#dark souls mad max ass looking guy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mhaccunoval · 3 years

Text

i finallyyyy finished the explanations for my tlb playlistttt so come get yall juice

if you haven’t already seen my first (official) post about this silly little playlist then you are still in luck !!! here is the spotify and the youtube links !!! oh yeah also all of the songs are in chronological order (maybe not by month but definitely by year) because i had to be organized like that sbjhshsjbs

———

❥ title

i mean. there isn’t much to explain about it but sbjshbsjhs it’s based on sam’s line “you’re a creature of the night, michael!” of course but i made it plural because this playlist is sort of a. general boys / movie playlist, if that makes sense??? but yeahhhh they’re all littol creechers who love the night >:o]

———

❥ paint it, black — the rolling stones

so !!! i was kind of trying to relate it to the boys vampirism and. love of black clothes sbhsjbshjs but no. similar to the title, they. literally live in darkness because of not being able to go into the sun and because of the few lights in the lair but there’s also a sort of duality where being vampires in an internal darkness??? like. each of the boys takes heavy advantage of the benefits of being undead but i can’t imagine it’s without its faults outside of the lack of sunlight and such. i’m sure there’s a kind of uh. monster complex that follows it, especially with the way outsiders view them, which certainly fits with the song’s vibe of being washed with this sort of sensory overload to color and earning weird looks for it

———

❥ riders on the storm — the doors

first of all, there’s a giant ass jim morrison poster in the lair therefore the boys definitely listen to the doors (if not idolize jim) so jot that down. but also !!! it has very Them vibes !!! i think the storm effects definitely relate to boys in how storms create a darkness that is soothing in its own way, and comes on strong, just like the boys’ presence. and. technically they Are killers on the road that Will kill a sweet family sbhjsbshjsb but no most of all the !!! “into this house we’re born // into this world we’re thrown” and !!! the found family that the boys have going. like, if you look at. vampirism as the house they have LITERALLY been born into it and been thrown into a whole new world, depending on each other for comfort and pleasure !!! oh also. they ride motorcycles so they’re also literal riders sbhjsbshjs (fun fact, according to genius lyrics: apparently it was the last song jim recorded before he died a few weeks later 😳)

———

❥ love her madly — the doors

whole jim morrison poster and listening to the doors reasoning is sustained. HOWEVER for the rest of reasoning… perhaps it’s more straight up 95060 than anything but sbhsjbsshj the whole woman walking in and out of the audience’s life is very symbolic of michael being in and out with the boys, never really deciding whether he wants to fully join them and straining. all of his relationships with that indecision and sitting on the picket fence (those who sit on the picket fence are impaled by it). although, it could also be partly symbolic of that indecision, as he does find Some charm in the boys’ lifestyle and keeps finding himself drawn back enough to even consider partaking in it. also, if you wanna go the parko route, paul loves marko madly enough to go after the frog bros personally for killing him <3

———

❥ walk this way — aerosmith

i am. blanking on how to tie it in other than being on the movie’s soundtrack (yes i avoided it and people are strange until the very end of making the playlist, but one of the evils got me clearly— have always ADORED people are strange though). but. i guess you can make the case that the song is full of innuendos and some scenes, like the feeding scene, are lowkey horny sbsjhbshjsbs and YES it’s the aerosmith version instead of the run dmc one because. i prefer this one and it’s my silly little playlist <3

———

❥ the boys are back in town — thin lizzy

technically the boys never Left town but !!! *christopher walken voice* Boys !!! them cast ARE crazy and they’re ALWAYS dressed to kill, ready to spill some blood and pick a fight !!! yeah no it’s just a very fun song that i think really works to. represent their crazy lifestyle and infamy around town due to causing trouble !!! and you can almost say that in this scenario star is the girl who used to dance a lot and slapped the shit out of someone <3 just girlboss moments <3

———

❥ xanadu — rush

hehehe… this started as the. desire to add more rush to the playlist for my own amusement but the more times i listen to it, the more i’m like “!!! it actually fits”… like. xanadu here is meant to a sort of utopia that’s long searched for, partly BECAUSE of the promise of immortality which !!! the boys have (unless. harmed in one of the ways at the end of the movie) because of their vampirism. like even if we don’t know the exact reasons they got turned, they all still, mostly indirectly probably, sought out that same principle. And the dining on honeydew and drinking the milk of ‘paradise’ is similar to their thrill-seeking tendencies and general enjoyment of being unable to die, leaving them to enjoy their undead lives to the fullest. not to mention, in [b part 2] (as genius refers to it) there’s talk of many, many years passing and waiting for the world to end, which we know there’s been quite a few years in between the boys getting turned and the movie, as well as i’m sure they sit back and wait on Some apocalypse, if not just to watch the world burn. in writing this, i’ve ALSO realized how it can be considered very Michael; he didn’t exactly seek this life out but he found it and indulged, only to be that “mad immortal man” towards the end of the song

———

❥ runnin’ with the devil — van halen

i just van halen is neat sbjshbsjsh and would definitely be something the boys would actually listen to hsjbshjsb i don’t Necessarily think vampires are in any way tied to the devil but. here it’d be more like a metaphor of “taking a walk on the wild side” if you wanna call it that; also, they all truly live their lives like there’s no tomorrow (not that they have to worry about death until the very end), have stolen a lot of things just to get by (probably in life AND death), don’t bode well with the ‘simple’ life (likely including the idea of a nuclear family like max proposed) because of it’s lack of pleasures, and don’t exactly have any “love [that] you’d call real” unless you read into the subtext

———

❥ hot blooded — foreigner

originally this was going to be another joke about the. lowkey horniness of the boys and the movie as a whole but i’ve realized in writing these explanations thus far and rereading the lyrics that it’s. it’s just michael-centric sbshjsbsh sam is “at the mercy of his sex glands” and so is the audience of both the movie and the song sbhsjbshsj like. michael finds himself attracted to star immediately and tries for two secret rendezvouses, with only one working, and. can be said that he also finds a fever running within him when he’s around david and the boys sbhjsbshjs i just 🙈

———

❥ renegade — styx

renegade is my favorite styx song so i just said “fuck it” and added it sbshjsbshj but !!! you can say that, again, the boys live their lives on the wild side and. probably commit enough crimes to warrant dozens of sentences, some that would lead to death row (like, ya know, the. manslaughter) but they manage to get away unscathed. And the law man serving as an allegory to all of the people, including the frogs and grandpa, that want them dead for being vampires, with the bounty to be rewarded being the ridding of their trouble from santa carla

———

❥ big shot — billy joel

mikey :o) … ok yeah he isn’t the. silver spoon in hand (nose) type but he’s LITERALLY the type to open his mouth and get himself deep in enough shit that a fight breaks out, potentially bloodied his eyes, nose, and/or fists. i don’t have much of an explanation outside of he is a himbo jock who pulled a “i didn’t know how to talk to my crush so i wrote a note telling them to get out of my school” except he said it with his fist instead of his mouth sbjshbshsj

———

❥ boys don’t cry — the cure

pretty sure this is one of the ones i stole off of shovel (@/iswearimavamp) sbshjbshjs but i do love this song in a general sense too. in regards to the movie, like. none of the guys. obsess over masculinity or anything— and both david AND michael cry at different points— so that’s not necessarily an issue. but, there *is* still a lot of hurt and stepping on toes in many of the relationships in the film that can be stretched to fit, i would think sbjhsbshjs

———

❥ highway to hell — ac/dc

this and back in black were some of the last two i put on here because i. wanted to make an ‘even’ 35 sbsjhsbshjs BUT, like with runnin’ with the devil, it’s about a devilish lack of care for one’s own life or the “status of their soul” and just doing what feels right or like the most fun, no matter if it lands them in hell or not. and !!! “my friends are gonna be there too” fits with the friendship within the boys’ found family and how they’ll all always be together, no matter what !!!

———

❥ back in black — ac/dc

i can’t really think of an explanation that differs from highway to hell so just reread the above sbsjhsbsh

———

❥ witch hunt — rush

OK !!! this is the song i’m the MOST excited to explain !!! right off the bat, moving pictures as a whole is an IMMACULATE album, absolutely love it. right so !!! this song literally SOUNDS like it belongs on the movie soundtrack; it has the same overtones and sounds as cry little sister and it’s just !!! and with the title, a witch hunt is BASICALLY what sam + the frogs went on in search of the lose boys, relying on little else but hearsay and catching glimpses at what was happening to michael, “confident that their ways are best” and moving along like a mob of three to get to the bottom of it. “features distorted in the flickering light // faces are twisted and grotesque” is very reminiscent of the faces the lost boys pull when they’re about to attack, and “they say there are strangers who threaten us” is symbolic of them being outsiders/outcasts that make everyone uncomfortable, even if You aren’t going to be their next victim. “the righteous rise with burning eyes” AND “quick to judge, quick to anger // slow to understand // ignorance and prejudice // and fear walk hand in hand” can apply to any number of characters, particularly the mains who are all pitted against each other, the humans fighting for their lives and the vampires fighting for their Right to live, neither taking into consideration the other’s perspective. i just… ADORE this song…

———

❥ red barchetta — rush

this one was mainly just because of the car that grandpa keeps in the barn and both sam and michael’s fascination with it sbhjsbsshj and just to get more rush on here shjsbshjsbsh

———

❥ maneater — hall & oates

one of the first songs to hit the playlist !!! because the boys eat people !!! they’re the lean and hungry type that only come out at night !!! they’ll be sitting with you but their eyes are on the door and if you want love from them, you won’t get very far !!! the beauty IS there but there are beasts inside that can rip your world apart !!! they’ll chew you up but also leave you begging for more :o)

———

❥ hungry like the wolf — duran duran

the second song to have gone on the playlist !!! the boys are always on the prowl for fresh meat (in both the food AND turning senses) and they come alive while on the hunt, blood no doubt rushing through their veins (assuming it still can) !!! and in the movie, michael is the one they’re after for the turning connotation, all wanting a taste of him for themselves !!!

———

❥ subdivisions — rush

this rush song actually went on before the others shbsjsbshj but !!! it still fits just as well (certainly better than red barchetta)… the movie all takes place on the fringes of the city, “in between the bright lights // and the far unlit unknown”, and while it’s not exactly in the suburbs, there’s still little comfort to soothe the restless dreams of youth. there IS a drawing like moths into the city, for both the emersons and the lost boys, which is what ends up bringing all of them together, although it starts are cruising for action just to feel the living night. and just !!! NOBODY fits in !!! if you take the movie title as them being Lost instead of an allusion to peter pan, then you get slapped with thinking about what actually makes them lost and how they don’t conform in any way, shape, or form to just about. anything. and !!! the emersons are new, which immediately puts them at a social disadvantage, but they Also don’t seem too terribly great at making new friends in general so !!! “nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone”!!!

———

❥ abracadabra — steve miller band

i just love this song for whatever reason. and i think the allusion to magic to very fitting for the hallucinations that david gives michael, putting a sort of magic spell on him if you want to look at it that way. not a lot of silk and satin going gone but plenty of leather and probably some lace in there somewhere ( ;o] ) … also michael DOES heat up like a burnin’ flame whenever his name is called and the situation with the boys just keeps going round and round with no exact end in sight, only the calling of desire

———

❥ separate ways (worlds apart) — journey

you would think i would have more journey on here ??? because i love them ??? but instead i stole this off of shovel too ??? it’s fine. time to be back on the 95060 bullshit sbsjhbsjhs we all know david Really wants michael to join them but. michael is reluctant, so that hesitance sets them worlds apart from each other— as if they weren’t already— and there’s still love between them, or at least the bgeinning sparks of it, even if michael refuses to act on them and only keeps pushing david away

———

❥ cum on feel the noize — quiet riot

just some boys loving to party <3 some boys with evil yet dirty minds, out of time singing, funny faces, and that have a lazy time <3 yeah no this is one they’d rock out to and someone would probably pull a muscle over because it’s just such a banger sbshjsbsjh

———

❥ rebel yell — billy idol

Another stolen off of shovel sbjhsbsjhs also ever since it’s been pointed out to me that david looks like billy idol i’ve just been losing it a little sbhjsbshjs Anyway. they’d definitely idolize him to some degree, even if just for looks, and it certainly fits the way that they. most Definitely let out a rebel yell at the midnight hour if you know what i mean— *taken out by a sniper*

———

❥ every breath you take — the police

would to believe to know i took it from shovel (i swear the last three where i say that will be rock you like a hurricane, livin’ on a prayer, and cherry pie sbshjsbsh) BUT !!! the watching every move is yet another. david keeping watch over michael and uh yearning from afar moment, heart aching the longer he’s away and the longer he keeps up this game of not knowing what exactly he wants to do

———

❥ handsome devil — the smiths

ok THIS one was lent to me by ej (@/maybe-strawberry-blue) sbshjbshjsbs and let me tell you. this song (especially when paired with this charming man) is Very homoerotic, aka perfect for this movie shbjsbshjsbs like what got me first was “let me get my hands // on your mammary glands” and just. thinking about trans parko sbhsjbshjs but also in general the. “and i would like to give you // what i think you’re asking for” and “a boy in the bush // is worth two in the hand” and just sbhjsbshjs Everything. fits the ambiguous homoeroticism. And i think the boys would listen to the smiths (will elaborate more in the other smiths song explanation)

———

❥ panama — van halen

i Told you all i think van halen is neat sbsjsshjb what can i say. the boys like fast moving vehicles, hard partying, and tender loving sbsjhsbhsj also forgot to mention that i think they’d all be :eyes: about pre-1985 david lee roth and i cannot blame

———

❥ rock you like hurricane — scorpions

third to last shovel snatch sbshjsbh Here you can replace any one of the boys with the animals mentioned, as they’re always hungry and need to feed… they come out scratching and ready to win, willing to rock anyone who gets in their way like a hurricane— including with lust, depending on the situation

———

❥ livin’ on a prayer — bon jovi

i actually can’t even manage an explanation for this one either just because of the song’s plot and how greatly it differs the movie plot <3 however it will stay because shovel said one of the boys (i forget which) would listen to it and friendship is more powerful than my small brain <3

———

❥ the queen is dead — the smiths

rightttt so here’s the deal, buds and duds. something in my gut just tells me that david would pull a me and. listen to this entire album on repeat, particularly bigmouth strikes again and i know it’s over when in dramatics bshjsbsjh BUT to make a case for the title track itself, breaking into buckingham palce— or really any major building— with only a sponge and rusty wrench would ABSOLUTELY be an endeavor the boys would get up to And they’d all pale (worse than normal) about finding out they’re the descendant of some royal. “oh, has the world changed, or have i changed” and “life is very long, when you’re lonely” is quite fitting of their immortality, which i can only imagine would leave them questioning how the world has evolved and, although they have each other, i’m sure living forever still can get a Little lonely. And they’d certainly celebrate the death of a royal (because anarchy <3). mostly i’ve just been listening to this song on repeat for days sbhjsbshj but, i think it’s the most. generally related to all of the boys, whereas like. cemetry gates would be more solely 95060

———

❥ need you tonight — inxs

my favorite inxs song… technically the 21st century Wasn’t yesterday when the movie came out nor when the song did sbhjsbshjs but there *is* a lot of sweating from desire and aiming to put that passion into use, very blatantly letting everyone know that sbjhsbshjs

———

❥ bad medicine — bon jovi

there’s just something so fun about this song… and while listening to it on the drive home, i was thinking about it from a 95060 perspective where. david’s a bit lovesick (hence the love like bad medicine) and the choir of voices in the bg, saying “that’s what you get for falling in love”, would be the other boys knowing he’s gotten himself in over his head over what was supposed to be a minor tease or a small fling (would be a real fun and poppy animatic i think)

———

❥ pour some sugar on me — def leppard

legitimately this started as a “haha what about my ‘what if the blood was kool-aid instead’ joke” and then i realized it was. a fair enough fit, especially with the feeding scene. except they’re actual vamps not just video vamps sbjhsbshjs anyway. sugar highs and red hot flames of passion for one another <3

———

❥ cherry pie — warrant

ok THIS is the last song i took from shovel and. my reasoning is pretty much the same as pour some sugar on me and. Friendship

———

❥ somebody told me — the killers

i wasn’t going to add any modern songs but. i thought it’d be funny if michael had had a girlfriend before leaving phoenix that looked a bit like david sbshjsbshj and then it only just added to angst sbhjsbshj

———

❥ you know what they do to guys like us in prison — mcr

i was reminded that vampires will never hurt you exists but. i went with my favorite mcr song instead because. vwnhy is more like ??? a vampire that fears themselves ??? so like. an edward cullen type ??? while ykwtdtgluip is more about the homoeroticism and community ??? i said what i said

———

❥ house of wolves — mcr

thank god this is the last song because i’m getting tired sbjshsjshb a little less homoeroticism, a little more general sinning and egotism <3

#pant rambles #playlist #ramble #in the last like. ten you can Tell i started getting tired

7 notes · View notes

a-flickering-soul · 4 years

Photo

realized a lot of the media i’ve gotten into recently all have hopepunk-ish elements. this is a nichepost made for me alone. sources, brief ID, and me rambling below cut.

Image 1: Mad Max: Fury Road. A picture of words, painted in white on the floor: “Our babies will not be warlords.” With the new generation of leaders in the Citadel, they break the culture, the cycle, of violence. They will not perpetuate unnecessary killings. Their children will green the world.

Image 2: Lyrics from “Nina Cried Power” by Hozier and Mavis Staples. “It’s not the song, it is the singing/ It is the heaven of a human spirit singing/ It’s the bringing of the line/ It’s the bearing of the rhyme/ It’s not the waking, it’s the rising.” Chains can be broken. Human beings cannot. There is strength in song, and it can inspire change.

