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caesthoffe · 4 months

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An Update on Brianna Ghey

tw // extreme transphobia, hate crime, violent death, death of a child

If you're unfamiliar with Brianna Ghey, you can read up on the story here or watch this overview. There's been multiple updates, and I wanted to let people know about the most important ones.

On February 4th 2024, the two originally unnamed teenagers— the 16-year-old boy now identified as Eddie Ratcliffe, and 16-year-old girl now identified as Scarlett Jenkinson —have been sentenced to life in prison for the fatal stabbing of Brianna (x).

On the day of her murder, February 11th 2023, Brianna took the No 28 bus at around 2pm to meet up with Jenkinson (who brought Ratcliffe along without Brianna's knowledge). The two led her to a path on Culcheth Linear Park, where she was stabbed to death with a hunting knife (x) that Ratcliffe provided. Although both parties would later blame the other in court, it's important to note that Ratcliffe was the only one with blood found on his clothes. Brianna was stabbed a total of 28 times in her head, neck, chest, and back (x). Not long after, Jenkinson posted this to her snapchat account.

Her murder was premeditated weeks in advance (x), with the pair plotting their attack against Brianna (x), who was anxious and rarely went out alone. They'd previously attempted to kill her before, although those plans ended up failing (x).

Prior to her murder, she'd sent a message to her mother saying "I'm on the bus by myself. I'm scared." To which her mother had replied that she was proud of her attempt at going out alone. Unfortunately, Brianna never got to read that text.

Thousands of text messages have leaked from the two killers, where Ratcliffe misgenders and demeans Brianna, and Jenkinson details her obsession with Brianna.

➡ When Jenkinson sent Ratcliffe some selfies of Brianna, he replied, "Is it a femboy or a tranny?"

➡ After Jenkinson expressed that she thought Brianna was prettier than her, Ratcliffe had said, "Prettier but it's a boy."

➡ Jenkinson had texted him on Whatsapp, "I'm obsessed over someone I know but don't have feelings for them... She's called Brianna... I don't know how to explain. She looks like a girl, she sounds like a girl, she's really pretty." To which Ratcliffe replied, "Tell me what you feel when you interact with it. I don't think you're necessarily in love but I think you're more curious and intrigued by its unnatural nature." (x)

➡ After their initial attempt to kill a different student failed, Jenkinson suggested that they stab Brianna instead. Ratcliffe agreed, saying "Yeah, it'll be easier and I want to see if it will scream like a man or girl."

➡ Jenkinson discussed wanting to take Brianna's "pretty" eyes as trophies, and Ratcliffe said "Really all I want to see is what size dick it had."

➡ During the trial, when asked by the prosecutor why he used the terms "it" instead of "she" for Brianna, he said that it was a "joke" and that he had picked it up from other people.

Despite all of this, Cheshire police are still adamant that Brianna's murder was not motivated by transphobia (x), because "...If it hadn't been Brianna, it would have been one of the other four children on that list." This is further corroborated by Detective Inspector Nigel Parr of Cheshire Constabulary, who led the investigation. Outside the court, he claimed that "this was a senseless murder committed by two teenagers who had an obsession with murder, whose only motivation in killing Brianna was to experience what this would be like." (x)

The headteacher of Birchwood Community High School has claimed that she spoke to Brianna's mom who "confirmed that Brianna was not bullied at Birchwood and always felt well supported by the school," and that Brianna's mother had given her permission to share that (x). This is despite multiple of Brianna's friends, and Brianna herself (x), saying the opposite (x).

The two killers are eligible for parole in 20 and 22 years. I can only hope they atone for the harm they've caused Brianna's family, the trans community, and everyone else affected.

I hope one day we can live in a world where being trans isn't a death sentence. Where major news outlets can report on trans victims with respect (x). Where anti-trans hatred spewed by TERFs and radfems, right wing politicians and conservative talk show hosts no longer hold such an influence in the world.

We will be able to live as ourselves one day. Without fear. I just wish Brianna could be here to see it.

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dragon-kazansky · 8 months

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Spirit of the sea

Izzy Hands x Reader (GN)

You were a member of Blackbeard's crew long ago. Then you became a ghost story. Izzy Hands only sees you in his dreams these days, until he sees you for real when investigating Stede Bonnet. This sets him on a rollercoaster of emotions between you and what his captain is doing.

{Masterlist}

{Previous Chapter} - {Next Chapter}

Warnings: Swearing. Izzy likes to swear. Buttons is naked. Also I'm pretty sure Izzy makes heart eyes at you without me actually typing out heart eyes.

Chapter Eight - Captain Hands

♡♡♡

The English came aboard the ship and promptly captured every pirate onboard. They cornered some of the crew and tied them up. A naked Buttons runs past you at one point, everything hanging out. You try to blink the image away.

One of the sailors grabs you from behind and takes your hands behind your back. You're then pushed down to the deck, face against the wood.

Edward and Stede are next to each other, looking at one another.

One by one everyone is taking in for questioning. It's only here you learn that this was about the murder of Badminton. You had totally forgotten about that guy.

This was his twin brother.

You're taken back outside with the rest of the crew and left to sit there. It's only then that you realise who else is here. Someone you thought you wouldnt see again.

"Izzy," you whisper, looking at him.

He's looking right at you.

It feels like all the air has been sucked out if your lungs. You've forgotten how to breathe. You don't even realise a tear has formed until it trails down your cheek. It splashes on the deck below, silent and unnoticed by anyone. Anyone except Izzy.

You turn your eyes away from.

Apparently Stede confessed to killing Nigel Badminton. His punishment was death by firing squad. At least it would be quick, you supposed.

Izzy was watching mostly you as Stede and Blackbeard were being given their sentences. He has missed you.

"In the name of His Majesty King George, this tribunal shall come to order. Edward Teach, or Black Beard."

"It's just Blackbeard. Like, just run it together as one word. 'Blackbeard'. Don't have to put a gap in there." Ed spirals on.

"You face death for general crimes of Piracy against the Crown."

"Yeah." Edward agrees.

"But a friend of the Crown has prevailed upon me to remand you to his custody. You shall be released to Captain Hands in exchange for his service to the King."

You turn slowly to see Izzy give Ed a little wave. Oh, now you get it. Izzy had made a deal with these bastards for Edward's protection.

While the crew of the Revenge boo Izzy, you try and find a way to control your breathing.

"Stede Bonnet. For the wanton murder of Nigel Badminton... your sentence is death by firing squad."

"We'll find a way out of this, OK?" Ed says to him.

"Ed, no. I deserve this. At some point in a man's life, he has to face the music." Stede speaks calmly.

Except, when he's up there with his blindfold on, he's screaming about much he doesn't want to die.

You had been cut free and permitted to stand with Blackbeard. One of Izzy's other demands was that you were safe.

You watch Stede with a sad expression.

"Edward... I know you're upset, but it was the only..." Izzy tried to explain himself, but Ed turns and punches Izzy hard. Izzy falls to the deck harshly. At any other time you would help him up, but not today.

The crew applaud what they just saw.

"Oh... that's fair." Izzy grunts as he stands up and brushes his hair back again. "Remember, though. You said when you made me first mate, 'Above all else is loyalty to your Captain.'"

"Rifles at the ready!" Chauncey orders.

"You're my captain, and I was never gonna stand by and let you destroy yourself for that... twat. And this, this is a humane way of ending it."

"Aim!"

"It's quick. It's clean. Edward you KNOW that." Izzy is basically pleading with him.

"Act of Grace!" Blackbeard calls out.

"No... No."

"Act of Grace!" Edward stands in front of Stede. Izzy looks defeated. "Act of Grace!"

The crew shout for Stede to say it too. "Say it! Act of Grace!"

"What he said!" Stede calls out.

