” Ochako sighed happily, watching her breath disappear into the air. “I think,” her tone dropped to a serious pitch. “I think we have plenty of time to tell them anyway. We need to tell them we’re married first.”

“Might as well tonight,” he decided as they approached the doors to the restaurant. Katsuki opened the door, cocking his head to the side to let her in.

She frowned at him, shaking her head as she walked in, “Not tonight. It’s Shoto’s day.”

“Tch, I don’t give a shit about that bastard,” he snorted under his breath as he followed her toward the bar area of the restaurant.

“Hey.” She swatted him, playfully pointing a stern finger at him. “Behave,” she warned him, eyes darting from him to the people in the room.

Katsuki snickered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Yes dear,” he mocked before pressing a kiss to her lips.

“Well, look who decided to show up!”

“Eijiro!” Ochako grinned, pulling away from Katsuki to embrace the redhead. “Katsuki didn’t tell me you were back in town!”

“Of course he didn’t,” the redhead laughed sending a toothy grin to his friend. “He also didn’t mention he was coming tonight.” Eijiro opened his arms toward Katsuki, demanding a hug. “Come on, man.”

Katsuki crossed his arms in front of him, staring blankly at his friend.

“You should be used to this by now,” Eijiro grinned, hugging his friend tightly.

“You act like I don’t see you.”

“You haven’t. I was in Indonesia, remember?”

“Well, I’m going to let you guys catch up,” Ochako grinned, sliding out of her coat and placing it on one of the chairs. She handed Katsuki the little gift bag. “You guys want anything?”

“Nope, all good here.”

“Katsuki?” she questioned, placing her hand against his chest.

Katsuki looked down, noticing the shimmer of her wedding band. “Whatever they have is fine.” He hadn’t taken his band off. The only time he had was when he was out in the field. Even though it was made of tungsten, it felt weird with his gloves.

Truth be told, they hadn’t done the best job of hiding their marriage.

“Beer then,” she nodded making her way toward the bar. “Play nice you two.”

“Yes ma’am,” Eijiro joked with an obedient nod.

Katsuki’s eyes followed her path toward the bar, eyes falling down at her stomach concealed by the black flowy dress she was wearing. He watched her lean down, forearms pressed against the bar top as she waited patiently for her turn to order.

“So, what’s up with you two?”

“Nothing,” he shrugged in a purposely casual voice. “Same old shit.”

Eijiro laughed. “Nice to know I haven’t missed anything.”  

“Where’s your girlfriend?” It was easier to change the subject. His eyes drifted back to Ochako. She was talking animatedly at the bar Tsu and Momo while she waited for her order.

“Still in Europe,” he sighed with a bittersweet smile. “I think she’s enjoying Paris too much.”

“She would. It’s fucking cliche.” Katsuki didn’t have room to talk. He tried not to think about the ultrasound picture he’d tucked inside his wallet. The little blob barely looked like as a baby, and he was already acting like a sentimental idiot.

“Hey man, cliches are cliche for a reason.”

Apparently.

“Hey, birthday boy!” Eijiro called pulling the attention of Shoto walking a few feet behind him. “Good to see you, man! Happy birthday, dude!” he spoke, wrapping the man in a hug.

Katsuki snorted at Shoto’s stunned face, turning his head away from the scene.

“You two man,” Eijiro commented to Izuku had approached soon after. “It feels like forever!”

“It’s been like two months, idiot!”

“And we used to see each other every day, so let me enjoy this moment.” Eijiro gave Izuku a hug next, ignoring the grumpy tone of his friend.

“You guys are adorable,” Ochako teased as she joined the group, handing a bottle to Katsuki. She rested her head against his arm.

“They’re something alright.” Katsuki commented, taking a sip of his drink.

She laughed, “Did you give Shoto his present?”

His eyes narrowed at her, taking another sip of his drink.

“Katsuki!” she hissed, taking the gift bag from him and placing her own drink on the table next to her. “Happy birthday!” Ochako chirped, handing Shoto the gift bag giving him a little hug.

“Thank you,” Shoto nodded, accepting the bag.

“Look at how not difficult that was.” Ochako picked up her glass, shaking her head at Katsuki.

“I wasn’t hugging that asshole,” Katsuki told her.

Ochako chuckled with a tight smirk, bringing the champagne flute to her lips, “Hi, Izuku! How are you?” She wasn’t even going to take the bait.