Image 3: A screencap from Star Wars: The Force Awakens of Poe Dameron in an X-Wing cockpit, saying “--but as long as there’s light, we’ve got a chance.” A screencap from Star Wars: Rogue 1 of Cassian Andor as Jyn Erso says “Rebellions are built on hope.” Against insurmountable odds, incredible loss, rebellion against fascism and hatred cannot be stopped. As long as there’s hope, there’s change.

Image 4: A screencap of Janelle Monae’s emotion picture “Dirty Computer”, where she is looking directly into the camera. Lyrics from Janelle Monae’s “Americans”--”Hold on, don’t fight your war alone/ Hate all around you, don’t have to face it on your own/ We will win this fight, let all souls be brave/ We’ll find a way to heaven, we’ll find a way.”

Image 5: A screencap from BTS’s music video “ON”, where RM holds his fist up to the sky, his band members and other people gathered beside and behind him. Lyrics from “ON”--”Even if I fall, I come right back up. Even if my knees drop to the ground, as long as they’re not buried it don’t matter.” When you can’t run, walk. When you can’t walk, crawl. When you can’t crawl, use your voice and cry to your community for help.

Image 6: A screencap from “Stan Frederick” by Evan Santiago, where just out of focus, Stan Frederick faces off with a tall, menacing man in a black suit. A screencap from the Stan Frederick YouTube channel description--”Spent the second half of my life making up for the first half. Currently in the third half. Don’t think about it too much.” A quote from Stan Frederick--”(Stan, tired) I guess the whole point is that if they...want help, then I should probably just be there to help them...I want to start just worrying about stuff for the sake of helping people, not for the sake of guessing whether or not what they're asking of me is legitimate...I think that the last thing I can afford to do is pick and choose what's important. Everything is.” No one is beyond redemption with actionable repentance. Even in a fight against an enemy as old as humanity--if you can help one person even a little bit, do you not have a moral obligation to help?

Image 7: A screencap from Pacific Rim, where Stacker Pentecost stands in armor, addressing his people before they fight. A quote from his speech--”We have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other. Today there is not a man nor woman in here that shall stand alone. Not today.” Again against insurmountable enemies, our strength lies within each others as well as ourself.

Image 8: A screencap of a transcript from The Adventure Zone: Balance by the McElroy Family, between John and Merle. The transcript can be found here--highlighted is Merle saying “And no matter how bad things are, no matter how crummy, no matter how many times some guy named John kills your ass, you find joy.” It takes strength to find joy. To choose joy. Against all odds.

Image 9: A screencap from “everymanHYBRID” by Jeffrey Koval, Vincent Caffarello, and Evan Jennings, where Evan, Vinnie, Jeff, and James Corenthal are walking off-screen into a sunlit field. The subtitles on the screencap read “You did what you thought was right.” A quote from everymanHYBRID--”(Patrick, muffled) One is going to break the machine, I guess...but, y’know, after every cycle it shifts a little bit at the end--you win a bit more every time. So that’s gonna take...endless cycles, man. But maybe eventually you and I will be done with this.” Humans are not infallible. They do what they think is right and usually, that’s good enough. And again, always, against a fight as old as time--if your actions make even the slightest difference, you have a moral obligation to make them. If not for yourself, then for the greater fight.

Image 10: A picture of the set of Hadestown, where Hermes sings in between Orpheus and Eurydice. The subtitles on the picture read “It’s a sad song. But we sing it anways. Because here’s the thing--to know how it ends, and still begin to sing it again, as if it might turn out this time...” Sorrow and sadness are not evil things. They help us remember why we are here, why we still fight. To tell the stories of our fallen friends is to keep their legacy alive.

#image caps have limited quotes but no image desc unfortunately #i'm not tagging all the fandoms bc i want to have some modicum of chill #flickerthoughts #nice things #quarantine b like: sophia consumes content and cries abt it #pity o lord the phonebloggers #flicker's meta

100 notes · View notes

lonelyheartsclubhaze · 3 years

Text

We Sold Our Souls to Instagram

September 2020 // Chapter 2

“No, I’m not going to pick you up.” I shook my head, visibly and audibly annoyed. “You know damn well that I’m not getting behind the wheel. I’m hanging up, sorry.”

Converting potential energy into kinetic, the iPhone X left my hand, skimming across the wave-front of my bed. My hands ruffled through my hair as I inhaled then sighed, absentmindedly channelling the virtues of cellular respiration.

Tired of this perpetual bullshit, my fingers slithered across the Ikea desk before me, eventually detecting the apple of my bedroom’s Eden: a lychee ice Puff Bar. My fingers honed in on the device, ensnaring it, raising it to my lips. A deep breath saved me from the agony of sobriety, the nicotine buzz lasting a moment. Then, it was lost.

Six soft, knuckled knocks rapped at the bedroom door. “It’s unlocked,” I shouted.

A creak later, the door swung open, revealing Adam. There was nobody else in the house anyway. With a global pandemic at large and wildfires blazing on deep into September, neither Ajay nor Cam had seen Dwight House since March. Just Adam and me.

“Yo, we out,” he said, pulling a reusable, black cloth mask under his chin. “Can’t see shit outside but we still drinking, dawg.” Ah, the charming vernacular of a Korean-American friend from the elite suburbs of the East Bay.

“It’s good. What’re we feeling today?” I had actually enjoyed the past six months with Adam—it had been a good bonding experience. Despite his rough tone around me and the rest of the guys, Adam was quite versatile in social settings, weaving between upper-class gentility at investment banking info sessions and middle-aged rednecks at gun ranges. With classical Berkeley-liberal ideologies and Wall Street Journal-reading, center-right-leaning, finance friends, Adam defied social realities.

Adam shrugged. “Could go for some Chimay. I’m feeling classy.”

“Not a bad idea at all, my friend,” I said. It had been awhile since I’d had a good beer like Chimay, and I was getting sick of Coors Banquets. “On the other hand, your timing just might be—a bad idea, I mean. Air looks cancerous outside.” Marmalade light cast by the wildfires of a fuming Earth engulfed Northern California, held in suspense by cool, Pacific layers of atmosphere. It was like we were on planet Arrakis, from Dune, or trapped in the world of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust.

“The air low-key is cancerous. AQI is pushing 180’s right now,” said Adam, raising his eyebrows.

“Looks like an N95-kinda day. I’ve got a spare, you know,” I said, gesturing to a pile of three or so N95 masks by the lamp on my desk.

Adam waved it off. “Eh, I’m good. That’s some puss shit. Let’s just run over to Crafts and Grapes or some shit, shouldn’t take long.”

I shrugged. “So be it.”

Tossing on a pair of five-and-a-half inch inseam Lululemon shorts, I joined Adam as he hopped downstairs.

“Got keys?” he asked once we reached the door.

“Yer, we out,” I said, shaking my keys out from my shorts’ pocket to lock the front door.

“Fuck,” griped Adam. “It’s actually hot as shit out here.” Smoky, red air obscured him from sight as he craned his neck to see me.

“Hence the shorts.”

Adam squinted his eyes, pursed his lips, and jutted his head back and forth, mocking me. “For sure. Forgot your MCAT-lovin’-ass could predict the future. But really though—it’s the middle of September, dude. This shit is wrong. It’s hot as balls and California is on fire and the sky is red and fools are straight-up dying off this COVID shit.”

“And you’re still an idiot,” I said, flashing a cheeky smile.

“Are you qualified to diagnose me as an idiot?”

“Maddie would say so.”

“Hence the pet names.”

“Precisely.”

“We gotta do something about this, bruh. This shit pains me to see,” declared Adam.

“Let’s start by drinking these brews. We’ll recycle the bottles after.”

We walked east on Dwight toward Telegraph, dodging cars as we skipped across the one way street. Adam was quieter than usual, for the most part, looking up from his iPhone 11 Pro Max periodically to comment on something he’d read in the news, or the glum weather. He wore a khaki short sleeve button-up, Kapital raw denim jeans with smiley face patchwork on the back left pocket, and a pair of slip-on Nike Janoski sneakers. The jeans were nice—quite expensive, from the looks of it—but looked baggy on him. He didn’t seem to mind. In fact, all of his clothes wore a bit loose on him, akin to a fiery adolescent who’d picked out hand-me-downs from an older sibling. Who that older sibling might’ve been, I’d never know—with his unwavering demeanor, Adam always seemed like the eldest in the room.

Banking right onto Telegraph, we bore the full brunt of the veiled sun, which, though hidden behind dense clouds of smoke, now revealed its penetrating UV rays. We ducked under corrugated foam polycarbonate sheets, which lined the rooftops of mom-and-pop Telegraph shops, fending off the sun’s cancerous radiation. The insanity of the world mingled with the smoky, copper air, making me delirious. I imagined I was Mel Gibson or Tom Hardy in Mad Max, feigning off flashbacks in the Wasteland. At the corner of Telegraph and Blake street, Adam pushed and held open the door to Crafts and Grapes. Nodding my head at him in small thanks, I entered, squinting my eyes as the light shifted from hazy red to bright white inside. It was a tiny store, with two aisles directly ahead lined with candy, nuts, and other inconsequential (unless you ate too many) snacks, followed by two refrigerators: one in the back, the other on the far right. Cool, wispy air emanated from the cold storage, contrasting with the late summer atmosphere only meters behind us. A bell rang as the door squeaked to a halt, prompting the middle-eastern cashier, directly to our right, to rise from his stool and greet us. We nodded back silently, all three of us clad in masks.

Per usual, Adam took the lead, striding toward the fridge directly back. He popped open one of the see-through doors with his left hand, mapping his way through its items with his right pointer finger. Finding my eyes, Adam shook his head, indicating a lack of Chimay.

“Blue moons?” I suggested. “Mango wheats?”

Adam screwed up his face. “Fuck that. Let’s go with Lags.”

“Sure, why not.”

Adam kneeled and looped his hand through the cardboard handle of a Lagunitas StereoHopic IPA six-pack. We walked over to the register where Adam made small talk with the cashier. Eventually, he tapped his iPhone 11 to an Ingenico payment terminal, finalizing our transaction. Drinks acquired.

The bell jingled as the door shut behind us once more. We hurried home, eager to crack open our drinks, intent on droning out the blistered yonder. Adam tried to explain his enthusiasm for hoppy beers while I pretended to listen. He was distracting me, though; we both knew I couldn’t care less.

Arriving home, my keys found their way to the door, and we found our ways to the couch. A tenor beep resounded through our living room as Adam’s iPhone connected to an old speaker via bluetooth. “Street Lights” by Kanye West filled the air, followed by carbon dioxide bubbles freed by an unlikely liberator—the bottle opener.

Let me know

Do I still got time to grow?

Things ain’t always set in stone

That be known let me know

I found myself back in the hand-me-down BMW 330i, with her, the white wire packed into the lightning port of my iPhone, transmitting cosine waves that replicated the robotic voice I was listening to in my living room.

“Stop!” she cried, thrusting herself back against beige, leather seats. She wanted me to press the brakes. I had to stop the car, right, stop the car. Where were the brakes?

She was beautiful, of course.

Dark, brown hair fell over eyes of the same color, guarded by double-lids that I wish she hadn’t paid for.

Hardly anyone would notice the difference, but I did, and it hurt to know that she didn’t love them.

I loved them, unconditionally, but she loved the brakes.

Needed to find them.

We’d shared a large bowl of Marafuku’s acclaimed Hakata Tonkotsu DX ramen. I’d let her eat most of it, sneaking my chopsticks in for bites at intervals.

“Pennsylvania?” I shook my head.

“What, you’ve never been?” She tilted hers. “You’ll love it. Come with me.”

“You’re crazy,” I said, smiling. “My MCAT summer is coming up.”

She rolled her eyes. “Then I’ll help you study for it. Duh.”

“I’m sure Brandon would love that.”

“Will he? All the way from San Francisco?”

“He’ll make the trip.”

“Not if you do,” she said, melting my mind.

I was dizzy, sleepy, lost, a newborn. Vulnerable. And I couldn’t seem to find them.

I’m just not there in the streets

I’m just not there

Life’s just not fair

Sonorant chimes reverberated in my ears as Adam clinked his glass bottle to mine. “Cheers,” he said with a nod.

“Cheers,” I echoed. Leaning my head back, I swallowed, allowing the cool liquid down my esophagus and into my gut.

“You good?” he prodded.

“Yeah,” I replied, my voice cracking a little. I cleared my throat.

“Pretty hoppy, huh?”

I took another sip, licking my lips after. “Quite. I suppose we knew what we were getting ourselves into. You know, given the ‘StereoHopic’.”

“You right.”

“Yeah.”

“Yo,” said Adam. “On another note—might be going in on an addy deal with Grace if you’re tryna hop in.”

I scratched my head. While I wouldn’t have any major exams in the near future (although midterms for my biochem course [MCB 102, for my fellow pre-med students at Cal] were slated for October sixteenth), I certainly had errands that might be eased by a twenty milligram dose of extended-release Adderall. There’s nothing like a thorough room-cleaning session when you’re high on stimulant drugs.

The first time I ever tried Adderall must’ve been during my freshman year, back in 2017. Midterm season was approaching—come to think of it, that was around this time that year—and our generous friend, Grace, was kind enough to grant me a ten milligram pill of instant-release Adderall. Grace and I, along with Adam and perhaps Ajay, too, were partaking in a midnight study session at Moffitt Library, which was open twenty-four-seven—prior to the pandemic. I popped the pill, chased it down with a Javiva drink from Peet’s, and got to work.

Twenty minutes later I began to feel its effects as the amphetamine altered monoamines in my brain, releasing surplus dopamine into my many synaptic clefts. Optimism filled me to the brim and my vision bent inward. I saw nothing but the iPad in front of me, my mind enamored by golgi apparatuses and various protein structures. The stimulant saturated me with a profound appreciation for all thoughts that meandered into my head; a giddiness originated in my heart, spreading down my arms, my legs, and outward across my skull, contracting then expanding once more. It was artificial love.

Eventually, I was distracted. Grace’s dilated pupils stared into mine as she chattered away about Lin-Manuel Mir-something and a hurricane in Puerto Rico. After a second or two, my attention snapped away from cell membranes, landing instead on her words. The words of a girl from Colorado with a soft spot for the snow. I’d met Grace via Adam during Orientation Week and she’d quickly become one of my favorite people.

Gingerbread specks stippled her face like a George Seurat painting, fractal constellations arising as my eyes outlined her cheekbones. Gaps between long, chocolate locks revealed sepia collarbones, lined with descendants of the freckles on her face. A white Nike Alex Morgan soccer jersey overlaid the loose sweatpants that hung from her hips, held up by drawstrings I almost hoped would fail, concealing proportions that emulated golden ratios. Stained, white, laceless Vans hugged unpainted toes that tapped together when she spoke. Lips that scorned the artificially enlarged mouths of Instagram influencers communicated messages I was only barely beginning to listen to. She was the love interest of a nineties’ coming-of-age motion picture. But she wasn’t mine.

You know, I thought Adam might’ve loved her, but it was hard to tell when he was cycling through hookups with three different girls at a time. Come to think of it, I didn’t know if Adam loved anyone. A talker, yes; a charmer, certainly; but a romantic, I really didn’t think so.

He spent a lot of his time with her, no doubt. And she cared for him—anyone could see it. But she knew as well as I did that his head wasn’t in it. He wasn’t looking for love. He wanted to graduate, make money—to be someone. Sex seemed like nothing more than a physical need to him. I don’t think anyone would’ve described Adam as an emotionally vulnerable guy, and I don’t think anyone thought that emotion was what he kept those girls around for.

But at the same time, anyone could’ve seen what I saw in the way he bounced when she was around. Anyone could’ve heard the way he spoke about her. She meant something to him. But when you asked him about it, he’d brush it off; she wasn’t his type, or he had commitment issues (jokingly—but hey, grain of truth in everything).

Maybe she was his distraction from ambition—his distraction from latex-wrapped, emotionally removed nights and Wall Street Journal mornings, just as she was my distraction from cell structures.

For a good hour-and-a-half, Grace entertained me with conversation regarding natural disasters across the West; Broadway musical comparisons between Hamilton and Sunday in the Park with George; and the latest updates on Cal’s women’s soccer team, of which she was a huge fan. The Adderall certainly kept me focused, although not necessarily on my coursework.

“Let me know,” said Adam, tipping the bottle into the corner of his mouth. “I’m boutta text her back.”

I looked up from my lap at Adam. Right, I thought. “Sure, I could be down. Why not. Think you can pick me up two? I have some errands to run.”

“Twenty milligram XR work?” he asked as he tapped along the screen of his iPhone.

“That’ll do.”

The room went quiet for twenty to twenty five seconds as I was confirmed as an accomplice in the drug deal.

“What’s she been up to?” I asked.

“Hm?” he noised, raising his eyebrows without looking up.

“Grace,” I said. “Haven’t seen her much.”

He shrugged. “Not much, I guess. Drinking a solid amount though, from what I’ve seen.”

“Makes three of us.”

“Yeah,” he said, feigning a smile. “What about yours?”

“Maddie?”

“Yeah.”

I took a deep breath—inhaling, holding to the count of four, exhaling. “Not much of a difference, to be honest.”

“It’s not her fault, you know.”

“I know,” I breathed.

“Then talk to her.”

“It’s not like that,” I mumbled.

Adam paused.

I stared at my feet. “I’m sorry, Adam.”

He squinted. “The fuck you sorry for?”

“You know.”

He waved his hand aside, brushing it off. “I’m not tripping. Talk to her. Before I do it myself.”

I forced a smile. “Maybe it’s better off that way.”

