#guy who will hit. guy who will drive up the ice; an old fashioned power forward in all the best ways. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jamiedc-they-them · 3 years

Text

Sides of a Coin (Platonic)

Requested Imagine: Being Siblings, Trini knows you well enough. However, the problem arises, when you aren’t honest about who you are with everyone you know.

“Come on, baby bro.” You rolled your eyes at your older Twin’s teasing. Sure, some twin’s would find it annoying, you didn’t. You found it endearing, found it kind. Some loved to say that they weren’t like everyone else; an edgy comment. You were like everyone else, just different.

Everyone was, in their own way.

“You good?” She asked, actually stopping and facing you.

You smiled, “Just thinking.” You replied with.

“Didn’t think you had the capabilities for that.” She said with her own smile.

“I have layers.” You argued back.

“Oh yeah, you do stink like an onion.”

You wiped at your eyes that held no tears, “Cry like one, though.”

“The onions make you cry, idiot.” She rolled her eyes as she spoke, turning back and walking up the hill.

Your smiled brightened as you followed.

“Besides, you got layers, you just don’t show ‘em. Swear you wanted to punch Ty?”

“I did, but Kim got to him first.”

“I’ve seen you hit someone for less.” She was more cautious this time with those words; almost sympathetic and reflective.

Where you a lost puppy? Not exactly. No, you had friends; hell, you had even made one at your school. One that some people called the Ice Queen. Sure, she seemed like it, but you brought out another side to her.

Her name? Kimberly Hart.

“Surprised you aren’t with your girlfriend.” Trini said, getting ready to do her yoga. You gave her a look, “Right, sorry,” She meant the apology, “Forgot.”

You waved it off, but your mood had shifted, “Forget it. Besides, she’s busy in detention. Punching Ty.” She let out a silent, “Ah” As she went back to her yoga.

You sat yourself on the edge of the rock, allowing yourself to take a breathe. You closed your eyes as you took in the air, taking in the silence and beauty of this new town.

She did her routine, before taking off her headphones, “Let’s go.” You got up and followed her down.

“Hey,” Kim said as she saw you. She had shorter hair, much shorter hair now. If you were honest, it suited her, “Missed you at school today.”

“Missed it, went with Trini, instead.” You were honest with her, “Couldn’t exactly let her fall off the edge, could I?” And the real jokester. She appreciated the humour you brought to her, especially with what had happened with her.

Right now, you may have been the only friend in her life right now. She, genuinely appreciated that you stayed.

“Thanks for coming to pick me up.” She said, as she got into your car.

“Sure thing. Now, where we going?” You asked, turning the key in the ignition.

“Home.” She answered with simply.

You complied, driving in the direction of your friend’s house.

It was a silent drive, with her just running over what had occurred, and you not pushing her.

You pulled up outside, letting her get out in her own time. As she did, she turned back, “You wanna…come in, for a bit?” She asked, almost a little bit nervous about the question.

“Nah, gotta get back to Trini, she wants to go for a walk a bit later.” You had to say, regretfully.

“Oh….well, I’ll see you later, though?” She asked.

You nodded with a smile, “Wouldn’t miss is it for the world, Princess.” She laughed, rolling her eyes and giving you a wave before shutting the door and walking away.

You got home, getting out the car and going upstairs, going past your parents without another word. Seemed that it had been going that way a lot lately.

You knocked on your sister’s door with the knock you both had been using to signal it was you when you were younger. She came to it, ready to go out for the walk.

It was something the two of you did, a ritual of sorts. You would go for that walk and she would do her yoga, both in the day, and in the night.

It was something, it as a break from the monotony. You were with someone that noticed you for who you were, all that you had to offer to the world, not just people (Kim was a genuine friend, you had to admit) who saw – or only allowed themselves to see – one side of you.

However, as she did her yoga, a massive BOOM! Shook the world for a moment. Trini caught herself, quickly reaching out and grabbing you too before you fell off.

“Thanks.” You thanks, catching your breath after almost falling.

“What kind of an older sister would I be if I did?” She asked, smirk on her face.

You shook your head with one as you followed her to the source of the new big bang.

As you saw, it was a bunch of kids, Kim being among them. One that took you by surprise was Jason, a man whose football career had died in a car accident. Why the fuck was he here?

“HEY!” Trini yelled down to them, they all looked up to you both, “You guys looking to get busted or something? This place is a restricted area!”

“Oh, really, Einstein? Restricted? As in, we shouldn’t be standing on crazy rocks doing karate kid moves, right?” One of the ones who name you didn’t know yelled up.

“Alright, stalker.” He laughed, but you could tell it was in a good jest type of thing; in a laid back fashion.

“Yeah, or camping out on old trains. I see you too, homeboy.” Trini said in her own comeback.

The next moment, those ‘crazy rocks’ then collapsed in landslide, seeing yourself and your sister down to join the others.

The rest of it was a blur, you found some coins (yours being Orange), and then a chase occurred, and then a crash.

Now, however, you were back in your bed.

You heard a knock at your door, a specific pattern. It was your sister.

You went to the door, opening it slightly, “What?” You whispered.

She held up her coin; ah, so that’s what this was about.

You let her in, “You ok?” You asked, hands on your hips as she stood in the middle of your room, arms folded.

“I mean, other than confused, yeah. You?” You didn’t fail to notice the quick once over she gave you.

“About the same, really. Others make it?”

“No idea, just know we did.” She said, gesturing with her finger between the two of you.

You ran a hand down your face, “Shit.” You cursed, “Shit.” You said again, having to lean forward for a moment and exhale.

Trini was grabbing you and moving you to the bed before you could continue, “Whatever this is, I’ve got your back, you know that, right?” She promised, giving your hand a loving squeeze.

“Yeah, I got yours too.” You returned it with a smile.

“I know, stupid.” She said as she tapped you on the nose.

“We can try and find them at school?” You said, as if the thought was not even an option before.

“Oh god.” Your sister groaned, leaning back and facing the ceiling, you mimicked her actions.

“How about we both go to school, you do recon, I talk to them? You don’t even have to talk to ‘em? We can’t find them, we’ll go up ourselves, ok?” Trini always admired that about you, how big of a heart you had, how much you cared.

She sighed, “…Ok.”

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

You found Kim at school as you entered school. Like she promised, your sister stood in the corner, keeping an ear out.

Like she said, she’d have your back. And, so far, it meant doing this.

“Hey.” You said, jogging to catch up with her.

She paused as you approached her, “Hey, back. You ok? Or…like, remember yesterday at all?” She asked.

“I remember the crash, don’t worry. And, to answer your question, I’m good. Like nothing ever happened. Even if something did.” You answered, trying to keep it on the low down so no one questioned you.

“He’s back,” A student whispered, tapping his friend on the arm and pointing in your direction, “Here he’s only hanging around her to get it in the s –” He never got the finish his sentence, as he was pinned against the locker.

A BANG! Went through the school at his impact, he even made a dent. Kim’s eyes widened. Ok, so it wasn’t just her that had extra strength.

“Hey. Hey.” Kim said, quickly intervening, pulling you away, “He’s a dick. Ignore him.” She told you, holding you back when you went again.

Your sister watched, waiting for a moment to jump in and get involved herself. Part of her wanted to when she saw the cocky look the guy gave you once you were off of him. Somehow, he managed to ignore the massive dent in the lockers. Whatever items he had in there would not look the same after a hit like that.

“Whatever.” You said, taking your arm back from Kim, saying something to her, before walking over to Trini.

The last Kim saw of you, was you walking out with your sister putting an arm around your shoulder in comfort.

“What’d he say?” Trini asked, leading you on another walk to calm you down.

“Apparently, only reason I’m friends with Kim is because I apparently want to…you know.” Trini cringed at the thought of it.

“God. I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault, Trini. Hey, you saw that massive dent in the locker, right?” You asked, grabbing her hand as she pulled you up some rocks.

“Sure did. Someone took their breakfast choices seriously this morning.” She joked. You laughed, for once a genuine one.

You continued on your walk, going up to the area where the explosion happened and where you found these coins.

Maybe it’d give you some answers. Maybe show you as to why your emotion was elevated and –

“Maybe why you hit that guy so damn hard he dented the locker?” Your sister guessed.

You paused, “Out loud?”

She nodded with a laugh, “Yup. Guess you never kicked that habit.” She teased. You punched her shoulder lightly. Thankfully, the powers didn’t kick in there.

Still, it lightened the mood a little.

“Ask me, he had it coming to him.” She said, both in an attempt at comfort, but also to voice her own opinion on the matter.

“Think I scared Kim, though…” You drifted off.

Trini paused, turning back to you, “Hey,” She waited until you met eyes with her, “If she can’t handle the fact that you’ve got your own shit going on, then that’s on her, not you. If she can’t see you aren’t just the joker type, then that’s her fault.” She was blunt, but you could be too. That was the thing with twins.

“Hey!” A voice called after you had continued walking for a bit longer. Turning you saw it to be Jason, along with Kim, Zach, and Billy.

Seemed the whole gang had a similar idea to you, then.

“We should figure this out together!” Jason exclaimed to you both.

The two of you shared a look, silently discussing how to move forward.

When you did move it was up the almost 90 degree slope. The two of you scrambled up it, the thing almost turning into a race.

Kim was gaining on you, just behind you. Trini grabbed your arm and helped you up as the two of you kept going.

You both were forced to stop; A) by Kim’s exclamation of just that; and B) as there was a drop that seemed to never end and a jump you didn’t think you’d make.

You both shared, sighed, and turned to the others.

As Kim spoke, she softened her voice, “Just…Just talk to me. You have a coin. We have a coin. We should just talk about this,” Her eyes then went to you, “And about other things too.” You knew what she was referring too.

“I mean, we don’t know what this…” Kim went to continue, but you saw – out of the corner of your eye – that Trini was pissed at the way Kim looked at you. Trini tapped you on the arm, silently telling you to follow her lead.

So, you did, the two of you leaping across the massive jump. Trini made it, landing on her knees. You, meanwhile, rolled.

Trini grabbed you by the strap of your backpack to stop you from rolling further.

“Got you!” She said, hoisting you up.

A laugh then left you, “Didn’t think we’d make that.” You admitted, hands on your knees as you caught your breath.

Trini chuckled, She playfully punched you in the arm, “When have I ever let you down before?” She asked.

She hadn’t, “How much time you got?” But she still rolled her eyes at your joke.

Zach, seemingly finding a thrill in all this, took his jump. Like bowling pins, the two of you were knocked down.

“I just cleaned my jeans, dude!” You groaned as you got up.

Zach put his hand on Trini’s shoe, “Hey, I got them!”

Trini was quick to remove the shoe, “Get off me.”

Trini helped you clean yourself off as you drank from a water bottle. You watched, with amusement, as Jason and Kim jumped over. Kim landed like Trini, on hands and knees, while Jason landed right on his front.

Kim moved to help Jason up as you gave Trini the water bottle.

Then, it was Billy’s turn.

“It’s fun.” Jason said, trying to get the boy to jump.

“It’s such a far jump.” He exclaimed in return. It was fair.

“Hey, Billy!” He looked at you, “If I can make it, so can you. You got this, buddy.” You said in encouragement.

Everyone else joined in after that. You all trying to get the boy over so you could, hopefully, find out just what the fuck was happening.

However, for Trini, she was a bit cautious when she saw the look Kim gave you.

Billy then went for it. Trini stood up, not actually expecting the kid to go for it. You all watched, you and your sister in silence, the others with words of encouragement as he sailed through the air.

He caught himself on the cliffside. You went over, offering him a hand. He took it, as you pulled him up.

“Thanks.” He said to you.

“Course.” You responded, with a genuine smile.

He celebrated, clapping and dancing. You couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm.

You rolled your eyes, chuckling at it. The smile was whipped the next moment though, as he fell backwards, down the hole.

You all ran over to it, looking down into the seemingly endless abyss.

“Hey, guys, you gotta come down here!” Billy yelled up. You all took a breath of relief. He was ok.

You looked at your sister, eyes having a glint to them, “No.” She ordered, pointing a finger at you, “No, we aren’t doing that.”

Kim laughed, you looked to her, giving her a wink, “See you on the other side.” You said, before jumping down the hole.

You heard your sister yell out a, “No!” but you were already falling.

You hit the water, going down for a moment, before coming back up for air. It was a cave, a giant one, and it had been here this whole time it seemed.

Your sister’s yell made you look up as she and Kim hit the water next to you.

You all looked down, seeing your coins light up the retrospective colours that they were.

You went down, swimming towards something that shimmered in the water. You went to it, putting your hand to it.

What you didn’t expect, was for your had to go through the water. You then seemingly rose through it, being able to breath.

You all looked around at the new surroundings, still seemingly part of the cave.

However, you noticed something, you were sliding.

“Shit –” You tried to say, but you were cut off as you all fell through the water, hitting the floor with a THUD!

“That went well.” You groaned out. You looked up, opening your eyes, seeing Kim offering you a hand. You took it, being brought up.

“Kind of did, huh?” She asked, smile on her face. This was the you she knew.

“Well, we ain’t gonna forget today, huh?” She laughed, breathless.

You continued onward, feeling the walls vibrate as you walked. You stood as a united front at wat appeared to be an entrance.

An entrance to a spaceship.

You all approached it, “Looks like something stronger than Graphene.” You said, putting your hand to the wall of it.

As everyone entered, you saw Kim and Trini looking at you, “What?” You asked, looking mainly at Kim.

“Thought you didn’t pay attention in class?” She asked, with a confused look, but small smile.

“I pay attention, when I haven’t done that studying already.” You answered, passing her and walking in.

As you walked in, Kim turned to Trini, “Is he serious?” She asked.

Trini considered the girl for a moment, before nodding, “Yeah. Should see him when he finds something in that book or another subject, it’s like he’s another person.” She seemed to stress the last part of the sentence, as if to try and get through to the other girl.

Kim just hummed, walking in after you.

You came up into what looked to be the main walkway in the ship, circles with different colours were around the place. It looked alien. Then again, it was.

As you all looked around, your sister put out the option of leaving. Seemingly the path she wanted to take.

You looked around the interior, seeing a tube blink flash a light. Then, the big circles that acted as walls turned. It was as if it was expecting you. The stairs rose to your level. You were trapped.

Or, at least, not through the way you came in. There was a doorway, one lit up.

“Guys, guys wait –” You tried to say, but Kim stopped you.

“Y/N, we need to run!” She said, grabbing your arm and pulling you with her, through the doorway.

And, so you did run.

You ran passed your sister, grabbing Kim’s hand and pulling her into your space; however, you found yourselves with legs open and touching.

“Hey.” She greeted, almost trying to bring humour into the moment to try and help her anxiety.

“Hi.” You replied with. Both you making sure to keep your voices low.

You kept quiet, before you heard a scream. Your sister’s scream.

You – somehow – managed to get out of your hiding spot instantly and ran to help out your twin. Kim was right behind you. There, you all saw a robot – or alien – or thing.

The robot flung Zach and yourself away from the group as you went for aggression. As you hit the ground, you heard your sister call out your name in fear.

Zach was up first, offering you a hand, “Did not go to plan.” He groaned, pulling you up.

“Don’t I know it.” He gave you a pat on the shoulder as you made your way back to the group.

The robot introduced himself as Alpha, and he led you to a massive wall. As you walked, Trini put a hand on your arm and gave you a quick glance over.

“I’m fine.” You assured her, putting your hand on her arm and giving it a squeeze.

She gave you a nod as you walked into the room. It was massive, with what looked to be a moving substance on the wall; made of thousands of cubes.

A face was then revealed on that wall; this was Zordon. And you had set yourselves up for something much bigger than yourselves.

Zordon was exactly pleased, but he had no choice.

You were going to become a team of warriors; Power Rangers.

So, at least you got your answers.

Kim moved back to stand next to you, seeking your hand for comfort.

Your sister, despite the massive talking head, did look back to you and see the hand holding.

She saw you were completely into what Zordon was saying, and not really paying attention.

But she was.

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

So, you all had to get used to each other now. That meant not just in the ship, that meant at school too.

You didn’t mind being seen with them, really. It was just…it was hitting too close to home.

“Have you made any friends yet, Y/N?” Your mother asked you as you all sat down for some food.

You took a sip of your water to avoid the question.

“I know what you’re doing. Your sister is ghosting me, you don’t have to either.” She said.

Your sister was looking at you the whole time, gaging your reaction. She could tell that being with that group was helpful in a way, but detriment to you in another.

“I found a group, mum. Trini did too. We’re good, we always were. But, we have other people now.” You answered.

Your mother smiled what was meant to be a genuine one – but you could see there was a tiredness to her look, “That’s great, honey. And, any luck on the girlfriend department?”

You sighed, tired of being asked this constantly. You weren’t interested in that department. But, with your parents – more so mother than father – they were sure you just hadn’t met the right person yet.

Your sister then used her voice, seeing you gripping your fork tightly, “Alright, you want me to talk? Me, Y/N, and four kids from Angel Grove found a spaceship buried underground. I’m pretty sure we’re super heroes.” Trini said it in a bored tone, but she did seem to liven it a little when you looked at your younger brothers; knowing how much they’d enjoy it.

And they did, with their jaws on the floor.

Your mother, however, had that tiredness return. She slammed a cup next to Trini, “Pee in that cup!” she demanded from her older daughter.

“Alright fu- screw this.” You said, standing up and walking away from the table.

“Y/N, come back right now!” Your mother demanded as you grabbed your jacket.

“Going for a walk, mum,” You turned back to her, “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hit anyway. I’m gonna go for a walk, maybe scream into the eternal void or something.”

Did you feel bad for leaving Trini behind? Yeah, you did. But, you got a text not long after from her; “I’m not mad about you leaving, do what you need to for you. I dealt with it.” Was what it read.

“Hey there, stranger.” You paused in your walk, turning and seeing Kim approaching you.

You smiled, “Hey, back.” Stopping your movements and letting her catch up with you. It was coming to evening time around now, with the sun setting.

“What you doing out here?” She asked when she finally made it to you.

“What are you doing out here?” You asked back, smirk growing on your face.

Kim chuckled, shaking her head, “I asked first.”

You shrugged, smile softening, “Came here to get away from my parents for a bit. You know how families can be sometimes, right?”

She nodded, “Sure. Mines…normal. But, I’ve seen the many types of them.”

“Yeah, well. I didn’t get the worse of the bunch with parents. But…I don’t know. Just need a break sometimes from them, you know?”

She nodded, “You could always show them your new powers, show them how you feel.”

“I’m not committing murder, Kim.” She laughed again.

“Speaking of showing them –” You knew where this was going.

“Yeah…The school thing. Listen, I – uh, I’m sorry for bailing on you when that happened.”

“I was worried about you, I’ll be honest. I mean, I’ve never seen you like that, before. Never seen you that…angry.” She sounded concerned, even now.

“I’ve never seen you hit a guy, either. There’s a lot about both of us…or, any of us, really, that we don’t know.”

“Why hide it, though?” She asked, as if she hadn’t one the same thing. But, still, a valid question.

You shrugged, “To keep some sort of fame in high school? Maybe – maybe because you’d want a knew start.” You tried to be as vague as possible.

She tilted her head, “How’d you mean?” She asked.

“Don’t matter –”

“It does.” She insisted. She seemed to not want to give up. She seemed to want to get to know you on a deeper level.

“It’s not great stuff, Kim.”

“I fucked up too. Hurt one of my friends. Texted an image out. They kicked me out the group.” She admitted, looking at the sunset.

“Guess we ain’t all as clean as we thought, huh?” You gave a chuckle, but there was no humour behind it. No joy with it.

Kim’s eyes seemed to shift in emotion; going from a kind of sympathetic look, to an understanding look with something else under the surface.

The next moment, that other emotion was made known as she leant forward and slammed her lips into your own.

You were taken aback, but she grabbed your shoulders as she deepened the kiss. Keyword: she. You made no action to deepen it.

It was all her, but you still acted as if you liked it; you were good at that after all, pretending.

She pulled away, smile on her face; you slowly returned it with your own.

She gave a satisfied nod, and a wink, before disappearing into the sunset. Leaving you stood there, frozen.

You were quick to return home after that.

When you did, it was night time. Everyone was in bed. Well, everyone who didn’t have super powers.

“You were gone a while,” Trini said, making you jump as you spun around and saw her turning on your bedroom light.

“You scared me.” You put your hand to your chest to try and calm your racing heartbeat down.

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah, well, you scared me. Consider us even.” She always could have a bite to her words when she needed them.

“Sorry, Trin, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” She patted the bed, “Come sit.” You did so.

There was silence for a few minutes as you both laid down, facing the ceiling, “Kim paid me a visit, seemed almost nervous.”

You looked at her, “Really?”

“Yeah, asked me if I’d be cool if you two became a…thing,” Uh-oh, “So, you never told her?”

You sighed, “It never came up.”

“So…your preferences of a partner, or the fact that you don’t want one in that way never came up? In a school full of horny teenagers?” She even raised an eyebrow; seemed the reliable big sister who calls you out when you fuck up was coming out to play now.

“Remember when we did? When we talked about it. Or, when I talked about mine? People were call with your one, mine not so much. Look where it got us.” You justified it as.

“But it’s a part of you. It’s part of your identity. I own mine, you should own yours too.”

“The angry part that got us here?”

She hit you on the arm, “You know which part I mean…You want me to tell her?” Now this was big, your sister offering to do that for you.

“You’d do that?”

She looked confused, “Why wouldn’t I? You did something similar for me. Might not be as…like, generous or charming when I do it, but if you need my help, you know I’ve got your back.”

As you went to argue the point you made previous, she put up a finger to stop you, “Now, get some rest, got training tomorrow. I’ll be here until you fall asleep. Gotta get my own beauty sleep after all.”

You chuckled slightly, before closing your eyes.

You were so glad you had your sister by your side.

Training got more and more aggressive with you and your sister. You and her could always fight when needed, and it definitely showed here. You both seemed to know what the other was going to do in a matter of seconds, going to block it. It was as if you were both aware of the choreography.

When it came to the others, you would both be able to mostly win with the others.

However, they saw that determined side come out as well. How, whenever they’d win – not that you were a saw loser – it would push you to throw yourself into more training.

With Kim, she was the one that seemed to match you in quickness. She seemed to be able to read you, even giving you a smirk before your fights. It would be a quick one, and a mixed back on who would come out on top.

It gave her the wrong messages, ones that your sister did try to get her to understand.

The first instance of that was at the café, after they had fought over the food. It was nice, Trini liked the girl and saw a friend in her, despite her reservations.

However, she still remembered why she called the girl here, “So, how are you and Y/N getting on?” She asked, drinking her coffee.

Kim shrugged, “Taking it slow.” She answered.

“You like him?”

“I – I mean…I think so? I…If I had to choose, it’d be between Jason and him. They’re both great guys.” Trini couldn’t help but nod, she had known you longer – obviously – but Jason had his merits.

“I think Y/N would want you to go for Jason.” Kim looked confused.

“Wait, why?”

“That’s his story to tell. It’s got nothing against you, though. He just…doesn’t feel that way…” She wasn’t entirely sure how to let her down easily.

“But…he let me kiss him.”

“Did he kiss back?” Kim knew the answer to that one.

When it came to Kim at training, she seemed to be in analysis mode.

“Trying to size me up?” You teased, throwing a punch that she blocked easily.

“In a way.” She said in return, but there wasn’t that spark to it. She flipped you over.

“Ok. Someone’s extra fiery today…You wanna tell me what’s up?” You asked you got up.

She didn’t answer right away, “…Could we talk about it at the bonfire tonight?”

You nodded, “Sure.”

Billy had been able to morph for a moment, the purest of you doing…whatever needed to be done for it to occur.

It only showed you guys were getting closer, you were being freer with each other.

You were becoming…almost…friends.

You all sat at the campfire, the thing crackling as you all laughed and exchanged deep secrets. Trini had told hers, of the troubles with your parents and her partners.

The others all saw how you put your hand on hers for a moment, as she interlocked the fingers and gave them a squeeze in thanks.

