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actualaster · 4 years

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OKAY I’M MARGINALLY MORE COHERENT NOW.

So. Below the cut for major s3 spoilers.

First off, I’m extremely invested now in Claudia and Soren’s dynamic. They’re very well set up as opposites in so many ways, while being similar in others, and now that they’re fully on separate sides it’s set for both angst-central and also some incredibly interesting things.

Second, I’m deeply curious now about dark magic and death. What did Claudia use on Viren? Like, what did she have to sacrifice to bring him back? What kind of effects will this have? I mean aside from her hair color changing a bit more.

Third, I’m so glad my babies got together they’re just so cute and adorable and awkward and I love Callum and Rayla so much damnit I’m so glad we got them to kiss and to say “I love you” like hot damn finally, a ship that’s canon, gets to say the L word, AND is alive and with a happy (seeming, for now anyway) ending at last! Look, most of my ships either end up with one person dead, something forcing them to be separated for eternity, or they never actually get to say “love”. That or they just never become canon. So I’m so damn happy that I finally have a ship I ship that’s actually explicitly canon. ML when will you do that with the ship you’ve been teasing/basing your entire show around?

ON THE SUBJECT OF KISSES I’m so damn glad we got to see the gay kissing. And since Runaan isn’t technically dead--and there may well be a chance to get him back yet--it’s not strictly speaking “bury your gays”. Plus, it looks like we have potential between Amaya and Janai? I think that’s her name? Anyway we got possibly a chance of some nice non-dead wlw as well there.

Speaking of Amaya, she continues to be badass and amazing and I really love her and I would die for her. She deserves more screentime, but she did get some pretty solid screentime this season.

Callum is OP AF now, lol. But I mean, makes sense, and quite honestly I really love it. I’m extremely interested in where he can go from here, how he can keep developing as a mage and I think he could be an extremely good opposition for Aaravos. That he could connect with one arcanum is incredible, and that he could do what so few can is even moreso--but I want to see him go farther. There’s so much potential there. And he’s growing as a character, too, and I love it.

As for the pretty starry elf man himself, he’s very nice to look at, as usual lmao. Okay, but seriously though he’s an interesting character and I am extremely interested in him and how he can develop. I want more details about his imprisonment--I saw that mirror in the lair of the Dragon Queen. And that he doesn't know where he’s imprisoned? I’m really curious about that. He’s very clearly using Viren for his own ends, and I want to know what those ends are.

Viren, however, can go fuck a cactus. Or, well, that wouldn’t be fair to the poor cactus. Like he was a shitty dad, but this season really cranked it up. My heart broke watching him try and gaslight Soren like that. I’m just. I’m really glad Soren was able to realize Viren is wrong. Viren, though, much as I plan to kill him in Soren’s name, is an interesting antagonist. He really has himself convinced in some ways that he’s doing things for the greater good, but at other times he seems to embrace that he’s just greedy for power. But he does have a setup that makes it understandable why he would do some of what he does, but at the same time they make a good job of him being understandable without being sympathetic. We can see where he may have started down the path he’s on, even if he’s gone way too far, but we’re not meant to just feel super bad for him--his cruelty and callousness is shown abundantly.

When he was talking to Soren and Claudia and talked about sacrificing everyTHING that you love, that felt like a telling line about how he sees his kids--or Soren, at any rate. He sees Soren as a tool. He still sees Claudia as his daughter, but he’s. Honestly with that line and then his willingness to volunteer Soren to be the first to be changed magically without bothering to give a shit about what Soren feels? It’s pretty clear that Claudia is the only one he sees as a person. And that’s just. Heartbreaking.

And Claudia is heartbreaking, too. Like don’t get me wrong I would slap her in an instant for some of what she does. But she’s also tragic--we see the way she’s being manipulated. It’s shown really well. How Viren twists her around him, binds her to him. How can she do anything but what Viren wants of her? He’s put more effort in with her because he cares about her more, but also on some level I think he does think of her as a tool--just a more useful one than Soren. But I just. I feel bad for her, she’s being led down that path...

