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jippy-kandi · 4 years

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Digimon Adventure tri. – Complete Series Review (English Dub)

Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna revitalised my waning interest in Digimon. So much so that I felt like rewatching tri. – but, seeing as I’ve never seen the English dub of it, I decided that would be my “rewatch”! I grew up with the English dub of Digimon, so I have a very soft spot for it. I still think the original Japanese version is far superior, but the English dub really was my childhood.

Under the cut are brief thoughts on the English voice actors, and then a lot more thoughts on the series – or, rather, just what came to mind as I was rewatching the movies. As it turns out . . . most of that was just my intense dislike for certain parts of Matt and Tai’s characterisation.

Note: I do mention Kizuna quite a bit in comparison to tri., but I don’t spoil anything (except for two lines that don’t impact the plot). I don’t think my Kizuna mentions will spoil your enjoyment of the film if you haven’t seen it.

English Voice Actors

Joshua Seth as Tai: PERFECT. He’s definitive Tai to me and he was amazing from the first movie to the last. All my dreams came true, etc. I was disappointed he didn’t return in Revenge of Diaboromon (where his replacement sounded like Joe . . .), but was happy at least Michael Reisz returned for that movie as Matt. But for tri. it was the opposite: Seth returned, but Reisz didn’t. :(

Vic Mignogna as Matt: MY EARS, THEY BLEED. He’s the actual reason I put off watching the English dub of tri. for years. I was so excited about the English dub, but then the very first promo clip of it with Matt speaking was released and I . . . it was truly horrific. He turned me off completely. And as soon as he spoke in Reunion, I had to stop the movie. BUT I EVENTUALLY SOLDIERED ON. OMG. He’s so terrible as Matt. There are a few lines he delivers that are . . . OK . . . but, mostly, he was a major miscast. I really hope Michael Reisz comes back for the probable Kizuna dub. I don’t care if they think he doesn’t have a low enough voice for adult Matt – he IS Matt to most Digimon fans worldwide. BRING HIM BACK.

Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Sora: PERFECT. Absolutely loved her, definitive Sora right here. Well, OK, I might love original Japanese kid Sora just a tiny bit more, lol. But she’s almost as great! I really wish I could’ve heard her conversing with Michael Reisz. :(

Philece Sampler as Mimi: PERFECT. It’s Mimi grown up, I’ve got no complaints, it doesn’t get better than this.

Mona Marshall as Izzy: PERFECT. Though isn’t it odd that a woman still voices him? Lol. I really appreciated that four of the old voice actors reprised their roles. I think it really helped with the nostalgia. I just wish all of them had returned.

Robbie Daymond as Joe: He was really good as Joe, but . . . he would’ve made an excellent Matt. Seriously. Every time he spoke, I kept thinking, “WHY DID THEY NOT CAST YOU AS MATT?” He just had to lose a bit of the “pathetic, nerd” effect in his voice and he would’ve made an AMAZING Matt. The voice director had no idea what he was doing.

Johnny Yong Bosch as T.K.: He made an excellent T.K., so I definitely approve. However . . . he also would’ve made an excellent Matt, if he aged his voice up a bit more. The English dub literally had TWO voice actors (T.K. and Joe’s) who could’ve voiced Matt better, but instead went for Vic Mignogna!? Seriously, what a fail. The only positive is that Matt and T.K. did sound like brothers . . . with T.K. having the far better voice.

Tara Sands as Kari: She was . . . OK. Sometimes she sounded way too old, though. She was decent enough . . . but her old voice actress was a lot better. Still, she wasn’t nearly as bad as Matt. *cough*

Cristina Vee as Meiko: Wow, her voice really annoyed me in the first two movies. But I think that’s because she was being all shy and wet blanket-y. She’s . . . OK in the end, I guess. Nothing special.

Cherami Leigh as Maki (“Hime”): I actually thought she was the most talented voice actor in the series. Her voice suited the character the most as well. I was super impressed with her. A+

Doug Erholtz as Daigo: He . . . sounds like an older version of 02 T.K., because that’s who he used to voice. It was odd when Daigo would talk with Matt, because I kept thinking Matt was talking to future T.K.. But he was fine as Daigo, I guess. (Off-topic: Japanese Daigo is voicing Japanese reboot Yamato . . . what is with Daigo and the Takaishidas!?)

Digimon Adventure tri.

I watched the tri. movies over a week. I wrote down my initial thoughts after each viewing, and then came back and expanded on them later. Because I didn’t want this post to be TOO long (even though . . . it is), I kept it mostly to my issues with the series instead of listing the things I liked. If you want, you can read my initial thoughts (including positive things) on each movie as they were originally released here. Below are my most “pressing” thoughts on a rewatch.

Chapter 1: Reunion

I still have major issues with Matt and Tai’s role-reversal in tri.. I think what annoys me the most is when a show asserts something that is simply not true. Tai saying Matt hasn’t changed at all (YES HE HAS, HE CHANGED INTO YOU AND YOU CHANGED INTO HIM). It’s one thing to just have that happen – but for a show to be obnoxious enough to SAY A LINE that is asserting something ridiculous just to put it into existence is irritating. “Matt hasn’t changed one bit.” = “Matt’s in-character because we say so, all right?” Annoying.

Matt was super aggressive and it really annoyed me. If you want to be very black and white, you’d say, “well he was pretty aggressive in Adventure”. But you’d be ignoring that he was only aggressive in Adventure in REACTION to someone else. Someone else HAD to set him off – usually Tai was pissing him off in some way, making an insensitive remark, etc.. But Tai ACTS first. Matt REACTS. But in tri., Tai does nothing and Matt just goes at him. That’s a loose cannon – and yes, there is a difference between having someone push your buttons and exploding, and . . . just . . . exploding.

Consider this example from Adventure: Matt puts up with Joe’s shit (really DemiDevimon) in the diner for a LONG time before exploding at him. Because that’s Matt. He’s an introvert who holds shit in before exploding, giving people a lot of chances and hoping it’ll work out. He doesn’t just explode unnaturally and often like in tri., as though it’s second nature to him (when it really isn’t). I really disliked how tri. devolved his character to that of the typical “brute” of the group (JUST to be Tai’s foil too, which made it even more annoying).

And, even though I haven’t seen the first season in YEARS, I still remember the “digimon graves” scene very clearly and how it characterised Matt and Tai perfectly (it summed up their ENTIRE characterisation – how their characters operated differently – in the first season). There are other scenes that present the same thing, but I think it’s THE definitive scene you need to know to have an issue with the “wrong” parts of Tai and Matt’s characterisation in tri..

They role-reversed that shit and it annoys me so much because Matt is so much more empathetic than Tai, but tri. turns him into an aggressive frat boy in Reunion and makes him lose all his perspective and observational skills -- which Adventure showed us he had a TONNE of (one of the things about him that made him my favourite character, and thus why it annoyed me SO much that they ignored this aspect of him completely to make him a “tsundere brute 9000”).

Basically, tri. got rid of the layers that made Matt and Tai who they were, and instead added “new layers” to them that MADE THEM INTO EACH OTHER. And then had the balls to ACT LIKE THEY’VE ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY – for Matt, anyway, where they had Tai explicitly state that he never changed (WTF? Not only is that obviously A LIE, but it’s also asserting that MATT DIDN’T GROW AT ALL). For Tai, he was “growing” . . . into Matt – where Matt himself had an issue with his friend being like him in the past. Yeah, seriously. What a mess.

I don’t often think characters are “out of character” (in any series – writers usually have a good grasp on their characters) – but I definitely did here.

As I once joked to a friend:

Adventure told me all the ways Taichi was going to top Yamato.

And tri. told me all the ways Yamato was going to top Taichi.

Score: 5/10.

Chapter 2: Determimation

So . . . let’s talk about the “meeting scene” where Matt gets angry that Joe never turned up because studying is more important to him, and Tai shuts him down and defends Joe by saying he has his reasons . . .

I disliked this scene a lot because I felt like, as in the first episode, their roles were 100% reversed. TAI would’ve gotten angry at Joe for not turning up (Tai prioritizes ACTION over inaction/emotions/everything else) and MATT would have defended Joe for not turning up to a digimon meeting, because he has more empathy for people and is more understanding than Tai.

I strongly felt this way the very first time I saw Determination – and I still strongly feel this way about it now. The scene was a COMPLETE role-reversal and thus why I had issues with it.

Well, guess what?

In KIZUNA a similar scene happens. After a digimon fight in the movie, TAICHI says something like “only four of us showed up!?” (read: HE HAS THE ISSUE) and YAMATO defends everyone who didn’t show up (saying something like they all have their own lives).

Oh shit, was that Tai prioritisng ACTION over inaction and personal responsibilities (EXACTLY like how he was in season one)?

Oh shit, was that Yamato BEING EMPATHETIC AND UNDERSTANDING to others (EXACTLY like how he was in season one)?

THIS EXCHANGE IN KIZUNA WAS SO IN-CHARACTER THAT I NEVER THOUGHT ANYTHING OF IT.

I only remembered it when confronted again with the “meeting scene” in Determination – BECAUSE IT WAS THE REVERSE OF THE SCENE IN KIZUNA.

The Kizuna scene is just how the characters are in Adventure/02. Tai expects people to just fight, while Matt is empathetic. (HELLO AS WELL, DIGIMON GRAVES SCENE IN SEASON ONE.)

Seriously, tri. is really annoying with the Matt and Tai role-reversal. It’s my personal biggest criticism of the series because the characters are what I care about the most in Digimon, so if you’re going to switch them up – that shit is going to annoy me. No matter how bad a story is, at least do right by the characters and keep them in-character.

And I know the (very few) people who loved Matt and Tai’s role-reversal in tri. use the excuse of “tri. showing the characters growing” . . . But, man, I really can’t get behind that. Like, no, tri. just decided to switch Matt and Tai’s roles to serve their chosen plot (which is Tai growing up and becoming more ~mature – and I get it, it’s a GREAT theme to explore . . . but it shouldn’t have happened at the expense of BOTH their characterisations).

What “growth” is it when Matt is empathetic at 11, a frat boy arsehole at 17, and back to being empathetic at 22? What “growth” is it when Tai has always been a capable leader at 11 (because he KNOWS his priorities – which is WHY HE’S THE LEADER), suddenly frozen at 17 to an exhausting extent that even Matt never reached, and back to being the same capable leader with the SAME priorities at 22 that he had at 11? Yeah, that’s not growth. That’s mischaracterisation in one series.

Why do I have such an issue with this? Because it’s something that is FUNDAMENTAL to a person. You switch this ONE thing up and, suddenly, the person is operating as an entirely different person. Matt isn’t being Matt. Tai isn’t being Tai. It’s fundamental to WHO THEY ARE, and when you fuck with it, you’re essentially presenting an entirely different person. Matt doesn’t operate like that. Tai doesn’t operate like that. And it’s so obvious that the issue is with the WRITERS either not fully grasping their characters and/or just deliberately forcing it to fit their chosen plot (at the expense of the characters).

Anyway, I just feel really justified that tri. did Matt and Tai so wrong. Kizuna is BRILLIANT for any Taichi and Yamato fan who love the characters as they are in Adventure/02. I highly recommend it if you actually want to see the characters represented as they are in Adventure/02. Kizuna does NOT come across as fanfiction, which I think tri. really, really does (especially in the first two movies). I never once thought, watching Kizuna, that the characters were reinterpretations by a fanfiction author with Toei Animation funding – which is what I regularly thought in tri..

Score: 6/10.

Chapter 3: Confession

OK, this is a very slight thing (a brief line that was meant for laughs), but I’m on a roll regarding this issue, so why not? I’ll take another opportunity to get my point across.

T.K. says that fighting is Matt’s thing . . . yeah, no. Again, I dislike how tri. took ONE aspect of Matt’s character (how he fights with Tai a lot in Adventure) and EXAGGERATED THE HELL OUT OF IT. (The exaggeration here is that the line is supposed to summarise Matt as super aggressive in the entire series.) In tri., he is a tsundere brute with a capital T. And it reduces him to such a simple person, taking no considerations for his entire character. Matt in tri. seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face, like he was always grumpy. Chill, tri., Matt actually isn’t all that grumpy.

Go back and watch Adventure and 02. Matt is actually pretty laid-back – until someone ticks him off. But it has always been about EMOTIONS with Matt, NOT random acts of aggression. I wish the tri. writers knew the subtleties and nuances of Matt’s character better and didn’t just TURN HIM INTO TAI to be “new” Tai (OLD MATT’S) foil. Thank god Kizuna put things back to the way they were. Seriously, when you watch Kizuna, you REALLY feel like Toei went from:

Adventure -> 02 -> JUMPED STRAIGHT OVER TRI. WITH MATT AND TAI’S JARRING CHARACTERISATION -> Kizuna.

Anyway, that line was in a scene meant for laughs, so . . . it’s fine I guess. (I still judge the writers.) The only real con of the movie is that Meiko comes across as a wet blanket who doesn’t deserve the sympathy from the other characters (but somehow . . . just gets it). This is the writing in the previous movies being terrible, because they never showed us convincingly why the Chosen Children would actually accept and care about Meiko so much.

On a positive . . . this is the movie that made me fall in love with T.K.. It’s also – by far – the best written movie in the series and, personally, my favourite Digimon movie ever. So thanks, tri..

Score: 8.5/10.

Chapter 4: Loss

Yokomon being a bitch to Sora and no one else is still so incredibly forced and defies logic. I don’t think anyone can argue with this. But, other than this major bad writing flaw . . . the film was surprisingly pretty good. It probably has the best pacing of all the tri. films, too. I don’t think I even looked at how much time I had left of the movie to go (which I constantly did for Reunion and Determination, because . . . zzzzzzz).

I’m pretty torn about whether it was as good as Kizuna. I think . . . it was? But only because ALL of the characters were in it.

Let me put it another way: I think Kizuna is actually the slightly better film, but because Kizuna only really had TWO main characters, it makes its score go down a bit -- to match Loss’ score, which actually is slightly “worse”. But the fact that Loss has ALL the characters in it, lifts it up a bit to be pretty on par with Kizuna to me.

But Kizuna has more of an emotional punch, so, I would say Kizuna edges it out . . . just. Loss also has more flaws than Kizuna. But, overall, Loss was a pretty good film. Well done, tri., you’re on a roll! (And then . . . you stopped abruptly, lol.)

My favourite exchange:

Izzy: “Matt and Tai are best friends.” Matt: “No we’re not!”

Score: 7/10.

Chapter 5: Coexistence

Lots of Meichi . . . and Meiko being the best she’s ever been (or ever going to be). This is the only movie she didn’t come across as a useless wet blanket. And I did really like the Meichi heart-to-heart because it was actually well written. Do I ship Meichi though? No, I don’t think so. Even though they “connected” in this movie, it still seems a bit too forced and abrupt to me and it just wasn’t enough. Plus, I really don’t know why Tai would be attracted to her . . . I think he’d be attracted to girls like Mimi.

There’s a quick scene where Matt refuses to talk to his mum on the phone. My heart, it aches. Why couldn’t tri. show him ACCEPTING the phone call? That would’ve been a neat personal growth thing for Matt, coming off of Adventure, you know? I guess they just prefer him being closed off to his mum for life . . . it’s realistic, but still sad.

I really liked Matt yelling in emotional frustration because Meicoomon needs to be sacrificed (at Tai’s insistence). That’s the first time tri. got the Matt/Tai roles right so far? Oh . . . it’s because Tai’s storyline (his “character growth”) is FINALLY starting to get resolved. You know, him reverting back to the way he always was and being the capable leader who can call shots like that? Yeah. So when their roles go back to normal, everything MAKES SENSE again.

Wow, isn’t that incredible, tri.? That the characters now seem authentic and “right” now that you’ve decided to SWITCH THEIR ROLES BACK? Amazing.

But Matt putting Tai’s goggles around his neck = ICONIC.

That’s his brief consolation prize for being the ACTUAL leader for four and a half movies. Fuck you, tri..

But my issue with Tai’s storyline – other than the effects it had on Matt and Tai’s characterisation – also has to do with bad writing from more of a writer’s perspective (in that perhaps the average viewer wouldn’t have a problem with it).

I hate “undeserving” leaders in fiction (see: Luther from The Umbrella Academy).

Let me explain.

My favourite leaders in fiction (the best leaders I’ve ever seen) are Taichi from Adventure, Leonardo from Nickelodeon’s TMNT, and Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead. Why?

Because the writing showed you through actions why those characters were the most capable at being the leader. It doesn’t just point a finger at one character and go, “There! Leader! Always!”

Good writing shows you why a character is a good leader through their actions.

Bad writing just “designates” one character as the leader (just because the title “belongs” to them), and no matter their actions, they will always be regarded as the leader simply because the writer wanted that character to be the leader.

And tri. unfortunately does the latter. For most of the series, tri. shows Matt as the most capable leader – but because Tai is simply DESIGNATED the leader (that is, no matter what happens, Tai IS THE CHOSEN LEADER just because he’s the main character) – the series needed to get Tai back to his leadership mantle that has his name permanently etched on it.

I hate that.

And this isn’t a “Matt should’ve been the leader because he’s my favourite character” thing. It really isn’t. I personally never cared about Matt being the leader, because Adventure showed me that Matt was too emotional to be the leader. And he is. In fact, someone tagged me in a post a few months back where they quoted something I’d never seen before: it was Koushirou in the Digimon Adventure novels POINT BLANK telling Yamato that he was too emotional to be the leader. I laughed, because I love it when the series justifies my opinions in actual dialogue.

Anyway, I've always thought that Matt is too emotional to be the leader and never cared that he isn’t the leader. However . . . tri. told me in the first four and a half movies that Matt is NOT too emotional to be the leader. In fact, tri. told me that Matt’s perfectly capable of being the leader – and MORE capable of it than Tai was in those first four movies.

So, my issue is, if you’re going to show me that Matt is the better leader, then . . . MAKE HIM THE LEADER? You don’t “need” Tai to be the leader; he was utterly useless for the first four and a half movies.

But oh, that’s right; because Tai is the DESIGNATED LEADER, no matter what is shown (ie. Matt being the better leader), tri. has to revert back to Tai being the capable leader.

That’s bad, forced writing.

You should NEVER give the audience the impression that someone is the leader “just because” that title belongs to them in the series. Remember, SHOW ME the actual leader through their actions (ie. that is Matt in tri.) instead of just shoving it down my throat that there is “one true leader” that the writing must get back to, regardless of how incapable that person was.

Matt constantly tries to wake Tai the fuck up to lead in tri., but . . . Why? Matt is doing a perfectly good job of being the leader. There is NO need for Tai to step up and be the leader if he isn’t capable of it. If you can’t lead, STEP DOWN. The leader should never come across as being “designated” – they should always come across as the leader through their actions. And in tri.’s case, that was Matt.

Of course, we can’t have Matt be the leader when Tai is the main character of Digimon, can we?

But my stance is, if that is the case, tri. never should have showed us Matt was better at leading than Tai in the first place. Because it comes across to viewers as Tai just being the “designated leader” simply because the writing said so . . . and that, as stated, is bad writing.

My point is: the role-reversal never should have happened.

(And it’s only when Tai disappears that we suddenly get shown that Matt wouldn’t lead as well, so that we now think -- at the end of the series -- that Tai needs to make a heroic return and be the leader, despite it being shown earlier that he was useless . . . Yeah, fuck you, tri..)

Score: 6.5/10.

Chapter 6: Future

I’m still not here for Matt “learning a lesson” from Tai. Again, the writing for this is extremely bad and contradictory.

So, basically, Matt “realises” what Tai’s perspective is (his entire issue in the first movie) and NOW understands it . . .

Except, you know, the perspective Tai had was ALWAYS Matt’s perspective BEFORE tri. started. They just role-reversed their perspectives, so you have a REALLY BAD situation where Matt realises HIS OWN PAST PERSPECTIVE . . . is the lesson he “finally” learnt at the end of tri..

Matt changed into Tai (although tri. insists that MATT NEVER CHANGED AT ALL), but throughout the course of the series – THROUGH TAI’S EXAMPLE OF BEING MORE LIKE MATT HIMSELF – Matt realises his old views (Tai’s CURRENT views) made sense, and . . . acknowledges that Tai has a point/understands what Tai means now.

That’s Matt’s “character growth” by being Tai’s foil – being taught a lesson from Tai that Matt himself has always known.

Seriously, tri.?

It’s so incredibly lame and contradictory and just incredibly bad writing.

My biggest issue with tri. (if you hadn’t noticed) was the role-reversal of Matt and Tai. Other people can justify it all they want, but it was close to character assassination to me. Matt was 80% Matt, and Tai was . . . like, 50% Tai. Yeah, I disliked Tai for half the series.

An easy “litmus test”: If tri. had simply reversed Matt and Tai’s roles – so Matt is the one super concerned about collateral damage to the point where he freezes up, and Tai is the one being aggressive and insists Matt stops acting like a pussy – no one would’ve batted an eyelid. Because that would’ve been 100% in-character and make the most sense of what those two characters would’ve done in that predicament.

But, of course, because Tai’s the actual main character of Digimon, and this collateral damage dilemma (which is a good idea to explore, mind you) was their chosen issue, they forced it onto Tai – which also affected Matt as his foil. And thus, a lot of people had issues with what it did to Tai and Matt’s characterisation. Again, thank god Kizuna righted tri.’s wrong.

Also, I have to bring this up even though I’m sure everyone and their pet fish has complained about this: The whole 02 thing is insanely bad writing. They “went missing a long time ago” and Tai and co. DIDN’T NOTICE OR CARE? Like, seriously tri., it’s not that hard to come up with a better way to get them out of the series. It’s incredibly stupid that Tai was having issues with collateral damage potentially killing strangers, while his OLD FRIENDS were missing the entire time and they had no idea where they were, but then to suddenly CARE that they were finally found in the last movie?

Just, the logic, there is none. “Oh, we forgot about them completely . . . but, now that you mention it, we’re super glad they’re safe!” Seriously. You’re asking too much of the audience to make up excuses for you. I personally don’t care about the 02 kids at all, but the handling of it was definitely one of the biggest fails in tri.. They could have written them out A LOT better.

It’s also jarring when, in Kizuna, the 02 kids are back in the fold like they’ve never left. Tri. makes it seem as though they lost touch/aren’t close friends, because they hardly care and their reactions to “Ken” makes it seem as though he’s almost a stranger to them. But Kizuna feels as thought it comes STRAIGHT after 02, because it feels like they’ve always been a tight group (read: it really feels like Kizuna ignored tri. completely).

Score: 5.5/10.

Final Thoughts

I did it! I finished rewatching tri. (technically my first viewing of the English dub)! YAY!

I mostly still feel the same way about the series on a rewatch that I originally did. I think the biggest change of opinion for me was that I liked Maki a lot more than I did when I was just watching it in the instalments with months between films. I’m pretty sure it’s because I didn’t know her character at all as I was seeing it all for the first time, so it’s easy to be quick to judge -- but now that I knew her entire character arc, I actually got to appreciate her. But her storyline still could’ve ended A LOT better – but that’s really my only criticism of it. She was a great character.

I think it would’ve been a lot better to configure Maki into “Meiko” and have her infiltrate the Chosen Children and be a villain “from the inside”. I don’t think Meiko should have existed at all, and I think the reason tri. didn’t “hit” for most fans stems from the existence of such a poor character as Meiko being central to the plot (and thus having all of the terribly written things that happen in tri., happen in tri. . . .)

I think tri. was going to get a sequel but, because it wasn’t as well-received as they’d hoped (lots of criticisms of it . . .), they dropped it and made Kizuna instead. I really think that’s what happened.

I’m glad though because I LOVED Yamato in Kizuna. He was straight from Adventure/02. He was completely in-character in Kizuna and STILL managed to show the audience that HE HAD GROWN. See tri., it’s really not that hard to do.

Sometimes, it’s hard to put into words what exactly is “wrong” with a character. (Though I tried to explain it . . .) Sometimes, you just have to “see” a character and the “vibe” they give off isn’t quite that of the character you know.

That’s what happened with Tai and Matt’s characters in tri. for me. But the “vibe” of their characters in Kizuna came across as 100% authentically them, straight from Adventure/02, BUT GROWN UP.

You just “know” the characters when you see them. It’s the little nuances in their characterisations, lines of dialogue, their actions and reactions, and you just recognise the characters as them. And that’s from knowing who they are from past series (Adventure/02). Kizuna got Yamato and Taichi 100% right.

I’m going to put 17-year-old tri. Matt down to teenage hormones. Sora was withholding sex from him and so he had a huge amount of pent-up aggression. Yeah. *cough*

I am glad tri. exists though, because I got to see Matt at 11, 14, 17 and 22. And that’s amazing.

Best Characters

Matt (despite having issues with 20% of him, he still ultimately came across as the “star” of tri. to me), T.K. and . . . *gasp* Maki. Yeah. Seriously, she was actually one of the best written characters. Such a shame about how tri. chose to close her story.

Honourable Mentions

Mimi and Sora. Izzy and Joe. (Everyone but the Yagami siblings? Lmao)

Worst Character

Meiko. By a long shot. I honestly have no idea how anyone could like her (and are not just indifferent to her) . . . but I think, like, three people do.