It was the most open they had seen her be, even if a small gesture.

Then it came to you.

“You don’t have to –” Trini said, voice soft and concerned.

You shook your head, “It’s ok. They deserve to know,” You then turned your gaze to the others as you spoke, “There was this girl in school. I liked her, just not in that way. She – let’s just say she didn’t take it lightly. Found a guy right away, big guy. He and his crew came after me. One thing led to another, Trini and I are a little bruised…but, that group was worse. Last thing that happened before we moved here.” You gave a condensed version, not wanting to go into details.

As the news settled on everyone, you only looked at the fire as your sister asked a pivotal question.

Where you guys even friends?

You went on a longer walk, this time in the early hours of the morning, figuring it would be the best time to get your mind cleared of a lot of things. You had an inkling that Kim knew about why you didn’t kiss back, you were just unsure of her reaction.

Did she hate you for not telling you that or what had led to you and Trini coming home? Did the others not trust you any more.

Those questions raced through your mind as you sat on the hill, overlooking the city.

You looked at your phone as it chimed. However, as you went to check it, it vibrated, a phone call.

Your sister’s ID appeared on the screen. You answered it immediately, “Trin?” You asked, concerned as to why she would be calling at this hour.

“Can – can we meet?” She was normally easy with words, even if not many. She was gasping for breath. She was scared.

“Where are you?” Was your only question.

You had met her at her desired place, the grounds of the football field. She explained to you (and the others, when they arrived) what had happened; Rita had found her and threatened her to kill her whole family if she didn’t keep a secret and/or join her. That secret was that the end was coming, that Rita was coming the next day.

However, there was a spark of hope, a dockyard where you could maybe get the upper hand.

As you went there, that turned out to be false.

You all ended up tied to one of the boats by ropes, held by her will. As she passed you, she grabbed you by the chin, “Ah, Orange, always my favourite. Always had the most personality to them.” She said, laughing as she heard Trini growl, “And always close to Yellow. Oh well, maybe baby brother will be the one to take the fall.”

It was worse than that, though, as it was Billy who suffered that fate.

You were all released, and all finally came together as you lifted the poor boy out of the water. Kim then knelt near him, putting two fingers to his neck.

But she was the one who called it, he was gone.

Trini took a step back, and saw you frozen, tears in your eyes and wanting nothing more than to fall. She too felt the weight of this, but her instincts were kicking in. You were hurting, and you needed some form of comfort.

You were almost passive on the walk back to base, tears going down your face.

You were pretty much absent during the talk, just stuck in your own world.

Trini continued to hold your hand as you jumped down into the water, even that didn’t snap you out of it.

She continued to hold it as you entered the base, laying Billy’s body on the ground.

She then met the eyes of Kim, the other woman siting on the stairs, listening to Jason as he took the blame. As soon as Trini had tried to get her silent message across to the girl, she then gave her pledge that she would easily give her life for any of the group, but her eyes went to you by instinct.

You were her little brother, that shit would be true without it being said. Still, she gave your hand a squeeze to try and help the words sink in and try and help you not drown in your thoughts.

You let out a happy sound at seeing Billy come back from the dead, genuinely happy and in a different sense of shock.

As you tried to control yourself, Kim entered your vision. She couldn’t help the smile on her face, but it softened as she met your eyes.

That attraction she held before was still there, but there was also a look of understanding as well, “I – uh, I know this isn’t the greatest time. But, I wanted to apologise, I shouldn’t have kissed you…”

You shook your head, small, almost sad, chuckle leaving your mouth before you spoke, “I shouldn’t have led you on…Should’ve told you, I’m sorry.”

She nodded, “It’s ok. You had your reasons. I wouldn’t say you strung me along. I just…didn’t see it, either. I’m glad I’ve gotten to know the real you, Y/N.” She said, sincerely.

“Flaws and all?”

“Flaws and all.”

“I can still joke, you know?” She smiled at it, shaking her head.

“I can tell. So, what do you say, friends?” She asked, holding out her hand.

You nodded with a massive smile, shaking the hand, “Friends.”

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

You were now suited up, and going up to face Rita’s henchmen. You were all in sync, jumping off of one another as if it was nothing. You were a team. You had an understanding with one another.

You made it to the top, jumping over the edge and continuing the assault. Trini rolled over your back as you slammed a creature into the ground. As she went over, she kicked one about to punch you, blocking the punch and slamming her fist into the side of the creatures – named Putties – head.

She looked back to you, despite the helmets and visors, you could tell she was grinning, “Got your back.” She teased, before moving on.

You punched another, throwing it into it’s friend.

You all pushed up, before the tables started to be turned, and you started to be turned back.

You were pushed back to the edge of the cliff. You knew you’d all stay together, though, until the end. You were loyal. You were a fighter.

Zack’s zord saved you all in the nick of time, piling on top of your enemies.

Your visors all retracted as you looked at the fight in the city.

It was zord time.

You could be fearless when needed, and you definitely needed it as you all rushed into said city. Your zord was like Trini’s, a fast one that prowled the streets.

You seemed to get to grips with it fairly quickly.

You were adaptable.

You swung your tail around, smacking into the horde that was coming towards you. As you looked ahead, you saw some going to Trini’s Zord.

“Trin, you trust me?” You asked, over the comms.

“Always.” Was her response.

At it, you fired your lasers, watching as the putties all exploded at the impact.

You swung it around again, the tail hitting more. You let out a war cry; you could be angry too when needed.

With it all seemingly said and done. That just left the big guy; Goldar.

You all lined up. However, as you all psyched yourself up, you saw more Putties in the distance.

“We can’t fight Goldar and the putties at the same time.” Jason said, knowing that it was the only truth in this situation.

“Someone has to go.” Said Zach.

“But it’s suicide.” Kim morbidly reminded you all.

There was a silence as you all let it sync in.

Then –

“I’ll do it.” You said.

“No –” Trini instantly went to talk you out of it, but you continued.

“Look, you guys can handle him, ok? I need to get the putties away from those people. Trust me.” You seemed almost calm.

That was another thing about you, you were brave.

Brae until the end.

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

It was over, they had one. It was all silent. The people had dispersed, it was just their giant zord left standing tall.

As soon as she could be, Trini was out, calling out your name and trying you on the comms, nothing came of it.

Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, her anxieties off the chart. She was thankful for the visor on her helmet being blacked out, it meant that no one could see the worry.

She had let you go, alone. She knew how you two could be, how you both were as stubborn as the other.

The older was meant to go first.

She found your zord, finding it smoking and trashed.

She ran, as fast as she thought she had in her life, ever.

She climbed up your zord, calling out your name. She found you, visor covering your face, but you weren’t moving. There were scorch marks on your armour, and the glass of your zord had cracked.

She dragged you from it, hands going to your helmet.

“How – how do I get this off?!” She was panicking, forgetting the button on the side that would unlock the visor.

She finally found it, and was met with your eyes closed and your body limp.

Tears pooled her hers, and she let out a wail.

You were gone, you weren’t coming back.

They had won, but at a cost.

But, at least they had gotten to know the real you. The one that they hadn’t known existed.

They had met the hero you actually were.

#trini kwan imagine #trini kwan x reader #power rangers imagine #power rangers x reader

65 notes · View notes

aer-in-wanderland · 3 years

Photo

구미호뎐 | Tale of the Nine Tailed - Lost in Translation EP01

In which my sister and I sat down with a pint of mint chocolate chip and wrote down everything that occurred to us while watching the fan-subbed version of TotNT EP01. Contains mild spoilers.

Prologue

We open with an excerpt from the Hyeonjoonggi (현중기・玄中記), which the internet informs me originated in China sometime between 265-317 CE. In Korea in particular, gumiho are typically thought of as being female, but this is an example of a classical text that says they can be either. From what director Kang Shin Hyo said at the TotNT press conference, the premise of TotNT began with the idea of challenging this base assumption by making the gumiho male and placing him in modern-day Seoul. I would translate the passage as follows:

When a fox becomes 100, it can become a beautiful woman, or become a man who has relations with women. A fox that lives for 1000 years communes with the heavens and becomes a cheon’ho (heavenly fox). Its gifts are like that of a powerful shamaness; it can perceive things more than 1000 leagues distant.”

To my sense, the passage was introduced to show precedent for the existence of male gumiho in traditional folklore, as well as to illustrate that foxes over 1000 (cheon’ho) can be closer to deities than monsters.

On to the show. The year is 1999. I’m surprised the subs left ‘Fox Ridge’ untranslated as Yeou Gogae since it seems like it would be relevant information that the place where the accident takes place is somehow tied to foxes.

When the imposter parents (who I believe are also foxes) chase little Ji Ah up into her room and her not-dad says, “You little brat!” (or at least, that’s what the subs we’re watching say), this is an example of what’s called ‘code switching.’ His phrasing is somewhat old-fashioned, which in this case helps to give the impression that he’s not human since it’s the cant of creatures in traditional fairytales. For anyone studying Korean, the line is, “요 년 봐라,” where ‘nyeon’ might mean anywhere from ‘girl’ to ‘wench’ or even ‘bitch.’

Okay, I have to ask. Does no one else in Seoul drive on Fox Ridge? How did Ji Ah have time to go home, get attacked, and then be returned to the scene of the accident (I’m assuming by Yeon) before anyone came across it?

Also, how did Yeon know where to take her? He tells grown Ji Ah that he just happened upon her after catching the scent of blood, but I get the sense there’s more to the story than that. I feel like this is part of a larger pattern wherein Yeon goes out of his way to rescue someone and then pretends as if he didn’t.

Episode 01 Title Card: What Happened on Fox Ridge

According to Yeon’s alarm, our current timeline begins on Saturday, August 29, 2020, and he has a wedding to attend. 2020 yet no COVID19? I guess this really is a fantasy drama. ;p

The BGM playing while Yeon gets ready is called ‘The Fox's Wedding Day,’ or, more literally, ‘day when a fox goes to be married’ (Yeou ga shijip ganeun nal) and it’s actually Yeon’s theme. I was expecting his theme to be the track entitled ‘Gumiho,’ but I guess not lol

The sun-shower. In both Japan and Korea, a sun-shower is known as ‘a fox’s wedding’ (kitsune no yome-iri/yeou ga shijip ganeun nal), so this is already cluing us in that the bride is a fox (I say ‘bride’ because both these phrasings typically apply to a bride marrying into her husband’s house. The phrasing is different for grooms, who ‘receive’ the bride). This is what Yeon means when he arrives at the wedding hall and says, “That’s because a fox is getting married today.”

It’s strange to me that the bride’s identity has completely dropped out of the subs. She’s Yeou Nui (literally ‘fox sister’), a folklore character of the Brothers Grim-style horror school of fairytales. Her thing is that she’s a gumiho who preys on families with only sons who desperately want a daughter. She insinuates herself into their lives, brings calamity down upon them, and finally, eats their livers. Like most fairytales, there are many permutations of her story, but many of them feature her saying she’s consumed 999 livers. I understand where - absent this context - some people might have seen Yeon as the bad guy here (spoiler: he’s not).

The subtitle here for Yeon’s line says: “But you need to know that changing your identity isn’t as simple as you think.” What he literally says is:

Yeon: How did you go to ground so completely? You think that if you change your face and your identity, your blood-stained past will change too, right? But changing lives isn’t as simple* as changing subway lines. [*Note: ‘simple’ is in English]

This is the first real dialogue we get from Yeon, and one thing it’s doing very intentionally is showcasing just how much he’s adapted to modern life. It does this both with the content of what he says (talking about changing subway lines), as well as with the amount of English loan words he tosses around. So I personally would have kept the bit about the subway in if I had been translating.

Yeou Nui’s line was translated as, “Please forgive me,” but it should more properly be, “Spare me,” or “Let me live.” Yeon is an enforcer, not a judge. (Also, ‘forgive’ is another word entirely).

Yeon’s line that’s subbed, “Listen, you fox. How could you dare dream of having a happy ending after eating so many livers?” is the result of what’s called diagonal translation, which is an unfortunate side-effect of subtitling conventions. What he literally says is:

Yeon: Yeou Nui, after eating the livers of countless adoptive parents and older brothers* how can you dream of a happy ending?

[*Note: The word he uses for ‘brothers’ here is 오라비들, which is a semi-antiquated word, and again, the sort of language used in folktales]

Yeon’s line, “Here’s a piece of advice” is more literally, “Here’s a bit of advice stemming from experience,” which is the first hint we get in-drama that he’s been in a similar position.

Nam Ji Ah

We get our first introduction to adult Ji Ah as she narrates the script she’s editing for her TV program on her way to the wedding hall. When Jae Hwan worries about her changing the script without the writer’s permission (again lol), Ji Ah's response translated literally would be:

Ji Ah: Then let’s go with this. PDs’ livers have to be swollen or coming out of their bodies.

That’s a pretty disgusting image in English, so I don’t blame the subs for changing it to something more sensical and less graphic. But as a cultural note, in Korea and Japan, having a large liver means to be gutsy or brave. Ji Ah’s character description similarly describes her as, ‘a woman whose liver is [so large it’s] coming out of her body,’ meaning she’s about as gutsy as it gets.

Okay, call me a cynic, but I loved Ji Ah’s line about not being able to digest wedding food due to the choking atmosphere of forced happiness pfft

Jae Hwan saying, “Who knows? You may meet your destined partner at a place like this,” as Yeon walks by in the background = Jae Hwan unwittingly hitting the nail of the head #1

Lol Yeon acting like a bored kid held captive at a dinner party while the wedding takes place. Bless Lee Dong Wook because I’m sure it’s all ad libbed. I feel like this could be a game: spot the LDW ad lib.

The Wedding Hall Incident

When Yeon returns to her dressing room after the wedding, Yeou Nui changes tactics from begging to putting her hackles up and challenging Yeon. Linguistically, that’s marked by her code switching to an archaic cant. Yeon, however, remains unfazed and responds with the most modern thing possible, completely undermining her bravado:

Yeou Nui: Oh former master of Baekdudaegan, what authority have you to condemn us?

Yeon: Get a hold of how she’s talking (rhetorical). Hey, if it wasn’t for you I would’ve been watching American TV shows while eating ice cream today!

Okay, I love the way Yeon materializes his sword. I thought he was (un-)transforming his umbrella at first, but he later does it with a plank of wood so I assume he can do this with pretty much anything?

On the topic of his sword, I posted a gif set not long ago referring to it as a sa’ingeom (사인검), literally ‘Four Tigers Sword’ (referring to the year, month, day, and hour of the tiger when such swords were supposedly forged). You’ll notice it doesn’t have a cross-guard since they’re traditionally ceremonial swords rather than actual weapons. The first sa’ingeom were made during the reign of King Taejo (1392-1398), but I assume they gave him one despite it being somewhat anachronistic because they’re also said to cut down evil spirits and ward against calamity. Mostly, though, it looks really cool and is very traditionally Korean.

Not for anything, but I love this BGM track that’s playing during the wedding hall fight (‘The Uninvited’). This short action sequence was so great. I wish we could have seen more of Yeon hunting down supernatural baddies. Also more of those gumiho eyes. More gumiho everything in general.

As he stabs her, Yeon’s line to Yeou Nui in the subs was rendered as, “Don’t do something stupid like falling in love in your next time.” I would have translated this as, “If you’re reborn, don’t do something so [useless] as falling in love.” Again, for anyone studying Korean, the phrase is ‘사랑 따위" (sarang ddaui). ‘Ddaui’ means ‘such a thing as,’ and it’s always used to disparage whatever proceeds it. There’s no good way to communicate that disparagement in English grammatically, so I opted for ‘useless’ in an approximation.

The BGM that plays the first time Ji Ah spots Yeon leaving the wedding hall is called ‘White Pupils’ (or literally ‘white eyes’). The imagery typically associated with that is death, so I’m curious what inspired the track title. Maybe they mean ‘white eyes’ like the fortune teller since it’s used at fateful moments?

“Who knows? That may be the story you were destined to cover.” = Jae Hwan unwittingly hitting the nail on the head #2

“Were they mass hypnotized or something?” = Jae Hwan unwittingly hitting the nail of the head #3. Thank you, exposition fairy. ;)

Okay, when Ji Ah and Jae Hwan examine the scene, Ji Ah’s line is subbed, “I need to see what that woman of this love story looks like,” which is ungrammatical in addition to being wrong. What she actually says is:

Ji Ah: I need to see the face of that protagonist of the Romance of the Age. [And I believe the ‘protagonist’ she was referring to is actually Yeon ;) This is bordering on meta, seeing as he’s actually the protagonist of the epic romance that is TotNT]

Kim Soo Oh

The BGM playing while Yeon sits in the park people-watching and then looks pensively at his hand is called, ‘Thread Rings.’ Between that, what LDW alluded to in his VLIVE, and some still cuts I saw of deleted scenes from EP16, I’m convinced there was something more to those rings that got cut due to time constraints. ㅠㅠ

Fun fact: This scene between Yeon and Soo Oh was the first scene of the drama that they filmed.

When Soo Oh asks Yeon what he’s doing there, the sub for Yeon’s response was, “Nothing other than waiting for someone.” That strikes me as off in tone as well as pacing. I would have translated it as, “Just.....waiting for someone.” (which is literally what he says).

When Soo Oh asks Yeon why he’s waiting, the sub says, “Because a fox can only love one person till death.” I don’t really have a problem with that translation, but what he literally says is, “Once a fox takes a mate they never forsake them. Until death.”

Sub: “How are you coping with that?” / “Not well.” > Literally: “Are you okay?” / “I’m not okay.” I actually like the sub here since it better conveys how precocious Soo Oh appears in this scene. He seems to alternate between precocious and adorably dim throughout the drama depending on who he’s with, though when he’s with Rang, it’s mostly the latter pfft

When Yeon turns down Soo Oh’s offer of friendship he says, “Your nose. I’m not big on men with runny noses. And human lifespans are too short to be friends with me.” Yeon's use of ‘men’ struck me as funny since I guess to someone over 1600 years old, an 8 year old and an 80 year old aren’t all that different. Also, Yeon giving serious life advice to an 8 year old is adorable. He talks to him like he’s an adult.

The Afterlife Immigration Office

Between the BGM and the way the camera pans up the endless levels of shelving, did anyone else feel like Yeon entered Hogwarts for a sec? (not complaining) ;)

For the record, Yeon uses banmal with Taluipa and calls her halmeom (granny). In contrast, Hyeonuiong is pretty much the only character Yeon speaks to in jondaetmal and addresses respectfully as ‘elder’ (eoreushin). He speaks to Ji Ah’s parents politely as well, but it’s mainly because they’re her parents.

The text introducing Taluipa’s character wasn’t translated in the version we’re watching but it reads: ‘The god who rules over the River of Three Crossings (Samdocheon), the boundary between this world and the next.’ The hanja for her name (奪衣婆) refer to her traditional role, namely, removing the clothing of the dead for her husband to weigh on the Uiryeong’su (su = tree) to measure the weight of their sins. This is the same tree that the Uiryeong’geom (the wooden sword that appears in EP13), is allegedly carved from.

Lol Taluipa saying she has to keep up with the times but also using a computer that’s positively ancient (come to think of it, it’s probably from the 80s since that’s her favorite decade)

Again, I’m surprised that Yeou Nui’s character name dropped from the subs completely. The subs here just say, ‘the female fox.’

For Taluipa’s line, the subs say, “You’re to obey the order and capture who you’re sent after,” but that’s a loose approximation. More literally, it should be: “If the higher ups say to bring someone in, then you just have to bring them in.” I’m only mentioning it because the line implys that both Taluipa and Yeon report to someone higher up the chain of command. Otherwise they may be misconstrued as Taluipa’s orders.

Yeon’s line, “My compulsory military service has gone on for 600 years. How could I not go crazy?” is hilarious when you consider that Korean men are required to complete 2 years of military service, and even that often feels like an eternity, so I think for any Korean, the idea of 600 years of it is just exceptionally cruel. The line is iconic enough to have been included in Yeon’s character profile.

I noticed this a while back, but ‘mountain god’ is being consistently translated as ‘mountain spirit.’ Technically, Yeon is (was?) a god, if a low ranking one in the grand scheme of things (the Korean word is ‘sanshin’ where ‘san’ = mountain and ‘shin’ = god). I understand the use of ‘spirit’ though, since he’s not a god as gods are typically thought of in western mythologies.

Lol Yeon sticking his fingers in his ears (I would bet money this was also an ad lib)

Taluipa has a line that’s subbed, “Foxes never stay in debt.” More literally, it should be, “They say foxes repay eunhye no matter what.” You can find my explanation of eunhye here.

Wow, the subs really dropped the humour ball on Taluipa’s line here. First off, she says, ‘Right now’ in English. And while the sub says “Do you want your freedom back?” what she literally says is. “Do you want to be discharged?” (since Yeon had just likened his duties to military service).

On his way out, Yeon actually tells Taluipa, “Halmeom, you’re going to go to hell” (which is not the same as the underworld/afterlife as it said in the subs. Taluipa’s job is literally to ferry souls, so she goes to the afterlife all the time anyway). Also, when he says “I’ll pray for it everyday,” his phrasing is that of an elderly person pfft

As I mentioned, Yeon speaks formally to Hyeonuiong, who in return affectionately calls him Yeon-ie or Yeon-ah, which I find adorable.

Lol I’m not used to Ahn Gil Kang playing such a friendly character. Seeing him wheedle Taluipa with aegyo is hilarious.

Code Red

Somewhat of a side note, I can’t help but wonder, is Shin Joo’s last name ‘Gu’ because he’s a gumiho, a la My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (2010)’s Gu Mi Ho-ssi?

I wish the subs had just left ‘Lee Yeon-nim’ as-is, instead of changing it to ‘Mr. Lee.' As a general rule, I’m in favor of preserving character forms of address when translating.

Personally, I would have translated the name of Ji Ah’s TV program as: ‘In Search of Urban Legends’ rather than ‘Unveiling Urban Legends.’

I really like the dynamic between Ji Ah and writer Kim Sae Rom. “Should we fight?” / “Yeah, let’s fight~” How great is it that this drama doesn’t have a single catty, bitchy, stuck-up or otherwise obnoxious female character?

For anyone keeping track, Shin Joo speaks to Yeon in jondaetmal while Yeon speaks to Shin Joo in banmal, underlining their master/retainer dynamic.

Side note: There are actually multiple ‘types’ of jondaetmal: what I think of as ‘neutral polite’ (i.e. simply adding ‘yo’ to the end of all your sentences), the more formal polite (i.e. ending with ~[seu]mnida), that which elevates the subject, and that which lowers the speaker. The interplay of the four allows for varying degrees of politeness. The way Shin Joo speaks to Yeon is pretty much the highest degree. That doesn’t mean they aren’t close. Polite language can indicate distance but also level of regard irrespective of distance. This applies to Rang and Yoo Ri as well.

Again, Shin Joo calls Ji Ah ‘PD-nim’ but that became ‘that female director’ in the subs. PD-nim is a respectful (and non-gendered) form of address, and it’s perfectly suited to Shin Joo’s genial and deferential personality, so I wish the subs had just kept it.

I read an episode recap where the recapper mentioned she wasn’t sure what Shin Joo’s deal was. At the time I was confused, but now I think I get it. In the subs, Shin Joo says, “When I’m a seasoned veteran? I’m now up to the point where I’m wondering if I’ve turned into an actual person.” What he actually says is:

Shin Joo: No way~ How long have I been living in this (the human) world? Recently, I sometimes even have an existential crisis wondering, ‘Am I a person or a fox?’

[So he flat out says he’s a fox here, but that wasn’t reflected in the subs.]

Fun fact: this was Hwang Hee’s first scene that he filmed with Lee Dong Wook, and the BGM as they exit is Shin Joo’s theme.

I love the way Lee Dong Wook played this scene where they pay their tab. That is all.

It’s only as Yeon and Shin Joo exit the restaurant that we see that the sign out front reads ‘The Snail Bride’ (Ureong Gakshi). This is another folktale in-joke, since the snail bride’s whole thing is that she cooks delicious meals for her human husband everyday.