Soren was incredible, by the way, have I said that yet? Especially how he’s managed to put into words what his father does--that he’s managed to see and understand that Viren can make you walk down a dark path while convincing you that it’s the right one... That Soren was able to figure it out and come to terms with it is wonderful. I just hope that Claudia can be made to see that, as well, before it’s too late. I’m not sure that’ll be possible, though. But seeing him willing to kill his own father, to do what he truly thinks is right? I just had a massive “holy shit!!!” moment there. His reaction after, too, helps because he really feels like a person, you know? Anyway, I love him.

Also seeing how many other humans came to the aid of Xadia in the name of King Ezran was wonderful. There’s really hope that maybe humans and Xadians can set their differences aside and join forces and befriend each other, that maybe after so long peace and reconciliation can be a thing. It, of course, remains to be seen if it’s viable on a large scale but we’ve seen how well it can work on a small scale. And obviously there’s a huge amount of animosity still to be worked out because each side has wronged the other many times, but there’s the possibility of working past that and of finding a future working together.

And Viren is still around to be a threat, and Claudia is clearly very powerful and I’m deeply worried about how she’d react if she couldn’t save Viren. I mean, we saw her reaction with the thought of Soren being paralyzed--I don’t think she could survive an actual irreversible death in-tact. If she had failed...

Well, I’m sure Aaravos would have been eager to use her to his own ends. He’s encouraging Viren’s treatment of her as a tool, after all.

But I want to see what they’ll do next, how Aaravos will bend them to his cause now that they’ve lost their momentum. Whatever cause that is. Or perhaps Aaravos won’t need them anymore once his worm-thing hatches?

I saw that synchronized moving in that final conflict, was he controlling Viren to some degree? I really want to know what his designs for Viren are, tbh.

He’s really shaping up to be a very interesting antagonist.

Overall it was just a really good season, I have a lot of feelings, and I’m deeply curious to see where things can go from here. And also will probably cry if it doesn’t get another season.

#tdp spoilers #the dragon prince #tdp

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writingwithadinosaur · 7 years

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“Guard Dog” - Part 3

Victor Zsasz x Reader

( Part 1 / Part 2 )

My Masterlist - Here

Other Characters: Oswald Cobblepot, Edward Nygma, Harvey Dent

Word Count: 1905

Key: Y/N = Your Name, L/N = Your Last Name, Y/N/N = Your Nickname, H/C = Your Hair Color, E/C = Your Eye Color

Warnings: Cursing, previous home invasion and held hostage,

Summary: You’ve gotten used to living with your boys.

Author’s Note: This is very much a filler part. I have two more parts planned that are going to be 100x better!

If you would like to be tagged in any future pieces, please let me know! And as always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

<3 - DreaSaurusREX

Tags: @luciebell-writes @welcome-to-cobblepothell

You and Victor got your bags into your room. Yes, you had your own room, but you and Victor talked about how you wouldn’t sleep alone. It was more for the space in the closets/drawers. You were working on unpacking your clothes when Victor had a thought. He came up and put his hand on the middle of your back.

“I’ll be right back. I have to talk to Oswald about something really quick. You gonna be okay?” You thought for a second. As long as you kept yourself busy, you should be fine for a bit. You nodded yes, smiled, he kissed the side of your head and headed to the office. You focused on unpacking and hanging your clothes in the closet.

Victor knocked on the office door and waited for it to open. When it did, he suddenly felt a bit nervous. It obviously didn’t show, but he certainly felt it. He had to ask his employer for a personal favor for the first time.

Oswald and Edward were sitting at the desk, talking about some new plan. Victor walked up and stood to the side of them until Oswald spoke first.

“Is (Y/N) having any problems moving in?” Oswald asked, a bit of worry his voice.

“No. She’s doing okay so far. She’s unpacking her things right now. I was helping her when I had a thought. She works for Harvey Dent. And knowing her, she is going to try to go back to work tomorrow even though she is still not back to normal. Now, I know that I never ask personal favors but--” Victor was cut off by Oswald putting his hand up in a halting manner and finishing his sentence.

“You want me to talk to him and get him to give her some time off. I understand why and I agree, she needs to heal. How much time do you think she will need?” Victor was a bit shocked by Oswald’s willingness to do this. He quickly thought of an estimate time.

