I love how Canadian cinema has 5 modes of availability

1. It's a big movie that most people don't realize is Canadian/is lucky enough to have had good distribution through American video companies i.e American Psycho, Ginger Snaps, Strange Brew, numerous horror films

2. It's been forgotten about and lived in VHS purgatory, but recently has had a good restoration and is being seen by new people i.e Skip Tracer, Clearcut, Sudden Fury

3. It was released on DVD at some point, but isn't available to stream anywhere/is out of print/is stuck with an old video master that doesn't look very good i.e White Room, Last Night

4. Has never been restored in HD, the only way to watch it is bootleg VHS recordings, if those are even available i.e Between Friends, Loyalties, Paperback Hero, numerous others

5. It was made by the NFB, you can stream a gorgeous restoration for free at any time

Skip Tracer (Zale Dalen, 1977)

Repo man's always… dry, sincere, sombre, other Canadian synonyms for intense. The movie's still good though, with an excellent tone throughout. Character study of a driven, ruthless, lauded loan company stooge as the inhuman demands of his job and the consequences of success outstrip what he's capable of. Wonderful use of a city. Felt like not a single scene was shot on a set.

April 1979, October 1979, and August 1980. These novels by Brian Daley were not the first STAR WARS tie-ins, but they were the best of the early phase, and a strong influence on later SW media. The creative success of these exciting, frequently very funny books, which chronicle three adventures of Han Solo and Chewbacca prior to the first movie, had a lot to do with Daley himself. According to Daley's friends and his partner, novelist Lucia St. Clair Robson, Daley was Han Solo, or close to it: a brash military veteran with no love of authority, a fondness for sports cars and motorcycles, and a notoriously sarcastic sense of humor that concealed a heart of gold. Ironically, Daley, who genuinely loved STAR WARS, would have preferred to explore the history of the Jedi, but Lucas declared that off-limits, and imposed many restrictions on what Daley could and couldn't use from the films. For that reason, the novels take place on the fringes of the Empire: The first two books are set in the Corporate Sector, a region administered semi-autonomously by corporate interests with their own ruthless Security Police (an idea that clearly inspired some of the plot of ANDOR), while the third is set in the Tion Hegemony, a remote principality.

HAN SOLO AT STARS' END has Han and Chewie roped into aiding a group of people whose relatives have been "disappeared" by the Corporate Sector Authority, which is quietly rounding up dissidents and sending them to a secret facility called Stars' End. After Chewbacca is captured by the Security Police, Han concocts an elaborate, harebrained scheme to rescue his friend and the other "lost ones" from the galaxy's most closely guarded high-tech prison. Naturally, things don't go quite as planned, leading to a spectacularly ludicrous finale. (Spoiler: Han accidentally launches the prison complex into space.) This novel was subsequent adapted for the STAR WARS newspaper strip by Archie Goodwin and Alfredo Alcala, although the adaptation unfortunately isn't a patch on the original.

HAN SOLO'S REVENGE finds Han and Chewbacca, desperate for cash, taking a job that turns out to involve transporting slaves. This is a line our heroes will not cross, so after dealing harshly with the slavers, Han agrees to help a Corporate Sector Authority auditor named Fiolla of Lorrd track down the ringleaders of the operation, one of whom is her once-trusted assistant, Magg. Meanwhile, Chewbacca is forced to contend with a stubborn skip-tracer called Spray, who is determined to repossess the Millennium Falcon over Han and Chewie's unpaid bills!

HAN SOLO AND THE LOST LEGACY has Han and Chewbacca agreeing to help Han's old buddy Badure, Badure's friend Hasti, and an academic named Skynx locate a legendary lost starship, the Queen of Ranroon, the fabled treasure ship of an ancient tyrant called Xim the Despot. (The skull on the cover is Xim's emblem.) Although this sounds like it was influenced by RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, the book was actually published almost a year before the premiere of RAIDERS.

Although the novels make clear that Han is not overly fond of droids, the books give Han and Chewbacca a pair of droid companions: a laconic old labor droid called Bollux, and a small, extremely sophisticated, disconcertingly enthusiastic computer probe called Blue Max, who "lives" within a compartment in Bollux's chest. Here's how Alfredo Alcala depicted them in the comic strip:

Daley also includes some delightful aliens, including the skip-tracer Spray, who's a Tynnan — basically a sentient beaver with the dexterity of a raccoon — and the Ruurian academic Skynx, a sentient caterpillar who's determined to complete as much of his research as he can before entering the next phase of his life cycle and becoming a chroma-wing who'll have little memory of his former identity.

A useful companion for the first two books is Michael Allen Horne's HAN SOLO AND THE CORPORATE SECTOR SOURCEBOOK for the West End STAR WARS RPG, published in 1993:

Aside from the inevitable game statistics and some quite decent illustrations of the novels' characters, the sourcebook fleshes out Daley's conception of the Corporate Sector Authority, explaining how the Corporate Sector functions and its relationship to the Empire. This is narrated in part by Han Solo himself, which is presented as excerpts of later interviews with an Alliance historian named Voren Na'al (a common conceit in the WEG game books that works especially well here). The sourcebook is best read after the novels, since it explains their plots in detail, but it's a worthwhile supplement. Unfortunately, a planned followup describing the Tion Hegemony was never published before West End Games lost the SW license.

Brian Daley's other major contribution to STAR WARS lore was scripting the NPR radio adaptations of the first three movies. STAR WARS originally aired in the spring of 1981, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK two years later. Daley also wrote the later adaptation of RETURN OF THE JEDI, but he died of cancer in early 1996, at the age of 49, so the final drafts were completed by John Whitman.

What's The Best Movie Revealing The Truth Hidden In Plain Sight?

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TDM Movie Removing Important Details From the Books

I just spent like half an hour writing an essay about the most important things that the TDM movie removed that were originally in the books and why they ruined the movie even more for me. Feel free to add any other big things that were removed because I couldn’t remember everything since I haven’t watched the movie in a while.

Removing Sam and Martin:

Although Sam was technically *in* the movie, she had like half a minute on screen and that was it. They didn’t even drop her name, so I’m considering it the same as them writing her out of the movie because they did her dirty. And although Martin sucked, he was also important. They were both reasons why Ruby was so terrified of her powers, but without them, they made Ruby feel only a fraction of the internalised loathing of her power that she felt in the books. After Ruby had erased her parents memories, seen that orange kid on the bus, and then finally erasing the memories of the person she held dearest to her at Thurmond and the only light she had at that camp, Ruby shut down and didn’t speak for an entire year. Despite having erased herself from her parents, she at least had Sam. So when Sam was erased, she lost all hope. And when she was broken out of Thurmond, the little hope of finding others like her who can help her control her powers and let her be happy was destroyed by Rob and Martin. Thus, removing these two characters removed a huge layer of understanding we got as the readers as to why Ruby is so closed off in the first book. In the movie, had I not known her from the books, I would have simply thought that she’s just being dramatic, and be confused as to why she’s *so* scared of her powers. 

Removing the Jack storyline:

Oh boy. I hated it so much. Jack was so important to Liam and Chubs. Jack’s death made Liam feel so guilty and is what drives him to work even harder to save kids from camps without having any of them die. He feels so guilty about every single death in Caledonia, but Jack was his friend and he left him behind. And without Jack, we have no journey to find Jack’s dad and deliver the letter to him. And without Chubs being shot by Jack’s dad, we never find out in the movie that Chubs trusted Liam would get them out so much that he didn’t even write a letter to his parents. That was such an emotional moment in the book and made me realise how strong their bond was. Instead, we have Chubs getting burnt in a fire. The entire main mission of the first book for Liam and Chubs was to get to East River to find where Jack’s dad lives and deliver it. Without it, we are reduced to them simply looking for East River since it’s a safe haven, even though that removes the purpose of Liam wanting to break more kids out of camps with the help of the Slip Kid. Jack was important. 

Pink Rubber Gloves:

Yes, I am about to rant about why I think removing the scene where Ruby gives Zu gorgeous pink rubber gloves was horrible. Ruby and Zu had a connection in that Walmart in the books, and Ruby sympathised with Zu because they both didn’t have control of their powers and were scared of hurting others with them. To Zu, her yellow rubber gloves were a constant reminder of her lack of control, and they’re another thing she can’t control in her life, as she is technically forced to wear them as a safety precaution. Maybe I’m overanalysing this, but Ruby giving Zu pink rubber gloves in particular was so important. Zu loved the colour pink, and by being able to have her rubber gloves in her favourite colour, she at least regains control of something again: how she displays the things that stopped her from losing control. Control was important to Zu, as we know that her not speaking was also one of the few things she controls in a world that removed her choice and decisions simply because of who she is and her powers. 

Ruby’s Lack of Control:

In the books, Ruby has little to no control of her orange abilities up until she meets Clancy. This lack of control is what constantly sparks her anxiety and fear and what makes her reluctant to interact with others. She feared her powers because not only had she vicariously and directly seen what harm orange powers cause, she didn’t have the control to stop them from hurting others. This causes her to constantly fear touching others, and it emotionally lets the reader understand how vulnerable she is and lets us understand her and form a connection. But in the movies she just… uses them normally? Like I know there was the rare few moments in the books like when she did the Lady Jane thing but in the movies it makes her appear to sure of her abilities and use them effortlessly, like when she simply made those two skip tracers at the motel leave. What the heck???? Not only does it remove so much of her character but in the books she literally didn’t know how to do that stuff and barely had a grip on how her powers worked???

Yo! Can I request junkrat being oblivious to his feelings with an equally oblivious crush?

Yes, you may! Here you go!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Oblivious” 

Junkrat x Reader (I’m guessing female?)

Rating: SFW

Words: 3,303

You’re finally caught up with work, and Junkrat was coming over. Nothing special, just a hangout.

“Aw, crap.” You groaned as the scent of burnt popcorn hit your nose. You ran to the kitchen and popped open the microwave. Thank goodness the popcorn bag wasn’t on fire (this time). You threw the darker pieces in the trash and poured the rest into a huge party bowl.

You skipped excitedly to the living room where you were preparing for Junkrat’s arrival. Tonight, you and Rat were going to watch horror films until the crack of dawn. You turned on the TV and reviewed your horror playlist. It was filled with frightening titles featuring vampires, ghouls, and zomnics. Junkrat might love the zomnic one, even though he can’t stand Omnics in real life.

You peered at the clock hanging on the wall over your TV—6:23 pm. You moaned with impatience. “Where the hell is he?” You asked aloud.

The pizza guy with the four extra-large pizzas you ordered was supposed to arrive 45 minutes ago. You could nibble on some popcorn as you waited, but you wanted to save it for your horrorfest. Your stomach growled. Perhaps one small bite---

Ding dong!

