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heyclickadee · 1 year

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Trying to catch up on these so: Thoughts on “Truth and Consequences,” I guess (I'm sick, and the theraflu kicked in about halfway through writing this, so I'm not sure how much of this makes sense):

1. I am going to crawl into the television like a reverse girl from the ring and throw Palpatine down a maintenance shaft myself.

2. I don’t think that this is the last we’re going to see of Rampart and his trash shenanigans, but watching him get arrested by the coruscant guard while protesting that he was, “Just following orders,” was extremely satisfying. For now.

3. Palpatine was just waiting under the floor for Chuchi to present her evidence against Rampart, wasn’t he? Is this a normal thing? He just…waits for some BS that he orchestrated behind the scenes to come out and then rises up out of the floor like an omen of doom to manipulate the drama to his advantage? None of this is surprising—Palpatine’s always been about the high drama—but seriously. This evil son of a bitch—

4. Omega following Senator Chuchi around the senate building was adorable, but what a way for an at-most thirteen-year-old to find out she’s not legally considered a person. That none of her brothers are, either. Which means, of course, that she never knew that growing up on Kamino, and that the batch didn’t tell her.

5. Which…makes sense. They’re not trying to wrap her in bubble wrap like they were last season. She goes on missions, she’s plenty capable in a fight, and they trust her to be able to find her way in and out of trouble. But Hunter (and the rest of them, really) are trying to give her whatever scraps of childhood they can, and part of that means they do, to one degree or another, try to keep certain bits of information from her if they think that information could hurt her. Not all the time, especially when they absolutely can’t, but they still do from time to time. It’s a little like that moment back in “Ruins of War” when Echo tells Omega to go keep an eye on Romar. I don’t think Echo was that worried about Romar doing something, but he maybe did want Omega out of earshot so he and Tech could have a grown up conversation about what losing all that treasure meant for them without Omega having to hear it. And there might be a bit of self protection in there, too. It’s one thing for the adult batchers to understand that they don’t have representation in the senate and that a lot of the galaxy doesn’t consider them people; it’s always been that way and they’re probably resigned to that being the way things are. Explaining that to Omega, though, means being forced to see how this awful thing that’s just a background part of their lives also applies to her, and would probably force them to see how monstrous that really is.

6. Senator Chuchi’s little guilty look back towards Omega when it turned out this all played out exactly how Palpatine wanted, I’m--

7. I kept thinking the moment where Wrecker got shocked climbing the ladder was going to come back. It…did not.

8. Seeing how well they were able to pull of this heist kind of makes me wonder how much of the batch’s tattered success rate is them missing Crosshair (both emotionally and just not having him around to do his job), how much having to adjust to making sure their collective adopted daughter isn’t in immediate mortal peril at all times, and how much is being in completely unfamiliar territory. It’s got to be a mix of all three.

9. Speaking of success rates…what are they on this season? 0 for 6? 1 for 6 because Tech won the riot race? Does that count? Did Echo and Hunter deliver those nerf nuggets okay? I know they pulled this mission off, but it turns out pulling it off was the worst thing that could have happened, so….

10. Yes, I’m stalling.

11. Halle Burtoni (oh, Star Wars names. I love you) was not a character I expected to see back. I was a little surprised at how blithe she was about the apparent, you know, genocide of her people, but that didn’t come across as entirely sincere.

12. Okay, one sort of detached thing about Echo’s goodbye before I get emotional about it: When he tells Omega to keep up her training while he’s gone, and she replies with a tiny little, “Yes, sir,” that made something I’ve been wondering about clone family structure finally click. We joke a lot about how Hunter’s the dad and how Echo’s the mom, because they do in many ways each fill those roles, and I think that totally works. But there’s also the way in which they batch’s family and maybe clone family structure in general more mirrors military structure than anything else. Like. Okay, on one level, in the batch, they’re all siblings, but all siblings with different roles towards one another; on another level, all the adult batchers (apart from Crosshair, at this point, since he hasn’t had much time with her) are parents of one or more varieties towards Omega. And on another level, you’ve got the actual chain of command structure, where Hunter is the sergeant, Echo’s the corporal, and therefore second in command, but within this group of people “sergeant” no longer and perhaps has never just meant “the person in charge of this little group,” and same with “corporal.” Both of those roles in the context of the clones have a different and more familial connotation that doesn’t directly translate to familial roles we might be more familiar with in our world. Does that make sense? At all? I might be rambling. I think I’m rambling at this point. (But also, yes, they’re also all dads and Echo is also the mom in addition to being a dad.)

13. Yeah okay, the goodbye

14. I didn’t cry the first time. Listen, I’m not that emotionally demonstrative unless I’m really annoyed or intentionally exaggerating to get a point across (which I do a lot), I don’t cry that often, and if I do it’s almost never about something that’s happening in real life. Crying about fiction is a lot safer, more cathartic, and just easier, so I sort of save it up for that. The first time around though, the goodbye didn’t get me. Don’t get me wrong, it hit me like a freight train through the crystal palace, but the episode was a lot, and I was kind of too overwhelmed to really feel my feelings about it. The second time around, though, when I was able to actually take it in and watch the emotions play out on the characters faces and see how gentle and tender the whole thing was? Oh boy, the waterworks. I will be suing for emotional damages. (I won’t be suing for emotional damages, but full credit to everyone on the T BB crew for making that scene what it was.)

15. The writers did something a little bit interesting here by NOT showing us the conversation that Hunter and Echo clearly had about this or the (I think) other conversations that Hunter, Echo, Tech, and Wrecker had about this later on. On the one hand, I would have liked to have seen these conversations, because I think they were probably quite a bit more emotionally heavy than the upbeat goodbyes we got from the boys. This seems to have been something Hunter and Echo have been planning for a long time, since probably the apparently life-changing nerf-nugget run at least. Not that Echo would definitely leave on this specific mission of course, but that Hunter and Echo agreed the next time there was an opportunity for Echo to go with Rex, he would, if he felt it was the right time.

Everything about the scene tells us that those conversations happened. Not showing us those conversations, however, put us into Omega’s shoes for that moment. We know these men talk when they know (or think—see episode one) Omega’s not listening. They didn’t tell her this was a possibility, for a whole bunch of reasons including keeping Omega from trying to convince Echo to stay to not wanting to hurt her and so on, and they didn’t have time to tell her it was going to happen right then until it was happening, because Echo probably didn’t decide that then was the right time until they were waiting for Omega to come back from the senate building. And the effect of not showing us those conversations or telling Omega this could happen is for Omega (and by extension, us) have the rug pulled out from under her. It puts us in her shoes. So even though we the audience have been expecting this for a while now, it feels like a surprise, it still hits, and hits hard.

16. I was so glad Echo left on good terms. This is so much better than the batch breaking up because of a fight. I love that he and Hunter are kind of on the same page, but on different paths, and how clear it was that Echo didn’t really want to leave. That moment when Rex tells him that, “Good help is hard to come by these days,” and Echo just collapses in on himself? He doesn’t want to go. The batch is his family, they’re his brothers, just as much as Rex is, Omega’s his daughter as much as she’s Hunter’s, and this is a group of people that took him in and helped him recover after the hardest period of his life. He loves them, and he doesn’t want to go. But he feels like he has to. He’s too good, he cares too deeply, and he’s been through too much not too. And Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker understand that. They’re not going to hold it against him; they support what he’s choosing to do, even though they can’t follow him into it right now, so they make sure he knows he still has a place with them, and always will.

17. Dear character animator/animators who animated the range of expressions on Echo’s face as he was trying to explain to Omega why he had to go, including and especially those couple of moments when he was obviously trying not to cry? You have my whole heart. Also, I’m in pain.

18. Dear storyboard/layout artists who decided that this goodbye scene needed to parallel Omega’s last goodbye to Crosshair on that Kaminoan platform…you also have my whole heart, but. Ow.

19. While I do understand why the batch didn’t tell Omega, I also feel like that’s something that’s going to bite them in the butt. I mean, in a “Omega internalizes what she sees as her family breaking apart as something that’s her fault and does something reckless to try to make up for it” kind of way. They're trying, but they have a lot to learn about raising kids.

20. I would like to see the apparently life changing nerf-nugget field trip, please.

21. What did Hunter tell Echo?? Is it just the, “If you ever feel like you don’t fit in with them, come find us,” thing? What waaas iiiittttt I need to knooooooowwwww

22. I did like that this was sort of underscored as a temporary goodbye. Between Echo telling Omega that he’d be back and Hunter telling Rex to call them if he ever needed anything, this is temporary. But it’s still heartbreaking, because these characters mean a lot to each other and we don’t know how long they’ll be separated.

23. Sidebar, kind of, but how much do you want to bet that the boys all agreed to keep those final goodbyes light so they wouldn’t upset Omega? And how much do you want to bet that they all agreed that backfired spectacularly afterwards?

24. Omega hugging Lula in that final shot looking so small and scared I can’t 🥺😭😭 someone help her she is not okay

25: Complete sidebar, but you know that moment when Echo took control of the venator cruiser and its guns and engines single handedly? And that other moment where he stood up and said he'd be Senator Chuchi's witness even though it would put him in incredible danger? He's so good (your hand in marriage, sir!)

26. Echo, please come back soon!!

#the bad batch #tbb spoilers #tbbspoilers #the bad batch spoilers #the bad batch season two #I’m dying Scoob

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adamwatchesmovies · 7 months

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Dial M for Murder (1954)

Dial M for Murder plays like a film you might’ve seen before but in reverse, which makes it feel brand new. Director Alfred Hitchcock maintains a consistent level of suspense throughout, adapts the play to the screen marvelously - with help from the author, Frederick Knott, who also wrote the screenplay - and the actors are all clearly having a great time helping tie our stomachs in knots.

Margot Wendice (Grace Kelly) has been having an affair with American crime-fiction writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cumings). He’s coming to visit. They don't realize her husband, Tony (Ray Milland) knows of her infidelity. He plans on having her assassinated as revenge. As her husband, this means her money will continue to keep him comfortable long after she's dead.

You know the rule in heist movies, where if they tell you what the plan is, it isn’t going to work, and if they don’t tell you, it will? This film takes this rule and turns it on its head. We know what Tony has planned for Margot. He’s been setting the machine in motion for a while now. It doesn’t seem like much could go wrong, but it does. Now, you’re torn. Much more back in the ‘50s but today, you don’t exactly sympathize 100% with Margot. She’s been having an affair, after all. Not that you sympathize with the would-be murderer instead, but he’s got something she doesn’t. As the scheming, vengeful husband, Ray Milland is excellent. He’s charming and appealing even before proving how resourceful he can be when things go wrong. You admire his ability to improvise and adapt. You don’t want the plan to go so awry that he’ll get caught - this would cause the movie to end. You kind of want it to go off without a hitch… but not too well.

Seeing the pieces fall into place is suspenseful and darkly fun. You put yourself in the shoes of all of the characters but primarily, in Tony’s. Everyone’s seen those true-crime TV series that tell you what the villain had planned and how they got caught. We’ve all taken mental notes about the mistakes those people made just in case. Not that you'd ever want to kill anyone, but if you did, you'd want it to be the same kind of perfect crime as Tony's. Unfortunately, there are so many things that could go wrong, it seems impossible… but then again, maybe it isn’t. Either way, it’s been quite the ride.

Dial M for Murder contains many gasp-worthy surprises to maintain the intrigue and suspense. You’ll hardly notice the limited number of locations - a clear giveaway this was originally made to be a play. Certain key shots break the usual moves we’d seen on a stage at just the right spots to show off a key detail - usually an indicator that something’s gone wrong. The marvellous black-and-white photography strips away all the distractions you’d get if it were in colour. It’s all about the scheme and the people involved. It makes for a memorable film. Perhaps not as flashy as some of Hitchcock’s best-known pictures, but excellent nonetheless. You’ll be shocked by how quickly the whole thing flies by.

I had seen Dial M for Murder before and I can’t explain why I didn’t fall in love with it at first sight. It’s delightfully twisted, magnificently performed, tightly written and it’ll keep you giddily nervous up until the very end. (April 9, 2021)

#Dial M for Murder #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Alfred Hitchcock #Frederick Knott #Ray Milland #Grace Kelly #RObert Cummings #John Williams #1954 movies #1954 films

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starr-finn · 1 year

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Now it's my to request AHAHAHAHHA-

- OK so, I've decided to hit you with an uno reverse and ask for headcanons of reader with Bain bc I may or may not like him too AAAAAAA

- (Imagine gmod collision/clipping sounds combined with me screaming)

- Okay, so what if.... Bain kind of likes reader

- And at one point in the middle of a heist Dallas or whoevers there asks 'What's ur ideal type'

- AND READER JUST DESCRIBES BAIN EXACTLY

- BUT THEY DIDNT MEAN TO, ALL OF THEM KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HIM SO IT'S A COINCIDENCE

- EEEEEE

Hiii!! Omg I will 100% do that for you!

