#the BARE BONES so i can plot while i do up my doc and her fears

[senblades]

I was just about to make this post and you beat me to it HAHAHA

You're absolutely right in this: it is essentially a question of whether the themes of persona 5 should apply to Joker through Akechi, or whether they should be able to apply to Akechi himself, too.

A bit of a mouthful of a sentance that only really makes sense with the context in my head, so I'll elaborate:

The themes of persona 5 can be argued at length, but it would be very difficult to refute this: Persona 5 is about the future that we, as individuals, carve for ourselves, in spite of what our circumstances may dictate we should be.

Trying to explain why I think this might end up long and rambly, but I'll try and condense it down with some literary analysis or something:

The Phantom Thieves have the power to change the minds of others. Joker often uses this to help his myriad friends across Toyko, using the power he has to help others when they cannot help themselves.

And, yet, outside of the main story quests, the PT don't use this power to get themselves out of simialr situations. Haru doesn't request her fiance be a target, Ryuji doesn't ask to change the heart of the new track team coach, Ann barely even has a bone to pick with Mika- they have a magic solution, and yet they don't use it for themselves in their confidant stories. (Futaba's case is a bit weird, because she submits a mementos request for the sake of her friend Kana rather than herself, so I think she still falls into the same category as the rest of the PT)

Now this pattern is fascinating, and also relates pretty heavily to Maruki's reality as well.

"Why didn't they just change x's heart?" "In Maruki's reality, everyone would be happy, though" These kinds of arguments, while true, are not the point this game is trying to make.

In the real world, our real world, there is no such thing as changing hearts, there is no such thing as a perfect reality. This will also be true for the Phantom Thieves, one the Metaverse is gone (excluding the spin offs. And the other spin off. And the other-), so the PT choosing to face the real world, without magic solutions at their fingertips, is asking the audience the question of "How are you going to stand up for yourself when it feels like everyone is against you? How will you carve the future for yourself, if you know you can't change the world?"

Bringing this back to Joker and Akechi; if Akechi is truly dead, this essentially makes Joker's "end of the game themes" a parallel to Maruki's: Maruki lost Rumi -in a sense- and took the easy, magic solution that was handed to him. Joker, meanwhile, in the true ending, loses Akechi and decides to forge on anyway, at Akechi's behest. All very neat and tidy, all very poignant, one last little "your reality kinda sucked, doc" to the newly-employed taxi driver.

If Persona 5 Royal was the last thing that Atlus ever made that's p5 related, I would agree the ending being ambiguous with Akechi's fate would be fine. That bow would be neat and tidy. It's not like there would be any more screentime to explore anything else, so why leave that door open?

But, Atlus loves making spin offs. So they have the screentime to do more with Akechi's character.

Let's face it- Akechi learning to live, being given a second chance, even after he was sure he would die, is incredible, thematically. The gain would be far more than the loss of Joker's "oh no, my friend, what will I choose," because:

a) I would argue that it doesn't negate the choice itself- Joker and Akechi didn't know what the outcome would be, so the gamble is still there. It's still, "Are you sure you want to face reality, when the outcome is uncertain? You could lose everything, are you sure?"

b) Joker's character isn't just the choice on Febuary 2nd. He's more than that, he existed before 2/2 existed- the choice still mattered, but even if it didn't, he's still there. However, Akechi dying would, as Dorked said, reduce him to a plot device to further Joker's character without room for more. Not entirely, of course, but as we see more and more story post-p5r unfold, it's like; why leave that potential untapped?

obviously people can have their own opinions about what happened in canon, we could argue at length, yadda yadda- but I will go to bat against the argument that Atlus bringing Akechi back would be a bad writing choice. Like, they could fuck it up, but persona 5 is not persona 3. The death does not matter more than the potential. "What will you do with your future?" is a fundamentally different question to "how do you live knowing you will die?"

so basically I want an Akechi spinoff atlus please- /j (but if they did I would buy it immediately)

I think one of my problems with the "Akechi dying is better for the themes of P5R and Joker's character growth and mourning" is like... Okay, but what about Akechi? That framing makes Akechi more of an object to Joker's character, IMO, whereas I think that him surviving in the max confidants ending has so much fascinating potential for Akechi having to live with his mistakes and move forward. He went in expecting to die, to have a simple final act of freedom... But I think him being forced to keep living, to face every day one at a time, to find ways to make peace with what he did and live in the world is just infinitely more compelling from a storytelling standpoint. For Akechi, I think it's a better outcome because it's lacking in elegant simplicity. Even if he lives, he was still willing to die for the sake of everyone's freedom. His survival doesn't erase that. It may "lessen" Joker's choice to reject Maruki's reality, but I think it also makes accepting that reality incredibly cruel, when a strong enough bond with him is enough to save his life and make a miracle happen. Mona describes the world itself as cognition. In P5's vanilla ending, he says it was the PT's bonds that allowed him to continue to exist as a cat in the real world. Given the significance of a maxed confidant making him appear in the postcredits, I believe that it is very simple to read his survival being because of that bond. That wish that they both shared, as confirmed by the Royal artbook. If you prefer exploring the grief and mourning, that's completely fair, but I think there are many ways to interpret Royal's themes, and Akechi living in a harsh reality where you can't escape your past but you can heal and do better is still very on point with what P5R is all about. Unlike P3, which centers more heavily on death, P5R simply touches on it as a part of its greater narrative. And even in P3, you can save a certain character from death via player choice and connections. So, yeah. :p

[datgurlevie]

*Comes out of depression mancave while blowing confetti everywhere without consent* WHAT IS UP PEEPS, I AM BACK. Not stronger then ever, but still hanging in there lol chapter 15 is finally up (tldr: my google docs work got deleted and mental health was big booboo) and it is here on AO3! Please expect fortnightly updates from now on too :))

Plot Summary:

Aria Chang, a 30-year-old General Major of the USMC Force Reconnaissance and a human weapon of war, is sent to investigate the suspected chemical weapons at Target LZ. But once foundations start crumbling (literally), she is forced to fight for her life against the vampiric creatures of the underground that were out for cold blood.

In the ominous underground, she encounters Iraqi soldier Salim Othman and is compelled to make a strained alliance with him if they are to all survive the House of Ashes. After being honed to kill any enemies on sight for many years, Aria must learn to cooperate with the opposition no matter the uniform they donned.

But what happens when bonds start to form, lust begins to grow, and secrets come to the light? How will their American weapon of war deal with the lurking demons that not only creep in the shadows but those that begin to grow in her head?

Together with Eric, Rachel, Nick and Jason, they must not only face their inner demons as they enter the temple doors but also be prepared to atone for their sins if they were to escape the underground.

Fortnightly Updates: Every Sunday 2:00pm PST/ 10:00pm GMT

Chapter 15 Sneak Peek:

Aria was fidgeting in her bed, unable to keep still as her eyes kept glancing over at the ticking clock hanging on the medical bay’s wall.

Aria never fidgets. Her? The deadly assassin that can keep as still as a rock for hours at a time, is being restless for once? Unheard of.

She had called for a soldier to send Salim and Zain to see her in the medical bay. She was feeling very nervous as she was nowhere in the proper attire nor physical state for any guests to see her. She was wearing a white medical gown, with thick casts wrapped around her left arm and right leg as her bones were healing in those areas. They had also wrapped her chest in bandages as they suspected a few broken bones within her ribcage from the hard landing she suffered when falling off a cliff. They did not have any X-ray equipment at the centre, but the doctor knew for sure her arm and leg had suffered serious damage.

There were some small splashes of dried blood on her plain white gown, as they cleaned up some cuts and scratches she unknowingly suffered during the operation. The adrenaline in her at the time resulted in her body not acknowledging half of the injuries she had dealt with, but now that she was back in her calm state, Aria could not help but feel sore all over.

She remembered the following days after escaping the House of Ashes, where her body was excruciatingly sore and stiff. She had to do an embarrassing waddle to lessen the pain she felt in her muscles as she was ushered back into the interrogation room for the rest of the week, and her left ankle that she nearly sprained turned a nasty colour of purple even though it did not cause her any major discomfort when she walked on it. Though nobody knew about it as she always had her shoes on, and refused to take them off even when the CENTCOM “doctor” did a medical checkup on her in the quarantine room.

But now she was in nothing but a medical gown with stiff casts and blood-soaked bandages surrounding some of her appendages. Her left foot was bare but it was covered underneath a thin blanket. The dark mixture of bruised purple had transformed into a much lighter shade of lavender with a mixture of blue and green within the bruise. She had assured the doctor in the medical bay (who was much nicer than the CENTCOM one) that it was not causing her any discomfort, so they resorted to just occasionally putting some ointment on it to lessen the bruise.

Aria’s heart was beating steadily at a fast pace as her eyes kept darting from the clock to the entrance door. It did not help that she was in the general ward, meaning there were other injured soldiers lying next to her in separate beds so the doctors came in often to check up on them as well. Her heart would always jump through her throat anytime a person opened that door, only for it to drop in disappointment when it was just a nurse or someone else.

She did not know why she was so on-edge, especially when she had only seen Salim not too long ago. Though it was still enough time for them to digest the event that occurred underground, a small fearful part of her worried that Salim no longer cared about her. Hell, she didn't even know if he did want to come to America, but she did request for the immigration agent to make it clear to him that it was just an option he could take. And now that she was told that he had come to the camp in preparation to be brought to the US, surely he did want to go on his own violation, right? She just hoped to not catch Salim with a guarded look in his eyes once he saw her, hoping to keep his distance from a monster that wiped out almost half of the Iraqi army in cold blood.

These thoughts came looming within her mind, and they grew increasingly louder as the clock continued to tick in dense silence. The painful tension shattered into pieces and landed on Aria’s chest in agony as she saw the door slowly open and a familiar pair of brown eyes peeked into the room.

Read more on AO3...

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for being Rivals to Lovers with Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones x reader

warnings: why did it have to be snakes?

a/n: 😘💕 i did switch up the plot just a teensy bit, i hope that’s okay!

prompt: anonymous: “hello could I request a rivals to lovers headcanon for Indiana Jones? maybe something about being rival archeologists looking for the same treasure and teaming up in the end instead? hope it makes sense, English is not my first language. thank you very much.”

the life of an archaeologist was a strange one

sometimes you didn’t get along with colleagues

sometimes your colleagues were incredibly unbearable

take doctor henry jones for example

jones and you really didn’t get along

“oh, great! it’s you...”

“y/n l/n, what a pleasure”

^and those were always said through gritted teeth

typically, the two of you fought over who would take a job

“look, jones, this one’s more your speed, you know? digging up dinosaur bones in the desert? i’m a professional, i should be working to collect precious artifacts”

“you’re the professional? i have a PHD!”

these altercations usually ended with intense arguments and followed with you two going on excavations together

bonus if you get stuck on long car/boat/plane rides together

“i didn’t know you could read, doc” -you

*indy, folding up his newspaper* “i forgot you were here”

despite the fact that you hated each other for obvious reasons, you did continue to stick together in unfamiliar areas

the two of you had seen your fair share of danger, so you knew anything could happen

sure, you hated each other, but you didn’t wish harm upon each other

that did not stop you from laughing when you “mistakenly” launched a twig back at his face

“oops, sorry...”

“you’re not forgiven”

“oh no! what ever will i do?”

your employers actually preferred you together on assignments, though

you two got the job done better than anyone else

but they didn’t pay you two enough for...separate sleeping arrangements

yes, you two had to share a room at night

“again? seriously?!” -you

“we got hired by cheapos, y/n. what did you expect?” -indy

sometimes there were two beds.....sometimes only one

indy usually offered it up, you always accepted

but there have been a few nights you felt ✨generous✨ enough to share

what? you’re both adults. you’re mature when you want to be

sometimes you’d even enjoy meals together

waitress (while indy’s in the bathroom): “and how does he take his coffee?”

“just two sugars” -you

internally like why do i know that

after about the 8th time you or indy saved each other, you really started thinking over your relationship with him

“it’s just a snake, indy, calm down”

“put it down!”

“shhhh, you’re upsetting her”

“it’s upsetting me!”