Was that the pizza guy or Rat? You set the popcorn aside and rushed to the door. Wait, the pizza money! You checked your pockets and pulled out two $20 bills. The pizza guy could keep the change.

You opened the door, and a blue light zipped past you. “Hello, hello!” Tracer chirped.

“Tracer,” You sighed. “The hell are you doing here? I thought you were out on a mission.”

Tracer was already munching on your popcorn in the living room. “Nope, false alarm. What are you doing?”

Tracer turns to the TV you left on with your horror movies. “Oooh, movie night! I’m game!”

“Uh no, actually—”

“Am I  interrupting something?”

“Not really—”

“ ‘Not really?’ Sounds suspicious to me.” Tracer’s eyes lit up. “Are you waiting on your date?”

“No! It’s just Rat and me. We’re having a movie night.”

Tracer stares at you with a sly grin. You only roll your eyes at her. “God, Lena, it’s not like that!”

“Are you sure? You two have been ‘hanging out’ for a while.”

Tracer zips around your living room, checking under your furniture and peeking behind your hanging picture frames.

“What are you doing?” You asked.

“Searching for surprises. I know you’re hiding condoms and your kinky toys around here somewhere.”

You playfully whacked Tracer with a couch pillow. “Get out.” You ordered.

“Aw, c’mon!” Tracer groaned. “Let me hang out with you guys on your date. I  don’t mind. I want to see ‘Attack of the Living Zomnics’ too.”

“For heaven’s sake, it’s not a damn date!” You laughed. “Rat is not into me like that. Just friends. It’s been like that for years.”

Tracer crossed her arms. “Remember when you caught him ogling at you at Lucio’s pool party?”

You traced your memories back to last week. You hated parties, especially the kind where you got wet. But it was Lucio’s party, and you liked his music.

You came out in a shockingly fitting bathing suit Tracer bought for you just for the occasion. You didn’t care about the guys looking at you. You were shocked to see Junkrat there. He was in the swimming pool sitting on top of a huge inflatable duck. His mouth was slightly open, eyes straight at you.

You remembered asking him to go to the party with you, but he made an excuse that he was sick. There he was, staring at you like you were God just descended down from heaven. 

You two got together later and ended up playing pool volleyball with some random partygoers. Junkrat was very touchy that night. You were used to it, he was that way with everyone. But that time was different, way different. 

The image of Rat’s lean, wet body lasted in your mind for a week. You weren’t going to tell anybody about that, especially Tracer.

“Yeah,” You said, coming back to the present. “No big deal.”

Tracer slumped her head down and let out a heavy sigh. “C’mon, you can’t tell me the signs between you two aren’t right there!”

“Looks like somebody’s has been watching too many chick flicks.”

The doorbell rang again. Before Tracer could say anything else, you paced to the door and peered through your door’s peephole. Finally, the pizza man.

“Sorry, miss,” The skinny, freckled face delivery boy apologized as you opened the door. “There was a bunch of traffic—”

You shoved the money to his face and took the pizza boxes from him. “Glad you made it. Thank you so much! Keep the change.” You blurted and waved at him. The boy counted the money.

“Sweet, thanks!” He scurried to his run-down rusty car and sped off.

“Mmmm, I smell pepperoni.” You heard Tracer from the house.

You closed the door and placed the pizza boxes in the kitchen. The cheesy aroma goodness traveled up your nose and made your stomach rumble with anticipation. Man, Junkrat better hurry up before you ate all this pizza yourself! 

Tracer arrives and opens a box. “Mmm,” She hums. “Extra large too.”

You glared at her. “Don’t you take a single bite.” You warned her.

Tracer only smiled. “Oh, you’re right. We have to wait before the love of your life arrives.”

You reached for her, and she teleported to the kitchen entrance with a giggle. “I’ll leave your little get together when you guys start snogging.” She said, taking a bite of a gooey cheese pizza slice.

“Hey!” You shouted. The doorbell rings again. You froze. Tracer’s smile grew wider.

“I’ll get it!” Tracer zipped to the front door.

“No!” You shouted.

Junkrat was let in before you could protest further. He was oddly clean today, except his hair was covered in ash. He wore a fresh tank top and some (unripped) cargo shorts. He definitely smelt like he was forced into a flowery-scented bath. The rose and lavender scents slowly filled the room.

“H-hey!” Your voice quivered.

“Hey, I heard some yelling while I was outside,” Junkrat said. “Everything alright?”

You glared at Tracer again. She only shrugged her shoulders like she didn’t know anything.

“Everything’s fine.” You sighed. “Just fooling around.”

“Hey!” Someone barked outside your door. Roadhog entered. He looked like he just rode out of hell. He was smoking, covered in soot, and his mask all beat up. You rushed over to him.

“Jesus, what happened to you?” You asked Hog. The Junkers exchanged glances and laughed.

“We just robbed a bank,” Junkrat answered.

“And I wanted to keep him clean.” Hog added. “Knew he was going to see you tonight.”

Tracer grinned. “I knew this was a date.”

“The hell are you talking about?” Junkrat asked her.

“Admit it, Rat!”

Junkrat shot you a confused glance. You only shook your head. “I don’t know what’s going on.” You sighed. “She’s gone nuts.”   Roadhog patted Junkrat’s shoulder. “I’m off. The police may find us here. I’ll distract them.”

Junkrat shot him a thumbs up. “Good call, mate.”   “I’m going to get some ice cream too.” Hog continued.

Tracer appeared in front of Hog in a hot second. “Can I come?” She asked him.   Police sirens blared in the distance. Hog threw Tracer over his shoulder and marched out of your house. “Sure, let’s go!” He huffed.   Perfect, she was finally gone. “Bye!” You waved with a great smile. You and Junkrat watched as Roadhog strapped Tracer into the passenger wagon of his motorcycle and zoomed off.   “Finally.” You sighed, walking back to the living room. “I got pizza and popcorn ready for us. Which movie do you want to see---” You turned to Junkrat and froze. He held out a bouquet of daisies for you. Looking at the roots, it seems he pulled them out of the ground somewhere.    “What’s this?” You asked.   “A gift for you,” Junkrat answered. “Found them in some bloke’s yard.”   Tracer’s stupid smirk popped in your mind. If she was still here, she would’ve flipped. You cleared your throat. “That’s nice of you. Thanks!”   You took the daisies into the kitchen and placed them in a vase filled with water. Junkrat followed you. From the corner of your eye, you noticed his eyes kept shifting at you then down at the floor like he was afraid to ask you something.    “Do you want to see Blood Sucker Junkers first or Junkenstein’s Revenge 2?” You asked. Junkrat scratched his head.   “Actually, I changed my mind about our movie night.” He said.    “Oh?”   “I want to take you to the beach. Heard it was going to be really nice this evening.”   You shrugged your shoulders. “I don’t see why not.” You said.   Junkrat grinned. “We’ll take the food with us. Feed the popcorn to the seagulls.”   You laughed. “Don’t blow them up!”   Junkrat raised his hands in mock guiltiness. “Oi, have you ever tried fried seagull? Delicious!”   “No thanks. I prefer chicken.”   “You don’t know what you’re missing, mate. You need to live a little more.”   *~*~*

Rent on your place can be a bitch on your wallet, but having only to walk a few minutes to the beach was worth the money.   You and Junkrat arrived at the beach at sunset. People were already lingering away from the calm, blue waters to the parking lot. One frustrated mother was dragging her screaming child, who clearly didn’t want to leave. The little boy yanked his arm away from his mother’s grip and fell out on the ground, kicking sand up in the air.   “Nooo!” The boy shrieked. “I have to finish my sandcastle!” He pointed to the sandcastle decorated with seashells, sticks, and seaweed. The boy’s mother only huffed and placed her tightened fists on her hips.   “We have to go, Cayden, or no ice cream!” The mother warned. The boy’s tantrum stopped immediately.   “Ice cream?” Cayden asked.   “Yes.”   The boy ran past his mother to the parking lot for his parent’s car. The mother chased after him. You watched the sandcastle as a colossal wave smashed it into nothingness. Good thing little Cayden didn’t see that.   “Man, that boy can scream!” Junkrat chuckled behind you. He was lying on his stomach on a beach towel eating out of his second pizza box.   “Hey!” You closed the box. “Save some for me!”   “But I didn’t get to eat all day.” Junkrat moaned, looking up at you with pitiful eyes. “I’m starving!”   Junkrat opened the pizza box and nibbled on a large pepperoni slice. “Hmm, crunchy.”   You eyed him questionably. “Crunchy?”   Junkrat giggles. “I think I got some sand topping on my pizza.”   You laughed. “That’s what you get!”   A beach couple walked past you two, holding hands. They looked like they literally lived in the gym and the tanning salon. They parked their beach towel not too far from where you were sitting and started watching the sunset together. The beach body boyfriend had his hand right on his girlfriend’s ass, playing with her g-string thong. You rolled your eyes and returned to chewing your pizza slice.   “Oi,” Junkrat called out to the couple. “Get a room!”   You didn’t know why the couple bothered Junkrat so, but it was funny until he pulled out a small cherry bomb from his pocket.   “Junkrat, no!” You hissed, taking the bomb from his hand before he lit the fuse.   “What?” Junkrat looked completely innocent. “I was just going to scare them. Not blow them up!”   “Let them be.” You muttered. You turned back to the couple, and they were already making out. For real?   Luckily, a huge wave came ashore and hit the couple. The girlfriend screamed.   “My hair!” The bikini goddess yelped. You could only snicker. Why the hell was she there if she didn’t want her long, blonde luscious locks wet?   The couple glanced your way then moved further out from the rushing waters. Junkrat sighed with relief.   “Thank God,” Junkrat said. “They were ruining our spot.”   You turned to him. “Ours?”   Junkrat gently grabbed your face with his prosthetic hand and turned you toward the glowing sunset. It was a splash of red, yellow, and orange in front of the purple clouds. It was perfect, just perfect.   Seagulls circled the skies, searching for fish to pick up for the late evening dinner. A line of dolphin fins peeked out of the water. You gasped at the sight and pointed at the sea. “Junkrat, did you see that?”   “I did!”   You jumped as you realized Junkrat was sitting right beside you, still chewing on pizza.   “I don’t understand why Tracer thinks we’re dating.” He continued.   You shook your head. “I don’t know, man.”   Junkrat turned to you, a cheese string hanging from his mouth. “Is this dating? I just gave you flowers because I know you like them.”   You threw your arm around Junkrat’s shoulder. The first stars appeared as the sun slowly descended into the ocean.   “This is the best place to look at the stars.” He said.   You smiled. “You’ve been here before?” You asked. Junkrat only grinned.   A man’s loud cough made you jump. You turned to a couple sitting on the bench watching the sea. A huge man and a tiny man garbed in fishermen’s gear with sunglasses. Looks like they were taking a break from their fishing. You felt weird vibes from their presence.   “I like you,” Junkrat said. “I mean it.”   You stared at him. “I like you too. You’re a good friend.”   Junkrat shook his head. “No, no, no. I meant—”   “Daddy, look!” A little girl shouted behind you. A little girl and her family stepped off the boardwalk into the beach. More and more people steadily approached around you and Rat, pointing at the skies and planting their beach chairs on the cool sand.   “Daddy, look, look, look, LOOK!” The same little girl shouted.   “I see, I see, sweetie!” The exhausted father replied.   The sky was nearly covered with shooting stars. Your mouth dropped with amazement. “Oh my God,” You gasped. “I almost forgot about this.”   You remembered last week you were watching the news with Junkrat when an anchorwoman announced a meteor shower was coming up. The beach was the best place to see anything up in the skies, whether it be the stars, an aerial hostile Omnic invasion, or UFOS.   “I remembered,” Junkrat said, tapping your nose.   You smiled, blood rushing to your cheeks. You shyly turned away from Rat. Geez, why were you acting like a timid schoolgirl with a crush on him now?    “Remember the time we went out to King’s Row?” Junkrat asked.   “Yeah.” You recalled. You remembered it like it was yesterday.   After bringing in a British TALON spy into custody, you, Junkrat, Tracer, and Roadhog all went out for drinks as a celebration. Roadhog and Tracer returned to their hotel rooms early. At the same time, you and Rat explored London seeing Big Ben, visiting Piccadilly Circus, and almost getting regrettable matching tattoos.   “Remember Junkertown?” Junkrat continued.   “Yep.”   “South Korea? Brazil? Paris?”   “Yep, yep, and yep.”   “Were we dating back then?”   You and Rat would often take on week-long trips together. Just the two of you. Whoever asked where you all were going, you quickly responded it was a mission. Really, you just liked being around each other. You didn’t know why, but you just did.   “Maybe we are dating.” You admitted. Your heart rate increased after your confession. You opened your mouth to say something else, but a sudden pang of fear stopped you.   Junkrat only stared at you, a genuine smile slowly forming on his face. He leaned closer to your face, and you immediately backed away.   “You want to get some snow cones?” You asked, breaking the moment. “I know a place nearby. It’s not too far from here.”   Junkrat turned to the empty pizza boxes and patted his stomach. “A dessert sounds nice.” He said.   You two gathered up your beach towels and trash and walked away from the beach, leaving the crowd still watching the meteor shower. You glanced over at the bench where the mysterious fishermen were sitting. They were gone. You had a strange feeling you knew them from somewhere.   *~*~*

