#Glenn Sister!Original Character

[undergoingcalibrations]

FF7: Ever Crisis New Lore Summary (For those who rightfully don't want to put up with gacha BS)

General Worldbuilding:

SOLDIERs, (as of The First Soldier campaign, which takes place 15 years before the start original game), are divided into two grades: Passive and Active. Passive grade SOLDIERs are only distinguished from common forces by their elite training and superior equipment. Active grade SOLDIERs have only appeared on the scene extremely recently as of FS, and have received 'enhancements' to improve their physical resilience and affinity for materia. Passive grade SOLDIERs, and the public for that matter, have no idea what those enhancements actually are, with one of the Passive grades, Glenn, assuming that they are cyborgs.

Passive grades are also called P0s, short for Project Zero, the VR fighting program used to filter out those eligible for SOLDIER training from other Shinra troopers. This is the source of rivalry between some passives and actives, as being selected for active grade is seen as more of a question of genetics than talent.

A new nation, Rhadore, appears in Ever Crisis. It's abundance of ruins, it's geography (a southern nation composed of several islands), and the presence of a vent where the Lifestream flows out into the ocean, suggest that this may be the name of the southern archipelago where Mideel and the Temple of the Ancients are located.

Rhadore's population was decimated by SOLDIER operations after it broke a treaty with Shinra a decade before the events of The First Soldier campaign (25 years before FF7), with one of the P0s, Matt, giving the current estimated survivors as between 500-1,000.

Based on the naming conventions of regions in Rhadore, and conversations with the one named Rhadoran character, Rosen, it appears to be based on Hawai'i (for instance, Rosen uses the Hawai'ian word for spiritual energy, mana, to refer to mako and the Lifestream).

Rosen refers to the deceased as 'being with the Planet', suggesting that Planetology may have been a common faith there before the Shinra genocide.

A respected occupation in Rhadore was to serve as an 'Eye of Rhadore', responsible for monitoring the flow of the Lifestream into Rhadore's seas and notifying settlements in case of danger, as surges of Lifestream not only cause tidal waves but render seawater temporarily toxic. Rosen states that only a rare few are eligible to become Eyes, as they "need to be able to hear the Planet, even when they're asleep", suggesting that Cetra outside of Aerith and Ifalna may have survived there in one form or another.

Cloud

In Ever Crisis's telling of the events of FF7, Jessie gives Cloud a copy of the Project Zero training program she found while hacking Shinra databases. Nothing's really come of it yet.

When Tifa asks Cloud what his go-to drink was in SOLDIER, Cloud mentions a cocktail called a Winter Salt, though cannot remember how to make it, besides, well...there's salt. One assumes it was a favourite of Zack's.

Cloud says that after Nibelheim, he found himself at the Sector 7 trainyard "as if I was guided there". Presumably, Sephiroth was doing the guiding, but to what end is unclear.

Tifa

Tifa worked at a steam bun shop in Sector 8 for at least three years before her gig at Seventh Heaven. Her steam buns were so good that Wedge would often force Avalanche to go out of their way to eat there, which is how she ended up becoming friends with the group in the first place.

Tifa regards Jessie as a big sister and mentor, even though they're almost the same age.

Apart from out of loyalty to her friends, Tifa joined Avalanche because the religious aspects of Planetology appeal to her- namely, the idea that her father and the rest of Nibelheim are with the Planet, so by caring for the Planet, she will always be connected to them in turn.

Aerith

Aerith loves picnics because as a child in the labs, she naturally wasn't allowed to eat outside.

Elmyra had hired a bodyguard to look after Aerith when she was little (Shinra's got great life insurance payouts, apparently), but Tseng...dealt with them.

On a related note, one of Aerith's lifelong ambitions, ever since she can remember, is to one day be stronger than Tseng. Not that she wants to hurt him, necessarily, just that she never wants to be afraid of him pushing her and her family around again.

Ifalna was able to visit Aerith in spirit at least once after her death, comforting her when she was afraid, and reassuring her that she was strong because her family was with the Planet, and the Planet was with her.

Sephiroth

Based on the timeline, Sephiroth is anywhere between 12-15 during The First Soldier campaign. I'm tempted to say he's on the older end of that spectrum, as the P0s are surprised but not appalled by his age, and Cloud applied for SOLDIER at 15, if that's anything to go by.

Sephiroth uses a katana in Ever Crisis, rather than an odachi like in his other appearances. He's not tall enough to pull that off yet.

At some point between The First Soldier and Crisis Core, Sephiroth's eyes changed from blue to green. Mako will do that, I guess.

Despite Shinra propaganda stating that Sephiroth was already a decorated SOLDIER by this point, the mission to secure a site for a new mako reactor in Rhadore that The First Soldier covers was his first field operation- Shinra was simply trying to boost support for active grade SOLDIERs by attributing the accolades of others to their prototype. Sephiroth is upfront and untroubled about this with the P0s that have been assigned to him.

Sephiroth appears to be a true patriot, having no remorse for the Rhadorans that would stand in the way of Shinra's mission. He has no compunction when it comes to killing even a group of young and elderly Rhadorans attempting to evacuate, a thoroughness that he attributes to Shinra's training- the young could be receiving military training, and the old could be seasoned veterans, so all must considered a threat and eliminated. The P0's, on the other hand, seem to be mostly in this for the money and find Sephiroth's actions disturbing, though hold that against whoever taught him he had to be this way, not Sephiroth himself.

...despite this, Sephiroth states multiple times that he did not ask to be what he is and doesn't want to be the false hero Shinra's propped him up as. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he thinks to himself that "I just want to live a normal life", but refuses to say it aloud.

Sephiroth keeps a picture of Lucrecia on him at all times, though Hojo told him it was a picture of Jenova. He asks everyone he meets if they've seen her or know anything about her, and appears to believe she's still alive.

#ff7 #ff7 ever crisis #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #tifa lockhart #sephiroth

[randomnameless]

Replying to an ask, I was realising -

We know more about Glenn (Govan Fraldarius?), the brother of a secondary character who died protecting one of the primary ones, than about Supreme Leader’s sibling who was the original heir of the Empire.

Supreme Leader, iirc, was born as Ionius’s ninth child, or fifth one? Something like that?

What about the First child, the heir of the Emperor, son of his wife (Supreme Leader mentions how her mother wasn’t Ionius’s wife, meaning he had one, it wasn’t just, Anselma) ? What about said wife?

Ionius was yeeted away in Nopes, but damn if we don’t know jack shit about Adrestia.

Sure sure, we know Leopold’n’Waldemar, yay - but bar the duo of clowns?

Rafiel is the first prince of Serenes, Reyson and Leanne often mention their older sister Lilia, but no one ever mentions Supreme Leader’s oldest sibling? Ionuis’s first child? Supreme Leader’s stepmother(s)?

Why would Ferdie have developed a rivalry with Supreme Leader, if she had older siblings already in line for the throne? Why would Hubert - the Vestra heir - be “given” to Supreme Leader, if the Imperial Heir was already around?

The more I think about it, the less Adrestia makes sense, or at least the Adrestia we were presented with.

I think those siblings really existed, but their absence in the plot maybe mean the “Vestra” tasked with overlooking, let’s call him (it’s a him because it’s Adrestia!) Hans 2, heir to the throne, wasn’t from Hubert’s dad’s line, but from a cadet line? Cadet line had a child “around the age” of Hans 2, so that cadet branch would have become the most important one, had Hans 2 survived, because cadet Vestra would have become the “Vestra of the Emperor” while Hubert would only be the Vestra of the ninth/fifth princess.

Ditto for Ludwig ?

He’d have championned Ferdie to show his talent and might and “nobility” to Hans 2 instead of Supreme Leader, but when Hans 2 was Arundel’d and only Supreme Leader survived, he switched his focus?

In FE Tellius, in FE10, Tibarn talks about it, passingly. But in FE Fodlan, there’s no rumours of a “plague” having befell the imperial family, mainly the “series of tragedies” in Rhea’s book.

Hans 2?

Even Rhea’s dead siblings are more relevant, they appear in the form of relics ! But Hans 2? His existence blows a hole in the Adrestia we know, its political landscape and Supreme Leader herself.

Of course you should compare what can be compared, but when ASOIAF’s Ned goes “this shit should never have been mine to dealt with, it should have been my dead older brother’s”, this is never mentionned in FE16.

We have Rhea feeling as inedaquate, being trusted in this position as the “Guardian” of Fodlan because her mom was deboned, but Supreme Leader never says this regarding Hans 2.

Ionius himself never mentions Hans 2 or his other children.

Tl;Dr : FE16 wrote a story where the Adrestian Empire’s heir is less important to people than House Fraldarius - a vassal of House Blaiddyd - ‘s first son.

GG guys, 10k years of lore.

#random thought #Adrestia stuff #at this point Adrestia exists in that limbo #between non relevant thus not developped #and 'has to exist to give a homebase and story to Supreme Leader' #it doesn't make any sense #I've seen fanart depicting Supreme Leader with her siblings #but why is it only in a fanart like why not a picture in her room or idk something in the Imperial Palace #they had time to make a willy statue #but no portrait for the Imperial children who died?? #FE16 #Fodlan nonsense

[historyhermann]

Kiff Review

Kiff is a musical comedy animated series by Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal. They are known for their work in the animation industry, either script writing, storyboarding, or voice acting. This post will have spoilers.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the twenty-seventh article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on March 27, 2023.

The plot of Kiff focuses on a young flying squirrel named Kiff Chatterley (voiced by Kimiko Glenn), who is friends with a mellow bunny named Barry Buns (H. Michael Croner) in a magical land, within the mountains, known as Table Town. Both go on adventures in and around the town.

Like other Disney series airing this year, Kiff is aimed at kids and families. This is clear from the format, similar to many episodes of Amphibia, Milo Murphy's Law, and Phineas and Ferb. Each 22-minute episode is divided into two 11-minute segments. In typical Disney fashion, there is a musical number in almost every episode.

Apart from the animating powerhouse of Disney Television Animation, a well-known animation studio, Titmouse, is producing the series. The same studio is known for series such as Cleopatra in Space, Star Trek: Lower Decks, The Midnight Gospel, Q-Force, Inside Job, Pantheon, My Dad the Bounty Hunter,  The Legend of Vox Machina, Fairfax, and Chicago Party Aunt.

Many of the voice actors in Kiff are well-experienced. Glenn previously voiced Paperstar in Carmen Sandiego, Katherine-Alice in Welcome to the Wayne, Tomiko in Elena of Avalor, and Nomi in Dogs in Space, to name a few roles. Deedee Magno Hall, who voices Deer Teacher in the series, is best known for voicing Pearl in Steven Universe. Furthermore, James Monroe Iglehart and Lauren Ash, who voice Kiff's parents, prominently voiced characters in series such as Tangled, Helluva Boss, Elena of Avalor, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

Keen listeners might recognize Rachel House, voice of Barry's mother, or Nichole Sakura, voice of Barry's sister. Both had prominent voice roles in Moana and OK K.O.!: Let's Be Heroes. Personally, I was familiar with voice actors Katie Crown and Rhys Darby because they voiced characters in Cleopatra in Space. The former also voiced Ivy in Amphibia. Furthermore, Darby voiced a variety of characters in Milo Murphy's Law, We Bare Bears, Welcome to the Wayne, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, and Infinity Train. It was great to hear Vella Vowell, who voices Candle Fox, again. I remembered her impressive voice acting as Princess Mermista in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and as the No Tattoo Barista (which later turned into a CBD Monster) in the lesser-known Magical Girl Friendship Squad.

Kiff snagged the well-regarded Eric Bauza and Tom Kenny. From my years of watching animated series, I was familiar with Bauza as Scoops in Ollie & Scoops, as well as Kenny for two roles: Ice King in Adventure Time and Yancy Fry in Futurama. In this series, Bauza voices Reggie and a scrupulous TV producer named Roy Fox, while Kenny voices multiple characters in the series. A stand-up comedian named Josh Johnson also voices Barry's brother, Harry.

The show's animation is expressive and colorful. However, it pales in comparison to Amphibia, The Owl House, or Adventure Time. In some ways, Phineas and Ferb is put together better, as is Milo Murphy's Law. All in all, the show is a bit funny, but not laugh-out-loud funny. Drama is more a strong suit for the series than comedy.

The first twelve episodes of the series are double-episodes. They introduce viewers to the characters, allowing you to get a feeling for their lives. More than anything, they make it clear that Kiff is not serialized like Steven Universe, Tangled, or Milo Murphy's Law (especially the second season). Instead, each episode seems in its own world, without being connected to another. If some rumors are correct about upcoming Hailey's On It! and Iwaju, it appears that Disney series are moving in this direction. This is evidenced by the fact that the recently aired Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur uses serialized storytelling.

The first twelve episodes of the series is is a double-episode. They introduce viewers to the characters, allowing you to get a feeling for their lives. More than anything, it is clear that the series is not serialized similar to Steven Universe, Tangled, or Milo Murphy's Law (especially the second season). Instead, each of the episodes seems in its own world, without being connected to one another. If some rumors are correct, it appears that Disney series are moving in this direction. However, the recently aired Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur uses serialized storytelling as does the upcoming Hailey's On It! and Iwaju, if reports are correct.

Kiff has some elements reminding me of the Futurama episode openings, like fake adverts at the beginning of each episode. At the same time, the series is different than what has come before since the show creators, Heavens and Smal, who voice characters in the series, are from Cape Town, South Africa. As a result, their life-stories are undoubtedly integrated into the series itself. Furthermore, the show's directors include animators for Black Dynamite, 6Teen, and Amphibia, with this career experience enhancing the show even more.

The series emphasizes the importance of acceptance, friendship, self-worth, and notoriety. The latter is shown in the extreme by Roy Fox, who makes trashy reality shows in order to profit from people's misery. In a manner similar to the focus on education in many anime series, Kiff seems to imply that education is important to achieving your dreams and that school shouldn't be skipped, no matter what. This stands diametrically opposed to what is shown in Birdie Wing: Eve, one of the show's protagonists, is a terrible student, but remains at the premiere golf academy because she is a sports star.

There are many other themes focused in Kiff. For instance, the episode "Career Day", when Kiff and Barry get a part-time job at city hall, implies that mass records destruction is fine as long as you cut through the "red tape". This contrasts with commentary about overly technical bureaucracy in Hilda and Futurama, to name two series. Such a negative theme in "Career Day" is offset by episodes which accentuate family togetherness and honesty.

As a person who has reviewed media with libraries and librarians in pop culture since July 2020, and with a MLIS degree, it should be no surprise one of my favorite episodes of Kiff was "Club Book". In he episode, Kiff learns the value of quietness in the library after turning the library into a club scene. I thought it was interesting that the librarian, voiced by Aparna Nancherla, is made more relatable than most. Her character, Miss Moufflé, somewhat bucking stereotypes, while reinforcing them at the same time, as she shushes people but also likes souffles.

