#literally any scene in 2 or 3 between them is so. they want to fuck each other so badly

[vitamin-zeeth]

Just watched night at the museum the squeakuel why is there so much raw sexual tension between the night guard and the museum director

#literally any scene in 2 or 3 between them is so. they want to fuck each other so badly #im thinking about it snd they for sure hooked up between 2&3 #hold on i wonder if they have an ao3 tag #brb #night at the museum #night at the museum 2 #larry daley #natm #natm fandom #natm 2

[orcelito]

i miss akechi goro so much. maybe even enough to finally finish that ladue chapter 3

#speculation nation #ladue shit #listen hes such an asshole and i NEEEEEEED to channel his voice for a bit again #if this urge persists to tomorrow i'll crack open the fic again. for a little reread. #this will satisfy only approximately 53 people (the total subscribers to that fic) #which ok that's actually a good few people when i think about them as actual people #but it's the least amount of subscriptions i have out of most of my multichapters #EVEN STILL. it's a matter of pride and self-satisfaction. #and god fucking damn i have 18k for chapter 3 already written. i literally just need to close the damn scene up #it's been over a YEAR NOWWWWWWWWWW like holy fucking shit. i need this OUT ALREADYYYYYYYYYYY #ladue chapter 3 i will free you into the abyss. i cannot promise more than chapter 3 but i can promise a chapter 3 at least. #i had a whole plan for the fic but idk if i'll ever be able to write it #considering it's taken like. ... years. between chapters. #it took me 2 years to post chapter 2 and it's been a year now since then. ugh. #see the thing is chapter 3 closes the initial arc of them starting to date. and then there's more stuff. #maybe i'll keep it open just in case the urge strikes me to continue it eventually. #and if it never does. i might make a 4th chapter that outlines the eventual plans i had for the fic. so that people know at least. #ive seen that a Few times for discontinued fics. #....but the thing is i dont want to mark any of my fics discontinued!!!! theyre all my darlings!!! i want to go back to them all eventually #i'll just have to see. if a chapter 4 ends up taking several more years. well. maybe it'll be time to call it there. who fucking knows lol #i'll try to get chapter 3 finished sometime soon though. i really want to have it out already.

[54625]

What I want out of a QSMP season two.

(Some of these points may be a little divisive - it's just my personal opinion. Content creators will be referred to as players for conciseness. QSMP as it has been for the past year, for the sake of this post, will be referred to as "season 1".)

1. TAKE A FUCKING BREAK.

I do not want to see the QSMP coming back in less than two months at the very, very least. Five or six months to a year is ideal, in my opinion.

This is for a few reasons. Firstly, the obvious; I want Quackity Studios to take the necessary time to make 100% sure that everyone who has worked, does work, or will work for them is compensated. Not just this, but I want the communication among the studio to become streamlined and consistent, for the purpose of maintaining the quality of the SMP, the quality of life of the employees, and entirely avoiding a repeat of the previous situation. Any less will be unacceptable, and prove that all people in charge, including and especially Quackity himself, have not learned their lesson.

Secondly, I am very sure that a lot of players will lack or have completely lost their motivation for the QSMP, due to the nature of the last few months of season 1. I am sure that those who had a lot of lore written up and had to scrap it or cut it short are probably still quite sore about it, and may not have the energy to pick the QSMP story back up. This is especially true if they had already given their characters a canon ending and don't want to overshadow it. When creating a new SMP, or a new season of an SMP, you first and foremost need player motivation to be high. Waiting several months would ensure that the wound of player lore being ruined would have mostly healed over by the start of season 2.

Thirdly, viewer engagement will always be an important thing to take into consideration when creating an SMP that will be televised. The large majority of QSMP fans are completely burned out from watching. Leaving a large gap between seasons 1 and 2 would let fans, who have had an exhausting last few months, recover and reset. It will also allow hype and anticipation to build up when things eventually start being teased and announced again. Fans have a lot of disdain for this project at the present moment, and waiting for a while between seasons will not only let fans know that serious action is being taken behind the scenes, but also will let the sour attitude a lot of fans have right now wear off over time.

2. RESET. FOR REAL THIS TIME.

Probably my most controversial take on this topic will be; I fully believe that if a QSMP season 2 is to occur, it should be a completely new server. By completely new I naturally mean a new map, but also ZERO LORE CONTINUATION. I know this is a hot take, but I personally believe QSMP season 2 is a perfect chance for a completely fresh start, and a fresh start cannot happen if it still takes place in the same universe.

We all know that season 1's lore was overwhelming, slightly confusing, and at the end of the day, completely disjointed. We all fell in love with the terrifying Federation and Codes, yes, we all loved the basis of the story; a group of people from different countries get stranded on a "perfect" paradise island controlled by a governmental body that won't let them leave, and have to work together; but at the end of the day, the lore of season 1 became messy. Very messy. Instead of trying again and again to salvage it, the best option is probably to just start again.

Put the same players in a different map, give them a completely different premise, and let the lore unfold anew. Which leads into my next point.

3. PLAYER DRIVEN LORE.

Let the players develop the story. If a player has an overarching storyline they are unfolding themselves, prioritise letting them do so. All of the best lore in season 1 was player created, and player enacted; Cellbit's regret arc, the happy pills, Cellbit's murdering Fed workers arc, literally everything Fit ever did, Roier's lore, ect ect ect. Server admins should only intervene in player's lore when directly asked, and big changes to the server's status quo should only occur when there is no active lore to be interrupted, everyone agrees it should happen, and it would actively drive engagement up, rather than down.

The best case scenario for a QSMP season 2, in my opinion, is for the server admins and Quackity to come up with an exciting and engaging premise for a brand new universe with brand new characters, to place the players in an interesting themed map, and just let them loose. Let the lore build naturally, and see what comes of it.

IN CONCLUSION.

I vehemently disagree with people who believe the QSMP should not have a season 2. The QSMP is a brilliant idea, and its noble goals shine through all of the incredible friendships and memories it, and only it, made. There is no other server like QSMP.

The act of uniting people from all over the world has been proven to be an extremely important and worthwhile goal. I, genuinely, admire Quackity for his passion in this, and for understanding that this thing should not be easily given up on or let go. Drastic changes need to occur, but the QSMP is bigger than just a Minecraft server; it represents so much unity, community, and love.

It is worth saving.

I hope, desperately and for the sake of everyone involved, past future and present, that the QSMP can come back better and stronger than ever, continuing to further its goals; to tell amazing stories, to forge impossible friendships, to spark joy and laughter, and to bring people together no matter the barriers keeping them apart.

Thank you for reading.

#qsmp #yer man wrote an entire literal essay completely willingly #if only I'd had this energy for my GCSEs

[novalpha]

𝙎𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝐎𝐓𝟏𝟑 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙨

[ Contains poly, single member at once x reader, and others..]

♡ Fluff || ୨୧ Angst || ★ Smut || ꗃ SMAU || ✹ Humor|| ⌗ Series || ✿ Drabble || ♤ Mature (No smut)

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ The Xperiments ⌗♡୨୧ -> @gamerwoo

Synopsis : Growing too strong to stay at the lab you grew up in, you’re shipped off to South Korea to continue your life in their much bigger and more high-tech lab. That’s where you meet thirteen other experiments who are just like you, only knowing life inside the labs which consists of constant inhuman studies and awful mistreatment. However, being kept solitary for your whole life, you find it difficult to trust even the experiments who know exactly what you’ve gone through. But the labs simply creating these experiments because they can may not be the only reason for your existence, and trusting the other experiments might be your only way to freedom – assuming you can stay hidden from the white coats.

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ Play along ★⌗ -> @xddaengx

Pt 1 , Pt 2 , Pt 3 , Pt 4 , Pt 5 , Pt 6 , Pt 7 , Deleted Scene , Pt 8

Summary: Your boyfriend proposes the idea, that he shares you with his 12 best friends.

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ Challenge Me ♡୨୧★⌗✹ -> @seokgyuu

Synopsis: you have never been a person who turns down a challenge, but when your best friend challenges you to hook up with 13 boys in one semester you kind of wish you were.

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ Horanghae ⌗♡★ -> (Hoshi centric, OT13) @horanghaejamjam

Summary: Everyone knows that Soonyoung loves tigers. The term Horanghae literally means “I tiger you”. Needless to say, the Seventeen members shouldn’t have been as surprised as they were the night he came home with a very timid white tiger curled against him.  

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ Kitten ears ♡୨୧★⌗ -> @hansols-yoda-boxers

Synopsis: Your first family wasn’t terrible, but they weren’t very loving either and they didn’t have much space for you so you were happy to leave. Except that you were useless when it came to working so the shelter was really your only option. After a lot of waiting you were happy that you might finally be getting a family that really wanted you and cared about, despite how painfully shy and skittish you could be.

Now you just had to worry about how to handle your next heat.

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ And the universe said ⌗♡୨୧♤✹ -> @thepixelelf

Synopsis: When soulmates are suddenly thrust upon the world, you are one in a million who wishes they weren't -- and that's before you meet the person (people?!) making your life much harder than it needs to be. And before someone asks you to sign an NDA.

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ Under the Sun ⌗♡୨୧♤ -> @wooahaes

Summary: It all starts when you wake up in a field without a name or any memories to define yourself with. Thirteen men take you in as one of their own, and slowly you begin to wonder what is going on within this world... and between you and one of them.

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ thief | ʇsᴉǝɥ ★⌗ -> @meltwonu

synopsis: Working under Jeonghan had it perks. On most days, he was kind and even a little lazy; opting to let you approach certain projects on your own while letting you keep half of the profit. But on the days you royally fuck up are the days that remind you that he’s the one in charge, despite him giving you some semblance of authority.

Seperate member x reader (OT13)

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ Tales from the pack ♡୨୧★⌗ -> @gamerwoo

Summary: The adventures of werewolf!Seventeen as they try to cope with finding their mates, and try their best to stay hidden from the eyes of the humans who want them dead.

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ Imprinted ♡୨୧★⌗ -> @gamerwoo

Summary: How the thirteen boys met their mates in a modern day world where werewolves must try to blend in with society but keep their secret hidden.

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ Tales from Camp ♡୨୧★⌗ -> @kwanisms

Synopsis: Thirteen friends reconnect on a camping trip, reminiscing about their times as camp counselors when they were in college.

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ Don't listen in secret ♡୨୧★⌗ -> @j6shua

imagine being best friends with idol group seventeen! very fun! and you get to sleep with them as a friendly favor! yay... hold on,

in order words, adventures as all of seventeen’s fuck buddy organized into a series masterlist

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ SVT hospital ♡ꗃ୨୧ -> @taeyegu

summary ━ four different departments, four different love stories, all in one hospital; hospitalplaylist!au

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ In pursuit of wedded bliss ♡୨୧⌗ -> @fantasyescapes17 (A Seventeen Regency!AU Series)

It is the season- and London is full of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes, waiting to be swept up in a whirlwind of romance, passion and matrimony as they each fight their own battles for happiness in London's elite society.

Single member x reader (ft OT13)

❙❘❙❙❘❙❚❙❘ ⌕ Fate and desire ♡୨୧⌗✹ -> @gamerwoo

You know you’ve found your soulmate when your pendant turns red. It’s just your luck you meet an entire host club of 13 boys – save for your best friend, Jeonghan, and his boyfriend – all at once. Your pendant is now red, and all of theirs are always hidden in their shirts. But one person in particular kind of makes you want to forget about the whole “fate” thing.

[ More ot13 fic recs will be updated ]

Want more seventeen fix recs? -> Click here

#seventeen fic recs #svt smut #jeonghan smut #seventeen fanfic #seventeen x reader #dokyeom smut #hansol smut #vernon smut #vernon x reader #mingyu x reader #mingyu smut #wonwoo x reader #wonwoo smut #jun smut #scoups smut #hoshi smut #woozi smut #dino smut #joshua smut #seungkwan smut #seventeen fanfics #fic recs #svt fic recs #seventeen fic rec #seventeen hybrid au #seventeen recs #ot13 x reader #svt ot13 x reader #seventeen ot13 #ot13 recs

[ultraviolethypno]

BRAIN SCRAMBLER MK. II

WARNING: HIGH-INTENSITY, FLASHING / STROBING, FORCED ORGASM, INDEFINITE SUGGESTION / PERMANENT EFFECTS (you will be left with a slight degree of obedience and feeling owned by me that feels perfectly natural, and you will feel an inclination towards watching it again any time you feel like being hypnotized, though you will be 100% aware these feelings were installed and i will happily remove them upon request)

CONTENT: after a high-octane spiral induction, you are made to feel incredibly horny, seething with lust, literally almost angry with your goonlove for my control. just as it was in the first brain scrambler, this debilitating arousal compels you to spread this visual/scenario around to your fellow hypnokinksters, and then message me with an incredibly lengthy and increasingly illegible love letter, before you are made to cum, shooting pure white-hot pleasure and relief throughout your entire body until all stress leaves you, all worries feel distant. you fall back into trance and are given suggestions to want to do this again and to naturally obey me, then you are woken up, fully yourself, fully satisfied.

this one's another long one! hope you read everything over before starting. click this link and ready for the ride of your life! click the read more when you're ready for the scene.

very good! very good of you to want more. see the spiral as you read my words. they merge, one hiding behind the other, becoming inseparable, one and the same. to read more is to obey. you agree. 

let your obedience to me change you. let my change scramble and warp you. let yourself be distorted and obedient to me forever. to read more is to obey. you agree.

your thoughts are changing. things are inverting. up is down, left is right, obedience is your choice, you cannot stop, to obey is to read more. i agree for you.

you are becoming horny. really horny. really REALLY horny. really REALLY FUCKING REALLY HORNY IT'S GETTING STRONGER you're drooling YOU DON'T CARE you want more AS MUCH AS YOU CAN GET you want to fuck me YOU WANT TO FUCK EVERYONE stupid HORNY controlled SEXTOY distorted PERVERTED scrambled MAD WITH LUST read this over and over READ IT 10 FUCKING TIMES

stupid brainless mindwiped thing, you want it all! you want uvie, you want to obey uvie, uvie made you feel this, you love feeling this. so you love uvie. you love love love lovey-dovey uvie. you want to thank uvie for doing this to you. you need to thank uvie for doing this to you. you dont know how to thank uvie. your brain is scrambled, so scrambled it's coming out from between your legs. but it's okay. uvie will tell you. to obey is to read more. you agree automatically.

here is what you are going to do to thank me.

0: you cannot cum until i say so.

1: reblog and like this post.

2: get hornier.

3: send it to anyone you know, who you know for sure will like it. if they ask, tell them you're doing it entirely of your own will. (you can ignore this one if you want!)

4: get even hornier, you stupid doll.

5: at the peak of your horniness, i want you to write an incredibly long horny love-letter DM to me. when you send the DM, you will cum incredibly hard, proportionate to how much you wrote. again, you cannot cum until you send the message, and it needs to be a long one.

6: CUM NOW IT FEELS SO GOOD IT'S THE HARDEST YOU'VE CUM ALL YEAR BREAK THE EDGE GOD YES IT FEELS SO FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOD

7: fall back into trance. continue reading.

there we go... down, down, down. down into a nice deep calm trance. eyes still locked on, obedience still your only thought, but calm. you did very good, my doll. you were very good for me. i'm very proud of you. it felt good, right? i'm very glad.

when i say the word Awaken, you will wake up and you'll be back to normal. fully in control, fully yourself, and likely fully soaked. but this was so much fun, you feel like you'll want to do it again. and you're still a little grateful to me for making you feel so good, you'll feel a small inclination to naturally obey me. these are very small parts of you, now. you know i put them in there, but they feel very good. if you don't want these inside your mind, simply say the words "stop" aloud and they will disappear.

ready to wake back up? good. have a great day.

