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notallwonder · 1 year

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Alright. We are here. At the end(ish). CM 16x10 "Dead End".

Spoilers and whatever my addled brain wants to express under the cut. This may be a long one.

I don't know why this show makes me so happy despite its many deficiencies. tbh I think it's bc I am job hunting and this at least gives me a lil shot of dopamine or seratonin or whatever the fuck. Also Paget Brewster.

The things I want out of this season finale: Prentiss. I hope she gets to smile and smirk and not just be mad/sad/worried. I wanna see some good moments for Luke, though I'm less hopeful on that front. I want to see something good for Tara. What that could be...dunno. As for the rest - I don't think I even care that much? I suspect it will end in some sort of cliffhanger.

Okay, now that I have unwisely embarked on this journey in the wee hours of the night...

I wonder who will get to wear the Brown Jacket this episode?

oh boo the black & white flashbacks are still here...I hate that choice.

it's a pleasure to see Krystall again tho. I always liked her.

laying on the ol' "FBI behavioral analysis heroes stop real monsters" schtick real thick there guys. it's funny of me to get annoyed about this on this, the "FBI are real heroes" show. but I do.

good onya Dave, found the mood lighting. LOL at the oxygen meter. LMAO even MORE at Dave finding the wifi router.

it's still so stupid that Will is there lol

this is the first time I have truly hated Elias Voit. who would rather speak to Bailey when Emily Prentiss is right there on the phone? only a stupid little man apparently. although - Bailey would be way easier to manipulate so maybe not so stupid.

omg incredible forehead moment there. ma'am your eyebrows (what have i become)

love the implication that Dave just recites quotes to himself. kinda tracks

this situation with Bailey makes me go *grimace emoji*

has Bailey been a gold star lesbian this whole time?

t's so stupid that Will gets lines and Luke still gets shafted. I don't hate Will, but...really?

god now JJ says "wheels up"? sorry, hate it

WOW okay. So Gold Star is a secret program of some kind. And now we're talking "legal" and "extralegal" options with the AG. boy. whew. god why did I get attached to this fucking show.

though - AG slaying in that black suit/purple blouse situation.

"they would see through it, the BAU" - because the BAU are the good guys, not involved in (implied unethical?) secret shit? what the ever loving shit is this.

Adam Rodriguez just doing the most with his beautiful face and voice. thank you sir

bummer that I have to watch most of Joe Mantegna's acting from a weird vantage point and on a phone screen on a TV screen.

oh wait now we get a Badass Marine Rossi Montage

absolutely incredible, the bizarre combinations of ads I get when I watch this show. After Rossi's explosive moment, I just got served an ad about a disease that causes curvature of the erection due to scar tissue. what the fuck paramount plus

is it just me or did the audio get weird now that we're back in Emily's office

"politics" there that is again

Ghost of Krystall Past! Welcome to the shitshow! you look fabulous

"we were just getting started" I wish they did this echo thing with lines that actually were interesting

I do love Emily being constantly like "WHAT tHE Frickle FRACKLE" but I worry for her blood pressure. can she ride along. I want her in every scene, not just stuck at the BAU on Chicken Roaster time

Elias please tell your wife you want to wear the Moose dog collar and that's why you saved it. whoops missed opportunity babe

Emily. ma'am. you are beautiful, gorgeous, smokin'. etc.

what are you Bailey, a vampire

I mean...I am intrigued about what the fuck this is all about. they've got me on the hook. can they reel me in?

the implication here is that Voit has knowledge/dirt that they want kept secret. So he's a little bit in kind of a Snowden position?

OH SHIT BAILEY DEAD

WILL BEEN SHOT (saw that one coming, why else would he be there). dont worry he's fine guys. no stakes

YAS Tara. There's that steel. I missed that steel.

JJ and Sydney. Classic mom to mom interview, right?

LOL they're begging Sydney to help them find David Rossi, that annoying old dude that accosted her in the cereal aisle.

in my opinion this episode has a weird denouement energy. like...it didn't feel climactic even in the shootout scene. maybe on rewatch

it's really too bad that me and the CME showrunner(s) have such a disagreement on what parts of this show/world are worth expanding upon. the emotional beats/storyline with Elias and family are fine. They are kind of interesting even. More interesting to me than plenty of the 300 some previous unsubs. but...a simple 2 minutes scene of Emily Prentiss in her own home? I would dine on that for weeks, months, years. it's all about priorities. I get it. I've been thinking about that - about the fact that I have not been watching the same show they've been making. I mean...literally I have. But that's how art works in some sense. someone creates a thing, and I encounter that thing, engage with it. I bring whatever I bring to the encounter, and walk away having had an experience that the original creator *might* have intended in and might not, depending on how you define that. maybe we're ships passing in the night. i'm sure i'm not articulating this very well. it's almost 3 a.m. here.

good news for the Tyler dislikers out there

Rossi now that you're back at the BAU the first thing you better be doing is groveling at Emily Prentiss's feet and apologizing for your behavior sir.

oh, BIG HUG! *heart eyes*

oh my GOD I am just CACKLING WITH LAUGHTER. Emily Prentiss big embrace to Mr. JJ, Will Lamontagne Jr. INCREDIBLE. IN-CRED-IBLE!!!!!!! this kind of comedy is...I don't have words for it. it's like...a teeny tiny version of what I imagine that Supernatural Nov 5 Emotion was like. I witnessed but did not feel that feel. but this might be a related feel.

aw Bailey. you join the dead agents wall. aw Emily - big sigh. sweet sad face. couldn't love you more.

yesssss, I have collected yet another line spoken between JJ and Emily that is not case-related!! (I think I am up to 2? 3?). "your eulogy was beautiful". classic jemily right there!

Prentiss cogs still turning

LOL calling Bailey a "comrade-in-arms" sorry it's just funny that this is supposed to have real emotional weight. I get it that it has weight for the team; but the audience...we barely knew ye Doug Noodle.

not lost on me that we're winding down on the "couples" here. Pen & Luke; Will & JJ; Tara & Emily lol

JJ's line to Will "I have a confession to make...I liked it a lot better when I didn't have to see you in the line of fire." Wow, groundbreaking confession there. I mean...we already know this. Not only is that, like, a very normal sentiment regarding someone you love, but also remember Hit/Run? I do really enjoy JJ insulting her husband. "yeah, well next time don't get shot [idiot]" I like that as part of their dynamic. it feels authentic to JJ in some way. she does that sarcastic thing.

GOD I wanted SO HARD to see Voit's shoes, which I assume were government issued dirty orange Crocs

y'all, so help me, I liked this season. I like that it's given me more raw material to work with, I guess. I LOVE that it gave me silver fox Prentiss. The ham-handedness and bad writing and pacing issues and all of that are clear weaknesses that are also pretty clear carry overs from the original run. No shock or surprise there, and I am (too) forgiving, especially because they have genuinely tried to do something new-ish. Did they succeed? I mean. yeah. Did they succeed *well*? Not really.

As for the ending...they set themselves up for the new season, enough intrigue to get me to keep watching (I would have anyway because i somewhat embarrassingly have ONE priority). It feels like some secret spy shit, which I can only hope means *something* in terms of call backs to Emily's secret spy shit days (it won't since this isn't the Emily Prentiss show, which I will always be sad about).

I cannot bring myself to be mad about various choices like Garcia's characterization, the JJ and Emily situation such as it isn't, even Rebecca. I think the door is still open for Rebecca to be part of the story moving forward. The Garcia character assassination is...well it is jarring and still feels oddly simplistic to me, though I think they are aiming for complexity. I am still waiting on some real consequences / real accountability for her and I'm not sure I'll ever be satisfied in that arena. She admitted in the finale that she fell back into old patterns, and Luke joked that if people didn't do that they'd be out of a job, with the hilarious implication that PG's bad relationship habits are comparable to...serial killer shit. Adam Rodriguez stays giving a really enjoyable performance as a man who loves this woman honestly more than seems wise - he is getting his heart stepped on but won't abandon her. And I don't know that he's necessarily pining, so much as he is committed to being her friend despite her carelessness. I am mad that Luke didn't get much of anything of his own this season.

I hope the folks creating CME take some time to do a critical post-mortem. I hope they're not just patting themselves on the back. I generally appreciate what they're trying to do, but I want them to figure out how to do it better.

#criminal minds evolution #criminal minds evolution spoilers #criminal minds spoilers #cm spoilers #cme spoilers #criminal minds

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oviids · 3 years

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pls share some of your spn fic recs 🥺🥺

ok, a few things first:

followers and mutuals who do not have supernatural brainworms, kindly avert your eyes

i don’t normally rec or even read much fanfic any more but this is a CRISIS ok (cont.)

there is so. much. content for deancas out there and i have incredibly high standards, several ancient ao3 bookmarks, can speedread, and want to spare you guys the experience of wading through it all.

i also have a section for spn femslash since I was pretty into that back in the day (sadly a lot less fan content for this :/)

I don’t really like au’s or pure smut (I honestly usually just skim or skip those scenes) so if you’re mainly looking for that kind of thing this probably won’t be very helpful to you. jsyk.

i’m not great at describing stuff but i’ll do my best, i’ll also try and add tw’s when neccesary.

i wil try and keep updating this with any other decent fics i find, feel free to rec stuff too since i’m like 7 years behind.(edit 1/25/21) this is getting looooong so i’m going to start making another list on my spn blog rather than update this one

(edit 1/3/21) since this has gotten pretty long i’ve added rating/approximate word counts and marked my particular favorites with an asterisk.

Dean/Cas fic:

So Says The Sword*** - explicit/85k. FUCK its good...au/time travel where dean is not pulled out of hell by cas and says yes to becoming the michael sword. honestly could serve as an alternative to actually watching the show, if you want to get into dean/cas without actually doing that to yourself.

Fata morgana.* - teen/6k, pst s9 finale. very bela centric and i love it, she finds cas looking for dean in hell.

Redemption Road -misc/600+k. an incredibly long fic from a collaborative writing group back in the day. canon divergent from the end of s6 on, has a cool take on godstiel and the leviathans, as well as the lovecratian mythos connection. ngl when i reread it i only made it about 28% in but imo the casual reader can actually stop around there, the rest concerns a lovecraftian apocalypse that is still good (i think i don’t remember it very well) but not required to enjoy the first half. if you prefer i have an ebook version i can send you on gdrive.

Someone Who's Feeling For Me* - mature/45k, s12. they run into lisa braeden and dean thinks cas is into her while cas thinks dean still likes her. treats lisa way better than the show ever did and the miscommunication is pretty funny rather than annoying.

a turn of the earth - mature/95k. time travel fic where cas from s10 keeps showing up in deans life from a few years before s1 to right before the hellhounds take his soul. slow burn, good character study, and at one point cas punches the dad in the face and it rules.

On the Wings of War - teen/85k, canon divergent s5. dean accidentally becomes the Horseman of War. plays fun, fast and loose with biblical lore, michael has some rights.

Named - mature/95k, alternate s5. EXTREMELY blasphemous in a fun sexy way. manages to predict metatron almost to a T. there’s one major character death and its literally jesus christ, everyone is very sad about it and it sets the rest of the story rolling. an alternate interpretation of cas’ mission to raise dean from hell which had me on the floor. ngl its kind of misogynistic at points, but its from 2010 and tracks with late oughts-2010 spn (sorry anna the author did you dirty here:/).

The Girlfriend Experience - explicit/15k. uhhh i don’t normally rec or even read smutty stuff unless someone i know is specifically asking for it but this has stuff like sam trying to be a good ally and dean thinking holding hands with cas is ‘kinda gay :/’ minutes after having gay sex with him.

i crippled your heart a hundred times - explicit/19k, s8. cas confesses his feelings and dean spends a long time getting his head out of his ass about it. truly hits different after the actual confession, despite being written six years early it feels like its actually what could have gone down more or less if the writers weren’t talentless demons who hate us.

My Roots Take Flight** - mature/125k. reverse au where cas is a hunter and dean’s an angel...OR IS IT???? an alternate retelling of s4. tw for briefly being set in a psychiatric hospital/the hospital being mentioned somewhat frequently throughout the fic, plus more references to torture in hell and heaven than usual.

The One Thing You Can't Lose* - teen/4k.you know those posts about how cas is a super-strong super-tough ancient warrior but he just lets dean tug him around because he likes it? thats it thats the fic.

Hands, From Which All Things Are Built - teen/14k, post s8′s ‘goodbye stranger.’ cas is on the run with the angel tablet but keeps in touch with sam and dean by text, he and dean still manage to be terrible at Actual communication.

Autrement, Danger - or, The Account of an Exceedingly Long Day - mature/30k, post s11. a monster that takes the appearance of your soulmate leads to some wild miscommunications and dealing with years of repression, also dean gets to see cas’ true form which is always cool. tw for non-graphic mentions of underage sexual assault/sex work.

Down to Agincourt - mature/explicit/900++++k, endverse continuation. endverse!cas survives his encounter with lucifer and discovers another time-displaced dean from s7. i’ve only read the two of four parts but its really good, veeeeery slow burn, has a lot of fun oc’s and takes a rather surprising but (imo) entertaining and intriguing turn into Hellenic history and mythology. usual tw’s for endverse/endverse!cas but nothing graphic, it’s actually pretty light-hearted (relatively speaking of course).

Nothing Equals the Splendor** - explicit/8k, THEE finale fix it fic you’ve been waiting for! posits that the entire final episode was just a (very bad and lame) djinn’s vision.

like moses and batman and james dean - explicit/31k, post s8. explores dean’s trauma and internalized homophoba from his technically canon experience with sex work and its impact on his relationship with cas. the sex work itself isn’t really shown in any detail but it’s still a relatively heavy fic.

Crazy Diamonds - explicit/25k, s4/alternate s14. fresh-out-of-hell dean and dean from 10 years in the future are displaced from time and sent to each other’s present.

where the weeds take root - explicit/30k. au where the men of letters kick them out of the bunker and they accidentally move out into the country, get over their codependence and semi retire. featuring chicken coop building, sam volunteering at a dog shelter, gardening, and blissfully mundane domesticity.

No Resting Place - teen/6k. djinn dream fic, switches back and forth between cas’ dream of being married to dean and retired from hunting to the aftermath when he wakes up. tw for brief mention of suicide since, y’know, djinn dream.

any port in a storm - mature/52k. post s8 finale. cas and dean have to pose as a couple going through a rough patch for a case and actually deal with their emotional baggage, cas struggles with being human and metatron is up to stuff.

all this and heaven too* - explicit/7k. in the author’s own words ‘...a love letter to every trans person who ever projected onto Dean Winchester.’ absolutely unzipped me emotionally and theologically, its just. so good. tw for very brief mentions of internalized transphobia/dysphoria.

Because it is* - mature/6k, finale fix it. killing chuck does not bring back anyone back and the winchesters spend a very long time dealing with what they’ve lost, cas and dean SOMEHOW still manage to have signifigant communication issues even after the confession. tw for suicidal thoughts/brief attempt.

Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit* - teen/4k, s6. when cas fell for dean it automatically soulbonded/angel married them, shenanigans ensue when dean finds out during the angel’s civil war. funny and actually written back when s6 was airing so cas is still (or at least pretending to be) kind of an OP asshole which is fun.

Rinse, Repeat - teen/3k, s8. angsty character study of cas as he’s reprogrammed and trained to kill dean. not really dean/cas since its just cas’ pov of canon events but its beautifully written and ends with him snapping out of it through the power of love (also now a canon event!).

Emergence - explicit/59k, canon divergent after s11. dean meets a hunter he only recognizes as their friend claire novak’s missing father, but soon realizes he might be the answer behind the mysterious void in his memories and feelings (aka everyone’s memories of cas are completely wiped away for three years).

Cuckoo And Nest - explicit/10k, early established relationship/character study, cas tries to figure out how he fits into dean’s life and space in the bunker.

Build a Home* - teen/20k, canon divergent s12. sam and eileen are cute and turn the bunker into men of letters/hunters hq and everyone but cas moves in, mutual miscommunication issues and pining ensues.

Down in the River - teen/5k, early s8, cas prays to dean in purgatory while sam and dean try to figure out a way to get him out.

Teaching Poetry to Fish* - mature/52k, ?? BC through the entire series/canon divergent s14 and 15. retelling of crucial scenes throughout the shows timeline from cas’ pov, feat. actual fish and poetry.

the minor fall, the major lift - gen/4k, post confession/finale fixit. dean goes into the empty to save cas and runs into several old friends (and enemies).

With the Kisses of His Mouth* - teen/3k, gen later seasons. dean and cas keep kissing by accident.

Remaining Grace - explicit/109k, alternate s6. au where cas asks dean for help with raphael and dean, of course, does. tw for temporary major character death/semi-graphic depictions of alcohol withdrawal.

The face of heaven.* - teen/10k, au, dean is a regular guy and cas is a fallen star (think ‘stardust’, kinda).

Stories Are Made of Mistakes* - teen/5k. newly human cas has trouble getting used to a human body and humanity in general, but still figures out that he and dean are A Thing before dean does.

Hurry Up And Wait - mature/21k, canon divergent s12. a fairyland and quite possibly LOTR related case comes up and dean goes full fanboy, mary is introduced to the wonders of the peter jackson adaptions, many references and comparisons (including between cas and dean’s ‘friendship’ and arwen/aragon). also charle is still alive and has just been doing fairy stuff this whole time.

There Are Many Things - explicit/28k, s9. cas is extremely lonely/touch-starved and trying to figure out this whole human thing, as well as where he and dean stand after being kicked out of the bunker.

It's A Long Life to Always Be Longing - teen/40k, post s11 finale. amara helps dean by putting him in a magical coma so he can finally get some much needed rest and show him possible futures for him, sam and cas. meanwhile sam and cas go on a roadtrip (or several) to find componets for a spell to wake dean up. really good sam and cas friendship, they actually talk about their shared lucifer trauma and stuff.

Non-Photo Blue - gen/2k, s4/5/alternate s5. fifty moments from cas’ memories of dean.

Tall Grass - explicit/57k, canon divergent post series. cas becomes the ultimate plant dad. feat the wayward sisters gang, cathartic character growth, fun oc’s, domesticity, and lots of actual botanical info-dumping.

on vessels - no rating/gen/2k. established dean/cas, cas tells dean about how he used to imagine what it would be like to have him as his vessel.

search for tomorrow on every shore* - teen/11k, post-finale (extremely derogatory). some angels in jack’s new heaven act out and dean gets temporarily resurrected in 2003 and runs into his younger self.

Architecture of the Minotaur’s Heart - explicit/45k, very canon divergent post s1. dean’s new house seems to have a life and mind of its own, while in his dreams he sees glimpses of a world and apocalypse that never came to be and an angel that looks strangely like his mysterious neighbor, cas. loosely inspired by the book house of leaves (which i highly recommend for fans of weird horror).

The Distance Of The Setting Sun - explicit/17k, post s5. established dean/cas relationship, team free will finally takes advantage of cas’ abilities to go on vacation around the world.

diamond star halo - teen/5k, s11. dean lets cas use him as a temporary vessel while he recovers from rowena’s spell, sam is a long-suffering third-wheel.

