#this is silly but it also makes me a bit excited about Coattails

[pain-in-the-butler]

discovering that Finny has a Rich Boy™ way of speaking because he learned English from Ciel, Sebastian, and Tanaka is a cool thing to know and also now he can join Bard in the category "Funimation gave you the wrong voice and now you forever sound incorrect in my head no matter what Yana says"

[msgrumpygills]

what made the colored rose glasses come off?

i can say that mine too came off a while ago and i cant believe how blind i was and i blame his fans because i remember how i was defending him even with all that shit he pulled i thought he needed protection and needed to be treated with so much care and he was big cute baby i was part of the people who got his back no matter what but he is not stopping and the amount of money he and his wife keep asking from the fans and the fans give with love is just too much for me am glad you got out i just cant wait for the others to wake up too

and speaking of walker i too hope it flopped because of his ego and his spn Easter eggs and dean sam parallels its just not fair you cant have it all dean died for sam to live even before he died in the end and jared still trying to make money of it just no!!

This is a really good question, so thank you for asking! I’m glad you got out too! It’s kinda liberating! This will probably get really long because I ramble a lot, so I apologize in advance! 

I’m not entirely sure there was a specific incident or one thing that happened that made me stop and thing, it was sort of a culmination of a few things. Firstly, I sort of lost interest in the show because I was getting tired of the fan service. I know that sounds a little silly because I was a fan, but the whole pandering to the shippers and the bad writing and for lack of a better word, ridiculous storylines, it got to be too much. I stopped getting excited to watch the show. Now that kinda happened naturally in a way because I fell behind a few weeks, but it wasn’t like when I was a hardcore fan, and I’d be waiting to catch up, I just kinda lost the push I guess? Then seeing the storylines and things, I just didn’t think “Oh wow, I really need to get caught up!” because nothing really sounded that interesting. I didn’t care about the Jack storyline, I was tired of the Dean/Cas fan baiting, all of that. I was only interested in Scoobynatural and then the episode where John comes back because I wanted to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan. 

So I was kinda disillusioned a bit about the show. I was also getting really tired of Misha’s political tweeting and his hypocrisy. I believe that was what led me to an anti blog? I can’t really remember how, but I stumbled upon an anti blog and I started reading through and realized that there was a lot going on behind the scenes that I wasn’t really a fan of. So all of these things were kind of stacking on top of the next, and I started to take those glasses off. So it wasn’t really one specific thing, it was many. 

But now I’m at this point where I’m really opening my eyes and realizing how bad things have always been, and I turned a blind eye. I was the same way as you were, needing to protect Jared the big fragile baby, standing up for everything they did. I was going through my timehop and saw some tweets defending Jared’s relentless bullying of Justin Bieber, his insensitive comments of PSH, things like that. It was embarrassing because I was only standing strong with him because I was in so deep as a fan. I mean, I never really agreed with his doxxing of random employees, but I would sort of turn a blind eye to that and just ignore it. Now I realize how stupid that was. 

I’m not saying that I regret being a fan because I don’t. I had a lot of memories, I loved the conventions (not the prices or the Creation company, but that could be an entire different post) and some of the fans were great. I still consider myself a fan of Supernatural and a fan of Jensen and Jared (but he’s pushing it), but I’m not a super fan anymore. I’m at that point where I can recognize when they screw up and can call out things that aren’t okay. I think a lot of fans are still stuck in that illusion that these guys can do no wrong, and it’s sad, but I’m sure they’ll come around at some point. I’m not saying that no one can enjoy the show or the actors or whatever, but at least call them out on their bull and don’t blindly defend everything just because it’s your fave. 

I will say that all celebrities sell things to their fans, and that’s just part of the celebrity/fan relationship. Everyone has merch, everyone does charity fundraisers, etc. What I started to get a little wary of, was everyone jumping on the Represent bandwagon and milking AKF and YANA for every single penny. The first run of AKF was great and I think it started a conversation within the fandom, and everywhere really which is great. I mean, to a point, the second and third runs were cool because I know a lot of people missed out on the first run, etc. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I bought most of the shirts released. But then Misha had to get his grimy paws in the pot and make YANA, using Jensen in the mix too. Is it great to raise money for charity? Yes. Is it cool to do that while making fans happy? Sure. What I got tired of was them milking the same thing for more money. It seemed to lose its authenticity when they kept milking it and making new things if that makes sense. 

But look at Misha and Stands; they milk EVERYTHING they possibly can to get money out of the fans. It really disappointed me that Jared moved AKF to Stands because Stands is a trash company as it is. 

The fans are paychecks to these people, and while that’s just a fact of life, they don’t need to make it so blatant. I thought Gen was bad for shilling products left and right, but Jared is getting just as bad. He’s using Jensen, his family, and Supernatural to try and shill his show and his crappy supplements. 

I haven’t watched Walker, but I’ve seen the failed attempt at trying to capture that Supernatural lightning in a bottle and that reeeeeeally rubbed me the wrong way. I’ve mentioned it before, but he’s basically taking a show that took 15 years to build its fanbase, the family, everything, and trying to do that same thing with a concept that seemed better on paper. 

I think Jared got cocky and figured that the success of Supernatural would follow him into anything he touches, and he’s quickly realizing that it’s not gonna happen. So what does he do? He rides on Supernatural’s coattails to try and bring traffic to these things. The Easter eggs aren’t “for the family”, they’re to try and get viewership up for his show that no one seems to care about as much as he expected. The forced “brotherhood” with Keegan is him just trying to recreate the J2 brotherhood for more attention and more views. After all, part of the magic of Supernatural was the boys, Sam and Dean. Jared’s having to start from scratch and trying to have the same magic and fandom that Supernatural took 15 years to grow, but right away. That’s his biggest problem. 

