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angryschnauzer · 3 years

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Just What I Need - Part 2

Summary; Working in a coffee shop you meet all sorts of people, but one customer in particular is always friendly, a local Detective from the nearby precinct. When one night he orders through a delivery service rather than in store, you get more than a tip when you make the delivery.

Part 1

Fandom; Nomis (Night Hunter) Movie, Henry Cavill

Pairing: Detective Walter Marshall x Female Reader (no race or size specified)

Trope: Coffee Shop Meet Cute

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Flirting, unprotected sex, Vaginal Sex.

I do not operate a tag list but instead please pop over and follow @angryschnauzerwrites and put that blog onto notifications, then you’ll get an alert every time i post a new story. My Masterlist got too long and tumblr ate it, so all my past stories can also be found on my AO3, link HERE

I don’t plan on expanding this story any further at this time.

Part 2

Walter pushed the bike through the door to his apartment, resting it against the back of the couch before looking up and realising you weren’t sat on the couch where he’d left you just a couple of minutes ago.

“The snow is really beautiful”

Turning to the sound of your voice he grinned as he pushed the door shut. You’d pulled the net curtain up and was kneeling on the other couch that sat in front of the window, your head tucked under the curtain to watch as the feathery flakes of snow fell on the outside world.

Walter’s attention however was trained on the way your ass was perfectly framed by his t-shirt where it has ridden up as you’d bent over. With your long woolen socks pulled up to your thighs he’d started to grow hard again in his soft sweats, and as if on a SWAT raid he quietly snuck across the room and got to his knees behind you.

The first touch of his lips against your pussy were a shock, but as his large hands gripped your hips you relaxed and arched your back, widening your stance as you knelt on the chair and presented yourself to him like a bitch in heat;

“W-Walter!”

“Hmmmn”

“Someone will see!”

He pulled away for a moment, rising to his feet before kneeling on the chair behind you;

“Its the middle of a blizzard. If anyone is even outside, they aren’t going to be looking up to the fourth floor”

With his body pressed to yours he rutted into you from behind, the obscene bulge in his sweats fitting perfectly in the crease of your ass. Pulling the curtain out of the way you let it drop down to the floor before turning your head, Walter catching your lips with his own for a fierce kiss, before he moved his attention to your neck to suck at the soft skin where it met your collarbone;

“Come to bed, let me keep you warm”

Clumsily getting to your feet, there were kisses and caresses as the pair of you bumped into furniture, neither leading but both eager to get to the soft confines of his massive bed. When you finally reached your destination Walter tumbled first, falling back onto the bed;

“C’mere and sit on my face” he quietly ordered, but you just grinned and slid to your knees, your fingers curling around the waistband of his sweats and tugging them down.

“No, its my turn, Detective”

At the use of his title his dick twitched and grew harder, and as you wrapped your nimble fingers around his hardness he let out a shaky breath of anticipation. Pushing himself up so he could watch, he damn near blew his load the second your warm mouth engulfed him, your tongue working on the thick vein that ran the length of the underside, your hands keeping busy by grasping his shaft and cupping his balls.

You didn’t hold back, hell with a dick this good it would be a crime not to. Once Walter realised you were really going for it he pulled some pillows behind his head so he could lay back and the show, a smile on his lips as he watched you force more of his length into your throat, and he couldn’t help but to lay a hand on the back of your head as he rained down praises;

“Holy fuck your mouth is fucking amazing… Yes, do that thing with your tongue again, oh OH Fuck yes, that… so fucking good… knew you’d been good that this when i watched you inhale that marshmallow cake pop you guys were doing for Halloween…”

At his last comment you had just pushed down as far as you could go when your immediate response was to laugh, as you remembered him walking in just as you were attempting to win a bet with your colleague that you could fit the whole thing of four large marshmallows decorated as pumpkins into your mouth at once, and had managed it just as Walter had walked into the coffee shop.

Pulling off of him you coughed and spluttered, a large hand coming down on your back to pat it before you were pulled up onto the bed and onto his chest;

“You’re fucking adorable, you know that?”

“You’re only saying that ‘cos i can deep throat you”

“True, but you do it adorably. Now come and sit on my face so i can hear some adorable squeals…”

He pulled the pillows away and you straddled his head, his massive hands immediately pressing to your ass and pulling you down onto his waiting mouth, his tongue eager to burrow between your lips. Leaning forwards you wrapped your hand around his dick and took him back into your mouth, the grunts from between your thighs telling you he hadn’t been expecting it but it wasn’t an unwelcome development.

It was now a race, who could get the other to cum first, and as good as Walter was at eating pussy, you were determined to get him to cum before you did. Taking him as deep as you could you swallowed around him, internally smiling to yourself as you heard whimpers from between your thighs as your throat constricted around him. As your hands worked on the rest of his shaft you were a woman on a mission, and when you finally felt that tell-tale tremble you pulled back just a little so he could release into your mouth without suffocating you. His shaft swelled and his hot salty seed flooded your mouth, swallowing around him as he filled it again before finally with a shudder finishing. Lifting your mouth and ass at the same time, you smiled at the string of quiet expletives coming from his lips, moving until you were laying beside him, your head on his chest and his arm naturally around your shoulders;

“You are a devil”

“Yes Detective” you grinned, your smile widening as he rolled you onto your back and kissed you, his hand pushing between your legs and he slid two thick fingers into your soaked hole.

“I just wanted to eat that pussy, and there you go distracting me with your amazing mouth”

You wanted to reply, but his thumb had found your clit and a third finger had slid in alongside the first two, Walter playing your body like a musician played well tuned instrument. His mouth found your breasts and he took one peaked nipple into his mouth, his beard brushing against the soft skin as his tongue worked over the hardened bud. He curled his fingers within you and found that delicious spongy spot, rubbing against it with the pad of his finger, his lips curled into a smile when he felt you getting closer and closer to your orgasm. Pressing kisses to your chest he worked up to your neck, his lips brushing against your ear;

“You gonna cum for me? Can feel you squeezing my fingers, feel so fucking good, gonna soak my hand? Such a pretty little pussy, taking three fingers so well…”

With a scream you came, your body shaking and he immediately kissed you to swallow your cries of pleasure, his hand stilling between your legs before he carefully and gently pulled his fingers out. Tracing a pattern up your stomach with your juices he finally brought them to his mouth and you watched as he licked each one clean as if it was frosting on a cupcake, before leaning forwards and kissing you again.

It was late and in the glow after your orgasm you could feel your eyelids dropping, and with a strong arm draped over your waist Walter pulled your back flush with his chest as the both of you soon fell asleep, the world outside being blanketed in a soft quilt of snow.

Walter lay in bed, one handedly scrolling through his phone, the other hand wrapped around your shoulders where you slept soundly curled up to his side. Apart from a trip to the bathroom around 6am, it was the longest he’d spent in bed for months, even years, and he wasn’t minding it one single bit.

At some point in the night you’d stripped yourself of his loaned t-shirt and your long socks, and when he’d returned from the bathroom he’d seen your ass peeking out from the duvet, and as much as he’d have loved to give it a squeeze, he settled for a few seconds of gratuitous staring before he climbed back into bed beside you sporting a semi.

You stirred beside him, a smile forming on your lips as he watched you stretch and feel your muscles protest after the nights activities. Setting his phone down on the nightstand he ran a fingertip down your cheek, before pressing a kiss to your lips as you woke;

“Mmmm good Morning Detective”

“How is my little muffin this morning?”

Stretching again you winced;

“Sore… but a good sore…” you finally opened your eyes and smiled at him, before your gaze went wide when you saw how light it was, sitting bolt upright in bed; “What time is it?”

Walter glanced at the clock on his phone;

“Almost Nine”

You lept out of bed;

“FUCK… i’m late…”

In a panic you ran around the room trying to find your clothing, pulling your skirt and socks on, before finding your bra hanging from a set of drawers. Pulling at the duvet you scanned the floor;

“Walter, where are my panties?”

“Muffin…. Stop…”

“WALTER, i’m going to be LATE!”

“Sweetie…”

“ARUGH! I cannot go commando all day in a skirt!”

“Oh i don’t know, i like the sound of that…”

You turned and glared at him, but before you could say anything he was out of bed and standing in front of you, his hands resting on your arms;

“Check your phone… the blizzard has shut down half of downtown, the coffee shop’s facebook page said they were closed today around 7am this morning”

You visibly relaxed in his arms, nodding before you quickly ran to the other room and pulled your phone from your coat pocket, smiling when you saw a message from your boss that the shop would be closed due to the snow.

A large pair of arms wrapped around your waist, and you leaned back into Walters embrace;

“You have any idea how horny it makes me knowing you aren’t wearing panties under that skirt?”

Pushing your ass back against him you could feel he’d put sweatpants on, but his meaty dick was growing impressively hard against you;

“I think i can feel how horny you are”

He spun you and lifted you into his arms, walking you back until he could rest your ass on the counter. His lips were on yours as he one handedly pulled his sweats down and you felt the meaty slap of his erection against your inner thigh. Widening your stance you wrapped your hand around him as you pulled him to your core, gasping as his hot flesh speared you. You gasped into his mouth, sharing breaths as he filled you, his forehead pressed to yours. With the tiniest thrusts of his hips he skillfully brought you to orgasm, fucking you straight through it as he angled his hips to drive you crazy again.

Your gaze fell to his naked chest and stomach, watching as his muscles moved as if they were fluid, waves of power rolling as he used the power stored in them to push deep inside you. Snaking a hand between your bodies he rubbed quickly at your clit, his breaths growing short as his thrusts became erratic, pushing you to meet your peaks together so he could relish the feel of your walls gripping him so tight as they milked him of his seed.

With one final thrust you were cuming hard, Walter throwing his head back as he came inside you as you felt him swell and release another load in your waiting womb.

You’d showered alongside Walter after your kitchen escapades, hand and lips exploring each others bodies, but it didn’t go any further than fondling, both of your bodies and minds an equal mix of sore and sated.

Eventually you’d managed to find all your clothing with the exception of your panties, but you had eventually given up on that idea and just accepted you’d have to head home commando much to Walter’s amusement;

“Not to worry, the seats in my truck are heated” he said with a grin as he poured you a cup of coffee and set it onto the counter; “I have to go check on my Daughter later, but can drop you off on the way if you like?”

“Thanks” you smiled before pausing; “You have a daughter?”

Walter let out a quiet laugh;

“Yeah; Faye... sixteen years old and full of attitude. She’s amazing. Lives with her Mother - my ex and the new husband”

“Nice… its nice you’re still on good terms”

“Yeah. So what about you?”

“Me? Oh, no kids. Not really any ex’s to talk of… there hasn’t been anyone important since i moved here eighteen months ago”

“Important… so how would one become important?” he smiled and inched closer to you

“Dinner would always be a start.... And something that isn’t delivered by me is even better…”

“Out or homecooked?”

“You cook?” you laughed as he feighed shock

“Yes, i just don’t always have time to go shopping for groceries…” he wrapped his arms around your waist; “So can i get your number so we can arrange dinner?”

“You sure can”

Two Weeks Later

Cleaning the milk steamer you glared at it as it hissed out hot water, not helping your mood. In fact the mood had been steadily growing over the last ten days.

Walter had shovelled the snow from around his truck and loaded your bike into the back, before carefully driving you home after your night at his place. A heated kiss on your doorstep had only ended when your roommate had opened the door to take the trash out and had interrupted the two of you. You’d swapped numbers and he’d said goodbye, and that afternoon you’d gotten a facebook friend request from him. Three days and nights of messages and chatting had ended with a short ‘new case, speak soon x’ from Walter.

And then nothing. You’d tried not to be offended, you’d spent more hours than you’d like to admit trawling through his sparse facebook profile, seeing that all 26 of his friends were either colleagues or family; and you’d seen his daughter Faye’s picture too. She had his dark curly hair and bright eyes.

Trying not to read too much into it, he was a Detective after all and it could be all manner of things, but what if he was hurt? Or worse? Or… he was just ignoring you? But why would he have added you on social media? You’d spent far too many hours overthinking the whole thing, far too many nights losing sleep.

The sight of a customer standing at the counter drew your attention away from the milk steamer, instead wiping your hands on the cloth that hung from your apron before greeting them with a smile;

“Hey, what can i get for you today?”

“Could i get a non-fat soy latte, with two pumps of hazelnut sugar free syrup?”

“Sure thing, anything else?” you asked as you scribbled her order on the side of the paper cup

“That’s it, thanks”

The young girl went back to looking at her phone as you rang up her order, swiping it over the Apple Pay reader before walking to the end of the counter to the pick up station, still absorbed in her phone.

You were on auto pilot, working through the drink before setting it on the counter;

“Order for Faye”

She looked at you, a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth and you realised what you’d said;

“Shit”

“Yeah… i never gave you my name”

“Fuck”

“Dad says that… a lot”

You were thankful the coffee shop wasn’t busy and there were no other customers waiting to be served as you stumbled on your words;

“I’m so sorry… i’m… friends, with your Dad”

“Yeah i know”

“We… kinda went on a date…”

“Yeah… I know”

“And he added me on facebook… and then hasn’t called. I’m sorry, i just recognised you from your photos of the two of you he has…”

“I. Know.” she said with a grin; “Firstly, you liked one of the photos i was tagged in, so i got the notification. Secondly, i follow you on instagram”

“You do?” you said, shocked.

“Yeah. This shop is on my way to school, i saw the chalk art you did on the windows a few months back and followed you ever since”

“Oh”

“And Dad kept talking about this one coffee shop girl that he liked, and i’m glad he finally asked you out”

Your mood suddenly deflated;

“Yeah, well we had… coffee… and then urh… well he ghosted me”

“No, he’s on a case… he’s undercover”

“Oh!”

Faye leaned forwards on the counter;

“He really likes you. He told me. And the case, whatever that is, i only know because he was meant to be taking me to visit a college last weekend and he had one of his work colleagues get a message to my Mom… he isn’t ghosting you”

You let out a deep breath, the tension slipping away from your body and mind;

“Thanks Faye”

She took her drink a smiled, pushing her ear-bud back in as she started towards the door before calling your name;

“It was good to finally meet you”

Nodding you smiled; “You too Faye… take care”

That night you were settled into your comfiest pyjamas, enjoying the fact you had the apartment couch and TV all to yourself, your roommates catching up on work in their rooms or simply sleeping, so you were surprised when there was a knock at the door. Setting the bowl of popcorn down you called out to ask if anyone had ordered takeout, but with negative answers you frowned before checking the peephole… and letting out a gasp before flinging the door open;

“Walter!”

