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moog-rt · 1 month

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ɪɴ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ [ch.4]

[Shigaraki Tomura x Fem!Reader]

Beginning: Prologue

Previous: Chapter Three

➨ Chapter Four

Next: Coming Soon...

Premise:

The multiverse theory is the idea that there is not only one universe but, instead, an infinite number of universes, parallel to one another.

You and Tenko were heroes in your universe. The war came and went, and that left only you. When you are thrown into a universe parallel to yours, you find out the hard way just how similar and different it is from your own.

A/N: My roommates and I totally got knocked tf out with the bad luck stick. This chapter already went through the first rounds of edits, and I was going to do a final round... but that was just not gonna happen today. So please excuse any typos or whatnot <3

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If you'd prefer to read on Ao3, here is the link:

Otherwise, enjoy!

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CHAPTER FOUR

Toga made an unpleasant face when you dropped your large wad of rain-soaked clothing into her open arms. She was the lucky duck that was chosen to escort you on your trip back to the hotel. It turns out she was typically the one who volunteered to run errands and shop for the boys thanks to her quirk being perfect for going out undetected.

For your brief outing, she took on the form of the woman you’d seen outside the convenience store with Shigaraki the night prior. Her pretty face was contorted in distaste as it was clear she wanted nothing more than to drop the soggy pile on the marble tiled floor. Unfortunately for her, you had to check out of the hotel first, and you needed both hands free in order to do that.

You thanked the receptionist with a friendly smile and dipped your head politely before turning to leave. Toga was quick to shove your hero suit into your belly, forcing you to take it back from her. She had enough strength behind it to make you stumble back a step or two.

“Agh! That was so not cool,” she complained as she rubbed her wet forearms off on her sweater.

You rolled your eyes. “It wasn’t even a full minute. You’re fine.”

“You could have at least warned me! That felt so gross.”

You snickered at her, receiving a childish pout in return. But then, your smile dropped, and Toga’s body stiffened as the two of you spotted a pair of police officers passing through the entrance of the hotel.

You pushed against Toga, directing her to the outskirts of the foyer, which was decorated with a generous number of potted plants that would give you cover. It was hard to feel completely hidden when your arms were full of not only your dripping clothing but also several bags from the light shopping you had done before coming here. Making a silent escape would be a feat.

Maybe you were overreacting. The officers would never be able to recognize Toga with her current disguise, and you were much older than your villainous counterpart. Surely, you looked different enough to slip by without catching anybody’s eye…

But that was probably a reach.

“They don’t know what you look like,” Toga whispered to you, tugging on your sleeve to get you walking towards the exit. She always had a knack for knowing exactly what was going through your head. It was somewhat comforting that this version of her was the same way. Then again, it could very well be that you were just easy to read.

You gave her a questioning look. You remembered seeing pictures of yourself in villain garb during your little research project this morning. They had to at least have an idea of what you looked like. Then again, you recalled that in each of them you had been wearing a mask.

You glanced back over at the cops who were walking up to the receptionist, and you allowed Toga to pull you away. You were almost out the door when you overheard a piece of their conversation.

“—card statements alerted us that she booked the night here. She’s been missing for over a week now.”

“Oh…What did you say her name was again?”

You knew you should just keep walking—you were almost out of view—but the sound of your name caused you to look back out of habit. Just then, the receptionist’s wide eyes locked onto yours. She looked confused, her mouth opening and closing as she searched for her words.

“Go,” you hissed, pushing Toga out the door and causing her to trip over her own feet. Your firm hold on her shirt kept her from falling as you hauled her out of the building and down the sidewalk. She whined and tried to wiggle out of your hold.

The hotel was supposed to be your last stop. You decided then that you would have to tack on a few extra to be sure you wouldn’t be tailed. The last thing you wanted was to lead the police straight to your villainous friends’ hideout. The two of you filed into the nearby station, and just as you reached the platform, one of the trains pulled up. You wasted no time in hopping on.

You never imagined you’d be the one running from authorities.

And now that you were, you hated it.

The way your head spun and your heart raced. How your hands were shaking so badly you were struggling to hold onto your bags. The anxiety that rushed through your veins, overwhelming and taking over your mind with dread over what was to come.

You knew you weren’t a villain, and realistically, you shouldn’t actually be in any trouble. They were looking for you because, in this world, you had a missing person’s case. If they caught you, the worst-case scenario would be an interrogation into why you disappeared. You wouldn’t be arrested for any real crime.

Still, you couldn’t help but panic. Maybe it was because you were with someone who was wanted as a villain. Even then, she was unrecognizable in her disguise. Most likely, you were so worried because never before had you been the one the authorities were after. You never imagined you’d find yourself in this type of situation—and you certainly didn’t know how to get yourself out of it.

In the end, you weren’t really the person they were looking for—rather, you were just a doppelganger of sorts—and you had no explanation for them if they did bring you in for questioning. You knew close to nothing about your past in this world. There was no way her life had been identical to yours considering the vastly different outcomes.

She had money, but how did she get it? A proper job or crime?

Who were her closest friends?

Where did she live?

Your best bet if you were ever caught was to fake amnesia, you reckoned.

Your heart rate only slowed down after seven or so stops. Toga was patient with you, but you could tell she was getting antsy and eager to get off the train. It was maybe the tenth stop when you finally stood up to leave.

The train let you off at a street full of shops and bustling people, very similar to the one you’d gone to earlier in the day. The air was full of chatter loud enough to be heard over a cacophony of music resulting from various playlists intermingling. Had you been in a mall, the music may have been a bit more in sync, but this was what happened when multiple stores wanted to create an ambiance for their customers.

Getting to the end of each block proved to be quite the chore as Toga’s attention was caught by every other window display. She whined about how she never got to buy nice things for herself anymore because she had no money. Needless to say, your soft heart would give in, and you’d walk away with her beaming and admiring her new apparel.

Your attention was caught at one point when you passed a shop selling a variety of used gaming consoles. Some of the posters taped to the front entrance were advertisements for games Tenko and Iguchi had introduced to you. Toga didn’t bat an eye, continuing on her way, but you paused to wonder, if you hadn’t died in this world, would you make similar memories with Shigaraki and Spinner?

You missed the days when the three of you would gather at one of your homes. Beanbag chairs and a plethora of pillows would be gathered in front of a TV, surrounded by a mountain of snacks to last you days. Tenko never failed to provide enough energy drinks to kill a horse. He wanted to ensure that you—in a food coma bliss—wouldn’t pass out before it even hit midnight.

The sun would be peeking over the horizon, and your bloodstream would still be saturated with caffeine, resulting in you badgering them mercilessly to prevent them from nodding off. You’d be buzzing in your seat as the three of you played on, framed by two zombies who wanted nothing more than to knock you unconscious. Once he had enough, Tenko would pull the plug and drag your whining ass to the makeshift beds Iguchi had set up earlier in the night. You’d only settle down after several minutes of Tenko’s arm latching you to the floor.

You’d like to think that your counterpart shared experiences akin to your own. Although, you wouldn’t be terribly surprised if being wanted criminals took precedence over finding the time and money to play games through the night.

You turned away from the shop to follow Toga back to the hideout.

Twice was quick to jump on you both as soon as you walked through the door. He wanted nothing more than to dig through the bags of new goodies you brought with you. Compress wasn’t so invasive, but he still hovered to catch a glimpse at whatever was pulled out. When Twice reached the plastic bag you used to carry your soaked garments, he made an alarmed noise and shoved it off on Compress who was also fairly displeased.

“What on Earth is this?” he said, aghast.

“It’s my hero suit… It was raining in my universe before I was sent here, so it got totally soaked through,” you explained, taking the clothing back from him.

“Oh, I was wondering why you looked so miserable last night!” Toga chimed. You pursed your lips.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go get changed into something a bit more palatable,” you said, digging through a large paper bag full of new clothes.

“You weren’t kidding about that hero crap?” you heard Shigaraki grumble.

You glanced over at him as he lounged across one of the battered sofas, gnawing on a candy bar. You couldn’t necessarily blame his distaste for heroes being that he was on the receiving end of their dutiful efforts. It was more understandable given you knew just who they really were—without this universe’s societal views blurring your beliefs into following them instead.

“Of course not,” you said as you pulled out a cozy pair of pants along with a soft sweatshirt.

“So, your morals align with theirs then,” he said, and you didn’t miss the mildly sinister undertone in his voice. You looked back over to see his eyes boring into you. He was waiting for your response, his body visibly tense. It was clear that the wrong answer would trigger an exchange with an unappealing outcome, and that seemed to be what he anticipated, though his deep frown suggested he preferred that not be the case.

“No…” you said softly, watching him carefully. You felt like Shigaraki wouldn’t think twice about going after you while your back was turned. You knew Tenko would never do that, but you also knew he was passionate about his world views, intense and driven to defend them. With him already being on the opposing side of the law, you weren’t sure where Shigaraki drew the line when it came to fighting for what he believed in. You’d like to think he was as sensible as you remembered.

Thankfully, you wouldn’t need to find out today. “No, the heroes here were my enemies where I come from.”

He scrutinized you, gauging whether to believe you or not, but after a moment, his narrowed eyes and tensed muscles relaxed. “Mm,” he grunted in acknowledgment before turning his attention back to his food, pretending to investigate whatever was written on the wrapper.

Your eyebrows furrowed as you looked back down at the outfit you picked out. You hadn’t noticed your heart rate was elevated until that moment, feeling it slow down.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit curious as to what we’re like as heroes,” Compress pondered, a hand tucked under his chin.

“Me, too!” Toga said and attached herself to your back, putting most of her weight onto you. “Are we, like, so awesome?”

You glanced over your shoulder at her and chuckled. “Oh, definitely, but I’m sure you’re just as awesome here.”

She giggled before pestering you to share more.

So, you did.

“Our agency’s focus was mostly on rescue. We were usually the first to respond to natural disasters or the destructive aftermath of villain activity. Sometimes we’d be given assignments to gather intel to help out other agencies,” you explained.

“I’ve got a hard time believing Dabi’s good at rescue. He should just scorch them!” Twice butted in.

“I said mostly,” you laughed. “Dabi… kind of had his own role.” Speaking of, both he and Spinner were missing from the common area. “Is he around right now?”

“No,” Shigaraki clipped with a mouthful of food, “He’s out recruiting for us.”

“What about Spinner?”

You didn’t miss the way his eyes shot over to look at you, causing a slight shiver down your spine. You couldn’t pinpoint why, but in this universe, his energy had a menacing edge to it.

“He’s sleeping.” Shigaraki swallowed his last bite and dropped the wrapper beside him. “Why were you using past tense?”

“Was I?” It hadn’t even crossed your mind. Apparently, Compress noticed it, as well, nodding along as if he would have asked about it if no one else had. Toga and Twice seemed confused, looking between you and Shigaraki.