Scores / Ranking

Chapter 1: Reunion – 5/10. Terrible. Chapter 2: Determination – 6/10. OK. Chapter 3: Confession – 8.5/10. Excellent. Chapter 4: Loss – 7/10. Good. Chapter 5: Coexistence – 6.5/10. Good-ish. Chapter 6: Future – 5.5/10. Terrible.

I had more issues with the bad writing decisions in Future than Reunion, but a lot more happens in Future, while Reunion is just boring. So . . . I guess Future is better than Reunion – but just. My ranking of the films now (best to worst):

Chapter 3: Confession Chapter 4: Loss Chapter 5: Coexistence Chapter 2: Determination Chapter 6: Future Chapter 1: Reunion

Conclusion

Overall, Digimon Adventure tri. is a pretty average series. I liked it enough, but there were giant leaps in logic and small, sometimes huge, bad writing decisions that could’ve been avoided or done a lot better with very little effort. The quality of a series depends on ALL the parts working: having good characters, good storytelling, stellar attention to detail, great adherence to logic so that the audience aren’t taken out of the experience. This is where tri. fails, because if you have a lot of those moments, it really does lower the quality of your story to your audience, who will get tired of constantly having to suspend their disbelief.

But, despite all of its flaws, tri. did give us the best Digimon movie ever made (Confession), so . . . Yay? I’ll take it.

If you were to directly compare Adventure and tri., I think you would say that tri. had better writing overall. And I would agree. But comparing them directly isn’t fair. Why? Because Adventure was made for kids, and tri. was made for adults. And here’s the thing:

Digimon Adventure is an excellent children’s series.

Digimon Adventure tri. is an average adult series.

Sure, a lot of dumb things happen in Adventure, but you can give it a pass because it’s a “kids show”. Overall, it was still an excellent series for kids, so much so that parts of it still holds up even when you view it as an adult with better critical thinking. That’s amazing.

Tri. is the better written series when directly compared but, well, it had to be. Its writing was better because it was aimed at adults, which naturally just lifts the ceiling that Adventure had to be aware of from being aimed at kids. But tri.’s many instances of bad writing isn’t as easily forgivable, as it is aimed at adults, so when it’s dumb . . . it’s just really dumb.

So, even though tri. is technically better written overall, I still think Adventure is actually the better series. How is that possible? Well, if someone asked you to recommend a good children’s show, you’d definitely say, “Digimon Adventure”. But if someone asked you to recommend a good series, you would NOT say, “Digimon Adventure tri.” At least, I wouldn’t.

And that’s it! Well done if you’ve made it to the end. I don’t think I will ever write about tri. again. See you in the next post about the Digimon Adventure: 2020 reboot series. :)

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digimon adventure tri #digimon tri #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #review #tri thoughts #english dub #chosen children #taichi yagami #yamato ishida #analysis #?#just my very long thoughts on the issues i had with their characterisation

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softer-fe-imagines · 5 years

Text

remaining summer requests

The last of the summer requests (11 of them and one extra!) are all under the cut;; ♡

Actually I love this;; So many cute things to think about! ♡

There’s a loud boom as the door is forced open, almost as loud as the thunder outside. “I am here,” Grima announces as he strides in. There’s a thunderstorm outside, his specialty, but that’s not the point. In his studies of human culture, he’s learned that the dominant human is supposed to comfort the other while it rains like this. So, that’s exactly what he’s here to do.

Although, quite contrary to what he’s heard is supposed to happen, you merely glance at him from your position at the window before patting the spot beside you. He glides over and sits down because… what else is he supposed to do when you’re watching the storm rather intently and not paying much attention to him?

It’s a moment later when he voices his question. “Are you not scared, worm?”

“Of course not, storms like this are cool,” you reply. He blinks.

“Well, I can make storms like this any day, you know.” There’s a certain tone in Grima’s voice that you just can’t place, so you glance over to see a pout forming on his face. He’s looking out the window as if the storm has offended him in some way, and you can’t help but laugh.

“You’re jealous of the weather, hm?”

“I am not,” he lies, averting his eyes so he doesn’t have to see the knowing look in your eyes.

“Oh, you totally are! Wow, I never thought I’d see the day-” you’d have continued, of course, but Grima’s eyes narrow and a well-timed clap of thunder resounds as lightning strikes, bright and true, while Grima’s lips make contact with your own.

When I saved this to my drafts I put “shiny;;” as the comment and? that still totally applies;; You have god-tier taste, anon!

It’s close to 4 in the morning and Soren is already awake - or, rather, it’s more accurate to say he’s still awake since he hasn’t slept a wink all night. He can’t concentrate anymore, the words in front of him swimming and diving into a blurry mess as he sighs, loudly.

“…Soren, come to bed,” you whisper, startling the man in question. He looks over at you, questioningly, as he sighs again.

“Did I wake you?” You shake your head in response.

“Come to bed,” you repeat, and Soren finds himself too tired to argue, so he sighs one final time before slipping in beside you.

It’s warmer here, he thinks, as you shuffle closer to him, enveloping him with your body heat. He still won’t be able to sleep - at least he doesn’t think so - but this is comfortable, preferable to sitting and stewing in cold hordes of letters and numbers. It's… nice, he admits to himself, if only in his sleep-deprived mind.

“I’m glad you think it’s nice,” you say, which totally means he was thinking aloud, but he’s still too tired to do much more than make an aggravated sound. “Sleep well.”

The words are an invitation that maybe he won’t be accepting this time, but the sentiment is there. Soren closes his eyes and is thankful.

Anon I love youuuuu

It’s supposed to be a solo dance performance, one where you watch Laslow perform the dance he’s been perfecting as of late. It’s a wonderful show - Laslow takes on an air that he only seems to have during moments like this and he’s so graceful, fluid and lithe like he’s meant to do this for the rest of his life.

You clap because it’s the best thing you’ve seen in your life, or, at least the you of right now thinks so. Laslow smiles, cheeks tinged a light pink as he settles under your gaze, and then he’s pulling you up to join him.

“But I can’t-” you try to protest.

He cuts you off. “Just follow me and it’ll be fine,” he says, words accompanied by his signature smile, so you suppose you just have to listen.

It’s fun, twirling around in circles as Laslow leads you. Laughter fills the air and, at some point, you get a little dizzy, enough so that the scenery begins to light up. You wouldn’t pay much attention to it, but even as the two of you slow down, the lights remain, blinking in and out of existence at a leisurely pace.

“Fireflies…” you say aloud, the word coming out as barely a breath. Laslow smiles again, brighter than all the bugs around you and suddenly you can’t take your eyes off of him.

Ugh your mind anon, I stan you, like, spiritually;; Thank you for enabling my women-writing, you’re the best!!

“Ice cream? I’ve heard of it, of course, but I had assumed that soldiers wouldn’t get to have such a delicacy.” Laegjarn says after you bring up the topic of the typical summer food.

You shake your head in response. “Well, you assumed wrong. Ice cream’s super common here, so it’s super good for the summer! Would you like to get some?”

“Do you think I’ll enjoy it…?” she asks, to which you nod aggressively.

“Of course, of course! And if you don’t, we’ll get you all kinds of other summer treats until we find something you do like!” It’s said with such determination that Laegjarn can’t help her laughter.

“If you’re so certain, then I’m sure it won’t take too long,” she replies with a smile as she slips her hand into your own.

“Here,“ Cordelia says, offering you a cone of ice cream, which you take eagerly as a way to stave off the heat. "I wasn’t quite sure what you’d like, so I guessed. I hope that’s alright…”

She sounds a bit saddened by the fact that she didn’t know, but you still smile brightly at her anyways. “That’s okay, this is my favourite,” you reply because it’s true, somehow her guess had been completely correct. “It’s perfect!”

Cordelia lets out a sigh of relief as she settles down next to you, balancing her own cherry and vanilla cone in one hand. “That’s a relief. To think I don’t know my partner quite as well as I thought I did…”

You can’t help but laugh. “That just means that there’s more to learn, right? We can do it together!” Cordelia smiles at that, small but bright.

Of course!! I love him too anon;; ♡

Hríd is surprisingly good at swimming, darting through the water with relative ease. It’s surprisingly fun to cheer him on from your place on the sand as he performs strangely fancy maneuvers in the water.

You gradually lose focus on him, though, as Ylgr comes over and asks you ever so sweetly to make a sandcastle with her. You can’t refuse such an adorable face, so your attention is neatly passed over to the youngest of Nifl’s royal family. It’s only after a few minutes of sand crafting that a presence makes itself known behind you, the loud clearing of someone’s throat.

Looking over your shoulder, Hríd himself stands behind you, a small frown on his face. “You should come swim with me,” he says.

“No,” Ylgr protests before you can even open your mouth. “We’re making a sandcastle.” The two stare at each other, an intense face-off as you sit, not quite knowing what to do. A moment later, each one of them grabs on to you, pulling in either direction as they begin to argue.

“Wait-” you exclaim, and they stop just before they pull you apart.

“You should come with me,” Hríd insists.

“No, stay with me!” Ylgr exclaims.

“I… think I’ll go swim with Hríd first,” you say gently, and he smiles triumphantly while his sister immediately frowns. “And then we’ll both come back and build a castle with you, Ylgr. Is that alright?”

“But-” Hríd begins to protest, but Ylgr is faster.

“Okay! I’ll be waiting!” She says with a bright smile and you give a sigh of relief. With that, you turn to go back into the ocean with your boyfriend, conveniently missing the way Ylgr sticks out her tongue in her brother’s direction. He makes a face in response, but, ultimately, decides that playing with his sister is fine.

You link arms with Hríd as you make your way towards the water. “You’re too nice to that sister of mine,” he says. “She’s spoiled enough as is.”

“No one can help it, she’s cute and she knows it…” you reply. “But, it’s good to have a friendly relationship with one’s future family, no?”

“Ah…” Somehow, Hríd’s cheeks begin to colour, turning a little bright pink than usual as your words sink in. “I… guess you’re right.”

You laugh and his skin turns an even prettier shade of pink. “Why don’t we go cool off?” you ask and he frantically nods a quick yes before detaching himself from your side and diving into the water as you follow behind at your own pace. Ylgr may be a cute kid, you think, but Hríd is probably the cutest man in the world.

I don’t usually think about him? But when I did it was so much fun;; I hope you enjoy it anon!!

Midnight watch - by far the worst job in the army, at least, in the opinion of most - is probably the time you see Frederick the most. He’s always so busy running here and there and everywhere for Chrom and Lissa and Robin and countless others, so it’s nice to have a time where you have him all to yourself, even if it’s the middle of the night.

It’s then, when you’re holding hands (only after many nights of begging that he at least allow that much contact, it couldn’t hurt after all), that he points out a new occurrence, on the hill just outside of your patrolling area.

It glows as if it’s magic, you think at first, but it takes only a moment more for you to realize that they’re fireflies, the first of the season.

They’re so pretty that you want to thank Frederick immediately, but the moment you look up at him to do so, the soft smile on his face stops you. He looks peaceful, which is rare since the two of you are out in the open, not somewhere private like usual. The idea of it all makes you smile, so instead, you merely squeeze his hand a little harder.

!!!! Of course of course, how did you know I love him anon,,,, You must be a mind reader, so maybe you can tell how much I love you? (Hint: It’s over 9000♡)

Lukas has his fingers entwined with your, his grip gentle but firm as the two of you walk side by side. It’s cool out, just a bit colder than you’d like it to be, really, so you find yourself grateful for the warmth of his skin.

The morning is quiet and so are the two of you, but perhaps that’s a good thing. It’s relaxing, peaceful, a welcome change… or something like that. Regardless of what it is, it’s quite nice. You’d share the thought with Lukas, but looking in his direction shows an expression of deep thought, so you keep the feeling to yourself.

Instead, you swing your attached arms back and forth, just for something to do. Lukas looks at you and you look back at him with a smile, and he turns away, but the corners of his lips are still visibly turning upwards even though he’s turned away.

…This one, I have to admit I messed up;; I posted a Henry one a few weeks back that asked for prompt number 5, but I did 4 instead… That’s a huge mistake on my part, but since it’s been so long I don’t want to change it. So, this is Henry with number 5, watching fireflies!

“Look look look, can’t you see them?” Henry exclaims, excitedly tugging you in the direction of whatever it is that he’d like you to see.

“The… fireflies?” you ask as you finally come to a stop somewhere deep in the night, the lightning bugs being the only source of light other than the moon high up in the sky.

He nods aggressively and you swear his smile gets larger if that’s even possible. “Yep! See they look like the magic sparks, the ones you see when you cast a good big spell! And since you said you can’t see them, I thought I’d show you these instead!”

You blink at him once or twice before a smile that mirrors his own settles on your face. “That’s sweet of you, Henry?”

“You think so?” he replies, tilting his head in question. Instead of waiting for an answer, though, he reaches out to grasp your hand in his. “Then, let’s watch them together!”

Poly is a-okay here! It’s not super romantic but this one was fun to do, so I hope you’ll enjoy it regardless;;

If you had to compare the three of you, Ryoma is definitely the most used to the heat. Next is you, then Xander, who gets overheated insanely fast. That mostly explains the current situation - the three of you seated side by side on your couch, the lights turned off and a fan blowing at its highest setting as a means of keeping the three of you cool.

“…I can’t believe the air conditioning broke.” Xander voices aloud. Ryoma laughs warmly and you sigh, as if exhaling the heat from your body.

“It’s too hot,” you say and Xander nods in agreement, but slowly to not to create too much more heat. Ryoma just laughs some more.

“You two just need to build up more heat tolerance,” he suggests, and Xander gives him a pointed stare.

“I’m melting,” he says in monotone. You glance over and it appears he’s right, if the amount of sweat on his face is anything to go by.

“Aw, you poor thing.” Ryoma leans over you to wipe the moisture from Xander’s forehead, his arm effectively adding even more heat to what you think is more than enough. Xander leans into you more closely to gives Ryoma better access to his face, but that only produces more heat.

You heave out another heavy sigh and they pause, looking at you. “Wait just a second…” you ask, so Ryoma pulls back, giving the room to slide off the couch and right onto the cool floor. “And now you can continue.”

Ryoma stares at your form on the ground before he snorts, his laughter still too warm for the atmosphere. “What, were we too hot for you?”

“Yes,” you reply and this time it’s Xander who laughs. “You’re lucky I love you two and that it’s too hot for this,” you say with a pout and decided to angle the fan in your direction as the two of them continue you on behind you.

Miss Laura is actually very cute… I did my best to do her justice, so I hope you enjoy this anon!

“So we have everything?” Laura asks, staring at the luggage for the fifth time in the past hour.

“Laura, you’ve double checked your double checks, I’m sure we do! And if we don’t, we can always buy things when we need them.”

It makes sense, of course, but Laura still looks a little worried. “But…”

“No buts,” you say firmly. “It’ll be fine, don’t worry. And if it’s not, I’m sure we can figure out a way to fix things!”

“If you’re sure…” she replies, the frown on her face still present. You’re not a fan of it, not when she could be smiling, so you reach over to take her hand. She looks up, a little surprised as you look her right in the eye.

“I’m absolutely sure. I’d be worried if I was going by myself but since it’s with you, there’s no problem, right? I’ll be counting on you.”

Laura pauses for a moment. “Then, if you’re counting on me… I’ll do my best too!” she says, voice filling with confidence as a small smile appears on her face.

You smile back in much the same way. “Then, let’s get going!”

“Mhm!”

In the end, you do forget a few things, but it’s all alright. Laura is able to take care of it, and you’re there to help her, so there really is nothing to worry about.

Bonus*** Some extra Ryoma because I didn’t realize I’d already done the prompt so I did it again? Please accept it it’s cute;;

“Good morning,” comes Ryoma’s voice. It’s gentle, cleaving through sleep like one cuts through butter. You blink, eyes fluttering open.

“Good… morning?” you reply, your brain still clouded by sleep. You hear Ryoma laugh, maybe, and then there’s a warm, soft pressure on your forehead.

“Still tired, hm? Perhaps this will wake you up…” It’s hard to comprehend things when you’ve just woken up merely half a second before, but somehow you think you should prepare yourself…

There’s the soft pressure again, this time on your lips and, ah, you melt into it. The vibrations of Ryoma’s laughter fill your throat this time, delightfully tingly.

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ialreadyreadthatfanfic · 5 years

Text

Charles Xavier Is A Huge Dick: The Movie

or,

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Hey, if you haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t want to be spoiled, you probably should stop reading!

I watched the new X-Men movie. Not only I’m that annoying cinema-goer that sits behind you and mocks the movie audibly during the seance, oh no, I’m also that annoying cinema-goer that comes back home and makes a bitchy tumblr post about the movie.

But, guys, that was so bad.

First off: I’m convinced that upon reading the script, James MacAvoy and Sophie Turner instantly lost the will to act, because we’ve all certainly seen far better performances from both of them.

My other theory is that the director simply told them not to bother, because this was, as far as I can tell, a deliberate franchise-killer.

The scene-by-scene description of the train-wreck under the cut for the curious.

PROLOGUE

We open the movie with the scene where young Jean Grey and her parents are in car crash, because Jean Cannot Control Her Powers. The kid survives; the parents aren’t so lucky. This scene is generally inoffensive, if predictable.

From now on, young Jean Grey behaves like a kid-shaped robot. Someone please write her better dialogue.

Charles Xavier arrives at the hospital, confirms her parents are dead, somewhat unenthusiastically delivers some well-worn platitudes and whisks her away to his school.

Hey, mutant powers are like pens. Especially the ones you can’t control, because sometimes pens go on a rampage and stab people in the eyes, you know, unintentionally.

(No, seriously, they went with that metaphor.)

TITLES - BACK TO THE FUTURE - or 1992, I guess, one cheer for 90s nostalgia

In effort to remind us humans that as a species we did some cool things on our way to ruining the planet, we watch the launch of a space shuttle.

Suddenly Houston, we have a problem. A sentient solar flare or something is attacking the brave astronauts! Oh no! Who’re we gonna call?!

Charles Xavier!

Like literally, the Mr. President of US of A calls Charles Xavier, like Chuck, are you watching the TV rn?, and Xavier’s like, already giddy with anticipation, Why yes, Mr. President, I see you are in a spot of trouble, and Mr. President’s like, Sooo, Chuck, I literally HATE TO ASK, BUT... and Xavier’s like, practically bouncing with glee, BUT OF COURSE, X-MEN TO THE RESCUE!!!

So Chuck sends off his chicks. Nominally, the team is under Mystique’s command. There also Hank, and baby-faced Storm, and even more baby-faced Kurt Wagner, oh yeah JEAN, she’s there too bc PLOT, and Scott was along too. Did I forget anyone?

I forgot someone, didnt I?

OH YEAH, the Quicksilver was there too. Considering how cool he was in earlier movie(s?), it’s kinda sad that he’s largely inconsequential here and I forgot about his existence about halfway through.

Charles calls Houston on the Cerebro like a huge showoff he is, and the X-Men proceed to rescue the astronauts from weird-looking space cloud (which is of course the Phoenix Force, or whatever comics call it). There’s some cool looking scenes here where X-Men use their powers, but they’re just window dressing for the main plot:

Charles Xavier is being a huge dick, backseat driving this mission through Cerebro and not trusting Mystique’s judgement.

BTW, Mystique might be the only character in the movie who behaves like a sensible person, which is why she’s not there for very long.

Anyway the scene goes like this:

Mystique: we saved ALL BUT ONE astronaut! Coming back for that one guy is super risky and probably will only lead to more deaths! I’m cutting my loses like sensible field leader!

Prof X: OH NO YOU WON’T get back for that one guy or the whole mission is a failure!!!

Mystique: WTF??!! That’s crazy, we will get killed!

Prof X: But it’s better to throw away our lives than have less than 100% record on rescue mission, because if we give humans even slightest pretext, they will instantly revert back to hating us, see? The President will stop taking my calls, people will want to arrest us for property damage, and neutralize our powers and stick us in prison for mutants.

Mystique: ...seriously, why am I on your side again?!

Prof X: Just have Kurt take Jean to the shuttle and she’ll hold it intact while he looks for the guy! Raven, I want to remind you I can bitch at you telepathically anytime, anywhere, for the rest of your life!

Mystique: DAMN YOU FINE

So they do it. Kurt manages to rescue the guy, but not Jean. The shuttle blows to bits around her. We are supposed to be sad for 2 seconds there, but then the Phoenix Flare swallows her, she survives, X-Men return to Earth with the astronauts and are showered with praise from adoring masses who stand there with cutesy sings to welcome them upon landing. Whatever.

Jean has a conversation with Scott where they mack on each other and she reassures him She’s Never Been Better, Really, I Feel Great After That Traumatic Experience, and Scott is like, IDK but okay?? I guess??

And Hank checks her out too, and her power is OVER NINE THOUSAAAAND, but Jean’s like, chill, I feel greeeeeat, so Hank’s like, the only problem with this situation is that I need to design a better power-meter!! Ha ha!

Meanwhile, back to plot A, where Charles Xavier continues to be a huge dick. Mystique calls him out about his control freak thing, Charles responds by being a sanctimonious asshole because it’s not like he ever learns or grows as a person in these movies, you know, and Mystique basically throws her arms up and storms out, which is a good representation for audience reaction at that point. Her parting shot is one of like two good lines in the whole movie:

Mystique: And anyway, as far as I can see, the women saved the day again! Maybe you should think about renaming us X-Women!

The movie will shortly repay her for that, don’t worry.

Some other things happen. Creepy aliens looking for Phoenix Booster covertly invade Earth. Mystique goes to Hank and says, hey so Charles is being a huge dick and a total control freak. I’m kinda fed up with him, maybe it’s time to move out and start living our own life? To which Hank is like, IDK Raven do even have a life outside X-Men, and I don’t want to move out of my lab, and Mystique is like, ugh okay I’ll stay.

Jean gets upset at the party and pushes some people over in midst of Phoenix breakdown, which makes everyone panic. Charles notices that her power is now OVER 9000 and he can’t just go and fuck around in her mind anymore, so the logical solution is to use Cerebro to do that anyway.

It turns out that Phoenix thing not only amplified Jean’s power, it also dissolved mental blocks Charles put in her mind to hide a terrible truth from her: her father survived the car crash. In fact, with her powers, she can find her father right now! Jean, in midst of her generic emotional crisis, blows out of the school to do exactly that, because she feels alone and misunderstood and betrayed, man.

It turns out he willingly gave her up and I guess hates her because she caused the accident by putting her mother to sleep while driving. Jean is pretty upset and about to smite the whole neighbourhood, when the X-Men arrive.

This is how X-Men discreetly take care of their business: They suit up in their official uniforms and take their official super-advanced jet and land it on the street, so everyone around will know what’s up. The only thing they were missing while confronting Jean was the transparent with the word INTERVENTION.

Jean freaks out, X-Men try to fight her, they all cause maximum collateral damage possible, there’s police, Mystique tries to talk Jean down, Jean semi-accidentally kills Mystique by pushing her over and impaling her on some wooden debris.

It’s all very badly written and feels utterly cheap and is a total waste of character. Frankly, the scene made me angry and not much else. But since the whole movie revolves on the fact that everyone is an idiot, Mystique didn’t go there anyway, I guess.

Anyway, it furthers three things:

Plot A, Charles is reaching new heights of being a huge dick wherein he goes to sprout platitudes at Hank, who predictably doesn’t want to listen to him and lashes out, to which Charles reacts very maturely by being OFFENDED, because Raven was HIS sister, OBVIOUSLY he’s the MOST injured party here! (No, seriously, he pretty much says that).

Plot B, Hank needs to be a bigger idiot, to which we will come back in a moment.

Plot C, Jean Grey is now Public Enemy Number One and all people are back to hating humans! The President literally stopped taking Xavier’s calls, people want to arrest X-Men for property damage, neutralize their powers and stick them in prison for mutants.

Oh, and aliens are tracking Jean to get the Phoenix Power or whatever.

Jeans next move is to go visit Erik Lehnsherr, who is living like a hobo in Genosha with a handful of like-minded mutants. She wants to ask him for life advice, I guess, because when Charles Xavier is being a huge dick and hiding your memories of your childhood trauma from you without your consent, Magneto is the only alternative.

Too bad she wants advice on Not Killing People With My Powers When I’m Kinda Upset With Them. It’s unsurprising that Erik Lehnsherr, who spend his whole life Deliberately Killing People With His Powers Because He Was Very Upset With Them, can’t really relate.

This upsets Jean further, and she demonstrates that by attacking US soldiers who came to Genosha to arrest them and doing her best to kill them. Then she flies off to drink in a bar, where an alien picks her up, because it wants to show her the whole wide world or something.

Let’s come back to plot B for a moment, which is Hank being an idiot. Hank is very distraught and wants to kill Jean. So Hank goes to Magneto.

Hank: I want to kill Jean and I need your help with that.

Erik: Wait, what? Why?

Hank: She killed Mystique!

Erik, already frothing at the mouth: ...let me grab my I’m Being A Huge Idiot Helmet, Hank, and we can commence the business of killing.

