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romanoffsbish · 10 months

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Power(less) Moves

CEO!NatashaReader x Assistant!Wanda

A/N: I love mcu Vision, please don’t read into the slanderous noncannon talking points | 4,840 Words

Warnings: Pushy Men | Angst -> Fluff

A luncheon barbecue was the last place Wanda wanted to spend her Saturday afternoon, but being the assistant to the CEO's meant she hadn't much of a choice. Especially when said CEO's are also her lovers in the night time.

She'd been hoping to get lucky this morning after her dream left her a sticky mess, but when you brushed her off your thigh, and Natasha rushed out the front door with nary a kiss on her lips she knew she was shit out of luck.

Which is why she planned to be a bit of a brat.

——

Sitting impossibly close to Vision Stark, Tony's dorky younger brother that you hired out of pity as he was struggling to find employment after college. Turns out he wasn't all that keen on keeping it either as his hand grazed over Wanda's back as she laughed at his lame joke.

Natasha's hand was wrapped so tight around her flute of champagne that you had to take it from her. Fearful it would snap and cut her.

Your arms connected as they weaved around her front, you kissed the skin beneath her ear then whispered, "It's okay my love, the little whore is foolishly toying with us." Natasha grumbled, "She's letting him touch her Y/N."

There was insecurity in her tone that enacted a resounding pain in your chest. The prospect of losing Wanda always weighed heavy on both of your hearts, she was a bit younger, and more importantly she was free of commitments.

Natasha and you had an entire company to run, people's lives depending on your ability to sign their checks, she only had your cards.

"She wants to make us pay for leaving her a mess," you whispered with renewed conviction as you noticed her gazing back at you two every once in awhile. Natasha caught on as well as she chuckled darkly, "It'll be her to pay."

Wanda clearly felt eyes on her, she enjoyed it at first, the way her body felt with the surge of adrenaline the glares gave her. Riling you guys up was her favorite pastime, because she'd always wind up waking up with one of you both still deep inside of her, where you'd belonged.

Wanda absolutely adored the possessiveness. Being your guys assistant wasn't exactly easy, but loving the two of you was. It was like breathing, an organic, natural occurrence.

There was no way she'd ever leave you two, and especially not for Vision Stark, he was a drab, and on top of that he was unattractively pushy.

At first flirting with Vision was fun, humoring the man who'd made his office crush obvious, it was harmless; until it wasn't. When his hands firmed against her skin, and he leaned in a hair too close. Wanda was no longer enjoying this, he smelt of cheap aftershave, and peach schnapps, smelling just as pretentious as he'd made himself out to be. A rich kid who was so insufferable he couldn't get hired on his name.

Tony once joked he was adopted, and Wanda's starting to believe he wasn't lying after all. That or he was likely the product of an affair. Yeah... Which would explain the stark difference in their appearances, one blonde with blue eyes and lanky limbs, the other a brunette, with brown eyes, and a all around toned physique.

Fortunately for Wanda you guys saw the exact moment her flirty facade fell into distress. There was not even a blink of your eyes before you were rushing off to aide her. Natasha hot on your heels with an HR exec beside her.

"Hey Wanda, is everything okay?" The woman turned her face to look up, her lip wobbled slightly, Vision leaned back in adjunct horror.

"I-." Wanda found herself unable to speak, you all glared daggers at the trembling trust fund baby, and Sadie, the HR manager, sighed in obvious frustration, "Stark, follow me."

You nudged your wife, silently demanding her check reflect a bonus for this moment. Nat rolled her eyes at your thoughtfulness, but nodded a promise, and in this case agreement.

"Wanda, I need you to calm down," you coo'd, a hand softly tracing the curvature of her face. "Can you do that baby?" Her lower lip trembled softly, she harshly sucked it between her teeth to temper herself before nodding her head.

"Thank you," you kissed the tip of her nose, she visibly relaxed, and your heart beamed with pride and swirled with adoration. "Natty's pulling the car around, I'll be home later."

Wanda's hands clutched your shirt, eyes wide with fear, shadowing her disappointment. "I have to close out the luncheon, and then I have to deal with some urgent HR paperwork."

"No," Wanda shook her head, a tear flying as she did. "I'm sorry, I-I, it's okay. Let him go."

"Don't be crazy Wanda," you lowly growled. "He made you uncomfortable, it was clear and he dismissed it, that's unacceptable; for you, to me, and also as a reflection on the company."

"I can stay," she pleaded. "I'll pull it together."

"No." You shook your head, and gave her a hug to soothe her. You quietly whispered, "You've had a rough time baby, you'll go home and take care of yourself. Do as mommy says. Got it?" Wanda nodded, and you gave out soft praises.

Then you heard a car door slam, and a rush of footsteps telling you your time ran out. You slyly kissed her lips, then warned, "When daddy gets home we'll handle punishment."

Natasha kissed your cheek, then smirked at you as she pulled Wanda towards the car. You winked at the terrified brunette, then blew a kiss to your wife before returning to find your employees eyes all on your business. The lot of them straightened out and shifted back to their former conversations, you shook your head with amusement before returning to business.

That mongrel had to be dealt with instantly.

—

It had been about three torturous hours before you could even consider heading home. Vision tried to fight you, threatening legal recourse as he stated you were merely jealous. Apparently he had known of your situation, and was set on using it against all of you. He'd threatened to use his status, but his attempts were futile as Tony cackled through the receiver of his phone.

What you, Natasha, and Wanda shared was a matter you'd legally squashed ages ago with HR. Sure, you still kept your relationship under wraps at work, but that was simply to ensure staff didn't cry favoritism due to the nature of your positions. Wanda was never given special treatment at work, ever, you and Nat simply couldn't afford to feed into her ego like that.

She was already insufferable at home as it was.

After a long battle that left you exhausted, and poor Sadie on the verge of a breakdown, the younger Stark decidedly heeded his brother's warnings about being cut off if he so much as called the family lawyer against two of his best friends, and his namesake company's allies.

He left quietly, a major deviation from how he'd entered, but you left in an angered rush.

When you eventually walked through the doors of your massive penthouse you were met by your wife, who was sitting on your at home bar wearing nothing more than a red camisole intricately laced in black, her full breasts on display as she hopped off the counter and sauntered over to you, smirking devilishly as she saw exactly where your eyes had landed.

"Welcome home love." She pecked your lips, then allowed you to wordlessly respond, your hands fell to her hips where you squeezed them before pulling her back in for a deeper kiss. It had been a long day, one that was meant to be stress free, but had divulged into chaos.

Natasha could sense the urgency in you, with the way your hands bunched the silk up, fully exposing her bare lower half to you enough of an indication that it had been a tough event.

"Love, slow down," she panted against your lips as you'd slipped your leg between hers and began to rub her cunt against your slacks. You growled, then sunk your teeth into the swell of her breast to clearly reiterate your frustrations.

"I tied the brat up," she whispered between her raspy moans, instantly peeking your interest. "How long has she been made to be alone with her thoughts?" You inquired as you continued to help your wife ride your thigh, enjoying the way her face scrunched up in pleasure as she fought to remain cognizant enough to reply.

"After I made sure she showered his stench off of her, and ate a proper meal, I tied her up."

"Good, because if I had to suffer for her foolish behavior, then so should she." Natasha whined as you abruptly stilled her hips, "Why must I?"

"Oh hush," you chided, "I let you come home while I dealt with the pest, the least you could do is be patient so I can fuck you properly."

Natasha hummed thoughtfully, "Fair enough."

With a soft roll of your eyes you responded to her, then after a moment of silence you lifted the woman up, who squealed at the surprise, and brought her to the master bedroom. You tossed her onto the mattress, then hovered over her, completely ignoring the woman laid beside you with red cheeks and flowing tears.

Wanda immediately pulled at her restraints when she got no response to her pleading. "Mommy please, I thought about what I did," she cried, "I just needed you guys so badly."

"Shut up whore," you growled, but you didn't look at her and that absolutely broke her.

"Had you just been patient, like I'd asked you to be this morning, then we'd have made sure to fuck you dumb later." This time you turned, glare icy as you met her teary eyes. "Color?"

"Green..."

"It's such a shame too," you sighed, your hand cupped her cheek tenderly, subtle reassurance of your guys love before you gripped her chin. "We would've had you thoroughly fucked all weekend long, Monday too since it's a holiday."

"Wait," she went to seek clarity, but you'd already shoved her panties into her mouth.

"Whores don't get to make demands," you tutted before turning back to look at Natasha who was thoroughly amused by your actions. "Now, if you want relief you'll be quiet, and watch me make mommy scream. If you so much as blink we won't touch you for a week."

Natasha snorted, "Aww baby, play fair." The request was absolutely ridiculous, you knew that, but in the moment you didn't care much.

"Fair would've been her remaining loyal," you sneered, "She instead chose to parade around the luncheon like she was on the damn menu."

Natasha frowned deeply at the reminder, her eyes full of insecurities met eyes full of regret.

Wanda instantly broke the rule as she blinked once the reality had hit her, she'd never meant to actually hurt either one of you. Losing you wasn't an option she thought of fondly, or ever. It left a dull ache in her chest thinking that she might be facing losing either one of you. And she couldn't even apologize like she wanted to with the makeshift gag, it was shoved in deep.

"Three blinks," you suddenly conceded through a harsh breath through your nose, knowing damn well that was manageable as Natasha wasn't that far away from her own release.

Wanda nodded obediently, not a single rebuttal left on her lips, and she knew your tight smile was the closest to affection you'd show her.

Natasha moaned as soon as your tongue met her dripping cunt, she was already close while riding your thigh, and she knew as you were relentlessly lapping at her that she wouldn't last long. Which left some hope for Wanda.

The brunette made it an entire minute before she blinked. One down, and two to go, she was pleading with you to work your usual magic. Natasha hardly ever took more than two minutes to orgasm when your skilled mouth was what was at use. Your dexterous tongue was more than enough for the both of them.

Then you incorporate the fingers and it's over, which is how you approached the now. You pulled a strangled moan from the redhead that reverberated off the walls. Wanda gulped and blinked again as her arousal increased tenfold.

"Careful Wands," Natasha panted affectedly, "You've only got one more pass now baby."

Wanda's eyes burned, but she managed to keep them open just long enough for you to suck Nat's clit into your mouth and make her sing your praises. The brunette blinked fast so she could alleviate the sting and watched closely as Nat sloppily rutted into your face to make the orgasm last. Wanda was jealous, but content.

Watching you make your wife fall apart was always something she found attractive. It is how the first night together went. You gave her pointers, then let her take over the act so you could rail her senseless with your strap. A shiver ran down her spine at the memory, and a shock to her heart followed as she continued to regret her every bratty decision on this day.

Natasha smirked dreamily at you as you now hovered over her, all while her slender fingers walked down Wanda's body, she could feel the way the girl tensed, she was perfectly wound up. "She did it lyubov', shall we reward her?"

You hummed in contemplation as you pressed your lips to hers, relishing in the way that your wife moaned, and wrapped her legs around you to draw your body even closer. Wanda watched with rapt attention, her muffled whimpers and squirming body enough to draw you back. You looked at her with that infuriatingly attractive, smug grin that only ever made her wetter.

"I suppose the brat has earned her reprieve," you reasoned with a shrug before clambering off the bed, and just as you disappeared into the closet to retrieve your strap Natasha took your agreement in stride. With fast hands she untied the brunette, and removed the panties. Wanda choked on the taste of her own arousal as she acclimated to the freedom, then after a bit of spluttering she looked up into predatory green orbs and inhaled sharply before pouting.

The redhead wore a smirk, "You look so pretty like this sweetheart," her thumb stroked over the younger woman's cheek, wiping away a stray tear. Then she leaned down to kiss her trembling lips, her tongue slipping into her mouth as she passed time. Once she heard the familiar sound of you fastening the harness she pulled back with a wide smirk. Wanda gulped, and as expected, with the tight grip Nat had on her hips she flipped her onto her stomach.

"Don't you think so detka?" Natasha called out to you as she heard you approach her, you didn't answer right away. Instead you handed over a leather paddle then walked to the side of the bed and crouched down to see Wanda's muddled gaze. "So pretty," you mused as your callous thumb ran down the bridge of her nose until it landed on her plump, pursed lips. Her entire body visibly shuddered, and her eyes that reeked of submission only doubled down.

