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mayordoi · 6 months

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huzzah! 2023 art review!

it’s almost the end of the year, wowzers! i always do one of these art review thingies since i always like looking back at the art ive made :> last year i posted the review on my other account and left it at there, but this year i want to actually review each month and notable pieces i made… just for fun!

this post is very much just for me lol, but i hope someone out there enjoys it. month-by-month review + previous year in reviews will be under the cut! 🩷

(also, shoutout to tumblr for going rouge and posting this way way earlier than i had scheduled 😍 luckily tumblr post editor is weirdly based and kept all my embedded links when i pasted it from the old one? hell yeah)

Jan: started off the year with a painting of my beloved ocs after ending last year with one! (and i will be talking about my older year in reviews, rest assured). this was my obligatory cute shared scarf art, and i wanted to try attempting to render something more involved like two characters and draping cloth. i don't think the result was too shabby, though this was before i discovered my favorite rendering brush for procreate, so in hindsight, it looks kinda flat and boring now. where's all the crunch? ah but anyway, starting a whole year with your art in a mid place compared to what you made later on is par for the course.

Feb: probably the month where i had the least art to put here, i remember scraping a little to find one. this was a chrobin piece i made in my sketchbook! nothing too noteworthy... i think i tried doing a slightly different approach to coloring with markers (applying the color before the lineart) and incorporating paint, but i remember this one giving me trouble. first of all, the size i drew this in was really small (it was in a small sketchbook and i decided to mask the margins with comparatively wide masking tape), and second of all the paper was absolutely NOT built for gouache, so it ended up a kind of wrinkly and muddy mess. i mean i'm still not the best with gouache now but still, not my best.

March: a redraw of a robin piece i made back when i was still on amino. i probably won't share the old versions because they're crap, so just trust me on the redraw part. anyway, the last iteration of the concept was in 2019 i think? and while i was proud of it for a while, its luster finally faded and i decided to try doing it again in procreate. this was when i discovered my love for the soft chalk brush in the jingsketch basics brush pack. for a while i've been using the hard render brush in that pack to render, but this one's texture and chalkiness totally changed the game. i was in love!! also tried to be a little more crazy and vibrant with how i applied the base colors, using saturated colors across the board. this process didn't consistently stick, but i think it yielded some neat results here. another hit from this month was my piece of grandmaster robin, since i'm really proud of the detail here!.

Apr: guys, april was MY MONTH! i remember making so much art in just a few weeks, something just clicked in my brain i guess. i chose my drawings of hagane rin and len since this was when i truly began to get comfy in my lineart era (after the grandmaster drawing). this month was full of detailed line drawings at that, but this one was what made me both enjoy the process a lot and do more of it. hell yeah. other hits: vocaloids at mcdonald's (i drew a background omg!!!), alice in ny fanart (just the euphoria of finally nailing a composition for this piece after struggling with it in november was great), and the end-world normopathy fanart (it's a line drawing, and a traditional one at that. i was happy with incorporating gold accents into my typically monochromatic style when it comes to my line-focused drawings as well as getting tamari's mechanical details nailed).

May: hell yeah. evil power couple time. this one was another line-art heavy one since i thought it fit the vibe. the softer colors in the background i feel like could have been executed a little better, but i do like how this came out, especially the armor (good god fe armor is a pain to render, but i think i've gotten better at it this year! middle school me would be so jealous). not much else to say here. Other hit this month would be my alice of human sacrifice fanart, another line-heavy traditional drawing. i think it turned out nice, especially for a crammed composition lol.

Jun: another end-world normopathy-centered fanart. i mentioned it in my og post but i was trying out a slightly different painting style where i did a black-and-white base first and then added colors as an overlay (also in the initial upload of the post i was so fucking meek about posting fanart of mariyam's alternate design teased at the end of the mv?? 😭 sorry about that, i've edited it out but it's still in early reblogs. kind of cringe on my part). i didn't end up committing to this consistently cuz the beginning process was kind of tedious (plus i'm too inept to pay close attention to values anyway), but laying down all the colors after the long rendering process was rewarding! it's a nice alternative with i get bored with my other method to yield basically the same-looking result lol. this month featured some more pieces that tried using this process, like the one with my oc alice, lucina and dark pit hanging out, and f!robin's resplendent design from feh.

Jul: ah yes my typical flavor of "improvised oc art that i invent new symbolism for on the fly that i apply meaning to after i'm finished". kinda just wanted to paint something again because i've been doing a lot of line drawings lately and to go back to my old painting process again. honestly, i mainly picked this one because i wanted more oc art and non-lineart drawings to be in this chart lol. art i made this month that i'm real proud of is this family pic of some young cryptonloids (i really like how the colors came out on this one!) and my birthday drawing for miku's sweet 16, which was originally completed this month. i opted out of considering it for my july art to avoid confusion. also also, this very whack pathological facade fanart (plus some doodles i didn't post) opened my eyes to the beautiful world of NOISE and HALFTONES and just slapping crazy textures onto my art like nobody's business. hell yeah.

Aug: ok this one is kind of another piece i picked to represent this month that isn't quite my favorite but i chose anyway for the sake of variety (in this case, i wanted more traditional pieces and non-vocaloid stuff). for once, i used my bigger sketchbook to make a big n detailed piece for my boy's new brave alt in feh (that game has zero significance to me outside of cool alt costumes for my faves). my actual fave from this month was young miku/meiko/kaito chillin in their house; i'm real proud of the background and lighting! but i still like this robin too ofc, big fan of how the colors came out ;3

Sep: another traditional drawing! felt compelled to draw kandy again, specifically her evil miitopia great sage incarnation :> this one was pretty standard in terms of process, and not much was really done to experiment. just wanted to draw something cool of my girl for my sketchbook. other fave from this month is this sketchy miku i did, i like how loose it came out and how the colors pop.

Oct: pretty palutena!~ i think i went into this trying to do something a little different with my painting process (i think it was to try incorporating more colors in the shading like the blue in the dress or more saturated colors near the focal point, but i can't remember LOL) or try rendering a more detailed character w/ a background (even if the background was pretty vague). i like this one! especially the color cohesion, it's pretty swag imo. other faves from this month was fanart i made for the song "orbit" since i also like how the color cohesion came out for this one, and the maid dress/crossover drawing i made for cringetober. no other words needed to explain why.

Nov: another digital painting! it's yet another ghost song, this time "uncanny". i really loved the aesthetic of this song, especially its bold colors and simplistic shapes, so i wanted to try capturing it in my style. i really love how the colors turned out on this, though i've yet to truly recreate what i like about this particular painting again? regardless, it's one of my faves, deserving of one of my favorite ghost songs. few other highlights from this month would be my obligatory purple robin drawing for the month, my sketchbook drawing of my luka design, and my fanart of utsu-p's song "ga". i like how i was able to do a couple of my different "styles"/processes this month rather than just sticking to just one. they all have their own feel to them that i like to play around with depending on the idea.

Dec: and finally, we're at the end. like july, we have another heavily improvised oc drawing with symbolism i came up with on the spot. that's just how i do things. anyway, this turned out really good in my opinion! i tried to stick to a color palette i saved in procreate a long time ago, and damn is it a fine palette. it helped me get a little loose with the colors and solely focus on creating a strong composition with colors and contrast rather than get hung up on sticking to typical color palettes. i also really like how i did the background by essentially using the liquify tool to swish all the colors around and then polished it a little on top. made for a really cool effect. other notable work would be the companion piece i made with my other oc that had a similar style since i liked the process of this one. there will probably be more as of when i'm drafting this (at the beginning of december) but i just wanna be finished w this post already bro

all around, very satisfied with this year. there was kind of a lot of song fanarts (something that i am somewhat guilty about because it feels like i'm unoriginal or something, but i swear it's cuz i'm really passionate about vocaloid music and need to act on what my braincells do when i listen to certain tracks), but overall i'm happy i was able to maintain some slight variety in the art i made this year through my chosen mediums and "styles" or processes i use.

this was the first year where i really wanted to have a fully rendered piece i'm proud of to represent every month. now, i wouldn't recommend this since forcing yourself to make art is not a good mindset to be in (sometimes, with how early i pushed some pieces out in certain months to get the monthly quota over with makes it seem like i'm getting paid to have a pretty year-in-review LOL). i was pretty lucky to not really have much burnout i guess?

~~~

ok now that all that boring stuff is out of the way, here’s my previous years! this is the sixth year i have made an art review chart.

lightning round review time! (probably just gonna be more boring stuff)

2018: ok, so this was the year where my prime art hosting platform was… amino… specifically smash amino. as much as i could rant about how much i hate that place now, i cant deny that it got me creating a lot of stuff. also it was an actual date archive for my traditional art because i never got in the habit of dating my physical art 🙃 uh don’t mind the absolute horrid graphic design on this one. i grabbed a template which was probably saved from a bunch of other places from amino and… didn’t really know how the formatting was supposed to work. first of all, i edited this in picsart on my phone and the chart wasn’t transparent, and second of all i didn’t know you were supposed to crop only the main focus so it could fit and be a little more clear. hence why its such a visual eyesore. i've been meaning to remake it to make it a little less bad (once i get my hands on the traditional pieces again), but i guess its shoddiness adds to its charm, much like amino. but anyway, 2018 was a bit of a turning point year for me in the smash amino art biz. on amino, i mostly made copies of official artwork from smash (character renders and so forth), and this year i actually tried experimenting with my own original ideas and scenes (my copying roots were still around at this time tho, seen in the november drawing which is based on ssbu’s mural art. i mainly moved on to copying artwork from feh). this was also the year i got my ipad and finally got into making digital art. i didn’t have the knowledge of digital art that i have today obviously, so colors and lighting were usually on the plain side. i also hit my stride with making more ambitious traditional art that incorporated backgrounds and such, and they’re pieces i’m still really proud of!

2019: so, i actually made this chart some time in 2021 or 22 because i didnt make an actual chart in 2019 officially (i forgor). which bums me out because i deleted my amino account by then, so a lot of dates for traditional pieces were flushed down the toilet the one time i needed them. so, to compensate, i tried scraping any digital piece i could to fill in some spaces, which is why some are more underwhelming than others. but yeah since this isn’t fully accurate to my art progress that year, 2019 is a bit fuzzy. main thing of note that year is midway through i got really REEAALLY into fire emblem: three houses and drew a lot of art of the characters (not shown much on the chart because they were mostly sketches and whatnot). imo there’s not much improvement or stylistic changes from 2018 in this year to note. 2020 on the other hand…

2020: if it wasn’t clear, this was my jojo phase. i got into jojo at the end of 2019 and my downward spiral into jojo hell bled into 2020 :p as such, i made a lot of jojo art. and because i made a lot of jojo art, this was the year where my style shifted drastically. i feel like it’s a common phenomenon for artists getting a total stylistic makeover after getting into jojo. whether it’s to imitate araki’s style or just trying to accommodate the characters’… features, i ended up facing the same thing. gone were big round heads with tiny mouths and in were tree trunk necks and higher effort placed in learning anatomy, both for the full body and well as the face. it was around may of this year i got procreate and moved on from ibis paint for digital art. while i still have my personal hangups with procreate, im glad i ended up investing in it since it really just works for me!!

2021: around summer 2020 in peak pandemic mood, i decided to indulge in some nostalgia and listened to some old vocaloid tunes from my middle school days. and then i kept rediscovering more stuff, and then i ended up browsing producers' individual discographies, and uh yeah i am still suffering the consequences of my vocaloid renaissance to this day. while it wasn't prominent in the 2020 chart, it really started to leak its way into my art subjects in 2021. however, i still primarily stuck to my roots with fe/"smash"/jojo fanart. this year was mainly trying to find my style again i suppose? i had already learned the ropes of procreate, its limitations, and the options it has to aid with the art making process, so it was just a matter of flinging a bunch attempts at a ~style~ to see which one i liked the most. i did try finding a painting/rendering style a lot by way of copying (mainly guessing based on speedpaints) other artists' styles and process with digital painting which ended up growing into my own thing. i know they all sort of look the same, but march, april, and october of this year all had slightly different ways of doing all the shading n rendering for painting that i liked experimenting w/ in the future.

2022: by this point, i had fully gotten used to procreate and the methods i used to make art, and the vocaloid train had no signs of stopping. i think the main thing of note this year was that i was able to break out of the "5 million overlays of pink and purple color vomit" box my digital art was set it. while it used to amuse me when i first began abusing it in my art, i guess i just sort of grew out of it? it ended up making a lot of my art look homogeneous, and it took out the fun trial and error of picking the colors to match the atmosphere myself. i also tried to get more experimental with my compositions, mainly in trying to make them more dense with Stuff as well as finally get a little more comfortable with drawing backgrounds. besides those things however, i remember feeling my art progress was very stagnant this year, with not much noticeable change from january to december. perhaps i've gotten a bit comfortable with the state it's in. regardless, still a good year all around.

~~~

whew. THAT'S finally done with. if you made it to the end of this very me-centered ramble, congrats. i will probably make reblog additions in future years to continue this little saga. idk if i'll be as detailed as i was for the 2023 lineup, but we'll see.

#not art #year in review #year in review 2023 #art review #fanart #mayors ocs #traditional art #digital art #long post #art #artists on instagram

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selfdiagnosedeyemotif · 9 months

Text

Chapter Five (Tyrri), pt. 1:

Happy fun times are over. This boat ride is so incredibly unlike the last.

Tyrri still stands at the edge of the bow, looking at the horizon as the Farlands come into view.

Hers is not a gaze filled with hope this time.

Arriving in Seekersgate, Sebastian, Lia, and Elias, all welcome her happily

It really has been a while, maybe they should catch up a little, did my research into the crystals help and HOLD IT!

Hi guys, it’s lovely to see you, your research was tantamount to my success, now where the hell is Cat I would like to speak to her

Oh she hasn’t been seen in months? I have great news I know where she is.

Seb, are you up for another trip into the wellspring? I sure hope you are because we’re gonna raise a little hell.

Lia, Elias, feel free to come with if you want. I’m happy to get all the support I can get

The four easily blast through the first section of the dungeon to the point where it’s just cutscened away. You go into the entrance to the Wellspring and arrive at the endpoint after a fade to black

What’s at that endpoint, you might ask?

Well, do you remember the snake that guarded the wellspring? How I mentioned that it was easily long enough to reach to the outside of the cave

Well, something managed to outrun it. Someone, specifically

Extending into the furthest recesses of the cave is the Guardian of the Wellspring. It appears to be unconscious

Sebastian, Lia, and Elias all get to work getting them sorted out and conscious again, urging Tyrri to go onward into

The Final Dungeon: The Heart of Wild Magic

Rather than my typical fare of making dungeons into impassable mazes, the Heart is actually rather straightforward

A massive cavern that spirals downward into a single centrepoint, studded with the same magenta crystals as the Wellspring that glow with greater and greater intensity as you go further down

Cat’s sprite is actually visible and rendered in from the furthest up point, but it isn’t clear what she’s doing

The strongest elementals in the game reside here, the Elder series elementals (Elder Tempest, Elder Frost, Elder Abyss, etc.)

Every now and again there are streams of water that pour into the cavern, interacting with them restores some SP to the entire party

Also present in here is one of the strongest staffs in the game, though I have not decided what it does

I have decided, however, that it does not exist in a conventional chest; rather, it is made entirely of crystal and is lodged into a wall in an offshoot cave

Reaching the bottom of the cave triggers the last cutscene

Catena is desperately chipping away at a cave wall with a small dagger, occasionally looking over at Tyrri’s notes

She’s muttering stuff like “please work” and “what does it mean” to herself; she clearly hasn’t had the time to comprehensively look over the notes and understand what they mean

Tyrri approaches her and tries to talk her out of whatever she’s doing

Catena shakily gets up, steadying herself against the wall, before screaming “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! YOU NEVER COULD!” and slashing Tyrri across the cheek with the dagger

Tyrri quickly blasts it out of her hand, but the damage has been done

The two steady themselves and enter into…

The Final Boss: Catena Novi

This is the Osvald-style battle where it’s fundamentally against another scholar

No tricks, no gimmicks (lying), just a good old fashioned mage’s duel

Catena is very good at buffing herself; in addition to the usual Elemental Attack/Defence buffs, she has stuff to give her spells added effects (like Crystalline Magic), reflection and absorption skills, access to stuff like Advanced Magic and focused spells, the like

Her AI will very specifically target Tyrri with debuffs but not with single-target spells, the only damage she needs to worry about is from AoE attacks

Her boost mode will summon Elder elementals and keep them around; none of that Harvey/Tormented Blaze/Dark Entity shit of sacrificing them for more powerful attacks

If I knew how to code I’d give her the most intelligent AI of the entire rogues gallery. This is the Pokemon Champion Cynthia of Project OCtopath

Her spells might change slightly depending on which elementals are out (ie: ice spells when Elder Frost are on the field)

Design-wise she actually looks rather plain

Her clothes look a little torn and her hands a covered in scratches

She is, notably, completely slumped over for the entire fight; her face is completely shrouded in shadow save for her mouth, which is set in a hard line that’s difficult to draw emotion from

Boost mode has her raise her head up, but a veil of hair still covers her face

Hitting half health triggers a cutscene rather than staying on the battle screen

“Let me… let me HAVE this, Tyrri! Please! You don’t – you CAN’T understand what this means! I can’t fail so far in!”

“Cat, I’m sorry. I really am. But this is too far – you’re destroying this cave, this magic. Do you have any idea what the consequences of your actions could be?”

“Shut UP! I WILL NOT FAIL HERE!”

Tyrri thinks to herself “No time like the present to test out that theory” and grabs one of the fallen crystals

Mistake. That was a mistake. Catena Novi is no fool, and is very quickly able to pick up on what that means

“Fascinating.” She magically pulls three crystals towards them and lets them hover around her head

“So that’s what your research meant. Father will be pleased.”

“Father?”

With that little tidbit of knowledge, the battle transitions into…

#iris goes to OC hell #project OCtopath #a tome on the isle

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beantothemax · 10 months

Note

Chapter Five:

Happy fun times are over. This boat ride is so incredibly unlike the last.

Tyrri still stands at the edge of the bow, looking at the horizon as the Farlands come into view.

Hers is not a gaze filled with hope this time.

Arriving in Seekersgate, Sebastian, Lia, and Elias, all welcome her happily

It really has been a while, maybe they should catch up a little, did my research into the crystals help and HOLD IT!

Hi guys, it’s lovely to see you, your research was tantamount to my success, now where the hell is Cat I would like to speak to her

Oh she hasn’t been seen in months? I have great news I know where she is.

Seb, are you up for another trip into the wellspring? I sure hope you are because we’re gonna raise a little hell.

Lia, Elias, feel free to come with if you want. I’m happy to get all the support I can get

What’s at that endpoint, you might ask?

Well, do you remember the snake that guarded the wellspring? How I mentioned that it was easily long enough to reach to the outside of the cave

Well, something managed to outrun it. Someone, specifically

Extending into the furthest recesses of the cave is the Guardian of the Wellspring. It appears to be unconscious

Sebastian, Lia, and Elias all get to work getting them sorted out and conscious again, urging Tyrri to go onward into

The Final Dungeon: The Heart of Wild Magic

Rather than my typical fare of making dungeons into impassable mazes, the Heart is actually rather straightforward

A massive cavern that spirals downward into a single centrepoint, studded with the same magenta crystals as the Wellspring that glow with greater and greater intensity as you go further down

Cat’s sprite is actually visible and rendered in from the furthest up point, but it isn’t clear what she’s doing

The strongest elementals in the game reside here, the Elder series elementals (Elder Tempest, Elder Frost, Elder Abyss, etc.)

Every now and again there are streams of water that pour into the cavern, interacting with them restores some SP to the entire party

Also present in here is one of the strongest staffs in the game, though I have not decided what it does

I have decided, however, that it does not exist in a conventional chest; rather, it is made entirely of crystal and is lodged into a wall in an offshoot cave

Reaching the bottom of the cave triggers the last cutscene

Catena is desperately chipping away at a cave wall with a small dagger, occasionally looking over at Tyrri’s notes

She’s muttering stuff like “please work” and “what does it mean” to herself; she clearly hasn’t had the time to comprehensively look over the notes and understand what they mean

Tyrri approaches her and tries to talk her out of whatever she’s doing

Catena shakily gets up, steadying herself against the wall, before screaming “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! YOU NEVER COULD!” and slashing Tyrri across the cheek with the dagger

Tyrri quickly blasts it out of her hand, but the damage has been done

The two steady themselves and enter into…

The Final Boss: Catena Novi

This is the Osvald-style battle where it’s fundamentally against another scholar

No tricks, no gimmicks (lying), just a good old fashioned mage’s duel

Her AI will very specifically target Tyrri with debuffs but not with single-target spells, the only damage she needs to worry about is from AoE attacks

Her boost mode will summon Elder elementals and keep them around; none of that Harvey/Tormented Blaze/Dark Entity shit of sacrificing them for more powerful attacks

If I knew how to code I’d give her the most intelligent AI of the entire rogues gallery. This is the Pokemon Champion Cynthia of Project Octopath

Her spells might change slightly depending on which elementals are out (ie: ice spells when Elder Frost are on the field)

Design-wise she actually looks rather plain

Her clothes look a little torn and her hands a covered in scratches

She is, notably, completely slumped over for the entire fight; her face is completely shrouded in shadow save for her mouth, which is set in a hard line that’s difficult to draw emotion from

Boost mode has her raise her head up, but a veil of hair still covers her face

Hitting half health triggers a cutscene rather than staying on the battle screen

“Let me… let me HAVE this, Tyrri! Please! You don’t – you CAN’T understand what this means! I can’t fail so far in!”

“Cat, I’m sorry. I really am. But this is too far – you’re destroying this cave, this magic. Do you have any idea what the consequences of your actions could be?”

“Shut UP! I WILL NOT FAIL HERE!”

Tyrri thinks to herself “No time like the present to test out that theory” and grabs one of the fallen crystals

Mistake. That was a mistake. Catena Novi is no fool, and is very quickly able to pick up on what that means

“Fascinating.” She magically pulls three crystals towards them and lets them hover around her head

“So that’s what your research meant. Father will be pleased.”

“Father?”

With that little tidbit of knowledge, the battle transitions into…

!!! IRIS THIS IS !!!!!

I really like the little thing where you kinda let Tyrri do the narration, its fun! it also gives a lil insight into what she’s thinking which is also nice

cat not even showing her face for the first part of the battle is! concerning! im a little scared but I will press on!!!

#asks #chaotic-good-mom-friend

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bananaofswifts · 3 years

Text

Taylor Swift Turns on a Facsimile Machine for the Ingenious Recreations of ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’: Album Review

Swift recreates her entire 2008 album literally down to the last note, then gives herself room for stylistic latitude on six never-before-recorded "vault" tracks.

By Chris Willman

Swift recreates her entire 2008 album literally down to the last note, then gives herself room for stylistic latitude on six never-before-recorded "vault" tracks.