“Here,” he said, handing me a two-foot-tall bong and lighter from under the coffee table. “Take it.”

Couldn’t stay away. My fingers gripped the paraphernalia as he withdrew. My heart quickened as the impending drug interaction approached. When it reached my lips, I lit, then inhaled, holding to the count of four, and then some. Blurry feelings rushed my mind as states of sufferance gave way to sedated nebulas, teaching me forgetfulness.

#writers on tumblr #my writing #fiction #writers #writing #mood #vibe #original #original fiction

1 note · View note

steve0discusses · 4 years

Text

Yugioh S4 Ep 12: Pharaoh, a Well Known Magician of Darkness, Swears he Has Never Done That.

I just had the most disappointing cheesecake cup of my entire life, so lets talk about Yugioh. From weird dessert to weird desert. ha.

I mean OK. Sure. I mean they gotta do something while they look for Yugi in a desert that isn’t really known for it’s off-roading, but it also isn’t known for it’s card game scene so...

But then the show decided to fill even more empty time with Rebecca sharing this piece of info when I least expected it. Now. In S4.

Y’all I was SO surprised.

I know that the show is doing this for the people just tuning into Yugioh for the first time but...Man, I’m having flashbacks to that time Yugi didn’t tell anyone that Bakura freakin died for over 40 episodes until Marik had to do it for him.

Yugi never told the girl he gave the friendship card to, that his best friend is ACTUALLY a 4000 yo ghost that haunts his every move. (5000 yo? I forget how old he is)

Tea just patiently reveals all of Yugi’s deepest darkest terrifying occult secrets to Rebecca with a smile on her face the entire time.

That’s girl talk. Can affirm--this is what girl talk looks like.

(read more Girl Talk under the cut)

Her explanation on the show actually did not point out that there is a separate entity with a completely different personality, so I think that people watching the show for the first time would still be hella confused. Instead it was more “this is Yugi’s strong and handsome side which I clearly like WAY MORE, and this is the other one”

Like she kinda left out the part where one is a ghost.

So this scene basically takes away any tension that a 4-way love square would have brought to the table.

And that’s fine. I really didn’t need a love square that involves both a 12 year old and a ghost. For me, as a person who is immune to shipping, it just seemed wildly too complicated for the same writing team who have been trying to bury Kaiba and his relationship with that that paper card since they brought it up in S2.

But apparently no one in this square cares they all kinda like the same person and that this particular person is two people. And as they go on about what they like about Yugi, it’s clear that both girls have made kind of a perfect dream Yugi who...just doesn’t exist at all. Maybe if either of them actually went on more than one date with the boy, they would separate the dream from the reality and realize fully that, in actuality, Yugi and Pharaoh both are a human version of that “hang in there!” poster with the struggling kitten on it.

TBH I think the women in this show forgot they like Yugi, it was a very friendzoning style of conversation.

Meanwhile, Rafael’s giant arms only continue to grow even more muscular with every scene as he tell us the vague deep lore behind this necklace. It’s sort of like watching a webcomic written by a teenager. The muscles keep growing, and growing, but the characters have to keep getting distracted by lore, and then midway the lore drop, the writer goes on a hiatus because of finals and just never comes back so it feels like you’re stuck in lore limbo forever.

I do like that Pharaoh’s like “your necklace is evil, take that off” when he has also been wearing the Oricalchos necklace the entire time.

Maybe because it was just waaay too tempting for Yugi to look at that jewelry and NOT wear that jewelry? Yugi has kind of a magpie problem with accessories, as we all know, and I can’t believe this magpie problem has put him into mortal peril so many times.

And then the show finally does us the favor of explaining why some people go cray when they wear haunted jewelry, and others do not.

Which does not bode well for Ryou. Not like we ever hang out with Ryou enough to find out his personal balance between being a meek little Brishish(ish?) kid that likes to eat cookies and his demon form that likes to stab things. Like seriously, would have liked to know more about Ryou ever at all, but since Season 1 ended, he’s only Ryou for like...2 minutes at a time before he’s back to being wonderful, scene shredding, serial murderer asshole Bakura.

Also, unrelated note, WHAT THE HELL, ART TEAM.

Is that turtleneck just spray painted on??? Why does this guy ever bother with cards? He can just do some punches and probably accomplish the same damn thing and a lot quicker. This man is larger than...any other human that has been on this show.

And so it’s at this point that Rafael’s decided like “ahaha my master plan, I will make Pharaoh doubt himself” and it’s like...

...you actually don't need to give Pharaoh a push, he and Yugi doubt themselves so often they’d list it as one of their hobbies on their edgy Livejournals (because they would keep two)

This fight with Rafael was kinda frustrating, because while most villains make points where it’s like “oh, you were tortured underground your whole life because of something I did in my past life, yeah that checks out.” all of Rafael’s points had so little to do with Pharaoh and were...so easy to debunk...

Like I made the joke about Flat Earther’s the last recap but you know what? I can see Rafael being a Flat Earther. Straight up. You can tell him the sky is blue and he’ll start going off about how all of humanity needs to die because the sky is actually made of Meyer lemons.

Darts even decided to say this line.

Which I thought was mostly funny because Pharaoh still has no idea that thing around his neck can shoot lasers, but also funny because the only reason Yugi has friends is because he initially cursed them to like him in Season Zero. And that wasn’t even Pharaoh, that was YUGI. Rafael is just SO very late to this party.

So, he decides to give Pharaoh an Oricalchos card, and like...

And I don’t believed I capped this part of the last episode, but before they even started this game, Rafael was like “yeah I let Arthur go.”

So...there’s no reason for Yugi to be here anymore other than the bridge is out. There are NO stakes in this game. Other than...Pharaoh’s pride?

I guess it’s one of the problems of sharing a soul with a King who we’re 90% sure did some pretty effed up stuff at some point because he’s a King. That’s just what they DO, I’ve played Fire Emblem, I know how Kings work.

Like we could just sit down and make a list of things that Pharaoh and Yugi did that ended up really screwing him over. (And hearing that nitroglycerin air hockey happens somewhere in the manga does make me want to take a peek at it eventually but I have too much on my to do list)

Like for instance, there was that time he took a fireball for Mai thinking she was a decent person and she ended up killing over 20 people with a gas station and is now a Mad Max Style serial murderer racing down the 101, and actively trying to kill him and more specifically Joey Wheeler.

Or that time he took the ultimate bullet and died but left his tomb to the most asshole tombkeeper family cult known to man who like to carve tattoos onto children with old ass hot butcher knives for thousands of years.

Or that time he thought Namu wasn’t Marik when Marik had insane tattooed eyeliner and a millennium item sticking like 8 inches out of his back pocket the entire time. Could’ve saved him like...2 seasons of content if he just yoinked that item right then and there.

Or that time he actually tried to murder Seto Kaiba. Like actually tried to push his own classmate off of a steep ledge and would have done it if Tea hadn’t intervened.

Or that time he did...a lot of the things that Yugi did in Season Zero and the Manga.

I just feel like...this is our boy. He’s meant to be this gray area protagonist who is trying to do the right thing but at the same time does enjoy his dark tendency towards revenge. Yami is sort of like having the best of both worlds where you can be both villain and hero. He doesn’t need to be a polarizing force like Superman or something.

And...it feels a little bit like the narrative is trying to say he has finally stepped over the line of gray area and it’s like...he’s been here kind of a while, bud. But honestly, if it makes Pharaoh go a little Zero I’m here for it. Why not? It’s been a while, I want to see him go nuts again.

And I mean Yugi hasn’t had a meltdown in kind of a while, we were overdue. I assume that’s all of next episode is just Yugi freaking the hell out.

Anyway, if you just got here, this is a link to take you to the first episode where you can then read the entire epic in chrono order.

#ygo #yugioh #episode recap #photo recap #yugi muto #yami going bonkers #but really that's just yami as normal we're just pretending it's weird #joey wheeler #rafael #tristan taylor #duke devlin #rex raptor #weevil underwood #tea gardner #rebecca hawkins #girl talk #S4 #Ep12

45 notes · View notes

haloud · 5 years

Text

tuck my hair behind my ears and touch my soul

ao3

It starts at the Wild Pony, that breeding ground for bad ideas.

It starts at the Wild Pony, where Kyle rarely goes, preferring to do his drinking at home with a book or the game on and his feet up rather than sticking to the floor of a bar. It starts with Michael’s finger hooked through his belt loop, and Kyle’s not stupid enough to follow Michael Guerin into an alleyway, but Michael puts his chin on his shoulder and grins that cowboy grin and says,

“So, Doc, you ever think my man deserves a little something special?”

Kyle rolls his eyes and takes a gulp of his scotch. The faster it goes down, the faster he can get away from whatever scheme Guerin’s concocting. “Talk to Liz or Maria if you’re trying to think of a gift for him. God knows you owe him one,” he says, unable to stop himself from firing that shot.

“Oh, trust me, I’m workin’ real hard on forgiveness.” Michael tugs his finger sharply, hauling Kyle in by the hip, making his chair scoot across the floor. “And I ain’t the hearts and flowers type. I already know the number one thing on his Christmas list and I’m gettin’ an early start.”

“So what exactly does this have to do with me?”

“You’re gonna help me give it to him, Doc. That is…if you’re feeling adventurous tonight.”

Kyle’s not drunk, and Kyle’s not stupid. The warning bells are ringing loud and clear. But he can’t say he’s never been curious, late at night, in his long-buried, hottest dreams. Michael runs his finger around the rim of Kyle’s glass then holds it up to the light, admiring the way a single drop of liquor reflects the neon.

Kyle swallows. “Define adventurous,” he says.

Michael licks liquid courage off his finger, eyes shining with triumph.

It starts when Alex answers the door all brittle and angry.

“Guerin, you’d better have a good explanation for disappearing instead of doing what—” he cuts himself off mid-rant, eyes going almost comically wide when he notices Kyle standing off to the side, hands shoved in his pockets.

“If you guys have unfinished business, I can hit the road,” Kyle says. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“No need for that, Doc. I think Alex would agree that you’re right where you need to be right now.” Michael rocks on the balls of his feet, a little smile hovering on his face. He won’t quite meet Alex’s eyes, not until Alex strides as quickly across the porch as his crutch will allow to grab his chin and force him to. A long moment passes, Alex’s eyes searching Michael’s face as Michael stares steadily. Finally, Michael nods, and Alex drops his hand to his shoulder, closes his eyes, and takes a deep and steadying breath.

“Okay,” he says, blowing the air out in a huff. He turns to Kyle, something unknowable swirling in those well-known eyes. “I guess you should come in.”

It starts when Kyle’s back hits the mattress with a whump. Alex is standing above him, head cocked to the side, just watching. Kyle props himself up on his elbows and lets his gaze drag his childhood friend from head to toe, taking everything in. The strength of his jaw, the column of his neck, the breadth of his shoulders…is Kyle really doing this? Can he do this? Like, okay, he’s enough of an adult now to admit that sometimes guys are hot, that his youthful dickishness was mostly insecurity about his own identity with a heaping helping of ego. But actually being with a guy isn’t something he’s seriously considered…

Not until Michael Guerin found him already acting uncharacteristic, with determination in his swagger.

Not until he found himself on his back for Alex Manes, dick growing harder by the second just from being pinned under his studying soldier’s eyes.

“Michael, you’re going to sit in that chair and behave for once,” Alex says, not looking away. “And you’re going to remind the both of us what you did to deserve sitting out while I enjoy my gift.”

Michael’s lower lip juts out in a pout, but he says with shockingly little shame, “I broke my promise to stay in contact if I needed space, and I made you worry. Then I went out again without telling you after we hashed it out. To get Kyle.”

“Communication is key, after all,” Alex replies, smirking. “It’s a learning process for both of us. I’m not mad anymore, but this is going to help the lesson stick. Now take your seat, and I expect you to keep your comments to yourself as well.”

With a long, dramatic sigh, Michael snags a beer waiting on the end table and folds himself into the corner armchair sideways, long legs hanging off onto the floor, head propped on the arm of the chair so he can watch what happens on the bed.

“Now.” Alex leans his crutch against the wall, then gives Kyle his undivided attention. “Stand up. I want to see what I’m working with.”

Kyle slides off the bed, stuffs his hands in his pockets again. Wonders what the hell he’s doing here, in his father’s old cabin, about to—

Alex’s voice pulls him out of his head. “Well, you’re no Max Evans, but you’ll do.”

Kyle jerks his head up at the same time Michael makes a scalded, gagging noise from the corner. Alex cackles at his own awful joke, and Kyle shakes his head, unable to keep a smile off his face himself now that some of the tension is gone.

“How about you take your shirt off, Kyle? Let me see the body you spend all that time working on.” Alex sits down on the edge of the bed, reclining back on his hands. His eyes narrow as he waits for Kyle to react—to argue, to storm out?—and a faint smile still tugs at his lips. Like he could start laughing at any moment, and Kyle is torn between getting defensive (didn’t come here to be laughed at, don’t know why I came at all) and a rip current of fondness (always smiling, so strong, the Alex he always thought of as his Alex in the quiet of his own mind, even after he lost that right).

Instead of picking either of those two options, he jerks his t-shirt over his head in one fluid motion.

Michael whistles appreciatively, and Alex ignores him. He spreads his knees and curls a beckoning finger, reeling Kyle in until he’s standing between his legs, all close enough to touch.

“Good to see that vanity has its perks,” Alex quips, eyes stroking Kyle’s chest. He feels them in the hollow of his throat, against his ribs. His stomach clenches under their weight. “Now tell me. What are you doing here, Valenti?”

What a fucking question.

“Well, Guerin came to find me, and—”

“I know how you got here. I asked you what you’re doing here.”

Kyle’s stomach clenches again; Alex’s tone brings unexpected heat to the surface of his skin. His nipples tighten, exposed to the air, and he fights the urge to fold his arms to protect himself, like a virgin.

Alex is still expecting an answer. He arches a single eyebrow, and Kyle breaks.

“I don’t know where this is going or how far I can go, but I figured ‘what the hell,’ you know? And to be honest, this kind of feels like it’s been a long time coming. At least for me.”

“Well, it’s true that I’ve had a long time to think about what I’d do to you if I ever got you here. I am, officially, way ahead of you.”

Everything about Alex is wicked. Smirking mouth, dark eyes, the little hint of skin peeking out from his collar that Kyle has a wild urge to taste. Temptation. It only gets worse when Alex stands up. The inch between their heights could be a foot for all Kyle wants to curl up under Alex’s sheer presence.

Alex continues, “Lucky for you, I’m in a pretty good mood. And you’ve been on your best behavior lately, haven’t you?”

He pairs his words with the first, faintest touch—a fingertip skimming the crease where the v of Kyle’s groin begins. Kyle’s hips jerk forward like he’s been electrocuted, and a throaty chuckle from Michael’s corner fills the room. Blood rushes to his cock; blood rushes to his cheeks. The contrast makes his head spin. He has to look away from Alex before he passes out, so his eyes fall on the other person in the room.

Michael’s mouth curls sinfully around the lip of the bottle and he takes a long pull of his beer, Adam’s apple bobbing once, twice, and again in the long column of his throat. All the while, he watches Kyle through lidded, glittering eyes. His mouth pops off the glass, the tip of his tongue chasing the lingering wetness on his lower lip.

Alex’s thumbs dig with brutal precision into the dimples of Kyle’s lower back, forcing a gasp into his lungs and a sharp arch into his spine. His ass grinds into the unmistakable hardness of Alex’s cock—and then, helplessly, he rolls his hips back again, chasing that brand-new sensation. Alex’s hand flies up to press against his stomach, anchoring him with its heavy heat, encouraging each little movement. Forward motion brings delicious friction between the callouses of Alex’s palm and the Kyle’s sensitive skin. Backward motion makes him blush so hard his ears are ringing; makes muscles he can barely bear to think about catch and release. He’s so hard it makes him ache.

He can’t stop. Doesn’t even want to. This should be weird, right? He should be weirded out by this? It’s not something Kyle’s ever spent much time thinking about, being with a man. The logistics of it, the practicalities, the visceral, physical difference in how a man’s body would feel running against his. And it’s all happening so fast, he’s hard as a rock, he wants all these things he barely even has words for—he’s grinding on his childhood friend’s crotch like the school slut on prom night and all he wants is more.

“Aren’t you just full of surprises?” Alex murmurs. He grabs Kyle’s hips, forces them to still so Alex can frot directly where Kyle wants him, right against the crack of has ass. It sends a bolt of both apprehension and pure pleasure right down his spine, even through multiple layers of cotton and denim. It feels so good it forces Kyle to bend at the waist, to go onto his tiptoes, to give Alex all the space he needs to do whatever he wants, as long as he doesn’t stop. Kyle can feel pre dripping from the head of his cock, a sopping wet spot forming in his boxer briefs, but he doesn’t even care if he comes in his pants as long as he gets some relief and soon. The only sound in the room is stuttered breathing, little ah ah ah desperate sounds, and they’re all coming from him. The realization just brings a whole, full-throated moan to his lips. Michael gasps when he lets it out, and Alex croons a wordless, soothing sound that Kyle wishes he could wrap around himself at night.

The bed dips under Alex’s added weight, and Kyle turns his head to look at him. He forces his lips to form words and says, “Is this alright? Your leg—”

A flicker passes over Alex’s face, but he takes a deep breath and just kisses Kyle on the temple. “It’s fine. I’ve been using the crutch more around the house again, keeping weight off it…not for situations just like this, but hey, whatever works.” He winks, then gets serious again. “Just figured that hey, what do I have to prove? There’s no sense in acting like it didn’t happen, like pretending will make it go away, so it’s time to live with it. Your concern is touching, truly—”

Kyle cuts him off with a kiss, a real one, their first. It’s an awkward angle, but that doesn’t stop him from opening his mouth to swipe his tongue across Alex’s for the first, intoxicating taste of him. Alex grips his hair firmly to regain control, and Kyle has to break away to gasp for air, his every muscle trembling and weak.

