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desert-bluffs-and-me · 3 months

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WTNV quick rundown - It Devours! - NV&Citizens facts

Click here for the plot points!

Click here for facts about Nilanjana!

Click here for facts about Darryl!

Click here for facts about the Joyous Congregation and it's members!

Click here for stuff about the other scientists!

Click here for misc interesting facts I found!

The structure of NV works like this - there is a ring of mountains around the desert with NV in the middle and (formerly DB) Red Mesa and Pine Cliffs elsewhere. Downtown NV is the towns center which contains city hall, the radio station, several hooded figures at all times, the library, a shimmering vortex blocked off by yellow police tape, dangerous stray dogs and propaganda loudspeakers on every corner.

Beyond downtown is Old Town NV, a residential and shopping district developed in the 1930's which fell into disrepair post-war but is seeing a regenesis of homeowners, shops, tall metal trees and predatory cats. Beyond OTNV are the sand wastes then the scrublands, then the used car lot, then Old Woman Josie's house and finally, Larry Leroy's house.

Larry is fairly old (though has become quicker with age) and has lived alone for as long as he can remember. He owns a phone (broken) and a wheeless car with an underground shed full of canned goods/bottled water and a years worth of preserved pork sausages hidden underneath. He got the car by trading his shotgun for it. Larry has never felt safe around guns after he got stung by a scorpion reaching for his dads hunting rifle on a father-son hunting trip. He is not scared of scorpions though and likes that they eat pests like squirrels.

Larry wants to be remembered not through the fleeting memories of offspring but the immortality he believes art brings. His fave thing to make is dioramas of historical events and famous scenes from books. All of these are ahistorical/alternate versions such as W.E.B. DuBois riding on the back of a five-headed dragon called Rachel McDaniels or Dorothy bombing Kansas from a war balloon. His parents used to tell him that history didn't exist because it wasn't happening any more. His heroes are; W.E.B. DuBois, Helen Keller, Redd Foxx, Luis Valdez and Toni Morrison. He also writes poetry and makes patchwork quilts.

Included in his will are letters and items to be distributed to Sarah Sultan (the dioramas), Leann Hart and Cecil (obituary he's written for himself) and Michelle Nyugen (polka music written and preformed by himself using a concertina and a microcassette recorder).

The vague yet menacing government agency creates and mails everyone an earthquake calender each month to tell them when the scheduled earthquakes are.

Carlos rarely invites people back into his private lab. He spends time in there doing science but also making construction paper collage love notes for Cecil and writing down his fave numbers.

Carlos takes days off work to be with Janice (as do Steve, Abby and Cecil) when Janice gets her frequent checkups on her eyes, kidneys and spine. When Cecil is in danger, Carlos goes into an unproductive worry stupor, pacing his office trying not to call into the station to ask if Cecil is okay. On date nights, Carlos puts gel in his hair and wears his most striking lab coat.

Carlos dislikes talking about his time in the DOW, despite which he's become obsessed with it. He eventually reveals that this is because he spent ten years there instead of the year he was gone in NV, not eating or drinking or really feeling like he was existing, just endlessly ringing the moutain unable to get anywhere and away from the people he loved.

Neat is one of Carlos' fave words. He doesn't get when a question is rhetorical, or a joke, and dislikes being touched including comforted physically. However, he does sometimes like it when Cecil strokes his ears but other times not. He has a hard time predicting his own responses to things and can't articulate his feelings via words or process them very well inside of himself. He also loses speech when overwhelmed.

Carlos says that the thing he found weirdest about NV was how nobody else thought it was weird, that Cecil helped him feel better and even fond of that aspect and that sometimes when Cecil wakes up he [Cecil] will mutter "how did I end up this lucky?"

Carlos likes mint ice cream. He's a heavy sleeper.

Most birds in NV are computers produced and owned by the government.

Helicopters in NV 'don't take fuel'.

Big Rico's real name is Richie Goldblum. His brother is the mailman, Arnie Goldblum (who is two years older). They had a hard time growing up Jewish in NV as it's 'not exactly brimming with Jews' and Arnie believes that his brother changed his name to better fit in and distance himself from his culture. They also used to tease him for being small despite not being small, so the 'big' part is a play on that. Big Rico also pretty much admits to murdering competitors and feeding them to the worms he keeps in his basement.

Basimah Bishara, scared of the sudden pits and weary of the dangers of NV, decides to go to college in California. Mab, the bus driver, was almost swallowed and witnessed the sinking of Big Rico's and the full light that came from it which stung her skin. Terry Williams, age 7, was traumitised by seeing Big Rico's sink but wouldn't feel any full effects until he moved out of NV and at age 33 had a break down in a restaurant parking lot.

Jackie Fierro has decided to skip to 25. She is dating Sheriff Sam.

The Tourniquet bartender, Arjun, has been given near infinite knowledge of the universe which is shattering his mind. He also spies for the city council. He wears 'cool vintage prohibition era clothes' aka a snuggie and a mesh trucker hat. He can carve ice with his teeth.

Sex in NV is highly regulated. You have to fill out forms in triplicate providing a medical history then enter your individual Sex PIN to verify identity and interest. Then the forms have to be notorised and various blood tests and results gotten before sex.

There is a 'reincarnation programme' at the NV zoo where they will teach an animal of your choice to act like you (for a huge fee). Results are middling but the richest of citizens often sign up.

Janice doesn't like science, she likes sports but Carlos assures her that sports are science.

Cecil and Carlos think that tarantulas are adorable.

Pamela drives a purple PT cruiser.

Cecil has at least some chest hair, which Carlos likes to bury his face in when he's upset.

Josh Crayton is dating a boy called Grant.

Hank, a sentient patch of haze, works at the Staples.

#wtnv #welcome to night vale #wtnv quick rundown #wtnv it devours! rundown

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dreamlesssdreamer · 9 months

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On 12/20/13 I wrote this entry:

My abuelita has been sick for a year.

She didn't have a heart attack. Or cancer. Or some sort of flesh eating disease. But depression. Not the "depression" that people throw around every day because they're sad or lonely. Depression. Like putting up a fight with everyone because she doesn't want to eat, even though she hasn't eaten all day. Like staring blankly into nowhere even when someone is having a conversation with her. It even got to the point when she couldn't even use the bathroom by herself. Or bathe. Or get dressed. Even getting out of bed is a fight at times.

The women who was once so independent and vibrant is now a stranger to everyone, even to herself. She is no longer my abuelita, physically. She is someone whom I've met 7 years ago when I was 12 years old. At the time, I couldn't quite grasp the concept of depression. Yes, I was sad and I missed her, but I didn't really understand like I do now. I remember I wrote a letter to Santa saying that all I wanted for Christmas was for my Bella to get better because I didn't want her to die. I put that letter in my bible and I would pray everyday for her to get better. Although it took a year and half, my Christmas wish came true and I couldn't be happier.

When my abuela relapsed the depression this time, it's a lot different. This time, her depression lead to what the doctors believe is Parkinson's disease. Now, that can to two different parts of the spectrum, the Muhammad Ali end or the Jamie Foxx end. Of course I'm hoping the latter.

It's just really scary some days because now that I'm older, I see everything that my dad, aunt and uncle have to go through. How they're the ones giving up their time to feed, bathe and tend to her, daily. They're the ones who have to see their mother like this. I can't even fathom what they must feel like some days. It tears my heart up when I think back to last September and me and her could have such a normal conversation. Her conversations would last hours; topics ranging from Dr. Oz to going to church to how to cook pollo guisado. Now, I'm lucky if the conversation lasts a minute. And I treasure those minutes now. Because I took her for granted when she was well.

When she gets better, and I know deep in my heart she will, I'm no longer going to take her for granted because she's 81 and she has been through a depression twice, nearly killing her. In February when she was released from the hospital, the one thing she kept telling all of her doctors was,

"Solo quiero ver mi nieta graduarse universidad"

I just want to see my granddaughter graduate college

I pray to the Good Man upstairs that he will make that come true. I know my abuelita is trapped in there somewhere. With time, I hope she will come back to the surface.

It’s so interesting reading this back nearly 10 years later. The fact that I was able to enjoy her for this many more years before she really started to decline. i really do hope that where we are now is not the end just yet. I just want a little bit longer.

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vashak · 3 years

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The bird and the lynx

I want to talk a little bit about this visual here. This is the print on the Hagoromo Clear Clutch Bag which was released in February 2021. It shows a bird with a stem of rye in his beak, and a lynx holding a letter in his mouth.

We already know that Eiji is often depicted as a bird in the series and that Ash envies him because he can fly, he’s free. So the bird is definitely Eiji. The stem of rye in its beak must be a reference to The Catcher In The Rye, and this is one of the many references that Banana Fish makes to the famous literary title. The final episode of the anime is entitled The Catcher In The Rye. The second ending of the anime shows Ash and Eiji in a rye field at sunset. And there’s this beautiful cover of the TV Animation Official Guide “Moment.” I talked about how I thought the “catcher in the rye” in Banana Fish was Eiji in this meta here and this visual works perfectly with that interpretation.

Now for the lynx, it is obviously Ash, as he’s is known in the streets as “Ash Lynx.” By the way, I wonder how he got that nickname... And how did ‘Aslan’ become ‘Ash’ in the first place? Because his father calls him Ash too? Anyway, besides his nickname being “lynx,” Ash is likened to a variety of wild cat species throughout the story but always by his adversaries (Golzine, Yut-Lung, Foxx, etc.). This is important. I don’t remember any of his friends or allies ever making that allusion. Certainly not Eiji, who as we all know, thinks of Ash as a teenager like himself, which is kind of the whole point of the story. And finally, Ash himself draws a parallel between himself and the leopard in Hemingway’s “Snows of Kilimanjaro.”