Make Known** - teen/16k, s6/7. dean struggles to understand how cas could have become his enemy and whether he ever truly knew him in the first place.

blunt little instrument* - mature/1.4k, post finale. dean finally confronts his father in heaven, very cathartic.

my heart a compass*** - teen/10k, post confession. the empty forces cas to re-experience his most regretted moments while dean tries to snap him out of it and bring him home.

A Crash Course in Someone Else's History - teen/11k, s6. cas from the very start of s4 is brought forward in time by s6!cas to distract the brothers from his and crowley’s plans.

The Cuckoo Father - mature/8k, s7 au. the woman who found cas in the river post-leviathans does not marry him bc he was sent to her by god or whatever, but actually identifies him as jimmy novak and sends him back to claire and amelia.

The Dead Dean Clause* - teen/5k, post alt s5 ending. team free will celebrates surviving taking down lucifer by getting blitzed, cas lies to a cop and gets an impromptu driving lesson. title/description sound dark i know but it’s actually very funny and light.

Suck It, Judy Garland - mature/20k, s12 (after the ‘i love you...i love all of you’ episode). cas and sam have to pretend to be a couple for a case and dean is NOT happy about it.

By Daylight and In Dream - teen/16k, s5. pre-dean/cas, dean invites cas to use his dreams to hide from the other angels. tw for very brief mention of a memory/dream of alastair sexually assaulting dean.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven - mature/22k, post-canon. an actually happy (if sometimes bittersweet) heaven endgame written several years ago, though some details are rather eerily similar to the show’s ending.

heaven is a place on earth* - teen/2k. dean’s pov of some of the times cas left him behind throughout the show, and one alternate ending where he finally gets to stay.

I Cleanse The Mirror - teen/20k, alternate s6. dean’s body is stolen by an ancient elemental and his soul has to hitch a ride in cas’ vessel.

an exploration of gender; angelic*** - mature/4k. *oscar isaac voice* lets get into angel gender politics!! aka cas is trans.

Zenith - explicit/33k, s9. after 9x06 an angry witch curses cas with the ability to see supernatural beings and human souls.

La cucina. - gen/3k, alt s9. dean goes wild helping a newly-human cas find out what kinds of food he likes, or the early s9 domesticity we deserved!

Dean Winchester, Cocksucker at Rest***** - teen/7k, post-finale. john and mary finally come over for dinner and john reacts to dean/cas in a rather predictable fashion. SOOOOOOOOO good omg, its so funny and a little sad and very very cathartic. part of a series that has a few other really good short fics.

The Way You Didn't Go - teen/5k, s15. coda to 15.09, dean has nightmares about the moc!cas timeline.

On Drowning - teen/28k. dean saves cas after he nearly drowns, they both try and deal with the physical/mental fallout (aka the fic where thee iconic “you only touch me when you think I’m dead or dying” originates). tw for realistic depictions of drowning/triage/misc medical information.

The Thirty-Six Questions That Lead to Love* - mature/13k. claire has dean and cas pretend to be her gay dads for a case and they play the titular 36 question game, get mistaken for swingers, and birdwatch, among other things.

Assorted F/F stuff:

Deep Breaths* - mary/ellen, au where mary said no to azazel’s deal and let john stay dead, still becomes a milf.

Like Rebel Diamonds - krissy/claire, they become hunter gf’s on the hunt for cas to kick his ass for taking jimmy. not-so-stealth dean/cas as well.

To Ash and Bone - anna/ruby, same author as the previous fic (p much all of her stuff is good from what i recall). au where ruby is a witch and helps anna when she’s cursed.

Holy Clockwork Angels - jo/ruby, STEAMPUNK au with very cool worldbuiilding.

At Day's End - jo/anna (my fucking KINGDOM for more jo/anna content, the dean/cas parallels are allllll there), au where they are both at the camp in the endverse and gfs.

these posts - ok so not actually a fic but i’m now obsessed with this hannah/meg dynamic.

Tagelied - mary/ellen, the true story of how ellen got into hunting before angels interfered.

Hell's Bells** - meg/abaddon, alternate s8/9 where meg survives crowley’s attack with sam’s help and teams up with abaddon (who she has a sk year old crush on) to take back hell.

The Ecstasy of the Rose - anna/ruby, anna travels back in time to escape heaven and becomes a signifigant part of ruby’s old human life.

Angel Underground - anna/jo, kind of an urban fantasy au with a very intriguing premise (sadly its very short, i’d love to see more if this ‘verse).

Clover, Flame - billie/mary, billie was always the reaper that showed up to take mary after her death(s) over the years.

Drag Me To Heaven - anna/ruby, a variant on the ‘last night on earth’ thing with dean.

Come Home* - jo/anna, canon-divergent au where anna is the new waitress at the roadhouse and helps jo set up a (probably not really) haunted house for halloween.

#if you told me i'd be doing this in 2020 three weeks ago i'd have laughed in your face :/#deancas #supernatural #fic recs #spn femslash #destiel #fic #the alie tag #spn posting

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maladaptive-ninja-returns · 4 years

Text

It’s The Avengers (03x08)

Loki x Reader Avengers The Office AU (Slowwwwww Burn)

Season 3 Episode 08: We Are Going Knowhere

Series Summary: Living in the Avengers facility post-apocalypse in a better timeline Tony Stark has decided to capture every moment by pulling The Office on the Avengers. All of housemates are pretty used to the idea except for you, who had just come here to finish her degree, and the newest member- Loki.

Warnings: oooof!!!

Word Count:I sound so bad for actually turning happy that there was a positive patient in our block because that would increase the chances of my neighbourhood undergo a strict lockdown and then I wouldn’t have to go to work. My fam doesn’t understand this but I need some time with myself to recharge for good and so they look at me like I am posessed.

MASTERLIST in bio, darlings. Tags are open (check bio)

The lens focused from its blurriness over to the kitchenette where Bucky stood making himself some coffee.

Scott: Are we rolling? *nods* Cool. *clears throat* So turns out that there is another unspoken romance waiting to bloom in our midst and as a hopeless romantic with an engineering degree I am utterly disappointed in myself for not figuring it out sooner. *looks at some invisible void in the distance* Well, I would have if I wasn't so obsessed with my other couple goal. I would have. *smiles at the void* *speaks softly* those two almost gave me a heart attack last night!

A sweat-drenched Steve walked in after a run around the facility. "Hey," he greeted Bucky before turning towards the dorms. "Hey," Bucky greeted back while pouring his coffee and looking at America's ass strut down the lounge in those grey track pants that were just the right amount of tight across those butt cheeks jiggling down the hall while the camera caught that steaming hot coffee colour the -otherwise spotless- white island brown as Bucky's eyes and heart skipped with that booty while his hands holding the coffee pot forgot what they were supposed to do. Scott entered the lounge to find that coffee dripping down everywhere while Bucky was lost. "Watch out, Buck," he called out, breaking the Captain's trance on this Seargent, "your gay is showing."

Scott: *contemplates* huh...I should get that on a t-shirt.

"I don't get it. He's your best friend. Why don't you just ask him out?" Scott bit into an apple and looked at Bucky mopping up the result of his gaze and one sexy booty. "I can't ask him out because he is my best friend, Scott," Bucky sighed. "It was kinda easy to do this charade back in our day. Now, everyone is out of the closet like-" "Like your everyday lounging shorts," Scott added, getting a nod agreement from Bucky. "And I'm not even sure if he looks at me the same way." Scott had to look at the camera after on real slow blink in Bucky's direction.

Scott: *inhales while keeping his palms together in front of his face* Boy, do I have news for you! *opens his hands and tries to stop the excitement from making him scream* That dude literally fought Nazis for you! TWICE! And then brought you back to f****ng life! *tries not to cry* *whispers* Dude! Why are my OTPs so f****ng dumb!

On Our Trip to Knowhere The camera showed Lulu trying to swim in the sea of berries in a crate while popping one in his mouth whenever Loki wasn't looking. "If the merchant asks for mixed berries I'm going to sell you off to him," Loki announced from the cockpit. Well, at least Lulu thought he wasn't looking. The distraught and drooping fluff looked at you for any sign that this wasn't true. "No, he won't," you mouthed and shook your head before turning back to co-pilot - well, whatever was remaining of- the spaceship Loki had bargained from the last station. Putting the coordinates in for his stop, he turned around and brought his hands together and did one loud clap. "Alright. Everyone listen up. There are some things you need to take care of when-" You moaned incredibly loud, dramatically your head in every possible direction. "Uuuggghhhahaaaarrgggghh!!" "What." "We have heard this befoooore!" "And you will hear it again! Because Knowhere is dangerous. It has all kinds of filth gathered here hiding in the dark wh-" You wanted to groan one more time but something in the vast emptiness before you caught your eyes and took your breath away. "What...is that?!" your voice barely got out while a smirk landed on Loki's lips with a shine in his eyes. The camera quickly came forward to record what seemed like a gigantic skull being the bed of inhabitants floating in the dark of the space. From where its eyes were supposed to be, was a cavern lit with life inside while sizeable pods came and left from the jaw and ears. "That, my dear, is Knowhere," Loki declared softly, quite mesmerised for a moment by this look of awe in your eyes, "land of the lawless created when the Dark God Knull used his All Black sword to decapitate a Celestial. Seeing as the rotting skull was worth quite something to someone in some part of the universe, a notorious group by the name Tivan decided to make this their base. And as opposed to their demeanour, they are quite a dangerous group of underworld criminals, mind you." Loki had to turn his head and look at you when he did not get anything in response and found you sit there a shade lighter, looking right at the skull where you were headed. "Surely we'll be safe if we avoid that group, right?" You looked at him for a seed of hope to get out of this alive. "Right, Loki?"

Loki: *presses his lips together* *snickers* *lets the chortle slip his mouth* *guffaws for the next minute with tears streaming down his eyes while holding onto his stomach* One minute later Loki: *clears his throat* *wipes the tears from his eyes* Ah! I love humans!

"Oh, sweetheart," Loki practically sang a soft note in your direction with a gentle head tilt, "we are going to meet their leader."

The Lounge Team "Hey, would...you...like...ss-coffee?" The camera shifted from a disconcerted Bucky barely standing by the kitchenette on his wobbly legs to an encouraging- though a little disappointed- Scott standing there while Wanda sat on one of the barstools by the wall and witnessed the whole practice unfold. "Bucky, sweety," Scott pressed ever so sweetly, placing his hand on the island in his direction, "Steve would always like a coffee for his rat-like heart. We have to get him to have that coffee with you! Make him know that you want to have that coffee alone with him. Want to hold hands with him. Want to let him know how much you care for him. Want t-" "Want to let him know how much you want to bang him," Wanda commented, taking Scott by surprise. "How long have you been sitting there?" The Ant-Man asked with a hand on his chest. "Long enough," she shrugged while popping roasted almonds in her mouth. "Bucky, all you need to do is declare you like him. Rest will be easy peasy, lemons in vodka squeezy."

Natasha: *tsks*Совсем беда с парнями. Без нас ни один из них даже не узнал бы, что второй жив. Wanda: *giggles* Ты бы видела, как Баки сегодня себя вёл в общей комнате, весь такой смущённый. Даже в глаза Стиву не мог взглянуть, не краснея. В конце концов он просто взял, молча пододвинул Стиву кружку кофе и ушёл — а у самого из ушей так пар и валит. Natasha: *rolls her eyes* Мои зверята и то сообразительней, чем эти двое. Wanda: *gasps* У тебя есть питомцы?! Natasha: *no change in emotion* Как-нибудь познакомлю. Так вот, возвращаясь к теме парней: ты замечала, что как только Баки заходит в комнату, Стив прямо весь тает? Wanda: *wide eyes* Замечала, и не только! Он только взглянет на Баки, как у него в голове начинает играть музыка из фильма "История любви", а перед глазами волосы Баки развеваются, как в рекламе шампуня. *blushes* *clears throat* Да, и еще он почему-то переставляет себе, что на Баки из одежды только красные стринги. Natasha: *a big, toothy laugh* АХАХАХАХА!

Knowhere There were smoke and liquor everywhere the cameras swerved. There were creatures young and old, weak and bold, gathered to gamble, fight, rave, smuggle, hide. Anything unordinary you could think was there. From genderless strippers to non-binary fighters- the far corner filled with one hollered at the other, whistling, catcalling, making signs that you did not want to know the meaning of. Loki, on the other hand, was enjoying all fifty expressions your face reflected at the scenic view of the inside of Knowhere. Lulu, though mesmerised by the lights everywhere and blown away by the flying pods, still hung to your shoulder. If he had eyes, you were sure they would be wide open with their focus just on those flying machines as he made crackling noises at them. Javi caught you flinch and jump away from a creature looking like a six-year old's version of Satan but in green. Satan growled at you before pretending to bite you and lick those yellow fangs of his while he chortled with his equally appalling buddies. "Kin sibe nom torra," Satan rolled his R's while gurgling through his throat at you- someone who had no idea what that guy was talking about while trying to fiddle through your bag to find those earpieces the Hardy boys had provided you. "Ugh, is this what Clint has to go through?" That Satan dude stepped closer to you, driving you two steps back. All the onlookers could feel the sudden rush as they watched you stand one step away from backing into a murky wall while Satan smirked his dirty smirk at you, taking one potential step before Loki stepped in to put a hand on his chest. "Ukt sast nom kore grata," the God practically sang before parting his fingers with that chest while his face screamed 'yucky'. Just as he uttered those words, that smug grin on Satan's face got washed away to show confusion and fear eroding in those beady eyes. "Sica rom ni froa," Loki gestured him to walk away with a kind smile before turning to look at you with your jaw unhinged just a little. "Wha-how...what was that?" "Oh, they were catcalling you in the most vulgar way possible," Loki replied, looking at the address in his navigation device. "....okay? And?" "And-" he clicked the device close and pointed at a distant pathway- ever so casually with the other hand in his pocket- "I told them to only ask you to go with them if they liked getting their heads eaten when you orgasm." And the Silvertongue walked away, leaving that jaw to unhinge a bit more.

You: *grunts* now I wish I could do that *crosses arms in disappointment* *camera pans out to show Loki standing by your side, looking at you like a lost cause* Loki: This is why you do not have a lover You: *huff* *repeat his lines to him louder* this is why you do not have a lover!

The Collector's Den There were no guards on doors, something you thought would be a default scene considering you were walking into the Space Illuminati Warlord's lair. The neon colours breathing around you from creatures and elements unknown were too much for the eyes to deal with in one go. But it all seemed to be toned down to normal when your entire body felt itself jerk to prevent a heart attack at the sight of the four feet high and three feet wide head preserved in a tank right next to the entrance. "That's...one way to greet people," you muttered, your eyes still on that creature while your legs followed Loki further into the appropriately-named Collector's business place. "Marvelous!" A voice boomed in the house of Tivan and you had to pull yourself back to the front, stepping closer to Loki to witness a creature anatomically very similar to a human walk towards your group with a pep in his step. "Finally someone who knows the worth of the head of a dark celestial." The white hair on his head stood as straight as a distraught anime character along with his brows. His lips were what caught your attention with an apparent thin tattoed line running down the middle, ending right before the chin. If that wasn't enough to make anyone wonder what in hell was this creature, the sudden whip of his cape was the last straw to help you innocent ones realise this one was the mad kind. "Tell me, oh beautiful one-" he bowed in front of you his hands going back in the air like a ballerina- "what do you think of that head?" You looked at Loki for some help. He simply shrugged and put his pale fingers on his lips, leaving the floor to you. "...that it's...big?" "It's hideous," the Collector grumbled. "A beauty like you should not have to see something so indigestible. EVER!" He whipped his cape again, making you shoot your brows up and turn towards the camera.

You: Ooooohohoho *giggle* my God! This guy is more dramatic than any theatre majors I have EVER seen! *gasps* Oh- Loki: No! We are not taking him to earth to meet theatre nerds. You: You: *slump back* *grumble*

"Welcome to the humble abode of this mere creature that goes by the name Taneleer Tivan. Address me as you wish your grace. Your husband has been our esteemed partner for quite the time in this space." There was nothing but a slow blink that escaped you at the thought of the mafia lord thinking you were Loki's wife. Then, a finger rose in question at the audacity of that white-haired baboon reaching to that conclusion just by seeing you two together. "Okay, excuuuuse me," you started off with bubbling rage, "first of all, you have amazing eyesight for noticing I'm beautiful. And second of all, your partner wishes!"

Taneleer: *narrows eyes at the camera, oblivious* I am confusion

Loki simply rolled his eyes before touching a windchime next to him. "I see you still have your spies on a decent payroll, Tivan. Was it the Kou-Gare that boarded with us on the shuttle from the last station? Or was it the Djinn you had your clan's symbol etched on his back?" Taneleer blinked quite fast before breaking into a chortle, his head thrown back and his hands flailing. "You are still the same shrewd Silvertongue! I told them you would find out sooner or later." The camera focused on your expression- a swirl of shock and thrill. "But I do have to ask," he sang before turning to you, circling you like a cat, "where did you find this one? And what was so special about her that she got to stand by the side of the God of Mischief." He practically purred inside your hair while taking a sniff as you stood there frozen, looking at Loki for some sort of escape. "She is a human, Tivan," Loki called out, still looking at the windchime that refracted light into a colourful rainbow all over Loki's skin. And like a good chameleon, Taneleer's colours changed while Loki looked smug for the camera, his back still turned to you and the Collector. "By your Gods and mine! If she is a human how is she more alluring than you?!"

You: *smug* If I had a mic? I'd drop it. *still acts out a mic drop*

The colours on Loki's face washed away as fast as they had come. His lips forming as many different-sized Os as they possibly could. "What? WHAT?!" Taneleer simply nodded, observing you like an art connoisseur from a respectable distance. "Say, my ever-enchanting one-" with a leg bent out, he bowed to take your hand in his- "would you bestow upon this meagre merchant the honour to honour you by studying your essence?" "Okay, that's it," Loki muttered before covering the distance in two strides and breaking away that unwanted hand-holding; smacking away Taneleer's hand while taking yours and holding it in his. "You," he pointed his finger at the collector while the camera focused on his hand holding your wrist, "you are going to help me-" Taneleer parted his lips to say something before being shut by Loki's words- "BECAUSE you owe me for saving your life!" And then the God turned to you, the distance between the two of you lesser than Lulu lying on the ground. He was in fact lying on the ground, trying to make angels in something clearly invisible to the human eyes. "And you," Loki announced softer than he wanted to, his eyes locked onto yours. For the moment there, that was all it was. His greens shining like a freshly washed forest from rain shining under the new sun. And your eyes were the treasure quarry of y/e/c stones buried under the water looking up at that forest hiding both the light and darkness inside it. Seconds passed. Both Taneleer and the camera looked at each other for answers before the former slowly dragged his wine glass from the table to the edge, letting it fall and clunk on the floor, loud enough to break the God out of a trance. "You will stay here with Lulu. Do not cause trouble till I get back." Authority in his voice, he inhaled a lungful before furrowing his brows- trying to understand what had just happened- and turning to walk away. "Who's Lulu?" Taneleer was curious. You seemed to pop right out of your own trance by the question, beaming at the collector before picking up Lulu in your arms to let him purr in your embrace. "My baby." Taneleer took the appearance of little hairy creature in. "So much hair...or fur?" before turning to Loki, waiting for a second and then following him. "I told you not to take those drugs during your sexual endeavours for information extraction, Silvertongue."

