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evilwickedme · 3 years ago

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ok so to sum up my feelings for leverage: redemption, season 1(a): (long post warning, there’s a tl;dr at the end)

I knew that Hardison wouldn’t be in most of the season due to Aldis Hodge being a busy bee nowadays, but I didn’t realize that meant he’d only be around for the first two episodes. He was sorely missed, not only because of my attachment to him, but also because he’s usually the grounding factor in the group dynamic, and his role as info guy and tech guy was split evenly between two characters who had their own issues.

That said, Hardison is absolutely a highlight of the two episodes he’s in. his speech about redemption was everything I could’ve hoped for (plus, more evidence for the Jewish!Hardison pile...). I wish we’d gotten to see more of his dynamic with Breanna because what we saw was funny and sweet and we don’t generally get to see Hardison taking care of somebody who so desperately needs taking care of. I hope that Aldis Hodge is around for more episodes in 1(b), because what we’re left with feels a little hollow.

Sticking to original leverage characters for now, for the most part the leverage crew still felt true to the original series as characters, even if the show itself was a little bit confused at times. The actors understand their characters and embody them so well that I think one could give them the trashiest script ever and they’d still sell it. Sophie is a particular focus in 1(a) because of Nate’s death, and she’s particularly well written as a result.

That said, I’m super bitter that we saw little to no mastermind!Parker. Parker’s character being given the mastermind role was a big deal and it feels like they’re walking it back because they feel uncomfortable with it. It is eventually given an in-text excuse, but literally in the last episode, and it was not a particularly convincing reason, and in fact contradicted moments from previous episodes (Sophie leaving for a client meeting and ignoring Parker in ep3 comes to mind). It’s frustrating, it makes the end of the original leverage feel pointless, and letting Parker make a decision once in a while is not the same thing at all. The original series repeatedly showed us that while everyone in the team had their strengths, Parker works problems and solves them in unique, interesting ways, and other characters’ days in the limelight tended to be comedic or even failures. It’s a broken promise, and a pretty major broken promise at that.

On a more positive note, Parker’s dynamic with literally everyone was fantastic. She’s possibly the best written character this season. They’ve taken the autism out of the subtext and into the text (although obviously still undiagnosed), and given her coping mechanisms that were taken seriously in the text even when they were played for laughs, which I appreciated. Her attempts to mentor Breanna were sweet, her friendship with Sophie was electric and at times (CRIMES) hilarious, and as usual, she has a fantastic dynamic with Eliot that makes my heart burst. If you don’t think they’re romantically involved, at least acknowledge there’s a life partnership here. They’ve spent the last decade together.

(We’ll get to Harry.)

Eliot isn’t given much arc-wise, which is frustrating since he’s my favorite. He’s being presented as the goal at the end of a redemption arc, ie to keep working at it every day until your soul heals or whatever, and it doesn’t reflect the message they’re trying to convey via Hardison’s speech and our two new characters. He’s got his moments, but I think they under utilized his potential.

Breanna!!! Breanna’s my new favorite, except for Eliot. She’s hilarious, she’s insecure, she’s nerdy and excited in a way that’s similar to Hardison but still distinct in its inherent teenage-girl-ness and I LOVE IT. Unlike the previous series, where Hardison’s “age of the geek” was often a joke played on Hardison, we’re at the point where Eliot and Parker are both right there with him, and so they accept and even appreciate Breanna’s nerdiness. Also, canon gay character? In YOUR Leverage? It’s more likely than you think.

(No, I never thought they’d make ot3 canon on screen. I hoped, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.)

I think Breanna’s the character that will be the most interesting to see grow. She’s got a lot of potential and a list of crimes a mile long (or more). I adore her with all my heart. I want to see her tiktok account.

Harry. Oh, Harry.

It took me a while, but I do like Harry. It took a while, because the narrative positioned him at the same level as Nate back in episode 1 of original Leverage. But in episode 1 we didn’t know the other characters. We had Nate as the POV character, and so we cared about him because we were seeing the world through his eyes. (This is TV Studies 101. I know this, because I took TV Studies 101 in 2019.) In Leverage: Redemption, we no longer have a POV character, for several reasons:

Nate, previously the POV character, is dead.

As it is, by mid-season 3 of leverage Nate was no longer a POV character. This is, coincidentally, the point where the leverage writers realized they had four other characters in the main cast they could do something with, and in-universe, Nate accepted that he was a thief, not a special Good Man.

Sophie is sort of a POV character for the first episode of the revival, but only for the first few minutes. Afterwards, the series settles into the groove of seasons 3-5, i.e., the entire crew is our POV. We know our crew, and we love them as is.

Narratively, however, Redemption insists on positing Harry as the POV character, because it is his redemption we are pursuing most vehemently. And I think they really relied on us already knowing the actor - I’ve never seen him in anything before, so to me he was a completely fresh face and they put almost no effort into selling him to me. Beyond being competent and consistently mildly baffled by the antics of the leverage crew, I honestly don’t know who this man is by the end of EIGHT episodes with him. I have a much better handle on Breanna by the end of 1(a), and I can tell you I knew all five of the original leverage crew better by the end of the first episode of the original series than I do Harry. What’s the name of his daughter, John Rogers. Is he still married. How old is the daughter. Why is none of this worth mentioning. Give him a sense of humor that isn’t reacting to other people’s shenanigans. I’m so frustrated. It’s bad writing.

I did manage to grow to like Harry by the end, but I’m pretty sure this is down to Noah Wyle’s charismatic portrayal of an under-developed character, at least partially. And I never stopped being frustrated at not knowing who this man is at all.

The two highlights of the season are undoubtedly episodes five and six. Episode five was the first time I felt like the episode was more than a collection of good moments between the main cast and mediocre moments between the main cast and also the main plot. The issues with pacing and tone that I suffered through for most of the season were mostly non-existent in ep5 and 6, and at least in episode 5 I attribute that to the pared down cast. They had time to focus not only on our actual characters - Sophie, Parker, Breanna - but also on the case. This is the only client from 1(a) I am going to remember next week without googling it first, mark my words.

Episode six worked for the exact opposite reason - it completely disregarded the client and plot and immersed itself in the characters. Breanna gets a moment to shine, but everybody else gets their bits and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the script that was most fun to write. The characters felt natural, real, and captured the found-family dynamic that’s been missing all season for the first time.

While episode 2 is the weakest episode, I don’t actually have much to say about it. I am disappointed in episode 8. For a mid-season finale, I really expected them to do something. Instead, it was an episode about Nate Ford that copped out of being about Nate Ford (both with fake-Nate and with the new version of him being relayed to us). I would have told the writers to give that energy back to episode 1 and write an episode that’s about anybody who isn’t Harry, oh my God. I know I said I grew to like him but so many episodes were about Harry. He’s the newbie! Why didn’t Hardison get an episode that was actually about him, considering he was only around for two episodes? Why does Eliot have to be the butt of the joke when the theme of the series should directly tie back to him in a much more meaningful way? The last episode parodies their own tagline by saying Eliot isn’t just a hitter, but it deftly avoids noticing that they’ve turned him into nothing more than very muscly comic relief, including in that very episode!

Also, I hated the Marshal. Eliot actively looked uncomfortable around her.

tl;dr

The season took a while, that’s definitely true. But it did find its footing eventually, and by the halfway mark of 1(a) it finally felt cohesive again. The characters were played fantastically even when they weren’t well-written, and if nothing else, the humor landed every time. It still has its kinks and problems to work out, but if you look at it as a brand new show rather than a continuation of one that went off the air over eight years ago, it’s actually doing rather well. I’m choosing to judge it in both lights - according to its own standards, it establishes its identity in episode five; according to Leverage standards, it establishes its connection to its roots in episode six. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed 1(a), and continue to have high hopes for 1(b).

fic writing will commence in three, two, one...

#leverage #leverage meta #leverage redemption #leverage ot3 #parker leverage #alec hardison #sophie devereaux #eliot spencer #breanna casey #harry wilson #mine

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starlight-starwrites · 4 years ago

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agent whiskey

character headcanons

note: did a rewatch of kingsman golden circle, so...how could i resist? i really started out with ‘this is fun!’ and then things got real. again, i like to think most of what is here is inspired straight from what we see in the movie, and some go a little beyond bc if we’re honest, those writers did our jack dirty.

- Has a known streak for being an asshole, but he doesn’t usually even realize it.

- He thinks he’s funny (he is, but only sometimes).

- The man loves the high life. Country livin’ is fine by him, but high country living. He was sent to work in New York for a reason.

- He is great at mixing his attitude and his manners. He’s usually always polite, but his impatience will get the better of him. He’ll be the one at the store giving lip to the manager, yet still saying please and thank you the whole time.

- Loves playing the seniority card. He’s good at what he does, no doubt there, but he still thinks he’s tough shit He gives himself more importance than he should. If someone he likes tells him off, he will drop down so many pegs, it is incredible. Will go quiet and embarrassed if scolded.

- Actually has pretty good taste in fashion. He pays attention. It’s a bit of a preening thing, a bit of a wanting to seem valid thing.

- He will giggle at a sex joke if he wasn’t expecting it (if he’s flirting, it’s a different story).

- He is great at hiding his nerves. Will overcompensate with the cockiness sometimes if he feels out of place, and definitely likes his liquid courage when talking to women.

- He feels like he has to have a pick up line. He has to impress. His track record of relationships (or lack thereof) isn’t something he likes to think about. Whether it’s because he’s hung up on his late wife, or they don’t like him beyond a quick lay, or he finds he can’t connect with them, he isn’t always sure. He’ll do it for work, or if he really, really wants to, but beyond that, he finds himself distracted by other things.

- Whiskey is his go-to drink. What came first—his preference or the code name? No one is sure, but he is definitely dedicated it. He may hate drugs, but he’s quick to drown his sorrows in alcohol.

- He can cook. Maybe he's not a gourmet chef, but everything turns out fairly decent, and he's even got a couple of special recipes that turn out incredible. His homemade chili is immaculate.

- He doesn’t have any close friends. When he was younger he had some, he knows what it’s like to have a friend. But when he goes out, sees just a group of guys who mess around, genuinely like each other, he feels like he’s missing something. It almost makes him uncomfortable at the thought of having such a support group.

- Despite his propensity to come off as a bit of an asshole, he pales in comparison to actual assholes. Does not tolerate them. If someone is harassing or being a general nuisance, he wont hesitate to step in if necessary.

- If it’s not necessary, he is shameless and will absolutely stay for the show. He finds the drama amusing, and if it comes to action, all the better.

- The man knows what he’s doing (most of the time). He’s a good agent. A good fighter. When things sometimes go south, something unexpected happens, part of him lives for the thrill of it, hoping for a time to shine. It keeps him on his feet. He’d rather focus on not dying during those times, then focus on trying to live when things are quiet.

- He likes working with other agents, it makes him feel less alone. But he is a stickler about who he works with. He’d, of course, prefer to be in charge, and he doesn’t like incompetence. Shit happens, but if you’re not good at back-up, Whiskey’s got no use for you.

- He trains and practices a lot. A lot, a lot. You can’t get that good with a whip, a lasso, and guns, without honing his skills. He likes to try out new moves too, but he won’t do it in front of people. He’s broken quite a few things in his own home practicing moves, but in the end, it really pays off.

- He’s fiercely protective of the people he cares about. If he loved someone, he would likely save the one at the cost of the world.

- Holds grudges like no other. Will seek revenge whenever the mood strikes him. And he has a knack for it too. Not always confrontational, but if you wrong him, and he feels its personal? He’ll make sure you’re ruined one way or another.

- He doesn’t always want to take the lead, but if there’s ever a pause, someone hesitates to do something, he automatically thinks ‘fine, I’ll do it myself’.

- He lives to be a showoff. He likes to be the center of attention. Its stems from his feeling of not being good enough, of not being able to do things right in the past. He doesn’t care what sort of attention he gathers, and if someone negatively reacts to his skills (with jealousy, criticism, any of the sort) he still counts it as a win. Afterall, why would someone be paying so much attention to him if he isn’t worth it?

- He’s a risk taker. Has been all his life. Some risks didn’t pay out and left him with insecurities he likes to pretend don’t exist. Some do pay off, and it’s the best high he feels.

- He’s gambled before and would again if the opportunity were to present itself. He’s tried to stop, but he knows he’ll go back. When he was young, he liked the idea of a high roller’s table. With his job and how much he makes, he’s closer to getting to that fantasy. He doesn’t talk about it, but his dream mission is at a casino, playing on the Statesman bill, with a finely dressed woman on his arm.

- Yes. His biggest fantasy is to be an American cowboy James Bond. Sorry. No I’m not.

- When he was young, he was seriously in love. It was that first love, the one you think you could never have again, yet somehow is still only a surface love. It felt deep at the time, but if he were to love again, really love, it would be a true love that he doesn’t even believe exists. It’s the knowing someone as much as you know yourself, the sort of support that is unbelievable yet impossible to live without, and being able to share the fears and doubts of past trauma and uncertain futures and be met with trust and loyalty that could only be found in fiction.

- He’s become a serial flirt to hide that desire for true love. He loved his late wife, but they hadn’t had the time, and they’d still been practically kids. He’s afraid to let any relationship go beyond that.

-He is a man of devotion. Devoted to his work, to his principles, to his wife. Sometimes the way he expresses it is extreme, but no one can deny he cares.

- He likes to have nice things. He’s got a nice apartment, filled with any comforts and random assortments that spark joy. If Marie Kondo went through his stuff, there would be very little he’d agree to let go. Everything seems to have a story behind it.

- “Now that hat? Been with me through too much. Couldn’t wear it til I was eighteen, tried to ride my first horse with that one, and I damn near lost it. See these bullet holes? Mission up North went South, and had I moved any slower, I’d’ve been brought back in a pretty wooden box and dropped six feet under.”

- He may try to support the Statesman brand but…his name is Jack Daniels. You can bet he’s got every brand of whiskey in his own personal collection.

- At his place in new York, he always keeps extra stuff ‘for company’. He very rarely ever gets a chance to use it.

- He loves gadgets, tech, the best vehicles. He tries to make sure he can do it all because it makes him feel like Bond, but he sticks to what he knows best. The whip and the lasso make him unique.

- The man is really kinky. He doesn’t let it out unless he is completely comfortable, but…he really is.

- This man is a mama’s boy. We all know it.

- He wants to have a family. He really does. Part of him refuses to believe he ever will, that he doesn’t deserve it. The other part thinks that it’s the only thing that will fill the hole in his heart.

#agent whiskey #jack daniels #agent whiskey headcanons #jack daniels headcanons #agent whiskey x reader #jack daniels x reader #kingsman the golden circle

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ncisladaily · 3 years ago

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With her NCIS: Los Angeles run having come to an end, Renée Felice Smith is ready for her next chapter — somewhat literally, being an author as well as an actress.

In the CBS drama’s Season 12 finale, Smith’s Nell Jones made the decision to not officially sign on as the “new Hetty”/Operations Manager, but instead join partner Eric Beale on an adventure to Tokyo, to head up his tech venture. But before driving off into the sunset, Nell briefly reunited with long-MIA Hetty herself, in costar Linda Hunt’s first on-set appearance of the season.

With NCIS: LA bidding adieu to both her and scene partner Barrett Foa, Smith — who joined the show early in Season 2 — spoke with TVLine exclusively about that emotional if bittersweet Nell/Hetty reunion, being an inspiration to smart girls, and what’s next for her as a legit storyteller herself.

TVLINE | How did you learn that this would be your swan song, and what was your initial reaction? Well, I think it’s complicated. I mean, I think that I’ve been ready for my next chapter for a while now, in whatever form it will take. But it’s surely to be centered around storytelling. I hesitate to be part of the “cliché actress” calling herself a storyteller, but I really am one. I’m a writer. I’m a director. We are developing television currently. We have another indie in the works. I want to tell compelling stories, poignant stories that offer an escape and chance of reflection for the viewer, so that’s where my focus is.

TVLINE | But as far as Nell leaving, I for one was quite surprised, because I felt like this season was such a journey for the character. They’d really been shaping her to assume this position of authority. It’s so true. I absolutely loved Nell’s journey this season. She really got to stand in her power. She really found her voice, and as a young woman it was empowering to play that side of the scene. Nell, I think, is a natural leader, and I really do think her strength as a leader is her vulnerability. I think that Nell has empathy for all players involved in the story. She can see multiple sides of the story. She’s a person that’s not only intelligent but she has emotional intelligence, and that has been such a gift for me as an actor to play. I’ve just loved her evolution, really. She started as a sidekick and she really, quite effectively, was the boss this year, and I had a fantastic time playing it.

Kilbride (played by Gerald McRaney) recently spoke to her unique strengths, saying to “stop asking yourself what would Hetty do” and just be Nell. And that really is such a necessary message. There’s a scene that I absolutely love with Miguel Ferrer, my dear Miguel, from a while back, and it was a similar sort of scene where he was trying to instill confidence in her as a leader. I actually have the quote: Miguel’s character, Granger, says to Nell, “Never belittle yourself or your accomplishments. You deserve the respect you’ve gotten. You’ve earned it.” I remember feeling so choked up in that scene, and I’ll get choked up now thinking about it.

Kilbride, similarly to Granger, has a real kind of affection for Nell and saw that potential in Nell. He wanted to foster her confidence in herself, and it was very moving to play those scenes. I feel like as a young woman we are often in a position where we may doubt ourselves just because of the social climate, but in the end I think it’s about trusting yourself. Nell really grew into a person who started trusting herself and making decisions for her, rather than trying to please. I’m a natural-born people pleasure, and I think Nell is, too. High-functioning overachievers always are. So, I think Nell’s decision at the close of the season really is her ultimately finding her voice and really having agency over her future and what it is she wants to do.

I know how difficult that is. It is reflective of my own journey and my own life. So, to be able to step forward and say, “You know what, this is the path I want to take now and I’ll potentially disappoint people while doing it, I commend Nell for her bravery in that.

What did it mean to you have Linda Hunt back for one final scene with you? Oh, my God…. My heart. Linda is just a magical creature. To have her back was really quite emotional. She was essentially sidelined by the pandemic, as you could imagine, so to even see her in the flesh, let alone share a scene with her

TVLINE | And a hug. And a hug, come onnnn! Chef’s kiss, you know? And the scene is really a bittersweet reunion. Nell really wants nothing more than to stay and catch up with her mentor, but she can’t. So, it’s kind of this “goodbye for now” scene.

TVLINE | [Showrunner] Scott [Gemmill] told me that Linda was thrilled to be back on set. She was like a kid in a candy shop. She was glowing. She was crackling. She was so alive in the scene. Whenever I’m in a scene with Linda, I’m a student. She really is such a master of the craft, and I’m a little sponge. I’m soaking it all up, and really, truly watching her work has been the most educational process for me. I just feel like truly I’ve been attending the MasterClass with one of the best, one of the greats, and I’m so grateful for my friendship with her as well. She’s my bud. She texts me lots of emojis.

TVLINE | You once told me about how you would go to lunch and you’d get all these Hollywood stories, including about her “Mary Tyler Moore moment” when she first went to live in New York…. My God, she dropped that story on me right before a walk-and-talk where I had tons of technical jargon, and I remember I was welling up just at the image of 16 or 18-year-old Linda Hunt getting into a cab and drinking in the big city and the possibilities that it held for her. She’s such a gift.

How nervous were you to shave Barrett’s mustache? I knew we only had one take and I knew it had to be good. My mom is a hairdresser and I watched her kind of do all of that kind of beard shaping for years, so I just kind of channeled my mom. I knew I needed a steady hand, and I just went for it. But I think he was a little nervous.

TVLINE | Would you like to be a part of Episode 300 (airing late next season), if asked? Of. Course.

TVLINE | What’s next for you? Like I said, storytelling. We just released our first children’s book, Hugo and the Impossible Thing, which is inspired by our canine son Hugo. Chris [Gabriel] — my partner, my other half, my creative partner — and I wrote the book about our dog who recovered from a really life-threatening illness. It was an inoperable brain tumor that most everyone told us would be impossible to beat. But through the help of some truly brilliant doctors and Hugo’s own determination, he made it to the other side and he lived a full life. It was this miracle that we witnessed, and we knew we needed to pass on Hugo’s message and let it inspire others.

I think oftentimes challenges in life are labeled as “impossible” when in reality they’re just extremely difficult. Of course, yes, certain things are impossible — I’m not going to be 6-foot-2 any time soon — but most of the time an obstacle or a challenge is just something we have to work our way around. So, we created the metaphor of the impossible thing. It’s out in the world now.

TVLINE | Lastly, any message for the fans? Oh, for sure. Ultimately, I could say something profound but I just want to say thank you. Thank you for respecting Nell. Thank you for embracing Nell, for embracing her intelligence. I’ve always been cast as kind of the “funny friend,” the quirky turkey. I was the nurse in Romeo & Juliet when I auditioned for Juliet in high school. But with Nell, I really got to play so much more, and I am just so grateful to have been able to play the “smart girl,” quite frankly.

Someone actually shared a really touching story with me not long ago, actually. I was standing in line at a coffee shop in New York, and I heard this kind of grumble behind me. Someone asked, “Are you Nell Jones from NCIS: LA?,” and I kind of winced, afraid to turn around. I know native New Yorkers, I was thinking, “What did I do wrong? Did I accidentally cut the line or not cover my mouth when I sneezed?” So, I turned around to face this person and they proceeded to tell me about their 12-year-old daughter who wasn’t like the other girls in her class. She was interested in science and forensics and computers. This woman told me that a lot of times as a mother, she didn’t know what to do with her daughter, and that Nell and the character that I played for the last 10 years had helped her daughter to find some confidence in who she was and what she wanted to be.

So, if my time at NCIS: LA helped a young girl to see the possibility in pursuing a career in intelligence or technology… visibility is everything. If the image of Nell Jones as the brightest bulb in the room can instill confidence in a 12-year-old girl and affect her future, I mean, that’s the ultimate win. That’s it. That’s truly more than I ever could have asked for.

#s12 #interview #Renee Felice Smith #ncis la #ncisla #NCIS Los Angeles

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990 Review: Still Possesses Turtle Power After All These Years

Cowabunga all you happy people! I freaking love the Teenage Ninja Turtles. I grew up with it from Turtles in Time, which was my first video game, to the 2003 cartoon, which I covered the first three episodes of last month, and on to present day as I re-read the idw comics after finally reading the original eastman and laird run of mirage, and impatiently waiting for Shredder’s Revenge to come out after a LONG drout of no good TMNT games. I”m a fan of these heroes four, their dynamic as a family, the endless possiblities that come from it’s long history and ablitlity to go anywhere in any genre, and the wonderful goofy shit that happens when you have a franchise about mutant turtles learning ninjitsu from a rat and fighting a dude covered in knife covered samurai armor.

So with me finally covering the guys after almost a year last month and with a new movie set to debut at some point this year, I had the bright idea to revisit the FIRST TMNT movie after way too many years of not watching it. This movie is anear and dear to my heart: When I first started getting into the boys big as a kid with the 2003 cartoon, I badly wanted more turtles. But back then it wasn’t nearly as easy to glom onto some more of the sewer shock pizza kings: Streaming sites with all the cartoons on them weren’t all that accesable, dvd’s were expensive for the 87 cartoon, Mirage wasn’t reprinting the comics in any meaningful way and my local comic shop didn’t have any at all and I could only play the SNES when my brother had it set up on occasion like at our Grandma’s farm.

As you probably guessed though there was one exception: the original 1990 movie, which I got at Walmart for 5 bucks and haven’t let go of since. It was one of my first dvds and is still one of my most precious. Said film hit the spot just right as like my beloved 2003 series, it was a mildly goofy but still fucking cool adaptation that stuck closer to the mirage comics, even more than the 2003 series would, while taking a few queues from the 87 series. This film is as precious to me as the 2003 series and a with a brand new movie coming up, I figured it was the exact right time to dig into this classic: what makes it still good to this day, what’s fun to point and laugh at, and how the heck Jim Henson got involved in this. So join me under the cut as I take a look at my boys first theatrical outing and why I still love watching a turtle.

No One Wanted To Make This: Before we get into the film itself some background. As usual I struggled a bit, but thankfully found some help in the form of this Hollywood Reporter article. It’s a fascinating read worth your time, providing an oral history of the film from the people who worked on it.

The film was the baby of Gary Propper, a surfer dude and road manager for the prop comic Gallagher, aka that guy who used to smash watermelons but now has instead opted to smash what little’s left of his career by being a homophobic douchenozzle. He found an ally in Showtime producer Kim Dawson who’d produced Gallagher’s special. I don’t think there will be more of an 80′s sentence than “Gallagher’s surfer dude agent wanted to make a teenage mutant ninja turtles movie”. Propper was a huge fan of the comics, and with Dawson’s help convinced Laird and Eastman to let them option it to studios.

