#thank you Tom for the MI movies

[sdrose93]

Rewatched all the Mission: Impossible movies and I enjoyed every minute of it ❤❤

[janetbrown711]

I Know It's Over

!!! Sonic Movie 3 Spoilers !!!

After the battle, Sonic, Knuckles and Tails are taken back to London to regroup with Maddie and Tom, all the while guilt is threatening to eat Tails alive.

tw for injuries but nothing too graphic is stated as there is no mention of blood but there is mention of medical equipment and yelping in pain and yeah

Ao3 Link

Tails was a scientist, this was true, but even he couldn’t tell which part of him hurt the most as he laid crashed in a cornfield in the middle of who-knows-where. He felt lightheaded, that much was obvious, but there was also a tingling sensation crawling through every fibre of his skin that made him honestly want to shrivel up forever (or at least just for a nap). Not to mention, there was something happening that made it harder for him to breathe– like a bruised rib or something. It was hard to analyze when every part of him was this level of ouch.

It took a minute to realize he was laying on someone– that someone being Knuckles– who had his arms wrapped around him and Sonic. He couldn’t help but feel bad for him– that he had to burn up to make up for Tails’ failures, instead of staying to help finish the problem with the Eclip–

Holy cow.

“Sonic, look!” Tails instantly urged, needing someone else to confirm what he was seeing too.

Tails had never seen something so beautiful yet tragic in the earth’s night sky. The remains of the canon now looked like the beginning of a whole new galaxy– or maybe a star was a better comparison. Either way, he was actually relieved Knuckles got out of there before any of that happened…

Then again, not everyone got out.

“Shadow and Robotnik… they sacrificed themselves to save everyone,” he put together, even though it made his head spin worse, and a weight he hadn’t noticed pressed harder on his chest.

“‘You always have a choice,’” Sonic quoted, a distant look in his eyes, before he suddenly shook it off. “Guys, I’m– I’m sorry for running away like that, I shouldn’t have left you behind…”

Tails almost wanted to laugh, wanting to point out he basically left Knuckles behind too, to become a part of… of that…

He didn’t, though (though the weight pressed harder).

“...Can you two ever forgive me?” Sonic asked, bleary eyed.

Tails didn’t blame or think less of him, of course. He just about wanted to cry too, from sheer exhaustion if nothing else.

Knuckles found a way to smile though, which was saying something. “Of course. We are ‘Team Sonic’, after all.” He punched Sonic lightly, which still made the hedgehog wince, before Sonic pulled the warrior in for a hug Tails was quick to join.

“I think just ‘Team’ works,” Sonic eventually said with a teary laugh that got Tails laughing too, but for not too long due to the burning and aching and ow.

Despite it feeling good to be wrapped up safe in arms that cared for him, Tails was relieved when it broke, since he didn’t really think he could stand the ache much longer. He sunk back to the ground with a wince as he painfully tried peeling off his backpack.

Knuckles noticed his struggle and took the bag off for him, handing it over without a word.

“Thanks.” Tails smiled weakly, quickly making note of all the scorched fur and burnt quills on him, before finding his Miles Electric. “I’m gonna send Tom and Maddie our coordinates so we can get out of here.”

He could feel Knuckles and Sonic looking at him after he said that though, and it took him embarrassingly long to realize he said–

Sonic was the one to speak up. “Tails, Tom is–”

“I-I know, I know, I know.” Tails bit his tongue since his screen turned on (he thanked his past self for making his Electric able to withstand heats up to 4,000 degrees Kelvin). “I just– I’m sending them, so just… it won’t be long.”

He could still feel the eyes on him, but he just focused on getting those coordinates as fast as possible so they could go back to London and see if Tom was–

…If he...

It was Tails’ technology that got him hurt. He heard Shadow’s voice over the mic. He heard Shadow say he did what he had to before he disappeared. But he also knew Shadow wouldn’t just attack someone innocent like Tom– it was Tails’ fault– it was his plan, it was his tech, it was his–

“...ails? Tails, buddy, are you–?” Sonic tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but he shrunk away.

“I’m busy right now, okay?” Tails’ voice cracked. “I-... I’ll try to do medical evaluations later.”

“That’s not what I’m asking about.” Sonic crossed his arms– though it made him cringe in pain.

“Well, it should be! You’re seriously hurt! I-I mean– coming out of Super Sonic like that? And then falling that far? Half of your quills are burnt black, for crying out loud,” Tails pointed out. “I’ll see if there’s anything I can do in a minute.” He went back to the coordinate searching– though of course the connection was still being wonky.

“Fox…” Knuckles seemed to decide it was his turn to argue now.

“You’re one to talk too– you’re burnt pretty bad as well! I mean– you basically took all three of our crash impacts. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a concussion o-or even radiation exposure effects due to staying at the Eclipse Canon for so long,” Tails pushed back, the weight pressing harder and making his heart pound as the map finally loaded.

Knuckles didn’t seem amused. “Fox, what are you–” “I’m just trying to get us back to London as soon as possible, okay? Will you let me do that now? Please?” Tails snapped slightly, clearly startling Sonic (though Knuckles was characteristically unphased).

The echidna stared at Tails for a moment, before nodding. “To your task.”

Tails bit his cheek, but brought his focus back to his Electric, which finally loaded their coordinates. Now, it was just as simple as a swipe and a tap and they were that much closer to home.

Home…

Tails had lived with Tom and Maddie for quite some time now, but he still couldn’t help the odd feeling he got when thinking of their house as home. After all, his past two homes weren’t exactly up to code, especially when in comparison to the Wachowski house. He wasn’t used to having a pet, or friends, or adults that liked him and genuinely wanted him around and brushed his fur and tucked him in at night, and–

And who he got hurt. Badly hurt.

“Okay, the coordinates are sent.” Tails forced himself away from his thoughts. Knuckles nodded, while Sonic only looked moderately relieved, and was quick to start pacing around.

Tails and Knuckles let him, the former working on doing some bug testing on the electric, and the latter doing some kind of warrior yoga meditation thing. The silence couldn't last forever though, as after maybe two minutes, Sonic spoke up.

“You know– if you guys wanted, I could go run around, get a good look of the place, and look for an airpl–”

“No,” both of them said at the same time.

“Hey! I’d be right back, I swear,” Sonic tried defending himself.

“Sonic, you’re barely able to even walk around like that; running will only make your injuries worse,” Tails tried to explain, but it was clear Sonic’s impatience remained.

“I feel fine,” he clearly lied, still having a shortness to his breath and a slight limp on his right side. “I just– I want to get to London as soon as possible.”

“I-I know, I know– but the connection on my electric got through so I’m sure Maddie already sent them to GUN,” Tails tried to comfort, but Sonic growled at the mention of the organization.

“Y’know, I think I’d rather take my chances with you piloting a random airplane.” He looked away bitterly.

“We are not going to steal from the local people, it would be dishonorable.” Knuckles put his foot down, making Sonic grumble more, but at least he didn’t argue.

Tails couldn’t blame Sonic for his impatience, he was itching to get back to London too. He was just too weak for pacing or flying right now. To be honest, he really just wanted to curl onto a ball, hide under the covers, and wait for this all to pass like a bad thunderstorm.

Tails was startled when he felt an arm wrap around him– even more surprised it was Knuckles’. Tails looked up, trying to see if he could get a good read of him, but he was stoic as ever. He was hurt, no doubt by the burns he sported too, but he never did let it show (except when fighting Shadow). It would be a lot harder to give him a medical evaluation, but Tails could guess his left hand was still bad from when Shadow twisted it. He was also showing signs of a minor concussion, looking a little more dazed and dizzy than usual. Of course, there wasn't anything Tails could really do about that until they got to the hospital, and even then Maddie would want to be in charge, since she was a vet and all.

“Take it easy, okay Knuckles? I can bandage some of your burns and your hand once we’re on our way out,” Tails advised, getting nothing but a short nod in response.

Things were quick to go quiet again, except for the sound of Sonic pacing and the occasional breeze stirring the corn, until the sounds of the GUN helicopter broke through. While Tails was relieved, he could tell his teammates were having… conflicted feelings, to say the least. Especially Sonic, who always wore his emotions on his sleeve.

Still, they all got up and followed the soldiers’ orders to take their seats and wait for the hour and a half flight from Aquitaine, France (so that's that's where they were) to London. Of course, that only lasted until lift off, as shortly after Sonic began to pace again.

Thankfully, the soldiers let Tails use their first aid kit and so he began by wrapping up Knuckles’ arm.

The trained warrior didn't complain a bit, even when Tails had to straighten it out in a way he knew had to be uncomfortable for the splint. Tails could admire that; the ability to tough things out, to not complain when doing the right thing gets him hurt, to not mention how Tails left Knuckles behind without so much as a second thought. He appreciated Knuckles allowing him to still do what he was good at before... well, before–

“I can't take this anymore– how much longer is it gonna be?” Sonic complained loudly to the pilot, which got a silent glare from one of the soldiers.

“Sit down, hedgehog,” she ordered, and he rolled his eyes.

“You must be fun at parties,” he muttered, going back to Knuckles and Tails to continue his pacing again.

Tails took pity on him. “Considering it’s been no more than ten minutes since we left, I’d say we still have an hour and twenty minutes.” He finished tying off Knuckles’ bandage. “You’re up next, if you’re ready.”

Sonic sighed and slumped himself in the seat opposite to Tails. “Y’know, if I had known we were in France, I would’ve just run,” he grunted.

Tails sighed, looking for the aloe vera. “Sonic, you know–”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Sonic crossed his arms with a wince again and began tapping his foot. “I would’ve found a way to bring you two along.”