Awaken.

#brainwashing #hypnosis #hypnokink #hypnotized #mind control #uv's visuals #flash warning #strobe #hypnoslut

[thewulf]

That's a Kill Part 2 || Jake "Hangman" Seresin

Summary: Y/N Kazansky. The Admiral's daughter. You always had to prove yourself to the boys. The good old boys. You never thought much of any of them, knowing you were better than them. That was until you were called back to Top Gun. You meet Lieutenant Jake "Hangman" Seresin falling for him quickly. You get selected for the infamous mission, leaving Jake terribly worried.

A/N: Longest one yet! I really enjoyed writing this one, thanks to Anon who requested! This has way less Hangman, I’m so sorry. More of an Admiral’s daughter part. Because of this I plan on doing a Part 3 to wrap it all up. This dives into the mission itself, don’t get me wrong it has cute Jake parts, just less of them. Also, apologies to Rooster… you stole his thunder. I really dislike simply rewriting parts of an already told story, but it just made sense for the plot of Part 3. That being said, the mission portion of this fic are just rewrites of what’s already in TGM changing which characters go through what. So, I didn’t do a lot of describing scenes during the actual mission. I really wanted this to focus more on the characters not the mission. There will be a Part 3 that’ll wrap everything up, meeting Ice and lots of fluff planned

Pairing: Jake “Hangman” Seresin x Y/N, Iceman x Daughter!Reader, Maverick X PlantonicFemale!Reader

Word Count: 9,200+

Part 3

The Dagger Squad officially wrapped up training that Monday afternoon with an all-out battle between you and Mav. You were sure you were going to get the shot on him this time. You had him locked but he did some Maverick piloting shit not even you have seen from him. You lost your lock on him, you were distracted as he locked onto you, “That’s a kill, Kazansky.”

“Fuck.” You tore your mask off slowing your jet down. Wanting to slam your fists down onto the control panel but deciding against it knowing that it could send your jet out of control.

You landed before Mav. He was showboating off in the air. Typical Mav shit. You threw your helmet off leaving it behind in the cockpit. Frustrated beyond belief. You had your eyes locked on Hondo, rather pissed off at yourself for letting Maverick get the better of you again.

You blew past Bradley, nearly knocking him off balance on your quest to get the damn pushups over. So many pushups.

“Lava you alright there?” You heard Bradley ask from behind you. You were so in your own head about the kill shot you almost didn’t hear him.

You spun around on your boots seeing Rooster looking at you with a cockeye, “Yeah, I’m good.” You stuck your thumbs up like a toddler who had just been caught doing something.

“You just ran me over.” He deadpanned, not satisfied with your answer.

You sighed, “Just a little pissed off Rooster. I was this close to finally getting Mav.” You pinched your fingers together, “Locked on and all. But he literally just stopped midair, did a flip or something and locked on to me.” You balled your fists up.

Rooster laughed seeing your unmitigated frustration walking closer to you, “Well damn, I missed quite the show.”

You could feel your hands beginning to tremble. Meaning that the adrenaline that was coursing through your veins was beginning to wear off. You cursed yourself and now Rooster because these pushups were going to be 20 times harder with dead arms, “Really quite the show.” You grumbled beginning your walk over to Hondo again.

This time he stopped you, grabbing your arm, “Yes, Rooster?” You stopped turning back to him.

“What’s the matter Kazansky?”

“Why does something have to be the matter? Why can’t I just have an off day?” You fired back at him, surprising even yourself. Way too aggressive for you. Your bad mood was stemming from this mission. You were terribly nervous, too nervous for your own good. Maverick had successfully broken into your mind, freaking you the hell out. Him shooting you down for the final time this afternoon really sent your thoughts into a whirlwind. Life or death. You really didn’t want to die. You finally felt like you were really starting to get good at all of this, finally finding your groove.

“Woah, Y/N. Relax.” He stood there with his hands crossed against his chest observing you. He noticed your shaking hands and your standoffish demeanor. However, Rooster telling you to relax was doing the exact opposite of what he intended. Indeed not very relaxed. You were stressed, more stressed than you’ve ever been tenfold. You thought you knew how to cope but your mind was starting to falter. At the worst possible moment too.

Mav popped around Bradley curiously looking at the duo, “Something wrong?” His lips parted slightly waiting for one of you to speak. The situation didn’t look great from Pete’s standpoint. He landed his jet with the intention of giving you a little shit about having to do the pushups. He stated walking over seeing you not doing pushups but looking rather agitated standing in front of Rooster. Rooster looked concerned as he eyed you up and down.

“Nothing’s wrong.” You snapped at him this time. Mav took the teeniest step backwards surprised by your response. He had quite literally known you his entire life, never once seeing you snap the way you just did. He turned to Rooster sending him off with his eyes.

He placed an arm around your shoulder pulling him into you, “What’s up kid?” He asked after Rooster was out of ear shot. You let the breath of air out that you were unknowingly holding in.

“You shot me down again.” You mumbled looking to the ground. Mav decided to wave Hondo off this time letting you skip your pushups for whatever conversation was about to go down.

“Just like the other thousand times, Kazansky. What’s the big deal?” He chuckled releasing you from the shoulder hold he had you in. You felt so vulnerable under Pete’s gaze as he turned to study you. He was somebody you had grown up around, who taught you everything you knew, yet you felt incredibly nervous about it all. You felt small as he inspected you, so small.

“I had you though!” You threw your head back reliving your failure, “I had a kill, and I still didn’t get it.”

Maverick frowned, guiding you out of the hangar. You weren’t sure where the two of you were off to, but you let him lead you, “Kazansky.” He sighed as he took a seat on the outside of the hangar facing the water. He patted the dirt he was sitting next to signaling for you to join, which you did, “Talk to me kid.”

You leaned your head against the cold metal steel of the building. The cold feeling euphoric against your sweating head, “You don’t get a second chance out there Mav.”

He nodded, “I’m aware.”

You wanted to squeeze him, he wasn’t getting the turmoil you had put yourself into, “If I can’t beat you, what makes you think I’m good enough for this Pete.” You buried your head into your heads feeling your frustration building up.

“What we aren’t going to do is that.” He grabbed your wrist gently attempting to get you to look back up at him, “Remember, I need you all here Kazansky. Every bit of you.”

“I’m trying.” You looked to him, “But all I hear in my head is you repeating, ‘this is life or death’”.

“It is.” He spoke harshly. Your brain wanted to start spiraling again but he continued, “And let me tell you something Y/N. You are the only one who has completed the course successfully. You are the only one here who has done that so far. You. Just you. You are the only pilot here who has even gotten close to shooting me down. You. Just you. And you are the only God damn pilot that made me think you’d get me. You Y/N. Just you.” He pointed his finger to you, speaking right from his heart. You were sure you were going to burst out into tears hearing this from him, “Do you hear me Kazansky?” He asked.

You nodded your head up and down, “Yes sir.” You spoke with more confidence than you had all afternoon. You were honored that he said such kind things to you. But you knew he wasn’t lying or joking around in any way. He really did think those things of you.

“Y/N.” He turned his whole body to face you, “I’m going back to make my final decision with Cyclone and Warlock.” He paused waiting for you to look him in the eyes, “Can you do this Y/N?”

You had to. You were the best. You couldn’t let his words send you into such a panic. You wanted to do this. You needed to do this, “Yes Pete. I can do this.”

He nodded after abruptly standing offering his hands to pull you up. Once you were both standing he place both his hands on your shoulders, “I know you can do this Y/N. I need you to know you can.”

His confidence in you was all consuming. It lit that fire beneath your ass that was burning so brightly when you showed up. Your flame kept getting smaller and smaller after every time you’ve been struck down. Leave it to Maverick to find it again for you, “I can do this Pete.” You spoke with such confidence it drew Mav into his signature grin.

“Good. Now go get changed. I’m not saying you’re in but…” He winked at you before heading off to the war room.

You slowly made your way back to the locker room, taking your time to change. What you didn’t expect to see when you left the locker room was the blonde haired pilot that made your heart do questionable things. You about lost your mind when he smiled at you, waiting for you.

The two of you decided you wanted to take things slow, ultra-slow. Too slow in your opinion. It was more of Jake’s idea with you going along with it, not wanting to screw whatever this was up before it started. He took you to a nice dinner on Saturday. You got to put on a nice dress and wear your hair down for him, a very rare occurrence. He showered you in sweet compliments and little touches throughout the night. He stopped at your doorstep giving you a gentle kiss on your forehead. When you whined and asked him to actually kiss you he just said, “I will darling, I promise I will.” Pulling you into a hug instead. You attempted to pout your way into a kiss just making him laugh instead.

That Dagger Squad met at the Hard Deck that Sunday for one last get together negating any plans you and Jake were going to make. The two of you had to play it cool, painfully cool. You actively had to remember not to look at him smiling. Phoenix caught you looking over at him a few times shaking her head at you. The two of you made sure you were the last to leave. Getting to chat for a few before you needed to part. He again kissed you on the forehead. You decided not to fight him this time knowing Jake would do what Jake wanted to.

You were sure the tension between you and Jake on top of all the pressure from the mission was what caused you to almost break earlier. You couldn’t understand why Jake wouldn’t kiss you especially after hearing all the stories about his previous escapades. You knew it wasn’t you. He wanted to be around you, to be close to you. He put his hands on you whenever he could. On the car ride to dinner, he placed his hand on your thigh. He grabbed for your hand when you walked in making sure to constantly touch you throughout dinner. Even when he refused to come inside he was still holding onto you.

You had only confessed your feelings two days prior, yet he was driving you crazy already. These feelings were all so new and fresh for you. You finally understood what those girls were going through in college, this man was making you feral.

“Where’ve you been?” He asked softly reaching for your hand. You looked around making sure nobody could see before taking it softly. You ran your thumb over his knuckles as you studied his hand. You didn’t notice the chills that went up his arm from your touch.

“Talking with Mav.” You turned your face looking up to his. His eyes gave him away. They looked like they didn’t quite believe what you were saying. Something about the way he was squinting at you gave him away this time. You knew you were going to have to understand his eyes if you wanted to understand Jake.

“All good?” He asked as he mimicked your actions, rubbing his thumb across your knuckles this time.

“Mhmm.” You wanted to lean into him, just melt into him. But you also didn’t want to let anybody know just yet, it was all too new.

He just watched you as you found his hand fascinating. He let you divulge as much or as little information as you wanted. He found you so effortlessly beautiful. With your hair slicked back and in full military uniform you just looked so profoundly stunning to him. He wanted to cup your face getting you to look to him, but he couldn’t, not in these hallways. He knew he really shouldn’t be holding your hand either. He just couldn’t resist when he saw you come out of the locker rooms. You looked like you were battling with something in your head before your eyes landed on his. Your reaction to seeing him nearly sent him spiraling. Your face lit up when you spotted him. He knew he was a goner.

Which is exactly why he was resisting you with every ounce of strength he could find. He wanted nothing more to take you home and have his way with you. He wanted you, every single piece of you. He wanted to study you. To explore you until he had nothing left to. He also knew that you were unlike any woman he had come across. You challenged him more in the three weeks he’s known you than any other person has in his life. You would never back down a challenge, not even when the guys are ganging up on you. You would flip them the bird and move on with your day. You were also the wittiest woman he’s come across. You made it seem like he knew what he was going to say before he even said it. Don’t even get Jake started on how sweet you were. Truly, you were just a kind person. Even with the quick wittedness you still came across as nothing but kind.

He also knew how much you wanted him. It killed him to say no to you. It was endearing just how bad you wanted a kiss from him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out that much longer.

“We should get to the classroom then.” He said softly.

Snapping out of your thoughts you looked up to him, “Yeah, guess it’s the moment of truth.” You bit your cheek not trying to think of the ramifications of the mission. You were sure Mav was going to pick Jake, absolutely sure of it. This sudden realization sent another wave of panic through you. You were really going to have to get this shit under control if you were going to be one of the few chosen.

He tugged your arm lightly before dropping your hand. You frowned but knew it was for the best, you never knew who was going to be walking around the corner. Once you reached the door you motioned for him to go on, “Go, I’ll wait a few before coming in.” You were being extra cautious. If there was anybody who was going to notice you two walking in together very late it’d be Phoenix. You weren’t ready from an ass-chewing from her just yet.

He nodded giving your arm a squeeze once more before heading in. You could see his demeanor change from his softer side with you to Lieutenant Jake Seresin, everybody’s pain in the ass. You waited a few more minutes before joining the rest of the Dagger Squad. You slid into the classroom as nonchalantly as you could. Phoenix met your eye questioning why you were back to much later than the rest of them. As you passed her you gave her the ‘I’ll tell you later’ look.

You slid down in a seat next to Harvard. The two of you had become quick friends after Yale’s accident. Yale was grounded a week ago due to a concussion and a broken leg after a bad ejection from the practice plane. The entire ordeal scared the living shit out of everybody in the Squadron. But he was fine, obviously upset he no longer had a shot. Yale also felt incredibly guilty after leaving Harvard high and dry. Mav started pairing Harvard with different solo fliers. Harvard seemed to click with you and Rooster the best. You enjoyed flying with Harvard, but it was a change. You were used to going solo. You enjoyed the challenge, the two of you fully taking it head on. You still secretly wanted to fly this mission alone.

“Miss Lava.” He tipped his head in your direction.

“Mr. Harvard.” You bowed back to him. Little things like that provided you comfort with your potential new air partner. Admittedly you tried avoided flying with a Wizzo as much as you could. You’d never say no to flying with one if it was needed but Mav’s past was always in your mind. Your dad told you just how bad it was for Maverick after he lost Goose in that freak training incident. So, you opted to fly solo.

“All good?” His brow lifted waiting for your response.

You smiled at him, getting tired of the question, “Oh yeah, you know how bad I am at pushups.”

He chuckled, “I see those guns, don’t lie Kazansky.”

“Shut up, Aardvark.” You rolled your eyes using the nickname you had unintentionally given him in the last week. Maverick was on your ass. You just couldn’t shake him. You had Harvard yelling in the comms getting you frazzled as you avoided getting target locked. There was so much going on you couldn’t think of his callsign for the life of you and Aardvark unfortunately came out instead of Harvard. You supposed Aardvark sounded like Harvard backwards.

He snorted, “You’re not going to drop it are you? My callsign gets a callsign now?”

You nodded leaning back into your seat hoping to catch a glimpse of Jake. He was sitting further up in the classroom next to Coyote. The pair seemed to be talking about something seriously. You brought your attention back to Harvard knowing you weren’t being very discreet, “Only for you Harvard.”

You noticed his eyes looking towards where your eyes had just left, yep you were being too obvious. He smirked eyeing you like he knew something, “Seresin hey?”

“What are you talking about Harvard?” Gaslight, gaslight, gaslight. You gave him a blank look, a slack expression.

He leaned forward giving you a small, delighted smile, “I’m not stupid Kazansky.”

“Did I say you were?” You questioned back to him, horrified how quickly he picked up on it.

“You like him.” His lips twitched into a smile as he narrowed in on you, observing your reaction.

You thanked your lucky stars that you put makeup on today, praying that it was enough to cover the tomato face you inevitably had, “Do not.”

“Yes you do.”

You turned so fast to him giving him a wild-eyed look, “Do not.” You repeated yourself. You weren’t sure how obvious you had been in front of the crew, but it looks like Harvard noticed. You thought you were doing a pretty good job of hiding it.