“get over it!”

dark hallways were his excuse to hold your hand

“take my hand, y/n. i don’t want you getting lost because i wont come back for you”

“oh, i’m sure of it”

you actually forgot why you hated him for a while

so did he

especially when you swiped his whip right from his belt and saved the day once again

“hop on”

“never mention this day to anyone ever”

“oh, i’m sorry, i cant hear you over the crumbling rocks”

after barely escaping, the two of you were pumped with adrenaline

and laying on the grass

just panting

“really make you think about how limited our time is, huh?”

“hah! maybe for you”

“shut up”

“you shut up”

“indy, just kiss me”

“well, if you insist”

“i know you were thinking it”

“but now i can tell everyone you came onto me”

“kiss me or don’t, it’s your choice”

“oh, i’ll kiss you”

it was a kiss you’ll never forget

you even swiped his hat and wore it just to get a rise out of him

“come and get it”

it was definitely a surprise when you arrived back home as romantic partners instead of business partners

“what happened to you two?” -everyone

“what didn’t happen? jeez, just another crazy assignment that we miraculously survived” -you

“i think they meant what prompted us to get together?” -indy

“right, right! indy and i, we’re just so familiar with each other. he’s not all that bad once you get to know him better”

taglist: @ravenmoore14 // @thisetaernallove //

[perhapsthanatos]

10:32 pm with yuta ♡

nct’s yuta x fem!reader (got inspired by a dream of mine & found the idea really cute)

alternate title: be the james dean to my audrey hepburn

genre: fluff. a pinch of angst. non idol au. badboy!yuta au.

word count: 1400~

playlist: chinatown by wild nothing, lover’s rock by tv girl & work this time by king gizzard and the lizard wizard.

warnings: featuring johnny (not a warning though). smoking cigarettes. cursing. lowercase intended. not proofread.

a/n: hi i was supposed to post a vampire!haechan fic but i really wasnt happy w it in general :( the plot or overall idea of the fic was really good, but i just felt as if i didnt do it justice so here we are :( but ngl, i kind of like this concept more? maybe bc i can see it more vividly? idk, i feel like my writings r getting repetitive & its getting on my nerves lmaoo this is getting long im sorry do u guys even read this part anyway? i would also like to apologize abt the amount of projecting im doing lmao ive been having some rough days & i love my sister but hate being compared to her so often so this is a way for me to rant abt it ig? also so sorry its coming out a little later bc i woke up late today (& procrastinated for the rest of it so here i am posting really late at night) & decided to go to the convenience store to get ice cream (& a ton of other bad shit pls dont do this its rlly unhealthy) for breakfast bc i can :) any who, enjoy lovelies <3

“oh my, y/n! you’ve grown up so well! just like your sister!”

“oh! i’m sorry i’ve almost mistaken you for your sister! y/n is your name, correct?”

“y/n, darling, you are looking so dashing! you really do resemble your sister, don’t you?”

“ah, you must be y/n! i’ve heard all about you and your sister from your father!”

you swear that your reddening cheeks are threatening to fall off any moment now from all the fake smiling. the hundreds of superficial compliments, the insincere flattery and the need for these people to constantly compare you to your godforsaken sister makes you feel even weaker than you are. it gets harder and harder to keep up with a big persona that isn’t at all you. as lucky as you are to live such a lavish lifestyle, you can’t help but hate how your family has to be so perfect. you hate how you have never fit in with them, even if you are so good at faking it. you hate how you have always been stuck in your sister’s shadow, constantly haunted with the reminder that you yourself aren’t good enough. you hate how you now have to entertain the rich and brainless guests at your parent’s gala because she’s gone for some stupid prodigy competition and everyone is only talking about her in front of your face. so what if she’s better the better sister? you still have the right to earn respect, right?

you’re exhausted from all the small talk. your facade gets more brittle by the second under all the pressure. your body feels as if it's gonna give out due to your brain shutting down after all that interacting. you try to keep on going with the night as it unravels itself by being the perfectly poised poster child, trying to make your parents proud. but alive yet almost completely devoid, you decide enough was enough. what if you left right now? no one would notice, would they?

after pulling up your phone discreetly to send a few text messages, you pass through lots of people dressed in gold and finery in a way that wouldn’t have you noticed right away. keep your head down and don’t you dare make eye contact with anyone. nearing the end of the room, grabbing the first glass of whatever alcohol you see and downing it in one gulp, you start walking away as quickly as possible from the ballroom. “ignorant privileged fucks,” you angrily whisper to no one in particular, setting the now empty glass on whatever surface and begin to head to the main exit where no one could spot you running away.

“and what do you think you’re doing here, miss?”

a voice interrupts you, looking up you see that it is your father’s head butler; johnny. he is dressed in a simple black suit that makes him appear taller than he is. his long brown hair is slicked back and his bowtie seems brand new. you have known the man since he started working in your household less than ten years back. you were a reckless child, often trying to find ways to sneak out, finding a way to escape from this life and he sympathized with you. after all, he could barely imagine living your life, never catching a break for yourself and always pretending to be someone you weren’t. he often helped planning when you would sneak out into the night, scheduling things like what time you should leave and what time you should be back, more specifically a time when no one would notice. he would take care of your form of transportation and have your location on at all times, just to be extra safe. as much as he wants you to have fun and have a bit of freedom, he still worries that something might happen to you. because of all this, you two have grown to have a very strong bond. you could confidently say that he is most definitely a parental figure in your life since your parents (and even your sister) are often overseas for work.

“what do you think i’m doing? you think i wanna be in a room with those half-baked bipeds? fuck no!”

“i know, i was just joking. you looked like you were about to explode in there, i wish i could help.” he laughs, pulling out his phone preparing what you might need. “so what will it be for today? the driver? we just need to pay him to keep his mouth shut. a taxi? it’s cheaper than paying the driver, but you still need to pay… not like that’s a problem for you though. maybe an uber would be good enough—“

“actually, i got myself covered. thanks.”

his jaw slightly drops and his eyebrows furrow. he looks straight at you in shock. “what do you mean you got yourself covered?”

you look down at your feet, a nervous habit. “i got myself a ride, you don’t need to help me. i’ll be back as soon as dawn comes.”

he raises his eyebrow. “who’s your ride?”

“doesn’t matter,” you glance down at your phone seeing a notification and wave a goodbye, leaving rather suddenly. “i gotta go, i’ll text you when you need to open the gates!”

“y/n! wait! who’s your ride— and she’s gone.” johnny sighs, watching as you run towards the front gates, tossing your stiletto heels away on the grass while you’re at it. he heads back inside, silently hoping you’ll be fine.

knocking the window of the old black mustang parked outside behind the big bushes, the driver rolls down his window and sends the most charming smile.

yuta in his black beanie, long blonde hair, worn out doc martens, signature leather jacket and black skinny jeans. it almost makes you laugh on how he wears the same thing almost everyday but still manages to look so good.

he is most notable for having a big bad boy reputation and you knew that he was the breath of fresh air you needed in your life. a person who can understand having the pressure of having to be or to fulfill your persona. a person you can completely be yourself around. a person who is full of warmth no matter how cold he may seem on the outside.

“get in, princess.”

and that was all you needed. you tiredly walked to the other door and sat yourself in the car. rolling his window back up, he looks at you. you are wearing a simple yet stunning black dress along with silver jewelry adorned on your neck and wrists. your makeup is perfectly done but still struggles to hide the fog in your eyes. he has the sudden urge to clear them away. he softens at the sight of you. no one is perfect, but he finds you being perfect enough without ever having to dress up.

“where to?” he asks as gently as he could. he knows that you are most vulnerable during these moments and that it is hard to finally break down your walls after a day full of stress, so he doesn’t pry immediately. all he wants to do is to keep you here, safe and away from your burdens and for you to stay comfortable with him, even if it couldn't be for long. but is that too selfish of him to ask? he hates how you hate your life and it is taking every bone in his body to not run away with you. but who is he to tell you what to do or what to change anyway? all he can do for now is try to find a way to make you genuinely smile.

“take me anywhere,” you whisper to the latter. “i just want to be as far from myself and my life as possible. miles away or the nearest convenience store, just take the long way home before dawn.”

you look down at the cup holders, spotting an open cigarette box. you tug one out of the nineteen and light it with the lighter you kept in your pocket. you lean back and close your eyes. he only admires as you bring the cigarette to your lips, exhaling a cloud of smoke afterwards. letting the radio play quietly, he starts the car and begins to drive away from the mansion. he can’t help but wonder how you (an elegant daughter) and him (a bad boy) are millions of worlds apart, but more similar than you think.

© perhapsthanatos (efa)

[queenofbaws]

You write outlines for your chapters? What is your writing process?

I do! I’m huge on outlining just because I know my brain and if I don’t give myself parameters then I’ll absolutely end up waxing poetic about nothing in particular for six pages, haha!!

And I’ve done that. (Sorry KH fandom, I purpled all your prose :\ )

HOW I outline chapters really sort of varies depending on the project I’m working on…so for things like my ghost hunting AU and the Dragon Age stuff I have underway, usually I just list the key points I want to hit.

But then, like. There’s The (Almost)s, and just…I’m gonna put the rest under the cut so I’m not clogging dashboards, but HEY! If you want to know more about my writing process and see some EXTREMELY redacted notes for upcoming chapters of TA, click away!!

Much like with my older, beefier multichaps (Book of Retribution, Soft Reset), the thing about The (Almost)s is that, uh…there are a great many things that I need to (1) keep track of so that they can pay off, (2) seeds I need to sow at particular times, and (3) shape in the right way so that they fit together with previous and future chapters.

Maybe that reads like word salad to you guys, maybe it makes sense, but I REALLY don’t want to spoil too much, so until this beast of a story is done and I have that big ol’ COMPLETED checkmark on AO3, it’s just gonna have to do for now XD

I have roughly a million documents that I use to help me do all these things, but the biggest ones are…

I labeled junk just for the sake of FYI, but the biggest three documents I tend to use are the ones smackdab in the middle.

I ALWAYS recommend to writing friends that you keep a “scrap” doc, whether it be for a particular project or just for your writing in general! You never know when a scene or even just a particular line of description/dialogue might be useful down the line! In my case, my scraps doc is full of scenes that for whatever reason didn’t fit into the chapters I had initially put them in (uh huh, TA could be LONGER than it already is, I know - that’s the REAL horror here). If I find a spot where they can be repurposed/fit into future chapters? Fantastic! If I can’t, then hey, I sure have a lot of inbox prompts and oneshot ideas where they could work out!

The doc just labeled “almosts” is a creature in and of itself - unlike the scrap doc, the scenes I have in there are 100% going into the fic, usually because they’re major, unavoidable pieces of the plot that CANNOT be skipped. I’m someone who writes out of order (God help me, I couldn’t write a story chronologically if my life depended on it), so when I know what I want a scene to look like, or what a conversation should be like, or anything like that, I write it down before I lose it and POP! I throw it in there for safekeeping. Usually this is because I have NO IDEA which specific chapter it’ll end up in. I know where in the STORY it’s going to be, but the specific chapter number, who can say.

Then there’s the timeline. For TA, the timeline is so basic and bare bones I don’t want to get too deep into it, but essentially it’s a month-by-month list of all the MAJOR events (i.e., Josh’s hospitalization, Ashley’s grad party, college move-in, return to Blackwood…) and therefore only the most MAJOR plot points that I need to cover. It’s SUPER basic, SUPER generic, and is just mostly a reminder to me that like, hey, XYZ needs to happen here, so at some point mention ABC details. Basic!!!

The chapters themselves, though.

Oh, the chapters themselves.

I’m sure that a bunch of you have read my stuff and thought “This bitch is flying by the seat of her pants, what the fuck,” and while I agree that some choices have seemed, um, sporadic…they’re not. I outline…probably more than any human being should, honestly, but like I mentioned above, I’m trying to keep track of a LOT OF THINGS with this monster, so…typically here’s how it goes.

1. A super secret method of mine is that I never, ever, ever work on just one chapter at a time. Ever. Part of this is that whole “writing chronologically sucks” thing I mentioned before, but part of it is ALSO that I want to be sure I’m coming at each chapter from a similar headspace as I was in with the one before it. I want to remember the groove I was in, I want all the chapters to flow together as one cohesive piece, so typically I outline/plan out chapters in batches of (drumroll) three. “Hey Queenie, that’s a lot!” you might be thinking. And you’re right. I’m a fool in human’s clothes. MOVING ON!

