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funkymbtifiction · 3 years

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Thanks a lot for answering! I wonder could you please give examples of everyday deeds/types of behavior of different primaries and secondaries? Like what are they like when there's a school test or when they need to visit a doctor? The more the better. Something more down-to-earth than the situations from the fantasy movies listed on the website that may never take place in the real world, something found in everyday life that will help someone identify themselves and mb others around them

I’m not sure I can do that, because frankly, your Primary House is a state of mind. It’s what you want and how you feel about things (or do not feel, in the case of Ravenclaws, ahem). But I can talk about a few things, particularly in response to Harry Potter, that can shed light on the state of mind of the Primary.

What I have most noticed about people in general is that we all have a built-in bias, and in order to find our true type—whether that is our MBTI type, our Enneagram core and tritype, or our Hogwarts House combination—we must abandon our ego defenses. What does that mean? We have to overcome our biases and want to know our true self, and own it, more than we want to fight against an answer that might not please us. In the Enneagram, I’ve noticed particular biases against being a 2 or a 6. Everyone wants to be the more “glamorous” 4 or the elusive, bookworm 5.

Harry Potter, for better or worse, introduced us to the concept of Hogwarts Houses, but also introduced us to a bias, because it made Gryffindor the most glamorous House, due to all the main characters (however unrealistically) hailing from that House. Or, at least, all the main characters we like. Ravenclaw is full of wise weirdos like Luna Lovegood, who irrationally believes in things no one can prove. Slytherin is host to mostly back-stabbing, snobbish cheaters. And Hufflepuff is an “afterthought” where all “the boring, nice people are.”

What I like about Sorting Hat Chats is… they made the entire system more interesting and a lot fairer. Now, Slytherin isn’t the only House with villains automatically placed in it: their villains have to be specific in their love (and not betray their family, because it is the house of My Family is My Life). This also means people, fictional or real, who prioritize their loved ones, are Slytherins. Such as Mr. Darcy, or Katniss Everdeen. Suddenly, being a Slytherin doesn’t seem so bad, right? Not if you are loyal to the ones you love! That alone will appeal to the mindset of a Slytherin, because they will think, “Of COURSE I am. Of COURSE my loved ones come first! They SHOULD!”

I have friends in all four Primary Houses, but I will use myself as an example of the Ravenclaw. When I was reading the books, having all the main characters in Gryffindor bothered me, because not only did it show a bias, but I felt some of the main characters ‘belonged’ in other Houses—such as Remus Lupin being a Hufflepuff rather than a Gryffindor. I also felt like Hermione belonged in Ravenclaw. But that is neither here nor there… my objections to the system came from the logical flaws in how she arranged it. It wasn’t realistic to have everyone ‘important’ or ‘admirable’ within the story come from Gryffindor. It was easier to have them share Common Rooms, but people don’t isolate like that and only befriend someone from their House. They look for like-minded friends who share interests, and would make them all over the place. It was my little Ravenclaw brain, pulling away at her system and finding flaws in its logic, but reacting from a place of logical reasoning rather than moral indignation.

When I took the SHC test, it placed me in Slytherin. And I was not opposed to that. In fact, I explored it for a long time, as I thought about how I respond in various situations. Slytherin appealed to me, because… I wish I could stand up for my family automatically. I wish I could prioritize my loved ones all the time. But I kept hitting upon the fact that – I like to think about things in a detached manner, and come to what I feel is a rational consensus. It’s more clinical and less emotional than Slytherins are—and it helped at the time that I knew a Slytherin, and could easily see both how possessive she was of people (they are “mine to protect” – she always reminded me of Slytherin Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings, with his “MY MR. FRODO”) and how, without fail, her sister came before even me, her best friend. Through comparison, I knew I had to be something else. So in typical Ravenclaw fashion, I went through and considered them all. Because, as a Ravenclaw, I want to be RIGHT more than protect my ego. I am always looking for the truth, even when it hurts. And I am always measuring the world against an ideal in my head, built up of my belief system. I do not go against my beliefs; I mold myself to them. And it shocks me to find others who do not, but who claim to be the same as I am. I take, for example, my Christian faith seriously—so what do you mean you are ignoring what your faith says, and doing whatever you want??? YOU MOLD TO YOUR BELIEFS, DON’T YOU? Well, yes, if you are a Ravenclaw, you do. If you are any other House, you do not.

The Hufflepuff Primary I know has a far more ‘felt’ opinion of the books and their sorting system. She got livid reading them, and thinking about how constantly unfair it all was, how biased Rowling was, and how Dumbledore was clearly playing favorites constantly with Gryffindor House. She developed a bad attitude about him as a result… which, of course, is coming from her being a Hufflepuff. To a Hufflepuff, people come first. They are all treated fairly and seen as equals. You do not discriminate, you do not alienate, you do not give unfair favors to Harry and his friends, just so Gryffindor can win the House Cup over and over again. She was actually so angry about this, from a Hufflepuff perspective, that she was willing to be a Slytherin in defiance of ‘The System’ until she realized that kind of mindset is… pure Hufflepuff. “You are not being fair about this, I will oppose you.” It’s all instinctual, it’s all emotional, and it’s all loyalty to the human race, which includes Slytherins. (This caused us some friction for awhile, until I realized it was “just a Hufflepuff” objection, because... how can you be mad at Dumbledore for that? It’s just a convenient plot device in the book! ... says the Ravenclaw who isn’t getting too emotionally involved. ;)

The Slytherin I know, by the way, denied being a Slytherin at first, because she felt ashamed of it. She has been taught to act like a Hufflepuff, that she SHOULD care about everyone all the time, but… she does not. She cares about her loved ones the most, and she would protect them above other people, every time. I pointed out to her that Hufflepuff fits her less than Slytherin, because “You ARE Katniss. You told me that once. That you identified so heavily with her, because you would go into the arena for your Prim.” And then she admitted it, and saw the gloriousness that is being a loyal Slytherin.

The Gryffindor I know is always looking for a Cause, and… as a Ravenclaw, I find that exhausting. She wants to be mad about things, because that anger gives her the fire she needs to do something about it. She has taken on big Causes by financially supporting the Causes she cares about, and done physical things about smaller Causes. For example, as a teenager, she came upon three guys tormenting a dog. It made her so livid, she charged straight at them, swearing and screaming at them to leave the animal alone, and it scared them all so much, they turned tail and ran. She just knew it was the right thing to do, and she and I often butt heads a lot, because she expects everyone else (meaning me) to be as passionate as she is about doing the ‘right thing.’ My more detached “well, let’s look at both sides of this issue” has no place in her black and white Gryffindor mind (no, that is WRONG).

Secondary Houses are… something that may take a little more time to figure out, as you think about how you handle the ‘unexpected.’

Gryffindors… have to speak up if they see an injustice, or hear something they disagree with. They are they person who cannot keep their mouth shut, they need to voice their opinion. They don’t care if you don’t like it or don’t agree, to not state their views would be antagonistic to their central self. My Hufflepuff friend is a Gryffindor Secondary. Not only did she get mad about the biases in Harry Potter, she complained loudly about it, to me, and to other people, and even in a blog post, because the injustice of it needed drawn-attention to, and dealt with, and she doesn’t really care if you disagree. That’s just how she rolls, about EVERYTHING. Because Gryffindor Secondaries state their views. They see an injustice, and they rush toward it. (My Gryffindor friend is also a Gryffindor Secondary: see dog being abused, rush in to do something about it!)

Ravenclaws… want to prepare for everything, and then rely on their own skill set to handle problems as they arise. They are the person who, when their bike breaks down halfway home, consider what they know about bikes (can they fix this easily?), and what they know about public transportation (am I going to be able to catch a bus home?), and make decisions from there. Or who study for a test in advance and show up, only to panic because they found out they read the wrong chapter in the book and know nothing about it. My father is a Gryffindor with a Ravenclaw Secondary, and he over-prepares himself with any useful knowledge he thinks he might need to combat a wide variety of situations—and then is stumped if confronted by something he did not prepare for, and knows nothing about. He is always trying to think ahead and prepare so that he doesn’t have to improvise anything at the last second—because he sucks at it.

It was a comparison with him that actually shifted me away from assuming I had a Ravenclaw Secondary, because… I don’t suck at improvising. I’m actually quite good at it. And I don’t over-prepare, because in true Hufflepuff Secondary position, I figure I can ask someone for help. And they always give it to me. But what really cemented the deal for me, in terms of recognizing my Puff Secondary House, were two—no, make that three, truths from my life. 1) Ravenpuffs distill complex information and put it back out into the world for others to enjoy (hello, Funky!). 2) Puff Secondaries show up and do the tireless work, clock the hours, and are highly reliable, which is… me. I have run this site day in and day out for years. I am punctual, fastidious, I put my responsibilities ahead of all else (even turning down fun occasions because I need to work), and I will painstakingly work on perfecting something, finishing something, improving something, or polishing something (even when I’m bored). In short, I show up and do the work. And 3) the truth that Puff Secondaries have friends to stand up for them, because they have proven themselves reliable and trustworthy, is no joke. A few years ago, I had trouble with someone online and, without being asked, three of our mutual friends came to my defense. Proof of the Puff.

Lastly, Slytherin Secondaries are highly adaptable. It’s no problem for them to shift their approach given the needs of the situation. It’s the equivalent of a friend you admire, but who puzzles you (if you don’t share their Slytherin Secondary trait) because… it seems like they are a different person everywhere you go, because whatever is needed, they can become it. They are the person who has no trouble with change and no need to plan, because they just trust that it’s all going to work out fine, based on their ability to adapt. It’s the person who shows up at a friend’s birthday party expecting it to be formal, finds out it’s casual, sneaks into the bathroom to rearrange their attire, and emerges ready to play Twister. Or who will be serious with you, joke constantly with your brother, and behave like a saint around your mom, according to whatever works and appeals to you the best.

Hope some of that helps, though it wasn’t explicitly what you asked for. Best this ENFP can do, since in-depth sensory specific examples require a heck of a lot more Si than I’ve got. :P

#question #hogwarts houses #ravenclaw #gryffindor #slytherin #hufflepuff #submission

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analyzingadventure · 3 years

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I’ve wanted to write about this for ages and Psi has kind of made relevant so

I always thought it was weird if we saw a Digimon die and then come back as the exact same species of Digimon.

(This isn’t specific to any series though I do use Adventure a lot in this discussion. May also contain spoilers for Psi)

Now admitedly there aren’t too many examples of this in the franchise (Patamon and Leomon being one of the few notable ones), but that is mainly because deaths are fairly rare, and even deaths we do see, it’s even rarer to see them come back (even when we know the mechanics of the world should make it totally possible)*. But nonetheless, it always felt weird to me when it did happen (or when us fans assume the Digimon would come back as the same species)

To properly explain why it feels weird to me, I first need to ramble about Digimon as “persons” and evolution as a whole

The thing that makes people who they are, are their memories. It’s their life experiences and their feelings of those experiences. It’s not where you’re born, the community you live in or the culture you’re raised in- of course these do affect who you are, but all they do is influence your life experiences and feelings about everything. They are incredbly imporant, and they play a factor in making you “you”, but those things aren’t “you”; “you” are your memories. And an imporant note here, is that who you are changes as you grow older, as you gain more experiences, feelings and memories. That’s why the “10yo you” is different from the “20yo you” or "40yo you” (etc), and why you will continue to change, even if it was ever so slightly, as you get older. Hell, the “you” who started reading this essay minutes ago is already a different person from the “you” who is reading this sentence right now. “You” are everchanging, ever-evolving.

So what makes a Digimon “them”? Or, more specifically, what makes each Digimon the species they are? Yes, this is a deeply related question for me, because we humans (I swear I’m not a robot) do express “who we are” outside, through our actions, our interests and how we appear to others, though not just what clothes we wear but also stuff like how we do our hair, tattoos, bodymods etc, not to mention things people don’t have control over from eye color, race, bodytype, height, all the way to disablities.

So if we as humans express so much (and so little) of “who we are” through how we appear, how would Digimon do it? How do Digimon express who they are?

It always just made sense to me if that was through evolution. That just as a Digimon experiences things, their evolutions will reflect the person they are, their feelings, memories, who they want to be.

Honestly this is one of the main reasons why I’ve always hated strict, Pokémon-like evolution lines (not even trees, just lines!!) in Digimon, the idea that these non-physical, A.I. data monsters can only appear a certain way through their lifespans based on whatever they were born as is just depressing to me. And while one might argue “it’s just how they are”, that rule only exists if you specifically go out of your way to write it in, otherwise there’s no reason for it to exist, but I’m getting super sidetracked ranting right now

Like just as an example of the kind of freedom I like to think Digimon could and should have, I want you to picture in your mind an Agumon.

Just a regular ol’ Agumon, living in the Digital World, minding their own business. This Agumon starts travelling for fun, enjoying seeing the world and whatever. During this time they realize they’re not really built for travelling and while their stamina increases as they go on and they get better at hiking, they still kind of wish they were more “built” for this type of activity so that they could enjoy their life more- And eventually they evolve into a Centarmon! Now they can move faster (etc) and enjoy their travelling life more, and they do just that! Life is great! Until one day they come across the ocean, a beautiful, vast “world” of its own, but one... they can’t explore, at least not any longer than they can hold their breath. They still spend their time exploring what they can, near the beaches etc, until one day their wish to explore the ocean is fulfilled and they evolve into a MegaSeadramon! And now they have great access to the oceans!

Like this example is very extreme, but you get what I mean, with the idea that the evolutions reflect the type of person the Digimon is, what they enjoy and who they want to be. It’s the ever-evolving reflection of their heart that I love

**(Sidenote at the bottom)

And this is why I think it'd make sense if Digimon came back as a different species entirely.

Because while death may have reset their evolution stages back to zero, if the Digimon retains all their memories from their previous life, all their experiences, hopes, wishes and dreams, all of their feelings... Then why would all the growth the Digimon had gone through in their previous life be reset? Shouldn’t their new life continue their previous growth and take different forms to reflect any new paths the mon might take in this life?

Just to use the Agumon from above as an example, if this mon died after spending quite some time as a MegaSeadramon, loving being a sea serpent and living in the ocean, wouldn’t it make sense they came back as a Sangomon instead of an Agumon (and yeah I think the Baby forms could be different too, depending on what they were but I’m skipping these)? Now of course, if they were happy living in the ocean and just totally content there, it’d make total sense if they then evolved to Seadramon and finally back to MegaSeadramon, I’m not saying they can’t come back to where they started at. What I do think is that it’d be weird if this mon went through the same Agumon -> Centarmon -> MegaSeadramon lifespan all over again if they wanted to be a sea-dweller from the get-go. And of course, as I alluded earlier; what if this Digimon, while living in the ocean as a Sangomon during their second life actually felt like they had seen what the ocean had to offer? What if they started hoping they could explore the skies? What if that wish helped them evolve to Airdramon instead, and they never go back to being a MegaSeadramon? This is what I mean when I say the second life would be a continuation of their life and their growth, it shouldn’t reset those things.

Now of course, from a simple writing point of view, it’d be confusing if a Digimon we were previously familiar with died and came back as a totally different Digimon, and even more confusing for kids. It’s easier to keep it simple and leave the Digimon the same species as they were in their previous lives

Additionally, most of these characters that we’ve seen die have always been minor characters with limited to non-existant histories; characters like Leomon, Whamon, Scumon+Chuumon, Piccolomon etc, while they’re all really well characterized with distinct personalities, they don’t have histories, backstories, they’re not deep characters. And making this many minor characters with deep backstories for a kids show would be really hard to pull off when you have deadlines to meet and no budget. So showing “the growth” these Digimon have gone through is not really do-able, not with these characters at least.

The Digimon with the most potential here would be Orgamon (the best developed minor character in Adventure) but he never died, Nanomon for sure, and possibly Wizarmon (esp. since his data could be like mildly busted, due to not being a Digimon originally and then dying in the Human World; if anything I think it’d be fun if Wizarmon could “come back” but as a Bakemon or something)

And as far as Patamon goes in Adventure, I do think with him it’s fine he came back in the same Digimon forms. Like my previous examples with “the Agumon”, this would be like natural evolution that happens over long, looong periods of time, years upon years no doubt, as the Digimon grows as a person. But the partner Digimon, they don’t really have the time to grow naturally, their evolutions aren’t really reflections of their growth. Rather, their evolutions are just powered up versions of who they are, with some reflection from their human partners. So with these partner Digimon (especially the Adventure-type “soul fragment” Digimon, less so with other series like especially Xros Wars), the evolutions being super linear does make sense and work just fine. And as an extention of that, these Digimon dying and coming back in the same species works out, like with Patamon in Adventure

Psi however, makes things a lot more interesting, because in Psi, the partner Digimon have backstories of their own.

Now for the most part, since the partners had lost their memories of their time fighting Mille as the Warriors, their growth being totally reset and them going through the same steps all over again does kinda make sense, it’s maybe a lil dull but that’s probably just my bias from being overly familiar with these characters.

But then there’s Patamon and Tailmon, two Digimon who retain their memories from their previous lives and the growth they’ve gone through. That growth, was own their own, from their own lives without any influence from any humans. But now, they have human partners, who influence them and their growth. And Psi has seemingly kind of spoiled the endgame for us, at least to some capacity?

We know in their previous lives Patamon and Tailmon were a Seraphimon and an Ofanimon, but based on the new key visual/poster, it seems Psi wants to use Goddramon and Holydramon as their final evolutions instead! And honestly, even if these evolutions didn’t come as a result of all the stuff I’ve rambled about in this post, it’ll still work for me for those reasons.

Additionally, while we know Patamon was only temporarily taking the form of Pegasmon because he lost his power and was literally unable to evolve to Angemon, for previously mentioned reasons if they had kept the Pegasmon evolution for the rest of the series it still would’ve worked for me, as it could’ve been seen as Pegasmon being a reflection of Takeru’s childlike innocence influencing Patamon’s evolutions

But yeah. I can’t remember if I had like a bottom line when I started writing this but it sure as hell is gone from my mind now, point is, I kinda wish Digimon’s evolution was seen slightly differently and written slightly differently, and explored more, especially through the Digimon who had previously died (who I would also like to see come back when the rules of the universe allow it instead of just ignoring the fact that they should be alive and well). And generally speaking I wish Digimon were written with more depth. Thank you for reading this incoherent mess

*Sidenote; arguably I think this could’ve applied to tri. as well, the Digimon who had their memories wiped completely could’ve totally evolved into different Digimon and maybe even should’ve

**Sidenote, this wouldn’t mean there’s NO limitations to what species a Digimon could evolve into; for example, just because you want to be a super powerful heroic Digimon like Omegamon it doesn’t mean you CAN evolve into Omegamon; if being valiant and heroic at heart were requirements to evolve to Omegamon, then unless you’re truly valiant and heroic at heart then you probably wouldn’t be able to evolve to Omegamon, if anything you might end up as Omekamon instead. Similarly if a certain species have other specific requirements, be it like Jogress requirements or Digimentals etc, then unless those requirements were met the evolution wouldn’t be possible So what I’m getting at is that limitations/requirements could totally still exist (depending on the rules of the specific setting), but being “the right species” to go from A to B wouldn’t and shouldn’t be one, at least not in my heart, but I digress

#Analysis #Analyzation #Holy shit I wrote an essay for this blog #This is like the first one I've written here for YEARS

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poisonheadcrabsalesman · 3 years

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More therapy thoughts part 1/?

Behavior Theory Frameworks/Conditioning and What the fuck does Master Chief talk about in therapy?

Ramblings below - like a lot, like I spent too much time writing this and you should not read this

Behavioral Theory could work well as a framework with rehabilitating Spartan IIs if the case worker focused on Operant Conditioning Theory and Cognitive Social Learning Theory, which I talked about in this ask because I think I’m funny and this blog is an archive of me applying human behavior theories to video games.

Spartans have always been taught the mission comes first! Always! The 2s are indoctrinated from age 6-14 and then have that reinforced the rest of their lives. From the beginning they are taught to push themselves to the limits, earn their food by winning, form bonds with teammates but be ready to sacrifice them for the mission. The whole lives wasted vs spent conversation between John and Mendez after the augmentation surgery!

