#if you saw the messed up formatting version of this i posted earlier no you didnt :))

[heresathreebee]

Garrote part 10

[Starz Power Diego Jimenez x Jazmine Mann (Black!OC)]

Word count: 3.1k words

Warning(s): Mature | Gun phobia, stalking. Diego and Healy get POVs in this one while Jazmine gets some R&R with the help from her mother. This is a plot only chapter, sorry. Previous Masterlist Next

Author’s Note: No beta reader and I’m far too exhausted to edit properly. After this story, I’m gonna adjust exactly how I format my fics. My million other fic ideas plus my debate over participating in NANOWRIMO this year have been keeping me from working on this too much, I figured it was time to put this up since the last chapter was posted in September... 

The rest of the day went by with a subtle ease. The temperature was just perfect for a coat and Diego seemed to have nowhere to be. Bordering on the miraculous, it was the man himself who asked her if she wanted to go out and have fun. Feeling caught off guard, Jazmine elected to throw caution to the wind and suggest something other than a fancy nightclub to hang out in. And when Diego heard the name, his jaw dropped. 

Two-Bit’s Retro Arcade. 

He did not ask why (though he did scoff, but more so in amusement than derision). Julio was elated to hear the address (apparently he’d been before), and Miguel looked crestfallen to have to stay at the penthouse. The journey from ritzy apartment to 25 cent arcade felt like being washed in time, stepping backwards into her past with a piece that didn't belong in that memory. 

The place was decently busy, there seemed to be no parties bigger than five. A collection of young kids took up the classics section, rotating between Dig Dug, Pac Man, and Tapper Light. The young man who played pinball every day was there. She didn't know his name but she knew his three letter handle because he had the highest score on every pinball machine in the arcade. The rest were small and easygoing groups, buying beers and gathering around prize winning claw games or Dance Dance Revolution. 

"Do they have air hockey?," Diego asked over her shoulder. He was dressed down per her request, in a simple hoodie and jeans. She kept glancing at him, feeling drawn to the simplicity of liking a simple man. 

"Over here." She had no intention of hiding how familiar she was with this place. Diego gave Julio a nod and the man dissolved into the background but was never out of sight. Suddenly, Jazmine became very aware that there were now at least two guns in this public space. Air hockey was... occupied. "Looks like a college tournament. Come on, we're not going to be able to play for like a week." 

She grabbed his arm to guide him away, but the man didn't budge. He stared those college boys down, looking for a fight. If he started something… 

"Diego. Diego! Please… it's just a game, I know a better one we won't have to share." 

At last he acquiesced and followed behind, never more than a foot away. She didn't realize she was holding her breath and wondered if those guys noticed his staring… they probably thought it was normal though. 

Jazmine brought Diego to the darkest corner of the arcade where nobody was or needed to pass by. If she stopped dead in her tracks, Diego would have tripped over her immediately for how close he was, but now that he had her exclusive attention, she didn't mind. She gestured to her favorite game and smiled. 

"Welcome to Marvel Vs Capcom: Clash of Superheroes," she announced. "Nobody plays this version because there's a huge glitch that sometimes makes one character untouchable." 

"OK." Diego wore a sly grin. No doubt he intended to find the cheat character and win all matches, but Jazmine knew all of this game's little secrets. 

Unsurprisingly, Diego's first pick was Wolverine. Jazmine refrained from rolling her eyes and let him work through the board of player characters, picking her own at random and sometimes picking the one she knew would fair better against his character to make it an even game. She watched his brow grow tighter and tighter as he couldn't find the broken character. He even switched up strategies– picking the characters that looked the least strong and working up from there (the opposite of his earlier choices). At last, he picked Chun-Li, having not noticed Jazmine picked it three times already, and he glanced at her face once more to see if she reacted, but the woman gave nothing away. Not until he looked towards the screen did she crack a smile. 

The way the smugness drained off of Diego's face made her smile broaden. He looked at the controls as if they were to blame, then to Jazmine and back to the screen where Chun Li had walked off of the edge of the screen. Annoyed, he leaned over the controls menacingly and waited for an explanation from the Cheshire cat grin on his partner's face. 

It took her awhile to answer him– she was trying really hard to fight the bubbling laughter in her belly. "Yeah, that um… that's what I was talking about. If you play the same character four times, the game breaks. You can't be hit but you also can't hit and you need to hold down the joystick to keep from walking off the edge of the screen… if you let them get away, well… you have to unplug the whole system." 

Diego looked pissed. He stared her down for so long she gulped but eventually, he freed her from his penetrative gaze. His hand slipped under her jacket and found a home at the base of her spine, and suddenly she was being whisked away towards the bathrooms. 

"Where are we–" 

Diego wasted not a breath and pushed her into the women's bathroom (unsurprisingly closet sized), before crowding her space to step inside and lock the door behind. Her heart began to pound against her chest as he turned and fixed her with a commanding glare. He moved as sly as a big cat, forcing her to find purchase against the tiny wood counter with the sink and leaning over her with his lips pressed to her nose. 

He said something softly in Spanish that she didn't understand, but it sounded sultry and it sent a pleasant shiver down her back. She thought he was going to kiss her, but then there was something hard and heavy he pressed into her hand. 

A gun. 

Her eyes bulged– glancing quickly between him and the shiny dark metal of the killing contraption– and shook her head minutely. 

"Take it," he said. She just kept shaking her head, hiding her hands beneath her arms and feeling dizzy, on the verge of passing out. He growled. "I wasn't asking." 

If he wasn't pressed against her, she would be rocking for comfort. Jazmine did not like guns. Her eyes misted over as she whispered, "why?" 

"They've been following us since we left." He slid the wretched mechanism up along her arm and let it rest just below her collarbone. "Haagen's men probably. They're getting bolder– probably by their master's orders." He tilted his head as if he was speaking of something completely mundane as he said, "did you really think those air hockey guys were college students? It's a Thursday." 

Jazmine didn't mean to whimper, but she managed to keep her tears at bay long enough to touch a finger to the gun, not quite taking it, but letting him know she would. She let him show her the safety and slipped it into the back of her pants, careful not to hurt her and demonstrating an awareness of her southpaw. He was almost hugging her when he finally stepped back (as far as the little toilet would allow). When his heel clinked against the porcelain, he turned to make sure he hadn't stepped in a mess, and Jazmine bolted. 

~

"Hello?" 

There was no one else's voice she wanted to hear more than that of Lashawn Mann. Jazmine felt guilt well up alongside the anxiety that had been threatening to consume her for weeks. 

"Mama?" Her voice sounded so small in her own ears. "Can I come over and see you?" 

"Of course, baby. You can come see me right now: I'm at your place." 

Jazmine caught a cab from Essex street home, and though Diego possessed an acute lack of awareness for personal space or feelings, he did leave her alone for a while. No SUVs with fake licenses trailed her home, no voicemails and no texts came through. She put it in airplane mode to make sure things stayed that way. She had a thought to drop Healy's hearing aid down a drain but put it in her pocket instead. 

Lashawn was waiting with Hercules. The tiny bit of annoyance Jazmine usually felt about getting slobbered on washed away the instant she saw her furry grey friend. The woman plopped her butt onto the ground and let the dog run amok in excitement to see her again. 

"Mom…" Hercules settled down in her lap and weighed her to the earth like an anchor for a ship at sea. "If something happens to me, will you take care of her?" 

"What do you mean 'if something happens to you'? Child, I ain't heard from you in two months and you come back with that?" Lashawn sat down on the floor despite her bad knees and leaned on her daughter's shoulder. "Baby, what's going on with you?" 

~

Estupido. She shouldn't have run away like that. 

Diego was overthinking in the backseat while Julio sat in perfect silence. The driver would have preferred the radio on, but his boss demanded the proper atmosphere to brood in. Taking what little he knew of the woman, Jazmine was probably going to retreat to her apartment since he lived in the only other place she was safe. Whatever– she would return in her own time. Unless her own time hindered their operation. 

We can't lose this opportunity. We are so close to Porsche and revenge. Hurry up, cariño. Make our next move. 

Diego was stuck deep inside his head even as he stood with his sister hours later in yet another huge warehouse with examples to be made of. Alicia wiped the blade of her knife onto her bodyguard's sleeve, then turned the blade over to her brother. 

"Finish the last one, will you?" 

Diego hummed, distracted by the conversation at the edge of the half circle. He did not like what he heard. He dug the blade straight into the crying man's heart, then cut his throat just for good measure. The blood on his hands was drying before he was able to speak again. He and Alicia were sat in her limo across from each other. She tactfully ignored his piercing gaze, while he worried the stickiness between his fingers mindlessly. 

"What's this I hear about you staying in New York?" 

Alicia glanced coolly up from inspecting her nails. "What do you mean? Someone needs to run the business." 

"That's what that idiot and your little fuck toy Dre are for. They deal with shit here while we get Porsche back, and then we go home. Together." 

"No," she shrugged. "Dre can't be trusted, Diego. I'm staying, you're going back to Mexico. We can split parent: the girl comes to live with me for a while and then with you. Every month or so…?" 

Diego's hands ball into fists and his teeth hurt from the pressure of keeping his jaw closed. Fucking puta, he thought as the car slowed to a stop. Exiting the car, the man pulled himself up to his full height and reveled in the brief moment of fear that registered on her face. 

"I'm not your errand boy, hermana. I don't do things because you think it's convenient. And I won't be sent away like an annoying pest so you can trounce about in luxury while I'm stuck doing peasant work. Am I the only one worried about that little fucking girl?" 

Through the marble stonework of her mask, he saw the cracks in her armor. "We can talk about this later, Diego." 

"Do you even want her back?," he sneered. 

"Stop it!" 

Alicia pushed him out of her way and disappeared quickly, her entourage scurrying to follow her. Diego looked to his men to find them with their eyes cast down as if they were witness to something they should never see. He stormed away with his head full of rage and more questions than answers. 

~

Meanwhile in a stuffy police office space, Healy was getting chewed out. His superiors figured him out, and now he was sat in interrogation with a furious pair of agents awaiting an explanation and disciplinary action. 

"You took it too far, Healy," his boss said. "I mean, you have really outdone yourself this time." 

"Yes sir." 

"Fucking A, right!" Agent Brasa slammed her hand on the table. No doubt she was chewing a huge wad of nicotine gum and gunning for his immediate firing. "This was our case, Healy, ours. Mine and Holbrooke, not yours!" 

Holbrooke remained ever brooding, silently leaning against the wall and watching the scene unfold. Though they made remained neutrally poised, he could tell by the pinch in their brow they were just as angry as Brasa. Healy had given up trying to talk to Brasa, and instead appealed to Holbrooke this time. 

"You two have every right to be angry with me–" 

"Oh do I??" Brasa cut in, "I didn't realize I needed your permission to be pissed off!" 

"-- but I did it because I had an 'in.' I saw an opportunity that only I could have seized, and–" 

"Are you really going to let him get away with this, Stahlworth?" Brasa looked accusingly at their boss, who merely scratched at his neck and closed his eyes as if keeping them open pained him greatly. 

"Brasa. Holbrooke. Out. I'll handle this the way I see fit– and don't argue with me, Marie, or I'll put you on suspension." 

The two stormed out into the hall, and finally Healy was able to breathe. As soon as he had been confronted by Stahlworth, he had come clean– setting up a covert op without agency permission and using a civilian to distract the perp while he slipped a mole into the organization and collected information. Brasa and Holbrooke had done amazing work– they discovered Haagen was the head, profiled the victims, and knew many of the locations of the exchanges– but they couldn't get any further to seizure warrants or when the exchanges were taking place. 

Healy looked pleadingly at Stahlworth. "They didn't have the resources to cover all those locations with proper 24 hour surveillance, Jack. Haagen is always one step ahead of them– of us– anyways because someone in this very organization is on his payroll. I don't need the glory, I don't want the case to myself– I just want this fucker behind bars. If you have to suspend me, I understand, if you have to fire me, I get it– but please don't throw out my evidence. People's lives are on the line, and Brasa and Holbrooke need this info–" 

"Who's your informant?" Healy snapped his mouth shut as the dreaded words left Stahlworth to hang menacingly in the air. "Healy? Who. Is your. Informant? Who are you working with? Give me a clearer picture of what you've been up to, and maybe I'll ask the DA to go easy on your ass." 

Healy gritted his teeth and dug his heels in. "I can't tell you any of that. A mole for a mole, I can't afford to trust that the eyes and ears in this very room are sound. Now if you want to pass this case back over to the agents it belongs to, I just have a few conditions concerning the safety of–" 

"Is this about Meghan?," Stahlworth asked. 

Healy's voice died in his throat. A lump formed and he had to swallow it down before it consumed him completely. Standing from his chair, Healy buttoned his coat and came face to face with his boss. 

"This is about the kids I can still save. Sir."

~

After LaShawn helped Jazmine pack her belongings, the daughter decided to take Hercules to the park for some fresh air. Her mother had made it clear she wanted Jazmine to move back in with her since she'd lost her job, but what she didn't know was that before Healy and Haagen, Jazmine was two months behind on rent, and she should have lost the lease to her apartment weeks ago. As it stood now, the landlord hadn’t bothered her once– so someone was paying her bills. Exactly who would remain a mystery as Diego, Healy, and Haagen possessed the means and the interest in keeping her in New York City, so she tried not to think too hard about it. 

Jazmine picked a spot in the grass and let Herc off the leash. She threw a beat up tennis ball with a little cheap plastic arm and watched her happy grey pupper zip around picnickers and other dog walkers, always stopping to be petted by every little girl and boy who squealed happily to see her. The woman was jumpy and constantly on edge, but for some reason she barely flinched when Diego sat down next to her. 

"I'll be honest, I'm glad you're here," she said without looking his way. 

He took the plastic arm and threw the next ball watching Hercules trot over hill and dale for this throw. "Did Healy tell you about Porsche?" 

Jazmine turned to see the dark bags under Diego's eyes. "He said something about a missing baby… is that what you mean?" 

The man leaned into her shoulder. "Yes." 

"I'm sorry, Diego." 

"I want my baby back, Jazmine. I want to watch her grow up happy and healthy and loved." He turns to look at her with an expression of maturity she didn't think he was capable of. "That's why I need you. We need you. You're probably scared, but you can't be more scared than that little girl is right now." 

It felt like a punch to the gut. Part of her was annoyed by his dismissal of her fear, but for the most part she understood. It wasn't hard to figure out what happened to older girls and boys in Haagen's ring, but what the fuck was he doing with babies? The thought twisted her stomach until her head ached from nausea. 

Diego continued, scratching at his eye to cover the build up of tears that threatened to spill out. "Healy said he found evidence of sales for kids under 13 that looked more like adoption papers than anything. Requirements for private education and a separate bedroom, things like that. He said he has a stack with no names but six of them are around her age with the name of the adoptive parents on it. It's a start." 

"It's a very good start." Jazmine placed her hand on Diego's back and let him curl into her side with a sigh. "It means she's still alive, that's fantastic... do you think Haagen noticed the papers were missing? He probably has so many…" 

Diego shrugged noncommittally and dragged her down to lay in the grass with Hercules. As he did, she felt the gun in her pants dig into her back, tightening that fist clenched around her heart. She was safe for now, in this moment. But would she ever be again?

@mental-bycatch @nicke0115 @1zashreena1 @girlpornparadise @kid-from-new-zealand​

#Diego Jimenez #Starz Power #Diego Jimenez imagine #Diego Jimenez x OC #three bees writing #Garrote #🐝🐝🐝✒

[cluz1babe]

*** Strong Tongue and Slender Fingers ***

Summary: (READER insert)

Episode 1 Chapter 1: You Meet the Boys

A woman who can't stay dead, has strange abilities, and seeks out Dean and Sam for help.

Notes:

First 2 chapters are in a bad format.

Episode 1 has been Beta'd by http://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassidy_OMalley

Taking place after season 14 (up to 3 years after). The first two chapters are in a crap form, please push through them and help me with gentle constructive criticism. I need it. I know I’m not good at descriptions of surroundings and I’ve no idea how to learn writing them.

There are at least 7 Episodes to Part One, but I am shooting for 10 (as long as my brain works with me.)

Each Episode has an undetermined amount of Chapters when it begins. I will try to add extra warnings at the top of each chapter.

I apologize in advance for it being so slow to update. Writing is not my forte, but comments and gentle constructive criticism help me keep going! Suggestions, little requests, co-creators, co-developers, betas, etc. are welcome to inquire. I feel like I have a great base story, but I struggle with the little things.

Both of the Explicit versions, have extra fun one-shot chapters to add extra Rated X content and fun, but will not impact the story. I will try to add a link to the Alt Scene in the place it would go in the story.

Depending on my time, either my Chapters or Episodes will have a PLAYLIST link at the top or the bottom.

With the exception of characters who are dead on the show, and the Rated X stuff, it's as canon as possible. I try to fact-check as much as possible.

Early evening. Summer. Bar buzzing with people. You’re sitting at the bar, lollipop in your mouth, lighting matches with your fingers. You touch the condensation on your glass and as your fingers move, the water travels in a trail. When some hunters at a table begin talking, you raise the hood of your jacket and listen to the three hunters (ranging from late 20s - late 50s) at the table behind you.

HUNTER 1 We have to move out.

HUNTER 2 I thought the case was 50 miles from here.

HUNTER 1 Winchesters. Don’t know about you, but I’d prefer not getting involved. Or in their way.

HUNTER 3 They create all the problems, then pretend like they helped by fixing them.

You smile to yourself. A driver sits next to you.

DRIVER So I hear you need a ride?

YOU Yeah, I’m only headed to Ocean City.

DRIVER Really? What’s out there?

You throw him a smile.

. . . . . . . . . .

Inside the cab of a semi. You’re asleep, with your head lying against the window. The driver pulls off to a spot in the middle of nowhere, causing you to wake up.

YOU Are we there?

You look around, groggy.

YOU Where are we?

The driver attacks you. Pulling you forward with his hands.

. . . . . . . . . .

TRUCK

The truck rocks back and forth as the struggle inside continues. You manage to escape without your jacket and start running, but the driver pulls out a gun and shoots you. Your lifeless body, along with your bag, lay on the ground for hours. After dark, the grass around you grows. The individual blades wrap around your fingers, hands, arms, and legs. As they wrap around your head, you take in a quiet, deep breath. You sit up and look around. You pull yourself up and as you do, the blades of grass die and fall off. The bullet falls out of your back. Looking down, you see an outline of dead grass where you were lying. After looking in all directions, you pick up your bag and the bullet and begin walking towards the highway.

. . . . . . . . . .

THE HIGHWAY - EVENING

As you walk on the side of the highway, you turn to look behind you and see it. The black Impala that you’ve been looking for. The car rushes past you. You look up and see a starling on a lamp post. You stare at it for a moment and it looks back at you, head tilting. The bird flies off. You smile and continue to walk.

. . . . . . . . . .

SIDEWALK - THE NEXT NIGHT

You see Sam and Dean talking. You study them for a moment as you take a piece of candy and put it in your mouth. Before walking toward them, you crouch down and touch the grass. Your hand digs into the dirt. When you pull it out, about 3 worms come with it.

YOU Thank you.

The starling you saw earlier, picks a worm and flies off. You run your hands through your hair. Taking steps forward you don’t notice the jagged edge on the side of a bumper of an old van you brush past. Your jeans catch on the car and you get stuck. You pull your leg to break free, but you don’t come loose.

YOU Dammit! Come on.

The sound of your struggle gets the attention of Sam and Dean who notice a big truck speeding down the road. Dean tries to get your attention by waving his arms in the air.

DEAN Hey! (Pause) Hey!

Sam and Dean run across the street to help.

You feel arms wrap around you and pull you back. You are so preoccupied with getting loose and lost in your thoughts that it takes you by surprise. They all watch as the truck rushes through. After a few seconds of just realizing you almost died (again), you force the arms off of you. You take a defensive stance and come face to face with Castiel.

CASTIEL Just trying to help.

After a few seconds, you relax. Sam and Dean arrive.

YOU Sorry. I’m... Um... Obviously, not used to being helped out much. I mean, I’m not exactly…

You gesture to show you’re kind of a mess. You see the tear in your pants.

YOU And now I’m worse.

SAM You were really close to being hit.

YOU Yeah, I realize.

Sam puts his right hand out.

SAM My name is Sam.

You accept Sam’s hand and shake it.

YOU Y/N.

Dean slightly pushes Sam aside and offers his hand.

DEAN And I’m Dean.

You accept.

YOU Hi.