The Lounge The flatscreen was muted, showing you sleeping in the back of the spaceship Loki just bargained for cheap. Your lips were parted and you were drooling all over the blanket underneath you while Loki set the ship on autopilot to come to take a look in the back. Javi was asleep too, with Lulu in his arms, both of them sprawled on the seats bunched up together by the last owner. What Loki did not realise- or did not bother to validate- was that the cameras were still running; those electronic bugs with space technology still buzzing around the temporary gravity. He stood next to the makeshift bed of crates bunched together for you to sleep over, snoring loud enough to make Lulu's head vibrate in the direction of the voice. The camera focused on the screen when the expression on Loki's face bore a look barely ever seen before- soft. He was on his knees, putting the blanket wrinkled in your arms over your shoulder, securing it on both sides before moving a stray strand of your hair away from your face. He said something, apparently to you, but the only thing the camera in the lounge caught was the moving lips before frantically shifting between the screen and Natasha, Wanda, Scott and flustered Bucky; neither of them catching the lens' drift to look at the screen. Natasha and Wanda watched from the sofa as Scott still tried to get Bucky to open up a little more. "I can't watch this anymore," Natasha grumbled to Wanda with an emotionless face towards the two men, "just tell me when he comes." "Oh, oh, oh, he's coming," Wanda whispered, poking Natasha before transforming her excitement back to a dull sober self.

Wanda: So, I can always tell where this man is in the house. He does this thing where he will pick up a theme from something he is into lately and his brain keeps playing it on repeat. Last night Natasha made him watch Phineas and Ferb and so *flails her hands* *smirks* it's going to be the title sequence all day. *turns her smile into a fine line of distaste* and thanks to her I no longer have to listen to Never Gonna Give You Up for another week.

"Hey, Bucky," Natasha called out the ex-winter soldier as loud as possible, "I'm proud that you came out of the closet buddy! You should be proud of being bi. We are here with you." She clicked her tongue and finger-gunned him. Confused but delighted at the gesture, Bucky shared a chuckle with an equally excited Scott. "Thanks, Nat. But I don't know how will be able to tell to-" he turned just enough to let his eyes catch Steve standing frozen by the lounge entrance-"...Steve."

Tivan's Den "This is crazy. And so cool?! I wish I had the means to collect all the weird things around the world." Lulu chirped at you while tapping at the glass that had a pink coloured female inside it while you- bright-eyed and enthralled by the extraordinary roamed about the place, looking at the gems and flora, bugs and skeletons around this place. One little piece of quartz caught your attention for it had waves inside it as if clear water was kissing the pale dull sand on a clear beach and making it come to life. Your hand went for that crystal when you felt your brain jerk you back. "Ooooh, we're not supposed to touch anything. I don't want to be stuck in a death game again," you muttered before pouting at the crystal and walking away. Away from that shelf to turn and find yourself facing a golden music box and shrieking as low as possible. Lulu raised himself where he stood before leaping towards the shelf you were fangirling about. "Lulu, look!" You whispered in heated excitement, your toes barely keeping you on the ground, "a music box with Loki's helmet on it! You think it belongs to him?"

Lulu cautiously moved closer to the box sniffing it like a curious cat, pausing for a bit before rubbing his head with the precious trinket. "Okay. So, you approve!" You clapped and picked the box up. "Aw! You think little Loki got this as a gift on one of his birthdays?" Winding the lever as far as it went, you refrained from squirming as you opened it. A sweet sound was followed by Lulu's camera catching a hairpin inside the box. The camera caught the expression of pure awe on your face that was looking at the intricate designs on that hairpin while also catching a cloud emerging behind you that was slowly morphing into a figure; something you were not aware of. Lulu, on the other hand, seemed to feel the presence as the camera jerked and a hiss came out of the little one in the direction of the figure that was out of focus but slowly walking towards your back. "It's beautiful!" You whispered. "Do you think it belongs to his...mom, Lulu?" Another hiss came out of Lulu and this time you turned your gaze up in confusion at him. "I sure hope it does," an echo of a voice called out from behind you, making you shriek, jump away from that direction, hit your head in the shelf in front of you so hard that you went limp and fell down with one loud thump.

Back Where the Boys Are The back room of the Collector's den was rather more sophisticatedly decorated than the marketed front; not to mention the equally more bizarre antiquities surrounding the room as the God and one human entered. "I need a tool to break me out of these," Loki declared while directed Taneleer's gaze towards his handcuffs. Taneleer raised his brows and tapped his fingers onto each other. "Looks like someone forgot the key during their playtime!" A snicker left Javi and Loki almost lost it. "Why does everyone keep thinking I would voluntarily shackle myself to these forsaken cuffs!" "How many people have pointed that out by now?" Taneleer asked while supporting his weight on the nearest shelf. Loki shoved off the question, paused, blinked and then huffed. "Five," he muttered. Javi tskd from where he stood, signing something with one hand. "That Terran says eleven," Taneleer pointed out, now judging the God with his narrowed eyes. "Do not jest me, Collector!" "Jest you! You, the God of riding SOLO with nothing but self-preservation in your blood, trodding in space all mighty with a beautiful Terran and you expect the fauna to not suggest something titillating going between the two of you?!" The eye-roll Loki felt, almost made the audience wonder if they would disappear in the back of his head. "There is nothing going on between me and her. She's just. A friend." The most dramatic gasp came out of the Collector, his hand going over to his trembling lips. "He used the f-word," the poor mafia lord whispered to himself. "What? I have had friends before," Loki shrugged through his shoulders, not making eye contact with his company before getting conscious of the camera. "Oh, name one friend besides me who hasn't exploited you for their own wishes!" "Can we please get back to busi-" "That's because you don't have any-" "Peter!" Loki blurted out of nowhere before realisation hit his face and made a split-second eye contact with the camera before composing himself. "His name is Peter and if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone and then myself. Remember that." The weight in his words seemed to shift the power in the room, impressing the Collector beyond what he asked for. "Yes, yes! Don't boil your blood over it," Taneleer sang rather sweetly, swinging his hips and humming something. "Well? Are you going to help me or not?!" Loki huffed. "Give me back whatever grace I left with you." Taneleer muttered something that was not audible to the God. "You did what?!" Taneleer groaned. "How do you have such sharp ears?" "YOU SOLD MY GRACE!!!" "Well, not sold so much as bartered for a nice sample of a fae's DNA. So, I'd say it was a good deal." The collector was in the middle of turning to face the God when he felt himself being shoved into the wall behind him by Loki. "You are-" Loki hissed- "going to get me-" and grabbed his throat- "out of these shackles-" and tightened his grip on the OverLord- "or this is the last thing you will see before you die." The Collector winced and croaked for air, begging through his eyes when Loki let go just enough for him to speak. Wheezing for as much air as possible, the Collector looked at the God with eyes of a mercy-seeking peasant. "Now, now, my sweet God! If you kill me...who will save your precious friend out there?"

to be continued...

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iwannawritepls · 4 years

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Writing Update 04?

So much is happening. Like gosh.

Welcome back to me not using paragraphs correctly!!

So! We have 17ish chapters now which is like woah.

It took me much much too long to write but now we’re on 50k!!! we got there folks and I can confidently say that I will most likely have 20 chapters with around 54-55k words as I predicted. Is it weird that um feeling super melancholy about that??

But on the positive side there will be another book after this because uhhh there’s too much to wrap up in just one.

I wrote and deleted chapter 14 over and over again but now I have something I'm proud of at lastttttt! I realised after talking about it to some friends that

1) I skipped something huge by accident

2) In the first few versions of chapter 14 there was no climax to what was happening

3) I was adding things but at that point I should’ve started to answer them

So we fixed it up and now she’s pretty damn cool. The second half of the chapter still needs a little bit of editing until I can become happy with it but oh well.

I also edited chapter 15 so they’re ready for the most part but the last 2 need basically a rewrite for them because they’re soooo bad. I shouldn’t measure by words but generally for a fist version of a chapter I write anywhere between 800 and 1000 words and then I manage, through editing, to make it become somewhere between 1500 and 4500 which is a big leeway but it really just depends on what’s happening.

There’s something huge that happens in chapter 17 but I only wrote 459 words for it because it was 2 in the morning and I wanted to get it done before I tried to sleep. Inevitably it was quite bad. Chapter 16 is the same but thankfully that’s 914 words so there’s something more to work with. Yayyyyy.

Needless to say, I will not be including excerpts from them in this.

So chapter titles?

Chapter 13 - Metamorphosis of a Blizzard

Chapter 14 - Curtain Call (subject to change)

Chapter 15 - Kingfisher Flurry

Chapter 16 – Catgut Bindings

Chapter 17 – AHHHHHHHHH (this is 100% changing I just needed to put something and I was freaking out)

Oh, oh and! I have a proper actual name for the book! Sisyphus Lies on Unmade Beds. How suitably edgy.

There are so many references to Greek mythology that the title fits and it can link to all of them in some way, so I thought why not. There’s #symbolism to it all. And who isn’t a fan of accidental symbolism you find halfway through your book.

What happens??

Chapter thirteen is a long-waited apology from Bas to the one person who deserves it most. We find out about someone vaguely important for the next book as well as a character that maybe might have his own little book of his own.

Chapter fourteen includes our boy Sebastian coming along and helping by not helping at all!! Yay…but really what else is new, his motives don’t align with the boy’s and so we shouldn’t expect him to be helpful in any way.

Chapter fifteen is a dangerous thing…out dude the devil makes an appearance. For those who’ve listened to the magnus archives or watched Everyman Hybrid I tried to emulate Michael/Habit in it but it hasn’t really worked out yet. I'm getting there but I'm not at terrifying levels of suave. When writing characters that are so powerful they could murder you with a single flick o’ the wrist you are treading a careful line between edginess and not threatening at all.

chapter sixteen is the fallout. If we follow the lovely 3 act structure we are at the darkest moment in chapter sixteen and chapter seventeen continues with that mood but follows through with the whole ‘hope’ thing. jk there’s no hope just crisis.

I find that I managed to actually keep to the 3-act structure naturally?? I'm a discovery writer so it’s a little more difficult for me to not meander off into the sunset/make everything happen much too fast. But I think pacing was okay in this as long as I keep track of the seasons – which I hope I did.

We have a few memes from dearest friends – kinda old but have them

And now,,,the excerpts!!

Everything felt like cotton was stuffed inside, swelling, and soaking through with excess fluid. Fluid that was still building in his lungs, he felt them pressing against his ribs and rubbing together eating away more at his already damaged body. Gorging on him, dissolving him, water couldn’t ever be full only overflow and so it would continue to erode his body to fit the ever-greater capacity he needed to hold.

He's not dying! I mean he is but not yet!! I feel so bad that Albert has spent more of this book sick than anything, but I feel like I'm constantly mentioning him and I don’t want people to get annoyed by him? idk I feel like someone would find him annoying and that he did nothing but whine – probably a carryover from the original book where he could’ve been beaten up by his own shadow. He can and does stand up for himself in this more than in the original but

They began to mend themselves in a way that neither Narcissus nor Prometheus could have foreseen. So maybe they weren’t quite butterflies or moths. Maybe instead they were snakes, the devil’s advocates turned serpentine after rebelling against God. But that meant that at least they could change again, shed their skin, and start afresh after mountains of pain and healing from accidental words fallen from temporarily false tongues.

Let’s play how many references to classic literature can you fit into one paragraph at least 4. One of which is Paradise lost. Because Greek mythology just wasn’t enough.

The old man shivered and croaked out a few more words so quiet that the wind ate them. The woman just stared at him with wide eyes before fleeing back to the cold.

This is the ending of a while thing from a book that Al’s reading. I kinda wished this book existed its got some of my favourite techniques in it and some of my favourite lines but this one was the only one I could just take without a pause for drama between Alberts reading.

Enoch wanted to skip the walk the moment he realised there wouldn’t be any talking, every single one of his steps was too slow, every single breath was too loud. Even as he tried to listen to the conversations of those they walked past, it was too distant and blurred for him to listen to in any kind of concordant manner.

My boy hates the quiet and I feel that

The very first promises of autumn began to chew on the leaves, She took each one into her embrace and changed the deep greens that summer left in His wake and transformed them into a cacophony of yellows, reds and oranges. She plucked the ripened ones from their cradles and pulled their colour from their grasp placing it on Her tongue and dropping the carcases into winters waiting hands.

This is kinda purple and I had just read Der Sandmann so I was super into the vibe of it. I referenced it more originally before editing it so now all we have is a very slight call back if you know the story that you can vaugly make if you try.

Nature was so simple and yet beautiful, complicatedly captivating.

William is yearning

“Enoch.” Basil called out

“it wasn’t me!” he replied holding his hands up “I came out here to get him a new hat, it was Valentine that dragged him in.” he held up a lily pad with a grin.

“where is Valentine?”

“probably wrestling the heron.” He replied wading towards the shoreline.

Just some fun from them because you all need to see that they can be friends I swear.

A man was stood in the middle of the flurry, he stepped through them as if they were nothing but a reflection on the glassy water.

And that’s all for chapter fifteen I think unless there’s something at the end because I know people who read this irl and they haven’t gotten any of this yet. So I don’t want to ruin things but I also want to give you all things so it’s a struggle.

because you cannot help the diseases in your mind

this is something I wish I heard more often so here. You’re super awesome and the dude who said this is big brain mode.

But yeah that’s all. I probably won’t update again until I'm done and even then it’ll be one I’ve sent the last chapters to my friends so that they can read it and I can talk about the plot for real because I’ve been vague for spoiler reasons outside Tumblr.

I love these guys so much, but I'm excited to begin something newer y’know? I want to stay in this world, but I want to follow different characters before I go back to these guys because they are dysfunctional as all hell.

Anyway, I’ll talk more about that later. Until next time!!

Hope you have a nice dayyy!!!

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excindrela · 4 years

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12 Days of Demon Ayno- Day 7

Supernatural AU

Pairing: demon! Ayno (Noh YoonHo) VAV / Female reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: foul language

Word Count: 2228

AU: Look we made it to day 7! (Only 10 days after Christmas) Today is fluffy, but there’s smut ahead in the forecast! To everyone reading this series- I’m so glad you’re here- thank you for reading ( especially to those who have re-blogged!). I love feedback- so if there’s something you like, or something you want to see- tell me!! Interesting fact: Tenley, Katricia & Cassidy are people I actually know! I love giving irl people cameos! LOL

Demon Ayno: Summoned | Thanksgiving | 12 Days: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9

On the 7th Day of Christmas: Ayno Experienced the True Spirit of the Season

You strolled out of the bedroom still brushing your hair to find Ayno in the kitchen making your breakfast as usual. He poured and doctored your coffee and turned around to hand it to you but stopped with eyes wide at your appearance. He slowly handed you the coffee cup, while looking you up and down. You knew he wanted to say something but was clearly having trouble deciding on exactly what to say. He opened his mouth, and then stopped and closed it- rethinking whatever it was that had come to mind. You waited. Finally, he seemed to have settled on a way to broach what he had decided was going to be a delicate subject.

“You know that I find you beautiful, right? Have I told you today that you are beautiful?”

You struggled to hide your amusement. “Not today, but you have often told me this, yes. I believe based on your record of that particular compliment you find me most attractive when I am flushed and sweaty and looking totally fucked-out laying underneath you.”

He grinned. “True!” Then he muttered under his breath “I am not sure even that would help right now.”

You struggled to keep your face neutral. “Is there something wrong with the way I look today?” you asked innocently.

“Um...I know you said we are going somewhere today…would you not be more comfortable in the soft sweater with the big neck? It is a good color on you and looks nice with your jeans….”

“Oh…do you not like this one?” you asked strolling over to the floor mirror and admiring yourself.

Ayno, rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, struggling to find something nice to say. “Well…it will be easy to keep track of you…”

Privately you thought he had done very well in finding anything good to say about the knit catastrophe that adorned the upper half of your body. It was made of cheap chunky cream yarn, the whole front covered with a Christmas present made from 4 different red calico prints appliqued on the front, and a giant gold glitter ribbon bow that sat at the shoulder. There were green holly leaves embroidered around the cuffs and on the center back just below the collar.

“Agreed!” you said, “but not as easy as it will be to keep track of you!” you giggled as you ran to the bedroom closet and returned with a larger sweater that made yours look positively tame. Ayno looked with utter horror at the nightmare conceived in polyester yarn you held in your hands. The bottom was knit to look like a rooftop, and the top 2/3 was supposed to be the night sky in royal blue with little silver metallic yarn stars sprinkled on it. The center of the front was dominated by an appliqued reindeer complete with a googly eye, sparkly red pom-pom nose and a harness with actual jingle bells.

“Oh. Yes. You will not lose me.” he said in a small voice.

“Yep! No chance of that! Check this out!” you said as you pushed the hidden button and the tiny lights on all the stars began blinking.

Temporarily robbed of speech by the twinkling atrocity he was expected to put on his body, poor Ayno just stood there, mouth hanging slightly open.

“That…that is very…special.” he finally choked out. Then, hoping for an out, he tried a different tack. “But I thought we agreed that it would be best not to call attention to me. Perhaps the lights…or the whole sweater…are too much? We do not want people to notice me.” he finished hopefully.

You couldn’t take it anymore. The sad pathetic look on his face was too much, and you burst out laughing. “It’s awful right?! I can’t believe I was lucky enough to find something this bad in your size!!”

“Lucky? Uh-huh.” he said, looking very confused.

You needed to explain. “Ayno, today we’re volunteering with Project Reach Out. We’ll spend the morning sorting the food and present donations, wrapping presents for the kids, and preparing a meal. Then in the evening, we’re hosting a Christmas party, and families will come to eat and play games and then the children will pick a present, and we’ll send the families home with a box of food so they will be able to prepare a nice Christmas dinner. All the volunteers are wearing ugly Christmas sweaters today.”

“Oh! So we are supposed to look embarrassing? I will blend in wearing this?”

“Yep! And everyone will know you’re a volunteer.”

“So I am not being punished. Ok. I will trust your judgement” he said as he took the Rudolph sweater from you, “but I still think this should be condemned to the fires of hell.”

* * *

You arrived at the community center and went straight to the check in table. You waved happily to Tenley, Katricia and Cassidy who were already there.

“Whoa! That’s quite the bow there!” Tenley laughed.

You laughed “Its huge, right? Nice tree you’ve got.” You said, admiring her red sweater with a green Christmas tree knit into the front that was decorated with pom-poms, fake lights on thread, and plastic charms.

“Yeah, this tree’s gay green dress isn’t going to delight anyone. But check out Trish’s ghetto snowman.” Tenley said jerking her thumb in Katricia’s direction.

Katricia walked forward proudly gesturing at the snowman sweater that had seen better days. One button eye was thisclose to falling off, too many washings had caused the carrot nose to droop like a flaccid penis, one button on the mid-section was unironically totally different than the other two, and someone had attempted to fix one of the cross-stitched twig hands- but had used the wrong color of brown thread. “Yeah, I don’t know what kinda shit Frosty has seen, but I’m pretty sure he’s a crack hoe straight out the hood.” Katricia laughed.