What the UNSC/ONI wants comes before their lives, the lives of other soldiers, civilians, AI etc. This constant conditioning of expectations and rewards has created the norms cemented in their minds. This becomes standard operating procedure.

Spartans are also an entirely separated social group, other people have made really great posts on how they are Othered and have their own way of communicating with body language. ODSTs hate Spartans, marines see them as cyborgs or saviors, and while they’re allies, Spartans are not seen or treated as human, by literally everyone. They are a means to an end, with the original goal being to maintain the UNSC’s position of power and crush the insurrectionists in the outer colonies, but uh oh Aliens!

Maybe the 2s aren’t as expendable as the 3s but the mindset and reinforcement of “mission first, people second” being repeated their entire lives is going to stick. So is the constant mistreatment and abuse from their fellow soldiers and handlers.

Addressing the cognitive distortions that come from their upbringing while also balancing the fact that Spartans are so fundamentally different from the way they developed to survive would be so much work, especially considering how much information on them is given to their therapist. The main distortion I would apply is minimization, making large problems small and not properly dealing with them, and specifically for John, personification, accepting blame for negative events without sufficient evidence.

Like these are grown ass super soldiers who can kill you in less than a second and calculate the amount of gravity in a room on the fly but then also can flounder when trying to comfort civilians or make small talk because their experiences and values are so alien to adults who had more developmentally “normal” lives.

Literally applying therapy to Spartans would be like, what was done to you was wrong, the ends do not justify the means, you were children and the adults in your life failed to protect you. You are a human person who is fallible and did the best you could with what you had. And the Spartan would say, “sounds fake but okay, can I pass my psych eval and go back to war now please?”

Jumping back to Behavior Theory

Different approaches to therapy under the Behavior Theory umbrella help modify negative behaviors with treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical behavior therapy that teach individuals adaptive coping like emotional regulation, distress tolerance, cognitive distortions, and interpersonal communication. And that’s just one framework under the umbrella of human behavior theories.

Social work therapy is different from psych as it approaches individuals with heavily researched, evidence-based theories and frameworks in a holistic viewing of person-in-environment, instead of a strong focus on internal psychology.

Social work looks at all the interacting systems, environment, history, and internal and external factors affecting an individual. One of the most useful frameworks is the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Frameworks (BPSS) when helping a client. It helps with identifying all the intersecting factors, both risk and protective, that shapes a client’s lived experiences. The most important thing to remember is that the individual is an expert in their own life, they know their experiences best.

The hardest part is applying this to Spartans because they Are So Fucked, their lived experiences, their environments and systems and institutions interacting with them, and the amount of their personal information that is probably so classified.

BPSS is a tool to help social workers assess individuals and their situations by collecting info that is related to the presenting issues and current and past circumstances. Info like medical history, hospitalizations, substance abuse, mental illness, personal relationships, family history and background, culture and norms, education, legal history, spirituality and participation etc. is all under this framework.

For Spartan 2s most of this info is lost or classified and helping someone who has repressed every negative emotion they've had for the sake of the mission would be so much to unpack but that’s also why you’re reading the mad ramblings over an over caffeinated nerd on the internet.

Life Course Theory which looks at developmental milestones and the individual’s experiences versus the socially expected markers, how do you apply that to children who were taken and have lived such different lives?

While early adolescence is when “normal” development of thoughts of self and identity take place alongside the physical changes of puberty, Spartans were being turned into emotionless calculating weapons. Sorry John, no forming a sense of identity and peer bonds for you, go kill that Watts guy who betrayed us and joined the insurrectionists.

And now that I’ve gone this insane and opened 2 whole textbooks up, let’s get to Master Chief thoughts. If you’ve read this far thank you, I swear I’m normal, 2020 has just been a weird year.

Why the fuck did I think I could write a therapy fic on a guy with 20 minutes of actual dialogue across almost 2 decades of games?

I make fun of him and call him a himbo, but he’s smart, he knows he’s being used and there is resentment there that’s been building for years.

There’s also decades of trauma and combat experience, physical, and emotional abuse, the lack of a support network, lack of an identity, the biological factors and aftermath of the augmentations and injuries he’s received, a whole lot of grief and self-inflicted guilt.

The loss of a third of his peer group with the augmentation surgery, Sam’s death, the loss of Reach (the only place he’s considered home), Keyes, the Pillar of Autumn crew, Miranda Keyes, Johnson, Cortana. He cares about the marines who fight with him!!!

He just stands there and takes it and rarely snaps, and even then it’s just small cracks on the surface with fissures running deep. The few details I will pull from Halo 5 are Blue Team’s reactions to John pushing himself so hard from the beginning of the game, and the literal crack in his armor from the fight with Locke. Like dude.

John’s a leader and will get the mission done but he tugs on the leash. He’s earned enough of a reputation and uses it to get his way.

Halo 2’s “Permission to leave the station” with Mr. “I’m going to hand deliver a bomb to the fusion reactor of a covenant supercarrier and hope my friends catch me”.

Halo 4 is when we see him say no to a superior officer and then 5 is him going AWOL. Palmer literally points out that no one is going to stop him.

Halo 5 kills me for many reasons but John bringing up Halsey and what she did to him and also pointing out that he knows Halo 5 Cortana is trying to manipulate him with psychological tactics hurts.

He knows what’s been done to him!

I cannot remember which book it was but John isn’t used to working alone. He literally takes fire because he was expecting someone to have his back!

He’s lost without Cortana! She was in his brain! Y’all! I played Halo Combat Evolved on the original xbox when I was like 8 and I knew these two were meant to be together. From the moment they met they had great chemistry and relied on each other! Cortana literally goes after people who have it out for John! John wants her approval and shows off for her in one of the books.

I’ve already written too much here but like all of the games have John showing off for Cortana, making dry jokes, jumping out of things he shouldn’t.

The whole point of this rambling is to try and get my thoughts about how to approach John’s character under control.

And that’s the thing. He’s lost control. He’s lost people, he’s losing his position and being phased out as an aging spartan, a relic. John’s used to following orders and making some decisions on the battlefield but it was always short term.

He has no identity beyond being a weapon. Complete the mission, clear the LZ, get put in cryo. Rinse, repeat.

The timeline of the games are what I'm most familiar with but with the comics and books too it’s one long run from Halo 2 to Halo 4. Cairo station to the Dreadnought to the crash landing to Forward Unto Dawn to Requiem to “The Didact is Dead but not really but we’ll deal with him off-screen”.

I know Hood apparently gave John R&R orders before Halo 5 that he ignored and kept running himself into the ground. This is a man who has to keep moving and keep being useful.

I imagine him giving in and seeking help as a last resort to fix any problems he has with performing his duties rather than helping himself be healthier.

Any professional he sees is going to have to approach him like they’re approaching a self sacrificing feral cat, with lunch meat and quiet. This man needs to have his support network closer, set up long term goals, and do some serious, and most likely incredibly painful, self reflection on where he’s come from and where he wants to go. Get him out of that tin can and into therapy. I don’t have a nice neat ending because this was a ramble and also therapy is not neat and tidy. Thanks for reading my words about mr halo

#this is not coherent but it needs out of my brain #John - has different characterizations based on what media he's in #Me - my writing must be in character or I Will Die #also me - we don't talk about halo 5 but i will loot its corpse for bits of lore I like #im sorry for being like this #my writing #Therapy time #John 117 #this is not a halo blog #haha this was peer reviewed nonsense #thanks yall for enabling me #i have even more ideas for the infinity sitcom folder now

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fanfalc-616 · 3 years

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The Rights Of A Nindroid

Chapter Thirteen- Variation Two

(Prevoius variation here)

(Discord Here)

This chapter was originally an RP with @ablackswansweet, and there are two versions- one from both character’s POV. I have Swan’s permission to post this.

The young man can feel the android's gaze on him. It's wary of Martha and him, although he can hardly blame it. But he can't help but find the idea of a machine being "scared" kind of funny.

"What do you want?" It asks, most likely knowing something is coming, judging from the resignation in its voice. Kyle smiles internally.

You can almost see the cracks.

The blond is practically buzzing with excitement. A real android! And he gets to study it up close!

Getting closer, he inspects its face. The eerie look almost makes him shudder.

"I want to learn how you work." He takes Original's chin in his hand, moving it's head left and right to get a better look at it. The winces of "pain" from the android are uncanny.

He writes down some notes and takes his place next to the official again. Next part should be fun.

The android seems less than pleased with him playing with its uncovered face. Still, it bites its tongue instead of Kyle's hand (despite its very obvious desire to do so) until the blond is done, and lets out what sounds like a breath of relief.

How can you replicate relief in coding ? It's AI is fascinating.

"Haven't you done that enough?" It whines, trying to shake off its bonds. "With everything you've done to me, I doubt that any competent mechanic would need any more research."

It tries to shoot him a displeased glare, but without its faceplate it just looks unsettling and pathetic.

Kyle chuckles to himself. For a machine, it's talking a lot. Fascinating.

"Thing is, Original, I'm not exactly a mechanic. I'm just really, really interested by your wires and gears. And how well they respond to… Certains stimuli," he says.

A few more words in his notes and he looks at Martha, asking if it's time. She nods. Awesome.

As fast as he can, the blond connects wires to the android, barely able to contain his joy. It's not everyday you get to experiment on a non-human sentient being.

Stepping in front of the control panel, he waits for the official's instructions, almost shaking from anticipation.

Original isn't looking so good. It seems worried. Well, it's right. It should be. The distress emanating from it is very interesting, too. Can it sense the danger looming over it?

“To begin with, my name is Zane, not Original. Second, if you are so interested in ‘wires and gears’ perhaps a robotics course would be a more healthy outlet for you," it tries to reason with him. Too bad that it's way more interesting than a simple robotics course.

After a pause, it adds, "Why are you doing this? I can assure you that I have never meant to cause harm on any innocents.”

Kyle's hand twitches. He looks over at Martha. She's wearing a displeased expression. He didn't expect anything else, and he's probably making the same face as well.

“You can begin whenever you like.” The official tone sounds slightly interested, now.

He hums in response.

"Hey, Original?" He calls out to the robot. "You talk a lot."

He pushes a button and a small jolt of electricity was released. This fairly small amount of energy is only meant to cause discomfort. Wouldn't want to burn it out too fast.

The android squirms and still attempts to free itself, but no real pain response occurs. Interesting. A new paragraph written.

It still tries to reason with him, going on and on about how it wants it to stop, please. Kyle drowns the sound out with his thoughts. That wasn't very exciting.

Maybe with a stronger charge, something interesting will happen? That's what Martha seems to think too.

The android finally looks like it understands it's not talking him out of it.

How advanced is its code supposed to be, again? That took a while.

“I suppose I am talking a lot,” It concedes, “but not nearly as much as an old friend of mine. Jay couldn’t stay quiet if his life depended on it.”

Is it trying to have a conversation with him? Now? In its situation?

It must have thought of something. Let's humor it.

"Heh, yeah. I had a guy like that in one of my foster homes." A smirk grows on the blond’s face as the robot seems startled. "Didn't end well for him either. No one like a constant source of useless noise, don't you agree?"

Even without a faceplate, its expressions are pretty easy to guess. It's almost laughable how a few words shakes it up.

Making small talk is is a smart plan, he'll give it that. It's probably hoping that it'll make him like it enough to not hurt it. Let's see how long this game can last.

"How is your old friend doing now?" He asks, slowly turning up the voltage. The other engineers told him this should be as painful as period cramps, so that's fun.

The android struggles under the amount of electricity building up. But still, it continues to talk. Kyle's impressed.

“I haven’t seen him in a while- I’ve been a little…” It looks at its restrains and winces, probably reminded of its situation.. “... tied up.”

At big crooked smile appears on the blond's face. It's even making jokes now! Powering through painful situations could be a valuable asset if they were to make something like supersoldiers. Looking good so far.

“I don’t think I caught your name, either. What do you go by?” It asks, most likely trying to get information on him. That's not very important data, though. It can have it.

The blond lets his face turn into a surprised expression for a second. "My name's Kyle. He/him, I guess. But I don't think you're going to need to know that."

He turns the charge a little higher again, hoping to see some more interesting pain responses as they continue to talk. This is getting boring. Martha seems to approve of his method, however. Thanks, mom.

"Tell me about your other old friends. You said you were dating, right? How's it like ?" He asks again, a sinister smile on his face. How about a good old Pavlovian shock therapy?

Original fights any sign of discomfort or pain, and its calm expression is almost unsettling when you know what its sensors are going through right now.

“It’s nice to meet you, Kyle," It tells him, the lie barely noticeable. But Kyle has worked with hypocrites before. Original is talented. “I don’t recall mentioning that I was in an active relationship, but I suppose that the background research you must’ve done would cover that.”

Kyle smiles and says nothing. He increases the tension steadily, appreciating the sight of the android losing its peaceful facade, with flashes of pain occasionally visible on its face.

Impressive. The robot is still fighting. Maybe leaving the sensors at their normal settings was too nice, but oh well. Things are just now getting better.

"Yeah, I read your file before coming here. Big fan, by the way." He smiles, but the hostility starts to seep in his voice. "Wonder how they feel about your self-sacrificing nature," he almost spit out.

No. Breathe. Calm down.

Some composure regained, he suddenly sends it a jolt of electricity. Seeing it almost bite its tongue in pain is pretty therapeutic, actually.

Kyle lowers the voltage to let the robot catch his artificial breath. It's going to give up completely pretty soon. He'll have some fun with it first.

"So, your old friends ?"

Its pathetic sigh of relief is still very satisfying. It looks desperate, and tries to explain its past actions. It really doesn't need to. Kyle already knows they're unforgivable.

“When I was fighting the Golden Master, I meant no harm to any innocent people. I was built to protect those who cannot protect themselves. I… I understand that in some ways, I have failed this function, but I do my best to help those in need.”

The android attempts to steady its breathing. Trying to keep keep a sliver of dignity in front of the enemy, maybe ?

Anyways, it stopped talking. Finally.

Kyle sighs and does his best not to give a snarky reply. It seems to believe in what it's saying, anyways. Further proof of how out of touch with reality its AI is.

Another spike of tension, and Kyle is smiling again.

"You didn't answer my question, Original. How was life with your… Boyfriends ? Kai Smith, Jay Walker and Cole Brookstone, yeah ?" He says, insisting on their last names. They know who they are. Perhaps that'll make it talk.

His excitement level goes through the roof at Original's reaction. It goes stiff, most likely from anger. He found the weak spot.

A whimper escapes it, but it doesn't adress it. It's really mad.

“You do not touch them," it snarls at him. If Kyle's hand had been close to its face, there was no doubt it would've bitten him. “If you hurt them, I swear on the First Spinjitzu Master that I will hunt you down to the ends of the-“ Kyle cuts him off by sending it a strong shock. It cries in pain. The blond doesn't feel bad.

"Calm down. I didn't even actually threaten them yet," The boy mutters, leaving the tension run high a few more seconds before leaving it room to breathe again. The pathetic sounds of relief it does each time makes him want to laugh.

"If I wanted to truly use them as hostages, I'd tell you I know which shop they go to every two weeks to buy supplies and food, which is the one at the end of the main avenue."

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the voltage starts going up again.

"I'd tell you we have live feed of them almost every day and everywhere they go."

The pain must be becoming close to absolutely unbearable, seeing how the android trashes around. Fun.

"Or… I'd tell you how one of them already got arrested once, and how easy it is to transfer prisoners or fake an accident."

The power is now all the way up. It's almost scary how much this artificial body can handle.

Before it actually physically breaks, though, Kyle shuts off the power. The android's breath of relief is broken up by what sounds like sobs.

The blond comes closer, chuckling as the machine flinches near him. He takes off the wires plugged into it.

"Don't you dare threaten me or her ever again. Remember who holds the power here," he mutters in its ear before joining Martha with a smile, his notepad black with scribbles. She looks satisfied.

The android looks like it wants to say something, but doesn't have the strength to do so anymore. That's a satisfying sight.

He leaves the room with Martha, closing the door after her.

She smiles at him.

"It's close. You were right, you can almost see it cracking by the minute."

She fondly ruffles his hair and he chuckles, his nose tickled.

"Good job, sweetie."

#the rights of a nindroid #ninjago fanfiction #ninjago zangst #psychological torture #torture #trauma

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

Text

The Loud House Reviews: The Boss Maybe/ Family Bonding

Loud House weekly coverage continues as Leni is pushed into the deep end of responsiblity and taking over Lori’s old role of babysitter while her parents are gone and promptly drowns in a sea of comedy clubs, human body parts both on screen and in the fridge, old men in holes and indoor beach volley ball.

First things first: Last week I forgot to mention Rusty’s mustache freezing off as god, wether it be the judeo-christian god, Odin, that prick Zeus, the flying spagehtti monster or one of many other gods out there. Perhaps all of them did it at once out of hatred for the little weiner. Maybe one of them finally answered my prayers which in that case, that was nice and all but there are far worse things going on i’d prefer you took care of. Also the “stuff I couldn’t fathom” turned out to be just more loudcest, because of course it did. Loudcest is like David Spade, you think it’s finally gone or isn’t doing as much but then it comes around and makes the wrong missy and you waste 90 minutes of your life thinking i’td be so bad it’s good when it’s really just boring and a waste of it’s main actress talent. I lost track of that metaphor, but Loudcest is like david spade in that people like it for reasons I can’t fathom and it hasn’t quietly faded into the background for reasons I can’t fathom, though at least david spade was funny once. So maybe Loudcest isn’t like david spade. or maybe i’ve been taking too long with this bit.

But whlie last week was a bit wonky it also had a lot to setup.. but now it’s time to see what the show does with all the setup over, and a lot of new possiblities ahead. PItter Patter!

The Boss Maybe Ah now this is exactly what I was hoping for this season. New situations brought about by the year-up and all the changes it brought, with the same old heart and humor and character progression that drew me back into the show. This is the kind of episode i love and have talked about in the past and dosen’t fall into any of the shows usual pitfalls in the process. Just great. I could end it there but I haven’t shut up before why do it now. So this episode focuses on Leni who I talked about a bit last week and easily had the best plot and in general tends to have good episodes, both before and after the show became an ensemble piece, and even in episodes without her tends to slide in just fine. She’s always a nice breath of fresh air when she shows up.

I think that’s due to a number of things. For one it’s how sweet a person she is: She’s genuinely nice, kind and well meaning. While she is dumb as a box of rocks that resemble Pauly Shore, what I like is her stupidity isn’t malicious, or overused for misery. She causes comical injuries from time to time with it but she’s quick to apologize iff she realises it and usualyly has no ill will to anybody unless provoked or fighting Lori over a dress despite them wearing the same clothes all the time. I know standard animation thing but it’s always weird to me when shows with a stock outfit for a character have a fashionista, and prefer when shows have stylish characters actually change outfits like Kim Possible did with it’s title character, Xiaolin Showdown did with Kimiko and of all things LIttlest Petshop did with Blythe. Granted Blythe is a nothing of a character but still, credit where it’s due. But I do get this is also a nick show and they givet hem the budget of 50 cents and a network memo that says “BEG US FOR MORE MONEY” written in blood, so fair enough.

That aside she’s just plesant to watch. The other factor is Liliana Mumy. If you haven’t heard of her , she’s a vetran voice actress whose been doing this on and off since she was a kid, voicing Panini on chowder as a child and later going on to voice Beth in bravest warriors among other roles. Why she only does work so ocasionaly I have no idea but when she does she’s great. She’s also the son of fellow child actor BIll Mumy, aka the guy who as a kid played Anthony Fremont from the Twilight Zone classic “It’s A Good Life”, which if you haven’t seen it is about a small child who has the power of a god and thus can banish people who are “bad”, i.e. disobey him and thus rules over a small town as a creepy and cruel despot. Oh and he can read minds so if you dare to have a thought he dosen’t like your getting banished, with no telling what that means or where anyone disappeared goes. It’s good stuff. Highly recommend it, Mumy is absolutley terrifing and a brilliant actor even at that age and I wish he’d done more as an adult. I also bring it up because Lily played his daughter when they did a sequel episode during the UPN version of the show, set decades later and showing just what the little terror was like grown up... as well as what happens when his DAUGHTER gets the power. It was also really good and worth a watch after the first one. Good stuff.