2. I open each chapter’s doc with its own outline - It starts off VERY basic, and then I fill in each section with more specific notes of what I want to happen. So for example, here are the HIGHLY REDACTED outlines for chapters 24 and 25!!!

HOO that’s a lot of text, huh??

As you can see by the unpixelated piece at the beginning, each point starts out INCREDIBLY basic. Usually it’s me figuring out whose POV I’m going to use for a particular scene. Underneath that is where it gets more detailed - these are usually snippets of dialogue that I KNOW I’m going to end up using, descriptions/exposition I know I need to use, and more often than not, something devious that’s either going to hurt lot right then OR that’s going to hurt somewhere farther down the line ;P

(Notice the mention of the dead pigs - I TOLD you guys they’re fuckin haunting me this time around!)

Sometimes, though, outlines are shorter than that!

Now, in the case of chapter 25 here, that’s because…well, most of 25 has been written for a long, long time already hahaha. I’ve had a VERY solid idea of what 25 will be since…uh, well since I started writing the fic a year and a half ago. I don’t NEED to tell myself as much about how I want it to be shaped, or whose POVs I’ll be using, or what details I need to use, because mmmMMMM I know that shit by heart lol.

3. Fill that shit in! Giving myself an outline/scaffold/skeleton really makes writing the chapter that much easier. Once you have a solid idea of what you want it to look like, I really do think you’ll be surprised to see how much easier it is to get the words down!

That’s…really about it! Other than the usual writer stuff (screaming a lot, staring at a finished doc like a spider you want to squish, worrying that it’s crap, etc., etc., etc.), that’s how I write!

Usually I drink something caffeinated and listen to weird music (with no lyrics!!!), and sometimes I pull up playthrus of the game just to double check details or to get myself in the right headspace, but that’s the Queenie process, haha!

Method? Madness??? Probably a healthy dose of both.

[mtvswatches]

Wynonna Earp 1x05 Digging Up Bones

Spoilers disclaimer (please read before sending messages or writing comments.)

Stray thoughts

1) Does Wynonna have prophetic dreams like Buffy? I mean, she’s obviously haunted by her dad’s and sister’s deaths, but I can’t help but think there must be some underlying meaning to her nightmares…

2) #same

And something about the camera angle and the lighting gives this scene a dream-like quality? Is she still dreaming?

3) Ugh this dude is still there?

Well, I guess not any more…

4) 😊

I love how distracted Wynonna is by looking at Dolls because, let’s be real, who wouldn’t?

5) I’m guessing Wynonna has some kind of history with this judge guy.

6) What do you know, Purgatory is as corrupted as Sunnydale or Neptune. But at least Dolls knows how to play the game.

7) See? They are a Scooby Gang!

DOLLS: Waverly will stake the place out during the raid and photograph anyone she sees. Doc will come down, see if he recognizes anyone - from the old days.

8)

WYNONNA: Aw, there's a little rebel in there.

DOLLS: Not that little.

9) The creepy-crawler dude has it out for Doc, but like, Doc only did what Bobo ordered him to?

10) I feel Wynonna not playing by the rules is going to be both her saving grace and her downfall in this journey. For instance, she pushed the situation at the trailer park until she got what she wanted – she got Bobo arrested. But Bobo saw Waverly taking pictures, and we know Bobo has a special place in his heart for Waverly…

11) I agree with Dolls, though. Wynonna will have to learn when to play by the rules and when to break them. She needs to learn to walk that thin line because if she doesn’t, it could backfire.

12) Holy shit, this scene!

My heart was thumping during their whole exchange, it was so tense and scary. For the first time, I was legit terrified of Bobo and what he could do. I mean, I don’t think there was much he could do (although I suspect he could’ve broken free if he’d wanted to, he was probably just being smart and trying to play nice.) But just the way he stared at Waverly and talked to her and pointed at her? CHILLS.

And this?

WAVERLY: Why, when I was little, did you choose me to manipulate? Huh? Because I was gullible? Weak?

BOBO: Weak is something you've never been. I chose you because you were angry.

WAVERLY: I wasn't angry.

BOBO: You sure?

WAVERLY: I'm not, OK?

BOBO: You've got depths that neither of us know the bottom of yet. Trust me.

What will be these depths Bobo is talking about?

13) WHAT THE FUCK!!! HOW DID HE DO THAT!!!

Like, he couldn’t use it, but damn if he didn’t prove a point! And what type of superpowers does he have? And WHY? What makes him more special than the rest of the revenants? Is it the fact that he knows the name of the Stone Witch?

14)  Miss Stone? Is she the Stone Witch????

15) Wynonna just got kidnapped by a revenant and guess which is the dynamic duo coming to the rescue?

16) If it wasn’t the judge the one who tipped Bobo off about the raid, then who was it? There were only so many people who knew it was going down, right?

17) So this guy conveniently knows who The Seven are? He even has photographic evidence? And he’s Doc’s bestie, apparently?

18) Is Bobo being… abused?

19) She’s definitely the Stone Witch. Constance or Clootie or Miss Stone.

20) Okay…

This was some twisted fifty shades of weird stuff. What type of relationship do they have? He’s suggested he has some power because he knows the Stone Witch’s real name, which is why he’s the only one who can leave the Ghost River triangle limits. So I assumed that gave him some power over her, but it seems he’s totally submissive in their relationship? And what did she mean when she said that she could “hear them”? I don’t think she’s talking about the revenants…

21) How did Wynonna not realize that this dude was gay? Like, he was drooling over Doc. Then again, who wouldn’t be? Also, I really love the implications that Doc probably knew about his sexuality and was supportive of him? That’s some progressive shit for the Far West…

22) She keeps staring at his lips as he talks and I’m here for this shit…

23) “Earps. Always trying to cut filthy little deals whenever it suits them.” Is he talking about Wynonna’s father? And what type of filthy deal did he cut? Will we find out?

24) Oh, this fucking dude is channeling her father’s voice! That’s messed up!

25) This reminded me of Buffy in When She Was Bad…

26) Creepy Crawler Dude was the photographer! Does this mean that Doc knew who he was when he pushed him over the limits and tied him up? Like, he met up with his old buddy and knew that he’d given his soul mate a death sentence and didn’t say anything?

27) Did this dude really think he’d remind Wynonna of what they’d done to her sister and she’d let him live?

28) Ha!

It’s science.

Favorite out-of-context line.

29) Hahaha I died! The boobs didn’t work, Doc had to flirt with the ladies!

30) Dolls stopped playing by the rules when the judge insulted Wynonna. And is the judge a fucking child molester? I hope someone gets to cut his dick off.

31) I couldn’t take this scene seriously because of his fucking face hahahaha!

Did she put a spell on him or something?

32) Okay, Doc didn’t know that Levi was Fish’s partner. That makes me feel better about him chaining him up.

33) Eeewwww he chewed off his foot????

I thought he’d just cut it off!

And I just realized maybe that was barely any better.

34) Will this give Wynonna a different perspective on revenants?

I mean, how can it not?

I really love this idea that not all revenants are psychopathic criminals, and that some were people who made poor choices in life. It cannot be all black or white, and I think this will probably be one of the toughest lessons Wynonna will have to learn.

She’s gonna kill them and I’m not ready for it.

35) What the fuck is her deal?

Who are her boys? What is this “lead” she’s promised Bobo? And why is she scared of Doc? It didn’t seem that way when they met earlier…

36) holY FUCJJLASLDJLAD

I literally spent 5 minutes rewatching that scene… It really caught me off guard, and I was so caught up in what they were talking about because it felt like a defining moment for both of them, you know? Wynonna coming to the realization that she cannot be driven only by revenge, and that she needs to face the fact that not all revenants are demons; Doc defining himself as a monster and embracing his thirst for revenge, even though it seems he’s blaming Constance for a choice he made? And then Doc saying that he and Wynonna are exactly the same… and then… yeah, that was a defining moment for both of them, alright...

Damn, that was hot. I think it’s going on my Epic First Kisses list. Damn. I need to watch that again, excuse me.

I really didn’t expect them to go there this soon into the show? Like, the chemistry between Wynonna and Doc was obviously off the charts, but I thought the writers might want to milk the UST for a while before getting them together? Or maybe they would keep the sexual tension unresolved?

And now I’m freaking out because I fear it might be a one-time thing? Please don’t let it be a one-time thing.

37) Why was Doc in that well, by the way? Did I miss it or hasn’t it been explained yet?

38) Oh shit…

That’s probably the last picture of the Earp sisters together, isn’t it?

39) OH FUCK

So it was the fucking child molester the one who tipped off Bobo!!

40) Now that was some an episode alright! The plot advanced A LOT: we saw the face of the Stone Witch and learned a little bit more about her relationship with Bobo – although I still have so many questions! Waverly confronted Bobo and he hinted at her having some powers, we’re learning more about the involvement of the authorities in covering up the revenants and their dirty deeds, Wynonna learned that she cannot be driven by revenge and WYNONNA AND DOC FUCKING KISSED.

Also, I died!

This really felt like a pivotal episode, and I truly can’t wait to see the next one!

41) Hope you enjoyed my recap, and, as usual, if you’ve got this far, thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recaps and my blog, please consider supporting it on ko-fi.Thanks!

[hellafiction]

You make me believe in luck...(James T.Kirk x Spock)One-Shot.

Fandom: Star Trek.(mostly based on TOS) Genre:fluff,feels. Warning: Some swearing

Plot: The landing crew encounter a planet with a harmless airborne virus that makes you only tell the truth.Spock is forced to confront his illogical madness of feelings for Jim.

Note: Im new to Star Trek and I haven’t written in a long time,so I’m sorry In advance.Im also sorry that it’s a bit occ.

The mission had been a success without much trouble.The landing party had returned from the beautiful planet only what seemed to be mere moments ago.The Captain was back in his chair,shifting uncomfortably.

“Captain,is everything alright?”Yeomen asked.

James tried to ‘straighten up’,which took him a second longer than usually necessary.”I’m fine,I just need to crack my back.”

Before James had realised what he had done,the ship went into an uncharacteristic silence.

“DiG iT iN ZeRE MiISTeR SpoCK!”

The whole crew burst into uncontrollable laughter,except for Spock,who had remained somewhat stoic.

“I am your captain and you will not undermine my authority,especially In such a way!”He couldn’t hide the slight mortification In his voice,what was wrong with his crew?Was the ‘incident’ that obvious?He quickly glanced at Spock,trying to see if he was just as mortified as he was.

Seeing his Captain glancing at him,he raised his sharp eyebrows and with purposeful strides,went behind his chair and wordlessly started to massage his back,catching Jim a bit off guard.

“Mister Sp-“he didn’t get to finish his sentence,because he was cut off.

“Is this fine captain,or do you want me to ‘dig in’ harder?”Spock couldn’t help but smirk a little,which was swiftly replaced by his usual poker face.

Jim arched his back out of instinct.”I’m fine now Spock,thankyou.”His voice came out a bit breathless and it didn’t go unnoticed by his first science officer.

Spock made eye contact with a mortified Jim.

It was so silent that you could hear a pin drop,yet,none of that was noticed by either Jim or Spock.Uhura had made Sure to record this,she would have rather died than let such a moment go undocumented or unseen by Bones.

Bones had a weird gut feeling,something wasn’t right.It was unusually quiet And instead of pouring himself a drink,he found himself not-worried about Jim.

Yes,he definitely wasn’t worried,he was gonna go ahead and enjoy his drink In peace.

Or was he?

Moments after Bones had sat down,Jim had burst into sickbay.Looking unusually distraught.

Bones jumped a bit up,”The fuck,Jim?”

“Something is wrong with my crew,Bones.Everyone is acting strange!I want you to keep an eye out or run some tests.”Jim said,he had calmed down a bit,he didn’t know why he couldn’t keep his true feelings internal all of a sudden.

Bones face twisted into an ugly scowl,he furrowed his brows.”That’s just typical!”He had noticed now,”Ofcourse,the mission was too simple,wasn’t it!?”He was quick to believe Jim,this time.