It may come as a shock to you but the road agent for a homophobic watermelon man and a producer at a niche cable channel wanting to make a movie based on an underground comic book about masked turtles at a time when the two most recent comic book movies were Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Howard the Duck, did not go well. Every door in Hollywood got slammed in their face, even Fox> Even the eventual backer of the film, Golden Harvest, a hong kong action film studio, took months to convince to actually back the film.

Things did not get easier from there: The films writer Bobby Herbeck had trouble getting a story agreed on because Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s working relationship had deteroiated horribly from the stress so naturally the two could not agree on a damn thing and argued with each other. Peter Laird made a tense siutation even worse by constnatly sniping at Herbeck and feeling he was a “Hollywood outsider infringing on his vision and characters”

Granted the script was apparently not great... but Pete still comes off as a pretnetious ass who views his weird indie comic as THE HIGHEST OF HIGH CALLINGS HOW DARE YOU SOIL IT. And continued to be kind of a prick like this throughout the rest of his time with the property.

Thankfully the film found i’ts voice, vision and director in Steve Barron. Barron was a music video guy who knew the producers and while reluctant, eventually dove into the project rightfully thinking the film would need to be a mix of the mirage comics and 87 cartoon, keeping aprils’ reporter job, the turtles lvoe of pizza and their iconic color coding from the cartoon but adapting several stories from the comics as the backbone of the film. The guys liked barron MUCH better and things ran smoother.

Barron also brought in one of the film’s biggest selling points and it’s most valuable asset: it’s triumphantly awesome Jim Henson costumes. Barron had worked with good old Jim on the music videos for Labyrinth, and while it took some convincing since the comics were violent as hell and that wasn’t Jim’s style, Barron eventually got him on board. This naturally doubled the budget, but given Henson’s costumes STILL hold up today and look better than the cgi used in the platinum dunes films... it was a good call. And this was brand new tech for jim, having to invent tons of new ideas and mechanisms just to make the things work, and said things still were absolute hell on the actors. Jim later ended up not liking the film for being too violent... which I find hilarious given how many muppets got eaten or blowed up real good on his show but regardless, I thank this legendary and wonderful man as without him this film WOULD NOT have worked. The costumes here look great, feel realistic, and you can’t tell the actors were dubbed much less horribly suffering in those suits. Much like Disney Land.

The film would get picked up for distribution by New Line, and despite i’ts weird as hell origins and the long shot it had.. the film was a MASSIVE hit at the box office, owing to a combination of Batman 89 the previous year having proved comic book movies can work for audiences, the cartoon’s runaway sucess, and a massive marketing campaign. The film made it’s mark. So now we know how we got here let’s get into the film itself.

What’s the Story Morning Glory?:

So the story for this one is largely cobbled together from some of the more notable arcs Eastman and Laird did before handing off the book to others full time as the stress of the company and the mounting tension with each other made it near impossible to work together on the book itself.

To Save time i’m just going through what hte movie takes from the comics plot wise now to save me the trouble later:The movie takes elements from the first issue (The Turtles, Splinter and Shredder’s backstories, Shredder being fully human and the main antagonist, Shredder’s design and the final rooftop showdown that results in Shredder’s death), second and third, (April’s apartment over her dad’s old store and the turtles moving in when their home is ransacked and splinter has gone missing), the rapheal micro series (A tounge in cheek way of cashing in on the Mini-Series craze of the 80s, a one shot by modern standards and something that’s tragically been underused as an idea as only TMNT and MLP have used the idea at IDW, Raph meeting casey and their fight with one another), the return of shredder arc (One of the turtles being ambushed and mobbed by the foot and then thrown though a sky light (Leo in the comic and Raph here), the turtles being horribly outnumbered by them, Casey coming ot the rescue and metting the non-raph turtles for the first time, and them being forced to escape when the place goes up in flames), their exile to northampton (April writing in a journal, casey working on a car with one of the guys and one of hte guys looking over hteir injured brother), and finally, their triumphant return which was very loosely adapted as there are no deformed shredder clones and shredder not being dead yet in this version was not brought back by a colony of super science worms.

So as for how this all comes together: Our story takes place in New York: A crimewave is high with muggings mysterious. There are a ton of phantom thefts going around and at most people have been seeing teens responsibile. And the police.. are at about this level of useful:

The only person doing something is April O’Neil, played by Judith Hoag. Hoag is easily the standout of the film, giving us a strong, confident woman with a wonderful sense of humor. She honestly might be my faviorite April O Neil, and given we’ve had some great ones with 2003, 2012 and Rise, that’s not something I say lightly. I honestly wish I’d recognized her in more stuff as she was both on Nashville and the mom in the Halloween Town films, and most recently was on the ScFy show the magicians. She’s a talented lady and i’m glad she’s still goin.

April is a reporter for Channel 3 like the cartoon, though for some weird reason her boss from the cartoon is replaced by Charles Pennigton, played by Jay Patterson, whose currently dealing with his troubled son Danny, played by Micheal Turney. Pennington is horribly useless at both jobs: At work he tries to ease April off calling out Chief Sterns, who refuses to listen to April’s evidence gathered from japanese immigrants that the crimes resemble similar ones in japan in favor of trying to get charles to shut her up. Danny meanwhile is a member of the foot becase his dad thinks shouting out him and talking about him like he’s not there and generally being a dipstick will actually do anything to help him.

I love the concept for the foot here. In addition to being a Ninja Violence Gang as always, they now recruit new members by finding kids without families or with troubled family lives and giving them a sense of family with the foot, and sweeting the bargin with a giant cave filled with arcade machines, a skate ramp and general late 80′s early 90′s kids goodies. Is it rediculous? Yes. Is it also clever as it gives Shredder an easy army of plausably deniable theives that he can pick the best out of to put in his elite that will be tirelessly loyal to him and him alone? Also yes.

So April being public about this stuff gets her attacked, which naturally leads to our heroes coming in, first in the shadows and later directly when April wont’ give up on the case and Shredder sends some ninjas to go shut her up.. which he does weirdly as the guy jsut slaps her and tells her to cut it out like he’s on a domestically abusive episode of Full House. Raph saves her, and we get the turtles origin.. though weirdly they cut it in half. We get the ooze portion but Splinter’s past with Saki, Saki’s murder of his master and his master’s partern Tang Shen is left for later in the film and the fact Shredder’s saki is treated as a big twist despite the fact the biggest audience for the film would be kids... and kids would’ve been familiar with the cartoon where the giant brain monster routinely screeches out saki at the shredder. Maybe Barron just thought he was an alcoholic I don’t know. It just would’ve made more sense to have it all at once and let the audeince put it together.

April becomes good friends with the turtles over a night of frozen pizza and camradrie, but the Splinters return home to find it ransacked, Splinter kidnapped by the foot, and are forced to Stay with april. Charles meanwhile tries to get April to backoff because he made a deal with the police to clear Danny’s record, without TELLING her any of this mind you, but I will save my rage on that little plot point for in a bit as Danny who he drug along sees the turtles and tells the Shredder.

So we get the return of the shredder arc as Raph goes through a window, our heroes fight valiantly, and Raph’s friend Casey who he met earlier shows up, the two having bonded as all true friends do.. by beating the shit out of each other ending with raph shouting DAMNNNNNNN really big and dramatically into the sky for some reason. The Turtles and friends escape with an injured raph from April’s burning second hand store. She had a second hand store it was poorly established and only there because she had it in the comics.

Our heroes retreat to a farm April’s grandma owned in Northampton, Massachutes, where Mirage was located at the time the original comics where they were exiled to the place were written and a location that has been a staple of the turtles ever since. The turtles slowly recover, lick their wounds, talk about who hooked up with who on gilligans island etc, before Leo connects with Splinter via meditation, who tells them to come back. Splinter also starts to connect with Danny and convinces him to swtich sides.. or at the very least squat in the boys old home.

The boys return home, find danny, and prepare, Danny goes back and ends up giving away the Turtles are home.. but the turtles are ready and in an awesome sequence kick the fuck out of the foot squad sent for them with some well prepared steam vents. Casey goes to get splinter since Danny told them and with Danny’s help, finds him, since Danny found out they were gonna kill him. Casey beats up Tatsu, shredder’s right hand man, and they get him out.

We get our final fight which is awesome up until the climax.. which is splinter casually tripping shredder with nunchucks and thier bloody history being kind of rushed and unsatsifying. Casey crushes shredder with a garbage truck, April gets her job back, more on that in a moment, she and casey hook up, and we end with the fucking awesome song T-U-R-T-L-E Power by partners in cryme. Seriously check it out it’s fucking triumphant.

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The song is just good.. cheesy? Sure but that’s half the fun. It’s the gold standard for movie theme songs for them and stacks up handily with the various animated series themes.. all of which slap. Okay... ALMOST all of which slap. Fast Forwards is aggressively medicore, which is doubly suprising to me since 4kids was REALLY damn good with theme songs. It was one of the three things they were best at along with finding VERY talented voice actors and setting japan based works in america because merica dammit.

The plot is very solid: It skilfully packed half of eastman and laird’s run on TMNT into 90 mintues while adding things like April’s job at channel 9, the way the foot recurited kids etc. The plot flows well for hte most part and apart from one annoying subplot we’ll get to never has a moment that feel unecessary or dosen’t pay off later. And the stellar plot and fun pacing of it helps boilster the characters that do work... and help paper over the ones that are so thin the’yd fall down a grate...

Our Heroes, Villains and Annoying Middle Aged Guys:

Yeahhhh character is hit and miss here. Some are rather strong, others are the bare basics for the character their adapting and most are just to serve the plot but some work some don’t, So let’s talk about it starting with our boys:

Raph is the most fleshed out of the turtles, being the main focus of the first 2/3 of the film, and having his anger be part of what SHOULD be a character arc, learning to temper it. And while granted MOST TMNT properties do this, to the point that Rise Raph is so loveable in part because his boisterous bruiser big bro attitude is a refreshing break from the usual grumpus we get. But at the time this hadn’t been done in every version but the 87 cartoon, so exploring it was valid.. but despite saying this should be a thing htey just forget about it and the most plot relevance he gets is going thorugh a window. He dosen’t really get a resolution.. his arc just kind of stops dead for the final half and it’s one of the film’s weaker points, one I only just now noticed on this rewatch. He’s still the most entertaining.

Leo is the weakest of the turtles. He really lacks a personality here mostly just being leader and while his spirtual side is touched on, it’s mostly a plot device. He’s just kinda the leader because he was in the comics to the point Partners in Cryme called Raph the leader. His role in getting taken out by the foot was taken by Raph, so he just has.. nothing to do for most of the film other than gripe at raph ocasionally and say orders. He’s probably the worst Leo i’ve seen outside of Next Mutation. I prefice that because after watching Phelous’ review it’s VERY clear those four are the worst versions of the characters, and no personality is still better than either having your team do nothing or yelling at them as your personality. I chalk this up to the Mirage Leo, and the mirage turtles to a poit being kind of bland. Not TERRIBLE characters, especially for the time, but not nearly as fleshed out or individualized as they woudl be in other adpatations, and with most traits LEo DID have, like his badassery flat out gone, he’s just.. nothing here.

Mikey and Donnie are a double act here with both sharing a brain. Interestingly instead of his normal genius character, Donnie is Mikey’s best friend and the two simply trade jokes and schtick together. The two are interchangable.. but easily the best part of the film and a lot of the most memorable gags and lines, from Ninja Kick the Damn Rabbit! to “Do you like Penicllin on your pizza”, are from them. Thier there almost entirely as comic relief but it works, with both clealry being more modled ont he 87 cartoon turtles, a move that helps lighten the mood in darker moments. Their just genuinely charming and it’s intresting to see such a diffrent version of Donnie, and other incarnations, specifically the 2003 and Rise versions, would retain the sarcastic edge.

Splinter is splinter. That’s about it, he’s peformed well and the puppet is amazing but he gets kidnapped a half an hour in and outside of influcencing Denny, more on that in a moment, and finishing Shredder he dosen’t do much but spout exposition. He’s not bad or anything, but he’s essentially a rodent shaped plot device. He was also puppeted by Kevin CLash, aka the guy who does Elmo. So there you go.

April on the other hand.. is truly excellent. This might be my faviorite April. Judith’s april nicely blends the cartoon and mirage versions: She has the cartoons energy and job, but the comics sheer will and casual nature. Judith just oozes personality and her April is just a joy to watch, from her breezy chemistry filled interactions with the guys to her confrntation with Chief Sterns, knowing she’ll get thrown out by the asshole. She’s confident, and even when afraid dosen’t back down to her attackers and even helps out during the sewer ambush. I mean it’s a pot on the head but still it’s neat. She’s easily the best part of the flim and the most fleshed out of the cast. The worst I can say is they kinda shove her store from the comics, Second Time Around, in there for no other reason than it was in the comics: It dosen’t come up until it’s needed for the foot’s assault on her place. But overall.. she’s just fantastic to watch.

Speaking of fantastic to watch, Elias Koteas is fantastic as Casey. Seriously he’s only second to the 2003 version in my eyes, getting the concept of a testorone filled average guy who decided to just go out and hit people with sports equipment after watching too much A-Team.. I mean that part of it’s not in this version but it’s implied, just right. Like judith, Elias is just really funny to watch and his big scenes, showing up just in time during the foot assault on april’s place and his fight with Tatsu are some of the best parts of the film, the former taken directly from the comics. This version isn’t without problems: His friendship with Raph, his most endearing aspect and one that has been carried throughout eveyr version Casey’s important, with the only exception so far being rise and we have a movie to fix that, is absent here. HE does save the guy, but they don’t really bond or anything. In fact he disappears for about half an hour after his big fight with Raph. But... again he’s just so damn entertaining, down to his JOSEEEEEEEEEEE Conseco bats (There was a two for one sale!).

Shredder is just a LITTLE better than splinter, if only because his actor projects a true aura of menace and I feel this version had some influence on the pants crappingly terrifying 2003 version. And the idea of the foot recurting teenagers like I said is a good one: He gives them home and a cause, they give him plausably deniable backup. And his fight with the boys in the climax is really awesome... the conclusion sucks but otherwise h’es okay. Not the deepest villian, but he has enough presence to be enjoyable.

His right hand man Tatsu, whose been adapted ocasionally since this and reimaigned as Natsu in the IDW comics, a female version, is also fine. He’s your standard grimacing goon but has enough presence to work.

So that brings us to the penningtons. Charles, april’s boss at the station and his son Danny who’s joined the foot as he feels his dad dosen’t love him. Charles..is about as interesting and likeable as a dog turd and is the worst aspect of the film. No debate there, he just sucks. He sucks so hard he’s classified as a black hole. The film wants you to see him as a put upon wokring dad whose frustrated with his son’s increased moodiness, skipping school and crminal undertakings and just wants to help him and loves him deep down. The problem is his actor’s delivery instead of concerned.. is just pissed. He just seems pissy and upset about the whole thing and comes off like he’s only mad about Danny doing this because he’s embarassing him and not because you know, it’s bad. When confronting Danny about stealing, he dosen’t consider MAYBE he’s part of a gang or needs help, but just wonders “Why are you stealing when I give you stuff”. Because, Dipshit, sometimes kids do crimes not because they need the stuff but because they WANT to, and because they want to act the fuck out.

The most he does for the kid is agree to try and get April to back off the police when Cheif Sterns offers to let Danny go and not put him on record in exchange for it. The problem.. is this makes him even MORE unsympathetic. While I do get wanting to help your child, I do and it’s a sucky position... he again should be sympathetic.. but he handles the thing so badly it sucks. He just tells april to ease off, with no reason given, then fires her when she SHOCKINGLY dosen’t give up taking the guy whose refusing to take her hard work seriously or actually solve the crime wave problem to task for his shitty behavior as ANY person facing a shitty, corrput cop would. She just wants to hold him acountable and get him to actually do something. He clearly knows her on a personal level too as he talks about his issues with his son freely with her, something you don’t do with an employee unless their also a friend on some level.

He could have TOLD april what was going on. She’d be furious at Stern’s naked corrpution and prioritizing shutting her up over actually solving crimes.. and thus put at least some of that energy into shutting him down or finding a way around it, going to the papers or something like that. Even in 1990 pre-internet, there were ways to get around Sterns blackmail and expose him so someone who’d actually do the job could get the job. Instead he just comes off as a selfish coward who rather than try and fight the guy blatantly abusing his power and using Charles own son as barganing chip, goes along with it because it’s the easier option to simply bow to him instead of TRY and stop this. And it’s not like he’s even going after a beloved public figure or someone who could hide behind his rep: Sterns was blatantly failing a crime wave, April had called him out on his failrues and coverups multiple times. The public was against sterns.. finding out he tried to blackmail the media into shutting up about him would PROBABLY end him... I only say probably not because the public wouldn’t skewer him, but because police tend to escape consequences for blatantly murdering someone on a daily basis and Andrew Cumo is STILl mayor over in new york, the same city this movie takes place, 31 years later, depsite EVERYONE asking him to resign over a long history of sexual harassment and a more recent but still horrible history of hiding death numbers. I don’t doubt people being stupid enough to ignore this or the bilaws with cops being stacked enough for him to get away with it, but just because someone gets away with a crime dosen’t mean you shoudln’t try and go after them in the first place. Fuck. Charles. Pennington.

Danny on the other hand is FAR more interesting and I think gets way too much flack when it comes to this subplot. Unlike his dad, whose dead weight, Danny is intresting: He provides a POV character for the foot’s MO in the film of taking in wayward teens, and his character arc is pretty engaging, slowly realizing the foot dosen’t care and that hte turtles are the good guys. HIs actor does a great job and while not the biggest presence, he’s not a bad addition to clan hamaoto and I wish other adaptations would find a way to use him. The pull between doing the right thing and his found family is a good struggle. My only real issue with his plot is the moviies flawed aseop about family. It tries to contrast shredder and his using the kids blatnatly with Splinter and Charles really loving their sons. And it works with Splinter and the kids because despite being a tad strict, Splinter clearly loves his sons and works with them to help them. The problem is ENTIRELY with Charles and Danny. As I said Charles love comes off as transasctional: He either thinks he can buy it or just expects it because he shot a bunch of goop into Danny’s mom after two minutes of disapointment. It dosen’t work with them because neither option is good for Danny. His father is neglectful, chooses throwing his jounralistic integrity out the window over talking to his son or his best friend about another way, and abrasive. Danny is no saint, he does do crimes, but it’s clearly a result of a shitty upbringing and the shredder and co actually offeirng him the love he desperatly craves. Danny goes to the foot because his dad is bad at his job but the film never adresses that and just expects Danny to go back to his dad because the plot says so. Danny would HONESTLY be better off with Splinter. No really. Sure he’d have to live in the sewers.. but he did so for a few weeks in the course of the movie. He’s fine down there. Splitner actually cares about him and took an intrest to him and knows how to raise a child. Let him become the fifth turtle. An aseop about family is not a bad thing: Loaded subject that it can be given how many outright abusive families exist, i’m one of the lucky ones who dosen’t have that issue, family is an important thing and can be a source of comfort and support. But this film tells you you should love and respect someone who does not love, respect or value you because he spent a minute in your mom’s vagina and that’s not how family should work and is outright dangerous to kids in an abusive situation. Love the film otherwise but fuck this aseop skyhigh.

Final thoughts:

Overall though.. the film is bodacious. It’s funny, well paced, has an awesome cast, and outside of a certain bald asswipe... it’s a really good superhero film. Is it the best i’ve seen? Nope. Not even close and character wise most of them are as thin as a wet paper bag covered in ranch dressing. But it’s still a fun as hell with awesome corepgraphy, a killer soundtrack, seriously the soundtrack is damn excellent and only didn’t get it’s own section because I didn’t have enough to say and some of the best effects work i’ve seen in a film in the turtle suits. If you haven’t seen it I urge you to check it out: it’s a breezy 90 minutes, it’s on hbo max and it’s a shell of a time. Will I do the next film?

We’ll see how this one does like wise and such, but I will be doing the rise film whenever it comes out this year. So look for that and keep possesing turtle power my dudes. If you liked this review subscirbe for more, join my patreon to keep this blog a chugging, comission a review if you have more turtle stuff you want me to cover, and comment on this. What do you think of the movie, what are your thoughts on the review, what can I do better, what other turtle stuff would you like me to cover/ Let me know and i’ll see you at hte next rainbow.

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage mutant ninja turtles 1990 #leonardo #raphael #donetello #michealangelo #casey jones #april o'neil #the shredder #oroku saki #new line cinema #golden harvest #film #90's movies #the 90's #partners in cryme #judith hoag

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lligkv · 4 years ago

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what the world will look like when it’s over

Can’t Get You Out of My Head is the first Adam Curtis documentary I’ve seen. I gather it’s not the most successful demonstration of his method; it sounds like Hypernormalization or The Century of the Self are tighter in their construction, less effortful (count how many times Curtis says something like “But then it started to run out of control” in this one), and perhaps less frustrating in their narration. In the early episodes of this documentary in particular, it feels like Curtis is constantly presenting what’s being covered as the turn, the decisive shift in his narrative—the emergence of the American counterculture, the revolution of the “unit of One” led by Mao Zedong’s wife Jiang Qing to help her break the stalemate with the other revolutionaries in China into which Zedong had fallen in the 1960s, George Boole’s development of Boolean logic to describe human thought. And the whole thing feels longer and baggier than it needs to be. The early episodes devote much time to interesting individual narratives, like that of the Trinidadian British activist or sorts named Michael Freitas (or Michael X) or a trans woman named Julie in 1960s Britain; they also sprawl in a way that makes the overall argument a bit hard to divine. It’s not until the fourth episode that the shape of Curtis’s narrative becomes clear—that our age is the product of a struggle between a new, broadly liberal-democratic and capitalist image of individualism, a dying era of collectivist struggle, and older, more vicious systems of power, derived from the control of capital and expressed through the middle classes’ suspicion and viciousness toward the subaltern and toward each other, even as they remain subject to the power of oligarchs and billionaires.

Curtis also seems to play fast and loose with the facts sometimes. When he presents Médecins Sans Frontières’s founder Bernard Kouchner as an avatar of a theory of the “one world” of liberal democracy—the idea that we’re basically one world of individuals, enjoying certain human rights regardless of political orientations or ideologies, and that Western nations are duty-bound by virtue of their prosperity to intervene when other nations violate people’s rights—it seems a distortion of what Kouchner actually says in the footage Curtis includes: “We don’t care on leftist or rightist countries [sic]; there is no leftist and rightist suffering, and there is no possibility to split the world in[to] ‘good’ people or ‘bad’ people, ‘good’ dead and ‘bad’ dead.” Which isn’t to say Kouchner didn’t believe in liberal-democratic ideas—he may well have—but what he’s shown as saying has to do with the consideration of suffering as suffering regardless of a person’s identity or allegiance, which is a different matter.

This is just one of several moments when I stopped to wonder how secure I actually was in Curtis’s hands. But ultimately, I find the emotional history he lays out resonant. The age we’re living through now, in the 2020s, is indeed the product of certain fantasies of individualism and of a post-end-of-history, neoliberal “one world”—with no ideologies but capitalism and putative democracy—meeting age-old systems of power, acquisition, and control, and age-old features of the human mind and heart: resentment, prejudice, betrayal, jealousy, the need to be prosperous, the need to be free.

And Curtis’s work appeals to me for the same reason the writer Pankaj Mishra’s work does. He historicizes our underhistoricized time. What’s more, he does so in a way that’s especially rare to see in any mainstream media venue. Usually, when you want to understand the connections between, say, colonial-era empires and post-war welfare states, or if you want to understand what happened to turn Western societies as they were post-war to Western societies as they are post-financialization, you have to seek the information out on your own. It’s valuable to have someone in a place like the BBC willing to put the pieces of these narratives together. And willing to remind us of the events that are so incredibly easy to forget even in one’s own lifetime. Abu Ghraib, for instance, which pops up in part 6 of the documentary. That shit happened while I was alive. How often do I remember it? How many American sins get drowned out in the new ones that emerge every day of every month of every year? Or in the stasis that sets in when what was once novel, like the War on Terror or the invasion into our privacy represented by the Patriot Act, fades into regular life?

I was jotting down copious notes while watching the doc, as is my wont. The questions and thoughts that came up, in no particular order:

How do the elites of a given era impose their preferred ideologies? How are the structures of power we grow up with constructed, and how do those go on to shape our behavior?

Control, as it’s practiced by societies in the 21st century, often comes down to the recognition of patterns in human behavior—and their manipulation.

The loss of power, like that which was suffered after the collapse of Britain’s empire or in the slow hollowing-out of America’s manufacturing industry in the 20th century, leads to anger and melancholy that people can’t be expected to abandon. Does doing what you’re supposed to do bring you the happiness you were promised—or anything even resembling that happiness? When we’re living in a historical moment in which the answer is no, as is often the case today, we’ll need to watch out. It’s a sign people are being manipulated and abused.

