Tumgik
#in hannibal's own weird way he does have will's best interests in mind but like not what anyone else would ever consider his best interests
amomentsescape · 3 months
Note
Could I request slashers with a reader that has the mind of a crow. Collects bones, shiny trinkets and is oftenly mischievous.
+ Hannibal (series) I don't know wither he would spoil you or would collect trinkets in the woods from his previous victims.
Slashers with Crow-Like Reader
Slashers x Reader (Separate)
Includes: Freddy, Michael, Jason, Thomas, Bubba, Brahms, Norman, Billy, Stu, Vincent, Bo, Lester, & Hannibal
A/N: I wasn't sure how to title this, but I tried my best. Thank you for the request!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Freddy Krueger
Your collection is more so just interesting to him
Even as a notorious killer, he doesn't really see the need to keep "dust collectors" hanging around
So when he first sees all of the trinkets and random things you have, he just chuckles
"What are you gonna do with all this junk?" he jokes
This earns a stern glare from you, and this has him backing off on the teasing (just slightly)
It takes a little time for him to warm up to helping you find more things to collect
But the one time he did, you gave him such a huge smile that he realized this needed to be something he did more often
Anytime he goes on one of his dream "sprees," he always comes back with a new polished bone for you
(He cleans it himself)
If any of his victims were carrying something shiny, it also becomes yours by the next night
Keys, coins, jewelry, hair pins, etc. are all part of your collection very quickly
And although it took him a while to accept this hobby of yours, he has always loved your mischievous side
You've stolen his hat and glove numerous times now
He didn't even realize it in the moment
But your little pranks only fueled his desire to do the same to you
The amount of times you've found a little bone or finger in your cup has you rolling your eyes
But you've kept everything he's given you so far
Everything
Tumblr media
Michael Myers
Michael very much does not care about your hobbies
Whatever you want to do for fun is your thing
As long as it isn't getting in his way or affecting his own hobbies, you can do what you want
All of the little items you have lining the shelves and hanging from the walls doesn't even phase him
You could have a human head on your nightstand, and Michael would just give you a nod of approval
Just don't leave anything out where it can be stepped on or knocked over
Michael isn't one to be "careful," so if one of your trinkets is on the floor, he will step on it and not feel any remorse
"It shouldn't have been there in the first place" is always his argument
And since he is neutral about your collection, he doesn't really think to bring anything back for you
Unless some shiny object literally rolls out in front of him where he can see it, he doesn't take anything
He won't do anything intentional to hurt your collection, but he also doesn't go out of his way to fuel it either
He also doesn't react to your mischievous ways
Your little pranks or jokes elicit zero reaction from him
You've practically given up on trying anything with Michael at this point because he just doesn't respond to your behavior
Just do NOT touch his knife
Tumblr media
Jason Voorhees
Jason know literally nothing about decorating or collections
So having you around to put little items in the cabin is really nice for him!
He likes looking around every day to see what's new
He doesn't say this to you, but he finds the bones just a little weird
Has he seen his fair share of guts and gore?
Of course
But he's never really thought to keep any of those... parts
But to each their own he guesses
The moment he learns about your fondness for shiny objects, he is all about supporting it
Any victim of his is immediately searched to see if there's anything that you would like
He even likes to stroll around the woods at times and just look around for anything that shines
He loves to see how happy you get anytime he comes home with something for you
It always manages to make his day
Your little pranks and jokes towards him mostly just cause confusion
He's a bit sensitive to it at first to be honest
The only "pranks" he ever remembers were from when he was relentlessly bullied and picked on
So just be careful where you tread with this because those memories are still very difficult for him
But overall, he really loves your quirks and collections
Tumblr media
Thomas Hewitt
Oh, you like to collect bones?
Well, does Thomas have a treat for you
You've been able to rebuild two full skeletons with everything he's given you so far
You actually had to tell him to slow down on how many bones he was giving you
But this overload in your collection honestly works out
He's used to having literal body parts as his decor around the house, so you just adding to that "aesthetic" makes him really happy
It just reinforces that you're part of the family
And when he learns that you also have a love for collecting shiny trinkets?
You better believe he's also going overboard with that too
If it shines, it's yours
Dozens of quarters, keys, belt buckles, earrings, and even cell phones are given to you
Even if the object doesn't really shine, he'll pick it up
Once again, you have to explain that you didn't need ALL of these things
Your mischievous personality is also something he doesn't mind fueling from time to time
If you prank him, he'll get you back
You've hidden his favorite knife and apron before
But once he found them, he was all smiles
He thinks your jokes keep his life exciting, and that only makes him love it more
Tumblr media
Bubba Sawyer
Of course, Bubba also fuels your bone collection
He's a bit messy about it though, handing you a bucket of bloody and poorly picked bones, but the sentiment is there
He's also found some creativity with it!
Recently, Bubba has found an interest in jewelry making
Anytime he can, he collects the teeth from his victims and makes you a necklace and bracelet set to have
He gets especially giddy when you try them on for him
It's like hanging up a child's artwork on the fridge
He just feels so proud of himself for making you happy
He also loves to find shiny trinkets for you too
Bubba is easily distracted by light, so it's pretty easy for him to pinpoint different items that he knows you'll like
He sometimes gets a little down on himself if he accidentally gets you something you already have though
He's also a bit sensitive to your mischievous nature
Jumping out and scaring him sends him into an erratic frenzy at first
But when he learns that these are all "pranks" that you enjoy, he warms up to the idea more
He'll try to scare you multiple times a day after that
It quickly becomes very predictable, but you still fake a reaction sometimes since Bubba gets upset if his attempt goes unsuccessful
Tumblr media
Brahms Heelshire
As much as he still feels anger towards his parents, he can't help but still care about the upkeep of the home
He wouldn't really care about your hobby in any other situation
But this is his home, and he doesn't think dead animal bones and random trinkets look good scattered all about
If you keep your collection to yourself, then he doesn't really mind
He may raise the occasional brow at you, but he doesn't say much for the most part
Just don't set anything in his parent's room or certain areas of the house
He will throw your items away despite any protest
He doesn't do much in the way of adding to your collection either
He doesn't leave the house and hardly anyone ever comes by
Plus, he doesn't really like the bones you have and would prefer not to add to it
However, there is the small occasion that he finds a shiny nickel under the couch or a missing earring hidden in the corner of the room
He doesn't mind you having these items and will gladly hand them over if it means seeing you happy
In the way of mischievous behavior, he doesn't really care as long as you stick to the rules list 100%
In fact, he finds some of your pranks and decisions pretty entertaining
They give him an excuse to get back at you too...
Tumblr media
Norman Bates
He won't lie; the bones freak him out a bit
As long as you explain that you aren't actively killing things to obtain them, he's mostly fine
He has his own interest in taxidermy anyways
But he would rather keep the animal looking like an animal and not the skeleton of one
But as long as you keep them to yourself, he doesn't care
He just doesn't want to see them scattered about the home and motel
He also doesn't fully understand your fascination with anything shiny
He thinks it's cute, the way your eyes light up the moment something catches your attention
But he doesn't really see the charm unless it's actually worth something
But of course, he cares about your happiness a lot
So even seeing an empty gum wrapper on the table forces him to pocket it so he can gift it to you later
Nothing really beats the excitement you show whenever you get something new
With that being said, he isn't really a fan of some of your behavior
Every item has it's place, so he becomes frustrated whenever you move anything
Spying on him or even scaring him just leaves him on edge and antsy
He much prefers a relaxed and quiet environment, that's for sure
Tumblr media
Billy Loomis
You collect what now?
When you show him, his reaction goes from utter confusion to slight interest
Considering what he does in his free time, he kind of appreciates your morbid hobbies
When he sees that all of your bones are from little animals, he gets a dark smile on his face
"Wouldn't you rather have the real deal?"
Comes home the next night with a literal FEMUR
You have no idea how he managed it, especially since he isn't one for getting messier than necessary
But the happy look on his face was enough to make you not question anything
And of course, any future killings always involves him coming home with some type of bone or shiny object for you
He just shrugs it off like it's no big deal, but he honestly enjoys seeing you so appreciative
With that being said, some of your schemes can make him irritable at times
He thinks a lot of your pranks are childish, and he's often comparing you to Stu
"Did he teach you that one?" he rolls his eyes
He never really thought he'd be with someone as quirky as you, but he has learned to appreciate it
It makes him feel better about his own morbid interests too
Tumblr media
Stu Macher
He stated that your collections were "sick"
In the good way
The first time he saw all the little bones you had, he tried to fit them together in order to build some new hybrid animal
Asks you a ton of questions about everything
"What was this one from?" "Where did you find this?"
He's like a little kid learning a new subject in school
He also has a similar affinity to shiny objects like you
He has a little spot on his desk made up of old coins and random paperclips he just picked up for no reason
He often gets bored when he's out, so anything that glimmers his way must be a sign that he needs to take it
But since learning of your interests, he quickly begins sharing this habit with you
Any shiny object he comes across is picked up
Even if he's not that interested in it, there's still a chance that you might like it
He may or may not have shoplifted a few times purely on accident
His mind just doesn't think those things through sometimes
And when you begin revealing your mischievous ways towards him, you better believe he's going to get back at you tenfold
It's like a constant battle between you two with bad behavior
And you have yet to find a victor
Billy has yelled at both of you numerous times when he somehow gets dragged into the behavior
You and Stu just laugh together every time
Tumblr media
Vincent Sinclair
As a fellow person with odd collections, he respects it
He also really loves that you two have something like that in common; it makes him feel "normal"
He has anything from rocks to wax figures to little pieces of jewelry
Since he hasn't had social contact with the outside world, these collections were his friends
The bones you have are a little odd to him, but he's not one to judge at all
He unfortunately doesn't add to your collection with human bones, but he happily supplies little animal bones he finds inside all of the desolate buildings
If there's any jewelry or shiny object on one of his victims, he'll take them and give them to you later since he knows how happy they make you
Vincent is easily influenced and will likely start to pick up on your behaviors as well
Will also begin to collect shiny trinkets so that you two can share and compare
He may also start to become fascinated with little bones and how they would fit back together
With that being said, he doesn't quite pick up on your pranks and funny behavior
He happily stands back and watches though
The amount of times you've jumped out at Bo and caused him to go into a cursing fit has Vincent silently laughing in the corner
He may not always have the guts to stand up to his brothers, but it's nice that you're willing to do so for him
Tumblr media
Bo Sinclair
He's definitely communicated his odd feelings about your interests
"Now, why would you wanna do somethin' silly like that?"
With that being said, he doesn't tell you to stop doing anything, he just thinks it's weird
Has compared you to Vincent multiple times in the past
He sort of turns his nose up to your bone collection
He won't even touch it
He says he just thinks it's gross, but in reality, it kind of freaks him out a bit (not that he'd ever admit it)
The shiny trinkets you have though are a little more "normal" in his eyes
Whenever he sees something that shines now, he always lets out a big sigh and picks it up for you begrudgingly
Says you have him "trained"
But in reality, he does love to make you happy
He just doesn't love the little pranks you pull on him
Scaring him, following him around, tackling him in the middle of night are all things he's forced himself to grow accustomed to
He still goes into a pouty fit and tells you to "knock it off"
But his threats only go so far
He soon figures that if he can't get out of the game, he might as well beat you to the win
So be sure to watch your back
He has plans on getting you tenfold
Tumblr media
Lester Sinclair
You collect bones...?
Well, good! Because so does Lester
He's always had a knack for picking up any random scraps he thought were interesting
Bo has made fun of him plenty of times for it
But that seemed to die down now that he has you
You've both sat with each other and your collections, swapping random trinkets and talking about where some of them came from
All the while, there's the biggest smile on Lester's face
He's definitely one to give, so he always manages to find a couple items every day to take home to you
But if he finds something especially cool, you may have to "fight" him on it
(The battle never lasts long since all you have to do is give him a big kiss and he gives in)
He truly believes that having you around makes his life so much more fun too
The little games you like to play, and the way you always keep him on his toes really brings him a lot of joy
In a place like Ambrose, there isn't much for change or oddity
So meeting you was truly a blessing in all accounts
Tumblr media
Hannibal Lecter
When you first shared your collection and true colors with him, he just responded with a quirk of the brow
Sure, he could give you a bunch of science-y answers on why you do this blah blah blah
But he knows that wouldn't change anything
Besides, he honestly likes your quirkiness
He may look suave and put together on the outside, but he also has some darker and more intriguing interests on the inside
He always manages to surprise you with a new animal bone you have yet to obtain or some shiny object that you have not seen before
You have no idea how he does it, but he never fails to amaze you
Of course, he doesn't share with you how he actually gets these trinkets, but you don't pry
You're just really happy to have someone who encourages your interests rather than shut them down
With that being said, he's a bit of a stinker when it comes to your mischievous side
He knows your intentions almost better than you do
You can't get a single thing past him without him knowing
Because of this, you haven't been able to surprise him with anything
It's a bit annoying
But what he doesn't give you in fun, he makes up for in gifts and spoiling you
632 notes · View notes
angelbarelywrites · 2 months
Text
♡ slashers scenarios | first meeting
info;
♡ fandoms; The Boy, House of Wax, Halloween, Hannibal, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, slashers (general), DBD
♡ characters; Brahms Heelshire, Vincent Sinclair, Micheal Myers, Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Hewitt
♡ reader; gender neutral
♡ cw; mentions of blood/violence
The most random array of characters. All 5 are my bfs tho. Also this is written very very informally because it was originally just for myself lol.
•┈••✦ ❤ ✦••┈•
Brahms Heelshire//
> approximateplotofthe movie. jpeg
> honestly you mind your own business once you realize it’s a doll but assume there’s cameras so mostly behave
> you find yourself naturally coddling his doll like a real child when you’re bored, speaking to him constantly
> even though you’re not doing much to upset him, weird things do start happening around the house
> he mostly wants attention
> you leave a note one day
> “dear brahm’s ghost; i’m sorry if i’m not doing a good job as a nanny. i’m really trying my best. I hope we can be friends”
> he scribbles a smiley face on it and you’re a little freaked out / excited
> when he finally shows himself you’re really stunned. but it makes more sense than a genuine ghost
> you’re in such shock that you just. keep going with the evening and make dinner.
> but even once you come to your senses, you end up more sad than scared
> “…they left you all alone. I’m so sorry.”
> he gives you puppy eyes
> “…I won’t do that to you. I promise. I’m staying.”
> he’s even more in love with you than he first thought. even if you’re going to make him shower six times before bed.
> to his chagrin you don’t help him bathe
> but you do kiss him goodnight
Vincent Sinclair//
> bo brings you to him
> at first he’s making some big deal, “special delivery” and all that
> you’re cute
> really cute
> and bo clearly knew you’re the kind of person vincent would like
> but he’s still got a job to do
> damn it
> “h-hey- wait- i can help you—?”
> that makes him hesitate
> “i’m an artist too. i can help with the sculptures. “
> …
>“i’ll be good. promise.”
> he didn’t need much more convincing than that
> bo is surprised he kept you but makes damn sure you’re not escaping
> but you don’t even try because you just feel so deeply for vincent, and he’s so gentle
> you weren’t lying about being an artist so you’re genuinely helpful
> he falls madly in love when you help him resculpt his mask
Micheal Myers //
> Meet because you wrote letters to him
> Not to interview him or as an obsessive fan
> At first out of curiosity, then as a sort of way to vent, because he never responds
> But as it turns out your letters are the only ones he keeps or even opens at this point
> So his psychologist wants you to meet him to see if you can get him to open up- of course there’s a cash incentive
> He doesn’t say a word from the other side of the glass.
> Obviously.
> But you treat it like a normal visit to a friend and just chat mindlessly a while
> And you’re so much tinier and cuter in person
> He wants to stab you so much
> But realizes that if he killed you, he might miss you
> Ew that’s a scary thought
> Still wants to make you scream tho uwu
> He escapes
> Because he’s Micheal Myers that’s what he does
> After his spree he finds himself in your house, bloodsoaked and honestly not all that sure what he’ll do when he sees you
> You don’t even scream, just give a tiny ‘eep’
> “…Micheal?”
> He regrips his knife so he can get it over with. You’ll just tattle
> “Oh gosh- you’re soaked from the rain. And all that blood-let’s get you a shower? I can get you some fresh clothes too,”
> He’s staring down at you in disbelief
> “…what? You thought I’d try and call the cops? I like talking to you.”
> There’s something very wrong with you
> It’s kind of hot
> He puts him knife away and follows you
Hannibal Lecter//
> you’re his patient lol
> at first he doesn’t have much interest in you outside of work
> but god, you’d be such a perfect subject to manipulate with that little authority figure problem you have
> and even though you’re young
> you do recognize some of the finer things in life
> mostly his artwork and cooking. you’re really good at inadvertently stroking his ego
> he starts diving into darker subjects in therapy
> you’re a bit of a morbid person under the sunshine-y exterior
> perfect
> he’s still chipping away at something big you’re keeping from him
> he could do some digging online and through your files but where’s the fun in that
> he gets you tipsy and then starts with the psycho babble
> you finally crack
> you killed some guy that was stalking you years ago
> god that’s hot
> you liked it, at least a little bit
> even hotter
> you licked the blood off your hands and it tasted good
> he’s in love ; good luck leaving
Thomas Hewitt //
> car trouble! it’s always car trouble
> honestly when you rock up to the gas station alone Luda Mae is thinking that it’s a shame the fridge at home is already full
> but you’re the sweetest little customer
> “your name is really pretty ma’am. ever since i was little i decided if i had a daughter, her name would be Audrey Mae”
> new plan, she’s playing matchmaker
> there’s just something about you that’s so gentle
> and mildly off-putting, like the rest of the family
> she brings you out to the farm to see if they have the car parts you need
> and to stay the night, if you really need to
> you run smack dab into Thomas in his old half mask walking in- even Luda expects you to recoil at the least
> instead you turn a bit pink
> “oh gosh- I’m so so sorry sir-“
> Thomas stares at you
> You just shyly introduce yourself, talking enough for both of you
> Luda Mae is already planning the wedding
> “That’s my youngest Tommy- why don’t you show em around? Alright baby?”
> Thomas is a bit hesitant but you’re so little and cute and smell so good—
> He’s already obsessed oops
781 notes · View notes
illiana-mystery · 1 year
Note
oh P.S. BIG fan of your story Collateral. I am Obsessed. Such a pity theres like no stories for molinas character from that episode
Oh thank you! You're too kind. 😁💙
Tumblr media
I really need to get back to writing that one. (I hate writer's block) But I have had fun writing it for almost a year now. Crazy how time flies!
And yes, you're so right. It is sad that there are virtually no other fics for Silas. His character had so much potential that the writers barely fleshed out. That was the reason why I wrote Collateral.
Plus I love westerns since it's a big part of my family's culture (my roots being from Louisiana with a Creole and Native background).
But also, just for you, here's a sneak peek of the next chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to it soon. 🤞🏾 I made yall wait too long.
------
Tumblr media
"Mmmmm," Silas hummed as he gobbled up the bowl of stew in front of him.
He was just eating away, almost as sloppily as Billy the night before but it warmed your heart.
You never cooked for anyone other than your father and seeing your love interest indulge in your cooking made you feel some type of way.
Hell, you barely touched your own bowl of stew. No, you were just content watching him enjoy his warm meal.
Hannibal and Billy were also clearly enjoying your food, having not said a word since they began to chow down.
The only sounds in their home were slurping and chewing and you patted yourself on the back for that.
"I'm glad you like the stew," you said with a content giggle.