A/N: Bain is amazing-

This is going mostly off the few pictures of him we've seen, what he looked like in the web series, and the in game model

H/N = heister name

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The heist you guys were on was an easy jewelry store heist. Swat wasn't even supposed to be there that day, so you and the team you were with this time had more time to do smaller, but critical things to the heist, like keeping an eye on the hostages, fixing small injuries on teammates, and fixing the drill. You sigh softly, taking off your suit jacket, and rolling up your dress shirt sleeves, muttering something about the heat, before kneeling down to fix the drill

You look over at jacket and Jimmy, both were getting ready for the next wave of cops, reloading on ammo, patching themselves up, and in Jimmy's case, retying his boots. Hoxton walks over and kneels beside you to help out looking over at you

"Hey H/N, I have a question." he says

You look over at him and tilt your head a bit "what's up Hox?"

Hoxton smirks "asking for a friend, but what's your type?"

You smile softly "yeah sure it's for a friend" you say rolling your eyes before you giggle "but my type huh? Hmmm if I had to describe my ideal partner I'd say...long hair, preferably black or dark brown, average build, not all muscles but not chubby either. Loyal, kind, and can be a bit silly, and definitely a good leader" you say focusing on fixing the drill

Hoxton nods and smirks, walking off. Meanwhile Bain was a mess over on his end, he had no clue he was your type but now, he felt oddly happy, he knows you didn't mean to describe him perfectly, but you did.

The rest of the heist went perfectly, but you noticed how quiet Bain was, anytime you asked anything about it, he'd just brush it off, maybe something happened. You were absolutely going to ask later on

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Hope you like it! Took me a lot of time to write but I'm genuinely happy it turned out good!

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dotthings · 2 years

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Episode IV of OBi-Wan Kenobi, with more crying over Obi-Wan and tiny Leia.

THE BACTA TANK SEQUENCE

Mirroring Anakin and Obi-Wan. It certainly underscores their connection and their bond, the fact that Anakin burned Obi-Wan, Anakin’s body burned after their fight on Mustafar, their lightsabers mixed into the imagery, they are mirrors and reverse images of each other as they heal. That was beautiful.

We meet Roken, played by O’Shea Jackson Jr. who I recognized from Swagger (a very good Apple TV series with an all black lead cast). Neat seeing him show up in the Star Wars universe.

“I had a wife once. I knew exactly what she was before we got married. We tried to hide it. The Inquisitors found her anyway.” So was his wife at least force sensitive? Was she a jedi in hiding, who, with the order gone, decided to marry? That’s interesting.

This ep has a lot of Star Wars: Rebels proto-rebellion energy. Proto-rebellion/pre-rebellion/rebellion era is my favorite Star Wars era. I’m living.

Tala being an ex-Imperial, and she’s so kind and she’s devoting herself now to helping people. Adding to the examples of Imperials who changed sides, like Kallus, and TFO troopers like Finn and Jannah.

These Reva and Leia scenes are dynamite and also frightening. Vivien Lyra Blair and Moses Ingram are electric in this battle of wills between Leia and Reva.

That’s the analytical part of my brain, the rest of me is utterly feral over little Leia and how terrified she must be and how brave she’s being and her being being spot on Leia. “I am PRINCESS of ALDERAAN!” I’m CRYING. She's so self-possessed and bossy I love it.

I hoped to see little Leia in the series, I didn’t know she was going to be a lead character in episode after episode or get this rich a look at her childhood.

This episode being a heist (rescue) episode is just making all of this even better. Ok it's a rescue not a heist technically, but I say it's still a heist episode.

“I had a droid when I was younger too. It was taken from me. Like everything else....I know what it’s like being alone…they are not coming for you.” Oh, Reva is so totally one of the jedi younglings. She feels abandoned by the jedi order, and she's so angry, and everything she believed about the Jedi order was shattered....by Anakin, ironically. (Does she know he was the one who did it? Or did he feed her a pack of lies? Did he play Palpatine to Reva's Anakin?) Reva's an open wound of Anakin parallels. I wonder if Vader whispered in her ear to draw her farther into loyalty to him. Did he play on her insecurities, see something of himself in her? Did he tell her, “they failed you Reva, they abandoned you, like my master failed and abandoned me” — playing her the way Reva is trying to play Leia. I have a lot of questions, I want to know how they met (maybe we’ll find out in the next few eps?)

Obi-Wan doing the same distraction noise ping trick he does in ANH, only it’s a bit more effort for him right now. MY HEART IS CRYING.

IS THAT PLO KOON ENTOMBED???????? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. (If it is, poor Dave, did he finally decide to confirm Plo Koon is dead? Plo Koon is Dave's favorite Jedi.)

This whole scene was so frightening. Tiny Leia, the darkness, the red light, the interrogation machine beeping, a call forward to Leia in ANH. She’s probably had nightmares about imperial interrogation droids most of her life.

“Please! Help! Somebody help!”

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope

And then the lights go out and there’s only that red circle with Leia in the middle and then that blue lightsaber flashes. How must that have felt from Leia’s pov. What seeing that blue blade means to her, what jedi now mean to her, what Obi-Wan means to her.

Oh, there you are Obi-Wan. Back in graceful badass form. heart-hands

Obi-Wan hiding Leia under his coat like she's a kitten is just so so adorable.

We’ve known Wade and Sully for all of 30 seconds and I’m already sad about Wade dying and Sully’s grief. “Where’s Wade?” “Guess you’re soldiers now after all.”

Leia's 10. She’s too young to be thinking about this, about what the Empire does to people, to the galaxy, about the costs involved in saving her. She is just a kid—her adventure to run away for the afternoon into the woods should not have had such a high cost.

The comfort Obi-Wan and Leia have from each other is HEART SHATTERING.

Obi-Wan couldn’t save Anakin, but he saves Anakin’s daughter, and she continues to save him, through Leia he's reminded of who he is, what his sense of purpose is, and a hope that maybe he’s not an utter failure who completely failed his best friend.

#Obi-Wan Kenobi #Obi-Wan Kenobi spoilers #Leia Organa #Reva #Anakin Skywalker

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indiiglow · 2 years

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Okay ramble time!

To preface this, unlike you gremlins I tried my best to be a good captain on my first time through, so here's how that went.

I fixed life support. This choice was honestly a guess knowing how things in Mark's universe go. I was kinda leaning more towards extinguishing the fire so damn I got lucky with that one lol

Woke up all the crew and we just. Made it to the planet. So you can imagine my surprise when Lady comes in in Go Towards the Light and yells at me about all the people I've killed. ???????

So at this point I start to realize what the fuck is going on. Obviously our chance at finding the warp core by continuously jumping in again is abysmally small, so I call an emergency meeting.

Aand here's where things go wrong (?). I Pop 'er in Reverse. But honestly just because this made more sense to me, like it feels like the kinda crazy solution that would work (which. I still don't see why we just randomly blew up like we hit a damn invisible wall in a videogame but go off I guess). But hey I do think this route is way better than distress signal so!

So we send a distress signal 🙄. Cue utter confusion. N. noir universe? Lady dimitrescu? Wha t??? But throwing down your weapons is obviously more reasonable so I go with that.

HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO YELL AT MY SCREEN THAT IM NOT TRYING TO DESTROY THE UNIVERSE, I'M TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO FIX IT!!!!

Then the door says dark and I open it knowing it's an obvious trap but the brainrot's too strong. (Things get fun and horror-y tho). And then it brings up Yancy so I open it again.

Don't care about the warp core so I don't open it a third time lol

Being honest, We've Never Been Here Before, but this is basically meaningless. We've apparently got some combat skills tho lmao

Part 2!

Kind of lost my mind at that beginning sequence. And then the choice reference didn't help.

So obviously horror. From there on I had a clear goal in mind, which was what Old Mark said, to tell him he can't go back.

We're apparently just guessing now, so I decided to always go right because I like the direction better.

So... still under the assumption that it's all very meta and it's Actor, I said he looks a lot like Markiplier... But like I wasn't wrong so?? The heist look punched me in the fuckin face tho

So right we go again! Seeing what was beyond the door this time, I foolishly chose to open it, thinking that time and space might still mean something skdjdkgjf

Of course, nostalgia got to me, I chose to comfort Mark 🙄

Years of training prepared me for this, so when I saw the third option pop up I scrambled to tell him he can't go back!

Intervene bc I dunno. Bandit cool. And I'm trying to save people here I guess

Right! Jim! We'll ignore me backtracking there for a minute it didn't matter anyway. These choices are starting to feel increasingly meaningless.

Next up is Left. Apparently we're in the DDLC universe now?? Left again. (Just bad choices all around, all the cool stuff was on the other side)

One last left. Here We Are- wait wrong universe. That slow, greyish travel through the wormhole even felt final. Istg that little piano tune in the background gave me a heart attack every time. I cannot explain to you the feelings when I stepped through that door to see the core room. That were promptly interrupted by a fire extinguisher to the face 😳

So after repeating 'you'll just continue the loop' at my screen ten times in increasing desperation, I was finally allowed to make a choice. And I wasn't exactly sure what would happen, but I knew Hold On had to be it.

I was completely unphased by Mark yelling at me because I knew I made the right choice the moment I made it (also, I'm impressed with y/n's quick thinking lol). And then THE ACTUAL WKM MUSIC KICKED IN FOR REAL AND IFHFKVVCJGK

But basically my thoughts during that scene went something like 'yeah I know you're tired you idiot but it's fine I fixed it, at least you finally realized your mistake', completely, and utterly exasperated. The relief was immesurable stepping out of that pod in the end though. Like I genuinely had a hard time believing that it was actually over, I kept expecting the reality to glitch but no, that was really it. Fuck. And then honestly my brain was just too mush to even process Dark

And that's it. I'd say I'm a pretty good captain all things considered 😌

If you've read this far what are you even doing with your life

#iswm #in space with markiplier #Markiplier #indi's night talk #hope the read more works fkshgkfkf #I liveblogged the second part so #but I was kinda vague abt which choices I made so here u go

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bluepoodle7 · 8 months

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#johndoegame #GasStationRobbery #MyThoughts

I wonder what would happen if you agreed to date John Doe and you are a couple.

Like your Yousona is working at the gas station and someone tries to rob it while also threatens to harm You in front of Doe.

What would John Doe do?

Also why doesn't John Doe take a second job as a gas station worker?

They can get paid and get closer to You.

I mean have a different scenario for each Yousona that either likes Doe or is spooked of Doe.

Maybe be buddies and hangout.

I'm surprised there isn't any fanart of that.

I know the creator said Doe isn't very strong like everyone else in the uncanny valley.

My guess is the That Guy is John Doe's old love interest that either dumped them or is just dating a Yousona to get back at That Guy to make them jealous.

I mean John Doe has dating experience.

Similar to that Johnny Bravo dating a Antelope episode.

A Date with an Antelope | Johnny Bravo | Cartoon Network - YouTube

That Guy robs the gas station to either get Doe back or date your Yousona and call off the heist.

That's the reason why John Doe is so clingy and hates being alone while being overprotective.

That Guy Theory

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I imagine the That Guy is a species is similar to Regular Guys but are just hoodlums not wanting to contribute to the Uncanny Valley society by looking more monster like but will sometimes keep up a more human look to trick people into a false sense of security.

Maybe rob people and like to be understimulated.

Kind of like a reverse Regular Guy like they also have a fake body but it's more durable.

Maybe have ears and normal amount of teeth with normal eyes but when threatened it changes.

Maybe this species likes to be left alone unless something catches their eye and gets their interest to check out what the person or place is in huge detail.

This is just my guess on what the That Guy species is.

I image them being very observant and cunning for John Doe to have as a dislike.

I just hope one day we get to see what the That Guy species is.

I image them looking like a missing or dead yousona and acting innocent while weak like a human then attack when the enemy's guard is down.

Sometimes using love as weapon to manipulate people or beings to get free food and shelter without loving back.

Also stealing stuff to survive.

I mean Doe's room when cleaned is always making trash.

I can see the novice That Guys having a more monstrous shadow while in a convincing fake human disguise.

While a experienced That Guy having a shadow similar to the human disguise and be more realistic than cartoony like Regular Guys.

(If this isn't canon then this is part of my Au for the species.)

I know the Au can never be with the canon but if it was.

I imagine John Doe being tricked by the That Guy as someone else.

Video not mine but link is there. (Language warning.)

Fool JonTron Once - YouTube

I can imagine the novice That Guys like being in dark areas like arcades and bowling alleys so their shadow cover won't tattletale on them.

But the experienced ones wouldn't care that much since they can perfectly hide.

I imagine some sounding monotone and the novice ones wear darker clothes to make their shadow more human shaped while hidden.

I can imagine the That Guys attacking with their shadow's since that is their true form.

Based my version of the That Guy species off of this when hidden as a Yousona like identity theft.