"Broken into submission, and at our mercy." Natasha beamed at the familiar concept, and you smiled just the same as you leaned in to peck her lips. "It's about time we ruin her."

The redhead took that as her queue and slammed the paddle down onto her left cheek. You took full advantage of her anticipated reaction, Wanda's agape mouth as she went to scream out in a mix of pain and pleasure was full before the sound could fully leave her throat as you jutted your hips forward. It was replaced by a gargle of whimpers and gags.

"Get daddy's cock ready for you baby," Natasha commanded as she roughly groped the stinging skin of her behind. "And take each hit like a good girl, don't try to escape me now love..."

Natasha was relentless in her pursuit to bruise the rear end of your lover. Wanda took it in stride as her repentance was just beginning. Neither of you would truly hurt the woman, marks aside, you knew she took great pleasure from this arrangement as she drenched your sheets every single time you had to punish her.

Her tears still soaked through the pillowcase as you continued to assault her throat just the same, you were clearly close to your release as the harness brutally assaulted your clit. Your grunts turned both of your lovers on, Nat had even brought her paddle to a stop after a harsh swat against the reddened, welting cheeks. It was mesmerizing to see you so close, your face scrunched up as sweat sheened your skin.

The heady stench of arousal nearly brought the redhead to her knees, so she did it herself as she kept her eyes locked on yours. With a much gentler hand she maneuvered the pliant body on the bed until her ass was raised and legs were spread enough to grant her access to her drenched cunt. She winked at you before diving right in, making Wanda moan around your strap and driving you wild with the reverb.

"Natasha," you warned through gritted teeth, she understood you perfectly, but she still teased you by pushing Wanda to the absolute brink. Her eyes swimming with mischief never wavered from your own, and just as you had came, arousal painting your thighs, she pulled away to prevent Wanda from the same fate.

Wanda cried hoarsely as you ripped your strap from her throat, spit trailed from her swollen lips to your strap until you moved far enough back for it to snap. The poor girl was in total disarray over the refusal, but as she was swiftly flipped onto her back she was made to cry even harder. The feel of your usually soft sheets was nearly coarse as it rubbed against her sore ass.

"If only you would've behaved today," you pondered aloud, "We would've let you cum without teasing, and with the promise of it never ending until you'd beg us to stop."

"I'm sorry," she cried, her eyes were clamped shut as she tried to stop her tears, "Please..."

"That's a good girl," you chuckled darkly as you stared down at her from the end of the bed. "Beg for it, remind mommy and daddy that only we can make you this desperate."

Wanda went to plead her case, but you cut her off by pushing your strap beyond her fluttering entrance. The overdue stretching of her slicked up walls had her eyes rolling to the back of her head, her back arching alongside them until Natasha firmed her back against the mattress.

While you picked up an instantly brutal pace Natasha moved about her upper body, making her head spin as she lavished her breasts with soft kisses that turned incessant, then from there it became rough. Her teeth making surprise contact with the skin over her pulse was enough to help reduce her into a mess.

"Please," she whimpered, the first coherent word to fall from her lips in minutes as you purposefully neglected her clit to keep her on that blissful edge. Natasha's mouth wrapped around her pert nipples aided her in her journey, but Wanda couldn't reach her peak without the more direct stimulation. "Hmm?"

"Beg harder baby, don't be so damn pitiful," Natasha taunted in a garbled manner as she continued to suck and nip at her chest. Her mark more than made on the once clear skin that she'd taken to using as a canvas. "Do it!"

Wanda shrieked as the redhead twisted her nipple for emphasis at the same time your tip pressed against her innermost sensitive spot. The brunette blacked out for all of two seconds as the building pleasure reached unbearable. The closeness was obvious to all of you, as with every thrust in you met increased resistance, and Natasha was up close to her heaving chest.

"Please, I-I, mommy I need to let go so bad!" Wanda finally cried, "Daddy, please let me."

Your wife peered up at you, her plump lip caught between her teeth as she admired the way you looked glistening under the soft light of your bedroom, layered in sweat. It was hot. Rather enticing, the way that you focused your eyes on her every previously sinful move while still keeping up the brutal pace of your thrusts. Clearly you were on the brink again, but you kept it under control as you finally gave into the temptation to see Wanda coming undone.

"Cum for us baby," you purred, voice raspy from the insatiable need. Wanda's heart soared and with a firm press of your thumb to her clit as your wife sucked a deep mark onto the skin of the valley of her breasts she was writhing.

"There's our good girl," you teased, and Nat snorted, "We just had to fuck her dumb."

"Oh, and we're far from done," you muttered, smirking at your wife as you felt the way her thighs tensed as you lifted her legs up, causing the strap to reach further. Wanda screamed as the tip of your strap pressed firmly against her g-spot. Natasha watched in momentary awe as the strap you rutted into her, against her walls that squeezed it still, bulged her stomach out.

"I-I can't," Wanda whined, but Natasha shushed her with a peck to her lips, "You can baby, this is what you wanted, so take it." Then she rerouted her attention back to the bulge, her hand splayed flat against her abdomen as she felt the mesmerizing rise and fall of it. "Daddy's fucking you so well baby, thank her."

"Thank you daddy," she instantly complied, "Need to cum again, please." You hummed, "Use your manners and thank mommy too."

Wanda smiled up at Natasha, her expression thanks enough, and so the redhead nodded while reaching down to stimulate her clit as her other hand pressed firmly against her stomach. The brunette's entire body shook violently as she was thrown into another blinding orgasm.

Then all at once it stopped as you slipped out, her slick oozing out of her hole that continued to contract around nothing. Her body slumped and your wife met your lips for a tender kiss.

Wanda was too fucked out to notice Natasha had inserted a bullet into her, her walls too numbed from the previous filling to register it either. It wasn't until she shifted slightly, her eyes widening, that she felt the foreign piece. The way you two smiled at her was enough, she didn't need words to know the punishment was prolonged, and that terrified and excited her.

"Why don't you help daddy out, hm?" Natasha now hovered over the brunette, smile alluring as always as she stroked her face. Wanda knew exactly what that meant, so she shimmied off the bed and dropped to her knees, hands working fast to remove the harness from you, trying her best to be fast to keep you content.

Just as soon as the harness left your body were you gripping her by her hair and pressing her into you. Your cunt ached, as did your body with tension from your long day. Nobody, not even Natasha who was skilled beyond belief could bring you over the edge like Wanda did.

Every single session between you three ended like this, with her in varying positions that always centered with her between your thighs. Using her dexterous tongue and nimble, long fingers to bring you to nirvana in seconds. It filled the woman with pride every time. This time, even with her being in the dog house, was no different. If anything it was more special.

The fact that you are even letting her do this was a privilege she didn't take for granted. Your essence smeared her face, and she wore it with the utmost pride, if you'd let her she would wear it in public. Part of her wished that to be part of the punishment, maybe you'd let her eat you out on Tuesday in the office, and make her wear it in a possessive retaliation.

Natasha watched Wanda's thighs rub together and she smirked from her place behind you, her hands lazily played with your breasts as her lips tenderly kissed over your salty skin. "I think the brat is enjoying her treat, should we give her the other one?" You chuckled breathily, "I don't know, I think us spoiling her like that is what got us into this mess Natalia."

Wanda flinched, the reminder of today still weighed heavy on her every time you brought it up. She wished for it to be a thing of the past, but she knew better than to dream like that. It was her fault, she hurt you both, and somehow you still let her have your sweetest nectar so she wouldn't complain about your denials.

Honestly, she didn't even need the vibe, your moans that just picked up, along with the tightening of your hand in her hair was enough to tell her just how well she was doing, and to send her crashing over the edge alongside you.

"Fuck, she's dripping onto the carpet," Natasha rasped against your shoulder as she peered down to see Wanda with her hands now on the ground as she keeled over and desperately gasped for air. You'd not only smothered her, but your reaction to her alone sent her into an orgasm that was blinding and breathtaking.

Literally, she was basically hyperventilating.

Though you were also coming down from an intense release, you dropped to your knees and pulled the overstimulated girl into your lap. Kissing over the bruises your lover had already left behind, but you refrained from leaving your own. Your slick on her contorted face was more than enough for you to have left a mark.

"Shh, it's okay sweetness," you tried to calm her as you carried her into the bathroom, Nat leading you there so she could run a bath, but it was clear as day that she was deep in turmoil.

"I'm sorry," Wanda cried, hands clutching your shoulders as her head lay against your chest. "Please don't leave me, I need you, please!!"

Natasha rose from the lip of the tub in an instant, taking the girls heated face between her hands so she could soothingly stroke her thumbs over her cheeks, and kiss her forehead.

"Hey, hey, nobody's leaving anybody baby," the redhead shut down her fears, and looked to you so you could continue to reassure the woman.

While Natasha returned to situate the tub, you shifted Wanda so that her arms were around your neck, with her legs around your waist. It brought you face to face, with the proximity you could see just how petrified she really was.

"Wanda, we adore you," you whispered softly, keeping the moment intimate enough. "We'd never leave you, but sometimes." You paused, taking a second to build up the courage to voice your shared fears. "We wonder if you would be happier elsewhere, and it's terrifying to think you'll wake up one day and no longer want us."

"I'm never leaving!" Her grip on you tightened. "You two are my forever, I've never been so happy before. I'm sorry for being an ungrateful brat." She buried her face into your neck, fresh hot tears were now streaming down your skin.

Natasha wrapped her arms around the both of you, pulling your bodies into hers so she could offer comfort as well. "We love you Wanda."

"So much baby," you added. "Never doubt that, just because we can't always fulfill your sinful needs it doesn't make the words any less true."

"Also," Natasha began with a smirk sent over Wanda's shoulder for you to see her devilish intent. "Never stop being our brat." Her lips then latched onto the brunette's neck from behind, drawing out a whimper from her lips.

"Yeah, punishing you is half the fun." You playfully slapped her ass, and she cried harder against you due to the renewed stinging flesh.

"Come now, let's get you cleaned up." Natasha gently maneuvered her from your hold and into the tub. She looked up longingly, and the both of you gave into her pitiful, silent request as you slipped into the tub. Natasha had turned on the jets, so it was the perfect zen moment.

Then once Wanda was calmed she asked you a simple, albeit dangerous question. "What's the other half?" You smirked, hand hovering the remote of her bullet vibe. "That it never ends."

——

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7-wonders · 7 months

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Apocalypse Now

Michael Langdon x Reader (Mad Love Act II, Chapter XII)

Summary: The end is here, despite your best efforts.

Word Count: 3.5k

A/N: I'm sorry, this is straight angst. Oops?

Mad Love Masterlist

Tuesdays are objectively the worst day of the week. Though Monday is rough, being the first day after the weekend, it can still be spun as a positive—a brand new week, just full of possibilities. Wednesdays, at least, have the “hump day” moniker to give one some hope that the week is half over. Thursdays are alright because that means it’s almost Friday, and Fridays are what it must be like to take every party drug at once.

Tuesdays, though? Tuesdays suck. It’s far enough into the week to feel none of the residual weekend happiness, but the upcoming weekend is still very much out of grasp. Tuesday is hopelessness personified, if one is feeling particularly dramatic.

That’s why it’s fitting that the world ends on a Tuesday.

You’re in class, because where else would you be? Luckily, this is your capstone class, which is just a class for seniors who are, predictably, working on their capstones to be able to bounce ideas off of and support each other. Since you and Kate are both seniors (and because you literally signed up for this class at the same time) you have the class together, thankfully—you keep each other sane by being insane together, and nowhere is that more apparent than when the two of you work on your respective theses.

“You think I can get away with calling Kant a cunt if I do it, like, academically?” Kate whispers into your ear from where she’s sitting next to you. She keeps her eyes on her laptop screen the entire time, making you choke back a laugh at her easy nonchalance.

“Not by using those exact words, but yeah, as long as you cite your sources.” You run the same drill as Kate, refusing to look away and draw suspicion as you both snicker quietly to yourselves. “Do you wanna grab coffee and pretend to keep working after class?”

“God, yes. Then I can tell you about what went down at last night’s Greek Life exec meeting.” She glances at you from the corner of her eye. “It came out that three of the Chi O sisters are dating each other.”

(With hindsight on your side, you’ll look back on this day and think with bitter regret about how utterly, perfectly normal the day the world ended was. The gossiping conversations, the plans being made, the going about your day with all the confidence that you’ll see tomorrow.

You miss that innocence.)