Tails couldn’t help but smile a little as he shook his head. “I appreciate it, Sonic, but I think Tom and Maddie would appreciate it if you didn’t get yourself killed just so you can see if–... if…” Tails couldn’t finish the sentence, the weight on his chest threatening to cave in. Again, he felt Knuckles place a hand on his shoulder, which was half comforting, half guilt-inducing.

“The Lord of Donuts will be alright, Fox. We must be patient until then,” he spoke calmly, but, again, Tails just couldn’t quite feel settled.

“Y-yeah, I know.” Tails finally found the bottle and squeezed out a glob before rubbing it on a burnt spot on Sonic’s arm, making his teammate cringe.

“Yeesh, are you trying to kill me here?” Sonic complained half-heartedly.

“Your adrenaline is running out.” Tails waved off. “You’re going to be in a world of pain soon, and you’ll be thanking me for doing at least some of this ahead of time.”

Sonic waved him off with his free arm. “You and your science.”

“Never fails,” Tails teased, before remembering all over again how it was his tech that got Tom hurt and– and Maddie was disappointed in him– saw him as a failure and if anything really bad happened he’d probably end up getting kicked out and on his own again– which really, really, really sucked because he really liked Tom and Maddie and he hadn’t wanted to fail them, but–

“Tails– Tails, what’s the matter? Why do you keep doing that? What’s going on, man?” Sonic asked, placing a hand on his other shoulder.

Tails shook his head and desperately forced back any tears that were threatening to form. “I’m sorry, I just– it’s–... I-I…” He looked down at his hands and at the bottle of aloe. “I need to make sure you two are okay.”

Sonic gave a pitiful smile. “I’m okay, bud.”

Tails scoffed, rubbing the bottle with his finger. “You’re probably not gonna wanna run for the next week or two with all the damage you’ve done– plus you’re all burnt a-and–”

“Yeah, but I’m also alive thanks to you two saving my butt,” Sonic punched the fox’s arm lightly, which made Knuckles chuckle quietly.

Tails couldn’t help but laugh a little too. “Y-yeah, that is true– though it’s all on Knuckles, really, since when I tried I couldn’t throw the ring and I passed out from all the wind and pressure and heat, unlike him, who was totally cool with it,” he confessed, pouring more aloe to rub on Sonic’s shoulder.

“Your bravery was most noteworthy, Fox. You made a valiant effort to protect your teammate and this planet from harm. You should be proud of what you have accomplished,” Knuckles spoke up, and Tails could feel the stern look he was giving on the back of his neck.

“Thanks, Knuckles.” Tails didn’t so much as glance his way, noting silently that among his accomplishments was getting Tom hurt. However, he just kept on working, ignoring the look Sonic was also giving him as well.

After another wince in pain, Sonic sighed. “I’m nervous too, bud… but we’ll– we’ll figure something out, I’m sure.”

Tails couldn’t speak, swallowing a lump in his throat with a silent nod. He really didn’t have time for crying or for pity right now, he had to help his friends, he had to prove he could still do good before he lost the only home he’d ever known.

And thankfully, Sonic let him, allowing him to apply more aloe before bandaging some areas up and even wrapping his ankles (which Sonic insisted he didn’t need, despite actively whining when he wrapped his right foot).

By the time he was done, it seemed Tails’ own adrenaline was rapidly running out. When he tried to inspect himself for injuries or burns, he barely managed to apply a band-aid before he started to actively nod off. He tried to fight as best he could, apply aloe here and there. However, his tails and tailbones were what hurt the most, but there wasn’t anything he could really do until he got to Maddie, so the best thing he could do right now was rest up.

Not that she would probably want to help Tails. She’d probably not even want him in the room. No, she’d tell him to pack his things and go, to stop embarrassing her family and say he ‘caused them enough trouble,’ before kicking him out in the rain. Not that it was raining right now but– but that’s how these things went.

At least this time Tails could be prepared.

With that thought in mind, Tails curled up in his chair, next to his compatriots, before being dragged down into a heavy sleep.

.o0o.

“Ahhh, home sweet home,” Sonic grinned, setting down his suitcase and immediately doing a lap around the place, which made Tails laugh. “Definitely better than being at that hotel for two weeks. Although, I still don’t agree with the new living room paint.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re not in charge here, are you?” Maddie teased, bringing in her suitcase plus a large bag full of papers and bills and all sorts of adult human earth stuff.

“There are many reasons the hedgehog should not be in charge, Pretzel Woman; his arrogance, his temperament, his–”

“Alright, Knuckles, that’s enough,” Tom warned casually, bringing in Ozzie and his two duffle bags.

“Very well, Lord of Donuts. As leader of this clan, I trust your judgement.” Knuckles put a hand on his chest.

“Rrright… Well, it’s only 4pm, so… Sonic, how’s about you pick out a movie to show the new guys while me and Maddie get some things settled and order pizza?” Tom suggested, setting his bags down on a table.

“Oo! Yes! Knuckles, I got some action movies I know you’ll love– there’s one where this adventure guy is fighting these Nazis, right? And there’s this temple with cultists and–”

“Hey, let’s try to make it a movie everyone can enjoy?” Maddie interrupted, noticing Tails holding one of his namesakes tight.

“H-hey! I can handle violence! Especially if it teaches me about ancient earth culture,” Tails protested.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t exactly call Temple of Doom ‘educational’,” Tom chuckled, unleashing Ozzie, who immediately started following Knuckles.

“Oh please, Tails is a pro! He can totally handle all the fighting and violence.” Sonic wrapped an arm around Tails’ shoulder, making him smile.

Tom didn’t seem swayed in the slightest, though. “I seem to recall the last time we watched it, a certain hedgehog needed to sleep in our bed for a week because he was scared of his heart getting ripped out.”

“Wha–? I–? I would never!” Sonic protest, before he huffed. “Okay, fine, I’ll think of something else.”

Knuckles shook his head. “I disagree. I think we should watch this ‘moo-vie’, as I find the premise rather intriguing– although I have one question for you, Hedgehog,” Knuckles turned to him. “What exactly is a na–”

“Hey! Knuckles, let’s leave human questions for tomorrow, okay bud? Just go hang out on the couch for now,” Tom interrupted with a sudden burst of energy, exchanging a look with Maddie. “Besides, Sonic is going to choose a movie everyone can enjoy, right?”

“Right, right, yeah,” Sonic waved off, ego still bruised.

“Good.” Maddie scratched him behind his ears, which perked him up. “We’ll just be in our room if you need us, but it shouldn’t be too long.”

“You got it.” Sonic saluted, making the woman laugh again and kiss his forehead before taking her bags and paperwork away.

“Make good choices.” Tom gave a friendly wink before he too disappeared.

“Alright, well gang, we have some choices to make.” Sonic clapped his hands before he sped off to the living room, Knuckles and Tails quick to follow. “We could watch Star Wars, since if we stick to the main trilogy it’s pretty tame– or we could watch some Planet Earth documentaries if you guys want a crash course on that kind of thing– or! Oo! Tails, I know you’ll love Yu-Gi-Oh, we should do that!”

“Oh-! I’m cool with whatever you guys want, really, you don’t have to go out of your way or anything.” Tails took a step back.

“Does this ‘Yu-Gi-Oh’ also have fighting and violence?” Knuckles asked, taking his seat next to Sonic on the couch.

“Fighting, yes. Violence, not really. It’s cool though, you’ll like it too.” Sonic grinned before he found the remote and turned on the TV.

“Ah–! Sorcery!” Knuckles jumped up, before shaking his fear off. “Not that it matters! No magic is strong enough to take down an echidna warrior!” He pointed his fists to the television.

“Woah there, dude! Mom and Dad do not need you destroying another TV, chill out.” Sonic quickly tried to put his arms down.

While Sonic and Knuckles started arguing about the nature of the television, Tails sat on the ground close to the kitchen, and dug out his Miles Electric to try and do some more repairs. Of course, Tails had tinkered a lot with his electric while at the hotel, but the right-hand button still wasn’t responding as it should have. He was lucky he had barely needed it these past two weeks, otherwise it would’ve frustrated him a lot more. But now that Sonic was back home, Tails knew it was just a matter of time, and so got back to work, the sound of arguing making solid background noise.

Tails had managed to remove the casing on his electric, unscrew any and all coverings, and was part way through testing and cleaning parts of the motherboard when there was someone standing over him.

“Hey kiddo, what’re you doing over here all by yourself? You can barely even see the TV,” Tom pointed out, kneeling down to get a look– though Tails quickly tried to cover it with his hands.

“S-sorry! I know I should be enjoying the movie, it’s just that I–”

“Woah, hey, it’s cool, you’re not in trouble,” Tom assured. “I just wanna know what you’re working on, if that’s alright.”

Tails tilted his head. “But… why?”

Tom chuckled, fully taking his seat on the ground. “Because it’s not every day I meet a genius tech whiz kid with a bag full of cool and dangerous tech.”

“O-oh! Right, yeah.” Tails couldn’t help but blush. “It’s nothing special, really, I’m just fixing up my Miles Electric.”

“‘Miles Electric’, huh? What’s the name for? Is it like a GPS?” Tom asked.

“It is! But it does a lot more, usually. And it’s named after– a-after me, actually.” Tails looked down at the device.

Tom sat up straighter. “So your birth name is Miles?”

“Miles Prower, yes.” Tails picked at the carpet.

Tom chuckled. “I like it. Suits you.” “Y-yeah, but I prefer Tails, since that's what everyone calls me,” he explained, tracing the AGP slot with his finger anxiously.