There is no “best actress” award at the Grammys, perhaps for obvious reasons, but maybe there should be this coming year. And the Grammy would go to… Taylor Swift, for so persuasively playing her 18-year-old self in “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” her beyond-meticulous recreation of the 2008 recording that did win her her first album of the year trophy back in the day. It’s impossible to overstate just how thoroughly the new version is intended as an exact replica of the old — all the way down to her startling ability to recapture an untrained teen singing voice she’s long matured and moved on from. It’s a stunt, to be sure, but a stunt for the ages — mastering the guile it takes to go back to sounding this guileless.

There are two different, very solid reasons to pick up or stream “Taylor’s Version,” regardless of whether you share her ire for the Big Machine label, whose loose ways with her nine-figure catalog precipitated this, the first in a six-album series of remakes where she’ll be turning on the facsimile machine. One is to marvel at her gift for self-mimicry on the album’s original tracks, where she sounds as possessed by her younger self as Regan ever was by Pazuzu. The other reason is, of course, to check out the six “vault” numbers that Swift wrote during that time frame but has never released before in any form, which dispenses with stylistic fealty to the late 2000s and frames her “Fearless”-era discards in production and arrangements closer to “Folklore.” Those half-dozen (kind of) new tracks really do sound like modern Taylor Swift covering her old stuff.

But those original lucky 13? It’s the same damn record… which is kind of hilarious and marvelous and the kind of meta-ness that will inspire a thousand more think-pieces than it already has, along with possibly efforts at forensic analysis to figure out how she did it.

It would not be surprising if, as we speak, Big Machine was putting a combined team of scientists and lawyers on the case of the new album’s waveform readouts, to make sure it’s not just the original album, remixed. Honestly, it’s that close. The timings of the songs are all within a few seconds of the original tracks, if not coming in at exactly the same length. The duplication effort doesn’t allow any detours. If “Forever and Always” had a cold open then, it’s going to have a cold open now. If the 2008 “That’s the Way I Love You” had slamming rock guitars with an almost subliminal banjo being plucked beneath the racket, so will the 2021 “That’s the Way I Loved You.” A drum roll to end the old “Change”? A drum roll to end its body-snatcher doppelganger. And if she chuckled before the final chorus of “Hey Stephen” 13 years ago, so will that moment be cause for a delighted giggle now.

Of course, much analysis will be put into whether the new laugh is a more knowing-sounding laugh. And that will be part of the fun for a certain segment of audiophile Swifties who will go looking for the slightest change as evidence of something meaningful. When “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” first came out weeks back to preview the album, there were reviews written that swore she’d subtly changed up her phrasing to put a contemporary spin on the song. And maybe they were right, but, having done a fair amount of A/B testing of the two versions of the album, I found myself feeling like I do when vinyl buffs insist there are significant sonic differences between the first stamper version of an LP and one that was pressed a year later. If you can spot those very, very, very modest tweaks, go for it.

But my suspicion is that if Swift has decided to turn a phrase a little differently here or there on this album, or done anything too differently aside from brighten the sound, she’s doing it more as an Easter egg, for the people who are on that kind of hunt, than anything really designed as reinterpretation. Because the last thing Swift wants most of her fans doing is A/B-ing the two versions, the way I did. The whole point is to have folks retire the OG “Fearless” from their Spotify playlists, right? The Swift faithful were already threatening to rain down damnation on anyone caught sneaking an audio peek at the old version after midnight. What she intended was to come up with a rendering so faithful that you would never have a need to spin the vintage album again. In that, she has succeeded beyond what could have been imagined even in the dreams of the few self-forgers who’ve tried this before, like a Jeff Lynne.

Is there any reason to find value in the new versions if you couldn’t care less about the issues of masters and contracts and respect in business deals that made all this strangely possible? Yes, with the first one being that the new album just sounds like a terrific remastering of the old — the same notes, and you’d swear the same performances, but sounding brighter and punchier just on a surface level. But on a more philosophical one, it’s not just a case of Swift playing with her back catalog like Andy Warhol played with his soup can. It’s really a triumph of self-knowledge and self-awareness, in the way that Swift is so hyper-conscious of the ways she’s matured that she has the ability to un-mature before our very ears. With her vocals, it’s virtuosic, in a way, how she’s made herself return to her unvirtuosic upstart self.

On Swift’s earliest albums and in those seminal live shows — at the time when she was famously being told she “can’t sing,” to quote a song from the follow-up album — there was a slight shrillness around the edges of her voice that, if you lacked faith, you might’ve imaged would be there forever. It wasn’t. That was partly youth, and partly just the sheer earnestness with which she wanted to convey the honesty of the songs. She’s advanced so much since then — into one of pop’s most gifted modern singers, really — that the woman of “Folklore” and “Evermore” seems like a completely different human being than the one who made the self-titled debut and “Fearless,” never mind just a woman versus girl. It wouldn’t have seemed possible that she could go back to her old way of singing at the accomplished age of 31, but she found and recreated that nervous, sincere, pleading voice of yesteryear. And maybe it was just a technical feat, of temporarily unlearning what she’s learned since then, but you can sense that maybe she had to go there internally, too, to the place where she was counseling other girls to guard their sexual virtue in “Fifteen,” or wondering whether to believe the fairy tale of “Love Story” or the wakeup call of “White Horse,” or proving with “Forever & Always” that writing a song telling off Joe Jonas for his 27-second breakup call was better than revenge.

If at first you’re not inclined to notice that Swift has re-adopted a completely different singing voice for the “Fearless” remakes, the realization may kick in when those “vault” tracks start appearing in the later stretch of this hour-and-50-minute album. The writing on the six songs that have been pulled up from the 2008 cutting room floor seems primitive, even a little bit by the standards of the “Fearless” album; there are great lines and couplets throughout the rescued tracks, but you can see why she left them as works-in-progress. But she doesn’t use her youthful voice on these resurrections, nor does she employ the actual style of “Fearless” very strictly. Of course, she feels more freedom on these, because there are no predecessors in the Big Machine catalog she’s asking you to leave behind. Her current collaborators of choice, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, divided the co-producing work on these fresher songs, as they did for the two all-new albums she released in the last year. (The “Fearless” recreations are co-produced by Swift with Christopher Rowe, someone who worked on remixes for Swift back in that era.) They co-produce the vault songs in a style that sounds somewhere between “Fearless” and Folklore”… a more spectral brand of country-pop, with flutes and synths and ringing 12-string guitars and a modicum of drum programming replacing some (but not all) of the acoustic stringed instruments you’d expect to be carried over from “Fearless” proper.

Of the previously unheard tracks, Swift was right — she’s always been her own best self-editor — in putting out “You All Over Me” first, in advance of the album. With its imagery of half-muddy stones being upturned on the road, this song has advanced lyrical conceits more of a piece with the level of writing she’s doing now than some of the slightly less precocious songs that follow. Still, there’s something to be said for the sheer zippiness with which Swift conveys teen heartbreak in “Mr. Perfectly Fine,” which has a lyric that shows Swift had long since absorbed the lessons Nashville had to offer about how to come up with a high-concept song — the concept, in this case, being just to stick the word “mister” in front of a lot of phrases relating to her shallow ex, as if they were honorary titles to be conferred for being a shit, while she employs the “miss” for herself more sparingly.

Some of the remaining outtake songs go back more toward the sedate side of “Fearless”-style material; she didn’t leave any real bangers in the can. “We Were Happy,” the first of two successive tracks to bring in Keith Urban (but only for backgrounds on this one), employs fake strings and real cello as Swift waxes nostalgic for a time when “you threw your arms around my neck, back when I deserved it.” It’s funny, in a good way, to hear Swift at 31 recreating a song she wrote at 17 or 18 that pined for long-past better times. The next song, “That’s When,” brings Urban in for a proper duet where he gets a whole second verse and featured status on half a chorus, and it’s lovely to hear them together. But, as a make-up song, it doesn’t feel as real or lived-in as the more personal things she was writing at the time — and the fact that its chords are pretty close to a slightly more balladic version of the superior “You Belong With Me” was probably a pretty good reason for dropping it at the time.

the 18-year-old Taylor Swift is a great place to visit, but “Folklore” and “Evermore” are the place you’ll want to return to and live, unless you have an especially strong sentimental attachment to “Fearless”… which, sure, half of young America does. It’s not irreconcilable to say that the two albums she issued in the last year represent a daring pinnacle of her career, but that “Fearless” deserved to win album of the year in 2008. Has there been a greater pop single in the 20th century than “You Belong With Me”? Probably not. Did the album also have lesser moments you probably haven’t thought about in a while, like the just-okay “Breathe”? Yes. (I looked up to see whether Swift had ever played that little remarked upon number in concert, and according to setlists.fm, she did, exactly once… in 2018. Because she’s Taylor Swift, and of course she did.) It’s not certain that her duet with Colbie Caillat really needed to be resurrected, except it’s fun, because hey, she even roped former duet partners back into her time warp. But there are so many number that have stood the test of time, like “The Way I Love You,” an early song that really got at the complicated feelings about passion and fidelity that she would come to explore more as she grew into her 20s… and just kind of a headbanger, too, on an album that does love its fiddles and mandolins.

It doesn’t take much to wonder why Swift put up “Fearless” first in this six-album exercise; it’s one of her two biggest albums, along with “1989,” and it’s 13 years old, which does mean something superstitious in the Taylor-verse. In a way, it’ll be more interesting to see what happens when she gets to more complicated productions, like “1989” or “Reputation.” But maybe “Fearless” did present the opportunity for the grandest experiment out of the gate: to recreate something that pure and heartfelt, with all the meticulousness a studio master like Swift can put to that process now, without having it seem like she’s faking sincerity. Let the think-pieces proceed — because this is about six hundred different shades of meta. But, all craftiness and calculation aside, there’s a sweetness to the regression that’s not inconsequential. It harks back to a time when she only wondered if she could be fearless, before she learned it the harder way for sure. What they say about actors “disappearing into the role”? That really applies to Taylor Swift, playing herself.

#taylor swift #fearless #review

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lov3nerdstuff · 3 years

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Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 7.22}

*Severus Snape x OC*

Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.

General warnings: professor x student, blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing

Words: 4.7k

Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!

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The two weeks that followed upon the dancing class were no different than Christmas time at Hogwarts always had been: it was snowy beyond reason, cold as hell, but the decorations that were put up actually brightened most people's mood and rendered everyone almost disgustingly cheerful. However, there were differences this year, and no matter how subtle they were, Robin still had no trouble pinpointing them with a striking accuracy.

One, both Cas and Jorien had chosen to stay at school over the holidays, mostly due to the fact that they were now in fourth year and thus officially allowed to attend the ball even without being someone's plus one. Besides that, they wanted to spend Robin's last ball at Hogwarts here with her, just once, all six of them together. Well, seven technically, but Robin still didn't know how she was supposed to get Snape into that equation.

Two, Robin spent significantly less time working for Sprout or Hagrid than she had during the last years (she did already work with them in the plenty during the school weeks at this point after all), and instead spent significantly more time with Snape, playing wizard's chess or reading during the days when the work was done, and drinking mulled wine, firewhisky or plain old coffee in his rooms at night.

And three, the two previous changes in addition to the revelations that had come up during lunch after the dancing class now made it near impossible for Robin to get the girls' words out of her head. Did Snape really look at her all that differently than at other people? Well, he certainly did, but that after all might merely be due to the fact that she was his best friend, just like he was hers. It didn't mean anything that his eyes followed her through the halls during meals, or that she slinked through the corridors on her way from his room to her own in an increasing frequency and like a bloody first year trying not to get caught after curfew. It didn't mean anything that he would sometimes just observe her with an expression that made her skin tingle while she rambled on about whatever had caught her attention now, and it most definitely didn't mean anything that he had gifted her that Japanese dictionary she had been trying to get her hands on for over a year now for Christmas. Without losing a word about it, of course, and in complete denial that it had anything to do with the holidays.

Put shortly, Robin couldn't help keeping her eyes open now that Jorien had so bluntly prompted her to. And every little thing she discovered made her want to sink back into deep denial indeed, and build a twenty feet brick wall around herself. Sometimes being the god of a universe of illusion is easier than being a peasant in the hell that is reality.

Honestly, she had never before actually considered that she might be scared to see the reality she found herself in, and found in herself. That she was scared to death not only of his true feelings, of being rejected, but also very much of her own emotions. It had been quite blissful to live in the easy fixed knowledge that she loved him, without actually paying attention to the reality of her feelings. And in reality, she felt something so intense and overwhelming that it terrified her to pieces. If only things were as easy as saying she loved him… Because if she was keeping her eyes open now, not only to her surroundings but also to herself, it was so much more than that. He was her best friend after all, her family and home, and after seven bloody years, there was no denying that he had also become a part of herself. Sure, she would be able to live without him, but what really mattered was that she would move heaven and hell to ensure she would never have to. Bloody hell, what a mess that would become once she left school in no more than half a year… And then, she could only hope that he would want to keep her in his life as well.

"Earth to Robin!" Jorien waved her hand in front of Robin's face, which was the first thing Robin noticed when she snapped out of her thoughts. "If you keep daydreaming like that, we'll be late to the ball!"

"We still have three hours until it's time to head up there." Robin huffed while rolling her eyes, but still shut the book in her lap she'd been failing to read for the last thirty minutes anyway. "I don't plan on sitting around in my dress until then."

"Are you sure that you want to wear the same one as last year?" Cas inquired in what sounded close to a whine. "I still stand by my offer to lend you one of mine!"

"Pff, yeah, Robin in a peach coloured glittery dress…" Jorien snorted, shaking her head at her friend. "You might be close to the same height, but your style is entirely different."

"I know that!"

"Obviously you don't. And Robin has a completely different body shape than you do, in addition to that."

"Hey, it's not my fault that I have muscles in my body!" Cas huffed with a glare at her friend. "Making the Quidditch team and staying on the team requires at least some level of physical fitness."

"Hey, I do have muscles!" Robin protested immediately, but she couldn't say that she felt offended by the girl's words. It was no secret that Cas definitely was the athletic type, whereas Robin's virtues were of a more academic nature.

"Yes, that, and I was actually referring to the fact that you are quite a bit more gifted in the upper regions than Robin." Jorien added with a pointed look at Cas, who crossed her arms over her chest with a blush and a pout.

"Guys, it doesn't matter, alright? I'm actually very much looking forward to wearing the same dress as last year." Robin tried to mend the field with diplomacy and an easy shrug. "The only reason I'm wearing a dress in the first place is so that I fit in a bit better."

"With Snape or with the crowd?" Cas returned with a smirk, all embarrassment forgotten. "Because while the former is quite the success with your dress, it logically eradicates the possibility for the latter to be too."

"That sounded way too Simon of you." Jorien snorted, then dodged the pillow that came flying her way. "What! It's not my fault that you guys are adopting each other's speech patterns more and more."

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Robin barged in before Cas could come up with a reply to get their bickering going again. There had been enough of that at breakfast. "Simon obviously is Cas' date, Gideon asked Lisa and Micheal's still trying to find someone. What about you, Jorien? Any prospects?"

"I asked Melissa." She shrugged casually in return, then started picking at her nails. "She'd rather go with a boy than with me. Better a date than a friend-date, and all that… Perhaps I should set her up with Michael, if both are so desperate to find someone to bring along. Quite pathetic, if you ask me. I'd rather go alone than be someone's last resort."

"Going alone is perfectly fine, I haven't ever had a date to the ball either." Robin shrugged with an encouraging smile. "You can be my date, if it means anything to you."

"You've been someone's unofficial date for all the past years, from what I was told, and I'm not getting in between that!" Jorien held up her hands in defense, and Robin rolled her eyes. "Upsetting Professor Snape wasn't on my agenda for tonight."

"Anyway…" Cas said after a few seconds of weird silence. "My plans for tonight include lots of dancing, hopefully some spiked drinks and of course some casual snogging."

"Cas!" Robin tried to sound scolding, but her laugh betrayed her exasperated tone. "That's nowhere near appropriate behaviour for a school dance!"

"Hey, I'm no saint and I never said I was!" The girl laughed in return, and the mischief that settled on her face should've been more disconcerting to Robin than it actually was. "Who knows, perhaps we'll visit the fifth floor hallway if things go well enough."

The mention of that make-out spot alone made Robin pull a face in distaste, and she couldn't help frowning deeply at her friend. "I would like to think that Simon has a bit more class than that."

"What, and I don't?"

"You just suggested going there, without a concern in the world. So please excuse me if I question your standards."

"She's got a point." Jorien added with a snicker and a shrug, and Robin gave her a high five with a smirk. Two against one; nobody was going to the fifth floor tonight.

"Fine…" Cas groaned and crossed her arms again. "But wherever else should we go, huh? Being classy while being a student isn't all that easy if you're not entirely immune to every boy's charme like Jorien or best friends with a bloody professor like Robin! How am I supposed to have fun, can you tell me that?"

"I'm not giving you pointers on how to snog your boyfriend, Cas. Or worse." Robin replied calmly, for she couldn't decide between being flustered and laughing at the girl's exasperation. "If you guys want to sneak around, you better do it without my knowledge. You know I can't lie, and chances are high that I would have to if I knew what you're up to."

"The alcoves are said to be a pretty good spot for making out." Jorien shrugged, completely ignoring Robin's previous statement. Great… now Robin would have to actively not listen to both of them. "And there's always our room, if you wanna go all out. With some sixth year charms work, it shouldn't be too difficult to find some privacy in the dorms… And I'd planned to sleep over at Melissa's tonight anyway. To hear all about her conquests."

"I did not just hear that, nope, absolutely didn't." Robin sighed to herself under her breath and turned on her heels, deciding that it was due time to take a shower. She'd gotten through puberty without too many losses, if she'd even had one in the first place, but she would be damned if she got dragged into her friends' shenanigans now as a late payback for that. So she grabbed her things and fled the room, after triple checking that everything she needed was safely tucked under her arm. She would not be smelling like pineapple tonight.

… … …

Luckily, when she returned to her room an hour later, the conversation had moved on and the girls were now discussing Cas' options for the dress she was to wear tonight. That was a topic Robin could very well live with, could very well ignore, and so she went back to reading like she'd originally tried to do before her thoughts had strayed. With a content sigh, she stretched out on the bed and focused on the article in front of her, until a light tap on her shoulder drew her eyes up and away from the page.

"It's just ten minutes until we're leaving, so you might want to get ready now at least." Jorien said to her with an amused smile, which only broadened when Robin's jaw dropped.

"But I literally just started reading! It can't be that late!"

"Yeah, well, that was two hours ago." The girl chuckled, then turned around to Cas for her to close the zipper of her dress. Both of them were already done with their preparations, in full makeup and beautiful hairdos, just a smile away from ready to go… and Robin was still in her pajamas.

With a groan under her breath, she flipped the book shut before tossing it onto her nightstand, then she scrambled to her feet to dig out her dress from the trunk at the end of her bed. Ten minutes; ridiculous, impossible… Well, not if she screwed decency for now. Without wasting any of the precious time on contemplation, she just went with it and shed her Queen shirt first, then her flannels without a second thought. Should they see her in her knickers, who cared at this point. They'd known each other for years now. Still, what she hadn't considered was the very reason why both girls gasped now and stared at her even as she stepped into the heavy black fabric of her dress and pulled it up her body with one swift move.

Robin sighed under her breath; she could very well imagine why the girls looked at her like that. It was one of the reasons why she never changed in front of anyone, and even less let them see her in any state of undress. "It's just a scar, guys. No need to be weird about it." She stated before either of them could say anything that would make the situation even more uncomfortable. "I told you that I was stabbed last summer, it's no big deal. Not a pretty sight, I know, but it is what it is."

"Didn't that hurt?!" Cas was the first to blurt out her thoughts. "I know that you told us about it happening, but… somehow I never really thought about the implications of that."

Robin snorted at the question, while she moved her hair out of the way to let Jorien close the many tiny buttons of her dress now. "Obviously it hurt. I almost died from blood loss, that's not going to happen from just a scratch. But it healed well for what it is. The scar really is a small price for my life."

"It's so weird to think that you've gone through something like that! I mean… you're just Robin, a bookworm too smart for her own good. To think that all those adventures you told us about actually happened is like imagining Professor Sprout in a wrestling tournament." Cas gestured wildly as she spoke, and Jorien just snorted at her friend's dramatics.

Robin shrugged all of it off with a smile that was as apologetic as it was evasive, then straightened her dress and put on the one pair of more or less dressy shoes she owned; they'd be covered by the dress for the most part anyway. Then she twisted her hair up with her wand like she usually did, and that was about it. Makeup still wasn't getting anywhere near her face, or any other body part for that matter.

"Wow… You look amazing! Powerful and dark and… pretty damn hot." Jorien commented when she got a glimpse at the front of the dress as well. "Like you're the essence of night itself."

"Right! That's exactly what I said last year!" Cas grinned and nodded in agreement, while Robin simply tried not to blush. Compliments about her wit and brains were fine… compliments about her looks however were just unusual and therefore weirdly uncomfortable.

"Thanks guys, but I'm really just trying to fit in." She shrugged, and both girls frowned at her in an instant.

"Fitting in is actually the last thing this dress does for you, I think." Jorien smirked as she slung her small bag around her shoulders, seconds before all three girls made for the door. It was time they got going, after all, and thus they mostly hurried through the common room and out into the hallways. "If anything, you'll draw attention. Make an impression on some people. Seize a few hearts, and steal a soul."

Robin just snorted while rolling her eyes at the comment, but Cas caught straight on to it.

"YES! Absolutely! Robin, you've got to take advantage of those killer looks… Try to seduce the subject of your affections!" Cas beamed, in a way that spoke volumes of her excitement about meddling in foreign affairs. "Use your womanly charm and go for it! Make him fall for you!"

"I love you, Cas, but do shut up."

"She's right though!" Jorien obviously had to side with her friend, and Robin groaned under her breath upon having both girls plotting against her now. "If he doesn't find you delectable now, he's truly as undeserving of you as every other male in this castle."

"And who would you be talking about?" Snape's deep voice made all three girls jump all of a sudden, and they each spun around to stare at the dark figure in the middle of the hallway behind them. They hadn't even made it out of the dungeons yet; they should've known better than to talk this loudly.

"Professor!" Cas shrieked, eyes wide and cheeks flushed as if she'd been caught doing something terribly wrong. Robin sighed under her breath and resisted the temptation to roll her eyes; so much for getting the two sides in her life a little closer together tonight.

"Nobody!" Jorien was quick to reply, and even quicker to regain control of the situation. "We were just on our way to the ball, actually."

"Obviously." Snape and Robin replied at once, and Cas snorted in return. Oh, this was going great alright… more fuel to their flames.

"Yes, it is fairly obvious, isn't it? So we should return to doing just that, or we'll be late." Jorien flashed a quick smile, then turned on her heels and grabbed Cas by the arm to drag her along while looking back over her shoulder at Robin. "You go ahead, and we'll find the guys and meet you in the hall later, yes?" With that, the two girls disappeared down the hallway and around the next corner mere seconds later, leaving Robin frozen to her spot with a frown on her face.