You gasp under your breath at this exciting tidbit. “No way! How did they–”

You’re cut off by the alarm on someone’s phone blaring. No, multiple phones are blaring out an emergency alarm, and those that aren’t are vibrating, yours included. People dig their phones out of pockets and backpacks, and you pick yours up from where it sits on the table next to your computer and flip it around so that you can see the screen.

You wish you didn’t.

“BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND. SEEK SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL,” the alert on your phone reads.

You look up at Kate as your classmates begin to mutter around you in a mix of nervous laughter and disbelief, only to see the same shock and confusion on her face that must surely be reflected in yours.

“Do you think this is real?” you ask, your heart beginning to hammer in your throat at the implications of such a message.

“It can’t be. It’s–it’s like that time in Hawaii, remember? We’ll get an alert in a few minutes saying that it was all a mistake,” she assures you, always so calm and rational about everything.

You nod and take a couple of deep breaths to calm down. Kate is right, you tell yourself. Somebody accidentally hit a button at a command center when they were trying to conduct a test, and now everybody’s freaking out as a result. They’ve probably already caught the mistake and are preparing to do damage control. The employee will lose their job, unfortunately, but that’s to be expected when accidentally causing mass panic. All in all, this will make a fun story in a couple of years: the time you thought you were about to be caught up in nuclear warfare.

Screaming draws your attention to the large windows to the right of you, and you and others cross the room to see what the commotion is. Outside, people of all ages are running in various directions across campus for—well, for their lives. The way everyone hurries reminds you of watching an ant farm. Someone trips and goes sprawling to their hands and knees, only to have to roll to the grass to prevent almost being trampled. Their belongings, having fallen from their grasp, are kicked and scattered without any care.

The panic from outside leaches through the wall and begins to spread through the classroom like a fast-moving disease. Warning sirens, which you didn’t know were still in operation after the Cold War, begin to wail. Some classmates start trying to reach friends or loved ones on their phones, while others just make a break for the door. At the front of the room, your professor sits, paralyzed, with tears running down his face while he scrolls his social media and tries to find anything to confirm that this is all just a terrible misstep.

Your stomach drops like you’re lurching down from the top of a very tall roller coaster, and you look back at Kate. “We gotta go.”

“Where?” she asks. You just shake your head, throwing everything into your backpack and zipping it up before grabbing Kate’s hand. You don’t know where it is you need to go, only that you can’t stay here. Taking one last look back at the classroom to make sure you have everything, you and Kate join the flow of people heading down the stairs to try and escape.

Hand in hand so as not to get separated in the crowd, you both run through the campus green. It’s a perfect late-autumn day, really. The sun is high in the blue, cloudless sky and the temperature is warm, but with a bit of a chill from the wind. It’s the type of weather that makes you want to spend all day outside so as not to waste it. The juxtaposition, between the pleasant weather and the chaotic, frightened atmosphere, is not lost on you.

“Wait,” Kate raises her voice to be heard over the panicked din, “we need a plan.”

You wrack your brain, trying to think of anything beyond how scared you are. “Uh…we’ll get in my car, okay? I filled up on gas this morning. And–and we’ll drive as fast as we can, to get as far away as we can before the blast happens. I think we can get out of the major blast zone.”

“Okay, yeah. That sounds good.”

She nods at you, and you nod back, both trying to reassure the other. The parking lot appears as you round a corner, and you tear your backpack around to your front so that you can find your keys.

“Wait!” Kate says again. “What about Brennan? And Michael?”

Hearing Michael’s name sends alarm bells flaring in the back of your mind. There’s something about him and this nightmare that are connected, but the primal parts of your brain, the one telling you that flight is the best option for survival right now, is too active for you to have any sort of introspection in this moment.

“Call them,” you answer without hesitation, “we can pick them up on the way out of town.”

Kate grabs her phone, finding Brennan’s number and hitting ‘call’ before holding the device up to her ear. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” she mutters, listening closely. “Fuck! I can’t get through.”

“Keep trying. One has to go through eventually. And if they don’t, we at least know where they both are.”

“Do you really think this is going to work? That we’re going to survive?” Kate asks, dialing Brennan once more.

The truth is that you don’t know. You hope it does, that you can at least give yourself a fighting chance to not immediately die when the missiles hit. But there’s just as big a chance that you can’t make it out, that you will die. That’s terrifying, and it makes your throat tighten from terror. The only thing that keeps you from outright freaking out is that, if you do die, at least you’ll have Kate right there next to you.

“I don’t know. But I can promise you that we’re going to try our hardest to survive,” you say.

You can see your car now, only a couple of rows away. Maybe you will actually make it. Maybe this plan will work, and the four of you will end up riding out the end of the world together. Maybe survival can happen; you’re all pretty resourceful, and if you can at least get past the blasts, you can—

An armored vehicle screeches to a halt in front of you, sending you and Kate rearing back as your path is cut off. Two figures dressed in black suits hop out and begin to walk towards you with a purpose. Behind them, military personnel also exit the vehicle. Immediately, your worst fears are confirmed, and you know what this must be. Trying to avoid the inevitable, you begin taking hurried steps back.

One of the men in black says your name. “You need to come with us,” he commands.

“Fuck you, I’m not going anywhere with you!” You try to run to your left, hoping to catch them off-guard and make a break for it, but the other man in black stands in front of you.

“I’m afraid we can’t accept that,” he says, motioning for the military personnel.

Two of them approach you, their rifles belted to their fronts and serving as a menacing reminder that you have no power here. They each grab one arm and begin to drag you towards the vehicle, paying no mind to you as you start screaming and trying to fight your way out of their grasps. You hold desperately onto Kate’s hand for as long as you can, but it’s only a matter of time before you lose your hold.

“Wait! Where are you taking her?” you hear Kate yell behind you.

“Kate! Kate!” you shriek, high and piercing and terrified.

You look over your shoulder to see two other soldiers blocking her from reaching you. You’re both sobbing, but there’s nothing either of you can do about it. You’re unceremoniously thrown into the backseat of the armored vehicle, the door slamming shut before you can even think to move. Up front, the driver throws it into gear and peals away from the parking lot. When you scramble to your knees, you’re forced to watch as Kate’s figure rapidly grows smaller and smaller.

“Please go back! You have to take Kate, too! Please!” you beg.

“Shut up!” One of the men shoves you down into your seat, and when you try to get up, he backhands you across the face.

“Hey, be careful with her!” another warns. “You remember what they said. No harm is to come to the boss’s wife.”

The pain of the slap has you reeling, but it also serves to clear your mind enough that the reality of what was just said begins to sink in. You’re apparently the boss’s wife, which means one thing and one thing only.

He’s done it, then? This is all the doing of one Michael Langdon, who for so long swore to you that the world would not end for years, that you would be well aware of when and if his plans were going to be realized? You don’t want to believe it, but, unfortunately, it’s the reality that you seem to be faced with. In response, your tears dry up, and you sit silently and stoically for the rest of the ride.

It’s not a very long journey to wherever you’re being taken to, maybe fifteen minutes or so before the truck is driven into a garage. You look out the back window again to see the garage door closing behind you, the rectangle of light growing smaller and smaller until it finally disappears. Deep down, you know that this was probably your last time seeing the sunlight. You don’t know whether watching it will make you feel better or worse.

The soldiers drag you out of the car just as they dragged you in, marching you through what looks like an underground parking garage towards an elevator and forcing you to stand between them as the men in black join your little group. One of them reaches out a hand, gloved in black leather, so they can stab at the control panel. Even though they press the topmost button, the elevator begins to move down.

The silence begins to stretch on, and you shift uncomfortably. “Is my—” your voice breaks, and you clear your throat. “Is Michael here?”

Predictably, they ignore you, staring straight ahead at their distorted reflections in the chrome doors.

When the doors do finally ding open, they reveal what looks like the living room of an apartment. The walls are bare, but there are all the normal furnishings that one would expect to find: a couch, a TV, a coffee table. There are no windows, you note, the only light available emitting harshly from the fixtures up above. You’re sat down on the couch, and you glare petulantly at your kidnappers.

“Where are we?” you demand. “I deserve answers.”

“You’ll be safe here,” one of them says instead of answering your question.

Single-file, they move back into the elevator, presumably to return to the surface. As the doors shut once more, you hold eye contact with the soldier that hit you.

He looks at you in fear, his lower lip trembling almost imperceptibly.

The elevator whirs back to life as it begins its travels up, and the sound serves to jolt you out of your stunned state and remind you that you have free will. You jump up from the couch and run to the elevator, hoping for a way out. There’s no call panel on the wall next to it, meaning that the only way it can be accessed is from the inside. Effectively, you’re trapped.

Panic returns in full-force at this revelation, and you frantically start trying to get your fingers into the seam of the door. Maybe if you pull hard enough, you’ll be able to pry them open? You’re not sure what you’ll do after that, but at least then you’ll have options.

Just as you’re starting to delude yourself that you think you can feel a gap widening under your grip, an explosion rocks the world above you. It’s loud, louder than you thought possible for how far below ground you must be, and you scream as you fall to the floor. The shock of the blast reverberates all the way down to what must be the Earth’s core, causing the room to shake around you. The lights flicker and go out before being replaced by an eerie red glow, and an alarm starts to methodically sound.

A sob rips from you, your heart knowing what’s just happened before your brain can come to the same conclusion. A nuclear weapon, dropped right over your head. Death and destruction wreaking havoc on the world in a matter of seconds. Mere circumstance saving you, while those you love are left to perish.

Against your will, you’re forced to imagine the scenarios. Kate was probably still outside, nowhere near any sort of safety. Brennan must have been so worried, trying just as desperately until his last moments to try and reach Kate. Mallory, you know, would have been more worried for her students, for her girls, than herself. Your parents…fuck. You didn’t even get to tell your parents you love them. The grief is overwhelming, and threatens to swallow you whole.

A hand comes to rest under your chin, lifting your face up from where it’s been hanging in despair. Through tears, you see a figure with blue eyes and golden hair crouched in front of you. Their thumb gently presses on your lip, and you inhale sharply at the pain, the source of which must have been the slap.

“Who did this to you? Was it one of the personnel who brought you here?” he asks, fury in his tone.

“Michael,” you cry out, letting him collect you in his embrace. He’s so comforting, so familiar, that you can forget for a moment that he’s the source of your current agony.

“Oh my love, it’s alright. We’re both safe,” he soothes, rubbing a hand on your back as you sob into his shoulder. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t warn you beforehand, but these plans were extremely confidential.”

That reminds you who it is you’re crying on, and you pull yourself up off of his shoulder. Michael’s looking down at you with all the love in the world in his eyes and frowning just slightly in sympathy for your plight.

Rage, hot and incandescent, floods through your veins.

“You did this, then?” you ask.

He smiles proudly. “As I was born to do.”

“And…everybody’s dead?” Your voice comes out strangled, though you try your hardest to school your emotions.

“Not everybody. Those that managed to earn a spot in an Outpost are all alive and well. There will be a good number of people who were far enough away from blast zones to have survived the initial blast. The fallout will take care of them within a couple years, though.” He shakes his head in pity. “Nasty thing, nuclear fallout. If exposed for even a few minutes, cancer and sores can easily develop. Mutations as well.”

That sounds horrifying. However morbid it may be, for the sake of those you love, you hope that the blasts killed them.

The look on your face must match how you’re feeling, because Michael quickly takes your hands in his. “I know, it sounds terrible. But their deaths were necessary! They fulfill a purpose.”

“And what purpose is that?”

“To cleanse the world and remake it in my father’s image, for you and I to rule as we see fit.”

A wave of nausea takes over you, and you have to close your eyes and breathe deeply to keep from becoming sick. You stand, backing away from Michael as quickly as you can. He tries to follow, but you hold your hands out in front of you to stop him from coming any closer.

“You bastard,” you whisper.

His eyebrows furrow in confusion. “What?”

You look up at him, fire in your eyes. “You. Bastard.”

“You don’t really mean that.” You can’t tell if he’s in disbelief or if he’s challenging you to repeat that.

“Yes, I do. You killed them! You killed all of them, for no good reason—”

“You know the reason!” he yells, grabbing onto your upper arms and pulling you to him. Though you try to fight your way out of his grasp, your resistance is futile. “I am doing this for us,” he hisses. “So that we can have the future we’ve dreamed about, the future that we’ve earned with our hard work.”

“This is not the future I dreamed about.” You shove him away, making him glare at you as though you’re his enemy.