Similar to other series, the value of libraries as a place of knowledge and learning is affirmed in Kiff. In some ways, the episode reminded me of the "Quiet Riot" episode of The Replacements, in which the show's protagonist, Todd, causes the shushing librarian in charge of the school library replaced by a rockstar. However, he later regrets his decision, resulting in the original librarian returning to her job.

Currently, Kiff is almost half-way through its series order of 30 episodes. It is hard to know where the series will go from here. Even so. I am more optimistic about this series than Hamster & Gretel, which has fallen flat, despite the fact that Dan Povenmire is the show's creator. Instead, the series has episodes somewhat mimicking absurdity and, even hilarity (to an extent), which are present in Phineas and Ferb. The latter, in fact, was recently renewed for more two seasons.

Even so, Kiff will probably never measure-up to the strength of four-season animated magical comedy powerhouse of Phineas and Ferb, a series even mentioned in an episode of Better Things, a comedy-drama by Pamela Adlon, who voiced some characters in the series. Despite this, Kiff will chart its own path, perhaps different than what has come before. After all, both creators are said to be a "brilliant creative team".

Although Disney has recently removed release dates from the upcoming Tiana and Moana series, clearly Kiff is part of a trend by the company to feature more diverse series. This year is bound to bring series such as Iwáju and Hailey's On It!, while there are others in production such as Cookies & Milk and Primos.

It is further possible that Disney is producing Molly Ostertag's Neon Galaxy, a series reportedly about a trans princess. In any case, diverse series are on the horizon for Disney, especially more than HBO Max, a network which has been struggling to find its corporate identity since David Zaslav became CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate. It is said that the streaming service has Iyanu: Child of Wonder and Lumberjanes in production.

The first 12 episodes of Kiff are currently airing on Disney+ and all twelve episodes have aired on the Disney Channel. Four new episodes will air on the Disney Channel on April 1st and later be added on Disney+.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

#kiff #disney #futurama #ollie & scoops #she ra #spop #mgfs #magical girl friendship squad #ok ko #cleopatra in space #milo murphy's law #hailey's on it #iwaju #birdie wing #the replacements #neon galaxy #animation #pop culture #reviews #pop culture maniacs #Youtube

[disneytva]

NUTS Disney Sets March 10 Release Date For Titmouse Inc And Disney Television Animation’s “Kiff” Alongside Soundtrack And Shorts.

GO NUTS! ‘Kiff’ Premieres Friday, Mar. 10, only Disney Channel

Disney announced that “Kiff,” their nutty new animated buddy-comedy about optimistic squirrel Kiff and her chill bunny bestie Barry, will premiere Friday, March 10, on Disney Channel (8:00 p.m. EST/PST) and Wednesday, March 15, on Disney+ USA with 6 new episodes ahead of broadcast release.

Also available March 10, include the “Kiff Original Soundtrack” by Brad Breek (Gravity Falls, The Owl House) from Walt Disney Records and Kiff appearing trought Disney Television Animation’s Multiplatform Short Series like “THEME SONG TAKEOVER” “CHIBI TINY TALES” “BROKEN KARAOKE” & “HOW NOT TO DRAW”.

Kimiko Glenn (“Netflix Animation’s Centaurworld”,”Disney XDs DuckTales”) stars in the titular role of Kiff, whose thirst for life takes her on countless adventures through their city alongside Barry, voiced by H Michael Croner (“Cartoon Network Studios Craig of the Creek Franchise”). Joining the cast in recurring roles are:

James Monroe Iglehart (SpindleHorse Toons Helluva Boss) and Lauren Ash (Dreamworks She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power) as Kiff’s parents, Martin and Beryl.

Heavens and Smal also voice characters in the series: Heavens as Kiff’s drama teacher, Helen, and Smal as the principal of Table Town School, Principal Secretary.

Deedee Magno Hall (Cartoon Network Studios Steven Universe Franchise) as Kiff’s teacher, Miss Deer Teacher, Eugene Cordero (Cartoon Network Studios Steven Universe Franchise) as Kiff’s neighbor, The Pone, and the school secretary, Secretary Prince, Josh Johnson (The Daily Show with Trevor Noah) as Barry’s brother, Harry Buns, Eric Bauza (Warner Bros Looney Toons Franchise) as TV producer Roy Fox and Kiff’s classmate Reggie, Vella Lovell (Dreamworks She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power) as Kiff’s classmate Candle Fox, Steve Little (Cartoon Network Studios Adventure Time Franchise) as the town city manager, Glarbin Gloobin, Series Co-Showrunner and EP Kent Osborne as the school janitor, Sweepy Steve, Gary Anthony Williams (Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur & Disney Hailey’s On It.) as artist manager Flam Bingo, Mary Mack (William Street’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force) as Kiff’s classmate Renee, Rhys Darby (WarnerMax’s Our Flag Means Death) as a troll living under a bridge, Trollie, Tom Kenny (Disney Wander Over Yonder) as Kiff’s classmates Trevor, Gareth and Darryn, Katie Crown (Disney Amphibia & Disney TVA Pilot Iris Opener) as town barista, Pawva, Kate Flannery (Cartoon Network Studios OK K.O! Let’s Be Heroes) as laundromat owner and Helen’s sister, Agnes, Nichole Sakura (Cartoon Network Studios OK K.O! Let’s Be Heroes) as Barry’s sister, Terri Buns, Rachel House (Walt Disney Animation Studios Moana & Pixar Animation Studios Soul) as Barry’s mom, Mary Buns.

Inspired by the people and places Heavens and Smal experienced when they were growing up in Cape Town, South Africa, each half-hour episode, comprised of two 11-minute stories, will include a new original song. In addition to their creative roles,

Additionaly Heavens and Smal have a second animated series on development about “alien suburbs” for Disney Channel

#Kiff #Disney Kiff #Nic Smal #Lucy Heavens #Disney Channel #Disney+ #Disney Plus

[samnyangie]

I wanted to share this before the pride month ends! They’re not written by me, this is the original post

————————————

Robert Sean Leonard and LGBTQ+

On Stage

The Invention of Love by Tom Stoppard. Broadway, 2001.

RSL won a Tony and Outer Critics Circle Award for his portrayal of gay poet and scholar A.E. Housman, who struggles with his feelings towards his best friend and the love of his life, Moses Jackson.

The Violet Hour by Richard Greenberg. Broadway, 2004.

RSL played John Pace Seavering, an ostensibly straight character who nonetheless shares kisses with another man (played by future House guest star Scott Foley).

Fifth of July by Lanford Wilson. Broadway, 2003 (also Los Angeles).

RSL played a gay disabled Vietnam veteran, Ken Talley, living with his boyfriend in his childhood home and dealing with visiting relatives and friends over a summer weekend.

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Baltimore (Center Stage), 1997.

RSL played Tom, the fictional alter-ego of Williams (who was gay) in this autobiographical play about his family. Read an interview with RSL about Tennessee Williams.

The Shadow Box by Michael Cristofer. Benefit reading, 1994.

RSL played Mark, the young lover and caretaker of Brian (Christopher Reeve), a gay man dying from an unnamed disease assumed to be cancer. The performance of this 1977 Pulitzer Prize winning play was held to benefit a high school drama teacher in Tuscon, Arizona, who was fired for attempting to stage it due to its homosexual themes.

Into the Woods by James Lavine and Stephen Sondheim. Broadway workshop, 1987.

RSL played Jack (of Jack & the Beanstalk fame) in this musical about fairy tales. No expressly gay themes, but composed by openly gay LGBT icon Stephen Sondheim.

Breaking the Code by Hugh Whitemore. Broadway, 1987-1988.

A biographical play based on the life of Alan Turing (played by Sir Derek Jacobi), so-called father of the computer - a brilliant young man who, during WWII, helped to break the German submarine Enigma code. The play deals with his personality, his love of mathematics and also his homosexuality, for which he spent some time in prison. RSL played Christopher Morcom, a schoolmate who was Turing's first love and whose death, at the age of 17, was to leave a permanent mark on Turing's character. Description from this site. Read the thoughts of Andrew Hodges, on whose book the play was based.

Coming of Age in Soho by Albert Innaurato. The Public Theater, circa 1985.

The play concerns a writer named Bartholomew "Beatrice" Dante, who has fled to Soho to escape his wife of fourteen years and to come to terms with his art and his homosexuality. RSL understudied the role of Puer, an "astonishingly precocious teenager" who informs Beatrice that he is his son by a German terrorist with whom Beatrice had a brief but intense fling.

On Film

A Glimpse of Hell, directed by Mikael Salomon.

A 2001 cable movie which originally aired on FX, based on a 1989 incident that occurred aboard the USS Iowa when an explosion killed 47 sailors. RSL plays Dan Meyer, a Naval lieutenant who questions the Navy's official findings, which blamed the event on a homosexual relationship between two of the sailors.

In the Gloaming, directed by Christopher Reeve.

A 1997 cable movie which originally aired on HBO. RSL plays Danny, a young gay man dying of AIDS who returns home to be in his mother's care (played by Glenn Close). The DVD release date is unknown, but VHS copies are still available.

Books

The Short History of a Prince by Jane Hamilton, 1999.

RSL narrates this novel about the family struggles and coming of age of Walter McCloud, a gay teenager in the Midwest. The audiobook is out of print but you can still buy the novel.

Other

Auditioned for a role in "To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar"

“Douglas Carter Beane wrote the screenplay for “To Wong Foo,” and recalled all the actors’ auditions for the film. “John Cusack looked just like his sister Joan. Robert Sean Leonard was stunningly beautiful, Audrey Hepburn. James Spader—also beautiful. Willem Dafoe looked the way Mary Tyler Moore does now—the Joker’s sister, with that mouth. John Turturro—not pretty.”“

——————————

+I want to add, to my knowledge he’s listed as one of the actors funding broadway support organisation including AIDS/HIV

You can see he’s listed in this link

#robert sean leonard #rsl #lgbtq #queer #pride month #theatre #film #broadway

[italian-pastry]

Welcome to the first official introduction of my original Magical Girl Story Little Beast Magica and her 8 most important characters! Some more fun little facts/mini-profiles under the cut but aside from that enjoy my sillies (and one not so silly !)

Lillith Young (voiced by Kimiko Glenn)

The Main Character! Good for her

After the death of her parents 2 years ago, Lillith one day starts dreaming of a strange world (Paradium) where Bug-Themed magical girls exist, working hard to protect their world from mysterious monsters that want to destroy everything. Wacky! Seems like perfect escapism to me!

Her eventual magical girl outfit (and powers) are Caterpillar (who are we kidding, Caterpie) themed!

Hortensia Sato (voiced by Stephanie Sheh)

Stereotypical "Excitable and Quirky Best Friend !!" She would do numbers on a Disney Channel Sitcome

We love her tho

Within Paradium, Magical Girls attend a special academy to train to be Magical Girls, and Hortensia is one of those trainees. After Lillith starts appearing in their world, Hortensia is the only other trainee with space available in her dorm, so Lillith moves in and now They're Besties and VERY excited to be magical girls together!!! Yippee!!! Surely her child-like naivety and optimism won't come around to bite her!

Her magical girl theme is a Honeybee!

Adonis Flor (voiced by Jeremy Jordan)

The #1 Best-At-Everything Magical Girl currently active in Paradium! He is favored by the narrative (me) and that is not a good thing for him!

Lillith's first exposure to Magical Girls when she arrived in Paradium, and BOY what an impression he made! He's very charming and good-natured, a real Superman type. Surely there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with him mentally, nothing at all! Just don't ask about his scar, why his hair isn't the same color as his eyebrows, anything about his childhood or anything about his personal life in general (here's a hint: he doesn't have one)

His Magical Girl theme is the Atlas Moth

Anh Freeman (voiced by Jordan Fisher)

Where Adonis is the general "best" Magical Girl, Anh is the one with the most Social Presence/Influence. He is litcherally an Influencer!

Another perspective on one's role and responsibilities within the Magical Girl system. While quite a few people don't quite respect Anh for how much he values the way he's viewed by the public, he's still a incredibly competent and celebrated Magical Girl. And, despite his VERY HEALTHY social media presence, he maintains a very strict Work-Life balance (helped by his PR manager and sister, Lin)

(although this is slightly undermined by his huge and pathetic unrequited Gay Crush on Adonis. He's been crushing since he was 12 he ain't stopping soon)

His Magical Girl theme is a dragonfly, specifically the Ebony Jewelwing Dragonfly!

Tacca Cuppheo (voiced by John Gallagher Jr.)

A very under-the-radar, disillusioned, play-by-his-own-rules kind of Magical Girl.

Is one of the VERY VERY FEW Magical Girls officially assigned to guarding/patrolling The Treeline, the part of Paradium bordering the forest where the monsters come from and thus the most vulnerable to attacks and plague breakouts. You'd think he'd be bitter from the sucky assignment, but his family is from The Treeline. Being able to protect it was his whole reason for becoming a Magical Girl, so he is perfectly content to let the higher ups ignore him and let him do his job as he pleases.

He thinks he likes being lonely, but he doesn't. He just never healthily grew out of his Angsty Teen phase (but he's getting there)

His Magical Girl theme is a Yellowjacket!

Valerian Allium (voiced by Eden Espinosa)

A Magical Girl a bit too obsessed with rankings and very good at getting in her own way. Kind of Lillith's self-proclaimed rival once she graduates.

Very angsty and stingy with her tragic backstory. All we got is that she is very determined to climb the ranks of Magical Girl-hood and to "prove herself." To who, I don't think even she is sure. A LOT of bark, but not as much bite - while she is quite Catty to Lillith and Hortensia when they first enter the field, she's pretty easily worn down to "vague tolerance" of the two.

Her Magical Girl theme is the Black Widow

(Fun fact, she doesn't know how to swim as inspired by the apparently MULTIPLE Black Widows that have drowned in my pool)

David Buleia (voiced by Clancy Brown)

Literally someone make him retire. A very Jaded Magical Girl far past his prime.

Being as uh... wise and experienced (aka old) as he is, he is assigned as Lillith's mentor once she graduates. He also ends up picking up Hortensia along the way since she and Lillith are a package deal. He is initially VERY against this idea, but as all grizzled old dudes tend to do, he gets very attached to the two very quickly.

His Magical Girl theme is the Rhinoceros Beetle (tbh, more Heracross than anything)

Ambassador Crina Allium (voiced by Meryl Streep)

As you can probably figure by the fact she's the only yt woman in this lineup, The Eventual Main Villain!

Once a very high performing Magical Girl, kind of the Adonis of her time. After she retired from field work, she worked her way up to Ambassador (aka basically CEO) of the Magical Girl program! What a girlboss!