TLDR: Leni is one of my faviorites, so’s her voice actress, i’ve rambled enough about unrelated stuff at this point.

We open at the mall, where for Leni life begins after schol, that’s when we bend all the rules time to hang with all her friends in the place where she belongs!

youtube

I mean technically she’s 17 now, but she was 16 when she started this job and none of them were 16 by the time the show ended so nyeh. This started in season 3 when the show started giving the girls not just their own stories but their own supporting casts., storylines, love intrests etc. Luna and Luaan got their romance plots with Sam and Benny, Lori got her college plot towards the end of the season, Lynn’s friends started showing up in her plots more, Luna’s mortuariy club went from assorted background friends of hers to a full fleged supporting crew, and of course Lincoln’s friend group started to become a recurring part of his plots away from his sisters.

For Leni, being one of the only three kids that could legally work at the time, another possible plot to dig into, and with Luna having way less incentive to get a 9-5 job with her music to work on and the fact we’ve seen her use said music to make money once in a blue moon, Leni was a good choice. It gave her something she was good at besides fashion, even if it’s fashion adjacent and gave us a new supporting cast for those stories: Her boss Mrs. Redinger, your standard “i’m tough by fair” type, and her new friends Fiona and Miguel, two fellow fashion savy teens played by actors i’d never heard of but who do a damn good job and play off her well, with both being a bit sarcastic but Fiona being a bit more mopey and deadpan and Miguel being a possibly but defintely gay teen. Both play off her well by being more down to earth and more wiling to be negative, but still enjoyable enough to be around you can buy them being friends with Leni and their a stellar addition to the cast. I wish, much like we’ve gotten with Liam lately, we could see more of them outside leni stories. Their a treat.

But I really like Leni’s work there. Besides the cast it puts Leni in a role of responsiblity she excels at. My only real problem is her boyfriend, maybe I dunno, Chaz, one of the ONLY love intrests from l is for love to get mentioned again and one of the more intresting ones, never shows up despite also working at hte mall and the story potetial of them working for rival stores or the same store. I mean I can’t blame them for not throwing another love intrest on the pile when they had two ongoing romance plots, but now both Luna and Luann are on steady ground with their steadies, it’s time to pull that trigger, get off hte ground and eat that horse. Also let LIncoln have one again will ya? It dosen’t have to be stella but Girl Jordan is right there, i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again.. where is she. And if not her just make one you’ve proven to actually be really good at it.

Where was I? Ah yes the mall. Leni is doing great at her job, suggesting some gloves to scoots, who ceases being skeptical when a hunky younger man of 30 something compliments her on them them chases off after him. If you don’t remember who scoots was that’s the old lady on a scooter who makes troulbe and appareltly can still get it. Good for her. Granted this is coming from someone who ships eda and stan pines still even though it’s now revealed she’s 30 but... frankly I don’t think age is a concern with her and stan can make this joke, so it evens out.

I mean he would right? I”m getting off topic even more than usual, point is Leni is doing great and her boss takes her to the break room for cake room... it’s just the one cake but can you imagine a cake room? that’s the life. Just a fridgerated room full of cake.

Turns out she’s EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH. And she didn’t have to chain squidward to an ancient battle ship to get it or anything. After some confusion, Fiona has to clarify it’s NOT her birthday because of course she does, Leni is proud. Full of cake and pride she tells her mom whose decided to reward her good job at work.. by dumping a bunch of respnosiblity on her. I kid. Rita is being somewhat resonable here. She asks Leni to take over Lori’s old role of babysitting/making sure the other 10, now 9 kids don’t burn the house down... no really she actually specifies that when leaving in the next scene. Which.. fair enough.. you have 11 kids, all likely to plug in a lot of stuff especially Luna and Lisa, said Lisa is a mad scientest who ends up nearly being the one to do it this time, Lynn has no common sense, and the younger ones who aren’t mad scientst are still reckless and vain and combattive respectivley so the odds of a house fire nearly breaking out on any given night are 1:1. But Leni in a show of self doubt that’s rare for her is scared (Though her revealing that by answering a question of how she’d feel about about babysitting the kids with “Scared” was fucking gold. I swear Lily’s deliveries are always so great. ), and while Rita assures her she’s not sure. But as I said, she is being resonable: While Leni’s not the brightest she’s kind, she’s been shown even before her recent major award she’s responsible, she’s babysat for other people’s kids, and she’s kind. I mean they COULD put Luna or Luaan in charge but while when I first read the preview blurb for this episode I was cuirous why they didn’t think of that or thought they would, this episode does a good job presenting WHY they’d do it, while other episodes fill in the gaps: Luna is a bit reckless and Luaan can get caught up in her bidness and as we know once a week goes through the green door and comes out a gamma monster fuled by the sound of her own laughter, a horrible mixture of the joker and madman.. the leader’s insane brother. I’m a huge nerd, you all know this. Leni is the right choice.

Despite her nerves Leni has little choice but to take it on and Mr. Loud proudly sees her out with ye olde english as he and Rita, with lily in a cute little knight’s helmet in tow, are going to a renisance fair to cater, with Lynn Sr needing the backup. And while you may say “what about his staff”.. their either going with and he just needs an extra pair of hands since it’ll be nuts, or some of them are staying behind to man Lynn’s Table while he’s out on his catering gig. I mean the man has plenty of time for his kids, he’s not at the restraunt 24 hours a day. Someone else has to run it when he’s gone. I asked internally why they didn’t just take them along.. then reminded myself that taking all 11 kids to the faire at once, without anyone to watch them and likely having to call in favors when jsuta s likely, Lynn Sr and Rita can take them all another day with presumibly free passes as part of the catering job as that sounds like the kinda thing he’d do. Also Senior’s into scarf’s now thanks to Leni, which I love. Looks good on him. Hank should give her a call. Ascots may be out but I think he could rock a scarf. I’ve had ventures on the brain. What follows is naturally Leni having several panic attacks as chaos naturally insues btu without Lori’s lifetime of experince dealing with it. IT’s a nice dynamic: Leni, as we’ve established, has always been sort of Lori’s sidekick, her best friend, her amigo. Sure they fight, siblings do that, but they’ll always be there for each other when it counts. SHe’s never really had to THINK without her or be without her, so throwing her into the deep end of taking care of the kids really leaves her shook. It’s a HARD job, it’s probably why the louds don’t bring in babysitters often: there are 11 kids to look after, 10 now and only 9 tonight but still a LOT of them and most of htem pretty high maintince. It was just easier with Lori because she grew up knowing each of them, knowing each of their weaknesses and putting the fear of her righteous wrath into them. They’ve spent their whole lives looking up to her, literally and figuratvely, as their big sister and respecting her as the biggest authority in the house that’s nto her parents, sometimes bigger. Those aren’t just big shoes to fill , their Galactus size and that combined with her big sister worship leaves Leni understandably scared, lost and frequently paralized with anxiety this episode. No really multiple times she just freezes and one times she screams. As someone with Anxiety disorder I related to this.. sometimes you either just break down or you just FREEZE from the stress and everything hitting you at once and have no idea how to progress while people are still barking at you to do something. It’s a lot but it was a nice touch that really added to her sympathy. And her anxiety is also understandable when she’s being hit with 80 problems at once, which i’ll tackle all at once here rather than in order as this episode has a really frentic and good pace: while it follows the formula of “Leni runs into a problem, Leni freezes, then Leni gets help from Lori twice hten mr.grouse, more on that in am inute”, the quick pace and great jokes help keep things from feeling too repetivie.

Anyways the chaos: Just from the start Lucy puts a possibly human liver in the fridge, Lana eats all the cookies then gets skunked by her pet skun, and Lola and Lynn get into a fight over 5 bucks Lynn found, and since Leni can’t just let one kill the other as nature intended she has to fix all this.. mostly by removing the smell with tomato juice and scaring off the skunk and cutting the dolar bill in half. Money dosen’t work that way as both sisters point out but frankly it’s Lola and Lynn, I don’t care who they feel.

Meanwhile two of my other faviorties get into a tiff over their room: Luaan turns it into a comedy club and kicks luna out, with Scoots and her new man returning. Again, get it girl, get it, and Leni, under Lori’s advice, pretneding to be a fire marshall.. only for Luna towarsd the end to turn it into her own rock club. Lisa creates a corossive super substance that burns a hole in the floor, Lana continues to grapple with the skunk and finally Lincoln and Clyde.. watch a scary movie despite Lucy’s warnings.. and Lucy does something else.. I think? It was a chaotic episode with a lot of set pieces so forgive me if I forgot one of them. Honestly she’s the most well behaved there.But yeah as per the cliche Lincoln and Clyde, after Leni gets the wifi fixed with Mr. Grouse’s help, they get super scared and freaked. Everyomne is freaking, the house is falling apart and Senior wants permission to wear a pinky ring via thought cloud.. which.. no man no. Scarves yes but no one looks good with a pinky ring. No one. And I say that as amporphous blob covered in hair, sweat and regrets.

As for how Leni deals with all this she leans on Lori, calling her twice, but at inportune times: during a golf game and at the library where said phone gets taken. Granted, I don’t get why she didn’t have it on silent, as I would in those situations, but then we wouldn’t have an excuse to include her and it feels necessary to show WHY Lori can’t just help all night or reassure her sister and with Lori gone the panic only intensifies. As I said she gets paralized with fear and later just outright screams.. which attracts an irate Mr Grouse, the next door neighbor who I need to watch more of’s episodes. Including 12 louds of leapin.. I know i’m way overdue on that. This december. Promise.

The old man who yells at Louds helps for a bit, helping get rid of a beach Lynn set up because she’s lynn, she has the consderation of a puppy, but eventually falls in a hole like most great heroes and most elderly people. I mean the ones up the street at the retierment home must fall in once a week. They get out of course because the assitant living mole lets them ride out as it digs into the walls. Or maybe that was just a hallucination. Eventually though the start at her job comes back as she calls the only people she has left for help: Fiona and Miguel, who are at the mall in chairs because of courser they are, and both are confused why she’s so helpless: She’s fantastic at work, she’s kind, confident and smart.. about certain things, she can do this. Besides helping her confidence with this really sweet moment they also give her a good tool for how to use said confdience from work: just treat her siblings as customers. It’s also a nice call back to how we’ve seen Leni learn way back in season 1 during “Driving Miss Hazy” we’ve seen that she can have troulble grasping things, but when you put it in terms she understands, like fashion, or shopping, or in this case helping customers with their issues, she snaps into it. She learns at her own pace in her own way, it’s why I think sh’es neurotypical, and possibly ont he spectrum like yours truly: while her stupidity isn’t part of that the unqiue way she processes things has me supscious. either way it works.

So with a new strategy Leni.. literally adresses them like shoppers, which is comedy gold. However it’s a valid strategy: besides the visualation part by getting them to form a line, instead of trying to handle 2 or 3 problems at once she simply handles them one at a time: She scares the skunk off again, shuts down both competing clubs in the older kids room, uses water to take out lisa’s universal solvant, gives Lola and Lynn 5 bucks instead of just cutting a ten in half this time, and in the sweetest moment of the episode, reads Clyde and Lincoln a childrens book to clam them down. Sure it’s a bit funny but their genuine relief and all threes adorable expressions really melt the heart.

Leni finally wins, just as her parents get home and congradulate her, Rita’s faith not misplaced. While Rita probably knew it’d be an adjustment, and frankly should’ve prepped her sooner, she knows her daughter and knows waht sh’es caapable of. Also Senior brought home meet and gives leni a turkey leg who gives it to the old man who now lives in a hole inside their house. That’s his home now. Mr Grouse is just there now. Or I wish he was. But I guess you can’t always get what you want epsecially if it’s an old man living in a hole in the loud’s living room. Someday. Final thoughts for The Boss Maybe: As you could easily tell I loved this one. Funny with a hell of an emotional core, and with great pacing espeially for a loud house episode, this was a joy to watch and easily one of the best episodes the show has done. Just a funny, breezy watch with a lot of subtext, intetional or not, regarding what we’ve seen of Leni and honestly i’m going to go with intetional. It felt really rooted in who Leni is, her relationship with lori, and her work without hitting you over the head with it. It just all flowed really well and made for a hard one to top for the season this early. I’m impressed and it gives me hope for the rest of the season.

Family Bonding

This one was.. okay. As i’ve learned the hard way from doing Amphibia when an episodes just okay it’s best to breeze through it.. but I can give it this. While it’s mostly a standard loud house episode the ending.. wasn’t predictable. That’s for sure. I mean.. it left me with only one thought really...

But i’m getting ahead of myself. The episode’s plot is standard for the most part: Lincoln’s obessed with a new spy comic book about a james bond expy.. okay so that’s what Sterling Archer did besides physical therapy for the three months between his waking up and Season 11. Anyways they soon get more exciting news from Lynn. New Neighbors! Before Rita can stop them, the rest of her family tramples over her and goes to make their aqunatince and of course be a bit overbaring with it before Rita rushes in with a spray bottle to spray them like a bad dog because frankly when your dealing with 11 people most of whom are really impuslive, sometimes dog training just works. You try raising eleven kids and see how long before your brain breaks. Anyways after introductions and the mom turning down cherry pie, you monsters, lincoln sees strange flashing lights and a device and is convinced something is up and unable to convince his family and on a spy kick, recurits clyde. Now why he dosen’t call on Stella and Zach I dunno. And yes I said Zach and not my boy Liam. I have my reasons: Stella, besides being a faviorite of mine, is a tech whiz as shown in one of the comics and in the cookie episode, and Liam is already a paranoid conspiracy nut and as we’ve seen with Dale Gribble, they can be suprisingly useful. I mean Dale is not the best on common sense but he knows goverment bilaws in and out, is skilled with a gun or a bag of pocket sand, and has danny trejo’s octavio, whose basically danny but as hired muscle instead of a master actor, on speed dial. I mean we don’t know if Zach dosen’t have a danny trejo on speed dial or not. We never asked. As for the other two while I love LIam, spying just dosen’t seem to be in his sizeable skill set and Rusty.. well rusty’s about as subtle as a man covered in screeching cats he glued to himself blowing an airhorn, while screaming the script to a micheal bay movie while doing the explosion noises himself.. which Rusty has probbbly done. The real thing i’m getting at is I don’t get why, outside of Clyde and LIam, the writers think when LIncoln has an epiosde it either just needs ot be ClyncolnMcCloud or the ENTIRE group, when one or two would do the trick. YOu CAN seperate them out. People do hang out with diffrent friends at diffrent times. I know the show’s grasp on reality is tenous at best, we got to that last week with the whole one teacher for core classes thing with schooled and this week.. again we’ll get to it in a second, but friends DO hang out seperate. We saw each member of the Lincrew, minus stella because she didn’t exist yet, doing their own thing in Racing Hearts. It’s not that complicated. It’s hard to flesht hem out when their used as one solid unit and not unresonable to just use one or two. it’s a lesson I hope the show learns eventually and hope it’s sister show learns too.

But yeah our dynamic duo spend the episode as youd’ expect; unraveling conspriacies and stalking the new family, though there are some funny bits. Besides Rita squirting her family like a cat or a dog, we have flip getting half his face shaved by a survelince drone and okay maybe just those two things. not bad bits, but the general concept of them roleplaying into mischief.. has been done before. The show’s done the detective bit before and the spy trappings really don’t change that. And you CAN do a good spy takeoff episode, this one just sin’t it and feels like your standard LIncoln and Clyde messaround with tuxedos. Which to be fair are pretty awesome but still. It’s pretty flat. The climax though? I’ll give it this.. it’s pretty entertainngi if also 100% what exactly the fuck. So our heroes are naturally caught sneaking into the neighbors house and its eems they were wrong, etc etc, exactly what we expected the new kid will hang around.. at least we have a new character. Instead.. LIncoln accidently hits a knob and unveils a panel

So yeah... turns out the new family ARE spies, just for Peach Growers and plan to wipe out all cherries in royal woods. Yup.. look I know this universe is patently insane but even for loud house, even with all of lisa’s super science... even with the slapstick but this is just.. nuts. Like i’m fine with suspending my disbelif, this show is a goofy comedy, but this is a bit much. I LOVE it for being nuts but only in a “what on spagehtti monster’s green earth were you thinking”. I get swinging for the fences but Lincoln getting into a fight with a bunch of spies after playing spy, well beating them with slapsticks and stopping their plot to elmitie cherries..t his isn’t Kids Next Door. This just.. dosen’t work. Jeff Goldblum tell em why, my brains too broken to articulate this anymore

Yeah that. It’s just a weird climax and ends iwth LIncoln vetting the new neighbors.. which does it include girl jordon? Did they just write her out? If so why? Fans liked her, you can have more than one female character in Lincoln’s friend group. Zach is replacable. You can give me whatever the fuck this was, but not an intresting friend for him who has personality already. I get 50% chad but not your decision making. Gah.

Final Thoughts for .. this. one This one really didn’t work. Besides the ending just not fitting the series specific brand of ludicrous, I mentioned KND for a reason as it made this sort of plot work fine by having it’s whole unvierse be really fucking weird and specific, it’s mostly just okay. We’ve seen this before.. well okay I haven’t watched many of the Lincoln and Clyde messarounds, but the formula’s about the same. And that dosen’t work. For one you have a HUGE swath of new possiblities: A new school, Chandler coming back, new teachers and faculity, a new principal, and Lynn and LIncoln being in the same school, and you instead just.. retread the same crap. you have 4 of lincoln’s friends other than clyde to use but don’t let them in on the fun. And most agrivating to me you move new neighbors into the neighborhood while neglecting some of your old supporting cast and have them be villians of the week instead of adding someone NEW to the neighborhood. Give one of the other kids a new friend, or give lincoln a new friend to add to his group and replace liam, shake up the dynamic with him and clyde bya dding a third or, most obviously move one of his friends INTO the neighborhood, most obviously stella since you spent so much time building her up then have her addition affect Lincoln and Clyde. Sure we’ve had an episdoe of one of his friends getting in the way of them before, but this would be diffrent. This episode is just.. not great and was a waste of my time, espespcailly after following such a stellar episode. It’s probablyt he first genuinely bad episode i’ve covered on this blog. Now that probably won’t stand, i’ve seen genuiley worse but.. as a wise penguin once said.

One last note. That Young Dylan graphic is really obnoxiou and obtrusive. It’s the second most obnoxious thing i’ve seen on this network.

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I”m out for this week. If you want more check out my Amphibia reviews, as I just finished a new one today, my other loud house reviews in the newly minted nickelodeon tab or other stuff on my other tabs, send me an ask for reviews you’d like to see or pay me to review whatver you want for 5 bucks via direct message. And check this blog Monday for the return of weekly Ducktales coverage, and next weekend for the next episode of loud house, and throughotu the week for more reviews. Until we meet again, GO TEAM VENTURE!. Play us out Mary Kate Wiles. If nothing else this episode let me use this song.

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comickergirl · 4 years

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A (Spoiler-Filled!) List of Good Things in Star Wars, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, in no particular order:

(Because there are good things, I swear.)

SOME DISCLAIMERS before we begin! 1.) I liked The Last Jedi quite a bit! I mention this because I need the internet to know which side of the Star Wars discourse I’m on. XD 2.) I went into this movie expecting the worst. 3.) It was not as bad as the internet is making it out to be, IMO. 4.) But there are in fact some things that I really, truly, Do Not Like. 5.) But this post is not about that! This post is about the stuff I enjoyed. SO...LET’S GO! For real this time:

I actually don’t mind the road-trip, MacGuffin hunt structure! In fact, I think the first...I’d say half? Third? of this movie is very, very solid. I like all the different environs and planets and, AND...

I like that the main trio is together! Griping and sniping and hugging like the tiny found family that they are.

LEIA IS REY’S MASTER!

All of the Leia stuff was really nice. I think it’s a little obvious that they’re working with limited footage, but I’m glad that she was included, and did not disappear or die off-screen between films. We get closure.

LANDO!

Wait, no, I’m getting ahead of myself: Rey and Poe bickering about the Flacon, Rey being like, ‘YOU CAN’T LIGHTSPEED SKIP THE FALCON!’ and Poe being like, ‘APPARENTLY YOU CAN!’