As for the letter in the lynx’s mouth, it is clearly Eiji’s letter. I really like how the lynx is only slightly facing the bird like he’s trying to make up his mind about what he just read in the letter. And the bird looks like he just landed next to the lynx at the last minute before he has to take off again to offer him a stem of rye (the ticket to Japan maybe?), symbolizing a life where he can heal.

Anyway, there you have it. Banana Fish explained by a simple but very meaningful visual. Now I feel like everything I’ve written so far was redundant. I should have just posted the photo and the reference link because the image just speaks for itself.

#banana fish #the bird and the lynx #hagoromo #ハゴロモ #meta #analiz #yorum #english #banana fish türkçe #orta

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simplyclary · 2 years

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Spider-Man: No Way Home: A Nostalgic Multiverse

(Photo credits: The Indian Express)

[WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for the latest MCU flick Spider-Man: No Way Home]

OH MY GOSH! That is the only expression that I can fathom for this masterpiece of a movie. Like it's insane, from the trailers to the marketing to the actual film, everything is just amazing! I have seen the film more than two times already and I am still speechless until today. I am honestly having a hard time of writing this entry because I am still trying to process every single scene that unfolded in front of me on the screen.

The film kicks off where Spider-Man: Far From Home leaves, with Spider-Man's identity being revealed to the entire world and Peter (Tom Holland) and his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) are forced to swing out of the fray and into Peter's apartment where he closed all doors and windows with hopes of keeping his privacy which resulted to no success. He, along with his aunt May (Marisa Tomei), MJ and his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) are then called to the precinct to submit to questioning which resulted to them needing a lawyer, who, is later revealed to be the "blind lawyer from Hell's Kitchen" Matt Murdock a.k.a. Daredevil (Charlie Cox).

College is also coming up for our little gang and with the hopes of getting into MIT, Peter and friends gather in a café to open their admission letters together only to get disappointed because none of them got accepted due to the recent controversy, which is honestly sad for me just because they don't deserve that. They are all smart outside of superhero business and them having an uncertain future just because of the controversy makes me sad.

Determined to fix things, Peter rushes to Bleeker Street to meet with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), on an idea which he got from seeing a Halloween decor. He then asks Strange to cast a spell that will make everyone forget that he is Spider-Man, which Strange reluctantly agrees to do. The two proceed to cast the spell, but with Peter's constant changing of the parameters, it was ineffective. This is where the villains come in. Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) arrives first, Goblin (Willem Dafoe) arrives next, then Lizard (Rhys Ifran), Electro (Jamie Foxx) and Sandman (Thomas Haden Church). The arrival of these villains then sent me on a nostalgic trip because they were the villains that I grew up with and seeing them again makes me happy.

But because of the arrival of these villains, Strange and Peter had a little argument, as Strange points out that these villains are destined to die in the hands of Spider-Man, which Peter argues that their destinies can be rewritten and that he can help them. This argument resulted in a fight between the sorcerer and the web-slinger which ended on the note of Peter winning and proceeding to help the villains.

Peter was able to help Doc Ock and while making more tech pieces to help the others, he gets a sense that there is someone notorious around. He trusts this "tingle" and webs up Goblin, and a fight ensues around the apartment. This was also one of the scenes that made me cry because Peter's dearest aunt May dies in the chaos, after she says to him the greatest Spider-Man quote "With great power comes great responsibility". I wept because considering that Peter loses his mother figure maybe just months after losing his father figure Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is just a heartbreaking thought. I wept for a good few minutes because the next scene that showed had me shouting, losing my voice (and mind) and nostalgic at best....

Before I tell the part that really made me scream, let me say that I got to feel represented at best in this scene because Ned's grandma (Mary Rivera) spoke Tagalog in the film and as a Filipino, I just felt proud that someone of my descent got to speak our language in a box-office hit just like this. Now, back to the screaming.....

While waiting for Peter to tell them what to do, Ned suddenly opened a portal with the use of Doctor Strange's sling ring which Peter nabbed from him hours ago, to reveal a Spider-Man. They were calling out to him and every moment he comes closer, he goes taller and it finally revealed that he was a Spider-Man from another universe (Andrew Garfield). MJ and Ned were both hesitant to trust him and MJ even threw bread at him. He proves himself and MJ tells Ned to open up another portal to [hopefully] find Tom's Peter. A portal opens, and in steps out a man in casual clothes, who then introduces himself as Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire). Tobey then told everyone that he has this sense that Tom needs his help and MJ tells them that she knows where Tom might be.

Moving forward in this entry, considering there are 3 versions, Tom's Peter would be referred as "Peter 1", Tobey's Peter as "Peter 2" and Andrew's Peter as "Peter 3" to avoid confusion.

MJ and Ned finds Peter 1 at the rooftop of their high school, crying and then MJ then proceeds to tell him that there are people here. The other two Peters then jump down from the tallest tip of building to console and remind Peter 1 that maybe May did not die for nothing. After some consoling, they went to the laboratory to fix some cures for the villains and after experimenting for some time and some trips down memory lane especially for the older two, they geared up to face the villains.

They then headed up to the Statue of Liberty and placed the respective cures for each villain. The villains arrive one by one and each of the Peters took care of someone and there was this one sequence which really satisfied me and that was when they swung together and off of each other's webs, it was truly satisfying for a Spider-Man fan who grew up with all of these heroes.

Another scene that had me in tears and cheers at the same time was when MJ fell and then instead of Peter 1 catching her, it was Peter 3. It was redeeming in a way for Peter 3 because of the fact that he was able to protect Peter 1 from going through the grief of losing a significant other.

The ending of the film was heartbreaking and bittersweet because Peter 1 had to be separated from his girlfriend and bestfriend in order to protect them and another satisfying thing was because he donned the comic accurate suit which is also inspired by his two older "Spider-brothers" which was amazing (pun intended).

I may have spoiled major plot points but not the whole thing, so if you wanna see what really happens in the film, go watch this true gem of a comic book movie.

Now, as I said in the beginning of this entry, this film is so amazing that I can't fathom any expressions after seeing it for the first time. The ending was heartbreaking yet for me, it was necessary to help Peter really ascend from a boy who always needs a mentor to a true man who can be independent. This film is where Tom Holland's Peter Parker truly becomes Spider-Man, because he has learned to make the necessary sacrifices to protect the people that he treasures the most. I still can't say anything more than that.

This really took me back to my childhood with the villains and the other 2 Peters showing up. This is basically a dream movie that I never imagined ten years ago. So far, this is my favorite Spider-Man film of Tom's trilogy. Do not tell me to rate what is my most favorite among all Spider-Man films, because I will keep changing the order of that. This movie was just another leap into Spider-Man's possible future in the MCU. Who will he face next? Will Miles Morales finally be coming into the fold? Like any other MCU entry I wrote, only Kevin Feige knows about the future of these movies, so stick around for the next one.

Oh, before I forget, you thought Doctor Strange was done now, didn't you? Well, he will return in another magical and horrific adventure in the upcoming MCU flick Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which will come to theaters May 2022 so look out for that and who knows, a few more heroes from your childhood could send you on a nostalgic trip.

#spiderman #no way home #doctor strange #doctor octavius #green goblin #tom holland #zendaya #spiderman spoilers #spider man no way home #nostalgia

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artificialqueens · 3 years

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No Rest for the Wicked (Rosénali) - Freezer

an: hi! this is my first time actually posting any of my writing so i’m just gonna keep it at a drabble for now :)) inspired by words out of queen rose’s mouth herself!

Rosé picks up her phone and types a few letters into the search bar - the rest of the intended url is automatically filled. Foxx, Denali flashes up at the top of the screen and her lips twitch into an involuntary smile.

It’s become a habit, since the Olympics. She has the figure skating calendar synced up to her own, and after every round of a competition she checks one skater’s stats like clockwork. She takes a deep sip from her mug as she pastes a link into Youtube.

The black and white table of numbers is replaced by reams of colour, greens and pinks and blues that wrap Denali’s body tightly and create the illusion of lights as she flies around the rink. This is her short program, Rosé has learned, although she doesn’t care for what that exactly entails. Truth be told, she has no real interest in figure skating.

Yet, she doesn’t miss a single one of Denali’s performances. She can never get there in person, and maybe it’s for the best, but she’ll never forget her long program from the Olympics last summer, the program that inducted Denali’s name into the skating hall of fame.

She fingers the silver bracelet adorning her left wrist for a moment, then pauses Denali’s skate and zooms in. The same silver bracelet rests on the Ice Princess’ wrist, and something curls in Rosé’s stomach that she’s adapted to suppress in the months following the competition.

Her fingers still linger over Denali’s contact, as they so often do. She never does take the plunge - the only thing she wouldn’t risk for Denali is her career, and ironically it’s the only thing she’s got to lose. She wouldn’t give up her team for anything, not least for a woman she spent two and a bit weeks in Rio with. Even if those two and a bit weeks were some of the best of her life.

Going back to Scotland and leaving Denali behind was probably one of the most difficult things Rosé’s ever managed. But, her friends are in Scotland, her team is in Scotland, her entire life is Scotland. And Denali’s is Chicago and the ice. And that’s okay.

It doesn’t mean she doesn’t pine for her in the early hours, long for her small frame tucked snugly against her chest. She watches Ellie and Lawrence with envy. They’re lucky - their person lives on the same continent as them. And for all Jan and Lagoona’s attempts at convincing otherwise, Denali is still Rosé’s person. She doesn’t think anything could change that.

