#would love to write an interaction between loki and adam | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bluelockednyx · 2 years ago

Note

thoughts on lunasae? u have them listed in your pairings, i was wondering if u could elaborate on them more specifically. i'm still conflicted on the pair myself. sometimes, i think it'd be a cute and funny ship that id love to see more content for. other times, it feels like it'd be wayy too draining to put anyone in a relationship with luna (probably just my own personal biases speaking though. it's tiring to deal with people who are so… backhanded. but i feel sae would probably handle his personality better since he doesnt really seem to take shit passively). i can see them as a couple… but like, one that's gonna break up in the future? or just a relationship where they just have the occasional hookup or sumn? idk, thats why im so interested on what u may have to say abt it. im also curious as to why u may like it over something like shidousae

An ask for my other shipping log in Blue Lock!!!!

As always, a ton of rambling, so it's behind the read more.

On Shidou / Sae: they're on the lower end of my ship interest ranking, simply because there’s nothing in their interactions that particularly compel me towards them (those superbly gay lines to each other aside), and there’s not much of Shidou’s character design that interest me. My initial impression of him was some sort of spoof on the gyaruo subculture, and it really hasn’t changed much, hypersexualisation included. If there’s more stuff between them, or more development of either of them in the future I might get more invested, but for now I think that Lunasae could have a far more interesting dynamic and narrative, even if the authors don’t take it to where I think they could.

I get why you say that Luna is possibly tiring to deal with in a relationship. The way he talked to Rin? Not everyone can accept that kind of sarcasm and way of talking. But there’s quite a bit more to his character, even in his very, very brief appearance in the manga. It could really just be me overthinking things as usual, but I don’t think so. There’s some subtlety both in his character design and depiction that suggests that he is a character that has been given a fair bit of thought by the authors, so I’m running off of that. This is gonna be a little all over the place, so bear with me.

As a very, very minor character, there’s not much screen time for Luna, but there’s a ton of stuff we can extrapolate from his very brief appearance.

His interactions with Rin in the vs World 5 miniarc is really fun from a writing perspective. On the surface and in a quick skim through, the impression that he gives off is that he’s sarcastic and rude, but his actions with Rin in the mini arc tell a different story. He first deescalated Rin’s provocations (to Rin’s benefit, might I add) and neatly keeps Dada, Pablo and Adam from Rin after that by turning Rin’s attention, and Rin’s ire, onto himself. And how does he do it? By talking about Sae, praising Sae, even, to Rin’s face and saying he’s looking forward to see how Rin does.

During the match he gives Rin valid criticism and points out his weaknesses, and towards the end after Isagi and co. have given up on winning the match, while Rin is still trying to win, he even goes so far as to say he’ll face Rin sincerely. After he scores the last goal, he immediately reassures them as well, reminding them that this is an evaluation, and that they were never expected to win. He even tells them (foreshadows?) to meet in an official match next time. All in all, I think Luna has a sharp tongue on the surface, but he’s also pretty subtly caring with a certain level of emotional maturity and astuteness at handling conflict. Also seems to be a bit offbeat, judging by how Loki had to point out that he was being rude for him to apparently notice it.

I’m gonna dive a little more into meta about character design, since there really is so little we have about him in the story right now.

I’m going to start off with his name: Leonardo Luna. Luna was the part that really jumped out at me first, because one of the most common uses of Sae’s given name, the Japanese kanji, is to describe nights and shine, e.g. 冴えた夜、冴え輝く, both of which well, can be easily linked to the moon, thus Luna. The moon shines brightest in a clear night, after all. :D

For Leonardo, the meaning is lion-heart, and there’s a ton of positive connotations with the name of course, mostly to do with bravery, but I also like the implied meaning of a lion at the head of its pride, caring for the cubs and its pride members etc.

Then Leonardo’s nickname: the Noble of Real Madrid. Probably something in there about how he’s probably noble-hearted, tying into his given name, but there could also be something about Leonardo being a Madrileño and perhaps a legacy player of sorts, with older family who had made names for themselves in the sport too.

I’ve said before that I like them as an asshole x asshole ship, though in all fairness that’s pretty much all of the Blue Lock characters and ships. Just thinking of the both of them being judgy assholes together is hilarious to me, along the veins of Sae outright insulting someone to their face and meaning it, then Luna at first seeming to come to the other person’s face, then delivers another backhand insult way worse than Sae’s without intending to be rude is a comedy bit for me.

From what little we’ve seen of Luna, he seems to be a little fond of teasing people. Maybe a bit fond of leading people around the nose, with the way he played against Rin that time. I think that Sae is okay with that. Sae doesn’t give Shidou a hard time for any of it in the U20 match, even going along with it, somewhat. The only time he got pissed was when Shidou leapt onto his back without permission after Shidou got his second goal. When Oliver outmaneuvered him, Sae too, went along with it and continued playing in the match.

I think they both appreciate the hard truth, and have a pretty level-headed view of things overall (arguably you can’t get far in competitive sports without being able to do that, but y’know). Leonardo certainly doesn’t hesitate to say that he believes a Spanish guy could win in sumo more easily than Japan could win the World Cup in football, and its the same poor opinion that Sae himself has about Japanese football. They’re both also pretty decent at guiding/giving advice to others – I’d even say that Leonardo and Sae had some parallels to each other when they were with Rin and Shidou in the World 5 miniarc + U20 arc respectively, talking about Rin and Shidou’s weaknesses and how they needed to get better.

They’re both also more subtle with how they care for people, and we can see it in how they treat Rin. I just talked about how Luna looked out for Rin in the World 5 miniarc, but Sae is similar too. I’ve talked about how Sae treated Rin badly, but he’s still mostly a good brother to Rin: he didn’t scold Rin when Rin interrupted his match when they were children, he played and pushed Rin to be better with him, before he went to Madrid he was worried about how Rin would do without him since it’s implied Rin has never played without him up till that point. He would have ditched the U20 match after seeing Rin score, even saying that he has ‘seen what he wanted to see’, which strongly implies he just wanted to see Rin doing well with the Blue Lock project. He also thinks very highly of Rin’s capabilities, and his word choice shows as much when he talks about Isagi to Rin at the end of the U20 match (RIP Rin for not understanding the subtlety and having better insight to Sae’s thoughts).

Luna mentioned Sae specifically to Rin. It could be simply a minor detail more to distract Rin than anything, but I’m inclined to think that Luna has watched, or maybe trained a bit with Sae before despite the age gap. It’s not unlikely, since Sae is one of the best young talents around within Real’s Youth system. Clubs try to train up their own people irl and move them up if they have potential. There’s probably some level of regard he has for Sae there. On a more speculative note: I wonder if the authors are implying that Luna took the part-time job with Blue Lock because he was interested in Sae’s interest. Sae cancelled his return flight to Spain just to observe the Blue Lock project. It would have made some buzz in Real, especially if Sae is a core figure of Real’s youth team and that well-regarded, which I believe he is.

Also, Luna’s a world-class player, I can’t imagine Sae considering his butt as unattractive lmao.