Other notable feats include being Valerian's very subpar mother, Adonis' mentor/mother figure and the bane of Tacca and David's existence

Doles out Mommy Issues like they're candy

#oc #magical girl ocs #original character #Little Beast Magica #LBM #Lillith Young #Hortensia Sato #Adonis Flor #Anh Freeman #Tacca Cuppheo #Valerian Allium #David Buleia #Ambassador Crina Allium #YOU WANT TO ASK ME ABT THESE SILLIES AND THEIR WORLD SO BAD YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO #Youtube

[twdmusicboxmystery]

My Re-Watch of Ghosts, Part 3

@galadrieljonesones:

Thanks for this, @wdway. Slabtown is just one of those episodes that keeps on giving. The title itself is a whole easter egg, as Slabtown was the name of the red light district that used to be where Grady stands now, and it, too, was a railroad terminus.

Basically, Beth and Rick end up in their own train cars, going in two different directions, on two different tracks, at a fork. Sometimes, I think that Rick perceives Beth as having died and the reason her death is so confusing and full of holes, is because, for what Gimple has been planning, he needed her to be killed off, basically removed from Rick’s storyline and Rick’s point of view.

Gimple used Beth to leak the CRM storyline in its most prototypical form, and she became its ambassador. Sometimes I think he killed her not fully knowing how that would play out, but he made it so weird and confusing specifically so he could come back to it at any time and fill in the blanks.

I mean, we have to ask ourselves why Beth was chosen for this. Maybe because she was a minor character but who played a major role, because she was pretty and lovable but strong-willed, and because she was young but not a child. Her father was dead and her sister was married. She was on her own and basically the perfect choice for a brand new heroine.

I know a lot of people write Beth off and think she was just the babysitter, but why would the babysitter be scheduled opposite of Daryl in such an important, influential role in season 4? Why would the babysitter be featured in the flashbacks for A, when literally nobody else is? Why would the babysitter get to wear Rick’s hat?

Maybe because when she stopped being the babysitter, that is when her story truly began. But because of the rules and what Gimple had to work with at the time, he wasn’t allowed to tell her story yet.

I think, too, that people were attached to Beth but she wasn’t a principle character, not yet. People liked her a lot but it was still justifiable that she could exit the show and not affect the internal plot too much. It’s still true that Grady has gone completely unanswered. Her entire plot just disappears. It’s like she never even existed, and yet all these years later they’re still planting seeds that always lead back to Grady. It’s crazy.

Daryl literally never gets over what happened.

If he were to get over it, he’d have moved on. He’d have dated Connie, shacked up with Leah and then just, whatever. But he’s literally still so damaged from what happened to Beth. And it’s obvious. Yet we’re supposed to believe that Beth was a pointless character, and because Glenn Mazzara originally planned to have her be killed off by Axel the Serial Killer in season 3, that means that’s all she ever was.

Part of what I was struggling with yesterday was related to this same thing, ie: the coda. @wdway , you reminded me of the crazy coda man in No Sanctuary, and @twdmusicboxmystery , your Ghosts revisit reminded me of something totally weird I’ve always believed about Carol. It’s that thing that I’ve been struggling to articulate!

First, I think that 5a is arguably the first coda, as it’s bookended by Morgan codas in which he finds the coda trees. The first coda in a piece of music will similarly be bookended by coda signs. In 4b, Beth finds the D.C. (al coda) spoon, letting us know what kind of coda we’re entering into.

But it’s not the coda itself, not yet. The coda begins with No Sanctuary, and it ends, obviously, with Coda. Beth’s death is contained within the false ending, before the reset.

This is how the D.C. al Coda works. You play through the first coda, until you get to the second coda sign. Then you go back to the beginning, play all the way until you get to the first coda sign, then you SKIP the first coda and jump forward to the second, where you play through to the end, or the next coda, this can theoretically keep going.

Is it relevant that Morgan encounters THREE coda signs in No Sanctuary? I don’t actually know. The coda signs are tilted, which is both misleading but also enlightening. They look like Railroad Crossing signs.

Ofc the two topics are not divorced from one another in the context of TWD, specifically in seasons 4-5. So like, I feel like Morgan, as the prophet, is there to show us how the narrative is working. Everything contained in 5a is, not changable? But it’s only the first version of what happens. It’s NOT complete.

This is where my weird feeling about Carol comes in. But first, I need to go back and explain how I view 4b and what happens after the prison falls. I know I have gone into this a little before, but I really don’t know how in-depth I’ve gotten so here goes.

I feel like, after the prison falls, the writing becomes notably more surreal than usual. I feel this is to communicate that the timeline has become unstable. We see this in things like the inconsistencies with the seasons, and the lack of clarity with passage of time. It could be two weeks, six weeks, or four months they’re all out there. We have no way of knowing, and the writing seems to do this purposefully.

The groups also seem to cross paths quite often, but it’s just always at the wrong time. This is important thematically, but I think it’s also mechanic. This is where a postmodern reading comes in, because it’s looking at how writing can take a metaphor and manifest it physically and literally in a text.

The show becomes self-aware in some ways in season 4. It’s using very pointed symbolism which becomes self-referential. It’s an exercise to communicate how it feels after experiencing a major and life altering trauma. When one’s life is shattered, time stops. Directions change. East becomes west, north becomes south, etc. The world becomes fragmented and needs to be put back together.

I feel like Gimple is using this manifestation of a very real human experience in order to mess with what we know to be true, so that he can give himself an out to change it later.

So like I feel that the timeline, after Hershel dies and the prison falls, becomes very unstable, and then eventually, it splits. It splits in two: Timeline A and Timeline B.

So what does this have to do with Carol? We have to return to Indifference in order to understand. In Indifference, Rick drives Carol away from the prison and into a suburban neighborhood, ie: a liminal space. It’s not the city and it’s not the country.

While he’s there, Rick takes off his watch, gives it to Sam, who leaves with it and never comes back. Carol comments on this. “It was a nice watch,” she says. It calls our attention to the fact that the watch is gone, that time as stopped. Ava dies, and we find her disembodied leg with the compass. There’s no time, and the compass has been disconnected. There’s no direction.

Rick then exiles Carol from the prison, and therefore, from his timeline. He is the protagonist after all. He leaves her behind in the liminal space and returns to the prison without her. Okay, this is where my ability to articulate what I feel breaks down lol. SO I will do my best. I feel that, in Indifference, Carol becomes “unstuck.” She gains like, a superpower. She can enter and exit any timeline, at will, and not all characters can do this. So like when the timeline becomes unstable after 4.8, all of the characters are flung to the wind.

Eventually, they all gravitate to the train tracks, toward Terminus, aka: Rick’s timeline, and the events of “A.” All except Beth. Beth is removed from this timeline and starts her own. We don’t feel the effects of this until Slabtown, but that’s what happens. After she’s abducted, Daryl runs all night, and where does he end up? On the train tracks, discovered and picked up by the Claimers, on a straight path to Rick. Until now, Daryl hasn’t been following the train tracks. He’s been following Beth.

Beth never even knew about Terminus. She’s the only one. But Beth is on her way somewhere else entirely after Alone, somewhere that Daryl cannot go. But, Carol can!! And she does. Carol seems to reenter Rick’s timeline after she finds his watch at Terminus and gives it back to him. She hugs Daryl. Reunions, yada yada. But then, Carol tries to leave again, but she’s interrupted. They see the Grady car! They follow it. It sort of tows them out of this timeline, and into another, into Beth’s. Atlanta is then foreign and empty and surreal.

Consumed is a strange episode. That’s because Daryl and Carol are in a new place. They’re on another timeline altogether. Carol is hit by one of the Grady cars, again with the cross. She’s carried off to the hospital, but Daryl is prevented. He can’t go there. He immediately turns around and returns to Rick. Carol, meanwhile, is fully integrated into Beth’s timeline. She is referred to by Dawn, by Edwards. She’s IN it. She’s a part of it.

All the other characters visit Beth’s timeline at some point, in Coda. But it’s weird and wrong, the whole time they’re there in that hallway. Carol is the only character who is able to become a part of Beth’s timeline. I feel like this means Carol has a special connection to Beth, and to Beth’s timeline. This is why I totally agree with you, @twdmusicboxmystery, that Carol may in fact find Beth first. Because she can see what others can’t. She knows what was going on. She was THERE.

This leads back to my notes on Ghosts which I don’t have time for right now. But basically, all of this is to say, I came at this from a totally weird and different point of view, and yet I ended up in the same place. I have believed this for a long time!! That Carol is connected to Beth’s timeline. Like, there’s a gravity there, and she can enter it and exit it in ways that Daryl can’t. Because she’s not bound to Rick, or to the “main story.” She’s unstuck.

I have to go pick up my kid from school but I’ll leave you with this for now, Is it weird that both Beth and Carol are driven away from the main timeline in cars with crosses on the back? That Daryl and Carol “hitch” to the car with the cross on the back, which leads them out of one timeline and into another? Idk. I think there’s some sort of conduit thing going on here. It could also be connected to the “lead on some guns” tip, which seems to signal abduction, or an open door into the CRM.

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[moonstone27ls]

Chucky Season 3....

Hmm trailer looks interesting.

Do I have any wants? Forgive me for sounding like a broken record. I think about the same. I want the kids to be okay.

I want Kyle and Andy especially to be alright. I've got nothing against Mancini, its just I'll admit I'll be pissed if he kills off our two veteran characters. Now if its the actors' choice, I'll understand but if not.

Then yeah I don't want them killed for shock value. People go on about feelin' sorry for Tiffany (sorry but I kinda don't). But Andy and Kyle (along with our new kids obvi) are the real victims.

I did not see G. G. anywhere.... so I guess they won't be featured? Though I still question G. G., more ... what are they ?(you know alignment wise) As silly as the duel soul twin thing was originally, I thought it was to explain why Glenn wasn't violent. Like you know that crazy oh absorbed twin subplot or whatever. But now they are technically one being.... it just makes me question they're whole debut from the beginning. Does that mean G.G always was a killer? Or is G. G. only a killer when provoked/or snapped.

Nica still feel will be there. Might have missed her. Hope she'll be okay as well if she's in this season.

I guess thats about it. I can't say much on the President's kid cause its a trailer we gotta wait for the actual eps.

Hmmm anything else... uhh whats their plans for Jennifer Tilly/ Tiffany. I know again they've steered her and Chucky away to make them in my opinion more PC. Since I feel Mancini didn't want to be accused of turning them into Joker/Harley. But with the new change I do wonder what is their plan for her. Cause I'm gonna say it, Tiff's a lot of things but not a hero. I don't even put her in anti-hero category because she's done wayyyyyy to much (including what she did to Nica) for me to say she's sympathic.

Uh... hope will see more into Lexy's sister. Is this kid really evil? I mean again her betrayal was not so shocking last season. Since she was very withdrawal and they showed very little of her save with that doll (aka Chucky in disguise).

I can't say if think she is. First season I thought she's "average/confused kid". But thats not to say she might not be. But I also know if they go in that direction, it might be a bit ... uncomfortable. But who knows.

Gotta wait and seeee...

#chucky tv series #Chucky series #Child's Play #Charles Lee Ray #SYFY #Chucky USA

[thebrikbox]

Godzilla: Invasion of Astro Monster, 1965

In 1965, Toho released GODZILLA: INVASION OF ASTRO MONSTER. In this film, King Ghidorah is reintroduced, and this time, he’s accompanied by an alien race from a distant planet. The idea for Ghidorah is to break away from the original concept of monsters created by man-made nuclear weapons. With the idea of broadening origins for nemeses. American actors have been casted in Toho movies, but this film had a known American actor that did a phenomenal job as a main character.

Production Stage

Henry G. Saperstein, an American producer, was approached by representatives at United Productions of America to produce a good monster movie for American theaters. He agreed to their request and approached Toho to discuss making a monster movie. When he arrived at Toho studios, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD was in production, where he was involved in halfway through. But when production of Astro Monster started, Saperstein was completely involved with fifty percent input, according to him.

The original script for the movie was written as the other movies with committee meetings amongst government officials discussing ways to defeat Godzilla. Saperstein recommended adding an American actor to the film to entice American audiences to see the film. Nick Adams was given a role in the Frankenstein movie and was given a role in the Astro Monster movie. Saperstein suggested an alien invasion to go along with Ghidorah’s space origin.

A new Godzilla suit was made for Astro Monster, but Ghidorah’s and Rodan’s costumes from the previous movie and given fresh coats of paint and altered. The P-3 spaceship was made to be three meters tall - the tallest prop made for the set.

(Pinterest)

The Movie

World Space Agency discovers a new planet beyond Jupiter, Planet X. Two astronauts, Fuji and Glenn, are sent to explore the planet in spaceship P-1. When the astronauts check in with space headquarters, Fuji asks Professor Sakurai to give his sister, Haruno, to not do anything stupid in regards to her boyfriend, Tetsuo, until he returns. The professor asks Haruno about the scuff with Fuji, and she explains that Fuji disapproves of her boyfriend who is an inventor.

Meanwhile, Tetsuo is home working on his invention, Lady Guard - a defense mechanism for women, that emits a loud screeching sound. He receives a call from a company that offers a contract for his invention. Back at the space agency, the professor gives a press conference about Planet X. Later that evening, Tetsuo takes Haruno to dinner to celebrate his sudden success, and there, they meet Miss Namikawa from the toy company, World Education Corporation, that wants to buy his invention.

In space, Spaceship P-1 approaches Planet X. The surface seems similar to Earth’s. Glenn performs a temperature reading and the results baffle the men because of the planet’s distance from the sun. They land the ship and check for radiation before exiting to begin exploring the terrain. Oddly, gravity and air pressure on the surface is similar to that of Earth. Fuji goes to plant a flag atop a rock mound when a sudden lightning storm strikes, startling them. After the flag is planted, Fuji spots footprints, contacts Glenn but gets no response. He returns to the ship and sees that it and his partner have vanished. A lighted cylinder raises up from the ground. A commanding voice speaks with urgency coaxing Fuji to enter the cylinder because he is in grave danger. Fuji demands the voice to identify himself. The voice claims to be one of a race of people from Planet X, but Fuji refuses to obey. A laser beam convinces the reluctant astronaut to comply.

(Wikipedia)

Fuji is led to a dark room where Glenn is seated. Lights turn on revealing a control room just as a team of men enter. The leader introduces himself as the commander of the planet colony. He wants to discuss a few matters with the men, but before they can speak, another lightning storm strikes interrupting the meeting. The astronauts learn that the people of the planet are forced to live underground because of being terrorized by a fierce creature they call Monster Zero. The commander reveals the monster to Glenn and Fuji of which they recognize to be King Ghidorah.

The commander reveals his intention: to borrow Godzilla - Monster Zero One, and Rodan - Monster Zero Two to help them defeat Monster Zero. The astronauts say they cannot agree to their request because they don’t know where either monster is. The commander tells them their locations on Earth and in return, they will give a formula that will cure all kinds of cancer for humankind. Glenn and Fuji agree to relay the commander’s request when the return to Earth.