For the record, the Snail Bride (Bok Hye Ja) also uses honorific language towards Yeon and calls him ‘Lee Yeon-nim.’ I just assumed it was in deference to his ex-mountain god status, but it turns out she has a personal reason for holding him in high regard as well that we discover in the final episode.

As Yeon and Shin Joo walk away, Shin Joo’s line is subbed, “That show’s actually quite famous.” Since Korean doesn’t require a subject, the sentence is somewhat ambiguous, but I understood him to be referring to Ji Ah herself rather than the show since he says: “[Something is] really famous around the broadcast station.”

Lee Rang

Lol Kim Beom. How are you 32 years old?

I love how sharp and no-nonsense Ji Ah is. It’s so refreshing to not have to wait for the characters to catch up to what the audience already knows.

Rang’s theme that plays as he transforms back into his suave self is so iconic. The music director (Hong Dae Sung) really is a genius. It’s funny when you think about how different Rang’s theme is from Yeon’s.

Fun fact: Kim Beom shared in his Instagram LIVE that Rang ‘picking the wrong shoes’ was actually intentional. He was testing Ji Ah to see if she’d notice.

Okay, Rang says here that he likes, “everything about her (Ji Ah) from head to toe,” (not in a romantic way but in a grudging respect/she’s fun to toy with kind of way) but what happened to that? Are we supposed to assume that he would have liked her if she hadn’t been the object of his brother’s affection? But he approached her knowing that’s who she was...? I don’t know. I do know I wish they’d had more scenes together. Their verbal sparring is great.

Side note: One Korean fan nickname for Rang and Yoo Ri that Kim Beom liked was ‘Hoket-dan,’ playing off the Korean for pokemon’s ‘Team Rocket’ (Roket-dan) and mashing it together with the ‘ho’ from ‘gumiho’ haha

Yeon’s obsession with mint chocolate ice cream is a hilarious counterpoint to his status as a cheon’ho and his ex-mountain god title. Point to the writer. In Japanese, this would probably be called ‘gap-moe’.

When Yeon tells the man behind the counter, “When I’m indebted to someone, I’m obligated to return the favor,” he’s once again talking about eunhye. As a fox, he’s supernaturally bound to repay good deeds done for him. As far as I’m aware, this is unique to the drama and not part of the traditional gumiho lore.

Yeon eating ice cream like a happy kid XD Lol Lee Dong Wook, how are you 39?

Fun fact: Yeon’s line when he answers Rang’s call, “The number you have reached doesn’t exist, you punk” was an ad lib by Lee Dong Wook. The combination of the formal phrasing found in a typical voicemail recording followed by ‘you punk’ is particularly funny. It’s so witty I actually wouldn’t have known this was an ad lib if LDW hadn’t confessed as much himself.

“Let’s meet.” / “I refuse.” / “I’ll set your house on fire.” Hahaha What is with these brothers? Are they 1600+ and 600, or 16 and 6? Are the zeros silent??

Bus 1002

Ji Ah: “If possible, pick a different dream. I’ve been on the clock for 22 hours straight now.” I like Ji Ah so much. She’s unpretentious, intelligent, honest, driven, resourceful and witty.

Lol As Ji Ah struggles with the old man, you can hear Yeon offscreen urging the driver to get moving. Only he calls him, ‘driver yangban.’ Yangban is originally a word for a nobleman, but much like the word ‘lady’ in English, what was once a term of respect is now...not. lol Also, I’m pretty sure this was another ad lib by Lee Dong Wook since it happens entirely in the background.

This scene with Ji Ah piggybacking the old man is so classic spooky-folktale. I love it.

"You’re the only person I saw.” *Close up of the totem pole* They managed to make that whole sequence creepy despite nothing actually happening. Cool cool cool.

So our old drunkard is revealed to be a Mokjangseung (mok = wood). Jangseung in general are totems that stand at crossroads and the entrances to villages. tvN published some backstory info explaining Ji Ah’s past with this particular Jangseung and why he elected to save her which I translated here.

Aaaand we’re back at Fox Ridge. I can’t believe I only just noticed this, but the episode title could refer equally to the accident in Ji Ah’s past and this bus accident in the present.

Of course Rang staged the accident at the site of Ji Ah’s greatest trauma. Also, the fact that he knows that about her is telling.

Appropriately, the BGM playing as Ji Ah arrives at the scene of the accident is ‘Fox Ridge’ (Yeou Gogae). Iconic.

Back over to Yeon. The first time I watched this I wondered where on earth he was heading in that downpour but it turns out he was in pursuit of Rang, who had given him the slip.

Seeing Yeon limping injured through the rain ㅠㅠ Also, while Yeon later tells Ji Ah he carries his umbrella everywhere because he hates his fur getting wet, he clearly isn’t bothered here, choosing to keep it sheathed on his back instead. I guess all bets are off when he’s in Gumiho Mode.

Detective Baek and Ji Ah speak in banmal and he calls her ‘Nam Ji Ah,’ which I assume means they’ve been friends for a while.

Wow, good for Ji Ah for having made note of the exact number of passengers in the midst of all that chaos. I certainly wouldn’t have.

Hospital Encounter

So after Rang gave his brother the slip, Yeon realizes the next day that he’s at the hospital thanks to the news article Shin Joo reads out to him. Idk but I like that shot of the two of them heading out. There’s something vaguely Avengers about it. Which is maybe not surprising given that was another early influence for the show.

I liked this conversation between Ji Ah and ‘Soo Young.’ We get to see Ji Ah’s own resolve and drive in the advice she offers: “Even so, I hope you’ll become strong. It’s way more fun to be a PD than a victim.”

As with when he arrived at the wedding hall, the cinematography + BGM as Yeon approaches the hospital with his red umbrella is just A++

The BGM playing when Ji Ah spots Yeon approaching the hospital information desk isn’t on spotify or anywhere else that I’ve seen. It reminds me a bit of the ‘Tubular Bells’ theme from the Exorcist (a movie I actually haven’t even seen). If anyone knows what it is, I’d love to know.

“My only talent is my face~” pffft Also, decidedly untrue.

When Ji Ah tells Yeon, “Yes, I’m scouting you, but not for that,” She literally says, “but not for that genre.”

And now the subs say ‘Fox Ridge.’ Okay, then.

When Yeon says, “From the sound of it, it won’t be well made,” ‘well made’ is in English. Again, the peppering of English through Yeon’s speech makes him sound more modern.

When Yeon says, “Plus, I’m very devoted” his line is more literally, “Plus, contrary to how I look, I’m the devoted type.” Are you saying you look like a player? pfft

Yeon is such a big softie, so why does he keep threatening to kill people? Does he not realize they might take him seriously?

For this entire conversation (interrogation?), both Yeon and Ji Ah are switching back and forth between polite speech and banmal, almost on a sentence by sentence basis. On the whole, it gives the impression of a verbal sparring match.

“It’s not as if this was a blind date. No thanks on a second one.” lol I do enjoy cheeky Yeon.

Oh, I love that Ji Ah thinks on her feet. Using her leather bag to lift Yeon’s fingerprints was a smart move. Although, I’m not entirely convinced it would work that well in real life.

The ‘grim reaper’s outfit’ exchange was a coordinated ad lib between Lee Dong Wook and Hwang Hee. I mean, of course it was lol Casting Lee Dong Wook is the gift that keeps on giving.

Was that supposed to be Yoo Ri entering ‘Soo Young’s’ hospital room in those boots?

Minor detail, but ‘Soo Young’ calls Ji Ah ‘eonni’ meaning ‘older sister.’ It’s common convention in Korean to refer to people by familial ‘roles’ that fit their general age range even when you’re not actually related. I could digress, but I guess I just find it jarring when they have her addressing Ji Ah by name in the subs since Ji Ah is older and virtually a stranger.

Okay, when ‘Soo Young’ hears that Ji Ah lives alone, the smile she gives is effectively creepy.

The contrast between ‘Soo Young’s’ narration and the events of what actually happened on the bus that we see as viewers is great. Point to the director.

Wow, Rang really just slaughtered a whole bus worth of innocent people without a thought. I feel like we all managed to forget that about him as the show progressed. Hats off to the writer and to Kim Beom’s compelling performance. I actually worried initially that Rang would remain a one-note character because that would have been such a waste of Kim Beom, who is a fantastic actor. I’m so glad that wasn’t the case.

I love the subversion of viewer expectations when it turns out that Ji Ah knew all along that ‘Soo Young’ wasn’t who she claimed. This is something TotNT does repeatedly and well. We get both the dramatic tension of her being in danger and the satisfaction of her having had the upper hand all along. Point to the writer.

I’m pretty sure Ji Ah knocked that pitcher over with the express intent of using a shard from it as a weapon. Point for character consistency. Past or present, Ji Ah is apparently a ‘stab first, ask questions later’ kind of girl.

The Brothers

“Hey you! I clearly told you I didn’t want a second date?!” Haha Oh, Yeon.

I saw comments from Korean fans about how Yeon burst into her house with his shoes on here, and now I can’t not think of them when I watch this scene: ‘Entering the house with your shoes on...in the Republic of Korea...Ha...’, ‘Even if you bust the whole house apart, you have to take your shoes off before entering...’ lol

I love Yeon’s line that’s subbed as, “As if, brother.” In Korean, it’s “Do you want to die, little brother?” The word he uses for ‘little brother’ is ‘아우야,’ which, while still used occasionally today, is an antiquated word Yeon might just as easily have called Rang 600 years ago. It’s also, in contrast to the first half of his sentence, quite an affectionate term of address.

Rang’s line subbed as, “It’s a long story, but the family has a dirty past,” should more properly be: “It’s a long story, but you might say we come from a broken home.” Saying they have a dirty past makes it sound like they’re the mafia or something. Also, as a fun language note, the expression is literally ‘a bean-powder household.’

“Are you worried I’ll be sucked into the Underworld?” should be: “Are you worried I’ll go to hell?” Not sure where they got ‘sucked into.’ Rang just means when he dies. Also, I wish the subs would do a better job distinguishing between hell, the underworld, and the afterlife. They’re three different words.

“It’s because you embarrass me, that’s why.” Lol at the way Yeon covers his eyes. That’s definitely another ad lib from Lee Dong Wook.

When Rang calls time here, he actually calls Yeon ‘hyung.’ I suspect this wasn’t in the script but rather something that slipped out subconsciously on Kim Beom’s part, since the writer was clearly saving that word for when it would hurt us viewers the most. ㅠㅠ

Yeon’s line is subbed, “Old habits really do die hard,” but it should properly be: “You still haven’t fixed that habit?”

“If you don’t find it until the end of the next month, this woman will die.” This should actually be: “If you can’t find [that] by the next end of the month, your woman will die.” The subject is actually omitted so it’s unclear to what exactly Rang is referring, which is intentional. I also understand hearing ‘your woman’ (ni yeoja) as ‘this woman’ (i yeoja), but when they later flash back to this conversation they use a different take in which the line delivery is clearer and I’m confident it’s ‘your woman.’ This also explains Yeon’s confusion, since at this point he didn’t even know she’d been reborn.

I Waited for You

For anyone wondering how Ji Ah got into Yeon’s apartment, apparently his house code is 0000 lol

From his expression as he discovers and then watches the video she secretly took of him, I feel like Yeon is impressed with Ji Ah in spite of himself and I’m 100% here for it.

For the record, from this point forward, Yeon and Ji Ah use banmal with each other. Ji Ah has a tendency to speak to many of the supernaturals in banmal, which is honestly the opposite of what I would have opted for in her shoes.

Yeon’s question of, “How did you come here?” could mean either, ‘What brings you here?’ or ‘How did you get [in] here?’ in Korean, and honestly they’re both valid haha

Minor note, but she actually says his Korean age is 36, which would be 35 by the typical reckoning...except he’s actually ~1636 so it’s a moot point, really.

Ji Ah’s line, “Now I can proudly say that it’s fate,” translated more literally would be: “At this point, it really is fate and not coincidence.”

I feel like Ji Ah’s strategy of throwing herself off the balcony here is possibly the only thing she does in this entire show that strikes me as dumb. Like, I’m pretty sure if Yeon hadn’t been both benevolent and able to fly (and she had no guarantee that he was either), letting her just fall here would have been the easiest way for him to resolve the matter/the only thing he could have done.

Yeon’s line, “Did you just test me?” is one of the rare instances in which he code switches to archaic speech. I guess using his gumiho powers put him in a Gumiho frame of mind. ;)

On the whole, I prefer the instrumental OST tracks to the lyrical ones, but ‘Blue Moon’ is just sooooo catchy. I wish they had continued using it more.

And that concludes Episode 1. I’ve never posted anything like this before, but hopefully it was at least mildly interesting. Let me know what you think.

#tale of the nine tailed #totnt #lost in translation #I've never done this before so think of it as an experiment #this is what happens when language nerds watch dramas #korean language #korean culture #kdrama #구미호뎐

38 notes · View notes

bellatrixobsessed1 · 3 years

Text

A Heart Of Ice

Prompt: Pride Fandom: Winx Club Pair: Icy/Bloom Summary: Witches shouldn't be with fairies, Icy knows this. And yet she still finds herself woefully drawn to Bloom.

It is a pride thing, she knows. That is why she can’t give in. That is why she can’t let the fairy love her. Moreso, that is why she can’t love the fairy. Why she can’t love anyone at all. She has a reputation to uphold, a frigid heart to maintain. And if the fairy gets too close the ice around it might just melt.

She thinks that the danger had always been there. From the very moment that the fairy had so rudely fluttered into her life. She had spunk, determination, and a fire to match her power--however weak it had been the first time they had met.

How terribly does she wish that the fairy wouldn’t have grown into her powers. Perhaps if she hadn’t--if Icy had had her way and whittled her confidence away to nothing at all--then she would have nothing to be drawn to. But as it were, the fairy has bite. It isn’t all that often that someone has the brazenness to get in her face, to talk back and fight back. And perhaps that is part of her allure. Who is she kidding, it is most of Bloom’s allure.

She had been judgemental of Darcy when she started pining over Riven.Projection, it couldn’t be anything else. To scold and shame Darcy was to scold and shame herself; the both of them could use it. Witches don’t fall in love. Witches aren’t soft. All the same she had been fixated on Bloom. It was for her power and for her power alone, that is what she vowed. But she knows that it was far more than that.

She thinks of the fairy more than she cares to admit. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so alarming if those thoughts were seeping in simmering resentment. But mostly when her mind drifts to the fairy it is with fondness. Fondness for her witty comebacks and for her taking no bullshit.

Each time that the fairy had gotten the better of her had infuriated and intrigued her in one fell swoop. And so she resents Bloom with more fury. Maybe if she throws enough ice and a generous helping of petty insults, she can drive the feelings out.

Somewhere along the lines she begins to wonder. Wonder why she has so many reservations. Why she can’t stomach the idea of letting herself fall in love. She could add her own wicked flavor to it. She doesn’t have to be soft…

But a witch and a fairy? Unheard of. Absolutely vile.

It was one thing for Darcy to finally cave in and snatch Riven for herself. And this time without the dark intent. It chills even Icy to think that the man had driven dark intent from Darcy. She swallows, if Riven is capable of such a feat then Bloom can surely drive Icy’s essence out.

She pulls a dusty book--a sinister old tome--from the shelf and flips to a thumbs her way through it. If she can’t find a spell to remove her capacity to love, then she will find one to eradicate her emotions entirely. It can’t possibly get any colder than emotionless.

Stormy enters their dorm, Helia in tow. Icy swallows; what is happening to them? What have they become? Stormy has her hand in his. Icy thinks that it was a mistake to come back to Cloud Tower and put in a serious effort to graduate.

Perhaps that is another option; studies come so naturally to her. Maybe she ought simply engross herself in them and make no time for anything else. She is already back at the top of her class, it wouldn’t be too hard to request a heavier workload.

Stormy takes a seat and leans against Helia. He is doing ‘the hair thing’ again. The hair thing, as Icy has come to find out, is when Helia puts his hands on either side of her head and floofs the witch’s hair like he might do with a pillow.

“Gag me.” Darcy rolls her eyes.

Riven chuckles and sets his drink down. Apparently the sentiment is shared by everyone but Stormy and Helia. Not that they are paying any mind to anyone around them.

“So, Icy?” Darcy speaks up. “Does it feel weird to be the only one without a guy?”

“Yeah!’ Stormy perks up. “Aren’t you lonely?”

Icy flips the page with more force than necessary. “What happened to love is repulsive, ladies?”

Darcy shrugs, “we’re supposed to be turning a new leaf or whatever.”

“And besides.” Stormy grumbles. “If that Mirta can go full on fairy then why shouldn’t we mix it up?”

“You just like having someone play with your hair.”

“Wouldn’t you though?” Helia asks. He gives Stormy’s hair a final ruffle.

“You don’t have to find a gentle man like Helia.” Riven points out. “There are plenty of men like yours truly.” He wiggles his brows.

“Stop that.” Darcy swats him.

“Helia is not a gentle man! He’s tough!”

Helia clears his throat. “Actually, I like to think that I am a gentle soul.”

“Helia is a pacifist.” Riven reminds.

Icy is certain that, that is exactly why things are going so smoothly between the two. In the way that Darcy and Riven share a rougher edge, Helia and Stormy are perfect opposites. He is the mellow to her tempestuousness and she is punch in the face when he can use a bodyguard.

“I am not interested in men, ‘real’ or not.” Icy says flatly. And she isn’t lying. She couldn’t care less about the specialists. Fairies. She likes fairies. She rubs her face with her hands. Why does she have to like fairies?

She’d been rather fond of Mirta too. She hadn’t been fond, she had loved her from the start; loved that quirky hair cut, and that newage fashion, that stupid pumpkin shirt... and so she had to get rid of her. Had to drive her out.

She slams the book shut and shoves it aside.

“Whao, that book too difficult for you?” Darcy asks.

She isn’t in the mood for jokes and jests. “It’s useless, Darcy! Just like a certain witch!”

Stormy cackles. “She got you, Darcy!”

“Shut up.”

The sound of their squabbles follows her down the hall.

.oOo.

Bloom would feel awful, absolutely guilty if Icy hadn’t made her first year at Alfea so difficult. But the fact is that she had. She had made it so hard. Maybe it is the witchy thing to do, but she can’t resist. She flashes her most charming smile as the witch passes, “morning, Icy.”

The woman halts and seems to go rigid. “What do you want?”

Bloom props herself against the outerwall of a boutique. “Just trying to be friendly.”

“Disgusting.”

Bloom laughs and the witch swallows. Bloom isn’t certain, not one hundred percent, but she is fairly confident that her long time foe isn’t as resentful as she would like Bloom to think. Her quips lack their usual power, their typical sting. Tecna swears up and down that, according to her calculations, the likelihood of Icy harboring some deeply closeted feelsings for her are rather high.

Mostly, the ice witch has been ignoring her entirely. It is a change of pace and Bloom finds it surprisingly hard to adjust to.

“Come on, aren’t you going to trash my outfit or something? Tell me that my hair looks awful?”

Icy shrugs. “I don’t have the time to waste on you.” She gestures to an armful of textbooks.

She knows that she shouldn’t. She knows that Griffin would applaud her for it. But the words leave her mouth before she can stop them, “you mean you don’t want me to be your study buddy?”

“I can think of nothing more revolting.” The witch, to the best of her ability with them full, crosses her arms across her chest.

“If you say so. I was going to maybe call Sky.” Bloom returns the shrug. “He’s been asking if I’d be interested in rekindling a spark.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Her voice is level. Frigid as ever. But her eyes betray her at least somewhat.

Bloom thinks of the time that the witch had nearly murdered Kiko, thinks of how she’d yanked her powers from her after tormenting her parents. Suddenly it is so easy, “of course it does.” She steps closer to the witch. Leans in, close to her ear and whispers, “I know.”

Icy gives a soft tsk. “What do you think you know?”

Bloom tilts her head and brushes Icy’s bangs behind her ear. The witch gives a slight shudder. “I know how you feel about me.”

That blush is priceless. Almost enough to make up for several years of relentless harassment. But it isn’t quite enough. “I wonder how the other witches would react to that…”

And then her face drains of all color. Somehow she is paler than usual. “As if I would fall in love with a fairy.” She spits the word like a poison before deliberately shoving her way past.

The guilt washes over her immediately. How could she have weaponized love like that? She isn’t sure how Icy can talk the way that she does with no remorse whatsoever. For what it’s worth, Bloom can’t bring herself to hate Icy, afterall she does owe her confidence and prowess to the witch. “Icy, wait!”

She doesn’t know why she had bothered. Icy isn’t one for talking on a good day. Much less on a day where her pride has been put on the line along with some sturdy blackmail.

.oOo.

Helia is slumbering in Stormy’s arms and Darcy and Riven are well into a hit of weed. She slams the door anyhow. Darcy and Riven jerk. Stormy bolts right up with a, “whao! What’s going on?”

“Go back to sleep.” She grumbles though she doesn’t exactly help her do that when she slams her textbooks down on the table.

“Who bristled your broomstick?” Darcy quirks a brow.

“That loser, Bloom.”

“Really, you’re still feuding with her?”

“What of it, Darcy? We have many scores to settle.” And she is falling very behind where victories are concerned.

“Have you tried working things out with her?” Helia asks.

“Why would I want to do that?” But more than anything she does. She doesn’t want to want that, but she does. So so badly. She kicks her boots off and flops down upon her mattress. “That is the last thing I’d like to do.”

“If you say so.” Darcy rolls her eyes. “But would it kill you to keep your lover’s quarrels to yourself?”

Stormy sniggers. It takes everything in Icy’s soul to not jerk upright. Though her entire body goes rigid she grumbles, “would it kill you to hit your blunts outside?”

.oOo.

She doesn’t see Icy for quite some time. Maybe a month and a few days since their last run in. Possibly it is better that way. But she their last encounter constantly replays in her head and each time she finds herself biting her lip, her stomach fluttering with unease. She likes to think that the witch will be okay considering that her secret has been quite safe. She’d even avoided talking about it with Stella. If Stella found out, everyone else would.

So it has been Tecna and Flora who have been hearing the most of her complaints and concerns. And it was Flora who suggested trying to speak with Icy again. She finds the witch sitting in an ice cream parlor. She should have known that Icy would lurk there.

Bloom takes a deep breath and sits herself across from Icy.

The witch gives a very pointed and sharp inhale. She doesn’t look up. “What do you want, pixie?”

“To apologize.” She starts. “I wouldn’t have told anyone, I know how brutal witches can be.”

Suddenly Icy is fully invested in her ice cream. Granted, she was pretty enthralled with the treat to begin with. Bloom bites back a chuckle.

“I guess I was just mad about...everything.”

“Get to the point.”

“I sort of started with my point. Sorry for…” she trails off. She has a pretty good feeling that Icy wouldn’t take well to her so bluntly calling her on her feelings. “For implying that you would be in love with me. That’s crazy, right.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Bloom. You knew exactly what you were doing. You know that I know...blah blah, you get the gist.”

This time Bloom does laugh. The witch’s sense of humor is rather agreeable when it isn’t at someone else’s expense.

“Alright. I’m sorry that I made fun of your crush.”

“Fuck off.”

Bloom shakes her head. “Do you really want that?”

“Yes.” She takes a particularly big spoonful of ice cream. “I really do.”

Bloom sighs. “But do you want that because you actually want me to leave or because you don’t want to be seen with me.”

“Oh, we can be seen together. Anytime you’d like to blast some spells at one another you can give me a call.” She slides a slip of paper across the table.

She hadn’t realized that the witch was so smooth. She supposes that Icy hadn’t amassed herself such a following way back when by stumbling over her words. “You just gave me your number.”

“Yes, so you can always be one phone call away from getting your ass kicked.” She looks so smug. “I’ve got plenty of new spells to test run.”

Bloom laughs again. But her smile fades. “You’re allowed to be in love, Icy. Darcy and Stormy are. Lucy is.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

She has no more ice cream left to distract herself with. “I-I can’t be with a fairy.” She looks away. It doesn’t really offer her anything but an illusion of dignity.