Your Michael, the one that you know and love, is nowhere to be seen. Gone is the Michael that would tell you everything. The Michael that researched grad schools as though he was the one that would be attending, the Michael that took a body shot off of you, the Michael that lit up the first time that he saw fireflies, the Michael that loved Valentine’s Day because it meant that he got to shower you in love and there was nothing you could do about it.

Now, there’s a man wearing your husband’s face, who stands before you unrepentant and assured in his actions. This stranger has been completely and utterly corrupted by his father, and in such a short amount of time. As it turns out, all of your hard work only served to send him quicker into the throes of darkness.

“I don’t know who you are anymore,” you say, tears welling in your eyes for the umpteenth time today.

“This is who I have always been,” he proclaims proudly. “You just haven’t wanted to see it.”

“You’re a fucking monster.” Amidst all of the uncertainty that you’re currently faced with, through all of the horror you’ve been forced to endure in one day, this is what you can be certain of.

Michael smiles patronizingly, as though you’re a mere child who insists that the bogeyman is real and he’s the adult that knows better. “You’ll come to your senses. Just give it some time.”

He grabs your hand against your will, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of it.

“Soon, our reign begins.”

Tag List: @thatonehumanbeing05 @xavierplympton @hecohansen31 @blakescoven @wroteclassicaly @we-did-it-joe @codycrazy @love-on-the-murder-scene @michaellangdonswhore @nsainmoonchild @langdonsjoyy @aftertheglitterfades @ferndolan @iamlivingforturner @moonlike333 @narwhal-swimmingintheocean @angiestopit @littleangel4996 @xo-angel-ox @ajokeformur-ray

(I really don't know why I still do a tag list. Habit, I suppose.)

#michael langdon #michael langdon imagine #michael langdon x reader #american horror story #ahs imagine #american horror story imagine #ahs #michael langdon imagines #mad love musings

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lol-jackles · 5 months

Note

Your opinion on a thought I had over the weekend. Would an actor sabotage his own project to provide evidence to TPTB that the og show formula is what needs to be on air?

It still baffles me to this day that Jensen thought the prequel turned sequel AU concept of The Winchesters and the story framework of the 13 episodes would be a successful endeavor.

There was no effort put into the creation or marketing, especially by him, Robbie, Danneel or CMP production company. The execution was a small step up from a high school film project. The cast was inexperienced and apparently very inexpensive.

Jensen very quickly (even prior to the pilot airing) was pushing a reboot/revival with both Sam and Dean back on screen, and pushing it with more vigor and gusto than the TW project in production. It’s like he used the prequel/sequel project to drum up interest and excitement for a Sam/Dean reboot and to show WB execs why Supernatural (and J2) just needed a break.

Was this Jensen’s plan all along? Is that even plausible?

Thank you for your blog. I am a dedicated reader.

No. TV shows have 94% failure rates before syndication, so Jensen doesn't need to actively sabotage anything, the odds are always against you in Hollywood where even great tv shows get cancelled after 1 season and largely forgotten.

We were all baffled, Anon, it's what brought different SPN factions together in agreement and achieved temporary peace. Before that, nothing in the SPN fandom brings momentary peace than being united in fans’ hatred for the Buck-Lemming writing duo.

Jensen and Danneel probably expected Robbie Thompson to act like Eric Kripke 2.0 and manage everything for them. Where as Robbie expected Jensen and Danneel to pull their own weight. But there was no communication on expectations.

I think Jensen pushing a reboot/revival with both Sam and Dean back on screen prior to The Winchester airing was because:

The Winchesters was filming and will air so as far as Jensen was concerned, his work was done and he can focus on other things.

Jensen knew TW wasn't immediately accepted by at least half of the SPN fandom and tried to win them back with a promise of a Sam & Dean-focused SPN revival.

He wanted to keep SPN's money train running at conventions by giving rabid fans hope that SPN will return.

Jensen, my unasked advice to you is don’t go chasing waterfalls. The Winchesters was a Shein version of an AU fanfic.

WB executives cancelled SPN because they didn't trust a Jared-less SPN. Hollywood doesn't believe in breaks or letting a franchise "rest" unless it's losing money. The industry waits for nobody.

Honestly, that sounds too much like AAs/Hellers saying we got to watch The Winchesters so that we can get the SPN reboot/revival/movie. That's like telling a vegan," I like steak, so you need to like steak so that we get more steak.". We're going to keep getting steaks regardless of vegans.

#the winchesters

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ghostofaboy · 7 months

Text

Risky Business

Pairing: Max Lord/Male OC Rating: Explicit. Seriously, over 18s only. Word count: 2252

Summary: Max finds himself in the men's room at the office when he spots something interesting… a glory hole

Warnings: Oral sex, public blow job, come eating, a little bit of internalized homophobia

Note: This has not been beta read so I apologize for any mistakes.

The meeting was dragging, and Max was on the verge of losing his temper. It was bad enough that it had started over an hour late due to a miscommunication with the marketing department, but now it was overrunning due to one overeager junior executive. The guy was clearly angling for a promotion, and on some level Max respected that, but boring your bosses was not a smart move. Hansen… Harmen… Herman… whatever his name was, had been speaking for forty-five minutes now about… something…

Max had no idea, truthfully, he’d started tuning him out after only ten minutes. By this point, the young man had completely screwed himself. Any point he’d hoped to make could have been made a long time ago. Glancing around the table, all Max could see were glazed-over eyes and a couple of the older execs gently snoozing.

While this was a waste of time, the bigger issue troubling Max was that the longer this went on, the more uncomfortable he was becoming. He needed to pee. He’d needed to pee for about an hour. He had his legs firmly crossed under the table and had stopped sipping on his water, but the problem wasn’t going to go away.

“...there is a clear link between-”

“I’m going to need to interrupt you there.” Max cut him off, finally reaching his limit. “You make some excellent points, but we’re running over here. Put everything in a report, and I promise you, I’ll look it over.”

“Sir, I-”

“It’s getting late.” Max locked eyes with the young man, his tone turning a little firmer. “Put a report together and send it to me.”

“I… yes, Sir.”

The sigh of relief from the rest of the gathered men was audible, making the overeager young man blush. As everyone started to file out, Max remained seated, his legs still tightly crossed. To his dismay, Grant Davidson, one of the senior board members, was lingering. Probably hoping to speak with him.

“Grant.” Max stood carefully, his smile fixed as he approached the other man. “Whatever it is, can it wait?” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “I really need the bathroom.”

“Oh.” Grant waved a hand and nodded. “Of course, of course. It can wait, I’ll meet you back at your office. Oh, and I hope you’re not too desperate. The executive bathroom on this floor is out of order.”

“What?” Max paused at the door. “You’re kidding me! Damn it! Where is the closest one?”

Grant thought for a moment. “Two floors down, I think, unless you want to slum it. There might be one on the east side of the building on this floor, but I’ve never been in it, so I can’t speak to its condition.”

“Thanks.” Max nodded as Grant sauntered away. Weighing up his options and his screaming bladder, Max sighed deeply. He was going to have to brave the unknown bathroom.

Leaving the conference room, Max headed towards the elevators and then took a right into the east side of the building. The east side of each floor was dedicated to the non-public-facing side of the business. Maintenance, mail room, interns. Each floor was different, and this one was a rabbit warren of small storage rooms and offices for the lowest-paid employees. Finally, as Max feared he would have to duck into a closet and piss in a corner, he spotted the men’s room.

Pushing the door open, it wasn’t as bad as he feared. It wasn’t anywhere as nice as the executive bathrooms he was used to, but it was clean and smelt fresh. A single urinal was next to the two stalls to the right of the door. On the opposite wall were two sinks with a large mirror hanging over them. Max stepped forward and then frowned as he noticed the “out of order” sign hung haphazardly on the urinal. Grumbling under his breath, he turned on his heel and headed into the stall furthest from the door. Yanking his fly open and freeing his cock, Max let out a long, loud sigh as the stream began.

Relief filled his body as Max continued to piss, taking the opportunity to glance around the cubical as he did. Bland gray tiles stretched from door to ceiling, with only the mirky green of the stall dividing wall and door to add a pop of color. Max looked around with a slight sneer on his face at the dismal condition of the bathroom before his eyes snapped back to the wall of the stall.

Was that a hole?

Shaking the final drops of pee from his cock, Max didn’t bother to tuck himself away as he bent down to get a better look. It was definitely a hole. Perhaps four inches across, not quite perfectly circular, and it had obviously been cut by an amateur rather than be a part of the design of the stall. Max was puzzled for a couple of seconds before he realized what he was looking at.

A glory hole.

A men’s room in Black Gold’s headquarters had a glory hole. A small shiver ran down Max’s spine at the thought of all the men who might have come in here since the hole was cut. How long had it been here? Right under his nose. Max’s cock twitched as he flushed the toilet before lowering the lid and sitting down.

Idly stroking his hardening cock Max bit his lip as he wondered how many men used this hole on a daily basis. Was it well-known in the building? Was that why Grant had sent him here?

Reaching into his trousers, Max pulled his balls out, rolling them in his left hand as he lazily pumped his cock to full hardness. Spitting into his palm, Max was just settling in and was ready to jerk off when he heard the men’s room door open. Max froze, listening to the man’s shoes click on the tiled floor.

The man went into the stall next to Max, and for a few seconds, Max sat in silence with his cock in hand, wondering if his new neighbor had come just to pee or wanted something more. The seconds ticked by while Max ran his thumb over the tip of his cock, watching as a bead of precum formed before rubbing in gently over the slit.

Max wasn’t sure how to get the other man’s attention. He’d never even seen a glory hole before, let alone used one. Licking his lips, Max racked his brain, trying to think how to get the other man’s attention.

As if answering his thoughts, Max’s eyes lit up as a semi-erect cock slid into view, as the man in the next stall thrust into the hole. With barely a second's hesitation, Max was on his knees, mouth open, wrapping his lips around the tip of the stranger’s dick. There was a barely audible gasp from the other stall, and Max smiled. This was everything he’d wanted. He’d had fantasies about this for years, and now it was happening.

His own cock throbbed, but he ignored it. Instead, he brought one hand up to grip the base of the length in front of him as he began to work. He started by teasing his tongue around the head, gently poking at the slit with the tip of his tongue before flattening it out and sucking on the head.

Inch by inch, Max worked his way down the length of the shaft until he could feel it hit the back of his throat. He gagged slightly, just long enough to feel tears pricking his eyes, before pulling back and beginning again. His own arousal ached between his legs, but all Max could focus on was the cock in his mouth. The world blurred around him as he swallowed the throbbing length again and again.

Enveloping the cock once more, Max traced his tongue along the underside, drawing a hiss from the stranger. As his lips stretched around the girth, the sinful desire to be degraded filled his being. Rolling his hips in the air in time with his ministrations, Max hollowed his cheeks, bobbing his head along the full erection before him.

On the other side of the thin wall, gasps, grunts and the occasional whine filtered out of the other man’s mouth, filling the men's room. It wasn’t long before his jaw was aching. As much as Max wanted this, he wasn’t used to putting in this much work.

‘I’ll have to do this more often to build up the stamina.’ He thought with a small grin.

Pulling back to focus on the tip, Max swirled his tongue around it before flicking at the slit just as before. The tang of precum was Max’s reward, dribbling out of his open mouth and gliding down his swollen lips.

Ghosting his tongue over the leaking red head, Max worked the shaft into his mouth to the very back of his throat. Swallowing around the length, he shivered in pleasure as he pulled a loud, wanton moan from the other man. After swallowing for a second time, Max still himself, the desire to be used overtaking him. He needed his mouth fucking. He needed to be used as an object. He needed to choke on this cock. He needed this to complete the fantasy he’d had in his head for so long.

Understanding what Max wanted, or needed, the other man began fucking slowly into his mouth, testing the water to see if this was what Max truly wanted. When Max didn’t move or pull away and instead opened his throat as much as he could, the other man started to pick up the pace. Soon, the unseen stranger was thrusting his full length into Max’s waiting mouth with abandon. Max’s face burned as his skin prickled with arousal while needy, wet, gagging noises were pushed out of his mouth with every thrust.

His own cock leaked onto the floor between his knees, throbbing in time with the cock gliding over his tongue. He could feel himself tumbling towards the edge and Max reached up both his hands to steady himself against the wall of the stall. His vision swam as the other man began panting loudly on the other side of the partition.

