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daughterofcain-67 · 4 months

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𝙾𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝙾𝚞𝚛 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 (𝚙𝚝. 7)

(Soldier Boy x Female Reader)

(masterlist)

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: Suddenly driven by the urge to find you, yet conflicted about the fact he would have to kill his own son, Ben sets out with Butcher and Hughie to go to the Vought tower and put an end to this once and for all.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: SPOILERS!!! Final episode of season three, but this series will continue after that episode. I don’t think there’s any major warnings. Little short but this will be continued. Hope you enjoy!

All you could see was white all around you as you sat alone in the room. Captivity wasn’t your idea of a fun time, then again who likes to be held captive against their will? Maybe with the exception of those with Stockholm syndrome, you assumed it would be no one’s idea of a vacation necessarily.

You sat with your back against one of the walls and your legs crossed in front of you. Your eyes were closed as you tried not to focus on your current situation. Instead you were wondering if Ben really did find Mindstorm, and if he was able to get a little more closure and revenge that he wanted. You wondered when he would get to Black Noir, or if he could even get to him in the Vought tower.

Then you began to wonder if Ben would really be able to kill Homelander. You wanted him to be able. To take the hero’s powers away and show everyone that without his powers, Homelander was just an image of Vought’s imperfections. You wanted to know what their reaction would be when they found out their star-spangled mascot was nothing but a useless puppet, like most if not all supes, who just got paid to be glorified for nothing.

After that, your mind started to wander off to the aftermath of your life with Ben after killing Homelander…

Would he get caught yet again? Would he be sent out of the country yet again to a place like Russia? You wouldn’t put it past Vought to do something so cruel. You couldn’t imagine all of the horrible things Ben went through. Well, you could because you went through something similar, but the government wasn’t out to kill you.

The Russians were trying to kill Ben, and they had a lot longer of a time with him. The government didn’t have nearly as much time with you. So you couldn’t imagine just the amount of torture Ben had gone through for such a long amount of time, only to be left alone in a vault like he was some antique in the lab.

You wouldn’t let anything like that happen to him again. You couldn’t let yourself live with that if Vought took him away again. Back then you couldn’t do anything about it, but now you could.

You only hoped that Ben would be careful enough to not let it get to that point.

Then you tried to start thinking more positively. After all, you weren’t a fortune teller. You had to have some sort of hope in you after all.

So maybe you were over thinking and nothing would go wrong with Ben. Maybe he’d be okay after all and his little quest to kill Homelander would go smoothly. He was experienced at least somewhat when it came to some battles, even if he didn’t actually storm Normandy like Vought wanted everyone to believe.

You wondered what life would have in store for you if that were really the case. What would the future hold if both of you came out of this okay after all?

You were pretty confident you’d need a new hidden cabin in the woods somewhere. After all, you didn’t want Vought finding you again if they didn’t destroy your old home anyway. But you wondered where you would go, you wondered where Ben would want to go.

With Vought out of your hair and Homelander gone, you could go anywhere in the world you wanted to go. Would Ben want to go out of the country with you and start a new life?

Maybe you could go somewhere beautifull…

You heard Ireland was beautiful. You’ve never visited the country and you would love to see what it was like. Maybe you and Ben could travel the world before you decided to find a new home and settle down. Maybe have that family Ben always seemed to dream about.

There were so many positive ideas that came floating in your mind and they seemed to be a dream away. You weren’t sure if you could really have any of those fantastical outcomes, but it never hurt to have that hope.

After all… you dreamt that Soldier Boy would come back. Now he was back in your life so unexpectedly. What other things would come true for you?

The sound of the door opening brought you from your thoughts but your eyes remained closed because you knew all too well who was coming through that door. Judging by the stomps those boots made, Homelander wasn’t too happy. Then again, when was he ever happy and not plastering some fake smile for the public eye.

“Still don’t know where Soldier Boy is. Hate to break it to you, Kiddo.” You sighed with exasperation.

“I’m not here for that.”

“Oh really? No threats if I don’t give you some kind of top secret location?” You sassed with a smirk.

“Did you know?”

What the hell kind of a question is that? How were you supposed to respond?

“You need to be a little more specific than that, Kid.” You remained in the same spot, never opening your eyes to look at the ‘hero’ as you tried to go back to your own thoughts.

“Did you know about Soldier Boy being my father?”

This is what made you open your eyes. You looked up at the supe who had his hands on his hips, awaiting an answer coming from you.

Ben was Homelander’s father? How did that happen? And when? It was certainly a sudden shock, one you hadn’t anticipated to hear that morning - at least you were assuming it was morning. You were losing your concept of time after being locked up in the same place for so long.

“Do you realize how much of a perv he was back in the day before he and I started getting along? He was the one that started Herogasm remember? You can’t honestly believe you’re the only kid he has out there, can you?” You laughed, hiding your surprise.

You wondered if Ben had any idea about this. He couldn’t have known, otherwise he wouldn’t have been so accepting of the idea of killing Homelander?

“Oh please, I was born in ‘81. You two were close during that time, I know it. So did you fucking know he was my father, or didn’t you?”

“I didn’t know.” You finally answered after a few moments of silence.

“So how did you find out? You look equally as shocked.” You said while Homelander ran a hand through his bleached hair.

“I… I got a call sometime last night from… from him.”

You lifted a brow. Ben called Homelander? He must’ve gotten home and you hoped he got Dan after all. So did Mindstorm break the news to him? Was that the reason Vought took him away from you? Damned them. It was exactly something Vought would do so you couldn’t put it past them.

“He said it was some sort of… genetic experiment.” Homelander revealed. You rolled your eyes at the way he seemed so shocked at the news. Was he really that stupid when it came to this organization?

“Are you fucking kidding me? Of course they’d have genetic experiments. Most heroes don’t live that long. Vought must’ve wanted Ben to have some kind of early retirement because they were creating you. Some replacement.” You scoffed.

“Oh don’t act like you aren’t effected by it. Doesn’t it bother you that your precious Soldier Boy has a son and it wasn’t a result of something from you?” He asked and you rolled your eyes.

“Kid. Don’t try to use that shit with me.” You scoffed.

“You think I’m affected by that? If I was I wouldn’t have bothered getting close to him after Liberty, or Crimson Countess. But you? You were nothing but some kid that came out of a damn tube. You’re nothing but an experiment. You are not Soldier Boy’s son by any long shot, and you likely never will be because he hates pathetic men like you.”

You noticed Homelander’s eyes glow red at your last comment and you smirked. He wouldn’t be so affected by it if it wasn’t the truth, “Sweetie, if you kill me, your daddy’s gonna gut you like an animal.”

The color of Homelander’s eyes went back to normal and he looked away from you for a moment. You noticed that he seemed to be having a difficult time wrapping his head around this whole thing. Then he started getting some sort of notification from Ashley and you heard him let out a groan of annoyance.

“Fucking Hell!” He exclaimed.

“Something got your panties in a twist there?” You asked with your head tilted before he looked over at you.

“This isn’t over. I’ll find where Soldier Boy is. And he won’t even know you’re here. He’ll never find you and you’ll spend the rest of your days locked up.” He said and he stormed out of the door.

You looked through the glass as Homelander walked off and you looked down at your hand. You flattened it out before slowly turning your hand into a fist and the building started to shake as if you were indirectly trying to tell Homelander he could try to keep you here for a while, but you’d never stay here.

So many things have happened within the last several hours and he didn’t know how to think of any of this. Everything felt so complicated.

Mindstorm was finally dead, and Ben was glad to have finally killed that fucker. Yet he still couldn’t believe that he was a father. That complicated things immensely, yet a deal was still a deal, right? Then there was the fact that you were missing. Ben was absolutely livid at the very idea that something may have happened to you, and you suddenly became his top priority, no matter the complications and the conflict ion he was feeling about all of this.

After the phone call he made to Homelander, telling him that he was the supe’s father, he had been drinking. He ended the phone call quickly and he knew he was still determined to get you back. He had this gut feeling Homelander was the one that had you. Ironic because you were always so cautious of where he went and who could see him, and you failed to think that you now had a target on your own back.

As Ben stepped out of his room with a little hangover remedy in his hand, he could briefly hear Hughie and Butcher talking about him.

“Listen, do you think he’s going to kill his own son? That’s a lot to ask of him. No wonder he was so hesitant to tell us after Mindstorm broke the news.” Hughie said.

“Well Homelander ain’t really his son. Deep down he knows that. He’s nothing but a glorified lab experiment.” Butcher said.

Ben clenched down on his jaw. He knew Butcher was right. He had a task to focus on, and he knew you would want him to stay focused. He knew they would have to go to the Vought tower anyway because it was more than likely that Black Noir was there. As he stepped out, he saw Butcher glance over at him.

“Mornin’ sunshine.” Butcher’s accent thick as he spoke.

“We’ve got a lot ahead of us. We’ve got to go to the office and get more temp V, then we’ll get our asses over to Vought so we can kill two birds with one stone. Then our little team up’s complete.”

“We’re still searching for Y/N.” Ben corrected sternly.

“Well yeah, of course that too.” Butcher nodded as he put his black coat on.

Ben turned and started heading to the room to grab his shield once more and he downed the rest of that little remedy and he tried to focus. You would want it that way.

He didn’t know what Vought was doing to you. Who knew if Vought actually destroyed those records the government had on their experiments with you. You were right, they were all a bunch of liars. No wonder you took to Grace Mallory. But Ben was still worried that maybe now that they had you in their clutches, would Vought really put you through that hell again to find a way to take a hero’s powers?

It was the uncertainty that gave Ben hell. He knew you couldn’t be dead. There was no way you could be dead and he had to believe that. But he knew the way Vought treated their heroes, and how their supes treated each other and got away with it. So who knew what Homelander would do to you.

Once Butcher and Hughie were ready to hit the road, Ben walked out of the door with them as he tried to keep his cool. He took the box of those cigarettes Butcher gave him with the weed and he lit one up whenever they got outside.

When they got to the car, Ben decided that he’d lay down and maybe sleep off the headache that was quickly forming. He could feel when the car was stopped and Butcher went to pump gas. The runt went to go to the bathroom and Ben eventually fell asleep.

A few hours later when Ben woke up he realized Butcher was still driving and he noticed Hughie was no longer in the vehicle with them.

Odd…

“Where’s the cockchoker?” He asked as Butcher started to reply.

“Ah well, you were right about ‘im, Mate. At the gas station he took off.” He said and Ben’s brows narrowed.

“We needed him to get to noir.”

“Oh I wouldn’t worry too much about that one. You said it yourself, Noir’s loyal to Vought so he’ll be there and so will Homelander. Two birds with one stone. All’s well.”

Ben wasn’t too sure if he was willing to believe that whole story. He wanted to believe Butcher was right and things would go smoothly, but so far in Ben’s life nothing has been smooth sailing. Whether he liked it or not, Ben had a feeling Hughie would go back to his little girlfriend and something could go wrong.

“Just wake me up when we get to New York.”

Ben laid back down and looked at the ceiling of the car but he wasn’t sure he’d be going back to sleep so easily. So instead he tried to think of you just as he did when he was in that fucking box in Russia.

He closed his eyes and he could see you in the very cabin you resided on the first night he was able to see you again. He could see you wearing that little necklace he gifted you what felt like eons ago, but you also had a golden band around your finger.

You would be in the kitchen making some sort of dessert and he could see himself walking into the kitchen. He’d say something a little inappropriate in a joking manner and you would roll your eyes pretending to be disgusted but you’d chuckle nonetheless because you knew his sense of humor.

But then, down the stairs there would be a sound of little feet running down to greet the both of them. A boy, one that looked nothing like Homelander. Instead, this would be the perfect mixture of you and him. And Ben would lift his son up into his arms and let him dip his finger into the batter of whatever dessert you were making despite your protests that your son would spoil his dinner.

Ben would shut you up with a kiss and then he’d make his son promise to eat his supper before he’d take the boy out to the backyard to play some sport whether it was football or baseball since he’d be too young to handle a gun.

It was a perfect life all inside of Ben’s mind and he desperately wanted that future. And he would stop at nothing to make sure he’d get you back.

Eventually Ben did finally fall asleep but the nap didn’t feel quite long enough, even if it was already dark outside. He didn’t realize just how worn out he’d been lately. Ever since he came back he’s been going nonstop to get the revenge he wanted on Payback and now to kill Homelander.

Ben squinted and looked around him, realizing Butcher had already pulled up to a building, likely the one that had his temp V shit. Ben groaned a little as he got out of the car and when Butcher popped the trunk, Ben was able to grab his shield and the two of them walked inside.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to do this?” Butcher asked and Ben looked over.

“What? Kill Homelander? You said it yourself, he’s not really my son.” Ben said, even if he did have some sort of doubts about it.

Anyway, the two men walked up the stairs and Ben noticed that they seemed to have a good view of everything. Ben noticed a table full of different alcoholic substances and liquors.

“Have at it. Calm before the storm after all.” Butcher said.

Ben glanced over at Butcher but then he shrugged and went ahead and poured himself a drink as well as one for Butcher, who accepted. Then Ben walked out towards the window where he had the view of the Vought tower.

“Supes are nothing but circus monkeys… Your little girlfriend was right about that. I’m glad she went to Mallory in the beginning.” Ben could hear Butcher say, Ben assumed Butcher saw him looking out of the window.

“You ever seen the Soldier Boy movie?” Ben asked as Butcher was looking at a map of Vought.

“Must’ve missed that classic.” Butcher said.

“I guess it is a classic now.” Ben hummed a little.

“It’s about a kid that lived in poorer parts of South Philly.. discover’s he’s got these super powers to match his little heart of gold. It’s a load of bullshit. All of it.” Ben said and he sat down.

“My dad was never poor, hell I even went to boarding school. Got kicked out of boarding school for bein’ a fuck up.” Ben began and Butcher looked over at him.

“Made sure you remembered you were a fuck up, huh? What’d he do, beat you to hell?” Ben shook his head.

“Couldn’t be bothered by it. Said I was his own personal disappointment. Not a lot I thought I could do about that. As I grew older I realized that I could go to some of his golf friends and they got me into the Vought trials for enlistment. I thought could be my chance at meeting more than just some sort of fuck up to my parents. Vought shot me up with their blue liquid shit and they made me a hero.”

“What’d the old man say to that?”

