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swirlmup · 11 months

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Well well welly well well....

Let's talk about the art I made for the finale and the last couple character designs revealed, shall we?

It was an all-hands-on-deck situation, and I was able to contribute to one of the final scenes. I hadn't gotten to draw Maria yet this volume, and so that's what I request for this final assignment.

After my last scene with Adam, I had foolishly believed I wouldn't have to draw the Atlas rifles again. Nope! xD I also kinda uh, just put whatever for the mermaid grimm, and wasn't super clear that they had a specific look, so i just sorta drew generally aquatic monsters, but it works out anyways and nobody called me out on it wwwww

The mech was also a bit of a pickle! Had to ask other sketchies for ref images, and I think the design of the mech was still in flux right up to the very last possible second. Still though, skyscraper-sized robots are always fun.

Maria was such a treat to draw, I love how she's simultaneously full of wisdom and also continuously very confused on how qrow and ruby are related.

We in this house don't believe in "cheating" in art, but we do believe in taking shortcuts. Plus it turned out bretty coo.

Got some help with this! perspective is a weak point for me, but felly sketchy Jayjaybase was able to procure a better ref image for me than what I was finding off of google, and it helped a lot for the overall look of the thing.

Serious Maria, giving her final words as a mentor to Qrow.

This was another fun shot to do. Yang waving with her stump is probably my favorite part lol.

Qrow's the kind of character where I always fret if I'll be able to draw him and his tricky hair right, but one way or another he always seems to turn out okay.

It was surprisingly tricky for me to find a good reference image for Qrow's running legs here, luckily posemaniacs came in to save the day.

This was a fun sequence to do, i always like imagining what a person looks like mid-transformation into whatever animal they turn into, the way their body and features must contort. I wonder if I'll get to do more stuff like that in the future?

Lowkey hilarious that Maria didn't have the slightest inkling that Qrow could turn into a bird until this very moment, and her reaction is just "neat!" Perfect note to end that scene on imo lmao

Now on to the last two character designs of the volume!

First up, worst girl, Cinder! There was quite a bit of debate on how to handle Cinder, especially since I personally actually quite liked her canon Atlas outfit, and didn't want to deviate too strongly from it. Overall though, it was decided that she should keep more of her red motif and a lot of the more classy elements from her previous designs. A soft gradient on her cloak helps tie in the colors from her feathers and keeps her legs from disappearing into the cloak. She feels a lot more like a mage here, with us wanting to lean more into her maiden status. As a rule I'm not fond of Cinder, but when you're doing character design, you kinda gotta find a way to sympathize and get in the character's head to find the roots of their personality to design from, and I like to think I was able to find an approachable middle ground with her.

Malachite's new outfit! For realsies this time and not just a cobbling together of her old outfit with her sister's!

Originally back when Malachite reappears and fights with Cinder, she was meant to appear in the casual!outfit shown in this sheet, her hair already cut to its new length. However, for various reasons, the artists for that scene ended up using her vol.5 cobbled design, and the casual!outfit was never used. A shame, I'm so fond of clothes that defy gravitate and look like they're about to fall off xD

But nonetheless! Malachite's Atlas outfit was largely inspired by a particularly eclectic gothic/punk lolita dress that was shared in the server from online, which got some tweaks and adjustments for dressing malachite in. We're dialing up the intensity of Mal's mental schisms here, two brains existing in one person and generally getting along, yet clashing even so. Gave her more simplified hand weapons, as well as increasing the size of her ankle blades to better match the size of her hand-blades. The main idea behind her was for her to be a blender in a cocktail dress lol. Very excited for her to do more stuff in the future of FRWBY!

And that concludes volume 6! Thank you all so much for watching and reading my art commentaries! Hope to see you again as Fixing RWBY continues! Fare well!

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askkrenko · 3 years

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Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Grimer Line

Every RPG has slimes. Pokemon is no exception. DESIGN: They’re slimes. Grimer and Muk are just blobs of purple goo with eyes, and you know what? That’s okay. They have some distinctions- Grimer’s upright and looks cheerier while Muk’s more fluid and more terrifying. Grimer has wide eyes and Muk has narrow ones, but mostly Muk is just big Grimer, but when you’re making a mostly amorphous sludge pile, that’s how you do it. It also has a lot in common with the classic ‘mud man’ enemy type.

There’s nothing overly novel about Grimer and Muk compared to other slime monsters in other stories, but this cements them as really feeling like “the” poison-type Pokemon. Sure, there’s lots of Poison types, but none of them feel as innately toxic and disgusting as Grimer and Muk.

Meanwhile, Alolan Grimer and Muk ARE something special.

Based less on generic toxic sludge and more specifically on oil slicks, Alolan Grimer and Muk add color. It’s just a bit for grimer, though I do love the way the little crystals give him silly looking teeth, but then Alolan Muk is clearly doing that oil-on-water color thing. Further, it’s got toxic crystals which while I don’t quite ‘get’ as far as why they’re there, they look cool and definitely make it a lot more menacing. Alolan Muk is one of the best Alolan forms for design, in that not only is it super cool but it only makes sense as a Pokemon because we’re so used to regular Muk. If Muk is the slime in every RPG, Alolan Muk is the alternate version of the slime that appears late game to take advantage of the fact that you think it’s just a slime. EVOLUTIONS: Both forms of Grimer are late bloomers, not evolving to Muk until level 38, which is honestly awful for their stats. Grimer’s on-par with a Starter Pokemon, but Muk’s weaker than a fully-evolved Starter even though it comes later. I understand the starters are supposed to have a bit of an edge for gameplay, but still. Grimer should evolve somewhere closer to 32, or Muk should be a bit heftier.

Art by Clinkorz, the Laser Necromancer

TYPING: Kantonian Muk is pure poison, which is a great defensive type but a poor offensive one. Poison resists five types and is weak to two, but by the same note, it’s only super effective against two, is resisted by four, and steel’s immune. Adding Dark to the mix on Alolan Muk is major upgrade. Offensively, it’s two more types to hit, with no type resisting both Dark and Poison, and defensively Poison and Dark cover most of each other’s weaknesses. Alolan Muk is only weak to Ground, is immune to psychic, and is still resistant to Poison, Ghost, Grass, and Dark. STATS: Muk’s stats are mostly good all around. It’s only real weakness is a low speed, but it’s 105 HP makes up for its slightly-below-average defense, and combines well with a 100 special defense. 105 Attack is also pretty hefty. Muk’s special attack is garbage, but who cares? It just means Muk won’t use special attacks. Both forms of Muk have the same stats.

Art by tatanRG

ABILITIES: Both forms of Muk have access to Poison Touch, which adds a 30% chance to poison the target on all contact moves. As Muk is a physical attacker, this means ‘basically all your attacks.’ It also stacks with attacks that already have a chance to poison by giving a second chance, so using Poison Jab with Poison Touch gives a 30% chance to poison twice, which brings it to about a 50% chance. This is an all around good ability as long as you’re swinging.

Kantonian Muk can get Stench, which gives a small chance to Flinch the opponent on every hit. The problem is, Flinching only works if you go first, and Muk is at least 30% molasses by volume.

Kantonian Muk’s other option is Sticky Hold, which prevents it from losing its item to Thief, Knock Off, Bug Bite, or whatever. Unless your strategy really demands it, there’s really no need for this over Poison Touch. Alolan Muk can get Gluttony to eat a berry early, which is fine for more HP. Alolan Muk has decent bulk, so landing in half rather than being one-shot is frequent, and a good berry is a decent heal on a Pokemon whose best stat is its HP. Alolan Muk’s unique ability, Power of Alchemy, only works in double battles. If your ally faints, Alolan Muk gains that ally’s ability if possible. It’s weird, and it’s got one very specific use: Giving Alolan Muk Levitate. Ground is its only weakness, so if you can give it Levitate, it’s a lot safer. Of course, this generally involves exploding your own Weezing or something like that, but still.

Art by JoshuaDunlop MOVES: Poison Jab or Gunk Shot. They’re both good. Gunk Shot is stronger overall, but the low accuracy can easily leave you high and dry. Further, Gunk Shot is ranged, while Poison Jab makes contact, so if you’re using Poison Touch, the answer is always Poison Jab. With another ability, Gunk Shot is more reasonable. Kantonian Muk gets a bit of coverage in moves like Rock Slide and Brick Break, as well as the elemental punches. Though nothing is supremely special, Muk has good attack and just having a variety of types to hit with opens up opportunity, and the fact that they’ll mostly benefit from Poison Touch is an added bonus.

If you want to breed a Muk for it, Curse is a great setup move and will help Muk spam Poison Jab for even more damage. Muk’s a physical attacker with garbage speed already, so it’s all gravy. To really go all-in, throw in Rest and Sleep Talk and your Muk isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Alolan Muk is also going to want a Dark attack in its lineup, and while Crunch has the most raw damage, the right answer’s generally going to be Knock Off to inhibit enemy strategies.

For additional strategy options, Muk can learn Shadow Sneak and Pursuit, and has the attack to make use of both. Pursuit is especially notable on Alolan Muk because why would a Ghost type or especially a Psychic type want to stay in against that? It’s only weak to Ground. You gotta switch. And when in doubt: Muk can learn Explosion and has enough Attack to make that sufficiently scary.

Shiny Alolan Muk by Dolcisprinkles OVERALL: Muk does pretty okay for itself, but Alolan Muk is honestly just better. There’s basically no reason to include Kantonian Muk on a team now that Alolan Muk exists. Muk has solid stats, good coverage, and a great ability in Sticky Hold, and Alolan Muk just has all that stuff but better resistances and a second line of STAB. Yes, the resistances are different and maybe you really want to throw Kantonian Muk in front of a Fighting type, but that’s a minor thing. I like Muk overall, and it’s a fine Pokemon with a cool design. Alolan Muk is a great Pokemon with a cooler design. It’s disappointing to see Stench on a Pokemon that can’t make use of it, but my only real strong complaint about Muk is that it gets way too many special attacks. Just so many. I know the poison type is mostly special, but the only physical attacks Kantonian Muk learns via level-up are Pound and Gunk Shot. This makes it really hard to use in a normal playthrough.

I guess I’m going on a bit of a tangent here, but with Pokemon there’s two basic views of them: how they are in the RPG and how they are in high-end battles. Here I mostly talked about Muk’s place in high-end battles, which is ‘decent,’ but its place in the RPG is actually really bad. Kantonian Grimer’s a really late bloomer for evolution, and it’s a physical attacker that starts with Pound and doesn’t get another physical attack (other than the basically useless Fling) until Gunk Shot at level 40 if you don’t use a TM. While this is all fixed in Alolan Grimer (it learns many Dark type physical attacks, plus Poison Fang in the intermediate levels), it still puts Kantonian Grimer at a place where if you catch a wild Grimer and start to use it it’s just going to be awful. And it’s not. Grimer’s a good pokemon and a worthy addition to a team. But only if you throw TMs at it. Look, I’m not expecting every Pokemon - or even ANY Pokemon- to have its optimal moveset with no TMs, no Tutors, and no Egg Moves, but I do expect every Pokemon to have a STAB move of the higher of its attack stats before it evolves. Oh, and you know how Poison Touch is Muk’s best ability? Not only is it a hidden ability, but Pound is literally the only Contact move Muk gets via level-up.

Art by Kaek

#Krenko's Pokemon Guide #Grimer #Muk #Alolan Grimer #Alolan Muk

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inventors-fair · 3 years

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Brushwagg Commentary part 2

Okay I’ve calmed down now

There were a lot of themes this week. I noticed a lot of deathtouch, which is understandable considering the flavor of the brushwagg. One thing y’all gotta watch out for is repeatable deathtouch tokens. It makes limited games absolutely grueling when any attacker on the ground can be kileed by paying a couple mana or tapping a creature. And these would show up in limited, because boy you guys really like making uncommons! I know one of the winners was going to be a lower rarity card, but I think only about 6 or 8 people even bothered making rares. What’s up with that? Lastly, all of your guys’s homemade art was glorious. I was not expecting any new art, and while I don’t usually let it impact my judging (since this is about card design, and I don’t want to give artists an advantage), I was delighted at every piece.

@aethernalstars - Nyxthorn Brushwagg

Is that a pun? Because most enchantment creatures are called something like “nyxborn” which rhymes with “nyxthorn?” Because if so, shame on you. Anyway, a bestow brushwagg! I really like the idea of this, because putting the icnonic brushwagg coat on another creature just seems fun and cool. On his own, this guy makes your guys a little harder to kill in combat but also makes them worse at killing. The “may” here is really nice, though. Reminds me of Gustcloak Soldier in a way, which means that the bestow cost is right on the money. The fact that you can put this on a big guy to keep everyone safe is nice, and the idea that if you put it on just the right creature you can survive the fight AND kill the guy will feel great when it happens. I do worry that the effect is too niche and weak to see much play outside of Doran style decks (in which case dear lord), and I also don’t know how I feel about the bestow not granting +1/+1 like every other bestow creature. Regardless, the card seems fine, just a little hard to play, but great for those who want it.

@demimonde-semigoddess - Porringer Brushwagg

A porringer is a small dish used for soups, stews, and other dishes. Anyway, here’s a brushwagg. So first off, a 2/3 with persist for that mana cost is good! It’s the right cost I feel. The bad news: that ability is way off color. Only blue and red really do that, and with this being a hybrid card, both mono black and mono green need to be able to do it, but neither really do outside of the 5 color “-ling” cycle. It also seems a little bit pricey considering it already comes with a downside, but maybe that’s fine. I do like the idea of the card, it’s just a bit too hard of a color bend for me. Oh, and the art and flavor of this card are really good, I like how it tells a story.

NOTE: After writing this I found out porringer is a place in Lorwyn. That seems fair, then. Good name.

@deafeningsandwichpeach - Unstable Brushwagg

Second card with this name, but a completely different take. For one, our only artifact entry! So it’s a one mana 0/3 that acts as a one-time mini-boros reckoner, but only to creatures or planeswalkers. But it also has to survive the hit. Seems kind of narrow? Your opponent would have to attack into it, or knowingly block it just t let their stuff die anyway. But as soon as they get 3/X creatures all that’s out the window unless you hold up 3 mana each turn, which is not as easy as it sounds. I think if you reverse the phrasing on the first ability, something like “you may have it deal damage... if you do, sacrifice it,” you can get it to send the damage back even if it died from it. I think I’m making this guy sound worse than he is. Colorless pumping isn’t the worst, and an 0/3 for 1 with text will often see play for any number of random reasons. I think this card is perfectly fine, but nothing spectacular. It does feel adequately brushwaggy, even without some of the standard brushwagg stuff, just because of it’s self-pumping and vengefulness.

@deg99 - Apex Brushwagg

Our only silver-border brushwagg, surprisingly. Thoughhonestly? It could stand to be a little more silvery. That activated ability was a prime spot to put something silly for X. But hey, the last ability is definitely silver-border, and feels very on theme for such a prickly guy. The two keyword abilities are a scary mix, making sure that if this thing dies, it’ll die in combat, and when it does, it’ll take something down with it. Still, it’s weak enough that it can get hit by pyroclasms and the like if you tap out, so it’s not game-breaking. All in all this guy is fine, he’s just got a little too much pulling him in different directions to really work for me. Though the fact that you found brushwagg fanart is impressive all on its own.

@gollumni - Brushwagg Elder

Not with that creature type he’s not! I jest. This guy is pretty neat! The idea of an “activated ability matters” theme is neat in concept, and the fact that a lot of activated abilities require mana or to sacrifice something means the ability wouldn’t be so easy to trigger as you might think. I could even see this thing seeing play in older formats where no-mana abilities are easier to come by, like an arbor elf tap. On the other hand, in standard right now most creatures are played for ETBs, aman abilities, or just their bodies, so finding easily repeatable activated abilities is tough enough to not make this 1 mana 5/5 too easy. I still might either drop the P/T by 1 each or raise the cmc by 1, but I might be pvercompensating because this guy is hard to judge. Still, I really like this card and this concept, either as a draft archetype or possibly an overarching tribal theme.

@kytheon4-4 - Tumblewagg

Well, they are just tumbleweed monsters I suppose. So I’ve kind of got a big issue with this guy. Green does get indestructible and supertrample, and red gets “attacks each turn if able” and firebreathing, but together they make this card a color pie break. The only difference between supertrample and unblockable is that the blocking creature can still kill the attacking creature. But that’s not the case here. An opponent blocking here accomplishes nothing unless they have wither or something. So this just becomes an attacker that can’t be blocked and can pump for extra damage. That’s not particularly red green, and it’s not going to be fun to play against, and probably not great to play with, either. Not a fan.

@misterstingyjack - Flatlands Brushwagg

Wow does this guy have a lot going on. He’s got an ability counter, a dinosaur ability word, a flavor text referencing something that I can’t suite recall if its canon or not, and it’s a brushwagg! So a 3/2 with defender is pretty rough. Green is getting 3/2′s for two with upside nowadays, but the fact that this is common makes it a little more reasonable. The enrage ability is very weird here. 2 toughness means he has to somehow be dealt exactly 1 damage, and I doubt any opponent is going to attack with a one 1/x into it. So this guy needs a little help, either a ping from something or a defensive pump spell. And then you get a 4/3! That’s pretty good! I like it. I do worry about the wording on the enrage ability. It is phrased so that it gets the +1/+1 counter even if it has already lost it’s defender counter, but some new players might not realize that. At common, you better makes rue there’s nothing to trick new players. In general, I think this card is pretty good, but it’s just a little clunky here and there.

@naban-dean-of-irritation - Progenitor Brushwagg

I was expecting “protection from everything” with a name like that, but this is fine. It costs one more mana than the almighty ‘wagg and loses trample, but in return it pops open like a spider mama from that vine. Seems a little strong at uncommon, as any sort of pump, aura, or god forbid anthem makes this guy pretty ludicrous. We’ve seen sprouting thrinax do something similar but at a locked number in 3 colors, but myriad construct and thopter foundry have been artifacts at rare with the ability. So I think the power is not quite right. But the ability itself seems fine. I could see it being a pain to fight against, since you don’t really want to attack into it, but you don’t really want to kill it, and if you do then you have to deal with its babies, but I don’t think it’s a bad enough situation to make the card bad. I’d just say it needs some limiters, perhaps a more expensive activation cost, or a once per turn limitation.

@scavenger98 - Possessed Brushwagg

I want to slap the roof of this guy and say he can fit so many tokens in him, but then I’d hurt my hand. So this guy is sort of afterlife 2, but also kind of just unblockable. Blocking this guy is just so much work and can go so poorly. Blocking with more than two creatures also seems unlikely, so I think it’s be safe to just say 2 instead of X for this card. It also seems really strong: it’s an evasive attacker with a big body and leaves behind flyers when it dies. That’s kind of comparable to the mythic Seraph of the scales. However, this still dies to removal much easier and doesn’t do anything in that case, but I could say that about any creature. I guess this is fine as a 3 color uncommon in most sets, but I think the power level of it is a little screwey, and the design itself is a little unnecessarily extravagant.

@walker-of-the-yellow-path - Tasty Brushwagg

I’m glad someone finally managed to do it. I like how this card tells a little story. I like how there’s an ability that wants you to let it die and an ability that stops it from doing it to create some tension. I don’t like the unlimited (as in not once a turn) pumping in green. Almighty Brushwagg had it, but that was a bit of a stretch already, and this guy can do it for way cheaper. It’s stepping into shade territory. I also think the power level on this common is a little high. A bear with one amazing upside and one pretty good one probably deserves to be at least an uncommon. So yeah, a little bit of power concern at common, and a bit of color pie bending.

#brushwagg #commentary #mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventor's fair

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apharine · 4 years

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Sightseeing

Chapter 3

Pairing: Siane x Nanu

Fandom: Pokemon

Rating: T

Read on AO3

Chapter 1 on Tumblr | Chapter 2 on Tumblr

My writing commission info!

Summary: Siane hadn't meant to wind up in Alola, under Nanu's care, while she recovered from a mysterious illness that left her prone to weakness and collapsing. But now that she's here and getting stronger, she wants to see more of Ula'ula than just the rainy skies and the Po Town wall by Nanu's police station. And who could be better suited to give her a tour than the Kahuna of the island himself?

Notes: Siane is the wonderful HybridDragoness’ OC, you can find her art of Siane here! You can also find Hybrid on Twitter and AO3 under the same handle as on Tumblr! For anyone who hasn’t seen yet, Hybrid has done some amazing art of a scene of her commission here!

_________________________

“So, observatory next?” Siane asks, once again dipping her feet in the water.

“Hmm,” Nanu hums, checking his watch. The day is ticking by surprisingly fast, and he wants her to see Ula’ula Meadow more than anything else, at this point. “Depends on how fast we can get back to the bus stop. Buses leave for Mount Hokulani every 30 minutes, usually, so…”

“Okay,” Siane agrees, pulling her feet out and picking up the remains of their lunch. She stuffs all the trash into one of the brown bags and goes to pull her shoes back on.

“There should be a trash can right over there. I’ll be right back,” Nanu says, grabbing the brown bag and standing. He’s right; the trash can is still just around the corner, and he drops their garbage in, moseying back to Siane and trying to mull through his thoughts a little.

To his surprise, Siane’s up on her feet and walking to meet him.

“If we’ve gotta make it to the bus stop for the half hour, we’ve gotta hurry, Nanu!” She exclaims, a smile breaking across her features. “C’mon -”

And then Nanu’s heart stops as her legs give out under her and she drops.

He’s close enough to her that he can rush forward and catch her before she hits the ground. She falls mostly onto his shoulder, and his hands support her around her waist. If he weren’t wearing pants, he’d probably have skinned his knees diving for her; as it is all he has is a little bit of fabric burn.

“Siane!” Nanu shouts, gathering the girl up in his arms. He rearranges her slumped form so that he’s almost holding her princess-style. To his relief, she stirs in his arms.

“I went down, huh?” She asks, blinking blearily up at him.

“Yeah,” Nanu says, pressing one hand to her forehead. She’s a little warm, but nothing bad, and he can’t help but cradle her a little closer to his body with his other arm. “You okay?”

“More or less,” she admits. She always seems a little shaken after collapsing, but who can blame her? Nanu figures he would be, too. “Mostly thanks to you. Thanks for catching me.”