BUT THE FALCON IS ON FIRE, POE.

BB-8.

(That’s it, that’s the bullet point.)

Okay, are we at Lando, yet?

LANDO!

(Another disclaimer: This film...really swings for the fences, in terms of its more...fan-service-y bits. And I look forward to a decade of disagreeing with other Star Wars fans as to which ones were good, and which ones were flat-out dumb. I think the Lando bit is one of the more...I’ll say tame? bits of fanservice? So I liked it.)

Lando’s hologram watch was truly Peak Retro Tech, I dig it.

In isolation, Rey’s Force Lightning was Really Cool.

(I did not think, for one second, that Chewy was on board that ship. Had he been, the Force Lightning would have been Less Cool.)

Rey healing the worm!

Oh, wait, speaking of the worm, I liked Random Slug Guy on the Falcon!

But where did all the Porgs go?????

D-0! Or is it D-O? Either way, he’s cute! And, as the young folks would say, ‘a mood!’

“No thank you.”

“Sad.”

I think, of all the planets they visit, my favorite is Kijimi.

I just like rainy/snowy, mountainous Star Wars planets.

(See also: Eadu from Rogue One)

I also like that the team gets to wear matching parkas as they dodge Stormtroopers.

I don’t have particularly strong feelings about the reveal regarding Poe’s backstory (Spice Runner) but I like the banter that accompanies the reveal.

Also, Keri Russle! Or, rather: Zorii Bliss.

Her helmet is very, very cool.

You know what else is great about Kijimi?

BABU FRIK, THAT’S WHAT.

C-3PO’s ‘taking one last look at my friends’ was genuinely quite nice. Actually, all of the C-3PO stuff was pretty good. He’s a character that can get...kind of annoying, but I think he was handled well.

I love that Hux was the spy, and I love his reasoning.

‘I don’t care if you win, I just need Kylo to lose.’

Another mood, tbh.

Whatsherface, from Killing Eve, was Rey’s mom, which was kind of a surprise. Mostly in a, ‘Oh, hey, it’s whatsherface. Neat.’ kind of way.

Rey jumping out of the Star Destroyer and into the Falcon and Finn’s open arms: A+

Hmmmm, hmmm, what else, what else.

Oh! All of the ex-Stormtroopers/defectors! That’s a cool concept. Liked that.

Also their wooly horse things.

Okay, so we’re coming up on another fan-service-y bit, and as such, YMMV. But I, for one, loved that Leia had a secret lightsaber tucked away on that island, and that we got Young!Luke and Young!Leia training, even if they still haven’t quite mastered the CGI de-aging for Leia in particular.

(I love the Jedi Academy Trilogy Expanded Universe/Legends novels, and that sequence took me right back to reading those books in the library in middle school so YEP. That bit of nostalgia gets a thumbs-up from me!)

Also loved Rey in Luke’s X-Wing and helmet, even if it’s kind of ridiculous to think that the thing would still work, after being submerged underwater for...how long?

The Palpatine scenes were legitimately Creepy.

The Final Showdown goes on a little too long, I think, and I’d argue that this portion of the film...is where opinions will diverge most sharply. So, again, I’m just gonna focus on the stuff I liked.

Liked that everyone came!

“It’s not a navy, it’s just...people.”

BABU FRIK, BACK AGAIN!

For the five seconds he was a decent human being, Ben was...not awful.

I appreciate that he was thrown down a hole (in true Star Wars fashion!) so that Rey could Have Her Moment.

And,

Okay.

In isolation. ...What a moment it was.

Be with me.

Looking out beyond the devastation of the battle, seeing the expanse of stars, hearing the voices of Jedi past...

“I am all the Sith!”

“I am all the Jedi.”

TWO LIGHTSABERS, FORCE-LIGHTNING-ING PALPATINE’S FACE OFF.

YES. GOOD. YES.

...And then...other things...occur.

Boy. Do they. ....Occur.

....

............................

We’ll just jump right to the reunion of the main trio which was lovely.

ALL THE GROUP HUGS. ALL OF THEM.

I appreciate what they were trying to do in the final scene. I’ve seen some reactions on the interwebs and the consensus is, ‘that was dumb’ and I can understand that.

I feel like the Rey Skywalker thing might have landed better if certain plot points...were discarded, but. I didn’t hate it, like I hated some other stuff, so. I’ll give it...a half-thumbs-up.

And, as always, I loved the score. Particularly: Rey and Leia’s themes.

So there we go! Some positive stuff about TRoS! If we want my ‘official ranking’ regarding this film, I’d say it’s somewhere firmly in the middle. It’s got enough frustrating stuff in it that I can’t say I really loved it, BUT, it does not retroactively ruin the entire franchise for me, which was my deepest fear.

And if nothing else....we’ll always have The Mandalorian. XD

#hark! a text post!#star wars #star wars spoilers #episode IX spoilers #star wars: episode IX spoilers #tros spoilers #ros spoilers #star wars: the rise of skywalker spoilers #ALL THE SPOILER TAGS #long post

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eduardo-andale-lets-go · 4 years

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Alright we gotta accept that we’ve entered a new phase of the fandom and we aint getting the same traction as before, but we’re ALIVE and we’RE GONNA KEEP IT THAT WAY OKAY.

And ONE WAY to do that is to support creators. I’ve seen the rec lists and I think I need to update it with some new good ones. Obviously these aren’t the only ones but these are the immediate fics that I remember because they’re 1) SO fUcking Good and 2) the most recent that I’ve read.

Absolutely nobody asked for this but its here now so you have to deal with that by reading all of this. Suffice to say, if anyone has fic recs please don’t be afraid to add them as I will be updating this as I see fit.

1. Baby, I’m Counting On You by PuddingTown

Summary: When Richie Tozier breezes back into his hometown of Derry, Maine, he’s expecting to see familiar faces. Of course, he’s not expecting to see an old flame chasing around a baby. With a million questions, nowhere to go, and a help wanted ad for a nannying job, he finds himself at the doorstep of Eddie Kaspbrak.

Comment: this is a 119k long fic of sweet, sweet longing and domestic bliss doused with simmering angst. You will LOVE this repentant Richie in that he actually does work for it (lesson!), and its not the darkest fic out there cause—BABY! THERE’S A BABY IN HERE AND STEVIE IS THE BEST BABY CHARACTER OUT THERE OKAY! SO IF YOU WANT SOME CUTE BABY FICS HERE IT IS, ITS HERE, ITS HERE ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS CLICK AND READ AND LOVE IT!

Its also celebrity/singer Richie and drag queen/mechanic eddie and if that aint enough for ya I don’t know what else.

Status: Complete!

2. Toucha Toucha Toucha Touch Me by Mere_Mortifer » @mere-mortifer

Summary: “Who the fuck are you?” Eddie exclaims before he can stop himself, and the man turns to face him with a shriek. "I have a dog, you know? He’s like half wolf or something, if you don’t get the fuck out my apartment I’ll tell him to attack!” The man, incredibly, laughs again, this time less hysterical and more plainly awkward. “Yeah, uh, about that…”

Or: Eddie brings a stray dog home. Turns out, it's a werewolf.

Comment: this is an 11k fic of nothing but good pacing, gOOD smut, and great characterization! And please, do not worry, Richie is human when they have sex here or else I wouldn��t have clicked xD

Status: One shot

3. Predicament Bondage by dgalerab » @dgalerab

Summary: When Richie is cast in an irreverent sexually charged comedy, Bev suggests he do "research" with Eddie, a professional Dom.

Only problem is: Richie's still in the closet.

Comment: alRIGHT. THIs one I’ve been so excited for every chapter. Its not done yet but the updates are pretty reliable. The sexual tension, the professional dom eddie, the sweet, soft Richie—its all so good.

Status: Ongoing

4. greetings from stardust by hippieluna @hippieluna

Summary: A few days ago just an ounce of Richie's attention was almost too much to bear. Now, he feels engulfed in it — hot tickling flames that spread from his chest to his fingers when their wrists touch between the seats of the car. It hurts when Richie looks at him and it hurts when he looks away. Funny how much clearer things get when there aren't any distractions.

Comment: ITS! A! ROAD! TRIP! FIC! FULL! OF! NOTHING! BUT! YEARNING! AND! SMUT! I’ve read many a kinky/hard core fics in my time here in the reddie tags, its been filthy, its been fun, but hippieluna writes sweet, fresh smut in a refreshing way! The pacing, the underlying tensions, the necessary misunderstandings, the understandable insecurities—its never boring nor annoying! The pining is so, so good. Sometimes, I could hear music just from the way hippieluna writes and it’s a fucking adventure alright! The sceneries, the mood—if this was a color, it would be if the setting sun, with all its orange and red and purple and pink were reflected in a clear lake. It. Beautiful. The way Eddie just sees Richie—ya’ll, if you want some fresh pining material here it is. Status: Completed!

5. come to me feathered and frayed by Lvslie»

Summary: “You are—free,” he continues, haltingly. His narrow chest is heaving. “Are you happy?”

The frightful, intimate acuity of the question undoes Richie’s volition—he’s disarmed. He stares into the other’s wide eyes, knowing his own to be just as revealing. At length, he swallows.

“No,” he admits instead, softly. “No, I am not.”

[Or; a late 19th century AU inspired by Maurice and Age of Innocence]

Comment: THIS! This took me so fucking long to read cause I had to acclimate my reading prowess. This one reads like classical books I swear to god, but like, so so so worth it. The imagery brings me to Italy, even though I don’t know most of the words cause ive never been to Italy and we don’t have those kinds of architecture but like going to google images and then reading it back- worth it for the mood that it gave me. If greetings from the stardust was the setting sun this one was like sitting in a greenhouse and seeing the reflected green all around. Like sitting on a turtle as it waddles through the water. Very calming, sometimes tumultuous in the repressed department, but somehow overall soothing. Maybe its because of the narrative voice, so if you love fancy and eloquent narratives this is the one for you!

Status: Completed!

6. i've lived and died a hundred times by bughead

Summary: In a rare moment of genuinity, Eddie whispers, “I feel like I’ve known you forever.”

Eddie and Richie's souls are connected, and they've met millions of times throughout history.

(or, some souls are just meant to meet, one way or another)

Comment: HO HO HO HO HO—HoooOOOOO. If I could HUG a fic—I WOULD SLAP IT FIRST, FEMALE MAIN CHARACTER IN A YA MOVIE STYLE, BEFORE HUGGING IT. Holy SHIT DUDE. Where do I START? Okay so first of all this is 6k, might be the shortest of my recs right now, but fucking hell did it pack a fucking punch. This has everything I LOVE and WANT in a fic! The mood is somber in that it deals with reincarnations and the wonders of connection. Richie and Eddie’s souls meet each other at various points in history and ive been making teary eyes the rest of the fic. Its just—if the last fic was a turtle on water, this one is floating in the sky, falling a couple miles and then floating again. It leaves you with some kind of feeling—a tug, a yearning (HA THIS WORD.) and a need for closure. And you—you get it, that closure, but it still leaves an impression. Like a warm hand on my elbow, kind of sweaty, large, but comforting. I loved this so much.

#IT #IT fic recs #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #fanfiction #reddie #will add more #please if you have new fic recs add it here #if you wanna promote your fic do it here too #we're all here to celebrate and support creators-- each other!#use this as a homebase for new fics cause by god the new fics dont get enough traction even if they deserve it #reblog this please im begging yall

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sugarandspice-games · 3 years

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I guess this is becoming a trend... I’m popping in before the actual intro to clarify-- if the text is in italic, it is me (Sugar) talking and regular is Spice. Alright? Cool. And so--

So, one night I’m going through youtube and I come upon this one shitposty video about some random anime that I’ve never even heard of. After doing some research, I discover that it’s actually based on a dating sim that I’ve also never heard of. As a joke I was like “Hey Sugar wanna watch this as a joke, it might be funny” and so we did. And uhm. Well.

Today we’re gonna be reviewing Brothers Conflict, aka Sweet Home Alabama 2: Electric Anime Boogaloo aka the anime that ruined our lives. [Again, disclaimer: neither Sugar nor I condone incest and/or pedophilia, two themes which are uh, very rampant in this anime which is why I cannot recommend it in good faith. It’s not good, don’t get me wrong. I can’t really say that I liked it even if watching it and ragging on it was kind of enjoyable, and I did get attached to some of the characters because that’s the kind of idiot I am. Also, we’re not shirking our duties to write I swear please don’t kill me--] Anyway, an obligatory SPOILER WARNING though this probably isn’t going in the main tag bc I do not want the fans to publicly stone me. Why are we reviewing this? Bc we need to talk about it somewhere. Though I say review lightly bc this... is really more of a critique.

ALSO we only watched the anime, idk if things are different in the game. There is no full english translation for the games and most of the LP channels have been copyright striked, so please don’t come at us for not knowing anything. I also know that otome games and dating sims don’t tend to translate well to anime, and I will be addressing this later.

So, dear god, where do I begin.

Where do we begin indeed? How about the fact that her name is Ema and I had to google to remember the heroine’s name? Also, she is seventeen.

Our plot, or well... what you COULD call a plot, I guess, if you REALLY wanted to give this anime that much credit, focuses on the aforementioned seventeen year old Hinata Ema, who has an absent father who apparently FOUND THE TIME TO FALL IN LOVE AND GET MARRIED BUT NEVER HAS A SECOND TO SPARE FOR HIS ONLY CHILD, RINTARO I SWEAR TO GOD I AM TAKING CUSTODY OF YOUR CHILD. HAND HER OVER-- Anyway. He’s getting married to a woman who has 13 sons (jesus christ ma’am have you ever heard of a condom?) and he decides to move her in with them because... I guess he has less braincells than I have balls, which is to say, zero. Hi, I’m trans.

So, Ema moves in with them... along with her talking grey squirrel, Juli. Juli is... interesting and by interesting, I mean-- ABSOLUTELY PUZZLING. He, apparently, has seen the majority of Ema’s life from babyhood to teenagerhood and can talk but is only understood by Ema (who he calls Chii) and Louis, the eighth son in the Asahina family. It is never explained why, or how Chii came across him or how in an episode, a single episode, he becomes human because why the hell not, I guess??? (Also, he is pretty. YES. I said it. Fight me.) [Quick Spice intervention, this squirrel can talk to people, transform into a human, enter dreams, and live way longer than a squirrel should since the average lifespan of a squirrel is like 6 years in the wild. Juli is apparently a god as none of this is EVER explained.]

And when she meets the Asahina family, it’s pretty much immediately chaos because these heterosexual (I guess? They look like a bunch of twinks to me but there goes anime trying to convince me that straight people are real and not a lie made up by Trump) men have NEVER and I mean NEVER known a woman in their entire lives, since they seem to want to bang their stepsister immediately. And most of them are GROWN ASS ADULTS. Only three of them are actually minors (though Iori is 18 and only one year older so I guess??? It’s okay??? But still weird) and one of them is a 13 year old who looks and acts like he’s 8.

Oh, and did I mention that out of these boys, only the adult triplets and the abusive asshole 16 year old get any kind of characterization AND character development? I mean, Subaru gets an “arc” if you can call it that, but really, they don’t give him much... personality. You could replace him with a cardboard cutout and it’d be the same. I feel bad for him (but not really because dude you are 20 and she is your sister, what the fuck--)

But if there’s anything good about this anime, it is the characters themselves. Several of the boys have redeeming qualities and interesting personalities and quirks, as well as interesting relationships and dynamics with each other. Yes, some of them are lacking in the plotline department while others may have decent plotlines and lack personality, and then some of them are just given absolutely nothing (COUGH Masaomi COUGH Ukyo COUGHCOUGHCOUGH Iori, and by the way, what the fuck is that game plotline bc I read the wiki since I wanted to know more about him. We don’t have time to unpack the mento illness luv. But you’re telling me they had all this meat to work with and they threw it in the trash and gave him nothing? What the hell?) And if anything, I feel as if the characters themselves are crippled by the plotline. If given a different story, perhaps, they may have room to shine, because a lot of them are compelling if not lovable (though some may not be... lovable. COUGHFuuto, at least not for me.) If you want to see our review on the characters, we’ll put out another post.

Iori... Iori has a hell of a plot in the game, according to the Wiki but I can’t blame the writers for not exploring all of it because whoa. It is dark and not in a good way. But back to the subject at hand... I agree with Spice. I do/did like quite a lot of the characters... provided the entire romantic plot is taken away but we will go into more of why the plot is problematic below. All I can really add is: There is a baby in this dumpster and canon has been taken out back to be shot like a lame horse.

This brings me to a point in which I would like to pause the character discussion and bring up a glaring flaw with this anime in general (aside from the... plot. Look, I’m not a huge fan of weird stepsibling stuff but I think that if you want to do something like that, there are ways to do it and ways not to do it. This was the way not to do it, which I’m getting to). The biggest thing that made this anime so uncomfortable was the imbalance of power dynamics. Why is the protagonist 17 when most of the love interests are 18 and older, and I mean much, much older? And she’s not any 17 year old... she’s a lonely, neglected girl who is starved for the love of a family. This makes her easily manipulated by the brothers, who clearly desire her for less than wholesome reasons, and that makes it skeevy. I’m not sure why there’s such a fetishization of nonconsent in media, as if it’s fine for as many men to lust after female protagonists as the writer desires BUT the woman can’t want a single one of them in return. It’s creepy, and quite frankly, I am very much over it. I also get that the age thing is probably a product of the protagonist of a teenager oriented dating sim not translating well to an anime (because really, all otome game MCs are meant to be a neat little pair of shoes for the player to imagine themselves in), but why are we fetishizing a teenager being groomed by adults anyway? Especially adults who have this much power over her to begin with? The power dynamics bring this plot from “Oh, this might be kinda trashy but it could be entertaining” to “This is extremely creepy and rapey and kind of a dumpster fire.”

This is also true. If we were to take age into consideration, Fuuto, Yusuke, and Iori would be the three candidates left for Chii. This is taking out the youngest as well, who is... thirteen, I think? But anyway, (I know I am probably going to get some hate for this but go for it), I am into stories that explore the stepsibling thing and it can make a good narrative-- but before everyone gets uppity: There is a line between FICTION and REALITY and I do not condone real life incest but a story is a story and there are ways to frame it that make it clear that it is not a romantic thing, or acceptable. This anime does not do that in it’s dynamics because some of the brothers do start off in that very firm caregiving, family role and it is a sharp turn into romance that makes you go, “?” or in Fuuto case, a blending that does lean into fetishization.

All in all I think the plot maybe could have been okay? I’m not saying it isn’t problematic, because we all know it is, who are we kidding? But I don’t think it’s wrong per se to explore family dynamics with romance and to understand where the line should be drawn, and maybe exploring the definition of family itself. I have seen fanfictions with similar tropes ask those questions and explore the concept beautifully without romanticizing or fetishizing incest and unhealthy power dynamics. It could have been good, and I get that perhaps I’m barking up the wrong tree by expecting mature themes in an anime based on an otome game, but it also could have been a lot less... creepy (I have used that word so much that it looks wrong now) even if it wasn’t the greatest thing ever. But again, what was I expecting? I watched this whole thing as a joke and ended up attached to the characters like a fool... That tends to be a trend here, and this is why we are so salty all the time. So anyway, stay tuned for our review of the characters! We may not cover all of them since some of them don’t really get anything, but we’ll cover what we found interesting.

#spice talks #sugar speaks #anime and game reviews #sweet home alabama: the anime #not putting this in main tag

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paintedrecs · 4 years

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For the fandom talk meme thingy: C (not trying to start drama I swear), I, K, R, and X. =D

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

Hmmm, there are a few ways of answering this. One is by listing all my NOTPs, which would be excessively long and ultimately boring because it essentially boils down to “anyone else with either member of my OTP.” I monoship my primary pairings, so I’m pretty strict on what I do and do not like.

(With the way fandom is now, I should clarify that NOTP means that I personally do not like a ship and I therefore go out of my way to avoid it - by muting terms, carefully filtering tags and search results, curating my own space, etc. It doesn’t mean I think the ship is badwrong or that anyone else should stop shipping it. It just means I do not ever want to see it.)

