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nadia-cannot-think-straight · 4 months

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This is more or less a speculation, not a theory.

I have read some pretty decent post act 3 Arcane fanfics, yet one thing always bothers me a little bit about them. It is an obvious thing that Viktor will return to Zaun at some point, like this is inevitable. The same goes to his falling out with Jayce. Many people have created some cool scenarios on how it will happen, and i appreciate every single one of them.

With that said, i really cannot imagine Viktor getting banished as an event that starts it all. For a simple reason.

I don't think Viktor would have been bitter about it.

With the way he acts in the last episode of season 1, i believe that he'd think it was deserved. The thing he could be charged for would be an illegal experimentation and the manslaughter of Sky Young. Things he feels so guilty about he tried to off himself. He has very little time left, and if the trial is a necessary procedure, he'd probably accept it. Would he be upset? Of course, but i don't think he would even try to put an effort to avoid it, once people find out. And at the peak of panic in Piltover after Jinx's attack, the whatever the hell is left off the council would try to ensure that there is still at least a renmant of government control. Just like in act 1, that was literally the reason why Enforcers were trying to arrest 4 kids.

If anything, i think it would be Jayce who'd be the most desperate in this situation. "He'd be mad at Viktor for killing an innocent person" he literally did the same thing (if you think about it, Jayce have killed so much more people besides that kid, we just don't discuss it because in the show they are presented as scary monsters, not human beings that got drugged the hell up and now have their entire ripcage obligarated. But y'know, that's the point of this scene). "What about Viktor's illegal experimentation?" What Jayce did with Vi was also kinda illegal? I mean, he is a councilor, he can do whatever the fuck he wants ig, but before hand it was clear that other councilors would not want that to happen.

I imagine that Jayce would do anything in his power to cancel this trial. Viktor is his best friend, person who he has such a close bond to. And while what he did was wrong, he isn't much better. Yet it is Viktor, his dying friend, who is punished.

I can see Viktor actually being like: it's okay Jayce, it needs to happen, i will be okay (he's lying but trying).

So yeah i don't think that Viktor being banished to Zaun would be a death blow to their relationship.

Buuuuut you know what would probably make more sense (at least to me :3)?

Viktor's punishment being working on hextech weapons against Zaun.

Think about it. Jayce in an act of desperation convinces other councilors that as a co-founder of Hextech Viktor would be a viable asset in designing weapons that would "protect" Piltover against Zaun.

Well wouldn't that make Viktor absolutely fucking furious. Viktor may have ****kinda**** accepted his death but making him work AGAINST the city he spend his entire life wishing to improve and protect? Over his dead body, he'd rather be eaten alive by rats in Undercity alleys than do such a thing.

It works for me much better because it keeps Jayce's character much more consistent. Like, it's understandable why would he do it (he doesn't want his friend to die) but also highlights his change in priorities after season 1. Like, he told Silco that Undercity doesn't stand a chance against Piltover, and well, one rocket proved hin wrong. Now there are dead people in Piltover. I think he'd be more radical, more bold, maybe even less forgiving and 100% stressed af.

Does he want to keep Viktor safe? Yes. But does he find building weapons is now necessary when they are at war? Also yes. And considering the "I'M from the Undercity" scene he also tends to forget that Viktor is not, in fact, Piltovan, that as much as he loves Jayce, he does not associate with Piltover society. He is from Zaun, it is an important part of his indentity. Something that Jayce keeps neglecting.

It also doesn't change the fact that he still feels guilty over the death of that ONE child. Not the countless men in chemtanks, that are as much victims of Undercity's terrible state as Viktor is really. I think that when he'd make a decisions "a necessary decisions to keep them saved" he'd think about them, scary, crazy monsters with blades. Not that one kid. Kid feels so much more personal, people who attack them-not.

I'm not saying that is how the conflict in season 2 will look like, nuh-uh, it's just me making some fanfiction prompts lmao.

Anything could happened since them. Viktor trying to sabotage their work which would end up in an explosive and dramatic break up once Jayce finds out? Yep, i can see that. Add some fire and leave Viktor crying on concrete floor, now we have some nice parallels. But i can also see Viktor fucking off right there and there, or other stuff i dunno.

So yeah i have fanfic ideas.

#txt #arcane #arcane viktor #jayce talis #jayvik #arcane spoilers #fanfiction prompts #i guess #???#divorce era #just me brainstorming tbh #btw yes i didn't mention hexcore at all #i just didn't thought it was relevant to this specific plot point #but this shit could probably mess up some stuff too #i am sorry for every grammar mistake too #me not native english speaker me stupid

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hbyrde36 · 19 days

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Chapter 2: Into My Heart

Written for the @strangerthingsreversebigbang

Art below and here by @glitterfang

Beta'd by @penny00dreadful

Rating: E | WC: 4371 | Chapters: 2/2 | AO3 Link

CW: Smut

Eddie tucked the bottle of whiskey, concealed in its nondescript brown paper bag, under his arm—freeing his hands to unlock the apartment door. Wine just wasn’t going to cut it tonight, he’d decided on his way home. Disappointment to this degree called for something stronger, and as luck would have it the liquor store was a convenient stop on his way.

“Honey! I'm home!” He called out, kicking the door closed behind him hard enough to shake the walls.

Chrissy startled, jumping about a foot in the air from her seat on the sofa. “Do you have to do that every time?”

He grinned, tossing his keys on the little table they kept by the door.

She flipped him off.

Their apartment was small, its entrance, living room, and kitchen all essentially one big room, and he could feel her eyes tracking his every movement as he crossed the space. Wordlessly he took a rocks glass out of the cabinet and sloshed about a shot and a half's worth of amber liquid into it from his newly acquired bottle, and downed it all in one go.

Could he have just used a shot glass? Probably. But this way was classier, and he liked the feel of the heavy bottomed cup in his hand. He’d drink the second one a little slower, maybe even add some ice.

“Well, that’s not a good sign. Hard session?” Chrissy asked.

Hard.

A manic laugh bubbled up from his throat as he thought back to the beginning of his appointment with Steve. “You could say that.”

“That’s… concerning.” She mumbled, upending her wine glass to catch the final drops before setting it down on the table. “Might as well just bring yourself and that bottle over here. Come sit, tell me all about it.”

Eddie was too keyed up to sit. He paced back and forth in front of the couch as he went through the whole thing detail by detail. He wasn’t sure what the ethics were of recounting the entire interaction for her, particularly the sensitive bits—about Steve's sensitive bits, but he supposed there was no such thing as tattooist/client confidentiality.

“Maybe she’s just like, a really close friend?” Chrissy said when he was done.

“No, Chris. I'm telling you, he basically called her his soulmate. You should have seen the way he glowed when he talked about her. It was like his whole stupidly-fucking-pretty face lit up from the inside.”

Chrissy groaned, taking a swig directly from his bottle, like a heathen, and slumped down in her seat.

“I want thaaaaat.” She whined.

Eddie plopped down hard next to her, heaving a sigh. “Don’t we all.”

In an attempt to put it all out of his mind and enjoy what was left of his Friday night in peace–-without being plagued by thoughts of cute little moles and dazzling hazel eyes, Eddie changed into comfy clothes, queued up the next episode in their Drag Race rewatch, and cuddled up next to Chrissy. Unfortunately, as hard as he tried to concentrate on the queens and the drama unfolding on the screen in front of him, he couldn't stop thinking about Steve. Not even the Snatch Game could hold his attention.

Apologies to you Jinkx Monsoon, Eddie mused regretfully. It’s not you, it’s me. You were wonderful.

After much hemming and hawing, and one too many woe-is-me sighs from his side of the couch, Chrissy yanked the remote out of his hand and hit pause.

Rude.

“Did you have something you needed to say, princess?”

Eddie grumbled. “I just wish I didn't have to see him again.”

“That’s dramatic.”

“What if you did it for me?”

“What? The tattoo?!”

“Come on, I'll owe you one—a big one. Just, I dunno, we'll let Steve show up for his appointment and then you’ll tell him I’ve got, like, food poisoning or whatever, and didn’t want to have to cancel on him at the last minute, so you’re going to finish up his color. I’ll show you the sketches—It’ll be great. It's more your style than mine anyway.”

Chrissy raised both eyebrows, crossing her arms over her chest. “Sounds like you’ve got it all worked out, Munson.”

“So you’ll do it?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Come on.” Eddie slid down to the floor, falling to his knees in front of her and lifting his hands in prayer. “Please?”

“No! This is ridiculous, Eddie! I can’t believe you’re even considering… What's the big deal anyway? So you thought he was cute, you both flirted a little, so what? Now you can’t even face the guy?”

She narrowed her eyes, staring down at his, admittedly, pathetic display. “You didn't do something embarrassing did you? Is there more to this story than you're telling me?”

“No.” Eddie reared back, giving up his wide-eyed begging which was clearly not working on her—damn lesbians and their immunity to his boyish charms—and pulled himself back up into his seat.

She hummed suspiciously.

“You don’t understand. He’s like, perfect.”

“Aww,” She cooed, wrapping him up in a one-armed hug. “You really have it bad for him don’t you?”

Eddie leaned into her, pouting. He couldn’t even argue.

She flicked his bottom lip. He flinched away.

“Ow!”

“No pouting!”

She huffed a laugh, but when he didn’t crack her mouth turned down into a sympathetic frown. “Are you absolutely sure there’s no hope?”

“Chris, he’s covering up one woman's name with a bird to represent another. He’s taken—and an idiot. A very hot, very sweet, kind to kids and old ladies, idiot. It’s over, that’s it, no chance.”

As if to mock the way he was dreading their upcoming appointment, the next six weeks flew by for Eddie in a blur, and before he knew it the day had arrived. It was another Friday afternoon appointment, apparently the only time Steve was available between his work schedule, spending time with his D&D loving adoptive brother, and whatever other altruistic endeavors he got up to in his daylight hours. Probably saving kittens from trees and shit.

At least he wouldn’t have to go through it alone this time, Chrissy had promised to stick around whether she had a client or not, though, he wasn't naive enough to think she was doing it solely out of the kindness of her heart. Oh no, she wanted to get a look at Steve with her own eyes and see what all the fuss was about.

Eddie paced back and forth in his studio, arranging and rearranging his supplies and setup as he watched the clock tick down to Steve’s arrival.

“Oh my god, since when did you become so high strung?” Chrissy gaped at him from the doorway.

He wondered how long she’d been watching him freak out.

“I don’t fucking know, alright?!” Eddie hissed, sitting down heavily in his desk chair. He picked up the color mock up of Steve’s tattoo, the one he’d be using as a reference, and ran a finger along the edge. “He just… I dunno, he weaseled his way inside me and now I can’t shake him.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Gross.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”

The bell above the front door dinged, the sound carrying into his room, and Eddie peered back at the clock. Ten minutes early—the boy was punctual, he’d give him that.

Chrissy smiled mischievously, darting back out to the lobby. Eddie raced along behind trying to catch up, knowing full well it would be a bad idea to leave her alone with Steve for any length of time. She’d probably try to interrogate him or something.

Eddie locked eyes with the man of the hour the moment he slid around the corner, his shoes squeaking on the linoleum. An easy smile spread across Steve's face. He looked genuinely happy to see him, but that was probably due to the prospect of finally getting his tattoo finished.

“Eddie,” Steve released his name like a sigh of relief. “It’s good to see you.”

It sounded like he meant it, and If Eddie didn’t know better he’d think Steve had also spent the last 6 weeks pining, and thinking of their time together obsessively.

Until this moment he had held out hope that maybe somehow this time would be different. That maybe going into it knowing that Steve wasn’t available would make it easier to deny the pull he felt, but then he cast his eyes down and realized Steve was wearing those same fucking Levi’s again.

It’d been weeks. It could easily have been a coincidence, just the next clean pair of pants in his rotation, but there was no way Steve didn’t know what he looked like in those unholy jeans. Had he done this on purpose?

Either way, Eddie didn't know whether to be grateful for the view, or throw himself out the window into oncoming traffic.

Chrissy cleared her throat loudly.

Shit. He’d been staring too long again.