“Whatever makes you more comfortable, Tails.” Tom smiled softly, making the fox blush again.

“Thank you, Mr. Wachowski.”

“You can call me Tom if you want, I don’t mind,” he offered.

“R-right! Well– um– the Miles Electric is sorta like how phones work for you guys, except mine has its own radio wave emissions that don’t rely on satellites for things like tracking and measuring chaos energy levels,” Tails explained, taking out a small magnifying glass to examine the CPU more closely.

“Wow, that sounds fancy. You made it yourself from scratch?” Tom asked.

Tails nodded. “I had a whole lab back on our home planet where I made all of my gadgets and gizmos– though I left most of them behind when I found out Knuckles was on his way.”

“Oh? What other stuff do you have over there?”

“Oh, lots of things.” Tails set down the magnifying glass. “Televisions, laser pistols, smoke bombs, hoverboards, cameras, wire traps, a jetpack, and some prototypes for my own airplane.” Tails couldn’t help but smile. “Man, I know I totally shouldn’t have done it, but flying that airplane was exhilarating– I’d give just about anything to do it again.”

“Ahh, so we got a pilot on our hands, hm?” Tom smiled too.

“Y-yeah! Though before now it’s been mostly simulations and readings and whatnot, so you know.” Tails shrugged off.

“That’s still super impressive, kiddo. Not everyone can take skills from video games and apply them to real life– otherwise I think Sonic would be a much better driver,” he joked.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Tails giggled. “It helps that I’ve been passionate about flying planes for as long as I can remember.” He picked up his magnifying glass again.

“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed since you can already fly,” Tom pointed out.

“Yeah, but flying a plane has far more endurance, you know? Like– if I owned a plane I could really go somewh– dang it, I need to reball this,” Tails muttered, frustrated to find the CPU's connection had a slight fracture he hadn’t noticed before.

“Distance is the goal, hm?” Tom focused on. “I get that. I used to dream of flying off to San Francisco to be a big city cop.”

“Until Sonic came around, right?” Tails recalled, giving up on fixing the CPU and checking if other parts were in need of cleaning.

Tom nodded. “Yep. He made me realize I had everything I could ever ask for right here.”

Tails hummed. “Sounds nice.”

“It is,” Tom agreed. “But we were talking about airplanes, right? Did you say you had plans to build one of your own?”

“Oh, yeah,” he chuckled, finding a smidge of dirt on the digital signal processor he wiped clean. “I even made a few models and mini prototypes that fly pretty well. I’ve never really had the materials to make a life sized one, though, so until now it was more of a distant dream.”

“That’s really cool, kid.” Tom nudged him playfully. “Now, what would you say is the hardest part in building a plane?”

Tails snorted. “Obviously, the alignment.”

“Obviously.” Tom acted like he knew that too, which made the fox giggle.

“Everything has to be in its exact place at the exact measurements– especially in the wings and fuselage, otherwise the plane will be lopsided and then it can’t even get off the ground!” he explained. “Of course, there’s also hydraulics and making everything fit into a small and sleek frame, but I think I’ve already mastered that skill from working on my jetpack and hoverboard. Though– of course, I’ll have to make sure whatever seats I make, they can fit a person comfortably, since I don’t think standing on the wings is the smartest thing to keep doing,” Tails laughed, putting the motherboard back in its place and rescrewing it to the casing.

“Wait, you don’t mean Sonic–” Tom shook his head, “You know what? Don’t tell me. Just make sure nothing like that happens again.”

“I’ll try my best, Mr. Wachowski,” Tails laughed more. “But as I was saying, I’ll also have to decide if I want an ejector seat or not, since I can just fly out if worst comes to worst, and I’d really rather focus on making sure nothing could damage it in the first place– though of course that’s a lot easier said than done since I don’t exactly have Eggman level tech within reach at all times– and even then I managed to blow up quite a bit of it with my laser gun.” He snorted. “I’d also have to decide if I want a radio, just in case I come across another plane or person, though I– I don’t know. Radio technology is easy, of course, but it would take up a lot of space for something I probably won’t even need. Plus, headphones are kind of a pain for us, as opposed to you guys due to having less convenient locations. I also wouldn’t want a glass roof to protect from wind, so I guess a radio actually wouldn’t work at all, which– yeah, I’m fine with that, and– Oh! On the topic of the ejector, I’d have to also figure out the hydraulics there and determine the right amount of pressure and speed that would lead to me being a safe distance away but not so fast that I can’t manage to fly before I hit the ground, which the books I’ve read are not very helpful in helping me calculate, but I’ve never really been one to back down from a challenge like that. After all, it’s just a matter of wind resistance, G-force, acceleration, and my own reaction times– which could certainly use some work based on what happened in Syria.” Tails scratched his neck.

“Ah, I’m sure it’s nothing a little more baseball practice can’t fix, I wouldn’t worry,” Tom assured.

“Thanks.” Tails gave a crooked smile. “But yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it, and I’m just glad I don’t need a parachute, otherwise I’d have to either make a big pocket in my bag with a drawstring and everything, or get a new bag entirely, which will be hard because–” Tails suddenly realized just how much he was talking, and froze. “I– I’m sorry, Mr. Wachowski, you don’t want to hear any of this, you should be watching the movie, I–”

“Woah, hey, it’s all good, Tails, don’t worry.” Tom placed a hand on his shoulder.

Tails looked away. “You don’t have to lie, Mr. Wachowski. I-I know it’s stupid–”

“You talking about airplanes is not ‘stupid’, Tails, it’s super awesome,” Tom insisted, squeezing the fox’s shoulder. “I may not have understood about half of what you said, but I can tell you’re really passionate about this engineering stuff, and I love hearing passionate people talk.”

Tails blinked. “R-really?”

Tom nodded. “Oh, yeah. You talk about airplanes the same way Sonic talks about his comics and John Wick, and you know what? Even though I can’t even tell which character is from which universe or timeline, I could listen to him talk about it all day.”

Tails couldn’t help but smile as his namesakes bounced up and down. “Thanks, Mr. Wachowski. Your hospitality means a lot to me.”

“No problem, kiddo.” Tom smiled back before pulling out his phone while Tails finally pieced his Electric back together.

“You know, Maddie and I have been looking into bed frames for you and Knuckles for the attic. I’m starting to think it would be really cool if we could find an airplane shaped one, especially because it would match Sonic’s car bed. What do you think, though?” Tom showed Tails his screen, which made the kit freeze.

“W...Why are you looking into bed frames for us, Mr. Wachowski?” Tails glanced up.

Tom tilted his head. “I know you two are technically animals, but I know beds are a lot more comfortable than the ground.”

Tails shook his head. “No, that’s not– I mean like– like why? I-It’s not like I’m going to live here.”

Tom furrowed his brow. “I thought we talked about you staying with us back at the hotel.”

“I-I thought you meant like for a night or two! You– you don’t really want me here, do you?” Tails asked.

“Tails, of course we want you here,” Tom moved to be in front of Tails, where he then tilted the fox’s chin so he’d meet his eyes. “You’re a really cool, smart, and compassionate kid who helped save our planet, and Sonic himself especially. Plus Maddie and Sonic already adore you– Knuckles too, for that matter. We all want you here and with us and... and we even want you to be a part of our family, if you’d like.”

Tails looked down at his Electric again, his heart pounding in his chest. The whole reason he was fixing his Electric was so he’d be able to be on his own again– to get out of their hair before they got too annoyed by his quirks or weirded out by his tails, like his entire village (including his parents) had.

But now… Now he was being offered a place to stay? Permanently? What did that mean? Tom said he wanted him to join their family– Tails hadn’t ever really been part of a real family, not like the one Sonic, Tom, and Maddie had– would he even be good at it? What if he messed up? What if they got mad at him? Surely he’d be tossed out, just like he had before. It wouldn’t be worth it. Tails didn’t know how to live with other people, he was a loner, he would just mess it up–

But Tom… Tom liked him. He liked talking to him, he liked hearing him ramble, and he thought Tails had a gift, which was more than anyone back at the village would say. So... So maybe this time, things could… be okay. Maybe this time, Tails could be part of a family. Maybe, if Tails said yes, he could have loving parents, and cool older brothers, and a nice dog, and a house in the woods, and he could be safe, and warm, and loved, and cared for in ways he never even knew.

“Look, I know it’s early, so I understand if you need more time, but know that Maddie, and Sonic, and I care about you, okay? We don’t wan–”

Tom was interrupted by Tails leaping up and hugging him as tight as he could, which he returned once he processed.

“Thank you, Mr. Wachowski, I-I don’t know what to say.” Tails sniffled.

“Don’t worry about it, kiddo. We’re happy to have you here.” Tom hugged him tighter, making him smile because for once in his life, Tails could believe that.

.o0o.

The sleeping fox kit was woken up by Sonic shaking his arm, but all Tails wanted was to go back to his dream, where everything felt so safe and warm…

“Tails, dude, we’re here, wake up.” Sonic shook his arm again.

“H-huh?” Tails looked around to make sure he was right, and lo and behold the helicopter was docked at the hospital, which meant–

Tails jumped out of his seat instantly and started flying; he was so desperate to see if Tom was okay. However, the idea was short lived, as he yelped and fell to the ground before even forming a full two circles.

“Careful, Fox, you have not been aided yet,” Knuckles scolded softly, assisting Sonic in helping Tails up.

“Yeah, slow your roll, Tails; being impatient is my thing.” Sonic grinned.

“Right, yeah, be patient, I know that,” Tails laughed pathetically, finally gaining his footing, making one of the soldiers roll their eyes.