“Come on doc!I want you to see it for yourself,you better solve this before something else happens.”The troubled Captain was rambling now,his body language stiff.

They both exited the sickbay,while walking to the bridge,Jim was trying to make sense of the madness,he needed Spock,his logic,his mind.He had to make sure that he didn’t imagine all of this,Bones,on the other hand,was hating life.Begrudgingly following his friend,trying to make sense and see for himself.

“Captain,are you sure this isn’t just an off day?”He hoped to god it was.Entering the bridge he quickly saw what Jim meant,a fight had broken out between an ensign and Sulu.

“Your fencing skills are absolute shit!”The ensigns stance was stiff and ready to fight,his face was twisted in a sneer.

Sulu was practically boiling with anger,”excuse you,my skills are still better than yours!Fight me you coward!”He challenged his rival,oblivious to captains entrance.

Even Jim wasn’t expecting this,his face twisted in pure shock at his usually somewhat reasonable crew,”Will you stop acting like a bunch of children and stop this nonsense!”He tried to bring back in some order with his stern,authoritative voice.

Bones raised his eyebrows,perplexed,Jim was right.”For fucks sake..”He tiredly sighted before giving out his ‘doctors orders.”I want this place quarantined!Ill need some blood samples and cell samples!”

“Where is mister Spock?”the captain had noticed Spock’s absence almost immediately.”Right,first we need to find Spock,where is he?”

“I think he went on to have a mental breakdown,Captain.”Yeomen said,only then realising what exactly she said.All colour had drained from her face.”I’m so sorry-“

“There’s no need to apologise,I think I might have an idea…”He trailed off before continuing,”I think the planet we just explored has somehow made us more honest,we say exactly what we mean.”

His revelation made sense,with all the things they’ve had to deal with in the past,there had been only one similar incident so far,but it seemed more severe.

Before doing anything,Jim needed to find Spock,his science officer might know what to do,”I’m going to find Spock,please issue a red red alert,we have no idea how far this has spread or who else is affected.”He exited the bridge,focused on his current task.

When Jim finally found Spock,he didn’t expect to find him on the floor,leaning against a wall with glassy eyes.Spock would never admit this,but the moment Jim walked in,he looked like a ‘Greek god’.He didn’t know why such thoughts-usually professionally repressed and un-acknowledged-were emerging.

“Spock,”Jim walked towards and decided to sit leaning against the wall with him,”are you alright?”He asked softly.

The usually stoic man looked into his captains eyes,not saying anything for a while.There was war in his mind,One side beckoned him to give into his emotions and say what he truly means,the other,logical side making him think of the consequences,risks of such human indulgences.Spock himself was torn because both sides were right.”I’m emotionally compromised,captain.”The slight tremble in his tone vent almost unnoticed.

Jim let out a shallow breath before scooting towards his beloved friend,”in what way?”Now he was worried,what could have made such an impact on Spock?If his theory was correct,how long had Spock been hiding this?

Spock tried to resist the invincible urge to spill his guts,he found himself quite unable to,what was wrong with him?By now he was sure that it was something to do with the planet.It had to be.He was also positive,that Jim didn’t feel the way he did,that he was doomed to this illogical madness.

Jim put his hand on Spock’s shoulder and gently squeezed it.The way Jim looked at him was the culprit to possibly the most Illogical thing he’ll ever say.

“I’m in constant war with my human side,I’m usually capable of letting my Vulcan side win,but this time it’s impossible.It must have been something to do with the planet,even logically understanding it,it’s futile.”Spock paused for a moment,he needed to gather his thoughts better before he could continue,”I know the probability of you feeling the same way is almost nonexistent,but I can’t hide the fact that I have romantic feelings for you Jim.”

Jim wasn’t expecting this,Spock’s admission sent electro shocks through his whole body.”You make me believe in miracles,Spock.”

Spock could only manage to raise his eyebrows in a questioning glance before Jim could continue.

Jim looked into Spock’s eyes with all the love he had in him,while softly smiling he confessed a long held secret.”I love you too,there’s nothing wrong with letting your emotions win,sometimes that’s all we can do and that’s okay.”

Spock was taken aback by that,he looked at Jim in barely hidden awe before taking his captains hand in his own,he hoped Jim knew what it meant,but the look his captain gave him confirmed it.Jim decided to make a bold move of his own and leaned in for a human kiss,which Spock gladly reciprocated.

“You make me believe in luck,Captain.”

Turns out they had been gone for more than an hour and they had missed a lot,their grumpy CMO had been able to take care of everything himself.The plantet’s ‘virus’ was airborne and would have passed in 24 hours if they weren’t on it for a longer period of time.When they had finally shown up,their displeased doctor had complained that ‘apparently he always has to do everything on this ship.’

[youmissedone]

A little rant about Doc from Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

First, I’ll say... this post contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for this movie, so if you haven’t seen it yet, don’t read on unless you don’t care if things get ruined for you, heh.

Next, I’ll mention that this is not a platform to shame the movies in general or to say Final Chapter sucked. I know a lot of you can (and would) say most if not all of the movies sucked, whether on their own or in comparison to the games, but I really love them, despite their flaws. So we’re not going to hate on the movies... except in fun ways, heh. There is a lot I have been able to enjoy, piece together, extrapolate on with these movies, maybe because I have a writer’s brain and a pretty good imagination, so I can overlook certain failings of horror/scifi movies and see their potential in other ways. It’s brain candy for me, so I can’t hate them too much.

Except... Final Chapter... Doc. (sigh)

Words cannot express how much I hated this character. I could just stop there. Buuuut, I won’t. XD Read on if you don’t mind spoilers or you hate Doc as much as I do, haha.

Right, so... Doc. This guy right here.

Doc represents to me the epitome of bad writing, bad plot twists, bad plot twist reveals, and bad scripting. I cannot say bad acting, because... with what this actor was given to work with I think he did a good job. Too bad the writing and script made him look like a total ass. 

So, Doc was made exclusively for the trope of good-guy-turns-out-to-be-spy. I mean, it’s overused, but in some cases it’s an effective and even necessary trope. Not here. Aside from the fact that Doc served no discernible function in the entire movie other than to save Alice from a trap he let her ride into in the first place, Doc was written so poorly that anyone with a decent amount of experience in mapping out and writing story arcs could spot his flip a mile away. But then, once his duplicity is revealed, the movie’s banking on the viewer’s acceptance of this “revelation” is so complete and so obvious that he actually changes in personality, demeanor, and body language. Come with me while I rip Doc’s character apart for being such an affront to expertly crafted spy and betrayal arcs everywhere.

We first meet Doc when Alice wakes up from riding into a trap that full-body bitchslaps her off her motorcycle and causes her to fall unconscious. She wakes up to Doc trying to ram a needle in her heart and get her full of adrenaline so she’d wake up. (sigh) Imma already stop here. Because... already we have problems. When she asks him what's in the syringe, the conversation goes as follows:

“I needed you awake.”

“Why?!”

“Somethin’s comin’. Somethin’ big. Same direction you came.” 

I just... *rubs temples* I have so many problems already. First of all, this is supposedly a group survivors that have barely enough to live on in a building crumbling so badly that it’s down to its metal framework. Where... the frick... is he getting pure adrenaline from? Okay, his “name” is Doc. I’m guessing that’s not his real name. Maybe he was supposed to be an actual doctor? I’m not buying it, and they never really went into that at all. Anyhoo... if we ignore that there’s really no way he would have something like that (unless it was given to him... but I’ll get back to that later), the bigger problem of how does he know something big is coming remains.

You might be like uhm... the armies of undead? Headed their way? That the Dr. Isaacs clone is leading to them? Duh. *wags finger* Okay, just wait up. First of all... how does he know what it is? What does he have like a sixth sense? I thought that was Alice’s job. And second of all, this would almost fly if they had said he saw it through the binoculars or something, but then later on when Abigail alerts Alice to the armies headed their way, she acts as if this is new news. Did Doc see it and just... not report it? I mean, if he was a spy, that would make sense, except that NOBODY REACTED AT ALL to him saying that. My first comment if I was one of the survivors would be, who the hell is this chick (Alice)? But my second one would be, wait what? What something big? Holy crap, Doc, why didn’t you say something?! But nobody reacts. Okay. Fine. Maybe it’s just bad script writing. Yeah, it is, and it only gets worse.

So then when Alice begins to succumb to the really bad wounds she sustained from hitting the trap, she’s taken to Doc’s little infirmary, where she’s offered... mouthwash? Hahaha, I mean that’s what it looked like to me, this bluish-green liquid that’s like... okay, wtf is this now, and where did he get it from? He says it’s the “specialty of the house,” and that it’ll have her on her feet in no time. Sure enough, Alice drinks this shit, and she’s all better. No limping, no more gross coughing, she’s fine! Wtf.

I wanna know what that stuff was, because nothing would have instantly fixed the bruising, possible broken rips, maybe a puncture lung, and possible other broken bones that Alice must have had from that trap. Unless... it was from Umbrella. Honestly, after I had written the earlier scene off as just not making sense because of movie crap, heh, this scene really made me think something wasn’t right with Doc. I immediately had the notion of... he’s getting information and supplies from Umbrella. That’s why he has this great stuff that heals people, that’s where he got the adrenaline from, and that’s how he already knows the armies of undead are coming. That combined with the “Alert our operative in Raccoon City” comment from Wesker pretty much confirmed it, but I’m not done with this scene yet.

So once he fixes Alice up, Claire and him have a little moment. And I mean little. Literally all we get of their relationship is this scene and a bit of hand holding later on. But yeah, they stand close together and that’s supposed to mean something, and then Claire says to Alice, “You know, he and I...” and Alice says, “I noticed.” That’s it. It’s almost like the movie was coming out of itself and telling the view, “Oh, by the way, these two are involved. That’ll be important later, so pay attention.” I mean, seriously, it was so blatantly, extraneous, and unnecessary, and therefore it felt out of place and odd. Also rushed. For all those reason, I already had Doc pegged as the traitor.

And how typical would that be? It’s always the guy you least suspect, right? The movie tries to set him up as a hero, an honorable badass. He’s involved with Claire, and we all like Claire. (Okay, not everybody likes Claire, or Ali Larter’s portrayal, but the movies assume you like her.) You’d never suspect the guy who helped Alice and who was involved with Claire would be a bad guy. They go out of their way to make Doc seem like a great guy - maybe too great - complete with the stoic, calm, suave persona the actor portrayed. He never lost his head, kept other erratic members of his group in line, was a natural leader, and seemed to have a lot of honor. All of these were red flags of a character that is being set up to be too glowing in a world of ambiguous and downright evil people.

Then... we have Doc’s participation through the standoff with the aforementioned zombie armies, the descent into the Hive, and eventually delving into the Hive. He was always asking Alice about things. Where are you going, what are you doing, have you seen (insert name of underdeveloped minor character here)? He really seemed to want to keep tabs on people, always know what was going on, always know what was happening next. To me, that’s exactly what a spy would do... except they would be MUCH LESS FREAKING OBVIOUS ABOUT IT. Double agents who are constantly asking WHATCHA DOIN’ THERE? don’t make it very far, heh. He couldn’t have been more obvious if he had an “I’m a spy” sign on his damn forehead.

And at this point, I feel like the movie might have feared that you were catching on, and it tried to point you in the wrong direction like a kid who says HE LOOK OVER THERE to get you to turn around and then runs in the other direction. I see what you did there, movie. When the Red Queen warns Alice about the “informant” Umbrella had in Raccoon City, the camera skips around to everybody present, Murder on the Orient Express-style, as if to ask the viewer oooooh, who could it be? And in doing so, the camera stops on everybody for a fairly decent moment, until it gets to Doc. Then it kindof flits away like WHOOPS you didn’t see him, don’t suspect him, it’s not him. (sigh) Yes it is, movie. I totally called it.

So yeah, that’s half the reason I hate Doc. They way he was set up was so contrived, and the path leading up to the reveal is so obvious, that I didn’t feel like it was a twist at all. By the time Doc is revealed as the informant, I was surprised at the movie’s insistence that this was big news. I honestly was shocked to realize that they hadn’t blatantly already told me that. That’s how obvious it was.