She turns up to training on Monday as normal. They landed back in the UK only the previous night. At least the team are riding high off the win. At least the team are favourites for Champions Trophy. At least the team…

athletes don’t go to the olympics to make friendship bracelets

#rpdr fanfiction #rosnali #denali foxx #rosé #s13 #angst #super light angst!!#kinda sweet as well though #lesbian au #fluff #olympics au #drabble #figure skating au #freezer #concrit welcome

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eijispumpkin · 4 years

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for your drabbles: ‘ you’re wonderful , i love you so much and i’m going to love you forever and for whatever’s after forever and even after that . ’ AshEiji!

The wind is cold and biting, by the time Ash stumbles down the stairs and out of the library. Damn Lao, couldn’t he have at least left the fucking knife in? Piece of shit, god, it hurts, his head hurts and his side screams and the frigid air against his bloodsoaked clothes is so cold it burns.

It’s nearly eight in the evening. One more hour, and Eiji will have landed.

There’s an old safehouse they used to use. Got ransacked by Foxx’s men, chasing down the scattered street boys that dared shelter Ash, but it should still have some supplies. It’s better than going to a hospital, anyway, and it’s close.

The front room is a mess, full of broken glass and splintered furniture, but most of the back rooms are untouched—there’s no escape from them, so no one ran back that way. Ash ignores the splatters of dried blood (who knows which of his friends or their friends died here) and drags himself to the first aid cabinet in the bathroom in the back.

Fuck Lao. God, this hurts. His entire body is in agony, and he hasn’t even started to clean the wound yet. His vision is spotty from blood loss, and his head is killing him. It’d be so much easier to just lay down and let himself bleed out the rest of the way.

My soul is always with you.

But he can’t die yet.

Gritting his teeth, he cuts his shirt off and rinses the wound with clean water, and then a bit of saline solution as a disinfectant. It’s deep enough he has to stuff one of the dry scraps of his sweater into his mouth and bite down against the pain as he stitches it up himself, white-hot agony searing through him, and when he’s done, he’s completely spent.

He slumps down onto the bathroom floor, teary-eyed and exhausted, and fumbles for his phone. Eiji must have landed by now. Eiji. Eiji. Eiji.

He presses call.

Eiji picks up on the first ring. “Ash! Ash, hi, I was so worried about you, I wasn’t sure if—”

“Eiji.” He tries to keep his voice level. It comes out as a whimper.

“Ash?!” Eiji sounds horrified. “Ash, what happened? Are you alright?”

“All good,” Ash rasps. The bathroom tile is cold under his cheek. He’s so cold. “Just got a… little bit stabbed. How was your flight?”

“My flight?!” Eiji almost shrieks. “You got stabbed? Again?! Where are you? Is someone there? Do you need help? I can—we can call someone—”

“No, no.” Ash takes a ragged breath. Eiji’s so worried. It hits him again like a ton of bricks—Eiji loves him, full of all that light and warmth that buoys him out of the darkness. “S’okay. Stitched myself up. It’s fine. Had worse. Just… wanted to hear your voice.”

“Ash,” Eiji breathes, and from the other line there’s something that sounds suspiciously like a sniffle. There’s another muffled voice, and Eiji responds in Japanese, and… he must still be in the airport. Makes sense, for the time. “Oh, Ash. You’re alone?”

“Yeah.” Ash wheezes softly. He’s too tired to get off the floor. He has to, soon, but… not yet. “I’m just… sitting here. I’m okay.”

Eiji lets out a tiny sad noise, one that makes Ash want to reach out and hold him. He always knew he’d miss Eiji, but he didn’t realize that he’d miss him this much. “What happened?”

…Ah. He can’t tell Eiji.

“Don’t you worry your cute little head about that.” He tries to chuckle; it comes out as a pained whimper as his side reminds him he just got stabbed.

“Ash.”

There’s a million ways Eiji says his name, and each one is different. This one is worried, with a bit of rebuke—a petulant don’t be like that would be next, if it was less serious.

Ash isn’t strong enough to fight him on this. Not right now. He’s so tired.

“Nearly bled out,” he admits, voice soft. “S’okay. Not… not in too much danger. In a few days… I’ll be fine. Prob’ly.”

Eiji gasps. “Go to a hospital!”

Both of them know that Ash will never do that willingly.

“I’m okay,” he repeats. Hesitates. Eiji’s so far away now, but right now his voice is right here. Ash still has that bloodstained letter in his pocket. He wants to weep. “Eiji… can I ask you something?”

Eiji’s answer is immediate. “Of course. Anything.”

Ash takes a breath. Winces. Wheezes. Lets it out. “If I had bled out… would you have been okay without me?”

Eiji is silent.

“Ash,” he finally says, voice soft. Ash can picture his big baby eyes shining with uncertainty. “You’re scaring me. Why are you asking that?”

Another breath, slower this time. He should really get off the floor. It’s cold, and he needs to eat something. Drink some water, too.

“I… was just thinking. While bleeding. That… maybe it’d be better for you. If I wasn’t around anymore.” He takes a shaky breath. God, it hurts. Everything hurts. “So you wouldn’t have to be tempted to put yourself in danger anymore.”

There’s a little choked sound from the other end of the line, and when Eiji speaks again, he’s crying. “No! No, no, no! I would not have been okay, and if I lose you I will not be okay, so don’t you—don’t you dare, Ash, don’t you dare die! You never—I won’t let you go that easily!”

“Eiji…” Ash closes his eyes. There’s an ache in his chest, and it’s not related to the wound. “Why?”

“Because, you idiot, I love you!” He can just imagine Eiji stamping his foot, fists clenched. “Don’t you get that by now? I love you, and I promised you forever and I meant it!”

The tears in Ash’s eyes prickle more, threatening to fall. “Eiji,” he whispers. “You mean that, don’t you?”

“Of course I do!” Eiji lets out a tiny sob. “Ash, don’t you know? You’re wonderful! I love you so much, and I’m going to love you forever, and for whatever’s after forever, and even after that!”

The ache in his chest becomes a blossoming warmth even as the tears spill down his cheeks.

He wants to see Eiji again.

My soul is always with you.

“I love you, too,” he breathes. It’s the first time he’s said it to anyone since Griff. He wonders if Eiji knows that.

“Ash,” Eiji sobs. “You are going to be okay, right? Promise me!”

“I promise.” He should get off the floor. “Hey… you should get going. You gotta get back home, right? Dry those eyes, crybaby.”

“I will wait as long as you need me,” Eiji pledges, and Ash’s heart squeezes. “You wanted to hear my voice, I will be right here.”

I love you, Ash almost says again. The words are on the tip of his tongue.

He pushes himself up into a sitting position again, nearly crying out at the pain that lances through him when he moves. It’s still cold, and with the broken windows in the front room, the chill will only get worse as the night progresses.

“One more favor I gotta ask you,” he wheezes, gritting his teeth to hold back another cry as he gets to his feet.

“Anything,” Eiji immediately says, anxious. “Are you okay? You sound like you are in pain!”

“Just—moving,” he answers, and hisses out a breath. “I just—one thing, Eiji, please.”

“Anything,” Eiji repeats.

Ash takes a moment to brace himself against the wall. Stumbling back out through the wreckage of the front room is easier than stumbling in was. He takes that as a good sign, pausing to catch his breath again.

“Will you wait for me?”

Eiji’s answer is instantaneous. “Always, Ash. Always.”

#i usually try not to put readmores on lil drabbles but this one refused to be short #oops?#asheiji #written #wonderburrito #answers

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stevenuniversetanzanite · 4 years

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The Angel Among Us (Cordelia X reader) Part 1

(This chapter has been rewritten/ edited since original post)

General Notice: I’m trying to get more works out during this time that is rough for all of us. That being said I am trying to keep it’s quality up.

This is technically a prequel to Fallen Angel (Work in progress), however it can be read as a stand alone series.

Summary:

If your reading as a stand alone: A witch heads back to Miss Robichaux's 20 years after she left in hopes of being a teacher there. The only problem is she hasn’t aged a day.

If your from Fallen Angel: The event’s leading up to Y/N joining Michael and the Cooperative.

Warnings: N/A

Parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 , Part 4(will be added when done)

It had been years since you left Miss Robichaux's academy or spoken to your best friend from that place. How long it had been exactly was something you were unsure of. It felt like days, but it could have been decades. The school's exterior hadn't aged a day since you first stepped into that academy for extraordinary young ladies. To be fair, neither had you.

The two-story building towered over you as it did at 18. You tried to move on from those days alas your memory of the place remained in your stagnant life. You had ambitions once, now unsure of what they were. You weren't necessarily from New Orleans, but your ancestry was from Salem or at least from what the letter your mother sent you explaining your oddities.

Years on and you stood in front of the cast iron gates just as petrified as you were on your first day. You had nothing to lose except your old way of thinking. Now, there was her. You wouldn't expect someone to accept you as you are. There was no way to explain what has become of you because nothing has, you were the same person you were when you exited her life.

The chuckles of girls playing in the yard filled your ears on the fine summer's day. Break time, you thought to yourself as you tugged your cardigan closer to her frame. You used to spend all your free time in the greenhouse with your friend. Potions weren't your forte, but she loved it so acted like you did...for her. It wasn't until recently that you learned to appreciate the natural science of it.

Your friend was your main reason for your resurgence into the world of magic. Her passion to teach the next generation of witches fuelled your pilgrimage of discovery of the world. To teach the wonderous world of extraordinary beings to the youth of today. You excelled in the history of Salem witches and your passion extended across other magical beings. The two of you used to joke that after years you would be the only two to remain behind. You wished for nothing more than to be with her for all eternity. Some dreams never go as they're planned. Namely, her husband, Hank Foxx. It could have been because you spent years surrounded by women, but that man didn't sit right with you. Nor did he to your friends Mother, one of the few things you got on with that woman about.