An hour later, you and Junkrat finally received your snow cones after a terribly long line at the snow cone hut. Only two people were working at the stand.   “Finally!” Junkrat sighed as he stabbed his blueberry snow cone with a spoon. “That took longer than I expected.”   “Yeah, seriously.” You replied.   With no warning, Junkrat stole a scoop of your cherry snow cone. “Mine!” He shouted.   “Hey!”   You reached for his cone with your spoon, but he moved it out of the way. “Ha! Missed!” Junkrat shouted. He leaned forward and surprised you with a kiss. Both of you stared at each other in shock afterward. “Uh, whoops, sorry about that, mate.” He giggled nervously.   You licked your lips, tasting the artificial cherry/blueberry flavor. “It’s all right,” You said as you set your cup down and grabbed the back of Junkrat’s head. “Fuck it!”   You crushed his lips with a long, savory kiss.   “Daddy, look. The pretty one is kissing that strange, ugly man!” The little girl from the beach pointed at you. You jerked away from Junkrat and laughed.   The beach father rushed over and scooped the child up to his arms. “Shh, that’s not nice!” He said. “We don’t talk about people that way.”   The little girl looked back at you as she was taken away. “But Daddy, he’s weird! Look at his funny hair!”   “Be quiet, and you eat your snow cone!” The father hissed.   Junkrat ran his fingers through his half-burnt hair. “Me hair’s funny?” He turned to you. “It’s not that bad, is it?”   You pecked him on the cheek. “You’re absolutely fine.” You said. Junkrat pulled you closer to him and buried his face into your neck.   “Mmm, I love you (Y/N).” He said.   You blushed. “Yeah, me too.”   “AH HA!”   The fishermen from the beach burst out of the bushes, scaring a couple of beachgoers.   “What the fuck!?” One tan man holding two snow cones yelped. One cone accidentally fell to the ground. “Fuck!” The man groaned.   “Oh, sod off.” The tiny fisherman said to the man.   “Um, do I know you?” You asked the fishermen. They removed their sunglasses, and you instantly recognized them.   “Tracer? Roadhog?! So you’ve been spying on us this whole time?” You frowned.   Roadhog pointed at Tracer. “It was her idea. I just wanted some ice cream.”   Tracer clicked her teeth. “Ah, ah, ah! You brought up the idea as we were eating ice cream.”   “Did not!” Hog barked back.   “Enough!” You shouted. Junkrat only laughed.   “Sorry we spied on you.” Roadhog apologized, twiddling his fingers with his massive feet turned inwards. You scoffed.   “Hog, it’s okay.” You assured the Maori giant. “I’m just startled.”   “I’m not surprised,” Junkrat said. “I knew you two were watching us back at the beach.”   You stared at Junkrat. “You knew?! And you didn’t tell me!?”   “Love, if I did, I wouldn’t have had the chance to kiss ya!” Junkrat wiggled his eyebrows.   “Oh my God.” You rolled your eyes.   Tracer pulled out her smartphone. “Smile for the birdy, would you? I want to capture the moment King Junkrat and Queen (Y/N) have finally reunited.”   You smiled and threw your snow cone at her.   “Hey!” Tracer cried.   The picture caught your snow cone flying towards her direction. Your face in the frame half-covered by the flying dessert while Junkrat had his lips planted on your cheek. A blurry Roadhog hand hovered over you two.

THE END

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Pandemic (Mis)adventures

We are seeing the beginning of the end of the pandemic. We just need to hold on for a little longer, but the unexpected always happens.

Quarantine Vol. 2: The Ellery missed me

Two weeks ago on April 10th, I transformed into a number on the Smith College COVID-19 Screening Data: Smith College's contact tracing team contacted me about my possible exposure to covid and the urgent need for me to quarantine. (Note: Isolation is for students who are tested positive; quarantine is for students who are identified as a close contact with someone who is tested positive. I did not know the student in isolation, but I hope they were doing okay.) One hour after receiving the sudden notice, I was picked up by a car. Back to the Ellery (one of Smith’s quarantine locations) I went. This time, I was to stay there for a week.

Due to confidentiality reasons, I won't go into details about how I was identified as a close contact; rather, I will focus on my own quarantine experience.

Being trapped in a hotel room during the semester when the sky was blue and the weather was warm was not the most pleasant experience, but I learnt to see the glass half full. A private bathroom, a king-sized bed, a mini-fridge, and a Roku TV were all at my disposal. I could sing karaoke, roll on my bed, or turn the hotel room into a movie theatre, whichever option I desire.

 Every day in quarantine was surprisingly different. The first day I had a few miniature invertebrate visitors to my lonely abode: ants (because I forgot to bring in my dinner delivery on my doorstep in time.) The uninvited little friends were carefully squished into a mush before they had the chance to enjoy the night. The second day my friend dropped off a greeting card with a personalized crossword puzzle abound with inside jokes outside my room to help me pass time in isolation. On the third day, a contact tracer came and handed me a covid test kit; I was later tested negative. On the fourth day, the quarantine hotel saw new arrivals and I had some neighbors. Later that day when I checked the covid screening dashboard, the number of students in quarantine did jump, reflecting what I witnessed. This time the change in numbers on the screening data felt more personal: These were real people, and they were living down the hall! If we weren't in a pandemic, I would knock on their door and ask what brought them here. On the fifth day, I was tested again and received a negative result, which heralded my release from quarantine on the next day.

The pandemic reveals the best (and the worst) of humanity. During my time in quarantine, I combated with the fear of being judged, as exposure to covid often suggests defiance, irresponsibility, and recklessness. It is associated with shame and guilt. I constantly felt the need to justify, to emphasize that I did not attend a group gathering or purposefully break social distancing guidelines. Stereotyping people who have been unfortunately exposed to or contracted covid does not help battle the virus. My friends and professors, to my relief, showed me genuine care about my well-being and offered me support, all of which warmed my heart.

Getting vaccinated

On April 19th, two days after I returned to my on-campus housing assignment, Massachusetts entered Phase 3 of the vaccine distribution plan, which means that everyone over 16 is eligible for the covid vaccine. Snatching a vaccine appointment became the central theme of the week. It was everyone's dinner topic. Covid vaccine opportunities channels were created on Discord. Guides to finding available appointments were circulated. Request to Leave Northampton Area Forms were filled by students who got appointments in clinics miles away from campus. Rides were arranged in Facebook group chats. Classes were skipped to call parents regarding insurance information.

I, as a socially predictable human being, also did everything to secure a spot to get vaccinated. My effort paid off. I successfully found an appointment for the next day at a vaccine clinic 20 minutes' walk from Smith, and I patted myself on the back for my quick action and resourcefulness.

My brief moment of pride and ecstasy didn’t last long. Only one day after I booked the appointment, Smith sent out an email announcing that there would be a vaccine clinic open to all students, staff and faculty, on campus, this weekend. While others were overjoyed, I was lamenting the time lost to trying to find a vaccine appointment myself. Now I faced a dilemma: To cancel my old appointment or not to cancel? Should I walk for 20 minutes the next day which was forecasted to be thunderstorming, or should I wait for the weekend?

It was a difficult decision to make. My one friend, who also scheduled for a vaccine at the same place on the same day as mine, wisely reminded me that it would be rude to give such short notice to the clinic. So I listened. With two friends who were former Hubbard residents like me, I walked to the clinic on a windy Wednesday afternoon and got soaking wet in the rain on the way back. The trip was worth it, though, to get the spike proteins churning. Besides a sore arm, I didn't experience other side effects. I so look forward to my second dose, the longed-for immunity, and the liberty we all might soon enjoy again.

Thanks, science and technology, for illuminating the light at the end of the tunnel.

Headcanon

Weapons and Miscellaneous Rambling

Tracer:

Pulse Pistols:

The Slipstream’s artillery condensed into twin pistols. With matching paint and tesla-pulse ammunition, anyone caught in its messy pseudo-gunfire will be burnt at point-blank range. 

She has used them since her first mission at Overwatch, and they have hardly aged a day. 