With a breathy cry, the man came, flooding Max’s mouth with bitter, salty seed. Swallowing what he could, Max could feel some of the come escaping, dribbling out of his mouth and down his chin. Resisting the urge to wipe it away, a shiver ran through Max’s body at the thought of looking at his come-stained lips in the mirror later. Digging his nails into the hard wood of the stall, Max moaned around the cock, still twitching on his tongue. Time seemed to slow as his nails scraped against the wall of the stall, his back arched and his body quivered as he released himself into the men’s room floor untouched.

The cock gently withdrew, and Max could hear the sound of a zipper companied by a long sigh. Still on his knees, Max didn’t trust his legs enough yet to stand. Instead, leaning his head against the cool wood of the stall, Max tried to focus his eyes. Between his legs, his small cock was already softening, shrinking back down to its usual micro state. He could see the other man’s feet, with nice-looking, moderately expensive shoes, shifting around before leaving the stall.

Max heard the rush of water coming from the faucet, and while the other man busied himself at the sink, Max climbed to his feet. The full realization of what he’d just done was starting to dawn on him. What if someone found out? He was the CEO of Black Gold! He was meant to set an example. What would people say?

Pinching his eyes shut, Max sat down on the toilet and waited for the other man to leave. What had he been thinking? This wasn’t like jacking off in the privacy of his office or the regular ‘massage’ sessions he’d been having. He’d blown one of his employees. Surely, there were laws about this kind of thing.

The sound of the men’s room door clicking shut snapped him out of his spiral. Max opened his eyes and let out a long, loud sigh. Time to get back to reality and possibly face the music for his moment of fantasy.

Tucking himself back into his trousers, Max grabbed some tissue to wipe up the mess he’d made. Bending down to clean up the come, Max’s eyes were drawn to a small piece of cardboard on the floor just under the stall door. Finishing his task, Max picked it up, turning it over in his hand. His eyes widened, and a grin spread across his face as he realized what it was.

A business card. Looking it over, Max could see that there was no name, but there was a number.

Tucking it into his pocket, Max left the stall and went over to the sinks to clean up. Come had dried slightly on his chin, while his already plush lips were pink and swollen. Max smirked to himself at his disheveled state. Putting himself back to his usual well-groomed state, Max couldn’t keep the grin off his face. Leaving the men’s room, he patted the card in his pocket as he made his way back to his office. The possibilities were intriguing.

#maxwell lord #max lord #max lord x male oc #maxwell lord x male oc #max lord x original male character #maxwell lord x original male character #wonder woman 1984 #m/m fiction

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misty-doodles · 1 year

Text

AIB Executive Board found family HC's

shout out to @bdanp, thank you for the lovely content, I wish to add my own.

Hehehe I love the idea of these fools being a dysfunctional family unit. I literally need semi-wholesome content on the beach members because otherwise I will lose it. The AIB fandom has really brought out my drive, bc I will be the change I wish to see in the fandom space. Uh, they are dysfunctional with a capital D, so this isn't entirely wholesome, but I'm writing this, so you can't be too surprised.

Today on the board; Aguni, Kuzuryuu, Mira, and Chishiya

-Aguni, Hatter, and Kuzuryuu are the father figures to the group. -Aguni and Hatter used to date but are still friends who maybe have lingering feelings. Who knows. -Aguni just fucking sighs and has to drag them around when they're being stupid, especially the militants. -Has a special soft spot for Arisu once he joins bc he's so hopeful and sweet, and he likes having a moral compass around. Arisu is also the only heart specialist who doesn't resort to murder -He's the only one Niragi listens to, which is why he's the only diamond orientated militant. -Hates the beach and everything it stands for, bc he knows it's a lie. He misses the Hatter before the beach ruined him, and his feelings for him are forever tainted. Tries not to make their history the beach's problem.

-Kuzuryuu didn't even realize he was a dad, he's just fucking there. He's the calm fatherly validation half the board craves, and he has 0 questions. -He has favorites, and it's the exec's diamond trio (Ann, Chishiya, and Niragi) -Fully supports Chishiya's tinkering hobby. Told him that if being a doctor didn't work out, then he should go into STEM. -Finds the entire beach to be a headache, but does genuinely care for the exec members. -Best friends with Mira, who's taken up the role as wine aunt. She's the one who convinced him to come check out the beach. They both help put the exec members into games they're good at.

-Mira interacts with everyone with a Gatekeep Gaslight Girlboss energy about her that freaks everyone else out. She's fully capable of making normal expressions, but chooses to smile her way through everything. -Unironically plays therapist to the exec board bc she was/is a licensed psychiatrist, and they're all so mentally fucked up. She does it in the 'I can't make you better or worse, but I can figure out what's so funky about you' kinda way. She mostly does this to Niragi and Arisu, and also maybe Hatter when he's around. -Casually threatens everyone's life subtly and offers 0 explanations. She's unironically the scariest person at the beach, bc she's so unsettling. -enjoys girls night with Ann, Kuina, and Usagi whenever she's invited, and gets her hair braided -She makes the most references to memes along with hatter, to the annoyance of literally everyone else.

-Chishiya stares in silent judgment whenever he has to fix up an injury, frequently pulls out the 'I'm just a med student' and 'i work with children' cards to get out of things. Makes jokes about just letting them die to scare them. -He wears hoodies everywhere he goes bc they're his comfort clothing item and no one comments on it. Uses big medical words in casual convo to irritate the execs. Autism creature #1, I'm right. -Hates being touched unless he initiates it or gives permission, and is very firm about this boundary. Arisu once tried to hug him and got tased. He didn't try again.

-Silent rage towards Ann for being so goddamn tall. Wears chunky sneakers to appear slightly taller (a/n no genuinely, look in the show those are 2-inch shoes) -He sees Niragi as the worst version of himself, and it honestly freaks him out sometimes. Entirely neutral on his existence most of the time, but finds bickering with him amusing. -Chishiya simply doesn't express himself like everyone else, but he does feel the normal range of human emotions. Mira mentioned him possibly being neurodivergent.

-Kuzuryuu is his dad and that's fine with him

Comeback next time for the rest, bc it's like 3 pages on my Google Docs, and that's too much for one post.

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orionsangel86 · 9 months

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I'm not in the Good Omens fandom, so maybe I've got this wrong, but I suspect why everyone on my dash seems to be clamoring for an immediate fix-it besides obvious fandom impatience. I think a lot of people are convinced that basically nothing is coming back from the strikes. Tbh I kind of am myself. I've just accepted that we're never going to see Sandman s2 or GO s3 because Amazon and Netflix are shit. At least with Sandman we have the books?

I admit its a tough situation to be in. I guess for me, I am trying to have hope that the streamers will eventually see sense, because otherwise their business models are gonna fail and they are going to lose revenue anyway. Eventually some sort of deal will be made and the work will start again, I just hope beyond hope that the deal is everything the WGA and SAGAFTRA want.

I have more hope for a GOS3 than I do for a Sandman tbh. Simply because making films and TV isn't Amazon's main source of income so they can be a bit more flexible with their choices. They have renewed far less popular shows for far longer. It seems almost like the entertainment division is more a hobby or pet project for Amazon than its main focal point so IDK, I'm just not all that worried about Amazon Prime. I genuinely think Amazon is very proud of GO and they won't let go of it anytime soon. It's also one of their most popular shows so I'd be really surprised if they cancel it (though, then again, with the strikes anything can happen). We also still have the BBC backing it up I believe? Though I doubt they'd ever have the budget to take over fully if Amazon decided not to continue with it, but perhaps its possible the BBC could look for a new partner in that unlikely scenario? I dunno I'm not a media expert here by any means.

Sandman though is a different story. Extremely expensive, and on a streaming service notorious for cancelling shows mid season. With the strikes, I can see them changing their minds and cancelling Season 2 even though it started filming in some bitter attempt to get back at strikers and claim tax breaks where they can. I don't trust them at all. I loathe the Netflix execs because they have been cancelling, making excuses, and screwing over creatives for years now. They are the ones that started it all, and the other streamers simply took their ideas and ran with them. I wish Sandman had been on a different streamer. I feel like it would have been safer on Amazon Prime. Even if we do manage to get through to season 2 of Sandman, I have absolutely zero faith that we'll make it through to the end of the story on Netflix.

Though at least with Sandman, I believe (though correct me if I'm wrong) that Neil still holds all the rights, and if Netflix cancels it, he can put the option out to other networks/streamers to pick it up again? So even if Netflix does what Netflix always does, there is every possibility that it'll just jump to a different network to finish the story.

I hope that is the case, because in all honesty if I had to put money down on a bet on whether or not Netflix will follow through with Sandman right through to the Wake, I'll be betting against them. I just don't see it happening. Netflix are too flakey and well, evil, to care about stories to do it justice.

To your first point, I can understand the fear and do sympathise with fans being hurt and upset that GOS2 ended on such a grim cliffhanger, I just don't think the hate and denial and screams of "out of character!" are the way to handle that fear. But diving straight into fanfiction is a totally acceptable and encouraged way to manage the feelings anyone may have over the ending! That's totally fine! Keep the fix-its to fanfiction, but please stop clamouring for reasons why the ending was wrong and bad and stupid and worth sending Neil Gaiman inbox hate over. You're all better than that.

#Good Omens #Good Omens Season 2 #good omens season 2 spoilers #the sandman #fuck the streamers #neil gaiman #anti netflix #less anti amazon prime but they are still awful #fandom discourse #asks

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breadclubrising · 2 years

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This is a very good summary of what's happened so far with Kota Ibushi.

This is a really big deal, and I hope if you're a NJPW fan or a wrestling fan at all, you will pay attention to this.

If you're not aware of the situation, the tl;dr is that Ibushi has started posting receipts on twitter of what he feels is unfair and unsafe treatment from NJPW execs, and is speaking candidly, out of kayfabe, and naming names.

I'm sure that I've mentioned before being an Ibushi fan, but please believe me that I don't need to be a fan of him to be very concerned for him and utterly amazed by his bravery. He's said he's doing fine emotionally but this would be an immense pressure for anyone.

This is a much bigger deal than anything I've been aware of in my time as a NJPW fan. We only have Ibushi's side of the story so far, and there is surely more to come, so laying off speculation about the particulars is probably the healthy way to view this.

That said, this is a situation where an employee of a large corporation is taking an incredible personal risk to expose a culture of mistreatment. We DO need to avoid speculation, but everything else aside, maybe don't give a corporation too much leeway over a single employee risking their entire existence to bring things to light. Whatever happens, Ibushi has everything to lose, and NJPW is going to be fine.

How big a deal is this? I'm looking at it from the outside like everyone, but it just really seems like a BIG deal.

He has risked his career, his legacy, his standing in the industry, and all his friendships and connections to do this. He has implied a few times that he has reason to be concerned for his physical safety right now. No one is backing him publicly and he is saying no one is backing him privately either. I hope that's a lie meant to protect people who are backing him privately, but even in that best case scenario, it's not enough for him to feel confident saying that people privately support him. He said, "it's me alone against the promotion."

Even fans in Japan largely stay in kayfabe when they talk about wrestling, including on twitter, and he is very extremely breaking kayfabe in ways that are just simply not done. He is also breaking social codes left and right, publicly embarrassing his employer and mentioning other wrestlers who've had cheating scandals. (He's saying this to underscore his feeling that he's getting less understanding and forgiveness from NJPW—for being at a different promotion's show without permission, and for wanting to fully heal from an injury—than people who were publicly exposed as cheaters.)

He is at the very least fired from NJPW, and I can't imagine him ever being booked in any Japanese promotion again. He turns 40 in a little over a week; he does not have the years left in his career for this to blow over. He says he never wants to wrestle again, which could easily be true, but it's also what he kinda has to say publicly, even if he is talking to other promotions. It's likely that non-Japanese promotions are interested in him for now, but depending on what comes to light, he could possibly have exiled himself from the entire industry—this culture he's talking about runs pretty deep.

It's a big deal, is what I'm saying.

On twitter, the person who wrote this article (@thefeelite) and @golden_kuma (both links to their twitters) are putting in incredible amounts of work doing translations and giving really important context for what's happening with Ibushi and NJPW. They are just fans and they don't have all the info obviously, but they're both acting with a lot of restraint and avoiding too much speculation. (Both people I mentioned have tip jars in their twitter profiles, so please be kind to them if you can!)