After a bit of awkward silence, Dean decides to speak up again.

DEAN Well, I bet you need a drink after that near-death experience.

YOU Sure.

DEAN Oh, by the way, this is Cass.

You smile at Castiel but quickly look away without making eye contact.

YOU Thank you.

Dean sends you in the direction of the bar. He walks behind you, pausing with Sam.

DEAN Dude, I need this.

SAM Since when do you need this?

DEAN Always. I always need this.

At a loss for words, Sam sighs.

DEAN Just tell me. Do you want in on this? Because if not, I’m going to make a move.

SAM I think I’m good, Dean.

Dean looks over at Castiel.

CASTIEL What?

DEAN Where is your head, lately? I’m offering you a chance with her and you don’t even seem to notice.

Annoyed, Castiel pointedly answers Dean, who doesn’t seem to notice Cass’s tone as being unusual.

CASTIEL No. Thank. You.

Dean smiles, hits his brother’s arm, and runs off to join you. Sam smiles at his brother’s ridiculous behavior.

. . . . . . . . . .

 MOTEL BAR - LATER

Sam watches as Dean heavily hits on you. He is smiling and talking to you, flirtatiously grazing your hand as he gives you a fresh drink. Castiel suddenly appears next to Sam.

CASTIEL It’s only a few ghosts. I’m sure it will be a simple in and out job. Where’s Dean?

SAM Dean is...

Sam looks over the table where Dean and you are sitting.

SAM Being Dean.

Castiel looks over at the table and sees Dean touching your arm. You return the flirtations with a smile and brush your leg against his.

CASTIEL What have you learned about her?

SAM You should probably ask Dean. He’s been talking to her for the last hour and a half. She’s been coming on to him harder than he is to her.

Castiel looks back at the table.

CASTIEL Interesting. I’m not sure I trust her.

SAM What makes you say that?

CASTIEL I don’t like the way Dean is flirting with her.

SAM What are you talking about? He’s doing what he always does.

Castiel looks at Dean, disapprovingly.

CASTIEL He’s being too honest about it. Being that open is dangerous.

SAM Cass, are you…jealous?

Castiel looks at Sam, genuinely confused.

CASTIEL Of what?

Dean joins Sam and Castiel as you walk away.

DEAN Damsel in distress.

Castiel & Sam recognize this as a code for a trap.

SAM What the plan?

DEAN My plan is to leave with her. You two can pretend to save me in an hour or so.

SAM An hour? Dean, if this is a trap, you can’t just willingly fall into it.

DEAN It’s a risk I’m willing to take.

Noticing the ridiculous smile on Dean’s face, Sam rolls his eyes.

SAM Is she even your type?

DEAN Uh, yeah.

CASTIEL I don’t think it’s a good idea.

DEAN Yeah? When is the last time you saw a woman like that?

CASTIEL Dean, just because it’s a trap, doesn’t mean it’s okay to use her for sex.

DEAN Oh, I’m not. She invited me to her room. I promise I’ll be careful by thoroughly checking everything out. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a trap to fall into.

DEAN winks and walks away.

. . . . . . . . . .

NEAR THE MOTEL ROOMS - MOMENTS LATER

DEAN catches up with you.

DEAN Hey, I thought we were having a good time.

You smile.

YOU We were.

DEAN Why did you run off?

YOU If I were running, you wouldn’t have found me.

. . . . . . . . . .

MOTEL ROOM - LATER

You and Dean are making out on one of the beds. You are under him. He pushes his hips into you. You breathe heavily at first, moaning, lightly. As Dean keeps going, your moans get louder. He moves to remove your pants, but you push his hands back, he looks up at you.

YOU Not yet. Keep going.

He gets back on top of you and continues. He adds a kiss. You moan louder.

YOU Yes.

You keep moaning until you orgasm and Dean pauses.

DEAN Did you just—?

You nod your head.

DEAN Damn, that is so hot.

He smiles and kisses you. Suddenly the door flies open and Sam & Castiel come into the room. Dean & you stop and look toward the door. Dean frustratingly yells at the guys.

DEAN Oh, come on!

OTHER VERSIONS AND EXTRAS

Because I am very visual, I have symbols to look out for.

~ Klee PG Version ~ (Currently only on AO3)

*** Strong Tongue and Slender Fingers *** (Here and AO3)

KLEE (Original Version) (Currently only on AO3)

Alt KLEE Smut (Currently only on AO3)

*** Alt Strong Tongue and Slender Fingers Smut Scenes *** (Currently only on AO3)

Please Buy Me a Beer!

Tip Me on Ko-Fi

AO3

#StrongTongue and Slender Fingers #klee #kleena #dean winchester #dean x y/n #dean winchester x reader #castiel #castiel deserves better #castiel x reader #castiel/reader #spn fanfiction #spn fanfic #spn #fanfiction #fanfic #fanficaddiction #playlist #suggestions #advice #requests #Sam Winchester #sam #reader #sam x reader #sam/reader #mystery #mythology #folklore #fluff #Smut

[fandomplethora]

mystic messenger webtoon

(repost since my last post disappeared OTL) 

LONG POST

warning: unorganized, rambling thoughts lol. (i’m all over the place right now, guys)

you guys. i have never been more excited and more *terrified* in my life.

let’s break it down.

it is officially announced that mystic messenger, as a webtoon, will be returning to us on april 11th. the prologue has already been released today.

LINK BUT HAHA IT’S ALL IN KOREAN T_T

from what i have been able to read *very briefly* is that there is no plan for an english (or any other language) translation just yet. it will be released on bookcube, a pay to read site.

(someone on reddit mentioned a hope that it may come to tappytoon or tapas? but there is no confirmation of any other site besides bookcube.)

that being said - we have *wonderful* people in this fandom already ready with some english translations! at the very least :’)  

B O O M

creds, yo

let’s go into my (personal) negative outlooks first! (maybe i shouldn’t use an exclamation point when talking somewhat negatively...)

1. (not super negative) b u t - our mc is different. :,( i’m just attached to the idea of mc w/ bangs and long brown hair - the gold eyes. while other mc’s have made their way into art and ect...the mc from the game is the most popular one. i don’t understand the need for the change...besides to perhaps build upon this new version of the story with a brand new character. because mc *like this*, in this format, is a new character. she will, hopefully, have her own personality and traits and maybe backstory? even a minor one. b u t that could also, in the eyes of some people, be a negative...and, to others, a positive. we, as players, have been the mc this entire time so while good ending mc is looked at as, mainly, canon - which brings some fundamental characteristics to her character such as being empathetic, kind and...holy shit, incredibly *flexible* (like, apartment bomb? “nbd.” brand new group of people? “dope, let’s be friends.” cult? “well, what are we gonna do about it then.” mc, are you okay? mc: “are y o u g u y s okay tho?”)  mc has not had her own story. does this mean she will now? now we may get new traits on top of those, a unique personality to who t h i s character is.

SIDE NOTE: *SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE* ya’ll, holy shit...is MC getting a name? she has to get a name now. AAAAA, okay this may go another direction and i may just have another character in this damn story i’d willingly throw myself in front of a car for. dAMN IT.

2. okay, it somewhat makes sense that saeyoung would NOT be there in the introduction of the four to this mc shown in the webtoon prologue. same with jihyun. of course, with saeran. but my fear is...i want equal relationship development with every character. unless they are approaching this in a “reset” type of way...(which i’m not sure if they will tbh).

from, my guess, the already meeting of them (all at the same time) shows us that we may just be on one big route with almosteverything included? which i am down for. but...then do it like that, right? bring saeyoung and jihyun into the picture, as well, more consistently. bring vanderwood in too due to his major role in saeyoung’s route, the secret endings and the entirety of another story. (y’know? what could be considered the “main plotline” that affects everyone in mm.)  he IS a part of it. also, more moments with saeran. perhaps we will get (new) more mint eye scenes? a type of back and forth?

i’m really not trying to dictate how this story should go. i really am interested in this new take and what it may come with. but i just want...everyone there, y’know? i want those relationships equally delved into - how we all got to know them as we completed all routes and other dlc’s on the game.

3. i’m just...kind of scared of being disappointed. or *too much* changing. or...characters being made out in a way they are not? if that makes sense. i’m not trying to set it up for that...to play some “i’ve been here over three years and i know more than you” type of role, haha. they can bring in all of the angst from the game...but maybe change a few things to handle it better? deeper? make sure characters are more universally okay? add some things in too if you want! i also understand if not everything makes it in.

but they have a chance of really reigniting the fandom and also growing it. mm is a wonderful story that does capture your heart. and cheritz has done a lot of good, more good than bad in my eyes (personally!)...but also...sometimes have messed up too. i just want them to do the game, the characters and themselves justice.

P O S I T I V I T Y T I M E

1. okay, guys. c’mon. this mc is super cute UwU (not that that is what it’s all about lol) but i’m hoping we get to know her as a new character with unique traits. i’m excited to see her added into the story and for her interactions. we should all root for her! because we have allll been her shoes already, guys. <3 (also, as someone else pointed out, peep that bisexual bob, ya’ll.) let’s do this!

2. THE ART STYLE IS A M A Z I N G. they ALL look so good to me. i saw them and immediately went “there they are”. :’) kind of got emotional, ngl.

3. i do believe in one positive change that is going to happen! we are meeting them *right away* at least from what i can tell from this panel -

i think this makes sense in order to see the story in this form (and i even said this so long ago in another post when musing about changes if they ever made mm into a tv show). meeting them right away makes sense. and i am glad they are doing it this way! that made me excited to see. (and now you guys know what i mean about every character, hopefully, getting the part they deserve in this webtoon that i mentioned earlier.)

4. so, i may be getting ahead of myself and i am NOT trying to continually ask for more and more. but the fact that this game became a webtoon...means it could become a show one day. perhaps this is a way to test the waters? feel it out and see where things go. either way though, a webtoon happening (all on it’s own) is beyond exciting.

5. there will be new additions to this fandom! just the other day (and, as i’m sure, many of us feel too) i just miss this game and fandom so much. i’m not ready for it to just be over, i think. mystic messenger meant, it means, so much to me - so much to others. it is a wonderful story, a different approach to this genre while including important themes and filled with i n c r e d i b l e characters. things are not perfect but maybe...this can be the boost we all need again. and i am excited to welcome people into this fandom!

let’s all be kind to each other.

final thoughts;

i’m probably going to hunting down a translation all over the place on april 11th (and every release following, haha). i hope we do see this story translated in numerous languages - to include our, truly, worldwide fandom. i will be reading this and i am excited for this new part and chapter of this fandom and story! to see it this way and read it as such. i’m glad to see a boost to this fandom and to find my love for mystic messenger again...and hopefully others will too!

overall - THANK YOU, CHERITZ. and while i am incredibly nervous - i am going to remain (mostly) positive and excited! and only *slightly* skeptical.

i’d love to hear anyone else’s thoughts and discuss more about this.

and i can’t wait to see you all (and welcome even more) into the messenger again. <3

until then!

oh, and also...

...same, mc. same.

#mystic messenger #hyun ryu #mysme zen #mysme hyun #yoosung kim #mysme yoosung #jaehee kang #mysme jaehee #jumin han #mysme jumin #saeyoung choi #mysme luciel #mysme 707 #mysme seven #mysme saeyoung #jihyun kim #mysme v #mysme jihyun #saeran choi #mysme unknown #mysme ray #mysme saeran #vanderwood #mysme vanderwood #mina #mysme rika #mysme mina #mysme mc #cheritz

[the-purple-hero]

CNK Story Campaign (Team Spyro)

{{So before I start, I just got a little bored and decided to write out a full thing if Spyro had his own team in Crash Nitro Kart for all the cutscenes. I was inspired after seeing a post with hypothetical teams in CNK, so I thought I’d do my own with a Team Spyro. This will feature Spyro, Hunter and Agent 9.

Note, that this is written in a script type of format because if it were in my regular writing form it’d be a huge writing passage, I hope you guys like it.}}

*Accepting Velo’s Challenge

The cutscene begins giving close up shots of Spyro, Hunter and Agent 9 respectively as they wave and Velo’s crowd cheers.

Velo: Do you accept my challenge?....OUT WITH IT!

Spyro: Y’eesh calm down big guy, don’t need to see ya havin’ a big ol’ fit! Yeah we take your challenge and you’ll see what real speed looks like!

Velo: Then it is decided! You will race across four worlds of my choosing! And if you should win each world’s key. You will earn a chance to race the galactic champion, for your freedom. I even modified vehicles for you to give you a fighting chance.

Spyro: Uh huh that’s all well and good, my pals and I will show you! Lets make somethin’ clear, you’re not gonna have the last laugh here.

Velo: Think you’ll put up quite a challenge do you? Well they all say that dragon, but I do love watching some intense competition!....Now, onto the first world, Terra!

The cutscene finishes with Team Spyro hopping in their vehicles and Sparx joining up next to the little dragon. Spyro gave one last look up at Velo’s holographic head with a look of confidence at the Emperor’s sneer before driving off to Terra.

*Terra’s Champion

Velo: You’ve collected 3 trophies, a promising start! Now you must face Terra’s champion, Krunk!

Krunk appears and bats his chest like a gorilla

Velo: Krunk’s speed is only matched by his cunning on the track

Krunk: They will race me? They look slow, send them back!

Spyro glares at him and holds back Agent 9 who looks ready to aim his blaster

Velo: But Krunk, they’re from... eh...where exactly are you lot from hmm?

Spyro: Psh, as if I’m gonna tell ya that. No way, I’d rather keep it to ourselves can’t have you comin’ and causing trouble if y’don’t mind.

Krunk: Well whatever planet, or world or wherever you came from I’m going to show you a real defeat and send you back with your head hanging low!

Spyro: Riiiight, sure you will, how ‘bout we get goin’ and we’ll see who comes out the victor!

Spyro gives off a smug smirk as both him and Krunk make eye contact, with Agent 9 grumbling behind him and Velo chuckling darkly at the tension.

*Krunk Defeated

The cutscene begins with the crowds surprised at Team Spyro’s victory with one shouting their praises and receiving dirty looks from those near him, and then Krunk approaches the team.

Krunk: Key makes you champion of Terra, also opens all world gates on my planet. Visit when you want.

Spyro noticed that the Terran seemed really sad at his defeat despite his hostility from earlier.

Spyro: Sure thing, not a problem neat skills out there.

Krunk: Really? Thanks! You three aren’t so bad yourselves!

Spyro: Yep, just doin’ our best y’know and trust me we’re gonna win this thing.

Krunk: Hmmm, maybe you will but don’t get too excited.

Velo then appeared back up much to Krunk’s dismay.

Velo: Krunk! Leave my sight!

A beam of light then took Krunk away.

Velo: You’d did well but your nowhere close to winning the circuit yet, onto the second world! Barrin!

*Barrin’s Champion

Velo: You now have six trophies, with these you have earned the right to race Nash! Barrin’s champion! Nash was engineered to always move, he never stops or even sleeps!

Nash: Put ‘em up, put ‘em up!

Nash proceeds to spin around while Spyro shakes his head, Hunter looks confused and Agent 9 looks excited.

Spyro: Y’know this guy, looks like they weren’t kiddin’ he looks like he just had waaay too much candy or something.

Nash: Is that, enough? I need to get moving!

Velo: Soon Nash

Nash: Not soon.... NOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!

Velo is visibly angered by the backtalk and growls at him which shut Nash down and made him back off.

Velo: Excellent

*Nash Defeated

Nash is off to the side looking frustrated and mumbling things to himself and shaking his fins.

Spyro: Guess we made ol’ sharptooth over there mad, you guys doin’ alright after that?

Hunter: You could say that Spyro, but ugh got hit by those fans so many times I don’t know when I’m gonna stop feeling this dizzy, Agent 9 is well...watching Nash because I guess he hit him with something out on the track.

Spyro looks over at Agent 9 who was standing behind one of the pillars and spying on Nash who was starring at the shark who had blasted him during the race.

Agent 9: OOOOH Let me at ‘em!

Just his luck, Nash then runs up to Team Spyro looking very angry and seemed to be still on the aggressive side.

Nash: Gimmie my key back!!! COME ON! HAND IT OVER!

Spyro: Watch it sharptooth, you lost! How ‘bout backin’ off before ya get toasted! Trust me y’don’t wanna mess with this dragon tough guy!

Nash: I don’t CARE! I am not scared of some purple LIZARD!

Before he could say anymore he saw Agent 9 sneaking over but Nash was so focused on his anger he didn’t notice, and realizing what was happening Spyro smirked and stepped out of the monkey’s way.

Agent 9: HehehaHAHAHHA Look who’s here! OOH you’re gonna get a chance to meet MISTER BLASTER!

Agent 9 points his blaster at Nash

Nash: Gah! Nonono get away from me you crazy freak!

Agent 9 chases Nash with his blaster managing to get off a few shots around the coliseum but missed, although making the shark scream and flail his fins around while Agent 9 was cackling like a madman, even Spyro got in on it and managed to blow flames at the shark as he ran past him.

Spyro: How’s that for not bein’ scared of the purple lizard?

This went on for a bit before they are interrupted by Velo’s hologram, ignoring the monkey’s antics and Spyro stopped first.

Velo: Nash! Get out of here I’ll deal with you later!

Agent 9: I’ve got you NOW!

Agent 9 fires one more time hitting Nash in the rear, and he lunges at him but misses him as he is beamed away and led the monkey to have a hard landing with a splat on the ground.

Agent 9: HEY! Stop messing up my fun!

Velo rolls his eyes with a look of disgust, and proceeds to ignore him.

Velo: Well your halfway there here’s where things start to get tricky... On to Phenomena!

*Fenomena’s Champion

Velo: With your nine trophies, you have earned the right to face Phenomena’s champion...Norm!

Norm appears on his pedestal reading a book, not even looking at the team below.

Spyro ends up snickering, along with Hunter and Agent 9 laughed, and even Velo laughed at Norm but then shook his head and came to his senses.

Velo: Don’t let Norm’s size fool you, he’s a demon on the race track.

Norm looked away from his book, crossed his arms and shook his head refusing to race.

Velo: NOOOOOOOO! You ARE racing today, now DO IT!

Norm quickly got down and he turned into some kind of blue goo, and split into two piles of it.

Spyro: What the-?

Hunter: Heh heh, looks like jello

Hunter leaned down and told Spyro with a chuckle

Spyro: Pfft, good one.

But then the bigger pile had a red hat sprout up and they reformed one looking like Norm as they saw him moments ago, the other like a bigger version of him.

Big Norm: Oooh a race! Count me in!

Small Norm waggled a finger at him and looked away, arms crossed again.

Big Norm: I don’t wanna hear it! The deal was that you race in return for me wearing this dumb getup!

Big Norm approached Team Spyro

Big Norm: Besides, they don’t stand a chance!

Agent 9: We’ll SEE!

Hunter and Spyro both glare at him

Spyro: You guys never learn do ya, well c’mon then let’s go!

*Norm Defeated

Big Norm: You know, you did good out there. You got a real shot at winning this thing! Cause you work together!

Spyro: Heh, well thanks! Y’sure turned out to be a pretty good sport ‘bout all this, you two aren’t so bad together yourselves. The last guy threw a fit when he lost...so my pal Agent 9 and I taught him a thing or two.

Agent 9: I got to have a SHOT at him if you know what I’m saying!

Agent 9 waved his blaster around and both he and Big Norm started laughing at the pun.

Big Norm: Ohoho! I know what you mean, good old Nash can get a little upset over even little things but this is a lot bigger of a deal to him, like us.

Big Norm then looks over at Small Norm who was sitting away, and reading again.

Big Norm: Hey! Come over here and make nice!

Small Norm refused and looked away.

Big Norm: Yeah he pretends not to care, but he’s just like me he hates losin’.

Spyro tilted his head and looked over at Small Norm, he understood it didn’t feel good at all to take a loss. But as he did Velo appeared again, looking very angry.

Velo: Norm! Get over here!

Big Norm: Uh oh

Both Norms are persuaded to fuse again by Velo and they do.

Velo: Perhaps I need new ways to motivate you... like... taking your books away!

Norm looks horrified before he is beamed out.

Velo: I thought he had you beat...but you proved me wrong! You won’t be so lucky on Teknee!

*Teknee’s Champion

This cutscene is pretty much the same as the other teams canonically in the game just with the Team Spyro characters.

*Geary Defeated

Geary: My key! How did I lose? I know Teknee like the back of my- my hand! It’s dirty! This whole place is filthy!