Izuku looked at the glass, then to Katsuki before turning back to Ochako, “I’m good.”

“What?” she questioned, taking another sip brows furrowed at him.

“Nothing!” Izuku answered a little too fast and too panicked.

“Have you guys gotten something to eat yet?” Shoto questioned.

“We just got here.” Ochako told him.

Katsuki glared at the glass in her hand.

“They have small plates by the bar,” Shoto informed them.

“I recommend the little ribs,” Kirishima chirped, licking his lips. “And the meatballs!”  

She laughed, grabbing Katsuki’s hand, “Say no more. We’re going to get something to eat.” Ochako pulled him away from the group. “Come on, you.”

Katsuki waited until they were a few steps away, from them before leaning down to whisper in her ear, “What are you-”

“Calm down,” she started as they stepped in front of the food. “It’s ginger soda. I told the bartender that I can’t have alcohol, and I don’t want my friends to know I’m not drinking so I asked him to put it in a champagne glass.”

That was a smart idea. “You don’t even like champagne.”

“No one knows that.”

“You’ve never drink champagne.” The first time she’d tried it was during their first class reunion a year after graduation. After one sip, Ochako had hissed like an angry cat much to the amusement of her classmates and Katsuki.

“You are the only person who knows that,” she chuckled, picking up a little meatball speared with a toothpick. “I guess Izu noticed, but he’s weirdly observant.”

“Something like that.” Katsuki watched her shove another morsel in her mouth, reaching for another before she’d finished the bite in her mouth. “Nausea okay?”

“Surprisingly, yes,” she commented, shoving a cracker coated in some sort of green dip. “This food over here smells entirely too delicious for me to be nauseous.”

He wrinkled his nose as she placed a sardine on a cracker, spooning a small amount of mustard on top.

“You should taste that.”

No. “I’m going to take your word for it.” He picked up a small piece of meat for himself as he watched her eat.

Following small bites and drinks, they flooded into one of the private dining rooms to sit for dinner. It was a familiar routine, remembering their high school years and talking about their careers between meal courses.

“It stinks Mina isn’t here,” Toru sighed, slouching in her seat. “Us girls are always out numbered at these things.”

“We were outnumbered at U.A.,” Ochako reminded her as she took another sip of her ginger soda. They were more outnumbered now with Mina’s absence but still, the turnout was pretty good considering their schedules. This was the first time in about a year so many of them were able to get together. “Besides she’s in Paris having fun.”

“It’s a work trip,” Katsuki snorted as he drank.

“It’s still beautiful there,” Momo commented. “And the shopping!”

“The city of love,” Toru spoke dreamily, leaning on Mashirao’s shoulder. “Perfect place for a proposal.”

“Here we go,” Hanta snorted eyes darting to all the couples at the table. “No pressure guys.”

Ochako nervously tucked her left hand into her lap. At least twice a year, the conversation drifted toward the subject of relationship status.

“And it’s engagement season,” Toru added not so subtly.

The last time they’d bought this up, they’d been engaged and waiting for an appropriate moment to announce it. A charity event at U.A. didn’t seem like the right moment if there really ever was one to bring it up. Katsuki suggested they should just text everyone and leave it at that.

“My money is on Todoroki and Midoriya to be the first to take the plunge,” Denki commented, looking around the table. “I’d put 5700 yen on that.”

“Nope,” Toru shook her head. “Kirishima and Mina.”

“I think you’re wrong,” Eijiro laughed, picking up his glass. “Not the right time.”

“You have the perfect opportunity! Right at the top of the tower. Do not waste it!”

“Okay, hypothetically, how the heck am I supposed to get to Paris?”

“Love finds a way.”

“It would take like a day to get there,” Tsu frowned. “Probably more.”

“Don’t matter.”

“Nope, it’s gonna be Kacchan and Ochako first,” Izuku smirked behind his glass.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes.

Ochako picked up her glass coughing nervously.

“I second that,” Shoto chimed in.

“You all can’t double team a bet like that,” Kyoka laughed.

“We are a united front. My winnings are Izuku’s winnings and vice versa.”

“See, that’s why they’re gonna be first,” Denki commented, tapping Hanta on that arm. “I’m going double or nothing.”

They also had inside information.

“Isn’t it time for cake yet?” Ochako questioned looking around, face slightly flushed.

