#you can just kind of assume as a baseline that she Loves Everybody as best she can!! she tries to give back what she receives

[starflungwaddledee]

💝 for Starstruck & Kirby, 👀 for Starstruck & Meta-Knight. :3 (💞 would also probably be a blast for these two but I don't want to overdo it and just send everything ^^;;;)

>>> kirby ship ask game here જ⁀➴ ♡!

6. 💝 What is each person’s love language (words of affirmation, acts of service, giving gifts, quality time, and physical touch)?

ouuugh. kirby, little guy is basically made out of love, isn't he?! his foremost love language is probably quality time, and perhaps words of affirmation. what he is doing all day every day is acts of service; saving everyone, rescuing kittens waddle dees stuck in trees, that sort of thing. but when he's on his own time it's all about going slow and experiencing things with the person he's with.

kirby strikes me as someone who'd be good at and very much enjoy planning surprises for his loved ones. sometimes even incredibly simple seeming things-- like swooping by on the warp star to pick starstruck up just when she can't get to sleep in the early morning-- but it's always exactly what the other person wants. kirby is incredibly busy, and he loves a lot of people!! i think he puts his all into each free moment and every chosen interaction he has. any time with him is precious and means a lot!

i think for him and starstruck, this would probably result in her boundless enthusiasm for every little thing he does. she'd be an outpouring of gratitude and delight and affection for him that in turn helps him feel the time was meaningfully spent for both of them.

9. 👀 What do other characters think of their relationship? Do they approve or disapprove?

frankly i think that the other three would be roasting the ever-loving fuck out of meta knight for this.

oh is that your waddle dee?? is that your waddle dee meta knight??? is that the waddle dee you were parading around a year ago telling us we had to be sooooooo suspicious of? hmm? same waddle dee?? same waddle dee and now you're bringing her your cakes to share and sneaking her up to your tower to show her your 'telescope'??? same waddle dee and now you won't let her out of your sight? is it really because you're 'doing your job protecting dream land' meta knight or is it because you're a big sook?? hmm?? hmmmmm?????

anyway they'd of course be so supportive outside of that and wouldn't care at all!!! 🤣 i don't think any of them are judgemental about that sort of thing except perhaps meta knight himself, so 😂

12. 💞 When did they each first realize that they had fallen in love with the other person? Did they confess their feelings soon after realizing or did it take a while for them to confess?

i probably kind of answered this one for meta knight over here, when i described how their first kiss might go, sometime in the future!

"did he confess after?" absolutely not. he's bottling that up soooooo deep.

[josiecarioca]

About Shafiq’s "crush” on Severus

(Post War headcanon/meta/rambling/whatever this is, because @hayalee8 wanted to know. Also tagging @dragon-cove-719 @snapescapades @hbprincealice and @blxck-cxffee13 )

If you´ve been reading “Post War”, you must have noticed by now that Virgil Shafiq has a very particular type of relationship with Severus. I’ve been calling it an “unresolved crush” for the sake of simplicity, but it’s far more complicated than that.

Virgil Amir Shafiq is the youngest of three sons born to the Pureblood Shafiq family, one of the “Sacred 28″.  His father is the head of the family and inherited the Shafiq’s business of magical gems and stones, his mother improved the family business with her jewelry designs which used the materials’ magical properties to create stunning visual effects. 

In “Post War”,  Shafiq is introduced in chapter 53 like this:

“Virgil had never tasted the bitterness of struggle as a child. He was the youngest of three boys, born to a well-off family of purebloods. His parents were liberal Muslims who were fairly  easygoing in their upbringing. Coming to Hogwarts in the wake of his two older brothers graduating with near perfect scores, Virgil had a metaphorical red carpet laid out in front of him. Every teacher assumed he´d excel in everything just like his brothers had, and only ever showed surprise when he didn´t perform any less than stelarly.

Every teacher except Snape.

