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thethotwithoutfear · 6 years ago

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Aqui Estoy Mi Amor

Thor x Reader of Color

Word Count: 1, 797

Warnings: None

A/N: I was inspired to write this by a chat I had with a fellow woc about food being an underrated/underutilized love language in fics. I will admit the reader is expressing themselves through Latine cuisine/culture because its the culinary culture I’m most familiar with being a Latina myself. But please enjoy this never the less! The title is taken from a song of the same name sung by Lola Beltran

Summary: In the great upheaval that is now Thor’s life after the exodus of his people, he finds himself missing home more than ever, but the reader gives him a little piece of what home means to her as a means of comfort

It’d been a hard day, the weight of a lost Asgard seemed to sit much heavier upon Thor’s broad shoulders. Finding his people a new place to root and recover took its toll. In the midst of his countless conversations and delegations for some kind of compassion and help for his people, he’d found himself missing the comforts of home. But what was home now, for him at least?

Yes, Asgard was a people, his people, not a place. But sometimes the magic of home was an intricate tapestry of memory after memory, laced and intertwined into the fabric of so many familiar paths and rooms in which they are made. Sometimes on days as heavy as this, it seemed to him that home was truly lost. Home was shattered to pieces among the stars and the cold vastness of space. Home rested in their graves and roamed the halls of Valhalla.

But upon walking into his little apartment, Thor’s heart could not help but beat some rhythm of hope for home...

Within the humble walls of the place Thor simply saw as somewhere to rest his head, delightful smells and enticing aromas made the cold grip of sadness on his heart (and his stomach) melt. Only one such wizard of culinary delights could conjure up such a symphony of goodness, and he really could use even just a little of that goodness right now.

She was dancing. Humming along to one of those Spanish language tunes he’d heard her play on the radio often. The tortured crooning of a broken hearted songstress a great contrast to the smile on his beloved’s face as she set the table. Some new unexplored dish of delicious looking green sauce and pork made his stomach growl so loudly he’d blown his cover from the entryway. Her eyes sparkled as they landed on a bashful but tired looking Thor.

“Ay, Amorcito! The day was rough huh? You look exhausted” she said.

Ah-morrr-see-to…

The rolling of her tongue every time she'd called him that made a tingle of electricity dance merrily down his spine. He'd known what it meant when she'd called him that for the first time, but the delicate way in which she'd said it with bated breath in the night made it mean so much more.

She walked towards him as he nodded in reply, untying her favorite apron and draping it on the peeling kitchen island as she went. Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, face buried in his chest; Thor could not help but give a deep sigh.

He felt so deflated now, drained only to be refilled by the warmth of her. The pressures of the day expelling themselves slowly but not completely in one deep exhalation. She breathed in sync with him, her silent way of saying “I'm here. You're not alone”. She gazed up at his glacier blue eyes.

“Why don't you go shower sweetheart? Should soothe you some. And if that doesn't work maybe a good meal will! I cooked something special tonight. I had the day off so I thought I'd treat us both, plus your oven works better than mine” she said, with a gentle smile.

“I will my love,” he said, “Your food always makes me feel much better than any shower though. I won't keep you waiting.”

She let him go. Thor hurried to his room, peeling off clothes that felt as heavy as led somehow. With each layer he felt a little lighter and by the time he'd made it under the warm spray of the shower his body had found some great relief.

But that hollow longing knocked around in his mind still. Echoing just enough to still feel weighty as he got dressed in his most comfortable sweats and t shirt. He hoped a good meal would silence it just enough to sleep through the night at least.

When he made it back, Y/N was still dawdling in the kitchen, checking the oven timer with what he thought was giddy anticipation. A delicious sweetness lingered in the air, it might have been the best thing Thor had ever smelled.

The little egg shaped timer suddenly rang. Y/N grabbed the oven mits at lightning speed, carefully pulling out what looked like a cookie sheet with two ramekins on it. A smile more brightly than any he’d ever seen lit up her face as she delicately set the ramekins on a cooling rack.

“What IS that?” he asked, stomach rumbling awfully loud again. There was no mistaking it was a question asked in hungry curiosity and not possible disgust.

“I'll tell you about it later! For now let's eat and let these cool” she said.

As Thor sat down at the table, his eyes wandered over the delights before him. In one pot was a heavenly looking dish of bright green sauce with carefully stewed pork riblets. In another pair of pots, fluffy and delicious arroz rojo and perfect refried beans steamed coaxingly. And to Thor’s delight, her homemade flour tortillas. This really was a special meal.