(Wikipedia)

Fuji, Glenn, and the professor report to authorities about their encounter with the people of Planet X. Party leaders hold a session to discuss the idea that a new race of people exist on a newly discovered planet and the benefits of helping them with their dilemma. Party leaders say to get formulas for medical miracles that will cure all diseases in the world would undoubtedly be a miracle. But before they will commit, they want to confirm that the monsters are located where the planet commander says they are located.

(Wikipedia)

Tetsuo goes to the World Education Corporation headquarters to see Miss Namikawa for an update on the contract for his invention. He’s met by an associate that says she’s out of town on a business trip. Tetsuo asks the man about his contract but he’s given an excuse that has delayed payment per their contract agreement.

Fuji arranges to meet for drinks with Glenn, his sister and Tetsuo to talk about the sold invention. Before the couple arrive, Glenn tells Fuji about his suspicions about Planet X and that he doesn’t trust the commander - Fuji agrees with him. When the couple arrives, Fuji patronizes Tetsuo and Glenn defends him but leaves early for a date and unbeknownst to all, he’s dating Namikawa. Tetsuo is angry because he’s been lied to and he plans to revisit the company to get answers.

Military search parties discover radiation at the lake. This confirms that Godzilla is indeed resting in the depths of the water. They also confirm that Rodan is in mountainside as predicted.

The following night, Glenn drives Fuji to the lake house where he and Namikawa spent the night. He explains that something weird happened and he wants Fuji to help him investigate. When they arrive to the location, a military squad stops them because of strange activity happening in the water. Surprisingly, UFOs emerge with a sleeping Godzilla attached with a tractor beam.

In the morning, a crew from a UFO arrives and meets with officials - the astronauts and the professor, too, on a beach near the lake. The commander shows his gratitude for the extended friendship from Earth. Glenn tells the professor he doesn’t trust the guy. The professor confronts the commander about their premature extraction of the monsters without their permission. The alien leader apologizes and says their situation at home is dire and they couldn’t wait any longer. The astronauts and the professor to return to Planet X aboard a UFO to retrieve the medical formulas as was promised to them.

Aboard the UFO, the astronauts are shocked to learn that the alien race uses brain waves to control flight and they would reach Planet X in hours rather than months. After they arrive, the guests witness Monster Zero and the brief fight that ensues with the earth monsters. Godzilla and Rodan defeat Zero, and the commander is elated. However, Glenn and Fuji sneak off to investigate the underground base. Clones of Namikawa are seen and Glenn completely distrusts the commander. The two are discovered and scolded for snooping. The commander gives the professor a box containing a tape recording with the medical miracle formula he promised.

(Pinterest)

On Earth, Tetsuo follows Namikawa to the lake house and snoops around. He’s captured by the aliens via trap door. Haruno finds Namikawa and asks about Tetsuo’s whereabouts, but she’s lied to.

When the WSA astronauts return to earth, they present the tape recording to a party official. The tape is played and on it was a message to humans to surrender to Planet X or suffer annihilation from the three monsters in their control. The commander gives Earth twenty-four hours to comply. Professor Sakurai and Fuji have a plan to block the alien radio waves. The aliens arrive to earth with monsters in tow. With the threat looming, the scientists begin working feverishly to devise a way to stop the invasion.

Glenn sees Namikawa in her true form and he is captured after she’s killed. He’s captured and is put in the same cell as Tetsuo. There, a letter from Namikawa is found. She explained what her people’s weakness is and Tetsuo uses his device to debilitate their captors and escape. Glenn tells Fuji about Tetsuo’s invention and how it will destroy the aliens.

The commander unleashes the monsters to attack hours before the time deadline. Tetsuo’s gadget is broadcasted through the radio and it’s piercing sound is devastating, the aliens self destruct their ships. The monsters are released from brain wave controls. Godzilla and Rodan battle Ghidorah, who escapes Earth once more. The earth is saved.

(Wikipedia)

Release

The Japanese version, INVASION OF ASTRO MONSTER was released in Japan on December 19, 1965. The American version, MONSTER ZERO was released in the U.S. on July 29, 1970. The movie was a box office hit here and abroad in it’s time. Saperstein said working with Nick Adams on set in Japan was great because of the actor’s excitement of starring in an iconic movie.

Cast and Crew

Executive Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka

Directed by: Ishiro Honda

Screenplay: Shinichi Sekizawa

Starting: Akira Takarada - Fuji, Nick Adams - Glenn, Kumi Mizuno - Haruno, Akira Kubo - Tetsuo

Final Words

I loved Nick Adam’s performance. The energy Saperstein described Nick had on set was emulated on screen. The cast had a chemistry that made this film all the more enjoyable. I like the direction this movie took and future Godzilla movies became more interesting and enjoyable.

Movie Grade: 0.0 to 4.0

Score: 3.7

If you haven’t seen this movie or any Godzilla film, you can find them on Amazon by hitting the link below.

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/b?_encoding=UTF8&tag=1charlouise-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=5ad5a44ca0fc80e5eaa4d24259e1dea2&camp=1789&creative=9325&node=130">1Charlouise-20</a>j

#movie review #movie talk #movie time #movies #godzilla #japanese movie #monster movies #movie critic #movie theme #review

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Lauren Ash & More Stars To Recur In Disney Channel Series ‘Kiff’: Exclusive Theme Song Reveal

HollywoodLife can exclusively reveal the premiere date, recurring cast, and theme song of the new Disney Channel animated series 'Kiff.'

Major names have joined the recurring cast of Kiff, the new Disney Channel animated series premiering on March 10 at 8 p.m. and March 15 on Disney+.  HollywoodLife can EXCLUSIVELY reveal that the recurring voice cast includes Lauren Ash, James Monroe Iglehart, Rhys Darby, Kate Flannery, and Eugene Cordero.

James and Lauren will voice Kiff’s parents, Martin and Beryl. Deedee Magno Hall will voice Kiff’s teacher, Miss Deer Teacher. Other recurring cast members include Eugene as Kiff’s neighbor, The Pone, and the school secretary, Secretary Prince; Josh Johnson as Barry’s brother, Harry Buns; Eric Bauza as TV producer Roy Fox and Kiff’s classmate Reggie; and Vella Lovell as Kiff’s classmate Candle Fox.

The recurring cast doesn’t stop there. The voice cast also features Steve Little as the town city manager, Glarbin Gloobin; Kent Osborne as the school janitor, Sweepy Steve; Gary Anthony Williams as artist manager Flam Bingo; Mary Mack as Kiff’s classmate Renee; Rhys as a troll living under a bridge, Trollie; Tom Kenny as Kiff’s classmates Trevor, Gareth, and Darryn; Katie Crown as town barista, Pawva; Kate as laundromat owner and Helen’s sister, Agnes; Nichole Sakura as Barry’s sister, Terri Buns; and Rachel House as Barry’s mom, Mary Buns.

The Kiff theme song, which you can watch and listen to above, is a fun and energetic bop. The video takes you through Kiff’s world and the characters she’s going to encounter along the way.

Orange is the New Black alum Kimiko Glenn stars in the titular role of Kiff, whose thirst for life takes her on countless adventures through their city alongside Barry, voiced by H Michael Croner. Kiff was created and executive produced by Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal.

Inspired by the people and places Lucy and Nic experienced when they were growing up in Cape Town, South Africa, each half-hour episode, comprised of two 11-minute stories, will include a new original song. In addition to their creative roles, Heavens and Smal also voice characters in the series: Heavens as Kiff‘s drama teacher, Helen, and Smal as the principal of Table Town School, Principal Secretary. Kiff looks like another animated hit for Disney Channel!

Source: Hollywood Life

#rhys darby #ofmd #our flag means death #disney channel #the kiff #Youtube

[lunagb]

A Plague of Sleet and Rot (ASoIaF x The Walking Dead fanfic)

BOOK 2 - A Road of Snow and Grime

CHAPTER 5: Confession

Masterlist

Relationships: Daryl Dixon x Carol, Rick Grimes x Lori Grimes, Carl Grimes & Sophia, and basically a friendship tag with Jon Snow & Everyone else [except Shane].

Summary: A month has passed since Jon Snow awakened on a highway outside of Atlanta and joined Rick Grimes and his fellow survivors. His memories of his death have returned and our alien world is beginning to make a bit of sense. Ever since the loss of the CDC, surviving in the apocalypse has been a daily struggle. The group is on thin ice. Supplies are dwindling. Hope is fading. The dead are walking. And their only chance for life may be a run-down farm, an old man and his daughters.

Chapter Summary: Jon is left to pick up the pieces after dealing with the barn walkers.

Time Frame: Farm Arc - TV Variant Adjacent

Featured Characters: Jon Snow, Ghost, Mormont's Raven, Rick Grimes, Carl Grimes, Lori Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Carol, Sophia, Dale, Glenn Rhee, Andrea, T-Dog, Edwin Jenner, Shane Walsh, Beth Greene, Maggie Greene, Hershel Greene, Randall Culver, Original members of the Culver Family

Warnings: gore, vivid descriptions of dead bodies, child mutilation, graphic violence, death, murder, active combat, descriptions of armed warfare

[Art above is a piece by Art.of.Azrael. You can support them here: https://linktr.ee/Art.of.Azrael ]

Any notes are appreciated!

Dusk settled over the farm, all pinks and reds. Sixteen graves lined the base of the barn’s hill, fourteen filled and marked, two open and empty. Fourteen crosses marked the filled graves, casting long shadows upon the hill. Fourteen long, reaching black fingers upon a field of pink and red grass. From afar, Jon watched Dale and T-Dog lower a corpse into the fifteenth grave. Careful, as if the corpse was pottery and glass rather than flesh and bones. Once, to hear Hershel tell it, the corpse had been Alex Culver, a friend of Beth’s, always smiling, always joking. Hershel’s voice travelled with the wind, drifting across the farm.

“May you forgive whatever sins he committed through human weakness and in your goodness, grant him eternal rest.” Hershel snapped shut a little book and bowed his head.

At the foot of the grave, Beth buried her face into Maggie’s chest. Her shoulder’s heaved and shook. A great tremble shot through her, buckling her knees. Maggie took hold of her, stopping her from falling. Tearless, she watched Dale and T-Dog fill the grave, silent and still. Hershel tucked his little book away into a pocket. Embracing his daughters from behind, he held them firm against his chest.

Jon watched the burial from across the fields, sat at the long plastic table, eating the last of the canned corn. Beside him, Glenn watched Maggie comfort her sister, bouncing his knee. Andrea sat across from them, focused on nothing but her bowl of corn. Beside her, Jenner occasionally gave Jon a sour look but otherwise focused on his corn too. In the seat beside the head of the table, Lori watched Rick with a frown. They’d planned on aiding the burial, but so had Hershel. Professions of apologies had earned Dale and T-Dog a role in the burials. Rick commanded that the rest gather around the plastic table but now, he stood out in the fields. Unaided, halfway between the graves and the camp, he watched the burials. But from afar all the same

“It’s time,” he’d whispered to Jon as they’d gathered.

Daryl, Carol and Shane were hidden away. Shane had vanished inside his tent come sunrise, to hear it told, and hadn’t been seen since. Daryl and Carol had remained inside the house to watch over Sophia, who had grown too weak to risk being left alone.

“Corn!” Bloodbeak strutted up to Jon and pecked his hand. “Corn! Corn!”

“Aye. Corn.” Jon pushed the bowl to the raven.

As Bloodbeak gobbled his precious corn, Jon turned on his stool to watch the woods. Hours ago, Ghost had left to hunt. Oddly, the direwolf’s absence reassured Jon. Ever since re-uniting among the quarry hoard, Ghost had nary left his side. Occasionally he left to hunt but far less frequent than normal. Direwolves aren’t lapdogs or even pets but free spirits. To see him so close, never far from Jon’s heel made the wolf seem as queer as the world they’d found themselves in.

Reassurances had escaped Jon of late. Last night, he’d lied. Unknowingly, but a lie all the same. Taking the farm by force was no longer a simple matter. Rick had made as much clear the moment he’d chastised Jon for putting down the walkers. A glare and a few harsh words complicated everything. Apart from Lori, those who sat around the table would take the farm if need be, undoubtedly. Shane too, but Dale, and now T-Dog, would aid the Greenes. Daryl and Carol were less certain but Jon suspected they would side with the Greenes. A forceful takeover put Sophia at risk. Just as it did Carl. No matter, they had the numbers yet, Jon was under no delusions of his place in the group. They respected him, yes, even trusted him. But at the end of the day, they’d granted Rick the mantle of leader. If Rick told them to leave the farm, they would, no matter what Jon had to say. The farm was life and safety and a chance to rebuild; worth fighting for; worth killing for. He had to make Rick see that. Their old world is dead. New rules reign; rules written in blood.

Once Dale and T-Dog finished refilling the fifteenth grave, Beth planted a wooden cross at its head. The name, Alex Culver, marked the cross. Fourteen other names marked the other crosses. They spoke of friends and family. In a neat row before the sixteenth grave, the corpses of five strangers lay rotting. Dale and T-Dog seized the corpses by shoulders and ankles and then dropped them into the twelve-foot-deep grave. Beth watched on, standing on her own, back straight and stiff. For all her madness and incessant weeping, Jon could not detest the girl the way Andrea could. It took a certain courage to watch so many of those once close to you buried, in succession no less. In time, the truth would make her strong, as it had him, and the others too. Hershel opened his little book again to read a prayer for the strangers. Maggie left her sister and father. She marched across the fields. The wind carried Hershel's words after her.

“God, we thank you for the life that you give us. It is full of work and of responsibility, of sorrow and joy. Today we thank you for these strangers whom we never had the pleasure of learning their names, for what he has given and received. Help us in our mourning and teach us to live for the living in the time that is still left to us. Thank you for eternal life that can give light and joy to our days and years already here on earth. God, we thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to see that it is he who opens the gate to the life that shall never die.”

Maggie passed Rick and took a seat at the plastic table beside Glenn. Of all the Greenes, she saw the truth, Jon knew. A thought dawned on Jon. Will she help strangers take over her family’s farm? No, quite unlikely. And would her allegiance with her family be enough to sway Glenn? The man has fallen head over heels for her, like a boy with his first woman. Glenn has sense, but a man’s cock oft persuades him to senseless acts. More and more, a takeover of the farm appeared more and more difficult, even with Rick’s support.

Andrea and Maggie shared an uneasy gaze across the table. Scorn and mistrust soured Andrea’s eyes, and Maggie hardened her own gaze in response.

“You got something to say, Andrea?” Glenn asked, breaking the table’s silence.

His words drew the attention of Lori and Jenner. Even Bloodbeak lifted his good eye from the corn to stare.