The other half of why I hate Doc is the change in him after he’s revealed as a traitor. Up until then, he was brave, unafraid, cool/calm/collected, stoic, tough, you name it. Golden badass boy. And a leader. Then we’re told that he’s an informant for Umbrella, and all of a sudden, he’s acting like a totally gullible, unintelligent, dumbass. This irritated me two-fold.

Firstly, the trope that good guys are sexy, calm, and collected, and bad guys must be irrational, erratic, and insane idiots in order to be bad is PLAYED and UNREALISTIC. Why does Doc’s personality need to change after he’s revealed to be a duplicitous asshole? Why can’t he still be a suave sexy bastard, but just be evil? The second he’s revealed as an asshole, he becomes a spineless follower instead of an honorable leader, sucking up to Isaacs by telling him he’ll disable the charges Alice placed in the Umbrella High Command cryo-tubes (even Isaacs patronizes him by saying, “You’ve done well, Doc.” It’s the way he says it. It’s clear he thinks Doc is nothing but a dog to order around...) and then begging for his life, first to Alice and then to Claire. By the time Claire is getting ready to shoot him, he’s yelling out loud in fear of being shot. Was this at all consistent with Doc’s bravery from before? I would have actually liked the character a whole lot more, even despite the crappy buildup, if he had remained the fearless leader-type character he was before he was revealed as a traitor. That would have been so much more interesting and frankly dangerous than the groveling, sniveling, erratic mess he became.

Secondly, I was really pissed off at how little he cared about Claire. And frankly how little she cared about him. Like... granted, their relationship really had no fleshing out whatsoever, but I have a writer’s brain and I tend to fill in blanks on my own. You tell me they’re in a relationship? I’m gonna assume a certain level of bonding has occurred. Now, this kindof goes along with the whole "good guys are badass and villains must be insane dumbasses" peeve, but why can Doc not be a spy for Umbrella AND be genuinely in love with Claire? It would have been far more interesting and compelling of an end to his arc if he had continued to love her and defend her until the end.

I mean, I can tell you why he didn’t. Because if the Resident Evil movies suffer from any catastrophic failures at all, it’s that they insist upon character fitting molds and tropes. It’s too difficult, tedious, and time-consuming to have characters that don’t fit the mold because then we have to address those feels. First of all, these movies don’t have time for that, they’re incredibly rushed. Second of all, they assume for us all as viewers that we don’t want emotions and uncomfortable psychological issues (outside the bare minimum norm for this genre) in a horror/action film. This is evident in them cutting many other scenes in the franchise that would have brought up difficult talking points and emotions, such as the White Queen questioning the morality of Dr. Isaacs butchering so many Alice clones in his obstacle course of death in RE: Extinction.

How uncomfortable and outside the box would it be if Doc still maintained the same affect he had before the reveal (strong, stoic, brave) AND defended Claire against Wesker. Not that he had a change of heart or anything like that. He can still be a villain, but can also genuinely love Claire. The two things are not disqualifying against each other. How cool would it have been if Isaacs ordered him to kill Claire and he said that’s the one thing I won’t do, and then he’s shot for it or dies protecting her from Wesker? That would have been...... awkward at best for the viewer, because you hate this guy. He betrayed Alice and Claire, but then oh... he does really love her and is a brave guy despite his morals not being in the right place. Uncomfortable.... but good.

But horror/sci-fi/action movies tend to not go to places like this with their viewers because they feel it ruins the action or the feel of the movie. To me, Doc would have been more compelling and seemed more realistic and human if things had gone this way instead of the way they did. Villains are real and they’re among us. They’re human just like us. They’re not robots, they’re not all insane, they’re not all grovelling spineless idiots. Sometimes they’re brave dudes who love people. Yes, villains can be capable of great love, and showing that in Doc would have been a very powerful moment. I also would have appreciate a tear or SOMETHING from Claire. I understand he’s betrayed you, but you’re in love with him, or at least involved somehow. Show us that you care, even despite knowing what you have to do.

Phew! *sits back and fans self* Okay. I feel better. I finally got out this long rant about this character that I’ve had in my for a while, haha. This was actually a lot of fun to write. If anyone has anything to add, feel free. if you agree or disagree with what I’ve said, let me know. I love talking about my rants, so feedback is welcomed!

[lokisgame]

Monday, Lazy Monday

Valentine’s Day excerpt from Aprons And Scrubs. [link]

Scully made breakfast, or at least she wanted to. She reached into the fridge to take out a carton of eggs and realized that the last time she cooked for someone was the day her father died. She stood frozen in place, carton in hand, other hand on the door handle, trying to catch herself before she cried.

She didn't have to. Mulder's arm went around her and he kissed her cheek, reaching for the eggs.

"Let me do it," he said softly. She nodded.

"Mulder, you cook?" Scully sat at the kitchen table sipping coffee.

"No, I eat takeout for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and order pizza if I'm in the mood for a midnight snack," he cracked the egg into a bowl "of course I cook"

He was a sight, in suit pants and undershirt, hair wet from the shower. Pills took about half an hour to kick in and he was as good as new.

"I mean, I'm no chef, but I can fend for myself," he cracked the last egg, picked up the shells, dumped them into trash, wiped the spilled egg whites off the counter with his hand and rinsed it under the tap. He was neat too, well, neat-ish, she'd use a rag.

Bread landed in the toaster, eggs sizzled in the pan.

"Black pepper?"

She had so many questions that Mulder began to feel like he was interrogated.

"I can't fix a car, and anything around electricity, power sockets, light switches, I stay away from that. Changing a light bulb, tire, take out one thing and exchange it for another stuff, that's all I'll risk."

Bacon on plates, eggs on the side, toast on the table, jam in the jar. Mulder set a plate before her and leaned in to kiss her.

"I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue," he whispered with a wicked smile half an inch from her mouth.

"A useful skill no doubt," she grinned

"I'll show you later if you want." He kissed the tip of her nose and sat down "Enjoy!"

They stayed on the sofa until lunch, she sat in the corner, Mulder's head in her lap. She made him lie down and rest his leg and this was the only way to keep him in place. Music played in the background, and it was Mulder's turn to grill her.

"Favorite food."

"Pizza."

"No way! You have more lettuce in your fridge than a reasonably sized rabbit family could eat for a week." She slapped his chest playfully.

"Stress and irregular hours, being a doctor isn't very healthy so I try to watch what I eat when I'm home." He nodded playing with her hand. "But I like to treat myself from time to time."

"Like comfort food."

"Yeah, next question."

"Pet peeve."

"Toothpaste squeezed from the middle of the tube, mess in the bathroom in general."

"I'll keep that in mind, popcorn salted or buttered."

"Salted, but not too much."

"Elvis, dead or alive?"

"What?"

"What do you think, is Elvis really dead or just went into hiding, laid back somewhere quiet."

"People die." Her tone turned soft and he looked up at her. "He lives through his music I guess"

He kissed her knuckles and smiled, "good answer."

"How many questions have you got there, Will Graham."

"Well Clarice, just one, for now." He smiled figuring Scully would be the book loving kind, going for the second novel reference instead of the movie most people saw. "I don't know yours, although you know mine," he challenged her with a puzzle.

"Blood type?"

"No. Birthday." Mulder looked at her upside down waiting, going from amused and curious to afraid and concerned as seconds ticked by.

"Have I already missed it?" Her silence was torture, imagining she celebrated it with someone else, someone closer to her than he was, some other best friend he didn't know about. He started to sit up but she pulled him back down, then leaned over and kissed him, soft and gentle.

"You didn't miss it, it's February 23rd."

"NINE DAYS!" He exclaimed. "Good thing I asked, tried to slip it by me, eh?"

"No gifts, and no surprise parties," she warned him.

"You know I can't promise you that." Mulder played with her hand, lacing their fingers together, as she played with his hair. "I owe you one for the tie, and technically, it wouldn't be a surprise because you know I know and it's too close for 'I forgot' to pass." Scully sighed. "Are you working that night?"

"No," she could tell by his smile there was some serious plotting and planing happening right now. Mulder noticed her concern.

"Relax Doc, I see you're not used to making a big production out of it." he dropped a kiss on her fingers, "it'll be just us, maybe the Gunmen, you could call Missy if she's in town."

"She might be, I don't know." His promise did ease some of the tension.

"Call her, I promise I won't even close the bar for the night."

"Okay," she gave up, once Mulder fixated on an idea, there was no changing his mind.

A while later Scully went about making lunch while Mulder called Mike and left him in charge for the night. Valentine's Day wasn't a slow night at ‘The Believer’ but somehow he had the feeling he wouldn't be great company for the particular brand of customer seeking refuge from the rain of hearts, the romantically challenged kind.

Soup and sandwiches was interrupted by a phone call.

"Hello." Scully picked up before she sat down.

"Hi honey, how are you today?" her mother sounded calm, a good sign.

"Hi mom, I'm fine, you?" Mulder looked at her from his spot on the floor, giving her an arched eyebrow, fine?

"I'm okay, I'm just calling, because I know I invited you to dinner tonight," Scully slapped her forehead and Mulder huffed out a laugh, she totally forgot, "but something came up at the Church and we'll need to take a rain check."

"That's okay, we can always meet some other time," Mulder found the tv remote and turned the volume down, then tried to eat his soup and grimaced burning his tongue.

"Let me know when you'll have a day off next time, we'll have lunch."

"Sure mom, oh, one thing, you know when Missy will be back in town?"

"I don't know honey, but she left a number, you can call her if you want."

Scully taped Mulder's shoulder and pointed to the pen and notebook under the coffee table. He handed it to her and she wrote down the number.

"Okay, I have to go now, take care of yourself Dana."

"Okay mom, love you."

"Love you too, honey, bye."

She hung up and slid off the sofa to sit on the floor next to Mulder.

"Just 'fine'?" He teased picking a slice of cucumber from his sandwich.

"My mom might not be ready for us just yet."

"'Us', I like the sound of that," he put one arm around her and dropped a kiss on her shoulder, it looked like he was physically incapable of keeping his hands to himself, not that she was complaining or anything. She only barely managed to stop herself from jumping his bones, he might seem fine right now but it could be the painkillers, no need to rush things.

"Eat your soup Mulder."

They crashed on the sofa after lunch, the movie lulled him first, as if all he needed was a blanket and her to cuddle with, and his slow steady breathing rocked her to sleep.

After dinner, pizza to make the day perfect, Scully took him home. And that was the limit of their ability to keep hands of each other. Scully took the reins this time and Mulder had no problem with that. His bed felt like heaven that night.

"Scully," a soft voice in her ear woke her up, "Scully wake up." She shifted mumbling something about ten more minutes. "I'd love that Doc, but your shift starts in 15."

Her eyes sprang open and she jumped out of bed as Mulder laughed. “Shower, on your left, coffee's waiting."

She showered and dressed in ten minutes flat and even managed to grab a sip of coffee and a toast he laid out.

She was already late but Mulder stopped her by the door. He caught her around the waist and planted a single kiss on her lips, soft but determined, and just as she started to lean into it, he let go of her and pulled the door open. "Run!"

"Bye!" She called over her shoulder running to the door leading to the stairwell, ignoring the elevator altogether.

Mulder shut the door behind her and looked in the mirror at the guy with two day stubble and a smile splitting his face in half. He pointed a finger at him at said out loud with a solid warning. "Don't fuck this up"

"I'll be damned," Frohike settled himself at the bar straightening his glasses to have a better look at his friend on the other side, "gentlemen, can you hear that? That is the sound of hundreds of female hearts breaking around the greater Washington D.C. area."

"What do you mean," Langly asked sitting down next to him

"We just lost a comrade."

"Scully?" Byers guessed, but Mulder said nothing, his head down, busy polishing the glass in his hands.

"That would be my guess, I know a goner when I see one," Frohike declared, waiting for Mulder to look up.

His shit eating grin was all the answer they needed.

[feyreofthewildfire]

Wasteland - Nessian Fanfic

Hey lovelies!!

This is not an update to We’ll Go Together (woah), but a response to this post by @modernbookfae that got my wheels turning. Personally, when it comes to writing WGT I get most excited about writing from Nesta or Cassian’s point of view, so a Nessian centric story was not far behind that realization. 