“Of course,” Nanu returns, and though he tries to make his voice surly, it just comes across as soft. “I’ll always try to catch you.”

Siane blinks at this admission, then sits up, using Nanu’s shoulders for a little bit of support.

“Well,” she smiles. “Guess that makes you my hero in more ways than one. Now c’mon - help me stand up.”

Nanu obliges in silence, pulling the young woman to her feet easily.

What did “my hero in more ways than one” mean? Did she already consider him her hero?

The thought makes his chest swell with the same sense of pride he’d felt upon imagining showing Siane the island he loved.

“Let’s skip the observatory today,” Nanu says, letting go of Siane, though he lingers closer than ever before - just in case. “You’re getting more worn down from all of this than you’d like to admit.” Siane goes to open her mouth, but Nanu continues, not letting her get a word in edgewise. “Besides - I really want to show you the Ula’ula Meadow today. You’ll like that more than the observatory, anyway.”

“Yeah?” Siane asks, apparently somewhat mollified.

“Yeah. There’s not much to the observatory during the day, anyway. I’ll take you at night sometime.”

Siane smiles and starts to walk; she’s a little unsteady on her feet, so Nanu continues to linger close.

“Is that a promise?” She asks coyly. Nanu snorts, a lopsided smirk pulling at his lips.

“Yeah, Siane. I promise,” he returns, and he wonders why, exactly, it feels like he’s just gotten a pretty young thing to agree to a future date with him.

“You seemed more excited about the Ride Charizard than you were about the Ride Tauros,” Nanu observes, quirking one eyebrow at Siane as they walk together, approaching Ula’Ula Meadow. He’d been hesitant to put her back on a Charizard again now that she’d dropped once today. At least on a Tauros, the fall would be relatively minimal, and the Pokemon could be urged to walk slowly under the guise of observing the scenery.

“The Ride Tauros was good, too,” Siane says mildly. “And he was great at his job! Very mellow and soothing to ride. It’s just…” Siane trails off for a moment, a smile playing across her lips. “It doesn’t get better than flying, you know?”

Nanu hums in acknowledgement, feeling his lips tug up into a smile in return.

“You’re sure you’re feeling up to walking through the Meadow?” He asks after a beat, holding a tree branch out of the way for Siane as they meander through the thicket that is the entrance to the Ula’Ula’ Meadow. “I could call the Ride Tauros back…”

“No, I’m all right,” Siane insists. “If this place is as gorgeous as you say it is, I want to walk and take it all in. Besides,” she says with a playful smirk. “If I have any issues, I know my big hero will catch me, right?” She bumps Nanu’s shoulder teasingly with her own, walking past him.

Nanu is rooted to the spot for a minute, unable to come up with a response. Big hero? Him?

Finally, he lets go of the tree branch and follows after Siane.

“Yeah,” he mumbles. “Something like that.”

A moment later, the pair step into Ula’ula Meadow proper, and whatever thoughts Nanu had been having about Siane’s quip disappear. This is the moment he’s been waiting for all day - the chance to show off what he, privately, thinks of as the most gorgeous part of the island,

He’s not disappointed. Siane stops dead in her tracks, taking in a sharp breath. Her eyes widen and scan the scenery in front of her, the brilliant colors of the endless fields of dancing flowers reflected in her gaze.

And then a pair of Baile Oricorio swoop and chitter, dancing in the air across the meadow. Another pair follow soon after, their brilliant red and black feathers flashing in the sun, but Nanu isn’t watching them. He’s watching Siane.

A brilliant smile breaks across her face, and she follows the Oricorio until they disappear from sight. Her eyes linger a moment where they’d vanished; then she turns to Nanu, affixing him with the full force of her beauty.

“Did you see them? The four birds?” She asks breathlessly. “They were gorgeous. This whole place is - it’s beyond gorgeous. It feels like a waking dream.”

Nanu feels his stomach twist under the brilliance of her smile, her enthusiasm, and it’s only then that he starts to realize that he’s possibly getting in over his head. He hasn’t felt like this in…so long.

He takes a deep breath in to steady himself and lets it out slowly, a soft smile pulling at his lips.

“I’m glad you like it,” he says. “Ula’ula Meadow is the gem of this island, in my opinion.”

“I can’t believe you’re kahuna of all of this,” she breathes, turning to gesture at the endless flower fields. Nanu ducks his head and puts his hands in his pockets, but Siane continues. “That’s pretty amazing, you know.”

“You’ll make me blush, carrying on like that,” Nanu grumbles, but Siane catches the way he can’t quite suppress that soft smile she’d seen earlier.

“Oh?” Siane says, quirking one eyebrow up at him. “I didn’t even know you could blush. I don’t think I’ve seen you blush once, in the whole time I’ve been with you.” She grins teasingly at him, then steps into the meadow, treading the path carefully. Nanu follows behind her, staying close as always. “I bet you probably turn as red as these flowers when you do blush,” Siane laughs, gesturing at the swaying fields. Nanu snorts, but doesn’t respond. He honestly can’t remember how red he does or doesn’t get when he blushes. In the distance, an Oricorio calls, then darts across the meadow again. “Or as red as those birds,” Siane murmurs, suddenly entranced. “What are they?”

“They’re called Oricorio. They come in several forms across Alola. This is the Baile form,” he explains.

“Fire Type?” Siane guesses.

“Yup. And Flying secondary type,” Nanu affirms. “They actually change form depending on the type of nectar they consume.”

“Really?” Siane asks, the fascination clear in her voice. “That’s pretty interesting, from both a biological and conservation standpoint. I’m going to want to hear more about that. What kind of form changes do they undergo?”

Nanu starts telling her about the types of forms Oricorio come in, and which nectar influences which form, but soon, they’re at a crossroads in the Meadow. Siane pauses just as Nanu’s finishing up about the Sensu Oricorio, and he walks past her, gesturing down the right direction.

“This way to get back home,” he says.

Siane continues to ask Nanu some questions about Oricorio as they walk, especially about the different types of nectar and what ecosystems they thrive in, and the two of them fall into an easy, companionable conversation. Nanu leads the way through the Meadow, which, with its twists and turns, could seem rather maze-like to the unfamiliar.

And then, Siane falls oddly silent, no longer peppering him with little questions or making noises of interest as he talks about the nectar. Nanu glances over his shoulder, concern clenching around his heart - had she fallen, and he’d failed to catch her?

But no - she’s on her feet, just distracted by something. He follows her line of sight, eventually landing on the distant outline of the giant shrine perched in the Lake of the Sunne. Its stone form is impressive, but Nanu can’t help but feel a sense of foreboding as he looks at it, as well.

Some things would be best left alone.

“What’s that?” Siane asks.

“It’s an ancient shrine,” Nanu says, trying to keep his answer as clipped as possible. It doesn’t work - of course it doesn’t, he thinks to himself.

“What kind of shrine?” Siane presses.

Nanu sighs.

“I…don’t know if the shrine itself has a name, anymore. But it’s all a part of the Lake of the Sunne. It’s an ancient cultural site,” he explains.

“Really?” Siane asks, her curiosity growing. Nanu groans internally; this isn’t going well. “We had shrines back home in Aedis. Actually, some of them were connected to the sun, as well.” She takes a few steps towards the path that leads to the Lake, drawn as if by an invisible force.

Nanu’s heart clenches, and he puts one hand on Siane’s shoulder, using enough strength to stop her from advancing any further.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He asks, sounding gruff for the first time all day.

“Well, I was just thinking…there’s a path, and it looks pretty clear,” she suggests, her optimistic expression withering at the darkness that passes over Nanu’s face.

The last thing he’s going to let happen is to allow her to go there.

“That place is dangerous, Siane. It’s old and dilapidated and literally falling apart in the water. The last time I was in there,” he starts, then pauses as a cold chill passes over him. He clears his throat, and finds it within himself to continue. “The floor was close to breaking through in some places, and there was a lot of water damage causing frequent rockfalls. I can’t - you can’t - expect yourself to be able to stay safe in a place as dangerous as that. Not while you’re…” he trails off, letting the unfinished implication hang in the air. Siane scowls, and Nanu wonders how deep this rebellious, headstrong streak of hers runs. Would it get her in trouble, in the end? Had it already, back home in Aedis? “Besides,” Nanu murmurs, trying a different tack. He softens the hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze instead. “You’re starting to look tired, Siane. Let’s go home together and you can rest up.”

The fire in Siane’s eyes simmers down, and her posture softens.

“I guess I am starting to feel a little worn out,” she admits, her eyes flickering back to the enormous stone building in the distance.

“Let’s finish enjoying our walk, then,” Nanu says, giving her shoulder one more gentle squeeze before turning and leading the way once again. He listens carefully as he walks, and it’s not long before he hears Siane’s footsteps, soft on the ground, trailing after him.

“Nanu?” She asks after just a couple moments.

“Yeah?” He responds, continuing to walk. He wants to get as far away from here as possible; a small part of him is regretting having come to the Meadow at all.

“Will you take me there, sometime? To the Lake of the Sunne?”

“Hmm,” is the only response he gives, and to his relief, Siane doesn’t press any further.

There’s a somewhat heavy silence between them as they continue to walk; he can tell Siane has more questions for him about the shrine, but knows better than to ask. He can hardly blame her - if there were altars to the sun in her homeland, of course she’d be curious about this one, too. Truthfully, even Nanu himself turns over the idea of any correlation in the back of his mind; if the gold bridge in the Malie Gardens had been built as homage to a sister bridge in Kanto, who was to say that there wasn’t a sister shrine to this one in Aedis?

Finally, the path begins to run out, and Nanu can see the thicket that will soon open into Route 17 again. Judging from the very humid air coming out of the trees, it’s likely raining, as usual, on his home route.

“Guess we better get ready to hurry back to the Police Station, or else get soaked,” Nanu grumbles. Siane draws close to him, pausing by his shoulder.

“Guess so,” she says, then sighs. Her eyes cast about the Meadow one more time; she looks sad, pained, even, to have to leave. “Nanu?” She says, her voice quiet. “If you can’t promise to take me to the Lake of the Sunne someday, will you at least promise to take me back here sometime soon? Back to the Meadow?”

There’s no way Nanu can deny her this simple request, especially when she’s got that look in her eyes. She looks like she’s longing for freedom, like she’s afraid of being caged up again.

“Of course, Siane,” he says softly. In the distance, over Route 17, he hears a roll of thunder. The two of them look off to the incoming storm in unison. “Must be getting bad out there,” Nanu murmurs, then glances over at the young woman standing next to him. She’d been working so hard today - working to exhaustion, in fact, if the look in her eyes was anything to judge by. To think that she was going to have to trudge through the cold rain in a moment, with hardly any protection… Nanu shrugs out of his cop jacket.

“What are you doing?” Siane asks, clearly baffled.

“Here,” he says, handing her the jacket. “I don’t have an umbrella or anything, and I don’t want you getting sick from being out in the rain while you’re run down like this…”

Siane gets the gist of his idea, a smile breaking across her face.

“Thanks, Nanu,” she beams, holding the jacket over her head. “You ready?”

Nanu’s heart skips a beat once again.

“Yeah,” he agrees. Protecting people may be his job, but it doesn’t explain the way his body - or his mind - are responding to this young woman. It doesn’t explain the fact that he feels, in that instant, that he’d follow her nearly anywhere if she asked him.

“Come on!” Siane calls, already jogging ahead and leaving him behind. Nanu sets off after her.

“Be careful!” He urges, but he gets only a laugh in response.

By the time they’re both safe and sound in the shelter of the Po Town Police Station, it’s pouring outside again. They’re both breathless from the jog, though Nanu’s more soaked through than Siane - he’s pleased to see that his jacket served its purpose. He spares a fond smile for her as he closes the door behind them; he can’t help but feel a little proud that she had made it all that way without any difficulty.

The smile she returns for him takes his breath away more than the jog had.

“That was brilliant,” she gushes, dropping his soaked jacket on the floor. The water that’s permeated the fabric splashes a few of his gathering Meowth, who scatter with a hiss. “Not just the long run, either - the whole day. Everything was amazing, Nanu. Thank you so much.” To his shock, she wraps her arms around his shoulders, pulling him briefly into an embrace. His arms manage to come up just in time to embrace her back - but then, she pulls back and is gone, still smiling. “I still don’t believe that there’s a desert out there on this island, though,” she laughs.

“There is,” Nanu insists.

“Doesn’t seem possible,” Siane teases him.

“As Kahuna, I can promise you, it’s there,” Nanu says, his smile growing a little wider.

“Yeah?” Siane asks, “Guess you’ll have to promise to take me there another day, too.”

Nanu laughs and shakes his head.

“Sure,” he acquiesces. “If that’ll make you happy.”

“It will,” Siane agrees, and Nanu is surprised to feel his heart soar at the thought that this brilliant, beautiful young woman might actually want to spend time with him.

What was he getting himself into?

#nanu #kahuna nanu #officer nanu #siane #siane oc #assuranceshipping #pokemon #sumo #pokemon sumo #commission #aph writes

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

Text

Scoooooooore! LOL gotta love that wayback machine. Anyone remember me talking once about this series I did back in the Dark Angel fandom, one-shots of varying length focused around Max’s family who we never really saw much of in the show? So ever since then I’ve been trying to find them anywhere, since it was before Ao3, I didn’t use ff.net for that fandom, and all the fic sites and archives that were DA specific are pretty much dead and gone-zo nowadays.....but I kept coming up empty, mostly because my dumb ass wasn’t remembering my own titles correctly. So then I started searching by plugging in actual lines I could remember from the fics themselves, and that worked, and quick question self, but explain to me how it is you can remember LINES you wrote in individual fics almost a decade and a half ago, more clearly than you can remember the freaking titles of those fics themselves?

Ah, me.

Course, I still only found half of them, but that half includes most of the ones I really like best, and of the ones still lost the only one I’m really bummed about and still trying hard to find is “Little Lightning Girl,” aka Jondy’s story.

Its always a trip reading really old stuff of yours though. I’m surprised, like, there’s stuff I’ve written from around this same time, both fanfic and original, where I’m just like YIKES, no, hard pass, we’re just gonna pretend this wasn’t a thing....but most of these hold up surprisingly well? I’m pleasantly pleased? Chuffed, almost?

Zane’s “Zen and the Art of Not Breaking Your Customer’s Fucking Face (remember: its bad for business)” is a definite keeper, heh, I amuse myself tremendously sometimes.

Zack’s “Rules for When the Sky is Falling (plus side: this time its not your fault)” is a little weak in spots, like there’s stuff that in hindsight I could see easily strengthening the arc in that one but I’m wondering how much of that has to do with changing/evolving views on character types in general....just because Zack was never a fave of mine back when I was watching then, but falls into a character type I have a lot more appreciation and empathy for now, and that definitely would have led me to write his story differently now than I did then.

Ben’s “They Keep Calling Me Crazy (I say: its the world that’s gone mad)” is kinda the complete reverse.....Ben falls into a character type I have soooooo much less patience for nowadays than I did back then, mostly because of well. The over-glorification of such characters and me being like okay but what about yawn though. Reading his took me back more fully to that mindset than I’ve managed in years though, so it didn’t annoy me as much as I thought it would lmfao.

Tinga’s “A Storybook Kind of Princess (a Grimm kind of happily ever after)” is as weird to me now as it was back then. Easily one of the most experimental “I have no idea what I’m actually aiming for here, just go with it” fics I’ve ever written, and apparently fifteen years later, I STILL can’t decide if I think it worked and I actually like how it came out or not. Hahaha, what is decisiveness though, other than a myth and hashtag Fake News.

Kavi’s “I Never Learned How To Play Ball (striking out comes naturally)” is still one of the weakest of the series, that hasn’t changed.....I didn’t have a really clear idea what I wanted to do with him or where I wanted to take that and that unfortunately kinda shows and the re-reading didn’t really spark anything in terms of what I would definitely have done differently if writing it now.

Vada’s “Chase Me To The Desert, Watch Me Live, I Bet I’ll Thrive (you better believe: I was born to survive)” is the complete opposite, because its another one of those very experimental pieces where I was totally winging it because we knew next to nothing about Vada in the series and I totally just pulled everything about her character and an entire storyline for her completely out of my ass and said sure, why not go with this, but surprisingly it worked I think, and it feels disconnected enough from the rest but standing alone well enough on its own that I can probably do something original with it, as I actually really like the voice I came up with for her.

Eva’s “Big Sisters Know Best (so when I say I’ll die for you: just say thank you and never look back)” I’m actually damn proud of, because its always fun when you successfully sucker punch yourself, let alone with a plot twist you don’t see coming on the reread even though you came up with it in the first place, lmfaaaaaao, and you’re like well hot damn, I do NOT remember doing that but guess I did, wow, go me.

But the big winner for me was Syl’s “The Kind of Girl You Bring Home To Meet Your Parents (when you’ve got the kind of parents that need killing).” That was always a fave, and I’m super stoked it held up as well as it did, cuz I’d hoped it would but wasn’t sure if I was just remembering it through nostalgia-colored glasses and it hadn’t actually been all that great.

(One of the three longest ones in that series, it was a one-shot a whopping 30K in length, in which Syl wants to hijack the local mob’s operations in order to gain access to a Manticore facility in the same city so she can blow it to kingdom come, because Syl’s a little bit crazy in that ‘I know I’ve got issues and I’m totes fine with them, especially as long as I’ve got my trusty grenade launcher’ kinda way....and so to accomplish her goals, she seduces the son of the local mob boss in order to get close to his father and the inner workings of the mob. Only she eventually realizes this kid is a fucking innocent in every sense of the word, wants nothing to do with his family or their business, hates his dad, who’s abusive as hell, and once Syl concludes what she came there to do and has everything she needs, she’s halfway out the door - well, window, technically - before she stops and groans and bangs her head softly against the wall cuz she’s like, uggggh fuck, he’s totally gonna get blamed for this and his dad’s probably gonna kill him and my Jiminy Cricket’s gonna be a fucking BITCH about it forever, so, well, looks like I don’t have a choice, guess I gotta murder his dad and overthrow the mob so he can skedaddle and live a quiet life on a farm in Bumfuck, Whereverville, god, I so did not need this tonight, thanks a lot conscience, like DID I FUCKING ASK, UMM NOO?)

So like, I think that one’s got definite potential to do something else with, possibly turn into an original project, lol.

Anyway, randomness is random, but yay Wayback machine! Still kinda bummed that I could only seem to find half of them, you’d think that’d be enough to make it easy to find the other seven but nope, apparently not. Its really only Jondy’s fic that I still really want to track down though, the other six I could live without. Okay, I kinda want to reread Brin’s and see how that one holds up too. Okay and Jace’s so never mind, scratch that, still wanna find all the other seven, lmao. (I did NOT make it easy to keep track of anywhere I was or anything I was doing fifteen years ago. The mutuals on here who knew me all the way back then can attest to that, lol. Ah me, part two).

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bakugou-jpg · 5 years

Note

Hey there!!! I love your writing and I was wondering if you’d be up for doing a scenario with tomura or Dabi having a heavily tattooed and chubby girlfriend that’s super protective. I just think it would be cool to have either of them be super surprised that there usually docile partner gets really riled up about someone being rude to them... idk if it’s stupid feel free to ignore. Thank you!!!

I am so terribly sorry that this is so extremely late! I’ve been awfully busy with college lately so i’m slowly trying to pick up some sort of rythym but i hope you’ll enjoy! Also thank you so much for saying that, you’re very kind, love!

Dabi

With one arm rested on the bar as support his other one was resting on his s/o’s thigh. His hand was used as a support for his head while his s/o was leaning close to him while tending the wounds he had on his face and the bleeding patches of purple skin that were close to falling apart after his recent fight with the number 1 hero.

His turqoise eyes were glued on (Y/n)’s shoulder, taking in every detail of their tattoos.

“What you did was childish, all you had to do was take the big guy out and not make a whole entire show out of it by showing off. It’s time to use that head of yours ashtray that way you might actually succeed something” Shigaraki hissed while leaning against a table and glaring at the black haired male sitting at the bar.

Dabi’s head shot Shigaraki’s way and he glared at the male, ready to snarl back at him but (Y/n) was quick to stop him by grabbing his chin and turning his head towards them so they could continue what they were doing. Their eyebrows slightly knitted together as the narrowed their eyes at him.

“Stay still” They mocked.

Dabi gritted his teeth and glares at Shigaraki from the corner of his eye. “If you want the big guy out why don’t you do it your-fucking-self, huh?” He mocked, softly squeezing his s/o’s thigh. The man winced slightly when his partner started putting some new staples in his face. “..Fuck”

His s/o softly stroked his cheek and looked at him in pity. “Sorry, just squeeze my leg for support, it’ll be over soon” They said reassuringly.

“If it weren’t for me you’d still be a good for nothing, living on the streets like some sort of rat, stop complaining scar face” Shigaraki said while putting his feet on top of the nearby coffee table, his hand wrapped around a beer can while holding his pinky up.

(Y/n) furrowed their eyebrows slightly and put another staple into his cheek, Dabi immediately squeezed their thigh and gritting his teeth in response. He was about to open his mouth to talk back but his s/o shook their head. “Don’t talk back, let it rest” They whispered. The male grunted in response, rolled his eyes but still obeyed and kept his mouth sealed.

Dabi glued his eyes onto their body again and attached his hand to their under arm, tracing the lines of a black koi fish that they had tattooed there. It was a rather elegant design, not shading or anything special, just simple yet beautifully detailed line art of a japanese koi fish. He liked it, it was probably one of his favorite tattoos on them.

He exhaled and rolled his eyes, glancing at Shigaraki once more from the corner of his eye before locking eyes with the person sitting in front of him again. They smiled for a moment before putting the stapling machine down.

“You’re a pathetic bunch, Dabi. You gotta step up your fucking game because right now you’re a weak son of a bitch”

The male across the room put his pinky on the can and let it disintegrate, the ash slipping through his fingers and falling onto the ground. Shigaraki referred to it as ‘recycling’, completely misunderstanding the way it was actually done but still thinking it was an okay non-villain like thing to do because he’d prefer to personally be the reason why the world would go to shit through his actions rather than because of some pathetic thing like climate change.

“Guys stop fighting over such small matters, please” Mr compress said with a sigh, Spinner nodding in agreement.