"Like it?" Silas scoffed. "Darlin, I love this. Best possum stew I've ever had."
"I agree, boss," Billy perked up. "This is delicious."
"Looks like the little lady does know how to make a mean possum stew. I'm impressed too," Hannibal chimed in. "Yeah, we're never gonna let you go back to your daddy."
Silas chuckled.
"She already made her choice," he responded before he rubbed your back. "She's one of us now."
You giggled to yourself before you kissed his cheek.
"Happy to be one of you," you stated. "Any of you boys want seconds?"
"I got it, little lady. Why don't you eat? You barely touched your bowl."
"Oh, I don't mind," you assured before Silas held you down.
"Hannibal got it," he insisted. "Now eat. I don't want you going hungry worrying about us."
"Well, alright. I really don't mind."
"I know you don't," he cooed before he gently kissed you. "You spoil us way too much."
"Well, I'm appreciative. Honestly, I've enjoyed my time here. I hate to admit it, but I barely miss my pa."
Silas didn't respond. Instead he hugged you tight and kissed one of the love bites that decorated your neck.
You fell deeper into his embrace and then began to eat. But as you ate, your sense of taste felt even more exhilarated by the warmth of the old bandit's body wrapped around yours.
It was a strange phenomenon to you, but welcomed nonetheless. It did make the stew taste even better after all.
------
Tumblr media
I also have a Silas McCall/Joe Cribbens x Reader fic in the works. Hopefully I can get it out next month. 🤞🏾 I've been racking my brain because I want it to be perfect. So stay tuned for that! 😉
Also we need a western with Fred and Willem as the leads like yesterday. Like it's a weird dream of mine. It would be so perfect. 🥹😩
22 notes · View notes
Text
XI.
The Entity is quite a bit bigger than the last time Scar had seen it. Grian has added a lot to it; the copper wheel buried in its side and the tree growing out of it being the centerpieces for now. The legs are . . . Unnerving, to say the least. If he looks hard enough, he can see cracks in its shell, little flashes of red that make him question what the Entity really is.
He feels bad about what happened, he really does. He wants so desperately to tell Grian about everything, to explain, but as the words had sat on his tongue, the reason behind his silence had reappeared.
And now Grian is angry at him. Actually, both of them are, he'd realized as he'd stared at Mumbo's cold eyes and down turned lips. Self-righteousness makes him bite his cheek to keep from screaming that he's been trying to help. He's trapped in the middle of a rock and a hard place, trying to keep everyone sane by tempering the blow to his own sanity instead.
There's a noise from the Entity, a kind of gargling, grating whine that scratches the inside of his ears like scraping a spoon across ceramic. He shakes his head involuntarily, blinks and swears he sees the red cracks widen in front of him. The stone shifts like skin, reminding him of when he touches Jellie's back and her skin twitches at his touch. It begins to open, and he's not sure what's inside, but the writhing mass of red is as big as he is now.
Something separates from the mass and moves towards him. It reminds Scar of nether vines twisting towards the light of the lava, no brain to guide them forwards but rather something molecular forcing them through space. It reaches out to him and Scar bites down the laugh that rises in his throat at how ridiculous it looks.
The tendril splits apart once at the end, then again, clean and neat like the tendril had always been split. Scar's brain makes sense of it the same way he sees shapes in the clouds; it looks eerily like a hand reaching out, grasping and desperate.
Scar takes a purposeful step back, his fingers digging into the smooth wood of his cane. "Y'know, this is a bit weird, even for me. Thank you so very much for the offer, but I'm going to have to pass."
The Entity doesn't respond — not that he expected it to — as he backs up a few paces, turning and rocketing away.
His tree is a welcome sight for sore eyes. Even with Scarland and the cookie shop, his very first build has a sense of homely-ness that he finds he misses every once in a while. He’s sure Joe would have some interesting insight into that, something about him feeling the need to be surrounded by the familiar when the unfamiliar becomes too much, but he’s doing his best not to think about that (or tell Joe, for that matter). He lands near silently on the mossy lawn, already thinking about dinner.
The door is unlocked and swings open easily. He rarely locks his doors, content to keep any valuables hidden rather than locked up. There's something now though that makes him regret not locking it, some hindbrain feeling of paranoia he’s become custom to. He steps inside and closes the door gently behind him. The redstone lights in his sitting room are on, flickering softly against the growing dark of the evening.
Dark, slicked-back hair is visible over one of the chairs. Scar's heart sits next to his Adam's apple as he steps into the room.
"You took your time," Mumbo says, not looking up from the blueprints he has haphazardly strewn over his lap.
"I didn't know I had an appointment," Scar says. "This is very 'Silence of the Lambs'."
"Does that make me Hannibal in this analogy?" Mumbo quirks an eyebrow at him, his expression otherwise neutral, before looking back at the papers.
"I'd like to think we're both Hannibal. A meeting of minds, if you will. I was about to grab some food, would you—"
"I think you should sit." Mumbo's voice rattles around the inside of Scar's head. He considers resisting, but the awful moral obligation to be a friend to Mumbo wins out and he finds himself walking to the chair across from Mumbo and sitting down, resting his cane against his knee. His stomach protests; golden carrots don't do much to fill him up these days, and he's starting to feel a little bit off. He already feels like he's idling at a high speed already and the way Mumbo's command ping-pongs around, not welcome in his head, is kind of driving him a little crazy.
Mumbo carefully folds the papers in half, again and again, calm and aloof. But Scar knows better than to believe that; He can see the darkness in his eyes and he knows he's angry.
"Now then," Mumbo says, "do you want to explain why you smell like blood?"
Scar rolls his eyes, relaxes back in his chair. "Mumbo, that's not exactly out of the norm."
“Not like that. Not around Grian, not to mention he smelled of it, too.”
Scar wrinkles his nose. "It’s weird you know what he smells like,” Scar says. Mumbo just stares at him. Scar sighs and allows the humor in his voice to drop. He’s too tired to play games. “Why don't you ask him?" The words taste bitter coming out. He crosses one leg over the other, gritting his teeth at the ache. He doesn't want to be here, being interrogated by Mumbo, he wants to eat.
"I'm asking you."
Scar huffs. "I didn't do anything, if that's what you're looking for."
"If you hurt him—"
Scar stands suddenly, eyes narrowed and his knuckles white on his cane. "I don't need to be babysat while you're off having a vacation and neither does Grian."
Mumbo levels him with a calm gaze. "Come on, Scar. You know that's not what I'm implying."
Everything is getting too much. Both of them seem so angry with him and all he's tried to do is help. His own affronted ego gets the better of him.
"If you want to know, go ask Grian. He won't tell me what's going on, maybe he'll tell you." Scar tightens the grip on his cane and turns on his heel.
"Scar, stay." It's enough to make his steps stutter, but he marches towards the door, latent energy and anger buzzing under his skin. He feels like if he touches the tree, it may light on fire. It'd calm him down, sure, but he'd regret it later.
He's four steps to the door when suddenly he's not; he's pressed against the wall with Mumbo holding him there, an arm across his throat. His eyes blaze, dark voids that threaten to swallow him whole.
"Scar, if you laid even a finger on Grian—"
"I didn't!"
"He smelled like blood!"
"It wasn't his!" Silence falls over the two of them as Mumbo stares at him, scanning him for signs of treachery. "It wasn't his."
Mumbo eases up off of him, but doesn't let him go fully. "Who's was it?"
Scar swallows heavily, looks at Mumbo for a long minute. How do you tell a man that his best friend isn't the man he was? "Something is wrong with Grian. I think it has to do with the Entity."
"And you didn't touch him?"
Grian's slack hand stained red flashes across his memory and he can feel his face pale, his eyes flickering away from Mumbo's face.
"Scar." Mumbo's voice is calm, quiet. He should be angry, furious even, but history has a bad habit of warping the present.
"I lost control," Scar whispers. The admission burns like fire in his throat. He can't stand to meet Mumbo's eyes.
"You said you had a system." Scar wants to laugh at that. Mumbo should know how well his "systems" worked. As doomed to fail as most of his plans. Then again, Joe had once said he had "the general air of a man who knows exactly what he's doing", so maybe that played into it. Why is he thinking so much of Joe, anyway?
"What happened?" It's not a question, it's a demand. Scar knows Mumbo, he's certainly spent enough time with him. Mumbo is kind of like a wet noodle, slippery and without much of a spine and sometimes a little salty. The normal Wet Noodle Man state gets along swimmingly with Scar's particular brand of weird so he's never had any complaints. That's how things usually are. Right now, however, he's the opposite of a wet noodle. He is a dry noodle. He's a serious, dry, brittle noodle bent worryingly close to snapping and will remain there until someone tells him everyone is safe and healthy and he can dunk himself back into water and return to his usual wet noodley self.
"I didn't . . . I don't know, I got distracted, got into a build. Grian usually pulls me away for shenanigans and I remember y'know 'oh right I should actually eat something so I don't—'. You know. But he's not really here these days and I just got kind of sucked in and uh. Grian was in my shop and I just kind of." Scar studies the smooth wood of the floor and the twisting lines of its grain, drawing close but never quite interceding.
"What did you mean when you said 'He's not really here'?"
Scar just . . . stares at him. The mask drops away and Scar can see him for the first time since he got back, the worry in his eyes, the fear that sits right under the surface. Oddly, warmth blooms in his chest at the idea that Mumbo’s calm, happy-go-lucky shell would break at the mere idea that he or Grian were hurt.
Scar shifts and the ache in his legs spreads to his hips and sends a shock up his spine. His breath hisses out between his teeth and he feels Mumbo's grip shift to his arm to hold him steady. Guilt and worry flashes in Mumbo's eyes.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry, let's just . . ." He wraps an arm around Scar's waist and walks with him back over to the living room, careful to lower him into a chair.
Mumbo sits down across from him on the edge of his seat, wringing his hands. "I'm not ah . . . Very good at being—"
"It's fine," Scar cuts him off. Mumbo stares at him, like he's some very odd bug he wants to dissect, or maybe like he's a spider that Mumbo is worried will jump if he looks away. Scar doesn't even know if what he's saying is fine, he just wants Mumbo to stop talking until he can think through the haze of pain.
Static numbs the tips of his fingers, ice cold and enough to make him shudder. It races up his spine and he hates that he can track it so acutely now. He breathes deeply, eyes pinched shut for several minutes, until the feeling begins to return to his legs.
"It's getting worse?" Mumbo's words are soft and full of worry where there should be fear. Mumbo's never been one to feel fear easily, though.
Scar nods and looks out the window. He used to be able to see the Entity from here before it moved. He'd quite liked it. It had a certain natural feeling that he could respect, a kind of life he hadn't really seen in many of Grian’s builds, Grumbot excluded. Now he can only see the leaves of the twisting tree that grows from its back and the outline of a spindly leg against the setting sun.
"Something's not right with Grian," Scar says softly. "I know, I messed up, but you can put me in a spawn death-box or whatever later, just . . . I think it's time, Mumbo."
Mumbo's brows furrow and his mouth turns down, firm resolve settling over him like a cloak. "No. Absolutely not."
"Mumbo—"
"I said no. I've said no. My answer hasn't changed and it won’t change. Grian . . . No. We can't."
Scar is silent for a long second, staring at the emotions that wash over Mumbo. "He won't leave, you know."
Mumbo doesn't reply, just looks away from him. It's enough. Scar sighs and sinks back into the plush armchair. "We're gonna figure it out, Mister Jumbo, of that I can assure you."
Scar can see Mumbo's eyes roll, so he kicks his good leg out and taps the other man's shin with his foot. "Soooooo, are you gonna tell me about all the trouble you got into, or do I have to make it up myself?"
Mumbo laughs. "You'll make it up anyway! You're worse than a group of secondary school girls at keeping your mouth shut and you've got a hell of an imagination."
"Mumbo!" Scar says, his hand over his heart in mock pain. "I've been nothing but a friend to you, and this is the thanks I get?"
"Sod off," Mumbo kicks lightly at his foot, but he's smiling again. Scar leans back in his chair and lets the other's words wash over him. It's a balm to a gaping wound; just for a moment, he can pretend everything is okay.
13 notes · View notes
Text
recs on recs on recs
Yaoi/Manga I’m reading/have read. Please support the artists on official websites. If you have recs or want to chat about any of these get in my messages right the fuck now my dudes. Also spoilers, also this probably doesn’t make sense to anyone but me, also I think I’m funny sorry in advance.
Dangerous Convenience Store
Tags: Ongoing, self aware lead for the most part, gangs, smut, love triangle, possessive, not rapey, seme is like the fucking hulk compared to uke, college, age gap, good art, muscular bodies, seme is adorable/romantic in sp chapters, sexual awakening, meeting the gang (in two ways!), FAINTS OF CUTENESS/HOTNESS, the memes after every chapter got me gagged, HAHE hahahahahahahahahaha, OMG DO I GET SOME CNC?! (update: short lived), we stan a vocal man (Ahjussi), thigh fucking, my mans be like my thighs hurt fuck my ass instead DECEASED, ass smacking, these memes are so good god damnit, rimming
8/10, I live for Ahjussi (Am I spelling this wrong..)
The New Employee 
-love love love
Tags: ongoing, we stan supportive boyfriends, healthy relationship, boss/employee, smut, office setting, good art, 10/10 will re-read, muscular bodies
Love Shuttle
Tags: completed, ABO, enemies to lovers, possessive, coworkers, fake relationship, strong omega, the art sucks but I like the story, art gets better after the 1st season, alphas eyes change colors when happy/anxious, muscular bodies, 7/10, update 10/10 art is meh but fml this storyline is basic af in the best way and it’s the fluff/smut I need, when you’re caught by the folks *cringe*
Hold Me Tight
Tags: ongoing, boss/employee, bodyguard, gio can’t feel heat until felix comes along, uke is strong af, horny bastards, smut, possessive, tragic childhood, moving in together right away, rich seme, felix in a bunny costume though *heart eyes*, dialogue is great, rape in a technical sense but the vibe is written like both characters are all good after? Ex. hospital scene…dub con, ART IS GREAT, hand holding during sex, 10/10 will re-read, muscular bodies
Yours to Claim 
Tags: ongoing, love triangle, Dom/sub dynamics, smut, main is big switch energy, reincarnation, jealousy, manipulative, possessive, self aware lead for the most part, toxic af, GREAT ART, college, rich semes, 10/10 will re-read and not even finished, SONOFABITCH that cliff hanger!! Season 3 come thruuuu (I have to wait until November? *cries* BUT MAH LOVE TRIANGLE!!, I want a THROUPLE GOD DAMN IT
The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
Tags: obsessed with this story, will the incense burner scenes make it?? No tags because I'll never forget this one haha wangxian 5ever, send me all fanfics/fan art you have about this story, love Dark Wangji, Jadecest, ABO/omegaverse, Bottom Wangji/Top Wei Ying, and honestly anything regarding this fandom
Bj Alex
Tags: completed, great art, 11/10 will re-read, cam boy, fanboy, seme is an asshole, uke is so sexy, jealously, rich seme, enemies to lovers kind of?, CHANWOO IS MY BOY FOR LIFE, Chanwoo MD supremacy, BDSM (like really really), fuck I love Chanwoo, college students, rich seme, emotional rollercoaster, uke soft body, mean seme, college life, that one nosy bitch ass guy trying to expose my boys needs to fuck right off, seme split/fake personality, dub con 
Anti PT
Tags: ongoing, 11/10 re-readable, porn with feelings, love triangle, jealousy, attempted non-con, personal training wink wink, main love interest is actually the best, second male lead is a god damn creep, first time, smut, great art, sex addict/constantly horny uke, I WANT A HWI, 
Related: https://www.anime-planet.com/manga/anti-pt/recommendations 
Payback
Tags: ongoing, both are psychopaths tbh, revenge, gangs, uke sells himself to seme, violent seme, entertainment industry, brunette supremacy, what this motherfucker gonna do? hehe , great art, muscular bodies, dead dove do not eat, my mans must be GOOD looking/animal magnetism cause everyone losing their fucking minds, okay this is a comedy I’m dying, he tried to scare him with wanting to be a top but my psycho said REVERSEUNO BITCH I’M A VERSE (wait jk apparently *sigh*), anonymous masked sex (sad n’ kinky)
My Suha
Tags: ongoing, wow this gets dark, possessive af like holy shit, terrible people all around uke, rape, boss/employee, office politics/family politics, smut, characters that are punchable, dead dove do not eat, *velociraptor noises*, avoided this for a while but I’m back because nothing can be more emotionally devastating than Banana Fish, TIE HIM UP, FUCK HIS FACE ALKSJD:ASKD, FUCK SUHA UR SO HOT that dirty talk though YAS, glad I picked this back up lmao, GOD DAMN IT just when the package arrived then this red head fucker *screams*
Shame Application aka Dirty Vibration
Tags: completed, friends to lovers, model seme, cute af uke, love triangle, entertainment industry, smut, kink, all kinds of sex everywhere, realized feelings, mutual pining, jealousy, rich seme, blonde seme, big brother 1984 always watching, 10/10 would re-read, porn with plot, they were roommates!, ~straight~ seme, first times, great art, remembering some cringe but considering the story it’s par for the course
Will You Subscribe
Tags: ongoing, season 1 completed, enemies to lovers, cam boy, office politics, boss/employee, hiding a secret, public sex, stalkers/creepy men, emotionally stunted characters, mutual pining, idiots in lust, lingerie company, slut shaming, jealousy/possessiveness, season 2 bebeh, HOLDING HANDS *velociraptor noises*, LMAO okay my mans is not THAT old how tf does he not know netflix and chill, BUNNY COSTUME (quickly becoming my new fav trope in manga, A+ gang), oh we stan a good boy, wtf is wrong with wanting to do cam work, ‘I wish my marks could become permanent’ *omegaverse wink*, *works for lingerie company* *doesn’t understand where bf gets sexy costumes* like wut kind of fuckery…, cross dressing ftw, roleplay, classic BL miscommunication trope
Hyperventilation
Tags: completed, high school crush, unrequited love, mutual pining, smut, quickie (short story), class reunion, apparently furry with the extra chapter turning my man into a bunny but c'est la vie! https://myreadingmanga.info/korean-bl-animation-hyperventilation-engsub/ this is the animation of the same story, different endings but same in tone (this site is spammy AF but the English subs are so hard to find for this) 8/10 
Unmei no tsugai ga omae da nante
Tags: only one bed, ABO, office setting. Coworkers, enemies to lovers, competitive, equality in the omegaverse, dubcon, real dicks and not lightsabers, fated pair, art is cute af 8/10
K’s Secret
Tags: buckle up buttercup, dead dove do not eat, angst, pining, somnophilia, dub con, non con, boss/employee, manipulative, stalking, forced relationship, tragic childhood background, weird art but gets better,  uke: don’t threaten me with a good time but seriously stop threatening me, possessive & obsessive, seme is like the fucking hulk compared to uke, wow were going full psycho stalker hm?, dating a narcissist is all fun and (mind)games, con non con… ? honestly who tf knows, domestic!, OW MY HEART, the t/n WAP note sent me, ch 51 translated by gen z, do special ep= furry? Wait there’s a maid costume, bunny costume, directors friends keeping it real, rough translations 8/10