The only thing Snape assumed about any student was that they´d be a failure. And it was up to them to prove him wrong. It was the first time Virgil was challenged. Snape had been a very young man then, only 21 years old and in his first year as a teacher. He hadn´t taught any of Virgil´s brothers, so he didn´t compare Virgil to anybody except Virgil himself, and with that he was never pleased, never satisfied. 'Fix your tie, Mr. Shafiq', 'watch the cauldron´s temperature, Mr. Shafiq', 'do it over, Mr. Shafiq'. Praise from other teachers was such a common occurrence it meant close to nothing to him, but Virgil could distinctively remember the first time he got a nod of approval on a potion brewed to perfection from Professor Snape and how much that had meant to him. "Well, done, Mr. Shafiq." “

As a child, Shafiq lived in the shadow of his two older brothers, not exactly  because the was unfavored by his parents and teachers, but because there was a set bar, a level of expectation already set for him, and regardless of how accomplished he was, it was, to some level, taken for granted, because his brothers “did it before”. Shafiq basically didn´t have “room for error”. This led to crippling anxiety about his own performance (be it socially or academically), as he didn´t think he was allowed to make mistakes. That made him very frustrated as his best efforts would always be considered the “baseline” on which he had operate, to the point that his accomplishments went entirely unoticed.

Shafiq’s first year in Hogwarts was also Severus’ first year as a teacher. Severus was only ten years older than Shafiq (a small age difference compared to how much older most other professors were) and he had no expectations when meeting the young boy. In seeking Snape’s approval, Shafiq found a sense of purpose, because that young, snappy, mean teacher was not like everybody else: he didn’t take for granted that Shafiq would be flawless. So Shafiq started to live to impress him. And Severus was impressed. Over the years, Severus made sure to encourage his slytherin students, knowing Slytherin was the house most malignated, the least liked. So he did, in his own way, nurture Shafiq’s talents.

As he grew older, Shafiq started to grapple with his own sexuality. He dated girls, but at the same time felt attracted to boys. His relationship with his best friend, Ravenclaw Leo Levinson, was tinted with shades of romantic attachment, and there were other boys he felt drawn to. At some point he struggled with the question of whether he was gay or not, because while he knew he liked boys, his attraction to girls also felt genuine and correct. He had been attracted to every girl he dated, and didn’t feel like any of those relationships was forced on him in any way, on the contrary, he sought them. Only as an adult did he understand he wasn’t gay, but bisexual. 

In that period of initial confusion about his own identity, he also struggled to make sense of his feelings towards Severus. As a child he admired his teacher. Severus was the only one looking out for Slytherins like Shafiq, he was their head of house, after all. In Shafiq’s eyes Severus also had the confidence, the aplomb the young boy aspired to. Professor Snape was intimidating, respected, and not-to-be-messed-with. Shafiq looked up to him near to the point of hero-worship. But as Shafiq grew older and into his own sexuality, he found there was an element of physical attraction. Shafiq pushed it to the back of his mind, because he felt it was disrespectful, and perhaps he was simply mixing things up. 

However, as an adult Shafiq found himself gravitating towards men who, in some way, were like Severus, whether in temperament or looks. His relationships with men have been mostly disastrous, particularly in comparison with his relationships with women, which tend to be simpler (if somehwat Oedipian). Leo (who’s still very much in love with Shafiq, but has accepted Shafiq only wants him as a friend) is probably the one who best sees how Shafiq’s attractions work: 

He liked his women hyperfeminine, charming, smart. It wasn´t the only thing he liked, but he really did like it. When it came to men, the very few Leo had known of, things got a bit fuzzier. Over the years he had started to notice Virgil gravitate toward the same type...older, unavailable, emotionally distant...and at least a couple of them faintly resembled their former potions master.

Severus, however, is entirely unaware of Shafiq’s feelings for him. Even though Shafiq is nearing 30, whenever Severus looks at him all he sees is a kid. Not just any kid, of course, one of his best students, and one who has and continues to make Severus very proud...but a kid nevertheless. When Shacklebolt offers to provide a “bodyguard” for Evelyn, picked out of the ranks of his best aurors, Severus immediately demands Shafiq for the position. 