“Follow me,” they said, and the three of them did as they were told. It took four flights of stairs, one elevator ride, and several twists and turns, but finally, Tails, Knuckles, and Sonic were in front of ICU room A931.

There was a moment, a moment where, when Sonic opened the door, Tails closed his eyes and turned away. Sonic had tugged him forward, but Tails wanted to dig his heels in. The weight was pressing harder, begging for him to stop– to stay out in the hallway forever if it meant that he would never have to face–

“Oh my god– Boys!” Maddie cried out, and before Tails knew it, he was running at her full speed while she knelt at the ground, his teammates quickly joining him.

“Oh, my babies– I’m so sorry– I’m so glad you’re here– is everyone alright? I’m so sorry for leaving you like that– oh, you’re all so brave– and so young– I’m so glad you’re all here.” Maddie hugged them tight and planted kisses on each of their heads, her face wet with tears.

“I-it’s okay, Mom, we’re all in one piece, it’s okay,” Sonic replied, nuzzling his face against hers while he started to cry too.

“Our dear Fox has kept us well in check; you should be very proud of his work.” Knuckles nuzzled closer too.

“Oh, good, I was just– I was so scared, and when I saw that– that thing in the sky, I just– I'm so glad you're okay.” Maddie sighed a massive breath of relief.

“N-not... not all of us,” Sonic mumbled, before he dared to look up and away towards the hospital bed (where Tails still couldn't bear a glance).

“D-Dad, how– how is he?” Sonic looked back and forth between him and Maddie, bouncing on his feet.

Maddie sniffled and let go of the hug to wipe her face (though Tails stayed clung tight). “You can hug him, it's okay, just be careful with all the wires and with his left shoulder.”

Sonic nodded, and was at the bed in a blur, though hugged him much slower.

“He… is alive, no?” Knuckles asked softly.

Maddie scratched his head. “He's alive, sweetie. He's just... he's asleep right now… and will be for a while.”

The weight pressed much harder on Tails’ chest, forcing him to cling to Maddie tighter or else burst into tears.

“Oh baby, it's okay. The doctor says his vitals are holding good and strong; he should be okay,” Maddie tried to soothe, but Tails just shook and trembled in her arms.

“Fox, our good Pretzel Woman would not lie to us, our Donut Lord will be well in no time” Knuckles patted Tails’ back, but there was the slightest quiver to his voice that made him feel worse.

“So what’s– what’s wrong with him…?” Sonic asked carefully, his voice low.

Tails could feel Maddie tense before she slowly stood up, thankfully picking him up with her, allowing him to bury his head in her chest and away from the bed.

“W-well… his shoulder is dislocated, and he bonked his head pretty hard in the fall, but the biggest problem is his kidney, right where h-he was– where he– you know.” She looked away to stop herself from crying.

Tails winced, burying his head deeper, but the weight in his chest was crushing him alive, he couldn't stand it anymore, and so he finally peeped a look at Tom and–

He had electroencephalogram stickers on his head, measuring his brain waves onto one of the many screens next to him. He had unusual breathing, starting and stopping at odd intervals, but was probably helped by an oxygen mask. He didn’t move or even twitch at Sonic’s touch, and wasn’t responding to any noise either. His hand and wrist looked slightly swollen, his watch and wedding ring removed and placed on a side table. There was an IV and heart monitor on his right hand, which Sonic was careful to not mess with as he held his hand and sat close. His left arm was in a sling, the disguise now made necessary. His skin was also very pale, not helped by being completely washed out by the pale blues and whites of the room, bedsheets, and hospital gown. He looked awful. If he weren’t asleep, he’d be in so much pain…

“S-so a concussion, a gl-glenohumeral joint dislocation, acute kidney injury, a-and a– a coma?” Tails found he couldn’t peel his eyes away.

The fox felt her startle, and could see her examining him with a mix of pained confusion and pity.

“Y-yeah, that’s… that’s what the doctor said, sweetheart.” She tried to smile, but it just– something about Maddie saying that he was right, that Tom was in a coma, it– it hurt– it hurt more than anything had ever hurt Tails before– the weight on his chest– the weight of his failures finally crashed down on Tails, and the fox let out an agonized sob.

“Tails!” Everyone cried out at once– but Tails ignored it, frantically pushing his way out of Maddie’s arms and attempting to fly straight to the door– only to immediately yelp in pain and fall to the ground. He narrowly avoided Knuckles grabbing hold of his arm, but when he tried to run for the door, Sonic sped right in front of him.

“Tails, what’s going on, bud?” Sonic asked, hands held out in an attempt to soothe.

Tails shook his head. “I-I–”

His eyes went back to Tom, who was still unconscious– completely unaware of what was happening right in front of him– because of Tails– because of his technology–

“I-I’m sorry, okay?!” Tails shouted. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!”

“W-What?” Sonic took a step back. “Tails, it’s not–” “I-It was my plan! It was my tech! I-I should’ve had a safeguard o-or– or something! A-and now it's all my fault that he’s dying a-and– a-and I’m gonna lose one of the first people to ever even care about me,” Tails sobbed, collapsing to his knees.

It took less than a second for arms to wrap around and squeeze him tight.

“I-It’s not your fault, Tails, none of us knew Shadow would be there,” Sonic insisted, eyes clenched tight as he cried too.

A soft hand stroked the top of his head. “Sonic’s right, honey, it’s not your fault. We didn’t kn–”

“B-but I should have!” Tails fought back. “I-I just– if I had a safeguard, o-or some kind of quick cancel, o-or if I used my Electric to track Shadow, I-I coulda stopped him.”

“Fox, your hands were already full from planning our mission and guiding us through obstacles– you have been truly extraordinary today,” Knuckles argued too, but Tails couldn’t have disagreed more.

“I-If I-I h-h-had ju-just– If I had j-just thought for– for five seconds– do the one thing I’m good at for five seconds–” he choked out.

“Tails, baby, that’s not true– you’re so kind and gentle and sweet– you’re so much more than our tech guy,” Maddie insisted, but Tails could barely hear her over the anguish in his head.

“I-If I had just planned like I was supposed to– I-I coulda saved him! B-but now h-he’s– a-and now I have to leave, a-a-and I really don’t wanna– I don’t wanna go back, I don’t wanna.” Tails buried his head in Sonic’s shoulder.

“W-What? Tails– Tails, why– You can’t– w-we– why?” Sonic was at a complete loss for words.

“Tails– Tails, baby, look at me,” Maddie grabbed his right shoulder and lifted his chin. “You aren’t going anywhere, okay?”

Tails shook his head. “B-but–”

“No ‘but’s, honey. You belong here with your family.” Maddie smiled while she cried, wiping away Tails’ tears.

“B-But h-he got hurt cuz of my tech– a-a-aren’t you m-m-mad at me?” Tails hiccuped.

Maddie’s face melted. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m not mad at you,” she cooed, scooping up the fox in her lap. “I’m so proud of you. You’ve done so much today and for our family– I would never, ever want you to leave us.”

“Y-yeah! Besides, it’s not your fault he got hurt, it’s GUN’s,” Sonic added, moving to Maddie’s side where Tails could see him.

Tails sniffled and wiped his eyes. “B-but– but I coulda–”

“You did the best you could, Fox. You should be proud of how well you protected our family and our home,” Knuckles insisted.

“I– I left you behind on the arc– I didn’t– I didn’t even think about what would happen to you– what if you had been there, Knuckles? Wh-what if you– And what if I failed to catch Sonic? I didn’t throw the ring, I just passed out– I failed you guys– all of you.” Tails started shaking again, and Maddie rubbed soothing circles in his back.

“You haven’t failed anyone, Tails. You might have made a mistake or two, but it’s okay because that’s what the rest of us are here for, you know? We take care of each other, that’s what real families do.” She kissed his forehead.

Tails looked at the ground with a sniffle. “S-so… so even– even if he–...”

Maddie took a deep, shaky breath. “Even if– if Tom passed… I’d still want you here because you’re my kid, and I love you so much.” She hugged him tighter. “And I promise you, there is nothing you could possibly do that would make me stop.”

“O-oh…” Tails let out in a low whisper. “I–... thank you, Mrs–” Tails paused, taking a breath, “Mom. Thank you, Mom.” He smiled weakly up at her.

Maddie beamed before hugging him even tighter. “Anytime, baby.”

“Y-yeah! A-and– And I promise too, Tails, I might get annoyed or frustrated sometimes, but I’d never want you to leave. You’re my little brother, and I love you too,” Sonic joined in.

“The same goes for me as well, Fox. While we might not share blood, you’re as much kin to me as you are my friend,” Knuckles added, patting Tails’ back for emphasis.

“I love you guys too,” Tails giggled, before he glanced back at Tom's bed.

Maddie noticed this, of course, and gave the fox a scratch behind the ears. “He loves you too, you know.”

“I know.” Tails’ smile grew before falling slightly. “I just– I hope he'll be okay…”

Maddie let out a long sigh, letting go of Tails so she could wrap her arms around Sonic and Knuckles too. “I know it's scary right now, but it'll all work out, I promise.”

“Our Donut Lord is a strong fighter, for a human. He will overcome this.” Knuckles nodded in agreement, earning him a scratch on the head from Maddie.

Sonic chuckled. “Yeah… and if I know Dad– which, I totally do– then I know that he's not gonna give up without a fight.”

“We'll just… have to wait, in the meantime.” Tails said as he and Maddie exchanged weak smiles.

“Ugh, patience.” Sonic scrunched his face up.

“Good things come to those who wait, Sonic.” Maddie booped his nose before resting her head on Tails’.

“Say that to marathon winners,” Sonic argued.

“Say that to farmers,” Tails countered.