If anything, I hope it flops because it’s really embarrassing and a bit insulting for Jared to just move onto the next “ship” and the next “family” like Jensen was nothing. It makes the “brotherhood” and the “SPN Family” seem so fake it’s unreal. I also hope it flops so he can get a reality check and a hearty slice of humble pie because Lord knows he needs it. 

[fnlrndcllctv]

THE YEAR IN FIGHTING GAMES: 1993

As the original release of Street Fighter II turns 30 this year, we are taking a look at the landscape of fighting games between 1991 and 2021 on a year by year basis!

This week, Shaun Eddleston takes a look at 1993…

1993 was arguably the year that truly saw which directions the fighting game genre was heading in.

Street Fighter II had been out for 2 years by this point, with a couple of great updates under its belt to keep things feeling fresh and exciting, and Mortal Kombat smashed its way into the scene with its digitised graphics and bloody violence making it the “cool kid” on the scene. It seemed like most games were now trying to play catchup with the bigger games, or genuinely trying to innovate and do something different.

Here’s a look at 10 games from 1993 to see what went down…

SEGA’s first ever foray into the world of 2D fighting games arrived in the form of Eternal Champions. Based around nine fighters from various points in history fighting to reclaim their souls after meeting untimely deaths, its crystal clear that Eternal Champions attempted to ride the coattails of pretty much every other successful fighting game that came before it.

While credit can be given for the game being launched on a console rather than in arcades (a rather unusual release strategy during this time!), the game’s look came across as a choppier, poorly executed version of both Street Fighter II and Fatal Fury. The characters themselves range from a 1920s detective, a prehistoric caveman and a ninja to a wizard, a cybersoldier and *reads notes*… a martial arts-trained scientist who’s also a vampire?!

Perhaps more famously, Eternal Champions was known better for the incredibly gory stage fatalities that could be pulled off. Obviously taking inspiration from Mortal Kombat and trying its best to outdo the violence, from characters being impaled on top of the Washington monument, being chewed up by dinosaurs or being burned alive at the stake to a painfully long and boring trap that sees the defeated opponent dropping through several sets of blades/axes/knives, becoming more dismembered as it goes along.

Some of the horrific violence is so over the top that its genuinely funny, so it’s a shame that the game itself is a bit of an underwhelming experience.

While 1992’s Fatal Fury 2 was a solid release in its own right, many fans were left disappointed by the omission of a number of the original game’s characters. Fatal Fury Special fixed this in a big way, bringing back characters such as Duck King, Tung Fu Rue and the original baddie, Geese Howard, while also tuning up the game’s combo system and introducing a faster game speed for good measure.

The game also featured a secret character in the form of Ryo Sakazaki, the protagonist of the Art Of Fighting series. This crossover between the franchises was a popular choice from SNK (and a no-brainer, considering both of the games series exist in the same universe story-wise), so much so that it inspired them to push development of The King Of Fighters ‘94 in 1994.

We’ll talk more about that next week though…

Thanks to the ongoing success of Street Fighter II, there were countless titles throughout the 90’s that tried to imitate all kinds of stuff from the game in an attempt to get in on that sweet, sweet arcade money. A shining example of this was Fighter’s History, which is one of (if not THE) biggest copycat fighting game of the era. Everything here feels like a retread of Capcom’s biggest game, but nowhere near as satisfying.

The game sees eight international fighters travel across the world to compete in a tournament and see who is deemed the “best fighter”. Sound familiar?

Everything from the colour of the health bars and sound of the blocking hit effects felt like they were directly lifted from Street Fighter II, so much so that Capcom actually tried to sue the game’s developer for shamelessly ripping them off.

Somehow, Capcom lost the case, and Fighter’s History went on to get a sequel!

1992’s Mortal Kombat was a smash hit in arcades and on home consoles, showing a completely different style to the cartoonish fighting games being developed at the time. Fan were left clamouring for more violence, more characters and more special moves, and man, did the sequel delive on these demands (and then some!).

Mortal Kombat II is fondly remembered as one of the absolute best games in the MK franchise, as it boasted improved graphics, more fatalities and more secrets to be discovered. The game was also eager to show to everyone how it didn’t take itself too seriously either, with the addition of “FRIENDSHIP” and “BABALITY” moves, which saw fighters do the polar opposite of the infamous fatalities, or simply turn the opponent into a baby, respectively.

Midway did an excellent job of improving every aspect of the first game, and proved to everyone that the success of the franchise’s first entry was no fluke.

This is also the game where, as a kid, I personally found out why Mortal Kombat was so controversial. Thanks to the first Mortal Kombat’s heavily censored Super Nintendo port, which saw all the fatalities removed and the blood switched with sweat, Mortal Kombat II had much more of an impact on me.

Not content with already creating a handful of standout fighting game franchises by this point, SNK’s latest entry in the genre was a different kind of beast altogether.

Instead of the turbocharged, high intensity action that we were used to in most fighting games of this era, Samurai Shodown slowed things down considerably, matching the vibe of many of the old samurai movies it took inspiration from.

That’s not to say that it isn’t intense, quite the opposite really. The slower pace is accompanied by much higher damage from attacks, multiplying the high risk/high reward factor immensely. When all it takes is just one or two quick attacks to get bodied by an opponent, the need to strategise instead of mindlessly button-mashing is essential.