Ben recalled having this similar conversation with you at that New Year’s party you mentioned in one of your letters. He thought it would get a little easier to talk about and in a way, it was a little easier because now Ben’s father was long gone. It’s not like he had anything to prove to a dead man.

“Said I took a short cut. That a real man wouldn’t have cheated to be a hero.” Ben said as his jaw clenched and he looked down at his drink and cleared his throat.

“None of the supes are born with their powers, but I guess you’ve gathered that already. At first I thought I was doing what was right. Most naive kids do. None of us start off as bad guys.” Ben said before he looked at Butcher again.

“Then one day, when you’ve gone to too many parties, done pointless movies, did everything you were asked to do and yet you still don’t save as many lives as you hope to save, you realize Vought is all about business and money. That’s when you begin to stop giving a fuck, you begin to indulge in the lifestyle of a circus monkey as you call them, because you stop believing in any morals. You stop believing there really is good, and if there is you’ve already been so corrupted to the point where you doubt you can spread that goodness. One day you look in the mirror and realize… you aren’t the man you wanted to be.”

Butcher was quiet for a moment, thinking about his own past. He was always his little brother’s protector. It was sort of his job in a way until one day he had enough of it. And that would forever be one of the biggest regrets of his life.

“I don’t think Homelander had that much of a choice in deciding if he wanted to be a circus monkey or not. The whole world used to look up to him, Hell I even looked up to him at one point. But then one day, it all turned to shit.” Butcher said.

“Trust me, kid. Times are just as complicated and shitty now as they were back in my day. It’s not easy finding out that a kid you didn’t even know you had is Vought’s most beloved puppet. It’s harder to see that they couldn’t have made him better.” Ben sighed.

“What about you? Any kids?” Ben finally asked.

“That’s a bit of a complicated one too.” Butcher said.

Ben looked down, the news from Mindstorm still eating at his mind. He wasn’t sure he wanted to kill his own son. Homelander is the only blood that Ben had left, the only sense of family even if he was just some lab experiment.

“I knew I had a few running around somewhere. Never thought I’d actually run into one of them. I’ve always wanted them, thought I could do better than my old man.” Ben said.

“I’m pretty sure that’s either the hope of the parent, or the fear of turning into their parent keeps them from having kids.” Butcher said, knowing his reason was the latter. What happened to Becca was out of his control though.

“But you have to realize that Homelander isn’t yours. You didn’t name the lad. You didn’t raise him. I know he’s the only blood you got left, Mate, and I know it’s a hard pill to swallow. But Homelander was created in a damned test tube all for the purpose of taking your place. You’ve got to get that through your skull.” Butcher said before he walked over to Ben.

“Don’t you realize that Homelander is the very fucking reason Vought left you to rot? Homelander is the very reason the Ivan’s had you, tortured you, burned you. They filled you up with shit you never asked for all because Vought wanted you dead so they could make a way for a guy in a fucking cape. Not to mention the fact the he was probably the one that fucking took Y/N in the first place and now she’s in that tower going through who fucking knows what.”

Ben went quiet and he tried to think. He knew the reason Butcher was saying all of this was partially because of the deal he made so they could kill Homelander. But he tried to think of what you would have said in that moment.

You knew him better than anyone, and he knew you were so against Vought and all of their bullshit. Would you have said the same thing if you were in Butcher’s shoes?

“I’m going to get some air.” Ben said and he set the glass down and walked out of the front door.

After a few moments, Ben thought he could hear something. This time he wasn’t hearing things in his mind from the PTSD or whatever the fuck Hughie called it. He knew what he heard.

So Ben walked back in the building and as he made his way up the stairs and back to the office, he could hear two girls fighting. Something about killing Homelander and doing whatever it takes. Homelander must’ve been a piece of work if so many people wanted him dead. That was honestly… disheartening at best. Maybe even a bit…

Disappointing.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Some red headed notch in civilian clothes said and Ben lifted a brow.

“No, but I will.” Ben said, truly not giving a fuck about who came to the office.

“You heard ‘him, Lad. Get in the safe.” Butcher said and looked at Hughie.

Ben took a glance at some guy who was glaring at him like he wanted to skin Ben alive personally. It wasn’t the first time Ben had ever gotten that look and he knew it wouldn’t be the last time.

Once everyone was in the safe, Ben started walking out of the door so he could go to Vought. Then he realized that Butcher was trying to stop him.

“Hey. You ready for this?” Butcher asked and Ben hummed a little.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Ben said and they started making their way to the tower.

When they made it to the tower, Ben Butcher and who he now knew was Queen Maeve, wouldn’t be expecting the incoming trouble from Hughie, Starlight and the others in the group.

Although it was getting to the point where Ben knew he shouldn’t take things at face value with this group. He wouldn’t be surprised if the blonde one figured out a way to break out of the damned safe, or any of them for that matter. He learned after his experience with Payback not to underestimate anyone.

Once Ben and Butcher made it to some sort of office, he heard the two of them exchange a little small talk. Something about scorching the earth. He didn’t know and didn’t really give a rat’s ass to know what they were talking about.

“Where’s Noir?” He asked sternly.

“Dead. He… didn’t tell me about you. Dishonesty is.. is something I just can’t tolerate. Queen Maeve there, she knows all about that.” Homelander said and motioned to the redhead

“And where’s Y/N?”

“How should I know anything about her? She was the one attached to you by the hip, wasn’t she?” The Supe asked.

“I just want to talk… That’s all.” Ben didn’t budge or initiate the fight. Neither did Butcher or Maeve.

“Besides, we could never be a family with her. I know you and I want the very same thing. Our teams never gave us that. Instead, every one of them stabbed us in the back. Sooner or later, Y/N will stab you in the back too.” Homelander said and Ben wasn’t sure how he should feel about that statement. Homelander didn’t know anything about you.

“It could be just you and I against the world. We would be an unstoppable duo. Both of us are practically unkillable. We could bring Vought back to its former glory. Just you and me.”

Ben thought about it before he looked over. Then he started walking over, “The only people that could kill us is each other. How would that end?”

“It wouldn’t happen. And what would even make you say that? Him?” Homelander motioned to Butcher. “He’s nothing but human. Flawed. He does’t stand a chance against us, no one does.”

“Don’t listen to that bloody lab rat. He’s trying to twist your mind around.” Butcher said, trying to interfere.

“Remember, he’s not your real son.”

“Yes I am! I am your son! I’m your blood! That’s all that matters in the end, doesn’t it?”

Ben stood silently as Homelander than motioned for a little boy to come to his side. He looked exactly like Homelander, a spitting image really. “This is Ryan. My son. Your grandson.”

Grandson? He was a grandfather too?

Everything Ben had ever wanted was right fucking here in front of him, minus you of course. That was the only issue with this revelation of family. You had no part in it.

“Hi Grandpa.”

Those simple two words made Ben lean back, stunned really since he had never thought he would even hear those words in his life. Let alone a simple ‘hi dad.’

Butcher’s words continued to echo in Ben’s mind. Homelander was nothing but a lab rat, an experiment that came from a tube. He had no bond with this man, he had no bond with his son either. He was just another supe and some random brat. But he can’t completely ignore the shared blood in their veins. How could he?

“We’re all any of us ever needs. We’re a family just the three of us. We can raise Ryan here to be a better hero than the both of us combined so he could take our mantle one day.”

But this very man, this pathetic piece of shit that was the one that had the audacity to take you away from him. The only woman that ever loved him for what he truly was, despite his own imperfections and disappointing qualities. You loved him for who he was. And Homelander took you from him.

Ben walked over to Homelander before he spoke again, “It’s a shame to know that I’ve missed… so much.”

He could see the hope on Homelander’s face. He really thought Ben was going to give him some sort of approving speech, but Ben had to face the truth of what his son really was.

“I wish I could have raised you. Father to son. I could have raised you to be a better man so you could be a better example for your own son…” Ben said as he placed a hand on his own son’s shoulder.

“But instead you’re this… this… weak, sniffling, attention starved cunt that wants everyone’s approval.”

“Weak? But… But I’m you.”

Ben’s lips pressed into a thin line. Homelander was right. He was Ben, all of the parts of Ben he wished he never had to deal with, “I know… You’re a fucking disappointment. One who took away Y/N, and that’s something I just can’t move on from.”

Suddenly, Ben’s hand was attached to Homelander’s jaw as he intended to break it, but the fucking brat tried to push Ben away. Quake and Butcher both held Homelander still as Ben focused every ounce of his energy into his chest so he could use it to finally kill Homelander.

Butcher tried to tell the brat to move, but suddenly, two little red lasers shot from the kid’s eyes as Ben’s chest began to glow. It threw Ben through the glass and against the wall, clearly taking him off guard. What the hell just happened?

Ben slowly got up with a grunt and dusted himself off from the glass. As Homelander was telling Ryan to go upstairs, Ben used his shield to shove the kid into the bookcase.

“Little Shit. Must take after his old man.” Ben said and rubbed his jaw. Then he started to let the energy in his chest begin to glow again while the hero was tending to the brat. This was the moment now that Homelander was distracted. He could take him down as well at the little runt that was getting in his way.

That was when tables started to turn, Butcher’s eyes began to glow too with the temp V still in his system. Ben lifted his shield to block Butcher’s attack and he peered over the shield. Ben was at a loss for words. After all that talk about “a deal’s a deal” this was a change. Didn’t Butcher want the bastard dead?

He didn’t have time to ask many questions before the fight insued between him and Butcher, eventually Homelander joined in too.

You had been hearing rumors that Maeve escaped. So Starlight was right after all about Homelander doing something with her. You knew Homelander must’ve been pissed when he found out that information. You wondered just how much his world was beginning to fall apart all around him.

Suddenly, all of the lights seemed to go red. A lot of people were beginning to panic and the doors of these cells were opened. You were freed! But why? What the Hell was happening? There was only one solution you could possibly come up with.

Soldier Boy.

You quickly got up and you saw all of the prisoners Vought had contained were escaping. You followed all of them, the flow of the crowd seemed to be evacuating the building.

“What’s going on? Why are we running?” you asked one of the lower workers.

“There’s an attack on the tower. Soldier Boy’s real and he’s going to kill all of us! He’s with that Butcher guy Homelander hates so much.” Someone said and you stopped in your tracks as everyone else ran out of the door.

You bit your lip as you tried to think hard of where Soldier Boy and the others could be. Homelander must’ve known Ben was there by now, what if things turned sideways again like they did in Vermont? You ran past the meeting hall but you had to do a double take. That was when you noticed that Black Noir was dead.

Your eyes widened because you knew Ben was at the last name on his list. And what if Starlight made her way back to the tower? What if she convinced the rest of Butcher’s team to put an end to Ben?

You didn’t want to think of that outcome but you could feel all of the adrenaline rushing through your veins.

You had to think fast and you started making your way up to the very top of the tower, deciding to use the stairs since the elevator must’ve been occupied by everyone trying to rush to the lobby from whatever floor they were on so they could rush inside.

You were suddenly held back by two people who made you stop running and when you looked over you saw that it was both Hughie and Starlight.

That was when your worst fears were becoming realized.

“Hughie?! What the Hell?!” You questioned.

“We have to kill him, Quake. He’s dangerous and he’s going to kill so many people! You saw what he did in Vermont.” Hughie said and you glared at him before you fought your way out of his grasp since you could tell he was surprisingly not on the temp V shit.

Then there was starlight and you saw her eyes were starting to glow and your eyes narrowed as you took a hold of her hands, gripped them as tightly as you could and you twisted her wrists, successfully breaking the both of them and you could hear her cry out in agony. She wasn’t the only supe in the room after all. The yellow glow went out of her eyes and you lifted your leg, kicking her to a wall.

Then you marched over and hovered above the ignorant blonde.

“Where the fuck is he?”

“H-He’s with Butcher. He’s going to kill Homelander and anyone else within a hundred foot radius of here. We have to stop him.” Annie said, looking up at you with pleading eyes as if she was begging you to listen.

“What exactly were you going to do with him. What weakness did you find.” You said with a certain darkness in your voice.

“I can’t tell you that.” She said and you wrapped your hands around your throat.

“Listen, Little Girl. At this point, Homelander is the least of your worries,” You tightened your grip on her throat, “if you don’t tell me what the fuck you found out, I will kill you, MM, Frenchie, Butcher, Hughie, mmm… I will kill anyone you’ve ever cared about if you dare take him from me again.”

“V-Vapor. F-Frenchie said it was a vapor that could weaken Soldier Boy. Some kind of toxin.”

“What was the name of the toxin?”

“I-I don’t remember.”

“You’ve learned to lie well. What the fuck is the name of the toxin?”

“N-Novichok! I-It knocks him out and puts him to sleep. L-Like an anesthesia. I-It won’t kill him but it’ll give us time to evacuate these people.” Starlight said.

You heard the name and you thought you’ve heard that name before. You recalled it was a theory you had in one of your papers when you were trying to think of what could have possibly happened to weaken Soldier Boy and taken him away. You didn’t think something like that could be true. For you it was pure speculation, a long shot.

“Try to stop me and I’ll break your fucking neck.” You seethed before you threw Annie next to Hughie before you started running up the stairs as fast as you could to get to Ben and Butcher before anything disaster out happens.

Unfortunately, you realized you were too late. Not only was Homelander fighting Ben, but so was Butcher. MM made it too and so did Kimiko. Kimiko was trying to fight Ben with hand-to-hand combat and she was starting to fail miserably. MM was using some big looking gun to shoot Ben, but obviously it wasn’t working. Butcher and Homelander were using their powers to try and fight him off.

Your eyes widened the very moment you saw Ben’s shield break into pieces. You knew this was serious and things weren’t looking good.

You raised your hands and the building started to shake as you started to use the material, the concrete of the building and you took chunks of it and you started to throw it at Homelander and Butcher.

Ben saw concrete and pieces of the building began to fly and he saw you there. You were alive, and you were there! But the very moment that he was distracted, he felt multiple people tackling him and they put some kind of mask on him. He was all to familiar with what was in the canister and he was instantly starting to feel weak.

“No. I’m not.. going back.. In that fucking box!”

He started absorbing so much more energy and they were finally starting to back off, but this time Ben couldn’t hold back the energy and it needed to go somewhere. The upcoming blast was too intense and he didn’t even realize that someone was knocking him out some window nearby. The next thing he knew, the blast engulfed him and whoever pushed him out.

“NO!” You exclaimed when you saw the man you loved was pushed out of the window.