Thank You Mario GIF - Thank You Mario Princess - Discover & Share GIFs (tenor.com)

Trope Question

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Is there a name for this trope?

Like a really scary monster appears and when you think it's going to make a scary noise it just sits down with you and chats it up with you.

You don't be scared of the monster anymore since it's just a chill person.

We need a name.

To me once a monster chats it up with you my fear level goes down unless the monster has a weapon or turns into a weapon then my fear goes back up again.

But once they talk then the monster is just a person with hopes and dreams.

Also my first guess is that the monster is sad and lonely.

The monster just want to hang out and show off their humanity even though it's a monster.

Image not mine but link is there.

Gas station robbery Royalty Free Vector Image - VectorStock

#johndoegame #Gas Station Robbery #My Thoughts

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anxiouspotatorants · 3 years

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It is time. It is finally time for the new Suicide Squad rant (and spoilers will be plentiful):

As someone who was into DC Comics and comics in the mid to late 2010s and had so much hype for the first Suicide Squad movie only to be let down, I was so nervous for this one. I knew it was going to be a roller coaster, but whether I would come out happy or disappointed was up in the air. Having just seen it I will say this: I have no idea if this was a good movie-movie. It was insane. The comedy. The violence. The high emotion. I’m still trying to take it all in. But one thing I do know is that this is an amazing Suicide Squad movie. Gunn and co took the best parts of the comic concept and went batshit with it and that is how this property should be handled (in my opinion). Screw edgelordisms, we need full on insanity free of aiming for shock-value or sexy brutality we want chaos baby.

Starting the whole movie as they did, with Savant as the POV for a mission (or part of the mission) that just goes to hell immediately and kills off so many before the title arrives is the perfect way to start this movie. Like the second I realized this was how they were doing it I was just smiling from ear to ear, this is the spirit of the property.

Part of me wishes we got more Amanda Waller, but what we had was impeccable. Then again, this is Viola Davis we’re talking about, and if she was born to play any character in a superhero story, it is Amanda Waller.

And points to her tech team, introducing them with the death bets was just a lovely way to show how regular this is and how awful everyone is in this movie.

I’m not going to pretend like Deadshot and Bloodsport didn’t have the exact same character- and plot premises… but I will say that Bloodsport felt better executed.

I love that they kept some of the past members and not just Harley. Rick Flag got to have a full personality and interactions with his team members and to be a true leader and it made me so happy for someone who initially did not give a single shit about his character. The Harley friendship? The Dubois friendship? The friendship with that guerilla leader? Amazing. The one American soldier in fictional media I genuinely like. You go Mr Flag.

The new members were… they were insane in the best way. Gone are the shitty stereotypes and present are some of the wackiest creations to ever grace the mainstream movie-sphere (aka the slightly less normal comic creations): A man who has to shoot out polka dots two times a day so as not to die from a space virus. A giant child murdering weasel. A guy who detaches his limbs and slaps people with said detached limbs. King Shark. The second person to command rats with a fancy gadget. They are all crazy and all weird and all more or less morally repulsive people and I love them.

The amount of times I did a double take over the soundtrack I swear. Jessie Reyez? The Pixies? It was so much fun to pick up on once I did.

Was the depiction of a vague Latin American country stereotypical? Yes. Was the secret American involvement predictable and felt mildly patronizing from a non-American, part Latina point of view? Yep. But damn it if I didn’t have a good time with those stereotypes and laugh my ass off at how well executed some were. I don’t know if it was meant as parody, but that one secretary has me thinking so — and if so I am pleased.

Speaking of Latino dictators Harley’s one day romance with one of the villains was something I never knew I needed. Like it was so perfect for Harley that when it happened I almost hit myself for not realizing that this kind of plot should be a normal thing for Harley. And the end of it? Perfect not only in this standalone movie, but also in conjunction with the first and with BoP.

The Taika Waititi cameo??? Oh my god??? I did not expect that and I love it?? Sir, What We Do in the Shadows is impeccable.

Rick Flag’s death actually surprised me. It shouldn’t as this is Suicide Squad, but I kind of expected him to be on Harley’s level of unkillable (because let’s face it, no one kills Harley). What I will say is that his death was good and his final words and actions made me love him all the more. I hope this spawns more Rick Flag content, or at least inspires me to look at what already exists, if he already is as this movie made him (it’s been ages since I read one of the Suicide Squad reboot comics okay).

Starro. How can a villain be so wacky and so terrifying at the same time? I did not expect a literal alien starfish to have more terrifying powers and a more tragic plot execution than Enchantress. But here we are. And that damn star just wanted to be floating in space, and instead it was stuck getting revenge by killing and puppeteering human corpses. Wow that thing was creepier the more you think about it.

I don’t know what I think about Polka Dot Man. I loved watching him on screen but also damn those mommy-issues were on a new level. Not just in his backstory but how he literally sees her in every person around him that was insane. Very funny but like also the kind that makes you laugh just because you’re uncomfortable and don’t know how else to releive the tension.

When Waller got knocked out by a staff member I immediately thought «oh my god Amanda Waller is going to kill half the staff for this», so I’m mildly surprised and disappointed that I didn’t get to see that happen. But also I should maybe expect something like this in a potential future Suicide Squad movie. We can’t have everything in a movie as packed as this.

Peacemaker was very horrible and worked really well. Don’t really have much to say about him, not because I didn’t enjoy him but because I already feel like the film itself has said it for me. But the planting and payoff for his death? Chef’s. Kiss.

Harley’s wardrobe was beautiful. Ratcatcher 2’s combat outfit felt like a steampunk plague dream. Bloodsport’s mask was supercool. Rick Flag’s t-shirt was amazing. But the best little outfit was the Mafalda-keychain and her red dress, hands down. Oh and King Shark’s fake moustache finger moment.

King Shark is shaped like a friend I don’t care how many people he ate alive on screen he looks so huggable. It feels like wanting to pet a bear. You know it will kill you but damn it look at those paws and those cute eyes!

I really need to give it to not just James Gunn but the entire production team for this movie. The aesthetic was perfect. The story was the right blend of whimsical and violent. The finished product was a literal rollercoaster and I mean that in a good way. If superhero movies have to be like amusement parks, I hope they’re more like this one and BoP.

I’ll finish on the note that while I think this movie was great and hopefully a step in the right direction for the DCU/DCEU (as in stop trying to play Marvel’s game and just do your own thing/ let your creative teams run wild and free), it is not the first step. Cathy Yan, Birds of Prey and the production team for it took a step first, and they deserve due credit and attention. If you loved this Suicide Squad movie and haven’t watched BoP yet, do so. Because they really are in the same ballpark while doing things in slightly different ways. And any good DCEU movie deserves more attention so the studios know that creativity and risks should be rewarded. I want more DC movies like this, not necessarily in genre but in creative risks. I want a Black Canary rock movie. I want Alfred in a reverse heist movie alone in the batcave against Gotham villains. I want Gotham Academy on screen play by play from the comics. I want a fully animated psychedelic-like Khalid Nassour as Dr. Fate movie. I want elevated horror movie Constantine. I want weird ass Lois Lane journalist movies with a heavy side of Superman. And I want DC movies I didn’t even know I wanted.

Support creativity in mainstream comic movies. Help me become a DC fan and happy about it again.

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starshipsofstarlord · 3 years

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All This Hassle, and What For?

Pairing | Loki Laufeyson x reader

Summary | getting taken hostage, along with Loki, is far more amusing than ever intended to be, despite it leaving your captors anything but impressed.

Warnings | kidnapping, mentions of depression, swearing, implied smut, innuendos

Based off this tiktok. All original rights to the plot go back to the creator.

Quick link to my masterlist, if you’re interested in reading more of my crap 😬

Opening your aching eyes, you found yourself to be in a large room, there were plenty of feet stood at your eye level, and such a sight made you frown. You certainly didn’t remember being knocked out, but who would, the exposure to unconsciousness was most likely sudden.

But nevertheless, you raised your head, glaring up at those whom had captured you. As your eyes scoured the room, your eyes landed promptly on the god of mischief, who had his hands bound and shackled in chains, and by Odin, did he look good.

However, your attraction the man who once reigned terror down upon New York wasn’t the focus now, and so you licked your lips, and kicked the nearest guard in the leg. He stumbled, the noise loud enough to draw the attention of all others, and you were pleased to stifle a laugh. Loki frowned at your behaviour, knowing that this was not the way that you were trained to be an avenger, but it was clear that you were no longer on earth, so human pleasantries did not apply here.

“And by the gods, who in the galactic council’s name do you think you are?” The closest asked, wrapping his large hand through your hair, and tugging your face up to stare up at him, wanting you to be treated as the lesser being he thought you as.

“Actually, he’s the god.” Tilting your head, you diverted it towards Loki, who squinted feebly at your answer. “But I think you already knew that, since you have him rattled in metal. Just a word of advice, rumour has it that he likes to be restrained in such ways; really, you’re doing him a favour, and you may just earn yourself a big tip.”

You sent a wink up at the commander, watching with inward joy as he grimaced at your development within your speech. “Quite a nice sight, to see him so vulnerable and at someone’s mercy, so thank you general.”

Sending him a smile, he huffed, whilst Loki tried his darnedest to contain an amused grin. It wouldn’t be the first occasion that you had made suggestions regarding the new troop of the avengers; even when he was around causing mischief, (which he still tended to do), there were always words said that gained the god’s intrigue.

Tony at the time, and to this day, despite him being a part of the heroic team, which Thor was ‘inclined’ to drag him into, thought nothing more than disgust at your meaningful jokes. In his words, ‘you two may as well screw so we don’t have to listen to anymore of this dirty banter, you in regards to reindeer games’.

How you wished right now, preached silently even, that Tony could bare to listen again, so that he could send in the team whom could deal with these aliens that were keeping your imprisoned. But all communications were cut, and that just left you and Loki.

By no means did you doubt if Loki got the chance to escape, he would leave you. It was in his nature to do so, but if you could pose a lack of threat, they may loosen up on their efficiency in guarding you. After all, Loki was the one they wanted, not you. And then, both of you could get away from this galactic nonsense.

“Humans.” The general huffed, causing you to grimace as the stench of his breath wafted through the air, and hit your nose. “You all think that you are so special, but when it comes down to it, those who are not from your planet do not care. Loki here, this god, does not care about you little one. And he never will.”

“That’s okay with me, because I don’t care about him either. It’d called self preservation.” You informed your captor, noticing Loki staring across at you with an icy gaze. Who were you kidding? Of course you cared about the god, but right now, you would do anything to get out of this predicament.

“Aw would you look at that.” The feet moved back towards the main reward of their capture, staring down at the green eyed trickster with mocking eyes. “This woman has attitude just like yours, if either of you cared, I’d call it a match made in Asgard.” A laugh bellowed from the wide chest of the being, finding his own comedy quite humorous.

“Excuse me, I’m way out of his league!” You pretended to be offended, bringing your hands that were free of restraint to your chest. They thought not to tie you down as they did to him, after all, you were nothing but a midguardian. That was their mistake. “What’d you want with old horse shagger over there anyways? Don’t be alarmed, but he actually does some kind of good now, even if it be out of his own self interest.”

A heavy sigh fell on deaf ears, as the protector of space glanced unsurely between the pair of you. “He has the tesseract, and I wish to take it from his slippery hands, he cannot be trusted with such a powerful source of energy.” His words bellowed a laugh of absolute surprise from your mouth, earning a frown from those keeping you hear, and a cock of the head from the god of mischief.

It was clear that not only was he confused by your supple, yet somewhat pleasant burst of amusement, but he was also in the dark about what in the Hela this predominant being was speaking of. Yes, he had had the tesseract at one point , however, no longer was it in his untrustworthy grasp.

Thanos had taken ownership over it, after killing many of the people that he had saved from the events of Ragnarok. It was not just some energy source, it had been an infinity stone all along, tricking the eyes of elders and the young to believe that it was nothing more than a harbouring of power. But it had indeed been the space stone, and it was taken from him, in exchange for saving Thor’s life.

The Guardians of the Galaxy had found the pair of them upon the aftermath of the wreckage, taking them in, amongst plans of taking Thanos down. It had been a failure, up until the avengers went back in time, going to their past that would not affect their future, so that they could reverse the affects the Titan had brought upon earth and everywhere else.

During that time, Loki had nurtured his brother, watching as he fell apart with the responsibility of their people, and collapsed into a spiral of depression. You had also been there for Thor, doing your best to take the drink away from the bulky god, but to no avail did you manage to succeed. And so, during those tormenting five years, you and Loki would sit side by side, both basking silently in your failures.

“I thought you guys’d know everything, but I guess that you and your highness are stuck in one time line; all of them. But for us humans and every lesser being, there are multiple, and that Loki that stole the tesseract, yet I say again, is one much different. And we are on the search for him, to stop his disruption and crossing over of the times!” An exonerated, and audible exhale of air left you after your little speech.