Her mother was a vile woman, the supreme witch since she was 18. She rarely took interest in the coven unless it was for self-benefit. She was a distant mother to her daughter, shipping her off to the school at the early age of 7. Your friend sought out a mother figure elsewhere, finding it in Myrtle Snow who ended up working for the council and doing the work the supreme refused to do. Her mother, Fiona, was long since dead, four years to be exact. Her title ironically passed down to her daughter. The worlds changed since your school days. You'd heard the news from your local sources, discovering Fiona's death when news of witches was broadcasted to the world. There was no way in hell Fiona would allow that. You were tempted to go to the opening, say hello to your old friend. But what would you say? It's been years. You left her all alone for years. How were you going to forgive yourself?

With a flick of the wrist, the gates were open. Your heart pounded to the beat of your footsteps. Your breath stilled when you knocked on the door. Maybe this was a mistake, you contemplated leaving. No one was answering. It was probably for the best.

The truth was years ago you had the chance to return but you refused. The only reason you were here now was for purely selfish reasons. The balance of good and bad had shifted and in your trail to correct the scale, you wound up in a lot of trouble. You had nowhere to go. Your home was no longer your own and you were on were on the run.

You sighed, turning around, and heading down the concrete path. The iron gate closed before you could leave. Your ears register a voice a second later. You spun around to be greeted by a young woman. She was short (but compared to you most women where) with long straight brown hair.

"Good, I got your attention, I thought you were going to escape," the woman joked. You chuckled awkwardly in response. Now that you were leaving, you did not really want to be there. "You knocked on the school's door?"

"-Yeah." You didn't even imagine the possibility of it not being- of course, it wouldn't be her. She was supreme now, she had better things to do than answering the school's door. "Yeah, sorry. I'm slighting out of it, nerves and all."

"It's alright. Most girls are nervous when they first arrive."

You chuckled once again, awkwardly, "I bet."

The woman let you inside telling you she would lead you to the Headmistress to fill out all the paperwork.

"Crap, I forgot she's in a meeting right now," the young woman said. "And I have to teach a class in a minute."

"You're a teacher?" The woman was used to the question from how young she was. "What age range are you teaching?"

"Right now, Pre-teen years. They're usually the worst to deal with."

"I bet. I could sit in and watch you teach them while we wait for Cordelia. Hell, you might be able to teach me something." Zoe hadn't mentioned the Supreme's name, so she assumed you knew it from the television segment a while back.

"If it doesn't bother you."

"It's no problem at all."

The woman led you to the kitchen dining room where a bunch of restless girls were mucking about. They all stilled, taking their seats, a few still mucking about as they did so. All the girls stared at you, one asking why you were so tall. You laughed, saying "Platforms" showing your four-inch platforms that were hidden by your floor-length skirt before you stole one of the free seats moving it out of the way so the woman could teach.

As the lesson when on you noticed one of the girls was struggling with her work. You noticed how she seemed to be too shy to ask for help. The girl beside her flying head and boasting about her skills, most likely bringing the girl down (unintentionally), in the process. You stood up and quietly as to not disturb the class and moved over to the girl.

"Hi, my name's Y/N. What's yours?" You asked her quietly.

"Emily," she whispered.

"Nice to meet you, Emily. Do you need any help with your work?" She shook her head. "Can I help you with your work?" She looked at you hesitantly then up to Ms who was too busy to notice you had moved over to the girl.

"If you want."

"How about you tell me what you're learning?" You started with. She shrugged. "What's the title of your worksheet?"

"Types of Magic?"

"Yes, that's correct. Now, what are the two main types of magic?" She remained quiet. "Clue: what's above you?"

"A roof?"

You chuckled, "Technically, that is right, but I meant that-" you point to the light globe.

"Oh, a light. Light and dark!" She got excited, raising her voice from a whisper. This caught the attention of the teacher.

"Yes, that's correct. All magic users fall into one of those two. Us witches fall into the light magic, even the darkest, most evil witch still uses light magic. There are others who would also fall into this side such as angels."

"Angels exist?"

"Supposedly. I've never met one," You said. "Even though there is light and dark magic, the purpose a person uses it for can differ. You know who I mentioned a witch using her light magic for evil?" Emily nodded. "She would be using-"

You went on explaining to Emily. A few of the girls around her joined in listening to you explain the course to her. You added pointers their teacher hadn't mentioned and some you picked up from your years of living a magic-filled life. You only noticed you had stolen the attention of all the girls when the others began asking you questions. The teacher was gone from where you last saw her. You asked the girl what the teacher's name was. You had forgotten to ask earlier.

"I'm so sorry Zoe, I didn't mean to take over your class," you said when you finally spotted her. "I was only trying to help Em with her work."

"Em?" Emily repeated.

"I give all my friends and family nicknames. I didn't think-" She leapt up and gave your waist a hug before you got another word in. She repeated the word friend back to you excited by the prospect of gaining a new friend. You gathered she was new or had a hard time with people since she found the idea of you being her friend exciting. You chuckled, rustling her hair with your hand. "Okay, enough hugging. I better let you get back to class. I stole enough of your time."

"Actually, class is over," Zoe said.

"Oh~ I'm so-" You went to apologise when the woman cut you off.

"No, it's fine. It's better they understand the work then rushing ahead and then not knowing it correctly." She silently conferred that what you had said to them was correct. She would have interrupted, adding her two sense if something seemed off. The teacher found your allegory's to be helpful in explaining the content as well as refreshing.

"Zoe's right, it's better that they understand the work. One wrong preformed spell and it could be disastrous." You knew that voice anywhere. "I was informed that we had a new student, so I came down as soon as I-"

Your head perked up to look at the woman that owned your body and soul. Your eyes begged for her to recognise you, to pull you into her embrace. You smiled sweetly at her in the way only you could. She returned the gesture. Her face was warm and welcoming as ever but as she got a better look at you, you noticed the change in her expression. The shift was slight but noticeable solely because you sought it out. You pulled yourself away from Emily carefully. As soon as you were detached, you headed over to the headmistress offering your gloved hand to her.

"L/N." She accepted your offer of a handshake. Her grip was strong excuding confidence dissimilar to the woman you left behind years prior. You kept a natural level of eye contact to not seem suspicious. Giving your last name was a test. You didn't want to scare her off immediately nor face the slap she will most likely give you when she puts the pieces together. "I was actually here to offer to be a teacher if you needed one," you said. "I know you had a large incline of students recently as well as limited staff. I don't know if that has since changed. Even if you just need someone to mark homework or assessments, I don't mind. I have all the credentials I would need for a normal teaching job along with working with children's card. Everything's in my satchel." You didn't find in necessary to mention the repercussions of not being accepted. Stating your problems wasn't your way. They were yours, there was no need to share.

"We can discuss this further in my office." Cordelia gestured into the hallway. You waved bye to the girls and said goodbye to Zoe.

Before Cordelia left Zoe pulled her aside. She noticed the facial expression shift too.

"You alright Cordelia?"

"Yeah," She whispered back to her friend. "She looks like a friend, I had years back."

"She could be a relative. Sister, daughter, cousin-"

"She had no living family," Cordelia told Zoe. "The girl's too old to be a daughter." She sighed, "It's fine, it's a freaky coincidence."

"You don't need to hire her."

"It would be helpful to have some extra help around here. She seemed to be great with the younger ones and we know how much of a feat that is." They both chuckled. "I shouldn't keep her waiting."

Cordelia kept eyeing you occasionally when talking to Zoe. You gathered she was talking about you, but it wasn't your place to listen. It's not nice to eavesdrop.

You remained quiet, listening for her to talk as the two of you headed to her office. Upstairs, first room on the right, just as you remembered. "As you know, that is Zoe. We had another teacher but unfortunately, we lost her. You will occasionally see an older woman here named Myrtle; she doesn't teach the students, but she helps me with council work." You smiled knowing Myrtle was here and still a part of the council.

Cordelia opened her office allowing you to walk in first. You noticed the familiar redhead in the corner of Cordelia's office drinking. Cordelia told you to take a seat at her desk while she got the paperwork ready. You pulled out your documentation placing it on the table before drawing your attention to the older woman behind you. Myrtle was talking to Cordelia about something irrelevant to you when she stopped mid-sentence, something you had never seen her do.

Cordelia cleared her throat, earning your attention. You spun around slowly. Cordelia told you that your documentation would not be relevant since they had an unorthodox away of job selecting. The past isn't relevant to her as long as you weren't her to bring harm to her girls. You insisted she took a look to ease your mind and to make her away of your qualifications.

"Now Y/N-" She wasn't meant to say that. She quickly went to cover it up, "Sorry I mean-" She picked up your papers searching your name on them.

"No, you were right." You adjusted the wire framed glasses on your face. One of the few new things about you. "Y/N M/N L/N."

"Is Y/N a family name?" Cordelia asked. "Like how some men name their son's the same name but call them junior."

"I don't believe so," You said, acting oblivious. You already came off strong demanding a job. "I don't have much of a family."

Cordelia's eyes widened. It couldn't be?

"Can I see your ID?"

"Sure." You fish through your bag pulling out a worn-down purse that she gifted to you years ago. Cordelia went to say something but held herself back, instead looking over to Myrtle with a questioning look. The oldest woman in the room shared the same level of confusion. "I should warn you; I apparently look a lot younger than my age."

You handed over your card to Cordelia.