Your heart was racing so fast, you felt so much more adrenaline course through your veins than you had in a very, very long time.

You stood up and you saw the way Butcher, Hughie, everyone in the room was looking at you and none of them knew what to do next, but Butcher and Homelander were the first to use their eyes on you, only for you to shift the floor in the building and rotate them to where the two were facing each other and attack one another.

MM tried to use the gun on you and the bullets did hurt sure, but they’d do nothing more than leave bruises on your skin. You took a chunk of the concrete in the wall and used it to knock MM across the room and send him flying. You knew it knocked him out but honestly, you didn’t really care.

Kimiko tried to come at you and you took the same chunk of the building that knocked out MM and you used it to knock out Kimiko and shoved her through the same hole in the glass wall that Ben was pushed out of.

You were already starting to feel dizzy from using your powers this much, but you couldn’t stand by this any longer. All of them ruined your life.

They came to your home, brought you out of hiding and Homelander found you making it to where you had to leave. Then when Ben came back, you couldn’t even have him for long before they tried to kill him all over again.

And you were done with all of it.

Your eyes darkened and you used all of the strength you had left and you turned both your hands into fists, raising up in the air. Then with all of the force you had in you, you slammed your fists to the ground.

The entire building started to shake, dust and rubble fell from the ceiling. Then the entire building seemed to drop a layer or three. Everyone started to scramble to their feet and try to find the quickest ways out of the building but you knew it would be too late for a lot of them, the ones that didn’t have V in them anyway.

You did the same motion again with your fists, bringing even more of the building down. Homelander took Ryan and fled from the building, Butcher must’ve still had V in him because you could see him trying to shield MM. But you knew he didn’t have much left in him.

With one more ground breaking smash, the entire building rumbled and it started to lose its foundations, the integrity of the building was now compromised and before you knew it…. The ceiling was falling of all of your heads.

What felt like hours later, you were covered in dust and you were coughing up some blood. You were surprised you were even awake with the amount of rubble that was on top of you. You should have been crushed. You managed to open your eyes and you realized you were unharmed. But the Vought tower was finally brought to its knees. They’d lose everything.

You used whatever was left in your strength to climb your way out of the rubble and when you looked around, you saw that there were ambulances all around. You realized that you used a little too much power and Vought wasn’t the only building you took down. People must’ve been caught in the crossfire.

You were lucky you were covered in white dust, otherwise some news reporters may have recognized you. Some of the paramedics were taking some people out of the rubble, you didn’t care to see who made it and who didn’t.

You started to look around the rubble, no one would really question it because they were all looking for loved ones. You were doing everything you could to find any sign of Soldier Boy. He had to be around somewhere. He had to be okay. There was no way a building killed him, so he had to be here, right?

Instead, you found nothing. You couldn’t find Ben anywhere. You didn’t know if he walked out of this play or if he had the Novichok in his system and he was still knocked out and someone took him. You didn’t know if the energy blast knocked him out because of how much was pent up in him and he hadn’t come to just yet.

You dashed into the shadows, knowing you had a new task at hand…

Find Ben.

No matter what it took, no matter if you’d end up crushing every singly building or destroying every city and killing yourself in the process… you would stop at nothing to find Ben and get him out of the clutches of whoever took him.

Tag List:

@deans-spinster-witch @roseblue373 @nancymcl @jackles010378 @hobby27 @chriszgirl92 @lyarr24 @wirdbeimaufhebengebunden @prettyinplaid94 @globetrotter28 @suckitands33 @capricxnt @k-slla @david-tennant-obsessed-blog @deangirl96 @mimaria420 @ashdoctor @muhahaha303 @angelbabyyy99

#jensen ackles #soldier boy #soldier boy fic #soldier boy ff #soldier boy x y/n #soldier boy jensen #soldier boy x you #jensen ackles soldier boy #soldier boy fanfiction #soldier boy x reader #jensen the boys #jensen ackles the boys #the boys amazon #the boys #the boys ff

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skatingbi · 5 months

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WELCOME TO PART 3 OF MY SANJI WITH HETEROCHROMIA SERIES!!!!

Oh my god. Yall are insane. 700+ Notes for part one of this series alone is crazy (Crazy? I was- *gets shot*). So heres part 3. I'll probably have to publish all this onto AO3 soon bc shits getting outta hand, but I like posting on this silly little site so I'll still be posting on here.

Uhhh this was posted WAY later than I anticipated bc i had a gnarly depressive episode and had to enroll into uni, but there aint no way id abandon this series, its too fun and i love experimenting with my baby writing style as i call it.

Okay thats it, just thank u all sm for enjoying my silly little series :) u guys are so sweet!!

P.S. Constructive criticism is OKAY! I havent written fanfic in like...10 years so since middle school. Im a baby at this and I understand if I may have several errors so pls lemme know if theres grammar mistakes!

Sanji With Heterochromia Series Part 3 below 🔻

Sanji lied. He does like the idiot. More than he's willing to admit. A few days after their conversation, Zoro distances himself. It leaves a nasty feeling in his gut similar to nausea but different from actually wanting to throw up. It feels apprehensive. He's waiting for something, but he doesn't know what yet. Sanji hates it. He hates how confused he is and how much he actually wants Zoro to touch him again. He hates the burning linger of scarred knuckles on his cheekbone that follows him wherever he goes.

He hates these feelings because he never learned how to really process them. He doesn't know if he has to blame himself, his shitty excuse of a father, or Zeff. Well, maybe not Zeff. The old man had enough on his plate while raising him as it was. Sanji decides to blame it on Judge because honestly, the root of most of his issues stems from that shitty old man anyway. Placing the blame on someone does little to actually help, but it's a distraction from his growing realization of how much he cares for Zoro.

He cares for Zoro. No, he holds an unreasonable amount of affection for the scarred swordsman that haunts his thoughts now more than ever. Fuck questioning sexuality when it's undeniable that he's absolutely whipped for the big idiot. Theres no room for denial anymore, not when his touch had become branded across Sanji's skin for the foreseeable future.

Stress cooking does little to soothe him and it's the same with smoking. At least Luffy gets to enjoy snacks to his hearts content. Its the little things, he tries to tell himself. He also reflects on his conversation with Zoro. How he honestly felt afraid of what he felt when the swordsman confronted him. He felt afraid of someone genuinely caring for his emotional wellbeing. He's anxious over what that means, what it would do to him if Zoro truely meant what he said. All the things voiced about him and the implications that he's...handsome in the eyes of Zoro.

Sanji is emotional. It comes with him being sentimental as well. He's the black sheep of his biological family in every way. He loved too hard, and got hurt too fast. He loved even when it ended in betrayal. Secretly, he loves unconditionally. What would happen if he loved Zoro like that, and what if it already happened and he's too late to stop it? Would Zoro hurt him just like everyone else has? Would he be pushed away eventually after the thrill of their theoretical short lived relationship?

It keeps him up at night, that conversation replaying in his head as he stares at Zoro's sleeping silhouette. He falls asleep to his breathing, echoing throughout the room over everyone else's breath and snores. He wakes up every morning before the sun greets him and pretends nothing happened in his dreams where Zoro's gentle touch and admiration lingers softly over his mind.

Zoro knows. Well, not exactly. He's not a mind reader like how Luffy seems to be, but he knows that distancing himself from Sanji is actually doing the opposite of what he thought it would do. At this point, the swordsman isnt sure where to go from here.

Sanji's actions contradict his words. Sanji stares at Zoro. Not so much that it's s uncomfortable but it's enough to be noticeable. Sometimes he swears he can see Sanji's eyes dart across his face and down to his lips before looking away. It's confusing. Didnt Sanji hate Zoro's advances towards him? Because thats what they were in hindsight.

Zoro was unconciously flirting with the cook in his own weird way. And yeah, he's a little stupid for not realizing the implications behind his actions at first, but it all started as genuine curiosity. He didnt mean for it to affect their rivalry. Now, he's not sure where to go from here.

It's driven him between a rock and a hard place and unforfunately for him, Nami decides to intervene again. This time, Nami drags Zoro to her and Robin's shared room on the Sunny for privacy and possibly interrogation. He's certain that this time he wont be able to escape. Unfortunate.

"Okay, so heres how this is gonna go," Zoro and Nami are now seated across from each other, where theres two beds and enough room for decent sized dressers on each side. Zoro sits on what he assums is Robin's bed with his arms crossed, "You will tell me everything- And i mean it! I will know if youre lying -and I will help you. Im sick and tired of you both being miserable and gay! It's giving everyone second hand embaressment." She demands, narrowing her eyes with a challenge for Zoro to protest or say no.

Zoro is smart enough to know what is and isn't a losing battle. This is one of those. Nami can be terrifyingly persistent once she sets her mind on something, and today it seems to be resolving the weird and awkward tension between him and Sanji. The swordsman resigns himself to his fate quickly and prepares himself to be trapped here on Robin's bed for the foreseeable future.

"Fine witch," Zoro sighs, "But if you tell anyone I will not be responsible for my actions." He huffs out in acceptance for his inevitable interrogation.

"Oh please like that'll actually scare me. Plus besties never snitch." Nami rolls her eyes. She gets comfortable on her bed and look at zoro expectantly. He rolls his eyes and relaxes his posture a bit.

Zoro starts talking, beginning with the first instance of his realization of Sanji having dual colored eyes, leaving out a lot of "unimportant" details. He mentions the second, and the third instance, and their conversation from a few days ago and how he tried to respect Sanji's establishment of a boundary and how he's confused now that Sanji stares at him. Nami listens with her chin resting on her fist and nodding along the way, surprisingly not interrupting once. He finishes speaking and he knows his face is red with embaressment, but he feigns nonchalance and waits for Nami's input.

"Zoro," Nami sighs, "Youre the dumbest bitch I know." She says while giving the man a look of sympathy, but not one that actually means it. More like the look of someone who is so incredibly done with your shit that they have no choice but to tell you so.

"What the fuck, Nami!? Im not dumb!" The swordsman retorts loudly.

"Anyways," his best friend ignores his arguing in favor of getting to the task at hand, "Luckily, this is fixable. For making the entire crew feel awkward for two weeks, I'm adding a 200 percent tax increase to your debt." She smiles mischeviously, and thats when Zoro realizes that one, he's never getting out of debt, and two, he's been forced to accept Nami's help in unfucking up his unconcious attempts to flirt with Sanji.

"First order of business is that you have absolutely no game." Nami begins with a shit eating grin to match the absolutely insulting statement. Zoro briefly reconsiders their friendship.

"Shut the fuck up I obviously do." He rolls his eyes. Nami gives him the look. The one where her eyebrows are raised and her chin is tilted down slightly, matching the frown. It's that look she makes when she's trying to say 'Are you sure?' or 'Reconsider what you just said.' and it grates at Zoro's already increasing agitation.

He decides not to entertain her with a reply.

"Anyway," Nami sighs, massaging the space between her eyes with her thumb and forefinger to stave off a growing headache, "Im teaching you how to flirt. No, you cannot work out in front of Sanji- dont give me that look you muscle brained idiot!" She says while looking at Zoro's ever increasing looks of annoyance and audacity, because first of all, no he definitely was not going to do that, and second of all, it could hypothetically work. Probably.

"Fine," He huffs. He'll let the witch do whatever. It's not like theres anyone else he can talk to on the ship about this anyway, "No promises that I'll actually do what you tell me."

"Fucking- oh my god why am I friends with you?!" Nami complains before flopping down on her bed, groaning loudly at Zoro's malicious cooperation. Zoro basks in the momentary power he has in this situation.

For the next few hours, Nami allows Zoro to stay in the womens quarters for the sole purpose of learning how to actually flirt. He's not sure if shes a reliable source, being a lesbian and also having a girlfriend already, but if he voiced this opinion out loud the redhead would probably kick him out. He only restrains himself because this room is the only one so far where he feels the least amount of awkwardness regarding his situation with Sanji.

Robin stops by every now and then and gives him a smile. It doesnt make him feel very comfortable but it's the thought that counts. She doesnt say anything about him being there, anyway. He makes an effort to at least not lay on the bed he's sitting on, though. He may be lazy but he does hold enough respect for the women in the crew to not fuck with their shared safe space.

Suddenly, it's the evening and dinner is around the corner. Nami shoves a barely enlightened mossy swordsman out of the womens bedroom to finally be free of that headache. Also known as a crash course to flirting with your rival/friend/whatever the fuck else they got going on.

Zoro makes his way to the gallery, taking his time to look out and observe the oncoming sunset that bathes the sky in shades of pink, orange, blue, and yellow. It would be a pretty sight to fall asleep to, he thinks, but the cook would kick his ass off the ship if he decides to sleep through dinner again.

Entering the gallery, everyone except Nami is already there. She's right behind him a second later and taking her seat at the kitchen table.

Numerous conversations are heard as food is served. Franky and Usopp are wildly talking about different types of projectiles the sunny could use, Nami and robin are talking amongst each other in low voices, giggling in between sentences. Chopper and luffy are laughing together, and Zoro goes to sit next to luffy like he usually does. Just as he sits down, the cook lands a kick to his mid back, making Zoro scowl.

"The fucks that for!?"

Sanji rolls his eyes while placing plates of food down for the crew, "For being late, dumbass."

"Nami is late too!"

"And? She'd never be late on purpose, Marimo." as Sanji speaks, he dodges the hilt of Zoro's sword to his side instinctively and has the audacity to give a cheeky grin.

Dinner passes by normally. Everyone's loud conversations meld together gradually and soon everyone except Sanji and Zoro leave. Zoro takes his usual spot beside the cook, drying dishes and leaving them on a towel afterwards so they can both put them away.

Zoro has half the mind to bring up Sanji's staring, but decides against it. It leaves the air silent, neither him nor Sanji speaking up as they finish their side work for the night. Even then, Zoro's unable to speak when Sanji immediately leaves afterwards without a word.

The kitchen feels empty without their bickering, and Zoro is determined to bring that life back into it. He just needs to figure out how.

Despite Nami's advice, Zoro has an idea. If the idiot cook doesnt see what he sees (His pretty face first of all, but Zoro thinks of his strength too. How Sanji easiely brushes off conflict like it's nothing despite the injuries that'll heal far faster than his own), then he'll make him see it. Frilly words never were Zoro's style, anyways.

One night before they all go to sleep and Zoro takes night watch, he corners the blond in the bathroom. Nami would probably be kicking his ass because of his timing, but a mirror is needed for his plan to work and the bathroom is the only place with one other than the women's bedroom.