Alex tastes like the same beer Michael’s drinking, and Kyle would love for the three of them to be drunk together. Collapsing face down on the duvet, Kyle breathes in the clean scent of lemon detergent and Alex’s skin and tries to regain his equilibrium.

Michael groans loudly, insistently, and Alex says, “I should remind you to be quiet, but honestly I have to agree.” Alex shucks his own shirt and tosses it to the side, then approaches Kyle’s prone body. “You’ve always been hot, Valenti, but I had no idea you had this in you. Do you like a firm hand, is that it? I guess now we know what you saw in Liz—or, rather, what she saw in you.”

Medical science is for assholes, Kyle rapidly decides. Spontaneous combustion is totally possible and should, in fact, happen right now.

While Kyle squirms, Alex rearranges some pillows to support his knee. “Lift up,” he says, tugging Kyle’s hips into place and slotting the remaining pillow beneath them.

A long moment passes, and in it Kyle searches himself again for any hesitation, any lingering freakout, but there’s just…nothing. Nothing but lust, nothing but the ache low in his belly and between his legs. Nothing but rapidly-growing need for Alex hard and hot behind him, above him.

“It’s time to get these jeans off,” Alex says. He pauses for a protest with his hand on Kyle’s belt buckle, but when nothing comes he doesn’t hesitate to strip Kyle down to his final layer of protection.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The snap of Alex’s fingers makes Kyle jump, and the snap in his voice draws the barest, embarrassing vibration of a moan into his throat. He dares to raise his head from the mattress just enough to see Michael frozen half-risen from his chair, muscles in his arms trembling lightly as he holds his position.

“I was just trying to see better—” Michael’s voice goes soft and whiny and, shock of shocks, Kyle dick throbs in sympathy. He’d find it hard to sit still too if all he could do was look and not touch.

“Stay right there and behave. I’ll deal with you later,” Alex says. Kyle shivers in pure relief, goosebumps prickling on every inch of his skin. Thank god he’s not the one being made to wait, not now, not when everything is so raw, so new, so real.

Michael’s throat bobs one more time, like he’s still got a mouthful of liquor. Slowly, he lowers himself back down and drawls, “Aye aye, Captain,” like the insolent little fuck he always is. He settles down, draped like a cat and just as observant.

A muscle ticks in Alex’s jaw, and that little show of anger and restraint is so fucking hot it makes Kyle’s toes curl. Maybe if Kyle’s good Alex will let him watch later like he’s letting Michael watch now. His ears burn at the thought, but honestly the prospect of a repeat performance of this…whatever this is…is looking better and better all the time.

Alex notices anyway. Kyle snaps his gaze back to the plain gray duvet only a millisecond after Alex’s molten-dark eyes spot him watching, but it’s still too late. Alex bends languidly until his chest brushes the skin of Kyle’s back and his lips caress the overheated shell of his ear.

“Something you want to say, Valenti?” He purrs, hips beginning a teasing roll against the meat of Kyle’s thigh. “You starting to feel neglected? Well, we can’t have that.”

God, it’s so fucking hot, the only air to breathe searing his lungs like a car that’s been baking in the sun from dawn to dusk. This time, for the first time, Kyle’s answering moan is loud and shameless and just inches shy of begging, and Alex laughs just as shamelessly, nipping his ear before straightening up and increasing his rhythm. Kyle moans again, quieter but no less desperate, nuzzling into his own folded arms to hide his face. From across the room, Michael lets out a harmonizing hum.

God, what is Alex doing to him? What’s he done to Michael? How is it that he can keep the both of them dancing on strings by barely lifting a finger? Alex has always had presence—and sure, there’s been a girl or two capable of bringing Kyle to his knees, he’s not ashamed of it—but Alex like this? He’s a goddamn maestro, and Kyle and Michael are nothing but instruments bent to his will.

“Are you ready to lose these?” Alex snaps the waistband of Kyle’s boxer briefs. Despite the inevitable direction things have been heading, the question still catches Kyle off guard, and he stills, unsure.

Does he want this? He’s crossed a hell of a lot of lines already this evening, but this is the first one that feels like the point of no return. It’ll be hard enough to go to work tomorrow still feeling the scratch and burn of Alex’s calloused hands on oversensitive skin; it’ll be hard enough dealing with Michael ever again and not going shivering and open at his smirking mouth and whiskey-light gaze. If they go any further, Kyle’s gonna come out changed, and he just…he just needs a moment.

“If you’re not comfortable, all you gotta do is say so,” Michael interjects. “Trust me, Alex’ll make it good no matter what.”

“Hush,” Alex replies, but there’s a smile in his voice.

Turning his attention back to Kyle, Alex drags his hands firmly from the top of Kyle’s spine to his tailbone, leaving two blazing, trembling trails of sensation behind. Compared to what Kyle’s known before, Alex’s hands feel massive, inescapable, spanning almost the whole width of his back in sweeping, spine-tingling caresses. Kyle grits his teeth as, helplessly, his hips twitch and the muscles of his ass contract.

“What do you say, Kyle? You’ve already been humping the pillow, moving your ass like you’re hungry for it. Don’t you want to know what it feels like to rub your skin against my cock with nothing in between?” He presses a hot, wet kiss to the back of Kyle’s neck.

Kyle surrenders the only way he knows how, nodding jerkily, letting his legs fall open and easy. His voice is lost, but all he wants Alex to know is yes, yes, yes, yes.

“I need you to use your words, Kyle.”

“God, yes! Yeah, ok, yes, just do it, god—”

“Good.” Alex says, following up his words with his tongue licking a filthy swipe across Kyle’s ear. Kyle gasps and twitches away from the sensation, only to wind up frozen like a rabbit in a trap when Alex runs a fingertip across the skin at his waistband. The contrasting sensations are driving him out of his mind; if Alex so much as touched his cock right now he’d come in his pants like a dumb kid.

“Hurry,” Kyle whines, trying to drag his hips against the bed, both for the delicious friction on his aching groin and as an attempt to squirm out of his clothes.

“You know, I’m glad you’re so eager,” Alex says conversationally, rolling Kyle’s waistband until the curve of his ass is exposed. He shudders at the caress of air and expectation. “You’re sweet,” Alex continues with a low, throaty chuckle, “and it’s a nice surprise. I was afraid you’d pull some throwback machismo bullshit, but no, you’re so well behaved. Maybe Michael should be taking notes.”

“Fuck!” Kyle’s shout drowns out Michael’s angry hiss. The words of praise send an unexpected ripple of heat through Kyle—heart-pounding, belly-clenching heat that forces him to scramble to get a hand around his cock, to hold off his suddenly imminent orgasm. Alex is faster, though, and before Kyle knows what’s happening he’s spread-eagle and immobile, Alex’s knees bracketing his thighs, his hands pinioning his wrists. And Kyle can’t do anything but sob—it’s too overwhelming, he’s trapped and he’s throbbing and he’s probably disappointed Alex which for reasons Kyle can’t explain makes him want to throw up and hide.

But no. Instead of—any of those things that make Kyle sick with fear, all Alex does is loosen his hold and say, “Everything alright, Valenti? If we need to slow the roll a little bit, It’s okay. It’s whatever you need.”

Kyle sucks in a watery breath. Everything still feels more wrong than it did just moments ago, and before he can stop himself he says, “It’s just that I was about to come. I…didn’t want to end things before they really got going.”

Then it’s Alex’s turn to hiss. His hands tighten briefly, almost enough to leave little bruising rings around Kyle’s wrists. If he pushed up against that grip, they wouldn’t budge at all, and something about that thought sends another pulse through Kyle’s groin. Then the tight hold disappears, and Kyle is left clenching his fists and wishing he could have it back.

“Roll over.”

Alex’s voice is kind but still firm, still in control. Kyle doesn’t want to argue, wants to keep riding this headspace where it’s so easy just to follow orders, just to lie still and be what Alex tells him to be. But he’s not sure he can do this—let Alex see every inch of him, bare his face to Alex’s endless gaze.

“I’d rather not,” he chokes out, wiping his face on the bedsheet to remove the worst of the mess—the tear tracks, the thin line of drool.

“I want to check in with you. Switch things up a bit. It’s okay, Kyle.” Gentle hands wrap around his hips and nudge them to turn.

“Don’t be shy, Doc,” Michael says. And it’s actually the fact that Kyle can tell Michael hasn’t moved—that he’s still following Alex’s orders too—that gives Kyle the strength to obey.

“There you are,” Alex says, and—

God.

He’s so fucking beautiful. It’s all Kyle can think—it bundles up his breath inside his chest and then shakes it all loose at once. His mouth, pink and full, curved into a warm smile. The way his skin glows in the low light, impossibly even and smooth. Those dark eyes; his hair, sweaty and tousled and—Kyle knows now, he’s kissed that mouth, he’s had that skin against his skin, he knows how soft that hair is through his fingers.

No wonder Guerin’s addicted.

“Seriously, are you okay?” Alex’s head tilts adorably, but his smile fades a bit. He brushes his thumb across Kyle’s cheek, and Kyle instinctively turns into the touch, pressing a kiss to the pad of his thumb.

“Y-yeah. I’m okay.” His voice breaks; he clears his throat. “This is all kind of a lot, but,” he bucks his hips, bringing attention back to his still-hard dick, “I can handle whatever you can dish out, Manes.”

Michael whoops in triumph from across the room. It’s just this side of mocking, but when Kyle glances his way, he sees that Michael’s just as hard as he is, with no hope of relief. Their eyes lock for a moment; Michael winks at him and licks his lips suggestively.

“Eyes on me, Kyle.” The steel has returned to Alex’s voice, and his weight resettles on the tops of Kyle’s thighs. “If you encourage him, it’ll only make it worse for him later. You know, if we keep doing this, he’ll try to get you in trouble.”

“You love it,” Michael drawls, blowing them a kiss.

“Not tonight. Tonight is all about Kyle.”

“No arguments here. He’s giving me plenty to think about.”

Alex massages a soothing hand against Kyle’s shoulder and leans their foreheads together for a kiss. “What do you want now?” he asks when they part: “What do you want to do next?”

Kyle gulps, but having Alex so close, it’s—there’s no way to not be honest. He’s unstoppable. Forceful, just in his breathing, in his smiling. Magnetic.

“I…I kind of liked how it was before. Me on my front. I-I also liked you holding me down, it was…” Kyle’s voice dies out, but from the fire ignited in Alex’s eyes, he’s already said plenty. Alex’s strong hands flip him over again, readjust the pillow to force his ass up at an angle. Kyle arches his back to force it up even higher and grinds his cock into the soft surface as part of the bargain. They both went a little soft during the check-in, but that situation rapidly reverses as Alex runs his hands over Kyle’s ass and the backs of his thighs. The muscles of Kyle’s thighs twitch and jump at every touch, and he whines.

“You really are made for this. It’s incredible.”

Kyle hears the sound of Alex’s jeans hitting the floor. His fingers are starting to cramp where he’s clutching the sheets.

“I’m not fucking you tonight. That was never in the cards,” Alex says, running a finger down the crack of Kyle’s ass all the same. Kyle muffles a sob with his teeth sunk into his own arm. “But even then, I can get a head start on the planning, what do you say?”

What Kyle says is something along the lines of mgmphl, which is honestly eloquent considering his circumstances.

“Yeah, I think there’s a lot we’re going to explore, Valenti. However long it takes, we’re going to see how deep this need of yours to present your ass and beg goes. Will it be enough just to get my cock, or will you need Guerin’s too?”

Kyle rolls his hips into the pillow without rhythm, just chasing any release he can get, but it’s not good enough, not anymore, not without Alex pressing back against him.

“Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Someone as untouched and needy as you—you’d go to pieces with a single finger, wouldn’t you? Just a little stretch, until you get used to it and have to find something bigger to satisfy you. Does that sound good?”

“Alex, Alex, please,” Kyle groans, trying to wave his ass to get him to do something other than drive him crazy with promises. He only succeeds in losing his balance, one knee slipping out from under him and leaving him splayed without any leverage to get friction at all, and all he can do is whine.

And Alex pounces. Kyle doesn’t know when he dropped his own underwear, but finally here’s all of him—every muscle, all that skin, and his cock dragging between the cheeks of Kyle’s ass like they were made to fit together. Kyle releases the sheets to yank at his own hair instead, squirming helplessly back against Alex’s weight, unable to do anything but gasp and cry out and beg for a hand on his cock to help him out.

Alex finally shows mercy, wrapping his wonderful, amazing palm around Kyle’s shaft and jerking it in time with the roll of his hips. But it’s just as much the next words Alex growls in his ear that tips Kyle over the edge—

“I’ll get you a toy just for you, something you can stuff up inside yourself when you’re feeling hot and lonely and needing this, needing cock, needing me—I’ll send Guerin out looking for you and bring you back here to me already open and ready, sink inside you and stay there for hours and send you back home stuffed again—”

Kyle comes with a choked cry, hips jerking clumsily, every muscle in his body clenched for a long, glorious moment before he melts back into the blankets and pillows, utterly boneless. Alex abandons his words in favor of fucking himself against Kyle’s ass and thighs, until he raises himself up and brings himself off with his hand, come striping scalding-hot and claiming against Kyle’s lower back.

They collapse together, panting harshly, Alex kissing and licking at Kyle’s shoulder blades while Kyle tries to come back down to earth. With a gloriously open laugh, Alex rolls off of Kyle’s back and pulls him into his arms. Kyle joins in on the laughter, butting his forehead into Alex’s shoulder, breathless and giddy and young.

“Get over here, Guerin,” Alex says, reaching out his other arm to make room. Predictably, however, Michael swaggers over and flops himself fully clothed right in between Kyle and Alex, worming his way into both their embraces. It puts him squarely on the wet spot, though, and his hair is soft, and he smells just the same as Alex. So it’s not like Kyle is complaining.

At least until he opens his mouth again, that is.

“Next time you do that to me, I’m making a porno,” Michael says, and Alex shuts him up with a kiss.

#roswell new mexico #mylex #malex #kylex #kyle valenti #alex manes #michael guerin #it's basically 5k of kylex getting it on while michael watches #if that's your kind of thing #this is VERY self-indulgent

118 notes · View notes

thebrokenhouse · 4 years

Text

The Biggining (part 1)

People have been asking about “the Broken House” story, so I’m posting this early draft I did last year. I plan on making a few changes then make it into a comic, eventually. Keep in mind it’s is written more like a script rather that a book and also I’m dyslexic. I’ve cut it into 3 parts because apparently it’s to long for Tumblr.

“THE BROKEN HOUSE”

(It starts with Dark Lincoln walking on the sidewalk, around midnight to early morning, All around the neighborhood there are some houses being rebuilt, some slightly damaged and some completely destroyed.

He look towards the readers with a blank expression on his face.)

DL: oh...haven’t seen you guys in a while.

You’re probably wondering what’s with the new look, where the hell are you, where’s your sisters, blah blah, etc.

Well you guys have been gone a long time so I’m going to have to start from the beginning

(He says with a slightly irritated look on his face)

It started about 2 years ago, it was all over the news, tensions rising between country A and country B, and rumors of war were emerging

Long story short, would war 3 and yes it was nuclear.

Unlike the last 2, this didn’t last very long, just over a year, but took out half of the population, give or take a few hundred million.

It would have taken out more, but because a lot of people saw the war coming from a mile away, most people were more prepared for it, some more than others, and in the end, mass extinction was avoided, although there are some people out there treating it like a Mad Max movie, bunch of dumb asses.

So...if you didn’t recognize it before, this is Royal Woods or what’s left of it.

(Remember, this is going to be a comic, so this is going to be illustrated)

Obviously, people thought that it would be the end of the world, but it survived and eventually, order was restored and society was rebuilt.

So yah, the world went through hell and came out, barely (DL suddenly stops)

but as for me and my sisters, well...we got left behind

(As He says that, it will show us overlooking the Loud house in ruins. All we see is the foundation, most of the walls have collapsed, the tree in front of the house is burnt to a crisp, etc.)

(Then DL explains what happened to the house, and tells the story of how the Louds lost their parents, if you what to know what happens, your just going to have to wait for the comic. all you need to know for now is that they are in Lisa’s bunker avoiding radiation.

Anyway, now he is explaining what they did after)

DL: After losing or parents and the house destroyed we had two options, we ether go to the shelters out of state and be separated or live in the bunker and stay together until the war ends

I think it goes without saying that we chose to stay together.

(At this point DL stops narrating and we are taken to the store. Here we will see panels of them living together, comforting each other, arguing, play, Lori cooking and Lincoln feeding Lily, just being a family but are still in grief of the loss of their parents.)

(months have passed, it is nearing the end of the war and the Loud kids were all just talking one night about what will happen when the war was over. They were were scared that they will all be separated and might not see each other for a long time, but Lori and Lincoln comforters everyone and they say nothing will ever separate them)

(That night, when everyone was asleep, because that’s when all the exiting stuff happens, they are woken up by a loud explosion from inside the bunker. When the smoke cleared, they saw a secret door blown wide open and here Lisa yelling)

Lisa: No No No! I was so close!

Lori: WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!

Lisa: nothing! Just a little experiment

Luna: A little? You could have blown the roof of this place, and not in a good way dude.

(while Lisa and the others were arguing, Lily sees something big under a a sheet and looks under it, She then starts to yell out)

Lily: MAMA, DADA!