"Is it me or are they being even weirder than usual?" Came Snape's dry remark from just behind her then, and Robin's eyes flew to meet his while an involuntary smile pulled at her lips.

"Oh, they're absolutely bonkers. Delusional, really, if they seriously believe that I am looking delectable to anyone tonight." She chuckled, in the honest hope that he hadn't heard more of the girls' pep talk than that. But then again, he knew how to take their ridiculous ideas and teenage delusions by now, so it really didn't matter all that much. "It would take a blind man to find that mess on my head attractive."

"If you say so." He quirked an eyebrow at her in amusement, then offered her his arm instead of the usual subtle hand on the small of her back. "Let's make an effort to make it to the ball before we miss the headmaster's great speech, shall we?"

Robin's smile brightened before she could help it, and she didn't even hesitate to accept. This was the closest thing to a date she would ever have. "We shall indeed."

They arrived in the great hall just seconds before Dumbledore rose to gain everyone's attention, and luckily therefore nobody paid them much mind. A few glances here and there, more likely than not accompanied by frowning faces that studied the sight of the two dark figures in the shadows by the doors, who looked almost indignantly bored. And boy, the headmaster could talk and talk forever if he fancied it, about courage and justice and kindness and all those nimble ideals Robin fancied a more practical approach to. But finally his words faded into applause, and the crowds began moving and talking again.

"Is it me or does the speech get more righteous every single year?" Asked Robin, while she let Snape lead her towards their usual table in the far corner, only to find a group of adults sitting there already. In immediate confusion, they halted in the middle of the room, and her eyes found his in a silent question. Good thing it had become almost a bit of a routine that whenever she failed to take notice of something that was going on around her, he would know exactly what she had missed and could fill her in.

"Dumbledore opened the ball to a larger public this year." He explained, with a quiet yet undoubtedly disdainful tone. "Parents, important families, retired professors, ministry officials and the like."

"Why on earth would he allow them at a school ball? I mean… isn't this technically supposed to be for the students' enjoyment?" Robin inquired, while they continued moving through the room in search of an empty table, but finding none.

"Remember what I told you about the reasons for bringing this ball into existence in the first place?" Snape mused, and his eyes continued scanning the room, but not for a table anymore. Robin wondered who he was searching for.

"Oh. Yes, I do remember that."

"Well, let me assure you that this decision on the headmaster's end has something to do with the very likes of it."

"Great…" Robin sighed under her breath, and finally they settled for just standing at the edge of the dancefloor like everyone else who hadn't yet put a claim on a sitting spot. Somehow, the entire thing didn't seem like a fun night with friends anymore, but the very thing that was prone to make her anxious. Too many people, too many strangers mostly, and no certain place to sit and endure it all from the ranks… this was going to be hell. Or maybe, not entirely.

"May I have the first dance?" Snape asked, just when the occasion was announced and the musicians got ready to lead the way through the night. He held a hand out to Robin, in an expression of calm neutrality rather than the usual scowl even though they were surrounded by hundreds of people. Robin's heart skipped a beat, and she had to remind herself not to grin like a fool while yet her lips parted in surprise. Had he actually just asked her to dance? With words, in public, and for the first dance out of all the possible ones tonight?

"Isn't the first dance just for important people and their dates?" She quirked an eyebrow at him in mild amusement at last, choosing humour over astonishment and tingles, which would border dangerously on allowing herself to hope again.

"It is also reserved for the professors and overall staff, and even if you rightly so keep ignoring that, this group also entails me. As it is, I do not dance with anyone but you, so they will have to bear with the two of us, or live with neither." He replied so smoothly that Robin had no time to doubt or question his words when she placed her hand in his and let him lead her onto the dancefloor. Bloody hell… now all eyes were on her indeed, and she actually couldn't care less for once.

They got into position as did the other couples around them, some of which Robin knew and some of which she hadn't seen before, but when the music started, the world faded in return and left only Robin and Snape and the music behind. This wasn't hell, she found, but rather a piece of heaven on earth. Just the two of them, moving through the open space while never once looking at anything but each other. And in the very spirit of two weeks prior, Robin yet again couldn't help the smile on her lips as she held his gaze. The only thing she missed was the warmth of his hand on her back, the almost scorching touch, as now the thick fabric of her dress dimmed it down quite a bit and left her to feel the comforting pressure of it more than the heat. How nice would it be to have his fingers dancing across her skin? To dwell in his warmth for a bit and let it burn out the cold winter within her? She could only dream.

"I believe we make quite the sight." His quiet voice broke through her haze of excited, calm ambivalence, and the world regained it's hard corners and outlines. Gone was the dream, delayed to haunt her in her sleep tonight.

"We simply know how to dance." She replied with a subtle smirk, and found that the world wasn't quite so bad either if it still entailed the two of them together. "They probably don't get to see that all too often."

"I was thinking more along the terms of our common choice of… unusual wardrobe, but yes, I agree with your assessment as well."

"What other than unusual would they have expected of the dungeon bat and the insane girl?"

"Is that how people think of us?"

"I believe so." Robin smiled, but it took everything she had not to show the true effect his words were having on her. Was she so far gone by now that all it took was an 'us' ghosting past his lips to unravel the walls that contained her emotions? It seemed so.

The music stopped then, fading off the last strings as their flowing moments came to a halt as well. Too bad it was over. But perhaps they could do this again, now that the first dance had officially proclaimed them as partners for the night. It was an official custom after all, right? Robin held onto that string of hope at least as they made their way off the dancefloor and straight towards the far corner where their usual table lay empty now. Too bad for whoever had vacated it; now it was Robin's to keep.

They sat down to face the hall as always, and while it was significantly more crowded this year than it had been in the years prior, that also gave them quite a few more victims to observe and comment on. They got exactly two hours to themselves before their social invisibility was broken by the still distant but determined appearance of Cas. In her tow the other six people, who looked a lot less eager than her to get anywhere near Snape tonight. Robin sighed to herself in mild disappointment before anyone even spoke up; she would have to make a choice between her friends and her best friend now, and she hated that beyond measure. Why did life have to be so unfair at times?

"I know what you're thinking." Snape said then, quietly even though the ground of people still had to come anywhere near the table. "And you shouldn't be concerned, I understand the problem fairly well. I will leave if they wish to spend time with you."

He was already up on his feet and ready to just walk away when Robin caught his hand, and held onto it so tightly that his eyebrows lifted up when he looked back down at her.

"Don't think it's a decision I want to make, okay?" She asked with a sadness she didn't bother to hide. "It's not a decision I can make, actually, and I simply would've told them to deal with it or be the ones to leave if they've got a problem with your company."

"I know. And since it isn't a decision you should have to make, I made it for you now, by offering to leave."

"I don't want to spend the evening without you…" The words spilled past Robin's lips without any restraint now, and she was glad for that. It made the corners of his lips curl upwards for a fleeting moment at least.

"In that case, I might have to come and rescue you from their fangs in two hours for another dance. Good solution?"

"Make that one hour instead and we have a good solution indeed." She smiled up at him, and only now realised that she was still clasping his hand like a lifeline. Reluctantly but necessarily she finally let go. "I can't have four teen girls and three boys around me for much longer than that."

"As you wish." He returned a knowing not-smirk for a second, then turned on his heels and disappeared in the crowds just when Cas reached the table.

______________________________

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jebazzled · 3 years

Text

so you want to write in second person; person two, electric boogaloo

Hi there! As you know by now, I'm full of unsolicited writing advice. Today, we're going to talk about writing in second person - i.e., apps that talk about "you this, you that."

Second person apps are popular in advanced writing settings (more on beginner/intermediate/advanced rp here) and can be really fun to write. But in my observation, they're also sometimes poorly utilized, especially in transitioning from intermediate rp to advanced rp. (More on making that transition here!)

Simply put: second person is not valuable because it "feels literary." Second person writing is valuable because it can make emotions more vivid, and enable a closer read of a character than the same amount of third person prose.

Intermediate third person writing does not become advanced merely because the pronouns have switched from "he" to "they."

Let's do a case study!

Again: second person writing is not inherently literary. If you are trying to improve your writing, as mentioned in my first Level Up! tutorial, it is not a quick and easy process you can knock off your to do list with some fast pronoun changes. It is a gradual process driven by attention to character development, dialogue, and description.

Let's look at the same app three ways. As always, this app is one of my own, if for no other reason than that I always take my own advice, lmao.

Method One: Third Person, "Telly"

In my second Level Up! tutorial, I wrote at length about telly applications and the differences between intermediate and advanced writing. One of the most common comments I see on apps is, "this is kind of telly, isn't it?"

A lot of us know what I mean by this - it's writing that focuses less on emotion, description, and imagery (even useful imagery - I am not talking about purple prose ribs and teeth here) and more on "this happened, then that happened." For my character Audrey Cattermole, a section from a Method One intermediate app might look like this:

Audrey was born to Peter and Eve Cattermole in Manchester, with a twin sister, Laurel. Audrey and Laurel grew up listening to stories about World War II and the Manchester Blitz. While Peter Splinched himself trying to evacuate, Eve worked for British intelligence as a wireless operator in Occupied France. Audrey was intrigued with radio, code, and espionage, and used to play games as a child writing her own ciphers and playing with her own radio set. Laurel was less interested, which Audrey thought was disappointing.

Alright. This tells us something. But it's pretty bland. It moves through bulletpoints rather than telling a story. It's dry. It has no style.

Method Two: Second Person in Form, Third Person in Spirit

When you're making the transition from intermediate to advanced rp sites, it's always a good idea to take a look around the community and get a feel for how folks are writing. What does well here? What do you like, and hope to achieve in your own writing?

There isn't anything inherently intermediate about third person applications, just as there isn't anything inherently advanced about second person ones! But you're likely to see a fair number of second person apps on advanced sites, simply because writers there might be likely to experiment with form, style, and voice.

It might be tempting to "upcycle" an old, intermediate third person app by changing the pronouns. Voila! Second person writing! How very on-trend! Except...

You are born to Peter and Eve Cattermole in Manchester, with a twin sister, Laurel. You and Laurel grow up listening to stories about World War II and the Manchester Blitz. While Dad Splinched himself trying to evacuate, Mam worked for British intelligence as a wireless operator in Occupied France. You are intrigued with radio, code, and espionage, and play games as a child writing your own ciphers and playing with your own radio set. Laurel is less interested, which you find deeply disappointing.

...How is this functionally any different from Method One? How is it literally any different from Method One?

The switch to present tense verbs adds a sense of immediacy, I guess. But it still feels very low stakes, super dry, uninteresting, and removed. The benefit of second person writing is that good second person writing is grounded in the narrator's experience. And this reads like the narrator is separate and outside of the protagonist... because it is!

A good app takes revision to change from second to third person or vice versa. Changing the perspective of a piece should be a substantial enough change that it merits a holistic rewrite - not just verb and pronoun changes.

Method Three: Second Person, and You MEAN It

Second person is not valuable because it "feels literary." Second person writing shines when it is emotional, descriptive, vivid, and personal. Writing in second person - as an omniscient narrator speaking not to an imagined audience about a protagonist, but almost speaking to the narrator as a voice of God - might mean your app is much longer. It likely means you will have to rewrite an app entirely. And that's fine!

I have said it many times: I don't fucking care how much you hate writing apps; they are your writing sample and leave a lasting impression, and you need to write good ones.

Here's a section of Audrey's app, written with Method Three:

When the bombs came for Manchester, they saw no difference between Muggles and wix. They cratered the city and rendered her streets a moonscape. That’s why I stayed, Mam says. We were all in it together. I’m not as pure as your mum, Da says. I tried to Apparate out of the first drop and Splinched my leg off. I wasn’t about to save my sorry ass Flooing out, looking like a bleeding war hero. When the war came to Manchester, Mam faced it with a radio. Left her limping boyfriend to volunteer at the Air Force Auxiliary while she traipsed through Occupied France, sending messages back home through codes that changed as quick as she could keep up with them. Magic let her sneak her way out of close scrapes. The sheer luck of growing up with a French nanny before leaving her posh family for a rough boy born to a Squib let her fake her way into looking like she belonged: at bakeries, at post offices, in city offices. It sounds glamorous, the way Mam tells it, and even though she tells it to two grimy children sitting on cracked linoleum in a cramped tenement, you can feel the slick of the red lipstick, the rattle of the transmitter beneath her fingers, the heat of the Third Reich bearing down on her. And the Allied forces begging her to deliver France from her captors. Later, you think Laurel mostly cared about the lipstick. Tell it again, you beg. Show me. Mam isn’t about to work with real code but invents ciphers and hidden languages with you while she stirs porridge and does the washing. The radio you tinker with in the kitchen isn’t two feet long and doesn’t carry the weight of liberation in its transmitter. It feels important just the same.

This gives detail and description, emotion and sensation:

The physicality of bombed Manchester ("cratered the city and rendered her streets a moonscape")

The Cattermole family home after the war ("grimy children," "cracked linoleum," "crowded tenement")

"the slick of the red lipstick, the rattle of the transmitter"

"carry the weight of liberation in its transmitter"

If I were to write this in third person, I would probably focus more on physical description and not descriptions that rely on Audrey's perception or experience (e.g. the lipstick and the transmitter). It would still make sense, and it wouldn't be as bland as Method One or Two, which is well worth the effort.

Waste not, want not!

There's no sense throwing away your hard work completely: you can make use of a telly Method One or Two situation in a few ways!

Method One apps can make good TL;DR material for a shipper

Method Two apps can easily be converted to third person for TL;DR material for a shipper

Method One and Two can be helpful in figuring out the overall beats you want to hit in your character's app - marking these out into bulletpoints can help you organize your thoughts for your rewrite and decide what material is worth including.

I hope this is a helpful resource to you - good luck, and happy apping!

#rp guides #resources #writing resources #writing guides #rp writing #applications

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thebibliomancer · 3 years

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #242: “EASY COME... EASY GO!”

April, 1984

“Okay Avengers, the party’s over!”

Being a buzzkill, party-hating Cover Vision!

Hmm. Something about this cover makes it feel like from an older era. The returned Mighty Avengers logo or maybe the inking? Or perhaps the Silver Age DC superdickery energy to it? I can’t put my finger on it but this feels like a cover you’d see in the 70s instead of the 80s.

Last time on Avengers: Well, they went to San Francisco for a two-parter where they fought Morgan Le Fey to save Jessica Drew’s soul. As ya do.

Vision has also been a tube boy after he walked into a null field. Starfox hooked him up to the Titan supercomputer and that didn’t fix him, it did overclock his robot brain and let him broadcast giant holograms of his own head. That’s almost as good.

This time:

Some guy: “HOLY GEEZ!”

An interesting note, this guy has only ever seen Quinjets in pictures and never thought he’d see one in person. Tells you how often the Avengers hang around Ottumwa, Iowa.

We start with the Avengers in mid-return from California.

In one of the Quinjets, She-Hulk is telling Starfox that she wished they could have spent more time before returning to New York so she could have shown him LA.

Starfox: “Ah, well... I’m sure another opportunity will present itself, She-Hulk! Besides, the scenery around her has plenty to offer!”

Wanda looks like she’s trying to astral project away from Starfox putting his hand on her shoulder but she’s really just distracted thinking about Vision.

The Avengers on the Jessica Drew mission radioed back to the Mansion that they were bringing Hank Pym home but Wanda suggested that Hank could examine Vision and maybe fix him. But Vision rejected the idea and Wanda is at a loss for why he’s determined to overcome his robo-paralysis on his own.

I’m also a little confused why they didn’t call on Hank Pym sooner to examine tube Vision but then again that would have been super awkward for Wasp and Reed Richards, that hack, said Vision should have recovered quickly.

Speaking of super awkward, Hank and Wasp are alone together in the other Quinjet.

Hank is also baffled that Vision turned down his help. He repaired him once before! Remember? He got super tiny and had a fantastic voyage inside him? In Avengers #93?

Jan comments that she hasn’t heard Hank sound so confident in years and he confirms that devoting his time fully to SCIENCE and taking superheroing off the table as an option has done wonders for his emotional outlook.

He also reiterates that he never felt cut out for the superhero life. Aw, enjoy it while it lasts, bud.

And he thanks her for calling him Hank instead of “Dr. Pym” like she did at the hospital.

Wasp: “Oh... That. Well, when you flew out at my request to help save Jessica Drew’s life... after all we’d been through... the divorce and all... I’m afraid I slipped into my stuffy Avengers chairwoman voice. I thought it might make things easier, but it didn’t... For either of us. I’m sorry, Hank.”

Hank Pym: “That’s okay, Jan. I understand. Your ‘stuffy chairwoman voice,’ huh? Heh-heh. How often do you have to use that?”

Wasp: “Wellll... Most of the time the others will go along with ol’ ‘dingaling Jan’ -- but sometimes, I have to get tough. That never fails to grab their attention!”

Hank Pym: “No doubt! Once, I was the only Avenger who knew how tough you really were! I’m glad the others are learning.”

Wasp: “I guess that none of us are ever too old to learn, Hank.”

Feels like Hank is rewriting some things in his memories since Jan often had to diminish herself to make him feel better but then again it didn’t always work so maybe the idea is that he knew all along how strong she was?

Either way, nice to see these two interacting so amiably.

Also, I like that she’s able to be an effective leader while still being ‘dingaling Jan’ since it doesn’t change how smart and capable she is. And the contrast if she has to get serious only helps.

I think overall I like that her leadership style is so uniquely her and that when her character was retrofitted to operate outside of being ‘Hank Pym’s partner’ she still remained recognizably her.

We have a whopping several women on the Avengers at this time (glorious) and Wasp, She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch, and Captain Marvel all feel like different characters.

Since Vision declined Hank Pym’s help, Wasp drops him off back home in Central Indiana.

Once these two were husband and wife, friends and lovers. But they were very different people and, without meaning to, they hurt each other very much. Today, they have perhaps put a small bit of that hurt behind them. Today, they have again become friends.

Daaaaw. Friends.

Wasp returns to Avengers Mansion to discover there’s a full-on party going on. There’s even streamers and a Captain America who seems incredibly enthusiastic about streamers.

(In another fun bit, Monica knew about the party already because she flew ahead to the mansion before joining Wasp in the Quinjet after she dropped off Hank. And she was bursting to not tell Wasp what was going on as they landed.)

Wasp is even more surprised when she learns that the party is celebrating Hawkeye’s marriage.

Wasp: “Barton? You mean Hawkeye? Married?!?”

Hawkeye: “‘Fraid so, Jan! I’d like you to meet my bride... Mockingbird.”

Mockingbird: “How do you do?”

Wasp: “Oh... fine. You’ll have to excuse me. This is... quite a surprise.”

A reaction that Mockingbird says she’s getting used to because she’s seeing it from all of Hawkeye’s friends!

Hah!

Hawkeye asks Cap on the sly whether he made the right move, getting married, but Cap is very supportive, saying its the most responsible thing he’s ever done.

Hawkeye: “What?! Cap, you cut me to the quick! Haven’t I always acted in a mature, responsible manner?”

She-Hulk: “Look who’s talking... the man whose proudest achievement is the invention of the water-balloon arrow!”

Provided She-Hulk isn’t just making stuff up, there’s some serious off-screen shenanigans that we didn’t get to see, possibly involving Hawkeye shooting water balloons at She-Hulk all day.

But... CLINT. YOU INVENTED AN ANTI-GRAVITY ARROW!

Why am I the only one who remembers that?

Thor shows up at the party next, back from his own solo adventures, and offers his own congratulations to Hawkeye.

Mockingbird is undergoing some culture shock here, as she’s astounded that Hawkeye calls Thor “Goldilocks.” And when Thor turns his Thor charm on her, and blesses their wedding, she’s rendered briefly speechless.

Its fun that we get this side of her. I think she was similarly blown away when they met Cap on the subway.

But even though she was a SHIELD agent and then a freelance superhero, she doesn’t seem to have a lot of exposure to your Avengers types so Hawkeye pulling her into those social circles is a lot of fun.

She’s going to get used to it though. I know that she Avenges herself in the future.

Also, look at Thor’s flagon of mead. Holy shit. Its as big as his whole torso.

Jarvis is really dedicated!

Over in a quiet corner of the party, Wanda tries to convince Vision to let Hank Pym take a look at him but Vision dismisses the idea.

Vison: “Please, Wanda, let’s not spoil this happy occasion! Surprise parties are all too rare, and few of them are party to as many surprises as this one!”

And instead of explaining what he means, he turns his hologram off.

Well, okay.

AH HA HE WAS REPAIRED AND JUST DIDN’T MENTION

For reasons of surprise.

What a whimsical turn for the Vision.

Aw, that panel of them kissing and everyone cheering is sweet. That’s how I like to remember them. Not, err, later developments.

(I also like Mockingbird being confused whether or not he’s still a hologram because of his intangibility)

Everyone congratulates Vision for being bipedal again.

Vision: “It’s good to be moving, Jan. But my recovery shouldn’t come as that big of a surprise. As I told you a few days ago, it was just a matter of time before I isolated the cause of my body’s motor dysfunctions -- and initiated the proper repair systems.”

But he tosses some sweet cred to Starfox, for hooking up to an alien supercomputer. It’s like matchmaking but with networks.

The surprise of his surprise recovery pales compared to his next surprise, as he announces (without consulting Wanda at all, geez) that its imperative that she and him stay with the Avengers full-time.

All I’m saying is communication is important, Vizh.

And maybe you should have brought this up with Wasp too? She is the chairwoman and as Cap points out, the team is already pretty packed, especially with Hawkeye and Thor back.

Vision: “Yes, the ‘chairman’s privilege’ limit! But you’re not the leader now, Cap... the Wasp is! And she’ll just have to change that limit -- or the membership roster -- to include Wanda and myself! We will be needed in the upcoming emergency!”

Kinda dropping a lot of surprises on this surprise party, Vision! I don’t know if you really get the concept wholly? You’re not supposed to save up all the surprises for this one day.

Also, Vision’s speech bubbles have changed. They’re still rounded rectangles but they’re not yellow anymore and the font is a bit italicized. Hm. Wonder if that means anything.

Anyway, Vision announces that while he was a tube boy, he detected two major fluctuations of Earth’s electromagnetic fields by some “unknown energy of near-infinite power.”

He’s secretly been working with Reed Richards on this and neither of them have been able to track down what this nonsense is. But until this malevolent mystery is uncovered, he and Wanda as two of the more powerful reservists must obviously be active Avengers.

But how does he know its malevolent if he hasn’t been able to uncover what it is? Deductive reasoning and intuitive presentiment!

Pffffft.

I think this might be my favorite recent punchline from this book.

But Vision has more than just bad vibes to be given a frighten by this upcoming ominousness!

Vision: “The energy I detected goes beyond the limits of any known to man! The power flux showed on our screens for a mere fraction of a second, and then disappeared without a single trace. That concerns me... And it should concern all of us! If we cannot discover the source of this energy, there could be catastrophic consequences!”