When Zoro enters, Sanji turns to look at him before going back to washing his hair, his back towards Zoro. "Leave me alone, Moss, I'm im not in the fuckin mood," He grumbles to Zoro, who stands there waiting for Sanji to stop talking.

"Nope, I need a mirror for this and for you to listen for five minutes." Zoro replies, and when Sanji turns to argue his protests are gone from his lips when he sees a look of determination. Confused, annoyed, and also curious, Sanji doesn't reply.

Zoro walks up to Sanji until he's standing right behind him. The swordsman moves to kneel so they're relatively at the same height, but the stool makes Sanji slightly taller as he sits there and eyes Zoro warily.

"Whats going on with you, Moss? I'm trying to wash my hair." Sanji says, and Zoro can tell an insult dies on his tongue when he places his hands on Sanji's shoulders.

Zoro turns Sanji in front of the mirrior in the bathroom, the stool Sanji is seated on creaking lightly and scratching against the tile. Sanji remains speechless, still unable to brush off Zoro's palms on his bare shoulders like how he'd usually do.

"Tell me what you see, cook" He says, uncharacteristically soft underneath the edge his voice always seems to have. Sanji flinches when the swordsman's calloused hands tuck his frings behind his ear, displaying his face to them both.

"What the hell is up with you? Did Luffy hit your head too hard?" Sanji furrows his eyebrows at the mirror and looks at Zoro. Zoro huffs and rolls his eyes.

"Just tell me what you see about yourself, shit cook, I'll leave ya alone after or whatever." He grumbles back, the baritone of his voice vibrates against Sanji's back. It reminds him of Zoro's compliment, his face too close to his while they stand on the deck of the Sunny just days ago. He chooses to ignore how it makes him shiver.

He looks at himself in the mirror, and his first instinct is to look away. Zoro, being the perceptive bastard that he is, notices and squeezes his shoulders in a way thats strangely reassuring.

"It doesnt have to be fancy, cook, I know you like to use big words 'n shit so don't make your brain fuckin explode." Sanji bristles a bit at that but bites back a nasty insult so he can entertain Zoro's weird exercise on his own self reflection.

In the mirror he always sees his mom at first, but with both eyes uncovered and his hair pushed back for once, he sees himself. The first thing he sees is his eyebrows and eyes. He decides not to bring up his eyebrows.

"Well, for your information I see my eyes, but you already know that."

Zoro stays silent, and Sanji shuffles in his seat. He's suddenly aware he was literally in the middle of rinsing his hair of shampoo a few minutes ago and the entire situation is both awkward and uncharacteristic of Zoro in multiple ways. It's out of character, and he should have kicked out the moss ball when he had the chance, but now in the too small bathroom of the Sunny he feels like it's only him and Zoro. It leaves a weightless feeling in his chest, settling in with the creeping anxiety of looking at his own reflection. The contrasting feelings make him hesitate before he speaks.

"I see.." He hesitates, not knowing exactly what Zoro is getting from this or what he wants to hear, "My eyebrows, I guess. Wait, you've never seen both at once." Sanji chuckles at that, because his eyebrows are certainly something. The curl points in the same direction, but it's unnoticeable with how he wears his hair.

"Yeah, they're weird as fuck." Zoro mumbles, and the blond has to laugh or else the swordsman's voice would get to his head.

"Okay, I also see freckles. Those are new. Only started showing up when I joined you all." And Sanji now notices how the freckles cluster on the bridge of his nose, his cheekbones, and his shoulders. They're scattered everywhere else on his body.

Sanji starts to realize the point of Zoro's questioning now. He looks at the fogged mirror, just visible enough to notice how his blush not only spreads across his cheeks but also down his neck. Embarrassing. This whole situation is embarrassing not only because of where they are but also because he's realizing that Zoro is trying to make a point that is too close to unearthing his insecurities. He would have expected this from Luffy, but sometimes he forgets how Zoro's intelligence is masked behind his swordsmanship and how much he sleeps during the day.

And he's naked, but honestly thats the least of his problems at the moment.

"I see my hair, I guess?" Sanji tries to only focus on his face. Its not easier, but it also sets up a mental boundary. Zoro hums, looking at Sanji through the mirror. Sanji hesitates before speaking again, "My hair is actually wavy," He thinks about his mom's wavy blonde hair, and how he always thought it looked pretty even before she passed, "Its damaged, though. Straightened to hell and back with one of those hot combs."

Sanji thinks back to the hot combs. They were old as shit, the kind that needed to be heated up with a flame. The memories make him chuckle a bit, and Zoro smiles back. The same smile he wore when they sparred on the deck, with his dimples visible yet again to confirm to Sanji that he does have them.

His smile makes his heart skip a beat, like drums he'd hear in one of those old instrumental CDs he kept in his room as a kid. Before he has the chance to back away, to push Zoro out the door and forget this ever happened, Zoro straightens his back again.

He turns in his stool to look up at Zoro and he's not sure what the swordsman sees right now, but he's afraid to ask as his gaze is soft. So damn soft as he looks at him and his hand reaches again to pull his hair hair back over his eye like it was before. Stringy strands of heat damaged locks fall back into place.

Then he leaves. He just...leaves. The damn idiot just turns around and walks out the door like nothing even happened.

Thats the second time this has happened yet the first where Sanji is the one on the receiving end of it, and it makes him grab his towel to bunch it up in his fists and let out a scream into it as he processes everything. He processes how he was forced to notice how Zoro looked at him, and it was Zoro's own weird fucking way of saying "You're beautiful".

"He's so fucking ridiculous oh my god.." Sanji mumbles into the towel. His hair routine is officially long forgotten.

#this went from zoros pov to sanjis instinctively ngl #also nami being the best wingman PERIODDD #btw nami in this is dating vivi #bc theyre cute together <3 #uhhhh yeah i need a title for this...#one piece #zosan #roronoa zoro #vinsmoke sanji #black leg sanji #sanji with heterochromia

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saras-almanac · 1 month

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I’ve seen this idea or comment multiple times: That Tommy has no character. Which is either on its own or in connection to not understanding why anyone likes BuckTommy apart from two hot guys together. I’m not going to get into the second one here, but the idea that Tommy has no character is just false and either a completely failure in media literacy at best or a blatant ignoring of canon at worst.

Now do we know everything there is to know about Tommy? Absolutely not, and I’m not trying to claim otherwise. But I would also point that question to any of the other characters on screen: Do we know everything about Bobby, about Chimney, about Buck, etc? I would say No, we don’t. I think the one we have the most information about is Buck just purely because the framing of the first season being about his growth and also because Buck is just such an open book about pretty much everything in his life and feelings. But even still, I don’t think we know everything about him. And that’s okay!

But back to Tommy—we actually do know a fair bit about him and have seen him grow and develop a bit. When we met him in “Hen Begins” in season 2, he’s not outright rude but he is very much, “not gonna put a target on my back here” because of Captain Gerrard (and/or perhaps because he had already realized his sexuality or was beginning to uncover it). When we meet him for the first time chronologically in “Chimney Begins,” he’s more rude and pretty dismissive of Chimney’s offer of friendship, even actively avoiding him. Again, this could be because of Gerrard, the environment here where it didn’t feel like anyone was really friends per say, or it could be down to what Eli tells Chimney: That these guys are not going to let just anyone in until they prove themselves, especially not a probie.”

However, the thing that shows the most about who Tommy is and his growth is his time in “Bobby Begins,” where it’s clear he’s got a really solid friendship with Hen and Chimney, making bets about the new Captain, going out for drinks, having those looks in the engine as Bobby gets them lost. It’s clear in the narrative in season 2 that Tommy, for all of being in only 3 episodes, has grown and changed a lot. (Which is why I find it so ironic that so many people criticizing this “retcon” of Tommy’s character always forget to mention Bobby Begins where it’s clear that Tommy’s friends with Hen and Chimney. I get that some fans want a full apology, but to me it reads like that probably already happened, or at least a conversation, a clearing of the air. Not everything needs to be directly spoonfed to you.)

Tommy coming back in season 7 has shown a bit more growth, as well as showing us sides of him we haven’t seen before. His patience and kindness with Buck and the newness of their relationship and Buck’s sexuality. His humor being dry and a little dark—“We’re all gonna die anyways” or even him suggesting to give Buck flying lessons because his fees are competitive. He’s open with his vulnerabilities when he feels safe enough to do so—immediately sharing his own jealousy at the 118 to Buck when Buck’s talking about his jealousy, telling Buck he cut the date short because he didn’t want to pressure Buck. To me, it shows maybe more growth or just another side of him because we only saw him in connection to his friends, where as Buck is a love interest.

Is this a lot of information? I guess it depends on what you want. Do we know his favorite color or his interests or how he romantically woos people or what he likes to do on his days off? I would argue that we do know a decent amount of that—he likes monster trucks, I assume watching romantic comedies as his favorite movie is canonically Love, Actually, he enjoys craft beers, knows and participates in Muay Thai, has a car lift in his garage so must know something about cars or mechanic stuff, is a pilot and firefighter, enjoys flying for fun on his days off, and has a trivia / karaoke thing (I’m still not sure if it’s a karaoke trivia or trivia at a karaoke bar, the wording confused me but whatever). Honestly, that’s more information than we have about any love interest Buck or Eddie have ever had when they were just starting a relationship.

And that’s also a huge point that I think is being missed by these types of arguments: Buck and Tommy are just starting a relationship, as in they are just getting to really know each other. So there is more to learn and uncover about each other. And honestly, we the audience are probably not going to be privy to a lot of that because it’s an ensemble show. So instead, they’ll likely show us that they’re moving forward and getting more comfortable with each other when they do interact—the kiss in the hospital reads to me as two people who’ve been spending time together and getting to know each other a lot more where they feel more comfortable. Hell, even just Buck’s change from his hesitance in episode 5 to his confidence in episode 6 is supposed to show his growth in accepting his sexuality and comfort being with Tommy.

The whole point is that the show sketches the outlines and maybe fills in some spots, but they sort of expect you to be able to still see the bigger picture of things. We know the outline of Tommy and are waiting to see it all filled in. That’s why he’s such an intriguing character and love interest for Buck—because he’s developed enough as his own person but there’s still enough blank spaces to explore with. He is the most developed love interest that Buck’s ever had, but he’s still just become Buck’s boyfriend so there’s still more to learn about him. That’s what dating and being in relationship with someone is: learning about them, their likes and dislikes, and what they are like in relationships, seeing if you’re compatible. So while there is already a massive head start in characterization than anyone else (except maybe Abby but even she wasn’t a fabulously written character and was honestly a terrible protagonist), there’s still more to learn about him and that’s a good thing. And while I can’t speak for everyone who ships BuckTommy, I can say that for me, it’s so fun to extrapolate on the bare bones of character and see how they develop in canon.

Tl;dr: Tommy does have a character. It's just a lot of showing and not telling and some people can't handle that.

#honestly wild that this is an argument from the same fandom that loves creating intricate backstories but i digress #tommy kinard #911 abc #evan buckley #911 show #long post #been thinking about this for a while since i started seeing those posts

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parachutingkitten · 2 months

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Okay, this has been bothering me, and I'm gonna go into it, cuz I feel like being mad that the fandom didn't get better is friggin valid, so imma get negative here at some serious missed potential, if that's not your jam, 100% get it, please scroll past.

We have a season with 20 episodes, each of which are 20 minutes long. That is an unprecedented amount of time for a ninjago season- I would argue maybe too much time, but that's not what we're getting into here. Even just the first half is the length of your standard ninjago season back in the day. There is no excuse for not taking your time with ideas that deserve time. You've got time. You've got too much time.

If you're gonna do a mystical mind prison that traps you in your worst fears, you gotta do it! You can't do this wimpy half commit thing you're doing here. What is this cop out that's like three minutes long? This is a top tier trope! Loads of stories do this- for a good reason, it's a great way to get lots of new insight into your characters, not to mention have fun with environments, hypotheticals, bend logic, and do some creative filmmaking. And here you are, inventing a whole weird fictional animal to facilitate your nightmare state, and it legitimately takes up so little screen time that it hurts! What? Did you not have enough to say about your characters to fill out a full subplot? You thinking that surface level about things? Or was the basketball tournament fake out with the dragons so important to the story that you couldn't cut it out for some character introspection?

It's so short and pointless, it doesn't functionally do anything except tell us very directly "Here's what this character fears, and will have to get past this season!" No looking into why or making some progress/losing progress on the issue in the dream state. We don't even get to see everyone's visions, let alone see any interconnectivity between them. It's just such a waste of a classically exciting set up. And why on earth would you place this concept at the beginning of the season? Put it at the turning point man! That's what this scenario is made for! Literalizing characters overcoming mental challenges so that it's interesting to watch! Using the nightmare dream sphere for exposition in the most boring possible version of the trope is just dumbfounding.

I mean seriously? The black void? That's all you've got? You gonna go the Cars 2 route and set our supposedly deep nightmare sequence in a black void? No symbolism to the void even? No distorting of visuals within the void? Nothing? Can you get any more basic? Did you really put that little creativity into this? Like, the whole point of the nightmare dreamscape is to get creative! So much symbolism and messaging that you can easily tie into things! the possibilities are literally endless! But yeah, I guess Arin running in place is pretty meaningful too, I'm sure it took you a while to come up with something so profound.

There's a reason this story beat usually makes up at least half the plot of any given episode it's in! There's so much room to explore. The potential for crosscutting between nightmares is so high, drawing parallels between characters. Maybe they're all interconnected, and the mentally strongest of the team breaks free to help the others in their nightmares. Maybe it's a revelation point for the rest of the team as they see a dark past of another character they didn't know about. Or maybe it's just the audience who gets new insight into a sheltered corner of a character's mind, or a way to reveal to them a dark secret someone is hiding. You can also have fun subverting expectations, maybe one of the nightmares is just objectively pretty funny. And, the best thing about any dream environment you're creating, you can have the characters get involved in insanely creative fights and action scenes where they literally beat up their mental roadblocks with cool looking and symbolically important powers or tools.