So the aliens are pitching their “Let’s Re-Create The Earth In Your Image” campaign to Jean, which can be done only in a New York townhouse, specifically in a very special bedroom (...oh hey, I didn’t pick up on that creepy vibe until now!).

Jean is largely convinced, because in this movie characters just go back and forth as the plot demans.

So both Charles and Erik with their lackeys track down Jean, and have a huge fight in front of the above-mentioned townhouse, with lots and lots of collateral damage while they debate who is right. Before that, Erik has the second good line in the movie, which is used to rightfully call out Charles:

Erik: You’re always sorry and there’s always a speech. But no one wants to listen anymore.

Anyway, X-Men and the mutants beat up each other, Erik gets into the house and fails to kill Jean, then Charles gets in the house and tries to talk down Jean, which is followed by perhaps the most genuinely disquieting scene in the movie, in which Jean uses her telekinesis to destroy the wheelchair and force Charles to walk up the stairs.

They have an exchange that is supposed to be hopeful and heartwarming and so on, but by this point I’m fed up with this world movie.

Jean rejects the aliens’ campaign, so the alien head honcho attempts to suck out the Phoenix Dust out of her, and partially succeeds, but is interrupted midway and knocked out. All the mutants are arrested, put into special shackles restricting their powers and put on a train which is going straight to special prison for mutants.

Don’t worry, we’re in the last stretch.

Aliens need the rest of Phoenix Macguffin, so they ambush the train. There’s a big action scene, everyone is fighting the aliens, there are a few cool shots but beyond that I’m blanking. In the end Jean awakens, wipes the floor with the aliens, and when the alien head honcho tries to emotionally blackmail her into not eviscerating its hide, she grabs it, flies up into the sky and explodes them both.

Much sad. Very sacrifice. Such tears etc etc etc.

AN EPILOGUE, FINALLY

The situation returns to the status quo, except some people are dead.

The humans were about to lock up mutants in a prison like five minutes earlier, but nobody mentions that. Guess everyone forgot about that.

As far as I can tell, nobody except X-Men noticed that Earth was about to be invaded by aliens.

The school is renamed after Jean Grey.

Hank is the new headmaster. On his desk, a cheesy nostalgic photo of Mystique.

Charles, despite seemingly getting a pass on his dickishness on every turn in this narrative, is Worn Down By His Losses and retires. He occupies his time by brooding morosely at a cafe in unspecified European-looking country.

Erik finds him there. He is disproportionately cheery, like a man who after decades of pining finally is in a place where he can bully his longtime crush into a reluctant chess date, which he proceeds to do.

Camera pans up, to the sky. The sky gives us Phoenix Force-shaped wink.

THE END

#x men #xmdp #dark phoenix #review #spoilers #nebra original #my stuff #charles xavier is a huge dick the movie #jean grey #charles xavier #erik lehnsherr #mystique deserved better

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doomedandstoned · 5 years

Text

The Curious Case of Dr. Sludgelove and His Awesome Cosmic Adventures

~By Billy Goate~

There's something to be said for the enduring power of a Stanley Kubrick film. There's no denying his potent storytelling, especially when it's inspiring a new generation of bands to write music about 2001: A Space Odyssey. I mean, wasn't that movie released in the late-60s? It's tech is dated, as are much of the effects, yet here we have young musicians writing minor epics about Dave's star-tripping Jupiter run, raging apes, and that gosh-darned monolith. Hmmm, well if you look at your typical Sunn Amp, it's no wonder. Thing is a picture of solitary grandeur, to say nothing of its omnipotent, knee-bending sonority.

In our last globe-hopping journey, we landed in Mexico City where we met a band called MOONWATCHER, known to project scenes from the film while playing open amphitheaters at the dead of night. Our travels next take us to Hungary, a scene I've sorely neglected over the years. More specifically, we're going right into the heart of the action: Budapest. It's the birthplace of the great pianist-composer Franz Liszt, who is arguably the first rock star for taking his solo piano performances on the road, which ignited the swooning throngs.

Some of you may have been exposed to the Hungarian doom-stoner sound already and not even realized it. Bands like Apey and the Pea, for example, have demonstrated that Hungarians like their music spicy, served up with verve and gusto. I decided it would be a good time to open up the window and take give you all a peek at this world through the eyes of a band I stumbled upon at random a few weeks back, who endeared themselves to me almost from the start with their name: Dr. Sludgelove. C'mon, how can you not love it?

Another thing I admire about the band is their dedication to concept. The presser they sent out was helpfully annotated with scene-by-scene narration of each track, which I've decided to share with you as I walk you through them. Finally, we're going to meet the band and find out what they can tell us about what it's like to be Doomed & Stoned on their side of the planet. Buckle up, boys. We're about to take a ride with a pair of wild men out into the final frontier.

Dr. Sludgelove is:

János Papp

Attila Temesvári

János Paronai

This is the story of their excursion into the universe of Stanley Kubrick, relayed in their own words.

My Space Odyssey

I. Dawn of Man

This is the first song off of Dr. Sludgelove's debut album, inspired by the Stanley Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this song, humanity has just been born. Apes are living their everyday lives, which is just about struggling, fighting for food, and finding a place to sleep. They gather into groups -- the groups are fighting with each other, as well. The Earth during these times is very unfriendly place, with big and wrathful storms. Green can be found barely in this region and the vegetation is not very rich.

At some time, in the morning a big black prism is just appearing in front of our group at the ape cave. The shape, color, and smell is just something that has never ever been seen on this planet before. It is a monolith. An ape shows interest at once, as he caught sight of it. He moves closer, wants to touch it, but at the same time he is afraid of the unknown. He starts to dance around it. Others are appearing, as well, but they have bigger fears and choose to watch him from a decent distance. After a while, our hero just decides to tap on it. Then after some quick taps, he constantly touches the Monolith, but nothing visible seems to happen.

My Space Odyssey by Dr. Sludgelove

After some days, the ape finds some bones of a guinea pig, which are just lying in front of him. He starts to play with a piece, but he realizes after a while what he can do with it. He holds it high, then smites it with all his power. At this moment, he realizes how to use something to achieve bigger force than he is able to provide with his bare hands. He has just started to use a tool! This is also the start of the intellect, which drives humanity to reach bigger and bigger improvements. The Monolith gives the possibility of having a better, more developed life than the miserable life of apes. This moment starts everything, a pathway to the modern person's future.

II. Discovery One

In this second song, humanity is in space, travelling between planets in the Solar System. There is a base at the Moon, which can be visited by the average person, as well. Traveling in space is not such a big thing any more.

My Space Odyssey by Dr. Sludgelove

After discovering the Monolith in the surface of the Moon, a group of elite astronauts and scientists start their travel to the planet Jupiter to discover an anomaly, marked by the Monolith on the Moon. Most of the scientists are in hibernation, though two astronauts are awake during the long journey to supervise. An artificial intelligence, called HAL9000 is supporting them, dealing with all the low level controls of the spaceship.

III. HAL-9000

In this song, HAL-9000 reveals his true colors, as he tries to kill all astronauts on the spaceship. Dave Bowman, the last astronaut, decides to switch off HAL's intelligence to stop its influence controlling the whole ship's whole ecosystem. During the switching off operation, Dave needs to wear a spacesuit, as maybe HAL will try to kill him by providing no oxygen. Because of the spacesuit, we can hear Dave breathe during the entire track. This gives a sense of great tension to the whole song and originally for the movie scene, as well. We can hear as HAL tries to convince Dave that everything is alright and it will have no problems continuing the mission successfully.

My Space Odyssey by Dr Sludgelove

In the meantime, Dave pulls out computer cards from HAL's central unit, so HAL gets more and more simple-minded. At a certain point, HAL tries to convince Dave by appealing to his emotions as it states it is AFRAID! During Dave's actions, the music is heavy, a really metallic riff suggests that Dave is doing some harmful thing to HAL. When Dave finishes with the shutting down process, HAL goes into standby mode. Then he starts to "sing." This is the first thing that was taught to HAL back in the day, when it was created by its instructor, Mr. Langley.

IV. Alone Into The Void

After Dave Bowman successfully switches down HAL9000's high-level functionality, he continues the mission and heads towards the direction of Jupiter to investigate the enormously big copy of the Monolith found in the Moon. This is the focus of the fourth song. His colleague Frank Pool and all of the scientists held in deep hibernation were killed by HAL 9000 and the connection to Earth is also cut.

My Space Odyssey by Dr Sludgelove

During the long journey, therefore, he is really alone. The way to Jupiter lasts for long months. He tries to focus on the mission, but because he is lacking communication partner, Dave thinks a lot about his future, what he will find next to Jupiter, how the Monolith will behave, what will happen when he encounters it. A lot of questions and a lot of pressure on him and the prospect of the unknown drives him to depression, as he prepares to meet his doom.

V. My God, It Is Full of Stars!

For the fifth song, astronaut Dave Bowman encounters the Monolith. He says the following phrase just before losing contact with Mission Control: “The thing’s hollow -- it goes on forever -- and -- oh my God! -- it’s full of stars!”

My Space Odyssey by Dr Sludgelove

During the journey, he sees these stars as flashes, as the known three dimensional world falls apart. Time, direction, and all the usual physics does not make sense here anymore. Bowman is transported via the Monolith to an unknown star system, through a large interstellar switching station, and sees other species' spaceships going on other routes. Bowman is given a wide variety of sights, from the wreckage of ancient civilizations to what appear to be life-forms living on the surfaces of a binary star system planet.

VI. Death of Man, Born of The Starchild

After a journey through the wormhole, Dave Bowman finally arrives during the last song. The Monolith creates an environment for Dave to exist in that would not harm him in any way, making it look like a hotel room filled with familiar items to assuage any fear and appear welcoming.

Dave can't believe what he sees, but leaves the pod and explores the room in his suit. He sees the telephone and telephone book, but the phone doesn't work and the telephone book is blank.

He explores more and finds the refrigerator, where there is a variety of packaged food, but it is all "blue substance, about the weight and texture of bread pudding. Apart from its odd color, it looked quite appetizing." There are clothes in the closet, which are a bit out of date for Dave's time.

My Space Odyssey by Dr Sludgelove

Dave decides to trust the environment. "But this is ridiculous," Bowman tells himself in the novelization by Arthur C. Clarke. "I am almost certainly being watched, and I must look an idiot wearing this suit. If this is some kind of intelligence test, I've probably failed already. Without further hesitation, he walked back into the bedroom and began to undo the clamp of his helmet. When it was loose, he lifted the helmet a fraction of an inch, cracked the seal and took a cautious sniff. As far as he could tell, he was breathing perfectly normal air." He eats the blue food and drinks the water, showers, dresses, and he turns on the television.

Refreshed and exhausted, Dave lies down on the bed, turns off the light and "...for the last time, David Bowman slept." The Power behind the Monolith then transforms Dave into the Starchild, the next evolution of man.

Encounter With Dr. Sludgelove

I'm afraid 'My Space Odyssey' has only whet our appetite for more from Dr. Sludgelove. Where does the band go from here?

We are just starting to dive into the Hungarian stoner/doom/sludge scene. Our first release is more than a year old, but the needed band members have just been recruited. We started to rehearse and were able to find rehearsal room, so a lot of technical problems were solved in the last few months. Now we are planning gigs more gigs, after performing for the first time in this configuration during the spring. We are mostly close to Baby Gorilla Records and bands like Third Planet and Lanterni. We are planning gigs together first in Budapest, after that probably in some bigger cities around the country. Our one year goal is to be a band in Hungary that's invited to support a bigger foreign name, when such an act comes to play here. Our second album also will come out around the summertime, with the help of the sound engineer of the well-known band Red Swamp. Also merchandise, CD, and cassette releases are planned.

You mentioned a couple bands from the Hungarian scene. What are some others that doomers and stoners might check out?

Maybe the biggest name nowadays is Apey and the Pea. They usually play to sold out parties in Budapest, tour the whole country, and perform in foreign countries and festivals more and more. Their first releases were more grunge and stoner, then they delved into doom and sludge. Their most recent release is sludgier and contains thrash elements, as well. They are the best in Hungary right now.

Some other names worth checking out are Red Swamp, Lemurian Folk Songs, Űrhajó, Grizzly, Lanterni, Entrópia Architektúra, Alone in the Moon, Mighty Manlifter, and Third Planet, just to name a few top of mind.

For outside bands looking to tour through Hungary, what are some good booking agencies?

There is Baby Gorilla Records -- overall, really nice guys. They are managing and representing around 8-10 bands in the stoner, sludge, doom, noise, and prog rock subgenres. Also dealing with record releasing, of course, in addition to artwork, and organizing label nights, where their bands are usually supporting bigger names from foreign lands. While we're not on their label roster, we played one of their label nights in May, supporting the British band Famyne.

Thulsa Doom Booking is another one. They organize gigs for smaller foreign bands. Also they have their own group of bands, which they manage. They organize the underground festival called Thulsa Doom Fest, which you might have heard of.

Cudi Purci Booking is a bigger fish in this pond. They organize gigs with big foreign bands in the genre, like Elder, High on Fire, that kind of thing. They also organize the so-called Desszert Fest in Hungary.

What are some places that people like to hang there?

So, I'm listing some places where metalheads usually go out. Durerkert hosts a lot of live gigs in all rock and metal genres. This is a really cool place, we like it very much.

BARhole Music is the place where today's "rock stars" go to hang out in Budapest. If you want to meet with members from bands like Apey and the Pea, you will likely bump into them there.

Három Holló is a coffee house and restaurant at daytime, a cultural gathering at night -- including host to a lot of heavy music gigs and festivals.

Gólya is a cozy little place, which has lots of possibilities for smaller bands in our genre to perform live.

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#D&S Reviews #D&S Interviews #Dr. Sludgelove #Budapest #Hungary #Doom #Sludge #Metal #Sci-Fi #2001: A Space Odyssey #Stanley Kubrick #Doomed & Stoned

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The 10 Hottest 35mm Cameras You Could Buy in 1991

1991. What a great time to be alive. Seeing movies like Robin Hood and Hook in the theatres, and hearing hits like “Joyride” by Roxette or “Losing My Religion” by REM are some of my favorite pop culture memories of that time. Not to mention watching TV shows like Home Improvement, America’s Funniest Home Videos, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Of course, being eleven years old, my photography experience was limited to disposable cameras, but that might not be the case for you. If you were older or luckier, you might have had one of these classic or innovative cameras I’ll be talking about today.

Today I’m going to go over the top ten hottest 35mm cameras you could buy in 1991.

A couple of things I want to mention about this list before I get started.

I constructed the list with a few parameters in mind. First, I used Popular Photography’s Top Cameras for 1991 as the base for it. Next, I boiled the list down from twenty to ten, by selecting the ones still most relevant today. The higher number of Google results, the higher it appears on the list.

Read also: 10 of the Hottest 35mm Cameras You Could Buy in 1982

In this golden age of photography, which in my opinion was 1975 to 1995, many of the cameras released had a very long shelf life. Because of that, if I include the older models, my top ten list could have several of the same entries, even if I jump ahead nine years. So for that reason, I have put a cap on cameras to be no older than seven years from the year featured.

That brings me to the last bit, which is this isn’t a list of cameras released in 1991, rather it is a list of the hottest cameras you could buy in 1991. As I mentioned, some of these entries had been out for a few years by 1991.

With all that being said, let’s get started.

#10. Yashica 230 AF

The first camera on today’s list may be a bit of an unknown these days: the Yashica 230 AF. An early auto-exposure camera, with three modes plus manual. The 230 AF was announced in 1986 but immediately caused some controversy, as mentioned in an article by Norman Goldberg, released by Popular Photography in November 1986.

“Yashica created a stir when the company was forced to withdraw its newest entry in the autofocusing fray. Called the 230 AF, the camera quickly became the subject of a patent dispute, but not before several German-language photo magazines came out with the details on the camera. To satisfy the affronted party – perhaps Minolta – the camera was displayed in a locked showcase. Word is that the matter will be resolved soon.”

Despite the early controversy, the 230 AF made its debut in 1987. One of the more interesting features was the CS-110AF flash accessory, which fit over the hot shoe and pentaprism to give a seamless appearance, it almost makes it look like another camera.

Picking up one of these in 1991 with the flash and a 50mm f/1.8 would cost you $765, or $1,536 today. There are not many found on eBay but if you want one of your own you can expect to get one for under $100

#9. Olympus IS-1

At number nine is the Olympus IS-1. A very strange-looking camera. Even stranger at the time because cameras like this marked the birth of the bridge model. A camera that included many of the manual and auto exposure modes of an SLR, but with a fixed lens like a point and shoot.

Because it didn’t fit into an already established category of camera, Olympus dared to make their own, calling it a ZLR, or Zoom Lens Reflex. This was absolutely a marketing gimmick, but it seemed to work. The IS-1 garnered a fair amount of attention.

In December 1990, Mike Stensvold conducted a thorough review in Petersen’s Photographic on the IS-1 and concluded that “The Olympus IS-1 comes closer than most to truly being a ‘camera for everybody.’ In point and shoot mode, it’s as simple to use as any camera in its class. It offers versatility to the more creative snap shooter and it’s got some advanced features found in few other such cameras, making it useful to more serious photographers, as well.”

Olympus’s goal was centered around the idea that this was a new concept camera and the wave of the future. This three-page ad, published in November 1990 encompasses that notion by posing the question: “Remember the first time you received a fax, talked on a cellular phone or heard a CD”?

In 1991 you could expect to pay $800, or $1,600 in today’s money. If you want to buy one used on eBay they are cheap as chips.

I actually did a very detailed history on this camera recently on an episode of my show This Old Camera, in case you want to learn everything there is to know about the Olympus IS-1.

#8. Nikon N8008

Coming in at number eight is the Nikon N8008, funny how that worked out. A consumer-level autofocus SLR with some impressive features for its time including a 1/8000th shutter speed and a flash sync speed of 1/250.

While many camera manufacturers of the time were abandoning their lens mounts from the days of manual focus SLRs, Nikon was staying true to their user base by creating a new autofocus system that could still take older manual focus lenses with a fair amount of compatibility.

Peter Burian conducted a field test and wrote about it in the Winter 1989 issue of Outdoor and & Travel Photography magazine.

“Though the N8008 is clearly an advanced and sophisticated piece of high-tech engineering, it is exceedingly user-friendly,” says Burian. “I predict that any photographer who can operate a digital watch or VCR will be familiar with the N8008 and its use within 30 minutes.”

Peter also says it handles like a dream but had a couple of hang-ups about its operation. He noted that although the N8008 is capable of continuous autofocus, he nailed more sharp images with the standard AF.

The advertising campaign for the N8008 bore the title: “The difficult is does automatically. The impossible takes a few more seconds.”

Here are a couple of examples from 1989.

This one with the ballerina touches on the matrix metering system, and rear curtain fill flash. “The point is,” says the ad, “highly creative pictures that used to be difficult to impossible for anyone less than a professional photographer are now within your grasp.”

The other ad sings a similar tune stating “Ordinary exposure control systems could be fooled by the dark black sky and overexpose the lighted skyline.”

A brand new N8008 with a 50mm f/1.4 would cost you $960 1991 dollars, or $1,928 today. This camera is an unsung hero in today’s film photography community and comes in at an incredibly low price of $70 or less with shipping, body only.

#7. Contax RTS III

At number seven is the Contax RTS III. In a time when autofocus was quickly becoming King, the people at Kyocera decided to make a more streamlined, more sophisticated manual focus SLR. The first thing that people will notice is that the RTS III uses Zeiss glass, known for its build quality and sharpness. But the thing that reviewers and adverting talked about the most was a feature called RTV, or Real Time Vacuum.

In a user report, published by Petersen’s Photographic in 1991 and written by Bill Hurter, it’s explained that the RTV system is engaged when the shutter fires, and sort of sucks the film back onto the pressure plate, creating a flatter image, thus creating a sharper image.

“Roll film in cassettes was a great breakthrough, but one of its problems has always been that film curls,” says Hurter. “It curls because it is rolled into a cassette. Also temperature and humidity affect the degree of curl. Contax engineers have shown film-plane flatness error to exist in current state-of-the-art SLRs to a degree of 20-30 microns in extreme cases. Further, the contention is that a 10 micron error in film plane flatness would cause a rear focus displacement of approximately 1 cm in an image shot at a distance of 3 meters with a Zeiss 85mm f/1.4.”

Basically, you don’t buy a Contax RTS III for quick focus, but superior focus.

A 1992 ad titled “See through the eyes of a genius” gives the reader a visual of what the RTV does to film flatness and showcases the Zeiss glass.

The price on an RTS III with a 50mm f/1.4 would set you back $3,630 in 1991, or about $7,300 today — a steep investment for a manual focus camera in a progressively autofocus world, but still not the most expensive manual focus camera on today’s list.

#6. Minolta Maxxum 9000

Number six is the Minolta Maxxum 9000. In January 1985, Minolta changed photography forever with the Maxxum 7000, and ten months later we were introduced to the 9000. While the 7000 was a model meant for the broadest audience possible, the 9000 geared itself toward the more serious amateur and professional.

In May 1986, Modern Photography had a very extensive look at the Maxxum 9000. Seeing how it compared to the 7000, which they noted that “Indeed its designers not only responded to virtually every criticism we made of the original 7000, they have also created one of the most sophisticated, comprehensive, internally complex and startlingly original SLR systems the world has ever seen.”

Popular Photography did their own field test in September 1986, praising the camera. But even when incredibly innovative, a camera is rarely perceived as perfect, and the Maxxum 9000 is no exception. Writer Bob Schwalberg had a few complaints for sure, including the average/spot metering setting didn’t have a lock on it, so a sleeve, or a strap or whatever would often change metering modes without him realizing it. Also the lack of lens selection.

“Almost two years after the launching of the Maxxum autofocusing camera system, Minolta’s AF lineup is heavy on zooms, but short on meat and potatoes workaday optics.”

At the time of review, they have nothing wider than 24mm, no 35mm, and not a single zoom in the 50-135mm range.

Advertising claimed the Minolta Maxxum 9000 to be “The World’s Most Sophisticated Camera” and encouraged you to “Ascend to the height of professionalism.” It seems in this ad, released in 1989, one of Bob’s issues was resolved, as I’m seeing a 16mm prime and a 35mm to what I presume to be 105mm lens.

With a 50mm f/1.7, a Maxxum 9000 would set you back $974 in 1991, or about $1,950 today.

#5. Leica R6

The Leica R6 comes in at number five. While many cameras take a leap forward from one version to the next, Leica actually took a step back, as quoted in a review by Jack Neubart in the fall 1990 issue of Outdoor and Travel Photography Magazine.

“Unlike the R5, the Leica R6 is principally mechanically governed. The R5 comes complete with several auto exposure modes, plus manual; but the R6 has only manual exposure control, with shutter speeds ranging from 1 second to 1/1000th of a second.”

Another review, in Outdoor Photographer’s October 1989 issue by Debra Davis sums up the purpose of the camera the best.

“In this day of electronic-laden auto-everything cameras, there is a new product on the market that stands apart from the rest. Welcome to the Leica R6. Designed to appeal to the photographer who wants mostly a mechanical, manual camera, the R6 shuns current trends and offers a back to basics approach to photography.”

This three-page special advertising section titled “The Shot of a Lifetime” features three Leica cameras including the R6. The main photo was taken during a Mount Everest climb with an R6 by photographer Warren Thompson.

“A camera which could be disabled by a failed, inexpensive battery would jeopardize the photographic mission,” says the ad.

The next page claims the R6 can withstand temperatures as low as -4F and as high as 140F.

Something that made me chuckle was this quote on page 2: “If Michelangelo were alive today, he wouldn’t be painting – he’d be using a Leica.”

I guess we’ll never know.

This Leica R6 ad titled: “Seduction” gives a really nice top-down look.

“You’re irresistibly drawn to it – seduced by the beauty, the precision, the mystique of legendary performance. Unlike mere ‘cameras,’ you don’t just hold a Leica, you caress it and feel the perfect balance, comfortable fit and smooth, positive operation – an extension of your hand, your eye and your art. You’ll be starting an affair with excellence that will last a lifetime whether you choose the manual R6, the electronic R5 or fast handling RE.”

Settle down there Leica.

During my research for other videos, I’ve come across quite a few Leica ads, and I have to say, many are like this one, and there’s a reason that some Leica owners have, shall we say, a superiority complex.

If you wanted to be seduced by this all manual beast, you better take out a second mortgage, because with a 50mm f/1.4 this Everest climber will cost $5,550 in 1991, or… wait for it… $11,147 in 2021 money. These days though, you can get one for a respectable $600 used. That Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 will still choke your wallet though, at a cost of 1,200-1,800 bucks.

#4. Nikon F4s

Sliding in at number four is the Nikon F4s. I’m always curious to know the differences between models with slightly different names. In my top 35mm cameras of 1982 article, I was wondering what the big deal was between the Nikon F3 and F3HP, and the answer was, basically, the viewfinder.