And to show how seriously he’s taking this, he makes this horrifying face.

He looks like he’s trying to eat Wasp.

I do not care for this. Either the specific panel or the overall idea of someone eating Wasp.

Anyway, Vision and Scarlet Witch goes off to check the super advanced equipment he installed in the monitor room without asking anyone. He’s doing that a lot lately.

Wasp is both annoyed that he went over her head and impressed with his initiative in doing so.

But she has other matters to attend and asks Thor and Cap(tain America) head down for a private meeting with her.

And now the party is kind of over!

Yeah, you ruined it, Vision! You put too many surprises on the surprise party! You could have saved some for later!

Vision and Scarlet Witch went off to the monitor room. Wasp, Cap(tain America), and Thor went off to have an executive meeting. And Hawkeye and Mockingbird slipped away from their own party not long after that!

Leaving Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Starfox, and Jarvis to stand around awkwardly wondering where the party went. They didn’t even cut the cake yet!

Dammit Vision!

Hawkeye snuck out to the garden behind Avengers Mansion that’s been there all along. And Mockingbird followed to see what’s bugging him.

Hawkeye: “I’ve always loved this spot. Great tree, isn’t it? Ya know, it’s not easy to get an apple tree to grow this big in the city!”

But Mockingbird sees through that and asks what’s really his beef.

Hawkeye: “Aw, it’s just that I can see another membership shuffle in the works!”

Mockingbird: “So?”

Hawkeye: “So, I’m the one most likely to get bounced!”

I like the range of Hawkeye emotions here.

Hawkeye says that since he has a life (marriage) outside the Avengers now, he doesn’t mind so much being cut from the team. But if they’re going to be facing the latest and greatest menace of all times, he wants to face it with them!

Mockingbird: “That was pretty profound... for a guy who’s supposed to be a butt-head!”

Hawkeye: “Well, thank you, Mrs. Butt-head!”

Aww.

This is a fun bit too.

Mockingbird asks if Hawkeye wants to go inside and get some cake but he shoots an apple from the tree and offers Mockingbird one.

Pretty slick, Clint.

Over at the monitor room, Vision is really into monitoring whatever is upcoming. Super into it. So Wanda has to ask a question.

Scarlet Witch: “Darling... Are you sure you’re all right?”

Vision: “What sort of question is that?”

Scarlet Witch: “You’ve been acting so peculiar lately!”

Vision: “Wanda, how do you expect me to act? I’ve just recovered from spending what seemed like an eternity in a life support tube, able to move about only as a holographic image! Before that, my body was possessed by the dying sorcerer, Necrodamus. And that was almost immediately after I’d gone through the agony of losing an arm. Thankfully, the Inhuman scientists of Attilan were able to restore my limb. But you must admit we’ve both been through a score of trails these past few months! And now, I’ve detected something which could be the biggest menace we’ve ever faced! All things considered, is it really so surprising that I’m acting this way?”

Huuuuuh. I mean, he has a point. That’s a lot of shit in a very short time frame to endure.

This could very reasonably be a reaction to it all.

That’s a very unnerving smile though.

Over at the not-secret but private just Wasp, Thor, and Cap(tain America) meeting, Wasp, Thor, and Cap(tain America) are meeting.

Well, really, its more that Thor is recapping the tale of Beta Ray Bill for the other two. But we, the readers, just get an editor’s caption telling us to read Walter Simonson’s Thor (and I don’t need to be told twice) and Thor summing up to the salient point that Donald Blake is gone forever and is definitely never going to come back multiple times.

What Cap takes from this is ‘hey i hope that means you’re back on the team then!’ which Thor affirms.

Thor: “Aye, Captain America! Some of my finest hours have been as an Avenger. It would be the greatest honor to continue my service in your company... if you will have me!

But Wasp isn’t going to dump Thor from the roster!

Problem being, what the heck is she going to do with the roster? She doesn’t want to dump anyone off it, she doesn’t want to tell Vision to eff off, but she doesn’t want to lead an unwieldy team either. Six is a good number of Avengers!

I love Wasp’s note paper where she’s scrawled various roster ideas, clearly getting more and more frustrated with the exercise.

Cap suggests that maybe a temporary expansion would be the best move, if there even is a menace!

He’s somewhat doubtful of Vision’s story but wouldn’t you know it, as soon as he says that, the priority alarm goes off because Vision has detected the Ominous Energy Readings again.... IN CENTRAL PARK!

And lest anyone doubt Vision this time, an enormous and blinding flash lights up the Manhattan skies.

Cap: “I... believe you, Vision.”

Hah.

The Avengers head for Central Park with devices that Vision has created that will help them trace the energy but he could have saved the time.

There’s a big obvious structure that wasn’t there before. Odds are pretty good that that’s the anomaly.

Hmmm... Y’know, that structure looks familiar. As if I’ve seen it somewhere... But wheeeeeeeeeerre. I guess its a secret to everyone.

The sudden appearance of a large structure right after a massive flash isn’t even the weirdest thing going on. As Reluctant Science Guy Starfox waves around the detecting device, he realizes that the Ominous energy isn’t coming from the giant structure. It seems to be coming from everywhere. But it dips as you get closer to the structure.

Starfox posits that the energy is being focused on the ring from another location.

Curiouser and curioserer.

The Avengers poke around some more. Hawkeye calls attention to an arch built into the wall of the structure. It’s just real interesting. It’s super, incredibly interesting. Plus, the air is nice in the arch.

And it’s an arch. It looks like it’d be a doorway or tunnel to the middle of the structure but it doesn’t go anywhere.

Huh.

How fascinating.

She-Hulk, Cap(tain America), Captain Marvel, Wasp, and Thor join Hawkeye in the arch and agree that it’s a pretty interesting arch.

Perhaps this arch was made for them.

As soon as they join Hawkeye in it, there’s another blinding flash of light and those Avengers vanish in a curl of smoke.

Wow.

I can’t believe Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Captains America and Marvel, Wasp and Thor are dead.

Huh. And Wasp was just complaining about having too many Avengers!

Everyone is appropriately shocked by this, especially Vision because there were no energy emissions coming from the thing so it should have been inert.

Scarlet Witch and Starfox wonder whether the missing Avengers have been teleported somewhere, into some other story... or destroyed.

But before they can investigate the structure for clues, or see if it’ll strike again?, the whole thing vanishes as quickly as it appeared.

The plus side is that it makes Starfox lean toward ‘teleported’ which still doesn’t answer where the Avengers have been taken or who would do it.

If it’s the Collector again, I swear!

Here we go... Follow @essential-avengers because I thought I had more time! Oh geez, I don’t know how I’m going to handle this... Also, like and reblog because I like to think I do good work.

#Avengers #Ominous Energy #the Wasp #Captain America #Captain Marvel #monica rambeau #the Vision #Scarlet Witch #Thor #She Hulk #Hawkeye #Mockingbird #Starfox #Vision ruins a party but not how you'd think #Jarvis is the world's best butler #Everyone's shock and alarm that Hawkeye got married #frequent culture shock for Mockingbird #Essential Avengers #essential marvel liveblogging

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there-must-be-a-lock · 4 years

Text

Partying and Poker Faces

Criminal Minds x Supernatural

Word Count: ~3350

Warnings: Errbody gettin drunk. Terrible zamboni puns.

A/N: No, seriously, it’s just random drunk conversations. They are ridiculous. It’s fun. Thanks to @stunudo, @fookinghelljensensthighs, @lastactiontricia and everybody else in the Slack chat who listened to me ramble and helped with Nutcracker jokes/Winchester band names. Hair clip scene inspired by this post.

Part 6 of the Rockstar AU!

The “Wayward Sons” World Tour: Pre-Tour Kickoff Party

. . .

“Okay, seriously though, my friend found all these pictures of them at Bonnaroo walking around with a girl with blue hair, right? So she did a side-by-side analysis and she swears it’s Harry Styles in a wig. Like, honest to god.”

“Who’s Harry Styles?” Spencer asks, putting his book down and rubbing his eyes as he comes out of his reading trance.

“Only the love of my life,” Penelope tells him.

“Penelope,” Emily interrupts. “You are not allowed to ask him if he’s really friends with Harry Styles.”

Penelope deflates slightly. “But -”

JJ tells her, “You are definitely not allowed to ask if you can have Harry Styles’s phone number.”

Penelope rolls her eyes. “Apparently there’s a whole group of crazies who think he and Sam are actually dating. There are conspiracy theories and everything.”

“Let’s just outlaw the subject of Harry Styles altogether,” JJ says hurriedly. “Okay?”

“Oh my God, I wouldn’t actually ask. Are you ready yet, Em?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Emily replies, glaring at her reflection. She’s been trying to even out her wings for like half an hour now. “I look like a raccoon.”

“So… normal then?” Spencer asks, with his cheekiest smile.

“Uh oh, we’ve got Sassy Spence tonight,” JJ says. She grabs Emily’s arm to tug her away from the mirror. “You’re gorgeous. Let’s go.”

“Forward, march!” Penelope orders. “To Suite 202!”

. . .

“So then Sammy asks if she’s his daughter,” Dean finishes.

Hotch and Spencer laugh; it makes Hotch look about ten years younger.

“What did she say?” Spencer asks, tucking his hair behind his ears again. With his legs crossed in his ratty Chucks, he looks too young to be drinking.

“Just said ‘I’m his wife,’ ice cold, and walked away.”

“You should’ve seen the look on Sam’s face,” Cas adds. He settles down next to Dean, handing him a fresh drink and sitting close. For a moment Dean forgets that they’re allowed to be close, that he’s not in public any more, and then he puts an arm around Cas, smiling to himself.

“What about you?” Dean asks.

“I haven’t gotten starstruck since Kurt Cobain,” Hotch answers. “But you should ask Spencer what happened when he met David Byrne.”

“Spencer, what happened when you met David Byrne?” Cas asks with a smirk.

“Well… you know how Freud talked about seeing the Acropolis for the first time? The feeling of derealization?”

“No,” Dean says, raising his eyebrows. “Should I?”

“What you have to understand is that my mom was playing me the Talking Heads while I was in the womb,” Spencer continues earnestly. “Remain In Light, mostly, because it came out that year, but — anyway. Research shows —“

“David Byrne is his Acropolis,” Hotch translates. “He didn’t speak for almost two hours after they were introduced.”

“And I get the feeling there aren’t many things that render him speechless,” Cas says dryly.

. . .

“Hey there, hot stuff,” Penelope says, and she sits in the empty spot next to Derek on the couch. She almost kicks Spencer as she does so; he’s sitting on the floor in front of the couch, hunched over one of the acoustic guitars that everybody’s been passing around.

“You know there’s another chair, right?” asks Sam, who’s sprawled out in one of the armchairs opposite their couch.

“Trust me, it’s pointless,” Derek tells him. “He hates chairs.”

“That’s not true,” Spencer says absent-mindedly, tucking his hair behind his ears. “I like the ones with wheels.”

“Wait, you play keys, right?” Sam asks, watching Spencer pluck out a quick, dexterous open-tuned thing that Penelope is pretty sure he’s improvising.

“And synths,” Spencer says, pushing his hair out of his eyes again. “But also… a little bit of everything, I guess.”

“Guitar, bass, drums, violin, cello, saxophone, clarinet,” Derek rattles off proudly. “What else? There are some weird ones.”

“Didgeridoo!” Penelope adds.

“She calls it my didgeri-don’t,” Spencer says, and it’s true; it’s her least favorite instrument, which is unfortunate because it’s one of her favorite words.“And there are a few things I built, I guess, but haven’t really named yet.”

“That’s awesome,” Sam says, looking suitably impressed.

“You need a goddamn haircut, Pretty Boy,” Derek says, as Spencer tries to get his hair out of his eyes again.

“Don’t listen to him,” Sam tells Spencer, running a hand through the shampoo-commercial situation he has on his own head. “And don’t let my brother start in on you, either.”

Penelope rummages in her purse for a second and pulls out a neon green butterfly clip. She combs some hair back from Spencer’s forehead, twists it, and secures it so that the butterfly is right on the crown of Spencer’s head.

“Thanks, that’s much better,” Spencer says, giving her a quick smile over his shoulder. Sam stifles a laugh.

“Hey,” Derek says, in an undertone. “Got any more of those?”

“I love the way your brain works,” Penelope stage-whispers back. She digs around until she has a whole handful of aggressively colorful glittery barrettes (some are shaped like flowers, some have pom-poms) and passes half to Derek. She leans down and starts to braid a little section of hair near Spencer’s temple. He doesn’t seem to notice.

. . .

“You’re new, aren’t you?” Hotch asks, as he starts mixing himself a drink. “I don’t think we met at the surprise show.”

“Jack,” the kid says, with a sweet smile. He’s all fresh-faced and earnest. Hotch has concerns.

“I’m Aaron, but everybody calls me Hotch,” he says. “What‘s your part in this whole circus?”

“I’m their guitar tech,” he chirps. “Cas is my uncle, also. He’s the one who got me the job.”

“Uh-huh. First tour?”

He nods. “I’m excited! This is going to be great.”

Hotch has a feeling this is going to be trouble.

Jack has a hand on the whiskey bottle when Hotch notices and asks, “How old are you?”

“He’s twenty,” Charlie interrupts, snatching the bottle from Jack’s hand. “Down, boy.”

Jack shrugs, not seeming particularly bothered, and wanders away with his soda.

“Good to know,” Hotch says wryly.

Charlie gives Hotch an apologetic look and says, “I feel like a spoilsport. Like, let the kid have some fun, right?”

“So you followed all the rules when you were his age?”

“Well, no, not so much, although I wasn’t into drinking so much as… um. Mild felonies.” She wrinkles her nose expressively. “But I have strict orders from Cas. He might look like a teddy bear, but Cas can be scary.”

“Felonies,” Hotch says, trying to keep a straight face. Charlie nods.

“Hacking, mostly?” she says tentatively. “There was some… environmentally focused cyber-terrorism, I guess you’d call it.”

“You should talk to Penelope, she used to do that sort of thing as well.”

Charlie looks over dubiously at Penelope, who is pulling up the hem of Derek’s shirt and showing off his abs, Vanna White style, for Sam’s benefit. Sam looks shockingly unaffected, so odds are he is straight, in which case, Rossi owes Hotch some money.

“Really. She was actually contacted by the FBI, they wanted to hire her, but.” Hotch smiles at the way Charlie’s mouth falls open. “She has a whole… sordid history. They used to call her the Black Queen.”

“Are you… what?” Charlie asks incredulously.

“I know, it’s a ridiculous name, but —”

“No, that’s — I can’t believe it,” Charlie stutters. “Really?”

Hotch raises an eyebrow. “Really. Does that mean something to you?”

Charlie shakes her head, eyes wide. “You don’t understand, she’s a legend. She’s like a frakking rockstar.”

“Excuse me?”

“No, like an actual rockstar,” Charlie insists. “Not that you’re not a rockstar, I didn’t mean — holy crap.”

“Would you like me to introduce you?” Hotch offers.

Charlie goes pale. “I don’t — um.”

“I think you’re the first person who has ever been intimidated by Penelope Garcia,” Hotch muses.

Charlie does a quick shot of whiskey before nodding. “Okay, I think I’m ready.”

. . .

“I am so fuckin’ glad I don’t have to deal with this every night,” Bobby says gruffly, with an expansive gesture at everyone in the room and their varied levels of inebriation. “We’re too old for this shit. Don’t know how you still want to go out on the road.”

“Of all the groups I’ve managed, believe it or not, this one’s the easiest.”

Bobby looks across the room to where JJ is passing around shots and Emily is talking everybody into a game of Truth or Dare, as a “bonding exercise.” Spencer is clinging to Morgan’s back like a gangly white Yoda; Morgan, who’s serenading Sam with “Wonderwall” (Sam is covering his ears and looking pained) doesn’t seem to notice his weight.

“I don’t believe it, actually,” Bobby tells Rossi, who shrugs.

“They take care of each other, really. No ego involved, with any of them, which is rare enough in this business.” Rossi pauses as Penelope shrieks; Hotch, who is standing between her and Charlie, looks vaguely alarmed, but nobody seems to be in any real danger. Rossi adds, “They may act like a bunch of assclowns sometimes, but they’re much smarter than they look. I told you, didn’t I?”

“Fair enough,” Bobby says. He’d called Rossi on a whim, looking for an opener for Dean’s surprise show and hinting about “discretion” and “liberal types,” trying not to give too much away. He’d expected Rossi to put him in touch with a friend of a friend, or something. He didn’t expect this to work out so well.

Bobby’s not used to things working out well. It’s a nice change.

“Good to see you again, anyway” Rossi says. “You’re coming out to a few more shows, right?”

“Course. I’ll be around here and there.”

“Bet you’ll miss them soon enough. I was bored stiff when I was retired,” Rossi says.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t have to get those two through their teenage years,” Bobby grouches. “Just about put me in an early grave.”

“They seem like good kids,” Rossi says. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since they were… how old?”

Bobby can’t help but smile at that. “Yeah, they’ve got good heads on their shoulders. They grew up. Just in time, too. I kept tellin’ them, success is going to change things, but I don’t think they believed me. Idjits.”

Rossi nods knowingly. “Cheers to success, then. And old friends.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

. . .

“Pastor’s son, in the church,” Emily says.

“Twins,” Dean replies smugly.

“Nice.” Emily gives him a fist-bump. “Backstage during a performance of The Nutcracker.”

“I’ll be very disappointed if there were no nut jokes.”

Emily smirks. “Well, there were no actual nuts involved, but the fairy did, in fact, taste like sugar plums.”

“Yeah, okay, not bad,” Dean says. He clinks his beer bottle against hers and they drink. “On top of a zamboni.”

“You mean zam-bone-y?”

“Thank you! Sam rolled his eyes so hard I thought they were gonna fall out when I said that.”

“The Roxy.”

“Green room? C’mon,” Dean scoffs. “Amateur hour.”

“Nope,” Emily says triumphantly. “In the crowd, during a Guns N Roses show.”

“Okay, that’s fuckin’ awesome,” Dean laughs.

“It really was.”

Dean’s eyes flick across the room, following Cas, who just deadpanned something that’s making Hotch double over with laughter. Dean’s eyes go crinkly at the corners as his smile gets even brighter — a full-on megawatt movie star smile — and his expression is so sweet and soft and utterly adoring that Emily melts a little bit.

“Gross,” she says, elbowing Dean. He elbows her right back.

“Shuddup,” he mutters.

“No more twins for you,” Emily sing-songs.

“Worth it,” Dean says firmly, and even she can’t think of anything snarky to say to that.

. . .

JJ can only understand about one in five of the words Penelope and Charlie are chattering to each other, so she gives up and leaves them to it. She’s slightly concerned they’re plotting to take over the world, or something. They don’t seem to notice her leaving.

Dean and Emily are side by side on one of the couches, both slouching, with their feet up on the coffee table and beers resting on their stomachs, giggling about something as if they’ve been lifelong friends. The whole tableau is unexpected, but not in a bad way.

There’s something about Dean that JJ just didn’t like, at first. It’s mostly that he’s too likable. In every interaction they’ve had, he’s been incredibly charismatic, warm, polite, funny… but it’s not him.

JJ is an expert at getting people to trust her without ever showing her hand. She recognizes a bluff when she sees one.

She’s been watching Dean, whenever he thinks she’s not paying attention. He lets his guard down, sometimes, when he’s with his brother or Cas, but there’s a well-disguised wall that goes up when he talks to anyone else. It’s defensive fortifications camouflaged as charm.

Apparently Emily’s shoved through whatever wall Dean usually puts up when he’s around strangers. Emily can do that to a person, though. JJ knows that better than anybody.

Emily’s clearly teasing him about something. He’s grinning, boyish and bashful and genuine, and JJ likes him a hell of a lot more, suddenly.

She heads over to join them on their couch, sliding over the armrest to sprawl halfway over Emily’s lap and cuddle in close.

“Are you two still playing Truth or Dare? This doesn’t look very daring.”

“Debauchery pissing contest,” Emily informs her.

Dean is watching her, and his walls are up again: pleasant smile slapped on his face, eyes calculating, playing it close to the chest until he figures her out.

She raises an eyebrow and prompts him: “Well? Aren’t you going to ask me?”

He looks suspicious, but he goes with it. “What’s the craziest place you’ve had sex?”

“A lady doesn’t kiss and tell,” JJ says primly, and for a second Dean’s actually thinking about taking her seriously. She rolls her eyes. “Kidding. Middle of a Guns N Roses show.”

He looks confused for a second. Then Emily and JJ high-five, and Dean barks out a laugh.

“I didn’t know you —”

He hesitates.

“Swing that way?” JJ supplies.

“Yeah, that.”

“Most people don’t, and we’re gonna keep it that way. Understood?”

Dean seems surprised by the sudden sharp edge in her voice. “Gotcha.”

“I used to think she was crazy for not coming out publicly,” Emily tells Dean, but she’s looking at JJ with a little half-smile on her face. “But now that people are starting to give a shit about us, sometimes I think she might’ve had the right idea.”

“Don’t lie, you love being an ‘inspiration to the youth,’” JJ says, with mocking finger quotes. “And you’ve been disappointing your mom for years, she’s used to it. Mine would probably have a heart attack.”

“Yeah, but the number of times I get that fucking ‘Does that mean you’re attracted to pans?’ bullshit, I swear to God…”

Dean’s looking at JJ again, but this time it’s less calculating and more admiring. He nods slowly like something just started to make sense.

“Helluva poker face,” he says approvingly.

JJ grins. “Yours isn’t too bad either.”

. . .

“I gotta ask,” Spencer says, slurred and slow. “How’d you choose the band name? The Ceiling Fires?”

Sam shrugs. “It was a recurring dream that Dean and I both used to have.”

“Weird image.” Spencer makes a face as he undoes one of the tiny braids Penelope left in his hair. “Not that — weird isn’t a bad thing. It’s memorable.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Dean called it that as a joke, to start with, I think, but...” Sam rambles. He’s right at that point of drunk where words just keep rolling off his tongue. “Feels like a long time ago. I mean, I did not in a million years think we’d end up here.”

“Linear time,” Spencer comments.

Sam waits for him to finish the thought, but apparently that’s it.

“Linear time,” he repeats agreeably. “It’s not just… time, though, you know? It’s the whole deal. Success, I guess. People listening. Expecting you to look a certain way, or… I don’t fucking know.”

Spencer nods pensively, combing his fingers through his hair again. “We did a magazine photo shoot the other day and they wouldn’t let me wear any of my own clothes. I like my clothes. And people keep asking if I’m dating anybody.”

“Yeah, I’ve been getting that question too.” Spencer doesn’t know the half of it. Sam laughs to himself, rubbing his forehead, and takes a big gulp of his drink.

Spencer pulls out another barrette with a grimace. “I mean, why would anyone care if you’re dating… who was it? Harry Styles?”

Sam chokes and spits whiskey everywhere.

“Who —” he wheezes, and has to stop to cough. “Fucking — how did you know?”