"Y/n, what had you want to become a teacher?"

"Well, that's a tough question. I mean, where to begin?" You laughed. "I've always had a knack for the history of the Salem coven and it transformed into a fascination with magic in general. I guess I want to put my knowledge to good use. There's no point allowing it to waste away up here and recording it down in a book never sounded as appealing as verbally communicating it." Cordelia nodded along keeping a hold of your identification. "One of my friends used to joke that we'd both be here teaching together. Things didn't go as planned."

"They never do." Cordelia said. "I hope you don't mind but I need a secondary opinion on your resume." She ushered over Myrtle and the two had a quick conversation. She didn't believe you, she had to be asking about if it was possible, Myrtle would probably suggested plastic surgery as a possibility as to your appearance or some other thing you couldn't do.

"Could she have done Tempus Infinituum or something similar? It would explain why I- we haven't heard anything from her." The two look at you sat there twiddling your thumbs.

You always assumed your ageless appearance was some genetic thing or something to do with your magic. You're still trying to figure that out and was hoping she could help you out with that, or someone here could. Obviously, that wasn't your purpose for coming back.

"Is it really you Y/N?"

You nodded. Her eyes teared up and a smile formed on her face. She shook her head not wanting to jump the gun or overstep her boundary. It had been years and she had no clue what you had been through. It would have to be hell in order for you to leave. The two of you were inseparable before you vanished.

"I can prove it. Ask me anything only I would know."

Your words were enough, the tale you told of your friend and how much of a history buff you were.

"I can do one better, give me your hand." She laid her hand out for you to grab. You didn't understand. "A lot has happened since you left, one being I got The Sight."

As soon as you heard that you grabbed her hand allowing the skin to skin contact to explain away everything it had to. It hit you a second later, you shouldn't have rushed it. There were things she didn't need to know that she may now have access too. She tore your glove from your hand allowing her fingers to slip between yours. She gasped watching your earlier twenties up until now flash through her mind.

She retracted from you, allowing herself a moment to get air in her lungs. "Y-y-you-" she stuttered. Her eyes flicked from you to her aunt. Shock covered her face. Her eyes settled on you and you expected her to say something about how this was unbelievable. "Why are your hands so cold?"

"What?" Not what you were expecting.

"You're freezing, I'm going to find you a blanket."

"You don't need to, I'm fine-" Her glare at you urged you to shut you up quickly. She used to do the same thing back in the day. "I'm serious, I'm always this cold. Why do you think I dress like this?"

You got up, following her down the corridor and up the stairs to a bedroom. You attempted to reason with her that you were fine, you were always ice cold which concerned her more. "That's not normal Y/N/N" 'Y/N/N?' You smiled upon hearing your nickname from long ago.

"You'll learn not a lot about me is-" You kidded.

"Sit down on the bed, I'm getting out the winter blankets."

"But it's summer-"

"And your freezing."

She headed into her closet only returning a few minutes later with the thickest blanket she owned. You were already dressed inappropriately for the weather, cloaked in long sleeved maxi length dress, thick woollen stockings, below the knee boots that were hidden by your dress. You also had a cardigan you removed upon entering the school grounds. Cordelia wrapped the blanket around before forcing you to lay down. You whined, using that you were wearing shoes as an excuse. She removed them, seeing how much big the sole was she asked, "How do you walk in these?"

"How do you walk in heels?"

"Touche."

The two of you started cackling. Soon you were swaddled up in a blanket, lying on what you assumed was Cordelia's bed telling stories and laughing at each other's misfortune like it was old times. You had learned the unfortunate events that led to her ex-husbands death. A witch hunter, you should have guessed.

"I missed you," Cordelia admitted. You remained quiet, wanting to say it back but not having the courage. Like the last time, you had seen her, her wedding. You, the maid of honour, left early. You knew you would have to explain it to her, but you couldn't. You didn't want to force your feelings onto her, that's why you never told her then and that's why you can't tell her you missed her now. You missed her more than she could ever believe. "I saw- I mean... I know. I know you miss me too." She moved closer to you, resting her head onto your shoulder. "I know you missed me too."

#cordelia x reader #cordelia foxx x reader #cordelia goode x reader

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foxxology · 2 months

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Ren holding up the skulk permit feels like a: "The server said its my turn for a skulk infestation arc" moment.

LIKE LITERALLY

#foxx just got a letter

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lindsaywesker · 3 years

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Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Welcome to the working week! Although, for those of you in the NHS, welcome to just another day!

So, we’ve reached May! Crikey, how did that happen? We are in the fifth month! Almost half the year is gone! Is it just me or is time whizzing by? It’s doing my head in. Naturally, I am loving the sunshine streaming through my windows but May already? I don’t want the summer to end ... but it will.

Many of you are currently fast asleep. For you, it’s Bank Holiday Monday. Where I work, bank holidays don’t exist. I’m not that bothered. Today, I’m teaching from 12.45 – 4.45. A relatively short working day. I anticipate my family will be in the front room, on the sofa, underneath blankets, watching holiday movies. At 4.45, I will join them.

How was your weekend? On Friday, I described how my weekend was going to be and it worked it exactly like that. I enjoyed every minute. Many thanks to everyone that listened to the show on Saturday. The show went really well. People seemed to like ‘The Songs Of Ashford & Simpson’. I’ve definitely got a few more of those up my sleeve! The first part of The Letter B happens this Saturday at 1.00 p.m.

UEFA have still not ‘punished’ the arrogant owners of the ‘big six’ for their attempted ‘super league’ coup. Pathetic! The six owners are probably all part of some WhatsApp group laughing about it.

I keep seeing a YouGov poll with the Tories (despite being so shit) ahead of Labour. Just found out the other day that YouGov is owned by a Conservative MP and a Tory donor. People think that research figures are handed down by God almighty! They’re not! When I see research figures, I immediately think, “I wonder who paid for that research?”

Saw a little video on my Twitter feed of T-Pain and Jamie Foxx laughing together. The headline read, “T-Pain finally linked up with Jamie Foxx after checking his DMs 2 years later.” Two years later? Moral of the story: your social networking profiles require DAILY attention.

Have a marvellous and momentous Monday. I love you all. And, remember, if you’re looking for an easy book to read, check out my second novel, ‘Whatever Makes Them Dance’; a love story about a DJ (73 Amazon Global Five-Star ratings to date.)

#mixcloud #mi soul #lockdown #new blog #coronavirus #dj #music #weekend #books

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babygurlbarnes · 4 years

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The Woman In The Smoke: Mysterious (1)

Summary: Bucky, Steve, Tony and Natasha are attacked in the middle of the night by a mysterious man and woman.

Warnings: Angst, language, mentions of neglect, mentions of kidnapping, mention of abandonment.

Author’s Note: This is my first series after not writing for about a year. I decided to do something Buck related because it’s in my comfort zone. I hope y’all enjoy. Feel free to comment and give feedback (my inbox is always open).

Word count: 1,376

The sound of the alarm blared in the tower, they were under attack. Bucky awoke in a panicked state. The super soldier got out of bed and hopped to his feet. He sighed, rubbing his hand over his stubbly face.He barely got any sleep in the first place, and now the sleep he did get was being compromised.He walked over to his chest drawers, in his scarcely decorated room.He open the top drawer to reveal his vibranium prosthetic. He attached it, then suited up in his all black, all leather gear. He made sure his holsters were secured tightly and his favorite blade was tucked away in a pocket on his hip.

Bucky met Steve outside in the hallway. He turned to his oldest friend, “What's going on out here Stevie?” Bucky questioned, clenching his jaw. Was it so much to ask to just get one day of peace and quiet?

The blonde scratched his face. “Dunno Buck, I’m as confused as you are,’ Steve sighed. Bucky could physically see the tiredness on his best friend's face. He could tell that Steve wasn’t getting much sleep either these days. His dazed expression and watery eyes were pictures that spoke a thousand words.

In the bat of an eye, a wall in front of the two super soldiers collapsed. Through the wall flew Tony and Natasha. Both of the Avengers were covered in dust and considerably disheveled.

“Are you alr-” before Steve could even finish his sentence a masked woman hovered to the ground. Her eyes were completely black as she landed on her feet and her dark curly hair flowed effortlessly. She was dressed head to toe in black in a sleek suit that looked very durable. The confidence that exuded from her was dangerous. She looked menacing to say the least.

Bucky was experiencing wave after wave of emotion. He didn’t know whether to run in the opposite direction, fight, or be turned on by the mysterious woman. The super soldier was frozen in place, and frankly this never happened. He had never seen a dame like this back in his day.

At times like these - when Bucky was feeling raw, untamed, human emotions, he wished he was still the Winter Soldier. Learning to feel and be human again was such a task for him. The only trait that he envied of his old ‘self’ was his ability to act and react efficiently - without emotion.

Steve urged Bucky to talk to him when he felt emotionally overwhelmed but there were some things that America’s golden boy just would never understand, and that was that. Bucky never wanted to be a burden, so he just found it fine to keep his emotions tucked away - for now anyway.

Tony, Natasha, Bucky and Steve were the only ones at the tower (other than the intruders). This was because the other members of the team were off on a mission in pursuit of the trickster - Loki. Loki was once again demanding the respect and praise of the poor mortals of midgard.

“Are you almost done? I’ve got them distracted”, the woman questioned, communicating through what looked like a bracelet on her wrist.

“About 98% done here Y/N, keep them distracted for a little while longer,” a man responded. She directed her attention back to the group of Avengers that stood before her and smirked.