You drew back slightly. Telling all of them about the tragedy that had struck your group felt wrong… You understood that things were different here, but you also didn’t want to put meaningless fear into their heads. They wouldn’t be playing the same roles as they did in your past, so it wouldn’t make any sense for them to face the same fate.

“I guess…I guess it’s because I’m technically from the future?” You shrugged with a shamefully false smile. Lying about this didn’t feel all that great either. What if—because of weird universal parallel laws or whatever—they will meet the same ends as they did in your world? If telling them could change that, then that’s what you would want to do.

You would do anything to change what had happened to your friends.

Spinner’s words from earlier in the day rang through your head. There was still a chance that manipulating their timeline could create a paradox, the aftermath of which could be devastating—according to the limited SciFi media you’ve consumed on that subject matter.

You wanted to rip your hair out. You hated being in this position, and you were eager to get out of it. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take too long for you to hunt down Dai Uchuu and convince him to send you home.

There was a sharp tug at your heart.

It occurred to you that home wouldn’t have all the people you cared so much about. That should have been obvious, but it was easier to forget than you’d think. Still, that’s where your life was, and you had to live with the outcome of your own battles.

You pushed past that uncomfortable feeling with a little help from Toga and Twice badgering you for more details on their lives as heroes.

You continued to tell them about Toga’s success and promotion, and how Twice was invaluable for his productivity and utility on the field, amplifying everyone else’s capabilities tenfold. Compress and Tenko were excellent at clearing debris, freeing anyone trapped or injured. There were a few people you brought up who the others were unfamiliar with, such as Minji, Sakiko, and other old classmates of yours.

You wondered if they had yet to meet.

“That sounds like so much fun,” Toga said. She was plopped down in front of you, hugging her knees to her chest as she listened to you share stories about where you came from. She stared at the ground with a blank expression. “I wonder how we ended up so different.”

“Me too,” you muttered

“I’m glad we’re not heroes,” Shigaraki spouted, kicking his legs off the couch so he could sit up. His eyes settled on you.

“What?” you asked, a bit jarred by his comment. “Why? I can’t imagine living in hiding is all that fun.”

“Because we don’t have to conform to the shallow ideals of society. Heroes like to act like they keep the peace when, in reality, they turn a blind eye to those they deem beneath them. I’m not interested in playing pretend.”

You blinked.

Some heroes could be like that sometimes, but they were the vast minority. Most of the people you knew were genuine and loved being given the opportunity to help others. You were sure Tenko felt the same as you, but Shigaraki’s opinions were the stark opposite.

You assumed that could be attributed to the fact the heroes here were just as corrupt as the villains you knew them to be. Shigaraki was their villain, and they were his enemies. If you were in his shoes, you probably wouldn’t want to join the opposing team either.

The energy in the room had changed, and you all silently agreed to drop the topic. Toga stepped into the spotlight to start showing off everything you’d bought her, which led to Twice begging you to buy stuff for him, as well. Compress tried to be subtle about it, but it was clear he wanted in on the gift-giving by the way he began listing items he lost or wished he could buy.

At some point, Dabi had returned, and Spinner had risen. Dabi made a b-line for the scarce-looking bedroom, but Spinner was eager to join in the conversation. He was a little less self-centered about the things he thought you should buy, more so concerned with what the group needed as a whole.

Shigaraki was silent from his spot on the couch, seemingly uninterested in the conversation, but his eyes were locked onto you all the while. There were a few moments where you’d look over but quickly look away when you saw he was still staring. It felt like he was in deliberation with himself regarding your presence, like he had yet to decide whether he’d let you stay or not.

You weren’t kept in suspense for too long.

Spinner was in the middle of arguing with Twice about needs versus wants when Shigaraki butted in to announce you’d be staying with Toga overnight. Then he left, you assumed to retreat to his own bedroom. Compress and Twice turned in not long after, but Spinner hung around until Toga dragged you away to give you a tour of her room.

Hers was the one that looked like a bomb had gone off inside. Her clothing was overflowing out of her wardrobe and across the majority of the carpeted floor. You could barely see her bed underneath the mountain of plushies she’d accumulated, and you had to watch your step to be sure you didn't crush any of the scattered makeup.

You were soon thankful her messiness made you more attentive of where you were walking, because you noticed the gleam of a knife peeking out from beneath her clothing. You crouched down and carefully picked it up. “Um… Toga? Why do you have this in your room?”

She gasped as her eyes widened and a gleeful smile stretched across her face. She pranced over to you. “You found it! I’ve been looking everywhere for that!” She plugged it from your hand and held it to her chest, giggling and skipping away to find a new home for it.

Okay…

You elected to ignore her absurd behavior in favor of helping her clear a spot on the ground for you to sleep. She began handing blankets and pillows off for you to arrange however you preferred.

You dodged an oversized teddy bear, covering your head for safekeeping. You lowered one of the fluffy pillows being lent to you to send a playful glare at Toga as she rifled through her stuffed animals. She began pelting you with anything she thought would be a good addition to your makeshift bed.

“This is gonna be so fun!” Toga sang as she tossed another plushie in your direction. You caught it this time. She turned around to start helping you gather everything into a somewhat bed-shaped pile. “Tomura and I just bought a bunch of snacks and stuff, too—Oh, that’s when we found you!”

“Right. You guys left some stuff behind, by the way,” you hummed with a soft smile. You tucked a blanket around your mound of a mattress to help it keep its form. “I tried to give it back, but you guys were long gone, so I returned it to the clerk.”

“Hm, I would have kept it if I were you,” she said, side-eying you. “I know where Jin’s food stash is. I’m sure he wouldn’t care if we took some.”

“He wouldn’t care if you asked? Or wouldn’t care because he wouldn’t notice?” you catch, giving her a suspicious look. She grinned wide, showing off her sharp canines.

“Jin’s a sweety. He’ll understand,” she said, waving her hand as if she was shooing away the conversation topic.

You finished working on your sleeping arrangements, and Toga dug around in her closet for anything she could use to give you a makeover. You were offended at first by the way she chose to phrase it, but you could recall all the times you’d spent with your Toga. The horrors she put your hair and skin through had long since been buried away—way more than six feet under.

Your body was stiff as she began working with your hair.

“If only Magne were here, too. The three of us were planning a girls’ night before—” Toga paused, looking off to the side as she emitted a strained hum. “She said it would be good for team building.”

You looked down at your crossed legs.

Losing Magne was hard. No one could have anticipated such an outcome. The planning that had gone into that assignment felt endlessly meticulous not only for guaranteed success but also to avoid serious casualties. Everyone believed all bases had been covered.

But reality never goes exactly as planned.

There was no plan to account for the unexpected adversaries. No plan when so many of your allies’ lives were at risk. There was no plan to prevent Magne from jumping ahead to act as a buffer. She made her own plan, and she went through with it, and she succeeded. She saved all those lives at the cost of her own.

You weren’t sure how she passed away in this timeline, and you didn’t feel it would be appropriate to ask, but you had no doubt it was for something just as noble. This world may have deemed her a villain, but you knew her as a hero. You knew her ideology and goals, and it was a shame she—like all the others—wasn’t recognized for it.

You wanted to know how the morals of this society got flipped around. How were the real villains able to pull it off?

With copious manipulation tactics, you were sure.

“Were we ever able to hang out?”

“Huh?” You blinked back to attention. To be fair, you both had gone silent for a minute, allowing your mind to wander. “Oh. The three of us?”

“Mm,” she affirmed.

“Yeah…” You began picking at your nails. “Yeah, we got to hang out a decent amount.”

Her hands, which were busy at work with your hair, slowed down. “What kind of stuff did we do?”

You weren’t sure what to say. You wouldn’t have to worry about causing any paradoxes, since your stories were in both of your pasts at this point. Still, it wasn’t good to dwell too much on the past, or on what could have been.

That probably made you a hypocrite, but you weren’t too keen on taking your own advice on such matters.

“Magne would take us shopping sometimes,” you said softly. “Our work studies didn’t pay all that well, and she felt bad, so she’d want to buy us all sorts of things while we were out.”

“Like a big sister,” Toga suggested, her hands returning to her normal pace.

“Or a cool aunt or something.” You smiled and turned slightly to look over your shoulder at her. Her eyes were focused on her hands, but she was smiling, too.

♡ ♡ ♡

taglist: @boogiemansbitch @multisstuff @local-s1mp

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dhampling · 8 months

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the tailor's smock (astarion x reader)

“You know what the problem is. We all know what the problem is. Hunkers Boolean across the street knows what the problem is. Do not make me say it!” - inspired by the prompt 'let’s get you out of those clothes' from this list sent to me by @kikistarstuff! thank you - i took a slightly different direction with it but I hope you enjoy! w/c: 1,023

Eventide ripples through the Upper City.

Church bells - scintillant, joyful. A provincial hum weaves amongst lavender-laden window boxes and bread left on cooling sills for the evening air to swallow. In places the sky still blushes through a deep crimson pink but nightfall quickly arrives as it always does.

You’re awake early, by all counts.

Astarion bristles as he works. His leg bounces, and the chair doesn’t quite sit even on the board flooring of your townhouse. The little knocks form a steady rhythm.

You stand astride his tailor’s podium in an almost-complete garment. He’ll lift his eyes to survey you every few moments as he sketches.

“Coffee?” You mumble.

He stays frozen for a moment - deep in thought elsewhere - before quickly collecting the tankard from his desk and delivering it into your chilled hands.

“Sorry, my sweet. I’m just-’

A sigh

‘I’m a little lost with how to finish it.”

His pallid hands drag over a now-long face. He spins slowly in place and lets out a long groan.

“You had a plan at the beginning, no? What happened to it?”

What began as a routine addition to your everyday wardrobe - an overall-style frock, nothing grand - now hangs as a genuine blockade between Astarion and doing anything remotely useful. Stitching seams only to later rip through them, selecting which buttons would best compliment the straps of fabric over your shoulders then switching at the last moment, drawing vague silhouettes in a heavy journal and showing them to you in flustered breaks. Torn pages balled in the corner of the room.

He looks at you with an incredulous tut. A fiery flick of his lashes.

“It clearly wasn’t a very good one, was it?!’

You’re tired of the garment now. Any want to wear it was discarded alongside the first five iterations of the dress; and you’d rather simply go and sit among the blankets in the den with a book. Maybe a fresh cup of coffee.

‘Don’t roll your eyes at me! I’m doing this for you!”

His arms gesture wildly to the dress, eyes frantic. He looks insane.

You meet his gaze in a tired standoff. The energy from both of you runs wholly parallel, and in entirely different directions.

You refuse to meet his angst with anything remotely similar. Your brain can’t compel itself to make this an argument, no matter how much you might want to.