Beyond that, I think Luna could be a fantastic foil to Sae, if the authors take it that way. Given the name etymology I discussed above, it would be amazing to have their stories paralleling each others: Leonardo, as a true blue Madrileño, growing up and achieving international success in his hometown and home team, vs the struggles that Sae had to go through while living out the basic immigrant story: of searching for greener pastures overseas to fulfill his dream, the hardships from living in a very different culture etc. Potentially quite a bit of drama, such as microaggressions, racism + bullying, the need to work twice as hard to prove himself to get at the same starting point others already are, the child exploitation that exists behind the whole sports youth system; basically a side commentary of a ton of social issues, which, again, I kind of doubt they’ll dive deeply into. It’s a bit too heavy, I think, for your average shonen sports manga, but who knows.

Then there’s the whole bit of the career paths both have chosen and are succeeding in: Luna as a world-class forward, and Sae as a genius midfielder part of the current generation's world-level players. There’s a fair amount of conflict and, well, story that could be in there too. We have nothing yet about the full reasoning behind Sae’s decision to change his dream, so *shrug* imagination, here I come.

Also I wonder why all the forwards Sae's been shown to play with, besides Rin, are blonde. Hmm?? Hinting at something, Kaneshiro-sensei??? Does Sae have A Type beyond the butts???

On the shippier side, I do believe they can have a pretty easygoing dynamic going on between them. A lot of easy banter, not quite like Shidou and Sae's conversations in the U20, but similar. They both definitely like the high life too, and I wouldn't put it past them to be the type who'd have super expensive dates and have them on a whim too, like, idk, a spur-of-the-moment trip to Paris or something.

And there's the typical drama involved with an age-gap relationship, plus the side dishes of navigating an interracial relationship, and a queer one, in a pretty homophobic environment overall. Especially when you remember that Sae himself is a perfectionist. It's an excellent bedrock for all sorts of character and ship dynamic explorations. All fun stuff to explore and think about.

TLDR; I like their individual aesthetics. I like what we’ve seen of their individual personalities. I like the potential they could have, both their commonalities and their differences. There’s a lot of story that could be there between them, and I have a ton of fun imagining dumb shippy and not-so-shippy stuff between them. So that’s why I ship Lunasae.

#niki answers asks #lunasae #tqvm for this ask i've been dying to talk about their narrative potential in-series #shippy or not they can be INTERESTING #and that's enough for me

14 notes · View notes

mrs-dragneel-stark-solo · 5 years ago

Text

Unforseen Chasm (part28)

Part 28 of Unforseen Chasm

Prompt: Two sisters fall for men that are absolute enemies. The love they have could tear all of them apart, or it could bring them together. Word Count: 4516 Warnings: language, fighting, arguing, jealousy, trust issues, torture flashbacks,angst

song for this part: Time-NF Note: This is by far the longest thing I’ve ever written (including my other fic series). first major Collab with my best friend @thorne93 what was first a simple “what if” moment turned into a two year writing session and I’ve never been more prouder of myself than when i started my first series. goes through most of the MCU plots there are some changes to accommodate for what we wanted and there is a bit of a crossover between the MCU and other characters. I hope you guys enjoy reading this just as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The day had finally come for you to leave the cell. When Shannon had told you she got all the obstacles tackled, you were in awe. How did she convince Fury to let you out? Then again, it seemed everyone did whatever Shannon asked of them.

But she had told you that you being out had to be a secret and to do your best not to be seen by anyone. This was strictly a need to know basis, and so far, only five people knew.

It was early morning when Shannon came down to receive you. She was on the phone with someone, when suddenly Kurt appeared in your cell. It made Loki jump slightly and frown. He probably wasn’t expecting it. You had to make the escape fast so no one would see it on the cameras so you kissed Loki quickly, and Kurt grabbed your hand, and you were suddenly in an SUV with pitch black tinted windows.

“Thanks, Kurt,” you said with a smile as you saw who was driving. “Hi, Steve,” you greeted with a coy smile.

“I will see you at the mansion, ya?” Kurt said, his accent heavy.

“See you there.”

And with that, he was gone.

Shannon was still in the cell room, talking to Loki. “I am not sure when we’ll be back, but if you could do your Loki thing and cast an illusion of Y/N/N while we’re gone…”

“I’m already ahead of you,” he stated with a smile as a carbon copy of you walked out of the bedroom, reading something.

“That’s… incredibly unsettling,” she commented. She shivered and shook her head, then gave him a beaming smile. “But, for our purposes, it’s great. Thank you.”

“Anything I can do to help.”

She grinned, nodded, and left, meeting you in the SUV, sitting in the passenger seat.

“Are we really supposed to trust you?” Steve asked, catching your eyes in the rearview mirror.

“No,” Shannon stated, and you started to feel disappointment run over you before she added, “You’re supposed to trust me.”

This made you smile quietly to yourself in the backseat.

Steve checked the traffic, and then pulled out. In order to alleviate some of the tension in the car, Shannon turned on the radio and the ride upstate was rather… pleasant. You stared out at the city the entire way, taking in people, the way they talked, moved, walked. It was amazing how several months without much human interaction could really make you go stir crazy. You were hungry for all the lights, the noises, the sights… Even watching people walking a dog, or grabbing coffee made you smile.

The ride upstate turned from the city, to the country and it was just as stunning as the city. Asgard was like a golden heaven, it truly was beautiful, but all you had known for nearly the past two years was one desolate, windy rock, and an isolated cell with four rooms.

As soon as you turned into the familiar drive, you were nearly like a kid arriving at Disney World. You could hardly contain the excitement. Once Steve parked the car, you jumped out, making him nervous.

“Woah,” he said, getting out and holding his hand up.

“What?” you asked, confused.

“Just...slow down,” he said, eyeing you.

“Yes, Captain,” you said with a polite smile as you folded your hands behind your back and stepped in front of him, so that he could keep an eye on you as Shannon went up to the door and knocked. Storm let the three of you inside, where you stood in the foyer, trying to remember the last time you’d come here.

In an instant, it seemed like the foyer was filled with X-Men. Kurt had appeared, Jean and Scott came up holding hands, Logan, Jubilee, and Marie were all there. Charles arrived only a second later, where he and Shannon traded a hug and he smiled to you, welcoming you back to the mansion.

“Thank you, Professor,” you said sweetly before glancing to Jean and bounding over to her. “Jean! Scott!” you greeted wrapping them both in a tight embrace.

“And just where is my hello?” A cajun drawl suddenly pulled your attention away.

Your head snapped up to the top of the stairs where Remy stood, a shit eating grin on his face.

“Remy!” you all but squealed, dashing up the stairs to greet him.

Without any warning, Steve launched into his super soldier mode and took off quickly. He hurled over the circular wooden table in the middle of the foyer, knocking over the vase full of flowers, before he bounded up the stairs and grabbed your biceps, pulling them behind you.

“What the--?” you asked calmly, looking to see what had just happened. “Steve? What the hell, man? Let me go. I’m just trying to hug my friend.”