Shafiq receives the assignment of protecting Evelyn with mixed feelings. On the one hand he would do anything Severus asked of him, on the other hand the mere idea of Severus having a lover (of any gender) makes him feel weird. In some ways, he idolized Snape to the point of de-sexualizing him, so he felt his own attraction to him was disrespectful. But Evelyn is living evidence of Snape as a sexual being, and that rattles Shafiq to his core.

It all gets complicated in a whole other level when Shafiq meets Evelyn in person. As per Leo’s remarks, Evelyn is exactly Shafiq’s “type” when it comes to women (” He liked his women hyperfeminine, charming, smart. “). And lo and behold, he goes from “who even is this person” to “she’s actually kind of interesting”

Initially, he brushes it off as just finding her good-looking, and that’s that. Shafiq does flirt with women with more ease than he does with men, after all. However, as he starts to become way too attached to Evelyn, who trusts him and cares for him a great deal, he realizes it’s not just that. 

For one, now he can’t push his feelings for Severus aside because Evelyn’s presence established Severus as a sexual being, who can desire and be desired. He’s no longer the professor on a pedestal, safely distant. But being attracted to Evelyn puts in question his feelings for Severus as well: is he really in love with Severus and sees Evelyn is just a sort of “more acceptable/less complicated” proxy? Or are his feelings for Severus merely platonic admiration? In this case his being in love with Evelyn would be a complete betrayal of the man he sees as a mentor. And if he’s not really into her, maybe this supposed attraction for Evelyn is an unconscious attempt to emulate the man he so admires? It could be that there’s something he idealizes about their relationship, this love affair between a wizard and a muggle that has the markings of the type of all-consuming, romantic love story Shafiq has been chasing all his life...

Or maybe, just maybe, you can be in love with two people at once.

Shafiq honestly doesn´t know, which wrecks his emotional stability.

[fysebastianstan]

"At some point, I've got to ask you about some of your guilty pleasures out there," Sebastian Stan says off-hand to his Destroyer director, Karyn Kusama. "Because in my head, I feel like you're watching, like, super f--king amazing horror projects..." Though Kusama may be best known for her own horror films, including the "really disturbing in a great way" (as Stan put it) The Invitation and the campy Megan Fox cult classic Jennifer's Body, her tastes are hardly confined to the genre; one of her early films was the Charlize Theron sci-fi spy action flick Æon Flux. "I don't have guilty pleasures," she shrugs. "I think Point Breakis a masterpiece. I legitimately think it's a masterpiece." In fact, her latest film is most like the latter, a pulpy detective drama about LAPD officer Erin Bell (a bewigged Nicole Kidman), who goes undercover to investigate a gang of bank robbers with her partner, Chris (Stan).

(For his part, on the topic of guilty pleasures, Stan shared, "I was working out today and because of this thing with a Boston accent that I've been looking up, I ended up watching the Housewives of Boston and I was like, Oh, my God, this is so insane!") (I pointed out there is no Real Housewives of Boston.)

With Destroyer opening in select theaters on Christmas Day, Kusama and Stan sat down with ET to discuss leaving their comfort zones, what it took to make Kidman look like a meth addict and how hot Stan looks covered in tattoos.

What put this guy [Stan] on your radar?

Sebastian Stan: Our agents.

KK: Our agents, but also, you have a lot of nice friends.

SS: Oh, good!

KK: No, but you do. You have a lot of nice friends that I think are nice people and good actors, so when your name came up, I'd be like, "Oh, that's cool." And then I watched I, Tonya, and I felt like, that's so interesting to see a guy who in real life, frankly, has a leading man vibe and leading man looks -- in a great way, not holding it against you. You're a very handsome dude -- but to see you play a character who was capable of so much smallness and shame and ugliness, I just thought, "My God, that takes bravery." After our first Skype session, I was like, let's just figure out how we're going to work together.

Had you read the script by then?

SS: I had read the script and then we had a Skype session about it. I just love that it felt like you were never really figuring out entirely what was happening or who these people were. It didn't explain anything, it just kind of--

KK: Put you in their lives.