Standing in the hallway was your favourite detective; SWAT vest still on, the metallic tang of gunshot residue hanging in the air from his sweater and hair. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously;

“Hey Muffin…”

You wrapped your arms around his shoulders and pressed your lips to his, the kiss deepening before he finally pulled back just enough to speak;

“Wow… now that’s a warm welcome…” the smile on his face growing; “Seeing as i kinda left you on read without any explanation…”

“Yeah, well Faye came by the coffee shop today and explained…”

“How do you know…?”

“I recognised her from your photos on facebook, and she follows me on instagram, and…” you walked fingers up his chest; “And she told me she had encouraged you to ask me out”

He threw his head back and laughed;

“Kids, they aren’t great at keeping secrets”

Before you could say anything else, one of your roommates called out;

“Hey either take the delivery or refuse it, you’re letting all the heat out of the apartment!” followed by the slam of their bedroom door. Walter turned his attention back to you;

“Well, are you going to accept the delivery or refuse it?”

Taking his hand you pulled him into the apartment;

“I’ll accept it… but don’t expect a tip, the order updates were awful”

“Oh don’t you worry about a tip, i’ll make sure you leave a five star review after what i deliver tonight”

With a slam of the door it was the start of a very sleepless night… for you AND your roommates, but for wildly different reasons.

#Walter Marshall #Walter Marshall x you #Walter Marshall x reader #walter Marshall smut #henry cavill

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a-womans-rhetoric · 3 years

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Natalie Wynn's "J.K. Rowling" and Disruptive use of Women's Rhetorical Tropes: A Defiant Reply to Transmisogyny

ContraPoints, surrounded by an opulent, candle-lit set and adorned in witch's garb, leisurely pours champagne into her glass — she's ready to breach the internet's hottest topic of January, 2021: her childhood idol being outed as a transphobe (link here). The video itself being over an hour and a half long, I would be hard-pressed to claim that I could ever hope to cover its entirety, comprehensively, in a single post. So to save-face, I'll be dedicating this space only to breaking down her most frequently used rhetorical tropes, one by one.

Irreverence

"Joanne, I wanna talk to you, Joanne! [Fans herself with a rainbow paper fan with the word "BIOLOGICAL" written across it] What is it about Joannes? I can't catch a break from these people" (00:23-00:29, emphasis added).

Wynn's introductory lines immediately open a dialogue with J.K. Rowling — however, this invitation of discourse is defiantly "irreverent" (reminiscent of Nomy Lamm's punk-feminist style in "It’s a Big Fat Revolution” (1995)). Contrapoints, herself a transgender woman, is aware that her very existence is considered in opposition to the TERF-ideology that Rowling subscribes to. Thus, she's rather playful — even openly disrespectful — with her diction: calling the British author by her first name in a mocking-tone and flaunting her own trans identity to the camera (in a way that would likely offend the fragile sensibilities of a transphobe). Her personal tone (with ample use of the pronoun "I") servers a duplicitous purpose: a simultaneous message of "sit down and listen" and a fair degree of "I don't care if you can't accept me."

"So, now that 2020 is finally over, I think we can let the record conclusively show that it was a year whomst is bad. And on top of everything else going on, truly the last thing we needed was the author of Harry Potter coming forward to announce there's two things she can't stand: bigotry, and the transgenders. (00:31 - 00:50, emphasis added).

Finally broaching the subject at hand directly, Wynn employs kairos alongside her irreverence. Kairos, or the rhetorical use of an "opportune moment," holds incredible weight in the first month after 2020: the year in which the whole world fell into a stasis. Characterizing Rowling's transphobia as a collective "the last thing we needed," is also rather dismissive — she unites herself with her audience with the pronoun "we" and invites us all to groan at the exasperating nature of Rowling's bigotry.

Claiming the Right to Speak / Personal Experience

"This is a painful topic for me all around because, as a transgender woman, I am honestly really hurt by a lot of the things Joanne has said in the last year. But I also know what it's like to be the target of a Twitter mob" (01:36-01:47).

As she begins to touch on the topic, Natalie Wynn claims the right to speak on the issue of Rowling's transphobia — a type of bigotry that directly effects her. However, Wynn also situates herself partially with Rowling in her acknowledgement that receiving Twitter backlash is a terrifying experience (an experience, she argues, that the human brain is not prepared to handle the scale of, 01:49-02:39). In treating her subject with such dignity — and adding her own deeply personal account— ContraPoints creates a credible ethos in the beginning of her video essay. The audience is inclined to listen to someone who has been directly effected by the subject of Rowling's controversy (transphobia) and someone who is, rather compassionately, willing to empathize with those who would wish her harm. Although the generally sassy, glamorous, and irreverent tone of the video still appears soon after (see: the above image), her opening up for this somber moment garners a fair degree pathos in the viewer — we, as human beings, are inclined to sympathize with people who are open about being hurt.

Metis (Embodied Rhetoric)

[The following ContraPoints quote is addressing the above J.K. Rowling tweet, content warning for transmisogyny] "Transphobes love to play this game where they pretend that trans people just don't understand basic biology, that's our problem! As if I didn't start taking female hormones because I'm acutely aware that my body is not the same as a cis woman's body, that sex is real. "[Fictional TERF character] You will never be a woman, Nathan. Every cell in your body is male and has a Y chromosome." Really? That's crazy. How you'd you learn so much about science? You know I don't really feel the need to have a second X chromosome, I get by with only one, I make it work. I actually like the Y chromosome, I think it's a little more dainty, you know, it's little softer, a little more petite. The X chromosome has a lot of extra appendages, and don't you think? I don't need anymore of those, thanks. No trans person thinks it's possible to change chromosomal sex and to pretend otherwise is to argue in bad faith" (08:47-09:34).

If you can excuse my gargantuan quote, I hope you'll agree that the dialogue ContraPoints builds here was just too good to cut short. Within this excerpt, we see Wynn's use of irreverance and personal experience blended seamlessly together. For this YouTuber, the personal is perpetually political — especially when her own identity is constantly taken as an ideological stance. She uses her own expertise in trans issues to pick apart just how disingenuous Rowling's assertions are — even accusing her of "argue[ing] in bad faith" with her reductive claims (later, taking specific issue with how Rowling treats trans-ness as a costume). But, here, she also directly invokes another rhetorical trope: that of metis, or embodied rhetoric. Natalie Wynn specifically references her transgender body as a sort of counterpoint to the condescending "sex is real" claims by TERFs. She cites her intrinsic desire to pursue hormonal therapy as evidence that she — and other trans people like her — are all "acutely aware" that there are chromosomal differences between themselves and cis women. With this salient statement, she then follows with some humor: which, again, utilizes her trans body in her rhetoric. Her characterization of the Y chromosome as "more petite" and playful declaration of not needing "extra appendages" lightens up the often dark tone that arguing for trans rights and liberation can take. The clever points she makes are by no means weakened by her humor — if anything, the audience is more willing to listen to someone who can "joke about themselves" (so to speak) while still arguing an incredibly important message.

Naming and Defining Issues

"When I see Joanne tweeting about how trans people think sex isn't real and they're erasing same-sex attraction and they're silencing women, alarm bells are ringing because I recognize these as familiar transphobic talking points, specifically TERF talking points. "TERF" means trans exclusionary radical feminism. God are we still talking about this? I promise this is the last time. So TERFism is a hate movement that disguises transphobia as feminism. ... The fundamental problem with TERFs is not that they're mean. It's that they're politically reactionary, they want to reverse the progress of trans liberation." (14:05-16:02)

In her definition of TERF rhetoric, Natalie Wynn outlines some dog-whistles that are obvious to her, as a trans woman. She calmly explains to the viewer that, oftentimes in the present-day, rhetorics of exclusion are thoroughly disguised; TERFs, specifically, hide their rampant transphobia as a form of feminism. However, she further clarifies that the specific "danger" that TERFs pose is not from their cruelty — it's from their fervent dedication to strip away trans rights through political means. By specifying this danger, Natalie Wynn shifts the conversation away from empty discussion of offensiveness/terminology, to issues which directly affect the lives of trans people every day.

[This portion addresses the picture above] Also an act of naming and defining, ContraPoints makes a distinction between "Direct" and "Indirect Bigotry." She argues that many people envision bigotry as a festering, public, frothing-at-the-mouth hatred — a phenomenon she dubs "the Westboro Baptist Church theory of bigotry" (20:06). In bringing attention to the human tendency to think of people as exclusively practicing "direct bigotry" — envisioning them as a sort of delusional "other" — she then forces the audience to contemplate the relative omni-presence of the more covert (and possibly alluring) "indirect bigotry." This definition, crucially, requires introspection. By allowing ourselves to think of bigots not exclusively as "Westboros," we're made to adopt a much more nuanced view of subjects (most) generally prefer to keep black-and-white. Natalie Wynn uses her J.K. Rowling case study to complicate this 2D view of "The Bigot," inviting others to more carefully examine how politically reactionary views develop.

Phew, this was probably the longest post I've ever typed up on tumblr! Hopefully, I succeeded in demystifying (or at least adding clarity to) some of the specific tropes ContraPoints uses (that are common to women's rhetorics as a whole). Thanks for reading if you stuck around this long, and my ask box is always open!

#contrapoints #tw transphobia #tw transmysoginy

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simuran · 3 years

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Varya, baby, it's valentine's day so you should have seen this coming: say good and positive things about your favourite ships 💖🌹

Ooooh, that’s an interesting one! Let’s gooo!!!

HarlIvy - the absolute perfection of friends-to-lovers genre, plus the whole let’s-burn-the-world-together-(or-at-least-the-parts-we-don’t-like) schtick is amazing. Fanfics where Ivy helps Harley to beat the Joker black and blue make me soft 😌 Kudo for being canon!

MCU:

Frostiron - usually has the best Loki hurt/comfort there is. The jokes are endless. Also love it when they create something scientific+witchy together. The height difference makes for hilarious fanart sometimes. Generally speaking, frostiron fandom provides me with happy Loki the way no one else does, bless them for it. I also enjoy the headcanon that Loki was Tony’s bi awakening, because it’s fucking hilarious

Frostshield - mhm, the slow burn of learning to trust each other... Nice

Thorki - Very Hot. So much passion, this fandom has The Best PWPs

Though basically any mlm ship that comforts Loki will do (because I firmly headcanon MCU!Loki as gay, it’s a long story why).

Natasha/Sharon - basically lives in my head only, if there is a fandom, I wasn’t able to find it. But Natasha learning to form relationships with a woman she won’t be made to kill... Sharon not fully trusting her at first but being able to see past her crimes and reputation... Yes 😌 (Also Sharon telling Peggy about this annoyingly hot Black Widow, and Peggy DYING internally, because wow, some things are sure genetic. Like, for example, the weakness for these shady spy ladies sksksks)

Natasha/Yelena Belova (from comics) - the tension! the jealousy! the resent! the hatred! the sympathy! the understanding the way no one else could! the shared trauma! the growth! the affection! Queens <3 Who does it like them <3 <3 <3

Natasha/Nakia - again, haven’t seen much of a fandom, but the potential of jaded, bitter, and cagey postCivilWar!Natasha vs hopeful yet not naive and very loving Nakia is enormous. I just wanna read a slow burn of them on a long spy mission having philosophical debates about Truth, and Lies, and Purpose, and The Nature Of Humanity. I’d read it even if it’s gen!

We need More Natasha in femslash, is what I’m saying, and not just Natasha/Pepper as a background for stony (even though it is lovely)

Yennefer/Geralt (The Witcher) - because Yen Deserves Nice Things. I wasn’t awfully interested in Geralt for most of the show (they really should've introduced the tragic backstory earlier, it kinda hooked me), but he made her smile so sweetly 💜💜💜 Also can’t believe that I’ve finally fallen hard for a m/f ship that’s supposed to be the endgame sksks

Nomi/Amanita (Sense8) - as my tag for them states, The Relationship Goals. The way they support each other unconditionally and make each other so happy is extremely heart-warming. Kudo to writers who knew how to write an established couple entertainingly without breaking them up.

Parker/Hardison/Eliot (Leverage) - what’s to say what hasn’t been said before? Found Family soulmates, who Are Gay and Do Crime together

The Old Guard:

Andy/Nile - Very Hot. I haven’t yet found any PWPs, and I am Disappointed

Andy/Noriko (from the comic) - I’m probably gonna write a bit more about them later in a post with highlights from the second mini-series, but I’m just 💔💔💔 they 💔💔💔

Andy/Quynh - the dungeon scene just broke me, okay, it broke me.

Andy/Achilles (her late boyfriend from the comic) - he 😖 made her want to live again 😖 but then 😖😖😖 she had to leave him 😭😭😭 10/10 heartbreak, would recommend

(I love suffering in The Old Guard fandom, okay)

Phew, done! I thought about including my fave platonic ships, but this has gotten way too long already 😂

Thank you so much for the ask, Giada, I had enormous fun! I love talking about fandom things that make me happy, it seems 😄

#Posts by me #Giada speaks #ask #Why does Tumblr delete my additional paragraph breaks #They are there for a reason you hellsite #They are there to make this wall of text readable

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fromaliminalspace · 3 years

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A Get To Know Me Better Game! Thanks @ebonykain and @silvysartfulness for tagging me!💜

Rules are: answer 10 questions and tag 10 people you’d like to get to know better (I don’t know how the originator was counting because it doesn’t seem to add up to 10 questions..)

Relationship status: single

Favorite color: purple! As well as other similar tones like darker violet and indigo, or paler lavender, but only colder shades of all of them though. And teal/turquoise/aquamarine.

3 Favorite foods: oh that’s tricky, there are things I prefer, but not exactly favorites. I’d say uh rice/buckwheat and minced meat with Estonian sauce? Also mint lukum? Anything mint-flavored actually. Aaand... I guess a simple tomato and onion salad is always a good idea? idk

Song stuck in my head: there are actually several at once usually! The most frequent ones lately are Huang Cheng Du from CQL OST (has been haunting me for over a year now), Close To Lose It All by Nomy, and Killer In The Mirror by Set It Off. Also, thanks to someone, the Swedish Fika song has been spontaneously popping up in my head now and then, but well, not complaining about that

Last thing I listened to: Rain (In Your Black Eyes) by Ezio Bosso. And what do you mean last, I’ve already listened to a few ones while writing this post

Last thing I googled: haven’t used google in a while now actually but the last thing I ducked (duckduckwent? duckduckgoed? whatever) to make sure it’s what I think it is was “jixiang knotwork”. Also guess what the second result was? Silvy’s Roadtrip!