Enthusiasm
Tags: ongoing, dead dove do not eat, uke buys seme, masc boys, muscular bodies, fight club, master/slave, rich uke, revenge, real dicks not lightsabers, rough sex, cuckholding, daddy issues, suicide, wow the end of ch 5 punched a hole in my heart, penile implant life,  rough translations makes the storyline wonky, nvm back to lightsabers *star wars noises*, HAD ME FEELING SOME TYPE OF WAY I CAN NOT, shibari, possessive, wait this is cute *velociraptor noises*, angst, no kithes for you “bestie”, OBSESSED, honestly choke him pupper, STAY THE NIGHT ALKSDJA:SLDKJAS:LKDJA:SLDKj, problematic but I’m riding for these two, 
Ichimai Goshi Fetish
Tags: completed, short, fetishes DO start in childhood don’t they *ruminates*, author: describes ML as a beautiful 2D character meanwhile: ML IS 2D character, fellas is it gay to kiss the homies?, “real dudes don’t interest me” is a MOOD, comedy, jealousy, college setting, dialogue is A+, not lightsabers but not dicks either, first time, when you’re fucked so good you think you’ve died, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4uEq5Nx6ko, hero/villain roleplay. Fluff n smut 10/10
My Purrfect Boss
Tags: completed, tooth rotting fluff because blondie is so FUCKING cute little sensitive soul, golden retriever boyfriend, pure comedy, DECEASED, MY MAN JUST DID THE SLOW BLINK, office setting, boss/employee, ~wasted~ (red dead redemption meme),  FFS SO CUTE, he put a ring on it right away beyonce would be proud af, he protecc he attack but most importantly he hit it from the back, jealousy, honeymoon phase of dating, the ex is a snake (update: oh wow literally), I’m picking up abuse/PTSD vibes based on how Kang reacts to his ex :(, classic BL miscommunication plot, immediately no meme audio (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6XWSGfYnps) ,  I WILL STRAIGHT UP MURDER CHA WTF!!!!!!, gang rape, spiked with drugs that force heat, me rn:*screaming/rage*, psychotic ex/abuser, HE PROTECCC, actual relief after that scene jesus fuck, okay YES kings I see you, okay this is giving me cuteness aggression, hi yes I’d like to adopt a cat and a dog please 9/10
Following Namsoo to the Bathhouse
Tags: completed, same author as, “My Purrfect Boss”, A+ comedy once again, JUNIOR, gay awakening, “fap myself to death” DEAD, facial expressions are ridic, my minds telling me no but my body, my bodyyyy’s telling me yaaaaa, ya boy is literally losing his mind over this, actual lightsabers lmao, FLUFF, permasmile, 6969, THINKS THEY’RE GOING TO EAT RAMEN, dense gay, own your skin wtf okay hannibal calm down, everyone is officially cray,  ah I also am barfy when drunk, denial really is something hm, classic BL miscommunication plot, when people pleasing too far, happy ending 🥺🥰, side story: our crazy gets his very own crazy (ashton Kutcher from spread vibes), public sex, sex sparkle 9/10
Alien in my Closet
Tags: ongoing (maybe completed but def ongoing on the site I use), not rapey at all?? You’d think it’s impossible in this medium ffs, anti pt vibes, cute art, fluff ‘n smut, red head!!, they were roomates!, sex toys, bsdm, D/s (brat)dynamic or maybe owner/pet, bondage, *tiffany hadish voice* this is noiceeee, con humiliation/degradtion, SANTA CLAUS, edging, marking, one lotus please (he’s clearly read the 4 agreements and karma sutra), con non con, exhibitionism, the wrist thing stays on people, Katoptronophilia,  roleplay, is it stalking when you bring your friends?, lotus: welcome home cheater, the chin on the head thing gives me cuteness aggression, the twins are my favs, when ur crush vanilla af 😭, haesung: experiment on me daddy, no dick until halfway through/fingering supremacy, bedroom sessions has me gagged, voyeurism, wait they haven’t kissed this whole time I forgot (audio: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryley/video/6976701880277748997?lang=en), sunbae is sus, YES FINALLY A FUCKING SWITCH COUPLE AKJSDHALKSJDHASKLJDHALS KJDALKSJD (update: sort of), there’s a missed opportunity for an anal probe joke, damn it okay maybe sunbae is chill, 3 musketeers, my heart*implodes*, *velociraptor noises*, 12/10 would re-read such fluff my heart 
On Doorstep
Tags: completed, age gap, reese has ptsd, jimmy going from 0 to 100, jimmy really got down on his knees at work, ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) deepest part you say, real dicks, ride him like a rodeo, quickie/short story, porn with plot
Gorani Jeon
Tags: ongoing, omegaverse, no alpha though, animal hybrid, art is beautiful like it's drawn on paper not a screen, 40 inch weave yours came in a pack, historical (non-modern), lord send me a sexy man pls, the memes after each chapter are golden, taking the phrase licking wounds literally, is that an eggplant or are you just happy to see me hehe, ahhh so inhibitors do exist here, vertical 69, here lays Bau fucked to death by Ran, WHY HE TOUCHING MY MAN, these chickens are dope, stomp on his dick, that’s what I call a happy meal, fucked right out the front door I’M DEAD, mpreg, i need a tiger+mountain god spin off (whoops dad/son my bad), slice of life, cute fluff 8/10
Room to room
Tags: completed, college setting, A+ dialogue, absurd size difference, unrequited love,  sexsomina, dubcon, angst, death by a thousand cuts emotionally, insecurity, body envy, pining, friends to lovers, they were roommates!, homophobia, sexual assault, PTSD, gays in denial, the tattoo 🥺 ow my heart, truly this is 90% smut, “going from unrequited love to fwbs is shittier than I expected”, dowan *bad blood by t swift* when he sees garam, ch 22garam reminds me of my ex and that’s not a compliment, I’m not gay but my boyfriend is vibes, triflers need not apply, spanking, 😭😭😭😭😭 my heart hurts, is anyone getting a bit of a puppy play vibe? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vni9ZWmDXis, handcuffs, lots of head we stan, dowan’s gotta a touch of a foot thing or maybe body worship thing, asdlfgkjs ;dlkfgjsd;flkgj;sdflkgj;sdlfgjs;d/gkdf SO CUTEEEEEEEEEEE, roleplay. They broke the bed no use of crying over spilled milk ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), side stories delivering man in uniform and sex toys AND puppy, asdlkjaslfkasdjfl;askdfjasdf the shirt thing is so hot, watersports, I take it back this is 98% smut 9/10
Mistake Lover
Tags: completed, when ur bff is back on their BS, love triangle, coworkers, i swear all these ukes look the same to me at this point (which is very cute), GE!!!! (wangxian flashbacks), wait no smut?.... Paused
Yagi to ookami no hatsujou jijou
Tags: completed, quickie/short story, literally on my reading list because a comment said “nice cock 10/10”hahahaha, animal hybrids, scifi/aliens, me during chapter one: am I a furry? No. Am I? Relevant audio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noJNIqvDfoo, hotties when human GOD DAMN, bi king, okay I stan this girl changing gears take your opportunities honey!, does blondie have a tinder or how is this happening? (update: called it), feminization, dubcon/noncon, marking, heats, idk about 10/10 cock but not lightsabers, translation is ruff (get it?), a yankee hahaha, literal wound licking, googles chimera, *claps* yes king selfish call his ass out, tail holding caaaayoooot, not that isn’t usually copious amounts of cum but really this is a lot 8/10
Make Me Bark
Tags: completed, $250 a month rent?? *cries in Californian*, god damn it these grey haired 2D men are really hot fml, “next months rent is a looming concern but I hope it’ll get better” followed by apartment on fire is how I feel about reality, rare characters that smile way more than they frown, sex toys, kink, puppy play, owner/pet dynamic, sugar daddy/baby, college setting, harness, muzzle, leash, tail plug, shirt thing!!, soaked briefs, playing barbie IRL, omg meet cute at the adult store, intercrural sex, possessive/jealousy, ah fuck yes I saw this panel on IG but it didn’t have the source but now hehe, whipping, choking, spanking, *bookmarks*, simp city, childhood friends, side couple cute af, yeonsoo: sorry I’m an anti romantic, size queen, mens lingerie, domestic, mutual pining,  these bestie pairings are *chefs kiss*, skinny but muscular bodies/no ridiculous size differences, “does he have a big dick?” “probably” “well tell him to come” GAGGED AJKSDHALSKDJHA this dialogue pure comedy, exhibitionism, human auction, maid costume, men in heels, topping in a dress, girl at the bus stop HAHAHA, ffs this is so cute, side stories: it’s a small world afterall, dynamic role reversal, pink haired boy is guru, SCREAMING AKDJA:SLDKJA:LKDJA:LSDKJLAKDJA:LDJAL:SKDJASLKDJA:SLKDJLAKSDJLASDJ:LASJD:ALSKDJASL:DJ:ASLJDPUTARINGONIT!!!! 11/10 
Gurume no fukurami
Tags: completed, quickie/short story, food fetish, feeding fetish, age gap, throuple-eqsue? There’s 3 people involved, paused ch 1 pg 30
Under the Green Light
Tags: ongoing, thank you IG for rec’ing this, brunette supremacy, neurodivergent?, lmao @hag, this statue is everything I wonder if it’s based on a real piece?, we went from talking art to being pinned to the ground REAL quick, translations rough but not as rough as my mans here, draw me like one of your french girls vibe, sass master, these dicks are ridiculously huge which is saying something for this genre, i love a verse/switch, “first time he’s asked someone to stop so his self-esteem is hurt” HAHAHAHA, stealing bae’s shirt, facials galore, car sex/public sex, jin not into praise kink clearly, sort of slut shaming jealousy, marking
Walk on Water
Tags: completed, for being about porn it’s not that smutty (i take it back), “don’t even think about running away” got me like https://giphy.com/gifs/VABbCpX94WCfS, actual dicks (lightsabers later must be the cleaners not the OG), muscular bodies, blonde seme, brunette uke, k mcqueen is everything, honestly haven’t loved a couple this much since chanwoo x MD and I LOVE THEM, jealousy, orgasm denial, the angles/frames of the art in this are insane (11/10), emotional intimacy CUTENESS HASIHDLASKDHJLAKSJDH, i wanna lick lick lick you from your head to your toes, dirty talk A+, bestie you turned out to be Judas you judgy fuck how dare you touch my man, Ryan is 50 shades of fucked up bb needs therapy, Chang and yeowoons sexual tension is *chefs kiss*, I ship it/all my ships sailing, woof non con but expected tbh, YEAH BABY YEAH *Austin powers voice*, fml I don’t want this story to end, meeting the Hets ™ would make me nervous too, spiderman kith, mirror sex sjkadfhasldjkfh, 34+35, JOI but with a partner? Not D/s, promises are made to broken hehe, that feeling when you understand the title, omg the fan art is so cool!! 15/10 would re-read seriously I can’t explain how well the artist used angles/how she portrayed the scenes was fucking MASTERFUL
Woof Wolf
Tags: that's my best friend (saweetie), red heads, werewolf au, college setting, students, shoot a shot in your mouth while I'm riding, facials, marking
Sexual Awakening of an Ex Delinquent 
Tags: completed, quickie/short story, sexual coercion/non con/dub con, tiddies, bondage, nipple play, edging/orgasm denial, candy in ass wow, food kink, kink in general, rich seme working class uke, lightsabers,  big dick Jesus fuck, exhibitionism, public sex, men's lingerie, Blondie is a sweet baby angel, self hatred/homophobia, sexual narrating that has me like oof 😣 that's not how this works but okay, the sweet spots thing is a great line, man is a slave to the sweets, lmao at the meme at the end of ch 9 fucking facts, kidnapping plot, rapey guys all around this story, tattoo/back story reveal has me like *nods head yes*, my throats broken has me gagged, crazy amount of sfx noises that distract from the art (I really appreciate cleaners I realize), first times, rushed ending feels,  would rate 6/10 not terrible but probably won't read again.  
With Your Tail Yes
Tags: ongoing, IG rec, quickie/short story, on man brunette looks EXACTLY like a different character by another artist like for real duplicate, home boy pulled Elle Wood’s Bend n Snap and we are HERE FOR IT, lingerie/cross dressing, okay compilation of short stories, great artwork but wtf these are far too short (maybe uploaded wrong..?), *immediately makes deal with the devil because yum*, ah okay previews THEN stories, human animal hybrid situation, lightsabers, fucking imagine your crush delivery the sex toy you ordered online HAHA *dies*, buys toys because men ain’t shit is a VIBE, you know he’s always wearing matching sets because he’s 100% that bitch, dub con/non con, knotting (unexpected), exhibitionism, public sex, good ol’ fashion blackmail to get your lover to stay with you trope, sexual assault/attempted rape, victim blaming, shibari, leashes, D/brat dynamic sort of, copious amounts of cum, lube? What lube?, marathon sex, first time, 75 hours?? Immediately no meme, 7/10 mostly for art/concepts but not execution
Heat and Run
Tags: ongoing, IG rec, omegaverse, friends to enemies to lovers, multiple couples as main to sides then sides to mains, my heart dropped because I thought the first sex scene was incest but then realized I’m mixing up all the characters derp, dense gays, this is america (the shooting comment WOOF reality feels bad man), blondes have more fun, real dicks, dubcon/CNC dealers choice, mutual pining, idiots in love, big alpha energy BDE, there are moments I feel Hayoung on a spiritual level and not sure that’s a compliment hahaha, orgasm denial/edging, istg if he bonded without Hayoung permission *jenna marbles BOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII YOU BETTAH NOT*, also I was hoping the idol was him but realizing it’s probs his sis, *deep sigh*, BDIRL, wow racism, oh no oh no no no no no meme audio, listen everyone needs to get into therapy to break that generational trauma is all I’m saying (not excusing abuse at all, trauma isn’t a free pass), NO ONE WANTS TO PLAY A GAME WITHOUT KNOWING THE RULES :ALKSDHJALKSDJA:SLKDJTRUE, matthew singing bo burnham: I’m problematic *background singers ‘he’s a problem!’*, i ship it yolo, JAEHO STAN (no means no!), mpreg, god damn it I am so worried about him getting roofie and the party scene hasn’t even started ABO WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TOO ME, OH THANK JAEHO, dayummmm that clapback was real fuck him UP, me clapping: MARK HIM MARK HIM, GOD DAMN IT WITH THESE ONGOING FUCKING CLIFF HANGERS FML, marked via knotting? Okay that’s new, but also like normal marking I think, fucking til bottom pees trope
Heaven Officials Blessing
Animated series season 1 complete. Live action currently filming (same director as Untamed too UGH SO HAPPY)
Tags: ongoing, same author as my fav ever MDZS, just finished season 1 animated on netflix and can no longer avoid this because I LOVE THEM, all the memes on IG make sense now, Prince voice: Dearly Beloved (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXJhDltzYVQ) we are gathered here today to dive deeper into a fandom I will never escape, ART IS AMAZING (https://tenor.com/view/incredible-talented-lady-brilliant-gaga-gif-14857187), group chats are always chaotic tbh, wait a minute meme audio: bride = bottom? How tf did I not get that the first time round *sigh* always hoping for a verse couple, the asst. Boys I ship hard, the sass, fuck this is going to just be pure angst isn’t it *straps in, has fluffy manga queued*, even if no smut 11/10 gege porn, not subtle, god FUCK this ART IS SO FUCKING GOOD THE TALENT skjas;ldkfja;, 🥺, traumatic cliff moment *mdzs flashbacks*, HC smirk is my new favorite thing, no fucking but lots of touching, size difference, horror, gore, wuxia, great side characters, my ear feels tingly too lmao, SOMEONE BETTER GET THESE MF SNAKES ON THIS MF PLANE (cliff), umbrella moments got me uwu, gimme at least didi pleaseandthankyou, FUCK I LOVE THIS ARTIST she keeping us WELL fed with these extras DAYUM, wind/earth master ship please sail, CALL ME DADDY IM DEAD, HC has LWJ energy like you are not qualified to talk to me LOL, WAIT this totally counts as there was only one bed trope, also I’m already excited about omegaverse ff (send me recs please please please)
4 week lovers
Tags: ongoing because apparently I want to torture myself, mutual pining/”unrequited love”, college life, friends to lovers, blackmail ur crush into sex trope, public sex, I was going to tag possessive body language but possessive in a general sense apparently (starting strong yessss), sure jan @unrequited love dialogue, THEY WERE ROOMMATES *cackles*, sus haha, rough translation, pure comedy, shirt thing!, casual abuse :( (back story, traumatic childhood), I’m getting TharnType vibes (but not quite…), that note is precious, cry during/after sex, great angles, dialogue A+ 
Burlesque Night
Tags: completed, quickie/short story, stripper/body guard, coworkers, lust at first sight, magic mike vibes, fridays = getting fucked on stage O-O, well that was traumatizing af, took a bullet, real dicks, LDR, CUTE, I’m not in love with you… sure jan, OH WOW MASTER dlksaj;alsdkja;lsdkja;sld, gay awakening/first time, the art detail is *chefs kiss*, disappointed but not surprised :( :( :(, we stan a yes and lover, shirt thing, still not sure wtf the vertical anus thing is but full circle moment haha, you know what fuck it I’d re-read this 9/10
My one and only cat
Tags: ongoing, cat hybrids, god damn it I’m totally in furrydom ffs, ah well here we go, idol hot = loneliness wahhh /s, so hot he literally transforms other beings, omg a cat cafe CUTE, fuck that cat is cute *so fluffy*, stalker status, comedy, real dicks, I think the uncle would be supportive/jealous even I hope they talk about it I’m dying to know his thoughts, big tiddies, if this ain’t the cutest shit FLUFF/SMUT, copious amounts of cum, ate it with the panties on, CAKE, xmas, his milkshakes bring all the boy(cats) to the yard, trifling bitch
Imitation Mate
Tags: completed, omegaverse, alpha x alpha. Class rivals YAS, childhood frans, enemies to lovers omg this is all the shit I want, manipulation 1000 but yolo I ship it
Mr. 100% Perfect
Tags: ongoing, so relatable, OCD?, hoarder, when I read the title I thought mental illness and I was right, masks ugh RELATABLE, getting back together w ex, woof sibling drama/manipulation, suicide attempt, omg their communication regarding the psycho is REFRESHING, OMG JEJU ISLAND I see it in every fucking kdrama ever but this is the first time I’ve seen it mentioned in a manga *hm* interesting, furry furry everywhere, eye contact, finished reading season 1 pause for an omergaverse cause, okay I’m back and season 2 starting STRONG #1 men are gross #2 mans just went right to a blowie while mf was trying to pee lmao i can NOT the germs barf, fuckboi extraordinaire stressing over a textback is *great*, that istg face is perfect, HYUNGGGG, hand on his heart OW MY HEART, vibe check LOL, here for this plot dev, END OF SEASON2 NOOOOOOOimnotready. Head bonks CUTE
The origin of species
Tags: ongoing, omegaverse, sex tape, blackmail, i already don’t like this teacher, size difference, ‘JUST DIE’ hahahahahaha, I’m in love with noona, wait Ahjussi means uncle/mister? Dangerous convenience store has a new meaning to me now, DECEASED @they won’t, copious amounts of cum, alcohol to have intimacy *sighs in early 20s*, also WTF THEY ARE FUCKING AND THERE’S NO PHERMONE STUFF! What’s the point of being ABO without smell *swaggy p meme???*, wait okay ch 11 it begins, stockholm syndrome but since childhood I’m fairly certain *looking at you teacher I don’t trust these mfs*, dubcon obviously, also the can’t be knotted thing has me *cardi b meme that’s weird that’s sus* obvs poor bb about to get preg af, five word horror story: I won’t hurt you again *why tf you lyinggggg why u always lyinggg meme*, white collar crime, what’s the point of a contract when there’s no actual choice
How to Chase an Alpha