“At least a week. I’m going to let her relax and adjust to living here for a couple of days before working with her.” Oswald nodded and reached for the phone, dialing Harvey Dent’s number. Victor couldn’t hear Harvey, only Oswald’s side of the conversation.

“Hello. Is this Harvey Dent? Hi, its Oswald Cobblepot. I have some news regarding your employee, (Y/N) (Y/L/N). No, no, she is alive. She has had quite a tough time though. Well, to put it very bluntly, there was a house invasion that involved some… physical contact. No. Not that. Thankfully. But she was beaten and is still very shaken. She is staying with me as I am a very close friend of her’s. Yes, that was my thought too. Would be a week off be okay with you? Wonderful. I will let her know. Mmhm. You too. Goodbye.”

Victor could gather what the conversation ended with, but he waited for Oswald to confirm his thoughts.

“She has the full week off and he is willing to let her have a couple days more if she isn’t okay enough by Monday. He was very understanding and worried about her. She must be a wonderful employee for Dent.” He smiled. Victor knew how much you loved your job and how hard you worked. There would be nights where you brought back stacks of papers and kept working well into the early hours of the morning.

“I know she is. Dent is lucky to have her working for him. I’ll let her know about her time off. Thank you, Oswald.” Victor started to turn to leave when Oswald’s voice rang out again.

“I meant it when I said that (Y/N) is like family. Edward and I will always have open arms for her when she is in need.” They both exchanged thankful glances before Victor left and told you the news.

~~~~~~~~

The first couple of nights were rough. But you had Victor there, and it meant the world to you. Over the past few days, you tried your best to help out around the house and not be a problem for Oswald and Ed. It was mostly cooking for the boys. You ended up cooking breakfast and dinner most nights, sometimes lunch. You of course cleaned up afterwards too.

You also tried to do more things alone. Nothing was going to get better if you couldn’t get back to somewhat normal, and Victor agreed with this thought. It started with just sitting in a room by yourself with Victor in the next room over in case something happened. Then you moved to sitting outside by yourself. Surprisingly, it was calmer outside than inside. You were actually pretty okay around the house, but you feared for what would happen when you went back to work tomorrow.

Victor was out scouting a hit that Os wanted while him and Edward spent most of their time in the office. There seemed to be something going on between the two of them, but you thought it was none of your business and stayed out of it.

It was around 5 o’clock when you decided to start making dinner. You found a recipe online for this chicken noodle bowl that you thought would be a nice change from the usual things your boys ate. It was too quiet, so you put on some music while you worked.

You were frying the chicken when you felt hands snake around your waist. You panicked, somehow got out of their grasp and went to grab a knife. When you turned back around to face your attacker, you saw Victor instead. He was standing at least 10 feet away from you with his arms up. He had a look on his face that you hadn’t really seen before. It was a face that was full of sorrow.

You drop the knife back on the counter and grip the counter, focusing on your breathing. Victor approached you slowly.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I thought you were okay and just-” He stopped talking. He honestly didn’t know what to do. You knew he wanted to get close to you, but he was worried that you were going to snap or something. You pushed the knife down to the other end of the counter to show him that he could approach you. He saw this and went to grab your hand, but instead you turned around and hugged him tightly.

“No, I’m sorry, Vic. I just…” He held you and shushed you a bit.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I understand. You aren’t 100% again. You don’t have to apologize. I should have been more careful.” You both hugged for a bit longer until you smelled something burning and remembered the chicken. You broke away and quickly took the pan off the burner. The chicken wasn’t burned, it was just the oil around it that smelled. You sighed and then felt a hand on your shoulder. Knowing it was Victor, you weren’t scared.

“Anything I can do to help?” You knew he wanted to try to make things better, but you needed to calm down, and cooking did that. You kind of wanted to be alone.

“I think I got it. I’m just gonna finish dinner, and I’ll let you know when it’s done.” You turned to him and you saw that he was worried, but you knew this was better for you. You grabbed his hand and leaned up to kiss him. “I promise I’ll be okay. Cooking helps. It’ll be done in about 45 minutes. Can you go let the other two know?”

Victor looked at you for a second and tried to find out if you were really going to be okay alone or not. He figured he would trust you.

“Yeah. I’ll go tell them. Please come get me if you need anything?” It was rare to see him this worried, it was cute and heartwarming. You squeezed his hand and gave him a small smile.

“I promise, babe.” He leaned down and kissed your cheek before starting to walk away when you thought of an idea. “You could always just be in here with me later.” You could tell that that didn’t come out clearly because Victor looked at you with a very confused face.

“I mean, if you have any work that you can bring in here, you can work on your stuff while I cook.” You got really flustered for some reason, but Victor thought it was adorable. He smiled at you and chuckled a bit before responding.

“I’ll find something to do. Be back in 5, sweetheart.” And he was gone.