“What is the problem here? Really?”

You remove the few remaining pins from the garment. He sighs once more.

“You know what the problem is. We all know what the problem is. Hunkers Boolean across the street knows what the problem is. Do not make me say it!”

In all seriousness he flounces to his chair and sits pensively, leaning over the desk with elbows resting; head in hands. You stifle a snort.

“What are you on about?!”

A sip of coffee. A frustrated borderline-yowl. The bells continue to chime on beyond the window. The bristle of a late wind.

“I can’t even make an overall! An overall!”

You draw the corners of your lips cheekward in a closed grimace.

“Love. With the best of intentions, please do not let the fact you can’t make a smock get you this upset.”

He looks up at you. Rolls his eyes.

“So you do know I can’t make it. Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“That is categorically not what I meant.” You chide, putting your tankard on his desk and tapping him on the arm lightly.

“I’m completely and utterly useless then, I suppose.

Astarion drawls. A child seeking attention.

‘A basic smock. Beyond the ability of my wretched spinster hands.”

“I suppose you are.’

He looks up.

‘Useless, that is.’

Gormless. Too tired to be witty, just a blank stare.

‘I suppose I’ll just have to find another prospect who can make me my own personal smock collection. It is my greatest wish, after all.”

It takes a couple of minutes of nothing for him to respond. You watch the streetlamps glower in the new dusk, the stray cat pottering onto nearby roofs; one of your neighbours collecting their washing for the night.

“Hah!’

He smacks the desk lazily and rests his head on the wood for a moment. When he lifts his eyes are heavy-lidded. A roguish daze. The quirk of a smile.

‘I’m being stupid, aren’t I?”

The grimace returns. You nod.

“Really, properly stupid.”

The clientele Astarion desires in his new business venture aren’t the kind who are buying regular overall-type garments. They visit the tailors for their finery; not middling homewear.

“I was doing it for you. I really was.’

He pushes his chair back and stands, crossing the few steps to where you stand adjacent.

‘You look so homely in this kind of thing. It’s-’

He pauses. Tilts his head from side to side. Errs.

‘- sweet -’

With another step forward his hand moves to your cheek in a soft, revering touch. All tension melts from his face

‘And I thought it’d make you happy. Being able to bustle about our little house in something so mundane, knowing I’d made it just for you, to be able to do so in comfort.”

His forehead meets yours in a worn stupor.

“You’re silly. I hope you know that.’

You meet him in a tired coffee-stained kiss; his own relinquishing their well-worn mirth.

‘Plenty of time for that. For you to make me all kinds of beautiful things. A whole lifetime, even.’

Another kiss. He gives a fanged grin against your lips. Bliss.

‘But right now, I am desperate to go back to bed.”

His arms snake around your waist, hands grabbing your sides in a weighty adoration.

“Now then treasure - that’s something I can get behind.’

He gently moves his kisses down to your neck, pressing against your weary frame with an intentional rut of his hips. Every part of him emanates a sleepy desire and you can’t help but feel heady at the thought of returning to your shared bed. Your lover.

‘Come now. Let’s get you out of those clothes. I fear we have new plans this night.”

#astarion x reader #bg3 #my writing #astarion #request #x reader #fluff

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couldpolyamorysavethem · 2 months

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ELIZABETH BURKE, PETER BURKE, and NEAL CAFFREY from WHITE COLLAR

Justification:

"okay listen this might already be in the queue but i sincerely believe the last three seasons of the show would've gone in a completely different direction if peter got that last little push away from his bullshit cop behaviour by neal pulling some grand romantic gesture for him + el. like, come on man, you've already come to peace with legality not being the same as morality after you ran all those cons and let neal cut and run, but he's so convinced the ONLY way to do good in the world is being an fbi agent that he like, actively makes things worse for neal (AND HIMSELF? AND ELIZABETH?) over and over again just so he can preserve the status quo of neal being his CI + while peter's an active field agent. would kissing about his devotion to their dynamic and neal's rehabilitation and peter's complicity in neal's dehumanisation by the state solve that? maybe not! but considering the alternative is neal fucking dying (he got better) about it i think we should give it a shot!

that previous paragraph was more or less me preaching to the choir wrt this relationship but still here's my pitch:

neal is essentially already the third in elizabeth + peter's marriage, with how much he lives in peter's brain during pre-series sequences, how INVESTED he is in their relationship (reminding peter of anniversaries), and then IN the actual series that only increases when he's coming around to their place all the time

each pair within this trio have supporting but distinct relationships w one another that they all benefit from (and they often need the support of all three dynamics to get through Issues™)

that one episode where peter ends up on the run w another fbi agent and neal gets paired up with that guy's CI, and there's just an unbelievable amount of parallels between the two pairs and their relationship, even after its established that those two are in a romantic relationship and peter and neal 'aren't'. like peter says he'd go to neal first if he was ever in trouble LIKEEE

fucking everything about the run up to the finale of season 2 where we hear over and over again that the only two ways conmen end up are with 'one last score' (which inevitably leads to the next, because they can't help themselves), or going to prison. OR, the 'true love' option, where an ex-conman is able to genuinely settle down and go straight (more or less). this 'secret third option' is literally even spelled out to us IN an episode about a trio of thieves (byron june and ford) who meant the world to each other!

neal uses the engagement ring he was GOING to give to his TEXTUAL 'true love' in order to pay for peter's ransom that one time and isn't even cut up about it??

also like the episode before that neal and peter switch identities (very well) and neal acts like elizabeth's wife, and the only issue peter (or anyone) has with it is that he's also committing the crime of impersonating a federal agent.

season three finale where peter asks why neal didn't run when he just got the score of his life and the first thing he says is 'you, elizabeth', before listing literally anything else. INCLUDING HIS CURRENT ROMANTIC INTEREST?

also the scene before that where neal immediately folds from his season long cat and mouse game with peter and hiding the treasure because elizabeth's in danger! and peter only believes he's not lying abt any of it bc it's elizabeth!

that one shot in the pilot where neal and elizabeth look up at peter and you can so clearly see he has a type.

literally everything about elizabeth + neal's interactions in s1. get you a girl who sneaks you into her house past dozens of fbi agents so you can talk to your handler personally about being framed for a crime that she has no reason to suspect you didn't do other than believe in your and her husband's relationship!

im losing track of my argument at this point. anyway can someone please knock peter upside the head with some kind of bi awakening for the love of god this homoerotic 'partners' situation has an unbelievably high body count not to mention all the violation of civil liberties and frankly you could've all moved to paris and started a detective agency YEARS ago and this show would become slice of life" - @time-is-restored

#could polyamory have saved them #polls #white collar #elizabeth burke #peter burke #neal caffrey #polyamory #polyamorous #nonmonogamy #time-is-restored

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dewypeach · 1 month

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For the kiss ask game. This is a strange one, but QPR Rushu/Szeth and number 13

I loooove the idea of QPR Rushu/Szeth!! I'm sorry, I tried to do the prompt you picked and ended up going in a completely different direction... It's still them though!

QPR Rushu/Szeth, modern AU, rated Teen, 730 words

Rushu had recently introduced Szeth to the concept of parallel play, and he found it very much to his liking. Right now, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor in Rushu’s room, playing Breath of The Wild on his Nintendo Switch. Rushu sat at her desk, typing away on her computer. He found the sound of her typing to be oddly soothing.

“Hey, can you help me out with something?” Rushu asked suddenly.

Szeth paused the game and looked up at her. “Yes?”

“It’s for my Accountability of Virtue fic,” she explained.

“The one where Brightlord Sterling and Brightlord Vadam are lovers?” Szeth asked. He hadn’t read the novel, but he’d listened patiently to Rushu’s numerous rants, and had done his best to memorize the details so that he could engage her in conversation.

“That’s the one,” Rushu confirmed. “I’m trying to write their first kiss now, and I can’t help but feel inadequate. Oh, I’ve read countless kiss scenes, so you can say I’ve got my sources down. But I’ve never actually kissed anyone, so I don’t know which of the depictions is most accurate. I don’t think I can consider my research thorough enough, this way.” Rushu swiveled around in her chair to face him, her eyes expectant. “So, would you be down to make out?”

Szeth blinked, surprised. Rushu and him had never done anything like that, and neither had expressed any interest. But while it didn’t sound especially appealing, it wasn’t repulsive, either. And, well, Rushu had asked him for help, and Szeth really wanted to please her. “Alright,” he said hesitantly. “We can try.”

They both stared at each other for a moment, neither making a move.

“Um, should I get up…?” Szeth asked. “Or do you want to come here?”

“I’ll join you,” Rushu said quickly. She settled down on the floor in front of Szeth, her knees touching his own. Then there was another moment of awkward silence.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Rushu said.

They both leaned in at the same time, and their faces collided in a decidedly unsuccessful manner, noses squishing together. It took them several tries to get the angle right, then their mouths found each other. At first, it was just lips on lips, which was fine. But then it got wet, and slippery, and all in all reminded Szeth of the seafood he used to eat back at home.

They pulled apart after mere seconds, with matching grimaces on their faces. Szeth wiped at his mouth. “That was…”

“Bad,” Rushu agreed.

“Let’s try again,” Szeth said. He’d been given a task, and he intended to see it performed well.

They tried again. It was somehow even worse this time, maybe because Szeth knew what to expect.

“Um, why is this happening?” Rushu said, frustrated. “People are supposedly really into this. I feel like that’s false advertising.” She scratched her head. “Or maybe we’re just not doing it right?”

“I’m sorry,” Szeth said. “I don’t have any experience in this, either. I’m probably not doing it very well.”

“Oh, stop that,” Rushu told him, rolling her eyes. “It’s not your fault. This is just not for us, probably.”

Szeth mulled it over, then nodded. “...Yeah. I think you’re right.”

Rushu sighed, turning back to her computer. “I guess I’ll just have to rely on other authors’ descriptions for my inspiration.”

Szeth started to pick up his Switch, then paused, an idea occurring to him. “Wait, what if Sterling and Vadam don’t kiss?”

She glanced at him over her shoulder with a frown. “But I’ve been building up to this scene for 4 chapters!”

“I know,” Szeth said. “But what if they don’t want to kiss? What if they’re… like us?" He grew excited as he spoke. "Wouldn't it be nice for people out there to have this sort of representation?”

He could see the gears turning in Rushu’s head, then all at once her eyes lit up. “Szeth, you’re a genius!”

“I am?”

“Yes!” Rushu beamed. “Queerplatonic Vadam/Sterling is such a good idea! Honestly, it makes their relationship so much more interesting. I feel like Vadam is so aroace-coded anyway, with how uninterested he was in being intimate with Wema in the canon… Hmmm… Sterling might expect a kiss, but it will be interesting to see them finding a compromise...” The sound of Rushu’s typing resumed at full speed.