Edward removes the blindfold from Stede.

"Fuck me," Chauncey mutters.

Edward explains the Act of Grace to Stede.

"So, you want to go to war for the King?" Chauncey asks them.

"We'd rather eat our own faces, but, yes." Edward replies to him.

"Two acts of Grace, please." Stede pleads.

"Ah. I'm afraid the offer doesn't extend to you, Bonnet. After, the King was only referring to real pirates. He turns to Edward, "He's from my world, not yours."

"Raise your rifles!"

"June 3rd. An excellent day!" Lucius stands up with Stede's diary in his hands, reading from it. "Raided a commercial vessel after overwhelming the hardy crew. We claimed a prize of lush vegetation in conquest." Lucius turns around to show a drawing of the plant.

Oluwande holds the plant up. "And here's the vegetation in question."

"They'll never forget the Eccentric Pirate Bonnet and his savage, insane, vengeful pirate horde." Lucius closes the book. "See? He's a pirate. a real, proper pirate."

"That man is a fearsome pirate if e'er I seen one." Buttons joins in.

The rest of the crew begin to agree. Stede looks proudly at them.

"Well, rule-of-law-wise, I'd say that settle it." One of the Navy officers says.

"A plant and a drawing?" Chauncey asks. "Settles nothing."

"It's enough for us. Blackbeard renounces piracy to serve the Crown? We'll be dining with Ol' King George himself."

"Why?" Chauncey asks the crew. "Why do you all show such loyalty to this... this... nothing?"

"I'd attribute quite a lot of it to a people-positive management style," Stede says.

Chauncey draws his sword. "Shut up!"

"Stand down, Admiral." He is warned. "Or will be forced to use measures."

"Measures? Against me?! He's the criminal!" Chauncey says, waving his sword about at Stede. "He's the murderer!"

"All right! Calm down, Mr Wavy Blade." Says Stede. "Chauncey! Sometimes, when we get a bit angry, do you know what we like to do? We talk it through."

"As a crew!" The others join in.

You smile from where you stand. Izzy notices.

"Oh, I know. I know what's happened. Yeah, we've somehow drifted south of the equator, and ended up in Backwardsland!"

Chauncey is promptly restrained.

You laugh softly. Izzy can't seem to keep his eyes off of you.

♡♡♡

Edward and Stede are taken into the captain's quarter to sign the contract for the Act of Grace. Izzy is in there with them.

You're sat on deck looking out at the sea.

It isn't long until the Navy retreat, taking Stede and Edward with them. You watch them go. Edward looks at you before leaving the ship.

That's how you know Izzy is standing behind you. You refuse to look at him.

Stede and Edward have gone.

Izzy opens his mouth to speak, but you're already pushing past him to walk away. He calls your name but you don't stop. He sighs as he watches you go.

♡♡♡

While Izzy sets things his way on the Revenge, by getting the crew in order and showing his leadership, you sulk down in his old cabin.

Since he's captain now, he won't want this old room back. You curl up on his bed and hide your face in the crook of your arms. It has been a long day.

You're not sure how much time has passed, but eventually your solitude is interrupted.

"Thought I might find you here."

You don't look up. You don't move an inch.

"You not gonna look at me?"

You remain still.

You hear Izzy sigh and he walks across the small cabin toward the desk. You hear him put something down, the item hiding gently against the wood. You can tell from the light rustling sound that he stands there for a moment before leaving again.

You look up once you're sure he's gone. Your eyes are drawn to the desk. Sitting there, just as you remembered it, was the wooden sparrow you whittled for Izzy.

Another tear escapes your eye.

♡♡♡

Izzy works the crew hard, all while not lifting a finger for himself. He throws round orders and makes sure every man onboard does his job. He states he's tough, but he's also fair

The crew still hate him.

They don't hate you, however.

Lucius finds you sulking away. He was sent to grab something for Izzy, but he decided today least check in on you.

"Dizzy Izzy confining you?" He asks, half joking.

You look up at him and sigh through your nose.

"What's he doing?" You ask.

"Ordering is around."

"Course he is."

Lucius frowns as he looks at you. "Thought you might be glad he was back, despite literally everything else."

"Would be had he not sold us out to the Navy and pushed Ed enough to go serve the King."

"He sucks, for the record."

"Yeah. He's a dick."

Lucius and you share a smile. The moment is only broken by the yell of "SPRIGGS." Lucius bolts out of the cabin to reach Izzy before he gets mad.

You return to sulking.

♡♡♡

As evening draws in and the crew go about their business, you come up to deck for some air. You hold the wooden sparrow in your hand as you rest against the railing of the ship. The breeze is a bit chilly tonight, but you don't mind it much.

You've become aware of when he's nearby. It's like you have a sixth sense for Izzy Hands.

"You'll catch a chill up here."

You do nothing but hum quietly in response, turning the sparrow around in your hand carefully.

"At least talk to me."

You keep twirling the sparrow.

Izzy shifts his weight to one leg as he stares at you. You can't see the pleading look in his eyes, at how desperate he is get you to look at him.

"I did this for us, you know. Edward was never supposed to do what he did. He wasn't even supposed to be on the ship... Jack was meant to take you and Edward with him."

"You sent Calico fucking Jack to get us?" You ask, hissing the question out. You still refuse to look at him.

Happy that you're at least talking to him, Izzy goes on.

"I wanted you safe. Safe with me. We could have had Blackbeard back. We could have been a crew again. No more Bonnet. No more ghosts. Just us and the sea."

You inhale sharply. Izzy realises in that moment that you're upset. He wants so desperately to reach out and hold you.

"Safe? No one is ever safe, Izzy."

You drop the sparrow and it falls down into the waves below. You grip the railing of the ship, knuckles turning white as you lean against it.

"I should have stayed dead. Maybe none of this would have happened," you say softly.

"Don't say that. Don't ever fucking say that." Izzy takes a step forward.

"You left me, Izzy!" You turn sharply and glare at him. "You bastard! You left me behind over some stupid fucking duel and then sold us out!"

You lunge forward and smack Izzy across the chest. He tries to block your attacks, but not with much effort. Izzy wants you to let your anger out on him.

"You bastard! You fucking idiot! Why? Why do any of it? Why did you leave me?" You cry out.

"What choice did I have?" He asks, still blocking your attacks.

"You could have stayed! We could worked something out! Anything. We could have done anything! At least we would have done it together."

"I offered you to come with me," he says softly.

"No!" You yell. You stop hitting him and glare at him. "We belong out at sea. That's our home. We made a promise once, do you remember? A promise to stick together and explore the world. Well, fuck that promise I guess!"

He says your name softly.

"No, Izzy. You betrayed me twice. You left me and then sold us out. How can I ever forgive you?"

He falls silent as he looks at you.

You push past him and walk away again. Izzy is left standing there, looking at the sea.

♡♡♡

Izzy wasn't ready to give up on you. Not now. Not ever.

He waited an hour or so before coming down to the cabin. His old cabin. It warmed his heart to discover you had taken it as your own. He knew you missed him just as much as he missed you.

"Leave me alone," you mumble.

"No."

You sigh as you sit up on the bed. "What do you want from me? Want me to scrub the deck? Shine your boots? Worship you?"

Izzy frowns. "No. None of that."

"Then what?"

"I want... I want us to talk it through."

You look at him silently, and then start to chuckle softly. "Talk it through? Now you want to talk it through. What? Like a crew?"

"Like friends."

"Oh, so we're still friends are we?" You scoff.

"Never stopped, at least on my end."

"Well it did on mine."

Izzy stands there staring at you. His eyes are soft and there is something about this posture that feels wrong. Not in a sense that he would do something to you, but like something that doesn't belong there. He's standing wrong.

"What is it, Izzy?"

"I fucking missed you, ya know."

"Did you?" You ask flatly.