The X-Men shared a look of strong confusion, but Charles simply waved it off.

“Steve, it’s okay, let her go,” Shannon commanded. “She’s known Remy for a long time.”

Remy gave Steve an incredulous look before Steve stepped back one step and let you go. Ignoring your perplexion over the event that just occurred, a warm smile spread on your face and you wrapped your arms around Gambit.

“How have you been?” you asked.

“Uh, Y/N/N, we need to utilize our time here,” Shannon reminded, making you turn around.

“What? Hmm, oh! Right! Point me wherever I need to go,” you said happily.

Charles spoke up. “Jean, Logan, and Remy, go with Y/N. Shannon, my dear, you can come with me and Scott.”

With that, everyone went their separate ways. Charles escorted Shannon to the large training room, while Steve, Logan, Remy, and Jean showed you to another training room underground in the backyard.

----------

When Charles got settled in, he began questioning Shannon.

“So when did this start?”

“I think it was around the time I ran into… what was that kid’s name that had the emotional power? Where he could feel what people felt?” she asked.

“Ah.. Adam, the empath,” he remembered. “And you think that’s what’s wearing on you?”

She shrugged lightly. “It’s the only thing I noticed. When I use any of my powers, I get a little weak. But it’s nothing like what’s compared to when I have an emotional high or low,” she informed.

“Interesting… so the powers themselves aren’t bothering you, but your emotions are wearing on you?”

She bobbed her head side to side.

Just then the infamous Wade Wilson comes skipping in having heard that his favorite none avenger was in the mansion.

“ Spicy Buttercup!” he stops right in front of her and lifts her off the ground in a strong hug. “It’s been way too long since the last time I saw you.” he mock pouts knowing she wouldn’t believe it.

“Too tight….Wade” she gets out feeling light headed from his surprisingly strong grip. “Hah! Wow it has been a while also you never come by I told you, you’re always welcome.” she brushes her hair back and takes a deep breath in.

Steve had moved to stand closer unaware that the man in the mask was a friend of Shannon’s. “If you could not do that, it would be very appreciative.” he said in a stern tone noticing how she was taking a moment to catch her breath. “We’re a little busy at the moment, would you mind letting us get back to it?”

“Well hello to you too star spangled man,” he snorts and bumps his shoulder with her. “What’s up his butt?” he shakes his head and looks to Shannon for an answer. “Did stark finally get you a babysitter!” he laughs at his own joke.

“Hahaha very funny Wade, and no Steve’s just a little protective of me with my powers going haywire lately.” she bumps her shoulder back into his. “And Steve has a point there’s something that we are doing that's a little more important.” She makes it to move near Charles.

“Hey wait a darn damn minute!” he playfully scowls. “How come everyone else gets to hang with you and I don’t?” he cocks his head to the side. “I thought I was the fun friend.”

“Wade.. you are the fun friend.” she giggles at his expressions behind his mask. “How about this you let me do this and we can hang out and watch a movie or something?” she offers hoping it’ll satisfy the man-child

“Alright fine! But the moment they finish I'm stealing you away!” he claims looking at everyone to let them know he was serious. “Your treat by the way I’ll be in the background letting all you guys work.” he gives Shannon a peck on the cheek and moves to give them space.

“Okay doll you get your stuff done i’m gonna go keep an eye on Y/N make sure she’s keeping out of trouble,” he hugs his friend and walks off. “Call me if you need anything.”

“I will Stevie and be nice to her would’ya?” she smiles at the Cap but he was out of earshot. She turns to the professor. “Now where were we?” she motions to the man to continue where he left off.

“Lie back and let me run some tests,” he offered. With that, Hank entered the room and they began talking to her as if she were in a doctor’s office. They hooked up electrodes to her head and placed heart monitors on her.

------------------

“So tell me about these new powers,” Jean coaxed.

“Well… Long story short, I went to Asgard,” you began explaining.

“Mhm, and what happened there?” she urged, looking at her clipboard.

“Well, we found out that the longer I was on Asgard I got the same power Remy does,” you informed, glancing to your friend. “I could take the potential energy of any object, and turn it kinetic, as well as absorb energy that’s thrown at me.”

“And that’s bad?” she inquired, perching an eyebrow.

You shook your head. “No, no, that isn’t what the problem is. That power is a part of me, but… But I got pushed into a bad situation and someone gave me another power, a dark one. This one is just straight energy, but whenever I’ve used it, I’ve felt angry. It’s just so… dark.”

She nodded, frowning, looking at her notes. “Okay, let’s do this. Let’s get your blood going, get you angry, and let’s see what triggers this power.”

You bobbed your head.

“Why don’t you and Remy do some contact training? You did say you had the same power as his, right?”

Again, you nodded.

Luckily, the training room had a few objects you could use -- yoga ball, sports balls, weights, metal rods, vases, glasses, empty cans.

“Are you okay with that, Rem?” you asked, glancing to him.

“Whatever I can do to help, cher,” he said with a lilt and a wink.

The two of you took your positions opposite of each other, getting ready to spar.

“Begin whenever you’d like,” Jean sweetly instructed as she stood off to the side with Logan and Steve.

You picked up an empty can, charged it, and threw it at Remy, who deflected it easily. A grin popped onto both of your faces. This grin suddenly sparked something very competitive in both of you and the training quickly became rapid fire shots and dodges. The two of you were throwing anything you could get your hands on. You started out small, but Remy was building up impressively quick. One second it was empty cans and vases, the next, you were lifting entire gym machines and launching them. On the very last one, Remy had to tuck and roll.

“Y/N, have you used your dark energy, at all yet?’

You turned and faced Jean, frowning. “Uh, no, I guess I haven’t.”

“Go ahead and try that for me,” she suggested.

“Um… I don’t know. On Remy it might be too much,” you said, looking to your friend and shaking your head.

“Don’t worry about me, mon cheri,” he assured, nodding towards you, encouraging you. “We gotta find out what’s eatin’ away at ya, don’t we?”

“I suppose,” you said uneasily. You lifted your hands, ready to fire the dark energy, but when you did… it didn’t reach him. The dark purple, electric looking power barely fizzled out of your hands. “What the hell?” you asked, peering down at your hands.

“Interesting,” was all Jean could say.

“All that talk and no action,” Logan mocked from the back corner. You stared back at him, an unreadable expression on your face.

“Try again,” Jean urged.

You turned back, getting ready to aim the power at Remy. You lifted your hand, felt the charge under your skin, the tingling in your hand, but when you actually pushed it from your body -- it simply fell to the floor.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” you stated, staring down at your hands with worry. What if they thought you were lying about needing help?

“When was it at its peak?” Jean asked.

Her question made you think back to months ago when you were a monster, when you were hurting everyone you loved. You flinched involuntarily, it didn’t go unnoticed by the others.

“When I… when I was trying to take over New York,” you explained, shame entangling in your voice and body language.

“How’s everything going in here?” Shannon suddenly asked, stepping into the bunker style training room.

Seeing her felt like a wave of fresh air and sunshine. You instantly straightened up and smiled.