This feels a little less specific on that front, though, maybe more just: people like this and I’m meh about it?

So Allydia comes to mind. I don’t hate it, and if the Sterek’s good enough I’ll still read a fic with them as a background pairing, but I don’t ever like it as a romantic ship. While I ship Lydia with lots of different characters, including Cora, I’ve always seen Allison as straight, so I suppose that’s part of it? And I love Lydia & Allison as bffs - I see them as entirely platonic, like Scott & Stiles, so introducing romance just doesn’t work for me.

Another one is Sheriff Stilinski/Peter Hale. I...I don’t understand it. Unlike the last answer, this background pairing will prevent me from reading a Sterek-central fic.

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

This turned into a complicated and kind of roundabout answer, so I’m putting the rest of the questions under a long-post cut!

I stopped frequenting tumblr for two main reasons:

that whole weird purge thing that made me think everyone was leaving, so I just gave up, which might’ve been premature cause it seems like folks are still going strong on here

the emergence of antis, specifically within the Voltron fandom (although they’re everywhere at this point)

There’s a saying in fandom now:

“Why is the younger fandom generation like this?!??” “Tumblr raised them.”

For me, for years, tumblr was a really wonderful space where I had a lot of great conversations and read very thoughtful threads that helped me to learn some important things about myself, other people, and a world much wider than my own.

But I was an adult when I joined this site, and it really does seem like there’s a whole new crop of kids who have no actual context for ideas like social justice, the need for canonical representation in our media, and a lot of other things that eventually got folded into a big ball of disconnected rhetoric that they now fling as hard as they can at the heads of fandom creators who are committing the ultimate sin of creating content for ships they don’t like.

It’s late, and I don’t feel like getting into a whole Essay Rant about all that.

So on an entirely personal level, I quit running appreciatejack (my Check Please/zimbits/Jack Zimmermann blog) because someone sent me really vile hate for daring to ship Shiro/Keith from Voltron (two unrelated adults in a cartoon). It’s why I turned my ask boxes/anon/chats off on most of my blogs, and then eventually just...got tired of running them.

When I started up appreciatederek, I got a couple asks from people who wanted to know if it was going to be multiship or just Sterek, and when I said it was Sterek, they presumably went off to find other things they were into, because I never heard from them again. Y’know, the reasonable reaction. And then the rest of it was wonderful: finding content for it, and getting responses from people who enjoyed that content.

I thought appreciateshiro would be similar, but it was all so messy from the very start. The Sheith tag was FULL of hate. I was initially checking it every day, trying to find artists and writers and gif-makers to reblog and encourage and support, like I’d done in Sterek fandom, but instead I’d spend literal hours blocking people who came into that tag just to talk about how much they hated the ship.

Every day, I’d look for content for my OTP, and every day I’d come away from it angry and sad and frustrated. I never seemed to run out of people to block. And they never, ever seemed to run out of hate.

It was exhausting. It made me reluctant to go on tumblr at all. And eventually I just...sorta stopped.

So the answer to this question is more, I guess, “fandom made me stop liking tumblr, and in the process I stopped liking most fandoms.”

I’m sure you can kinda tell from the fandoms I’m currently the most invested in.

I love Sterek, and I will always love Sterek. Part of that’s the ship itself, of course, and part is because I had an incredible fandom experience with it. People within this fandom are still really great - always so welcoming and super excited about new content, even so many years on.

Otherwise, my current fandoms are kiiiiinda tiny:

Xanatowen (Gargoyles), which currently consists of exactly 2 people and 12 fics (3 of which are mine).

Trevorcard (Castlevania), which only has ~200 fics on AO3.

Taibani (Tiger & Bunny), which is an oldish fandom with only ~600 fics on AO3.

Remember, I came from a fandom that has SIXTY THOUSAND fics.

So while I feel very lonely and very sad about the low content levels in these fandoms, they’ve also given me the space to let go of some of my fandom hurt & anger and remember what it’s like to just...peacefully love something. I really miss just loving things and talking about loving those things and searching for other people who also love those things without running into....thousands upon thousands of people who HATE that you love that thing.

(Until I wrote all that out just now, I actually hadn’t realized how much this had still been hanging over me, or why I was so hesitant to come back to “reclaim” a space I’d once been super active and happy in. Essay over! Next questions.)

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Answered here!

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Answered here!

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Found family. This is probably a big part of why Sterek was my first real fandom, because the idea of Pack makes it incredibly natural to build out relationships beyond just the central romantic pairing.

It doesn’t have to be a werewolf thing, though. I’m honestly not hugely fond of the whole puppy piles concept - I’m less interested in “biological urges make characters literally physically all snuggle up together in bed” than I am in the actual build of the friendships, and the concept of choosing people who will become the family you’ve been missing for whatever reason.

Maybe it’s reconnecting with biological family, or maybe it’s discovering that your friends have been filling that space for you all along, without you even fully realizing it. (The concept of “home” is another big one for me. Home is where your heart is etc etc.)

And hey! Now I can pull back in another question from earlier: about “pairings” that I might not have initially considered. As I suspected, I do have more! Mostly platonic.

For instance: Derek and Sheriff Stilinski becoming bffs. I thiiiink I can probably tie my ABSOLUTE LOVE of this concept back to HalfFizzbin’s can't be hateful, gotta be grateful. And then Cupboard Love really has to be the source of ALL my alive!Hales feels, which also includes folding Stiles into their family.

Fic is largely responsible for building out Derek’s relationship with Boyd, Erica, Isaac, his sisters...making them into an actual pack and friends and family in the way the show never bothered. And frankly while I don’t like canon!Scott at all at this point, I love his friendship with Stiles in fics, and I absolutely believe Stiles and Lydia would be amazing friends once he got past his crush on her. I’d point to another fic here, owlpostagain’s will to follow through, as the ultimate source for major Team Human feels.

So yeah. I’m always going to be drawn to stories about family, in whatever form that takes, particularly if it’s one that’s a little bit off the normal white-picket-fence path.

In Tiger & Bunny, it’s Barnaby joining the Kaburagi family, and learning how to be a dad and a friend to his new husband’s daughter.

In Gargoyles, I’m completely obsessed with the (canonical!) idea of a family that consists of a man, his wife, their son, and the chaotically loyal fae babysitter/tutor/third parent. It is not a stretch to tweak this the tiiiiiiniest bit to turn it into a nontraditional family structure of a man, his wife, his son, and his fae boyfriend. Honestly.

In Castlevania, the fic that made me sob my eyes out at one point does something the show would absolutely never. It gives Alucard the time to rebuild his physical home while befriending the people in the little town that crops up around it. It’s about Trevor and Alucard falling in love, but it’s also about them making a place for themselves in a world where that kind of comfort and stability and friendship is so badly needed.

I think we all kinda need that in our world right now. So I love being able to find it in fic, for the characters who’ve grown to mean something to me.

#meme #fandom talk #long post #littlerosetrove #did tumblr seriously break my read more and stick it up in the ask section #i don't even know #thanks tumblr

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a-skyfull-of-starz · 4 years

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Anime in the Time of Quarantine

This fine quarantine period, I have made it my mission to watch as much anime as possible, because I don’t know, I guess it’s better than wallowing in self-pity. Here’s a list of everything I’ve watched to date and how much I recommend them, because I don’t know, I’m bored or something.

This list does not contain anime I’ve previously watched, because that would make it normal life anime. So don’t ask me why Shingeki no Kyojin is not on the list. Of course it remains my favourite and I will continue to recommend it until my dying breath.

Also, this list is ordered in the order I watched them in, and does not reflect any standing other than that. Also also, I get bored really easily, so if an anime doesn’t grab me immediately, chances are I’ll close it very quickly. I’ve started a lot more anime than is on this list but got bored and closed it. Hence, this list is almost entirely positive recommendations. Also also also (I swear this is the last clarifier), I’ve been in a slice of life kind of mood, because my slice of life is boring and uninteresting to the extreme, so that genre is kind of over-represented here. So with that being said, on to the list (sorry that it’s so long, I have an issue with verbosity).

Stein’s Gate: I started watching Stein’s Gate two years ago, but didn’t make it past the five minute mark, because I just didn’t get it. I started watching it again a few weeks ago, and I still didn’t get it, but I persevered because I was bored and high on chocolate. By the end of the first episode…I still didn’t get it. I continued to not get it until probably midway through the third episode, but when I got it, holy hell did it hit hard. I absolutely enjoyed every second of this anime. I loved watching Okabe’s journey from imagined insanity into actual insanity and then back again. He went on a true hero’s journey, and I loved every second of it. Miyano Mamoru gives a masterful performance (I always watch the subbed animes, and I recommend that everyone else does too). The chemistry between Okabe and Kurisu is probably the best in anime that I’ve watched thus far (sorry Asuna and Kirito, your time has finally come). This anime is rich with emotion, humour, tragedy, (some) romance, friendship, mad scientists and beautiful characters. If you can stand being confused for the first three episodes, this anime will be an incredibly rewarding journey for you. I highly recommend it.

Ao Haru Ride/Blue Spring Ride: I saw a clip of this anime in a seiyuu video and I fell in love with the art style and decided to give it a watch. I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, the plot is interesting, although having watched similar anime, a lot of it is kind of cliched. That being said, I did like the message of being true to yourself, no matter the cost. And I appreciated the fact that Futaba (our main hero) wasn’t a stereotypical anime girl (although she really does cry a lot and I agree with Kou that it is annoying). I found Kou (our love interest) a very interesting and compelling character. The clear winner of this anime though is the art style. It is beautiful to look at. Unfortunately, the first season ends on kind of a cliffhanger, and there doesn’t appear to be a second season coming any time soon, which is really disappointing. If you like high school romance stories with an edgy bad boy in it, then this is the anime for you, but don’t expect a satisfying ending, because, well, there isn’t one.

Stein’s Gate 0: I watched this because my friend said that it made her cry after every episode (I personally didn’t think Stein’s Gate needed a sequel, but oh well). Based on her recommendation, I went in with high expectations, which were kind of mostly unmet. The plot was way more confusing, less compelling, it felt like the stakes weren’t that high, mostly because they were only introduced way later in the series (I know Stein’s Gate did the same thing, but it somehow felt more shoved in with this one) and because we already knew how it would end. Also the ending felt incredibly rushed. The only episode I really wholeheartedly enjoyed was the reunion between Kurisu and Okabe (sounds weird out of context, but I’m trying to remain spoiler free). For the rest, I was left with mixed feelings, although I have to say, I probably love Okabe even more in Stein’s Gate 0 and Miyano Mamoru gives us another stunning performance. I would probably have been happier if this entire series had just consisted of Okabe trying to move on from the fallout of what happened in Stein’s Gate and there was no drama of World War III. So, I guess if you’re curious to see what happens if Okabe does not look for Stein’s Gate in the previous season, this is for you. Honestly though, I’d probably be happier if I hadn’t watched Stein’s Gate 0.

Shigatsu wo Kimi no Uso/Your lie in April: THIS ANIME OH MY GOSH!!!! I did not even know that this anime existed until I saw it on Kaji Yuki’s Wikipedia page (I’m a fan, so what?). He’s barely in this by the way, but that doesn’t matter, because this anime is amazing. I knew how it ended because I unfortunately saw spoilers when I was reading what the plot was about when I was deciding whether or not to watch this, and I still cried for about an hour after the ending (and I don’t cry easily, especially not with anime). The writing here is probably the best in any anime I’ve watched (yes, better than SNK, the king has been toppled from his throne), the soundtrack is amazing (I’ve been listening to it on repeat for a week now), the acting is beautiful, the artwork is gorgeous (apart from Kosei’s disappearing glass frame, that was weird), and all around, this anime is just…perfect. If you enjoy teenage romance and drama, if you love classical music, if you feel like bawling your eyes out for an hour because right now your life is pretty boring and pointless, then this is the anime for you. And even if you aren’t any of those things listed, I still recommend this anime because it is gorgeous and deserves recognition for how incredible it is.

Welcome to the NHK: this is probably the direct opposite of Shigatsu wo Kimi no Uso in every way possible. I haven’t finished this anime yet because it is extremely heavy, and I can only manage two episodes a night, but I still highly recommend it. It’s a fascinating take on a lot of modern Japanese culture, specifically surrounding mental health, the hentai industry and consumerism. It’s also got a lot of black comedy in it, which I love. All in all (and depending on the ending of the series), I highly recommend this one for its interesting writing and plot and excellent acting.

Lovely Complex: honestly, this anime sort of crept into my heart as one of the most adorable, refreshing, hilarious and unexpected love stories of all time. It basically tells the story of two idiot friends who slowly realise they’re in love with each other, how this impacts their friendship and how they navigate the very dark waters of teen romance. If you’re looking for an uncliched high school romance anime, where the heroine is the opposite of a cute anime girl, where the broody handsome guy is not the object of our affection and where you get flashbacks of just how dumb you were as a teenager and how grateful you are to be out of that age group (if you’re my age I mean, I’m mostly talking about myself here), then this is definitely the anime for you. Also, the opening song is ska, how cool is that?

Orange: another time traveling story, except the time traveling is even more confusing here. Just kidding, the time traveling is probably the least interesting part of this story, which examines suicide, depression, guilt and bullying, and does it in a pretty mature way. Our hero (dear lovely confused Naho) is unfortunately not very smart, but that’s ok, because she has Suwa, the best human being in the whole world, to help her out. Honestly, this story would have ended very differently if Suwa had not been around and he deserves every award that can possibly be given to amazing human beings. This anime is sort of 13 Reasons Why, but in reverse, less exploitative and with better friends (you’ll understand what I mean when you watch it). If you aren’t going to be triggered by discussions of suicide, depression and bullying, then I really do recommend this, as it is very interesting, well-performed, and largely well-handled.

So that’s my anime watch list thus far. I plan to finish Welcome to the NHK soon, and then start watching Mushishi, as I’ve heard a lot of great things about it. Also, now that you guys have seen what my tastes are, I would love it if I could get more recommendations. Lord knows, I’m not going to be doing anything else until I can find a way home, so I might as well expand my horizons. Also also…no, that’s it. Have a good quarantine folks!

#anime #stein's gate #ao haru ride #stein's gate 0 #shigatsu wa kimi no uso #lovely complex #welcome to the nhk #orange #anime recommendation #anime review #quarantine thoughts #gimme recs please #textpost

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baldwin-montclair · 4 years

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Baldwin’s Nightingale (Part 14)

Characters: Baldwin Montclair/OC

Timeframe: After the S1 Finale, TV Show canon MOSTLY with some S2, Shadow of Night and Book of Life.

Summary: With just one day until the wedding, Alisha grapples with sceptical sisters-in-law, procedure and a deepening mystery.

Tag requests: @christi14 @poemfreak306 @pookie-cleary @hofficoffi @stormyheart326 @theshiningc @wonderlander594 @madamquacklemore

The Story So Far

___

“She’s very pretty,” Stasia interrupted Verin’s focus on the doe she had in her sights, “pretty and sweet, like a little piece of cake!”

Verin knew when she was being baited and her sister had been prodding her since they saddled up their horses for the morning hunt.

The previous night’s dinner had been tense yet uneventful, filled with inane pleasantries between the myriad creatures taking residence in their family estate.

“It’s none of our business.” Verin shrugged instead, feigning disinterest.

“Quite right, and I think Ernst approves.”

“He loves music, he found an old violin piece online and she happened to be able to imitate it well enough.”

“More than well, she was very good I thought.”

“She is a daemon.” Verin practically spat the word like it left a bad taste in her mouth.

“That she is, and I believe father forbade us from straying from the Covenant, I doubt he’d be too please with one of his children mating with a daemon...or a witch.”

“If you are going to talk this whole time we should abandon the hunt and return the horses!” Verin snapped and Stasia simply gave her a wide-eyed look of innocence.

“My apologies, I have not seen my sister in so long, I was excited at the prospect of some conversation.”

Verin sighed, doubting her previous assumption and blaming it on her preoccupation with the state of the family.

“You’re right, I am sorry I snapped.”

“Understandable, Baldwin did choose Freyja, of all of us, to house-train the stray.” Stasia grinned.

Verin allowed herself a smile at their sister-in-law’s expense before regaining her propriety.

“You must not let him, or anyone, hear you speak about her in such terms. Whether we like it or not, she is still Madame de Clermont, God help us!”

“Baldwin is not here, it is just you and I.”

“In that case,” Verin shook her head, “I must confess that I believe our brother has contracted whatever madness took the she-wolf’s mongrel.”

“Matthew was never exactly stable Verin, you know that.”

“Then what is Baldwin’s excuse?” Verin asked.

“Love?”

Verin snorted in derision.

“Our brother loves nothing. He appreciates a vanquished battle field, a brutal merger, a good vintage. But, he will do anything he can to protect our family, for whatever reason, it’s why father chose him.”

“Bound by-” Gallowglass started reading the embroidered letters on the piece of light blue ribbon Alisha was working before she turned it over and placed her hands over the words.

“Gallowglass,” she greeted, hoping her face was not as red as it felt, “I thought you were going hunting?”

“With Verin and Stasia?” He asked with incredulity as he took a seat opposite the daemon at the table of the small sitting room.

“They seem nice.”

“They’re not but they’re family.” He corrected.

“And Marcus-“

“He left this morning,” Gallowglass noted her troubled expression, “he’ll be back for the wedding tomorrow.”

“Good,” she nodded with relief, “need all the friendly faces I can get.”

“What is that anyway?”

“My motto.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

“We already have one and that is not it.”

“No, it’s mine.”

“Oh, okay, they’re usually in Latin, or French.”

“I cant read or write Latin, or French.”

“I could translate for you if you want?”

She realised that he was honestly trying to help, not poke fun, he’d clearly not managed to read the whole thing.

“No, thank you,” she covered, “I’m almost done and will not have time to make another.”

The last thing she wanted was for her nephew, regardless of his age, to translate words into latin for a wedding night surprise from his aunt to his uncle.

“Shouldn’t you be helping with wedding preparations?” He asked.

“I was,” she shrugged, “Ysabeau banished me for not making decisions quickly enough.” She smiled.

“Best leave her to it.”

“I’m getting that,” she agreed, “oh, and you’re being drafted in tonight, waltzing lessons.”

“I’d love to but if I so much as touch you there’s a good chance Baldwin will actually kill me tomorrow, which would put a dampener on the whole thing.”

“Don’t worry, demonstration purposes only. Nathaniel’s also being subjected to it.”

A beep alert went off on Gallowglass’ phone and he checked it before placing it back in his pocket.

“The groom has arrived.” He smiled.

“Baldwin, he’s here?” She jumped from her chair with excitement.

“Literally have never seen anyone so happy about the prospect of him entering a room!”

“Gallowglass!”

“Of course he’s not at Sept-Tours, he’s twenty miles away at one of his many properties. I told you, you can’t see him until the wedding.”

“Right.” She nodded and sat back down.

“Oh hell,” he swore, “have you talked to him?”

“No!”

“Auntie, you need to know that lying to a vampire is pointless at the best of times but you are one god awful liar, a human could tell.”

“Fine, yes, I spoke to him once, last night.”

“Who gave you his number?”

“Nobody, Nathaniel gave me the new phone and Baldwin called me.”

“He called,” Gallowglass stared at her in disbelief, “Baldwin called you?”

“Fuck,” it was her turn to swear, “I should not have told you that, should I?”

“Relax, my lips are sealed.”

“Thanks but, why is it so surprising?”

“He makes rules but he also follows them, it’s too easy to hold oneself to a different standard, he doesn’t, usually.”

“Usually,” she smiled teasingly, “oh you mean by marrying a daemon”

Gallowglass shook his head in frantic disagreement.

“Wait, no, that’s no what I mean, I-“

“Gallowglass, I’m messing with you!” She assured him.

“And I though Stasia was the family jester.”

Knowing that Baldwin was relatively close-by, twenty miles was not so far as before, somehow made her feel slightly more secure and able to enjoy the more jovial atmosphere of Ysabeau’s waltzing lessons.

Both Verin and Stasia had declined to attend, the former having left the estate and the latter choosing instead to remain in her tower.

The remaining residents had been trying for around an hour, getting progressively less serious and more giddy as the time wore on. Sarah and Em were easily garnering the most praise from Ysabeau, followed closely by Gallowglass and Sophie.