Time: 3:57 am because what is sleep (and time) anyway

Dream trip: another tricky one. I haven’t been dreaming much about going to places tbh? Well, it’d somewhere where I can just be alone with gorgeous nature I guess, it’s always a great experience. Or alone with a town, if it’s atmospheric enough. A couple of months ago Sweden and US suddenly became places I’d like to visit (not gonna happen in the near future anyway though), even if mostly just to see my friends there. Also France, for the same reason

Anything I really want: aside from sleep? Okay that’s the most tricky question. Try to sort my life out and be less of a mess somehow? Have motivation or whatever else I lack to finish the billion things I started and still haven’t finished? Stop overthinking literally everything? Oof the more I think about it the trickier it gets, so I’d better stop now

Tagging: uh the only two (2) people I know here are the ones who tagged me in the first place and I feel really weird about tagging anyone else, so... Whoever sees it and feels like doing this game can consider themselves tagged!

#Liam whispers into the void #tagging games #also hey Ebony now i really wanna go to that labyrinth in the woods #don't care it doesn't even exist yet #and that i live on the other side of the globe #i wanna #(have i mentioned that labyrinths are another thing i'm obsessed with?)#the void whispers back to Liam

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etn-story-archive · 3 years

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Enter the Nomicon - Chapter 3: Awkward is the Word of the Day

“H-hey Howard. Our friend Nomi came by and we wanted you to come over and, uh, try out that new online version of Grave Puncher! You said the graphics were the cheese, so Nomi wants to play with us!" In a quick and desperate attempt for Howard not to raise any questions, Randy looped an arm around Nomi's neck and pulled him closer with a large nervous grin.

Of course, Nomi had to bite back the instinct to pull away, twist his arm behind his back and pin him to the ground like he had been taught to. He felt that they looked extremely stupid like this.

Fortunately, Howard had gotten the hint.

"Oh—yeah! I completely forgot! Heidi, I'm gonna go. Have fun cleaning the house while I bounce!"

Without waiting for her response, the three dashed out of the house in a blur while Heidi threw a tantrum.

...

"Alright Cunningham, who is this guy?"

The three slowed to a walk. Randy panted, trying to catch his breath as he replied in between inhales and exhales.

"It's...a really long...story...wait...my...room."

As they quietly walked to Randy's house, Howard stole glances at the red haired teen. He had to admit, the guy was pretty damn handsome.

Well, maybe not like Cunningham—

There he was again, thinking those strange, forbidden thoughts. He couldn't help it though. Love was a strange, morbid thing that blinded those with its sweet alluring song. And this was certainly no exception, as Howard found himself slowing just enough so he could stare at his friend's butt. When he looked up he realized he had been caught by their apparent new friend. His cheeks heated up, but the male simply looked away as if in deep thought.

There has never been a time where Randy was ever quiet. He was always chatting with Howard. He felt awkward, standing between the other boys, for some unknown reason, and it bugged Randy, so he decided to break the ice.

"So, Nomi, do you play any instruments? I m-mean, besides the flute?"

Howard turned to the other male who gave him a dark look, which unsettled him.

"Yes. My father taught us that music was as important as education. I learned on my own how to play most of the common instruments like the piano, violin, guitar, clarinet, and even the drums. I know a few pieces of certain songs, but the instrument I play most commonly, as you would have guessed, is the flute."

With that, the male pulled out the flute from his pocket and began to play the sweet, familiar melody. It created a calm, almost lazy atmosphere.

Howard felt an oddly natural sense of comfort.

Suddenly, Nomi stopped.

"Sorry. Got a little carried away." He muttered, but Randy stopped him.

"Nah dude, that was totally Bruce!!"

Howard simply nodded, still unsure of the stranger that walked with them. The redhead smiled before continuing to play the rest of the way to Randy's house.

...

As soon as Randy shut and locked the door to his room, he was almost literally mauled by Howard's questions.

"Okay Cunningham, who is this guy?!" The short chubby teen pointed at Nomi, who didn’t seem to care about what was going on.

"Howard, this is the Nomicon."

There was a moment of silence, before,

“WHAT?!”

"Yeah, it’s a long story. But apparently the Sorcerer is going to escape, which is why Nomi revealed his human persona to me and you. I guess it’s because he's going to fight the Sorcerer, while I take on Mcfist!" Randy had repeated the whole conversation between him and the human Nomicon in a single breath and was breathing heavily under his friend's stern look.

"Wow, you really are in deep now."

Randy groaned, flopping exhaustedly onto his bed and burying his face in his pillow. He screamed into it.

"Well, now that we're done with introducing each other, I'm going to meditate." With that, Nomi began to disappear into a smoky red mist before a book appeared where he had once been standing.

"Whoa-ho ho! That is the cheese!"

...

Time flew by and before the boys even realized it, the sun had gone down.

"Crud. Heidi is going to tell Mom that I’ve been out too late and get me grounded."

Randy barely heard his friend as he concentrated hard on the game in front of him. "Uh-huh. Have fun."

Howard grinned. "So, do you like ketchup and peanut butter sandwiches?"

"Duh."

"Are you in a porno?"

"I made it."

"Are you gay?"

"WHAT THE JUICE!?"

Howard nearly fell backwards as Randy stood up still, staring at the computer screen. "That’s not fair! I punched that grave to bits!" Randy turned to see his friend staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Okay then...oh, hey dude, it's almost nine. You better go or Heidi is going to get you grounded again."

Howard face palmed.

...

As Randy came back upstairs after walking Howard to the front door, he found the Nomicon was back to his human form. He was meditating in the middle of his room.

"Hey Nomi, my mom's gonna be here any minute, so you better hide again."

The redhead opened one eye lazily. "Okay. I guess I've done enough for today." He stood and stretched, but was cut off by the sound of Randy's stomach rumbling. He raised a brow.

"You haven't eaten?"

"Nope. I usually just eat an apple or something. Maybe chips I guess. My mom doesn't have time to cook. And I don’t know how to cook." Randy simply shrugged.

"Well then, I guess I can make you something really quick."

...

Randy watched in awe as Nomi sliced and diced a few vegetables in less than ten seconds, cook rice in record time, and slice a small salmon fillets into perfect slices.

Randy realized he was preparing him a small dish of sushi.

Suddenly, a small plate was pushed to him. On top was six salmon rolls sprinkled with sesame seeds. Nomi leaned casually against the opposite side of the kitchen counter from Randy. He watched him expectantly, almost eager to see what Randy thought of his cooking.

Realizing this, he picked up a roll and popped it into his mouth.

It tasted...amazing! Delicious! Flavorful! There was an endless amount of words that Randy could use to describe the little salmon rolls, but didn't care to say them aloud as he happily stuffed them into his mouth, barely remembering to swallow and thank the redhead.

"Wow! Thanks dude! It's really good!"

Nomi gave him a small smile. He was internally jumping up and down with pride. He smirked.

"Your first lesson is to close your mouth when eating." He gestured to his open mouth. The purple haired teen rolled his eyes before doing as his teacher had said.

Suddenly the sound of the doorknob jiggling caught both of their attentions. Nomi was just about to turn back into his book form when the front door slammed open to reveal an exhausted looking Ms. Cunningham.

"Oh! I had no idea you were spending the night, er—Nomi!"

Instantly he relaxed and gave a respectful bow. "Y-yes, I am, if that isn't too much trouble."

"Oh none at all! Hey, how come Howard isn't here, Randy?"

"Uh, he had to go home. Heidi busted him." It wasn't a complete lie at the very least.

"Hm. That's too bad." Just then, her green eyes landed on the single roll that sat innocently on the plate in front of Randy. Without question, she picked it up and put it in her mouth.

"Mmm. You’re not a bad cook, Nomi,” said Ms. Cunningham. “Well, I'm going to bed. Randy, you two better not stay up later than twelve or I swear I'll skin you alive, mister!" Ms. Cunningham made her way to her room.

The two looked at each other, even Nomi being alarmed, before darting upstairs. Unbeknownst to them, the woman poked her head out of her room and smirked before going back inside.

...

"That was inhuman dude, inhuman!"

Nomi nodded with wide eyes. How could she have known that he had made those rolls? He shook his head.

"That was...inhuman."

Randy laughed as he pulled out a blanket, pillow, and a large mattress. Nomi raised a curious brow.

"Uh Randy, you do realize I don't need a bed, right? I can just make myself a book again."

"No! I mean, no, you don't have to, dude. You made me food, so I wanted to return the favor. And besides, sometimes Mom checks in on me at night. She'll grow suspicious if she doesn't see you here asleep."

"Ah, I see."

Once again, Randy found himself searching in the sea of clothes for some comfortable pajamas for his teacher. He found a pair of shorts. He was about to continue searching for a shirt when Nomi stopped him.

"That's fine Randy. I usually sleep without a shirt."

"Oh. Okay." He handed Nomi the black pair of shorts.

...

Once again it was morning, and the powerful rays of the sun sliced through, hitting Randy's eyes. He groaned.

“I really need to get new curtains...”

He blinked and found that the extra mattress was gone, and only Nomi was left. He was sitting in the middle of his room...meditating.

A sly grin came upon Randy's face as he hopped to his feet with great stealth, marker in hand, but just as he was about to draw on him, Nomi spoke.

"Don't even think about it, Randy. Unless you want to be missing a few limbs."

Startled, Randy jumped and tossed the marker away. "What? I was just going to see if you were awake!"

"Well I am. Now let's get started on training."

Randy groaned. "Aw, come on Nomi, it's the weekend!"

"A ninja's duty is never not done just because it's the weekend, and besides, this will be fun. We're going to the woods to practice your stealth skills. Right now, you’re as stealthy as an elephant with four left feet."

"Hey! I have awesome stealth skills! I just haven't warmed up yet!"

"Alright then. Let's go to the woods and see just how ‘awesome’ your skills are."

"Fine."

...

The sweet scent of pine hit their noses the second they took a step into the small woods.

Randy dropped his gym bag, which was filled with bottles of water, a first aid kit, and his ninja mask. He reached inside, grabbing the said mask and briskly put it on, turning into the famous Norrisville High Ninja.

"Alright. So what are we doing first?"

In swift and quick movements, Nomi removed his casual clothing to reveal his ninja like suit. He pulled the strange black cape out of his gym bag and placed it on. The small green clip that rested on his chest glowed in the dim light of the forest. Randy was in awe.

"For one thing, we need to meditate for one hour—"

"Aw, that's so wonk, Nomicon!"

"It's necessary! You have to learn to be patient. A direct attack will only get you attacked—"

"Can you please stop using riddles? It's kind of unnecessary."

Nomi face palmed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Was this kid really that dumb? "Honestly Randy, are you seriously questioning me? I’m your teacher, you’re my student. I may be biologically your age, but that doesn't mean I’m a child like you. You have to listen to me. Now, I'm very patient, luckily for you. If not, I would have twisted you into a pretzel, or whatever it is you call it. So, without anymore interruptions, let us get on with the lesson, yes?"

“I’m not a child,” Randy muttered, before agreeing to let the lesson start.

They began to meditate. Sort of. Most of the time, Randy wouldn’t keep his mouth shut.

"Are we done yet?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"No."

"What about now?"

"No."

"Now?”

"Dammit, Randy! NO!" Nomi finally stood up. "You know what? Fine. Yes, we’re done.”

“YES!”

Nomi shook his head. “Let's begin with the warm ups."

Randy grinned. “So what are we—"

Suddenly a fist flew towards Randy. He managed to dodge it just in time. He snapped his head towards his teacher, who held a sly smirk.

"Now the real fun begins."

Randy gulped. Uh-oh. "Uh, hey Nomi, w-what are we doing?"

"Warm ups. When you successfully land a punch on me, we will begin the true lesson."

Randy's eyes widened in sudden fear as a barrage of fists came flying at him. The fists barely missed their target. Randy tried to desperately dodge, duck, and zip past each and every one of them.

"Oof!"

Randy fell on his butt. As he got punched in the stomach, he quickly got up and jumped away, barely escaping Nomi's deadly left hook. Finally, Randy boldly ducked and threw a punch, only for it to get blocked and thrown right back at his face. "Ouch!"

He looked up to see the deep concentration written all over his teacher's face.

“I have to break that concentration!”

With renewed energy, he bobbed and weaved under and over.

"You look like you're getting tired there." Randy teased. The two kept aiming and dodging punches. "Tired!?"

For a brief second, Nomi’s concentration seemed to drop so much that the left hook that was certain to have hit Randy missed and punched the tree behind him. Their noses were so close they could feel each other's heavy breathing.

Realization hit the two as Nomi had pinned Randy against the tree. It took Nomi a second too late before suddenly Randy's fist hit him hard in the chest, knocking him off balance.

"Gah!"

Nomi fell on his butt. He stared up in surprise before it melted into a smirk.

"Well, you caught me off guard. I guess you win. Now on with—"

"Ahaha! I got you! I just punched the ninja book! Haha! Wow!"

"That maybe true, but I did get you at least a dozen times."

Instantly, Randy's boasting ceased, and a pout replaced the victorious grin upon his face. Nomi chuckled at the quick change of demeanor on his student's face.

"Shall we begin the stealth lesson, Ninja?"

The mocking tone did not go unnoticed by Randy.

He bitterly replied, "Yes."

...

"Uh, where exactly am I?" Randy had been blindfolded.

"You see, Ninja, stealth has different aspects to it. Today we're going to practice sight and hearing. You will be blocking my attacks without knowing where I'll be coming from. After you, it will be I who will be blocking your attacks. Understood?"

"Yup."

Unknown to Randy, they were standing in a small clearing hidden and surrounded by tall pine trees. Nomi smirked as he pulled out his bamboo flute. He placed his hands on each end before pulling it, causing it to extend into a long wooden staff. Oh yes, this was going to be so Bruce.