#kota ibushi #njpw #new japan pro wrestling #i'm sure you're shocked but i have a lot of feelings about this #like a LOT of feelings #i will not go into them now but here are two:#it's just awful 😞#i love kota he was my hero even before this #over 100

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 4 months

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More Pixar layoffs, because of upper Disney management blundering. 20% of their staff, though not imminent.

Apparently it's a lot of staff that were hired specifically for Disney+ projects, like DUG DAYS and the upcoming WIN OR LOSE. Pixar's scaling down again, and are probably just focusing on features and a handful of shorts. Like they always did.

The Walt Disney Company definitely went all-in on the Disney+ thing, like all these companies did. Streaming was the future be-all end-all, everything else is IRRELEVANT. Best Buy phasing out selling physical media in stores, David Zaslav erasing things, Disney initially withholding Marvel and Star Wars limited series from being shown *anywhere* else, the models for these shows clearly not working... It's like COVID-19 and the streaming blitz accelerated two entirely separate problems in movie-dom, and now we're seeing a sorry fallout of it all.

This is not dissimilar to Pixar opening a Vancouver unit in 2010, which would've handled shorts and specials, only for them to be closed down three years later and their entire staff (around 50-100 people) laid off. And it really sucks, because finding another job isn't all that easy, and being put in that position is stressful and anxiety-stoking to begin with...

It appears history kinda repeated itself in 2024, a little over four years after Disney+ launched. I liked the idea of more Pixar short-form stuff, it's a good way to revisit characters/worlds without having to do more sequels, but streaming can only go so far and it's clearly not making the revenue Disney and shareholders want. And who gets hit the hardest? The creatives, the crews, the people who actually do all the hard work, while the execs - who could probably float to another gig unscathed - fuck around at the top. There were layoffs last year, too, among them Angus MacLane, Galyn Susman, and Steve Purcell. Some real heavy-hitters there...

Of course, the less-educated will immediately see "layoffs" and whine that Pixar should go back to letting only five nerdy white dads direct movies. And that one of those dads, a toxic misogynist who rightfully got Me Too'd, should be their leader again. What kind of animation fan are you? Even if I didn't like the latest movies made at that studio, even hated them... I wouldn't want the people who have to work hard to keep a roof over their heads to get laid off, nor blame their misfortunes on how much you didn't like the teen panda movie. And wanting someone who made many women uncomfortable to be their boss again. The hell is he running another animation studio for? The hell is wrong with ya??

Anyways... I hope those who will be affected find work without struggle.

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chirpsythismorning · 1 year

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I wonder how the investors are going to contribute to this. Netflix has already lost more money than writers were asking for! I am hoping they put pressure on the execs too.

It’s also so complex bc even if not paying writers striking means they save money for a few months or something, they’re still losing A LOT in other areas.

Like for example, I remember reading that the high school they film at for ST was set to be demolished/renovated soon. But Netflix paid them to postpone it so they could film for s5. And with the strike happening, that just means they’ll have to pay even more to postpone it. There are numerous little things like that that are going to start piling up.

Maybe they’ve done the math and it’s not enough to concede anytime soon.

I think how they’re going about it is honestly mostly to show their power and make it so no one else outside of the WGA feels compelled to fight for fair wages as well. If it’s easy for them to do it, then that sets a precedent in other peoples’ minds that maybe it’s not that hard for them to do the same.

I do wonder about investors though and if this strike is something they fully support/want to happen. Bc I mean, if they didn’t, it arguably wouldn’t be happening? So maybe it’s really about pressuring the investors. Or even the advertisers now. Just last week they cancelled an event meant to bring together their advertisers and like make a big show of how excited they are about having an ad option now. So I am curious if there’s a way to work around what’s going on? By not even having to pressure Netflix, but maybe their advertisers?

It’s kind of hard for these investors and advertisers, or anyone just making connections with Netflix at this time, to feel happy and comfortable about it, when they have ppl yelling at them outside of events that Netflix doesn’t pay their workers well. Which is why they had to cancel that advertiser event the other day in the first place, bc the protesters would have made it difficult for people trying to celebrate with Netflix on this front that everything going well, and to actually believe that, when clearly shit is hitting the fan.

Something to think about at least…

#byler #stranger things #st writers strike #st writers #duffer brothers #hmmmmm #it’s 2023…#making companies feel the pressure isn’t that hard to do honestly…

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kitkatt0430 · 4 months

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SO I don't really keep up all that much with the DCEU so I was taken aback when watching a video essay about why the sequel films are bad when the essayist said that... the whole DCEU was ending with Aquaman 2. Like I know this 'verse has never done, like, amazingly well, and I know some of the sequels were pretty naff but...actually scrapping it? And I'm wondering why - is it really that it's flopped or is it that they wanted an MCU without being willing to put in any of the work and instead expecting Instant Billions or whatever (or is it tax reasons, like they did with Batgirl?)

Oooh, send me a link to the essay? I'll have to check that out.

So I admit I haven't paid all that much attention to the DCEU either. I gave up on following everything for that one a lot faster than I did the MCU, so I really only tune in to one of the DC movies if I hear enough about it being good after it's been out a while. It was definitely mismanaged compared to how the MCU was handled - which is funny because the Arrow-verse interconnected shows was well done and they could have leveraged the multi-verse aspect of the comics to their advantage, though it's probably for the best they didn't. The shows had their own problems with seasonal rot and using them to prop up the movies would likely have not been pulled off with any finesse or skill. (I mean, they did finally tie in the movies in the Crisis on Infinite Earths with the DCEU!Barry cameo, but that was too little too late and barely counts.)

I hadn't heard the DCEU was coming to a close, but I'm not surprised. Though the news articles I just kinda flipped through before responding here were mixed on whether the DCEU is actually ending or if there is gonna be one more Aquaman movie since the second movie apparently ends with a setup for one? (wouldn't be the first setup for another movie that never followed through though) And it may not so much be ending as it is soft rebooting. Which... since I doubt the WB execs learned anything about why the DCEU failed to achieve what the MCU managed, I can't say I have high hopes for DCEU 2.0.

Their tax games definitely contributed to the DCEU loosing fans and thus money in the long run. The Batgirl movie had a lot of interest in it from fans and, if I'm remembering correctly, it had finished filming and just had post-production left to do. So tanking it for tax reasons pissed off a lot of people and killed off a lot of goodwill towards WB's handling of the DC movies. The fact that WB/HBO are continuing to play tax games with the Road Runner cartoons continues to erode trust in the company and continuing to play those games are likely to continue destroying their fan base as more and more people lose trust in them. Until these kinds of tax shell games are made illegal, I don't really see the company admitting that these kind of short term tax benefits are hurting their long term profitability with every person who stops caring about new movies or shows announced because, well, it'll probably get canceled for tax BS anyway, right?

Their strict control of characters being allowed to appear in DCEU vs the various tv shows was ultimately harmful too. By refusing to allow a live action Batman show, we got a version of Arrow that was at times good but was still pretty clearly Bruce Wayne-lite with Oliver Queen slapped on top. And who basically became a cop in the final season; comics Ollie would be ranting in all fucks about that if he knew. (Dinah probably wondering if he'd forgotten other words exist...) Declaring Deadshot off limits too meant putting an end to the use of the suicide squad episodes, which I have no doubt backfired by making fans of the show interpretation less interested in seeing the movie version.

While I'm glad that bringing Barry Allen as the Flash into the movies didn't end up killing the show - it was already popular by the time the Justice League was announced so I suspect they at least realized killing that show would definitely be shooting themselves in the foot, a rare good decision for the DCEU - but the way interviews about the Ezra Miller version of the character are given tells me that they just... don't care about the success of the show compared to movies. And that alienated fans of the Flash show, especially down the road when a standalone Flash movie entered development and the movie related hype got louder. "Oh how wonderful Ezra is at playing Barry Allen, none could do it better." Except Grant for nine years. Ten if you count the intro episodes he had on the Arrow before the Flash started. Talking about the movies as if the show didn't exist, or matter, definitely shot them in the foot with show fans. And it didn't help that the movies were retreading stories with that version of Barry that the show had already done - Eobard murdering Nora, Flashpoint, an evil version of Barry too??? not totally clear on that one - and did so badly if the clips I've seen of the Flash movie are any indication. At the very least had the interviews regarding the movie had been respectful of the show's success, they could have drawn in a lot more viewers than the Flash movie ended up with.

Those are not the only places where the movies have caused characters to be barred from the various tv shows or where the movie PR has treated the shows (and not just arrow verse shows) like they don't exist. But they're the ones that come to mind for me first. And it generates bad feelings with fans every time it happens.

Then there's the fact that the DCEU movies were just literally difficult to watch. The MCU movies get dark, but wow. Do DCEU filmmakers know what lighting is? Do they know that lighting is important in order to see what is happening on the screen? Do they know that people watching movies like to be able to see what's happening on the screen?

The MCU has a lot of planned continuity between entries. The plots for the movies may be kinda shallow, but the fact that a lot of the movies can stand on their own despite being interconnected was a major strength for building up the fan base it has today. They don't account for every plot hole or contradiction, and it's kinda hilarious what continuity errors some of the later retcons have introduced, but ultimately there is a cohesiveness of story being told across the various movies and shows. And the shows have been very good at diving into the fallout of plot points that are left shallow in the movies. What happened to the agents burned during the Winter Solder - Agents of SHIELD handles that question really well, though being so tightly tied to the movies was as much a weakness for the show in it's early seasons as it was a strength. Daredevil and the other Defenders shows explored the fallout of the Battle of New York. And the Disney shows continue that trend of diving more in depth into various questions the movies have left us with.

The DCEU doesn't really have that. There's no real unified vision. There's a lot of big ideas but not a whole lot of follow through. The characters don't really seem to exist between movies - the Flash movie was supposed to be a few years post the Justice League movie, but Barry had done basically nothing as the Flash between the two. Diana is still mourning Steve as the love of her life in the second WW movie. Though Diana has grown more comfortable in the regular world, she hasn't really grown any as a person between the first and second movies despite the decades in between. And then sometimes the characters are more stereotypes than actual characters - Batman vs Superman was less Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent clashing over misunderstanding each other and more the concept of Batman vs Superman as argued by out of touch fanboys who don't actually like the source material. (You can tell where I stopped keeping up with the DCEU now right?) And even the extended version of Justice League has at best superficial readings of the characters because it's trying to do too much at once. While sometimes the characters do learn and grow and better themselves, if it survives to the next movie is hit or miss. Which, admittedly, is one movie sin the MCU does have in common with the DCEU.

(The things that could be said about how wildly unevenly Clint Barton was written to be... I swear he's basically a different character every time he shows up at this point, despite having the same name and actor every time.)

And the DCEU hasn't really handled it's scandals well. When actors or directors or whoever is called out on bad behavior, the company will cover for them. So while the people running the shows seemed to have learned from the #MeToo movement and ditched problematic people even when it meant changing direction with ongoing plots (Supergirl season 3) or writing out one of the main characters of a show (Hartley Sawyer being let go between seasons over uncovered past bad behavior and the subsequent decision to write out Ralph Dibny instead of recasting), but those in charge of the DCEU have routinely protected people called out for racist, misogynist, and other prejudiced behaviors. (the post Justice League racism debacle, pretty much everything to do with Ezra Miller pre-Flash movie release...)

Honestly, the TLDR here would be that the DCEU was just mismanaged every which way it turned. And while we still got gems like Aquaman, the first Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey... those were never going to be enough to save the DCEU from either getting shelved or rebooted eventually. And if we are getting a DC movie-verse reboot? Unless the problems that tanked this iteration are addressed, it's still going to fail in comparison to the MCU's ongoing successes. Because ultimately, yes, I think they wanted MCU level success without being willing to do the work to achieve it. And I don't think they'll be any more willing to do that work with a rebooted DCEU either.

#kitkatt0430 answers #kitkatt0430 rambles #dceu #dceu meta #fandom meta #arrow verse meta

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destinyc1020 · 9 months

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I’m hopeful that the strikes will end and Dune 2 press can continue. It would be crazy for the studios to allow this strike go longer than October, don’t you think? They have got to be losing a bunch of money on halted productions.