The game was also one of the best looking 2D fighting games at the time as well, with vibrant backgrounds, great character design and flourishes of bloody violence whenever a particularly nasty final blow hits.

Professional wrestling was HUGE in the 90’s, and the goofy, theatrical nature of the sport lent itself well to the world of video games.

Capcom’s wrestling game is an interesting on, as it not only featured a cast of mostly original characters, but the game fits canonically into the shared universe of Street Fighter and Final Fight too.

Final Fight’s musclebound mayor Mike Haggar is a playable character, and several wrestlers in the game have direct ties to fighters in Capcom’s most popular series (Guile has a brother?!)!

While the sequel, Ring Of Destruction, played more like a traditional 2D Versus fighting game, Saturday Night Slam Masters is a more traditional arcade experience that allows up to 4 players to play in a match simultaneously.

It’s loud, silly and over the top fun. Ya know, like wrestling is!

The juggernaut of the genre that was Street Fighter II got yet another update in 1993, and this was a massive one.

Four brand new fighters joined the roster - Cammy, Fei Long, T, Hawk and Dee Jay - which now meant that the game’s roster was double that of the 1991 release, the character selection screen got a graphical overhaul, players could choose from 8 different colour palettes for their fighter, the voiceover work was improved on and the entire game was tweaked and rebalanced.

Super Street Fighter II also introduced “Tournament Mode”, which only available in arcades when four Super Street Fighter II arcade cabinets were connected together. The home console versions of the game also included tournaments as a separate game mode.

This fighter based on everyone’s favourite sewer-dwelling, pizza eating reptiles is a particularly interesting one, as the experience players got was completely dependent on which version they were playing.

First of all, the NES version. Konami’s final NES game (in the US and Europe at least) and one of the only fighting games for the system that saw a release during the 90s boom of the genre, this scaled-back version didn’t even see a release in Japan. In the single-player Story mode, players choose one of the four turtles as they hold a contest amongst themselves to see who is fit to take on Shredder's challenge. After defeating the first 3 opponents, the player proceeds to fight Casey Jones and then Hothead before the final battle with the Shredder.

Then we had the SNES version, which was also known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles V: Tournament Fighters (in an attempt to continue the success of the arcade beat-’em-ups) and in Japan as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Warriors. This version uses a similar premise to the NES version in that a fighting tournament is announced, only this time Shredder is a part of the tournament, so the mean, green party machines enter in an attempt to stop him.

The game’s actual story mode was different though, as the turtles must rescue April O'Neil and Splinter from Shredder's clutches. The Turtles must travel across the US in their Turtle Blimp, defeating other fighters and collecting information. Only the four of them can be playable whereas the other characters (as well as a rad looking turtle clone) are the opponents. This version had a bigger roster (12 fighters from the TMNT universe), featured super meters, and the game’s turbo mode at its highest setting was much faster than Street Fighter II Turbo’s was!

And finally, the SEGA Mega Drive version, which has a single player mode that features the turtles and their allies traveling to various planets in Dimension X, fighting against clones of themselves, as they seek to rescue Splinter from Krang. After defeating the eight clones, the player travel to the final three stages to fight against a Triceraton, Krang's Android, and Karai. The game has a two player mode, as well as a practice mode in which the player faces the computer in a 1-round match, and a "Tournament" where the player must defeat 88 opponents with one life gauge.

Cowabunga!

The first fighting game to use 3D graphics truly felt “next-gen” at the time, and had it not been released, then we likely wouldn’t have ever got consoles such as the SEGA Saturn or the original PlayStation either.

It wasn’t just the games impressive visuals and sound that were unique either, as the game focused on more “realistic” moves based in actual combat sports and martial arts as opposed to the cartoonish and OTT antics seen in many 2D games of the era. The game didn’t have any real “story” to it either, just a fighting tournament to show off the graphics and smooth gameplay.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Virtua Fighter was unlike any fighting game that came before it, and is rightfully considered to be one of the greatest technical achievements of that era.

ADK’s World Heroes also got a sequel this year, and saw improvements across the board.

With more fighters to choose from (six new characters joined the roster), more moves to execute, and more stages to fight in, World Heroes 2 simply offered much more variety than the first game.

One of the most interesting additions to the game was the option to choose an entirely new lifebar setting. When switched on, the regular health gauges at the top of the screen are transformed into a single bar that both players now share. This lifebar will go back and forth as players inflict damage on each other, tug-of-war style, and a KO occurs when one side of the bar is completely depleted!

So, there we have it.

1993 was truly the year where the fighting game genre started to expand past your standard “SFII Clone” fare. Street Fighter II continued to make headlines with its huge update, Mortal Kombat II once again set the bar for how violent fighting titles should be handled and Virtua Fighter’s massively impressive leap into the third dimension helped to give players a glimpse at the future of not only fighting games, but video games as a whole!

Next week, we’ll be taking a look at 1994: a year that birthed several more fighting game franchises!

Did we miss anything from 1993 that’s worth mentioning?

Let us know in the comments below!

[toxykmystic]

Day 3 - @takaritsuweek

Date

Ritsu was a complete and utter mess as he tossed his wardrobe around the room. Gripping his hair in both hands he grit his teeth and scanned the scattered clothing. Why was he freaking out about this so much!? He was the one that had asked, oh gods, he’d asked Takano-san out on a date...what the hell had he been thinking?! He never should have done that and on top of that he’d actually kissed Takano-san of his own free will! He was losing his mind obviously, it was the only reasonable explanation.