Eddie shook himself mentally. “Steve, this is Chrissy.”

“Nice to put a face to the name.” She said, giving a little wave.

Steve's eyes slid briefly to Eddie, narrowed and curious. Probably wondering why he’d told her about him at all.

He was gonna kill her.

“You too.” Steve said with a quirk of his brow. “Eddie told me how you two met and opened this place together. Must be great to get to work with your best friend everyday.”

“Could be worse I guess.”

Eddie cut her a hard look. “Don’t you have some cleaning to do?”

With a smirk, Chrissy winked at Steve, then mercifully did head off towards her own studio.

“We should go get started.” Eddie said, leading the way to the back to his room. “Sorry about her.”

Steve chuckled. “She seems nice. I think Robin would like her.”

Eddie clenched his jaw, turning away to hide his scowl. “I’m sure she would.”

Steve knew the drill now and took off his shirt without being asked, getting comfortable in the chair while Eddie slipped a pair of gloves on and pulled his stool over, examining the healed lines of the half-finished tattoo.

He hummed, impressed. “You did a good job taking care of it.”

Steve shrugged, but Eddie noticed the way he preened a little at the praise. “I did exactly what you told me to do.”

Fuck.

There was just something about a man who followed directions.

Eddie took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly through his nose. He was going to give himself whiplash at this rate.

He prepped Steve’s skin in silence and got right to his task, trying to focus on the thrumming of the machine, instead of the rise and fall of the other man’s chest under his gloved hands—thankful that Steve didn’t seem to be having the same reaction to the initial pain that he had before.

“I told Dustin about you.” Steve blurted out after a while.

The sudden sound of his voice, as well as the words themselves caught Eddie off guard.

“What?”

Steve’s body flushed and Eddie flicked his eyes up, finding a matching shade of pink spreading over his face. “Yeah, I'm pretty sure he thinks you're the coolest guy in the world now. A tattoo artist and you play D&D? I had no chance.”

“Oh.”

Eddie went quiet, not sure what he was supposed to do with that—with any of this. He got back to work, hoping Steve would leave it there. He didn’t want to be rude, but he also didn’t want to play whatever game this was anymore.

“Are you okay?” Steve asked. “You seem… I don't know… different today?”

Eddie could have said, how would you know, you’ve only met me once? Or, we spent a few hours together, why do you care? Or something else equally passive aggressive, but… Steve wasn’t wrong and Eddie wasn’t in the business of gaslighting people.

Telling a little white lie though? That was fair game.

“I have a headache, that’s all. It’s fine.”

It was fine. He just needed to do his job and get this over with.

But of course, Steve had to be perfect and sweet about that too.

“I’m sorry. I get migraines sometimes, so I get it. Doc says it’s from getting knocked in the head one too many times playing high school sports. I was very dedicated.”

Steve laughed a little at himself, and Eddie couldn't help but look up again to see the way his eyes crinkled with it. Steve tilted his head, mouth turned up at the corners as he gazed down at Eddie. “Doesn’t seem worth it, in hindsight.”

Despite trying not to, Eddie smiled back and could feel himself getting drawn in again.

He forced himself to turn away.

“Are you sure you're alright, though?” Steve continued. “If you're not feeling well–”

“I’m fine. I'm not going to mess your ink up or anything, don’t worry.”

“Hey,” Steve said tenderly, waiting until Eddie had stilled the machine again to lay a tentative hand on his upper arm. “I wasn't worried about that.”

“Oh.” Eddie swallowed a gasp, feeling like his skin was on fire under the touch.

“We can reschedule if you need to, it’s okay.”

Fuck, Steve was entirely too thoughtful.

And what was Eddie even doing? Trying to be cold and aloof, pretending to have a headache to explain why he wasn’t talking? It wasn’t fair to the guy. It wasn’t Steve’s fault he’d developed an extremely inconvenient crush—that he couldn’t handle a little innocent friendly flirtiness without losing his mind.

“No. I promise I'm–”

I’m just an idiot.

“I, uh, took some ibuprofen before you got here. I’m already feeling better.”

Finally, Steve let it go, allowing Eddie to get back to work without disturbing the quiet between them again. At least now the silence was almost comfortable.

Art by Glitterfang

The time went by quickly. Eddie did glance up every so often to make sure Steve was okay, always surprised to find the other man’s eyes fixed on his face, rather than the tattoo, making Eddie’s stomach flip each time.

The finished piece was beautiful, and honestly Eddie thought it might be some of his best work, even if it wasn’t his usual style. After a thorough cleaning he held a mirror up so Steve could see it better. He teared up a bit as he inspected his reflection.

“It's even better than I could have imagined.” Steve turned away from the mirror to face him, smiling and looking so sincere it made Eddie’s heart ache. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. I’m really glad you’re happy with it.” Eddie bit at his bottom lip. “Well, you already know your care instructions, so i’ll get this wrapped up and you’ll be good to–”

Steve cut him off abruptly. “Do you… um, I mean, could I get your number?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Steve.” Eddie said, heart hammering in his chest. He couldn't do this. He didn’t want to only be Steve’s friend, and if somehow the other man wanted his number for more than that, well, he didn’t want to be a homewrecker either.

Steve deflated, looking hurt, which was a little ridiculous considering he was the one with a whole-ass girlfriend. “But I thought maybe… since we’re done now, and I’m not a client anymore–”

“Look,” Eddie interrupted. “It’s sweet that you want to be friends or whatever, but–”

“No, I–”

“Knock-knock” Chrissy sing-songed, appearing in the doorway rapping her knuckles on its frame. “There’s someone here to see Steve.”

Saved by the bell.

“We’re about done if you want to tell them to just–”

“Great, I'll send her in!”

Her?

Eddie was gonna kill Chrissy, for real this time.

Worst. Friend. Ever.

A very cute girl with a chin length bob bounced into the room. Eddie got as far as noticing the spray of freckles across her nose and cheeks before he had to look away, using cutting down a square of Saniderm to the correct size as an excuse.

She wasn’t quite what Eddie had pictured as the girlfriend of a gym bro—okay, Steve wasn’t exactly a gym bro but Eddie was allowed to be salty about it in his own mind if he wanted to—but to his dismay, they made a nice looking couple.

“Hey Dingus, how’s it going?” She said.

Odd term of endearment, but okay.

“Eddie, this is Robin.” Steve said.

“Yeah I figured that one out all on my own, thanks.” Eddie muttered, rolling back up to Steve on his chair with the bandage in hand.

Steve furrowed his brow, staring from Eddie over to Robin and back again. Suddenly his eyes went wide. “My roommate, Robin.”

��O… kay?” Eddie shrugged, ducking his head to start covering the tattoo. Weird fucking way to refer to your live-in girlfriend, but whatever. He was over it. He just wanted to get the happy couple out of his tattoo shop so he could go home and–

Eddie sucked in a breath as Steve lightly gripped his arm again. He looked up, ready to be annoyed—the audacity of this guy to keep flirting with him, right in front of his girlfriend, but stopped short when he saw the soft pleading look in Steve’s eyes.

“My best friend, platonic with-a-capital-p, lesbian roomate, Robin.”

Wait, what?

“Wait, what?!” Eddie nearly shouted.

He whipped his head around to look at Robin again. He’d only glanced at her before, not noticing much more than her hair and denim jacket, but on closer inspection he saw her neatly trimmed manicure, and the fact that she was wearing men’s jeans with a carabiner holding her keys hanging from one of the belt loops.

None of those things were a guarantee of course, plenty of straight women also kept short nails and had masculine leaning senses of style, but when he spotted the pink, white, and orange stripes of the lesbian flag stitched into her lapel, he figured that was as sure a sign as any.

“Oh.” Eddie breathed, turning back to Steve.

“Yeah, oh.” Steve parroted back softly, his mouth spreading into a tentative smile.

“B- but I thought… and the tattoo!” Eddie stuttered.

“Is that why you were acting so weird? Because you thought Robin was my–” Steve shook his head as if that very idea were unthinkable. “You thought that I was covering up my ex's name with a new girlfriend?”

Eddie squirmed. “...No.”

“Eddie?”

“Well, what was I supposed to think?!”

“Oh shit, were you jealous?!” Robin blurted out.

“Robin!” Steve hissed.

“Oh I'm sorry,” she said, tilting her head side-to-side, the words absolutely dripping with sarcasm. “Was I supposed to pretend the tension in here wasn’t thick enough to choke on?”

Eddie bit his tongue, locking eyes with Steve. Steve broke first, letting out a loud but very adorable snort of laughter.

Robin’s face went bright red, realizing what she’d said.

“Birdie, can you just give us a minute?” Steve asked her, when he’d regained control of himself.

“Fine,” She sighed. “But I'm only going because Chrissy said she’d pierce my nose for free.”

“Slut.”

“Shut up.”

Robin moved to leave but paused on the threshold, looking back at them over her shoulder. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” She called out, taking hold of the knob and pulling the door to his studio shut behind her.

Eddie wasn’t sure it’d ever been closed before.

“So, when you asked me for my number?”

Steve nodded. “It was because I wanted to ask you out.”

“I’m such an idiot.”

Steve reached out to tuck a stray curl behind Eddie’s ear. “Does that mean maybe you’ve changed your mind about me calling you?”

Eddie eyed up the now closed door and let himself do what he’d wanted to since the first time Steve sat shirtless in his chair, and climbed up onto it, straddling the other man’s lap.

“Is this okay?” He asked, hovering his mouth over Steve’s, close enough that a hard thought would have their lips brushing.

“Yes.” Steve whispered, leaning in to close the almost non-existent space between them.

It was tentative and unsure at first, the way Steve’s lips moved against his own, testing—tasting, but then he whined, a high-pitched and needy sound deep in his throat that went straight to Eddie’s dick, and opened his mouth wide.

Eddie took it for the invitation it was and licked inside, their tongues sliding together as their bodies did the same, grinding and making out like a couple of teenagers in the backseat of a car, both growing hard.

Suddenly Steve broke the kiss, panting, “Wait, wait, wait.”

“Shit. Sorry, I shouldn’t have–” Eddie tried to climb off but found himself held firmly in place by Steve’s broad hands on his waist.

“No, please. I just need to know… is this only a hookup for you?” Steve asked once he’d caught his breath. “It’s okay if it is,” he added quickly. “I just hoped–”

The rest of Steve’s words were lost to a gasp as Eddie ran fingers through his hair, gently tilting his head to the side for better access to the other man’s speckled neck. Eddie scraped his teeth gently over Steve’s pulse point, licking up the column of his throat to speak low and close to his ear. “While I do fully intend on sucking your dick here and now, if you’ll let me–”

Steve whined again, hips thrusting up and into Eddie of their own accord.

Eddie shuddered, pressing a kiss to the skin just behind Steve's ear and finally sat back, looking him in the eye. “I’m not really into hookups, not anymore, and I would love to take you out after.”

Steve's eyes fluttered, watching heavy-lidded and open mouthed as Eddie slid down his body until he was eye level with the obvious bulge in his pants, nosing over it.

“Not before?” Steve croaked out, struggling to speak as Eddie teased him mercilessly.

Eddie rested his cheek against Steve’s denim covered cock, looking up at him through the thick curtain of his lashes. “Sweetheart, I've been dying to get my lips wrapped around you since the first time you got hard in my chair. If it’s alright with you, dinner can wait.”

“Fuck.” Steve bit down on his bottom lip and wound a hand into Eddie’s messy bun, nails scratching at his scalp.

“So, what do you say?” Eddie asked, smoothing his hands up Steve’s luscious thighs, resting them on either side of his fly as he waited for an answer.

Steve brought his other hand down to cup Eddie’s face running a thumb over his cheek. “It’s a date.”

Eddie grinned, making quick work of Steve's button and zipper, working his pants and underwear down just enough to let his hard length spring free.

Fuck it was pretty.

Not that that was a surprise. Everything about Steve was pretty.

Eddie flicked his tongue out, tasting the tip of him, dipping his tongue into the slit to capture a bit of precum that had spilled out.

“I’m not going to last very long.” Steve rasped.