SS: Yeah, and you're there as a witness and it's as if you're walking by and you're turning and you're seeing that scene happen. That felt very real to me. I always feel like, as an actor, you're always looking in the writing for rhythms, and those scenes were written a certain way. It's a very direct, frank nature that they have with each other, at least in the scenes that I was involved with Nicole. And I was like, here's an opportunity to play a completely different character by not doing anything. By almost just letting--

KK: By not indicating anything about the character. By just being, they told so much story.

SS: Exactly. And I just knew it was going to be a very special movie. The idea of protagonist and antagonist was always flipped around here, and I think that in life, good people do bad things and bad people sometimes end up doing a good thing for that moment, or whatever. This movie was so straightforward about that. And to have a female character that had no excuse for anything in a way that didn't apologize but also, you understood where she was coming from, because all the flaws were so... Nobody shied away from any of that. And then you get Nicole to do it and then you're like, "All right, well, now it's going to be a whole other thing!" [Laughs.]

I do love that you took the guy you said has such a leading man look and shaved off half of his hair and threw him in a denim vest.

SS: But that was a blessing! It was a blessing!

KK: You looked so hot. I truly mean it. But literally, my whole editing crew would just be like, "Oh, my God, this scene again? Bring it on!"

SS: I continued to shave my head for a good six months after that. But it was one of those things where it takes you out of your comfort zone, from what you're used to seeing yourself do. I don't know how it is with directing, but with actors, I honestly feel like you have, like, a program that's always trying to go back the way that it's always been and you're always having to turn a sharp left and keep making those lefts away from the road that you're always going down.

KK: I think [that's true] for directors too, though. I personally like the idea of doing things or going into territory that's a little bit frightening or unfamiliar. It's exciting.

There are those memes that say, "You have the same amount of hours in the day as Beyoncé," but I think it needs to be switched to Nicole Kidman, because the number of projects she fronts is incredible. What were those early conversations you had with her about this?

KK: It was May of last year, because it was Memorial Day weekend, that I had heard that she wanted to talk to me about it. She was in Cannes and had four things in Cannes and still managed to have time to read this script and get in touch with me and say, "Can we talk about this?" Because, to be honest, her name had not come up yet. So, we talked on the phone the first time and one of the first things she had talked about as a driving force for the character in her mind was shame and what does shame do to your mind and body and how does that affect your entire countenance?

I appreciated that so much, because to me, shame is not a judgmental quality. She wasn't talking about being an antiheroine or being a character that is typically male. She wasn't really applying any of those assumptions to the role, she was just seeing this person as a person and she said, you know, "When you live your life in shame the way Erin Bell has, it starts to destroy you." And I just thought, God, that's so interesting. You're looking at it with this total compassion. I know that's how actors -- the great ones -- always look at their characters, but there was just no hint of judgment.

SS: Because shame is different from guilt, right? Because guilt is "I've done something wrong." Shame is "I am wrong." Like, "Something is really bad with me."

KK: Exactly! So, even the past [Erin] couldn't control made her feel she was wrong, and then the past she could control, she was like, "I am wrong." You're so right.

Did it all come together fairly quickly? Or did you go through different options before you decided this is Erin Bell?

KK: One of the things both Bill and I had talked about -- and I actually had this same process on Jennifer's Body, funnily enough -- where there was just a database of what happens with particularly meth addiction and how quickly the physical deterioration shows up. In some cases, it can be, like, six months and you see a person going from looking pretty together to looking like a ghost. So, we thought, let's scale that back and think about what time and the sun and alcoholism and stress and lack of sleep and not eating well, what does that do over almost 20 years? And it's not pretty.

SS: My God...

KK: It's really not pretty, if you think about it. Because we were using as our baseline: Here is what meth addiction can do to you in a year. What does 17 or 18 years look like of more benign but long-term habits that can wreck you?

Karyn, was there a moment from filming with Nicole, or Nicole and Sebastian, that really surprised you? And Sebastian, was there a moment filming with Nicole when she surprised you?