Lincoln: what’s that Lily

Lisa: WAIT! Don’t touch that

(Lincoln removes the sheet reviling there Parents in glass chambers flowing in some sort of liquid. Everyone gasps)

Lori: is that....mom and dad?

Lisa: sigh, yes

Leni: how is this possible?

Lori: care to explain?

Lisa: These are clones of our mother and father. for the pass several months I’ve been experimenting with some DNA I got before we buried them

Luna: that is all sorts of messed up dude.

Lisa: Yes, well I’ve managed to create these copies of our parents bodies but no matter what I do, I just can’t get them to regain consciousness, I don’t know what I’m missing.

Lucy: A Soul

Lisa: What?

Lucy: you’ve only recreated their physical form but you haven’t and can’t recreate the thing that makes them alive....a Soul.

Lisa: Well I guess that’s it then, all this work for nothing. I’m sorry I woke you all, I’ll just have to shut this down and.....

Lori: WAIT?

Lisa: What?

Lori: Lucy, is their anyway that we can bring their souls back

Everyone else: What are you saying? That’s crazy!

Lori: Guys don’t you get it, this is our chance to make our family whole again

(Everyone stops and thinks with an unsure look on their faces)

Lori: Well Lucy?

Lucy: we could try summoning them but that never turns out good. But maybe...no it’s to crazy.

Lori: What, What is it?

Lucy: Well... there is a ritual that can transport a soul from one body to another, but maybe there is a way to transport only part of the soul?

Lana: but would that just be you in a different body

Lola: A part of you anyway

Lucy: Yes, but if we all give a part of our souls then maybe, just maybe, it will make something new. I mean we are a part of them.

Lisa: Well I have a very low belief in ritualistic processes, but I suppose it’s worth a shot

Lori: so what do you say guys? Let’s get mom and dad back

Luna: alright I’m in

Luan: me too

Leni: me three

Lynn: count me in

Twins: us too

Lily: poo poo

Lincoln: I don’t know guys, I’ve seen plenty of movies to know that bringing people back from the dead is usually not a good idea.

Lori: don’t worry we will take extra precautions to make sure if something does go wrong, we will be ready

Lincoln: uh.....

(Lori faces Lincoln to the clones)

Lori: come on Lincoln we have to do this together, our family will complete again, don’t you want that?

Everyone else: come on Linc

Please Lincy

Come on sticoln

(Lily goes up to Lincoln with big adorable eyes)

Lily: fa-mi-ly

(Lincoln smile and gives Lily a hug)

Lincoln: alright

(Everyone cheers)

Lori: To Family

Everyone all together: TO FAMILY!

5 notes · View notes

sailorsolar12 · 5 years

Text

Prompt List 2

EEK! I have 249 followers. That may not be a lot, but to me that is an achievement. I am giving you guys a prompt list. Since I have 249 followers, I’ll do a max of 150 prompts. Send me requests guys. Pleeeeeeeeeease. Thank you. P.S. If you wanna reblog this for your own imagines or to have some of your own followers shoot me requests, go right ahead my lovelies. P.P.S. Let me know if you’d like the work in second POV or third POV. The first 51 prompts are the same as before the next 99 are new. Hope you like it.

Word of warning there will be cursing, mature themes, etc...

1) “I’m sorry……what?!”

2) “Love? Please. Love is overrated.”

3) “What. Did. You. Do?”

4) “I never excepted that to happen….”

5) “Please….You’re not Batman.”

6) “I’d happily bend you over right now if you’d like?”

7) “We’re not killing anyone!”

8) “The world doesn’t revolve around you!”

9) “I’m surrounded by idiots.”

10) “Why did it have to be you? Why?”

11) “Excuse you? I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

12) “Just shut your mouth and kiss me damn it!”

13) “Bitch, I’m adorable.”

14) “You’re sexually frustrated? How do you think I feel?”

15) “Screw you and your beautiful face!”

16) “The more you workout shirtless, the more you test my patience.”

17) “It’s not like I’ve loved you since we were kids or anything.”

18) “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”

19) “Why do you care if I kissed them or not?”

20) “Don’t tell me that you’re in love with him/her?”

21) “Why should I believe anything that you say?”

22) “When have you ever told the truth about anything? Especially yourself?”

23) “Was anything that happened between us even real?”

24) “Who are you, and what have you done with _____?”

25) “Let me in! Or so help me I will break down this door!”

26) “You can’t just kiss me and run away.”

27) “You are avoiding me. Is it because I kissed _____?”

28) “Who are you to judge my actions?”

29) “What? You have a secret fantasy of us having shower sex or something?”

30) “Are you finished…..because I’m bored and don’t want to be here.”

31) “Please tell me you aren’t saying you’re in love with me.”

32) “You have lost your mind if you think I am going to wear that outfit.”

33) “You are crazy if you believe that I agree with you.”

34) “You have consumed my thoughts. I can’t walk away from this.”

35) “This….is so awkward. I’m out.”

36) “You seem to think that I give a damn, but I don’t.”

37) “You stand there rolling your eyes and brushing me off, but I love you damnit.”

38) “Don’t make me choose between you and the coffee because I’m obviously going to choose the coffee.”

39) “It is ___ in the morning talk to me AFTER I have my coffee.”

40) “I hate to break it to you, but coffee is my one true love.”

41) “Can you not? I’m trying to concentrate here.”

42) “If you interrupt me while I am reading one more time…..”

43) “Give me one good reason why I should even sleep with you.”

44) “I highly doubt your sexual fantasies compare to mine.”

45) “Why can’t the universe just agree with me for once?!”

46) “No matter how many times that you apologize, I can’t forgive you for what you did.”

47) “Doubting you is what I do best, sweetheart.”

48) “If you walk out of that door, I will drag your ass back here kicking and screaming.”

49) “Betrayal isn’t something that I take lightly……”

50) “I have friends whom I consider family who are more loyal than you.”

51) “Me? Using sarcasm? Never in a million years.”

52) “I got two bottles of tequila. Who is getting drunk with me tonight?”

53) “Bitch please!”

54) “The universe just loves to prove me wrong, doesn’t it?”

55) “Water? You gave me water?! I don’t need water!”

56) “I’m only here so I have an alibi.”

57) “This is why we can’t have nice things!!”

58) “Even if you think you can knock me down, I’ll just get back up.”

59) “If I have the ability to make it gay, then I am going to make it gay!”

60) “You think I am here for you? Don’t flatter yourself, pet.”

61) “I am here for myself; you’re just the entertainment.”

62) “Never ever speak to me again...do you understand me?!”

63) “How could you think that for even one second I would betray you?”

64) “I never thought I would say this, but he/(she) does have a point.”

65) “You really think that this is easy don’t you?”

66) “I only slightly regret my life choices.”

67) “You were gone for two years! No warning...no location! Just random postcards every so often, and THAT is all you have to say to me??!!”

68) “My apologies, but I am afraid I cannot do that.”

69) “Don’t worry....she/(he) will be released after she/(he) answers some of my questions.”

70) “Sometimes even in the dark, we can see perfectly what is happening.”

71) “Must you always be this brutal to everyone?”

72) “How bad was last night? I only remember bringing out the tequila...”

73) “Why do you seem to be at the center of every disaster?”

74) “Looks like I’m not the only one making terrible decisions. Welcome to the club.”

75) “I honestly had no idea what to do with myself before you came into my life.”

76) “Hurry! Shut the door before they get the idea they are welcome here!”

77) “Let me cling to hope for a little longer, please.”

78) “Don’t you dare get mad at me for speaking the truth! I am right, and you should hear it!”

79) “It appears...we aren’t so different after all.”

80) “Yes, we are. And the difference is that you don’t care when a plan fails. Even if you die for it.

81) “Who would have thought that I would see the day when you have to save me for a change?”

82) “What was it like while you were gone....without me?”

83) “Life hates everyone, but some of us make the most out of it while the others give into despair.”

84) “Don’t do this! Please! I am begging you not to!”

85) “Nothing is the same anymore....Everything changed the day you died.”

86) “Oh...so I killed you and yet here you are standing there mocking me...”

87) “You-you’re comparing me to her/(him)!”

88) “People die every damn day...why are you so hell bent on saving me?”

89) “You didn’t even read it did you?”

90) “Why can’t you do something right for just one minute?”

91) “You are not my mother/(father)....______ is!”

92) “Sometimes hope is all we have to hang onto.”

93) “I don’t think I can be alone with my thoughts right now.”

94) “I would gladly give my life....if it meant you could raise her/(him) normally.”

95) “Words only mean so much after the amount of horror I have been through.”

96) “You always smile like you’re about to cry.”

97) “Text me when you don’t have an attitude.”

98) “Be honest....how long has it been since you last slept?”

99) “Don’t be alarm...I’m just at the hospital.”

100) “Who the hell said I wanted to be your friend in the first place?”

101) “Do you want to explain to me why you’re in the dumpster, or should I just guess?”

102) “Kiss me or kill me, but make up your mind right now.”

103) “You’re not the person I thought you were.”

104) “No! I am not the person YOU wanted me to be.”

105) “Tea is the only reason I’m sane, but coffee is the only reason I’m awake.”

106) “My favorite line was when you told me that you love me.”

107) “I’m going to break your arm just like how you broke my heart.”

108) “How about this...we get to know each other before one of us says something stupid.”

109) “In her hand....EVERYTHING seems to become a weapon of sorts.”

110) “So....from the bottom of my cold...dead heart....Fuck. You.”

111) “I like me coffee as black and as bitter as my soul.”

112) “They are...once again...failing oh so beautifully.”

113) “Chocolate is something that you cannot tear away from my hands once I hold it.”

114) “So now you have a tattoo that wasn’t there yesterday?”

115) “One last kiss before we die?”

116) “You can get the kiss when we survive so move.”

117) “You can’t start stories with ‘When I died...’”

118) “You know car chases look way more fun on TV!”

119) “Somehow everyone stays alive....in the end.”

120) “I could easily ruin you.”

121) “Oh, I know.”

122) “I have never been happy at 4 am.”

123) “Having the same enemy doesn’t make us friends...FYI.”

124) “Who said anything about magic...this is pure science.”

125) “We need really cool code names!”

126) “We don’t need cool code names to pull this off.”

127) “Why do you ALWAYS insist on having a code name!!”

128) “What doesn’t kill you makes you far too reckless.”

129) “Who said I agreed to this so called truce?”

130) “You will be the death of me...just like I will be the death of you.”

131) ”It’s not like everything is going to go to hell on a Tuesday!”

132) “You’re not stupid. You’re simply uneducated.”

133) “I really wanna fight someone right now...”

134) “Why do you feel the need to solve everything with your damn fists.”

135) “I’d love to just mess up that perfect jawline of yours.”

136) “He/(She) is becoming awfully good at being judge, jury, and executioner.”

137) “We can’t go back. There’s nothing left for us there.”

138) “More often than not the past has to teach us a lesson in the present before we can go into the future.”

139) “These stains are impossible to hide and hard to explain.”

140) “Why would I accept your apology? You’ve never been sorry in your life.”

141) “We will become legends...one way or another.”

142) “Go on. I won’t stop you.”

143) “Stopping you is all I have left in life.”

144) “There’s nothing time can’t kill.”

145) “We don’t have much time....we have to stick this out.”

146) “I just want you to know I am so glad I met you.”

147) “It was both a daydream and a nightmare, but it depends on who you ask.”

148) “Aren’t you supposed to be in prison?”

149) “I have no idea what’s going on, but I love it.”

150) “Don’t look at me! It wasn’t MY fault.”

——————

And there it is. I hope that you guys like the prompt list and will send me requests. Thank you all for following me. Have a nice day, or night, or wherever you guys are! Remember that if there is a fandom that you like and it isn’t listed in the tags below....please reach out to me.

10 notes · View notes

therealkn · 5 years

Text

David’s Resolution - Day 5

Day 5 (January 5, 2019)

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

“In normal times, evil would be fought with good. But in times like these... well... it should be fought by another kind of evil.”

Usually when a person makes a sequel to a movie, they’re inclined to do something different to make it stand out from its predecessor and avoid simply rehashing it. One popular way of doing this is the “actionized sequel”, which is self-explanatory. If you want specific examples, there’s Aliens to Alien, Terminator 2 to The Terminator, the Mad Max and Rambo franchises (both of which are more well-known for the second films than the first)... the list goes on. But hey, Aliens and Terminator 2 were really good, so it shows that going this route can work and produce really good films. Aliens and Terminator 2 are considered to be not only just as good as their predecessors, but perhaps even better, and often make lists of the best sequels and best sci-fi movies of all time.

And then we have The Chronicles of Riddick. Pitch Black, its predecessor, was a sci-fi horror film that owed a fair bit to Alien and which was somewhat harder science fiction; the most out-there thing in that movie were Riddick’s eyeshine and the alien creatures on the planet. Chronicles, on the other hand, is like if somebody got their Star Wars into your Warhammer 40,000, going for low fantasy science-fiction that deals in a softer sci-fi setting, bordering on fantasy thanks to its antagonists. It was naturally going to be different by design, since this was taking one of the characters from Pitch Black and giving him his own movie.

Universal made a fairly big deal out of this movie back then. Not only was there this bigger-budgeted, action-packed sequel, there were two notable pieces of tie-in material released around that time. One was the direct-to-video animated film The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, which was directed by Peter Chung of Æon Flux fame and directly followed Pitch Black, helping establish some things that would be seen in this movie. And the other was the video game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a prequel to Pitch Black that, among other things, established how Riddick got his eyeshine, and is widely praised as one of the best movie-licensed games of all time.

Sucks that the film didn’t do that well in the box office though. That’s never a good sign.

The movie establishes how different it is from Pitch Black right from the word “go”. It begins with a prologue establishing the film’s villains, the Necromongers: a fanatical cult of death-worshippers who themselves are in a kind of undeath where pain is not part of their vocabulary. Led by the Lord Marshal (Colm Feore), a “holy half-dead” with superhuman speed and strength and the ability to take your soul like he’s Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat, the Necromongers are driven to kill the entire universe while also converting as many as they can to their cause, which is “salvation” through a constellation of dark worlds known as the “UnderVerse”, which sounds a bit like someone’s attempt at making a cinematic universe in the wake of Marvel’s own universe.

How does Riddick factor into this? Well, this film takes place five years after Pitch Black, and Riddick (played once again by Vin Diesel, who was also one of the film’s producers), has been in a self-imposed exile in the hopes of avoiding mercenaries who are out for the price on his head. The beginning of the movie shows that this isn’t working and after kicking the asses of a mercenary crew that tracked him onto an ice planet, he finds that the price on his head was by Imam (Keith David, long may he reign), one of the people he saved back in the previous movie. But as it turns out, this was just so he could meet with Aereon, a wind elemental played by Judi Dench, who explains that Riddick may be a “Furyan”, part of an all-but-extinct warrior race from another planet, and that he may be key to stopping the Necromongers. Riddick isn’t interested because, well, he’s not the kind of guy to be a hero. But one way or another, we know he’s gonna wreck the Necromongers’ shit and it will be glorious. And it is.

On a technical level, the movie is weak in some areas. Some of the writing is a bit lacking, with some characters feeling a bit stock. Jack, now calling herself Kyra and played by a different actress because of studio shenanigans (at least they got the original actress back to voice the character in Dark Fury), seems like someone who’s trying to be a badass edgelord and even goes “I hate not being the bad guys!” Cool your heels, Edgy McEdgerson III, Esq., we get it, you’re trying to be badass and you are badass but... stop that please. Also, some of the CGI is not the best (in fact, weird CGI stuff is a thing in all the Riddick movies, even the 2013 one), and there are some weird editing things in both of the movies that make them feel like they’re trying to be stylish like a music video. Sometimes it works, sometimes not really.

But is it fun to watch? Fuck yeah it is. It’s not the best on a technical level but fuck it, it’s a fun movie to watch, and if it’s enjoyable enough, we’re willing to look. The action sequences are pretty cool, though the editing can be slightly wonky, and it’s cool to see Riddick fight like hell and utterly devastate anything he fights. We also get to see more of his cunning and intellect as well, seeing him plan how to escape prison or silently taking out mercs one by one like he’s Batman.

There’s also some cool sci-fi stuff that feels like a natural expansion of the universe of Pitch Black. New planets are shown like Helion Prime, a Mecca planet that is the home of Imam and the latest target of the Necromongers’ crusade; and Crematoria, home of one of the few “triple-max” prisons and where half the planet is scorching hot while the other half is too frigid for anything to live. The Necromongers themselves are awesome, with imposing designs and appearances and carry this sense of being an overwhelming force that you simply can’t stop, no matter how you try. Some of their stuff is overly-designed, but it fits them well enough and makes them intimidating.

Aside from Vin Diesel, who gets to show off more of Riddick being a win, the other actors are good too. Colm Feore’s High Marshal is someone who does command respect and authority and dear God he just ripped that man’s soul out of his body, how does he even. Karl Urban, fresh off the Lord of the Rings trilogy, plays the Necromonger commander Vaako, with a hairstyle that’s like a mohawk with dreadlocks and who does a pretty good with his character as a fervent devotee to the Necromonger way and who also aspires to lead them, with Thandie Newton serving as his Lady Macbeth to scheme and plot behind the Lord Marshal’s back. Nick Chinlund as the mercenary Toombs is also fun, coming off like a fusion of Ron Perlman and Dean Ambrose in his appearance and performance and pretty entertaining to watch in his one-dimensional scumbaggery. And Judi Dench goes without saying because she is always a win.

And like Pitch Black, there is an unrated director’s cut. In fact, all the Riddick movies have unrated director’s cuts, but unlike Pitch Black, this one actually DOES qualify as unrated since the stuff that’s cut was more suggestive, violent, etc. The additional content not only includes more violence and swears, it also has more character stuff, including an alternate ending to the Crematoria battle between Riddick and the Necromongers that is simultaneously more goofy and more fleshed-out.