Shigaraki stared at Dabi, who had now gotten up from his stool and was ready to burn him to crisp. His stare was cold and it didn’t hold any kind of specific strong emotion even though the male was ticked off.

Dabi clenched his fists and took a step forward. “You fucker-”

“Weak?”

A hand got placed on Dabi’s shoulder and he was pushed down onto his stool, his bewildered, confused and shocked eyes glued onto the person that used to sit in front of him but was now rolling up their sleeves and walking towards Shigaraki.

“You of all people, call him weak?? That’s quite something coming from a guy that almost fucking dies with every single mission we go on” (Y/n) hissed as their usual (E/c) eyes turned into a dark red color.

Shigaraki cocked up his eyebrow and stood up, locking eyes with them and knitting his eyebrows together.

(Y/n) clenched their fist and pushed Shigaraki into a wall. “You’ve never even gotten into a physical fight without getting shot and almost bleeding to death. I’ve had your blood spilling through my fingers more times than anyone here, and that’s a lot when Toga has a blood related quirk.” They hissed while activating their quirk, a red magic circle wrapping around their hand like a bracelet. (Y/n) placed their hand on his shoulder and Shigaraki hissed in pain.

It was as if his muscles were about to be torn apart, and he felt his shoulder screaming for release. It hurt, not too much because he knew they weren’t using full power on him since even though they were mad, they still cared about him in a sort of way.

The man was quick to wrap his hand around their wrist, his pinky hovering above their skin as a warning. Of course Shigaraki wasn’t actually going to disintegrate their arm since he had a certain good spot for the league but he still wanted to warn them.

(Y/n) removed their hand from his shoulder, his muscles immediately relaxing again, and they held their finger in front of his face. “Listen up you fucking crispy skinned, pale fucker. If you call my boyfriend weak one more time i will fucking give you an actual reason to cry out in pain you hear me?”

Everyone in the room had grown silent, staring at the two of them in shock.

Usually, (Y/n) was more laid back. They never really lashed out at anyone but the enemy and pretty much never interfered with the fights their boyfriend and their leader had but the words Shigaraki had just used had seemed to strike a core in them.

Shigaraki removed his hand from their wrist and scoffed. He pushed them away from him and grunted, walking towards the door and leaving the room to go to his bedroom.

Once the man had left, (Y/n)’s eyes turned back to their usual (e/c) color and they took a deep breath, followed by a big sigh.

“Well that certainly was exhausting..” They said under their breath as they turned around again, facing the other members of the league and walking back to the stool they once sat at.

“Damn twinkle toes, i didn’t know you could talk like that” Dabi said with a smirk, immediately leaning forward to place his hand onto their thigh again.

His s/o frowned and looked away. “..sorry i just..I know it’s something sensitive because..well you know. I’m sorry, i just got really riled up because of it and don’t want you experiencing parts of your past because of some crusty dude” They said, laughing a little at their own reference. Their hand reached out for the cloth soaked in whiskey.

Surely it wasn’t an ideal cleaning tool, but it was enough for now and all they had.

Dabi blinked a few times without saying anything. They took his hand an started cleaning some of the cuts he had there.

He had told them about his past before, about his abusive father and constantly getting told he wasn’t enough and too weak and how he ran away from home without saying goodbye to his mother and siblings..Its just that he hadn’t expected them to keep that in mind so much. In all honesty he hadn’t even really cared when Shigaraki said that, it did strike a cord in him but he didn’t immediately link the comment to that.

Without thinking twice, Dabi wrapped his hand around their wrist. They dropped the cloth and cocked up their eyebrow. “Let me tend your-” They started, a pair of rough patched lips interrupting their sentence.

Dabi placed his hand on the back of their neck and deepened the kiss, his other hand tracing up their leg and taking a hold of their hips as he squeezed their skin. A soft surprised yelp came out of their throat and they pulled away, rather embarassed that it had happened in front of everyone. “..sorry”

“Geez get a room, dude” Spinner said while throwing a 5 of heart card on the table,rolling his eyes in disgust. “We don’t need to see that shit”

(Y/n) rubbed their face and exhaled. They picked the cloth that they dropped up and laid it down on the counter. “For once keep in mind that we’re not alone” They muttered, bringing their hand up to his cheek and softly stroking the scarred material to see if it was properly taken care of.

Dabi only smirked and sighed. “You’re completely right.”. He got up and leaned down, inching closer to their neck and let his lips ghost over their soft skin. A shiver ran down their spine and they rested their hand on top of his scarred shoulder. Their face had flushed and their teeth gnawed at their lips.

They were weak for his lips against their neck, it being a very sensitive part of their body and the way his breath was sending shivers down their spine wasn’t making their situation any better. “Dabi-”

A smirk once again spread over his face, one that could compete against toga’s. The villain got up and waved them off as he walked towards the door that Shigaraki had walked through not too long ago.“Well i should go now, got lots of stuff to do ya’ know”

(Y/n)’s face had morphed into to complete utter surprise. As their brain was still progressing what had just happened, they spinned the barstool around and looked at Dabi. They blinked a few times and snapped out of their daze. “What- Where are you going? I thought you were coming to my place?”

Dabi slid his arms into his coat and nodded. “I am, just gotta pick up something first. I’ll meet ya’ there..Maybe take some painkillers beforehand, you always do that when getting those pretty pictures right?”

(Y/n) pulled up their eyebrow and wrapped their hand around the glass that was half full of vodka. “No? Well i mean yea sure i take painkillers when getting tattoos but i’m not getting any today, idiot” They mocked, throwing their head back afterwards and down the rest of their drink.

They put their glass down on the counter and looked at Mr compress, nodding towards their glass and putting a finger up with a friendly smile on their face.

Mr compress nodded and took their glass, pouring another shot into the cup.

“Oh sorry forgot to mention, but you are. I’m opening my own business, just for you. Though my designs are rather different from the rest of your tats’ since mine are temporary and purple, sometimes red. I was thinking of placing them on your neck, chest and maybe your thighs..yea definitely your thighs, that’d look lovely on you my dear” Dabi said, rather casually as if it was nothing.

Spinner rolled his eyes and leaned forward. He put down his beer can and groaned. “Dude you’re fucking disgusting”

The black haired male ignored his fellow villain’s remark and locked eyes with the (e/c) shocked once that were currently looking at him with a mixture of disgust, shock and disappointment. “We’ll discuss the price once you get home. Have a good evening everyone”

And with that, Dabi left and shut the door behind him leaving behind a very uncomfortable quiet hideout filled with villains that were currently all processing what had just happened in their own silent way.

What had happened in the past 30 minutes was a lot, with it going from Dabi coming back all bloody with parts of his scarred skin hanging lose only for his s/o to take care of him that causing Dabi and Shigaraki to argue only for (Y/n) to step in and both physically and verbally attack Shigaraki and for that to lead to this.

Quickly downing their freshly poured drink, (Y/n) sighed and grunted breaking the silence. They put their glass down and turned their body towards Mr compress.

“I need 7 more of those shots”

Tomura Shigaraki

The league was currently off the radar, hiding ever since the big event that involved the death of Overhaul and also their very beloved member Magne.

Spinner sighed and sunk further down in his chair. “I miss her. Its..different without her around” He said, taking another sip of his beer before throwing it behind him something which made (Y/n) groan.

They walked towards the empty beer can and picked it up. Crossing their arms and looking at Spinner. “We all do.. Wherever she currently is, i’m sure she found somewhat peace instead of living in this hell.”

They walked towards Shigaraki and gently slid a hand over his shoulder, handing the man the beer can only for him to disintegrate with a single touch of his fingers. The male watched the remains whirl to the ground and gather in a small pile.

“We’ll just have to stay low for awhile..” Shigaraki said, his fingers latching onto his own throat and rubbing the already damaged skin once more to calm down the agitating itch on his neck. He couldn’t even rememember for how long his skin had felt that way, all Shigaraki knew was that it had been there for as long as he could remember and that it would never stop.

(Y/n) glanced over to his neck and their eyebrows scrunched together just slightly. They reached their hand out to Shigaraki’s and guided it away from his neck, preventing him from irritating his skin any further than it already was, only for the man to get ticked off and send a glare their way. On the other side of the room there was some shuffling, something which caught their attention.

“This is fucking bullshit..”

The scarred man threw a still half full can of beer against the wall, its contents spilling onto the ground. He got up, his body slightly swaying hinting to the fact that he might of have been intoxicated. "Every fucking time. Every single fucking time you..“ He pointed his finger at Shigaraki who was starring daggers into his skull.

”..fuck it up for all of us. I’m fucking done, with this bullshit. Serving your fucking ass as if you’re some kind of god while you’re really just some useless piece of shit" The man slurred while making his way towards Shigaraki.

Spinner rolled his eyes and got up from his stool, grabbing Dabi’s shoulder and holding him back. “Bro, you’re a mess stop i- Fuck!” The scaled man yelped out in pain and held his, now burned, hand close against his arm. Toga glanced over Spinner’s shoulder and watched the scene unfold, mr compress examining his hand to see how bad the burn had been.

Shigaraki brushed (Y/n)’s hand of his shoulder and he got up, ready to throw hands at the drunk male that was currently approaching him. “Watch your tongue, scarface.” He said while rolling up his sleeves, his fingers spreading.

Dabi grinned, his hand opening with a small blue flame emitting from his palm. “Watch your own ass, your crusty fucke-” “Quit it!”

A hand yanked Shigaraki back, pushing him back onto the stool he once sat at and the same one pushed Dabi back a few steps which almost made him stumble over his own feet. (Y/n) switched their glare between Dabi and Shigaraki, but mostly looking at Dabi, and bawled their fists.

“Instead of acting like fucking 13 year olds learn to put up with each other’s arses cause you’ll be stuck with each other for quite some time and i simply refuse to act like an elementary school teacher all the goddamn time you hear me?!” They spat out, making everyone grow quiet.

Shigaraki only looked at Dabi with pure disgust in his eyes, wanting nothing to disintegrate that smug look off of his face and disintegrate the remains of whatever was left of him after that. Of course it was just a thought, something he wouldn’t actually do..for now.

(Y/n) let out a frustrated sigh and shook their head slightly.

“The only child here is that boytoy of yours, doll. Unlike him i’m a man, one that could please you in ways he wishes he could.” Dabi said, his shit eating grin once again present on his face. His turqouise eyes were locked onto their body, taking in every detail of it.

Twice nervously watched the scene unfold and tugged at his mask. “Dabi cut it out they’ll kill you. Continue doing so”

Shigaraki gritted his teeth, his blood boiling with rage. He could’ve choked Dabi with his bare hands, not caring if he would’ve killed him doing so, yet the reassuring hands of his s/o wrapped around his worked like a candle snuffer that turned his rage into a small dim ember. When his eyes locked with theirs, his heart felt at ease although he might of have not been showing it from the outside.

“Its okay, twice. I know better than to react to satisfy that shit faced fucker by reacting to him.” They said, reaching for the glass of whiskey that stood behind Shigaraki. They took a quick sip and breathed out, taking in the bitter taste of the alcohol hitting their taste buds.

Dabi only snickered and dug his hands into his pockets. “Can’t you see they’re using you? That they’re really just scared of you, therefore hiding behind the title of your lover?” He slurred once again. Dabi shook his head and turned on his heel, walking towards the door.

“That boyfriend of yours is only capable of caring for his own power, he’ll never be able to truly care for you” Dabi scoffed. He snatched a beer bottle out of Twice’s hand and brought it up to his patched mouth.

A piercing pain suddenly shot through his body, his body panicking at first for not being able to detect its cause at first. His lungs felt like as if they were squeezing all of the oxygen out by themselves, his mouth gasping for air. His throat rejected the beer he had just swallowed and he coughed it up, choking on the remains that were left in his throat. It felt as if all of the staples on his body were about to rip through the rest of his skin and let the loose patches of skin detach from his body. “Y-yo..Y-you b-bitc-”

“Tomura is ten times more of a man than you’ll ever be. Not in a million years would i let you come even come near my body. You, Dabi, are a fucking disgusting scarred piece of shit that i wouldn’t want to be found dead with in a million years.”

Their red eyes were glowing with nothing but rage, their hand up in the air while it emitted a red glowing light that connected to Dabi’s body.

Everyone in the room grew dead quiet, the only sound being Dabi’s suffering. Even Shigaraki grew quiet and was rather shocked. Surely he had seen his s/o use this kind of power before whenever they were in a fight, but they were usually the peacemaker and never the one to snap back. And this..was definitely not what he had expected they’d be capable of.

When Dabi really started choking on his beer, (Y/n) blinked a few times and let their eyes return to their normal (e/c) color. The red light between their hand and Dabi disappeared and Dabi immediately gasped for air, coughing violently afterwards.

“You’re fucking insane, guess that’s why you two pyschos were get it on so much. Jesus fucking christ” He rubbed his throat and groaned loudly, walking towards the entrance and leaving the room, a silence falling over the room again.

(Y/n) sighed and rubbed their temples, a small headache coming up as a side effect of their quirk. They walked towards the stool that was positioned next to Shigaraki’s and took a seat, leaning onto the bar and cupping their face in between their hands.

“Damn it..” They hissed, their hands violently rubbing their temples now that the headache got worse. A small chuckle left their mouth and they side-eyed Shigaraki. “You know, maybe if i went to UA instead of choosing this path maybe they would’ve taught me how to prevent these” They said, waiting for a reaction only to get none.

Shigaraki only sighed and turned his stool to the bar, scooting his stool just a little closer to theirs. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a small package out of it, laying a small platic bag with about a dozen of light purple pills in front of them.

Pulling up their eyebrow, (Y/n) grabbed the package and examined it. “What’s this? Drugs?” They asked, only for Shigaraki to scoff.

“I’m not a drug dealer..Its a quirk side effect inhibtor, for your headaches” He muttered, clear enough for them to hear.

Smiling, (Y/n) put their hand on top of his and squeezed it softly. “Thank you” They whispered.

Shigaraki sighed, a very faint and rare smile tugging at the edge of his lips. He raised his hand and put it on top of their head, with his pinky up. No words needed to be said, for they already knew how Shigaraki spoke in actions.

They leaned closer to him, their lips parting slightly as they whispered something into his ear something which was only loud enough for him to hear

“Love you too, Tomura”

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #mha #dabi x reader #dabi #shigaraki tomura #shigaraki #shigaraki x reader #anime #fanfiction #admin noëlle #dutch mod

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resonanteye · 4 years

Photo

via http://resonanteye.net/current-events-condensed/

current events; condensed

A condensed post including short writings on current events.

CONSPIRACIES ARE NOT SECRET IN THIS CENTURY

open up? conspiracies? here’s the real one.

if They want to “cull the weak” and control us better, what better way than to present a false choice between going back to work and risking lives, or slowly going broke at home?

it’s a false choice. there are hoarders, greedy fucks holding money they’re not entitled to, billions. enough for everything to be covered. hell, the Pentagon LOST enough money to pay EVERYONE’S rent and mortgage for the best six months. LOST IT.

The conspiracy? PRETEND THAT MONEY ISN’T THERE. force people to fight over scraps, pretend there are only two options. don’t let people come together and agree that TOO MUCH MONEY IS IN TOO FEW HANDS, because that might mean we can beat this thing.

unity among the poor? PREVENT AT ALL COSTS. if you kill a few hundred thousand people in the process, fuck it. that doesn’t matter to Them. They want to keep their grip on power, forcing us to behave like serfs working at their pleasure, dying for their capital gains. Living in their damn bunkers.

There is more than these two choices, don’t let them suck you in. the current garbage video circulating is MORE OF THEIR SHIT. it’s part of this. it’s not “secret info” or “exposing an evil plan”.

to get what They want – they’ve just got to keep us arguing about whether to open up or not. that’s it. that’s all they’ve got to do. circulate some fake anti science garbage to make sure it goes over easy.

and murder a ton of people to make another dollar.

THAT’S your conspiracy. THERE’S your elite takeover.

they don’t need micro chips, 5g, or any of this other shit. vaccines aren’t “Them”, the anti vax movement is THEM trying to murder the “useless”.

” WAKE UP, SHEEPLE ” it’s obvious as fuck and you don’t need to go out on any limbs to see it. it’s plain as day. they’re saying it out loud. there’s no need for this conspiracy to be secret. half of you are HAPPY TO JOIN IN.

stop that. join together. fight for the end of greedy leeches stealing from us then pretending that money is gone and they can’t help. the big banks? THEY FUCKING OWE US ONE. it’s time we collect, TOGETHER. right/left/middle. all of us. they owe all of us.

Divine is disgusted by slumming yuppies

SEGREGATION, A REAL THING

in a post about this photo, someone from Europe, younger, asked if segregation was a real thing, a real law in the US. comments were then closed, so I’ll post my reply here instead, in case anyone was not aware.

Elvis sits to eat at a segregated lunch counter while an elderly black woman stands, waiting for food to take away. she’s not allowed to sit there.

it was law, and when it wasn’t the law it was the unspoken rule, for a very long time.

lunch counter (restaurants of all kinds), bus sections, bathrooms, water faucets and schools were separated by race. the fight to desegregate schools is most well known, as it lasted a very long time and required buses, because people of color had also been segregated by neighborhood- many towns refused to sell and owners refused to rent to anyone of color in a “white area”. (the TV show “the Jeffersons” addresses this, and it’s also known as “redlining”)

many politicians on both sides of the aisle supported it, but the Democratic party eventually worked to pass the civil rights amendment and related bills to stop it, although there were those in the party who still argued in favor of these laws.

https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-said-desegregation-would-create-a-racial-jungle-2019-7

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_Maddox

(of note- this happened after desegregation, that’s how strongly politicians felt about it! ten years in and they were still arguing that it had been a good thing.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_resistance

after it legally ended, thanks to the civil rights movement, there was blowback; people trying to vote, to eat lunch, ride the bus, go to school, were viciously attacked by crowds or groups of white people.

FILE – In this May 28, 1963 file photo, a group of whites pour sugar, ketchup and mustard over the heads of Tougaloo College student demonstrators at a sit-in demonstration at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Miss. Seated at the counter, from left, are Tougaloo College professor John Salter,and students Joan Trumpauer and Anne Moody. John Salter, who also used the name John Hunter Gray, died Monday, Jan. 7, 2019 at his home in Pocatello, Idaho. Relatives say he was 84 when he died Monday after an illness. (Fred Blackwell/The Clarion-Ledger via AP, File) ORG XMIT: MSJAD701

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Riders https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws

during this time, due to so much police and community violence, the Black Panther formed to monitor and protect people.

https://www.wglt.org/post/director-chronicles-black-panthers-rise-new-tactics-were-needed#stream/0

members of the Black Panthers, preparing to feed the community

GENERATION X

sure, we are slackers. yeah. we’re ok with staying home. you have just told a generation of latchkey tech addicts raised during the bridge from antenna TVs to HD internet streaming to sit at home. if you’d feed us, we wouldn’t even blink at it. this quarantine stuff? that’s not the hard thing.

but we’re watching friends and family die. a lot of us have been down this road before. we’ve watched right wing pigs (yes, I’ll say it) allow our friends to die before. we’ve been down this road of denial and greed and prejudice and all of it. we’ve seen what happens when politicians value money and ego over human lives, and we know it SUCKS ASS.

hell, we watched Reagan. Bush. Bush. Clinton, too-he was only a hair better. and so-

when we need to, we pound the pavement. we toss the bricks. we get arrested. we wipe mace out of our eyes and stampede.

we always tend to be masked, regardless of standards of the moment. I don’t think, in my life, I’ve been to a protest that didn’t have a contingent of masked people wishing to avoid cameras. Now, a protest for actual assistance for people? a real protest, a fight for better conditions, the 300-some strikes that have happened that the news ISN’T covering? yeah. surgical masks. they’re brilliant photos, but not as interesting for the crap media as a few fat guys with guns.

because that’s the joke they want to show us, yeah? not people actually fighting in solidarity, to protect each other, get better work conditions, protect the disabled, get better healthcare for all, support people financially… the shit the majority of people really want. no. they’re not covering that real shit.

the news, they like a spectacle.

we need to find ways to make the facts spectacular.

I have rarely seen my generation protest FOR corporate interests and find any such thing suspicious as all fuck. I don’t believe a bit of that shit. That’s paid for, that’s arranged, that’s a pony show. That’s the same tiny batch of zonked out cultists that don’t have a trump rally to travel to right now. it’s like a damn road show, the same hundred people, like some Boomer deadhead traveling bus shit. I don’t trust it and I don’t believe it. the older folks at them, yeah. they’re that little band of travelers. sure. but us?

Seattle police use gas to push back World Trade Organization protesters in downtown Seattle Tuesday, Nov. 30, 1999. The protests delayed the opening of the WTO third ministerial conference. (AP Photo/Eric Draper)

because even though we will go do Things, we are, in fact, ok with staying home.

and we don’t like your fucking company. and corporations bought our music and art and killed it in front of our eyes, and there’s no getting our trust back. and we will wear a goddamn busted ass thrift store sack before we spend money on slave-sewn clothes. and we would rather read and write and play music and watch movies all damn day, than go to jobs in cubicles.

War protesters and march to Gas Works Park protesting the US involvement in the Persian Gulf and the buid up to war against Irag January 15 deadline 1991 Seattle Washington State USA

I mean, we’ll usually go, because we gotta eat. so feed us. give us bread. you already poisoned the roses.

THE ASSHOLE FACTORY

this is where your conspiracy videos are made. in the asshole factory.

what do you notice about these photos? do you see the threats? what kind of people are there?

it is almost like there’s a monthly event they’ve been going to, that’s been cancelled, where they could hold up trump signs and boo anything reasonable… wonder what that event is. where have you seen some of these faces before? I’ve seen a few in the rally photos and videos.

check out “small business” guy. who is he? does he own a “small business”, you think? (photos by Orin Louis)

ON THE PANDEMIC

a lot of people talking about immunity/reinfection and that study.

that study is just saying we don’t know yet. we just don’t know yet.

it’s early days.