“Ochako,” Toru sighed dramatically. “We’re talking about the most wonderful time of the year, engagement season. Where are your priorities?”

“They’re currently focused on dessert,” Ochako told her seriously, eyeing the trays making their way toward them.

Katsuki snorted, “Sounds about right.”

“No cake just dessert platters,” Shoto explained as the servers came out with trays of assorted desserts to fill the table. “I figured this would be the best way to ensure everyone gets something they like.”

“Dude,” Denki started plucking a small cake from the tray. “It’s your birthday. They don’t like it more cake for you.”

“Birthday rules,” Eijiro nodded seriously, picking a dessert for himself.

Ochako chuckled, inhaling the sweet smells wafting around the table. Her eyes darted between a wedge of chocolate cake and a slice of cheesecake drizzled with strawberry syrup. Reaching for the serving spatula, she froze a particular smell making her stomach lurch. “What is that?” she questioned, turning to Tsu sitting next to her. Ochako looked at the little pie sitting on her plate. There was what looked to be a massive layer of whipped cream covering some sort of yellow custard. Whatever it was, her nose wasn’t liking the smell.

“It’s banana cream,” Tsu answered digging her spoon into the dessert.

Ochako stopped her nose from wrinkling at the mention of the dessert. “Oh,” she spoke neutrally, retrieving a piece of chocolate cake for her plate.

“Wanna taste?” Tsu questioned pushing her plate a little closer toward her.

“No thanks.” Ochako forced herself to smile, taking slow deep breaths to stop the wave of nausea brewing. Her fingers curled around her fork, head twisted toward the side as she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Hey,” Katsuki whispered softly, placing a hand on her thigh.

She swallowed the flood of saliva in her mouth as another whiff of banana hit her senses.

“Yo Uraraka, you alright?” Denki shouted.

Great. She really needed everyone staring at her. “I’m good,” Ochako lied smiling brightly at the people around her as her stomach bubbled angrily. She turned to Katsuki keeping the smile on her face. “I’ll be right back.” Breathing slowly from her mouth, Ochako slowly got out of her seat trying to walk normally as possible away from the table.

“She alright?” Eijiro questioned looking at Katsuki.

“I noticed that she hasn’t been active in the last few weeks,” Momo commented. “Everything okay?”

Katsuki stood up from the table. “She’s fine,” he told them shortly following her path toward the back of the restaurant. He stopped outside of the women’s bathroom, wrapping his knuckles on the door. “Ochako,” he called out, pressing his ear against the door.

Fuck it.

If there was someone else in there, they would have called back by now.

Katsuki pushed the door open, stepping into the bathroom and locking the bolt behind him. He didn’t need anyone walking in especially someone from his group. Underneath the metal siding of the first stall, he caught sight of her legs sprawled out against the floor and black fabric bunched against the tiles. “It’s me.”

“Over here,” she croaked. Ochako was sitting on the floor by the toilet, face pale as she pressed her palm against her forward.

“Floor is dirty,” he commented, kneeling down to wipe her face.

She laughed. “Naw, it’s pretty clean actually.” She could always throw this dress in the wash. “I needed to sit down. I figured if they have fifty dollar glasses of wine, they have money to have clean floors.”

“What happened?”

“Tsu was eating banana cream pie,” she winced, eyes drifting closed as she rested her head against the cool metal wall. “Offered me a piece.”

That explained it.

“Those sardines did not taste good coming back up.”

“Told you.”

“Eh,” she frowned at him. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”

“I locked the door.” Katsuki went over to the sink wetting a paper towel for her.

“They’re going to think we’re in here having sex.”

He chuckled, “It’s a good cover story.”

“No,” she rolled her eyes, taking the paper towel from him and wiping her face with it. “At least they weren’t taking bets on who’s going to get pregnant first.”

“That’s next,” Katsuki sighed, squatting down in front of her. “We won that race too though.”

To be continued…

[douxreviews]

Gotham - ‘Nothing's Shocking’ Review

Oswald: "Penn, I think you need some rest...and a psychiatrist!"

What a conflicting and contrasting episode this turned out to be. All I could really muster afterwards was "I think I liked it?" Forgive me though, for I realize how that doesn't sound very promising.