"Yeah, I did."

You take a deep breath and calm your mind. You let most of your anger put on him up on deck, so the least you can do is be civil. Your choices were limited.

"I'm sorry about the sparrow. I, uh, I appreciate that you took it with you."

Izzy almost smiles. "Couldn't leave it behind."

"I'll have to make you a new one."

"Only if you forgive me."

"Maybe not then," you sigh.

"Do you hate me?" He asks.

There's a few moments of silence that pass that make him believe that the answer is probably yes. You have every reason to, he supposes. He left. Then Edward, for a moment.

You have every right to be upset.

"No."

Izzy finds his whole body relaxing from that word alone. Relief floods his heart and his lips actually do curl into a gentle smile for once.

"Good. Pretty sure the crew do, but I can live with that. I can't live with you hating me, though."

You meets his eyes and suddenly feel lighter. You never thought a simple gaze could take away so much heartache and pain.

"Pretty sure they're planning a mutiny. They tried once with Stede."

"Fuck."

"You are a bit of a dick, though, Izzy."

He looks at you with a faux sense of betrayal in his eyes. You chuckle softly, but know that the crew would most likely throw him off the ship.

"I'll see what I can do."

Izzy smiles gratefully before leaving. He has said his peace and for now that's enough. He bids you goodnight as he goes.

"Goodnight, Izzy."

♡♡♡

Yeah, the next morning the crew planned a mutiny. Izzy was promptly tied up.

"You said you'd see what you could do." Izzy looks at you, fire beginning to burn in his eyes. He kind of felt betrayed.

"Yeah, I tried. I talked to them for hours. They are adamant on throwing you off this ship." You tell him, looking at him firmly.

"You're just going to let them?"

You keep your eyes on him. "Yeah."

"If this is about leaving you-"

"Izzy, no, no. It's not like that." You raise your hands. Izzy furrows his brows. There's rope around your wrists.

"What?" He asks softly.

"I said, if they wanted to throw you overboard, they would have to throw me too. Or I'd kill them all in their sleep."

Izzy states at you.

You give a smile

"You...? You told them to banish you too?"

"Yeah. Either you stay, or we both go together."

Izzy is at a loss for words.

The crew come over and picked him up. He pleads with them to change their minds. He will listen and make changes. He will do what they wanted him to.

He wanted to stay on this ship with you. You shouldn't banish yourself for him. He had no idea you would go so far.

Did this mean you had forgiven him?

He looks at you, head bent as far back as it could go to look at you. You stand there and smile at him. God, why are you smiling? You can't be this happy to be mutinied with him.

"One!" The crew start to count.

"No! No! No!" Izzy pleads.

"Two!"

Izzy looks back at you again.

"Three!" "Hold it!" Pete stops them.

Everyone turns to find Blackbeard unexpectedly climbing onboard the ship. You stare at him confused.

"Izzy... I'll take tea in my room." Ed says, walking past everyone.

Everyone just stares.

Izzy is put down.

"What happened to his beard?" Roach asks.

You turn back around to Izzy and bring his attention to you as you work on undoing his restaints. He stares at you as you do so. You look at him and then back at his hands. Once his hands are free he reaches out and gently holds yours.

"You were really gonna do it?" He asks.

"Yeah," you say softly. "I was gonna do it."

Izzy really wanted to kiss you.

"Why?"

"For the same reason Edward protected Stede."

Izzy looks confused.

"Forget it."

All Izzy Hands can do is look at you. He untied your wrists and Olu sees to it both of your feet are intied too.

Izzy's heart was racing.

He wondered, did you mean what he thought you meant?

♡♡♡

@grippleback-galaxy - @askmarinaandothers - @godlikegallagher - @for-fuck-sake-im-alive - @whiskeyswriting - @lxsm2 - @bloody-bunni666 - @the-chocoholic-writer - @bugbugboy - @callmemana -

#izzy hands x reader #spirit of the sea #ofmd #our flag means death #dragon writes

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ailendolin · 5 months

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So, while you're waiting for the DVD, I thought I'd share my thoughts about the upcoming CBS series (February 15).

I think it was Pete who moved on. As much as I wish it was Flower, Pete is the least conflicted of the ghosts. It would be totally in character for him to leave without having a chance to say goodbye.

Most of the other characters have ''diversity points" of some kind or other--Sass and Alberta are non-white, Flower and Hetty are women, and Nigel and Isaac are gay. I'd wager that CBS doesn't want to risk falling into 'kill the gays' territory (though does it count if everyone is already dead?)

I mean, it could be one of the minor ghosts, but that's just cheating.

I love that you used the word cheating in the context of this because when I saw the season 2 finale, my first thought was that they're not going to commit to it and will have one of the minor ghosts move on. Choosing the easy way out basically. I might underestimate the writers there but the fact that they ended the season on such a cliffhanger feels pretty lazy to be honest. Good storytelling doesn't need to rely on the shock value of a cliffhanger or killing off a character (which I know is technically not the case here since the ghosts are already dead but I hope you know what I mean) so my reaction when I saw that was not, "Oh my god, someone's moving on!" but rather, "Why am I not surprised?"

Regarding which character will move on: the thing is, the ghosts have mostly resolved all their issues, haven't they? So if it's about that, it could literally be anyone. I'd hate to think that 'diversity points' as you called it played a role in the decision but again, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. Pete feels like a likely option but he is, in a way, the heart of the group and I'd hate to imagine them without him. The one I could most easily do without is Flower. From a storytelling viewpoint, she doesn't have much to offer (which is not her fault but, again, a result of lazy writing). There's also Crash who keeps disappearing for long periods of time anyway and has never been properly utilised as a character (again, see comment above) so it might be him.

But to be honest, I'm really not invested enough in most of the characters to care - which is not the fault of the show itself but rather due to my personal preferences in storytelling. For me, CBS Ghosts is mindless fun. That isn't a bad thing but it means I watch it once and that's it. So while I'm looking forward to season 3 (which will probably be available here in summer/autumn) it's definitely not in the same way as I'm looking forward to getting my BBC Ghosts series 5 DVD (I'm currently refreshing the damn Amazon page every five minutes in the hopes they'll finally dispatch it - that's how badly I want to hold it in my hands).

#cbs ghosts #ask

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zeldas-cigarrette · 3 years

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𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡. ❁ཻུ۪۪♡

— word count; 1,213

— angsty and fluff???

— summary; you’ve been in love with Miranda, but you never felt enough for her.

— ⚢miranda priestly x fem!reader

—❥author’s note; I really don’t know how, but I came up with this one. This was the first time I’ve written again in over a month so yes, that’s that. I hope you’re good:)

🏷 tag list; @paulawand

Your family and friends would describe you as insecure, sometimes anxious, and definitely not very confident. Although you own a successful company, your private life was haunted by a lack of self-consciousness. Two years ago you’ve met Miranda Priestly at a charity gala, she caught your eyes. The mesmerizing woman captured you for the whole night and when she finally spoke to you, she asked you out for dinner. It scared you a little because you had never thought that a woman like her would talk to a girl like you. But despite your doubts about yourself, she seemed to like you a lot and after that one dinner, it came to even more. Miranda is a fiery woman, she was often very cutthroat and demanding with her staff; not going easy on them was her reputation. That’s why you were even more surprised at how gentle she was when you were out together.

It wasn’t until three months ago when she told you that over the years she had fallen in love with you. Usually, you would’ve felt honoured, and especially with her, you should’ve reacted differently. But in that very moment, all the things she was and you weren’t running in light speed through your mind. The thought of not being worthy enough to be with her totally suffocated you at that moment. Her white hair that normally shone like a halo over her head, lost its glow when you just turned around and walked away.You felt incredibly sorry for treating the woman that way. Although you reacted as only an idiot would, she reached out to you and explained how she wouldn’t want to risk the friendship you two had and how sorry she was. Again; It surprised you.