You all laughed with her, shaking your head at the unfortunate sweater, when Cassidy caught sight of Ayno. “Oh damn. Girl, is that your boyfriend? What did you do to this poor man?!” she cried looking in awe at the awful sweater.

“Isn’t it hideous?!” you cried with glee.

“Yes. That is just terrible.” Katricia said hi-fiving you. “Where did you find that?”

“The Assistance League thrift store in The Heights!”

Poor Ayno stood there looking concerned: he couldn’t decide if he was being complimented or made fun of. You felt his fingers fumble for yours and you took his hand and squeezed it for reassurance. “Yes, the extremely good sport stuffed in the sweater from hell is my boyfriend, Ayno. Ayno, this is Tenley, Katricia and Cassidy.” The girls all smiled and shook hands with him, Cassidy mouthing “He’s so cute!” and Tenley fanning her face and mouthing “HOT!” when he was distracted by someone else.

You had no sooner finished introductions when Jayden, who had gotten roped into coordinating the event this year, breezed over with nametags and clipboard in hand. “Ok ladies…and gentleman, what are we doing today?” she said as she handed out the name tags. “Ayno- we’ll start with you. Do you have a preference on what you’d like to do today?”

Ayno looked at you wide eyed and shrugged. “Ayno loves to cook Jay. He’s good in the kitchen- why don’t we put him there?” you suggested.

“Perfect! Ayno, I’m sending you and Trish to help sort canned goods for the take-home boxes, and then to the kitchen for dinner prep! You already know what you’re doing, right?” she said to you.

“I believe I’m sorting toys and wrapping presents?” you said.

“Yes ma’am!” Jayden said as she moved on with Ten and Cass in tow.

“You will not be with me?” Ayno asked nervously.

“No. But you’ll be fine, and you’ll be much happier in the kitchen.”

“But what if people talk to me? What do I say?”

“Well I’d advise not mentioning you’re a demon.” You said dryly. Ayno gave you a look. “You know what to say. My best advice is to deflect: you want to learn about humans- well lesson number one is that people love to talk about themselves. Just ask them questions.”

Ayno nodded, still looking a little unsure. “Ok.”

“Don’t worry- Katricia will be with you, and she is so much fun. I’m sure she’ll take good care of you”, you promised him.

“Mmmm-hmmm. Yes ma’am, Imma take gooood care of this fine man!” Katricia said looking Ayno up & down and winking at you. “C’mon Ayno, we are gonna go get biz-zee in the kitchen!” she said taking him by the arm and dragging him off.

And that was the last contact you had with Ayno for the next eight hours. You saw him singing Christmas carols while happily sorting canned goods and carrying loaded dinner boxes to the area where fresh produce, dairy & a turkey would be added at pick up. Later you passed by the kitchen and saw him peeling a giant pile of potatoes listening intently to whatever the others doing prep were talking about. You almost dropped the cranberry sauce you were bringing around during the dinner when he snuck up behind you and kissed your cheek as he went on his way refilling coffee. As you cleared dinner dishes, you saw him lifting little ones up to choose an ornament off the tree, and then later being taught how to play “Go Fish” by some elementary age kids.

It was while you were drying baking pans and putting them away in the kitchen that he came up to you waving an envelope.

“Look I won a prize? I do not know what it is...”, he said curiously looking at two pieces of paper inside.

You looked in the envelope, “Oh those are movie tickets! So you can go to the cinema to see a movie... and there is a coupon for popcorn and snacks too! What did you win a prize for?”

“Apparently others think my sweater is very, very bad too. It was bad enough to win the number 3 envelope. I did not think it was possible to wear a sweater that was worse than mine but apparently two people did. I think the number 1 envelope was given to the man who had the Demon of Sahjoolh coming out of a box on the front of his sweater... I am told it is actually a ‘jack in the box’ with a ‘clown’ -whatever that is- but it looks like the Demon of Sahjoolh. It was very frightening, and I could not figure out why anyone would want to make a sweater with the Demon of Sahjoolh on it, so I suppose he deserved to win just for being brave enough to wear it.”

You laughed, “Well, I have never seen the Demon of Sahjoolh, but that does sound frightening. Congratulations!”

His face suddenly brightened as a thought occurred to him. “I have two tickets! You could go with me to the cinema- I could take you on a date! Will you go to see a movie with me?”

You smiled, “Yes, Ayno, I would love to go to the movies with you…but right now, I want to go home, because my feet hurt.”

* * *

Later that night you sat in your usual position stretched out across the couch from Ayno. He was rubbing your sore feet while you watched whatever the insipid Hallmark movie of the day was. You were looking at him and you could see the wheels in his head turning.

“Our life is charmed, isn’t it?”, he said suddenly.

“What do you mean?”, you asked.

“Our home is nice- it is warm and safe…we always have hot water, and there is always food here- you do not ever seem concerned about getting food…your car is big and shiny and seems to work well... and when I want something you get it for me... you give me money every week and let me buy iced coffees without worry. The people today… it is not the same for them is it?”

You shook your head sadly, “No, it’s not. That’s why we do what we did today. To help them. To try to make things better. We helped lift some of their burdens for today: they knew they were going to have a hot dinner for themselves and their families, they knew their children were going to get a Christmas present and they knew that they were going to get food to prepare a nice dinner on Christmas. These are small things to you and me but very big ones to them. We don’t have these worries, so yes- we are privileged. We are lucky.”

He looked thoughtful. “We should do this again. Is this like Thanksgiving where it only happens once in a year? Do we have to wait for next Christmas?”

“Well, Christmas only happens once a year; but there are lots of opportunities to volunteer all year long.”

“Good. More of this then. I like small humans. We should do things for them.” He said as he crawled across the couch to lay his head on your chest.

“Good plan.” You said, wrapping your arms around him and silently marveling at the humanity of your demon.

#ayno #vav ayno #vav #vav fluff #VAV fanfiction #ayno fluff #demon

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clarabosswald · 4 years

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i binged all of she ra s5 last night spoilers ahead

low points:

the animation. i’ve always had a bit of an issue with the animation in this show... in terms of design, it’s gorgeous. in terms of flow... i often find it lacking. stocky movements, or lip sync that’s off - those are pretty common. and i mean, i get it, they’ve had to get new episodes out in almost no time and i admire the team for creating the product they did at the end. but i really wish they were given more time to polish and refine it.

the writing, i mean it’s a kids’ show obviously, but when they’ve got pretty much two modes - beautifully nuanced and emotional writing and then... painfully childish writing, then the childish writing REALLY stands out and it’s a bit embarrassing sometimes (micah and frosta’s little arc, for instance). but i get that too. people who’re good with drama very often can’t get comedy quite right. (and comedians are often really good at drama. it’s an odd thing)

the character arcs were done VERY well with the short time given for them to evolve, but i still do wish they were spread over 2 seasons instead of one. especially catra - seeing her change was super satisfying, but toxic life-long habits are SUPER hard to get rid of. and while they did show her struggle with it, i still really wish it was given the time to develop in a more natural way. still, with the time they had, i do think they showed a satisfactory amount of hardship before catra settled as a good guy.

this season was an absolute celebration of lgbt+ ships and identities and at the end i was really disappointed they didn’t make entrapta canonically aspec. it’s very reminiscent of peridot in su..............left JUST ambiguous enough so fans can keep on putting the characters in romantic/sexual ships. and it’s incredibly frustrating to see us getting SO close to actual canon rep for aspec people and then......not hitting the point. when will aspec representation seem important enough for creators to give it to us apsecs?

speaking of entrapta, her early season arc of her difficulties in interpersonal relationships made her......just a bit too unlikable. or rather.....they let it go a bit too far before letting entrapta show how much she DOES care for her friends? it might honestly be realistic, i know, i do, but realistic writing isn’t always the right choice when trying to present a character like this in a positive light, especially in a kids’ show. i’m just glad they only stuck with it for one episode.

i know it’s super silly but............the team’s spacesuits having holes in them for iconic look’s sake, and adora and entrapta’s hair sticking out................ my dudes that’s not how space works. it’s just a quirky thing but seeing how much emphasis was given on the dangers of space. just. yeah i’m a bit nitpicky

the music in the show is good but also.... kind of overused? that might also be a time constraint thing, though - they might have not had the time to write some new pieces. but it was slightly distracting when the emotional high points all used the same emotional track.

high points:

prime ABSOLUTELY felt like a big threat and i LOVED it. he seemed to be a few steps forward up until the end. this show always was REALLY good with its villains and i really admire that, it’s not a common thing in children’s media. speaking of villains, shadow weaver’s arc too was very satisfactory - her internal struggle between her massive thirst for power and her love of magic as a natural phenomenon and wishing to see it free. and chipped!spinnerella was chilling! chipped!scorpia was genuinely scary! chipped!micah was BATSHIT TERRIFYING! just, really good villain writing all around and i LOVE that shit.

speaking of prime’s chips - the mind control threat was REALLY well done, absolutely not too obvious, absolutely not too easy to win over with “the power of friendship and love”, REALLY fucking chilling and terrifying at points. i really loved how the trauma it left on catra was NOT downplayed, how often you could see her hand reaching the back of her neck when the chips were discussed. that was brilliant.

hordak and wrong!hordak were great. i kinda feared wrong!hordak was gonna turn out to be embarrassing but they kinda managed to tread the thin line there and success at making him really funny most times. hordak struggle with his memories was very good, and by GOD was i fucking grateful they didn’t make his fanship with entrapta canon with all the shipping fest that this season was.

catra with short hair was too fucking much for my poor heart and i WILL FIGHT with adora over her hair length preferences.

she ra’s new design was FIRE and it’s absolutely my favorite one.

i know melog was kinda giving the team easy instances of deux-ex-machina with his invisibility gift but i love an adorable big alien panther thingy. plus, he really did come across as a powerful and threatening being in his debut episode.

the characters, backgrounds, general worldbuilding designs in this show continued to be utterly beautiful. really appreciate that. the mix between fantasy and sci-fi was SO good.

i really liked how bow, the heart of the best friends squad, was the one who struggled the most with glimmer’s return and with forgiving her. it added plenty of really good depth to his character.

adora’s struggle with her identity and destiny was an ongoing theme but still, a+ on the execution, especially coming off last season’s closing cliffhanger.

god it’s already becomes so ingrained and obvious in my mind but obviously it needs to be discussed - CATRADORA CANON. like, BEAUTIFULLY canon. i started off the season with “are they gonna do it?” and pretty early on (like, when catra and glimmer were still prisoners kind of early) i became convinced like “they’re ABSOLUTELY heading towards it or the fandom is gonna burn this show” and then it was becoming SUPER obvious and i was like “okay are they gonna finally kiss now? finally kiss NOW? finally kiss now?” but obviously they had to save the big kiss to the climax and i was very okay with that because at that point their romantic love for each other was SO obvious. and just....... wow kudos to the show for going the length and making this ship canon, it was so SO so so so so satisfying and refreshing to see and i love love love loved it. because it really WASN’T done in an obvious way? they couldn’t really allow each other to openly love each other until catra started to REALLY heal and give up her old ways? and THAT was the ONLY well written and natural way for their ship to finally happen because adora is TOO heroic and lawful good-aligned to let herself openly love catra while catra was still in the dark side. so catra didn’t get it easy and had to go the way and change for adora and it WASN’T badly written because catra’s struggle with her love for adora and her hardships while being on the dark side and with her huge ass pride and will to do the easy thing over the right thing vs. her struggle with wish for meaningful relationships and being drawn to good-aligned characters and with having adora in her life again - all of those were SERIES-LONG issues that were explored with catra and while, as a i said, i wish we could’ve seen catra struggle with her lifelong habits a bit longer once she made the choice to join the rebellion, it STILL was made SO WELL with the time they were given and wow, GOOD SHIT. so joined appreciation BOTH for catra’s writing AND for how catradora grew to become canon this season.

bow/glimmer becoming canon was short and sweet and i was satisfied with that.

REALLY happy double trouble made a return. i still kinda wish they were given a BIT more to do, but they’re still probably the best written shapeshifter character i’ve encountered so far.

okay that’s all i can think of off the top of my head so far

overall: 4/5 the show’s like.........a REALLY good fish dish that unfortunately still has got a few bones in it that kinda stick in your mouth when you eat it. but it’s still so good overall that you can’t help but adore it. still wish the season, this show could spend more time in the oven. more work on the animation, more work on the comedic writing, more work for... general tweaks here and there. more TIME, another season, would’ve been brilliant, but sometimes it’s just not part of the plan or the upper ups (netflix/dreamworks in this case i presume) are just assholes and refuse to give the show the episode count it deserves. but still happy and glad for what it was. kudos to the dramatic writing, kudos to the character development, kudos to the designs and color and background work, kudos to the lgbt+ rep.

#she ra #spop #she ra and the princesses of power #she ra spoilers #spop spoilers

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a-simple-lee · 5 years

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Tipping Point

Peter Parker, Reader

Synopsis: June is a difficult time of year when you’re closeted. You need someone to talk to. Peter’s willing to listen, and provide some distractions once it’s all over.

A/n: Yes, writing fanfic is my coping mechanism. Yes, I know it’s not healthy. Am I bothered? Not particularly. I tried to leave descriptions of identity vague for both Peter & the reader, so people can put in whatever head-canons/identities they want.

_____________________________________

A dog barks from somewhere outside your bedroom window. Your ceiling seems lighter than it did a few minutes ago. You sigh and turn your head to the open window, immediately squinting as the first sliver of sunlight hits your eyes. Why you didn’t shut the curtains last night is beyond you. It must be around nine am, but you wouldn’t know. Despite going to bed early last night, you think you’ve slept in. There’s a weight in your chest. It’s hard to ignore. You were hoping it would’ve left by now.

Your phone blips; it was supposed to be on silent – perhaps you forgot? You forgot to do a lot of things last night, too numb to do anything except crawl into bed. Clambering out from beneath the covers, you read the notification. It’s Ned, posting yet another Instagram photo, at – yes, it’s nine AM.

A sigh finds its way out. Pride was yesterday. Everyone went. You know Ned’s post will be a selfie from yesterday, so shouldn’t open it; basically every self-care article on the internet would tell you not to. But you do so anyway, tapping in your pass-code with groggy fingers and blinking as the notification expands to show his post.

This turns into what must be at least 15 minutes of you scrolling through social media. You weren’t planning on opening it, since you knew it would hurt. It does, of course, but it’s bittersweet, seeing everyone post about yesterday. Every picture and vlog brings you comfort, but you do feel envious.

Flash has mini vlogs showing floods of rainbow-clad people, the crowds bathing in sunlight with drink cans held to the sky, music thrumming through the air over joyous laughter as people march their way down the New York streets. You put your phone down at last, once the frustration gets too much.

You couldn’t make it. For the fourth year in a row. You’re still not out to your family, and every year you inexplicably find yourself wound up in their important plans or outings on the same day as the parade. You wouldn’t mind so much, but you and your friends have grown up in school together, part of which means watching each other come out to your families over time. One by one, around five of your friends came out. You’re the only one who still hasn’t been to pride.

“Hello?” Pete’s voice comes through the phone. He sounds tired, maybe hungover. But you’re not sure he’s the type to get hungover. Doesn’t matter, you weren’t with your friends to find out. You don’t remember pressing the call button, but you must’ve done. Taking a moment to gather yourself, you take a deep breath in.

“Hi, Peter. It’s me.”

“Oh, hi! How are you doing?”

You hesitate. “Can, uh, can we meet up today?” Your voice sounds thin, & unstable.

“Uh, sure, you wanna come over? We could get coffee, or-“

“-I just feel kinda trash.” You interrupt, double checking your bedroom door’s shut in case anyone overhears your conversation.

“Oh. Do you want to talk about it?”

“I- actually, can I come over? I’m- I just need- Is that okay?”

“Yeah, sure! I’ll-I’ll see you in a minute?” His tone is overly cheerful, but you can sense his concern.

“Yeah, in a minute.” There’s a silence between you. You look down and smooth out your bedclothes from where you’d been scrunching them up in your hand. “Hey, Peter?”

“Uhuh?”

“Did I wake you up?”

“No- well, yeah- but- don’t worry, it’s fine.”

“Are you hungover?”

“What? I – no, no. I’m fine. We stayed up late last night, that’s all. I didn’t drink.”

“Okay.”

“Okay…I’m gonna go. See ya.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

The journey from your house to his apartment is only 10 minutes. You trudge over in some clean pyjamas, too tired to put on normal clothes but not wanting to stay in the same pair for over 12 hours. There aren’t many people around, and those who are have more important things to worry about than strangers’ attire. Besides, you know shortcuts to avoid being seen. The streets of Queens are fairly quiet for this time of day, which is simultaneously convenient and infuriating, since the barrage of adverts and shop windows is now your primary view. This wouldn’t normally bother you, except for the fact that it’s June, so there are rainbows everywhere. You put headphones in and look at the floor as you walk, avoiding the puddles of semi-dried vomit and confetti from the night before. The bins are filled with red solo cups. This is probably similar to how missing the holiday season would feel, you decide, bending down to pick up the fragments of somebody’s rainbow cardboard sign and shoving them in the trash. The garbage-men must be running late, since every dumpster’s stacked with party gear and drink bottles. A woman passing you smiles, and you return the gesture with a polite nod before putting your head back down and walking faster.

At long last, you’ve reached your destination; you dump your bag on the floor outside Pete's apartment and knock; hurried footsteps sound, followed by a creak as your friend opens the door. He smiles, and so do you.

"Hi!"

"Hey!" you're stepping inside, checking your phone's connected to the wifi. Both of you are still in pyjamas. Neither of you address this as you walk through his apartment. Then you see Peter's pride flag hanging from his bed.

"How was yesterday?" It's a question you already know the answer to.

"Oh, it was great!" Pete turns, sitting down on his bed as he puts on his hoodie. He starts talking about the parade, and mentions an after-party at MJ’s, but you’re having trouble listening.

“…and Ned said-“

“Pete,” You start, at a loss for words. Your expression wavers. ”I’m the only closeted one now.”

And suddenly you’re practically collapsing into his arms, managing to utter something about missing the parade and finals being an added stress. Tears warm your cheeks, but you’re not sure when they started. Peter stays silent, just holding you. The fabric of his hoodie gives you a little comfort, and you try to take deep breaths. At some point the both of you shifted into a lying position, but as the tears retreat, your main focus is on explaining yourself.

“I…I just feel lonely? Is that weird? E-everyone else came out so easily, but I’m so scared, and I’m-I’m happy for everyone but it hurts so much not being able to celebrate with you guys every year, because I want to be- a part of…the community, and I feel so shut off right now.” Your speech is interspersed with sobs and a couple sniffs – Peter conjures up a packet of tissues from somewhere whilst you’re talking, and hands them to you midway through – not saying anything, just listening. You notice his thumb’s rubbing back and forth over your shoulder as he hugs you.

“It hurts not being able to be honest with everyone. I’m pretending all the time, and I’m sick of it – but I just never feel ready, and I know that no one ever does feel ready, but- I just hate how something this trivial has to make things so difficult!” You fall silent, and Peter moves his hand to card through your hair. He shifts after a few seconds of you regaining your breathing, and you feel something wrapped around your shoulders.