Tags: ongoing, lowkey been avoiding this one not because I think it’ll be bad I just..idk the brain is a weird thing, page 2 and I love mains attitude fucking gagged sass me bb, starting with rough translation but it be that way sometimes, GROUNDS HIMSELF BY TOUCHING HIS BLACK CARD I CANTTT, pheromone city fuck it UP, MC is a MOOD, mutual pining, when u and bae both hire PI’s to get info on each other, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, shirt thing, fucking chuffed about the rival fucking bring it, funny art, cheated on ugh mah heart I saw it coming and it still hurt, pure comedy this airport scene is so funny to me wtf, LDR, good ol murica fuckboi, LOVE HIM RIDE FOR UR MAN/MORALS, liams a little rapey rapist hm? No one’s ever said no… well being flooded with pheromones isn’t consent my dude, istg liam = I love it when they struggle, obvs jealousy/possessive tag but such is ABO, cat suit, BUNNY suit, sexy costumes, god damn it I love them that proposal/mpreg so cute, imprinting AW, ugh baes fam is so cute I needed that bc I wanna strangle wooyoungs dad, THE SECETARY is my fucking fav never stops being A+, SEC+LIAM?? Here for it *i ship it*, FUCK SO CUTE 12/10 re-read, fluff n smut, excited for how to chase an omegaside story hyung needs love!, JINI is mood, sales king I’m dying, that collar is ~hot~ btw
Egoism
Tags: completed (because jesus I can’t with ongoing, theheartbreakTM), UPDATE FML THE HEART BREAK IS REAL also no smut, omegaverse, hey stepbro, starts with rape, possessive/jealousy (isn’t all ABO?), age difference (6years, alpha is younger *can I get hyung plz lord*), HYUNG, woof this dad SUCKS, child abuse, rape culture *sigh*, I wanna get jacked like rick and summer and beat tf out of the dad, me n my cat, TELL EM HONEY I love this MC, traitor indeed, beta x omega btw, fated pair, coercive sex, didi going to be his own demise, BREAKUP/TIME SKIP NO this is BL hell, the rona is mentioned in this, ALL I WANT IS TO HEAR YOUR STORY WAHHHHHHHHHH also YES MY SHIP IS GOING TO SAIL I CAN FEEL IT, okay honestly frustrating a bit but also liked it yah 7-8/10, won’t re-read unless I’m looking for hurt though cause the comfort is BRIEF
Yarichin bitch bu
Tags: ongoing, reading because I watched this anime after seeing it mentioned in the comment section of -im-being-harassed-by-the-sexiest-man-of-the-year, anime was 2 eps a fucking wild the way this is uploaded SUCKS, no reality porn what plot rape-y ridiculous and now I need to read the source apparently haha, I need to know much more about yuri and blue hair guy ASAP (they have the spin off*adds to list*), high school setting, smut, studentsxstudents/teachers, photography club my ass, sex toys, kinky, crossdressing, gay awakening, unrequited love, jealousy, fake relationship, two faced people, OCD, COMEDY, rich people problems, hoarder, inferiority complex, one bed, toono is a dumbass in this love triangle or denial might be a better word, they are cousins my dude stop shipping it (I say to both toono and myself LOL), I wanna see Yuri’s face laksdjf;aldskf, vibrator #18 line is fucking iconic, yaguchi is about to get real interesting (BPD?), lies/manipulation, oh toono you sweet summer child, YURI i can’t wit chu, wait did he just punch the student because he won’t kiss him or???, dubcon/noncon obvs, finally my verse couple but they’re not a couple (yuri/tamu), they all care about each other is a weird way awwww, love confessions to pet vibrator scene are ICONIC MY DUDES I CAN NOTTT, lowkey living for Yuri’s drooling at this point, Jimi gives me such bad second hand embarrassment, Yuri the switch verse bb I’ve been looking for need more!, internalized homophobia, blackmail, MIDDLE FINGER IN THE AIR YAS KING, the heartbreak of ongoing/hasn’t been updated in years
Yarichin bitch bu dj wa
Tags: not completed I think, years old though, see above you know what it is, so cute omg, FIRST KISS AW, degradation kink?, MY VERSE COUPLE I’ve finally found you, biting, choking, rough sex, sex toys, they had fun together for another two hours DECEASED
Fucked by my Best Friend
Tags: ongoing, friends to lovers, body swap, Porn what plot, cannon threesomes in past maybe??(MFF for sure but MMF??), beach life, revenge, he became a HOT woman so honestly get over it, sloppy seconds, first off you’re both sluts second lmao this is going to be wild hm?, fellas is it gay if you kiss the homies, classic did you cum guy jfc, that’s how you get preg dumbass, ah the joys of being a woman /s assault in der clrub, *DEEP SIGH* @ you almost being raped turns me on, YES TURNING BACK DYING, gender has nothing to do with this LOL but true. Also yes cannon threesomes/orgies, googles frotting, mans like narrating playtime, intecurial sex public sex, lingerie, this is the closest thing to straight manga I’ve read hahaha, THE SCIENCE OMG FUCKING RIDIC :you need a mass amount of semen within you SURE JAN, possessive. Objectification, she trying to fuck without Shion LMAO, 34+35, do you think he’s on r/nofap, dry orgasm honestly impressed with mans rn ngl, spit as lube, anal fingering, just helping the homies find their prostate, bottom shaming (disappointed but not surprised), bis/gays in denial smh, question if he has a wet dream will he turn into a woman?, shirt thing, lol at female orgasm =anal in switcharoos mind, paging doc perv, shion is enjoying dressing up hm? Same dude, biggest reality gap is believing shion got admitted to a college HAHA, bad anatomy all over the place dude, rui is a dedicated exhibitionist, HE SO TIGHT BECAUSE THERES NO LUBE team no lube over here apparently not even a courtesy spit, yandere territory sort of?, Mayu with the dick wet comment is *chefs kiss*, THE HEARTBREAK OF ONGOING WAHHH I can’t believe I read all this but I can? 8/10 problematic possessive porn
113 notes · View notes
Text
Cult Girl: Doctorate (Hannibal x Female!Reader) pt. 4
Will
Cult girl attends her grandmother's funeral and is approached with a highly unorthodox last will and testament.
@wisesandwichshark
Trigger warnings: emotional manipulation and abuse, verbal abuse, death, slight emetophobia, body-shaming, ED mention, pregnancy and family planning
There was no use recounting anything from the leading up to the funeral. You spent that first night wine-drunk, munching on foie gras, watching Arrested Development and diagnosing each character to the best of your psychological abilities. You remembered cry-laughing at the same jokes you had memorized, and reminiscing on all the insane shit your own personal Lucille Bluth pulled on you. That was the highlight of the week. It was all downhill from there. 
Firstly, you were sick. That Sunday, you wrote it off as a hangover. Then, the hangover returned with a vengeance, just to add salt to the already open wound of having to pretend to mourn your abusive grandmother. At least the physical pain would give your acting an air of sincerity, you thought. 
Hannibal dressed in a solid black tux: it was almost uncanny to see him outside of any of his normal checkered suits. You selected a plain black dress and a strand of pearls.
The funeral was to be held at the same country club Anna’s wedding was held. Your grandmother was like a pharaoh, insisting that the empire she built know that even in death, she reigned supreme. The country club was her pyramid. 
Anna asked if you wanted to say a few words. As much as you wanted to get up and tell all her country club friends about the time she reported you as an abducted child at age twenty-two when you refused to leave your boyfriend and move back in with her, you knew that it wasn’t in good taste. You racked your brain for any story that could be considered remotely funeral-appropriate, but none came to mind. 
You spent the entire funeral trying not to roll your eyes too obviously at the stories of abuse her country club friends somehow remembered fondly. Your soul just left your body throughout the entire process and you were unsure if it would ever return. 
All things considered, it could have gone much worse. Then, it did. 
The beginning of the end was when your grandmother’s estate lawyer pulled you and Anna aside to conduct the reading of the will. He showed you to a side room, then excused himself before closing the door behind him. 
“Hello, [F/N].” Liam greeted, trying to cut through the awkward silence that came with first seeing each other after four straight years. “I’m very sorry about your gran. She was a great woman.” 
You gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach your eyes. “Thanks, Lee. I appreciate it.” 
“No she doesn’t.” Anna muttered. “And it’s Liam.” 
“I don’t mind ‘Lee’.” Liam contested. “My mum called me Lee. I actually quite like it.” 
Anna was in one of her ‘I’m so upset, please ask me why’ moods. She sat on one of the heavy armchairs with her legs crossed and eyes to the wall. You weren’t going to bite. 
Liam wasn’t so cautious. “Princess, what’s wrong?” 
“Nothing.” She pouted, not even dignifying her husband with a look. “I just think it’s interesting that I put the funeral together all by myself and someone couldn’t even be bothered to speak.” 
You shot Liam a look that said ‘way to go, jackass’. 
“Yeah,” You said, sitting down in an adjacent armchair. “That must suck.” 
Anna glared at you. “You really have nothing to say? Really?” 
You tensed up. “Let’s see, which charming anecdote would you have me tell? How about that time when she made you wear a fat suit for an hour after you complained about how the low-carb ice cream tasted like chemicals?” 
Liam looked in shock at his wife. “Did she really?” 
“Once.” Anna confessed, holding up one finger. 
You turned to Liam, as if you were sharing some hot gossip. “That was all it took to give her an eating disorder when she was thirteen.” 
Hannibal was just a fly on the wall. Anna noticed his lack of reaction. 
“And I bet Hannibal knows all about this, huh?” Anna said, throwing her hand in his direction. “Because he just needs to hear all of our private family business, right?” 
You stood up from your seat. “First of all, I take offense at the implication that my fiancée isn’t family.” 
An evil smile spread on Anna’s face. “But he wasn’t always your fiancé, was he, [F/N]?” 
“Holy shit, you cracked the code.” You said, flatly. “There was a point in time when Hannibal and I weren’t an item. Real shocker, that one.” 
“You know what I mean.” She sneered, then approached Hannibal. “Dr. Lecter, is it true that before you and [F/N] became romantically involved, you were her therapist?” 
Liam looked scandalized. Hannibal was just as put-together as always. 
“That is true.” He said, feeling no shame whatsoever. 
Anna turned back to you. “Now don’t you think that’s just a smidge unethical? For a therapist to date their much younger patient?” 
You narrowed your eyes. You carried yourself with the lightness of a woman who finally had the moral high ground. “So you want to talk about what’s ethical, huh? I suppose that means you’ve told Liam about pineapple.”
All the blood drained from her face. You crossed your arms and held your head up a little higher. 
“That’s what I thought.” You grinned. 
“Look, could we just pretend to be a normal, functioning family for ten minutes?” Anna pleaded, as if there were anyone other than herself to blame for provoking an argument.
“That’s on you two.” Liam, rightfully, pointed out. He gestured to himself and then to Hannibal. “Neither of us have said anything.” 
The estate lawyer must have gotten his juris doctorate alongside a master's in impeccable fucking timing, because that was when he decided to make his entrance.
"I'm sorry for the wait, everyone." He announced. "And I'm sorry for having to pull you aside in your hour of mourning. Usually the last will and testament is handled through email to the beneficiaries, but your grandmother was quite adamant it be approached this way."
"That definitely sounds like her." You said, exchanging glances with Hannibal. You'd talked about this for what felt like hours the week prior. She was going to pull some last-minute bullshit to humiliate you from beyond the grave. Give all the inheritance to Anna and leave a snide comment about you in a legal document. You knew it was coming. All you could hope was for it to be quick.
The lawyer pulled an envelope from his briefcase. "She specifically asked for her two living grandchildren and their significant others to be present."
"Did she say it like that?" Anna raised an eyebrow. "Or was it more like, 'Anna and her husband, and [F/N] and her therapist'?"
"Mrs. Young," Hannibal said, taking your hand. "Until you tell your husband about pineapple, you aren't allowed to judge us."
Anna glared at you. "What the hell? He knows, too?!"
"Yeah." You answered. "I tell him everything."
"Okay, who or what is pineapple?" Liam interjected. "And why do I get the feeling I'm the only one not in the know, here?"
"That's cause you are." You confirmed. "And you have your lovely wife to thank for that."
"Everyone!" The lawyer called out. Clearly, he'd seen his share of dysfunctional families. "Please, let me just read the will and you can continue arguing afterwards."
"Y'know what? Fair enough." You said, crossing your legs. "Let's rip off this band-aid, shall we?"
The lawyer opened the envelope and produced a single page. He cleared his throat.
"I, Beatrice [L/N], being of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath all my worldly possessions-" He began reading the long first sentence. "Including but not limited to, a collective sum of $45 million, the family home and my shares of the country club, to the first of my granddaughters to give birth."
You expected nothing. You expected something. But you never could have expected this.
"Can you please read that last part again?" You asked, unsure if what you heard was the result of a stroke.
"The entire inheritance goes to the first one of you to have a baby." The lawyer clarified, trying to make it sound like a reasonable arrangement.
"That makes sense." Anna said, nodding.
You looked at her, dumbfounded. "How in the fuck on fire does that make sense to you?"
"Well, the money would be going to a good cause." She rationalized. "To raise the baby, right?"
You shook your head. "No, this is insane. Grandma has always had this weird obsession with bloodlines, and now she's trying to incentivize us to carry it out."
"What happens if neither of us can, y'know?" Anna asked.
The lawyer pushed his glasses up his nose. "If neither granddaughter is willing to produce a child, the entire inheritance will go to the Eagle Forum, so my ungrateful grandchildren can learn about family values."
"She hated the Eagle Forum!" Anna objected. "She wouldn't dare."
"She absolutely would." You pressed your fingers into your forehead. "That's upper-class white moderates for you. And she doesn't have to be around to see when they name a fucking wing after her."
"The Beatrice [L/N] center for denying women bodily autonomy." Hannibal said. "It's quite fitting."
"[F/N], we can't let that happen." Anna pleaded. "We can't let Eagle Forum get a penny of that money."
"Why the hell not?" You said. Though on principle, you agreed, you knew this was just another one of your grandmother's power grabs. At the end of the day, she chose to leave her money to the Eagle Forum. And it would be her name on that check, not yours.
"Oh my god, you actually hate babies more than you hate conservatives." Anna stood with her mouth agape.
"Don't put words in my mouth." You snapped. "I don't hate babies. I hate grandma for trying to threaten me into having one. I hate grandma for pinning us against each other and making sure it stays that way."
"What do you have against giving me a little niece or nephew, huh?" Anna folded her arms.
"I'm fucking done." You said, throwing up your hands. "This will be the last you ever see of me."
Of course, that's what you said the last time.
79 notes · View notes
longitudinalwaveme · 3 years
Text
Worst Flash Storylines and Plot Ideas of All Time
As you’ve probably ascertained from the general contents of this blog, the Flash is my favorite comic book series. I love the characters and most of the stories. However, just like any series that’s been around for eighty years (counting the Jay Garrick stuff), the Flash does, unfortunately, have some truly terrible stories and plot ideas. 
In terms of terrible plot ideas that didn’t completely ruin the surrounding stories: 
1. Barry Allen uses the Mirror Master’s mirrors to manipulate Iris into agreeing to start dating him again (Flash #109). Creepy, Barry. Just creepy. The story is great Silver Age fun otherwise. 
2. Iris West: meanest woman alive. Iris was, by and large, incredibly awful to Barry up until maybe about a year before their 1966 marriage. Almost every time she shows up in an early Silver Age issue, you will admire her daring and independence (this is good) and be bewildered as to why on Earth Barry would want to spend time with a woman who is constantly calling him slow, lazy, and ambition-less (this is not good). It doesn’t really affect any one issue too much, but when read in a conglomerate, she starts looking really awful. Although as bad as Early Silver Age Iris seems as a romantic interest, she’s got nothing on Silver Age Superman and Lois Lane, the most dysfunctional couple in the DCU. 
3. Wally West’s zero-effort code name and costume (Flash #110). It really could not be more obvious how little effort the writers were putting into creating this character. The duplicate origin is also pretty cheesy, but there are enough differences from Barry’s origin for it not to frustrate me. But the name “Kid Flash” and the fact that his first costume was literally identical to Barry’s just feel incredibly lazy. Barry and Wally do have an adorable dynamic in the issue, though, so it’s by no means all bad. 
4. Barry Allen waiting an entire year after his marriage to tell his wife that he’s really the Flash. Frustrating and unnecessary; especially since Joan Garrick had been in on her husband’s secret since the 1940s. 
5. Iris Allen is FROM THE FUTURE. I both love and hate this idea. It’s so perfectly comic-booky, but at the same time, it opened the floodgates for the Allen family being a confusing, time-displaced mess. 
6. The Trial of Barry Allen. This one’s weird. I like many of the individual issues in this arc, and I actually think the last two issues are really great as an ending for Barry Allen’s original run, but this storyline dragged on for waaaaaay too long. There’s a reason I call it the Arc that Never Ends. Also, the titular trial is actually the least interesting part of the entire storyline. His battles with the Rogues and Kadabra are far more interesting. 
7. Wally West’s borderline creepy, chauvinistic attitude towards women under Mike Baron (and, to a much lesser extent, William Messner-Loebs). There’s being a hormonal twenty-something, and then there’s going through girlfriends at the rate other people change their socks. Messner-Loebs mostly avoided this issue by making it clear that Wally was under intense psychological stress that was negatively impacting his behavior, but under Baron and in some of his JLE appearances, he comes across as a real creep around women. 
8. Kadabra overkill under Mark Waid: I like Kadabra, but when he’s the main villain in like four distinct arcs, it gets to be a bit much. It’s like modern Eobard. He is legitimately written well, though, so he doesn’t drag down any of the stories too much. 
9. Pointlessly Dead Rogues: Killing off the Rogues in Underworld Unleashed for no good reason (the rest of the story is great, especially the Trickster). 
10. Pointlessly Dead Rogues 2: Electric Boogaloo: The Golden Glider’s pointless death to build up a character who was himself killed two issues later. (The rest of the story is decent.) Also, the treatment of Lisa in general post-Crisis is frustrating, since she becomes considerably more unhinged than she was before. 
11. Any time Waid tried to write McCulloch, with the exception of Flash vol. 2 #105 (and even there, he seemed off). It’s like he forgot Evan wasn’t Sam. 
12. Apparently, the Top trying to blow up both Central City and half the world makes him a loser? Also, he suddenly hates Piper for no readily apparent reason. (At least the story had some good Piper and Wally bits.) 
13. BARRY ALLEN HAS A SECRET EVIL TWIN! DUN DUN DUN! (The rest of the story, where we get to meet a whole whack of interesting future Flashes, is actually pretty good, but whoo boy, the Malcolm reveal feels like it came straight out of a soap opera.) 
14. In order for Captain Cold to ANGST, the Golden Glider’s pointless death remained in place for over ten years. It did give us a really, really good Capt. Cold story, at least...but it’s still fridging. 
15. Rainbow Raider’s mean-spirited murder by Blacksmith. Poor Roy. 
16. Albert Desmond becomes Hannibal Lecter, only twenty times as rude, for a Gotham Central arc that would’ve been terrific without him as the main villain. 
17. Owen Mercer is an idiotic child murderer and gets killed by the Rogues. Why was this necessary? (The rest of Blackest Night: The Flash is pretty good.) 
18. Josh Jackam-Mardon’s murder. The murder of small children for shock value is pretty gross. Especially since nothing was ever really done with it. 