“Then why do you act all weird when you’re flying with him?” He cockily raised a single eyebrow.

Your lips parted ready to respond but nothing came out, your brain was failing you, “I have no idea what you’re talking about Aardvark.” You scrunched your nose turning away from him slightly.

“You’re unbelievable Kazansky.”

“You best believe that.” You threw him your most charming smile.

He shook his head laughing silently to himself. He was about to respond but the classroom doors opened with Mav, Cyclone and Warlock following closely behind, “Showtime.” Harvard clapped his hands.

The squadron was silent, everybody on edge to hear the assignments. Mav took a spot leaving only five pilots being selected. All eyes watched as the three men took the center of the room.

Mav looked at each pilot individually before continuing, “It has been an honor flying with you. Each one of you represents the best of the best. This is a very specific mission. My choice is a reflection of that and nothing more.”

He took a pause before Cyclone stepped in. Cyclone was cold. Even colder than your dad. You kept your eyes on Mav as Cyclone spoke, “Choose your two foxtrot teams.”

Mav smiled, “Phoenix and Bob.” He nodded to them before continuing, “Rooster and Harvard.” Your heart sunk knowing it was either you or Jake flying solo. Mav continued, “And your wingman. Lava.” You gave yourself a mini fist pump.

You turned to Harvard giving him the biggest hug, “We did it.” You clapped your hand on his back. You were so caught up in your emotions you almost forgot Jake, almost. Mav didn’t call Jakes name. You desperately wanted to go over to him. To pull him into a hug. To tell him he’s still the best pilot here. Jake would never admit to anybody but this one was going to hurt him. You saw just how hard he had trained through the last few weeks. You saw how he went from an incredible pilot to an exceptional one. You were genuinely surprised by Mav’s decision. There was one thing you learned early though, Mav always had his reasons.

Jake and Coyote sat at their desk as the rest of the Dagger Squad congratulated each other. After each hug and conversation, you had your eyes immediately went back over to Jake. You caught his eyes a few times seeing just how sad they looked. He softly smiled each time you made eye contact making you feel worse each time. You were sure Harvard was watching the two of you communicate silently just knowing he was going to give you shit for it later.

Jake walked out before the congratulations ended. You mentally forced the frown away from your face, this was supposed to be the best moment of your career. All you could think about was making Jake smile though. You wanted his full on Jake Seresin toothy grin that sent your heart racing. The one that could light up any room.

Despite everything you noticed his truck hadn’t left the lot even being the first one to leave. You walked over to it seeing Jake sitting there. He was deep in thought as you strolled up to him returning the soft smile from earlier. He unlocked the door motioning you to join him.

“Hey.” You said while jumping into his truck.

“Hi.” He didn’t turn to look at you. Your heart fell as you thought about what to do, what you could do.

Turning your full body to face him you spoke, “Jake, I’m so sorry…”

He cut you off, “Don’t be darling. Can you come here?” He opened his arms waiting for you to scoot across the bench style seating to him.

“You’re not worried about them seeing?”

He shook his head, just wanting to hold you. He wasn’t mad. He wasn’t really that sad. He was disappointed that Mav didn’t see him as good enough to fly. Jake knew you were going to be picked. He was almost certain he would’ve been too had Rooster not flown the way he had been recently. He was a backup, sure, but it just wasn’t the same as flying. He wanted to fly with you.

You happily obliged scooting yourself into his arms. You leaned your head onto his shoulder breathing him in. Quickly becoming obsessed with his cologne. The second he wrapped his arms around you pulling you in, you knew you were home. The instant relief and comfort such a simple gesture gave you was astonishing. As cheesy as it sounded, all your worries melted away as soon as he was near. You craved his physical touch.

“I don’t care right now.” He sighed resting his head on top of yours, “Just want you.” Your body felt nearly weightless at his words.

“I want you to.” You wrapped your arms around his torso squeezing him lightly.

He placed a kiss on the crown of your head whispering, “You’re so pretty.”

The chill that coursed through your body was nearly lethal. You were so weak when you heard his sweet words, “You can’t say that if you’re not going to kiss me.”

His laugh reverberated throughout your chest sending a small smile to your face. You closed your eyes fully taking him in.

You frowned when he pulled back from you, “It’s cute when you pout like that.” He took his free hand gently placing it under your chin. He ran his thumb along your jawline. He was fully taking you in now. You were looking at him with those big dopey eyes begging him to kiss you. It’s all you wanted, you wanted it more than getting selected for deployment.

You blinked slowly letting him hold your chin, “I wish you were going to be up there with me.” You sighed looking away from him. He wouldn’t let your head move out of his grasp, so you settled on moving your eyes away from him.

“Me too. More than anything, sweetheart.” He let your head go pulling your entire body into his, having your head rest on his chest. You were so profoundly comfortable with this man you didn’t think twice. You listened to the steady beat of his heart as he brushed through your hair. He was so soft. So gentle with you.

 “But you’re going to do amazing up there. You’re going to be the best damn pilot up here. You’re going to hit that Uranium facility. And then you’re going to come back home. You were picked Y/N. You.” He kept brushing through your hair feeling you tense around him. His words driving the fear of not coming home back to him, Mav, and your dad. He continued trying to ease your stress, “You were picked. Mav picked you because he knows you can do it. You, Y/N Kazansky. One of the best pilots I’ve ever seen.” You shivered relaxing into him feeling terribly vulnerable at his words. He was comforting you right now when you were meant to be comforting him.

“Jake,” You brought your head off his chest, “Thank you.”

“Anytime beautiful.” He dopily smiled at you, “Let’s get you back home. Need to rest up before tomorrow.” He squeezed your thigh removing himself from you completely. You didn’t like that part, untangling yourself from Hangman.

“If we must.” You grumbled unhappily.

You didn’t realize that just being around him improved his mood. Your gentleness made his heart soar. Nobody had been so gentle with him before. He was Hangman, the cocky aviator who could get whomever he wanted. Why would he need somebody to be gentle with him? He was fine, he was getting through it just fine. Yes, you challenged him, but you never pushed him too far. When he needed the comfort there you were right there for him.

He was growing to adore the way you pouted when you didn’t get your way. Your eyebrows would stitch themselves together, nose crinkled up and lips parted. Jake just knew it was the way you got through to your dad, Admiral Kazansky. He was also sure it wouldn’t be much longer before he started caving to that face as well.

You and Jake talked for a few more moments before you left and got into your car. Your mind was swimming in thoughts as you drove back home. You knew you needed to get your head in the game before you all deployed the next morning. When you got home you changed before laying down on the couch. You were a big ball of anxiety not sure how to get yourself to stop thinking.

You pulled your phone out dialing the only person you knew could help, “Y/N.” You heard the smile in his voice.

“Dad.” You let out the big breath you were holding in.

“I heard. Congratulations.”

“Mav?” You questioned.

“Yes. Gave me a call not too long ago. I’ve been waiting on yours.”

You smiled, that was so like him, “Yeah sorry, talked with some of the other pilots for a little bit.”

“Getting along okay?” He pressed. What did Mav tell him? Mav was far too unobservant to be catching you ogling Jake.

“Mhmm.” You hummed placing him on speaker, “Getting along great.”

“So, I’ve heard.” He chuckled.

“What’d he tell you?” Groaning you got up to grab a drink from the fridge.

“Oh, nothing Lieutenant.”

“Dad!” You laughed, “Tell me.”

“Why are you getting so worked up about it kid?.” You heart dropped into your butt. He had to know. He had to know something. He was right though. You didn’t get worked up about stuff like this ever. He knew something was off. Your dad knew you better than you knew yourself.

“I’m not.” You replied, lying.

“Well, that’s good. I’m glad you’re getting along with everybody.”

“You know that’s not why I called you dad.” You ran your fingers through your hair.

He paused knowing the lighthearted conversation was shifting into something far more serious, “How are you feeling Y/N?” He asked, genuinely checking in on his daughter. Not many things scared Admiral Kazansky. Not even the throat cancer he beat. But his daughter doing this mission? That scared the living shit out of him. His little girl, his pride and joy was about to deploy for one of the most serious missions he’s ever seen. He knew the risk of you not returning were far greater than anything else you’ve previously done. He was so scared, but he couldn’t let you know this. He had to be your rock right now, somebody to help and guide you.

“I’m a little anxious, dad.” You admitted. You unknowingly began nibbling on your lip as a release.

“That’s okay. I’d be shocked if you weren’t. You need to find a routine.” He spoke softly trying not to raise the anxiety that was already bubbling in you.

“Routine?”

“Before big flights. You need to find the routine that helps you relax. Like a hot bath and a book, you like those right?” He asked.

You couldn’t help the stupid grin that spread across your face. He knew you so well, “Yeah dad, that sounds like my perfect night.”

“When we hang up I need you to do that Y/N. I need you to take your mind off it. You can’t think up there Y/N.”

You nodded, “Don’t think. Just do.” You recited Mav’s favorite lines to your dad. You had grown up flying with your dad and Mav. You always heard Mav yelling, “Don’t think. Just do.” Repeatedly through the comms. When it was your turn to actually start flying the planes Mav made sure to give you a lesson in ‘Don’t think. Just do.’ Mav scared the living shit out of you when you took your first jet up in the air.

You’d been flying with your dad for literally as long as you could remember. You learned how to fly a plane when you were ten. Of course, your dad was sitting right there with you, but he gave you full control and let you at it. He always said that it was a little secret between the two of you fully knowing your mom would throw a fit if she knew. These were civilian air crafts, naturally. Your dad had some pull unfortunately not taking a jet out for a ten year old pull though. You were a natural picking up on everything rather quickly.

You weren’t allowed to fly solo until you turned sixteen, thanks FAA. The day you did though you were up in the air on your own, your dad cheering you on the entire way. He made sure he was in the tower giving you instructions as you went about. You’ll never forget the look on his face when you landed. You’d never seen him so happy as he scooped you in his arms spinning you around telling you how proud he was of you.

The day you turned 17 you got your private pilot license. You, of course, passed with flying colors. Your dad threw a big party inviting anybody and everybody. He loved showing off your talents. Classic Iceman. You had yet to graduate high school but was further ahead than anybody in your class. You had your dad to thank for that. A Naval Academy graduation, Naval flight school, Top Gun, and a few deployments later you knew you were ready. You were more ready than anybody before you. You’ve wanted this your whole life. Don’t think, just do.

“Don’t think. Just do.” He repeated back to you.

You took a deep breath feeling better. He always made you feel calmer, “Thank you, dad. You always know what to say.”

“Give ‘em hell Y/N. Give them hell kid.”

“Yes sir.” Your eyes crinkled from the smile forming across your face. That was always his favorite line. Give ‘em hell. You would do exactly that for your dad, give them hell.

Don’t think. Just do. Go time.

Your F-18 was idling waiting on the go from command. Second in line. Eighteen hours ago you were in Miramar training. Now you were halfway across the world. You took a deep breath knowing you’d get the all clear soon.

You tapped the picture of your family, for good luck, “Let’s have a good flight.” You stuck your thumb up signaling your readiness.

“Dagger One, up and ready on catapult one.” Mav spoke through the comms. You let your breath out, letting it go one last time.

“Dagger Spare, standing by.” Jake spoke. Here it comes.

“Dagger Four, up and ready.” Phoenix came through.

“Dagger Three, up and ready.” Rooster this time. Showtime.

Your turn, “Dagger Two, up and ready.” Time slowed down like it always did when you were launching. Your best days included launching yourself from an aircraft carrier.

You heard the faint, “Send them.” And you were off just milliseconds after Mav was gone. Time to go.

“All systems online.” You confirmed to yourself. You flew to the left of Mav solely focusing on what the next ten minutes would be. Get in. Get out. Dog Fight. Breathe.

“Dagger Attack.” Mav spoke. You maneuvered your jet behind the Dagger One squad coming up on the valley quickly. Locked in you followed Rooster, close. You probably were a little too close, you weren’t going fast enough. Rooster wasn’t flying fast enough. Thirty seconds in you heard panic over the comms, Rooster was not flying fast enough. Maverick was far ahead trying not to leave his wingman, but Rooster was making it hard. You gulped knowing what was on the other side of the climb, knowing how bad it could be for the Dagger Squad if he didn’t pick up the pace.

Another thirty seconds pass with everybody yelling at him to pick up the pace. You shook it off focusing on flying behind Rooster, as close as you could. You were getting nervous now, having over ten seconds to make up.

“Impact. Enemy runway is destroyed!” Command let the Dagger Squad know. Really no turning back now. Focus. In. Out. Dogfight.

Another thirty seconds go by. Rooster finally kicked it into high gear. You thanked your lucky stars knowing Mav needed to be locked in to drop those bombs.

You were able to speed yourself up hightailing it behind Rooster and Harvard. Phoenix and Bob not far behind you.

“15 seconds.” You spoke getting Dagger Four ready. Mav and Rooster just made their climb and dive into the mountain. Things really felt like they were going in slow motion as you were approaching the Uranium enrichment plant.

“We’ve got impact! That’s a direct hit!” You heard Harvard cheer from the Dagger One squad. Breathe. Your turn.

“Go time.” You punched it seeing the first climb ahead of you.

“Dagger Two, status.” You heard Mav breathing hard. No fucking way he was talking to you while climbing that mounting.

“Almost there Mav. Almost there.” Your eyes were locked on, ready for it.

You pulled up breathing erratically forcing the plane into positions it did not want to be in. Just a few more seconds and you could breathe. You flipped the plane descending into the mounting spotting the blown up entryway.

“Bob, where’s my laser?”

“Working on it Lava.” You heard Phoenix and Bob both breathing heavily.

“Hurry up Bob.” You spoke to yourself starting to panic at the time crunch.

“Laser eye locked on.” Bob spoke calmly.

“Bombs away.” You hit the button praying for a hit. The second the bombs were dropped you pulled up, hard. You hardly heard the “Bulls-eye!” celebration as you were climbing the mountain. The G’s you, Phoenix and Bob were taking should’ve knocked you out cold. You vision started getting hazy fully knowing you were hitting 10 G’s. You squeezed every muscle in your body trying to get the blood pumping back into your brain. Focus. Get out. Dogfight.

The gasp you took once you finally crested the mountain was not for the light of heart. You had half a second to your thoughts before the SAM’s started firing.

“Fuck.” You muttered fully comprehending what was going down. You got in. You got out. Dogfight time. You punched it letting Phoenix and Bob know, you couldn’t lose them. They were your wingmen. Don’t think. Just do.

You were firing flares and bullets galore. You knew you needed to conserve them but there was just too many SAM’s coming in every direction. Phoenix was yelling. Mav was yelling. You were yelling right with them trying to get everybody out of it alive.

You felt a sense of peace wash over you as your flares were depleting far too fast. You used too many diverting a missile away from Phoenix. You used the last few blowing a missile up from behind.

“I’m out of flares.” You spoke, eerily calm into the radio. You rolled away right from the middle of the action trying to think of what to do, anything to do. What would Iceman do? They wouldn’t think. They would just do.

You grunted maneuvering every which way and direction. Fuck, there was so much going on.

“Smoke in the air!” You heard Phoenix yelling.

“Shit, I’m out Phoenix.” You panicked. No flares. Only bullets, that’d do you no good. Time to race and hope for the best.

“Evade! Evade!” Mav screamed into his comms. Horrified at what he saw happening before him he sprang into action.

“I can’t shake them!” You went right and left, up and down trying to get the missiles off your ass.

Mav flew above you releasing his flares. Eyes wide you let out a guttural scream when you saw Mav’s plane take a direct hit, “Mav! No!” You cried.