Here I was again curious what the difference between the Nikon F4 and F4s was and the answer may amuse you: a battery pack. What makes an F4 an F4s is the MB-21 battery grip that takes six AA batteries and that is about it. You get a beefier camera and a slightly higher frames per second burst rate. With the MB-21, you can turn any F4 into an F4s. It’s a little sneaky on Nikon’s part, especially since it got its own advertising campaign.

Here are a couple of examples. The first here says “The Reasons” and brackets the ‘S’ and another example here it brackets the ‘es’ in Lenses. An odd choice. You’ll notice all the ads for the F4s include the battery grip because it has to.

Regardless, the Nikon F4 was a revolution for Nikon. They plunged into autofocus and while everyone else was remounting their cameras, Nikon stayed true to their user base by allowing older manual lenses on their newer autofocus cameras.

#3. Canon EOS-1

Getting the bronze medal for today’s top 10 is the other autofocus revolution flagship, the Canon EOS-1. Announced in 1989, the EOS-1 was not Canon’s first EF mount camera, but the first flagship model. As you can imagine, many FD mount Canon users were very upset that their cameras were antiquated overnight. History speaks for itself though and Canon survived the backlash.

The earliest ad I found was in September 1989’s issue of American Photographer, a colorful three-page ad, that would be one of a theme of ads with the suggestion, to quote “shoot it hot”.

“Live for photography. Eat Sleep and breathe it. Become a photograph.”

“Send the world your message…written in silver.”

I did a full history on the EOS-1 on my segment This Old Camera, in case you’re curious. After I released that video, my Patreon patrons and I were making “Shoot it Hot” jokes for weeks. It’s so incredibly cheesy and so very 90’s.

In September 1992, Camera & Darkroom magazine published: “A Quiet Revolution, A look at the Canon EOS Phenomenon,” by Mike Johnston.

Johnston took an in-depth look at Canon as a company, specifically their transition from FD mount to EOS, the controversy, and resulting innovations.

“When Canon introduced the EOS line in 1987, they immediately earned for themselves, among other things, a bad rap of sorts. The reason was the lens mount capability. The introduction of the new line was news; and the reaction from those heavily invested in expensive FD optics was swift, loud- and, to put it mildly, less than pleased.”

He would go on to say “even if you’re not a Canon photographer, it might be wise to keep your eye on them… if only to see which way the winds of change are blowing in the field of 35mm photography.”

A Canon EOS-1 with a 50mm f/1.8 would knock $1,939 out of your 90s Velcro wallet. Or about $3,900 today.

I paid $197 for the copy I have with an EF 28-105mm lens. It wasn’t in the best shape though, so expect to pay a little more.

#2. Leica M6

Obtaining silver for today’s countdown is the Leica M6. Is it any surprise that a Leica made it to the top 3?

A review by Debra Davis in the June 1991 issue of Outdoor Photographer explains the advantage of using a Leica quite well.

“The M6 allows the photographer to know what’s coming into the frame by displaying six distinct frame lines in the viewfinder window. These are projected in pairs corresponding to different focal length lenses for 28mm or 90mm, 35mm or 135mm, and 50mm or 75mm. The correct set automatically appears when you attach a lens and includes an area outside the frame line so you’ll be alert to something moving into the photo. In addition, you may manually select a different set of frame lines just by pressing a lever next to the lens. So without actually changing lenses, you can see and decide quickly, which lens to use for best composition.”

The ability to go unnoticed in a crowd is also touched on.

“The M6 is fast and silent, small and simple,” says Davis.

And here we go again with the melodrama, using the same ad theme as the R6, except this time it’s not Seduction, it’s …Obsession.

“It’s an almost unreasonable dedication to quality – meticulous attraction to detail, flawless mechanical precision, incredibly quick, quiet handling and optics that defy comparison – an obsession with perfection. It’s what sets Leica above mere “cameras” and accounts for their unchallenged reputation and unequaled value.”

If Jesus was alive today, he wouldn’t be a carpenter, he would be making Leicas.

Okay, I made that last part up, but it’s hard not to snicker at the hubris of it all. I will give Leica this, the commitment to only making small changes from model to model is impressive. Even as they transitioned to digital models, the design made very little change. You know that when you buy one, and ever feel like upgrading, you can do so knowing you won’t have a huge learning curve ahead of you.

The M6 might be second on the list, but it’s first in price. With a 50mm f/1.4, you can expect to pay $5,685 in 1991 cash, and just to give you a better idea of how much that is, in 1991, you could buy a used 1987 Dodge Omni for less, at a cost of just under $5,300. With inflation, an M6 was $11,418 in 2021 money. That is, just bonkers in my opinion. Especially when you consider that these days, you pay for the sensor in a high-end digital camera, but back then, everyone was using the same film.

Getting one on eBay is still going to be pricey. Body only is going to be three to four K.

#1. Olympus OM-4T

Coming in with the gold, is a camera you probably didn’t expect, the Olympus OM-4T. Maybe some of you did, as last time I made a list like this on the hottest of 1982, lots of you asked where the Olympus cameras were. The OM-1N came in at eleventh place in case you’re curious.

One of the features of the OM-4T that caught my eye while reading up on it was the ability to multi spot meter, as described in this review by Petersen’s Photographic writer Dan O’Neill in December 1986.

“Multi-spot metering is done by selecting different areas in the scene and metering each one with the press of the spot button. Up to eight spots can be metered and averaged by the OM-4T’s microcomputer.”

The other big deal with the OM-4T is the Full Syncro flash system. Basically, Olympus uses a focal plane shutter and that comes with its limits on how fast you can sync a flash to it. While many other manufacturers worked on a better shutter, Olympus just increased the duration of the flash system to properly gather all that light at quicker speeds. A focal-plane shutter has two curtains. A leading one and a trailing one, and at higher speeds the trailing curtain is already closing before the leading one has completed its cycle, so in the case of flash, you get an incomplete flash exposure.

Long story short, the OM-4T had a max flash sync speed of 1/2000, as promoted in an ad titled: “The first camera ever to break the light barrier.” They also called the multi spot meter function, “The most precise built-in meter in camera history.”

So what does the T stand for? According to David Brooks of Petersen’s Photographic, “the use of titanium for the bodies top and bottom plates. This exotic metal provides both lighter weight and greater strength to protect the camera’s internal circuitry to dedicate the new F-280 flash and integrate its special new capabilities into the OTF auto flash exposure control, auto-spot continuous light metering, and exposure automation.”

With a 50mm f/1.8 lens, the OM-4T will set you back $1,330 by 1991 standards, or just under $2,700 by today’s. These days you can expect to pay a respectable three to four hundred body only.

Conclusion

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And that concludes today’s list. Thanks for reading and watching, and happy shooting!

About the author: Azriel Knight is a photographer and YouTuber based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find Knight’s photos and videos on his website, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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theendlesssummerstory · 6 years

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Endless Summer, Chapter 3/44 - Small talk is for small minds

That night, I was haunted by that dream again.

“Stay down! It’s coming this way!” warned Sean.

“Taylor! Give me your hand!” said Jake.

“You don’t understand yet… do you?” taunted Everett Rourke. “Of course not. But you will… in time.”

But this time, there was something else. At the end of the dream, I was being stalked by a predator. I turned around, but before I could see who, or what, was following me, I woke up, sweating.

Feeling hungry, and it being eight o’clock already, I made my way to the restaurant to have breakfast.

When I entered the restaurant, I saw that Grace, Aleister and Zahra were sat together at one table, Sean and Craig at another, and Michelle and Quinn at another. Jake and Raj sat at the bar, close to the other students. All of them were talking to each other.

Estela sat on her own, a fair distance away from everyone else, but still watching (and listening to) them. Lila and Diego hadn’t arrived yet.

They were all having breakfast, in the form of a buffet cooked by Raj, which included bacon, scrambled eggs, toast and a mixture he called the ‘Raj Hangover Special 9000’.

The conversations died out as soon as everyone noticed I was there. They turned to face me.

“Hey!” said Jake, smiling. “If it isn’t the boy scout who cried monster.”

“Yeah, Taylor, you shot down the party faster than the cops back home.” Raj complained.

“That’s what you care about?” Estela asked him, furiously. “Don’t you realise that if there were a predator, Taylor could’ve gotten hurt? Or killed?”

I was about to apologise to everyone for lowering the mood last night, when I realised something... Estela was right! My life was far more important than their party. And I was going to defend myself.

“Estela’s right. If you want an apology for last night, that’s not gonna happen.” I told everyone, Jake and Raj especially. “I’m not going to pretend everything’s okay. Regardless of whether I saw something last night or not, there is something going on in this island, and we need to find out exactly what that is.”

“I was only tryna lighten the mood...” said Raj, despondently. Everyone gave me annoyed looks, but Estela looked at me, impressed... with admiration.

I grabbed some breakfast, and sat at the table with Grace, Aleister and Zahra. I would’ve sat with Diego, however, had he been here.

“I found something really interesting at the beach this morning.” Grace told us.

“Already, nerdette, you have 60 seconds ‘till I die of boredom. What did you find?” Zahra asked her.

“Well, I was walking on the beach this morning, and found some sea shells that I’ve never seen before.” she explained. “I even went back to my room to look them up in my marine biology textbook, but... nothing. I couldn’t find anything close to them-”

“Hold up.” Zahra interupted her. “You brought your textbooks on holiday?”

“Um, yes?”

“Congrats.” said Zahra, sarcastically. “You’re officially the dorkiest person I’ve ever met.”

Aleister exhaled deeply.

“What a sad world we live in.” he lemented. “Seeking to be informed is deemed ‘dorky’ by today’s youth. I, for one, find Grace bringing her textbooks commendable.”

“You do?” Grace smiled at him, which caused Aleister to blush.

“Well, I... I do. O-of course.” replied Aleister, flustered.

“I agree. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with bringing your textbooks on holiday.” I spoke to reduce the resulting awkwardness for Aleister.

It was then that Lila and Diego entered the restaurant, looking somewhat triumphant. Diego sat down next to me, and Lila stood at the front to address us.

“Good morning, everyone!” Lila greeted us. “I hope you’re enjoying breakfast in our 5-star restaurant! Diego and I were searching the reception area, and we think we’ve figured out what happened to the hotel guests!”

She paused for a few seconds, and looked at us expectandly, as if expecting us to answer, or clap... or maybe she was just creating tension.

“Spit it out then, dimples.” said Jake, impatiently.

“Well, on the evening the day before yesterday, someone triggered the emergency evacuation procedure!” she told us. “It’s a custom feature in Rourke International Hotels to protect our guests from natural disasters!”

I looked out the restaurant window and saw a volcano at the far end of the island.

“When you say natural disaster, do you mean a volcanic eruption?” I asked Lila, which sparked an outburst of energy from her.

“Yes! Precisely!” she beamed. “If Mount Atropo were to erupt, all our hotel guests would be burnt to ashes!”

“Why do you sound happy about that?” asked a stunned Zahra. I found it slightly funny that Lila’s over-cheeriness was having the same effect on Zahra as Zahra’s gloominess had on Lila.

“Look, I know nothing about geology, or science in general.” Jake confessed. “But I’m pretty sure there wasn’t an eruption two days ago.”

"We have a designated shelter on the island, for our hotel guests, in case something like that happens.” Lila explained.

“Then the hotel guests may still be there.” Estela uncharacteristically spoke up. “This shelter... where is it, Lila?”

“I don’t know.” Lila confessed. “But the signs on the trail say we’ll find it if we hike east for five kilometres!”

“I’m going to find it.” Jake decided. “There’s a good chance Carlos will be at the shelter, and while you lot may be having fun playing Home Alone 2: Island Boogaloo, I’m losing money every day I’m stuck here. Are you joining me, boy scout?”

I hesitated, weighing up my curiosity versus my experience last night with the predator. Realising my uncertainty, Jake spoke up.

“You don’t have to come, if you’re still shaken. Stay here and-”

“I’m coming.” I interrupted him, quickly, before he could say something that would change my mind.

“Really? Why?” Diego asked me.

“I want to find out what’s going on.” I replied. “I mean, aren’t you a little curious as to why the hotel guests went to the shelter, when the volcano clearly didn’t erupt?”

“Well, yes, I’m curious.” Diego admitted. “But I’ve also, you know, seen a horror movie.”

He tried to put on a sarcastic voice, but it didn’t work nearly as well on him as it did on Jake or Zahra.

“Hey, guys! Let’s go to this creepy shelter on an abandoned island! What could possibly go wrong?”

“But I’m going with you, Taylor. So if anything goes wrong, I can say that I told you so.”

“I’m going too.” Aleister announced. “I’d like to get the lay of the land around here.”

“Me too!” Quinn joined in. “There are waterfalls on the island, which sound perfect to me right about now.”

Twenty minutes later, after finishing breakfast, Lila, Jake, Diego, Aleister, Quinn and I were hiking to the shelter. We passed some odd flowers, ones that glowed, probably what Grace was referring to when she said that the island had rare flora.

Lila, who saw me observing the flowers, couldn’t help but fall into one of her tour guide speeches.

“Due to its geographical isolation, La Huerta has one of the most unique ecoystems in the world, with flora and fauna not found anywhere else in the whole world!”

Jake couldn’t help but smile. “Sure thing, Minnie Mouse. Recite Rourke International propaganda all you want. I ain’t buying any of it.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Aleister.

“I mean that all the leaflets for La Huerta advertise it as a Disney Paradise.” Jake replied. “But if you drink in the right bars in Costa Rica, you’ll hear all sorts of rumours about what really goes on here. Employees going missing, illegal experiements, etc.”

“That is preposterous.” snapped Aleister.

“I’m not going to let some conspiracy theories stop me from enjoying the beauty of nature.” said Quinn, plucking a particularly radiant purple flower and holding it to her nose, inhaling deeply.

I, however, inexplicably found myself beliving Jake. I stepped away from the flowers.

“I’m not sure what to believe, but better safe than sorry.” I told the others. “Unique ecosystem or not, flowers should not glow like that.”

“I knew I could count on you, boy scout.” said Jake, before turning to face Quinn. “As for you, Pippi Longstocking... don’t blame me when you grow two noses.”

We walked on, and I found myself walking next to Aleister. Despite his antisocial and offputting personality, I decided to try and make small talk with him.

“Hey, Aleister, have you seen any good TV shows recently?” I asked him.

“Does it look like I’ve been accepted for a Master’s degree in law because I spend my days watching reality TV about overly-tanned simpletons?” he snapped back.

“I’m just trying to make small talk.” I told him.

“Small talk is for small minds, Taylor. And I don’t associate myself with either of them.” Aleister told me.

I turned away, thinking that was the end of the conversation, but Aleister went on.

“My father never believed I had what it takes to get a PhD.” Aleister continued. “Despite my flashes of academic brilliance, including, but not limited to, Level 6s in my SATs, 10 A*s at GCSE and 3 A*s at A Levels. So that’s why I only tolerate intelligence, Taylor - because after my Master’s, I’m going to get my PhD, and prove that bastard wrong.”

“You’re an intelligent young man, Aleister.” I complimented him. “If anyone can get a PhD, it’s you.”

Aleister just blinked. “I know.”

We reached the shelter about an hour later. Lila pushed open the doors, revealing it to be as abandoned as The Celestial.

The left wall had mostly crumbled away, revealing a large hole. I cautiously approached it... and involuntarily screamed when something jumped out of it!

That something was a blue fox, who, panicked, ran to the far corner of the shelter. Frost formed on the wall behind him.

“He-hello?” I asked the fox, stunned and not sure what to say or do.

“Can we agree that’s not a real animal?” asked Jake.

“What... is it?” asked a confused Aleister.

“Um, literally the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” replied Quinn, beaming.

“But what is he scared of?” asked Diego.

I didn’t have much time to make sense of the situation, because when I looked back into the hole, some eyes had suddenly appeared - the same predator that I saw last night!

The predator, which turned out to be a tiger, leaped out and started to approach the fox!

“That!” replied Aleister. “It’s scared of that!”

“You think?” Lila asked him, sarcastically.

“Maverick, what do we do?” I asked Jake, figuring that he was the one here most able to deal with the situation.

But for the first time, I saw him scared.

“Don’t... move.” he managed.

#endless summer #mc x estela #estela x mc #lila sethi #jake mckenzie #diego ortiz soto #grace hall #sean gayle #estela montoya #quinn kelly #aleister rourke #zahra namazi #raj bhandarkar #craig hsiao #michelle nguyen #the endless summer story #playchoices #choices stories you play

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cap-ironman · 6 years

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2017 Holiday Exchange and Community Gifts Creator Reveals & Event Masterlist

This year, we got 102 works submitted for our event! That is amazing. Thank you all very much for participating--writing, arting (and knitting!), submitting the prompts for the Comm Gifts, cheerleading the creators, and beta-reading! We hope you had lots of fun :) The full event masterlist together with the creators of each work is here under the read more! IT’S LONG AND AMAZING.