There was a rustling sound in the bushes. A pause, then the sound rejuvenated in another area. Randy's left hand shot out, ready to block the oncoming attack, only to be hit on his right side.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, a barrage of attacks came out of nowhere. He successfully blocked some of them, but most of the time he was getting smacked around like a ragdoll.

"Gah! Okay, time out! Time out!"

"There are no time outs, Cunningham. The Sorcerer is a relentless enemy and will be hell bent on killing you. Be happy that this is just training and not an actual battle."

"I don't care! Timeout!"

Nomi huffed as he finally ceased fire. Randy removed the blindfold.

"C'mon, I know the Sorcerer is all tough and shit, but seriously, do you have to beat me with a stick?!" He gestured to the long bamboo staff in Nomi’s hand.

"Well, what would you like me to do then? Throw rocks and boulders at your head? Because if you want—"

"NO! No way! I think I prefer the stick!" He snatched the staff from Nomi's hand. "Anyway, it's my turn!"

An entire hour passed with Randy swinging and flailing the stick at the other male. With ease, Nomi dodged each slow and exhausted swing.

"I...I almost got you that time..." Randy said, panting pathetically. "Almost..."

Finally, out of pure luck, and the fact that Nomi was getting bored, the end of the bamboo staff tapped his arm rather softly. Randy collapsed onto the forest floor with Nomi hovering over him with an amused and concerned look.

"Are you okay?" He almost felt guilty for tiring him out this much. Almost.

"Y-yeah..." Randy moaned pitifully.

Nomi sighed, almost relieved. "Well, that's enough training for one day."

"Wait, how are you not tired!?"

"I have a lot of endurance, something you human beings don’t have. Even with the ninja suit, it doesn't mean you have the endurance to go on forever. I guess we're going to have to fix that. Tomorrow we're going jogging around the entire block. Also, I'm technically a book. I don't need all the necessities you need."

"Like going to the bathroom?" Randy got up with the help of Nomi. Nomi gave him a curious look. It was obviously a question that has been on his mind for a while.

"Yes...I don't really need to go. I can hold it for...a hundred or so years."

Randy stared at him. Nomi shrugged as he picked up the gym bag, pulling out a bottle of water and tossing it to Randy, who barely managed to catch it. Nomi pulled out one for himself and began to chug it down. He wiped his mouth and let out a small sigh.

"But, there are things I still need. Like water."

Suddenly, a small rumble was heard. Both Randy and Nomi looked down at Nomi's stomach.

"And food...I don't really need it like going to the bathroom. I can go almost an entire one hundred years without a bite to eat."

"When was the last time you ate exactly?"

"Err, 1920? Yes, somewhere along that time."

"What the juice Nomi! Yeah, no shit you're hungry! C'mon, maybe Mom's home so she can make you something to eat!"

In truth, Nomi hadn't eaten since 1816, but he felt it wasn’t important to bring it up. Nomi was, however, surprised by Randy's concern for him. After all, the past ninjas who he had revealed himself to simply shrugged it off and didn't seem to care after he said he didn't need food or any of the other necessities. That didn't seem to matter to Randy as he pulled off the ninja mask, placing it in the old gym bag along with the bottle of water.

Nomi was actually touched by Randy's kindness.

Randy grasped Nomi's hand as they took off in a brisk jog and in less than a couple minutes they arrived back at his home.

"Crud! If my mom sees you in your ninja suit she's going to ask about it. You think you can take it off?"

But of course Randy wasn’t perfect.

Nomi rolled his eyes. “Why didn't you tell me in the forest?"

"Err, brain fart?"

"I can tell."

Sighing, Nomi dug out his casual clothes from his bag in Randy's other hand before going into some bushes to change. Randy rubbed his neck and turned away. About a minute later, Nomi came out of the large green shrubs, sporting his casual clothing and his ninja clothing in his arm. Leaves and twigs were poking out of his now messy hair. Randy stifled a laugh.

"What?"

"Your hair...” Randy said in between laughs. “...dude...your hair..."

Nomi blinked. With his free arm, he felt his hair, realizing the mess that was now in his hair. He furrowed his brow and plucked them all out of his hair. He walked past Randy, who couldn’t stop laughing.

"Oh god...I'm sorry!...Haha! Okay, okay I'll stop...” Randy snickered loudly. He was trying very hard to stop laughing, but it took a minute to get himself together again. “Okay, now I'm done." Randy wiped at a stray tear as he let out a sigh before opening the door and letting Nomi in.

As fate would have it, Randy's mom wasn't home.

"Hehe, whoops." He gave Nomi a small nervous shrug. Nomi gave him a dark look before plopping down onto a chair by the counter. His stomach growled, reminding the two why they had left the woods in the first place. Randy looked through the wooden cabinets before pulling out two Mcfist's Cup-O-Noodles. Nomi raised a brow before remembering that Mcfist owned literally everything besides the city and the people themselves in Norrisville.

He watched with curiosity as Randy opened one cup and poured water in from the distilled water machine. When he was done, he opened the black microwave and placed the cup in the center, typed on the control pad three minutes, and closed it shut. Instantly, the microwave came to life and began cooking the noodles, rotating it. Nomi watched in silent awe, but was caught off by Randy.

"So uh, Nomi?"

The redhead blinked and turned to Randy, who was eyeing something on his cape. It was the green ninja head shaped relic.

"Yes?" He watched as he rubbed his finger over it. He would never tell Randy, but as he rubbed the relic, Nomi felt it was soothing and strange, very strange.

"What is that thing?" He was oblivious to his teacher's emotions, never taking his eyes off the relic.

"It's my life essence. It binds me to the book and my other belongings, so when I turn into my human form I come out wearing clothes."

Randy nearly dropped the said relic, but before he could reply back a ding was heard, interrupting their suddenly awkward conversation.

"Uh, your soup is ready." Randy pulled out the cup, which was hot. The smell of the cooked noodles filled their nostrils. He placed the cup in front of Nomi before grabbing a fork and handing it to him.

Randy quickly went to work on his own soup, putting it into the microwave.

"Oh, careful with the soup, Nomi. It’s really hot."

Nomi could sense that Randy was slightly uncomfortable, but he didn’t say anything about it. "Thank you." He focused on the noodles, taking a hesitant bite, but soon finding that it was at least good and edible.

Silence. The two didn't say a word as Nomi silently ate his meal.

Ding!

The silence was over as the chime-like sound cut through the deep awkward silence. Randy walked over and pulled out his own noodles and began to eat it, not caring that it was burning his tongue. He paused and went to the fridge, pulling out some juice boxes, handing one to Nomi and one for himself before continuing to eat.

Nomi finally paused in his eating, swallowing before talking.

"You know, I understand why you were curious, and I apologize for not telling you in a more appropriate manner." His accent made his apology sound so formal.

"No, it’s fine."

The two looked at each other briefly before going into a fit of laughter. They were cut off by the familiar sound of the door knob jiggling slightly. Randy's mother stepped in, humming.

"Oh Randy, you won't believe it! I got promoted, and I got a raise! I'll be working less hours now too! I'm officially second-in-charge of Mcfist and Weinerman Industries! Isn't that great?" The tall woman opened her eyes and was surprised to see that Randy was not alone. "Oh, why hello again, Nomi! I think I'm going to have to make more cookies! Where's Howard, hon?"

"Uh he's at home. He got in trouble."

"Ah, I see. Heidi?"

"Yeah. And congrats on the promotion, Mom! That’s great!"

The woman smiled, blushing lightly. "Well, I don't mean to brag, but I'm just so happy! Now if you’ll excuse, me I have to finish some important paperwork. See you boys later!"

With that, she walked past them and darted into her room.

Once again they were left alone.

...

The night came and the two sat tiredly on the couch long after Randy convinced Nomi to go to the bathroom. I mean c'mon the guy holds his bathroom for up to a hundred years the poor guy probably needs to go.

"I'm going to call Howard to see if he's still alive. I haven't talked to him all day."

Nomi nodded as he turned his attention back to the TV. The movie was about zombies. Although Nomi thought it was a stupid idea for humans to come back to life after death, he still found the movie rather intriguing. Well, at least the characters were. Back then the tough, buff males were usually the heroes, and yet here was this movie. The hero was a scrawny male, and then there was this rather feisty female, and they were both fine on their own. They were looking for survivors, forming a large group, or family as they called it, thriving despite their slim chances of survival.

Nomi couldn't help but smile. “That's how life should be. That’s how it should always be.”

While Nomi continued to watch the movie, Randy chatted with Howard on the phone.

"So, Heidi didn't tell on you then?"

"Yeah. She said if I helped her with her stupid online show then she wouldn't say a word."

"What did she make you do exactly?"

Howard grumbled.

"I'm sorry, what?"

More grumbling.

"What?"

Another series of grumbles.

"Howard, c'mon dude, I can't—"

"I SAID SHE MADE ME WEAR A STUPID DIAPER FOR HER PARENTAL SEGMENT! GEEZ!"

By then, Randy had burst into laughter, dropping his phone before picking it back up. "Haha, okay. So can you come over, dude?"

Howard grumbled. "Yes. I'll be there in ten minutes."

Randy grinned. "Alright. Don't forget to change your diaper—"

"CUNNINGHAM!"

Randy burst into another fit of laughter as he hung up on Howard, who was yelling a loud string of swears. Nomi turned to him, having heard only fragments of the conversation.

"May I ask what is so funny?"

Randy finally calmed down enough to tell him. "Heh, Howard's sister made him wear a diaper on her online show."

"Oh, you mean that hideous creature you two call a girl?"

"Yep." Randy didn't even bother to hide the grin on his face.

After about ten minutes, Howard came in without even bothering to knock, startling the two and causing Nomi to nearly karate chop him in half. After a heated argument between Nomi and Howard, they finally sat back down onto the couch and enjoyed the rest of the movie.

"So, the book told me you got pwned in training," said Howard.

"I didn't get pwned!" Randy shot a glare at the redhead, who gave him an innocent look. "When did he tell you this!?"

"When you were in the bathroom. Dude, it took you an hour and a half to punch him? And two hours just to poke him with a stick? While he was blindfolded!"

"Hey, you try it and you tell me if it's easy!" Randy slumped in between the two with a pout on his face.

The night had carried on and soon the movie was over. Howard left, leaving Randy and Nomi asleep on the couch.

At around ten, Randy’s mother came in the living room to wake up the boys and to tell them to go to bed. They quietly obliged.

….

It was night again. That meant tomorrow they would be going to school.

It would be Nomi's first day of school in over eight hundred years.

Nomi sighed, staring at the ceiling. He was only a little uneasy. He knew school had changed a lot since the last time he went to one. But how much different could it be? He basically knew everything they were teaching in the school, since when he had nothing better to do, he snuck into libraries of the school and the school itself to read as many of the subjects as he could. School definitely wasn’t going to be that hard.

Nomi looked over the sleeping figure of Randy.

Nomi didn't need sleep. He could go weeks without it. Yet as he watched Randy sleep, he couldn’t help but think that it looked almost fun to sleep, or something.

Nomi felt an odd ache in his heart. Most of the time his situation just didn’t hit him. He had been so busy being the Nomicon, being the teacher of several teenage ninjas, and nothing more, that he was too busy to even think about his life.

Sometimes Nomi wished he could have everything back. His family, his friends, his home, just everything. At times like these, Nomi wished he wasn't the Nomicon. He wished he was his normal self again, Nomi Conikos Norisu, the middle child of the famous Norisu Nine. With his five other siblings, Mei the little butterfly, his youngest sister, Ming, his clever also his youngest brother, they were the troublesome twins as his family would say. His brother Naru, who was a year younger than him, was bold and was his best friend, sister Yui, who was one year older than him, was the caring and motherly one of them all, and his eldest brother Daiku, the brave warrior and the more loved and respected of his siblings.

“And I the pathetic excuse of a brother, ninja, and Norisu.”

He recalled the events that had destroyed his family. He had been arguing with his grandparents a lot before the fire. Their parents had died, making them the Norisu seven.

Daiki had argued that Nomi wasn't fit to be a true ninja. He claimed that he was too immature, lazy, stupid...the list went on.

The scene became even clearer to Nomi. His brother, who looked like an older version of him, with the exception of his ponytail and golden eyes, arguing with their grandfather, and him tearing up and running off. Then there was the fire that had engulfed the entire village. The one that had wiped out his entire family. There was also his struggle to find the ninja suit and the original Nomicon. Then he had found his grandfather, dying, his last words a request to defeat the Sorcerer and to not put on the Ninja suit and to instead keep on the one he had on.

Back then he had not known why, but now he understood.

After the whole battle and becoming immortalized (and kept alive because his family gave a piece of their soul to bind him together), he had tried to search for his family until he was told by the surviving villagers that they had all perished.

He had made it his mission to find a ninja to defend the new village, which later became what it is now.

Norrisville.

Nomi blinked away the tears and soon realized it was early morning. He sat up. He was covered in a thin layer of sweat. He got up, putting away his blankets, pillow and mattress back where they belonged before going to the bathroom to shower. Randy had showed him how it worked, since he wasn't all too familiar with the modern method of bathing. He stripped himself of the pair of shorts and boxers before stepping into the shower. Instantly, the warm water made him feel refreshed.

When he was done showering, he realized he hadn't grabbed his clothes for the day. Nomi stepped into Randy’s room.

The day before, Randy had washed his clothes for him in the washing machine and had left them neatly folded by his dresser. Nomi felt slightly self conscious, walking around in Randy’s room naked. At least he had thought to grab a towel so he had something to cover himself with.

The purple-haired teen was still asleep. Nomi eyed the alarm clock next to the computer. It read 6:59 AM.

"Oh shit."

#Enter the Nomicon #ETN #Chapter 3 #story repost

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wondersofdreaming · 4 years

Text

Lost Boys - TWO

Characters: August Walker / Captain Syverson / Walter Marshall

Word count: 2.240

Warnings: Death. Cursing. Family removal. Fight. Family reunion of some sort.

Author’s note: Everything in this story is a figment of my imagination, with inspiration and snippets from the movies ‘Mission: Impossible - Fallout’, ‘Sand Castle’, ‘Nomis/Night Hunter’. This is pure fanfiction. If something doesn’t make sense, it’s not supposed to.

I do now own any of the characters from the movies that I write about in this story. Only the OFC’s are mine.