After my viewing of 'Nothing's Shocking', I did some additional reading online afterwards and learned that in the process of developing and filming the initial layout for Season 5, FOX gave Gotham the opportunity to air two additional episodes, allowing Gotham to reach the 100-episode milestone. But this can also be seen as a double-edged sword by some, because since Gotham already had Season 5's resolution set, some of it already well into filming too, their new material for the two episodes - pushed into the slots of 5x08 and 5x09 - couldn't display anything that would contradict or upset the narrative's flow. Enter 'Nothing's Shocking' and presumably next week's 'The Trial of Jim Gordon'. These are sure to be filler-episodes in every sense of the word, but even filler can have its redeeming points. Do they outweigh the shortcomings though?

'Nothing's Shocking's story this week is fractured a tad more than its predecessors, with one plot dedicated to Gordon and Bullock pursuing a shapeshifting cop-killer, one centered around Bruce and Alfred investigating the tunnels Joker had been digging all throughout this season, and a third revolving around Oswald and Nygma having a run-in with the presumed-dead Arthur Penn. Each one features a self-contained villain to this week's episode, and cinematography that makes you feel like someone kept leaving the tripod on an uneven stack of thesauruses. (Hasn't the slanted camera shot become an old chestnut by this point? It's about as overdone as the last word of a pop hook being "tonight".)

We should start with Bruce and Alfred's story first, if only because I have the least to say about that one. As it turns out, there are unknown perpetrators now inhabiting the tunnels Joker's troupe had burrowed, and they've begun preying on innocent civilians. Substratum tunnels and sewers, people's flesh being sought after for consumption, and an eerie snarling that is quick to catch Bruce and Alfred's attention could naturally only allow someone like me to assume this episode was giving us the debut at last of Waylon Jones/Killer Croc, and nothing else. Gotham however decided they could top that easily though and instead revealed that Villain-Of-The-Week No. 1 is just a disfigured cannibalistic average-Joe harmed by the radioactive chemicals Gordon dumped in the river last week as part of his "brilliant" solution to foiling Joker. But I did mention 'redeeming points' earlier and this subplot does have it in the form of Bruce using throwing stars or throwing knives of some sort to save Alfred's skin. It's really nothing more than just another allusion to Batman, but David Mazouz has sold me so much this season on his aesthetic that I think he looks even more menacing without the cowl.

Meanwhile, Villain-Of-The-Week No. 2 is a shapeshifter that's begun killing off retired police officers in the city, and it seems that Gordon and Bullock are their next targets. In the process of the investigation, because Gordon discovers that Bullock and the victims all used to work together in the corrupt manner we saw the GCPD operate in back in Season 1, he immediately decides Bullock can't be trusted or relied on in this investigation, and even goes as far as 'benching' him when they obtain a lead on the killer's address. Even if I were Gordon's number one fan, I would still feel that this was really out-of-character for him. Gordon and Bullock have been through how many battles for Gotham's soul now? How many times have they stuck their neck out for one another? But now because Gordon's gotten to reminiscing about the days when Falcone ruled over the GCPD for just a bit, he decides he doesn't want to have Bullock watching his back in this case? Bullock's theory too that Basil Karlo/Clayface could be the perpetrator (a theory also shared by yours truly) held just as much water as Gordon's theory that the GCPD had a hand in covering up the killer's history.

The killer in question is actually Jane Doe, the first villain since Professor Pyg last season that Gotham's actually gotten me to go online and look up. Similar to Absorbing Man from Marvel Comics, Jane Doe has the ability to mimic other's appearances and mannerisms just by touching them. It's perplexing to me that Gotham would bring in another shapeshifter, toyed with by Hugo Strange while at Arkham no less, when there's already one established in Gotham's mythos. At least she does her part here by reminding the audience that Gotham City's police have the precision of your average Death Star-stormtrooper when it comes to trying to hit a limping target. Bullock feels guilt over his hand in indirectly sending Jane to Arkham and tries to make peace with her, but is forced to gun her down when she retaliates.

The final subplot here was by far the most delightful and enjoyable for me. For context, Oswald and Nygma have begun attempting to build a submarine that can carry them out of the city. While bickering away in their workshop, they are abruptly confronted by Arthur Penn, Oswald's former handyman who was presumably shot and killed at Haven several episodes before. But Penn isn't alone - he's got with him Villain-Of-The-Week No. 3: a ventriloquist dummy named Mr. Scarface who wants to cross Oswald off and make a name for himself as the city's newest mobster. As shoehorned in and almost nonsensical Penn's revival is, I am thrilled that we've finally gotten a live-action debut of The Ventriloquist.