Geary proceeds to vacuum the coliseum drawing closer to Team Spyro who are celebrating, he notices Hunter and takes out a brush, cleaning his stomach making him giggle before he moved on to vacuuming his underarm leading Spyro to chuckle at him and look at Sparx who was struggling to hold in his giggles while they were being celebrated, not minding the robot just doing some cleaning.

Spyro: Looks like y’won’t need to go and take a bath he’s doing it for ya

Spyro chuckled, gently ribbing at the cheetah who rolled his eyes at his friend, and was startled as suddenly Velo shouted.

Velo: Geary! You have FAILED ME! As punishment you must clean the trophy podium, and when your done with that... you will clean the entire coliseum!

Velo could now be seen standing where his hologram was, in the flesh and laughing evilly at the job he assigned to Geary.

Velo: You now have all 4 champion keys and with these you can now challenge the most accomplished racer in the entire galaxy... me! And I never lose...

*First Velo Defeat

Velo is visibly angry and grumbles with his two advisers looking concerned, but as he calms down they do as well.

Velo: Congratulations you have won the galaxy circuit, and you put on quite a show am I right everyone?

The crowd cheers victoriously

Velo: You are now free to go.

Spyro: Heh, this was too easy your majesty!

The young dragon spoke with his voice dripping with sarcasm on that last part.

Spyro: Told ya that you wouldn’t have the last laugh here. So now if ya don’t mind we’re gonna head back with Crash and our friends back to their home.

Velo: What? You mean Earth? Oh, but now I have to destroy Earth since you no longer want to race. You can’t go back there, I thought I was pretty clear about that, dragon. You must have made some kind of mistake here yes? Thinking you could just go back now.

Hearing this, Spyro starred into Velo’s eyes looking not too happy while Velo looked smugly down at him.

Hunter: That’s not right!

Agent 9: OOOH you’re playing DIRTY!

Velo: What do you mean? You’re free to go.”

Velo still looked smug since he knew exactly what he was doing, they were free to go but not the way they wanted, he still insisted he would doom Crash’s planet.

Spyro: ...Don’t mess with me greenie, I wouldn’t start playin’ these games with me because I can play them better. If you’re gonna play dirty, we could have a go right here you’re not gonna do a thing to Earth or Crash!

Clearly Spyro was not happy with this, he basically had him where he wanted him because there was no way he was going to let him destroy Crash’s home planet, if he had to fight with him he would if need be.

Spyro: Oh ho I get it, you just can’t stand the idea of actually losin’ to us can ya ugly?

Velo is visibly upset by this remark, but tries not to shout or growl at him.

Velo: Are you certain of that? I would tread carefully dragon, Remember you otherworldly savage, do not dare to challenge me in such a way or else I might have to see Earth destroyed for your defiance!

Spyro: Oh yeah? We’ll keep racing if that’s what it’s gonna take for you to back off from Earth.

Velo: A rematch? How exciting! But there are rules you must follow, you first need to earn all my time relics then we can race for the fate of Earth.

Spyro: If that’s what ya want then bring it on greenie, we’ll teach ya another lesson! You’re so on!

*Final Velo Defeat (Ending)

Velo is visibly fuming and growling angrily even more than last time

Velo Adviser 1: My lord please don’t get angry!

Velo Adviser 2: Your suit is leaking sire!

Velo hits the adviser's hovercraft causing him to go flying. While Spyro stood in front of his friends, thinking Velo might attack in a fit of rage. So stepped in front to defend his two friends...but then Velo unexpectedly in his anger exploded into a pile of rubble.

Team Spyro cough and splutter as smoke fills the area, but soon dispels.

Spyro: There’s somethin’ ya don’t see everyday the bad guy exploding. And here I was thinkin’ we were gonna have to take ‘em down in order to get outta this, I guess that’s one way of doin’ it!

Spyro makes his way to Velo’s scepter standing up on his hind legs and tries to move it from there but trips and it lands on him, the item being surprisingly heavy. Hunter helps him up, just as from the rubble the Real Velo emerges from the destroyed robot.

Velo: It’s mine! you can’t have it!

Spyro: Can’t say I saw this coming, that you were just a little guy underneath all that you sure y’still wanna try me short stuff?

Velo shook angrily, and jumped at Spyro and attempted to knock him down and latched onto him and tried to pull the scepter away while Spyro bit onto it and held it in his mouth.

Velo: GIVE IT! YOU MEDDLING DRAGON!

Hunter came up behind him and tried to pull Velo away but he had a tight grip, and tried to scratch at Hunter’s hands while holding on with the other. Spyro pulled the scepter down with his paws and held it tighter releasing it from his mouth actually working as a distraction.

Spyro: Havin’ some trouble short stuff?

Seemed the distraction worked, as Agent 9 put an end to it with a shot from his blaster at Velo which had him yell.

Velo: OUCH!

Agent 9: HAHA got you!

Velo let go instantly and Hunter was still pulling so he tripped back still holding the Emperor, causing Velo to soar in the air and collide with a pillar of the coliseum and slid down. Landing on his back with a groan and Spyro pushed the staff up and Hunter held onto it for him.

Spyro walked up to Velo who grumbled and scooted away from him, and he snorted with smoke coming out of his nostrils.

Spyro: Not so tough now, are ya?

Velo: Okay fine you win! You can take it, my scepter is too big for me anyway.

Velo laid there and crossed his arms in a grumpy manner.

Spyro: Uh huh let that be a lesson to you, didn’t anyone ever tell ya not to mess with dragons? Well there ya go, guys like us ain’t gonna give up especially not to a baddie like you.

Spyro trotted back to his friends and he held the scepter to the best of his ability and he took his friends, including the Bandicoots back home and after a quick trip back to the Dragon Realms to hand over Velo’s scepter to the Magic Crafters so they could handle it as they saw fit.

Afterward he continued with his visit to Wumpa Island, where he hung around with all of his friends together on the beach and soaking up the sun rays and relaxing after all that racing.

THE END

#crash nitro kart #drabble #spyro #nervous about this one to be honest XD

[cryoculus]

Hello! I just saw demon!Oikawa official art and was wondering if you could write anything with that version of him? 🙏🏻 It could be funny or whatever. Thank you(´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)

»Word Count: 4,529 words Cross-posted on AO3

Ugh I finally finished this. But heads up, Tumblr’s formatting system is a little ugly right now and I can’t put timeskip lines like I used to. But that hardly makes a difference on mobile. If anything, the asterisks make it easier to read on the mobile app. Anyways, I’d recommend reading on AO3 instead, but it’d mean the world if you left a like on the first one shot (cough potential fanfic cough) I’ve posted in a good while. 

***

“Another gas leak?”

Your ears perk up at Kawanishi’s concerned voice resounding from the cashier. Curious, you throw him a curious look over your shoulder, momentarily tearing yourself away from your current duty which takes form in replenishing the shelves with fresh pastries. From where he’s seated, Kawanishi stares at the small television propped on the counter with a prominent crease marring his brow. He must be watching the news again. It is only two in the afternoon—far earlier than the designated time slot for the regular news broadcasts. But for the past week, flash reports were invading TV screens in sporadic times of the day, all of which depicted the same message.

“The Miyagi Police Department are diligently looking into the matter, but the evidence at hand is supposedly still inconclusive. But it hasn’t escaped the public’s notice that all the victims of the aforementioned gas leaks were customers of a single company that refilled their gas tanks regularly. Today’s victims from downtown Sendai have been sent to the hospital and are yet to regain consciousness—”

“The world is becoming a real scary place to live in.” Kawanishi clicks his tongue before promptly switching off the TV. “I’m probably going to start cooking my food with bonfires now.”

“You can’t even cook for shit, Taichi.” You snort, re-adjusting your plastic gloves before resuming your previous task.

He returns your jab at his lack of the particular life skill with a grimace. “Hey, I man the cashier way better than you ever will.”

“Your point is…?”

“Could you just shut up and get back to the kitchen?” Kawanishi rolls his eyes, pretending to busy himself with the sales logbook on the counter even if there aren’t any customers inside the bakery.

A jeering chuckle slips past your lips at his dismissive behavior. But knowing full well that you still have a pot pie scheduled for delivery later in the day, you decide to leave Kawanishi to his own devices so you can get started with the order. However, when you set foot in the kitchen, you are met with the sight of Reon teaching the newest recruit, Goshiki how to properly hand-knead pie dough without making too much of a mess.

“Reon, I thought it was my turn to handle deliveries,” you half-whine before peeling off your plastic gloves for disposal. After, you pull out one of the folded metal chairs tucked away in the corner to watch Reon’s demonstration. Though from the knowing look in his eye, he is well aware that you are more than glad that he took over your responsibilities to give Goshiki a quick tutorial.

“Tsutomu here told me he was tired of inventory,” he reasons with a shrug, hands still occupied with the task before him. “He’s been here for almost a month and I’m sure Wakatoshi won’t mind if I teach him how to bake.”

Your gaze meanders to Goshiki who is staring at you with a hint of timidness to his posture; those dark eyes of his conveying a subtle plea. “I-Is it okay, senpai?”

Before you can even think of holding it in, your lips curl into a wide smile, cackling at the younger boy’s formality. “Tsutomu, it’s more than okay! And don’t call me senpai. Makes me feel old.”

Reon eyes you with amusement. “Aren’t you a few years away from turning thir—”

Before he can finish the sentence, you stomp over towards him to jab a finger in his face. “I don’t make offhanded comments about your life so don’t you make any about mine.”

“Ah, what is it with the youth these days?” a fourth voice intrudes in the conversation. “Always so insecure about aging. The older you become, the more things you’ll know about the world, you know~”

You whip your head to the direction from where it came from, and lo and behold, one of the bakery’s owners shoved past the kitchen’s double doors to grace you with his presence. There was always something about Tendou Satori that put you on edge; not in a bad way, really. You’ve long convinced yourself that maybe it’s his unconventional appearance that you find unsettling. That fiery hair and those glinting rubies for eyes certainly cater to his reputation. But besides the occasional eccentric comment from him, the way the air crackles with an intangible tension that you can’t quite wrap your head around in the rare instances that you’re in the same room is still hard to ignore.

“Tendou,” Reon acknowledges him tentatively. “You’re here early. Don’t you usually drop by at seven on weekends?”

Tendou perches himself near the tiled sink, the heels of his sneakers colliding with the wooden cabinets underneath as he sways his slender legs. “Eita-kun told me told me to haul my ass here as soon as I could or he’ll skin me alive.” His mouth puckers a little, eyes darting around. “Yet the present audience only consists of one head baker, one trainee, and one age-conscious little bird.”

A soft sigh escapes Reon as he quietly asks Goshiki to retrieve the rolling pin from the cabinets. The younger man carries it out with the most enthusiasm you’ve seen on someone who usually just acted upon another person’s orders. Quite the cheery one, he is.

“Where’s Eita then?” Reon inquires with upturned brows.

“Beats me,” comes Tendou’s indifferent reply. “He’s probably out there bullying Kenjirō. You know how Eita-kun has regressed into the embodiment of bitterness when Kenjirō finally grew his wings and outperformed him in his own game.”

“I don’t think putting it so casually is a good idea.”

“Senpai!” Goshiki’s voice is too loud for a too quiet room as he hands Reon what he asked for. “Will you be needing anything else?”

Reon shakes his head, taking the roller from Goshiki’s grasp. “Could you go start making the filling? I heard from Shirabu that you knew how to cook.”

“Really? Shirabu-senpai put in a good word for me?”

“Uh, I wouldn’t say it’s ‘good’ exactly…” His voice trails off once Goshiki launches himself into the storage room presumably to gather the needed ingredients. Chuckling to himself, Reon dips his hands in a nearby bag of flour and proceeds to knead the dough into flatness. You watch him with careful vigilance since pies aren’t really your forte. Your expertise lies in bread, which isn’t as demanding as that pastry that needs too many conditions satisfied to be considered good. Making a crust that isn’t too brittle and a filling that shouldn’t be too savory is beyond you. You’re quite relieved that Reon took over for reasons that lie beyond your own laziness.

“So, (Name) was it?”

Your attention retracts back to the most peculiar out of your bosses. Tendou gazes at you with a glint of mischief crinkling his eyes, lips upturned into something akin to a sneer. “Yes?” you respond, shifting a little in your cramped seat.

Tendou hums an unfamiliar tune without letting up his thinly veiled interest. The way he’s staring reminds you of how a scientist would look at a foreign specimen, and you  aren’t very sure if you are glad to be on the receiving end of it. You’re drawing blanks as to why it seems like he is addressing you like it’s your first day on the job, but you’ve been told that Tendou has a habit of forgetting employees’ names and faces. He’s probably just familiarizing himself with your presence in the store since your shifts usually didn’t last long enough for you to cross paths with him. When he doesn’t speak any further, you decide to shift your line of sight back to Reon’s devoted handiwork.

“Wakatoshi-kun did a real good job on this one, huh?” A low chuckle rumbles from Tendou and though his voice has dipped into a whisper, you’re certain that he meant for you to hear.

With one brow quirked, you turn around with the intent of asking what he meant by that, but your plans are abruptly derailed when Goshiki walks back from the storage room, cheeks tinged with pink as he approaches you.

“What is it, Tsutomu?” you ask.

He reaches out a hand to scratch the back of his neck. “Um, could you please teach me how to open the stove? The one we have at home isn’t as hi-tech…”

You can hear Tendou sputtering behind you, causing Goshiki turn a few shades redder. You offer him a soft smile before hopping onto your feet to help him out and his face seems to light up a little at your willingness. The reaction makes you presume that he might not be used to getting helped around a lot, given that Shirabu, the guy in charge of keeping Goshiki in check, has an apparent dislike for slow learners. Speaking of which…

“Do you know where Shirabu is?” you ask him, suddenly hyper aware of the lack of staff inside the shop. Early afternoons aren’t the most hectic time of the day, but you aren’t used to having only three people with you in the kitchen. Hayato and Soekawa are nowhere to be found either. If Semi was here, he would be squawking like a parrot, appalled at their unexcused absences. But even the supervisor himself isn’t present.

Goshiki shakes his head as the two of you stalk off to the stoves lining the westernmost wall of the room. “He told me I was under Reon-san’s care for the day because he had somewhere to be with Ushijima-san.”

You nod slowly as you instruct him about the different buttons and switches on the stove. He seems to have committed every word to mind and begins tinkering with what he could with experimental curiosity. After asking if he needs any help with the actual cooking, he insists that he can do it on his own. When you slump back to your seat, Tendou is gone and Reon is already placing the flattened dough on a pie tray.

“Hey, Reon?”

“What?”

“Where the hell is everybody?”

The set of his jaw tightens ever so slightly. When Reon says he doesn’t know about the others’ whereabouts, you would’ve been convinced of his cluelessness had you been any less perceptive. With that sincere face of his, lying through the skin of his teeth would be a breeze if he needed to do so. But of all the people in the shop, Reon is someone that you’d spent the most time around alongside Kawanishi, so spotting a few chinks in his unflustered demeanor comes easier to you than most.

Just as you’re about to press the topic further, the sound of the back door of the kitchen slamming open makes you jolt in surprise. Emerging from outside are the very same people you’d been pondering about not ten seconds ago.

“Reon, get the herbs and incense now!” Hayato barks as he drags the metal chair you were occupying earlier across the floor to prop it against the wall. There, Ushijima gently sets down a half-conscious Shirabu and—

“S-Shirabu-senpai?” The terror creeping from Goshiki’s voice rattles you all the way to your bones when your eyes train themselves on the discolored skin of Shirabu’s neck. His pale complexion is marred with a bruise that runs too dark a shade to be considered normal—the purplish red slowly fading into black. A trail of blood dribbles from the corner of his mouth as he stares into the space in front of him with a dazed look in his brown eyes. Ushijima is calmly telling him to stay awake, but you aren’t sure if the message is getting through when Shirabu doesn’t even give him so much as a minimal reaction. Soekawa, Tendou, and Semi appear a little shortly, with the latter two apparently engrossed in one of their untimely banters.

“Hah? You guys purposely kept me out of it ‘cause you’re concerned?” The furious scrunch of his face takes you aback. “And where did that plan lead to, huh, Semisemi?”

Semi clicks his tongue. “You wouldn’t have been able to handle them with that injury of yours.”

Injury? From what you can see, Tendou looks like he’s in perfect shape. But from the way his frown deepens, he might have taken Semi’s words to heart.

Reon hurries back to the scene (when did he even leave?) with what seems like a jar with kanji engravings on the lid that are too small for you to read in one hand, and a bundle of incense sticks and a lighter in the other. He tells the others to give Shirabu some space to breathe and they comply, save for Soekawa who took action to assist Reon with whatever he planned to do with the strange jar. Why a mortar and a pestle are inside Soekawa’s messenger bag is beyond your understanding, but no one else in the room seems to find anything amiss when he procures it, so you decide to keep your questions to yourself.

Reon crouches by Shirabu’s feet to uncap the jar, setting the lid on the floor. Inside is a solid surface divided into two sections: one that seems to hold stark white herbs you’ve never seen before and one with three holes poked into the clay. Reon immediately shoves three incense sticks into the holes, igniting them with the lighter without a second thought. Smoke rises from where the sticks burn, diffusing the air with the sharp scent of pine needles and musk.

Soekawa gathers the ivory leaves in his hands to crush them on the mortar while he asks Semi to hand him ‘the salve’ from his bag. He rummages through Soekawa’s belongings and hands him a dirty reagent bottle. Soekawa pours a slimy, transparent substance from the bottle onto the mortar and mixes it with the crushed leaves with his bare fingers. He mutters something that’s out of earshot when he rises to his feet and applies his concoction onto Shirabu’s affliction. The contact seems to finally rouse him from his stupor when his face contorts in agony and a blood-curdling shriek pierces your ears.

Your skin prickles at the sight of Shirabu thrashing against Ushijima’s and Hayato’s restraining grasps as Soekawa covers the entirety of the bruise with the salve. When you feel Goshiki shuffling closer to you, you whisper, “What the absolute fuck is going on, Tsutomu?”

There’s prominent hesitation in his eyes, like he knows exactly what’s going on, but he isn’t allowed to tell you. As the filling he was previously preparing lay forgotten on the stove, your stare hardens. You’ve been working here for half a year now, and not once did you witness anyone else barging in the kitchen sporting a malignant bruise that required herbal treatment. Yet Goshiki, who’s spent less time in the shop than you have, is already in on the situation?

“A strange sight, isn’t it?”

Out of reflex, you jump away when you hear Tendou’s voice whispering in your ear. With the convoluted display in front of you, your boss’ outlandish behavior does nothing to aid your peace of mind, but the way he’s observing the others as Soekawa treats Shirabu makes you feel like this isn’t an uncommon occurrence.

“You aren’t really supposed to see this, little bird.” Tendou sighs, stretching out his limbs before draping one arm across your shoulder. “Wakatoshi-kun doesn’t really like picking fights, but Kenjirō can be a little stubborn. I’m all in for a beatdown any time, but couldn’t they have delayed that little scuffle until you weren’t in the shop?”  

You frown. “Wha—”

“(Name).”

Your eyes snap back to Semi, whose thin lips are pressed into a line. “Is it okay if you take your time off now? We’re not going to cut it from your salary, don’t worry.”

“Eita-kun, don’t you think we’ve kept her in the dark long enough?” Tendou groans, sounding rather annoyed. “She’s bound to find out either way.”

Semi glares at him. “That isn’t your decision to make, Tendou.”

“It isn’t yours, either,” the redhead rebutts, staring him down with resilience.

“But it is mine.”

The sincere baritone of Ushijima’s voice envelops you like a warm blanket. At the same time, his domineering presence overshadows his candor and you’re left thinking that this man could be such a walking contradiction at times. He stands tall above the rest of the men around you. When you sneak a glance behind him, Shirabu has calmed down enough to deem him worthy of release. Reon is speaking softly to Shirabu as Soekawa wipes off the blood on his face. Strangely, the dark bruise on his neck has already lightened into a softer shade of purple—the skin around it yellowing at the edges. When your gaze shifts back to Ushijima, he’s staring at you with intensity pooling in his olive eyes.

“We are seraphim,” he speaks flatly.

Those words garner a variety of reactions: Tendou bursts out laughing, Semi drags a palm over his face, Goshiki is stunned into silence, and you’re craning your head to the side, wondering if you heard him right.

“Wakatoshi-kun, you don’t just drop a bomb like that without any context,” Tendou says, wiping a tear from his eye.

Ushijima’s brows knit in confusion. “What bomb?”