Loki smirked, at the premise of you protecting him with the admission of the truth. But he couldn’t help but feel a feeling of warmth flutter within his immortal insides, it was rather a nice feeling he realised. “He is quite difficult to catch, we have been tracking him since the time heist went sideways.”

“That’s because he’s you!” You pointedly exclaimed, unable to pin some of the blame upon the god himself. Sure, in recent times he had changed, and was much different from back when he wanted all mortals to kneel before him (which you’d willingly do if it ever came to that, though you’d never tell him under which circumstances that would be), but at the end of the day, that had been him once!

The tricks and the lies still remained, but he had found a reason to thrive, and a long and enduring career that he was well at tackling. Often, he made out being an avenger, despite the government’s rouse of concern, to be a bore, and that he had far better things to do. But he stayed, with a light in his eyes, and continued following along with the heroic traditions, breaking a few rules here and there.

“Dear, why do you always have to put the blame upon me? I was not the one who decided to put that green dye within your shampoo, but I’ll have to admit, did you look so enrapturing.” He was running a ploy, dragging out the time that you spent bantering in hopes of something happening.

Unlike Heimdall, he did not have foresight, but it was a requirement whilst the pair of you were on your expediting mission, that you check in with the base, via the comms that had cracked under brutal feet. And so, he spoke, with the promise that you’d return the conversation and leave all others in the room confused with your meaningless discussion.

“I did, didn’t I?” You asked, to which he hummed in reply, lightly nodding his head, as his feline eyes ran up your body, paying ample attention to how your limbs were free, unlike his own. “But I’d say fine sir, that the blame is down to Clint, and if I’m correct, may we kick his ass as soon as we get back home?”

“Of course we can my beloved-“ you froze at his choice of words, and it appears that he did too, suddenly realising his mistake. Gulping for a second he went to speak again, but the commander felt much inclined to but in, and stop the headache that was bubbling in his large head.

“Shut up; the pair of you!” His scolding made you feel as though you were in school over again, it was impossible not to drop your head down and try to contain your laughter. Loki too found such enjoyment in this predicament, sporting a cheshire grin to emit his emotions.

“I’m sorry, can you say that again? Maybe a just a tad louder?” You pinched your thumb and forefinger together to show how much, and it was clear that you were pissing this primal being off. He began towards you, and you were prepared to fight him, you were never one to back down, which was one feature upon the various reasons that Fury had initially recruited you.

Awaiting the first strike, you stood despite the others around you, your eyes wide open as you bravely stared up at your opponent. But before the fight could begin, a distant crash assumed preference in your ears, causing you to turn your head in the direction it had came from. And then, all of a sudden, a ship crashed through the dock, guns blazing from its side.

“What are you waiting for?” The distinct voice of Rocket asked, and obediently you ran through the terror, finding Loki already upon the ship, but then, he appeared behind you also. “Quill, get ready to go!”

Taking glances, you stared between the two practically identical copies, a light frown on your face. Both were restrained, yet the one that was seated beside Groot, whom was playing a game on some nineties device, was glaring up at the pair of you.

“An avenger, really?” The seated one laughed, mocking his once future self, as you felt the ship steer clear away from the scene. Your Loki quirked his brow, smirking at his self that had avoided the wars that he had chosen to fight upon earth.

“Yes, an avenger.” He responded, causing his other to languidly scoff. An ‘I am groot’ came from the tree, and it was uncertain in your spoken languages of what he had said, but either way, you were more intrigued by the conversation that was happening between the Loki’s. “And I’ll have you know, that she is infinitely more brave than you, you cower-some fool.”

“Oh, so we’re going there?” You asked, causing the pair to snap out of their mutual rivalry, and stare haphazardly at you. “No, don’t mind me, feel free to continue.”

“We’re not going to be unable to unbind your until we reach earth.” Gamora cut in, speaking to the Loki that you knew to be the original.

“That’s fine.” He nodded humbly, before casting his attention back at his alternate reflection. “And this woman, is not only an avenger. She was there for your brother when you were not.”

“Aw.” The other Loki smirked, almost cruelly. “So she’s your beloved?” He remarked rudely, and it seemed to break something within Loki, him wishing not to listen to the other version of himself. He decided he did not like him, and understand how you must have felt upon your initial meeting.

“Yes.” You went to speak, but instead, Loki stood before you, powerlessly pulling your face to his own, and colliding his lips upon yours. On impulse, you ravenously replied with much affection, clasping his jaw and allowing him entrance into your mouth. It earned a disgusted groan out of the Loki that had caused all this hassle.

“I hate to interrupt...” Rocket returned, after putting his gun down and having gone to the front of the ship with Quill, so that he could contact Stark. “But these may get those off.” He held a pair of golden pliers, that were far larger than his body. At the sight , you pulled away from Loki’s face for a moment, raising a brow.

“It’s fine, I think I want to keep them on.” You smirked, earning another sound of disapproval from Loki’s identical rival, pulling him back to your face. Wildly, he hummed into the cavern of your mouth, as the pair of you stumbled around on the spaceship.

“Bedrooms are down the hall to the right.” Nebula informed you, her voice monotone, and in turn, you dragged the god towards said direction, finally releasing all the tension that had been pent up through the years.

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soundsfaebutokay · 3 years

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youtube

So I've recc'd this video before, but it deserves its own post because it's one of my favorite things on youtube. It's a Tedx Talk by comics writer, editor, and journalist Jay Edidin, and I really think that it will connect with a lot of people here.

If you live and breathe stories of all kinds, you might like this.

If you care about media representation, you might like this.

If you're neurodivergent, you might like this.

If you're interested in a gender transition story that veers from the norm, you might like this.

If you love the original Leverage and especially Parker, and understand how important it is that a character like her exists, you will definitely like this.

Transcript below the cut:

You Are Here: The Cartography of Stories

by Jay Edidin

I am autistic. And what this means in practice is that there are some things that are easier for me than they are for most people, and a great many things that are somewhat harder, and these affect my life in more or less overt ways. As it goes, I'm pretty lucky. I've been able to build a career around special interests and granular obsession. My main gig at the moment is explaining superhero comics continuity and publishing history for which work I am somehow paid in actual legal currency—which is both a triumph of the frivolous in an era of the frantically pragmatic, and a job that's really singularly suited to my strengths and also to my idiosyncrasies.

I like comics. I like stories in general, because they make sense to me in ways that the rest of the world and my own mind often don't. Self-knowledge is not an intuitive thing for me. What sense of self I have, I've built gradually and laboriously and mostly through long-term pattern recognition. For decades, I didn't even really have a self-image. If you'd asked me to draw myself, I would eventually have given you a pair of glasses and maybe a very messy scribble of hair, and that would've been about it. But what I do know—backwards, forwards, and in pretty much every way that matters—are stories. I know how they work. I understand their language, their complex inner clockwork, and I can use those things to extrapolate a sort of external compass that picks up where my internal one falls short. Stories—their forms, their structure, the sense of order inherent to them—give me the means to navigate what otherwise, at least for me, would be an impassable storm of unparsable data. Or stories are a periscope, angled to access the parts of myself I can't intuitively see. Or stories are a series of mirrors by which I can assemble a composite sketch of an identity I rarely recognize whole...which is how I worked out that I was transgender, in my early thirties, by way of a television show.

This is my story. And it's about narrative cartography, and representation, and why those things matter. It's about autism and it's about gender and it's about how they intersect. And it's about the kinds of people we know how to see, and the kinds of people we don't. It's not the kind of story that gets told a lot, you might hear a lot, because the narrative around gender transition and dysphoria in our culture is really, really prescriptive. It's basically the story of the kid who has known for their whole life that they're this and not that, and that story demands the kind of intuitive self-knowledge that I can't really do, and a kind of relationship to gender that I don't really have—which is part of why it took me so long to figure my own stuff out.

So, to what extent this story, my story has a beginning, it begins early in 2014 when I published an essay titled, "I See Your Value Now: Asperger's and the Art of Allegory." And it explored, among other things, the ways that I use narrative and narrative structures to navigate real life. And it got picked up in a number of fairly prominent places that got linked, and I casually followed the ensuing discussion. And I was surprised to discover that readers were fairly consistently assuming I was a man. Now, that in itself wasn't a new experience for me, even though at the time I was writing under a very unambiguously female byline. It had happened in the letter columns of comics I'd edited. It had happened when a parody Twitter account I'd created went viral. When I was on staff at Wired, I budgeted for fancy scotch by putting a dollar in a box every time a reader responded in a way that made it clear they were assuming I was a man in response to an article where my name was clearly visible, and then I had to stop doing that because it happened so often I couldn't afford to keep it up. But in all of those cases, the context, you know, the reasons were pretty obvious. The fields I'd worked in, the beats I covered, they were places where women had had to fight disproportionally hard for visibility and recognition. We live in a culture that assumes a male default, so given a neutral voice and a character limit, most readers will assume a male author.

But this was different, because this wasn't just a book I'd edited, it wasn't a story I'd reported—it was me, it was my story. And it made me uncomfortable, got under my skin in ways that the other stuff really hadn't. And so I did what I do when that happens, and I tried to sort of reverse-engineer it to look at the conclusions and peel them back to see the narratives behind them and the stories that made them tick. And I started this, I started this by going back to the text of the essay, and you know, examining it every way I could think of: looking at craft, looking at content. And in doing so, I was surprised to realize that while I had written about a number of characters with whom I identified closely, that every single one of those characters I'd written about was male. And that surprised me even more than the responses to the essay had, because I've spent my career writing and talking and thinking about gender and representation in popular media. In 2014, I'd been the feminist gadfly of an editorial department and multiple mastheads. I'd been a founding board member of an organization that existed to advocate for more and better representation of women and girls in comics characters and creators. And most of my favorite characters, the ones I'd actively seek out and follow, were women. Just not, apparently, the characters I saw myself in.

Now I still didn't realize it was me at this point. Remember: self-knowledge, not very intuitive for me. And while I had spent a lot of time thinking about gender, I'd never really bothered to think much about my own. I knew academically that the way other people read and interpreted my gender affected and had influenced a lifetime of social and professional interactions, and that those in turn had informed the person I'd grown up into during that time. But I really believed, like I just sort of had in the back of my head, that if you peeled away all of that social conditioning, you'd basically end up with what I got when I tried to draw a self-portrait. So: a pair of glasses, messy scribble of hair, and in this case, maybe also some very strong opinions about the X-Men. I mean, I knew something was off. I'd always known something was off, that my relationship to gender was messy and uncomfortable, but gender itself struck me as messy and uncomfortable, and it had never been a large enough part of how I defined myself to really feel like something that merited further study, and I had deadlines, and...so it was always on the back burner. So, I looked, I looked at what I had, at this improbable group of exclusively male characters. And I looked and I figured that if this wasn't me, then it had to be a result of the stories I had access to, to choose from, and the entertainment landscape I was looking at. And the funny thing is, I wasn't wrong, exactly. I just wasn't right either.

See, the characters I'd written about had one other significant trait in common aside from their gender, which is that they were all more or less explicitly, more or less heavily coded as autistic. And I thought, "Ah, yes. This explains it. This is under representation in fiction echoing under representation in life and vice versa." Because the characteristics that I'd honed in on, that I particularly identified with in these guys, were things like emotional unavailability and social awkwardness and granular obsession, and all of those are characteristics that are seen as unsympathetic and therefore unmarketable in female characters. Which is also why readers were assuming that I was a man.

Because, you see, here's the thing. I'm not the only one who uses stories to navigate the world. I'm just a little more deliberate about it. For humans, stories formed the bridge between data and understanding. They're where we look when we need to contextualize something new, or to recognize something we're pretty sure we've seen before. They're how we identify ourselves; they're how we locate ourselves and each other in the larger world. There were no fictional women like me; there weren't representations of women like me in media, and so readers were primed not to recognize women like me in real life either.

Now by this point, I had started writing a follow-up essay, and this one was also about autism and narratives, but specifically focused on how they intersected with gender and representation in media. And in context of this essay, I went about looking to see if I could find even one female character who had that cluster of traits I'd been looking for, and I was asking around in autistic communities. And I got a few more or less useful one-off suggestions, and some really, really splendid arguments about semantics and standards, and um...then I got one answer over and over and over in community after community after community. "Leverage," people told me. "You have to watch Leverage."

So I watched Leverage. Leverage is five seasons of ensemble heist drama. It's about a team of very skilled con artists who take down corrupt and powerful plutocrats and the like, and it's a lot of fun, and it's very clever, and it's clever enough that it doesn't really matter that it's pretty formulaic, and I enjoyed it a lot. But what's most important, what Leverage has is Parker.