Of all the villains inaugurated into Batman's rouges' gallery in the last three decades, Ventriloquist and Mr. Scarface, popularized heavily by Batman: The Animated Series, have been among my favorites. The schizophrenic nature of Arnold Wesker and the ambiguous notion of whether he was controlling the dummy, or the dummy was actually sentient fit right into the maddened nature of Batman's world. And in Gotham, albeit a little stiff, it's fair to say that Penn (Andrew Sellon) has the voice practically down-pat. Nygma manipulating Penn and Scarface into sparing him and giving Oswald a chance to get the upper hand was brilliant too, though I'd say the showrunners are being a little too meta at this point with the sexual undertones concerning Oswald and Nygma. Oswald remarking that he and Nygma may be meant for each other after all before the two of them laugh it off at the episode's end can be left up to your own interpretation.

So now that Mr. Scarface has taken the stage, with the potential of easily shaping up to be the most entertaining villain Season 5 has introduced - for all of ten minutes - it brings us to what is so conflicting about this episode for me. What do Oswald and Nygma follow through with once they've turned the tables? They kill him - Penn and the dummy both. Even if Gotham's jumbled schedule of filming episodes out of order means that Scarface and Penn can't show up in future episodes, my issue is with the notion in itself of introducing lesser-known rouges to the show. By now, I believe Gotham has abandoned the prequel-shtick, and has committed to being the best full-blown Batman television series it can possibly be with only twelve episodes left. But then what's the point of bringing in future Batman rouges if their fate is just to be axed off, never to face the caped crusader, or even young Bruce Wayne for that matter? Penn and Jane bite the dust here, Magpie in last week's episode, Pyg back in Season 4...starting to see a pattern? I'm not surprised by any means by Penn's fate ('Nothing's Shocking' certainly lives up to its name in that aspect), I'm just truly flummoxed by all these hasty conclusions to Gotham's villain-of-the-week stories. Maybe it's for the better that Bruce and Alfred didn't encounter Killer Croc - it probably spared him the likely fate too of a premature death.

'Nothing's Shocking' works best as an independent, even successfully horror-esque at times segment, but as an episode surrounded by four previous seasons and the legacy of Batman in its future, it's clunky and indispensable. Even as a filler episode, the sense that Gotham City is essentially a wasteland, and ammo and rations are scarce values that was felt in this season's first three or four episodes now feels strangely absent here. I think it's fruitless at this point to continue anymore trying to make sense of Gotham's loony state considering it has the worst case of DID I've seen since Kevin Wendall Crumb graced the big screens.

Aaron Studer loves spending his time reading, writing and defending the existence of cryptids because they can’t do it themselves.

[blackbeltkitten2ficsnships-blog]

Bad, bad Alphonse Capone (Chapter 3)

Scarface Versus Snorky.

Fandom/Movie/Series/Ect: Night At The Museum

Setting: Larry is still the night guard, several exhibits from the Smithsonian are at the Museum of Natural History

Pairing(s): Eventual Capoleon, Jedtavius, Teddy/Sacagawea

Characters: Al Capone, Napoleon Bonaparte, Ivan the Terrible (Awesome), Larry Daley, Teddy Roosevelt, Sacagawea, Jedediah Smith, Octavius, Ahkmenrah, Shaka Zulu, several Zulu tribe members, Dr. Richard McPhee, several Mobsters, Antonio Villalobos, Mariana Villalobos, Ramón Espina, Doctor Jess McClain, Docteur Alain Chaput

Genre/Warnings: Some slightly graphic violence, Foul language, Fic inspired by a song, I’ll come up with more tags later,  Chapter names may change later

Notes: I listened to the song “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce about a thousand times and decided I just HAD to make a fic.  The reason Al and the boys get made into color (as a plot point) is so everyone can see what happens to Al.

If anyone is OOC or this reads like a Dick & Jane, this is my second posted fic and I haven’t done much writing in the NATM field. (Disclaimer: I don’t own the song, nor the characters.) (If anything suddenly changes, I had to fix a mistake I missed.)

(I am starting to see why they say “The beginning and end are easy, the middle is hard.”  this chapter is either going to be good, or real fucking boring, you decide.)