“Wait- distracted, what do you mean distracted?” Bucky mumbled a bit loudly to himself. He had a habit of doing this when he was thinking. Tony immediately started to panic. What were they trying to steal? One of his inventions? Information? Materials? Blueprints?

Tony had worked way to hard and way too long on any of his inventions for them to be stolen or duplicated. What about his legacy? The man, the myth and the legend that was Tony Stark aka Iron Man?

Stark’s mind began to race. “JARVIS, initiate lock-down!” He commanded. “Lockdown initiated” the system responded. All the windows in the tower began closing, and the sound of doors locking could be heard through out the massive building.

“Sorry to do this to you sweetie but, I gotta go,” the unknown man quipped. With that Y/N’s bracelet went dead. “Wait,hello? hello!” She tapped at the object, but to no avail - it was dead.

Fortunately for the Avengers, she was now the one distracted. Natasha skillfully pounced on the woman, tackling her to the ground. Before Y/N could defend herself, Natasha swiftly jabbed her directly underneath her eye - knocking her out cold.

Say what you will about Natasha, but the Russian could sure pack a punch.

“She’s out,” Natasha boasted with a sly smile on her face.

“Great now I can finally get some well deserved shut-eye.” Bucky professed.

“Not so fast Barnes, we have to find out what all that was about.”

“And for the record, you didn’t do shit,” Natasha scoffed.

Bucky stood there and scratched his head trying to figure out a response.

“I was following your lead Romanoff...” He started, unsure of what more he could say.

“Pshht, yeah right, we could all tell you were practically drooling at our little assailant over there,” Natasha mocked and pointed to Y/N passed out on the floor. She looked peaceful. Almost angelic.

Bucky turned and looked toward Tony and Steve. The two men nodded their heads in unison.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “For the record, I was observing her moves. No need to patronize me for doing my job,” he scoffed.

“Okay guys can we just move her before she wakes up?” Steve chimed.

Bucky shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah Mr. America is actually right,” Tony sighed.

They all stared awkwardly at each other until Steve finally sighed. Steve slung the passed out woman easily over his shoulder and turned to Tony for directions.

“Uh... to the elevator,” He motioned.

When they arrived on the floor of the building that contained the labs, Tony lead them to a door that had ‘Laboratory 001′ inscribed in black, bold letters on it.

“Lay her down on the table, let’s find out who she is,” he sighed rubbing his brow.

Steve laid the passed out woman on the steel surface. Tony proceeded to then find a vein, and inject her with some mysterious liquid. Steve assumed it was a sedative of some sort. Stark was humming to himself as her strapped her down the table.

“Okay, now let’s find out who you are...” he mumbled to himself as he took out a hand held device which he put her thumb onto. The device beeped three times and the screen turned red.

“Huh, she’s not in the system,” Tony muttered confused.

“Spy maybe?” Bucky suggested shrugging his shoulders.

“Maybe... but just to be sure, JARVIS run a face scan on our passed out visitor.”

“Running facial recognition.” JARVIS responded.

The team stood there for a whole ten minutes. Tony himself was starting to lose hope. Bucky was twiddling his thumbs and Nat was practicing her jabbing techniques in the corner.

Steve was simply staring at the young woman. Oddly enough Steve could not identify a single flaw on her face, it was as smooth as porcelain. There wasn’t even a bruise from Natasha’s powerful strike. Not a single curly hair on her head laid out of place, not a single split end. Her lips were perfectly wrinkle free and her nails were perfectly manicured.

“Match identified.” JARVIS announced.

Tony had never shot his head up so fast. He made his way over to the screen adjacent to the table.

“ Y/N Y/L/N, and last known address is from 5 years ago, 62 Hamilton Rd. Brooklyn, NY 11207. The only picture we have of her is a passport picture. No records of any parent or guardian or any siblings.” Tony spoke carefully.

“Check the address,” Bucky suggested.

Tony worked his fingers quickly against the screen and let out a sigh.

“It doesn’t exist,” Both him and Bucky said in unison.

Natasha started pacing.

“So what do we do now?” She asked.

“Wait, till she wakes up,” Steve sighed folding his arms.

Tag List:

@kitkatd7 @cheeky-foxx @buckys-other-punk @hermionesalvatore84 @js3639 @msgreenverse @chaoticpete @c-emma098

#bucky barnes x black!reader #bucky #avengers #steve rogers #ironman #black widow #bucky barnes #fanfic #bucky angst #white wolf #fem!reader #marvel #buckyxpoc!reader #civil war #bucky fluff

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twiststreet · 4 years

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Waiting for a plumber to call back, which has completely derailed my day...

The Last of Us 2 (2020): Fan art by Leonardo Romero. Anyways, this has its weaknesses (the story didn’t go places I thought might be more interesting, and it took me longer to warm up to some of its choices as you can kind of see the design choices they’re making to try to get you to warm up-- the Tim Rogers review of the last game that came out this week made for an interesting juxtaposition in that respect; plus, I just wasn’t really in the mood for monster fights in this game since the human work was so much more interesting) and its strengths (some of the most technically amazing level design I’ve ever seen specifically when you go into that suburb of Seattle, wild physics shit, a story that I think ultimately really works and is successful in its goals, Naughty Dog’s better-than-anyone visual and visual design work, an A++ ending, Naughty Dog’s ongoing commitment to story and design flowing from where the characters are emotionally rather than “plot”, the actual acting-- Patrick Fugit as one of the biggest fuckboys I’ve ever seen in a game, the massive and often-astonishing scale of it, all the ways you could see lessons from earlier games get applied to this one, those videos of people playing random songs on the games’ in-game guitar, etc.).

One of the most ugly and sad responses from an audience I’ve ever seen, though. Gamer weirdos yelling about a “trans character” that wasn’t the games’ trans character (the number of dudes online admitting they’ve never seen a woman’s body outside of their computer monitor is wild right now-- just dudes telling on themselves). SJW people yelling about the actual trans character in a way that I found really off-putting, just ignoring what people are trying to do, the degree of difficulty in doing it, and the way applying rigid rules to that is massively unpersuasive and fundamentally anti-art. (It’s that “no one should get to tell anyone else’s story besides me” shit from the will-never-be-happy-with-anything type brigades that I have no time for. Mid-00′s tumblr shit that thankfully has mostly left this site and transitioned to harassing twitter). Games are neat sometimes, but everything about them is the worst kind of trash.

Lost Bullet (2020): a French Netflix movie about a car-guy who gets recruited by cops trying to stop “go-fast drivers”, but then gets mixed up in some hijinx. The French like a certain kind of action that I’m getting into-- if you saw Sleepless Night (which I think Jamie Foxx remade?), it has that same quality where it’s like... I guess the better comparison is Haywire, where you’re just watch a guy in a room in sort of slow, very tangible fights that are not exciting in their editing and no one seems especially trained to fight, so the pleasure is just in seeing bodies mash up against each other and try to get out of that situation...?

And then ending is a hoot because it kind of becomes a 1980′s ending, like James Garner’s Tank or something. It turns into the A-Team for this car bit. It’s all practical car shit too so if you’re into car shit, it’s fun for that in a way that modern American car movies stopped being, once they learned how to CGI cars up...

It’s a netflix movie though so there’s about 20-30 minutes there they could’ve cut, even though the movie’s only about an hour and a half... Nothing really worth watching but I liked the bits I liked...

The Trip to Greece (2020): I’m not sure why this is the last one-- I still want a Japan one-- and the movie doesn’t really make a case to end these. It does go dark at the end-- I don’t think very successfully to be honest-- but I just like these movies a lot. I just like having one on. There’s some guys; they go somewhere; they eat; they talk about Mick Jagger. I just like that; I like that formula; I like that they got this many movies out of that... It’s been a while since Winterbottom’s hit outside of these though so it’s probably good that he’s moving on though-- it’s been a while since he had a 24 Hour Party People...

Action Journalism (2020): I got curious a night or two ago what Criterion designer Eric Skillman was up to in comics since it’d been a while since I heard his name-- it turns out he has been self-publishing a short series of 16 page black and white comics drawn very pleasantly by Miklos Felvideki. The comics are sort of all ages science fantasy adventures about a Lois Lane-type character having adventures-- not much there to the writing since it’s for kids.

But boy do you ever see that guy’s skills as a designer-- just a lot of good choices being made!! (Well with one exception-- he tries to do a sideways comic in #2 which I get the desire for-- I’ve done one myself *takes a bow*-- but it doesn’t work digitally at all, not on a desktop anyways... That’s a paper-only move). The covers are all comic pages that start each issue? Or him and Felvideki use a zipatone thing for the lighting, that just looks great to me. It just looks right...? It looks like what it’s supposed to look like, I think.

Nothing to rush out to read, if you’re a grown person, but I thought it was a really likable project-- I hope they enjoyed making it...

The last couple comics I’ve read have been big awful mainstream things (to see what I’d been “missing”-- apparently just BAD LETTERING)(nothing worth mentioning), so maybe I was more in the mood for it because of that, though.

This Video of Phoebe Bridgers Talking about Albums: Delightful! I like her new one...

The plumber’s not calling back; my day is fucked here...

#movies i saw in 2020 #Man is the Deadliest Game.#Worst Hobby or Worstest Hobby?

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silverquillsideas · 5 years

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My thoughts on the ending of banana fish

Banana Fish ended on the 20th, and then onward, a lot of posts have been made regarding the ending and what people thought about it. I’ve seen mostly negative posts, where fans were openly hostile to the ending and I get where they are coming from. There was the occasional positive response, and I understand their views too.

My stand on BF and whether the ending was justified falls on the grey area. I tend to oscillate between hating the ending, and liking it for being a powerful, emotional, and haunting experience. Why can’t I decide? Because I’ve got questions I just can’t justify in my head. I can’t come to a reasonable conclusion because of the loose ends that I feel were left in the manga by the author.