“Why not?” Bloom doesn’t think that she has ever seen the witch so flustered, almost timid. She doesn’t think that she will ever see it again.

“You said it yourself, witches are brutal.”

Bloom brushes strands of silver-blue hair out of her face and cups the witch’s cheek. It is cool to the touch. “Are you implying that you can’t destroy them all?” Bloom quirks a brow.

She clears her throat, “I can take on the entire student body and win.”

Now that sounds more like the witch she knows.

.oOo.

“Then do it.”

Icy frowns. “Peters…”

“What?”

“You should tread carefully.”

She smirks, “am I on thin ice?”

Again she wonders just why the hell she has to be in love with Bloom fucking Peters of all people. “Extremely.”

“I thought that you liked it when people tell you how powerful you are.”

“I do, yes.” She replies.

“So show everyone. You’re...you. You haven’t let anyone tell you what to do in the past…”

She thinks of Darkar and Valtor and begs to differ.

“So don’t let them tell you what to do--or not to do--now.” Bloom tucks the slip of paper into her pocket. “I can call you tonight and we can fight like usual or you can put on your best choker and we can have a nice dinner.”

And just like that she leaves. The clever little beast. Icy gathers her belongings and makes her way back to the dorm. It is empty this time. It is date night, she recalls. She is alone with the silence, the only sound comes from a rhythmically ticking grandfather clock.

She completes three classes worth of assignments and stretches out on her bed. Precisely when she gets nice and comfortable her phone rings. Peters. “This better be good, I was rather comfy.”

“Meet me at the Magix City green. I have both my dragon fire and a cute dress. Don’t tell me which your bringing, I like a surprise.” Before Icy can reply the line clicks. She is certain that Bloom knows exactly what decision will be made.

Against her better judgement, she fixes her choker around her neck.

#femslashfeb2021 #Winx #Winx Club #Winx Icy #Bloom Peters #Icy/Bloom #Fanfiction

19 notes · View notes

herpronuonsarefemslash · 3 years

Text

Do Not Tap the Glass - TEASER

Enjoy an ABO Supergirl / Jurassic Park (barely) crossover where Alex is a scientist for the Luthor Institute studying a mysterious "creature" that was found in the arctic ice, her wife Maggie definitely thinks pregnant Alex is sexy Alex, they go to a sex club together, and Lex throws Lena in with the beast...that maybe isn't a beast at all. Chapters 1-5 are public and Chapter 6 is Patreon exclusive.

Chapter 1 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qpiYG0XLyuUU79_P2YTwG6IYR6GISse3/view?usp=sharing Chapter 2 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EJlb75hUbGXdNAkkwPzW691XFS9AXx-d/view?usp=sharing Chapter 3 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jE-f6E4McfFWKUXCX-ZhJWAg0XvHn1el/view?usp=sharing Chapter 4 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HEcDBzNaB6qmZ2JkzInx46INWOyawfdC/view?usp=sharing Chapter 5 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SQaoF7H2aG1kVyhA35zFfQ5ZfK86lU3Z/view?usp=sharing Chapter 6 - https://www.patreon.com/posts/54672610 Alex has a ritual when she starts a new job: ride the bike in for confidence. Sadly, the list of 'required tools' she was asked to bring would never have fit in a bike. It would never have fit in Maggie's beloved 'princess plug' either, that silver Subaru with a bedazzled back hatch and two surfboards eternally attached to the rack.

Hence, renting a small U-Haul that drives like a dead whale. Maybe the Luthor Institute isn't really hiring her for her mind, maybe they just want her and her mom's research and devices. Lex Luthor has a scary rep in the academic community. He's probably just going to have someone shoot her as soon as she's buzzed in the gate.

Still. It's an interesting job because the not-interesting jobs don't come with 200-page non-disclosure agreements she signed, being watched by lawyers so clenched a punch-press and a vat of KY couldn't help them. It's a lot of money. It's enough money to put aside a million for their daughter by the time she graduates college. Once she finishes developing a spine, organs, and nervous system, that is. Alex was too busy puking to nickname the fetus, so Maggie stepped in.

Regrettably. Cervix-Kicker is just not something Alex can tease her slowly-swelling belly with, at least in public. Maggie's turn, next time. She's pretty sure there will be a next time. Alex suspects that pregnancy sex makes the case for the pregnancy itself, in Maggie's view.

Her phone lights up and a bonobo's shrieking voice comes out. Eliza recorded it during the early days of her fieldwork. Alex taps answer.

"Hey, Mom."

"Morning, sweetie. How's the new job?"

=====

Nia rolls her eyes with such exaggeration it makes her fairy-dusted eyeshadow sparkle a bit in the sun.

"Come on, new girl," Nia teases. "I'll show you around."

"She will. She's basically in charge of the pep squad here," Frank teases. "When I started, I gained five pounds from all of the bonding lunches Nia organized."

"Did you complain?" Nia demands.

"I did not. And I do not regret a moment of it, kid. Someone will come unload the truck, doc. Thanks for bringing all your gear."

Frank tips his ball cap at Alex and goes back to the main group by the door.

"My mom's designs too." Alex mumbles. One accidental touch and she's blubbering out self-deprecation to near-strangers.

"Right," Nia chuckles. "The infamous Doctors Danvers. So is your kid going to be a world-renowned psych researcher does the third generation end up a bunch of losers who like, found the next Google?"

"Um, not sure. I have to meet them first."

"Shut the front door!" Nia exclaims. Her smile just went up about fifty thousand watts. "I was just joking but you're actually preggers."

"How ca-"

Alex glances at Nia's nametag. In the lower right is an omega symbol with an F beside it. Curiously, it even has the sub-status there even though that's unnecessary in the case of female omegas given the extremely low variation rate. Alex has never heard of subtypes being used outside of therapy or a doctor's office. Using them at work is legal--probably--but it's also downright bizarre. As an omega, Nia can not only smell the tiny changes in Alex's scent indicating she's pregnant, she can probably tell Alex what soap Maggie uses, along with her age, ethnicity, and most recent rut.

"They categorize us by status?" Alex asks. "How 1890s."

Nia sighs.

"Well, it's actually not so bad. There was a dude in maintenance who I thought was taking notes on my heat cycle. I mentioned something and the next thing I know there was this absolute unit of a woman from HR sort of shadowing me. Eating lunch, printing stuff to the copier we use, so on. Being obvious about it to, making sure he knew she had her eye on him. So they do use the information for the right reasons."

Any competent HR department could handle all that. Nia must realize that too.

"The creature. The creature can sense human genera and reacts to them."

Nia makes finger guns.

"Bingo. Got a nose like a bloodhound, that one. Even with the enclosure being vacuum-sealed and using completely different air, the creature catches it somehow."

=====

She nods towards the ruined hard drive, which has been ground and punctured and shaved to produce the bearings.

"I'm afraid I never made a backup."

"Fuck," Lex snarls.

She got Lex to curse in front of his men. Victory enough for one lifetime.

"Take her."

She lets the goons cuff her.

"Oh, and I injected myself with an agent that reacts violently with truth serum drugs. Violently and fatally."

"Which ones?" Lex demands.

"All of them. And I put an implant in my teeth with 2 grams of high explosive. So electrocuting me is out. We'll have to make a deal the old-fashioned way, brother."

Lex's pained bellowing is so sweet. ===== Lena's gurney is tilted back vertical and she's wheeled down a long hallway. A pair of armored doors buzz open.

It's a goddamned zoo enclosure. Gorilla enclosure, from the look of it. It reeks of alpha. Almost human. Almost sweet, even. A scent she wouldn't mind nuzzling into at night if she didn't know it was a beast's. Lex himself unclips her and tilts the gurney forwards, spilling her onto wood chips.

"Quite the specimen, I hear. She's used up three omegas so far," he sighs. "Maybe you'll fare better. Maybe you'll live long enough to get a pup in you. When you are ready to talk, press the red button."

Classic good old boy alpha thinking. Like many a single omega, Lena has guiltily indulged in rut non-con fantasies. So that's not quite the threat he thinks it is. Loss of control over the body and second-guessing whether it was consent or just surrender to the heat is Female Omega 101. She could maybe power through that. Close her eyes. Remember boarding school. Andrea and her flashing blue eyes and her exquisitely shaped cock -- ladylike, somehow -- long enough to slam the breath from Lena's lungs and her long hands closed over Lena's neck. Her affected machismo. Taking Lena like she was a mafia boss and Lena was some worthless whore from the back streets. Fulfilling that and any other roleplay Lena wanted.

This is a goddamned gorilla though. That's beyond the realm of kink.

She's in a puddle of light but the rest of the enclosure is dark. Too dark to see anything past her ankles.

That's when she hears it. Huffing. Panting. Too loud and to big a noise to be human lungs. Squelching. Grunting. Moaning.

A face spills out of the dark into the light. Matted blonde curls. Blue eyes glazed over with orgasm, drugs, or maybe in shock. The grunting increases in pace.

"So good, so good..." the blonde mumbles, throwing her head back and forth.

"Hi, Lena."

"Eve Tessmacher? Fuck. I thought you got fired."

=====

"Hey, Nia?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you go to my desk..." Alex begins before shame clamps her jaw shut. She's going to have to say it. Say it to a friend who is her employee and she wonders if the fancy toilet can be reprogrammed to drown her.

"Go to your desk and?" Nia prompts.

"Target bag. Sweatshirt and pants," she huffs.

"Copy that."

Alex catches her breath, then spanks the toilet paper roll over and over. She starts cleaning up. Nia's a good kid. In both the psychological and physical sense had painful days herself--phantom ruts colliding with her desired heat cycle--and she and Alex worked out a system. With it, Alex could sneak her pot chocolate from the cooler in Nia's car, sign it in on her behalf at security, hit the vending machine, and meet her in the breakroom like it's nothing.

Their friendship started out the way a thousand five-minute friendships do in bars. Nia asked for an opinion and Alex assured her she looked cute and that her blind date would love it. The guy turned out to be a moron but the resulting debrief cemented their dynamic.

She's not sure how someone can go from acquaintance to best friend, to kid sister in less than a month. She only knows Nia did.

=====

The member lot is small and the gold member lot is smaller still. Perhaps thirty stalls and mostly full.

Maybe when you spend this much on VIP access to a sex club, it makes sense to spend every weeknight there. Eliza didn't volunteer a number for the membership she bought Alex and Maggie but both she and Alex assumed that down payment on a house would be Eliza and Jeremiah's contribution. She probably went with this out of fond memories of her own years studying at UC National City. If she and Jeremiah ever shared an omega playmate, it would've been somewhere like here. Somewhere deniable.

"Look, babe," Julia whispers, pointing at the engravings in the concrete of the marked stall that Maggie is gradually working their Prius into, sliding it between a Range Rover and a Suburban.

"AD and MS, sponsored by EG?" Alex mumbles.

"Founder sponsored," Julia adds, pointing out something in smaller print and filling the right half of Maggie's vision with creamy cleavage and her lungs with candy-sweet scent of a willing omega.

"I fucking knew it," Maggie chuckles. "Your mom was one of the people that started this place."

"No!" Alex squawks. "Absolutely fucking no!"

"You park," Julia chuckles. "I'll distract her from herself."

#abo #sanvers #my fics #supergirl

2 notes · View notes

inkribbon796 · 4 years

Text

Egotober Day 27: A Father’s Blessing

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

Prompt: Ghost

Summary: For Dr. Iplier’s birthday. Dark and Iplier have that long overdue chat, and the Host is expectedly not very happy.

A/N: I cheated with this one, in that the Host is almost like a ghost in terms of the Author, in that he is what remains.

Warnings: none

Dr. Iplier was busy trying to patch the Jim’s up. They had been tailing a news story. It wasn’t the first time Iplier, Henrik, or some other unfortunate doctor had done their darkest to patch one of the Jims up. In typical Jim fashion they were almost impossible to keep still, you couldn’t separate a Jim pair or trio up lest things get worse if one Jim was left bored and unsupervised, and the Jim or Jims being treated always claimed this was their first visit to the hospital.

Iplier was pretty sure the latter was impossible, that he had to have treated this particular Jim before, but he’d given up trying to reason with a living force of nature.

“Alright,” Iplier stepped back from the Jim he was treating, who had broken his leg in some accident. The doctor offered up some crunches. “Now I know it’s hard for you but try not to do anything too drastic. You need six to eight weeks to heal.”

“Oh I can just get Jim to cover my shift,” R.J, one of the only Jims that Iplier seemed to be able to identify, smiled and was kicking back and forth his good leg.

C.J, a camera Jim, smiled, “Ooh, he is a good Jim for the task.”

“Just make sure you stay off the leg,” Iplier told him with a promise that he knew probably wouldn’t be honored and he’d have to fix whatever new injury had cropped up.

And after dealing with the Jim’s, Iplier noticed he was done for a day. It was an early day for him. He was excited to spend the rest of his evening with the Host and his friends.

But as he walked out to head to his car, he saw the Host sitting right outside the entrance, and when the door opened Iplier noticed that he looked a bit worried.

“You okay, did something happen?” Iplier asked, glancing around but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“No, the Host and the others are unharmed,” the Host answered, but he stopped looking in the doctor’s direction, he seemed nervous.

“Host, whatever happened, it’s okay,” Iplier walked over to kneel next to him.

“The Entity wishes to meet with the Host’s doctor, and he has been incredibly insistent about the matter,” the Host told him. “The Host’s first instinct is to deny the Entity. The Host and Iplier’s relationship is none of the Entity’s concern.”

“So you don’t want to go?” Iplier asked in concern.

“The Host,” Host made a disgruntled, frustrated noise. “The Host does not want the Entity to . . . disapprove. The Host’s doctor is perfect but the Entity has high standards.”

“Oh,” Iplier commented, instantly regretting not saying more immediately. “Well if you don’t want to go then we don’t have it.”

“The Entity will only keep insisting, the only reason that the Entity has not approached Eric is because of Illinois luck,” the Host reported. “The Host does not have that power.”

“Can I hold your hands?” Iplier asked.

“Dr. Iplier can always hold the Host’s hands,” the Host smiled.

“I know, but I don’t want to startle you by grabbing you,” Iplier promised, gently taking his hands. “If you don’t want to go, we’ll go back to the base and stay there.”

The Host paused to think about it, clutching Iplier’s hands. “The Host wants to get this over with.”

“I love you,” Dr. Iplier told him. “And just because your old man happens to be an asshole of a mob boss, won’t make me stop loving you.”

Smiling, the Host leaned in a bit closer, “The Host loves Dr. Iplier as well. He only wishes that he could tell his doctor that directly.”

“You tell me in lots of ways,” Iplier reminded. “It’s okay, do you still want to go?”

“The outing won’t be entirely unpleasant,” the Host evaded.

“But do you want to go?” Iplier insisted.

“No, but this discussion needs to happen,” the Host decided and stood up as a tinted black car drove up. Host didn’t let go of Iplier’s hand. The driver’s side window rolled down. The man looked a bit nervous.

It was at that moment that Iplier focused his attention away from Host’s face and onto what the Host was wearing. Instead of some random shirt he had found, he was in a nicer dress shirt and a pair of dress slacks.

“Author?” The driver asked, clearly almost as uncomfortable as he was fearful.

“The Host,” the Host corrected.

“Right, right,” the driver corrected nervously. “The boss told me to pick you up.”

The Host used his voice and his sight to open the door. “Dr. Iplier should get in first.”

Iplier got in and the Host followed him in. The car drove off and the Host pulled a divider up to isolate the two of them. The drive wasn’t too long but the drive brought him to Dark’s favorite restaurant. The Host walked them in and Iplier noticed that most of the restaurant staff gave Host a wide berth. As if they were afraid of being hit or attacked by him. The Host just led Dr. Iplier past the hostess without even pausing to talk to her or letting Iplier slow down.

Upstairs there was a table that was lower to the floor and there were just cushions on the floor. Dark was sitting there, and he looked over at them. He didn’t say anything, and Iplier knew he was hard to ready but he did not look happy.

Host led Iplier over to sit down on the other side of the table, the Host sat on Iplier’s right, in-between the two men. There were already menus in front of them.

“Doctor,” Dark greeted through clenched teeth. Then he turned to the Host and in a much less confrontational tone asked, “What do you want? Going to try to order a burger here, or do you have more sense than Arthur?”

“That’s nonsense,” the Host scoffed. “This restaurant doesn’t sell burgers. The Host will have the ginseng chicken soup, and a Diet Coke.”

“Really?” Dark sounded surprised. “You really do have a different pallet. Good, Arthur always worried me about his diet.”

“I can’t read a word of this,” Iplier warned, the menu was purely in Korean.

“Dr. Iplier actually would like the bulgogi, and an iced tea,” the Host answered for Iplier.

“Ohhh, there are drink labels on here,” Iplier realized.

Dark collected their menus, and slipped a note in Korean through a small portal. Then, as if Iplier wasn’t even there, Dark asked, “Why their doctor?”

“Why is the Entity sleeping with a madman?” Host asked in return.

“He’s a bit old for you,” Dark reminded.

“Hmm,” the Host’s face bunched up a little, “and how much older is the Entity than the Madman?”

“Hhnn,” Dark hummed, leaning his chin on his palm and resting it on the table. “Touché. You have me there.”

“I’m right here,” Iplier told them, a little frustrated.

“Hush, I’ll be with you in a moment,” Dark dismissed.

“It’s not like the Host is trailing dangerous men and needs to be watched like Yan,” Host defended. “Maybe the Entity should stop his daughter before she dates someone who should actually hurt her.”

One of the waiters came in with their drinks, his eyes bouncing between the three of them and Dark silently dismissed her to the young lady’s obvious relief.

After a little bit of a standoff where Iplier and his relationship with the Host were the only topics, Dark finally turned to Iplier. His finger tracing along the rim of his tea cup.

“You realize that none of this is exceptionally personal towards you,” Dark told him. “You only keep people alive who range from a mild inconvenience to exceptionally insulting. But should you ever harm the Host I will skin you alive, inch by inch, and feed your soul to hellhounds.”

Iplier’s eyes widened, “Wasn’t planning on it.”

“Good,” Dark took a sip of his tea. “The Host has more than suffered enough, and I will not stand by and allow anyone to harm him.”

“Something we can both agree to,” Iplier promised.

“I expect Host’s medical records, immediately,” Dark told him as their food came in.

“He’s not a minor, so no,” Iplier told him, and the waiter looked terrified at the exchange.

Dark hummed, “I hate being told no, but I like you protecting Host so I’ll allow it.”

Iplier had to admit he did like the food, he wound up eating some of Host’s soup and Host snuck off some of Iplier’s beef. The rest of the evening was free of threats for the most part. Dark was less hostile than he was initially.

Host led him out, a stride or two ahead of Iplier and was talking to the driver that had initially brought them to the restaurant.

Iplier didn’t catch the conversation but when Iplier reached them the Host turned to him. “The driver will return the Host’s doctor, the Host will stay with the Entity for a while and will join the doctor in a half-hour.”

“Alright,” Iplier glanced around. “Stay safe, alright?”

“Of course the Host will,” the Host promised.

With a goodbye kiss, Iplier finally got into the car and it slowly drove off with the doctor as the only passenger.

The drive was quiet for a bit and Iplier felt so awkward that he was actually checking his phone because there was literally nothing to do. The driver kept occasionally glancing at him nervously.

“You look like you’ve swallowed a frog,” Iplier met his eyes in the rear view mirror briefly before the driver looked away.

“Can I ask a question?” the driver asked, sounded a bit uneasy.

“Sure,” Iplier allowed.

“So how did you meet him? You work with the heroes too?” The driver asked.

“Yes, I’m not at liberty to talk about my patients, but I met the Host on an operating table,” Iplier admitted. “We’ve been close ever since.”

“Huh,” the driver responded, but didn’t offer a secondary comment.

“Host told me word was getting out about our relationship,” Iplier tried to change the topic just a bit. “I wasn’t aware he could still part a crowd.”

“Well, and you don’t have to answer it, but word gets out,” the guy began, “and you’re dating the Auth— I mean the Host, and he’s terrifying. So everyone just assumes you are too.”

That gave Iplier pause. He’d never thought that the reason he hadn’t been attacked by someone from the criminal underworld was because they were scared of him.

“Oh,” Iplier commented, unsure if he should admit that he wasn’t dangerous or not. Eventually he decided to say, “Well I don’t have any reason to hurt you.”

The driver seemed to relax, “Thank you, Sir.”

The car stopped in front of the heroes’ base. “My car was still at the hospital.”

“I was instructed to take you back to the base,” the driver sounded nervous.

“Well then one of those two can portal my car back here, because I need to go to work tomorrow,” Iplier shrugged and the driver sounded like he was choking on his own tongue.

“You okay?” Dr. Iplier’s hand froze on the door handle, he turned to look at him.

“Were you referring to the Demon Dark or the Host?” The driver asked hesitantly.

“Probably Dark since he doesn’t bleed from the eyes when he uses the Void,” Iplier answered.

His driver chuckles a bit, “You’ve got balls of steel, Sir.”

Unsure how to answer that he shrugged. To be fair with everything he’d seen by this point, he either did have balls of steel, or outrageous professional apathy. So the comment was warranted. “Guess I do.”

Then he thanked the man and got out, walking into the base. His car was already there and he could enjoy the rest of the evening with the Host and his friends.

#Superhero AU #Masks and Maladies #Egotober2020 #Markiplier #Dr. Iplier #the Host #Darkiplier #Dr. Iplierst

10 notes · View notes

my-miraculous-headcanons · 5 years

Text

Kiss With A Fist

[AO3]

For a moment, a variety of different colors flash through his vision. Then, almost immediately after the colorful light show fades out, he blacks out for a solid ten seconds. When his eyesight comes back to him, he feels disoriented and tense, the sidewalk’s gravel digging into his back and scalp. The sky’s blue hue as well as the fluffy clouds painted over it seemed too bright all of a sudden, and that, combined with the rather gross feeling of something wet trailing down his upper lip, has him feeling overwhelmed.

“Holy shit, Adrien, are you okay?!”

Instead of answering, the model squeezes his eyes tightly shut and groans, the pain belatedly hitting him full force.

Holy shit is right.

“Hey guys, what’s going— Dude!? Alya, what the hell happened to my bro?!”

“I don’t know! I mean, I do know, but I don’t know why she would—”

“Guys,” Adrien interrupts. Despite the weakness in his voice, the two immediately snap to attention. “Could you tone it down? And maybe offer some help while you’re at it?”

Half an hour later, Adrien is sitting on the school steps, pressing a bag of ice wrapped in a towel against his swollen nose. Thankfully, it’s not broken, but he doesn’t know how he’s supposed to explain to his father how he ended up with two black eyes.

He certainly doesn’t know how he’s supposed to explain to his father that he got two black eyes because he frightened a very tiny teenaged girl so badly she punched him in the face, then ran as fast as her legs could carry her in the opposite direction.

He really doesn’t think his father would be pleased with that, no sir.

“Okay,” Adrien says, breaking a silence that had befallen the trio not too long ago. He turns to look at Alya. “You’re her best friend. Do you have any idea about what I apparently did to scare the crap out of her so badly?”

Alya winces.

“Sorry, Sunshine. I’m just as clueless as you are.”

Nino scrunches his nose up in confusion.

“Scare who?”

“Marinette,” Adrien sighs out in response. It sounds a tad bitter, but considering the awful throbbing from his nose, he thinks he’s well within his rights to be a little resentful.

“Whuh— Marinette?!”

Adrien immediately hunches his shoulders over his ears and hisses at the volume. Nino quickly takes the hint and makes an apologetic hang gesture, scooting away from his friend for good measure.

“Me and Marinette were talking about the akuma last night,” Alya said, deciding she’d do the model a favor and do the explaining herself. If anything, it’s only fair. “Adrien kind of popped up behind her to say hi and patted her shoulder, but when she turned to look at him, she freaked out. Didn’t even say a word. It happened so quickly, I’m still not sure if I saw that right.”