Parker is a master thief, and she is the best of the best of the best in ways that all of Leverage's characters are the best of the best. And superficially, she looks like the kind of woman you see on TV. So she's young, and she's slender, and she's blonde, and she's attractive but in a sort of approachable way. And all of that familiarity is brilliant misdirection, because the thing is, there are no other women like Parker on TV. Because Parker—even if it's never explicitly stated in the show—Parker is coded incredibly clearly as autistic. Parker is socially awkward. Her speech tends to have limited inflection; what inflection it does have is repetitive and sounds rehearsed a lot of the time. She's not emotionally literate; she struggles with it, and the social skills she develops over the series, she learns by rote, like they're just another grift. When she's not scaling skyscrapers or cartwheeling through laser grids, she wears her body like an ill-fitting suit. Parker moves like me. And Parker, Parker was a revelation—she was a revolution unto herself. In a media landscape where unempathetic women usually exist to either be punished or "loved whole," Parker got to play the crabby savant. And she wasn't emotionally intuitive but it was never ever played as the product of abuse or trauma even though she had survived both of those—it was just part of her, as much as were her hands or her eyes. And she had a genuine character arc. My god, she had a genuine romantic arc, even. And none of that required her to turn into anything other than what she was. And in Parker I recognized a thousand tics and details of my life and my personality...but. I didn't recognize myself.

Why? What difference was there in Parker, you know, between Parker and the other characters I'd written about? Those characters, they'd spanned ethnicities and backgrounds and different media and appearances and the only other characteristic they all had in common was their gender. So that was where I started to look next, and I thought, "Well, okay, maybe, maybe it's masculinity. Maybe if Parker were less feminine, she'd click with me the way those other characters had." So then I tried to imagine a Parker with short hair, who's explicitly butch, and...nothing. So okay, I extended it in what seems like the only logical direction to extend it. I said, "Well, if it's not masculinity, what if it's actual maleness? What if Parker were a man?" Ah. Yeah.

In the end, everything changed, and nothing changed, which is often the way that it goes for me. Add a landmark, no matter how slight, and the map is irrevocably altered. Add a landmark, and paths that were invisible before open wide. Add a landmark, and you may not have moved, but suddenly you know where you are and where you can go.

I wasn't going to tell this story when I started planning this talk. I was gonna tell a similar story, it was about stories, like this is, about narratives and the ways that they influence our culture and vice versa. And it centered around a group of women at NASA who had basically rewritten the narrative around space exploration, and it was a lot more fun, and I still think it was more interesting. But it's also a story you can probably work out for yourselves. In fact it's a story some of you probably have, if you follow that kind of thing, which you probably do given that you're here. And this is a story, my story is not a story that I like to tell. It's not a fun story to talk about because it's very personal and I am a very private person. And it's not universal. And it's not always relatable, and it's definitely not aspirational. And it's not the kind of story that you tend to encounter unless you're already part of it...which is why I'm telling it now. Because the thing is, I'm not the only person who uses stories to parse the world and navigate it. I'm just a little more deliberate. Because I'm tired of having to rely on composite sketches.

Open your maps. Add a landmark. Reroute accordingly.

#Jay Edidin #LGBTQ #autism #mind and body #gender norms #why humans need stories #Leverage #Parker #Abby posts Leverage #my faves #Youtube #I did my best with the transcript #sorry for any mistakes

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coldflasher · 2 years

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do you have any recs for longer coldflash fics?

hi anon!!

you know, i wish i had more. when it comes to this fandom i read so many one-shots but it feels like it's been FOREVER since i read a really good, really long fic. they're defo out there! i am just too lazy to go looking and have a crazy reading list as it is lmao, so i don't know how much help i can be but i'll do my best.

firstly, you can't beat the classics. most likely you've already read these because they're most people's gateway drug to coldflash (they certainly were mine!) but they're classics for a reason:

- an all too jagged snowflake by redhead (276k). otherwise known as baby's first coldflash fic, the one that turned me into the coldflash-obsessed gremlin i am today. i'm always a sucker for a soulmate au and this one is deliciously angsty.

- tumbling together by redhead. (178k.) another gem. barry and len end up unexpected neighbours. this one is so funny i genuinely sometimes just start thinking about The Dick and cackling like a maniac. totally normal behaviour. (if you've read it you'll know what i mean.)

- got a melancholic temperament (that's what he said to me) by redhead. (77k). ooh, this one hurts. len and lisa get deaged, meaning barry suddenly has a sulky, nineteen-year-old leonard snart living in his house. len is PAINFUL in this fic. i wanna hug him but tbh he'd probably shiv me.

and of course you can't go wrong with crimson's fics, but here are a few standouts:

- public enemy, undercover lover by crimson1 (95k. a true behemoth of the smutty variety.) this one's less a longfic in itself and more a series of connected smutty one shots, but it's honestly peak content if you're into that sort of thing.)

after vertigo by crimson1 (70k.) a really fun role reversal au where barry is a super-speedy thief and len is a shy virgin scientist. i'm not usually one for AUs when it comes to this ship, but this one just kind of re-envisions canon a bit and it's really fun, very different from the usual coldflash dynamic.

aaaand devastatingly i genuinely cannot think of any more off the top of my head, which is really a bit shameful. i mostly seem to see one-shots floating across my dash (i have recs for those for days haha.)

BUT here's a list of ones that i've marked for later on ao3 that i WANT to read:

- probletunity by haute_coldture (53k.) who doesn't love a heist fic? and i've wanted to see this kind of coldflash team-up ever since that one ep where barry and ralph infiltrated the party with the weapons auction.

- i think i love you by youmakemesoangry. (53k, still ongoing.) unrequited love babeyyy!! all i really know is that len is in love with barry, barry has no idea and it's angsty af. this one comes highly recommended and will probably destroy me which is why i've been too much of a baby to read it considering there's no guarantee of a HEA. but it sounds so good and one day i'll be brave and dive in.

- drunk minds speak sober hearts by m4x_87. (41k.) barry gets whammied by biovolo and it makes him fall head over heels for len. this is a trope i am deeply fond of so i'm excited to read this.

- wonderland by notenuffcaffeine/technologykilledreality. (66k.) a rogue air spinoff that ends with barry and len BOTH going down for lewis' murder, stuck in iron heights. listen. iron heights fics are my jam. i love them SO much. i cannot wait for this.

and not to shamelessly self plug, but if you're in the mood for something really, outlandishly, self-indulgently, insensibly long, my fic aftermath is over 500k, which makes it the second-longest coldflash fic on ao3! (am i mad that someone beat me to the top spot by about 200k? yes, but only moderately lmaooo.) it's a rewrite of season 1 but barry and len are dating from the onset. now can i RECOMMEND this one? well, that'd be egotistical and honestly it's been so long since i read it that i cannot speak for the quality, but other people seemed to like it and it definitely fits the 'long' brief haha

#fic rec #coldflash fanfiction #answered #long post for ts

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soldmysoultootomeboys · 4 years

Text

Demon MC with Human Obey Me Brothers Reverse AU

Okay but what if the brothers were all ‘normal’ humans who ended up summoning a demon, who is MC.

I’m in love with this idea. Lowkey might write a fic about this jk...unless? Levi’s was surprisingly the most fun to write. Also I guess tw for normal demon things??? Nothing too graphic tho

Part 2

Lucifer

As a human he was a high ranking businessman. While still a formal person on the outside he had a perverse interest in the occult that he hid from the rest of his coworkers.

Due to his important position and large pay he manages to get his hands on some rare books on demon summoning. After a lot of research he tries them out.

When he summons you he doesn't look surprised or afraid and is quite clinical about it at first. The first thing he does is bind your powers so they can never be used against him. After he informs the rules you must follow if you're to be living with him.

Even as a human he is quite prideful and controlling and he wants to remind you who's really in charge.

At first he only sees you as a demon. He lets you do your own thing when he isn't ordering you around and when the two of you do go out in public he only introduces you as an acquaintance of his. People are rather surprised at this as he's not the type to walk around with others and rumors quickly fly off about you two.

It's not until you two are walking home from a shopping trip that you really start to bond. It was a late night and no one was around so the two of you take your time, enjoying the cool air and stars.

All too late that you hear the click of a gun. From the shadows steps a man, weapon pointed straight at you. Seeing your nonthreatening human form as well as Lucifer who practically reeks of wealth he thought the two of you easy targets. Wrong.

With inhuman speed you lunge forward shifting into your demon form. The gun clatters to the floor as you rip him to shreds with no remorse. It's only when Lucifer finally calls you away that you realize he's dead.

Once you manage to get home he is immediately lecturing you about how risky the actions you just did were. Someone could have seen you or more importantly seen him. What would you have done if the cops got involved? Eat them?

Once he's done though he thanks you and a few days later a gift ends up in your room. He never claims it, even though you can smell his cologne all over it.

After that night Lucifer treats you different. Not better, but not worse either. If anything he's a bit kinder but in a cold sort of way and he keeps his distance when anything gets too serious. At first you think its because he's scared of you. It isn't till he finally approaches you, a stern look on his face and orders you to transform that you realize he was working up the courage to see what you really looked like.

The pact urges you to turn, so you do and you let him examine you, circling several times. He's most interested in your wings, asking if he could touch them and when you consent he gently runs his hands over them. Despite you being a demon he treats you delicately shifting aside feathers with a careful hand and running a light fingertip over leathery skin.

It's a strange feeling at first, but not bad and you're practically purring by the end

After that he asks to see your true form more and more

Mammon

He didn't mean to summon you.

He just wanted to make a quick buck. It was getting close to Halloween people were starting to be interested in demons and spooks once again. That's why he thought it would be a great idea to start a seance business.

Twenty dollars for him to pretend to summon a demon, maybe shake a table once or twice, have some scary sounds playing in the background, nothing too big. Who would have known that the book he stole as his main prop would really work.

When he first sees you he screams.

He immediately tries to shove you back into the book to no avail. As he has no clue how to get rid of you he ends up stuck with you, a terrifying demon.

At first its very easy (and amusing) to scare him. Bear your teeth, mumble in a made up language, threaten to rip him to shreds.

You can actually see his soul leave his body when he faints.

However in typical Mammon fashion he gets used to you surprisingly quick, especially when you don't come through on your promise to eat him.

After that he figures that together the two of you could start scamming people for even more money. After all, he does own a real live demon now.

You two make bank stealing and tricking people. With his knack for creating schemes and your powers the two of you are rolling in money in no time, although it always seems to be lost pretty quickly thanks to his terrible gambling habits.

It's in the middle of a heist that something goes wrong. Someone, you don't know who you can only hear the click of a revolver, pulls out a gun. With lightning fast reflexes you’re tackling Mammon shielding him with the tip of your wing and just in time as something is shot into it tearing through muscle and sinew.

The urge to rip them to shreds overtakes you, growing with every second that your human is in danger. But there was so many of them and you couldn't protect Mammon and yourself at the same time. The need to get somewhere safe is much more important so you leave.

It's only your quick reflexes that get the two of you out alive.

When you finally get home Mammon laments over all of the money he lost on the deal. acts like it doesn't affect him. His complaints last exactly till he sees the blood staining your form.

He almost faints right there.

Once he recovers he's immediately running to get ice packs and gauze, fussing over your injured wing. It's obvious he’s worried even though he tries to hide it under his tsundere act. When you’re finally bandaged up he thanks you glancing at your wound the entire time.

It's hard not to appreciate the gesture.

You just don't know how to tell him that your going to be perfectly fine in like two days (thank Diavolo for demon healing)

After this you two are a lot closer. Even before you were friends, but now the relationship has morphed into something different.

The two of you do less dangerous scams and while Mammon doesn't act too different he gets super weird when you're too close. Blushing a terrible crimson and freaking out when you touch.

Even for a demon its not hard to see that he has a crush.

Levi

Also summoned you on accident.

He was actually trying to summon Ruri-chan. You have to admit when it comes to her he does his research. Drew a full pentagram and everything and as a final touch placed a little plushy in the middle.

He absolutely panics when you arrive here instead.

Used to humans being afraid you, you ignore him at first. You fall to one knee eager to pledge your loyalty in exchange for his soul when you land on something squishy.

Pulling it out from under you see a plushy??? Of some anime character??? TF???

This pulls him from his stupor and he snatches it from you and begins to lecture you on the importance of Ruri-chan and anime on human culture.

You have no clue whats going on at this point.

When he finally stops talking he actually gets kind of excited. He summoned a hot demon??? Woah! This is just like his anime 'I accidentally summoned a demon from Hell who became my roommate and now I might be falling for them.'

At your confused look he immediately turns it on and has you watch it. You two end up having an entire movie night together.

After that the two of you mostly act like roommates.

He often compares you to his favorite series TSL where 7 humans summon a demon named Henry and go on crazy adventures with him. The first time he accidentally calls you Henry he blushes like crazy.

At first he acted like you were annoying him most of the time but it was pretty easy to catch on to his tsundere act. He actually loves having you around and will whine when you have to leave. He says its because he can't play two player games without you but you know the truth.