Sliding down to sit on his bedroom floor he hid his face in his hands and let out a shaky sigh. It wasn’t as if he was trying to give Takano-san false hope. He knew he loved the guy it was just, just…. He was scared, so scared of being hurt again that it made his chest ache and tears burn behind his wide green eyes. But, if things continued as they were he had a feeling that he would lose Takano forever. It was this thought that drove him to his feet and got him moving. They’d been through hell over the past couple of weeks and sure, they had a lot of other things to work through, but surely spending time together would be good for both of them.

Truthfully he missed the man, the banter that terrified most of the editors outside of their small Emerald abode. He was certain that most of the fourth floor had a betting pool on who would kill the other first with all the shouting matches that happened between the pair. Well, except maybe for the Sapphire editors who most likely had a different kind of betting pool going. Enough of these useless thoughts, he had to go and pick up his date and try not to completely mess up the entire escapade.

He’d settled for a deep burgundy turtleneck sweater and a pair of pale gray slacks, slipping on his black loafers and his tan coat, laying his cream colored scarf over his shoulders just in case it started to get cold. He took several deep, calming breaths and then opened his door, squaring his shoulders he turned to look at the door to 1201. This was so weird, it used to be that Takano would be the one to drag him out to gods only knew where, now it was his turn to return the favor. That made the brunette smile a bit to himself as he stepped up to the door and took a few more deep breaths to calm himself. Lifting his finger, he hesitated for a moment, wondering if Takano ever got this nervous but then remembering that one time that Takano had lifted his hands to feel the wild pulse of his heart in his neck. Fighting down the blush as he pressed the doorbell and took a step back and waited with his heart trying to escape his chest.

When the door swung open he felt as if the air had been stolen from his lungs. Takano looked so handsome in his dark purple button down, dark slacks and trench coat with a pair of black dress shoes. Ritsu ducked his head and blushed, damn it all it was almost as if he was that stupidly shy underclassman of years gone by. “Good Evening Takano-san, um will you be comfortable walking in those shoes?” it wasn’t too far by train but still, he’d thought about taking a walk maybe afterwards just to enjoy the Autumn evening in the park that was close to where he was wanting to take Takano-san.

Masamune looked down at his feet, he usually wore these to work, then again that was in an office building. “Hold on, let me switch to my boots.” stepping back into the genkan he settled himself down to switch footwear.

“Ah! We’re not going on a hike or anything, I just thought it might be nice to take a walk afterwards, if...that’s okay with you?” Ritsu felt so silly, it wasn’t as if he was used to this sort of thing! Honestly it wasn’t as if he had gone on tons of dates in the past. He just thought it would be romantic to walk under the night sky with Takano-san, “Gah, I’ve been in shoujo too long.” he felt his cheeks heating up from his thoughts.

Masamune chuckled softly at Ritsu’s flustering, he really was too adorable for his health. But he promised himself he’d take this slow and easy. He was just so shocked and happy, hopeful honestly, that Ritsu had asked. And that kiss, he’d been stunned and staring off into space for a good ten minutes afterwards after that shock. He slipped on an older pair of dress shoes, these well broken in and easy on the feet, “You’re making it sound as if it’s a bad thing, honestly I’m so happy that you asked me out Ritsu. It was a surprise, but it’s made me incredibly happy.” He pulled himself to his feet with a grunt and gave Ritsu’s hair a ruffle which earned him a squawk of protest.

“Really Takano-san!?” patting down his tousled hair he stepped to the side of the other man, blushing furiously as they made their way to the elevator. “If you didn’t go and do something so sappy and sweet I wouldn’t have felt obligated to repay you.” He gave a little sniff and tried for a more hauty, little pampered prince expression.

“So, I take it you liked the pen?” Masamune prompted, trying to hold in chuckles at the disgruntled look the younger man shot him at the question.

“Why do you think I kissed you, idiot…” Ritsu mumbled lowly, not realising he’d spoken out loud. “Of course I liked it.” he sniped. But really, it was the note attached that had really moved his fragile heart. Takano stood close beside him on the elevator down to the ground level where they stepped off in tandem looking far too pleased with himself. He swore, sometimes he could just smack that smug look on his boss’ handsome face. Instead he settled on sighing and shaking his head. “Anyway, you were always wanting to know what I did in the time we were apart so I thought I’d show you one.” stepping out into the night air and noting the surprised expression on Takano’s face.

“What, are we going to the library?” he smiled as Ritsu sputtered cutely beside him. Really he shouldn’t tease him so much, but the man made it so easy.

“Of course not!” Ritsu huffed and then a slow blush crept up to his ears, “well… not exactly.” maybe this was the dumbest idea in the world. Gah! Why couldn’t he be like a normal person and come up with nice things to do that didn’t involve books. Then again, his life seemed to revolve around the things. Trying to ignore the grinning man beside him, well at least he was having fun, too bad it was at his expense.

“Anyway, I started to work at my father’s company right after college. I know you know this, but we’ve never really talked about what it was like. Sure, you know why I eventually left but I never told you about the good and bad things, except for the coattails riding nonsense.” his face screwing up into a look of disgust, sliding his train pass over the scanner as he led Takano to the train they’d need to take. “I was given novice authors to start out with, working with them to make their books to be the best they could be.” 

He gave a soft smile as he remembered, “it wasn’t as if I started work and suddenly had Sumi-sensei given to me on a silver platter like the others liked to make it seem. I worked hard to make it up the ladder of literature editing and I was told, true… by my Father and by my authors, that I had a talent for it. That’s one of the reasons I find myself questioning my true ability, because of all the trouble I had with shoujo manga, I thought it would be nothing in comparison to literature. I was right, but not in the way I thought, you need to have a totally different skill set than with literature and there’s so much I didn’t know at first that I still don’t know. But, if I can work with Usami Akihiko,” his face darkening at the mention of the eccentric author, “I can do anything, so I’m not giving up on mastering this genre.” 