“You did,” Adrien mumbles. “I definitely saw her fist coming. She was just too quick for me to do anything about it.”

Nino, strangely, doesn’t seem shocked by this information. In fact, he seems even a bit amused, which is kind of rude considering his best friend had just been knocked out for a few seconds by a petite (and surprisingly strong) fashion designer half an hour earlier.

“Okay, yeah, I imagine she would hit you considering what happened last night. Especially if you did that freaky thing where you pop out of nowhere.”

Alya and Adrien’s eyes hone in on him like missiles. Adrien’s holds confusion and slight betrayal, while Alya’s look outright dangerous.

“Is there something my boyfriend isn’t telling me?”

“Er,” Nino coughs, nervous. “Well, I mean, didn’t you read the article? Well, I get Alya, you were probably busy all night sorting all the firsthand accounts people were sending to you through the Ladyblog. But Adrien, dude...”

He pauses, then sighs and takes out his phone, quickly pulling up a web article detailing a specific event that happened during the akuma attack last night. He holds it out to Adrien.

“Take a look, man. You’re definitely going to want to read this.”

Cautiously, Adrien takes the phone and removes the ice from his face so he could read, giving Nino one last confused glance. Alya leans in to read it over his shoulder, eyes calculating.

The first thing he catches sight of is a blurry pink figure, and another blurry figure dashing after the other. Unfortunately, despite the poor quality of the photograph, it’s immediately obvious to him who the two in the picture are.

What A Nightmare!

Last night, when Paris was once again being attacked by an akuma, witnesses caught sight of one of the strangest occurrences of the evening. A small girl in her pajamas was seen tearing through the city streets, being chased after a nightmare.

That in itself wouldn’t be too strange, considering the akuma of the day, Sandboy, was capable of turning whatever you were doing or thinking about in the moment into a total nightmare! But what makes this such a strange, and admittedly funny sight, was this nightmare was not a giant spider, ghost, or any other creepy unnatural thing.

This was a nightmare version of Adrien Agreste! And he was taking chase after a teenaged girl halfway across Paris!

Oh, fucking hell.

This explained a lot.

He scrolls down and gulps, realising that the story didn’t just end there. He contemplated not reading the rest of the article, but knows he probably should.

For one, he’s going to have to explain to his father that it was not Marinette’s fault for punching him in the face, and he’s going to need a lot of supporting evidence for that. And secondly, he’s going to have to know what to avoid doing around her from now on, given that she’s apparently traumatised by the sight of his face.

... God, Hawkmoth just had to ruin everything, didn’t he? And they were becoming much closer friends, too...

Eyewitness accounts say that the girl had managed to retreat into an old Chinese massage parlor, seemingly escaping the evil clutches of this nightmarish version of Paris’ unofficial sunshine boy.

God, did everyone call him that? He thought that was just an Alya thing.

Unfortunately for the girl, that did not seem to be the case. In fact, the nightmare had decided that, in the face of a locked door, the best course of action was to, of course, break it down and claw their way through anyways.

Adrien bites down on his tongue to keep in a horrified squeal, eyes practically bulging out of their sockets as he read and reread the paragraph over and over again, hoping that he was mistaken.

But no. No, he read it right the first time. That was most definitely what the article said had happened.

He takes a moment to shut his eyes and take in a deep breath, ignoring the ache of his face as he sends a silent, apologetic prayer Marinette’s way. He’s not an overly religious boy, but if there’s a tiny cat god of destruction in existence, then hopefully there’s some higher power looking after his poor pigtailed friend.

He turns the phone off and hands it back to Nino, believing he has enough proof already to convince Nathalie and his father that it was not Marinette’s fault. Alya makes a noise in protest, having still been reading, but doesn’t complain any further, instead taking out her own phone.

“So,” Adrien says, breaking the silence and placing the ice back against his face. “I can count on you guys to tell Marinette that I forgive her for punching me, right? And that she doesn’t really have to apologise, since it’s... not really her fault?”

“For sure,” Nino says, nudging Alya to bring her back into the conversation. She scowls and waves his hand away from her shoulder, too engrossed with the article. Nino rolls his eyes. “We’ll both make sure to tell her, no worries.”

Adrien smiles thankfully, then frowns at the sight of a silver car driving up. At the very least, he’s lucky Marinette had punched him before he was getting picked up, because he doesn’t know what his bodyguard would have done to her otherwise.

“Oh, shoot, and could you tell my fencing instructor what happened too? I missed it because... Well, you know.”

“No problem, I’ll go in and tell him now. See you later, man.”

“Bye, Nino,” Adrien says. He looks down at Alya and raises an amused eyebrow. “And bye, Alya.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Bye, Sunshine. Make sure your dad doesn’t ruin my girl’s career over this,” Alya jests, smirking. It’s a tense enough expression that Adrien can tell she’s actually slightly worried about that. And... he can’t blame her.

“I will,” Adrien promises, with all the false-confidence his can muster. At the sound of his ride’s horn, he gives one last wave and turns away.

Time to face the music.

Gabriel Agreste was not a very patient man. He didn’t like excuses, unnecessary conversation or details, and he certainly didn’t like stalling.

So he wasn’t very pleased by the absolute silence that followed when his son refused to answer his question.

“I will repeat this one last time, Adrien,” Gabriel says. “Who dared to damage your face?”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Adrien blurted out suddenly. “She, last night, there was—”

“I don’t want to hear any excuses!”

Adrien flinches at the sharp tone, but instead of curling up like usual, he surprises his father with a bout of anger.

“It’s not an excuse! There was an article on it!”

That gets Gabriel’s attention. He doesn’t remember there being anything scheduled regarding his son for publishing, so that would mean...

“You— you remember Marinette, right?” Adrien asks, eyes pleading and seemingly on the verge of desperate. “She’s... She’s one of my really good friends, but last night she must have been thinking about me or something and got hit by Sandboy, because a nightmare version of me appeared and... pretty much traumatised her. But you’ve met her! You know she wouldn’t ever even think to intentionally hurt me! She’s a really kind and gentle person!”

He knows the article Adrien had mentioned, mostly only because Nathalie had informed him about it in case it were to damage the company. Thankfully, it was widely accepted that this nightmare being was not his son, and did nothing to harm his image.

Or, at least he thought it would do no harm.

When Gabriel doesn’t immediately respond, Adrien continues, getting increasingly nervous.

“I didn’t know, I swear, I just surprised her and she saw my face and... and she freaked out. Which isn’t her fault! Because, I mean, if you read the article, it says that he— it tore down a locked door to get to her, so it’s no wonder she’s scared of— scared of—”

Adrien trails off, his voice choking up and his eyes going unfocused and slightly glassy.

“She’s terrified of my face, now. It’s not her fault. It’s,” Adrien’s eyes grow angry once again. “It’s Hawkmoth’s fault.”

There’s an impact to those words, but Adrien doesn’t have a clue. It hits his father like a battle axe, who stares at the purpling color circling over his son’s eyes and on his nose.

Gabriel doesn’t think he’s felt guilt like this in a long time.

“Please, father,” Adrien continues on, unaware of the inner turmoil he had sparked in the man. “I know you’re angry and want to do something about it, but out of everyone you could blame, Marinette is not one of them. She’s another one of Hawkmoth’s victims, just... this time, with the added baggage of traumatic memories, instead of memory loss.”

Marinette is a brilliant designer, skilled and efficient, and would go far in the future. She’s all smiles and kindness, passionate and, as any teenager, excitable. And she’s one of his son’s closest friends. Adrien doesn’t have very many of those.

If his son were to ever find out who he is, and therefore what he had done to damage that relationship, Gabriel doesn’t believe that Adrien would forgive him, regardless of his goal.

“Very well,” Gabriel says, finally. “I won’t press any charges, then. However, given the... violent reaction she had, I believe it may be best if she were to attend therapy sessions, and is exposed to you in a safe environment. Nathalie will arrange to pay for those sessions, and when you are healed, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng will begin attending your photoshoots as well to increase in-person exposure. This will also double as valuable experience for her future career. You are dismissed.”

Despite the painful bruising on his face, Adrien’s smile lights up the room. He thanks his father, then leaves.

Gabriel slumps into his work chair, removes his glasses, and rests his face against his hand, a heavy feeling in his chest.

Not for the first time, he thinks of finally letting Emilie go.

Months later, Adrien and Marinette are sitting side-by-side on a park bench, enjoying a shared ice-cream cone, closer friends than they’ve ever been in the past, and not-so-subtly dancing around their feelings for one another.

It’s been a month since Hero’s Day, when Hawkmoth himself had looked at Ladybug’s offer to redeem himself. It’s been a month since Hawkmoth had broken down, kneeling to the ground, thinking of his son and how far he had gone. It’s been a month since the villain had finally relinquished the butterfly brooch, revealing himself to be Gabriel Agreste to the heroes. It’s been a month since the man had showed the heroes why he had been so desperate, leading them to the hidden room where his beloved Emilie rested in a magical coma.

It’s been two weeks since Emilie and the peacock pendant had been healed by the Guardian. It’s been two weeks since Adrien had cried into his mother’s arms, overjoyed to have her back. It’s been two weeks since the Agreste family finally started working on repairing themselves, bit by bit, into something warmer and closer than even before the tragedy that had befallen the matriarch.

It’s been one week since Chat Noir and Ladybug had revealed their identities to one another. They’ve been tiptoeing around their feelings for one another ever since.

“You know,” Marinette says over a spoonful of peach ice-cream. “I technically don’t need to go to your photoshoots anymore. I’ve stopped therapy a while ago, you’re not in danger of getting punched any time soon.”

Adrien smiles toothily.

“What’s that, my Queen? Are you saying you don’t want to drool all over my hot bod anymore?”

Adrien immediately scoots to the other end of the bench and snickers. He holds the ice-cream in front of himself in place of a shield as Marinette shakes a threatening fist at him, scowling.

“I’m sorry, Agreste, is that your way of asking for a black mask outside the suit as well? Hold still, I think I could manage it if I aim right—”

“Alright, don’t you think that joke is getting old? That punch was a one time thing and we both know it. Now, if you really wanted to get back at me, I assure you that a little kiss will leave me paralyzed for the rest of the week. Sounds much more effective, no?”

Marinette flashes a flirtatious smile, catching the boy off-guard. She scoots back into his space, pressing flush against his side, leaving him trapped between her and the armrest of the bench.

“Haven’t you heard, kitty? They say a kiss with a fist is better than none.”

He’s pretty sure the warmth of his hand is now hot enough to melt their ice-cream completely in the span of three minutes. Her face is close enough that he could easily lean down and...

“That’s a pretty one-sided deal,” Adrien murmurs. “Don’t you think?”

“Are you saying you want to punch me?”

The mood is ruined, and Adrien splutters out in protest. Marinette laughs and snatches the ice-cream cone from his hand before he can drop it, shoveling another spoonful into her mouth.

Resting in Marinette’s purse, Tikki and Plagg roll their eyes together.

“How long do you think it’s going to take before they finally work up the nerve?”

Tikki giggles at the question, patting her counterpart on the side sympathetically.

“They’ll get there, Plagg. They’ll get there.”

Eventually.

Eventually comes three days later, Marinette waking up to see him hovering over her bed, and instead of punching him in instinctual fright like she would have done months ago, she smiles dreamily, cups his cheeks, and pulls him down for a tender kiss.

And then she punches him when she realises she isn’t dreaming, and that she just kissed Adrien Agreste, her partner, in nothing but an old tank top and her underwear.

“GET OUT, I’M NOT DRESSED!”

“RIGHT, SORRY, I’LL LEAVE YOU TO IT, YOUR MOM’S DONE WITH BREAKFAST, OKAY BYE NOW, SEEYOUDOWNSTAIRS—”

... Well, it’s one step in the right direction.

1K notes · View notes

antigenius · 4 years

Note

Could I get a matchup for BNHA? I’m a really tall 20 year old straight girl. I’ve got dark hair & dark eyes. I’m in college right now and I’m too obsessed with doing well in school...I spend most of my time playing animal crossing and talking with friends. I’m empathetic and soft hearted and lowkey pretty shy. Like I’ve still got my weenie hut jr. membership card and I really just want everyone around me to feel loved. Anyway, I really LOVE your writing so keep doing what you’re doing!!

Aw!! You’re so sweet and I WANT ACNH SO BAD BUT I DON’T HAVE A SWITCH HHHHH

I think you’d best suit…

Tomura Shigaraki!

Okay, hear me out, at first I thought you’d be PERFECT for Tamaki, but then I thought about it further-

Tamaki needs someone confident and protective, not saying he wouldn’t work well with another timid person, but I’d find it hard for two very timid people to get together-

Thus, Shigaraki was the next answer that came to mind! He’s bold and he’s determined, but istg he’s just a soft introvert that acts like he’s all that POWER

And like, he’d love someone so adorably cute AND YOU PLAY ACNH??? YO YOU WAIT THIS MAN WILL GIVE YOU HIS WHOLE H E A R T

Ahem.

A date with Shigaraki

Honestly? You really didn’t expect this.

What you expected was hopefully a cute guy with messy hair in a beanie and a sweater. He’d have some black rimmed glasses and a backpack with lots of alien enamels, or maybe like some cute pastel pins.

The guy in front of you wore a baggy black hoodie; a mask covering the lower half of his face. He had gloves on his hands and eyes that made shivers run down your spine.

“It’s you, right?”

You nod shyly in response, looking down at your feet. “Ye-yeah. Sorry if I’m not what you expected.”

A nervous laugh escapes your lips, floating carelessly on the chilly night air. Despite your concerns about him, you knew that he was actually a chill dude when it came to it. It wasn’t good for you to judged people based on their appearance after all.

You had met him after making your island public on twitter, asking for criticism on your new layout. Truthfully? You thought it looked really good. So did most of the people who came to your island.

Iago was… Different.

He came onto your island and you welcomed him, as you do. He went straight past you and walked into the myriad of rare flowers you had arranged in a cute fashion. He stands there for a moment, typing.

Iago: Put it in bundles, it’ll be easier to water. It looks ugly when you try to put into patterns like this.

You were taken aback by his blunt attitude, but nonetheless noted the advice he gave. He then checked out the whole island, deftly picking out each and every fault, whilst asking you what style it was you really wanted to achieve.

Iago: A soft style? I have most of the spring-time recipes, that would suit it better than this… weird patio thing you’ve done.

Iago: Also, move the bench, it’s not centred. It sticks out so much it physically hurts.

His harsh words hit a nerve in you. It was just a game, and you had done really good!

Well, you thought so anyway. Who did he think he was? The AC CEO or something?

(Y/n): But I wanted it to be here so I could place the telescope.

Iago: No. It’ll look bad.

He’s silent for a moment, but a ping comes not too long later.

Iago: Come to my island, you’ll see what I mean.

You scoff. The audacity of this guy to go around like he’s got the best island out there. You’re not saying yours is the best either, but it’s pretty good, you have to admit. You blow your hair from your face.

“Whatever, let’s just go see this guy’s ‘aesthetic’ island.”

The loading screen to land gets your fingers tapping impatiently on the side of the switch. You weren’t normally a person who would have such mean thoughts, but this guy was being a dick. You held no expectation at all for his decorating abilities, honestly regretting accepting his invite in the first place.

Your character walks out of the airport and onto the docks.

Your jaw hangs open.

The island has been completely terraformed so that the cliffs he made looked like mountains. The entrance from the airport was paved in a gorgeous red tile pattern that complimented the colours of the golden roses waving to greet you. The guy doesn’t seem to notice your character just standing in place and looking around in awe.

Iago: This way, patio’s here.

You follow him down the path, only to goggle at how much detail he put into his island. His orchard was filled with each type of fruit in the game, even cherries, which you had been struggling to find. He had EVERY flower and villagers you had never seen before. His rivers were almost somehow strategically placed to ensure that you could fish to the best of your ability whilst still looking pretty.

Iago: Gimme a second, I gotta get something, stay put.

He walks into his house. You trail behind despite his orders, curious as to how he did his house.

It was like looking at the work of an interior designer. The home had a total cottage aura to it; you envied the countless amounts of items he seemed to own. He sure walked the talk, that was for sure.

Iago: I told you to stay put. You suck at instructions.

… He was a dick though.

After exploring his whole island, mentally archiving certain ideas and convincing him to give you some cherries to grow, you leave the island, excited with the creative boost rushing through you.

Almost moments on going back to your island, you get a friend request. It was him.

Thus began your game nights, tips on AC, debates on the best Pokémon and conversations on your favourite JRPGs that last for hours on end. He was a pretty geeky guy, seemingly knowing all the good games to try next or expertly playing each smash character no matter the situation. He even talked about real-life like it was a game, which you found pretty endearing, though sometimes annoying. He was passionate, determined and smart. Though there were many a time where you would see flaws in his plans, telling him a different way to do it. He was stubborn, usually dismissing your ideas, but he would then say the same idea a day later, worded differently and claimed it as his. You were simply happy he liked your idea.

Iago: Hey, you wanna meet up?

It all leads back to this very moment in time now with you, timidly staring at the ground like it was the most interesting thing you had ever seen. His eyes glanced at you from behind his pastel bue locks.

“Come on then.”

He does a one-eighty turn, hands in his hoodie pockets. Your heart thumps rapidly in your chest. You couldn’t move, even if you wanted to. He seems to notice, eyebrows screwing in frustration.

“What? Are you stuck?”

Internally, you apologise again and again. Externally, you stay in place. Something seemed… Familiar. He looked familiar.

He grabs you by the hand with a huff.

“I’ll just drag ya then.”

His hand was cold, despite being in a glove. It was adorably small, filling perfectly into yours. You dawdle behind him, trying your best to keep up with his pace. The crisp night air welcomed itself into your lungs, the smell of rain on asphalt wafting through. The stars twinkled dimly in the heavily light-polluted environment, watching, observing. Gravel crunched under your flats as he led you to god knows where.

“Sit here.”

It was a large sakura tree, branches devoid of any flowers. It was barren, but eerily beautiful. The roots curled and twisted in peculiar patterns at the base. He sat down on one of the roots, you do the same.

“It’s easier to speak here.” He says, eyes watching the late shift workers drive their cars on the highway. “It’s also… Nice… Here.”

Your breaths come out as white wisps, little baby ghosts dispersing your toxic gases into the atmosphere.

“It is.”

A silence hangs between the two of you. It was one of those rare silences that you enjoyed, just admiring the city from where you sat, it was relaxing.

“Would you join me?”

You blink, turning to him. He had taken off his mask, staring straight at you. His crimson eyes turned your blood to ice.

It was Tomura Shigaraki. That’s why you knew him.

“It’s an easy choice, I won’t force you but…” He sighed. “With me showing myself to you now, I’d need to keep your mouth shut somehow.”

You gulp as he smiles.

“Make this easy, hm? I don’t really wanna kill you, you’re actually… alright.”

He holds out his gloved hand.

“Lend yourself, to the League of Villains.”

(It’s extra long because I had some extra inspo with this one!! I hope you don’t mind ^^)

8 notes · View notes

thiswasinevitableid · 5 years

Note

"we sleep together the same night a terrible snowstorm hits the city and everything gets shut down so now i have no way to get home so let’s make it a two night stand?" indruck prompt? (eyes emoji)

This prompt is Not Suitable for Your Workplace

Duck stretches out on the cushy lounge seat at “Woofs,” his favorite gay bar in the city. He’s in a celebratory mood, having scored a promotion (okay, so it’s from “almost full time” to “actually full time” ranger, but that’s still pretty damn good). So he’d fucked off to the big city for a night for as a reward.

He’s not sure if he’ll score in another way just yet. Duck isn’t prone to prowling at these places; if a guy is bear hunting and happens to like the look of him, he’s more than happy to dial up his quiet charm. Maybe growl in the guys ear a little and see if that gets them to a car or apartment or somewhere else where his date can bounce in his lap until he comes in some tight, if forgettable, ass.

He used to be more proactive, but if he’s honest it feels weird being thirty-two and trying to put the moves on a guy who might be ten years younger than him,

As he sips his beer, a flash of white hair catches his eye. At the end of the bar nearest him, a skinny, gangly man of indeterminate age is drawing a finger around the rim of his glass. He turns for a moment in Ducks direction and he’s struck by how strange he looks. Not bad, but like no one Duck’s ever seen before. He doesn’t seem dressed for the setting, in fact he looks a little disheveled, and not in the scruffy way Duck is trying to pull off.

Duck keeps an eye on him, looking for signs of interest. What he gets is the man staring at his drink for a solid five minutes, stirring it but never drinking. When he finally glances Ducks way again, he looks sad.

No, no way, Duck is not spending the night he set aside to relax and get laid seeing if someone random guy at a bar is okay.

The seat next to the mystery man opens up.

Duck stands.

“Mind if I sit here?” He gives his most neutral smile.

The pale-haired man stares at him, eyes seeming far away behind the red lenses of his glasses.

“Oh, no, go right ahead.” He flashes a tight, oddly wide smile, goes back to staring at his drink. Takes the tiniest sip and makes a disgusted face.

“Not an Old-fashioned man, huh?”

“I just like the cherries, the rest is too bitter. I saw too late there was an eggnog cocktail. Really only have money for the one drink.”

Duck’s beer is empty. He signals the bartender, orders an Old-Fashioned. When it arrives, he slides it towards the other man, cherry stem pointed at him.

The man pauses, and to Duck it looks like he’s calculating odds in his head. Then he plucks the cherry from the glass and tugs it off the stem with his teeth.

“Thank you.” His smile is shy, and this time he doesn’t turn away. So Duck keeps talking.

“Alright, I gotta know, do you only come to this place for cherries?”

“No. I came here because once again no one listened to me and I am so very tired. I thought I could get past my distaste for alcohol in order to get drunk and enjoy not having to think for awhile. No such luck.”

“So you were plannin just to sulk into your drink all night?”

“It was the probable outcome.” He looks longingly at the jar of maraschino cherries just visible on a back shelf.

“Y’know, if you order a shirley temple it’s got a bunch of those in it and no booze.” When the other man perks up he adds, “could even buy one for you, if that ain’t unwelcome.”

The man cocks his head as he looks at him, “Is this a flirtation?”

“Can be, if you want.” Duck takes a casual sip of his drink. The taller mans eyes trace from his hair down to his toes, widening with appreciation the more he takes him.

“I’m certainly interested.” This comes out in a purr, and Duck feels heat spark through his gut.

He’s delighted to find that he made a remarkably good call coming over here. His new friend is odd, yes, but also pretty damn funny, with a cute, crooked smile a promising shape to his ass. As they talk, he relaxes, his glum look vanishing, and he places soft, teasing touches on Ducks hand, arm, and thigh.

By the time Duck’s finished his drink, he’s pretty sure where this night is going.

A cherry is resting on the ice in his glass. He plucks it out, holding it between his thumb and finger. His companions’ eyes flick to the fruit, then to Ducks face, and a mischievous grin spreads across his lips. He leans forward, parting them and taking the cherry before licking along Ducks palm.

“Mmmm” he purrs again, doesn’t bother to put any distance between them.

“You got a name, darlin?” Duck whispers, voice husky.

“Indrid. And you’re-”

“Duck.” He replies, though it almost sounds like Indrid says it along with him.

“Duck” Indrid repeats, “huh, I like that name.”

Duck likes it too. And he’s got a hunch he’s going to like it even more when Indrid is moaning it.

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

Ducks’ hunch is correct.

“Duck.” Indrid whines, breathy and needy, pressed against the door of the Winnebago that he apparently calls home, “Duck, please, bedroom, now.” Deft, slender fingers are tugging his shirt open and he’s harder than he’s been in months.

“Don’t want me to fuck you right here?” He grins, cupping Indrids ass and lifting him off the floor with ease (thank you weird powers he doesn’t want).

“Goodness!” Indrid wraps his legs around Ducks waist, “That was a surprise. I don’t get many of those.”

“Got good news for you, sugar.” Duck purrs, making Indrid wiggled excitedly in his arms, “I’m full of ‘em.”