Miranda sent you flowers to work and you could only text her how grateful you were to have her as a friend. Deep down you didn’t just want her as a friend but the mere thought of being useless for her internally made your blood boil and you quickly stopped thinking about her. Since you two stayed friends, you still went out for dinner or had lunch together. Every time you saw her, the butterflies in your stomach came to life and you carefully imagined how it would be like to kiss her. You had to be careful to not get too attached again. Therefore every time you saw her again you got a little more distant and you knew she knew. You couldn’t tell her how much you disliked yourself so you tried to make her hate you just as much as you did.

When she called you in her office for lunch that Emily brought, you had this weird feeling in the gut. Not knowing what it was, you ignored it and walked through the glass doors to Runway. It was just as busy as usual, you saw Nigel having a seemingly wild conversation with Andi and Emily filed her nails. A small smile curved on Miranda’s lips when she saw you walking in her direction. „Hey,” you mumbled putting your jacket on the chair. „Hey, just sit I ordered your favorite,” her voice sounded strangled. You carefully opened the plastic box and your heart ached when you really saw your favourite meal in it. She was paying attention. It hurt your heart that you could never be with her. „Did you sleep well?” she asked stuffing a forkful of salad in her mouth. You wanted to capture that exact moment, that exact cute face of hers. You nodded unable to give a proper response.

Even though the food looked delicious, you could only eat small bites and stir your fork in it. It was rare that the sun was as bright and warm in New York as today. The huge glass windows in her office allowed you a wide sight on New York’s streets, thousands of people scurrying to their jobs. „Everything alright dear?” „Yes I’m fine,” a thin-lipped smile graced your face. She ran her left hand through her snow-white hair before putting her pencil down. „You’re quite pale, are you withholding anything from me? You know I hate liars,” Miranda’s voice sounded threatening. „No don’t worry.”

It felt like using her good side for my appalling behaviour. The lunch continued in horrible silence just as she was about to finish, Nigel stopped by for an important matter. Shortly after, Miranda excused herself and followed him. You could feel the weight lifting off your shoulders when she left the room. Playing pretend was never your thing and most of the time you failed miserably, but this time you seemed to be good. It took her some time to get back and you passed the time by scrolling through your phone. „I’m back, sorry for keeping you so long,” the white-haired woman took a seat again.

„Don’t worry I wanted to go anyway.” You didn’t. You wanted to spend every free second of your day just watching her. You quickly gathered your belongings and headed for the exit. „Wait!” Miranda’s normally quiet voice that changed into a short, loud noise, startled you. You jolted in her direction. „Did I do something that upset you?” she loudly complained. The air was suddenly caught in your throat. „Uh no, nothing,” your voice was shaky, knowing that it will end either in a fight or you telling her what it was really about.

„I just really need to go.”

„No you wait,” her soft hands gripped your wrist and pulled you after her in the office. „I thought we cleared things up, but now you’ve been acting strange ever since,” Miranda was in full rage and you knew it could be deadly to interfere with it. „Look, I’m not acting strange or anything in that direction. Maybe you’re just making it up,” you quietly replied fearing she’d kill you on the plate. „Making it up huh? I saw how you looked at me.” A sharp pain went through your chest.

„Do you really think that I’m not good enough for the great Y/n?” That was it, that was so wrong you could no longer keep your mouth shut, how could she not see how much of a miserable person you are? „You know what? No, I don’t think that you’re not good enough for me, but I certainly think that I will never be enough for you or anyone else,” the ranting ended in sobs. The face of the woman opposite you changed radically in pity. As if the whole situation wasn’t strange enough, Miranda pulled you on the couch and sat next to you.

„Don’t you ever say that again, never,” her hands warmed yours rapidly? „You’re more than enough for me, don’t you ever forget that,” she whispered softly. „I love you too?” it was hard for you to say, scared of she wouldn’t mean it after three months. Her hands quickly found their way up to your cheeks, cupping it to pull you closer. „Is that alright?” Miranda’s hot breath brushed your lips. Your lips landed on hers as a response, moving gently against hers.

‘Everything’s gonna be alright’ you affirmed in your head, not wanting to ruin the moment. Her perfume was intoxicating, lavender and vanilla.

#sapphic #fanfiction #fanfic #meryl streep #miranda priestly x reader #miranda priestly #the devil wears prada #x reader imagines #imagine #gay #angsty #fluff #the devil wears prada imagine #miranda priestly imagine #wlw love #wlw ship #meryl streep x reader

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indelibleevidence · 2 years

Text

2x17 Thoughts

Okay, I will start this by holding my hands up and saying Oliver wasn't quite as pathetic as I remembered in this episode. At least in the charity office scene, he tried to wrestle the pornstache guy's gun away from him. That gives him one bonus point.

Still, he was a total waste of space for most of the episode, and I'm happy he's gone!

I guess the Krugers were multi-millionaires, if Remi had a trust fund of $33 million. If Shepherd had set it up, Roman wouldn't have needed to go sign for it - Shepherd would have just gone herself. Judging by the giant property that was in ruins, which was never sold after the Kruger parents' murders, they must have left all their assets to their children. Strange that they never sold the Kruger estate for Sandstorm funds - but I guess they had plenty of rich donors like Zac Riley. And Roman probably donated his trust fund to Shepherd's cause, maybe in exchange for Shepherd not trying to sell their old family home.

I wonder if Roman knew Remi was alive when he went to sign for the money? If she'd yet to return from Afghanistan, he might not have known yet, which could be why he snapped at the banker. Then again, they chose to pretend Alice Kruger was killed in action once she returned with Nigel Thornton, so maybe Remi was just plotting at the compound by that point.

I also wonder if Remi ever dipped into her trust fund as a SEAL. As Remi's legal guardian, Shepherd probably could have blocked access to it until Remi was legally an adult, while not being able to access it herself. But once she came of age, she might have withdrawn some of the money for some reason. Maybe to anonymously send to Avery, if she'd found her - but Roman never mentioned that Remi had ever found her, despite them both looking.

I assume that if Remi had been part of Sandstorm before the drone attack, she would have funded Shepherd's endeavours, at least a bit. So either the Krugers were ridiculously rich, and the trust fund had been bigger than $33 million at some point, or else Remi was keeping that money from Shepherd, because she was still estranged from her post-Avery-abduction. (I'm thinking way too hard about this.)

I forgot how despondent Roman was in this episode. I think that if he hadn't been let out on house arrest, the team would have been wise to put him on suicide watch. Which just underlines how shit a therapist Dr. Sun is, because she's so adamantly against letting Roman out.

Having said that, she seems to be a better therapist to Patterson. I'd also forgotten that Patterson shuts down and ends her therapy for this episode. It's so sad, and very believable that she'd want to close the book and go 'okay, he's dead, it's over, I'm done'. Only mental health issues don't just go away, as evidenced by the apartment trashing at the end of the episode. Our poor Patty... 💔 That thing with the Xbox controller batteries running out is so realistic, though. Happens all the damn time. XD

The argument between Kurt and Reade is so much like the one on the plane at the end of season 4, only reversed. Poor Reade is just watching everything fall down around him - his girlfriend leaves him, his best friend has 'betrayed' him, Kurt is telling him he needs help and has to take time off, he's already made Patterson back off... Really, the only ones he's not lashed out at are Jane and Nas, and he never really let Jane that close to him to start with (and Nas isn't part of Team Family).

Jane is super badass in this episode, and also very quick-thinking. Using the Sandstorm keywords, and also making sure her tattoo was visible on the YouTube video, were pretty good ideas. Plus leaving the logo on the sofa was a great move, too. Though I call bullshit on her mentally being able to figure out a message that made sense on the surface, but also had a hidden message if you took the first letter of every word. She would at LEAST need to write that down to come up with it. XD

The Vermont place gives me Twin Peaks vibes.