“Say!” he quorked.

“I ain’t got nothin’ to say to our gracious host. For however long that lasts.” Andrea shoved a spoonful of corn into her mouth.

Maggie’s lips twisted into a tight, thin scowl. “I’m workin’ with my dad. He’ll come around. He just needs time.”

Andrea swallowed and then scoffed. “I don’t know how things work in fantasy land, but in the real world, the one where dead people walk, time is precious. If y’all are gonna kick us out, just get it over with. Sleep’s fucking impossible while, for all I know, tonight might be my last here.”

“Andrea, cut it out,” Glenn said.

Maggie spoke over him. “I’m sure that must be really hard for you.”

Andrea slammed her palm on the table. “You ain’t got a fucking clue, do you? Fucking du-”

“Enough!” Jon cut above Andrea’s shouts with a Commander’s voice.

All eyes went to him.

“What, you on their side now? You?” Andrea asked.

“This isn’t the time for this. Both of you.”

“Seems as good a time as any other, while we’re all here.”

Jenner spoke, hushed and gurgled. “He’s right.” His eyes found Glenn’s. “It’s time for a more pressing talk.”

Glenn’s eyes widened. “That’s what he wants us here for?”

“What else?”

“The hell are you two talking about?” Andrea asked.

“You’ll see,” Jon said. “Now be quiet, and wait for Rick.��

“You’re keepin’ secrets?” Lori asked.

“Not any longer,” Jon said.

“Fuck waiting, tell us now,” Andrea said.

“I agree.” Lori stiffened in her chair. A scornful gaze flashed Rick’s way.

Jon met Lori with a hard, stern gaze. “I keep secrets when it’s asked of me.”

Lori dodged his eyes and gummed her lips.

“Is this about the virus?” Maggie asked.

Jenner gawked at Maggie, his spoon hanging limp from his grasp. While he gawked, Jon glared at Glenn, who’d paled.

“You told her?”

“I-It just kinda slipped out.”

Andrea scoffed. “Yeah, I bet it did. Jon, just tell us already. You can speak as well as Rick, why’s he gotta tell us?”

“We agreed to tell all of you, at once. And that’s what we’ll do.”

“Well, it seems-”

“We did.” Rick stood at the head of the plastic table. The setting sun draped his face in long shadows and twinkled upon the sheriff’s star pinned to his chest. “The truth about the virus needs to be told to everyone at the same time.”

Andrea wrinkled her nose and scowled, but shut her mouth all the same. Lori grasped Rick’s hand and looked up at him.

“Should we be worried?”

Rick mulled over the question for a lingering moment before sighing. “Yes.”

“Yes!” Bloodbeak cackled, his beak clattering.

“Once they’re finished with the dead, I’ll tell you everything. I promise.”

“DEAD!” Bloodbeak shrieked. He erupted from the table, a fluttering mass of black feathers, shrieking his damnable head off. “DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!”

Rick’s eye twitched as Bloodbeak soared away towards the barn.

“Did you train him to do that?” Maggie asked.

“No.” Jon shovelled corn into his mouth.

Rick scanned the table and then frowned. “Where’s Daryl and Shane?”

“Shane’s in his tent,” Glenn said. “And Daryl’s with Sophia and Carol.”

“Go get Daryl, he needs to be here. I’ll get Shane.”

Glenn nodded and made to stand.

Jon swallowed his corn. “Daryl already knows.”

Glenn furrowed his brow. “You told him?” He glanced at Maggie.

“Aye.”

Andrea sighed and Jenner gave Jon an incredulous look.

“God…” Rick kneaded the bridge of his brow. He glanced at Maggie. “Is there anyone else who knows?”

“Only Carol,” Jon said, sharp and curt.

Rick’s face softened. “Oh… yeah, right.”

“Some fucking secret guys,” Andrea muttered, poking at her corn.

“You shouldn’t get Shane,” Jon said.

Rick wrinkled his nose. “Why? He know too?”

“No. Your face is the last he’ll want to see right now.”

“True… Fine. You get him then. Glenn, go with him.”

Glenn nodded. “Right.” He left the table.

Jon joined Glenn in making their way across the fields. Shane had set his tent up by the corner of the scrap-metal fence, nestled amongst the wheat. Its blue point poked above the golden stalks. Jon and Glenn waded through the wheat.

“Think he’ll listen?” Glenn asked.

“Not likely,” Jon said.

Glenn’s hand rested on his machete’s red handle. “So, we make him come?”

“Let’s see what kind of state he’s in first.”

“Yeah… Okay.” His hand moved away from his machete.

When they reached the tent, they found it zipped shut.

“Shane. Come out.” Jon spoke slow and clear.

No response.

“Come on, dude. It’s important,” Glenn said.

Again, no response.

Glenn whispered to Jon. “He is in there, right?”

“Shane, come out or we’ll come in.”

Jon waited for one heartbeat, and then another. When he received no response, he crouched and unzipped the tent. Inside, dusk’s pink light filtered through the tent’s blue plastic, casting all in burgundy; a bedroll, a cleaver and a bald man sat in the corner. Curled shavings littered the floor. Patchwork stubble and fresh, small cuts covered Shane’s head. His back to the light, cast in dusk’s shadow, Shane glared at Jon.

“Fuck off.”

Glenn poked his head in after Jon. “Jesus…”

“You need to come with us. Rick wants you at the table.”

Shane smirked. “Look at you two, doin’ glorious leader Rick’s biddin’ like a pair of dogs. He got a treat waitin’ for you when you get back?”

“It’s not a request,” Glenn said.

“Do I really gotta say it twice? Fuck. Off.”

“Glenn, wait outside.”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it.” Jon entered the tent and sat across from Shane. “Close the flap behind you.”

Glenn’s nose wrinkled. His eyes switched from Shane to Jon and then back to Shane before he clicked his tongue. “Fine.” He stepped back and zipped up the tent.

Jon slid Shane’s cleaver out of the man’s reach. “I’m going to talk and you’re going to listen.”

“Am I?”

“You are.”

“Or what?”

“I’ll drag you from your tent and you’ll listen to Rick say the same thing.”

Shane folded his arms. The burgundy light warmed his scabbed and stubbled head. “Whatever. Say your piece, kid.”

“Myself, Rick, Jenner and Glenn have kept a truth from you and the rest of the group.”

Shane arched an eyebrow.

Jon continued. “Jenner revealed to us how the virus actually turns people into walkers. It isn’t the bite. The bite only kills. It’s death itself that creates walkers. We’re all already infected.”

“Okay. That all?”

Jon studied Shane’s face. Stiff, stern features spoke of a lack of shock or concern. A facade, Jon assumed at once. But on closer inspection, his eyes matched the face. The eyes always revealed the truth of a man’s intent. Even so, Jon did not trust them. Perhaps he does not understand. Or perhaps his wits have left.

“You’ve understood what I’ve said?”

“We all become walkers in the end. Got it. Get the fuck out of my tent.”

Madness then. “Not yet. One more thing.”

“Jesus,” Shane chuckled. “What are you, kid? A fuckin’ telegram? Got a little speech from Rick?”

“Don’t overstep yourself. My promise still stands. Try to take control of the group, or revenge on Rick and I’ll kill you.”

Wrinkles furrowed Shane’s brow and shaved head. His jaw clenched. “Got it.”

“Good.” Jon slid Shane’s cleaver back to him and left the tent.

Glenn awaited him outside, hand resting at his machete. “Well? He coming or not?”

“I told him.” Jon headed off into the wheat.

Glenn trailed him. “Dude… seriously. And you gave me shit for telling Maggie. That’s two now, Daryl and Shane.”

“Aye, I know, I know. But it was either that or drag him from the tent.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Glenn clicked his tongue. “How’d he take it?”

“Well. To well. I fear he’s lost his wits.”

“Probably. You see his head? Did he do that with his fucking cleaver?”

“Aye, most likely.”

“We should tell Rick.”

“There we agree.”

Back at the table, Rick met Jon and Glenn’s return with a scowl.

“Where’s Shane?” Rick asked.

“We… ” Glenn glanced at Jon. “Uh…” He rubbed the back of his head.

Jon spoke. “He refused to cooperate. We were left with two options; drag him from the tent or tell him the truth there. I told him the truth.”

“Great,” Andrea grumbled. “One more fucking person who knows.”

Rick sighed. “Fair enough. Good call. Sit down, they’re about done.”

Jon and Glenn retook their seats. At the base of the hill, Dale and T-Dog shovelled the last of the dirt into the sixteenth grave. Hershel and Beth watched side by side, holding the other’s hand.

“How’d he take it?” Rick asked.

“Well enough. Too well. He’d acted like I’d told him something trivial. I fear he’s lost his wits.” Jon said.

Glenn made eye contact with Jon as he nodded confirmation.

“He ain’t crazy, just sulkin,” Rick said.

“No, man. He shaved off all his hair, with his fucking cleaver,” Glenn said.

Rick avoided their eyes. “We’ll keep an eye on him then…”

Lori shuffled on her stool.

“So, this secret is something we can take badly then?” Andrea asked.

“I’m sorry for the waitin’,” Rick said. “Just be patient a little while longer, that’s all I ask.”

“Yeah, whatever…”

In silence, they waited. Dale and T-Dog shovelled the last of the dirt and flattened the grave with their shovels. Beth planted a wooden cross, Hershel spoke some final words, and as one they crossed the fields. They joined the table, on the opposite side to Rick. All except Hershel sat, who stood at table head, scowling.

“What’s so urgent it couldn’t wait until mornin’?” He asked.

“You might want to take a seat,” Rick said.

“I’m fine where I am.”

“Alright.” Rick sighed. Head hung, he put his hands on his hips, staring at the table for a moment before addressing them all. “For the past few weeks, it’s been my decision to keep somethin’ from all of y’all. Somethin’ awful. It was my belief that it should be kept from y’all until he had a bit of stability. But now that we’ve got food, water, shelter and medicine, I believe the time has come. A few days after the CDC, Jenner told me how the virus actually turns the dead into walkers. It ain’t the bite. The bite only kills us. It’s death that turns us into walkers, bitten or not. We’re all infected. The whole world.”

Speechless, the group looked around the table at one another with wandering gazes. Hershel sat, took Beth’s hand into his and held his head with the other. Dale, sat up, head tall.

“And you know this for sure, Jenner?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jenner said

“How? What proof is there?”

Jenner wet his lips. “Washington’s CDC ran… experiments, that gave credibility to the theory. In Atlanta we… we were able to reproduce their results consistently.”

Dale’s face dropped. “Beyond a shadow of a doubt?”

“Beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

“No. No, you can’t know for sure that we’re all infected. You had, what? A week? Maybe two to run your tests? You could have been wrong. You could have missed-”

Andrea scoffed. “You’re a scientist now?”

“Dale’s got a point,” T-Dog said, fidgeting.

Andrea scowled at Dale. “I’m sorry, do you two not remember the first few days of all this? People dropping like flies all over the world at once? Where do you think all those dead ones came from?”

Dale scowled at Andrea. “That was then. You don’t see people just up and dropping dead anymore, do you?”

“The virus mutated in order to adapt to its environment,” Jenner said. “What you’re talking about was the first wave. It spread, symptomless in order to-”

Dale snapped. “I don’t need you to tell me about the start. I was out there, watching everyone I ever cared about die, while you were holed up. Safe and sound. With food and water and hot showers.”

Jenner slammed the table. “Safe and sound?”

“That’s right!”

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!”

“Stop!” Andrea shouted. She swept a glare over Jenner, Rick, Glenn and Jon. “Who gives a shit about the start? What the hell possessed you to keep this from us?”

Jon steadied his voice. “As Rick said, we believed we required stability before the truth could be revealed.”

“Only Jon and I,” Rick said. “Jenner and Glenn wanted to tell y’all earlier.”

Glenn wrung his hands. “Well, actually I changed my-”

“I don’t care,” Andrea snapped. “We should have been told, all of us, right away. I mean, shit. What would have happened if one us died out there? If one of us passed in our sleep? Got an infection, or sick or, or anything! You put us all in danger, dammit.”

“We were barely keeping it together as is,” Rick said. “To tell y’all the truth would be to take away hope.”

“No,” Lori said. “Andrea’s right, we should have been told. I mean, what is this? We’re keeping secrets now, in some secret council? This is meant to be a democracy. We make decisions as a group.”

Rick took Lori’s hands into his. “This is a democracy. Always will be.”

Lori snatched her hands back. “A democracy is by the people for the people. All the people, not just four.”

“Lori, I-”

Andrea made a sardonic chuckle. “Oh no, we’re a democracy all right. Fucking, shadow government and all.”

Jon began. “It was-”

“Don’t you dare say it was for our own good. I don’t treat you like a kid. Don’t think to treat me like one.”

“A mistake,” Jon finished.

Rick’s brow furrowed, Glenn gawked and Jenner raised an eyebrow.

Jon continued. “And we apologise. It was ill befitting of us to assume you could not handle the truth.”

For a moment, Andrea did naught but stare at him but then her scowl softened somewhat, and her head cocked. Jon concerned himself not with her reaction. Rather, he focused on Hershel, Beth, Dale and T-Dog. Beth glared at him openly across the table. Seething malice swirled dark storms in the blue pools of her eyes. Hershel gazed at nothing particular, hollowed-eyed, squeezing Beth’s hand. Denial and despair twisted and knitted Dale’s brow. T-Dog slumped in his chair, stooping his broad shoulders.

Maggie’s voice came as a surprise. “We’ll never be free of this. Will we?”

Glenn frowned and squeezed her hand. Jenner answered.

“No. Not for a while.”

“C-Couldn’t a cure be made?” Dale asked. “If you got the right equipment?”

“Yeah!” A thin, wavering grin pulled T-Dog’s lips taught. “Once we rebuild, a cure should be possible.”

“Possible. But not in our lifetime.”

“Come now.” Dale smiled. “Look around. This is the bedrock of our future. Civilisation will start a new right here.” Dale prodded the table. “Right here. We can harvest food from the fields, fortify the town, and build houses, and walls to keep out the dead. This could be a sanctuary for others, a place to kindle the embers of a new age. Who knows? Maybe in a few decades, we could have power, government, jobs and laws and, and normalcy. A cure in our lifetimes doesn’t sound too unrealistic.”

“Yeah…” A grin spread across Glenn’s face. “The town’ll have all the infrastructure we need right?”

“Yup,” T-Dog said. “And once we fortify it from the dead, we’ll be back on the path to a normal world.”

“And what happens when another group comes along and wants what we have?” Jon asked.

The smiles and grins vanished as quick as they’d come.

Dale laughed. “Why’d anyone want to do that, when they could have a place here and help rebuild the world?”

“Because in times like these, some people survive by taking what others have.”

Hershel stood. “People like you, you mean?”