“How long has it been since someone touched you?” Eddie asked, pressing an open mouthed kiss to the pink head of his cock.

Steve whimpered. “Too long.”

“Don’t worry, baby. I’ll fix that. Just sit back and let me take care of you, okay?”

As much as he wanted to take his time and enjoy the feel of Steve sitting heavy on his tongue, for hours or days, those thighs pressing in on either side of him, Eddie was acutely aware that Robin and Chrissy were within earshot, and the door Robin had so helpfully closed did not have a lock. Quick and dirty was probably for the best.

Hopefully he would have many more opportunities to enjoy Steve at his leisure, assuming their date went well.

Eddie sank down, keeping his lips tight around Steve’s shaft as he took inch after inch of him inside, until he was nose deep in coarse curly hair.

It’d been a while for Eddie too, since he’d been with anyone like this, but it was like riding a bike, once you’ve mastered the art of taking a cock down your throat—you never forget.

Steve gripped the back of his head harder, not quite holding him down the way Eddie really wanted him to, but enough to let him know he was there. Eddie moaned around him as he began to bob his head, setting a rough pace that had Steve making the most debauched sounds above him.

“God, m’so close already, Eddie.” Steve cried out in warning, taking his hand away to give him the option of moving back. As if he’d waste the opportunity to taste him.

Eddie doubled his efforts, nearly choking himself for how deep he took Steve down, swallowing around him over and over again until finally he came—hot and thick and a little bitter, but oh so wonderful.

He didn’t pull off until Steve was soft in his mouth and writhing from oversensitivity.

Steve immediately pulled him back up into his lap, crashing their mouths together, moaning into the kiss when he undoubtedly caught a taste of himself on Eddie’s tongue.

Eventually Eddie broke the kiss, helping Steve tuck himself away and wiggle back into his jeans. He ignored his own arousal, content with this moment being all about Steve, anxious to keep his promise about taking the other man out on a real date.

“So, where would you like to go? What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?” He asked, settling himself back down into Steve’s lap once his clothing was back in place.

“What if instead we went back to my place,” Steve began, pulling him in close, dragging his lips over Eddie’s collarbone as he spoke. “I cook for us, you let me return the favor, and you can take me out to dinner next time.”

Eddie sucked in a sharp breath as Steve palmed him where he was already so painfully hard in his own jeans. “Already planning a second date?”

“And a third and a fourth. Is that okay?”

“Sounds perfect.”

#steddie fanfic #stranger things reverse big bang #tattoo artist eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #stranger things #eddie munson #steve x eddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #steddie fic #chrissy cunningham #robin buckley #strbb

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noirvette · 11 months

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WE NEVER EXISTED

[band smau]

[SEVENTEEN]

masterlist.

prev. | next.

cw: talk about depression but no in depth detail.

Heidi sighed, nervous. Nichole had asked her to meet up and she had no clue about what. Well, she had an inkling but she hoped it wasn't about the podcast episode that went up yesterday.

She was surprised to hear of Cartman hosting ANOTHER podcast episode today. Normally they only did one episode a week, sometimes two if it was a particular exciting week but even so that had at least a few days in between.

"Heidi."

Heidi looks up and sees Nichole, "Oh! Nichole hey!"

"Cut that shit out, did you know?" Nichole asks and crosses her arms.

A look of shock runs over Heidi's face briefly, "Wh? What are you talking about?" Heidi stutters.

"Y/n. And Kenny? Hello? The podcast last night? Did. You. Fucking. Know?" Nichole grits out.

"No! NO! Oh my god I swear I had NO clue whatsoever!" Heidi exclaims, "I wouldn't EVER have participated in that podcast if I knew what Cartman was planning, I swear!"

Nichole stares down at Heidi with a hard stare, "Heidi. Be straight with me here."

"I am! I am! Nichole oh my god please believe me." Heidi pleads.

Nichole clicks her tongue, "You do the logistics behind that podcast Heidi. Sorry I'm a bit apprehensive to believe you, there's no way Cartman orchestrated that entire episode ON his own."

"Okay.. okay look, I don't know how Cartman had this whole thing planned, I didn't even expect Red to show up at the stupid podcast either and share her piece. If I had known ANYTHING I would've shut that down so quickly, Nicky you have to believe me." Heidi speaks quickly, voice softening a bit at the end, cracking.

Nichole sighs and sits besides Heidi, "Then how did Cartman of all people, get this information.. and HOW did he do this."

Heidi racks her brain, "There..there was a mystery caller, uhhh.. a while ago, said they had some world shattering news or something stupid like that to Cartman. Asked if... if uhh.. if friends or fame was more important? As like, like a test of sorts," Heidi plays with her hands unsure of how to continue, "Do.. do you think whoever that was.. may have had the information?"

"Well.. we could assume that caller was Red?"

Heidi ponders that for a second, "The caller sounded male.. I mean there was a voice changer on it but it didn't sound like Red on a voice changer.."

"So there's someone else out there that KNEW Red and Kenny had a thing going on..but why tell Cartman? Why not gather the evidence and go straight to Y/n?" Nichole wondered aloud.

Heidi shrugs, "I wish I knew.. listen if I knew that Cartman had that information I would've started unplugging everything. I literally walked into the studio and Cartman was already hosting the episode and there sat Red.. and before I knew it, Cartman and Red were already talking about Kenny."

"I saw the podcast episode, I thought it was somewhat scripted that you were coming in shocked, listen I'm sorry.. Y/n is in a state of despair and I just.. I know coming to you accusatory wasn't right of me but.." Nichole sighs, "I want to figure out who is trying to hurt Y/n and for a second there I thought maybe you were the one or at least knew more information.. I'm sorry for the doubt Heidi."

"It's okay Nichole! I'd be the same way, I've been trying to figure out who the caller was but Cartman won't let up with the information."

Heidi pauses, "Oh my god! He's going live right now!"

"He's.. what." Nichole slowly raises her head to look at Heidi.

"Yes! He's got an episode planned right now! A live one? I think. I told him I was busy today and couldn't attend and he just waved me off and let me go."

"Can you guys BELIEVE, Reify? Canceling the rest of their state tours! Have you guys even gotten your money back?" Cartman asks the group in his chat.

Cartman loves this section of his live podcasts, the part of it where he turns to fans to ask them questions. People asking him HIS thoughts on matters and in turn him asking questions (and only choosing answers that fulfill his hateful agenda) has always validated his need for fame, for status.

"Oh thank you mm_panles for your answer; you say you HAVEN'T gotten your money back?" Cartman hums, "Well that's a shame! Seems like Reify are a bunch of greedy money hungry bastards huh? Well.. I'm certain we can see why."

Cartman continues reading the chat of the current, ignoring any comments that allude to how Reify has returned the money for those who are returning tickets.

"Yo, chat look at the user connor_conned, look at what he said haha, fuckin loser." Cartman snickers, munching on a small bag of popcorn as he continues reading.

"Right well," Cartman clears his throat, "Reify certainly has let down a lot of people. Speaking of letting down people, let's all give a shoutout to Kenny McCormick for possibly being the BIGGEST let down of the centuryyyyyy, bro does not know how to keep a woman."

Cartman munches on popcorn before continuing, "Speaking of, you gotta hand it to him, he managed to get not only Y/n L/n, a BASSIST for a band, albeit it being Reify, but also Red McArthur, a MODEL, everyone give him a round of applause real quick."

Cartman stifled a laugh as the chat split in two; people actually giving applause emojis and people going "bro that wasn't funny".

Rolling his eyes at those who claimed he wasn't being funny he sighed, "If you guys are gonna be lame this time you're free to leave. No one wants you hear anyway, chat boo the ones being lame as hell right now."

Cartman's phone started ringing, "Oh jesus christ, sorry everyone call ale.." Cartman trails off, before chuckling, "You guys are never going to believe who this is.." and the chat goes insane trying to guess who the caller is.

Cartman pauses for dramatic affect before continuing, "Stanley fucking Marsh."

Stan and Clyde couldn't help but sit in silence trying to figure out the mess that is going on. The friend group was in rough shambles, with many people blocking Kenny, Stan not being one of them, not that anyone but Kenny probably knew that.

"Dude.. has Y/n said anything to you? Anything at all?" Clyde asks.

Stan shakes his head, "No bro, nothing. Kyle and Nichole both said their attempts haven't worked. I just.." Stan sighs.

Stan is in a state of complete chaos. He has no clue how you're feeling right now, you've gone through so much in the past few weeks.. too much for one person to handle. Stan had no clue how he'd react if all of this happened to him like how it has for you.

Stan thinks back to the stalker, in all honesty it'd been on his mind ever since it happened and he's been slowly trying to figure out who the stalker could be in his mind... and with the bulletin board in his room.

He knows for sure it couldn't be Kyle, Clyde, Nichole, Bebe, or Wendy. He knows for sure it's not Kenny anymore nor would it be Red considering recent events. He knows Craig and Tweek are out of the picture for that, considering they had no reason too stalk you NOR would they ever, plus their alibi was tight.

Everyone else was up for debate..but Stan was so tired of the mess, of the drama that he hasn't given the stalker much of a thought.

"..ude? Yo! Stanley Marshhhhh." Clyde drawls on.

Stan perks up, "Hu..? Oh Clyde sorry man what's up?" He scratches his neck awkwardly.

"Nice dream huh?" Clyde jokes, "Listen to this shit, Cartman's going live."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me.. let me see that." Stan reaches over to grab Clyde's phone and checks the tweet, "Oh my god. That little bitch weasel."

Clyde takes his phone back and opens the link for the podcast and starts watching it. Stan moves himself closer to Clyde and they listen in on Cartman's ramblings as he talks about the disappoint that Reify is for their actions of canceling the rest of the tours.

Clyde scoffs, "Classic Cartman... bank on everyone's misfortune. Like always."

Stan feels anger bubbling underneath his skin. How dare he. How fucking dare he. This was all Cartman's fault.. well Kenny's for cheating in the first place but Cartman's out here airing everyone's dirty laundry like he doesn't have a mountain of horrendous shit underneath him.

How dare he drag Reify through the mud? Stan's pride and joy? This band is his family and Cartman just comes through knocking down everything Stan has done to help build Reify? Everything Kyle has done? Clyde? Nichole? Y/n?

Y/n...

Stan feels his anger dissipate, he can hear Clyde continuing to rant about how awful Cartman is but his mind is on you again. What if you saw this? How would you feel? None of this was your fault but he was sure you had heavy guilt that you're the reason for this.

He texts you quickly, another "Please tell me if you're doing okay, I'm here for you Y/n, I need to know you're doing okay." and sighs. There was no way you'd respond and he knew that. He just was hoping.

Unfortunately he lacked a key to go over to your house and a part of him assumed that if he went over there, there's no guarantee you'd let him in even. He knows the feeling too well of self wallowing pity, of being self deprecating, of depression.

He sighs and looks back up at Clyde, who is still on a rant about Cartman, Kenny now included and he can't help but feel a twinge of guilt for not blocking Kenny like everyone else.. but he can't bring himself to end years of a friendship.. not quite yet.

"Let's call Cartman." Stan pipes up.

Clyde looks at him confused, "The fuck? Why would we waste our energy on that bozo?"

Stan shrugs, "Cuz, I need to tell him how much of a bitch he is."

TAGLIST: @captivq @kimiesstuff @bwljules @the-cooler-kira @1one1person1 @kenny-the-ken @neenieweenie @n0tangeliccc @frogindisguise @revzxn @mirophobic @gonefiishiing @musiclovebot @bootsieboo @ryenwritess @bonez4brainz @s0l4riss @1996kj @sweetadonisbutbetter @scinclaitnoir @okarigold

#we never existed series #south park x reader #kyle broflovski x reader #kenny mccormick x reader

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ouraboras · 14 days

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Ranking Alucard's Designs, Best to Worst

I've had a rough day and feel like being mean. These are just my opinions. Some rules:

I’m not counting each game a character appears in unless the design is noticeably different. I don’t count different art styles as a different design. I’m not counting the mobile game skins with two exceptions. For the most part it’s just him but purple. However, for your pleasure, joker Alucard:

Symphony of the Night

No surprise. It’s his most iconic design. He’s gorgeous. I enjoy how he wears a mixture of human clothes (the jacket) and more stereotypical vampire clothing like the cape. Same with warm colors with black and silver.