If I were Oliver, I would have 100% fallen in love with Jane for saving my useless-under-pressure ass.

The guy who masterminded the plan (whose daughter killed herself) reminds me of Crawford. Except less ruthless and rich, obviously.

Gotta love how Jane knifes a guy in the side of the neck, kind of like how Roman 'forked' the guy in the diner. Now all they need is for someone to kill a bad guy with a spoon, and they'll have a full murderous dining set.

And Kurt kicking the guy and screaming at him to tell him Jane's location was great, obviously. Concerned Weller is the best Weller.

Jane's face in the scene in Roman's cell will forever make me smile. She's had the worst day, but now she's having the best day. ❤

#blindspot #blindspot rewatch 2022 #blindspot 2x17

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misscrazyfangirl321 · 3 years

Note

i totally support multi shipping but i also don’t personally do it so can you give me an example of a character you ship with multiple people and tell me what you think is cute about each ship!!!! :)

I absolutely can, thank you!!!

Let me introduce you to a woman named Helen Magnus. Aka, one of the most shippable characters I've ever encountered.

She's from a show called Sanctuary. She's 272 years old, and a caretaker of "Abnormals," aka monsters. There were many options for who she could have ended up with. Personally, I wouldn't have minded any one of the following:

Will Zimmerman (Helen/Will=Emotional Compass)

Ship Song: A Million Dreams from The Biggest Showman ("However big/However small/Let me be part of it all/Share your dreams with me/You may be right/You may be wrong/but say that you'll bring me along")

Will is a psychiatrist/profiler who joins Helen's Sanctuary. The two of them quickly become close friends, going from a mentor/protege relationship to something bordering on partners. She's terrible at asking for what she needs, and as a profiler, he's excellent at figuring out what she needs, and at cutting through all of her Immortal Drama to get to the heart of the issue.

The trust between them is so strong that she once concocts a plan that depends on him seeing her commit cold-blooded murder and still believing in her innocence. (She didn't actually commit murder, but that's another story.) The trust between them is also so strong that this absurd plan worked.

They're usually very in-sync, and we get lovely lines with them like "I need you to be my emotional compass," and "I only have one set of days. I think you need to appreciate what it means if I give them all to you."

In spite of all that, it's never explicitly stated that they're actually romantically interested in each other. But man, the show leans into every trope in the book along the way (trapped in a dream world and nothing makes sense but one another, trapped in a time bubble for almost a year together, the whole "emotional compass" thing, etc.)

This one is definitely my OTP. However, there's also...

John Druitt (John/helen=Magnitt)

Ship Song: Haunted by Taylor Swift ("Something keeps me holding onto nothing")

He looks charming, doesn't he? He can be. He's also a serial killer, but in his defense, it isn't actually HIM; he's possessed by a homicidal energy critter. The real John Druitt, from what we've seen, is an absolute gentleman.

Unfortunately, at the moment, he's also Jack the Ripper.

See, Helen, John, and three others (James, Nikola, and Nigel; most of these names will come up again later) injected themselves with vampire blood in the name of science. Helen gained longevity, (and most of the others managed to get longevity in some way), but John's primary gift was teleportation.

Before the vampire blood, Helen and John were deeply in love, and in fact, engaged. But the way he teleports is, he bascially becomes energy. This gave the homicidal energy creature a chance to latch onto him. He didn't know this, however; in fact, for almost a century, no one knew the creature was there, including him. He just knew that he had these uncontrollably dark thoughts and impulses, and so he began to kill.

John was Helen's first love, and her first heartbreak. When she finally learned of his killing, it devastated her.

The two of them spent a century circling each other, her trying to stop him, or hoping he was dead.

The tragedy is, he still is deeply in love with her. But the creature has twisted him beyond recognition. The episode where he learns the creature is there, where he learns that he ISN'T truly a monster, is heartbreaking.

The tragedy is, she spent a century getting over him. She spent a century accepting that the man she loved never really existed. She moved on; she loved other people. And then she learned that the man she loved DID exist, but there was no way to reach him. He was right in front of her, but he was a prisoner of the creature.

I ship them in the sense that they've both been through so much pain, both separately and together, that they deserve a happy ending. They deserve a PEACEFUL ending, and if that is together, I fully support it. Plus, there's a strange and twisted sort of devotion there, at a century of circling each other. However, I'd only want them together if they found a way to remove the creature first.

Okay, now onto...

James Watson (Helen/James=They don't have a ship name that I know of, but they're such a good ship)

Ship Song: Near to You by A Fine Frenzy ("He's disappearing, fading steadily/And I'm so close to being yours/Won't you stay with me/Please?")

James was the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes. He was already brilliant, and the vampire blood multiplied that significantly. Helen and John were his very best friends, and after John's betrayal, James helped Helen through it. We're less clear on their relationship, but it's implied that they were together in 1898, and also in 1944. Assuming that they were together the whole time, the two of them spent roughly 50 years together, though this is all background. By the time the show starts, they've gone their separate ways, but still as close friends. James runs the Sanctuary in London.

We're never clear on why, exactly, they broke up after so long together, but a good guess would be: Helen was still mourning John, and James felt like he was replacing John and-in a way-betraying his best friend. John was the ghost in the room, so to speak, for too long.

James and Helen are very similar to Will and Helen in ways-the profiler, best friend, and partner figure who sees right through her-but with more history, and as such, more complications.

Sadly, James is also dead now, but luckily, no he isn't, because I said so! Hope that clears things up. :D

Now for...

Nikola Tesla (Helen/Tesla=Teslen)

Ship Song: Dearly Beloved by Daughtry ("It's like the world has left us behind/Dearly beloved/We've always had to fight to survive/Kicking and screaming/But never running/No, no/No matter what they say/I promise you it's not for nothing.")

Ohhhhhhh boy. How do I even begin to describe Nikola Tesla?

You know that scene in the first Pirates of the Carribean movie where everyone's trying to figure out what side Jack Sparrow's on right this second? Basically what every episode Tesla's in is like.

While the vampire blood just gave others abilities, it basically turned him into a vampire completely. The guy's a constant flirt, especially with Helen, in a very over-the-top way, almost to the point of absurdity.

He's also completely head-over-heels in love with Helen, and has been since Oxford (pre-vampire blood, the Five I mentioned-Helen, John, James, Nigel, and Nikola-went to Oxford together).

Unfortunately, his moral compass is unpredictable at best. He spends half the show arriving to try to restart the vampire race and take over the world. Then, he decides that bringing vampires back isn't such a hot idea (he's currently the only vampire left in the world; he learns the lesson about not bringing them back the hard way), but that doesn't stop him from getting into trouble.

He does often help the Sanctuary when their interests align (though usually those instances are: "He made a mess, the Sanctuary team shows up to clean it up, and he really didn't mean to make that mess, so he's helping them clean it up"), and though he pretends not to care about anyone but himself and Helen, over time we see members of the Sanctuary team becoming important to him (especially Henry, Helen's adoptive son).

Basically, he's flirty, he's dramatic, he's unpredictable, and whenever he's on-screen, you know you're going to have a fun time. Usually, she rolls her eyes or laughs at his flirting, but occasionally she'll flirt back.

Also, Helen went back in time, and had to basically hide out for 113 years until she could rejoin the timeline in 2011. According to deleted scenes, she reached out to Nikola a few times over that time, inviting him to dinner together and so forth. But she didn't explain about time travel.

So he spent a century in this game of "will Helen flirt back today or look at me like I'm completely insane when I flirt with her," so you have to feel a bit sorry for him.