Instead of manually reloading the pulse pistols like Commander Morrison or Winston, Lena rewinds the guns into the state they were in before firing. The backwards twirl correlates to her recall, moving backwards in space and time. Essentially, back when they were loaded. After decades of use, shooting and rewinding and shooting and rewinding, the bullets seem to aggressively age matter.

After years of practice, she can rewind them into her grasp from an impressive distance provided they’re in her line of sight. 

If Lena’s particularly bored, she’ll blink the pulstels between her hands. Before she became adept at moving through time, she sent many stress balls into the fourth dimension. To this day, she’ll uncover once lost trinkets from time as she moves through it. Her favourite is a dinosaur tooth!

Pulse Bomb:

Releases an explosion of pulse energy once it's armed. Was originally scrapped, as it exploded in too little time to escape the blast radius. Once she learned how to teleport, Overwatch suddenly revived them. Lena also rewinds it into existence, to save on manufacturing costs and lessen the weight she carries. This too, wound up affecting time in its explosion radius, decaying things years into the future. 

Blink:

A skip forward in time, teleporting Lena over a short distance. It doesn’t have to be in the direction she’s moving, and she is capable of instinctively blinking instead of flinching.

Lena can also blink objects she is familiar with, such as her hovercycle, pulse pistols, or… really anything she would linger around.

She adamantly refuses to blink other people or living things. The possibility of inducing chronal dissociation in someone else is terrifying and implies her condition is infectious. It’s already affected her weapons, too.

Chained Blinks:

Several time skips are chained together. If Lena were to jump and blink, she’d be launched skyborne, and combines blinks with parkour to scale buildings.

It takes many blinks’ worth of energy to teleport through thin walls. It’s also risky because Lena doesn’t have X-ray vision to compliment it.

Tracer can also blink downwards as she falls, through the floor. For reasons such as not knowing if there’s a basement, or wanting her legs to remain not broken, this is a bad idea.

Recall: 

Lena carefully dips into a state of chronal disassociation to rewind into the past. Various uses include wound removal, confusing enemies, insulting entropy, and reloading her pistols from the flow of temporal energy.

From a standing position, she tends to backflip or fall into the briefly created blue sphere where she enters and exits time. 

Armour:

Lena’s bomber jacket was a gift from Emily; her ‘crocs’ were designed for traction. Granted, they’re not metal, or protective, but it’s an integral part of her public image. She’s quite sentimental towards it, and still keeps the outfit during Overwatch 2.

The Chronal Accelerator is the only heavy weight on herself, because she literally couldn’t exist without it. The harness collects time energy, and secures Lena in the present. However, the energy they harness can hold far outweighs the amount needed to anchor Lena. The excess allows Lena to move temporally.

Tracer has a copy of the blueprints in her house, in an undisclosed location, and would have let Emily look if it wasn’t informationally compromising.

It’s constantly moving through time, and constantly gains charges to blink and rewind. Minuscule amounts are required to shift light, familiar objects, and the maximum amount of blinks Lena can discharge at once is roughly ten. Only after a week’s time will the harness collect enough energy to handle the strain again.

After an incident of falling into time after it ran out of fuel, Winston built a failsafe to prevent another lapse, which locks out time shifting until enough energy is collected. In that state, the harness stops glowing.

If it were to malfunction, Lena would start flickering out of the present.

Sigma:

Hyperspheres:

A very, very stable and concentrated version of a graviton surge, and Siebren holds a caged pair with ease. They explode to a casual observer, but upon closer inspection, they also implode launching debris airborne and inward. Even now, he gets injured from them when he forgets their trajectory. Luckily, his shields mitigate the damage.

Shot in a one-two rhythm, the charges mostly ignore gravity and explode after travelling approximately twenty-two metres. Outside of that range, accretion is his only attack. 

The hyperspheres pull objects towards their explosions, and may shred objects at its centre. They are cold but safe to touch, provided they are carefully handled.

He is capable of dual wielding them, but sacrifices burst damage for a steady firing rate. It proved inferior very quickly because he couldn’t use kinetic grasp or move the experimental barrier. Combining them into one large orb risks creating an actual black hole should it be weaponized. That’s obviously bad.

If he’s not attacking with the orbs, or collapsed them into raw energy. Siebren lets them gently orbit above his palm. 

Accretion:

He makes a rock from rubble, and artificial gravity lines it with purple where the stones fuse like a small planet. From a punch laced with gravitic energy, it bowls over opponents and is capable of immense structural damage. 

One of the first techniques he’s learned, sourced from a memory during his visit to the Horizon Lunar Colony. A moon rover was sent through the thin atmosphere and low gravity, careening into another. It was a ray of hope during his imprisonment, a sign of control.

After some practice, is able to create boulders larger than himself, though he’d have to concentrate for several seconds for sufficient momentum, and then bodyslam it. 

Another variant is a bullet hell of stones, resembling an asteroid belt. It’s his go-to cover fire, as he can sustain it for five minutes before strain accumulates in his harness. It’s one of his less dangerous abilities. Also the reason why he surrounds himself with junk once Talon frees him, his paranoia of being locked away is a subtle, constant presence in his head.

Experimental Barrier:

Manipulated with gravity, expanding like a net and contracts when withdrawn, collapsing into a flat cube that fits neatly into the palm of his left glove. He keeps a few spares in his armour.

It’s experimental because it malfunctions after taking excessive damage. The hard light turns transparent, becoming a combatively useless holographic film. It’s rumoured to have been initially created by Vishkar’s Symmetra.

It’s great for movie nights.

Kinetic Grasp:

Siebren creates a gravity well with his left hand, and shapes the collected solid matter into rudimentary shields building up his own. It falls off over time, and then disintegrates, leaving nothing behind.

He is also capable of creating sculptures with the matter, like ice statues. These also have fainter purple lines inside and out. Please don’t crack them open, they’re difficult to make, and Siebren only shares his favourites.

Gravitic Flux:

He has ten seconds’ worth of incredible power, with unrestricted flight before the melody becomes deafening and horribly distracting. Space distorts around Siebren and the selected area becomes a launchpad and crash site, roughly split between attacking or maneuvering to a better position. Does both on an ideal gravitic flux. 

A minute level flux is enough to float above the ground.

He has never considered the possibility of permanent side-effects to anything from manipulating their gravity. His equipment was strange and unconventional from the day they were devised.

Armour:

Carbon fiber bodysuit and green-tinted steel. Has textured surfaces to attach shields made with kinetic grasp. There’s also shoes.

Underneath the armour, the Gravitational Concentrator nearly resembles the Chronal Accelerator. Was based on Moira’s modifications to the Chronal Harness, adapted for gravitrons. Sombra stole them from Overwatch whilst it died from infighting.

Gravity moves through it and cancels out any involuntary shifts, though it doesn’t work quite as well, for Moira is a biologist first and foremost. Siebren goes out of his way to catalogue any issues for Moira, and all of his offered solutions were varyingly successful. 

This harness does not have a failsafe. It just stops. Not that they’ve encountered such an issue yet.

The passive-aggressive comedy of Charles Grodin, who turns 85 today. A few of his movies:

Lenny Cantrow in The Heartbreak Kid. D: Elaine May (1972). In this early example of cringe comedy, Grodin is a young Jewish groom, who falls in lust/love with ubershiska fantasy girl played by Cybill Shepherd’s during his honeymoon. His attempt to extricate himself from his marriage to an all-too human bride (Jeannie Berlin) leading to a painfully funny scene where he tries to explain to her that he just “timed it wrong,” is a great example of clueless comic egotism. Even more awkward is when he meets Shepherds white-bread father (Eddie Albert) and tries to compliment their middle-american cuisine (“This is honest food. There is no lying in that beef. There’s no insincerity in those potatoes. There’s no deceit in the cauliflower…..”) Grodin established himself as a comic actor utterly without vanity. He didn’t care whether you liked him or not.

Warren Yeager in Real Life. D: Albert Brooks (1979). As a veterinarian whose agreement to have his family participate in a “real life” TV show run by a megalomaniacally egocentric TV producer (named Albert Brooks) Grodin gives a discomforting performance of a man caught in a Kafkaesque nightmare, whether leading a disastrous career-killing filmed operation on a horse or having his wife leave him because of her attraction to Brooks. Grodin’s recessive quality – his almost self-abnegating passivity – make him perfect for this portrayal of reality’s stooge.

Jonathan “The Duke” Mardukas in Midnight Run. D: Martin Brest (1988). As a mafia accountant apprehended by Robert De Niro’s skip tracer, Grodin is comically civil and reasonable (he embezzled millions but gave it to charity). And as the two of them dodge criminals who want to kill them both and they develop mutual respect for each other in this comedy that takes shape as a stereotypical buddy comedy. But Grodin plays his character as more than a little untrustworthy. He knows the mob will kill him if he’s taken into custody so he’ll say anything to manipulate De Niro toward giving him any chance to escape. And at the end we might realize that while we know quite a bit about De Niro’s character, we still know next to nothing about Grodin’s. The nice decent polite guy who helps the irascible bounty hunter get in touch with his feelings just might be nothing but a good con man.

I honestly would love to see Black Cat and MJ just hang out more. Because of the love triangle I’ve always heard about how much they ‘must’ hate each other, but honestly I could picture Pete waking up one day, finding MJ and Felicia in the living room having coffee and asking what she’s doing here and MJ just says, “Dude we meet up like twice a week to hang. We’re going bowling tonight.” or something.

They’re relationship is actually more complicated than simply being catty rivals or some such. 

The harsh truth is, for better or worse, writers pitted the pair against one another lightly in the 1980s, famously the first instance of this was in the iconic ASM #258, the issue both immediately after MJ reveals she knows who Peter is and where Peter learns the truth about the black costume.

Initially the animosity was more on Felicia’s end than MJ’s, whether she meant it or not, she briefly felt Peter was better suited to Black Cat.

MJ became Peter’s confidant not too long before he and Felicia broke up and when she was later reintroduced into the titles MJ became more clearly down on her. This is epitomized in Spec #119 (a great Felicia story).

That issue also  ends though with MJ admitting she has complicated conflicting feelings towards Felicia, the complications of which are wrapped up in her complicated feelings for Peter. In the story Felicia single handily takes down Sabertooth.* In a sense she defended civilians and Peter in doing so and thus MJ is caught between admiration and jealousy.

Their romantic rivalry becomes more out and out mean in Spec #123 and ASM #288 which follows up on that subplot. In the issues MJ resolves to set her and Peter’s ‘will they won’t they’ thing straight only find Felicia in Peter’s apartment (he saved her earlier that day and she needed somewhere to regroup). At the end of that adventure though Felicia basically forcibly stayed in Peter’s apartment so MJ was none too pleased to find her there when she showed up to make Peter breakfast in bed.**

The pair remained in disdain of one another after this but also didn’t interact face to face again until after Pete and MJ got married and more specifically after Peter lost his cosmic powers defeating Tri-Sentinel. Felicia had learned Peter had gotten married and as revenge began dating Flash with the intention of breaking his heart to hurt Peter by proxy. She also delighted in makig him and MJ uncomfortable though.