Over time, the tech industry has come to understand that you can manage people en masse by collecting their data and manipulating the messages they receive in social media activity feeds and advertising—and you can make them feel like sovereign individuals at the same time through the very same means. In light of all this, will there ever be a revolution that actually changes the structure of power we’re currently stuck in? Is there a chance to alter this extreme individualism. on the part of people who are surrounded by political systems so enervated, by the supra-governmental system that is global finance capital—which politicians can’t control, and must appease and palliate—that they can’t respond to phenomena like climate change or meaningfully punish atrocities like wars prosecuted on false pretenses? Or are we stuck where we are, in a world that’s corrupt and exhausted? In nations whose governments depend on technologies of surveillance and myths of consumerist abundance or nationalist glory to maintain power, in the absence of any real vision for the future?

It all leads to some interesting takeaways. For one, the way culture reacts to politics and vice versa. As I was watching Can’t Get You Out of My Head, I was reminded of a conversation folks on the Discord server for the Relentless Picnic podcast had had recently about the strange things Richard Dawkins posts on his Twitter account. And it led me to think: when religious “caring conservatism” was in the White House, Richard Dawkins and his New Atheism, this brash repudiation of religion and its pieties, grew as a counterweight. When Obama and his technocratic regime were in power, with social media bringing on a wave of progressivism in popular culture and algorithms presenting us a fantasy of endless choice—much of which was a thin veneer over the same old shit: banks getting bailed out, forever wars going on, productivity rising while wages stagnated—we also got Jordan Peterson-types who claimed to speak to a human need for narrative, even in this point of stability we had seemed to reach, this recovery of sanity after the chaos that was the Iraq War and the financial crisis; who claimed we needed ideas and myths to animate and drive our lives, because they sensed there was something hollow and mendacious driving all this consumer choice, for all it seemed a symbol of our freedom and progress.

Of course, both Peterson and Dawkins are provocateurs, not intellectuals; I don’t mean to dignify the movements they led much, since in both the appearance of intellectual rigor or moral clarity often covered the indulgence of the worst instincts: immaturity, obstinacy, provocation for provocation’s sake, contempt for women and trans people. The New Atheists had a point, and could be absolute assholes about it; they ultimately could be as fundamentalist and dogmatic as any religious people. As for Jordan Peterson, his actual work, in the way of so many grand theorists, uses the appearance of profundity to cover something ultimately pretty banal. And he’s most known for grandstanding in the public sphere—refusing to use people’s pronouns, the usual conservative shit. But these movements do seem to reflect a countercultural response no less than 1960s counterculture reflects a reaction to the staid culture of 1950s America and the sins it covered up.

Which leads me to the question: what was the culture’s response to Trump’s administration? Maybe QAnon and Russiagate, as conspiracies—that is, actual narratives people inhabit to explain the world’s evils, and not just a vague need for them that they satisfied with Jordan Peterson’s light form of Stoicism or his theories of Light and Dark or whatever the fuck. And in that way, perhaps, once a countercultural movement—namely nationalism and Trumpian populism—actually seemed to have overthrown a regime, of Obama-era liberal technocratic management, culture and politics came to mirror each other, rather than standing in opposition to each other. Both became equally conspiratorial and unhinged; in fact, they merged. All the ruling myths and conspiracies mutate in kind these days: Trump’s garbage about draining the swamp, a cover for Trump and his family enriching themselves and Stephen Miller’s like getting to fashion the state they wanted, becomes QAnon’s garbage about rings of child trafficking and pedophilia and Trump, of all people, being their savior—all while actual trafficking and abuse perpetuated by Jeffrey Epstein and his ilk goes unpunished, Epstein’s death swallowed up by the state without a sound—becomes the liberal pundit class’s screaming about Russia: connections between Trump and Putin that were always conjectural to me, because no one who pled them seemed to feel much need to substantiate them.

Here again I feel like what were once centrifugal forces in our culture—between mainstream and the independent media, for example; between people in power and their critics, either in the media or at society’s margins—have collapsed into a single morass. We’re all in hell and there’s no way out.

In all this, what does Biden’s administration represent? Little more than an interregnum, to my mind. How disappointing to see not even a gesture toward forgiving student debt or raising the minimum wage in these first 100 days of his presidency. There’s been some progress in climate legislation, and progress in putting Stephen Miller’s deportation machine to a halt (though they’re also reopening several emergency shelters to accommodate more minors already being held past the mandated limits for keeping them in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Refugee Resettlement). But there’s also been such triangulation on policy by the administration and its supporters and such complacency on the part of the media covering the administration, refusing to call them out on or even cover this. And how can the average voter respond but with resignation?

Ever since I read Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus near the start of lockdown, absorbing the picture of the world pre-World War II that’s presented in that book, I’ve thought we’re in the same sort of moment that Mann’s protagonist Zeitblom was in. There’s a crisis that’s passing over this whole planet like a wave or a seismic event, and no human intervention can interrupt it. We can only wait for it to pass—holding on to whatever’s to hand, waiting to see what the world will look like when it’s over.

#adam curtis #documentaries #thomas mann #jordan peterson #richard dawkins #pankaj mishra #the relentless picnic #conspiracy

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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years ago

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All the books I reviewed in 2020

I know it's a little late for Xmas shipping, but I'm FINALLY getting around to publishing a roundup of all the books I reviewed in 2019!

Part 1: FICTION FOR ADULTS

I. AGENCY by William Gibson: A sequel to The Peripheral for the Trump years, about seductive bitterness of imagined alternate timelines, filled with cyberpunk cool and action.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-01-24/agency-william-gibson

II. RIOT BABY by Tochi Onyebuchi: An incandescent Afrofuturist novella that connects the Rodney King uprising with contemporary struggle, pitting supernatural powers against dire politics.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/23/riot-baby/#Tochi-Onyebuchi

III. OR WHAT YOU WILL by Jo Walton: A metafiction about the desperate attempt of a character to pull his writer into a fictional world to save the both from human mortality.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/07/little-bro-with-snowden/#metafiction

IV. A BEAUTIFULLY FOOLISH ENDEAVOR by Hank Green: Sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - a madcap and sometimes brutal tale of social media influencers, alien invaders, disinformation, and runaway capitalism.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/08/absolutely-remarkable-thing/#carls

V. FAILED STATE by Christopher Brown: A legal eco-thriller that imagines the end of capitalism without imagining the end of the world - cyberpunk meets ecotopianism, with anarchist jurisdictions, show-trials, and rewilding.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/12/failed-state/#chris-brown

VI. AFTERLAND by Lauren Beukes: Eerily well-timed road-trip novel set after a prostate-cancer plague wipes out nearly every man on Earth, except for the protagonist's teenaged son, who is now being hunted by the (all-female) US government.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/28/afterland/#XY

VII. BALLISTIC KISS by Richard Kadrey: Sandman Slim confronts the worst demons of all - his own trauma and self-doubt.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/25/anxietypunk/#bk

VIII. SQUEEZE ME by Carl Hiaasen: Hiaasen was writing comedic whodunnits about improbable Florida Man types decades before the memes, and his Mar-a-Lago gator plague novel is a hectic and hilarious tale for our times.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/05/florida-man/#disappearing-act

VIII. The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson: KSR says it's his last novel and I say it's the book he's been training to write all his life. If you like your climate fiction wrenching but still uplifting enough to move you to tears...

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/03/ministry-for-the-future/#ksr

IX. SET MY HEART TO FIVE by Simon Stephenson: An absurdist robot-romp in the mold of Kurt Vonnegut about a robot who catches the disease of emotions and tries to treat it by moving to Hollywood to write screenplays about robots.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/01/cant-pay-wont-pay/#robot-rights

Part 2: NONFICTION FOR ADULTS

I. A PUBLIC SERVICE by Tim Schwartz: An incredibly practical, detailed guide for would-be whistleblowers (and journalists who work with them) to staying safe while spilling the beans.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/01/08/a-public-service-a-comprehensive-comprehensible-guide-to-leaking-documents-to-journalists-and-public-service-groups-without-getting-caught/

II. THE MONSTERS KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING by Keith Ammann: A sourcebook for RPG game-masters explaining how different kinds of monsters can use a variety of combat tactics that add depth, texture (and challenge) to your games.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/01/10/the-monsters-know-what-theyre-doing-an-rpg-sourcebook-for-dms-who-want-to-imbue-monsters-with-deep-smart-tactics/

III. SNOWDEN'S BOX by Jessica Bruder and Dale Maharidge: The incredible, true tale of how trust among friends allowed Snowden's leaks to safely transit from his home in Hawai'i to the hands of Laura Poitras and the journalists who reported the story.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/03/31/snowdens-box-the-incredible-illuminating-story-of-the-journey-of-snowdens-hard-drive/

III. ABOLISH SILICON VALLEY by Wendy Liu: A personal journey from a fully bought-in believer in Silicon Valley's meritocracy to a ferocious critic who demands tech to serve humanity, not a human race in service to the tech industry.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/04/14/abolish-silicon-valley-memoir-of-a-driven-startup-founder-who-became-an-anti-capitalist-activist/

IV. THE CASE FOR A JOB GUARANTEE by Pavlina Tcherneva: A fierce little book setting out an economic program to rescue the nation and the planet from a system that insists we can't even hope for a better world.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/22/jobs-guarantee/#job-guarantee

VII. SUBPRIME ATTENTION CRISIS by Tim Hwang: What's worse than having our lies destroyed by surveillance to manipulate us with ads? Having our lives destroyed by surveillance in order to fuel a fraudulent market in ad-based manipulation.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/05/florida-man/#wannamakers-ghost

VIII. MONOPOLIES SUCK by Sally Hubbard: There are plenty of *great* books about monopolies and the resurgence in antitrust, but Hubbard's is the most practical, providing the reader with excellent advice for actually *doing something* about monopolism.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/27/peads-r-us/#sally-hubbard

IX. BREAK 'EM UP by Zephyr Teachout: The most lucid, readable, infuriating, energizing book on the rise of monopolies. Teachout never loses sight of the systemic nature of the problem, even as she uses individual stories to tell the tale.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/29/break-em-up/#break-em-up

X. BOUNDLESS REALM by Fox Nolte: There has never been a better book about the Haunted Mansion (indeed, this is one of the best books ever written about environmental design in general). Nolte goes *way* beyond trite wisdom about "storytelling."

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/09/boundless-realm/#fuxxfur

PART 3: GRAPHIC NOVELS

I. YEAR OF THE RABBIT by Tean Viasna: A graphic memoir of Viasna's harrowing boyhood during the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. It's a tale we've rarely seen through the eyes of a child, and brilliantly realized.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/01/22/year-of-the-rabbit-a-graphic-novel-memoir-of-one-familys-life-under-the-khmer-rouge/

II. FEMALE FURIES by @misscecil: Castellucci uses an obscure and anachronistic all-woman cast of DC Universe b-characters to tell an incredible, smart, pitiless story about #MeToo, comics, solidarity and betrayal.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/29/female-furies/#apokolips-now

III. LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE CARTOONIST by Adrian Tomine: A memoir of intensely felt impostor syndrome, a forceful reminder that comparison is the thief of joy - and that the traits that keep an artist going at first go toxic over time.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/21/the-thief-of-joy/#tomine

IV. CONSTITUTION ILLUSTRATED by R Sikoryak: The Trump years were an unhappy crash-course in Constitutional law, but Sikoryak's genius adaptation of the Constitution in the style of dozens of cartoonists is a pure delight.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/27/ip/#r-sikoryak

PART 4: KIDS AND YA

I. SEND PICS by Lauren McLaughlin: A YA novel that's a thrilling revenge-play about "revenge porn," a cyber-heist novel that's also a sneaky and forceful book about teen girls' sexuality.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/04/21/send-pics-ripping-brutal-amazing-novel-about-teens-sextortion-revenge-and-justice/

II. IMPOSSIBLE MUSIC by Sean Williams: A YA novel about a music-obsessed kid who loses his hearing is the frame for a book about ability, adaptation, music theory, family, Deafness and what dreams are really for.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/30/deafhood/#impossible-music

III. HARD WIRED by Len Vlahos: A 15 year old discovers the truth behind bizarre dysfunction of the world around him: he's an AI in a sim, and the guy he thinks of as his long-dead father is actually the research scientists who created him.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/31/ai-rights-now/#len-vlahos

IV. ADVENTURES OF A DWERGISH GIRL, by Daniel Pinkwater: Like every Pinkwater novel, it defies description, it is brilliant, and it is his best to date. Ghosts, Revolutionary War fleshbots, papaya juice, and supernatural beings from the Catskills!

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/25/dwergish-girl/#you-are-a-pickle

V. WITCH by Finbar Hawkins: A beautiful debut novel about a pair of 17th century sisters who avenge themselves against the witchfinders that murdered their mother. A superbly told historical.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/01/the-years-of-repair/#witch

FINALLY: I published *four* books in 2020!

I. POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER: My debut picture book, about a little girl who turns her toys into weapons and torments her parents by hunting monsters all night, with wonderful art by Matt Rockefeller:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627

II. LITTLE BROTHER/HOMELAND: My multibestselling YA novels were reissued last summer in a gorgeous package with a (fantastic) new introduction by Snowden.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583

III. ATTACK SURFACE: A standalone, adult sequel to Little Brother and Homeland. The New York Times called it "vocal and unflinching" and "ultimately optimistic"; the Washington Post called it a "riveting techno-thriller."

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

IV. HOW TO DESTROY SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM: A long pamphlet/short book that makes the case that Big Tech manipulates us and spies on us because they have monopolies - not because they've developed devastating, data-driven mind-control.

https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59

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wordynerdygurl · 4 years ago

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Skin Deep - Part 3

Author’s Note: The story continues! I appreciate everyone’s patience as I got this third piece of our tale completed. I hope the wait will be worth for all of you! As always, please re-blog, share, comment and so on! I’m accepting tags, so let me know if you want to be a Minx! I am also getting ready to celebrate a milestone here on Tumblr, so stay tuned for details!! I wanted to take a moment and send some specific love to two of my followers who, just by doing what great fan-fiction readers should, made my little life complete. First, @iluvsumbucky ... this one, she read every chapter of “The Testing Kind” over 5 days and left the most meaningful, heartfelt reviews. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me to see those comments and know that you loved my story as much as I loved writing it. Which brings us to @iamverity ... perhaps the single most thing a writer can hope for is someone to tell you that their work makes you feel. I was paid this compliment and swear to strive for that in all my output going forward. Also, always, much thanks to @sammy-jo1977 who had to listent o me whine while this one came together. Skin Deep Part 1 Skin Deep Part 2 Pairing: Loki x Reader, Steve x Reader, Natasha and Bucky are around Summary: Picking up where part 2 ended, Loki’s back... What will Steve do to keep you as his own? How far will you go to find the truth? Warnings: Angry, yelling, darker Steve. Mentions of smut, property destruction, confrontations galore.

“PET!” Watching you crumble, Loki was a blur of manic motion, moving with speed spurned by fear. Knees scraping the antique rug, those long fingered hands cupped your head, keeping it from hitting the floor as Loki managed to catch you just in time. Malice, so foreign on his tongue, dripped from Steve as he rushed forward, “She’s not your pet, Loki. Not anymore.” Crouched over you, protecting you in your delicate state, Loki stared down America's Man with a Plan. Long hair swinging wildly, “Well, she’s certainly not your doll, Captain.” Jostling for position, pushing close to you, Steve elbowed Loki harshly, “Like Hell!” With a flash, fully armored, Loki stood with you draped limply in his arms. “Out of the way, Avenger. You don’t want to fight me, not right now.”

Moving, keeping Steve in his sights, Loki stepped backwards, making his way toward the open door. Steve, stomping forward slowly, intending to close the distance and eager to have you back in his arms, “Let me have the girl, Loki.” Growling a warning, Loki snarled, “Absolutely not.” “Loki, just walk away. Leave her, just like you did before.”

“Captain-” A sharp shock rocked through Loki’s back forcing his body to lock up. Almost frozen from the burning heat blasting through him, his arms grew heavy, beyond his control. There was no scream, only the perfectly round “O” of his mouth as the pain clamped onto each of his muscles. Unable to support you any longer, Loki felt himself tipping forward, Steve stealing you to safety and out of his grasp. Loki’s world went black as his arms were emptied of your weight. Gently, sweetly, your passed out figure is laid on your soft bed. Straightening, Steve tucked the blanket under your arms, “Thanks for the assist.” “Sorry I’m late.”

“Still, thank you.” Natasha holstered her weapon, a strong taser with tech from Tony modified to take down an Asgardian, and cuffed the wrists of unconscious Loki. “Think you can help me get him out of here? Steve?” “Hmm? Oh, yea. Sure.” Distracted, Steve was looking down at you, grazing a hand over your cheek, tucking hair behind your ear. It looked loving and tender to Natasha. “She’ll be fine, Rogers. It won’t take us long to-” “He was me.”

Softly spoken, Natasha barely heard the words, her head bent towards the alien god at her feet. But something about his tone had her chin lifting. “What do you mean, Steve?” “Shape shifted. Glamoured. However he did it... Loki looked like me, sounded like me, was… me.” Natasha had an idea of where this was headed. Bed sheets were rumpled, you were in a robe, your hair askew. The unmistakable smell of sex filled the space. Almost unrecognizable, Steve’s voice echoed a hurt that she had never heard before. Not when he’d woken up, a man out of time and out of friends. Not when Bucky was found, brain washed but alive. No, this Steve sounded broken. Wounded. And wasting precious time.

“Steve, let’s talk about this later. Help me move Loki. Fury will be here to collect him tomorrow at first light.” “She loves him, Nat. Even as me. She and Loki… they just…” Looking back at you, tracing the swollen curve of your hard kissed lips, “They are perfect for each other.” “What are you saying, Rogers?” His sigh was a heavy, cumbersome thing. “I’m saying… Let's get Loki secure.”

----

Fluttering open, you took in the lengthening shadows across the ceiling of the room you and Steve called your own. The room where Steve had coaxed you away from your physical dependence on Loki’s love. The room where Loki, appearing as Steve, forced you to reacquaint yourself with his addicting abilities. Hearing Steve’s even tread on the stairs, you sat up just as he cleared the door. Meeting Steve’s concerned gaze with your own, a gentle smile playing on his full lips, “Hey doll! Welcome back!”

Crossing to your side, long strides bringing him near, Steve lowered himself onto the bed. Taking you in, Steve clasped one of your hands in his own, his fingers locking on yours. Soothing, smoothing the damp hair off your cheek, “You fainted.” Your mouth was dry. Unable to trust your rusty throat, nodding, you acknowledged his statement. Fainting wasn’t something you did, but under the circumstances, you gave your strained mind a break. With a cracking whisper you asked, “Loki?” Steve’s look clouded at the name, as if he’d swallowed something disgusting, “He’s gone.”

Struggling, your loose robe falling open, a shrill tone that you didn’t recognize coming out of you, “Gone? Loki just left?” Steve won’t look at you. Maybe he can’t, but that doesn’t stop his words from sounding so strange. You ask again, not understanding, “Loki’s gone?” With that, Steve focuses solely on your tear filled eyes, not the reddened skin of your clavicle or the indigo fingerprints rising on the surface of your breast. Pulling your robe over you, covering the marks of passion on your shoulder for your sake, Steve shrugged, “Yes.”

Shaking Steve off, hands waving him away, “But that doesn’t make sense.” Scooting back, surveying you darkly, “It doesn’t?” “No. I mean-” Swinging your legs over the edge of the bed, a guilty look on your face at the appearance of purple on your inner thigh, “Why would he show up… and do what he did?” This type of behavior wasn’t like him. This wasn’t Loki’s style. He calculated, maneuvered, contemplated. Risk over reward, pros and cons.

No, he had come back with a plan. Loki had come back for you. As he’d promised you years ago, Loki was back and you had betrayed him. You had betrayed him by falling into Steve’s bed. You had let Loki down. Would he be able to forgive you? Could you forgive yourself? Fingers laying over your own, Steve squeezed them tight, misunderstanding the tears in your eyes. “I’m sorry he hurt you, doll. I should have been here sooner.” ��He didn’t hurt me, Steve. I mean, not physically…”, jerking your hand free, standing on wobbly legs, your sadness flashed into anger. As you paced the room, Steve was forced to keep calm, even as he wanted to explode. The marks of Loki’s love making were still fresh and just knowing that someone else had put them on your body made Steve’s pulse pound. What’s more, you didn’t seem to care that you looked like a well used harlot, parading around, shoving Loki’s prowess down his throat. With a raised tone, unfamiliar to you, Steve groaned in frustration, “Doll, look what Loki did to you! He took advantage!”

That made you pause. Did Loki cross a line? Yes. Coming to you as Steve, taking you to bed, making you feel all those delicious, dirty things… Things that Steve would never consider doing. Things Steve wouldn’t be capable of doing, not to you, his perfect doll. You should have known something was different about your stand-in Captain. But, hadn’t it been a perfect combination of the two men? Remembering it made your head swim, “I don’t know why Loki did this. I don’t know why Loki… wasn’t himself.” “He’s not the only one.” scoffed Steve.

“What the hell does that mean?” Sighing heavily, resigning himself to the unspoken resentment he felt, “Nothing… I… Nothing. Forget about it. Let’s focus on tonight, ok?” Moody and on edge, you didn’t want to let it go, “Oh no. You said it. I want to know what you meant.” Your hands found your hips, arms out like chicken wings, the air around you snapping with unchecked energy.

“Doll, let’s not. Not right now.” “No. Let’s hear it. You clearly have something to say. Say it. Use your words, Steve.” It was a phrase Steve loved to use on you when he felt like his sexual endeavors deserved more praise. Now, you used it to goad him. "You let him-" Steve looked anywhere but at you, the memory of your body tight against his own, as a spectator, not participant made him bristle, “-have his way with you.”

Opening and closing your mouth, unable to find the words, shaking in your own unchecked fury and frustration. "I thought it was you!"

"Did you really?", gravel filled and low, Steve’s anger simmered just under the surface of his perfect pout.

You had a flashback, Steve stalking towards you, an almost predatory look on his handsome face. He called you “pet”, pulled you to him with hungry hands, touched you in more than three places. What you thought was, No, no I didn’t really think it was you. But what you said was, "Y...yes. Why?"

"You've never been like that with me… so loose, so playful. Loki could have asked you for anything. Anything and you'd have done it."

It was a stinging truth, it’s acid filled tentacles wrapping around your heart, squeezing tightly because you definitely would have done anything that fake Steve had wanted. Real Steve was right about that. Dragging in a deep breath, almost afraid to ask, but needing to know, "How long were you watching, Steve?"

"Long enough.”

Searching his brooding eyes, you looked for the familiar light of the sensitive Steve you’d so recently grown to enjoy. He was nowhere to be found. Adding a pleading note to your voice, almost contrite, "It was you as far as I was concerned. He tricked me, ya know?"

"You weren't complaining, in fact, it was the exact opposite.” Rage snapped in Steve’s frosty glare as he finally lost the iron grip of his emotions, “You came for him! Twice!" Matching his volume, “I came for you!” Mocking you, your breathless words of passion, “I won’t break Steve! Please, Steve! Don’t Stop!” “Steve! Not Loki! Steve!! You said it yourself!” On his feet now, crowding you closer to the wall, his voice continued to rise. “You knew it wasn’t me. Don’t lie! You knew. And… and you fucked him anyway! Ah!” Spinning, Steve yelled as his fist went through the door of your armoire, wood splinters and paint flying every which way. Ducking, you jumped out of the way, shouting too, "Jesus, Steve! What are you doing?!” But Steve was on you in a heartbeat, using his super size to his advantage, “When did you know? When did you know it was him? When did you realize you weren’t fucking me?”

And there was the real issue, the thought hitting you like a freight train. Cold, pea green, you touched my toy, jealousy.