Sonic rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, okay you win that one.”

“As I was saying…” Maddie eyed the two of them. “It might be hard, and it might take a lot of time, but we're gonna get through it together as a team. It might take a long time before things start looking up, but no matter what, we’re in this together as a family. So long as we remember that, everything will work out.”

She hugged Tails tighter and made him smile, because for the second time in his life, he truly believed that.

[tightjeansjavi]

Jeany! Congrats on one year, baby!

What can I bring to the sleepover? I have punch and pie at the ready.

You know I’m a Frankie girl thru and thru… but what if he was… drunk and handsy (in the best way possible) and maybe we’re not an item yet… but he’s hella interested and the alcohol makes him brave…

Love a little friends to lovers…

Beefro👌🥩💜

BEEFRO!! my darling, mi vida, thank you for sending this in! I hope it’s okay that we didn’t get smutty with it, and the reader was the one who was a lil drunk 🥺

-

mi vida

~word count: 2.0k~

Summary: Frankie Morales is your best friend and the love of your life.

Pairing | best friend!frankie morales x f!reader

Warnings: fluff, angst, no age gap, language, mentions of drinking and smoking, right person wrong time, best friend!frankie, assumed unrequited love, frankie and the reader are bi, Santi, Will, and Benny exist in this universe but fuck Tom. Me and my homies hate a motherfucker named Tom, happy ending, reader can understand and speak Spanish, reader has no physical descriptions, +18 minors dni!

Translations:

mi vida- my life

querida- darling

hermano- brother

nada de eso- none of that

estoy en camino- I’m on my way

no te vayas de ahí- don’t move

voy a intentarlo- I’m going to try

vamos a salir de aquí- let’s get out of here

The bass in the nightclub is booming, pulsing in your ears and rattling your brain in your skull. Your vodka lemonade has practically watered down to nothing—great. To make matters even worse, your favorite pair of metallic heels keep sticking to the floor—gross. There’s too many people packed in this club, too many bodies, and you realize then that this was a terrible idea.

It all started with your stupid boyfriend—ex-boyfriend. He broke up with you over the phone, babbling pathetically about how he met someone else and how sorry he was. Bullshit. You sucked in your tears, and the remaining threads of your dignity and packed his shit up into a cardboard box and tossed it right down the garbage shoot.

Fuck him.

You weren’t even the least bit sad, no—you were furious. You should have known that he was a tool, just another asshole hiding under a ‘nice guy’ persona.

Did I even really love him? You questioned yourself in the mirror while applying a glitter shadow to your eyelids.

You did, but he’s not— You gripped the edge of the sink, staring at your reflection and the smudge mascara streaks under your eyes.

Frankie is too good for me. He deserves better.

Francisco—Catfish, Morales had been your best friend, your ride or die—your Clyde to your Bonnie, since you were kids.

You grew up on the same block and you remember the first day you met Frankie like it was just yesterday.

His mom sent him over to your house, with fresh tamales in a well loved container held between two clammy palms.

“Hey, I’m Frankie. Welcome to the neighborhood.” He said with a small, boyish grin.

He had the warmest brown eyes you had ever seen, and soon enough your diary was no longer doodles of unicorns, butterflies, princesses and dragons, it was Frankie Morales, and those brown eyes of his.

You walked to school together everyday and soon your duo turned into a little group consisting of three other kids that had become like brothers to Frankie and you.

There was Benny, Will, and Santi; the five of you shared your own stomping ground: the neighborhood playground. And as you grew older…your feelings towards your friends shifted.

You had a minor crush on Santi who found out through Benny and that’s how you ended up going to the movies together one weekend. Santi was a total gentleman, and while you were attracted to him, the butterflies weren’t there. The spark that you dreamed about feeling—was nonexistent. And when he kissed you, your foot didn’t pop up like it did in the Princess Diaries!

Get a room! You’d recognize that voice from anywhere—Frankie.

And low and behold, Frankie, Benny, and Will were all sitting a few seats behind you and Santi who wasted no time to grab a handful of popcorn and toss it at the three of them.

You and Santi decided afterwards that you were better off as friends. Will took you out to dinner once, and the two of you also quickly realized that you were better off as friends.

Benny ended up being your date to the junior prom. It was hard to not be attracted to a guy like Benny. He was smart, funny, and a total goober. He couldn’t dance for shit, but you had fun, and it was definitely going to be a night for the books.

Maybe you and Benny would have ended up together if you hadn’t slow-danced under a shimmering disco ball with Frankie after Benny took a break from dancing. Maybe your heart strings wouldn’t have tugged you in the direction of your best friend, and those big brown eyes of his.

“Are you going home with him, mi vida?” His words whispered against the shell of your ear while one hand rested along your lower back, and the other around your waist.

“Probably” You whispered softly.

You tried to pretend that you didn’t see the way his face fell, and his lips curve into a set frown.

“Good. He’ll take care of you. You deserve to have fun, querida.”

And when the song ended, and Benny returned, you watched your best friend walk away, his arm wrapped around Santi’s shoulders.

It was half-past 5 in the morning when you told Benny about your feelings for Frankie. You were tangled up in his sheets, passing a cigarette back and forth. Benny wasn’t even surprised, he just had this knowing grin on his face.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. We all know how you feel about catfish. It ain’t a secret.” He winked at you reassuringly.

-

On graduation night you had built up enough courage to finally tell Frankie how you felt, and after downing a few glasses of champagne for some extra liquid courage, you were ready—until you saw Frankie leaned in close to another girl in your grade, and your heart sank to the very pits of your stomach.

You told Santi how you felt about Frankie later that night while sharing a bottle of champagne on the old rusted swings of the neighborhood playground.

He confessed to you that he felt the same way about Frankie, but he was afraid of ruining their friendship and how Frankie would react.

You reached over, gently grabbing his hand in yours and told him, you should tell him how you feel, Santi.

-

When you went off to college, your four friends enlisted in the military and you weren’t sure if you would ever see them again. Life continued on for you, until you found yourself right back to your roots, and feeling the same way for your best friend as you did years ago. You just did a real damn good job of hiding it from your boyfriend.

So, that’s how you found yourself outside of the women’s bathroom, phone pressed to your ear, the bottom of your favorite heels sticking to the floor, and your thumbnail bleeding because you had ripped out a nasty hangnail with your teeth.

The dial tone rang, and rang and you thought that maybe this was a sign that you and Frankie were never meant to be. That it was all made up in your head, and scribbled in your diary. Maybe Frankie never felt the same way about you as you did for him.

“Mi vida?” his voice crackled on the other line and you imagined he had his hand cupped over his phone so that he could hear you better.

“Francisco,” you breathed, taking a pause as you gathered your thoughts. “I—I need you, Frankie.”

He nearly dropped his phone, lurching forward in his chair from your words. His erratic movements caught the attention of Santi who was sitting across from him in the booth and he raised his brows, mouthing, you okay, hermano?

Frankie was too caught up in the pounding of his heart in his chest, and his pulse racing in his eardrums to even notice Santi or Benny and Will now looking at him.

“Where are you, querida? Are you—safe? I can barely hear you.” Frankie uttered, bringing his thumb to his lips and gnawed on the side of the nail nervously with his teeth.

“I’m at some shitty club. Boyfriend broke up with me—and I ended up here. You don’t have to come, I just—I thought maybe…” you trailed off.

“Nada de eso, mi vida. Is it that same club we tried sneaking into back in highschool? The seedy one?”

“Yeah. The one where the floor is always sticky, and you can still smoke cigarettes.” You stifled a giggle.

“Estoy en camino, querida. Hang tight, okay? No te vayas de ahí.” He said in an urgent tone, gathering up his wallet and keys before he downed the last sip of his beer.

“I’m not going anywhere, Frankie.” You reassured him.

“I know, mi vida. I’ll stay on the line with you, ‘Kay?” He slipped out of the booth just as Santi stood up.

Frankie pulled his phone away from his ear momentarily, holding it against his shoulder as their eyes met.

Santi gave him a knowing a grin, slapping him on the shoulder gently in a half hug, “go get your girl, hermano.”

Frankie hugged him back, wrapping both arms around him before pulling back slightly with a grin slowly tugging over his lips, “Voy a intentarlo, hermano.”

And then there was Benny in the background yelling, “HELL YEAH, CATFISH! GO GET YOUR LADY!”

-

Frankie stayed on the phone with you the entire walk to the club which evidently was only a few blocks away. You were babbling on about how watered down your vodka lemonade was when Frankie had pushed himself through the mass of bodies all sweaty and sticking together. His eyes locked on your familiar face, right where you said you would be.

“I’m here, mi vida.” He whispered into the receiver before ending the call. He didn’t even have a chance to slip his phone into his back pocket when he felt your arms wound around his neck, pulling him into a hug. You smelled like cheap vodka, and flowery perfume that burned the sensitive hairs in his nostrils but he didn’t care.

“I missed you, Francisco.” You breathed into the bare patch of exposed skin on his neck, hugging yourself to him tightly. “I—there’s so much I want to say—and tell you, Frankie.”

“I missed you more than you can imagine, querida. I never—I’m so sorry…about your boyfriend.” He pulled back slowly so that he could get a good look at your face. He expected you to be a heartbroken wreck, but he was met with the complete opposite.

“Don’t be. He was a jackass, and I don’t think he and I were ever compatible.” You shrugged, eyes never leaving his. “I don’t give a fuck about him. I came out here to clear my head, but then I thought about you, Frankie. “Fuck it!” You laughed, choking back an on-coming sob that you weren’t expecting, “I should have just grown a pair all those years ago and told you how I felt! Fuck—do you have any idea just how in love with you I am, Francisco?”