“Dad!” Maggie shot to her feet.

Hershel curled his upper lip, snapped on his heels and marched off for the house.

“Don’t yell at him! Traitor!” Beth shouted. Tears welled. She scrubbed them away and took off after her father.

Maggie stormed after her but Glenn remained, shifting and fidgeting in his chair.

“What would we do if another group attacked?” He asked. “We haven’t got any defences. And even if we did, we haven’t got enough weapons to defend it.”

“We don’t fight,” Dale said. “If we offer an olive branch, any reasonable person would accept it.”

“No, they’d see it as a trick,” Jon said.

“But it isn’t.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“What then? Do we just attack anyone who comes across this place? We need people to rebuild, not more corpses.”

“Corpses is what we’ll be if we allow just anyone to join us.”

“Enough,” Rick calmly said. “Clearly, there’s a lot to unpack here. It’ll be night soon. Let’s pack in for the night and continue this in the mornin’.”

“That would be best,” Jon said.

Dale nodded. “Fine.”

T-Dog nodded too while Glenn stood, looking towards the house.

“Whatever,” Andrea muttered.

“Hold on,” Lori said.

Glenn froze. “What?”

Lori scowled at him, then Jon and Jenner, but none more so than Rick. “No more secrets. From now on, we share important information as soon as we find out about it.”

“No matter how awful it may be,” Andrea added.

“Sure,” Glenn said.

“Aye, deal,” Jon said.

“Of course,” Jenner said.

Lori arched an eyebrow at Rick.

Grunting, Rick went to one knee and squeezed Lori’s hands. “The truth, now and always.” Pain flashed across his face. His arms trembled.

Lori smiled and punched Rick’s shoulder. “Don’t do that. Get up, idiot, you ain’t recovered yet.”

***

The stench of piss and vomit burned the back of Jon’s throat. Sophia had been laid on her side. Dried vomit crusted the sheets below her mouth. A wet spot darkened the sheets beneath her groin. Her blankets lay heaped in the corner, stinking of all things vile. Her clothes topped the heap of blankets. Only her small clothes remained, darkened by grime. Flakes peeled off of dry, blotchy skin, pale like milk. Blood swelled her feet and ankles, puffing them pink and bulbous. Bald spots littered her head. Only hair thin like straw and brittle like twigs remained. Her chest puffed and fluttered as she wheezed. Empty, glazed eyes stared at the wall while she lay on her side in filth and decay.

“Fuckin’ old timer can’t let go of the past.” Sat on a stool, in the corner of Sophia’s room, Daryl whittled a stick to a point.

Hair once shiny with grease and dark with grime had been fluffed and lightened. A crude cut left tangled ropes that once hung past his ears, as a lopsided head of short, straight hair. Soap and water rid him of a perpetual stink. Instead, a sweet honey aroma fought a losing battle with the room’s stench. Even his skin looked clean. Yet, the wash did naught for the man’s sour scowl.

“Aye, seems so. T-Dog as well, I suspect.” Jon stood at the foot of the bed, back to the closed door.

“Dumbasses.”

“They ain’t dumb. Their hearts are in the right place.” Carol sat in a pink, cushioned chair by Sophia’s side.

Grease-matted hair encroached past her ears. Heavy bags hung beneath her eyes. Chipped and cracked fingernails topped every one of her fingers. She stunk as foul as the room and her daughter. The smallest, wisp of a smile lingered on her cracked lips.

Daryl glanced at her. His scowl softened to a frown. “Yeah, whatever,” he muttered. He tossed his pointed stick into a pile of many others and took up a fresh stick.

Carol picked at her thumbnail. “What about the Greenes? How are they after everything?”

“Just as misguided. If not worse,” Jon said. “Except Maggie. She appears to see things for what they are.”

“Don’t count on her, man. Push comes shove, family comes first. She’ll take their side.”

“What do you mean, push comes shove?” Carol asked.

“If we gotta take this place.” Daryl tossed another sharpened stick into his pile.

“Oh. Okay.”

Jon allowed himself a smile. “So you’d side with us then?”

Daryl wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, man. ‘Course we would.”

Carol gave a slow nod. “If it really came down to it. Yeah. What other choice is there?”

Thundering footsteps raged over Carol’s voice. They stormed down the hall outside. A door slammed. A second pair of footsteps stomped after them, followed by the pounding of a fist.

“Beth!” Maggie yelled.

“Go away! Traitor!”

A door handle rattled. “Open this door!”

“Leave me alone!”

“Stop acting like a fucking kid!”

“Stop acting like a psychopath!”

“Ugh!” Maggie thundered back down the hall then slammed a second door.

Sophia’s wheezing filled the silence. Daryl and Carol shared a disquieted look.

“Hershel’s not really stupid enough to try and make us leave, is he?” Carol asked.

“He strike you as smart?” Daryl asked. “Fucker housed up walkers like they were cattle or somethin’.”

“Let’s hope he finds reason,” Jon said.

Sophia’s wheezing stopped. She shifted and groaned. In a heartbeat, Carol snatched her knife from the bedside table and Daryl whipped his from his belt. Jon touched his dagger’s hilt. Tense as steel, they stared as Sophia rolled onto her back. Again, she groaned, then pissed herself. Carol sighed and put down her knife.

Daryl scowled. “Fuck’s sake. She needs new clothes and sheets. This shit’s fuckin’ undignified.”

“I’ll talk to Hershel about it. They must have other sheets,” Jon said.

Carol got up and rolled Sophia back onto her side. “That a good idea? After what you did?”

Jon’s jaw clenched. “Perhaps I should get Rick to do it…”

“That’s probably better.”

Daryl put away his knife. “The fuck we even askin’ for? Just go take-”

An engine’s roar filled the air. It peaked, assaulting Jon’s ears. Then faded off into the distance, giving way to a commotion of shouting.

“The fuck?!” Daryl rushed to the window.

Jon joined him. Outside, the others rushed across the fields and gravel to meet Rick before the porch. Off in the camp, Daryl’s bike was gone. A cloud of dust streaked down the farm’s road towards the asphalt.

“What’s going on?” Carol’s voice tightened.

“Someone stole my fuckin’ bike!” Daryl slammed the windowsill. “God fuckin’ dammit!” He snatched up his crossbow, a handful of arrows and barreled for the door.

However, with one foot out the door, he paused and looked back at Carol.

“Go,” Carol said. “They need you. Both of you.”

“You need me.”

“I’ll be fine. If she passes while you’re gone, I can do it. You know that.”

“Maybe…” Daryl stepped back inside the room. “But you shouldn’t have to do it alone.”

A full smile spread across Carol’s face. Tears welled in her eyes. Daryl put down his crossbow and grabbed Jon’s shoulder.

“You get my fuckin’ bike back.”

“Aye. I will.” Jon patted Daryl’s hand.

Daryl nodded and knelt at Carol’s side.

***

Downstairs, Jon flung open the front door and entered a world of shouting and raging. Atop the porch steps, Rick faced a huddle of raised voices battling to be heard. Empty bottles lay scattered about his feet on the steps.

“Everyone calm down!” Rick shouted over the voices. “He couldn’t have gone far! Glenn and I will go after him, y’all just go back to your tents!”

“Screw that!” Andrea yelled. “If he wants to run, let him. Why should we risk our lives?”

“Where’s your heart?!” Dale shouted. “The man’s grieving!”

“He’s insane, that’s what he is!”

“Where’s your fuckin’ empathy?!” T-Dog shouted.

“Give it a rest you guys!” Lori shouted.

“Be quiet and listen to Rick!” Glenn shouted.

Every voice raised as one in a grand, chaotic cacophony of noise. Rick shouted for calm and quiet, which only worsened things.

Bloody hell. Jon made to cross the porch and approached Rick. But before he’d taken more than two steps, Maggie burst out of the door with Beth in tow.

Her voice cut above the others. “What’s going on here?!”

Silence killed the cacophony. Rick gave Maggie a sullen look and opened his mouth to speak.

Andrea shouted. “Your dad’s lost his fucking mind! He stole our bike and drove off!”

Maggie sighed and wiped her hand over her face. “God dammit…”

Beth’s nostrils flared. She marched past her sister, pointing at Jon. “You! This is your fault!” She made to slap him.

Jon caught her wrist. “Calm yourself.”

“Let go of me!”

Jon let go and Beth snatched her wrist away. Tears welled in wide, sharp eyes. Maggie yanked Beth behind her, and Rick stood between her and Jon.

“Jon, where’s Ghost?” Rick asked.

“Hunting.”

Rick clicked his tongue. “Okay… then go get Daryl. We might need to track him.”

“No, you don’t,” Maggie said. “I know where he is. I’ll take you.”

“Where?” Beth asked.

Maggie frowned at her sister. “There’s this bar in town. Whenever he and my mom got into a fight, he’d always take off in the truck and spend the night there.”

Beth voice’s shrunk. “Oh.”

“How far?” Jon asked.

“Those cars still got gas?”

“They do,” Rick said.

“About ten minutes, then.”

***

By the time they’d gathered weapons and ammo and piled into the rangerover, dusk had given way to twilight. A new moon forbade but a faint sheen of silver starlight to linger in the absence of the sun. Jon sat in the back of the car beside Glenn, a pair of shotguns in their laps. Maggie waited behind the wheel, weaponless.

“But why does it have to be you?” Lori asked as Rick opened the passenger's side door. “You’re in no condition.”

That he isn’t. Weakness pestered Rick. Each step taken with a tremble and a clenched jaw. Every action done with stiff, taught hands.

Rick turned his back on the rangerover’s doorway and leaned on a rifle. “’Cause these people look up to me. If I say, ‘go out there and risk your lives’, how can I stay behind?”

“God, Rick. Look at yourself. You can barely stand.”

“Me bein’ out there gives ‘em hope.”

“You being out there’ll get you killed.”

Jon stuck his head out the window. “Don’t worry. We’ll keep him safe.”

“We won’t let him do anything dumb!” Glenn shouted.

Rick smiled at them both. Lori frowned.

“And what about Carl? What happens if he wakes up while you’re gone? He’ll be scared and confused. He’ll need his father.”

“Lori…” Rick chewed his lip. “Carl’s asleep; at rest. And safe and around those who care about him. Hershel’s out there right now; alone and hurtin’ and in danger. He could have fallen from that bike and hurt himself for all we know. And part of that’s my fault.” He glanced Jon’s way. “I gotta go.”

Lori let out a shaky sigh and pressed her head against Rick’s chest. “You come back. You hear? I will not lose you again.”

Rick bundled her in his arms. “I will. You won’t.”

“You two done?” Maggie asked.

Stern of face, Lori pulled away and nodded. “Done.”

Rick seized her by the shoulders. “Keep ‘em calm. Don’t let ‘em do anythin’ dumb. Shane especially.”

Lori nodded. They hugged again, kissed and then separated. Lori hurried away from the car a few paces while Rick ducked inside. Grunting, he slumped into his seat, lay his rifle across his lap and slammed the door shut. The engine roared to life, rattling the car around Jon. Twin beams blazed, dousing all ahead in bright, white light. They sped off across the field and down the gravel road, followed by a cloud of dust.

Through fields and forest, the asphalt road showed no signs of old men or motorbikes. Nor much of anything for that matter. Bar a few of the dead, wandering without purpose. They livened at the sight of the car and made to reach for it. Maggie clipped a few in her haste, splattering brains and black blood across the windows. Yet, for the most part, she weaved around them. The vet looked much the same as Jon’d left it, as they passed. Dark and dusty. The rangerover’s twin beams of light glimpsed the two corpses. They still rested outside on the gravel, headless, in pools of dried black blood. The tracks of the boy’s bike-without-engine remained in the gravel, a wavering line from vet to road. But new tracks joined it, thicker and straighter.

Jon tightened his grip on the shotgun. “We may not be alone out here.”

“We can deal with the dead,” Rick said, not taking his eyes off the road.

“I speak of the living. The companions of the boy who attacked Jenner and I are likely not far.”

Rick looked back at him, tight-jawed. “You sure?”

“Aye. There were new tracks on the gravel. And the boy spoke of revenge when he ran.”

Glenn gripped his shotgun. “He could have been bluffing.”

“Better to be safe and keep an eye out regardless.”

Rick nodded. “If we encounter hostiles, we run if we can. A shootout’s the last thing we need in the dark, with the dead all around.”

“Okay, good idea,” Glenn said.

Jon nodded. Best to avoid a fight, he agreed. Besides, Jon suspected that compared to blades, the conventions of battle varied quite vastly where it concerned guns. In a gunfight, he’d be out of his element, always on the back foot.

Maggie huffed. “I ain’t runnin’ without Dad.”

They drove into the heart of the town. Sidewalks and close-knit buildings replaced gravel paths and open fields. The dark bred blind spots upon blind spots. Thin alleys between every building, with spiked, steel fences harboured shadowy voids. Crossroads upon crossroads littered the streets with corners. Places to hide; places of ambush. Even with the light of twin beams, Jon felt as blind as if he were in a cave with no torch. Not a single corpse roamed the streets. Yet, signs of death were everywhere. Smashed windows, broken-down doors, crashed cars, burnt cars, burnt buildings, black blood, red blood; it all followed them wherever they went.

All of a sudden, Maggie stopped the car. “We’re here.” She moved a lever between her and Rick before rushing from the car. “Dad!” She yelled, marching for a building.

They piled out after her, guns at the ready. The building stood short and stout, made of brick walls and wide, paned-glass windows. Daryl’s bike lay discarded at it’s stoop. Starlight cast a sign hanging above its door in silver. ‘Joe’s Tavern,’ it read.

“Keep your voice down,” Rick hissed. He hurried after Maggie.

Glenn made to hurry after her too but Jon slowed him with a touch. “Keep your eyes open. Threats are everywhere,” Jon whispered. He scanned the inky pitch that filled the alleys and windows.

“Right.” Glenn took a deep breath as he scanned too.

Together, they approached the tavern with slow, considered steps, eyes trained on the dark. In an alley across the street, the starlight glinted off of nine pairs of eyes. Jon froze and squinted. He made out the silhouettes of several dogs. One crept forward, a lanky thing, all sleek black fur and pointy bones. It squeezed between the bars of the spiked, alley-way fence, bore its fangs and let out a low, guttural growl. However, a larger dog burst from the shadows and snapped its jaws by the other’s ear. The smaller dog tucked tail and retreated while the larger stared at Jon. For a moment they did naught but stare at each other before the dog snarled. It disappeared back into the shadows beyond the spiked, alleyway fence, along with the rest of the pack

“Where are all the dead?” Glenn whispered.

“Lurking, most like. Come, best we get out of sight.”