I don't ship them as much as I ship any of the other ships, but their constant banter is very fun to watch, and his rare moments of deep sincerity/devotion are extremely touching.

The biggest thing about them for me is, every time she actually tells him to stop flirting with her, 1) It's for a very specific context, ie. "Not right now," rather than overall, and 2) He immediately comes to a complete stop. Plus, 3) She doesn't actually tell him to stop all that often.

This one is the main fandom OTP, but for me it's more of a casual ship; if there's good content for them, I'll read it, and if they're the background ship on a fic I'm otherwise interested in, it's cool.

So, to recap:

1) Emotional Compass=Best friends, lots of trust, loyal to a fault, as much subtext as the writers could cram in

2) Magnitt=Everything hurts, just let them be happy.

3) Helen/James=Friends to lovers to friends who still have deep feelings for each other but it's Just So Complicated

4) Teslen= "If they haven't tried to kill each other once, is it even true love?"

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phanfictioncatalogue · 4 years

Text

Monthly Follower Recs

Links Last Checked: September 18th, 2022

Monthly follower recommendations for the month of August

Anonymous

7 Letters. (ao3) - Thirdtimelucky

Summary: During a worldwide pandemic Dan decides to revive the dead art of letter writing.

And your penpal can be the person you live with, actually.

all this broken bone (ao3) - parentaladvisorybullshitcontent

Summary: "People touch me and they die, that’s it.”

The words seem to hang there in the air between them, heavy and impossible.

"You're kidding," Phil says, faintly.

In which Dan can't touch anyone without killing them, and Phil has a crush on him anyway.

and they were (not) roommates (ao3) - AimiTachibanana

Summary: dan wakes up in the hufflepuff dorms

Cool Down (ao3) - blissedoutphil

Summary: "shove an ice cube all the way up my ass"

- actual Dan on twitter

Follow Your Dreams - succubusphan

Summary: Dan is writing his wedding vows.

let me make it up to you (ao3) - aswegcalong

Summary: Phil wrapped his arms around Dan's waist, pulling him back down to start another kiss, slowing them down almost like they were relearning each other as their tongues brushed against each other. They kissed slow yet heavy, exploring each other's mouths almost as if it was their first night together all over again. Both boys were burning with desire and passion yet neither of them wanted to move fast, they never wanted it to end.

linger on (ao3) - dizzy, waveydnp

Summary: A recent loss has ground Phil's life to a halt. At 33, he's static in his grief and living in the house he grew up in - until his mother kicks him out.

In a fit of indignation and with nothing to lose, he answers the first listing he finds for a room to rent in London... a listing posted by a guy named Dan.

Meet Me In The Hallway (ao3) - CanDanAndPhilNot

Summary: Dan is seven years old when he meets Phil Lester and friendship comes easy for them. Over the years they meet each other in the hallway despite what life throws at them.

Ripple - cafephan

Summary: Phil has a cheating boyfriend. Dan is a poet, facing an ultimatum.

slutville, population two - dayevsphil

Summary: Dan and Phil both have reputations for sleeping around. Their friends don’t think they could hold down a relationship if they wanted to. Sounds like a challenge to them. In Dan’s defense, tequila makes anything seem like a good idea.

Strictly Come Dancing but make it GAY (ao3) - natigail

Summary: @danielhowell: maybe i’d actually consider doing @bbcstrictly if they allowed same-sex couples. who wouldn’t want a sexy man spinning you around? it’s not just a girl’s dream. c'mon people let's see some pretty and fierce girls pair up and handsome and strong boys get it on. i dare you.

Dan Howell calls Strictly out on Twitter for not allowing any same-sex couples and accidentally volunteers himself to be one of the contestants if they were to change that. It was a joke. It had so clearly been a joke. Why did they take him up on it?! He’s sure he’ll trip over his own feet and hate every second, but then he meets his partner, the endearingly clumsy dancer Phil Lester.

the fundamentals of human existence (ao3) - awrfhi

Summary: phil's just beginning to get the hang of conquering his grief and starting his life again from scratch. unluckily for him, the past has a way of never quite staying in the past.

The Phase of the Moon (ao3) - ThoughtaThought

Summary: Phil Lester is just your typical 15 year old boy. Who is training to help the Slayer fight vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. Then he starts having dreams of strange symbols and a (totally not attractive) vampire. Explosions and ghosts and creepy guys in cloaks show up and ruin multiple days.

they grew up so nicely, didn't they? (ao3) - natigail

Summary: Cornelia doesn’t just get a boyfriend when she starts dating Martyn, she gets a whole second family too. Kath and Nigel welcome her with open arms and she becomes a pseudo older sister to Phil.

She is there watching from the sidelines as a boy bolts right into Phil’s heart and sets up camp. She gets to watch as Dan and Phil build careers and an internet community and all the trials and tribulations, as well as the pride and happiness, it brings along.

Third Degree (ao3) - sierraadeux

Summary: Dan sets fires. Phil puts them out.

too far to walk alone (ao3) - chickenfree

Summary: “The hazelnut stracciatella,” he says, as always. They might or might not have a bet in the shop about whether he’ll ever vary.

you fill my head with you (ao3) - basl

Summary: Most days Phil is chill. He doesn’t overanalyze every interaction he has with Dan, he doesn’t think about the missed opportunities and the big secret he’s keeping from his best friend. Most days he lives his life without focusing too much on the things that make him sad.

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfiction #phanfic #phan #masterlists #recs #followerrecs

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bobbyshaddoe80 · 3 years

Text

Liberated Audio Reviews

Blake's 7 - The Liberator Chronicles Vol. 2

RELEASED AUGUST 2012

Recorded on: 18 October and 25 November 2011, and 15 March 2012

Recorded at: Moat Studios

Review By Robert L. Torres

The Magnificent Four by Simon Guerrier

'A mission to steal data from the planet Mogul goes badly wrong when Cally and Avon are outflanked and outgunned. And then they are teleported to safety – to an alien spaceship stolen from The System, which is crewed by Gilden Trent and his small team of rebels.

For Avon it’s the opportunity to start over again without Blake.

But can Trent be trusted?'

Chronological Placement:

Set during Series B between the episodes Countdown and Voice From the Past.

Magnificent. Defined in the dictionary as 'impressive, deserving of admiration, especially due to an unusual quality involving size'.

The word is often used when describing something vast in size and scope, but magnificence can also be attributed to the quality of something that involves a small group. A prime example would be the title characters of the classic Western The Magnificent Seven. Even the accomplishments made by the John Wick character could be described as magnificent despite them being done by one man.

Magnificent is an apt word to describe the impressive storytelling quality that Guerrier has pulled off with this Cally focused story.

Cally, as played by the exquisite Jan Chappell, was always one of my favorites from the original cast. She was someone that wasn't a hardened cynic like Avon (who provides much needed support for Cally in this story), nor was she cowardly like Vila. She was someone that genuinely believed in doing the right thing and saw fighting against the oppressive tyranny of the Federation to be a very serious responsibility.

I was also always fascinated by her stance as someone that, for all intents and purposes, was the alien of the group (due to her coming from a race of telepaths). I have my own thoughts and theories about the Auronar, but that can wait for another day. Despite having powers of the mind, I always felt that Cally was very much the heart of the team.

I love that this story has Cally and Avon meeting up with a group like Blake's, on a ship like the Liberator, only to learn that they are little more than highly skilled pirates.

I love that the events of the Series B episode 'Redemption' are brought up and how the crew of the Libertine are a result of the aftermath of the events from that story.

I love how the story showcases in the crew of the Libertine a distorted reflection (and perhaps a retroactive premonition) of what would happen to the crew of the Liberator should they lose their way by abandoning their morals and scruples and just give in to blind self interest... Which for the most part is exactly what started to happen during Series C and ultimately came to fruition in Series D.