2. Grimoire of Souls

I love this design. I kiss it every night before I go to bed. I pray to it on Sundays. His waist makes me go feral. The only thing that bothers me is the brown lining. I wish they did something like the inside of his SotN jacket.

3. Moonlight Rhapsody – Outfit 3

I know absolutely nothing about this game. However, I love this skin. In my head when I imagine Alucard pre-Dracula betrayal this is it. The collar is a bit silly but I can look past it. I love the sleeves. The only critique I have is the brown and we’ll get to my feeling on Alucard wearing brown. But on this outfit, it’s not too bad.

4. Nocturne

They gave him his gay little neck ruffle back nature is healing. I wish they kept the details on the coat, but I’ll happily take the trade. I like his face.

5. The cancelled Dracula’s Curse movie concept art

I need to know what the context behind this would have been. The skirt, the pauldrons, his bloody hands, HIS HAIR PUSHED BACK. The only thing I dislike is his black nipple.

6. Aria and Dawn of Sorrow

I like the suit. The red pocket square is nice. I think it is a really interesting choice for it to be red rather than yellow as a callback. I love the choice to make him resemble Dracula pre-vampirism. All of his color has been drained and replaced with black and red. I go back and forth on if I hate or like (for symbolic reasons) his tie-neck ruffle thing. But none of that is my real problem with the design. His shoes are hideous. The heel is good. He deserves a little heel. But what is going on with the white. It's ugly and going to be a bitch to keep clean. His slacks are too long. He’s a government agent, he can afford to go to a tailor.

7. Season 1 & 2 of the show

I dislike the shirt. I’m not a big fan of how they drew his face either. But I like how they gave him Trevor’s chest scar.

8. Captain N

He’s so rad. But to be honest, Captain N Alucard has a special place in my heart. I remember when this was the closest thing to an animated series Castlevania had. It being this high is purely my nostalgia. I highly recommend watching the episode. It is pure 90s camp.

9. Season 4 of the show

Whore.

10. Grimoire of Souls – Blood and Loyalty

I can’t find a better look at this skin. He’s apparently dressed as a samurai. I like this purely because his hair is up. I don’t see enough of that. (artists pls you’d be doing the world a service)

11. Lords of Shadow 2

The only thing I like about this design is the coat. The dark blue with gold looks really good. I don’t like the belts, but I can ignore them. My issue is the armor. I hate the bronze so much. The armor on one hip is ugly. The ONLY thing that salvages this crime is the fact this Alucard is wearing the highest heels. This looks like an MMO armor set.

12. Judgement

I only unironically like 2 of Judgement’s designs. This is not one of them. I dislike it purely because of how boring it is. They put Simon in bondage gear, gave Trevor a boob window, and made Sypha a Catholic magical girl. But Alucard has to be more modest than the actual child. They could have fun with this but didn't. The most interesting thing about this design is they made a vintage couch into his cape.

13. Dracula’s Curse

This is Alucard’s original design. It’s just your standard pop culture vampire. I like his little owl hair tufts.

14. Legends

I’m fine with changing up Alucard’s design. Hell, we got SotN because of changing it. However, why is he blue? It’s not this illustration either he is just light blue for some reason. I like the short hair. I think it’s a cute way to show this game takes place in the past. But again, purple? Really? His necktie is not doing it for me either. It looks really bad.

15. And finally, last and certainly least: Pachinko and Moonlight Rhapsody

The faces? Good. Hair? Good. But for some reason they made his coat brown. At LEAST for pachinko they had some gold gauntlets and brown gloves instead of his sleeve cuffs. But whatever fucked up person at Konami did the design for MR kept the sleeve cuffs. It’s not like there is the excuse of ‘Oh the inside is black’ because it’s yellow. Now you might be asking: Why is this the worst? I have similar issues with other designs. But here is the thing, they all did something new. This is just your standard SotN Alucard with a color palette change. It looks like a recolor skin but it’s the main one. It's a bad change but not one bad enough to not be boring.

#castlevania #castlevania nocturne #alucard #alucard tepes #castlevania games

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romancomicsnews · 10 months

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8 Characters who should appear in Young Justice Season 5

Hoping and praying for another season of Young Justice is something I'm very used to.

After its initial cancelation way back in 2013, Young Justice was revived for a third season on DC Universe, DC's attempt at a streaming service, and lived past that to get a fourth season on HBO Max.

It is now under hiatus with no current plans at a fifth season.

I however will continue to remain hopeful for another season. Young Justice (with the exception of the Harley Quinn animated universe) is my favorite version of the DC Universe. With an exceptional voice cast, a focus on younger more relatable heroes, and a realistic political element to a superhero world, Young Justice cements itself not only as one of the best DC animated shows, but one of the best pieces of superhero media.

So while I have nothing but time until Warner Bros sees the gem that they have and give us a fifth season, I thought I'd pitch the characters I'd most like to see in the next season.

Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti, if you're reading this, know if you don't put these in, I trust the season will be great anyway.

But you know, consider it!

*Spoiler Warning for Every Season of Young Justice*

The Bad Boys of the Bat Family

Let's start with the obvious!

Jason Todd AKA The Red Hood has been teased ever since Season 2, and while has made a few appearances, we have yet to see the menace he can be to both Bruce and The Bat Family.

I particularly want his story to tie in with Tim, who has only been seen to be the loyal soldier to Bruce. This can be an opportunity to reflect upon the life, and how Bruce's trauma trickles down.

Another Bat pairing I'm itching to see is Damian Wayne and Nightwing. The blood son and the favorite son can lead to some fun comedic beats and a lot of tension for the team.

Whatever team they decide to position Damian on, it could lead to disaster. Damians presence can also lead to less trust amongst superheroes, as he is a known killer, and Robin is a pretty public title in the Young Justice universe.

The Forgotten Sidekick

Sometimes even sidekicks need sidekicks!

For those not in the know, Gear was an original character for the DCAU show Static Shock, Virgil's best friend Richie.

Using technology, including a robotic backpack and flying boots, he was simultaneously Virgil's guy in the chair and right hand man in the field.

Static has been on the show for multiple seasons, but really hasn't had much to do since season 2. Giving him a protege of his own while paying homage to what came before.

Speaking of what came before...

The Final Titans

Who doesn't want a Titans reunion?

In Season 3, Cyborg was introduced into the fold and Beast Boy was given a much more expanded role. Ever since, I've been waiting for the Daughter of Trigon and the Tamaranean Princess to arrive.

An episode where the 5 Titans meet for an impromptu mission would be a lot of fun, perhaps battling one of their classic villains like Brother Blood or Deathstoke!

In the long run, both characters fit very well into the already established universe.

Raven would make an interesting member of Zatanna's Sentinels of Magic, and Starfire would be right at home with Forager and Miss Martian as aliens on Earth.

Would it be fan wish fulfillment? Absolutely, but Young Justice has done it before. In Season 4, Razer of Green Lantern Animated Series was given one of the best episodes, continuing his arc to find Aya.

I'm not sure how you could get all these characters and one of the Robins together for a mission, but I'll leaving the writing up to the experts.

The Incompetent Time Traveler

We've had the Legion, we've had Bart, but we have yet to have a time traveler who has no idea what he's doing.

Enter: Booster Gold.

Booster Gold is a fan favorite character across comics and animated media. He is a failed football athlete in the 25th Century, who steals tech in the future to pretend to be a hero in our time.

The character is soon to enter James Gunn's DCU, and recently made his Arrowverse debut in Legends of Tomorrow, played by Donald Faison, right before the show got cancelled (I bring this up mainly because he deserved a shot at voicing him and it could be a fun nod).

Boosters interference with the timeline could lead him to the worlds only time traveling expert, Bart Allen, effectively making him the Outsiders responsibility.

The character also leaves the door open to potentially a big bad, and maybe even thee big bad of the season....

The Professor

Much like General Zod and the Kryptonians became an overarching threat for Season 4, making it a Superboy/Superman focused season, I think it's high time the Speedsters of the team have a new threat.

Professor Zoom or the Reverse Flash is Barry Allen's greatest enemy. Another future man of the 25th Century, Eobard Thawne was a brilliant scientist, so opposed with The Flash, he decided to become his greatest enemy to become part of the story.

Reverse Flash has quite a few similarities with Bart actually. Future speedster hoping to be a part of the story and change the timeline for "the better". It would be an interesting rivalry between them.

While I would like him as the big bad of the season, I understand we JUST did a time traveling menace

My potential pitch would be Reverse Flash needs access to our time now for a power source, something to bring his power to the next level. Something or someone with Speed Force to spare, making him a battery for Eobard. So I believe Reverse Flash has returned to the past to get...

The Prodigal Son

Did I write this piece just to pitch a Wally West return season?

Yes. Yes I did.

Young Justice has left just enough wiggle room for Wally to return. We never hear about his soul, we never found a body, and Wally has been trapped in the Speed Force in the comics before.

Most notably, The Speed Force has not been mentioned yet. Currently, I don't believe any speedsters actually know it exists.

Eobard showing them the speed force and releasing Wally to drain his power, only to be foiled by the team, would not only bring back Wally, it could make him the Fastest Man Alive.

Wally becoming the Flash could be his arc of the season, which I argue would’ve been his destiny if Bart didn’t save Barry’s life.

Giving us a Wally with a power boost, lost time and lost love could lead to a lot of drama and potential for storytelling.

And of course, an Artemis/Wally reunion is well in order.

Again, if none of these characters make an appearance in the next season, I’d still just be happy there’s a season at all.

But time will tell if I’m right.

If you'd like to support me you can:

Follow me at www.facebook.com/romancomicsnews

Follow me on Twitter @diegoleonroman

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mdhwrites · 3 months

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Honestly It's quite disrespectful and insulting, how Dana cared more about her beef with Disney than making a good show for the fans who supported her, some even financially. I've had it with her extreme fans raging to people when she's criticized for her obvious lack of care on S3 (the story in general), spamming and blaming on Disney and the shortening. Now that's revealed it wasn't Disney's fault for "ruining S3" since there was no S3 to begin with, that just puts more salt on the wound.

And lying about having plans for S3, what was that about? Stirring more hate on Disney? I find that pitiful and pathetic. If fans are gonna get mad at her from this revelation they have the right to do so. Toh should've stayed in the drafts or be written as a freelanche comic

Edit: I do think this person is too harsh on Dana as a person. I'm curious even what they mean by financial support from her fans (her charity livestreams? Unless she does those more often for personal gain but those people would likely donate anyways as just fans of the show) but as I go into below, I do agree that her unprofessionalism is a real problem and that with the fandom she somewhat helped rile up, it makes it frustrating to learn that a lot of this was on vapor. Not lies, but just... Not nearly as much solid foundation as we were led to believe. There is a lot to be said about how Dana, from my understanding, has been one of the most available leads on a show... Period? At bare minimum, for modern cartoons. Like others will talk but Dana was extremely candid. In fact, it feels like she probably learned some lessons from it because the blaming Disney stuff actually went DOWN as the show progressed. Like at least now it's "I wish I could have done more things," rather than, I dunno, just straight up trying to say they're why episodes you're not proud/ of aren't as well regarded didn't turn out.

Which she did.

With S1A.

Before SEASON TWO was out.

Like... You just shit talked literally half of the content that is out for your show and threw your publisher under the process. Why do I think that might not have been received well?

And when I was biggest in the fandom, around the time the news of the shortening happened, you heard a LOT of different explanations from Dana, like it was one executive who made the call or how TOH wasn't a 'part of Disney's brand' or the like. When the Florida stuff came out with Disney, she pretty explicitly called Disney out for it (which is fine and I approve) but then went on to insinuate that it was hard for her to believe that the show had been cancelled for any reason besides representation, a move I DON'T approve of and makes ZERO sense with how they got to do so much more gay shit in S2B and even add new elements like confirming Masha was they/them or confirming Luz being Bi on screen in Thanks to Them. It's not a great look for a director, especially during the times these statements were coming out.