Like, I know the fandom is losing their mind over this scene because 'omg Nya's gonna be so sad cuz of the memory loss(that hasn't even been revealed in narrative yet, so the irony doesn't even really work)' but I just need you to understand that the full fledged angst, character growth, and introspection y'all are speculating could have theoretically happened in Kai's plot is what we could have had for everyone. For a full episode. Like it deserved to be. And it would have been really cool, and really satisfying, and beautifully and symbolically stunning, because countless other people have done it, it's honestly not too difficult. Stop freaking out like they did a good job with this- they didn't do a good job with this. They couldn't even bother to give everyone a vision, they just gave up on the concept halfway through.

Not to mention how accessible and valuable this type of storytelling is to kids! Literalizing some of the big abstract issues these characters are supposedly battling this season would be a great way to get kids to grasp these ideas, but instead it's literally like two and a half minutes of slightly ominous stuff to bate us before we move on.

Stop teasing us with interesting stuff and then not actually following through! This is not how you do storytelling!

#ninjago #Dragons Rising #drs2 spoilers #ninjago spoilers #beyond the phantasm cave #no hate to anyone #obviously #/lh

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manonamora-if · 2 months

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April Check-In

HI! I AM NOT DEAD I PROMISE, ANON!

Just... Ugh... It's been a stressful end of the month. I have not kept up with the weekly devlogs at all, partly because I had little to share each week, but also IRL was just too much. Head seems out of the water for now. Though I will be MIA for the rest of the week.

Onto the usual index:

Recap of last month’s progress

IF Events in the Next Month

Plan for the next month

Still long post under the break. If you want a mini version, head on over to itch.io as usual!

March Progress

From last month, what did we do:

Complete my French Comp entry. ✅ Not only did I write it all in less than two weeks (and it was full of typo that was so embarrassing), I also managed to...

Complete my SpringThing entry. ✅ Because that's the same game but in English.

Play more games! ✅Obviously having finished playing the Smoochie Jam AND all the French Comp game (quite a few good ones, voting was so hard), but also the SeedComp! and the Revival Jam (maybe?). The harvest of games for this month was bountiful!

Finish the Code Ch5 ❌ of Harcourt and edit Ch6 ✅

Finish fixing The Roads Not Taken. ❌

Things, it turns out... No, really...

Yay! Still managed to make a decent chunk of stuff.

Let's start with the bummer: still haven't fixed the borked games. Yeah... I really should sit down at some point and get down to it. BUT I did get some feedback for the Egg-game, and got extra code to fix the container issue. So... I just need to get to it.

Still haven't worked on coding on Harcourt, though I finished my part of the edits of Chapter 6. The file, full of comments, is back on his desk which... Well. Herm. MelS's computer just 💥(not like fire everywhere, but sudden forever black screen), corrupting about half of his data... which included his progress on that chapter and the endings. We've been working on getting his data back (tbh this project is the least of his worries, more important stuff is still gone), so hopefully we can get him back to editing and writing by next month (best case scenario). YEAH...

But before that happened, I managed to finish Les lettres du Docteur Jeangille for the French Comp, at the last possible minute yet again. I had the idea for month, but didn't start working on it until I was truly done with Teatime with a Vampire. It still managed to write over 15k words in 18-19th century French style (and full of typo because, only two weeks...) in essentially 1 and 1/2 week. EPISTOLARY STYLE game :D

After that was done, I got to play the Smoochie Jam and the French Comp games (it's on the IFDB), and started with the SeedComp entries (it's hidden because I'm the organiser). Lots of fun little game, some very sweet and humorous, some VERY DARK, some suuuper hot, and some that required a bit of noggins.

And halfway through the month, I sneaked a mini-parser game for the Revival Jam. I wanted to try my hand out with the old-style Speed-IF jams, that ran all the way back at the start of the century, which were just 2h long. TWO HOURS! No preparation, just you starting to code and stopping after 2hs. I tried my hand at Inform but... didn't have time to learn a whole new program and make my mini puzzle work in time. So I switched back to Adventuron, and managed to make something... in just over 2hs... I ended up Reviving old versions of the EctoComp instead (3h limit). Still it was fun to try to make a parser game in such short amount of time. It's called FIA: The Vacuum Cleaner, it will take you maybe 5min to play. And... it was so fun I kind of want to make basic micro-parser in that little universe. Some sort of multi-episode series where you have a small puzzle in front of you to solve. Like an intro to parser type of thing. Maybe in different parser programs? We will see. I might end up popping up here and there as tiny little games.

When THAT was done, I went back to work on the English translation of Jeangille, cutting it so close for the SpringThing deadline I thought I would not make it (for real, my files were sent at 23:58! I honestly don't think this was my bestest translation. It probably would have needed a few more rounds of polish and maybe some beta-readers but... :/ the computer explosion happened in the middle of all this so. I guess it was enough... I hope it was enough... But yay! I made it! No bug! Probably just typos! I didn't manage to make the cool animation tho...

AND I updated my website to add all of these juicy thingies!

AND AND! I was interviewed by the Rosebush Magazine last week!

So that was my month. We did good, we did bad, we are exhausted.

What’s happening in April?

Oh wow, already April. WHAT DO WE HAVE HAPPENING? So much, we have so much happening.

First off, we have competitions looking for voters:

Vous pouvez lire le français ? Venez jouer et voter pour les entrées du Concours de FI Francophone ! La date limite est le 4 avril.

Also on the 4th of April, is the deadline to vote for the SeedComp! (@seedcomp-if) games! You can find the forms here. We really really need voters!

The Spring Thing just released a new harvest of games (including meee :P ), and will open voting in a bit less than 2 weeks. Come play!

Looking to create some games instead?

The next @neointeractives jam just opened for submission! Come participate in the Dialogue Jam!

Looking to attempt creating a parser that is easy enough for beginners? Come check the Text Adventure Literacy Jam! You need a tutorial and 5 puzzles to solve!

If you want a deadline to finish your project, maybe check out : Finish Your Project Jam 2024

And for lovers: Amare Games Festival 2024

On the shorter side, and in May: Narrative Design Awards 2024 (ranked), 🔥 Fuck Capitalism Jam 2024 🔥 (unranked)

Interested in other IF events?

April 1st is Source Code Amnesty. Come share the code of your creations! (I've added a bunch of mine on Github today)

You can now register to attend the 2024 Edition of the Narrascope! IRL or Virtual, there are a lot of great talks this year!

We had so far 10 actual entries for the Interactive Fiction Showcase 2024 ! If you made something in 2024, consider showcasing it there too!

Note: @neointeractives will have jams all year long. One a month/or so. And the next Planting Round of @seedcomp-if will start as soon as the results are dropped.

The PLANtm for April

I, erm... should take it easy this month. But also, actually finish stuff, because the more I start, the more I have to fix/finish and it's becoming A LOT...

Play more games: I haven't covered the Revival Jam yet (I'm getting on it!) and the SpringThing has just started. So I have a lot of new treaties just for me! (And also that 2nd Rank is so close I can taste it!).

Finish the Code of Ch5 of Harcourt and edit the Ending Chapter: the latter should be easy since it is pretty short. The former... I just need to bite my tong and get to it! It should probably take me a day to code those last passages...

Finish fixing The Roads Not Taken. Or An Eggcellent Preparation. Maybe the other parser too (it just needs a smidge of polish).

Complete the TALJ entry. The deadline is at the end of the month. I already have the basic structure. I need: a tutorial, commands to actually make the game work. And words. So many words. (Did I mention here I'm making a maze?)

I think that's good. I'm trying REALLY HARD not to tack on another Neo-Interactives entry (we're doing dialogues and I LOVE THOSE). But I WILL TRY MY BEST TO KEEP IT FOCUSED ON THE CURRENT PROJECTS!

The 2024 To-Do List:

LOL, I've only done the website! :D

The hopefully maybe easy to handle To-Do:

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match (waiting for Adventuron to get the French language)

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (giving up on the translation)

fixing the interface of LPM and the popups + check animal interactions

figure out the One-Button JavaScrip/jQuery issue...

edit the loading screens of the completed tiny games to include the program/format logo at least.

The 'Need a Bunch of Content to update but it's planned!' To-Do:

Update my website (bunch new title - also I don't think the logo clicky thing work...) + redo my itch page

Finish TTATEH (MelS dependent - this year should be it - for real)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (half-way mark by this summer - manif)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (main path at least)

Update CRWL (it's been almost two years... I'm getting ashamed)

The Unlikely But it Would be Dope To-Do

Finish The Dinner as it was planned (and translate)

Finish In the Blink of an Eye as it was planned (and retranslate)

Finish The Rye in the Dark City

Fixing TTTT (at least fixing, maybe try adding some storylets)

And finally The 'It's impossible, but one can wish' TO-DO:

Remaster SPS IH (if I managed to start this after completing the rest... I'm going to eat a whole sheet cake).

Start the IFComp project (2025? Might end up being a ST?)

#progress #update #interactive fiction #check in #monthly check in #Ok yall #I'm going on a break until next week!#Hope yall have a lovely month #(and maybe try my new stuf??)

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perlukafarinn · 11 months

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Rating Star Trek TOS costumes because why not! (part 7)

I, Mudd (2x08). The vibes in Mudd's outfit are all over the place - it's pirate meets military meets used cars salesman. You know this man wears waaay too much cologne. 5/10, the belt should at least match the boots.

I'm way more into the androids' outfits. I love an asymmetrical shoulder and they've got that "one pant leg" thing going on that TOS was so fond of. I also adore their hair and their glittery tights! The chains look a little randomly placed, though, and those ugly ass necklaces sadly drag the whole fits down. 7/10.

Metamorphosis (2x09). Super cute! The whole outfit is very mod, maybe a little bit cheap looking but still stylish. The colors could match better but I love the cut of both the coat and the mini dress, and the headscarf and short gloves are just the perfect cherry on top. 8/10.

Journey to Babel (2x10). They did Amanda so dirty, introducing her in this ugly, shapeless coat. You can't tell from this screenshot but the collar looks like a cone of shame from certain angles. The dress underneath looks fine but we don't see too much of it. Sarek's outfit is boring but at least it's dignified. 5/10 for them both.

Sarek changes his outfit once (not counting his sickbay gown, which I don't), and it kind of looks like the same suit with a different decoration slapped on top. I do like this better, there's more of that dramatic flare we've come to expect from Vulcan fashion. 7/10.

Amanda's two other outfits this episode are a marked improvement. The first is a cute cocktail hour number, simple but colorful. 7/10. The second is my favorite; a pink wide-legged jumpsuit layered with a red knitted poncho with a pink fur trim. I'm a sucker for a red and pink color combo, and the fur trim is just the right amount of tacky for me. Amanda knocked it out of the park with this one, 9/10.

Then there's the various alien delegates we see this episode, which I'm lumping together because I don't have a whole lot to say. You can tell they had fun coming up with the aesthetics for the different alien races, though one group was clearly an afterthought. The rest of the aliens get prosthetics and bodypaint and then there's two regular dudes in cloaks. At least they're colorful? 7/10 for the whole lot of them, this is some delightful worldbuilding.

#star trek tos #star trek #rating star trek

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that-bl-bitch · 2 years

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if you were thinking about whether or not you should watch She Makes My Heart Flutter, I'm here to tell you DO IT DO IT DO IT NOW OMG DROP EVERYTHING WATCH IT NOW!!!! GUUUUYYSS!!!! I'm only on the first episode but they had me the SECOND (let me say it again) THE SECOND I started it I was immediately impressed just aesthetic alone it is so bright and colorful and you can tell they put so much work into the details of the set design and then it's filmed so well and honestly I didn't know what to expect when it came to production value cause you never know, it can go either way and ig it was nice to see like a good one (not that I would have checked out if it seemed lower) plus there are some simple BUT LOVELY shots and then we meet one of the main characters (idk remember anyone names cause that's ep 2 business) and right off the back HILARIOUS I love her so much she so chaotic and funny I want to be her when I grow up, when we meet all the other characters it is also SO FUN cause all the characters are so DIFFERENT AND DYNAMIC which is so refreshing cause sometimes I feel like when we do get groups of girls (in bls specifically) they just kinda feel like all the same character just copy and paste with maybe slight changes or like a hbic and lackeys but in SMMHF every girl in the group is so different, so funny, and they all seem on the same level like it has an actual friend group vibe and again throughout all this STILL SO FUNNY like I'm actually laughing out loud, look if you guys crave gls as HARD as I crave good gls you gotta watch it, it's Korean, it's on YouTube, its well made, the characters are so good, the acting is good, what more could you ask for. I've seen quite a few gls but you know a decent amount and I really think korea does it best (so far at least, we have a couple of gls bout to be coming out and I'm really excited about that Japanese one and GAP so we'll see but I just love the vibe of Korean show put with girls love) and I really think that will continue so give me korea give me gl I'm at the very least checking it out the only "con" is that its short but also that's to be expected and obviously length/ runtime doesnt dictate whether a show is good or bad cause I watched plenty of short bls that have blown me away (Old Fashion Cupcake, itsay, WBL to name a few) and I feel like this is gonna be one of the ones where I don't think it matter how long it is cause its so good you're not even thinking about that

#She makes my heart flutter #Korean gl #gl #gl series #Please go and watch it if youre not already

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tiny-breadcrumbs · 7 months

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CDRAMA AND THEIR ENDING (a rant)

Cdrama tren of making an open/ambiguous ending sucks. No matter if they plan to do a sequel whatsoever, it still annoying. Even more so when they try to side-stepping a well deserved sad ending. I feel like there is lack of satisfying ending nowadays. One that left such a huge crater of emotional breakdown like nirvana in fire.

Yes I'm looking at you mlc!! While I'm a sucker for happy ending, the story like one of li lianhua's will have a biggest impact if he die in the end. It will make more sense that way to end his arc. Close the chapter of life with death of a man who already one leg in a grave. Why bother with that kind of very ambiguous ending sequence?! They absolutely can end everything with Di Feisheng last declaration and cut into black. Maybe put some old dialog from li xiangyi and it will make me wept into my pillow. Or end it in the letter at the beach, even better. That special episode never fail at getting into my nerves. If they want to show a happy ending, I'm sure they can make some sequence with the trio interacting instead of whatever that ambiguous back and beach framing. I'm so ready to cry at the ending, like I'm super reluctant about it, but I will not accept less than an impactful last line on that kind of story. Well, the special scene evaporated all my tears instead. I'm going from 'oh no he die, it's so sad!' to 'what the fuck' really fast, even now I still avoid that several last minutes like a plague. Not because of emotional attachment but more because it reduce the level of good plot from my very picky drama radar.