“Wait, really?”

“What?”

“Penelope said it was just a stupid rumor,” Spencer says. He’s squinting at Sam like he’s seeing double.

“Shit.” The adrenaline rush is going a long way toward sobering Sam up. He shakes his head and tries to pull himself together. “Shit. I just… shit.”

“Is that a big deal?” Spencer asks, with a mild sort of confusion. “Penelope made it sound like a joke. She called it a conspiracy theory.”

Sam stares at him, open-mouthed, before dropping his head into his hands with a groan. “Yeah, let’s just keep calling it a conspiracy theory, okay? I already owe his publicist a fucking… fruit basket, or maybe just a lot of wine.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t actually know who that is,” Spencer offers. Sam laughs weakly. “No, really, I won’t tell anybody. Even Penelope. Especially Penelope.”

Sam studies him for a second. He looks earnest enough, in a boozy, unfocused way, but Sam’s learned the hard way that most people can’t be trusted.

Still, worth a try.

“If you could — yeah. Please? Just… please don’t tell anybody.”

“Believe me,” Spencer says. “I know how it goes. If you let people see the things that matter…” He trails off, his eyes sliding to a point somewhere over Sam’s shoulder, and his voice gets unexpectedly clear and fierce. “People can be vicious. I wouldn’t give them a weapon like that.”

Sam’s pretty sure he shouldn’t feel so reassured — Spencer still has a glittery butterfly clip sticking out from behind one ear — but he is, somehow.

“Thanks,” he says quietly.

Spencer shrugs, like it’s nothing, and settles the guitar in his lap again. “Anyway, here’s Wonderwall.”

“Oh hell no,” Sam grumbles, and throws a couch cushion at him.

. . .

“Okay,” Hotch says decisively. “Everybody have their room keys?”

“Aww! He’s like the world’s cutest drill sergeant,” Charlie says. Hotch scowls at her, but he has a feeling it’s not very intimidating. She just giggles.

“Rossi?” Hotch asks, looking around and doing a quick head count.

“Went to bed an hour ago to listen to the latest episode of his fucking true crime podcast,” Emily says.

Hotch frowns. “Without me? Sneaky bastard.”

“Of all the weird fucking hobbies…” JJ mutters. “Hey, Morgan, is it my turn to be the jetpack?”

“Fuck no. I am way too buzzed to be carrying any of you home tonight. You can walk.”

“I’m not sure I can, actually,” Spencer says morosely. He looks like a rag doll, sitting on the floor, propped up by the side of the couch.

“Somebody come get Schroeder,” Dean mumbles, from where he’s curled up on the couch with his head in Cas’s lap.

“We got this,” Penelope says determinedly. She grabs Spencer by the wrists and hauls him to his feet, and they lean against each other heavily, somehow managing to stay upright.

Sam opens the door for them, smiling bemusedly as they all start to trail past: Morgan first, uncharacteristically wobbly on his feet; Emily and JJ, with their hands tucked into each other’s back pockets; Spencer and Penelope, staggering dangerously; and finally, Hotch bringing up the rear.

“Thanks,” he tells Sam, and waves at the others. “See you tomorrow.”

Before the door closes behind him, Hotch hears Dean say, “It’s gonna be a fun tour.”

#criminal minds x supernatural #crossover #cm #spn #criminal minds fic #supernatural fic

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that-damn-girl · 4 years

Text

Freed

(Oneshot)

Pairing: Platonic!stucky (aka Steeb and Bonky) x Gender-neutral!teen!reader (later becomes adoptive!sibling)

Words: 4600+

Type: lil angst (for introduction and back-story), Fluff, platonic.

Warning: lil angst, a couple of bad words.

A/N: This is in answer for my first request! I really had a fun time writing it. Thank you sweet anon for your lovely request! Hope I didn't disappoint. Would love your feedback!

Summary/Request:

Those eyes, just like his own once.

Bucky looked down at you as you took up a defensive pose in front of him, trying to act menacing and the heartless soldier you were molded into. Act, because he looked at your eyes and immediately understood that unfortunately, you had a better understanding of what would happen to you if you so much as dared to show your target a negligible fraction of mercy or hesitated to attack and render yourself weak.

He knew because he saw himself in the pair of eyes he stared into. Once new to this ruthless predicament you were in, he understood that following commands and surviving yourself was a higher priority to you than caring about any other thing in the world at that moment. You had no other choice and were helpless. Just like HYDRA wanted it's puppets to be.

He took in your stance; legs spread wide, both arms bent at the elbows, one at shoulder level and the other raised in front of yourself. Atop a body covered with black garments sat a head with such a sneer he would've thought you were an animal caged inside a human's shape. Because that's how HYDRA had treated him, just like an animal.

You looked young to him; really young. He couldn't help but drown in pity for you. Oh, a child of only fifteen, maybe sixteen, too young for the horrors he supposed you would've witnessed and gone through while in their hold.

He kept up his gun poised steadily at you, though he hated himself for threatening a kid, and tried to think how low could HYDRA have gone to kidnap yet another innocent soul and turn it into a killing machine. He then realised that they didn't really know any limits. It was a bottomless pit. They grabbed at anything and everything beneficial to them, not thinking even a bare minimum amount of others. They never even had a conscience to begin with.

He then noticed that one thing almost unique only to you. At first he thought it was some sort of new mobile weapon developed by those horrendous scientists, but then was horrified as he corrected himself that - no, no that couldn't be a weapon, at least not a mobile one since it literally jutted out from between your knuckles. Three metallic blades on each hand with the luster of his old metal arm, nearly six inches long.

What in the hell have they done?

On the way over to this HYDRA base, Bucky had sworn he'd burn this place to the ground and not let any of these beastly people live. But he couldn't go through with that after watching you. He couldn't do that to a victim just like him, a child nonetheless.

"Hey, kid," He cautiously took a step forward, gun still raised, slow and calm enough to show you he didn't mean any harm but alert and stiff enough to show you that he wouldn't hesitate if you wouldn't. "I don't wanna hurt you."

"You never can." You spat back and stood your ground.

Steve's voices cackled through his earpiece, "What kid?"

Ignoring Steve for now, Bucky kept forwarding towards you slowly, "I know what they do to you, what they will keep doing to you." Bucky didn't exactly know that, but he could make nearly accurate guesses. He gauged your reaction. You tried to remain as stoic as possible, but the slight furrow of your eyebrows encouraged him to continue, "They had me once too, but I was broken free. I am not like them. I can help you, trust me."

You charged forward and tried to strike at him with your dominant hand, but he ducked. You tried again but he dropped his gun and grabbed both your elbows to criss-cross them in front of your chest, your back pressed to the wall. Your looked at him for a hard moment before sneering, "That's what they told me."

Bucky saw in your eyes that you badly wanted to believe him, but he supposed a past incident had given you enough wisdom from outright trusting any stranger, "They made me think that they had helped me too."

This time round you couldn't help your eyes from narrowing. Confusion sat blankly at your face, though the fight to break free still persisted. He hated to admit that he had to work in order to restrain a teenager. No doubt that they had experimented on you too.

Bucky gestured to his arm. Only then did you realise that it wasn't a part of his costume - one black left sleeve of the burgundy jacket, which you had thought to be in the dimly lit hallway. No, it was not an extremely fitted sleeve; it was his arm, black and gold and made of metal, you realised.

They replaced a whole arm with metal?

Your eyes widened and the struggle in you began to subside. Bucky continued, "They captured me, tortured me, but there were these people who helped me break free. I am with them now, let us help you."

You looked at him, trying to decipher whether he was lying, and after a careful and slow moment you found out he wasn't.

Bodies of HYDRA agents, either dead or unconscious, were scattered front and back. The stench of their blood filled the air. You had seen him destroy those bodies when conscious with an unparalleled vengeance you didn't understand. You concluded it to be his fighting style, but then you understood the reason behind it. If he was saying the truth and your perception of body language hadn't gone rusty, you believed he fought with rage and a want for revenge for all he was put through when in their control. You believed him.

Yet you couldn't be too sure, "Why?" Your timid voice asked.

He smiled, "Because I don't want another soul to go through what I did." You believed him this time too.

Bucky led you to the quinjet, where everyone had already assembled. Everyone was skeptical of you, everyone but a brown haired girl who seemed only a few years older to you. She reminded everyone of something along the lines of her being in your shoes a few years past.

By the talking you heard, you found out that the brown haired girl could read minds. So they had experimented on her too, you thought. They wanted Wanda to take a peek in your head to be assured that you wouldn't try to be clever with them. You grew uncomfortable with the idea, but the metal armed savior said that they could only help you if they trusted you, and the girl assured you that she would only look into the parts necessary and wouldn't pry for more. You agreed, because you were desperate for their help, desperate to be free of the horrid people who had tormented you to no end. She looked and you were approved.

Everyone was curious to know more about you, a potential addition to the team in near future, but kept their inquisitions to themselves. Before reaching the jet, you had retracted your blades into your palm, and Bucky had watched flabbergasted as the skin between your knuckles healed immediately, leaving no trace of the deadly weapon now inside your body, but decided not to comment on it.

You had naturally chosen to sit beside Bucky on the way back. He gave you a vibe, one which you hadn't felt in a long, long time; of safety and security. For so long you had spent in that dirty den of monsters, without once being taken care of, doing whatever immoral things they commanded you to, or receiving punishment for not doing it. You'd receive punishments even when you did complete the task, because they somehow always seemed to point out a flaw in your execution which didn't exist.

You saw a man sit on the other side of the metal armed man, blond with blue eyes and a similar built to Bucky, you learnt. A weird name, you thought, but cute as well. You told him his name shyly when he asked.

You wanted to know more about the Bucky and Wanda, who seemed to have been under HYDRA's clutches previously, but felt too nervous to initiate a conversation with strangers. The fact that almost every team member of the Avengers, they seemed to call themselves, was present on the quinjet and crammed the space didn't make it any easier on you. Neither did the fact that you had no idea about what your future would hold.

Bucky noticed your anxiety and wasn't sure if you'd be okay with it, but he took a chance and patted your shoulder reassuring you, "Everything will be fine." You believed him yet again.

Throughout the journey, a few words were exchanged, complimentary with a few smiles. You felt even more safe and at ease with Bucky than before. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he was the first person in a long time to want to help you genuinely. Perhaps it was due to the fact that you knew you and him had somewhat same shared experiences of torture by nearly the same people, so your mind assumed he would know and understand what and how you felt. Whatever it may be, you were glad to have someone generous enough to offer to help you out when every nerve and muscle of your body had intended to harm them.

When the jet landed, others went for debriefing while you were sent to the med bay. You didn't want to go alone into the unknown space, so you set your pleading anxious eyes on Bucky, who without another word accompanied you after sharing a look with the blond, Steve. Dr. Banner and his team took various scans and tests, all with Bucky by your side because you refused to let him be out of your sight.

Meanwhile the team discussed on how to handle the situation. After all, you were still a child to them. They knew it would be how it was with recruiting Wanda all over again, a scared teenager ripped apart from normalcy trying to find a place and meaning with all these people who were anything but normal. She had Vision by her side, and now you have Bucky.

Everyone saw your immediate closeness with Bucky, and the slight protectiveness Bucky had taken over you. Since you felt more at ease with Bucky than anyone else, it was a unanimous decision to let him handle the progress you made with the team,

And, of course, Steve too. It was an unspoken rule. How could he not not be involved anywhere where Bucky was?

After all the tests and scans, you were given a clean set of clothes and were guided to a washroom where you could freshen up. When you went inside the shower, you expected the shower of water to be cool as you turned the knob. Surprise was the understatement of the century when you felt soothing warm droplet fall over you.

You checked out the various items placed by a small counter in the shower with labels which you could read but didn't know what they meant. You looked across at the large mirror. For the first time in a very long time again, you could really take yourself in. The dips and curves of your body, or the lack thereof; the proportions of yourself. It felt weird not exactly knowing what your own self looked like. Despite the presence of mirrors, you never had a chance to ponder over your looks, even while bathing. Your body and skills and the blades were what was the most important to them; never your looks.

All of this newfound freedom felt so overwhelming, you broke down and allowed yourself to pour your eyes out and sob the pain of all those dreadful memories out of your mind, something which you were never allowed to do before.

As the water ran cold, you stepped out of the shower and into the clean clothes provided. When you met Bucky outside, he noticed your red and puffy eyes, but didn't say anything.

You later met everyone in a large sitting area. Dr. Banner and his team were extremely efficient. They had informed everyone of the special abilities you had as a result of the experiment. You had a very high metabolism and extraordinarily fast self-healing abilities, much higher than that of the super soldiers present.

Moreover, your palm looked normal superficially only. In reality, the metacarpals and carpus of your palm were connected to the radius and ulna of your palm in such a fashion that they accommodated six inches long and one-fourth of an inch wide plates, three in each arm, made up of an alloy yet to be named (adamantium, you learned very later on), but they found it to be similar to titanium. Their purpose was a mystery to them.

When confronted about it post your shower, you didn't know how to explain, so you opted to simply show them instead. You jut them out, piercing the skin between your knuckles. Everyone looked at you stunned. They realised that they weren't metal plates which Bruce talked about; no, they were blades. Feeling overly self conscious, you retreated the blades and pulled your arms by your side, palms on your knees, sitting uncomfortably stiff and straight like the perfect soldier you were trained to be. As soon as the blades were back inside your flesh, the pierced wounds amongst your knuckles weaved back into your skin faster than one could blink, showing no evidence of even a slight scratch.

Some sat open mouthed and some couldn't form sentences or words other than, "Wow" , "Woah", and "Holy cow". You blushed hardly. No one had ever looked at your way and given you such amazed reactions.

Sensing your discomfort once again, Bucky wrapped an arm around your shoulder and asked everyone to move onto other important things. Seeing a little super soldiers with great powers, they wanted to recruit you to the team, but only if you wanted and when you were mentally healthy.

Of course you wanted to join them after learning of their purpose. You had done many bad things and wanted to do something good with the weapon you were cursed with. Bucky and Steve loved and appreciated the fact that though you weren't sure of who you were exactly yet, you were sure of all the good deeds you wanted to do despite experiencing only the worse.

Later that night you were given your own quarters, right next to Bucky's. You were utterly thankful for it. When you proceeded to sleep on the bed, you found it too soft to relax enough to sleep. Having only known mattresses as hard as the ground it was kept upon, you hadn't known that a mattress could be as soft as your were given. You were conflicted between being grateful and vexed.

Regardless, you didn't sleep that night. You decided to step out of your room and into the common balcony of your floor to get some fresh air. You stayed there for a few minutes and realised bringing a jacket would have been a better idea if you wanted to spend your night away staring at the shiny and sprinkling stars above.

As you walked back the length of the hallway, Bucky suddenly appeared in front of you. Filled with shock, you instinctively drew your blades and took up a defensive position, blades placed in front of his neck.

"Hey kid, calm down. I'm not trying to heart ya." Bucky put his hands up to show he was harmless.

Ashamed and guilty, you drew your blades in and looked down at the floor and shook your head, "Sorry...I was just surprised, I guess."

"It's alright, kid. Sorry, I shouldn't have been that quiet." You didn't understand why he apologized for what was his nature, but you gave him a little nod nonetheless.

"What are you here, by the way?" He looked inquisitively at you.

"Couldn't sleep. I wanted to get a jacket to sit down in the balcony." You still didn't meet his eyes. He understood the unspoken words; that you couldn't adjust to all this with just a clip of your fingers.

You felt awfully bad for how you reacted to someone who had thought more good of you in a few hours than the beasts you escaped from had in all your lifetime. Still overwhelmed from all the new and good possibilities your future could hold, tears sprang to your eyes.

Bucky wanted to comfort you, to assure you that you were safe here, that him and the others would look our for you. He tried to make himself as small as possible and gently asked in a soft voice, "Is it okay if I hug you?"

You looked up at him with wide eyes. Bringing your here and freeing you from those varlets; he had already done so much. Why did he want to go out of his way for your comfort? Whatever the reason may be, being gentle touch deprived all your life, you didn't want to turn him down. You nodded.

He smiled and slowly took a step forward. He encircled you in his arms. You broke down again at his soft touch and laid your head in his chest, not quite as tall as him. He used one palm to pet your head, whispering sweet words to assure you that you are well and everything would be fine.

When you calmed down enough, he asked, "Would you mind if I accompany you?" You nodded again.

After getting your respective jackets, you sat down in the small couch placed in the balcony. You leaned into him. He put an arm around you and you both looked at the stars above wordlessly.

This continued for a few nights. You'd come to the balcony and he'd already be there. You'd keep your head on his shoulders and stare into the night sky. You'd dose off and Bucky would remain in the same posture, afraid to wake you. Sometimes he would be lulled into sleep too by the beautiful atmosphere. You both didn't need much sleep, thanks to the serums in your bloods. You'd wake up in a couple of hours, refreshed and back into your rooms.

In the daytime, you were assigned to therapy and sharpening you skills in the gym. Steve would take care of that. He'd help you correct your techniques and style with pushing you much, in a soft and gentle way. You were grateful to him too.

On your fifth night on the balcony, Steve had joined you guys too. You didn't know the reason why, he just came and sat on your other side and slumped down enough to rest his head on the back rest and eyes on the twinkling night sky.

After a few moments he spoke, "Beautiful, isn't it?" Words of confirmation were exchanged, and so you three began talking.

Steve and Bucky first shared their stories of the previous century, after hearing which you were surprised to know Steve had survived through all the 'idiocy' stuff he did. Bucky's words, not yours. Feeling comfortable enough, you told them the things you hadn't even shared with your therapist. Bucky held your hand and Steve stroked your back as you went through a roller coaster of emotions. Bucky told you about his own time under HYDRA's control, sparing the gruesome details, to give you a hint that in a way he understood all you had gone through.

You felt really good, as if a weight had been lifted off of your chest. As the conversation died down, so did your conscious pulling you into a deep peaceful sleep.

Being with you, taking care of you, Bucky and Steve were reminded of a sibling they had too little time with. They liked this unofficial care-taking role.

After the talk that night, or rather early morning, you seemed very cheerful and elevated for that day and the days to come. You started to initiate small conversation with everyone, smiling gleefully at everyone you passed in the hallways, opened up more to your therapist, and gave Steve your best while training.

Soon you were cleared for missions, accompanied with Bucky, Steve and Sam. You were exceedingly excited for your first mission; to start doing things right with the advancements you were given to do only the wrongs. Bucky and Steve had given you a lengthy talk about keeping your safety in mind, to not overexert yourself and not be too rash in your decisions. You calmed them down with a long hug to each, assuring them you would take care of yourself.

Almost every mission from there onwards, you were paired with at least either one of them or both. In the compound too, you had become inseparable from them, or maybe they from you. Movie nights had been introduced, where they would show you all the hits from your own generation which you had missed or from their own, along with those which the others had shown to them.

They soon took over a pair of protective older brothers' role. They wouldn't let Sam or anyone else mess with you, except for themselves. They started calling you all these crazy and funny nicknames to tick you off. In retaliation, you started calling them Steeb and Bonky. They hadn't looked happy.

When you started dating, they would give murderous glares to anyone you were with, which would give them a clear enough idea not to be in your bad books. Steeb would keep his hand on his hips, broadening his shoulders and flexing his biceps. Bonky would make the presence of his metal arm even more obvious by doing everything with it and whirring the plates constantly to make enough noise to give your date a hint.

Then came the ever dreaded 'talk'. They felt that since you had started dating, things between you and your significant other would escalate quickly either now or in the near future. They felt it was their responsibility to give you 'the talk'. You had been ever grateful for their presence in your life up until then. All three of you ended that conversation with faces red enough to rival Bonky's burgundy leather jacket.

Once Sam had approached you to prank them. You were eager to do whatever Sam had planned. The end result had been Bonky's arm and Steeb's shield adorned with stickers of various mindless things stuck with a strong adhesive. They had had a field day in scrapping and removing the glue with a shitload of acetone.

Your birthday was coming in a few days. Steeb and Bonky wanted it to be special; your first birthday outside of HYDRA. You didn't remember celebrating your birthday ever, so when the day rolled around you didn't suspect a thing when Steeb and Bonky offered to take you to Coney Island. You hadn't even remembered it was your birthday.

You spent the day in disguise so as to not be recognised, hopping from one ride to another and stuffing your face with anything you found appealing. Though you had a higher metabolism than the other two super soldiers, they didn't think eating the way you were was a good idea, but they couldn't say no to your puppy dog eyes and the cheeky grin you put on in victory afterwards.

You had stopped on a shooting stall to play, but Bonky cast you aside before you could even fully reach there, paid the amount and started shooting. Shoulders slumping, Steeb sighed loudly.

He was an excellent shooter - hell, he was a sniper in the WW2 and is currently one for the Avengers. Everyone knew that, but to not make anyone suspicious of his true identity he purposefully hit the first few shots wider. The stall keeper watched with a smug smile, convinced the last shot wouldn't be any different cause it hardly ever was. Steeb hid his smirk with the pretense of clearing his throat as Bonky hit bullseye, earning a giant [whatever you want] for you. You squealed as you accepted it, hugging and squeezing it to your chest after hugging Bonky.

By the time you had reached the compound, your faces were lit up with a hundred watt smiles. You had thoroughly enjoyed the day to its best and didn't think it could have gotten any better. Laughing your asses off, your heart came to your throat as you stepped out of the elevator and everyone yelled, "Surprise!"

A banner hung from the ceiling written, 'Happy Birthday Y/N'. You were momentarily surprised as you gaped at it open mouthed. Balloons and string lights were scattered beautifully across the living room. You didn't register who took Bonky's win from your arms and who hugged your limo form, wishing you. When it finally registered, you were teary eyed as you looked at everyone's genuinely happy expression.

You were determined not to cry but all hell broke loose when Wanda brought in a small and cute cake with icing piped in her trademark way, candles lit. You broke down then and there, crying into your elbow. Bonky and Steeb instantly hugged you from both sides. Petting your head, Steeb said, "Aw kid, don't cry."

You felt elated. No one had ever thought of or cared for you enough to organise a little something behind your back for your birthday, so that you were happy. You had hugged everyone as you thanked them, still overwhelmed. Candles were blown and the cake was cut. A big portion of the icing was in your face. You didn't complain though; you felt appreciated and loved.

A few weeks later you were graced with a mission where your right lung got punctured and a few ribs got broken. Even with your abilities, it took you a day to gain consciousness and another three for all your injuries to heal completely.

Steeb and Bonky had lost it when you fell into their arms when you got attacked and wouldn't wake up in the quinjet. The next day until you were conscious, they hadn't slept or left your side after the required surgery. They had been soft with you until you were discharged, but as soon as you got okay, they blew up your head with unending scoldings and lectures for you to be safe. They crushed you to their chests later, telling you how scared you had made them.

Though you felt bad for worrying them, you couldn't help the happy beats in your heart to know people actually did care about your well being because they care about you and not your utility.