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

Duck wakes up to snow falling in thick sheets beyond the small window in the bedroom. It’s a little later than he meant to wake up, but it’s Sunday and the drive to Kepler isn’t that long so he’s not in that big of a hurry.

Indrid is curled in his arms, limbs intertwined haphazardly with his own. He makes a small, chirping noise, then cuddles closer.

Duck could probably just get up and go without Indrid noticing. But he’s got manners, and it would be impolite to leave without thanking his host for a lovely time.

He kisses the top of Indrids’ head, “Mornin, sugar.”

“Nmmmh.” Indrid’s eyes flutter open behind his glasses, then he peers over Ducks shoulder out the window.

“I hate snow. ‘S cold.” He grumbles, burrowing further under the blankets.

“Well, you hunker down for the day then. I gotta get on the road, snow’s liable to make gettin home take way long than I planned.”

“But you’re warm.” He holds Duck tighter, kissing lightly at his neck.

“And you’re real fuckin cute. But I still gotta go.”

“Very well.” Indrid smiles softly, “I’m glad you decided to celebrate with me last night. Congratulations on being a park ranger. It must be fascinating work. Do you like it?” The sweet, sleepy look on his face makes Duck melt a little.

“I see what you’re tryin to do” he teases, squeezing Indrids ass once for good measure, “you’re tryin to distract me, get me talkin about trees so you can steal my warmth.”

A sly smile this time, “perhaps a little. I won’t really keep you though. If you need to shower, it’s just through there.”

Duck thanks him, slips from the bed and heads into the bathroom. Emerges with a towel around his waist a few minutes later, gathering his clothes from where they were strewn about during last nights activities. Indrid is bundled in a thick, fluffy bathrobe, fiddling with the radio at the front of the trailer. As Duck retrieves his boxers from a lampshade, Indrid murmurs, “oh dear.”

A moment after, the radio informs them that a massive storm is moving through the area, and that travel is inadvisable at best and impossible at worst.

“Looks like you may be here another night.” Indrid says apologetically, his face lit warmly by the space heaters dotting the Winnebago.

“Can think of worse things.” He notices Indrid staring, remembers he’s still only in a towel.

“See somethin you like?”

“I should think that was obvious.”

“I’m tryin to be smooth here, darlin.”

“Be bold instead.” Indrid licks his lips and Duck shrugs, letting the towel drop to the floor.

“That bold enough for yAHhhhhnnn, fuck.” Duck is pressed against the kitchen counter, Indrid dropping to his knees and rolling a condom on so swiftly that Duck swears it was like a magic trick, before taking all of Ducks cock in his mouth in one go.

“Jesus, jesus sugar, oh fuck that feels so good.” He pets his fingers through white hair as Indrid looks up, smug expression clear even as his lips turn shiny with spit and lube.

“That’s, darlin, oh lord have mercy, fuck, your throat is so fuckin tight, feels amazin.”

Indrid purrs, which makes Duck moan, then guides his other hand down so both a resting in his hair.

“I’m real close, shit, just a little faster, c’mon, I know you can go faster please.” He whimpers embarrassingly loud when, instead of speeding up, Indrid slows down and blinks up at him with a mockingly innocent expression.

“Oh you fuckin…” Duck growls, orgasm nudged closer by the thought of where this is going. He tangles his fingers in Indrids hair, locks eyes with him.

“Yes?”

Indrid nods. And then Duck is thrusting his hips wild and fast, yanking Indrid back and forth along his cock. The taller man is moaning, blissed-out expression on his face as Duck fucks it. Duck finds filth pouring from his mouth with surprising ease, increasing in gruffness when Indrid moans at the harsher words.

“Fuckin smartass little tease, oughta keep you on your knees and do this all day so you remember who you’re fuckin with. Oh fuck, Indrid, yes, oh fuck yeah.” He comes hard, forcing Indrids mouth all the way down again. His hips pulse a few times, but when the man tries to pull away he keeps him trapped.

“Nuh uh, you’re gonna keep suckin til I’m done.”

A high, whimpering purr leaves Indrid, and Duck spies him palming the front of his pajama pants through his robe. Soon, he releases his head and he pulls back with a gasp. He makes a wordless, happy sound, nuzzling along the line of Ducks hips.

“You want me to take care of that for you, darlin?”

“Yes, please.”

Duck gathers him up off the floor, sets him on the counter and carefully tugs down his pants. His cock is dripping as Duck closes his hand around it.

“Oh! Oh yes.”

“How do you want it?”

“H-however you wish, but, but please touch the rest of me too.”

Duck wraps his other arm around him, pulling him close as he steps between his spread legs. He kisses him wherever he can reach, little sighs echoing through trailer when he does. Indrid embraces his, lips trailing along his neck and face, kissing him eagerly. The kisses turn sloppier as Duck tightens his grip, stroking him hard and fast.

“Kiss me, I want to come while you kiss me.”

“Think I can manage that.” He steadies Indrids head with his free hand, kissing him hard. The other man is making sharp, high noises against his lips and when he comes across Ducks hand and belly the noise changes to something like a trill, muffled as Ducks tongue slips between his lips to meet his own.

Indrid keeps kissing him dreamily as he comes down from his orgasm.

“You’re tremendous.” He murmurs under the hum of the space heaters.

“Right back at you, darlin. Now, let’s go shower and, uh, see where the day takes us.” He says this last part with a grin that suggests they both the answer is “to bed.”

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

In the decade that follows, both Indrid and Duck think on that night from time to time. For awhile, neither of them see it as any more than a two-night stand that was particularly excellent, one that they remember fondly.

It takes on irony much sooner for Indrid, but only because he sees what’s coming in a way Duck can’t. Then he nearly forgets about the whole thing because of the Cottonwood and the disasters and the phone calls.

It’s only when he sees the Pine Guard coming up the trail to his home that realizes Duck Newton is in for quite a surprise.

#prompt fill #indrid cold/duck newton #Indruck

60 notes · View notes

grigori77 · 4 years

Text

2019 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 2)

20. FROZEN 2 – so, another year, then, and once again Disney doesn’t QUITE manage to net the animated feature top spot on my list, but it’s not for lack of trying – this long-awaited sequel to the studio’s runaway hit musical fantasy adventure is just what we’ve come to love from the House of Mouse, but more importantly it’s a most worthy sequel, easily on a par with the much beloved origin. Not much of a surprise given the welcome return of all the key people, from directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (who also once again wrote the screenplay) to composer Christophe Beck and songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, as well as all the key players in the cast. It’s business as usual in the kingdom of Arendelle, where all is seemingly peaceful and tranquil, but Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) is restless, haunted by a distant voice that only she can hear, calling to her from a mysterious past she just can’t place … and then she accidentally awakens the four elemental spirits, sending her homeland into mystical turmoil, prompting her to embark on a desperate search for answers with her sister Princess Anna (Kristen Bell), ice harvester Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), his faithful reindeer companion Sven, and, of course, living snowman Olaf (Josh Gad). Their quest leads them into the Enchanted Forest of Northuldra, a neighbouring kingdom, ruled by simple, elemental magic, that has remained cut off from Arendelle for decades, where they discover dark, hidden truths about their own family’s past and must make peace with the spirits if they’re to save their home and their people. So, typical Disney family fantasy fare, then, right? Well, Frozen 2 certainly dots all the Is and crosses all the Ts, but, like the original, this is no jaded blockbuster money spinner, packed with the same kind of resonant power, skilful inventiveness and pure, show-stopping WOW-factor as its predecessor, but more importantly this is a sequel that effectively carves out a fresh identity for itself, brilliantly taking the world and characters in interesting new directions to create something fresh, rewarding and worthwhile on its own merit. The returning cast are all as strong as ever, Menzel and Bell in particular ably powering the story, while it’s nice to see both Groff and Gad getting something new to do with their own characters too, even nabbing their own major musical numbers; there’s also a welcome slew of fresh new faces to this world, particular Sterling K. Brown (This is Us, Black Panther, The Predator) as lost Anrendelle soldier Mattias and former Brat Pack star Martha Plimpton as Yelena, leader of the lost tribe of Northuldra. Once again this is Disney escapism at its very best, a heart-warming, soul-nourishing powerhouse of winning humour, emotional power and child-like wonder, but like the first film the biggest selling point is, of course, that KILLER soundtrack, with every song here a total hit, not one dud among them, and there are even ear-worms here to put Let It Go to shame – Into the Unknown was touted as the major hit, and it is impressive, but I was particularly affected by Groff’s unashamedly full-bore rendition of Lost in the Woods, a bona fide classic rock power ballad crafted in the fashion of REO Speedwagon, while the undeniable highlight for me is the unstoppable Show Yourself, with Menzel once again proving that her incredible voice is a natural force all in itself. Altogether, then, this is an absolute feast for the eyes, the ears AND the soul, every inch the winner that its predecessor was and also EASILY one of Disney’s premier animated features for the decade. So it’s quite the runner-up, then …

19. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD – since his explosion onto the scene twenty-seven years ago with his runaway smash debut Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino has become one of the most important filmmakers of his generation, a true master of the cinematic art form who consistently delivers moving picture masterpieces that thrill, entertain, challenge and amuse audiences worldwide … at least those who can stomach his love of unswerving violence, naughty talk and morally bankrupt antiheroes and despicably brutal villains who are often little more than a shade different from one another. Time has moved on, though, and while he’s undoubtedly been one of the biggest influences on the way cinema has changed over the past quarter century, there are times now that it’s starting to feel like the scene is moving on in favour of younger, fresher blood with their own ideas. I think Tarantino can sense this himself, because he recently made a powerful statement – after he’s made his tenth film, he plans to retire. Given that OUATIH is his NINTH film, that deadline is already looming, and we unashamed FANS of his films are understandably aghast over this turn of events. Thankfully he remains as uncompromisingly awesome a writer-director as ever, delivering another gold standard five-star flick which is also most definitely his most PERSONAL work to date, quite simply down to the fact that it’s a film ABOUT film. Sure, it has a plot (of sorts, anyway), revolving around the slow decline of the career of former TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo Dicaprio), who languishes in increasing anonymity in Hollywood circa 1969 as his former western hero image is being slowly eroded by an increasingly hacky workload guest-starring on various syndicated shows as a succession of punching-bag heavies for the hero to wale on, while his only real friend is his one-time stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), a former WW2 hero with a decidedly tarnished reputation of his own; meanwhile new neighbours have moved in next door to further distract him – hot-as-shit young director Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha), riding high on the success of Rosemary’s Baby, and his new wife Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). Certainly this all drives the film, along with real-life events involving one of the darkest crimes in modern American history, but a lot of the time the plot is largely coincidental – Quentin uses it as a springboard to wax lyrical about his very favourite subject and pay loving (if sometimes irreverently satirical) tribute to the very business he’s been indulging in with such great success since 1992. Sure, it’s also about “Helter Skelter” and the long shadow cast by Charles Manson and his band of murderous misfits, but this is largely incidental, as we’re treated to long, entertaining interludes as we follow Rick on a shoot as the bad guy in the pilot for the Lancer TV series, visit the notorious Spahn Ranch with Cliff as he’s unwittingly drawn into the lion’s den of the deadly Manson Family, join Robbie’s Tate as she watches “herself” in The Wrecking Crew, and enjoy a brilliant montage in which we follow Rick’s adventures in Spaghetti westerns (and Eurospy cinema) after he’s offered a chance to change his flagging fortunes, before the film finally builds to a seemingly inevitable, fateful conclusion that Tarantino then, in sneakily OTT Inglourious Basterds style, mischievously turns on its head with a devilish game of “What If”. The results are a thoroughly engrossing and endlessly entertaining romp through the seedier side of Hollywood and a brilliant warts-and-all examination of the craft’s inner workings that, interestingly, reveals as much about the Business today as it does about how it was way back in the Golden Age the film portrays, all while delivering bucket-loads of QT’s trademark cool, swagger, idiosyncratic genius and to-die-for dialogue and character-work, and, of course, a typically exceptional all-star cast firing on all cylinders. Dicaprio and Pitt are both spectacular (Brad is endearingly taciturn, playing it wonderfully close to the vest throughout, while Leo is simply ON FIRE, delivering a mercurial performance EASILY on a par with his work on Shutter Island and The Wolf of Wall Street – could this be good enough to snag him a second Oscar?), while Robbie consistently endears us to Tate as she EFFORTLESSLY brings the fallen star back to life, and there’s an incredible string of amazing supporting turns from established talent and up-and-comers alike, from Kurt Russell, Al Pacino and a very spiky Bruce Dern to Mike Moh (in a FLAWLESS take on Bruce Lee), Margaret Qualley, Austin Butler and in particular Julia Butters as precocious child star Trudi Fraser. Packed with winning references, homages, pastiches and ingenious little in-jokes, handled with UTMOST respect for the true life subjects at all times and shot all the way through with his characteristic flair and quirky, deliciously dark sense of humour, this is cinema very much of the Old School, and EVERY INCH a Tarantino flick. With only one more film to go the implied end of his career seems much too close, but if he delivers one more like this he’ll leave behind a legacy that ANY filmmaker would be proud of.

18. CRAWL – summer 2019’s runner-up horror offering marks a rousing return to form for a genre talent who’s FINALLY delivered on the impressive promise of his early work – Alexandre Aja made a startling debut with Switchblade Romance, which led to his big break helming the cracking remake of slasher stalwart The Hills Have Eyes, but then he went SPECTACULARLY off the rails when he made the truly abysmal Piranha 3D, which I wholeheartedly regard as one of THE VERY WORST FILMS EVER MADE IN ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY. He took a big step back in the right direction with the admittedly flawed but ultimately enjoyable and evocative Horns (based on the novel by Stephen King’s son Joe Hill), but it’s with this stripped back, super-tight man-against-nature survival horror that the Aja of old has TRULY returned to us. IN SPADES. Seriously, I personally think this is his best film to date – there’s no fat on it at all, going from a simple set-up STRAIGHT into a precision-crafted exercise in sustained tension that relentlessly grips right up to the end credits. The film is largely just a two-hander – Maze Runner star Kaya Scodelario plays Haley Keller, a Florida college student and star swimmer who ventures into the heart of a Category 5 hurricane to make sure her estranged father, Dave (Saving Private Ryan’s Barry Pepper), is okay after he drops off the grid. Finding their old family home in a state of disrepair and slowly flooding, she does a last minute check of the crawl-space underneath, only to discover her father badly wounded and a couple of hungry alligators stalking the dark, cramped, claustrophobic confines. With the flood waters rising and communications cut off, Haley and Dave must use every reserve of strength, ingenuity and survival instinct to keep each other alive in the face of increasingly daunting odds … even with a premise this simple, there was plenty of potential for this to become an overblown, clunky mess in the wrong hands (a la Snakes On a Plane), so it’s a genuinely great thing that Aja really is back at the height of his powers, milking every fraught and suspenseful set-piece to its last drop of exquisite piano-wire tension and putting his actors through hell without a reprieve in sight. Thankfully it’s not JUST about scares and atmosphere – there’s a genuinely strong family drama at the heart of the story that helps us invest in these two, Scodelario delivering a phenomenally complex performance as she peels back Haley’s layers, from stubborn pedant, through vulnerable child of divorce, to ironclad born survivor, while reconnecting with her emotionally raw, repentantly open father, played with genuine naked intensity in a career best turn from Pepper. Their chemistry is INCREDIBLY strong, making every scene a joy even as it works your nerves and tugs on your heartstrings, and as a result you DESPERATELY want to see them make it out in one piece. Not that Aja makes it easy for them – the gators are an impressively palpable threat, proper scary beasties even if they are largely (admittedly impressively executed) digital effects, while the storm is almost a third character in itself, becoming as much of an elemental nemesis as its scaly co-stars. Blessedly brief (just 87 minutes!) and with every second wrung out for maximum impact, this is survival horror at its most brutally, simplistically effective, a deliciously vicious, primal chill-ride that thoroughly rewards from start to finish. Welcome back, Mr Aja. We’ve missed you.

17. SHAZAM! – there were actually THREE movies featuring Captain Marvel out in 2019, but this offering from the hit-and-miss DCEU cinematic franchise is a very different beast from his MCU-based namesake, and besides, THIS Cap long ago ditched said monicker for the far more catchy (albeit rather more oddball) title that graces Warner Bros’ last step back on the right track for their superhero Universe following the equally enjoyable Aquaman and franchise high-point Wonder Woman. Although he’s never actually referred to in the film by this name, Shazam (Chuck’s Eugene Levy) is the magically-powered alternate persona bestowed upon wayward fifteen year-old foster kid Billy Batson (Andi Mack’s Asher Angel) by an ancient wizard (Djimon Hounsou) seeking one pure soul to battle Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), a morally corrupt physicist who turns into a monstrous supervillain after becoming the vessel for the spiritual essences of the Seven Deadly Sins (yup, that thoroughly batshit setup is just the tip of the iceberg of bonkersness on offer in this movie). Yes, this IS set in the DC Extended Universe, Shazam sharing his world with Superman, Batman, the Flash et al, and there are numerous references (both overt and sly) to this fact throughout (especially in the cheeky animated closing title sequence), but it’s never laboured, and the film largely exists in its own comfortably enclosed narrative bubble, allowing us to focus on Billy, his alter ego and in particular his clunky (but oh so much fun) bonding experiences with his new foster family, headed by former foster kid couple Victor and Rosa Vazquez (The Walking Dead’s Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans) – the most enjoyably portions of the film, however, are when Billy explores the mechanics and limits of his newfound superpowers with his new foster brother Freddy Freeman (It Chapter 1’s Jack Dylan Glazer), a consistently hilarious riot of bad behaviour, wanton (often accidental) destruction and perfectly-observed character development, the blissful culmination of a gleefully anarchic sense of humour that, until recently, has been rather lacking in the DCEU but which is writ large in bright, wacky primary colours right through this film. Sure, there are darker moments, particularly when Sivana sets loose his fantastic icky brood of semi-corporeal monsters, and these scenes are handled with seasoned skill by director David F. Sandberg, who cut his teeth on ingenious little horror gem Lights Out (following up with Annabelle: Creation, but we don’t have to dwell on that), but for the most part the film is played for laughs, thrills and pure, unadulterated FUN, almost never taking itself too seriously, essentially intended to do for the DCEU what Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man did for the MCU, and a huge part of its resounding success must of course be attributed to the universally willing cast. Eugene Levy’s so ridiculously pumped-up he almost looks like a special effect all on his own, but he’s lost none of his razor-sharp comic ability, perfectly encapsulating a teenage boy in a grown man’s body, while his chemistry with genuine little comedic dynamo Glazer is simply exquisite, a flawless balance shared with Angel, who similarly excels at the humour but also delivers quality goods in some far more serious moments too, while the rest of Billy’s newfound family are all brilliant, particularly ridiculously adorable newcomer Faithe Herman as precocious little motor-mouth Darla; Djimon Hounsou, meanwhile, adds significant class and gravitas to what could have been a cartoonish Gandalf spoof, and Mark Strong, as usual, gives great bad guy as Sivana, providing just the right amount of malevolent swagger and self-important smirk to proceedings without ever losing sight of the deeper darkness within. All round, this is EXACTLY the kind of expertly crafted superhero package we’ve come to appreciate in the genre, another definite shot in the arm for the DCEU that holds great hope for the future of the franchise, and some of the biggest fun I had at the cinema this past year. Granted, it’s still not a patch on the MCU, but the quality gap finally seems to be closing …

16. ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL – y’know, there was a time when James Cameron was quite a prolific director, who could be counted upon to provide THE big event pic of the blockbuster season. These days, we’re lucky to hear from him once a decade, and now we don’t even seem to be getting that – the dream project Cameron’s been trying to make since the end of the 90s, a big live action adaptation of one of my favourite mangas of all time, Gunnm (or Battle Angel Alita to use its more well-known sobriquet) by Yukito Kishiro, has FINALLY arrived, but it isn’t the big man behind the camera here since he’s still messing around with his intended FIVE MOVIE Avatar arc. That said, he made a damn good choice of proxy to bring his vision to fruition – Robert Rodriguez is, of course, a fellow master of action cinema, albeit one with a much more quirky style, and this adap is child’s play to him, the creator of the El Mariachi trilogy and co-director of Frank Miller’s Sin City effortlessly capturing the dark, edgy life-and-death danger and brutal wonder of Kishiro’s world in moving pictures. 300 years after the Earth was decimated in a massive war with URM (the United Republics of Mars) known as “the Fall”, only one bastion of civilization remains – Iron City, a sprawling, makeshift community of scavengers that lies in the shadow of the floating city of Zalem, home of Earth’s remaining aristocracy. Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) runs a clinic in Iron City customising and repairing the bodies of its cyborg citizens, from the mercenary “hunter killers” to the fast-living players of Motorball (a kind of supercharged mixture of Rollerball and Death Race), one day discovering the wrecked remains of a female ‘borg in the junkyard of scrap accumulated beneath Zalem. Finding her human brain is still alive, he gives her a new chassis and christens her Alita, raising her as best he can as she attempts to piece together her mysterious, missing past, only for them both to discover that the truth of her origins has the potential to tear their fragile little world apart forever. The Maze Runner trilogy’s Rosa Salazar is the heart and soul of the film as Alita (originally Gally in the comics), perfectly bringing her (literal) wide-eyed innocence and irrepressible spirit to life, as well as proving every inch the diminutive badass fans have been expecting – while her overly anime-styled look might have seemed a potentially jarring distraction in the trailers, Salazar’s mocap performance is SO strong you’ve forgotten all about it within the first five minutes, convinced she’s a real, flesh-and-metal character – and she’s well supported by an exceptional ensemble cast both new and well-established. Waltz is the most kind and sympathetic he’s been since Django Unchained, instilling Ido with a worldly warmth and gentility that makes him a perfect mentor/father-figure, while Spooksville star Keean Johnson makes a VERY impressive big screen breakthrough as Hugo, the streetwise young dreamer with a dark secret that Alita falls for in a big way, Jennifer Connelly is icily classy as Ido’s ex-wife Chiren, Mahershala Ali is enjoyably suave and mysterious as the film’s nominal villain, Vector, an influential but seriously shady local entrepreneur with a major hidden agenda, and a selection of actors shine through the CGI in various strong mocap performances, such as Deadpool’s Ed Skrein, Derek Mears, From Dusk Til Dawn’s Eiza Gonzalez and a thoroughly unrecognisable but typically awesome Jackie Earle Haley. As you’d expect from Rodriguez, the film delivers BIG TIME on the action front, unleashing a series of spectacular set-pieces that peak with Alita’s pulse-pounding Motorball debut, but there’s a pleasingly robust story under all the thrills and wow-factor, riffing on BIG THEMES and providing plenty of emotional power, especially in the heartbreaking character-driven climax – Cameron, meanwhile, has clearly maintained strict control over the project throughout, his eye and voice writ large across every scene as we’re thrust headfirst into a fully-immersive post-apocalyptic, rusty cyberpunk world as thoroughly fleshed-out as Avatar’s Pandora, but most importantly he’s still done exactly what he set out to do, paying the utmost respect to a cracking character as he brings her to vital, vivid life on the big screen. Don’t believe the detractors – this is a MAGNIFICENT piece of work that deserves all the recognition it can muster, perfectly set up for a sequel that I fear we may never get to see. Oh well, at least it’s renewed my flagging hopes for a return to Pandora …