Szeth smiled. “I’m glad I could help,” he said.

Rushu didn’t react. She was already somewhere in a far-off world.

#szeth son son vallano #rushu #stormlight fanfic #szeth/rushu #qpr

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missstellaron · 1 year

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⌧ HOME. ⮞ CONTACTS. ♡ PROFILE. ✧ " DROPS OF JUPITER . " ─ a series. dark au. ╰ dark ! slightly unhinged ! dan heng x female ! reader. a/n: contains dark, nsfw content. read at your own discretion. if you want to make a request, nsfw or otherwise, for any other characters, please send me an ask in my inbox!

The concept of suggestion was a precarious thing, like the spun glass wings of dragonflies. Each border of dark truth was lined with the clear, rainbow tinted expanse uncertainty, lies, and deceit, that allowed the flight of doubt and naive belief—quiet in its destruction, ever so careful and delicate with its perception. To suggest one thing was to mean another, and to mean one thing was to suggest something completely different; parallel concepts, side by side, following truths that were opposite in direction of corrupt moral compasses that held right and wrong on each end.

Valiant, though the dragonfly would be, in trying to reassert its place, its certainty in existence, there is little for it to do once trapped within the massive, elegantly wrought lines of silvered crystal and silken dewdrops belonging to the spider. And so the dragonfly is prey to the spider, but the spider is also prey to the swallow, and the swallow is prey to the cat, and the cat is prey to the hawk—or perhaps it is a similar idea, in reverse, where the cat eats the hawk, and the swallow devours the cat, and the spider sunders the swallow, and the dragonfly breaks the web and gluts on the spider.

Prey wins.

Predator sinks.

It is this conundrum that reminds Dan Heng of you, when his thoughts are less agreeable and his mind content to dizzy itself with nothing but flashes of your face in the parlor car, the scent of your skin after returning from a training session with Welt, the way your fingers wrap around the width of the porcelain tea cups that Himeko fills with coffee instead of tea, gently following the decorative lines painted onto the sides. Mind, it’s not these particular facets of memory that brings to mind the issue of dragonfly to spider, or spider to dragonfly; rather, it’s a precursor to the rather dark path his thoughts like to venture when he is alone, cracking open old tomes from various worlds to archive the information into the Astral Express’s date archives.

He is not oblivious to the strange workings of the Vidyadhara power seeping through his veins. While it is pinned up, locked tight somewhere behind his heart, nestled close to his spine, it isn’t a completely contained—no power ever truly is. It niggles at the back of his head like a sentient thing, whispering, coaxing, shifting within him, dragonic in nature. Possessive, tranquil, chaos all at once. He can sit, and think, and ruminate, endlessly, for hours on end, persuaded to do so by the power’s intoxicating lull; or, maybe, it is because he has no desire to stop it at all.

It wouldn’t take much, he supposes, as he slides his fingers across the gilded edges of a book. A touch of his fingers against your elbow to move you out of the way; an accidental, but firm grip on your waist during training to slide his spear under your chin; an inquiring shift of the eyes, sliding over panels of exposed skin; a friendly hug where his hands slip low, to the small of your back, each touch pushing more and more of his power into you, altering your senses just slightly in favor of him.

He resists, for a time. You’re too sweet, too kind, too caring, too smart, to take advantage of like that. The power within him isn’t convincing enough to make him want to ruin the light in your eyes just yet, to wonder at the way your tears would look if they were running down your face while his fingers were buried deep inside your cunt. And, really, he found it more entertaining to leave it a mystery for a while, while his mind wandered, conjured up fantasies difficult to distinguish from reality.

You were easily fooled, in hindsight. Almost so easily it made him ponder if you really were as intelligent as you seemed.

Dan Heng found it a small task to keep his thoughts in his head and his lies straight. Little white lies, rather, but they were lies whether they were small or large in severity. No, he didn’t want tea with you; no, he didn’t feel up to training today; no, he didn’t want to push you to your knees and see what sensations your pretty little mouth would conjure up for him while he slid the length of his cock into the back of your throat; no, he really, really didn’t want to hear you cry out his name in garbled moans and cries while he shoved his fingers in your mouth.

His mind, he found, grew increasingly creative the longer he let that power sit and brew within him.

The day he finally snapped—a metaphorical snap, as this mental snap was completely silent and deliberate—was a normal day, one of the few where he’d let himself accept your invitation to spar. The Astral Express was quiet, chugging away through the stars to the next world, the majority of its occupants sleeping. You, though, you were up, and had been for the last several hours, unable to sleep. Dan Heng had glimpsed the frustration on your face when you had knocked on his door, the exertion in your breath when you requested him to spar with you, and he couldn’t very well turn you down.

Sleep was not easy for you to have, you had revealed during one of the dozens of rounds of spars you’d wheedled him into, which had taken little convincing to begin with. Your mind was too busy, your body too energized, and more times than he could count, he’d wondered what that energy could do if he used it for his own gain, his own desires.

“There!” You slid the wooden pole home in his gut, just below his navel. Sweat slid down your temple, your throat, vanishing into the oversized white shirt you wore to train in. He followed its path, unbidden, watching as it soaked into the hem of your bra underneath, his power giving him that much ability. “I win. That makes us even.”

“Not even,” Dan Heng replied, using his finger to steer the wooden pole away from him and to the side. You let it lower and scrape the foam mat on the floor, your lips forming into a confused pout. “You’re one down. I caught you on the last round in the femoral artery; that’s one point.”

Your pout turned into a faint scowl. “I forgot about that. Damn. Go again?”

Dan Heng felt something twist and turn in his mind, a palpable feeling that he had no comparison for. He waited for a few moments, watched your eyes widen expectantly, and sighed, moving to take the wooden pole from you. As he did, his fingers brushed yours, the spider weaving its web for the naive dragonfly, and a careful thread of power drew from him to you, miniscule but potent.

He saw the way the pulse in your throat picked up. Your tongue darting out to wet your lips. The slight, but heavier inhales you took to regulate your shallow breathing. The subtle flexing of your thigh muscles, visible under the spandex leggings you wore.

“Best out of three,” he replied, his voice neutral. When you made a small whimpering noise as he knocked the wooden pole against your side to get you moving, something hot worked its way down his spine, his cock stiffening. “Come on, I don’t have all night, unlike some night owl I know.”

You glared at him fiercely, shook the haze from your mind, but it was there—the suggestion, the barest hint of manipulation of your emotions and hormones.

Tonight, the predator won.

@yevene @dreams-n-dystopia @vvyeislazzy @cloverstarxx @nerdiel-has-no-braincells ( if your username is in red, i could not tag you. taglist is still open ! )

#honkai star rail x reader #honkai star rail x you #hsr x reader #dan heng x reader #honkai star rail

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moreespressoformydepresso · 9 months

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I was just reading a new TBOSAS fic on AO3, it’s a Catching Fire AU that I found by religiously stalking the Treech tag. And the author just informed me that they’re not sure on who gets to live or die so my brain made multiple similar AU’s where I decide who lives :)

So first of all, these will all be focussing on Treech and Lamina. I headcanon Lamina as older than Treech, which I seem to be alone in? I’m sorry but she has big sis energy to me, and also I push the “younger people can be the (more) protective one too” agenda. In my head Treech is 15-16ish? So he’s a few months to a bit over a year younger than Lamina (who is canonically 16). I’m not 100% on what to make their relationship to each other, because I like them both as a ship and as platonic besties. I’ll mention which one I’m using (or if I’m making them related somehow) for the AU’s I’ll share in this post (and, likely, following ones 💜).

Starting off strong: not necessarily a catching fire AU but close enough and better because the second rebellion happens much sooner here. Treech and Lamina can be anything here, but I my top picks are siblings or besties since birth so we’ll go with siblings (nice Gloss and Cashmere parallel minus the career/likely volunteer part I know). Treech is two years younger than Lamina here for ✨reasons✨. The 10th games, with Lucy Gray still as victor through cheating, are the starting point of the mentors. From then on, the victors slowly start taking over the mentoring. The academy students still get a chance at winning the Plinth Prize in the beginning, but that quickly falls away and it’s just about getting your name out there and bragging rights for them.

Lamina wins the 16th games at 16 (ha) as the first female victor for district 7. She and one of the two male victors from previous games are to mentor, since the capitol stipulates that if there are male and female victors, the two mentors have to be one guy and one girl. This happens during her second year as mentor. The mentors all watch the reaping together in the capitol, which also gives them more time to sort mentor business. District 7’s turn comes, and Lamina almost feels bad for how relieved she is that the 18-year-old girl is someone she’d only seen in passing and didn’t actually know. Most of her friends that weren’t already safe aged out this year, meaning she didn’t have to worry about potentially seeing anyone she cared about die. Treech’s name isn’t in the bowl as much as many others, especially since her victory meant her family had enough food to not require tesserae anymore. And their family had already been reaped once, so surely they wouldn’t be picked again, right?

Pause for effect

Treech’s name is called out, and Lamina screams in denial before breaking down into sobs while the other two district 7 victors try to comfort her. The rest of the victors look at her with pity and sympathy. He’d been her motivation to win her games, and now Lamina would have to mentor her little brother despite his low odds of winning the games. I have most of this AU worked out in terms of broad strokes, but I’ll move on to the next one and if you want me to expand just ask me.

Quarter Quell Hell:

The 25th hunger games had the twist that the districts have to vote on their tributes, but I’m adding a twist to this Quarter Quell. The tributes are reaped from bowls filled with the names of the 5% of kids with the least votes, to remind the districts that they’re powerless rather than the whole “you’re the reason they’re dying” thing. And when they’re chosen, a screen will show how many people voted. Treech, being the only direct relative of a victor eligible for the games, received zero votes. Nobody wished it upon their family to lose another child, especially given how they’re so kind to everyone (basing this off of Lamina, and Treech doesn’t have much canon personality so it works).

Quarter Quell Hell 2: Electric Boogaloo:

A completely different first quarter quell, where the tributes are picked from the victor’s direct family. A reminder that even the districts’ strongest cannot protect their loved ones from the capitol. The only restriction is that people above the age of 50 cannot compete, because those people have lived out most of their life expectancy, whereas younger people still have most of their life to live, and it’d be like letting the district off easy. Only one previous victor besides Lamina has a brother, and that brother turned 50 just that year, whereas Treech just turned 15 and is very much eligible. The parents that are still alive are well above the age cutoff. So, while there are more than 20 names in the bowl for the women of district 7 (sisters, wives, and daughters), there’s only one in the bowl for the boys. Treech. Worse even, he won’t be mentored by a previous victor but by a top performing student at the academy to reinforce the intended message.