Coronavirus is not influenza, they’re two different families of virus. VERY different.

this is more related to the common cold (in its behavior)than to the flu. (the cold is a rhinovirus. SARS & MERS, and Covid-19, if you want to find out more about these viruses, don’t look up the flu-they are Coronaviruses.)

it is contagious the way a cold is, but it has serious effects on any part of the body with ace2 receptors. (simply put- blood, lungs, heart, kidneys, brain)

they have been working on a cold vaccine for decades. no success. BUT. again, it’s early days. there’s never been this kind of pressure for a vaccine for it. so, to be direct: we don’t know yet. they’ve never been this desperate, this well funded, to find a cold vaccine.

this could be a seasonal thing, eventually- it could mutate to be less lethal and become just another cold we can get every year. it could mutate to be even more vicious and we all are in serious danger all the time. it could create immunity, and some will be ok for a year or a month or a decade… it might not, and people can catch it again and worse.

we just don’t know yet. the whole reason we are isolating the way we are is to buy time for science to find these answers. we’re not in quarantine to “kill it off” or stop it. we are slowing it down so science can have time to find answers, so less of us die while that happens.

every day we don’t infect other people, is a day in which researchers can work. we need them to work. they are doing that. every day we don’t infect other people, is a day this virus doesn’t get a chance to mutate and change. this helps a lot.

science needs time. all this economic mayhem- it’s to buy them time to help us, to figure it out. the answers won’t come right away and during this time we may hear things that are being tried and tested, some may not work at all, some may be worse than nothing, so information won’t be steady or always correct. when you read a thing, wait a day. read more about it. read the actual study- and if you can’t, wait a few days and read what scientific sources say about it (the lancet, NEJM, etc). don’t rely on NBC, fox, etc to do a great job reporting on science. you’ll have to have patience, even science is having to watch and wait while things are researched, right now.

nobody has the answers; it’s NOVEL. brand new.

they’re testing, they’re researching, they’re learning this thing’s secrets as fast as they can, while we wait that process out.

be as safe as you can be while we buy them the time.

image: pink pangolin drawing in frame

COMMON SENSE KNOWLEDGE

FOR ACCURACY

You shouldn’t leave the house unless you absolutely have to: food, medicine, or other necessity of life. This includes going to other people’s houses.

Masks are good at protecting others if you are infected, and help protect you too, just not as much as others. Wear one.

Stores are closed, unless they provide food or medicine. Alcohol is a necessity for alcoholics who will have actual seizures and could die from withdrawal, so some of those are open. (Some states have been pressured into letting other things stay open, and people insist on going to church and being able to buy guns in public stores, but that’s political shit and you shouldn’t go places unless you have to.)

This virus is deadly to many people, even healthy ones, is as contagious as a common cold, and has killed more people in a month than the flu does in a year. You don’t want to catch it, and if you do, you want to catch it when doctors and nurses aren’t overworked from other people catching it too. There are 8 strains identified right now. This will change over time, because it’ll mutate- like every virus. EVERY virus.

Glovesw help, unless you change them after touching a contaminated surface. They’re good if used properly and if you’re not sure how to do that, don’t bother. Just wash your hands often.

Everyonen to stay home, but you can go outside- away from people. Staying a good distance from people is really the whole point of staying home.

There will be shortages of some things at the grocery store as supplies run out, and as things are shipped to replace them. Chill out.

The virus does spread through and sometimes kill children, but we weren’t aware of this until we had better information.

You will have many symptoms when you are sick, but you will be contagious for up to two weeks before you get sick. YOU WILL BE CONTAGIOUS WITH NO TEMPERATURE OR SYMPTOMS.

You really shouldn’t be eating restaurant food, unless you can reheat it. Wipe down or wash off your groceries.

You are safe if you maintain six feet distance from others, if everyone is masked and nobody is coughing or sneezing. If they are, you need about 27 feet of distance. Keep space from people.

The virus remains active on different surfaces for a time. The surface being porous may or may not matter; like many things, research by science will give better answers as they have time to figure it out.

We count the number of deaths but we don’t know how many people are infected because most places have not got enough tests to see who is infected. Until we can test everyone, stay home, stay away from people.

We have no treatment. There are clinical trials of many different drugs and at least one vaccine, right now, but it will take time to find out what works.

We should stay away from people to avoid spreading this virus until scientists can offer a treatment or preventative measure like a vaccine. There is no reason to infect people, help the virus mutate, or fuck around with this.

If you are an essential worker of ANY kind, you deserve a living wage, hazard pay, full PPE and kindness from everyone who needs you right now. we should be fighting for your safety, not to make things more dangerous for you.

Stop spreading misinformation. Science doesn’t know everything about this yet, information can and will change or become more specific as time goes by. Yes, business interests and governments have handled the entire thing like a clown show, but you don’t have to be part of making it worse.

THE VALIDITY OF PROTESTING IN THIS TIME

protest for:

stronger unions

better pay

stronger social safety nets during a pandemic

your right to own and bear arms

your freedom of speech/freedom from unwarranted surveillance

safer working conditions

medical care for all

free education

fair elections

physical safety from police violence

safety from racist/hate crimes

NOT FOR:

fuck, BUYING things. don’t protest to be able to go buy shit? what the hell is wrong with you?!? you can buy a gun next month, dipshit. you can buy through private sale. fuck all the way off with that.

SOMEONE ELSE TO WAIT ON YOU (haircuts, restaurants, nails, tattoos, etc)

the right to block hospital entrances (we all saw the footage, shut the fuck up)

the right to gigantic church services during a pandemic. YOU CAN DO LIKE GRANDPA DID AND WATCH YOUR PREACHER ON THE TEE VEE.

going to a shit job that you’ve never liked instead of all the things above that would have allowed you to get through this shit without starving to begin with

by the way, local seed and feed stores are open nation wide; agriculture is considered an essential business. you can’t buy whatever the fuck at wallymart right now though, SO SORRY. maybe don’t even fucking shop there?

edit to add; if they were only endangering themselves I wouldn’t give a shit – but you know these fuckers are getting too close to store cashiers, walking the wrong way down narrow aisles, and touching every-fuckin-thing.

also: 81% of people polled, from EVERY political group, think they should be staying home. and agree with that. THIS IS A CRAP PROTEST BY A TINY, UNIMPORTANT GROUP and should not be getting the coverage it is. they aren’t enough to restore an economy, let alone fill a small concert hall.

I may split these into separate posts, if you’d like that, comment so I know people need/want that.

#advice #current events #pandemic #911 #complaints #deep thoughts #dos and donts #ethics #health and safety #politics #posts with lists in them #questions #true stories #Uncategorized #wtc 9/11 einstruzende neubauten artistic poetic terrori #you

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buzzdixonwriter · 4 years

Text

The Rise Of Skywalker Review [SPOILERICIOUS]

=0=

I’m going to post all the SPOILER stuff way below in section 3, so as not to ruin anything for anybody who hasn’t seen the movie yet.

You’ll get plenty of warnings.

=1=

In my old age I’m starting to divide creative works into three groups: Good, bad, and not-so-good.

A good creative work is any where the strengths overwhelmingly outweigh the weaknesses; a bad one is the obverse.

A not-so-good work is one where the strengths and weaknesses balance each other out.

It’s the kind of a work that will doubtless please those audience members who really enjoy the strengths in it, and equally irritate those annoyed by the weaknesses.

In my estimation, a not-so-good work is one done with straight forward intent and as often as not, a fair degree of technical and aesthetic competency, but fails to jell as a cohesive whole.

No one need feel ashamed for enjoying a not-so-good work, and no one involved in the making of a not-so-good work should feel bad about their contribution (unless, of course, their contribution turns out to be one of the weaknesses that should have been avoided).

Theodore Sturgeon famously observed “90% of everything is crap.”

I think that’s a little harsh.

I agree with him that only 10% of anything is good, but think only 40% falls into the crap bin.

Most stuff falls in the 50% I call not-so-good.

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker is in that 50%.

. . .

The good stuff is really good.

Elsewhere I’ve posted my enthusiasm for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens and Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi hinge in no small part on just how emo Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) could get, and holy cow, does he ever deliver in The Rise Of Skywalker.

Easily my favorite parts of the picture.

Doesn’t really mesh with anything else in the movie but, hey, ya can’t have everything, right? (I’ll discuss his performance in a little more detail in section =3=.)

Other performances range from adequate to doing-the-best-they-can-with-the-material to okay-smartass-you-try-recreating-a-dead-actress-via-CGI.

The dialog in The Rise Of Skywalker is the worst of any film in the series, with the possible exception Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge Of The Sith, which I haven’t seen and have no intention of seeing (but more on that below…).

It’s not an attempt to depict characters talking, it’s a series of shouted declarative sentences.

Elsewhere I’ve referred to The Rise Of Skywalker as the best Jason Of Star Command episode ever made.

For those who don’t get the reference, Jason Of Star Command was a low budget albeit imaginative Saturday morning kid-vid Star Wars rip off by Filmation Studios.

To make sure the youngest kids in the audience understood what was going on, they tended to hammer home plot points repeatedly.

DRAGOS Jason! In just sixteen hours my space fleet will destroy Star Command!

STAR COMMAND Jason! Dragos is going to destroy us with his space fleet in just sixteen hours!

JASON Don’t worry, Star Command! I’ll stop Dragos from destroying you with his space fleet in sixteen hours.

NARRATOR (i.e., Norm Prescott) Jason has only sixteen hours to stop Dragos from destroying Star Command with his space fleet!

There is far too much of that in The Rise Of Skywalker.

Ten minutes into the movie, and there was already far too much of that…

The opening credit crawl reveals an off camera plot development that literally deserved an entire film of its own to fully explore.

There is no sustained coherent plot to The Rise Of Skywalker:

Well, we gotta do this,

now we gotta do that,

first we gotta find this thing,

then we gotta find that thing,

now I’m feeling blue,

now I’m gonna get encouraged,

etc., etc., and of course, etc.

Everything feel frenetic, not fast paced.

There are far too many scenes that exist just to sell action figures and toy vehicles.

There was a desire to tie off loose ends and say good-bye to favorite characters and that was a mistake.

It undercuts the urgency of the story (or rather, the desired urgency; the fact the film is called The Rise Of Skywalker means everybody in the freakin’ audience ALREADY KNOWS HOW THE DAMN THING IS GONNA END!

(This is not a problem unique to Star Wars. Gene Siskell famously upbraided Roger Ebert for spoiling the ending to the third Star Trek movie, to which Ebert retorted, “Oh, come on! They’re going to call a forty million dollar movie The Search For Spock and not find him?!?!?”)

There is one nice little breather scene (“little” only in screen time; visually it’s pretty big and impressive): The Festival of the Ancestors on the desert world Pasaana that gives a nice touch of exotic space opera flavor to the proceedings.

All of the Star Wars movies offer really great art direction and visual design, and The Rise Of Skywalker certainly delivers in that category.

Which makes the occasional mediocre special effects shots all the more obvious.

The Rise Of Skywalker has a few painfully obvious matte shots, a few shots obviously composed in post-production, and a few shots where the audience becomes aware the actors are performing in front of a greenscreen.

You can get away with mediocre visuals so long as there is consistency in their mediocrity.

If everything else consistently looks great, a so-so shot spoils the illusion; if everything consistently looks so-so, it’s simply part of the work’s look.

Indeed, you’re better off with consistently mediocre work highlighted by a few great shots than consistently great stuff undercut by a few mediocre ones.

Best thing about the movie is the complete lack of Jar Jar Binks.

=2=

Before diving deeper in The Rise Of Skywalker, let’s look at the series as a whole (just the numbered theatrical episodes, not standalone films, TV series, video games, comics, novels, etc.).

I’ve said the original Star Wars was the movie an entire generation had been waiting all their lives to see.

George Lucas wanted to do Flash Gordon but when Universal turned him down, created his own space opera.

Lucas, it needs be noted, is not a good writer.

Whatever visual talents he has, they don’t extend to telling a good story.

One can easily find early drafts of Star Wars online, and while they all share certain elements, they’re all pretty bad.

The development of Star Wars the movie grew organically with storyboard and production art, characters and incidents changing and evolving along the way.

It’s long been rumored that a more skilled writer than Lucas came in to do the final draft; one thing’s for sure, the shooting script is head and shoulders above the earlier drafts.

Star Wars the original Han-shoots-first-dammit theatrical release is very much a product of the 1970s.

20th Century Fox thought they had a good enough kiddee matinee movie for summer release; they expected their big sci-fi blockbuster of the year to be Damnation Alley.

Instead, they hit a nerve and found themselves with a blockbuster on their hands.

Lucas did show one great example of foresight: He trademarked all the names / characters / vehicles and held the licenses on them, not 20th Century Fox.

This gave him the war chest he needed to build the Lucasfilm empire.

And let’s give Lucas and his crew their due: They added immeasurably to the technical art of film making, as well as making several entertaining films.

What Lucas did not fully envision was how to mold his Star Wars material into a coherent and thematically cohesive saga.

He started out with grandiose plans -- four trilogies with a standalone film connecting each for a total of 15 movies -- but that gradually got whittled down to 12, then 9.

After Star Wars Episode VI: The Return Of The Jedi, Lucas put the Star Wars movie series on hold, waiting for film making technology to develop to the point where he could tell the stories the way he wanted to tell them.

Okay, fair enough.

But the problem is that while the film making technology improved, the technology of the Star Wars universe didn’t.

As I said, the original Star Wars is very much a 70s movie in taste / tone / style / sensibility.

While the designs look sufficiently sci-fi, they reflect robots and spacecraft designs of the 1970s -- in fact, even earlier in many cases.

That fit in with Lucas’ “used universe” look and the tag line “A long ago in a galaxy far, far away...”

But compare the original Star Wars with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Kubrick spent a lot of time researching where technology was heading.

Long before visual displays and vector graphics became commonplace in real world aircraft, he showed them being used in the future.

The first example of what we refer to today as a computer tablet appeared in 2001 as a throwaway background detail.

Kubrick’s next film was A Clockwork Orange and he successfully predicted punk culture a decade ahead of reality (his only mistake being the assumption white, not black, would be the base color).

Star Wars Eps I - III take place a generation before the original Star Wars movie.

Star Wars Eps VII - IX take place a generation after.

Name a two generation span since the start of the industrial age that is not marked by radical technological change that produces an ensuing change in the social order.

Now I grant you, the Star Wars universe isn’t trying to tell that kind of story, but the story it is telling is static.

Characters in The Rise Of Skywalker talk about cloning as if it were A Really Big Deal.

Cloning today is cutting edge bio-tech, to be sure, but it’s already common place.

It’s as if the Star Wars characters were getting worked up over steam engines.

One can intercut scenes from the movies and, unless one is a familiar with each movie, it’s impossible to tell one film from another.

Lucas’ financial success enabled him to issue edicts re Star Wars (and other Lucasfilm projects) that undercut the strengths of his projects.

Lucas is a technological guru and a savvy businessman, but he really struggles to tell a story.

Frankly, I think he would have been a better film maker if he’d spent a decade or so making American Graffiti scale movies, not space operas and epic fantasies and adventure movies.

His decision to make the original Star Wars the fourth episode in his saga and going back to start his story with his villain was fatally flawed.

I grant following the Skywalker saga from Anakin to Luke to Rey could work if it started with Anakin.

But what he did was the equivalent of the James Bond movies jumping back in time to follow the pre-Bond career of Ernst Stavo Blofeld.

(And the Bond movies, at least up until the Daniel Craig era, are all standalone films insofar as one does not have to see any of the previous films to understand and enjoy the one being watched, not does the sequence they’re viewed in matter. And the Craig films were conceived from the beginning as having a coherent overall arc, so in that case they are the exception to the rule.)

The joyous whiz-bang space opera of the original Star Wars got bogged down in a lot of meaningless politics and talks of trade treaties, none of which explained why anyone would want to conquer the universe in order to rule it as a decrepit, diseased dictator in a dark hole.

Look at Hitler and Stalin and Castro and Mao and the Kim family in North Korea.

These guys enjoyed themselves (well, Hitler did until things went south for him). They loved the attention and went around preening themselves in public.

The off screen Empire (and implied Emperor) of the original Star Wars served that film well: It was a story about a tactical conflict, not a treatise on the philosophy of governance.

Lucas’ universe does not make sense even in its own context.

And because of that, it becomes harder and harder to fully engage with it.

A sci-fi movie doesn’t have to explain everything, but it has to at least imply there is an underlying order that links up.

Lucas began subverting his own universe almost immediately.

The Force was originally presented as a spiritual discipline that any sufficiently dedicated intelligent being could gain access to. (Robots seem to be specifically excluded from The Force, implying it needs a biological connection. But that would seem to exclude intelligences that may not be organic in the commonly accepted sense of the word, which means such beings cannot appear in the Star Wars universe, which means…well, I digress…)

That was a big hunk of the original Star Wars’ appeal, the thought that literally anybody could become a Jedi if they so desired.

It speaks to a religious bent in audiences from many different cultures around the world, and it offers up an egalitarian hope that allows everyone access to the Star Wars fantasy (“fantasy” in this context meaning the shared ideal).

But already in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Lucas began betraying his original concept, sowing the seeds for self-serving deception and innate superiority as endemic in The Force.

By the time he got around to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Lucas abandoned the hope established in the original Star Wars movie.

Now one has to be a special somebody, not just dedicated.

Mind you, that sort of story has its adherents, too.

Way back in the 1940s sci-fi fans were saying “Fans are slans” in order to claim superiority over “mundanes”. Today many Harry Potter fans like to think of themselves as inherently superior to “Muggles”.

It’s a very appealing idea, so appealing that the United States of America is based on it, the assumption being that white people are endowed with more blessings -- and therefore more rights -- than non-white people (add force multipliers such as “rich” / “male” / “Christian” / “straight” and you get to lord it over everybody).

Lucas with his stupid midichlorians robbed audiences of their healthy egalitarian fantasy and replaced it with a far more toxic elitism.

It appeals to the narcissistic stain in the human soul, and encourages dominance and bullying and cruelty and harm as a result.

It’s an elitism that requires a technologically and sociologically stagnant society, one where clones and robots and slaves can all co-exist and nobody points out they are all essentially the same thing.

A progressive society -- and here I use “progressive” strictly in a scientific and technological sense (though as stated above, advances in scientific fields invariably lead to changes elsewhere) -- does not let such conditions exist unchanged for generations.

As technology changes and improves, the culture/s around it change (and hopefully improve, too).

As I mentioned above, I’ve never seen Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith.

My reason for not seeing it? Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones.

Little Anakin Skywalker and his mom are slaves in The Phantom Menace.

He saves the Jedis and Princess Padame’s collective asses in that movie.

Okay, you’d think at the end of the movie that Padame would hand Qui-gon her ATM card and say, “Here, go back to Tatooine and bail the kid’s mom out. He did a solid for us, it’s the least we can do for him.”

No, they leave her there because there is no desire to change the underlying social order of their universe.

There can be no changes in Lucas’ bleak, barren moral universe.

There can be no help, no hope, no improvement.

When an edict is issue -- be it Jedi council or Emperor (or president of Lucasfilm) -- it is to be obeyed without question or pause.

Daring to say one can change their status -- change their destiny -- results in tragedy (and ironically, proof that is their destiny).

It’s dismaying enough that a large number of people enjoy cosplaying Star Wars villains, especially storm troopers, as that seems to indicate they’re missing the whole point of why the rebels were striving against the Empire in the first place.

Originally that could be written off as (at best) just enjoying the cool costumes and props or (at worst) finding an excuse for bad behavior (i.e., “I vuz only followink orders”).

But Lucas’ tacitly endorsing a sense of innate superiority pretty much destroys everything about The Force that the original Star Wars audience found enlightening and ennobling.

The Star Wars universe has become at its core a very ugly thing, and The Rise Of Skywalker doesn’t really clean it up.

SPOILERS ahead.

=3=

Seriously, SPOILERS follow.

Holy crap, The Rise Of Skywalker is a damn mess.

Nice eye candy, but a mess.

It pretty much undoes everything good in the previous two episodes.

I’m glad it’s the “official” end of the original saga because now I never need to see another Star Wars movie ever again.

(Oh, I’ll keep my DVD of the original Star Wars and if I find Solo in a bargain bin somewhere I might pick that up, but as far as the rest of Star Wars goes, I am D.O.N.E.)

The series stopped making sense long ago, so I’m really in no mood to analyze why nothing links up or really works.

It’s full of absurd, stupid ideas, such as space barbarians galloping across the deck of a star destroyed on their space horsies.

The whole back and forth between among Palpatine / Kylo / Rey goes on for two long. If hating somebody is bad because it sucks you over to the Dark Side, then why doesn’t somebody start building Terminators that can track down beings with midichlorians and kill them? (They’ve got the technology to detect midichlorians, that’s canon.)

It’s not anywhere near a good movie. It’s not as bad as George Lucas’ Star Wars Episodes I - III, but it’s clearly the worst of the last trilogy.

The scene where Rey gets off camera encouragement from all the dead Jedi? It seemed awfully familiar to me, as if the writers consciously or unconsciously remembered the John Wilkes Booth / Lee Harvey Oswald scene in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins where all the presidential assassins and would-be assassins past and future encourage him to plug Kennedy.

Not what I want in a Star Wars movie.

I think we may be seeing the end of Star Wars. It’s been crammed down our throats for too long. I’m aware of The Mandalorian series and how insanely popular it is, but y’know, sooner or later every pop culture craze dies out.

Star Wars has nowhere to go. Star Trek is hemmed in, too, but nowhere nearly as bad as Star Wars.

We’re about to enter a generational shift in America, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a badly dated 1970s sci-fi concept fails to make the cut.

It ends on a frustrating note, taking much too long to come to a close, far too much self-congratulatory bullshit, and the deliberate planting of clues for a future set of sequels should the Mouse start jonesin’ for that sweet, sweet Star Wars franchise money fix.

It’s a really bad script, and dragging Carrie Fisher’s digitally reanimated corpse into it and then killing her off by suicide is a damned stupid / offensive idea.

Mark Hamill’s ghost walking out of the flames of Jedi hell (thank you for that analogy, David Brin)? Wow, who didn’t see that one marching down the avenue?

Harrison Ford coming back as a memory / hallucination to tell Kylo to do the right thing? Skrue dat noiz.

(Though I have to say Kylo Ren is the best thing about the movie and his character turn parallels both Luke’s and Vader’s in The Return Of The Jedi only his is much more believable and poignant so dammit, Disney, you could have done a much better job with this movie than you did.)