“We’re trying to get to the bottom of exactly what makes her dark power so powerful,” Jean explained. “She said it had to do with the terrorist attack on New York and her hand in it?” she said, looking a little puzzled as she turned to Shannon.

She looked to you silently asking if she could explain what had exactly happened and how you were involved in all of it. You nodded your approval.

“Well it’s a long story but to summarize her hand was forced into helping another Asgardian open up the portal to letting the creatures in. At the time she brainwashed and was completely unable to do anything but do as told or fear losing not only her life but seeing the lives of her loved ones taken one by one before her,” she said trying to keep it as clean and with little detail possible so as not to shed a bad light on you, she knew how much their opinion of you mattered.

You looked to her and silently thanked her for not telling them of all the horrible things you had done to her and the people that you cared about. You felt as if though they were looking at you in a different light and began shrinking in on yourself and she could see that this topic was beginning to bother you.

“There is one hint I will give you as to what happens to be a part of what triggers her dark energy,” she said looking at Jean.

“Well, what is the hint Shannon?” Jean asked, wanting to figure out quickly how to help you.

“Your hint is a who, rather than a what, that goes by the name Loki,” she went on to say.

“And who might this Loki be?” Gambit asked her, looking to you curiously.

“He’s a man that she is very connected to,” was all that Shannon had said. She really had no place in telling them of who exactly Loki was to you so she kept it at that. She also realized that there was indeed a connection between the dark energy and Loki, Shannon remembered how upset you got when you two had been fighting and she kept bad mouthing him and your powers getting stronger.

—————————

The very first session of testings were out of the way. Shannon had gone off to speak to someone at the mansion and told you she’d see you back at the tower later on. Not being one to waste time, she quickly went to look for her masked friend.

“Wade? Wade Wilson if you don't appear in the next 2 minutes I'm heading home!” she giggled feeling someone’s emotions were playful. She walked closer to where he had been earlier with her. “Hmmm, I guess I’ll have to find someone else to go eat some chimichangas with.” she shrugs her shoulders and makes to leave the room.

“Woah there! Now just wait a minute no one else likes chimichangas as much as I do.” He rushed to stand in front of her.

“I got you!” She smirked. “Come on dork lets go catch up.”

“Hey no fair.” He mock pouted. “You used my weakness against me.”

“That's what happens when you have a spy as a friend.” She smiled up at him.

He pulled her close and messed with her hair. “Alright off to go watch a movie what are you in the mood for?”

The two had walked to the lounge area and spent the rest of the afternoon together. Wade had made a ton of questions about the event of New York, the issues that occured between her and you. She had left feeling a bit better about what happened, she knew she could always count on Wade to help her.

—————————

Kurt popped you back into the cell and left instantaneously, as to not be seen by Tony or any other prying eyes. Loki dismissed his illusion of you that was currently sitting on the couch with a mug.

“Was she good company?” you asked with a coy grin before sitting next to Loki on the other couch.

“She was... Didn’t talk much, but then again, isn’t that a good thing with girlfriends?” he teased and you shook your head at him. “How was it?”

“It was… good, I suppose. They don’t know what triggers my powers. Well, we might know, but they need to run more tests.”

“So...you’ll have to go back?” Loki inferred.

“Probably. We’re thinking it will be in two days. Shannon can’t exactly keep sneaking out without raising suspicion,” you informed with a shrug. “I just hope it goes a little better than it did today,” you remarked, getting up to go make a drink and make Loki something for dinner since he couldn’t cook for himself.

“Oh? Why? I thought you said it went well?” he questioned, concerned.

“It was,” you answered, “until Steve almost tackled me.”

“The soldier? What on Midgard for? What could you have possibly done?”

You turned to face him. “It’s silly really. I was running to hug my friend Remy and--”

“Your friend?” he questioned, frowning at you, the slightest tone of anger in his voice.

“Well, yes.You remember Remy. I told you about him. We kind of grew up together in the same foster home,” you explained. “He’s a character,” you said with a laugh. “You may like him.”

Loki closed his eyes and held his hands up. “Wait… So while I waste away in this cell, you went and had brunch with friends?” he asked, his voice rising dramatically.

“What? No. It’s not like that. I was exhausting myself physically and mentally trying to figure out why I feel so different. Trying to find a way to feel normal. I thought you were fine with this?” you asked. “You told me to go find answers.”

He shouted, “Yes! Answers! Not off having mimosas with some man you used to know!”

“I wasn’t off ‘having mimosas’,” you mocked in his voice. “I was trying to figure out what the hell that asshole put in my head, in my body!”

“Okay so you just think Shannon was helping you out of the kindness of her heart?” he pressed.

“Yes, I do. What else would she be doing?” you challenged.

“How do we know she wasn't just installing more surveillance when she gave you that tablet?” Loki asked as you worked on making him tomato soup in the small kitchen.

“What? Loki, there are literally cameras in every room except the bathroom. What more could they install?” you asked incredulously.

“I’m merely saying… do you trust her?” he said as he stood close to you like a shadow.

“I guess,” you answered unsure. Sure, she got you out for the day, and she helped you, and respected your privacy about New York and Loki, but both of you had a long way to go before there would be full trust again. She was still on the side of the heroes, and you on the villains afterall.

“Your level of confidence astounds me,” he mocked.

You sighed, frustrated at you laid down the stirring spoon. “I don’t know, Loki. She says she believes us, she came inside the cell--”

“Romanoff, the spy? She fooled me on that helicarrier. Shannon did the same thing to me in this tower. She pretended to be you for gods’ sake, and stabbed me in the back.”

“And I threw Tony out the window,” you reminded with a gleeful, fake smile, sarcasm behind it. “We’re pretty even.”

Loki took a deep breath before he said, “All I am saying is that she doesn't exactly stand on moral high ground. We don’t know her intentions. Coming in here, saying she believes us, all of that could’ve been a ruse. Trust me, I’m a master of trickery.”

“Moral high ground? Have you forgotten what we did?” you asked, turning to him.

“No,” he told you flatly, his eyes cold. “But she stabbed me in the back, Y/N. Not figuratively, like I do, but literally. What if she does the same to you?”

“Stab me or betray me?” you teased.

He gave you a cold look. “Neither is a joking matter,” he chastised.

You rolled your eyes. “Lok, she isn’t going to do that.”

“Oh, you’re right,” he said, putting his hand on his forehead dramatically. “I forgot that humans are so prone to forgiveness.” He gestured to the cell around you, looking at the concrete walls outside the glass cell.

You pursed your lips. “What do you want me to do?” you asked in a huff. “Send her away? You want me to say, ‘Oh, no, Shannon, that’s fine. I only spent the better part of a year trying to get you to come and see me, to forgive me. But now that you believe me, you can go’.” You crossed your arms and stared at him.

“No, I just… I want you to be cautious. I don’t want you getting hurt by her. I can't bear to watch it,” he stated.

“You know, not everyone is a fucking snake, looking how to double cross someone. That’s pretty much your department,” you snapped, shoving napkins in his chest as you started to walk to the bedroom. “Your soup is done.”