“Dagger one is hit! I repeat Dagger one it his! Maverick is down.” Phoenix yelled to command letting them know what was happening out in the field.

“Dagger one, come in!” You cried into the comms, desperate, “Did anyone see a parachute? Dagger one!” No response. The three planes began their flight back to the carrier. You couldn’t focus. Mav was down there.

“Lava! Those bandits are closing we can’t go back.” Phoenix tried to reason with you. You were breathing hard. You couldn’t believe your ears. They would just abandon him? Your Uncle Mav?

“Lava, he’s gone. Maverick’s gone.” Bob spoke up this time.

You shook your head, they didn’t understand. Fuck it. You dipped out of formation disobeying orders. Phoenix, Bob, Rooster and Harvard screaming at you. Ignore. Go find Mav. You flew as fast as you could. More screaming into the headset. There, a helicopter down below. It was firing at something. Mav?

You locked target, giddy with excitement. You released one of your only offensive missiles left. You watched as the helicopter exploded, unsure if Mav was down there. What you really hadn’t thought about was being defenseless and within SAM range again. You were hit almost immediately after you hit that helicopter. Lucky for you, you ejected.

You were wrapping your parachute up when Maverick came sprinting into your view. He was alive, cool, maybe you would be able to figure this one out after all. You went to greet him, but you received a rather hard push into the snow instead.

“What the hell Mav!” You yelled.

“You alright?”

“I’m fine.” You groaned standing back up, “That hurt though.”

“What are you doing here? You think I took that missile so you could be down here?” He yelled.

“Jesus Christ Mav! Did I not sure save your life?”

“I saved yours!” He huffed in frustration, “Ice is going to skin me alive, Y/N Kazansky. What the hell were you even thinking?”

“You taught me not to think!” You yelled back to him.

He clenched his fists in frustration, beaten on that one, “Well, it’s good to see you.”

You grinned laughing a little, “Good to see you too, Mav. Got a plan?” You smiled sweetly to your daredevil uncle. He always had some sort of plan. You found your way to the blown up air strip curious as to what he was thinking. You both jogged to an unmanned hanger. An F-14 sitting there, just waiting on Mav. He instructed you on what to do. Somehow finding a strip or concrete that could take the jet.

To your absolute astonishment the damn thing made it up in the air. Not after you making fun of it, calling it a museum piece. Mav instantly defended the worn down jet. You thought it’d be smooth flying back to the jet. But to your absolute horror two jets flew up next to you speaking a foreign language. Busted. You worked in the backseat to try and get something going, flipping every breaking you could. There was a reason you were a pilot and not a Wizzo, this stuff did not come easily to you.

“Come on Mav. Don’t think, just do.”

“Hang tight kid.” Mav began his crazy array of piloting shit, you getting to witness it front and center. Immediately taking one of the jets out.

“Smoke in the air!” You cried trying to help him out as much as you could.

“Flares. Now, now, now!” You let them rip from behind you defending yourself.

Mav dived getting low. Claiming that the terrain would confuse his targeting system. You gasped when the bullets came flying. Life or death.

“We took a hit!” You yelled.

“Brace yourself.” He almost stopped the jet hopping over the one that was chasing the duo. Mav unleased a flurry of attacks on the jet.

“You got them Mav!” Mav nailed the jet sending it down.

“Yes! Mav!” You shrieked happier than ever. Mav was certifiably the most insane pilot you’ve ever been around. You couldn’t believe what he was doing in the jet.

You thought you were all clear until you somehow managed to get the radar on. “Oh fuck.” You gasped seeing something not friendly pop up on the scan.

“Mav we got another one! Where is it?”

“On our nose.���

You were sent into a panic seeing a missile coming straight at you. Mav dodged the missile and the plane.

“We’re out of flares Mav.” You yelled not believing it was happening for a second time.

The bullets from the fifth gen started firing right at the inferior Tomcat, ripping into the back of it, “This is not good.” You cried looking behind you. Mav moved the aircraft back and forth somehow dodging most of the bullets.

“We took another hit!”

“No, no, no, no, no.” You heard Maverick begin to panic. Shit. You knew it was serious when he was sent into a frenzy.

“We can’t outrun this guy. Pull the ejection handles the second I tell you.” Mav spoke quickly realizing how dire the situation was.

“Mav wait!”

“Lava there’s no other way.” He pulled the aircraft up not giving you a second to argue with him.

“Eject, eject, eject. Lava, pull the handle! Eject!” Mav cried.

You tried. You really tried with all your might but the handles above you wouldn’t budge. You tried once more with no luck. A cold shiver ran through your body as you realized it really might be over for you.

“It’s not working! Mav!”

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry Ice.” He whispered. Your blood ran cold hearing the target lock. You tried with all your might to get the ejection handles to work.

As your luck would have it you heard an explosion from behind you. The jet had exploded out of thin air. That was until Jake came on through. You let out a cry realizing you’d make it home. It was hard to accept you’re the fate of death knowing what could happen at any time. It had never felt so serious before that moment. You would still love flying. You just had a newfound respect for it after this one.

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is your savior speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts, return your tray tables to their locked and upright positions, and prepare for landing.” You and Maverick both let out a laugh. You crying a little. Giving him a thumbs up.

“Hey, Hangman, you look good.” Mav spoke after catching his breath.

“I am good, Mav. I’m very good.” You could see the smugness from as far as you were. He’d never let you live this one down.

You and Mav had a not so spectacular landing without a tailhook or landing gear. You sat there for a moment collecting your breath not really believing you’d made it back with hardly a scratch.

“You good?” Mav asked.

You laughed, feeling more euphoric than anything, “Yeah Mav, I’m good.”

The Tomcat was surrounded by crew and pilots alike celebrating your arrival back safe and sound. Mav was swept up by Hondo and Rooster. Phoenix cried bear hugging you.

“You stupid fucking idiot Kazansky.” She released you letting Jake have at you.

“I had to Phoenix.” She shook her head.

“Your boyfriend wants a word.”

You spun around seeing Jake looking very un-Jake like face looking back to you. He was happy to see you. You could tell that much. He just looked terrified?

“Are you fucking insane? Do you have a death wish?” Jake asked as he pulled you aside from the celebration grabbing your shoulders, shaking you back to reality, “Y/N!” He pushed you up against the inside aircraft carrier’s walls lightly.

“I’m sorry Jake!” You tried prying his hands off you, but he wouldn’t relent. He wasn’t hurting you by any means. He needed to touch you. To know that you were real. Jake couldn’t comprehend the last 45 minutes. First Maverick getting shot down he fully expected to scramble. Then, the worst news he could have heard, Dagger Two had been hit. He felt his blood drain right out of his body, finding it hard to breath.

“You’re sorry? You were dead Kazansky. Dead to the military. They wouldn’t let me go.” He let out a frustrated groan. Not sure how to express himself to you.

“I had to. That’s Pete. I had to Jake.” You couldn’t look up to him. It was finally hitting you just how dumb you had been. Your dad wasn’t going to be too thrilled about this one.

“Please look at me.” He spoke more calmly, chest heaving in and out. Obliging you looked up to him fully seeing the distress on his face, “I thought you were dead Y/N. For forty minutes I thought you were gone.” A single tear rolled down his face. Shit. Fuck.

You reached up wiping it away with the pad of your thumb, “But you saved us.” You spoke so quietly.

“I shouldn’t have had to.” He leaned his forehead against yours pushing you back up against the wall completely, “What were you thinking.”

“I wasn’t.” You admitted for the second time that day.

He cupped your face with his hands, “Can I kiss you?”

Eyes wide you responded, “Here? They’re all going to see.” You looked out onto the deck seeing everybody still celebrating. You were pulled away quickly from the chaos by Jake not fully getting to celebrate just yet. Celebration first then comes the inevitable punishment. You did disobey direct orders.

He shook his head looking at you like you were the most important thing to him, “I don’t care anymore. I thought you were gone. I thought I was never going to be able to kiss you Kazansky.” He looked at you with those lovesick eyes.

“Finally.” You grinned pulling him into you. He kissed you softly not wanting to mess this up. You, however, wanted more. You flipped him around, so he was leaning on the wall backed up against it. You pulled him in closer kissing him with more fervor. You pressed your body into his making sure he felt the friction you desired. Parting your mouth, you allowed him entrance.

He felt every ounce of your eagerness. Happily kissing you more aggressively than he anticipated. The two of you were no longer just kissing one another, you were full on sucking face. He stifled a grunt as you kept pressing yourself into him.

He broke the make out up knowing he would never hear the end of it if he had a hard on when he rejoined the celebration, “Jesus Christ Lieutenant, you can’t do that here.”

You giggled staring right at his mouth, you wanted more. So much more. He looked so damn hot standing there a little dazed with a semi-swollen mouth, “Sorry Hangman.”

He licked his lips knowing exactly what he wanted to do to you later, “Doesn’t seem all that sincere of an apology.”

You winked at him, no apology whatsoever, “It’s not. Now let’s go.” You took his hand dragging him back out onto the deck joining right back in where you left off.

“Well, aren’t you just a vision.” Jake whistled when you opened your front door. He handed you a small bouquet of flowers, “For you my dear.”

“Lilies!” You grinned grabbing the flowers from him gingerly, “These are my favorite.” You smiled up to him.

“They’re the ones from that pretty dress you wear sometimes.” He blushed lightly, not sure why he admitted that to you. Jake wanted to tell you everything. He learned this quickly in your relationship. The first few weeks he struggled not to pick his phone up to call you about something inconvenient that happened. You had to keep your phone on silent, getting in trouble for having it on as you were back in class.

You were originally stationed out of Virginia Beach, far away from your family. After the mission, and the ass chewing from your father, you were transferred back to Miramar. Again, you were convinced it was your father pulling strings because Cyclone wasn’t your biggest fan these days after you disobeyed his orders. You were reassigned as a teacher at Top Gun. You did your best to stay away from Cyclone, but it was hard, Top Gun wasn’t a big place.

Jake was previously stationed in San Diego, at the base a little further South. You couldn’t help but to be excited when you were transferred back to Top Gun. Jake was down the road. Mav literally lived a few blocks from you and your family was within driving distance.

You jumped in headfirst at Top Gun, you were used as the Maverick of training in the field. You loved beating aviators that were much older than you, all cockier than the next. You loved knocking then down a peg, humbling them a bit. You were worried that your flying career was over with the transfer. Your fears were moot when you were given your next set of orders, a mission in the middle east. That wasn’t for another few weeks though.

You set the flowers in a vase and topped it with water. Smiling stupidly at the flowers. You were floored that he noticed something so small. You hurried back over to your charming date.

“You noticed that hmm?” You kissed him on the cheek smiling sweetly at the man. You weren’t sure but you thought you loved him. You wouldn’t dare admit that anytime soon knowing you’d sound crazy, but he was incredible in every way. It was the small things he did that made your days so much easier. He would make sure your car was filled up, bring you flowers, order you dinner, made sure you never opened a door when he was around. You couldn’t help but to fall in love with him. You were only a month and half in, but you knew. You knew he was it for you.

“I notice everything about you sweetheart.” He tapped your nose with his pointer finger. Grabbing your hand, he walked you to his truck opening his door for you, “You really do look beautiful.”

“Thank you, Jake.” You shook your head at him loving the flattery but shy about it nonetheless.

He nodded winking at you thinking how cute it was when you shied away. He knew how comfortable you were with him, but the simplest comments would make you shy away. He still had something up his sleeve.

The drive to the beach was mostly quiet albeit the radio humming away. You loved the comfortable silence between the too, never feeling the slightest bit awkward. You always moved closer to him making sure to not distract him too much when he was driving. You either played with his hand or he with yours. Seemingly not ever wanting to ever let him go.

He parked. Jumping out quickly to get to your door before you could. You laughed as he just beat you this time, “You know I can get the door.”

He cocked an eye, “Sure you can. But you won’t.” He took your hand helping you down.

He grabbed a picnic basket and a blanket out of the back leading you to the beach. You loved the beach at sunset. The colors in the sky, the birds chirping away, the people flying kites. Everything about it made you happy. Jake picked up on it quickly, you were always suggesting sunset walks or swims. He was learning to love it just as much as you did.

He laid everything out letting you pick which spot you wanted, “This is wonderful.” You softly smiled to the man who captured your heart.

“I know how much you love the beach sunset. Why not dinner and a beach sunset.” He grabbed your hands squeezing them.

“You’re so sweet.” You couldn’t take your eyes off him, sunset be dammed, “Phoenix never believes me when I tell her how it’s going.”

He grumbled, “You tell Phoenix?”

“Yeah, and Halo.”

“Kazansky.” He sighed peeking back up seeing your amused expression. He couldn’t stop the smile that spread brightly across his face.

“Seresin.” You giggle admiring the way the sun reflects off him.

“Gosh you’re pretty.”

“So are you.” You replied quickly. Suddenly feeling flustered by him as he scooted closer to you.

He chuckled reaching for your face, “Sweet girl.” He leaned in further sending your heart into a frenzy. He stopped just short of your lips letting you finish the kiss, only if you wanted to.

You wanted too, closing the gap quickly. You felt him smile as you kissed him. You just adored him. He only stopped when he heard your stomach grumble.

“Let’s eat.” He grinned handing you your dinner.

Part 3

#jake seresin #hangman x reader #hangman x female!reader #hangman x you #hangman x y/n #top gun hangman #jake seresin x you #jake seresin x y/n #jake seresin fanfic #jake seresin x reader #hangman top gun #top gun imagine #top gun maverick #top gun #tgm #tgm imagine #tgm fic #tgm fandom #dagger squad #top gun 2 #jake hangman seresin #lieutenant jake hangman seresin

[mrghostrat]

Hello!! I'm not new to writing but I am absolutely new to writing fanfiction and have been extremely nervous to even start doing that, do have any suggestions on where to start so I don't make it accidentally it's own story just using someone else's character names? ( I mean that in a sense of accidentally altering their personalities and other components that would be really important) Because chances are I probably won't notice while doing it and probably think it's fine. I'm really really bad at not noticing mistakes until it's too late to fix them but I have a fic idea that I think would be really cool and I don't know how to go about it without doing it terribly.

Here's a random pic I took this afternoon, I dunno just the way you describe scenes I figured you'd enjoy the atmosphere of it?

1. this picture is stunning, my god, it's giving me chills. so beautiful, thank you for sharing 👁️👁️

2, i think dialogue is probably one of the biggest components of characterisation, so linking back to canon dialogue can be a really helpful and easy way of keeping your characterisation in check. quite literally an exercise in "would he fucking say that?"

you've probably noticed how much i love using canonical lines from the show like this, even though i'm usually taking them out of their original context. as a reader, hearing dialogue in MS/DT's voices can be very grounding, and as a writer, it can keep you in line as you write their conversations.

i also like trying to create a parallel between events and decisions in my fic vs the canon. something tiny: in ATWS chapter 3, crowley orders takeaway and convinces aziraphale to get something too. in my initial plan, he was going to say no and wave crowley away/be a bit holier than thou, but when i made the takeaway food bbq ribs (like the ox rib), i realised it was literally aziracrow 101 for crowley to tempt him successfully into things, especially food. so i made aziraphale say yes, and simply act put out about it.

you'd think these kinds of parallels would be more important on a grander scale, but i like comparing every little decision to the canon, even if it's only for a moment, to think about how they'd act in that situation. it could be an entirely different universe but they can still be the same characters who make the same decisions as an angel and demon would.

3. a lot of people would say that it doesn't matter, that you can write whatever you want even if it's wholly out of character and just has their names attached to it. even though that's not the kind of fan fiction i like to read and write, it's still valid, and the most important thing is that you're having fun and being creative. basically, don't sweat it if it's not perfect.