“Here,” He says, and you sit up to get a better look – it’s his pride flag, draped over you like a blanket. You grasp the corners as Peter wipes a stray tear from your face and looks you in the eye. “We can share it. It can stay at mine, so your family won’t know, and you can use it whenever you want. You’re not alone. I know it sucks being closeted, but you have us. You have me, okay?”

You tackle him then, forcing the both of you into another hug. “Okay.” The bright colours of his flag glow from the sun coming through the window, and everything feels a little less painful. Peter’s caught off-guard by the embrace, but quickly returns it. It feels like you spend an eternity just laying together, but it could be just a few seconds – you’re not interested in keeping track.

“We could throw our own pride, yknow.” Peter starts, and a smile finds your face.

“Yeah, we could.”

“I’m sure there are still decorations on sale. We could buy rainbow cups and banners. Mr Stark would probably help if I asked.”

“That’d be cool!”

“Yeah,” He pauses. “What do you want to do?”

“Can we just talk? I wanna forget about it for now.”

“Sure…” He stops, and smiles. “Did you walk over here in pyjamas?”

“Perhaps.”

“Fair. Can’t go wrong with Pikachu, I guess.” He pokes the design on your shirt, just above your navel. You recoil, swatting his hand away.

“Careful,” a giggle almost slips out – almost.

“What?” Peter repeats the motion, unaware of what he’s doing.

“Wait- it tickles!” You yelp, trying to grab his wrist as his fingertip collides with your torso a second time. Some inner part of your being cringes as you say ‘tickle’, but you manage to force the word past your lips despite the pang of embarrassment.

“Oh?” He’s grinning now- never a good sign. Your elbows dig into the mattress as you make a move to roll over and crawl away, but Peter grabs your waist, pre-empting your escape attempt.

“You’re ticklish?”

“Uh- no! No, I take it back, I-uh-“ You start rambling incoherently, simultaneously pulling to get out of your friend’s grip with very little success as he pulls you back towards him and into his lap; it’s a slightly awkward position, Peter sitting against the wall with you held against him in front. Nonetheless, his hands quickly find your sides, giving them an experimental squeeze and immediately continuing when you let a renegade snicker escape.

“Gotcha!” He exclaims, laughing when you swiftly dissolve into hysterics.

“Ahaha-no!” You’re flailing and squirming, but it’s difficult to do anything except sit there and take it, since Peter’s arms are wrapped around your abdomen in a sort of restraining hug now, fingers finding purchase on the fabric of your shirt as they seek out your ticklish spots. It’s very difficult to decide whether it’s torture or exactly what you were hoping for. Perhaps it’s mostly the latter, but the way Pete’s wriggling his fingers into a sweet spot at the back of your ribs makes you question that just a little. He takes your bout of hysterics as an opportunity to flip you onto the bed, and your back hits the cushions; Peter follows your fall, and is now crouched over you, hands colliding with your tummy as you land. You realize you’ve dropped the pride flag at some point, because you feel it lying on the mattress beneath you now. It’s hard to focus on anything except the helpless giggles pouring from your lips, endorphins quickly flooding your blood stream and adding to the sense of giddiness as Peter reduces you to a puddle of shrieking laughter.

“Pehehete! Wahahahait, wahahahahait- ahahaha!”

“What?” He smiles, moving his focus to your underarms and drawing a squeal from you in the process.

“Nononono- plehehehease!” But you speak carefully, making sure your tone of voice doesn’t sound panicked so he doesn’t get worried and stop. Your hands find the corners of the flag, and yank it over your face to cover up the blush swiftly taking over your features. The world becomes a blur of colour, and your laughing blends with his for a second. It’s beautiful and warm, and safe. You don’t want it to end.

“Where’s your worst spot?” Peter asks, fingertips drifting up to swipe gentle lines across your neck. Your shoulders hunch up and you try to cover yourself as much as possible, holding onto the flag tighter. You don’t reply, too lost in laughter. “Are you blanking me? Do I have to find out myself?”

“Nohoho, no! I’m not blahanking you!” Your voice returns all of a sudden, and your legs kick into motion, trying to backpedal away from your attacker. It’s probably a ridiculous sight, considering the fabric covering your face, and your pokemon pajamas. You don’t think that matters to Peter, though – you’re both a ridiculous duo.

“Good. I thought I’d gone too far or something.”

This stumps you. It’s now near impossible to reply without confirming you don’t entirely mind this.

“Ihihihi’m fine!” You manage to giggle, simultaneously noticing the heat spreading up your neck. Just then, the flag’s snatched from your grasp, and Peter’s face becomes visible again. He grabs your hips, giving them an experimental squeeze and grinning wider when you try to wriggle away.

“Your laugh’s infectious, you know that?”

“Shuhuhut up!”

What could be minutes or hours pass. Peter seems content that he’s distracting you sufficiently, taking his time exploring any ticklish spots he can find, teases and pleas passing between each of you every few seconds.

But then your laughter goes silent, and he pulls away instantly, letting you recover your breath.

“Sorry! Sorry! I-“ He starts, then notices you giggling with a massive smile on your face.

“S’fine,” You utter, trying to calm down your residual laughter slightly. “I’m okay. I think.”

“Oh, okay,” Peter lets himself fall back to lie next to you, the bed bouncing slightly. “I was worried.”

“No, it’s alright. I...” Pausing, you fight back the urge to hide underneath your flag again. “...didn’t hate it.”

“You didn’t?”

“Uh...I might’ve liked it?” You mutter this last part, turning away so you can’t see Pete grinning.

“What?”

“I...liked it. Being...yknow.” God, this is the most embarrassed you’ve ever been. You’re grateful you can’t see your friend’s expression - until he squeezes your side, forcing you to turn around. He’s smiling, and part of you sighs in relief.

“You like being tickled?”

“Mayyybe?” You grab hold of his wrist, not sure whether to look him in the eye or hide under the covers for a few years till your blush fades.

“How about I tickle you again? Would that help you decide?” His fingers whir into motion against your t shirt, gently teasing the sensitive nerves and drawing another stream of giggles from your lips.

“WAit-Nohoho!” You cry, already squirming to get away. Peter wraps his arms around you in a hug, and starts going to town for the second time. It’s definitely a good distraction, and part of you feels lighter as you struggle against his hold. The hysterics don’t seem like they’ll stop anytime soon, and as endorphins begin flooding your body, you’re definitely not complaining.

You realize you’ve never felt less alone.

#tickle fic #marvel #reader insert #peter parker #smhoco #mcu #mine #fanfic #fanfiction #tickling #fluff #ticklish!reader #ler!peter #lee!reader #angst #lgbt+

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reconhq · 4 years

Note

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to make a (very LGBTA positive) webseries of her own?.

oh boy! I sure do. I’ve actually been on a couple other projects other than Recon, all after the first season was written & mostly after the first season was shot, and ya girl has learned a lot because of and since season 1!

i am so sorry but this is going to be SO long. i am kinda obsessed with web series & digital content and it’s my actual professional career now so just… get ready. sorry 😅 i’ll add a TLDR at the end.

(p.s. this is just advice from me, Emma, and not the rest of the Recon team who may have different/additional advice, maybe someone will add on after the holidays)

write your bible before anything! depending on if you’re co-creating or just co-producing/writing, this should be done before you bring on additional folks. if you’re co-creating, this is obviously a collaborative process. when i created recon, i did it on my own. i pitched the original idea to some dear friends (one of whom makes a cameo as a security guard in ep 20!) and got their opinions, adapted from their advice, and once i had a solid format, main character, and general plot, i started on the bible. it took probably a month of fucking around before i felt ready to write a bible.

the basic components of a bible are a log line, short season overview, character breakdowns for your characters (mine are ~paragraph or two for main characters, with shorter ones for less central characters), a summary of the show’s main themes, genre and tones, and the format of the show (if you’re mapping out multiple seasons, it may be relevant to do this for each season as well as the overall show), as well as the most important part of your bible– the episode breakdowns. i’ll touch on those in a minute.

i do all my original brainstorming on paper, because i am adhd as fuck and it’s easier for me. your bible isn’t the place to brainstorm. separate them out. not saying you have to write on paper, but have a separate doc for brainstorming so the formatting for your bible can be easy to follow.

if you’re co-producing or having someone else produce your work, it makes sense to have your co-producer or producer right there with you as you work on your bible to give feedback. does this mean they’re writing it? no. is it useful as hell? yes.

my partner-in-creative-crime justice and i tend to share bibles and brainstorm docs with each other when we’re working together on a project. depending on which roles we’re playing on each project (e.g., i’m producing his podcast COSMIC under our company name but not co-creating or writing, so i mostly gave notes on his bible. we’re also working on a series called Inked, and we’re more like co-creators there, so we both write in the doc.)

your bible is the holy doc of your show; it’s what you show to any writers, producers, designers, any creative working on your show so that everyone is on the same page. it is your main reference and guiding light through the whole season; make it clear, organized, and as easy to read as possible. i personally use google docs for my bibles, and use the hell out of the outline function. highly recommend, but everyone has their own system.

break your ENTIRE story before before you write a single script, before you write your pilot, before anything. it’s part of your bible.

if you’re not super familiar with tv/screenwriting, breaking a story means figuring out the beats. the breakdown of reason s1 started as messy af writing on whiteboards, and turned into this:

this is absolutely not what your first outlines or final drafts will look like. we changed…. a ton while writing our scripts. you can see even in this sequence– episode 8 and 9 got blurred, and we barely touched on ava’s past because there wasn’t room. regardless, this doc & breakdown served as the basis for all our writers and kept us all on roughly the same page. when we disagreed, we could go back to this and sort it out from there!

find your people. two roles were crucial to me when we made recon: a mentor, and collaborators. having good people behind me was so so important; i could have never done this on my own.

i got…….. so lucky with my mentor, bernie su. he not only gave me incredible advice, read scripts, and reviewed cuts, he purchased the damn show, accounting for 75% of our funding. i feel like it’s important for me to acknowledge the luck and privilege i have here: the show would not happened without him, and i only got that chance because i live in LA, went to USC, and applied for the right job at the right time. HOWEVER, aside from the funding that made recon possible, bernie’s expertise seriously helped. after principle photography, we were left feeling lackluster, and bernie gave me advice that led me to make changes that transformed the show. having someone with experience– whether in tv, film, web series, any sort of writing– is invaluable.

while i created recon on my own, i did not develop or make it on my own. the episode breakdowns? half me, half other people (mainly justice lol). the look of the show? EP/DP christa, production designer amanda, graphic designer hal, and justice as costuming lead. i did not write season 1 on my own. i recruited friends from USC and even one from high school to write episodes i didn’t think i could do justice (no pun intended).

once you’ve found your people, trust them. there will obviously be cases where you disagree enough with someone’s creative opinions that you shouldn’t, but except in extreme cases, trust your people. try to only chose people you trust in the first place. letting go was so so so hard, but many of the best parts of recon happened because i got over myself and trusted my cast and crew. episode 16, player vs player, was justice’s baby, and i almost didn’t let him roll with the animations because i was too nervous. holy fuck, i’m so glad i trusted him. same with reflections (ep 15), written by my now-fiancé, which no one else could have written. hal was a bit unsure going in, but the episode is phenomenal. my production designer’s choices were amazing, and i had little to do with them other than being like “yes that is so cool let’s do it”

seriously. trust your people. watching bernie on artificial & emma approved trust us, his crew of mostly 20-somethings, with creative decisions taught me a huge lesson. i was 19 when he hired me, 19 when he bought the show, and he actually fucking trusted me and the rest of his team to do things. my initial reaction was what the fuck, but it worked. it also let him focus on the big picture while giving us the space we needed to feel creatively and emotionally fulfilled. trust your people.

this also applies to your actors. we had a google drive specifically for our actors to throw up ideas/backstory for their characters, and we’d read through it and give feedback and contributions. it led to better performances and characters with more depth. we also met with actors where we could to discuss their ideas for directions for their characters– video game nerd taylor came from convos with joré.

katiemichal and kat were just like, the same people as their characters, so there was less of this, but there is definitely value in casting the irl versions of your characters as them.

edit your episodes individually, then read through the WHOLE SEASON at once to edit. repeat that until you read it and it’s cohesive.

keep track of your timeline and your canon, even canon that’s not explicit in the show. there’s so much recon lore that we kept to ourselves that informs several decisions in the first season.

unless your character’s race/ethnicity (even gender) is a key part of their character or the show, cast with an open net. ava was originally a white girl name jody. ana, the actress who played her, originally auditioned for riley, and we changed the character’s entire backstory for her, which added an amazing dimension to the show we get to see in reflections (and an upcoming podcast shh). lesson fucking learned on my part– almost too late. don’t be like me.

ren, on the other hand, we were 100% sure was non-binary, and although we opened auditions to all genders, we specified from the start it was a non-binary character and we’d give priority to queer/nb actors. it was the right choice.

PRODUCTION DESIGN IS FUCKING IMPORTANT. cinematography is great, and we obviously focused on it a lot w the style of our show, but PD tells so much of your story without saying a word or taking up a second of airtime.

sound is the single most important thing on set. you can make an ugly shot work, ugly sound will bring people immediately out of the show and possibly abandon it. we fucked up scheduling for Punching Bag, and had to delay its release (it was originally episode 13, not 14), hire a sound editor, and put a goddamn disclaimer on it because we didn’t have time to get good sound because of our own mistakes. arguably my biggest regret of the season, because the script and acting for that episode is so good, and we low-key ruined it. GET GOOD SOUND.

only exception to this is probably coverage and continuity; although those can be fudged a lil more. get a script supervisor or have your AD do it so you don’t miss anything crucial. always get your masters first.

schedule more than you think you should. like, down to the 15-minute block. it won’t work, but it will work worse if you don’t. do your best to stay on schedule (hint: AD/producer on set)

trust your gut. this is your baby, and your choices should service the story you want to tell. let that be your north star, and while you should let your story evolve with time and the contributions of your cast and crew,

TL;DR: write your bible & break your season first. find a team you trust, and trust them with their choices (both cast & crew). if you can, find a mentor/someone with experience to give advice. edit your show both as individual episodes and as a whole season, multiple times. continuity is crucial, backstory is crucial, coverage is crucial, scheduling is crucial. GET GOOD SOUND. and always keep sight of the story you want to tell.

i am so sorry. this is a fucking essay.

#Web series #queer webseries #lgbtq web series #webseries #web series writing #lgbtq writers

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incarnateirony · 4 years

Note

You analyzed audiences in the past, right? Is it true we're hitting the lowest ratings ever in these recent episodes or it's just an exageration? I know ratings seem to be a science on themselves so I would like your opinion on the subject. Also, is there somewhere I can read that "Profound bond" book? Or at least part of it? I love GA stories.

Oh god here we go. And that’s not at you, it’s “Shut the fuck up Cereal Club, you’ve already had literal executive producers explain this shit to you and you deny it” – not your fault but it sure is theirs for continuing to circulate it.

Okay so first note – I’m going to be shorthanding this. ALL RELATED DISCUSSIONS AND CHARTS CAN BE FOUND ON THE #RATINGS HASHTAG.

TLDR: It only sucks like that if you think *literally the entire television universe is collectively having the lowest ratings ever*

TV has been on the decline since… like, TV started. Because one channel became 2 and then there was about 50/50! And then 2 became 4, and it was 25! And then 8! And then cable! And the 2008-9 digital mandate enaction Misha somehow kept this show from falling in the toilet over while show cancellation rates doubled in that period while TV figured out what the FUCK was going on and why THEIR ratings were falling. That’s HOW Supernatural vaulted so much and finally entered top like, 100 discussion on the regular and very quickly by S5 top 50. And then DVR! And then digital! *Digital doesn’t even track by Neilsen methods*

Here have a chart of nielsen ratings average since TV started.

Why yes, there WAS a time when Nielsen was regularly clocking a 40.x average. By the time people were watching TV around Y2K it had dropped beneath 10. By 2005, 10 was a hit. And so on. Q3 of 2010 with the digital boom/smartphones, you name it.

The unilateral ratings collapse is so bad that some networks have *said they’re going to stop reporting Live+SD ratings on certain slots or products by 2020*. CBS has had pissing matches with Nielsen over if their services are even worht putting money on anymore. The average ratings on thursday nights across the board in the general primetime slot, if you remove sports which the nation still DOES watch live, is averaging like a 0.7 right now.

That may sound like greek, but basically, the average back when SPN started was like… 6. Which is why the show was in so much jeopardy all the time.

In terms of performance with the rest of the world, S15 I don’t have an average on yet and I’m just far too tired to go through that before even midseason, but I can get you a chart of the last 14 years as compared to the rest of the world’s loss, including from other shows in the same time period.

Obviously follow the legend at the bottom.

CW has always been a small network. The above works on making aggregates of all TV ratings by year and using it to make a median of what qualified as average performance on the year. But the thing is, you go look at Grey’s Anatomy? It started at was a 9.x. It’s now like “YAYYYY WE MADE A WHOLE 1.2 TODAY GOOD WORK GUYS T_T” -- and if you haven’t noticed THEY ARE ONE OF THE LEADERS IN LIVE RATINGS RIGHT NOW.

SPN looks stable from this size, but when we come to realize that it’s USED to running about ¼ the ratings of other shows, let’s like, take this into perspective without being shrunk by Big Brother Networks

SPN’s performance currently is *roughly* in the areas of seasons 4, 5, 8. And frankly, this was almost a matter of time thing with fewer and fewer people willing to hop into a show this late. The amount of “high” Dabb has managed to keep SPN riding, which since S11 has been at performative base with the high buzz premiere season (that… quickly dropped as you can see). There’s also that S9 success bump I told you about, and LOL S7. You’ll notice it inarguably still performed better than S2, 3, 6, and 7 (and frankly, the back half of 1, but that’s rounded up due to Shiny New Show Buzz early before the ratings dropped in half)

If you explore my ratings tag, you’ll see a lot of talk about this history, be it on the show or just general ratings worldwide. But if you google something like “TV ratings falling” you’ll easily come across things like THIS (x)

There’s expectations that we’re going to lose 55million+ people from the TV universe by 2022 right now, or at least live TV, because digital. Also, as just about every historic projection since 2010 has been wrong and they’re like “EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS” that could very easily end up being like, 60+ million. Cuz. Boomers+ that don’t use their phones and get confused by computers are kinda dying out, and numbers rarely calculate like “rate of death of people confused by gmail”. To put that into perspective, Nielsen TV universe estimates 305.4 million heads across 119.9 million houses. That not-quite-3-heads-per-home base right there, we’re talking about like 1/6th of viewership, entire homes are digitizing, fuckin’ smarthomes are being built with walls that are TVs that don’t hook up to fuckin… Charter unless you LITERALLY are part of their desperate marketing where they’ll literally fund a smarthome renovation JUST to keep you in their TV universe.

Nah fam. Alexa turn on Netflix alexa play supernatural *washes dishes to imax shit*

Anyway, back to center (because yes, this still IS the shorthand version, if you wanna find the source material, you can navigate the years of posting)

If we were to take seasons 1-14 and modulate them in reverse to the rest of the TV universe curve, S1 etc would look like this in order:

The highs and lows are part of the respective average performer across networks. 100 is always “average”. However, “Average” on the CW is always a different affair.