Word count: 1,300

Summary: Al and the boys practically beg (Though they won’t stoop so far as to say they were actually begging.) for him and his gang to be colored up like everyone else.  Finally one day they get a paint-job, despite McPhee’s ever-present paranoia; Capone and the gang being popular in grey-scale.  Several weeks after they finally get what they want, Al gets in a fight, and doesn’t come out of it well.  Luckily for him Napoleon is compassionate enough to put up with Al’s grating personality to help him.

First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Last Chapter

Thank God Larry got a bottle of fleshtone latex for Halloween.

Disguising Al’s stitching for every morning was far easier than he’d thought it would be.

Al was ready for this nightmare to be over.  ‘Change his bandages once a day.’

Napoleon is nothing if not dutiful.  He’s done just as prescribed, every day, the past couple days.  Al is getting sick of it.

Al sits on the desk, slapping Napoleon’s hand away for the second time.

“Quit tryna mollycoddle me, I can do it myself!”

“I plan to do as Docteur Chaput told, you cannot stop me.”

Al slaps his hand away again.

Everyone hears an angry screech from the office.

“They were doing so well...”  Teddy sighs, unwrapping himself from Sacagawea.

“I thought it was amusing, their little vendetta.  Now it’s annoying.”  She chuckles.

“I laughed the first time as well, but since they’ve been consistently interrupting our evenings...”  Teddy rubs his temples.

“We really should go see what they’re doing.  If Al breaks his stitching it could make things worse.”  Sacagawea stands and pulls Teddy off of the bench and through the doorway.

“Come on!  Really guys?”  Larry stares at the two.

“He keeps changin’ my bandages, and I already told him, I can do it myself!”

Napoleon puts all of his weight on Al’s stomach and tightens his grip on Al’s chin, dangerously close to the wounds on his cheek, making Al squint.

“I told the docteur I would change them, I refuse to go back on my word!”

Larry sighs and scrubs a hand over his face.

“Get up, guys.  Al, let Napoleon dress your wounds.”

“Aw, come on!”

Napoleon grins triumphantly once they’re both righted.

“Sit.”  Napoleon points at the desk. 

Larry gives them both a pointed look and leaves, meeting Teddy and Sac in the hallway and closing the door.

“I have a question.”

“Shoot, Nippy.”

“When I described your injuries, you looked and sounded...  Distraught.  Why?”

Al’s eyes search the wall over Napoleon’s shoulder.  “It’s nothing, Shortstack...”

Napoleon knits his eyebrows together but doesn’t press on.  He’s seen trauma, mild to severe, physical and emotional, and thinks he should give Al some time before asking again.

That doesn’t mean he won’t look into Al’s history to see if that gives him any information, though.

Napoleon walks towards Al’s room.  He spots a group of Al’s gangsters near by.  He catches a fleeting bit of their whispered conversation, where they lean on the wall opposite the Al Capone exhibit.

“Damn, Big Boy looks rough.  I ain’t never seen him this bad.”

“Yeah, even when they first started callin’ him Scarface he didn’t look so...  Depressed?”

“Least we can do is start callin’ him Snorky again, what do ya say, Ralph?”

“Best idea you’ve had in a while, Tony.”

Napoleon looks into the room from the doorway.

Al is looking at a hand mirror dejectedly, lifting the latex carefully and examining the stitches.

Napoleon gets a few steps into the room before Al’s men grab him by the arms.

“Ehi! Miullu, i idioti!“

Al almost drops the mirror.  He spins around and holds up a hand to keep the gangsters from dragging Napoleon to the door.

“French Toast, what the Hell are ya doin’ here?”

“I wanted to remind you to meet me in the office, evidently your men dislike my commitment.”

“Nippy, don’t be dramatic, I told em to keep everyone out.  Thanks for remindin’ me though...”

“Monsieur Daley, can you teach me how to use that, uh, laptop?”

“Yeah sure, what do you want to look up?”

Napoleon fumbles for a moment.

“No that’s alright, you don’t have to tell me.  Here, sit...  Now see the keys?  Press them gently to make words...”

Napoleon accidentally runs twelve W’s into the search bar, causing Larry to snicker.

“Now you know that can happen, use the backspace to erase all but one.”

Napoleon is a little less heavy-handed this time.