The sauce, she explained, was a rich mixture of tomatillos and serrano peppers with just the right amount of garlic. Thor practically groaned when the hardy and bright flavors coated his tongue, even the sting of the chillies was oddly satisfying. She giggled at the growing redness and perspiration of his face.

“I didn't even make it that spicy! My mom would call you lengua de gato if she were here,” she said, “This was my favorite dish growing up, she'd only make it on Tuesdays for some reason. We could never figure out why.”

There was a far away but happy look on her face. The memory of home made her shine just a little brighter. It made Thor wish he'd known the charming little girl she must of been when he was just a boy himself.

They continued to eat their dinner in comfortable conversation; Y/n coaxing out the reason for Thor's blues after threatening to not let him have anymore flour tortillas. He’d been practically inhaling them at that point.

The remaining global authorities it seemed, did not want to grant the Asgardian people permission to establish the small area of Norway they’d settled as a permanent home. They'd tried to threaten Thor with pulling all aid should he succeed in doing such a thing. This rightfully saddened y/n too, angered her in fact.

“Using people's basic necessities and human rights as a bargaining chip is despicable,” she practically growled out, “Can’t they see everyone is finally starting to make progress, to start seeing the possibilities for a new life? Just the other day we managed to help a few more Asgardian citizens find jobs. Thor you should've seen how happy and hopeful they looked! It would have made days like today worth it, mi amor. You're doing so well, I promise you are. And your people love you, they know you're doing your best.”

He reached across the table to grasp her hand. Thumb rubbing delicate circles in the soft brown skin there. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it softly. She'd truly been the best thing about his life on earth.

He gave another sigh, a tired smile on his face. “Thank you love. Sometimes it feels like my best is not enough. And it isn't, not till my people feel they are welcome and safe here. Not till earth feels like home.”

He kissed her hand again, holding his lips there for just a little longer, only to hold it to his face tenderly. It was more for his comfort than hers.

“Thor, do you know why I made this tonight?”

He shook his head; she smiled softly now at him, pressing her free hand to his other cheek tenderly.

“I wanted to give you a little piece of my home, of what it meant to me. The food of my people is rich with welcome, with love and pride. But these things in particular remind me of the person who made home mean something to me. I don't ever want you to lose sight of what your home meant to you” she said.

She got up slowly, her hand falling away as she moved to the kitchen. He sat there confused for a moment as he heard her rummage through the kitchen again.

She returned with a simple white plate in hand, one of the ramekins placed upside down on it. She set it before him, carefully lifting the ramekin as the loveliest dessert Thor has ever seen gracefully plopped down upon it.

On the plate sat a small but elegant plateau of caramel draped custard, golden and lovely as a yellow sunset. It sat there like a jewel enticing Thor to take a bite. But instead,he looked at her, a strange need for permission in his eyes. She simply nodded.

He’d never had anything as delectable as this soft yellow desert. The delicate custard melted in his mouth. A burst of nutty caramel sauce enchanted his tongue, the slightly burnt quality of it only enhanced its flavor. It was as sweet as the kiss from the woman who’d made it and it made him just as happy too.

Thor had truly never had anything quite as delicious in all his years, and most importantly he’d never tasted love so profoundly in a piece of food in all his life. He felt it nourish his soul with every bite, scaring away the loneliness in his heart and mind like sunshine breaking through storm clouds.

She simply watched him eat. The grey in his eyes began to lift. The blue jewels of his irises becoming clear again. A small dusting of rose sat on his cheeks.

“When I was little and I'd come home crying from school, my mother would make me this flan. I didn't understand back then just why it was my favorite but the older I got the more I realized it was because it was her way of saying she loved me. My mama was my home, she was my safe place to come home to. The walls we lived in were nothing without her. I want to be that for you Thor, if you want me” she said.

He looked up from his plate, eyes glossy with the beginning of tears. He gazed at her for a moment, taking in the light of such a kind, loving woman. A tint of peach graced the brown of her cheeks and worry seemed to paint the crease in her brow. He took her face in his hands and kissed her softly, concern evaporating as quickly as it had come. Her lips parting slightly as he slipped his tongue in gently as smoke. And when they’d parted, he simply said:

“Querida, you taste like home already”...

#thor x reader #thor x you #thor x reader of color #thor #thor odinson

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Tesla Review: Ethan Hawke’s Spark of Madness

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Thomas Edison was often called the Wizard of Menlo Park. Which is to say that most Americans in the late 19th century viewed his patented incandescent lightbulb as a thing of magic, one so otherworldly it inspired the title of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. Yet much like the magician of that fantasy tale, the real-life wizard wasn’t the man behind the curtain; it was Nikola Tesla, the sphinxlike Serbian immigrant who discovered alternating electrical currents and, depending on who you ask, radio waves. If Edison was a wizard, then Tesla was something else entirely—an alien being sent down to imagine the face of the 20th century for us.