When MJ and Felicia interacted one-on-one Felicia was shockingly straight up assaulting MJ!

At this point MJ obviously didn’t like Felicia but she was not giving as good as she got. Things began to shift not too long after in a storyline that saw Peter give up his powers and Felicia begin to develop genuine feelings for Flash. During this storyline Felicia stepped up and began acting as the muscle for the powerless Peter. MJ still didn’t like Peter was starting to reluctantly recognize her as more of an ally than an enemy. In particular the story ended with Felicia powerless and deciding to temporarily retire and date Flash sincerely.

Whilst they weren’t exactly friends it did get to a point where MJ was okay with going on double dates with Flash and Felicia, considering the latter was no longer out to get her/hurt Flash/steal Peter away.

However a significant turning point occurred in Web of Spider-Man #80. The story short is that Peter/Spidey is missing after he and Mj got attacked. MJ turns to Felicia for help, citing the fact she still cares for Peter and that’s common ground for them to work with for the moment. She gives her a tracking device Peter made to zero in on him. She even admits she’s out of her league on this front and it’s up to Felicia. Felicia of course helps save Spidey and whilst initially claims her locating him was due to their ‘connection’ (meaning their romantic history) she admits MJhelped witht he tracking device. The issue ends though with Felicia admitting that MJ’s device actually didn’t work, meaning Felicia simply let the Parker couple think it did out of kindness to MJ. This didn’t turn the pair into friends, but it showed they were clearly mellowing towards one another.

This didn’t make them chummy as catty remarks still occurred during later interactions (noticably from MJ). I’m skipping over stuff to get to some highlights, the next of which is a big one. 

In Felicia’s first ever solo mini-seires MJ not only appears int he first issue but they are actually hanging out...together...as friends!

Or at least as frenemies. It’s clear there is still some underlying jealousy or jousting to be had, but they’re very open about it and Felicia is actively confiding in MJ, even talking about how she feels regarding Peter. And not just Peter in general, his then current state of being. This was back when Peter was unravelling due to the aftermath of the Robot Parents crap and becoming more anti-social and obsessive about his Spider-Man life, spending less time out of the costume. It got Felicia and MJ concerned. A very significant line of dialogue in this scene is MJ saying she’ll call Felicia later. It implies that they have hung out together before or are at least okay with doing do again in the near future. 

Also this was at Felicia’s home, so for MJ to have voluntarily gone to the home of the woman who once assaulted her says a lot about how things have changed.

Again skipping over some stuff but the next big moment for MJ and Felicia came in Web of Spider-Man #125 where MJ once again calls upon Felicia’s aid to find Peter (though he’s not in trouble, she just needs him present). The circumstances are decidedly different from Web #80. There is no jousting going on. Partially this is due to their relationship having grown deeper but it’s also due to MJ being pregnant and amidst the chaos of the time (Peter was on trial for murder, Aunt May had just died and MJ had been recently abducted by Kaine) she was clearly feeling very vulnerable. 

Vulnerable enough in fact that Felicia can clearly tell MJ is upset and outright hugs her, offering some support and comfort. 

This time Felicia isn’t seeking out Peter less because she cares for him and more because she wants to help MJ and the baby. If ever there was a moment clearly demarking the pair had fully transitioned into real friendship, this was it. 

Whilst MJ and Felicia don’t directly interact in Web #128 Peter makes a reference to MJ and Felicia talking on the phone for hours.

Skipping waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead now. The tl:dr is that Felicia clearly began to develop some feelings for Peter again during Howard Mackie’s run. This became more significantly a factor in the Evil that Men Do Limited Series where Felicia is putting the movies on Peter and also refers to MJ derogatorily. 

Something to note about Evil that Men do is that it gets a lot of details wrong and it’s continuity is wonky. the first half came out when Peter and MJ were seperated, but the second half came out years later and used then contemporary continuity from when Peter and MJ would’ve been back together. The important thing to note is Felicia went back to having the hots for Spider-Man and also being down on MJ

To my recollection the next time I recall MJ and Felicia having a significant interaction was in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #5. In the issue Felicia has rescued Peter from the Vulture and is helping him investigate Aunt may’s recent kidnapping. Peter was badly beat up so Felicia and Mj were nursing him back to health. The scene where Peter wakes up clearly conveys that there is some tension and competitivness going on between MJ and Felicia even though they are talking in a friendly manner to one another. When Felicia leaves MJ looked really bummed out, which might’e been due to some insecurities regarding Felicia or because of their financial troubles at the time (she was keeping them from Peter).

Later on in Marvel Knights #10, when Peter has resolved to break Norman Osborn out of jail in order to save Aunt May, Felicia going along with him for this, MJ blows up at Felicia and basically tells her to back off from Peter.

In defence of MJ here, Norman Osborn has pushed them to the edge big time so I think she’s having a major wobble regarding Black Cat.

Anyway, she’s not wrong about Felicia as the remaining issues of the arc make it clear that Felicia is absolutely in love with Peter again if Evil that Men Do didn’t make that clear enough.

Next up in Spider-Man: Breakout #2, MJ is similarly pissed off about Peter contacting Felicia for help tracking down the U-Foes.

Frankly...I find this instance rather out of character but I thought I might as well mention it.

Then we have Spider-Man Unlimited volume 3 #14. In this issue, as payback for helping him bust out Norman Osborn, Felicia demands Spider-Man help her steal something from Doctor Doom. Peter isn’t happy about this until it turns out that the item in question was a spider tracer with his finger prints on it, meaning Felicia was trying to once again protect Peter. MJ wasn’t happy to find out Peter was hanging out with Felicia but acknwoeldged she helped protect them.

The next notable interaction was during Civil War when Peter was unmasked, the Parkers were fugitives and Peter was half dead from a beating via the Rhino. Felicia upon learning of this sought out the Parkers and volunteered to even the score with Rhino. When all is said and done, MJ asks Felicia if she wants to give Peter a message from her.

We then transition into shitty post-OMD continuity and frankly I’m not touching 90% of that sans one notable story (Web of Spider-Man volume 2 #11-12) in which Felicia, who has totally forgotten who MJ and Peter Parker are, nevertheless befriends MJ after an adventure to save Peter.

I bring up this story simply because your original question was regarding MJ and Felicia friendship.

This story’s canonicity can be debated for a few reasons, it doesn’t make sense in general because the mindwipe was asinine shit and it has 0 follow up. In fact it doesn’t even really jive with later appearances of MJ or Felicia. It is amusing though that it completes a sort of trilogy wherein MJ and Felicia become more friendly in Web of Spider-Man.

Anyway, that brings you pretty much up to date.

Essentially there are two distinct eras for MJ and Felicia’s relationship. The 1980s-1990s where they have a clear arc transitioning from acquaintances who’re not that fond of one another to rivals to frenemies to outright friends. 

Then you have the 2000s and beyond which pits the two against one another again but in a very different dynamic to before as MJ is Peter’s wife and recognizes Felicia’s as an ally.

It’s not impossible to reconcile the two narratively but I’m not going to do that here. 

I think the second era might’ve been done in order to inject more tension into the Spider Marriage and in fairness, it did work. It was dramatic.

But I personally prefer the second era much more as it portrays a clear character arc. As a bonus I should mention that, since it diverged from Spider-Man continuity in the late 1990s, in Spider-Girl MJ and Felicia’s relationship continued to develop in a friendly manner to the point where Felicia would pay Mj a visit in her office and the pair would chat about their daughters and their mutual problems. In MJ’s case a difficult pregnancy and in Felicia’s her rebellious daughter who wasn’t fond of her same sex partner.

To bring this right around to your OP, the scenes of friendship have more or less happened in canon and in stories that are pseudo canon. 

*Bear in mind this was the same decade where Sabertooth participated in the infamous Mutant Massacre storyline where he and his peers mass slaughtered a bunch of defenceless mutants. Readers knew he was no pushover.  

**Because you see according to Joe Quesada, Steve Wacker, Dan Slott et al Mary Jane was clearly not dating Peter at this time and I think we’ve all brought groceries to our ex’s apartment (that we own a key to) in order to make them breakfast in bed. It’s the single most platonic gesture possible.

Ships I do NOT ship [WARNING, UNPOPULAR OPINIONS AHEAD]:

Dipper x Bill Cipher (Just…no. No.)

Ernesto x Héctor (It would KINDA work pre-movie, but…why would you skip a guy with his murderer who also tried to kill his grandson?)

Professor Membrane x Zim (I get that they would get along, but I don’t think they’d be in a romantic relationship.)

Any of the Tallest x Zim (Again, that’s going on the nope train, the Tallest hate Zim.)

Hank x Connor (Hank and Connor have a more father-son dynamic, so it’s weird and uncomfortable to see them in a romantic relationship.)

Tracer x Widowmaker (Tracer already has a girlfriend, and she doesn’t seem like the type to go after another girl.)

Genji x McCree (I see them as old friends, or like old co-workers since they used to be in Blackwatch together.)

Genji x Zenyatta (I just can’t see it happening.)

Sans x Frisk (Again, no.)

Sans x Toriel (Again, I see them as old friends from the past that just like to joke around and stuff.)

Harry Potter x Draco Malfoy (Draco does NOT LOVE HARRY, PERIOD.)

Any pedophilic, necrophiliac, or incest ship. (If you do ship those, I…question your tastes.)

NOTE: I will not hate on anybody that does ship these. I am just stating my opinion. Again, if you ship these characters together, that’s totally fine. Just don’t force it on me.

FUNERAL FOR A MAGICIAN FINAL PART: Be Human

Mysterio is back in action! Renewed, what will he do next?!

“I analyze and I verify and I quantify enough One hundred percentile No errors, no miss I synchronize and I specialize and I classify so much Don't worry 'bout dreaming Because I don't sleep

I wish I could at least 30 percent Maybe 50 for pleasure Then skip all the rest

If I only was more human I would count every single second the rest of my life If I just could be more human I'd have so many little babies and maybe a wife

I'd roll around the mud And have lots of fun Then when I was done Build bubble bath towers and swim in the tub

Sand castles on the beach

Frolic in the sea Get a broken knee Be scared of the dark and I'd sing out of key

Cuss when I lost a fight Kiss and reunite Scratch a spider bite Be happy with wrinkles I got when I smiled

Pet kittens til they purred Maybe keep a bird Always keep my word I'd cry at sad movies I'd laugh til it hurt

I'd buy a big bike And ride by the lake And I'd have lots of friends And I'd stay out too late

If I could just be more human I would see every little thing with a gleam in my eye If only I was more human I'd embrace every single feeling that came in my life

Would I care and be forgiving? Would I be sentimental and would I feel loneliness? Would I doubt and have misgivings? Would I cause someone sorrow, too? Would I know what to do? Will I cry when it's all over?