There, now if you can manage to spell everything well enough-  Don’t give me that look, I know how spelling worked back in your days.  Anyway you should get the results you want.  Press the enter key when you wanna make it search.”

Larry holds the mouse and slides it around.

“Use this to click on things-”  He deliberately clicks it a few times.  “-And that little X in the corner will close everything.”

“Grazie, Monsieur Daley.”

“No problemo.  I’m gonna go do a round, catch you later.”

Larry pats him on the back and walks off

Napoleon, backspacing the remaining W and, carefully selecting keys, types out ‘Al Capone injuries’.

The little circle spins, then ‘The infectious disease that sprung Al Capone from Alcatraz.’

“I hope the tablet got rid of that...”

Napoleon moves the little hand down and clicks on one link simply titled ‘Al Capone’, and hopes for the best.

Luck is on his side.  To the right side of the screen is what is presumably a photo of Al when he was older, in black and white.  He’s wearing a nice dark grey three piece suit, a shiny, striped tie, white shirt and pocket square, and a shiny watch chain.  He’s also gained weight and lost hair.  The banner under the photo reads ‘Al Capone in 1930.’

“Yet he pokes at me because of the paintings I commissioned when I was in my forties.  It must run in Italian blood...  Or it’s all the bread and cheese.”

Al was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

“That’s not very far from the museum, is it?  I wonder if I could convince Larry to take Al and myself there..”

His parents, Teresa and Gabriele, immigrated from Angri, Italy.

He had eight siblings, six brothers and two sisters.

He did well in school but had difficulty following the rules at his parochial Catholic school.  He was expelled permanently at fourteen for hitting a female teacher.

“At least I didn’t hit my teachers, u mo Diu.“

He worked at a bowling alley and a candy store, and was influenced Johnny Torrio, whom he later regarded as a mentor.

First he got involved with the Junior Forty Thieves, then the Bowery Boys.  Then he joined the Brooklyn Rippers, and after that the powerful Five Points Gang.

He was employed by mentor and racketeer Frankie Yale, who tended bar at a dance hall and saloon called the Harvard Inn.

“Saloon?  I thought that was only in the West in the eighteen seventies?”

Al inadvertently insulted a woman while working at the door of a nightclub in Brooklyn and was slashed by her brother Frank Gallucio.

“Oh...”

Napoleon opens a new tab, searches ‘Al Capone scars’ and pulls up a photo that marks each slash with a number.

They match scarily close to the fresh ones on the side of Al’s face now.

Napoleon’s mouth falls open slightly and his eyebrows pull together.  He switches back to the other tab.

The wounds caused people to give him the nickname ’Scarface’ which Al loathed.  His close friends called him 'Snorky', a word for sharp dresser.

“Ay Nippy, watcha doin’?”

Napoleon quickly closes out the browser and shuts the laptop, none-too-gracefully.  Al smirks at him.

“Thought we were gonna meet in the office, what have ya been doin’?”

“Nothing, I was looking something up.  None of your concern.”

“Mhm, ‘lookin’ something up.’  Be sure clear the history when you’re done.”

Al spins around and saunters off towards the office.

“So, Short Stuff, did you enjoy ‘lookin’ something up.’?  Was it...  Sexy?”

Napoleon pulls the latex off roughly.

“It was informative.  The two photographs I looked at were...  A bit attractive.  No contest with the real thing, though.”

“Yeah, I bet.”  Al pulls a knowing smirk.  He doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does though.

Docteur = Doctor

Ehi! Miullu, i idioti! = Hey! Let me go, you idiots!

Monsieur = Mister

Grazie = Thank you

U mo Diu = My God

          First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Last Chapter

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 263, Replies Part 1

1) “oh boy, what was it, two weeks? It felt like longer to me… The last time I read BNHA Mirko ripped her own arm off and died,, but then she went “nah” and continued to fight regardless. God bless the Great Rabbit herself, just as bloodthirsty as I remembered.”- Mirko: I’ll sleep when I’m off the clock and there’s no bad guys to beat up! Villains: You are literally just a head in a jar by this point…. Mirko: Then it’s a fair fight, ain’t it bitches! 2) “ Lot`s of familiar faces on this shot- well, not faces, backs, but even so, I remember most of those people in here. Also remember who that particular name refers too, and oh boy am I not looking forward to his return.”-

Been a long time since we saw him, or many of o’l Class 1A in action, eh?