19. Barry’s PARENTS ARE DEEEEAAAAD! (Okay, it’s really just his mom, but still. This is a very frustrating retcon, since originally his parents were alive and well until after his own death.) 
20. Albert Desmond was Barry’s jerk coworker; which never impacted the plot or led to anything. As a result, it’s just another frustrating retcon. 
21. Sam Scudder murdered someone before becoming the Mirror Master. Yet another Johns retcon that never went anywhere and only serves to darken the Silver and Bronze Age stories after the fact. 
22. Flashpoint (a decent story) wiped out a whole bunch of characters I really liked from existence for several years. Evan McCulloch’s still not back. 
23. Giving the Rogues metahuman powers doesn’t suit them, on the whole. They work better without them. 
24. Roy’s second pointless, brutal death in (I think) Forever Evil. 
25. IT WAS MEEEEE, BARRY! After serving as the main villain for like six arcs in eight years, I’m glad that Eobard finally seems to be getting a rest. The level of bad things he was responsible for was getting ridiculous. 
26. Sam/Lisa. WHY? (The only time it even kind of worked was in Forever Evil.) 
In terms of entire storylines I didn’t like: 
1. The Flash: The Most Terribly Written Man Alive. Poor Bart is aged up with no adequate explanation, loses all the traits that made him a likeable character, fights some awful villains, and then is murdered by the badly OOC Rogues. Meanwhile, Inertia goes from an at least somewhat sympathetic villain to a complete psychopath with little explanation, a murder is retconned into one of Captain Cold’s reformed periods, the Pied Piper and the Trickster completely forget that they’re supposed to be reformed, Abra Kadabra inexplicably teams up with the Rogues despite generally being a solo operative, and all of the Rogues act like total morons, willingly following a teenage speedster for no adequately explained reason. UGH. 
2. Countdown to Infinite Crisis: Even though Piper and Trickster were probably the best part of Countdown, that isn’t saying much. Both of them are uncharacteristically stupid (especially James), and James is a grade-A jerk to Piper for no reason. Also, both of them continue to forget that they reformed, and then James gets brutally murdered and Piper almost loses his mind. Also, the other Rogues cameo, and continue to act like idiots. Countdown: it really does ruin everything it touches. 
Superboy Prime will kill you! He’ll kill you to DEATH! And after you read Countdown, you’ll wish he had killed you to death. 
3. The Identity Crisis Tie-In Retcon: So, you know all that awesome character development the Rogues have had over the years? Well, forget all that, because it was all just Roscoe brainwashing them! Which was something he could definitely do before this story! And why did he do this? Why, because Barry Allen, one of the most upstanding men in the DCU, brainwashed him! Also, apparently, the Top had a huge bodycount that we never heard about back in the Bronze Age, because we need even MORE grimdark retcons for our cheerful Silver/Bronze Age history! I like Geoff Johns’ work, I really do....but BOY HOWDY does he need to lay off on the retcons sometimes. 
4. Identity Crisis: With the exception of Owen’s introduction and the establishment of the relationship between him and Digger, this story was pretty awful all around. More specifically, as far as the Flash was concerned, it was responsible for Digger’s second pointless death. It also killed off poor Jack Drake and poor, mistreated Sue Dibney, who deserved MUCH better. And the Justice League, including Barry, are A-OK with brainwashing, apparently. Comics are fun! 
These last two stories are pretty recent, and they did have some parts I liked, but on the whole I felt they also belonged on the list. 
5. The Trickster finally returns! Hurrah! Except it turns out that he’s way more like the Joker now than he ever was before, and he mind-controls the city in a super-creepy way. A very disappointing return for the character, especially since it was set up really well. 
6. Forever Evil: Captain Cold becomes a murderous dictator with a stupid Santa Beard, all of the Rogues get horrible costumes, and Sam completes his mutation into Evan-in-all-but-name. There are some good characters bits in the story (even for Cold), but on the whole, I found the story to just be unlikeable and depressing and thought Cold was pretty out-of-character. Poor Commander Cold....
So, what are your least favorite Flash storylines and plot ideas? 
34 notes · View notes
darling-i-read-it · 4 years
Text
Ko No Mono
2x11 
Hannibal Lecter x reader x Will Graham 
Hannibal Re-Write Series Masterlist
Word Count: 2.9k 
Warnings: spoilers for hannibal, murder, dead bodies,, will being hot as fuck
Author’s Note: I’ve made my bed now i have to lie in it. I still haven’t actually seen your guys reaction to the last episode at the tiem of writing this so hopefully it blowed over okay lol. I love Will and Hannibal dudes. 
I used some direct quotes from the script so some things may seem familiar 
Official Episode Summary :Jack and his team discover the truth of Freddie Lounds' disappearance, Will tells Alana to arm herself; Mason suspects his sister intends to usurp him and Hannibal shows Will how much Abigail reminded him of his sister.
I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director 
Tag List (is always open!) : @llperfectsymmetryll​ @ericacactus​ @vlightning95​
(not my gif) 
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
You woke up slowly this time, a nightmare less sleep. Unfortunately you felt Will beside you and you could hear how loud he was breathing. You turned around and grabbed his arm to ground him. You waited for a minute as he caught his breath and then he laid back down on the pillow before wrapping his arms around you, his head resting on your chest. 
You pet his hair and wordlessly, as though in tune, the two of you fell back asleep. Whatever dream he had was not worth talking about right now. 
-
You sat beside Will. Will sat directly across from Hannibal as he dished up your food. It was an interesting one this time around, confusing. Everything Hannibal made confused you but you were used to it at this point. 
“Among gourmands, the ortolan bunting is considered a rare-but-debauched delicacy. A rite of passage, if you will,” aHannibal said, sneaking a smile to both of you. “Preparation calls for the songbird to be drowned alive in Armagnac. It is then roasted and consumed whole in a single mouthful.” 
“Ortolans are endangered,” Will stated.
“He’s right,” you said. 
“Who amongst us is not?” Hannibal asked. You shook your head but you weren’t about to deny a Hannibal made dish. 
“I have been gorged, drowned, plucked and roasted. Not yet,” Will said simply. 
“Traditionally, during this meal, we’re to place shrouds over our heads, hiding our faces from God,” Hannibal said. “I don't hide from God.” You smiled a bit at his audacity. You picked up the bird and so did Will.
“Bones and all?” Will questioned. 
“Bones and all.” 
You and Will both ate it all in one bite. Your eyes locked with Hannibals as you did so. You swallowed after a moment. 
“After my first ortolan, I was euphoric. A stimulating reminder of our power over life and death,” Hannibal said. 
“I was euphoric when I killed Freddie Lounds,” you told him. Your mind wandered. Your hands around her neck. Will beside you.
“Did your heart race when you did it?” 
“No,” Will said. 
“Not a bit,” you retorted. 
Hannibal smiled at the two of you. You were growing in his mind, evolving. This was his design and he was liking the way it was threaded. 
-
You stood in the morgue, the charred body of Freddie Lounds in front of you. 
“Freddie Lounds ultimate failure was her inability to keep herself out of her own stories,” Jack said. 
You smiled. 
“Freddie had the longing need to be noticed,” you stated. 
“She was noticed,” Will finished. 
-
You were fuming. Absolutely fuming. You were in the room with Hannibal, Will and Margot Verger. She sat in the chair across from Hannibal but you and Will were standing. You didn’t even have the heart to sit on the desk like you usually did you were so pissed.
“There’s no baby. Isn’t even an embryo yet. I’ve got hormones in my pee. That’s the extent of it. But here I am, feeling maternal,” Margot said. 
“We’re discussing a small group of cells. Barely life, but immediately seen to be life-changing,” Hannibal said in his physiatrist voice. You had your arms crossed and despite the fact you were pissed, your face was in a careful poker face.
“I feel like everything that was done to me can almost be undone,” Margot said. 
“Through children we can disrupt our own sense of the past. We can protect them in ways we weren’t,” Hannibal inquired. You were pissed at him too. You weren’t sure why but you were sure it would come up eventually. 
“Life eventually bounces back Margot.”
“I could be good to a child. I’ll go to parenting classes,” she said like she was pleased with herself. 
“You’ve conspired with your unborn child to liberate yourself and you’ve made Will and Y/N an unknowing accomplice,” Hannibal said. 
“I got what I wanted from Will, but I didn’t understand what I was taking until the strip turned blue. Y/N was just a happy accident. I thought you were single, honestly and I’m not proud of myself,” she explained. You raised your finger to her and Will grabbed it before it slapped her in the face. 
“Nor should you be. You said-” Will started. 
“I lied,” she finished. 
You felt like you were mourning something that you figured was yours. You stared at Margot and saw the mother of your boyfriend's baby. You had one night of slippage and here was the result. Margot Verger. The Vergers. 
“You’re just as bad as your brother,” you hissed. “And did you know?” you asked Hannibal. 
“I was aware of Margot’s goal of having a child. I was not aware of the means to achieve it.”
“What do you want from us?” Will asked. Still using ‘us’. It was after he said that he realized this could ruin any relationship he had with you. He didn’t even know if you wanted kids but someone else having his child was surely a dent. He looked over at you and you couldn’t even look at him. In fact, the only person you could look at was Hannibal. 
“Little or nothing or as much as you’d like to give,” Margot said simply. You shook your head and left the room to your desk. 
You sat there and shut the door behind you. You knew you shouldn’t be mad at Will. You did it together and it was a joint decision, granted it was not really talked about. A spur of the moment, completely calculated thing. You stared at your computer, the blank black screen that reflected you back at you. 
Margot walked out and you stood up, refusing to show any emotion. 
“I hope you’re pleased,” you said simply. Will left the office but you didn’t look at him. 
“I’m sorry,” she said. You wanted to strangle the life out of her but instead you just walked past her and Hannibal to the office, shutting the door behind you. You walked over to the chair you promised yourself you would never sit at and you sat in it. Hannibal was still sitting at his chair. 
You stared at each other.
“You swear to me you didn’t know,” you muttered.
“I did not know,” he said. “I had no idea you were bisexual.” You shook your head but you had bigger problems.
“It was a spur of the moment thing. Will and I had just…” you trailed off. “I was in the wrong headspace for her to have conniving plans.” You stared at Hannibal and stood up. “I don’t like those chairs,” you whispered. You walked over and finally sat on the desk. Hannibal got up. 
“Has Will left?” 
“He’s presumably waiting for me in the car.” You looked up at Will and tears pricked your eyes. “It’s not his fault,” you promised. Hannibal leaned against the desk beside you. 
“But you believe that this will change things.” You whipped the few stray tears.
“Shouldn’t it? I mean come on, wouldn’t it be weird if I was having your child but you were with Alana?” Hannibal laughed dryly at the comparison. You took a deep breath. “I don't even know if I want kids but...that was supposed to be my kid,” you whispered. “Will and I were gonna have that family, the family that has now started between him and Margot Verger.” 
Hannibal wiped your tears away with his thumb. He was now standing directly in front of you, looking down at you as you sat. 
“Will loves you,” he promised. “And cares about you more than I would care about Alana in your analogy.” You nodded and he hugged you. You pressed your head against his chest. 
“I just have to talk to him,” you whispered. He nodded. 
“But your emotions are valid. Don’t forget that.” Hannibal pet your hair but he felt your emotions hitting a hard chord. 
This wasn’t good. 
-
The car ride home was interesting. Silence. Uncomfortable silence. That wasn’t something that you and Will were quite accustomed to. You got into the house and immediately locked yourself in the bathroom to catch your breath. You stared in the mirror and imagined how Will must be feeling. 
Excitement to be a father? Going through things you were supposed to feel together one day? 
You opened the door and Will sat on the bed. You walked over and sat beside him, looking at your hands. 
“What does this mean?” you asked.
“If we have any more threesomes I should probably wear protection.” 
“Good advice overall however I don't’ see many more threesomes in our future,” you whispered. He wasn’t sure what you meant by that. Did you mean just in general or that you wouldn’t be together at all?
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“I should be asking you how you’re feeling, father to be,” you said, voice breaking. You hid your emotions as best you could. 
“Y/N…”
“It was meant to be us,” you whispered. “The two of us. Not you and Margot Verger.” He nodded and looked over at you. “Do you want me here now that you’re having a kid with her?” The dreaded question.
“Of course I want you here,” he said quickly. “I’ll always want you here.” You looked over at him. “Do you want to be here?” You nodded even quicker. 
“I do.” 
He hugged you tightly and you wrapped your legs around his waist as you sat on the bed. You buried your face in his shoulder. The battle wasn’t over but at least you knew you had each other.
“After Abigail,” he whispered. “I dream about her. I dream about teaching her to fish,” he told you. You nodded. You felt maternal to Abigail as well.
“And Hannibal....” He nodded, pulling away from you a bit. “Robbed that from us.” 
“Yeah. He did.” 
-
Will grabbed your arm. He was sweating, it was even showing on your pajama shirt. There was a knock on the door that had woken him up from a nightmare.
“You okay?” you whispered. He nodded. 
“Who is that?”
“If it’s Margot Verger again I’ll drown her in the sink.” Will got up and walked to the door as you grabbed him a robe. You could hear from the back room that it was Alana.
“I guess I’m trying to convince myself of something. Or maybe I’m trying to convince you. Or maybe I don't know why I’m here,” she said. You walked up to the door. 
“I know why. You’re worried I killed Freddie Lounds.” 
“Did you?” Alana asked. She looked at you and you looked at her. Your friendship had unfortunately dissolved over time. She seemed so pensive now.
“What do you think?” Will asked. 
“I think that’s the wrong answer to tell somebody who is already wondering what you’re capable of,” Alana said. Will turned to you. 
“Can you make us some coffee?” 
“Two or three cups?”
“Two,” he said bluntly. You nodded and walked into the house but you could still be here. 
“I know you’re lying to me. You’ve slipped into some kind of skin and I think it fits you a little too well,” she said. 
“I told everyone Hannibal was a killer and no one believed me. Just like no one would believe you if you said I was a killer,” Will said and you smiled as you started to make coffee. 
“I'm afraid, Will. But not of you. I'm afraid for you. I don't think Hannibal is good for you. I think your relationship is destructive.” 
“Hannibal's good enough for you.” You almost clapped at that but you contend to pretend you weren’t listening. 
“You should be afraid. You’re right to be afraid.” 
-
Alana Bloom stood back at Freddie’s funeral. You were with Will but you wanted to talk to her first so you told him to wait back. You walked up to her and she let out a small sigh at your presence. 
“I’m here to mourn Freddie Lounds. Can’t imagine it’s why you’re here,” she muttered. 
“I’m here in support of my boyfriend. His psychiatrist recommended he come.” Alana looked over at you.
“They aren’t who you think they are. You may think that you know Hannibal Lecter but you don’t. I don’t think anyone does,” she said. Almost like a warning.
“Says the girl sleeping with him,” you whispered teasingly. “I know Hannibal better than you know him Alana. And I know Will better than that. You may think you’re right about every single thing Alana but I can assure you, you are not.” You whispered. She let out a huff. She can’t imagine herself being wrong. 
She walked away. 
-
You sat in the room with Will and Hannibal. You sat on the desk while they sat in the chairs, reminiscent of old times. 
“I’ve been so preoccupied with taking a life, I’m having trouble wrapping my head around making one,” he muttered.
“You and Y/N have never discussed it?” You shrugged.
“Not often. We’ve always had other things on our minds,” you admitted. “Just that if it happened it was in the future.” 
“When men become fathers, they undergo biochemical changes that affect the way they think,” Hannibal explained. 
“You said the same thing happens when men become killers,” Will inquired. 
“Fatherhood is not always a nurturing role. Fathers can be killers. In protecting a child, things trapped inside a man for years fly free, ready to explode in pain. And dangerous behavior. What sort of father would you be?” Hannibal questioned.
“He’d be a good father,” you said quietly, answering for him. 
“How quickly we form attachments to something that does not yet exist,'' Hannibal whispered. You and Hannibal shared a look.
-
You stood beside Will at a crime scene. This one was not yours. This was Hannibals. Freddie Lounds was put into a religious figure. 
“What connection do Freddie Lounds and Randall Tier have?” Jack asked. 
“The Grahams. Randall Tier was their suspect and Hannibal’s patient,” Alana said. She looked to be having a tough time. “Freddie was investigating his murder when she died.
“Freddie was investigating a lot of things when she died,” Will said. 
“This is a psychopath who has incubated fantasies of killing is translating them into action. He’s building himself up. Or somebody’s building him up,” Alana said. You and Will shared a look. 
Jack Crawford would be showing Alana Bloom Freddie tonight. Freddies body, alive, completely and utterly alive. You and Will did not kill her. Alana was breaking and Jack would show her that you and Will were not the murderers she thought you were. 
Technically.
“This is a courtship,” Alana whispered.
-
When you got word about Margot you were silent. You went with Will to the hospital silently. 
You stared at Margot Verger, without a child now, silently. 
Hannibal approached you and while Will immediately left you strayed for a moment. You looked over at him and you shared a look.
“Thank you,” you whispered. 
“I did nothing but suggest simple actions.” You nodded and grabbed his hand as you turned away. You held it for a moment. Then you followed Will.
-
Mason Verger watched his pigs. Will walked up to him and held him over the edge. You looked at him, waiting from behind. You had taken out the guard, per request. You didn’t want the child and you were relieved it was gone. That being said, you would likely back Will in anything he wanted to do. 
“You think it was Margot’s idea to have an heir? Think it was your idea to take it from her? My idea to come here and kill you? What you, your sister and I all have in common is the same psychiatrist,” Will said. He brought Mason back to the ground and you raised a gun to his head. 
“Aren’t you his secretary?” Mason questioned. “Oh you and baby daddy!” He paused. “Margot messed with the wrong throuple.” 
“If Hannibal had his dithers, you’d be wrapped around a bullet,” you said. You put the gun down. 
“He’s the one you should be feeding to your pigs,” Will finished.
2x12
197 notes · View notes
lilydalexf · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.
Interview with Tabula Rasa
Tabula Rasa has 8 stories at Gossamer, but there are even more X-Files fics at AO3 and her website. She writes Mulder and Scully in a very lovely way. I've recced 3 of my favorites of her fics here before: Bird in Snow, Fall: East on M St, and Skuamorph. Big thanks to Tabula Rasa for doing this interview.
Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?
I'm always extremely pleasantly surprised to get kudos (or, very rarely, a comment) on my old fic, but I'm always happy to see it! I did post them all (I think) to AO3. I'm not surprised people are still reading fic, though. It's an iconic show and now with streaming, it's really easy to watch older shows and natural to want fic about them!
What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?
XF was my first fandom, definitely my first online fandom, and so it will always have a special place in my heart. Also... I had a great time! I stumbled upon and joined the Scullyfic email list by accident, but it was the best thing I could have done. I learned a lot about how to be a writer and how to be in fandom, and those lessons are still important to me. Foundational. Also, in terms of modern fandom drama, XF was more low-key on the drama (although it didn't seem like it at the time!). But I learned something that's always served me well: find like-minded people, and hang out with them. Don't worry about the rest.
Also... you can't control the show, but you kind of can control the canon.
Because of Scully, I ended up taking a forensic anthropology class in university-- and now I have a Master's in a forensic science! Part of the Scully Effect, and proud of it!
Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?
Definitely mostly email list! I never really got the hang of message boards. Posting fic was exhausting, and tbh I never figured out how to work Ephemeral. I checked it every day, though! I loved, after a new episode, everyone sending in their thoughts and reading everyone's experiences together. Fandom was a lot more work back then, tbh!