Loki stood, hurt evident on his face, sighing in frustration before he turned around. “The last I checked, that was hers. She was raised to lie, to gather information on the enemy. Or am I wrong?”

You froze.

“Look me in the eye and tell me I’m wrong. That her background doesn’t lay solely in lies, betrayal, pretending…” He demanded. “I may be a snake. I may do what’s best for me, but at least all my friends and foes know that. I don’t pretend to hide behind some innocent facade,” he hissed.

You turned and slowly advanced on him, your eyes dark. “I thought you were happy for me? I thought you were happy for us? She’s on our side! Tony couldn’t care less if we rot down here. She might be our only chance at ever getting our freedom! She got me out today. She is trying to get me help! And even if she wasn’t, even if we never got our freedom, that’s okay, because we don’t deserve it. I’m lucky she even wants to look at me after what I did...Just her talking to me is just as good as freedom. Why can’t you see that?”

In low tone, he looked down at you and said, “Because I can never see the good in people. If you always expect people to betray you, you’ll never be disappointed.”

You flinched away from him. “Is that what you think about me? That one day I’ll betray you? That one day I’ll somehow leave your side?”

His wild blue eyes met yours for a long moment before looking away.

Tears sprang to your eyes. “Wow. How fantastic. Does nothing I did prove my love to you? I lost my freedom for you. I stabbed my best friend for you. I threw Iron Man out a fucking window for you. I jumped into a portal for you. I endured brainwashing and hellish conditions for you. And you still think that I could just turn on you?”

“You wouldn’t be the first,” he remarked with hatred. “If history has taught me anything, it’s that I will always end up standing on my own. Remind me again who got to leave this cell today and who didn’t.”

You pulled away from him even farther. In a whisper, you asked, “How could you even say that to me? I have been by your side through everything when no one else was. I never once said, ‘This is all Loki’s fault. I plea insanity, let me go.’”

“Ah, so there it is. You do think it’s all my fault.”

“That’s not what I said,” you argued through clenched teeth.

“It’s just a matter of time before you cast me aside like all the others. You’re already leaving without me, maybe one day you just won’t return.” A cold smile fell on his lips as he cocked his head to the side.

“Maybe this is why!” you cried. “Did you ever think of that? Maybe it’s because you expect the worst from people and eventually they’re tired of trying to show you that you’re wrong, so they just betray you anyway. It’s easier just to prove you’re right, rather than to constantly fight to prove you wrong!”

“Then it’s best I do it first, before they do it to me,” he said, his eyes narrowing as his voice got low.

You held up your finger, warning him, “Shannon is a good person. So long as she doesn’t hurt you or me, we will go on trusting her and believing her. Do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear darling,” he cooed darkly.

“Just… eat your soup,” you said finally before turning and going into the living room to read. You sat with your back to him, hoping he wouldn’t hear you crying. Of all the people you could fight with, you really didn’t want it to be the one man you were literally stuck with for the rest of your life.

Was this your life now? Constantly choosing between Loki and other people? Choosing Loki or freedom? Choosing Loki or a normal life?

Unforseen Chasm Tag list- @reigningqueenofwords @oldfreakything @weclassygirl @adefectivedetective

@dontbetooobvious

Tag list- @cas-you-assbutt-dean-needs-you @winchester-writes @winchesterenthusiast @deansdirtylittlesecretsblog @sammysbuttcheek @misz-adrii @sandlee44 @womanxofletters @natsuccs @childishhoebinoo @expecteddifferent

@girl-next-door-writes @fanaticfanfiction @dakotapaigelove @sassy-spn-knight-of-hell

4 notes · View notes

moreenchiladasplease · 6 years ago

Text

tagged by the lovely @kizunah ! thank you! i love tag games!

1. who’s one of your favorite characters and why?

currently, since i’m reading the raven cycle, it’s gansey. honestly i love all the characters bcuz maggie is so fucking good at writing them. even the villians. and the gray man! fuck don’t even get me started on morally gray characters. going into the books i thought i would like ronan or adam the best just bcuz you raved about them a lot and usually those are the character i tend to love and i still very much love them but gansey man. he took me by surprise.

he just has so much of my aesthetics. like he has a fucking mint plant bcuz he likes mint and somehow always unlimited mint leaves in his pockets for whenever feels like minty freshness. he was wire frame glasses. he lives in an old factory. he adds to his miniature model town when he can’t sleep. he has journals. and likes the fucking beatles!! he drives a broken down piece of garbage that’s probably held together by duck tape and he knows it and loves it. he is an old soul! he is an Intellectual™. but also Clueless™. he is such a fucking dad friend. always going “lynch” “parrish” jane”. and he’s so wholesome and such a good and caring friend and it kills him inside when he can’t help his friends and oh god oh god please help me i love him

2. last book you read – what did you think of it?

I finished the hate u give by angie thomas a couple of days ago and I absolutely loved it. it focuses on police brutality and racism also touches on various different topics like drug abuse, gangs, abuse, different views on interracial couples, etc. It was an incredibly powerful and impactful book. It was kind of hard for me to read bcuz generally, I read books to get away from the world we live in and this was very much the reality of the world we live in. the injustice of it. and angie writes it in a way that it is unapologetically honest. but it is so so important. I wrote a full review here on my book blog but it’s a spoiler-y so beware.

also I’m so excited to see amandla stenberg play starr. I’m gonna have to wait a few months to watch it (bcuz there are no frickin theatres here) but still... I know it’s gonna be great.

3. do you consider yourself a good decision maker?

these three words do not belong together i really can’t say... maybe 72% of the time i am? yup that seems pretty accurate

4. preferred studying method?

pfffffftttt method? what method? i tend to study at my desk to avoid falling asleep. and i listen to lofi hip hop or jazz. and i usually study in 3 hour intervals bcuz i have trouble focusing for longer periods of time and have to take breaks. is that what you meant?

5. favorite word from your native language?

I don’t necessarily have a favorite word... but when I learned my Spanish alphabet I would like to say the letter ‘y’ over and over again because it was fun to pronounce. It’s pronounced ~ i griega ~ which is really fun to say. I just really love Spanish and rollng my ‘r’s.

6. do you have a problematic character you’d die for?

let me take a deep breath first will herondale (tid)! ronan lynch (trc)! the gray man (trc)! loki laufeyson (marvel). tony stark (marvel)! matt murdock (marvel)! jessica jones (marvel). magneto (marvel)! jason todd/red hood (dc)! sherlock holmes (sherlock). charlotte holmes! todoroki shouto (bnha)! bakuboy (bnha)! itachi uchiha (naruto)! hohenhiem (fmab). greed (fmab)! i could go on forever but imma stop here

7. is there something you felt like you’d never be good at, but are somewhat decent at doing now?

I feel like my social skills have improved a shit ton. I used to not be able to speak to people without stuttering a lot or while holding eye contact for longer than 5 seconds. I used to not be able to order food for myself. And now I can interact with people better and I pick up on social cues better. And I smile at people I don’t know when I’m happy bcuz I feel like it and I like to spread positivity. things like this may seem small to other people but it’s not small for me. I think I’ve come a long way and I’m incredibly proud of myself for all of it.