On the rare occasions the two of you go out he gets jealous of anyone with even the slightest interest in you. Your HIS demon why are you giving someone else your attention?

Its pretty easy to distract him though. Just the slightest touch and hes flushing and stuttering. You can do whatever he won't get the hint that you like him the most.

'There's no way you meant to do this. This must be some weird demon norm I don't know about. Yup that's it.'

Satan

Summoned a demon on purpose. And not just that summoned you on purpose.

With his extensive library he had more than enough information to figure out how to summon a demon. After that it was just a matter of choosing which one. He finally settled on you.

You don't need to worry about explaining how a pact works to him. He already knows everything on it. Maybe even more than you. Nerd.

Don't express this opinion out loud. He will be furious.

Even so he'll still make you tell him about summoning a million times just to see if you know anything different.

Mostly you’re an over glorified assistant/labrat to him. MC grab that book. MC draw this summoning circle. MC stick your hand in this flame.

Of any of the brothers he is the one who sees your demon form the most and the one who asks the most questions about it. You have very sharp claws what are those used for? Four sets of wings? I wonder why you have so many. Slitted eyes? Do you have any idea why they are like this?

He is very interested in the differences between humans and demons so you end up performing a lot of tests.

He would also be curious about the celestial war and your part in it. Its up to you to choose to answer him or not.

If you ignore any of his questions he will get annoyed and be snippy. But just tell him an interesting tidbit about hell and he'll be back to normal in no time.

As for his actual job he works as a researcher at a big lab. You go there often to help him with his work. He used to have a lot of assistants but none could handle his terrible rage.

Its one of the reasons you work so well with him. An angry human? That's no big deal. Now if he was a demon that would be something to talk about

His tantrums are actually kind of cute. Like a fussy kitten.

Telling him this has a 50/50 chance of either making him blush or rampage.

If its possible he uses you to annoy his colleagues

Janice talked shit about his theories on planetary alignment? Poison her

Jk not really but maybe just, like, make her day a hundred times worse?

Thanks MC you're great

A power team at its best. His need to get back at people he hates works well with your general need to cause mischief

Asmodeus

An orgy summons you obvious reasons. Although technically not the one who summoned you, you end up making a pact with Asmodeus before the nights over.

It was inevitable really, of all the humans there how could you not choose him? His overblown confidence and cocky insistence that he was perfect was practically adorable. I mean here you are, a demon of all things, and yet this little human is here insisting that he was perfection himself. You just wanted to eat his soul right up he was so cute.

To him its obvious why. After all, he was so beautiful that even demons fell in love with him, he couldn't blame you.

Even if you tell him the real reason he won't believe it.

Immediately starts bragging about how he could seduce demons

If you leave a pact mark on him though he will complain

As for actual duties you don't have a lot

At parties you work as his wingman but at home the two of you have more of a domestic role. He treats you more like a best friend than a demon.

He has a lot of spa days, something he immediately insisted that you take part in too.

One day you bring him a bottle of demon moisturizer. Big mistake

When he finds out about all the different demon beauty products he immediately orders you to get him some.

Your poor wallet.

He's always ordering new things. He really wants to go down to Devildom so he could look himself instead of having to order off Akuzon. One day you'll figure out a way to show him the eternal night.

He's also very flirty towards you, something your not surprised about. Hes always on your lap or petting your head or asking for affection, and he constantly alludes to the things the two of you could do. As time goes on he begins to get even more needy, sometimes ignoring others at parties just to flirt with you. He wants all of your attention all of the time.

Beelzebub

Did not mean to summon you but now that your here hes pretty okay with it

Of all the brothers he the one to treat you the most like another human.

However you have one duty that you take very seriously

You must protect his brother, no matter what.

Other than that you two are like roommates. He doesn't really ask you of much except to keep the fridge stocked (which is a bigger job than expected this guy eats a lot) and he'll take care of the rent and everything else.

Sometimes he'll ask if you want to head to the gym with him. You thank your demon metabolism since every time you end up going he always stops for burgers and shakes at his favorite place on the way home.

He lifts a lot for a human, no surprise since you've seen how sculpted his body is. Seriously he's like a Greek statue. You spot him while doing reps and help correct his form while necessary. It's a bit of a switch from dealing with demon biology to human biology though so you have to make sure that you don't accidentally hurt your new friend.

Sometimes the two of you have movie nights, although its more of an excuse for him to buy a bunch of human food and you to buy a bunch of demon food and pig out. He still manages to out eat you somehow.

Occasionally the two of you will go out with his brother Belphie although it usually ends up with either you or Beel carrying him when he falls asleep. But it gives you time to chat with Beel on your own which you don't mind

The two of you end up with a good bromance, sometimes minus the b.

He treats you like an old friend and even ends up telling you about Lilith, his dear sister who died when a car hit her. He had only managed to pull his brother out of the way at the time and he still remembers it well. You can practically smell the guilt that hangs off him when he tells you that. It's hard not to feel touched after that story even for a demon.

He confesses a lot of things to you, things he has a hard time saying to other people. He never calls upon his pact to swear you to secrecy. He trusts you.

Belphie

Also summons you on purpose

When you first meet Belphie he's angry, uncontrollably angry. It's at the point where it almost surprises you. After all a human filled with so much wrath is no small feat.

His first order is a tough one but one you have no choice but to accept.

Kill the man that murdered his sister

The two of you work hard to hunt him down, spending many days brainstorming late into the night. Although it always ends up with just you working, as Belphie has the strangest tendency to fall asleep while talking. (Narcoleptic maybe? Or just lazy?) Whatever the case you don't terribly mind.

Even just his presence helps, in some strange way.

When you finally track him down Belphie insists on going too. He wants to see the man die with his own two eyes.

It's not a hard fight but it is an emotional one. Through the bond you two share you can feel Belphies anger, his pain, his desire for revenge, and then finally an emptiness.

When its over the two of you go home, still covered in whatever bits of him were left. Belphegor shows no emotions and you wonder if hes in shock from seeing someone die so suddenly, but all you feel is a tired yet content thrum through your bond.

When you finally get home Belphegor immediately tries to go to sleep and its only through a little nagging and a lot of manhandling that your able to convince him to shower first. By now the bloods beginning to dry into a nasty goop and once he's done you jump in too, soothed by the steam and clouds of soap drifting around you.

To no ones surprise Belphie is asleep when you get out. It's then when you realize that you have nothing left to do.

With that one action your purpose here is done, and yet your pact remains. Your thoughts begin to rise Belphie who clings stubbornly to sleep. It's no use though. The two of you are too connected for it to stop.

You hear the sheets rustle and he raises one hand patting at the covers. A universal sign to come here.

"You're so loud" He mutters even though you haven't said a word. "Just sleep already."

A useless answer but a comforting one. You curl up at his side, feeling the tiniest bit like an obedient dog, but his arm settles over your shoulder and he drapes himself over your chest erasing the thoughts from your mind.

You eyes flutter close, at least for the moment. You can decide what you should do when you wake up.

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violet-t-9 · 3 years

Text

My take on why Caleb doesn’t trust Essek

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about “why doesn’t Caleb trust Essek” and here is just my two cents (spoilers, written after the new episode 131 talks machina). This will be very, very long, so beware.

Before I start, this post is not meant to be against Essek and he is actually one of my top favourite characters. I wanted to get my thoughts out because I saw many people take Essek’s side and I want to consider Caleb’s perspective.

Also, the quotes are not EXACTLY accurate, but please bear with me. NOTHING I say reflects anything other than my own, biased interpretation of the events, so take it with a grain of salt.

While it has been a long time in real life for us, in game time the peace talk was not that long ago. Liam has mentioned both as Caleb and in talks that Caleb had been very paranoid about Essek for a long time, thinking he was working them for his own agenda and could be Dynasty’s traitor. However, it is also confirmed that Caleb started to actually trust Essek because “the other shoe never dropped” and consider him a true friend - right before (“like two days later”) being the first one to discover (through Frumpkin) that he had been right about Essek since day one.

Imagine what that would do to Caleb, to finally letting himself trust just to get betrayed right away and to have his paranoia proven correct all along. Of course he still doesn’t trust Essek now, of course he is hurt. After the peace talks, Essek didn’t even seem to regret what he had done (he straight up said “I can’t say I regret what I have done”, also said seeing Adeen in chains was “freeing”). The first time he showed a genuine change was in episode 124, even then, Caleb failed to read his intentions with a nat 1 insight check, so he could not actually confirm that Essek was telling the truth (he was just given the “hard to read”) so basically he had no way of knowing if Essek was lying.

When Caleb thinks back on their past interactions, he would have to think about how everything Essek had said could be a lie, and that would taint any good memories they had. Even if we, as viewers, know that Essek was probably sincere most of the time, Caleb doesn’t know that.

Essek had been lying to the party since they first met, he got close to M9 precisely because he wanted to use them to cover his beacon heist, to make sure that they “did not get too close to the truth”. He steered the party in the directions he wanted them to go in, like actively directing them to focus on Obann. And Essek was GOOD at what he did. M9 told him a lot of secrets - that they suspected a mole and that there are two beacons in the empire, etc. Essek succeeded in his objective and got a lot of information he wouldn’t have gotten otherwise because of his deception. Yes, he started to care for them somewhere along the line. At some point, he found himself actually wanting to be friends with M9, but that is a separate issue. He kept them in the dark, lied to their faces, betrayed their trust before they even met regardless. Now obviously he was in a very difficult position and probably felt like he could not tell them the truth (how would he tell them, anyways?), but it doesn’t change the fact that he used them for his goals and succeeded.

Now Caleb and Essek had a mutually manipulative political-game-like dance going on when they first met, but that was more or less on equal footing and they probably both knew what each other was doing (they were both pretty obvious). Caleb also used his training to “keep [Essek] on the rails”, but that imo kind of pales in comparison to Essek using M9 to cover up his entire heist. Essek did help them a lot, but he did those things for favours, at least at first. He never cashed them (except the one vial Caleb gave him) but he didn’t have to - the favours worked, M9 decided not to expose him because he went out of his way to help them. Even after discovering the truth (that he was the catalyst of a war between two nations, one of which is 3 party members’ homeland), the M9 did not try to fight him or report him to literally ANYONE which would have gotten him killed. Caleb even gave Essek the hope that there IS a path to redemption when Essek didn’t believe in it. So yeah if I were Essek I would too be very grateful to M9. If I were Caleb I would probably never trust Essek ever again.

Essek is shown to be completely uninterested in the Eyes of Nine but it was a valid concern. He did commit high treason for knowledge, it’s really not that much of a stretch that he’d be tempted by the city (exhibit A: Caleb himself, exhibit B: poor, poor Yussa). Good for him that he is not tempted, but Caleb’s suspicion was not uncalled for.

The thing is, M9 do trust Essek still. They told him literally everything about the TT and the city. Caleb even showed Essek the eye. It just makes me uncomfortable every time people say that M9 are “bad friends” for leaving Essek alone, or that Caleb is “mean” to Essek for not trusting him (by the way, the line about “that won’t help with the inside” was meant by Liam as “commiseration, not condemnation” if you didn’t know) but look, M9 doesn’t revolve around Essek? They have a lot of things to deal with and Essek was not on their top priority. They don’t have a responsibility to “fix” Essek’s morality issues (tbf, they still kinda did kick start that process). And hey, it’s great that Essek has obviously been doing pretty well for himself in terms of personal growth without the M9, and he could have reached out to them if he really wanted to. Remembering to use slots to message and check in with people is never M9′s strong suite.

Caleb also really didn’t endanger Essek more than Essek himself did. Caleb did used dunamancy in the empire (not resonant echo that he specifically learned from Essek, but something he reverse engineered by himself), but Trent would never have figured it out if Essek didn’t voluntarily work with Trent and the Assembly in the first place. Also, Caleb did apologize for endangering Essek (like he was supposed to, Essek deserved that apology).

So yeah, imo Caleb is right to not fully trusting Essek right now, for reasons I have mentioned above. However, Caleb clearly still cares about Essek, from the “just breathe” moment, the worry he felt, how he emphasized on the amulet. A lack of trust does not mean he just doesn’t care. Caleb was also very adamant about trusting Essek (“one person we can trust is better than three we cannot”) over his old friends (and obviously Trent). So again, I don’t really see him saying “we trust you more than my old teacher” as an issue - it’s just a statement, which is true, they do trust him more than Trent even if Trent may come with more power and numbers.

Yeah, Essek is very remorseful now, but they’ve seen this side of Essek for exactly two episodes (124 and 131), so I am not really surprised that they don’t just immediately go back to full trust mode with Essek. It will take some time, some bonding, but I’m sure the trust can be re-established.