What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?
That fic can be just as good, or better, than traditionally published works. There are works of XF fic that have stuck with me for years now, far more than some books I've read. That fan writers can know the characters better than the show writers. The fandom in general was really smart, and mostly more adult than me (I joined fandom when I went away to college, so I always felt at the younger end of the scale. That was good though!).
Also, my first time reading and writing porn. Not gonna lie, I was shocked the first time I accidentally read smut. But I adjusted fast. lol
What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?
I was still a kid (now we would say preteen) when the show premiered- I think in middle school. But I was already into ghosts, aliens, monsters, solving mysteries, and I'd already imprinted on the dynamic thanks to Square One (really)! I was also just old enough to start developing celebrity crushes. Hilariously, I did not twig to the fact that I'm bisexual the entire time I was in XF fandom, despite having enormous crushes on BOTH Mulder and Scully. Ahhhh!
Also, my whole family was into the show, but I was definitely the one with the hyperfixation. I used to take notes and record the episodes as I watched. It just had the right stuff and hit at the right time. And I've always been obsessive.
What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?
As a kid I also really liked Star Trek, and someone had given my dad a book about the history of Star Trek, which I read. This included mentions of fandom and fanfic. As soon as I had a private-- and perhaps more importantly fast-- internet connection (in college), I went looking for XF fanfic, and that was that. Hooked immediately. Also I shipped them A LOT so that's what I went looking for.
What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?
I tend to not go back to a fandom once I have a new fandom, so I wouldn't say I'm in it. I did hang around the edges for the revival, of course, because I wanted to experience that with the same people, but since the revival was mostly not that great (with a few exceptions), I didn't get pulled back into it. But I still think of the people I knew in the fandom a lot, and always hope they're doing well.
Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?
I've never left fandom, and I've been in a BUNCH: Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Bandom, Supernatural, now CQL/The Untamed and other Chinese-media fandoms, with many smaller ones in between or on the side. I feel like at their core fandoms tend to be similar, although where you host the fandom makes a big difference: Livejournal, tumblr, twitter. I think that because fandoms now tend to be bigger and more diverse (which is good) there tends to be more wank (which is bad). In some of them I was close to a group of people, some of them not. Honestly the best thing is when someone you know from an old fandom is in your new fandom. It's so much fun. I have really good friends thanks to fandom, and I've had them for YEARS. Like. 15 years.
Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?
I tend to focus more on ships than characters, but some of my all-time favs: Scully, Hermione, Sirius Black, Castiel, Lan Wangji, Xie Lian. That's just fandom-oriented ones, otherwise we'd be here all day. :D
Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?
I don't often rewatch episodes any more, although if I come across an ep on tv I might. I definitely still think about them though! For example, I'm a teacher now, and just a couple weeks ago one of my colleagues mentioned he'd heard the students saying they shipped two of their classmates, and he was like "Ship? I don't get it" and I was like "HOO BOY, do I have a story for you!" And I explained how shipping came from XF fandom, and why. That was fun. I definitely still think about Mulder and Scully too-- I mean, they're cultural touchstones, so they do come up sometimes in greater pop culture. Also, I was in Hannibal fandom for a while, and Gillian Anderson is still The Best.
Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?
I haven't read XF fic in years, even the ones I remember as being really significant/important to me. I still have my all-time favs saved on an external HD though! Fic in another fandom- every day lol.
Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?
Blinded by White Light by DashaK has stuck with me. Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Ruby-Throated Warbler by I forget I'm so sorry -- that's lasted as my ideal post-canon MSR and as an interesting and different way to tell a story.  [Lilydale note: It’s by rah.] I was always thrilled to see fic by Brandon, JET, MaybeAmanda, Syntax6... and, frankly, everyone on the Scullyfic/ Emuse list. So many talented people in that fandom!
What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?
Things Outside, which is the only thing I've ever written based on a dream, and I'm really satisfied with it. It was hard to write but so much fun to revel in the weirdness. I always kind of wanted to write more because I know a lot more about the situation, but otoh, I like the open, ambiguous ending (usually I am very HEA).
In other fandoms, King & Country in bandom (MCR) and in Supernatural I'm very proud of Hope and Clay. I struggle to write casefics even though I love to read them, but that one really worked out.
Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?
I don't think I'll ever write something new. There is an old fic that may be done but it was smut so I was too shy to post it at the time. In theory if I find it and it's decent, I could post it!
Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?
I do! I write fic very slowly, but I do write still! I have a million ideas for stories, but I'm so slow at the actual writing part.
Where do you get ideas for stories?
I usually take a jumping-off point from canon, or of course, something I need to fix or expand on. Or sometimes I start telling myself a story as I fall asleep and the idea grabs me long enough I can manage to write it.
What's the story behind your pen name?
I was getting into fandom and realized people didn't use their real names. I flipped through my history book looking for inspiration, and decided tabula rasa was a great name for a writer. I tend to add an X because it's rare to get "tabularasa" as a username, and the X is indeed for X-Files (so I'm something like tabulaxrasa most places). I usually go by Tabula Rasa or Tab, though. And I still use it because 1) it IS a great name for a writer; and 2) it's not fandom-specific so I can keep it in every fandom.
I identify with it so much I have answered to this name in class (oops). I have a "Tab" t-shirt (as in the soda, but I have worn it to Comic-Con for ease of ID-- better than a nametag!). And my mom got me a necklace with a "tab" typewriter key as a charm, which I adore. Yes, I have accidental merch of myself.
Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?
As you can tell from the above, my family knows (my family being my parents and sister). They are supportive! I think my mom read a couple stories? But obviously she has to know the fandom to get it... I got my sister into fic, and we even wrote a couple fics together (in Gundam Wing). She's a lot more selective about fandoms, but she's joined fandoms on her own, too. She's just not in one constantly, like me. :p
I tend not to tell not-online friends unless I have felt them out and know they're super fannish, or they bring it up first.
Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?
Most of my old fic is now on AO3 and I hang out on twitter a lot, @tabula_x_rasa
Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?
I'm really glad people are still in this fandom! It will always be so important to me. Thank you Lilydale, for this nostalgia trip!
(Posted by Lilydale on March 30, 2021)
40 notes · View notes
off-in-the-moors · 3 years
Note
It is not the responsibility of art to be morally instructive. It is 100% YOUR responsibility to research something if you know you are a sensitive person, take responsibility for your self. Art does not need to be some clinical sanitized morality play, get over your weird Puritanical obsession that all art must conform to your specific world view. Either engage in challenging works or stick to children’s cartoons where you can feel ‘safe’.
-
Dear Anon,
I’m truly confused by this. I have no idea what are you referencing and what “inspired“ you to send me this “ask“. But I will do my best to give you something.
(It only took me this long to answer, bc I don’t log in very often.)
Let’s start with your assumption of me.
I’m not a sensitive person, in any meaning. I actually love reading and engaging in media that’s morally questionable or straight up morbid and disturbing. Some of my favorite thing are: paintings by Goya and Beksiński, folklore/mythology (in it’s most unchanged form), “Perfume“ both film and book, Hannibal tv series, true crime, to name a few. Your assumption that I’m just “a girl obsessed and only enjoying modern cartoons“ is insulting.
I actually do agree with you that art, in any form, isn’t responsible to be morally instructive, but every work of art is made to send some form of message, be an obvious one or hidden between pages. In my opinion, authors and writers should be aware of what message they want to send with their works and what messages they are sending with what and how they’re presenting.
On your “It is 100% YOUR responsibility to research something if you know you are a sensitive person, take responsibility for your self“ this is also true. But on the other hand, given media should provide you with some kind of warning and not a third party entity. For example, if I pick-up a YA book from a bookstore, bc of its synopsis or someone (be a person I know or a creator) recommended it to me, I don't expect "spicy" scenes or blatant a*use of a character by its love interest or just "torture p*rn" scenes in it but here they are. With no warning. Is it my fault? Partly yes. Is it the media's fault for not giving me any warnings? Also yes.
Even with researching "warnings" isn't that simple. When it comes to books, the only way is reading reviews or recommendations. With reviews, they're either positive and say nothing book related or are negative and full of spoilers. Recommendations nowadays most of the time don't even give you what the story is about, just "it has x, y and z in it", let alone "warnings". From my own experience, they either don't tell you about "unappropriated" stuff (be r*pe, d*ug a*use, a*use, etc.) or they down play them and in worst cases, excuse it or say "it gets better/it's addressed in the next book/later in the series".
But if you feel the need to micromanage everything you engage in, go for it. But most people don't and a warning would be nice.
(This of course doesn't apply to thing and character's actions deemed "problematic". If said stuff is well handled and addressed, it's perfectly ok to portray it. But again, if it addressed and/or showed as wrong, and not ignored, excused, or played as a joke.)
I don't know from where you took the "your weird Puritanical obsession", bc 1) I never petitioned for that in my posts, and 2) I'm actually against censuring and sanitation of media.
Now, on to what "inspired" you to write this.
Again, I have no f-clue. So here are my best guesses:
If it's about Pathologic: I only have problem with people forcing their politics, modern sentiments and opinions/interpretations on to something they don't fully understand, because they're from a different cultural climate. An American can't fully (or in some cases, refuses to) understand something made by Europeans (in this case Russians) for Europeans in mind. I don't want to mix myself into the fandom discourse/drama, because I don't care what people think or how they interpret stuff, even if it's taken from something minor or from nowhere with no support (or even is debunked) in canon. I don't care if people like or hate this one character. Just don't police people for liking things, you don't like. Nor do public shaming or send people on those you don't agree with. You don't like a pixel man on platform shoes? Fine. Just don't bully and attack people who do.
If it's about my post about B*rdugo's adult book: I will admit, the wording and presentation wasn't the best. I was writing it from a place of strong emotions, but I'm still standing by my opinion that some things should not be presented with graphic details in a book without any type of warning. Here we could have a discussion about trigger warnings in books, hers response to the idea of putting them on her book and what is consider "too far", but this isn't about that. I actually have a lot of problems with B*rdugo and her fan-base, besides that. Her use of Russia, it's history, religion iconography and culture only for aesthetic and not doing proper research (she called her series "Greg's trilogy") or showing any respect for it (with characters, how are not main and secondary characters, a Slavic stereotype); her portray of dyslexia and how the fandom likes to use it as a joke in relation to this character; or people shielding her from any form of criticism with "She's is xyz, so she can write this". But I don't care about her and her works.
I stopped reading YA books, because I can't stand them any longer and their "handling" of topics, with people holding up every-single-one as "the best book ever written", not because of the quality or story but because the author is xyz, and spitting at every book written before 2000s. I'll get flag for it but YA novels are the Pulp fiction of our times (of course not all, but most of the popular ones are). I stopped trusting people recommending them to me, because 90% of the time, I'm just disappointed by them.
If it's about K and TRC: I already said so much about this. Margaret isn't aware of her audience, she writes for herself (which she admitted on a podcast) and refuses to change it to please anyone. She created and killed K for two reasons: to further Ronan's character arc (to be used for teaching him to dream better and a (not working) foil of him (or Adam... or Gansey)) and as her weird catharsis of killing everything she hates (who she apparently was; "fratty boys and chortling men") personified as one boy (and yes, boy, because this fandom likes to forget he’s only seventeen, the same age as the Gangsey. If you excuses their actions, like Ronan and Adam’s racist jokes or Gansey’s toxic behaviors towards Adam with “they’re just teenagers”, why K is excluded from being a stupid teen?). With Jordan, it's now obvious that she has a bias of suffering/dealing with your trauma (and addiction) "in the right way", of which in her eyes, K wasn't. She could not create K or she could not make him a harmful stereotype of a Slav, but she did. In a book targeted at 13-18 year olds, we have a drug-addicted boy committing a public s*icide and being demonized and forgotten by everyone.
But I'm done with this fandom, I never had a place in it. TRC fandom is 80% P*nch with a 1% being about K, but even this little corner is "too much" for the stans. I left for a reason, the only thing I regret is not apologizing for my out-burst. If someone who knows what I’m referencing is reading this, I’m truly sorry.
So, yea. I hope, I addressed your issue, Anon.
13 notes · View notes
buzzdixonwriter · 4 years
Text
Super Duper Supermen
This will be a long one, so pour yourself a cuppa and settle down.   We may seem to meander, but we’ve got a destination.
. . .
I’m tired of superheroes.
I’m tired of a lot of genre fiction.
Part of the reason is that too much of the current material is ugly and loud, but the real reason is it isn’t fresh, it isn’t fun.
I tried watching The Boys.  I got to the end of the second scene of episode one and realize, “This ain’t for me” and turned it off and went over to YouTube and watched guys build model airplanes.
At least they look like they’re having fun.
. . .
Look, superheroes are a power fantasy and they’re okay for little kids who want to believe there’s always going to be a mommy or daddy who will protect them, but they’re an absurd genre at best and when you start taking them seriously -- and recently even the funny parodies and spoofs take themselves Too Damn Seriously -- they become horrific.
What prompted me to realize this is an article posted on The Vulcan by Abraham Riseman “The Boys Is the End of the Superhero As We Know It.”
Highly recommended, by the way.
. . .
It’s not like Riseman was the first to make this observation.
30+ years ago Gary Groth observed:
“Superman is one version of the hero with a thousand faces -- to employ the title of Joseph Cambell's excellent book on the subject -- and his appeal should therefore not surprise us.  But Superman is a crude version of the hero; if you will, an elementary one.  Unlike his more developed analogues in all the world's great religions, Superman does not offer love or goodwill, self-knowledge or contemplation as keys to man's salvation.  He offers his own physical powers.”
And he ain’t the only one.
Alan Moore recently chimed in:
“They have blighted cinema and also blighted culture to a degree. Several years ago I said I thought it was a really worrying sign, that hundreds of thousands of adults were queuing up to see characters that were created 50 years ago to entertain 12-year-old boys. That seemed to speak to some kind of longing to escape from the complexities of the modern world and go back to a nostalgic, remembered childhood. That seemed dangerous; it was infantilizing the population.
“This may be entirely coincidence, but in 2016 when the American people elected a National Socialist satsuma and the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, six of the top 12 highest-grossing films were superhero movies.  Not to say that one causes the other, but I think they’re both symptoms of the same thing — a denial of reality and an urge for simplistic and sensational solutions.”
. . .
I don’t like cruelty.
I used to enjoy old weird horror films back in the day -- movies like The Reanimator -- because I appreciated their absurdity and never took them seriously.
When the torture porn sub-genre came along, I lost interest in horror films.  
The Babadook is the only modern one I’ve seen in the last 5 years and I enjoy it because like earlier horror films (and here I include both classic Universal / RKO movies and the artistry of Mario Bava and Dario Argento) it’s essentially a very dark fairy tale, not an exercise in cruelty for the sake of cruelty.  
Violence doesn’t turn me off.
Sadism does.
And sadism is all about power and fascism is all about power, so when I remark on modern superhero and thriller and horror stories as being fascist, I know whereof I speak.
. . .
Superhero stories may not necessarily be tales told by idiots, but they are full of sound and fury, and signify nothing.
Ultimately superheroes fail because:
they can’t lose
they can’t win
There is no finality in the superhero genre.  The damn Joker keeps crawling back, Les Luthor constantly schemes, Dr. Doom and Galactus pop up whenever things lag in the sales department.
Superheroes as a genre are failures insofar as they can’t permanently deal with these existentialist threats, nor can they step out of the way to let others deal with them.
Superheroes promise salvation but deliver bupkis, slapping a band-aid on a cancer and telling us it’s all better.
They can’t permanently defeat their greatest threats, yet neither can they be truly harmed by them.
I’ll grant you the occasional Captain Mar-Vel but they are very minor exceptions to the rule.  Gwen Stacy was bumped off in The Amazing Spider-Man #121 in June 1973, first reappeared as a clone in May 1975 then several times thereafter, and most recently shows up as Spider-Gwen in Edge of Spider-Verse #2 (September 2014).  
As Roy Thomas aptly observed:  “In comics they’re only dead if you have a body and even then only maybe.” 
(In fairness, there’s no finality in most formula / genre fiction either, but we’ll get to that in a bit.)
. . . 
Before we delve deeper, let’s be clear as to what we’re discussing when we say “superheroes”.  
They don’t need to possess “powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men”.
As noted above, they just have to be:
always victorious
never in real danger
You can bash ‘em / trash ‘em / slash ‘em / smash ‘em and they still bounce back -- heroically -- to save the day.
Break both legs, riddle them with machine gun bullets, hit them with a car, cave in their skulls with sledgehammers, and yet somehow they summon up the super-human reserves needed to keep in the fight.
Mind you, in the real world there are people who display super-human endurance in horrific situations and not merely survive but go on to achieve incredible success.  They don’t do such things every year (as do heroes in movies), much less every month (comics) or every week (television). They sure as hell don’t make a career out of it.
Let’s veer away from brightly colored naked people flying & fighting to superheroes in a different genre than costumed crime fighters.
Mike Hammer is a superhero.
Sherlock Holmes is a superhero.
Philip Marlow might actually be a literary character.
Look at the criteria:  Can they lose?
Never in Hammer’s case.
Rarely for Holmes (and when he does, it’s always with bittersweet irony).
Frequently enough with Marlowe that one can’t anticipate if any of his stories will end with him victorious (yeah, he solves mysteries, but always at profound personal cost, and in more than one novel he ends up realizing he’s been a sucker all along).
Here’s another example that snaps the dichotomy into ever sharper relief:  
Samuel L. Jackson’s Shaft is a superhero.
Richard Roundtree’s Shaft is just a hero.
Roundtree’s Shaft is aware he can fail.
No “macho bullshit irony” as they say over at the Church of the Sub-Genius.
. . .
Superheroes don’t grow -- they decay.
They never truly use their power for good (because that would involve changing the world) nor do they adequately protect the innocent.
They serve no true function except to entertain and to be exploited.
Series novels and television shows can feature character growth, but the concept has to be baked in from the beginning (Jan Karon’s Mitford series and Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City books are two examples that spring immediately to mind).*
More typically, in series fiction the character/s show little actual growth; they are more or less the same at the end of their adventures as they were at the beginning, maybe a little greyer, maybe a little creakier, but essentially the same person.
Sometimes, particularly in military or nautical or police series, they may start out as a callow cadet but soon wise up to the stalwart hero we want to see.
As perfect an example of superhero decay can be found in the Die Hard movies.
The original’s superhero character, Detective John McClane, implausibly goes through a night of hell yet actually shows some character growth:  By the end of the film he’s able to swallow his pride and admit to his wife he was wrong.
A very farfetched movie but an emotionally satisfying one.  We’ll overlook a multitude of injuries that would have rendered him hors de combat in reality in exchange for the movie actually being about something.
All that gets chucked out in the first sequel, Die Hard 2, where the characters are thrown into a contrived situation to mirror the first film without the satisfying emotional growth but with far more ridiculous action;  Die Hard With A Vengeance jettisons McClane’s marital relationship except as an afterthought and ups the absurdity of the story (indeed, it’s best viewed as an action comedy); Live Free Or Die Hard totally trashes all the character growth before it; and A Good Day To Die Hard not only trashed previous character growth but went so badly over the top that it and the star’s aging out hopefully are the one-two punch needed to end the series once and for all.
. . . 
Look at non-superpowered / non-comic book superheroes and see how they fare.
D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers are superheroes (conversely, Cyrano de Bergerac is not because the focus of his story is on who he is and not the what but the why of his actions; all the cool sword fighting is just bonus material).