Some cdrama have the potential to be enjoyable. Not that high in story telling quality per se in term of some questionable logic, but they can be an enjoyable evening watch while you are lounging in your bed kind of things. It has its own value and merit. But man, do they suck at tie up the ending sometimes.

I'm ranting based on my experience and not so long list of drama I'm able to sit through until the end, still it's such an annoying moment to realise the amount of good ending I've met so far can be counted in one hand. Maybe I'm just picky. It's a matter of personal preference afterall, but as someone who enjoy storytelling, this give me ick more often than not. Even this happen with a happy ending drama too, I feel like they tend to rush the ending sequence. Like there is not enough amount of coda to close the story beautifully. Mostly it just one scene and very short and have a WIDE SHOT. Pleasee, if it is a reunion at least can you give me a shot of their happy tears in that one last tender moment of kiss or hug?! A small line?! Maybe a teary whisper of "I'm home" while the screen fade to black... That would left me staring at the wall for five minutes to comtemplate my existence, honestly. Most of the time a quiet hug didn't do enough justice to convey the relief when they shown in a freaking wide shot. Even more infuriating when the reunion cut short before the character even do anything other than staring at each other eyes in a stunned expression. Call me a nosy bitch but I don't like to give them a privacy to have that teary reunion. I want to watch the tears! I want to have a front row seat with extra popcorn in my hand to watch that reunion and maybe some acknowledgement from the lead if they are the idiot who never confess before.

It is such a problem for cdrama. And I see it more and more now. In particular, at the wuxia and xianxia genre. In my opinion open ending works better when there is a very clear direction hanging on top of their head to makes it a complex A or B rather than a completely wide umbrella of what if scenario. The drama ending that do 'slightly' better at this recently? Probably "Who rules the world". There is a clear impeding doom, a ticking time bomb tying the character down in that last scene while depicting them having fun together. It is a very clear open ending with a controlled question thrown at the audience how that doom will affect them. Whether they find a way to change it or not, the actual arc of their story is already ended before that choice is needed to be made. It is a choice for the future, for the continuation of the story behind the last curtain, not for the current one.

Maybe thats why NIF able to left that huge impact in term of storyline. That drama still sit at the number one seat of best cdrama in my list, on par with Mr.Sunshine from the kdrama side. NIF was so unapologetic at making the audience cry. The plot moving in a beautiful pace and you sense the doom crawling nearer and nearer to the character. And he did finish his story. It is something so predictable, you see it coming far before you arrived at the finale, yet it still make you cry a bucket. It is a story that end beautifully, for a storytelling, not for the character. A befitting end of someone his caliber. It is a choice he already make from the start and something he stick to the end. I guess it makes us, as an audience, appreciated the character as he walks with his last breath to his end of the story, determined to close that heavy book laden with baggage. He burns bright and finally laid his head to a rest he deserved. At its core, li lianhua story is the same within this trope. Sadly they miss the chance to end it in a satisfying way.

When the story destined to end sad, make it sad. The end of a journey is not a bad thing per se. It is a well deserved rest for the world weary character after fulfilling their last purpose. It is a legacy to be left behind. A lesson in life. Cdrama skirting around the sad ending to appease certain group who demand an ill-fitted happy end with something in the middle seems rather direspectful to the character who is ready to permanently close their arc as their own choice. A tear jerking bad ending can have as good impact as their happy counterpart when the right story allowed it. But sadly, it seems the production team was the one who didn't.

#drama rant #ramblings #I'm so done with mlc ending tbh #mysterious lotus casebook #nirvana in fire #and many more

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bronyinabottle · 5 days

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THE ANCIENT EQUESTRIAN ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM - (Late) POST-MAKE YOUR MARK CHAPTER 6/FINALE EDITION

Hello! I admit this is very, very, late as it’s been just about exactly half a year since the final chapter of Make Your Mark came out. But let me just say a new commenter got me to think about it again. Although there is a reason why I didn’t write up my thoughts immediately. The short of it being: What Chapter 6 brought to the G4-G5 connection had finally broken what little suspension of disbelief I had.

Granted, it was teetering on that edge ever since the Opaline origin story thing as well. But the one excuse there is G4 itself barely told us anything about Alicorns either. So there was technically nothing substantial to really contradict. …As much as it still makes no sense that Opaline is still around yet Twilight, Celestia, Luna, etc. are all missing for whatever reason. (As even if you don’t see the Alicorns as immortal, Opaline being a filly at the same time as the royal sisters punches a hole in the argument that Celestia and Luna are no longer with them. Which just begs the question then how did the sisters and Twilight let the world just fall like it has)

But before I get to the meat of what caused a… delay in talking about the last chapter of Make Your Mark. Let me at least say some of the good that came from the chapter.

It should be no surprise that the best part of Chapter 6 was easily anything Misty-centric. The 2-3 parter where Misty finds Alphabittle, who turns out to be her long-lost father was especially heartwarming and the episode all about Alphabittle learning how different Misty has become from the girl he knew was an excellent moral lesson for parents and kids alike. It’s also kinda funny how the first four episodes of Chapter 6 were just about entirely Misty centric in some way. If we didn’t know any better, it’s almost like Misty usurped the main character role from Sunny. Maybe it’s more so that Sunny just does not have much character development in this chapter. But in a way it did seem like the show’s more about Misty then Sunny Starscout at the moment.

After the Misty-arc of the Chapter was… a rather gross episode that I’d rather never see again in Mane Smelody and a bit of a fun halloween episode.

However, most of what I have to say in this post relates to the final 3 episodes in a chapter. And let me tell you… it is a doozy

Maybe I should forward this by telling what subject exactly bothered me to the point of going quiet about G5 for a while. While yes, Alicorn lore in G4 is missing a lot of information and/or inconsistent even after 9 seasons of episodes. Do you know what DOES have substantial amount of lore throughout all of G4?

DRAGONS

I’ll put the rest of this after the break. So I can get into full detail without bogging up a dashboard. But just like the last one. I’m going to define one of the single biggest issue with Chapter 6 in regards to the connection with G4 with one picture

…Take it away, one more time R Lee. Ermy

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Seriously, look at… Spike. Seriously just look at it

Even just under a DESIGN perspective something is very wrong here. Even if you weren’t a fan of the muscular Spike we got in The Last Problem and prefer the much skinner look. That isn’t the only issue we have here. I think a much larger contradiction with G4 is that all dragons in G5 (Including Spike!) are more quadrupedal than bipedal.

But the REAL issue with G5 dragons is SIZE! I think we can assume the dragons in G5 are all full grown. Or at they least Spike should certainly be full grown (But the new dragons aren’t that much smaller than Spike) at this point. But do I have to remind anyone how large Dragons could get in G4? Screenshot from both for scale.

A full grown dragon’s head alone in G4 was much larger than a pony body. While even with Spike’s “ancient” age and centuries (plural! Spike mentions it in the episode) old Spike is at this point. He’s big but he still pales in comparison to the size of the big red dragon/Basil from Dragonshy. The excuse is probably that the same spell that put them to sleep also prevented the dragons from growing any larger.

But then that begs another question. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DRAGONS THAT WERE ALREADY THAT HUGE?! Did Opaline mass murder most of the dragons? Is this more of how Opaline was so conveniently competently evil offscreen despite how stupid she is shown to be in the actual show. It’d explain why there also seems to be not many dragons left. But if Opaline wasn’t above a genocide of dragons. Why would she stop at perhaps the most significant dragon in Spike to.. you know… get back at Twilight and make her emotionally suffer? If you’re going to make her competently evil entirely off screen at least think of what she probably would do if she had the chance.

And that’s what we get just from the pure design standpoint of G5 dragons. But… it certainly doesn’t stop there. I am going to quote the most relevant parts of Chapter 6 that relates to dragons and point out what that means and how much it lines up with what we know of G4 dragons (Spoiler alert: Probably not much!)

Tumble: Fry my tail. There hasn't been a baby dragon around here in a volcano's age! What?! Leaf: It's like a miracle! A hatchling could restore shimmer to all of Scaly!

Congratulations G5! You found another way to describe a long time without having to say moons again! …Too bad it’s not anymore specific. What is a volcano’s age? The youngest volcano that formed on Earth was as far back as the 1940’s. But the oldest volcano could be over a million. 80 years-Over 1,000,000 is a pretty large gap. Still, it’s very concerning for the dragons that there hasn’t been many baby dragons regardless. This seems to imply the Dragons are an endangered species in G5. If they’re still living they at least live long lives that could potentially replenish the species eventually but endangered nonetheless. Which goes back to what I said earlier. What happened? Did Opaline directly or indirectly cause the decline in Dragon population? How did the big dragons die out. G4 had full on MIGRATIONS of Dragons where hundreds of dragons would fly over Equestrian skies. It just illustrates more of the problems of G5 not acknowledging non-pony species. It was fine to stick to the ponies only first, but overtime you still have to ask what happened to everyone else. And given what we see what’s left of the dragons. It looks quite grim.

Blaize: We must first request approval from our leader, the Dragon Lord, to form a partnership with ponykind. Zipp Storm: Well, where can we find him? We don't have all day!

ZIPP, DID YOU JUST ASSUME THE DRAGON LORD’S GENDER?!

…Kidding, although that does get into how the dragon lord SHOULD actually be Ember, a female dragon. Although, hey… maybe G5 can get away with it being an Alternate Universe where Spike DID choose to become dragon lord during Gauntlet of Fire instead of giving it to Ember. But it’d be helpful to have that clear if that’s the case

Spike: [yawns] Sunny Starscout: Spike?! Spike: [yawns] Whoa! Heh. Excuse my breath. Just woke up. Sunny Starscout: We are honored to meet such a legend as THE Spike! I-Is it okay if I call you Spike? Spike: It would be weird if you called me Fred or something! Because that's not my name! [guffaws] Sunny Starscout: I just want you to know that I am a big fan! When I was a foal, my father told me stories of you! Of the legends of Equestria's past! Spike: Legend, huh? I don't know about that. Seriously, I don't know about that. My memory is a little foggy after all these centuries of magical hibernation. What moon is this?

I’ll say it now, what they do with Spike is the one thing that probably broke me the most out of anything that has come out officially about the G4-G5 connection. The writers can excuse it that Spike has a fuzzy memory after centuries of sleep all they want but it doesn’t hide many of the problems with this.

How sad is it that the only thing Spike can remember about the past is Twilight and how vaguely he was friends with ponies (Although this seems to be somewhat contradicted later). To be honest in the promotional material for the chapter I hoped that the “Spike” we saw wasn’t actually him. Just a dragon that happened to look like him or be descended from him. In some ways I almost just want to call him Fred instead as he joked in this quotation.

Cause Spike’s inclusion almost basically is now THE example of what G5 does to connections to G4. They bring them back, acknowledge them, but then hollow out or obscure anything that could answer questions surely by contrived writing

Sunny Starscout: We know that she's been trying to take over Equestria since the days of— Zipp Storm: Twilight Sparkle! She protected our lands somehow, keeping her out all this time! Spike: [gasps] Twi?!

Zipp you fool! You just added another name tax for Hasbro! (I don’t even know of that’s entirely accurate but I have heard that G5 has been restrained by Discovery Family about referencing Friendship is Magic characters in the show. Which is just frustrating because then why go through all this effort to connect the generations to begin with)

But it is at least great that Spike still remembers his fondness for Twilight. If you’ve known me a while you know I value that. Although I would have like Spike to have something about others too. Twilight’s special to Spike, but he should have at least had an offhand reference to each and every one of the Mane 6. At the very least Rarity if no one else.

Spike: [sighs] Meeting you takes me back. My best friends were ponies. Sunny Starscout: That's what I've heard. Spike: I haven't thought about it in so long. Mostly because I was sleeping. But I do remember my adventures with them. Ugh, but my mind feels so fuzzy since I went into that magic hibernation. Hitch Trailblazer: When was that? Spike: Hard to say. The spell was so strong.

Or in Writer’s terms. Excuses for never explaining anything…

Sunny Starscout: Hitch, can you believe this?! This is the baby dragon from the stories my dad used to tell me! Spike was there with Twilight when Opaline got banished! Spike: It all feels so foggy. Like a dream. But Twilight knew she had to protect magic from her somehow. Tumble: That's why us dragons have been on the Isle of Scaly magically hibernating for all this time. It was part of the plan.

So Opaline was banished, inside her castle I presume. I’ll at least give G5 this that it did sort of answer why the dragon’s home isn’t the volcanic place it was in G4

Spike: Her plan saved us all. She helped us work together against darkness. See, there were these crystals... Sunny Starscout: The Unity Crystals?! Spike: You know them? Sunny Starscout: Know them?! We are the keepers of the crystals! [phone beeps] Zipp Storm: Sorry to interrupt this, uh, moment, but what is the real story of the crystals and Opaline? Who is she really?

But Zipp, didn’t Spike say he doesn’t remember anythi-

Spike: She's dangerous. She's the reason I had to part ways with my friends. Zipp Storm: Because she wanted the Unity Crystals? Spike: No. She wanted magic. All of it.

…Wait, then why did Spike sound confused by the idea of an evil alicorn earlier?

Spike: [narrating] Twilight's reign was peaceful for many moons until Opaline Arcana appeared. She'd been banished from Skyros. Sunny Starscout: The Alicorn land? Spike: She wanted to rule all ponies. She thought that Alicorns were superior.

Ah, more superiority… but it’s not much different then Cozy Glow’s (And Neighsay even if he turned around eventually). Just more specific to alicorns. If the School of Friendship could punch through the superiority of ponies over non-ponies. It should definitely be able to do the same for alicorns

And why should I even care about Skyros at this point if we’re likely not going to even see that place. The only bad thing about Opaline being defeated is she may have been the only link to at least give us a look at Skyros. As I’m not sure I’m confident in Tell Your Tale providing a satisfactory enough look at Skyros.