Unmade by laireshi for Kiyaar (616, 3600 words) "He looked exactly like you," Tony hears himself say. "I knew it wasn’t you, but he looked like you, so I believed he wouldn’t hurt me." Why is he telling Steve that? "He told me you loved me," Tony continues. Maybe he just wants it all to hurt. Maybe if it hurts enough, it’ll finally end once and for all. All I Want For Christmas by scifigrl47 for Mozzarella (MCU, 6300 words) It's the Christmas season, and all Steve wants is a little privacy. All Tony wants is a date. All thanks to Justin Hammer- Wait, what?? by afincf_tirwer for adarksweetness (MCU, 2900 words) Tony ends up for auction at a charity ball. Steve ends up with a ticket. But with both boys smitten and unable to address it, well, that leads to complications. Which leads to this story. All the Difference in the World by Winterstar for Lunatical (Avengers Academy, 7200 words) It's Tony's luck that on his first date with Steve away from the Academy, they end up abducted by AIM agents and it looks like their boss just might reveal Tony's big secret. Ribot’s Law by Veldeia for Winterstar (MCU, 19600 words) Steve Rogers doesn't know he's Captain America. The ice erased his memories. It's up to Tony to convince him. And teach him how to be Captain America again. Soulmates by HeroSkatman for lazywriter7 (Ultimates, art) (art; no summary) This town ain't big enough (for the lot of us) by Bill_Longbow for Cap Iron Man Community (Multi, 1400 words) For the prompt: Identity Porn+Multiverse. Two Steve's from different universes get into a fight over which of their crushes is better: Tony Stark or Iron Man. A Wish Your Heart Makes by a_salty_alto for Cap Iron Man Community (Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), 2000 words) A fill for the Community prompt "Tony Stark: disney princess and friend to all living things." Conditioning by One and Five Nines for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, NSFW art) Fill for the prompt: Tony has some wild, possibly dub-conny sex with Winter Soldier!Steve. Coffee War Christmas by Neverever for Caped-Ace (Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, 7000 words) After realizing that he loves Steve, Tony finds out that he might have missed his opportunity to ask Steve out. Astable by Ironlawyer for ranoutofrun (616, 4100 words) Extremis was supposed to make him stronger, but after the fight with Mallen, Tony loses control and Steve struggles to handle a Tony who’s falling apart at the seams. Staking A Claim by ChibiSquirt for Leio_Rossi (MCU, 8700 words) When Sarah Gwen Rogers meets Natasha Stark, Tasha says, "My dad used to rave about you. That marvelous Captain America and how amazing she was, how good... It's too bad his little girl didn't follow in her footsteps." But as it turns out, there's rather a lot Howard Stark didn't know about Gwen. It Takes Only a Moment by Dophne for gottalovev (MCU, 3900 words) Steve and Tony have been in love for months and it took one stubborn tug and a giving mind for them to find out that the feelings were mutual. Eigengrau by vorkosigan for marinarusalka (MCU, 16800 words) Tony is captured; he doesn't know by whom, or why. He doesn't know how much time has passed since. What he knows is, he can now hear something in the adjacent cell, and that 'something' sounds a lot like Steve Rogers. I hope you have a White One (But for me it's Blue) by mitochondrials for fandomfrolics (Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), 1400 words) Tony's never really been a fan of the holidays, even now with Steve and the team. But that doesn't stop Steve from coercing him with cookies and ... Christmas trees? Enchanted by kikijpn1121 for Impala_Chick (Avengers Academy, art) Amora the Enchantress' truth spell worked... as not she had expected. So Much That I Wanna Do by ChibiSquirt for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 4900 words) Steve wants Tony, but Tony has a boyfriend. Then Tony's boyfriend talks him into a Public Use fantasy, and it's a little too tempting for Steve to resist. Based on this prompt: Tony is left out for public use, Steve takes his turn. I Search Myself (I Want You to Find Me) by tisfan for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 3100 words) [NSFW] 5 times Steve jerked off to Tony while out in the wilderness + 1 time he jerked off on Tony Almost Feelings by XtaticPearl for Neverever (MCU, 6500 words) Steve never knew what life he could have lived or how the present would have been different if he had died in the ice. He didn't think he would ever handle thinking about either without losing control. Tony doesn't want to think about how his life could have been different if Steve had never crashed or hadn't come back. He didn't think he could handle giving that much control to missed chances. It was probably ironic that such men should find each other. It was definitely amusing that they such men should love each other. Sleepy Boyfriends and Lovesick Fools by Lunatical for palindrome (MCU, 2100 words) For the prompt: Tony is always falling asleep in weird places; Steve loves carrying him to bed. (not) Chasing Tomorrow by Mozzarella for izazov (616, 2900 words) In which Steve Rogers makes the most of a time loop by falling in love Ghosts of the Gilded Age by teaberryblue for ladyshadowdrake (Marvel Comics, 20600 words) In 1883 New York, Tony Stark, millionaire inventor, is a man of science, reason, and a sense of humor that other people sometimes even appreciate. That's why he has no time for the latest popular obsession with seances, the supernatural, and the afterlife. Until a ghost finds him. Watercolors by palindrome for MiniRaven (MCU, 4300 words) At a masked art gallery event Tony hits it off with Steve, but they end up separating before they can exchange information. Cue Tony starting a mad search to find Steve. I Told You So by thudworm for dapperanachronism (MCU, 1900 words) Holiday Exchange Fill for the prompt: Steve and Tony are out one afternoon on a walk or some such. One of them ends up getting hit on very obnoxiously. The attention is very clearly making them uncomfortable. The other steps in and saves the moment, with an awkward follow up conversation once they're alone again. The light at the end of the tunnel by Shaliara for Ironlawyer (616, art) There is freedom there. Touch Wood by Ironlawyer for Cap Iron Man Community (Ultimate, 1900 words) Steve likes jerking off outside. He likes jerking off outside even better when Tony is there to watch. Maybe with enough duct tape by Bill_Longbow for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 3500 words) This was a stupid plan, so very, very stupid, but given the choice he would rather face one disappointed Steve than a horde of disappointed Carbonells. Even though Tony forgot to mention he broke up with his boyfriend and Rhodey refuses to dye his hair it might all work out in the end. Open for Christmas by FestiveFerret for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 9000 words) It was Christmas fucking Eve, in the middle of fucking nowhere, and his car was completely fucking dead. Fuck. Paper Boats by Juulna for Reddwarfer (MCU, 14200 words) Tony never thought that he'd be asked to come to Wakanda, let alone by Steve. What was even more unexpected was that Steve had no memory of the last two and a half years. Written for the prompt: 'Amnesia helps Steve/Tony forgive each other.' "Anger is like flowing water; there's nothing wrong with it as long as you let it flow. Hate is like stagnant water; anger that you denied yourself the freedom to feel, the freedom to flow; water that you gathered in one place and left to forget. Stagnant water becomes dirty, stinky, disease-ridden, poisonous, deadly; that is your hate. On flowing water travels little paper boats; paper boats of forgiveness. Allow yourself to feel anger, allow your waters to flow, along with all the paper boats of forgiveness. Be human." ― C. JoyBell C. east of my youth, west of my future by foldingcranes for MsErmestH (616, 2600 words) There are two sets of memories in Steve’s mind. Two lives lived. Are they equally real? Steve doesn't know anymore. Don’t Let Me Down (Got a Lot Going On Right Now) by sheron for soniclipstick (Avengers Academy, 5100 words) A failed chemistry experiment in the lab means Tony has to take off his gauntlet. In front of Steve. Who has never seen him without it before. Try Again by Impala_Chick for tsukiharu (MCU, 2500 words) For the prompt: AU in which Post-CACW!Tony is sent back in time (by Dr. Strange) to prevent War, but things go wrong and he meets Pre-serum!Steve. There Tony learns a lot of things about Steve (and ends up helplessly falling for him). Can You Feel My Heart Again by IndigoNight for Rowantreeisme (MCU, 5300 words) Tony has a nightmare and over reacts. The bots worry. And Steve is very stubborn. The Perfect Tree by MK_Yujji for frosted_astronaut (MCU, 4200 words) Who knew that finding the perfect Christmas tree could be such an adventure? The Sound of Bells by SarkaS for teaberryblue (616, Art + 510 words) Gift for lovely teaberryblue who wished for Steve/Tony Regency AU. I've done my very best and hope you'll enjoy your gift! Everything You Desire by cptxrogers for Cap Iron Man Community (Any, 4300 words) After a run-in with an unfamiliar villain, Steve ends up tied up and left with a vibrator up his ass. This is not the kind of battle he was expecting. Just as well Tony is there to help him out. Exposed by FestiveFerret, SirSapling for Cap Iron Man Community (Ultimates, 5900]) Of all the people Steve could be stuck with while this agonizing drug surged through him, of course, it had to be Tony Stark. A Proportional Response by MsErmestH for mitochondrials (Ultimates, 11400 words) Steve doesn't have a reason for cock-blocking Tony. No reason, whatsoever. Not even past by marinarusalka for XtaticPearl (MCU, 6100 words) Tony meets a painful reminder of his past, and Steve gets caught in the fallout. Headin’ Down the Atlanta Highway by fandomfrolics for PannaNat (Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), 4000 words) Tony and Steve are tricked into taking a road trip together. Cue lots of UST in a moving, compact space. The Persistence of Memory by ladyshadowdrake for laireshi (616, 4400 words) Director Stark has an office he hates, a job he doesn't want, and the fallout from a war he doesn't remember to handle. A late night meeting with Steve turns into an argument, but that's nothing unusual for them anymore. The way it ends is certainly new. Like Cats and Dogs by kenshincha for SarkaS (Avengers Academy, 1000 words) "This is so embarrassing!" Tony exclaimed, his hands firmly on his head. Loki sighed, looking at his nails. "Calm down." "Calm down?!" Tony snarled and took his hands down. The black cat ears on the top of his head angled back, and the black tail poking out of his pants swished in agitation. "It's not my fault you bumped into me while I was studying arcane lore in the Timeless Archives." Loki smirked. "Be happy you still have thumbs." All My Roads Lead Back To You by Reddwarfer for Dophne (MCU, 5700 words) Tony and Steve find their way back into each other's lives in the most Steve and Tony way possible. The only things that stand between them talking things out are one of them being a fugitive, the Accords, Everett Ross, Hydra, and their own stubbornness. In the Catacombs of Paris by Lets_call_me_Lily for Veldeia (Noir, Art) While exploring the catacombs of Paris looking for the magical ring of Princess Angelica, famous adventurer Tony Stark and his steadfast new chronicler Steve Rogers become trapped after a tunnel collapses... Serenity Oasis by FestiveFerret for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 19800 words) Waking up with the last six months erased from his mind was bad enough, but apparently some time in that missing period, Steve went from hating Tony to marrying him... or was it all a cover for a mission? You Want It Darker by laireshi for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 1800 words) When Steve kisses him, he tastes like champagne. Or: Hydra Steve has a gift for Tony. Pride by Meatball42 for MK_Yujji (MCU, 1700 words) This year, Steve wouldn’t have to watch the Pride parade from inside a cold, lonely suite while other New Yorkers like him celebrated. He would be a part of it, free to speak his mind, in this strange new world, in a way he’d never dared before. Black Silk and Plastic Touches by Caped-Ace for Sineala (616, 5600 words) They say you should try walking a mile in someone else's shoes. Well, the New Avengers are more the partying than walking kind, which leads to masquerade shenanigans and everyone dressing up in each other's worst costumes. Cue Tony hiding away in the workshop to make the perfect outfit for the occasion, with its silly half-cowl and low-cut neckline that should be illegal. Enter the long lost Nomad, the Tony Stark remix, featuring Steve with rollerblades. Retention by ranoutofrun for Shaliara (616, 3400 words) Steve and Tony find themselves in the hospital from a sudden and terrible attack, after cleaning up a dime a dozen villain wannabe on their date. One of them gets out relatively unscathed, as the other looks on, it becomes more apparent that this may not be entirely so. Unfound his Treasure by diabla616 for magicasen (Ultimates, 2800 words) A year later Steve Rogers again wakes up in a SHIELD medical facility, with no memories of having done this once already. In Your Warmth I Forget How Cold It Can Be by izazov for genderfluid_pigeon (MCU, 28000]) Tony's relationship with Steve Rogers was complicated at best, volatile at worst. It didn't change the fact that they kept ending up sharing a bed. And not in the fun way. Not again! by Lanidzac for kenshincha (Avengers Academy, Art) [Art Fill] Hogwarts AU: Slytherin!Tony keeps trying new experiments in the potion lab that keep exploding. Gryffindor!Steve is horrified and is trying is best to keep Tony from killing himself. Baby Alpaca Love Letters by FestiveFerret for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 5700 words) Someone is leaving beautiful, perfect, warm, soft, knitted gifts for Tony, and he'd really like to know who. And why. Hold on when you get love (so you can let go when you give it) by MsErmestH for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 2500 words) Steve's thrown for a loop when dozens of babies, belonging to the Tonys and Steves of the extinct multiverse, mysteriously appear. But he's not confused to find out that there were universes where he loved Tony. He's only surprised to learn that there were universes where Tony loved him back. a kind of macabre and somber Wondertwin type of harmony by MsErmestH for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 2800 words) Steve didn’t bring much with him when he left New York to explore the rest of America—just his motorcycle, the shield, a change of clothes, and the memories of his Hydra-counterpart. Now, after six months on the road, he's stuck in a hell of his own creation. It's a hell with no room for Tony Stark, who just happens to be standing in the middle of his motel room. it’s not the magic, darling (i was already under your spell) by soniclipstick for Meatball42 (Avengers Academy, 6300 words) When a lust spell cast by Amora goes awry, it’s Tony that takes the brunt of it. Steve’s sure Tony’s fine by now. After all, he flirts like he breathes, and someone is bound to give him a hand, or so the saying goes. Fortunately for him, Tony has a pet unicorn who’s happy to set the facts straight. With a little help from Natasha, of course. EVEN THE WIND CAN FEAR by clumsykitty for jiokra (Marvel 1872, 13600 words) In the lost town of Timely, things do not go well and with the appearance of a crossroads demon offering Tony something he wants above all things, only magic and a pair of extra hands can help the blacksmith succeed between demons and Pale Riders conspiring against him. Nothing to Forgive by Sineala for HeroSkatman (Marvel 616, 4800 words) Steve's roadtrip across America is derailed by the news that Tony's comatose body has disappeared. He unhesitatingly volunteers to join the search, even as he wonders what Tony will think of him when he finds him, and if their relationship can ever be the same again. between the stardust and the sand by adarksweetness for clumsykitty (MCU, crossover with multiple verses, 3800 words) In a world that's always changing, soulmates are a perpetual feeling. Or, Steve and Tony get a visitor from the far-flung future. (the more I get to know you) the less I know by Fluffypanda for Juulna (MCU, 7700 words) Everytime Steve thinks he knows something about Tony, it gets turn on it's head. aka Sam asks Steve to babysit his nephew, Tony gets kidnapped, and everybody learns something new. A dazzling place I never knew by PannaNat for diabla616 (MCU, art) What if Tony found Steve on his own and helped him adjusting to the new world? A small series of drawings. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woodchuck by teaberryblue for Cap Iron Man Community (Marvel Comics, 2450 words) Steve paints Tony. The Thing About History (Is That It's Doomed to Repeat) by heartsandmuses for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 19200 words) As far as rough weekends went, this was, hands-down, the worst Tony ever had — and considering one of the runner-ups involved being kidnapped by a terrorist group and held prisoner in a cave with a car battery hooked up to his chest, that was really saying something. Still, at least there weren’t any dinosaurs in Afghanistan. All Better by FestiveFerret, SirSapling for Cap Iron Man Community (Ultimates, 4700 words + art) The first time it happened, Steve almost clocked Tony in the face. Do-Over by gottalovev for ChibiSquirt (MCU, 14578 words) Steve woke up six months ago into a future that leaves him indifferent. There is work, and not much else. His current mission is a basic search and rescue operation to retrieve an American who was kidnapped by a terrorist group ten days ago. He won't let the fact that the hostage is Howard's son be a distraction. Our Love Is A Ghost That The Others Can't See by Kiyaar for navaan (Marvel 616, 11329 words) Post-Civil War, canon-divergent from Director of SHIELD. In Tony’s dreams, he is back in the street, in a crater, the city on fire around him. Steve kneels over him and beats him to within an inch of his life. It’s his favorite place to go, these days. Like A Painting by magicasen for scifigrl47 (MCU, 3740 words) Tony wasn't sure what compelled him to go for it. A dare? Curiosity? A check on the bucket list? Either way, what mattered was that Steve Rogers had never found a challenge he wouldn't take. Ghosts of Fanboys Past by MiniRaven for thudworm (MCU, 11940 words) As a kid, Tony practically worshiped Captain America. He read every comic book, treasured every poster, every playing card. To say he was obsessed would be an understatement. Thank goodness Tony's early fanboy days were far behind him. Or, at least, they would be if AIM hadn't kidnapped Tony, reached into his time stream, and pulled out the six year old version of him who was absolutely smitten with Captain America. Or, as Tony liked to call it, Tuesday. After being rescued by the newly reformed Avengers, Tony realizes he's got a lot on his plate. Not only does he have to figure out how to send said kid back to the past, but he also has to deal with his teammate's strange infatuation with his younger self. Specifically tell his new boyfriend, Steve Rogers, that this kid is not adorable. You should not listen to him. You should not encourage him. Why do you let him say all these embarrassing things. Child, stop. You're embarrassing me. No, don't do that. Stop. Please stop. For the love of god, someone please shut him up! When I Say Team, When I Say Follow by navaan for foldingcranes (Avengers Assemble, 4788 words) The Avengers are back together, but what does that mean for his relationship with Steve? Out of Time by tsukiharu for vorkosigan (MCU, art) Tony goes back to when Steve hasn't taken the serum yet, falls in love, and asks Steve not to get on the plane (so he'd be able to stay with his friends, instead of lost and hopeless in the future). Except, Steve remembers Tony from that time and doesn't take the plane to be able to meet him again. Never Let You Go by cptxrogers for Cap Iron Man Community (Marvel 616, 3300 words) It's the return of Tiberius Stone and his evil virtual reality technology! Things are just perfect for Tony. He is happy with his Avengers family, his company is doing great, and he and Steve are deeply in love and finally getting to enjoy their life together. So why doesn't it feel right? Tactical Field Care by Veldeia for Cap Iron Man Community (Marvel Noir, 8410 words) One unlucky shot is enough to turn a mission in occupied France into a nightmare, but Steve isn't going to leave Tony behind, no matter what. The Icing on the Cake by teaberryblue, GrayJay for Cap Iron Man Community (Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heros, 1422 words) Tony Stark decorates a cake. (Don't) Want To Remember by laireshi for Cap Iron Man Community (Marvel 616, 1830 words) After Civil War, Steve and Tony don't want to so much as even talk to each other--but then they're trapped in a snowstorm and are forced to cuddle. It works out better than expected. Easier by laireshi for Cap Iron Man Community (Marvel 616, 757 words) 505 noun (informal) 1. The thing which is simultaneously keeping you alive and killing you, often used to describe a person who you're in love with (but who may be bad for you) Streetlight Sonata by Rowantreeisme for Lets_call_me_Lily (MCU, 2300 words) Steve Rogers can't sleep. He follows the music. Even When I Don't Remember by dapperanachronism for IndigoNight (MCU, 2500 words) Steve doesn’t remember him. More accurately, Steve doesn’t remember any of them, or anything before his kidnapping. But right now, Tony is selfishly only concerned over the fact that Steve doesn’t remember him. Do Me The Honour, It's For A Good Cause by laireshi for sheron (616, 2700 words) Tony finds the perfect way to make everyone trust Steve again: he just has to propose to him. Undercover Steve by Neverever for kikijpn1121 (Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), 3400 words) Steve pines for Tony while the team goes undercover as customers at a strip club. Always Honest by FestiveFerret for afincf_tirwer (MCU, 3800 words) “It’s a truth spell,” Clint admitted. “It forces you to answer any question asked with the truth, until it wears off.” A Life That's Full by fictionforlife for Fluffypanda (Marvel Noir, art) Noir, pre-serum Steve, adventure, and bed sharing. Curiosity Killed the Cat (Satisfaction Brought It Back) by Sandrene09 for Cap Iron Man Community (Ambiguous Universe, 23000 words) Written for the 2017 Cap-Ironman Holiday Exchange: Community Prompts: Tony has a major crush on Captain America despite not knowing who he is beneath the mask. He gets turned into a cat and the only way to turn back is for someone he loves to love him as he is. He obviously doesn’t have a chance with Cap. After wandering the streets, he gets taken in by an ordinary guy named Steve, who turns out to be pretty great, maybe even his chance at breaking the curse. The Price of Love by Ironlawyer for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 1600 words) Tony lingers, burned into Steve’s life and heart. How do you learn to live alone again? Nothing Much, but Everything by navaan for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 1500 words) It had always been that way between them and Steve had never examined it. Better than a Bodyguard by ashes0909 for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 1800 words) Steve was making his way from the quad to a small, stony alcove to escape the sun when he heard someone sniffling. If I Didn't Have Your Love by laireshi for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 1600 words) “We need to end this,” Tony said. Steve felt cold all over. “I love you,” Tony said. “I will always love you. But I can’t do it.” He was shaking, on the verge of tears, and Steve understood something terrible had happened. To The End Of Love by laireshi for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 2500 words) Steve's been married to Tony for years when the Stamford disaster happens and the Superhero Registration Act tears the superhero community apart. When Tony disagrees with Steve, Steve still expects Iron Man to follow him: he's his best friend, for one, and he's chosen to keep his identity a secret from everyone. But Iron Man also fights against him. And then Steve smashes his faceplate open. Selvedge by Justamanlymouse for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 1600 words) Selvedge - The raw edge of a piece of knitted fabric. Steve Rogers lets his mind wander over his and Tony's relationship as he works on knitting Tony's Christmas present. Man is a Wolf to Man by Sineala for Cap Iron Man Community (616 AU, 4200 words) When Antonius is falsely accused and convicted of murdering an ambassador, he is condemned to death by the wild beasts of the arena. But the wolf sent to kill him is something rather more than he ever expected. A Gentle Touch by Dio_Pardalis for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 1150 words) Clint showed Steve a particular competition program. The artist that he is Steve takes the chance to try some of it on his own with Tony as the target. Strangers Now by FestiveFerret for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 7650 words) Back in middle school, Tony Stark was Steve's whole world school until Tony's parents packed up and moved him to LA. Steve hasn't seen him in ten years, and then he bumps into the kid living in the dorm room across the hall - and it's Tony. But Tony doesn't remember Steve. A Gift for Past Joy and Future Gain by navaan for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 2200 words) He wasn't exactly surprised to see Steve's very neat handwriting on the little tag, but had to admit his throat went a little dry when he recognized it. Whatever Our Souls Are Made Of by erde for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 3700 words) They were always close. They could have been holding hands, but they weren't. Steve eventually reaches out to Tony. Even after all that's happened, some things remain the same. Steve Rogers is Going to Hell by ChibiSquirt for Cap Iron Man Community (Ambiguous Universe, 700 words + knitting (photos)) Steve, being an old-timey soldier from before current gender norms, knits. That's... not exactly why he's going to Hell, but the two facts are definitely related. I Can't Exactly Hold Your Hair Back by SirSapling for Cap Iron Man Community (Marvel Ultimates, 4000 words) Steve had never particularly been a person people had turned to for comfort when ill, he mostly just wished people better and went on his way. However, this is Tony, and a sense of obligation wells up within him that he needs to help, but he’s completely lost as to how. won't let it take you from me by navaan for Cap Iron Man Community (Marvel Noir, 2100 words) Tony is injected with the Zemo formula and things don't look good, but Steve doesn't want to give up on him. Dungeoneering by ranoutofrun for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 1500 words) Whoever said Clint and D&D sessions don't mix? Sucker Punch by Sineala for Cap Iron Man Community (616, 20000 words) Steve never quite warms to Tony Stark, Avengers benefactor. The Molecule Man never strips Iron Man out of his armor. Life goes on for the Avengers, but as disagreements split the team -- and Shellhead and Winghead -- again and again, Steve wonders why Iron Man always picks Tony over him. And when Steve finds out, it happens in the worst way possible. Happenstance and all that by gottalovev for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 7400 words) It's been six months since the Battle of New York and Tony is exhausted. The last thing he expected on Christmas' Eve was to meet Steve Rogers again by accident, in Central Park. Heart With No Companion by laireshi for Cap Iron Man Community (616/MCU crossover, 1800 words) Hydra Cap captures MCU Tony and thinks it's a great idea to charm him into waking 616 Tony from his coma. A Catastrophe of Epic Pawportions by FestiveFerret for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 6100 words) Tony's being held hostage for his genius engineering skills again, but at least this time he has Steve with him. Well, and the rest of the Avengers. But they've been turned into kittens. Red by FestiveFerret for Cap Iron Man Community (MCU, 2600 words) Part of him wanted to remember what horrible thing he'd done. Part of him was deeply grateful that he couldn't. Be sure to comment on the works you liked! Were your guesses right? Are you surprised at something? The guessing post is still open for reaction comments ;) And finally, if you participated in the event, feel free to post your work wherever you want now! We will be reblogging every tumblr post tagged with #capimexchange in one of the first five tags. Thank you for a great event, 2017 Holiday Exchange and Community Gifts mods, Laireshi, FestiveFerret, Salmastryon, Navaan, Tisfan

#stevetony #stony #superhusbands #capimevents #capimexchange #masterlist

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we-wandering · 3 years

Text

Starcity

Chapter 1 over the mountain over the hill and welcome to star city

Welcome to star city. The most advanced place in the galaxy. Earn coins, and participate in challenges. I am GAME, and here I keep the balance. I am not a being but I am starcity. We are the future tech. Everything u dream of in the future is here in stacity.

Incuriso.

I walk down the road. The street light flickers on and off, where I live. My run down apartment is the only building left from the olden city, celestial city. Some wish to destroy it, but even if my status is low, it is my property. I lie down as I pick up my knife, whittling out a machine from scrap metal that I own.

Delta.

Today I am on the top of the list. “YES! NUMBER ONE”. Top shrade in the world. Oh and if u dont know, a shrade is a participant in the games. Got more than 1 million coins in my bank. Top citizen. I wear glasses, and if you ask my age, there are none in star city, only levels. Mine is 1051. I'm the second most famous person in the world, only to lord game. I AM DELTA.

CHAPTER 2 MYSTERIES OF GAME

Incuriso

As I reach the end of the corner there is a big bright screen everywhere. However today is different. All the screens around me usually show games but now there is an ad. GAME, is choosing his right hand man. People are always happy here. There are no problems. Everything is perfect except for me. I’m the odd one out. And that’s going to earn me victory.

Delta.

I see the sign the GAME is choosing his partner. Hm. I'm usually pretty modest but it's gotta be me. I mean c'mon I'm the best shrade. Gotta be chosen right?

Incuriso

My name is incuriso. I am different. I am well known in a bad way. I am a mechanic, but not for good use. I’m a virtual mechanic. A hacker.

Delta.

Whew, my team (Delta airlines) JUST FLYIN AWAY WITH 700 wins IN ONE DAY! LIFe is great for me. I see my total coins fly up to 7billion.I mean what could I wish for more besides that seat with GAME. No ones ever seen him or even if he is a him. He is a it. He is all.

Chapter 3 TIME TO PLAY

Delta.

Today is the day of the battle, the day of the chosen. The day I have been training to never let my family, my friends and my city down. This is the day that I beat the world. The FORGE is the game of choice from Game himself, we all then spawn in. I check my chest to see that there is a magic artifact already. The grades of weapons are Ordinary, Strengthened, Magic Artifact, Prized Artifact, Sacred Artifact and a special weapon in the center of the arena which is no artifact nor weapon, it is a hammer that allows you to forge weapons yourself. I studied up on this and don’t plan on losing. I charge at the nearest contestant and stab him with the magic artifact, a lance at the stage of a tier 2 artifact, dealing -80 points of damage. Each person starts with 100hp, so this was a powerful attack. He counters with his ordinary sheild. Pathetic. I finish him off and go to the center where I see someone else, their name is apparently Bathtub. They possess a Sacred artifact? I frown as I slide under the forging table and slice her legs. A -60 damage as a crit? I feel a tingle down my spine as I see the tier of this weapon is 8 in the sacred artifact realm. 9 realms to ordinary, 9 to strengthened, 9 to magic, 9 to prized and 9 to sacred. Only 1 tier away from being the strongest weapon in the arena, but I grin as I stab her chest, dealing a normal hit of -39. She then laughs as she hits me but I block with the shield I looted earlier, dealing a -98 to me. 98!!! Out of 100!!! A 2hp vs a 1hp battle, whoever can hit first. I charge and throw my lance, dealing the remaining -43 that I need. The rest of the battle is easy once I reap the lives of the others, only wielding strengthened or magic artifacts. I am about to win this contest… Time to make the donuts…

CHAPTER 4 Time to dance

Incuriso

I hear the GREAT O GAME. Is calling his partner Shulk. “ Whatever I think not like I care”. I am hacking into the newest challenge. The championship challenge. I hop on in right as Delta kills the last person, but using a specific command, I teleport behind him, and using my infamous commanders blade that I bought with a rich mans talisman that I found on the street, I stab Delta. A -9001 appears on his head as he falls over. Over 9000, just how I coded it.

Delta

“WHAT GOING ON I SHOUT” Suddenly I get the U LOSE SCREEN. “WHAT?” I am so confused. So is everyone else. Then I see a person donning a black cloak, weilding a small blade. “NO” I think. “NONONONONONO” It was Incuriso, the poor man, the weakling, the hacker, the beast and the outlaw.

Chapter 5 SHULK.

Incuriso

I LAUGH UNTIL I CRY, As I see Delta's face turn red to purple to a strange shade of green. But I stop when the game makes an announcement. Our winner to be Shulk is now Incuriso. My face freezes. WHat did he say? WHAT THE HECK DID GAME JUST SAY? I ponder as I realize, this contest is for all thy marbles. My new assistant, Game announces, is Qwert. I grin evily as I shout, OH QWEEERRRRTTTTTYYYYYY...

Qwert

I am a literal person who just likes to do stuff. I don’t have a job, I just get money from the bank. I have no idea how but I'm just a normal person , as I am carrying 20 laptops to my office, my master yells...QWERT….I drop the box shattering the laptops and rush towards my masters room. As I see what is happening my eyes widen. Incuriso is now GAMES first in command.

SHULK

My name is now Shulk. GAME has chosen it. I cannot resist. Suddenly a light flashes before me. All of a sudden I am no longer in my home. I am somewhere I dont know. I find myself on the ground of a digital world. This place feels infested with energy. Everywhere I feel a small static on my feet. “Where am I?” Suddenly I hear a voice. “Welcome incursio”. Suddenly out of nowhere, a door opens revealing a very bright light. I squint covering my face with my arm. Suddenly I see a silhouette. Is this game I think?.

Game

I see incursio. He is still in his black cloak. He cannot see me. I am not human but everything. I tell him “U are chosen”. “U will be my second in command to help the citizens”. He responded with an astonishing loud shout “WHY ME!!!!???”. I think “ Jesus just go with it man u know ur smart”. But instead I say “because u are intelligent and u are not like normal human beings”.

Shulk

Yeah right I’m intelligent. You chose me because I hacked into the contest and won in the end. Do you think I’m stupid? I then see a table of materials in front of me as game tells me to make something. I don’t know what it is, just a bunch of noise, so I use the materials to make a lightweight mechanical arm. A simple build, really, but Game’s eyes flash as he nods. Good job, he says, as his presence disappears.

CHapter 6 PANDA PANDA PANDA WHAT?!

Qwert

WHAT??? I see incursio flash out of existence before my eyes. “Awhat now” I say aloud. What just happened. A panda suddenly jumps right into me and suddenly vanishes. I AM SOOO CONFUSED? “What what what what” i say this alone. Then everything goes black.

Qwert

I woke up not where I was before. Something in me does not feel good. “AAAUGGG” I scream until I see a face. It's not Incuriso. It's a panda. I somehow know it's a he. Confused, I focus on him. He is blue and a bit transparent. However he does look like a normal panda. He stares at me for one second and vanishes. I am left alone again.

Chapter 7: A new Beginning Shulk: I start up a new store, though my mechanic skills are good, I have always wanted to be a forger. I have made countless machines, but they don’t symbolize anything for anyone. Now that I had the riches to do so, I started up a forging station in the center of the town, calling it the Ancient Anvil.

Game: Looking into Shulks background, I see he was poor and a sad fellow. He may have cheated in this contest, but in the end, he is the chosen one. I would have chosen delta, but the calling from the spirits of my mind told me something.

Delta: WHAT IS HAPPENING WHAT IS HAPPENING GET THE VOICES OUT MY HEAD WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU HERE PLEASE JUST GO AW- and I felt that the race was unfair. Though I didn’t win and might not have won, I feel that -SLAY HIM AND HIS GANG OF CHEATERS, DINE ON HIS BLOOD AND -out of the -AHHHHHH -what is that noise? My head was splitting apart when I heard this. There was another voice. A voice telling me to destroy starcity. I scream and spit blood out. Gasping for air I hear the voice commanding me to destroy it. “DESTROY IT, DESTROY IT” the voice taunted. I could not taken anymore. My hands were on my head. Then I fainted on the ground. Chapter 8: The era of peace

Game: I have recruited some other helpers to run the city, and things seem to be going well. Shulk has created a forging station, I hired both a doctor for this city named bathtub and an assistant to help run my own shop, the orben. Shulk then later offered to help me run the orben as well, he seemed pretty eager to do so…

Shulk: I saw the orben one day and noticed, this is quite powerful. Some of my old habits came back as I offered to take the assistant job for the orben. I powered up the machine and hacked into its database, ruining the motherboard and connecting the power source to a different machine when I realized that this man had put his trust into me, I shouldn’t do this. I was changing.