8. what’s your general temperament like?

i’m either mellow and chill or wild and weird. there is no in-between.

9. something you want to get better at?

my mentality. in general really. but something i’ve been struggling with a lot recently is not being able to not do anything. i love having lazy days i do. they allow me to relax and take a break from things that have been stressing me out. but the next day when I get back into it and start to get things done... I put myself down about taking a day off. about wasting time when i could’ve gotten so much done. this mentality is such a toxic one and I hate that I have it. I hate that I always have to be productive to consider myself useful. I hate that I can’t relax and enjoy myself anymore without my brain going into overdrive to tell me how much of a fucking waste of oxygen I am. I was very near to tears a couple of days ago because I took a few hours off of schoolwork bcuz I had a migraine and the whole time my brain wouldn’t shut up you’re wasting time you could be done with so many assignments by now you could be doing useful things right now you don’t know how to do jack shit why the fuck are you even in school if you’re not going to study why is mom spending valuable money on your education when you can’t fucking stick to your fucking schedule fuck

i hate that i have that mentality. and i would just like it to kindly fuck off.

10. something popular everyone else likes but you don’t?

fuck... ummmmmmm... i think it’d be easier for me to tell you something i like that is underrated or unknown...

oh! um ferris beuller? that john hughes movie with matthew broderick. i mean, i like the movie, i just don’t love it like everyone seems to. it’s a nice light movie about teenagers skipping school and having fun. but i don’t like ferris bcuz he comes off as a sort of douche. escpecially towards his friend cameron, who very clearly has mental health issues that ferris tends to brush off quite a lot. so i don’t really understand why people rave about it so much.

11. before consuming books/movies, do you read reviews, or do you like going in blind?

I, for the most part, go in blind. I have a tendency to put things on my list, to eventually watch/read, because I hear good things about them or I myself just would like to consume the content, but a never get to it immediately. I get to it months later, sometimes a year or two later, when I’ve more often than not forgotten all about anything I’ve heard about it. but even then, I don’t generally read reviews because I don’t really care what other people think of it. The only people’s opinions I care about are my friends and family because I like to discuss the content I consume with people close to me. Especially if I feel strongly about said content. so, no, i don’t seek out reviews. it’s usually that i happen upon reviews and them i’m like ‘good to know i guess?’ i don’t rely on critics cuz critics sometimes don’t know what Good Content is

tagging @mllebabushkat @sengad-apollo @hannahdearr and also @kizunah if you wanna do it again and also @demfeeeels if you can dig out of your grave for a bit : ) and here are my questions for you:

what is an unknown/underrated piece of media that you love?

what are five things you love about yourself?

do you read comics/graphic novels? any favorites?

what’s top 5 on your playlist right now?

what is something/someone that never fails to make you laugh?

recommend me some of your favorite tv shows/movies/books/music.

an unpopular opinion you have?

favorite disney soundtrack?

favorite word from your native language? (i’m stealing one of mariam’s question bcuz i love)

what makes your heart go mushy?

top 5 tropes you live for?

#this was a fun distraction thanks mariam!#also why didn't you tell me about the love of my life richard campbell gansey III ????#i'm glad you didn't tbh #also i'm on the last book and i don't know what i'm gonna do with myself once i'm done #there can't be and end to it #there just can't #i have too many problematic characters i would die for #like maybe an unhealthy amount #i could've added more #friends #tag game #don't feel obligated to answer my questions! it's okay

4 notes · View notes

elizas-writing · 8 years ago

Text

Do Not Let Joss Whedon Touch My Girls: Featuring an Analysis of His Scrapped Wonder Woman Script

With the mass success of Wonder Woman, hopes rose back up for the future of female-led comic book movies. But the worry may settle back in with news of Joss Whedon to direct, write, and produce a Batgirl film for the DC Extended Universe (and he’s already on board with Justice League’s post-production writing and directing). Why does this matter? Well, it turns out once upon a time, Whedon was originally set to write and direct Wonder Woman over a decade ago, but left the project in 2007 due to creative differences. And just last month, his scrapped script was leaked online, and to be brutally honest, it’s shit. Easily one of the worst things I’ve read, and I had to read Twilight for the first time in a college class.

I already lost trust in Whedon as a good writer, especially with what he pulled in Avengers: Age of Ultron, so this script just doesn’t help my trust at all. And here I am to tear it apart, because dammit, someone’s gotta do it.

DISCLAIMER: I REALLY DON’T GIVE A SHIT THAT BUFFY AND FIREFLY WERE GOOD

Okay, for some reason, any time someone brings up that Whedon is a bad writer, I always see at least one person with severely unhealthy geek loyalty go “But what about Buffy and Firefly?” I don’t give a shit, because that’s not what I’m talking about. What matters for this piece is how Whedon handles women in comic book films, especially in the recent years. I’m sure if you rewatch something like Buffy now, you’ll find some of the feminism that was groundbreaking for the late 90s/early 2000s to be dated by 2017 standards. Times change fast, and so do audience expectations. No writer is without flaws or above criticism, and I hate people trying to blindly defend them even when their writing is so painfully awful. Do you watch Pixels and defend Adam Sandler because he did 50 First Dates? Do you watch The Last Airbender and defend M. Night Shyamalan for The Sixth Sense? I don’t think so. Please set aside the geek loyalty for once and have some capacity for critical analysis. I know most of y’all learned it in your high school English classes.

Part I: Damage to MCU

Now I want to preface this as to why I’m especially bitter about Whedon as a writer. And what better place to start than his work with the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Before Whedon went to work with DC, he was with Marvel Studios and wrote and directed the monster hit and fifth highest grossing film of all time, The Avengers. He went on to create Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, write and direct Avengers: Age of Ultron, and creatively consult with other MCU films. Unfortunately, Age of Ultron spurred fury from audiences with an ever-so unnecessary and forced romance between Bruce Banner (Hulk) and Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) where the only thing they have in common is sterility, so they can be satisfied on a fulfilling relationship without babies. Did anyone proofread this and tell Whedon this was awkward and creepy? Not to mention there was little to no precedence since the first film clearly established the strong distrust between the two?

And any potential for Black Widow being a compelling character was just thrown out the window. That great monologue from Loki confronting her about the “red in [her] ledger” in Avengers? The possible repercussions from her leaking all of S.H.I.E.L.D’s secrets, including her dark past, to the whole world in Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Her fear of losing her friends because of the crimes she committed? “Love is for children?” Nope! Let’s focus all of her problems on her sterility and not on the fact that she was never given a choice to begin with! Goodbye continuity and goodbye Black Widow movie!

But just as insulting is reducing the character of Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch). Not only did they erase her Jewish-Romani heritage AND have her volunteer for Neo-Nazi experiments, but all her complex mental health issues and her reality-bending powers are diminished to “she’s weird.” She has little to no development, looks more child-like than anything (by God, how old is Wanda supposed to be in this universe anyway?), and she honestly reads more like a discount River Tam. And this affected her in future films as Captain America: Civil War doesn’t bother to develop her further beyond her instability and ends with her in a straight-jacket. Classy.