They’d gotten off the train and were walking down the street close enough to brush against each others shoulders, “he really is a brilliant man, I remember how excited I was to work with one of my all time favorite authors.” one that he’d discovered with Takano-san when he’d been his Saga-senpai, “but I was not prepared for the hot mess that man was.” rubbing a hand over his face at the memory, the author was the one part of working in literature that he didn’t miss too terribly. “While it was amazing working with someone of such renown and skill, he was the single most stubborn, haughty, arrogant, spoilt man-child I have ever known!” he looked up at Takano-san to see him surprised.

He had just let Ritsu talk, even if he was talking about work, he was talking about previous work and a time where he couldn’t commiserate with him over any of it. He was surprised to find out that Usami had such a negative impact on the man he loves, he’d thought for sure that Ritsu would be singing his praises since he was still a huge fan of the author and he’d also written several books that Ritsu had been in charge of that had been best sellers and award winners. “Even worse than me?” he arched a dark brow down at the man, his heart faltered in his chest when he felt Ritsu’s fingers twine with his after he’d dropped his hand from his face.

“Well, in different ways yes and no, but mostly yes. He was and is the most difficult person that I’ve ever had to work with. I’m really starting to wonder if my family was the only well off one to instill manners in their offspring, because that man could not give a single damn about anyone but himself. As for his reputation, he didn’t even care about that! Luckily he’s a hermit and hates people, or else he would have been a PR nightmare. Ah, even so, he’s still my favorite author and it was amazing to work with him.” Ritsu smiled up at Takano-san, “even if I had to chase him down to get his manuscript without fail every single deadline, that’s why flying to Mutou-sensei to get her’s for the deadline didn’t seem so impossible in my head I guess.” shrugging his shoulders as he stopped in front of an old looking shop with even older looking books on display in the cases behind the window. “I had to chase that man to New York, London, Paris… he even went to Cairo once, can you believe that?! But, sometimes he stayed a little closer to home and well,” he opened the door to the shop and motioned for Takano to enter, “I found him here once and… thought about how much you’d like this place too.”

He’d never been back for that reason alone, but now it just seemed perfect as he followed Takano into the used book shop. The smell of old paper, coffee and tea permeated the air, “I found him over there, hidden behind an impressive stack of classics.” he jerked a thumb towards a chair that faced another across a low table. “But yeah, I thought you would really enjoy a place like this…” his voice drifting off, getting more and more nervous as he hoped beyond hope that he was right and Takano would find this place as enchanting as he did.

It was indescribable, what Masamune was feeling right now as his tawny eyes scanned over the rows upon rows of old tomes lovingly housed on shelves. The shop was small, cozy and quaint with a bit of what he thought may be old English charm. But since he’d never been to England and knew next to nothing of interior design, he could only guess. He was a bit awed to be standing in a place where his favorite author had been, yes he was a bit of a fanboy himself, even if he wouldn’t admit it he knew that Ritsu was aware. “How are we supposed to get home?” he turned to look down at the younger, a wry smile forming on his lips, “I want to clear out the place and take it with me.” he spoke in the hushed tone reserved for such places.

Ritsu flushed prettily and darted his emerald eyes away from Takano as his heart had sped up dangerously at that smile. “Well, I thought we’d only pick one and maybe…” he looked up shyly at the elder, “come back here together when we have the time.” biting his lip and looking away, feeling the heat of his blush reaching for his toes.

Masamune was stunned yet again, did Ritsu basically ask him on another date in the future? Yeah, sure it wasn’t the typical place you’d think of taking someone for a romantic date, but for two total book nerds like themselves, it was perfect. “I...would love that Ritsu.” He reached out gently to brush the back of his fingers against the younger man’s fine jaw, his heart giving a throb at the smile that shone as Ritsu looked up at him, so happy it took his breath away.

The two men moved through the shop, each looking for that perfect book while casting glances at each other through the shelves. The nostalgia was so sweet it left a warm glow in the hearts of both slowly healing men. When they were done they paid for their books and left the shop as night finally fell. Ritsu once again took Takano’s hand when he was sure that no one was around and led him on a slow walk through the park. Autumn leaves crunching under their feet and the moon high and glowing with a soft light down upon them as their hearts beat in sync on their path to the way that it should have always been. Hand in hand, side by side, together for all time.

[sailorportia]

Blue in the Face

Fandom: Little Witch Academia Pairing: Diana Cavendish x Hannah England x Barbara Parker

Femslash February 2019 [Index post] Day 16: Blue

approx. 1,200 words, rated T

also available on AO3

In which Hannah and Barbara do their damnedest to warm up a freezing Diana.

"I used to think the esteemed Diana Cavendish was a genius," Hannah said. "Little did I know how much of a buffoon you were."

"I h-h-hardly th-think that's n-n-necessary," Diana said, teeth chattering.

"No, it's perfectly necessary for us to berate you like this," Barbara argued. "It's not like your common sense will do it for you."

"I th-think I pr-preferred when you were s-s-sycophants and a-a-always agreed with m-me."

Hannah and Barbara sat on either side of Diana on her bed, fussing over their frozen friend. They had been worried when Diana was later than usual returning from her night patrol shift. When she stumbled through the door, Diana's cloak and hair were caked with snow. She was blue in the face and shivering something awful.