I recommend this movie if you’re into cool sci-fi/action movies, or if you want to see Vin Diesel be badass. Or if you’re like me and you just want fun action movies. Or if you want to see Karl Urban be awesome after Lord of the Rings but before Dredd. He’s good in this movie.

Next time: Riddick meets Æon Flux. Not literally.

#David's resolution #The Chronicles of Riddick

1 note · View note

talesfromthesnogbox · 6 years

Note

A cliched one but Mileven soulmates

I’M SORRY THIS TOOK 5EVER I WENT A LITTLE NUTS!

I also made it a roommate AU because why not, that’s where my brain went. Hope you like it!

Delicate

Mike and El had always been the best of friends. Neither of them could figure out why they got along so well.

Hawkins, Indiana wasn’t El’s birthplace, but it had been her home ever since Jim Hopper had adopted her when she was 12. Her new setting made her timid, but once she’d befriended her lovely party of nerds, she came right out of her shell.

Now at 21 years old, El, and the rest of their party called Chicago home. All six of them decided to head out to school in the windy city, and their parents couldn’t have been more thrilled. The party was a tight-knit group, and while they all had their own lives, and their own friends outside of each other, it was comforting to come home to each other.

Two apartments across the hall from the others became available and the party couldn’t resist snatching them up. Mike, El, and Will shared a cozy three bedroom while Max, Lucas, and Dustin shared a two bedroom. It was fate that the listings both became available on the same day, especially considering after a long period of contemplation, Lucas and Max had agreed to move in together.

It wasn’t early on that Max and Lucas had discovered each other’s soul marks. In fact, they didn’t get along very well until their senior year, one year after Max had moved to Hawkins from sunny California. Lucas always wore his heart on his sleeve, and his soul mark was constantly visible on his arm, just above his elbow. But Max… she was more reserved. She wanted to rebel against the whole “soul mark” thing, why should love be up to fate and not choice? In truth, she was scared knowing Lucas was her soulmate, but the moment she gave in and showed him her own matching mark just above where her heart sat, the two had been inseparable.

But even soulmates had their flaws.

“I swear, he never does the dishes!” Max grumbled loudly in the kitchen. Friday was the boys’ day; they all only had morning classes, so they all got to start the weekend off early. El and Max had never quite gotten into Dungeons and Dragons, so while they had girl time in Max’s apartment, El’s apartment had become the Chicago equivalent of Mike Wheeler’s basement.

El giggled. “I bet that’s how they feel about me over there then. Of course I would end up living with two neat guys of the party.”

“Whatever, I’m not doing his dishes again. Back to what you were saying… you met someone?”

A smile crossed El’s features. “Sort of, I mean, he hasn’t asked me out or anything, but we’ve been talking a lot after class, sometimes we’ll go get a coffee together.”

“That sounds like a start!”

“It is.” El sighed.

“But he’s not Mike.” Max prodded her. Everyone in the party knew that El and Mike were absolutely soulmates, there was no doubt about it. The only two that couldn’t see it were… well… El and Mike.

“Mike… he’s just a silly crush. Besides he’s my roommate, and my best friend, I don’t want to mess up what we’ve got.”

He wasn’t just a silly crush though. The swirly filigree shaped mark (that strangely looked like 011 the more she stared at it) sat just above El’s hipbone, and she couldn’t tell you how many times she’d dreamt of Mike having a matching mark. She loved him, she loved him with all her heart, but she’d known him for over 9 years… if he was her soulmate, they’d already know it.

“But even still El, you don’t want to just try it out? Who says you have to end up with your soulmate anyways? They could live halfway across the world for all you know. We were taught the statistics, El, only 45 percent of people on Earth actually meet their soulmate.”

“Then maybe I’ll be part of that 45 percent.” She clapped back. “Look, Max, I love you, but you’ve gotta stop bringing up Mike like this. I just want to get over him—”

“But he’s in love with you.” As soon as the words left her lips, Max threw her hands over her mouth. “I was not supposed to tell you that.”

El’s face was stoic, but her mind was reeling. “I… I think I’m just gonna go.”

Max stood and followed her to the door. “I’m sorry, please don’t be mad, I just want what’s best for you, and I want my friends to be as happy as I am.”

El smiled. “I’m not mad at you, Max, I just… I think I need some air.” She crossed the hall into her own apartment where the boys were no longer quite so deep in their campaign.

“I’m telling you, she was smoking hot, we totally clicked, but her soul mark didn’t match mine.” Dustin was talking animatedly to the rest of the party, obviously not that invested in his story.

“Yeah… I’m sure that is the reason she didn’t go for you.” Will shoved Dustin and moved to the couch. “Hey, El… you’re home early, I thought you and Max—”

“We ended it early, I’m not feeling well.” Her door closed softly behind her, but the party knew something was up.

Mike frowned. El was usually so open about everything; their friendship really knew no boundaries. Well, he thought, I still haven’t seen her soul mark… we have a few boundaries.

“Is she okay?” Lucas pointed to her door.

“Let me go check on her.” Mike went to her door and knocked quietly. “El? Can I come in?”

She bit her lip, now in a cozy pair of pajamas curled in her bed, it’s nothing he hadn’t seen before, but she didn’t want to face him after what Max had told her.

“Go away.”

“Please? I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine.” She pleaded, voice muffled by her pillow.

“Okay, then let me see you’re fine.” El had a history of shutting down when she was upset. Sometimes her thoughts became too dark and dangerous for her to deal with, but the party was always there to help her through it.

Mike heard her footsteps get closer to the door, and she opened it with a huff.

“See? Fine.”

“El… wait.” He hated that he’d done it, but Mike was always overwhelmingly drawn to El. He loved the party, but El had to be his best friend. He worried about her, he loved her… he was in love with her (but he’d never tell her that). Mike followed her into her room and shut the door behind him. He followed her and took a seat next to her on her bed. “Don’t give me some bullshit answer. What happened?”

She sighed and covered her face with her hands. “Max and I sort of got into a fight about soulmates.”

Mike frowned. Sure, El had dated some, but he didn’t think she’d be this broken up over the soulmate issue. Their conversations had never quite meandered over to their love lives (or lack thereof), it just wasn’t something that the two of them really ever talked about. “Do you want to talk about it?”

El leaned into Mike’s shoulder and he immediately wound his arm around her. It was a common position for them, and he was a really good cuddler. “I… not really.”

“Okay.” He shrugged, happy to just be with her like this.

“I just… what if I never meet them, Mike? What if I’m always left wondering what they would be like, what they would look like… even if I’m with someone else? That’s hardly fair.” It was one of the reasons why she’d never tell Mike how she felt about him.

“It’s not fair, but really, everyone thinks about it. Everyone has someone out there for them, El, but not everyone meets that person. It’s okay to think that way, it’s human nature.”

He did have a point. “She had to go and bring up statistics and all that again about how not everyone meets their soulmate… it’s easy for her to say, she found Lucas in high school.”

“Sounds like someone’s a little jealous.” Mike poked her side, smiling at the girl in his arms.

“I’m not… okay maybe I’m a little jealous.”

“You shouldn’t be. You’ll find someone amazing, I know it El. And think of it this way, Max is stuck with Lucas for the rest of their lives.”

She giggled. “Same dick forever.”

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.” He winced.

“It’s a joke, relax.” El sighed. “What if I meet them at the wrong time though?”

“Well… they’re your soulmate… they’ll wait as long as they need to.” I know I would, it goes without being said.

The two fall asleep in that position quickly, too comfortable with the other, too comfortable after unloading some weight off both of their shoulders. They sleep until Dustin of all people sneaks in.

“What the hell, guys, come check this out.”

Dustin’s voice carries through the apartment, and draws Mike out of his restful state. “Fuck off, Henderson. I’m comfortable.”

“Yeah I bet you are. So you figure it out yet? That you guys are actually soulmates?”

“No. Go away, seriously.”

“What, are you too afraid to tell her your soul mark is on your ass cheek?” Dustin snickers.

“I’m ignoring you. Goodnight Dustin.”

“Night, loverboy.”

Mike shakes his head at Dustin, settling back into El’s comforter. There was no way he was moving tonight, she was wrapped around him using every limb she could, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Is your soul mark really on your ass cheek?” El’s soft voice startled him.

“Y-you heard all that?”

“Hard not to when Dustin is that fucking loud. Answer me, is it seriously on your butt?”

“N-n-no… well… kinda. I mean—” Her giggles cut him off. “Stop laughing! It’s not really on my butt, it’s like… really low on my back.”

“So your butt?”

“No!” He sighed. His mom always had this theory that it’s there because he was so closed off about his emotions, he’s starting to believe it might be true.

El gave him a mischievous look. “Can I see it?”

“I—I um…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to, I’m only teasing. Unless you want to, then that’s totally up to you.” El snuggled further into his chest, her eyes feeling heavy again.

Silence washes over them, and Mike is suddenly all too aware of every little thing around them.

“Hey, El?”

“Hm?”

He pauses. “D-do you mind if I stay?”

El couldn’t explain it, but she felt something shift in the room. Her heart beat wildly in her chest, and the tension in the air could be cut with a knife. For some reason, that simple question felt like a do or die decision, and she had to follow her gut.

“No… you can stay.”

Mike hid his smile by pressing a light kiss to the top of her head. Sure, they’d been affectionate with each other, holding hands, cuddling, before, but this felt different. Something had changed.

“Thanks.” He whispered, pulling her closer and resting his head on her pillow. “Night, El.”

“Night… loverboy.”

He let out a huff of breath and she giggled before they both drifted off.

The next morning, Mike realized that waking up beside El was pretty much the most perfect thing he could ever experience.

Her soft breaths hit his chest, and her arms tightened around him whenever he tried to move, but his favourite part of waking up beside her had to be how peaceful she looked. Her features were soft in the morning light, hair mussed, lips parted slightly. The angelic expression on her face tugged at his heartstrings, and he absolutely couldn’t move now, not until she woke up. He never wanted to disturb her while she got her much needed rest.

Mike’s cheeks reddened softly as he realized he was staring, and suddenly, she was stirring.

“Morning.” He whispered sleepily.

El groaned. “You make a great pillow, Wheeler.”

Mike smiled, pride filling his chest making his heart flutter. Their eyes met, and he felt something, an invisible force pulling them together. This is it, he thought, wondering if either one of them would push it one step further and take the plunge. But before either could do anything, Will burst into the room.

“Hey, the rest of us were talking… oh shoot did I interrupt something?”

“N-no.” El said, tearing herself away from Mike for the first time in hours. “What’s up?”

“Oh, just that we were gonna check out this new bar that just opened up a few blocks from here tonight instead of movie night. Sorry, I thought I heard you talking.”

“It’s fine, we were just getting up.” Mike said, scratching his head.

“Great! I’m making waffles if you guys want to join!”

El looked at Mike and smiled as Will left the room. The moment was unfortunately dead now, and Mike was kicking himself. I should have done something.

“I guess I’ll just… um… breakfast.” Mike told her, following Will out into the kitchen.

Mike had been avoiding El all day, a feat that proved to be tough considering they were roommates. He holed himself up in his room, doing anything he could to stay there and not face up to what had almost happened this morning.

What if I’d gone through with it? What would happen? Would she have kissed me back? Would it have gone any further? Would she want to be my girlfriend?

Will pulled him out of his reverie.

“Hey, get ready we’re leaving soon.”

Mike nodded to him in acknowledgement, and minutes later, was joining Will and the rest of the gang in the living room.

The night out had been… interesting to say the least. Max and Lucas were attached at the hip all night, El clung to Dustin, and made for quite the wing-woman (he’d gone off talking to a pretty blonde girl in a quieter part of the bar). But the most shocking part of the evening was Will finding Evan.

Will had come to Mike, pale faced an hour after they’d arrived. “I think… Oh my god, Mike.”

“Hey, hey, what happened?”

Will swallowed. “I just spilled my beer on someone.”

“It’s fine, it happens all the time in these places.” Mike said with a shrug. “Why, are they giving you a hard time?”

“No… he’s got my soul mark on his neck.”

Mike’s heart dropped to his stomach. “Th-that’s great! You should go talk to him.” He gave Will a forced smile. He tried to be happy for his friend, really, he did, but after his conversation last night with El, love was the last thing he wanted to think about.

Will nodded and walked back in the direction he came from. Mike could see him tap the other man on the shoulder and pull the neck of his shirt aside to show him the identical mark. The man’s face immediately softened as he brought Will in for a hug.

All Mike could do was sigh and take another swig of his beer.

Before he knew it, Mike was drunker than he’d ever been in his life.

“I can walk I promise!” He slurred as El helped him into their apartment. She was pretty tipsy herself, but far less so than Mike.

“Oh really, is that why you fell out of the cab?”

He fell onto the couch bringing her with him. “See? Totally fine.”

“Sure Michael.” El rolled her eyes.

“You’re so beautiful, you know?”

“And you’re so drunk. Come on, into bed.” She patted his poof of hair.

“Is that an invitation?” He wiggled his eyebrows. El’s eyes were wide. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Mike put his arm around her and pulled her close. “But last night was really nice with the sleeping though.”

El sighed, her heart in her throat. “Yeah… it was Mike.”

“El?”

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

She giggled and tapped his nose. “I love you too, Wheeler.” El moved to get up, but he pulled her back down. “Mike?”

Mike didn’t think before he kissed her.

El melted into the kiss, kissing him as if she’d kissed him every day of her life. She found it was the most natural thing in the world, yet a new sense of excitement ran through her.

She sighed into the action, coming back for kiss after kiss like she was addicted to him. El clutched the front of his shirt while Mike fisted a hand in her curly hair, and their lips moved with the others in a way that sent a pleasant chill down Mike’s spine.

Until El pulled away.

“O-oh my god, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what got into me.”

Mike groaned as she left his side, her warmth gone. He peeked a glance at her, messy hair, dilated pupils, swollen lips, and he wanted nothing more than to continue what they had going just moments before.

“El… Ellie please.” Mike took her hands in his, only to have her pull them away. “El I love you.”

“Mike, we can’t.” She shook her head. “We can’t do this, not when our soulmates are still out there. I can’t do that to you.”

“Ellie I don’t care. Fuck soulmates, you’re my soulmate.”

“You don’t know that.” She sounded choked up, like she was holding back tears.

“No, I don’t, but what if we are? Didn’t you feel that? Because I felt it. Ellie, that kiss was like magic.”

“I can’t do this.”

“El… Ellie wait…” He tried to follow, but his stomach had other plans, and instead, he was running to the bathroom.

El sighed and marched right into the bathroom after him. She may have been upset over the kiss, but Mike was still her friend, and she couldn’t leave her friend to be sick on his own.

Her hand rubbed gentle circles on his back while the other ran through his dark locks as Mike emptied the contents of his stomach. “That’s it, let it out.” She soothed him before getting up to grab a glass of water and some mouthwash.

“T-thanks Ellie.” He said, gratefully accepting both as she cleaned him up with a washcloth. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“Stop, let’s not do this right now, okay? Wait for morning.”

Mike nodded, beginning to sober up. Together, they got off the floor, and El helped him into bed. “Goodnight, Mike.”

“Night, El.”

He awoke the next morning with a pounding headache and a deep sense of dread filling his chest. Mike knew that he and El would have to talk about what had happened at some point… it wasn’t over last night, they’d just put a bookmark in the conversation, and he had a feeling it would have to happen today.

Staring at the ceiling wouldn’t do him any good, so Mike slowly got out of bed and joined El in the kitchen.

“Did Will go out for breakfast?” He asked her, not wanting to immediately jump into a serious talk.

“No, he didn’t make it home last night actually. I got a call from him this morning, he met his soulmate, Mike!”

“Good for him. He kind of mentioned it to me last night, I didn’t know he stayed over there though.”

“Yeah, his name is Evan, they went back to his hotel. Evan is doing a road trip across the States… he’s from York.” El had obviously had a longer conversation with Will about this than Mike had.

“New York?”

Her face fell. “No… like York in England. H-he’s lucky he was in the right place at the right time.”

“Oh…” Mike gulped loudly. “So it’s true what they say that soulmates can be anywhere then… even halfway across the world.”

“Yeah. They’ll work it out, I know it.”

El slid a coffee across the counter to Mike who sipped it gratefully. The silence wasn’t comfortable like it had been the previous morning. “El… El I have to apologize for what happened yesterday.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay! I—I shouldn’t have said anything, not when I was drunk anyways. But I meant it, I meant every word, El. You don’t have to say it back or anything, I… I just wanted you to know.” Mike had his hands in his hair, his heart pounding from his confession. It felt good, getting that weight off his chest. What didn’t feel good was hearing a sniffle come from El across the counter. He looked up to find tears in her eyes. “Hey, hey, don’t cry.” He stumbled around the counter to pull her into his arms.

“I can’t do this to you Mike, I—I love you too, but I can’t be with you knowing that my soulmate might be out there somewhere.”

“What if we forget about the soulmate thing? We may never meet them El.”

“They’re tattooed on our skin, Mike. Every time I see yours it’ll be a reminder that I’m not the one for you.”

“Are you planning on looking at my naked butt a lot?” His joke lightened the tension, pulling a giggle out of her. “To be fair… we’ve never actually seen each other’s soul marks…”

El said nothing. She debated with herself, not wanting to confirm that there was someone better out there for Mike… but… but what if…

“Y-you think we…?” She whispered, desperately hoping he was the one.

“I meant what I said last night, El.” He repeated himself. “I—I think you’re my soulmate.”