So with this in mind, you can imagine the animosity of the idea of Whedon trying to tackle a female-led superhero film again with another comic book movie universe. Somewhere he lost his touch, or, as we soon find out, he probably wasn’t a good writer to begin with.

Part II: Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman AKA Steve Trevor: The Movie

Whether or not this draft was even close to being the final script for the project way back when, I don’t know. But that doesn’t matter, because as is, it’s pretty damn awful. This was the same guy who gave us Buffy? Wow. Plus it feels appropriate to talk about it now given the successful release of Wonder Woman as directed by Patty Jenkins and compare what we got versus what could have happened.

For starters, why “AKA Steve Trevor: The Movie” you may ask? Well, one of the biggest problems of this script is that it’s mostly from the perspective of Diana’s love interest, not, you know, the title character. All the background of the Amazons is reduced to just five sentences in the beginning, and they take up only the first 20 or so pages of the 116 page script. Their past is never further explained, you don’t get to know any of these women-- who are described as “almost inhuman” (7)--, and Diana is severely underdeveloped. She talks on about what she really should be and how she can be more than what she is, but that’s all we get. She never gets a backstory or a solid reason to leave Themyscira besides following this man she just met because Athena must have sent him for her. She even seems estranged from her mother for being rule breaker (even though Diana is in the right), and they never talk about their problems or resolve anything in the end.

But no, instead of creating positive female interactions, we have all the time in the world devoted to Steve Trevor and, oh my fucking god, he’s just the most insufferable douche canoe in the history of ever. He’s a constant downer and always talks down to Diana for her curiosity and compassion. And there was enough to make a list of all the awful things he says to her (with some context of course):

Page 17, when Diana wants to learn more about Steve because she sees his arrival as a sign: “So my imminent death is, wow, all about you.”

Page 17-18, Steve tries dropping the subject and ushering Diana out: “I’ll call you. I mean it. Let’s keep in touch.... ‘Let’s keep in touch’ is American for get the hell out of my face.”

Page 18, Diana STILL wants to understand Steve: “Can’t. Is that another new word for you? Means ‘are unable to.’”

Page 18, A man and woman bickering must mean they’re in love cliche: “You and I have nothing in common.”

Page 19, What the actual fuck: “Your mom is Queen of Crazy Town but she’s right to be scared. You wanna stay as far away from the real world as possible. They’d eat you alive, Princess.”

Page 27, An Amazon warrior who’s trained since childhood has to stay hidden from a warlord: “You’re not ready to deal with these people. No offense.”

Page 57, If I had to read this whole paragraph, so do you (also, teeheehee he was sitting on the lasso of truth by accident): “I think you’re dangerous. I think you mean well but you’re looking for trouble and you’re wildly adept at finding it. I think you’ve got delusions of grandeur and some actual grandeur, which is confusing. I don’t like confusing. I hate the fact that I’m so attracted to you, just touching you is overwhelming and I keep hoping you’ll turn around so I can see more of you naked.”

Page 58, Whedon apparently forgot to add dismantling toxic hypermasculinity to his brand of feminism: “There’s a reason men don’t like to talk about their feelings.”

Page 83, Didn’t we just have a montage of Diana SAVING PEOPLE: “And it never occurred to you that you’re the reason it’s getting worse?”

Page 83, Again, THERE WAS A MONTAGE OF HER SAVING PEOPLE: “We’re human beings, Diana, and that’s something you will never understand.”

Page 84, Oh, my fucking, god: “You’re not a hero, Diana. You’re a fucking tourist.”

So, yeah, Steve Trevor just gets increasingly worse as the story progresses and has no idea how to talk to Diana without criticizing the most mundane things she does. And she just lets him get away with saying this, and he always seems to have the last word like somehow he’s always right! Pretty much every adaptation of Diana shows a woman who is the last person you’d fuck with because she could kill you in an instant if she wanted to. Hell, in a Justice League comic issue, Batman just keeps an empty box of Wonder Woman’s weakness as a dramatic reveal that she has little to no weaknesses.

If Whedon actually bothered to give a damn about her character, Steve would have figured out after the first insult to shut his mouth.

To make it worse, the unnecessary arguing is solely used to promote the stupid idea that if a man and a woman argue, it must mean they’ll be a couple in the end, which is a stupid, god awful trope and doesn’t make for a realistically healthy relationship. Yes, Diana and Steve still argued in the 2017 movie, but they were realistic arguments about their conflicting ideologies about war, saving people, and human nature. And neither of them were wrong, so they spend most of the movie trying to meet halfway with each other. But instead of compelling dilemmas like that, Whedon just made it all about Steve and his inferiority complex and only gives him a sad backstory. I didn’t give two shits about this guy; I was waiting for Strife to just kill him.

The villains felt like a last-minute addition to give the plot conflict after only about forty pages. Honestly, I zoned out and do not remember the specifics outside of destroying Gateway city just cause and some commentary about gentrification. I was already so pissed off with the rest of the script that I couldn’t be bothered to care about the villains, their motivation or the fate of Gateway City.

Oh, and remember the awesome stuff Diana did like running through No Man’s Land, flipping an armored truck, and leaping building to building? Fuck that shit! After one bullet to the chest, she’s knocked unconscious for six hours! And later on, Strife drops a building her which renders her unconscious again! Both times afterwards, she wakes up half-naked to Steve treating her wounds which is just freaking creepy. She’s constantly put in the male gaze while also being called a whore and bitch about five times, has to do a sensual dance to see Bacchus where all these men just stare at her, BUT also seems to be horrified seeing a run down Gateway city with sex workers galore (okay, weren’t the Greeks pretty open about sexuality? How is this shocking to Diana?).

There’s also a far too long drawn out scene where Diana gives up to save Steve, who is anything but redeemable, and spends about ten pages in the middle of a jungle weak and defenseless because apparently Whedon wanted to keep the whole “if her wrists are bound, she loses her power” bullshit as an excuse to give her a low point. It comes out of nowhere, and I don’t even know much about this version of Diana to really care; I just want to finish reading this terrible script already.

I just keep thinking of all the bad ass, rocking scenes of Diana in the movie we got, and her being reduced to weakness and submission because bullshit reasons is completely out of character. It’s almost like Whedon never sat down and actually fucking analyzed a Wonder Woman comic in his life. Watching this...

and this...

AND THIS (you see the point I’m making yet?)

... and reading Whedon’s Mary Sue version of Wonder Woman is like comparing the action in 300 to the action in The Last Airbender. Anything interesting he could have incorporated from the comics or other TV/film adaptations into his script and save the bad writing was tossed out the window, and as a result, the titular character who’s supposed to be the protagonist, is obnoxiously one-dimensional. But hey Joss, at least you got to make a running joke how much she hates guns and make a throw away line about Aphrodite going crazy and getting plastic surgery (71)! GOOOOOD FOR YOOOOU.