This is not meant to be an emotional rant, please bear in mind. I finished the manga back in July, and I’ve had months to ponder over these questions, and reached no conclusion.

Hence, I’ll just place the specific issues I personally had, and hope that, I’ll eventually figure out why it was created the way it was.

I’ll divide this post in 3 parts :

1. The events leading up to Ash’s death

2. Ash’s choice to die

3. The role that other characters played, and why the author chose to ignore their “fates” if you will, and only deemed it necessary for ash to meet his end in that way

I’d like to thank @angofwords, @lynxash @yoru-no-gaspard @ash-callenreese @saishii , with whom I discussed this over months, and finally @shu-kaku, who practically kicked me in the butt to get me to write this post, because I wouldn’t shut up about the arguments :’D

Also, to @zaenaris and @soso1777, my replies have been abysmally late, but here is what I had planned to say in response to you both.

A. THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO ASH’S DEATH

The battle at Mannerheim’s institution finished with Dino, Foxx and Mannerheim dying. Blanca, Sing, Ash, Cain, and all the gang members return safely, with few casualties on their side.

Afterwards, there were clearly two days before the manga ended : Day 1 , where Sing confronted Yut Lung, and Ash and Blanca talked in the park.

Day 2 : where Eiji leaves for Japan, Sing gives Ash the letter, Ash gets stabbed, the story comes to an end.

My question is regarding the behaviors of the characters in these two days, or rather, how Yoshida-sensei chose to write them.

Firstly, Sing Soo Ling, the very competent gang leader, who knew that his brother, hell bent on hating Ash for being a “monster who killed Shorter” and apparently on the mission to “harm Sing” , was missing, never once thought of tracking him down? Provided he had two days at hand? Sing had cleared his animosity with both Ash and Yut Lung, and I’m pretty sure, as a gang leader, he had conveyed both these details to his underlings. Therefore, it’s unlikely, that Lao, could NOT have heard it from at least one person in the gang (even if he was not a part of it anymore, I’m sure he had people close to him), if not from Sing directly. Lao was the only family member Sing had in the Chinese gang, so it seems a very far stretch that he would not have made any effort to get him back in the ring.

Ignoring the above question, assuming Sing was very busy, or the question escaped his mind, my second problem, Lao Yen Tai.

He was under the impression that Ash was a deadly enemy to Sing. His goal : kill Ash anyhow, even if he died in the process, so that Sing could be saved.

So, on that day, he followed Ash around (there is no other way he could have known Ash was at the library)

This is him spying on Ash and Sing talking in the reading room :

Ash and Sing then went outside, and argued loudly for sometime. Lao, of course, followed them, and saw Sing and Ash yelling at each other. Sing ran away, very much unharmed, and alive, after yelling at Ash Lynx’s face. Lao saw the whole thing.

So, my question is, Lao DID NOT come out of nowhere, he was observing the whole exchange. If Ash Lynx was bent on killing Sing, or fighting him one on one, he had plenty of room to do so, but he didn’t. so, why didn’t Lao, go after his brother, and try to clarify the situation before going at Ash on a suicide mission? The excuse that he was “scared and confused and wanted to protect Sing” breaks down here. Logically speaking, Lao should have followed Sing, instead of going at Ash with a dagger. But Yoshida mysteriously chose to overlook this.

Third question : the blatant disregard for reality, in the following situations :

1 A gunshot going off, no one comes to investigate

2 Ash drips blood all over the staircase and goes back to the reading room

No one notices

3 A human being bleeds out, sitting in a chair, in what I’m assuming is the Rose Reading room of the NYPL, which is very much NOT CARPETED and no one notices the blood (~3 to 4 L of bleeding is needed for an average human to collapse and die) in fact, in the screenshot I see, there is NO BLOOD, running out on the floor, not even a single splotch.

Very interesting choice on both the author’s and animators’ parts

4 Also, since the anime time-line is the present day, I’m assuming there will be stuff like surveillance cameras present, so, my question is, what were the security people doing?

The readers are expected to keep the sense of reality suspended for all of the above points.

B ASH’S CHOICE TO DIE

First off, I’m a staunch believer, that Ash wasn’t suicidal, and that he didn’t actively go out and seek situations that would put him at risk of dying. I don’t know how the fandom views him as, but to me, Ash is an extremely resilient human being, and he wouldn’t give up his life just like that unless something major was at stake.

Ash says in ep 13, at the pier, that “there were times I felt that death would be a better option than what I was going through at those moments”

This is not the statement of someone who was trying to give up his life willingly, but only considering that choice under extreme situations. Ash had gone through a lot, more than any one of us, and especially me, who has had zero experience of depression or CSA or trauma of that nature, can fathom. And of course, there were times he felt that death would end his suffering, but also, he had a strong desire for survival and freedom from all that he was going through, and the goal to get revenge on those who had wronged him.

In Angel Eyes, he says this to Shorter, and I think that’s proof enough of how Ash was ready to bend his horrible destiny to his favour and survive whatever he was going through.

With all of that out of the way, I’ll point out the reasons which (according to me), served as his reasons to choose to die:

Why Ash did not seek medical help/call out to someone : Ash’s legal status was still that of a criminal, a gang leader, and whatever might have been his reasons for committing those crimes (ie -for survival), the law wouldn’t see him as anything but that.

The reason Blanca prevents him form going after Eiji to the hospital after he is shot, is precisely this :

There would be too many questions about who he was, what he did, etc, and invariably, the police would’ve been called on him by the hospital staff, since he was technically being treated for a potential homicidal would (a stab to the abdomen). Ash would’ve been questioned by the staff, asked for records, etc. If the police got involved, he’d have been taken into custody after being recognised. Even if Jenkins and Charlie stood up for him, and his status as a victim in the Club Cod trials was taken into account, Ash would not have been able to escape some sort of legal penalty, imprisonment or otherwise.

On further questioning, the names of his accomplices, ie, Eiji, Blanca, Max, even Sing, would come into the light. That was a mess I’m sure Ash wanted to avoid.

Any sort of contact with legal or law enforcement was a big no no in Ash’s current situation, and remember that the police were already looking for Ash at that time, and how Eiji refused to give them his location.

Let’s assume that Ash goes to the hospital / is taken there by people who saw him bleeding out, and he is eventually tried for his crimes. His case is widely publicised, since he is the biggest witness/victim in the Club Cod case. The Corsican foundation was still active, and Ash Lynx was still a successor of Dino Golzine, who had previously bought legal custody of Ash from the state of New York, which means, Ash’s identity as A J Callenreese, was no longer valid. The Corsican hotshots would still come after him, one day or the other, in order to go after Dino Golzine’s empire.

I’m excluding petty gang violence from being a threat to Ash, since at this point, all the major street gangs of NYC were Ash’s allies.

The Govt officials being tried by the court were also potential enemies. Club cod trials would mean more exposure of the politicians, more risk of Ash being the target of thugs or assassins in revenge (like it happened before with Kippard, where he sent the female assassin after Ash in the hospital)

Considering all of this, it’s obvious to me why he didn’t want to drag his life on, especially after the stabbing was done.

A more poetic explanation would be : to keep Eiji safe. It’s needless to elaborate. Ash had already made up his mind that he would remove himself from Eiji’’s life altogether, since he couldn’t risk putting Eiji in the position where they would have to look behind their backs all their lives, or be on the run, or worse still, his enemies tracking back to his friends, including, Eiji, Max, Sing, (or even Blanca), to hold them as leverage to get back at Ash.

Yes, I do agree that his decision was majorly influenced by this wish to keep Eiji safe, forever, by choosing to get himself out of the picture, but only because he was put into the place of choosing in the first place by the author.

I don’t agree with stuff like destiny, or fate, or paying for your actions because of a mysterious force in the universe decided so, because all of those are apt for ballads and fairy-tales, not real life. The above were reasons I could come up under realistic settings. In an ideal black and white worlds, all crimes are punished and all wrong doings are judged fairly, but not in the world we live in , and certainly not in Banana Fish’s world, where the “good guys” paradoxically suffer much more than the “bad guys”.

I’ll also don’t agree with Yoshida on Ash having to “pay for his crimes, as he had blood on his hands, so he had to die” mindset that she allegedly had. If that logic is applied, then I don’t see why she applied it selectively to Ash and not to Banca, Yut Lung, or Sing or any other person involved in gang life.

Instead of that, I’ll see Ash’s death as his choice, and his alone, not because he had to pay, but because he had decided to let go of all this continuous tug of war with his life and end it on his own terms. I don’t think Ash would’ve liked to suffer alone, all his life, in imprisonment by the state (if he was caught), or being held captive by another Golzine/Foxx wannabe.

I respect and agree with his choice, even if it’s not possible for us to ever know for sure why he did it.

C. THE ROLE OF OTHER CHARACTERS

The best possible outcome for Ash’s story, as I see it, would be taking up Blanca on the offer, or at least, if not go to Caribbean, then let Blanca provide him means to remain in NYC in a safer way.

Blanca is an anomaly in Yoshida’s world. He’s the only person who mysteriously remains alive, despite being an assassin, and committing perhaps even more crimes than Ash. He not only escapes his work related enemies, but the entire USSR (during 1980s) and manages to remain under an alias/ second identity. He escaped from the Kremlin, and its ruthless organization, the KGB

If living such a double life is possible in Yoshida’s world, then why did the author not find a similar way out for Ash? It looks a feasible option to me at least.