Just want to make it clear, I’m NOT saying Caleb is perfect. Caleb is a very flawed character (e.g. a hypocrite in terms of the eye tattoos) and I can see why some would see his interactions with Essek as problematic (but really, it’s from both sides). However, I do believe that some people twist Caleb’s words to Essek a lot and interpret them to be more vicious, manipulative and colder than he intends them to be/than they actually are because they dislike Caleb, or like Essek a lot, or for many other reasons. This post is about Caleb’s perspective so I’m not going to list all of his own flaws. I just think that in many posts I’ve seen people take Essek’s side and blame Caleb or the M9 and seem to forget that Essek did betray the M9 and “did a lot of shitty things” like Matt said. So this is just an alternative perspective for those people to consider.

Feel free to disagree, like I said these are only my opinions. That said, I’m really looking forward to the next episodes. I feel like they can establish how Essek may fit in the M9 now and maybe start some great trust-building. I cannot wait to see Essek’s interactions with M9 and I think the next few episodes will be very important for the character dynamics.

#cr discourse #critical role #caleb widogast #talks machina #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #talks machina spoilers #the mighty nein

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veterveter · 3 years

Note

I'm looking for a way to drop that funeral planning ficlet on tumblr, maybe this would be a "fun" way to do that?

“Everyone should wear black.”

“Of course they will, it’s a funeral.”

“Not because it’s a funeral. Because it’s stylish.”

“Whatever. I’ll write it on the invite. Wear black, it’s stylish.”

“Thank you. White roses, white lilies. You’ll play a white piano. You should play Bella Ciao, that could be my requiem. I think it would be fitting.” He imagines how Martín would make it sound – he would doubtlessly turn the joyful rebellion into something haunting. “Nevertheless, everything will be white, except for the guests.”

“Duly noted.”

“Have everyone bring red roses to lay on my casket. You’ll curse God as you stand there, for a while. I hope rains.” He leans back, and it doesn’t ache too much, and that feels like a blessing. “And afterwards, you’ll go clubbing.”

This makes Martín pause, finally.

Andrés makes sure to have eye contact as he continues, “You and Sergio. Dance. Drink. Start with wine, then whisky, then shots of tequila. Get drunk, forget about me and live.”

Martín sneers, an ugly little thing. His face was made for joy, not… whatever this is. “You won’t have any control over me anymore, Andrés.”

Andrés continues to look at him. An ugly little thing he has always loved. “I will always have control over you. You will do as I ask of you.”

____________________

A week ago, he said, “One last plan, Martín.”

It was the first time he had seen Martín’s eyes light up in three months.

It was the first time he truly felt cruel in his life, when he followed it up with, “The funeral. We need to plan it, you and I.”

The light behind Martín’s eyes faded, and Andrés knew he would never see it again. He wished he had cherished it when he still had the chance, when it took nothing at all to coax it out of him. When that light was his default expression, when Andrés’s presence brought him joy – instead of everlasting pain, a suffering that would surely stay with him for the rest of Martín’s life.

Martín does it, of course. Martín is dutiful, so he clears out the blackboard, without a moment’s hesitation, wipes away the plans they had. He doesn’t say, not even once, this is morbid, Andrés, even though he must be thinking it. Andrés hopes that someday, Martín might think back to these days and find them cathartic. Or that he’ll find it in himself to be proud.

Proud of himself for being brave enough to watch Andrés wither. Proud of the depth of his love. Proud of the gracefulness of their plan, Andrés’s swan song.

Together, they plan the setting. Privately, Andrés plans everything else.

He plans futures for his loved ones.

Tatiana will look pretty as she cries, a woman too young and alive to be a widower. Martín will comfort her, will wrap his arms around her as she shakes with tears. He has never held a woman like that before, but he will do it, if only to distract himself. She will bring him comfort, because she will understand a shard of his suffering, the thinnest sliver of it. Because Martín will be able to look at her and see her love for what it is: inferior.

Sergio will be fine. He has Raquel, and Paula, he has already started building a life that doesn’t include Andrés. It’s just as well. He’s finally growing up, doing what he has to. Taking care of himself in a world that has never cared about him.

Maybe Sergio and Martín will finally bond, over their shared pain.

Or maybe they will become strangers, incapable of meeting each other’s eyes, unwilling to see their own suffering reflected back in them. Andrés can’t do anything about that. He’s not God. Gods are eternal.

For Martín, Andrés has only one plan, but his is the most important one.

Martín will live.

____________________

If it weren’t for Martín, Andrés would have simply killed himself. Truly, he would have. He would have crafted an elegant death for himself, something poetic and needlessly cruel.

The only reason he deems it necessary to cling to life so desperately, even as his body withers, is to give Martín this. He wants Martín to have closure. He wants Martín to grieve beautifully.

Even though Andrés is technically still alive, he misses what life used to feel like. What life was meant to be like. He misses stealing priceless jewels and irreplaceable paintings. He misses drinking tea and going on walks. He misses feeling untethered by the confines of his mortal body.

He misses Martín.

Other people will doubtlessly go on walks and steal jewels, but Martín will eternally be but a shade of himself. Andrés is taking Martín’s heart and soul to his grave, and leaving behind this sad little puppet, his strings pulled by mourning and hatred.

Some part of Andrés is quietly pleased with that. There’s a certain beauty to be found in everlasting suffering.

And if he can’t have Martín in all his glorious brilliance and destructive grace, then no one should.

____________________

“You haven’t changed your mind, have you?” Martín asks, in a falsely casual manner, studying his cup of coffee.

Andrés sighs. He had been thinking, foolishly, that Martín will have finally gotten the hint, but of course not. Martín never truly stops, he just reschedules. Anything he ever feels or thinks willcome back, again and again, until he finally finds something to do with it.

“No. And I won’t, so you can stop asking.”

“You won’t even know what I do. You’ll be dead.”

“But you will. And I am not giving you my blessing to put a bullet to your brain. You’ll live. It’s my last wish and you will honour it.”

“I never thought you’d be so cruel,” Martín says, his tone accusatory and wounded.

He doesn’t continue, but the implication is clear: he means not to me. He knows Andrés, knows exactly how cruel he is. He just never thought it would be aimed at himself. He’s Andrés’s foil, his mirror, his other half.

And he’s right. It was never meant to be.

“So be it. You’ll live the life I never got to have. If you must die, then it will be from something else. Not your own hands.”

“Andrés…”

“I didn’t get to make a choice, and neither will you.”

He has to ask Martín for this, despite knowing that it’s the cruelest thing to ask for. Because no one else has ever loved Andrés enough to live for him. No one else ever would have, even if he had more time. Andrés knows he’s hard to love. And anyone would be hard to love, this unconditionally.

It was only ever going to be Martín.

Andrés doesn’t allow himself to wonder if he would be willing to go through the same, were the roles reversed. He’s afraid of being bitterly disappointed in himself, on his final days.

Martín has always been his favourite part of himself: just the right kind of cruel, the correct shade of suicidal. Chaos without an outlet, manifesting in the strangest ways. A genius caged in the body of a man.

Now Martín is going to be the only part of him left. That thought doesn’t bring Andrés peace, necessarily, but it’s one of the only things he isn’t going to leave behind as regrets.

“I’m sure time will bring us back together.”

Martín glares at him, but he says nothing. Martín doesn’t believe in any kind of life after death, or absolution, or even redemption, but he’s not going to say that to a dying man. Martín is never going to be fully honest with him again.

Andrés wants to hear every single ugly and awful thought he is holding back.

____________________

“Can I stay here?”

“Martín…”

“Just to be here. I won’t do anything. I just want to—”

Andrés sighs, too weak to argue, in mind and body as well as in spirit. “Fine, come here.” He scoots over, allowing Martín space on the bed.

“You are my own personal hell,” Martín muses quietly in the dark. He stays an arm’s length away, and Andrés can’t summon the energy to question it. “All nine circles, just you, every moment of my life with you.”

Andrés feels the same way about Martín. All nine circles, every wasted opportunity. If there is life after death, he might be stuck repeating exactly that.

He would still take it. He would choose hell of himself repeating the same mistakes with Martín, over heaven without him.

“Would you do it again?”

Martín turns to look at him, doesn’t answer right away. “I would watch you die a hundred times over,” he finally admits, quiet in the way the truth always is.

How misfortunate Andrés is, to have been given a love like that. A love so desperate, so out of control. He would have much rather been loved by a woman, someone like Tatiana, softly but without the intent to burn and destroy everything around them.

If Andrés has to be loved like this, he should have at least been given the chance to truly reciprocate. He should have been given time to give Martín everything he deserves and everything he doesn’t. He should have been allowed to give Martín the entire world, with all of its beauty and all of its gore. To murder every last man but themselves, to bask in their own brilliance, surrounded by all those decaying bodies, rather than being trapped in his own.

Their love is but an incomplete masterpiece, smiting them both with its existence. It’s unimaginable cruelty, because theirs is a love most will never get to experience.

It could have been so perfect.

“You should do the bank heist with Sergio,” he says, “Take my place. Do it in my honour.”

“Sure,” Martín says, and for that one word, his tone is as amused as it is destructive. “It’s always been a suicide, that plan. It was meant to be ours.” He angles his entire body away from Andrés, like looking at him is suddenly somehow offensive. “Now it’ll just be mine.”

____________________

“Here’s what I would have done, if we had more time.”

Andrés doesn’t have the energy to do anything but angle his head towards Martín, without even opening his eyes.

“I would have married you. I like to think you would have wanted that, too. I would have taken your last name. We would have bought an island. We would have stolen all the most priceless things in the world and gifted them to each other. I would have killed all of your ex-wives. Well, maybe not Tatiana, she’s grown on me. But we would have been happy, you and I.”

He takes Andrés’s left hand in both of his, and sighs.

“Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that.”

Andrés wonders if he would have been better off not knowing all of this.

____________________

The end comes fast.

That makes it both easier and harder, but Andrés doesn’t have the energy to feel sad or grateful. He feels like he still has things he would like to say, to both Sergio and Martín, but he just feels tired. Too tired to remember the words, too tired to decide if they need to be said after all.

Every day, he’s awake less and less, to the point where there’s no longer days to speak of. There’s only moments, all of them with Martín by his side. His presence is the only thing Andrés takes notice of, even if he can’t conjure up many thoughts about it. Or anything else.

Andrés is no longer conscious as he takes his last breath, but as he falls under, the last thing he sees are Martín’s sad, sad eyes. The last thought he ever has is

unimaginable

cruelty.

#anyway have some stuff I wrote a while ago #actually it was while I was still working on 'spike the punch'#I took a break from wholesome dinner planning to plan some funerals #I finally felt like editing it and posting it just because #honestly I just never wanted to post it as a full thing so this prompt collection seems like the perfect opportunity #I wrote this one inspired by 'Jos mä kuolen nuorena' by Heli Kajo #and even repurposed some lyrics for dialogue (near the beginning) because I thought Andrés totally would #hope you like this little thing I wrote #ficlets #lcdp #berlermo

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everyonewasabird · 3 years

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Brickclub 2.8.5 ‘It is not enough to be a drunkard to be immortal’

In this hearse there was a coffin covered with a white cloth, upon which was displayed a large black cross like a great dummy with hanging arms.

OKAY THEN. This book is very in favor of Christ imagery overall, but it’s sure not going to be pro-clerical today, it seems.

Now that we’ve gone over the heist plot in enough detail to absolutely ensure it will go wrong, we zoom all the way out to see it unfold.

@fremedon has already pointed out that the safety rules and regulations for the cemetery gates, whatever else they may accomplish, are designed to harm the poor specifically--in this case, grave diggers.

Last chapter seemed to raise a number of red flags for me about the meaning of Mother Innocent’s plans--her focus on the dead over the living, on tradition over progress, her reversals of the patterns of the barricade--but this chapter shows the similarities of the convent and the barricade. It is a little republic, and it believes in what is right, not what is lawful.

First the rules; as to the code, we will see. Men, make as many laws as you please, but keep them for yourselves. The tribute to Cæsar is never more than the remnant of the tribute to God. A prince is nothing in presence of a principle.

I’m thinking, of course, of Mellow’s Convent Gardener Javert and the near-heart attack this is going to give him when he finds out his conservative, rule-abiding new masters are Also Made Of Crime.

We see a bit of the gloating Slytherin in Fauchelevent, which I like a lot--I’m getting a much clearer sense of his character this time through. He starts gloating, of course, immediately before it all goes to hell.

He was a long, thin, livid man, perfectly funereal. He had the appearance of a broken-down doctor turned grave-digger.

Fauchelevent burst out laughing.

"Ah! what droll things happen! Father Mestienne is dead. Little Father Mestienne is dead, but hurrah for little Father Lenoir! You know what little Father Lenoir is? It is the mug of red for a six spot. It is the mug of Surêne, zounds! real Paris Surêne. So he is dead; old Mestienne! I am sorry for it; he was a jolly fellow. But you too, you are a jolly fellow. Isn't that so, comrade? We will go and take a drink together, right away.”