Many instances happened in your life, some happy, some sad. You had had Bonky and Steeb by you side, and knew you would later too. Ever grateful for their presence in your life, you looked forward to life with renewed vim and zest.

~~~

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gluku-pikron · 3 years

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For the writer asks: 1,4, 16, 20?

1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

The thing I’m trying to finish right now is a Magnus/Charles fic based on this post from almost two months ago. I’ve got most of what I want to do in each scene blocked out and I’m starting to flesh out the individual scenes and interactions! I was trying to take into consideration your advice about figuring out what emotions and characterizations I wanted to convey with each action from that writing guide you shared with me (thank you again!! <3). As for what I love about it, you basically summed it up when you said, “two characters dating and one character does [canonical terrible thing], forcing other character to choose between the relationship and the reality of the situation? FUCK yes” It’s that narrative/dramatic tension that’s just SO perfect.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Under the jacket sleeve, Charles can see Magnus’ wrist, birdlike and diminished. Even the hairs on his arm are mottled with grey. Recovery has been neither kind nor easy. --from mortem obire

You ever write something that manages to tick all the boxes you were hoping to with rhythm, flow, description, and mood? I just really like these lines because I feel like it came out pretty close to what I had in my head. Simple but descriptive.

16. Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)

I am, hideously and unfortunately, a one-trick pony right now. It’s Magnus/Charles all the way down and most of it leans pretty heavily on the dark or sad side. I did briefly consider trying to write an upcoming fic from the POV of inebriated Magnus but then realized it would render the story unreadable so I’ve moved back to a more distant 3rd person. I’d like to try and write some more light-hearted stuff in the future, more in line with stay tonight because I did have a lot of fun with that one!

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

OKAY SO while I was writing mortem obire I happened upon a short story by Kevin Moffett (a line of whose I borrowed for the fic’s epigraph), One Dog Year, a fictionalized account about 86-year-old John D. Rockefeller trying to postpone his likely upcoming death, watching an airman’s show and deciding, after living a heavily regimented and apparently boring last few years, to finally try and take a risk and do something adventurous. Spoilers for the story, but he ends up engaging with the airman after the show (a ploy by the airman to get some money from the outrageously wealthy Rockefeller) and decides to go for a ride in the plane. But the airman, as they’re preparing to ascend, realizes that the wind has turned and he cannot continue the flight. He does not tell Rockefeller this, and the final scene of the story is Rockefeller sitting in the plane, chewing a piece of peach-flavored gum and thinking of his childhood, waiting for this great adventure and losing himself in the idea of soaring in the sky.

I headcanon that Charles is a man so duty-bound he gives little consideration to himself. Like, he is physically fit and eats well, and has an appreciation for fine brandy and all that, but when it comes down to his prioritization of things, he leaves his emotional desires and needs pretty low down on the list. I wanted to capture that, and the idea of Charles finally breaking free, like Rockefeller in the story, from his life that’s been prescribed to him by an external force, even if it’s just for a moment, and even if, in the grand scheme of things, it means very little. To be able to capture some happiness for oneself in the midst of something horrible or defeating, a brief moment of catharsis or nostalgia, was what I was going for, and I think Moffett’s story actually helped me with that. :’)

Meta Asks for Writers

#coldestcobalt

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artificialqueens · 3 years

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Happiness Isn't Here, Chapter 2 (Jan-centric) - Joley

Chapter Summary: Jan really wants to be friends with Crystal’s girlfriend, Nicky. Gigi struggles to comprehend her attraction towards Jan. Brita gets further invested in Jan’s love life and confesses why she was so drawn to Jan.

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It had been three days since Crystal had texted Jan, and Jan was getting frustrated at the lack of follow-up. She and Brita had visited most, if not all of the spots Crystal frequented, but to no avail. And now Jan was out for a jog, hoping to either clear her mind or have a breakthrough with a new idea. But all she got was a leg cramp and a strong pang of hunger.

There was a convenience store towards the end of the block, so Jan decided to do a quick shop. She wanted to get home right after and take a shower, flushed red and drenched in sweat from her run, she knew she must’ve looked like a hot mess.

Jan started to walk down the snack aisle, but instantly backed out and hid. “Oh, come on,” she whined to herself before carefully peering back into the aisle. Sure enough, Crystal was there and oblivious to Jan’s presence, much to her relief in her given state. “Wait, who’s that?”

A woman walked up to Crystal and wrapped her arms around her from behind. The first thing Jan noticed was that this woman – this unfairly gorgeous woman – was dressed entirely inappropriately for a trip to the convenience store. This woman was dressed for a high-end cocktail party, wearing a little red dress and black stilettos with hair that must’ve had taken at least an hour to style. She didn’t seem to belong in Missouri at all.

“Yeah, that’s Nicky,” a familiar voice pulled Jan from her thoughts.

“Fuck, how long have you been standing there?” Jan jumped slightly, putting her hand to her chest.

Gigi shrugged. “Not as long as you’ve been staring, I imagine,” she mused, then looked Jan over. “What happened to you? You look like hell.”

Jan huffed, crossing her arms with a pout. “I went on a run, thank you very much. I did a whole… half a mile.”

“Oh shit, didn’t realize you were training for a triathlon,” she teased.

“You too?” another woman, presumably one of Gigi’s friends, chimed in out of seemingly nowhere. “What’s your routine? I’m pretty sure I’ve got mine down, but-”

“It was a joke, Kameron,” Gigi cut her off.

Kameron wasn’t alone either, as a shorter brunette joined her side. “Who’s your friend, Gigi?” she asked. “This the girl from the party you was talkin’ about?”

Jan smirked as she looked from Gigi’s friends back to her. “You were talking about me?” she asked, twirling her ponytail around her finger.

“Never,” she retorted dryly. “Jan, let me introduce you to two friends, one brain cell. This is Kameron and Vanessa.”

“Vanjie.”

Gigi rolled her eyes. “She goes by Vanjie.”

Jan offered the two of them a bright smile. “So nice to meet you guys,” she said, though her attention started to shift when she heard the click of high heels on linoleum getting louder and the conversation between Crystal and Nicky entered earshot.

“Who’s the sweaty girl with Gigi?” Nicky asked with perturbed confusion.

“What?” Crystal looked where her girlfriend was pointing. “Jan?”

“You know her?”

Crystal swallowed thickly, her eyes darting back and forth between Nicky and Jan. “No! I mean yes. I mean… kind of?”

“Kind of?” Gigi chimed in. “I thought you guys were friends.”

“We are,” Jan jumped in to assure. “It’s just been a while since we saw each other at summer camp,” she explained, happy to be able to tell the truth. “It’s been a while, we were–”

“Ten!” Crystal abruptly cut in. “That’s why the details are a little hazy, you know? It’s been so long.”

Jan furrowed her brows and looked at Crystal with a mix of hurt and confusion on her face. She tried to meet her eyes, hoping she’d explain, but to no avail – Crystal wasn’t looking at her at all, her eyes were fixed on Nicky.

Nicky did look skeptical, though she didn’t say so. “Well, you did smoke away most of your brain cells, I guess that makes sense,” she decided, watching as her girlfriend’s entire body relaxed in relief. Then her attention shifted to Jan, whom she offered a polite smile. “So nice to meet you,” she said, offering her hand out – not to shake, it was more like she was presenting it on display.

Not that Jan questioned it; she surmised that it fit the way Nicky carried herself. “The pleasure’s all mine,” she chirped, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.

“What is it that you do?” Nicky questioned as she looked her over.

“Jan’s a lawyer!” Crystal jumped in yet again, though this time it appeared to be in Jan’s defense. “You just started at a firm out here, right?”

Jan nodded, ignoring the way her chest was still aching. “Yeah, it’s been going super well so far. What about you, Nicky?”

“I am a professional hairstylist,” she answered stiffly. “I do Beyoncé’s personal trainer’s sister’s hair, it’s very high-profile.”

Both Gigi and Crystal, with slight grimaces, had opened their mouths to say something, but Jan cut right in. “Really? Oooh, how fun! You should totally let me know if you’re ever taking new clients.”

Crystal winced and once again tried to interject, but Nicky answered before she could. “I do think I can fit you in, as a courtesy at least. Since you are a friend of Crystal’s,” she told her, then rifled through her purse until she pulled out a business card and handed it to Jan.

While neither Jan nor Nicky had noticed how Crystal was stressing out and Kameron and Vanessa had long since wandered off, Gigi noticed and cocked her head to the side so Crystal would follow her down the next aisle. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing!” Crystal insisted. “I just… don’t think it’s a good idea for Jan and Nicky to be friends. You know how she gets.”

“I guess,” Gigi shrugged. “But Jan seems pretty non-threatening, it’s not like you guys fucked or anything, right?”

She swallowed thickly. “Right. Because we only knew each other as kids and that would be weird,” she reminded herself, not wanting to forget the lie she’d established.

Her friend was dubious, but allowed it to slide. “So… Jan is definitely available, then?”

Crystal’s eyes lit up, this was perfect. “She is. Are you into her, Geege? Because you should ask her out, she’s great. And you’re great. So it would be, you know, great.”

Gigi shrugged, glancing down. “I dunno,” she told her, though a slight smile tugged at her lips. “Maybe.”

Before Crystal could argue her case further, Nicky rounded the corner. “Crystal, come on, we’re gonna be late,” she whined.

“We better go,” Crystal said to Gigi. “But think about what I said.”

——

Jan looked at her phone – 12:48 pm. She was a bit early for her hair appointment, by no accident. As soon as she stepped inside, she wanted to try to fit in a bit of a tour.

The salon reminded Jan of the one she would visit during the winter break she had spent in Beverly Hills. It was clean and chic and everyone who worked there could’ve moonlighted as a Victoria’s Secret model. Normally, she wasn’t intimidated by that, but she found herself cutting her tour short as anxiety started twisting her stomach into knots. Sure, she was used to the high-end life, but that didn’t make her ‘cool’. Jan didn’t know how to be cool – her ideal Friday night consisted of Chinese food, a bottle of wine, and her library of bootleg musicals.

But Nicky? Nicky oozed cool out of every invisible pore. It sent Jan back to her middle school days when she would see the popular kids and silently yearned to unlock the secrets to social acceptance. And while thirteen-year-old Jan had found the answer when she started high school without braces and with newly-developed D-cups, things were far less simple in adulthood.

“Jan?” The girl at the front desk pulled her back into reality. “You can go ahead and take the middle chair. Nicky will be right with you.”

Jan nodded and thanked her as she moved to take her seat. By the time Nicky made her way over, her racing thoughts had slowed to a walking pace, something she was eternally grateful for.

“Your hair is so thick and smooth,” Nicky observed, a hint of surprise in her tone. “You’re Italian?”

“Half Italian, half Jewish,” she confirmed. “Lots of hair on both sides.”

“I could tell from your arms,” she remarked offhandedly, but by then she was massaging shampoo into Jan’s scalp, rendering her too blissed out to register the comment.

Jan was entranced almost instantly, and she understood why Nicky worked at the only salon in Springfield with a near five-star rating. She had gotten actual massages that were less satisfying, and she was already certain she would be happy with any final result. “So, how long have you and Crystal been together?” she asked after a brief silence, curious as to how her answer would compare to Gigi’s.

“Since I moved here in the tenth grade,” Nicky answered. “Not consistently, but that isn’t the important thing.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re together now,” Jan murmured through gritted teeth, regretting bringing it up in the first place and deciding to change the subject. “This place is so nice, how long have you worked here?”

Nicky was too focused on Jan’s hair to notice the shift in tone. “About a year and a half, I cannot complain, but the goal is to open my own salon. I even think I can poach some of these girls to come with me,” she told her. “But securing a space is impossible.”

“I work in real estate law, you’re preaching to the choir,” she nodded, though her mind was already doing a speedrun of ideas. This was the ‘in’ she needed, how she could win Nicky’s favor and be her friend.

The comment didn’t connect the dots for Nicky, who finished Jan’s hair and spun her around. “And we’re done, what do you think?”

Jan gasped, her eyes bright and wide. It wasn’t an act, she was genuinely impressed with what Nicky had done. She had only trimmed a couple of inches off, but the styling was pristine, she never wanted to wash her hair again because she was afraid she could never get it back to this. “It’s gorgeous, oh my God.” As she got up and paid her, she added “Don’t stop thinking about getting your own salon, in fact, text me the info about the space you’re trying to secure,” with a wink.

Nicky’s intrigue outweighed her trepidation. “I guess you can give it your best shot, then. Landlord’s a real asshole, though.”

——

Brita eagerly led Jan into an empty conference room and set a folder down on the table. “Okay, so, what’s the plan? Before you say anything, I already looked it up and we can’t deport her to France unless we frame her for murder.”

Jan shut the door behind her and rushed to Brita’s side with concern and confusion. “What the hell are you talking about? No one’s being deported or framed for murder or… seriously, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Isn’t that what you were up to at your little hair appointment? Getting close to Nicky to find her weaknesses and exploit them to get her out of the picture? Everyone overshares at hair salons, it’s just how it works,” she explained as she opened the folder up. “I printed out all of the important social media posts dating back from when she started dating Crystal.”

“Brita, that’s eleven years’ worth of posts!”

She scoffed. “And? Do you want your happy ending with Crystal or not? Nicky is an obstacle in your way, she is the enemy.”

Jan rolled her eyes. “I don’t want her to be the enemy. I like her. She’s so cool and pretty and she smells nice and–”

Brita grabbed Jan by the shoulders and shook her. “Listen to yourself! This isn’t the Jan and Nicky love story, it’s the Jan and Crystal love story. The last thing you need to do is go all starry-eyed over, and I cannot stress this enough, Crystal’s girlfriend.”

“Okay, so, I get that you wanna help and I really appreciate it, but I promise I totally have this under control. You keep working on your plans, I’m sure they’re great.”

She sighed and let go of Jan. “I’m sorry, I know I’m intense and everything, but I just really like you and want to help you. I’ve always wanted a daughter, you know? I have a fourteen year old son, and he’s an asshole.”

Jan’s expression softened. “Aw, I didn’t realize… but that’s sweet, and it’d be nice to have a mother figure that isn’t massively disappointed in me right now. Don’t ask, it’s a story for another day.” Ideally that day would never come, but she didn’t expect Brita to let her off the hook on that either. “On that note, um, don’t get mad, but I’m getting brunch with Nicky tomorrow. But it’s a business brunch.”

“A business brunch?” Brita looked at her skeptically.

“I’m helping her get her own salon. The landlord’s a jerk but he’s only like, a four out of ten compared to what I’ve dealt with. And…” she strummed her fingers against the table as she tried to think on her feet. “Think of it this way – if she’s busy at her own salon, she’ll have less time with Crystal.”

Brita beamed and cupped Jan’s face, squishing her cheeks. “There’s that Harvard-Columbia brain at work, I knew you had a plan. You didn’t need to worry me like that, missy.”

Jan pressed her lips into a fine line and nodded. “It won’t happen again.”

——

Jan tried to keep her conversation with Brita in mind when she was out to brunch with Nicky, she really did put in an effort. But then she found out mid-mimosa that they got the location for the salon and Nicky showered her with gracious praise and it all went out the window. Jan’s latent praise kink and overwhelming desire to win Nicky over was more than enough to keep her from heeding Brita’s warning.

So, it didn’t end at business brunch. They wound up back at Jan’s house, talking, laughing, drinking, as if they had been friends this whole time. And Jan was becoming more and more convinced that in the end, she could have the best of both worlds – she could have Crystal as her girlfriend and Nicky as her bestie. There was no downside in that, right?

“Have you heard of The Nebula?” Nicky asked as she set the glass down on the coffee table, “It’s this cool, exclusive club downtown. Crystal and I were planning on going tomorrow night, you should come.”

Jan nearly spilled her drink with how quickly she perked up. She almost couldn’t believe this had worked so well and so fast. “Really? Oh my god, yeah, that’d be so much fun. I am such a club girl.”

“You’re so fun,” Nicky giggled, resting her head on Jan’s shoulder. “I love how fun you are, we’re gonna have the best time ever. You’re totally not the cunty east coast bitch I thought you’d be.”

“Aw, thank you!” Jan hugged Nicky from the side.

Nicky had ended up staying into the late afternoon, waiting until she was sober enough to take care of some things at the salon, but happily reminded Jan several times over that they would be going to The Nebula the next day at nine.

——

“Alright, are you gonna tell me what’s on your mind or not?” Crystal prompted as she watched Gigi absentmindedly clean the same glass for the third time.

Gigi looked up, finally putting the glass away and tossing the towel over her shoulder. “You know damn well I try to keep my head empty at any given moment.”

Even though Crystal might have agreed at times, she wouldn’t take that as an answer. “Come on, you’ve been weird ever since we all ran into each other at the store the other day.”

“I just…” she hesitated, chewing on her lip. “What’s her deal, anyway?”

“Who?”

“Jan.”

Crystal smirked. “See? I knew you liked her. You never act like that around girls like you did at the store. I don’t know what the hold-up is, she’s cool.”

Gigi snorted. “Cool isn’t the word I’d use, babe,” she retorted dryly, then added, “you sure she’s not into you?”

“What? Of course not. I told you already, we were kids, remember?” Despite how comically suspicious her voice was, Gigi didn’t push her any further, so she continued. “Hey, Jan’s coming with us to Nebula tonight. You should come, it could be like a cute double date.”

After a bit of hesitation, Gigi nodded. “Yeah, alright. My shift ended ten minutes ago anyway, I just gotta get home and change.”

The four of them met at Jan’s house, as she lived the closest to downtown, and took an Uber (Jan happily upgraded them to the best option) to the club. Considering they were four attractive women in mini dresses, they were granted entry easily and went right to ordering rounds of drinks.

It only took a few drinks to get Crystal and Nicky on the dance floor, giggling and grinding to the beat. But Nicky stopped after a couple minutes when she realized Jan and Gigi were still lingering awkwardly at the table, and simply had to remedy that. She jogged back to the table and grabbed both of them by the arm. “Come on, Jan, dance with Gigi,” she insisted, pushing them together.

“I didn’t expect you to come,” Jan admitted as she draped her arms around Gigi’s neck. “This doesn’t seem like your scene. Like, you probably think the music is too generic and the drinks are too sweet.”

“Well, both of those things are true.” Gigi rested her hands on Jan’s waist, the two of them doing the bare minimum to count as dancing. “But Crystal dragged me out and I thought it might be fun to watch you get drunk and make an ass out of yourself.”

Jan scoffed. Sure, she was a lightweight and already tipsy, but she thought she could ignore it if she tried hard enough. “Why don’t you get me another drink then, Captain Cynical?”

“Oh, I’m a captain? Here I thought I was just Lieutenant Cynical,” she teased, then let go of her to go to the bar.

While Jan was waiting, Nicky came back over and pulled her to dance with her and Crystal. “You and Gigi look good together,” Nicky remarked.

“You’d look good with anyone,” Jan mused playfully. “Oh my god, if we hooked up, we’d all be even!” She gasped, gesturing between the three of them and giggling at what she thought was a funny observation.

But Nicky and Crystal all but froze in their tracks. “What do you mean by that?”

Jan glanced at Crystal, suddenly remembering the lie she’d helped commit to. “I just, um…” To her relief, Gigi had rejoined them at that moment. “Oh good, you’re back!” She quickly took the drink and started to down it.

“No, no, tell me what you meant by that,” Nicky insisted.

Realizing she had been caught, Jan thought the only option was to tell the truth. “I meant, well, you and Crystal are together, and we, um… used to be…”

“You both said you weren’t,” Gigi cut in. “You both insisted you weren’t. What the fuck?”

“I just didn’t wanna make things weird!” Crystal defended. “But… yeah… Jan and I were actually sixteen when we met and um… did stuff.”

Nicky’s face reddened with anger. “I can’t believe you both lied to me!” She turned to Crystal. “We are leaving and will be talking about this. And you,” she turned to Jan, “just stay away from us.”

Although Jan tried to object and plead her case, Nicky was already storming out of the club with Crystal in tow, leaving her alone with Gigi. “Don’t say it. Don’t fucking say it.”

“For a Harvard-Columbia grad, you’re kind of stupid, aren’t you?”

Jan pouted and nodded.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

Jan nodded again.

Gigi wrapped her arm around Jan’s shoulders and walked her out of the club and got into an Uber with her once it arrived.

The ride was quiet, enough so that by the time they arrived at Jan’s house, she was asleep with her head in Gigi’s lap.

Being rail-thin and fragile looking in comparison, Gigi struggled carrying Jan into the house and placing her on the couch. “God, you’re more trouble than you’re worth,” she muttered to herself before taking the blanket off the back of the couch and draping it over Jan.

Just as Gigi was in the middle of contemplating if she should stay or leave, Jan started to wake up. “Ah, it lives.”

Jan looked around, slowly realizing that she was on her couch, and that Gigi tucked her in. She pushed herself to sit up a bit. “Um… thank you, you know, for helping me in. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, I know you’re probably pissed at me too.”

“Oh, I am,” Gigi readily assured. “But you look like a sad baby deer, so I can’t just abandon you, I guess,” she decided. “You need help getting to bed, Bambi?”

“Please,” Jan mumbled. The two of them went upstairs and Jan stepped into the bathroom to get changed and wash her face. Then once again, Gigi tucked her into bed.

Once Jan was sound asleep, Gigi went downstairs and crashed on the couch. But she woke up early in the morning and left without a trace. Without the alcohol softening her heart, she found herself mad at the fact that she so easily overlooked what Jan did in favor of taking care of her. And what was worse was that she still liked her.

When Jan woke up, she went downstairs, only to find her house empty. She felt a pang of disappointment, only to perk up at a knock on the door. “Gigi?” No answer, so with another wave of hopefulness she asked “Crystal?” as she opened the door.

“How funny, Gigi and Crystal are exactly who we need to talk about,” Brita huffed as she walked inside. “You are skating on thin ice,” she warned, walking Jan to the couch and sitting down. “What happened last night?”

Jan sighed. “Nicky found out Crystal and I were together and now she hates me and Gigi took me home. That’s it.”

Brita pinched the bridge of her nose. “I was afraid of this,” she muttered and took a deep breath. “It’s fine, we just need a new plan.”

#rpdr fanfiction #jan sport #crystal methyd #gigi goode #brita filter #nicky doll #brooke lynn hytes #kameron michaels #vanessa vanjie mateo #gigi x jan #crystal x jan #crystal x nicky #lesbian au #s12 #joley #happiness isnt here #rare pair

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weartirondad · 4 years

Text

Merry Christmas Y’all

FF.net I ao3

They’re practically falling out on the cobbled streets of Brooklyn when they step out of the Southern style restaurant, all happily glowing eyes and cheeks reddened from the warmth of the inn.

“Why would you even fry pickles to begin with,” Peter half-jokingly complains, pulling his hat over his frizzy curls, jacket still open and scarf simply hanging around his neck, ends dangling dangerously close to being stepped on.

“Because,” Tony answers, stepping forward to catch the two ends and wrapping them around the indignant teenager’s neck properly, “Generally speaking everything is better when fried.” He grins when he’s done and all that’s left to see of Peter are his eyes that he’s currently rolling towards the sky. “Now the Pimiento cheese that’s something we can talk about –“

Peter is still working on pulling down his tightly wrapped scarf to free his mouth and regain some movement to his neck, when May cuts in, arm looped through Pepper’s. “No. Nope, we’re not starting that conversation again. The cheese was great.”