El looked up at Mike through her lashes. She wanted to be with him, she really did, but… her mind raced at the possibilities. They were extremely close, they shared everything (almost everything), she always felt a gravitational pull towards him… “Mike… once we look… there’s no going back from this.”

He blinked. He wasn’t expecting her to actually consider going through with it. “We don’t have to El, it… it was just a thought. But we’re bound to see them somehow, one way or another, it’ll happen, and we’ll know for sure. I don’t care if you’re my soulmate or not El, I want to be with you either way, but this… this is just a way of knowing for sure and doing it purposely.”

The silence stretched between them. He was still holding her, and although they’d slowed, the tears still dripped down her cheeks. “I think I’m gonna need some time to think about it.”

Mike nodded. “Fair enough. Thanks for the coffee, El. I… I’m going to hang out in my room for a bit.”

It was nearly five in the evening, and Mike still hadn’t come out of his room.

Will was still out with Evan, so a deafening silence spilled over the apartment while El attempted to study in the living room.

She rubbed her neck, sore from the intensity of her focus on her psych notes. El had always been like this, thrown herself into other work as soon as she was faced with something difficult.

El groaned, closing her book. What had happened between herself and Mike that morning wasn’t something she could just ignore, she needed to think it through, she needed calm, peace…

The gentle strumming of a guitar broke through the apartment.

Mike had taken up music in high school, and his acoustic guitar had become the soundtrack to her life. Instantly, she felt the tension break and her mind clear.

Yoga.

El changed into something more appropriate for the meditative practice she found helped her so much growing up. She rolled out her mat in the living room and ran through a familiar routine, using Mike’s strumming to keep her grounded.

Minutes of the practice had already relaxed her muscles, her mind felt clear again, and she soon became absorbed in her own head. So much so that she didn’t realize the strumming had stopped.

She continued the sequence until she heard a soft gasp come from in front of her.

El frowned, dropping her hands and opening her eyes. Mike stood ten feet away, staring at her hip. The exact spot where her soul mark was.

“M-Mike?”

“El I… I didn’t mean to see… your shirt it just…”

Her stomach dropped. “You saw my mark?”

He nodded, his face blank. El felt like throwing up, her breath hitched nervously, and everything she’d done to calm herself came crashing down on her.

Mike gulped and turned slightly, looking awkwardly to the ceiling as he pulled at the waistband of his jeans until a delicate black filigree mark was visible.

011

She was speechless. El stumbled backwards until she felt the back of her knees bump into the couch. She fell in a heap, her hand covering her mouth.

“I um… El I’m sorry for sneaking up on you like that.”

Her eyebrows rose into her hairline, a pleasant shiver scaled her body, her heart was pounding, and suddenly all she felt was excitement. El was giddy.

A giggle bubbled from her lips, and she could no longer hold herself back. “I—I can’t believe you just mooned me!” She giggled uncontrollably, throwing her head back into the cushions.

Mike frowned, this was not the response he was hoping for when he’d decided to show her his matching soul mark. “El?”

“You – you just pulled your pants down and th-there it is! On your ass, just like Dustin said it was.”

He took a seat beside her on the couch. Mike didn’t know how he should be feeling. Of course, he was elated, he was right, El was his soulmate, but why was this her reaction?

Upon further inspection, Mike noticed tears rolling down her face. Her shoulders shook again, but this time, she was crying. “El, talk to me, please.”

El gave up and threw her arms around Mike. “I… I can’t believe it’s actually you.”

Instantly, his heart melted. He’d automatically assumed the worst, but of course his Ellie… she always did lead with her emotions.

“Just like I said, right?” Mike’s arms wound around her body, a hand flying to stroke her hair.

“I didn’t think I would ever find you.” She sniffed, refusing to let go of him.

“I’ve been right in front of you the whole time.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “God Ellie, I’m so in love with you, I’ve been waiting for you to realize it without acting like an ass. Well, except for last night…”

“No, stop talking about last night, I was scared and confused. I didn’t want to fall in love with you, but oh my god,” she let out a giggle and pulled away from the hug, “now I know why I did.”

Mike couldn’t wipe the shit-eating grin off his face. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her happier, despite the tears rolling down her cheeks. She was his, he was hers, and instantly he felt his entire purpose in life was to make her happy, make her smile every morning, cherish her… he’d do anything he could for the love of his life.

“El, you’re my everything. I love you… I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

“I love you too Mike.” She hastily wiped at her eyes. “God, I’m sorry, I’m ridiculous.”

He shook his head. “You’re beautiful.”

El looked at him, losing herself in the depths of his eyes, and couldn’t hold herself back from kissing him.

It was nothing like the kiss from the night before. The night before was frantic and rushed, but this… this… a warmth started in her belly as their lips moved together slowly. Their kisses were soft, feather light, almost tentative as they began to learn the other in a way they’d never done before. The warmth seared through her and made her heart thump excitedly in her chest. God, she could do this for hours and she wouldn’t get tired of it.

He pulled away first, slowly, making sure to press two short pecks to her swollen lips before his eyes met hers again. Her cheeks were pink, eyes bright, and lips curled into a dazed smile.

“Hi.” She whispered, taking her bottom lip between her teeth.

Mike’s vision was glazed over; he was in absolute bliss. “That was fucking incredible.”

El’s fit of giggles started up once again, breaking the intensity of the last few minutes. This time, Mike joined her, leaning on her shoulder as they laughed, causing him to topple over her onto the couch. He held her close, trying to shift most of his weight off of her, and of course, Max chose that moment to waltz straight into their apartment.

“Hey El, can I borrow your—oh shit,” she covered her eyes turning away from then, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you guys were… I’ll just come back later.”

“Max it’s alright, you weren’t interrupting anything.” Mike shouted over, picking himself and El up off the couch. He pecked her lips once more before Max came barreling back into their living room.

“Cool. El, can I borrow your curling iron? And while we’re at it, you can tell me what I just walked in on.”

El nodded, and Max went straight for the bathroom to retrieve what she came for. “Curling iron, yes. The explanation…”

“That she’ll have to give you tomorrow, we’ve got plans tonight.” Mike explained, another shit-eating grin crossing his face. El rolled her eyes. “Sorry, I just wanted to spend some time with you.” He whispered in her ear, kissing her cheek. “We’ve got some catching up to do.”

Max reappeared, curling iron in hand. “Yeah, you two have a lot to explain. You’re lucky I’m running late.”

“I’ll give you the spark notes…” El nodded cheekily. “I found him.”

“Mike? He’s your roommate, did you lose him last night or something…” El saw the realization dawn on her friend and she giggled, taking Mike’s hand in hers. “Him? Like… him? Your… Lucas?”

“Yeah, I found my Lucas.”

“Well fuck El, I hate to say I told you so, but…”

El got up and pushed her out the door, shutting it behind Max. “Oh shut up and go curl your hair.”

“Hey Lucas you’ll never guess what just happened!” She could hear Max yelling to her own soulmate through the door.

“That went well.” Mike shook his head.

“Catching up to do you say?”

Mike’s hand flew behind his neck, scratching at his hairline awkwardly. “I mean…”

El giggled and kissed him sweetly. “I’ve been crushing on you for 9 years, you’re right, we do have some catching up to do.”

His face lit up, and he started rambling off about takeout and dates.

“As long as I’m with you, I don’t care.”

#mileven #puzzlingsnark #prompts #stranger things fic #mike x eleven #my writing

37 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

Disney+ UK Star Launch: Complete List of New TV Shows and Films

https://ift.tt/2P7STsN

We came for The Mandalorian, stuck around for WandaVision, and, as we wait for The Falcon and Winter Soldier and Loki to arrive, there’s now a huge pile of new catalogue additions to work through, courtesy of Disney Plus’ Star brand.

Star launched on the Disney Plus streaming service in territories outside of the US (where Disney already has a home for adult drama in Hulu) on the 23rd of February. It’s added over 75 TV shows and 280 feature films here in the UK, including the entirety of Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Glee, Prison Break, Sons of Anarchy and Scrubs as well as cult favourites Firefly, Flashforward, Terriers and more. There are also some UK debuts in the form of the Star Originals listed below.

Film-wise, there’s ample reason to go back to the 90s in the form of Arachnophobia, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Con Air and a host of others, plus…well, it’s almost 300 films. Chances are you’ll find something to tickle your fancy. Households with kids should know there are new parental controls to set too, ensuring that nobody gets any unwelcome surprises.

Here’s the complete list of titles so far:

Star Originals

Big Sky

From Mr TV himself, David E. Kelley (Doogie Howser, Chicago Hope, Ally Mcbeal, Big Little Lies) comes a nine-part crime thriller starring Ryan Philippe and Vikings‘ Katheryn Winnick. Based on the 2013 novel The Highway by C.J. Box, Big Sky is the story of a series of missing girls and a private detective/cop trio with a messy personal history who team up to find them. It aired on ABC in the US last winter.

Helstrom

There’s very little fanfare for this comic book show‘s UK debut, which met with mostly negative reviews on release and was cancelled after 10 episodes, but Marvel completists will want to take a look. Tom Austen and Sidney Lemmon play the Helstrom siblings Daimon and Satana, the children of serial killers who hunt down the worst of humanity.

Love, Victor

Another Hulu original making its UK debut, this teen drama spins off from celebrated gay teen 2018 film Love, Simon. It’s narrated by Nick Robinson, who played Simon in the original film, and follows the story of a Puerto-Rican/Colombian-American teen living in Atalanta. Reviews for the 10-part first season were strong and it’s been renewed for a second.

Solar Opposites

Rick and Morty‘s Justin Roiland and Star Trek: Lower Decks‘s Mike McMahan are the creators of this adult animated comedy series about a family of aliens (pictured above) forced to seek refuge in middle America. Season one was enthusiastically received, and a second run is due to air in the US in March. Read plenty more about it here.

TV Series

According To Jim, Seasons 1 – 8 Alias, Seasons 1-5 American Dad, Seasons 1-16 Animal Fight Night, Seasons 1-6 Apocalypse World War I, Season 1 Apocalypse: The Second World War, Season 1 Atlanta, Seasons 1-2 Blackish, Seasons 1-5 Bloody Tales Of Europe, Season 1 Bloody Tales Of The Tower, Season 1 Bones, Seasons 1-12 Brothers & Sisters, Seasons 1-5 Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Seasons 1-7 Buried Secrets Of WWII, Season 1 Burn Notice, Seasons 1-7 Castle, Seasons 1-8 Code Black, Seasons 1-3 Cougar Town, Seasons 1-6 Desperate Housewives, Seasons 1-8 Devious Maids, Seasons 1-4 Drugs, Inc. Seasons 2-7 Family Guy, Seasons 1-18 Feud: Bette And Joan, Season 1 Firefly, Season 1 Flashforward, Season 1 The Fosters, Seasons 1- 5 The Gifted, Seasons 1-2 Glee, Seasons 1-6 Grey’s Anatomy, Seasons 1-15 The Hot Zone, Season 1 How I Met Your Mother, Seasons 1-9 Inside North Korea’s Dynasty, Season 1 The Killing, Seasons 1-4 LA 92 Lance, Season 1 Lie To Me, Seasons 1-3 Lost, Seasons 1-6 Mafia Confidential Maradona Confidential Mars, Seasons 1-2 Modern Family, Seasons 1-8 O.J.: Made In America Perception, Seasons 1-3 Prison Break, Seasons 1-5 Raising Hope, Seasons 1-4 Resurrection, Seasons 1-2 Revenge, Seasons 1-4 Rosewood, Seasons 1-2 Scandal, Seasons 1-7 Scream Queens, Seasons 1-2 Scrubs, Seasons 1-9 Sleepy Hollow, Seasons 1-4 Snowfall, Seasons 1-3 Sons Of Anarchy, Seasons 1-7 The Strain, Seasons 1-4 Terra Nova, Season 1 Terriers, Season 1 Trust, Season 1 Ugly Betty, Season 1-4 Ultimate Survival WWII, Season 1 Valley Of The Boom, Season 1 Witness To Disaster, Season 1 WWII Bomb Hunters The X-Files, Season 1-9 The 2000s: The Decade We Saw It All, Season 1 24, Season 1-9 24: Legacy, Season 1 The 80s: The Decade That Made Us, Season 1 9/11 Firehouse The 90s: The Last Great Decade? Season 1 9-1-1, Season 1-2

WandaVision Episode 7 Theories Explained

By Kirsten Howard

Gina Carano Was Fired from The Mandalorian, But Should Cara Dune Live On?

By John Saavedra

Films

The 13th Warrior 42 to 1 9 to 5 Adam (2009) The Air Up There The Alamo (2004) Anna And The King Annapolis Another Earth Another Stakeout Anywhere But Here Arachnophobia Australia Bachelor Party Bad Ass Bad Company (2002) Bad Company (Aka: Tool Shed) Bad Girls (1994) Bad Times At The El Royale Baggage Claim The Banger Sisters Be Water Beaches Before And After (1996) Belle Beloved (1998) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Best Laid Plans Big Trouble Billy Bathgate Black Nativity Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation … Boys Don’t Cry Braveheart Breaking And Entering Bringing Out The Dead Broadcast News Brokedown Palace Broken Lizard’s Club Dread Brothers In Exile Brown Sugar Bubble Boy Bulworth Bushwhacked Can’t Buy Me Love Casanova (2005) Catch That Kid Cedar Rapids Chain Reaction Chasing Papi Chasing Tyson Choke The Clearing Cleopatra (1963) Cocktail Cocoon: The Return Cold Creek Manor The Color Of Money Come See The Paradise The Comebacks Commando (1985) Con Air Conan The Barbarian Confetti Consenting Adults A Cool Dry Place Cousin Bette Crazy/Beautiful Crimson Tide The Crucible Cyrus Damien – Omen Ii The Darjeeling Limited Dark Water Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008) The Day The Series Stopped Day Watch Deadpool 2 Dead Presidents Deceived (1991) The Deep End Deep Rising Deion’s Double Play The Devil Wears Prada Devil’s Due Die Hard 2 Die Hard With A Vengeance Double Take Down And Out In Beverly Hills Down Periscope Dragonball: Evolution Dreaming Of Joseph Lees Drive Me Crazy The Drop Duets The East Ed Wood The Edge Encino Man Enemy Of The State Enough Said Evita Exodus: Gods And Kings The Fab Five (2011) Far From The Madding Crowd (2015) The Fault In Our Stars The Favourite The Final Conflict Firestorm (1998) The Fly (1986) For The Boys Four Falls Of Buffalo French Connection II The French Connection From Hell Gentlemen Broncos A Good Day To Die Hard Good Morning, Vietnam The Good Son (1993) A Good Year The Grand Budapest Hotel The Great White Hype Grosse Pointe Blank Guilty As Sin Gun Shy The Happening Here On Earth High Fidelity High Heels And Low Lifes Hitchcock Hoffa Holy Man Hope Springs (2003) I Heart Huckabees I Love You, Beth Cooper I Origins I Think I Love My Wife Idiocracy In America In Her Shoes Independence Day Independence Day: Resurgence Inventing The Abbotts Jennifer’s Body The Jewel Of The Nile John Tucker Must Die Johnson Family Vacation Jordan Rides The Bus Joshua Just Married Just Wright Kingdom Come Kissing Jessica Stein Kung Pow: Enter The Fist Ladyhawke The Ladykillers (2004) Last Dance (1996) Le Divorce The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou Live Free Or Die Hard Looking For Richard Mad Love (1995) The Man From Snowy River Margaret The Marine Marked For Death The Marrying Man Martha Marcy May Marlene MASH Max Payne The Maze Runner Medicine Man Melinda And Melinda Metro Miami Rhapsody Miller’s Crossing Moulin Rouge (2001) My Father The Hero Mystery, Alaska The Namesake Nature Boy Never Die Alone The Newton Boys Night Watch (2006) No Mas Nothing To Lose Notorious Office Space One Hour Photo Oscar And Lucinda The Other Woman (2014) Our Family Wedding Out To Sea Pathfinder (2007) Phat Girlz Phone Booth Planet Of The Apes (1968) Planet Of The Apes (2001) Pony Excess The Poseidon Adventure (1972) Post Grad Powder The Preacher’s Wife Pretty Woman Primeval The Puppet Masters The Pyramid Quills Quiz Show Ravenous Rebound Renaissance Man Revenge Of The Nerds Ii: Nerds In Paradise The Ringer Robin Hood (1991) The Rocker Romancing The Stone Ruby Sparks Runaway Bride Rushmore Ruthless People The Savages Say It Isn’t So The Scarlet Letter Sea Of Shadows The Secret Life Of Bees Separate Lies The Sessions Shadow Conspiracy Shallow Hal Shining Through The Siege Signs Simon Birch A Simple Twist Of Fate The Sitter (2011) Six Days, Seven Nights Sleeping With The Enemy Solaris Someone Like You Soul Food Spy Hard Stakeout Starship Troopers Stoker Summer Of Sam Super Troopers (2002) Surrogates Swing Kids Taxi (2004) Terminal Velocity Thank You For Smoking There’s Something About Mary The Thin Red Line (1999) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Three Fugitives The Three Stooges (2012) Titan A.E. Tombstone Toys Trapped In Paradise Tristan & Isolde Up Close & Personal V.I. Warshawski Veronica Guerin The Village (2004) Von Ryan’s Express Waiting To Exhale Waitress Waking Life The War Of The Roses The Watch (2012) The Waterboy The Way Way Back What’s Love Got To Do With It When A Man Loves A Woman White Men Can’t Jump William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet Win Win Woman On Top Working Girl (1988) The X-Files

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The X-Files: I Want To Believe

Disney+ UK, now including Star is available for £7.99 per month

The post Disney+ UK Star Launch: Complete List of New TV Shows and Films appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3upvFOY

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

1 note · View note

tarantulaboy · 4 years

Text

Social Isolation Pt 20.