Inside, darkness, dust and blood covered the tavern. Two, half-decomposed walker corpses lay killed. One, sprawled out in the middle of the smooth, wood floor, rested a bludgeoned head on a crust of black blood. The other slumped over a long counter that ran the length of the tavern’s back, a hole blown through the back of its head. Maggots squirmed within the gaping wound. Tables, chairs, stools, cabinets and draws were all left in a chaotic state of disrepair as if a small storm had torn through the space. A lone stool remained on its legs and stood at the opposite end of the counter to the corpse. Atop the stool, Hershel sat, bathed in the golden light of a lamp. He poured drink from a dust-covered bottle into a filthy, smudged glass and drank deep.

Jon and Glenn joined Rick and Maggie in staring from across the tavern. While wrath darkened Maggie’s features, Rick’s stayed still and stony.

“Jon, Glenn, watch the windows,” Rick whispered.

“I might be old, but I ain’t deaf.” Hershel slurred his words. He poured another drink.

Glenn moved to the windows but Jon remained at Rick’s side.

“Is this place clear?” Jon whispered to him.

Rick whispered back. “Don’t know.” He raised his voice to speaking level. “Hershel, you gotta come with us.”

Jon moved to the window, attention split between the shadows outside and inside.

“Who else is with you?” Hershel drank.

“Dammit, Dad. It ain’t safe here.” Maggie marched across the bar.

Rick followed. They stood on either side of Hershel, looming over his shoulders.

“Jon, right? And Glenn?” Hershel chuckled bitterly as he poured another drink. “That boy follows you everywhere now, huh?”

“Glenn’s here to make sure you don’t get yourself killed,” Maggie hissed.

“That right?”

“How many you had, Hershel?” Rick asked, soft and calm, leaning on his rifle.

“Not enough.” Hershel drank.

Hershel made to pour another but Maggie snatched the bottle from his hand. He sighed, slumped his shoulders and stared at the counter. Rick rounded the counter and crouched with great effort so that his and Hershel’s eyes were level.

“Let’s finish this up back at home, okay? Back at your farm.”

“My farm? Is that right?”

“Get up!” Maggie grabbed his arm.

Hershel shrugged out of her grip.

“For fuck’s sake, Dad! Beth needs you! She just buried her mother, her brother, her friends, neighbours, even that Culver kid she was sweet on! You ain’t the only one who’s hurtin’!”

“What could I do? Make her worse? Fill her head with more… more lies.”

Maggie turned and threw her hands up in the air. “You’re unbelievable!”

“Hershel, I think you’re in shock, okay?” Rick said.

“She needs her mother.” Hershel’s voice wavered. “Or rather to mourn. Like she should have done weeks ago. I took that from her.” Hershel raised his head and stared at the ceiling.

Jon tightened the grip of his shotgun. Outside, he swore he spotted movement yet, when his eyes snapped to it, the shadows stiffened.

Rick clenched his jaw and stood, matching Hershel’s gaze. His rifle remained on the ground, out of hand. “You thought there’d be a cure, right? Can’t blame yourself for holdin’ out for hope. If I’d been in your situation, if that’d been Carl and Lori in that barn, I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same.”

“Then you’re just a big a fool as me.”

“I’m as scared as you. Scared for the future. Scared for now. But runnin’ away don’t fix none of that. You can’t run from this.”

“I ain’t runnin’. But I can’t fight neither. So, go ahead. Fight your fight. Try and rebuild for all it’s worth. Just do it without me. I’m done.”

“You’re just gonna give up?” Maggie snapped.

Hershel looked over his shoulder at Maggie. Golden light glinted off of moist eyes. “I’m layin’ down, Maggie. I’m old. Sometimes, you forget how old I really am. The fight, the fight I used to have, it’s gone. Has been for a while now.” He looked back at Rick. “You can have the farm. Not that my blessin’ means much. Couldn’t make you leave even if I wanted. So, take it. Use it for as long as you can. Never wanted the darn thing in the first place.”

Some of the sharpness left Maggie’s voice. “What do you mean?” She sounded like a frightened child. “You’ve lived there your whole life.”

“I grew up there. Bein’ farmers, that was Nan and Pa’s dream. An American dream for a pair of Scottish immigrants. I left for veterinary school first chance I got and never looked back. Until Pa had his stroke. I could have stayed, there, in Montgomery and finished my residency. I wanted to. But I came back, opened my little vet, met your mother… then Beth’s… By the time Nan passed and left the farm to me, you and Beth had lives here, school, friends, boyfriends. What kind of father would I have been to take that from you? So, take it Rick. Take the darn farm and leave me be. Lead your people, my daughters. I ain’t fit for what this world’s become. He showed me that.” Hershel pointed at Jon.

Rick glared at him, part shame, part fury.

Jon stood tall. “None of us are fit for this world. Yet, we go on living in spite of it.”

Hershel smiled and looked on Jon with soft, doughy eyes. “That’s your youth talkin’, son.”

An engine roared, faint and distant. Then another. And another. Jon whipped around to face the window. Outside, all remained dark and still. Yet, the engines roared louder, closer.

“We need to go, now,” Jon said, scanning the dark.

Rick’s voice gruffed. “Hershel, please.”

Hershel answered with silence.

“Glenn, do you see anything?” Jon asked.

Glenn jostled back and forth, craning his neck. “Nothing.”

The engines drew closer.

A stool or chair scraped across the ground, then slammed. Someone sat, hard. “If you’re stayin’, Dad. So am I.”

Hershel sighed and muttered. “Dammit, Maggie,” he said. “Fine. Let’s go.”

The engines roared loud, shaking Jon’s core. Beams of light flooded the street, gleaming off of dusty windows and the bulbs of arching street lamps.

“Behind the counter! All of us!” Jon hurried from the window.

“Shit,” Glenn followed.

Hershel gawked at them, afraid and confused. “What? Why? Do you know these people?”

“No, but best not to, aye?”

“Is there a side exit?” Rick asked, grabbing Hershel’s arm over the counter.

“Y-Yeah, right there-”

The front door flew open, rattling. Three figures meandered inside, veiled in shadow, armed with rifles and shotguns. As they stepped inside, the golden glow of the lantern revealed a short, stout older man with a head of stubble. He wielded some sort of shotgun, Jon assumed, with one barrel rather than two. A short, lean man, owner of but a single hand stood to the older man’s left. In his good hand, he wielded a shotgun with the barrels cut off. To the older man’s right, stood a tall, lanky woman wielding a hunting rifle. Above her left eyebrow, the numbers 1488 were tattooed in black ink. The three of them shared a look; long faces, narrow noses, and black of hair. Their dark, sharp eyes scanned the group.

“So it was you,” the older man said. “Didn’t think you’d survived, Hershel.”

Hershel rose from his stool and stepped forward, joining Jon’s side. “Clyde? Clyde Culver?”

Clyde Culver answered with a nod as he scanned the rest of them with a squint.

“What happened to your boy’s hand?” Hershel asked.

“That don’t concern you. Now, how about your little friends put down their guns so we can have a nice, calm conversation?”

“We will if you will,” Glenn answered at once.

“I’m afraid, that ain’t gonna work, Slit-eyes.”

In a flash, One-hand and Numbers had their guns raised, fingers on the trigger. Hershel gasped and staggered back. Maggie stiffened. Glenn cursed and went to his knees. Jon froze, staring down One-hand’s shortened barrels. Ice, steel and stone streaked through Jon’s veins, planting him firm where he stood, tightening his grip. The moment his hand squeezed the shotgun’s handle, Clyde’s eyes were on him.

“Don’t, son. Be smart about this now. Put it down.”

Before Jon could even think to kneel, Numbers’s eyes found his sword and widened.

“Look, the sword. That’s him! He’s the one who killed Dan!” she said.

“That true?!” One-hand bellowed, waving his gun. “You kill, my brother?!”

Jon’s chest clenched and he lost his breath. The scars along his chest, belly and heart flared hot red, like a dozen branding irons pressing hard into his flesh. He felt half mad; he aught to lie, to make some excuse, anything. But he couldn’t breathe, let alone think or speak. Desperately, he tried to breathe but instead, he only gawked at them like a fool. Clyde sighed.

“Go on, Caleb. Get it over with.”

“NO!” Hershel screamed.

A great weight slammed Jon from the side. The ground vanished from under him and the world spun. Sound beyond sound split Jon’s ears, a blast of heat flashed past his face and the floorboards rushed to meet his back. The ground took him from below and the great weight from above, squeezing the wind from him in one huge impact. As his ears rang and his mind spun, Hershel’s face filled his vision, afraid and bloodied. A boot knocked it away and then stomped Jon’s chest. In place of the old man’s face, twin barrels and One-hand’s glare bore down on him. A blast roared. One-hand’s chest exploded into red mist and pulp. He cried and fell; a ruptured sack of flesh and blood. The twin barrels vanished and beyond, Jon saw Clyde holler and raise his gun. Another blast rocked the world and Clyde’s throat exploded. Spluttering, he collapsed beside his son. Fire blazed in Jon’s chest and all of sudden he found himself on his knees, gun in hand, sights trained on Numbers. She fled for the door, unarmed. He squeezed the trigger ever so gently, just as Shane had taught him. A blast rocked Jon to his core and the woman’s back exploded. She hit the floor at once, soundless.

As a calm settled in, Jon’s ears continued to ring. But his mind sharpened all at once. Clyde lay before him, dying noisily in a growing crimson pool atop his son. Sticky warmth clung to Jon’s hands and face.

To his left, Maggie screamed. “Dad!” She scrambled past Jon to where Hershel lay, face down.

A curtain of blood wept from a streak across Hershel’s temple. Maggie seized him and he grunted struggling to all fours.

“Jon!” Rick shouted from behind the counter, rifle in hand. Crimson droplets speckled his face. “You okay?!”

Jon found his breath. “A-Aye.”

Glenn’s blood-soaked face filled his vision. “Are you hit?” he grabbed his shoulders.

Jon shook him off. “No.”

Eyes wide, Glenn nodded and scrambled over to Maggie. He helped her drag Hershel behind the counter. Outside, a voice shrieked.

“Pa! Caleb! Cynthia!” It sounded vaguely familiar. “Pa?!”

After a pause, a second voice shouted. “You motherfuckers!”

Hellfire erupted through the tavern’s front wall. Without thought, Jon threw himself to the ground and covered his head. Glass and mortar hailed. Rolling, rapid thunder crackled, smothering distant screams. It lasted an age, the gunfire bore down on him, crackling, crackling, crackling, never-ending sound. It tore his head apart from the inside out. Until all of sudden, it vanished. Jon scrambled, hands and knees. Numb pricks stabbed his palms, wetting and warming them. He saw only the counter, shelter, cover, safety. Like a maddened beast, he scampered behind it where he found the others, knees to their chests, hands on their heads, cowering in the golden lamp-light.

“The light!” Rick shouted.

Hershel sprang up and made a grab for the lamp. A single gunshot boomed. Hershel screamed and he and the lamp came tumbling down. The lamp hit the ground but didn’t break. It bathed Hershel in light. Where two fingers ought to be, two bloody stumps gushed crimson. Hershel wailed. Maggie screamed. Jon pounced on the lamp. He dashed it against the counter, dousing them in darkness, stealing sight, leaving only sound. The others’ voices clashed and combined, yelling over Hershel’s feverish wailing.

“Put pressure! Put pressure!”

“Who’s armed?!”

“Are you hit anywhere else?!”

“Oh god! Put fucking pressure, I said!”

“I am!”

“His hand not his head!”

“Jon, Glenn have you got your guns?!”

Jon ignored them and listened elsewhere. Outside, other voices were shouting. Jon honed in on a man’s voice.

“Fuck’s sake, just move the truck back, Pete! Give us some fuckin’ light!”

An engine roared over the others' shouting, silencing them all, even Hershel. Bright, white light poured through the tattered front wall of the tavern, illuminating all. Jon saw Maggie and Glenn holding rags torn from their shirts over Hershel’s wounds. Despite the pressure applied, his lifeblood gushed in pulsing, crimson waves from beneath the rags. Rick crouched by their side with a rifle in hand, finger on the trigger. His eyes found Jon’s. He touched his holster then nodded to Jon’s, to Needle. Jon nodded and unsheathed the pistol. Unwelcome shakes troubled his hands. Shakes that persisted no matter how steady he breathed. What’s the matter with me? An icy chill burned the scar over his heart.

“See, empty. We got ‘em all,” said a different man’s voice outside.

“No way, I heard ‘em,” yet another voice said, the same who’d shouted for his Pa, the one that sounded vaguely familiar.

“You don’t know what you heard, Randy.”

“Better safe than sorry,” said the other man.

A second round of hellfire erupted through the front. Jon tucked his knees and covered his head as the others dived to do the same. Rolling thunder roared and crackled. Bullets peppered the back wall, back and forth and back and forth, showering Jon in dust and mortar. When it became clear the gunman had aimed too high, Jon lifted his head. The light lit up the back of the tavern, revealing a side exit.

Jon shouted over the gunfire. “There’s a side exit! We can flank them from the alley!”

Rick uncovered his head and nodded. “I’ll go!”

“No, you stay here! You’re too slow!” Glenn’s shotgun lay discarded by Hershel’s side. “Glenn, you come!”

Glenn uncovered his head. “What?!”

“Come with me! Out the side! We’ll flank them!”

Suddenly, the gunfire stopped. The changing of magazines clicked and clacked. Rick whipped his colt from its holster and thrust it into Maggie’s hands.

“We’ll cover you,” he whispered.

“Right.” Jon pointed to Glenn’s gun. “Pick it up!” he hissed.

“O-Okay.” Glenn scrambled for the gun.

“Dammit, Jack! That’s enough!” A voice outside yelled. “You’ll draw the dead ones!”

“You ain’t never let me have fun! We killed all the dead anyhow!”

“God dammit, do as your-”

Rick and Maggie sprang up and unloaded their weapons over the counter. The voices outside screamed and shouted. Jon and Glenn made a dash for the side exit across shards of brick and glass. A shot rang out and a bullet clipped Jon’s shoulder, carving a line of pain across his skin. He put his head down and barged through the exit just as the third bout of hellfire tore through the tavern. Jon charged down the alley, Glenn hot on his heels. At the end stood a spiked, alley-way fence with a gate open ajar.

“They’re comin’!” shouted the familiar voice, muffled by the hellfire.

But by then it was too late. Jon and Glenn burst through the alley gate, guns raised. A black-haired man crouched behind the rangerover, spraying the tavern with bullets. He noticed them. But too late. Jon had him in Needle’s sights. He squeezed the trigger. A tremble plagued his hands and Needle’s shot exploded through the man’s shoulder. The man cried and fell, raising his gun at Jon. Glenn appeared at Jon’s side. Thunder screamed. Heat and flames spat from his shotgun. The man’s face and chest erupted into bloody mist and pulp. He died spluttering. Glenn fired at a truck with a flatbed on the back, parked across the street. Its front window shattered.

“Shit, he ducked!”