Natty Bumpo is a superhero; anybody who can jump into a birchbark canoe from a tree branch 30 feet overhead without crashing through is a superhero because that character simple Can Not Lose.  
For that matter, most 1950s TV cowboys and virtually all Italian Western protagonists are superheroes.
Tarzan is a superhero. 
James Bond is a superhero (the SPECTRE / Blofeld arc in the novels and short stories actually do end up with him going through significant growth and personal change, ending with Smersh brainwashing him and sending him back to assassinate M…but then the British Secret Service intercepts him and a couple of paragraphs later he’s all better and off after The Man With The Golden Gun).
Modesty Blaise is a superhero.
Claire Starling is not a superhero, but Hannibal Lecter is (don’t give me that; even if you’re evil, when you’re the central character of a series of books / movies / TV shows you’re a damn superhero).
They’re all superheroes because they can’t lose and they can’t change their world and more importantly they can’t change themselves.
. . .
There is one exception to the above re superheroes, and that’s in the realm of sci- fi and fantasy stories.
Occasionally we find a character who becomes a king (viz Howard’s Kull) or a demi-god (viz Herbert’s Paul Atreides) and does alter their world for good or ill.
That, of course, is the ultimate power fantasy.
. . .
Fascism focuses on the Will and the Act.
It is a philosophy of movement.
It’s a philosophy that attracts the weak and the sadistic, because it promises protection from and power over others.
It’s a philosophy that actively seeks conflict, not necessarily overt violence, but the promise of same is always there.
. . . 
A brief sidebar to the other side of the comic book spinner rack.
Funny animals are essentially anti-authoritarian.
From Aesop forward to Carl Barks, their characters, filled with all too human foibles, can and do fail.
And when they win?
Ah, then it’s almost never by force or action, but by cleverness.
Funny animals are tricksters, accurately sussing out a situation and maneuvering to gain the best outcome for themselves without obtaining dominance over their opponent.
Bre’r Rabbit and Bugs Bunny.
Ducks Donald, Daffy, and Howard.
Superhero stories seems obsessed with keeping everything orderly and in continuity.
Without continuity, anything goes, and that’s fatal to the superhero trope as it annihilates authority.
Funny animal stories rarely feature continuity and when they do, it’s rarely rigorous.  If Porky Pig needs to be a businessman or a farmer or a studio executive or a traveling salesman, so be it.
He’ll be something else in the next story.
As tricksters, funny animals are bounded by one rule: They may save themselves and seek justice, but they will pay a penalty if they try to use trickery for selfish gain.
Howard the Duck -- “trapped alone and afraid / in a world he never made” -- is just trying to stay survive.
Daffy Duck -- greedy little miser that he is -- inevitably gets it in the neck when he tries to cheat someone.
Donald Duck -- floating somewhere between Howard and Daffy in his motivations -- finds no guarantee of success and reward, yet achieves success often enough to keep striving.  
He may battle mummies or a reluctant coke machine, his stories may take him around the world on an adventure or no further than his kitchen to fix dinner.
It doesn’t matter.
Who he is makes his stories compelling far more than what he does.
He’s not on a power trip.
He doesn’t feel he has to win every time.
And as a result, he has a much richer life than Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark.
. . . 
“So whaddya sayin’, Buzz?  ‘Superheroes is bad’?”
No.
I deny no one their pleasure.
But I also think there are times when we have to demand not just more of creators but of ourselves as an audience with the media we consume.
I only saw the first two scenes of the first episode of The Boys.
That was all it took to convince me not to watch it anymore.
For similar reasons, I have no desire to watch Mad Men or Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul or Game Of Thrones.  
I’ve picked up a strong enough vibe from each to know I’m not going to connect with them.
I’m certainly not saying you can’t enjoy them if you like.
Bu I am saying we’re cheating ourselves by not demanding more.
And until we start demanding more, the studios and streamers are only going to offer us less and less variety.
C’mon, people, we deserve more than that.
  © Buzz Dixon
  *  I’m sparing you a whole long analysis of The Mary Tyler Moore Show because frankly it goes too far afield of this essay’s central thesis and besides I can use it for another blog post in the future.
4 notes · View notes
eldritchsurveys · 4 years
Text
1046.
Do you ever find yourself worrying about things that probably won't happen? >> The thing is, the things I worry about are things that can happen. I know because I’ve already experienced those things happening. It’s the likelihood of the thing happening that may or may not be skewed in my imagination, not the thing itself.
Has your imagination ever made it hard for you to sleep? >> I don’t think so.
Have you ever had a weird dream and obsessed over what it might mean? >> I’ve had plenty of weird dreams, but I didn’t obsess over their possible meaning.
Or do you usually forget about your dreams? >> Nowadays, yeah, I don’t remember my dreams too consistently.
Do you know your heritage? If not, would you ever try one of those DNA kits? >> I know enough, I suppose. I would definitely not do one of those DNA kits, for multiple reasons.
Which languages can you speak? >> Only English with any fluency.
Which language do you speak the most and why? >> ---
Which languages do you wish you were fluent in? >> ---
With films in languages you do not speak, do you prefer a dub or subtitles? >> I greatly prefer subs. I like listening to different languages. Plus, I find that a lot of the times, the dub actors don’t match up well in my opinion.
Which cuisine do you like the least? >> ---
Are there any foods you dislike because of the texture? >> Absolutely.
Which type of chocolate do you like best? >> I only eat dark chocolate.
Do you have a favorite kind of dog? >> Pit bulls, I guess, but I really just like dogs period.
Do you let your pets sleep in your bed? >> I would not.
Do any of your favorite musicians ever write music for/with other artists? >> I mean, probably.
What is your favorite collaboration between two different musicians? >> I can’t think of a favourite collaboration.
Who are your favorite songwriters? >> I don’t have any.
Do you like any of those oldies groups (like the Four Seasons)? >> Yep. I grew up listening to them and I still love a lot of that music.
Do you know who Bernie Taupin is? >> He writes with Elton John, don’t he? They’re associated somehow, anyway.
What are your favorite one-hit wonders? >> Meh.
What celebrities, if any, have you seen naked? >> I mean, whichever ones did nude scenes in movies I’ve seen.
Have you ever seen anybody naked by accident? >> Not necessarily by accident, just... not by my consent. Living in shelters, you see a lot you don’t necessarily want to see.
Have you ever wondered what somebody looks like naked? >> In an idly musing sense, sure.
Have you ever had a sexual fantasy about a celebrity? >> When I was younger.
Have you ever changed your clothes in the car? >> I don’t think so, but maybe.
About how quickly does your hair grow? >> Too quickly for my liking, considering how often I have to buzz it.
Do you have to/choose to shave anything unusual? >> No.
Do you groom (wax, pluck, or thread) your eyebrows? >> No.
Most unusual thing you have worn in public? >> I don’t know?
If you wear makeup, what are your preferred brands? >> I don’t have any preferred brands.
Do you use flavored lip balm? What about tinted lip balm? >> Nope, just regular coconut-oil lip balm, thanks.
What is your favorite swear word? >> ---
Are you afraid of fireworks or other loud noises? >> I’m not afraid of them, I just have sensory issues and an exaggerated startle reflex. My responses are similar to fear responses, though, so it’s all the same shit at the end of the day, I guess.
Do you make your own iced tea, or buy it in jugs/bottles? >> I buy bottled iced tea.
Have you ever made sun tea? >> No.
Do you use sugar or honey to sweeten your tea? >> I use honey sometimes, but most of the time I drink it as-is.
Do you ever put milk in your tea? >> Not usually. It’s good in chai, but I just never think about it. 
Do you prefer powdered or liquid coffee creamer? >> ---
Did your school have somewhere for girls to get emergency pads/tampons? >> ---
Did you have to wear a uniform for gym class? >> ---
Did you have to take showers after gym before going to your next class? >> ---
Were you in any extracurricular activities or clubs in high school? >> ---
Have you ever picked up and kept a rock because it caught your eye? >> Yeah.
Have you attended any rock (literal rocks, not music, lol) shows? >> No.
Have you ever laughed at a scene (TV/film) that wasn't meant to be funny? >> Oh, absolutely.
Do you think they should make a movie about Hatshepsut? >> I don’t have an opinion on this.
Do you think books are better adapted as movies or TV series? >> I think TV series are better if you want to actually delve into more of the book’s content.
Any great books you would recommend? >> ---
Any great movies or TV series you would recommend? >> ---
Were you disappointed with Fox's version of the Rocky Horror Show? >> I don’t care about Rocky Horror.
Have you ever seen the original Kinky Boots movie? What about the musical? >> Never seen either.
Have you seen any Hannibal movies other than The Silence of the Lambs? >> I’ve seen Red Dragon, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising.
Have you read any of the Hannibal novels? >> Not yet. I’ve considered reading Red Dragon, since Francis Dolarhyde is my fave, but eh. Maybe one day.
Do you like any Indie movies? >> I mean, yes.
Have there been any movies you had fond memories of, but upon a rewatch didn't like as well? >> Absolutely. Tastes and needs evolve over time.
Do you like to go to the movies alone? >> I do, I love it. I especially love it when I go to a weekday matinee a couple of weeks after a movie’s premiere and the theater is empty of anyone save me. It’s the best feeling. I had so much fun watching Venom in an empty theater :)
When you watch movies/TV with people, do you find yourself making sarcastic remarks to each other? >> Well, that’d depend on the people, I guess. And what kind of mood I’m in. And what the movie/TV show even was.
Have you ever dried down any flowers to keep them? >> No.
What is your favorite thing that you have made by yourself? >> ---
Do you like your natural accent (everybody has one)? >> I’m fine with how I speak.
What accents do you find most pleasant? >> ---
Does it bother you when an actor in a musician biopic lip-syncs to a recording of the original artist, or is it better that way? >> I don’t have an opinion about this.
Have you ever read about Dennis Nilsen? >> No.
Do you ever go on murderpedia.org to read about murderers? >> No.
Have you ever read about the Black Dahlia? >> No.
Any other unsolved crimes you find fascinating? >> No, that’s not really something I’m interested in (although I don’t mind hearing other people talk about it).
Do you care what color your socks are? >> Of course I care.
What about your underwear? >> Yes. I won’t wear most colours of underwear.
What part of a man's body do you find most attractive? >> ---
What part of a woman's body do you find most attractive? >> ---
Do you think guys look good in makeup? >> ---
Do you like using clay and/or peel-off masks for skincare? >> I don’t use them. They mostly seem like sensory hell to me.
Have you ever had an asymmetrical haircut? >> I had a wig that was cut asymmetrically.
Have you ever made your own pillow or blanket? >> No.
Have you ever made a pillow out of an old T-shirt? >> No, but Sparrow has.
Have you ever tried lucid dreaming? (Where you can control your dreams) Would you ever want to try? >> I’ve not given it a serious attempt, no.
If you want to be cremated, do you want your ashes scattered anywhere? >> I don’t want to be cremated.
Would you ever have a deceased pet stuffed? >> No.
Would you ever have a pet cremated? >> No.
What is your favorite sci-fi series, if any? >> I have a few. The Stargates, for example.
Do you believe in the existence of parallel universes? >> Yep.
If you could run your own business, what kind of business would it be? >> I really would rather not.
2 notes · View notes
hellyeahomeland · 4 years
Photo
Tumblr media
“Fucker Shot Me” | Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, Cinematography by David Klein
Tumblr media
Sara: I truly stan G’ulom and his collection of capes. He is the villain in the shadows we need! 
Gail: G’ulom’s character arc has really come a long way since Carrie blackmailed him back in episode two. Feels like a year ago.
Tumblr media
Sara: Mike is highly annoying. He is so annoying I’m starting to feel sorry that he keeps asking Jenna to do things. Why did he have Jenna tell Saul what happened? Why did they wait until the next day? Why couldn’t he have done all this himself or at least delegated? What I’m saying is Mike is a drama queen. 
Gail: It’s interesting that you see Mike as an antagonist to Carrie when he is literally doing the right thing by reporting her. Carrie’s lucky he only went to Saul at first. It gave her the opportunity to get a head start on her mission to find Max. This small meeting of the minds in the middle of a bustling CIA station says a lot too: all of her secrets are about to be laid bare.
Tumblr media
Gail: This surveillance shot was when I realized that Yevgeny is intentionally feeding into the suspicions around her. His government must know and approve of what he is up to. He might have some affinity for her, but he is definitely on his own mission here.
Sara: Couple’s first photo together.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Sara: Truly the road trip of my dreams! On a more analytical note, almost all the camerawork in these scenes is done outside the car, looking in, with the barrier of the windows between us. This is continuing a motif from earlier episodes that saw Carrie often shot from behind the car window, trapped on the inside. And now she’s “trapped” with Yevgeny. 
Gail: I love how the camera shots in this scene give us a feeling of eavesdropping on them. Makes me wonder who else is listening?
Tumblr media
Sara: I really loved this shot, with the reflection of the countryside visible. The scenery and remoteness of it all (uh… not to mention them literally being on the run together) really reminded me of Carrie and Brody in “The Star.” 
Gail: Yes--and she’s not the one driving this time. Yevgeny is literally and figuratively in the driver’s seat.
Tumblr media
Gail: I love that we are getting Carrie’s perspective here. We can’t see or hear what Yevgeny is saying. We are as in the dark as Carrie is when it comes to his true motivations.
Sara: Yevgeny shot from behind again. This continues another motif of Carrie watching him walk away (repeated in the first three episodes of the season), his back turned to her. 
Tumblr media
Sara: Before I caught on to what was happening, I saw the light blue burqa and thought something was super fishy. This is the same color burqa that Samira Noori had. There was also a woman wearing a blue burqa walking by Haqqani at the end of last week’s episode when Carrie spots him outside the embassy. I feel like this is super ominous and must be intentional…. Right?
Gail: I noticed that too! I love how colorful the market is here too, it reminded me of the donkeys heading up the mountain in the last episode.
Tumblr media
Gail: IJLTP.
Sara: Gotta have that parallel! This must be intentional. The positioning of the camera and choreography here is identical to the pilot.
Tumblr media
Sara: IJLTP.
Gail: Even in a crowd of people, Carrie is always alone.
Tumblr media
Gail: Such a contrast to the colorful market and busy streets nearby.
Sara: This is a really stunning shot and you can feel the emotional weight of these rows and rows of tombstones--all of which Carrie is responsible for.
Tumblr media
Sara: I noted this in TCWTW, but they’ve dressed Carrie and Yevgeny similarly here. Notably they’re both in jackets with pockets on both breasts. Also notably, Carrie’s ensemble is in shades of grey, while Yevgeny’s is darker. Also also notably: height difference.
Gail: His constant and consistent nonchalance is such a vibe.
Tumblr media
Gail: We are on the outside looking in at their relationship again. So much we don’t know about it, and by “we,” I mean the audience and Carrie.
Sara: This is a cute bookend shot to the final scene of last week’s episode where Yevgeny is staring at Carrie, who stares straight ahead.
Tumblr media
Sara: The Jesus light shines on Max! 
Gail: Max’s living conditions keep going from bad to worse.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Sara: What the actual hell was this? The speed with which Yevgeny prevented a total and full-blown Carrie freakout was certainly admirable and positively weird as hell. 
Gail: Yevgeny sure knew how to calm her down quickly: bends down to eye level, holds her forcefully in place, and even does the sympathetic head tilt. He knows way more about her than “we” can imagine.
Tumblr media
Sara: I just picked this shot because was anyone else surprised that Linus is still the Chief of Staff? I thought for sure he would have been transferred to an ~advisory~ role when Keane left but both Beau and now Hayes are keeping him? Let’s all admit that Linus is really the cockroach that creepy doctor in Caracas said Brody was. 
Gail: I loved the scale of the empty airplane hanger against the optics Hayes is trying to convey. Empty attempt with an even emptier coffin.
Tumblr media
Sara: Don’t sleep on Tasneem! She’s always lurking around every corner and that is why we continue to stan. Also shout out to blog member Angela who remarked on the way they dressed Tasneem in virginal white a few episodes ago, and now this Madonna-esque blue. What does it mean?
Gail: Now Tasneem is looking over her shoulder too.
Tumblr media
Gail: The distance between Saul and Bunny/Tasneem speaks volumes.
Sara: The choreography in this scene is really something. I mean… LOL. Could they hate Saul anymore?
Tumblr media
Gail: Even though Mike has reported Carrie to the FBI, he still takes her call in private. Interesting.
Sara: Why does Mike have encyclopedias in his sad office?
Tumblr media
Sara: This is such a great shot. G’ulom looming in the background, out of focus but still totally in control. Everyone gets an over-the-shoulder shot this year. 
Gail: G’ulom in a tie < G’ulom in a cape.
Tumblr media
Sara: Yevgeny took the night shift and let Carrie sleep in the back of his car. I repeat: CARRIE SLEPT IN THE BACK OF HIS CAR. I can’t with them. 
Gail: I didn’t think she was sleeping, Carrie doesn’t sleep! I thought she was laying low since she’s a fugitive now and was hiding from the drone(s) that she was hoping the CIA would send to check for Max. Ugh, poor Max!
Sara: Dammit, Gail! You’re probably right.... but a full night has passed so she had to have slept, for at least 15 minutes, in his car. Let me have 15 minutes!
Tumblr media
Sara: First, I think this shot is totally gorgeous (Jesus light shines on Max again!). Second, I’m not getting too freaked out because remember how totally dumb Jalal is? We don’t have much to worry about, folks. 
Gail: Such a gorgeous shot, I agree. Another empty space that illustrates just how alone Max is.
Tumblr media
 Gail: Another parallel to the end of season three: Carrie calling for an extraction team that isn’t coming.
Sara: And this shot, too. Damn… this episode was visually quite gorgeous, if substance-wise quite dull.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Sara: Total Brody vibes with the cage and also Haqqani’s general air of acceptance here. They wanted us to feel bad for Brody at the end too! Later, again like Brody, Haqqani is surrounded by a crowd of raucous people who want him dead when he’s sentenced to his fate. Although this specific shot with the cell in the center of the courtroom reminded me a lot of those scenes with Hugh Dancy in Hannibal (can’t find a pic, you’re just gonna have to trust me!).
Gail: I agree and really loved this scene.
Tumblr media
Sara: I love shot because of how small Saul looks. I don’t mean this in a shady way! It really puts into perspective (literally) how futile his attempts are to save Haqqani and secure the peace deal (again). Saul states at the beginning of the episode that Haqqani and the Taliban control half the country… that necessarily means that half the country would also probably like to see him dead. He’s just one man, one small man, and the sun is setting on him. 
Gail: Great insight. The loss of control and chaos surrounding Saul is only growing in scale through this episode, culminating in this fantastic shot.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Sara: I have to laugh. Best facial expression of the century goes to Mr. Linus Roache. 
Gail: Wellington is literally biting his lip! Love it and love the villainous John Zabel, menacing beard and all!
Tumblr media
Gail: Carrie is very much “in the weeds.”
Sara: Carrie sure is trying hard to be stealthy given she’s tracing the perimeter of a fence that’s more or less see-through. I LOVE YOU, CARRIE.
Tumblr media
Gail: Everything happening to Max feels extremely ominous to me.
Sara: It’s official, this show has an eyeglasses complex. Saul and Max are both glasses-wearing people, and I tend to think the scenes where they’re without them (whether in captivity or otherwise), and the scenes where they get them back, suggest a loss of humanity. They’re being stripped down to the barest and most vulnerable forms of themselves.