"Wh-what are y-y-you g-girls st-still doing up?" Diana asked.

Her bathrobe-clad team mates leapt from the ends of their beds were they'd been anxiously waiting and practically tackled her. Ignoring her protests, they shucked off her cloak and conjured up a towel to dry her off.

"What the hell were you doing outside in a blizzard?" Hannah nearly shouted.

"M-making sure n-no one was o-outside," Diana said.

"How long were you out there?" Barbara asked. "An hour?"

"I w-wanted to be th-thorough."

"Unbelievable," the best friends said in unison. Hannah and Barbara nodded to each other and dragged Diana to her part of the room. With shamelessness unbefitting of their station, they stripped Diana of her wet clothes and wrapped her up in a bathrobe. Then a few more for extra measure. They would've let Diana do it herself to spare her the embarrassment, but her fingers were too cold for such a task. And the embarrassment worked as a punishment for her foolishness. They bundled her up in bed and sat down next to her.

"I've n-never been so embarrassed," Diana said. Despite her statement, her face was red from the chill—not embarrassment—and it faded as she warmed.

"Surely that wasn't as embarrassing as the time Akko walked in on you while you were in the shower?" Hannah suppressed a giggle.

"Arguably," Diana conceded. She shook her head. "Imagine how scandalized poor Akko must've been. I hope she doesn't think any less of me."

"That's what you're worried about?" Barbara asked. "Don't worry, I'm sure she's too busy being envious of your proportions to be scandalized." She laughed at the idea of Akko trying to rival Diana in that area.

Diana frowned. "I don't think there's anything remarkable about my… proportions."

"Well, that's one thing we sycophants won't agree with you about," Hannah said. "We saw everything just now."

"I mean, no wonder Akko had a nosebleed when she ran out of that bathroom," Barbara said.

Diana rolled her eyes. "If you're quite finished with your antics, I've warmed up enough on my own. You two can go back to your beds and get some sleep."

Hannah and Barbara snickered.

"What's so funny?"

"We'll get some sleep," Hannah began.

"But not in our own beds," Barbara finished.

"What are you—my word!" Diana was beside herself as Hannah and Barbara slipped under the covers and snuggled up to her.

"We need to make sure you're warm enough," Hannah said, her voice sweet in Diana's ear. "We wouldn't want our beloved Diana losing her little toes." She ran a bare leg against Diana's, brushing their feet together.

Diana spluttered. "I'm not sure that's the proper way to go about it!"

"We're just trying to get a little heat into those cheeks," Barbara cooed. She lightly kissed Diana's aforementioned cheeks. "My, how hot they look now."

"Blushing only makes one feel warm!" Diana protested. "The dilation of blood vessels makes one vulnerable to colder temperatures!"

Hannah responded with a throaty chuckle. "It's so cute when you talk like that."

"C-cute!?" Hannah and Barbara had praised Diana innumerable ways in the past, but "cute" was a new one. "I don't understand."

"We're sort of flirting with you, silly." Barbara giggled.

Diana's brain stalled. Nobody flirted with Diana Cavendish. Made overtures of courtship, yes, but nothing so casual as flirting. The very idea of it flustered her. "I-I-I can hardly see wh-what is to be gained by that!"

"We were kind of hoping it would go somewhere," Hannah said. "Is there something wrong with trying to get with someone you admire?"

"Did you think everything we've said about you was hollow praise?" Barbara asked. "All those times we called you beautiful?"

Diana had in fact believed that. At first, she'd suspected that Hannah and Barbara were nothing more than sycophants, riding the coattails of the Cavendish heiress. She never would've expected that their devotion was indicative of attraction, that it wasn't her coattails they wanted to ride…

"It will take more than pretty words to achieve that," Diana huffed, attempting to mask her embarrassment.

"Is that a fact?" Hannah grinned. "Then what else should we do to make it happen?" She nuzzled at Diana's neck.

A shudder ran down Diana's front and settled in a very unsettling place. "I wasn't f-f-flirting back!"

"Are you sure?" Barbara asked, brushing back a loose lock of Diana's hair. "We'll back off if you say no, but aren't you even a little curious?"

Diana shivered for reasons which had nothing to do with the cold. "I'll admit to having an… intellectual curiosity." How could she not, the way Hannah and Barbara carried on with each other. She envied the intimacy they shared with one another.

"Then how about we give you a little practical demonstration?" Hannah toyed with the hem of Diana's bathrobe, her fingers ghosting over Diana's flushed skin.

"Come on, Diana," Barbara said. "Right now there's nothing between us but a couple of bathrobes." She snuggled closer. "Let us warm you up properly, Diana."

"Alright." Diana smiled awkwardly. "You two have been following me so long… I suppose it's only far that you take the lead for once."

"Is that a yes?" Hannah asked.

Diana had to keep herself from stuttering yet again. "Of course it is."

"A yes to what?" Barbara asked. "What do you want us to take the lead with?"

Diana nearly whimpered. "Are you going to make me say it?"

"We most certainly are," Hannah said. "It's best to be clear about these things."

"We wouldn't want to get the wrong idea," Barbara added.

"I want you both to take the lead with…" Diana bit her lip. "With teaching me about… intimacy." She was a little more than curious—she wanted to be touched. She wanted to be more than just admired from afar. "I… I don't want you girls to leave my bed tonight."

Hannah and Barbara exchanged excited glances. "That won't be a problem," Hannah said.

"We'll make sure you're so warmed up, you won't remember ever being cold," Barbara added.