Tag: @littlefreya @katerka88 @hell1129-blog @radaofrivia @mis-lil-red @omgkatinka @gothwhopper

MASTERLIST

Feedback is appreciated. Seriously, please tell me all the good and bad stuff, else I won’t be able to develop into a better writer, if I don’t know what I’m doing right and wrong. I swear I don’t bite.

[ONE] [THREE] [FOUR] [FIVE] [SIX] [SEVEN] [EIGHT] [NINE] [TEN]

William and Jennifer Thompson had everything they ever wanted. A nice home they couldn’t wait to fill up with children. Their lives were turned upside down when Jennifer became pregnant with triplets. William had nearly fainted at the scan. Triplets conceived naturally were a rare thing.

The couple was ecstatic to meet their children. They both had lost their parents, and with no siblings on either side, they had the need to have a large family. They prepared for the triplets as much as they could. Bought a bigger car, three car seats, three cribs, triple the amount of clothes and diapers.

“I hope you will all be like your mother,” William whispered to the grown belly, while Jennifer was asleep on her side. “She is the gentlest woman I know. She will carry you for as long as she can, even though her body is hurting. She will be your rock, your nurse, your teacher, but most of all she will be the very first woman you love. She will help you play pranks on me. She will cook your favourite foods. She will make birthday cakes the way you want them. She will drive you to practice. She will practice with you, even if you choose three different hobbies. She will help you with your homework, even reading ahead, so she knows what will happen next. She will love you more than anything. Try not to make her cry or angry, trust me you really don’t want that. Being on her bad side is the worst place to be.”

William kissed the skin where a foot was kicking her belly from the inside. He chuckled.

“Be nice son.” He whispered. He felt his wife’s hands caressing his scalp.

“Talking to the boys again?” She asked with a yawn.

“I have to show them who is the boss. If they have just a little bit of my temper, they’ll be quite a handful.”

“They are already a handful. They keep kicking or sitting on my bladder.” Jennifer whimpered. “Help me up please, I need to go to the bathroom.”

William smiled as he pulled his very pregnant wife up from their bed. Their black lab, Shell, jumped up from his bed and walked with her. At 33 weeks pregnant everything hurt. Her feet, her back, just everything. She was so over being pregnant with three boys. Good thing they were being born two weeks later by c-section.

All three boys were born healthy. They were all much bigger than other babies being born at 35 weeks, perhaps because Jennifer had literally eaten for four people since she found out she was expecting three babies at once.

Trevor, James, and Oliver grew up to be robust young boys. At the age of five, they were already known as ‘the three terrors’ in their neighbourhood. Trevor was the adventurous child, he would climb trees, and the moment he started walking, he had walked right over to William’s rock music collection and gotten into his LP’s. James loved solving puzzles rather than playing in the sandbox outside, and he loved watching TV-shows like ‘Columbo’ and ‘Magnum P.I.’. Oliver was the quiet one, he was always up to no good and got his brothers in trouble for something he had done, and he would always fight with James over the remote if an action movie was on.

The boys had a good childhood, until that fateful day where their lives changed forever.

William and Jennifer had been on a date when they were hit by a drunk truck driver. Both parents died on the spot. The boys were divided into three different families, who would take care of them.

Trevor was sent to a family in Georgia, who already had a son a year younger. Trevor would grow up to be a strong-willed man, whose protective instincts always kicked in gear when he saw someone being bullied or hurt.

James moved to Minnesota to a family, who had a son who was three years older. James grew up to be independent. He took no bullshit from anyone, not even his daughter that he would have later in life.

Oliver travelled to Virginia, where the family who later adopted him, had a young daughter. They didn’t love Oliver the way he should have been loved, like how his brother’s new families loved the brothers. Oliver was yelled at often, which hardened his heart. He swore that he would make the world a better place. The only good thing about his upbringing was the young sister, who would be the light of his life. She would make him smile and he would, in turn, protect her. His heart shattered the day she died while he was in college.

The three brothers forgot each other. Forgot they ever were as one unit once. Forgot that they had parents who had loved them more than anything. But each one always had a piece of home with them. A little medallion with an engraving of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, protector of those who have lost their parents. A social worker had given each of the boys the medallion with their birth names, parents names and birthplace etched on the back so that they would never forget who they were.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Lucas pummelled the stranger to the ground. He looked just like him, except he had hair, curly and long at the top, shorter on the sides and back, and he had a fucking disgusting moustache. Who the fuck had moustaches anymore?

Before Lucas could grab the intruder by the collar, he was kicked in the shin and was hitting the ground, hard. The intruder scrambled to his feet and was out of sight within seconds. Lucas ran after him.

“Captain! What is going on?” A few soldiers asked him as he ran past them.

“Invader. How the hell did he get in?” Lucas barked at the privates. Nobody knew. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw a glimpse of a white shirt, the stranger had worn, disappear into another building. He stealthily moved towards the building, drawing his gun and went in. He was sitting on a chair, a rifle in his hand, a dead soldier at his feet with a broken neck.

“I know you’re there, captain. I think we need to talk,” the stranger said. “Drop your gun, and I’ll let down the rifle. Truce for now.”

Lucas was sceptical, but he went inside and put the gun back into the holster at his hip.

“Who are you?” Lucas asked.

“I have many names, which one do you want to know?” The trespasser smirked.

“The one given at birth will suffice,” Lucas grunted back, which made the smile disappear from the stranger’s face. He went to grab something at his neck. A medallion with a woman engraved on it. Lucas gasped. He had seen everything, gruesome things, death, destruction, nothing was supposed to surprise him anymore. Yet there he was. Looking at a man that could be his twin, and who had a medallion identical to the one Lucas had hidden under his T-shirt.

“My parents named me, Oliver Thompson,” the stranger grunted out. “Your turn.”

“I was named Trevor Thompson,” Lucas equally mumbled and showed his medallion.

“No.”

“What the fuck do you mean ‘no’?”

“We can’t be related. I don’t have a family.”

“Well, sucks to be you. Seems we’re brothers. Now tell me, what are you doing at my base?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Stealing weapons.”

“Why?”

“That, brother, is a secret.”

Lucas acted fast. He kicked the rifle out of the thief’s hands and shoved him off the chair. It earned him a fist on his left cheek, but he had tried worse. Two more punches to his torso, to him it was more like tickling. Lucas blocked a few more attacks before the stranger rammed into his crotch area that made Lucas fall to his knees. The burglar moved towards the door, but Lucas grabbed his legs that made him fall. Lucas dragged him away from the open door. The criminal was looking around for a weapon and grabbed the wooden chair. He swung it at Lucas’ head. He got lightheaded for a moment, almost seeing stars, but gained his senses in time to watch the intruder run for his life. They continued the brawl outside next to a few military vehicles. The stranger got the upper hand as he jumped on top of a tank and pummelled Lucas from above. He wrung Lucas’ right arm behind his back, shoving him to the side of a jeep and with a strong move managed to break the arm and dislocated the joint. Lucas grunted in pain, but he had to keep fighting, so he turned around and tried to hit the thief with his left hook. Again, the stranger was behind him, putting him in a headlock, blocking his airway. Soon everything went black.

Lucas awoke in the hospital, groggy from the pain meds, he tried to get out of bed. The nurses had to call security to force him back into bed. The doctor gave him a shot of a sedative to keep him calm. Sleep came to him and with that, dreams. He dreamt of two young boys, who looked identical to each other. He dreamt of a woman, who had a warm embrace, whose laughter was making him laugh in his dream. He dreamt of climbing a tree into a treehouse, where he had a small radio that was playing Iron Maiden.

“How have the three terrors been doing today?” He remembered a male voice saying.

“It has been a quiet day.” The woman in his dream said. She stood from the sandbox, where the two other boys were playing, and kissed the man. He had the same defined jawline as Lucas, the dimple in his chin, the dark curly hair, but he had brown eyes. The woman turned around to watch him in the treehouse. Her blue eyes were filled with love and the smile on her lips made his heart ache.

Lucas opened his eyes. He had just dreamt of his birth parents. He remembered having two brothers, they were triplets. He ran his left hand over his face and groaned in frustration. He felt for his medallion and pulled it out from under his shirt.

“Trevor Thompson

Son of William and Jennifer Thompson

Born in California”

“Nurse!” He boomed. A petite elderly nurse walked in with a stern look. “I need a phone.”

“Listen here, captain. You’re not going to be calling anyone until you’ve healed that arm. Go back to sleep, or I swear I keep you sedated until you learn some manners,” she told him and was about to walk out when he apologized.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. That wasn’t very kind of me to forget to ask instead of demanding it. May I please have a phone?”

“So, there is a little southern gentleman in you. What’d you need a phone for?” She asked curiously.

“Need to make a call to my ma.”

“Aren’t you a good son. Don’t move.”

A moment later she walked in with a mobile phone. He quickly punched in his mother’s number. He looked at the clock on the wall, hoping she was awake already.

“Silvia speaking,” her grumpy morning voice made him smile. She couldn’t function properly without having downed a pot of coffee. That’s where he got his coffee addiction.

“Ma?” He said with a grin.

“Lucas? Lucas! How are you? Why are you calling this early? Going to battle? Don’t think you’ll come back? What the hell is going on Lucas Philip Syverson?!”

He laughed at her nervous rambling. So, making her nervous was waking her up better than coffee. Noted.

“No, ma. I’m not going on a mission. I’m in the hospital…” he started but was interrupted.

“In the hospital?! Why the fuck are you calling from the hospital? Why haven’t your superiors called the moment you were admitted?”

“Ma! Slow down. I’m fine.”

“Fine? You’re in the hospital! Lucas, what is going on?”

“Ma, I need to ask you something first.”

“What?” He could hear the annoyance radiating through the phone, which made his heart filled with happiness, as it indicated that his adoptive mother was still in good health.

“When you adopted me, did they tell you that I had two brothers?”

Silence.

“Lucas…”

“Ma, did you know?”

He heard her take a deep breath.

“Yes. I did know.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that I have brothers?”

“Lucas, when we brought you into our home, we signed a piece of paper, saying that we wouldn’t try to contact the other families, or try to find your brothers because you boys had been traumatized by the loss of your birth parents,” she took another deep breath and continued: “We were told, your father and I, that you boys hadn’t spoken for days. When you came to us, you were so timid. You were harder to open up than an oyster. But with a little time and love, you started talking again. You started smiling and laughing, and you never talked about your brothers, so we thought it was for the best. I never meant to hide the facts from you.”

“Yes, ma’am. Ma?”

“Yes, sweetie.”

“I met one of my brothers. And I think he’s in trouble.”

#Henry Cavill #This man #Lost Boys #Fanfiction #Chapter two #August Walker #Captain Syverson #Walter Marshall #My story #I need a drink #Series #henry cavill fanfic

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merezeh · 4 years

Text

It’s been quite an eventful night for Zoey. She had returned to her dorm from a night of dancing, partying and two huge bombshells being dropped on her dainty shoulders. On the outside, she was drenched in confusion and spilled Champagne, but underneath her Princess of Monaco worthy ball gown and fake eye lashes, she was secretly loving this; the attention of the two boys she had crushed over all semester. Aaron finally had the nerve to tell her how he feels about her and Luca, well, Luca dusted off his finest tux and rode in like a shiny knight to sweep his princess off her feet once and for all. The two lads showed up within minutes of each other; romantic gestures cocked and loaded, and made their feelings known to her. Now, it was official; it was real, and Zoey could no longer play the game of pulling two strings. She actually had to make a choice between the two boys fully aware that whomever she picked, the other would not wait around for her any longer. And wait he did not.

After Zoey wandered around her room from desk to bed to floor and back to desk, all the while twirling and twisting and chewing anxiously on her long, curly hair, she finally came to a decision. It was Aaron; it was always going to be Aaron. Luca was the mysterious, broody, cool kid; an enigma, and it was enchanting to her. But Aaron, he cared about things and he was not afraid to speak up about them. He never hid underneath invisible sunglasses and apathic, disaffected coolness. His passion oozed out of every indignant rally and heated conversation. Sure, it got a little much sometimes, but she wanted to be with the guy that made her question what she stands for and made her care about things on a deeper level. Zoey was a superficial girl. But “this is college; it’s time to grow up”, she thought and Aaron might just be who she needs to be with at this pivotal moment in her life.

Of course, Luca was disappointed. Perhaps if he had made his feelings known sooner, Zoey would be with him instead. He let out his woes unto his canvas and painted numerous odes to his object of desire. Though it was no huge loss like the death of a loved one or the end of a great romance, the salty taste of rejection followed him around for weeks. With every brush stroke, however, he could taste it a little bit less. Like many great artists, he emptied himself completely unto his art. Soon, his mind was clear of all that is Zoey Johnson. He may even have his sights on a new girl.

Skylar, Zoey’s friend, had been there for Luca as he licked his salty wounds. She felt that he was the better choice for Zoey and she made that clear to him. “I like Aaron, I do, but Zoey is an idiot if she doesn’t see how amazing you are”, she said to him in slurred words as they both gazed at his final ode to Zoey; a masterpiece of juxtaposition between the passionate brush strokes that illustrated her beautiful, bouncy hair and the soft, sweeping glides of oil that reflected light off every curve on the figure’s body. Luca took the dirty blunt sitting between his fingers to his mouth and inhaled deeply before passing it over to Skylar. “Dead ass”, he slurred back.

After weeks of pining over Zoey, Luca was finally ready to move on. The unusual friendship between he and Skylar – unusual because they seemingly had nothing in common besides Zoey – began to blossom outside the realm of their mutual friend group. They laughed at each other’s hair, despite both having long, black locs styled differently, Luca took her to his underground, cool-kid parties and they shared a similar taste in music, especially when they were high. Getting high was extremely familiar to Luca, but new to Skylar. She had recently discovered how relaxing it was to let the world melt away and her problems melt along with it. They were also both brilliant at their fields – he, a brilliant artist and she, a brilliant athlete – and neither of them had many people in their lives to whom they could vent about the expectations and weight that comes with such brilliance; not without sounding like conceited assholes.

Most of all, it was easy. Being around each other was effortless and uncomplicated. They bonded over things they now knew they had in common and laughed over the things they could only ever agree to disagree on. Luca’s extremely easy going nature, the thing that made him unfit for Zoey, was perfect for Skylar. Deep down, she was a free spirited girl, but wound tightly by the pressures of her circumstances. Being on a sports scholarship came with its own set of tribulations after all. With him, she found an escape and with her, nothing had to be performative. They could both just be themselves. Skylar never demanded he perform care and interest, for anything, in a way that suited her. She could read the subtleties of his facial expressions like a map and he could do the same with her. And when that failed, they were both mature and confrontational enough to have straight forward conversations. Neither of them had the capacity for head games and two-sided interactions.