The plot and pacing is straight out of a video game. First do this, then do that, now ya gotta do another thing -- feh!

And unless I misheard the dialog, this whole film supposedly takes place over a span of sixteen hours!!!

They visit a half dozen worlds, crash and repair spaceships, go undercover, get captured and escape, fight duels to the deal -- all in sixteen hours?!?!?

Yeesh.

And I’ll say this, the last line is wrong wrong WRONG.

If the Star Wars saga has taught us anything, it’s that Force users are a threat to everything.

They should be eliminated for the good of the universe.

Rey shouldn’t have buried the Skywalker lightsabers.

She should have destroyed them -- and the one she made, and any others she found lying around.

And when she’s asked at the very end what her name is, the answer should have been: “Rey…just Rey.”

I know I put The Rise Of Skywalker in the not-so-good bin, but truth be told, that’s the nostalgia talking; it’s only a eyelash away from being bad.

The whole epic saga is a failure as far as I’m concerned. One and done is the way to go; the moment it started making money as a toy franchise it went south.

#sci-fi #Star Wars #The Rise Of Skywalker #Kylo Ren #The Force #movies

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davidmann95 · 5 years

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Best comics of 2018?

A handful of disqualifications up front: since they’re just beginning, I’m not counting Electric Warriors, Martian Manhunter, The Green Lantern (though Evil Star explaining his name in #2 might be my favorite moment in comics this year), Ironheart, DIE, Shazam!, Killmonger, The Batman Who Laughs, or Miles Morales: Spider-Man, all of which almost certainly would have ended up somewhere in here with some more time. Additionally, I switched to a new online pull list system in March, so I don’t have a list of what I got before then - if I’m forgetting about something great that came out early this year, there’s a good chance that would be why.

Honorary Mentions: While there were plenty of comics I was happy to keep up with, a number stood out as exemplary examples of straight-take relatively traditional capeshit: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and companies’ Justice League, Steve Orlando’s Justice League of America (which would probably go among the best of the best if the art was a bit more consistent or the lineup more to my personal tastes), Brian Bendis and Nick Derington’s Batman work in the Walmart 100-Page Giants, Donny Cates’ Thanos and Doctor Strange work (the latter might not have quite made it, but that last issue with Irving and Zdarsky was gangbusters), Steve Orlando’s brief Wonder Woman run with Laura Braga, ACO, and Raul Allen, Tim Seeley’s Green Lanterns, Nnedi Okorafor and Leonardo Romero’s Shuri, Robert Vendetti and Bryan Hitch’s Hawkman, Saladin Ahmed, Javier Rodriguez, Rod Reis, Dario Brizuela, and Joe Quinones’s Exiles, Captain America by both the Mark Waid/Chris Samnee team and the current Ta-Nehisi Coates/Lenil Francis Yu lineup, Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti’s Tony Stark: Iron Man when it’s committed solely to being a superhero comic and not Dan Slott trying to be Contemporary, Brian Bendis, Patrick Gleason, Yanick Paquette, and Ryan Sook’s Action Comics, and Kelly Thompson and Stefano Caselli’s West Coast Avengers.

On the slightly different side of things, Steve Orlando and Giovanni Timpano showed how you do an intercompany crossover right with The Shadow/Batman, Max Bemis’s Moon Knight while not living up to all it could have been - and likely to age poorly - had moments of truly bizarre grace, Saga was Saga even if I’ve lost the plot, Ahmed and Christian Ward’s Black Bolt concluded as well as we all might have hoped, Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt’s The Wild Storm continued to build up steam in its own fascinating style, Doomsday Clock remains utterly captivating in spite of itself, and Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle’s The Wrong Earth is making the most of a deceptively tough premise. On the one-off end, Chip Zdarsky and Declan Shalvey’s Marvel Two-In-One Annual is an essentially perfect off-kilter Doom/Richards story, Action Comics #1000 had no chance of living up to all it needed to be but was largely a great set of Superman stories regardless, and while the remainder of the miniseries has thus far been fine, Tim Seeley and Carlos Villa’s first issue of Shatterstar was a strange, special delight.

My Favorite Comics of 2018

Rock Candy Mountain: Technically Jackson - the rail-rider who can beat Any One Man in a fistfight - reached the end of his journey for hobo heaven this year, and flat-out, every Kyle Starks comic is a perfect one. This is a book where the first issue has a dude beating ass with a beautiful savagery that leaves an awestruck onlooker declaring “He’s got punch diarrhea and their faces are the toilet bowl”, and by the end it built up to one of the most moving climaxes of the year. It’s a comic about fallen men finding redemption in friendship and in dreams, and also there’s a cage fighter who calls himself Hundred Cats because it would be really hard to fight a hundred cats.

Dark Knights: Metal: This is the final, perfected form of traditional Event Comic Bullshit. Everything good about Snyder, Capullo, Glapion, and Plascencia’s Batman post-Court Of Owls is retooled and reenergized to fit the scale of a Crisis event, everything that I would have considered to be a weakness regarding their partnership either burned away or placed in a context where it becomes a strength. This is the Morrison approach to the DCU rightfully ascendant and presented in a form even more fit for mass consumption, and manages to live up to being the first classic-style, large-scale DC event comic in almost a decade - Marvel may blow its own load every six months until it’s simply got nothing to offer anymore, but DC waited until they really and truly had something, and that something was bloodsoaked magic.

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man (by Chip Zdarsky and assorted artists): I actually wavered a bit on whether this belonged in the best of the best as a whole; most of the issues this year were definitely very good (regarding Zdarsky’s run specifically, I haven’t checked out the Spider-Geddon tie-in stuff), but more on the honorary mention end of the scale. Ultimately however, the Amazing Fantasy arc and #310 are Spider-Man comics I’m going to be coming back to for years to come - the latter is going to end up in every ‘Best Spider-Man Stories Ever’ softcover from now until the end of time - and they tipped the scales.

Batman: Very much in the same boat as Spidey above; a lot of this year didn’t do it for me in the same way as this run has in the past, but The Best Man is the best thing anyone’s done with Joker since Morrison, the ‘wedding issue’ itself worked really well for me, Cold Days made a premise that’s often stymied creators work as well as people have always wanted it to, and the Dick team-up issue was a perfect little summation of a relationship, nevermind how much this year succeeded in getting me hyped up for things to come.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: This is one of those comics where it’s so consistently good in such a specific, quiet way that people stop talking about it, but for real, this has never not in the top five or six things Marvel is publishing at any given time for as long as it’s been around. Erica Henderson leaving right before hitting the Kraven story that had been building literally since its first issue 3 years earlier could have been disastrous, but North and new artist Derek Charm manage to hit their own rhythm and continue delivering one of the funniest, cleverest, most sincere superbooks on the stands every month.

Mister Miracle: Yeah, it really was that good.

The Immortal Hulk: So is this, and if I have to name a single best comic of the year, this has probably gotta be it. Al Ewing’s been Marvel’s best creator for a long, long time, and putting him and Joe Bennett (who holy moley, I don’t think anyone would have guessed had this in him) on a tentpole character Ewing’s got genuine reverence for worked out even better than a fanboy like me might have expected. It’s sublime horror, it’s perfect Marvel comics continuity bullshit, and if the superhero is at heart a morality fable, this is very much a soul-searing apex of the genre as it speaks of how we can all go wrong.

Eternity Girl: …or maybe this is the best? It’s probably gotta be this, Hulk, or Miracle. Mister Miracle’s where the comparison really becomes clear, as they’re both books way out on the fringes of the DCU dealing with a character grappling with depression amidst the mundanity of their cyclical existence. However, as perfectly constructed and rawly human as Mister Miracle is, this hits a lot more of my own buttons and expresses its own brand of more surreal emotional authenticity, and rather than the expected and beautiful next step of a pair of already-acclaimed creators with an established partnership, this was a shock coming out party for Visaggio and Liew, who do things stylistically just as odd to see in a DC Comic as anything King and Gerads came up with. It seemed to sail under the radar for readers but also seems to be racking up awards, and I hope this’ll attain the reputation it deserves in years to come.

Ice Cream Man: Likely the respectable fourth place to the three above, while I can’t quite sing its praises in quite the same way when it’s playing so hard-to-get that I can’t quite put a pin in what it’s ultimately about, oh my GOD this is as good as gut-punch horror gets. Not simply grody shock-value stuff, but pit-of-your-stomach-everything-in-the-world-hates-you-and-you-were-wrong-to-ever-believe-in-love shit that’ll rattle your bones and fuck you up good. Not usually a horror guy myself, but this is an essentially perfect comic.

The Man Of Steel: Screw all y’all, this kicked ass and after how hard the Rebirth books blew it - Jon and the new status quo were both excellent, Tomasi had good bits here and there alongside some quality fill-in teams, but those books were still aaaaaaaaaaassssss - this is exactly the fresh start Superman’s needed for years. Granted the Fabok interstitials had some wonky pacing, but this was on-point and insightful for Superman as a character, exciting as hell, and has thus far led to nothing but more good comics as far as I’m concerned.

Milk Wars: Did the various tie-ins live up to the bookends? Nah, though the Shade/Wonder Woman story was pretty good. But those bookends? Friends, those books were AAA+ sup-per-he-ro-bull-SHIT, and while I was initially let down because it seemed as though it would have Superman in a major role and then didn’t, this is even more of an apotheosis of the Morrison approach to the genre than Metal. ACO is ACO, Eaglesham slaughtered it, and Orlando and Way should be as joined at the hip as cowriters as Abbnett and Lanning used to be. This is a gold standard for strange, edgy, colorful, wondrous, fucked-up superhero comics, and there should be a million more like it every day.

Justice League (by Christopher Priest and assorted artists, primarily Pete Woods): On the exact opposite end of the scale, while I don’t think I can say I enjoyed this book as much as the current Snyder-helmed gonzo cosmic adventures, I absolutely feel this was the better of the two. More importantly, this run is the successful version of what just about every other Justice League comic of the past 15 years has been trying and failing to be as the post-Authority, post-Ultimates, post-Civil War take on the concept. It’s as smart and atmospheric and bold as a book like Justice League ever CAN be, building its exploration of the conceptual stress points of the team around one and two-part adventures and clever character dynamics, illustrating an interesting new take on how to handle the main team book with the power players: taking their ability to handle physical threats as a relative given, a structural conceit acting as a delivery mechanism for the politics and people in play. It hardly breaks new ground in terms of redefining the superhero concept, but it’s as far as they’ve gone with the marquis characters without ending in disaster, and it’s an approach I’d love to see more often applied to this scale.

Superman: Walmart 100 Page Giant (by Tom King and Andy Kubert): Of all the places for King to do a regular Superman comic, huh? Still, we’d already seen what he’d done in that Batman two-parter and Action #1000, so I’m more than willing to take what we can get (even if most are going to have to wait for this to come out in trade). There have been four installments so far: the first is the sort of stage-setting that’s common to this type of long-form arc but with a distinctly different atmosphere than how this is typically done with the character, evoking a sort of Miller-tinged Golden Age flavor connecting Superman back down to Earth before throwing him into the stars. The third is a great Fuck Yeah Superman Doin’ Superman Shit throwdown that gives Kubert a chance to shine. The fourth and most recent is haunting, inspired, moving, and tight as a drum. And the second begins as the worst-case scenario of Tom King doing a Superman comic, and ends as likely my favorite Superman story of the last 5 years. If it continues in its current direction, Superman: Up In The Sky is almost certainly going to be a perennial people are going to rank among the best Superman stories of all time for decades to come, and everything I’d want out of this team tackling my favorite character.

Detective Comics (by James Tynion IV and assorted artists): I’m honestly surprised at myself for putting this here, but I just have to hand it to this run - which had to go quite a ways to win me over, between its opening gambit with Batwoman’s status quo and centering the whole thing around my least-favorite Robin (even if it won me over to him over time) - as basically being the platonic form of Dang Good Superhero Comics. Not boundary-pushing, not the sort of thing you’ll remember in 20 years, but just really fun, exciting, good-looking, slick, character-driven adventures building on themselves into the logical culmination of 21st century popular Batman stories. This is Batman 101, but in a good way, and I honestly think that on reflection it’s gonna hold together better as a Batman run than its immediate predecessor in Snyder/Capullo.

You Are Deadpool: This is the smartest, funniest, most inventive big two comic of the year and even if you’re so tired of Deadpool that your skull bones are threatening to suddenly contract and spear your brain in an attempt at saving your weary soul from the prospect of seeing any more of him, you should get this.

Superman (by Brian Bendis and Ivan Reis): I noted Action Comics among the honorable mentions, as while it’s a dang good comic that I enjoy a great deal - and Ryan Sook may well have established himself as my ideal modern Superman artist - it’s very much the best possible version of *exactly* what you’d expect from Brian Bendis doing Superman. This, on the other hand, feels like Bendis stretching himself to do something truly different in a way he hasn’t in years, and the results are stunning. I won’t pretend Rogol Zaar has amounted to much of anything as of yet, but Bendis has acclimated to the realm of Cosmic Superman Punch-Ups in a way no one could have reasonably seen coming; he’s managed to sidestep his usual issues by anchoring each issue in a crazy setpiece and a single perfect Superman character moment, and Reis is doing work here than can unquestionably stand alongside his Sinestro Corps War heyday. Whether it’s #1 having Superman fight an astro-goilla in the middle of a questioning on his responsibilities to humanity, #4 going full Shonen in the best possible way with probably my favorite fight scene of the year, or #6′s storybook mythmaking building to the best, cruelest needle in the balloon possible, or the consistent delightful fucking with Adam Strange, every issue here has something I didn’t know I badly wanted to see, and damn if that isn’t exactly what I want in my Superman stuff.

Assorted one-offs: Along with the major arcs and runs, we’ve got stuff like the Thanos Annual and DC Nuclear Winter Special, as good as anthologies of this kind get. T-shirt Superman got one last ride under Morrison in the Sideways Annual, fighting his way out from under the wreckage of a weird DiDio book to get exactly the sendoff he deserved. The Injustice 2 Annual, of all things, was a perfect piece of bittersweet character work. Invincible #144 satisfyingly closed out The Best Superhero Comic In The Universe by essentially also doing Invincible #145-500 or so, putting this often tumultuous title to bed with the dignity it had earned. And finally, Slott and Marcos Martin’s The Amazing Spider-Man #801 was a perfect minor mediation not even on the title character so much as the basic moral appeal of the genre as a whole.

#Comics #DC Comics #Marvel #Image #Opinion

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comicteaparty · 5 years

Text

July 29th-August 4th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from July 29th, 2019 to August 4th, 2019. The chat focused on Millennium by Deo.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Millennium by Deo~! (http://millennium.thecomicseries.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until August 4th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. Do you believe Keith and Aaron will get their acts together as Luzio wants, or are they doomed to be thieves forever? What is your reasoning regardless? Also, how do you think the two became so downtrodden in the first place?

Nutty (Court of Roses)

1) I'll admit, my favorite scene is Luzio comforting Sage after the terrible nightmare he had. It's a small scene, but parts like that really hit me hard.(edited)

2) "Doomed" assumes that being thieves is bad by default. ;P In all seriousness, while klepto habits die hard, the two seem good-hearted, so I feel confident that whether they clean up their act or remain thieves, they'll have good intentions behind it. I think, based off bits of their story we can glean from conversations ( http://millennium.thecomicseries.com/comics/107/ http://millennium.thecomicseries.com/comics/113/ ), their state may have to do with them both avoiding their families to be together, or running off altogether. At least Aaron's dad keeps in contact, so that's something.(edited)

snuffysam

All the scenes of Luzio and Sage interacting are so pure . I agree, Nutty, this scene was my favorite (http://millennium.thecomicseries.com/comics/104/). I also love the scene of the gang fighting in the colosseum (http://millennium.thecomicseries.com/comics/44). A strong action scene is always a plus in my book!

I suppose it's nice that Aaron's dad keeps in touch, but i'm not sure that counts for much when your calls are attempts to arrest your son lol.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. What do you think was going on in Luzio’s life when he met Keith and Aaron? How do you think the two of them helped Luzio? What other theories or questions do you have regarding Luzio’s personal life story?

RebelVampire

1) My favorite scene in the comic so far is probably when Luzio realizes Sage isn't with them and basically busts through a wall. Not only was it really comical, but it was excellent character development for Luzio both showing his power level and the depths of his ability to care for someone. But also it was badass. 2) No. Keith and Aaron gonna be thieves forever. Maybe thieves with real jobs, but still probably thieves. I don't see either them as the type to suddenly be like, "Oh yeah we should follow societies rules." I don't think they have enough respect for society for that. Which I leads me to how it happened. I get the impression that they're the type of got really down on their luck, society didn't help them, so ya know, if society wont help damn society. Or something like that.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. What do you think was the end goal for the experiments done on Sage? Besides plant powers and health issues, what other consequences do you think there are? Do you think Sage will grow past them (and if so, how)? Also, will Sage remain with Luzio?

RebelVampire

@snuffysam I don't see the problem. What's a few threats about calling the police between father and son? XDXDXD

3) Probably maybe Luzio is my favorite? That's a hard call cause this is the sort of comic where I'd really like more content before I can diehard settle on anybody. At the moment though, I like that Luzio has this cute blend of being strict and being the type of person who wants to let all the strays in the house. It makes for a cute and interesting dynamic. 4) Luzio strikes me as the type who left, did some stuff, and then it suddenly dawned on him he didnt really know what he wanted to do with himself anymore. Thus he was filled with wanderlust, maybe poor and stuck in emotional turmoil. If this is the case, then Keith and Aaron are at least good for being cheerful, and what better ways to cheer someone up. I am excited to find more about Luzio's home, cause compared to the others I get the impression he was relatively more privelaged. So I'm eager to see if that's the case or if Luzio is just good at hiding everything.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. Do you believe Luzio giving so many people second chances is a good or a bad thing? How do you think it will overall help or hurt Sage? What do you think the story can teach us about life and the nature of second chances?

RebelVampire

5) My favorite illustration is probably all the ones rom the nightmare sequence. http://millennium.thecomicseries.com/comics/102/ I love the vague angles and the dramatic change in color. It's a fantastic way to really drive the horror in while at the same time capturing the dream like quality nightmares can still have. 6) Given what we see happening on Kessiah's planet and with the new location, I imagine plant growth is pretty important. So important that just leaving plant's to their own devices means bad things. So the end goal of the experiments on Sage were to create plant experts who could vastly increase the speed at which colonization happens and prevent famines by being able to watch for crops. As far as consequences for Sage, there's definitely mental trauma there. Although maybe he has more than just sway over plants. Like he'll wake up one day and discover he can photosynthesis. I don't think what happened to Sage is something you grow out of though. He'll learn to manage it emotionally at some point, but it'll be a permanent scar upon his soul. Sage better remain with Luzio. I'll be mad otherwise. O_O

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. After escaping John, why do you think Stitch remained with Keith and Aaron? Further, why do you think she didn’t want to tell Luzio the reason? How might her blossoming relationship with Kessiah affect her relations with the others?

RebelVampire

7) Ummm....ummm! It's a tie between Luzio and Sage and then Keith and Aaron. I like Luzio and Sage's relationship for how different then are. Luzio has the stren work thing going on whereas Sage is kind of a soft, doofy dude. So it's really beautiful to see them still manage to keep along with each other and, as I've said several time before, demonstrate the depth of their care for each other. Keith and Aaron I liked though because they do have these similar goofy attitudes. They're like a great dynamic duo and when they're together, they bring the barrel of laughs. That being said, I also like the serious moments that sneak in too, showing it's not all fun and games either. But mostly they just bring so much energy to the story and I love it. 8) I mean...I believe in second chances, but it's gotta bite Luzio in the butt one day. Cause just imagine if he invites the wrong person in and they do something to Sage. Like a mole from John or something. That being said, I also can't say its a bad thing, cause distrusting too much is also how you wind up never getting along with anyone. Overall, so far, I feel like the story shows us that a healthy distrust is good. You don't want to give everyone the keys to the city on day 1, because they might fleece you.

9) The scars. There are so many scars, so many different types, and I love it. Particularly, though, I love the shading on Stitch's scars. It's that right blend of simple and detailed that makes it look very groteque and painful. It's the sort of scar I can look at, wince, and not wanna know how that happened cause it looks like it hurt like hell. 10) Honestly, I get the impression Stitch felt a) indebted to them and b) had nowhere else to go. Cause no matter where Stitch goes, there is probably a risk of John showing up or something. As for why she didn't want to tell Luzio, maybe its a vulnerability thing. Like Stitch just didn't want to admit needing companionship cause its a sign of weakness or something like that. I can't imagine Stitch is gonna be happy when Kessiah is ready to blow the joint, and I think that will be a negative mood that with affect everyone.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. Do you believe John is more of an entity for good or more of an entity for evil? What do you think John’s ultimate end goals are, especially given the increasing deaths going on? Also, why do you think John abandoned Sage and the lab Sage was in?

snuffysam

My favorite character is easily Stitch. I love the way she starts out shy and standoffish, but grows into being more confident and part of the crew's family. She also has my favorite design of the cast. With that said, all the character designs in this comic are great - in fact, I think it's Millennium's strongest aspect. The way different elements work together with colors to make a cohesive design. Like, you could show me any of these characters in any outfit and with any artist's artstyle and I'd still probably be able to recognize them.

It would be a wild twist if John turns out to actually be a good guy the whole time. I suppose it's possible that he's going about a noble goal in a corrupted way? For Sage, perhaps he was created as an experiment to see if humans can... survive on sunlight, maybe? Whatever he was really going for was probably a failure, given that he abandoned the lab.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. Ultimately, do you think Kessiah will get the help she needs for her planet? If so, do you think she’ll go back, or will her bond with Luzio’s crew sway her to stay? Even if her planet gets help, can the planet actually be saved?

RebelVampire

11) I have to second @snuffysam on this one. The character designs I think are the strongest asset. Not just visually speaking, but also in terms of their personalities as well. They all have their own interesting role to place in the story, and see how each individually triumphs or fails is really interesting. Of course, though, the visual designs are all super amazing as well, with lots of beautiful details in them. 12) I don't think John is really either. He strikes me more as an "ends justify the means ethics be damned" sort of scientist. So he's going to drag and progree society even if that means he has to murder half hte universe. As for John's end goals, I assume part of it is out a good willed intention to bring more prosperty. I think some of it is just progress for progress' sake. And I think this latter is a lot of the reason that might have to do with why so many ppl are dying more. Progress comes with certain sacrifices at some point. As for abandoning Sage, tbh, I don't think John meant to. I think John had to flee, intended to come back for Sage, but then was under the impression that nope, everyone was lost. Or something like that.