These singular contributions inform much of Michael Almereyda’s peculiar idea of a biographical film. Because, yes, despite its many eccentricities, Tesla is very much a biopic, and one just as bizarre as the genius of its title: a man who improved on Edison’s invention and then signed the legal rights of his alternating current generator away. The film chronicles this with its own idiosyncrasies, such as an intentionally artificial painted background here or a fourth-wall breaking aside there. At one point, his possible lover even pulls out a laptop to do a Google search on Tesla, all while discounting the popular photoshopped image of him walking through lightning—that’s a fiction for something out of Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. The film you’re watching now, by contrast, wants to conjure an earthier, more esoteric magic.

It’s an evocative concept that makes for a postmodern collage about the man. Yet the spell it casts is fleeting and ultimately disappointing; Tesla is a movie that can be arresting in the moment, but remains as remote and elusive as its enigmatic subject matter.

Told with a free-wheeling narrative that jumps between the 1880s and ‘90s, the movie flips from the period where Tesla (Ethan Hawke) first fails to integrate in New York’s Edison Machine Works, owned by Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLachlan), to his dubious partnership with George Westinghouse (Jim Gaffigan). It also makes time for his doomed courtship of Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson), daughter of J.P. Morgan (Donnie Keshawarz), and even allows Anne to narrate the film as both a party clouded by Tesla’s genius, and as the omnipotent narrator who sees his self-destructive tendencies clearly.

But this emotional connection is less a through line than the easiest way to track the changes in Tesla’s life. Anne is there to see his rise as the immigrant wunderkind in New York society and then his slow and steady fall from notoriety, including when he becomes convinced that the radio technology he’s pioneering allows him to speak to Martians. Still, these elements amount to more a collection of anecdotes about Tesla’s life and times than a concrete narrative. With that said, they give Hawke a lot to play with.

Buried under a severe mustache, Hawke is effectively impenetrable as Nikola. Without paying a moment’s notice to the inventor’s famous accent, Hawke recedes so convincingly into Tesla that it’s as if he spends the whole movie staring out of a cavern, a bat in perpetual hibernation waking only long enough to judge us. It’s also complemented by MacLachlan’s understated but immensely enjoyable turn as Edison. Playing the temperamental capitalist as a confidence man who’s come to foolishly believe his own hustle, MacLachlan’s frequent showdowns with Hawke, including the first scene of the film, are when the movie sparks to life.

The pair have worked together before in an Almereyda film, the 2000 modernization of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. And like that film, Tesla wants to distill a well-known drama, in this case the American current wars, to their most symbolic essence. Also like that interpretation of Hamlet, the approach leaves something to be desired.

With a self-aware wink, Tesla revels in the imagery and myths that the electrical age ushered in. That goes from actual tall tales, such as Tesla allegedly throwing ice cream at Edison—a story Tesla both dramatizes and then immediately announces via voiceover as being a lie—to the invention of the Tesla coil looking like something out of James Whale’s Frankenstein movie: a picture that used literal Tesla coils as props. From matte backgrounds to sequences where Nikola’s ambitions can only be articulated by Hawke holding a yet-to-be-invented microphone and singing Tears for Fears, these elements are meant to add color and texture to a historic figure immortalized by black and white photography.

But they also turn capable performances and interesting scenes into underutilized tools that have been deployed across an electrical grid in a haphazard fashion. Rather than truly illuminate Tesla’s interior life or mind, these quirks obfuscate him behind a more artful type of special effect.

To be sure, the singular vision of Tesla is eye-catching, and in the end more luminous than a generic biopic like last year’s The Current War on roughly the same subject matter, but this fascinating story still feels underserved.Curiously, there was a third movie in recent development about these heady times, one based on Graham Moore’s terrific novel The Last Days of Night. I’m not sure if it’ll actually be filmed at this point after two movies on the subject in about as many years have seen the light of day, but like industrialists in the decades before the invention of the lightbulb, we know all the pieces are there to make something extraordinary. Hopefully, someone will finally be able to put them together in an electrifying manner one day.

The post Tesla Review: Ethan Hawke’s Spark of Madness appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2E9dPdu

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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housebeleren · 6 years ago

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Dominaria New Commanders

Yeah, I know I’m way behind. I’m gonna try to blaze through the Dominaria posts super fast at this point, skip M19 pretty much altogether, so I can jump back into what’s current.