~~~~~~~~

You never understood why Oswald had such a large dining room table. Sure it was meant for parties, but he hasn’t really thrown any in awhile. But he insisted on eating there, so you had Victor set the table so the four of you were sitting at one end of the table while you finished cooking. You had set down the last plate of noodles as Os and Ed came into the dining room. You all took your seats and enjoyed the food and conversation.

A few minutes in, Oswald decided to change the topic. He knew it was a long shot, but if he could find out anything about Harvey Dent or what he was working on, it would help him have a leg up in Gotham.

“So, even though you have been taking this time off work to rest, how do you enjoy working with Harvey Dent? I’m sure you have a lot of stories you could tell.” You instantly knew what Oswald was trying to get at.

“Yes, I do really enjoy my job. Sometimes it’s more like a secretary position, but he brings me on cases pretty often. But you know I can’t tell anything about the cases I’m working on, Os.” You saw him get a bit upset, but he understood that you wouldn’t budge. But he wanted to keep a conversation going.

“Well, thanks to people like you and Mr.Dent, crime has gone down in Gotham.” Oswald sounded very sure of himself, but you knew that his information was actually wrong. You took a drink of your water before responding.

“Actually, that’s not really true. The crime rate hasn’t gone down in years. In fact, with everything that has been going on recently, it has increased. The press and the GCPD are just focused on the bigger things as opposed to the daily petty crimes. Hugo Strange, Mario Falcone, and Jerome Valeska coming back from the dead? Of course no one is going to mention any other crimes or cases like the ones Harvey and I work on.”

Oswald just nodded and went back to eating. Edward then chimes in with some facts about the most common crimes in Gotham, which leads to more and more talking. Victor was involved in the conversation in the beginning, but then he zoned out and began to think.

You were going to be going back to work tomorrow. Would you be okay enough for that? And what if something happens? Word has spread now that we are together, so now there was that target on your back. Something needed to be done about this. I think it’s time to try training.

Part 4 - Here

#victor zsasz x reader #gotham imagine #gotham fanfiction #gotham fic

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esonetwork · 6 years

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Book review: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ tie-in novel expands the story

New Post has been published on https://esopodcast.com/book-review-star-wars-the-last-jedi-tie-in-novel-expands-the-story/

Book review: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ tie-in novel expands the story

The latest Star Wars movie — “The Last Jedi” — certainly got fans talking; people are still debating all the plot twists and discussing the film’s implications for the franchise as a whole. It was also a somewhat divisive film, and if you weren’t a fan of the movie, the newly released tie-in novel, written by Jason Fry, probably won’t change your mind. However, if you’re like me and really enjoyed the movie, the book adds some interesting new details to the story.

Released in early March, the novel has been branded as an “expanded edition,” which is fitting because it really does read like an expanded version of the film. While most of the dialogue and story beats that you already know from the film are there, the book has additional scenes and interactions between the characters that flesh out the narrative.

While the Star Wars movie tie-ins have been a bit hit or miss, “The Last Jedi” ranks among the stronger ones. I still think the best is “Rogue One” by Alexander Freed, which added even more depth and emotion to the story and helped you get to know the characters better. Yet like I said before, if you enjoyed “The Last Jedi” and want an expanded version of the story, this is definitely worth a read.