Disclaimer: this fic got WAY out of hand. I'm a cat laser kind of writer, in which I don’t plot (at least not extensively) and instead word vomit all over a Google Doc. I somehow managed to shove one of my own OCs in here as well. I apologize for what you’re about to read.

Please enjoy anyway aha.

(Inspired by the song Wasteland by Against the Current) 

Candy coated lips You’re the sweetest kiss But a bad trip

Nesta burns.

Not with strength and fervor as she once had, but with passion and some sort of affection towards that damned overgrown bat. Her hands clench into fists as her chin threatens to fall, the parasitic and festering feelings that have been settling within her since she’d met the commander now the cause of her fall from grace.

Her heart is a fortress and he’s decided to lay siege—or she thought he had. Perhaps it had all been a game to him. He’d barreled through her defenses and instead of finding and cherishing her as she had desperately, fruitlessly hoped he would, he’d walked straight through the other side and left her there—heart wide open like a gaping wound, a ravaged wasteland of broken bits and pieces hidden behind walls erected even stronger than the ones before, giving the perfect illusion of constructed poise and grace.

It’s been two weeks and they have yet to speak. She’s retreated into the library, burying herself in books and characters that don’t exist, if only to rid herself of the reality she so feverishly despises, if only so that she doesn’t run into the blonde Third.

Nesta is almost ashamed of the way she avoids Morrigan—of the way she avoids everyone. But her dreams—no, her every waking moment, is haunted with the corpse of her father, with the sound of metal crunching through bone as she severs a sovereign’s neck, with the emptiness inside her where power once rumbled, with the sound of Cassian’s screams as Hybern destroys his wings.

It seems that every part of her is haunted.

Nesta knows that she is not needed in Velaris, not essential to the happenings. It’s only been a week since their return and she has yet to do anything. Elain no longer needs her, having found contentment in the garden she begins to grow behind the House. Feyre has become the queen of an empire, needing no one and nothing but her mate.

She supposes it could’ve been argued that Cassian needed her not so long ago, but she knows it’s not true anymore. He has his brothers and Mor.

So when Vassa asks her to leave with her to Scythia as Emissary after her curse had been broken, she leaves with the queen immediately, only remembering to send a letter to Rhysand at the last moment.

For the first time in a very long time, Nesta feels free.

She takes residence on the same ship as Vassa on the way back to the continent, though she’s given a wide berth when she deigns to go above deck during the day. She is not afraid to put her hair up, to show off the delicate points of her ears and the immortal beauty she’d been cursed with.  

When she truly feels alive is when the night comes.

Maybe it’s some remnant of her time spent in her youngest sister’s home or just the fact that it’s the only time she can speak to Vassa thanks to the queen’s busy schedule. The sound of waves over the sea calms her, the slight breeze caressing her face. Were it not for the scrutinizing stares, were it not for the mask she’s forced to wear, she’s certain she’d go above deck during the day.

Then they dock in Scythia and her fantasy, her adventure is over.

Nesta barely speaks within the walls of the Palais, all too aware of the wandering eyes and ears that poison every corridor and room of every castle she’s ever been. The joy she’d secretly found in the open sea is stifled in the dinners she’s forced to attend and small talk she’s forced to make.

Still, when she does change an opinion of an important advisor, she can’t help but feel important—she can’t help but feel needed. She is an emissary, after all. Her work is truly done in the homes of royalty, far away from the place she supposes she calls home now, if for no other reason than her sisters are there.

The only thing anchoring her back to that place is her sisters and the reports she sends to Rhysand. Letters come in every so often from all three, most commonly from Elain. The tales her sister weaves of the happenings in the House never fail to make Nesta smile, even if it’s only the smallest uptick of her lips. Elain is happy and cared for—more than what Nesta could’ve wished for not even two years ago.

Then she meets General Fionn.

He’s young, born of nobility and ancient traces of Autumn Court blood that gives him the smallest power over flame, carefully hidden away in fear of losing his position. His smiles are pretty and his words are smooth. It’s easy to banter with him, given the fact that he only laughs at her insults and poisonous words. It’s easy to find some sort of ally within him.

When she wakes up from a nightmare of Elain being tortured by Hybern, she asks him to train her.

If he’s surprised, he doesn’t show it, simply nodding and agreeing. They have to run it by Vassa and Rhysand first, but the Queen and High Lord seem oddly nonchalant about the message their training sessions will broadcast to the world.

In three weeks she’s worked up into swordplay, her movements graceful and violent—strong and swift, laced with the High Fae elegance that had seeped into her veins from the Cauldron. Her immortal strength gives her the ability to knock Fionn over with nothing more than a shove, and she has to remind herself to hold back so that she doesn’t kill him on accident. While it would be interesting, it would be a shame to lose a friend and create a diplomatic disaster.

They move from swords to every weapon imaginable in the next two weeks and, occasionally, when they’re alone, she helps him with what little Autumn Court lingers in his blood. She’s by no means a qualified teacher, but he becomes surprisingly proficient at wielding the small bit of fire in his veins under her guiding hand.

When she pushes him against the wall in the armory and kisses him, she tells herself it’s because she feels something for him.

Their training sessions become more playful after that. Nesta has already learned how to use every weapon under the sun with decent proficiency, and they just spend hours sword fighting and sparring to pass the time.

She’s not sure when she begins to wear her hair down, or when her smiles become polite rather than serpentine, only that she’s convinced herself that she’s found home in a pair of human arms and distracting pet names.

When she pins him to the ground for the thousandth time, she doesn’t realize a smile’s bloomed on her face until Fionn’s eyes widen, a certain kind of reverence filling the blue orbs framed by thick lashes

So she kisses him again, unknowingly superimposing hazel over blue.

Then one of the other queens invades Scythia and he’s torn away to the western border.

He gifts her his favorite dagger and kisses her twice before leaving, bestowing upon her promises and promises of what they’ll do together once he gets back.

They send letters as fast as they can. Nesta has learned how to send letters through whatever magic allows such things to teleport long distances, though has to wait the three days it takes for his letters to get back to her through horseback. Scythia has the finest cavalry on the continent, and the messengers are well-trained and ride well, also giving them the fastest communications on the continent.

The gaping hole in her heart left by the commander across an ocean has begun to heal over, the wasteland behind the walls beginning to return to what it was once again. Every letter that arrives from Fionn and Elain gives her strength, gives her what she needs to rebuild herself and perhaps one day be able to look Cassian and Mor in the eye without wanting to hide away.

Perhaps she can find love outside of the small world she’s always found herself trapped within—her small world where love was nothing but a myth, a far-fetched tale told to the daughters that would be sold off like cattle one day.

Then the neighboring queen attacks the camp in the night and slaughters every soldier.

She doesn’t receive a condolence letter, she’s by no means his family or next of kin, but she thinks that perhaps receiving one would’ve helped with the grief, with the pain.

She doesn’t know if she was in love with Fionn or maybe just who he resembled, but the agony that ripples through her is enough to make her swear off soldiers, any man who walks into battle arms open and swords wielded, ready to greet Death as the old friend it is.

She shoves the training clothing to the back of her wardrobe and shoves the swords and daggers into a miscellaneous drawer, reverting back to braided updos and serpentine twists of her lips. It’s safer this way, she tells herself.

The walls around her heart reinforce once again.

Not a week later she’s convinced the last advisor to her side, gaining the support of the Queen’s entire court as she was sent to do. The next day Rhysand is standing in the courtyard, ready to winnow her back to the Night Court.

If he has something to say, she’s glad that he doesn’t say it. She’s wished all her farewells and her belongings have been packed up, ready to be sent back the moment she arrives in Velaris.

It’s only been three months, she knows this, and yet the place she’s supposed to call home is utterly unfamiliar.

Her heart has become a wasteland once again, torn to pieces by the man she’d chosen to give it to. Her words are more biting than before, her eyes more often narrowed then not. Every rise and fall of her chest reminds her of Fionn, of the merry laugh that always fell from his lips and the crisp apples he tasted of.

Then Cassian finds her.

He’d been off in Scythia helping with the incoming war, showing solidarity in the alliance formed between Prythian and a kingdom on the continent. He’d been her replacement after her job had been done, forcing neither of them to see the other.

She hadn’t even known he’d been arriving back, or she would’ve locked herself in her bedroom rather than sit in the exposed library.

“Hello, sweetheart.” The words drip with sarcasm, with an anger barely reined in. His place leaning against a bookshelf seems casual enough, though the crossing of his arms and clench of his jaw tells another story.

Her eyes flicker up towards him, finding that he looks exactly the same as she’d last seen him. His hair is pulled back and his Siphons gleam in the low light, a sword strapped to his back that makes her sick to her stomach.

“Commander.” Her voice is void of any emotion, the words monotone. Her hands clench around the book she’d been reading, the only sign of her distress.

He nods to the dagger strapped to her waist. “You know how to use that?”

She tenses, all the insults she wants to throw at him falling away. “It’s not mine.” She dismisses, standing from her place on the armchair and swiftly beginning to walk away, book clutched against her chest.

His eyes narrow, arm shooting out to block her path. The intricate sewing of the leathers nearly makes her sway where she stands. “Whose is it then?” He bites back, none of the careful, begrudged concern she’d come to expect in his eyes. There’s nothing but sheer will and fire in them.

She almost throws up at her own analogy.

“That is none of your concern.” Her voice raises for the first time. She will not fall apart in front of this good-for-nothing bastard. He had treated her as nothing, and she will do the same. She no longer owes him anything. She had been willing to die for him—willing to leave behind Elain. She’d laid her own body over his, looked Death in the eye and blinked.

He had made a proclamation about regrets, about having more time and yet when it had been given to him he hadn’t used it. He’d avoided her and fallen back into old habits as if the war hadn’t happened, as if she hadn’t been granted immortality and great power only to have the latter ripped away from her, as if he hadn’t had his wings shattered twice and expected death, gone running onto the battlefield arms wide open and a grin on his face.

“I heard some rumors about your time in Scythia,” He starts, unwilling to let her go, to leave her be. She doesn’t want to hear what he has to say. “I heard that you made friends with one of the generals there.”

Something inside her snaps.

“And why do you care?” The rise and fall of her chest quickens, “Why does it concern you? Why does my every move have to involve you, Cassian? I did my job. I followed every rule in the book and made a few of my own. Rhysand approved all my decisions. So why do you care?”

She’s not sure she’s ever said his name aloud, not without some insulting title following it. Her heel squeaks on the wooden flooring as she turns and struts away from him, careful to recollect the poise she’d lost in those moments.

A hand gently catches her wrist, the grip loose enough that she could rip herself away quite easily. But she doesn’t. She’s not sure why. A shaky breath falls from her lungs as she turns back to see Cassian once again, some sort of devastation laced in the strong planes of his face.

“I care about you, Nesta.” He answers her, an incredulity to his tone as if he can’t believe that she doesn’t already realize that little fact. “I care more about you than any of the shit that happens as a result of this war. I heard about what happened and I guess that was my shitty way of being concerned.”

She can only stare at him as if the answers to every question she’s ever asked lie in his features. There are so many things she wants to shout at him, so many things she wants to scream, and scream, and scream about. She wants to ask why he’d left her, why he’d avoided her and then sought her out once again like a child who’d had their forgotten toy taken away.

She’s so tired.

“I appreciate your concern, Commander.” The words are cold, formal, ones she’d spoken a million times in Scythia, usually followed by a contradicting retort.

But this is not a war room, and she does not owe the bastard anything. Not one single part of herself does she owe him.

When she walks away this time, he doesn’t stop her.

I Don’t Wanna Wake Up (Companion Fic)

[unlikely-course]

So I finally watched the episode

this morning, so my keen observations are a few hours stale, but here I have a big long post in which I talk about most everything. so please do read and come and chat with me about it.

first of all GOD IT FEELS GOOD TO WIN re: Heir Marshal like FUCK what a good HET that is some PREMIUM SHIT. god Xavier my favier, prince among men, was ON FIRE (no pun intended), so smooth and determined and strong but also tender, like he is, bc he is better than most anyone. I just love him and him and Wynonna together so much I need to lie down. LIKE WHEN THEY WERE LAYING DOWN TOGETHER ALL SOFT AND PRECIOUS AND HE WAS KISSING HER SHOULDER AND THE BACK OF HER NECK AND I SCREAMED A LITTLE BC IT WAS SO PERFECT i am. so Enamored. They are both pretending to be Hard but they are gooey soft romantics.