25-34: Marginal for CW35-44: Solid for CW45+: Hit for CW

So… lowest ratings ever? Lmao no not unless you yell that at the whole TV world. But declined a bit in scale? I mean, yeah. Live, mostly. Digital calls, AFAIK, are still doing fine.

Even still the live ratings dropping that sliver wouldn’t… dramatically… matter. As you’ll find if you actually do dig back in my blog, on average performing TV shows, digital and +3 DVR viewing is already more than 4x the volume of any given show’s ratings on *average*

And… SPN isn’t average. It’s been in the top 20 digital leaders in the likes of Walking Dead and Game of Thrones and a bunch of DC properties since about S11~ (positions 19, 18, 16 S11, 12, 13 – I haven’t dug up 14′s yet but I HIGHLY doubt their digital call just *STOPPED and bounced 100% in reverse* lmao)

Realistically, the volume of SPN’s calls puts its digital audience S11-13 at about 20x the mass of its live viewership. Netflix, hulu, amazon, the CW app, *gestures off into the distance* Digital ways to make ad revenue that aren’t clocked by nielsen, but are measured in other ways. So for every 0.3 you see in a live rating, there’s basically a 6.0 equivalent running online. Whereas the average show, even if it has a 1.0 rating it’s managed to hold onto (which is something literally even the biggest shows have to fight to break past these days), it’s more likely to be closer to a 4.0 equivalent online. SUPERNATURAL CRUSH SUPERNATURAL STRONK.

CW has been AGGRESSIVELY marketing to convert people into their digital universe, because they’re digitally focused. Whether that holds out now that the Netflix deal broke, we’ll see.

Accessory reading:“Parrot Analytics’ Global TV Demand Report Finds Netflix Captured 62.6% Of Worldwide Demand For Digital Original Series In Q2 2019“

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winterwindsingsanditcriess · 5 years

Text

Hadestown Thoughts

July 3, 2019, 2pm matinee

I say thoughts like this won't be completely positive

Also totally incoherent, you've been warned

The main cast were all on, no understudies

The show was honestly just really amazing

Eva's voice is just incredible

Orpheus is so awkward!! But really endearing and there was so much chemistry between him and Eurydice that developed over just two songs

Eurydice is a really interesting and clearly very layered character, who seems to be very cynical but really likes and is drawn to Orpheus's enthusiastic positivity and optimism

Hermes narrating the story was just really fun in the first act and it's easy to tell why André won the Tony

Amber as Persephone was just outstanding

Livin' it up on top was really fun!!! You almost forget it's a tragedy

All I've ever known is a really pretty song, and theres just so much chemistry between them its heartbreaking

Like if you weren't already emotionally invested in Orpheus and Eurydice's love you are now

Then it's Way Down Hadestown which is one is of the best songs

Orpheus continues to work on his song to bring the world, especially the seasons, back into alignment

Next song ft. Hades and Persephone's relationship issues and Eurydice trying to find food and continue to have faith in Orpheus, while Orpheus keeps trying to write his song

Which also causes relationship issues btw

Patrick Page's voice....... yes

Also I havent mentioned the fates yet, but they were (like everything in this show) insanely amazing

Like even despite the fact that they're working against the characters you love, they are still really awesome and entertaining

So that's my long winded way of saying When the Chips Are Down, as well as the end if Gone, I'm Gone was just incredible

And then you have Wait for Me, which probably got the loudest applause of the whole show

And rightfully so, it was outstanding, Reeve is so talented

Also the set expanded, lights everywhere, it was magnificent

Hearing Reeve's falsetto notes contrasting with Patrick's true base voice in the show in person just gives me emotions and I literally can't go more into detail than that

Honestly, everyone in the main cast has such a unique voice that really gives another aspect to their character it's really cool

Back on track, Why We Build The Wall was very powerful and an interesting way to end the first act

Eurydice shows up during the song, signs papers, and the act ends

Real quick: The lightning design?? Was incredible?? Throughout the entire production??? Like holy shit???

And the circle thing that goes up and down in center stage that I don't know the name of, forgive me, was a really neat way to show moving between the two worlds

So act two starts and Persephone gets her solo number which is fun, Amber Gray is an icon

Now it's Way Down Hadestown Reprise and Eurydice realizes she messed up big time

Her acting is spectacular

Flowers. Just Flowers

Eva is an incredible actress and just killed it

Like it was my favorite song before but holy shit!!!!!

I have nothing really to add just!!!! It was heartbreakingly gorgeous

And fortunately Orpheus is there pretty quick which is good

He tries to get her to leave with him but she can't which is an unfortunate turn of events

Orpheus gets beat up and the Fates sing Nothing Changes which was beautiful but quite sad tbh

Orpheus slowly gets the workers to start questioning stuff and standing up for themselves in If It's True which is a really good song

But it's bad news for Hades

Hades and Persephone song a song together and pretty much every moment the two of them have together for the rest of the show gives me emotions

Persephone tries to get through to Hades and fails and I just wanna die I love them so much

Next Chant Reprise (I was kinda sad that they cut Persephone's verse tbh)

But the added workers lyrics are really cool and honestly make up for it

Also the choreography and blocking stood out to me as just really good??

I mean the choreo/blocking for the entire show is incredible but it was just something else right then idk why

Orpheus starts singing his song with the old melody which freaks Hades out but Persephone convinces him to let Orpheus finish

Also Hermes repeatedly encouraging Orpheus throughout the show was really sweet honestly

It seems like the first part of Epic III was a really old song (and also different that the nytw version) but the second part seems to just be Orpheus talking directly to Hades (and is a lot more familiar)

It actually gets through to Hades and Persephone is like a mix of surprised and relieved and thrilled, and again, emotions

But the song does just as Orpheus said it would and it brought the seasons back and the world into sync

Hades and Persephone dance and ~emotions~

Have I mentioned I love them cuz HOLY SHIT

Eurydice and Orpheus sing Promises and it's so clear that Eurydice has so much faith in Orpheus as well as in Hades letting them go and ahhhh

They ask to leave and Hades says I don't know which prompts Word to the Wise

With the advice from the Fates, Hades decides to let them go as long as they pass the trial

He seems almost sad about it tho, like there's an added layer of emotions to His Kiss The Riot that it didn't have for me just listening to the soundtrack

Wait For Me reprise was just really good

Eva's belt is perfection

Again, Hermes and Orpheus's relationship is just really cute but also hurts me at the end

Hermes tells Orpheus the news and also that it isn't a trick

The staging for Doubt Comes In was fucking killer

The song repeatedly gave me chills

It was all dark with a few lights and you could just feel everything Orpheus was feeling

You know the rest, Orpheus almost makes it to the end, the staircase lit up signifying that, and at the last moment he looks back

"Its you" "..........It's me"

Eurydice descends back into hadestown via circle platform thingy

Orpheus tries to reach her at the last second but is too late

Road to Hell reprise and Hermes is narrating

It's revealed to be like a loop cuz they're singing it again and again

Which is really fucking depressing like hooray they're doomed to fail for eternity that's fun I didn't need my heart anyway

All sarcasm aside it's a really powerful ending

Bows happen and then Persephone sings Raise a Cup which is honestly a really cool moment like the audience is still standing up and it's honestly the perfect way to end the show

Final thoughts: the show just really feels perfected. Ig that's the benefit of it having been in the works for over a decade, but everything, even the smallest thing, just seems like the best it could possibly be which is really magnificent and it's really something to have been able to experience it

#sorry for the incoherency #and the length #but i could honestly talk about this show for days #hadestown #reeve carney #eva noblezada #patrick page #amber gray #andre de shields #nyc trip 2019 #zach speaks #theatre thoughts

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 5 years

Text

Morose Mononokean II 4

Aw, another little fuzzball to steal away my heart? I’m being spoiled, aren’t I?

For some reason, this episode was meant to be really emotional, but I felt pretty restless while watching it. Probably because I was thinking about playing Merc Storia all that time.

Mob Psycho 100 II 4

Didn’t expect Shinra to be back after his previous appearance…

Notably, you’d expect Matsuo’s name to have the kanji for “pine tree” in it, but it doesn’t - it has the kanji for “demon” and then one more.

I loved it when FLCL and SGRS went into manga mode, but for some reason, the transition into manga mode didn’t land as well here…hmm.

“I’ll go inside her…With an out-of-body experience.” - That sounds majorly wronggggggggggg, Mob, y’know? Even with context.

I find it interesting Mob perceives himself to be naked…as in, unguarded. He’s fine as he is and doesn’t need to change…in some ways, anyway. He could probably do with a few more emotions, but you get what I mean.

Wha-wha-wha-whoaaaaaaaaa. You mean, Mogami just got rid of Mob’s powers??? That is a nasty cliffhanger!

My Roommate is a Cat 4

Just seeing Hiroto near Kawase’s armpit…so unfazed…it’s kinda funny, but only mildly.

Tuxedo cat…ergh. The differences between American and British English never ceases to trip me up…I mean, the term makes sense…it’s just the differences between the types of English I’m annoyed at.

If you observe the OP, you’ll see Haru has that collar…I’m not sure if that’s meant to be a spoiler then…

Haru basically has the mindset of Kaguya and Shirogane, which makes this hilarious (and yet it’s still justified due to being a believable mindset for a stray!).

S-Smug dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get out of the way of Haru-chan!

Shield Hero 4

“Draw your swords!” – Wasn’t there a rule saying Naofumi can’t use a sword anyway? Plus, Motoyasu has a spear, not a sword…

Balloon? Now, that’s funny!

Using magic to intervene is the cowardly action, methinks, Myne.

I find it interesting Naofumi sees Raphtalia as a little girl – it’s a perception of vulnerability, potentially weakness – when things are shown through his perspective.

Falling Through Starlight is beautiful, y’know that? Be-a-uuuuuuuuuuu-t-i-ful!

Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka 4

Interestingly, Francine kinda looks like Mami (Madoka Magica).

Wait, is this woman Miura? (Sorry, I’m just wondering why Abigail – the blonde evil magical girl – would choose to use yakiniku to threaten people…)

Oh dear…it’s that train question (save one or save many).

Neding authority before you can actually do anything legal…now that sounds like Double Decker.

“Chef”? I was mortified when it came to the rusalka scene…but I think we already know why Povar is a chef…

CQC? Close quarters combat? Ooh, I’ve never heard it abbreviated before.

Well, I like how Povar and Rusalka Man (can’t spell Russian to save my life) always keep their salaries in mind. Makes them easier to see as evil.

Egao no Daika 5

Oh, this series has two moons? Kind of like Double Decker’s two suns, yeah?

I just realised Lily’s the only one with a skirt on her suit…

Morose Mononokean II 5

I don’t think I’ve seen a Fuzzy-centric episode ever since the first time we met the furball…

That hand on neck thing is apparently a CIA technique if I interpreted it right…just, it’s applied to a purple/white lion, so it’s hard to tell whether it’s the real thing…

Fluffy tadpole is best tadpole. All fluffy things are cute to me, even the lethal ones…I guess.

Seriously, if someone doesn’t call the animation of the Executive sakuga, I don’t know sakuga! That crow is some fancy animation!

Hanae’s mother is scarier than most youkai, given she can give me a nasty jump scare!

Mob Psycho II 5

This episode’s called Discord…which maks me think of the chat program of the same name…weird, huh?

Notably, it’s Dimple’s voice coming from Mob’s mouth…hmm.

That episode was real cool…it’s too bad by turning off the volume at the wrong time, I missed the Sajou no Hana song…

My Roommate is a Cat 5

Roku, Nana, Hachi…haha.

I noticed Haru has smaller eyes than Hachi…aside from the collar of course.

Aw…reunion too cute. I honestly think that this show has a fairly effective use of “filling in the gaps”, as it were, and thus making good use of cuts.

Double Decker! EX 1

Yep, we’re back with Double Decker!!! I’m glad to see it back, really.

Wait…ohhhhhhhhh. So Double Decker! doesn’t just refer to the bus in this show or the system. It means “2 Detectives” in Japanese (in a codeswitching sort of way). It was wordplay all along! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! I get it now!

This Deana assassin stuff must be a lie…

(after the commercial break) C’mon, Kirill, buddy. You’re drunk, y’know that, right…? Right??? Update: Oh, not drunk, dreaming. My mistake.

Oh, I was just saying that My Roommate is a Cat dos a nice job “filling in gaps”. Didn’t realise Double Decker did it as well. Also, how the heck is Doug unpopular with women???

So…Kirill actually got hired based on his feminine looks? Geesh, that Travis…

The thing I missed about this show was not being able to play the ED after an episode, so I’m glad to have it back!

Spec Ops Asuka 5

Having Kurumi fix up Nozomi’s arm kind of erases the consequences…but that’s what Kurumi’s for, right?

Barber Scissors…? Is this what happens when you take Kill la Kill way too seriously?

Wowee. Din’t think Sacchuu was capable of dealing nasty punches as well.

There’s gotta be some sort of parallel between Abigail and the queen vs Asuka and Kurumi…

Post-credits segment. Keep watching.

Shield Hero 5

Headbutt to the nuts! Oof!

When it comes to races, the one tune that comes to mind is one from the Dog Island (track 22 from this YouTube playlist).

I swear there was CGI during the race…on Filo.

Please don’t make jokes about Naofumi liking lolis, people. This is not that type of show…

Mononokean 6

Is it just me, or has this epiode been relying on the use of blue speech bubbles for humour more than normal?

It’s Mononokean: Sports Anime edition!

For some reason, I find the name “trashboat” hilarious. It was probably just “ponkotsu” (piece of trash) in practice, but the variation in English is really something to behold…

Ashiya sleeps like an old man, LOL. It must be cosy in that bed…

Moja is just adorable in whatever scene it appears in! Even Moja being dragged down a stream is cute~!

Relaxing your shoulders, huh? That reminds me that that’s a destress technique I haven’t used in a while. My head’s been spinning while I was trying to watch this episode, so I should probably get back to trying to do that stuff…after this episode, of course.

Price of Smiles 6

You think Spec Ops Asuka looks bad? Look at Price of Smiles melt in this “Yuni! You should recover!” scene.

For some reason, this one dude (I forget his name) being a father surprises me. He looks like the type to be single…

The female version of the name “Noel” is Noelle…get that right, people!

Layla’s right when she says one of the main causes of war is the struggle for resources and wealth.

Mob Psycho II 6

I noticed instead of a Mac or something, the computer is a “One” computer.

The board says something a lot more complicated than Saitama’s routine…which means One likes exercise. Maybe…probably.

“Codomo” phone, LOL.

The last time I heard of tofu in anime that I remember…was Boueibu. Something about Ryuu killing a man with tofu.

Somehow it didn’t occur to me until the eyecatch was over but the block…was tofu!

How do you even get drunk when there’s no alcohol in the drink??? (LOL)

Oh! Shinra again!

…Also Jodo Kirin!

Shield Hero 6

Naofumi is giving 0 f**ks about the dressmaker’s love of Filo.

Why is Filo CGI…? It looks unnerving, to be honest with you.

My Roommate is a Cat 6

Eleventh grade…16? 17? Heck, Yugo looks 27, not 17!

Notably, “Comic Polaris” is the name of the magazine that publishes the manga of this. Hence “Novels Polaris”.

Heck, Subaru. In the internet age in particular, people write to affect others. I should know, as someone who did just that just a few years ago!

Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine movie

Yay, we’re back! Crunchyroll bringing over movies is definitely increasing my workload for these commentaries, so with all the new things I’ve added to my lists of priorities as of late, I wonder if I can keep up…

Hitting us with CGI in the first minute of the movie…oh man, how far does CGI go these days???

Honestly, in my brain Wagner (Classicaloid) = the twins (this movie) = the Beppus (Boueibu LOVE! LOVE!). They’re very similar in terms of personality…

In the same way, Bruno = Schubert from Classicaloid (but swap one’s Sensei for the other’s Senpai).

Licht = Motz.

It seems like someone liked ponytail!Licht enough to keep him here. So it really wasn’t just me, huh?

Seriously, what’s this “God of War” stuff anyway???

Man, vocal exercises? This takes me back to my piano-playing days…I was a sightreader and only had to do one of the two (out of sightreading and vocal stuff), but there was someone else who had to do both.

This piano is bugging me. Its white keys are black and its black keys are white!

Somehow, Heine’s small top hat suits him. It’s probably because he wears a small beret in that same position usually.

More CGI background characters…*sigh*

Hmm…soft power at its finest(?)

Seriously though, why did that evil Duke guy appear in this movie again??? He has zero use plotwise. Sure, he was important in the first season and if we ever get a second he’ll be important there, but here? Nada!

Have you noticed Heine is in all those dance positions a girl would normally be in??? Hmm! Interesting! But still…if there’s one thing I ever missed from the anime’s experience, it would be-oh, scratch that! This is my cue to watch the cheesy live-action dance ending! I missed it so much!

Egao no Daika 7

Seriously…who is Eins talking to??? Whose emperor???

They still haven’t revealed what this new guy’s name is, even after his introduction…well, technically he was introduced at the River Deese, but we still didn’t learn his name then. (Did we?)

Spec Ops Asuka 6

Is Mia just this show’s version of Kyouko (from Madoka Magica, but American of course)???

Oooooookay, that (with the kissing and stuff) is so not what foreigners are like, people…

Oh, goodness. Have I really been living with this stuff (girl x girl teasing, with Kurumi in particular being one of the more extreme examples I’ve seen) in my magical girl anime for years now? I mean, Suite PreCure is laced with the stuff…

If ordinary rigor mortis business is at work, then I’d say the heater is to speed up the rotting of the corpse…

LOL, there’s Halloween-class…and then there’s Voorhees-class…how appropriate for Disas.

“Only one of the Magical Five would’ve known about that phrase.” – My bets are on Peipei, but we’ll find out for sure…someday.

Mononokean 7

As much as I found the pillow fight scene with Fuzzy in it funny, I swear Abeno is a bit too sadistic for my own good. What is it with some women and their sadistic kinks…?

Abeno calling Ashiya “hunk of junk” makes me think Ashiya isn’t much of a Sousuke (from Classicaloid), but they do have a lot of similar character traits, now that I think of it…hmm.

For some reason, I think Abeno knew the conditions of the deal and what the deal entailed in advance, hence the training camp.

Seiza…means sitting on the floor in the position Ashiya was in (knees to the floor etc).

Mob Psycho II 7

“Cheeseburger Tornado”, LOL.

When Reigen got angry at the TV, I was just like, “It’s Shield Hero (Mob Psycho version)!” I.e. you con the conman and not turn the conned into a conman…or something like that.

Those microphones are so obviously CGI, people…

I know I’m a fan of Yuzuru Tachikawa, but episode 5 actually didn’t do too much for me, to be honest (even though it was visual spectacle, which is Tachikawa’s strong suit). However, while episode 7 looked less punchy overall, it was miles better…

“First-press limited edition? That is the absolute best decision.” – What is that referring to??? Update: It’s referring to the BDs...or DVDs...or both.

Update: Forgot to add Double Decker to the title and tags.