13) I'm looking forward to Kessiah getted help for her planet, ironically. I think her intentions coming out is really gonna drive some drama and ill feelings that we'll get to enjoy. 14) I kind of feel like this is a yes and a no. Like maybe Kessiah will get the help, but the help will be too late. Or something like that. I think Kessiah will want to stay with Luzio's crew though. Not to say it'll be an easy decision but I think bonds + new experiences + bad things happening on the planet will drive her to want more. or at the very least, to punch john in the face like everyone else wants to do.

LunarDolphin

Joined a bit late but I'll answer what I can cause I really do love this comic 3) Stitch (But I recently found it it may be because she has a few similarities to one of my characters, also her character building with sage is so good) 5) Favorite illustration is page 3 of chapter 6, that whole space transition had me audibly gasp it was so pretty

LunarDolphin

That sent early but.... 7) Luzio and Sage of course, Luzio and Kessiah also have a great dynamic, Sage and Stitch's growing friendship is adorable and I love that they're opening up to each other, and Stitch and Kessiah crushing on each other gives me life 13) Luzio telling Sage "I wont leave you, okay?" after the nightmare with John is going to come back to bite them, I can feel it, something is going to happen between the two of them and John. And it's not "'"confirmed""" he's alive but I really hope he appears in the comic.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Millennium this week! Please also give a special thank you to Deo for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Millennium, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://millennium.thecomicseries.com/

Deo’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/deo101

Deo’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/deoart

Deo’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/deo_101

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #millennium #deo

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kateanddevinreview · 6 years

Text

London Has Fallen

In which Kate and Devin write a porno

Devin: Okay, so this movie is just Gerard Butler being a badass right? Is this the one with Denzel Washington? Or are neither of those things right.

Kate: It’s something like that.

Devin: Well, Butler showed up in the credits, but so did morgan freeman?

Kate: It’s a trifecta!!

Devin: Or maybe I'm just racist and mixed them up.

Kate: Or maybe it’s the two of them being badass together.

Devin: I made some comment the other day about minorities being underrepresented at the oscars or something and they asked what actors I think should win instead and I blanked on literally every minority actor I knew.

Kate: Hahahah. It’s still true though. And to be fair, could you name any white actors?

Devin: My brain got stuck on Tom Hardy and forgot literally every other actor on earth

Kate:I think he’s on tv now anyway. So far this movie is starting a bit slow. Do you think someone is going to be shot soon?

Devin: I find it weird that we are in....India?

Kate: I think we’re at an Indian wedding. Terrorist’s daughter is getting married

Devin: This is set up for motive?

Kate: Probs

Devin: The Phantom of the Opera and Harvey Dent go for a jog

Kate: Why are politicians always running? I don’t think they do that much

Devin: I think cause DC? it's an easy excuse to pan around the lawn

Kate: Ok well fine, coming at me with movie reasons. Wait, is this a sequel?

Devin: Is it? Was the last one just called "London"?

Kate: I was thinking Gerald saved a president in the last one?

Devin: She has crazy eyes

Kate: She does but she’s pregnant

Devin: I'll forgive it if we get through this movie without her vomiting.

Kate: She’s in like her third tri already so she really shouldn’t

Devin: Google says this is a sequel, to Olympus Has Fallen. Lots of stuff falling apparently

Kate: Knew it!!! I’ve seen that one too

Devin: Really? I'm guessing last time he saved President Harvey Dent from terrorists, wooed or impregnated his wife, and got hired for secret service or unfired from secret service

Kate: Unfired, if it’s what I’m thinking of

Devin: This time he'll save the Prime Minister from terrorists, see his kid born, and...uh. Be knighted? That's my guess

Kate: Seems like a totally logical guess to me. I’m betting he discovers the Prime Minister was murdered. I don’t think people are expected to attend state funerals?

Devin: I think it's cause his vice isn't available? I think normally this is the kind of thing they send him for. But I am basing that on episodes of Madam Secretary so who knows

Kate: New guess!! President is killed and Butler has to protect Freeman

Devin: Hmmm. Maybe. Is Freeman the Vice?

Kate: Yes. He said “Hello, Mr VP”

Devin: I'm missing like half of this dialogue, idk how

Kate: Cause it’s boring

Devin: I want splosions!

Kate: This baby melodrama music is not my favorite. Once again I feel like writing is letting us down?

Devin: Yeah. Be better hollywood!

Kate: Also important people shouldn’t just sign shit without looking at it

Devin: is this the fringe guy? No. Who is he? He's someone

Kate: I think? No?

Devin: Fringe guy is similar but different. Oh! The Magicians? Magicians teacher guy?

Kate: No, definitely not him

Devin: IMDBing....

Kate: “Most protected event on earth”= everyone will die

Devin: Yup. This cast listing order is stupid. Do we know British Gerard Butler's name?

Kate: You mean the head of the British security? Also no. Also I think they’re going to use kids?

Devin: Yes, British guy. Mr. Sands! From Limitless. Thanks wikipedia, for your superior cast list

Kate: Limitless. That’s right, I never watched much of that

Devin: I really liked the main guy and all the arts and crafts in that show. I'm sad it was cancelled. Also we should add the movie to our review list

Kate: Yes!

Devin: Splosion! I didn't think those guards were supposed to have real guns? Then again EMTs should definitely not have rocket launchers

Kate: Hahaha, yeah, those cops are definitely plants. It’s clearly a very well orchestrated attack

Devin: Pretty sure only america gives their cops guns. Also, rocket launcher

Kate: Wow I don’t care how this movie ends the world would not recover from this

Devin: Yeah Kate, it's fallen. Show. Us. The. Egg. It's not London unless I see the big glass egg and the ferris wheel

Kate: How did they know that one president wouldn’t leave on time?

Devin: Trackers? Or they caused the traffic?

Kate: No, he decided?

Devin: Motorcycles, a car's only weakness

Kate: Nice driving!

Devin: Don't injure civilians!

Kate: Ummmm, Devin. I think that ship has sailed.

Devin: He rammed the bad guy into a non bad guy car!

Kate: Oh fuck. Ok so who is the black lady? Is she the First Lady?

Devin: Voight buddy, you could have moved. He's the driver, she's the head of secret service

Kate: He was driving! It was a bullet! Give him some credit. Is she?

Devin: Yes. According to wikipedia

Kate: She’s not doing much. And she hunkered with the president?

Devin: Right? Stop flailing. Where is your gun, woman?

Kate: Oh god. That was brutal

Devin: That was very brutal

Kate: Why didn’t they park closer to the chopper?

Devin: Crashing in 3...2...oh ok nvm

Kate: Hahaha

Devin: He's got a cane so you know he's evil

Kate: So true

Devin: Moral of this movie: don't trust the handicapped

Kate: And yet, they didn’t detect a plan of this magnitude

Devin: Uh, did those people just have labels?

Kate: Yes. NSA and something else

Devin: Like, movie? Movie. We do not care

Kate: I’m assuming it will be important later?

Devin: Why is the lady not doing anything?

Kate: Nice, flares! I like flares. Why are they flying so low anyway?

Devin: I got distracted googling the secret service

Kate: Anything pertinent to share?

Devin: Apparently the director just does the boring shit, so idk why she's even here

Kate: Ummmm, I think the movie should end here?

Devin: Yes they all died. The End

Kate: No way anyone survived that. I call bullshit

Devin: Also, I assumed presidents would have like one guy their whole time in office? But apparently they hire someone new a lot. Oh she dead.

Kate: For the secret service?

Devin: As director. Like Obama had 2

Kate: I mean, that’s four years for each

Devin: Trump has already had 2. The first guy for like 2 months? 1 month?

Kate: Well, Trump does that a lot. He’s had like 8 communication directors

Devin: I just wonder if they choose to leave or if the president purposefully swaps them out

Kate: Also working for the president is really intense, so maybe you just burn out and have to leave

Devin: Makes sense. The local biker gang is here

Kate: I don’t think bikes make that noise. That is dumb

Devin: Yes. Also no one checked the wreck

Kate: At least we know from earlier scenes they are fast runners!

Devin: This looks like he put his manifesto on youtube

Kate: What point is there in entertaining this phone call? Also why does he care about one president?

Devin: Imagine if he called before they watched the video! Like 5 minutes earlier

Kate: Right? He should take the uniform too

Devin:

"Who is this?"

"It's...seriously? You didn't see my video?"

"h/o googling it"

"It's on youtube"

"yeah one sec, gotta sit through this 50 shade of grey trailer"

Kate: Ahhhhhhh Being hunted by motorbikes!! Oh no

Devin: Sure, that's subtle. Also this is a regular subway

Kate: I like that he was able to loot the body for weapons. Very practical

Devin: Jesus Gerard Butler. WTF? You went from zero to torture in no time

Kate: I know, little intense. Definitely running on adrenaline

Devin: This is the most 'murrican fucking movie. You cannot convince me that huge squads of racists didn't come out of this movie going "rah rah ‘murrica"

Kate: Oh god. Unfortunately yes

Devin: Although these talky bits suck. I'd rather have more fighting. Oh, thanks label, I really cared what time it was

Kate: Everyone is dead, that’s what this discussion is. I mean surrender and then ambush. How many people do they think there are? You’re not going to be professional right now? Weird

Devin: Blah blah blah. Bitch it was a wedding. Of course his family was there

Kate: How did you not know his family was there? It was a wedding. So dumb

Devin: What even is the point of that dialogue? There better be drugs in his water or something

Kate: What kind of shoddy intel are you all operating on? This is dumb. Do criticize if necessary. You have to teach them. Also off color jokes?

Devin: "You know what's most important Mike? Children. That's why we are never going to spend time with ours in any subsequent movie."

Kate: Of course it’s not your delta team.

Devin: Yeah why was that message not in code?

Kate: Zoom in!

Devin: Enhance! Your safe house has a fucking skylight!?

Kate: Seems like a pretty lame safe house. Oh this is gross

Devin: This movie is very gratuitous with its gore

Kate: It really is. And president you should not have done that. You are not almost out of this by any long shot

Devin: There must be a porno of this where they fuck right then

Kate: Did all of MI6 just die?

Devin: I'm not going to lie, that weird pirate porno you made us watch that one time is better than this movie

Kate: Haha! Oh pirates. Also my taste is terrible because I still enjoy this

Devin: I don't believe the hackers would make this basic of a mistake

Kate: No, me neither

Devin: Also driving seems like the quickest way to be spotted?

Kate: They kept everything under the radar but you didn’t notice this earlier?

Devin: Ok I guess at least the car is bulletproofed

Kate: How many of these terrorists are there supposed to be?

Devin: It's just the same 4 guys, they're really fast. They keep healing when they're off screen

Kate: Seems like an infinite supply. Mutants!! Also Mike is still somehow always faster

Devin: Now I want an action movie where 3/4 of the way through you realize he's been re-killing the same 5 guys over and over and surprise! it's really a fantasy/horror movie!

Kate: That would be so good. Change the whole game. I do oddly think this would make a good porno with very very little change

Devin: It's cause there's so much standing really close while breathing heavily and the plot is basically just as thin

Kate: Yeah pretty much. It’s a male romance novel

Devin: Also there have been.....5 women? in this entire movie. 6, I guess. Wife, mother, secret service director, beehive, assistant cop, MI6

Kate: Assistant cop?

Devin: Black lady?

Kate: I don’t remember her

Devin: She was in the bullpen with not!Fringe guy

Kate: Ok sure

Devin: Oh, ok, and random lady who had a text label I didn't read

Kate: There was the turning 30 woman and one lady head of state.

Devin: Still, none of these people shooting right now? There's like 20 guys in this scene!

Kate: Nope. Can’t have women in harm’s way unless they don’t have a choice. Also no lady terrorists

Devin: Only lady terrorists allowed are dead motivation ones

Kate: Also I’m subbing lady because it’s faster to type than woman

Devin: Agreed

Kate: Omg. Whispered “Mike.” Straight out of a romance novel

Devin: What? Are you ahead of me or did I miss it?

Kate: Maybe? The president whispered it

Devin: No! I must have missed the Mike whisper

Kate: He should be really tired by now. He didn’t have dinner!

Devin: "Hear that? My boyfriend is coming"

Kate: He really should just kill the president. It doesn’t make sense not to

Devin: There is so much manly eye contact and face holding

Kate: So much

Devin: Like I'm pretty sure almost this exact sequence happened in Outlander

Kate: In the porn there would be a scene where the president seduced him, Mike walked in on it, and then they have a threesome

Devin: With the bad guy?

Kate: Yup

Devin: That seems like it would be out of place plot wise. Would the bad guy turn himself in or something?

Kate: No. Just random sex that doesn’t make sense

Devin: Weird. The sex should make sense!

Kate: It’s for real a thing that happens in porn, you get whiplash. Oh god. This is lame. Really?

Devin: One punch where he runs all the way across the screen. So stupid

Kate: Did we learn who the brit mole was?

Devin: Nope. They hacked the police station I think? Damn! Wheelchair guy didn't even get to make a speech about how bad America is. This movie is not even pretending to care about America's mistakes

Kate: Why didn’t he just shoot everyone?

Devin: Out of bullets?

Kate: He hasn’t run out of guns until now

Devin: What even is this dialogue right now?

Kate: Really dumb

Devin: "You fuck with America? OH HELL NO. WE BAT SHIT. WE WILL FUCKING MURDER ALL Y'ALL."

Kate: America’s not even 500. Witty banter!

Devin: "EVEN OUR PRESIDENT WILL PICK UP A GUN FOR MURDER TIME"

Kate: Also he’s not dead because you haven’t killed him?

Devin: Yeah you just punched him a bit and talked nonsense

Kate: Once again, another thing they wouldn’t have survived.

Devin: I feel like the porno version of this has them go back to their wives at the end with lots of meaningful looks and sly smiles between the two main dudes. Like "yeah, we'll do this again next mission"

Kate: Oh no! But yes probably. Why was there a lock in an elevator?

Devin: Is the president the only one alive from this whole thing? They would definitely make out in this elevator

Kate: I think one other world leader survived? There was a missing link to the terrorist?

Devin: I guess?

Kate: Who sent a fucking video?

Devin: Honestly this plot is stupid Yeah he's def the mole. Also he's running away? Like he obviously did it

Kate: Are we supposed to care about him or her? Because I do not

Devin: They would have had sex earlier in the porno

Kate: Yeah. It would have made more sense. Just kill him already

Devin: Also she would have just arrested him. I feel like the porno would have less murder

Kate: It’s weird that normally I complain about too much sex? But this would just be better as a porn

Devin: Yeah our review is basically "this would have made a better porno"

Kate: How would you have found him?

Devin: Who hears "look out your window" and looks up at the ceiling? Oh maybe that's what the missing link was?

Kate: Also the VP does not have the authority to call that type of strike

Devin: What is this 10 angled shot explosion? Ok, we've got a baby

Kate: So it’s been at least a few weeks

Devin: No prime minister but I didn't realize it was his funeral so I feel like the president is close enough. Now knighthood

Kate: Sure. They don’t know how emails work? Re: is for replies

Devin: "Many people would say this is our fault, but we're america so fuck those people. we'll kill those people."

Kate: “Commence spending no time with my kid”

Devin: In the porno version we end instead with a mirror of the earlier DC lawn scene, with them sitting on a bench watching their wives/kids, and the pres saying something like "still want to quit?" and Butler saying "and leave you, sir? Never." And then meaningful eye contact. Roll credits.

Kate: Hahahah

Devin: Okay, so scores

Kate: Yes. Scores.

Devin: 3/10 for the movie, 6/10 for the porno

Kate: I go a little higher movie? Like 4.5 for the movie. 6 for porno though. I think we can agree that no porn should ever rank higher than 7

Devin: Yeah. Like, even amazing porn is still porn

Kate: Ummmm tropes? So many, “family as our motivation”

Devin: “America is terrible and we never learn anything”?

Kate: Which is so hypocritical

Devin: “One man assumes command of literally every other character without argument”

Kate: Hahahaha. So like 7 on the tropes? They all fit the plot really well

Devin: Yeah, I mean it had a very particular niche and it played to it

Kate: Exactly

Devin: I'm going to give the title an 8/10. Catchy and accurate

Kate: I can agree. Thematic

Devin: London did pretty much fall. Like an old lady in a Life Alert commercial

Kate: Better than Olympus has fallen

Devin: Yeah, plus how fucking pretentious is it to call the white house "olympus"?

Kate: Exactly

Devin: What would the porn title be? I feel like they're usually puns?

Kate: Pun for sure. London may fall but our guys stay up

Devin: kind of long

Kate: It could be the tagline?

Devin: Oh yeah, good tagline. My brain gave me "Banging Private Ryan" which does not fit but is almost certainly a movie that exists

Kate: Hahahahaha. Banging president something? Whatever his name was

Devin: No idea, I called him Harvey Dent the whole movie. London Goes Down?

Kate: London laid down? Cause laid. Get it?

Devin: H/o I have to see if there is a real porn title for this. NSA people monitoring my internet searches, I'm really sorry

Kate: Gives them some spice! A story to take home

Devin: Top result for "London Has Fallen Porn Title" is:

"London Has Fallen movie condemned as racist 'terrorsploitation' "

"London Has Fallen is gun-barrel porn"

Kate: Whelp. Yep. I feel bad for enjoying it?

Devin: "London Has Fallen Is The Worst Film About Our City Ever"

Kate: Oh no it was a piece of shit for sure. Super fucking racist

Devin: “Blowing London.” That's my official submission

Kate: Nice! “Blowing London” is great. I thought you’d actually found it.

Devin: Ok, any parting words?

Kate: It was a dumb racist movie that I feel guilty for enjoying anyway? Which means we should have more action movies made with better plots and motivation. And female representation!

Devin: Or more action movies that are just porn

Kate: Or that. What about you? Parting words?

Devin: If you want to see a movie where Gerard Butler brutally murders everyone, this is it. Or, you know, go watch 300, it is less awful.

Kate: So true.

#kate and devin review #london has fallen #murrica

1 note · View note

silverfootstepswrites · 6 years

Text

Butterfly [17]

summary Time’s a strange fellow...

“You’re kidding,” Ino said into her ear.

Sakura’s phone sat propped up in a neon blue cradle. The bunny ears stuck up behind it. With the bluetooth earbud stuck in her right ear, she didn’t have to worry about cords getting tangled up with her arms when she moved around. She couldn’t count the number of times she had ripped her earbuds out as she worked out. Wireless earbuds were on at the top of her list of favorite presents she had ever received.

Sakura lifted her head to see Ino frowning at her from the screen. She looked back down at the ground, staring between her fisted hands. All her weight bearing down on her forearms, she swiveled her hips from side to side. Her core tightening and straining with the effort.

“I’m not,” Sakura replied. Letting out a sigh, she collapsed onto her mat to catch her breath.

“Didn’t you say you come from the boonies? What is there even to do out there?” Ino demanded.

Sakura rose to her knees. She adjusted the phone cradle to angle the camera toward her face.

Ino sat at her kitchen table, a bowl of cereal in front of her. The orange tail of her cat waved around behind her as it strutted around the counters.

“Hi, Maron-chan!” Sakura called. The cat meowed at the sound of its name.

Ino crunched through another mouthful of cereal.

“You know, sometimes I think you like my cat better than you like me,” Ino grumbled.

“Oh yeah. Definitely,” Sakura replied without hesitation. Ino gave her a flat look.

“You should come visit me, Ino-chan. Take a break from the city,” Sakura then suggested. She looked away to take a sip of her water. Ino’s spoon clicked against the side of the bowl. More crunching as she chewed.

“Dream on, country bumpkin. Tokyo or bust,” answered Ino. And then she spat as her long hair got caught in her mouth. Sakura snickered at her. She got back in a plank position, ignoring the burning in her core muscles. There was a thump that made her raise her head again. Ino had her foot up on the table now. She had bright purple strips overlapping together. They covered the sole of her foot before the ran up to cover most of her ankles.

“By the way, thanks for introducing me to this stuff. I actually don’t feel like dying now,” Ino said through a mouthful of cereal.

“Right? It really helped with my knee a lot last year,” Sakura agreed. She had been skeptical about the odd-looking tape at first. But she had used it to support her ankles, her calves, even her shoulders. When Ino had mentioned how much her feet ached, Sakura hadn’t hesitated to share her secret. Sakura preferred using beige so that it was invisible under her tights. But she wasn’t surprised that Ino would choose the flashiest color available.

Letting out a deep breath, she dipped her hips from side to side. Back and forth. Feeling her stomach muscles flexing and straining. Ino’s spoon clinked against the bowl a few more times. And then her chair scraped across the floor. The water ran as she washed her bowl and spoon, leaving them to dry in the dishwasher. When Ino returned, Sakura was back on the floor, huffing.

As Sakura lifted herself up, her arms and shoulders flexed. Ino let out a whistle.

“Look who’s still ja-a-aaaacked. Even though you’re retiiiiired,” Ino sang. Sakura laughed.

“Gotta stay in shape,” Sakura said.

“To fight off those haters. Ooh, girl, look at those Ronda Rousey arms,” Ino gushed, fanning herself like a Southern belle. Sakura could only laugh harder.

“Anyway, the Tokyo Ballet School’s been reaching out to us for guest teachers. Maybe I’ll put my name in,” Ino suddenly told her, examining her nails.

“Cool,” Sakura answered.

“But I’m not visiting you in the boonies. You come up to Tokyo,” Ino stipulated.

“Less cool,” amended Sakura.

She glanced down at her watch. Sighing, she slapped her hands against her thighs once.

“Alright, I gotta go, Ino-chan," Sakura announced. She picked her phone up with one hand and the bunny-shaped cradle with the other.

"Yeah," Ino sighed, "Guess I should start getting ready for tomorrow. Let's talk soon."

"Good night, Ino-chan."

"Have a good day, Sakura."

Sakura ended the call. She turned off her earbud and pocketed it. It took her a minute to pack everything into her bag. After a last swig from her water bottle, she hoisted her gear onto her shoulder. She pushed the door open with her hip, out into the morning air. It was already warm, promising another hot day.