As for the vision quest itself I was at first GREATLY RELIEVED that it was just Wynonna viewing the past bc the thought of WE doing Time Shenanigans when they can barely keep the present straight gives me hives, but then of course they ruined it at the end. Not that I didn’t appreciate Wynonna building in Waverly’s little Bobo failsafe, bc I did, but like god my whole response was WHY and WHAT EVEN and BUT THEN WHAT DOES THAT MEAN--. That said, we got some interesting info but like most things WE does I feel like it raised more questions than it damn well answered. 

Robert was interesting but I feel it necessary to note that it does not move me even an inch that he used to be brave and good and bespectacled. That’s not who he is anymore, and I am wholly uninterested in the show trying to convince me that there is a better nature to be appealed to or restored after he kidnapped a thirteen year old girl, put her in a box for fifteen years, and groomed her into a sexual relationship. Time and time again shows decide “oh man, we want our villain to be More now” without actually taking into account the shit he’s actually done (looking at you, GG and TW esp). It’s like yeah WE, Bobo was a good villain! But you fucked it up! And then killed him! Own up to and live with your mistakes! What the hell do you mean “only Bobo came back”???

SPEAKING OF MISTAKES god just another like. casual fucking attempt on child-Waverly’s life by Willa. This is the shit I cannot abide, that they double (and quadruple) down on this shit while, idk, gearing up for some big Bobo redemtion arc, it’s disgusting. This entire direction they chose to go in makes me so sad and angry! It’s so out of sync with the show as a whole. And the more they do it post Willa/Bobo reveal the more I cannot help but suspect that they are doing it to try and cover their ass on how deeply wrong that was by trying to make "too Evil for anyone to care about” which is, frankly, fucked-up and sinister. Idk I want to talk more about it later. 

Now on to the good stuff aka Wayhaught. Realistically, the bones of this fight comprise the conflict that Wayhaught was always going to have from the moment we were introduced to them: that Nicole oversteps to protect Waverly from something, and on top of that being A Bad, Waverly EXTRA does not appreciate it bc of how she’s been seen/treated her whole life. Now, it’s execution here? A lil clumsy, I would have done it differently, but whatever, the aim is clearly to be as direct and gentle as possible in doing it. I mean it seems pretty straightforward to me and will most certainly resolve by this week, at most the next, but I keep seeing people talk about other shadowy figures freaking out and calling Nicole “toxic,” which, what. 

Okay I lied the other good stuff is I love Waverly and I wish life wasn’t so goddamn hard for her. Also, I love that they almost named her Welcome. On levels.

I love Rosita a lot, but I do not trust Andras with her as far as I can throw her, which given that she is a fictional character is not very far. A) I kind of suspect she’s a revenant (Doc’s much-promised “protection,” the fact that he advises fostering a personal relationship with Wynonna to provide that in his absence, the mirroring of her and Waverly’s never having seen the ocean (ie, never having left the triangle?)) and that in pursuing this “twist” to its end they’ll do her wrong. Also 2) okay like people fret about her interfering with Wayhaught in some fashion, and while this seems patently ridiculous bc in-universe it is, in terms of “things Andras might pull”? Entirely possible. She’s a goddamn animal loose cannon grab-bag. They are taking the time to make some very weird, pointed lines about her come from Waverly, on this, the show that barely takes a breath that does not serve the machine of its 9000 plots. God I just want her and Waves and Jeremy to start a coven why is that so much to ask???

[writing-with-rain]

Announcement:

Hey, I’m back? So first thing’s first, I know I said when I got back I would give you something for Born for The Gallows..... It’s not happening today, currently my mind is doing a whole rework on it’s original plot and I’m working out a lot of kinks in it all. So that summary will be up soon enough I hope, with the chapters following close behind. So yay, you’ll all get lesbian witches! I can wait for you all to meet Shiera and her world.

More below the cut.

Secondly, I will be starting chapter 3 of Ethereal after I post this. So if all goes well and I don't get 100% turned down for a job interview and job then expect that tomorrow. I’m hoping to get it out before I may even get to go in. I don't know, I just need a job and that’s been a big focus (especially from my mom and her pestering) as I’ve been feeling better. So expect that up tomorrow. I know it wont be today because I have until 10 to write and it takes me about 5ish hours to write a chapter in one sitting. That's including the draft from the written and brief layout, changing font for my reread and editing whatever needs to be before I post, if I want to it to be 7-8 pages like it has been. And I do want it to be, because you all deserve that much from me.

As for Collaboration, I am hoping to get that out Wednesday, at the latest then Friday or Saturday. I’m hoping. I have no idea how all of this is going to play out. But Collaboration is much, much shorter, so it should get done by then.

As you’ve all probably seen, yes, I do have another story in the works, Of Pawns and People. I’ll be 100% honest here, that was inspired today. Out of the blue. I had no warning to it. I have a great bad tendency to make ocs up constantly. And stories, backstories, whole worlds for them, and from that there are more ocs. Look, I’m a mess about it all. I have way too many, and I don't even know if I can remember them all. I have some of them written down in random places. (Word docs, my email-- I email them to myself sometimes-- and google docs. Not to mention on paper, too.) So today, as I made a replacement ArcheAge character I feel in love with the colors I made her. Somehow I just started making a character from those colors and some of the features I had changed. While listing to The Room Where It Happens and Dear Theodosia I created a story around it all from a previous daydream ....may have been VLD based then...  So basically, you get a whole other story about celestial beings, a seemingly power hungry immortal, the youngest of them all, ruling the debates and rulings from her simple position. There are power hungry fights and bastardly arrangements, betrayal, closed door compromises. Oh, and yeah, so the main may show interest in a man, but she’s openly Bi and you meet her ex who’s a successful woman married to another woman. MC is even business partners with them. It’s great, I love their arrangement.

So yeah, you can thank ArcheAge and the Hamilton musical for Of Pawns and People. Oh, and VLD + my oc from that, who’s actions during became the back bone for OPP’s main character.

So basically, here’s a summed up list of what I need to do: - Update Ethereal - Update Collaboration - Chapter 1 for Of Pawns and People - Summary at least for Born for The Gallows - Rewrite/edit, update, get a layout for, and transfer Baring Fangs from my main to here - Fight my procrastination with a baseball bat. I s2g, why do I do this??? - Hope I get a job tomorrow - Fucking pray I didn't just reopen or harm where I’m still kinda healing from surgery???

Anyways, I love you guys, thank for sticking around. Yeah, I haven't said anything about Baring Fangs but you’ll hear once I actually move it on here. Let’s hope I get Ethereal Chapter 3 out tomorrow.

[scrawnydutchman]

Baby Driver Movie Review

NOTE: This review contains spoilers, highlighted for readers convenience in bold letters. If you haven’t seen it but would like to know if it’s worth a look (it most certainly is) skip the bold lettered sections of this review to get the gist of how everything pans out without having the film ruined for you. Once you give it a watch, come back and read the full review to get more details on my thoughts.

Action movies. They have a real hit-and-miss reputation for the average moviegoer. Some people can’t wait for the next intense summer blockbuster, the most kickass action packed film of the year. Others just see it all as mind numbing uber violent nonsense with no substance attached, and care more for characters having a conversation then things blowing up on screen. While I personally find the latter to be pretentious and snobby most of the time, they have a point. Every genre has their blemishes filled with clichés, boring insights, and little to no identity outside of other films in their genre. For examples, go to Michael Bay’s IMDB page. But make no mistake: A good, even great action movie CAN be done, and if you want the most outrageous, thrilling, most well choreographed ride of the summer that is just oozing with personality and straight up coolness, go see Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver. This film is a miracle in the language of film making, with the story being told on screen in clever edits, great shots, great acting, and overall a very “show-don’t-tell” attitude that will always keep you guessing. Let’s tackle each element of this film one at a time.

Story

Summary: There is a young man infamous for his almost supernatural skill behind the wheel among this gang of criminals. That man is Baby (played by Ansel Elgort), the dancing, jiving, mysterious music lover who’s just trying to get by using his surreal driving skills to make some cash. He is employed by a crime boss called Doc (played by Kevin Spacey) to be the driver for a series of heists and armed robberies pulled off by an alternating motley crew of thugs, played by such credible actors as Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez. Things change though when Baby meets a new romantic interest; a diner waitress named Debora (played by Lily James). Baby decides he wants to move on from his life as a hired criminal driver. Will he be able to change his ways or will the call of Doc keep him trapped in a cycle of violence and elaborate car chases?

The way this movie pans out it’s story and introduction to it’s characters is fantastic. I would argue the way you open your movie is one of the most essential pieces of the puzzle because you are introducing your audience to the character they will be following for a 2 hour adventure, so you want to make the first impression really good. This movie gets all the essentials out in one fantastic intro. First character we see is Baby, he’s listening to some great music and dancing in his car, giving us the sense that he’s a fun loving dude, and then right after he’s shown as a monster behind the wheel. The audience is hooked into rooting for this guy immediately and we want to stick with him through this whole thing. The protagonist may very well be the strongest aspect of this film. He’s a creative, carefree but softspoken, rugid and tough but good natured soul who’s being taken advantage of. What’s not to love? The story does great in providing higher and higher stakes as the film progresses with each action scene being more intense and dramatic then the last. It keeps up the likability of the main character throughout the whole thing by including several instances of him being kind and merciful to passersby whereas the rest of his crew is ruthless and murderous. Plus the plot is VERY unpredictable. Every time you think it’s going to rely on some sort of action movie cliché it goes in a completely different direction with it, leaving you legitimately wondering just how the hell our badass hero is going to make it out alive.

One minor criticism I have with the plot of this film is that sometimes characters motivations are pretty bare bones. Like Baby’s love interest Debora for instance. She’s just a regular waitress who’s basically thrown into this high speed gun towing car chase with some random guy she decided to flirt with and she never really bats an eye at the whole thing. No matter what she’s completely compliant with Baby even when a real life girlfriend would logically be really upset. She gets seemingly stood up one night but never brings that up, she never tries to talk Baby out of his life of crime, she doesn’t even get upset with him for turning himself in to the cops after ALL that the two have been through together. Like . . . I like Baby a lot and everything, but I feel like if I were her I’d be a LITTLE pissed at him for just throwing my life into chaos with him after barely knowing him. I guess this is better then her just being whiny and taking away from the epicness of what’s going on but she’s a little too oddly compliant about the whole thing, to the point where it makes me think “does she have parents wondering about her or something”? Plus there’s a point in the movie where Doc just randomly decides to help Baby and Debora escape and even sacrifices his life for them despite Baby basically fucking everything up for him and sinking his entire operation. He says he’s doing it because “he was in love once’, but we never get any more reason beyond that, he basically just turns on Baby’s side right the hell out of nowhere despite the fact that he was so obviously using him up to that point.

Another interesting thing to point out about this film is that almost every kind deed Baby does comes back to aid him in some way, shape or form. You’ll see what I mean when you watch it.

Action & Editing

Usually action choreography isn’t given much analysis by the more snobby film goer as they always state character and story is more important, and while I don’t necessarily disagree with that I resent the idea that action is just any old thing any person can do. Good action needs great beats. It needs good frame composition, good dynamic pacing, good stunt choreography, raising stakes as the fight builds. For all intents and purposes it has to be the most dramatic and expressive part in the movie with the least amount of words. Sure action has been done very lazily with dumb gimmicks like shaky cam, no point in focus and an abundance of lens flare (because apparently good action means not being able to see what the hell is going on) but there’s Transformers action and then there’s Mad Max: Fury Road action. Baby Driver is Mad Max territory. The chase scenes are dynamic and creative, the stunts are absolutely mind blowing, the shootouts are meticulously timed to intense music as Edgar Wright films usually are. Much like the story the action takes you a little bit of everywhere; you can never predict how a scenario is going to go really. That’s because this film is great with seemingly setting up cliché moments and then going a completely different direction with them.

Also, the soundtrack is good. I mean really good. Like, oh my God, I got the soundtrack on Spotify moments after seeing the movie. Just needed to go on that tangent real quick.