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another-sonic-blog · 6 years

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can you do a story where shadow and amy are in a forest without each other knowing they are there because they are witnessing the beauty of the season [spring]?, and then they bump into each other out of convenience?, romance is my cup of tea

Let's jump right into it! I recommend reading the latest Sonic IDW Comics before reading this.

It's been a while.

Amy thought for a second how lucky she was. Finally, she had time for herself. The sunlight on her skin felt refreshing, the wind was softly brushing her hair and the tweets of the birds made a beautiful melody. How long has it been ever since she felt this alive? Sonic and the rookie had finally defeated Infinite and Eggman. However, the world was vastly destroyed and repairments were needed. Sonic left for that same reason, there were still villagers trying to fight Eggman's robot and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

And that was ok.

Although Sonic leaving her again wasn't her favorite idea, she still had to accept his free spirit. She loved that about him and didn't want to change a thing. However, when everyone thought Sonic had died, something about her awakened. At first, she thought that she would be devastated but that wasn't the case. She was going to make sure to protect the world Sonic died for.

And she was glad she did.

Looking up to the clear sky, the smell of fresh grass and the beautiful landscape, everything was worth it. At the moment she didn't care what was happening outside the world. Only her and the nature surrounding her, trying to take in as much as she could thinking that after this, she may not have another opportunity. And then...

BUMP

"What the-"

Amy looked up again, trying to see who did she bumped to this time. Her eyes tried to adjust but the light was too bright to recognized the figure in front of her.

"Surprising to see you around here, pink one," Shadow said as he offered Amy a hand.

"Shadow?" Amy took his hand still wondering why was Shadow off all hedgehogs doing here.

"Affirmative," Shadow said as he helped Amy up, he noticed how softly she tried to clean her dress from the dust of the road. Shadow was aware that Amy was trying to look at the back side of her dress to make sure it was clean. He had to admit that she looked cute, kinda like a puppy trying to bite its own tail. Amy stopped for a moment and realized she was making herself look stupid in front of Shadow, and right now it wasn't the moment to be doing so.

"Anyways, why are you here? Last time I saw you, you disappeared with Rouge a few days ago after Sonic left the Resistance HQ ... Where is she actually?" Amy said trying to change the topic and fast.

"Yes, we ran into Sonic in a nearby village, we talked for a bit after that. Sonic told us how he met with Knuckles and Rouge decided to go after him." Shadow gave Amy a small explanation. He didn't want to say that he actually got into a fight with Sonic on whether Eggman was lying about losing his memories or not. Knowing her, Amy would probably be mad at him for even trying to punch her 'blue boyfriend'.

"Yeah, he told me that you guys fought over whether Eggman or not is lying about his situation."

Shadow seemed to have underestimated her.

"I completely agree with you Shadow ... We aren't certain if Eggman might recover his memory or if he has them and he is just pretending to be a good guy now," Amy added.

"I thought you will take your 'boyfriend's' side," Shadow said in a monotone voice. Without noticing they both started walking alongside the road, each other side by side with no destination to reach what-so ever.

"Sonic's side? No of course not, I don't agree with a lot of the things he does but I can't control him and besides, I have a lot of trust in him," Amy looked at the grass and flowers next to her once again appreciating the beauty of it.

"Trust?" Shadow questioned her.

"I trust that he will take the best decision for all of us ... and you Shadow? What's your plan as up to right now?" Amy smiled at him and at this time he honestly had no answer for that.

"I don't really know," Shadow admitted and Amy stood up on her tracks. This is the first time she heard Shadow say that 'he didn't know.' Whether he was wrong or right, he always had a path he was determined to take.

"You are feeling lost?"

"Somewhat ... during the war with Eggman, I was traveling around helping and protecting cities, but now that the war is over and Eggman has no intentions of being evil ... I really don't know."

"What if you come with me?"

"What?" Shadow questioned and felt how Amy happily held his hand.

"Yes, right now we are trying to investigate the reason why the latest attacks seemed to be more organized than before and Sonic believes he got a hint behind this mystery ... Knuckles, Tails and I are on our ways to meet up with Sonic ... you could be a great help!" Amy was more than open to letting Shadow in on their mission and she was sure that the rest wouldn't mind either.

"I don't know about that ..." For some reason, Shadow felt shy about having Amy holding his hand so excitedly. He looked the other way around and Amy turned her head in order to make Shadow look at her in the eyes.

"Come on, it will be fun! I rarely see you, and meeting you here out of all places, it must be destiny ... which reminds me ... How come did we bump into each other? I know was distracted, but you?" Amy fixed her position noticing that Shadow was acting strange. Maybe her actions were making him uncomfortable, she slowly let go of Shadow's hand.

"I was distracted as well," Shadow finally said.

"Really? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking: What is that ugly pink ball that I see from afar?" Shadow said as he suddenly hit Amy's forehead with his middle finger. He didn't want Amy to know that he was actually so invested in the beauty of spring that he actually bumped into her by accident. He didn't want to show her his soft side.

"You know what, I take back what I said you can stay here for all I care!" Amy childishly showed her tongue to Shadow and although she was clearly mocking him, he found this cute and may be useful later on.

"You can't go back on your word, now put that tongue back," Shadow tried to sound dangerous but he had to admit that this pink hedgehog made him smile by her stupid actions.

"Maaaakeeee meeeee!"

And Shadow did.

Amy didn't know what was going on at the moment and her expression was priceless. She could only focus on how Shadow's tongue was on hers and how he kept looking at her directly in the eyes.

"YOU CREEP!" Amy said screaming. She was having such a nice day only to be ruined by the hedgehog in front of her.

"You told me to put it back," Shadow defended himself. He knew the kind of territory he was going into and honestly he was enjoying it so far.

"NOT LITERALLY!"

"What's the matter? It's not like its prohibited or anything," Shadow began to walk on the path once again as he heard Amy following him from behind.

"YEAH, BUT I DIDN'T WANT MY FIRST KISS TO BE LIKE THIS!" Amy tried to stop him but Shadow turned around to face her once again.

"Your first kiss was in a beautiful place. A place where you can see the clear sky, where the leave's from the trees fall softly and where you can hear the birds sing...I thought a girl like you would like those kinds of things"

Amy took a moment to realized that it was true. This place was perfect for a first kiss and it might even be destiny ... but even so ...

"But my first kiss was supposed to be with Sonic!"

"Yeah, and I gave you something better ... you kissed the Ultimate Life Form!" Shadow then stuck out his tongue, mocking her and Amy was sure that she was going to end up murdering him. She tried to play it cool and just go along with it.

"Just admit that you were fascinated by my beauty and got distracted, that's why you bumped into me"

"Yeah you are right," Shadow said plain and simple. Amy's plan on taking revenge on Shadow wasn't working as up to right now and she didn't know whether to feel honored or mad.

"Feeling funny today right, Shadow?"

"No, just being honest,"

Amy had never felt this kind of heat going around her cheeks before. She was usually the one who was open about love. The one who confesses her love to Sonic all the time and the one who wasn't afraid to show her affection to everyone. But now, Shadow, was being so straightforward, just like her ... so why was she feeling this way?

"Hahahaha so funny Shadow, next thing you are going to say is that you like me, won't you? hahaha-"

"I do,"

Amy felt a strong beat on her heart and she thought she was going to faint.

"Wha-ttt? You are joking, right?," Amy questioned one more time. He just sighed.

"No, I am not joking. Before I thought you were a childish little pink hedgehog. However, after the war with Eggman and Infinite, I came to realize that you are actually strong, independent and a good leader for everyone. You overcame Sonic's 'apparent' death and kept going forward although you were hurting in the inside... I really like that about you," Shadow walked towards Amy and this time it was him the one holding her hand.

"I ... I ... You are joking right?" Amy wanted to pretend that this wasn't happening. Was Shadow admitting that he likes her? Like romantically? Or was he just admitting that he likes her as a friend? Shadow mentally facepalmed himself.

"No, Amy, I like you. I think everyone knows that but you. I wouldn't be surprised that you didn't noticed because you are always behind that blue hedgehog."

Now that she thinks about it, even Silver had mentioned it before. Something about Shadow staring at her too much and Rouge saying something like "Shadow is off lately, probably because he is thinking about someone" while winking at her.

"And well, what's your answer?" Shadow got closer to Amy's face and she felt his breath getting closer and closer to her. She had to admit that his eyes were captivating and don't get her wrong, Shadow was a very attractive male. She remembers there was even a small fan club in the Resistance. Even males dare to enter and enjoyed writing letters and talk about him. After all, Shadow was known as a hero and even consider a legend among rookies.

"I-I ... GOTTA GO FAST!" Amy then took a run. She ran as fast as she could, she didn't know how to handle it. Was this how Sonic felt every time she confesses her love to him? Was that the reason he always run away from her? Because ... he was shy? She turned around just to find Shadow running behind her. Shadow knew that he could catch her whenever he wanted, but he was honestly having fun chasing her around. Looking at her blushing face while saying "EEEKKKK" and trying to run faster away from him was honestly amusing. He decided to keep it this way, teasing her, making her blush and having all of these different reactions made his heart race. After the long and exhausting war, chasing Amy under the spring light, going into a new journey with her, was really pleasing for him ...

and it's been a while ever since.

...

....

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this! I haven't been working on any one-shot ff since I am currently working on completing my other stories, so writing this was really refreshing! I didn't notice I had this request from you and I apologized for not getting back to you sooner. But even so, I hope you like this! Thank you again for reading and supporting my work so far~

#shadamy #shadamy fanfiction #shadamy comic #shadamy boom #shadowxamy #shadow the hedgehog #shadow and amy #amyrose #sonic the hedgehog #shadamy fanf #fanfiction #romace #request #amy the hedgehog

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killscreencinema · 5 years

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Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)

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Xenoblade Chronicles X, released by Monolith Soft “X”-clusively for the Wii U in 2015, takes place on an alien planet named Mira, where the last remnants of humanity have crash landed after Earth was decimated by a mysterious alien force known as the Ganglion. The human survivors live on in the form of “mimeosomes”, which are enhanced cyberorganic duplicates, which are being controlled remotely by their real bodies while in stasis in a massive vault known as the Lifehold.

You play as a freshly revived from stasis new recruit in an organization known as BLADE, whose mission statement, besides gathering resources and fending off hostile creatures for the residents of the fledgling city of New Los Angeles, is to find the Lifehold, which was lost during the crash landing, before it runs out of power, killing the rest of humankind in the process. The only problems is that BLADE is in a race to find the Lifehold against their old pals, the Ganglion, who are committed to finishing the extermination they started.

I normally don’t go into so much detail about a video game story, but goddamn if this one didn’t capture my imagination like no other video game in awhile, especially a J-RPG, with all of their tired tropes. In fact, while I greatly enjoyed the first game, Xenoblade Chronicles, I found the story to be disappointingly banal, especially from a studio like Monolith, who are known for complex plots since the days of ye olde PlayStation with Xenogears (when the creative team was working under Squaresoft). I love the idea of humans rebuilding civilization, with their main hub of New Los Angeles having the familiar California architecture juxtaposed against a strange, alien landscape. I love the idea of these people being trapped in cyber-organic bodies, which if killed, would merely trap their consciousness back in their real bodies in stasis. What a mind trip it would be for someone close to you to die, but if you’re able to find where their real body is tucked away, you might have a chance to bring them back for realsies! To the game’s credit, it deeply explores both the negative and positive psychological implications of such an existence, albeit in a melodramatic fashion one comes to expect from most anime (which J-RPGs are basically offshoots of). The characters are all well-rounded, with Elma, your commanding officer and all around badass bitch, being my favorite. I even love what Elma says whenever she levels up:

“Strength comes from experience. That’s true on any planet.”

Meanwhile, whenever my character leveled up she’d exclaim “MY GROWTH SPURT!!!” Which is... weird. I guess it’s better than your 13-year-old teammate, Lin, yelling that.

You’re well-advised to spend most of your time with Elma and Lin, getting them nice and strong. You can also choose fourth party member from a variety of characters you meet along the way. The longer you spend time with your team completing missions, the more your affinity grows with them. One you reach a certain affinity level, it opens a personal side-quest with each respective character, which are worth doing not only to further dive into the story, but for the “fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory”, as Indiana Jones would say.

While I can’t say enough things about the story, the gameplay is just as solid and immersive. It plays basically just like its spiritual predecessor, for it should be noted at this point that gameplay is the only thing is has in common with the first game as it does not continue the story. It’s almost like how Mega Man X *kinda* continues the story of the original Mega Man series, but with a darker, more sci-fi tone. Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 are pure fantasy (with a lil bit of sci-fi), while Xenoblade Chronicles X is sci-fi fantasy all the way. It’s pretty much the J-RPG version of Mass Effect, but without all the sex.

The battle system is in real-time, with your various special moves set up in slots. You can unleash them at will, or wait for your comrades to request a specific move, which is optimal as it is one of very few ways to heal your party. Plus, those special attacks have to recharge, so you don’t want to be stuck with no specials while your party’s HP is in the red, and one of them is begging for a heal. Aw~kward! I do like how streamlined it feels as opposed to the kind of turn-based fighting I’m used to in J-RPGs, although it’s always stressful not being able to control the three other party members beyond issuing generic squad orders like “Concentrate your fire” or “assemble with me” or “GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE” before running from danger like King Arthur and his knights running from that bunny in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

You’ll be using that order a lot by the way as, similarly to the first game, low level enemies cohabit alongside extremely high level enemies all over the world maps. While most of the time the super strong monsters will ignore your existence, unless you pick a fight or bump into them, others might not have such a chill disposition and will prefer to trample you instead. Running into an area populated by high-level enemies can feel a lot like when you accidentally wander into a dangerous neighborhood. There’s nothing like looking for a rare item in a cave only to realize it’s full of enemies twice your level, so you carefully back away like the Homer Simpson meme:

You might think I’m complaining, but I actually really enjoyed this in both games, as it really makes it feel like a truly open world and having to tread softly or risk sudden annihilation from a level 80 tyrant you didn’t know was there makes it feel more like an adventure. That being said... it can also be incredibly infuriating when you’re flying around in your mech suit, which are called “Skells” in this game, and you innocently bump into a powerful bad guy only for him to promptly blow up your Skells, leaving you with a salvage cost in the MILLIONS. Yep, that’s when you normally “save scum” by loading up a previous save, but damned if they didn’t make it a pain in the ass what with the obscene loading times and all the fucking menu screens you have to press A through. While it’s true that players who are savvy about planting mining beacons in the most optimal way to earn money will have more credits than they know how to spend, you will trash your Skells a lot, and that shit adds up, especially when you’re trying to save for more powerful Skells or expensive equipment.

By the way, I don’t want to understate how fucking cool it is that you get a giant mech robot to ride in halfway through the game. I was already onboard with Xenoblade Chronicle X before that happened, so adding a giant mech robot to the mix is like discovering for the first time how freaking delicious Fritos are in chili. Like... I love chili, but I had not idea it could be improved THIS much with Fritos! And just as the initial buzz of getting a Skell starts to wear off, YOU GET A FLIGHT MODULE THAT ALLOWS YOU TO FLY ALL OVER THE MAP WITH IMPUNITY! Hey, you like chili and Fritos? Howz about a blow job too? I mean, you’ll have to listen to an irritatingly catchy J-pop song while you’re getting the blow job, but still awesome!

Which finally brings us to the music. Holy shit. The music is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, who did the music for the anime series Attack on Titan. There are lots of great tracks for the game... well except for both the day and night themes for NLA, which will get stuck in your head so much you’ll scream into your pillow while trying to sleep at night (meanwhile in your brain you keep hearing, “Uh, yeah, uh, yeah, oh oh oh”). Even the worst track is forgivable if only because the main theme to game, innocously titled “Theme X”, is one of the most goddamn beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard in a game in years. Listen and let the goosebumps wash over you:

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It’s obvious I love the game, but there are negatives too. For one, I didn’t finish the game, because HOLY HELL are the final bosses difficult. Firstly, any hope that you have of beating them is with your Skells, so should they get wrecked somewhere along the way, there’s no way to bring them back, so you’re SOLAMWF (or “Shit out luck and mighty well fucked” as George Carlin coined). If you saved before the fight, your heard was in the right place, but guess what? You’re fucking trapped. You can’t leave to buy a stronger Skell or level grind. It’s a goddamn dead end, emphasis on the word “dead”. Fortunately, being a seasoned RPG player, when Elma asked me not only once, but TWICE, if I was ABSOLUTELY sure I’m ready to enter the Lifehold, I got the subtext and didn’t save once inside. However, stupidly, I did save after accepting the final mission, which effectively locks out the affinity missions, which can be much less redundant way to level grind than doing the “Basic Missions” (which consists of tasks like fetch quests and monster bounties). I tried like hell to grind to level 50 and save up enough credits to buy a level 50 Skell (which were the minimum recommendations for evening the odds against the boss), but I still couldn’t beat him.

So out of frustration and boredom, I rage quit the game and moved on to something that will hopefully be a lot less strenuous... Bloodborne (wah-waaaaaah). I like Xenoblade enough that I’ll return to it and continue grinding away until I eventually beat it.

So yeah... Xenoblade Chronicles X is pretty fucking great. I would cautiously nominate it as the best RPG you’ll play on the Wii U (below Breath of the Wild of course).

#xenoblade chronicles x #Monolith Soft #jrpg #wiiu #nintendo #rpg #role playing games #scifi #skells #video games #xeno #anime

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topweeklyupdate · 6 years

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TØP Weekly Update #62: They’re *Really* Back (9/14/18)

We knew going into this week that there was a real storm coming, and that was an understatement. Though the complete Trench album is still waiting to be released, it really feels like the band is back more than ever.

This update is a novel-sized doozy. Grab your new merch, and let’s dive into it.

This Week’s TØPics:

A Complete Diversion in London Brings Trench (and a Flaming Car) to the Stage

The Boys Speak to the Press: Rock Sound and Alt Press Announce Special TØP Issues, and the Boys Hop Back Onto Radio

First Details Emerge About “Neon Gravestones”, “Pet Cheetah”, Clancy, Nico, and More As the Press Hear the Album for the First Time

Major News and Announcements:

The big one finally hit: after over a year, Twenty One Pilots returned to their home on the stage. They started making flex moves before the show even started. They arrived in London two days in advance, rehearsing and playing soundchecks into the night that die-hard campers could hear from outside the venue. They arranged for folks in Bandito uniforms to dispense 150 tickets to those that showed up at the box office. The venue delivered food to the queue, and the Clique in turn donated their blankets and duvets to a local soup kitchen. Pretty darn sweet.

The real event was even sweeter.

Twenty One Pilots did not quite pull out all of the stops for their first performance in over a year. The set was just over an hour, did not debut any never-before-heard songs, did not include any special guests, and mainly stuck to the skeleton of the Blurryface Era setlist. And you know what? There was absolutely nothing wrong with that. If anything, Tyler and Josh keeping things focused on dusting off the old gears and introducing a few new elements for the Trench era resulted in a tight and emotional return for today’s greatest band. (Shout out to Ohio Clique for editing fifteen different Periscope and Instagram Live streams together to make a cohesive concert movie.)