When I die, will I see heaven?”

(This was the only full version I could find RIP)

Characters: Neo Mysterio (Quentin Beck), Doc Ock (Otto Octavius), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Alexandria Beck (Alex), Sandman (Flint Marko), Chameleon

Warnings: Explicit gore and death, violence, mentions of past abuse, mental illness, physical illness, swearing

^These warnings are here for the story as a whole. If you get invested by reading a less graphic chapter, then be prepared for the warnings above in other parts!!

(swearing in this chapter + moderate/mild gore and violence)

Parker was taking photos of the event for the Daily Bugle, but as everyone was leaving, he had caught the four Sinister Six members out of the corner of his eye. He was not about to let them escape. 

Luckily, since all the celebrities were heading out, he had a perfectly good excuse to leave himself and change into his spider suit. He quickly tailed them from a distance as they headed to their hidden limo. He shot a spider tracer at the vehicle as they were entering, but this did not go unnoticed.

Just as Quentin was about to get in, he saw the tracer on the back hood and immediately shot his eyes up enough to glimpse Spider-Man. He jumped back and his Neo suit materialized over his dress suit. Chameleon and Otto sped off into the night after Mysterio peeled the tracer off the car. Flint and Beck were ready for a fight.

Flint: “Ay, Spider-Man! Why can’t ya just leave us alone! We wuzn’t doin’ nuthin’!”

Neo Mysterio: “Right, leave it to you, Spider-Man, to ruin our little night on the town. I’m honestly not surprised since you always have a habit of making my life worse than it already is.”

Spider-Man: “Really, bowl-face? I just wanted to tail you guys and find out what you were up to. You’re the ones wanting a fight! And besides, I really find that hard to believe. You’re the Sinister Six. It’s kinda your brand to make bad things happen. And no one made you become a super villain in the first place. You all chose to be one.”

Flint: “It ain’t that easy, Spider-Man. Life has a nice way a’ pushin’ guys like us around to do things we don’t really wanna do.”

Spider-Man: “So don’t do it, then! You think your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man doesn’t also have spider-problems? We all do! Our choices are what make us heroes or villains. You were literally given a second chance, Beck! That’s more than most people! Are you really gonna throw that away by sticking with these guys?”

Flint turned to Mysterio, worried for his friend.

Neo Mysterio: “Spider-Man, every time you’ve interfered in my life, things have gotten worse. I was just some nobody committing petty crime to try and pay off my debts and make a new life. But you caught and beat me. Put me in jail, only to be busted out by my new friends. They’ve treated me far better than most people ever have. Every time you try and stop us, more people get hurt. I died because you just HAD to defeat me.”

Spider-Man: “I- no... that’s... But even still! Think of all the people we saved! From Ultron! From Terrax! Those worlds would still be under treat!”

Neo Mysterio: “Maybe! You don’t KNOW that! I can NEVER trust you hero types! So many of you flip-flop between hero and villain or just fight amongst yourselves all the time! At least I know where I stand with villains.”

Spider-Man: “Beck! Please! You’re making a mistake! Marko! I know you’ve struggled with being a villain in the past! Both of you can walk away from this, here and now! Do the right thing you know to be true!”

Flint: “Sorry, Spidey. I got people countin’ on me to see this through ‘til the end. I ain’t no quitter.”

Peter desperately turns back to Mysterio.

Spider-Man: “Quentin! Think of your sister! Would she want you to do this? Throwing away your life again after everything that’s happened?”

Mysterio was deathly silent for a moment, before snapping.

Neo Mysterio: “Don’t you DARE. Don’t you dare for one SECOND try and use my sister to try and manipulate me into doing what you want me to. You have no idea what we’ve gone through. You don’t know a THING about me, Spider-Man. Just. Stay away!”

And with that Mysterio slammed a smoke grenade on the pavement. Before Parker could leap after them, they had vanished completely. Peter was no closer to finding out their plans nor where their new base was. All he knew is that he drove Beck further away. He screwed up.

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

After meeting back up at the Sinister Six base, they all except for Quentin had departed to their quarters. It was certainly an interesting night. Beck had thanked them once again for trying to cheer him up. With a sigh he reached into the communal fridge for something to drink.

???:” Fancy meeting you here.”

Beck whirled around in shock only to see Flint leaning against the table, looking smug.

Quentin: “Hoooooly fucking shit man, you scared the hell out of me. Don’t do that again,” he said with a smile.

Flint: “Hah, it’s hard ta get the jump on ya, so I’ll take what I can get haha. Anyways, I just wanted ta see how you’re doin’ after.. ya know.. the Spider ruinin’ our picnic and all.”

Quentin: “God, he pisses me off so bad... I’m not even completely sure why, either. Yeah, it’s annoying when he gets in the way, but I think... I think it’s that damn big mouth of his that gets me.”

Flint: “I know whatcha mean. D’ya know he once called me Flinto? Fuckin’ FLINTO. What the hell is that supposed ta mean? I wasn’t even offended. Just... confused...”

Quentin: “Well, I mean, I don’t LIKE being called ‘bowl-head’ very much, but I think it more has to do with his bullshit view on life. Like, I can respect it enough, but he seems to think it’s just SO easy to stay out of trouble. But the thing is, trouble grabs you, it sinks you in and you just can’t get out. Then everything is ruined and you’ll never be free again. So what if I came back to life? I still gotta finish this. No matter what. Maybe after that, we can all... rest, but I kinda doubt the world will let us. We’ll always be bad in their eyes. People just... don’t seem to get that anyone could be in our position... If things had just gone a little differently. It’s his... smug.. stupid naive ideals that just rub me wrong, I guess.”

Flint: “Well, jeez, I guess so... Look, I wuz just hopin’ you had a good time, is all. Soon, hopefully we can put all a’ this junk behind us, okay?”

Quentin: “Yeah.. tonight was good. No matter what. Thanks for.. sticking by me, Flint. It means a lot. Maybe... Maybe when everything is done, you can visit my sister’s place and your daughter can see my niece?”

Flint: “Yeah. I’d like that. Sounds like a plan, buddy.”

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

It was less than a week later that Peter was alerted by the police scanner. Numerous reports were flooding in of a certain fishbowl-man causing terror downtown. With a heavy hearted sigh, Peter leaped into action.

He was hoping, more than anything, that Beck could do away with this life of crime. He was a good person, deep down in there, or so Parker believed. Why was he so hellbent on helping the Sinister Six? So much so that he would risk it all again?

Peter swung building to building, closing in on the commotion. It was not hard to spot. Mysterio had conjured up a whole horde of demons and monsters to scare people away. His fear gas was driving people wild, having them panic and sprint blocks and blocks away. To his credit, Beck knew how to get people out of the way when he needed them to.

Parker was ready, this time. He had a gas mask on and had calibrated his lenses to better see through the hologram projections. Not perfect, but it would do.

Spider-Man: “Hey! Hey Mr. Fun House! Why aren’t you at the carnival where you belong? Can’t you see these people HATE your show?”

Neo Mysterio: “Always with the JOKES! Well, laugh THIS off!”

Mysterio shot at Peter with his hand lasers, hoping to knock the hero away. He could not afford this interruption right now. Spider-Man took the hit, but dodged the second barrage. It stung, but he could shake it off.

Spider-Man: “Hey! Fine! You want serious? Let’s get serious!”

Parker swung in and slugged Mysterio right across the helmet, sending them both clattering to the ground with a grunt of pain. They both quickly got to their feet and prepared to fight.

Spider-Man: “Stop this, Beck! Final chance! Stand down and tell me why you’re robbing Alchemax! What does Octavius want so bad?!”

Neo Mysterio: “I have nothing to say to you! I don’t owe you anything! Least of all my breath and time! Just leave me alone and everything will stop!”

Spider-Man: “Sorry, can’t let that happen, Mysty!”

Peter shot a web right past Mysterio, hitting a car. Yanking forward he launched himself at Mysterio, aiming to smash that bowl of his. The only thing was that Beck dodged at the last second, making Spider-Man land onto the car with an agile flip. When Peter turned around Quentin was already sprinting at him, ready to throw a haymaker punch.

Peter dodge to the left with a somersault, making Beck slam his right arm into steel. His carbonadium fist was imbedded within the vehicle, making him an easy target for Peter to kick.

Quentin blocked Peter’s foot with with his free arm. Parker was shocked at Mysterio’s raw strength. He suspected that he was in fact fighting a robot instead of the real deal. Why would Mysterio simply be in public? Wouldn’t he hide himself while his robots took the attention away from him?

Coming to this conclusion, Peter was done pulling his punches. When Mysterio freed himself from the side of the car, Peter slammed a lamppost against Beck’s head, thoroughly shattering his dome. People still nearby gasped as Quentin went clattering to the ground. Any human would surely have been killed by such a devastating blow.

With a groan, Beck got to his feet, his head bleeding from the shards of glass cutting him open.

Peter’s heart dropped at his mistake. How could he have screwed up so bad? He surely has a concussion, or worse, a hemorrhage in his brain from such a nasty impact. He could keel over dead at any minute. God, all that blood was pouring out of him, wasn’t it? Just like. Just like... 

Spider-Man: “Oh god, Quentin, you’re bleeding! Stop moving, we need to get you to a hospital!”

Neo Mysterio: “What I NEED is you to stop looking down on me, Spider-Man...”

Wiping the blood from his brow, Beck rushed at Spider-Man, not letting up. Parker did his best to fight back, but Quentin was inhumanly strong. Never had Peter known that he was holding back so much. The prototype super soldier serum was certainly no joke and Beck just had so much rage.

Spider-Man: “ENOUGH!!”

Parker threw a punch with all his might at Beck, a last desperate attempt to stop this fight, but Mysterio simply caught his fist. Caught a punch from Spider-Man, the guy who could lift a tank and who fought the Incredible Hulk. Peter was shocked.

Neo Mysterio: “I’ll be your punching bag no longer, Spider-Man! Today, YOU LOSE!!”

Quentin pulled his fist back and slammed Parker across the jaw, sending him face-first into the pavement. With a “shink!”, Beck unsheathed the blade on his wrist and held it an inch from Peter’s neck.

Neo Mysterio: “huff... huff... I win... Today, I win...”

As suddenly as Mysterio, attacked, he pulled away, sheathing his blade once more. Peter was rather confused. Most super villains aren’t in the business of sparing their foes.