Diana considered the next hour to be a very important educational experience. In fact, she enjoyed it so much that the morning after she dragged Hannah and Barbara back into her bed long enough that they were late to class. Their blushing as they made their excuses had little to do with their tardiness.

[neoraven]

Movies I Watched December and January

I wrote these at Letterboxd. There were a few I rated and had nothing to say. 

I’m trying to do a thing with 1997 / 20 years later. I started with Metro. It was going to be weekly. Oops.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back 2016 ★½  22 Jan, 2017 I was left wondering who was this movie for? Cobie Smulders keeps making great performances in things that don't deserve her. The ceiling of this is Bottom-Tier-Bourne-Sequel, made even more bizarre by Tom Cruise being a part of it.

Metro 1997 ★★★  20 Jan, 2017 20 Years Later. Movie #1 1/17/1997

Eddie Murphy, generally coasting on his Beverly Hills Cop coattails, stars as a hostage negotiator slash generic cop. This was Murphy's only movie after the huge success of The Nutty Professor in 1996. He lost to Beverly Hills Ninja over MLK Weekend at the box office. Michael Rappaport is hilariously miscast as a button down, bookish cop type protégé for Murphy to insult. Carmen Ejogo is the thankless girlfriend and damsel in distress. And finally, Donal Logue kind of stands out as the only actual hostage situation the hostage negotiator encounters.

So, the movie. Like I said, they drop the hostage negotiator thing pretty early as this shifts into a generic loose cannon cop chasing guy that killed his friend story that Eddie has done at least 5 times across 2 franchises. The script doesn't really give its star much time to shine and be funny, but Eddie Murphy is still Eddie Murphy and manages to liven up a dumb horse-betting subplot. The action sequences are pretty big, filling out a budget of $55 million. The largest involved a runaway cable car and more than a passing resemblance to Spider-Man 2.

It's a little generic and joyless, but just falls on the side of good for some of the random R-rated flourishes that manage to push this above being a star-studded Law & Order episode. His friend's stabbing death looked more like something out of Scream than an action movie. The director would go on to helm "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story".

Metro. The 65th most popular movie that year at the box office. A minor speed bump in Eddie Murphy's career that never really came together. Jettisoned into January, it still ended up a minor hit, almost recouping its bloated budget.

And it's the first I'm doing of this. Series? Project? Of looking back at 1997 releases 20 years later. I'm going to roughly try to go in chronological order, but I reserve the right to watch stuff whenever.

Blue Streak 1999 ★★★½  20 Jan, 2017 Lean and mean and very pleasantly above expectations. Also shoutout to the villain from The Mask still getting work.

Planet Terror 2007 ★★  19 Jan, 2017 Shoulda watched Death Proof.

Arrival 2016 ★★★★½  16 Jan, 2017 god-DAMN

La La Land 2016 ★★★★★  16 Jan, 2017 god damn it

Jason X 2001 ★  13 Jan, 2017 just lol

Wild Wild West 1999 ★★★  04 Jan, 2017 I dunno what Kenneth Branagh was paid, but it wasn't enough.

True Lies 1994 ★★★½  01 Jan, 2017 This is undoubtedly a great action movie. But the whole middle subplot with Bill Paxton is so gross.

Warcraft 2016 ★★  01 Jan, 2017 This wasn't as bad as I thought. It's even a little wild. But it feels like a prologue to something I never wanna see.

7 Days in Hell 2015 ★★★★½  31 Dec, 2016 I could not stop laughing during this. Kit Harrington surprised me.

Don’t Breathe 2016 ★★★★  30 Dec, 2016 I'm on board for every Fede Alverez/Jane Levy collaboration

The Accountant 2016 ★★★  29 Dec, 2016 Overstuffed, but well-shot. Felt like an entire season of television crammed into one long pilot episode. I don't mean that as an indictment of TV, more just the volume of subplots that could carry an episode on their own. Here they're reduced to 5-10 minutes, or throwaway lines and flashbacks.

The Accountant was frustrating. It wasn't very satisfying with the ending so open-ended, like a pilot. And a few of the good ideas and set ups are going to remain half-baked forever.

Inferno 2016 ★★  29 Dec, 2016 Tom Hanks' Bad Acid Trip starts out with some pretty unhinged visuals- death and people with backwards heads and such. The story settles down to being on the silly side of stupid, with Hanks' doctor reacting to an anagram with the zeal of a kid on Christmas morning early on. So I can't be too harsh here. But it's still pretty bad, even for Ron Howard.

Blackhat 2015 ★★★★½  28 Dec, 2016 I was enthralled.

Central Intelligence 2016 ★★½  26 Dec, 2016 Rock and Hart are fun, and there's a hint of an interesting and disturbing story at the edges here. But most of this is a mess. It just feels lazy and stop and go at times as the plot and tone yo-yo's all over the place. There are still some cool action sequences to be had with Dwayne Johnson, and plenty of funny parts as well. But it still never really comes together into something.

Also, worth noting that this is the third movie that has had an emotional climax by The Rock stripping himself naked to a crowd. Joins Walking Tall and Furious 7.

Ride Along 2 2016 ★★★  26 Dec, 2016 I loved the first one, and this was one gratuitous sequel that managed to be worthy. It's not that much more than a bigger, much slicker Law & Order episode. But the Kevin Hart/Ice Cube pairing goes a long way. Olivia Munn and Ken Jeong were fun additions to the group who I wouldn't mind seeing in a sequel a la Lethal Weapon. The action scenes were all really fun and varied. The videogame stuff is mostly annoying every time it's brought up, but the mix of visual effects in the car chase where Hart drives were undeniably cool.