Being unprofessional admittedly doesn't make her a bad person but like... Yeah, I get upset thinking about the contradictions here too. That even in the same post Hoot that she has to admit that the shortening pushed them creatively and they had no real plans, she's still talking like she had plans. Like there was something to be missed when... No. Not for the STORY. Just your bucket of ideas for a perpetual series.

It leans into the idea that saying you were going to do X means you would have done it perfectly. That Dana doesn't understand that the only perfect work is the one never done. She's fine with being remembered for what wasn't there if it means being remembered better. As a creator myself who struggles with putting things to the page... I don't know. It hurts to some extent.

Which just a small update: I've been having real trouble focusing the past couple days. My head is not on well right now. It's why these are being a bit more emotional and late night rather than my normal posts in the morning because that's just how I've felt like doing it. Hope you're all taking care of yourselves and see you next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house

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akria23 · 3 months

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Since I’m not doing a PromNont post for this weeks episode here are my Quick Thoughts

Are we shocked? No.

Like I said, no one in this show stands on business when it comes to leaving someone. It’s always my man-my man-my man & I could literally hear Nont’s internal voice screaming exactly that in this scene. Like girl no effort was given, the separation lasted five minutes. This was of no surprise cause the second he decided to continue Nant’s case in the last episode I knew, he knew, Prom knew - that Prom still had a chance.

I do wish the series would have taken more time reconciling them but I can’t really complain given this is how all the other relationships were handled - many of the emotional beats bring so sudden and somewhat convenient - and the conflict being resolved quickly rather than through any real development.

But it is what it is we go with the flow. It’s so nice seeing Nont radiating happiness and smiling. He deserves to be loved and I of course think Prom is the perfect person for that because he is a romantic at heart. He’s the type of person who wants to give love. Even if the one he loves isn’t reciprocating those feelings it doesn’t lessen the amount of love & loyalty he’s willing to given them - I keep saying it’s not contingent on that because of how he’s handled his feelings for Nant to even what he says in this scene about not requiring Nont to love him back and just wanting to spend the time he does have left there together. Like I’ve said before he tends to adapt himself around what his person needs and wants as long as it allows him to be with them, “I’ll help you investigate. Ill be your driver. I’ll be a listening ear.” He’s messy sometimes but really he’s just a romantic level-5 clinger who just wants to be wrapped around his boo all day. Prom finally has someone who loves him 😭

If I don’t get my happy ending 🥹

Nont I’m still scream cancel the plane ticket or Prom buy one! I don’t want no more surprises for this pair just let them be happy.

#thai bl #playboyy #playboyy the series #promnont #nontprom #prom x nont

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grumpylia · 3 months

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i hate to be a hater but here’s a little yap about ep 6 of the pjo tv show

- i was soooo disappointed in this episode! i literally got bored halfway through LMAO and kept getting distracted which was so upsetting!! because the lotus hotel is one of my favourite chapters of the lightning thief!!

- starting from the beginning; i wish wish wish that we’d gotten the ‘you’re my friend, seaweed brain - anymore stupid questions?’ moment because i just love that moment

- but if they weren’t going to give that moment to us surely they could’ve at least given us?? something??

- instead of just luke’s fan service-y ‘old married couple line’

- i also think the whole the trio things tlt is clarisse thing is just?? underwhelming. the show hasn’t done a very good job at making us really understand the stakes here!!! it feels like they’re just fucking around and i don’t like it!! like they literally missed the deadline!! and that didn’t even feel like a big deal!! that should’ve felt earth shattering!!

- also where was the zebra. where was percy being able to talk to the zebra :(

- i wish also that they’d done more with grover in the start of this ep - they could’ve showed us his character rather than just giving us a massive exposition dump

- the EXPOSITION!! i was fine with it in the first few episodes, bc like the book isn’t exactly perfect with exposition either but it’s actually getting to a point where i think it’s taking me out of the story!

- why why why did they skip the lotus hotel stuff??? omg! i can understand some of the other changes (e.g. waterland) but the lotus stuff would’ve translated soo perfectly to screen!! it would’ve been such a good way to build tension without having the characters ohtroght saying to the audience “this is the lotus hotel. time doesn’t move properly here, and if you’re not careful you can forget who you are.”

- i still can’t believe that they didn’t adapt the book this chapter! it would’ve been so perfectly suited for screen! this tv show also has a tension/stakes problem so it would’ve been a great way to help fix that

- also they’re meant to be TWELVE ! ofc they come across a hotel with infinite food and games and money and love it! the whole point is that across the series we’ll see them grow and become more wary of these things! i could understand why they made the change with medusa, but them knowing what they were walking into here just felt like such a boring choice

- and if nothing else the lotus hotel episode should not be boring!!

- also why are we talking about may castellan🤨the reason it has so much impact in the og series is because you’re putting these pieces together and then it all just hits you

- but here it’s just like…

- and hermes’! i don’t have an issue if they wanted to include hermes’ in this scene - cancel me but i think lmm lowkey ate - but i don’t understand why they would do it in this very expositiony way. and are we not meant to think that hermes’ is neglecting luke too?? at least until som?? if i was writing this and i reallly wanted to include hermes’, i feel like there are sooo many different ways to include him that would’ve read sooo much better. still brainstorming what those ways are, but point still stands

- i did think the taxi scene was really funny tho sue me

i hate to be a hater because i really wanted to love this show! and i really did enjoy some specific moments and episodes! but i just wish they’d done a closer adaptation of the book - i think they’re trying to do way too much way too soon and they need to just let the characters and the story breathe for a bit before trying to really go heavy in with all these really in your face themes and exposition

#pjo tv #percy jackson tv series #pjotv #pjo tv show #percy jackson #the lotus hotel and casino #ep 6: ‘we bring a zebra to vegas’

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pluckysidekick · 8 months

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We’re heading into the home stretch! Good news - we’re getting a 20 second trailer for the finale! Thank you to the CW18 Milwaukee for promoting Nancy Drew while corporate was busy cancelling failed imports and promoting golf.

Now, I know some folks have been spoiled *ahem* by the leaked transcript for 412. I have not and will not be partaking - I like my spoilers vague, and I prefer to watch the episode in whole with actors and sets and special effects and music and all the things. But I did spend some time this weekend thinking about what would happen next - and debating it with @likestosolvethepuzzle (whose latest fic you must read), who encouraged me to post this analysis that I primarily wrote over weekend before the transcript leaked.

So read on if you’re interested in my unspoiled take (well except for the usual BTS photos I’ve hoarded from filming, the trailers, and hints on social media from the fine professionals who made the show).

Rewinding back to Episode 8, Nancy sends Ace on his way with the curse jar to go fishing with his father. He complains, but she tells him to go make “messy” memories with Thom (clearly she’s thinking of how she wished she could have more with Kate). Thom apologizes that the captain canceled, Ace drops the jar which lights up and sets off a little wave, and they get wet but no other harm is done. Ace calls Nancy from the Marina - note the establishing shot is Horseshoe Bay, not the Yacht Club or the Claw, so he’s sitting in the parking lot of a different marina, presumably where the fishing boat is docked.

Ace and Nancy have their phone call, and we now know Nancy goes to erase a sin 26 minutes later. The only think she knows is that she saw flames before Ryan rescued her from Jonas Glass, but she believes she and Ace were responsible for Jane Doe’s death.

A few other tidbits that could be clues or red herrings - when Jane Doe was found charred beyond recognition, it was noted that it was in the woods near the coastline. When the ghost tells Ace that she stayed because he said he didn’t want to leave her, she then says no one had ever talked to her or about her that way before. The ghost is also insistent that no one ask her how she died.

OK. A few weird things. The captain canceling but Ace and Thom still going ahead is weird. Why would the captain allow it? Who’s piloting that sort of large-ish boat? And why did the jar make any kind of blip at all, and yet the wave was small enough they only got wet?

We have BTS of what appears to be Thom in the water:

And we had a video from applebanannapear (Ace’s stand-in) of a marina/boat yard with Florence parked nearby, and he’s standing next to someone who looks like she could be Nancy’s stand-in:

These to me look like scenes of the forgotten events of that night, erased by the Sin Eater.

So what I think could have gone down (speculation ahead):

What if the captain of the fishing boat didn’t cancel and was on the boat with Ace and Thom? And Jane Doe could be the captain? She could be lonely and even flirted with Ace, who we know is also lonely - they may even have a moment.

When Ace drops the curse jar, it actually flames up and breaks, and causes a much bigger commotion - maybe even a whirlpool not unlike the ghost’s whirlwind from 411. Then the boat catches on fire. They all jump or are thrown into the water. Ace is able to fish Thom out, but the captain is lost - she gets caught in the flames before drowning.

Ace and Thom eventually make it back to shore. Ace calls Nancy in a panic. She comes immediately. They fight, but Nancy insists on going to the Black Door. Ace may have dropped the curse jar, but Nancy gave it to him and pushed him to go fishing with his dad. The death was accidental but Ace feels guilty - he’s completely torn up with grief. This is the person who would rather die than let Nancy give Daniel West the list.

Thom’s part - I am less certain (and of course all of this is speculation). He’s a semi-retired cop, so he’d want to call it in. Ace would probably be charged with setting the boat on fire - he did drop the jar that caused the boat to catch on fire. Thom might have even fought with him about the jar when he finds out what Ace is doing, causing it to break.

Nancy takes matters into her own hands and goes to the Black Door - she loves Ace, and feels responsible- she won’t let him suffer. She’s miserable, doing something she never thought she’d do - but she does it for Ace. They may even have an angry almost love confession - but it falls short of triggering the curse, because the Sin Eater only erases the memories of everyone involved. It doesn’t negate the sin itself, and Ace is still alive.

And why is the ghost drawn to Ace? They actually made a connection before she died, and her charred body washed up on shore near the woods. He may have made her feel safe on that boat before the accident. He may have “caught” the curse (as many have theorized), and that’s why he can hear and see and even touch her. And her claim of her hair wrapping around her mouth, feeling cold, and the sky disappearing are consistent with burning and then drowning. And she doesn’t want Ace or Nancy to ask her how she died because it’s too painful, and perhaps because she doesn’t want Ace to suffer with the knowledge.

I believe the Drew Crew will find out what really happened in this episode - Henry Zaga posted photos and reels from Capilano Lake. I believe this is the reservoir location, and they are able to use the poisoned water to help Nancy remember the sin and reverse the memory wipe.

Speaking of Henry, Tristan is certainly back in this episode. He posted from the woods and a few locations. I was leaning toward this being him as well in director Kristin Lehman’s monitor - although it could also be Ace.

So we know from the two stills we got for this episode that we’ll see Ace and Nancy together plenty. But boy Ace does not look happy - he doesn’t want to give up his ghost I suspect. I know we all expect them to break the curse, but from Ace’s POV he and Nancy are separated forever. Cannot wait to see it all unfold (pain and all). Celine, the writer of this episode, reminded us that there will be heartbreak and there will be truth. She also shared a devastating playlist I’ve had on repeat - “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” is killing me. As much as we all want Nace together and loving, I’m expecting a journey through fire here (literally) before we get our HEA next week (cause we will).

I’m super intrigued by how Nancy and Tristan will interact - are they still romantically inclined? Or was Tristan almost biting her as the Sin Eater a mood killer? And what did Nashua mean about them walking the path many times before? Reincarnation seems to be a theme this season. @flythesail and @reviewdiaries have written excellent analyses about what it could mean.

We’ll also get a Spring Festival on the beach (which they filmed in the snow), and the return of Red and Birdie (according to IMDB). I don’t have room to post it, but one of our favorite crew members Sangalicious had an IG story at the time that referred to the festival. Geraldine Chu also posted from the snowy location - looking forward to Birdie and Jesse together again. The beach they filmed at is the same one from the bucket ceremony - is there a supernatural confrontation, or perhaps something between the believers and non-believers of the supernatural?