Neo Mysterio: “I’m letting you go... I don’t wanna kill anyone... not you... you don’t deserve that... you’re just fighting me to protect others... I get it... but... If we ever battle again... and I beat you... I’ll let you go... Only if you promise to let me go and not follow me once I’m done... If you win? Well... then you capture me, it’s that simple.... but if I win? Then you just leave with your skin still attached.... deal?”

Peter was reeling. Still seeing stars from the blow that he was dealt. He was in no position to refuse. Mysterio was sparing him. He would just have to beat him next time. He didn’t like giving up. He never gave up. Peter was not going to give up now or ever. He would keep fighting. Today just wasn’t his day.

Spider-Man: “D-deal....”

Neo simply stared at him with cold eyes before vanishing in a puff of green smoke. The robot doubles that Peter was worried about were already done robbing the place 5 minutes ago, anyways. Quentin himself was the distraction this time. And now he was once more a wanted man. The cycle repeats once more.

Peter shakily got to his feet, helped a few citizens recover from the gas and commotion, then swung away. He had a lot to think about, and a lot of healing to do.

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

Beck went back to the base, prize in hand. His face was properly stitched up by Otto, along with a new serum that faded scars over time. He was exhausted in all ways imaginable, but he still had energy to do one last thing.

He compressed his armor into an under suit once more after fixing his helmet and teleported to a rooftop a few miles away, wearing a simple green sweater and soft dark jeans. He sat on the very edge of the roof, observing the sunset from his precarious vantage point. A matcha latte in one hand and his cellphone in another.

He called his sister.

                                     End of Funeral for a Magician

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

Thank you all so much for reading! It means a ton! I shall make a master post with links to all the chapters, along with a link to the playlist that accompanies this story!

As a bonus, there shall be some art to go with it from a special someone who I commissioned for this!

Have a wonderful week everyone, and thanks for sticking with me through this emotional roller coaster!!

-MS

Reviews 280: Montreal Pleiades

The past year, I’ve been especially focused on the ethereal rave and ambient psychedelia emanating from Montreéal and centered on labels such as NAFF Recordings and Temple (see my recent write-ups for Perishing Thirst, New World Science, ANF, and Dust-e-1). Another essential contributor to this scene is Cosmic Tones Records, who debuted back in 2017 with the stellar Revlux EP and its mutant breakbeats, IDM energetics, bass music stylings, and ambient drift excursions all flowing together into a futuristic technoid fever dream. Now in 2019, the label has dropped its second release in the form of a various artist compilation called Montreal Pleiades. The 12” surveys some of the most exciting talent from the city, including Temple co-founders M Salaciak and R Weng, NAFF main man Priori, Cosmic Tones co-founder Bunzinelli, and a special collaboration between Dust-e-1 and URA (whose 2xLP Entertainment from earlier this year is well worth seeking out). And across the six tracks, these artists lead us through fantasy breakbeat expanses, sparkling electro textures, melodies of childlike wonderment, vaporous deep house, hallucinogenic downtempo, low slung acid hypnotics, and balearic guitar glides, with everything tied together by a reverence for 90’s chill out rooms and a desire to lift the spirit towards universal transcendence.

Montreal Pleiades (Cosmic Tones Records, 2019) URA-DUST is the union of URA and Dust-e-1 and their “Dream” is a sonic approximation of the Bunzinelli-designed album cover…of leaping from the cosmos into the swirling atmospheres of a planetary storm. Enveloping bass pulses and pillowy kicks are lead by shakers and reversing percssion fx while aquatic vapors coalesce into white noise cloudforms. Voices chant “dream” and cymbals and snare morph the rhythms into a slow motion breakbeat while overhead, crystalline piano pings and new age choirs execute a melodic call and response amidst oceans of static. Eventually the rhythms disperse and squelching sequences dance above whispering angel synthesis until the beats slowly start building, with cymbals, snare, and kick resuming their dance and resulting in a moment of airy drum’n’bass magic, only as if slowed to a molasses crawl. And once the softly distorted basslines resume, it feels as if time stops as the spirit is set afloat within a starscape paradise, where mermaid voices and emotional pad layers swim through diamond sparkle expanses. M Salaciak follows with “Degra’s Vision” and its hi-hats ticking anxiously while synths swirl through distortion. Bouncing kicks enter and almost seem to suck backwards while echoing acid lines zoom overhead and as the snares drop, we morph into a polychrome electro-workout, with claps rocketing deep within the melodic murk. Imagine Detroit futurisms flying on starbeams or Drexciyan seascape energy awash in ecstatic positivity, with 303 laser fire and delirious rhythmic switch-ups pushing the vibe towards euphoria. Sometimes the acid lines are tight and contained, while at other times they filter wildly and spray interstellar dust. And occasionally, the background atmospheres swell into self-oscillating echo psychedelia.

Ending the A-side is Priori’s “Glide,” where water washes across the stereo field and a jazz pulse is generated by machine cymbals and tom toms. Claps establish an infectious bounce, Roland cowbells are amped up while decaying through infinite echoes, and sliding synth tones dance across the spectrum until the rhythm drops, after which we find ourselves in a sort of deep house by way of Boards of Canada hypno-dance. Squelching sonars flash and melancholic pads generate aquatic atmospheres while the mix lights up with alien electronics….like a psychosonic swarm of otherworldly fireflies. The vibed out snare and cymbal patterns exude an infectious energy…as if the rhythms are skipping across clouds…and sleepy-eyed pads are sometimes trapped within smoldering feedback trails as delays oscillate out of control. Towards the end, snake-rattle clacks decay through lush reverberation and as everything fades away, a delirious loop is revealed involving a child-like voice repeating “I love you.” The B-side opens with Priori's partner in ANF and a brilliant producer in his own right: Dust-e-1. “Live by the Leaf” skews closer to his recent Cosmic Dust EP and features ethereal pads ascending into solar hiss over a breaky drum groove, with synthetic bubbles floating and LSD tracers flying. Four-four kicks join the breakbeat energetics and after pause, heavenly chord progressions descend over the mix, resulting in a pitch-perfect ambient house glide. Synths flutter ear to ear and atmospheric basslines are reduced to glowing cloudforms while elsewhere, zany leads plonk over each other…wavering and pitch-bending drunkenly as the rhythms morph and mutate…sometimes flowing on aquaeous breaks, other times seeing deep earth kicks leading a four-to-the floor stomp amidst layers of rainbow static wonderment.

Bunzinelli’s “Hyperl∞p” is raw and ruff, with rolling breaks and a raved out swagger led by vocal 303 psychedelia. Double-time cymbals drop oh so cooly alongside tubular basslines, all peak time magic and stoned out acid sorcery evoking The Acoustic Hoods’ classic “Section 47/1.” Liquidified jewels and globules of glowing sythensis move within angelic choirscapes and during a moment where the rhythms cut away, sinister basslines jam out within darkened layers of cosmic gas. 303s croak like exo-planetary frogs and sometimes filter wildly amidst the vaporous melodies, euphoric ecstasies, and low slung breakbeat hypnotics, with snares cracking and squarewave acid bass jacking into hallucinogenic bliss. Eventually, the breakdance fantasia starts to fall apart, resulting in a shadowy outro where horror movie atmospheres surround laser lights as seen through an LSD haze. Montreal Pleiades closes with R Weng’s “Sound of the Breeze”…a sort of dreamscape of watery psychedelia and balearic magic. Stuttering cymbals and looping synthesizer curlicues alternate across the spectrum and sampled voices speak out before being replaced by future jazz acidbass while kick drums, snares, and claps develop into a dreamy bebop house bounce. Electro-leads continue their cycling conversations while the drums wind down, leaving space for guitar solos to swim amidst wavering tremolo motions. As we return to the effervescent future-dance, washed out synth chords decay across the spectrum and ravey tracers build towards nothing in particular while twirling leads and soft-motion solos to drift on echowaves. And near the end, the guitars return, this time locking into swaying chord riffs until it all unexpectedly fades into nothingness.

(images from my personal copy)

t1.4 ⟨ One Small Step for Man... ⟩ 👽 { re: moss-ish, bams

At the mention of his name the skip tracer freezes again, movie put on pause, then resumed. It's almost vexing how skittish this whole affair has made him, but then, he's not the type to recognize annoyance for what it is. He thinks to himself that he just needs a breather.

"Mx. Moss .... .... .... what is a werewolf?"

Muttered softly, perhaps if the question had been posed by anyone else it might not have sounded genuine, but Orwell's tone carries with it all the genuine intonations of someone who is very confused. Perhaps he might have been content to ponder the question, but instead he lifts his head as his roommate speaks.

"Er... regarding how Miss Runa was..." he gestures at his neck vaguely. "We are assuming that happened at the dock, yes? S-so... if she was sitting or had fallen... she would have residue on her that would suggest that. I would not know. There is one alternative, however: she simply fell into the boat after... ....after. Mm. I do not know the likeliness of this, but it is an option. The conundrum is eliminated entirely, however, if she was not killed at the dock, which I am apt to believe, but does dredge up... another problem. N-namely... how she got into the boat..."

He seems to shudder for a moment before speaking again, his tone nearly identical to his small address to Pincer (robotic, but not unkind), stating a fact, something solid, comfortable: "Ah... and Miss Obambles? I apologize for repeating myself, but I do believe it bears mentioning again: we were all given spare shoes... at least, I myself was given spares to the ones I am wearing now, a set that I assume is to go with my evening wear, and, mm... slippers? Yes. Something like that. Our perpetrator might have changed shoes specifically to throw us off, especially given how filthy the dock is... My point is that unless a sweep of everyone's room was done, it might be impossible to narrow down for certain which of us are in possession of square-heeled shoes."

21 Questions

Tagged by @magpiefngrl for some questions! Thank you for supporting my insomnia

Nickname: very few people use a nickname for me, but a couple say chanty (from chantal) and a few others from my radio days say c-mar (from the full chantal-marie)

Height: 5'2, short enough I have to get help with the top shelf bottles at work, lol

Last movie I saw: Into the Spiderverse, which was super fun

Last thing I Googled: an address where I'm going to drop off a case of cat food for donation to a feral rescue

Favourite musician: John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats

Song stuck in my head: the Game of Thrones theme song because I am binge rewatching episodes

Other blogs: I keep an LJ and DW in case of fests over there, but I mainly only post here. I used to do a personal tumblr but once I made friends in fandom I just started posting personal shit here, ha. I also used to run a transportation disaster blog (historical and current) but it was hard to keep up with once I fell back into fandom. Might resurrect that one someday.

Do I get asks: Not often. If I do an ask meme I'll get a few. I'm always up for asks, about my fic or anything else, though!

Following: 213, I don't follow all that many blogs that don't post original content, or multifandom stuff. (Sorry! You are valid! I have time constraints!)