Sigh... I don’t know what else to say folks. This is just awful writing, and thank God it never saw the light of day because it would have destroyed a great character. The only good this script did for me was that I appreciate the film we got way more, and am so thankful there was a team behind it that knew to treat their characters respectfully, tell a cohesive story, and rework cliches for an enjoyable experience. And it further cements why I don’t trust Whedon to so much as touch Batgirl or any female-led comic book films again, because I don’t put it past him to mess up character development like he did with Black Widow and Scarlet Witch and what he could have done to Wonder Woman.

And before you go “but wait Eliza,” need I remind you one of the last times we saw Barbara Gordon’s character grossly mishandled, she was only there to be paralyzed and sexually assaulted AND she and Batman fucked?

Yeah, I thought so. Let this GIF be a reminder what happens when no one steps in to tell their male coworkers this is a bad idea, especially in regards to female characters who are more complex than just being pretty and punching things. Give the reigns to someone besides Whedon or get a team that will criticize his bad characterization choices before he fucks another superheroine over.

#wonder woman #joss whedon #avengers #avengers age of ultron #age of ultron #dc comics #dc #mcu #dceu #marvel #marvel comics #editorial #my writing

21 notes · View notes

stuffjanesays · 8 years ago

Text

Highlights from #25 and 26: or, “why does the McKittrick feed me booze when the last thing I need is more booze?”

I’ve been so bad about writing recaps lately, but I went to the show twice this weekend so I suppose that warrants at least a small recap! We’ll see how this goes!

Friday was my final day at a very, very emotionally challenging internship at a skilled nursing facility. To say that I am glad that experience is behind me is an understatement, so I found myself wanting to celebrate my freedom from the depressing grip of this semester. I went out with a few friends for drinks on the UWS, and impulse bought a ticket to Friday late. I’ve recently been dealing with a back issue, and didn’t realize the medication I was on would effect my ability to drink alcohol, so although I only had two drinks pre-show, I was definitely feeling them. When I got out of the cab, a substantial line had already formed, but @markeee99 saw me and invited me to join him and the fabulous @aprilbbravo at the front of the line for company and conversation! Be advised, spoilers and unpacking abound!

Highlights from the Friday night show:

-It was a relatively empty show, which always makes for a better show from my perspective, if not for the simple fact that I have to worry less about blocking the view of shorter audience members :P

-I walked into the party scene and immediately had a lovely dance with Stephen’s boy witch. Despite being on the buzz train, I managed to only step on his feet once! (sorry!)

-Adam’s Malcom 1:1 continues to make me feel both desperate to help him and completely threatened by his need for reproduction...

-Casey’s porter-- Holy hell has he grown since he first started. I’ve had his Porter 1:1 quite a few times at this point, and he continues to get better and better at striking the strange balance between making me feel his pain and also alienating me from it each time. I continue to wonder how the outward expression of gender of the audience member informs their view and emotional experience in this 1:1... As someone who presents as female but doesn’t heavily identify with the gender, it’s definitely interesting to sit through that one on one and be unable to alter the character’s thoughts and feelings about MY understanding of their experience... GAH GENDER AND THE SLEEP NO MORE EXPERIENCE, GUYS! SOMEONE PLEASE DISCUSS WITH ME!

-As the night wore on, I became more and more sober and my back began to hurt more and more, so I decided to post up with some of the more sedentary characters.

-When I realized that Marc was playing Speaks (which I had never seen before), I got super excited because I love his Taxi... BUT I didn’t think about the fact that the card game would come up, and of course, just as I was starting to feel sobriety within my reach, I won the whiskey shot, bringing me back into the clutches of drunken revelry >.>

-Marc’s speakeasy was a lot of fun to follow around. After so many shows and seeing so many different ways this character is played, I’m still not sure that I understand the character’s motivations and his piece in the puzzle completely, so it continues to be a fun loop for me to revisit... Especially when one of my favorites is on ;)

-Marc gave me a lovely walk down to the final scene and out, and I had a lovely discussion about the show with @markeee99 (who is slowly trying to get me to have an actual conversation with a cast member, and is starting to win me over) at the show’s conclusion!

Sunday Early: -Met up with @aprilbbravo in the line again, and continued to gush about the show! :P

-When I got into this show I felt a little more lost than usual for some reason. I went into the show wanting to avoid the witches because I feel like I’m always following one of them, but sexy and bald and even boy witch seemed to pick up on the fact that I was there immediately.

-The cast was STACKED and I had a really hard time picking who I wanted to follow, but settled on MacDuff (played by my boy Marc) at first... I’ve really only ever followed Marc in the roles that involve more symbolism (or lurking) like Taxi or speaks, but HOLY SHIT CAN THAT MAN DANCE! I had never seen the dance between bald and MacD on the ballroom floor (honestly I have no idea what was happening) but it was SO physical and SO incredible and I loved every second of it. -I was really enjoying this loop, but it started to fill up and because of my back issue I decided to part ways with MacDuff for fear of the loop getting too physical... -Somehow, it seemed, everywhere I went, that sexy witch would pick me out of the crowd, scan me with her eyes, and use me to taunt whatever cast member she was currently interacting with, no matter what scene was happening. I had her 1:1 and somehow ended up with her at the pool table/speaks dance scene. It was a really fun loop. -Nick’s speakeasy is really interesting to watch. I’m struck by the amount that he uses variation in height to emphasize that his character may not be completely human as Hecate’s familiar (and it makes me wonder if he wants to be). For example, when he watches the Banquo murder scene, Nick always crouches to watch, forming his body and creating movements in reaction that remind me of a dog watching his master... or perhaps something his master wants to unfold? -I hovered between her and speaks for the rest of the show, trying to avoid alcohol again, when Nick picked me for the card game. The room was packed, so I tried to step back, and he picked two other players for the remaining two shot glasses. He returned to me, beckoning me forward, and Nick rarely pays me any mind, so I obliged begrudgingly. There was true concern in my eyes that I might win the shot, and the thought of it made my stomach churn. I seriously stood there considering ways to get out of taking it, and thought if I won I would hand the shot over to the man with the beaded tie (are you a regular? You seemed fun!) whom I had overheard saying it was his birthday before the show while shooting Nick an apologetic, yet playful look. Luckily he won the shot organically, my stomach was spared, and I didn’t have to disobey the true Loki that is Nick’s speakeasy and incur his wrath...

-Or at least that’s what I thought, I wandered into the bar at the end of the show, and Nick, smirking, exited the room while it was just me and another girl and returned proudly with a shot for me. WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME MCKITTRICK? WHY? I took the shot and promptly gave him the sassiest, saddest eyes I could and left to go grab a peppermint to get the taste out of my mouth before crying myself to sleep in a corner about my life choices.

All in all, they were two pretty good shows, and my visits were just what I needed to close the book on a rather dark chapter in my life. I am so thankful that I have the hotel in my life to bring me out of the dark times and into happier ones again, and I already am feeling the itch to go back.

#McKittrick #Speakeasy #Punchdrunk #Sleep No More

7 notes · View notes