As they relaxed into each other’s easy-going company, their bond deepened. They both started to notice things about the other they never had before. She observed that for a guy who seems so cavalier about everything, he was really hard on himself when it came to his work; an observation that blew her mind as she felt he was fantastically gifted. She also noticed his style. “You know, for a stoner dude who couldn’t care less what anyone thinks of him, he has impeccable taste”, she confessed to her sister Jazlyn. He also had started to notice her – how the sun danced and flickered around her hazelnut eyes. Their mesmerising shade of brown had even become his new favourite colour to paint with.

Jazlyn was admittedly “sceptical about Skylar’s new nth-cloud pal”, as she cheekily put it, but she quickly converted into a supporter of the pair when she began to witness her sister drift back into the relaxed essence of light she once was. There was, however, one person who could never understand or support Skylar and Luca’s new bond. Upon spotting the pair from a distance on one of their mundanely adventurous outings, Zoey hissed and sighed silently about it for hours on end, unable to make captive audiences of the people around her and voice her true feelings for fear of hurting Aaron’s.

It felt like a personal slight to her; a betrayal. Little did she know that her current feelings of betrayal were only the beginning, because despite maintaining that her relationship with Luca was strictly platonic, Skylar was starting to develop romantic feelings for the artist. Luca, on the other hand, was wise to stay away from Zoey and Skylar’s friends. Perhaps he was cautious of the way he gazed helplessly and lustfully at Skylar when she tucked her hair behind her ear being a dead giveaway to the group, and possibly to Skylar herself.

Despite Zoey’s quiet objections, Skylar and Luca continued to hang out together; acting both as fans and as escapist havens for each other. One perfectly yellow afternoon, Skylar had just finished a race and as she and her sister jogged off that burnt orange track in victory, glistening, smiling from ear to ear, their friends – Zoey, Ana, Aaron, Nomi, Vivek and Luca – received them unto the side-lines with cheers and refreshments. After the race, they all planned to get together for a movie night at Aaron’s place but Luca, who wasn’t too keen on watching Zoey and her new beau canoodling in their natural habitat, swiftly excused himself from the group meet.

Trying to be sensitive to Luca’s awkward predicament, she claimed to herself, Skylar stepped in to rescue the budding artist. “Yeah, there’s that show we wanted to see right?”, she said swiftly, inviting herself to join him and Luca was more than happy to play along. “Yeah, I’m hoping it inspires something for my class project”, he said in his usual mellow tone. Zoey glared at Luca smiling at Skylar, and as she pictured her magical night of dirty frat-house couches and pizza, she coveted Skylar because she too had experience Luca’s artsy world when his eyes were still on her.

Later on in the night, as Luca and Skylar wandered down the lit-up streets finding reasons and excuses to touch, playing “something in your hair” and “something on your jacket” games, they came to a halt in front of a door of what looked like an old tattoo parlour. “We’re here”, Luca said suspiciously. Skylar raised her eyebrows at Luca and said “where exactly are we?” with a slight excitement and hesitation in her voice. She might have trusted him, but she was still weary of dodgy-looking abandoned buildings. Luca opened the door by turning one of the fifty antique-looking knobs and handles on it and let her in to yet another underground party.

As they made their way slowly through the crowd, they started to move subconsciously to the music. From their worries and fears to pressures and the world around them, everything disappeared, time stood still and they began dancing together. Now, they had the perfect reason to touch and roll and grind all over each other. Luca’s fingertips found reasons to glide over every visible inch of Skylar’s bod, across her face and down her arms and around her waist; each stroke more electric than the last. With emotions running high and inhibitions running low, they stopped and looked at each other for a long second – it was like they had both just witnessed beauty for the first time – before Luca leaned in and kissed Skylar. The party lights sparked and shimmered like fireworks, giving the pair their fantastical moment which lasted just the perfect amount of minutes that felt like years.

After the kiss was over, they unlocked their lips and looked at each other for another long second, both trying to confirm that the magic they felt was not one-sided and imaginary. The smile that swept across both of their faces and the look of satisfaction and awe in their eyes was confirmation enough. Luca winked cheekily at Skylar to make her laugh; she rolled her eyes and burst out laughing. Time unfroze and everything around them started to move again just before they became aware of the music and proceeded back to dancing.

#grownish #zoey johnson #luca and zoey #zoey x aaron #luca and skylar #grown ish #romance #romantic #jealousy #slow build #selfish zoey #original fan art edit

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charleskenny · 4 years

Text

Animation Articles 06-2020

A selection of the best animation news, opinions, and features from around the world for the week ending February 9th, 2020.

News

Celebrating the Founders and Future of French Animation

HYPERALLERGIC – Although it’s happening right now (Feb. 7-10), this festival is in its third year and brings some of the gems of French animation to American audiences. If you can’t make it in person, the article shows you what you need to add to your viewing calendar.

‘Violet Evergarden’ Trailer: Prepare to Weep over Kyoto Animation’s New Theatrical Release

youtube

COLLIDER – The trailer for the film Kyoto Animation was working on last year when one of the studios was attacked by an arsonist has been released. With extra poignancy surrounding this film, the release of the trailer marks the beginning of rebuilding the studio and a lasting tribute to the staff who lost their lives.

Ireland’s Giant Animation at the Fore of YouTube Originals Free Relaunch

ANIMATION MAGAZINE – YouTube is having another go at premium content after their initial efforts weren’t even a blip on most consumers’ radar. Irish studio Giant Animation is producing ‘Sherwood’ which is free to view on the platform and so far has 20 million views. Should Netflix and Disney be worried?

Other News Of Note

Maxwell Atoms had to announce that work on his series Dead Meat has screeched to a halt. Making animation is hard, even for seasoned professionals.

LinkedIn, Monster, Indeed; none of these can keep up with one man and his spare time when it comes to listing open jobs in the animation industry.

The rise of Family Guy alumni continues. Long time writer Wellesley Wild will develop content for Warner Bros. which is a natural extension of his current work on the reboot of Animaniacs.

Cult anime Pop Team Epic will be shown on Netflix in the US, but bizarrely(!) the company has elected to only show half of the 23-minute episodes which themselves are one 11-minute episode repeated twice. Furthermore, Amazon showed the entire series in its original form so what exactly Netflix’s rationale is remains a mystery.

Features

How Netflix Could Pull Off an Animation Upset at the Oscars

VULTURE – Bilge Ebiri goes above and beyond to demonstrate that Netflix is pulling out all the stops with its animated efforts. Are the awards important? Sure, but eyeballs matter more and there’s plenty of ways the company is grabbing them.

Enchanted Animation

CARTOON RESEARCH – This film made quite the splash back in 2007 but then slipped quietly into history. Historian Jim Korkis digs up the surprising story of a forgotten classic.

See the 5 Creative Campaigns Behind This Year’s Oscar Nominees for Best Animated Feature

Movie posters are still a thing. Here’s all the ones for this years Academy Award nominess.

Studio Ghibli

Via: The Cinematic Animal

Not one, not two, but three articles on the famed Japanese studio. The first concerns last week’s article ranking the studio’s films which rankled a few people! The second is a really, really good in-depth look at the studio and what the future has in store for it. Lastly, Harpers Bazaar considers whether the studio’s films are the most feminist of all time.

Your Oscars Odds

Finally we come to tomorrow night’s awards. This year’s odds are rather interesting. For Best Animated Short, Hair Love is the bookie’s favourite. For Best Animated Feature, Film Jerk takes an analytical approach and determines that Toy Story 4 will clinch it. The bookies agree but put that film neck and neck with Klaus by offering evens for both films. Interestingly Laika’s Missing Link is in a strong third place but both I Lost My Body and HTTYD: The Hidden World bringing up the rear with odds of 100-1 on the latter.

Social Posts of the Week

Anyways, about UNIONS and ANIMATION!!! Did you know that one of the first attempts at unionizing was right here in New York City? pic.twitter.com/eaj8bIm4eC

— Sam C. ???? (@loverlydarling) February 5, 2020

Netflix lopping off half of every episode of Pop Team Epic is example 1547 that they do not care about anime as anything but an abstract branding term.

— RTL3 (@RussellLatshaw) February 2, 2020

Finally got around to replacing some art. Before and after pic.twitter.com/efxYRqmpcO

— Cyanide & Happiness Dave (@daveexplosm) February 2, 2020

Originally published at http://animationanomaly.com/2020/02/08/animation-articles-06-2020/

#anime #Disney #fiafny #French #Kyoto Animation #Maxwell Atoms #Netflix #Oscars #Studio Ghibli #YouTube

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yumapii · 5 years

Text

[Event Story] FRIENDSx7DAYS [11/18]

Parts 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

Judah: I don’t have confidence that my shadow is shaped like a human’s.

Takaomi: Haa?

Senri: What do you mean?

Judah: … I am not like normal humans. As I am someone who was unable to live amongst people, and so I have drifted away.

Dylan: …..

Judah: To be honest, I did not want to come on exchange, I had no intention of getting along with anybody. I thought it wasn’t possible for me to blend in anymore, after all this time… but then you lot came and searched for me who was buried in the bustling streets of Shibuya…

Senri: …..

// In the midst of the words Judah hesitates to speak, the sun continues to sink lower, thinning out their shadows and mixing it with the approaching darkness. //

Takaomi: --That don’t matter. Just by being able to appreciate the guitarist of a legendary band already qualifies you as being more human than that stupid rabbit over there.

Judah: …..

Senri: Excuse me. You sure expertly snuck in a diss right there.

Dylan: Well, you might have your circumstances but we all do, I guess. Don’t you think so too, Senri?

Senri: Eh? Yeah, of course. Everyone has a little something they want to hide, there’s no saying whose burdens are tougher than others.

Takaomi: Besides, whether I like it or not, there are way too many not-”normal” people at Shinonome, it’s hardly surprising at this point.

Dylan: Haha, that’s true.

Judah: …..

Judah: I suppose.

Senri: Hmm I thought this earlier too but Judah’s smile…

Judah: …?

Senri: is SUPER! ! IKEMEN! !

Senri: If you’d continued to stay in Shibuya unguarded, you’d have been eaten alive by onee-samas for sure! I’m so glad we found you!

Takaomi: Are you an idiot?

Judah: I will not sit around and passively be eaten by females.

Senri: Judah is a carnivore! Judah is a carnivore! That’s going to make him even more popular!

Dylan: If that’s the case then we’ll be Worldwide Handsome Men!

// Even if the exchange comes with some uncertainty, there is only 3 days left… //

Mamoru: Good evening, fellow students of Shinonome! The topic that’s been the centre of attention, the “Worldwide Handsome Men: 3 Point Contest”, is finally beginning its long-awaited Second Round! After the Gentlemen of Shinonome battled it out tooth and nail, the ensuing result is as follows! Everyone please check the overhead screen for the rankings!

Senri: Hold on…

Dylan: For real?! Overall, we are in second place?! Wow, we’ve really got a chance!

Mamoru: The highlight of this event, the Multinational Team comprising of two exchange students and two first-years, are at an unexpected 2nd place! Could this be?! Could this be?!

Male Student: whistle Good luck, exchange students!

Female Student: Takaomi-kun, Senri-kun, good luck for the next match!

Senri: Thanks for the support!

Dylan: Thanks!

???: Waon!

Female Student: ?!

Senri: Did you just hear a howl?!

Mamoru: And now, on to the Second Round. The topic is about to be announced by none other than…

Masachika: I’m Inoh Masachika. Before they are handsome men, they are first and foremost, man, who are social creatures by nature. It is by forming communities and building agreements with one another that we have been able to live together, and to prosper. Of course, there are moments when one is inflated on ego. Thinking of oneself as “special”, as being superior to others, a period when they wish that the spotlight falls upon them more than any other.

Yosuke: A dark past?

Masachika: However! If that attitude is allowed to cultivate, the fabric of society will be torn asunder. A majority will have no choice but to live like gears in a machine. Merely surviving in a world that oppresses them through power harassment, OT, and stress. Accepting the unreasonable and unjust, if you can’t beat them, join them, yielding to political power, to be obsequious, but even so! To protect what you ought to protect, that is to be an adult.

Takaomi: Lame…

Kiichi: What a speech!

Yosuke: Let’s just start…

Masachika: tch

Masachika: Now then, the topic this time is “Salaryman Showdown”.

Senri: Salaryman?!

Dylan: What’s a sala-ry-man?

Takaomi: In short, it’s a white-collar worker. It’s a Japanese office worker.

Judah: To be a handsome man is a profound task.

// Jin approached Masachika’s side, and the chattering noise fell silent. //

Jin: This time I will be the Heart. Let’s get this started.

// Despite the four still being bewildered, the scenery begins to change around them irregardless, and opens to a scene of… //

Senri: Wh-where…?

Jin: A place where a corporate warrior’s true skill is thoroughly tested. The place of a Drinking Party (First Site).

Kiichi: Nomi-nication!* After 5 is when the common man can shine!

Shinya: This… is Ryugasaki-senpai’s dream, right?

Shion: It’s a detailed recreation but… has that person ever been to such a place before?

Chizuru: As expected of Jin-san! He even perfectly understands the lifestyle of the lower class! This is why he stands at the top!

Jin: Hmph. Well then, bring out the current top-ranking teams, they shall start the battle.

Takaomi: So sudden…

Dylan: I still don’t know a thing about Japanese salaryman though.

Senri: Fo-for starters, just try reading the atmosphere! Don’t disrespect people senior to you-

Judah: Detecting scents in the atmosphere is my specialty.

Senri: ( Of all things, this topic is the least suitable for that shitty stupid lion~ ~! In any case, I should try to come up with something… )

???: Ha-ha-ha-ha! We shall be taking this victory! !

Senri: ?!

* nomi-nication, portmanteau of 飲み(nomi) and communication, is a drinking get-together that is like a social experience. here’s a more eloquent article

#dream!ing #translation #event story #event:friends x 7days #dylan ales #judah baal aversa #shishimaru takaomi #nito senri #hodo mamoru #inoh masachika #kiritani yosuke #saruwatari kiichi #ryugasaki jin #shibasaki shinya #mikekado shion #maki chizuru

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holden-norgorov · 6 years

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A seriously angry recap of all the things I hated in the finale.