15. AD ASTRA – last century, making a space exploration movie after 2001: A Space Odyssey was a pretty tall order. THIS century, looks like it’s trying to follow Chris Nolan’s Interstellar – love it or hate it, you can’t deny that particular epic space opera for the IMAX crowd is a REALLY tough act to follow. At first glance, then, writer-director James Gray (The Yards, We Own the Night) is an interesting choice to try, at least until you consider his last feature – he may be best known for understated, gritty little crime thrillers, but I was most impressed by 2016’s ambitious period biopic The Lost City of Z, which focused on the groundbreaking career of pioneering explorer Percy Fawcett, and couldn’t have been MORE about the indomitable spirit of discovery if it tried. His latest shares much of the same DNA, albeit presented in a VERY different package, as we’re introduced to a more expansive Solar System of the near future, in which humanity has begun to colonize our neighbouring worlds and is now pushing its reach beyond our own star’s light in order to discover what truly lies beyond the void of OUTER space. Brad Pitt stars as Major Roy McBride, a career astronaut whose whole life has been defined by growing up in the shadow of his father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), a true pioneer who led an unprecedented expedition to the orbit of our furthest neighbour, Neptune, in order to search for signs of intelligent life beyond our solar system, only for the whole mission to go quiet for the past sixteen years. Then a mysterious, interplanetary power surge throws the Earth into chaos, and Roy must travel farther than he’s ever gone before in order to discover the truth behind the source of the pulse – his father’s own ill-fated Lima Project … this is a very different beast from Interstellar, a much more introspective, stately affair, revelling in its glacial pacing and emphasis on character motivation over plot, but it’s no less impressive from a visual, visceral standpoint – Gray and cinematographer Hoyt van Hoytema (who, interestingly, ALSO shot Interstellar, along with Nolan’s Dunkirk and his upcoming feature Tenet) certainly make space look truly EPIC, crafting astonishing visuals that deserve to be seen on the big screen (or at the very least on the best quality HDTV you can find). There’s also no denying the quality of the writing, Gray weaving an intricate story that reveals far greater depth and complexity than can be seen at first glance, while Roy’s palpable “thought-process” voiceover puts us right into the head of the character as we follow him across the endless void on a fateful journey into a cosmic Heart of Darkness. There is, indeed, a strong sense of Apocalypse Now to proceedings, with the younger McBride definitely following a similar path to Martin Sheen’s ill-fated captain as he travels “up-river” to find his Colonel Kurtz-esque father, and the performances certainly match the heft of the material – there’s an impressive collection of talent on offer in a series of top-quality supporting turns, Jones being just the icing on the cake in the company of Donald Sutherland, Liv Tyler, John Ortiz and Preacher’s Ruth Negga, but the undeniable driving force of the film is Pitt, his cool, laconic control hiding uncharted depths of emotional turmoil as he’s forced to call every choice into question. It’s EASILY one of the finest performances of his career to date, just one of the MANY great selling points in a film that definitely deserves to be remembered as one of the all-time sci-fi greats of the decade. An absolute masterpiece, then, but does it stand tall in comparison to Interstellar? I should say so …

14. BRIGHTBURN – torpedoing Crawl right out of the water in the summer, this refreshing, revisionist superhero movie takes one of the most classic mythologies in the genre and turns it on its head in true horror style. The basic premise is an absolute blinder – what if, when he crashed in small-town America as a baby, Superman had turned out to be a bad seed? Unsurprising, then, that it came from James Gunn, who here produces a screenplay by his brother and cousin Brian and Mark Gunn (best known for penning the likes of Journey 2: the Mysterious Island, but nobody’s perfect) and the directorial big break of his old mate David Yarovesky (whose only previous feature is obscure sci-fi horror The Hive) – Gunn is, of course, an old pro at taking classic comic book tropes and creating something completely new with them, having previously done so with HUGE success on cult indie black comedy Super and, in particular, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and his fingerprints are ALL OVER this one too. The Hunger Games’ Elizabeth Banks (who starred in Gunn’s own directorial debut Slither) and David Denman (The Office) are Tori and Kyle Breyer, a farming couple living in Brightburn, Kansas, who are trying for a baby when a mysterious pod falls from the sky onto their land, containing an infant boy. As you’d expect, they adopt him, determined to keep his origin a secret, and for the first twelve years of his life all seems perfectly fine – Brandon’s growing up into an intelligent, artistic child who loves his family. Then his powers manifest and he starts to change – not just physically (he’s impervious to harm, incredibly strong, has laser eyes and the ability to disrupt electronic devices … oh, and he can fly, too), but also in personality, as he becomes cold, distant, even cruel as he begins to demonstrate some seriously sociopathic tendencies. As his parents begin to fear what he’s becoming, things begin to spiral out of control and people start to disappear or turn up brutally murdered, and it becomes clear that Brandon might actually be something out of a nightmare … needless to say this is superhero cinema as full-on horror, Brandon’s proclivities leading to some proper nasty moments once he really starts to cut loose, and there’s no mistaking this future super for one of the good guys – he pulverises bones, shatters faces and melts skulls with nary a twitch, just the tiniest hint of a smile. It’s an astonishing performance from newcomer Jackson A. Dunn, who perfectly captures the nuanced subtleties as Brandon goes from happy child to lethal psychopath, clearly demonstrating that he’s gonna be an incredible talent in future; the two grown leads, meanwhile, are both excellent, Denman growing increasingly haunted and exasperated as he tries to prove his own son is a wrong ‘un, while Banks has rarely been better, perfectly embodying a mother desperately wanting to belief the best of her son no matter how compelling the evidence becomes, and there’s quality support from Breaking Bad’s Matt Jones and Search Party’s Meredith Hagner as Brandon’s aunt and uncle, Noah and Meredith, and Becky Wahlstrom as the mother of one of his school-friends, who seems to see him for what he really is right from the start. Dark, suspenseful and genuinely nasty, this is definitely not your typical superhero movie, often playing like Kick-Ass’ deeply twisted cousin, and there are times when it displays some of the same edgy, black-hearted sense of humour, too. In other words, it’s all very James Gunn. It’s one sweet piece of work, everyone involved showing real skill and devotion, and Yarovesky in particular proves he’ll definitely be one-to-watch in the future. There are already plans for a potential sequel, and given where this particular little superhero universe seems to be heading I think it could be something pretty special, so fair to say I can’t wait.

13. STAR WARS EPISODE IX: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER – wow, this one’s proven particularly divisive, hasn’t it? And I thought The Last Jedi caused a stir … say what you will about Rian Johnson’s previous entry in the juggernaut science fiction saga, while it certainly riled up the hardcore fanbase it was at least well-received by the critics, not to mention myself, who found it refreshing and absolutely ingenious after the crowd-pleasing simplicity of JJ Abrams’ admittedly still thoroughly brilliant The Force Awakens. After such radical experimentation, Abrams’ return to the director’s chair can’t help feeling a bit like desperate backpedalling in order to sooth a whole lot of seriously ruffled feathers, and I’ll admit that, on initial viewing, I couldn’t help feeling just a touch cheated given what might have been if similarly offbeat, experimentally-minded filmmaker Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World) had stayed on board to helm the picture. Then I got home, thought about it for a bit and it started to grow on me, before a second viewing helped me to reconcile all everything that bugged me first time around, seemingly the same things that have, perversely, ruffled so many more feathers THIS TIME. This doesn’t feel like a retcon job, no matter what some might think – new developments in the story that might feel like whitewash actually do make sense once you think about them, and the major twists actually work when viewed within the larger, overarching storyline. Not that I’m willing to go into any kind of detail here, mind you – this is a spoiler-free zone, thank you very much. Suffice to say, the honour of the saga has in no way been besmirched by Abrams and his co-writer Chris Terrio (sure, he worked on Batman V Superman and Justice League, but he also wrote Argo), the final film ultimately standing up very well indeed alongside its trilogy contemporaries, and still MILES ABOVE anything we got in George Lucas’ decidedly second-rate prequels. The dangling plot strands from The Last Jedi certainly get tied up with great satisfaction, particularly the decidedly loaded drama of new Jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley) and troubled First Order Supreme Leader Kylo Ren/Ben Solo (Adam Driver), while the seemingly controversial choice of reintroducing Ian McDiarmid’s fantastically monstrous Emperor Palpatine as the ultimate big bad ultimately works out spectacularly well, a far cry from any perceived botched fan-service. Everyone involved was clearly working at the height of their powers – Ridley and Driver are EXCEPTIONAL, both up-and-coming young leads truly growing into the their roles, while co-stars John Boyega and Oscar Isaac land a pleasingly meaty chunk of the story to finally get to really explore that fantastic chemistry they teased on The Last Jedi, and Carrie Fisher gets a truly MAGNIFICENT send off in the role that defined her as the incomparable General Leia Organa (one which it’s still heartbreaking she never quite got to complete); other old faces, meanwhile, return in fun ways, from Anthony Daniels’ C-3PO FINALLY getting to play a PROPER role in the action again to a brilliant supporting flourish from the mighty Billy Dee Williams as the Galaxy-Far-Far-Away’s own King of Cool, Lando Calrissian, while there’s a wealth of strong new faces here too, such as Lady Macbeth’s Naomie Ackie as rookie rebel Jannah, Richard E. Grant as suitably slimy former-Imperial First Order bigshot Allegiant General Pryde, The Americans’ Keri Russell as tough smuggler Zorii Bliss and Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan as Resistance tech Beaumont Kin. As fans have come to expect, Abrams certainly doesn’t skim on the spectacle, delivering bombastic thrill-ride set-pieces that yet again set the benchmark for the year’s action stakes (particularly in the blistering mid-picture showdown between Rey and Kylo among the wave-lashed remains of Return of the Jedi’s blasted Death Star) and awe-inspiring visuals that truly boggle the mind with their sheer beauty and complexity, but he also injects plenty of the raw emotion, inspired character work, knowing humour and pure, unadulterated geeky FUN he’s so well known for. In conclusion, then, this is MILES AWAY from the clunky, compromised mess it’s been labelled as in some quarters, ultimately still very much in keeping with the high standards set by its trilogy predecessors and EVERY INCH a proper, full-blooded Star Wars movie. Ultimately, Rogue One remains THE BEST of the big screen run since Lucas’ Original Trilogy, but this one still emerges as a Force to be reckoned with …

12. JOKER – no-one was more wary than me when it was first announced that DC and Warner Bros. were going to make a standalone, live-action movie centred entirely around Batman’s ultimate nemesis, the Joker, especially with it coming hot on the heels of Jared Leto’s thoroughly polarizing portrayal in Suicide Squad. More so once it was made clear that this WOULD NOT be part of the studio’s overarching DC Extended Universe cinematic franchise, which was FINALLY starting to find its feet – then what’s the point? I found myself asking. I should have just sat back and gone with it, especially since the finished product would have made me eat a big slice of humble pie had I not already been won over once the trailers started making the rounds. This is something new, different and completely original in the DC cinematic pantheon, even if it does draw major inspiration from Alan Moore’s game-changing DC comics mini-series The Killing Joke – a complete standalone origin story for one of our most enduring villains, re-imagined as a blistering, bruising psychological thriller examining what can happen to a man when he’s pushed far beyond the brink by terrible circumstance, societal neglect and crippling mental illness. Joaquin Phoenix delivers the performance of his career as Arthur Fleck, a down-at-heel clown-for-hire struggling to launch a career as a stand-up-comic (badly hampered by the fact that he’s just not funny) while suffering from an acute dissociative condition and terrible attacks of pathological laughter at moments of heightened stress – the actor lost 52 pounds of weight to become a horrifically emaciated scarecrow painfully reminiscent of Christian Bale’s similar preparation for his acclaimed turn in The Machinist, and frequently contorts himself into seemingly impossible positions that prominently accentuate the fact. Fleck is a truly pathetic creature, thoroughly put-upon by a pitiless society that couldn’t care less about him, driven by inner demons and increasingly compelling dark thoughts to act out in increasingly desperate, destructive ways that ultimately lead him to cross lines he just can’t come back from, and Phoenix gives his all in every scene, utterly mesmerising even when his character commits some truly heinous acts. Certainly he dominates the film, but then there are plenty of winning supporting turns from a universally excellent cast to bolster him along, from Zazie Beetz as an impoverished young mother Arthur bonds with and Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under, American Horror Story) as Arthur’s decidedly fragile mother Penny to Brett Cullen (The Thorn Birds, Lost) as a surprisingly unsympathetic Thomas Wayne (the philanthropic father of future Batman Bruce Wayne), while Robert De Niro himself casts a very long shadow indeed as Murray Franklin, a successful comedian and talk show host that Arthur idolizes, a character intentionally referential to his role in The King of Comedy. Indeed, Martin Scorsese’s influence is writ large throughout the entire film, reinforced by the choice to set the film in a 1981-set Gotham City which feels very much like the crumbling New York of Mean Streets or Taxi Driver. This is a dark, edgy, grim and unflinchingly BRUTAL film, frequently difficult to watch as Arthur is driven further into a blazing psychological hell by his increasingly stricken life, but addictively, devastatingly compelling all the same, impossible to turn away from even in the truly DEVASTATING final act. Initially director Todd Phillips seemed like a decidedly odd choice for the project, hailing as he does from a predominantly comedy-based filmmaking background (most notably Due Date and The Hangover trilogy), but he’s actually a perfect fit here, finding a strangely twisted beauty in many of his compositions and a kind of almost uplifting transcendence in his subject’s darkest moments, while his screenwriting collaboration with Scott Silver (8 Mile, The Fighter) means that the script is as rich as it can be, almost overflowing with brilliant ideas and rife with biting social commentary which is even more relevant today than in the period in which it’s set. Intense, gripping, powerful and utterly devastating, this truly is one of the best films of 2019. If this was a purely critical Top 30 this would have placed in the Top 5, guaranteed …

11. FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS HOBBS & SHAW – summer 2019’s most OTT movie was some of THE MOST FUN I had at the cinema all year, a genuinely batshit crazy, pure bonkers rollercoaster ride of a film I just couldn’t get enough of, the perfect sum of all its baffling parts. The Fast & Furious franchise has always revelled in its extremes, subtle as a brick and very much playing to the blockbuster, popcorn movie crowd right from the start, but it wasn’t until Fate of the Furious (yup, the ridiculous title says it all) that it really started to play to the inherent ridiculousness of its overall setup, paving the way for this first crack at a new spin-off series sans-Vin Diesel. Needless to say this one fully embraces the ludicrousness, with director David Leitch the perfect choice to shepherd it into the future, having previously mastered OTT action through John Wick and Atomic Blonde before helming manic screwball comedy Deadpool 2, which certainly is the strongest comparison point here – Hobbs & Shaw is every bit as loud, violent, chaotic and thoroughly irreverent, definitely playing up the inherent comic potential at the core of the material as he cranks up the humour. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham take centre stage as, respectively, DSS agent Luke Hobbs and former SAS black operative Deckard Shaw, the ultimate action movie odd couple once again forced to work together to foil the bad guy and save the world from a potentially cataclysmic disaster. Specifically Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), a self-proclaimed “black superman” enhanced with cybernetic implants and genetic manipulation to turn him into the ultimate warrior, who plans to use a lethal designer supervirus to eradicate half of humanity (as supervillains tend to do), but there’s one small flaw in his plan – the virus has been stolen by Hattie Shaw (Mission: Impossible – Fallout’s Vanessa Kirby), a rogue MI6 agent who also happens to be Deckard’s sister. Got all that? Yup, the movie really is as mad as it sounds, but that’s part of the charm – there’s an enormous amount of fun to be had in just giving in and going along with the madness as Hobbs and the two Shaws bounce from one overblown, ludicrously destructive set-piece to the next, kicking plenty of arse along the way when they’re not jumping out of tall buildings or driving fast cars at ludicrous speeds in heavy traffic, and when they’re not doing that they’re bickering with enthusiasm, each exchange crackling with exquisite hate-hate chemistry and liberally laced with hilarious dialogue delivered with gleeful, fervent venom (turns out there’s few things so enjoyable as watching Johnson and Statham verbally rip each other a new one), and the two action cinema heavyweights have never been better than they are here, each bringing the very best performances of their respective careers out of each other as they vacillate, while Kirby holds her own with consummate skill that goes to show she’s got a bright future of her own. As for Idris Elba, the one-time potential future Bond deserves to be remembered as one of the all-time great screen villains ever, investing Brixton with the perfect combination of arrogant swagger and lethal menace to steal every scene he’s in while simultaneously proving he can be just as big a badass in the action stakes; Leitch also scatters a selection of familiar faces from his previous movies throughout a solid supporting cast which also includes the likes of Fear the Walking Dead’s Cliff Curtis, From Dusk Till Dawn’s Eiza Gonzalez and Helen Mirren (who returns as Deckard and Hattie’s mum Queenie Shaw), while there’s more than one genuinely brilliant surprise cameo to enjoy. As we’ve come to expect, the action sequences are MASSIVE, powered by nitrous oxide and high octane as property is demolished and vehicles are driven with reckless abandon when our protagonists aren’t engaged in bruising, bone-crunching fights choreographed with all the flawless skill you’d expect from a director who used to be a professional stuntman, but this time round the biggest fun comes from the downtime, as the aforementioned banter becomes king. It’s an interesting makeover for the franchise, going from heavyweight action stalwart to comedy gold, and it’s a direction I hope they’ll maintain for the inevitable follow-up – barring Fast Five, this is THE BEST Fast & Furious to date, and a strong indicator of how it should go to keep conquering multiplexes in future. Sign me up for more, please.

#frozen 2 #Once Upon A Time In Hollywood #crawl #crawl movie #Shazam!#Alita Battle Angel #ad astra #Brightburn #star wars the rise of skywalker #joker #joker movie #hobbs and shaw #2019 in movies

5 notes · View notes

zombeesknees · 5 years

Note

o benevolent angie bee, may i request your assistance in convincing a friend to give the fast and the furious a shot? my major selling points are a) gal gadot and assorted other gorgeous kickass ladies and b) FOUND FAMILY NARRATIVES, but so far she's not buying it. so: on a scale of one to leverage, where do you rank the trope-y, ridiculous, incredibly wonderful found family experience that is this franchise?

OOOOOOOOH BOY. Okay, so, this is absolutely gonna be a B-List column in the near future, but here’re the high points I use to sell this series on folks:

You like Found Families? This is the BIGGEST FOUND FAMILY EVER. You either die a villain or live long enough to join the Toretto/O’Connor clan, man. This family is so strong that it sucks people into it, redeems them, and then sits them down for Sunday BBQs and blood oaths.

Seriously. The Found Family trope was made for this series. These characters are so ride-or-die for each other it’s amazing.

Speaking of tropes, this series is full of ‘em. There’s the amnesia trope. There’s Robin Hood-ing left and right. There’s a cop who falls for a criminal (albeit in a brotherly fashion rather than a romantic one) and abandons his old life to join them. There’s secret babies. People return from the (assumed) dead. There’s epic romantic sacrifices. It’s wild.

The representation is OFF THE CHAIN. This is a series that has token white guys in it, where 95% of the cast are POC. The women are BADASS, and allowed to be pretty and feminine even as they drive cars through police blockades. Suki has a bubblegum pink car and drives in stilettos and KICKS WHOLESALE ASS. The aforementioned Gal (enough said). Mia is a mama bear who would kill a man to protect her family. Letty is self-destructive as fuck and the perfect partner for Dom. The characters are allowed to be messy and fucked up and can still redeem themselves later (see: Vince).

F&F constantly calls out the difference between legal and right. Cops are often the bad guys, because the system is often broken, bad people have all the power/money/etc., and sometimes POC have to do stuff society deems “illegal” in order to feed their families or protect their brothers.

You’re not a huge fan of constant car chases or explosions? Okay, that’s fair. But the great thing about the F&F series is that it encompasses almost every action sub-genre. Movie #1 is an undercover cop story. Movie #2 is a buddy cop story. Movie #3 is a teen drama (with YAKUZA!). Movie #4 is a revenge flick. Movie #5 (and my personal favorite thus far) is a heist movie. Movie #6 pits our heroes against an international terrorist. Movie #7 is a revenge flick from the opposite direction. Movie #8 has CHARLIZE THERON AS A CYBERTERRORIST and the Fast Fam become secret government agents to take her down. I MEAN.

They just keep. Getting. Better. I know that sounds crazy, because most series prove the rule of diminishing returns. But the Fast franchise is that rare beast that keeps satisfying every time. Each installment has made more at the box office than the last one, as they travel the world and cast more and more people from other countries, and the car stunts and action choreography just gets more polished and exciting with each new movie. And, sure, they get more ridiculous, too — we’ve gone from the Big Action Moment being out-racing a train in #1 to DRIVING A CAR THROUGH TWO HUGE SKYSCRAPERS in #7 and FIGHTING A SUBMARINE THROUGH ICE in #8, but that’s just the nature of action films. And it’s FUN, DAMMIT.

Re: the cast continuing to expand great: this franchise has Vin Diesel, The Rock, Jordana Brewster, Luke Evans, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell, Nathalie Emmanuel (aka Missandei of Game of Thrones), Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Elsa Pataky (aka Mrs. Chris Hemsworth), Gal Gadot, Don Omar, Kristofer Hivju (aka Tormund of Game of Thrones), Gina Carano... It’s really wild how many awesome people are in this.

The male characters are allowed to be emotional. You see the guys CRY, which is so goddamned rare in action films. There’s so much LOVE between the characters (and the cast, too; if you REALLY want to sob, look into everyone’s reactions to Paul Walker’s death and how Vin basically lost his mind in the aftermath and NAMED HIS DAUGHTER AFTER HIM). You can really feel the camaraderie in these.

When I’m trying to get people into the franchise, I actually skip the first three films — the tone changes so significantly after the first two and #3 is pretty much only good for Han reasons. #4 is dark, yeah, but it also sets the stage for the rest of the series and introduces the characters pretty well for first-timers.

And once that’s been seen, #5 is just SO DAMN GOOD!!! You get the whole crew together. It’s the one that really solidifies the Found Family aspect of the series. The Rock shows up. It’s laugh-out-loud hysterical at times. The action sequences are WILD. And it’s the Fast Fam vs. an awful dictator, pulling a huge heist via cars, so what’s not to love about that???

I hope this helps, and that your friend agrees to sit down and give them a chance, because I was reluctant, too, once, and now I’m so glad I let my eyes be opened to the Greatness that is the Fast Films (family motto: “There’s no problem that can’t be fixed with the judicious application of cars.”).

Also there’s a spin-off — HOBBS & SHAW — hitting theaters in August with The Rock and Jason Statham taking on IDRIS ELBA. And... If that ain’t magical, I don’t know what is.

#fast and the furious #asks #redbelles

22 notes · View notes

lilulo-12fanfiction · 5 years

Text

Nothing Breaks Like A Heart 1

So here’s my first Avengers fic. I know I haven’t posted in a while and I have a few stories I need to work on.

Huuuuge thank you to @shreddedparchment for betaing this chapter and helping me clean it up. I’m definitely rusty.

This is not a reader insert but a Steve Rogers x OC story.

But feel free to send requests for reader inserts.

The sound of Nora’s heels echoed down the hallways of SHEILD as she headed to her destination. Ever since she was a little girl the sound of high heels was the sound of power to her. Pepper always seemed to have power in some way over her Uncle Tony. Not in a bad way. He just needed guidance occasionally as Pepper had put it. She appeared exude confidence as she strutted down the hallway with the familiar Stark swagger. She was the poster child for “fake it til you make it” never quite feelingas confident as she looked. This building, the history of the organization was beyond intimidating. Her Grandfather’s and her father’s legacies were looming over her.

As far as the world knew, her father had died in a plane crash. It had been her birthday tradition; her father dropped her off with her Uncle Tony and attended business. Every year, it made Nora’s heart ache that her father spent her birthday away from her. She often wondered if it was to mourn her mother who died in child birth. Tony, however, made every single birthday that Nora could remember absolutely special. He just had to work harder now that both of her parents died on that day. She was 10 when her father passed.

Nora, as soon as she was old enough to really pay attention to detail, always felt that her father’s death seemed off. They had no idea what had caused his private plane to crash. Both her father and Howard seemed to be working on something important before they died and both had died in strange accidents.

She felt the pain of her father’s death deeply still. He had his flaws, he often put work first, but he always made sure that she knew how much he loved her. Tony has feared she’d never get out from under the darkness that over took her once she was gone. She found solace in working with her Uncle. He taught her everything he knew.

“Nora!” Fury’s voice boomed with greeting shaking her from her thoughts. She smiled and hugged him. She was one of the few that brought out Nick Fury’s softer side.

“Good to see you Uncle Nick. Where is he?” She’d been calling him that since she was a kid. Before her father was gone he worked closely with Fury.