“Mi vida, you’re drunk—you—just went through a break up, and you’ve had a lot to drink—”

She’s in love with me?

“I should have broken up with him a long time ago, Frankie. There’s a lot of things I wish I could have done differently, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but it’s always been you, Francisco, mi vida.”

She is in love with me.

Frankie brought his hands up to your face then, gently cradling your cheekbones in his palms. “Hey, hey, querida. It’s okay. Shit, it’s okay. You don’t have to apologize for any of that. You and I—we’ve always danced around the subject, haven’t we?”

You nodded and brought your hands up to rest along his.

“Santi told me after we enlisted that you were going to tell me how you felt on graduation night and then never did because—the timing wasn’t right then, mi vida. I thought about writing you a letter at some point, but I never did because the last thing I ever wanted to do was hold you back from the life you deserved, querida. All these years I’ve wanted to tell you—”

You cut him off, pulling his face close to yours, “I love you, Frankie” you brushed your thumb across the heart shaped patch in his beard.

“Fuck—I love you so much, mi vida.”

And then you were both surging forward, accidentally smacking one another in the forehead, letting out a synchronized groan of pain before your lips finally met in a bruising kiss. Your foot popped up behind you as drunk club-goers stumbled past yours and Frankie’s passionate embrace.

You came up for air a few minutes later, giggling as you threw your arms around his neck once more and he held you close, swaying with you as if there was a slow song playing.

“Vamos a salir de aquí, Frankie.” You said breathlessly, carding your fingers through the back of his hair having half the temptation to rip off his baseball cap just so you could mess his hair up even more.

He grabbed one of your hands, bringing it down to his face and pressed his lips to the outside of your hand, looking deeply into your eyes.

“I’ll go anywhere with you, mi vida.”

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[safehousebooze]

Hii!!

I'm watching the MI movies for the first time, currently heading to movie 6. I've never especially liked Tom Cruise, but I have to say now that I'm in love with Ethan (and impressed by the stunts). It's my kind of movie. Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation were especially amazing. I like everyone on the team(s). Aaand you draw Ethan and Benji like no one else. Thank you so, so much for working to express your appreciation through these arts, thank you for sharing each of these with us !! I love it. All the arts are so beautiful. I want to stick them on my glasses so I can see them all the time.

I hope you are doing well. Lots of love to you 🖤

Hey, welcome and enjoy!! :D

I fell in love with Ethan immediatly when he went back to his friends' cell to get him out as well in the prison break scene in GP. He is such a chaotic sweetheart..

Thank you for the kind words, so glad you like my stuff!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Making this a Ethan Hunt appreciation post with some studies (and one Benji) from yesterday <3

[captainnickfoligno]

Life Update Tag Game

thank you for the tag @sofarsofastmp3 xoxo!!

🎧 Last Song: radiohead's life in a glasshouse

🖍️ Favourite Color: been in the mood for silver and shimmery multichromes lately

📚 Last Book: currently(finally) reading hanif abdurraqib's there's always this year. before that it was a.s. byatt's possession

🎥 Last Movie: the brutalist. it was okay overall but adrien brody absolutely came to play

🍜 Sweet/Spicy/Savory: savory baby 🤑

💕 Relationship Status: partnered up for 7 years, long distance for....7 years

🌐 Last thing I googled: "one car to rule them all porsche 911 hoodie" bc i saw someone wearing it in the airport lol

💓 Current Obsession: being home (she types from the what? yeah the airport exactly right 😔); sedna yang's knitting patterns but this tartan baeja in partic; also tom hardy absolutely does still have me by the throat thanks for asking

🔮 Looking forward to: i got two movie theatre memberships and i'm excited to watch a whole lot of movies. also recently cleared out my ravelry queue and now it's filled with projects i can't wait to cast on!

tagging @jackreichel @lankinen @saucerfulofsins @blood-mocha-latte @lamialamia @crosbytoews mi frens

[goddesspharo]

Ok so this isn’t really a question but I was thinking about possible plots for the third movie that have maximum phoenix and hangman (obviously) and I cannot shake the idea of a reunion of the daggers for some sort of secret mission

Now I know absolutely nothing about the navy but hear me out, the gang is called back in (hangman, rooster, payback, fanboy etc) after a plane went down in enemy territory and at the mission brief, it’s revealed, dun dun da da…. It was phoenix and Bob and there’s reason to believe they’re still out there

I have no idea if you’re open to prompt ideas so feel free to tell me to f all the way off but since they’ll probably never do something like that for the actual third movie, I figure the next best thing is the best fic rider for the ship

I’m sensing major opportunity for some Jake and Bradley begrudging partnership and fun dynamics all around

Thoughts?

Ooh, this kind of sounds like Stealth but not shitty. (Does anyone remember how they recut the trailers for that movie to heavily feature Jamie Foxx as soon as he won the Oscar despite him being in it for like 15 minutes? Lol)

I take all of the "we've got a timeline for Top Gun 3, etc etc" talk with a grain of salt because it took them like 30+ years to make the sequel -- everyone else might be all about franchises but I know Tom Cruise isn't going to churn out a legacy movie just to churn it out without a decent script or someone promising him that he can fly a plane inverted in space. As much as I love TGM, I don't see where they'd realistically go with a third movie (nor do I necessarily need them to? End on a high note I say). In the same way that Ethan Hunt is still very much front and center of the MI franchise much to Jeremy Renner's chagrin when he thought they'd hand it over to him, I don't see them ever shifting the focus off Mav who will be pushing 70 at that point (it's okay for Tom Cruise, but I don't think the navy is letting That Old Man do All That Shit).

Thank you for your faith in my ability to write a backdoor sequel, but to be honest it was tough work to write action scenes when I was writing against the grain of dystopic claims so I might not be the one to write about a rescue mission that doesn't involve everyone just threatening to kill each other because they read the map wrong and are now going around in circles in the jungle. I also harbor a secret belief that if Phoenix and Bob ever went down and they needed to launch a second mission to save them, by the time our himbos got there, Phoenix would already have saved them both and they'd be sipping Mai Tais poolside at the closest Club Med. Extreme "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle this" energy. If anything, she'd have to cut her vacation short to save the daggers who were supposed to be saving her.

But there is a sort of big damn hero moment coming up in can't fake what you can't break up with so hopefully that scratches the itch! (As an aside: to that anon who asked me last week about this fic, you kickstarted me working on that again with that ask. Of course now it's like 17k and I still haven't written that part that was holding me up, but the parts I did write make it flow better so thanks for getting the creative juices flowing! Turns out asking fic writers about their WIPs prompts them to write more stuff, go figure!)

[tsukumo-nya]

Lupin The Third 56th Anniversary!!! 🎊🎉

I drew the big image of Lupin on the right and the "56" last night, and put together a collage for the background of all of the drawings I've made of Lupin thus far (not counting the animations)!✨️🎨

______

On this day 56 years ago, Lupin III was first published in Weekly Manga Action!

The manga became an instant hit in Japan, and the series is still going on strong even today, having several manga series, comics, anime series, animated & live action movies, and video games!

It was among the first manga and anime series aimed towards adults, it's the first anime to use stereo audio, and series creator Monkey Punch was the ones who helped usher in the use of digital art and digital illustration.

Lupin III even inspired and was responsible for characters like TV reporter April O'Neal from the TMNT TV shows and films, Dr. Eggman & Rouge The Bat from Sonic The Hedgehog, Inspector Gadget which originally started from a Sci-Fi Lupin III spin off show that was planned (Lupin VIII), Persona 5, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Aria the Scarlet Ammo and many more. Lupin III even inspired some of the stuff you see in Indiana Jones and the Tom Cruz Mission Impossible movies, including the iconic vault stunt from his first MI movie.

Lupin III is an iconic series, one that despite starting in the 1960's, manages to always stay relevant and epic, and always comes out on top no matter what time period it is. The main character himself even prides himself on that!

So Happy 56th Anniversary to the franchise!!!✨️💎

Anyways, sorry for rambling on for so long, and thank you very much for taking the time to read this! ^v^

_____________________

Do NOT use, edit or repost this, without my permission!!!

If you want to do either of those things, just ask me for permission to do so beforehand, and I’ll get back to you

Also here is the collage in the background

[baronessblixen]

https://www.tumblr.com/baronessblixen/754818370581430272 GA attended the festival with a female friend. She's in close proximity to Cruise because 1. she has a long-standing friendship with Pegg, and both her and Pegg are friends with Chris Martin from Coldplay, whom they were watching on stage, and 2. They're standing in the VIP area, which is where all the celebrities congregate. GA went to the premiere of the first MI movie in London to support Pegg back in 2010. She also used to tweet Pegg regularly before he quit Twitter. There's nothing more to it than that.

Thank you, anon. Me tagging this with not knowing what to say had actually nothing to do with her proximity to Tom Cruise. It was me not knowing what to say to this in general.

This has nothing to do with Gillian per se, I just find the notion of celebrities standing on like a platform? above the regular folk because they're... rich. I didn't know how to put that into words, so I didn't even try.

And yes, I know there are VIP areas everywhere, whether it's a concert or some other event.