KK: Something happened between the two of you in a scene that is the emotional crux of the movie, where we see the genesis of her explanation for this plan. We get some emotional access into why she needs to convince Chris to go through with it with her. There is a moment that I always just understood to be true, but what Sebastian did, he said, "Do you love me?" And you realize he doesn't know the answer. Like, I just assumed, Oh, they're crazy in love and everybody knows it, including each other in the scene.

But then I saw, this was the first time you asked it and needed to hear the truth of it. Even in screening it, friends and family screenings and the moments where we shared it with a wider audience, that moment is the moment where they're just like, "Oh, my God, she does love him! Why are they doing this?" And it's precisely because they're in this crazy, crazy love affair. That was really interesting to me while we were shooting to realize, Oh, I don't know the answer.

SS: It makes it all the more confusing and crazy, because then it's like we're [undercover] and you're going, like, "Are you asking me? Or are we pretending?" Because you just get glimpses of it here and there, in a way it made every one of those scenes all the more intense to experience.

KK: More potent.

SS: But the surprising thing was probably day one, for me, when we shot this first scene [where] we meet and sort of suss each other out. My first day was that, and it was the first time I'd ever met Nicole. You just never know what to expect, especially when it's somebody of that caliber. You have no idea whether you should back away, engage, what's the deal. And she was so generous [in] whatever was happening in the scene and also, like, in life, in the sense of us getting to know each other. That's when I was like, "Wow. This is going to be very easy for me." [Laughs.]

KK: Because also she had to kiss you in that scene! And you were just like, "Hello. Nice to meet you. Let's kiss!" But that was what the scene was, too, so it kind of created this frisson of, like, what's going to happen?

SS: You wait to get to set and you're like, "Well, I know that they have to have this thing and how are we going to find it?" And when it happened, I was like, "Oh, OK. It's going be very easy."

One of my favorite things about the film is that Nicole's final line of the movie is telling you that you have a nice butt.

SS: Oh, yeah! But that was a great thing, also. We had a little improv here and there, but that was in the script. All these little moments were always there on paper.

KK: Yeah, even meant to be thrown away, pretty much every single one of them are on the page.

SS: And they all made it, so it's great. You don't always get that.

KK: No, I know. Some of the other characters in the movie don't always get [that]. We were like, "How are we gonna get more Chris?"

Sebastian, we talked about how much Nicole does, but especially considering how many Marvel movies you've been in the past few years, you've done your fair share of other projects, too.

SS: I've been trying! I've been very lucky the last couple years, especially. Like, before 2015, I'm hesitant to look back at what was happening. [Laughs.] But I was very lucky. In the last couple years, I feel like I've really gotten much more clear about what makes me operate at my best, and then it's just about really great directors and being opposite other people that are going to force you into showing up. Because it's so easy to fall into that line of comfort and go back to it, and the business is almost structured that way. You do one thing well, you can continue to keep doing that thing. Why break the habit, you know? But I feel more specific now, with wanting to be part of interesting experiences that I'm learning from rather than... Sure, it would be great to be a lead. But you get so much more out of the whole experience, if it works. It has to be a team thing.

There are reports that you could get one of those leading roles in a Bucky and Falcon series. Are you worried Chris [Evans] will feel left out?

SS: I don't know if he will. As far as I know, the only conversation I've had with Anthony Mackie has been about Miami Vice and how we should redo that. [Laughs.]

[allthosegoodbooks]