Characters & Actor Performance

Every character in this film is either a delightfully upright person or is a low, selfish murderous scumbag. There is no in-between in this movie. Both are equally likable in how well executed they are though. Every thug in this movie is legitimately intimidating and equally hilarious, especially when their egos are colliding with each other. Kevin Spacey does what he always does well: the conniving and intimidating crime boss who doesn’t take shit from anybody and immediately obtains command of the room. Plus he has some of the funniest lines in the movie. Pretty much what you would expect from the best Lex Luthor ever to be on screen.

Be that as it may, once again the main character Baby is the best character. He’s cool, confident, soft spoken, tough, ernest, and Ansel Elgort executes all of this perfectly. What’s interesting about him is that his character is more demonstrated through subjectivity; putting the viewer in his shoes as he experiences everything around him without really adding any particular commentary on it. This is great because it makes him more accessible then if he just relentlessly monologued about everything and it lets the film do what all great films should do: show don’t tell. We learn everything we need to know about Baby through flashbacks, mannerisms, and how everyone around him treats him. It speaks volumes more then if he were to narrate the movie or something like that.

Like I mentioned before, this movie is great at playing with expectations, and one of the examples in which this happens is who the final bad guy ends up being. You’d think because of the consistent relationship between Baby and him that the Doc would be the guy Baby has his final face off with right? Nope. It actually ends up being Buddy, wanting vengeance after his lover Darling got killed in a shootout with the police all because of a job Baby sabotaged. He may not have had as much interaction with Baby as the Doc but man was he a ruthless villain. Holding Debora hostage, murdering Doc in what is simultaneously the most gruesome and hilarious scene in the whole movie, and shooting right by Baby’s ears in an attempt to take away one of the few things that matters to Baby; his ability to hear music. Damn. This is yet another great subversion of expectations as in an earlier scene it seems like Buddy is the only thug being actually nice to Baby and sharing his love for music. I love a movie that keeps you guessing.

Conclusion

Baby Driver is a thrilling, spectacular ride that is multiple levels above your average action flick. It’s got great heart and style, spectacular choreography, a wonderfully likable hero, is hilarious and will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. At times it feels like it's playing with more themes and characters it really has time for but that is a very minor nitpick. It’s worth price of admission and more. Edgar Wright does it again.

I give it 5 stars out of 5.

[mrmichaelchadler]

Nick Allen's Top Ten Films of 2018

Below is a small glimpse at my film year, a collection of the movies I was fixated on during and after festivals, recommended to you if you asked me what was good, or was simply blown away by. And in the case of my number one film, it was lodged so deep into my brain that its second-to-last shot made for a solid homemade Halloween costume. Of course, this list is subject to change at any minute, with special shout-outs to “Roma,” “Minding the Gap,” “Eighth Grade,” “Widows,” “Vice,” “Free Solo,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Blaze,” and the laugh-out-loud quality of “Mile 22.” 

10. “Bird Box” 

In 2010, Susanne Bier made one of the most unforgettable stories about the immediacy of day-to-day violence with “A Better World,” its plot hinging on acts of humanism across continents. She brings that focus on how we treat each other to the ruthlessly thrilling “Bird Box,” which tops off a year of nervous cinema, but is approximately 300% more stressful than the silent but deadly “A Quiet Place” (nor can “Bird Box” have its logic poked through by the prospects of farts). The hook here is an apocalyptic disadvantage—one’s eyes must always be covered from an outside force that invades consciousness, making them want to hurt others or themselves.

Adapted by Eric Heisserer from the novel by Josh Malerman, “Bird Box” takes the set-up of a survival story to its most tense limits, where characters are walking, driving, or riding down a river through unknown environments, without being able to see where they are going. In a year in which watching white supremacy terrorize families in “The First Purge” seemed redundant, “Bird Box” is one of the most terrifying depictions of fanaticism; those who do decide to see sometimes have a frightening, monstrous power, and try to force others to look. It's a scary reflection of our modern cults built on hatred, anonymous conspiracy theories, or willful misinterpretations of the Bible. 

The whole of "Bird Box" hinges on dumb luck, but each major set piece has an inescapable claustrophobia, in which the ability to see what the blindfolded characters can't, and imagining what could befall them, makes it that much more terrifying. At the center of it all is a top-level performance from Sandra Bullock, portraying a mother in the most desperate mode of survival. She makes a viewer even more wistful that somehow she and her two blindfolded kids can survive the film’s impossible world.

9. “Searching” 

Aneesh Chaganty’s “Searching” is a thrilling correction to a few bugs in mainstream filmmaking: it’s an unabashed crowd-pleaser that doesn’t talk down to its audience, a tech-savvy movie that doesn’t lament the growing presence of smart phones and social media so much as whole-heartedly embrace them, and a screen-based thriller that isn’t just the cinematic equivalent of watching a desktop. That it’s also a thriller that gives John Cho the leading role he’s long deserved is just one of its many elements to adore.

Scripted by Chaganty and Sev Ohanian, this story about a father (John Cho) searching for his missing daughter Margot (Michelle La) is one of the year’s most exciting examples of creativity, with elements of filmmaking one can easily take for granted—it’s one of the year’s best edited films for how it creates an emotional roller coaster using only the content on its characters’ screens, orchestrating a narrative out of an insane amount of on-screen detail that fully immerses us in everyone's lives. "Searching" plays wonderfully on repeat viewings, and the opening scene has deservedly won comparisons to the first ten minutes of “Up”—“Searching” is the debut of major storytelling talent, with a thrilling new perspective on the technology we use every day.

8. “John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection” 

“John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection” is a sports documentary that begins with a Jean-Luc Godard quote, and doesn’t show its title subject until five minutes in. Yes, this movie is a dream for anyone who has felt film semiotics and sports analysis aren’t too different of beasts, especially when one talks about the strengths and weaknesses of a performance. Needless to say, “John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection” transported me back to my brain-fueling Film Studies classes, all focused around a pivotal match for the hot-head tennis player in 1984. This doc does not just thrill with how it toys with form, but also in how it proclaims the expansive potential of critical thinking. I dare anyone who is interested in the very concept of criticism, whether for athletes or filmmakers, to try to turn it off after watching it for those five minutes.

7. “Makala” 

“Makala” popped into my life as a review assignment back in August, and by the end of the year it’s still the most exemplary idea of the power in minimalist storytelling. One of the most tense scenes this year is of Makala trying to push a huge bundle of coal, strapped to his bike, up a small hill, as captured with simplicity by director and cinematographer Emmanuel Gras. As it documents one man’s process in creating coal, carting it many miles and then trying to sell it, “Makala” speaks to the eternal values of filmmaking, and recognizes that walking many miles in someone else’s shoes is an instrumental part of it. 

6. “Cold War”

Anyone who was a bit miffed by the ending of Damien Chazelle’s musical “La La Land”—not that it ended on a surprising note, but that it felt like an incomplete thought—will find refreshing heart and soul in Pawel Pawlikowski’s musician story, “Cold War.” Told over various years and across countries, the story of two Polish musicians and their romance in spite of years and geographical distance beautifully condenses time but doesn’t cut short its emotion. “Cold War” precisely captures the different chapters of a relationship, while having a black-and-white beauty that makes the film like the year’s best love ballad.

5. “Mandy” 

Like a holy mix of “You Were Never Really Here” and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” as blended with a chainsaw fight and served on an actual dish of revenge, “Mandy” is one of the year’s most visceral proclamations of love and loss. Be not fooled by the howls from its growing cult audience, the best aspects of “Mandy” (directed by Panos Cosmatos and co-written with Aaron Stewart-Ahn) are not its albeit glorious action scenes but its sensitivity: this is the story of a man (Nicolas Cage), a woman named Mandy (Andrea Riseborough, her close-up laughing at macho BS the true face of this film) and the depths of his battling the demons of grief after his loved one is taken away. The late Johann Johannsson’s heavenly score uses synthesizers and heavy metal guitars to grip you from its opening text, and the film’s heavy use of color filters creates a dreamy atmosphere, which only gets kookier as “Mandy” becomes a straight-up hero odyssey with Cage battling phantasmagorical Jesus freaks. But the true beauty of “Mandy” is its intimacy; it’s as beautiful as looking into the eyes of your loved one as you both lie in bed, no one else existing in the world.

“Mandy” also features an unforgettable Nicolas Cage scene, in which he downs a whole bottle of vodka in a bathroom while standing in his underpants. He’s crying, howling, screaming. It epitomizes the appeal of one our greatest screen artists—that Cage is unafraid to tap into the absurd emotions we sometimes wish we could—and it pushes the surrealism of the scene to sincere and complete heartbreak. I’m placing “Mandy” in my proverbial “In Case of Loss, Break Glass” collection, right next to a copy of Philip Roth’s Everyman.

4. “Leave No Trace” 

I really love what my colleagues have written about Debra Granik’s story of a PTSD-afflicted father living off the grid with his young daughter, but one of my favorite qualities of this nearly pitch-perfect story is that it’s not what you think: it’s not about them living in the woods, but adapting to our society, a story that takes place after what only seems like the true narrative. The completely soulful performances from Ben Foster and Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie create a family dynamic you don’t want to see disturbed, and through small developments there’s a large unease that capitalism and technology could get in its way. Granik’s script, adapted with Anne Rossellini from Peter Rock’s book, has an incredible rhythm with its bare bones scenes, exploring the greatest of emotional stakes in the most deceptively simple way.

3. “Madeline’s Madeline”

In a sense, “Madeline’s Madeline” is a movie that was made for its debut lead, Helena Howard. You understand, about thirty seconds into the film, why Howard warrants her own project, and why a filmmaker like Josephine Decker would mix her own experimental and primal instincts with the talents of her future young star. “Madeline’s Madeline” is delightfully beyond words—describing it as a film about acting and actors is just scratching the surface—but it’s one of the most year’s most hypnotic movies, especially as Decker’s camera toys with point-of-view and takes an approach to editing that is unlike any other film from 2018.

2. “Shirkers” 

I spent much of my Sundance last January recommending to people a little documentary called “Shirkers,” and ramped up that practice when it came out on Netflix this past October. Believe the hype for this movie, which just took our #6 spot on the staff list, and is one of the few docs that has been making waves on #FilmTwitter. It’s both a celebration of and a mystery movie about the lost treasure of a film project that Tan directed as a teenager in 1990s Singapore with her friends, which then disappeared along with her pushy filmmaking mentor, an older white man named Georges, before the film was finished. “Shirkers” has Tan investigating what happened to the project and looking back at her life when she was a teenager making her cool-as-hell film that predates the style of "Ghost World" and Wes Anderson. Perhaps best of all, Tan shares with us the filmmaking daydreams, and the collaborating women, that fueled such an enigmatic passion project. 

1. “Hereditary”

I believe “If Beale Street Could Talk” director Barry Jenkins put it best when he once tweeted to “Hereditary” writer/director Ari Aster, “GIVE ME BACK MY PEACEFUL SLEEP,” followed by six crying emojis. Speaking as someone who has now seen Aster’s masterful debut five times (including an experimental, not recommended double feature at the theater with Fred Rogers doc “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”) I can only affirm the lasting power of “Hereditary” and its perfection as a modern American family tragedy that uses horror language in order to devastate its viewers. 

There are so many elements to cherish about the film, including its exact creepiness with slow-moving shots and deceptively long takes, a score by Colin Stetson that peacefully conjures the devil, and the way that while a first viewing may inspire one to watch it through their fingers, "Hereditary" only gets more disturbing with each viewing. And all of this for a horror film that’s about a household that doesn’t discuss trauma, or about a family plot that’s a highway to hell. Most importantly, however, is the emotional magnitude brought by the likes of Toni Collette, whose viciousness as the central mother can rival the terror of Joan Crawford proclaiming “No more wire hangers” in “Mommie Dearest,” and Alex Wolff, depicting the shattered, silenced nature of trauma. 

"Hereditary" is in the tradition of disturbing films like Kubrick’s “The Shining” or Zulawski’s “Possession"—it's equal parts terrifying and exhilarating, scarring a viewer with the emotional turmoil that's in the foreground. Aster's film messed me up in more ways than one in 2018, and it hurts so damn good. 

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