But first Dominaria. Which means let’s look at new Commanders! Obviously there are a metric shit-ton in Dominaria, given that Legendary is a thing, so let’s just get right into it! Obviously, I’ll be looking at these from a 75% perspective, as always.

It makes sense to start with these two, since they’re the Buy-a-Box promo for the set. First of all, I’m just going to say that I hate that the Buy-a-Box promos are unique cards. This card is sitting at around $15, and that’s only because they’re... honestly not that great. Can you imagine if the card were something that were playable in Standard or Modern? They’d be over $50 easily!

Anyway, as far as being a general is concerned, I do like them. They’re fully 75% playable, and they bring a different aspect to Boros, which is a very underutilized color combo in EDH. Them costing 6 mana to play is unfortunate, because making them a bit smaller body as a 4-drop would make them a great general. But for casual tables, they’re brilliant.

Let’s not kid ourselves, this card was made for Commander. It has nothing to do with the set or mechanics, but is just a sweet design for EDH. Enough has already been written about Muldrotha that I don’t need to get into it. I think the design is clever for Sultai, and there will be plenty of ways to break it. Nuff said.

Darigaaz has the other problem, which is that he really plays like a Limited bomb rather than an EDH general. The trouble is in these colors you have Prossh and Karthus, both of which are better Jund dragons. Even original Darigaaz is kinda a better commander. Waiting 3 turns to get him back is just not how EDH works.

Broken. Combotastic. I’ve already seen Jhoira decks that made me want to vomit. The fact of the matter is that it’s so easy to go infinite off an ability like this, given the prevalence of cheap artifacts in Magic’s history. She also slots perfectly into Breya decks, as if they needed any more reasons to be bullshit.

Let’s not kid ourselves. Verix was designed for Standard, which is unfortunate, since Lyra is currently making Verix look cute and pathetic. Verix is a Limited bomb, but honestly not Commander material.

New Multani is interesting. My first impression is that he belongs as one of the 99 in a Lands deck, like Gitrog. But there’s actually some weird Voltron potential here. Stick him in a crazy ramp build and just run over your opponents. I could see it in casual circles.

Lyra is the real shit. She’s dominating Standard, and on top of that, she’s arguably playable if you’re looking to make mono-White Angels a thing. Avacyn is still the best EDH angel, but she is an 8-drop. Lyra comes down way earlier and makes your deck threatening until you get to your bombs. So there may be something here.

If she hadn’t been restricted to spells you control, I’d have been sold on Blue Dualcaster. As it is, she seems like mediocre filler for an Inalla deck, and mediocre-er filler for a spellslinger deck. I’d even run the Uncommon Adeliz as a general over Naru Meha, and that’s saying something. Cute in Draft tho.

Aside from having a ridiculous name (seriously, say “Belzenlok” five times fast), this guy has some potential. I’m not seeing him as a general, but as an inclusion in the 99 of decks like Rakdos, Lord of Riots, or other Demon tribal, he’s pretty solid.

Jodah is another one that was built for EDH, no question. I would’ve liked to see him at 4/4 and out of Bolt range, but whatever. I’m putting him at the head of my Superfriends deck, for sure, no questions asked. Besides that, there are some really cool builds for him to cast massive threats like Eldrazi titans and such for cheap. Seems good, but not actually broken, which is where I like my buildaround generals to live.

Aryel is slow and not super impactful, but Knights tribal is jank anyway, and she’s probably the best general they’ve got at this point. I’d make a 50% version of this deck.

Radha seems pretty sweet. I could definitely see her heading up an interesting tokens build, with the ultimate goal to burn out opponents with massive mana spells. That said, I don’t think she’ll see competitive play anytime soon.

Oh, you forgot about Niambi, didn’t you? It’s the first time they’ve printed a new Legend in a Planeswalker deck, so I’m not surprised. Honestly, Niambi is a huge miss, mechanically, as many have already commented. Having her only job be to go find a dude to take care of things is pretty inexcusable. They could have at least given her an ability like: “Tap: Prevent 1 damage to any target,” as a way to protect the Planeswalker she went and found. But whatever. If Teferi, Timebender were a better card, I could actually see running this as a weird jank deck where you just keep ultimating him then bringing him back with Niambi. But he’s basically garbage without being able to abuse his ultimate, and that’s hard to do in these colors without Doubling Season. I think there’s an infinite combo here with Niambi, Teferi, Deepglow Skate, and Deadeye Navigator. That sounds definitely like a reasonable plan, right?