And I still have some of the same questions as last time. I think if Skyros had existed in G4 (Especially for how long it’s implied to be with Opaline’s story) Twilight would have been VERY knowledgeable and even mentioned it in Friendship is Magic. I know that’s not fair as obviously Skyros was never a concept during G4 but did for G5. But the more they mention it especially as they tie it to what happened between the two gens the more important it is to actually give us more information about this alicorn land. And… I am completely pessimistic of that ever coming to pass. Skyros clearly holds some of the keys that tie the two gens together as flimsy as it may be at this point… and that may be exactly why we never see it

Spike: [narrating] But my friends were strong. Our friendship had created such powerful magic that Opaline had to resort to dark ways to overthrow Equestria. She even attacked the dragons to transform into a Fire Alicorn! Opaline: [echoing laughter] Sunny Starscout: That's what she's done again! Blaize: That's why she came for Jade and Lava! Tumble: For their fire! Spike: [narrating] The crystals were created to hide the magic of Equestria in them. All of pony magic. And all of dragon magic inside the Dragon Stone. Twilight sent us here to protect us and put a spell around Equestria to hide it from Opaline.

Wait, there’s a dragon stone now? Did Twilight seal magic for other species too then? A griffon… stone? (…Pun not intended), a kirin stone? changeling stone? etc. That just sounds like it made the crystals more complicated then they were already were.

And to be frank I think I may be on the side that sealing the magic in crystals is a terrible idea on Twilight’s part. I don’t understand what was so threatening about Opaline that all of Equestria couldn’t just overwhelm her the same they did to the trio in Season 9. Especially when the population should be bigger and friendship magic still more powerful then anything. Why couldn’t they just zap Opaline with the Elements? What did Opaline have that the terrible trio didn't? (Or what could she even do to weaken it when everyone does have their magic). From my view it sounds like a huge overreaction to seal all that magic away for the sake of one villain. They didn't seal everyone's magic up in Crystals for the one villain in G4 that made sense (Since he absorbs magic) in Tirek. All the Alicorn magic went to Twilight which she used to fight in a stalemate, before having to give it up before Rainbow Power gave her and her friends the power to defeat Tirek.

Maybe if Opaline had an army of evil alicorns also from Skyros with her I could understand. But as is, I think we can presume it was just her. As I don’t think she’s ever mentioned any minions other than Misty.

Sunny Starscout: The spell was damaged when we brought magic back, when the three pony kinds reunited again after centuries. Spike: You lost magic? All by yourselves? Aww, I'm going back to sleep!

To be frank Spike, I think I’m right there with you!

Sparky Sparkeroni: Woo-hoo! [breathes fire, chomps] Blaize: [gasps] Transformation fire?! Hitch Trailblazer: Sparky! Now is not the time for snacks, buddy! Sparky Sparkeroni: [burps] Fountain: I thought it was just a myth! Blaize: Me, too. Spike: This little one is special. Sparky Sparkeroni: [gurgles]

Another thing I’m admittedly not a fan of in the Chapter 6 finale is how they sort of make Sparky like the Dragon chosen one. It almost reminds me of my fears back in Season 6 that Flurry Heart would be the catalyst for the redemption of Chrysalis in the finale (At least when it became obvious the finale was going to feature her return). We were getting redemptions for a dime a dozen back at that time. So I felt quite grounded in that fear.

Obviously they have to give Sparky some sort of importance. It was fine when he was basically the Pikachu earlier in G5 of Misty (…Not Pokemon Misty though lol) trying to capture him for Opaline ala Team Rocket. But I don’t know how to feel about him being the deus ex machina.

Of course part of that is I’ve never really cared enough about Sparky to begin with. The fatherly relation with Hitch is cute. But Sparky himself never brought anything for me other than the gags his transformation magic causes. (And the less that Tell Your Tale Sparky is mentioned, the better)

All in all, take it away Izzy (From the very same episode no less)

(Obviously she didn’t say this in this context. But it’s amusing all the same)

Skipping ahead a bit. the finale was fine and all and it was great to see Opaline get her comeuppance (I assume for good. They only have her sealed up which could lead to a potential return, but I’m not sure G5 will go on long enough to set that up. Or at least I’ll never see it for as long as Tell Your Tale is all there is.)

I should go into a bit of Secrets of Starlight. Which I was mostly lukewarm to. It sets up… something I guess. I guess the characters from the special appear in recent Tell your Tale episodes. But the special didn’t leave me intrigued enough to know where they take Comet or the new big cat villain. I actually have more to say about the special’s title then anything else.

…And I’ll begin that the special was total clickbait, wasn’t it? I totally came in expecting that something about the special would relate to a certain other Starlight we know. But it was just the name of location, although it could be argued it’s named after Starlight.

I thought of maybe two possibilities with the title Secrets of Starlight that they could have went with for the final 3D special of Make Your Mark.

First, the actual finale where Opaline is defeated for good but not before getting into detail how Opaline learned stealing cutie marks was possible. Even if they might have naturally had to do it very vaguely. We could have had a line of Opaline be like:

“I learned of this spell long ago when I overheard some ponies talking about a powerful unicorn that gave Twilight a run for her money in the past. I initially hoped that I could gain a true ally, only to find that Twilight had already corrupted her with friendship. But her spell book still proved fruitful to my plans!”

Then the other possibility I have in mind? Well, what is Starlight Glimmer’s most infamous act outside of taking cutie marks? Time travel. A special where, even if only for a brief time. The G5 Mane 6 talk with the G4 Mane 6 felt like the kind of thing they’d end Make Your Mark with a bang.

Obviously, that was dashed (And not rainbow dashed) since we know of the report that apparently using G4 characters became too expensive. But when you title something Secrets of Starlight and make it the finale of a series. You would expect either/and/or, A. Something in the episode that invokes or honors Starlight, B, Cutie mark stealing, and/or C. Time travel to be involved.

…And G5 chose D. Totally unrelated whatsoever to Starlight Glimmer. Hard to tell if it was intentional bait but it’s disappointing all the same.

And I think that's all I have to say for now. I assume G5 will only be done in Tell Your Tale and the comics (Hell even the comics have switched styles to emulate TYT more too) from now on. And I'll just say: You can count me out of that. Even if TYT might have improved. It's going to take a lot to convince me to keep going. In a way, I might be already saying I'm done with G5. It had promise in areas but I think it's clear it fell short in way too many areas. It's a shame... a part of me does like the new Mane 6, especially Misty.

G4-G5 connection wise though? I'm kinda happy about splitting from that as far as possible. I cannot take references to G4 in G5 seriously after the dragon episode in Chapter 6. Whatever the past was like in G5's events, it just wasn't the G4 we watched for a decade. It can't be. I'm saying this with a risk of being called a G4 purist But I feel strongly more than ever that the G4 references was all an afterthought. It just took until the final chapter of Make Your Mark before something broke it beyond repair. It was slowly leaning that way ever since the Opaline story, but now the dam has completely burst.

For me, the ancient equestrian elephant in the room is no longer there.

Or perhaps I should say, was never truly there to begin with

It's probably at this moment where G5 may actually start delving into the important stuff just as many give up. But even if a batch of Tell Your Tale episode promises to answer anything. It's too little, too late.

#mlp #my little pony #g5 #mlp g5 #netflix #my little pony: make your mark #generation 5 #make your mark #mlp spoilers #spoilers #Youtube

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thehuggingisajustfortodaything36 · 1 year

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Recently there has been some news about how Phineas and Ferb will be getting two more seasons. As exciting as that is, I for one think there are other Disney Channel shows that should get another season because they were cancelled and the creators as well as some fans of those shows wanted at least one more season. Do not get me wrong, I like Phineas and Ferb and thought it was a good show, but I also felt like it was a show that had just the right amount of airtime and it seems to be very popular amongst the Disney company itself and a whole lot of people, whereas the following shows I’m about to talk about were very short lived and are not considered to be nearly as popular as Phineas and Ferb in terms of how Disney handled these shows and how it seemed like there were not as many fans of these shows compared to Phineas and Ferb.

(Potential spoilers for this show)

Wander Over Yonder was a show created Craig McCracken about a traveler named Wander who travels alongside his best friend Sylvia throughout the galaxy trying to help people with their problems any way they can, while a villain named Lord Hater and his second in command Commander Peepers set out to take over and rule the entire galaxy, but constantly fail to do so because of Wander either always getting in the way or annoying Hater with wanting to be his friend thereby ruining his plans for galactic conquest. The first season was very episodic where there were not many episodes that connected to each other, but you could still have tons of fun with the characters and humor that were presented throughout. Season two is where things started to get a little more interesting with an overarching plot of how there’s a new threat to the galaxy named Lord Dominator, a much more competent and dangerous villain compared to Hater, whose plan isn’t to rule the galaxy so much as destroy it, so it’s up to Wander, Sylvia, Hater, and Peepers to come up with some way to stop her before the entire galaxy lays in ruins, a little more dramatic but still fun all the same. Sadly there would never be a third season because it got cancelled which was such a shame because there were definitely more stories that could’ve been told like ‘What if Wander’s greatest challenge isn’t to convince Hater to become good but Peepers, since he’s the one who really cares about taking over the galaxy and not Lord Hater who really only wants to be popular and isn’t really that much of a villain compared to Peepers’ or ‘What would happen if Wander was to go to Earth’ or maybe even do backstory episodes about Wander, Sylvia, Hater, and Peepers. It doesn’t seem like there might even be a season three since Craig McCracken no longer works at Disney, but it would’ve been nice to see one. 🪕

(Potential spoilers for this show)

Milo Murphy’s Law was a show created by the very people who made Phineas and Ferb, Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh about a boy named Milo Murphy living through life with the constantly chaotic and at times unpredictable Murphy’s Law always being with him wherever he goes, Murphy’s Law being ‘Whatever can go wrong will go wrong’. In my opinion, I liked this show a lot more than Phineas and Ferb and I really do wish it had the same type of popularity as Phineas and Ferb as well as a season three. I just absolutely adore the characters in this show, my overall favorites being Milo Murphy, a character who despite all the craziness and bad luck that Murphy’s Law brings into his life always tries to find a way to overcome all the chaos thrown his way and manages to do it with an upbeat attitude and he’s just so nice and adorable to boot, as well as Vinnie Dakota and Balthazar Cavendish, two time travelers from the future who are assigned with what may be the most important mission of their lives… protecting Milo Murphy, I mean pistachios. Seriously though I always thought it would have been amazing and sweet to see Milo potentially being their ward/protege as well as him kind of being like a son to them whereas they would be like teachers and father figures to Milo throughout season three if there would’ve been a season three. I really do wish there was a season three and I think the creators would’ve loved to have a Milo Murphy’s Law Season Three, but supposedly that’s still up in the air. Here’s to hoping! 🎒

(Potential spoilers for this show)

Finally we have DuckTales (2017) created by Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones about Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby going on adventures all over the world, finding treasures and the meaning of family, with the greatest adventurer and richest duck in the world Scrooge McDuck. You might be wondering why I consider this to be a series that doesn’t seem as popular as Phineas and Ferb and the reason I think that is because not only was this cancelled when the staff had more ideas for the show including a Negaduck episode that never came to be, but also think about it Phineas and Ferb was a series that came out around 2007/2008 and to this day even though it ended originally in 2015 there are still tons of reruns of this extremely popular show whereas DuckTales (2017) ended in 2021 and there are little to no reruns at all and the only time it seems like they show any reruns are when it’s Halloween or Christmas and they simply show the holiday specials that were made which were only three in total. Even though it’s a series that’s been off the air for a short while, I still wish that there was a season four that could’ve properly given characters like Huey, Gyro, Boyd, Fenton, Gandra, Fethry, and even Negaduck more screen time and episodes dedicated to them. I have no idea if Disney will ever give this series a season four or maybe even some sort of TV movie, but not all hope is lost because even though so far this series doesn’t seem to be on the same level of popularity as Phineas and Ferb, maybe in a couple years time it will be and maybe there can be some sort of continuation because of that. At least I hope so. 🦆

#I hope you enjoyed reading this #I really do wish that all of the series I mentioned could’ve had more seasons #wander over yonder #milo murphy's law #ducktales 2017 #I love all these series so much and I wish they had a second chance

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cssnder · 3 months

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7, 16, 18 😁

https://www.tumblr.com/cssnder/745308376664244224/

What books have shaped the way you think about writing the most? Why?

I already replied to this question right here. I apologise in advance for how long my response in this post is, I tend to talk a lot and when I began it is often hard to stop me.

To what extent do you research for your writing?

A great amount, I'd say. I like getting the details right. For example, I've always been pretty well versed in philosophy before to begin working on my novel, but I still took in-depth courses — paired with at least fifty books that were recommended for further information —, from the antiquity to our current times because one of my characters is supposed to be erudite in this field. I wanted to be as erudite as I imagined my character to be. This could quickly seem like it'd be a waste of time but quite frankly, it helped me shape the psychology and the philosophy of my other characters as well. It helps me get new references to add — in the way Donna Tartt was referencing the Greeks, their philosophy and mythology, in The Secret History; or M. L. Rio was referencing Shakespeare in If We Were Villains —, ideas to implement, and it inspires me in new ways.

I will research everything and anything I need to. If a character brings flowers to another character, I'll delve into floriography and find what meaning I want those flowers to have, what I want them to say about a character, about their relationship, or about their intentions.

Dan Brown once said — which is quite ironic because I am not necessarily fond of his novels — that there are different kinds of research that authors do.

“For most writers, research is the very first thing you do. Research helps you decide what you’re gonna write about. Research is one of the most fun parts of writing a novel. You’re learning, you’re traveling, you’re reading - but there’s different kinds of research. There’s research that you’ll do to start your book, to say: “I wonder if this is what I really want to write about.” And it’s the kind of research where maybe you travel somewhere, or maybe you read a bunch of books about the topic. And those are sort of exploratory, that’s casting your line out and try to find ideas. But that first step is really just to learn about the world, let it inspire you, and let some of these questions start to percolate. Research as a first step will get you excited, it will give you ideas, and it’ll help you choose a world, which is really the first thing you need to do.”

“Once you have an idea, you do a much different kind of research. Once you decide: “I’m gonna write about overpopulation”, well guess what? Then you’re reading books on demographics and population and environment and pollution and bioengineering. Then you’ve cast your line and pulled out your idea, and now it’s time to get serious. For the kind of thrillers I write, personally, I will read history, philosophy, and art, and conspiracy theory. When I wrote Origin, I read four books that said that Darwin is wrong and evolution isn’t happening. To my taste that’s insanity, of course evolution is happening! But I read the other argument such that I could have characters make that argument to create that moral grey area.”

His episode about research is very long, in fact it's a two parts episode, so I cannot possibly write it all here, but I still wanted to share some of his thoughts about it because I found them very interesting and quite accurate, really.

But I wrote too much already. In short, I suppose my answer is this: everything. I research everything.