I won’t go into a lot of detail about the themes or the plot, because you probably already know all that from watching the movie. Fans were definitely quite vocal about their feelings for this film, one way or another. 😉 I will say that “The Last Jedi’s” themes of failure, responsibility, and letting go of the past particularly resonated with me, since big-budget blockbusters are often hesitant to let their characters experience this much self-doubt and create plans that go this spectacularly awry (and actually do more harm than good). However, the willingness to explore failure — and how we grow and learn from it — made the story more powerful, at least for me, and I liked seeing all that further developed in the book.

I know some fans did not like Rose’s character, or the entire Canto Bight subplot in the movie; if you didn’t like those parts, you might initially be tempted to start backing away slowly when I say that these two things get quite a bit of expanding in the book. 😉 I personally don’t get the hate for Rose; even though she wasn’t necessarily a standout character for me, poor Rose doesn’t deserve to be compared to Jar Jar Binks. If you liked “The Last Jedi” overall but weren’t as much a fan of Rose, I recommend you give her a second chance. The book delves a lot more into her relationship with her sister and her partnership/tentative friendship with Finn. It explains more about why she thinks and acts the way she does.

You also get more insight into Finn’s actions, and the book really drives home his development from reluctant Resistance supporter to proud Rebel fighter. The book emphasizes how he joined the Resistance just because he cares about/wants to help Rey. Wanting to help Rey is definitely not a bad thing, but at least at the beginning, he doesn’t really care about the broader cause (a fact that frustrates the more idealistic Rose). Yet through his experiences with Rose, Finn sees that the Resistance really is a cause worth fighting — and dying — for. I would have liked to see a longer confrontation between him and Phasma, both in the book and in the movie, but if you bought the Blu-ray (or should I say, Blu-Rey? Sorry, couldn’t help myself with that one), there’s a nice deleted scene between those two.

I enjoyed getting to read more about Poe and his tense relationship with Vice Admiral Holdo. You can empathize with Poe’s frustration, even though we watch him make wrong decisions that ultimately have very serious consequences. I know I said I wouldn’t dive too deep into the themes here, but l liked how the story reflects on leadership and maturity. Poe has potential as a leader but learns to take that responsibility more seriously, especially when lives are on the line. He’s an interesting contrast to General Hux, who also gets a lot more development in the novel. I thought it was really interesting how General Hux basically gets a position of power due to his father, and the older ex-Imperial officers quietly resent him and question his leadership.

Overall, my favorite part of “The Last Jedi” film was seeing Luke’s journey and the unexpected connection between Rey and Kylo. I was kind of hoping the book would delve into that Rey/Kylo connection more than it ultimately did. I loved how the movie handled this, but the book didn’t necessarily add a whole lot more to what I’ve been referring to as their “Force Skype” sessions, for lack of a better term. 😉 I did really like how the book covered Kylo’s decision not to fire on the bridge of the Resistance ship where his mother was, and how the text jumps back and forth between Kylo and Leia’s perspectives in this part. I also liked how the book added more to the scene where Rey first arrives on Snoke’s flagship and then she and Kylo’s elevator ride up to Snoke’s throne room. You also get several pages from Snoke’s POV, fleshing out his backstory a little more.

I think the book is a nice companion to the movie, although I do have to mention that some of the scenes don’t transfer as well to print. Some examples are those Force Skype sessions I already referenced; Kylo and Rey’s falling out after killing Snoke; and Leia and Luke’s reunion in the bunker on Crait, in addition to a few others. For whatever reason, these moments just seem to work better visually. Part of it could be that when you read these scenes vs. watch them, you miss out on the actors’ expressions and tone of voice, which is often a big part of the impact. Maybe the author also tried a little too hard in a few places to stay true to the movie vs. doing something a little differently that would have worked better in print. In a few scenes it feels like Fry is simply transcribing events vs. reflecting on them.

Still, as I’ve mentioned many times before (perhaps too many?), 😉 I really loved “The Last Jedi” film and I’m glad I added the novel to my collection as well. I’m excited to see how the story wraps up in Episode IX!

#Jason Fry #novel #Star Wars #The Last Jedi

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