Bathtub: I’m a doctor, and my medicine is ice cream. I like ducks and ice cream, but I saw that Shulk was making a weird machine so I walked over. He suddenly stood up and threw a wrench down, destroying the machine. It was a terrifying sight, not because he threw the wrench, but because of the green explosion that followed. Chapter 9: The darkness that descends

Game: I have invited delta to join our sect, and though he seems a bit out of it, I feel that this is only fair since Shulk did cheat to win. He will be placed 3rd in command, only to Shulk and myself. This should help him calm down a bit.

Shulk: Game has invited Delta to join us, but I feel that this is not good for me. I will for sure be taken as a traitor in his mind, he uses his power to stop me, kill me and destroy me. Though this worries me, I sneer in my head, wanting him to do something for I will end him if he tries.

Delta: Game is inviting me? Does he not fear that I will kill his precious Shulk? My mind is now full of memories from the past, for I can see the relationship between the two, the blood and souls that connect them. The dynamic duo that is seen as Hero and Sidekick, but I will destroy this now. The power I possess is enough to blow up many worlds and realms. It is almost time.

Chapter 10 Continuing

Incuiso/SHULK

Everyone's day is the same as SHULK. Taking care of citizens, making sure there is order, and attending meetings. I do wish I was back to my old life. After, what it seemed like a million presentations and meetings, I finally get back to the apartment and call Qwert. This time, I don't hear footsteps. I do not see his red jacket. I see nothing. “Qwert?” I call out “If this is a joke it's NOT funny” That's when I see a panda.

Delta

During the meeting, I cloned myself and was able to get around unnoticed planting plasma explosions. I was not supervised and was alone. I kept my dark hood over my head so no one could see me. However these bombs were not just the biggest part of my plan. I was changing. I was making an army.

CHapter 11Turning different

Delta

After the “SHULKCADENT” SHULK INCIDENT as they call it. Life went on. The person who took my 100th grand final win is in second power. WHY! I don’t know because GAME is a jerk. That's when I decided to kidnap qwerty

Qwert

Suddenly I see Delta. DELTA??!!!. Why would he be here. I try to get up but then I see I am chained to the ground. I see the triangle sign. Of course. That's when I see that the great Delta is different. His glasses are off. His eyes are purple and he has robot parts on him I have never seen before. “Uh hi!” I says nervously. He just walks past me like i am not even there. “Hey uh could u take me off these chains and uh get me a snack?”He glares at me. “Well ok then” I think. “ Ill just stay here uh ok he he” I feel a drop of sweat trickle down my face. He fades out of view. Then I developed a stutter.

Delta: As I watch from the sunset of a great tower I start to think. I have never dreamed of, but as I make myself stronger with magic and technology, I develop an army. A dark spirit army, forged by black goo they are almost impossible to destroy. I chuckle darkly, telling myself that someday Game will be under my control.

Shulk

Confused, I stare. I no longer wear a black robe but now a black windbreaker, blending in with the normal citizens I do not like to be noticed. As the panda vanishes I feel a sense of panic. Who would do such a thing to qwert.

Chapter 12 The fall

Qwert

I hear an explosion. “W-was that a bomb?” Another one again.” What was th-that?!” I see Delta watch from a big glass wall. Standing straight with his hands behind his back. Hearing his metal fingers click together, I suddenly hear several explosions. I struggle trying to be free from these chains but suddenly, Delta comes at me and grabs something. In an instant my life escapes before my eyes. I feel a seering pain in my chest. A cold metal object sliding into me. It hurts. I glance down seeing red liquid pouring down. It was a moment, an instant, Then my heart stopped.

Game

I feel a disturbance. Something chaotic. Something dangerous. I press the button to call for shulk but as I do, I notice something is very, very wrong. The button was a trap.

Shulk

I run seeing Starcity explode before my very eyes. I run. My heart pounds against my chest. My arms fly over my head. BOOM. Another explosion. I see people scream and run. Rocks and smoke fly. I have no time to help others. I am focused on my survival. I hear cars screech. Police shouting. Several more explosions. Suddenly I pull out a device in my pocket and I become transparent. The small pebbles hitting me no longer hurt. Everything flies through me. TV screens with ads fall down, houses and buildings fall. This IS A NIGHTMARE. I see are forces of robots are barely enough to stop the darklings. Starcity will fall. I pull out my blade and roar, charging into the enemy forces. I slash, firing powerful spells. My body is with rage as I run through the darklings slashing them to bits. As I get through every single one of them, they reform. I feel a sense of panic I have never felt before. My body is full of fear. I hear my heart pumping, and for a split second I freeze. I never freeze in battle. Realizing what I have doneI jump into a void portal teleporting me to the highest building.

Chapter 13 A game for GAME

Game

I focus hard and I search through citizens. My spirit weaving through the crowd running until I reach the last building. Delta is standing there. I can sense his darkness. He must know I am here and says “ you may call me the undertaker. He says with a bow and jumps out of the window, landing on his feet. I growl as I shoot my primary energy at him, but he dispells it and laughs. Time to say goodbye, he chuckles.

Shulk

As much as I hate starcity, I loved messing with it and tricking the people. Too bad that the whole place is blowin up. Suddenly, I see Delta. Is he responsible for this? Seems like this. Even though I might not like starcity I see Game as the great Leader and honor him. I have changed. Suddenly Game somehow gives me the thought to give me the proof Delta did this. Then I realize this is all my fault. I am the one who ruined Delta by hacking. feel a pain as I see starcity fall, but I fall as I see Delta throw a knife in the air. It stops and falls like it hits someone. Then I feel GAME no longer. The link formed as we ruled together had grown from allies to friends, but this feeling was gone. HE is dead. It's over.

Game: A knife is in my chest and I fall over. My essense and soul start to dissipate as I fade away, but something pulls me into the void below. It calls for someone called astro, but I don’t know who this is. I blast in the direction of the voice with a weapon that shulk gave me, but the voice only chuckled as it said, you know you’re guilty, just lie down and take the punishment. I fear I can no longer take it as I am swirled away, consciousness disappearing… I fight back but fail to win… I… am no more…

Shulk

I desperately take out a device that is called that randomizer. I shoved a few portals to a few dimensions in there, and it takes something out and gives it to you. I can be a weapon, a food, a pill, a monster, even the entire dimension. I use it and it shoots a blade out to me. I grab it and feel the overwhelming power from it. Its called the Abyssal Blade. I use it to summon a doppelganger and some phantoms, looking for the undertaker so I may destroy him.

Game

It was a moment, a minute, a whole day. I can feel myself disappearing. It feels like falling. Falling into a big void. All I can think of is, dizzy, death,......Star. My mind swirls, I cannot explain how it felt. It was like I met face to face with the underworld. I fall deeper and deeper into my mind, but before it's too late, I see light. Something is pulling me back to the world of the living. I can feel it. There is something keeping me here and I don’t understand why.

Delta/Undertaker

As my army of darklings advance. I know I am going to win. Then I turn fully dark. A monster. Black and purple. I am no longer human. I am. The. Undertaker. I watch as the city is burned to crisps. The people enslaved and GAME died. I jump down. My eyes dark with hatred. I weave a giant spell. A dark spell and open a black hole destroying every bit of the city left. Suddenly, I am light headed. Shulk charges to me and I summon a vortex of small demons to take care of him, but I become he other Delta for a split second. Then I am darkened once more. I laugh as I realize, both versions of me want to kill Shulk. I am all powerful. I am… the undertaker… AND NO ONE CAN STOP ME!

Shulk

My body is fueled with rage. No matter how many times I slash, these darklings will not DIE! That's when me and Delta meet eye to eye. We stop for an instant. Gazes locked on each other. Something is different. His eyes are dark, there is dark magic inside him. This is not the real Delta, but I must kill him if I must.

Blood ties chapter 13

Bathtub

Delta may have destroyed the city, but he did not effect the people. I rush everywhere healing people. My legs move as quickly as they can. I can feel my heart pounding in fear. The hard dirt beneath my feet. Everything is silent, until a flash of light appears at the corner of my eye. I hear people gasp. It's the darklings.

Shulk

Me and my robotic troops hold off the darklings allowing people to escape, but suddenly I see several escaped or line sort of walls. The people are behind us and I rush towards them, my anger boils. I can feel my memories of hatred from others, the scary history of my childhood, and I can feel something powerful winding up inside me. I dash dodging spells. I feel the grip of my long blade in my hand. I jump, sword over my head aiming at the middle of them. Then my instincts take over. My blade emits light around it with yellow and green fire. Not knowing what I am doing, I squeeze the handle of my blade and spin. Slamming the weapon down it creates a wave of bright blue color. I killed them. Maybe not all of them but I killed some. My gaze turns to the people who are watching me in awe. I have no time for praise as I sense more coming. My foot turns into a batting stance. I feel the dust against my face. I am bruised and dirty. Brown dirt covering my face. I raise my sword preparing to take on a whole army...ALONE.

Bathtub.

I can see one man standing alone. Against a whole army of almost indestructible monsters. I am powerless to do anything. However, I see a flash of light and I am not where I was before. I am in a library. Someone had summoned me here, but without me the people will all die.

Shulk

I watch behind me as the doctor suddenly disappears out of her will. Without her, the people will die. I shout to the people “use what you have and help me fight! It is no use, since we will all die.” I guess my speech was more...uplifting then what I thought before. I see the people rise as the monster's approach. I can hear the legs pounding against the floor. They are black and purple coming in different sizes. Some look like ash piles together, others look like glue, some look like those stranger things stuff. People pull out weapons they have from games, and then fight.

Delta

I watch as the people get up to fight. I snort, “there going to die trying” I think.

Chapter 14 The final step

Shulk

We plunge into battle. My emitting light is gone. The only thing we can do is weaken them as much as possible. As we fight I slash everywhere. Dashing here there. I see people fall, but I know it will happen anyway. When there are the smallest amount of people left, I pull out the void device. The power is dead. I make a frustrated groan as I fall back. I pull out another small device that becomes larger as I press a button. I am now the only one left. The monsters rush at me. Frantically, I point the device at me. My brain screams in fear and tells me to run, but I jab the device into me, I feel a pain searing through my belly. My knowledge and conscious transfers into the device. My body dies just as the monsters reach it. Then my consciousness in the device teleports into the void.

Delta

My dry and cracked mouth makes an evil grin as I see or at least think my minions killed Shulk. I see his body on the ground. I did it and I won. I am the Undertaker.

Game

I wake up, not as game anymore, but as someone else. I have knowledge of more magic then ever. I walk by as people bow to me. They seem like I was there ruler and that I have been ruling for a while. It is very confusing. I feel the nice bright sun over my face, and as I sit down on a chair to analyse the place I see one of Shulks conscious devices. Is that him? Suddenly, memories flow into me.

Shulk

My conscious sees alternative universes, dimensions. This is something that was impossible. As I am stuck in a small box, I see myself dying, or living, I see myself become powerful. Game alive. Delta good. My mind swirls. My conscious puts itself on the glass window trying to get a close look, but it moves too fast. It speeds up, going faster and faster. I see rainbows and different colors. I become dizzy and everything goes black.

Delta

After starcity, I feel a hunger for more fear. I want more destruction. Suddenly I become myself again but only for an instant as my eyes turn dark again and I find my next location to devour. The overstar.

Epilogue

Qwert

I woke up. My sight is blurry as I see my hands. I am supposed to be dead. I take in my surroundings. Am I in heaven? I see gold and books. It looks like it. Suddenly I see someone. Someone who I can sense is very powerful. And it appears that he has no good intentions. Hello, Qwert, he smiles. Its me, your new master, the undertaker, but you may remember me as… I freeze as I hear the name… D E L T A

Bathtub

Hello, I am the bathtub. Own the hospital. Using magic I can create magical ice cream that can heal everything. However that is not bringing back a life. However, before he fell and died, Game told me something, eyes wide open. “You are more than just the doctor”, he said, “you are the traitor”. He tumbles to the ground as I gasp to myself. This is who I am. I am a bathtub, only survivor of the crisis, the apparent traitor and spy, and the last one standing.

The Librarian

I am the librarian, was once the Great Librarian of star city, now taking it as my base and refuge of the others for the citizens of star city. I knew I might have to run, so I ejected the library, making a new smaller planet called the overstar, with many different regions within this library. Star city may have been great, but it is now a broken down rock in space. The great shulk, bathtub and many other citizens came with me, but I fear that this place will decolate in no time… I don’t know if I can protect my citizens… I fear… I will die trying…

#writting #future #everything #books #sci-fi

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iincandcscence-a-blog · 6 years

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what’s this ?? a bias list ????

so i said i’d do this at 100. i said i’d do this at 200. and now, here i am, finally doing it at 260+ and climbing. like....... me? wow, i’m actually really flattered. when i first picked up rodimus as a muse, i didn’t know what i was getting into. i knew the fun-loving, happy-go-lucky side of rodimus and that’s what i delved into; it was how i portrayed roddy as. now here i am, with a fully developed understanding of roddy, with all these connections he has, all these crack ships i keep seeming to find myself in...

now i’m notoriously bad for rambling on about people so i tend to shove things under a read more. but before i do, lemme just take the moment to say thank you. each and every one of you, for following me and enjoying my interpretation of rodimus. now, without further ado, onto the sappiest part of my bias list!

★ »» ❛ THANKS FOR TRAVELLING WITH ME. ❜ ━━━ close friends.

@swordbearing ;; dork level over 9000 !!

CADEN. god caden where do i start ?? this is FINALLY the moment where i can call you out in the good way about how wonderful you are and how you’ve been such a great friend but woRDS ARE NOT FORMULATING. okay let’s see... well, you’re really an awesome friend. you’ve been there for me more times than i can count and i honestly feel great when i chat to you?? like, we’ve got such an awesome bond happening here despite there being an entire ocean kinda separating us. and i love discussing all the concepts for drift and roddy ?? the amount of pain we put them both through is astounding but hey it all works out because they’re gonna be super close and supportive of each other in the end. and honestly i can’t wait to flesh out their relationship more for our blogs. but yes, a summary (because this is already a gigantic paragraph of bleh): i love you and i really hope we keep in contact in the future too !!

@defectiicon ;; a true nerd.

kelpy oh my god. i have so much i could talk about in this but just like with caden, i can’t think of the words and i’m gonna fall short on how much i appreciate you as a friend ?? like. wow when you wanted to ship with me with sparky i was so ready to find some way to get it to work, even when sparky is a decepticon and roddy is an autobot through and through. and now we have this ship that is just wonderful and i love it so much ?? and also !! you’re such a chill friend and it’s wonderful chatting with you on discord, especially when we’re just making idle conversation, or discussing aus, or just talking about roddy and sparky in general. it’s so good and i love it and i hope that we won’t lose connection because it’s already been such an awesome time chatting with you and i don’t wanna lose that connection !! to think that we were like... afraid of each other at some point is hilarious. i mean, look at us now. we’re absolute dorks.

@twopieced / @floodspawn ;; crack ship buddy !!

KARA MY DUDE IDEK WHERE TO START. how did we even end up with the ship between ambi and roddy ?? how did we end up giving them a sparkling that is one of the most adorable sparklings i have ever seen in my life ??? i dunno, but i’m honestly so glad this is a thing that ended up happening. and honestly kara, i absolutely adore chatting to you on discord !! you’re an absolute delight to chat with and it’s even better because i don’t have to stay up until ungodly hours to chat with you lmao. the wonders of living in a closer timezone, am i right? but really, i hope we chat more often and we talk more about... well, anything !! i’m fine with anything ;w;

@floutingphysics / @paniicea ;; the one that appreciates my weird accent.

what’s up kenzie i hope you don’t mind me rambling about how i love both your brainstorm and first aid because honestly i love your portrayal for the both of them !! you characterize first aid and brainstorm so wonderfully, especially first aid ?? like. wow. i love him so much and it’s always a joy to see medic family shenanigans on the dash between you, kara and tori. it’s so wonderful to watch. and i love chatting to you !! i know i’ve been a little lacking in response but that’s because i’ve been focusing on school (or, trying to) and it’s a busy last few weeks coming up. but hey, school holidays start on the 15th december for me !! so then i can totally keep in contact better this way. and i hope we can discuss more roddy and first aid shenanigans. :D

@rustedservos ;; former medic buddy, currently shenanigan buddy.

i loved interacting with you over on k/o, and that definitely didn’t change when i put in all my efforts with rodimus and not my poor cherry son who is going... neglected at the moment. i love seeing your ratchet on the dash and it’s always wonderful to see interactions with other people roddy knows ?? and roddy always wants to poke at the grumpy old mech and i’ve been meaning to but WOW i’ve been lacking in poking interactions lately. it kinda makes me sad lmao. but yes, i’d also love to chat with you more ?? and i’d love to develop this weird kinda uncle-nephew relationship between these two, that’d be so awesome. ;;w;; don’t be afraid to drop into my discord and poke at me !! if i’m not asleep, i’ll be sure to reply as soon as i can !!

★ »» ❛ TIL ALL ARE ONE. ❜ ━━━ comrades / people i admire.

this is a list of people that i talk to occasionally, or not at all and have just interacted, OR i admire them from a distance and cry on the inside. yes, hello, i love each and every one of you and thank you for being awesome and being you.

@toropyga || @valorsparked || @iatrics || @tertiaxdecima || @imburninrubber || @htchet || @thedominantambus || @martyrix || @sometimes-peace || @goldcased || @aestui || @littlearchivist || @sixmillionyears || @cherriiko || @morethanparanoia || @polaris-borealis || @decepticoncoward || @yourxguardian || @bmblbot || @forgedcold || @nokusou || @noblestdecepticon || @mnestics || @rustyhealer || @lord-megatron || @elitaxne || @oneshallstand || @screechingtires || @sparkofcombination || @purplexcanon || @unsurpent || @heightfeared || @starsarescreamiing || @drunkenforcefields

once again, thank you for 260+ followers !! til the next milestone !!

#🔥 ▸ ❝ i’m like dinkleberg meme evolved. ❞ ( ooc )#follow forever //#bias list //#long post //#// SO THIS IS WHAT I SPENT MY NIGHT ON #// instead of doing drafts because yes this is Smart #// but hey just #// shoves it forward. did u ever doubt my ability to be super sappy

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forgetspecifics · 6 years

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Such Sights are Bright - Chapter 5: Maybe I’ll just Fall

Yang somehow has the most eventful New Year's experience of her life, drunk Blake makes her dramatic return, and shit gets a little too real.

Other links: Ao3 FF.net

Notes: YOOO SORRY 9,600 words hopefully makes up for the wait?? (insert it's over 9000 joke)

January (Winter) /

On New Year’s Day – well, morning – Yang did not have a hangover. She’d made sure to avoid that; where Sun got alcohol for a bunch of teenagers was beyond her, but it had been difficult to bear witness to the wonder that was drunk Blake. One would expect that Yang would’ve easily gone back to her irresponsible persona, but, one would be wrong.

Because getting drunk and losing your inhibitions was not conducive to keeping a secret.

She should have kept her friend under a more watchful eye, but to her own credit, she tried. She later suspected that Sun was working against her; refusing everything he shoved at her in those stupid red cups – he couldn’t get Yang to confess under the influence, so Blake was the next target. It wasn’t Blake’s fault that she was a lightweight, nor was it his, but he was going to be in trouble once Blake woke up.

The party was tame, in her opinion. Herself, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora had been invited to Sun’s place while his parents were out of town. Neptune was also obviously present, and so were the boys’ friends Scarlet and Sage. Nobody too crazy, though Nora was accountable for about fifty percent of any craziness; Sun himself thirty-five percent, and the rest of them all contributed to the remaining allocation. It had gone well, until her friends forgot the concept of privacy.

Yang blamed Sun the most, purely because he used Nora as an outlet for announcing possibly the worst party game in existence – Nora couldn’t refuse a game – and so she watched helplessly as truth or dare finally came to claim her poor soul. That was, until Ren saved her by asking her if she’d like to sit it out with him. He had a knack for telling when people were uncomfortable, and it was an understatement to say Yang was not comfortable with being at the mercy of Sun.

There was not much she could do as Blake; already pretty tipsy, was roped into the game. Dares were passed around; Nora daring Pyrrha to kiss Jaune, Neptune daring Scarlet to eat wet bread – she’d never seen somebody gag that much – and as expected, Sun wasted no time in asking Blake truth or dare. Yang didn’t know she’d been holding her breath until Blake finally said truth. At least there would be no kissing dares, not that she approved of dragging non-participants into the game. Truth was hardly going to get him any good information, since Blake did not like her.

But alas, from the couch she and Ren sat upon, she heard the monkey Faunus ask the cat Faunus, “Blake, if you had to kiss someone in this room, who would it be?”

Yang was instantly fuming at the blatant attempt to embarrass her, and words had promptly slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Oh, fuck off!”

In turn, the outburst caused the circle of friends on the floor to swivel their heads to look at her. Even Ren looked a little surprised, and that was saying something. It took all her willpower to not go over to Sun and smack his arrogant smile off his face when he had said, “Something, wrong, Yang?”

She would have given him a piece of her mind, if not for the fact that Blake giggled and proceeded to whisper-yell, “I already kissed Yang!”

Everybody gasped – it was like a soap opera – save for Ren and Yang herself. Because she was livid.

Sun on the other hand, was living. “I was right! You two are gayer than a rainbow!”

“That’s not true!” Yang found herself standing, heart racing. “It was a kiss on the cheek,” she realised she’d admitted that it was kind-of true, but still. It didn’t mean he was right. If she was honest with herself, she had no idea why she was bothering to deny it anymore, but then again, Blake was right there watching her.

“You only kissed her cheek?” Nora asked, sceptical of both of their behaviour.

Blake shrugged. “Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.”

“I see,” Nora replied. “Alright, people. Lock them in the closet!”

“I thought we wanted them to come out of the closet, not go in it?” Jaune said, misunderstanding her literal meaning.

“We are not locking them in a closet, Nora,” Pyrrha interrupted, sending a disapproving look to her orange-haired friend, “let me handle this.” The tall girl had wasted no time in whisking Yang away to talk in private.

Yang quickly broke down her situation to the only girl that she could trust to keep her secret. Pyrrha was at least understanding of what she was going through, but her advice was something Yang already knew would come.

You have to talk to her about this.

She just put on a brave face when they returned to everyone in the midst of dancing dumbly to some music, but it had been hard to keep it up when Sun had shimmied on over into her personal space.

He kept his voice discreet. “Dude, Blake wants you. Why are you making this so hard on yourself?”

Why was she? She looked over at Jaune who had taken Pyrrha’s hand, both of them looking quite content. Nora even had Ren doing ridiculous dance moves with her too; Neptune and Scarlet were surprisingly dancing in-sync, and Sage was spinning a laughing Blake in a casual waltz. There were cute couples and good friends, though she felt a pang of jealousy of seeing Blake with someone else. And it was ridiculous.

Her eyes watched Blake move. She was less graceful than usual, but all the more attractive; she was carefree. “I need to figure this out on my own.”

Sun placed his hand on her shoulder. “What more is there to figure out?”

It took a moment, but she looked him in the eye. “How the hell I’m going to tell her.”

“You’ll think of something. Go dance with her,” he smiled goofily.

Though she hadn’t quite forgiven him, he did have good intentions, and he was finally letting up. He followed her over to Blake and Sage, intervening one last time.

“May I borrow him, lady Blake?” Sun mocked Scarlet’s British accent, cutting in on the dancing pair.

“Why of course, mister Wukong, sir,” Blake did a much more accurate impersonation, as Scarlet exclaimed something nonsensical about Sun – boi was the affectionate term – in his signature birdcall. Blake then turned to her and offered a hand.

“Would this lady like to dance?”

Yang ignored the slight blush she felt adorn her face, but let a smile grow on her lips unbidden as she too spoke with a faux-accent too. “Why, it would be an honour!”

They took turns leading each other in a waltz to eighties classics – Scarlet had said something about hauling oats? – and Yang found it progressively harder to keep Blake from falling over her own feet. It reminded her of their outing to Ozpin’s. Alcohol dismantled Blake’s restraint then, and it had not let her get away this time, either. She had no doubt sober Blake would have never said that she’d kissed her. There was every possibility that unlike herself, Blake didn’t want to admit she was attracted to Yang, and if it was true, that presented…a problem. More of a problem than she already had, that was.

Being so focused on enjoying the moment with Blake, Yang almost forgot what day it was until someone remembered to switch the TV onto the local news station. The countdown to midnight was approaching fast as the group gathered around. She was getting ready to count along; at least she wouldn’t mess up like every other year she had been wasted.

She was about to chant ten, just like everyone else, until Blake completely stole her attention by whispering in her ear.