You have more hopethan I do Anon lol, coz I don't see these strikes ending anytime soon. 😄

I'm curious what the holiday movie and box office season will look like though with these strikes. 🤔

I would love to see a normal release for Dune 2 as well Anon 🙏🏾, but at the same time, I can't see them holding back on releasing a film that they've already set aside time for 6 WEEKS in IMAX for, and will probably garner them some big box office bucks. I just don't see it 🤷🏾‍♀️

Plus, this year will probably have the least competition tbh.

I really don't think the studios will lose THAT much money just because their actors aren't promoting their films. If anything, what I'm afraid of is the studios realizing that they don't HAVE to pay their actors to fly around the world to do press tours and red carpets, in order for a film to still perform well at the box office. 👀

But I guess we'll see! 🤷🏾‍♀️

Movies are still being released like normal, even with the SAG actor's strike. I actually don't think that many films are being held up yet.

They're gonna REALLY feel the pinch though when the films that were SUPPOSED to keep filming haven't filmed for months, and so everything is delayed next year. 🙃

The greedy execs are banking on the fact however, that the actors and writers will lose money FIRST and faster than they (the studios) will though.

It's such an evil plan imo 😡

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aliform · 1 year

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I just finished a memoir by an ex-exec-editor of Vogue Paris and then dove into a biography of Gorey and it's shifted my headspace -- the fashion editor grew up in the film world and then pushed herself reluctantly into fashion, and even though the book was astoundingly long she never revealed enough of herself for me to really know her by the end (Grace Coddington was much more fun and engaged and personal). And what a mess of a person, terrible with money, overly attached to objects, only connecting with married men, still relying on handouts in her 60s and 70s, but what a life (living in London-Paris-Los Angeles, growing up, practically, with Angelica Huston). As I lose more and more energy in my 30s and see people completely spin into new avenues in their 40s and onwards, it's hopeful. Absorbing the drive of others powers my own.

And Gorey is just an excuse to also cling to the obsessions of my teens and 20s and hold on to them, let them mold me, which he did with silent film, Edwardian/Victorian literature, wordsmithing, books, art. Buy the cookbook. Read the same book 10 times. Be a hermit.

Occasionally I scroll through my tumblr archives to see what is me and has lasted (architecture and interiors, space, fashion, art, social history, that very specific pink-glow nostalgia-blasted weheartit aesthetic from 2010, confessional little blurbs of posts) versus what has not (being a part of fandom!).

People exhaust me. Working from home permanently has been life-changing since I used to dread the commute to and from work however short because it was one last energy-drainer. But I still want to go out, do, try, feel, change. Occasionally I melodramatically say that I have done everything in this city when I could go out today and do a hundred things I've never done before, but I think what I really mean is I need constant change which means I am not trying myself hard enough.

What has fallen by the wayside? What pieces do I keep picking up and setting down again? There are things I've wanted to do for years that I have left untouched. I still bounce from new rabbit hole to new rabbit hole instead of doing the hard work of planting seeds. It's easy enough to read the gossip about Disney influencers instead of sitting down and planning what I could cook from all my kid lit cookbooks.

Where is my accountability?

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peppertaemint · 2 years

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can you expand on what you said in your last post? I’m really curious about your opinion, and this situation just feels ambiguous to me too

Hi Anon,

This Ask was in regard to me saying the dinner video may not have been seen by higher ups and could have been green-lit by those working in content who had the guys' backs, therefore making it a statement to us but also to bang/the board.

This is just conjecture. It's entirely possible Bang or others didn't quite understand the state of things. Obviously solo work has been in the works for a while, but that dinner felt like a goodbye and an airing of regret etc and I would almost bet money there were enough senior execs that didn't know that was the crux of the content they were putting out.

I mean, RM went away to Switzerland right after and technically BTS were still promoting their comeback during that time. That's kind of an F U to the board because it gives the impression that he's over it and doesn't care. Don't misunderstand me, however. I don't begrudge people holidays but the timing of everything is weird.

And consider this article from the Korean press.

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/06/21/business/industry/lim-jinmo-kpop-critic-kpop/20220621172236452.html

"Music-wise, BTS has lost what I call the “tip and blade” of music, which is my style of saying that special edge in music that sends shivers down people’s spines. Music must have that something that captivates people, that touches their heart like the tip of a pen or a blade piercing it.

I emphasize that calling dance music intrinsically low in musical quality is really a prejudice. That being said, the problem with BTS and K-pop in general is not that the singers dance — it’s that their music doesn’t have the tip and blade."

"...But at one point, BTS’s music started falling apart, and I think “Idol” (2018) was where it all began. Although “Idol” is the point where BTS’s career took off globally, that’s also when its songs started losing their tip and blade."

Q: Some fans have expressed disappointment in the announcement. Why do you think that is?

"It’s not because of what they said, but the way they said it and the timing.

What should have come at the forefront of their announcement was a thank you, not an "I’m too tired." What they said makes sense at first, like the fact that the K-pop system wears artists down and stunts their growth. But having enjoyed all the privileges of their worldwide stardom like they have, they should have thanked everyone that made it possible — not suddenly blame everything on K-pop. "

I find it hard to believe that the video was okayed by Bang or senior management because they did make claims about the genre that, although I understood and empathized with those claims, ignored the work of other artists. Lots of artists grow and mature within the genre. Maybe it's still the exception not the rule, but to me the messages in the dinner did more to showcase BTS' fraught relationship with the genre they're in. So, you're not K-pop but K-pop is to blame? The dissonance there is hard to overlook, and I can't help feeling the messages in the dinner were highly personal; the other option is that Hybe's execs are what, telling them to keep creating this divide between themselves and their fellow artists? I hope that isn't true.

#bts #bts ask #hybe #big hit #the music critic said everything I was harassed over #interesting #kpop #music

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testudoaubrei-blog · 3 years

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Well, it’s not quite a master’s thesis, but this is (the first of) a series of posts on why Catra and Adora are the best love story in the history of kids TV animation and maybe the greatest love story in the history of TV. This may in some ways be faint praise - romance on TV is generally not very good compared with books or movies. Often it’s just some will they/won’t they sexual tension that is defused by getting characters together and re-heightened by breaking them up. TV is full of nearly shark jumping pointless dramas like Sam and Diane (Cheers, holy fuck am I dating myself, though that was technically before my time), Ross and Rachel (Friends, which was no Cheers) etc, but also some less annoying couples like Ben and Leslie (Parks and Rec) or Amy and Jake (Bk99) who are mostly just kind of cute and fun. Other shows, like the X-Files, teased viewers for years with unresolved sexual tension. In kids shows most romances are, appropriate for their target viewers, mild, sweet relationships based more on self-conscious flirting and blushing than on complex and conflicted feelings or deep passions - which is pretty realistic when the characters are young teens or even mid-teens. Some of these relationships are really well done - Finn and Flame Princess, Dipper and Pacifica (yeah I ship them), the early stages of Katara and Aang (before the showrunners imbued this childhood crush with cosmic significance), Steven and Connie, etc. Catra and Adora, though, are different. Their love story is not a side plot or a sub plot, it’s the heart of the show. It isn’t a childhood crush, it’s a very messy and passionate relationship between two young adults. She-Ra is an emotionally complex lesbian romance just as much as it is a thrilling action/adventure show. Everything about their relationship is baked into the show’s plot, its themes, hell even its musical score. The dramatic tension between Catra and Adora is not the result of stretching out a flirtation for ratings, but a coherent dramatic arc that runs through the entire show. As Noelle said, he made Catradora so central that execs couldn’t take it out without ruining the show. And the show is better for it. In this series of posts I’m going to try to show why, as well as showing why She-Ra is such a fantastic love story.

First off, let’s talk about how Catra and Adora’s character arcs are foils for each other, and how they come together and apart through the series. This is actually a post that I’ve been working on for a while but I keep summarizing the show rather than cutting to the chase, so I’m not going to recite many plot points so much as sketch out what’s going on with the dramatic structure at the time. But also, let’s talk about what each character’s arc is saying, and how they are commenting on each other. Spoiler alert: Catra’s arc is a subversion and critique of stories of empowerment through ruthless self-assertion and revenge, while Adora’s arc is a subversion and critique of chosen one narratives and stories of self-denial and self-transcendence.

When the show starts, Adora and Catra are shown as rivals and friends - their first scene starts the recurring motif of them reaching out for each other as one of them dangles above an abyss, as well as establishing their flirtatious banter and easy camaraderie. We quickly learn that these two young women plan to conquer the world together. These scenes and later flashbacks show Catra and Adora as deeply enmeshed in each others lives, to the point where neither of them (but especially Catra) have clear identities outside of one another. There is so much genuine love on both sides before Adora leaves, but also resentment, envy and fear, especially on Catra’s side, as well as a protectiveness on Adora’s side that deprives Catra of her autonomy. They are both being abused by Shadow Weaver - Catra physically and emotionally, Adora emotionally. It wouldn’t be too much to say that Shadow Weaver holds Catra hostage to control Adora (this is why critiques that Adora abandoned Catra to be abused are actually kind of messed up, since they accept Shadow Weaver’s premise that Adora is responsible for what Shadow Weaver does to Catra). In addition, Catra and Adora actually see the world incredibly differently. Adora already sees the world in terms of right, wrong and her destiny to right wrongs - this is why it’s important for her to accept the Horde’s obvious lies - she couldn’t keep living if she didn’t. Catra, on the other hand, sees the world solely in terms of survival and personal loyalty - everything for her is about preserving herself and the person she cares about - Adora.

Then, when Adora finds the sword, she leaves because it’s the right thing to do. Catra doesn’t even have a concept of ‘the right thing to do’ being something she should care about, or perhaps, something she can care about as an irredeemably evil, awful fuck-up. So at Thaymor neither one understands where the other is coming from, and Catra and Adora begin to part. This is the first turning point in their relationship. Adora chooses duty over what she desires, Catra chooses to protect herself (such as she sees it) and nurse her sense of betrayal and abandonment.

Their relationship until Promise is a kind of weird Frenemy thing that is fascinating to watch and sold me on the show. Neither one wants to fully admit to themselves that the other is now their enemy, neither one has given up on changing the other’s mind. Each is furious at the other, and desperate to see her again at the same time. There’s a lot of heartache and just as much sexual tension, especially at Princess Prom. Both of them come alive when they fight each other (more about that in a later post). But they’re already growing apart - Adora embracing her destiny as She-Ra, Catra rising in the ranks for the Horde. Adora now has the purpose she always wanted, plus other friends and a sense of being chosen to do something great, while Catra now has power - the means to protect herself from people like Shadow Weaver as well as the vindication she had always been denied, and even the opportunity to beat Shadow Weaver at her own game.

The next turning point is Promise. Holy fuck, this episode. It’s an episode that is even more heartbreaking after you’ve watched the show because you know just how much worse things are going to get, and yet, it’s a necessary part of both of their character arcs. Even through season 1 Catra and Adora had remained very much enmeshed in each others lives in an increasingly fucked up way as they grew apart but refused to turn away from each other. Even though they aren’t -exactly- a romantic couple (Adora doesn’t recognize and acknowledge her feelings until the last episode of Season 5), Season 1 of She-Ra is one of the worst breakups I have seen on TV. As I said in a couple of previous posts, this is the kind of shit that the Mountain Goats write songs about. Everything that was poisoning their love for each other even before episode 1 bubbles to the surface and combines with them fighting on opposite sides of the war to make a truly fucked up situation. In the end, it’s Catra that makes the choice to turn away from Adora. This isn’t a -good- decision. It’s spiteful, and destructive, and based on an outright deluded understanding of their relationship (inspired by Light Hope’s manipulations and her own issues), but it’s in some ways a necessary decision. Catra has been so wrapped up in Adora for so long that she isn’t going to be able to figure out who -she- is without cutting Adora out of her life. And the same is true of Adora.

But each of them do this in about the worst way possible. Catra embraces destruction, ambition, manipulation and outright cruelty, turning the tactics of her abusers against them and against everyone around her. She first triumphs over Shadow Weaver and manipulates Entrapta into trying to corrupt Etheria itself. Meanwhile Adora ‘lets go’ and commits herself to the self-denying mantle of She-Ra. Over the next several seasons, their respective paths will nearly lead both Catra and Adora to their deaths (in the Season 4 finale).