“Even after making a million souls, you’re still terrible at talking to your own craft, aren’t you?”

“Excuse me,” you interrupt, “but can someone tell me exactly what’s going on? I feel like the useless extra character that isn’t involved in the overall plot.”

Tendou’s mouth curves into an eerie smile. “Oh, but you’re actually the main protagonist, little bird.”

“Would you lot stop talking in riddles?” Semi snaps before turning to you. “Look, (Name). I know this is a lot to take in but Wakatoshi is telling you the truth. We are seraphim. Angels. You see Shirabu over there?” He jams a thumb behind him, gesturing towards Shirabu as his prior hesitation to enlighten you is completely cast aside. “The reason why he got that blight is because he tried to jump the demon king on behalf of Wakatoshi himself. Of course his retainers wouldn’t allow that so they grabbed him by the neck to restrain him—”

“Hm, I wonder why Eita-kun just let that happen to poor Kenjirō when he could have warded them off with a single wave of his hand,” Tendou sneers at him, to which Semi responds with a hard glare.

“Tendou, there is nothing Semi could have done,” Ushijima insists. “We were outnumbered. The fault lies within myself. I should not have heeded Shirabu’s request of having an audience with the demon king in light of the incidents happening today. It could have been settled in a different manner.”

“Tch, unless it’s about completely eradicating that demon clan scum, I’m not hearing it.”

“You’re being an idiot again.” Semi smacks Tendou’s shoulder. “They’re assholes, but their existence is necessary, just like ours. Unless we want the balance of nature tipped, the best we can do is keep them in check.”

Tendou shrugs. “They’re the ones devouring souls left and right like it’s no one’s business. Stupid brutes are consuming souls faster than Wakatoshi-kun can make them. Would nature really go haywire once those who are out to destroy everything in it are erased from existence?”

“You know that’s not how it works.”

“Then how does it work, huh, Eita-ku—”

“Silence.”

You didn’t know that it was possible, but the pitch of Ushijima’s voice dips even lower when he utters that single word that has everyone in the room cowering at his authority. Even Hayato and Soekawa have paused to take a look at what’s going on in their side of the kitchen. Ushijima’s face remains unperturbed even after his assertion and the room is plunged into pregnant silence, not a soul daring to speak after Ushijima himself. But the tension is ultimately shattered when the kitchen doors fling open to reveal Kawanishi poking his head from the entrance.

“Oi, (Name), your favorite customer placed a milk bread delivery again,” Kawanishi shamelessly announces. If he noticed the tense atmosphere, he doesn’t show it.

It was all too much. You couldn’t bring yourself to stomach every word that the three men had fed you. Seraphim? What is this, some fantasy series? What would angels be accomplishing by running a damn bakery? Hearing Kawanishi spouting something about deliveries makes you have some semblance of normalcy to grab onto, and you want nothing more than to take it. This was probably just some sick joke that they managed Ushijima to go along with to spite you. And a demon king injuring Shirabu? You’ve never heard of that story before. Without so much as a backwards glance, you head over to the front with Kawanishi, pushing all thoughts of seraphim, and the demon king, and Shirabu’s bruise at the back of your mind.

Kawanishi is silent when he places two packaged loaves of your signature milk bread in a paper bag, and you’re glad he doesn’t probe you for any reaction about the scene from earlier. At the back of your mind, you wonder if he’s in on their game. Did he notice what was going on back there? Is he going to convince you that he’s seraphim, too?

But Kawanishi has never been the confrontational type. Instead, he writes up the receipt for the order as usual, tears it from the pad and hands it to you. “If he asks for another discount, you can tell him to piss off.”

“That’s not very nice.”

“It’s not very nice to keep ripping the shop off by charging the guy less than the actual price just because you think he’s cute either.”

Your face heats up at his accusation. “I-it’s not like that! He’s just been such a frequent customer. H-he deserves a little mark down, don’t you think?”

Kawanishi stares at you, unimpressed. “I’m pretty sure he never drops by the shop and prefers deliveries because he’s only interested in you.”

“Shut up, Taichi.”

***

You park the shop’s delivery motorcycle by the curb of one of the most lavish houses in the neighborhood. You don’t spend a lot of time in this part of the city out of your usual deliveries to this one business tycoon. The man seems to have taken a liking to the milk bread which no one in the shop makes better than you do. He hasn’t really given you his name, but he told you that he earned the nickname ‘Grand King’. You snorted at that and insisted on calling him King instead.

When you ring the intercom to King’s residence, his familiar voice greets you with enthusiasm. “Oh, (Name)-chan! You’re here early. The snobby cashier told me that the delivery would take about an hour or so.”

You find yourself laughing at the way he addresses Kawanishi. “You’re in luck, King-san. I just made a fresh batch earlier this afternoon. That’s why you didn’t have to wait.”

“Alright. I’ll head down to fetch it.”

Static rattles from the intercom and you know that King has ended the exchange when the red button stops glowing. You hum a song you heard on TV yesterday as you count the cars that roll by the street. Seven have already zipped past when the smaller gate creaks, revealing one of the most attractive people you’ve laid your eyes on.

Usually, King would greet you wearing his complete three-piece suit, hair slicked back into perfection while a condescending smirk danced across his lips. But on weekends, you could hardly imagine him being one of the most powerful men in Japan, given that he opts to wear a rumpled shirt that’s two sizes bigger and pajama pants with aliens patterned onto the fabric. His chestnut hair is sticking out in all directions in a way that suggests that he just rolled out of bed.

King half-greets, half-yawns, “Helho, (Name)-chwan.”

“Long night?” You quirk an eyebrow before handing him his purchase.

“Mmmm not really,” he says, rubbing his eyes. “I just ran into a couple of…business rivals. They didn’t make my morning very enjoyable.”

“I see.” You spare him a nod of understanding, trying your best not to stare at how adorable the way his brown eyes droop when he stares inside the bag. He makes a satisfied noise as he fishes his wallet from the pocket of his pajamas.

“A thousand yen, right?” You don’t miss the teasing lilt in his voice.

The way you giggle at that makes you want to slap yourself, but you manage to regain your composure before he notices it crumbling. “Sad to say the snobby cashier is giving me shit for the discounts. Could you pay for the full one thousand four hundred yen in the meantime, King-san?”

He chuckles before pulling out a single banknote from his wallet. “Keep the change then.”

You receive his payment with a curt bow but when your eyes land on the value of the money in hand, your jaw nearly drops to the ground.

“K-King-san, this is too much! Way too much!” The ten thousand yen bill quivers in your hands as you insist that you’d be alright with a smaller bill.

King waves away your concern. “Then just hand over the amount that snobby-chan wants. Keep the rest for yourself. Consider it as my compliments to the chef.” The grin plastered on his handsome face leaves you wondering how the hell this guy is still a bachelor. Your pretty certain that your face is as red as Tendou’s hair by now, and you’re glad he doesn’t point it out.

“It’s been nice seeing you today, (Name)-chan,” he chirps. “But I really have to go. I still have some matters to deal with after I’ve had my fill of this delicious treat.”

“You’re t-too kind,” you sputter.

Deliveries to King’s household last longer than your typical trips, since the man always charms you into some small talk. But that’s usually it. Nothing really lies beyond these swift meetings in front of his house. Even if he’s expressing some subtle interest towards you, at the end of the day, you’re just a humble baker and he, a successful businessman.

But today is quite different. Before he disappears behind the gate, King tells you, “I’m thinking about dropping by the bakery to see you in action. Expect me in a few days’ time.” His velvetine voice draws you in like a moth to a flame and all you could do was nod dumbly at his proclamation. He bids you a quick farewell with crinkled eyes and a peace sign. You know for certain that his sunlit smile is already imprinted in the back of your eyelids.

As you head back to the bakery on your scooter, King’s words only seem like one of his musings; something he won’t really act on given his tight schedule. What good would it do him to go out of his way to pay you a visit?

But little did you know that demons never lie.

#haikyuu!! #oikawa tooru #oikawa tooru x reader #shiratorizawa is here too #demon seijou and angel shiratorizawa YEET #diabolism666 made me do it #haikyuu headcanons #hq headcanons #haikyuu hc #haikyuu x reader #reader insert #hqscenario

[a-writing-bear]

[PruCan] Chapter 10: Soft-Spoken Calling, They Want Their Shyness Back

Ao3 Link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11159997/chapters/48518471

This Has been cross-posted onto FF & Ao3 under Aliases: BearBooper

You can read this Fic on Tumblr under ‘Keep Reading’ - Ao3 version is formatted, tumblr version is not. Ao3 is recommended.

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Fandom: Hetalia Axis Powers

Main Pairing: Gilbert Beilschmidt & Matthew Williams (Prussia & Canada)

AU:  College AU - Art Student Matthew and Media/Film Student Gilbert

Age Rating/Mature:  Teen And Up Audiences (12+ due to mentions of mature themes as well as swearing)

Trigger Warnings: Recreational Drugs & minor connotations of anxiety (Future addiction to mention themes such as addiction, rape etc.) WITHIN THIS CHAPTER - Mentions of Anxiety, Therapy, Counseling, and anti-depressants. (please note I am NOT anti-meds.) Family Issues are implied, Distance and abandonment suggested.

“Well. Let’s chat then schatje.”

Matthew shivered, not from the cold but the recall of his appointment. Tim had always been there for him, and was sort of desensitized, if not amused by Matthew’s squabbling and frustrated ramblings.

“Is it green or-”

“Nah left the baggie at home.”

His cigarette hung limp in between his fingers, twirling as he watched the hooded man wave his arms- half exhausted and only vibrant due to his stress. The Dutchman had taken out a box of marls, mainly cus he knew any kush would be noticed immediately- the last thing the two of them needed was the waiter ratting them out and the police on both their asses- and offered the sickly stick to his friend. Matthew grimaced, yet his hands grasped for the box searching for one as if he was desperate. He barely smoked. He justified himself that it was a social occasion that called for one and he could just down a coffee and hope his brother wouldn’t smell the tobacco on his worn-out hoodie. A flick of light from Tim’s Zippo was quick to latch onto the piece and the two silently dragged.

“I just don’t understand what she wants from me. She’s a great therapist but…. I’ve done the work... I’ve done the talking. I don’t- she wants me to call my dad.” the words fell out bitterly and ended so sour and abrupt, even Tim himself knew that the mere mention of Matthew’s father must have meant something was drastically serious. Oliver was not exactly an understanding of man.

“She wants YOU...to talk to your dad?!” Matthew’s throat aches with a slight comfort, his gut relaxed knowing at least it was as incredulous as he thought it was. The Canadian had a shaky relationship with his father (who wouldn’t when your father was an inconsolable dickhead?) and had always been a troublesome mess.

“Alfred said he hasn’t even called him. He’s still pissed. And I don't think my mum needs to know that life is still as shit as ever over here.” They both tutted, Matthew had ditched his smoke, stomping it out prematurely as he went to lean his back on the dusty wall of the diner, huddling next to his childhood friend. Tim had been fidgeting trying to find a comfortable leaning position on the wall and the two slowed down, next to each other in contemplative silence. “Alfred talked with Doc and I’m just kinda not feeling all of it ya know?” his voice drowned in exhaustion.

“...need a hug?” Tim’s voice came out lowly and quiet as if a secret offer, he never really was an affectionate person physically, and hugs from him were reserved for his sibling, his mother and Matthew. Always Matthew.

“Is the cold-professional businessman Tim Lars Van-de-Berg offering me a hug? I’m honoured~” Matthew joked as he stared off into the distance, not noticing the slight tinge of red that graced his friend’s cheeks. Tim scoffed and pushed his shoulder almost flinging him off the support of the brick wall, but caught him with a strong and solid grasp, wrapping an arm around the shorter boy’s shoulder and pulling him in some clumsy semblance of a side hug. Matthew was pressed amongst the warmth of his large jacket and hummed thanking his friend for the attempt at comfort. Matthew blushed once he remembered the question and insinuations his doctor had provided earlier pertaining to Tim.

“Hah. Paisley asked if I had a crush on you. Probably the only laughable thing I heard from her all month.” Matthew was too wrapped up in his amusement to notice the stiffness and the heavier hand that held him, nor did he sense the intake of bated breath of the Dutchman who just ruffled Matt’s hair then moved away. Tim was a lone figure, Always has been and the very idea that he had a remote interest in people like Matt was already so impossible to Mattie’s fragile self-esteem.

“Why do I feel like your brother is unlawfully attempting to woo Laura as of right now?” The conversation was being diverted.

“Doubt it. Al’s preoccupied with his long-distance crush- besides Luca would have prevented any comments.” The two snorted before resigning to go back in and face their siblings; one was hesitant due to his unresolved anxiety while the other was hesitant due to the warmth he had by his side.

“You’re going to Lukas and Matthias’ thing tonight right? Could you drive me? I got another prescription and I’m not sure I want to drive home high or drugged...defo not both.” Tim was not surprised- but he was indeed concerned.

“Are you sure you want to come tonight? I can always tell Mathias you aren’t up-”

“I’m fine. I want to go- It’s not often Lukas and Matthias host, I’ve been meeting to pass Lukas something anyway. I...I need the cooldown ya know?” his voice had pitched higher with defensiveness practically dripping off the vowels. Tim just nodded, ditched and smothered his bud and motioned for the two to go back in- lest they keep his sister waiting. There was gonna be a party tonight- the party being a very broad way of describing it.

The Canadian liked to keep to himself, he may be often alone but it was very rare he was truly feeling lonely; however, there was a group of people he’d mingle with on the weekends. To call them small would be an understatement. There were tons of people who would flock to these quieter house parties but the characters were the types to rather smoke and drink quietly rather than knock the walls down with blaring tunes. He’d know the Norwegian and Danish pair since orientation week and while Matthias bright-eyed smile reminded too much of his brother’s puppy eyes, and Lukas was just as cold towards conversations as an icicle he had enjoyed the company when they were together; they’re bickering felt endearing.

“Laura and Luca are probably hungry, Let's not keep em waiting, schatje.” the dutchman watched as the boy faltered, threw down the finished cig and fiddled with his hoodie. The two of them huffed and Tim had grasped onto Matthew’s palms to pull him in slight haste to get into the diner. Just as they were illuminated by the neon sidelights Matthew had found himself bumping into the back of Tim as the Older boy suddenly came to a harsh stop-

“Gilbert. What are you doing here?” Matthew perked up at the mention of his new crush friend. What was gilbert doing here? Oh...the Diner- he must have meant this dinner earlier. Wow. How convenient. Gilbert’s pale face had frozen as if he was a deer caught in the headlights- wide-eyed and surprised even though he had chosen to sneak behind here.

“Oh, I was...I thought I saw you so I just- heh... Nothing.” Gilbert stood awkwardly, the tall dutchman had been looking down at him and he directed his gaze solely on Matthew. The German knew vague amounts of Tim- he’d seen him around campus at the student bazaars- the man was always somewhere bargaining like some stone-cold dealer. “Right well- would..is it rude if I join you guys as I’m kinda alone tonight?” eyebrows raised from the two as they looked at each other in consideration. Simultaneously they answered: Mattie with a quick yelp of yes, whereas Tim had mumbled something along the lines of “my siblings…?

Fuck Tim, he hated himself cus the moment he saw the endearing smile that graced Matthew’s lips as he started trudging back to the front of the diner, he broke and motioned for Gilbert to join their already crowded dinner plan.

The door had jingled and the 3 men stumbled in, Matthew first as he navigated his way through the considerably empty diner back to the bench where Alfred and the Van-de-bergs were parked. The Van de Berg family was a curious bunch; their parents were living in Amsterdam on a big ranch while the 2 younger siblings had moved out to stay with their extremely capable brother as he went to Uni. Laura, ever the beautiful young lady, had just finished her high schooling but was taking a gap year to take care of her younger brother- Matthew always noted how cheerful she seemed, despite her teasing brothers. The youngest of the 3, Luca, had been dressed in a smart-casual getup, a blue and white striped shirt and a tie that had one of the local private school emblems bedazzled on it; They were certain Luca was just as smart and resourceful as his older brother yet what he lacked in Tim’s brawns, he just evoked a certain sense of charisma and had enough extravagance to scholarship his way into a private academic high school on a full ride-it was the reason the siblings came to live with their older brother.

Laura was the first to give Gilbert a dazzling smile- one that seemed to show some familiarity-

“You two always seem to come back with someone new!” Her voice sounded more amused than bothered by the new company. “We might need a bigger table at this rate!” unlike her warmth, Alfred seemed more off-put at the fact his brotherly bonding had become more of an extended gathering- and Gilbert’s newfound presence was less than wanted.

“Since when do you come here, Gil? And what are you doing with my baby brother huh?”

Matthew merely snorted as he pushed his brother to scoot over, “Alfred you’re the younger one. By 10 seconds.”

“Excuse you! It was 7 seconds-” Tim had coughed awkwardly, now pushed against the side of his brother, Luca cramped between his older siblings but still distracted by something on his phone.

“I was just passing by and caught these two on the way in, awesome right?” Gilbert seemed unperturbed by Alfred’s subtle aggressiveness- he had known the American through some other dodgy gatherings in the past and it was strange to know that quiet Matthew is associated to the blond- let alone related to him. The 3 latecomers ordered quickly, while the others had already received their meals; A bright pink milkshake had already been pushed into Alfred’s vicinity and a large number of fries scattered the tray across the group’s table,

“Mattie bro what do you-”

“Vanilla.” Tim had thoughtlessly interrupted, moving restlessly to lean forward towards Matthew opposite him, and attempted to light a cigarette before being chastised by his sister who was already tutting him and muttered something about being a bad influence on Luca. Alfred was about to say something before Matthie politely smiled at his sibling with a reserved ‘he’s right though- I do want vanilla’ grin that seemed more patient than cooperative. Gilbert had settled for a soda and made idle conversation with Laura who somehow mentioned she had seen him before:

“I’m quite sure I’ve seen you at that cafe on Acre Street?”

“Ah that was a while back but yeah- awesome..” it was only when Matthew's arms had jutted into his side that he noticed Matthew struggling to pour his drink into another empty glass- a glass that had been carelessly pushed towards him by Tim, who was more engrossed in talking to the youngest of the table about his homework-

Gilbert was confused and interested in the lavender eyed boy’s calculating movement, “Are you sharing your drink?” Matthew hummed, and tilted his head in thought, still carefully measuring out the white goop as if they were hazardous chemicals.

“Yeah I can’t have a lot of sugar, Tim and I usually share,” Matthew replied as if it was nothing- perhaps this was what he always did? Gilbert watched as Matthew seemed to be entranced in stirring his newly divided drink more than actually sipping it.

“Mattie used to puke all over..” The other twin seemed to indulge in embarrassing Matthew, and Gilbert only stopped from changing conversation due to the beautiful blush that had graced the Canadian's face, too pretty to prevent. Tim, on the other hand, seemed to nod in tandem with Alfred’s loud stories, as if confirming every cringe moment they recalled. I wonder how long they’ve known each other...

“...and then we had gotten up this huge ass slope and BOOM Matthew just-”

“Al. It’s near 9 pm.” Alfred's excitement halted for a second, before breaking out into a wide grin, and before a flash of over-eagerness came out in front of the van-de-bergs and the Beilschmidt Alfred faked an awfully obvious fake cough, quickly getting up and scrambling out the booth- hand pattingMatthew’s hair (why did people always touch his hair??)-

“S H I T. The car...I can't go... unless you’re ready to go Matt?” He can hear the whining tone ready to come out in Alfred’s quick downturn, Matthew was about to get up before Laura offered to take Al home, “Luca needs to get to bed too, he’s got an exam tomorrow- we can drop Alfie off on the way, the campus is really close! Besides, I know Tim and Matthew have plans tonight.” Tim choked up, his turn to awkwardly cough at the unintended insinuation his sister had thrown out (he says unintended but her eyes glistened with mischief- fuck laura sometimes) Alfred had only looked puzzled whereas Gilbert's eyes were darting back and forth between Matt and Tim.

“Perfect dudes, Mattie please stay safe and Tim.. watch Beilschmidt too..” he squinted and Gil just huffed and stuck his tongue out in playful annoyance at the American. Matthew sunk further into the booth, trying to ignore his brother's weird attempts at being a caring brother.

“Tell Kiku I said hi then and don’t forget to call-”

“Yeah yeah call dad or he’ll kill us- I got it I’ll see you later bro!” one last brotherly pat and Alfred had hightailed it out, two-thirds of the van de berg siblings following him behind, thus leaving the unlikely trio alone. Gilbert couldn’t make sense of it, but it seemed as if Matthew and Tim were telepathically communicating as it had been 3 minutes since the others had left and yet no one spoke a word.