I’m torn on whether to make Gaius Breen (because he deserves more attention) or Festus Creed his mentor (I wanted to go with Pliny, but he’s so tied to Lamina in my head it would feel weird to go that route). I’m gonna go with Festus, because he was nice to Sejanus. Am I lowkey shipping Festus with Treech now, even though they have no canon interaction whatsoever? … yes, yes I am. Sue me. The reaping happens in the capitol, and while the previous victors must go to the capitol to watch the games they’re only brought there a day before the games begin and aren’t allowed to see their family member at all before the games. Both the tribute and the victor will be alone. I’ve got a lot of ideas for this one, and for my newly invented ship FesTreech, so I’ll write a post about that once I’ve posted this.

Star Crossed Lovers AU:

Lamina is the Girl on Fire of this AU, winning her game with only one kill, made out of compassion. Lumber is used as firewood, and her stylist leaned into it. Hence her also getting a literally flaming hot costume. She’s sent into the games with Treech, but unlike Katniss and Peeta these two are in love from the start. In fact, they were dating before they were reaped. Treech joins the careers, but only because he doesn’t want to be the only one left with Lamina at the end because he doesn’t want to fight her. He leaves the pack very early, rather than being forced out, and stays alone for most of the rest of the games, before teaming up with Lamina towards the end when the announcement comes they can survive together. The announcement is revoked, they almost eat the berries, they’re saved, they start a rebellion.

Actual Catching Fire AU:

Lamina won the 71st games, went back home and started dating Treech. Then Treech got reaped and she had to mentor her boyfriend, but he won too so it’s alright. Then the third Quarter Quell happens, and their worst nightmare comes true. Not only are they both reaped to go back into the arena, but they’re going in together this time. And only one of them will survive. They stick together throughout most of the games, only teaming up with Tanner and Coral briefly because they’re good friends of theirs (less than half of the 75th games’ tributes are 10th games tributes because I refuse to kill any of them if I can prevent it). When the arena is destroyed, Treech is taken by the capitol. I choose him because this leads to Lamina going on an absolute rampage. The capitol was not prepared for her wrath at the sheer audacity they have to dare hurt her boyfriend.

What did I just create? I- it’s 4:35AM please cut me some slack

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broodwolf221 · 9 months

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okay. aforementioned meta time.

aka: solas drew the veil and plunged the world into chaos... but my best guess is, he had to.

ft.: if he was wrong to do so (which i don't think he was), then the inquisitor is just as wrong during in hushed whispers

solas' goals were pretty straightforward: he wanted to liberate the enslaved elvhen. to do that, he had to stop the evanuris, who were, without a doubt, the world's most powerful mages.

and others have posited theories about more going on, theories i tend to agree with, at least in terms of broad strokes. specifically i believe there's a connection btwn the evanuris and the blight and that, unchecked, they truly would have destroyed the world.

in which case, he gets an additional goal: save the literal world.

i also tend to agree with the idea that red lyrium has something to do with the blight. so moving forward with these two theories...

things blight/red lyrium can affect (in game canon):

stone

animals (including moles and worms via ambient dialogue in suledin keep)

humans

elves

dwarves

qunari

dragons

so it's reasonably safe to say that not only does the blight impact people, but it impacts the planet/nature as well. so if he took action to stop the blight, then by doing so he sacrificed arlathan to save the entire rest of the world. and the extreme measure he took here was likely necessary because of the strength of the evanuris - one man, one mage, however skilled, could not effectively fight them all. as a direct confrontation he would have lost. but there's still a heavy implication that he warred with them (or perhaps for them - either way, he was a soldier) for some time, that he "spent lives," which to me implies that he was something of a general waging a war against the evanuris, at least at one point. so it's safe to say that he actually tried to go head to head with them - and he couldn't. not even with an army.

i have seen his actions within the timeline of dai contrasted with the inquisitor's actions during the in hushed whispers timeline, and i think that's a very valid comparison to make: he woke to a world that was unrecognizable to him, corrupted by his actions, but also saved by his actions! but he wants to bring what was good about the world back. as inky in that timeline, we are willing to destroy everyone in order to "reset" the world and have another chance to take down corypheus.

in game, the world doesn't seem too bad to us. sure, it has its issues, but it's still a functional world, right? the people inhabiting it, most of them want to continue to live the rest of their lives, right? i don't think we can say the same isn't true of the future timeline we saw. there was absolutely deep corruption and danger, and the inquisitor's companions seek a reset, but what of those outside southern thedas? we never know, we never see their lives. what if others were gearing up to attack - what if they'd been able to succeed? instead we determine that this future is so awful, so intolerable, through our limited, narrow point of view of it, that it should be erased, should be completely unmade.

and in-game, this reads as ethical! but it's also analogous to what solas is doing and to what he did in arlathan. i don't think that paralleling is unintentional, either: what we see in that future is very much what he sees in the present, and we're both right, these times are "corrupted," are "broken," are "different" and are "wrong." but as inky it's presented as an inevitability - of course we would seek to restore, to reset, and nevermind all that we'd be destroying in the doing. leliana says this explicitly to dorian, that for him this is a nightmare he hopes will never come to pass, but the rest of them lived it, it was real.

to solas, the world is half of what it should be. everyone is walking around not knowing how much they are missing, unable to recognize the deep loss of magic for what it is. it's a gutted world, and that it's all these people have ever known... well, does that make it right to keep it as-is? because if so, how did the inquisitor have the right to reset the world in that timeline?

(little note: i have not engaged with any media outside of the main game canon and certain dlcs. however, i also do not personally hold that canon outside the games/major dlcs is absolute canon and should be 100% trusted. this is just how i engage with this franchise. so if smth i said here is disproved by non-game canon, personally that doesn't rly matter to me uwu;; to each their own tho!)

#solas #dai solas #broodmeta #rolls around #these are not all unique takes! not at all!#but i just wanted to compile my full pov on this matter somewhere

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nickthetoony · 7 months

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I've been in a prolonged Star Wars mood recently which has coincided with me getting deep into Gundam so I've been comparing and contrasting their different approaches to similar ideas a lot, and I thought I might as well lay it all out in writing to get it out of my head.

I'm specifically comparing Star Wars to UC Gundam, starting with the original Gundam which for context began airing in 1978, after A New Hope but before Empire Strikes Back. You can see a bit of A New Hope's visual influence in some aspects of Gundam.

Both series prominently feature a laser sword of some description. "Lightsabers" in SW and "Beam Sabers" in Gundam. Other than the obvious difference of Beam Sabers being in scale with 18 meter tall mechs, there's also the difference in that the lightsaber is made out to be an elegant weapon, harkening back to a nostalgic imagining of knights and samurai, before the invention of less honorable firearms with future stories ascribing a deep cultural significance of the lightsaber to the people that made them.

The Gundam Beam Saber is in comparison a very utilitarian tool in a Mobile Suit's arsenal, usually carried right alongside rifles and bazookas. It still invokes a little bit of that knightly image, but the fact that it's usually used as a last resort weapon of desperation hampers the idea of it being a weapon of elegance or honorable combat. In a way they're more like real swords in that they're sidearms you only pull out in a battlefield when all your other options are unavailable.

Another superficial similarity they share is their masked villains, I don't think it's a stretch to assume that Char Aznable was inspired a little bit by Darth Vader. Of course, since Gundam was pre-Empire, when so much of Vader hadn't been established yet and his most notable trait was having a cool costume, the two ended up diverging into wildly different characters.

Char is a pretty young man who uses a mask to cover his identity and Vader is old and scarred and needs the mask to breathe. Vader is the main character's father and Char is completely unrelated to his main character until they meet face to face late in the show. In a way Char is kind of more similar to Kylo Ren being masked pretty boys with daddy issues though again their arcs end up wildly diverging. Kylo and Vader both end up "redeemed" but Char isn't really the kind of character who can or should be redeemed.

Somewhat related to the above, both Gundam and Star Wars have enemy factions who are meant to invoke Nazi Germany. Star Wars' invocation of German fascism (at least in the movies) is a lot more nebulous than Gundam's, communicating this analogy through visual reference to Nazi iconography while leaving the actions of the Empire more broadly as just general cartoon bad guy stuff.

The way Gundam compares the Principality of Zeon and the Nazis is a lot more specific and a lot more direct. The way the Zeon arms race plays out in the original is a direct parallel to the real-life Nazi wunderwaffen projects, where the Third Reich's internal friction and investments in ludicrous super weapons ended up costing them more than they gained, contributing to their eventual defeat. Gundam also takes place in our future (or atleast a future envisioned in 1978) so the real Nazis existed in this world and Hitler is brought up as a direct comparison to the original show's big bad.

(Writing this out, I had the thought that you could draw the same comparison between the Death Star and the wunderwaffen program, but idk if Star Wars itself has ever drawn that comparison.)

Another point of comparison is that both series heavily feature mystical, psychic powers inspired by the spiritualist movements of the day. The Force for Star Wars and Newtypes for Gundam. The Force is cribbing a lot aesthetically from eastern spiritualism while Gundam takes a lot more from the visual ideas of psychedelia.

The Force is far more concrete and straightforward than Newtype-ism. A magic energy field that can be used to perform great feats of power, and which has birthed two established sects of thought that are both treated as ancient. Force users are also clearly demarcated into Good and Evil camps, with specific powers and abilities locked behind a character's individual morality.

Newtypes in Gundam are very different from Sith or Jedi though. Rather than representing an ancient struggle of good vs evil, Newtypes represent a supposed evolution of the human soul, when humanity can communicate to each other psychically in an era where miscommunication is impossible. Supposedly.

Because whereas in Star Wars, the conflict of the Force is one of primordial good and evil, the conflict of the Newtype is one of heightened spiritualist ideas butting up against the mundane reality of different people operating under different and conflicting motivations. There aren't dark or light side Newtypes in the way that Force users are categorized, all of them share the core ability to bridge physical limitations to understand each other on a deep intimate level, but does that matter when their material conditions are inherently at odds? What happens when two people understand each other perfectly and they still have to fight and kill each other?

My last point of comparison is between the two "heroes" of both series. Luke Skywalker and Amuro Ray.

In a way, they're very similar characters. Both start out as young boys living relatively comfortable-if boring lives who are Called To Adventure and eventually awaken to their special powers to become great soldiers of their respective wars. Both are defined by the legacy of their fathers. Both are coming of age stories.

Where I find the comparison between them very interesting is the comparison of Luke at the end of his character arc (in The Last Jedi) and Amuro at the end of his (in Char's Counterattack). Luke in TLJ is a sad disillusioned old man who has failed in his attempt to rebuild the order that had been entrusted to him and who has stagnated into a miserable grandpa. For many longtime fans of the character this was a shock, and apparently for a lot of people felt like a disappointing betrayal. Because Luke was the Hero of The Rebellion, the Return of The Jedi. He was brave, and true, and more than just a normal man. So to see him so impotent felt wrong for many people.