“Steve…”, his grip on your upper arms was vice tight, the vibration of his furious frenzy frizzling your confidence. Your voice sounded so small, but it somehow reached through his envious green fog, “Stop, baby… please?” Deflating before you, Steve’s chest rose and fell as his breath evened out, “Answer me. Did you know it was Loki?” Catching your bottom lip between your teeth you nodded, whispering, lying, “No… I really believed it was you.” And that was the right answer, because Steve pulled you to him then, his mouth no longer spouting spite. “Doll… I love you. Seeing you with… anyone else, I just couldn’t…” You heard him trail off, his grasp of you tighter than needed, but you didn’t dare move. “I know honey. I know.” Feeling him press a kiss to your temple, Steve’s lips moved over your cheek before capturing your mouth with his. You let him kiss you, kissing him back, eager to end the hostilities without any more destruction. Placated, Steve’s chin rested on your head, “People are still coming over tonight. It’s too late to cancel. Will you be up for that?” Easy now, sweetly you responded, “Everything is pretty much done. You just have to start the grill, babe.” Laughing low, “Ok. I’m going to get cleaned up and head out there.” Stepping out of his arms, looking up at him demurely, “Sounds good.” Somehow you even managed a smile, normal and light, as if the afternoon hadn’t been filled with shrieks and shouts. Hugging you snuggly once more, Steve reached the door before turning back to you, “You need to shower. You smell like him. And, doll?” Frozen in place, you risked a glance at Steve, “Yes?” “Please keep yourself covered up. You’ve got bruises everywhere.” Once Steve was gone, your resolve eroded completely. Loki had disappeared again, Steve had lost his damn mind, and you had the nagging suspicion that everything was wrong. Under the surface of all of these events, these wild happenings, was a connection that you couldn’t see. Tears fell, hot and hard, scalding your cheeks. Over your sniffling you heard Steve’s steps on the stairs, thumping him towards the back yard. Pushing yourself up off the floor, you saw the super soldier making his way to the shed, the little storage area seated between the house and the tree line. Swiveling his head, checking for onlookers, Steve entered the security code, your first date, and stepped inside. Now, it wasn’t weird that Steve went to shed, per se. It was his, on his property, and full of his stuff. What made it weird was the glowing green light that flashed quickly through the windows after he was inside. Keeping vigil over that little shed for more than twenty minutes, eager to see Steve step out of that small space, your mind races. What was going on in there? What could he possibly be doing that would take so much time? Again, the windows glowed green and suddenly Steve was outside, shutting the door soundly. He looked towards you, to the window you were gawking out of, but the sheer curtain hid you. Satisfied, Steve moved to the patio, setting up the grill for his guests. Shivering through your shower, you quickly cleaned up, your hands running over the tender skin where Loki left reminders. Steve wasn’t wrong. You were covered from neck to knee with bruises and bites, stings and smacks. But how delicious it had been earning each and everyone of them.

-----

He felt the familiar strain of shackles before opening his eyes. Hands behind his back, some sort of water fed device from the feel of it, kept him from full use of his magic. Loki knew then that Thor had provided inspiration for his current condition, even if it was unintentional.

Another set of cuffs. Another version of prison. Passing through his brain was a floating thought, What did I do this time?

Unable to dissect his predicament further, Loki heard the thumping steps of a visitor coming his way. "Agent Romanoff… always a pleasure. Are you the one responsible for my current-" shifting in his bonds, "-state?"

"You brought this on yourself, Loki."

Tilting his head, dark hair cascading downward, "Really? And exactly how did I accomplish that?"

Natasha spread her feet, toeing the edge of Loki's cell, "I told you there was an easy way to do this. Seems like you enjoy doing things the hard way."

Chuckling, if only she knew the truth of her words, "I do like it hard. And rough. And wild. Just ask Rogers' woman. Isn't that right, Captain?"

"Shut up, Loki."

"Why should I? You have me here, trussed up like a stuck pig, bound and helpless. What more can I do?" His tone reflecting false innocence that neither agent believed, Loki smiled widely, seeming almost content in his confinement.

Steve ignored the rising ire Loki provoked. Turning to Natasha, "Can you go and check on her? She should be showering… getting dressed. Make sure she…" Now he glowered in Loki's direction, "Make sure she doesn't look like a whore."

Loki's answer was a raised eyebrow.

"You boys play nice until I get back.", her last words before retreating up the stairs, leaving Loki and Steve to stare at each other.

For a long moment neither spoke. There was a lot to say, maybe too much, but both warriors were willing to wait the other out. It was the equivalent of circling an opponent, only no one was moving, there was no parry, no thrust.

Loki, seemingly at ease, knew he could wait out the Super Soldier. Roger’s approach was so utterly American, so typical of Midgard, Earthy. No, it was clear that Steve didn't understand about patience. Timing. Not like Loki did anyway.

For his part, Steve was already battling a fierce fighter… himself. When he told Nat that you and Loki had something special, something other, that wasn't a lie. Steve would have to be blind or stupid not to realize the depth of feelings the two of you shared.

So the question circling his star spangled brain was this: did loving you mean letting you go, even if that meant Loki won? Or lying to keep you as Steve's own?

No answers came. And that, the inability to settle his feelings once and for all, made Steve vibrate with uncontrollable anger. Mad at himself for letting Loki get under his skin, under your skin, had Steve clenching his fists at his sides.

Furious at Fury for forcing him to use you, trading your broken heart for weapons technology, had Steve's toes tapping. That he knew in his heart what he had to do, what the right thing was, even though Steve would lose everything… well that was the last straw.

As the electric bars Loki was kept behind fell, the deity couldn't help taunting, "Interrogation time, is it?"

Steve's answer was more feral grunt than words. Loki followed him with his gaze until Steve crossed behind his broad back and out of sight, “You really think you love her.”

"No."

Loki's single syllable stalled Steve. Had he heard the fallen God right? Was it this easy to win you away from Loki? Steve faced his captive, forcing Loki to look up at him, practically sneering, "No?"

“Love is too small a word.”

Shaking his head at the sweet sentiment, Steve's voice laced with unshed emotions, “I love her, Loki.” Pounding on the skin over his heart, voice lifting with his bubbling anger, “Me. I love her!"

Looking ahead, shrugging, Loki focused on the man before him, clearly in crisis. Anyone else might empathize with the dear old Captain. Not Loki. What did Steve's feelings matter to a God like him?

"Why couldn’t you just stay away?” Questioning Loki, Steve wasn’t sure he wanted an answer, or, more precisely, wasn’t sure he could handle it.

Twisting now, coolly appraising your conflicted consort, Loki snorted, “You know why. Why couldn’t you find your own girl, Captain? What right do you have to take what is mine?”

“She’s not yours, Loki. Not anymore.” Bristling, Steve's words were steel, biting, brittle but it was a shallow shield. Closing his eyes he saw it all play out again. A loop of you, lusty eyes half closed, legs spread, lips parted as his body double brought you to paradise.

As if he knew where Steve's mind had drifted, his half smirking smile rising, Loki cocked his head. “Oh, I don't know about that. She didn’t feel like yours when I had her cumming on my cock.”

Rocking on his heels as if he'd been struck, Steve challenged, “Do you have to be so crude?”

“Does that offend you? I’m terribly sorry that my honesty is so odious. Shall I lie to you instead?”

“I’m going to enjoy watching Fury dissect you.” It was a threat, plain and simple. Still, Loki wasn't convinced of its authenticity, no matter how much Rogers wanted him to cower.

“Is that the plan then? Cut me up, figure out ways to use me?” Now, that was a troubling thought. Torture was not something Loki enjoyed, having been on the receiving end of its hellish torments a time or two, and he had no plans to return to a testing chamber, thank you very much.

Nodding negative, Steve smiled back coldly, “There’s also all those Asgardian weapons, Loki.”

“Ah! That sounds more like your Mr. Fury! Drain my brain for technology that no one on the planet could hope to control. Great idea.”

It was then, without real consideration, that Steve drove his fist into Loki's jaw knocking the once King of Asgard onto his side. Loki, powerless to stop the sucker punch, had no choice but to accept the blow and allow momentum and gravity to do their best work. His lip, exploding in a spray of blood, filled his mouth with warm copper, staining his leather doublet.

Spitting a wad of torn tissue and clotting red onto the cellar dust, "You son of a whore! I thought we were doing so well!"

Steve, kneeling in the dirt, squeezed Loki's shoulder, pulling him upright. Seeing the broken skin on his foe's face made him feel better. Drawing back, Steve watched as Loki raised his chin, offering it up to the serum soaked soldier as a target. Happily, Captain Rogers obliged him. Swinging his left arm, connecting with the sharp cut of Loki's right cheek, Steve felt the bone break under his hand. Knuckles met nose as blood gushed over Loki's handsome face in a macabre cascade. Still, Loki made no cry, offered no pleas. Wordlessly he allowed Steve to pummel him, absorbing the blows of bitterness, stoking Steve's anger.

After a punishing pop that made Loki's ears ring, taunting, Steve offered, “I can do this all day.”

Wheezing through his broken nose, gurgling through the fountain that was one his face, “It takes a God, Rogers. You’re still a skinny boy from Brooklyn compared to the cosmic forces at play here."

Pushing Loki flat to his back, towering over him, Rogers's own breath coming in pants of exertion. "I could kill you. For what you did today. For what you've done."

"Is it your sense of misguided morality that stays your hand, Captain?" Loki slurred through his split lip, one irritated eye swelling, as Steve flexed his rapidly healing fingers.

"No. I told you, Nick wants you… alive."

"And you're always the good soldier aren't you? Doing as you're told, no matter what you know is right?"

Turning his head away, Steve didn't want to see the consequences of his actions etched on Loki's face, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Then let me go."

Slowly closing his eyes, Steve sighed, "Right. Ya know, I'd have to be insane. After what you did today?"

"I came back for my lady."

Another flare of furious feeling flowed through Steve, instinct making him kick into Loki's ribs. "She's not your lady! God damn it!"

Curling into the new wave of pain inflicted on his person, “Oof! Do what you want to me, Captain, you and Fury won't be the first. Just-" Loki, hiccuping softly as a lone tear tracked over his mottled skin, "-just, please. Don’t hurt her. It’s not her fault.”

Cold blood, coursing through his veins, pounded in Steve's ears at the idea that he might harm you. “I would never! I could never! She thinks you’re already gone. Left her behind like before. And I’ll pick up the pieces... again."

Turning to leave, Steve's final blow, the most crushing, "She’ll never even know you’re down here, Loki.”

---

Digging through your shattered chest, towel clutched around you, desperately you searched for something to wear that hid as much of you as possible. There was no sense in upsetting Steve further. You weren’t entirely sure what he might do, not anymore. Mind whirling a mile a minute, your head was at war, silently cursing Loki and Steve equally for their behavior throughout the day. Who was the more infuriating? Right now you couldn’t decide between Loki’s cruel but carnal return, and Steve’s super soldier psychosis.

"Hey lady!"

Snapping your head up with a shriek, "Damn it, Nat! You scared the shit out of me!"

Laughing lightly, stepping into the messy room, Natasha kept her eyes on you. "Everything ok? You seem… tense?"

Feeling your lower lip wobble, "Oh? Do I seem that way? And no. Nothing's ok."

"Tell me. What happened?"

Flopping down to the bed, a dress clutched in your hand, you turned your filling eyes to your best friend. Gulping quickly you started retelling the events of the last couple of hours. Loki’s disguised return and almost immediate departure. Steve’s over sized, out of character outburst, and the visible wreckage it had left behind.

Natasha let you prattle, bobbing her head and offering "No!" and "Oh my god!" and "What?" at the appropriate moments in your story. Where the hell was Fury? It was dangerous keeping Loki so close to you, didn't he realize that? There was no telling what lengths he would go to in his quest to reclaim you.

When you had finished, finally reaching the moment she had found you, she was a million miles away. "Natasha? Earth to Nat?"

Blinking herself back into the moment, "I'm just speechless. Like, wow."

“I know, Right?” Expecting some sort of response or advice, you scanned your friend’s face but something felt off. Natasha’s eyes kept drifting toward the window, keeping the shed in sight, waiting for something.

And suddenly a thought popped into your head. Something you didn’t want to ask, something you were afraid to answer. Steve’s shindig was still an hour away from beginning, everyone was supposed to come up from the city together. So, why was she already here? Feeling you shift away from her, just an inch or two of distance on the bedspread, Natash knew you were putting pieces together. It was something she had seen before. The moment a captive subject realized she wasn’t the good cop or the bad cop.

“I’m going to need my sandals. I think they’re in the room across the hall. Hang here a minute, ok?” Sounding bright and breezy, you went to stand, stopping with Natasha’s forceful tug on your wrist. “No.” “No? Come on, Nat…” Pulling free of her grip, well trying to, your false smile slipping as you took a step backwards. Shaking her head, the woman who was your best friend swung you back towards the mattress, “Put on your dress. Do your makeup. Finish getting yourself ready.” You were meeting the Black Widow for the first time. Calculating, poisonous and cold. Shivering at Natasha’s icy tone, “Are you asking me or telling me?” Cocking her head, sending her blunt bob swinging, the look she gave you was answer enough. “You’re going to sit here until Steve comes to get you.”

“Can you… will you at least give me the room?” Natasha gave you a half nod before exiting, shutting the door behind her. Waiting to hear her footsteps, a sign that she had drifted downstairs, you were disappointed to learn she was standing guard. Of course it wouldn’t look that way to anyone but you. No, to everyone else it would seem like your bestie was waiting for you to finish up, eager to get the party started. Pacing to the window, looking down like a princess trapped in a tower, you saw Steve chatting with Bucky the unsurprising first to arrive. Your gaze kept drifting to that shed, more than certain that it contained the answers you needed, and that somehow, someway, you had to get into that space. But first you had to get dressed.

Drawing panties up your legs, you started getting yourself put together. Next came the matching bra, the cups covering the fingerprints Loki left behind. Shrugging into your maxi length wrap dress, the emerald green one with a sash belt that felt like a soft tee shirt, you at least felt pretty even if your heart was heavy. Willing yourself not to cry, you swiped eye shadow over your lids just like you’ve done countless times before. Mascara, a pop of red lipstick, but no blush. You didn’t need it.

As you push your earring into place the door creaks open. Steve, looking sheepish, rests a hip against your dresser watching you do all the little things that complete your look for the night. He’s smiling sweetly, adoringly, in a way that’s meant to prove that he’s ready to put the day’s events behind you both. “You look… beautiful, doll.” “Thank you.” Keeping it simple, you don’t let your stare linger on him, instead you sink down to buckle your strappy sandals in place. Kneeling down at your feet, Steve lifts the second shoe, Prince Charming style. And if today hadn’t been today, you might have felt moved by his gesture. Now, more than ever, if solidified the idea that you were a kept thing, the princess, locked in a castle tower to be hidden away from the rest of the world.

Only Steve wasn’t your prince. He was the Lord of the Manner, to be obeyed in all things, keeping you behind closed doors. Natasha, she was his enforcer, the knight guarding his treasure. Oh, how you wanted to be rescued. Mortified and hurt, feeling trapped like a pent up tiger in a cage, you turn towards the door, "Where do you think you're going?" At Steve’s words you pause. Worry must show on your face because he leans into you, brushing a kiss across your temple, wrapping your hand in his. “You can’t go anywhere without me.” And it’s meant to reassure you. That’s what Steve’s body language wants to convey. Protector, defender, keeping you safe and secure. On the landing you’re flanked by Natasha, pinned between them both, as you make your way down to the small gathering of guests already sipping sangria under the pretty lights you put out.

Pepper is the first to grab you and for a beat Steve doesn’t let go of your fingers, instead pressing a possessive kiss to the back of your hand. “Don’t you look beautiful! Captain, you can’t keep her all to yourself, you know!”, gathering you to her in a tight hug is almost enough to make you cry. It’s the love you had expected from your best friend but been denied. Warily, watchfully, Steve works the crowd. He’s poured beers for the boys and slapped steaks on the grill. Natasha is chatting with Clint, but you feel her eyes on you just the same. No one else is aware of the scrutiny you’re under and you realize that you’re dealing with two super spies who are great at what they do for a living. Getting to the shed unnoticed is going to be difficult, but you’re going to make it happen even if it kills you, and it just might. Soft music is playing, the air is honeysuckle scented and in some other dimension, tonight is perfect. Still, you can’t keep your thoughts on the party. You’re waiting for a chance to sneak away, even as you make small talk with Wanda, “Oh, thank you! I’m glad you like them, it’s a family recipe.” “Doll? Got a second?” You’d hardly have thought that Bucky Barnes would be your salvation, and yet, it’s his soft voice that pulls you away from the group in a way that doesn’t arouse suspicion. Setting down your own glass, you tilt your head to Bucky, flashing Steve a small smile. He returns it with a little nod, giving you the go ahead before you follow Bucky into the kitchen. Reaching into the cabinet, you grab two shot glasses and the bottle from the freezer, “I kept the good stuff for us!” Bucky, chuckling low, pours out two icy vodkas. Clinking your glass to his, you tip the alcohol down your throat, enjoying the white hot burn as it hits your belly. Holding your cup out, Bucky refills it, “You ok, doll?” “Yea? Why?” Raising his dark eyebrows, “You’re quiet.” “So?” Defensiveness laced your response.

“Um… that’s just not like you. I thought that tonight you’d be… relaxed.” Twirling your recently emptied shot glass, purposefully not looking into the brilliant blue eyes in front of you, “I’ve just got a lot on my mind today.” “I can imagine. Steve told me about… Loki.” “He did? What did he say?” Another heavy pour, another downed shot, and Bucky answered, “That he had come to see you. Riled you up.” “That’s it?”

Bucky, catching your gaze held it, “No. He’s afraid of losing you. He loves you so much, you know?” “Ha!” It burst out of you, unrestrained, and once the uncomfortable bubble popped it couldn’t be stopped. Laughing uncontrollably now, you clutched the counter, knees buckling as you tried to stifle the giggles. Hearing Bucky join you, that chortle of his gaining strength as the vodka took hold, only kept your own laughter going. “Bucky! I’m gonna pee my pants! Oh god!”

Keeping your knees locked, scuttling to the bathroom, you ducked inside. You heard the Winter Soldier fix himself another drink and shut the freezer door, “Doll, I’ll see you outside!”

Letting yourself out the front door, you snuck around the side of the house, entering again through the wide gate. From this side, the shed was easy to access, and just far enough away from the noise of the party to keep you hidden from view. You were also trusting Bucky to report your need for the bathroom, buying you a few minutes of snooping time, before you’d need to be back under the watchful eyes of Steve. Punching in the security code, the lock clicking gently, you pushed into the small room where all the landscaping and hand tools lived. Smelling of gasoline and mold, the place was neat, but dirty, built solely for storage. You were ready to give up your searching when you noticed footprints in the dust.

Not just Steve’s boots either. No, there was Natasha’s feminine foot shape as well as the long tapered outline of a third person’s shoe. But that didn’t add up. Following the tracks around a small work table you noticed a rug, still kicked up at the corner, where the footprints stopped. Now, you were no Nancy Drew, out there solving the case of the extra footsteps in the shed. It just all was too perfect, the clues matching up too well to be an accident. Rolling up the carpet revealed a small latch that sprung free with little effort. In the gloom below, glowing faintly, was the same green light you remembered from Steve’s visit here. Something about that light was familiar to your person. It called to you and after swallowing a small wave of fear you used the narrow ladder like steps to descend into the murky space below. You didn’t need a flashlight. What was in front of you illuminated the whole cellar with ghastly green light. Narrow columns of light stretched from floor to ceiling, crackling with power, keeping you away from the shadowed prisoner on the other side. Realization, hitting you like a brick, brought burning bile to your throat. You recognized the figure on the floor in front you, even with his purpled face and swollen eye, “LOKI!” “Oh, hello pet.” Getting as close to the shimmering bars as you safely could, “Oh god, Loki! What’s happened? I thought you left? Steve told me you left!” “You thought I left? That’s ludicrous. I just got back.”, voice still rasping, Loki surveyed you from his good eye.

“What’s happening here? I… I just don’t understand.” Sighing deeply, Loki rolled his still visible eye, “Can you turn off these ridiculous bars? I can’t use my magic with all this… interference.” Spying the control panel across the room, you studied it for a moment before entering a set of numbers. It wasn’t difficult to crack Steve’s code. This one was your birthday. Instantly the laser grid dropped, giving you access to the battered man cuffed on the dirt floor. Wasting no time, you flung yourself towards Loki, your arms circling his neck as you kissed his split lips. Falling into the dirt beside him, you clung to Loki, squeezing him until he begged to be let go. “Pet! Please! The cuffs, if you can release them I can heal myself.” Looking at the fancy restraint holding Loki’s wrists tightly, you didn’t find a keyhole, but rather a complex latch mechanism. Pulling your earring free, you used the post to push open the catch, a whirring sound rising as the metal and liquid let go. Laughing, “That should not have worked.” “It was created by men who don’t take women into account. Of course your female magic would best them, darling.”

Loki turned your face to his, cupping your cheek, “Oh gods, I missed you.” Scalding tears began to flow, “I’m so sorry Loki. I knew you were coming back. I knew it… and still…” “Hush. Hush now. You were purposely misled, pet. Rogers, Romanoff, Fury. I was communicating with them the entire time. And for their own reasons they kept you in the dark.” Rocking together in the dank gloom of the shed, you let Loki hold you which is exactly what he had wanted to do for years now.

---

“Buck? Where’s our girl?” Trying to keep his voice light, Steve was battling internally, feeling that familiar pulse of anger start to throb. “Bathroom. Give her a minute, we were hitting the Goose pretty hard.” Natasha was already on the move, pushing through the screen door, stomping through the kitchen. Finding the bathroom empty, like she knew she would, Nat stopped for a second. Where would you go? Steve was already moving towards the shed, knowing, somehow that you’d find your way there eventually. “Just going to grab more champagne! Hang tight! Bucky, don’t let that chicken burn!” Meeting Natasha at the door, the two Avengers wordlessly agreeing to a covert attack plan, Steve entering the pin code. Soundless, they sweep the space, finding it empty. Steve, stopping short at the edge of the carpet, the cellar door still open to the darkness below.

Lifting his wide eyes to Natasha, “They’re gone.”

~ Part Four Coming Soon~ My Like Minded Minxes: @sammy-jo1977 @vodka-and-some-sass @just-random-obsessions @brokenthelovely @lots-of-loki @thefallenbibliophilequote @iamverity @iluvsumbucky @unadulteratedwizardlove @wolfsmom1 @procrastinatinglikeabitch @mizfit2 @shxdowofdarkness @nonsensicalobsessions @ahintofkiwistrawberry @alexakeyloveloki @jessiejunebug @rorybutnotgilmore @crystalizedcaramel @lokislittlecorner @scrumptious-finicky-illusion @capcapcapsicle @jamielea81 @caffiend-queen @thenatalie

#loki x reader #loki x you #steve x reader #steve x you #dark steve rogers #loki smut #steve rogers smut #marvel #marvel smut #MCU fic #loki fanfic #steve rogers fanfiction

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legendaryorangeloot · 4 years ago

Text

Collarbone

The moon is just cresting the horizon when I reach South City. Its cool light pulls on the roots of my hair, makes my teeth itch. I spent all day today goofing off at work, pacing like a bored zoo animal. These feast days are so rare, and my excitement hangs in the air like charged particles before a lightning strike.

And now it's time.

The moon fills my heart with a ferocious lust, buoying me up as I let my long, loping stride eat up the Gravois pavement. I can hear the music at Greatness already. I go there "straight" a few nights a week, let myself be seen. I'm a regular. I even dated the previous bartender, learned the cameras, the exit routes, the watching spots, the nearby alleys. Greatness is my garden, and I tend it carefully.

I like it because it attracts normal boys. They're sweet in a way you don't have to take seriously, smart in a way that never threatens you. They tend to have carefully-groomed hair, endearing sincerity, and well-marbled flesh.

Not all the produce is sweet, though. When I transform, I'm little—more coyote than wolf, more coydog than coyote. All-black, bristle-brush fur; pricked ears that make me look smart and alert. A dog you'd take home with you if it followed you down the street. I grew to trust the bartender, the first relationship I'd had. Born of necessity or not, I thought it would be forever. He was wild, too, in his own all-human way, and loved my secret. But it was because he had his own. One night, without warning or consent, he leaned over me, whispered in my alert black ear as he sank into my body, "I wanted you the second I saw you like this. You're the sexiest dog I ever fucked."

I like to think that he saw the sorrow in my eyes as I turned my head and clamped his trachea shut with my strong, strong jaws. It was intimate, almost erotic. For minutes he fought, thrashing, sweaty, nude, his erection waning, waxing, finally waning forever once I began to eat his throat, and all his blood left his body and soaked into his bed. His teeth felt like tiny hard candies to my canine senses. When I ripped out his tongue at the root and savored it bite by bite, I imagined I could taste everything he'd ever tasted, somehow stored within the muscle he'd used to gain my trust.

But that time is not this time. That time was just the first, and now the kills are deliciously unadulterated by love or regret.

As I near the bar door, I put on the right personality – wild, but not vicious. Available, but not easy. Challenging, but harmless. I check my reflection in an antique-shop window to make sure all this personality-shifting hasn't affected my shape.

Without careful control, sometimes you'll think "act harmless" and the power inside you makes it mean "look smaller, look younger". I have nothing but careful control. There are a few other people with the power to change into a wolf, a specific wolf that looks rather like their human form, but I have finesse that they can only dream of. I can play this body like one of those expensive synthesizers with all the sliders and knobs, as long as the form is human, canine, or both. And I work at my craft, mostly preferring the wholly-unnatural, anthropomorphic, six-foot-tall "wolfman" shape, complete with the goofy clawed hands and feet. What can I say? They're useful, if hideous, constructions. Second choice: a real wolf, a timber wolf, huge. The kind you see in nature documentaries, every hair in place, unmistakably lupine.

I am so proud of all the carefully-sculpted forms that I feel vaguely ashamed of my natural one. Not the average-build, solidly-muscled human one, with the deeply tanned olive skin and the untameable black curls, but the real one, the one that looks half-coyote, half-Schipperke. It was the thing I was most embarrassed to show the bartender, the boyfriend, even after he'd seen me as a slavering movie-monster nonsense beast a dozen times. He saw my true form and thought me weak, small, fuckable. A dog.