Amount of sleep: 5.5-6.5 lately, not too happy about that. For instance - today I am fucked.

Lucky number: 28

What I’m wearing: black leggings, grey long sleeved shirt, Jameson hoodie I got from work

Dream job: No job. Not kidding. If I have to work, anything that pays me to travel, including musician that tours. Pretty happy with bartending at the moment, though.

Dream trip: uuuggghhh this one is really hard. I want to show my partner all the place I love that he hasn't been in Europe. But I'll pick somewhere new. Continent-wise, I'm missing Antarctica (never) and South America. I'm waiting for my dad to retire for that one, since he wants to see Peru. I also want to see Cuba, SE Asia, Japan, and any part of Europe I haven't been, like France and Spain. Also I've never been out West or to the Pacific Northwest. Oh! I know! Mount St. Helens, to add to my volcano total (currently at 3.)

Favourite food: any kind of dumpling ever, from momo to pierogi. Other faves include tiropita, french toast, goulash, kibbeh, and key lime pie.

Play any instruments: Guitar and bass guitar, in several bands. Used to play oboe, can hack my way around a keyboard, and vocals.

Languages: I only speak English. I'm not proud of it. I took Latin (lots) and Attic Greek (some) as part of my degrees, but those are not taught as speaking languages and if you don't use it, you lose it. I make an effort to learn at least a few phrases wherever I am going, and I can bluster my way through simple Romance languages when written on a menu or sign. Attic Greek was good for the alphabet and some vocab, but it's way off from modern and not terribly useful.

Favourite songs: She Sends Kisses - The Wrens; You Go On Ahead - Sunset Rubdown; Oceanographer's Choice - Mountain Goats; Violet - Hole; Telegraph - OMD; Plainsong - The Cure; Skip Tracer - Sonic Youth; Busby Berkeley Dreams - The Magnetic Fields

Random fact: I collect old commercial aviation memorabilia.

Describe yourself as aesthetic things: daiquiri, red velvet couch, chai

Tagging @whiskyandwildflowers @restlessandordinary @korlaena and I think this has been up for a few days so I’ll stop before I retag a million people

A Simself TAG

I was tagged by @literalite and someone else that I forgot :(( Thank you!

I tag @enismald, @caacti, @peryllium, @nightvy, @sammmi-xox, @ouikala, @fussysim, @unflirtytrait, @starry-eyed-simss, @sadb0ysims, @faunakii, @vatorey, @cakeiko, @bearcula, @cowplant-pizza​, @scrumptiousfries​, @kaydandthesims​, @dyoreos​   and anyone who wants to do this, just say I tagged you!

Traits: hot-headed, slob, active

aspiration: public enemy i think

1. What is your full name? Valerie something something som

2.What is your nickname? Val

3. Birthday? Feb 24

4. What is your favorite book series? The mortal instuments. THE SHOW SUCKS HAHAGASEHLFZ

5. Do you believe in Aliens or Ghosts? Despite my supernatural obsession, no.

6. Who is your favorite author? I like Leonard S. Marcus and Cassandra Clare

7. What is your favorite radio station? yeet

8. What is your favorite flavor of anything? Blue raspberry

9. What word would you use to describe something great or wonderful? yes

10. What is your current favorite song? Generation why- Conan Gray or Pussy is God- King Princess

11. What is your favorite word? fuk

12. What is the last song you listened to? Why do I still?- Neiman ft. May Angeles

13. What TV show would you recommend for everyone to watch? HAHAHAH  ok: Supernatural, Shameless U.S (MA), The walking dead (MA), Jane the virgin, Total Drama Island, Teen Wolf, NARCOS (MA), and How to get away from murder.

14. What is your favorite movie to watch when you’re feeling down? Deadpool, Spider man Homecoming, or Thor Ragnarok.

15. Do you play video games? Well YES

16. What is your biggest fear? Hetero Keith

17. What is your best quality in  your opinion? my dik. Or my eyelashes ig

18. What is your worst quality in your opinion? My weight and inconsistency

19. Do you like cats or dogs better? omg don’t make me choose T-T

20. What is your favorite season? autumn

21. Are you in a relationship? nop

22. What is something you miss from your childhood? My cat.

23. Who is your best friend? my dog or my demon! Annabel

24. What is your eye color? Dark brown. Don’t let my simself fool u

25. What is your hair color? Brown with auburn ombre

26. Who is someone you love? Dean Winchester

27. Who is someone you trust? my dog. everyone in the background: shut yo lonely ass up

28. Who is someone you think about Often? Austin Porter from PRETTYMUCH

29. Are you currently excited about/for something? Supernatural season 14 to come out on netflix.

30. What is your biggest obsession? Boy bands. Specifically PRETTYMUCH not so much for their music but the friendship they have with each other c:

31. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW AS A CHILD? Total Drama island,  Johnny Test, and A.N.T farm.

32. Who of the opposite gender can you tell anything to? My friend Monty

33. Are you superstitious? not really

34. Do you have any unusual phobias? hetero keith

35. Do you perfer to be in front of the camera or behind it? Neither tbh

36. What is your favorite hobby? Track and feild.

37. What is the last book you read? Geomerty textbook LOL

38. What is the last movie you watched? Kung Fu Panda >:) jk idr

39. What musical Instruments do you play, if any? I used to play the baritone..

40. What is your favorite animal? duk

41. What are your top 5 favorite tumblr blogs that you follow? I don’t have top 5′s lol

42. What superpower do you wish you had? INVISIBILITY

43. When and where do you feel most at piece? At home.

44. What makes you smile? my dog on some dumb shit

45. What sports do you play, if any? TRACK & FIELD

46. What is your favorite drink? Arizona green tea

47. When was the last time you wrote a hand-written letter or note to somebody?

Probably my brother’s birthday.

48: Are you afraid of heights? YES DEATHLY

49: What is your biggest pet peeve: Lily singh or lele pons. Hehe but on a real note people who say they do track and cant even keep a good pace while running laps at school LOL.

50. Have you ever been to a concert? Yeah 5sos and PRETTYMUCH. Can you tell how much i obsess over boybands lol.

51. Are you vagan/ vegetarian? naw

52. When you were little, what did you wanna be when you grew up? I think a chemist lol.

53: What fictional world would you like to live in? The sims bc Yuki Behr is my baby momma and I just wanna love her T-T

54. What is something you worry about? Failing exams or getting kicked off the track team.

55. Are you scared of the dark? In my room when I’m walking in the dark cuz I don’t wanna step on my dog or a thumb tac or something lol

56. Do you like to sing? hell ye

57. Have you ever skipped school? Yes in 6th grade.

58. What is your favorite place on the planet? At home or anywhere with my best friend.

59. Where would you like to live? Canada or Michigan.

60. Do you have any pets? 3 DOGS omg

61: Are you more of an early bird or a night owl? morning bird.

62: Do you like sunrises or sunsets better? Sunset.

63. Do you know how to drive? yes

64. Do you prefer earbuds or headphones? earbuds.

65. Have you ever had braces? ew yes

66: What is your favorite genre of music? r&b, soul, and ‘rock’

67: Who is your hero? Tom Hiddleston aka loki aka best man alive.

68: Do you read comic books? hell yeah.

69: What makes you most angry? prank channels

70. Do you prefer reading a book on an electronic device or on a real book? Real book unless it’s webtoon sksksksk

71. What is your favorite subject in school? lunch. haha I’m so funny

72. Do you have any siblings? An older and younger brother and a stepsister.

73. What was the last thing you bought? Either one of those giant arizona tea cans or v bucks for my little brother agsfkfasv

74. How tall are you? 5′3

75. Can you cook? I can bake. can’t cook.

76. What are three things that you love? Austin porter, my dog, my fam and friends.  that’s 4 but OK

77. What are three things you hate? Push-up bras [those shits are uncomfortable], hetero keith, and hetero keith.

78. Do you have more male or female friends? I don’t have any friends. I’m jp female.

79. What is your sexual orientation? Idk pffff I think bi-curious. Is that a thing orr

80. Where do you currently live? Floridaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

81. Who was the last person you texted? My friend lehla.

82. When was the last time you cried? when charlie di*** in spn which was a while ago

83. Who is your favorite youtuber? Gay helmet- I mean Gabe helmy

84. Do you like to take selfies? Depends if I’m feeling myself or not but usually no.

85. What is your favorite app? Huji cam, netflix, discord etc.

86. What is your relationship to your parent(s)? I don’t like either of them but I would die for them . My mom let’s me go out more often so <3

87. What is your favorite foreign accent: OMG I LOVE THEM ALL but if I had to choose, Portuguese.

88. What is a place that you’ve never been to, but you want to visit? Windenburg :p

89. What is your favorite number? 69

90. Can you juggle? kind of???

91. Are you religious? I mean I believe in jesus but that’s about it lol

92. Do you find outer space or the deep ocean to be more interesting? OUTER SPACE

93. Do you consider yourself to be a daredevil? nope I’m a wuss

94. Are you allergic to anything? furries and their weird costume fetish shit.

95. Can you curl your tounge? yeah

96. Can you wiggle your ears? no

97. How often do you admit that you were wrong about something? neverr

98. Do you perfer the forest or the beach? beach.

99. What is your favorite piece of advice anyone has given you? I’m already tracer.

100. Are you a good liar? yes

101. What is your Hogwarts house? Gryffindor

102. Do you talk to yourself? no lol

103. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? introvert :D

104. Do you keep a journal/diary? no

105. Do you believe in second chances? depends

106: If you found a wallet full of money, what would you do? Keep it. duh

107. Do you believe that people are capable of change? obviously

108. Are you ticklish? yes

109. Have you ever been on a plane? yep

110. Do you have any piercings? 3 on each ear

111. What fictional character do you wish were real? UGH LOKI OR THE WINCHESTERS

112. Do you have any tattoos? I have a stick n’ poke on my chest.

113. What is the best decision you’ve made in your life? Adopted the little scared white dog at the adoption center :>

114. Do you believe in karma? no

115. Do you waer glasses or contacts? glasses

116. Do you want children? I don’t know yet man.

117. Who is the smartest person you know? This robot in my class. Let’s call him bob.

118. What is your most embarrassing memory? Getting my assed whooped in a cruise in front of thousands of people.

119. Have you ever pulled an all nighter? Doing one rn sis.

120. What color are most of your clothes? idk I have an explosive wardrope but mostly grey or yellow.

121. Do you like adventure? I guess

122. Have you ever been on TV? Yep I was the spokesman for my track team and I answered like 2 questions while I was sweaty and gross. I’ll try to find the link lol

123. How old are you? Rather not say but I am 14-18 range.

124. What is your favorite quote? don’t know sis.

125. Do you prefer sweet or savory foods? savory.