I find it interesting that Amuro (subtler than Luke) also ends up in a similar spot, but in a way that feels far more appropriate to his character and to the tone of the narrative.

Because Amuro was not a hero. He was a child forced to become a soldier far younger than he should've been. Pressured by the dire, apocalyptic world surrounding him and the societal pressures of masculinity that hound him. Luke's inheritance from his father was a Lightsaber. A weapon of a great shining order which eventually was mutated by the Disney movies into a sort of Excalibur wielded only by the worthy virtuous heroes. Amuro's inheritance was the Gundam, the Devil's Machine, the first in a long line of military weapons, the image of which would haunt him for the rest of his tragically short life.

Amuro had at one point been a war hero, then a rebel fighting against the corrupt and self-interested Federation that had eagerly turned him into a human weapon. But his childhood of violence eventually left him no choice but to be subsumed into the military hierarchy he had at one point attempted to break free of. In terms of combat skill, Amuro was the best of the best by the end of his arc, but he had failed in every other regard. His Newtype abilities, once seen as a gateway to a future without misunderstandings, were now honed for violence. His final words ones of dumb confusion as he failed to understand the feelings of his enemy.

Luke gets the benefit of a Rey. The ability to once again become heroic and good and brave, to inhabit the comforting role of a gallant knight. And this step in his characterization is still met with confused hostility by most viewers. Amuro does not receive a similar luxury. He dies young and suddenly, with only the suggestion that his actions will eventually make things better, but it feels right with his character even for how unsatisfying it is.

Again, I don't know if I really have a coherent point with this post. Apologies if you've read this far and felt like I have wasted your time. For now, I think my main conclusion is that it's interesting to see how two different kinds of science fiction (heroic science-fantasy VS military sci-fi) approach similar ideas. I think the reason Luke's arc in TLJ fails for many is that the story of the original trilogy was fundamentally unfit to handle it. It's tacking on an unsatisfying tragedy onto a conventional, simple Hero's Journey rather than building on the foundation of societal critique the way Gundam does with Amuro.

Anyway. Bye.

#star wars #gundam #luke skywalker #amuro ray #meta analysis #comparison #spoilers for both series #long post #sorry for barfing a bunch of words at you

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queen0fm0nsterz · 1 year

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Mirror monster thoughts wha t do you have

Crawls on the cielinh so I can grab your head and shake out all the thought

MASTERPOST

Randy you know better than to give me such freedom... I'm gonna be talking for a whole longass post now because I do have so many thoughts about the Mirror Monster.

The thing about the comic characters in this franchise is that they stick with you once you find out they exist. This is because they are so unique when compared to the rest that it's almost hard to believe they could even co-exist. Less so the Ferryman, with Mirror Monster being an in-between to his "normalcy" and North Wind's complete shattering of the unspoken rules that usually build a LN antagonist. Congrats to your babygirl for being a wildcard I suppose

The Mirror Man Lore Dump

As discussed previously, the canonicity of Mirror Man is up to debate: however, because of his presence as a jack-in-the-box in VLN, we'll assume he still exists (or has existed) in the universe.

Considering all other rooms have some semblance of imagery leading back to the character residing in them, this one probably follows the same principle.

Taking into account what Mirror Man does, it becomes clear that the paper planes are meant to rappresent his victims. Frail and easy to maneuver, they easily fall into his trap. What's interesting to note is the fact that those who end up falling over on the other side are not crumpled or ruined: they seem to be stored somewhere. Intact, but still trapped on the other side.

It's also important to note that the net doesn't necessarely move or do anything to attract its preys: it stands still, awaiting, knowing that someone will eventually come and get stuck. There are a few exceptions, such as the planes that ended up flying in other directions, and even a piece of paper who, in spite of being stranded away from its place, is not folded as a paper plane. This may rappresent those people who come in contact with the Mirror Monster but have no interest in what he has to offer - such as the Humpback Girl.

(Funnily enough, this is not the first time people are rappresented as pieces of paper in the jack-in-the-boxes rooms. There would be another very enlightening room that follows the same principle --)

(-- But I digress.)

With a Nome standing on the pile of paper, I believe it may not be a stretch to assume that Mirror Man, like many others, would primarily target children. They're easy prey for a reason. However, it's clear that he may not necessarely have limitations considering... the Lady ordeal... though she still doesn't seem to fit the (hypothetic) criteria to be considered part of his hunting grounds.

Going back to the room before moving onward: after combining my braincells to the ones of the peeps in the Box server, we figured out that the piece of machinery in the room could be an old boat engine.

They do share some similarities, but we haven't been able to figure it out for certain... so we'll leave it at that.

However I will say that Mirror Man's fit here greatly resembles the one the man in this painting is wearing, along with the pose being the exact same.

This always struck me as odd because his design in the comic has a completely different colour palette, as you can see on the picture on the right, so I'm wondering if the comics got his coloring wrong somehow... or if they simply changed it overtime.

Here's two pictures for comparison.

Moving on to his comic appearences, Mirror Man is implied to be regarded as some sort of an urban legend in the Humback Girl's hometown -- unlike the previous issue's antagonist, the North Wind, who is instead said to be more of a malevolent spirit. You could say the Mirror Man is... a boogie man of sorts. It is also worth mentioning that none of the children in the Humpback's girl group seem to know who the Mirror Man is before entering the building - only that the place itself is dangerous.

(Thinking about it now, this creates a very interesting parallel with Thin Man as he also operates in a near identical way. Mh. Moving on.)

As mentioned earlier, the Mirror Man waits for his prey to wander in. He doesn't make his presence known immediately, choosing to wait until his victims are instead relaxed and content with their new appearence. He's able to give them what they want and does so only to catch them by surprise afterwards. Cruel.

His powers are tied to the ability of changing people's outward appearences - be it in a way they like or dislike. This happens respectively to the friends of the Humpback Girl, and to the girl herself after she looks into the shattered mirror.

A plausible theory regarding his origin is that he was summoned by the arrival of Humpback Girl, and while I think that is a possibility, I don,'t necessarely think that's the case. I believe that, because her only wish was to leave - something that has nothing to do with what's in the Mirror Man's power capabilities - she was able to see him coming before the others. You can see him lurk behind her shoulder, preparing to attack -- but then he moves quickly behind a different mirror.

I do think her shift in appearence was his direct doing, because it only happens after she looks at the shards of the mirror.

This is what has me believe that Mirror Man did not perish here and simply moved (forcibly?) to another mirror, with Humpback's girl transformation being his petty farewell.

(Diverting from the original point a second, I find it especially cruel how the entire Humpback Girl's situation was nearly a set up if you think about the story's progression. She starts off as being ridiculed and called a coward by her peers, she proves her bravery by fighting to save them only to have this backfire horribly as the others abandon her there. It's terribly upsetting.)

Canonical Mirror Man lore unfortunately ends here... and it genuinely saddens me that such an interesting concept for a character was never brought back again for something. He, the Ferryman and the North Wind were truly done a disservice. I want them back.

Now, when it comes to hypothesis... you know I am a huge enjoyer of the Mirror Man/Lady enemyship. I have many thoughts on the two of them, but because it's something purely hypothetical backed up by nearly nothing, I will not be expanding on it as of now.

Thank you a lot for the ask :]

#little nightmares #little nightmares analysis #little nightmares theory #the mirror man #mirror man #ln theory #ln meta #little nightmares the mirror man #humpback girl #ln humpback girl #the lady #ln the lady #{SHES KINDA THERE IN SPIRIT BUT NOT LITERALLY #i finally have some free time to post analysis mein gott i missed this #thank u sm for asking randy i am now in your walls}

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pikahlua · 1 year

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Hi!

Kacchan and winning are deeply connected, and we all saw how he reacted to losing at the start of the story 😅

So, assuming there's going to be another sports festival or something (or any type of fight that's a bit low stakes, without the world ending) if, hypothetically, loses, against Deku or Todoroki (because let's be honest, anyone else coming close to defeating him isn't possible) how is he going to react, since he's a bit more mature now? Will he cry about it 😂 (affectionate)

Also, I just read Dragonheart and it's awesome. The imagery, the parallels and the characterization 👏🏼

I (lovingly) reject the premise of the question 😛

You and pretty much everyone else, through no faults of your own, have not read my extremely strong opinions about the sports festival because I...still haven't written them. That's on me. And I think it's entirely fair that you'd like to consider a what-if about the future regarding the sports festival/low-stakes competition and life after the main MHA story. It's just that my answer to the question may seem way too pedantic and serious for what really is a light-hearted question.

BUT, I AM ME, AND SO WE'RE DOING THIS.

First of all, here are my pertinent doubts:

Will the sports festival even exist in the future? Will UA and hero schools exist in the future? Will competitions soon veer away from comparing quirks back to comparing individual athletic ability and achievement? All of these things seem like distinct possibilities.

Does Izuku even end up with One For All at the end of this? Does Katsuki still have Explosion after the end? I hate to bring up the possibilities here, but I regret to inform you that they do exist.

Assuming UA does persist and we get let's say a sports festival, I'm sorry if this starts some shit but: Shouto doesn't stand a chance against Katsuki. I don't mean this derisively, but as I think about the narrative as it presents the relationship between Shouto and victory versus Katsuki and victory, Shouto very clearly always was meant for a different direction than exploring "victory" as a theme. Such low-stakes "victories" do very little to advance Shouto towards his goal of becoming a hero who puts others at ease. His truly important "victories" and "losses" really just serve the purpose of showing him the ways he should try to improve and develop. In many instances, "victory" would have actually hurt his character rather than help him. The competitive spirit and drive to improve will always be important parts of Shouto's character, but what he wants ultimately diverges from straightforward competition, and that's a weakness (in the sense of plot armor) when fighting Katsuki.

Building off of that, we must consider the narrative purpose of these so-called "low-stakes" fights. The stakes are determined by the story, and they are only low-stakes in the sense that no one's lives are on the line, but MHA always finds a way to hype up the stakes of these competitions. I bring up the narrative so often because I think that was a big piece of the sports festival that flew over many people's heads. The sports festival was never about determining who was the strongest--it was always about subverting that trope. We come away from the first sports festival unable to properly call any among Izuku, Katsuki, or Shouto the strongest, and that's on purpose. Indeed, all of these competitions in MHA come with a twist that results in how "finding out who is strongest" is truly a useless concept. And that brings me to Katsuki.

Katsuki's entire character revolves around the idea that this "complete, perfect victory" as he originally thought of it was the wrong thing to pursue. He could win a tournament or achieve the highest grade by himself and still it would not bring him satisfaction, but such arbitrary things don't prove much of anything in the end and don't get him anywhere closer to his goals. Though he is presented as a great obstacle for all the other characters and an opportunity for everyone else to face him and grow as a result, Katsuki himself is constantly denied the chance to achieve solo victory in one form or another.