But now his opinion is gone, digested, and irrelevant, because I am alone, and I am hungry.

I won't lie and say I notice you across a crowded room. That when I walk in, all the other people fade away. That it is lust at first sight. No, you escape first notice in an inoffensive way, a practiced way. You're a listener, I can tell. You move your eyebrows involuntarily when you're eavesdropping. Wolf-creature that I am, I can't tolerate eye contact, but I do watch those charming brows from the corner of my eye.

I sit at the bar and chat amiably with a girl I kind-of know, at a volume I know is audible to you. I surreptitiously look at you while you're not looking. You're lovely. You're rakish, scruffy, endearingly asymmetrical around the eyes. Your gestures all speak volumes. You even smoke adorably, like you learned it much too early.

My story for tonight, my bait, cast out into the noise of the bar: recent breakup, broken heart, need distraction. It's a hard one to turn down, I've found. Your brows go up minutely on "distraction". I know you think you know what I mean, and it will make the eventual reveal that much more satisfying.

I contain my eyeteeth before they can visibly lengthen, because that's a rookie mistake, but, oh, how I want them to be longer. I want them that much closer to your skin. I can imagine how it will taste, all sweat and smoke, the fine hairs crumpling under my rough tongue, the restraint I'll have to exert when I use just the sharp, sharp points to tease the first bite.

I let my kind-of friend talk at me about her kids, her day, her husband. But what I'm thinking about is where I'll start on you. Your loose plaid shirt reveals the edge of your clavicle, and the sight of it has my mouth watering in an instant. It's been so long. I'm torn between speeding things up by making the first move, and resisting the temptation to rush through this sensual experience you and I are going to share.

I never could resist temptation.

You're writing in a notepad, so this is an easy introduction: "Whatcha' writing?" I try for "chipper, good-natured interest", but lust makes it come out more "sultry purr". I don't think you mind. You're falling all over yourself to answer, the love of your work and your obvious interest in me giving you a puppylike eagerness that I instantly adore, and preemptively mourn.

I listen, mostly. You're a writer; you write. In conversation, you do the same kind of IQ-gauging I did in my human dating life, throwing out a breadcrumb trail of wordplay that gets progressively more challenging. I do understand, and I laugh at the right times, I let our eyes meet for spare milliseconds so you know I understand. I parry back, I surprise a few laughs out of you. I play off of your self-deprecating humor, testing your boundaries for submission, loving what I find.

But my brain really isn't in peak wordplay condition. I just want you now. I want the moment when I gently bite the skin above your collarbone. I want to hear you gasp and moan, hear that unnameable noise-with-an-edge when you feel my real teeth, hear your hazy excitement bloom into bright fear as you realize what will happen next. I want that first bite, the crunch of that beautiful, delicate bird bone against my incisors, and the next bite, and the next. When we're done, I want the walls to double as a red Rorshach test. I want to make the crime scene techs vomit.

You compliment my loud sudden bark of a laugh, and for once, maybe for the first time ever, I am genuinely flattered. I feel like I probably shouldn't give you the compliment I thought of in return, which is: "That made me like you so much that I want to find out what you taste like." But then I say it anyway, and you blush, and I imagine licking your cheek hard enough to burst some superficial capillaries, imagine tasting everything about you, even your embarrassment.

Even though I've laid out a welcome mat for you between my thighs, you still just talk to me, still treat me like a person. It throws me a bit at first, but I figure we have all night. There are drinks and jokes. We tell stories that quickly get more and more personal. I find out about your parents, your brother, your wonderfully strange upbringing. I tell you some carefully-censored tales of living in rural Texas. I tell you a completely-false story of how I got my completely-true nickname, "The Terror of Bulverde". To make up for the lies, I tell you the real true truth of how much I love my family.

The conversation is weirdly nourishing on its own, and the bottles of Shiner are cold and remind me of home. You talk with your hands more and more as you get drunker, and my accent gets stronger and stronger as I exercise my rarely-used human voice. We laugh at ourselves, how ridiculous it all is, can you believe we've never met before, it feels like I've known you forever.

Next thing I know, we're being shooed out of the bar at closing time, and you're suddenly serious when you ask me if I'm sober. I say "As a goddamn judge," solemnly, but my accent is all the way up to 11, and we grin at each other stupidly. You invite me over, and I had almost forgotten that this was the whole point, that this was the endgame. I'll get to still those talking hands, eat them from fingers to palm, bathe my muzzle in your well-educated brain, see if I gain your powers when I consume your heart. I've already made up my mind not to waste one single bit of your beautiful body. I'm going to den up in your house for days, gorging myself until you're gone.

I don't care that everyone saw us leave together. I am Icarus, my wolf-wings melting in proximity to your purely-human kindness. This kind of sentimentality is what gets creatures like me killed, I remind myself. But then you take my hand, gently, and I feel like I should go confess my crimes and be skinned for a coat. Or, given my absolute size, some kind of shawl. Your gentleness is both warming me and burning me alive. I wonder to myself if this is what hard drugs feel like. Drugs don't really work on werewolves. The drug that you are is working on this werewolf, though.

We stop several times on the walk to your apartment to shove each other into little alleys, indented doorways, and once, accidentally, a shrub, and we make out like it's the last thing we'll ever do, which seems appropriate to the occasion. You kiss like you talk: not a monologue, but a friendly give-and-take, with your hands frequently involved. We crack jokes continuously, and interrupt each other, and play-fight, and the feel of your wiry muscles and their light shield of fat under my play-punches makes my stomach rumble. The moon is full, and fully out, and I know I've let my hair lengthen, and that my eyes are probably less human-looking than I'd like, by now.

On your doorstep, fiddling with the key and lock, you tell me that I don't have to sleep with you, that if I'm too drunk, that if I have reconsidered, you won't be upset. I ignore you and step over the threshold and start undressing before you've even closed the door behind us. For a second, you look as though perhaps you aren't sure if you're awake or asleep.

We race to the bed, shedding clothing, and you practically pounce on me, not predatory, but playful, and we forgot to turn on any lights, and it's so exciting and I'm so hungry I think I might die. Your hands are everywhere on my body, always followed closely by your mouth, and that, and everything I can touch on your body, and every glimpse of you I catch, lit by the wan streetlight, is making me want you more than I thought was possible.

And I am somehow in your lap, and you're a much larger person than I thought you were, or maybe I've gotten smaller, and the next thing I know I'm me, the real me, the little black wolf, just muscle and fur and teeth, and I'm sinking those white, white teeth deep into the soft, beautiful junction of your neck and chest. And I didn't even give myself time to appreciate it, but here we are, and here's that bone I wanted, crunched to pieces, half-eaten already. And your look of shock and betrayal and realization makes your bone and flesh curdle in my jaws, but it's too late to put it back.

We freeze this way. It's a Moment, one that feels like we exist outside of time, yet we don't; the seconds are marked by the rapid pulsing of your blood onto the sheets, onto the floor, your delightful soft-pink skin paling before my eyes.

And you say, plaintively, "I thought you liked me." I am consumed by regret, it's a pyre, I'm being burned at the stake by a single sentence, and the pain makes me desperate for a solution, until I realize I may have one. Just one. My shape shifts without conscious thought to some kind of confused dog-with-hands, but I use them to shove whatever fabric I have near me against the wound at your throat, and press down hard. I bite the inside of my cheek and hot blood wells there instantly, mixing with the remnants of yours in my mouth. You're so, so smart that even near-exsanguination can't keep you from figuring out what I'm doing. You look by turns terrified, hopeful, disgusted.

I bring my lips to yours and try to will whatever particle transmits lycanthropy into my mouth's blood, hoping this is really how the process works. You look ill. You look bloodless. You pass out, and I'm left holding my discarded shirt against your fatal wound, and remembering how to pray: god if you just let him heal just let him live he will figure this out I will make it up to him I will make it up to you I will go and sin no more oh please, oh please, oh please

Epilogue

The bizarre, crushed-looking scar atop your torso always elicits questions you can't answer truthfully when you're naked with other people. The bone never grows back, and your new physiology prevents an implant or a surgical fix. You'll never need to see a doctor again. You might live to be hundreds of years old. No one knows our potential lifespan. No one knows anything about us.

You seem to take it all in stride, telling one woman it's where you were hit with a warhammer, telling another man it's from a skydiving accident. It makes you very mysterious and intriguing, and the gossip about you is always entertaining, if painful, to overhear.

You say you forgive me, and maybe, since you've now experienced numerous full moons yourself, felt what I felt that night, you mean it. But you've never hurt a soul. I selfishly infected you with a kind of insanity, and you infected me with your gentleness, your curse of caring about others. So I skulk around the edges of your life, and I bring you raw red beef and whole chickens and half the rabbits I catch each month. We never speak, or kiss, and I never, ever look you in the eye.

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olicitytropes · 5 years ago

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Olicity Tropetastic Awards: Other Inspirations

One of the coolest, and most popular, things about fanfic is that you don’t have to stick to canon for inspiration. We can plop our favorite characters into almost any situation using the books, movies, and tv shows we love. Call it an alternate universe, call it a crossover, call it awesome. Our love for Arrow and for Olicity brought us together, but here are some writers who used other sources to give us the best of both worlds!

@allimariexf’s recs:

Gotta Be Compatible - theshipsfirstmate

Magic Mike AU.

Felicity and the girls go to a strip club in Metropolis for Caitlin's bachelorette party.

**Award: Best Lost-Boy Oliver and Playing-It-Safe Felicity (who find themselves in each other!)**

Breaking All The Rules - griever11

Five letters that were never meant to be sent, two ex-friends who soon rediscover their friendship, and one fake relationship that honestly, isn't really fake at all.

Or, you can't really pretend to be dating each other when what you really want is to be really dating each other.

An Olicity AU, loosely based on To All the Boys I've Loved Before.

**Award: The Longest Mutual Pine Award**

Someone Else’s Sky - punchdrunkdoc

Oliver Queen, the Starling City Vigilante, moves out of his family home into a small apartment.

But he has an unexpected roommate.

A 'Just Like Heaven' AU

**Award: Most Brilliant and Beautiful Season 1 “What-If” (also known as: THIS FIC MADE ME CRY REAL TEARS and FEEL ALL THE THINGS)**

Baby Daddy - moreorLessJess

Bartender Oliver Queen was living his twenties to the fullest, he lived with his best friend John Diggle, and his brother in everything but blood, Tommy Merlyn just moved in to their apartment as he started his professional baseball career for the Starling City Rockets. On top of that, his childhood best friend Felicity Smoak, who was no longer goth and instead blonde and beautiful, was back in town and they were hanging out again.

Oliver thought his days were going to be filled with partying, one night stands, and boys weekends while also spending quality time with the girl everyone kept telling him he was in love with.

Until his ex girlfriend dropped a baby on his doorstep who turned out to be his son.

After a lot of thought and Felicity Smoak peptalks, Oliver decides to keep and raise his son with the help of his friends.

Or the Freeform sitcom Baby Daddy AU that no one asked for but I needed to write. Aka Oliver and Felicity are childhood friends and are hopelessly in love with eachother and everyone knows but them, oh and now they're raising a baby.

What could go wrong?

**Award: Fluffiest Childhood Friends Trope**

Absolutely, Probably - theshipsfirstmate

Oliver tells his ten-year-old daughter a story about the loves of his life.

RomCom AU based on the Ryan Reynolds movie "Definitely, Maybe" for the Arrow Summer Movie AU Challenge.

**Award: Most Achingly Beautiful Delayed-Happily-Ever-After**

The time to make up your mind about people (is never) - nashtag

Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak had a whirlwind Vegas romance—and a tornado of a divorce a year later. Two years after that, Oliver is about to marry his old flame, Laurel Lance. But when his father is caught cheating with another executive, he must let two journalists cover his wedding to preserve the family name.

Philadelphia Story/Arrow AU, with a dash of Flash crossover.

**Award: Most Heart-wrenching But Hopeful Second Chance at True Love (with a happy ending, of course)**

@tangled23works’ recs:

The Governess - @laurabelle2930

Felicity Smoak is a 22 year old Governess for the newly orphaned Thea Meryln. Thea's caregiver is the mysterious lord of Thornfield manor Oliver Queen. Based on the amazing novel by Charlotte Bronte "Jane Eyre" inspired this prompt from @lalawo1

**Award: Best Affectionate Bickering**

Welcome to the Party - @bushlaboo

Die Hard inspired AU – Oliver Queen, an SCPD officer, tries to save his wife, Felicity Smoak, and several others, taken hostage by terrorist Edward Fyers during a Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles. [Borrowed some dialogue from the show and the movie; it was too good to pass up.]

**Award: The Olicity/Die Hard AU I Didn’t Know I Needed But Enjoyed Immensely**

Velocity - MachaSWicket

SUMMARY: There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? AKA, the Olicity Speed AU.

**Award: Best ‘If you’re not leaving, I’m not leaving’ Moment That Made Me Cry**

Separate Lives - shannyfish

It was luck that Madelyn Smoak and Mackenzie Queen met at summer camp during a fencing match. Neither of them expected to pull off a mask and find a reflection of themselves staring back. But in the days that followed the girls learned that they were sisters– twins, separated by their parents. Madelyn had been raised in London with tech genius and blonde bombshell Felicity Smoak, while Mackenzie grew up with their father, Oliver Queen, the owner of Green Arrow Vineyards. When the girls devise a devious plan to switch parents, neither of them expected that what they’d really be fighting for was putting their family back together again. (Parent Trap AU)

**Award: Most Entertaining Olicity-Have-Kids-Who-Plot-Against-Them Fic**

@msbeccieboo’s recs:

Two Weeks Notice - LucyHatesJosh4Eva

Oliver Queen has a reputation as an insufferable playboy and a habit of hiring very inept, very attractive attorneys to represent his multi-billion dollar family corporation. So when an act of corporate espionage lands Felicity Smoak in his office on the heels of his last hiring debacle, her law degree and tech experience seem like the way to please his shareholders and his unhappy mother. He expects her smart mouth to cause him a huge pain in the ass; however, he doesn’t expect to trust and like her. Over time, Oliver starts to rely on Felicity for everything, and his world comes to a crashing halt when she gives her two weeks notice.

Retelling of the adorable rom com “Two Weeks Notice” starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. I love this movie, and borrow some plot and some dialog with appreciation and joy. Updates on Mondays.

**Award: Most Wonderfully Frustrating ‘Just Tell Each Other How You Feel, Dammit’ Fic**

In Every Star, I See Your Face (Call Me in the Morning) - @jsevick

Felicity's new internship is full of... complications. (Grey’s Anatomy AU)

**Award: Best Olicity Playing Doctor, Literally**

Love Like Battleships - @callistawolf

Six Days Seven Nights AU - Felicity is a driven career woman on a much-needed vacation with her doting boyfriend. Oliver is a charter pilot with a history of running from complications (and his life). They clash from the start, two wrongs rubbing up against each other the wrong way. What happens when a nasty storm causes them to crash on a deserted island, alone, together?

**Award: Most Untraditional Appearance of a Trousersnake in a Fic**

Between Hello and Roses - charmingwords23

Felicity Smoak had no idea what she was getting herself into when she signed on to be the star of the new season of The Bachelorette. With plenty of drama, adventure, heartbreak, and romance, this season promises to be the most shocking and dramatic yet!

**Award: Cheesiest (in the best way) Reality TV Olicity**

Surreal but Nice - angelica

"After all... I'm just a guy, standing in front of a girl, asking her to love him."

a.k.a.

One Wednesday, Felicity Smoak of Tech Village meets Oliver Queen, the movie star. (Notting Hill AU)

**Award: Most Adorable Bumbling Felicity**

@memcjo’s recs:

Are These Your Glasses? - IIIIRENE

When Queens Consolidated throws a masked ball for New Year's Eve, Oliver and Felicity meet for the first time. They dance all night long until Felicity mysteriously flees from the venue dropping her glasses in the process. Unfortunately Oliver never got the name of the gorgeous blonde in the emerald dress, but he has her glasses and he will stop at nothing to find her so that they can continue where they left off.

Olicity AU inspired by Cinderella

**Award: Best Olicity Fairy Tale**

How to Save a Life - witchy2008

DWTS!AU. Oliver Queen has been pushed into competing to improve his image and subsequently the QC stock prices. His professional partner, Felicity Smoak, is working on coaxing him into putting some of his ghosts to rest.

This week, Team Olicity presents Oliver's most memorable year with a contemporary dance dedicated to Shado.

**Award: Best Sexy Olicity Dancing SO Sexy**

seemingly impossible (but not untrue) - @alexiablackbriar13

Genius historian Dr Felicity Smoak unknowingly and accidentally calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript within the Oxford Bodleian Libraries - a book that has been lost for centuries.

Felicity wants nothing to do with magic, despite her heritage and unruly, powerful abilities. But her discovery of Ashmole 782 sets the world of creatures stirring.

With a mystery afoot and new, dangerous magical abilities manifesting for her to navigate, she is approached by the enigmatic vampire biochemist Professor Oliver Queen, who seems to have a deep interest in both the manuscript… and her.

Based on A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.

(No knowledge of ADOW or background is needed for you to read this fic!)

**Award: Best Felicity and Oliver Being Drawn Together Against the Odds**

Move - @bushlaboo

Push inspired AU. When people with psychic abilities are discovered governments around the world setup agencies to handle and secretly experiment on these enhanced individuals, one such agency is ARGUS. They're testing a powers boosting drug, Mirakuru, which will allow them to build the most powerful psychic army in the world. The only thing standing in their way is the vision of world’s most powerful Watcher who set in place the means to allow her daughter to foil their plan over a decade ago.

**Award: Best BAMF Felicity Smoak**

@smoaking-greenarrow’s recs:

How To Train Your Vigilante - @alexiablackbriar13

In a world where dragons exist and roam the earth, Felicity Smoak considers herself to be a normal if not slightly nerdy IT girl, with complicated family issues, a fascination with the winged predators and a slight ‘saving people’ complex. Her entire world changes when she meets Oliver, the infamous deadly Night Fury - and a genetic experiment - who flies around Starling City taking down criminals.

Their partnership will be one that rocks the world.

(How To Train Your Dragon AU)

**Award: The ‘Oliver as Toothless is Brilliant and Spot-on’ Award**

The Big Catch - @nodecaff4me

The lives of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak could not be more different.

He was an infamous billionaire playboy and heir to a fortune 500 company who did everything he could to reform himself into everything his family wanted him to be. She was a struggling single mother of two girls, doing her best she could do get her family through after her whole life in Boston had fallen apart in the aftermath of her ex-husband’s criminal mischiefs.

Both their worlds collide after his yacht’s Wifi-network collapses somewhere along the Oregon coast and he is forced to harbor in a small sleepy town called Elk Cove and hire an IT specialist to fix it only to refuse to pay her for her work in the end.

All bets are off when she learns that he was laying in the county hospital with amnesia after an accident and she could finally get her revenge...

An #Olicity Overboard AU (WIP)

**Award: The ‘I’ve Never Seen This Movie but This Fic is Everything I Need’ Award**

Stones of Time - arrow_through_my_writers_block

AU. Felicity Smoak is halfway across the world on a mission to recover the rumored mystical waters known as the Lazarus Pit. But when fate tosses her back in time and into the company of rogue League of Assassins members, she's caught up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse... soon falling for the mysterious Al-Sah-him, otherwise known as Oliver Queen. Will she find a way back to her time, or will love and adventure keep her in the past to possibly change the future? *inspired by Outlander

**Award: The ‘Perfect Fic for Your (my) Arrow and Outlander Obsessions’ Award and a Bonus ‘Fangirl Swoon’ Award for Al-Sah-him**

Fate, Luck, and Tequila - Emilyymay_x

The Olicity AU based on the film 'Just My Luck'

Oliver is a billionaire playboy with all the luck in the world.

Felicity Smoak is an excellent IT assistant at Queen Consolidated, with the most rotten luck ever.

When they meet at a masquerade party, they have no idea how much the tables will turn.

**Award: The ‘Better Than the Movie’ Award**

Werewolves and Vigilantes - Emilyymay_x

When Felicity finds out who her father is, and finds out he lives in Beacon Hills with his son, Felicity has to go and meet them. Little does she expect the crazy in Starling to be ten times worse in Beacon Hills... a whole new level in fact… (Teen Wolf inspired)

**Award: The ‘Best Combination of TV Shows Crossover’ Award**

Let us always find each other (in every world, in every story) - imgoingtocrash

Instead of asking Felicity to work on the ATOM Exosuit, Ray brings Felicity on to help him create a device that allows the user to theoretically travel to parallel universes. When Ray turns the theoretical into reality by stealing one of the prototypes and attempting to find his dead wife at the cost of ruining other universes, Felicity follows him. What begins as an attempt to stop her boss from going places he doesn’t belong turns into a realization that some people will always find a way to be together, no matter what.

A Thousand Pieces of You inspired AU, but no book knowledge is required.

**Award: My New Favorite ‘Exploring Other Universes Fic’ Award**

@blondeeoneexox’s recs:

Kerosene and Desire - @smoaking-greenarrow

An Olicity Notebook AU with a darker twist.

**Award: Most Intense, Sweet, Topsy-Turvy, Beautiful Notebook AU (With the Best Cliffhanger!)**

Home is Where the Heart is - CSM

AU. This fic is loosely based on the movie Sweet Home Alabama. Puppy love is for fairytales and storybooks, they don't exist in the real world and all Oliver wants is for her to sign on the dotted line, a clear cut divorce. But being married to the most stubborn woman in the world and their equally opinionated mothers, Oliver knows this trip back home is going to be anything but easy.

**Award: Most Sass-Filled, Funny, Romantic Olicity AU**

Where You Lead (I Will Follow) - @jsevick

Oliver Queen’s careful routine at the diner he owns is disrupted by Stars Hollow’s newest residents, a single mom and her young daughter searching for a new life--and his own simple life will never be the same. (Gilmore Girls AU)

**Award: The Slowest of Slow Burns That I Wish We Could Have More Of!**

The Sound of an Arrow - thecomebackkids99

Five years ago, Oliver Queen lost his wife in a car accident.

Twenty years ago, Felicity Smoak's father kissed her on the forehead and disappeared from her life.

Now, she is the nanny for the six adorable Queen children, fighting to restore love in the mansion and trying to deal with the difficult-to-get-along-with Oliver, all the while as she continues to stumble upon evidence that could drag the Queen family further into darkness. (The Sound Of Music AU)

**Award: Most Emotional Rollercoaster**

Felicity the Virgin - javajunkie

When Felicity is accidentally artificially inseminated with hotel mogul Oliver Queen's sperm, her life changes in more ways than she could have ever imagined. Jane The Virgin - OLICITY STYLE AU

**Award: Most Beautiful Acquaintances to Friends to Lovers to Family Fic**

#Arrow #Olicity #olicity tropetastic awards #Other Inspirations trope #rec list #olicity fanfiction #olicity fic #Oliver Queen #Felicity Smoak

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colony22graphics · 5 years ago

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❝Shine on, diamond.❞

◆ member since: nov. 22, 2013 ◆ longest character: alexander donovan ◆

@alexander-donovan, Well, here we go.

Rory, there's no way on earth I could possibly describe what you've done for this community. Aside from making it all in the first place, constructing the post-apocalyptic sandbox we all hold so dear, you also pay attention to how it's executed---from basic principles of operation and how we ought to respect each other as players, down to the smallest, weirdest headcanon. It matters to you---which I think is probably the best way to summarize your energy and wisdom, the Rory-ness of it all:

Things matter. People matter. Caring matters.

In a world where we're pretty damn used to moving from one diversion to the next at a moment's notice, you make something that's absolutely set apart by saying, resolutely and passionately, that what we do here really matters.

And you're right, to think that. If you need any further proof that you---Rory---matter, you can look at me writing this damn letter (and swearing every three sentences, sorry). But you in your extremely Ro way, said hey, six years fucking matters, and so do all the people we play with, so let’s get mushy on the main and tell them. And I can tell you to your face you're right and this was a stellar idea because... I do that now. Because of your influence, I'm a better person, one who does actually try and tell people what I think.

You challenge people to care, and to translate their caring into something others can recognize, and reciprocate. You’re never afraid to point out the importance of saying things and leaving a meaningful mark, becoming an active part of our community instead of staying in our own heads (as introverts on the internet are prone to doing).

You're also a hell of a writer, which is inspirational in itself, and I can’t leave that out of it. Your dedication to your characters, to their motivations and struggles, shines through in every post you make, and you don't let fear or insecurity take root or stop you from doing what you love. You know it's not about achieving perfection, but about collaboration and growth. The way we write is an exercise in discipline and embracing the joys of language, it's not meant to be fine art (though a lot of the stuff you come up with off the cuff blurs the line between the two on a regular basis.) It's really very rude how talented you are.