“Soo….uh- you two dating or-”

“Nope.” Matthew blurted out, “we aren’t dating. At all.” clearly a question they get asked often huh? Gilbert’s eyes wandered ad his hands cradled his very watery soda in distraction. Tim’s smoke had finished before a word was uttered. Matthew hoped inside that this was a chance to hint towards his very open singleness-

“Look, I’d like to uh..invite you to our thing later but it’s a closed event.” Tim had jutted forward and was staring Gilbert’s red jewel eyes directly. Had it not been for Matthew sitting next to him fiddling with his straw and humming to himself he would have asked Tim what his problem was. Totally Un-Awesome.

“Rigggght. No, totally get it- I’ve got work anyway tomorrow.” He paused before turning to Matthew. “Just make sure we get time to work on our project alright? I think I should go home too.” Gilbert sighed, feeling a little left out but understood that perhaps he was overstepping into Matthew’s life too much- they barely  knew each other.  Gilbert got up and stalked out of the dingy diner and towards his bike(God, its perfect time for a drive right now)

He left. Left without noticing Matthew’s soft smile melt into a bothered frown as the hoodied boy watched him leave as if someone had kicked him the gut.

“You didn’t have to sound so harsh.”

“Well, you know we can’t just bring an outsider.”

“I know but- ...Gil is alright. He’s nice.”

“You think everyone is nice Matthew.”

Another cigarette was lit as Matthew watched those silver strands of hair disappear disappointingly on what looked to be a motorbike through the window. It doesn’t hurt to be nice all the time, Matthew thought to himself, his milkshake unpleasantly lukewarm in his grip.

#prucan #HWS Canada #HWS Prussia #SoftSpokenCalling #prussia x canada #hetalia #hetalia axis powers #hetalia world stars #Hetalia Fanfiction #hetalia fandom #hetalia fanfics #fanfiction #Multichapter #APH Canada #APH Prussia

[slurpingsoba]

Hollow

I decided to write a Shiggy x Spinner story because of the latest manga chapters. I kind of like the pairing, so maybe I’ll write more for them in the future?

Btw, I also posted this to my ao3. tumblr always messes up the formatting when I post things so it’s probably easier to read there.

-

This hollowness was inescapable.

But it wasn’t something that I wanted to escape.

The hollowness was my best, and only friend. It comforted me when I felt down, wiped my tears when I felt sad, embraced me when I felt lonely, and calmed me when I felt angry. Like a looming shadow, it followed me wherever I went, clinging to me like an invisible companion.

I loved my hollowness and it loved me.

I told it my fears, and it reassured me that nothing could hurt me as long as it was by my side. I told it my sins, and it promised to keep my crimes from preventing my salvation, my plummet into the deep end, feeding the fires of hell with my own evil, challenging the devil for its domain. I told it all my deepest, darkest secrets, and it swallowed every one of my words, letting it sink into its abyss. And then it swallowed me.

I forgot what it was like to feel emotion for a while. And for a while, the feeling of nothing was everything. My numbness was a comfort, a familiar safehouse to hide in when things were too much to handle. I could crawl into myself and use my hollowness as a sanctuary, enveloped by emptiness. I knew my hollowness would protect me when others failed to, I knew it would defend me when I could no longer defend myself, and I knew it would still linger long after the death of me. My hollowness was greater than myself; a powerful lack of feeling that in turn enhanced my feeling of no feeling until I didn’t know if I were feeling or not.

What would I be if not for my hollowness? My friend was apart of me now; I could not exist without it, I did not want to exist without it. One day, when my body decays and I’m nothing more than a broken vessel of anger and misery, my hollowness will live on. It is intangible, unbreakable, unlike me. It has no bounds and is immortal, unlike me. I wish it were me. Do I exist for my hollowness, or does it exist for me?

I looked towards my allies scattered within the room we were in. Maybe I existed for them, I thought. Not as individuals, but as an idea. The notion that my hollowness and I could take over the world, destroy it even, with their help. I could use them however I pleased. For the most part, they believed in me wholeheartedly. They were the bullets in my gun; simple projectiles I could utilize against my enemies. Maybe I existed for them? Yeah, right. Maybe they existed for me.

Sensei always told me that everything was for my sake. Therefore, my allies were here for my sake. The world was mine to tarnish for my sake.

If he were still with me today, I’d like to thank Sensei for giving me the best gift I’ve ever received. My hollowness, my edge, my friend. My void that encompasses me completely, to the point that it sickens me and makes me nauseous. My black hole that gives me strength through the pain.

My hollowness is a cage that sets me free.

“Shigaraki.” I heard a voice call from behind me. I turned around and noticed Spinner walking towards me.

Once he was closer to me, he began speaking again.

“Is everything you said… true?”

“Yes, Spinner, why would I lie about something like my past?” I reasoned, trying not to show irritation in my voice.

Spinner questioning me almost made me want to retract my statement from earlier. I was vulnerable in front of him, a person who cared less about me and more about what I represented. I’m not Stain; I don’t need a messed up moral code to justify my tirade against hero society.

“I’m not doubting you.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but I held back my tongue. You’re not doubting me?, I wanted to say, like you did at the hideout?, but I knew that I shouldn’t agitate him again. He might actually punch me in the face this time.

“Then what exactly are you trying to say?” I asked.

“Is it true… that you also feel empty?”

I blinked and stared at him. I was wondering if he even paid attention to my speech when a word in Spinner’s sentence intrigued me. “Also”.

He’s hinting at the fact that he related to me, isn’t he?

“I do.”

“So you understand how it feels.” Spinner replied.

“Feels to…?” I prodded Spinner to continue.

He sighed. “Don’t make try to explain this.”

“I’m not making you do anything, but you’re the one who initiated this conversation.”

“Goddammit Shigaraki, why are you like this?”

Spinner closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and spoke.

“How it feels to be trapped in your own numbness. To desire change, but not know how to achieve it…

To feel upset, but in a lackadaisical way, like nothing matters to you but everything does.” Spinner’s face scrunched up, as if it were painful to talk. Still, he prevailed.

“To feel weighed down by your absence of substance. How it feels to be hollow.”

“Wow Spinner, I didn’t know you were a poet.”

“Don’t joke about this! I’m being serious!” Spinner exclaimed, his posture becoming more rigid.

“I know you are, and I sympathize with you.”

“Then how do you keep going? How do you learn to live with this,” Spinner paused mid-sentence, gesturing to himself, “emptiness?”

“You learn to enjoy its presence, I guess.” I said nonchalantly.

“You guess?”

“I know.”

Deeming my answer to be acceptable enough for him, I attempted to turn around and walk away from Spinner, but I felt his hand grab onto my shoulder and keep me in place.

He was mere inches from me now, his eyes looking straight into mine.

“So you’re not looking to change the world?” He said.

“Huh?” I replied, confused. This didn’t correlate with the topic of emptiness.

“Do you want to change the world or not?” Spinner repeated, his voice even and firm.

“Oh I’ll change the world alright,” I grinned, “I’ll make it all disappear.”

“So you don’t care about reform.”

“Destruction is my version of reform.” With three fingers, I removed Spinner’s hand from my shoulder.

“But what if it’s not mine?”

Spinner backed away a bit, giving me space.

“You said you would take your allies’ wishes into consideration when making your plans. What if my wishes conflict with yours?”

“We’ll have to compromise then.” Or not, I thought, not like your wishes matter as much as mine.

“What if I said I wanted to save the world, what would you do?”

“This is a hypothetical situation so—“  

“What would you do?!?” Spinner interrupted me.

It was obvious that he was trying to evoke some selfish remark out of me.

“Why would you want to save this shithole of a world anyway, Spinner? It hates you, and it hates me, so wouldn’t we both be better off without it?”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Dabi move from where he was in the room. He walked to the nearest door, exiting. That bastard always seemed to leave when there was any sort of tension between us league members. It’s like he doesn’t want to be involved.

“Not everything in this world is shitty, Shigaraki! That’s what I don’t understand about you!” Spinner pointed at me, stepping forward, “how can we feel the same yet be so different?”

I gave Spinner a moment to calm down before I began speaking. He dropped his finger, but he persisted in defiantly keeping eye contact with me, waiting for my reply.

“I view my hollowness as a virtue. You see it as a vice.”

I walked towards Spinner, not breaking eye contact with him.

“You feel restricted by it, but I feel liberated by it.

It is the air I breathe, the water I drink, the earth I step on. Hollowness is intertwined in every fiber of my being.

But hollowness is not apart of you.”

I moved closer to Spinner’s ear to whisper to him.

“That’s the difference between you and me. But I don’t think you’ll ever understand.”

I continued walking past Spinner, having nothing else left to say.

I was tired of making excuses for my actions, needing some sort of will to legitimize my villainy.

Why wasn’t my hollowness a good enough conviction?

#shoot whats their ship name #shigaspinner #spinaraki #do they even have a ship name? #spinner #shuichi iguchi #shigaraki tomura #bnha #mha

[kelleyish]

I am in the shittiest mood. Just...shitty.

Blah.

Grrrr.

I should go to bed. I might, soon. I have to wait for my electric blanket to heat up my bed cause it’s cold as hell in here, and nothing is better than climbing into a properly warmed up bed. Yesterday it was 70 degrees, and now it’s like 24 out there.

I can’t find anything to watch on tv. Earlier in the week I binge watched a Brazilian Netflix show called The 3%. It’s a distopian sci-fi thing, pretty good. Weird to watch dubbed content, tho. So then Netflix was pushing another Brazilian show at me, this one about a time traveling witch. It’s not nearly as good but like I’m halfway through and I feel obligated to finish? But then I’m like why should i waste my limited time on this earth watching something i don’t enjoy? But like...I’m already halfway through the 10 eps??

I went to see a movie tonight, and it totally wasn’t the movie I thought it was. I thought it was this movie about “what if Superman happened but when he was like 8 years old John and Martha Kent were like oh shit, i think this kid might be evil?” But it turns out that movie is still a couple months away and is called Brightburn. What I saw was The Prodigy, and it was just a “regular” evil 8 year old boy story. I kept waiting for a spaceship with a baby in it to crash, but it didn’t. It was ok but I wouldn’t have wasted one of my three MoviePass credits on it if I’d known.

The formatting on this post is looking super messed up. I’m on mobile, and every time I start a new paragraph it’s a crapshoot as to how many blank lines there will be.

Reddit is annoying me. At the theatre they carry a small amount Funko pops now, ones that go with new movies that are coming out. Tonight they had three chase-version (rare and more valuable) Captain Marvels, so I got one. I made a quick post in the Funko subreddit that there were two more there, in case anyone nearby was looking. And I got downvoted. Like, why? I was trying to be nice and help people out. Are you downvoting me because you live in Florida and you’re mad you can’t come get one? Or because you don’t like that particular figure, so you think no one else should either? Assholes, man.

I’m going to bed.

#my own posts

[lightsandlostbells]

Skam Austin episode 2 reaction

I’m already sad that we probably won’t get a scene of them dancing horribly

Clip 1 - Smoothie talk

I just want to point out that while Meg is checking out Grace online, there’s a drawing on her wall behind her that says MAKE OUT. This is clearly foreshadowing. I proclaim it from the mountaintop.

This is a nice discussion of random crap when you have more important things to talk about. But also an illustration of how they’re not on the same page at all. Now he's mocking something else she likes (meglovessmoothies), kicking her when she's down.

Lol, I’m being hard on this kid. Him dissing smoothies is hardly the least of his crimes. But you exclude her so much, dude! She has no one to do the stuff she likes with her and he left her to do talent night alone. 

What I took away from this scene is a craving for a smoothie.

Clip 2 - Call me

It’s a pretty big cultural jump from Noora naming herself after a Twin Peaks character to Grace naming herself after a Dumb and Dumber character.

I think this was a good way to incorporate social media into the clip itself. It’s one of those interactions with a weirdly specific social connotation. The comment being deleted is more suspicious than if it had remained up.

I've seen people speculate why Abby would bother posting on his IG publicly. Maybe because she wanted Meg to see it? Or she really couldn’t get in touch with him any other way.

Clip 3 - Sad girl

It definitely sounds like Tyler said “Abby.” He says “Oh shit” afterwards as if her realized his mistake. Plus he decided to go to the vending machine and Marlon went along, maybe so they could talk about what just happened.

Usually Skam doesn't all-out twist what's happening, what we hear and see if what’s really occurring. Like with Isak hearing Even’s voice while buying his depressing cheese toastie, he's legit hearing a guy who sounds like Even, he didn’t imagine it.

Shay is a bad but adorable liar. 

And she seems flirty as hell and I hope I’m not just projecting.

I like how direct and kind Grace is. No Megan messing up with H and inappropriate slut jokes. Some of the characters are on the rude side (us Americans, am I right) and Grace was just sweet, and Megan got her message right when she needed a pick-me-up. Also, no sweating for days over whether Grace will follow her back!

Clip 4 - Chemistry

He's reading The Great Gatsby while Meg reads The Scarlet Letter. Any significance, since they’re going hard with The Scarlet Letter?

“We have chemistry together, you know that.” Yes, we do know that, Marlon. That’s why Meg is worried.

Marlon is such a liar, he can't keep his story straight. 

“If you were in my chemistry class I would be texting you non-stop” lol I know he didn’t mean it this way but that has some connotations in light of your current situation, bro.

Clip 5 - Girl Squad together

This is a low standard but I do love how realistic and down go earth all their clothes are. 

Kelsey’s red upper lip legit made me laugh. At first I thought she'd been drinking fruit punch.

Jo and Kelsey are ride or die BFFs, I love it.

Kelsey looking scandalized when Grace doesn't know what a Kitten is then her “bless your heart, no wonder you’re so lost!” when she learns Grace is new, tells you all you need to know about her priorities. Also I’ve never heard one of those Southern “bless your heart”s in the wild before, I feel like I’ve spotted a rhino.

Meg: “Who am I?” THEME.

Regarding the formation of a dance team, I have some questions/concerns as to how they would handle that. If it were just a recreational team that’s one thing, but if they can get out of P.E., as Jo says, then it’ll have to be school-recognized, and I’m sure that comes with a lot of rules that you wouldn’t have if you just want to dance for fun. My school required only one year of P.E. for students (thank Goddddd) but you didn’t get out of it even if you were on one of the school sports teams, so I don’t know quite how it works. I had some friends from other schools who joined their schools’ athletic teams as a replacement for P.E., but these were all well-established teams. If Kelsey’s team gets recognized by the school, do they have to agree to a particular schedule? Dance competitions? Performances at school functions and games? So many questions. 

Grace, a dance team is a hell of a lot to commit to just to show up an Islamophobe. I mean props to the sentiment but you’re probably going to have to like ... dance, and work out, and get up early and stay after school and stuff.

I also don’t think a dance team is something she can sit out as much as Noora could be whatever about the bus, especially if there’s a 5-person minimum for the team. Grace has to be all in or she’s out.

Is Zoya going to turn out to be an amazing dancer? Did she audition for the Kittens, or did she not bother because she figured she wouldn’t make it? I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a dress code that prevented her from wearing her hijab in performance. 

Clip 6 - Losers club

All right, so I kinda loved this clip and kinda hated it.

But boy did I feel bad for Kelsey in this one, in a way that I’ve never felt for any of the Vildes! Because Kelsey was doing more or less what I, a nerd, would be doing if I attempted to form a dance team. Jumping the gun a LOT with reserving yearbook space, but meeting with the principal, planning to raise money, and researching dance routines, all of that is what you should be thinking about. You know … putting together a team.

Kelsey: “I already have the agenda already...:” IDK if it’s scripted or improvised but I’m oddly into them capturing that kind of redundant language that I hear from a lot of teenagers. And well, adults.

Kelsey not even answering Grace’s question about the need for an alternative dance team. She just has an endgame and she’s going to stick to it, gosh darn it.

“Share some of that Kitten secret sauce with us” I’m not going to make a NSFW joke. I’m not.

Actually, what a blast would Jo/Shay be.

I guess what I wonder is why Zoya wants in on a nobody dance team unless she really loves to dance. Like are they ever going to show them dancing? Practicing?

Yeah, going off the earlier point, I feel really bad for Kelsey because she seems like she seriously wants to be on the dance team - maybe just for popularity/social reasons, because she seems to have a very high opinion of the Kittens. But if she’s tried out five times, she’s been practicing for weeks beforehand, and she’s throwing herself into creating a dance group of her own, that also sounds like someone who wants to dance because she enjoys it and not just to boost her social standing. 

And with that in mind, although I enjoyed a lot of Zoya’s dialogue, the fact that she stepped in with her suggestion to hook up with guys made me sad for Kelsey in a way that I haven’t felt for Vilde in any other version of this scene. Because russ/parties do have a social element involved that’s at least relevant to getting guys to like you. Druck has an established school party that the girls get assigned to and they just start going out as a crew. Skam Italia did away with the organized squad altogether and just had the girls start hanging out, somewhat formed around getting Silvia a date. But if I really wanted to form a dance team, I didn’t plan on having to hook up with dudes. That’s not a purely social organization, that’s an athletic/artistic/competitive one. 

“My plan is to work really hard on our routines” Kelsey :(

Lol somehow I think working hard on their routines will go over better with the principal compared to hooking up with football players.

Zoya says that “you guys” will have to get with the dudes because she won’t, but she includes Kelsey in this, soooo I guess Kelsey is not supposed to be that conservative of a Christian? Or will that not come up?

Jo immediately planning blackmail as a way to get the Kittens to join them - lol, this is the kind of character I enjoy, I love her.

Zoya: “If you didn’t want to be seen as a sexual object, you’d shave your head, stop wearing makeup and start wearing looser clothes.” Grace: “I wear these things for me, not for guys.” Zoya: “Well then I find it very convenient that the things you wear for you are the exact same things that a heterosexual man in America finds attractive.”

OK, that was a completely new bit of dialogue and that was something that got my attention. Because that’s good. Zoya and Grace, as the two most likely feminists of the group, having opposing takes on beauty culture. I saw people objecting to Zoya’s perspective but she’s neither 100% right or 100% wrong. Women have personal choice and preferences to style themselves how they want, including dressing with themselves in mind rather than men, but you can’t divorce that from the larger societal ideals of how women are supposed to look. I make the choice to shave my legs and no one is forcing me to do it, but I also didn’t wake up one day and form this completely independent idea that no one had done before; I had a societal norm to give me the idea. And a lot of beauty standards on women are enforced by patriarchy. It’s a really difficult conversation to have because you’re dealing with the individual (Grace saying she wears these things for herself) versus the collective (Zoya saying it’s not an accident what she chooses for herself also happens to be societally acceptable). Everyone at that table is making their own choices, but within a larger system that sets precedents and ideals. But there are also a lot of assumptions that Zoya is making, such as whether Grace is interested in heterosexual men; Grace could be a lesbian for all she knows. Not to mention that Grace is wearing an average sweater and not much makeup, so it is a leap to think she wants to be seen as a sexual object. All of the girls seem very casually dressed, in fact, and Zoya is wearing as much eyeshadow as any of them, so what’s the difference? Can Zoya say she’s wearing eyeshadow for herself, but the others can’t? To me it’s less whether Zoya is completely right and more about the fact that the ideas were introduced at all.

That’s my rambling way of saying I liked that exchange. 

Julie repeating the same camera angle with Sana/Zoya’s back surrounded by her court … sighhhhhhh come on.

General comments:

I guess what’s really frustrating is that there is so much rich material here in the setup that they could spin into new scenes and stories, but I’m not sure if they’re going to do it. Like … we should get them actually trying to dance! I want to see shitty dance montages! I want to see Grace being over it and Jo goofing around and Kelsey trying her best and Zoya defying everyone’s expectations and Meg becoming a crucial part of the team with her experience, finding some purpose and joy again! Let’s talk about clashes between Kelsey and Zoya over the uniforms, let’s talk about the first time they try to perform publicly and it’s a mess (actually let’s not, I would expire from secondhand embarrassment.) Give me all of that dance team drama, played realistically.

But also stuff like Kelsey’s religion and how that plays into the plot (like how DOES she feel about being asked to hook up with guys), how her being a Christian and Zoya being a Muslim should yield both some common ground and some huge differences. 

I’m sort of getting the same feeling I had in S4 of Skam where there was so much incredibly rich material to develop, but instead they went with stuff that was much less interesting.