Thunder clapped from the rooftops. Sparks spat off the pavement, inches from Jon’s feet.

“Fuck!” a voice shouted.

“Take cover!” Glenn dove back into the alley.

Jon ran forward and dove behind the rangerover. Thunder cracked and a bullet spat sparks above Jon’s head.

“Get out here, motherfucker!” A voice shouted from the roof.

The man in the truck yelled. “Forget ‘em, Randy! Jump down! Get in the back!”

“Okay!” Hurried footsteps scampered across the roof.

Jon peered over the rangerover and spied a shadow silhouette dashing across the rooftop. He put the silhouette in Needle’s sights and fired three times. The first shot missed. Then the second. But the third landed. Screaming, the silhouette tumbled from the roof and impaled itself on the steel spikes of an alleyway fence. The screaming persisted, carrying high into the night, wailing and shrieking, like game caught in a trap. The other man cursed loudly and the truck’s engine roared. Tyres squealed on asphalt as the truck peeled off down the road. Jon unloaded the last of Needle’s ammo but only managed to spit sparks off the truck’s steel.

Jon shouted above the incessant wailing of the impaled. “All’s clear!”

“Are y’all hit?!” Rick shouted.

Glenn gave no response. Lowering his shotgun, he crept out of the alley, staring at the corpse in the street. The impaled cried for help and mercy.

“We’re fine! Hurry, the dead will be upon us soon!”

“Good! Get the back seats down! Hershel’s losin’ consciousness!”

“Aye!”

Jon flung open the range rover’s back doors and found the handle behind the back row of seats. He lowered them, extending the trunk.

“I killed him...” he heard Glenn say.

“Aye.”

“PLEASE!” wailed the impaled. “HELP ME HELP ME PLEASE!”

“We gotta help him…”

Jon ducked out of the car. “Leave him, he’s doomed and our enemy besides.”

“Don’t leave meeeeee!” the impaled sobbed. A boy’s voice, Jon realised. Boy, man. Woman, girl. It makes no matter.

Rick and Maggie stumbled out of the tavern’s ruined entrance, supporting one of Hershel’s arms each. Feebly, Hershel staggered between them, tripping over his own feet. A crimson curtain masked half his face, matting his white beard. As Rick and Maggie were about to get him in the car, the impaled cried again.

“PLEASE! I don’t wanna die…”

Hershel cried out and flailed, wrenching free of Rick and Maggie’s grip. “We can’t leave that boy to die!”

Rick looked as if he were about to agree, so Jon spoke first to stop the folly.

“Aye, I’ll end his suffering.” He sheathed Needle and drew Longclaw.

“No, dammit! Look at him!” Hershel pointed to the silhouette. “He’s impaled through the legs. We can save him.”

Jon didn’t look to confirm. “We haven’t the time and he’s our enemy, besides.”

“He’s a boy! Randall Culver!”

“I want my mom!” the boy, Randall Culver screamed. “I want my moooooooom! Pa! It hurts!” Sobbing overtook the screams. The silhouette thrashed.

“Dad, Jon’s right.” Maggie grabbed her father’s arm. “Randall Culver’s a skinhead piece of shit like the rest of ‘em, anyhow.”

“A child! A few years younger than Beth even!” Hershel wrenched free again, splattering blood on the pavement from his ruined hand.

He shouldered past Jon and hurried across the street. Maggie ran after him.

“Dad, get back here!”

“God dammit,” Rick muttered. He hurried after them.

“He sealed his fate the moment he fired upon us. Just as the others did.” Jon followed at Rick’s heels.

“We killed those guys 'cause we had to, man,” Glenn said. “He isn’t a threat anymore.”

Jon ignored Glenn’s folly. Before the spiked fence, Hershel and Rick stood before the thrashing boy, inspecting his impaled legs. The spikes skewered either thigh from beneath, danging the boy over the back of the fence. Maggie watched from afar, arms crossed. Glenn rushed to help.

“I guess we could break the spikes,” Glenn said. “That way the wounds stays sealed.”

“With what?” Hershel asked.

“If you free him, the moment he’s healed he’ll try to kill us all,” Jon said.

Hershel and Glenn scowled at him but Rick took pause.

“What if he were Carl?” Hershel asked.

“But he isn’t,” Jon added. “That’s our enemy. We’ve just murdered his family. He’ll kill all of us, the first moment he gets, Carl included.”

“Please please please no I won’t I won’t please I promise I promise!” the boy blabbered.

Hershel grabbed the boy’s right leg. “Listen to him, Rick. He’s one scared boy. He ain’t a threat no more. Now help me lift him off.”

Rick ran his hand through his hair, sighed and grabbed the boy’s right leg. As one, Rick and Hershel yanked the boy off of the spikes. Blood sprayed and the boy wailed.

#fanfic #fanfiction #ao3 #ao3fic #asoiaf fanfic #jon snow #the walking dead #rick grimes #the walking dead fanfic #jon snow fanfiction #rick grimes fanfiction #carl grimes fanfiction #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon #twd daryl #game of thrones #games of thrones fanfiction #art #asoiaf art #the walking dead art #horror

[hannahhook7744]

Families in the descendants universe;

Summary; in this post my friend @descendants-extended and I will be listing how certain characters are related (headcanon wise). It will feature characters from sequels, ouat, and disney shows that are spin off of movies. It mentions some but not all ocs.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Agnarr, Arianna, and Wilhelmina/Willow are siblings.

Their paternal is Tarzan's mom (who we'll call Alisha).

This makes Elsa, Rapunzel, and Anna cousins and makes Tarzan their 2nd cousin.

Rapunzel and Flynn have 3 kids-- Anxelin, Ruby, and Finn. That would make their kids Elsa and Anna's 1st cousin once removed and Tarzan's 2nd cousin once removed.

Rapunzel is Mother Gothel's adopted daughter which would make Cassandra, Ginny, and The Gothel twins (Mason and Glenn) her adoptive siblings. Which would make them the aunts and uncles of Anxelin, Ruby, and Finn.

Kit has a twin named James (a ouat character) and the two of them are Florian's cousin.

Florian and Snow are the God parents of the dwarves' kids (Jane and Doug included) as well as Chad.

Florian would be Chad's first cousin once removed and James would be Chad's uncle.

Chad's uncle, James, is Carlos' father in mine so they'd be cousins.

Anastasia and the Baker have four kids--Anthony, Aaron, Amara, and Anya. They would be Chad's cousins.

Drizella and Hans have 7 kids-- Dorothy, Daphne, Debbie, Delanie, Dixie, Dotty, and Dizzy.

Hans' is the brother of The Stabbington brothers, also known as Rudo and Runi. This would make him Madame Medusa and Lady Caine's brother in law.

It would also make him the uncle of Darlina, Iggy, Cormac, Tega, and Rex Stabbington-- the Stabbington cousins.

His brother, Lars, is married to Charlotte La Bouff. Which makes her his sister in law.

They have five kids -- Hans Jr, Carolina, Aloisia, Brendan, and Viktor. That makes them the neices and nephews of Hans.

Maximilian, another brother of Hans, married Alana-- Ariel's older sister-- making her Hans and The stabbington twins' sister in law.

They have two kids together-- Wilhelm and Renata.

Mozenrath is Aladdin's paternal half brother and Cassim's son.

He and Sadira are married and they have several kids-- Omar, Renz, Diya, and Reza.

Aladdin and Jasmine are married and have several kids--Jenna, Rafi, Salima, Aziz, Amira, and Jansher Zaahir. They are @descendants-extended 's ocs as well as Mozenrath's kids (minus Omar and Reza).

Mama Odie has two kids-- Dr. Facilier and Opal. This makes Dr Facilier's kids-- Uma, Freddie, Coral, Celia, and Francis -- Opal's nieces and nephew. (Francis is @dragoneyes618 original character not mine).

Gaston and Laurette were married and had Gaston 2-

Laurette's sister-- Claudette-- had 3 kids; Claire, Curtis, and Cat. Their father is unknown.

Lefou and Stanley are married and Paulette was their surrogate for Petra, Felicity, Fleur, Lilette, Sylvie, La Foux Doux, and Lefou Deux.

Horace and Jasper Badun are brothers.

Horace is the father of Hendrick, Harley, Harry, and Mabel Badun. This makes Jasper their uncle.

Jasper is the father of James, Jacqueline, Joseph, and Jace Badun. This makes Horace Badun their uncle and his kids their cousins.

Helga Sinclair is Hunter de vil and Harry and Mabel Badun's mother. This makes them half siblings.

Oh and Jonas, Morganna's son, is Urusla's nephew and the cousin of the sea witches.

Eddie Balthazar is the son of Sarah Dear and Edgar Balthazar. This makes him Jim Jr's first cousin once removed.

Tritons and Urusla and Morganna are siblings.

#disney family #disney characters #disney descendants #descendants #disney family tree #descendants family tree #disney descendants family tree #descendants headcanons #disney descendants headcanons #disney headcanons #if disney heroes had kids #if disney villians had kids

[antimonyantigone]

🦚 and 🌈?

🦚 - Are there any queer books/shows/etc. that you would suggest?

Let me dig up my goodreads! The one I most recently finished is Women's Barracks by Torres, which came out in 1950 and has a reputation for being the first lesbian pulp novel. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for that because it's not going to hold up to modern queer literature, and the author was not queer, but if you want it for context, it's an easy read. The two "fun reads" I read that were food are House of Hunger (adult, sapphic vampire horror) by Alexis Henderson and The Girls are Never Gone (YA, sapphic, horror) by Sarah Glenn Marsh. I read a lot of horror, and I also recently finished Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin which is a good horror read, but it's not a "fun" horror read by any means. I really, really loved Mira Grant's Into The Drowning Deep, which is a nautical horror with sapphic characters. Killer use of "found footage" writing, as well. And, I have to shout out "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Spy: An Original Jane Bond Parody" which is exactly what it says on the tin. Jame's Bond twin lesbian sister, Jane Bond.

🌈 - What's a Queer Identity, Experience or a piece of History you feel deserves more recognition?

I'm not a historian, but one thing I gravitate towards is wanting more memory for queer scientists (because I am one, probably) and there are some famous scientists we rememeber were queer very well, like Turing, but like extra shoutout to Sally Ride and Sara Josephine Baker (who tracked Typhoid Mary and was especially interested in infant health). For our queer scientist clubs, I usually gathered profiles like this for trivia night or profile highlights.

#thank you!! #i apparently read more books than I thought i did

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

See No Evil 2

To say Jen and Sylvia Soska’s SEE NO EVIL 2 (2014, Tubi, Plex, Roku Channel) is better than the original SEE NO EVIL (2006) should not be taken to oversell it. It would have been hard to have made a worse movie since Ed Wood, Jr. and Phil Tucker are long dead. WWE Films doesn’t get a lot of points for quality, but at least moving the production from the original’s Australia to Canada allowed them to hire the Soska Sisters to direct and allowed them to cast two talented scream queens, Danielle Harris and Katharine Isabelle. Had they really been smart, the WWE would have hired the Soskas to write, too, but they apparently already had a script ready for them to attempt to salvage. The Soska Sisters know how to use the camera and editing to generate suspense, and they get decent work out of most of the cast. They even help wrestler Glenn ‘Kane’ Jacobs (You didn’t think the WWE produced films for love of the art, did you?) deliver something resembling a performance.

The first act, which sets up the main characters, works best. Med-school dropout Amy (Harris) works at the city morgue with mortician Seth (Kaj-Erik Eriksen). They have crushes on each other but are reluctant to act, despite encouragement from their boss (Michael Eklund), When they learn they’re about to receive the dead bodies from the previous film — with flashbacks showing most of their death scenes and suggesting the morgue is in a district with much better lighting and color values — Amy takes a raincheck on her birthday party to help out. So, her friends bring the party to the morgue just in time for the killer (Kane) to pop back to life. At that point, the film starts falling apart. There are endless scenes of people running around in the dark and bumping into Kane so he can kill them. At least early on Isabelle pops out of the shadows every now and then, but since she’s not one of the main lovers, you know she’s not long for this film, which is a pity.

Harris and Eriksen are charming as the hesitant lovers, and Isabelle makes the most of her short part. She’s playing a young woman so obsessed with serial killers she gets turned on being in the same room with Kane’s supposedly dead body, and she has the skill and taste to hit her comic beats without working them to death. The rest of the cast is okay too, and it’s a mercy that nobody from the original film except Kane shows up. But ultimately, good camerawork, editing and acting can’t defeat a wretched script that devolves into nonsense for an ending meant to set up a franchise that, praise the goddess, never happened.

#horror films #pro wrestling #kane #soska sisters #katharine isabelle #danielle harris #kaj-erik eriksen #michael eklund

[ao3feed-destiel-02]

Don't Blame Me|| Dixon D.

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/hEQ0d8a by XOastorybynatxoxo "For you, I would cross the line I would waste my time I would lose my mind They say, "She's gone too far this time" Don't blame me, love made me crazy If it doesn't, you ain't doin' it right" - Don't Blame Me, Taylor Swift OR IN WHICH The Winchester Sister is away from her brothers during the apocalypse and fights to get back to them.   Winchester Sister x Daryl Dixon Words: 10026, Chapters: 4/?, Language: English Fandoms: Supernatural (TV 2005), The Walking Dead (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: F/M Characters: Original Winchester Character(s), Daryl Dixon, Rick Grimes, Lori Grimes, Shane Walsh, Sophia Peletier, Carol Peletier, Glenn Rhee, Maggie Greene, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Beth Greene (Walking Dead), Original Male Character(s), Connie (Walking Dead) Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s), Lori Grimes/Rick Grimes, Rick Grimes/Michonne, Castiel/Dean Winchester Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/hEQ0d8a

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #(your tags here)

[ao3feeddestiel]

Don't Blame Me|| Dixon D.

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/TogMVNw by XOastorybynatxoxo "For you, I would cross the line I would waste my time I would lose my mind They say, "She's gone too far this time" Don't blame me, love made me crazy If it doesn't, you ain't doin' it right" - Don't Blame Me, Taylor Swift OR IN WHICH The Winchester Sister is away from her brothers during the apocalypse and fights to get back to them.   Winchester Sister x Daryl Dixon Words: 10026, Chapters: 4/?, Language: English Fandoms: Supernatural (TV 2005), The Walking Dead (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: F/M Characters: Original Winchester Character(s), Daryl Dixon, Rick Grimes, Lori Grimes, Shane Walsh, Sophia Peletier, Carol Peletier, Glenn Rhee, Maggie Greene, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Beth Greene (Walking Dead), Original Male Character(s), Connie (Walking Dead) Relationships: Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s), Lori Grimes/Rick Grimes, Rick Grimes/Michonne, Castiel/Dean Winchester Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/TogMVNw

#IFTTT #Don't Blame Me|| Dixon #D. #XOastorybynatxoxo