Highlights of the show include:

There were no screens present in the smaller venue, but the production crew did make sure to bust out a ton of other great production elements, including tons of lights and, most notably, the car from the “Heavydirtysoul” video that bursts into flames at key points during certain songs- including, at one point, when Tyler was standing on it.

The Clique brought the production value in the crowd, too: beyond all the folks dressed up as Banditos and Bishops, you also had plenty of people bring in yellow screens for their flashlights and yellow flowers and petals to offer Tyler.

The setlist was pretty sensible, with the four new Trench singles plus all of the songs that you would have expected them to play at an old festival show (minus “Guns for Hands” and “Tear In My Heart”, no I’m not sweating, why?). It is interesting that “WDBWOTV” and “The Judge” were played, but I suspect that it was mainly to justify bringing out the ukulele for “Nico”; if there are more uke tracks on Trench, I would not be surprised to see one or both of these songs dip out of the regular rotation.

Tyler had to stop the show twice to help people out of the pit- it was that kind of show.

The show opened with Josh coming out on stage in full Bandito regalia, torch in hand, looking like a badass. After sitting down at the drums and playing a few simple sequences, a masked man with a bass guitar walked out on the stage, started playing “Jumpsuit”’s gnarly riff, and yelled for the crowd to “GET UP!” Awesome. Twenty One Pilots is back, mate.

Tyler stumbled over a few lyrics in “Jumpsuit” and “Levitate”, but he successfully played it off- only the most diehard fans would have caught that he wasn’t just pausing for breath or to hear the crowd.

Tyler actually yelled “Why’d you come, you know you should have stayed?” at the end of “Heathens”, and it sounded damn good. Hope it sticks for future shows.

Tyler’s “WDBWOTV” pre-speech was a pretty good inaugural address for the Trench Era. He let the rabid audience know that he had been watching them since before the concert (both literally and metaphorically), joked about needing to get back in “show shape”, and thanked London for being a home away from home for them. In gratitude for hosting them, Tyler even announced that they were adding a third arena show at Wembley and joked that Mark should tweet it or something (he did).

Prior to playing “Nico”, Tyler adorned a bright yellow jacket over his usual uke kimono; Josh helpfully banged the drums dramatically for every successful button.

Tyler and Josh did the handshake during “Nico”, because of course they did.

For “My Blood”, Tyler drew from the old playbook and attempted to direct the two halves of the audience to sing harmonies. It worked even better than it used to with “Doubt”, much to Tyler’s evident glee- his smile and little dance to everyone singing his new song back at him was probably the best moment of the whole show.

The Trees Speech was short and sweet, with Tyler promising that he’s written “pages and pages” of things he wants to say, but for now all he can say is that they’ll be coming back on the new tour with “things we’ve never seen before” and that the fans look so good.

#YellowConfettiConfirmed

In the last bit of major news: new merch (that Josh stitched himself, be nice) and a new yellow Trench vinyl that I’m sure won’t immediately sell out. Have fun spending your life savings, kids!

Other Shenanigans:

The band was active in other spaces this week, of course. After Zane Lowe broke open the floodgates last week, both Rock Sound and Alternative Press announced that they would release some exclusive Trench Era Content (tm). Rock Sound’s came in the form of a thirty-page mag featuring a lengthy 22-page feature comprised of the first interview the two bands gave together since before the hiatus, Tyler and Josh’s first full photoshoot in over a year, and tons of awesome posters and Clique art. It definitely is not available in any form on the Internet that I’m afraid to link to lest I get pegged for copyright and sent to jail. Highlights of this interview that I certainly haven’t read include:

Lots of typical Rock Sound purple prose, in which the writer goes off on more tangential metaphors than even Tyler Robert Joseph.

The reporter describes Tyler’s house as “quite stunning” (yeah, with that Blurryface money combined with Columbus real estate values, I should hope so).

Josh laughs at the memory of some of their old costumes. “Those suits were so hot,” he says, as if those heavy coats aren’t a billion degrees inside.

Tyler: “There’s something healthy about realizing that the world keeps turning. Sometimes it can feel like the whole world is revolving around you- I think we all selfishly get to that point. When you have those moments, when you stop and realize that even if you weren’t there those other people would be, it lifts a weight that can feel very heavy. It motivates you to want to come up with a reason why you’re here.”

Tyler says they cut out social media during the hiatus in part because “removing the ability to run straight to it was important. For me, writing music is the thing I want to run to when I feel compelled or inspired. Whether it’s frustration or anger or compassion, whatever it is that I wanted to express, I wanted it to live somewhere new. I didn’t want one drop of meaningful expression to live anywhere else.” Additionally, they did want to test whether the Clique would stick around, and even kinda hint that they wanted to shrink how crowded some of the rooms they entered were becoming.

We are assured, however, that the next “hiatus” will not be the exact same as this. Tyler: “Going away broke my heart. It hurt that we weren’t able to tell people why we had gone, but I’m an advocate of showing people what I’ve been working on rather than telling them how hard I’m working. [...] That said, though we don’t know what the timeframe will be or if we’ll take another break, the manner in which we left... we’ll never do that again.”

I’m just gonna leave this here: “He tells us also of the beautiful relationship he has with his wife, Jenna, and the role that she played in helping him unlock the words and the sounds that would form the basis of this new chapter; of the times he would hand her the phone while behind the wheel of his car to allow her to record anything from melodies to simple poems.” Yeah, will someone sweep up all the pieces of my heart that are just lying on the floor, that’d be great.

Tyler has long had the idea to tell a geographic story, much longer than since the end of the last cycle, and he didn’t always intend to tell it through music. “I feel like in our mind there are places we learn we shouldn’t go.”

Tyler says that there are lots of songs that he writes that never see the light of day because he has moved past the season he wrote them in by the time it comes to record them.

Rock Sound is positively glowing in its brief advance review of the album, saying it is undoubtedly the best project of 2018, “a labor of love”, “a varied, often spectacular collection” with some of the band’s all-time greatest moments. It will be even more sonically diverse than we’ve come to expect: “Morph” is described as “old-school R&B”, “The Hype” “anthemic indie-rock”, “Pet Cheetah” has “stomping beats and a fiery rap verse.” The highlight, though, is apparently “Neon Gravestones”, “a piano-laden spoken word masterpiece” with lyrical content that “will save at least one person’s life”. Damn.

Alt Press will also be releasing a 24-page cover feature on the band and were even nice enough to include a fun video ad from the boys. They’re so cute, and I’ve missed them so much. (Also, Tyler’s checkered pants are a quality meme.)

After the Complete Diversion, Tyler and Josh performed a mini-press tour. First, they gave five-minute interview with Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 and an Instagram Stories AMA on the station’s account. Highlights of this quickie include:

Josh and Tyler joke that specifying the exact number of months they’ve been away sounds like a mother saying their kid is “14 months” instead of a year old.

Tyler notes that this was the first performance in a long time that they’ve felt truly nervous, as they could no longer rely on muscle memory to carry them through after the long break, particularly with the new songs.

Annie references her last interview with Josh, where he confessed to be nervous about whether the fans would return. When asked if the first show helped them overcome those nerves, Tyler replied honestly, “To an extent, yes.” They chuckle about it, but the implication remains thick: the dedicated fanbase certainly turned up, but there is no assurance that they’ll have long-term mainstream success in the future. They seem cool with that.

Tyler states that they chose London specifically to make their return because, besides Columbus, it’s the only city where they have played in every size of venue, from the Barfly club to the Ally Pally and everything in-between over the course of fifteen shows. That type of home atmosphere made it feel right to start the new era there.

Josh says they played a bowling alley in London once. He did not wear bowling shoes in the set nor when he bowled afterward, which, as Tyler points out, is very punk rock.

Tyler reflects on how this show represents years of preparation and practice teaching them how to “trim the fat” and master the tempo and flow of the concert to appear as confident as possible and bring the audience along for a well-planned journey.

“My Blood” is one of the most challenging songs for both artists to play, particularly Tyler, as he has to balance the difficult falsetto with keeping that bassline groovy and consistent.

The IG answers were mostly just the dudes trying and failing to answer basic questions like “Are you happy to be back?” and “What’s it like to be famous?” in as few words as possible without giggling, hugging, and tickling each other. Best Q/A: Why did they watch the Grammys in their underwear? “We didn’t have air-conditioning.”

South African DJ Rob Forbes from Radio 5FM also conducted a truly fascinating interview with the band, the first that dives into the lore and one that gives us even more of a glimpse into some of the future songs. Additionally, Mr. Forbes briefly posted the tracklist w/ time-codes, revealing that both “Chlorine” and “Bandito” go over five minutes- get hyped, kids. Highlights from this interview include:

When asked about Clancy, Tyler responds with a pregnant silence before asking how the the interviewer knew about him. DJ Forbes stutters an answer about having listened to the record, but Tyler replies that Clancy’s not on the record. All he does say about Clancy is “I’ve heard about him, and I know we’re from the same place.” What is up with your cryptic nonsense, Tyler Robert Joseph?

The band intentionally left the Trench Trilogy open-ended to be able to continue it in the future. Tyler did not mean to make the timeline confusing, but did note that its cyclical nature left it open for the Clique to pursue that interpretation.

Tyler is careful with choosing his words to describe Nico. He admits the whole thing is pretty confusing (his grandma asked him once, “What’s a Nico?”), but that was his intention: he wanted to give the Clique a lot to think about and discuss as a reward for waiting so long. He does seem to confirm that Nico is Blurryface, or at least an aspect of him that represents how much more familiar Tyler has become with the nature of his own insecurities as he writes about it.

Tyler denies that the final verse of “Neon Gravestones” has a specifically political bend and actually sounds a little offended that something so important to him could be cast in that light. No idea what that means, I need to hear this song.

The interviewer says that Tyler calls his “Pet Cheetah” “Jason Statham” within the song itself in a fun rap verse. Tyler laughs and says that came from an inside joke between him and Josh that he was excited to bring to life. I am SO confused, you have no idea.

Tyler says that they had plans at one point to come to South Africa for a show that fell through at the last second, but that they’re still interested in going at some point in the future.

Additionally, the music production interest site Mix did a small spotlight on the producers behind Trench. We already knew that Paul Meany was handling main production duty; Darrell Thorpe, whose credits include Radiohead, OutKast, Paul McCartney, and Foster the People, joined him as an engineer while the band captured the album’s drum tracks at United Recording Studios in LA, the only studio they used outside of the one in Tyler’s home. It’s always cool to see the dudes who bring the band’s music to life, but, to be honest, the best part of this short little article is Tyler’s dad socks in the photo.

Oh, and music video director Andrew Donoho told Billboard that he can’t spoil the album or Tyler will burn down his house. So... yeah, okay, moving on.

Chart Performance:

After its first full week of sales and streaming, “My Blood” secured a debut at #16 on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart ranking the songs that have yet to reach the Hot 100. The song gains at all metrics, and according to some industry sources like Headline Planet, it is receiving a concentrated marketing push to pop and adult contemporary markets that its predecessors have not. “Jumpsuit” continues to fade, but its run was respectable, and I remain optimistic about Trench’s commercial prospects going forward, especially in the midst of this hype wave.

Whew. That was a long run. Congrats to everyone who made it all the way to the end. We’re so close to Trench, you guys. Keep powering through. Stay alive. And power to the local dreamer.

|-/

#twenty one pilots #tyler joseph #josh dun #trench #rock sound #alt press #a complete diversion #bbc radio one #pet cheetah #neon gravestones #top weekly update

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aspiestvmusings · 6 years

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Hi,do you think scorpion was canceled just because of the ratings? Or was there something else we don’t know about?

Hi,

You answer your question within your question. But let me get to the point after this long detour… (if you wish to read JUST the answer, scroll down to the very end… to get to the “answer”…)

Think about it.

The show was moved into the Monday night comedy block…and yet it was originally supposed to be a drama with a comedy heart. It is also a “family show”, yet it was moved to the end of the Monday night line-up, airing at 10PM timeslot. The shows ratings and viewer numbers started to go down (as they do with almost every single network show as seasons go by)… And though we may never know what the Nielsen box owners think and what the regular/random tv viewers think about the show… we know that most online fans thought the shows writing suffered over the seasons, and that the hearty dramedy kinda fell into its own trap… choosing quantity over quality, choosing to go too far over the line. Becoming kinda ridiculous… even for a comic book superhero fun show. We know only what other vocal fans online think about the shows “progress” over the years. We do not know what most viewers think, but we know what many (online) fans do.

Think about it.

The official TV (spoiler) news & sites (and the network itself in their press releases) are referring to the shows lower-than-before ratings/viewer numbers and the fact that it just wasn’t working for them (on Monday nights…) and did not perform as well as they expected it to do. (writing an analysis on the possible reasons why that was so, and making suggestions what could have been done… by network, byt showrunners/writers to make it better… would take more time and energy than I choose to spend on this issue.)

They did not choose alderman Sly’s tactic…and coming up with solutions that make everything better… (Sly is making West Altadenia better with his street-lights & anti-bullying programs). They chose to not give other options a try, and instead start from clean slate. Taking the risk with new shows -since key demo that they’re after is younger audience, who just weren’t engaging with the show - they essentially (to put it in very rough terms) chose to replace the oldies with fresh and young faces. The network is obviously trying to attract younger and newer audiences… and are using “new, fresh, “hip” shows as their tactical plan. Only time will tell is this works or not. (I’m not the type of customer, but who knows about the regular US viewer and their preferences… in mindless medium?)

But obviously they did not care about the syndication deal/money enough to give it even a short 10-13 episode final season (remember: we’re at episode 94…or so…), so the show was only 6 or so episodes away from 100th episode,, and syndication deal. They also obviously did not want to move it to any other night either. It wasn’t working as part of the Monday night lineup, but they obviously couldn’t fit it into any other night either. In my personal opinion, which does not reflect anyone else, the show lost its way… it was still officially a drama, but it had become a comedy basically. And the kind that laughs at itself/its own jokes. It wasn’t the best of boths anymore, it was neither really… lately… not a comedy, not a drama, so harder to fit into any nights programme.

NOW…IF I WOULD BE THE ONE MAKING THE RENEWAL/CANCELLATION DECISIONS…

If you’d ask me, I’d say that a show which has gotten lost…and so far off the tracks that it (its showrunners/writers) can’t find the original path anymore.. because they’re not even willing to… is (to quote Happy Quinn) not good. A show which has become so inconsistent, and which is trying to fit too much content into too little space (too many plotlines, and not enough time spent on any of them), is not on the favourites list… when making decisions what to keep and what to let go. A show which promotes itself as being about team of geniuses, who are a family and each others support system (THEM against the world), but which has such poor scientific quality… is not very believable. Even for a show that’s supposed to be light and just-for-fun entertainment the content became “too silly”.

Can’t relate to a genius, who is being (science) dumb. Can’t relate to a team of geniuses who instead of their initial goal to add new EQ layers to their IQ become unrecognizable and forgetting their hearts… whenever it’s needed for the plot. Can’t take seriously empathetic geniuses who have forgotten their own struggles, and who instead of adding EQ and becoming more empathetic towards each other/everyone just become meaner towards anyone different than them…and anyone, who is like them in the past. Can’t be interested in watching a show which promotes itself as one thing, but in it’s core is (read: has become) another thing :(

ETA: This is sadly the fate of most network shows, cause networks & writers don’t know any other way to “develop” these personal storylines. And over time quantity wins over quality - most shows suffer from trying to fit too many plots into the show & dropping old/ongoing plots when new “better” ideas come to mind and/or when they think something isn’t working (instead of finishing the “notworking” plot before moving to new one, it’s kinda left unfinished).Maybe the statistics are right, and this is what the average US TV-viewer wants. Maybe the supply meets the demand. Maybe I’m just having a hard time believing how not-smart oriented network tv is.

A show that uses drama for only dramas sake. And not in the usual TV show style. But extra… A show that has it’s socially challenged characters bully each-other, and not get called out on it. A show that is so inconsistent, and so “aimless” that it is unacceptable even if taking into account that it is a lighthearted fiction entertainment program on network TV. They all were past the level they were dragged back to… to empathize the IQ vs EQ main theme of the show. When there were other ways….. when it could’ve been done honouring their development. The back & fort became so inconsistent… it didn’t fit the low-EQ slow learning curve and 1 step forward/2 steps back style… it just became… weird.

If I was the person making decision I’d given the show another chance (but only if a deal with the showrunners was made that they’d up their game. And after everything I’d given then a short 13-episode final season (if there was no room for full season), and moved the show to a different night…. or maybe even to be aired during summer. But a final deal only if the show would present their plans for what’s next in detail, and there would be sure signs of improvement in quality of storytelling, and a clear path.

But… I’m me, and I measure TV shows differently than networks do. I look for the quality of content, the writing and consistency. I do not care about adds, revenue, ratings, and viewer numbers. I’m a terrible business person. The networks are looking at different things than I do when making renewal/cancellation decisions. So their cancellation decision was reached by looking at other things… not the plotlines I consider the “deal breakers”

IMPORTANT: THIS IS ALL PURE SPECULATION THOUGH…

BECAUSE NEITHER I OR YOU (OR OTHER FANS HERE) WORK FOR CBS/THE SHOW. WHICH MEANS THAT WE’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE DETAILS AND REASONS BEHIND THE DECISIONS. IT’S A BUSINESS DECISION.

…and to get back to your question….

Think about it.

IF there would be something else (besides the lowering ratings/viewer numbers and the other reasons started in official press news) that we don’t know about then how am I supposed to answer your question if I (because you & I are part of the “we” aka “fandom” that you are referring to in your ask) don’t know about any other possible reasons behind the decision to not renew the show. So… it is impossible for me to answer as I can’t tell you something that I don’t know (about), can I?

PS. THIS, JUST LIKE MOST SPOILER/TV QUESTIONS I GET, HAS BEEN ALREADY ANSWERED IN MY PRIOR POSTS. SEE: HERE (post + tags) As I always say… IF and when I have anything to say/add/comment on any TV related stuff, I will make my own post, and the answers are always found in my posts. And it’s not that I don’t want to answer, it’s just that I don’t have anything to say. All I’ve had to say, I’ve already expressed on this blog.

And we can speculate as much as we want, and we can ever have ”inside info” (know more than the official statements say), but… we still can’t say anything, and can’t say anything for sure… And as I originally said… I do expect there to be some rumours.. as there always are after fan-fave show cancellations, but I won’t take part in commenting on those. At least that’s my position right now. But yes, it seems to me (based on what is known… that) there was more to the decision than just the thing mentioned in the press release. Maybe I am wrong, and the studio/network made the decision purely based on the things they mentioned, but everything points to those other (not mentioned) things also playing a part. But… those are only “need to know” and we, the fans don’t need to know (read: are not supposed to know about those other things)

PS. I do plan to write one more post… regarding the show and the series/season 4 finale. But I need time to really sit down and write the thoughts down. But in short… after I re-watched the finale (back-to-back with the Pilot)… I actually think this was a quite fitting book-end ending. Sure…not the happy ending most expect. But it was still kinda “coming a full circle” ending. From the Walt/Janice opening scene in Pilot to the Walt/Paige end scene in Finale. To the introduction and forming of the team.. to the “dismantling” of the team.

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