4⭐️ JUST LIKE AN EPISODE OF SUPERGIRL... and I really, really like Supergirl. The first thing that struck me when reading this book was how casual living with superheroes was. Unlike other novels or movies where the "talented" ones form a secret society, superheroes and humans (whether that be baselines, or in language that everyone understands, "muggles," or metahumans) exist together. I loved the concept that just because Danny - our wonderful protagonist - had superpowers, passed on to her by the most famous of superheroes, she had friends pulling her in all sorts of directions. Always such an emphasis on how young she is (which is refreshing, rather than a 17 year old being trusted to save the world, when I can't even budget my Christmas money... I have 44p and it is FEBRUARY), Danny assumes she should be a superhero just as her predecessor was, but she has the vigilante, Latina, friend Calamity who shows her the instant impact and lack of politics - almost reminds me of Pretty Woman; "we say who, we say when, we say how much." And then there is Doc Impossible (A GIRL SCIENTIST HELL YES) who, although part of the Superhero Legion herself, tries to dissuade Danny from becoming a "Cape," offering many different alternatives & practical uses for her superpowers... which really sets the precedent for this book, it's always so refreshingly REAL, like how Calamity and Danny have to put off "saving the world" because they are "swamped" with homework, and how in a world of "hypertech," wizardry and magic don't escape this - like in Charmed, when they dangle a charmed pendant over a map to locate something, but what 15 year old really carries a map around them? So instead, Calamity pulls out her tablet and gets up google maps or something and I'm like YES that is totally what I would do!! Also, during a massive superhero fight, the "news choppers" show up which of course, would not be contained in the real world. I just want to talk about my girl Calamity some more, because I really really love her. The perfect companion for Danny who needs to adjust to who she is very rapidly, Calamity is steadfast, the literal definition of a "Rock." She robs drug dealers for money - a win win - and their friendship is so pure & innocent... there is no gap in gender, or the perceived gender, there are bigger things than that, like there are bigger things than what coloured cape they wear. How do I put this eloquently... Dreadnought just deals with MEN so well. I don't think many women could put into words how it is that men expect something, in return for nothing...BUT HERE WE GO, perfect example: "I’ve been your friend for, like, ever. You know I’m a nice guy, but I never get a fair chance." THIS IS SO DISRESPECTFUL TO ALL WOMEN... and then we have THIS bombshell "you look good enough that I don’t even really care that you’re kind of a dude inside.” The first thing that crossed my mind when reading this was "God, I really hope the author/ any other Trans woman/man has never been spoken to like this," but I know that that isn't the truth. More than illustrating the "everyday sexism" and objectification of women, Danny shuts him down so well - “I am not, and I never have been, a ‘dude inside.’" (SO IMPORTANT) and even though everybody is trying to drag her down, she knows who she is and what she stands for: "If I did like boys, I wouldn’t like boys who talk to me like you just did.” After this, Danny completely shuts offensive boy out of her life and we never hear about him again... GOOD RIDDANCE. Similarly, the poisoned and unfortunately widespread perception of Feminism and day-to-day transphobia is portrayed through Graywytch, who instantly rejects Danny as a fellow woman. I'm sorta hoping that she learns the error of her ways and in the sequel partners up with Danny and accepts that she is a real woman, which I think would help Danny too, but in the meantime I'll leave you with this "You reify the holocaust of gender, you invade my sex, and you poison my sisters by your simple presence." This is very cis-only feminism because although Graywytch thinks she is standing up and standing with her "sisters," she's pushing down the one right next to her! Despite the sexism and Nazi Feminism and of course the blundering, passive-aggressive or just plain violent Transphobia throughout, Danny finds a way to flourish. Here may be a good point to add: As I am not Trans, I can't say whether or not this book will be harmful to you, if you are Trans or sensitive to Transphobia. What I can say is Danny's parents are both in denial about her gender, Danny's Dad to the point that he is abusive trying to make her "more manly," as well as the rejection from some members of the superhero Legion - mainly Graywytch - and of course David, Danny's ex-best friend, who asked her to go out with him because he deserves it. This is the only transphobia I can recall... correct me if I missed anything out. We meet Danny in the beginning of the novel anxiously buying a bottle of nail varnish and hiding behind a pillar in the Mall to paint her toenails, just to feel normal. Physically turned into a woman in a flash, she has never told her parents who she is on the inside, and now has to face their wrath and endless efforts to "fix" her. Danny finds it very hard to tell them that this is who she wants to be. At the same time as being outed to the whole world, she has to deal with the fact that she now has these great superpowers and even greater decisions to make... Danny accepting her colours of her cape and referring to herself as Dreadnought solidified the character development in terms of becoming a superhero, but even more than that is how she comes to accept herself in front of the whole world... I'll let you read to find that out ;-) *Thank you so much to NetGalley & the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*