Pepper doesn’t look overly apologetic when she shrugs and meets her fiancé’s eyes with a mischievous gleam in hers, “Sorry, honey, but you know she’s right.”

Tony tries to glare at her but stops once he takes her in fully: light rosé quilted jacket, dark grey knitted scarf and matching hat that highlight the twinkle in her blue eyes. She’s leaning against May, posture completely relaxed and content. He’s momentarily dazed, left speechless and with his mouth hanging open like a fish until Peter bumps into him pulls him from his thoughts.

He re-renders and blinks stupidly, much to Peter’s delight who grins up at him cheekily. “She’s a pretty big fish with this one tech conglomerate,” he mock-whispers, “I’m not sure you stand a chance.”

“Excuse –“ They turn the corner to be faced with an avalanche of lights that has Tony step in front of Peter immediately to block him from the worst of it even as he continues, “– me, brat? Who just paid for your bona fide Southern experience?”

“Technically –,“ Pepper pipes in, laughing alongside May who watches the exchange with a soft smile, and gets interrupted before she can finish.

“Et toi, mon coeur?” Tony’s hand comes to rest on his chest dramatically.

“Careful, your blue-blood is showing,” Peter rolls his eyes – again – and tugs on his mentor’s sleeve effectively pulling the older man with him towards the Christmas market that starts right around the corner, “Come on, I wanna get oliebols before they’re closing.”

“First of all,” Tony starts, pointing his index finger at him, “Dutch is not a pretty language and you still managed to butcher that word. Secondly,” he lets his middle finger snap up, “The plural of oliebol is oliebollen and, thirdly –“

“Wait, so he speaks Dutch, too?” May asks Pepper behind them just as Tony finishes with a dramatic sigh.

“Thirdly, we’re not going anywhere until you close your jacket, Mister I-can’t-thermoregulate-to-save-my-life. Literally.”

Peter glares, “I’m not even cold yet.”

“That’s the point, stupid.”

“Hey, hey,” May stops them by taking a step towards them and positioning herself between the two men, looping her arm throw Peter’s, while Pepper comes up next to Tony. “Be nice. Both of you.”

The billionaire looks to his left, hoping find support in his fiancée’s ever loyal eyes and just finds her silently mouthing ‘overprotective’ at him. He scoffs and grabs her hand, mumbling under his breath, “Sorry for not wanting to have to drive home a human popsicle.”

“I heard that,” Peter pipes up from next to May somewhere but before Tony can reply something undoubtedly equally childish Pepper shushes him and leans into him with a little hum, repeating May’s words.

“Be nice, honey. You know you love him very much.”

He smiles, turning his head to press a kiss to her hat-covered head, “Hm. Sometimes I wonder why.”

And the thing is: They know he’s lying. And he knows they know. There’s nothing he knows with more certainty than why he loves these three dorks and their banter is part of it. He loves how none of them mince their words when talking back to him, loves how kind and dorky Peter is, how sarcastic May can be and literally everything about the woman to his left.

There’s a weird sort of lump in his chest when he lets himself think about it, letting the easy chitchat of his family calm his perpetually racing thoughts as they stroll along the street past dozens and dozens of booths selling food and art and Christmas spirit (both kinds).

They’re halfway to Peter’s favorite Dutch booth – that, according to him, sells the best oliebollen in New York City and, according to Tony, sells the only oliebollen in the entirety of the United States of America – when Peter suddenly stops in the middle of the street, holding up May with him.

“Oh no,” he whispers wide-eyed, zipper of his jacket in his hand in the middle of closing it, and looks up to meet Tony’s eyes who, together with Pepper, stopped and turned when he noticed something amiss. “It’s gone.”

“What is –“ he wants to ask, then stops when his mind catches up with the scene in front of him, “Oh.”

Peter turns to May anxiously, his hand still clasped around the zipper, his heart dropping to his stomach and his eyes burning. “I lost it. It’s gone,” he repeats and feels like crying which is ridiculous which makes him want to cry even more.

“It’s okay, baby, everything’s okay,” May immediately soothes him, pulling the unmoving teenager into a hug he doesn’t return, “We’re gonna look for it, okay? It’s okay.” He lets her soft whispers calm his violently galloping heart and nods his head slowly as he counts her breaths, shame still burning in his cheeks and hopelessness curling in his toes.

“It’s a small tin soldier Ben gave him,” Tony answers Pepper’s unspoken question quietly, “It’s always on the zipper of his jacket.”

The compassion in her eyes glistens for a moment before it’s replaced by a spark of determination and, in true Pepper fashion, she pulls away from her fiancé and drops her gaze to the ground. “Well, then we’re just gonna have to find it again, won’t we?” She says matter-of-factly and carefully starts looking around.

It’s that no-nonsense attitude that has Peter pull away from his aunt, hope slowly blossoming in his heart. “It’s really shiny,” he declares and drops his head too, slowly turning around and searching the cobbled road for his token.

“Well, that’s gonna be fun thing to do with literally a billion people trampling around this tiny street,” Tony utters but mimics their actions before he has even finished the sentence.

Together they start retracing their steps but have only taken three steps back towards the restaurant when a familiar voice pipes up next to them. “Boss lost another credit card or something?”

“Harold,” May smiles and greets him with a quick hug. Happy smiles and kisses her cheek, watching the group loiter around the street in amusement.

“This is not a joking matter,” Tony tells without looking up, “This is far more important. We’re looking for a shiny tin soldier about this size.” He indicates a size of roundabout 5 cm with his index finger and thumb. “Chop chop, earn your money, Hogan.”

“I want it to be known that I’m not on the job,” Happy mumbles but doesn’t ask any more questions. Instead he joins what is quickly starting to look like a hunt, hand intertwined with May’s gloved one.

“Maybe it’s –“ Pepper stops on the middle of the street, ignoring annoyed pedestrians as she does, and pokes at something with her shoe, then sighs, “No, that’s not it.”

“It could still be at the restaurant,” Tony suggests when he sees the hope flicker and die in his protégé’s eyes, “You probably lost it when you took the jacket off and it’s just chilling there until you come get it.”

Peter smiles at them kindly, the misery still lurking somewhere in his stomach but his heart lighter having his family drop everything to help him search. He even manages a half-hearted quip back.

And it’s not like it’s the end of the world, or like it’s the only thing he has left from his dead uncle or even the most important one to him but he still remembers him solemnly putting it on the zipper of his jacket when he was six years old and was afraid of taking the subway to school.

‘It’s okay to be afraid’ he told him then, ‘All soldiers are. But you have more bravery in your heart than fear and that, Peter, is the most important part.’

The quote joins the rank of a lot of others that Uncle Ben used to use to share his wisdom. May made good-natured fun of him for it on more than one occasion but her eyes would always soften when he sat him, skinny, lanky Peter, down to give him a lecture on life.

The tin soldier is a part of that and he always puts it on all his jackets to help him remember to be brave when he thinks he can’t. It’s his talisman, his lucky charm.

Rhodey joins them not much later, after having made F.R.I.D.A.Y. tell him why the penthouse was so ominously empty.

“You looking for your virginity, Tones?” he laughs, “I think you might’ve lost it somewhere in 19 –“

“Har-har,” Tony looks up just to roll his eyes at his best friend, “You are all goddamn hilarious. Platypus we got a BOLO for a shiny tin soldier. Tighten your shot group and make yourself useful for once.”

Rhodey raises an unimpressed eyebrow at him, watching in unveiled amusement as everyone else very slowly walks past them without so much as acknowledging his presence with more than a nod. “You’ve been reading military dot com again? So who’s the guy that’s gone AWOL?”

Tony high-fives him with a grin, then sobers and points to Peter, shoulders sagging a little when he won’t even look up from his search. “The squirt lost his lucky charm and now we’re trying to find it. Though I still think it’s in the restaurant.” He stops walking and squints at the cobblestones in concentration before dropping down into a squat and reaching for the shiny object he found.

“Candy wrapper,” he reveals eventually, and gets back up, feeling his own spirit sink as frustration settles.

“You should’ve seen the guy next to you,” Rhodey laughs, never taking his eyes off the ground, “He looked a little confused at first but then gave a nod like it was a completely legit thing for a grown man to drop down in the middle of a busy street to look at candy wrapper.”

“It’s a hobby, honeybear,” Tony shoots back, “Don’t judge.”

They reach the door of the restaurant then and Peter halts, as if he doesn’t really want to look because he’s scared to be disappointed if he does. Tony, noticing his inner turmoil steps forward, pats him on the back and then walks past him into the restaurant, heading straight for the table they had been sitting on not twenty minutes ago.

“Ah,” he smiles, pleased, and squats down again, “There you are, tiny.”

Triumphantly he picks up the tin soldier and its broken chain, grinning up at the new costumers sitting at the table who are gaping at him in disbelief. Which, you know, fair.

He shrugs and winks at them easily, “Sorry, my kid lost his lucky charm.” He watches them stare at him for only a second longer, already internally writing the new tabloid headlines after the exchange before turning around and presenting said kid with his find.

When Peter meets his eyes, he thinks he finally gets all the songs and stories about children’s eyes lighting up in the most magical way and he can barely get up and find his footing before the teenager is barreling into him in the most enthusiastic hug he has ever gotten in his life.

Tin soldier safely clutched in his hand he lets his arms wrap around his kid and pulls him closer. “Merry Christmas, squirt,” he whispers into his ear, “We’ll figure out a better chain in the lab tomorrow, whataya say?”

There’s a flash of light and instinctually Tony turns Peter away from the source of it before looking up and finding Pepper winking at him with a big smile on her face. He rolls his eyes and pulls the kid with him towards the weird bunch of people they call their family.

Before they can leave the restaurant to finally get those oliebollen, the waitress is calling out to them in a thick southern drawl.

“Merry Christmas y’all!”

#irondad #irondad fic #tony stark #peter parker #pepper potts #may parker #happy hogan #rhodey #ironfam #to cut it short #josis fic #christmas #kinda #merry christmas y'all

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facelessxchurch · 4 years

Note

What we’re your thoughts about the book?

Some asks were answered already in this post already so I just smacked those asks in here at the part where I talk about the topic in question, which is why the answer may not 100% fit the question.

Massive “Seasons of War” spoilers below the cut:

First off, of all, this book read like GoT/any zombie movie ever. With the necromancers being like the white walkers, Vile is the night king and daugar are the wights. even with the necromancers crumbling away after Vile got killed Tell me I’m not the only one seeing that.

I think there was a lot of fanservice and some confirmed headcanons in the book, which I really liked. Saracen magic got revealed, there was a return to the Leibniz dimension, the Vile vs Vile fight so many wanted finally happened (tho that was kinda underwhelming) and the Dead Men returned which I’m sure made a lot of people happy.

Ravel poisoning Saracen during the war and Vile being so powerful bc of being dead were two popular headcanons that got confirmed. And I am personally so happy that this book killed the ‘there is no sarcasm in the Leibniz dimension’ headcanon bc I bloody hated that.

Finally, Landy tries to please the old fans instead instead of what feels like purposefully pissing them off. I guess the phase 2 book sales weren’t that great so far (nice try blaming it on the pandemic, but no).

I’m also glad that the romance in this book was kept to a minimum bc The Val/Militsa kiss in the beginning, yikes, fanfiction has better written kisses than that. And the the dialog for the lesbian love triangle (bc for some reason Ms.Wicked aka Laura’s self insert is Militsa’s ex??) was cringy and stiff as hell, it felt more like first graders trying to do a dramatic play and not natural at all.

Surprisingly enough Mevolent’s and Serafina’s relationship seems to be the most healthy and romantic in the entire series and I have no idea if that was on purpose or if Landy just has twisted views on relationships.

I however am actually kinda happy with how Mev was written. He was sympathetic and charismatic, tho some of the stuff he did doesn’t fit to they way he’s characterised when he’s on screen (I know he is probably lying 90% of the time he speaks, but still). Like, banning all languages apart from English doesn’t seem like something a man who cares about culture, literature and art would do. It also seems kinda stupid bc those languages will be forgotten eventually and if they need an old text translated no one will be able to do it. Also, why English? Isn’t Mev old enough that his first/original language should be Gaelic? So weird. I have the feeling this was mainly done so Valkyrie (and with that the audience) can understand what the people on the continent are saying bc I very much doubt she understands/speaks any languages apart from English.

But I loved that Mev was also shown as insanely smart. He managed to outsmart Val multiple times. And I love how he doesn’t need his magic to fight, how quick and agil and skilled he is. So I take it that his fighting style is more based on agility and not getting hit, and he uses brute force only when forced into it (by Darquesse/the Unnamed). I was wondering about that bc his armor is made of leather and chainmail instead of metal plates which is considered light armor and not something a tank type of fighter would wear.

What really rubbed me the wrong way tho was when he was talking Tanith and Skul and more or less stated the war wasn’t a challenge anymore ever since Skul died. Or when he was talking to Val being like ‘you’re more powerful than I could ever hope to be’.It bothers me even more knowing that Val is based on girlfriend!Laura. Does really everyone and everything in-vers, even a big bad like Mev, rub Skul’s/Landy’s and Val’s/Laura’s ego? Big yikes.

Crespular Vies is surprisingly fun. At first I thought the two men going after the Obsidian Blade were hired by the Unnamed, but since that wasn’t the case, I think Crespular Vines hired them that so he could show up in time to save Omen and his friends. I think him opening up to Omen about being Skul’s former partner came too unprompted, too quickly and that he is trying to gain Omen’s trust so he can get close to Skul through him. I think another giveaway that that’s the case is bc one of the men Omen had to meet to get his brother back wore a Cleaver outfit and Vies gave that man probably the same reasoning Omen gave him.

That said Omen’s chapters were surprisingly enjoyable. By what I had heard of others I expected a sad sack that can’t fight worth a damn.

I’m not found of the Temper/Kierre stuff, it came out of nowhere.

Val is overpowered AF, it seems that she can get on Darquesses level with more practise/learning how to keep the doors open. She certainly needs to be nerfed.

Also I skipped the Darquesse chapters bc I’m giving negative fucks about her and the plague doctor.

The last 10% of the book were too rushed and felt like half finished thoughts.

Also I was kinda really bothered by the citizen of the Leibniz dimension. They were cartoonishly racist and it was very pretty black and white for the most part AKA everybody good is in the Resistance and all other sorcerers are evil/corrupt. That is also shown by there being children in the Resistance camp while there was no mention of children in the mage cities. In reality, most people are fairly mellow and it’s just a small percentage that is either really good or really wicked. I would have liked to see more racism towards mortals in form of apathy or ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’ like I’ve seen it from Serpine in DotL. You know, make it a little less black and white.

Also, I understand the mermaids, but the bats in Europe were random AF. Like, I would understand it if they were just in Romania/Transylvania as a nod to the Dracula-typ vampire legends originating from there. As a plot-device they weren’t really needed to keep the protagonists from flying bc the danger of getting spotted by necromancer by doing so should be enough of a threat to keep them on the ground. This might seem nit-picky of me, but the bats just seemed so bloody random to me like wtf????

And also bc I’m a slut for magical creatures, I would have really liked to see more of them than just daugar and giant bats. Some undead cut together and resurrected necromancer experiments would have been pretty cool tbh. Like whatever the hell this is.

Something like zombie bears would have also been acceptable, I mean, bears are fucking terrifying on their own, let alone when undead and decaying.

I’m kinda pissed at China that she wanted Skul to kill Nef, but it does seem in character. Of course I still don’t like it bc I headcanon as Nef, Eliza and China having been besties during the war (no matter what canon says, I’m keeping that headcanon). I’m surprised Skul didn’t let Wreath have Nef considering that. Then again, he thought Nef might still be useful. And he was right. I loved how Nef actually had an essential part in saving the world by throwing the bomb. So proud of my boi <3 But Skul refused to kill him even after that. Could it be that Skul is finally getting character growth and development? 👀

Aaaand, China’s continuing to be a tyrant. With Tanith’s sense of justices flaring up shown when he killed the city governor, Erato, and Nef being shown to go after people that betray him (Lorien) I think those two are being set up to go after China to kill her (and to probably kill Creed too). Imagine Eliza joining the team bc she want a piece of China too.

I feel sorry for Baron, but at least he got a few speaking lines this time around. Still, I really wanted Nef to save him. :C Like, he suffered so much before he died too considering he spend a year alone starving and thirsty with broken legs in the middle of nowhere wft, why is Baron getting fucked over like this? #BaronDeservedBetter2020 he is the only honorable person of all faceless followers and he’s the one that gets screwed over in every book he shows up in, why tho- 😭

Speaking of Nef, I absolutely loved him in this book, he was a delight and stealing the show whenever he was on the page, despite being used as punching bag through pretty much the entire book. If people have always treated him that way I can see why he turned evil jfc that poor man. Despite that, he was still being such a clever, funny and relatable bae <3 He’s described as ‘cynical, and nasty but also kinda cheerful’ and as liking to ‘needle’ people (aka trolling and roasting) by Val and that essentially describes every shitposter on the internet ever. And I so loved the way he roasted Saracen lmao

And how he’s so clever, like the Lorien part was my favourite scene closely followed by how Nef essentially talked Remus Crux into getting himself killed, just 👌 smart snek boi, I love him <3 Also I hope he keeps poisoning everybody thoughts against Skul like how he had already been doing it to Tanith, he’s poison in human form and that’s just my jam.

That obedience bracelet was kinda fucked up tho.

Why does this thing even exist? Aren't electro shocks or any other form of pain enough instead of shutting his nervous system down/rendering him completely defenceless? I feel like some messed up mage 100% used it to keep himself (sex) slaves at some point in time :/ Landy might have gotten that idea from some fucked up hentai. Even the implications of the name "obedience bracelet".... I can’t be the only one that got creepy perv vibes from that thing, right?

Btw what the fuck happened to Harmony? You know, Leibniz Serpine’s girlfriend. She hasn’t been mentioned again. Did she die? She didn’t seem too found of him in DotL, was she plotting against him and he found out about it, killed her and fled the Resistance? Or did she die prior to him leaving and it was part of the reason he left bc she was the only thing that had tied him emotionally to the Resistance?? Or Landy just forgot she existed. I would not be surprised.

Of course my biggest issue with this book was how he retconned Nef’s magic and how he took his trademark, his red hand, away, but more about that in a different post.

TL;DR: Nef was a delight even though he was done dirty. Mev’s scenes were a 50/50 split between good and bad. I actually liked the Crespulare and Omen chapters. The Unnamed was a disappointment. The last 10% of the book were to rushed and the final fights that were supposed to be the biggest were underwhelming. The rest is meh, didn’t really care tbh. Let’s be real here, I only bought this book bc Nef played a bigger role in it, anyways.

#skulduggery pleasant #seasons of war #seasons of war spoilers #review #book review #I hate 'read more'#but this got so bloody long #RIP mobile users #long post #Anonymous #answered

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that-shamrock-vibe · 4 years

Text

Movie Review: Birds of Prey (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review a week after the movie airs worldwide, so if you have not yet seen the movie do not read on until you have.

Characters:

Harley Quinn:

This is most definitely Margot Robbie’s signature role. Just like Johnny Depp has Jack Sparrow and Gal Gadot has Wonder Woman, Margot Robbie is Harley Quinn and I am not just saying that because she’s the only cinematic version we have.

I really enjoyed the “Galentine’s” movie angle as this movie was released around the traditionally loved-up holiday and Galentine’s is an anti-approach to it. But showing how Harley bounced back after being dumped by the Joker with the traditional break-up tropes of a bad haircut, partying, drinking and generally hitting self destruct was a lot of fun, particularly from Harley’s perspective.

Also the link with her roller derby hobby at the start of the movie showing how she’s moved on to the end of the movie when she uses her roller derby skills in a positive way was really great, and one of the few things I really like about her comics redesign.

As I said in my non-spoiler review, I thought Margot Robbie’s comedy as Harley Quinn had greatly improved from Suicide Squad to here, whether or not that’s better writers or Robbie’s own performance I don’t know. But Margot Robbie, to be fair to her, is funny when given the right material. Just look at how she delivered Brad Pitt’s acceptance speech at the BAFTAs.

But she had a lot of great one-liners and even character moments where it was just physical acting or face acting that just make me laugh every time I watch the movie, and I so far have seen it three times.

My favourite funny lines from her are “Run piggy run!” when she’s gunning down the GCPD officers with glitter rounds, “Does she have to keep running?!” when trying to chase Cassandra through the evidence room while also battling with the mercenaries looking to claim Sionis’ bounty, and when she is explaining why the main women of the movie need to team-up in the most realistic way possible ending with “...so unless we all want to die extremely painful deaths and let Roman go finger fondling around the kid’s intestinal track...”.

In terms of her silent comedy, I loved when she ran for the truck she used to blow up Ace Chemicals, Margot Robbie is a good drunk actor. The way she ran with her arms out but then momentarily stopped seeing the actual driver before continuing anyway, I’m cracking up now just thinking about it.

Also whenever she came across someone who was after her or she had an idea, the way she would sign or look confused or have her trademark devilish grin was fantastic.

In regards to her character development, I am beyond thrilled that they let Harley be Harleen in this movie.

During Suicide Squad she had one or two moments where she did analyse the team and especially in the extended cut she went through the group.

Here though right from the start with Roman in his club she lays out his psyche in front of him and in turn I believe throughout the movie analyses all the main players with the exception of Zsasz.

It did weigh in to the comedy but the fact she had an analysis for everyone so unique to them; Sionis with his insecurities, Canary being a harlequin of sorts, Montoya being stuck in the past, Huntress and her childhood trauma. It was all superb and exactly what I want from Harley.

Even psychoanalysing herself when explaining herself to Cassandra, how she was a psychologist working at Arkham before falling in love with her patient and helping him escape, then being arrested herself and becoming a member of the Suicide Squad, but escaping before being dumped. Serious and professional Harley is just as important to me as the wacky Harlequin of Chaos.

Also the fact she is still a dangerous character both with her actions and unhinged mind. She is a very calculating individual and that’s again a lot to do with her psychological background.

When she manages to save her skin (literally) with Black Mask by telling him she can get his diamond back from Cassandra Cain, the fact she’s clearly hesitant from just turning her over and simply wants the diamond, you can see the frustration in her when Cassandra originally refuses to hand it over before admitting she ate it.

Speaking of what I want to see from my Harley, her action sequences were so good. Harley is an acrobatic character and while we saw shades of that in Suicide Squad, here not only was she doing kicks and flips, but the way she used that baseball bat and her roller skates was everything for me.

Yes Harley with a mallet and a form of firearm will always be Harley, but this is old-school Harley and it works so well.

While I do think Margot Robbie’s storytelling style could be considered all over the place, in the context of Harley Quinn it is such a good narrative because Harley’s mind is all over the place.