A minor nitpick, but I always thought the planet Cally came from was called Auron and her people were called the Auronar. And yet in this story and others, they refer to her as being an Auron. Is it a case where one singular person is an Auron but the collective term for the species as a whole is Auronar? It is a minor thing, I know, but still something that stuck out.

Something else that is a bit of a minor flaw is that at one point in the story the voiceover narration switches from Cally to Avon. There is a specific reason why this happens in the narrative, but it still comes about rather unexpectedly.

Given the stories in these chronicles are events being recounted AFTER the fact, there is the inevitable problem of how to create tension and intrigue with life threatening peril for the characters when most fans know the show backwards and are fully aware of what the inevitable fates for many of the characters are.

Luckily for Guerrier and many other writers, they do create moments that make you wonder how such and such will be able to survive whatever life threatening peril is thrown at them, and manage to cleverly pay off how they survive without falling into 'Oh Come The Fuck On' Territory.

8 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Anyway, this story is very well done and is the first of many plots that involve coming across potential allies for the Resistance movement, only to learn the would be allies are often a lot worse than their enemies in the Federation. Definitely give it a listen.

False Positive by Eddie Robson

'Dr. Lian has a mysterious new patient – a man who was found shot in the leg near Engel City, a man who is delirious and talking about the most extraordinary acts of rebellion.

She prescribes drugs and the use of the alleviator – a device that will dig deep into his memories – to unlock the truth about Carlin Guzan.

But the truth that she exposes is far more shocking than she bargained for...'

Chronological Placement:

Set during Series B after LC Vol. 10's Retribution, between the episodes Horizon and Pressure Point.

This story is definitely a step up in quality from volume 1's 'Counterfeit' and is an excellent Blake-centric story. The framing device for the recollection of the events is actually quite clever as it ties in with the adventure itself in a very naturalistic manner.

The dialogue scenes between Blake and Dr. Liam are excellent. Kudos to Beth Chalmers for giving the character of Dr. Liam the right balance of professional intrigue and personal curiosity as she learns more and more about her 'patient'. But this story belongs to the late Gareth Thomas through and through and it is great to hear him be afforded better material than during his first go round back in 'Counterfeit'.

I always rather liked Blake from the start, and a large part of that is down to the performance of the late Gareth Thomas. The character of Roj Blake was a passionate idealist fighting for a noble cause, someone who could be diplomatic but understood the need for action rather than simple civil disobedience. As someone that broke free from an oppressive government, he immediately gains our sympathies... even if his passions occasionally bordered on overzealous fanaticism. This is largely due to what the Federation did to him personally by trying to rewrite his mind, killing his family and even destroying his public image by falsifying accusations of paedophilia.

Since the Federation enact the same tactics on countless others without any hesitation, morals or scruples, it is no wonder why Blake is so overwhelmingly passionate about wiping out the corruptive and cancerous tumor that is the Federation. Not only to avenge family, but to ensure that people are given the freedom to choose for themselves and not simply be coerced into following the rules through propaganda, torture, drugs or mind control.

Speaking of drugs and mind control, that goes to the heart of the plot: Blake going undercover at a Federation research facility that is conducting a clinical drug trial for the development of a new pacifying sedative, which the Federation hopes to employ in order to ensure total compliance and obedience to Federation doctrine.

Ironically enough, that is exactly what would come to pass towards the tail end of Series D... But we already know that, don't we?

7 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

All things considered, it is a pretty good story. This story, like a few others in the Liberator Chronicles range, could work as a two-hander stage play with a couple of tweaks. It also could easily have worked on TV or even as a full cast audio. Give it a listen.

Wolf by Nigel Fairs

“I heard his death cry. I felt it. And there was a word. ‘Wolf’. You, Servalan. You were the “Wolf”. You killed him. I want to know why.”

'Some time ago, Blake and his crew were helped by a revered Auron scientist named Gustav Nyrron. He stayed aboard the Liberator for a time and then disappeared.

Cally wants to know what happened to Nyrron, and only Servalan knows the answers.'

Chronological Placement:

Set during Series B between the episodes Pressure Point and Trial.

This is a very intriguing Servalan focused story, featuring Cally and a return appearance by Gustav Nyrron from Volume 1's 'Solitary'.

They say that a protagonist is only as good as the antagonist created to provide drama/conflict. This is especially true when the character of Supreme Commander Servalan (along with the equally excellent Space Commander Travis) was introduced as the Liberator crew's primary antagonist in the Series A episode 'Seek-Locate-Destroy'.

A large part of why the Servalan character has left such a lasting impression on the minds of fans had to do with the casting of the late Jacqueline Pearce, and the way she played the role. Her grace, charm, beauty and seductive allure went hand in hand with a ruthless ambitious edge along with a keen strategic mind.

In many ways, Servalan, as played by Jacqueline Pearce, reminded me of Alexis Colby as played by Joan Collins. Although Servalan was a bit more reserved than Alexis.

As such, it makes perfect sense that the Liberator Chronicles would provide ample opportunities to explore the villains as well as the heroes. This story does well to explore Servalan's character along with her thoughts, beliefs and how she carries herself as she recounts events. The recollection is pretty interesting cuz it comes about in multiple ways.

We learn a little bit about Servalan's childhood in reference to a game she used to play with others. Its interesting how this story, along with the upcoming 'Kerr', 'President' and 'Three', provides more insight into the character than the show ever did. The aforementioned upcoming stories do provide some great insight into why Servalan is the way she is... But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I love the scenes between Servalan and Cally, as I do not recall the two of them having much screentime during the series proper... If ever. But I could be wrong.

This story has some great twists and turns as it deals with exploring how Servalan used Nyrron as her personal plaything in her efforts to lure the Liberator into her clutches.

Although Nyrron will be featured again in the story 'Brother' off of Volume 11 (which I will talk about eventually), I think this is the story that features him the best. We learn the most about him as a character, and much kudos to Anthony Howell for bringing much pathos and nuance to the Auron scientist.

The story also lends itself quite well to philosophical debates regarding how each side views the other. Naturally, Blake's crew view Servalan and the Federation as an evil and oppressive tyranny, while Servalan and those within the Administration view Blake and his ilk as little more than terrorists wanting to bring down the only force for law and order in the galaxy.

It is that clash of ideals and personal morals that will be explored to great effect in future volumes as well as in the full cast audios.

9 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Final score for Liberator Chronicles Vol. 2 in its entirety is 8 out of 10 Plasma Bolts. It is a profound step up in quality compared to Volume 1, and it demonstrates that things can only go up from here in terms of character exploration and engaging plots.

Special credit to Craig Brawley of the Big Finish Listeners Facebook Group for his tireless efforts in mapping out the chronology of the audios and determining his they fit in with the established TV continuity.

#blake's 7 #reviews #big finish productions #audiobooks #audio dramas

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burnouts3s3 · 4 years

Text

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: The Complete First Season, a review

https://amzn.to/2UK8uye

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.)

Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry!

Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): 12 USD.

Digital Copy (MSRP): 20 USD

How much I paid: 33 USD for both the digital and physical copy (This was when the physical copy cost more).

Animation Studio: David Productions

Licensed and Localized by: Viz Media

Audio: Japanese Audio with Subtitles and English Dub available.

English Cast: Johnny Yong Bosch as Jonathan Joestar, Michelle Ruff as Erina, Patrick Seitz as Dio Brando, Ben Diskin as Joseph Joestar, Wendee Lee as Lisa Lisa, Stephanie Sheh as Suzie Q.

Number of Episodes: 26 Episodes

Length per Episode: 25 Minutes on average. 21 Without Intro and Ending song.

Number of Discs: 3 DVD Discs in Total.

Episodes per Disc: Episodes 1 through 9 on Disc one. Episodes 10 through 19 on Disc two. Episodes 20 through 26 on Disc Three.