Shalai is the real deal. At first glance, she reminds me of Sigarda, though the fact that she doesn’t have Hexproof herself makes me think of a different build. Instead of Voltron, I’d try to create some sort of Hatebear control deck with accidental infinite mana combos. Either way, angels are always popular, and Selesnya hasn’t gotten a ton of great generals recently, so I expect some people to be excited for Shalai.

Oof. 7 mana? Really? At 6, this would still be basically unplayable. Stick with Olivia if R/B Vampires is your schtick. I mean... fine. I guess there’s some sort of weird Pestilence Voltron build here somewhere, but that seems... not great.

Evra is really an interesting design, but I would have liked it a lot more at 4 or 5 mana, since 6 is just so punishing for a general with no protection. Even so, it’s a long shot for this to see any play outside of limited. If it does, it would be some sort of odd win condition in a lifegain deck.

Josu is amazing in the 99 of a Zombies build. As a general, he’s a little underwhelming, but I suppose if you’re looking for mono black go-wide you could do worse.

Marwyn is interesting. She leans towards a go-wide Voltron direction, which is a little strange, but works for Elfball. I don’t think she’s going to supplant Freyalise or Ezuri anytime soon, but she’ll also work well in the 99 of those builds too.

Well, Inalla got a new best friend. There’s basically no reason to run him as a general, but he’s going to be great in the 99.

We all love Squee, and this version of Squee actually has some potential. I can absolutely imagine putting Squee into some builds of Purphoros, and he’ll do work in Food Chain variants of Prossh. As a general himself, he’s a little weak and seems like a poor version of Norin.

I dunno... this card intrigues me. There’s potentially some sort of strange reanimator build here, but unfortunately a lot of the targets you’d really want are larger than 3 CMC. I could definitely see this seeing use in a Captain Sisay build, getting back all the cheap legendaries you’re looking for.

Okay, hear me out, but I think Torgaar is potentially a totally viable Big Black general. With a few cheap, recurrable creatures, you can land Torgaar pretty early. But more importantly, with a Wound Reflection out, you can one-shot somebody. It’s a little jank, to be sure, but anytime there’s “one card” combos like this, it’s worth taking seriously.

This card is for limited & maybe Standard. No way is a vanillia flier seeing EDH play.

I know I just said a vanilla creature isn’t going to see EDH play, but a 7/7 artifact creature for only 4 mana is pretty intriguing. Even just as a beater in Jhoira decks, this could see something.

Alright, now that we’re in the Uncommons, I’m not going to go through all of them, since they’re mostly just limited fodder. Adeliz is one of the 10 archetype signpost cards, and she’s the real deal. And as far as a R/U Wizards general, there’s actually some potential here. I mean, Wizards will always live in Inalla’s shadow, but if you’re in the market for a more aggressive tempo version, Adeliz is your girl.

Garna is really interesting. There’s a reanimator build in here somewhere, but it does seem a little pricy to be super viable.

Hallar is also super interesting. There’s not quite enough good Green or Red Kicker cards to really turn this on, but with a few more printed, there could be a real ramp build in here.

There’s a really interesting design here. Given the dearth of Sagas, I think this is really likely to be an Artifact build. Giving all your Artifacts Flash is a good way to keep the opposition guessing, and the potential to win out of nowhere. I could definitely see this doing something.

Another super interesting design. There’s some similarity to Mairsil here, though obviously a lot more restrictive. But if I were feeling ambitious, I could try to build something around her.

Slimefoot is the real deal. This little guy is a super strong contender for best Saproling commander printed. He’s a self-fueling machine, and a great general.

Tatyova seems like a great addition to just about any Simic deck. Playing Lands and drawing cards is exactly what the colors want to do. She’s probably best in the 99, but could head up a deck herself if you’re so inclined.

Don’t get me wrong, Tiana isn’t...great. That said, I’m really excited for them to be exploring this space for R/W, since so many Boros generals are purely focused on combat. I’d love for them to keep designing cards in this vein.

Whisper is sorta a variant on Hell’s Caretaker, but with more flexible timing coming at the expense of requiring multiple creatures. That said, I don’t think Whisper is going to be great at the helm of his own deck, but definitely could be a role player in the 99 of reanimator builds.

Aaaand then there’s Yargle. Somehow, this bizarre little guy became one of the most iconic cards of the set, spawning memes left and right. And you bet your ass I went right ahead and built myself a Yargle deck. Is it good? Not a chance. Did I put in Hatred and Tainted Strike for quick one-shot dickpunch wins? Fuck yeah.

So that’s basically it. There are a few more, but not that will have any impact on the format. With that, I’m wrapping up, and I’ll wrap up Dominaria shortly here as well.

#mtg #mtg commander #dominaria #magic the gathering

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