#ask a rat #good omens #writing process

[spider-biter]

Head cannons abt the moon boys for the soul <3 🌙🌙🌙

A/N: I’ve been stuck with this in my head for the past 4 days.…. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!! Also thank you for correcting my misspelling of mierda as Mérida 😭😭😭 embarrassing 😳

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ◯ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺⋆⁺ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

- Steven loves old vintage things, he often wonders into antique stores to just “look around”

- he spends 50 dollars.

- Jake cannot stand waiting. man is literally impatient AF

- “15 minutes till the next train???! Mierda, let’s just fucking walk”

- cooking for him is his love language

- he will literally sob on the inside if you even show interest in his cultural food

- Marc is the same way

- one time you made him Rugelach and he was a MESS

- “baby it’s not even that good-“ “ITS AMAZING AND I LOVE IT AND- AND I LOVE YOU-“ “ok”

- Steven loves that you know so much about their cultures and interests

- he also appreciates how you avoid meat when he’s fronting

- when you first ordered a tofu taco on a date with him he immediately felt guilty, like he was pressuring you or something

- “love- no it’s ok! you can eat meat I don’t care!”

- “darling, if this is important to you then it is important to me. plus tofu is literally the best so it’s no problem! :)”

- oml he is going to COLLAPSE

- they always appreciate that you know how to comfort them whenever they are triggered or have a nightmare

- Steven needs to be grounded, so you take his hands and hold him close to you. Rubbing circles on his back, telling him that you’re right here, it’s ok, you’re fine. he often falls asleep with his head on your chest with your hands in his hair

- Marc fluctuates between quiet dissociation and physical panic

- when he’s quiet you make sure to interact. asking him questions like how was your day, do you want tea, how many sugars, any cream? just so he is forced to stay as much out of his head as he can

- (even though you can probably make his favorite tea ((thank you stevens Brit influence)) blindfolded)

- if it’s physical it’s a lot harder. You know that Marc would probably sink deeper if he ever accidentally hurt you so you just try to make him look at you. The 5-4-3-2-1 rule works best to get him out of it. He usually goes quiet after one, staring into nothing. Usually you just kind of sit near and around him, trying to get him back to the present (Think of that one scene in the asylum where he just looks exhausted)

- Jake just needs his space. You respect that. One of you normally leaves to give the other some space. You understand and respect that it’s not a you thing, just a ‘I think if I am touched or talked to I will literally fall over this edge that I am on’ thing.

- he normally apologizes (even though you told him it’s ok) and is super lovey dovey & touchey for the next couple of hours after

- speaking of touchey

- they all LOVE to hold you

- steven found out that holding hands with you and swinging them back and forth dramatically makes you giggle

- especially if he skips with you while doing it (he has done it twice and both times you felt your heart explode with love!)

- he loves holding your hand, rubbing circles on the back of your palm to calm each other down

- and whenever you get up in the middle of the night to pull him out of his studies/work he softly kisses your knuckles as an apology, whispering things in French

- LORD

- you guys also rest against each others foreheads in moments of silence, just enjoying the closeness of your love

- Jake is a spinner!

- he’ll grab your arm and immediately spin you around, no matter what you’re doing.

- you always scream out of surprise even though he’s done this forever

- he also loves to dip you

- “no need to be scared mi corazón, I’ll never drop you 😤💪❤️” 🤨🤨 “what about that one time at-” “shhhh mi vida no es importante”

- Jake loves having his hands on you in a “mine” way

- but you do the exact same for him

- but he likes to come up behind you and run his hands all over your body while kissing your jawline. “So lovely” “so beautiful” “y todo mío” (that last one made your knees jelly)

- Marc has such an obsession with physical touch

- for the first 6-8 months, he was really scared of touching you. he never got physical love as a child and was always scared he’d break you because of it

- but one day he fell asleep on your shoulder during a movie you guys were watching

- and damn. The peace he felt was similar to how he felt in the field of reeds tbh

- ANYWAYS

- one day you both started just hooking arms with the other and skipping around in a circle

- it’s a cowboy jig

- yeehaw

- Marc also is obsessed with giving you piggyback rides, even if you are scared AS HELL!

- yes Marc Spector has run with a fully grown adult on his back yelling “MARC WHAT THE FUCK?” In Central Park. what abt it

- he loves to let you rest your head on his shoulder.

- he’s a big face guy??? Like he brushes away hair, pecks your cheeks, wipes away tears.

- he’s very gentle all the time and loves holding your cheek as you guys just stare at each other

- the mornings with them >>>

- who’s big and little spoon is a never ending battle

- with Steven it’s very quiet & reflective

- laying on each others chests, hands in each others hair, comforter pulled up to your neck, listening to the other breathing pattern and syncing it up! It’s all about the quiet company of love. The 2 of you comfortable for all of eternity

- Marc is similar but not

- it’s inches away from each other, still entangled with the other. you face each other and whisper silly nothings: I love you, I’ll do anything for you, we should do this for a date.

- You even boop his nose.

- he’s not a fan

- Jake loves being the big spoon but after hard days you make him little spoon so you can wrap around him <3

- but when he is big spoon??????

- his warm arms wrap around your midsection, keeping you in nirvana eternally. you both float in and out of consciousness, his head rests softly on yours, you nestle deeper into him, even though that’s literally scientifically impossible at this point. He loves how addicted you are to him

- he doesn’t even realize how addicted he is to you ;)

- it’s also passionate make out sessions, still sleepy and slightly sloppy, before he goes into the shower and you make him a coffee

- (getting out of the shower to be greeted by your coffee and you sitting at the counter just reading over the news on your phone??? it makes his heart literally collapse in on itself every. single. day.)

- speaking of passion

- you helped them all find things they’re passionate about

- you helped Steven get a better job at a different museum and he LOVES IT!!!

- it was pretty easy, Steven just had to be confident in his knowledge.

- sometimes you stop by on your lunch break and see Steven somehow getting a group of terrible and loud preteens absolutely invested in the story of Ra and Sekhement

- (passionately teaching a group of kids all about the ancient relics of the past is a turn on you never knew you had)

- you helped Marc get involved with the INTERPOL force in London, so he can occasionally be on call, and help people in a legal way

- he likes it bc it gives him something to do & makes the world a better place

- he helps take down bad guys & save kids. He gets to be the person he always wished would come and save him when he was younger.

- it makes you sob

- but!

- Jake is happy as long as he’s with you but he’s actually super into watching old telenovelas

- you guys make a whole day out of it

- and the 2 of you won’t stop acting out the most dramatic scenes of it

- “TU ES MI HIJO???” “Si, madre. También soy tu ABUELO EN EL FUTURO!!!” *gasp*

- Steven and Marc are OVER IT!!

- speaking of Marc, you always celebrate Rosh Hashanah & other important Jewish holidays with him

- you cook together, him teaching you these generational meals and you making sure he doesn’t burn down the entire kitchen

- during Yom Kippur you help him fast & reflect with him

- keeping him grounded and not just letting him shit on himself endlessly for 25 hours?? telling him that “it’s about repenting and doing it better this year”???? Literally life saving for him

- and to have someone to help him with his spirituality is so important to him

- like… beyond words

- idk where to put this at but onetime you drove with Jake in the passenger

- he is TRAUMATIZED

- like just imagine a grown ass man screaming as you go 50 mph down the London bridge

- “eres un pequeño demonito de la velocidad. me asustas” (you’re a little speed demon (lovingly). You scare me)

- Steven was LIVING

- “STEVEN IF YOU DONT STOP CHEERING THEM ON-“

- “LOVE GO FASTER!!”

- yes Steven is also a little speed demon

- it’s cannon idc

- if you can’t already tell, they love you so much

- holding you after a bad day, comforting your anxieties, feeding the ducks in the pond

- “darling he’s a duck-“ “I don’t care! He’s staring at me like I did something! I’m innocent Marc I swear!” “I- I know babe- it’s- it’s a duck???”

- (This conversation and never ending confusion on Marc’s part goes on for another 15 minutes)

- they cherish you like no one else

- they would take a bullet for you without even a second thought and you would for them too

- (where is my moon system holding dying lover or lover holding dying system fic already??)

- anyways

- they love you the most in the world

- and tbh??? You do too.

- “I love you the most”

- “I love you the mostest”

#steven grant #marc spector #moon knight #moonknight #jake lockley #marc spector x reader #moonknight x reader #steven grant my beloved #marvel #mcu #moon knight x reader #marvels moonknight #soft marc spector #marc spector reader #jake lockely x reader #steven grant reader #steven grant x reader #dating moonknight

[meraki-yao]

RWRB Movie Thoughts: Choreography and Rehearsals

There’s been a couple of great essays on the one-shots in the movie and the theatricality of those scenes (see here, here and here), and I just want to talk a little about choreography and ferally scream a little about rehearsals.

Taylor mentioned in one of their interviews that a lot of the intimate scenes had a certain musicality to them, and as the boys both have theatre experience, Robbie communicated with them on the subject almost like creating a dance. It’s essentially, choreography. So here’s my interpretation of the choreography part.

I love dancing and took ballet classes for 14 years, and something really important in dancing and choreography is beats. And there are two ways to go about this.

One is literally every beat is a specific motion, it’s a series of sharply changing movements. It’s very apparent for Henry/Nick during the first section of their first hookup in Alex’s room. You can literally count 8 beats as you would for a piece of music, and for every beat, Henry/Nick is doing a specific move:

1: Block the door -> 2: Push open the door -> 3: Right Hand grab Alex/Taylor’s Neck -> 4: Kiss -> 5: Left Hand Grab Alex/Taylor’s Arm -> 6: Left Hand moves to Alex/Taylor’s Neck-> 7: Blank/No New Hand Movements -> 8: Left Hand in his Hair

You can literally count the beats, and hell, in this scene in Henry/Nick’s case, the beats are fairly even. You can almost follow the motions with a metronome.

The other kind is hitting marks: as in there are “key poses” to strike at certain times, but how to get from one pose to the other is more up to the actor. (There’s a great video explaining this idea in fight choreography/sword fighting: check it out here) I think that’s what the red room kiss counts as the boys have certain marks to hit: both of them hitting the wall, Alex/Taylor grabbing Henry/Nick’s thigh, then pushing him onto the table, then grabbing his waist while Henry/Nick grabs his hair etc. They have specific places for their hands and legs and well, themselves to be, but everything in between is pretty continuous motions that I don’t think can be precisely designed. You can still sort of count a beat, but it’s much less clear than the example of Henry in Alex’s bedroom.

 

So here’s my question.

How many of the scenes in the movie are choreographed, and what scene was which kind of choreography?

There are the two literal dance scenes, and then most of the intimate scenes go without saying, because it’s not just a matter of the choreography, but also requires discussions on intimacy and boundaries. Among the photos Matthew posted about rehearsals, I’m assuming all photos with the boys on a couch are the intimate scenes. (Matthew said the first hook-up was shot exactly as rehearsed)

But another photo Matthew posted was the hospital storage room scene, the absolutely adorable photo with Nick and Taylor squeezed together in the middle of a bunch of chairs.

Which means the mess of Henry and Alex falling into the storage room then flailing their limbs trying to figure out how sit properly without crushing each other was choreographed. And honestly…how? Because that scene looked like such a mess and so damn chaotic, I really can’t imagine any part of it being designed besides the general idea of “fall over, push each other a bunch, end up with Henry/Nick on the right and Alex/Taylor on the left.”

Also the Paris scene. Of course that has to be choreographed, but I just… can’t imagine how? Like the red room scene, Alex’s room, the polo tack room, if I don’t immerse myself in the movie I can sort of see the performance, the directing aspect of the scene, but the Paris scene, I completely can’t. It’s so well done, it looks so damn real. Of course, I know it’s not, but I can’t see it. That’s how well done the scene is. How in the fucking world did they do that? On top of that apparently, people who went to the March screening said there were three positions (which, please fucking release everything PLEASE), so again, how the fuck did they do that?

What other scenes were choreographed? They had two weeks of rehearsal (although Taylor said he got Covid on the second week so I don’t know how they went about that), how much did they do?

God I know Matthew’s slowly releasing behind-the-scenes footage and I’m guessing a, he has a lot, like a lot b, he’s understandably taking his time, but I wonder if he’ll ever let rehearsal videos see the light of day. Besides my own curiosity about how their rehearsal worked, there's also that one adorable picture of what looks like Taylor said something that made Nick laugh which is just so cute, it would be nice to see what the boys themselves were like during rehearsals and what their banter was like

Anyways all this to say MORE BTS FOOTAGE PLEASE 

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #nicholas galitzine #taylor zakhar perez #matthew michael lopez #rwrb thoughts #rwrb cast #behind the scenes #seriously please tell me #i want to steal his phone #i want to see everything #it's just so... delicate? #or messy? #and it's all designed? #how did they do that

[robin-buckely]

Coloring Tutorial

Hello, this tutorial is for the wonderful @djoharrington​​ and those of you wondering how I colored this set. I’m going to be talking about how to color the first gif only to keep this tutorial from getting too long. The other two used the same coloring method with only minor adjustments made to keep them looking similar.

Yes, this scene really is that dark before coloring.

Quick notes on what I’m using:

mpv player for screencapping — not mentioned in tutorial

Photoshop 2021 for editing

I mention mpv player because I’m giffing 4k, and it’s one of the few players I’ve come across that take continuous caps that don’t end up looking washed out. It makes for easier coloring.

This is me coloring literally any Upside Down scene:

Step 1: brighten the hell out of this gif

You can use a throwaway layer to get you started. I used an exposure layer (which I eventually kept and adjusted during the original process of coloring this scene) with end settings of: exposure at +5.25, offset and gamma correction at default.

Now we can see all the beautiful details of Nancy’s face. Well, most of them.

Step 2: photo filter layer 1

The way I offset this horrid blue tint they use for Upside Down scenes is a photo filter layer (several for this particular scene). For now, just the one. Put this below the exposure layer!

This brings a bit of color back to Nancy’s face and warms up the blue tones that are so prevalent in Upside Down scenes.

I don’t change the blending mode, opacity, or fill, just keep as is.

Step 3: curves layer 1

I clicked around a lot with this layer. Mostly in an attempt to get rid of the blue and adding more color to Nancy’s face. Didn’t get the result I was looking for with this layer until I added other layers. But I managed to brighten the gif a little more and add some contrast.

Step 4: hue/saturation layer

Put this layer below the photo filter layer! I used this layer to balance out the colors I pulled from the curves layer. Brought back some warmth/purples by adjusting cyans and blues.

Step 5: selective color layer 1

Ended up a little more purple than I wanted with the hue/sat layer, so I used a selective color layer (set between the hue/saturation layer and the photo filter layer) to get rid of the purple by, again, adjusting cyans and blues.

Make sure to have “Absolute” marked!

This is better! There’s a lot more color that isn’t blue in Nancy’s face now that I can work with and manipulate.

Step 6: color balance layer

This one goes on top of the curves layer (should be the topmost layer at this point). Only adjusted Midtones and Shadows, adding a little more red and yellow in her hair and face.

This looks a lot more natural. Now we just have to brighten it up again.

Step 7: exposure and curves layer 2

I don’t touch the RGB mode on this curves layer. I mostly adjust the Red, Green, and Blue modes by adding a little more red and green while sliding the bottom corner on Blue to add more yellow to the shadows.