“Where he’s been almost every day- in the gym punching bags. I’ll take you down there now.” Nora nodded, a feeling of nerves and queasiness coming over her. What a first impression it would be if she puked on Captain America’s shoes. She trailed behind Fury slightly taking in the facility. It always impressed her no matter how many times she saw it.

Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him. His tall muscular frame was more impressive than photos revealed. She didn’t know him but she felt like she did. Her father worshipped him. She had never really known her grandfather. She was a baby when he and Maria died. But she had heard all of the stories from her father.

She followed Nick into the gym as she carefully studied Steve Rogers. She jumped when he hit the punching bag so hard it flew across the room. She must have let out a squeak because The Captain was giving her a sheepish look. He may have been a super soldier but he had the most innocent face she’d ever seen. He was equally taking her in. She was relatively short, but then again height didn’t run in the family. She had pale skin, high cheekbones and dark curly hair that was past her shoulders. Shiny loose ringlets framed her face. It was her eyes that captivated Steve. They were a pale green, something he’d never seen before. She was wearing a black suit jacket and matching dress shorts with a silk red cami finished off with her stilettos.

“Captain- I have someone here who would really like to get to know you.” Fury looked to Nora. She smiled nervously and approached the man her father had admired so much. She extended her hand.

“Nora Stark.” She watched as Steve’s eyes grew wide.

“Howard-“

“Howard’s granddaughter.” She finished for Steve.

“I didn’t know Tony had a daughter.” From what Steve had heard of the billionaire, responsible parent wasn’t included. Nora snickered.

“He doesn’t. Well not that he knows of anyway.” She saw a rare genuine smirk on Fury’s face.

“Tony’s my uncle and guardian for the past 12 years. My father was his brother. Your namesake actually. He was Grant Stark. Grant Roger Stark. Clearly Howard was a fan.” Nora felt a little flutter as she watched Steve’s face turn slightly pink.

“Nora is brilliant.” Fury turned and smiled at Nora. “Genius like her uncle and father. She has her masters in Computer Science and Cyber security. She helps Pepper Potts run Stark Industries, charms the press when Tony does something embarrassing.” His voice was filled with pride as if he was talking about his own child.

“I think I should be more excited to get to know you instead.” Steve was laughing but he was incredibly impressed.

“Oh please, I have a photographic memory. If it wasn’t for that I’d probably be working at Costco or something.” Nora tried to brush off the compliment.

“Well, I have to get back to work so I’ll leave the two of you to get to know each other.” Nick Fury excused himself leaving a flustered Nora behind.

“So why the interest in getting to know me?”

“Okay well meeting a man that was in ice for 70 years and lived should be reason enough.” Steve laughed at her bluntness and Nora continued. “The reason I came is that I HAD to meet you. Howard was your biggest fan, for lack of a better term. You marked his life. He never stopped looking for you. He thought that you could have survive the crash. Then after a while he just wanted to bring you home. You were his friend and he felt like he somehow failed you. Your bravery saved so many. My father admired you as much as his father did. Once Howard died he continued his search. You were like the family member I never met. You occupied a space in my life and now I can actually know you.”

She turned slightly and Steve could tell she was wiping a tear from her face. Talking about her father always made her emotional.

“Can we get out of this gym? It smells like feet and I’m not into it.”

The super soldier tipped his head back and a laugh erupted from deep down.

Nora always covered her emotions with jokes and sarcasm. She got that from Tony.

“If you give me a half an hour to shower and change we can get out of the building.”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll be waiting outside so Fury can’t try to put me to work.”

Steve watched Nora for a moment from the door. She had changed into a white V-Neck T-Shirt and her heels were replaced with black flip flops and she had an army green baseball cap to shield her face and was sitting on a bench outside of Sheild with her legs crossed reading a fashion magazine.

She smiled when she saw him walk out of the building. She had one of those smiles that could light the darkest of places. He was excited to talk to someone that shared a link to his past. He had felt so alone. He liked Natasha but it just wasn’t the same as genuine friends, not yet anyway. Everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. was nice but they wanted something from him, a piece of him. To Nora, Steve must have been the only other connection besides Tony to her father and grandfather . She wanted to know Steve, she didn’t NEED Captain America.

“You changed?”

“Well I try to stay incognito as often as possible. Not easy when you were raised by Tony Stark. Plus I’m not enough of a masochist to try to walk the city in those shoes” she replied effortlessly.

Steve grinned at her. “So where to?” He questioned as she stood up and threw her magazine into the big teal leather bag that was over her shoulder.

“Well from what Nick told me you haven’t really gotten out much. So I thought we could do some walking around the city and I’d show you some of my favorite places in Manhattan. I know a lot of cool places that are amazing that don’t get a lot of tourist action so it’s easier to blend in. It’s nice to be able to do things without public scrutiny. I’m sure you’ll start having people recognize you if they haven’t already. Before you know it you’ll have your very own dedicated paparazzi.” She rolled her eyes and them laughed.

“I’d love to see your favorite places.” He looked at her with an intensity that took her breath away. She smiled when he offered her his arm. Linking her arm within his she lead him down the street to her favorite art gallery.

As they were walking and laughing Nora felt her phone vibrate on her pocket. She looked and saw that it was Tony. She sheepishly apologized to Steve and answered her phone.

“Hi Tone.” Stevd could hear the admiration for her Uncle in her voice.

“Hey kid- where are you?” He sounded tired. He and Pepper had been working non-stop for days.

“Out with a friend” She knew her Uncle held a bitterness towards the super soldier. Tony’s feelings were completely irrational but she knew it was involved with his complicated feelings towards Howard. “Finally came up for air?”

“Something like that. You know I really wish you’d let Happy or one of his guys drive you. What if someone came after you?” Nora rolled her eyes.

“Well its a good thing Rhodey taught me to defend myself. Don’t worry about me. One of the guys drove me and now I’m not alone. Please get some sleep and make sure you eat something.”

“Okay Nori. Be good. I’ll see you in the morning.” She smiled at his use of the nickname he gave her when she was a little girl.

“Sorry about that.” Nora quickly shoved her phone back in her pocket. “Tony and Pepper have been working on a pretty big project. He works way too hard sometimes. They both do.”

Steve waved off her apology. “No need to apologize. Shall we go to this gallery of yours?”

Nora nodded and they continued down the street. She linked her arm back in his with a grin as they headed back down the street.

A while later Nora had snuck them through the kitchen of her favorite restaurant. The Chef was a good friend of hers. While she loved all his cooking, the food on the menu was pretentious and overpriced. He was an artist but needed to pay his dues. He always whipped her up something of his own making. The wait staff knew they were friends and that ensured she’d have a small table all the way in the back of the restaurant and he could flex his creativity.

“You’re about to have the food experience of your life Rogers”

“We’re on a last name basis now?”

“Oh no- you’re not allowed to call me Stark. That’s my uncle and it’s weird. But seriously. Jason is the top up and coming Chef in Manhattan. His food is incredible.”

“Nora Stark!” Jason was walking out of the kitchen to greet her.

“Shhhhh Jay. I’m trying to fly under the radar.” Nora scolded him.

“Damn. Sorry! I haven’t seen you in a while I thought you might be in Cali again.”

Nora shook her head. “It’s nice to visit but you know New York has a hold on my heart. Anyway- Jay this is my friend Steve.”

As Steve gave him a wave, Jason’s eyes grew wide. “Oh shit. Nor are you on a date with Captain America?”

Nora shot Jason a glare. “Why are you so embarrassing? No this is not a date.” Nora’s face was cherry red.

Jason was giving her a knowing smirk. “Nice to meet you dude. Man, being a Stark gets you the hook up. I’ll send one of the girls out with some wine and some bread in a few.” Jason turned and headed back into the kitchen.

Steve was laughing out loud as Nora was burying her face in her hands. “He seemed nice.” Steve was still laughing when Nora finally picked her head up.

She quickly admired how the skin around his blue eyes crinkled when he laughed. She took a deep breath and let out a small laugh. “He’s a straight pain in the ass but he’s a really great friend.”

Steve had managed to avoid talking too much about his past. He didn’t want to talk about Peggy or Bucky. It was too much to talk about with someone he had just met. If Nora noticed he wasn’t sharing much insight she didn’t let on. Instead she told him the story of when Tony was kidnapped and how he built the armor to escape.

“God- I was so devastated when Pepper told me he was gone. I didn’t think I’d survive the loss of him. He and I have been a team since even before my father died. Everything I am is because of him. I refused to believe he was dead. I felt like I would know if he was gone. I know that probably sounds crazy. When my dad died. That day, even before it happened something felt wrong. I didn’t feel that with my uncle. And then he was back and it was like I could breath again. Things have been crazy ever since but I don’t think I would change any of it. I just wish he didn’t suffer as much as he did.”

“It doesn’t sound crazy at all. Some people have intuition like that. Some things just can’t be explained.” Steve could see the emotion on Nora’s face again. She was open and authentic. She was like breathing fresh air. Steve knew this woman would have a place in his life going forward.

It was late by the time they finished eating. Steve had started telling Nora stories of Howard

and she couldn’t get enough. She automatically could see the similarities between her Uncle and Grandfather. Maybe that was why they had such a difficult relationship.

After they had said their goodbyes to Jason and thanked him for dinner Nora pulled her cell back out once they got outside. “I’m going to call one of the drivers we have on call. I’ll have him drop you off before he takes me home. If I walked home this late my Uncle would have a stroke.”

“I’ll wait with you to make sure you’re picked up safely but I can walk.” Steve didn’t want her going out of her way. He would be perfectly fine walking back.

“That’s dumb. Let me drop you off.” Nora rolled her eyes. Before Steve could object again Nora cut him off. “You might as well just give in. I’ve been told I get my stubbornness from my Grandfather.”

“Alright fine.” Steve held his hands up in defeat. They stood in a comfortable silence while they waited for the town car to arrive. Nora couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to have Steve’s arms around her and immediately scolded herself silently. Steve was gorgeous to look at, there was no denying it. Yet it was his demeanor that drew her to him. His silent strength made her feel safe. Maybe it was because she had been through so many crazy things between her father and her Uncle.

“Nora- thank you for insisting on meeting me and getting me out of this building. I didn’t realize how much I needed it.” Steve’s voice yanked Nora from her thoughts. She was happy Steve couldn’t see the heat rise to her cheeks again. She offered him a bright smile.

“I mean my motives were purely selfish overall but I had heard that you were having a hard time so I thought it was what my dad would have done. Don’t worry- I’ll be around so much you’ll get sick of me.” Steve reached out and squeezed her hand. Nora felt her heart soar to her throat. She stood for a moment enjoying the feeling of his skin on hers. The contrast between his rough skin on her own soft skin gave her goosebumps.

“Not possible.” He gave her what Nora would soon call his signature smile. Before either of them could say anything else a black town car pulled up to the curb.

“This is us.” Nora’s voice came out in a whisper as she gently pulled her hand from Steve’s. He quickly opened the door so she could get in and slide over. He soon followed and shut the door. Nora gave the driver Steve’s address and then sat back against the seat. Her hand was resting on the seat next to Steve’s. All she had to do was reach her pinky over just slightly so their hands would touch. She felt like a school girl idiot with an obnoxious crush. She wasn’t like this. She had just met him. Yet she was so painfully aware of how close he was to her. His large frame took up quite a bit of space in the back seat. Nora was still deep in thought when they pulled up to their destination.

“When can I see you again?” Steve broke the silence of the car ride. “It’s really nice to have someone to talk to. I really want to get to know you better.” Nora couldn’t help but smile at the hopeful look on Steve’s face.

“Give me your phone.” Nora put her hand out. Once Steve had dug it out of his pocket he placed it in her hand. She quickly added herself to his phone. “I sent a text to myself so I have your number. Call me when you want to get together.”

Steve wanted to lean in and kiss her goodnight. He reminded himself that this wasn’t a date. Nora wanted to connect with her past. She was a friend. He couldn’t help himself from kissing her on the cheek. “Thank you again. Truly. You have no idea how much I needed this. I’ll call you.”

Steve had gotten out of the car before Nora could even react. She had her hand on her cheek where she could still feel his lips. She looked up and saw Charlie, the driver, looking at her in the rear view mirror with a smile.

“I see you had a good night Ms. Stark” she could hear the teasing in his voice.

“Chuck- first of all I keep telling you to call me Nora. I don’t like the formality. Second of all let’s not tell my uncle who you dropped off.”

Charlie smiled at the nick name that Nora had given him. “Your secret is safe with me”

“Not so much a secret but-“ Nora’s train of thought was interrupted by her phone. She looked and saw Pepper’s face smiling at her. She didn’t even have a chance to squeak out a greeting.

“Nora where are you?” Pepper’s voice sounded slightly panicked.

“On my way back to the tower.”

“Okay listen, Phil is taking me to the air port. When you get home, go straight to your room and pack some things, grab your passport and head back outside and wait for Phil. He’s going to come pick you up. Do not stop and see Tony.”

“Pepper, what the hell is going on?”

“Something has happened. Phil will fill you in on the details. Tony is going to need your help but he won’t want you to. So you’re just going to be there.”

“Oh...okay. Have a safe flight Pepper.” Nora was confused and worried l.

“Be safe Nora.” Pepper hung up and Nora leaned back into the seat trying to figure out what possibly could have happened.

As Nora was fielding her call from Pepper, Nick Fury was looking for Steve.

“Fury- what can I do for you?” Steve raised his eyebrows.

“Cap- I have a mission for you.”

#avengers fanfiction #avengers fic #avengers #marvel fanfiction #marvel fic #marvel #Steve Rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #Steve Rogers x OC #captain america #captain america fanfiction #captain america x oc #tony stark #tony stark fanfiction #iron man #iron man fanfiction #steve rogers imagine

34 notes · View notes

your-dietician · 3 years

Text

Entertainment heat wave is coming this summer: What to watch for | Entertainment

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/entertainment/entertainment-heat-wave-is-coming-this-summer-what-to-watch-for-entertainment/

Entertainment heat wave is coming this summer: What to watch for | Entertainment

Remember 2019, when hot girl summer became a motto for living with confidence?

Well, with life getting closer to normal and vaccines nudging the pandemic into — fingers crossed — the rear-view mirror, 2021’s entertainment calendar for the next few months has a similar mood.

Call it a hot everything summer.

Blockbuster movies are returning to theaters. Live concerts are set to resume. Television and streaming shows are back to being a nice part of the mix, not a sole entertainment lifeline. And with travel heating up again, beach books can actually be read on a faraway beach.

To navigate this soaring heat index for fun, here is a list of recommendations that are sunny, breezy, steaming and sizzling. You get the idea.

Hot Jeff Daniels summer

Michigan’s resident acting great always keeps it real — remember his plaid dad shirt at February’s virtual Golden Globes? His latest project evokes his home state’s ethos of blue-collar endurance. “American Rust,” a nine-episode series premiering Sept. 12 on Showtime, stars Daniels as the police chief of a Rust-Belt Pennsylvania town who is feeling “ticked off and kind of jumpy” when a murder investigation tests his loyalties. If the preview looks a bit like HBO’s gritty “Mare of Easttown,” that’s a very good thing.

Hot goofy summer

In real life, metro Detroit native Tim Robinson could be a calm, collected guy. But as a sketch comedian, he’s made an art form out of wildly overreacting to life’s little embarrassments. “I Think You Should Leave,” his mini-masterpiece Netflix show, is back July 6 with a second season. Besides brilliantly making himself the butt of the jokes, Robinson always remembers his hometown friends. Let’s hope for repeat appearances by his pals like “Detroiters” co-star Sam Richardson and Troy’s own Oscar nominee, Steven Yeun.

Hot retro Motor City summer

The Detroit of the mid-1950s comes alive in director Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move,” available July 1 on HBO Max. The crime drama starring Don Cheadle, David Harbour, Benicio del Toro, Jon Hamm and more is about some low-level criminals given a simple assignment that draws them into a mystery that stretches to the heights of the automotive industry’s power structure. The film was shot last year in Detroit under strict COVID-19 safety measures, because Soderbergh, who filmed 1998’s “Out of Sight” here, would accept no other city as a substitute.

Hot road trip summer

Six years ago, a young waitress from Detroit created a viral Twitter thread about a bizarre journey she took to Florida with a new friend to do some freelance stripping. It was as compelling as a novel and as vivid as a movie. Cut to June 30 when “Zola” hits theaters starring Taylour Page and Riley Keough. It’s a comedy and a thriller that defies expectations and makes J-Lo’s “Hustlers” seem mild. Director Janicza Bravo and screenplay co-writer Jeremy O. Harris have created a raunchy adventure that still respects A’Ziah (Zola) King as a strong woman and original writing voice.

Hot action dad summer

Yes, Matt Damon is now old enough to play a Liam Neeson-esque outraged father out for justice. In “Stillwater,” Damon is a worker for an Oklahoma oil rig who must travel to France to try and clear his daughter (Abigail Breslin) of murder charges. Think “Taken,” if it were a serious drama directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy of “Spotlight” fame. It comes out July 30, just in time to make Damon’s fans from his “Good Will Hunting” days feel ancient.

Hot reboot summer

It has been almost a decade since “Gossip Girl” ended its run, which is way too long to be without fashion tips from impossibly beautiful rich kids. The newly reimagined “Gossip Girl” on HBO Max arrives July 8 with some notable improvements, like the inclusiveness of its cast of newcomers. But it’s bringing back the original narrator, Kristen Bell (who grew up in Huntington Woods), as the voice of the title character with the hidden identity.

Hot sweating summer

Sweating is a bodily function, but what exactly is it all about? “The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration,” out July 13, will explore the biology, history and marketing behind the moisture that makes us glow (to use a polite term). It covers everything from the role of stress in sweat to deodorant research that involves people who can sniff out, literally, the effectiveness of a product. Since the New York Times recommended the book as one of its 24 summer reads, you know that author Sarah Everts did sweat the details.

Hot Olympic star summer

The 2021 Tokyo Games, which run July 23-Aug. 8, will feature the world’s best gymnast, Simone Biles. She still enjoys competing, but quarantining gave her some time to improve her work-life balance, as she told Glamour for its June cover story (which comes with a dazzling photo spread of Biles). “Before I would only focus on the gym. But me being happy outside the gym is just as important as me being happy and doing well in the gym. Now it’s like everything’s coming together.” For the 24-year-old GOAT, the sky — or, maybe, gravity — is the limit.

Hot variety show summer

“What percentage of white women do you hate? And there is a right answer.” That was among the questions posed by internet sensation Ziwe to her first guest, Fran Lebowitz, on the current Showtime series that carries her name. Combining interviews, sketches and music, “Ziwe” deploys comedy to illuminate America’s awkwardness on issues of race and politics. The results are hilarious, so find out about Ziwe now before her next project arrives, a scam-themed comedy for Amazon called “The Nigerian Princess.”

Hot ice road summer

Take the driving skills of the reality series “Ice Road Truckers” and add one stoic dose of Liam Neeson and you’ve got “The Ice Road,” which premiered Friday on Hulu. The adventure flick involves a collapse in a diamond mine, the miners trapped inside and the man (Neeson) who’s willing to steer his ginormous rig over frozen water to attempt a rescue mission. Crank up the AC temporarily!

Hot kindness summer

There is a better way to be a human being, and he shares a name with an Apple TV+ series. “Ted Lasso,” the fish-out-of-water sitcom about an American football coach (Jason Sudeikis) who’s drafted to lead a British soccer team returns for a second season on July 23 —the date that Lasso fans will resume their efforts to be more empathetic and encouraging, just like Ted. Only there’s a new sports psychologist for AFC Richmond who seems impervious to Ted’s charms and home-baked biscuits. She doesn’t like Ted? We’re gobsmacked!

Hot podcast summer

When Michael Che guested on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” recently, his segment was interrupted repeatedly by Dave Chappelle, who kept plugging his “The Midnight Miracle” podcast available on Luminary. What Chappelle was selling is worth the listening. “The Midnight Miracle” brings him together with his co-hosts, Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey, and his famous friends from the comedy world and beyond for funny and though-provoking conversations interspersed with music. If you were a fly on the wall of Chappelle’s home, this is what you might hear.

Hot series finale summer

The last 10 episodes of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” start airing Aug. 12 on NBC, a too-short goodbye to one of the most underrated comedies in TV history. You can give all the glory to “The Office,” but the detectives of the Nine-Nine could go toe to toe with Dunder-Mifflin’s Scranton branch in terms of quirkiness, humanity and office romances and bromances. It’s hard to pick a favorite dynamic among the characters, but the irritated father-incorrigible son vibes between Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) and Det. Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) are sublime.

Hot musical comedy summer

Keegan-Michael Key and “Saturday Night Live’s” Cecily Strong lead a star-studded cast in “Schmigadoon!,” an AppleTV+ series premiering July 16 that magically transports a backpacking couple to a land of 1940s musicals. Until Broadway reopens in September, this parody love letter to the power of musical theater should do nicely. And the premiere episode’s song “Corn Pudding”? Catchy!

Hot nostalgia tour

Hall & Oates are criss-crossing the nation with enough 1980s hits —”Maneater,” “Kiss on My List,” “I Can’t Go for That,” “You Make My Dreams Come True,” etc. — to make you want to trade your mom jeans for spandex leggings. As if they weren’t enough top-40 goodness, their opening acts are Squeeze, still pouring a cup of “Black Coffee in Bed” all these years later, and K.T. Tunstall, whose “Suddenly I See” is immortalized as the anthem of “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Hot all-female, all-Muslim punk band summer

A British import now airing on the NBC streaming spinoff Peacock, “We Are Lady Parts” would be notable alone for defying stereotypes about Muslim women. But this sitcom about an all-female, all-Muslim aspiring rock band is a gem of both representation and laughs, thanks to characters like Amina, a shy doctoral candidate in microbiology whose complaints about a guy she calls “Bashir with the good beard” inspires a song.

Hot documentary summer

While Woodstock has become synonymous with epic music gatherings, the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 is finally about to get the pop-culture recognition it deserves. “Summer of Soul: (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” directed by the Roots drummer Questlove, will hit theaters and Hulu on July 2. It chronicles a mostly forgotten event that drew superstars like Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, the Fifth Dimension, Sly & the Family Stone and B.B. King. Using his vast knowledge of music, archival footage and interviews with performers and those who attended, Questlove has created a history lesson that’s also the best concert you’ve never seen before.

Hot Marvel summer

Once you’re all caught up with the summer streaming sensation “Loki” on Disney+, please turn your attention to two new films. “Black Widow,” the long-awaited star turn for Scarlett Johansson’s former KGB assassin Natasha Romanoff, makes its debut July 9. It’s followed by “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” set for Sept. 3 and starring Simu Liu (“Kim’s Convenience”) as the martial arts master of the title. All brought to you by the corporate global entertainment domination machine that is Marvel.

Hot biopic summer

“Respect,” starring Jennifer Hudson, arrives Aug. 13 at theaters, nearly three years to the day the world lost the Queen of Soul. Although Cynthia Erivo gave a fine performance earlier this year as Franklin in “Genius: Aretha” on the National Geographic network, the odds are good that Hudson, chosen by Franklin herself for the part, will be the definitive screen Aretha.

Hot fiction summer

Terry McMillan calls “The Other Black Girl” essential reading. Entertainment Weekly describes it as “‘The Devil Wears Prada’ meets ‘Get Out,’ with a little bit of ‘Black Mirror’ thrown in.” This debut novel by Zakiya Dalila Harris mixes office politics with suspense in its story of Nella Rogers, an editorial assistant who’s the only Black staffer at a noted publishing company. When Hazel, a new Black employee, is hired, things seem to be improving. But then Nella starts receiving ominous unsigned notes. Sounds like yet another reason to keep working from home.

Hot slow dance summer

After nearly four months on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, “Leave the Door Open” remains the song most likely to provoke a quiet storm on the dance floor. The hit single from Silk Sonic (aka Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak) may sound like a cover of a long-lost ‘70s classic R&B tune, but it’s a contemporary song that can make you forget the humidity long enough for “kissing, cuddling, rose petals in the bathtub, girl, lets jump in.”

———