The profanity filter on the FB videos is SO DUMB. There is a mature content warning at the start of every clip. Why do they have to bleep out the swear words? 

I get the sense that a lot of the new viewers on Facebook don’t know what to do about the texts and IGs. 

Marlon’s text about going to see Avengers makes it sound like the movie just came out, which is probably because the movie was supposed to be released that day (May 4) and was pushed up to April 27. Which I get but part of me’s kinda like, you could have revised that to sound a little more fitting to the date. I feel like Marlon would probably not going to wait a week to see Infinity War. 

Also Marlon has overtaken Giovanni from Skam Italia as my least favorite Jonas. He’s not the devil or anything but I definitely don’t want him and Meg together.

Jo and Shay continue to be my faves. They really should have scenes together at some point. Share one of those long candies, Lady and the Tramp-style.

#skamus reactions #skam austin reactions

[roseymoseyberry]

Hashing It Out

Alright so, I’m finally over the fact that formatting is different from the browser version of tumblr with the mobile version and it’s just going to look bad on mobile, so it’s about time I posted a couple fics that I had posted on AO3.

Used To It (my Ratch/Rodi oneshot) has become a series oops. This is the second fic and I’ll be posting the third in a hot second.

Franchise: TFIDW/MTMTE

Ship: Ratchet & Drift, Ratchet/Rodimus, mentions that Drift and Ultra Magnus have Sexy Prime Power induced attractions

Rating/warnings: T for discussions of casual interfacing, friends with benefits, etc. Friendly flirting for laughs. Just a lot of friendship. And of course Sexy Prime Powers.

Summary:

“Rodimus says you’re fun though.”

You can find the rest of the Wanna Be Missed series on AO3 or each individual fic on tumblr below:

| Used To It | Hashing It Out | Answers To Questions |

“So, are they finally hashing it out?”

Ratchet glanced up as Drift slid into the booth with him, the smile on the Third’s face small but genuine. With a shrug, Ratchet lifted his drink to his lips for another sip as his optics flicked back over to where Ultra Magnus and Rodimus were sat across the bar. They were leaned in close to each other, though there was nothing intimate about it in the usual sense; it offered them the ability to speak quietly  in an otherwise boisterous bar, granting them privacy without any anxiety that might arise from being alone together.

It was nice to see Rodimus actually take Ratchet’s advice for once.

“Seems that way,” Ratchet said noncommittally before turning back to Drift. His new drinking companion nodded as he took a small sip of his drink, not looking the least bit confused about the circumstances. “Magnus talk to you about it?”

“Rodimus,” Drift corrected. Ratchet couldn’t help a huff of his vents as he tipped his drink towards Drift.

“So you’re talking again now, hm?”

“Yeah.” Drift’s smile was easy like the rest of his body language, relaxed in a way he hadn’t been for the last couple weeks. Ratchet yet again wondered how he had managed to miss the mess that had been brewing around their captain. The thought managed to distract him long enough that he missed the humor cross Drift’s expression as he continued, “He told me about the whole sexy Prime power thing.”

With an exasperated sigh as his optics lifted to the ceiling, Ratchet started to explain, “It’s not a ‘power’, it’s his—” before noticing the sparkle in Drift’s optics. He stopped dead in his tracks, realizing he was about to use the word ‘aura’ unironically around Drift of all mechs, and Drift was waiting for it. After taking a moment to clear his vocalizer, Ratchet finally continued, “It’s the draw of his spark.”

Drift ex-vented a laugh, not even managing to sound the least bit upset about it as he said, “You’re no fun.”

“So I’ve heard,” Ratchet deadpanned, though he couldn’t help the curl of his lips.

The lull in conversation was comfortable as they enjoyed their drinks, and Ratchet’s optics strayed back to Rodimus and Ultra Magnus again. Where earlier Ultra Magnus’s body language screamed discomfort and shame, now it had eased, his plating not so tightly clamped when Rodimus patted his forearm reassuringly. That was good--

“Rodimus says you’re fun though.”

Ratchet blinked as he looked at Drift. The Third was trying to keep a straight face, but Ratchet could see that same sparkle of before. There was no doubt, in that moment, that they both knew what had happened in Rodimus’s office, and perhaps in great detail considering there was likely no limit to what Rodimus would have spilled to his friend.

But if Drift was looking to tease, he had picked the wrong mech. Two could play that game.

“You looking to verify it for yourself?” Ratchet asked as he shifted to lean back in the booth, one arm sprawled across the back of the seats as he let his thighs splay under the table. It was at once casual and inviting, and he saw the way that Drift’s optics brightened a shade.

“You asking?” Drift said in lieu of a straight forward response. He leaned forward over the table, one elbow resting on the surface, and oh. Ratchet couldn’t say he’d ever been in a situation where he had seen Drift give that look, but it was a damned good one.

Ratchet let his optics trace the angles and curves of Drift’s frame. It was hardly a chore – Drift was an attractive mech.

However, ultimately he lifted his drink to his lips as he shrugged, replying, “I’ll let you know if I am.”

With that, the spell was broken, and Drift chuckled and even Ratchet huffed a laugh.

“Alright, alright, you’ve made your point,” Drift relented as he eased back into his seat with a friendly smile. “I guess I just hadn’t realized you had it in you.”

“Didn’t take me as the casual frag type?” Ratchet asked, some disbelief coloring his tone. He was aware that anyone who knew him as a medic first likely wouldn’t, but Drift knew him better than that.

And Drift did wave his servo dismissively, replying, “No, it’s not that. That doesn’t surprise me much. It’s more…” His optics studied Ratchet, and the medic had to admit to himself that as much as he called bullshit on Drift’s mystic nonsense, it was times like this that he felt as if the mech was somehow drawing truths from him unbidden. “I hadn’t expected you to seek it out so readily when that’s not what you ultimately want.”

Ratchet paused in the middle of drinking from his cube, discomforted by the thud of his spark.

“And how do you figure that?” he asked evenly.

And, of all things, Drift smirked as he replied, “It’s your, oh, how did you word it? The ‘draw of your spark’?”

“Very funny,” Ratchet grumbled with a roll of his optics. Before Drift could get another word in about it though, Ratchet’s helm tipped towards where Rodimus sat with Ultra Magnus as he asked, “And what about you? What does your ‘aura’ say about what you want?”

Drift blinked as, slowly, the amusement slipped away. His optics softened when he looked over at the captain. “Rodimus is a very dear friend who I won’t interface with,” he stated. When his optics strayed from Rodimus, though, they met his drink instead of Ratchet’s gaze. “My spark has been through too many changes to really know much else yet, but I know that much.”

After a moment, Ratchet nodded as he reached out his servo out towards where Drift held his drink on the table, resting his digits on Drift’s wrist.

“Then I’m glad the two of you figured that out at least.”

Drift’s lips relaxed from the frown they had found themselves in as he nodded.

Ratchet squeezed his wrist before finally letting go.

“Though between you and Magnus over there turning him down, you bastards are leaving it up to me to keep that brat occupied.”

Drift’s face twisted as a cascade of snickers slipped from his grasp, bottom lip caught between his dentae as his frame shook with it.

Ratchet finished his drink as he let the comfort of comradery wash over him.

When Drift finally settled down, a sly grin spread across his face as he looked back up at Ratchet. He plucked Ratchet’s empty cube from his grasp to settle into his own empty cube. “You better be careful about that plan,” he warned sweetly as he shifted to leave his seat, empty cubes dangling from his digits.

“And why’s that?” Ratchet asked, watching Drift get to his pedes.

Drift’s optics held that damned sparkle.

“I think you’ll find that you and Rodimus have very similar ‘draws of the spark.’”

Ratchet tried to protest, but then Drift was gone, heading towards the bar with their empty cubes.

And his one means of escape was blocked as Rodimus appeared seemingly out of thin air, sliding into the spot next to Ratchet in the booth as if it had had his name on it. Ratchet could hardly protest when Rodimus’s smiled at him wide and bright, jokingly purring, “Well hello there, handsome. This spot taken?”

Ratchet’s optics found the ceiling again and Rodimus laughed, but the Prime didn’t move from the spot and when Ratchet realized his arm was still resting on the back on the seat behind Rodimus, he didn’t bother to remove it.

Having answered the call of his spark had eased the thundering desire for the Prime, but it didn’t keep it from still growing warmer when he was so close to Rodimus.

“I assume your talk went well?” Ratchet asked, glancing over to where Rodimus had been before and noting that Ultra Magnus was gone.

“Oh yeah. I mean, awkward as hell, but I don’t think Ultra Magnus knows how to talk about anything related to interfacing without being awkward,” Rodimus said with a shrug. “But yeah, now that he knows the why of the situation and has thought it through, he feels better about it. I don’t think he’ll be hiding out from me anymore.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Yeah. It’s a real relief. Did, uh.” Rodimus chuckled a little nervously as he glanced in Drift’s direction. The Third was talking to Swerve at the bar, and Ratchet thought to himself that it had better be because he was buying them both another round. “Did Drift tell you about our talk?”

“Just that it happened and went well,” Ratchet said, watching as Rodimus’s frame eased. A small smirk pulled at his lips and Ratchet couldn’t resist the call as he added, deadpan, “And that you told him all our dirty little secrets.”

Rodimus’s lips pursed as he elbowed Ratchet’s side, insisting, “He did not say that! I don’t go around kissing and telling!”

“It’s not good to lie to your crew, Rodimus,” Drift admonished as he slid back into his seat with a drink in each servo. Ratchet snickered as Rodimus bemoaned them tarnishing his name and Drift handed him one of the drinks.

Drift then looked at him curiously, glancing at the arm settled behind Rodimus and back.

And when Ratchet just shrugged minutely, Drift smiled knowingly before sipping at his drink, and those damned optics sparkled.

#fanfiction #maccadam

[kun-summacumlaude]

SUMMA CUM LAUDE? #9

Sighs heavily ...

I’m back again, this time with a more experienced version of my online school report. Remember this from the last post - ”Right now, all that could ruin the experience for me is how tests and exams are conducted.” ? Well, e don happen. This post will be account of my experiences up until Friday, the 12th of March, 2021. 

Last time, I mentioned that the school needed to buy a better plan for zoom classes to work, and they did just that. I’m not applauding them for that. There was no initiative or anything, that was their only option. Zoom classes finally started and the issue went from accommodating students to noise during classes. My goodness! It was so annoying. “Mute your mics.” became the three most used words during classes at the time. This made zero sense because the host has the option to mute everyone from the start, why this responsibility was placed on students, I don’t know! This issue came to an end when the hosts started doing the needful. No applause for that. You can imagine how annoying it was trying to follow in class and then hearing someone’s junior sibling crying or another person pricing coke and gala?!?!?! 

Apart from the noise, another thing was my mates. People can be very immature.

Why are you drawing on the screen during a class?

Are you a child? Following zoom classes was not working for me, but I attended all anyways. 

VLEARN.UNILAG.EDU.NG This was the official website for accessing course materials and initially for carrying out continuous assessments. To cut the long story short, it was bad! I have no idea what the server capacity is but this site couldn’t work as long as tests on courses with a large number of students was going on. It just would not load. And even worse is during the times you also have a test and the site refuses to load. I know people who missed their entire tests because they couldn’t even get into the site. Another issue was the site logging you out or not saving your answers. How did my first test go? It was Physics, slow but worked for me that day. Then my next test was when I ate my own breakfast—By the way, “Gbogbo wa la ma je breakfast” became very popular amongst Unilag students at the time, as well as cuts from Peaky Blinders. Gbogbo wa la ma je breakfast in its actual origin meant that we would all enjoy in the end, just at our own time. But in Unilag it meant and still means that we will all partake of the sufferings and frustrations of online school, Imagine! During this test, the questions were much harder than any of us were fully prepared for, our lecturers actually set JEE questions for us. On top of the difficulty, LMS was not loading the questions (the questions were in .jpeg format). Imagine trying to pass a test and you can’t even see the questions. Of course majority of us didn’t do well in the test. Lucky for us, there was a second test the week after and it worked better that day.

Another issue was the fact that Lecturers set hard questions and gave little time to solve the questions. This was extremely unfair. We compared our tests to that of the sessions before us and it was blindingly obvious that there was an increase in difficulty and a ridiculous and somewhat wicked reduction in time. So many unanswered questions. Everywhere you would see someone asking “Why?”  “Why?”  “Why?”  “Why?”  “Why?” We just could not understand what we were going through. Also makes me ask, why did the standard of assessments go up drastically while the standard of teaching actually got worse online? And to add to this mess, at times you would get the right answer and whoever set the questions would have fixed in the wrong one and you lose marks you deserve. For instance, according to one of my tests, mass = mass/density . WOW! PHYSIKSS.

Engineering Calculus I Test

Ladies and Gentlemen, the worst of the worst. The devil of my online experience. On this day, my spirit was crushed. And I will narrate the entire story. I’m going to attach a video to show you what we actually went through in this whole situation. We used another platform: Utest.unilag.edu.ng to take this test. Being in group A, I started my Calculus test at 8AM. The moment I started, I became jittery because question 1 was solvable but not the quickest one to solve. My lecturers words when he informed us about the test: “the time will not be enough but you have to do your best”, how are you giving students a test and not giving them enough time from the get go? All of this alone was enough to make me scared during my test. 25 questions in 20 minutes. That’s 48 seconds per question.  So I started and on the first page I answered 3 out of 5 questions and skipped to the next page, with the intention of returning to the unanswered ones, that’s a very normal way to take a mathematics exam, especially when time is not on your side. On the second page I answered 4 out of 5, making it 7/10. On page 3, none of my questions loaded. I couldn’t see any of them. Applying common sense, I moved on to the fourth page where only one question loaded, which I answered and moved on to the last page. Summary: 12 out of 20 questions unanswered on the first four pages. On the fifth and final page, three questions did not load, the other two were not quick questions so I decided to return to the first page. I began to click on question 1 and it was not responding, why would Utest be messing with me this way during such a crucial time? It took a lot of clicks to realise that The Calculus Lecturer took away the option to return to the previous page in a Maths exam and DID NOT INFORM ANY OF US. This was the craziest thing to me, I was in disarray. It made zero sense. 

Everyone knows that students will always go for the questions they find easier to solve, so there’ll always be skipping a returning in a Math exam especially when there’s an unreasonable amount of time but the lecturer took this option away and kept that information to himself. You can imagine the damage it did to those in Group A because no one returns to earlier questions until they get to last one. When I realised, I went straight to WhatsApp and sent 

“MY GOD YOU CAN’T GO BACK”

to our group chat and about the same time I saw others in group A saying they couldn’t go back and they skipped a lot of questions. Look at this scenario, you’re taking a test and running out of time and you skip two pages of questions because none of them load and you later and painfully find out you can’t return to them, this is what happened to us that day. I felt like a victim of wickedness. I failed that test for sure because even on the last page, I guessed four out of five.

Summary: I answered 13/25 questions and about 5/6 were guesses. I also had about 15 questions in which the image did not load.

 How am I supposed to pass that?

That same day, Engineering Algebra I Test Later in the day was the time for Algebra. This test was not as bad as Calculus because now we knew to guess and not just skip. But this test was impossible. The questions were not written to be solved in 48 seconds. I’m going to include a solution to one of the question just so you can see what I mean. Lecturers were not testing any knowledge here, they just wanted to know if you had seen that question before and could remember the answer It was a memory based quiz in my opinion.  It was also very annoying how they just go online and pack some random questions without cross checking the answers, I’m sure this is the case because of some reviews I’ve seen. This was just to show you what we are actually going through. I just saw my exam timetable and it’s comical. I had to take a break from school work. It’s crazy how it’s seems we’re getting punished for a Pandemic we played no part in creating and escalating. Another thing that has annoyed me a lot is students who are able to login and see questions speaking to the rest of us like it’s our fault images are not loading. If I can live stream a football match then what is a few 100 kilobytes of a tiny image??? I’ll also put up the video where I showed them their “methods” were not working. I really wanted out this week. It was mad stressful. Some lecturers are acting like we’re writing in Ideal conditions. -Unilag is more interested in curbing cheating than actually conducting examinations- Thank you for reading and goodluck to me in my forthcoming examinations. God bless you all.

[aion-rsa]

Jeopardy! Star Brad Rutter on The Chase and Why Alex Trebek is Irreplaceable

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

2020 was a big year for trivia. Starting in January with Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament, continuing with AMC’s excellent Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? scandal miniseries Quiz, and concluding with an impassioned response to the tragic passing of Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, this was a year that highlighted Western society’s fascination with competitive knowledge-sharing. And at the center of much of it, as he often seems to be, was Brad Rutter. 

If there ever was a trivia competition Hall-of-Famer, it’s Rutter. The Lancaster, Pennsylvania-born former Quiz Bowler has been a staple of competitive trivia for years. Rutter has had one of the most impressive Jeopardy! careers of all time having been a five-time champion (the show used to cap contestants at five wins), winner of the 2001 Tournament of Champions, the Million Dollar Masters, the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, the Battle of the Decades Tournament, and last year’s All-Star Games, all good for over $5 million in lifetime earnings. He also faced off against Ken Jennings, and James Holzhauer in the aforementioned Jeopardy! GOAT tournament, but he probably wants you to forget about that particular performance.

Now Rutter and his two Jeopardy! GOAT compatriots Jennings and Holzhauer are set to get 2021 off to a strong trivia start with ABC’s The Chase. The Chase is hosted by Sara Haines based on a British program of the same name and will feature Rutter, Jennings, and Holzhauer as in-house quiz show experts dead set on ruining the contestants’ days. The series previously had an American pilot attempt at Fox in 2012 and a successful American adaptation run for Game Show Network from 2013 to 2015. When the show premieres on ABC on Jan. 7 at 9 p.m. ET, however, it will be the first attempt to bring the popular format to primetime American audiences. 

We spoke with Rutter about the trivia year that was, what it meant to work with Alex Trebek, what can be expected from The Chase, and of course: his Philadelphia Eagles.

Den of Geek: What was the process of you, Ken, and James agreeing to do The Chase together? Did you guys have like a group text chat going?

Brad Rutter: There was a little bit of that. There was talk of, “We’ve got to figure out a way to get you guys back on TV,” just because Jeopardy GOAT! was such a ratings bonanza. And I immediately thought, “Oh, you know, maybe The Chase. We’d be pretty good as chasers.” But I didn’t have any inside info on that. That’s sort of how it ended up coming together.

How were you familiar with The Chase originally? Had you watched the British version?

I had. I actually was also the American Chaser in the original pilot for Fox back in 2012. There was a regime change over there right after we shot the pilot. It ended up getting picked up on GSN with Mark Labbett, “The Beast.” And they didn’t end up using me. But yeah, I was quite familiar.

What was it like getting Sara Haines to join up as host?

Fantastic. I’m obviously not The View‘s target demo, so I wasn’t super familiar with her, but we went out to dinner the night before we started shooting and really right from bat, I knew that the chemistry was going to be there. She just absolutely clicked with all three of us. I think that’s a really important thing to have in a show like this, because it’s all about the banter. She’s really great facilitating that and sort of sparring with us and also with the contestants a little bit. We had an absolute blast shooting it and I really think that’s going to come through on the air.

I went back and watched a little bit of the Jeopardy! GOAT tournament and some of the interviews they cut with you. One thing that you said was studying probably doesn’t even help that much when it comes to Jeopardy!, but it’s like an emotional armor to wear. Do you do much studying prior to Chase episodes? And do you still kind of feel that way – that it’s more of an emotional armor?

Less so for The Chase than for Jeopardy!, actually, because I think Jeopardy! has more of a defined canon. They can conceivably ask you about anything, but you know that presidents are going to come up a lot, Shakespeare is going to come up a lot, world capitals are going to come up a lot. So I generally try to stay in shape with that type of stuff. 

With this, I wouldn’t study to the extent that I would with Jeopardy! just because you don’t know what’s going to come up. This is a brand new show, so you weren’t quite sure. If we do a season two though, I’m going to study the Billboard Top 40 … to give you a little clue about where the stew of the questions might be going.

Jeopardy! famously films many episodes in advance. What’s the filming schedule like for The Chase and how long ago did you lock these episodes?

I think it was November 13 through 20, and we did two a day, except only one on the last day. The 13th was a Friday, so I guess nobody was superstitious. I didn’t even realize that until now. Jeopardy! can get away with shooting five a day because A, it’s only half an hour and B, they’ve been doing it for 35 years, so it’s kind of a well-oiled machine. 