From the trailer, we see Nancy waking up (perhaps with her memories returning?), and the Crew recoiling in horror in the Yacht Club basement:

We also glimpsed who most of us think is Tristan confronting the figurehead of the Endeavor in the same location (yes I analyzed Henry and Alex’s cheekbones):

Are Tristan and the figurehead connected - and is Nancy too (read @flythesail’s analysis for more on that)?

Finally, I’ve been debating if the Claw baby shower Riley shared a glimpse of is actually in this episode and not the finale as we see George and Nick in the wardrobe from this (412) episode’s stills. Jen Vestuto said it’s not what we think it is - of course we all assume it’s Carson and Jean’s baby since her awkward confession. Could it be Ryan and Red’s instead? Or did she mean it wasn’t for a Nace baby? Is there something timey whimey going on since not that much time has elapsed (or has it?) and it really is in the finale? Is Jean’s unborn child a potential next Sin Eater (yikes!)? We’ll find out soon! See you on the other side.

#nancy drew #nancy drew cw #nace #ace [redacted]#nancy drew season 4 #nancy drew spoilers #author: pluckysidekick

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o-uncle-newt · 4 months

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Cabin Pressure Advent Day 17: Qikiqtarjuaq

Or, if Arthur had his way, Quikiqutarjuaqu?

Q (because The Name is very annoying to type) is, as I said back in my Boston post, not one of my favorites. And I wish it were, because, like Ottery St Mary (which has its own divisive moments), it has SO many classic bits. The traveling lemon! Le bear polar! Farewell bear facts! From that perspective it's incredible.

But it has a weird tone problem, and to me, the whole thing comes back to Nancy Dean Liebhart.

Yes, yes, it's because she's American and Americans on British sitcoms are never great, fine. But I think in this case it goes beyond that, because a lot of the episode ends up circling around her and her reactions. Martin wants to impress her; Douglas seems to (though it's not explicit) want to piss her off, if it'll mean dinging Martin in the self esteem in the process; Carolyn wants to show her that she doesn't matter. (Arthur, of course, just wants to tell people bear facts. Lovely Arthur.)

To be clear- the Martin-Carolyn plotline would have happened regardless, because he's genuinely pissed about having to cancel a paying job. Their whole scene feels a little bit... almost too much? Like, Carolyn is actually pretty cruel to him in her response to his request, and Martin's rant back to her is almost too pathetic, if that makes sense. It's internally consistent from an emotional standpoint, but it feels out of sync tonally with the rest of the episode- which is one of the reasons why I felt genuine uncomfortable when Douglas wanted to continue the traveling lemon game and Carolyn was like "oh well maybe not"... because Carolyn had just had a serious come-to-Jesus moment with Martin and Douglas was still in his own stupid world about trying to be an asshole.

Because here's the thing. Douglas was SUPER unprofessional throughout. The episode knows this obviously, and acknowledges it outright in the end. There's a power struggle between Martin and Douglas about it, and we've seen that before. But the difference is... I don't think that this one was actually very funny. It just feels like Douglas being a jerk for the sake of it, and then when that ends up involving things like the Bear Polar and Captain du Creff, which are gut-bustingly hilarious, they just go together like chalk and cheese.

To get back to Nancy Dean Liebhart- it's all her fault, in my opinion. She's just not funny, and as I said about Hester Macaulay in Cremona (who I don't think was as bad as this...), she needs to either be really funny or really wrong in order for the hijinks of the plot to work, and she's neither. All of the above conflicts circling around her (entirely reasonable!) complaints, and her weirdly arbitrary decision to pick on Martin about them which of course ends up being the place where the plot starts... it's just uncomfortable because she's basically right but the episode treats her like she's ridiculous.

I'm curious if any British listeners will disagree with me on this- I'm wondering if there's just a British trope of "naggy American woman" that makes this funny in the UK. Maybe some kind of Karen trope, but where it doesn't matter what the complaint is as long as the accent is (mostly) right? I don't know. Nancy is definitely somewhat Karen-y in how she comes across and how she talks to people, but her points are largely valid (and therefore not super funny) and that's fatal for a character like her. It forces us to pay more attention to Douglas's response and how he's being deliberately spiteful specifically to screw with Martin, and to the weirdly intense Martin-Carolyn subplot, and then contrasts it with the nutty Bear Polar subplot and Arthur and his bears, which are all super silly. And it leads to it just being... strange, tonally, and not in a way that I personally like.

Without her, I think a lot of the same things COULD have happened, but they'd have happened on their own terms. We could have seen Martin be annoyed at Douglas for the Hitchcock cabin address and seen that as "Martin being a stickler" rather than "the paying customer being annoyed," and it would have been more like other similar episodes where Martin is the safe pilot and Douglas is the good one. We'd have seen Martin be annoyed about not being paid and having his paying work sabotaged, and maybe even him taking that out on Douglas a bit. And I think it would have de-intensified certain things in a way that would have helped. Nancy Dean Liebhart just fucked with the rhythms of the show and wasn't even funny enough to justify it.

This whole rant makes it seem like I hate the episode, and... I don't, really. There are too many good moments. But I have to watch it with my finger on the "skip" button.

#cabin pressure #cabin pressure advent #cabin pressure advent 2023 #qikiqtarjuaq #john finnemore

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mitochondriaandbunnies · 8 months

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You Should Watch Wiseguy:

The show that changed the face of television while no one was paying attention

If you've ever watched and enjoyed anything that gets tossed around as “prestige television—” you know what I’m talking about— long form narratives, high stakes, actors with something to prove— shows like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire, etc.— you have Wiseguy to thank. While largely forgotten by mainstream audiences (for a variety of reasons, including sheer lack of availability), Wiseguy was one of the first non-soap-opera shows with a fully serialized story— one that expected you to see every episode, in order. When it began airing in September of 1987, really the only other thing on TV like it was Michael Mann’s Crime Story (also worth a watch), and Crime Story would be canceled before Wiseguy even hit its second season.

Writers, actors, and industry types of all kinds cite Wiseguy as a major influence— Vince Gilligan and Tom Schnauz credit watching Wiseguy in the 80’s as why they cast Jonathan Banks as Mike— Chris Carter hired writers from Wiseguy when he started the X-Files— actors like Stanley Tucci made their names on the show— and hell, David Chase wrote an angry letter to the New York Times claiming he was absolutely under no circumstances at all influenced by Wiseguy ever, which feels like the kind of thing you don’t need to write a letter about if it’s true.

Of course, just because something is influential doesn’t mean it’s good.

Wiseguy is really damn good.

Much like Miami Vice (and some of the later shows that took influence from Wiseguy), Wiseguy takes the position that there’s very little difference between criminals and the police, and that the justice system is wildly ill-equipped to create justice. Mafia movie blood, with all its inherent moral ambiguity, runs through Wiseguy’s veins, and then after episode nine, it asks you to think about how that blood would pump in a different milieu— corporate espionage and the destabilization of the global south by American capitalists, insular rural politics and the easy rise of small-time dictators, congressional politics and Twelve-Angry-Men-worthy courtroom drama, the music industry and the cutthroat disposal of talented young people. Money and power structures are always suspect, and good-hearted tough guy lead Vinnie is constantly torn between doing his job, doing the right thing, and doing the thing that makes sense to him emotionally.

The show is heartfelt, tense, funny, and above all else, incredibly human. The characters behave irrationally— they self-sabotage, they struggle with moral decisions, they lash out at people they care about— because they’re people, not plot devices. Little things will come back to haunt them, often many episodes later, in believable and sometimes gutting—but rarely shocking— ways. Despite this realism, and a deep sense of cynicism about our institutions, Wiseguy never falls into the trap of wallowing in grim bleakness. The writers and the actors clearly believe in people— it’s a show that says— ‘yeah, the world sucks. So how do we keep going, together?’ The characters are lovable not because they’re all good, but because you feel like you could know them, with realistic flaws and foibles and senses of humor. Sometimes it’s a little silly, and sometimes it’s a little melodramatic— but it works, because sometimes that’s how real life is, too.

Wiseguy is four (well. three and a half) seasons [cross out— and a terrible TV movie that disregards canon], and is notably divided into 4-11 episode arcs within those seasons, and occasional “breather” episodes between arcs. It’s actually a brilliant bit of plotting that I wish more shows would do today— it allows for overarching narratives and real stakes without running into DBZ-like “the next threat has to be BIGGER and MORE DANGEROUS” power level bullshittery that’s common to a lot of long running serialized shows. One of my favorite aspects of this design is that the cast partially rotates every few episodes, but the show still expects you to remember what was going on with the characters from the previous arcs— because they often return later in unexpected and narratively satisfying ways.

The three characters that remain more-or-less consistent throughout the show are Vinnie Terranova, an undercover agent for the Organized Crime Bureau, Frank McPike, his handler, and Dan “Lifeguard” Burroughs, the OCB call-center operator who gives Vinnie field instructions.

Vinnie Terranova is just on the border of thirty when the series begins, a gregarious kid-from-the-neighborhood, just out of a cover-establishing 18-month stint in prison. He is a bundle of contradictions— quick to fall but slow to trust, a practicing Catholic who chose a job in the field of lying and murder, a 50’s hood irritated by bigotry. Vinnie is both far smarter and more sensitive than anyone gives him credit for, which is both his greatest strength and his fatal flaw— empathetic undercover agents burn out fast. He spends a surprising amount of the series trying and failing to quit his job. He has a marshmallow center, a steel-trap mind, and the general affect of your cousin who dropped out of college to marry his pregnant high school sweetheart. He also has no idea that his type is “angry asshole” and keeps being surprised when he falls for them.

Frank McPike is a curmudgeon's curmudgeon, a career fed with a chip on his shoulder, a fathoms-deep sense of cynicism, and a collapsing marriage. He and Vinnie begin the series at odds, and as you watch the first few episodes, you're going to seriously struggle to believe me when I say that the affection between Frank and Vinnie becomes the absolute thematic and emotional heart of the series. Frank is also a genuine oddball failing to pose as a tough guy; he makes noises, he lurks in strange costumes, and the words he chooses when he’s irritated beggar normal human understanding.

We don’t get to know Dan as quickly or as deeply as we get to know Vinnie and Frank (in fact, he’s introduced as “Mike”), but he’s the man behind the curtain, a guiding moral and emotional star for Vinnie, a talented musician, and a cheerful face with a lot of anger bubbling just below the surface. He offers life advice even as his own home life is in constant meltdown, and loves both Vinnie and Frank with a fierce, sarcastic weariness. Dan is also an amputee, and his disability is portrayed with respect and without pity— a rarity for television even now, but especially in 1988.

You’ll absolutely fall in love with these three, but one of the things that makes Wiseguy so special is its fantastic supporting cast. The world is fleshed out and lived in, and you get the distinct sense that all the recurring characters have their own lives we don’t get to see off screen. There’s Carlotta— Vinnie’s mother, as contradictory and sharp as her son, Pete— Vinnie’s brother, a progressive basketball-playing priest, Roger Lococco— a killer-for-hire who refers to every person on the planet as Buckwheat, Rudy Aiuppo— an elderly don with the heart of a trickster spirit, and a whole host of others who enter and exit the narrative throughout the arcs of the show. There are also a whole host of wonderful arc-based characters played by incredible actors, journeymen and and famous alike— including turns from Tim Curry, Debbie Harry, Jerry Lewis, Stanley Tucci, Patti D’Arbanville, Stephen Bauer, and Billy Dee Williams. You can tell everyone involved in the show had a fantastic time working on it, and nearly every actor who comes aboard really puts their whole Wisegussy into it gives it their all.

You notice that as I’ve been speaking, the lights have dimmed slightly, and the strains of an organetto have started to play quietly in the background. A man in a rumpled suit is smoking nearby, though you are fairly certain smoking indoors hasn’t been legal in a number of years. I pass you a plate of espresso and biscotti.

Let’s talk arcs.