Second comes Yut Lung. His situation is made prey clear in the manga. The whole fiasco with Banana Fish was cleared up, the Lees died, Yut Lung got his revenge, and struck up a potential friendship / truce with Sing. It’s made clear that he repented his decisions to go after Eiji, or to get Ash to acknowledge his worth as a rival, by whatever means he could.

He let down Sing and Blanca by how he acted, who were the only two positive influences in Yut Lung’s life at that point. He would not have gone after either Ash or Eiji afterwards. So his status as Ash’s enemy was nullified.

The options open to Ash at that point (if the very stupid Lao fiasco did not happen) :

1. Live his life as a gang leader, and always stay on the lookout for his life from his enemies

2. Remove himself slowly from the violent life and maybe assume a different identity like Blanca did to escape all of that for good.

But under no circumstances can I see Ash and Eiji reuniting immediately after the canon events. Anonymous communication, or though friends like Max or Ibe-san, that I can picture, but not ash risking Eiji’s safety by meeting him. Not until years have passed, and Ash’s life became somewhat stabilised, if that were even possible.

It would have hurt, sure, but his unnecessary death could be avoided.

TL;DR :

My point is, I wouldn’t have been confused by Ash’s death or even agreed with it, if only it had been written in a more natural fashion, in accordance with the rules Yoshida set for the ENTIRE manga. She wrote Ash to be a superhuman being, dodging bullets from automated weapons, surviving gunshot wounds that would be fatal on other people, and being able to completely override the effects of anesthetic drugs, in the final battle at Mannerheim’s (as a med student, that is one fact the I find ridiculous, only because its so unrealistic, and impractical) and lots of other fantastical characteristics.

So, his death at the end felt like the author had already decided on having a certain ending, and then lazily arranged the characters and scenarios to fit her choice.

That’s why, my stand on the ending will remain ambiguous, because I cannot accept all these logical fallacies and call the ending realistic or well thought out. Did it pack a punch and make me cry? Yes. Was it haunting and emotional? Yes. But was it a justified or logical ending? No.

The decisions on Ash’s part were consistent with his overall characterisation, but not the circumstances which lead him to make that choice. The arguments that “Ash’s past will definitely catch up to him one day, so death was the best option” is pretty ambiguous. Even if it did, choosing Lao to stab Ash as an example of it, was poorly thought out in my opinion.

The points I wrote above are subject to faults, of course. This is just one way to look at it. Feel free to counter my points, I’m not a US citizen, and I don’t know how politics, law or gang life works there, hence, my reasoning is based off common sense and parallels under similar situations. Maybe I am wrong in certain aspects too. I’d love to hear what you all think.

#banana fish #ash lynx #eiji okumura #bananafish #asheiji #blanca #sing soo ling #lee yut lung #analysis #textposts #banana fish meta #yut lung #akimi yoshida #banana fish manga #banana fish anime #long post

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marcmyworks · 5 years

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Quentin Tarantino is one of the best directors of both the 20th and 21st Century, which started with his first wide release film in 1992. He has just recently released his 9th (or 10th depending on your point of view) film, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood to rave reviews. As one of my favourite directors, I have decided to list rank each of his films. I want to first state that I love everything this man puts out, just some more than others. Lets begin.

*Spoilers below*

10. The Hateful Eight (2015)

The Hateful Eight is the least successful in Tarantino’s repertoire and I don’t mean financially. This film just seems to have little to no likeability, and before you say it, I do understand that each character is ‘hateful’ but at times it seems quite forced.

Though well written and acted, it feels that the shocking moments are put in there simply to shock rather than provide any interest. We have the story of eight characters trapped in a cabin during a snowstorm, the film is Western themed, there is a revenge plot as well a bounty hunter. I really do not think this is a bad film in any regard, and it even feels like the sister film to Reservoir Dogs, but in terms of style and content it feels like a mishmash of things the audience has seen before from the Director, like his greatest hits, rather than a new and original story.

9. Death Proof (2007)

A lot of critics, and even Tarantino himself, have put this as the lowest ranking of his films on their list, I disagree. This may not be the most fleshed out story, but it is one of the most fun. I am ranking the unrated version of the film, as the theatrical version was cut down from its 113 minutes to 87 minutes to be incorporated as the Grindhouse double feature (with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror). The shorter version is the one critics saw and I don’t believe it does the full film justice.

Death Proof is inspired by Grindhouse revenge films such as I Spit on Your Grave and include a multitude of young starlets and even re-launched the career of actor Kurt Russell. Overall the film is quite good though there are instances where it is quite obvious that a man wrote the female dialogue, which in the Me-Too age isn’t as acceptable. An example of this can be read here, where this character speaks about her father:

“Look, he’s totally harmless and cute as a bug's ear! But you know, when he's got a bunch of half-naked poontang walking the floor of his lake house, he just likes to pay us a visit and make sure we got everything we need.”

8. Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Tarantino’s first full length film is the smallest scale of his career as most of it takes place in one room. Though the scale is small, the dialogue and action are immense, the characters fleshed out and, in most ways, stands the test of time. The film was well received by audiences and made more than twice its meager budget, but at times it is quite obvious this was shot by a new director still formulating his style. Tim Roth (as Mr. Orange) is excellent as the newest member of the gang and his relationship with Harvey Keitel (Mr. White) is one of the strongest bromances in cinema history.

7. Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood (2019)

Though advertised as an accurate biographical account of the Manson Murders in 1960s Hollywood, this film is actually more fictional, less about these murders and more a love letter to the actors of that time. The story is centred around director Roman Polanski and wife Sharon Tate’s fictional neighbour, actor Rick Dalton and his stunt man Cliff Booth (based screen legends Steve McQueen and Burt Reynolds and the latter’s stunt-double Hal Needham). The film explores how the two are struggling to adapt to the ever-changing Hollywood, paralleling with the growth of the Manson family who are interested with the Tate/Polanski household. Though a long film, it does quite well at showcasing the struggles of actors in Hollywood, the indulgence of the rich and the rise of a fanatic cult.

6. Jackie Brown (1997)

In the 1990s Tarantino was one of the biggest Directors around, he had won an Oscar for his writing and audiences were anxiously awaiting his third film. After acquiring the film rights to Elmore Leonard’s novel ‘Rum Punch’, Tarantino started writing Jackie Brown with the intent on giving the script to another director; however, Leonard loved the script so much Tarantino decided to direct himself.

Jackie Brown takes inspiration from Blaxploitation films like Coffy and Foxy Brown, though with a slower pace and using much less action. Pam Grier, star of both the aforementioned films, was Tarantino’s only choice for the lead role and to this day he is amazed that she was not nominated for an Oscar. The film is a slow burn compared to Tarantino’s previous two movies and does have its issues with pacing and story consistency but does contain more humour.

5. Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)

The Kill Bill films are two of the coolest of Tarantino’s career; from the opening Klingon proverb, to the Pussy Wagon to the schlocky gore, this film was every film geek’s dream. Tarantino promised Uma Thurman that her birthday present would be the lead in his next film and a year after promising her this he delivered her the script. Originally conceived as one long epic film, it was split into two by production as it was felt the first half of the film had a different tone to the second. Producers also wanted to ensure it was a box office success and a four-hour film in the modern age was too much of a gamble. The first Kill Bill provides the groundwork for what is rarely seen in Hollywood, an even better sequel.

4. Django Unchained (2012)

Django is similar to the original film from 1966 in name only, as this version focuses on pre-American Civil War racism, slavery and the liberation a slave named Django. The film feels more like an homage to one of the biggest budget exploitation film of all time, Mandingo. It's a very simple story of a man who is trying to save his wife and along the way befriends a bounty hunter who aids him in his quest, but it is effective as it is a criticism of racism that still continues in the United States. Jamie Foxx does an excellent job portraying the titular character with Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson wonderfully playing the supporting roles.

3. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004)

I will say there is a large debate in the fan community whether the Kill Bill films should be ranked together as one film (as Tarantino states they should be), or whether they are two separate entities of a franchise as well which one is the better of the two. Upon first watching the films I was a bit disappointed Volume 2 did not have the same amount of camp violence as the first, as this film feels to be more a Spaghetti Western revenge film rather than a Samurai thriller. However, upon the re-watching the film multiple times it is quite obvious through the dialogue, storytelling and excellent cinematography that this is the superior film and is a contender for the top spot of Tarantino’s filmography.

2. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Inglorious Basterds is one of the films that not only has incredible star power but also has amazing gravitas. The film made Irish actor Michael Fassbender and German actor Christoph Waltz popular with American audiences with the latter’s excellent performance winning him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The Basterds, a team of Jewish mercenary’s who capture, interrogate and kill Nazis and are played by a group of talents including Brad Pitt, Eli Roth and B.J. Novak. They are up against the evil Hans Landa (Waltz) also known as “The Jew Hunter”, a Nazi Colonel who is employed to ensure security for a film event being attended by Adolf Hitler. The film itself is a tribute to American war propaganda films from the 1940s, and though one of his most brutal, is truly one of Tarantino’s best writing efforts.

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)

I know this is the obvious choice, but with good reason. Pulp Fiction is the first film anyone thinks of when they think Tarantino. Made up of seemingly random story vignettes and inspired by pulp magazines, Tarantino devised to make a film made up of simple short stories that only later the viewer could see were actually intertwined. Tarantino proved he could make interesting films on a smaller scale with his critically acclaimed film Reservoir Dogs and was able to bring in major stars such as Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, the latter of whom would star in or have roles in most of his pictures. The film was a box-office success and won several awards including the Academy Award for best writing. Though Tarantino has had many excellent films in his career, Pulp Fiction will always be the most iconic and original.

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