“Hamish,” Gallowglass exclaimed as a Daemon entered the main hall.

“If I’d known there was a party I would have come here first!” He commented, Alisha noting the accent to be Scottish.

“Believe me,” Ysabeau started with pained irritation, “this is pretty far from what I would call a party.”

“Nope,” Hamish gestured to the thickly bound leather folder in his hands, “lot of paperwork, much farther from a party than this.”

His eyes sought out Alisha and gave her a smile as he approached, offering his hand which she shook.

“Hamish Osborne, I come bearing gifts of signature related carpal tunnel.”

“You’re a daemon too,” she stated with surprise, “I’m sorry, it’s just, I’ve literally never met so many daemons in my life.”

“Hamish has been dealing with our legal requirements of late.” Ysabeau explained.

“Might I borrow the bride?”

“I suppose.” Ysabeau agreed, giving him an indulgent smile, she clearly liked this daemon.

“What even is all this?” Alisha asked as Hamish sat opposite her in the sitting room, the table between them and a pen beside the open folder.

“Most of it? Transfer of deeds, property, stock, patent of nobility-“

“Wait, what?”

“Both yourself and Ysabeau hold the title of Madame de Clermont but also Marchioness de Clermont.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“Purely ceremonial, it’s the rank of a Marquis’ wife and the de Clermont head is automatically granted the rank of Marquis and those under them Chevalier.”

“I’m no history expert but I thought that France had that whole thing where they like, killed all of the nobility?”

“It’s not French, it’s Papal.”

“They were given the title by the Pope?” ”Yes, for service to the church the de Clermont’s were granted this hereditary title to always be able to defend it. Pretty sure the actual land is in Tuscany, we’ll get to it.”

“Okay, let’s get this started.” She picked up the pen and Hamish opened the page to the signature line. She noticed Baldwin’s name was signed on the line just above.

Hamish picked up on her pause.

“Everything okay?”

“Mm-hm,” she glanced up before signing her name underneath.

Hamish was well organised, having small stickers on the pages that needed to be signed, he made quick work of getting through them all.

“I didn’t know Baldwin had any daemon friends.” Alisha commented after the last signature was complete and balled her fist a few times to stave off hand cramp.

“Baldwin? Hell no! I am a family friend but through Matthew.”

“Oh, that makes more sense.”

“Sorry, that was unnecessary,” he shook his head, “I’m sure he’s very kind to you.”

“But?”

“Matthew’s my best friend and your fiancé is not exactly kind to him.”

“I understand.”

“You do?” He asked doubtfully

“Not about their relationship, he doesn’t really talk about his family. But, I get to see a different side of him than you do, than Matthew does, or his enemies. I know he’s killed and that he can be cold, cruel, violent, he wouldn’t still be alive if he wasn’t.”

Hamish said nothing but the look he gave her was one of understanding. Knowing Matthew’s history and loving him anyway was something he knew not many people would understand.

“I’m not excusing the hurt he’s caused Matthew or anyone else, either in defence or malice, and they have no obligation to believe in a side of him they have never seen or think he is anything other than what he’s shown them he is. But, for the record, he is kind, and attentive, funny and incredibly sweet, surprisingly affectionate and very generous. He’s a good man, I believe that.”

Hamish shook his head with a sigh.

“It’s not easy to love a vampire, even less so a de Clermont I think, and I love Matthew like he’s my own blood...” he trailed off thoughtfully, “despite what he’s done, either in defence or Malice.”

She smiled a little at his repetition of her words.

“More than a few of our kind have shared their opinion on our friendship over the years.” He admitted.

“So you understand?”

“Unfortunately I think I do.”

“How...is he?”

“Baldwin?” Hamish asked and received a nod.

“Honestly, distracted. I don’t know him well, I’ve met him a handful of times but he definitely has something on his mind.”

“About time brother!” Verin called from her place on the reception room sofa as Baldwin returned from his post-hunt shower.

“What do you want Verin?” He asked wearily as he watched her get up from the chair.

“Freyja, really? You don’t say as much as three words to one another one year to the next and you trust her?”

“Her methods are more appropriate for the situation, Alisha is not a vampire!”

“No, she’s a daemon, she-“ she stopped, looking around, “is she here?”

“She’s not here Verin, you just left her at Sept-Tours!”

Verin looked around and located the source of the scent, a small box on the table.

She opened the box and went to touch the silk ribbon inside when Baldwin caught her wrist.

“Do not touch that!” he replaced the lid and stood resolutely in her path until she broke off to retake her seat.

“So that’s how you’ve managed to stay away. I was worried,” she stopped herself, “hoping rather, that the whole mating thing was a mistake, that you could be separated because she’s not your mate.”

Baldwin watched her before taking his own chair.

“She is-“

“A daemon, what would father say?”

“Verin-“ he warned.

“You’ve lived by his rules all your life, why now, why her?”

“A human, you mated with a human, Matthew with a witch,” he shook his head, “why is a daemon the line in the sand?”

“This is about her.”

“Of course it’s about her, it’s who we’re discussing.”

“Not ‘Alisha’, whatever manner of name that is-“

“Verin,” he cut off her meandering, “who are you referring to?”

“Oh, I see how mentioning a daemon musician might give you pause, should I narrow it down for you?”

Baldwin always had a soldier’s posture straight and solid, even seated, but her words made this even more inflexible and she questioned her decision.

“What is it you think you know?” He asked, his voice low and foreboding.

“The little Venetian spy, you were fond of her, I saw you both disappear together before the poor scribe was found dead. What did I hear you call her,” she made a performance of thinking, “Oscine, that’s it!”

“Fond,” he shook his head dismissively, “I had never met her before that night.”

“Oh, I know, but you wanted her, and would have had her, had the crime not been discovered. I would say that she wanted you too but, you know, Venetians, of course she did. Remember who found you both, brother.”

“You prevented nothing more than my hunt for some sport, you know how tedious those treaty negotiations could be!”

“I agree, they were infinitely tedious. For me! You loved them, which is why it was a surprise that you would miss the last one, to dally with a daemon.”

He didn’t respond, simply kept his breath and heartbeat steady, a very effective tactic in back footing an opponent.

“I was also surprised when I found you both in that store room, you left the party some time before I thought you would at least be caught in some kind of compromising position, but you hadn’t even persuaded her to take off that mask yet.”

“Given your particular skill set, sister, surely you would understand the value in taking one’s time.”

The barb was well executed and Verin felt her hackles rise before forcing herself to calm upon seeing the flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“To be fair,” Verin continued, “she was just about to take the mask off when I interrupted. I wish I’d been a bit later, so curious about what she looked like, weren’t you?”

Again, no answer.

“Two outcomes. Either she wore the mask because she was unbearably ugly, in which case, brother, you were taking a risk-“

“Sister-“

“Or, and much more likely, she was beautiful and the mask was to protect her from the attentions of unscrupulous admirers, like yourself!”

“Does this have a point?” He asked steadily, giving nothing.

“Yes, I told father about where I found you, and with who.”

“I guessed as much.” He shrugged.

“You’re not angry at being sent away?”

“No, had I not been sent away I would not have found Miyako, nor would I have a daughter, besides, I was distracted by my desire and I deserved my exile.”

“Punishment, that’s why you think you were sent away?”

“Speak plainly sister, my patience is not infinite!”

“Father thought you were developing the mating instinct, for beautiful Oscine.”

“That’s ridiculous, she was-“

“A daemon?”

“Someone I met in person once!”

“In person yes, what about all those letters before that when she was just a spy reporting to you.”

He knew she was fishing, she had nothing and he wasn’t about to confirm anything.

“Alisha is my mate, not some long dead spy whose face I never saw!”

“She was bitten, by Guillermo?”

“Yes.”

“Is that why you won’t drink from her heart vein or is there some other reason?”

Baldwin’s eyes darkened and his nostrils flared, giving him the appearance of a bull about to charge.

Verin knew she had pushed too far. The joining in blood was a more intimate act for a vampire than sex could be for a human. Vampires, however, only shared this with their mate and it was not a matter to be discussed with other vampires.

“Go back to Sept-Tours,” he spoke through gritted teeth, “and never, on pain of exile, bring up the spy to me or anyone else ever again, am I clear?”

“Yes Sieur!” She answered with the faintest him of sarcasm before leaving him with her words.

Rest well, it will be a long day tomorrow, and an even longer night!

Alisha, alone in Baldwin’s tower at the time of the message, smiled at his text and punched in a reply.

I look forward to the second more than the first. Can’t wait to kiss you again. Xx.

She realised just how excited she was to see her husband, after just a couple of nights apart. He was definitely mistaken about the effects of the mate bond.

“Alisha,” the knock and voice belonged to Freyja, “can I come in?”

“Uh, yeah,” she quickly slid the phone under her pillow, “come in.”

Freyja opened the door and looked her up and down.

“You‘ve spoken to him again, haven’t you?”

“I have not spoken to Baldwin today.” She answered truthfully.

“Hmm,” the vampire considered the reply, “well I know he doesn’t text...”

The tiniest inhale of breath from Alisha gave her away.

“We really have to teach you to lie better.”

“What, now?”

“No, I’m here to escort you to your ladies in waiting.”

“My-“

“The witches and the daemon, it’s customary for you to be chaperoned the night before the wedding, prevents any romantic rivals from stealing the bride.”

“Okay, besides maybe Count Dracula, who’s going to scale the outside of this fortress, full of creatures, by the way, and essentially kidnap me?”

“Obviously it’s not a problem the de Clermont’s have but it’s tradition, and I believe the group have devised some ‘fun’ activities.”

“You’re coming too, surely?” She asked Freyja.

“If you wish me to?” She sighed with a roll of her eyes.

“Of course. Should we invite your sisters?”

“Stasia has declined the invitation and I have no idea where Verin is.

“Okay, lets go!”

Alisha made it to the door.

“Wait,” Freyja called after Alisha, “I wasn’t snooping but I managed to see a letter on the desk, in father’s writing.”

“You can read it if you want, I don’t mind.”

Alisha wasn’t about to deprive Freyja of unread words from a deceased father as she was sure the daughter had read everything the father had written, probably more than once.

“Thank you but, it’s not that, I wanted to ask if you would like me to translate it for you.”

“What?” Alisha’s brow furrowed in confusion.

Freyja picked up the paper and carried it over to Alisha.

“Latin, but I’m sure you’ve probably translated it yourself using an online translation service already. I doubt it could convey the proper nuance Far intended.”

Alisha shook her head absently and looked at the words.

Not in English, just as Freyja said. The letters she initially studied as though deciphering hand-writing were actually written in an unfamiliar alphabet. However, with concentration she found the meaning became clear although the words themselves did not.

“Yes, I um-“ she started, thinking, “I used Google translate when I got the phone, I know what it says but, thanks.” She managed a smile.

“Alisha, what’s wrong?”

“Hmm,” she shrugged and took the letter, “just tired, distracted probably.”

It wasn’t a lie, she’d barely managed more than a few hours since Baldwin left and she could think of little else. Her sudden ability to read Latin was a mystery that could wait.

___

PART 15

#a discovery of witches #adow #baldwin de clermont #adow fic #adow baldwin fic #baldwin montclair #baldwin’s nightingale

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glowyjellyfish · 4 years

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I just started rewatching Battlestar Galactica. Well, when i say just started, I mean i started two nights ago and I just finished season 1, so.

Firstly, at the beginning everyone is a tiny innocent baby and a sweet summer child (yes, even after their civilization gets destroyed. Sweet summer children all.), except Starbuck who is more of a tiny magnificent chaotic asshole.

Secondly, Baltar is one of my favorites and I think he’s among the best characters I have ever seen. His character development is phenomenal; I’d say he’s a stunning example of a redemption arc, but I’m not sure it totally counts when he was never really a villain at all. Arrogant, self-serving, and dickish, yes, but never deliberately evil. I love watching him break down and get built back up again, it’s a highly entertaining and often poignant roller coaster. And of course, he’s also just a delight to watch. I wish something like this had come up on the show, but I am convinced that people in the fleet--especially on Galactica and Colonial One--are well aware that he talks to himself and frequently disassociates, and chalk it up to trauma from being on Caprica during the attack. Sometimes I like to think that he 100% has that trauma and some degree of PTSD and Head Six took advantage of that state to set herself up in his head, but I’m not sure whether to make that headcanon or if it’s just a nice theory.

Thirdly, Gaeta is my favorite and I love him to pieces. The first time I watched when it first aired waaaay back in the day, I was rooting so hard for him to be a cylon, and I’m still slightly bummed that he wasn’t. I can’t complain about what he got as a consolation prize, going out with a bang and loads of juicy character development, with the added bonus that Anders also got some great character development. (Um, I should probably explain real quick that I read somewhere back in the day that when the writers were choosing the Final Five, it was kind of a toss-up between Anders and Gaeta, and they chose Anders. I felt validated that he was at least at the top of the list, and since I also loved cylon!Anders it proved to be a pretty good second choice for me. Believe me though, I wrote so many fanfics about how Gaeta might still be a cylon somehow, most of them super bad.) His whole development arc is less of a roller coaster and more of a long slow painful train wreck, and it’s gonna hurt so much but ugh I love it. Right now, at the end of season one, he is still such a sweet summer child, like my god he still has a crush on Baltar and hasn’t been disillusioned yet! And turns out I still firmly ship it. Gaeta’s got such a crush, poor boy, and it was so sweet and destroyed my little shipper heart at the end of Six Degrees of Separation when after a whole episode of everyone turning on Baltar and telling him they never trusted him and him freaking out, Gaeta came along and exonerated Baltar and told him he always believed in him. Awwww New Caprica’s gonna kill me, I swear.

Chief and Tigh are also up there in terms of my favorites, and there’s always gonna be something wonderful about a rewatch and all those scenes where they’re talking about people being Cylons and suspecting people of being Cylons and hey guess what you two. Guess what.

On this rewatch, I really enjoyed seeing Lee acting as the compromise between the military and politics. I vaguely recall that that’s a major part of his character going forward, basically everything that isn’t Starbuck, father issues, or Love Quadrangle Of Doom, and am curious how I’m gonna see it now. Originally, I found him good for a hero character and reasonably interesting, and I seem to recall liking such plots as him quitting the military way more than other viewers, but he’s never been one of my favorites.

...I also feel obliged to point out that in these trying times it is very hard not to 100% agree with Tom Zarek. If he was a little less murdery, man. Of course, I should also point out that unlike some other viewers--no, I don’t remember specifics, I probably read opinions on a forum 15 years ago--I felt like the season 4 mutiny was bringing up some extremely valid points that needed to be addressed (even if Zarek was mostly using them as an excuse to coast to power and Gaeta was airing his grievances in the worst possible way when what he probably actually really needed was a lot of intense therapy) so perhaps this is nothing new.

I’m also excited and scared for the President Baltar plot coming later, but in these times I am fairly certain my feelings will be “you guys are big babies. Oh boo hoo, your legally elected president is genuinely intelligent and charismatic and just happens to be rather self-centered and self-serving and shitty at governing, oh noooo he had to be held at gunpoint to sign death warrants for dissenters… grow up.” I… can’t take most “super evil villain becomes president oh no” stories seriously anymore, literally all the ones I am aware of were better than reality.

I don’t feel like it needs to be said, but Starbuck, Roslin, and Adama? All perfect and amazing, of course. They’re not my favorites, but that’s mainly because they are popular main characters, and I tend to prefer unpopular sideline characters and characters that need defending or merit lengthy essays. Everyone loves those guys for good reason, they don’t need me supporting them.

Also I forgot how precious Dee and Billy were, and how their relationship added interesting layers and angles to loads of plotlines. Makes me bummed about Billy (though I know it wasn’t the show’s fault), and then bummed that Dee got entangled in the Love Quadrangle of Doom, and then… kinda fridged to be honest. I wonder what would have happened with the Final Five if Billy was still around, would it have been Billy there instead of Tory? Or to keep the gender ratio and a touch of diversity, would they have gone with Dee? Would that have made them more or less likely to choose Gaeta over Anders, then? My gut says less, but who knows? It sure would have been rad if Dee got that much character development unrelated to romance, though.

It’s also weird how much I still keep trying to add things to the show’s arc and mythology to make it make more sense to me, personally. Like, logically I know that the whole thing is that god as spoken of by the cylons is 100% real, the head characters are literally communicating with people on his behalf, the opera house is the CIC and all the prophecies and stuff are leading to humans and cylons living together and interbreeding on Earth to make us. But I’m constantly trying to add things like “maybe the lords of kobol were twelve or thirteen original cylons on kobol 2000 years ago, and maybe they’re the head characters, like they ascended their physical bodies or something, and maybe the physical characters who look like the head characters are like the reincarnations of them or of the original humans they were modelled on, and the whole story is very similar and playing out again which is why certain characters have visions and stuff, but there have never been human/cylon hybrids before and that’s what god wants in order to end the cycle and/or because god is love god wants them to love each other and stop killing each other please? Maybe?” Shrug, I know some fans hate how spiritual it went, and I’m not one of them. I just prefer the slightly more humanist angle of reincarnation over literally just “god did it”.

However, I am really enjoying just taking Head Six 100% at her word and watching her manipulate the fucking shit out of Baltar to get him reliant on her and in the position she needs him to be in. It’s kind of amazing. And also, fascinating to consider Leoben in Flesh and Bone in the context of knowing what happens to Starbuck. He absolutely knows that she’s going to lead them all to Earth and die in the process. I don’t think he knows any details at all, but it’s really interesting to watch assuming that he knows her fate. And I am not sure the show ever really explained why Leoben knows this stuff. Does he have visions? His own head person? Does he just sit and listen real hard to the Hybrids and interpret their sayings? ...I guess I do find it weird that the show chose to go so hard on making him creepy as fuck to her on New Caprica, and then apparently didn’t know a lot else they wanted to do with him, but we’ll see how I feel as it goes along.

Anyway, I think I’ve exhausted my most coherent array of thoughts.

#bsg #battlestar galactica #bsg spoilers

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hellzyeahwebwieldingreviews · 4 years

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Untold Tales of Spider-Man 02: After the First Death… – by Tom DeFalco

A story that has me debating the nature of these stories.

A soggy Spidey swings through rainy Manhattan looking for crime shots for the Daily Bugle. He comes upon Kent and Wayne Weisinger on the roof of Stockbridge Jewelers, planning to rob it. Confident that he can end the fight anytime he wants to, Spidey stretches it out so that his automatic camera can take as many photos as possible. Kent and Wayne have a longstanding sibling rivalry marked by Kent's resentment of being the "muscle" to Wayne's "brains" along with feeling that his brother always cheats him. During the fight, Kent appears to charge at Spidey but when the web-slinger leaps out of the way, Kent doesn't stop, charging into Wayne and knocking him off the roof. Wayne falls five stories to his death and all the by-standers think Spidey did it. Guiltily, Spidey flees, forgetting about Kent altogether.

So, Kent goes to Wayne's estranged wife Jeannette to tell her the news. "Solid ice," Jeannette could care less about Wayne's death except that she's lost her meal ticket. When Kent blames the death on Spider-Man, Jeannette gets an idea on how to cash in.

In fact, Peter Parker seems to be the only one emotionally affected by Wayne's death. He has a sleepless night, trying to cope with the situation. Unguarded, he admits to J. Jonah Jameson that he has photos of the incident. His resolve to not sell the photos is beaten down by Jameson's arm-twisting and his own need for money. He sells the pictures and is then introduced to Jeannette, now the grieving widow of Wayne, who has come to JJJ for help in instituting a civil suit against Spider-Man. At school, Peter's conscience makes him counter Flash Thompson's avowal that "Spidey's no murderer" with "Maybe the wall-crawler didn't actually kill the man... but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be held accountable for what happened." Back in action, Spidey hesitates over stopping a purse-snatcher, fearful that he may cause another tragedy. Back home, Peter doesn't know what to do. He recalls that Uncle Ben's death made him swear, "that no innocent person would ever again be made to suffer because Spider-Man had failed to act. It had never occurred to him that anyone would suffer because of Spider-Man's acts." And while Wayne wasn't exactly innocent, "he had suffered because Peter had acted irresponsibly." He ends up having one of those vague discussions with Aunt May where he can't tell her any details because she doesn't know he's Spider-Man, yet she manages to hit the nail on the head, telling him in this case, "Everybody makes mistakes, Peter. You just try to learn from your failures as best you can, and you move on. You'll always get another chance to do better as long as you keep at it."