The first arc of the show, known as the Steelgrave arc, is a lot of fans’ favorite arc of the show, and for good reason. Vinnie infiltrates a New Jersey mob organization, and gets very, very close* to this man:

Sonny Steelgrave, human Knife Cat, is a complicated man, and Vinnie has complicated feelings about him. He’s very nearly a co-protagonist to Vinnie in this arc, and the show artfully toes the line between condemning him and making it clear that he’s not always entirely wrong. Vinnie’s goal is to get Sonny into prison and take down the entire family— how and whether he achieves this goal is best left unspoiled. Sonny may not have been the first complicated, likable villain on television, but his arc is intense, heart-wrenching, and splendidly morally grey. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that the Steelgrave arc is the best nine hour mob movie ever aired on television.

*I’m really not kidding about the closeness. There’s an episode where Sonny announces he’s getting married and literally all the other mobsters are like ‘oh, now I understand why Vinnie has been in a bad mood all day.’ They are as close to canonically in love as a federal agent and a mobster have ever been portrayed on screen.

Lest you get Kevin-Spacey-jumpscared, the following arc unfortunately has Kevin Spacey in it. Thankfully he plays a slimy sister-kissing coked-up hypercapitalist, so it’s fairly easy to just hate his character in the same way you hate the actor and move on with your life.

This arc, the Profitt arc— in which Vinnie is tasked with taking down a wealthy business mogul who is suspected of drug-and-gun-running— is, for many fans, a close second to the Steelgrave arc. It’s an interesting change of tone and locale, and introduces Roger Lococco, who is a really stellar supporting character. Personally, I rank a bunch of other arcs above Profitt, because no matter how much I like Roger, Mel and Susan are bananas, and they wear out their welcome before they exit the narrative. Regardless, it’s a stylish arc— one that rather kicks truth, justice, and the American way in the teeth— and Mel’s machinations have serious reverberations later in the show. The Roger subplot is also genuinely excellent, and good old Corey Matthews’ Dad plays him with aplomb.

Back home, after trying to quit his job and failing, Vinnie has to deal with a threat with much smaller, but far more personal stakes. A white supremacy group has moved into his neighborhood and is attempting to recruit working-class Italians to their cause, pitting an older immigrant group against a newer one, pitting Catholics against Jews, and pitting a previously “ethnic” group’s newly acquired “whiteness” against people of color. I have mixed feelings about the Pilgrims of Promise/White Supremacy arc, because it’s truly quite good, and it pulls no punches about the kind of people fascists are and prey on, but it’s also exceptionally fucking upsetting that nothing has changed at all since 1988. Literally you could remake this arc word for word today and a) it would be exactly as believable, and b) your show would be immediately boycotted and canceled for being too “woke.” Great writing, great stakes, great character motivation; so, so uncomfortable to watch.

And then Ken Wahl breaks his leg in real life, and they have to replace him for a few weeks.

The Garment Trade arc starts off pretty promising— Vinnie meets with the son of a clothing manufacturer, they have great (borderline meet-cute) chemistry, it’s a wonderfully New-York-in-the-80’s kind of storyline, Jerry Lewis is there, and I think it’s the only time I’ve ever seen Sukkot represented on TV— and then Vinnie has to leave for the next four episodes because of Wahl’s broken leg. They rewrote the arc on the fly, and considering that, it’s pretty good. Jerry Lewis is still there, and he gives the serious, dramatic performance of a lifetime, and Stanley Tucci chews scenery as The World’s Slimiest Businessman. We meet Vinnie’s childhood bestie, “Mooch,” whose actor, delightfully, starred beside Ken Wahl in 1979’s The Wanderers. My beautiful and talented wife Joan Chen even shows up for an episode. However, all of this is undercut by the lack of Vinnie; his replacement, a semi-retired agent named Raglin, is… a bit milquetoast. He’s okay, and he’s given some interesting backstory in his final episode, but he’s no Vinnie.

Once again sporting a functional leg, Vinnie returns, and my favorite arc other than Steelgrave follows.

In the Dead Dog arc, Vinnie has to pose as a music producer, because the OCB traded an airplane for a music label. It’s the dumbest, most fantastic plot device of all time, and brings me incalculable joy. I literally made Dead Dog t-shirts because I love this stupid fake music label owned by a fictional government agency so much.

The Dead Dog arc sees Vinnie at his happiest (the poor man really, really just wants to quit undercover work and stop being involved with Murder Organizations), and the crime he’s investigating is… wait for it… bootleg CDs. You would think this would be a ridiculously boring premise for an investigation, but the Dead Dog arc has Tim Curry, Debbie Harry, Glenn Frey, and Patty D’Arbanville playing a cadre of unhinged music industry moguls all attempting to stab each other in the back, and it is exactly as chaotic as you would expect based on that cast. This arc also had a bunch of original music produced for it, which is extremely fucking cool, except that then the studio lost the rights to the music it created and this arc became inaccessible and unwatchable except through circulating the tapes, so to speak, of early 90’s TV rips. (The irony is not lost on me that the arc about the Evils of Piracy is the arc that one must pirate.) Miraculously, in the last year, Wiseguy’s rights have been renegotiated, and the newest sets of the show have Dead Dog restored. Accessibility via streaming is still a bit of a mixed bag— the episodes were streaming on Tubi and Youtube briefly, but now appear to have been taken down again.

After his turn as a surprisingly successful music producer, Vinnie returns to his roots: the mob. In the Mob Wars/Trash Wars arc, Vinnie unintentionally becomes the temporary leader of the local mafia commission (I will not spoil how.) The OCB wants to use this as an opportunity to take down the entire organization from the inside out, and Vinnie must deal with mafia backstabbing, pressure from Frank and the OCB, and surprisingly personal stakes. It’s an unspectacular but solid arc that regrounds the series, and the interpersonal aspects of the story— and its examination of fathers and sons and generational inheritance of social rules and expectations— are excellent. The Mafia Wars storyline won’t blow your pants off, but it’s thoughtful and well-executed and reminds us of who Vinnie is and where he came from.

What follows is another of my favorite arcs, referred to as the DC or Counterfeit Yen arc, but perhaps better described as the Mr. Terranova Goes to Washington arc. Vinnie is summoned by the federal government to investigate counterfeiting, and thus unfolds a multinational conspiracy that ties back to the Profitt arc. Much like the White Supremacy arc, this arc is distressingly current— Vinnie is a patsy for a group of corrupt republican senators who want to destabilize the currency of a perceived East Asian economic rival. It’s Yen here, but all you’d need to do to bring this arc into 2023 is swap out references to Japan for China, because the American government has changed very little from the 80’s and has to be awful about some country somewhere or, I don’t know, a bunch of horrible old racist politicians will shit themselves. Vinnie enters talking like Jimmy Stewart, and leaves with one more thing to be crushed and disillusioned about. We get some riveting and stomach-churning courtroom drama, the bad guy turns out to be capitalism all along, and Frank threatens to shoot a Howard Hughes stand-in on a ski lift.

And then somehow we end up in Twin Peaks. The Lynchboro arc predates Twin Peaks by a whopping two months, indicating a total coincidence of premise similarities, but it does take place in a corrupt rural Pacific Northwest town unduly influenced by one large family/company, wherein an outsider has to investigate a tangled conspiracy and deal with strange townsfolk and some spooky happenings. There’s no way either show could’ve plagiarized the other— they were assuredly written and in production at the same time— but it is deeply bizarre. In the Lynchboro arc, Vinnie goes undercover as a local beat cop, and finds himself faced with both a serial killer and a land-rights and building-contracts espionage plot. He also has to deal with Mark Volchek, the ostensible “owner” of the town, and his eccentricity and decreasing grip on reality. Roger returns, and Vinnie must finally confront the enormity of his trauma. One major character is literally brought back from the edge of death by another character’s crushing love for them, expressed via church bells. It doesn’t exactly end on a cliffhanger, but it doesn’t not, either.

And then Ken Wahl quit.

Season Four begins with a deeply depressed, heavily bearded Frank struggling to find the will to live after Vinnie has disappeared. (I don’t think I’m really at risk of spoiling anything serious by saying that we are “supposed” to think Vinnie is permanently gone, but that there are a huge number of blatantly spotlighted contradictions in that story. Wahl left on decent terms, and I firmly believe the Wiseguy staff was expecting to eventually win him back to the show and have his absence turn out to be a ruse. Unfortunately, Wiseguy got cancelled before this could happen.) Frank spends the first (and only complete) arc of this season investigating his partner’s disappearance, eventually working with the supposedly-corrupt DA who helped establish Vinnie’s cover back before Season One.

It’s not an uncommon opinion to say, ‘hey, just skip S4’— and honestly, if you chose to watch S1-3, you’d have consumed a wonderful story with a reasonably coherent ending. But I don’t actually hate Season Four. The “new Vinnie—” Michael Santana, played by pretty-boy Scarface alum Stephen Bauer— is exceptionally likeable, and he brings with him a new set of characters who are also quite compelling. Furthermore, if you’re a Frank fan, he really gets the spotlight in this season, and if you’re a Frank/Vinnie fan, Vinnie may not be around, but Frank’s despair is really fucking something else. It’s almost worth it just to see him lie to the FBI and tell them he “never crossed the line” of professionalism with Vinnie.

Unfortunately, the next arc sets up something really compelling and unique, but it’s only 3 (unaired on TV) episodes, and ends on a complete cliffhanger, because the show was unceremoniously cancelled. After his niece is shot in the midst of teenage gang violence, Michael teams up with Billy Dee Lando Calrissian Fucking Williams to investigate red-lining and racist underfunding of schools. Oliver Stone shows up in the last like, ten minutes of the last episode?? I would be all over this storyline if it wasn’t just dropped like a moldy tomato, but I guess that’s what fanfiction is for. It’s not how Wiseguy deserved to go out, but hey, it was really aiming for the stars even as the plug got pulled.

Oh, and if anyone tells you there’s a 1996 TV movie, no, there isn’t.*

(*The movie is so deeply mediocre that it’s worse than any of the controversy surrounding Season Four. It essentially retcons all of S4 and, frankly, really the last few episodes of S3, and presents a bland, uninspired “getting the gang back together” story that retreads thematic materials from the show without saying anything new. Vinnie has apparently been doing wiretapping for 6 years, which is completely at odds with everything we know about his character, and he and Frank are treated as “dinosaurs” that the OCB doesn’t know what to do with, and yet they are also simultaneously the only ones who can take care of a nearly-kidnapped child. It’s rushed, it’s emotionally hollow, the actors are phoning it in, and it ignores all of the character development from the series in a way that renders its plot nearly nonsensical. Furthermore, Ken Wahl had been in a seriously disabling motorcycle accident a few years before, so his apparent discomfort and stiffness throughout the film is because he’s genuinely in significant pain. Don’t watch the movie. You can always write fix-it fic for how Vinnie manages to come back after Season Four. It’s much harder to write fix-it fic for boring character assassination written by the 'due-process-is-for-pussies-and-torture-works' 24 guy.)

One of the other delightful things about Wiseguy is that Vinnie is both a big softie and yet is also saddled with a bizarre sort of erotic smolder, and therefore he has ridiculous chemistry with basically half the cast of the show. Vinnie very much seems a guy like you could say some blandly nice things to and buy him dinner, and you’d wake up, exhausted and satisfied, the next morning to him cooking breakfast. You’d think, wow, this guy is so thoughtful, he must be the one— and then you’d turn your head and he’d have immediately been seduced by the next schmuck down the line. He’s a good boy, but his “acceptable romantic target” sensors are so wildly mistuned as to render him, affectionately, a tragic slut. Will he end up with a mobster? One of a number of widows? His boss? No one knows but god.

Vinnie is also heavily bi-coded— his relationship with Sonny is almost explicitly romantic, he calls out Roger for homophobia (in 1989), one of his old friend asks if the reason he’s not married is because he ‘likes boys,’ and he doesn’t say no, and he has a borderline I-love-you moment with Frank. The boy just wants someone to love him, goddammit.

I’m also really not kidding about Vinnie and Frank developing into the emotional core of the series. They live together for a period of time. They both imply they can’t live without the other. They go shopping for Dan’s birthday together. They pick up Frank’s ailing father from the nursing home together. Frank picks out Vinnie’s tie.

You pick at the plate of spaghetti that appeared in front of you, unsure of either its provenance or why it came after dessert. It’s the best spaghetti you’ve ever had, and that frightens you, somehow.