Konoha had never had its own gym. Or a ballet studio. Growing up, she had biked to the town over to train. But that was one of the inevitable things about growing up in a small town like Konoha. In nice weather, the bike rides had been a pleasant extra workout. And in the winter, there was always someone willing to give her a lift.

Sakura didn't remember what had happened to her old bike. Maybe they'd sold it or given it to a neighbor's kid. Whatever the case, it was gone. So one of the first things Sakura had done after moving back to Konoha was buy a new bike. It was mint green with a little basket in the front. She tossed her water bottle and keys into it whenever she rode around.

She could have easily driven. There was nothing wrong with the car she had inherited from her parents. But it seemed like a waste to drag it out of the driveway. And with the mostly unpaved roads in town, it was actually easier to navigate with a bike than a car.

By the time she got to the rink, it was only 9 am, and she was already sweating. Minato greeted her from behind the counter, still in his pajamas. The rink wouldn't open for another hour, but he was looking through the receipts from the last week.

Although Sakura hogged the rink most evenings, apparently the place was still attracting customers. Part of it, she knew, had to do with the knowledge that she skated here. That alone attracted some curious folk. It was also because in the mornings and early afternoons, Minato taught a beginner's skate class. Business really picked up in the summer when kids (and their parents) would do anything to stay out of the heat.

She spent an easy hour on the ice, partly to cool off and partly to run through Haku's routine a few more times. The changes they had made would ensure him a higher technical score. But artistry had always been Haku's weak point. She made a few adjustments to some parts of the step sequence. Moved some of the elements around. She kept note of it in her phone, typing between tries.

And at the end of the hour, she sent all her changes to Haku in a big text. Then, she headed home to shower. She biked past Naruto on his jog and rang her bell at him a few times. He waved in return.

Wet hair wrapped in a towel, Sakura stood in her room. Hands on her hips. Staring into the depths of her closet.

Her closet had always been divided into two sections: athletic wear and anything else. As the years went on, and she started to gain popularity, companies had taken notice of her too. It started off with little accessories. Socks. A hat. But then she started receiving bigger boxes. Shirt and pants. Full tracksuits. Backpacks and sneakers.

When he was a teen, Haku had been roughly the same size as her. She had given him a lot of the extras. Ripped jeans and flannel shirts were some of his favorites. Beanies, too. He always dressed in layers, which he claimed made him look bigger. Which, she supposed, made sense given how slight he was. Even as an adult.

During her career, she had either been on the ice or traveling to be on the ice. Unfortunately, this meant that as a grown woman, Sakura owned joggers in every color and print imaginable. She had long and short leggings. The kind with mesh and the kind with patterns. Not to even begin to mention the moisture-wicking shirts. She had them in every brand and every style. Long-sleeved, sleeveless, cropped. She also had enough fancy sports bras to not have to do laundry for months.

Pushed to the left side of her closet were her work clothes. She had a few blouses, skirts, and slacks that she rotated.

There should have been, she thought, something in-between. Because it seemed that women in Japan favored airy blouses and cardigans. Cute skirts in pastels seemed to be an added bonus.

"Well," Sakura said out loud. Like that would do anything.

In the end, she headed out in sneakers and a t-shirt. And since it was hot, she wore shorts, too. Just in case anyone recognized her, she completed the look with a snapback and rose-colored sunglasses. With her bright hair tucked into the hat, she thought, it wouldn't be as easy to recognize her.

The address Itachi had messaged her was in a town further up the coast. It took about half an hour by car. And by the time she parked, it felt like the sun was trying to punish the earth. She fanned herself with one hand as she reread his message. It led her to a narrow building with ivy climbing up the drainpipe. Three stone steps led up to the glass door. A wooden sign hung on the glass that read: Art.

When Sakura pulled the door, a bell tinkled. A blast of cold air baptized her as she stepped inside.

The interior of the gallery was as narrow as she had expected. But in exchange, it was tall. Sunlight streamed in from the skylights. There was a small table by the entrance. A guestbook sat opened along with a stack of business cards and a glass box with a slot cut into the top.

"Welcome. Admission is 300 yen," a woman greeted her.

Sakura dug in her pocket to find change. She dropped it into the glass box and stepped into the gallery. From the signs and pamphlets, Sakura gathered that this was an exhibition for a local artist. Her theme seemed to be paintings of nature. Not a particularly unique concept, but beautiful nonetheless.

Sakura spotted Itachi towards the back of the gallery. He was wearing glasses. His arms folded across his chest. He tilted his head to one side as he observed a large canvas.

"I still don't know what you meant by doing you a favor," Sakura said as she settled in next to him.

Itachi glanced at her, a faint smile on his lips. The frames of his glasses were speckled brown and black in a tortoise shell pattern.

"Sorry to disrupt your Saturday," he apologized. Sakura shrugged.

"I wasn't dragged here against my will. No need to be sorry," she answered. He didn't say anything else.

Sakura leaned in to read the plaque. It read "The Ocean" in kanji. There was no description. No fancy history of when or how it had been created. Just the name under the unframed canvas.

She had never been one for museums. But she had seen on TV how people were supposed to react. So she looked over the painting, nodding a little. Like she was thinking big, important thoughts. When really she wondered how long it would take to paint something like this.

Itachi pushed something into her hands. She started. Looked down at the tablet she was now holding. Sakura opened the case. The screen woke, glowing softly. Itachi pushed an icon, nudging windows around until he had two apps running at once.

"You'll need this to do my favor," he told her.

Sakura looked from him to the huge painting. And then down at the tablet held in her arms. The software he had opened up on the left had some kind of color picker. On the right was a simple document for her to write notes.

"These are called hex codes. When you see the right color in the picker, write down the code," Itachi instructed her. He leaned over to show her how to drag the selector across the screen. The combination of letters and numbers changed as he moved.

"For example, what color would you say my shirt is?" inquired Itachi.

Sakura's gaze flickered to his outfit. A thin t-shirt and jeans.

"It's grey," she replied. And then she looked down at the screen. She pulled the marker to the left. And then up a bit.

"Sort of... there," she muttered to herself. The box on the top left of the screen displayed a string of numbers and letters. The hex code for that shade of grey.

"Great. So now try it with this," Itachi prompted, gesturing to the painting in front of them. "What color is the ocean to you?"

Sakura blinked a few times. Her eyes roving over the canvas. She stared at the rainbow gradient on the tablet screen. And then she sighed.

“…Are you sure?” Sakura hedged. She ran her finger along the color picker. Cycling through pinks that bled into purple, then blue, then green.

“I told you. I’m not much of an artist,” she said.

“I’m sure,” Itachi replied. Smiling, for some reason when their eyes met. He lifted his gaze back to the painting on the wall. Waves crashing against a cliff, water foaming white when it sprayed against the rocks.

“What color is the ocean to you?” Itachi asked her again.

"So... you want the color of ....say... the water?" she asked, glancing at Itachi again. He nodded, thumb still on his chin as he watched her.

Her eyes flickered to the painting. She squinted at the brush strokes that formed the waves. Her pointer finger swiped the colors into the bluish-green range. And then she moved her finger around until the settled on something like a light teal. Her lower lip stuck out. She wrote down the hex code on the right side of the screen, under the word ‘ocean’. But then she adjusted the colors, edging more toward green. She picked about four more shades, jotting those down too.

“Sorry. It’s just… there’s a bunch of colors in the water. Is this too much?” Sakura asked, still writing down the strings of letters and numbers. And when she looked at Itachi again he almost looked like he might cry.

“No. It’s perfect,” he answered.

He didn't speak as she moved on to the grass covering the top of the cliffs. Next was the sky. Almost gold in some parts, white in others. She found the ochre of the stones in the water. The pastel yellow of the sand on the beach.

They spent the better part of an hour that way. They cycled through a few paintings in the exhibition. Sakura finding the right colors and recording the hex codes.

After she recorded the colors of a particularly lush painting, a forest scene with tall trees, Sakura stole a glance at Itachi.

“One more?” she asked, pointing at a scene comprised of lilacs and pinks.

To her surprise, Itachi took the tablet from her. He scrolled through the lists she had made. And then he closed the cover of the case.

“Do you like seafood?” Itachi queried.

“Huh?”

The restaurant Itachi took her to was beyond obscure. If he hadn’t led her straight to the door, she would have missed it a million times over. It was located in a white building, a small purple sign hanging above the door displayed its name. There was little else around besides some apartments and a supermarket down the road.

It was a tiny place with a handful of tables and chairs. It was spartan but clean. The laminated menus only had a few options. But Sakura barely glanced them over because Itachi had convinced her with two words at the art gallery:

Hyuga Don

It was one of the specialties of this area. A bowl of rice piled high with slices of fresh tuna. Such a simple idea. But that taste lived in a special corner of Sakura’s heart. Out of all the delicious foods she had eaten on her travels, none could ever replace the taste of Hyuga Don.

Itachi leaned back in his seat, elbow resting on the back of the chair beside him. He removed his glasses, tucking them in the front of his shirt. He rubbed the marks they’d left on the bridge of his nose.

“I stumbled on this place when I moved to Konoha. It’s amazing,” Itachi informed her.

The owner of the place was an old woman. She took their orders and served them tea poured over ice. As they waited for the food, Sakura snapped a shot of the glasses, condensation slipping down the sides. She fiddled with the saturation and highlights for a while.

“So do you do this a lot? Go to exhibits and ask people to write down the colors in the paintings?” asked Sakura, looking up from her phone. She set it facedown on the table.

“Yes to the first part. Not the second,” he replied. And before she could ask him to elaborate, the food arrived.

Sakura grudgingly admitted that this was a darn good donburi.

“Well, not bad... for an outsider’s pick, anyway,” she then added. “There’s an incredible place in Tsukumi. Remind me to send you the address.”

They split the bill right down the middle. And then, as they got up, Itachi smiled at her.

“Thank you. For your help,” Itachi uttered.

“Yeah. Of course,” she replied. Still unsure as to how, exactly, she had been helpful at all.

June bled into July. And it was clear that this heat wasn’t going to go away anytime soon. Sometimes, when Sakura needed a break, she snuck into the air conditioned science room to gab with Orochimaru. And he always had cookies or rice crackers to split with her as they chatted between his classes. Sometimes she helped him sort beakers and glass slides as they spoke.

“The Asian Open Trophy is in Hong Kong this year. I’m thinking of flying out to go watch,” Orochimaru confessed.

“That’s during summer vacation, Sensei. Why not?” answered Sakura. And then she added, “Why not take your grandson? Does Mitsuki-kun like ice skating?”

Orochimaru shook his head. “He mostly likes video games.”

“Heathen,” she grumbled, making Orochimaru chuckle.

As the hot days trickled on, Sakura pulled the old, inflatable pool out of storage. With Naruto’s help, they managed to blow it up and filled it with water from the garden hose before Kushina texted him to come home for dinner. Sakura dunked her feet into it as the sun went down. Cicadas chirping in an endless chorus around her.

She let out a long sigh. Closed her eyes as she let the muggy air blow over her.

In the distance, she could hear children’s voices. The crack of a baseball hitting a bat as they squeezed in one last game before going home for the night.

And then, a deep woof interrupted the peace.

“Oiiii! You home, Haruno?” a man shouted.

Sakura ignored him.

“HARUNO!” he yelled even louder. The dog howled along with him.

Scowling, Sakura turned onto her side. And just as she considered throwing something over the fence at him, she heard the man let out a muffled “oof”.

“Shut up, Inuzuka. You’re so irritating,” she heard Shikamaru scold.

“You kicked me!” Kiba gasped. And she could hear them tussling.

Sakura watched as a plastic bag came flying over her fence. Followed by Kiba’s body. His huge white dog followed. It bounded across the yard, heading straight for Sakura.

“Akamaru! No!” Shikamaru called.

But it was too late. The dog came crashing into the inflatable pool. Dousing Sakura as a wave engulfed her. It soaked her to the bone before she could move out of the way.

Sakura rose onto her elbows, spitting water. She dragged her hand across her face, pulling her hair aside. And when she wiped her eyes, she found Kiba sitting cross-legged in the grass. A sheepish grin on his face. Akamaru sat panting in the pool, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. Shikamaru leaned over the fence, grimacing.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something. Akamaru chose that precise moment to give himself a vigorous shake. Sending more water flying out at her. The tag on his color jingled merrily with the movement.

“Uh.... hey, Haruno,” Kiba said.

“....Hey, Inuzuka,” she replied in a flat voice.

Like a normal human being, Shikamaru went around to walk through the front door of the house. He smacked Kiba in the back of the head as Sakura wrung her hair and clothes out. And when Kiba glared, Shikamaru hit him several more times with the plastic bag in his hand.

“Nara, could you get me a towel?” Sakura requested, keeping her voice perfectly level.

She waited for Shikamaru to walk back into the house. He returned a few moments later with a pink towel from the bathroom. She wiped her face and arms down before she draped it over her hair.

Sakura got to her feet. And without another word, she went into her house to change.

“Nara, I’m scared,” she heard Kiba whisper.

“She’s going to end your life,” replied Shikamaru in a solemn voice.

When she emerged several minutes later, Sakura returned to the backyard. Akamaru was out of the pool now. And when he spotted her scowl, he let out a whine. He lowered his head onto his paws, staring up at her with big, shining eyes. Kiba put his hand in his pocket, still giving that awkward smile.

“Heyyy, you. Feeling better?” he asked her.

Sakura strode up to him. She shoved him in the chest with her foot and watched him topple backward. Ass-first. Into the pool.

“Okay. We’re even,” declared Sakura, smirking. She turned to Shikamaru.

“Drinks?” she suggested. Shikamaru shrugged one shoulder.

“Inuzuka, you in?” asked Shikamaru. They both looked over at him. Akamaru was licking his face. Kiba pushed Akamaru away, blinking water out of his eyes.

“Yeah. Sure,” he replied, grinning.

#writing #itasaku #butterfly #been having a slow week so here's a surprise chapter #you thought just shika and sakura were childhood friends?#3's the magic number

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pluck-my-life · 6 years

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Hey Snark! Silenda (loverofthebirbs) here. I was wondering why exactly do you like to ship Red x Chuck x Bomb together? I know why you like the polyship itself, but why the separate ships on their own? (Red x Chuck, Red x Bomb, and Chuck x Bomb?) You got me to kinda see some appeal in Red x Stella even if I've never liked it, so I wanted to know because you give good reasons! c:

Oh hey @loverofthebirbs nice to see you! My brain self-awakened at 6 am and is now bubbling with activity, so buckle up for a ride! *stretches hands preparing to type a lot*

First of all, it’s inclusivity. I don’t want to imagine a couple snuggling on the couch while there’s a “third wheel” on the other side of it, lonely and awkward and maybe a little bitter seeing all the affection and feeling excluded. And among the three only Red understands from the get-go how PDA can be painful for the onlooker, and what would he do if he’s the one in the relationship? He’d have to persuade his partner to cuddle in private, but! the other two are insanely physical and can’t resist touching him even as friends, and in a relationship? They’d have a hand on him all the freaking time unless he explicitly states he needs to be alone. Now Bomb can exist outside a relationship just being happy for his friends, because he’s got great empathy and maaaybe he could be ace, but that leaves us with your least favorite ship? And I absolutely can’t imagine Red or Chuck being the third wheel, unless Red is totally ace and satisfied with just having friends. I can see ace!Red + Chuck/Bomb, with an effort, because I connect with him the most and I’m not ace, but then the whole thing feel kinda bland. Sweet but bland, like a cookie without filling or icing. Movie!Bomb can’t fully satisfy Chuck in a relationship, he would be left at home while Chuck goes clubbing and picking up someone for the night, and he would sigh about not being cool enough to share Chuck’s adventures (while understanding that you can’t put restrictions on him, freedom is crucial for his happiness) and Red would feel obliged to cuddle with him to make him feel better, but if Chuck sees them like that he’d want to be in that fluff pile, and that would still turn into awkward polyamory, however more dysfunctional than my usual sort. And you can’t have Red/Bomb while leaving Chuck out, you just can’t, not with his obvious crush on Red. Bomb himself would try to talk Red into giving him a chance, because Bomb can’t stand seeing his friends suffer. Chuck’s attraction to Red is the key factor here, he’d want in on any relationship Red is having, whether it’s with Bomb or Stella or both. I can ship all four, connected via Red, and as far as I remember I’ve told you in messages how Red couldn’t deal with his roommates all the time, he’d need a breather and someone he can trust, to be able to fall apart in someone’s arms (and Bomb hasn’t reached the emotional maturity yet, he can maybe nod at Red’s complaints and hug him, but Stella could actually understand, maybe even share his burden of being a self-sufficient bird with needy partners while her own friends are perfectly able to entertain themselves). Red and Stella are both leader types, but Red is introvert or at least ambivert, and these types are said to get “adopted” by extroverts (such as Stella or Chuck). I must say I’m projecting a lot here, but isn’t it the whole point of shipping? to have at least some imaginary relationships when you can’t have it irl for one reason or another? When I was in a social phase and had relationships I wasn’t in any fandoms, I didn’t even draw anything. The whole fandom thing is my substitute for love life, and tbh it’s more reliable and satisfying than 1) trying to meet people, 2) talk to them enough to decide if they’re worth meeting, 3) find out you’re not attracted to them but they kind of are, because I’m the picky side here, and the whole thing turns awkward. And this is how I find friends through Tinder, even when I’m looking for a hookup. And then I’m likely to find a therapist for them via my own therapist, because the only people I resonate with are kinda messed up. In the Bird Village it’s the other way around, Red finds mates through group therapy, but the result is the same: misfits sticking together. And here we get to another reason I’m polyshipping through the character connect to: I can’t really love myself, even on a mentally healthy day I struggle to find myself attractive - but loving a character while simultaneously connecting with him almost takes me there. And here comes the best part: I connect with other characters in my ships as well (I don’t usually ship people I can’t relate to) and then I get to feel for both parts, even for three parts on a good day, and this fills my huge emotional capacity almost to the brim while my mind is involved too, imagining stuff and supporting the connections - unlike in a real relationship, when my brain gets bored and wanders over fantasies or trivial matters even during intimate moments. I’ve never thought of it that way, but it seems like I’m polyamorous because of my neurodivergency. No person I’ve ever had experience with had a personality as multifaceted as mine, ergo I can’t be satisfied with just one person emotionally (not even talking about sex - without emotional involvement it’s plain boring). Just like another character mentioned here, though for a different reason: if I’m a very big computer, and Chuck is a very fast computer, the result is technically the same: the calculations are done quickly and we’re left idle, understimulated. I don’t fully understand my connection with Chuck, or rather I can’t pinpoint it, because… let’s just try to list it. I’m anarchist, Chaotic Good, I love to entertain people with jokes and dorky behavior when I’m in a social mood (especially when drunk), I can be very active and enthusiastic when I have the energy… A lot of my qualities that I don’t even notice because they’re so natural would remind people of Chuck rather than Red, and isn’t that ironic in light of me not initially liking the “sexy and annoying” type? Or maybe it’s just my second-hand embarrassment getting in the way of just laughing at their antics? Most of the time I lack Chuck’s confidence, especially that finding-yourself-attractive brand of confidence, but with some effort I could adopt that quality and it could make me a better-functioning person. Now if I could adopt Bomb’s ability for unconditional love I could become that fusion phoenix we’ve been talking about, maybe even a complete person… but that wouldn’t happen without gaining some femininity from Stella’s flock - good thing it comes mixed in with mischief and badassery, which make it far more palatable than the annoying “tomboy turning into a prom queen” trope that needs to get thrown in a volcano. I’m carefully exploring a straight ship through the most capable character, borrowing some of her confidence to support my weak, underdeveloped female side. I would feel fairly comfortable as Dahlia too, except it makes me self-conscious about boring people out of their minds while being bossy - not the most attractive archetype, though I’m not familiar with her enough to see her good side (gotta rewatch the Stella toons, this time with a more analytical mindset)… Gale is the one I’m most wary of: I have that selfish bitchy side to me that I prefer to keep far away from the front parts of my personality, because I’m madly scared of her - can’t let her take reins of my self-criticism… or maybe I need to befriend her first? Except that’d take a lot of work I’m not yet ready for. I could do with Poppy’s carefree attitude and Willow’s love for the process of art, not the result I can show off in the internet to earn a little bit of attention - I think those qualities can go hand in hand. Less self-consciousness, more enjoyment, and if I can’t feel encouraged and supported whether others provide it or not, maybe I should achieve that through the powers of my imagination. My brain could be a whole world of its own if I wasn’t constrained by depression, anxiety, fear of rejection… things that sound familiar, and they do play a part in connecting me to characters. If I didn’t have them I’d be out in the real world, doing… I don’t know what exactly, if making art is one of my coping mechanisms?.. Crafting, I guess? Eh, my train of thought took a wrong turn… Here is another post about my connection to characters, if you haven’t seen it.