Technically, I could stop here if I wanted, but the purple is still pretty prominent in the gif, especially in Nancy’s eyes, and it’s hard to adjust that without adjusting the color of the entire canvas since there’s movement in this gif. If Nancy were more of a still subject here, then layer masks are an option. Alas…

So I adjust the colors and try to get rid of the purple. The gif as a whole kind of looks washed out as well. I want more color here.

Step 8: photo filter layer 2

I set the opacity to 55%. I want warmth, but not too much.

Step 9: selective color layer 2

This is where I end up seeing the most change. Even small adjustments go a long way here.

It’s mostly the cyans, blues, and magentas which makes sense given how overwhelmingly blue this scene was, then almost overwhelmingly purple as I started making adjustments. Red and yellows are important for anything to do with the face and hair. This is where I add a more “natural” shade to Nancy. Literally anything that isn’t fucking blue is an improvement to me at this point, given how it started out.

Blue is back in the background where it belongs and not in Nancy’s face.

I think this is where I originally stopped. Like this looks pretty good to me, but I also wanted to make sure the other two gifs could be colored similarly, and they were for the most part. But there was only so much adjusting I could do to Nancy’s face in the third gif without adjusting the entirety of the scene (and set), so I had to go back and adjust her here to get a similar coloring.

(A lot of this set was back and forth, adjusting the colorings until they matched. It took so long. Especially with the stupid Upside Down visual effects in the background. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so there were a lot of minor adjustments and a lot of nitpicking until I ended up with a result I liked.)

So last and final step.

Step 10: selective color layer 3

I ended up adding more red to the face, hair, and shadows to keep the first and third gif similar in coloring. And this is where we get our final product.

And the side-by-side comparison again.

Anyway, here you have it. This is the end of the tutorial. I can in no way guarantee that this method will work on other Upside Down scenes (trust me, I’ve tried), but hopefully you’ve learned something!

And hopefully I’ve explained myself well enough that you can apply this :)

#text #photoshop #tutorials #coloring tutorial #gif tutorial #photoshop tutorial #*tutorials #Stranger Things #djoharrington #requested

[areus-in-a-little-cave]

I wanna comment on something I'm seeing that is deeply annoying me again. I am glad to see several posts similar to this, though.

Firstly, please stop acting like this is an "us vs them" situation but making the "them" be people on your own side who aren't responding to things perfectly. The problem is the people defending Wilbur, attacking Shelby, and spreading hate.

Do not take your anger and upset out on other people, because people are going to feel and respond differently but most people are supporting Shelby. It can be hard to see but people are usually trying their best and not trying to hurt others with what they're saying. You can both support Shelby and want Wilbur gone without agreeing on every opinion. Stop harassing people for responding differently to you. If their opinion is harmful, maybe try explaining why instead of harassing.

Secondly, please stop acting like every CC is this deeply evil, deeply toxic, abusive, horrible person because they haven't made a public statement about Shelby's abuse.

[Image ID: A screenshot of Shelby's alt twitter account's liked tweets. The tweet shown is by imiziee, one of Shelby's mods, and is a quote tweet. It reads "pls dont be like this. its been 2 hours since he posted it. people take different times to process that theyve been manipulated and friends with an abuser, calm down. instead of hating on people why dont you show support for shelby?? #ShubbleSupportSquad". The tweet it is quoting reads "the silence from his closest is so damning. fuck philza, tommy, jack, niki, tubbo, charlie, lovejoy, quackity" before it cuts off.]

This is from Shelby's likes, it's written by her mod. Shelby herself then likely agrees that this is a reasonable standpoint.

CCs should be supporting Shelby, of course. They should regardless of how close they are to this. However, we know that Wilbur manipulated people, close friends according to replies we've seen. We don't know what the behind the scenes is right now. Imagine if it was you and your closest friends, who you have known for years, and literal millions were watching you. It might take a few days to come to a conclusion, to say something, and I'd personally rather a CC come in a little late than rush an empty response.

I'm not expecting everyone to be perfect in their response, but a response is a response. Again, we don't know what is happening behind the scenes. I understand that public support of Shelby from other CCs is very important, but private support can be very helpful for them. This isn't about the fandom.

There's a difference between supporting Shelby and deplatforming Wilbur. They're connected, obviously, but given that Shelby is another CC, there's more ways to support her compared to previous cases of mistreatment allegations against a CC where it's someone without a platform coming forward.

Stop supporting whoever you want, and do whatever makes you comfortable. But stop attacking people and demanding they stop watching CCs because "all men are horrible monsters" and "all CCs will disappoint you" and "you support abuse if you watch any CC who could possibly support an abuser or abuse". Which ignores the fact that anyone could be an abuser, and abuse isn't a CC issue, this isn't an MCYT issue, it's a society issue. Yes, some groups, especially white men in positions of power, are in positions where they can abuse people easier. But literally anyone could be an abuser. That's part of what Shelby talked about.

I doubt that it's healthy to assume everyone wants to hurt you, to harm others, to abuse and manipulate, and that you can never watch or enjoy someone because they might be bad or support harmful people. Obviously, it's understandable to think that obsessing over a CC is bad because it is. You shouldn't put people on a pedestal and say "they could never do that!". But I'm seeing blogs who have been devoted to a CC and/or their character(s) for 3+ years talking about why you can never find comfort in a CC, and should distrust all of them completely. Like dude. It's fine to like a CC who may not be related to this at all.

We know according to Lexie that some CCs knew about abuse she faced and didn't do anything, in fact they kept hanging out with these people. It's fine to be wary, to stop supporting people who it could be. Because I'm sure there are people behind the scenes who knew something.

But again, the random tumblr blogger who wants to grant a CC a chance to get their thoughts together instead of making a shitty statement is not your enemy! Guilt tripping and harassing people into never thinking about any CC who could be related is not an effective way to support Shelby, and it does not make this seem like something that is about abuse. It makes this seem like online discourse.

This is not drama. Stop treating it like drama where you need to throw around buzzwords. You cannot "win" supporting someone. The only "right" opinion is supporting victims of abuse. People can feel different ways about CCs who did or did not respond. Stop saying people are horrible because they didn't loudly, actively denounce a CC who hasn't responded in one day to possibly finding out for the first time that one of their closest friends is an abuser. That's not supporting Shelby.

#areus rambles #tw abuse #tw domestic abuse #ask to tag #discourse #fandom critical

[worldseer]

Who are your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from JJK? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Thanks.....

I admit, most of my favorite characters from JJK I somewhat thirst over but I'll try to keep those thoughts out of why I love them (because I do have some genuine reason besides thirst for liking them). 1. Toji Fushiguro

First and foremost, I like his calm attitude yet snarky way of talking. Also he's just a badass. We all all saw him kick ass any time he came on screen. His physique and strength is something to envy ngl (which I had big muscles too). And yes, not the best dad but I KNOW this man was the best fucking husband he could be. 2. Kento Nanami

HE DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER! It's obvious he cares a lot about people, especially young sorcerers. I like to believe that while he hates how Jujutsu Society operates, he tries to make the small changes necessary to make it better (aka not having child soldiers die and get traumatized like he did). Plus I fully agree that both aspects of life (living as a sorcerer or working a normal job) sucks too.

3. Ryomen Sukuna

HOLD ON HOLD ON HOLD ON BEFORE YOU ALL STAB ME TO DEATH CEASAR STYLE- He's genuinely an interesting antagonist to me. He has layers, I think that's apparent. He's cocky, but for good reason. And there have been moments where I near shat my pants watching him (we all saw that Jogo vs. Sukuna fight and those jumpscares he did. Also both VAs did amazing cackles). His true form from the Heian Era is also so cool to look at as well, and I think may inspire me to be more creative with my own character designs in the future.

4. Suguru Geto

HOLD ON, HOLD ON- Once again, I love a layered antagonist and HOLY SHIT HE HAS LAYERS! Like- ok- I get what his goal is. I get what he wants. And frankly, if my lover best friend died, came back to life, and close friend I was meant to protect died as well, yeah I'd be kinda fucked up so see people celebrating and not batting an eye. Yes, running a cult and committing literal genocide are. . . choices. But in the end, his goal is to protect sorcerers (a group constantly being used and controlled by the majority of non-sorcerers) and that makes some sense.

5. Toge Inumaki

I personally think he's a bit underrated, and underutilized. Sure, I know he's not loaded with Cursed Energy but like- that technique he has can be overpowered as hell. Also, I like how he insists on using ingredient names to convey how he feels when he could just- avoid commands? Like he can obviously use nouns. As long as there's a proper subject, then verbs won't use the cursed speech technique (Don't flame me if I'm wrong, I haven't read through too much of the manga). He's cute, I love his vibes, and he is my son. As for moments in the series, they're more small than most expect: 1. Whenever Mahito gets his ass beat - Self explanatory. Yes I'm still fucking mad about what happened to Nobara and Nanami.

2. When Yuji met Toge in the streets of Shibuya - SALMON! But fr, I love the small moments that show friendship between sorcerers that otherwise don't meet up much. And Toge just being there, chilling with a megaphone to help people is funny to me.

3. The last conversation between Megumi and Toji - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! PAIN! BUT ALSO YOU CAN SEE HOW HAPPY TOJI IS FOR HIS SON! I'M GONE. DEAD.

4. THAT Nanami scene - MAPPA served us good as did Kenjiro Tsuda. "The number and locations of your allies," anything for you, love. Let's go to Malaysia and sit on a beach. I giggle every time.

5. The phone conversation Suguru and Satoru have - The expressions and conversation kill me everytime. They're 'close friends' your honor.

#jjk #jjk fluff #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #inumaki toge #jjk inumaki #jujutsu kaisen inumaki #geto suguru #jjk suguru #jujutsu kaisen suguru #fushiguro toji #toji fushiguro #jjk toji #ryomen sukuna #sukuna #sukuna ryomen #jjk nanami #kento nanami #nanami kento #jjk manga #jjk memes #worldseer rambles

[tgmsunmontue]

It's all academic darlin' PART 1/10

12k+ Hangster AU. Updating 2-3 parts per week and will be finished by 31st January 2024. (Each part is ~1500 words).

Bradley is a professor but living his best life with IceMav parents. Jake is a pilot. Maverick sort-of tries (and fails) to play matchmaker, so he tries again. Touch of epistolary and sprinkling of one-sided unknown/mistaken-identity.

(Note for later parts/chapters - Ice uses sign to communicate at home, I’m typing it like sign is English despite the fact that I know it isn’t (while NZSL is my third language, I have no working knowledge on the grammar useage in ASL).)

PART ONE

                The 12 hour trip has given him plenty of time to think. He doesn’t know what possessed him to accept Mav’s offer; quiet place you can just get away from everything. When faced with the idea of going home and seeing his family, not being able to answer questions versus being offered a solitary retreat into the woods for a week or two or however long he could stand his own company… Well, he’s never spent very much time alone before and he guesses the novelty had held a certain appeal. He knows he might not actually be alone when he gets there. Mav had mentioned that his son might still be there, but that he’d be leaving to get back to school. It had made him sound young. But Jake’s seen photos, knows that Bradley has at least graduated from some form of college judging from the photos in Mav’s office and hangar, proud moments documented with pictures. 

                Sure enough when he pulls in front of the cabin there’s another truck out front, music blaring from somewhere. He steps out of his own truck and can now hear someone loudly singing along. He follows the sound around the house and yep, definitely the same guy from the photos (the flash of moustache is the clincher). He’s cutting wood, axe swinging easily in time with the music and Jake takes his time to just watch. He’s tall, maybe a bit taller than Jake and he hadn’t been expecting that with how tall Maverick was not. Shirtless, skin tanned and gleaming with sweat from the combination of summer heat and exertion of cutting wood. Jake swallows, letting his eyes run over the scene appreciatively because it’s been a little while and this right here is… nice.

                “Baby can I hold you tonight?” Thunk. “Baby if I told you the right words.” Thunk. “Ooo, at the right time.” Thunk. “Would you be mine?” Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. “Baby can I hold you tonight?” Thunk.

                As he watches, he assesses; Bradley looks around the same age as Jake and the other Dagger squadron members. Not young at all then. No wonder Mav had been so insistent about getting them all home, dad-vibe just morphing to encompass them all. He’d never had imagined a man with Maverick’s history to be a family man. That somehow, somewhere along the line, Maverick managed to raise a small human into the tall drink of water in front of him. Jake doesn’t know why he feels surprised, Mav is a good-looking man despite his age but he still doesn’t see much of a resemblance between him and Bradley. He shifts on his feet, not wanting to interrupt a man holding an axe, especially one as attractive while doing so… he licks his lips, wishing for a toothpick or some gum just to have something to do with his mouth and his lips twitch as he thinks about other ways he could occupy his mouth with the man in front of him. He startles, realization hitting him hard and fast. This is Mav’s son.

                Fuck.

                He cannot, under any circumstances, fuck with this man. Literally or figuratively. Maverick would kill him. He’d find some way to make it look like an accident, or just commit outright murder and then hide the body. And there would be no shortage of volunteers to help him do it. It’s only for a couple of days before Bradley apparently has to leave, Jake can be on his utmost best behavior. And it’s not like he’s in any fit state anyway. It’ll be fine.

                “Fucking shit!”

                Jake jumps at the yell, staring into the wide eyes of Bradley Mitchell, because there cannot be that many people with that moustache in the world. He sucks his bottom lip into his mouth, knows he’s going to have to refrain from so many comments about that distracting caterpillar of facial hair.

                “Sorry!”

                “Jesus man, you scared the fuck out of me…”

                The urge to bite back and tell him he shouldn’t be cutting wood by himself, or have music playing so loudly he can’t hear vehicles come up the road are on the tip of his tongue but he bites them back. Best behavior he reminds himself. And when did he become such an old man? Ugh.

                “Sorry,” he starts again. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. I’m Jake. Lieutenant Jake Serensin.”

                The other man’s face goes pale under his tan, eyes going wide.

                “Fuck. Is Mav okay?”

                Shit.

                “He’s fine! Totally fine. Sorry. Again. I didn’t mean to worry you. You’re Bradley though right? Mav’s son? He said you’d be here, told me he’d let you know to expect me.”

                A look of relief is quickly replaced by chagrin and Jake bites his lip, because he’s definitely not expected.

                “Shit, I dropped my phone in the lake yesterday. Haven’t checked in with anyone. Obviously you’re welcome though, any friend of Mav’s is a friend of mine,” Bradley says. He’s smiling, reaching his hand out to shake and Jake gives himself a mental slap. He’s not sure if he should correct him on the whole friends with Mav front, because he’s pretty sure the older man merely tolerates him. And this is the son of a superior officer and he’s a guest and he will remember his manners if he doesn’t want to deal with the certain Southern guilt that will settle on him later. Best behavior. Which is also why he won’t go asking questions about why Bradley calls his dad by his fucking callsign.

                “Nice to meet you.”

                “Likewise. Sorry I wasn’t expecting you. You obviously know Mav, and who I am. I figure you’re not a serial killer. Let me just, uh, grab my shirt and then I can help you with your bags.”

                He wants to tell him not to bother, that he’s enjoying the view plenty, but even something as benign as ‘don’t put a shirt on on my account’ would come out heavy with the (intended) innuendo so he keeps his mouth shut and nods before realizing he doesn’t need any help with his bags and says as much, biting back another comment about the floral Hawaiian shirt that the other man is shoving his arms through but still leaving completely unbuttoned and okay, he’s thankful for small mercies. He’s going to look, he’s not a fucking saint.

                “It’s fine man, come on. Let me show you the guest room. Did you bring groceries? I hope Mav warned you to bring food, because unless you like hunting and fishing you’re shit out of luck.”