I won't talk too much more about you and me personally because you already know it pretty well, but I will mention that when I offered to help out with tech stuff, you don't even know how impossible being a full mod felt for me, at the time. I'd just come out of some rough experiences and was ready to never do that again. But over the years, you gave me steps that I could take only when I felt comfortable, and let me accept only the responsibility that I thought I could manage (though you always told me you knew I was more than capable of handling it). In a very real way, with your patience and understanding, you gave me back my confidence, and my willingness to be vulnerable. That's something I won't ever forget.

You have my respect and my friendship, always.

And dear lord, if Tumblr has managed not to self-destruct in the next five or ten years, I really hope we're still around doing this shit. No place I'd rather be.

Love you, Ro.

<3 Lottie.

(Oh, by the way, I took the liberty of adding something else, under the cut. I knew that I would never be able to cover everything, and that I’d run out of words, so I turned to others to fill in the gaps and maybe it’ll help convey it all a little more properly. Many thanks to everyone.) ❤

—- Happy Colony 6th Anniversary —-

RO, YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE GIFT. I’m incredibly grateful all those years ago I saw that Bones bio and decided to join this crazy little family because that is exactly what you have created with the Colony: You have made a family. You have always been a pleasure to write with, a hard-working and careful admin, and now this second go-round I'm happy to call you a good friend. I wanted to mirror your sentiment on my anniversary post, it is amazing how time rewards our patience with this second meeting! I owe you a very real debt because thanks to this group when a friend let me down whilst I was on a different goddamn continent, thanks to you, I found Cassie there to help me out! The group is an extension of you: thoughtful, kind, emotional, and funny as hell. - Nicola

Rory, your dedication to the Colony (and previously Belvedere) astounds me every day. Writing with you is an absolute joy, thank you for all that you do for us!! - Cassie

RO HOLY COW!! It's insane to think of being part of something so wonderful for so long, I can't imagine how proud you must be to call this place home. I absolutely love writing with every character I've gotten to interact with, you approach your characters and this RPG with such a passion, it's always made getting to be part of it all the more special to me! To many years to come! - Molly

The things I admire most about you are your kindness, your compassion, your understanding and the way you always make the best of a situation. You've been nothing but welcoming and kind to me since I've had the privilege of joining this insanely talented and incredible group, and every day I am in awe of the love and care and detail you pour into the rpg. You have been so supportive over these past few months, every day I consider myself insanely lucky to have met you. I adore you and I'm so happy for you that you've come so far in your own personal journey, you truly do deserve all the happiness in the world. - Lou

Ro, you’re an absolutely wonderful mod and person. I’ve never met a more dedicated and creative mod in all my years on this website. You’re an astounding writer and creator who leaves me wanting to be better. You’re a wonderful person to write with and an even better friend. I love you and all the work you do for everyone in this group. Thank you for creating this fantastic place and starting this wonderful family. - Lee

Thanks for always being so open and welcoming! It's been such a blast writing with you. - Ren

Your commitment to this game and its players is absolutely next level, and it shines through in literally everything you do for us. I haven’t felt so at home and so comfortable in an RP in such a long time, possibly ever, and I know so much of that has to do with the amazing environment (both IC and OOC) you’ve spent such a long time painstakingly and lovingly cultivating. This RP wouldn't be the incredible space it is without such an incredible and dedicated team of mods. I hope you know how much I appreciate all you do, and how much I flippin' love ya! - Alex

Rory, you're a perfect admin and an amazing friend! You've always made me feel so welcome here, from day one, and my heart feels warm and fuzzy when I think of you. I utterly adore all your characters and your writing is just brilliant, it's always so much fun to brainstorm and write and plot with you. Thank you, thank you, thank you! - Ellie

When an rp has a lifespan of not just a year or two, but SIX FREAKIN YEARS, you must look to your leader. Ships don’t sail without a captain, and you have been the most loyal, loving, and adventurous captain to your crew. Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment, love. xoxo. - Amy

Rory, I just wanted to thank you for how welcome you've made me feel since I joined the group. It takes a special person to be an admin (dedicated, patient, and just a little bit weird), and the six years you've been running this group is a testament to how well you do it. You've got incredible creativity and passion, and I know I'm not the only one that feels so lucky to write with you in this world you've built. Congratulations on six years! Here's to many more. - Nick

RORUUUUU. I literally have no idea where my life would be now if I'd never met you. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you inspire me to be braver and stronger and more self-loving. Thank you for being my friend even after all these years. - Mika

I don’t think I can concisely put into words how much you mean to me, but I’ll try: we first met in 2012 and through all these years you’ve continually inspired me with your talent and hard work. You’re more than just an incredible friend, you’re an ICONIC leader that has the determination and talent to keep this group running for six amazing years (with the help of your equally talented and wonderful co-mod, naturally, wink wonk). The Colony is a family to me, and I think to all of us, even before it’s a writing group. It couldn’t be what it is today without someone as tirelessly understanding and creative at its helm. You’re an absolute gift, you’ve been there for me through thick and thin, and I’m grateful every day that I get to call you a friend. - Maddie

Ro, you have been so kind and amazing since day one! You have this astonishing energy and a kindness that honestly makes the colony feel like another home. You’re such a phenomenal writer, and have made this rp a community like no other. I can’t quite put into words how much I appreciate you, and how much effort you put into everything you do. You’re so talented and I feel incredibly lucky to say I’m a part of this community. Thank you for being you. xxx. - El

The Colony has been a living, breathing world in which to create, and the key piece - creativity - is embedded in your DNA. You aren't just an enthusiastic mod. In some aspects you are the Col. I know you want everyone to feel included and allowed to be inspired by the writing of others rather than hemmed in by rules and egos so many other groups have. Thank you for throwing all your characters at me when one of mine has some wild scheme. I've said before your writing is cinematic in its expression and it always challenges me to want to (try to) write on a higher level. I'm grateful to have you as a sounding board when I get stuck in the mud of my own self-doubt with writing. Thank you for just being a friend as well and letting me ramble too. It is impossible to sum up this wildest of rides out of all my writing adventures so, much love, as always. xx. - Cat

#col22graphics #alexander donovan #corbin ealy #teilo aisling #adrien bennett #felix turner #orson hurst #cr: lottie #cr: rory #6th year anniversary

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sssshhhthefilmsabouttostart · 5 years ago

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The best and worst films of 2019

It was of the general consensus that 2019 was a truly amazing year for cinema, with audiences treated to a wide and impressive array of films. As usual, the year produced a number of sure bets from both well known directors and arthouse favourites, but it also treated cinemagoers to some truly unexpected treats from the cinematic mainstream.

Having watched just over 100 films (released in Australia), those that made this year’s ‘best list’ have been selected on the basis of the lasting impression they have left on this viewer after the lights have come up and the curtain’s been drawn.

So, what succeeded and what failed?

Ladies and gentlemen, may we please offer for your consideration…

50. READY OR NOT

49. GLASS

48. HAL (DOCUMENTARY)

47. STUDIO 54 (DOCUMENTARY)

46. HOTEL MUMBAI

45. THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

44. CRAWL

43. MISSING LINK

42. SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK

41. THE CLOVEHITCH KILLER

40. BURNING

39. AVENGEMENT

38. YESTERDAY

37. THE SISTERS BROTHERS

36. BRIGHTBURN

35. FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY

34. HAIL, SATAN (DOCUMENTARY)

33. VELVET BUZZSAW

32. COLD PURSUIT

31. STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

30. SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME

29. BEN IS BACK

28. THUNDER ROAD

27. THE REPORT

26. TOY STORY 4

25. MID 90′S

24. LAST BREATH (DOCUMENTARY)

23. VOX LUX

22. GLORIA BELL

21. THE FAREWELL

20. SHAZAM

19. FREE SOLO (DOCUMENTARY)

18. KNIVES OUT

17. BOOKSMART

16. DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE

15. US

14. ROCKETMAN

13. AD ASTRA

12. JOJO RABBIT

11. MIDSOMMAR

10. APOLLO 11 (DOCUMENTARY)

Though this outstanding assemblage of archival footage about the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing featured no narration, interviews or analysis, director Todd Douglas Miller successfully managed to create an amazingly beautiful and surreal experience about one of humanities greatest achievements. Featuring never-before-seen footage of both the launch and the mission itself, ‘Apollo 11′ was as thrilling as any sci-fi and eye-wateringly beautiful to behold.

9. EIGHTH GRADE

It was an impressive year for many ‘coming-of-age’ films (‘Booksmart,’ ‘Good Boys,’ ‘Mid 90′s’) but it was writer-director Bo Burnham’s poignant and sensitive exploration of the challenges of early adolescence in the age of social media that really resonated. Focusing on the socially awkward Kayla - played with exquisite, jittery control by teen actor Elsie Fisher - ‘Eighth Grade’ was a thoughtful observation on the universal truths of growing up in the modern age.

8. FORD V FERRARI

With director James Mangold at the wheel, ‘Ford V Ferrari’ was a highly enjoyable sports car racing movie that left audiences with a lasting and highly satisfying impression all the way to the finish line. Based on the rivalry between the car manufacturers Ford and Ferrari in their pursuit to win the 24 hour Le Mans sports car race in 1966, ‘Ford V Ferrari’ featured heart-pounding racing sequences and impeccable performances from Matt Damon & Christian Bale.

7. THE NIGHTINGALE

Though not a horror film in the strictest definition of the term, you were less likely to find a more horrific cinematic experience this year than Australian director/writer Jennifer Kent’s 'The Nightingale.’ Kent's follow up to her critically acclaimed debut ‘The Babadook' was an extremely unsettling and bleak revenge tale, that relentlessly beat the audience with its unflinching violence and depictions of cruel racism.

6. AVENGERS: ENDGAME

"Part of the journey is the end...” A cathartic and satisfying experience for all MCU fans worldwide, 'Avengers: Endgame' was everything we needed and more than we deserved. Full of callbacks and emotional pay-offs 10+ years in the making, ‘Avengers: Endgame' was a thrilling conclusion and a deeply emotional exploration of loss and love, duty and honour, friendship and family. Just remember to lean into the tears.

5. JOKER

Whether you ended up either loving or hating ‘Joker,’ there was no denying that the landscape of cinematic comic book adaptations had been changed forever. Drawing inspiration from Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘The King of Comedy’ and featuring Joaquin Phoenix’s magnificently dedicated and exhaustive performance, ‘Joker’ was a truly outstanding cinematic achievement that would be discussed and debated for many years to come.

4. THE IRISHMAN

A magisterial entry in his long and masterful career, Martin Scorsese’s violent yet poignant crime epic featured flawless performances from a stellar ensemble cast (De Niro, Pacino, Pesci, Keitel). With a script that was nothing short of a master work, coupled with an intricate production design and stylish cinematography, ‘The Irishman’ felt like an apt end point for Scorsese’s fascination in narratives detailing the ultimate price that comes from a life of sin.

3. PARASITE

Renown South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho already had an impeccable track record (’The Host,’ ‘Snowpiercer,’ ‘Okja’) but really stepped up his game with this brilliant and powerfully revealing social satire. An intricate look at modern-day social hierarchies, ‘Parasite’ kept flipping audience expectations with its radical shifts in tone - from clever comedy to violent, dark tragedy - whilst delivering some brilliant thematic elements.

2. MARRIAGE STORY

Writer-director Noah Baumbach’s drama about the pain of the divorce process was a phenomenally crafted piece of cinema. A tragic tale amplified by both Baumbach’s screenwriting genius and tour-de-force performances from Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, ‘Marriage Story’ highlighted the struggles of an everyday situation and the real efforts to maintain it, leaving audiences with heavy hearts and thoughts.

1. ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD

Set against the backdrop of Hollywood’s changing of the guard and the looming large presence of the Manson Family, ‘Once Upon A Time...in Hollywood’ was a melancholy, slow burning, comedic love letter to a filmmaking era long gone, and easily one of Quentin Tarantino’s best films.

As a wonderfully painted portrait of 1969 Hollywood, Tarantino delivered something truly special - a cinematic opus featuring so many film references, both obscure and in your face, that it was an absolute delight for cinephiles everywhere to luxuriate in the sights and sounds of this historical fantasy.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt delivered the most emotionally vulnerable performances of their careers as soon-to-be has-beens, whilst the film’s vibrant production and costume design and playful soundtrack perfectly captured a snapshot of a special place and time in film history.

If Tarantino is still adamant to call it quits on his directing career after his next movie, ‘Once Upon A Time...in Hollywood’ was a timely reminder that we should all definitely try to enjoy the filmmaker whilst we still can.

...AND NOW, THE WORST!

20. UNDER THE SILVER LAKE

19. THE MULE

18. STUBER

17. AT ETERNITY’S GATE

16. IT: CHAPTER 2

15. THE BANANA SPLITS MOVIE

14. HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U

13. ALADDIN

12. ANGEL HAS FALLEN

11. TERMINATOR: DARK FATE

10. CAPTIVE STATE

Director Rupert Wyatt, the brains behind the effective ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ reboot, easily delivered one of the worst sci-fi films of the year. Despite a premise filled with potential and talent both in front of and behind the screen, ‘Captive State’ was a major disappointment. The screenplay (co-written by Wyatt) was an epic mess of confusion that lacked both a compelling narrative and characters to hold it together, resulting in a huge misstep for all involved.

9. RAMBO: LAST BLOOD

It’s ironic a film franchise that started out telling the sad story of a man trying to show an uncaring world he was still a human being should have its final chapter demonstrate the exact opposite. This much touted ‘final entry’ in the Rambo saga was a deeply unpleasant and unnecessary exercise that featured little wit, inventiveness or originality. The character of John Rambo deserved a better swan song than ‘Rambo: Last Blood,’ and so did we.

8. GEMINI MAN

Directed by Ang Lee and starring Will Smith as a government assassin facing off against a clone of his younger self, ‘Gemini Man’ was an empty and tiresome thriller dressed up in a lot of fancy tech, and Smith’s biggest box office flop since ‘Wild, Wild West.’ Despite costing $138 million to produce, all the Hollywood SFX wizardry in the world couldn’t excuse a lifeless picture, with the final result nothing more than a bland action clone.

7. THE LION KING

Soulless was how best to describe Disney's shot-for-shot live action version of the 1994 animated classic. The core failure of this latest incarnation of 'The Lion King' was the studio’s inexplicable choice to go fully photorealistic with the animation. The animal characters may have all been zoologically accurate, but there was absolutely zero expression or emotion conveyed in their faces (let alone the voice talent). Sadly, ‘The Lion King' was nothing more than a cash grab that relied heavily on the nostalgia and success of the original,

6. WELCOME TO MARWEN

Robert Zemeckis, the director behind such cinematic gems as ‘Forrest Gump,’ ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘Cast Away,’ was also responsible for this woeful and misguided outing. Despite being based on the true story of a man learning to cope with a terrible trauma through the power of art and imagination, ‘Welcome to Marwen’ focused its attention on the visuals of the story instead of its narrative. Our advice? Watch the original 2010 documentary ‘Marwencol.’

5. THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA

Let’s cut straight to the point - the reason Hollywood keeps making cheap, crappy horror films with little, if any, imagination is because they will always make their money back within the opening weekend. And ‘The Curse of La Llorona’ was a prime example of this, a formulaic slab of supernatural dirge destined to be forgotten by year’s end. Filled with jump scares, loud musical cues and devoid of any originality, horror fans deserved better than this.

4. MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL

Despite the box office success of the first ‘Men in Black’ film and its two well-received sequels, ‘Men in Black: International’ was a dull and dreadful reboot that severely tarnished the franchise. There were all sorts of bad things happening in this fourth film, but none were as unforgivable as wasting the talents of both Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thomspon. You didn’t need your memory wiped after this one - the movie did it for you.

3. DARK PHOENIX

The ‘X-Men’ films have been less hit and more miss in recent times and, unfortunately for fans, ‘Dark Phoenix’ closed out the this once-great franchise in an extremely disappointing fashion. Suffering from extensive rewrites and reshoots to the point where not even the film's stars knew which characters they were playing, ‘Dark Phoenix’ was a far cry from the pitch-perfect conclusion James Mangold gave us with the vastly superior ‘Logan.’

2. HELLBOY

Director Neil Marshall’s bloody misfire of the ‘Hellboy’ franchise was a damned mess, undeserving of both your hard-earned money and your valuable time. The film’s storytelling was clumsy rather than clever, the atmosphere oppressive rather than immersive and the characters colourless rather than captivating. Try to imagine Guillermo del Toro’s original two movies, except without any spark, wit, fun, tension and excitement. Absolute hell, boy!

1. CATS

Don’t act as if you’re surprised by this year’s winner of worst film - ‘Cats’ was an epic misfire, deserving of the vitriol it received from critics everywhere (the furry community, however, LOVED IT).

From the initial spark of the thought that turning Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical into a film would be a good idea, the project was doomed. With every single decision involved in this movie more baffling than the last, the biggest and most fundamental problems were the concept design of the cats themselves and there being absolutely no semblance of a plot.

Despite there being pussy galore, ‘Cats’ failed to capture any sense of spectacle or fun, and instead plodded through an inane, boring and predictable story that was used mostly as a platform for some big West End musical numbers and A-list cameos.

Watching your neighbour’s cat lick its own arse was far more enjoyable to behold than this cinematic disaster.

#the best and worst films of 2019

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jbuffyangel · 6 years ago

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Blessed: Arrow 7x13 Review (Star City Slayer)

It may be difficult to form coherent thoughts right now because of all the screaming, but I shall do my level best fam because WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warning: gif explosion ahead.

Let’s dig in...

Olicity and Mia Smoak

OLIVER AND FELICITY ARE HAVING A BABY

AND IT’S A GIRL

AND SHE GROWS UP TO BE KAT MCNAMARA FROM SHADOWHUNTERS

I AM DYING Y’ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE’VE WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS DAY!!!!!!

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EVERYTHING IS AMAZING!!!!

Of course, there are plenty of other things to discuss in the episode and we’ll get to it, but right now I want to bask.

This reveal was EPIC.

It actually exceeded my expectations because I didn’t think we’d get all the goodies all at once. “Star City Slayer” is basically my Christmas Wish List and Beth Schwartz just put delightful rainbow colored check marks after each request. *falls to knees to worship Beth*

We knew Arrow was dropping a bomb because Kat McNamara gave us all a heads up in her promotional press tour for “Star City Slayer.” But it’s wasn’t just one bomb. It was several.

First, Felicity is alive which DUH.

This reveal felt fairly perfunctory and it tells me the Arrow writers didn’t really expect us to believe Felicity was truly dead because, as I always say, they ain’t that crazy. You do not throw out the lightning in the bottle. You keep the lightning in the damn bottle for as long as you possibly can until she starts screaming to get out and you are absolutely forced to let her go otherwise you’ll be charged with kidnapping.

But was I laughing my ass off at all the antis who thought this was their year and Felicity was truly dead? You’re damn right I did. SUCK IT HATERS!!!!

Everything was revealed to us in the last three minutes of the show, which felt like the writers throwing a confetti and glitter bomb at us in a dark hole.

AND I WILL TAKE IT. Please and thank you.

We already had a mountain of evidence Mia is Olicity’s daughter, but there are extremely big hints throughout the episode telling us exactly where we are headed.

There is an absolutely beautiful transition from Felicity’s face in the darkness to Mia’s face. In fact, Felicity’s face almost melts into the Mia’s, so it is pretty damn clear Gregory Smith (the director) is trying to draw a substantial connection. These kinds of shots are important guys. This is how Arrow Arrows. Transitions, cuts, focused shots – it’s all trying to tell the story visually. When Arrow cannot give us the answer directly then they will drop crumbs the size and weight of anvils.

Dinah and Zoe are using Felicity’s Archer program to find where she planted the bombs, but thus far haven’t been able to locate them. Roy believes Felicity could have hid the bombs in the old, but still secret, Team Arrow bunker. But of course we know two people who are already in the bunker!

Mia and JJ tranquilize everyone, tie them up, and begin the interrogations. I like these kids. They’re nifty.

Mia wants the codes to the Archer program from William so she can find Felicity. Nobody questions Mia’s ability to kick William’s ass, least of all William, so he doesn’t last long. He also wants Mia to stop hitting Zoe. Awww… this is the Arrow equivalent of these kids playing Legos together.

Mia tells William Felicity is alive. It’s unclear if Mia knows because she has actual proof or if this is more a gut feeling type of thing. Either way it’s significant. Felicity’s circle of trust is pretty limited in the future. If she trusts Mia then she is incredibly important to Felicity. The only other person Felicity has reached out to for help was William, her son, and she sent him to get Roy, the brother-in-law (I’m just calling it like I see it). QUEEN FAMILY REUNION!!!!

This whole “Felicity is evil” angle is total crap too. Toss that nonsense out the window.

I think Felicity, Mia and JJ are trying to stop the destruction of Star City by infiltrating the Glade because Rene’s Chief of Staff is evil. Even if I’m wrong about plot points I am not wrong about Felicity being one of the good guys.

Mia can’t quite figure William out and the feeling is mutual.

William not a vigilante like Zoe, but finds himself embroiled in this bomb plot.

The differences between the two aren’t difficult to see. Mia is street and William is luxury condos. William is tech and Mia is Krav Maga. William is gentle and Mia is punch first ask questions later. To say these two come from different worlds is an understatement and yet they find themselves circling around each other.

She mistakes his interest in Felicity as romantic and we all gagged right along with William.

Mia’s reaction to Felicity being William’s step mother was a massive tell, which means Oliver isn’t the only one in the family with a terrible poker face.

Source: plotbunnyshipper

It was similar to Mia’s reaction when William told her Felicity was dead.

There is a person who cares under that hard exterior. There is someone who loves under all that pain. Sounds like someone else we know doesn’t it?

Oliver made his famous chili tonight, which is something the comic canon nuts have been after for years. But Arrow is going to put their spin on it. The comic canon folks will get their chili, but Oliver is making it for Felicity and William (and not LL like they want and ridiculously still believe they’ll get). It was two spicy for William, but Felicity was having seconds because SHE IS INCUBATING THEIR LOVE CHILD!!!!

Source: lucyyh

Stan the Fan, who was fantastically creepy, put some kind of drug in the chili to paralyze Oliver, Felicity and William. They went to the hospital and Felicity commented on the “mountains of blood” staff took to confirm there were no lasting effect.

DID SHE SAY BLOOD TEST?

I didn’t jump off the ground quite yet at this point. It was a fairly offhand remark from Felicity and I wasn’t sure if they’d reveal she was pregnant at the same time they confirmed Mia’s identity. I know I know. It makes complete sense to do it at the same time, but since when does Arrow ever make complete sense? I was being cautious.

And then all the bombs drop.

Source: oliverxfelicity

Felicity gets a call from the hospital regarding her blood test and SHE’S PREGNANT! THIS IS WHEN THE SCREAMING STARTED!!!!

We immediately cut to the flash forwards. Mia & JJ are fighting Dinah, Roy, Zoe and William. This is a fantastic fight sequence. It really feels like the old guard meeting the new. Roy gets the upper hand on JJ, but Mia gets the upper hand on Dinah. That’s my baby girl!!!!

William nervously holds a gun on Mia, but she’s cool as a cucumber. She knows he won’t shoot.

And why? *saythewordssaythewordssaythewordssaythewords*

Source: katie-mcgraths

BOOM!

BLACKSTAR IS MIA SMOAK!!!!!!

THAT’S DAMN RIGHT SHE IS!!!!!!!!!

My screaming went ultrasonic STG.

It’s so much goodness all it once I almost hyperventilated.

This reveal was like setting off fireworks in this dystopian nightmare world.

I AM ALL IN ON THE FLASH FORWARDS.

Is it awful William and Mia don’t know each other? Of course it is. My heart is broken Oliver and Felicity didn’t get to live an idyllic life, raising their babies in peace, and the city is still a hot mess 20 years in the future. I wouldn’t have picked it as a storyline, but if I was writing this show then Olicity would’ve been married in Season 3 and we’d be on our second set of triplets by now.

I don’t know how the family became splintered, but I am dying to find out. I want to see Felicity reunited with both her son and daughter. I want to know what the hell happened to Oliver. I absolutely want to see William and Mia’s relationship as brother and sister develop. It reminds me of the Season 1 between Oliver and Thea or more accurately Oliver and Emiko now. If everything is a mess in the future then at the very least I want to see the Queen family fighting to make it better. SIGN ME THE HELL UP!!!!!!

It’s not just about the Queen family either. Roy and Dinah officially confirm Connor Hawke is John Diggle’s boy JJ. Finally someone from present day recognizes these kids.

It’s clearly been YEARS since Dinah or Roy have seen JJ. What the hell happened? Where is Diggle? (Thank you David Ramsey for confirming you’ll be in the flash forwards). If JJ is working with Mia and Felicity then hopefully it means Diggle is as well.

“Star City Slayer’ felt like the birth of new OTA (William, Mia and JJ). Did you notice how JJ came running in as Mia interrogated William and Dinah, all protective and concerned for her? My ship is setting sail!