3) “It`s not been a single page and I already feel the need to tell mineta to shut the fuck up. Oh boy this is going to be a good chapter if he`s going to keep complaining about doing his job here.”- I mean, he’s not technically wrong either. Heroes or not, the kids are still technically kids, and they’re uncomfortably close to the frontlines of a brewing war, with enemies determined to kill all heroes who oppose them, students included. Ideally, they should never have to face any members of the PLF directly or without extensive backup. Kaminari’s involvement in the frontlines is because of his quirk, and it mainly serves to counter the wide-range attacks of some of the more-skilled PLF members rather than actually fighting the dude directly, allowing the older pro heroes to subdue him close-range. Frankly, if the kids did have to face any villain, it’d be a sign that the heroes’ plans were going down the drain, because their involvement here seems mainly to provide as much aid as possible whilst minimising the personal risk to them until the fighting’s done. 

4) “Alright everybody, you trained your whole life- well, kind-of a whole year of your life for this moment, go there and die a hero`s death, make me proud!”- Honestly, given how chaotic and life-threatening 1A’s school life has been throughout this year, the odds are more in their favour for surviving this level of combat than most other students their age, including 1B. Experience is the deciding factor. 5) “Oh- okay, I wasn`t totally expecting to immediately cut to him, but also can`t say I am surprised by this. And, well, he`s not dying yet, but he`ll soon will be, considering that, by the looks of it, he`s right on the front line.”- Best place to stick a guy whose quirk runs the risk of electrocuting everybody in a wide radius around him without his equipment to focus it. In all else fails, the heroes can just yeet Kaminari into the clustered enemies and let him zap a whole swath of them unconscious from his discharge. 6) “And it`s right where we left last chapter if I`m not mistaken. The Skies are opening up and time of judgment is upon the Liberation Front. Shouldn`t have built your whole base out of a material your enemies can bend you know”-Cenemtos is like an Earthbender, but with way harder material to beat you up with. Not as plentiful in wooded areas though, but in this case, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. 7) “Oh no, not the conference! Damn you, heroes! Damn you! How dare you cancel the conference! Curse thee, heroes! I hope Shigaraki wakes up and absolutely obliterates all of you in Shogi.”- They didn’t even get to enjoy the free snack bar….

8) “The battle is about to take place, as… Cigarette McScarface stepped forward to confront them. I hope you have some damn good power there dude, because otherwise Cementoss is just going to crush you with the pieces of the hotel. “- Hawks’s situation aside, heroes generally try not to kill if they can help it, but for Scarface, having a wide-open area and a bunch of clustered enemies in front of him would have been the perfect opportunity to unleash his full powers, if not for the Heroes bringing their own Jammingwheey lighting rod. 9) “You know, you could`ve just crushed all of them with the hotel, or at least a big chunk of them, and captured the rest, I bet it would be far easier than whatever we`re about to see. Really, in a battle, the one to strike first has the biggest chance to win, and you just threw away your shot.”-A wide-open space lets the group of heroes coordinate more to cover each other’s weaknesses, whereas the PLF members are all scattered and working in smaller individual groups, some of which are split up around the hotel. The heroes initiated this attack, so they’re already in place to counter and contain the big fish, who can only count of quick and decisive action to reverse the heroes’ momentum and puts some odds back in their favour. 10) “Alright, that`s what I like to see. The hero side is all familiar faces, but on the villains` side, oh boy: Captain Bald, Spiky McAnime hair, Punk Bruv,  ?? eyes, Executioner, Mister Stache, Moonshark, Flathead Katnaboo, Tokyo Ghoulie, Turtleneck waifu, Granda Murders, :o skull face, and of course, Cigarette McScarface.

A though crowd to face, I hope the heroes are well prepared.”- Well, they’ve certainly made great use of their own spying efforts to predict the most favourable matchups in powers and skills to bring to the table to thwart the PLF’s counterattack, as Kaminari demonstrates.

11) “YEAH SHUT THE FUCK UP CIGARETTE MAN, WE DON`T CARE YOUR QUIRK IS ELECTRICITY, I`M MORE CONCERNED THAT CUTE MOMENT WAS ABSOLUTELY A DEATH FLAG AND I DON`T LIKE IT ONE BIT“-In war, every interaction starts to look like a death flag. Pray they made it mandatory that nobody’s carrying around any photos of loved ones…

@thelreads