Why are you mentioning separate ships? They all happen in the same headcanon-universe, more or less. Polyamory isn’t always threesomes, and interpersonal relationships all have their own dynamics. Two can entertain themselves while the third one is busy or not in the mood. A fourth can spice up the picture once in a while, with or without intimacy. Pairings mix in my brain like colors and flavors, add a mood and it’s a different picture every time. I’ve drawn frisky Red x Chuck and passionate too, in my drafts there are unfinished comic panels for a fluffy first time and a quirky first time (that would be AUs from each other but whatever, how exactly their intimate life starts out doesn’t matter in the long run) as well as some scenes implying that Chuck has been annoying Red to get the rough treatment for a change (more on sexual dynamics here). Some of my scenarios involve Bomb walking in on the pair and they insist that he should join, even if he’s embarrassed, because it’s definitely better for his psyche than trying to go back to whatever he was doing before he heard the noise and went to investigate. He worries and even explodes when the two upset him by bickering with each other (in the comics), how would he know the noises weren’t arguing and fighting if he’s so socially inexperienced? Again, that makes Red x Bomb first time a separate AU, but those are just scenes their eventual life doesn’t depend on, I draw them to convey moods and emotions rather than to mark an event in the birds’ life. Maybe it’s not Bomb’s first time per se, maybe it’s his first time trying to be active rather than being pleasured by his mates, and he still needs tons of encouragement because he must be so insecure about, well… everything about his appearance! He’s not a conventionally attractive bird, there’s no way he hasn’t been teased a lot growing up, even if he was home-schooled (very likely due to his condition). You’ve mentioned Chuck giving him confidence about his ability by being impressed, same way Red could make him feel attractive (Red far more likely than Chuck, ‘cos the latter is a bit of a thrill-seeker, more attracted to a snarky bird with a temper, while Red would seek solace and relaxation after dealing with the needy, sometimes insensitive little annoyance that is Chuck). Bomb is a good empathetic listener, something both of them need, but Chuck can forget whatever bothers him and move on, while Red would dwell on it until he works things out on his own or Bomb asks what’s bothering him. He might not help to resolve the issue but he can comfort Red without too much talking, platonically or intimately or both, because that’s how moods work in harmonious relationships: people can cry after sex, or cry into their lover’s shoulder until they’ve dealt with that feeling and then get horny, or they could get overcome with feelings right in the process - crying is emotional unloading, and sex is… well, you see the parallel. Watching a movie we cry during emotional climaxes. Now I’ll leave these metaphors for potential fics and conclude that Red x Bomb is the emotional aspect of the trio’s dynamics, Red x Chuck is more sexual, and understanding Chuck x Bomb requires me to further my connection to both. I haven’t incorporated Stella in their dynamics, and she may not want to have relationships with all three anyway, but this is fine in polyamory too. It’s all about balance and satisfying everyone’s needs, not the geometry of connections.

#angry birds #headcanons #polyamory #character analysis #chirpy chirp #personal #relationships #Red #Bomb #Chuck #Stella #Stella's Sorority #Red x Bomb #Red x Chuck #German Flag #Red x Stella #Chuck x Bomb

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franeridart · 6 years

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I absolutely adore every single KiriBaku thing you draw. They’re so pure and I love them.

;O; !!!!! thank you holy heck!!!!!

Anon said:Fran i missed your hq fanart, it was so good seeing some more from you!

I’m happy you liked them!!!! I missed drawing them too, really !!!!

Anon said:Imagine this - BNHA kids like It kids. Also love your art!

But I haven’t watched It :O and thank you!!!

Anon said: Is it ok if fictionkin people reblog your art and tag it as kin or anything of the sort?

Sure! People are gonna do so anyway whatever I say after all, and this seems like a really silly thing to get bothered over since it’s not like it hurts me in any way haha

Anon said:Who dabs more, Denki or Mina?

If I gotta pick one I’d say Kaminari, but I sure as heck hope dabbing isn’t still a thing in whatever future bnha is set in, anon hahaha

Anon said:yo i love it when you color your sketches, so pretty!!

OH BOY thank you so so much!!!!! :O

Anon said:I love you and your art so much?? like??? you’re so perfect?? just keep doing what you’re doing because you’re doing fucking amazing

I’m the furthest thing from perfect you’re gonna find, anon haha but thank you so much for the compliment!!

Anon said:thank you for always making me smile.

And thank you cause this ask made me smile, anon!!

Anon said:your coloring skills are improving!!! gosh your art is visibly getting better lately (not that it’s even been “bad”, there’s no such thing!! i’ve always loved it). i don’t know if it’s a good idea to tell you this but i mean it as a genuine compliment!

Are they really??? °O° I wouldn’t have said so, honestly haha but I’m super happy to hear that, thank you!!

Anon said:Are any of your OCs romantically involved? Or are they all just good friends?

Yes and no, depending on at which point in their respective story we’re talking about haha Josh and Chris are in love with each other, and so are Max and Leo (well, their situation is a bit… uncommon, but if I were ever to write their story they’d be together in the end) - I once posted about Gabe and Hector, and by the end of their story they’re in a poly relationship with a girl named Erica I’ve never posted about. Luca has a love (?) interest of sort but he’s not been posted about yet hohoho maybe sometime in the near future. Still deciding about Isa and Ana’s relationship, but maybe. Who knows? That’s about it as far as the ones I’ve posted about go :D

Anon said:your ocs are adorable!! esp ana, I want to know EVERYTHING ABOUT HER (and, yeah, having new ocs is super exciting, like you said! just– being able to figure all that stuff out, actually mould a character of your own– it’s a lot of fun!!!)

Anon said: What are Ana and Isa like? From that drawing, I already think I would want to be friends with Isa! She looks like lots of fun!

She is!! She’s sort of a jock, a bit of a dummy and really loud, she’s easy to make laugh and got the type of laughter that makes you wanna laugh with her so when she’s around the mood is always a good one! She’s not exactly a social butterfly, but she’s got no problems with socializing, knows by instinct how to bend her behaviour to fit with all types of people and has the incredible ability to have every and all awkward situations fly right over her head, she just doesn’t notice them, and that makes it hard to be anything but relaxed when she’s around. She’s actually how she and Ana got in the group, since she’s gym buddies with Leo! She also really really likes ball sports :D

Ana’s an introvert all the way through, on the other hand - she’s really witty and sassy when she feels comfortable enough, and sarcasm is her preferred way of communicating, but if she doesn’t know you/ too many people she isn’t 100% comfortable with are around she comes off as timid and closed off, smiles politely and barely utters a word - people assume she’s the subdued and shy type at first so once she starts opening up it’s always sort of a shock haha she’s got a scientific mind and while she isn’t a “gifted kid” like Chris she likes to learn and study a lot, which is why she ended up having a real great relationship with Chris specifically out of everyone in the group (they like to nerd out together) (Josh isn’t particularly happy about it, the jelly idiot)

Anon said: I love seeing you drawing and getting asks about your OCs. They have so much personality and it makes me super happy. I hope you’ll feel like sharing them with us more often!

Thank you so much!!!! I’m really really happy people seem to like them too!!!! :O

Anon said:you draw the children so long i love it :0

!!!!! :D thank you!!!

Anon said:Did you now that the voice actor of Tenya is also the one of Kageyama ? (I start Haikyuu because of you by the way, thanks for this and for all your great art !)

I did know!!! There’s a lot of hq va’s in bnha, that’s always made me happy haha

Anon said:Love the new Haikyuu art! Although it’s sad that someone made you lose motivation to draw BNHA :/ Daishou is one of my faves, too. He’s such a doof, love it.

OH BOY I love Daishou so much, I’m glad you like him too! Aside from how much fun he is to draw (and color! he’s a green haired boy and that matters lots to me haha) he’s got so much personality and he’s such an interesting character! I honest to god disliked him with a passion during the nekohebi game, actually haha but that’s how it is with most of my hq faves, after all hahaha glad you liked the doodles, by the way!!!

Anon said:DOGS? SHOUTS? LUCA IS MY KINDA GUY

THANK YOU FOR LIKING MY ANGRY SON !!!!!! :D

Anon said:I love Luca! Where did he get his scar?

A fight with some punks back when he was a teen that ended up escalating when knives became a thing that was being used :O he comes off as the dangerous sorta type which makes good people steer clear and bad ones come looking for trouble/ pick fights with him cause they assume he was picking a fight cause of his resting bitch face. Well, he’s an ass so let’s say that at least half the times he had been picking fights, and it’s not like he runs when someone tries to fight him anyway… that’s not the only scar he has, it’s just the most visible one haha

Anon said:I’m kinda freaking out about Luca and the others being italians! It makes me love your OCs even more ahah Btw, don’t know if you’ve already answered this or if it’s too personal but… are you Italian? (Or what nationality?)

Yah I am! :D and I’m super happy to hear you like my kids!!!!!

Anon said:Hello! I just wanted to let you know that you inspire me a lot! Your blog is honestly such a happy, fun place to be. You draw so much stuff, so much cute and sweet stuff regularly and I aspire to be like that! I’m extremely slow at drawing, and I lose motivation or get distracted from drawing easily, but I’m hoping for a day when I can make a blog just like yours; a place where I can regularly draw things that make me happy. I hope you have a wonderful day!

I’m!!!! so happy to hear that!!!!! And yeah I 100% understand the being slow and getting discouraged easily, I used to be (and sort of still am) like that too :O my need to be faster is what had me end up with the style I have now, actually haha I hope you’ll find a comfortable style that’ll let you be as fast as you wish soon too, anon!!!

Anon said:I don’t think you understand how much it means to me that you drew an asahi! He’s my fave and he looks precious and pretty in your style! Thank you for this gift :’)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m glad you liked him, then!!!!!!! *O* thank you!!!!!

Anon said:Thank you for drawing Noya! Im sorry it was sort of cause of a shitty anon, I also really enjoy your bnha drawings so im not trying to be all “waaaah go back to hq”, but im happy to see my lightning son and also find out hes in your favs? Yay!

YAH HE’S THE BEST ISN’T HE he’s been one of my top 5s since he first appeared, he’s such a good I’m glad you liked him!!!!!!!!

Anon said:FRAN YOUR NEW HQ ART IM IN LOVE!!!!!! YOU DRAW DAISHOU LIKE A LITERAL SNAKE HES SO SMUG ITS SO GOOD!! AND YOUR OCS!! I WOULD HONESTLY READ A BOOK ABOUT THEM. OR A WEB COMIC. BOTH ARE GOOD. SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS IM JUST EXCITED BC HQ!!!! AND AWESOME OCS!!!! (can you tell that i have a weakness for other people’s ocs, esp when done well) (which you certainly have)

THANK YOU FOR THE COMPLIMENTS OH GODS !!!!!!!!!!!! Especially about my ocs, that makes me so happy oh boy ;O; !!! And and and I’m super happy you liked Dai! He’s honestly so much fun to draw, for me hahaha

Anon said:I’m sorry that people are being assholes, sending good vibes! I love all your art, I hope you have a good day

This to you and everyone else who’s sent the same type of ask, thank you SO much! You guys are all so incredibly nice and supportive, bless all of you ;O;

Anon said:Dave!!! :D

Dave indeed!!!!!! :D :D

Anon said:your art is Good

Thank You !!!!!!!!

Anon said:omg i love your ocs so much

SOB thank you?????

Anon said:I love how the collar on Kiri’s coat in the ‘Them boys’ post is reminiscent of his pauldrons

……………………………………………….. that was totally on purpose. Yep. Definitely. Hmhm.

Anon said:Anon from before showed me your stuff today and just wanted to say wow I love your stuff what even your art is so good I fuckin love kiribaku and oh my god I swear I must have gone through your whole kiribaku tag and I’m gone your art just made my day

GOSH I’m glad you liked them???? thank you for such a nice message aaahhhh !!!!!!

Anon said:Im cry omg i just realized ur url is franeridart fjhfhf this whole time i thought it was friend art bddnjx

You’re the second person that tells me that in the span of just a couple of days omfg hahahaha it’s cool tho, I wish that was actually the url, it’d have been such a soft one haha

Anon said:hi Kaminari can skateboard he has a skateboard in his room

Kaminari in his room also has a dart board, a basketball and a dj console, and that’s only the stuff whe can see so actually, considering in his likes there’s “cool things” I think he’s the type of boy that tries to pursue any hobbie he might think would make him look cool, so either he has no clue how to use any of the cool things in his room above a vaguely amatorial level or he’s still pursuing all of those interests! Which would actually be super cool! Incidentally this is my preferred headcanon too so, yeah, as far as I’m concerned he knows how to skate. And play basketball. And darts. And also how to dj. He’s a cool kid haha

Anon said:Bless you and your super cute kiribaku ^_^

Bless you for the super sweet message, anon!!!! ;O;

Anon said:THAT JIROU IS SO TINY AND ADORABLE I’M DYING LOOK AT HER SIDE BY SIDE WITH KAMINARI AND BAKUGOU OH MY GOD

Hahahaha I might have actually accentuated that a bit, but she’s about 20cm shorter than the both of them and in a chibi style that’s hard to keep accurate hahahaha but yeah I love my pocket sized girl she’s the best

Anon said:Im so fucking happy because youve been posting (almost?) daily for a few days now

That was my own poor attempt at something similar to inktober, actually! I’ve had a few days through the month I wasn’t at home at all so I couldn’t draw all 31 days, but I think I got close? Maybe? I’m glad you enjoyed it, tho!!

Anon said:you deserve all the love in the world

I’m f sobbing so do you, friend ;u;

Anon said:do you like as*noya?? or, which are your main pairings for asahi and noya :)

I do ship as*noya, but I prefer Asahi with Daichi and Suga (ot3) or with Kiyoko, actually :O while my fav Noya ship is with Tanaka~

Anon said:I have recently fallen totally in love with kiribaku as a ship, and your art is always my favorite to see in the tags. Thanks for drawing those two nerds, and I hope you have a good rest of your day!

Thank you!!!!! This fandom is super full of incredibly talented people, I hope you’ll enjoy it here hahaha

Anon said: I first found your blog searching the Bokuroo tag.I was very happy because it was one of my all time OTPs,but they didnt have much content.Then there you came,with amazing art.Time passed and you watched BNHA.I was absolutely captivated by BakuShima and then I checked your blog and it had BakuShima!!I told myself “this person cant get any cooler”.But today i found out about TetsuKami and I checked their tag and yoU ALREADY MADE FANART OF THEM!!Officially ,you are the coolest person on Tumblr tbh

We seem to have really really similar tastes in ships, anon!!!! that’s so great omfg !!!!!!! :O and I’m super happy you like my stuff still afer all this time hahaha

Anon said:Could I draw some fan art of your ocs?

Oh my god yeah!!!!! please do link me to it if you do!!!!!

Anon said:BLESS YOUR BEAUTIFUL SOUL FOR MAKING SUCH AMAZING ART

BLESS YOU FOR BEING SO KIND, ANON!!!!!!

#fran answers #fuck me and my procrastinating ass #also #original art #but just blabber about it?#oc asks #okay that's better #anonymous

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azreaelthefallen · 7 years

Text

Mun posts

Part 1: The Basics 1. What is your full name? Azreael Torsera Necros 2. Where and when were you born? January 4th long long time ago 3. Who are/were your parents? (Know their names, occupations, personalities, etc.) Lucifer necros and mariluna necros My dad is the king of hell and my mom........yeah. 4. Do you have any siblings? What are/were they like? Theres michael and amberlynn. Lynn is the youngest. Michael is the oldest. Hes.....ok. Just a lil too by the rules. Lynn......needs to chill 5. Where do you live now, and with whom? Describe the place and the person/people. I live in a moderately nice house with a young man named dean. Im taking care of him and trying to exorcise the demon thats possesing him. 6. What is your occupation? Doctor and demon hunter 7. Write a full physical description of yourself. You might want to consider factors such as: height, weight, race, hair and eye color, style of dress, and any tattoos, scars, or distinguishing marks. Ugh do i have to? Fine. Grey and black hair with bright blue eyes a scar over my right one black and blue hoodie with gold shackles and jeans and demon tail. 8. To which social class do you belong? I dont know my dude 9. Do you have any allergies, diseases, or other physical weaknesses? ...........alchohol 10. Are you right- or left-handed? Ambidextrous 11. What does your voice sound like? Ive been told i sound like some dude from the show naruto. Uhhhh kakashi? 12. What words and/or phrases do you use very frequently? Fuck you. Uhhhh....can i order a large pepperoni pizza 13. What do you have in your pockets? My wallet. A thing. A small bottle of holy water i gotta be fucking careful with. My motorcycle keys 14. Do you have any quirks, strange mannerisms, annoying habits, or other defining characteristics? I do NOT Like being woke up. Part 2: Growing Up 15. How would you describe your childhood in general? Shitty 16. What is your earliest memory? Playing catch with my brother michael 17. How much schooling have you had? AL O T 18. Did you enjoy school? kinda? I liked collage 19. Where did you learn most of your skills and other abilities? ....i dont wanna talk about that 20. While growing up, did you have any role models? If so, describe them. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm probably my brother michael 21. While growing up, how did you get along with the other members of your family? My mom was the best as was mike 22. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? ....a hero... 23. As a child, what were your favorite activities? Gardening 24. As a child, what kinds of personality traits did you display? Determination and cleverness 25. As a child, were you popular? Who were your friends, and what were they like? No 26. When and with whom was your first kiss? A dude 27. Are you a virgin? If not, when and with whom did you lose your virginity? Why is this relavent 28. If you are a supernatural being (i.e. mage, werewolf, vampire), tell the story of how you became what you are or first learned of your own abilities. If you are just a normal human, describe any influences in your past that led you to do the things you do today. Im a an angel. Fallen now but i was born this way bitch Part 3: Past Influences 29. What do you consider the most important event of your life so far? .......italy 30. Who has had the most influence on you? Probably my best freind jackson 31. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Lol whats achievement. Kidding. Umm i once saved a train full of people 32. What is your greatest regret? Haaaaaaaaaaaa drinking 33. What is the most evil thing you have ever done? ...................lets not go there please 34. Do you have a criminal record of any kind? //SWEATS// meeeee oh heavens noooooo i dont have hahaha criminal record whats that...HAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA 35. When was the time you were the most frightened? ........... 36. What is the most embarrassing thing ever to happen to you? Woke up in a dumpster after doing weed 37. If you could change one thing from your past, what would it be, and why? ........................im not gonna say 38. What is your best memory? Probably when i met jackson haha. 39. What is your worst memory? .......................being alone Part 4: Beliefs And Opinions 40. Are you basically optimistic or pessimistic? Tries to be optimistic 41. What is your greatest fear? ........being alone..... 42. What are your religious views? No idea 43. What are your political views? Dont care 44. What are your views on sex? YOU DONT NEED TO KNOW 45. Are you able to kill? Under what circumstances do you find killing to be acceptable or unacceptable? If they are hurting people i will kill them. 46. In your opinion, what is the most evil thing any human being could do? No idea 47. Do you believe in the existence of soul mates and/or true love? I guess??? 48. What do you believe makes a successful life? Happiness 49. How honest are you about your thoughts and feelings (i.e. do you hide your true self from others, and in what way)? Not too honest lmaoooo 50. Do you have any biases or prejudices? No??????? 51. Is there anything you absolutely refuse to do under any circumstances? Why do you refuse to do it? Lets....not talk about that 52. Who or what, if anything, would you die for (or otherwise go to extremes for)? Anyone whos close to me. Part 5: Relationships With Others 53. In general, how do you treat others (politely, rudely, by keeping them at a distance, etc.)? Does your treatment of them change depending on how well you know them, and if so, how? Treat other people nicely and ill treat you nicely 54. Who is the most important person in your life, and why? I dont know honestly. I have alot of people i care about extremely much 55. Who is the person you respect the most, and why? Thatd be jackson. Hes helped me so much and honestly i couldn't ask for a better freind. 56. Who are your friends? Do you have a best friend? Describe these people. I have alot of freinds. I think. I hope they consider me their freind. My best freind is jackson blutstrom. Hes technicaly an alien but hes a doctor and a scientist. 57. Do you have a spouse or significant other? If so, describe this person. ....sorry haha...last one...kinda....ha........... 58. Have you ever been in love? If so, describe what happened. .....lets...not ok just....no stop 59. What do you look for in a potential lover? Just be there for me. And be kind. Love my faults as well as me. 60. How close are you to your family? Uhhhhh close i guess 61. Have you started your own family? If so, describe them. If not, do you want to? Why or why not? I have 2 sons arrow and vector. 62. Who would you turn to if you were in desperate need of help? Jackson. Or my brother Michael 63. Do you trust anyone to protect you? Who, and why? I dont want anyone to have to protect me im not worth it 64. If you died or went missing, who would miss you? Edward probably. Hes a good kid. Also Dean. And jackson. 65. Who is the person you despise the most, and why? Lets not go there either 66. Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict? Argue lol 67. Do you tend to take on leadership roles in social situations? I guess leader 68. Do you like interacting with large groups of people? Why or why not? Its ok. 69. Do you care what others think of you? Yeah Part 6: Likes And Dislikes 70. What is/are your favorite hobbies and pastimes? I like puzzles and tv 71. What is your most treasured possession? My scythe 72. What is your favorite color? Blue 73. What is your favorite food? Pizza 74. What, if anything, do you like to read? Stuff about science 75. What is your idea of good entertainment (consider music, movies, art, etc.)? Law and order lol 76. Do you smoke, drink, or use drugs? If so, why? Do you want to quit? I drink. I used to smoke. Im trying to quit drinking. Not by choice though SOME ONE keeps stealing my alchohol 77. How do you spend a typical Saturday night? Sleeping and reasearch 78. What makes you laugh? I dunno how to describe it >:T 79. What, if anything, shocks or offends you? Gasp or slap or cry 80. What would you do if you had insomnia and had to find something to do to amuse yourself? Research or kill demons or both 81. How do you deal with stress? :))))) 82. Are you spontaneous, or do you always need to have a plan? Spontaneous. Im reckless as fuck 83. What are your pet peeves? Part 7: Self Images And Etc. 84. Describe the routine of a normal day for you. How do you feel when this routine is disrupted? Whats routine 85. What is your greatest strength as a person? NOTHING HAH eh though some people say its my patientce 86. What is your greatest weakness? Guess LOL 87. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Everything 88. Are you generally introverted or extroverted? Whats the inbetween 89. Are you generally organized or messy? Messy 90. Name three things you consider yourself to be very good at, and three things you consider yourself to be very bad at. NOTHING AND EVERYTHING 91. Do you like yourself? N O 92. What are your reasons for being an adventurer (or doing the strange and heroic things that RPG characters do)? Are your real reasons for doing this different than the ones you tell people in public? (If so, detail both sets of reasons…) killing demons makes me feel like im doing something good 93. What goal do you most want to accomplish in your lifetime? You don't wanna know bub 94. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? : ))) 95. If you could choose, how would you want to die? Id like to be poisoned so i can suffer 96. If you knew you were going to die in 24 hours, name three things you would do in the time you had left. Visit jackson. Make sure deans in good hands and apologize to some people 97. What is the one thing for which you would most like to be remembered after your death? I dunno id just like to be remembered 98. What three words best describe your personality? Patient sad and lonely 99. What three words would others probably use to describe you? Sweet charming and generous 100. If you could, what advice would you, the writer, give to your character AZZIE YOU BITCH WAKE THE FUCK UP PEOPLE LOVE YOU I SWEAR TO GOD Jackson belongs to @mrhoneystreak Dean belongs to @gumiixu

#azzie boi you #man

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