I lean in close to whisper to you about crime. You note that at some point I changed into a pinstriped suit. You don’t remember me changing, or even getting up— you console yourself with the notion that maybe I’d been wearing it from the start, even though you know that isn’t true.

So, the thing about Wiseguy is— well— it’s more available than it used to be. The whole series was recently released on blu-ray, and both that set and the most recent DVD sets actually have every episode, a change from the previous releases. As of August 2023, all of the series except Dead Dog is available, legally, on Youtube. This is a vast improvement from even two or three years ago, when multiple episodes weren’t available through any means but blurry, VHS-tracking-laden downloads of TV rips.

Unfortunately, the most recent renegotiation of the series home video and streaming rights still failed on the music rights front. Dead Dog has been spared the hammer, but there are still places where the series has gaps. Notably, there’s an episode (Stairway to Heaven) where Frank murders a jukebox, and looks completely fucking insane, because the original (thematically meaningful) music the jukebox was playing was replaced with generic elevator music. Worse, the final episode of the Steelgrave arc (No One Gets Out of Here Alive) is missing two musical cues: in one instance, Sonny himself is singing, in a fit of mania, and the footage has straight up been cut from the episode because they couldn’t get the rights to The Young Rascals’ Good Lovin’. Equally egregious, The Moody Blues’ Nights in White Satin, which originally played over nearly a minute of sustained, silent eye contact between Sonny and Vinnie— has been replaced with the Wiseguy opening theme. It renders a scene which should be quite clearly devastating and unsubtly romantic instead utterly awkward and bizarre. It’s hard to demonstrate just how jarring the change is unless you’ve seen the scene, but suffice to say that everyone I know who has seen both versions— in either order— has expressed horror and bafflement at the substitution.

Which is to say: there’s a couple of episodes of Wiseguy you’re probably going to want to locate those shitty old TV rips of. It’s worth it, even if it seems like it wouldn’t be.

I place my hand over yours. You jump a little. I have a number of large, dark-stoned signet rings, and my hand is strangely cold.

I make you an offer you can’t refuse.

You’re going to watch Wiseguy.

#wiseguy #tv recommendations #fandom #80's #retro tv

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jilegogreengiantstories · 7 months

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WHY ILLUMINATION SHOULD Turn The Sing movies into a series (episodes) or a graphic novel series

(Sorry if it's to long I just need to write what I think)

I love the sing movies as much as the next person, its probably one of illuminations best franchises. As much as I lobe the movies and the main characters, I wish they would explain their backstories before meeting buster, And with the third one in development, I'm hoping they do just that. But what if they don't. Well that's what I keep asking myself, how they could show the audience the characters stories or their lives, after and before. Well I've come up with an idea on that. I have 2 possibilities a series (episodes) or a graphic novel series.

Here let me explain what they could do and why.

A series (episodes):

If the writers don't have time to make movies for sing, they can(could) make a series to show what the characters are doing and their development or introduce new characters in the story. And also talk about their life and things that have happened during the movies. It could also have side stories or parts 1 or 2 episodes to see what each character and storyline is doing, and also help character traits be developed in a character, see what their relationship with each other is like, and even help bring in new songs to the show and have each character show their skills. And most importantly answer questions each movie leaves about, and explain things that happened before.

Graphic novels:

We can learn about the characters and their backstories and new characters that might not be mentioned in the movies (or series) And they can address serious topics like death of a loved one more seriously and it can mainly focus on one character and their past and how it happened. And most importantly it would save illumination a lot of time and keep people from asking or waiting for something to happen. And if the characters have a dark backstory, and the people at home don't have to complain that anything risky is put it on theaters or TV and get complaints about it on what their viewers are watching. And ok it's not like animation studios haven't done anything like that. I mean look at Disney & pixar, they've done things parents might not agree with, or things that might scare kids, or done things that people should discuss or things that shouldn't be hard to tell kids and DreamWorks has been doing those things for years it wouldn't surprise me if Illumination did that to. Not that I have a problem with it, I'm glad that animation movie studios are having characters be or talk about things that make them feel real, like family drama, discrimination, Sexuality, mental health, depression, trauma, etc. And like most animation Companies who have not recently but not too long ago have Done these things to give "life" and personality to the characters, but because of the backlash and criticism that that many entertainment studios have gotten, (like Disney and pixar) studios have taken less risks and been struggling with either doing what critic's want and certain audiences want, or doing risks and doing what another certain audience wants or the other way, and if Illumination is worried about taking a risk of any of those things I mentioned, and are afraid that a franchise will be be ruined or canceled because of it, they should make a graphic novel series to explain things or to continue it. There are so many things I would like to say about entertainment studios and criticism and backlash they could get, or the unfair criticism their movies can get, but I'll save that for another post.

Anyway That's my opinion, but what's yours? Answer in the poll and if you have your reasons or opinions comment on what you think, If you don't let my opinion that's okay.

And when the votes have been done, I'll explain more about it.

#sing movies #question/answer #illumination #sing buster #sing moon crew #sing johnny #sing ash #sing meena #sing rosita #sing gunter #sing mike #sing big daddy #sing stan #sing barry #sing 2 ryan #sing 2 porsha #sing 2 nooshy #sing 2016 #sing 2021

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whump-it-like-its-hot · 1 month

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Choose your own whump!

(Explanation at the bottom!)

Content warnings: //

It’s late at night. You’re looking out of the windows at the bar you work at, though it’s not like you can see much anyway. Rain is pelting the windows, the sound almost deafening. Closing time was half an hour ago, and you’re the only one left inside after your boss had to leave early and your coworker called in sick.

You won’t need a car in the big city.

Oh, how badly you wish that you had a car right now. What those people who gave you this advice neglected to realize, is that even in the big city, bus drivers need sleep.

And so do you. You want nothing right now more than to come home, get into your comfy pajamas, and drop into your fluffy blankets. Maybe watch an episode of your favorite show, or two…or six, and then catch some sleep. Tomorrow would be your free day.

But that brings you back to your initial problem. You have no car, and getting a cab would mean that you have to spend the extra money you saved up for a trip with friends this weekend. Getting a bus is out of the question anyway. You don’t live far away, 20 minutes by foot - 12 if you run - but in this weather? Might as well cancel every upcoming event the next two weeks because you’ll be sick in bed with pneumonia.

The only other option you can think of would be your boss’s office. There’s a couch there, and you could probably get away with grabbing a packet of nuts and some soda from the fridge. You’d just have make sure to leave before he gets back tomorrow. Otherwise - The last employee who got accused of sticking their hands into the boss’s business wasn’t seen again.

(That’s just a half truth. You did see them again at their new job, though they weren’t keen on speaking about what happened. Strange.)

Either way, it doesn’t seem like the rain is going to let up any time soon.

So, I’ve had the thought of starting one of those Choose-your-own-adventure-stories floating around my head for quite a while now, and after seeing a couple other people in the community do it, I decided to finally get to it as well!

How this works is that I put a poll under every part of the story, where you guys can vote on how the story will progress. Then, once the poll is over, I’ll post the next part, and so on. This story doesn’t go into a set direction yet, so almost anything can happen at this point. I’m also open for suggestions regarding name and future plot points, and…yeah! Hope this might catch one or the other’s attention maybe :)

#whump #whump writing #whump community #choose your own adventure #cyoa #choose your own whump #cyoa whump #choose your own adventure whump #also for the last poll I made #I’m working on it! the ice fishing and catching a human thing #it’s not this here though this is desperate #the story to this came to me in a daydream spontaneously on the way home from school today #AND HERE IT IS HEHE #let’s go first original writing in MONTHS WOOOO

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winterrain-11 · 6 months

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Our Flag Means Death 2.08 Spoilers Ahead

Okay so. Let’s talk about Izzy’s death because as much as I’ve tried to give some of you the benefit of the doubt, some of you are projecting a bit too hard onto Izzy to understand how perfect this narrative was for him.

And before I get into it I’d like to preface that, yes, of course the season is rushed, the finale is rushed, the pacing is off. That is not the fault of David Jenkins or Taika or anyone else on set — it is budget cuts and it is HBO’s decision to provide them with a slot of only eight 30 minute episodes and little to no promise of a season 3. A lot of people’s issues with the finale and Izzy’s death are due to how rushed it was, the crew’s lack of mourning, Izzy’s character development not being fleshed out enough. Those are all valid things to be upset about, but we have to remember that production gave us all they could with what they had. Would you have rather had full fleshed out episodes but got the show canceled on a heart-breaking cliffhanger? Not like season one where there were less stakes and a good chance for season 2, but a full cancelation rather than, albeit very rushed, a happy ending in a world of sad queer endings??

Now that that’s out of the way, Izzy’s death narratively was so well done. As a writer, and from a writer’s perspective who, I remind you, created these characters and knows what they mean to the story and their place in said story, Izzy is there to represent part of our main protagonist (at least, for season 2), Ed. So is Stede in a way as well, but Izzy is a representation of piracy and the toxic parts of it. Izzy WAS, in a way, Blackbeard, they state this in the show. Stede, is the part of Edward that is Ed — the part of him that wants to be loved and live a fulfilling life.

A lot of people are mad about Izzy being “just a symbol”, and I don’t think that’s right at all. Yes, his character was a symbol for the toxicity of piracy and Ed’s abusive relationship with it and himself, because that’s how good writing works, but that’s not all Izzy is and season 2 showed us that. Izzy spent the entire season learning that he, even though he was a pirate and represented all of these bad things about piracy, doesn’t have to adhere to these toxic things anymore; he doesn’t have to be Blackbeard or need Blackbeard just as Ed doesn’t need to be Blackbeard. He spent this season learning now to love. And yes, of course we all wish he had more time to go on that journey, but with the time we had that journey was well spent and conveyed what it needed to.

Izzy is a beautifully fucked-up and complex character. Though it sucks to accept, he was written to die. He was written to be the part of Ed that kept him from loving himself and accept love and Izzy being gone allows him to do that. At the end of the day, Ed is the protagonist, the story is written in his favor for his hero’s journey, especially in season two. Izzy, thought deeply beloved, is a side character whose main hall narratively is to assist in the hero’s journey. And guys, he gave us SO MUCH! The fact that we all loved Izzy so much shows how well he was written, how so many people went from hating him to loving him in season 2 (myself included) because they gave him a character arc! They didn’t need to give him a redemption to fulfill his part in the story, but they DID!! Frankly, I think they could have done MUCH worse, but they gave Izzy a goodbye, closure, reconciliation with Ed, and let him die happy. He died happy, guys. All he wanted was for Ed to be happy, for them to both escape Blackbeard, and he dies happy knowing that he’s escaped Blackbeard and now Ed will too, because Stede has provided Ed that escape.

In this season, Izzy was shown real love for the first time in his life. And he died surrounded by the people that he loved and those whom loved him so much back. He’s ‘their dick’, their unicorn. He said earlier this season, “we’re born alone and we die alone.” But he didn’t. Against all odds he didn’t. Izzy lived his life and he went out HAPPY. Buried and mourned by the people who loved him which is so rare for a pirate.

I love you guys, I love this fandom, but you aren’t Izzy Hands, David isn’t targeting you directly by killing Izzy — it isn’t bury your gays, it isn’t queerbaiting — it’s writing. We can’t punish writers and directors for writing what they saw what best for their characters, THEIR characters. Not yours. You can love and cherish a character without them having the perfect ending.

I know I’m going to get a lot of hate for this and called a lot of bad names, but it needed to be said. Oh, and by the way — I’m queer. I have abandonment and attachment issues and I DEEPLY relate to Izzy. I am SO devestated about his death but I understand it narratively and I am content. I was a destiel shipper, I’m obsessed with good omens. I’ve been queerbaited so many times before and Our Flag Means Death is not that. This show has given us so much, and just because your favorite guy died doesn’t mean the writers are evil and homophobic and burying their gays. Lets think critically, guys.

#our flag means death spoilers #our flag means death #ofmd 2.08 #ofmd 2 spoilers #ofmd 2 #ofmd #izzy hands #ofmd izzy #ofmd finale

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