[calkale]

As someone who relatively enjoyed MI7 (bc I go no thoughts mode and just watch Tom run around), im sooo curious about your thoughts

im putting this under the cut cause I need to rant about it again and its gonna be LONG, thank you for asking tho

a lot of this is gonna be a repeat of what I said when I watched the movie (I have not seen it since it was in theatres), idk where those posts are but they should be under #mi7 spoilers if you wanna find them.

okay first off im not gonna talk about the overall plot, I couldn't care less about it and I knew that going into the movie. its the stunts and the overall feel of that movie that piss me off. I watch mi movies because I wanna have a good time and watch tom cruise do cool stuff and thats not what I got out of this movie.

im starting with the cliff jump stunt cause I was just thinking about it. the buildup was Ass with a capital A. they cut away from ethan riding up the mountain too many times and for too long at a time. I was comparing it to the scene when ethans chasing walker in fallout because to me that was cut perfectly. Cutting from ethan to benji and sometimes walker for a few seconds so I knew where ethan was and where he was trying to get to but I still felt the build up, I knew he was gonna catch walker but I was still thinking "omg is he gonna make it?". and the cuts to benji and luthor worked well because they were still a part of what was going on and the map on benjis ipad helped visualize what was going on. in mi7 when Ethans riding up the mountain the cuts between him and benji where really good but I hate that they kept cutting back to the train. They could've easily had more obstacles for ethan on the way up the mountain if they needed! its a long ride but showing the mountain and a few shots of Ethan at different parts would've been good enough, we could've had Benji asking him "are you there yet?" like every minute so we get that a lot of time is passing but not enough that the tension stops building and a funny little joke between the two of them. I understand why it cuts back to grace/alanna on the train during that time but those are two very different things going on that are building tension in very different ways. call me crazy but ethan jumping off a cliff is different than grace dressed as someone she's not sitting down to talk to someone. it was just really hard to get invested in either of the two things going on. then the actual jumping off the cliff was such a letdown, I did not feel a fucking thing when he jumps off then it cuts away immediately after like that wasn't The Stunt of the movie?? you dont put a stunt like that on posters and post a 20 minute behind the scenes video about it for it to feel like that and show basically none of it!! show ethan flying through the sky!! show him landing on the train!!! I thought he was gonna land on the train but no that gets taken away in favour of a fucking joke when he crashes through the window. yes mi movies are supposed to be funny im fine with that I love that but come on!! let tom cruise land on the train!!! he can still slip and fall on top of the train but let that old man get his enrichment time!!

now for the train. Im sorry but it looked horrendous, the cgi was Not Good and I can't get past it. with other movies I try my best to not care but this is Mission Impossible. I know they did crash a train I love that but all the cgi added in around it and when Ethan and Grace are climbing through the train looks So Bad. it takes away from everything going on because you know its not real. I get it yeah yeah they can't dangle actors from wires while a train is slipping off a cliff but theres gotta be some way to make it look better. like I said about the bike stunt there was no tension there to me and I felt so disconnected from the movie and the characters, I like putting myself in situations and its hard when im like hm thats not real.

the fiat car chase. this was when I was like "fuck, I hate this movie", im sure we all know by now I am not a hayley atwell fan, so what sue me im allowed to not like people. I didn't like this car chase because it was mostly her driving. BABE THIS IS MISSION IMPOSSIBLE IM HERE TO SEE TOM CRUISE DRIVE NOT HER!!! if she was good then whatever but shes not for the bit. I feel like a lot of things that could've been really cool were pushed aside in favour of humour in this movie and I hate it. you can have both!! they literally did it in rogue nation and you're allowed to have callbacks in this movie so you can have a car chase like the one in rogue nation again!!! just let tom drive so it looks cool or even let hayley drive I dont care I just want it to look cool and have the humour stay inside the car. doing bits like this made the movie feel more generic and like they were trying to appeal to, dare I say, mcu fans. i like mission impossible because they get the ratio of humour to action perfect every time, and they're always so good at timing it too but in this movie especially during this chase it did not work for me and I didn't even find it funny if im being honest.

obviously I also have to talk about ilsa and im gonna shit on mcqs writing so apologies. there are two ways to look at this, one shes dead and two shes not dead, both are bad writing IN MY OPINION. if she is dead that was an awful way to send off such a loved character, she was hardly in the movie. im all for more women in movies but she definitely could've replaced grace and I think it would've given her and ethan a much better dynamic. ilsa barely has any lines??? I wouldn't even call her a side character in this movie like my friend didn't even know her name thats how insignificant she was. the sword fight was cool as fuck, rebecca slayed, but she really should've won that fight? maybe if she was outnumbered id be like okay thats a little more likely but it just feels really out of character for me. now if she DIDNT die then im also pissed because fake killing a character twice in the same movie is a little much for me, if it happened at the start of the movie and the end of the movie then okay I can deal with it but she died twice in like the first part of the movie? im sorry to say it but im sure most casual viewers forgot about her by the end of the movie and if they go back for part two and she comes back it's not gonna mean a whole lot to them. and ethans reaction to her death didn't sit right with me, this guy was a theatre kid he can at least somewhat act sad when the girl he loves fake dies and he should be allowed to, for like 5 minutes at least, I know theres a lot of stuff going on but he loved her!! let him cry a little!! and if we're supposed to believe shes dead then ethan not reacting is not helping.

one last thing I wanna add and I know im probably the only one who feels this because I know most people liked the movie, but when you make a part one and part two that release at different times you want people to like part one. it needs to be able to stand well on its own so people want to watch part two and are excited for it. am I gonna watch part two? probably yeah I wanna see that plane stunt but im not excited for it and I really feel like im just gonna be let down in the same ways again. I dont want to go see a movie for the stunts when I know I hated the stunts in the first part and I didn't come out of it caring about the plot or the characters (other than benji <3) so what am I going for? i have no reason to see that movie or be excited for it

I would also like to add I know this is not the movie tom and mcq wanted to put out since the original cut was like what 4 hours? and the movie was extremely over budget because of covid but I can still be mad about the finished product

[whatsyourcolor]

Honestly I am impressed by how they handled Akane’s charecter.I am in here for Akane and Akane only.It should be her one woman show(I hope so at least).Akane’s pursuit of justice.Anywho Kougami is there and my god I have some reservations.I am just using the scenes everyone has seen already.

1.From the get go it becomes exceedingly clear the only person who cares about Kougami being used as a killing machine is Akane.Like how pathetic!No one cares!Only she pops the question if they let him back in just so they can counter violence with violence.She’s worried about him being used.He doesn’t deserve the worry nor the sympathy.

2.When she asks if he’d come back with her instead and he says who knows!You can see for 3 seconds her face crumples then she moves on saying she doesn’t have the authority.I don’t even perceive it as jealousy.The amount of stuff Akane has gone through for him,she can totally ask if he’d come back if she asked.If I did that much for someone I’d expect loyalty.

3.I found the explosion scene weird.Akane,Frederica and Saiga are standing in the same line.Kougami has already shouted the explosives are about to go off.Akane is just rooted in place so Kougami can jump on her(in slo mo recorded from a questionable angle)while Saiga and Frederica are already outside blast radius?Why?Akane is a competent field agent.This scene is unnecessary as hell.

4.I found his “mansplaining”to Akane(while she’s grieving)unbearable.Like what is bruv talking about?Not letting anger cloud her decisions?Not to blame Frederica because it changes nothing ?Wtf are you talking about ?!She isn’t a hysterical woman going off on everyone!MOFA and Frederica are to blame!Guess whose rogue unit is peacebreakers?Whose idea was it to use an innocent man as bait?!These words coming from him is completely redundant.His entire personality is based on narrow minded displaced anger,revenge and hatred.

5.I must say loyalty to FA looks good on Kougami.He’s truly found his niche.After all he literally never had any loyalty for MWPSB or Akane( and Ginoza who’s his bff for 20+years).It’s so funny how he doesn’t realise he’s a still a dog on a leash.His masters value him just because he’s good at violence than the bad guys.He’s just as disposable as he ever was.I will discuss the Tonami incident when more people have seen the movie which is like another clusterfuck on his part.

I’ll just say it.Kougami adds nothing to the current PP story.Give those Tom Cruise MI stunts to someone else and it doesn’t make an iota of difference in the script.Granted I never was the biggest fan of him but now his stoic manpain just repulses me.He’s contributed what he can on Akane’s arc.Now get him away from my girl.I don’t want to see him around her post FI.

Hello, I wrote a reply to you two days ago at work, forgot to save it and only now do I have a chance to rewrite it. Grr, hate when that happens! Anyway, thank you for sharing your thoughts! I was also happy to see Akane at the center of Psycho-Pass again, but I wish the story had been told more from her point of view. Maybe more in-depth dialogue with other characters.

Yeah, Akane worries about him. Though, to be fair, Saiga also warns him about becoming a killing machine. I think Saiga worries about Akane worrying about Kogami and can I say it's adorable how much he dotes on her? I'm sure she was his favorite student. (Take that Ko and Frederica!). This may also be the reason why he tells Kogami to apologize to Akane and is very quick to catch that he didn't the next day. I'm also not sure if Kogami knows everything that Akane has gone through, but I'm sure Ginoza's punch to the face gave him a clue.

Maybe it's not jealousy, but there's definitely something there. The way she looks down and then crosses her arms and talks about how she doesn't have the authority of the power. I think in a way her ego is definitely a little bruised, which is why she's also confrontational with him. What made him return? I'm sure that question itches at her.

I agree about the explosion. Considering the fact that Akane kicked Kogami's ass in the PP Movie, it's safe to say this scene was a blatant bait for all shinkane shippers and an echo to the explosion scene in the PP movie. Akane would not just stand there looking. She knows how to fight and how to protect herself. Now, I'm a shinkane rat, so I'll take whatever contact between them they give me, but they definitely made that scene to be the Hamelin's flute to drag all the rats like me to the movie theaters. I also would've liked to see more of Akane being a total badass and fighting for sure. My brave petite woman.