For the next season (counting season 2 and 3 as one) Catra and Adora are still closely linked, but as enemies. Still, there’s more than enough flirtation between them (that ‘Hey Catra’ in the first episode of Season 2 is something else), and especially on Adora’s side we see her hold back with Catra, and often take responsibility for the harm Catra inflicts, just like she had when they were kids. Yet they still drift apart - after facing off every other episode in Season 1, they spend less and less time on screen together through season 2 and 3. Catra continues her ascent to power and descent into villainy while Adora becomes more of a stressed out mess as she takes the fate of the world and the wellbeing of everyone she cares about on her admittedly broad shoulders. Catra’s one moment of vulnerability is rewarded by Shadow Weaver’s betrayal and her exile, then Catra triumphs in ruthless badass fashion through sheer desperation and aggression. In the Crimson Wastes, we see Catra at her most independent, and she almost seems happy. But once Adora shows up and Catra hears about Shadow Weaver, she’s sucked back into the worst of her resentments, and she makes very clear that being happy is less important to her than making sure Adora is miserable.

This changes everything. Catra completely breaks with reality and tries to kill Adora, herself and the world rather than lose to Adora and Shadow Weaver (I do think it’s important to remember that she does that after Shadow Weaver nearly kills her). Catra betrays everyone around her when she exiles Entrapta, threatens Scopria and lies to Hordak. Then she flips the switch. When Adora tries to fix things, Catra fights to her own death to make sure that the world disintegrates with her. For her part, Adora fights first to understand what is wrong with the world and then to fix it. Finally she tells Catra that destroying the world is her choice and she has to live with it, decks her, and then sees her off with a death glare once the portal is closed. With this, Adora writes Catra off even if, as she says later, she never never hated her. By doing that, Adora casts off the guilt that had dogged her and takes responsibility for her own life rather than someone else’s - this is actually a huge step for her, and one that will become more important in Season 4.

Season 4 is in many ways the nadir of their relationship. They only see each other once during the entire season, in Fluterrina, when Adora tries to blast Catra, much to the latter’s shock. There’s a sense in that scene that Catra is trying to have the same flirtatious enmity she used to have with Adora, and Adora is having none of it. Catra almost seems hurt by this, which is an early hint at how isolated Catra is beginning to feel. Catra spends the rest of the season at her highest and lowest. On the one hand she spends most of 12 episodes winning by every standard she has ever claimed to care about, besting Hordak himself in single combat and making herself co-ruler of the Horde and coming within a day’s march of ending the Rebellion. In many ways it is the ultimate empowerment fantasy - the abused young woman has defeated her abusers, showed up everyone who doubted her and forced everyone to respect her. But I think it’s striking that the show starts with her and Adora dreaming of conquering the world together and in Season 4 Catra nearly succeeds in conquering it alone, almost like she was trying to live out her old shared fantasy while proving she didn’t need her former best friend.

At the same time, Catra is clearly miserable. She’s always been unhappy, but in Season 4 we see her completely isolated and lying to herself and everyone who will listen in a desperate attempt to justify her actions. Turning the tactics of Hordak and Shadow Weaver against them to gain power and then against Scorpia and Entrapta to maintain it haven’t vindicated Catra, they’ve made her more and more alone as Entrapta is exiled and Scorpia drifts away. Meanwhile Catra reaches out to Double Trouble, and her interactions with them reek of a kind of desperate desire to have someone in her life (the feeling of their interaction is of an unhealthy casual relationship where one partner becomes emotionally invested and the other takes advantage of that while denying the other the closeness they desire). As people leave her, one after the other, it becomes clearer and clearer that Catra doesn’t want power at all - she wants connection, friendship, love, and power is a very poor replacement. As I said in my long Catra rant, Season 4 is both her ‘Walter White as a Catgirl’ season and the beginning of her redemption. Everything comes to head when Sparkles destroys everything Catra has tried to achieve, Double Trouble delivers those harsh truths and Horde Prime shows up and makes it all irrelevant, just highlighting how futile all her struggles and sacrifices and crimes have been.

Meanwhile Adora spends Season 4 becoming her own her and her own woman. After telling off Catra, she grows more and more disillusioned with Light Hope and critical of Glimmer (though the latter has more than a shade of her old habit of taking responsibility for others - Adora’s development is not linear). She’s gained the courage and confidence to strike out her own path, not just follow a destiny. At the season’s end she once again breaks with her best friend to do what is right, and discards the destiny that she was being prepared for. But in this case she isn’t chasing one packaged destiny for another, instead she’s making her own choice and literally shattering the thing that she thought gave her life purpose. It’s badass, and heartbreaking, and along with decking Catra and jumping after Catra into the abyss (see below) it’s the perfect Adora moment.

In many ways Season 5 starts with Catra and Adora farther apart than they have ever been. They aren’t even enemies anymore, they’re completely out of each other’s lives. And both Catra and Adora are lost at the beginning of Season 5 - Catra is useless and alone on Prime’s ship, completely defeated despite ostensibly being on the winning side, and she goes through the motions of her normal plotting without any particular conviction and none of her normal flair. Meanwhile Adora is even more miserable and self-destructive than usual, throwing herself at Horde Bots and working herself until she drops of exhaustion. In a very real way they both stay lost until they have a chance to help the other. Catra takes responsibility for what she’s done and what she can do, saves Glimmer (at least partly for Adora’s sake), apologizes to Adora, and sacrifices herself. Adora only seems to come alive when she decides to turn around, face Prime, and save the cat. And when she does, Catra and Adora’s arcs, which had separated so completely in season 4, come crashing back together to end the series.

Adora during Save the Cat is such a contrast with the uncertain, hesitant and self-destructive wreck we’ve seen so far in Season 5. This is possibly her craziest plan in 3 years of mostly cazy plans, but she never wavers or questions herself. Even when Chipped Catra appears and we see Adora’s heart break while we watch, Adora doesn’t back down or relent. She keeps at it even as the tears stream down her face. She fights better trying to save Catra without She-Ra’s powers than she fought at the Battle of Bright Moon with them. Catra’s just about as desperate - we see her cry and plead, and now is probably as good a time to any to point out how amazing a job both VAs did throughout the show, but especially in this episode, and how good a job the board artists did.

Seeing each other for the first time in a year, and only the second time since Catra blew everything up, Catra and Adora are probably the rawest and least restrained we’ve ever seen them. There’s barely any banter, no bravado, and no pretense that they are anything other than two women who desperately need each other (Prime doesn’t help with ‘You broke my heart’.) Then Catra is flung to her death, Adora jumps after her, breaks both her legs in the fall (we see her crawl to Catra, as though she couldn’t walk) and becomes the real She-Ra. It’s such a triumphant and deeply queer moment seeing a woman transformed into a warrior goddess to protect the woman she loves, and it’s the reason that, as dark as it is, Save the Cat is my Comfort Food episode.

Let’s not sleep on Taking Control, though. This episode is like a microcosm of what this show does best, especially the A plot with Catra and Adora. Catra’s reversion to lashing out at everyone and her refusal to be open to Adora shows just how much of a struggle this whole ‘being good and trying to connect to people’ thing is. Catra’s outburst gives Adora a chance to stand up for herself and refuse to be Catra’s punching bag, while also not trying to control her. Adora’s ultimatum gives Catra a chance to reach out to Adora (quite literally), and allow herself to be vulnerable. In this episode, we see just how far Catra and Adora have come since the messed up stew of their relationship in Season 1. Adora lets Catra be responsible for her own actions; Catra lets herself be vulnerable to Adora and takes responsibility for her actions. They’re both better people and better friends and better partners than they were, and the show has shown this in a strikingly nuanced and realistic way.

The important thing to note in the next few episodes of Season 5 isn’t just how much closer Catra and Adora get to each other and how much they flirt (So much. So much, y’all) but just how -happy- they are. We see both of them transformed in the other’s presence. Basically, since they’ve parted, both Catra and Adora have been defined in no small part by how miserable they often are. They have both had their triumphs and their lighter moments, but there’s been a sense of melancholy dogging both Catra and Adora since episode 1. And now that they’re together again, that lifts, somewhat. Catra’s verbal barbs have lost their venom, and she can openly show how much she cares for Adora and even Bow and Glimmer. She’s still herself - snarky, cynical, somewhat devious - but she’s not engaged in a self-destructive zero-sum struggle with everyone around her. Meanwhile Adora has spent 4 seasons being a neurotic and sometimes nearly joyless mess who takes responsibility for everything and often doesn’t let herself enjoy anything other than the odd BFS group hug (exceptions include trying to uh...impress Huntara and reveling with the butterfly ladies of Elberron in Flutterina). Around Catra, though, she’s a cocky, swaggering jock who gives as good as she gets. It’s a side of Adora we’ve only seen hints of before, and one that’s so much more confident and joyful even as the world is ending around her. Apart, Catra had tried to protect and vindicate herself with power and conquest, while Adora had tried to forget herself in duty and sacrifice. Together, they can be themselves again. This dynamic is crucial to the show’s portrayal of Catra and Adora’s romance because it doesn’t just show how much they love each other, but how they’re -good- for each other now that they’ve grown as people, and that they are so much better than they were when they were apart.

Until Shadow Weaver shows up. Their old abuser reintroduces tensions but even then things are different than they were. Now Catra isn’t just resentful of how Shadow Weaver prefers Adora - she’s protective of Adora, which is clearest in Failsafe when she calls Shadow Weaver out for being willing to sacrifice Adora. And while Adora takes the Failsafe, it isn’t to follow her destiny or because she has a death wish - it’s because she loves her friends, and she is the only one who has any hope of doing this and living (though Catra’s suggestion that Shadow Weaver take it is a good one). And finally, when Catra leaves Adora, it isn’t because she hates Adora, nor, despite what she says, is it because she really thinks that Adora chose Shadow Weaver. At least, not exactly. It’s because Catra loves Adora, and can admit that to herself, and can’t stay around and watch the woman she loves sacrifice herself rather than choosing Catra. Before Catra leaves, she asks Adora ‘What do you want?” It’s a question that echoes Shadow Weaver’s speech in Episode 1: ‘isn’t this what you always wanted since you could want anything?’ As much as Adora has grown as a person, and defined herself and stood up for what she thinks is right, she still has never answered that question - it’s never been ‘what do I want’ but ‘what do I have to do?’ and that’s how Adora answers Catra’s question. This is Adora’s last gasp as a self-transcending hero, letting go of what she wants (not that she ever dared articulate what that was) in order to do what must be done. And it nearly kills her and dooms the universe, because Adora can’t be the hero that she needs to be by being anyone less than herself.

But it’s losing Catra that inspires Adora to tell off Shadow Weaver for good (not that she’d ever really warmed to her after season 1). And it’s love for Adora that inspires Catra to stand up to Shadow Weaver and demand that she do the right thing. In both cases, Catra and Adora aren’t just standing up to their abuser, but holding her to account for the harm she’s caused, and it’s the love that they have for each other that inspires them to do this. In Catra’s case in particular her refusal to let Shadow Weaver weasel out of finding Adora is a much greater triumph over Shadow Weaver than beating her up and breaking her mask in Season 1 - it’s proof not so much to Shadow Weaver but to Catra herself that Catra really is better than this and that she deserves better than this. It’s not turning her abuser’s tactics against her, but truly holding her to a moral standard and demanding that she do the right thing.

And then there’s Catra and Adora together at the heart. Catra has already come back for Adora and stayed to the end, choosing to die with her even if she can’t share a life together (not out of some death wish, but because Adora needs her). And Adora, who’s been avoiding answering the question for three fucking years, finally let’s herself want Catra when Catra finally confesses her love (breaking the last of her self-protective shields) and asks Adora to stay -for her-. And by admitting what she wants, Adora can truly be at peace with herself and be the hero she needs to be, lesbianism saves the universe, The End.

So anyway, that’s how Catra and Adora’s stories are woven together and how they compliment and comment on each other. Narrativiely, Adora and Catra start together, come apart, find something of themselves, and truly find themselves and each other when they are reunited. Thematically, they are critiquing seemingly opposing narrative tropes - empowerment narratives and narratives of self sacrifice. But by showing the flaws in both types of story and showing how neither self-seeking empowerment nor self-negating self sacrifice can actually make us happy, She-Ra asks and answers more profound questions than most prestige dramas for adults do. I’ll get into how the show sells the idea that the power of love can bring us happiness (and save the world) in a future post. But next up, I’m going to celebrate just how much Catra and Adora’s relationship revels in ambiguity, complexity and contradiction and so tells a grown up love story in a kid’s show.

#she ra #she ra spoilers #she ra adora #spop #catradora #she ra netflix #she ra and the princesses of power #goat ship #long #meta

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