The Night Before 2015 ★★★★  25 Dec, 2016 A++ Christmas Movie.

Bad Santa 2 2016 ★★½  25 Dec, 2016 Extremely lazy sequel wasting Octavia Spencer as a prostitute and Christina Hendricks as a sex object, but manages a surprising amount of laughs.

The Invitation 2015 ★★★★  24 Dec, 2016 I enjoyed this a great deal, and the ending shot is some classic shit.

Blair Witch 2016 ★★  23 Dec, 2016 It's essentially a remake and a sequel, but mostly brings the worst qualities of each to the table.

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 2000 ★★  23 Dec, 2016 Felt like a chopped and screwed remix of the first movie. But not really as fun as that would be literally.

The Blair Witch Project 1999 ★★★★  23 Dec, 2016 A classic.

The Purge: Election Year 2016 ★★★★  22 Dec, 2016 There's a lot going on here related to the actual election and what I'm sure the filmmakers thought was going to happen in November. Is this horror movie now the rosy fantasy that we'll look back on and pine for in 2019? I hope not, because I hope we'll have Purge 4, 5, and 6 by then. Or the TV show.

The Defender 1994 ★★★  21 Dec, 2016 "After all, I am an assassin, and you are just a lowly defender!"

Also I admire the tricks used to remove guns from parts of action sequences.

Deepwater Horizon 2016 ★★★★  21 Dec, 2016 There's a great and thrilling disaster movie here wedged between two embarrassing bookends. It starts with Mark Wahlberg's plucky daughter helpfully explaining the science* of his job/the premise. The real life epilogue with real testimony was also a bit too much. But at least there was the joy of seeing Trace Adkins' angry family member billed in the credits as "Massive Man".

*whatever technical basis or explanation for what happened got abandoned halfway through the big explosion

Mascots 2016 ★★★  18 Dec, 2016 Reheated Christopher Guest leftovers are still pretty good.

The Finest Hours 2016 ★★½  18 Dec, 2016 This is all very solid and okay. The parts not out at sea are an ANCHOR dragging the movie down.

Incarnate 2016 ★½  17 Dec, 2016 This movie is mostly a weird slog, and it never tries to look appealing. Most of the action takes place in dark rooms. And the term "action" is used loosely. Anyways, my hopes for Inception-laced Nightmare on Elm Street visions were dashed pretty quickly. But I did get a few chuckles out of the stupid science explanations and Aaron Eckhart's performance.

Masterminds 2016 ★★½  16 Dec, 2016 A smattering of very funny small performances and scenes. Nothing really comes together into a great laugh or exciting story. Jared Hess still is not a great comedy director. But this was way too disjointed and sloppy to really have a chance.

Spectral 2016 ★★★½  15 Dec, 2016 This movie tries on a few different hats, and wears them all just fine. You have a little bit of Aliens when the badass marine types take on the unthinkable force. It's Black Hawk Down when they take on the [fake spoiler alert] ghosts in the bombed-out city. James Badge Dale is even a little bit Tom Cruise from Edge of Tomorrow as the sci-fi type thrust onto the front lines. His transformation from fish out of water to hero stays pretty steady throughout the movie's different phases. Clayne Crawford, now of Lethal Weapon and Rectify fame, also has a slightly memorable turn as one of the ghostbusters.

I loved the mix, but it's obvious why this never found a release date, sat for months, and finally got shuttled off to Netflix. But it definitely isn't terrible.

Deadpool 2016 ★★  14 Dec, 2016 Near the end, "a CGI character" tells Deadpool about the four or five moments that make up being a superhero. Unfortunately, a few good moments do not make up a good superhero movie. For all of the sixteen walls that were supposedly shattered, this got old fast.

I don't think I can fully hate it. The few jokes that land are really good, and there's a general weird tone that is missing from most spandex movies. But I can't really like it either when it still shares the other boring 75% of every other spandex movie.

Hell or High Water 2016 ★★★★½  14 Dec, 2016 Fucking amazing. Except for a couple awkward heavy-handed lines. And I also had the thought during most of it, "what if there was a pair of bank robbers without polar opposite temperaments?" Like. They don't have to both be buttoned-down or both be "Ben Foster in every single movie i've ever seen", but, ya know.

Kickboxer: Vengeance 2016 ★★★  12 Dec, 2016 I'm probably more than a little swayed by the split screen during the credits imitating the JCVD dance moves from the first. The lead is kind of boring, but this still never really drags too long. It's really thankfully competent.

Jason Bourne 2016 ★★★  12 Dec, 2016 Alicia Vikander's amazing performance and Vincent Cassel kicking the vehicular mayhem up a couple notches in the final sequence is almost enough to make me forget the previous dour 90 minutes. Still not bad.

I Spit on Your Grave 1978 ★★★  11 Dec, 2016 I only watched the half where she slaughtered all the men.

Mechanic: Resurrection 2016 ★★½  10 Dec, 2016 I spent a significant portion of this movie thinking it was a Transporter reboot.

The Magnificent Seven 2016 ★★★★  09 Dec, 2016 Magnificent is a really strong word, but it was really, really good.

The Legend II 1993 ★★★  08 Dec, 2016 The sequel forfeited a little of its heart for bigger and more bombastic action sequences. It's still very funny, though, and a couple of the more elaborate fight scenes surpass anything in the original.

Ben-Hur 2016 ★★  08 Dec, 2016 The chariot race was extremely dope.

The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 1993 ★★★  04 Dec, 2016 There were some incredibly crazy-cool fight scenes.