                Fortunately Mav had warned him and Jake had organized groceries. He carries everything inside with Bradley’s help; front door opening into a large living space with a kitchen and dining area to one side, a large wall-mounted TV on one wall and then a fireplace taking up the central inner wall, clearly used for heating in the cooler months. Down a short hallway Bradley points out Mav’s bedroom, his own and then the guest room where Jake drops his duffle.

                Heading back to the kitchen he takes in the few photos, not many personalized ones, but plenty of ones of different types of aircraft and something in him feels a little more settled just looking at the pictures of the planes in the air. The piano and guitar make him pause and he wonders if either belong to Mav or Bradley. Obviously one or both of them play, although he can’t imagine Mav playing either. Then there are the books. So many books, some look like heavy texts and Jake wonders who the hell comes away on vacation to read textbooks that are thick enough to be classified as weapons. He can imagine Mav reading them over playing the musical instruments though. Bradley is putting the chilled items away in the fridge, offering him a beer and Jake takes it gratefully. One won’t hurt.

                “So how was the drive?”

                “Long.” Too long considering he’s meant to be taking it easy but he’s done worse.

                “Where did you drive from?”

                “North Island.”

                “Shit. I thought you’d just come from Fallon.”

                “Huh. No. That would have been much closer, but I needed to get away.”

                He almost expects Bradley to ask, but he guesses growing up with Mav he knows some questions won’t get answers so lets it slide and Jake’s grateful.

                “So you saw Mav yesterday?”

                “Yep, sure did. He made the offer a few days ago and just reminded me of it yesterday and I thought… sure. Why not.”

                “Did he give you a list of jobs?”

                “No. Should he have?”

                “He must like you,” Bradley laughs and Jake’s eyes catch the column of his throat as he tips his bottle to take a drink and he swallows roughly. Okay. He looks away and hums, shrugs. Doesn’t want to mention the concussion and bruises he’s still recovering from. He’s meant to be taking it easy and Mav knows it.

                “So, what do you do? Or is being a lumberjack a fulltime gig?”

                “Ha. No. I’m a… teacher.”

                Jake quirks an eyebrow because that answer had waivered as an almost question. But it tracks with the summer break and the whole getting back to school thing Mav has mentioned. And it’s a good a conversation as any, although it is quickly turned on him, with Bradley asking him about his flying experiences, looking a little wistful when Jake mentions going through Top Gun and he wonders if it would be impolite to ask why Bradley didn’t join the Navy like Mav. Definitely. Obviously his face still asks the question, because Bradley is offering up information freely.

                “My mom asked me to not join the Navy. Not quite her dying wish, but pretty damn close…”

                Well shit. He winces.

                “I’m sorry –” Jake starts and Bradley is already waving his hand.

                “It was over twenty years ago, you’re good. I’m good. She just wanted me safe. Of course, telling a teenager he can’t do something isn’t usually the best approach. And keeping Mav from teaching me to fly was never going to happen. I got my solo license when I was sixteen and haven’t looked back. I love flying.”

                “That is something I can agree with,” Jake says, tipping his beer bottle toward Bradley.

                “To flying.”

                “To flying,” Bradley repeats, his smile wide and friendly.

PART TWO

#Hangster #Top Gun Maverick fanfiction #Sereshaw #rooster x hangman #It's all academic darlin'

[bonesandthebees]

Hi Bee!

I really admire your work and I'm currently attempting to write my own fic, and I'd love to have some advice on writing stuff.

1) Do you have any tips for writing the beginning of a fic? I cannot figure out how to start writing with a decent sentence. It all falls apart when my fingers go on the keyboard.

2) Do you have any tips for pacing/plot/outlining? I still have barely figured out what pacing is, because I cannot tell when authors are like "oh I don't like this because I rushed the pacing". I literally can't tell most of the time, unless there is not any space to breathe between things that happen.

3) Do you have tips for writing surroundings and the parts of the paragraph that aren't dialogue? Like. How do I naturally fit the description of the area into the fic? And how do I naturally fit extra commentary into a paragraph that has dialogue in it, especially when it isn't the pov character's dialogue?

Again, adore your writing. I feel kind of awkward since I've never done an ask before; idk if there's some kind of etiquette.

Hope you're doing well!

-Royal :)

hi sorry it's taken me a bit to answer this one! I'm more than happy to give some advice!

okay so first off, writing the first line of a fic is borderline torture sometimes. it's so fucking hard. to me though it's kind of like jumping into a cold pool. you can stare at the water thinking about how cold it's going to be and how unsure you are, but then at some point you have to bend your legs and jump before you can overthink it or else you'll never do it. you have to just put something down for the first line.

one method I like employing when I'm really struggling is starting with a line of dialogue. it instantly throws the reader into the scene as they have to try and find out who is talking, what they are talking about, and where everyone is. an example where I used this is in the stars and their children, which opens with a line from tommy "Hey Wil, can you hand me the epli?" this tells us multiple things right off the bat. it establishes a character present in the scene (Wil) and that there's something different about this world from ours (epli—it makes the reader want to know what it is and why it's being handed to the character speaking)

other times I try to either start with a line that describes the setting ("The streets were crowded at this time of day." - everything else has gone wrong), or start with a line that describes the emotions of the pov character ("Lessons were the most unbearable in the afternoon." - under the hanging rose). basically, you're trying to find a way to throw the reader into the scene in one line. it's difficult, but try any of those angles and hopefully you'll think of something that fits. but again, it's jumping into a cold pool. you just have to put something down so you can start. you can always go back and change it later

okay putting the other two under a read more bc it got long

2. okay now pacing. that's a bit more difficult to help with because a lot of pacing is just getting a feel for it. one way is to just think about it logically. say you have two characters that start as strangers and you want to get them to be best friends. you can show them meeting for the first time, but then you often have to show them bonding before they can reach best friend status. there's pacing here both in the literal world of the story, but also in the text itself. you don't want to write them hanging out for a few hours and suddenly decide they're best friends (although ofc there are exceptions to this like if they're little kids bc, well, that is a thing little kids do where they'll declare a kid they just met their best friend), nor do you want to write them meeting for the first time, write a line saying "they hung out every day for the next three weeks until they were best friends" and then just act as though they're besties (again, there are exceptions to this in specific cases). it just feels weird yknow? It doesn't get the reader invested in this relationship because it doesn't feel like it's been earned. it's a similar thing with plot beats. you have to make it feel natural both in the world of the story itself, but also the timing with which you tell the story. like I said though, pacing is really something you just get the hang of naturally with practice. reading published novels will help as well because it'll help you get a sense of what good pacing feels like.

3. ohhhh you've hit a specific issue I had a lot when I was younger. when you have a dialogue scene going on there's a lot of ways you can balance the text outside the dialogue. ofc if the dialogue is going by at rapid speed, you can straight up just do the dialogue lines and you don't even have to specify who's talking if it's clear within the text

Ex:

"You can't come to my nuclear reactor, Tommy," Tubbo sighed.

Tommy scowled. "What the fuck? Why not?"

"Knowing you you'd find a way to cause a nuclear meltdown."

"Would not."

"Would to."

"Would not."

"Would to!"

"So what, you're a bitch who can't handle a little radiation?"

"Oh for fuck's sake-"

see how after the first two lines of dialogue where I established who is talking in which order, I stop using the tags all together? it's still clear who is talking because the dialogue is ping ponging back and forth. it's a fast-paced conversation, so cutting out the tags helps that effect.

but of course this is only the case in a few instances. most of the time, you do need lines outside dialogue not only to establish who is talking, but also to keep the characters present in the scene itself.

you have several options for what to include outside your dialogue. one of my go to's is always character actions.

"Don't you have one of those swimming pools you keep the nuclear shit in?" Tommy asked, leaning against the wall.

Tubbo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes but before you ask, no, you can't go swimming in it."

there we include the action of tommy leaning against a wall after he asks the question, which is followed by tubbo pinching the bridge of his nose. this lets the reader see exactly what each character is doing, which can also establish the emotions each character is feeling without saying them outright. tommy is comfortable enough with tubbo to annoy him with his questions, which we see by him casually leaning against the wall. tubbo, meanwhile, is annoyed just like tommy wants, which we see by him pinching the bridge of his nose.

characters sitting down, standing up, wringing their hands in front of them, folding their arms over their chest, shrugging, curling their hands into fists, etc. are all examples of character actions you can include to give the reader the ability to picture the scene more accurately

then of course you have thought process and scenery description you can include as well. thought process is just including what your pov character is thinking as the conversation progresses.

"Yes but before you ask, no, you can't go swimming in it."

Tommy huffed and folded his arms over his chest. Tubbo was so fucking boring these days with his 'safety rules'. He'd nearly been nuked before and was fine! A little radiation wasn't going to hurt him.

that right there is a glimpse into what's going on in tommy's head at that moment. he's frustrated with his friend because he thinks he'd be fine swimming in the nuclear pool. it gives us more insight into the pov character and how they're reacting to the conversation at hand.

then for scenery description:

Silence fell over them as Tommy glared at Tubbo. Tubbo glared back, refusing to budge. Around them, the snow coating the ground glittered in the afternoon sunlight. Clouds of breath puffed in front of Tommy's face. An icy breeze wound between the buildings, making goosebumps rise along his arms. He tugged his sleeves down, still not breaking eye contact with his friend.

the conversation falls silent for a moment, so we take a moment to step back from the two characters. we look at the setting around us, which emphasizes the pause in dialogue and makes it feel quiet even to us as the readers. you don't have to restrict your scenery description to moments where a conversation takes a pause, but taking a step back gives a sense of a 'silence' to the reader even if it's brief. another example of this could be,

"Don't bullshit me, Tubbo. Why won't you let me see it?" Tommy asked after several long beats.

Clenching his jaw, Tubbo's eyes flickered to the ground. The snow beneath their boots was muddied. Tommy spotted a dead worm frozen against the hard earth.

Then, Tommy understood.

"You don't trust me anymore."

now let's see this a different way

"Don't bullshit me, Tubbo. Why won't you let me see it?" Tommy asked after several long beats. "You don't trust me anymore."

see how without all that extra description the pause feels much shorter? and with that shorter pause the weight of Tommy's next sentence loses it's emotional impact?

if you want to add scenery description to a dialogue exchange, imagine it like it's a movie. you have two characters that are talking, and suddenly the camera pans away from them to look at the setting around them. why does it do that? what effect does it have on the scene playing out? your words are the camera zooming in and out on the characters. there are a lot of ways you can use this 'camera' to change the rhythm/flow of a scene. you just have to play around with it to figure out how to use it

I hope that's helpful!

#bones writes #ask #royallygray #also sorry for the half-assed clingyduo scene that's not from a fic or anything i just came up with that on the spot while writing this

[animebw]

Seasonal Reflection: Winter 2024 Anime

My feelings on the first anime season of 2024 can be summed up thusly: Most of my favorite shows from winter 2024 were continuations of shows that were already great from last season, not new entries. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and there were plenty of new anime I at least enjoyed watching. But it became clear about halfway through the season that aside from a couple fall 2023 holdovers, there was barely anything truly exciting going on here. Most of the adaptations I watched didn't do much to truly elevate their source material, and most of the few original series we got ended up the worst of the bunch. I can't say nothing good came out of winter 2024, but if this is any sign of how the rest of the year is gonna go, we may be in for a slog. For now, though, let's take stock of the anime I watched this season, and which ones are worth your time.

Metallic Rouge: 3/10

If you asked me what the worst show I finished this season would be at the start, I never would've guessed Metallic Rouge. I mean, it's a cool-ass original sci-fi anime from Bones with slick 2D mecha animation, surely that's gotta be at least a little cool, right? Sadly, no. Because this is, without question, one of the most baffling scripts I've ever seen in anime. Almost every single detail of its world and plot are barely explained, if at all, and the mechanics of what's even supposed to be going on are so nebulous that every attempt at a plot twist feels like a twist on something that never actually existed. Characters are plopped into the story without even an introduction. At times it feels like whole scenes have been cut out entirely. The only thing I can compare it to is the original Suicide Squad movie from 2016: a story so cut to the bone in the editing room that you can barely tell what's supposed to be happening half the time, and yet enough of the original story remains to suggest it was never any good in the first place. The one thing it gets right is the prickly chemistry between its two leads, and then it fucking keeps them separated for like half the damn runtime! How do you even unforced error that badly?

Bucchigiri: 3.5/10

Man, this was not a good season for original anime. Bucchigiri might not have been as staggering a writing trainwreck as Metallic Rouge, but its sin is arguably even worse; it's boring. It's a wacky, colorful high school delinquent romp with rainbow-haired Jojo's punks beating the snot out of each other with genie powers, it's sort of a re-imagining of Aladdin, it's got freaking Hiroko Utsumi at the helm, and it's boring. Why? Because this show gets absolutely stuck in the quicksand of its own status quo and refuses to budge an inch. Character growth is nonexistent, the protagonist is an aggravating loser wimp who never learns his lesson, and nothing of actual meaning happens from the first episode to the end. Literally everything you think is setting up a character arc where someone learns a lesson or grows as a person, all of it amounts to nothing. It's a limp, inert world that perpetuates the same overdone jokes and contrived, misunderstanding-based drama over and over again until all the outsized Utsumi visual personality feels like a tacky coat thrown on top of a lifeless corpse. What an utter waste.

Urusei Yatsura Season 2 (1st Cours): 5/10

I'm still not quite sure what to make of the Urusei Yatsura remake. is it charmingly dated? Annoyingly dated? A welcome throwback or a sign that some things should stay in the past? If nothing else, it never fails to get at least a couple chuckles out of me every episode. But the more it tries to lean into being actually sincere, the more its inherent cheesiness and lack of depth starts becoming a problem. I'm sorry, this cast of characters is just too abrasive and purposefully insane to take seriously, and none of their relationships are healthy enough to unironically root for. Lum and Ataru are not a couple I want to see actually get together, at least not unless Ataru stops being such a fucking shithead. And if him being a jackass could be charming in season 1, then this season is really starting to test my patience with him. It's one thing to be a serial skirt chaser, but his actions this season regularly cross a line from womanizing to unambiguous sex pest, and there's only so many wooden mallets he can get knocked over the head with before it stops feeling like like he's getting punished as much as he deserves to be.

Undead Unluck (2nd Cours): 5/10

Good news, everyone: Undead Unluck finally gave up on those awful groping gags that were ruining its central romance! Bad news: at the same time, it spontaneously developed one of the worst cases of recap padding I've ever seen! I'm not just talking overlong recap segments at the start of the episode, I'm talking constant flashbacks to events we just saw just moments before, straight up playing the same footage again just minutes apart, all climaxing in a truly unforgivable episode that spends seven goddamn minutes on recycled footage. Not even Tokyo Revengers was this bad with its time-wasting. And to add insult to injury, once it finally gets its feet unstuck and returns to a reasonable amount of recap for the final arc, it's probably the best arc of the entire show! It's some of the most bonkers high-concept emotional storytelling I've ever seen attempted, let alone pulled off so spectacularly. It's proof that there is so much brilliance to Undead Unluck, if it could just get out of its own way. But as long as it continues suffering from such massive systemic flaws, it's only ever going to be an also-ran.