Today I’m going to dip back into a bit of music writing with ten albums that changed my life.

1. Anthrax - We’ve Come For You All

This is the ultimate feel-good metal album and probably my favorite album ever. From the anthemic Safe Home to the brutal and brilliant drumming on Nobody Knows to the amazing guest solo by Dimebag Darrell on Cadillac Rock Box there’s not a bad track on this album. It even has an acoustic version of Safe Home which is just sublime sitting aside a cover of the Ramones’ We’re a Happy Family as bonus tracks. If you need cheering up put this on and feel your mood rise with every single track.

2. Soundgarden - Superunknown

Superunknown actually changed my life twice. When I first heard it as a teenager it blew me away. Those riffs and that guitar sound. It turned me on to drop-D tuning and weird half-cocked wah guitar sounds and I never looked back. 20 years later it changed my life again when I learned the true meaning of many of Chris Cornell’s lyrics. They gave a voice to my own struggles with mental health and helped me make sense of a world that was not being kind to me.

3. Metallica - Load

A weird choice, right? I already liked Metallica but this album managed to worm its way into my mind. It was Until It Sleeps that really set my senses on fire. After seeing them perform live on Jools Holland while touring Load I was hooked. The riffs from King Nothing and Wasting My Hate are still things I play when I pick up the guitar and the King Nothing solo is one of the few Metallica solos I can actually play, kind of...

4. Sepultura - Roots

Those fucking riffs, that intense tribal-infused drumming. This was an album that just blew me away when I heard it. It just felt right. This was how metal should be. For me it was the last true Sepultura album as Max would leave shortly after to found Soulfly. It still feels as fresh and vital today as it was in 1996. Sepultura may have waned significantly since them but, my god, where they good when they were good.

5. Clutch - Pure Rock Fury

Clutch are just incredibly consistent. They’re a band that have forged their own path and worked their asses off to become one of the best rock bands out there now. Pure Rock Fury is exactly as you’d expect. Opening with a blast of feedback and crunching riff that jumped into a kind of distorted blues that I’d never heard the likes of before changed my perspective on music forever. And the rapping on Careful With The Mic? Fuck me. Never has a lyric about lactose intolerance made more sense.

6 Green Day - Nimrod

This album came out at the time of my life when I needed it most. Songs like The Grouch (an odd favourite for a 16-year-old to have), Scattered and Nice Guys Finish Last sustained me through the pain of my parents’ divorce and kept me semi-sane. Even today the songs ring through with a clarity and power that makes more sense than any of the post American Idiot garbage that the band has released. Billie-Joe Armstrong’s songwriting was never better than it was on Nimrod.

7. Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue

This is a beautiful album. It feels like a band saying a bittersweet farewell to Layne Staley and finding a way to move on to as new chapter. The real high point is Your Decision where Jerry Cantrell tries to make sense of the the loss of Layne by trying to step into his shoes. The same thoughtfulness and reflection echoes through the whole album and marked a triumphant return for a band that nobody expected to return.

8. Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon

It may be cliche, I know but David fucking Gilmour! This one of the greatest-selling albums of all time because it’s just so incredibly good. The guitar solo from Time remains one of the best guitar solos of all time and proves to guitarists all over the world that you don’t need to be a mad shredder like Vai or Malmsteen to be an amazing guitarist.

9. Jeff Buckley - Grace

There’s so much beauty in the world. Jeff Buckley had a voice like no other and his lyrics speak with the wisdom and regret of a man twice his age. Sadly his life was cut short when he took a drunken swim in the Mississipi river one night and never came back. Exquisite, soulful and utterly timeless. You’ve lived these songs and no-one’s poetry will express these feelings better than Jeff Buckley.

10. Megadeth - Rust In Peace

I was a bit starved of music as a kid. I borrowed Rust In Peace on cassette tape from the local library. The cover art was cool and it was one of the few heavy metal albums in there. Man did it change my opinion on metal. Holy Wars, Punishment Due, Hangar 18, Tornado of Souls, these songs made me sell my soul to the gods of thrash metal. The combination of Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman on guitars was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. Nine-year-old me had found something that seemed like everything I’d ever wanted from music and my life was never the same again.

0 notes

steve0discusses · 5 years

Text

Yugioh S4 Ep1 Part 2: The Soul Stealing Motorcycle Card Gang With an Australian Accent

So a lot of things that happen at once in this episode, and one of the wild things is something that has been building for 3 entire seasons of Yugioh but because all this other stuff is happening, it’s like...secondary. Slowly, we’ve been watching all of these cards becoming more and more real to the point that yes, they are in fact Physical now--other people are noticing, it’s finally happening. the cards are finally real. Magic exists. This is a very big deal.

Like I’ve seen some of y’alls comments about how S4 is kind of crazy and well...cards becoming real was my one and only guess as to what crazy thing could happen in S4 and that happened halfway through the first episode so...it’s all uphill from here

But what’s crazy about this is that although this has been built up for so long, all our main characters are so freakin distracted, that they look up at the sky and see...youknow...this tapestry here:

And treat it like they’re looking at a flock of really weird birds or something. Like this is world breaking, terrifying, end of the world, Independence Day level red alert and yet instead of the military marching down and shooting lasers at all of these things, everyone is going to just simply walk home.

No one is going to evacuate. Yugi’s Dad isn’t going to show up in a Mad Max style motorcycle in jean cutoffs and be like “I knew it was happening, Son, this is what I’ve been doing for the past 3 years PS, it was worth it now, huh?” no, that isn’t happening.

Instead we’re going to very patiently, and very carefully just not panic and walk home.

Everyone’s just gonna...walk on the sidewalk home, huh? Patiently follow traffic laws? Wait for the light to turn red and everything?

No one even slightly wants to know what any of these monsters taste like? Just me? I mean this is your one opportunity to cook and eat a scapegoat and you know that thing’s got to be delicious under barbecue sauce.

And the funny thing is, people saw this happening and was like “I should call that game company and let them know that there’s real ass dragons that look like their video game flying around.”

Like imagine that Nintendo became real and there’s just...Goombas everywhere. Would I be...calling the Nintendo Hotline?

Hell No. I would be checking all food blogs everywhere for how to roast a Goomba on a grill, because you KNOW those things would be nuts after a few hours in a marinade, draped with fried egg on rice.

But in Yugioh, they’re like calling up Kaiba Corp and hoping that customer service can somehow make the living, breathing dragons and whatever that flying turtle thing was just...stop existing. They’re pretty sure Kaiba can “turn off” the flying monsters.

I think I’m still spelling it wrong, too.

Also, Kuriboh is real now and that...sucks.

That’s a lot of gross hair just flying around and I guarantee it’s gonna give everyone lice. That nasty ass sentient ball of hair you pulled out of your shower drain is just...flying around outside with huge googly eyes.

Freakin sucks. You can’t possibly eat a Kuriboh, it’s way too much hair and I guarantee when you skin that thing it’s like just a meatball to put on the tiniest little skewer and that’s it.

Sorry Bro just informed me that Kuriboh is a ghost??????

???

Also one of the cards is straight up an American Quarter.

I just want to bring up that there’s one (1) cursed ass American Quarter somewhere on Earth and that is going to be a real shocker for the one person that picks up that Quarter and doesn’t realize that when you flip it, it can kill people.

And I just did hunt to figure out what the hell the quarter card is called and I’m starting to think maybe the the show made it up? Wtv my memory is patchy when it comes to the cards.

And for all the cards that are just people but with more muscles, what are they gonna do? Is Dark Magician gonna have to go try and get a reception job to pay the bills? Is anyone going to hire Dark Magician in this economy?

(read more under the cut)

On their pleasurable walk home amongst all the horrible abominations and I guess a couple of bizarre magician hats floating around, they come across...this:

They just left them there in the middle of the street next to this nasty ass Gecko that would ABSOLUTELY eat them.

Also that Gecko...that’s just an alligator that can climb walls, right? Like this is Florida level of insane terrible creature you never want to have climbing walls? That was the one thing we had on alligators--vertical walls.

Youknow, Florida is probably the only place on Earth in this Universe that is actually completely fine.

On the other side of town, Roland is having his best day ever.

I do enjoy that Roland's line was “Mr Kaiba assured me that it’s not their company’s fault” which makes it sound sort of like he had some serious doubts. And might still have some serious doubts. And that he’s so sure that it was Kaiba, that he’s just going to say the “company” isn’t to blame.

And so they decided, well instead of evacuating the city, lets go have dinner at the Muto house. So, they all decided to not check in with everyone else’s parents and family and instead had a fun hang out sesh and watched TV.

They went to school with this guy.

Like they went to school with this guy like a month ago and now he’s giving press conferences in front of a dictator-style tapastry.

The imposter syndrome in Domino High must be pretty wild if you’re always getting compared to Seto Kaiba, is all I’m saying. Maybe that’s why the rest of the class has just decided to drop out.

*Cut to Pegasus’ island where there’s like 80 dead wife zombies running around and Pegasus and Croquet have locked themselves into the bathroom while they watch the zombie wives eat whatever’s left of PaniK.*

It looks like my dream ending of Yugioh, that Seto Kaiba’s company gets sued to hell and back and everyone goes to prison isn’t quite realized yet but it’s looking slowly and surely more real every day.

Kind of surprising that they assume so quickly that Kaiba is lying when they’re sitting next to Pinocchio over here.

So once you think, well...they can’t add more to this episode, no, we’re just gonna straight up knock out Yugi’s Grandpa...again. He needs a life alert. Does Yugi wear a life alert?

And you’d think they’d assume that a monster did this, right? Nah. It’s people. Real ass people did this but not one of the many huge ass monsters that apparently are kind of like Pokémon and don’t feel like doing more than just flap their arms and sit on stuff.

Anyways, the God Cards are gone. Goodbye, Deux ex Machina cards.

Feel a little bad for the one building just directly under the shadow of obelisk, looking up and just seeing a giant, glittery, blue ass.

And then a whole bunch of motorcycles showed up??? Like MOTORCYCLES. And I was like “BRO are they gonna play cards on motorcycles!?” because one of the only reasons I decided “OK Bro, lets actually watch Yugioh” is, and I’ve said this before, because someone mentioned on twitter that they’ll play cards on motorcycles but no.

No one plays cards on motorcycles this episode, they just show up to rev their engines and shine their brights.

Also at least one of them has like the thickest stage Australian accent and it is...rough. He said “bum” once instead of “butt” and you could tell it was just...they said bum to make him sound a little bit more Aussie because we don't really know how to do Australian in the States. We don’t know how this accent works, I’m so sorry.

But anyways, apparently after the God Cards got their energy sapped out, they can now just...be played by whomever? Not entirely clear.

And then they just...drove away.

Like they drove away without even telling them where to go?

And I was like...maybe they just went to that building under construction right there that is...somehow directly across from Yugi’s house which is...directly across from a super wide 12 laned street?

But...that can’t be right, right? I’m sometimes a little confused by the geography of this show but it’s a cartoon and they’re hard to make so we’ll forgive it.

Anyway, while Grandpa Muto counts up the damages to send to the insurance company, they figure out where to go, probably by following the God Cards which are...summoned here like holograms although...they are real? Right?

Like...

...so if there’s monsters just flying around, and it’s all the monsters of the duel monster deck, then there is a version of Slither just hanging out somewhere already, right? Or is the one they summon with the card the real Slither?

The show never thought that hard about it honestly. You can both play duel monster cards which I believe are no longer holograms when you play them and also they just inherently exist now so...Lets not think about it and just go to a brand new fight club roof. You know how much these kids love construction equipment.

Also is this the roof of a freakin IKEA? Look at the size of that thing.

This cultist just begging for Seto Kaiba to run a helicopter straight into him. Which Seto would probably do all over again if Seto were here.

I guess Seto decided to either go the hell to sleep and hope tomorrow will prove today was a bad dream, or he is celebrating the very best day of his life with his brother, sight seeing all the dragons and desperately trying to lure the dragons into his home with carrots under a box trap or something.

This guy ABSOLUTELY does Shakespeare in the park and only gets like minor, very minor roles, right? Like he’s the understudy for King Lear’s manservant who has no speaking lines and just pours water into a cup in one scene? And he takes it VERY seriously?

Yo these side burns.

So bro was like, who do you think would have more product in their hair? This guy or Yugi? And it’s like..well...here’s the thing about Yugi’s hair, he’s got a lot of product, but he has enough scalp to tease the hell out of it. But how do you tease your side burns? How do you tease your side burns so they have the lift of an old timey moustache? you can’t. Those side burns are 90% Elmers glue.

Hello there, offbrand Final Fantasy guy I see you got a Cloud shoulder pad but you wear two of them.

...

It’s a look they chose.

I...there’s a lot going on with all of these looks, especially the guy who is straight up wearing pieces of armor on his shoulders in the middle here for no reason but oh I will get to the looks when we see them in more detail later.

But it’s like, do you think Mr Monocle, who’s only character design trait is a single Monocle, will stay in the show very long? Compared to these guys?

Hm.

I guess we will see.

Thanks, Pegasus.

Thanks for giving us absolutely NO heads up about any of your disaster cards you produced and let loose across the world. Congrats on that. Congrats on printing this freakin card that steals people’s souls and delivering it out there where children could find it in their happy meals.

Like do you think he printed the Orichalcos card before or after the God Cards? Because I’d like to think that he finished up shoving the God Cards onto Ishizu and then was like “phew, crisis averted” and then immediately painted a weird geometric shape and was like “Damn it! I did it again!? Every time I decide not to paint my dead wife I just paint something even worse!”

Anyways, it’s aesthetic takes me back to a much simpler time of my life, and when it shows up the Titanic song pops up in my head? I can’t explain it. It’s just very...very...

It just screams edgy Riverdance to me, maybe it’s just me, but I feel like it should be accompanied by Enya? Just me? The runes just seem very old world Europe.

Bro really wants these to be the runes above Noah’s fireplace and he’s been holding this in for like an entire season, but that’s not going to happen.

Because I have the receipts:

Evidence again that Noah’s fireplace was just what Noah thought art was, since he’s a computer and all. He rendered perfect fire and then got to the art and was like fuuuuuuuuuuu just like anyone else who first gets into Unity.

Anyway, Joey got knocked over, so Pharaoh decided to save his friends and it got him nowhere because, like we already figured out last episode and basically more and more every episode of Yugioh, Pharaoh is a freakin idiot.

So fun fact about the 00′s I’m sure everyone here fondly remembers unless you’re 12 (in which case, why are you on tumblr?) Remember how much we were OBSESSED with glowy blue-green lines and dots on everything in concept art? I really think that trend lasted until about James Cameron’s Avatar when we realized “we took it too far y’all” and then it just kinda died. Still hangs around, but it’s not quite as obvious as the 00′s when it was like “ah I see you have a glowy pastel magicky thingy in your art. A+, lets put it in a grimdark dystopian YA fiction.”

...It was a phase and seeing this shade of green as a glow just really brings me back to the halcyon days of a little less than 10 years ago. It’s very something that would have been in steampunk.

They also get this logo on their head when they use this card, just like Pharaoh but significantly less cool. And it’s on all this guy’s monsters too, so everyone gets the power of branding. With this logo that looks like a joke Portlandia would make about indie logos.

Pharaoh kind of shrugs this off because like...his soul lives in a freakin necklace and he has magic so...whatever.

And then we get the full cheese spread--look at this cheese!

WOWOWOWOW

Look at Dieselpunk Amelie! Here I thought that now Marik wasn’t around we’d have no more stupid crop tops, but it’s back and man I am so happy it’s back. Damn. Everyone has a popped collar covered in as many square inches of belts as they could fit on em. Belts just hanging off willy nilly in every direction so you can barely walk through a hallway without your belt slapping on the edges. Them walking through a revolving door must be the most dangerous game outside of Duel Monsters.

woah.

Oh man, and I didn’t even noticed that they made the middle guy ripped as hell for no reason. His arm looks like a Payday candybar.

But MAN.

Someone give that guy on the right a sword the size of himself because...holy hell his jacket is so massive that it has an accordion shoulder pad for some reason???

Oh shoot I didn’t even realize guy on the right has about 6 rivets on his fingerless gloves, too. Wow.

Oh man it’s a lot to take in.

Do you see em? Do you see how many weird ass accessories are all over these characters these underpaid animators will have to draw SO MANY TIMES?

Oh man, the poor cosplayers! It must be so hard to go from Bandit Keith--a fairly easy cosplay--to the Accordian shouldered 11-belted jacket on Mr I-Dare-You-To-Cosplay-These-Sideburns.

And then this guy screws himself:

I’m not gonna add him to the Yugioh Death Counter yet, but I have a feeling, especially after seeing how few belts this guy has on...I just have a really strong feeling he’s absolutely going to die.

Goodbye, normal guy, you were too normie for this bizarre world.

Anyway, feel free to leave in the comments, if Yugioh cards became real, which one would you immediately eat and how? (and we can count plant cards as actual plants for the vegans, even if they can talk or whatev--them’s plants, they’re kosher.)

(realizes I have no idea if there’s even plant type cards in Yugioh or if that’s just a pokemon thing)

Anyway that’s all for now but if you just got here, this is a link to read all my Yugioh recaps in Chrono Order, fair warning...this is S4.

#yugioh #ygo #yugioh recap #photo recap #S4 #S4 ep1 #gurimo #yugi muto #joey wheeler #grandpa muto #tea gardner #tristan taylor #I don't know the name of the three new dudes yet #but wow they have more belts on than my local old navy #cameo by Seto Kaiba #who is somehow not seeing a lawsuit yet

35 notes · View notes