Kat McNamara said in her TVLine interview, “Beth has said they’re trying to combine the best qualities of Oliver and Felicity — his physical strength and her intellectual strength. “

And she is the best qualities.

Mia is the perfect blend of Oliver and Felicity. Everything we saw in the show was put there for a reason - the scotch,

the fight style,

her reaction to Oliver’s documentary,

her reaction to Felicity’s death,

Mia’s intellectual smarts

along with her street smarts.

It was all to show Mia’s connection to her parents. We didn’t imagine anything family. This fandom called it right from the start.

Let’s rewind a bit and go back to present day. I love how Felicity finds out she is pregnant. A blood test is irrefutable proof. Sure, pregnancy tests have come a long way, but you always get a blood test to confirm. I was happy to skip the whole “Is she sure?” trope.

It’s the perfect way for this child to happen. I never thought this baby would be planned. Look at Oliver and Felicity’s lives! It’s going to be difficult to find “a good time” and Felicity is extremely pragmatic. I like how Mia’s arrival is unexpected. That’s life folks. If you want to make God laugh tell Him your plans.

If you are screaming “But birth control!!!” lemme tell ya I know plenty of folks who have gotten pregnant on birth control. It would be easy to miss a step here or there given the craziness of Oliver and Felicity’s lives. I am also of the opinion Oliver “The Sex God” Queen has super sperm.

Felicity is understandably stunned, but she instinctively puts her hand on her belly as she watches William being ushered away to Central City with his grandparents for a “normal life.”

This is the life Oliver and Felicity chose, but it’s not the life their children chose. Felicity’s desire to protect William and her unborn child is completely understandable and what any mother would do. This news is unexpected and life changing, but Felicity’s hand over her belly shows her instantaneous love. Even though this child was unplanned it is already adored.

Source: olicitygifs

I’m not sure if the costume department specifically chose red on purpose, but Felicity finding out she’s pregnant dressed in a red sweater is a beautiful visual call back to Arrow 3x01 “The Calm.”

This is the episode where the seeds of this future were sewn. Their dinner at the Italian restaurant didn’t meet the qualifications of a first date, even though it came with all the nerves, because Oliver and Felicity already knew each other really well. They were already in love.

This was never about one date, a one night stand or even a fling. Oliver put those days behind him the minute he realized he loved Felicity Smoak.

It was always about forever for him.

Oliver is not a man of many words and it’s difficult for him to talk about emotions or the past. But Oliver owed Felicity the truth after their “ruse” to stop Slade. She needed to know there were no lies in that “I love you.”

Oliver tells Felicity how much she means to him and the life he dreams of having with her.

Felicity waited two long years to hear everything Oliver said.

This is why their breakup was so painful.

Oliver wasn’t just saying no to a relationship with Felicity. He was saying no to everything he dreamed. He was walking away from lazy days in bed,

failed omelets,

love ferns,

brown bag lunches,

soufflés,

ying yang kisses,

Christmas trees,

vows in the park,

homework help,

video game wars,

breakfast for dinner,

Thanksgiving,

and experimental cookies.

Oliver said no to a home, children and a love strong enough to build it all around.

Oliver could picture that life any time he looked at Felicity. He saw their children in her eyes. He knew exactly what he was giving up. Oliver gave himself one moment to live that dream

and love the children who would never be.

Anytime you think Oliver only loses I want you to think back to “The Calm.” You think back to the beginning of the series and remember how far Oliver Queen has come. Remember everything he has built with his blood, sweat and tears. We’ve gone from a man who was emotionally cut off, suffering under the weight of his pain, because of his self hatred and guilt,

to one who believes he deserves to be loved, fights with everything he has to hold on to love, and shines his light for the world to see.

The fans didn’t introduce the Olicity baby into the story.

The writers did and they did it for a very specific reason.

This has always been what Oliver is fighting for. Arrow is not just about saving Star City. It’s about saving Oliver Queen too. Felicity’s love and the family they will build together is his salvation.

This family is everything Oliver dreamed of. It’s everything he believed he didn’t deserve. It’s everything he’s fought to earn. Love, family and purpose. This is what it means to be alive. From the moment Oliver stopped surviving and truly started living again, this is the promise he’s always been headed towards.

Mia is the fulfillment of that promise.

She is the final piece to the puzzle.

Mia closes the loop around the life Robert and Moira Queen wanted for Oliver. The life they died to give him.

Maybe the Queen family is broken and splintered in the flash forward, but they will be put back together. Don’t doubt it for a second. Arrow is mass array of broken pieces which will ultimately fit together to unveil the final image. Salvation for Oliver, Star City, his family and the team is all the same thing. It’s all connected. You don’t get one without the other. Oliver will save his family just like they saved him.

It’s also important to remember how far we’ve come as fans who love this romance. We were told constantly Olicity would never happen. The NOlicity haters, L*urivers and antis from every nook and cranny said everything we saw on screen was our imagination. There was never a chance for Olicity. The writers would never abandon comic book canon for a love story of their own creation.

And yet… they did. Felicity became the female lead. Olicity became the central romance of Arrow. We didn’t imagine anything. Everything we saw was intentional. It was real. The smile was magic.

Her belief made him believe.

The lie was the truth.

The kiss led to

the sunset drive.

Everything broken

would be repaired.

Shame

would bring forgiveness.

The bouquet

promised the wedding.

And the dream

would become a reality.

Oliver and Felicity are blessed, and we as fans, are blessed to have them as our OTP.

Olicity and William Clayton

Oy. What a couple of weeks with William. He still hasn’t coughed up a reason for his expulsion, so Oliver and Felicity play good cop/bad cop with him over breakfast.

Is anyone surprised Oliver is the good cop? No.

He wouldn’t have been on the damn boat banging his girlfriend’s sister if Robert and Moira Queen said no when he was two. The fact Oliver continually found himself in trouble with his parents is a clear indication whatever discipline the Queen’s used didn’t work.

In fact, I remember Oliver having this fight with Moira in Season 1 over Thea. It’s a different story when it’s your kid, you’ve been in prison for several months and you just want bond with “Buddy.” Well, hike up the big boy pants and strap on those green tights Oliver. You’re a father now which means NO PANCAKES.

Felicity is the most adorable bad cop to ever walk the face of the earth, but her husband knows better than to question her benevolent rule.

Bae is still Queen. Felicity says one word and it’s see ya pancakes.

Oliver even takes William’s knife and fork away. I died. He’s like a light switch she can flip on and off. Let’s see what else Felicity can make Oliver do! Sounds like a good use of 45 minutes to me!

Source: myhauntedblacksoul

I have to be honest if I was expelled, refused to explain why, copped an attitude and stormed out on my parents I would not live to tell the tale. Instead, I would be buried in the backyard next to our pet bunny Petunia. I had no desire to piss my parents off. I valued my life thank you very much.

William does unload on Oliver and its pretty friggin great. The attitude needs to go, but William makes some valid points.

There’s been a lot of discussion about the “mistakes” Oliver has made and what he needs to do to be a better leader. I’m drawing a blank whenever this topic comes up around the Newbies because they are all awful and Oliver should’ve let them rot in Slabside.

However, the next phase of the Oliver Queen evolution is listening and his teachers are his wife and son. Keep your expectations low fam. Oliver is still a heterosexual male. There’s only so much listening he’s physically capable of doing.

William is cheesed off Oliver went to prison without discussing it with either Felicity or him (FACTS KIDDO), because his father does whatever the hell he wants to do (TRUE STORY). Simply because Oliver was heroically falling on the sword doesn’t erase his inability to ask for opinions.

Oliver feels this is an unfair characterization, but we only need to look at Felicity’s face and to know William’s remarks are on target.

Source: olicitygifs

Felicity changes into her good cop hat and approaches William with Oliver’s world famous chili and a Rubik cube lesson.

(FLASH FORWARD CALL BACK!)

Source: ebett

Oliver acknowledges William’s right to be angry and apologizes. The kid has been through a lot in the last couple years, which is why Oliver wants to bring him home.

It is at this point Samantha Clayton’s parents show up on Oliver and Felicity’s doorstep.

That’s right folks! A ticked off William called Grandpa and Grandma to complain. Jeez William. This is how those awful Lifetime movies about custody battles begin. Put down the phone dude.

I’m laughing right now because I’m imagining calling my grandfather to complain about my parents. He would have reached through the telephone to bop me on the head. Then he would’ve said my parents were amazing, I’m the luckiest girl on the planet and I should apologize right the hell now. Then he would’ve sent me fifty bucks. My Papa was the best.

Grandma and Grandpa Clayton have a different approach. They want custody of William. Sigh. I’m not saying they don’t have a point. They didn’t know Oliver was the Green Arrow and the dude is convicted murderer. He just did time in a maximum security prison! Also, he knocked up their daughter and his Green Arrow activities are pretty much the reason she’s dead. So Oliver isn’t going to win the Claytons over anytime soon.

They may think it is an open and shut custody case, but WHERE THE HELL WERE THEY?

There were plenty of times the Claytons could have intervened, but it takes William calling and complaining for these two to get off their asses? The kid was put into Witness Protection for god sake. Open and shut I think not.

Obviously, Oliver goes growly papa bear and tells them nobody is taking his son. Damn right. He didn’t even get that mad at the Claytons until they insulted Felicity’s ability to parent. I thought Oliver was gonna put an arrow in them. DO NOT SPEAK ILL OF THE WIFEY. HE WILL COME FOR YOUR LIFE AND A LIFE IS WHAT HE WILL TAKE.

I know William is going through stuff, but this is a really dick move. He knows Oliver and Felicity adore him and threatening a grandparent custody battle simply because he’s mad at Dad is completely inappropriate. Anyone can discipline this child at any time. I’ll wait.

Oliver finally finds his angry voice!

There ya go big fella. It’s the same one you use to interrogate suspects, but with less torture. And they say the hood didn’t prepare him to be a family man. Pfft.

Oliver and William basically have it out.

As parent versus child fights go this is a pretty good one. Obviously, Oliver wants to have his son home and give him a normal life, but there is no normal when you are running around in green leather pants shooting arrows every night.

Am I saying Oliver and Felicity should immediately ship William off to his grandparents? No. There’s a way to build the Queen family version of normal. They’ll do breakfast for dinner, but will occasionally be held hostage. It’s a give and take.

Parents have jobs where their lives are at risk every night. Do police officers ship their kids off to the grandparents? No. Do John and Lyla, who work for the least secret spy agency in the world, ship JJ off to Lyla’s parents? No. Zoe isn’t going anywhere. So why is William flipping his shit?

Source: olivergifs

Because William lived ten years with his version of normal and that life was with Samantha. It was a life with no masks, kidnappers blowing up islands or incredibly dull mob bosses. As wrong as it was to keep Oliver out of William’s life, Samantha did insulate their son from all the crazy.

William’s mother died pretty recently and this child has adjusted to a lot. He meets his father, but loses his mother. He gets to live with his father and gains a step mother, but he has to move away from his friends, school, grandparents and city. Then, just when he’s adjusted, everything is torn away again. His father is sent to prison and he’s put into Witness Protection with his stepmother. I understand why William is having difficulty adjusting to the Green Arrow life.

Felicity broaches the subject, but even discussing letting William go tears Oliver apart.

Source: olicitygifs

Felicity thinks William is old enough to decide for himself what kind of life he wants to live. And right now that life is with his grandparents. So Oliver lets him go.

Source: thegayfleet

This is why I’m still mad with writers for killing Samantha.

If the intent was to protect William from all the insanity of Oliver’s life then why kill his mother? Why bring back Raisa? Why send him off with the grandparents when William simply could be splitting time 50/50 with his mother in Central City?

Samantha’s existence didn’t preclude Felicity from having a relationship with him. It would have been interesting to see Oliver, Felicity and Samantha co parent.

The only reason Arrow killed off Samantha was to make Oliver a full time father and for the whole father/son sin cycle to continue. Eh. That was never a good enough reason for me, but especially now because they are looking for an escape hatch to throw William out of. If the endgame was always to route William back to Central City then they should have left his mother alone.

The argument Oliver and Felicity can’t provide William protection or a normal life, when they achieved those things all last season while living a pretty idyllic life, is a lot of nonsense. Yes, I know Oliver went through a time in Season 6 when he hung up the hood, but Felicity was still on the team. And Oliver suited back up eventually. William could adjust to the new normal just like JJ and Zoe have. Are JJ and Zoe getting shipped off to their grandparents? No.

It’s difficult to believe Oliver and Felicity willingly letting William go, even though I understand the kid’s frustration and anger.

Oliver is right. William can’t call his grandparents for back up anytime he’s mad at his parents. But by letting him move to his grandparents, Oliver and Felicity are just reinforcing this behavior! The Queen family needs to learn to fight without someone packing up and moving.

Perhaps, if we didn’t have the flash forwards we would see Oliver, Felicity and William work through this, but the writers want some distance between the three to sell the future storyline. I’m still not even sure this is the “abandonment” William is still bitching about 20 years from now, because guess what son? You left Oliver and Felicity! Not the other way around. It still boggles my mind Oliver and Felicity would allow this given how hard they fought to reunite their family this season.

It seems a little ridiculous to me William peaces out after his dad is released from prison or Felicity being so willing to let him go. William’s present day storyline feels slapped together with tape and glue. It flies in the face of everything this family established in Season 6 for the sake of the flash forwards. I’m having a very difficult time buying any kind of separation between William, Oliver and Felicity no matter how ticked off this kid is.

Of course, as William is walking out the door Felicity finds out she’s pregnant with his sister. I have no idea why William doesn’t know about Mia. I don’t think Oliver and Felicity said goodbye to him forever in “Star City Slayer” so there’s a lot of plot holes needing to be filled. I can’t even venture a guess and I really don’t want to. There’s too much information we don’t have and it feels like a fruitless endeavor. My plan is to wait and watch.

Curtis Holt

The Olicity baby wasn’t the only thing on my Christmas Wish List! Beth booted Curtis Holt off my show too !!!!!!!! YAHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honestly, I felt a little bad for Echo because this was the least important development in the episode. The Olicity baby bomb blew him out of the water.

No, it doesn’t bother me he isn’t dead. I’m perfectly fine with Arrow shipping Curtis off to Washington D.C. for his dream job. I didn’t need him dead. I needed him GONE.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure what route Arrow was going. He tells Diggle about the job in DC but then John, who is determined to piss me off at every turn this season, offers Curtis a bigger job at ARGUS.

He’ll be in charge of their science division because what would we do without Curtis! HE IS SO VITAL.

Dammit Diggle! You had one job! JUST LET HIM GO.

Curtis goes out into the field with the team to hunt the Star City Slayer and I felt certain we were headed into L*urel L*nce territory. She decided to suit up “one last time” before taking her DA job and then BAM! Arrow right to the gut.

Amazingly, Curtis makes it out relatively unscathed and he even saves Dinah’s life with one of his T-spheres. I think. I didn’t really care other than he wasn’t dead. I was too busy thinking, “Shit he better not take John up on the ARGUS job.”

But I was prepared folks. As long as I got an Olicity baby I was prepared to deal with whatever other disappointments came my way.

But NOPE! Beth decided to be Santa Claus and give me allllllllll my goodies.

Curtis decides to take the job in DC. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The minute Curtis said it I went online to buy him 15 plane tickets – one for him and his 14 PhDs.

Of course, he gives full ownership of Helix back to Felicity.

See this is why he needs to go. He acted so magnanimous - like it was his to give. Curtis gives Felicity some pompous talk about finding her purpose. OMG THIS GUY IS TOO MUCH. IT WAS HER COMPANY AND YOU ROAD ON HER COATTAILS. MAYBE SHE WOULD HAVE HER “PURPOSE” BY NOW IF THE WRITERS WEREN’T CONSTANTLY SIDE LINING FELICITY TO GIVE YOUR USELESS ASS SOMETHING TO DO. Ugh. Is the plane here yet? I’m so done with this douche.

Anyways, what matters is Curtis Holt is GONE!!!!!!!

And it looks like we’re full steam ahead on Smoak Technologies.

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

I don’t know why Arrow continually compartmentalizes Felicity. It seems to me she could be deputized and work with Team Arrow as Overwatch while creating Smoak Tech. Maybe that will happen, but for now it seems only one activity at the time. But at least her storyline won’t be stripped and ransacked to serve Curtis Fucking Holt anymore. WE CONTINUE TO BE BLESSED FANDOM. ALL MY PRAISE TO JESUS AND BETH SCHWARTZ.

Stan the Fan

Last, but certainly not least, “Star City Slayer” finally delivers a villain worth watching. Stan the Fan is back and is more creepy, diabolical and terrifying in one episode than Diaz was for a year and a half!

Brendan Fletcher is a genius and the smartest move Arrow made was not killing him off at the end of the episode. WE WANT MORE STAN!

The back story even made sense. WILL WONDERS EVER CEASE?

Stanley was abused and tortured by his parents until he finally killed them. Stanley’s older brother, who always tried to protect him, was horrified when he found out. So, Stanley killed him too. Now he seeks out older brother types to look up to and endear himself to. Stanley tries to protect his new “big brother” just like his brother did for him. He kills anyone he believes are bad for the person he admires – friends and enemies alike.

Okaaaaay. My man Stan has some legit issues.

Oliver: My teammates would never hurt you.

Stan: But they’re still bad for you! Worse even because they don’t understand you.

Soooo… not for nothin’ but I found myself nodding along with Stan the Fan.

He was making many of the same arguments many of us have made about the Newbies.

Is Stanley wrong? Are we wrong? HELL NO THEY ARE THE WORST! Is it a little worrisome I’m agreeing with the psychopath? Well sure, but I think it’s find to agree with crazy people when they make sense. Did Stan back into the right opinion via Insanity Street? Sure, but facts are facts no matter what route you choose.

I also completely understood his desire to hang out with the Queen family and make a new team just the four of them. I’ve had that dream myself.

But let’s be clear - I’m not a crazy fan like Stan. I AM COMPLETELY RELAXED ABOUT OLIVER QUEEN!!!

Slicing Dinah’s throat was a step too far over the line though Stan my man.

Source: arrowdaily

I just want her to take a job in Central City like Curtis moved to DC and bring Rene with her. Relocation would have been fine. You didn’t have to fricassee her vocal chords, bro.

I think the scariest movies are when you are physically restrained from defending yourself in any way. You can’t move or scream. The scariest Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode is “Hush” and it remains one of the most terrifying hours of television I’ve ever seen. I’m still traumatized.

Obviously, Oliver can take Stan the Fan in a blink of an eye so the paralyzing drug really shifted the power dynamic. It made Stan a real threat not only to Oliver, but his whole family.

Source: plotbunnyshipper

It’s completely unnerving to listen to a powerless Oliver Queen trying to reason with Froot Loops. Stephen Amell always does such a great job with making his voice melodic like Oliver is trying to lull Stanley into submission.

But you can’t fix crazy Oliver! I love how the Queen family worked together to stop him. William slides the bottle,

Felicity pisses Stanley off to get him to attack her,

and Oliver takes him out in one shot. BAM!

That’s how we do! It’s gonna be so great when all four members of the Queen family are reunited, kicking ass, taking names and saving the city together.

Stray Thoughts

Wait. So Bl*ck S*ren isn’t even IN the episode where Mia’s parentage is revealed. HAHAHAHAHA. Obviously, KC was on her honeymoon and that’s lovely, but it never ceases to amaze me how wrong her fans are. Just when I think they’ve hit a new low they reset the whole scale by digging even deeper into the Pit of Wrongness. Am I being petty? YA DAMN RIGHT I AM.

Ben Lewis’ scream when Dinah shoves William off the platform made me laugh until I cried.

Roy’s parkour made its triumphant return!

When my parents asked me to unpack the groceries it wasn’t a request I could refuse. My parents are lovely people, but next to Oliver they look like the Gestapo! Someone in the Arrow writer’s room needs to take a parenting class.

Felicity’s apartment security system is great and everything, but can’t she install a camera or something so they can see who the unidentified persons are? It’s called The Ring. Quite handy.

Loved the pink. Felicity was checking off all her signature colors. Source: lucyyh

Dinah lost her Canary Cry. Since she was having trouble dealing with being an outed meta it’ll be interesting to see what her reaction is. She doesn’t need to be a meta human to be part of Team Arrow. Although, I think this gives Team Arrow more of a reason to occasionally reach out to Bl*ck S*ren.

This was such a mom moment. Source: EBETT

This was such a dad moment. Source: olivergifs

Followed by another mom moment. Source: olivergifs

The woman loves her man and his chili. Source: feilcityqueen

This is the zenith of my shipper life. I have reached the top of Everest. Time to take stock of my OTP journey.

One taught me patience

One taught me pain

One taught me love

Thanks to @callistawolf for the review title!

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 7x13 gifs credited.

If you’d like to support the blog, please buy me a cup of tea!

#arrow #arrow 7x13 #arrow 7x13 review #olicity #olicity baby #mia queen #mia smoak #oliver and felicity #william clayton #oliver felicity william and mia #queen family #anti curtis holt #arrow season 7 #arrow spoilers #season 7 episode review #season 7 episode reviews #william and mia #anti black siren #anti lauriver

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bottomtonyhoe · 6 years ago

Text

Drama Kings - Chapter 3

“ Son of a bitch “ Jensen curses under his breath as he races towards his car. He can’t wrap his head around what happened back at the library. Who is he mad at? Osric for being a scared little kid who can’t defend himself? Ty for being an incredible douche and a goddamn bad influence? Jared for sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong? Or himself for defending him? . Yeah, he needs a drink.

He takes his fake ID out of his wallet and barks the car in front of a bar. Chicago street lights illuminating the view up till the entrance. He always loved the city, its high tech traffic system, the bridges and the river around it. It is way more beautiful than where he is from, or was from. He hands his fake ID to the bartender after he sits down and she looks at him suspecting. He flashes her one of his trademark grins and she hands it back to him .

“ Bear ? “

“ Yupp “

He isn’t alcoholic, not really , and doesn’t plan on being one. His dad’s drunk shadow is still hunting him down after he ran away on them. He still remembers that night very clearly..

“ Sir , are you ok ? “ Jensen’s small voice tingled through the tiny apartment. His dad’s frame was on the door and he could hear him trembling as he walked to the night switch and turned on the light.

“ What are you doing up, Jensen ? “ Alan’s gruff voice answered as he threw his keys on the broken table.

“ C-couldn’t sleep “ Jensen stuttered as he watched his father come closer, cornering himself against the wall. The morning’s ‘ well-earned beating ‘ still making its appearance on the 12 years old kid’s face. He braced himself for another, or for 100 push ups till he fell asleep of exhaustion. He didn’t expect what happened next. His dad hugged him. Alan freaking ‘ hugs are for fags ‘ Ackles hugged him.

“ Go to sleep , son”

He just didn’t know that was his dad’s way of saying good bye before he walked out on his family.

_________________

“ Are you ok ? “ Jared says, stepping closer to Osric.

“ Yeah, It is the usual. You didn’t have to get on a fight with the ackles boy.” Osric says, adjusting his collar.

“ He is an asshole “ Jared says and Osric smiles.

“ And you are going to be bullied “ Osric remarks pointedly and Jared returns the smile. He could fucking care less. Both the boys walk out of the school and Jared walks to his bicycle.

“ Where are you going ? Let me give you a ride . Here, put the bicycle in the trunk “ Osric holds his Chevrolet Optra’s trunk open.

“ Fine “. they both get in the car and Osric starts driving. There was awkward silence till the smaller guy cuts it off.

“ Sorry man, but I can’t help but wonder what the fuck happened back there? You said you moved from LA, but Jensen isn’t all about defending the new kids against his bestfriend’s bullying.”

“ I know. He is my neighbor. “ Jared says rubbing his forehead. That’s as good of a reason as any, right ?

“ So I am driving to my bully’s block .Nice “ Osric voice drips with sarcasm and Jared lets out a nervous laugh. He should’ve rode his bicycle home.

They reach their destination and Jared hurries out, getting his bicycle out of the trunk.

“ See you tomorrow. “ Osric smiles from the driver seat and drives off. As Jared is placing his bicycle in the garage, near his mom’s car, he hears a loud engine he recognizes. Jensen.

He watches as Jensen walks out of the car then he just stands there. His eyes meeting Jared’s and God, Jared wants to run. He is walking towards him.

“ Hey “ Jensen almost breathes. His hair is all over the place but it is still beautiful, His green eyes are darker in the moon light, His lips are a certain shade of pink and god so full and his freckles, despite the lack of light, are standing out.

He is gorgeous. Even if it isn’t the right time to think about it.

“What ? “ Jared manages to spit out. And the calm look on Jensen’s face turns into a frown, but he suppresses it.

“ Jesus Christ Jared. I am here to apologize. “Jensen says and Jared suddenly realizes how the breeze is causing him Goosebumps. Just the breeze.