Tumblr media
Sara: This reveal is really very clever and would have been a lot more so if it hadn’t been spoiled in 46 promos.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Gail: I love how Carrie and Yevgeny are off center in this shot, just like Carrie.
Sara: IJLTP. IJLTP.
Tumblr media
Sara: And again with this eyes wide, hands on shoulders, controlled and direct response. I would be creeped out if I didn’t think he was doing it out of ~*~LOVE~*~. But seriously, what do you think this is and why is it so effective? 
Gail: I think he had a lot of practice. (Ugh)
4 notes · View notes
c0ffeebee · 4 years
Note
noooo did tumblr seriously just send you a "feel better soon!"? There were FIVE LETTERS FROM THE ASK GAME IN THAT MESSAGE AFTER THAT. Urgh. Why does tumblr eat HALF an ask. Okay. Let's try again. Damn it. A, G, R, U, W and Y. I don't remember it that was the ones from this ask of the other I sent, but oh well
yeah, tumblr's a bitch like that TT but thank you for sending it again! 💙
A - Your current OTP(s)/OT3(s)/OTX(s)
well it's no secret that right now i'm mostly invested in kliego, sebjace, harlos, reylo and geraskier, so for now that's it
G - Do you remember your first OTP, if so who was in it
oh god, there were a lot of those even in my childhood, caleb and cornelia from w.i.t.c.h. is the first one that comes to mind, dimitri and anastasia also, but i'm sure there were others, and that was before i discovered fandoms, so for my first real in-fandom otp let's count jasperella, as in jasper and bella from twilight (yes i was weird like that) 
R - A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships
lol hello again twilight, riley and jasper, that's it, the most rear rear-pair i've ever shipped, which is no surprise because they have so much in common with sebjace it's crazy, and i mean i've read like two fics about them so i'm sure there's at least one other person that ships it, which is really surprising, the thing with that ship is when i was in twilight fandom i was a 15 year old repressed kid raised in a really homophobic environment, so i didn't even consider this to be a ship and yet i was so sad we never got to see them interact, if anyone could have saved riley and if anyone could understand him on the deepest lvl possible it would be jasper, they are pretty much the same character, yin yang shit like sebjace 
U - 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms
i have tons of those so it's just five random characters out of dozens of my faves: 
diego hargreeves 
caitlin snow (killer frost) 
newt (the maze runner) 
proinsias cassidy
noora sætre
W - 5 favorite ships and 5 kinks you like best for said ships
ok for this we'll go with the 5 ships i named as my current otps, and i'm not sure those can be called kinks but anyway 
sebjace: 
soulbound - them literally being bound by souls that much that they share physical wounds, emotions, thoughts, dreams, they basically morphed into one, just like sebastian said, can you imagine how much mind blowing porn one can write about that? all one of them has to do it bite his own lip or dig his nails into their own skin for it to instantly echo and show up on the other's body, god it's so beautiful hold me 
yin and yang dynamic, where they are literally the balance between the sides of dark and light, that constant conflict inside both of them
loyalty kink, they never had much of that in their lives so yeah, them being loyal to each other 
runes of course, i mean in general biting and licking of runes and etc, but also the lilith rune and them like touching/kissing the rune on the other and feeling it themselves, also something like one of them drawing the loyalty rune on the other 
fighting as a foreplay, that's it 
kliego: 
softness, so much softness that it hurts, feather light touches and kisses, just ALL THE SOFT 
unrequited love, diego being seriously head over heels in love with klaus since they were teens and klaus never really fully understanding what love is enough to reciprocate it on the same lvl until they are 30, all those years of diego just wanting and yearning and thinking it will never happen, it kills me but i'm always here for it 
bottom diego, don't get me wrong i don't really care about sex positions and i love both when diego tops on fics and when he bottoms, but this fandom doesn't have nearly enough bottom diego fics and i need those 
vulnerability, i love it when both of them are vulnerable with each other on a lvl that they can't be vulnerable on around anyone else 
being each other's safe place since childhood 
harlos: 
 understanding, complete and total, i fully believe those two can understand each other like no other characters can, they both have very similar parents and most likely have gone through similar treatment as kids, so yeah, that 
carlos being more forward and dominant(?) in this relationship, just carlos knowing what he wants and going for it while harry is trying his stupid flirting tactics that don't really work, just in general carlos looking at harry and realizing that he's in some sense a feral dog on uma's leash and carlos is good with wild things and maybe he could hold that leash too sometimes
harry being overwhelmed and scared by feelings, carlos basically killing him with kindness without really meaning too, the sweetest ways in which carlos treats him are harry's ultimate weakness, i can totally see him crying during sex because carlos is just too gentle, too attentive to his needs, too warm and open and everything is just TOO MUCH, because harry is used to it being rough and emotionless and just about getting off, but carlos can't do that, he's all for making love to harry, you see 
harry drawing constellations on carlos's skin using his freckles, just harry being in love with carlos's freckles in general 
small and tall in which small seems to be a sunshine but can be a bitchy asshole and the tall seems like the big bad but in reality can be a lap dog 
reylo: 
again like with sebjace yin and yang, balance between light and dark, soulbound and all that shit, can't get enough of it 
dark rey, a scenario in which when rey finds out how fucked up jedi were she just goes "fuck it all, fuck it all" (with 'let it go' motive) and leaves everyone behind to become the empress of darkness and her and kylo reign forever 
secret lovers which is basically canon, but like them having their force skype dates or even sneaking on "meetings" to places where no one can find them
again fighting as a foreplay
ben solo being alive and well is my biggest fucking kink for them right now 
geraskier:
jaskier being the monster fucker that he is, seeing geralt on some of those potions all scary and dark eyed and having a boner from that instantly 
again vulnerability kink with geralt being vulnerable around jaskier, also like give me all the injured geralt and jaskier who has to help him, i'm always here for it 
jaskier who's weaker physically standing up for and protecting geralt 
bottom geralt again just like with diego because it's rear and interesting to explore
monster jaskier and geralt who has to deal with it 
Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)
probably like hannibal, harry potter, shameless, skam france, wtfock, a lot of those i think 
fandom meme
5 notes · View notes
rorykillmore · 5 years
Note
i feel like i send u this every time i cant decide on new characters lol but do u want any canon mates for your charas rn, which ones?
uhhh let’s see... i ALWAYS want canonmates. though first of all a disclaimer: i might do a bit of character cleanout after the revamp and on the chance that you’re considering any of these i don’t want you to like, commit only for me to drop them, so let me know if you are thinking of picking anyone up.....
lucille... idk. it’d be complicated if she got canonmates because she’s already had significant interactions and developments with previous iterations of edith and thomas. so idk. it could be interesting??? but it really depends on the angle
siobhan, i’m gonna be real, i have ALWAYS wanted a livewire for siobhan. livewire would make, like, the perfect addition to the denny guardians. and she 500% deserves better than what she got in canon, so everybody wins!
otherwise maybe a winn?? i think i’ve talked about this before but i have a soft spot for winn and siobhan’s dynamic, and i think it’d be interesting for them to interact now that she’s developed a lot...
(also a cat grant even though her and siobhan hate each other because i’m just like, CONSTANTLY in a state of “denny needs a cat grant”,)
for sara... hm probably one of the legends (idk if i can narrow down favorites, kendra, snart, zari, jax maybe...) or most definitely an e-1 laurel! which would, y’know, cause a lot of catastrophic conflict, but also sara and e-1 laurel deserve their reunion, so,
bramblestar... you know i’d really love to see one of the journey cats on denny?? we had a few of them at various times -- squirrelflight, feathertail, giz tried out crowpaw briefly. but man i would LOVE to have bramblestar interact with tawnypelt, or really... any of his half-siblings, because he and hawkfrost obviously have a lot of conflict, and he and mothwing. never get to fucking interact and there’s so much potential there. anyway if bramblestar had any kind of sibling on denny it would definitely be super interesting, given tigerstar’s presence and the conflict tigerclan presents in general.
or you know who i’ve always thought would be a really interesting warrior cat to see on denny? goldenflower. because i have a lot of questions about her relationship with tigerstar that the books never answered. and also, give bramblestar his mom back,
for dolores.... i think it’d be really interesting to have a teddy!!! they have so much unresolved shit they need to deal with, and it’d be... sad and complicated with dolores dating laurel now. otherwise, virtually any of the characters you apped/tried out were fucking great, or i would love to have a bernard sometime especially with their mounting conflict.
or i’ve always thought dolores would have really interesting conversations with emily....
for sophie-anne.... idk [immediately forgets all the true blood characters]
no but i would definitely love to have a hadley!! that’d be one of those like. “basically expanding a lot of headcanons for a ship we really didn’t get to see much of in canon” things but. what we saw of them was great, and i like my “hadley would ask to be turned” headcanon. or maybe someone like pam or tara??
camille.... well you’ve mentioned wanting to try out jackie and obviously i would LOVE that. camille and jackie’s relationship is really. poignant to me but i also think they have a lot of unresolved, sad stuff going on. i think camille... forgives jackie or is trying to because she’s also trying to forgive herself for what happened with marian, and she loves jackie so much and jackie was sometimes the only thing that made her childhood bearable, but yeah. also there’d be a lot of potential for funny stuff obviously but there’s something legitimately impressive about jackie’s ability to get dirt on EVERYONE so i have to wonder like, what else she’d get into,
and then.... jay tried her out for a bit (and was wonderful with her) but i would fuckin kill to have an amma long term. i think amma is a wonderfully. painfully complex character who you could do a lot with in rp and admittedly i also just, want to give her and camille some kind of closure arc because they REALLY deserve it, 
i don’t know if anyone would ever try her out because she’s only in one episode but maybe alice too?? although i might cry too hard for that,
sly’s answer is surprisingly like, “too many to count”, because i realized how many sly cooper characters i would LOVE to see on denny. obviously there’s carmelita but i think fate is still planning on apping her eventually?? so besides her... definitely bentley or murray! how could i not want sly to have his best friends... and i also think someone like neyla has a hell of a lot of potential (good balance of ‘scary villain who would do shit’ and ‘potential to flesh out some legitimate complexity’) and that clockwerk if played right would be a TERRIFYING threat and.... someone like dimitri could make a fun comic relief character, or i have such a soft spot for the panda king
or really, honestly, ANY of the cooper ancestors, and so many of those are fan favorites so i’m always holding out hope that someone will pick one of those up! consider: rioichi and nyssa would get along INCREDIBLY well,
for nightcloud.... hmmm honestly i wouldn’t mind having a crowfeather as much as there is to complain about with that relationship because. i’m always here for rping things out in a more satisfying way than canon,
but also like... god i don’t know. feathertail or... i’m trying to think what other female characters Deserved Better because i would love to give nightcloud a ship with another she-cat that kind of. deconstructs a bit of that jealousy thing she does
for susie i would be SO fucking stoked if someone apped someone else from the suspiria movie, actually. specifically like... madame blanc or sara because obviously susie had very poignant and important relationships with both of them (and i think they’re both great characters in their own right). and like. aren’t we all here for sad gay stuff,
also this might be a weird answer but i’m like... weirdly attached to the remake’s version of olga?? she has like 10 minutes of screentime so idek why except for the fact that i was like, previously attached to olga from the original movie. probably no one would ever care enough to flesh her out and app her unless they were like BIG into suspiria like me or fate or jemi are but, y’know
cordelia.... already has/or has had some great canonmates on denny; obviously i already REALLY love your myrtle. if you’re not still planning on apping her... idk i know you also said you were interested in coco or queenie and they would both be amazing to see. basically any of the coven witches!! or uh... christ idk i don’t have the energy to sort through the other seasons of ahs characters now but, any ahs characters would be really interesting i’m sure
for alana, barring the two you’ve already tried out.... i of course think having hannibal around would be both catastrophic and extremely interesting for everyone involved. or also, possibly a weirder answer, but jack??? idk you know we need some like. Solid Law Types for the mld maybe, and i have a weird soft spot/interest in alana and jack’s relationship. or like... obviously getting an abigail would be really sad and complicated (but also, give abigail a shot at a normal life,) or i’ve always thought bedelia could be super interesting on denny...
but naturally the REAL answer here is matthew brown,
for villanelle... i mean i should preempt this by saying that i can’t think of a like, major or supporting character from killing eve who isn’t fucking delightful and i would be thrilled to see ANY of them. if you continue with irina i would rp with her more in an instant
but also..... i would lay down my life for an eve, i gotta be real..... idk what else there is to say.  eve is another character who would be interesting with the mld (though. not for the same reasons as jack. the mld has had corrupt characters and it’s had lawful characters but it hasn’t really had someone who’s... slowly spiraling off the rails yet??) and of course i would throw like 15 million plots at her with villanelle (and my other characters, i guess, >__>). villanelle deserves to have the rug pulled out from under her with eve showing up, so,
okay and then laura.... idk american gods is. SUCH a universe. there are so many potential characters from that who would be fun on denny. to narrow down a couple, obviously shadow and laura have... a lot of unresolved issues to work out and i would kind of really love to play off a shadow because i have a thing for like. sad unresolved ex plots?? and they’d be great for that, nevermind the fact that shadow would have a lot of potential on denny...
ooooor mad sweeney because i have to admit i am becoming a LITTLE bit of a sucker for him and laura as a ship and how could i RESIST the opportunity for things to spiral into disaster if/when she finds out about his involvement in her death. but also like. give me them working through that and becoming better people together.  or mr wednesday!! i mean any of the gods would be INCREDIBLE to see on denny but i think mr. wednesday really stands out as far as... how much overall plot potential he has because he is really such a driving force. and i both love him and love to hate him,
3 notes · View notes
douxreviews · 5 years
Text
American Gods - ‘The Bone Orchard’ Review
Tumblr media
"I love you. Something feels weird."
So, a television series adapted from the extraordinarily beloved novel by Neil Gaiman, as interpreted by Bryan Fuller, who gave us one of the best television shows of all time in Hannibal, and Michael Green, who wrote Green Lantern but is probably still a decent person and nice to babies and small animals.
So... no expectations then...
Starz' American Gods is a curious beast, brilliant and gorgeous and upsetting and strange. Based on a book first published in 2001, which was then substantially updated for its 10th anniversary edition, it still manages to be very much its own thing. With that in mind, it's worth a quick word up front:
I had never read American Gods, when I stumbled across the first episode of the series. I was mostly interested in it because I was a huge fan of both Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic and Bryan Fuller's Hannibal, and wanted to see how the two influences meshed together. For what it's worth, I actually also like Green Lantern, but that's not really relevant as I didn't make the Michael Green connection at the time.
Not having read the book, in my occasionally humble opinion, actually improves season one of the show. I have since read it, or to be more accurate listened to it on Audible, because it really was a very long wait between season one and two. To be honest, I sort of wish I hadn't, because the spiraling 'wtf'-ness – if I might coin a phrase – of encountering all this in a vacuum really heightens the viewing experience. Ah well, that ship has sailed for me now. In any case, this is my long-winded way of saying that we're going to be looking strictly at the show itself here without considering anything from the book. I have no idea what percentage of people watching the show have read the book or haven't, and I don't want to spoil anything for anyone with more self control than I have. So it would mean a great deal to me if we all could be cool about refraining from a lot of spoilers in the comments. Cool? Cool.
The first notable thing about the show is how beautiful it looks. This isn't really a surprise, as making bizarre and disturbing things look unsettlingly beautiful was kind of the entire reason that Hannibal existed, and nobody's better than Fuller at pulling that sort of thing off. The opening 'coming to America' scene with the Vikings is in equal measures incredibly funny, horrifying, and gorier than I would have expected them to get away with. Consider specifically the dismembered arm, still holding its sword, flying through the air and landing in the throat of the other Viking. Slapstick shouldn't work when there's that much viscera on screen, but it does here. And the loving care with which Fuller and co present scarlet and crimson blood as a three dimensional object moving through space is possibly the sign of something severely unhealthy in his emotional makeup. Honestly, it's just gorgeous.
Honestly, the opening sequence with the Vikings sets up the tone of the show absolutely perfectly.
Tumblr media
Contrasted with this, the final sequence of Shadow's attempted lynching, and the slaughter of his assailants, whoever they were, by the person saving Shadow, whoever they were, is equally beautiful. If that's not an inappropriate word for the subject matter being shown. The deep midnight blue of the night, contrasted with the rich reds of the blood. Seriously, there are food commercials that haven't put in this much work to make what they're filming looks good.
And on the subject, so many hats off to the show for not shying away from the lynching. The basic setup of the show, as we get very lightly sketched in in the first episode, is that the old gods that were brought to the US by the people who came here and gradually forgotten are gearing up for a war with the new gods that replaced them. The Gods who represented things that modern Americans worship now. Gods like Technology, and television, and money and guns. We see what appears to be the God of Technology here, and he's an obnoxious, vaping jackass of a kid. Seems about right. We don't see anything about television here, but it was well advertised beforehand that Gillian Anderson would be appearing as Media. Money and guns are my own observation about 'things Americans worship.' So, that said, it was a brave decision to embrace the imagery of lynching, in a show focusing on the 'spirit(s) of America', it's brave of them to not shy away from the ugly parts.
The general upshot of the story is that our protagonist, a man by the name of Shadow Moon, is released from prison a few days earlier than he was supposed to be when his wife and his best friend are killed in a car accident together. On his way home to the funeral he encounters a strange man who identifies himself as Mr. Wednesday, who's played by the always-charming Ian McShane, who offers him a job as his driver and man-Friday. Along the way this week Shadow also meets Mad Sweeney, a surprisingly tall leprechaun played by the criminally underrated Pablo Schreiber, previously best known as 'Pornstache' on Orange is the New Black.
This, the opening episode of what is clearly going to be a long and involved multi-season multi-entangled story, presents us with a strong story hook in the form of Shadow, a few interesting mysteries in the form of Mr. Wednesday and Mad Sweeney, and a particularly graphic sex scene featuring a character named Bilquis, in which I saw more of character actor Joel Murray than I ever wanted to see. A very good first mile on what is clearly going to be a very long journey.
Tumblr media
Quotes:
Wednesday: "I offer you the worm from my beak and you look at me like I f***ed your mom?"
Wednesday: "What should I call you if I was so inclined?" Shadow: "Shadow Moon." Wednesday: "Oh my boy, that is one outstandingly improbable name."
Wednesday: "Rigged games are the easiest to beat."
Shadow: "So how’d you do it?" Sweeney: "With Panache."
Audrey: "I am trying to get my dignity back here!"
Bits and Pieces:
-- Shadow said that he'd read 813 books in prison. That's also the year the Vikings arrived in the opening sequence. It's also, as Shadow points out, a Fibonacci number. Good on him for enjoying math.
-- Ian McShane does gleeful decadence very well.
-- The concept that faith makes airplanes stay in the air is genuinely terrifying to me. I'm afraid of flying as it is.
-- I didn't get into her in the review, but Audrey is by far my favorite character so far. She's damaged beyond the ability to function, but not so far that she doesn't know she's non-functional. That's an interesting space for a character.
-- Fuller and Green, according to the stories, wanted Shadow to accept the BJ from Audrey on his wife's gravestone, on the theory that after three years in prison he'd be horny. Neil Gaiman responded that if they did that he'd commit suicide and leave a note that he'd killed himself specifically because they had done it. They decided to go a different way with it. Did I mention that the book has a lot of devoted fans?
-- Language as an operating system for religion. Wittgenstein would have loved that.
-- I would totally hang out at that crocodile bar.
A great first episode, with lots of promise for what's to come.
Four out of five flying Viking arms.
Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.
3 notes · View notes