I agree so much with this. Akane is not crazy or emotional. She's screamed at Sybil, Mika, Nicholas Wong and all the mercenaries for treating human life so cheaply. It's the right reaction. I understand Kogami has never treated Akane like a little girl, but the unsolicited advice coming from him is deeply hypocritical considering the man holds grudges for decades and solves his anger issues by killing. And they were alone! There was no need to be all "professional" here. They could've reminisced about Saiga and bond for a moment. He could've let some emotion show after the mentor who went to jail because of him got killed. It would've been beautiful for him to hold her, let her cry, (see? contact that makes sense) and when the doors opened, tell her that they need to solve the case or whatever it is that Kogami always says. This was such a missed opportunity to show another angle to their relationship and to show that he has changed and that there's still some trust between them.

Please tag me when you discuss the Tonami incident. I want to know your thoughts.

I know some people dislike Kogami since S1 when he told Akane to kill Makishima. I honestly think the writers don't know what to do with him either. The fact that everything that involves him is action and violence cheapens his character. He was an intelligent detective and had a degree of empathy even if he was selfish. He showed emotion when Sasayama died, when he thought Kagari had been killed, when he realized Masaoka had died, when Sem died. Now he's stoically boring and plain. The coolness from S1 came from him being more than a stereotype of masculinity.

[sdrose93]

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning 2023 and Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning 2025 ❤

Ethan Matthew Hunt 😍❤❤

[mitsuki91]

Yes, okay, so now it's your turn.

But do try, by that really TRY, to weird me out with your fictional ships or tastes. You can tell me all about the dead doves. Anything. Let it be a challenge for me!

I will react honestly. Cross my heart xD

OKAY THEN.

Well, my main fandom is Harry Potter. My beloved otp for it is Severus Snape/Lily Luna Potter, that as I said in the comment of your post has the little age gap of 65yo 😂 also she is the niece of the only woman he loved, so lol. Anyway this is not a dead dove ship for me.

The only real dead dove ship I write in the fandom is Rose Weasley/one of his uncle (don't say who because spoilers). This is a real ped0 ship and I write them because of the ridicoulus accusation of "OMG you ship Snape with a child you ped0!" "... But she is 18+ in my story" "But in the book when we see her she is 9 so of course this is a ped0 ship!" (Real anon hate I received). So I thinked, "LOL you want ped0 from me? You will have". Now, did I really ship this ship? Of course not. But now I'm somehow fond of them and the fact that they can not have an happy ending, in no scenario, destroy me. I'm the reason of my own despair, you see.

And then.

I ship all the strange ship in the fandom, thank mostly ti my best friend. Gellert Grindelwald/Ariana Dumbledore? Tom Riddle/Helena Ravenclaw? Tom Riddle/Ginny Weasley? Only a few that came to mi mind.

And I love it. I love to have the possibility to be unhinged with my best friend like this.

Now I'm sold to Coryo/Lucy because of the movie and I will have my Hunger Games era again, so let's see for how much I can be obsessed 😂😂😂

[callmearcturus]

I still haven’t watched any Mission Impossible movies. Today I won a trivia game with my family because I knew that Tom Cruise’s character climbed the Burj Khalifa, which I only know because of your post on how bonkers the filming for that scene was, so thank you for writing about these funny action movies 🫡

Personally I feel like this means you owe me the viewing of one MI movie, anon. And or SHOULD be Ghost Protocol imo.

[woodstockgirlie]

for the movie asks - 4, 13, 19, 20

4 - is there a film that you love except for the ending? what would you change about the ending?

i honestly can’t think of anything right now? maybe you have receipts ready from our discord dms or something, but this tends to be more of an issue with books for me.

13 - what is your comfort film?

the first one that comes to mind is anastasia (1997). i always used to watch it when i was sick ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

19 - what part of filmmaking do you find most interesting (ie sound design, costuming, set design, etc)?

composition of film scores! (<- most predictable music nerd ever, lol.) also on the note of being a music nerd who’s specifically a singer i’m always interested in the behind the scenes aspects of singing in movie musicals. like, how did it affect casting? (ie was an effort made to cast genuinely good singers and/or give the actors good vocal training, or did they just put celebrities who can vaguely carry a tune in the lead roles and let autotune do the rest?) was there any regard whatsoever for good vocal health? (didn’t consider this one all that much until i learned how tom hooper treated his actors in les mis 2012. look it up if you don’t know. i die a little inside every time i think about it.)

20 - what movies do you have on your current to watch list?

lol as soon as i try to think of movies i want to watch all of them immediately leave my brain. but i have a vague interest in kill your darlings (i wanna know what all the fuss on dark academia tumblr is about, lmao), the dnd movie, uhhh vaguely the magic flute (2023) that looked kinda cool and it had jack wolfe in it, i’d watch french dispatch for nic… idk man you know how it is. i’m way better at telling you what my to watch list doesn’t have on it (anything mcu, cats 2019, you know how it is).

thanks for the ask!!

[nicollekidman]

hiiii abby big fan big fan - not sure if you remember but ages ago when top gun was out I shared over here that my beloved mother hates the cinema, but loves Tom cruise, so only ever goes to the cinema for Tom cruise movies. Anyway - point is the new MI is incoming so she’s getting into cruiser mode and having a lot of fun which is nice (right now she is downstairs watching the tv special on the new movie and has been talking about the stunt training all day too) so I would once again like to thank you for giving me the context and background knowledge to be able to talk about mission impossible with her. Not that I don’t like the movies, but I haven’t seen all of them and I’m pretty sure I’ve watched em all out of order, so it’s nice to be able to still share this with her! I’m being completely serious, I credit this blog with giving me the ability to share some enthusiasm in my mum’s hobbies.

oh wow this is so special and sweet and i’m overjoyed i played a small part in helping you connect with your mom like that 🥺💕 if you end up going to dead reckoning together i need to know how she likes it!!!! you sound like an amazing kid 💗💗💗

[masterskywalkers]

I understand where OP is coming from but the movies named are not the appropriate examples to use for this argument.

Dune parts one and two look incredible mainly because of two things: practical effects and shooting on location. Add these two golden gems of any filmmaking along with Villeneuve's own unique style and the care and respect he has for the medium, you're more or less guaranteed gold. Dune has the potential right now to stand alongside other movie standouts like the original Star Wars trilogy and Lord of the Rings for being timeless works of art and instant classics (which is long deserved for Dune because my god, it has deserved an onscreen adaption like this for decades). There are aspects of Dune that remind me of shots in Lawrence of Arabia in that of their grandeur and I am so thankful and glad we're seeing examples of passionate cinema again (Dune and Godzilla Minus One: I love you both dearly).

While Disney has fallen off track (especially with some of their live-action adaptions - like I do not want to even think about the up-and-coming Snow White adaption and neither does Bob Iger, apparently. Pushed back for 2025 and apparently it might not even make cinemas now - what even is the point?) - it is unfair to talk about the effects used in films like Marvel when it has already been made painfully clear that the visual effects team are pressured and forced to crunch their work. The way these movies work is not down to these effects artists but to the management demands. Plus using special effects for a whole movie like Antman: Quantamania is expensive. I want to say 80% of them are effects and eh, you can tell the focus was more on that than the story. The real debate here - and what movies like Dune prove - is how much of a balance should there be in a movie of practical vs. special effects (personally, I've always thought practical looks better and has more longevity).

Now Mission Impossible is another bad example because a) Dead Reckoning was a good movie that was released at a bad time (literally right before Barbenheimer - Tom Cruise literally argued about this with cinemas as so many IMAX ones were showing Barbie or Oppenheimer on multiple screens but MI could barely get one screen in some cinemas) and b) Mission Impossible had to jump through so many hurdles as it began filming pre-pandemic, halted filming for lockdown, then continued filming as soon as they received the green light to do so under covid regulations (we all remember the Tom Cruise clip that went viral of him arguing with some of his team about them not taking the covid precautions seriously and how it would negatively affect all of them when they should be taking care whilst working hard to finish their product so it can go into cinemas once they were open and profitable again).

I actually weirdly know someone who worked on Mission Impossible - there is a period where I remember seeing the work that had been done on the train crash scene while they were working on it and damn, was it impressive the work the team put into it! - so yeah, I can understand where the budget went for them considering their filming went on for so much longer than they intended or expected.

A lot of the time a film looks fantastic not because of the budget but because of the artistic style of the director. There are so many movies that are released on a low budget that are visually stunning - money isn't everything in this industry - as much as these studios would have you believe - and you can create beautiful works of art with minimal cost. But cinema isn't cheap: practical effects aren't cheap, and special effects aren't cheap. Shooting on location isn't cheap (and can cost more depending on the location, which is why now they've developed screen technology to mimic some locations for cheaper and easier use). Paying your workforce and actors isn't cheap - especially not when they're then told not to work due to a global pandemic, but you're still paying them. Yeah, some films are ridiculously expensive for, seemingly, no good reason. But I would say there are more examples in Hollywood of questionable spending than these two movie examples OP has presented.

But yeah, everyone go watch Dune because those movies are made for the cinema experience and look incredible. There is no doubt that these movies will likely be a blueprint in design for other future movies inspired by these works, and I damn hope it inspires more people to go into the movie industry and make art they're passionate about. Dune is made with a real love for the story by all of the crew - especially Villeneuve and Zimmer - and it shows.

Its wild that Dune part 2 was like $190 million or something and looks phenomenal, and while thats still a lot of money, these marvel/sony/ Disney flops cost $350+millions?!??! It has to be money laundering like it HAS to be. Where is that money going?? Mission impossible cost $567million. Antman cost $450 and looks as drab and washed out and forgettable as every other marvel movie. Like?!??