How do what you look for in your own writing vs someone else’s coincide? How does your writing influence your reading?

I honestly think that this is the most interesting question of this entire ask game. I have never thought about it before. Surely, I knew that my reading influenced my writing and I came to realise to what extent it did; but I never thought about it the other way around and I realise now that my writing most certainly does influence what books I pick up on some level.

Well, of course, if I were to be perfectly honest I would say that a morbid part of me is always looking for absolute perfection in my writing; which is absurdly unrealistic. Fortunately, those perverse expectations only apply to me and I never expect anybody else's writing to reach that level. On a more realistic basis, I suppose that I generally want for my writing to serve the story I am telling, while also attaining a certain level of excellence in my use of the language, a certain level of beauty in my prose and rhythm. And I would say this is also what I look for in someone else's writing: a beautifully written story, in which the writing style is effective but also beautiful — beautiful enough so that phrases or passages from the text haunt me and impose themselves to my memory, unable to forget them. What's most important to me is to have an impact on the reader, to make them feel something, whatever that something may be — sadness, love, disgust, anger, shock — as long as they're not bored. For one to feel bored when reading my words would be the ultimate insult to me. I suppose that's also what I expect from the books I pick up, to feel moved by them, impacted, even changed perhaps.

In a broader sense, I'd say that I read what I'd like to write and I write what I'd like to read — if that makes any sense.

#A Writer's Diary #Asks

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throughalleternity · 3 months

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🍉🍓🍎🍒🥭🍋🍌🍏🍇 (lol I sent you a whole fruit salad, but in my defense all the questions are great)

🍉 Do you prefer to write short fics or long fics? Multichaptered works or single ones? Why?

Short one shots! I'm just not interested in telling a long story. Way back, I thought it would be really cool, and then I quickly realized that it was hard and that I was much more suited to writing one of two short things a year as the mood struck lol. And most of my favorite fics are oneshots, and I like writing what I like to read!

🍓 What’s a fic you’ve written you feel is underrated?

Ehh I try not to compare anymore, especially since a lot of things come down to luck and fandom-specific trends. And a lot of what I write is niche and I like that! Makes it all the more satisfying when someone likes it.

🍎 Is there anything you straight-up won’t write?

Sure, there's a bunch of stuff I wouldn't write. There are some topics I won't because they're emotionally difficult for me (and not in a cathartic way), but a lot of it is just because I wouldn't trust myself to finish it or do it well enough to be happy with it. Like, I won't write anything that needs tens of thousands of words to dig into (though I do think there's a surprising amount you can do with very few words).

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

I definitely lean towards romantic, but really what I like is soft intimacy! It's just easiest to show that using romantic dynamics since that's what we're used to, so that's what I've done, but it would be cool to branch out a little more.

🥭 Rank from most enjoyable/fun to write to least: Fluff, Smut, Angst, Crack.

Fluff, Angst, Smut, Crack. Pretty in line with what I've written!

🍋 What’s your favorite spicier trope to write?

The lemon lol. My favorite spicier thing to write is the same as my non-spicy stuff, in that it's something relating to trans experiences, which isn't so much a trope as much as a theme, but. One specific thing I've enjoyed is writing fic without using the more gendered words for body parts, since that was (and I think still is?) pretty uncommon. But it's definitely something that some people prefer in real life and what I like sometimes, so I like getting to show that.

🍌 In your opinion, what’s the funniest joke/reference/pun you’ve made in a fic?

I.. don't think of myself as being particularly funny (see the 🥭 answer) 😅

🍏 Is there something you overuse, whether it’s a certain phrase, trope, or piece of punctuation?

I could comma splice for days (though I actually think I've been doing that less!) (Hm, maybe parentheses is another one.)

🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

Not really a specific scene! Or a specific fandom necessarily... Supergirl is going to be hard to move away from (it's the fandom I've gotten the most involved in) but I do like having variety. I'll probably be daydreaming about those characters for a long time though.

Thank you for the fruit salad!!

#ask me

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alivehouse · 6 months

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(While sending this ask I've accidentally found out what cool wallpapers (literally) you have on your desktop blog theme.)

Well, good day, my dearest horror podcast Virgil,

I, surprisingly to myself, actually finished "I am in Eskew" and enjoyed it quite a bit (which, I guess, could have been deduced by how much I spammed in the tag) even more surprisingly, considering I'm absolutely not a horror person - I substitute horror movies with their wikipedia retellings. Unironically.

Anyway, firstly, thank you! I definitely would have never discovered it without your recommendations!

Secondly, maybe you have something else like that stashed up your sleeve? I definitely need some time to recuperate, but I would like to explore more cool podcasts. (The only two limitations: short-ish - not much longer than this one, the view of a hundred+ episodes scares me; not gorier than this one/no actual jump scares - again, I'm a scardicat.) I remember you talking about "Mabel Podcast" and at the first glance it seems neat, but I'd like to hear your comments on it first.

Thanks in advance. :)

(thank you! its a william morris thing i edited a little lol) glad you liked eskew! its been fun seeing your thoughts on it popping up in the tag, not spammy at all.

i do want to mention that the creator of eskew also has another podcast called The Silt Verses, personally i havent listened to it for weird brain reasons so not sure how well it fits your criteria but ive heard its also very good

mabel podcast is another favorite! the creators of mabel and the creator of i am in eskew were both inspired by shirley jackson's the haunting of hill house to an extent iirc, so even though the stories are very different some elements of them have a similar 'feel' to them imo. i will say that mabel is very different stylistically though (especially the earlier episodes) which in my experience people seem to either love or hate. whereas in eskew you get a pretty continuous narration from david or riyo, in mabel youre mostly listening in on a series of somewhat disjointed voicemail messages. id definitely recommend at least giving the first few episodes a go, dont get discouraged if you dont feel like you dont understand whats happening right away. all you really need to know about the story going in is that youre following Anna, whos a live-in carer for an old woman named Sally. Anna is trying to contact Sallys next of kin (the titular Mabel), but shes strangely out of reach.

ok i know you said youre not a huge horror person but if you ever are feeling a little more daring id suggest trying out The White Vault. theres a small amount of gore (descriptions of finding hearts and teeth) and some uh. wet ripping sounds in it but its really not that bad all things considered, just know that it is straight horror though. its a found footage podcast that follows a group of people whove been hired to check out a remote outpost in northern norway thats gone dead, but a storm leaves them stranded there, and as time goes on it becomes clear that they arent exactly alone. this ones a little longer i think, but tbh ive only listened to the first two seasons, it felt like a natural place for the story to end to me

and then on the complete opposite side of the spooky podcast spectrum, if you want something thats a ghost story but really not horror at all imo, i just finished listening to Midnight Radio a few weeks back. this ones *really* short, like 10 episodes that are ~20 minutes each short, so its definitely lower commitment. in this one youre listening in on a radio show hosted by Sibyl, who died decades earlier but can still be heard waxing poetic about her hometown in the dead of night.

ok LAST ONE havent finished it so wasnt sure if i should rec it but a lot of people on my dash hype up Archive 81 so i thought id mention it at least. guy is hired to listen through a bunch of creepy tapes in some archive out in the middle of no where. classic horror podcast stuff. similar to eskew in that it pivots from mostly being mostly anthology into an overarching plot as you go on

#sorry i did not mean to write a whole essay lol..... but hopefully one of those sounds interesting!

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animehouse-moe · 1 year

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Chainsaw Man Endings Ranked

A bit weird maybe, but even though I'm a huge fan of the Chainsaw Man manga, the part I found the most interesting about the anime was the new endings each week. They provided fresh direction and cool animation, and boasted more creativity in a handful of scenes on average than what the anime was able to convey in an entire episode (though that's a topic for later). Anyways, I'm going to rank from worst to best because it's no fun seeing what the favorite is off the bat.

Ending 6 - Cerebral Rendezvous by Kanaria

I'll be honest, there's nothing to it. The song is alright, but there's nothing else going on. It's a theme and approach that we've already seen, but this is markedly, noticeably, and empirically worse. It's got hardly any animation and it dances around like it's doing something. The music makes it at least bearable to sit through, but it has almost nothing going for it.

Ending 11 - Violence By Queen Bee

Queen Bee certainly has a bias in their musical style, and it works well in stuff like their opening for Raven of The Inner Palace. For Chainsaw Man though? It's a very tough sell, and when you have what amounts to an aimless and odd music video alongside it... you don't really get anything of value. In a way, it's more disinteresting than ED6 because of the pairing of song and visuals, but this ending at least moves, even if it's weird and has no real theme or purpose to it.

Ending 1 - Chainsaw Blood by Vaundy

So this is third from last purely because of Vaundy's great showing on the song. He has quite a bit of range and makes full use of it, even if the visuals are just scenes from the anime. At the very least, it has a decent enough theme and forms a solid enough pair. It has something to it, even if it's incredibly low effort visually. If not for Vaundy though, this ending would be rock bottom just due to pure laziness.

Ending 2 - Remaining Lives by Zutomayo

I really love Zutomayo's music, and I really enjoy their music videos. But a cut and paste of their music and music videos is not a Chainsaw Man ending. It's creative, it's fun, and it's absolutely Zutomayo, but it's relation to Chainsaw Man is purely the characters. It reflects almost nothing of the sentiment or themes and is just free advertisement for Zutomayo. Which is kind of a shame because they had potential to come in and offer a solid gap between episode and ending, but instead resulted in a neither here nor there insert for the artist/band. It's a good music video, but it's not a good Chainsaw Man ending.

Ending 12 - Fight Song by Eve

Simply put, there's nothing to it. It's creatively limp, it has nothing unique to offer and attempts to go largely nowhere with the big send off for the first season of Chainsaw Man. Eve lends a really solid song to the finale, but ultimately nothing is done with it, which is depressing given the quality and creativity of Eve's own music videos. At the minimum though it attempts to be Chainsaw Man, and is well animated, but that's about all that can be said about it visually.

Ending 9 - Deep Down by Aimer

Some really impressive visuals here, and some really solid work out of Aimer in spots, but it feels like it misses the point. It's more akin to a music video, or animated short than an ending. It's showing off with its animation and telling a story of Himeno's death, and it's really pretty. But it feels out of place. It's getting closer to a "proper" Chainsaw Man ending, and it's really enjoyable and far closer than prior endings on this list, but it's just not quite there. Something's missing, and it's hard to put your finger on it, though I will say Aimer's song (personally speaking) is a far cry from their best work Dare Ka, Umi Wo.

Ending 10 - DOGLAND by PEOPLE 1

This is where the boys are separated from the men in terms of endings. The shift in approach and style is far greater and reaches deeper into the Pochita-shaped heart of Chainsaw Man. And I'll admit, it's grown on me a great deal since it aired. I wasn't really for it, and was even going to put it beneath ED9, but re-watching it, the ending grabbed me. It goes really far to be odd (and even provide a healthy amount of spoilers), and the song by PEOPLE 1 helps sell it a great deal. It's a very chill yet wildly nonsensical ending that takes as much from Chainsaw Man as it takes from its randomness. Really, I might even consider this spot a tie between ED10 and ED7

Ending 7 - Chu, Tayousei by Ano

This was a really fun and creative ending. Taking both from the time period Chainsaw Man is from, and the feel of the episode overall, its a memorable, creative, and very much so gross ending. The music made exactly for a specific sequence, the unique approach of a classic video game/CRT feel was refreshing, and it even borrows from the community surrounding Chainsaw Man. It has a little something for everyone, and establishes a unique direction and approach in the process. Really, nothing to complain about and outside of the very top endings of the season, can comfortably sit anywhere on anyone's list.

Ending 8 - First Death by TK

Now, I know I'm upsetting a lot of people putting this ending here, and in a way it pains me as well. But, the top 3 just have an entirely different appeal. This ending's really cool, it's really well done, but it's at risk of being derivative and it's not even as unique as the ending director's other ending for Chainsaw Man. To explain a bit, I'm sure JJK fans will understand what I mean by similar, specifically in regards to OP2 of the first season. This ending is incredibly cool and enjoyable, but so much of it follows a similar blueprint to Shingo Yamashita's rendition of it. The walking, the character posing, the musical breakdown that leads to dynamic action. It's very much a JJK OP2 in a different skin. If that's my complaint then why's it so high, you might ask. Well, because it's still a damn good ending, the visuals are still impressively well done and TK kills the song. It's just that it's something that feels similar to what I've seen before so I don't think it's incredibly outstanding.

Ending 4 - Tablet by TOOBOE

Coincidentally, this was the other ending directed by Yuuki Kamiya alongside ED8, and this one is incredibly unique. It's got the sole animator's feel to it thanks to the storyboarding they did, and is just an all around great time. The weird and wild work with Power meshes wonderfully with the odd and catchy song TOOBOE provides. It's a little more limited and small-scale than ED8, but the creative work is just so ridiculously eye-catching. It borrows from the manga, from additional drawings from Fujimoto, from bonus material, basically anything regarding Power to just give fans of the series and character an ending of their own. The insanity and how all over the place the work is just sells itself so well, from the dance routine of power to the nurse outfit to the rejection of vegetables. It knows at every moment what it wants to do to make this ending hilarious and incredibly memorable.

Ending 5 - The Back Room by Syudou

This ending really is something else. Taking a pair of themes in the first motion picture (which featured a horse running) and borrowing intense surrealism in art through various artists, it's something that screams Chainsaw Man despite having almost no direct connection. Start to finish insanity that speaks from between the lines and through purely visuals to produce something that you could spend hours breaking down. The appeal of it really is impossible to put into words, but it's by far the (second) best ending of Chainsaw Man, and a serious contender as a top ending of the year in general.

Ending 3 - 200 Million Centimeter Long Blades by Maximum The Hormone

Let's be real, no other ending even stood a chance. Maximum The Hormone, and the animation team/studio behind this ending were just entirely incomparable. The elation, the fear, the confusion, the insanity, everything was on an entirely different level. The visuals don't even have a peer in the rest of the endings of Chainsaw Man, let alone the endings of the year. It is pure, distilled, unadulterated Chainsaw Man. Through and through. It is the personification of the thoughts and ideas that punctuate how readers see the series. It still blows my mind how easily Maximum The Hormone switch up styles not one, but twice in the ending and the visuals and appeal keep up perfectly. It's just everything Chainsaw Man, and it's entirely unbeatable.

#chainsaw man #csm #chainsaw man ending #anime and manga #anime #anime review

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