The discordant visual of Fauchelevent saying this to this corpse-faced undertaker is hilarious in a way I’m sure I’ve seen it in movies. Hugo is so very cinematic.

It’s also an interesting commentary on doctors, too, whom Hugo is usually notably positive about, for his time? What little I’ve read of Sue’s Mysteries of Paris, for instance, is dramatically negative about doctors and contemporary medical practices. Other writers seem to have other dark things to say about doctors and medical students. But with Hugo, we’re looking at Joly & Combeferre, plus a few extras who are usually forces of kindness, even when they can’t do much.

Gribier almost resembles Myriel for a moment:

“The good God," said the man authoritatively. "What the philosophers call the Eternal Father; the Jacobins, the Supreme Being.”

Except that he’s not engaging meaningfully in naming of God. He seems to be using his education to run rhetorical circles around Fauchelevent, because he can, and because he likes to feel superior.

We end at the open grave. Fauchelevent is worried.

#brickclub #lm 2.8.5

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sparklyfairymira · 3 years

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Prompt & Fic Updates (Updated 5/9)

Because I have a lot of fics and prompts upcoming, here is a list so you can see what's in queue and when my WIPs are set to update. Generally speaking, I will stick to this schedule as much as a I can, though it might change from time to time.

A HEART PERMANENTLY BOUND TO YOU

BELLARKECAVE

Chapter 3 (Final): 6/23/21

BETWEEN THE FIRE AND THE FLAME

CLURPHAMY

Chapter 3 (Final): 6/30/21

WAIT 'TIL I GET MY MONEY CH 1

BELLARKE/MINTY/HARPHY Chapter 3: 7/7/21 Chapter 4: 7/21/21 Chapter 5: 8/18/21 Chapter 6: 9/1/21 Chapter 7: 9/13/21

HE'S NOT THE ONLY ONE (WHO HAD A SECRET TO HIDE)

BELLARKE/MURVEN

Chapter 2: 7/14/21 Chapter 3: 8/9/21 Chapter 4: 8/25/21

YOUR HEARTBEAT NEXT TO MINE

BELLARKE

Chapter 7: 6/25/21 Updating every Friday

UPCOMING PROMPTS

See below the cut for my upcoming prompts

FIND ME IN THE DARKNESS

BELLARKE

Expected publication date: 6/26/21

Seelie Princess Clarke is set to marry Unseelie Prince Wells, her childhood friend as has been arranged since their birth, but there is nothing less in the world that she wants to do. So she decides to run from the court but somehow ends up in the Shadow Court—somewhere that no Seelie should ever be. But then she meets the King of the Shadow Court Bellamy and something is drawing her to him. Bellamy can’t believe his luck with one of his subjects shows up at his door with a Seelie Fae and not just any Seelie, it turns out, but the Seelie Princess. He thinks that he’ll be able to use her to finally have his court recognized by the other two. He wasn’t expecting her to be his soulmate but as soon as their eyes lock, he knows. And he knows that he can never let her leave him.

COLD SWEAT

ROARKE

Expected publication date: 7/3/21

Clarke is a nurse who works hella late nights in the ER and walks home. She’s attacked one night while walking home — nothing happened because a (tall, muscular) stranger happened to be nearby and pulled the guy off her. But the man in question, Roan she learns, tells her that if she’s going to walking home in the city at night she should learn how to protect herself. So she signs up for a self-defense class...and Roan ends up being the instructor. He teaches her how to defend herself, and she starts growing more confident in herself in general. Confident enough to ask him out after class one day. Let’s just say they never make it to their dinner reservation.

TIL DEATH

BELLARKE

Expected publication date: 7/10/21

Clarke falls in love with Bellamy the moment she lays eyes on him. He's smart and handsome and has a fire inside of him that she finds mesmerizing. Sure, he's always been secretive, but his secrets are a small price to pay for his love. But then she learns what those secrets are, and suddenly the price doesn't seem so small. He's not what she thought he was, and even though she loves him, she plots to take him down

JUST KEEP BREATHING

BELLARKE/MINTY/MURVEN

Expected publication date: 7/17/21

Their group consists of six. Bellamy, a convict with a thirst for revenge. Miller, a sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager. Monty, a runaway with a privileged past. Raven, a spy known as the Wraith. Clarke, a Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. Murphy, a thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Somehow they managed the impossible heist only to be backstabbed and Raven to be kidnapped. They get Raven back and they get their revenge but nothing ever comes for free. "We were all supposed to make it, " Monty says softly. Maybe they'd been naive but they had never questioned their survival—no matter how dicey the situation seemed. But Bellamy is dying in Clarke's arms—the only place he wants to be—and Raven is telling her that she has to accept it. Only Clarke knows that she doesn't have to. She may not have the jurda parem but it's already changed her powers. She can do this. She knows she can. She pulls on all of the power that she can and forces it into Bellamy's body as the last breath leaves his lips. Or a Six of Crows AU that picks up at the end of Crooked Kingdom with slightly different results.

REMEMBER THOSE WALLS I BUILT (WELL, BABY, THEY'RE TUMBLING DOWN)

BELLMORI

Expected publication date: 7/19/21

Emori isn't the sentimental type. When you grow up the way she did, you tend to learn to not get attached to things. When you get attached, that opens you up to loss. And she's had about all the loss she can handle. But then she meets Bellamy. He's a grad student at NYU, this hot book nerd whose hair is always a mess and who comes to her bar to do homework like some sort of weird. Says he grew up basically in a bar, and the background noise helps him focus when his apartment gets too quiet. And he's...not her type. He's got kind eyes and his hair is always a mess and he's getting a master's so he can teach history and he wants to travel the world to see all of the places he's going to teach students about in person. He wears his heart on his sleeve and makes stupid jokes and chats with everyone he sees. Meanwhile, she's got hard edges and a rough exterior no one's ever gotten close enough to even try to crack. Well, no one until Bellamy. And the closer he gets, the more she starts to think maybe the risk of opening up is worth the reward...

WELCOME TO TEMPTATION

BELLARKE/CLURPHY/ROARKE

Expected publication date: 7/24/21

Riot Night changed Clarke’s life forever. A gang war between the Grounders and the Reapers had reached a head that night. The first riot began at the abandoned amusement park where Clarke and Raven were attending an underground MMA fight. Clarke makes sure that Raven gets away but finds herself in danger only to be rescued by three extremely attractive mystery men. Three mystery men that framed her as the ringleader of Riot Night. It’s eleven months later and she is coming back to Arkadia for the first time in the eight months since she was acquitted of all charges. As she arrives at her mother’s house she discovers that the three mystery men are her new housemates and they have no intentions of leaving. Now all that she desires to revenge—no matter the cost. When she finds herself in danger it is her new housemates that vow to keep her safe. Can Clarke learn to trust Bellamy, Murphy, and Roan? Does she need to trust them to sleep with them? Because it has been a long eleven months of celibacy and they are all stupidly hot. Based on the Madison Kate series, a reverse harem enemies-to-lovers story involving lots of sex and lots of violence.

Will be added to WIP list w/ expected publication dates after the first chapter is posted.

THE AFFAIR

MEMORI

Expected Publication date: 7/31/21

Murphy is married to Clarke Griffin, a hotshot doctor who's on her way to becoming the youngest chief of surgery ever at Arkadia Memorial. But their marriage is more show than anything these days, and neither of them is in love anymore. She's constantly at work, and he's left to his own devices. That is until he meets Emori at one of Clarke's hospital galas. The affair they startup is supposed to be fun, a bit of distraction from Murphy's otherwise mundane life. But then real feelings develop, and he isn't sure how he's supposed to tell Clarke that he thinks he's found the one...and it's not her.

IT'S YOU (IT'S ALWAYS BEEN YOU)

BELLARKE

Expected publication date: August

Clarke, Princess of the Arkadian ocean, and Bellamy, Prince of the Mecha sea, were not supposed to ever meet—let alone fall in love. There were engagements to uphold, treaties to sign, and wars to win. But they do meet and they fall in love—deciding to leave it all behind. Before they can run away together their two kingdoms unite to banish the princess and the prince to separate oceans, to separate their souls, despite the sea witch's warnings. But soulmates always find a way back to one another. Can Bellamy and Clarke find each other and right a wrong from centuries ago?

Will be added to WIP list w/ expected publication dates after the first chapter is posted.

THE ANIMAL AWAKENS

LINCTAVIA

Expected publication date: August

Growing up Octavia never understood why the foxes would follow her around. It wasn't until she hit her teen years that she learned that she was a Kitsune—the Queen of the Kitsune. In a world where the supernatural is viewed as evil, she has to learn how to rule her people but also how to live in the world into which she was born. Lincoln is a dragon shifter—a warrior with one purpose: wipe out the Kitsunes. He doesn't know why their two people are at war but he has never approved. When he meets Octavia it is easy to forget that their people are enemies. Can true love overcome everything for these natural enemies?

PIECE BY PIECE

LINCTAVIA

Expected publication date: August

Octavia's father left when she was just six years old, leaving her feeling unloved. It is her big brother Bellamy that picks her up and helps her put herself back together again. He is the first man to show her that they don't always leave and that she isn't unlovable. Octavia begins modeling in her teens and her father shows up under the guise of catching up and getting to know one another—but really all he wants is money. Luckily her stepdad Marcus is there to help her put herself back together again. He's the second man to show her that they don't always leave and that she isn't unlovable. When Octavia meets actor Lincoln she is cautious, afraid to put herself out there but he wins her over. And then they're married and starting a family. When she gives birth to their daughter she vows that she will never be like her father and it is Lincoln that shows her what it truly means to be a father. Inspired by "Piece by Piece" by Kelly Clarkson

REVENGE

CLURPHY

Expected publication date: August

Clarke and Murphy grew up together and they caused a lot of trouble together in their teens. They left Arkadia as soon as they were both eighteen and set out to make lives for themselves. They turned to robbery for an easy way to get some cash, but then a job goes wrong and Clarke gets caught and Murphy just runs. She’s spent the last six years in jail and he’s never once come to see her. Now she’s out and she wants revenge. But as soon as her eyes land on him, all those old feelings come back and she can’t decide which is stronger—her love for him or her need for revenge.

NOT EVIL, JUST HURT

LINCTAVIA

Expected publication date: August

When Octavia discovered her powers to control the weather she had been excited but a little overwhelmed. She tried to teach herself how to use them since there were no sorcerers or sorceresses in her village. Unfortunately, she’d lost control and massacred her entire village—her mother and brother included. When she was found out they tried to kill her, spewing hate and telling her that she is a monster. So she became the monster that they accused her of being. Years later when she meets a soldier named Lincoln who has been injured, something happens that she never expected—the ice around her heart begins to melt. Lincoln isn’t afraid of her and he is kind to her. She doesn’t understand it but she finds herself falling hard.

CUTS DEEP DOWN THROUGH YOUR CHEST (INTO YOUR SOUL)

BROARKE

Expected publication date: September

Bellamy and Clarke have been married for five years and they're just as happy as the date they got married. They love their jobs, their dog, their friends, their life. When Clarke's childhood friend Roan begs Clarke to be his date to his mom's wedding, she and Bellamy decide what's the harm—especially with Roan willing to foot the bill and pay her for her time. Bellamy's only condition is that he goes to. Roan agrees which should be the end of it—until the couple realizes that they're falling for Roan.

CITY OF CLOUDS

BELLARKE

Expected publication date: September

Clarke found the staircase in the middle of the woods—a place she’s been a million times before and it had never been there. Something was drawing her to them and as she climbed and climbed, clouds began to appear around her. When she pushes through the door she finds herself in a whole new world. Bellamy welcomes her to the City of Clouds and explains that the only way she could have found her way there is if she was looking for an escape. Clarke doesn’t want to admit it but she was looking for an escape from the pressures of her life—her mother’s expectations and pressure to marry Finn. It was all just too much. The City of Clouds is beautiful and she’s never known a place like it. And she’s never known a man like Bellamy before. And now she’s not sure that she ever wants to go home.

HOT & COLD

BELLARKE

Expected publication date: September

Clarke, the Winter Queen, has only ever known cold and logic. Bellamy, the Summer King, has only ever known warmth and emotions. When their two realms suddenly start bleeding into one another they have to figure out how to stop it. If they happen to fall for one another in the process, who can blame them? Can he teach her how to feel? Can she teach him how to use his head and his heart?

THE CRUEL PRINCESS

BELLARKE

Expected publication date: September

Bellamy Blake was seven years old when his mother was murdered and he and his sister were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, and Bellamy desires nothing more than to belong there but many of the fey despise humans. Especially Princess Clarke, the youngest and wickedest daughter of the High Queen. To win a place at the Court, Bellamy must defy her and face the consequences. Consequences deep down he's not ready to face—like falling in love with Clarke even though he can't stand the mere sight of her. A Cruel Prince AU

FORBIDDEN

MURVEN