Because I had to write down all the disappointment and outrage that I have inside, otherwise it will consume me until I die. I had to give vent to everything that disgusted me in a less-detatched, more personal way than the unemotional one my objective thoughts usually are expressed with. If you want to read highly pissed-off complaints for healing purposes, this is your post.

Implying that discovering that your mother is also your step-sister is a more validating reason to commit murder than being yourself a victim of physical and psychological abuses for years during your childhood. Offensive, short-sighted, self-erasing. By suggesting that Wolfgang killed his father and uncle out of this revelation, the writers nullified the character’s self-worth, depth and integrity.

“I’m not worth it”. “Wolfgang, you are!” It turned out he wasn’t worth it at all because things didn’t change. Nobody had any kind of conversation and the result was that Kala was portrayed as happy staying in the loveless, unhealthy marriage she was already in and that Wolfgang kept being the “lover” who wasn’t worth being chosen. Rajan became suddenly so important that an entire two-seasonal storyline of the most epic love story of all time had to be thrown out of the window just to please him? Who the fuck cared about him? He was selfish and sexist for two seasons, and a lame, uninteresting character with no personality beyond being a kiss-ass.

Capheus being a clown for all the episode irritated the fuck out of me. He had always been particularly joyful, but 1) not at this ridiculous, over-the-top level, and especially 2) not under these circumstances. This is war. They are all risking their lives and could be found and killed in any seconds. He is risking his whole political career and has left all his loved ones home alone. One of his clustermates is imprisoned in a BPO facility and likely being tortured. This is possibly the worst you could get: this episode was not meant to feature lighthearted, careless people joking around and being idiotic. His behavior is completely inappropriate and disrespectful of the situation. Someone with a brain, in those circumstances, would have slapped him in the face. What the fuck.

Nomanita getting an entire scene exclusively used to provide a last-minute backstory capable of justifying Lana’s selfish decision of taking Paris from Kalagang and giving it to them out of nowhere and with no apparent reason. I am so mad about this, it almost seems deliberate from Lana. Paris was a turning point for Kalagang, a pivotal moment that represented their first and only chance in all the show to be finally happy and together. Nomanita already had it all. Nomanita have always been the healthiest, happiest couple. They could have married literally anywhere else and it would have changed nothing in their relationship, because they had already had 24 episodes of domestic and happy moments. Why Paris of all cities? This was an intentional betrayal to Kalagang fans and storyline.

Lito’s freak-out about the carbs is beyond any fucking comment. It vividly looks like they all are on camping, or taking a funny, enjoyable trip. The writers should be ashamed of themselves for cheapening such a beautiful show and such wonderful characters with stupid moments like this and so many others (such as: Nomi’s coffee moment, Wolfgang jokingly pointing the rocket launcher on Capheus, Rajan asking Kala to teach him to use a gun as if they were not in a dangerous, life-or-death situation but just having fun, Puck with Sun’s hair and so on: there are a lot).

Sun and Mun being OOC as fuck and acting as if they were old acquaintances was just ridiculous and forced to an exponential level. This is entirely the writers’ fault and has nothing to do with time constraints, because the writing was just cheap and the characters unrecognizable. They had only met twice before this phone call (and both times by mistake). Sun here was weirdly intimate and emotively open despite having been closed and guarded of her interiority for two seasons sometimes even with her other selves. Mun was the very definition of cringe. “I think those two words might have made getting shot worth it.” Give me a fucking break. Who are these people? And don’t even get me started on the inconsistency with the line “I am not very good with words” that goes directly against the very reason why Sun was interested in him in the first place (i.e. the passionate way he talked about her to her teacher and the cautious but accurate analysis he provided of her psychology while fighting in the graveyard). Here they were odd and extremely cliché to the point of contrasting with their very essence.

Capheus greeting Rajan in that way was so wrong and insulting both to attentive viewers and to all the people in this world unable to obtain proper medications for themselves or their loved ones. It disregarded and destroyed everything about Capheus’ character and almost made me vomit. Rajan embodied all the socially powerful people directly responsible for Shiro’s improved sickness that almost caused her death in S1. Rajan’s unethical business was the very reason why Capheus had to be involved with Silas Kabaka in the first place, resulting in all his S1 storyline that almost led him to his death. Do any of you remember Capheus and Kala’s expressions when Rajan revealed this? Both of them had never been so hurt and incredulous during all the show. Capheus’ blind forgiveness of someone who was the ultimate reason of one entire season of his suffering and fighting for survival left me utterly speechless and offended. The writers turned all of this into a joke, especially considering Capheus storyline in S2: he had decided to politically represent his country, his own people, exactly because of the injustices they had to face on a daily basis because of poverty and unfair hierarchy. Welcoming Rajan, the symbol of this hierarchy that basically made his whole life a living hell, in that way was incredibly unbelievable. I was seriously shocked by this.

Kala’s behavior when Rajan arrives in Paris can be explained only in two ways: a) either she was on drugs all the time, which means she was capable of making them using her knowledge as chemist and then taking them because she was so desperate for Wolfgang that she wanted to be high, or b) she was just under a love spell. These are the only explanations to the way she behaves here; in both cases, she clearly wasn’t herself. Logic, continuity and coherence were all non-existent. The facts: Kala had made promises to Wolfgang both in 2x10 and 2x11 and the only reason why she hadn’t explained things to Rajan yet was that he had shut her off and sent her away without giving her the opportunity to do so. But her mind was crystal-clear and she was finally ready (in fact, her entire storyline had been built in order to make her brave enough to finally make this decision). But in here, she betrayed every promise she had made to Wolfgang and basically became a lying coward, erasing all the character development she had been through. She acted as a bitch. This confrontation was unavoidable at this point. She let Rajan believe that the real problem in their marriage was her nature as a sensate, which actually has never been a source of conflict at all (she didn’t want to marry Rajan even before realizing what she was). I wanted to slap her for how she acted in this whole episode. She also really felt under a love spell because for 23 episodes she had never spontaneously kissed Rajan before out of sincere will. In 1x02, Rajan kissed her and she didn’t even return the kiss (the only reason why she didn’t break it was that they were at their engagement party and it would have been highly inappropriate); in 2x01 she kissed him out of pity and guilt because she felt responsible for breaking his dick and ruining their honeymoon. And that was it. So, witnessing her starting a kiss to a man she spent two seasons being uncomfortable with (especially physically) and feeling objectified by felt really wrong and unexpected and utterly unreasonable. She seriously looked like she was on drugs, I was in disbelief.

Aunt Kirsty overtaking a whole team of BPO soldiers supposedly using her unknown superpower ninja abilities was so ridiculous and cheap that it was like the writers themselves wanted to prove us that they could do everything they wanted and ruin all the show’s credibility as they pleased. Seriously what the fuck was that. Sense8 became a cartoon for kids and we didn’t know? God.

The complete lack of Wolfgang’s PTSD was absolutely unforgivable and unrealistic. We are talking about a man who spent all of his life building several walls to protect himself from the outside, trying to keep everyone at distance exactly because of the traumas he experienced since childhood that he couldn’t recover from. He has always been emotionally secretive and unavailable to everyone except Kala (and she took two seasons of serious efforts to make him finally open up and expose himself). He was tortured daily several times when he was under BPO’s captivity: he had and needed to show both physical and psychological scars in the aftermath. PTSD was a natural response that inevitably had to happen and be shown both for credibility and for a matter of character’s coherence and integrity. Wolfgang being rescued from this severely traumatizing condition and not showing the slightest consequence of it was beyond idiotic. And worse: from that moment he actually started acting more carefree and behaving in the exact opposite way than the one that should logically be expected from someone with his personality going through an experience like that. He started joking around and taking everything lightly and in a more emotionally invested way than he had ever done even before this imprisonment. It was like watching a fairy tale of stupid bullshit. What a fucking mess.

Rajan’s evident privileged treatment from the writers was so obvious and cheap that it ended up being nausea-inducing. He was literally everywhere and for no reason at all since he had no abilities. In the club, he is the only sapiens being close to the physical exchange. Why on this planet should this be safe or acceptable or even convenient since he is incapable of doing anything? Every other non-sensate was far away, even members of the Cluster such as Lito who could have been useful through sharing. Instead Rajan was on the front. Ok. And the idea that Wolfgang, a taciturn man who spent two seasons being jealous of Rajan, would spontaneously approach him and thank him for doing absolutely nothing is hilarious. Rajan didn’t save Wolfgang. Kala was the one who intervened to prevent Lila from shooting him. Rajan stepped in only to save Kala and was able to steal Lila’s gun just because she was already being attacked. And as soon as that happened, she took the gun back because Rajan obviously didn’t have a clue on what he was doing (which is acceptable, because he just wasn’t suitable for that situation: the mistake was including him there in the first place). Daniela herself had been previously shown to be comfortable in using a gun. Why not exposing her to the physical place of the exchange instead of Rajan? I seriously don’t get it. Which advantage could Rajan provide to the situation? The writers were so transparent. The same can be said with the Napoli’s scene. Rajan is the only sapiens entering the camorra building without any reason or combat skill. WHY. Not only he is untrained and incapable, but he also doesn’t even know the plan (Kala has to explain it to him while already inside and targeted by enemies!). It’s like they did everything in their power to include Rajan everywhere and let him be some kind of saver or hero that he clearly is not. The writing was insulting. Rajan mistakes a taser for a gun but then uses that same taser to save Kala’s life? How stupid do the writers think we are, exactly? Not to mention that Wolfgang being unable to treat Kala’s stomach wound was completely OOC, but then again, Kala and Wolfgang were both RAPED as characters in every way possible in this episode. Wolfgang was able to canonically treat a much worse wound when Felix was almost killed despite being in evident pain. This was all ridiculous. And what about Lila shooting Kala in the stomach? In this very episode she was able to shoot dead five people at a great distance without even trying when stealing Whispers. She was a hired gun, and here Kala was literally in front of her. Nothing in this scene makes the slightest sense, I swear.

The scene where Will asked where Sun was, as if he wasn’t able to mentally connect with her was absurd. And Nomi actually taking five minutes to visit her was just a cheap way for the Sun x Mun exchange to happen and was incoherent. “I found Sun” doesn’t make sense because they are telepathically connected and Nomi shouldn’t need to find her. Cheapness for everyone.

Kala spontaneously kissing Rajan again when she finally has the occasion to physically be with the love of her life after he was tortured and nearly killed is probably the most absurd and embarrassing moment I have ever seen in television. It’s beyond any rational comment at this point. I was about to throw something at my screen. And Wolfgang accepting this despite probably believing that Kala and Rajan had already talked things through was incoherent, unthinkable and hysterical. WHO-ARE-THESE-CHARACTERS. This moment destroyed me more than I can convey with words. It was a betrayal to two seasons of marvelous Kalagang growth and development. I could ramble about how much I hate this moment for pages, but I already wrote a post about it and it would be better for me not to stop too much on this because it literally broke my heart and enraged me more than anything else ever did. Kala and Wolfgang were entirely different characters.

Jonas and the Mother talking like walking encyclopedias contrast so heavily with the cheap writing of the episode that their scenes end up being really laughable and impossible to be taken seriously.

The song sequence was completely useless, pure fanservice garbage that stole real usable time that was very much needed since many storylines were left entirely open without justifications. The “What’s Up” moment in 1x04 became iconic because it conveyed a precise message that was the core of all the show, was a set up for everything that came after and had also the purpose to show the ability of each character to connect all together for the first time. Instead, the song sequence in this episode was obviously insert only because the first one really gained a huge success in the fandom and they simply wanted to reply it for fanservice purposes. But this was entirely pointless and the very definition of a waste of time. The characters felt very much like the actors themselves goofing around, and there were also completely avoidable coherence mistakes (Felix and Rajan on the train) that cheapened the already-compromised credibility of it all. The editing of all the episode was bad, especially in this scene.

Other time gets wasted showing characters eating pizza without a tie to the plot or anything at all. Were the writers deliberately trying to make the worst choices possible? They basically did everything wrong and handled the time horribly.

I already talked about the bullet scene, but Kala being able to visit Wolfgang while unconscious was another cheap mistake. I’m particularly angry because for 23 episodes Sense8 was able to be almost flawless in coherence, but this episode is just a giant mess. This moment is OOC and simply wrong on every aspect, and who wrote it surely must have been a stranger to the show.

The last half-hour of the Special is so weird. It’s like the writers suddenly forgot that the main characters are sensates. Will asking Kala what she wants was another ridiculous moment that was so incoherent with their scene in 2x08 that I seriously considered this to be an intentional way for the writers to let us know that they willingly fucked up with Kalagang. The main peculiarity of their interaction in 2x08 was that Will was able to read Kala’s emotions without asking and state out loud what she was afraid to admit to herself: that she loved someone else. Their interaction in 2x08 was based on clarifying that Kala was not suffering from a feeling indecision but a morality struggle, and that Will exactly knew what she wanted. Their moment in 2x12 disregards everything about it. Will acts like he doesn’t already know what she feels and asks her questions as if he couldn’t read her emotions, and Kala is supposed to show signs of romantic indecisiveness despite her troubles were never feelings-related? In 2x08 Kala couldn’t stop talking haphazardly (as she always does when concerned about something) and here she just silently shrugs? This moment is beyond laughable and goes against everything established before, and the characters are frankly unrecognizable.

It’s unbelievable the idea that two whole seasons of perfect Kalagang development led to a conclusion where Kala holds hands with Rajan and Wolfgang sits behind them as a complete stranger. It feels like a nightmare. I am homicidal about this. They really destroyed them, both as a couple and individual characters.

Amanita clearly states in 1x07 that she is afraid of and hates fireworks because they symbolize war and are a failure. So why is she perfectly happy here when they are used during her own wedding? It wasn’t that hard not to be OOC. The writers really wanted to discredit the canon in every way, I’m incredulous.