With a new game show, there’s all the standards and practices stuff and the legal things where you really have to get things right. One little hiccup can end up causing huge delays, but fortunately that didn’t really happen here. I was actually pleasantly surprised, because for first time shows, there’s usually going to be hiccups. 

That’s interesting too because you’ve only done this show under COVID protocols then. Did it seem kind of different from a usual production due to the environment right now?

Yes and no. I think it would be fun with an audience. So knock on wood, season two we can make that happen. But yeah, otherwise it was a lot like a normal production just with everybody masked up and trying to stay away from each other. 

How has your, James’s, and Ken’s relationship evolved through the GOAT tournament and then going into The Chase?

We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well, which is nice. And we do have a group text. We send stuff back and forth when we think it’s appropriate and sort of like something comes up that we had a question on in the GOAT tournament or something like that. I actually just texted them about something I saw that was a question on The Chase, which I can’t divulge right now. But that’s the kind of stuff we do when we’re having fun. Spotting the promos and stuff like that, and talking about people we know getting in touch with us because they saw us on Monday Night Football. That kind of thing.

We talked earlier about how strange and awful 2020 has been at times. Obviously we all just had to recently deal with the tragedy of Alex Trebek’s passing. You’ve already spoken about your experience with him beautifully on social media. Is there anything else you’d like to talk about in regards to spending time with him?

Well, I think that he actually ended up having an impact on my life just watching him work and getting to know him a little bit. It comes through watching the last few episodes that he did shoot that he was really proud of the show and it was his life’s work. He really put a lot of effort into something that he was very proud of. He had very high standards for himself and the show, and was always trying to live up to that. But at the same time, he was always having so much fun with it. Just watching Alex go about his business on Jeopardy!, I realized that’s a really great blueprint for how to live your life: care about something, strive for excellence, and have a good time doing it. If you’re picking three rules for life, I think you could do a lot worse than that. He’s inspired me for a long time, but even more so lately.

Do you have a take on who should host the show next?

Alex. But we can’t do it, unfortunately. That’s one of the terrible things about it. I can’t even really imagine what it’s going to be like. That’s all I can say about it.

I’ll just switch to a happier topic real quick at the end here. I like the notion of you, Ken, and James texting back and forth about Monday Night Football. How do you feel about the Jalen Hurts era for your Philadelphia Eagles?

Encouraging. Encouraging start. The poise is what I really noticed and coolness under pressure. I, for the life of me, can’t figure out what the Saints’ defensive game plan was about. It was almost as if they were preparing for Carson Wentz and then Hurts could just trample and run all over them.

You would’ve thought that they would have expected a little bit more of that. I am interested to see how he does now that there’s some tape out there on him. We’ll see how he does there. But it’s a giant mess anyway, because they can’t get rid of Wentz because of this contract. And they might have to try to trade one of them and who knows? [EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview was conducted following the Eagles’ victory over the New Orleans Saints. In the subsequent three weeks, Rutter’s Eagles went 0-3, missed the playoffs, and quarterback Jalen Hurts was benched in the final game. So uh…whoops].

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

Quarterback uncertainty is not something I would wish on anybody. But I’m a Browns fan. So…sorry for trading you that second pick that became Carson Wentz.

Well it looked like he was going to work out great. And maybe he still will, I don’t know. It’s 2020. Who knows what’s in the water over there.

The Chase premieres Jan. 7 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

The post Jeopardy! Star Brad Rutter on The Chase and Why Alex Trebek is Irreplaceable appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2Xckj1b

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[nicknederson]

For the Sake of Content: Sara Reads the Hardy Boys Adventures Series Because She Has a Lot of Credit on Google Play and Not a Lot Going On, Admittedly

Hardy Boys Adventure #2: The Mystery of the Phantom Heist

(or) Some Girl Just Has the Worst Party Ever and It's Not Like the Hardy Brothers Help

The SWS! (Summary without Spoilers)

Brothers Frank and Joe are trying out for the role of Roman gladiators with their friend Chet and, no, it's not for any sort of production of Caesar. Instead, the boys are applying for a position as waiters at the Sweet Sixteen of local rich girl Lindsay Peyton. When Chet is rejected, Frank and Joe quickly give up that venture (and subsequently forget about the whole thing) only to stumble across a group of violent pranksters called the Scaredevils plaguing the city of Bayport. Is this just the latest viral video campaign or something far more sinister? Frank and Joe will find out... eventually.

The Review! (spoilers below the cut)

I think I should start out by saying that yes, I am not the biggest fan of the Hardy Boys. For a while now, I've seen their adventures as the try-hard, pseudo-masculine version of Nancy Drew (which is not an incorrect statement) and I just really can't wrap my head around why their aunt lives with them among other things. I hated how the first book in the new series went and I sort of hated this second installation, too. Why? Well, to put it simply- these brothers are dumb.

Is it their fault? Probably not, they're just fictional characters. Is it the author's fault? Definitely- what the hell were they thinking? For starters, you have the boys going to interview for the job of waiters at Lindsay Peyton's party. They make these really gross, derogatory comments about Lindsay while looking at her portrait and then, later, when they actually meet her, they continue making gross comments about her. It's part of this trend I've seen in the two books where the boys view girls in three ways: the hot undesirable (because of personality or some sort of flaw in her very one-dimensional character), the hot desirable (usually a nerdy girl with brown hair like Janine Kornbluth or, in this book, Sierra), and the sister. The sister is just that- the sister of one of their male classmates or friends. In the last book, we had Sharelle and in this book we had Iola. These girls tend to be more fleshed out, but only in the sense that they do traditionally 'tougher' things like saving the boys (Sharelle) or fending off attacks against them (like Iola does in this book). Now these are just the girls the boys interact with that are their own age- the others are all older women like their mother or Aunt Trudy who don't really do anything except fill in some necessary exposition or feed them. Which is another weird thing- Aunt Trudy is their housekeeper? Does their aunt live with them because their mom just doesn't like doing household things that their stay-at-home dad never seems to do? I didn't read enough of the older books to understand this.

But other than the very one-dimensional female characters the boys interact with, there are also plenty of male characters that don't get enough personality- including the boys themselves. The chapters switch between Frank and Joe's perspective and it's a quirk that almost does nothing for the book because- quite frankly- I cannot tell them apart either way. Joe is supposed to be the kooky, funny brother, but Frank always seems to make the same wry jokes. Frank is supposed to be sensible, but he's not exactly making any decisions Joe isn't making. It's really just a useless ploy the Adventures books use and a pain in the ass for readers who have to occasionally flip back to the beginning to check to see what boy they're supposed to be reading from the perspective of. All that said, these are just problems with the general format of the series and not even the problems with this book- Mystery of the Phantom Heist- in particular. Because this book has some problems. A lot of them.

As I said earlier, the boys seem impossibly dumb. And I'm not just saying this as a general statement, but in the very first few chapters, we have them leaving the Peytons' house only to discover that Lindsay's car has been keyed with the rude phrase 'Rich Witch'. Now, for some reason, the boys relate this to a prank video they had been watching some minutes earlier where a boy chucks a slushie at an unsuspecting drive-through attendant. Why? I have no idea why, but they do turn out to be related so I guess that was the book's way of telling us that right from the get-go. Keep in mind, these same types of jumped-to conclusions disappear in the latter half of the book when they would rightfully make sense. But more on that later- for now, we're still talking about the keyed car.

After leaving the Peytons' house, the boys see this keyed car in their driveway and don't do anything about it. No, in fact, Joe touches the vandalized car- several times- and the boys make comments about how it's too bad for Lindsay while implying that it's what she gets for being a bitch. They do not- in any way- put together two and two and realize that they'd just walked out on the Peytons' house after being 'rejected' from the position as waiters and that this vandalism could easily be seen as something they did to get back at the family. They don't seem to realize that at all. So they go with their friend to some generic burger place to get some generic burgers- all while commenting on how gross Lindsay is and how cute Frank found Sierra- only to get into a disagreement with some boys from Bay Academy.

Now, this is another thing that I have a problem with when it comes to the Adventures series and their attempt at world-building. It is very one-dimensional and it doesn't try to be inventive in the way it takes this small town and tries to make it something new. Instead of creative, new takes on things, we have the age old rivalry of public school vs. private school in Bayport High School and Bay Academy. The Bay Academy boys are brutish, entitled, and drive around in Mercedes Benz with vanity plates that say 'Awesome Dude' while harassing bus boys at the local burger place. Frank and Joe- mimicking this psuedo-masculine sensibility that comes from older books- decide to stand up to them for this great unjustice, but keep in mind, these are the same boys who saw someone's car vandalized and decided to just walk away without even informing the owner because they just plain didn't like them. This entire scene goes down in such a robotic, bizarre way up until the police arrive. As another testament to how dumb the brothers seem to be this entire book, they assume the police are there to arrest the trouble-making Bay Academy boys.

Which... ?????

No, actually, the police are here to arrest them because they were the idiots who had a disagreement with the Peytons' and then did nothing when they saw their car vandalized in the driveway and just carried on their merry way. "Oh, but we didn't do it!" Yeah, but it clearly looks like you did, genius. This could have been easily avoided if you'd paid attention for five whole seconds and realized you couldn't just leave after seeing Lindsay's car vandalized. But whatever! This is just a children's book, right? So whatever.

The boys get dragged into the police station and you'd think it would be no big deal because they're chummy with the police, but oh no- big plot twist, the one officer on the entire force who doesn't like them is chief now. Hm, wow, hate it when that happens. This will become a recurring problem throughout the book when Chief Olaf- who is just so poorly characterized you cannot tell if he's evil or just stupid or maybe both- constantly acts as a roadblock for the boys' progress on the case. If you could call it a case. Which I wouldn't. Because they don't seem to really know what's going on until about chapter... thirteen.

After making it clear that the boys are suspected of being the vandals, the book switches gears to just sort of divulging into a mess of Joe frequently checking YouTube videos posted by the vandals and the boys always being a second too late to stopping them. I would admit that was a cynical view of what happens, but it's actually not too far from the truth. It's only about half-way through the book that the boys do any sort of detective work and even then, it's incredibly simple. Frank recognizes someone in one of the Scaredevil videos, but can't figure out who it is. But, oh, Tony Riley from school is here and wow, he's got a really obvious scratch on his face and he's carrying around a jacket with a bandanna hanging out of his pocket JUST LIKE IN THE VIDEO.

Is it really detective work if you just spot something hanging out of someone's pocket? I don't think so- no.

Especially when the person makes it very obvious that they now have money when they shouldn't and leave their phone on the table while going to check on their car supposedly being keyed only for Joe to just go through their texts and find the ringleader. Who is it? Surprise, the only person who it could possibly be since he's been a violent and very obnoxious character from his introduction. This would be Bay Academy's Colin Sylvester. Colin Sylvester is apparently not Bayport's sweetheart but naturally, the boys can't go to the police with their suspicions because the police outright say that they won't investigate him since his parents donate to the police station. While this very apparent corruption of the legal system in Bayport feels like a problem they should look into, the boys ignore it in favor of doing some other inane things around town trying to figure out how to pin Colin with the crime.

When their garage gets burned down, the boys get video evidence of the arson with Colin's voice on the recording saying 'this will keep the police busy', but since seeing the chief is apparently inconvenient, they just skip over that bit for a few chapters until it becomes relevant again. Now, this is also one of those books where it very obviously plots the clues out in verbal cues throughout the boys' activities- we have exhibit A, exhibit B, and exhibit C all happening in succession, but of course Frank and Joe don't pay it any mind since it doesn't mean much of anything to them until much later when they finally string everything together. I understand that's a tactic used in these kinds of mysteries, but it's also so painful for the reader to have to sit through clue after clue falling into the boys' laps while they just idle around waiting for the big reveal to happen. We have everything written out for us- the least the author could do is let our protagonists agonize over it a little bit longer. The Hardy Brothers don't seem to want to spare the time to do that when they could be, say, going on dates with pretty girls.

This brings up the issue of Sierra- the party planner of Lindsay's Sweet Sixteen and Frank's crush. Sierra- from chapter one- is clearly pegged as a potential culprit, but the boys don't seem to realize this until they physically see her with Colin later in the book. It takes them an impossibly long time to realize Sierra is up to no good even when her erratic actions- like asking them out on a boat that subsequently breaks, lying about what she was doing for the five whole minutes they were on the boat, and becoming defensive when they catch her in the lie- are a clear indicator that she's up to something. Even when Joe is the first one to realize she might not be up to par, Frank is so adamant in his misplaced trust of her that he refuses to listen to his brother. So we have a clear culprit who is only ignored because Frank thinks she's pretty. I'm dead serious. These boys also don't seem to realize that going onto a boat that isn't rightfully theirs without Sierra is a clear set-up to get them into further trouble with the Peytons. And when the throttle breaks, it takes them a second to realize another way to stop the boat is to turn it off.

Frank's obliviousness concerning Sierra is also another reason the boys decide not to trail her and Colin when they see them leave the movie theater after they spent an entire night trying to stake out Colin to see what he was up to. Frank is just too sad after seeing them making-out to continue their detective work and can't believe she would do this to him. Is it really that hard to believe, Frank? No, because it's very obvious.

Other parts of the book feel as equally pointless or misplaced- the strangely high-tech device one of their dad's former co-workers give them that echos with the ridiculous tech they used in the over-wrought Undercover Brothers series, how easily the boys give up when questioning involved persons or how slow they are to piece things together, the fact that the boys still refer to girlfriends as someone's 'girl' despite it being the early 2000s, and even the very ending of the book. The mystery itself is very clever and somewhat interesting, but the execution is lazy at best- made especially apparent in the last chapter. The Scaredevils- the gang acting as the mysterious culprit- is a group of people that, as the boys learn, are being paid off by Colin Sylvester to commit various acts of vandalism and destruction around Bayport. They start fights, they graffiti things, and they leave their mark on plenty of objects all while uploading videos of their barely concealed faces to YouTube to document their reign of terror. There's also a little bit where Frank and Joe seem surprised that girls could be involved in this scheme that just made me roll my eyes. But the scheme itself is hinted at being part of a larger plot to keep the police around Bayport busy so that none can act as guards at Lindsay Peyton's Sweet Sixteen- the biggest event in Bayport this year. Sounds interesting, right?

Well, it is- until you learn that this entire scheme is just Colin getting revenge against Lindsay for never going on a date with him and not letting him be friends with her. As to why Sierra is a part of this, there's no given reason besides that she happens to be dating Colin at the time. Seriously, no reason given. And while there could have easily been a way to spin Colin's discontent at being rejected, the very ending trips over itself on its way to the point when it seems to remember it's called 'The Mystery of the Phantom Heist'. Huge spoiler alert, guys: there is no Phantom Heist.

Colin and his friends easily infiltrate the party at the end and- after using a very obvious scheme to get the guards outside- proceed to pull guns on the guests and demand their valuables. Seems pretty scary, right? Well, it probably would have been if there had been any thought to it. The guns are fake, the guards get back in easily because no one bothered to bar the doors, and the police show up in seconds after the boys go through the erroneous steps of disarming Colin and his buddies because they didn't even take the guests' phones away so it was incredibly easy to call 911. Colin, Sierra, and his friends are all arrested and Lindsay declares the party back on and the relationship between Bay Academy and Bayport High School is superficially mended. Another joke is added to this when the boys express disbelief that they fought armed Roman gladiators at the party of the year and Chet chimes in with a joke about having recorded the whole thing. End book.

Now, this isn't just lazy writing, but a problem that I have with the entire Hardy Boys franchise. In that, it feels the need to step itself up to the point where it reaches unobtainable standards that it can never deliver on. For years, the boys have tried to reflect the 'masculine' side of detective work that their counterpart Nancy Drew apparently can't cover herself. There are gun fights, dramatic heists, and danger galore while the boys fight assassins and deadly ninjas and other some such exaggerated threats. This was all well and good back in the 1920s to 60s when the most dangerous thing Nancy dealt with in her stories was a fall from one foot too high, but in the modern era, we're seeing this attempted divide between the Drew Crew and the Hardy Boys being exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness. The predecessor to the Adventures series- the Undercover Brothers- borderlined on absolutely unrealistic with the way it had the boys hangliding over Ireland to escape armed gunmen while using a pizza box as a high-tech communication device. It was like James Bond for babies, but the lacksadaisal tone it set made it so high-fantasy it was impossible to relate to on so many levels. Seeing as these are books primarily aimed at a younger audience, it's disappointing to see that this standard of 'snails and puppy dog tails' vs 'sugar, spice, everything nice' is still being stuck to in these newer books. The Hardy Brothers shouldn't be this dumb, they shouldn't be this off-puttingly trusting, they shouldn't need fancy technology that doesn't even exist to make up for where their lack of intelligence and wit causes them problems, and I- as a reader- shouldn't have to see none all of these traits in Nancy, but all of them in her 'boy version'. One of the things that bothered me the most about Frank's complete trust in Sierra is that I knew that Nancy would never do that. She would see Sierra as a suspect from the beginning- male or female- and she wouldn't make the same erroneous mistakes that the boys do. It's almost like Nancy- as someone raised as a girl- knows not to trust people easily, treats undeserving people kindly, and always has to evaluate a situation for danger before she enters it. Weird, right?

Either the publisher needs to stop treating Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys as too wildly opposite sides of the spectrum or they need to get better ghostwriters on the HBAs. Because while I'm going to read the next book- The Vanishing Game- because I have the Google Play credit, I am not... going to enjoy it.

#sara reads a book and posts about it #i didn't expect this to be this long but this book made me mad #and yes i know it's for younger audiences #but regardless of age you don't deserve shit books #i was also thinking of recording this somehow but

[meredithsreadingchallenge]

I’m so thankful to be writing this review right now. Now, I can share one of the best books I’ve read this year. I have to consider this for the No.1 spot unless another book comes around and steals the title.

For this review, I’m going to see if I can try a different format for writing. Please feel free to leave feedback for which review is best for you to read. Any is appreciated!

In 2019, I received the “His Dark Materials” series by Philip Pullman as a Christmas gift. I watched the movie earlier in the year, which I know is not what a reader is supposed to do, but I loved it. The story was interesting, and I fell in love with the main character and her journey across the world to save her best friend. I started reading the first book, “The Golden Compass” after Christmas because I was excited to start, and I finished the book on the second day of the new year. It counts, by the way!

Here is what I think of the book, even though it’s four months down the road. Remember, spoiler warning:

1.     What audience is the author writing for?

I think Pullman is writing for anyone that listens. The main character is about 11-13 years ago at the start of the book, so it does appeal to readers who are in that age range who likes mysteries, fantasy, and adventure. I would also argue that this book is for young adults, which is about 8th grade-12th grade, for there are vocabulary words that I had to look up a couple of times. The third audience would be adults because there are many parts in “The Golden Compass” that deal with mature thoughts, events, and feelings that are viewed from a child’s perspective. This book can appeal to any age group!

2.     Do I care about the characters?

If caring is defined as ‘I like the majority of the characters’, then yes. For someone that watched the movie with no idea about what was going on until a half-hour in, I enjoyed them. Lyra is my favorite, and her daemon, Pan. I like her because she’s at that age where innocence is stripped for reality, and I don’t mean that in a sick way. She goes through several major events that alter her perspective on the world, politics, religion, and most importantly, what family is to her. It was intriguing to read the story from her point of view because Pullman revealed to the reader her thoughts, feelings, and motivations with appropriate dialogue and exposition.

3.     Did it have a compelling plot?

Yes, YES, YES IT DOES! Excuse my enthusiasm, but here are some spoilers about the book.

It’s about Lyra Belacqua, a twelve/thirteen-year-old girl from Oxford who is forced to take a side in a complicated war. After stumbling on a proposal meeting for her uncle, Lord Asriel, she learns there are these mysterious particles called Dust, and it divides her home to two sides: those who want to explore it and those who despise it. She has no idea why people are touchy around the subject, but when kidnappers called ‘Gobblers’ abduct her best friend and the Master of Jordan college gives her a golden compass with symbols, she sets out on a journey to save her best friend.

This is all I’m going to reveal because the plot thickens and gets disturbing as she travels the world. Personally, I was hooked the minute I finished Chapter 1, and I even began to mutter comments to myself when I felt strongly about important plot points, especially when Lyra interacted with Ms. Coulter. Of course, I saw the movie and know Ms. Coulter’s role, but still! I felt so much more hatred for her than I did when I watched the movie. You don’t mess with that woman!

4.     Did any quotes strike me?

Yes, but this one is another spoiler. Please feel free to skip this question!