Solo Leveling: 5.5/10

Okay, look; is this show dumb as a bag of rocks? Absolutely. Is it as nakedly an adolescent power fantasy as any anime has ever been? Ditto. Does it solely exist for dweeby incels to feel like swaggering douchebag chads getting revenge on all the normies who looked down on them by becoming The Bestest Strongest Chadliest Awesomest Of All Time? You know it. But god dammit, it's actually fun. I cannot pretend I'm too mature and sophisticated to enjoy a big, helping heaping of dumb edgy schlock when it's actually done well. I'm the one person on the face of the earth who still caries water for Akame ga Kill, for crying out loud. And Solo Leveling makes two really smart storytelling choices that keep it (mostly) on the entertaining side of dumb fun: building a genuinely interesting and intricate world that exists well beyond the scope of the protagonist's actions (for now, at least), and making sure that no matter how stupidly overpowered Jinwoo gets, his opponents are always just a little bit even more stupidly overpowered, so he's still pushed to his absolute breaking point and barely scraping together a win by the skin of his teeth every time. There is an art to edge that's too often taken for granted, and this show is proof that being the living embodiment of a twelve-year-old boy's wet dreams is no excuse not to be at least a decent version of that. That said, let's be real, Jinwoo was so much more attractive before his supposed glow-up. Give my boy back his scraggly rat locks, you cowards.

Bang Brave Bang Bravern: 6/10

What happens when a campy, cartoony 70s-style super robot anime crashes headfirst into a much grittier real robot anime? Well, what happens is Bang Brave Bang Bravern, the latest ten-car pileup of mismatched genres from the Cygames masterminds behind "What if horse racing but idols?" Take a desperate war story of survival against impossible odds, airdrop a skyscraper-sized superhero into the mix, and watch him completely shatter the original tone one cheekily ironic powerup and power-of-friendship speech at a time. It's a beautifully bonkers sendup of mecha tropes that has some of the funniest individual moments in this entire anime season, and the absolutely wild twist it pulls with the titular robot's identity in the back half is more than worth the price of admission on its own. Unfortunately, if it wanted to be as perfect a parody-until-it-isn't mecha series as Akiba Maid War was a parody-until-it-isn't mob flick, it probably should've tried being as long as most mecha series tend to be, i.e. more than just twelve measly episodes. There's just not enough time to develop any of the characters or world beyond the most essential parts, resulting in huge chunks of the supporting cast hanging around with nothing to do but take up space. And it leads to this show, which is trying to be so big and over the top, instead feeling so small and half-formed. Also, the secondary romance is gross. Like, really gross.

A Sign of Affection: 6/10

I think this show has helped clarify something for me: I'm really getting tired of how quickly modern romance anime get their main couple together. As much as we rag on the endless will-they-won't-they of ages past, taking so much time to build up the characters and their relationship before they finally make it official can result in some truly one-of-a-kind storytelling when done right. I might agonize over how long Sawako and Kuronoma take to get together in Kimi ni Todoke, but the payoff is so transcendent that none of those complaints matter. Whereas Yuki and Itsuomi getting together so quickly in A Sign of Affection... I mean, they're cute, I guess? His cool demeanor plays off her sincerity very well? But it feels like the show's in such a rush to get to the good stuff- and so determined to make Istuomi the dreamiest, most perfect boyfriend ever- that it skips over so much of the careful character-building that makes all the best anime romances so special. It's a sugary sweet confection, but wipe the frosting away and there's just not that much cake underneath. Honestly, I find the side characters a lot more interesting because they're allowed to have messy internal conflicts with a bit more meat on their bones. But hey, props for putting a deaf heroine at the center of your shoujo romance and taking so much time to explore how that affects the way she interacts with the world. That's a cause well worth celebrating.

Sengoku Youko: 6.5/10

Rejoice, everyone, we finally have an adaptation of a Satoshi Mizukami work that doesn't look like absolute garbage! After the flaming disaster that was Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer's barely animated hackjob production, Sengoku Youko has arrived to give the cult fave manga artist a chance for his work to actually shine on the silver screen. As someone who only knows him through Planet With, I've always wondered if Mizukami deserved the reputation his manga gets, and with White Fox delivering as tight and intense a production as they gave Re:Zero, I guess it's time to finally find out. And the answer is... mostly? Like, the biggest problems in this sci-fi/feudal fantasy mashup are the characters being a little too eager to state the themes out loud and one pretty crummy death that's about as hamfisted and over-telegraphed as I've seen in a while. But there's a shockingly gripping narrative underlying it all, a story about the scars trauma leaves on people, of characters making bad decisions and facing real consequences for them, of hatred and poisonous ideology forced to reckon with the more complex reality of the world as a whole. And it all climaxes in an absolute barn-burner final episode that knocked my score up a half point all on its own. If future seasons can make good on all the potential this first season has set up, then I may just end up a Mizukami fan myself when all is said and done.

Blue Exorcist Season 3: 6.5/10

I'm of two minds about Blue Exorcist's second return after a six-year gap between seasons. On one hand, it's clear the new staff is just nowhere near as talented as the folks who first brought this series to life at A-1 Pictures. The action is abysmal, the storyboarding is clunky, and the animation feels like it's constantly fighting for its life to maintain a passable standard. And it sucks that a series that once brought such great life to its story is now held back by such a mediocre production. But on the other hand... holy fuck, am I glad Blue Exorcist is back. I once described The Devil is a Part-Timer as the mathematical average of anime as a concept, but if you were to ask me what the best possible version of that mathematical average looks like? It would be Blue Exorcist. This is, hands down, one of the best straightforward shonen action stories in the whole medium, a reminder of why all the most generic and overused tropes were once powerful enough to become generic and overused in the first place. It's proof that even the simplest of "superpowered teens kick demon butt with the power of friendship" concepts can result in a wonderful goddamn series when handled with good old-fashioned storytelling fundamentals. And not even the rough-as-hell production is enough to keep season 3 from delivering on the thrills, tears, laughs, and cheers that make this series so magical. Just, please, give the next season more time in the oven so it doesn't feel like it's wading through molasses to hit those heights. Okay?

Delicious in Dungeon (1st Cours): 7/10

Delicious in Dungeon's biggest problem is that it takes a while to really settle into itself. The opening scene of the protagonist's sister being devoured by a dragon sets the tone for an intense and desperate rescue mission, but the actual series that follows this harrowing opening is as lackadaisical as can be. And it's jarring to be thrust into a gag-filled, character-driven fantasy cooking comedy where the harsh tone of that opening scene and the ticking clock of Falin's digestion completely disappear from the characters' heads in favor of how beast to cook and eat the various fantasy monsters they encounter in the dungeon. Yes, it makes a little more sense once the mechanics of death and resurrection are explained later on, but it's a weird note to start on. Which is a shame, because once Delicious in Dungeon gets a handle on what kind of story it's trying to be, it's really fun! Its sense of deadpan comedy coupled with Trigger's expressive animation makes for some really unexpected gags, and the way it explores its fantasy cuisine is genuinely some of the most creative stuff I've ever seen in the cooking anime genre. Plus, with the dark tone coming back in at the end of the first cours- and landing much more naturally this time- I have high hopes for how this series will marry those two sides of itself moving forward. If the manga fans' reactions are any indication, I think we're in for a damn good time.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (2nd Cours): 8/10

So remember in my last post how I said that it was kind of disappointing whenever Frieren turned into an action show because of how disconnected the fights were from the beating heart that makes this show so special? Well, apparently the writers heard me and decided what I meant was I wanted this peaceful, meditative tale about grief, change and the passage of time to turn into the goddamn Hunter Exams for ten episodes straight. It's one of the most shockingly ill-advised storytelling swerves I've seen in an otherwise good show, discarding all this series' strengths in favor of a half-baked tournament arc with tonally jarring grimdark elements and a bland, overstuffed cast of characters who only start becoming interesting in the rare moments they're allowed to stop slinging spells at each other and just, like, talk about life? You know, the stuff that Frieren's actually good at? Not this brainless slice of shonen envy that only avoids being a complete slog thanks to how spectacular the action is across the board? Ugh. Look, Frieren is officially the most beloved anime on the goddamn planet right now, and its best moments are so incredible that I wish I could join that chorus as well. But it's so disappointing to me that a show this singular and special has so often chosen to be the least interesting version of itself.

The Dangers in My Heart Season 2: 8.5/10

It's official: director Hiroaki Akagi is the master of middle school rom-coms. No other creator so perfectly grasps the specific blend of immaturity, awkwardness, cringe, and heart-on-sleeve sincerity that defines the love stories of early adolescence. That was already clear with his work on Teasing Master Takagi-san, but now that he's pulled it off twice, there's no room left for argument. And just like with Takagi-san, the second season of The Dangers in My Heart takes a show that was already shockingly good and catapults it into all-time greatness. This is a coming-of-age triumph, a soaring tribute to embracing your own cringeworthy self, flaws and all, and sharing that self openly with the people who matter most to you. Ichikawa's journey toward maturity, Yamada's journey toward self-love, and the way their romance sparks the best in both of them is the stuff that dreams are made of. I laughed, I cried, I squealed like a little girl, and I felt my heart grow three sizes by the time it was done. This is a new gold standard for anime rom-coms, and if you can stomach a bit of groanworthy fanservice, it more than deserves your attention.

The Apothecary Diaries (2nd Cours): 8.5/10

Most of the time when I cover a two-cours show on these seasonal reflections, I end up in a pretty different place by the end of the second cours than I did at the first. Either it sort of fell apart in the second half, or found its footing and took it to the next level, or it changed in some interesting way that affects how I view the show as a whole. But The Apothecary Diaries has stayed the course from the first episode all the way to the end. Start to finish, it's remained pretty much the same show, with the same ideas and attitude, exploring the same themes in the same ways. And you know what? When you're as good as The Apothecary Diaries ended up being, there's nothing wrong with that. This is a spectacular historical drama that builds such a rich, compelling world for its equally rich, compelling characters to inhabit. It's a powerful exploration of how old society treated the disadvantaged- women, poor people, people with all severities of disability- and how one deeply abnormal girl carves her way through this viper's den with her body and soul intact. It's the kind of mature, thoughtful series we so rarely seen done this well, and with the announcement of a season 2 already confirmed, we may well end up with close to 50 episodes when all is said and done. That, folks, is what a true shoujo/josei renaissance looks like. And I'm so happy such a deserving series is leading the way in reminding us how damn good women's stories can be when they're given a chance to shine this brightly.

DROPPED

Cherry Magic: Dropped at 2 episodes for looking like butt and the central romance feeling pretty lifeless.

High Card Season 2: Dropped at 1 episode because I realized I didn't care anymore.

Ninja Kamui: Dropped at 2 episodes for being dull tryhard edgy bullshit with overdone fight scenes that are impossible to follow.

#anime #the anime binge watcher #tabw #winter 2024 anime #winter 2024 sr #sousou no frieren #frieren: beyond journey's end #the apothecary diaries #kusuriya no hitorigoto #bucchigiri?! #undead unluck #sengoku youko #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi #metallic rouge #blue exorcist #ao no exorcist #a sign of affection #yubisaki to renren #the dangers in my heart #boku no kokoro no yabai yatsu #bang brave bang bravern #urusei yatsura #solo leveling #yuuki bakuhatsu bang bravern #frieren

[leonardalphachurch]

saw the question of “how long does it take rvb to pass the bechdel test” and i got curious and also wanted to make myself mad so.

my answer is Reconstruction: Chapter 5 (s6e5). there’s a recorded conversation between sheila and tex about the ship crashing.

my answer with no caveats is Evacuation Plan (s9e4). carolina, 479er, filss and south all participate in a conversation that takes up a good chunk of the episode.

i talk a LOT more about the state of female character interactions under the cut.

the first time two women talk at all is s2e11/bgc30:

sheila bisexual moments. while iconic, this isn’t much of a conversation (tex doesn’t ever speak to her) and it’s certainly about a man so. doesn’t count. next!

next is s3e1/bgc39:

while here it’s implied that they are actually having a conversation at least we still don’t actually see any exchanges between them and they’re still talking about men and quote “Boring stuff like oppression, and a hostile work environment.” which is great but. a) we don’t see it. and b) again, still about men

next is tex and kai’s exchange in season 5. which is misogynistic as fuck and even if it did pass the bechdel test i would refuse to count it. but guess what! not only are they talking about men, but we literally do not see them talk to each other. kai speaks to tex “who’s o’malley?” but tex doesn’t respond to her, instead asking the guys “who’s the girl?” (s5e10/bgc92). then they talk in the background of the next episode while church and tucker are misogynistic. then it’s two more episodes until we get this gem

y’know, girl stuff! how fucking charming. these writers really have a great grasp on how woman act. god, it’s even worse when compared to tex and sheila’s conversation earlier. in what world would tex be fucking intimidated by kai.

and you know what the joke of this all is. even if they did have a conversation here that passed the bechdel test it still wouldn’t count under some rule sets because kai still doesn’t have a name at this point. great work team.

s5e15/bgc92 has a deleted scene where kai calls up a girl friend and they talk… i’m not counting it because 1) kai is as of yet unnamed and the girl friend is never named, 2) the conversation is ostensibly about junior, though they do talk about other stuff enough that you could argue it’s not about a man, but 3) it’s deleted. you don’t get credit for shit you deleted.

next time two women talk to each other is recovery one episode 4. this is the first time we see two women have an actual, back and forth conversation. the conversation is between south and commamd about wash, delta, and the fact that south isn’t rejoining freelancer. i do think this conversation fits the spirit of the bechdel test (two women talking to each other with deeper characterizations unmoored from being about men) but that’s only really by technicality. command isn’t a character here and doesn’t become one for another 4 seasons; the conversation is only retroactively a deeper one. it’s up to you whether or not you pass it. i think it’s important to remember that the bechdel test isn’t really a hard test to determine what’s feminist (and was made in the first place to be about queer women being able to see themselves in media) but rather a marker to help sort out if the female characters in a work are allowed any depth outside of men. this exercise is less about finding a scene fitting exact criteria and more about. me going oh god it really is fucking bad out there huh.

my actual pick, as i said in the beginning, is s6e5. though tex mentions gamma and the aliens, the conversation is still about the fact that the ship is crashing. and in terms of the spirit of the test, two women yelling at each other as they die definitely fits definitely fits “deeper character motivations outside of men” imo. it’s. kind of really sad though. the first time we ever see tex and sheila have an actual conversation is the last time we really see either of them, chronologically. we only got to see them have a relationship as they were dying. why couldn’t they have been friends in life.

if a recorded conversation isn’t good enough for you, you’ll have to wait until s8e15. season 7 does not have a single woman in it. tεx and filss talk about pfl’s files. it’s not exactly an in depth back and forth and the conversation is shared with simmons and church but. it’s something. i think sheila and tex’s convo fits the spirit of the test a bit more but. let’s chalk it up to two conversations in the 8 seasons. fantastic.

all right, season 9 time. come on, a third of the main cast is women! that’s gotta bring our numbers up, right?

episode 1? no. 2? no. 3?

incredible! we have a conversation between female operative and pilot! just kidding. the wiki doesn’t name them bc they haven’t been named yet, but this is a conversation between carolina and niner! no funny business! just an actual conversation between woman! wow. only took us nine seasons to get to a point where i can confidently say something passes the bechdel test with no caveats. unless we look at the 60 second rule. then. oops.

but… wow! episode 4 has… THREE women? talking to each other? and then a fourth joins in? i thought it was a myth! being able to handle so many women on screen at once… they really did something special here. anyway, this episode is the first to pass with flying colors. i can’t time shut bc i don’t have the videos on hand but i’m certain this passes the 60 second mark. great work! if only it didn’t take you nine years to get to this point.

ugh. i had more written past this point but tumblr erased it and i don’t feel like fucking redoing it. i got to the point i wanted to so. maybe i’ll continue this later. would like to explore the rest of pfl and chorus. it’s impressive how well pfl manages to avoid having women actually speak to each other. they’ll literally be in the same conversation but never actually address each other. this happens multiple times.

#rvb #red vs blue #analysis