So I have very strong opinions about this idea of Katsuki winning or losing a low-stakes competition with no nuance because I think such a straightforward situation would never happen. It is as you say: he's "a bit more mature now," which I take to mean that he's done seeking those meaningless solo victories he started out craving. Katsuki's relationship with "victory" has changed into something completely different now, and so I make the following claim:

What would Katsuki do if he loses a low-stakes match in the future? Simple. Even if he loses, he doesn't actually lose. I imagine that in any situation where Katsuki appears to "lose," it would ultimately serve some better purpose.

Katsuki is a lot more subtle than many people give him credit for. He helps things to happen from a distant vantage point such that people get to feel the results of their achievements without realizing Katsuki ever had any involvement. Take the cultural festival: he only brings to light the important obstacles that their class needs to overcome (the general studies students' attitudes) and pledges to contribute to the event as a supporter for the right cause. He inspires the class, but he doesn't do all the work for them. He directs them down the best path, and everyone gets to feel the satisfaction of their ultimate achievements as a group.

So if Katsuki were to lose in a competition, I think it would be in a way that's still somehow all according to Katsuki's plan. And if losing is his plan, then...he wins. He gets what he wants. And that thing he wants can only be more important than merely winning an empty match. It's like how Izuku wins by losing against Shouto in the sports festival. Katsuki has been observing Izuku for that very talent and has learned to emulate it in his own way.

So Katsuki's reaction to "a loss" in competition would be entirely controlled and in service of achieving his goals, even if that "reaction" is just him pretending to be mad about it.

tl;dr Katsuki Bakugou always wins

P.S. Oh god people actually read Dragonheart? [cries in cat memes]

#ask pika #anon ask #katsuki bakugou #meta #pika potentially overreacts with them strong feelings

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nekorenge · 10 months

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Let’s talk about the Dorama/Ouran Live Action TV Series !! (Nekozawa/Renge)

You may be asking why I decided to delve into this adaptation of Ouran tonight.

Why did I? Because it is the host (no pun intended) of another important piece of Nekozawa/Renge ship content. When you don’t have much to work from in the vein of interactions, every interaction matters, but this one ESPECIALLY does, because ….

…Renge canonically finds Nekozawa attractive!

Or at least, in the world of this one adaptation. But there’s no reason to think any differently for the other versions. Anyway.

If you go to Nekozawa’s character wiki, he has a section on his relationship with Renge. Of course, it lists out their interactions in Big Brother is a Prince, and then it mentions the dorama for this one interaction. This is where i had first found out about this, years ago.

Because I’m a nerd, let’s go step-by-step in this interaction to talk about it.

1. This takes place in Renge’s debut episode, so she’s directing the Host Club here. Tamaki asks her how his performance is, and if he should create more “shadows”. I’m including this bit for scene context and also because it confirms that there is a parallel to be drawn between Renge’s fascination with adding “dark side”s to characters and Nekozawa’s general association with shadows, darkness, dark sides, etc. I thought I was reaching before, but by including Nekozawa with this setup, I think my connection now holds more weight!

2. See! Nekozawa materializes out of nowhere behind Tamaki, and Nekozawa continues the “shadows” talk. He has a creepy filter over his voice and fitting music, fully engulfed in his persona/probably liking antagonizing the frightened Tamaki. He asks Tamaki to join his dark side and Tamaki runs away.

3. Here’s where it gets interesting!! Renge approaches Nekozawa, slowly, and she almost seems curious. Nekozawa’s creepy music is still fading out and his grin is likely in part still leftover from the last interaction.

4. Her smile as she says this!! She didn’t have to say this, and it all is so out of left field. She just curiously walks right up to the guy who just materialized out of the shadows and frightened away Tamaki and says he’s good looking. What!!

5. That’s what I just said! What?? But okay, let’s analyze this. His spooooky mannerisms have completely fallen away in this moment. No music, no voice filters, no evil laugh, he has nothing except “what?” His smile has fallen but he looks intrigued, if i had to describe it. He looks surprised but not in a bad way, it seems like it’s something pleasant that has blindsided him. He’s leaned into her, looking straight into her eyes, and he is both shaken out of the persona he is so used to keeping up and intrigued all at once.

6. There’s a pause where he’s still smiling, looking at her, still leaned into each other, silent as she reaches to remove his hood. To me, i dont think he even notices she’s removing his hood until the sun beams down on him. Why? Was he distracted? :O

And when he realizes, he screams and covers his head. She looks away in fear/surprise.

7. Now that they’ve been shaken out of the moment, he’s back to his usual self. After saying this he books it out of the scene. This is 100% my biased read on this but… wouldnt it be POSSIBLE… that he’s mad not only because she removed his hood, but because she had him so off-guard in the moment that he hadn’t even noticed? Is he mad at himself for being stunned in the moment, and leaves in a huff from that?

And Renge says nothing. Renge? Nothing?? How?? Literally, Nekozawa leaves the scene and then Renge doesn’t even acknowledge what just happened. Is she just as thrown off? Who’s to say!

Anyway that’s all, thank you for reading if you did. I’m so glad to have actually finally watched this scene. (Also, this is all very “phantom of the opera”, isn’t it? Interesting interesting.)

#ohshc #nekorenge #ouran high school host club #umehito nekozawa #fanfiction #ohshc fanfic #renge houshakuji #ouran #ao3 #rarepair #ouran dorama #nekozawa/renge #umehito x renge #nekozawa x renge #shipping #ouran headcanons #ohshc headcanons #ohshc imagines #ouran fanfic

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somelokivariant · 1 year

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An analysis on ineffable parallels and scene use

Crowley’s expression says the same thing in both scenes, but with completely different moods.

His Aziraphale, don’t do this (hopeful, I can still show you: let me bother) and his Aziraphale, don't do this (there's no point, my last breath: why bother)

Crowley in the first shot: Seems more annoyed than heartbroken towards Aziraphale. Maybe even disappointed.

He just wants his angel, and if he were to actually talk, I bet there’d be a “Please, come back, let’s talk this out.” He believes he can still convince Azi to ditch and run away with him. He understands Azi is turning him down, but maybe there’s still hope for the two of them. For now, “This bastard (>:|) won’t listen.”

The exasperated head tilt. “Why are you saying this angel? Look at what you’re doing.” Crowley doesn't quite understand why Azirahale is so insistent on heaven. So he thinks he can still save him. He can still get him out. If only he would cooperate.

Crowley in the second shot:

First off, he’s absolutely devastated, heart broken, but let's put that aside.

Crowley is sort of having a “woke’ moment. An epiphany. I hate to call it childish, but he lost his childish hope. He realizes right here Aziraphale’s situation. He’s really understanding right now that Aziraphale won’t leave heaven. (Could he be thinking he’s not good enough for Azi to stay? That’s for another day). I see Crowley seeing the grasp heaven still has on him. “This bastard (<3) can’t listen.”

That little look to the side, and the eyebrow twitch? Even the little sigh. The sad look away. The judging “eugh”. That’s a “He’s gone. It’s heaven.” (David Tennant’s fucking amazing)

There is no hope left in this man. He looks empty. He poured everything he ha left into that kiss. Maybe there isn’t hope for Azi, maybe he can’t be saved. This is the end. “Don’t bother,” and he walks out. There is nothing left here.

Crowley won’t abandon his angel, but at the moment, the trauma of heaven and the heartbreak of losing Aziraphale is too much for him.

Let me also mention lighting. In the first scene, it's very cool toned, they're outside, It’s bright, and open, they're in public. The setting has a lighter, airy feel to it. And as a viewer it implies a climax, or an issue to be solved. There is room to move from this point.

In the second scene, it’s warmer, they're in the bookshop, it’s more cozy sort of. They have a more private setting. Things are settled/settling. It's the kind of scene that is the end, maybe a fade to black, a roll credits. It feels more resolved than the previous peak. Similar to Crowley's hope, and his acceptance.

Also, Every stage direction is the same: Aziraphale delivers his "I forgive you" and then we switch to Crowley's reaction. There is only difference in that they are on opposite sides of the screen.

As for Aziraphale:

The first “I forgive you” is (like the lighting) open. His whole heart is on his sleeve. Let me tell you these comfortable words, because it is what we know, it’s how i'm showing you my love. Take it?

And the second is flat. There's so much emotion there, but it comes out in a melh way, because of how Azi processes it. I totes believe he almost says "I love you" but backs out. He instead chooses his signature line, because its more familiar (comfortable). His heart is crushed, lying there in a puddle. Let me tell you these comfortable words, because I want to show you that I’m still me and you’re still you, I have nothing else for you. Take it.

Look at this expression right here. Hey crowley! My words <3. They're open, bright, and hopeful.

This one, almost spiteful. Crowley, my words. Why would you do this to me.

In Aziraphale’s delivery, Crowley's reaction and scene set up, what is the same on paper, becomes two scenes with entirely different meanings.

#somelokivariant essay #tags #neil gaiman #good omens #good omens season 2 #aziraphale #crowley #azicrow #ineffable husbands #essay #scene analysis #film major #directing

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watchmenanon · 2 years

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APRIL 28, 2017

Super Naturals

The wonder that is Stranger Things is at once a sweet story of simpler times and a spooky spin in the supernatural. For Netflix, the script by the Duffer brothers was a definite yes, as were the young actors whose bonds bedazzle on and off the set.

TATIANA SIEGEL

On a hot March morning in Atlanta, Finn Wolfhard and Noah Schnapp are rehearsing a scene for season two of Stranger Things.

Outside Screen Gems Studios, the sky is relentlessly bright, with the thermometer inching toward 86 degrees. Inside, it’s as dark and cool and secret as a military bunker. Director Andrew Stanton offers some last minute guidance before the camera rolls.

Stanton, the two-time Oscar winner behind WALL-E and Finding Nemo, took an unconventional approach in preparing to direct episodes five and six. He rewatched season one with the volume off. It’s obvious that even the smallest gesture is crucial. He tells Schnapp to touch the back of his neck when he delivers the line about feeling a troubling sensation in the back of his head.

“I geek out over the little things,” he explains a few minutes later. “But the touch made it all the more creepy.”

Wolfhard and Schnapp are sitting on a bed in what viewers have come to recognize as the Byers’s home, the one with the mysterious blinking Christmas lights and the sinister wall that Winona Ryder attacked with an axe in episode four of season one.

A Jaws poster hangs above a bookcase. The pajama-clad Schnapp, playing Upside Down escapee Will Byers, hits his line: “It’s like a dream, and you can’t remember it unless you think about it really hard.” But he flubs the follow-up and slaps his hand angrily.