When Iorek Brynison says to Lyra, “Belacqua? No. You are Lyra Silvertongue” (Pullman, pp. 348), I wanted him to win the fight against the bear king so bad. You see, Lyra and Iorek share a special bond because she rescued his honor in exchange for his allegiance to save the abducted children.  He swore to protect her during the mission, but he also told her once that his kind cannot be tricked because they possess the talent to see pass deceit. However, because Lyra tricked the current bear king that she was Iorek’s daemon, Iorek respects her for proving him wrong. It makes me smile every time!

5.     What is the author’s voice like?

The author’s voice is quite interesting. Pullman takes the role of a narrator—an observer in the world of the book. The narrator knows what Lyra does and thinks, and sometimes they view other character’s stories as well as share their opinion. Based on the verb tense, the narrator is speaking about a time in history, but when reading the book, it almost feels like you’re right there, watching Lyra as she reads the Golden Compass (or aethalometer!).

6.     What is the author’s purpose?

I think that Pullman’s purpose was to demonstrate that religion has a strong influence on the minds of adults. As Lyra further investigates the Gobbler’s abduction patterns to save her friend, the Church’s opinion becomes prominent. It seems that those who work for the Church are against the investigations of Dust and have power over the distribution of information, so it becomes clear that Lord Asriel’s proposal is a threat to their cause. Pullman wanted to highlight this theme because religion is known throughout history to want to control the thoughts and beliefs of its followers, especially when it comes to new findings in science. Also, if science threatens an idea supported by the Church, then the world becomes divided on what is right and what is wrong.

7.     What did I learn from reading?

I learned that the world is very different from the eyes of a child. A child, like Lyra, can pick up on something wrong from time to time, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. The more a child is exposed to the reality of adulthood—such as abduction, religion, deceit, and war—the world changes. Lyra was able to compose herself, to remain present in learning about the world around her, but it still came as a shock when she found out that the people who loved her would also not hesitate to put her in harm’s way. Lyra learned the importance of bonds with people who are not your family with the Gyptians and Iorek Brynison, and this also established her core belief of loyalty and justice.

8.     What rating did I give this book?

I gave this book 5 stars because it made me think, I wanted more, and I was intrigued by the themes!

9.     Who would I recommend this book to?

I would recommend this book to anyone. It has a little bit of every genre in it, like fantasy, science fiction (I would argue), general fiction, and adventure. Because of the vocabulary and themes, I think it would encourage young readers to investigate meanings they don’t understand and ask questions. While religion is known to be restricted, sometimes offended for free-thinking, this is what learning is all about. I would also recommend it because it’s a good story, just a little something to read when you want to explore a different world.

10.     When will I read the remaining books in the series?

Because of the pandemic, I am reading the next book, “The Subtle Knife,” earlier than I expected. The remaining books on my list for the year are somewhat similar, I want to include a little more diversity, besides just anxious about what happens to Lyra next!

Speaking of which, what am I currently reading?

· “IT” by Stephen King: You will not believe it, guys. I made it to the halfway point! I’ve completed 50% of the book, and it’s a lot to swallow. It’s certainly different than the recent adaptation (mind you, I haven’t watched that one all the way through, just snippets). Still, I think this is why I appreciate the book more. I love reading about the memories the losers club have when they return to Derry, and I’m always wondering what’s going to happen next, even if my eyes are tired.

·“Girl, Stop Apologizing” by Rachel Hollis: I haven’t continued to read much of this book because I still need to make a blog post for Excuse 5 and I’m currently working on their #Next90challenge course. When she started advertising for it and mentioned it was a free course, I thought it would be a good idea to try it out. So far, I’m having fun! I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the lessons. For now, thank you again for being patient. Excuse 5 will be created shortly after this review.

I finished three books since my last blog post, which were “The Fates Divide” by Veronica Roth, the novel version of the hit musical, “Dear Evan Hansen,” and “The Flight of Swans by Sarah McGuire. Currently, I am figuring out which book review to do next after the Golden Compass because I am behind. Using this month to focus on making posts is going to be beneficial now that I have this free time to do it. No more excuses!

 As always, please stay safe wherever you are and practice healthy habits.

* Photo Credit: this photo is a blurred version of the cover from the book. The cover is originally based on art by Iacopo Bruno (2017). Text is generated from FireAlpacca.

#readingchallenge2020 #thegoldencompass #bookreview #spoilers #fantasy #dustanddaemons #favorite #fiction #novel #ages10andup

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #180 - Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

Spoilers below.

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: No.

Format: DVD

1) So with the first film writer James Gunn had written a darker script meant to poke fun at the original series and gain a PG-13 rating, but after the cast signed on this was changed into a family friendly film. With the sequel, writer Gunn returns and this time everyone knew what kind of movie they were going to make from the beginning (which relates to some more solid structure in this film than the last).

2) Scooby-Doo Theory holds that whoever the protagonists talks to first is the person who did it. The first person they talk to in this film is Alicia Silverstone’s Heather Jasper Howe who ends up being the bad guy.

3) Okay, Coolsville opens up a museum exhibit about Mystery Inc. and their past foes. It is said that the gang, “donated,” the costumes. But…why are the costumes their’s to donate? Aren’t they police evidence? Do they steal the costumes from every crime as some sort of weird trophy and stash them all in a storage locker somewhere? Am I overthinking this? Let’s move on.

4) What the heck!? Seth Green is in this movie!?

5) Linda Cardellini continues to be absolutely excellent as Velma Dinkley, but one side we get to see in this film that we didn’t in the first is lovesick puppy Velma. Her crush on Seth Green’s Patrick is portrayed as cute, sweet, honest, and is just enjoyable to watch. I think Cardellini is great in both of these films and gets an even greater chance to shine in this one.

6) I always liked The Evil Masked Figure in this film.

I think it’s purely a taste of aesthetics. I like the metallic head, the hair, the cloak. He’s not really a character so much as a plot device and he does pale in comparison to the classic monsters which populate the film, but I just dig the design.

7) I think the early action set piece of Shaggy and Scooby getting pulled around the museum by the Pterodactyl Ghost is a little stagey. It FEELS like they’re on a film set as opposed to even the fun of the cartoon chases. But that just may be me.

8) What the fanboy in me loves about this film is the way it brings in all the classic monsters from the old cartoons. James Gunn is a fan himself and it shows because - much like he is able to fill up Guardians of the Galaxy with notable characters, references, and alien species - he brings in a lot of A-list villains from the show. The Black Knight Ghost and the 10,000 Volt Ghost in particular were always favorites of mine and it is REMARKABLY fun to see them, the Tar Monster, the Zombie, Captain Cutler’s Ghost, and The Miner 49-er brought to live action (among others).

9) Okay, so Heather Jasper Howe’s reporting is 100% slander and illegal. She is taking everything Mystery Inc. says out of context to make them appear bad in the public light. Yes, she’s the villain, this is part of the plan. But unless you’re working for an obviously biased news source like Fox News you would not be allowed to get away with this. Still, when I start to question the realism of a Scooby-Doo movies the whole thing falls apart.

10) The primary conflict for Scooby and Shaggy in this film is them questioning their worth/value to the team. This makes for surprisingly interesting character conflict and an equally surprising emotional arc for the film. I like it!

11) According to IMDb:

The original Scooby-Doo episode dealing with the pterodactyl ghost featured a villain and motive that were quite different. The pterodactyl/hang glider costume was used to smuggle pirated music, with the small-town mayor behind the whole scheme.

12) I cannot begin to express how funny my tiny eight year old self found this joke.

Shaggy [after the gang goes through all their notes, which Scooby has been jotting down]: “Scooby-Doo, what’s your conclusion?”

Scooby: “Bunny!”

13) I have a feeling this film had a product placement agreement with Burger King. Scooby was drinking from a Burger King cup earlier and then this:

14) I may have watched The Mummy too many times.

Fred: “What could possibly happen by ringing a doorbell?”

15) So Shaggy messes with a record player and “Baby Got Back” starts playing. Which begs the question: WHO ON EARTH HAS A VINYL OF “Baby Got Back”!?

16) According to IMDb:

At one point in the film, Scooby and Shaggy are pretending to sing into a toilet brush "microphone". The song they are actually singing is Strangers in the Night - Frank Sinatra's version featured the improvised scat lyrics, "Scoo-bee-doo-bee-doo", lyrics which then-CBS executive Fred Silverman chose as the name of the new cartoon series. The original name for the dog was "Too Much", a popular catchphrase of the era.

17) The entire Black Knight Ghost chase through the mansion is very cartoonish, which I mean as a compliment. It feels like it is ripped straight out of an old episode of the cartoon, speaking again to the great way James Gunn handles the source material.

18) Why is Daphne wearing a shirt with her own face on it?

19) Again: this made me laugh so hard as an eight year old.

Black Knight [after Velma kicks him in the nuts]: “Right in the round tables!”

20) This film was released in 2004, can you tell?

Fred: “…this mystery goes down like a dot com and Coolsville digs us again!”

21) I ship Velma and Daphne. I have a feeling so does James Gunn.

(Screenshot taken of a GIF originally posted by @ezekiels)

22) Linda Cardellini gets to be exceptionally funny in this film for one BIG reason:

Patrick: “Do you have to go to the bathroom?”

Velma: “No, I can’t in this outfit.”

23) The Faux Ghost.

This is a wonderful concept featured in the film which once again shows off just how deeply familiar writer James Gunn is with the source material. Just the idea that a bar for all the people Mystery Inc caught exists is wonderfully fun. The art design and characters all stand out in a wonderfully fun scene.

24) Whoa, this is pretty deep for Scooby-Doo 2.

Old Man Wickles [about being a masked villain]: “We needed people to believe we were different than we were. Maybe because we believed there was something wrong with who were in the first place.”

This also means the song which plays in the club - “Thank You For Letting Me By Myself” - has much more meaning than one might initially expect.

25) This line was improvised.

Velma [after she lets out a squeak]: “That was my outfit, I swear.”

26) It’s kinda fun seeing Seth Green go into psychotic badass mode on this goon. My primary experience with him is through “Buffy” where he mostly plays his character as emotionally controlled. This is a fun change from that. Also, Shaggy gets in a sick burn because of it.

Shaggy [after seeing Patrick act a little crazy]: “But we gotta make like your personality and split!”

27) What even is this movie!?

Old Man Wickles [after Scooby gives away his position hiding in a bush]: “Darn bushes toweling at me again.”

AGAIN!?

28) Ah, the potion gag.

So there was a lot of work trying to figure out exactly what gags to use. At one point, Scooby was going to turn into his hand drawn counterpart as a replacement to a much less favored gag of Scooby turning into George W. Bush. The filmmakers didn’t want to compare 3D Scooby with 2D Scooby so they had him turn into the Tasmanian Devil instead. It’s kinda random and pointless, but not unenjoyable. It’s kinda fun to watch, it just has nothing to do with the rest of the plot.

29) In this moment, I am Shaggy.

Shaggy: “We’re gonna die!”

Daphne: “Think positive!”

Shaggy: “We’re gonna die quickly!”

30) Okay hold on a second: the monsters share the same hatred of Mystery Inc. that their portrayers had? But why? They’re not the same people are they? Do they have the memories of their human counterparts? Are they the vision of the criminals who portrayed them fully realized?

31) The old high school clubhouse scene is a surprisingly poignant moment of vulnerability and character interaction for Mystery Inc. The flashback - even though it’s a little cringe worthy seeing the young Mystery Inc (with their awkward imitations of the main cast and weirdly dubbed over voices from the main actors) - allows for us to understand the core of their relationship. In a lot of ways, this is the beating heart of the film. Mystery Inc and the friendship they have with each other.

32) Again: I am Shaggy.

Shaggy [while being chased]: “This is tied for the most terrifying day of my life!”

Velma: “Tied with what?”

Shaggy: “EVERY OTHER FREAKING DAY OF MY LIFE!”

33) HOW DID THE BLACK KNIGHT GET A GHOST HORSE!? Wouldn’t they need a horse costume to do that?

34) Ah, Buffy speak used by a “Buffy” actor.

Daphne: “Taste the pain Mr. Glowy Ugly Thing!”

35) I love this.

Velma [after Shaggy and Scooby say they’re trying to be more like the gang]: “That’s funny. I always wanted to be like you guys.”

This speaks greatly to just how freaking important Shaggy and Scooby are to the group. They’re the beating heart, it’s called Scooby-Doo for a reason. And the fact that Velma is able to so honestly and believably say she wants to be like Shaggy and Scooby is a surprisingly touching moment in the film.

36) It only took Velma 45 years to admit this.

Velma [after her glasses fall off]: “I’ve got to consider contact lenses.”

37) According to IMDb:

The Cotton Candy Glob is a tribute to the Cotton Candy Monsters who appeared in the story "Goop on the Loose" in the Scooby-Doo comics published by DC Comics, where the culprits were a child and two henchmen trying to get revenge from being fired from a carnival. The Cotton Candy Monsters were mentioned in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: Terror, Thy Name Is Zombo (1989).

38) I JUST got that the game of keep away they play with the monster making control panel reflects the game of frisbee we saw them playing in the flashback.

(GIF originally posted by @leaveatraill)

39) Tar Monster seems like he has a ridiculous amount of power. Like he can single handedly nearly kill ALL of Mystery Inc. Why not just release the Tar Monster on the world? I feel like THAT’D be a better plan!

40) The Evil Masked Figure is unmasked and revealed to be Heather Jasper Howe. But her hair and makeup are perfect. Shouldn’t she have - like - helmet hair or something?

41) Scooby running to Shaggy like they haven’t seen each other in ages is totally unearned. Shaggy just put on a mask and took it off and Scooby acts all excited! But, it’s still kinda nice.

42) What the heck? This film has a secret mini movie!?

A commercial!?

Much like the first Scooby Doo film, Monsters Unleashed is hardly a cinematic masterpiece but the kid in my absolutely loves it. The characterization is continually strong (as is the acting), it’s a lot of fun to see the old monsters in a live action format, and it’s just an enjoyable 90ish minutes. There are movies which have aged worse so if you have fond memories of this or are a fan of the Scooby-Doo franchise, give it a watch.

#Scooby Doo #James Gunn #Sarah Michelle Gellar #Scooby Doo 2 #Linda Cardellini #Freddie Prinze Jr #Matthew Lillard #Epic Movie (Re)Watch #Movie #Film #GIF

[thepixelary]

Filmic Colors in Blender and Light Linearity

By Mike Pan

First of all, a huge thanks to Troy Sobotka, the creator of filmic-blender, for the relentless push to help me understand all of this. This post is a summary of my understanding of color and light as it applies to my work as a CG artist.

From a physics perspective, light and color are inseparable, they are one. You can’t have one without the other. In a pathtracer such as Blender’s Cycles, they are basically the same thing. So I’ll be using these 2 terms interchangeably from now on.

This is going to be a long one, so stay with me. Let’s start by looking at a classic Cornell Box rendering with 1 light source:

You’ll notice I sampled a few random locations on the image and included their RGB values next to it. We have a red, a grey, and a pure white. So far, so good. Remember, this scene is lit with a single light source from the top. Let’s see what happens when we double the light’s energy from 10 to 20.

Okay, the overall image got brighter as expected. But if we sample the other 2 locations, we notice something strange. Even though we doubled the intensity of the light, the pixel values didn’t double. Huh.

Let’s look at these previous two images in another way:

Here I added another row below the first. The ‘display’ value on the top row refers to what we had in the previous images - those are the values as sampled from the JPEG image. The ‘scene’ value is what the rendering engine was actually working with - it represents the light energy level at that pixel. As we can see, even though the display value didn’t double when we doubled the light energy, the scene value indeed doubled as we expected. (They are also not clamped to 1, as evident by the sample on the light panel.

So if the scene values represent the ‘true’ values of the 3D world, why is the final image not showing these values to begin with? And how does the computer transform those scene values to display values?

This is Gamma at work. The history of Gamma is really not important right now. All you should know is the magical value of 2.2. This value is used to transform the scene color into the display color we saw earlier.

Don’t believe me? Raise any scene value to the power of 1/2.2 and you’ll get the corresponding display value.

But why is this transform needed? What does this scene look like if we use the scene color value as-is? In another word, without any transformation?

Yuk. Not only is it way too dark, it’s just unpleasant to look at due to the high contrast.

This is the first concept we have to learn today: Scene-referred values and display-referred values are two different things. At the simplest level, we need to apply a gamma transform to the scene-referred color space to get a pleasant looking image in display-referred space.

So now we know how gamma transform is used to change our rendering data into a pleasant looking image, let’s see if there is more we can do to make it look even better. Instead of a simple gamma transform, let’s try to use a look-up-table and that’s designed to give the image a more film-like look, specially the filmic-blender.

The difference between the original(left) and the filmic version(right) might be subtle. Note the hotspot on the red wall is gone, replaced by a much more natural looking glow. The over-saturated banding on the orange dome is gone too, and its reflection is far less overexposed.  To me, that’s the main benefit of filmic-blender, it is able to show off a much wider dynamic range, and gives the image a much more refined look near over-exposed values, especially on saturated colors.

In summary: The filmic-blender lut is a powerful imaging tool that transforms the linear scene-referred values into nonlinear display-referred values.

But filmic cannot work alone. To really make the most use out of it, the scene has to be lit in a physically accurate way. Cycles is a pathtracing rendering engine, this means for it to work its magic, the lights need to be set to realistic values. Real world has a very wide dynamic range, something that we are not used to in a CG world.

Whenever you are lighting in Cycles, keep in mind that the energy level of the sun lamp is measured in Watts/m². All other lamps use Watts [source]. That means for the most accurate light transport, a single household light bulb should be in the 60-80 range, while the sun should be set to 200-800 for daylight, depending on time of the day, latitude, and cloud cover.

Without proper lighting ratios, your scene will look flat even with filmic lut. Light will not bounce enough, and it will just look artificial. In the image above, the left has a sun set to a low value of 50 because the artists is afraid of blowing out the highlights, but when we set the sun to a more realistic value of 500 as we did on the right, light distribution becomes far more realistic.

Don’t be afraid to let the image blow out. The real world rarely fits within the dynamic range of a camera. The filmic lut is especially helpful in cases with high energy lights, because it’s able to tame those overexposed areas into something that looks far more pleasing. Just compare the room rendered with and without the filmic lut, using the physically correct light ratio:

See all those ugly highlights and super saturated hotspots on the left image? They are gone in the right. Filmic allows you to push your lighting further without worrying about nasty artifacts from overexposure.

So we learned that Filmic is a lut, it transforms your linear scene data into a beautiful nonlinear image. But that doesn’t mean you should use it on every image. Sometimes, you need a linear image to work with.

Let’s talk a bit more about linearity of light.

Light is additive. That means I should be able to separate the contribution of each individual light source and then add them up, to get the exact same image as if all the lights sources are rendered together. The ability to do this, and do this correctly, is crucial for compositing and visual effects where light and color are often adjusted in dramatic ways.

So let’s try that with our room scene. We rendered each light in a separate layer and saved them as 32bit TIFF images:

Huh, that’s didn’t work at all. The combined image is a hot mess.

Even though we saved the individual images as 32bit tiff so the color values are not clamped, the tiff did not record the scene values. When the image is saved, it underwent the scene to display transform, so the values we are seeing is not the linear scene-values, but the nonlinear display-values. This happens regardless if we are using the default sRGB EOFT lut or the Filmic lut.

This is a huge problem because any light or color work manipulation we do is now on a nonlinear dataset that’s not designed to be manipulated in this way. The correct way is to only save and operate on data in a linear format such as EXRs.

Let’s try the same process with EXRs. (Because EXRs are linear, these are mapped to Filmic for display on your screen)

Now everything works exactly as it’s suppose to! Using linear data for compositing is really the only way to ensure that your scene remains physically accurate.

In Blender, all image file formats respect the color management setting(e.g. sRGB or Filmic). Except for EXR, which is always saved in a linear format without any transforms.

Because lights are additive, and we rendered each light of this scene to a separate EXR layer, we can play around with the color and contribution of each light in post and get very different images without any rerendering.

That’s the the flexibility of working with scene-referred data directly. 

So we are finally near the end of this post. There are some simplifications I’ve made in order to make this post more understandable, and there are a lot of issues that I haven’t mentioned. On the color front, we haven’t explored wide gamut and the different color profiles. On the content creation side, there is something to be said about ambient occlusion and clamping and the various compositing nodes that work only on clamped display-referred data(the short version is: don’t use these).

But hopefully this has been a fun but educational journey for you. Stay tuned for Part II.