Meanwhile, Jeannette decides to kick Kent out of the deal and keep any anticipated profits for herself. So even as Spidey sucks it up and gets back into action, proving himself a hero, Kent decides he's not going to be kicked around anymore, buttonholes a TV reporter and gives an interview in which he reveals "that he deliberately pushed his elder brother off the roof of Stockbridge Jewelers because of numerous past frustrations." At Midtown High, Flash crows over Spidey's exoneration but Peter won't let the web-slinger off so easily. "A real hero would have found a way to save Wayne Weisinger" he says, "He would have acted smarter, reacted quicker, or behaved more responsibly... And that's something Spider-Man will have to live with for the rest of his life."

Because these are untold tales, prose stories and utilize the comic book continuity you can analyse them from several different angles and their worth changes depending upon those angles.

Chiefly this boils down to whether I judge this as a story unto itself or within the context of comic book continuity as it existed back then? What about the fact that I’m here in 2020 evaluating a prose book written in 1990 that’s trying to synch up with comic book stories written in the 1960.

It boggles the mind. All I can do is write about how I feel.

I liked this story unto itself and within the context of this book. I think, kind of like the last story, that it doesn’t really integrate into Spider-Man’s comic book history.

The emotional journey of Peter in this story involves learning that he needs to be careful about how he acts. In this regard it’s rather similar to his lesson from Gwen’s death, which is kind of my problem. This story’s title implies this is in fact the very first time Spider-Man has experienced death ‘on the job’ as it were.

Surely such a thing would weigh on his mind more, surely it’d crop up when he dwells on the list of people he’s seen die or feels guilty about dying. Or at least he’d be reminded of Wayne’s death when Gwen dies.

In the comics of course Wayne has never ever been mentioned. Duh, because he didn’t exist until DeFalco invented him for this story. Of course we could draw comparisons with Sally Avril, a character from AF #15 who died in the comic book version of Untold Tales but whose death went unacknowledged in stories from the 60s-90s.

I think the critical difference there is that (IIRC) Peter wasn’t particularly responsible for her death whereas in the case of Wayne, whilst he didn’t push him off the building, his arrogance really did directly contribute to his death. Plus seeing a man die in such a horrible way, especially if it is the first time he’s ever seen a dead body, would likely leave a bigger impression upon Peter than the nature of Sally’s death, although I must admit it’s been a long time since I read that issue so perhaps I am wrong.

From a continuity stand point this is the minefield you always walk, but at the same time it’d be difficult to generate drama if you didn’t step on those mines occasionally.

I feel DeFalco here wanted to tell a dramatic story that had Peter grapple with a genuinely emotional situation and also took advantage of the nature of this story as a flashback tale.

And frankly he succeeded. If you view this either out of continuity or essentially within an incredibly generalized canon of Spider-Man (i.e. Gwen Stacy died, whether Peter did or didn’t think about Wayne is ambiguous though) the story very much works. I doubt DeFalco or anyone else was honestly feeling any of these stories were going to strictly be canon anyway. However for the record this story happens at some point after ASM #9 because when we get a list of Spider-Man’s opponents they all appeared up to that issue.

Looking at the story itself its flaws are incredibly minor.

Some of the dialogue feels old fashioned, but I argue that is likely by design since this is set in an older time period. We go over exposition related to Peter’s origin again, which is more the editor’s fault since we got those details in the first story of the anthology. In fairness revisiting it does serve a greater purpose here because the story is directly ruminating upon the nature of responsibility. In that sense it would’ve been more logical to open the book up with this than the Ant-Man story and I see little reason as to why this couldn’t have in theory happened at an earlier point chronologically. Yeah the Ant-Man story claims Spider-Man’s a new figure on the scene but the passage of time in the first 10 issues of ASM is so vague it’s really not unbelievable that even by issue #9 Spidey might still be considered ‘new’.

Not only does the story explore (and successfully at that) the theme of responsibility, approaching it from the opposite direction from the lesson Ben’s death imparted, but it also features the supporting cast more. Flash, Aunt May, Jameson, the Bugle and public distrust of Spider-Man are all given notable roles to play in the story, again proving that THIS should’ve opened the book.

To go back to the theme of responsibility for a moment, perhaps the most nuanced bit of writing in the story is when Peter is on the phone to Jameson. Peter has a really great ethical dilemma. Would it be irresponsible to profit off of Wayne’s death or would it be irresponsible to not profit off of it and use the money to support his Aunt May?

DeFalco more than any other writer GETS Spider-Man and his depiction of Peter’s internal debate, whilst short, rings utterly true. What gets me is that most of the time whenever I’ve seen this sort of thing done with Peter he’s actually made a different decision, but here DeFalco recognizes that in actuality Peter WOULD consider his responsibilities as the bread winner outweigh what boils down to him merely feeling bad about profiting off a man’s death. It’s not all that different to when he faked photos of Electro to help Aunt May. Yes it’s unethical, but there was a higher responsibility, a greater good at stake.*

Kent and Jeanette’s subplot, whilst arguably wrapped up unsatisfactorily, does a neat job of evoking something of a daytime drama or even noir story, and in that light fits wonderfully into the brand of stories Lee and Ditko churned out way back at the start.

In fact of the two opening stories this one more successfully captured that era and by extension the approach of the comic book version of UToSM. Whilst the Ant-Man story was fun, it was the prose equivalent of a typical MTU super hero yarn complete with dodgy pseudo science.

This story though? Now this is a Spider-Man story. It has a singular main character (Kent is ultimately a supporting player) and whether he’s in or out of the costume the story is driven by the emotional and human problems faced by the character, not the fantastical super human issues. In classic Spidey manner those two halves of his life bleed over into one another and lack a clear cut divide.

Really in the Ant-Man story Peter’s personal life would’ve gone mostly unaffected whether he had gotten involved or not. It wasn’t about Peter Parker, it was about Spider-Man. This story is about both.

Peter needs money to look after himself, his home and Aunt May. So he looks for trouble as Spider-Man and pads out a fight. That gets someone killed which haunts Peter and makes him hesitate to BE Spider-Man, even whilst he reluctantly profits off it as Peter Parker which in turn contributes to his being falsely accused as Spider-Man and kids as school hating on him because he will not defend Spider-Man from these accusations.

Wham, Bam, DeFalco is the Man. THAT’S a fucking Spidey story right there!

The only thing for me which really and truly did let this story down wasn’t the fault of the book, but the audio production.

I’m hoping DeSantos was just off his game for this story, but between this and his prior efforts I think he’s achingly miscast as the narrator of this title. He worked better narrating Stan Lee and Busiek’s forwards than the actual stories. As Aunt May, Kent and Jeanette he wasn’t that bad (actually pretty good as Kent), but his Peter/Spider-Man fails. He can’t even sell the emotion of the non-dialogue bits. He’s not a bad narrator, but not right for this book.

Over all taken strictly within comics canon there are a lot of contradictions. But taken as it’s own thing or (I suspect) within the context of this one book, this is a knock out story.

*By the way DeFalco also seamlessly blends humour and tragedy in the scene. Peter’s internal debate and horror at the prospect of profiting off of Wayne’s death leaves him in silence which in turn is misinterpreted by Jameson causing him to raise his offer which in turn causes Peter more internal strife. Just brilliant!

#Tom DeFalco #Ron Frenz #Gwen Stacy #Spider-Man #Peter Parker #Untold Tales Of Spider-Man #Stan Lee #Kurt Busiek #Aunt May #May Parker #J. Jonah Jameson

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mannatea · 5 years

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Not That Deep: A Psycho Pass Critique

This post is not spoiler-free, and is the result of multiple rewatches over the span of five years. If you remember any of my old Psycho Pass meta, please toss it straight into the garbage. I swear I’m better at conveying my thoughts now. (Joke’s on you if you think I’ve learned to condense my posts, though.)

Disclaimer: all opinions expressed within this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts and opinions of my followers or friends. I welcome discussion/debate.

Psycho Pass (abbreviated to PP for simplicity’s sake from this point forward) is an anime in that very specific genre that belongs to societies that are portrayed as Utopian but aren’t. For the record, the setting can’t really be described as ‘dystopian’ or ‘futuristic hellscape’ either. The series calls itself “cyberpunk.”

In the year 2112, Japan has closed itself off from the world and implemented the Sibyl System: a judgment oracle. Citizens of the country are monitored by the system and have a “psycho-pass” assigned to them. This “psycho-pass” measures their stress levels, brain activity, and potential to commit a crime. When a person’s crime coefficient (CC) exceeds 100, they are considered a latent criminal and put into isolation to receive mandatory therapy. If they do not recover, they remain in isolation. The story follows the main character, Tsunemori Akane, as she joins the series’ version of a police force.

Trigger warnings for this series include gore, violence (sexual, emotional, physical), and an obscene amount of philosophy.

Again, below the readmore/cut will be spoilers.

Worldbuilding/Craft

I feel like it’s important to get into the meat of the discussion as quickly as possible with this series, especially considering the title of this post: Not That Deep.

I’m not going to bother ‘rating’ the different facets/aspects of the show because I don’t think it’s necessary, and this isn’t really a review so much as a discussion/critique. Either you liked the series or you didn’t. If you’re reading this you either have an open mind or you want to get angry, and both reasons are at least a little valid.

PP is a series that REALLY wants to be deep, but falls flat in almost every conceivable way. I’m saying this as someone who enjoyed it enough to write fanfiction about it the last time I watched it, and who not only recommended it to multiple friends, but screenshared the entire series with one recently so that she could see it.

I think the general concept of Sibyl and Akane’s futuristic society is presented in a digestible way. I appreciate the attempts to integrate cool future tech into the show, but I’m especially impressed by the way they go about it. It’s all stuff that your average person living right now would adopt and use regularly if given a chance (auto driven cars, drones, AI secretaries, holo clothes/outfits). Without those specific scenes, I feel like the worldbuilding would almost collapse in on itself; these little details made it easy to imagine living in the world, and gave a little personality to the characters as they made use of them—like little glimpses into their personal taste.

It also helped to take the focus and pressure off of the less-nice aspects of the Sibyl System. No wonder people are generally pretty happy/content in this world: they can wear sweatpants and just holo something else over it! (Sign me up!)

Unfortunately the worldbuilding beyond that isn’t great, but I also don’t think it’s fair to say that it’s bad. It’s just...kind of mediocre...while still managing, at least for the first season, to feel coherent.

We have hues and crime-coefficients. They are not the same thing, but they might as well be because one isn’t bad without the other being bad: EVER. Ginoza’s CC rises as his hue darkens throughout S1. Togane’s hue is black and he has the highest CC on record. Makishima’s hue is clear and his CC is 0 (when he wills it to be). What’s the point of having both, then? Is it just for a fun color-coding system? It’s never explained in any way that makes sense. The one character likely to have a high CC and a clear hue is Makishima (a sociopath), but he has both a clear hue and a low CC. (Kamui is another anomaly, but he can’t be measured at all, so he doesn’t really fit into this specific discussion.) Basically, having hues and CCs both exist just feels a little bit too much like “it sounded cool so we included it” instead of: “These both serve serious purposes in the world.” They want really bad to fling philosophy at the viewers, but seem to neglect this really large aspect of the world where it would be perfect to latch on.

Technology is advanced to the point of having cybernetic arms that function effortlessly and people can almost achieve full cybernization if they have the money/will to. Kamui was 184 people stitched together lol... And yet Akane has just one living grandparent (who apparently can’t even move on her own). I’m not really put off by this, but you’d think the technology/health debate would be a much bigger part of the story beyond the news broadcast that was shown.

I think the biggest niggling little worldbuilding issue is the fact that the implementation of Sibyl happened ~20 years ago. I like the detail for what it gives us for some characters (Masaoka and Ginoza specifically), but I find it mostly implausible. Maybe it was fully implemented 20 years ago, but the framework was another 20 years in the making. It just doesn’t work otherwise. The second it was implemented families would have been shattered and that shattering would have put even more people into isolation due to their CC rising. I mean, if someone took my 5-year-old away from me, I’d be in isolation REAL QUICK, ‘cause that’s the kind of trauma you don’t just Get Over or Move Past.

Speaking of five-year-olds, in the boarding school episodes, they mention a law that protected minors, which feels out of place because Kagari was not protected by that law...which means it couldn’t have been around very long in the first place. If the scanners can flag a 5-year-old child and take him away from his parents, high school students aren’t exempt either. The mention of the law would have been a nice touch if it had only recently been appealed/removed, but it was only around for a few years ~20 years ago, so it feels awkwardly placed/silly.

Again, not everything worldbuilding/craft-related is bad. Like I said earlier, the world in general feels pretty cohesive and the characters belong there. The issues mostly sit with the fact that they tried to include a lot of ‘neat’ or ‘dramatic’ (or even ‘dark’) things...without stopping to consider if they actually fit within the narrative they were trying to construct.

Plot/Storylines

This is where the series shines. Or at least, this is probably the strongest point in PP’s favor.

The biggest criticism I have: it doesn’t actually do anything new and exciting.

That said, I don’t think every bit of media out there needs to flip the script to be enjoyed, and I liked PP just fine for what it was.

Season One was definitely stronger in this department than later material. What made S1 feel strong was having enough time to actually move the plot along while also developing the characters. S2 was comparatively rushed and had a lot of really unnecessary plotlines and gore. The movie was...eh, but I think it was an improvement over S2. (I haven’t seen Sinners of the System yet, so I can’t comment on those installments.)

I can find fault with a lot of S1 stuff, but for the most part I think it did a pretty good job and any faults I’d bother to point out would just be me nitpicking. The storylines melded into one another, everything was connected, et cetera. Unfortunately this comes at the cost of character relationships/development, but I’ll talk about that later. Besides, I’d rather have a cohesive series than not, so this isn’t exactly a criticism so much as an observation. The production team(s) did an excellent job of making the most of the screentime they had to work with.

S2 feels flawed almost from the start. Rather than build off of what we already learned in S1 and further develop the characters, it chose to rush headlong into a half-assed plot featuring an unbelievable antagonist. Yikes. I think it brought up an interesting question in “WC?” but instead of striking a believable balance they really just made an antagonist who was 184 people’s bodies stitched together. I can’t get over how stupid that was. Honestly, it was straight-up foolish of the writers to go through with that concept. Makishima might have been a pretentious pile of shit, but at least he felt like a human being. Kamui as a concept was just too overblown to work.

Also working against S2 was Togane. That whole plotline was completely unnecessary and throwing Akane’s grandmother under a bus on top of that was just the icing on the idiot cake. S2 was the Break the Cutie trope tenfold, but there was no danger and therefore no sense of urgency or fear. It was just gross for the sake of being gross, which was disappointing. I’m not saying that Togane isn’t the type of person to beat a crippled old lady to death, because he is, but I also never thought he was an idiot, and the progression of his attempts to blacken her hue jumped straight to the moon instead of progressing at a pace that felt more natural/reasonable. If the guy hasn’t been eliminated by an inspector after blackening many of their hues, he’s not the kind of dope to take silly risks. He could have tried any number of things to ruin Akane that didn’t involve her poor old granny (who had no real screentime and whom the audience had no connection with anyway).

S2 also gave us Ginoza doubting Akane’s sanity early on (acting like she might have written WC on her own wall), which not only feels incredibly out of character for S2 Ginoza, but never amounts to anything/goes anywhere anyway.

Hungry Chicken was an interesting touch, but SO MANY PEOPLE DIED that its impact was diminished. Division 3 had such a non-appearance in the series anyway that them being there at all just felt stupid without more lead-up.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think S2 is irredeemable, but I feel like it missed the mark consistently from start to finish. A shame, because the concept of a ‘plural’ psycho-pass might have been nifty if, say, Kamui was made up of 5 or 6 people’s bodies. Then the holos would feel meaningful. Then each ‘part’ of him would feel like a different person with different feelings and motives and skills.

Anyway, I think S2 muddied the waters too much with Kamui and the body doubles and Shisui all that nonsense, too. At a certain point if your plot gets too complex, especially with overblown concepts thrown into the mix, it just feels silly. That’s basically what happened to S2.

Again, S1 wasn’t perfect. Makishima was exhaustingly boring. Cool, so you can quote a bunch of crap you’ve read. Great. So can I. Who are you as a person, though? That Guy in my Philosophy 101 class who argued with the professor? Yeah, I could picture that!

People love waxing poetic about how amazing an antagonist Makishima was, but the dude was a hollow shell quoting things other people said 100+ years ago. It felt like he didn’t even have his own thoughts, and as far as I saw, there weren’t even any fake philosophers mixed in with the rest to make us feel a little extra immersed in the world (and/or give us another philosophical spin on the situation).

Hey, maybe that was the point, but I’ve never seen that criticism leveled fully at the character/plot in general, so here we are.

It was just too heavy-handed. By the end of the series I wanted him dead just so I could stop listening to his mini-lectures.

Still, it may as well have been amazing compared to 184-People-Stitched-Together being the main antagonist.

I think the movie jumped in face-first and was perhaps a little too...all over the place? But I didn’t have to endure 184 people as a single person, or ears in boxes, so... I consider it a win.

The bitter reality when it comes to Psycho Pass and the plot is that...the plot is its greatest strength, but it’s Not That Deep...even though you can tell that it’s consistently trying to be. Oof.

I think if they’d shot for something less complex, especially in S2, they’d have at least met their goals of depth/consistency. Instead what we ended up with was having a fairly decent plot devolve into one of the worst second seasons I’ve seen.

Characters & Character Development

For such a small cast, I think PP did a pretty piss-poor job with most of their characters, but the series as a general rule is so plot-heavy that it’s not really surprising.

I can’t help but expect a lot from a series that only has a few ‘main’ characters. In this case, Akane is the Big Main Character, and is flanked by Kogami and Ginoza. In S1, there was a decent balance (with Masaoka and Kagari thrown in). In S2, it was mostly just Akane and The Bad Guys, which would be fine if the plot was incredible, or The Bad Guys were super duper interesting, but as discussed previously, the plot was akin to liquid cat barf and the characters weren’t treated much better. It was a little insulting to be handed characters who could be really fun in the right hands (literally everyone) only to see them used as plot vehicles/hallucinations/memory thoughts. Kogami randomly appearing for long boring scenes wasn’t fun or cool; it was uninspired. It’d be way cooler if it was for five seconds and felt like a...memory, almost...a passing thought. For more screentime, it could even happen more often. But no, it’s gotta be like two minutes long.

How about the scene where Saiga talks to Koichi who just keeps turning into Kamui and he talks for like five straight minutes? UGH. Is this supposed to feel deep and meaningful? It doesn’t.

Shion sleeps with Yayoi so she can monologue plot things while Yayoi is getting dressed. Can I add that Yayoi doesn’t matter at all at any point, and Shion conveniently can do anything that needs to be done because Reasons?

Togane isn’t around long enough to feel like a worthwhile villain. Nobody cares about Shisui because we honestly don’t even know who she is! Oh, were we supposed to feel bad for Division 3? We’re supposed to feel gross about Akane’s grandmother but the writers took one line in S1 and used that to try and break the character (while also knowing full well it wouldn’t have any effect on her). Let’s not forget Mika, who is remembered as being incredibly annoying...while everyone forgets/doesn’t notice that she’s the student from the boarding school who didn’t die (and we never see her outside of work doing her own thing, which adds to her just being a pain).

Ginoza seems a little like he’s supposed to fill a spot his father left, but he doesn’t, and he’s pushed to the background to...not really do anything of import. Hinakawa is a worthless character who exists just for one plot-specific purpose. Saiga exists so that more dialogue can happen and not seem too out of place.