“I think it’s your turn to kiss me.”

It was funny how a few words could take her breath away. Not funny like ha-ha funny, but funny like she would never forget it for the rest of her miserable life.

Ten.

Yang barely choked out a response. “What?”

Nine.

“Come on, Yang,” she had only provoked Blake to practically cling to her.

Eight.

Maybe she could make it out alive of this. “You’re joking?��

Seven.

Blake was not joking. “Everyone else is gonna be doing it, it’s tradition.”

Six.

Goddamn kissing traditions were the bane of her existence.

Five.

“It’s just a kiss on the cheek,” Blake said, like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Four.

“Not everyone-” Yang began to turn her head, but was stopped by grabbing hands.

Three.

“Don’t look at them, look at me.”

Two.

She shouldn’t have listened to her, because now they’d made eye contact and even though Blake had said cheek, Yang was thinking of everything but. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me, you know.”

But Blake wouldn’t know. She probably wouldn’t even remember this. And she seemed at least a little desperate, and it made Yang really wonder if Sun was totally right.

One.

“Happy New Year!”

It was well after noon by the time the black cat Faunus woke. Although, to her, she felt more like death reincarnated. “I feel awful,” she groused, still wrapped in a thick fleece blanket and struggling to sit upright in the chair Sun had pulled out for her when she’d stumbled into the kitchen.

For her sake, he kept his voice down, whether or not he knew she had extra ears to be mindful of. “You’re a lightweight, Blake. You were drunk, like, an hour after you got here.”

Too tired to refute that she was, in fact, a lightweight, she was more concerned at the length of time he’d mentioned. “But I don’t remember the whole night! Oh, God, please tell me I didn’t do anything stupid.”

“I wouldn’t say anything stupid,” Sun’s smile was reassuring, but, his words weren’t.

“What does that mean?” She was almost afraid to ask.

“You were all over Yang like white on rice,” he leaned against the kitchen counter, still jovial.

Blake knew very well that Sun had been convinced that she and Yang were an item, but this was bad if he was telling the truth – what had she done? “I was what?”

“You,” he pointed at her, “were all over Yang.”

He took her silence as a sign to keep talking. He must have thought she didn’t understand what he was saying, but really, she was just trying to wrap her pounding head around it all.

“Take it from the Chinese guy, rice is white all over. Yang’d back me up. She’s Chinese too, we like rice,” Sun rambled, “but we like all kinds of rice, so maybe I should have used a different analogy,” he added, thinking he’d confused her.

A different voice chimed in, “You’re generalising your own culture, Sun.” It was then that Yang walked in on their conversation, oblivious as to why they were talking about rice. “You’re finally awakey, Blakey. How’s the old noggin’?”

In a knee-jerk reaction, Blake turned her frustration onto its source. “Don’t call me that.”

Yang recoiled at the hostility. She knew how hangovers could be bad for moods, but even for Blake, that was harsh. “Hey, don’t get mad at me. It’s Sun’s fault,” she said, happy to direct Blake’s ire onto their mischievous friend. He suddenly looked a lot less carefree now that he’d been blamed.

“Clarify,” Blake demanded over Sun’s spluttering.

“Everything you drank came from the monkey bar,” Yang resisted laughing at her own joke for once – even though it was a good one – and proceeded to boil a kettle to make some calming tea for her friend. Sun hadn’t even thought of that, since he was probably too busy being sneaky.

“Did you just make a pun outta me?”

Ignoring Sun, Yang sat down with Blake. “There wasn’t much I could do. Everything I took away from you, he replaced just as fast.”

“Throwing me right under the bus, here,” Sun said, cowering and meekly laughing when furious amber eyes locked onto his.

“That’s the plan,” Yang leaned back in her chair, tempted to let this play out. “Pour the lady some tea, would ya? It’s the least you could do.”

Stuttering in agreement, he promptly delivered a steaming mug to a very irritated Blake.

“Leave us,” like a queen would order a peasant, a disgruntled Blake shooed the apologetic boy away. More than happy to escape, Sun gave Yang a thanking-prayer motion behind Blake’s back.

“What happened last night?” Blake cut to the chase before Yang had a chance to say anything.

“Is that what you were talking about?” She was in no rush to discuss it, but she was curious about the whole rice thing.

“Sun said…something,” Blake wrapped her hands around her cup of tea, but did not drink. “I trust you’ll at least tell me the real story.”

“Nothing happened,” Yang didn’t even look at her. When she did, though, she seemed nervous. “Well, not nothing, but not not nothing?”

To that, Blake said nothing – nothing was an appropriate response to more nothing, but she did raise an eyebrow slightly.

Yang sighed. “What did he tell you?”

“Apparently, I was all over you like white on rice,” Blake recounted in her signature monotone, ever the face of nonchalance.

“So that’s why he was talking about Chinese people and rice,” Yang tried to lighten to mood to no avail. She’d have to tell Blake sooner or later, and it was going to be sooner. “He got you drunk because I refused to get drunk. He wanted one of us smashed, and you were a much easier target to get a confession out of.”

Under Blake’s bow – which had managed to stay secure – cat ears stood attentive. “You don’t mean?”

“I do,” Yang nodded. They both knew, that with Sun, it was always about their relationship. “It sorta worked, too.”

“I’m never drinking again,” the Faunus muttered.

Yang contemplated what to say. This could end up being a very awkward conversation that she wasn’t sure she was ready to have. She tried for honest with a bit of humour. “Long story short, you announced you’ve kissed me before, and everyone went nuts.”

Blake’s cheeks became rosy as she went on the defence. “Why would I do that? It’s not even true.”

“I said the same thing,” the blonde shrugged. “Nothing came of it…until it was time for the midnight countdown.”

“We did not kiss at midnight,” Blake’s face had become hard to read, but to Yang, she sounded kind of disgusted. It was disconcerting.

“Do you think I’d take advantage of you like that?” Yang hadn’t meant to sound so defensive, but honestly, that’s how she was feeling right then. Blake had never acted this way before, even during conversations with similar topics.

“You wouldn’t have the chance to,” the Faunus said hastily, “I wouldn’t…do that.”

Her emotions were beginning to bubble under the surface, and Yang couldn’t stop them showing for long, she knew that. “I hate to break it to you, but it was your idea.”

Blake moved her cup tea to the side so she could lean forward on the table. “Yang, tell me what happened.”

“You kept insisting when it was counting down,” Yang growled, making it abundantly clear that she hadn’t asked for it herself. Why should she be interrogated for something when she had been the one that was pestered? “It was just a kiss on the cheek, like you said.”

“That’s it?” Blake leaned back. Rubbing her temples, she sighed in relief. “Thank God it wasn’t anything worse.”

Worse?

It was happening again. This was it – this was what it felt like to have fallen for someone that you really shouldn’t have. She didn’t know that it would hurt this much to have her fears confirmed, and it made her so damn angry. “Oh yeah, wouldn’t want me to get the wrong idea after throwing yourself at me.” She was mad at Blake, and she was mad at herself.

“Excuse me?”

Blake feigning innocence did nothing to quell her internal rage. Was she really that clueless about what she said and did?

“I’m sorry,” Yang said with fake politeness, “I didn’t realise that sober Blake and drunk Blake had different sexual orientations.”

There was still no reaction from her friend; no retaliation. Indifference was something Yang despised. It was just how she imagined Raven would act.

“Yang, you’re overreacting-”

“I’m overreacting? I’m not the one pretending it didn’t happen! You can’t even remember it, but I do!” Yang remembered everything; every betrayal in her life. She stood and the chair legs scraped on the floor, no doubt hurting Blake’s sensitive hearing – if her shouting hadn’t already.

“I waited around to see if you were okay, but I guess I didn’t need to. Enjoy your tea,” she ignored Blake’s face as it turned to shock and pulled her jacket on. She was leaving. “Happy new year.”

Heavy steps travelled to the front door, followed by a slam, and a motorcycle engine revving then peeling out.

Blake heard Sun curse in the other room, and he took tentative steps towards her. She felt like crying. He asked, “I guess it didn’t go well?”

A beat passed before her tears fell.

Fast forwarding to five days later, it had been the longest amount of time that they’d not seen or spoken to each other since they met.

And it was driving Yang crazy.

While she hadn’t outright admitted anything, she’d done a lot worse than that. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Blake’s face; every time it made her feel like an idiot. Emotions had gotten the better of her, and ruined everything.

She was lucky she hadn’t taken a spill the way she drove home that day – reckless and too pissed off to care much about consequences. That was where her luck had run out, though; as the days progressed she’d gotten more irritable and clumsy. Every night she’d lost more and more sleep, and tonight she felt it’d be completely sleepless, with her brain going over everything in her head again.

It was probably because Blake hadn’t contacted her – not in her own anger, and not even to apologise. So, Yang stayed silent too. It was childish, but for once in her life, she couldn’t help but act that way. Once again, Raven’s past actions were affecting her life. It was a shitty excuse to behave that way, but everyone was a product of something – it just so happened that she was a picture-perfect product of abandonment.

Why had her mother bothered to have a kid just to leave it behind?

And why had Blake bothered to be so reassuring about being accepting of homosexuality? She’d been open to flirting, comfortable with it, she flirted back. Was it really just the alcohol talking?

So what if it was? She already had conceded that could be just it – but it didn’t make sense to Yang. If she wanted answers, she’d have to talk to Blake. It could ruin their friendship, but at this point, it might be too late to save it, too.

Although…Blake had flirted with her at other times. Maybe there was hope.

The spark of optimism made Yang hastily pick up her phone, but as soon as she tried to call Blake, her nerves returned. She settled for re-reading the text messages she’d received from Sun. It was easy to tell that he’d overheard their argument – it was hard not to – so he hadn’t been grilling her for an explanation. No, he texted her a few hours after she’d taken off to chastise her for making Blake cry.

At least he was still on her side – well, he still was convinced they were perfect for each other. He’d been sending her different ideas on what to do, and she appreciated the effort, but it was easier said than done to fix her mess. A little teamwork sounded appealing at the moment, since her own courage was waning.

Yang started to type out a plea for his help just as the phone came to life. The contact photo she’d set of Blake stared at her – she had refused to smile for the photo – and Yang was just about ready to go into cardiac arrest. An opportunity had just presented itself to her. She could take the chance…no.

She had to.

Yang answered the call, but failed to speak.

“Yang?” Blake’s voice brought her back to Earth. She didn’t sound angry.

“Hey.”

“What- um, what’s up?”

Yang had never heard such a bad attempt at a conversation starter. But it also meant that she wasn’t the only nervous one; nor the only guilty one.

“Oh, y’know,” she said casually, “just…missing my best friend.” She heard a muffled laugh.

“I miss you too,” Blake said quietly. “I know it’s kind of late-”

“Eight-thirty isn’t late,” Yang interrupted.

She heard Blake sigh through the phone. “It is when I’m asking if I can come over.”

“Come over as in, tell me how much of a jerk I am…or impromptu sleepover where we paint our nails and stay up all night talking, come over?”

There was a little contemplative hmm. “How about both?”

Yang finally felt relieved for the first time in days. “I wasn’t sleeping tonight anyway. Come on over.”

“See you in a bit, then,” Blake said, hanging up.

That had been easy. There was no animosity. But had it been too easy?

She quickly updated her little sister of the situation via text, feeling like she could use a bit of Ruby’s everlasting encouragement.

Stepping out onto the curb, Blake took the box that Sun held out to her.

“Thanks for the ride, Sun,” she smiled at him as he gave her a thumbs up, “and the pizza.”

“You know I only did this on the condition that you guys fix this mess and stop avoiding each other! My boss would kill me if he found out, then he’d fire me.”

“You better get going, then.” Blake was grateful that her and Yang’s mutual friend cared enough for both of them to help her out. He delivered pizzas part-time; it was the perfect way to get to Yang’s in the evening and have an icebreaker. She waved goodbye to him and walked up to Qrow’s front door.

Hopefully it won’t be the last time I do, she thought. After knocking, it wasn’t long before she heard the lock click and found herself face to face with the latest person in her life she was afraid of losing.

Steeling her resolve, Blake presented the warm box to Yang, “I brought apology pizza.”

“Was I supposed to get you a bribe too?” Yang asked with a small laugh, taking the food and motioning her inside, out of the chilly air.

Blake felt that their back and forth joking from earlier was a good sign, so she kept it going. “You mean you didn’t?”

She must have sounded more serious than she intended, or Yang was just too nervous to realise it was sarcastic. “No, no! Wait right here,” Yang held up a finger with a big cheesy grin, “one second.”

“Yang-”

“Uh-bup-bup!” Yang disappeared down the hall, still holding the pizza.

Blake busied herself with removing her coat and beanie. “I was joking,” she said to herself.

Arms behind her back, Yang returned in a matter of seconds. It was impressive how easily she was able to think of anything, let alone something believable, to get for her.

Yang flourished, presenting a single purple flower. “Voilà!” She used the French term energetically, holding it out for Blake.

It was a little odd to think that someone like Qrow, or even Yang, had a vase of flowers in the house. Nonetheless, it was a lovely shade of purple; Blake focusing on the petals before realising it was the same colour as Yang’s eyes. Even though she knew Yang hadn’t prepared it, it somehow felt more thoughtful than sauce and cheese on bread.

Blake accepted the flower, fighting the warm flush that was threatening to creep up her neck. She wished she had known that a mere flower could produce butterflies in the pit of her stomach. “Merci beaucoup, je l'aime,” she thanked Yang in French, hopeful that it would distract the blonde from noticing her reddening cheeks.

“Whoa,” Yang gawked, clearly not expecting it. “Pardon your French!”

Blake deliberately rolled her eyes. “Pardon is French, Yang.”

“Sooo, you speak French? That’s kinda hot,” Yang said despite the implications – Blake was glad Yang wasn’t going to be afraid to speak her mind around her, but she definitely had lost the battle with her blush when Yang wiggled her eyebrows.

She allowed herself the satisfaction of talking again in French, just to see Yang’s confusion, as payback.

Yang responded the best way she could to a foreign language. “It’s hot, but I have no idea what you’re saying.”

Blake repeated herself, in English. “Yes, but the pizza is getting cold, and that is a waste of a free pizza.”

“Ah,” Yang replied.

Blake shouldn’t have been surprised, but Yang then spouted a sentence that was assumedly Chinese. Raising her brow, she silently asked for a translation.

“I said, I don’t wanna waste free food,” Yang winked, and led her to the pizza that was sitting in the kitchen next to a vase of the purple flowers her gift had originated from. Perhaps her friend did like floral decoration. As lovely as the flower was, Blake didn’t really have anywhere to hold it, nor did she particularly like the idea of letting it wilt.

Blake carefully slotted its stem back into the vase with its kin. “I’ll retrieve this when I leave.”

Yang looked a little disappointed that Blake’s flower was now just another set of petals in the arrangement again, insignificant.

“I promise.”

Yang nodded after hearing that, and opened up the pizza box, grateful for the edible distraction. She was also pretty hungry; having been fretting too much to bother eating. Consciously, she avoided jumping right into the awkward conversation they were going to have to have. “Where’d you pick up French?”

“I was allowed to choose a secondary language to learn in my home-schooling. Little Blake thought it was the language of romance,” she held back a laugh at the speed Yang took and devoured a slice of pizza.

“Aw,” Yang said still chewing, “what does Blake think about it now she’s all grown up?”

Blake took her own helping of pizza, smiling wistfully. “I think I was young and naïve.”

“Well, that’s just depressing.”

Yang wasn’t wrong. It was sad, how hopeful she’d been as a child; it was a far cry from her present self. “It’s wasn’t meant to be uplifting, Yang.”

The blonde just stared at her. The scrutiny of her gaze was intense. “You are such an enigma, Blake Belladonna.”

“Some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved.” Knowing Yang, she was going to take that as a challenge. Yet she seemed to ignore it, picking up the pizza box once again and audibly sighing.

“Let’s go sit down on the couch and get the hard part over with. The suspense is killing me,” Yang walked away, her mood having switched from laid-back to serious.

As they got comfortable, they both fidgeted. Blake wasn’t expecting an apology. People never seemed to say sorry to her – for anything.

“I’m sorry for what I said. I was out of line, about everything.”

Yang was constantly surprising her, and now was no exception. She was different to other people in her life. She isn’t him; Blake felt terrible that she even had to remind herself of that when Yang had never done anything to harm her. She had intended to be the one apologising, and wasn’t going to withhold it just because Yang had also felt guilty.

“And I’m sorry too,” nonetheless, Blake was still clueless about certain details. “I don’t know what I said, but I made you upset, and that’s the last thing I wanted.”

Yang gave her the tiniest hint of a smile. It was enough to calm her frayed nerves, and it was certainly much better than the shouting she’d gotten last time they spoke.

“It’s not what you can’t remember you said,” Yang let out an airy laugh as she took another helping of pizza. “None of that was bad, even if it made me really confused.”

Blake followed her lead, taking her second helping as well. “I didn’t start speaking in French, did I?” She thought it was funny, but on second thought, it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise that she could speak French just now, if she had already done it before.

“No, I meant it made me confused,” Yang said, not bothered by talking with her mouth full of food. She did however, finish chewing before adding quietly, “about my feelings.”

“Oh,” Blake was not quite prepared for such honesty, and giving such a lame response almost made her cringe.

“Yeah,” Yang had a face of discomfort, doing the cringing for them both. “Blake, I’m not mad at you anymore. I was, but only because you acted like it wasn’t a big deal. Still, I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

In her mind’s eye, Blake could see that angry version of Yang towering over her in Sun’s kitchen. The blonde had been intimidating, and that brought unpleasant feelings to the surface. It also made her realise that just because she had never experienced it, Yang had always had the ability to act that way. She’d knocked over Cardin Winchester, after all. But, sometimes, words could hurt more than physical violence, and she’d hurt Yang with her own, and vice versa.

She deserved to be scolded; reprimanded with scathing words that would teach her a lesson. Instead, the only thing Yang was doing was seeking her forgiveness. This was what she wanted, but nearly all her life, she’d been taught that humans only wanted to hurt her.

“How can you not be angry with me anymore?”

“My anger was misplaced, Blake,” Yang glanced her way before lilac irises became focused on something distant. “I let it get to me because I have this stupid idea in my head that everyone that tries to disregard me is doing the same thing my mother did when she up and left me. She wasn’t fair to me…but I wasn’t fair to you. You’re not her.”

For once, the strong passion that Yang usually spoke with was gone. Replaced with a gentle sadness that broke Blake’s heart. Yang knew exactly what it was like to have somebody that was supposed to take care of you break that promise; both of them had unintentionally let their past experiences affect them in the present.

“Yang, it’s not stupid, and it’s not your fault.” Blake, against her better judgement, moved closer when Yang became downcast. The need to reassure Yang when she was vulnerable won out over possibly making the same mess all over again.

With the utmost care, Blake placed the palm of her hand on Yang’s cheek, guiding the blonde to look at her in the eye. She tried not to think about how soft her skin was, or that it was warmer than hers, or that if you stared long enough, you would see a ring of deep, rich burgundy surrounding purple irises.

“None of it is your fault,” she repeated, and she’d say it a thousand times over if that was what it took for Yang to believe her. If she could be convinced that her past did not define her, then she owed it to Yang to reiterate that she didn’t do anything do to deserve abandonment.

Blake felt Yang lean ever so slightly into her hand.

It felt like they were frozen in time, along with Blake’s breathing. She didn’t dare move, lest everything shatter before her eyes. She would not let up until Yang knew she meant her words; she would not hurt Yang again.

“Okay.”

Suddenly, Yang was smiling and Blake could breathe again. It wasn’t exuberant, nor was it done gleefully. It was small, but appreciative.

It was beautiful.

Blake embraced Yang; not just because she wanted to, but because she was scared she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from doing something more. She just couldn’t do that to her.

“Thanks, Blake.”

She sensed that Yang was still not quite ready to let go, and she was happy to wait.

“Can I just ask you one thing?”

At Yang’s tentative question, Blake felt her heart beat a little faster. They’d done well so far; come to an understanding, and everything was forgiven. What else was on Yang’s mind?

Upon separation, Blake tried to keep her expression as measured as her words. “That depends on what it is.”

Again, Yang was hesitant. Blake had never seen her this way before. “Why were you so worried about us…about what might’ve happened?”

Upon contemplation, Blake found that it was an easy enough question to answer – but the easy answer was going to make things complicated, so she chose to be truthful without a specifying a reason. “Because, despite what I said or implied, it would have been a very big deal. There is nothing that would change the fact that I trapped you in an uncomfortable situation.”

She hoped Yang understood. At least one of them would understand what was going on in her head. If there was one thing Blake was sure of, it was that she had never been more unsure of herself in her life. She’d laugh at the irony if it wasn’t so frustrating.

“Hey, we all make mistakes sometimes,” Yang reassured her, smiling again like her normal self.

Blake huffed. “What is it about alcohol? It’s like it wants me to embarrass myself.” She hadn’t made any mistakes. Drunk Blake had made all the mistakes! If she didn’t drink at the party, she wouldn’t have acted the way she did.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, Blakey!” Yang relaxed into the couch after taking another helping of the dwindling pizza. “I’ve done way worse things with half the amount of booze,” she commented casually.

“Such as?” Blake inquired, grateful that Yang was always trying to cheer her up. She would have been in trouble if Yang had tried to press her for more answers.

“You don’t wanna know, and I don’t wanna remember.”

Yang cried in indignation as Blake swatted her arms for such an incriminating response. “That is hardly reassuring, you party animal.”

“It’s not like I did anything that wild,” Yang added hastily, fending off the Faunus’ hands, “there’s no raunchy stories!”

Golden eyes rolled, a heavy sigh following the halting of Blake’s hands. Then, Yang grinned, looking much too happy for her own good.

“That I can remember!”

“Yang!” Blake cried, resorting to outright shoving the blonde’s shoulder. She knew Yang did these things on purpose, and Yang knew that she would always react this way. The cackling of laughter that always followed was quite telling of that.

“Okay, okay!” Yang said, letting up and rubbing her arm, as if Blake had the capacity to even remotely hurt it. “At least you didn’t call me a jerk like you were supposed to.”

Blake stared at her friend with stern eyes, but there was a ghost of a smile on her face. “Oh, there’s still plenty of time for that.”

After the girls’ stomachs were sufficiently stuffed, and they’d embarrassedly recounted how both of their lives were uneventful and lacklustre the past few days – totally unrelated to one another’s absence – there was finally a lull in the conversation.

Yang was caught off guard when Blake decided to save them from an extended silence.

“You know, I was pleasantly surprised to see that bouquet of flowers in the kitchen. I just didn’t take Qrow as the type.”

“Those are mine, actually. I couldn’t resist Carnations ready to bloom, and I bought them for…” Trailing off, Yang never elaborated. Blake didn’t know if she had been about to say they were bought for a specific reason or a specific someone.

“I mean, they’re, uh, a nice colour?”

What Yang wasn’t telling Blake was that on New Year’s Day, hours after she’d regretted how she treated her, she’d gone out to try and find the nicest flowers to apologise to her with. Only after she purchased them had she realised she had no clue where Blake lived, and by then she had deflated and lost all her resolve, so she gave up and brought them home instead – if only to remind her of her immense failure.

“You know what type of flower they are?” Blake was giggling now.

Yang pouted in response. “Why are you laughing at me?”

“I’m not,” Blake said, even though she most definitely was. “It’s just cute.”

Yang’s pout was replaced with her arms crossing. It’s cute. “In that case, I’ll only talk about flowers from now on.”

Blake did not laugh at her again, but she was still at least mildly amused. “I had no idea your knowledge of flowers was that extensive.”

“Dad likes to garden,” Yang explained, “me and Ruby had our own sunflowers and roses to take care of too.”

Before she could get made fun of anymore, Yang tried to bring the conversation around to something more useful – useful meaning trying to come up with some sort of way to break it to Blake that she was totally gay for her. It sounded much easier than she knew it was going to be, but at least she had a good segue.

“Speaking of, it’s almost Spring! Do you know what that means?”

Not willing to play a guessing game, Blake’s answer was technically accurate, but lacking in effort. “It means…it’ll be March soon.”

Yang rolled her eyes, fond of the Faunus’ talent for never-ending indifference. “It means you won’t have to suffer in the cold anymore.”

She wanted to remind Blake that the weather would soon be much more suitable to doing activities – outdoor activities (which Yang was also fond of). She had begun to think that it’d be best to bring up the conversation on how she felt while walking around town in the sunshine with Blake; maybe going out for lunch, yada yada yada.

She’d asked Qrow; as he was a long-time resident of the city, if there were any places to visit in the springtime. He’d shrugged, claiming he knew none. That hadn’t necessarily meant there was none, he just didn’t care for parks and the like. All Yang had gotten was the excuse that they always say in Canton you Canton-joy yourself. It was a good pun, but not very helpful. He’d not bothered to ask why, in particular, Yang wanted to go to nice places – but the questioning looks he’d given her said it all.