Wolfhard, playing series star Mike Wheeler, cut him off too late. “I’m waiting for my cue,” offers Wolfhard, wearing a buttoned-up polo shirt, corduroys, old-school Pumas and a hoodie. Stanton tells the 14-year-old: “It’s okay if you don’t cut him off.”

Schnapp later explains his momentary frustration. “I just get angry when I mess up. It’s a professional business. It’s no game,” he says, sounding more like a seasoned thesp than a 12-year-old who will head to French, math and English classes at the on-set school later that day.

Back on set, the boys repeat the scene, this time for the camera. The dialogue is flawless, but now there’s a boom in the shot. So Wolfhard and Schnapp do it again. Three more times without a mistake, each time from a different angle.

“They rehearsed that only two times, and they nailed it,” Stanton marvels. “That’s a really long scene. They are just that good.”

As they prepare to break, Wolfhard and Schnapp face one another and begin slapping and clapping hands in a fixed pattern, chanting, “Concentration… 64.…” Are they prepping for the next scene? Some sort of protective charm against a mysterious foe? Nah. They’re just kids blowing off steam. Something Mike and Will would do, too.

Call it Hollywood’s version of the Upside Down, the inexplicable, parallel universe of Stranger Things. After all, who would have wagered on five unknown kids, a long-neglected Ryder and then–32-year-old twin brothers with few prospects to launch one of the most talked-about series of 2016?

But within days of its July 15 debut, the ’80s-set Stranger Things — created by Ross and Matt Duffer and led by Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Schnapp — quickly became a pop-culture phenomenon, complete with a Barack Obama–hosted White House visit in October and even a shout-out from a congressman on the House floor in February.

The series notched surprise wins for best drama ensemble at the SAG Awards and top drama series at the PGA Awards (beating out heavyweight Game of Thrones for both honors). Netflix aired a season-two spot during this year’s Super Bowl that drew more than 14 million views on YouTube.

And according to Google, Stranger Things was the most-searched-for show of 2016 around the world (it streams in 190 countries).

Still, the path to success wasn’t so linear. In 2014, the Duffer brothers were struggling writer-directors with only the unreleased horror film Hidden to their credit (the pic eventually was released straight-to-DVD). As they remember it, Stranger Things was envisioned as a movie, an homage to “the two Stevens/Stephens with different spellings — Spielberg and King,” Matt Duffer says.

They were making the rounds, taking studio meetings, “and people would ask us our movie ideas,” Ross Duffer adds. “And they weren’t very interested in any movie ideas that we had.”

They owed Warner Bros. a script and asked if they could adapt Stephen King’s It, a Stranger Things–esque book that the studio was developing with Cary Fukunaga attached to direct. “We didn’t even get in the room,” Matt Duffer recalls. “They said no.”

Undeterred, they embarked on writing Stranger Things , pivoting mediums from film to TV. But it was a difficult recalibration, given their lifelong obsession with movies, from E.T. to Jaws to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. “Growing up, I associated television with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Like, I’m done with my homework and it’s something to pass the time,” Ross Duffer explains.

But after seeing the trailer for HBO’s True Detective — directed by Fukunaga — and finding it more enticing than 90 percent of the movies in theaters, Matt Duffer says it dawned on them that “this is actually the cooler place to be right now, given the current state of the industry.”

Coming of age in their native North Carolina in the mid-’90s, the Duffers didn’t have a basement like the Wheelers, nor any friends with telekinetic powers. But the goal was simple: to make a viewer feel the same as when he or she cracked open a big, fat King book.

“The first thing we wrote was the Dungeons & Dragons scene because it was so close to our experiences growing up,” Ross Duffer says. “We had a room over our garage, which was just not as cinematic. I wish our house looked like that. I wish a telepathic girl had dropped into our lives.”

They sent the pilot script around but found no takers until it landed on the right desk at Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment, where senior vice-president Dan Cohen read it and immediately alerted Levy. Without hesitation, Cohen and Levy signed on to executive-produce the series — then titled Montauk — alongside the Duffers.

“Talent is talent. It’s just waiting for someone to bet on it,” Levy says. “We wanted to bet.”

So, too, did Netflix, which ordered the supernatural drama in April 2015. Casting would be key, potentially the separation between cheesy and brilliant.

The idea to target Ryder — a two-time Oscar nominee who rose to It Girl status in the ’80s but whose career had cooled considerably in the new millennium — to play a single mother trying to track down her missing tween was an early stroke of genius from casting director Carmen Cuba.

The Duffers and Levy invited Ryder to tea at L.A.’s Chateau Marmont for a conversation that lasted several hours and ranged from secret government testing to missing children. “I remember Winona: ‘What is this new kind of television on your computer?’” Levy says with a laugh. “We left that tea slightly exhausted but quite certain this was our Joyce Byers.”

But finding the right kids proved to be far more exhaustive, with the Duffers and Levy seeing some 1,000 aspirants. The trick was finding kids who looked “regular” and not like slick child actors.

Gaten Matarazzo, a stage actor from New Jersey whose Broadway credits included Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Les Misérables, was the first cast, as Dustin Henderson, the perpetually picked-on boy with a lisp.

Next was Millie Bobby Brown, who landed the breakout role of Eleven, the buzz-cut waif with psychokinetic abilities. The British actress says she perfected an American accent by watching TV and just observing people. After sending a self-tape to Cuba, she was asked to provide another and another and still another. She wouldn’t allow herself to get her hopes up, though.

“I always get really close on something,” Brown says, then it’s, “‘Oh, we’re picking the other girl because….’” But the series of tapes led to a Skype call and then a trip to L.A., where she won over the Duffer brothers.

McLaughlin, another Broadway actor who played Young Simba in The Lion King, nabbed the role of Lucas Sinclair, the member of the gang most suspicious of Eleven’s arrival.

Then came Schnapp, whose screen time in season one is limited but who plays a significant role in season two. The angel-faced boy with an uncanny resemblance to Ryder (his screen mom) recalls coming to L.A. for a so-called chemistry test and being paired with McLaughlin.

Fortunately, the two suburban New Yorkers already had bonded at the hotel pool. But Schnapp returned home without the job and headed to upstate New York for sleepover camp, where he was allowed only three incoming phone calls.

One day, his mother called with the Duffer brothers on the line. “I’m like, ‘Who’s Will?’ ‘Cause I didn’t know what they were talking about,” he says. “And then I realized it was ‘cause I originally auditioned for Mike when I auditioned for the role. And I started freaking out. It brightened the rest of my summer.”

Wolfhard was last. The Vancouver native, who started acting at eight, was sick in bed when he did his self-tape, which was “super out of focus, my dad’s finger was in the frame, super unprofessional.” But the Duffers loved it and Skyped with Wolfhard, then flew him to L.A. twice over a two-week period. But two months passed with no word.

“Out of nowhere, I got a call from Matt saying that I got the part, and that was really, really cool,” Wolfhard says of landing the lead. Ironically, Wolfhard was available to tackle the series only because Fukunaga had just dropped out of King’s It.

Wolfhard already had landed the role of Richie Tozier in that film, which was now suddenly on hold. It eventually recovered with Andrés Muschietti in the director’s chair, and Wolfhard was able to fit the project in between seasons of Stranger Things. It will hit theaters in September, some seven weeks before the second-season debut of Stranger Things on Halloween night.

To prepare their Fab Five, the Duffers assigned a list of movies to watch, including E.T., The Goonies, Jaws and Poltergeist. But nothing could equip the young stars for the show’s rabid fandom.

“On my Instagram,” McLaughlin says, “[it’s] like, ‘Brazil loves you.’ People from all around the world… France, Mexico, Africa...”

Brown says she never tires of the fervor surrounding Eleven. “I don’t really want to call them my fans. They’re kind of like my friends,” says the 13-year-old. “And I can’t say no to a picture. Obviously, I would do the same thing to Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. This 90-year-old came up and he was like, ‘I love you!’ It was really sweet.”

Perhaps most important was the vote of approval that came from Mr. King himself. The author tweeted several thumbs-ups in July, including: “STRANGER THINGS is pure fun. A+. Don’t miss it. Winona Ryder shines.”

Of course, an email exchange with the Duffer brothers ensued. “It took me four hours to write a five-sentence email,” Matt Duffer jokes. “I had to check the grammar with all my writers. I was very nervous about it.”

The kids also are enjoying the perks of being labeled TV sensations, including hanging with people they’ve long admired. Matarazzo singles out a meeting with Sarah Paulson. “She’s a wonderful person, and to hear compliments from her, it was, like, ‘wow,’” he says, sounding rather grown up for a 14-year-old.

For the 15-year-old McLaughlin, nothing compares to getting feedback from President Obama. “He’s like, ‘I like the bond the boys have on the show. They never gave up looking for their friend.’”

That dynamic the president noticed isn’t just a put-on for the cameras. Wolfhard and Matarazzo frequently hit the multiplex in tandem and caught Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens together. McLaughlin and Matarazzo compete against each other in video games. Retro ’80s games, naturally. “Pac-Man, yeah. I’m even wearing the Pac-Man shirt,” he says, pointing at his street clothes.

Brown, who describes herself as “a real girl’s girl in pink and pearls and rings and necklaces,” has managed to fit in with the boys by taking up whiffle ball. She and Schnapp have formed a close friendship. “Noah comes around almost every weekend for sleepovers,” she says. “We watch really scary movies on Netflix like The Babadook and Hush.”

Ultimately, they all are sharing in a secret that is being guarded more closely than a Project MKUltra experiment being carried out at the fictitious Hawkins Laboratory: what will happen in season two.

As evidence of the major secrecy involved this year, Building 5 — where a camera test is about to take place with a new character — is off-limits to press today. Day players and non-essential crew also are cleared. Only hair and makeup and a few key crewmembers remain. Keeping a lid on potential spoilers is serious business.

“My brother always asks me, ‘Gate, can you send me the script?’” Matarazzo says. “I’m like, ‘It’s a new season, and it’s a lot stricter than last year.’ He read them last year, but this year he’s not able to ‘cause we don’t want any, like, hacking interference.”

Hacking, indeed. The danger serves as a jarring reminder of today’s less-than-innocent times — and explains part of the appeal of Stranger Things: it harks back to an era not long ago but definitely out of reach, when people made eye contact, kids tore through neighborhoods on their bikes unsupervised and no one was enslaved by a beeping device.

Schnapp says his father schooled him on the mindset of the ’80s. “They were always outside. It’s all phones and computers now. You know, I kind of miss the ‘80s. Even though I wasn’t alive,” he says with a laugh, catching his own absurdity.

But viewers of Stranger Things — be they 12 or 90 — understand that universal feeling.

#st articles #noah schnapp #finn wolfhard #gaten matarazzo #millie bobby brown #caleb mclaughlin #byler #<target audience

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