The conclusive physical, actual orgy which includes also non-sensate characters sends a horrible message. First, it goes completely against the symbolical meaning of the previous orgies (which were meant to show the sensates’ ability to share sexual arousal every time someone in the Cluster was having actual sex; it was nothing physical or carnal but purely abstract and metaphorical). Second, it’s highly offensive to asexual people, because sex is conceived here as the highest expression of love and the only way to resolve untouched confrontations (instead of having actual conversations). Third, it provides sexual erasure to Lito (canonically gay), Nomi (canonically lesbian) and Kala (canonically demisexual). Fourth, it goes against the well-praised theme of inclusivity and diversity of the show because everyone at the end turns out to be the same (pansexual), thus erasing every single representation provided in the previous episodes. Fifth, it portrays an unfair and insulting view on how sexuality actually works. The idea of a man — whose entire storyline is built around the fact that he is completely, exclusively gay and couldn’t manage to even fake a relationship with a woman — willing to have sex out of the blue with someone of the opposite sex is gross and actually sick. Sexuality is highly intimate and personal: it’s not about open-mindedness, but about self-comfort. It’s disrespectful to think that a gay man would be okay to get laid with a woman, because he just is by nature not comfortable in that situation. I am a straight guy and I could never picture myself with another man, it would make me unhealthily uncomfortable with myself. This applies to everyone’s very own sexuality. The same can be said for Kala, who here is depicted as a promiscuous woman willing to share her body with the very same man who she couldn’t bring herself to feel comfortable with for two seasons. Kala was a very moral person described as demi-sexual and she could only be comfortable in a sexual scenario with Wolfgang because they are sensates and their level of trust and connection is unparalleled. If Wolfgang and Kala hadn’t been sensates inside each other’s heads and feelings, Kala would have never slept with him: she needed that kind of intimacy and closeness to open up sexually. The Kala who pulls Rajan down and gets almost hungry of being used as a sex object here is not the usual Kala from the first 23 episodes, it’s another character entirely who sends a conservative and sexist unacceptable message.

Wolfgang’s sudden bisexuality is not representation, nor something to be proud of: it’s just an offensive, out-of-nowhere twist created only for shock value. One of the first traits that we understand about him in the show is that in order to avoid opening up emotionally, he constantly sleeps around with women only. This is canonically confirmed in two occasions: first, in 1x04, when he and Felix talk about their teenager adventures, nothing is mentioned about them being open to relationships with other boys (and if Wolfgang had been bisexual, it would have surely been pointed out in this moment); second, in 2x01, we canonically see him picking up girls using a date-app which features women only. This highly indicates that he is not into men, because if he was, he wouldn’t hide it at all. Also, if he had really been sexually attracted to men, he would have surely fallen for Felix because of how close they are, and this didn’t happen. This is not to say that sexuality is permanent or unaffected by change. But if Wolfgang’s character arc had really been about a sexuality struggle, an appropriate path of self-discovery should have been shown and developed carefully. People just don’t wake up and decide to change sexual orientation out of the blue. These things require internal process and self-questioning. This sudden twist is a joke to people who really have to face a complex self-examination in order to understand whether their sexuality is changing or evolving.

Wolfgang touching Rajan’s lips before kissing him is a slap on the face of Kalagang’s fans because that was THEIR intimate gesture, and theirs alone.

Wolfgang and Rajan barely know each other. Wolfgang would NEVER perform that private gesture with anyone but Kala, and the idea that he would make love to her with her husband included is pure nuts. This was the ultimate bullshit from the writers who managed to annihilate everything about Kalagang. It’s almost as if Lana had personal reasons to sabotage them in every way possible, because the result is just too heavy-handed and transparent not to be intentional. I seriously hope that she didn’t feel the need to ruin them just because they are a straight couple, because that would make her discriminatory and petty as fuck. This moment was seriously unwatchable and unbearable. I don’t have the proper words to describe the utter disgust I really experienced.

#sense8 #sense8 special #amor vincit omnia #i needed to give vent to my hurt feelings #and to expell some rage that is consuming me since june 8 #i'm grossed out #lana fucked up so hard I lost the respect I had towards her as a writer #this is beyond insanity #kalagang #anti rajalagang

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antmfunny · 6 years

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3. Who Wants It More? (Neither, Probably)

This week was a race to elimination for Ivana and Shanice. Which one worked harder to get herself sent home? Let’s find out!

At the salon, Ivana gets her natural hair trimmed, and she can’t stop crying because she gets her confidence from having longer hair. At the risk of adding to her tears, I’m going to agree she looked better before the cut.

As for Shanice, she has a reveal for Drew that’s not nearly as dramatic as Jeana’s, yet she acts as if it is anyway: she has psoriasis.

YAWN. CariDee had psoriasis first. Bring us a new disease or GTFO! (I will, of course, always accept another round of flesh eating bacteria, though.)

Since it might not be a great idea to attach a hairpiece to a chronically dry, itchy scalp, Drew walks off camera and “calls Tyra” (because you totally buy that she’s the one making the medical decisions around there, right?) and “she” decides to put a pause on Shanice’s planned makeover and have the stylists work with her natural hair instead.

That’s when the waterworks begin. Usually, we see models crying because they don’t want ANTM to fuck with their hair. Now, we’re seeing a woman cry because ANTM isn’t going to fuck with her hair. There’s just no predicting what’ll set a model off!

Shanice’s breakdown is low-key hilarious not because of the pain she’s in, but because she’s sobbing while sitting on the toilet. Here’s a tip: retreat to the bathroom for privacy if you need it (maybe don’t invite the cameraperson in with you, though?) but do it standing up. Otherwise, it legit looks like she’s taking a dump.

Drew coaxes her off of the toilet and Shanice resolves to not let her “fears overcome [her] dreams.” It’s a motto she soon forgets at the video shoot when she lets her lack of a makeover throw her off her game. Why does she want the Serena Williams hair-do Tyra pitched for her anyway? Of all the amazing things Serena is known for, her hair is not one of them. It was going to be the most ho-hum change regardless.

Instead of confident and fierce, Shanice looks sleepy and bored the whole time, which mirrors my own boredom for this shoot. Can we just get a weird photo concept instead, please?

Thankfully, Ivana doesn’t let things get too boring with her performance. That’s not to say her performance is remotely good, though; she looks pretty damn foolish with the faces she makes and poses she pulls.

Why is she acting so silly? Ivana herself tells us that she gets her modeling inspiration from Nomi Malone, the lead character in campy cult classic Showgirls, played by Jessie of Saved by the Bell. Ivana says Nomi is an “iconic figure” and “aspire[s] to be able to be able to move like her.” Her saying and believing that is my favorite thing to happen so far this cycle.

Check out some of Nomi’s signature moves and then maybe you’ll understand why Drew calls Ivana a “hot mess.”

Tyra Banks famously does not think stripping is a form of modeling so I don’t know why Ivana thought channeling a fictional stripper would work out for her, but I love it anyway!

P.S. If you’ve ever thought it’d be cool to read some fan fiction about Tyra Banks and Elizabeth Berkley competing in a boxing match THE INTERNET PROVIDETH! (Literally, what is this though?)

At panel, the judges find Shanice’s film underwhelming. Law says, “It was very one note, but…” and that’s the point where you expect to hear him pay her a compliment, yet he goes for a double slam: “It was very one note, but your personality is too.”

Law says he feels obligated to comfort Shanice, but she says she doesn’t want anyone’s pity. “But you’re acting pitiful,” Law snaps back, leaving Shanice with more burns than Tahlia.

When Ivana’s turn comes, Tyra picks up on Ivana’s defeatist attitude and says that Ivana doesn’t seem to see the beauty in herself that the judges see in her. Ivana says she’s faced a lot of rejection and is not usually called pretty, and a full river of water runs down each cheek. “I don’t want to cry,” she sniffles. “It’s too late, you’re crying,” Law ever so helpfully points out. Ivana, literally choking back tears, says she knows.

Ashley tells a story about how her father called her “Duh” growing up because of her learning disorders. Now Khrystyana starts crying, as she seems to do after anything at panel gets emotional; her empathy is endearing.

The point of Ashley’s story is to let go of past negative critiques. She says she’s not going to cry along with Ivana because “I’m better than that.” Wait, better than Ivana, who is currently crying? I thought Tyra said showing your vulnerabilities is beautiful!

Both Ivana and Shanice have that usual “you’re in the bottom as a warning, but we’re giving you a second chance” storyline, so I wasn’t sure how the elimination would pan out. When both do in fact land in the bottom two, Tyra keeps her speech short, saying that one of the women wants to be here more than the other. That woman is… Shanice.

To be honest, I thought Shanice did want it more… until she so unconvincingly pledged to do better the next week that I reckon she really is a dead woman walking at this point.

Then, Tyra tells Ivana then there are people in the world that will tell her she’s not good enough (for example, Tyra and the judges who just eliminated her) but that Ivana needs to find her confidence in spite of them. Ivana tells the camera that she was confident (her audition reflects as much) until the process dragged her down.

Oh well, at least she has that Harvard degree to fall back on! Ivana, when you’re not crying, you seem like a hoot; if you ever want to discuss Showgirls with me (like the following classic fashion moment) let’s make it happen!

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4 Funniest Moments of America’s Next Top Model Cycle 24 Ep. 3

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peek-mag · 6 years

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Sex, Lies and Stereotypes: Week of 10/29

Thoughts, notes and links to things read, worn and watched this week.

As NY grapples with the aftermath of the largest terror attack since 9/11, and a new sexual assault allegation seems to appear every time I hit refresh on the browser, this week I’m brought round to the age old question… why are men trash?

• “Netflix Suspends House of Cards” - NY Times

• “Top NPR accused of Sexual Assault While at the New York Times - NY Times

• “In a Superstar Economy, a Bull Market in Superstar Harassers” - NY Times

It’s not an oversimplification to say that mass acts of violence and terror are nearly always enacted by men. Nor is it naive of me to predict that we won’t find many women on the predator side of these evolving sexual assault cases.

What is it about the gender that makes them–as a generalization– violent, angry and prone to grope, corner, and proposition? I’m of the belief that the hand that grabs ‘em by the pussy is the same hand to detonate the bomb. To pull the trigger.

• “Trump’s Female Accusers Feel Forgotten. A Lawsuit May Change That.” – NY Times

Sex is the first thing, as humans, that divides us – before class, color and creed. And until we heal the earth of patriarchy, until the true equality of the sexes (in social, economic and political spaces) humans will continue to be our own biggest threat to survival.

The wisest woman on this subject, to me, continues to be Miss Virginia Woolf, who in her 1929 essay “A Room of One’s Own” offers the following as she seeks to understand the sentiment of anger she observes from the scholar and the patriarch, both arguing the inferiority of the female sex:

“Possibly when the professor insisted a little too emphatically upon the inferiority of women, he was concerned not with their inferiority, but with his own superiority. That was what he was protecting rather hot-headedly and with too much emphasis, because it was a jewel to him of the rarest price. Life for both sexes is arduous, difficult, a perpetual struggle. It calls for gigantic courage and strength. More than anything, perhaps, creatures of illusion as we are, it calls for confidence in oneself. Without self-confidence we are as babes in the cradle. And how can we generate this imponderable quality, which is yet so invaluable, most quickly? By thinking that other people are inferior to one self. By feeling that one has some innate superiority—it may be wealth, or rank, a straight nose—for there is no end to the pathetic devices of the human imagination—over other people. Hence the enormous importance to a patriarch who has to conquer, who has to rule, of feeling that great numbers of people, half the human race indeed, are by nature inferior to himself. It must indeed be one of the chief sources of his power…Under the spell of that illusion, I thought, looking out of the window, half the people on the pavement are striding to work. They put on their hats and coats in the morning under its agreeable rays. They start the day confident, braced, believing themselves desired; they say to themselves as they go into the room, I am the superior of half the people here, and it is thus that they speak with that self-confidence, that self-assurance, which have had such profound consequences in public life and lead to such curious notes in the margin of the private mind.”

Were I dictator (as I often daydream to be) A Room of One’s Own would be required reading. I urge you to at least digest chapter two, which is where the quote from above, and many more artfully articulated arguments of Woolf’s, can be found.

• “A Room of One’s Own: Chapter Two″ - ebooks

If it’s hitting you that this essay from the 20s feels like it could be a modern Jezebel think piece, now may be a good time to channel that rage into concentrated reading of the latest from The Cut’s advice columnist Heather Havrilesky:

• “Ask Polly: I Hate Men” - The Cut

Taken with Heather? Samesies. Her latest novel is a collection of fan favorites and never before published essays from her beloved advice column Dear Polly. Freshly checked out from the Brooklyn Public Library, but should you find yourself compelled, Amazon link below:

• “How to be a Person in the World” - Heather Havrilesky

While eagerly awaiting your new parcel, pop in two earbuds and listen to the Fresh Air interview with New York Times columnist Lindy West, who covers feminist issues and body positivity.

• Columnist Lindy West Sees ‘Straight Line’ From Trolls Who Targeted Her To Trump - NPR

But! I’m never one to dwell in the negative. A perpetual optimist (especially after a few glasses of Chardonnay) I do have faith that we are, more or less, heading in the right direction. Should we collectively find the ability to look inwards, understand ourselves and the larger function we serve in a cosmic ecosystem, we may just be alright.

I return faithfully to spiritual principles that have always guided me. Sometimes it’s the connection you feel to something much grander and eternal to yourself that puts you in your place.

Typically October/November signal the creep of seasonal depression for me, a spring baby, who only feels truly alive half-naked and under the sun. But something about this November feels…energizing.

If you’re curious about the cosmic current running through month I suggest the following:

• “Mystic Mama Theme for November: Turning the Soil”

“When one has focused only on what is seen and shows up on the surface, what is beneath that surface becomes less and less fertile as time goes on. This month is it time to dig down deep and turn up what is underneath, bring it to the surface, inspect it, break it up, feed it, aerate it and fertilize it in preparation for new seeds.”

And if mystic ju-ju isn’t your vibe, may I prescribe some retail therapy?

A couple good buys this week were the perfect Halloween treat for a hard-working, independent twenty-something ;)

• MIU MIU Eau de Parfum

• J Crew lodge coat in vibrant flame

• Marc Jacobs Beauty Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara

Not in the shopping spirit? Maybe you just suck at it. Best brush up your skills as the holiday season is fast upon us.

• Why are we so Bad at Shopping?” - The School of Life

And, as all bad bitches must do, I will now ride out to a soundtrack of funky noise.

THIS WEEK’S VIBE

• My boy, Billy Eilish

• Second Nature, Stalking Gia

• La Luz, Coastal

Peace, love and an educated electorate.

Yours,

Nomi

#writing

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