It was then apparent she had nobody to turn to – well, except her friends. As far as she was aware, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Ren and Nora had grown up in Canton, or in the surrounding area at least. Scarlet and Sage were also an option, and Sun was likely to gather his own friends to help her out (she hoped). That meant she had six knowledgeable people, plus Sun and Neptune, as possible wingmen/women.

Yang was broken from her fantasy thoughts of the perfect date-but-not-a-date by the subject of them.

“I have you, so I don’t have to suffer in the cold at all,” proving herself right, Blake made herself quite at home snuggled up to Yang’s warmth. “Spring is useless to me.”

Yang wasn’t really willing to reject that statement, if she was being chosen over warmer weather. Still, she had to find a convincing truth to get Blake to go out with her. “But haven’t you heard? This Spring will be the best!”

“And where did you hear that?”

“Oh, everyone’s been saying that.” Nobody had been saying that. “It’ll be our first Spring as friends! We can go on walks in pretty parks, and have picnics. Oh, I have this great sandwich with cottage cheese I think you’d like. And there’ll be flowers, butterflies, birds, and bees!”

Yang’s enthusiasm for the flora and fauna was not shared by Blake.

“What is it with you and bees?” The ravenette asked incredulously. It was something she’d been wondering about for a while now – she hadn’t ever met anybody with such an affinity for insects.

The blonde was shocked and appalled, dramatically insisting, “Have you seen bumblebees? They’re so cute!” That was not enough on its own though. “Plus, black and yellow,” Yang gestured between them both, referring to their hair (and general favouritism) of the colours, “is a good combo.”

A small cough came from Blake, though she quickly retorted, “Maybe you don’t need me, then, if you have bees,” rejecting the idea of humouring Yang’s obvious hint about the two of them.

“I do love bees,” Yang cooed. “But, let me tell ya, I always wanted a cat. As a kid, I used to see the Maine coon cats around town and think, ooooh they’re so big and cuddly! I might just get one, if you leave me.”

Blake abruptly snorted, finding that slightly ridiculous. “And it will be black with yellow eyes, and you’ll name it Blake!” She faked excitement and went along with Yang’s plan, if only for a second, just to shoot it down with her trademark sarcasm. “Oh, wait. You already did that.”

Yang harrumphed. “You got me, there.” So she hadn’t realised how dumb that had sounded. At this rate, she’d put her big foot in her big mouth and let something even stupider slip, like the only cat I ever want to cuddle is you, Blake. There was a part of her that thought she’d get in trouble for that, but Blake had made jokes about her feline features before – funny ones, that had made Yang laugh. She’d missed laughing with her.

“Can I just say, I feel a lot better now that we’re friends again,” Yang said aloud, not having considered how it might have sounded. “Not that stopped thinking you were my friend! Just, you know?”

Blake hummed in agreeance. “I know. I never thought we would be friends in the first place, but now I can’t imagine what my life would be like without you.”

It served as a reminder that Blake held no animosity towards Yang for their differences or the reason for their slight falling out. It also made Yang wonder what the hell was going on. Surely she wasn’t that good of a person to be trusted this much, and certainly not by someone that grew up being told humans like her didn’t even exist.

The only explanations Yang could think of was that she was a better person than she realised, or Blake was holding herself back for some reason. And she’d be damned if she didn’t figure out which one it was.

“Well, if it’s anything like the last couple of days, it’d probably suck.” Yang took her assumptions from how miserable she’d been – and considered herself lucky if Blake felt the same way.

“Is that an indirect way of saying my life would suck without you?”

“Totally,” Yang laughed, “and, since you’ve been gone, I can breathe for the first time!”

“Are we just making obscure references to Kelly Clarkson now?”

“No, Blake, I’m totally serious.” Her constant snickering said otherwise. Abruptly, as she was well capable of, Yang abandoned an amused Blake on the couch to jump onto the coffee table. Taking care to not step in the pizza box as she brought her feet down like she was performing to an arena of people, Yang brought her fist to her mouth, dramatically miming the greatest singing Idol of American history. “How can I put it, you put me on, I even fell for that stupid love song. Yeah, yeah, since you been gone.”

Blake smiled at the blonde that was shimmying on the table; her hair bouncing, legs working in those stupid short shorts of hers. If she wasn’t enjoying watching Yang having fun and her nonsensical antics, she’d have gotten up there too – okay, maybe not. It wasn’t her house, or her table, to dance on.

Yang continued on. After all, they were having fun, and they needed it after everything. “How come I’d never hear you say, I just wanna be with you,” she sung to Blake, knowing it wouldn’t come off as a real question. Even though, deep down, she could relate to it. Yang tried not to think about that, though, pushing it out of her mind.

Blake held up a finger, catching Yang’s attention. “That song was about breaking up.”

“Oh, you’re right.” Yang seemed to deflate, her happy energy fading.

“I enjoyed the show nonetheless. Very entertaining, great stage presence. I’d vote Yang Xiao Long to be the next American Idol.”

“If only they still produced it, and not trashy shows about trashy people’s lives,” Yang sighed, stepping down to the floor, “oh, except for the Bachelor. I’ll binge watch that any day of the week.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Blake replied, not one for reality shows that pitted numerous people against each other for the heart of a single person.

Yang’s phone buzzed with a text in the confines of her bra, the girl almost forgetting she’d put it there (her shorts lacked the luxury of pockets). Earlier, she’d hurriedly messaged Ruby; who’d known about her sulking the whole time, that Blake was trying to make up with her. Her sister had sent a well-wishing back, but not before asking, you mean kiss and make up? And then make-out? with a kissy face as well. Yang appreciated the girl’s positive attitude, but she hated how good Ruby was at poking fun at her.

When she opened the text, it was a simple question:

Have you told her yet?

She was about to reply, until she did a double take at who had sent it, Abs Wukong; complete with a banana emoji next to his contact name (he’d taken the liberty of making his own nickname). She wasn’t even annoyed that Sun was trying to help this time, she was more worried about how he knew that she was with Blake. Another buzz brought another message from the monkey Faunus.

Your welcome for the pizza, btw!

Slowly, her brain made the connection in her head, but before Yang could once again scold Sun for his constant nagging, Blake interrupted her train of thought.

“Are you trying to set your phone on fire by glaring at it?”

Yang realised she had been practically glowering at the screen. At this point, she was not willing to admit that she and Sun had been arguing for almost a month about something that involved Blake without her knowing.

“Sorry, I’ll be one sec,” she began furiously typing while trying to think of a legitimate enough excuse. “Just tryna help Rubes with…” Yang trailed off, as her priority was to reply to Sun.

You’re* as in, you’re going to explain what you know RIGHT NOW!

In a time of improvisation, Yang learned her mental capacity was severely lacking when she finished her sentence with, “…uh, a homework problem.”

Oh, yeah. Real smooth.

“Right,” came Blake’s disbelieving drawl.

Yang chose to ignore her. She didn’t have a better lie than that anyway, even if it was terrible.

Sun replied, I was just the bribery guy I swear! Blake asked me to help win you back ;)

Honestly surprised at that revelation, Yang decided to grant mercy – everything had turned out fine, anyway. Blake had reached out to Sun, of all people, to help her. After the things he’d said about them, and done to them, it didn’t make sense to ask him – unless Blake was hiding something. That was always the answer to things these days, and, it failed to make Yang feel any better. Regardless, if she were to have Sun as support, criticising him wasn’t exactly the way to keep him on her side

I guess I owe you one, banana boy. TTYL. She sent off her last text before tucking her phone away again.

“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just blatantly lie to me, since you look a little conflicted,” Blake had the sincerity to sound concerned; an invitation in her voice that she was open to talking about it, but Yang was in no state to discuss anything just yet.

She needed to plan.

“I’m not lying,” Yang said entirely unconvincingly; voice much too snappy to be credible.

“So, Ruby needs help with homework on Winter break?” Blake questioned in turn, not really caring about what excuse she was getting. Yang was suddenly behaving oddly, and she didn’t like being kept in the dark after recent events. What were the contents of those text messages that’d so drastically changed her mood in a few minutes?

Noting that Yang couldn’t make eye contact with her, she patiently waited for an answer. She wouldn’t demand anything, no. That wasn’t how friendship worked. Especially when Yang allowed her to keep as many secrets as she did. She’d wade through whatever obstacles Yang threw her way slowly, surely, not pushing too hard – because Yang usually caved, anyway.

“She…has extracurricular activities?”

“Yang,” Blake called softly. It failed to garner Yang’s attention, the blonde just standing awkwardly with her hands by her sides. The Faunus, not wanting to risk an argument, dropped the subject. “Are you alright?”

“Actually, I think I need some fresh air,” long legs started inching towards the hallway. “Is- is that okay?”

Truly baffled, Blake wanted nothing more than to pursue the issue and Yang – but she had been in the same position before. Sometimes, people just needed space.

“Sure, Yang. Take your time,” Blake wore what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Fair warning though, if you’re gone too long, I’ll find a book to read and you’ll have that to deal with.”

What she said was in jest, as Yang knew all too well how difficult it was to get Blake Belladonna to put down a book when she was enthralled with a story.

She knew she had said something right when Yang smiled just slightly, replying, “I’ll take my chances.”

And Yang had meant it, because time ticked away slowly; agonisingly, her absence approaching half an hour with Blake having held out on picking up a book. Concluding that she’d given Yang plenty of space and time, she only had two choices – wait even longer, or join her outside. The fact that it was positively freezing outside at night didn’t make her decision any easier, but one of Yang’s discarded hoodies was sitting in the living room.

That about sealed the deal for Blake; she’d be better prepared to sit out there with her friend if need be. Picking up the dark navy hoodie, she realised it was much too large for herself, let alone Yang. On the front, worn letters read Maine State Police; the garment tag had the name T. XIAO LONG scrawled over the care instructions tag in waterproof marker.

It was Taiyang’s, then. Blake wondered if Yang had taken it specifically because she would miss her father, or she had already claimed it before moving – not that it mattered. It was rather unimportant, really. Practically wrapped in the hoodie, Blake ventured to the back of the house in the dark, easily spotting Yang sitting out on the paved patio. It wasn’t hard to see such a blonde mane, even in low light.

Blake opened the door; hinges announcing her presence with a slight creak, and from shadows she slipped into the moonlight. Yang didn’t move, but when Blake entered her peripheral vision and sat next to her on the cold stone she finally addressed her.

“I thought you said I would have to deal with you stuck in a book, not you stealing my clothes.”

She spoke with a fondness that Blake could appreciate. If there was one thing about Yang, it was her uncanny ability to exude a comforting aura.

As usual, Blake danced their familiar conversational waltz, with a witty comeback that was almost instinctual. “Your clothes? Since when does your name start with a T?”

“You can’t steal the hoodie that I already stole,” Yang protested, as if it was obvious.

“Consider it a loan, then.”

Yang simply hummed noncommittally, barely taking the time to look at Blake. Her eyes were trained on the clear sky; stars visible – but not to the extent that it was anything to write home about. Cities tended to have lacklustre star displays. Blake wondered if Yang was used to better views in Maine; she had mentioned she grew up in a small and mountainous town.

While she had the chance, Blake let herself observe Yang uninhibited – it was often hard to catch her distracted like this. Being able to see more than the average human at night had its advantages, but she had to remind her brain that she shouldn’t stare for too long, no matter how much she would have liked to. Blake could have sworn she caught Yang’s eyes reflect a trail of stardust that flickered by in the dark sky.

Proving she wasn’t insane, Yang quietly asked her if she had seen the shooting star.

“Yeah, I did.” Convinced that the universe was intent on teasing her temptations, Blake tore her eyes away before she dug an even deeper hole and fell right in; pining after someone she couldn’t have – that was a very bad idea, and she needed to stop and move on.

“Not that I mind,” Blake tugged on borrowed long sleeves to keep her fingertips warm, “but you’ve been out here a while.”

“I was just thinking about some things, lost track of time, I guess.”

Blake found Yang’s answer too vague to be of any help. “And…are these things bothering you?” She asked an equally vague question, hoping that Yang would bite and play ball with her.

The blonde did bite, but immediately threw the ball back in to Blake’s corner. “Do you want the long answer, or the short answer?”

“Either one is fine.”

“Short answer, yes. Long answer…” Yang paused to think briefly. “Uh, hell yes.”

Despite being struck with the desire to be able to try and fix Yang’s problems, Blake was well aware she was terrible with problem solving; even if she knew what the issue was. There was not much she could do but be empathetic.

“I’m not going to tell you to confide in me, since that’d make me quite the hypocrite. I also don’t have words of encouragement, because I know that some things are just frustratingly difficult to deal with. Talking about it might not solve anything, but it might help you feel better.” Blake had learned that over the past few months. Having someone new to trust was something she’d appreciated after losing many people dear to her heart. “I always feel a little lighter after opening up to you.”

She also had begun to feel a lot more than just lighter; more than what was strictly platonic, when Yang had responded so well to all her history. Her brain, trained by many years of White Fang gospel, rejected those feelings so vehemently. She battled with the confliction that she continued to grow more attached to Yang every time they were alone, especially as of late – her drunkenness on New Year’s Eve had shown cards that she had tried so hard to keep to her chest.

Convinced enough by Blake’s answer, Yang spoke again. “Do you ever have a problem that should be easy to deal with, like, the answer is right in front of you…”

Blake felt a shiver that she would blame on the cold, not on how Yang seemed to be reading her mind.

“…but something is just making it so much more complicated than it needs to be?”

If only you knew, Blake thought. Instead of saying that, though, she tried to be more helpful. “I think that if the answer is easy enough, you should say to hell with whatever is making it so complicated.”

“I think my attitude is rubbing off on you, Blakey,” Yang’s shoulder bumped slightly into Blake’s, their bodies in much closer proximity than before.

A simple thank you would have sufficed, but Yang loved to use that infernal nickname. Blake rolled her eyes. “Oh, drat. I don’t think they’ve found a cure for sunny-little-dragon-itis.”

“Well, I’m glad there’s no cure for your sass. I love it when-”

“I’m feisty. I know,” Blake cut in, as if finishing Yang’s sentence for her would alleviate the constrictions in her chest she knew she would get from the often-stated compliment.

Yang stretched her legs and slowly stood from the ground, briefly swiping any dirt from her behind before reaching a hand down for Blake to help herself up with. “Taking my clothes, giving me advice, and finishing my sentences. What did I do to deserve you?”

Blake, feeling much too embarrassed to worsen her erratic heartbeat and warm cheeks with a real answer, parroted Yang’s response from earlier once she was upright. “Do you want the long answer, or the short answer?”

The laughter that it elicited from Yang, along with the fact that she hadn’t released Blake’s hand from her own, served as the final push over the edge.

Oh, yes, Blake was falling for this wonderful human, and she had no way of stopping it.

Notes: Song: 'Sleepin'' All the delay for this was about 80% in my control, my bad. Most of what I had written for a long time seemed filler-ey (maybe it still reads that way, idk) and felt like I was taking two steps back with their relationship with only one step forward to make up for it. I hope it turned out alright! P.S. see how many references to voice actors of characters you can spot, I put a few in! *wink* Also, I figured people would be watching RWBY though, and wouldn't miss me that much lmao. Hope y'all have been enjoying Volume 5! I certainly have. I post all my thoughts and episode 'reviews' on my personal tumblr. Any updates on my writing progress can be found on my writing tumblr. here's hoping they fuckin mention Blake in the episode that's about to come out!!also I know the real months are almost catching up with my story timeline and I hope real time doesn't get ahead of me! comments will help encourage me <3 thank you for reading!

#rwby #rwby fanfiction #bumbleby #rwby bumblebee #bumblebee #rwby fanfic #bumbleby fanfiction #bumbleby fanfic #slow burn bees #the bees #otp #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #jnpr #sssn #sun is best wingman #otherwise he isn't good for much else #ssab #such sights are bright

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transarterrified · 6 years

Text

top surgery

I wanted to write up my experience as a reference for others who are interested in getting top surgery or who want to learn more about it. I’m going to write it kind of like an advice/what I wish I had known or done before. There are a few sections: fundraising, before the surgery, the surgery, and early recovery.

Fundraising

As you may have seen, I did a fundraiser with help from several people, including rgr-pop and start-anywhere, who donated items and labor to the fundraiser. You can still donate if you want the mixes and/or a tarot reading from me, haha. Here is my advice about fundraising:

If possible, make your own website instead of using YouCaring or GoFundMe. If you do want to use a donation site, pick one that doesn’t take a cut of the money. I built a website with Wordpress and purchased a plan that took that ads off the page, which I did more because I needed to do that for my professional website when I go on the job market. I found that it gave me more room to talk about my budget, I was able to track the analytics more tightly, and I think it may have been more rhetorically effective. It might even make sense to use something like Squarespace with a store feature – I think Merritt Kopas did this for her fundraiser.

Offer tangible benefits, but pick ones that are easy to accomplish. For me this was important because I didn’t want people to just give money to me for a variety of reasons. I also was able to do a thing I do all the time anyway and share a skill I’m developing. It helps you reach people who don’t know you, and also encourages people to give more money. It took me a long time to pick two things I wanted to give. I had all kinds of ideas, like screenprinting a cool shirt (I still want to do this), and making a queer tarot zine (I also still want to do this). But at the very correct urging of beneaththeleaf, I narrowed it down to two things that take less time than those crafts. So, briefly, pick benefits that are easy to distribute, easy to make, and free/cheap to make. If you don’t have to ship things, you’ll be able to keep more money.

Let others help you. If your friends have a skill, ask them to contribute something your donors can give for more money. Let your friends help you with managing the contacts you have to make post-donation and with sharing and promoting the fundraiser. It will have more of an impact if you can get ten friends to share or reblog your fundraiser than if you share or reblog your own fundraiser ten times!

Don’t expect fundraising to cover the whole cost. And don’t compare yourself to other people raising money. I wouldn’t have been able to have the surgery without the money I raised. But I also wouldn’t have been able to do it without the money I saved and the money I borrowed. Among my friends who have raised money, the average is about $2000. And you will be fundraising the same time that your friends are, which is awkward. I was fundraising for a surgery the same time as another friend in my extended network, and he raised all $9000 that he asked for. He deserves it! Another friend got top surgery the same week and paid for it all out of pocket. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have fundraised! You have to just let other people’s surgeries be their surgeries and their fundraisers be their fundraisers. Boost yours and other fundraisers you don’t see getting traction as much as possible. It’s shitty and it sucks. But that’s how the internet works.

Let yourself get some money. It took me MANY therapy sessions to accept that I could and should do a fundraiser. I didn’t think I was worth it! I felt like I was taking resources from other people. But that’s not really how it works. As my friend Cass has described to me, being trans on the internet is basically part of being in a huge circle of friends constantly giving each other $30. It feels bad to take that money. But if it’s the only way you can do it, you need to do it! You can give it forward later.

Get ready to feel weird. Asking for money will lead to some weird social circumstances. I got several unexpected large donations and some of those I had to talk with the donors about. Some of your friends are secretly rich, which is weird.

Before the Surgery

Take care of your health. I panicked the week before the surgery because I was convinced I would get sick and then they couldn’t perform the surgery on me. One night, I got off the bus 10 stops before my house because the guy sitting next to me was coughing without covering his mouth. I sucked on so many zinc tablets my taste buds are still fucked up. I even called the surgeon to assuage my fear that it would be ok if I had a cold, and they were very firm with me about not being sick at all being very important. You should think about this before scheduling a surgery a) at the end of the semester or a more stressful period at your job, b) during cold and flu season, and c) during the holidays. I was fine! But it triggered my deepest compulsion and it made me way crazier than I needed to be before getting surgery.

Let other people help you. I didn’t do this as much as I should have, but ask people for help with getting prepared, cleaning your house, whatever will help you be less stressed at least the week before your procedure.

Try to avoid going down the internet rabbit holes. I read A LOT of surgery result stories and felt like it was going to either be me feeling 100% two days later or being bedridden for two weeks. I think there is value in reading people’s stories, but remember, they are stories and sometimes are embellished, and also aren’t the only possible outcomes. I felt like since I hadn’t been working out, taking supplements, etc. etc. it was going to be bad and my long term recovery would be bad. It’s just not true! There are things you can do to prepare, and you should do what makes you feel the most confident. But don’t listen to the advice of every musclebro out there.

Try to R-E-L-A-X. I know this is pointless advice, but try to be calm, meditate, do breathing exercises, etc. Get your blood pressure down. Also, doubt and guilt are totally natural feelings. If possible, I highly recommend reaching out to someone who has had top surgery to talk with them about these feelings if you can. It was really helpful to know it was normal to feel guilty and doubtful, and to also know that those feelings would reside with time.

If you smoke tobacco, they will ask you to stop at least two weeks before surgery. Just keep this in mind!

Day before/of surgery

Pack button-downs only and lots of sweat pants. If you need sweaters, go with cardigans and zip ups. You won’t be able to raise your arms over your head.

Go shopping before you get the surgery. Here’s a list, if you don’t get a package of stuff from your surgeon. I recommend getting these items prior to your procedure:

Two post-surgical binders—you will be provided one most likely. Get another if possible, or even two

If you are doing open drains: thin, wingless pads and extra large bandages. The thin pads will be nicer than the maternity pads they’ll give you to drain into, and eventually you can switch to bandages.

Sleep aids – it can be hard to sleep, even on pain meds.

Ibuprofen or other pain medicine – go off the hard stuff as soon as you can, because you’ll feel bette

Fiber pills – you won’t want to eat a lot, probably, and fiber will help your digestive system get back on track.

Stool softeners or laxatives – see above

Benadryl for itching

Neosporin

Lots of things you like to drink – I got two big bottles of Gatorade, Diet Coke, and cherry lime fizzy water.

Straws

Appealing snacky foods

Baby wipes and/or flushable wipes – I used these for everything and way more than I expected to

A massage ball (e.g., lacrosse ball) or some kind of massage tool for post-surgery massage. I just couldn’t deal with the feeling of pressing on my own incisions and chest; having a massage ball helped.

Laundry detergent--especially if you can bring no-rinse stuff like Soak

You won’t be able to eat before the surgery so eat when you can.

Don’t drink 24 hours before surgery. Some surgeons have harder rules on this. I tried to limit myself to one drink max per day the week before surgery.

The Surgery

This is what my experience was. We got to the surgeon’s office. I had my friend/care partner come in with me. We looked at before and after pictures in the waiting room. There was champagne, but I couldn’t drink it. It’s very strange if you get your surgery at a plastic surgeon’s office!

Very shortly, the first nurse led me into the consultation room. She weighed me (and made a weird comment about me losing weight). I did a bunch of paperwork. The nurse asked me which song I wanted played as I went under. I said something by Reba McEntire. She took my temperature and BP. My BP was 150/90 or something terrible – I told her I had white coat syndrome, and she told me it was relatively normal to have a high BP the day of surgery. I had to take off all my clothes in the bathroom after that, then put on surgical underwear and socks.

After that, she gave me a Valium and some other drugs. She took pictures of my chest from several angles. We waited for a long time. My friend caught some Pokemon. I freaked out. The Valium kicked in. I met with the surgeon. We talked for a long time about what my goals were (which we had already discussed over the phone). Mine were as follows: I didn’t want my nipples to be too close together, and I wanted my chest to look normal for someone of my size. I brought a “wish pic,” but I didn’t give it to anyone and I don’t know if they used it. She drew on my body with a medical marker. She took a lot of measurements and we tried to eyeball where my nipples would go. She rubbed nitro ointment on my hand. Then she left.

We waited more. The anesthesiologist came in and asked a ton of questions and had me do paperwork. She smelled like cigarettes. We waited even more. Then, very quickly, I was ushered into the surgery room. I was swarmed by nurses and the anesthesiologist. I couldn’t tell what Reba song was playing. They put compression pumps on my legs and strapped me to the table. Then I fell asleep and woke up with a new chest. I apparently told everyone Cass was my smartest friend, but only to tell him that he was one of my five smartest friends so he wouldn’t get a big head.

My Procedure

I had a buttonhole done, which is similar to a double incision but it retains a pedicle of nipple tissue, which purportedly increases the chance you will retain nipple sensation. So far, I have some feeling in one of my nipples, which is very rare for top surgery. So I guess that is a good sign.

Early Recovery

You will need more help than you think. I had a pretty fast and smooth recovery. Even with that, I really relied on my care partner to help me dress my drains, rebind, etc. I was also really depressed and lonely after surgery, and he being there was really helpful.

Find some activity you can do that feels productive. We played SO MUCH Pokemon Go and Ingress while I recovered. This was fun for both of us!

The pain may be less than you think. You’re coming off of anesthesia when you are recovering, and your pain might feel less intense as a result. Often you don’t need to take as many pain meds as you are given. For me, the most terrible sensation is…

ITCHING

THE ITCHING (FOR ME) IS TERRIBLE. The nurse told me that opiates make the itching worse (!) and it’s also just part of the wound healing process.

When ready, try to walk and move around. It will help you feel better! But don’t overdo it. I walked a little the first and second day, then a whole lot after that.

Make time to sleep and don’t expect to get work done. It’s really hard for me to envision not working, but for once, I was able to get exactly no work done for a few days. For the first two days, I also slept >12 hours at nighttime and with naps.

I may come back to this and add or remove as I keep recovering!

#top surgery #trans

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