I love me a cute animal sidekick and, while neither animals in this movie are cute (or real), I thought Bruce the Hyena was a great addition despite not really doing anything. If you’ve seen him in the trailers you’ve seen him in the movie.

I am hoping that some day soon they could afford to render two hyenas so we can finally get Bud and Lou on the big screen because Harley with her hyenas is such a great partnership.

Harley with a beaver on the other hand...I am just glad it wasn’t played up and used in cheap inuendos. It is slightly annoying that when her apartment was blown up, she had to save the beaver and even at the end of the movie, once it was revealed that Bruce was safe, the beaver was also there. I just don’t get the fascination with it.

Black Canary:

Jurnee Smolett-Bell, as I said in my non-spoiler review, is the breakout star of this movie for me. I know Black Canary quite well thanks to Injustice 2, the Arrowverse and even some animated properties, but seeing her in a more realistic setting rather than the suited up version was very refreshing.

Even the smaller moments for Dinah worked really well thanks to Smolett-Bell’s acting. For example, when that one guy roufees Harley and tries abducting her, the look on Dinah’s face as she’s deciding whether or not to get involved or not was really great.

Giving Black Canary some good action sequences was also the right thing to do because that’s partly what Canary is known for. Not only did she have some great kicks but it was just her attitude and her bravado about how she engaged in her fight choreography.

Also allowing her to sing, I haven’t talked about the music in this movie because while I do love some of the songs used here it wasn’t a lot to rave about, “Man’s World” may be slightly too on the nose for this movie but Smolett-Bell delivered it very well.

And let’s not forget the other way her voice was used, we have our Canary Cry and I am thrilled...mostly. Having it used once at the end of the movie and that’s it does seem like a bit of a waste, but it does make sense with in the context of this movie.

Black Canary is the only metahuman in this movie and on the team and so if she used her power all the time there would be no need for Huntress or even Harley.

However, the fact she fainted after using it once I found interesting. I am not taking the same approach as some by saying it was stupid because I feel the way Dinah’s story is told in this movie that she may not use it a lot and so she may not be vocally trained or durable enough to sustain.

On that note, the nod to Dinah’s mother, aka the original Black Canary, originally being a vigilante with the same Canary Cry as Dinah I also felt played into Dinah’s character. She knows what her mother was like and the fact she died, so of course she didn’t want that life and so didn’t use her power which is why it’s so overwhelming for her.

I do wish her outfits had been more Black Canary-esk. I would have loved more fishnets and definitely a leather jacket rather than that weird disco suit jacket she had on for a lot of the movie.

However, the gold trousers and matching boots were fabulous.

Black Mask:

Ewan McGregor can do no wrong for me really, there is just such a charm and charisma about the actor that I can’t help but like him in everything he is in.

That being said, I will say I know nothing about Black Mask from the comics other than he is a psychologically damaged crime lord. I do not believe he is this campy but I am sorry it works for the movie.

I did like how the movie played up Black Mask’s insecurities which Harley diagnosed at the start of the movie. When that one woman was laughing and he thought it was at him so decided to humiliate her, then later on when Zsasz revealed that Dinah betrayed him and he just flipped.

I’m not entirely sure if Black Mask is this misogynistic in the comics but it seems to be that every woman in this movie was at his mercy. At the start of the movie he clearly had a begrudging relationship with Harley because of her association with The Joker, however, after it was revealed that she had been dumped it seemed like he wanted her but then it’s revealed he just wants to kill her.

Bottom line, Roman Sionis was definitely a dangerous individual and Ewan McGregor played that brilliantly, but there was also a campy and somewhat sadistically comedic edge to him which gave way to a rather brilliant DC villain.

However, the very fact that his tenure in the DCEU is short-lived given that he was literally blown up at the end of the movie, it is sad that we will never see him going forward.

Also on the subject of his actual mask, I know it’s supposed to be welded to his face or something, I’m kind of glad it wasn’t but do wish we had seen it more throughout the movie. Also I feel it would have popped more with the white suit rather than the black, just saying.

Huntress:

While Mary Elizabeth Winstead was a great choice for Huntress here, I do feel that the movie missed a trick and a way to bring other strong female characters into the movie.

Alright so the movie honours Helena’s origins of being the daughter of a crime boss whose entire family is murdered and so she trains to become an assassin and comes to Gotham seeking vengeance.

However, how great would it have been if, rather than Sicily, if she was trained by either the League of Assassins or even Lady Shiva herself.

I know that this is more of a Cassandra Cain origin, which they still didn’t do, but it would have been a great way to tie-in these characters and also show a bond between Helena and Cassandra being raised by the same woman maybe.

Then also, if Black Canary and Huntress do get their own spin-off, Lady Shiva could come in as an antagonist and it would see Huntress going up against her old mentor.

I do think that Winstead did a good job with what she had, I am hoping that Huntress is meant to be socially awkward because that’s definitely the vibes I got from her.

I appreciated her tracksuit attire because Gotham is meant to be in New Jersey and it’s a very gangster Jersey attire.

I hated her last outfit though right at the end, loved the mask but that actual outfit was hideous.

I do see a future for Huntress going forward which is great, I’m not as disappointed with the character as I thought I would be.

Victor Zsasz:

This was an interesting conundrum of a character for me because, like the other two left on this list, if you don’t read the comics or watch the TV shows with these characters in, you’re not going to know who Victor Zsasz from this movie.

I will say, having seen the actor’s transformation from how he normally looks to his Zsasz look, it is a very impressive change and does fit in with the Suicide Squad level changes made to the characters.

Unfortunately though this is where the impressiveness stops. Yes, Zsasz is an assassin and I did like how they confirmed that he works for various employers, despite the fact it seems that the crime boss who had the Bertinellis killed was in fact working for or with Sionis so was Zsasz just on loan?

But the misogyny of the character was so cringe-worthy and at times unnecessary that it actually makes me side with the fans who put misogyny as this movie’s biggest problem, despite knowing logically that is not strictly true but I do accept it is one of the big problems.

For instance, it is implied that Zsasz only cuts himself to tally the number of women he’s “set free” as opposed to everyone he kills...that is not how Victor Zsasz is supposed to operate. He gives himself a point for every person he kills, that’s what makes him such a terrifying and grotesque adversary.

Okay so I know Anthony Carrigan on Gotham also didn’t go deep into that side of the character, but they didn’t have that Zsasz single out women either.

Also, when he paralysed Harley with that dart and then was effectively playing with her while she was unresponsive...I get she was still aware but even so where I thought that scene was going to go was both unnecessary and only added to why fans were laughing when Harley started repeatedly stabbing Zsasz with that same dart despite him already being dead.

I did like the subtle LGBT representation they tried to showcase with him and Sionis, because even if Sionis wasn’t reciprocating, this was a case of one guy crushing hard on another and feeling he knew what was best and wanting to protect him. That I liked and they played that rather well in my opinion.

But overall, I just didn’t feel that threatened by a supervillain who is essentially the living embodiment of torture porn. I know he cut off people’s faces and had visible scars, but there wasn’t a lot of anything else to make me believe this was the same Victor Zsasz that can easily inspire nightmares just by looking at him.

Cassandra Cain:

I’m just going to put this out there, I don’t know that much about Cassandra Cain. From what I have been told, she was someone who became Batgirl, I know in Young Justice she is in it as Orphan despite I don’t think ever speaking or having her real name revealed, and I know her mother is Lady Shiva.

Which brings me back to a potential storyline going forward for a Black Canary/Huntress TV series to feature Lady Shiva which could also include the return of Cassandra Cain...because I don’t think we need to see her again in the movies.

It is very harsh to judge a child actress, but much like Zsasz honestly if you are unfamiliar with Cassandra Cain as I am you would not really have much takeaway from the character based on this movie.

I also recall there being reports that Margot Robbie stole Cassandra Cain from the upcoming Suicide Squad as a plot point...but now I want to know what the original plan was for Cassandra Cain in The Suicide Squad and if James Gunn would have handled her better.

There just wasn’t a lot of depth to her character. She had a broken arm, potentially from her foster parents, but other than that she was just so angry all the time. She tried being sassy particularly with Harley but it fell flat.

Then in the climactic battle, she is the girl everyone is after to either kill or protect, but in that fun-house scene, as cool as the action was, Cassandra was essentially a hot potato going from character to character and it reminded me a lot of The Jungle Book when Baloo and Bagheera were trying to keep Mowgli away from King Louis and the monkeys.

I don’t really see the point of Harley having an apprentice either, I like the idea that she’s a free agent with no ties. Now that the Birds of Prey are formed she can float between helping them out and doing her own thing or going on another Suicide mission but the point is she rides solo...how are we going to explain where Cassandra is in The Suicide Squad?

Renee Montoya:

I continuously keep calling Rosie Perez’s character Maggie Sawyer because, in my opinion, this is who she is most like, not Renee Montoya.

Renee is young, determined and the woman who can stand alongside Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock. She comes from the same origin as Harley Quinn which is Batman: The Animated Series. Yet so far the only incarnation to get her right outside of that has been Batman: Bad Blood where she had a minor appearance as Batwoman’s love interest...which is actually supposed to be Maggie Sawyer.

I said how Cassandra was played as angry, Renee was simply one of these rather aggressive soccer mom characters, especially in that final battle.

She had her funny moments and I do understand where the movie was coming from in trying to show how she was hard done by because of her male colleagues always stealing her glory, but this is a character who again led GCPD missions when Gordon and Bullock were detained in the past, yet I am not getting that essence from this character.

Also Renee, like Maggie Sawyer, is an LGBT character, but while her ex-girlfriend was shown here, if it wasn’t for Harley narrating that fact you would not know they had that history.

I don’t understand why she also became a founding member of the Birds of Prey, I get that in the comics she has been a liaison between them and the GCPD, but to actually quit her job and fight alongside Black Canary and Huntress? There is a third member needed in that line-up but Renee Montoya is not it.

DCEU Connections:

I will keep calling this universe the DC Extended Universe because until DC itself makes up its mind I am going to stick to what I know.

So in the wider scope of the DCEU, this movie definitely is a follow-up to Suicide Squad, not only because of Margot Robbie’s Harley and the flashbacks we saw of her diving into the acid vat from Ace Chemicals, but also the cheeky Easter-Egg of Captain Boomerang’s wanted poster at the GCPD.

I don’t understand why Captain Boomerang is wanted by the GCPD particularly when he is supposed to be a Flash rogue but I just loved seeing Jai Courtney getting some love.

Also, when the women are suiting up to fight Black Mask and his army, we see Black Canary equip herself with Harley’s Good Night bat from Suicide Squad but also Renee pick up Harley’s “Daddy’s Little Monster” shirt from said movie which Harley takes back as “sentimental value”. I love little connections like that.

In terms of where this movie could branch out to, again I do see a Black Canary/Huntress series in the future maybe including Cassandra Cain and Renee Montoya as guest characters, but movie-wise aside from Harley returning, I don’t see any of this lot coming back.

Also, despite Arrow severely screwing this over, the Black Canary/Green Arrow relationship I could see happen in a TV series but the way they have developed this version of the character I do not see Dinah needing an Emerald Archer in her life.

Overall I rate the movie a solid 7/10, I know I rated Suicide Squad the same and have said this was a better movie, but with everything that DC is pushing recently like Wonder Woman and Aquaman I expected something at that level rather than Shazam! level. Maybe if we got a Gotham City Sirens movie the mark would be higher.

So that’s my review of Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC Movie Reviews as well as other reviews and posts.

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sharpnothashtag · 3 years

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Chapter 41, The Good Ship CrushWay

If you’re keeping track at home (as I’m sure none of you are) this is the beginning of season three! This began as an idea back in the summer of 2018, when I read all of my friend’s CrushWay fanfic (a considerable amount) in one day. (https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophieD?fbclid=IwAR3H_Q6kcXZThegwEHFBsggHvRXzjNORwNCBTAWq-Fmzmxp5yD1XXrCdO70) I thought to myself: “What if I took that ship and MADE IT MY OWN?!” Out of that was birthed whatever this has become. It has been a great source of solace and silliness in 2020, which could have used more of both of those things. As a general PSA, I should probably state here what I’ve said multiple times in conversation about this fic: I do not claim that this fic is actually any good. It is, however, a ship-ton of fun! (Author’s note: I’m ret-coning something from the very very first episode. It is the year 2375. The first episode occurs in 2373.) With that being said, let’s start off season three the way it should be started: with a Data episode!

Data is practicing violin in his quarters. His doorbell rings.

Data: (putting down his violin) Enter. Bev: (entering, clearly excited) I got it! Data: (mirroring her excitement) May I see it? (Bev nods excitedly. She pulls out a golden band with a single emerald in the center.) Was it altered? Other than it being sized, of course. Bev: It was my idea to include her birthstone, but her father’s ring was just the perfect idea. I am a bit jealous that I didn’t think of that before Gretchen mentioned it. Data: Kathryn will love it. Beverly, may I pose a semi-rhetorical question to you? (Bev giggles a little and nods.) Who would have thought that you would be marrying again--and for that matter, marrying someone younger than you? Bev: (feigning insult) You don’t have to rub it in. (small smile to show that she’s kidding) Just because Kate is 39 and I’m...(she can’t bring herself to say it) Data: 51 years, two months-- Bev: Yes. Somehow I always forget that you do that. Now...is everything prepared? Data: Yes, Beverly. The crew is to report to the Promenade at 2100 hours to celebrate. Worf and DeAnna are making a trip for this occasion. Bev: He’s been baking, hasn’t he? Data: Yes. He seems quite pleased with his efforts. DeAnna is, of course, supplying a chocolate bar of sorts. Bev: Wesley said he’s bringing his dom-jot board. (Data moves his head in a very Data way.) What is it? Data: I made a connection I had not made before. Wesley is twenty seven now, correct? Bev: (blinking, realizing Wesley is older than she was when she had him) Yes. Well, 26. His birthday is next week, though. Data: And he is coming in on the Rogelio with the graduates of Counselor Troi’s program? Bev: Yes, the academy is hosting the graduation. Wesley has been catching up with Boothby for a few days, so he decided to go to the graduation to support Patrick and then come back here for the party. What is the connection? Data: You know about Kathryn’s new post, correct? Bev: Of course I do; it’s OUR new post--all three of us. (impatiently) What connection did you make, Data? Data: One of our newest academy graduates is coming to be a part of the crew. Their name is Daneel Akares. Bev: Hmm, strong Bajoran name. Why him, though? Data: Them, Beverly. Bev: Sorry, them. Why did you make the connection from them to Wesley? Data: They have the same January 11th birthday. And they bear a striking resemblance to Wesley. Bev: ...is that all? Data: No. There is one more curious similarity. Bev: Which is? Data: When Daneel was 13, they ran away to go undercover to the Cardassians in disguise. Bev: (horrified) They’re a Zoma Devo’tá? Data: (gently) They were. Daneel did some damage, escaped, and returned to their parents. Together, they fled to an underground shelter, built ages before the occupation. While they were there, the story goes that Daneel built an undetectable communications system, where they could intercept messages from the Cardassian military and alter them to redirect troops away from Bajoran forces. They became an exceptional strategist--unparalleled in tactical skills. From there, the story turns to legend. Bev: Legend? Do tell. Data: The Traveler appeared. Bev: The Traveler? There’s a name I haven’t heard in ages. Data: One day, there was a bit of a cave-in. Daneel had managed to fit a few families into their shelter, and the militia had been leaving food at an undisclosed location. Each night, one person would sneak out of the shelter, retrieve the food, and bring it back. It was Daneel’s turn. When Daneel was almost to the food, the Traveler appeared. Bev: What did the Traveler say? Data: The Traveler said he was looking for you. Bev: Wait. Me? Me, Beverly Crusher? Data: Yes. Bev: Why me? Data: The Traveler noticed you were caught in that warp bubble Wesley created, and he was looking for you to try to get you out. Daneel was greatly frightened. Bev: Did their emotions activate the sequence? Data: Yes. This is frightened them even more. The Traveler realized he had frightened Daneel and reached out to touch them. Something in his touch diffused the bomb. Bev: What happened then? Why did The Traveler appear there--Starbase 133 isn’t close to Bajor at all. Data: As no one completely understands The Traveler’s ways, I am unsure. As for the next part of the story, Daneel is the only living Zoma Devo’tá. Maybe when they get here, you can ask them. They are the Chief Tactical Officer. Bev: That’s a big position for a recent academy graduate. Data: As I said, they are unparalleled in their tactical strategies. They are said to be unorthodox. When dealing with the Borg, that is sure to be an invaluable trait. Bev: Well, it sounds as if our newest crew member is sure to be a wonderful addition to the team. I’ll see you later, Data--I should really go prepare to propose now (smiling broadly). Data: I will see you on the Promenade this evening! The best of luck to you, Beverly.

Beverly grins, nods, and exits. Data exits and reenters the room with an easel, one featuring an almost finished impressionist rendering of Bev and KJ holding hands and walking in the snow into the Northern Lights..

Data: First Officer’s Personal Log, Stardate 37044.763. Today, two of my friends are getting engaged. I have spent several months challenging myself to paint in an impressionist style, and Kathryn encouraged me to paint the Northern Lights. As their wedding gift, I am playing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” on the violin and then unveiling this painting. I am looking forward to getting together with this crew tomorrow morning for our first briefing on the new assignment. While not a crew of traditional taste, the people promise to pose an interesting dynamic for my first real venture into command. Serving under Kathryn Janeway with me are several returning crew members from the Enterprise and a few from Voyager as well: Communications Officer Seven of Nine, Security Chief Tasha Yar, Chief Engineers Miles O’Brien and B’Elanna Torres, Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher, Ensign Tom Paris on the helm, and Ensign Ro Laren at the conn. While we are unsure of our need for one, we also have a ship’s counselor on this voyage: Patrick TusNua. His new last name is Gaelic for “New Beginning.” I cannot think of a more fitting way to begin his journey.

Data finishes his last brush stroke and hangs the painting on the highest point in his room. He eyes Spot, who is licking his paws.

Data: (picking up Spot) This is up. Up is no. (Spot struggles, so Data lets him go.) Bev: Dr. Crusher to Data. Data: Proceed, Doctor. Bev: Data, could you come to my quarters right away? I need your help with something. Data: On my way, Doctor. Bev: Data? Data: Yes? Bev: Would you bring your violin? Data: Of course. Data out.

Bev and KJ’s quarters. Bev is sitting on the ground, rocking back and forth in an attempt to calm herself down. Data enters.

Data: Doctor, would you like me to help you up? Bev: No, Data. Would you come sit with me? (Data sits down, laying his violin at his side. Bev takes a deep breath.) What if she says no? Data: (confusion) Kathryn loves you. Bev: Yes, but what if she doesn’t want to be with me in that way? She’s going to be the Captain, after all. She shouldn’t be compromised by her feelings toward her crew, especially if one is her wife. Data: Most species are compromised by feelings toward their loved ones. Humans especially, in my experience. Also, I believe she understands the risks she would be taking. If she did not understand that risk, she would not have accepted the command. Bev: What if I’m too old for her? Data: (moving his head in a Data way) She has made absolutely no remarks to me about your age, and you have not told me of her mentioning your age at any point in your relationship. Bev: I know she hasn’t mentioned it, but it’s 12 years. That’s significant. Data: It is only significant if you require it to be. Beverly, Kathryn loves you for who you are: age, Wesley, depression, dead husband, and all. I do not know if she will say yes, but it is highly probable that she will respond in the affirmative based on her past behavior patterns. Now, why did you ask me to bring my violin?

Bev has laid out a trail of rose petals to the bedroom, where she is sitting in the center of a heart made of fresh-cut roses with the ring next to her. Data is standing in the corner, tuning his violin. KJ is walking down the hall and sees a padd on the ground outside the door to her quarters. It says, “Ring the doorbell first.” She shrugs and rings the doorbell. A few seconds later, the door opens to Data’s playing, accompanied by the computer’s piano, trombone, and saxophone trio: “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley. KJ follows the trail of rose petals to Bev. She kneels down with her.

Bev: Kate, I’ve tried to plan out this speech. I’ve tried to quantify in words how much I love you. I’ve tried to make this some inspiring, sweeping declaration and it never comes out the way I want it to. But, I’m 51 years old, and I am lucky enough to have found a woman better than my wildest dreams. We...fit. And I don’t want to spend another day of my life without you by my side. (pulling out the ring) Your mom gave me your father’s ring and her blessing. I had it sized for your (teasing) tiny fingers, and I put your birthstone in it. KJ: (wiping a tear away) It’s perfect. Bev: Will you marry me, Kathryn O’Dell Janeway? KJ: (nodding, putting the ring on) Yes, of course I will. (Kiss) Thank you, Data. Data: You are welcome. I will leave now to allow for you to have time alone. Congratulations.

The Promenade: Miles, Molly, and Keiko, DeAnna, Alexander, and Worf, Tom and B’Elanna, Tasha, Ro, GJ, Wesley, Patrick, Seven, and Data are waiting impatiently.

Miles: Data, when are we starting, again? Data: 2100 hours, Chief. We have two minutes. Miles: Shouldn’t we be hiding, then? Ro: Don’t be an idiot, Miles. It isn’t like she doesn’t know it’s coming. GJ: As her mother, I honestly don’t think she does. Tasha: I agree. She knows most of us are on board, but in her mind, we’re here to be briefed on our mission and to disembark next week. Miles: If we’re going to hide, we need to do it now. Ro: I’m not hiding. Alexander: Come on, Ro. Please? Ro: It’s something one would do for a child! Alexander: So, do it for me? Ro: (taking a second to ponder. Since she has a soft spot for Alexander) Okay. Let’s hide!

A fair amount of commotion as they all try to hide behind various furniture. Since it’s the Promenade, there’s not much to hide behind. Worf comically stands directly behind a fichus that does not remotely hide him. As Ro and Alexander crouch down behind the jumja stick cart, they run into Tasha, who has curled up inside the cart and looks extremely uncomfortable. Wesley crouches behind a chair, and Seven lays down flat behind a very long ottoman. A door opens, and Bev and KJ are holding hands, KJ clearly not expecting the lights to be off.

KJ:...The hell? Computer, lights! Everyone: Surprise!

Tasha tries to pop out of the jumja stick cart and ends up tipping it over in the process. It lands with a big crash. Worf knocks over the fichus, and dirt flies everywhere. Seven sits up suddenly, and she knocks her head on the edge of the ottoman. KJ laughs a bit too hard at all the ridiculousness, and Bev runs to Tasha to make sure she’s ok. Since Wesley is closest to Seven, he springs up to help her. GJ, also laughing far too hard, goes over to her daughter.

GJ: Congratulations, Katie. Your friends/crew love you so much that they decided to injure themselves in an attempt to surprise you. KJ: I’d have it no other way.

Tasha is ok, but definitely has a concussion. She and Seven go to Sick Bay for a quick healing and then return to the party.

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