“ You shouldn’t apologize to me. You do this all the time, don’t you ? “ Jared glares at Jensen. He is fed up with the special treatment and the calm look, even if it had only been two days.

“ Do what ? “ Jensen masters the ‘ I don’t know what the hell you are talking about look ‘. Jared wants to punch his in his dumb, god-like, beautiful face.

“Picking up on smaller kids, bullying, being a homophobe and-“ Jared was about to go on all the rumors he heard from Misha, but Jensen cuts him.

“ Oh shut the fuck up now. I am an asshole, just not that kind of an asshole. I was just accompanying Ty. He is worse when he is alone, trust me. And homophobe? No way. Maybe Ty is ,but I am not. Listen. If it makes you feel better, I will stop Ty from coming near Osric again. “ Jensen says and Jared’s eyes widen.

“ Really? You would do that? “ Jared looked at Jensen’s face , searching for mockery. But Jensen seems sincere.

“ Cross my heart and hope to die “ Jensen gestures with his hand. A grin makes its way through his face. Jared lets a small smile appear then it turns into a frown.

“ Why? I mean , thanks and all. But why are you nice to me ? “ Jared asks and Jensen chuckles.

“ I have no freaking idea, man “ Jensen scratches the back of his neck before saying “ Good night, Jared” then walks into his house.

Jared can’t help but think of how good he’d look in skinny jeans.

______________________

Jensen tiptoes his way to his bedroom. His mom had this thing when she can smell alcohol on his breathe from a mile away. His phone betrays him and he answers immediately.

“ Hello, dear “ a British rich accent voice says. Mr. Sheppard, aka Mark the gun shop owner.

“ Snitch. Hey “ sarcasm speaks as he shuts his room’s door behind him.

“ Is that any way to speak to your elder ? Now listen to me very well. You will come tomorrow with your old man’s kit, ok ? “ Mark answers.

“ First of all, you are an elder, not MY elder. Secondly, I am not coming so you can tell mom. Last of all, my mom threw away that piece of crap. “ Jensen answers. Why would that short fucker want it anyway ?

“I won’t tell her. You have my word. And I ain’t talking about his personal belongings. The car. Have you ever looked under the backseats ? “ Mark answers, sounding far way interested in whatever his asshole of a father left him.

“ You know you sound sketchy, right ? “ Jensen says, running down the stairs. His dad gave him the car on his 16th birthday, after he walked out on them, and he put a kit there. This is what Jensen calls interesting.

“ Just give it a good look”

Jensen opens the backdoor of the impala and he pushes his hands under the back seats and moves it around, pressing the phone between his cheek and shoulder.

“There is nothing there “ Jensen groans.

“ No way. Look better for it. “ Mark says, irritated. Jensen finds what feels like a handle and pulls it out.

“ What the .. “

He looks at the briefcase in his hand. A high tech one with digital lock on it , an actual digital lock. It was blue black with three letters carved on it. W.M.F.

“ Don’t you dare play with it. You hear me, son?” he hears Mark’s last words and he hangs up on him. Jensen runs upstairs and he inspects it. Wow. This case is even better than the ones he did research on when he got bored. He hates it when he gets it bored, because he doesn’t go on a run or play more football with chad and Ty. No, he started fixing equipment and electronics . He rebuilt his own X-box more than once and he practically made his own joey-sticks. He admits it. Ty should make him do his homework.

Now, he needs to open this. Figuring out the password was out of the question because well, WMF isn’t going to be predictable for a 17 years old kid. But he could get the digital board out, run it on his computer and tries his luck with hacking.

That’s why he didn’t feel bad about cyber-stalking Jared, because well , his inner smart demons could do much worse.

————————————

Jared has a crush on Jensen. He admits it. It is pathetic and absolutely dumb, but he can’t ignore how his heart jumps around like a happy puppy whenever Jensen smiles at him. He can’t ignore how the ‘ special’ treatment from Jensen makes him feel. He has a crush on a straight guy. Typical Jared.

“So how was your day ? “ His mother says and Jared snaps out of his daze.

“ fine “ Jared mumbles and lets his hands work.

“Why are you drawing a portray of our neighbor’s son “ She warmly said sitting next next to him , silently admiring his work on the sketch. Jared is just an amazing writer and a great artist. She always encouraged him to publish his comics or share his drawing instead of just throwing it away. One person’s opinion never really matters, apparently.

“ He has a nice face “ Jared mumbles again and she smiles, running her hand through his soft hair. Jared shuts his eyes. Yeah sue him. He has no one in this world but his mother, so he just doesn’t try and shut her out. He would rather tell her than Misha or Gen who would probably just judge him.

“ Well , I will leave you to it “ She gets up, closing the door behind her. The sketch needs more details. He is going to have to stare longer tomorrow.

A faint sound of Led Zeppelin’s art lulls him to sleep. He dreams of green eyes, unhappy ones.

———————————

“ Dude, were you up all night ? “ Chad exclaims getting in the impala’s passenger seat. It is a daily routine for Jensen to pick up Chad and go for early coffee at Starbucks.

“Yeah. Don’t ask why “ Jensen nearly groans. He stayed up all night trying to crack that piece of crap open. It was so well encrypted and hacking into it was hard, since he was away from ‘ hacking for like 3 months. Yeah that’s the longest he has ever cut himself off.

“ Heard you pissed Ty off “

“ He pissed me off first “ Jensen answers, turning on the radio.

“Jared Padalecki. How do you know him? “ Chad asks, scrolling through his twitter timeline. He had the noisiest conversation with Ty before he was sent to bed. The dark haired boy had asked around about the new meat who had his bestfriend standing up his face with his fists clenched at both sides. He told Chad all about the LA boy and Chad felt nothing but amused.

“New neighbor. Now black coffee ok?” Jensen answers, parking the car at Starbuck’s lot. Chad scoffs and opens the passenger seat door.

“and you’re the example of the perfect citizen who respects his neighbors’ rights. “

“Fuck off.” Jensen says, half-way smile making its path on his face. Chad stands up and shuts the door behind him, causing a loud noise and Jensen makes a mental note to oil the door.

He lets his mind drift to the briefcase, not its encryption, but the fact that his father left him a car four years later after his disappearance. His mother tried to mindlessly convince him it was his father feeling bad, that it was a start to an actual attempt to come back to them. He shut it all out of his young mind, not out of stupidity, he wasn’t that naïve, but to avoid false hope and unrequired heartbreak. Now, he knows the car wasn’t sent to him for such reasons but for this briefcase. He wonders what its story is, why Mark asked for it 2 years after the delivery of the car. Who is W.M.F. He googled it and he came up with nothing.

“ Dude! Are you stoned?” Chad’s voice snatches him from his messy train of thoughts. He opens the door and jumps in the car, handing him his coffee. Jensen neglects to answer and drives, focusing on nothing but the road ahead, which seemed too vague out of sudden.

School day was over too fast. Classes mashed up together and he couldn’t focus on anything but one.

Jared Padalecki.

The kid was remarkably fascinating , if the expression fits. Jensen’s head felt like a loaded up bomb, but whenever he took a glance in Jared’s direction, It all seemed to calm down. He knows the reason behind this attraction wasn’t duo to his heterosexuality. He wonders if it was possible to be gay for one person? . He intends to make good on his previous promise to Jared, so he walks to an angry Ty, sitting on the bleachers after a terrible performance on the field.

“ You are here to gloat ? “ Ty hisses, wiping the sweat from his frowning forehead.

“ NO, but I am not here to babysit, either. So listen up, you will do your own homework from now on and stop bothering Osric. It is immature and stupid, and you don’t want my fist in your face. “ Jensen says. His expression of absolute seriousness that Ty has only seen on exceptional occasions. Ty narrows his eyes, expecting that frown on his friend’s face to turn into a smirk or a less serious expression, but it remained stone cold. Ty nods and Jensen gets up, planning to walk away but stops.

“ Meet us at Mark’s gun shop after your additional practice, You embarrassed me out there” . and Ty snorts.

—————————————

Jared catches Jensen’s frame behind the impala and walks to him. Osric told him that he was probably a magician, because Mr. Stark assigned them to write a 10 pages report on climate change through the past ten years and Lockwood didn’t even come near him. Jensen must’ve kept true to his word, apparently.

“ Hey. Jensen “ He can’t help the smile creeping on his face once he locks eyes with his crush.

“ English geek, nice representation. “ Jensen smirks and Jared flushes all over. He is inherently shy and Jensen isn’t making it any better. In fact, he looks too amused for Jared’s liking.

“Yeah, right. You talked to Tyler, didn’t you ? “ Jared heads for the topic. If he stands this close to Jensen any longer, he will definitely do something inappropriate.

“ I did. I hope he did what I said.” Jensen says, folding his arms.

“You order your friends around much?” Jared smirks, not helping the small step he takes towards Jensen. See? That’s his point.

“Only when they are being douchebags. “ Jensen says, grinning. Jared is taken back by how genuine his smile is, terribly beautiful.

“ I just wanted to thank you, though.”

“ Wanna come over ? “ Jensen asks. Jared thinks he is hallucinating.

“What?”

“ I said, wanna come over? PS4 has got a new set of games this year and both Chad and Ty are cheaters. Maybe you could keep up with me in honesty?” Jensen says, chuckling at the end.

“ We have a math test tomorrow.” Jared breathes. He really doesn’t want to decline this one.

“ We will study afterwards, or do you like studying alone ?” Jensen’s expression turns from confidence to a little—hesitation ?

“ I don’t mind extra help. I am in.” Jared smiles, trying to keep himself from grinning ear to ear. Gen’s voice creeps into his mind screaming ‘ SMITTEN’.

“Cool. See you at 7 “

Jensen watches Jared leave, taking a note of how his eyes lingers on the boy’s rounded ass. He can definitely be gay for one person.

He waits for Chad to hop in the car and he drives them both to Mark’s gun shop. Chad keeps asking questions about why they are going there and Jensen finally spills. No matter how douchy his friends are, he needs them on this one. Chad practically creates a hole through Jensen’s arm for keeping such secret for this long, considering 12 hours this long. Ty joins them once they arrive at the parking lot and Chad tells him everything. Ty has a more violent comeback but they all sort it out before going in. briefcase in hand, Jensen decides he isn’t going to leave without answers.

“ Hello, boys.” Mark says, walking towards Jensen, eyes fixed on the briefcase.

“ What is in it ?” Jensen tightens his grip around its handle.

“ Nothing that concerns you, for now.” Mark answers, narrowing his brown eyes.

“He sent ME the car. It concerns me alright.” Jensen spits, anger illuminating his deep voice.

“ Give me the briefcase, Jensen.” Mark orders, any intention of prolonged conversation gone. Jensen catches his hand reaching under the counter, where he keeps his gun.

“ Show me what’s in it.” Jensen hisses through clenched teeth.

“ I will. In time.” Mark answers. As his hand flinches, Jensen lifts his Colt, or his dad’s colt, from the back of his jeans. Gun barrel opposite the other, both men stare at each other.

“Son, I’m doing this for you.” Mark desperately says.

“ Save it. You know I am faster than you, so put down the gun.” Jensen says, tilting his neck and smirking a little. He must look like his father right now. Good times.

“Jen—“ Mark tries but Jensen cuts him angrily, “ PUT IT DOWN.”.

The older man obeys, looks straight into the younger man’s eyes.

“What is W.M.F?” Jensen calmly asks. He is literally putting every intimidation technique he saw his dad perform out there. He just needs answers, and he will get them.

“ Son, I can’t tell you—“ but the sound of the gun being readied shuts him up. Jensen is a kid. Kids aren’t intimidating, but Jensen is an angry kid, an angry kid after his favorite candy. He just doesn’t know how toxic it is.

“ It is a short cut for Weapon modification facility.” Mark surrenders. He might as well spell the rest out. The kid has brought it on himself, “ It is part of a special multi-national organization which, you know, modifies rockets, bombs and big guns.” Mark goes on, never breaking eye contact with the boy he half-way raised.

“I-I don’t understand. Dad was on the navy. He was o-out of service, how is that even navy’s business? “ Jensen stutters, feeling that he was hit with a literal bullet. He expected many things. Old navy kit in the briefcase, some sort of legacy. A way to get Jensen on the same path he was on, to be a soldier or in marine or whatever. But ongoing worldwide organization crap wasn’t anywhere in his mind. His dad was just a soldier, that wasn’t his area, at all.

“ Oh boy, you will wish you hadn’t asked that.” Mark says. Jensen lowers his gun.

Sorry for late update. College is a hoe 💔

On AO3 here

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Masterlist

#dean winchester #sam winchester #supernatural #top dean #bottom sam #sammy #wincest #brothers #j2 #weecest #nerd jared #jock jensen #drama kings #highschool #more than that

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allimariexf · 6 years ago

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(Arrow 7x15 thoughts) Olicity: the team within the team (always)

I wanna apologize because MY BODY CANNOT HOLD ALL THESE EMOTIONS and I’m a mess so I”m sorry for whatever happens here

SO. MUCH. OLICITY. I had forgotten it could be like this. WHY did they withhold for so much of the season and then give us so much Olicity in a single ep? (never mind don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right?)

“I want this partnership to be done right and to be legitimate from the beginning for our baby.” OUR BABY. and then HIS FACE!!! He’s trying to be all serious but he cannot stop that smile of happiness that’s taking over his face because he is so happy omggggg!!!!!!

subtle harp-like Olicity theme in the background is almost literally MY HEARTSTRINGS BEING PLAYED

OH GOD THEY BRING IN “BELIEF” AND I AM DEAD HOW DARE THEY: “If you believe that this is what’s best for the city and what is ultimately best for our family, then I agree. Because we’re a team too.” and then: “Always.”

HOW DARE THEY HOW DARE HOW DARE HOW DARE THEY

CALL BACK TO EVERYTHING THEY HAVE EVER SAID TO EACH OTHER ABOUT BELIEVING IN EACH OTHER

AND ABOUT THEIR PARTNERSHIP

AND “ALWAYS”

the way she walks toward him and takes him by the lapels 😭 such a Felicity move

HIS FACE WHEN SHE DOES IT 😍 ohhhhh I have missed Oliver’s heart eyes and those are HEART EYES IN FULL FORCE

but most of all THE WAY HE IS GAZING AT HER WHEN HE SAYS “ALWAYS,” and HIS VOICE HOLY SHIT that’s a different voice from anything we’ve ever heard

(now if only he had hair and if only he would take off that DAMN COAT like that coat is like a third wheel at this point geez it’s honestly like a built in cockblock, in fact maybe he wears it all the time because otherwise they’d never stop getting it on? Hmm new headcanon maybe 🤔)

ughhhhhh and then the kiss after the “always” MY HEART I AM DEAD

“...that we don’t tell anybody about what’s happening in here”

UM Felicity is adorable here okay??? “in here” omggg

and more importantly OLIVER CLEARLY THINKS SO TOO 😍😍😍 his eyes and smile OH GOD

and then the second kiss!!! like

I love the adorable married going-in-for-multiple-kisses thing and

the way she smiles going into that second kiss and then

they just LINGER THERE like Olicity really knows how to LINGER like the 3x01 first kiss and the 3x20 goodbye kiss and now we have this, the 7x15 “better future” kiss and they just LINGER with their lips together on that thought and she breathes him in and IT’S JUST SO BEAUTIFUL someone needs to come put me back together please 😭

I am destroyed and resurrected (repeatedly) under the cut...

“...so about that tartine...”

HOW ADORABLE IS IT the way his face shifts into that smile and you just know that he has been doting on her SO MUCH and he LOVES IT HE LOVES COOKING FOR HIS WIFE AND BABY like honestly YOU KNOW IT’S HIS #1 PLEASURE IN LIFE NOW NO CONTEST

“Have I told you lately how smart you are?”

OKAY first off having Oliver actually talk to Felicity about Arrow stuff??? FUCKING FINALLY OKAY. This is the dynamic Olicity was BUILT ON and MY SOUL HAS BEEN PARCHED FOR IT. Felicity is Oliver’s #1 partner. BLESS THIS EPISODE FOR REMEMBERING THAT. FOR SHOW US THEIR PARTNERSHIP, which honestly the entire SHOW is built on.

okay and HIS FACE before he says the thing, when he’s just thinking to himself about how smart she is and how much he admires and respects her and needs her as his partner?????? It’s the perfect Olicity mix of LOVE, ADMIRATION, and RESPECT??? THAT IS WHY I LOVE OLICITY. RIGHT THERE.

and then the way he GAZES AT HER WITH PERFECT HEART EYES after she says she “never gets tired of hearing it” because HE IS SO SMITTEN WITH HIS WIFE/PARTNER/LOVE OF HIS LIFE 😍😍😍

UGH and then his reaction to “I want mint chip” like THEY ARE SO IN SYNC he gets her 100% completely he understands and he’s 100% there for her and UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH someone stick a fork in me

because it’s THE PERFECT TRANSITION from Team Arrow to Olicity, just a seamless blend of the work and the relationship because BOTH is who they are I don’t think I will ever be over that moment ughhhhhh

“You guys go ahead, I ate something that’s not gonna mix well with alcohol.”

UM OKAY callback to the 3x01 first date or coincidence? (“The alcohol is not going to mix well with the 3 Benzos I took”) I think I’m gonna go with DELIBERATE CALLBACK.

THE WINKING OMG. LITERALLY THE CUTEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN? MAYBE.

also Oliver looks SUPER hot in that moment, whooooboy. THAT LOOK IS 🔥🔥🔥

“I think you look exactly the same.”

EXCUSE ME BUT am I the only one who is reading wayyy into this just like, the way he says it, her smile?? It’s like a reminder of all they’ve been through together, how much they’ve grown and changed (and also yes hello callback to the season 7 Felicity arc) and yet she is still Felicity, they are still Oliver and Felicity, and like...........?????? EXCUSE ME AGAIN 😭😭😭

and then he sits down on the bed and they’re just talking on their bed like THANK YOU I NEEDED THIS IN MY SOUL

“I may have thought of a name for a girl...Mia.”

Letting us see him looking into her eyes, a little uncertain, being vulnerable with her...I AM ALIVE!

Because he knows she’s going to pick up on the fact that it’s in honor of his mother

AND MOIRA!!! JUST

we know how important she was to Oliver, but also how complicated, how it ties in with his confused feelings for his family and his legacy, but also his deep love for his family and just how important family is to him, but it also involves this awareness of how Moira figured into Oliver and Felicity’s history, how without her having done what she did they never would have met, and his awareness and resulting hesitation because he knows Felicity didn’t get along with Moira, and THEN AND THEN her acceptance ( “I love it” ) just confirms THIS ONE ESSENTIAL FACT ABOUT OLIVER and about ARROW ITSELF: that no one is perfect, we all have our faults, but there’s love anyway: “Family is precious, and that it’s LOVE, IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING, THAT MAKES IT PRECIOUS.” 😭😭😭😭 I AM DEAD AGAIN because it’s everything y’all I don’t even have words right now

and his smiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiile 😭😭😭

“Regardless of whether we have a boy or a girl, I just want to make sure that she or he ends up growing up in a better and safer Star City than I did.” / “Yeah.” / “I want that for both of our children. They’ll always have each other to lean on.” “And they’ll always have us.”

THEY ARE HOLDING HANDS FOR THIS ENTIRE CONVERSATION

and she strokes his face

and HE HOLDS HER GAZE FOR SO LONG after he says “both of our children” what are these teeeears!?!? 😭

(and we’re going to ignore the clearly ominous overtones because fuck that)

look at them just staring into each other’s eyes holding hands A FAMILY 💗💗💗💗💗💗

The BUNKER

OLICITY IN THE BUNKER ALONE TOGETHER BECAUSE THEY ARE THE TEAM WITHIN THE TEAM, THE BEATING HEART OF TEAM ARROW

AND THEN JOHN JOINS THEM to complete OTA, the core, the TRUE, perfect, COMPLETE Team Arrow and it is perfect!

and then when Dinah and Rene show up, Oliver says: “We found a lead. Well, Felicity found a lead.” THANK YOU THANK YOU WRITERS THANK YOU I will always be grateful for every acknowledgement that Felicity is essential to Team Arrow - essential - and having it come from Oliver’s mouth is OF COURSE The Best.

OTA: FUCK. YES. “So what don’t I know about?” / “We’re having a baby.”

OLIVER’S FACE when he wants to tell John about the baby!! HE CANNOT KEEP THAT SMILE OFF HIS FACE 💗 it’s possible my life is complete UGH HE IS SO HAPPY HE CANNOT CONTAIN IT 😭

And when she says “we’re having a baby” HIS FACE actually BOTH OF THEIR FACES y’all I AM ALIVE the way they are both standing their TRYING TO CONTAIN THEIR HAPPINESS????

and they both say “Yeah” and their EYES??? 😍

but like @it-was-a-red-heeler said he’s making the 3x01 face and OH GOD WHAT A PERFECT COMPLETE CIRCLE 😭😭😭

JUST LOOK AT THEM STANDING THERE TELLING THEIR BEST FRIEND THAT THEY ARE HAVING A BABY

John, who said, “And when you meet the right person, you'll be ready for her,” who said “I think our Miss Smoak is smitten,” who said “I think you didn’t have a problem with Felicity’s performance until she met Barry Allen,” who said “not like us” regarding Oliver’s inability to express his emotions, who said “I know it must be difficult for you, seeing them together,” who said “Why don’t I, uh, give you two a second?,” who said “Maybe Felicity will change all that” and “you love her, you even told her so,” who said “You need her to be anyplace where Ray Palmer isn’t” and “You’re in the field without your head on straight” and “If that were true, you’d be with her, man” and “This thing with you and Palmer is messing with his head” and “You gotta tell her how you feel before it’s too late,” and (skipping way ahead), “I’m not the one she was going to marry,” and “I’m the guy who’s been trying to keep you two together,” so like EXCUSE ME BUT 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 OKAY?

Delicity: “Morning sickness or not, Felicity, you have not missed a beat. You were absolutely amazing out there, your tech was phenomenal.”

It’s a little clunky but if this is the final ironing out of all their issues, I’ll accept it. (I’m easy.)

I AM HERE FOR ALL THE ADMIRATION AND RESPECT FOR FELICITY SMOAK (in her hero/genius/badass capacity).

I ESPECIALLY AM HERE FOR the acknowledgement that she can be both a pregnant woman and a hero/badass/vigilante. (And I am going to take that as assurance that they WILL NOT FORGET THIS FACT.)

also blahblahblah foreshadowing.

Overwatch/ Team Arrow

first off: OVERWATCH!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK. YES. My show is back.

second of all: Every time Oliver touches his comm and says “Overwatch” it’s like a virtual orgasm and we were coming all.night.long. friends 😂 I mean there were like 4 times, right?? OH GOD YESSSSSSSSS

but I am SO SERIOUS: Team in the field and Overwatch on the comms IS ARROW and I have missed it soooooo much and now I LIVE!

and yes the SCPD scenes were all freaking HILARIOUS especially Felicity’s reaction to the tech + her “loopholes” + Oliver and Felicity doing a side mission on their own 😍😍😍 (we will not comment on the ridiculousness of the random boiling hydrochloric acid nor the fact that they clearly would have known that evidence gathered in such a manner would be inadmissible)

meanwhile I loved Felicity’s line in the Master Chef scene: “This partnership’s not going to work if she forgets who she’s hired.” PERFECTION. HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD. EXACTLY. THANK YOU.

Other stuff

Am I the only one getting excited because it feels like only a matter of time before we completely shed NTA? They just feel sooo unnecessary at this point (I mean they always did but now they just seem like even an inconvenience to the writers)

I truly COULD. NOT. CARE. LESS. about Dinah’s storyline. Like, I’m sorry. I like Juliana. But they’ve never made me love Dinah, as much as I wanted to, and then after s6 honestly she is the member of NTA that I disliked the most, and I have always fucking hated that stupid Canary Cry (again, I much preferred Sara as the Canary, how badass she was as a fighter and the Cry was just an added bonus, and it wasn’t nearly as ridiculous as it later became with Laurel and then Dinah. UGH. At least that’s gone.) The one thing I appreciated about this storyline was the conclusion that the Cry is not an essential part of the Canary. DUH.

Ben Turner’s kid as Connor Hawke: I called it like one minute before the reveal lol. I like it, though I kinda wanted more Ben Turner, and this makes me think he’s gonna die :(

Flash Forwards/William and Mia: yessssssss 💗💗💗

though I still think there’s more on that micro-cassette. The missed messages from Oliver and Felicity. More clues from future Felicity. Meanwhile hearing Felicity’s message to her children just DESTROYS 😭😭😭😭😭

THE PROMO OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I AM NOT READY

Um I think that’s all the freakout I can fit in one post. I’m a mess. Someone needs to pick my pieces up off the floor and put me together again, please.

#arrow #arrow meta #arrow 7x15 #arrow thoughts #olicity #olicity meta #arrow season 7 thoughts #my meta #arrow 7x15 thoughts #HOW CAN I LIVE #MY EMOTIONS #top posts #selected favorite posts #selected favorites

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