I’m not saying the character writing overall is trash, but it definitely ain’t good, and I think S2 is where it really struggled. S1 gave us a really interesting character in Kogami. Akane was learning and struggling to fit in at work and do things well, which was somewhat relatable. Ginoza was struggling with his mental health throughout the entire first season and had a lot of character development. But then S2 happens and the development kind of...stopped? Akane didn’t seem to really learn much because she was too busy always being right? Kogami noped out of Japan so I didn’t expect anything with him specifically, but why couldn’t Yayoi have moved into the limelight? Shion? One of the new guys? ANYONE?

Don’t get me wrong. I still have characters I like, and I can see potential in the others. I just wish I was seeing more than potential is all, especially with characters like Yayoi that have been around from Day1 and still haven’t really done anything noteworthy.

General Criticisms/Other Thoughts

There’s a lot of shock-value violence (SVV). I guess you could say I ‘get’ the purpose of it, but there’s literally no reason that helmeted person couldn’t have beat a man to death with a hammer instead of a woman, especially considering that we have to see Spooky Boogie’s corpse looking grotesque and plenty of other crimes against women.

I feel like S2 was especially guilty of SVV, but it existed in S1, too, pretty much to the point that it started to anger me. It might not have bothered me as much if some of the violent acts were cases that stood alone, but they were all linked to the main plot and that somehow seemed to make it worse.

I also wasn’t a fan of Akane constantly being naked/near naked, of Yuki being in her underwear/negligée, of every crime against a woman ending up with a woman’s clothes being removed, and (the list goes on). One of these things? I might be able to overlook. All of them? Come on. Don’t pretend these creators weren’t doing this for their own purpose.

(I know the scene with Aoyanagi gave us the men getting undressed too [This is your natural self!], but then they showed her with all these action scenes, legs spread wide open, coordinated lacy undies/bra... C’MON. All the butt-shots of Professor Saiga and Kogami don’t make up for this or cancel it out. I KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING AND I DO NOT LIKE IT.)

The music was mediocre but acceptable/fitting.

The animation is nice.

Overall

This isn’t a series I’d recommend to just anyone. It has a lot of issues, and they range from being petty annoyances to straight up offensive. If you can ignore the misogynistic undertones and general lack of consistent attention to the characters, there’s a decently interesting plot waiting for you.

Unfortunately the series just feels...lacking, in the end. There is a S3 coming out (apparently featuring other characters), so the creators aren’t done playing in this world. Maybe S3 will fix some of the consistency issues?

I’ve seen a lot of people make comments about Psycho Pass being a ‘genius’ work, ignored by the general public despite its godliness. I agree that it doesn’t get the attention you’d expect a series of this caliber (nice animation, decent soundtrack, likable main female character who isn’t some moeblob) to have, but I think I hit upon all the reasons it’s not everyone’s cuppa in the first place...and while it is open for fanfiction and so on, the lack of attention to the characters by the series itself makes it less likely to appeal to the sort of people who write fanfiction. So there you have it: a pretty decent, mostly coherent series that’s terribly violent and misogynistic. Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but worth a watch if you can get past those pesky negatives.

#psycho pass #psycho pass meta #don't sleep on this title yall

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marvel-lous-things · 6 years

Text

Frost Giants and Frozen Things

Words: <3k

Pairing: nothing romantic. Irondad. Accidental and unwilling Loki + Peter friendship. Thor being an annoying older brother. Pepperony and Thruce mention, because I am trash and couldn’t help myself.

Description: Loki doesn't want to watch a stupid movie made for midgardian children. Peter thinks he should. Especially because the movie in question involves ice, siblings and a happy ending. And some kick ass songs, damn what the critics say.

A/N: Welp. As promised. A 12:00 am idea brought to life. Hope ya’ll like :D

I spent three hours on this sksjksjs

#############################

When you get to be about 1500 years old, there isn't really much you can say you haven't done.

Take Loki, for instance.

If one were to ask the right people, one would receive (in frightening detail) about 3 million different anecdotes of Loki doing things that nobody in their right mind would ever do. Ever. Never ever. Even if they were paid for it.

But Loki had done these things, and oftentimes, for free.

A certain endeavour with a horse comes to mind. And one with offending the dwarfs. And dressing Thor up as a bride to get his hammer back. And- well, you get the idea.

And yet, while it would be easier to list the things he hasn't done than things he has, watching a Disney movie (surprisingly) landed on the former list...

...A goddamn travesty that one plucky kid from Queens intended to fix as soon as possible.

Which is why Loki found a very excited Peter Parker stuck to the outside of his bedroom window, one fine Sunday afternoon. And drew the curtains immediately over his face, much to the teenager's chagrin.

Peter, however, was not one to give up easily. And so began the insistent knocking on the window. And the subsequent yelling.

"MR LOKI SIR?"

Damn it.

"I WAS WONDERING IF YOU'D WANT TO WATCH A MOVIE WITH ME."

Ignore him, Loki told himself, ignore him and he'll go aw-

"I KNOW YOU'RE STILL THERE."

Damn it. He wasn't going to go away upon being ignored. Loki tried another approach.

"Leave, Parker, before I tell Stark about your algebra test."

"My what?"

"Your algebra test."

"I got 99% on it? And I told him already?"

Oh.

"Your chemistry test?"

"96%"

"Physics?"

"100%"

"Geometry?"

"92%"

"Trigonometry?"

"97%"

And that was the end of the list of all the subjects Tony cared about. Peter could've failed in the others and Tony would laugh and buy him ice cream to cheer him up. Tony had gotten into trouble with May, once, when he let Peter stay over time as a reward for getting 69% on his German test. So Loki threatening Peter about his other scores was pointless.

God damn it. Why was this kid so smart.

"I'm not interested. Go. Away."

Peter didn't go away.

"I THINK YOU'LL REALLY LIKE THIS ONE, SIR. IT'S A STORY OF TREACHERY, LOVE, AND SECOND CHANCES."

That caught Loki's attention, for a few seconds anyway. "Treachery, you say?"

Treachery was always fun.

"YEAH. ALSO THE MAIN CHARACTER IS REALLY COOL. I MEAN LITERALLY. SHE HAS ICE POWERS. AND SHE-"

The curtains opened suddenly, startling Peter enough for him to nearly lose footing and fall. Loki was disappointed that he didn't.

"Ice powers?"

"YEAH!" Peter was getting more and more shrill by the second. "SHE'S BASICALLY FORCED TO HIDE THEM ALL HER LIFE UNTIL ONE DAY THEY JUST COME OUT AGAINST HER WILL AND-"

That piqued the trickster God's attention. "Was she, by any chance, adopted?"

"WELL IT ISN'T MENTIONED EXPLICITLY BUT I THINK SHE WAS ‘CAUSE-"

"You don't have to yell."

"-Because her parents and her sister have brown hair but she's blonde! Also she's the only one in the family who can do magic! Mr Stark says I'm reading too much into a movie for kids. But I think there's a lot of subtext in there."

Loki raised a well groomed eyebrow, staring at Peter in careful deliberation. The plot of the movie being described to him hit closer to home than he would like to admit. Was it possible that it was, somehow, based off of him?

Of course, It was highly unlikely that humans would celebrate the life of someone who tried to enslave them by creating a motion picture in his honour.

But then again, humans were stupid.

He didn't realise he'd been staring too long (and too intensely) until he heard Peter clear his throat nervously.

"I really think you'd enjoy it. But if you don't want to-"

"No." Loki said definitively.

He watched as Peter's face fell, triggering the slightest hint of guilt in him. But he wasn't going to waste a few hours watching something that he doubted he would even like, when he could spend it on practicing his skills with a knife instead. It had been a while since he'd stabbed Thor. Loki didn't want to lose touch.

He closed the curtains once more, and began to walk away. Peter, however, gave one last, valiant effort towards his cause.

"The songs are great too, you know"

What the hell?

The kid was as stubborn as his father (Tony insisted he was simply Peter’s mentor, but he'd seen the way Tony looked at the kid).

"You're still here?"

Peter marched on, unperturbed. "They're deep. I especially like this one song about letting go of your past?" He cocked his head to the side, trying to peer through the small slit in between the two pieces of fabric shielding the room from his vision.

"It's about how she lived in fear and anger but finally managed to leave it all behind her. I thought you would appreciate that, Mr Loki."

Loki would, actually. He had been, after all, shunned by almost everyone for being different during his childhood. For not being the strong, valiant prince everyone expected him to be. Because he’d found comfort in magic and books, rather than in swords and armour, unlike his beefy blonde counterpart.

But a watching a kid's movie? With this little twerp, no less?

Thor would ensure that Loki would never hear the end of it. But then again, when was the last time Loki let Thor's opinion stop him from doing anything at all?

"All right," Loki sighed, pretending to act defeated rather than interested, "I'll watch it if you'll get off my back."

"AWESOME!"

"I suppose so. Now go home."

Silence followed. Until Peter spoke again.

"Actually, I was hoping you would let me in?"

Loki groaned. "What now?"

"I'm sorry sir, I just left my homework in Mr Stark's workshop. Three days ago. And it was due yesterday. May will kill me if I don't submit it tomorrow, so if I could just go get it-"

"Then perish."

"Okay, that was absolutely perfect, and I wish I'd caught that on camera but I've really gotta-"

The window suddenly opened inwards, causing Peter to land facedown on the floor with a soft "ow". Loki hid the smirk that momentarily flitted across his face, and watched in amusement as the kid stammered over an apology and quite literally ran towards the workshop.

He hoped for Peter's sake that the movie would be good.

#############################

Monday, 6:00 pm.

After giving Peter’s words some careful thought, Loki actually found himself looking forward to watching the movie, unwilling as he was to admit it. And besides, even if he did admit it for some godforsaken reason, no one would actually believe him. Loki “I would rather spend time with a horse than you” Odinson, spending time with anyone, let alone Peter Parker, was unheard of.

Elsewhere, Tony was having trouble believing this exact thing.

“It’s okay, Pete,” Tony sighed, the sound very obviously exaggerated, “I understand if you don’t want to spend time with me. Just don’t lie about the reason.”

Tony, however, sounded so unbearably dejected that Peter nearly burst into tears then and there. Tony had just been trying to get a rise out of Peter. Unfortunately, he’d been a little too successful.

“BUT MR STARK I LOVE SPENDING TIME WITH YOU, I SWEAR I JUST-“

“okay.”

“ HE’S NEVER WATCHED A DISNEY MOVIE BEFORE SO I THOUGHT-“

“uh-huh?”

“HE WAS MISSING OUT ON SO MUCH, I JUST-“

“Relax, I’m just messing with you. Go on your date with MJ or Ned or whoever the lucky kid is. I promise I won’t tell May,” He winked.

“I’M NOT HIDING A DATE! LOKI REALLY WANTED TO WATCH-“

“If it’s all the same to you,” came a very annoyed voice from the doorway of the workshop, “shall we commence our movie session? Or may I retreat to my chambers?”

Loki stood there, arms crossed and leaning against the wall, glaring at the red-faced teenager and the rather surprised man standing next to him. He watched as Peter slowly turned to tony, triumph written all over his boyish face. Loki rolled his eyes.

“I mean, if you’d rather continue yelling at your father, I could just-“

“He isn’t my son-“

“Yeah, yeah. Save it.” He turned to Peter. “well?”

Peter nodded hastily, immediately running up the stairs, towards the living room.

Tony just stared after him in confusion. He still wasn’t sure what exactly he should be believing. On one hand, Loki himself seemed to be admitting that he was going to watch a Disney movie with Peter, but on the other hand,

Loki? Disney movie? What?

The only time those words could possibly go together was if Loki stabbed someone with a shard of the lion king DVD tony had lying around somewhere. Or something to that effect.

His internal war, however, was cut short by Loki turning on his heel. “I suppose I’ll be borrowing him for about two hours” he said, with an (attempted) air of mild contempt. Just before he disappeared up the stairs, however, Tony caught the unmistakable hint of a smile playing on the god’s lips.

Which, of course, just left the genius more confused than ever.

#############################

Loki did have to admit that the premise was more interesting than he’d expected.

The humour was childish at best, but considering the fact that Peter seemed to very nearly choke on his popcorn every time they made a sad attempt at a joke, he decided to hold his scathing remarks back.

For now.

But apart from that, the plot was far too familiar for comfort. He had been reliably informed that the movie was not, in fact, about him (which nearly made him change his mind about watching it). And yet, here he was, the beginnings of tears building up in his eyes. The last time he’d felt such emotion was while watching a play based off his own supposed death. Thor hadn’t really appreciated it, though.

He let his mind wander a little, reminiscing on the plays he and Thor had watched as a child, recreating them in the comfort of their own home when they were left alone, with nothing to do. when they grew up, however, Loki started spending lesser and lesser time with his brother. he wondered if Thor felt the same way the younger sister in the movie- Anna, was it?- did. Hoping in vain for his brother to come out and talk to him.

He turned his attention back to the unnecessarily large TV screen when it showed the younger princess- Anna, he reminded himself again- agree to marry a man she’d just met.

“Well then,” Loki shook his head disapprovingly, “she and Thor would get along, wouldn’t they?.”

Peter knew that Loki was probably referring to Thor and Jane’s whirlwind romance, but he didn’t say anything. Heimdall could be watching. And while Bruce and Thor seemed to be very happy together, he wouldn’t take kindly to Peter dissing his former paramour. And the last thing Peter wanted was to get Thor mad.

The odd pair sat in silence, Loki giving each and every word uttered on screen a lot more thought than anyone would have deemed necessary. He hung on to every scene, every second of music, all of it gluing him to his seat. Peter excused himself to go to the bathroom at one point. Loki simply scoffed at the inefficiency of human bladders, and didn’t bother to budge until Peter came back from his short break with a refill of popcorn.

And then came the song Peter had no doubt been waiting for. Loki could tell Peter loved it because he began singing along, albeit agonisingly off-key. Loki rolled his eyes in second hand embarrassment, but again. Didn’t say anything. He liked to think that his mother would have been proud. Childish as that sounded.

Eventually, Loki began humming along too. Except less off-key, of course. He couldn’t help it. Replace a few words of the song with his own, and it could very well have been about him. Also, it was catchier than he would like to admit.

Just then, Loki heard the sound of approaching footsteps, stopping somewhere in the room. Loki frowned a little. The only reason anyone would stop would be to either talk to him or Peter, both of which annoyed him. He didn’t want pointless conversations interrupting his entertainment. If he wanted that, he would’ve just watched the movie with Thor.

“Having fun?” came a feminine voice from behind the sofa.

Loki didn’t bother to turn around. Whoever it was could wait.

He only recognised the voice as Pepper’s when he saw her ring-adorned hand affectionately ruffle Peter’s hair.

“Yes, miss Potts.” Peter smiled, not turning around either. He seemed to somewhat agree with Loki about interruptions, but was too polite to ignore Pepper.

“May dropped off some cupcakes for you, but I accidentally left them in Mr Stark’s workshop, so I would hurry if I were you.”

Pepper sighed, thanking him as she left the room, her footsteps echoing crisply on the marble floor.

Only then did Loki turn away from the screen, his eyes landing on Peter. He marveled at how the kid seemed to be comfortable with everyone around him. Of all the people who came by the tower- Steve, Bucky, The bird guys, Black widow, hell, even the pizza delivery guys- all seemed to enjoy being around Peter. Loki noted, with some jealousy, that Thor enjoyed the kid’s company more than his own. He would never tell Thor that, though.

In all honesty, Peter seemed to have simply walked out of a Disney movie himself.

Loki felt a keen twinge of regret that he’d become estranged from his family until it was too late to rectify it. He pushed the thoughts away, however, choosing to not deal with them at the moment (or any moment, for that matter). He had a plot to follow.

And that he did, just as closely as ever, until the treachery Peter had mentioned occurred.

And when it did? For the first time in years, Loki, calm, eloquent Loki, stood up and screamed at the top of his voice.

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

Peter was startled, although he completely understood Loki's reaction.

“Mr Loki please sit dow-“

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?

“I know, I hate Hans too, but please si-“

“HE SAID “IF ONLY THERE WAS SOMEONE OUT THERE WHO LOVED YOU”? THAT’S THE WORST FUCKING PLOT TWIST I’VE EVER SEEN.”

“I agree, but-“

“DOES HE DIE IN THE END? DOES HE FUCKING DIE IN THE END?”

Peter didn’t reply. He wasn’t about to spoil it, oh no. He didn’t put all that effort into getting the arrogant god to sit down and watch this with him only to spoil the ending. And no doubt have him leave before watching the whole thing.

“You’ll find out” Peter smiled innocently.

Which, of course, only made Loki want to choke the answer out of him.

He quelled his urges, however, and sat down, heaving a sigh of relief when the character with the unfortunate sideburns (Loki refused to address the bastard by name) did in fact die, and all was set right.

Loki got the happy ending he was promised.

He also got tissues for Peter, because the kid wouldn’t stop bawling his eyes out, no matter how many times Loki threatened to strangle him until he stopped. Sure, the ending left Loki’s eyes a little misty as well, but this?

Loki awkwardly left him there on the sofa, hoping someone would else would find and deal with the sobbing mess of a teenager instead.

He had other things to do. Like look up more movies to watch.

#############################

“So, brother, I heard you spent some time with Stark’s son?” Thor said, amusement (and chocolate syrup) plastered across his face.

“He isn’t my s- why do I even bother?” Tony sighed, tossing Thor a washcloth to wipe the sticky mess off his majestic beard. Someone really ought to teach him to not drink the syrup from the bottle.

“That, Stark, I do not know.” He grinned, turning his attention back to his irritated brother.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

Thor rolled his eyes. Loki could be so difficult sometimes.

“The movie, dear brother! Did you like it? I know I did!”

“He pestered you into watching it too?”

“Pester me? Of course not! I’d seen posters of it the last time I’d come to earth, so I asked him about it, and we decided to watch it together.” Thor shrugged, like it was obvious. He omitted the part where Peter nearly tackled him to the ground in a hug.

“Peter told me you liked it. And I think you would have too, considering…” he gestured vaguely towards Loki's…entire body.

Loki frowned, “Considering what?”

Thor fidgeted with his mug of hot chocolate. “Don’t be daft, brother. You know what I’m talking about”

“No, really, I don’t”

Thor was getting more uncomfortable by the second. Loki reveled in it.

“No, I just- I thought you’d relate to her- her struggles, and- The ice-“ Thor stammered, before Loki put up an impatient hand.

“I was joking. And yes, the movie was…tolerable” Loki lied through his teeth. He’d absolutely loved it, but the day Thor finds that out is the day Loki stabs him in the face. Again.

“Just tolerable?” Thor yelled, incredulous. “That movie is the best damn thing I’ve watched in years! Way better than your stupid little overly dramatic plays! I knew you were haughty, brother, but to this extent-”

His voice got even louder, prompting Tony to awkwardly scurry out of the kitchen, 50th coffee cup in hand.

“If you don’t take your words back right now, Loki, I SWEAR TO VALHALLA-“

Loki cringed. “Okay! Fine! I liked it! There, you happy?”

Thor beamed, taking a big swig of his hot chocolate. “Absolutely.”

“Good,” Loki smirked in response,

“Now let it go”

#############################

Somewhere in the vents, an excited squeak came from the boy who’d heard the obvious Frozen reference.

He pulled out a crumpled list titled “People who haven’t watched frozen” and a badly chewed pen from his pocket, crossing out Loki's name with a smile on his face.

Up next, Anthony Edward Stark.

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A/N part 2: HELLO!! THANKS FOR READING IT THROUGH!!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO ME!

tag list: @roanoaks @thefandomforme @shattered-shadows @queenofalotofdifferentworlds @advocateofathena @satans-poptarts @uselesspileofstressandsadness @melodielgrace @victoritris @marvelficwriter

“Hello You’re My Friends And If You Could Validate Me That Would Be Great Thanks” tag list: @spoopy-marvel-bean @marvel-or-not-to-marvel @gumgamug @cosmic-disasters @spiderboiii @windexnoises @animewhispersdreamland @anxieteaandbiscuits @persepumpkin @my-babies-are-ash @dexpoolb @anoptimisticdevil @asaelia

#aaah this came out less trashy than i expected #marvel #mcu #marvel fanfiction #fanfiction #peter parker #loki #thor #thor ragnarok #irondad #tony stark #pepper potts #spiderman #spiderman homecoming #infinity war #avengers 4 #marvel headcanons #dad tony

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