Also on: Amazon Video and Crunchyroll, a free streaming service with ads.

Bonus Features: Textless Openings, Textless Ending and Trailers for other Licensed Shows.

Notable Localization Changes: Because Parts 1 and 2 are set in early parts of Britain and America, the characters all adopt thick British accents, particularly Jonathan, Erina and Joseph.

My Personal Biases: I didn’t have any experience with the Jojo Franchise until I came across JStars Victory Vs.

My Verdict: Call it Bizarre. Call it out of this world. Call it slightly homoerotic. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, even before the introduction of Stands was an entertaining ride that included vampires, mad German scientists, Pillar Men and Breathing techniques in a steal of a 12 dollar package. If you haven’t picked this up yet, do yourself a favor and check it out!

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure The Complete First Season, a review

In 2012, David Productions took Hirihiko Araki’s manga, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and adapted it into what would be a worldwide phenomenon. The manga had been adapted previously into a series of OVAs (Original Video Animation) that only covered the most popular part, Stardust Crusaders. The anime starts right from the beginning and begins from the manga’s origins as well as the original character. Unlike other Shounen Manga, the Jojo series is infamous for (among other things) having multiple protagonists each being the different lead in a ‘Part’. For the first part, the protagonist or ‘Jojo’ is Johnathan Joestar while the second part has its protagonist in the form of Joseph Joestar.

I’m going to split this review between the first part, Phantom Blood and the second part, Battle Tendency.

Part 1: Phantom Blood

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In 19th Century England, two very different boys are born into two very different families. Jonathan Joestar is the son of a rich nobleman and known for his kind nature and politeness, but isn’t so much useful in a fight. Dio Brando is born to an alcoholic father and despite his prodigy, he is most likely destined to a life of poverty, had Dio’s Father, Dario have a debt owed to him by Jonathan’s father, George. (This is because George Joestar mistakenly thought Dario saved his life when in actually Dario was in the vicinity trying to rob George’s corpse). In an attempt to pay off the debt, George adopts Dio into his family.

I know a lot of people gloss over the first part because it’s not what made the main core of the series, but there’s still a lot of fun to be had if you let it.

Dio torments and bullies Jonathan by killing his dog, stealing his father’s affection and even kissing the girl Jonathan fancies, Erina. But as the step-brothers grow older and older, they’re prepared to do battle for one another while Jonathan still maintains his gentle nature. However, when George takes ill because of Dio’s poisoning, Dio dons a very interesting Aztec mask that turns him into a Vampire. George, unfortunately, dies in the middle of the battle.

Using his wits, Jonathan sets his childhood home on fire and sets Dio ablaze. Jonathan comes out burned but alive. As Erina helps Jonathan recover from his injuries, a strange man confronts the two of them.

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Zeppeli tells Jonathan that Dio not only survived the incident but has come back and is building an army of vampires. Zeppeli offers to teach Jonathan Hamon, the ability to use one’s breath to stir up the energy inside in order to imbue attacks with sunlight energy in the hopes of vanquishing Dio once and for all.

(Yes, the fact that the same voice performers who played Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki with thick British accents amuses me greatly.)

Though short, the series does have fun action scenes (including one fight with a chain).

Through his chivalrous spirit and quick wits, Jonathan defeats Dio.

Jonathan and Erina finally get married, but all is not well on their cruise to America. The disembodied head of Dio still remains and is causing havoc with its tentacles and laser eyes. Realizing Dio is too great a threat to go unchecked, Jonathan ensures the safety of the other passengers, including his newlywed Erina, and destroys the ship and him along with it.

And so, Jonathan sacrifices himself to save the world from Dio. Erina survives and lives in America.

Viz Media and BangZoom did the localization of the show and for the most part, it sticks closely to the Japanese Script. However, because the show is set in 19th century, BangZoom told everyone to adopt thick, British accents.

And it’s bloody hysterical. At times, I thought I was watching a BBC documentary intercut with a battle shounen.

I don’t know if Patrick Seitz can ever measure up to Takehito Koyasu’s legendary take on the character, but he makes a game effort of it. While Seitz’s voice doesn’t differ too much from his other role, the energy and performance are worthy enough (at least to me) to compare with his Japanese counterpart.

Johnny Yong Bosch is as Johnny Yong Bosch as he’ll ever be. He’s not bad as Johnathan but you can tell he’s struggling both under the accent and giant with a heart of gold persona. It’d be one thing if he were playing an edgy teenager like Ichigo Kurosaki or a kid like Renton Thurston but he’s caught in the role that might’ve been suited to someone else.

Keith Silverstein (who also voiced Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter) is having a grand old time as Robert Speedwagon. Marc Diraison (who voiced Guts in Beserk and ‘Zolo’ in the 4kids dub of One Piece) shows genuine emotion as George Joestar. Also, can we just give a hand to Michelle Ruff? I know she’s done a lot of roles, including ones from Ayako Kawasumi (such as Saber from Fate/Stay Night and Chikane Himemiya from Kannazuki no Miko) but she plays a great Erina both young and old.

With the end of Part 1 and the closing of Jonathan’s story, we move onto Part 2.

Part 2: Battle Tendency

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So, it’s 1928, New York. We follow a black boy named Smokey Robinson as he’s being hassled by the police for being a pickpocket. Before this turns into a docudrama on the History Channel, a six foot stranger with a British accent appears.

Here we meet the Jojo of this story arc, Joseph Joestar, grandson of Jonathan and Erina.

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(Yes, I find the fact that Joseph is played by the same voice performer as Kids Next Door’s Nigel Uno extremely hysterical. He’s even using the same voice!)

But all’s not well in New York. Joseph encounters a vampire that’s somehow resistant to Hamon.

With the rise of Vampires that are somewhat resistant to Hamon as well as the strange disappearance of Mr. Speedwagon, Joeseph sets off on a trip that will take him all over the world from the scorching hot deserts of South America to the beautiful city of Venice and even over a Volcano. The conspiracy leads to the awakening of the Pillar Men, ancient Aztec warriors who are bent on destroying humanity unless Joeseph can team up with the grandson of Zeppilli and stop them once and for all. Kars, however, might be the most difficult opponent of all and when he transforms into an ultimate superbeing capable of not being harmed by Hamon or Sunlight, Joespeh’s wits are put to the limit.

Here we get a distinct difference between the two protagonists. While Jonathan was honorable, kind and courteous, Joseph is devious, scheming and a bit of a trickster.

I really love Joseph. In fact, through parts 1 through 6, he’s probably my favorite of the protagonists. See, Joseph is constantly pitted against more experienced enemies that have a physical advantage over him. Joseph overcomes this by tricking and deceiving his opponents. Sometimes, his bluffs work because of his cleverness. Other times, he’s just damn lucky. Joseph likes to predict his opponent’s next line, say it and basically outsmart them.

At times, Joseph is willing to make a complete idiot out of himself, just for a moment’s opportunity to trick his foe. Such as dressing up in women’s clothing and bribing some enemy soldiers.

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Joseph continues to hone is Hamon skills in order to defeat the Pillar Men. But not before meeting two beauties by the names of Lisa Lisa, a Hamon teacher who might have a secret of two and Suzie Q, a cute Italian girl.

Part 2’s filled with wall to wall exploits, including mad German scientists, Chariot Races and an incredible finish with Joseph facing off against Kars on top of a Volcano.

Joseph defeats Kars and returns in surprise to his own funeral, but not before getting a new metal hand and marrying Suzy Q.

And thus ends Battle Tendency. A lot of people consider this their favorite part and I’m among them. Aside from Joeseph’s antics, there’s a lot of fire and energy you just don’t see nowadays. From battling vampires on top the Brooklyn Bridge to flying a plane over a volcanic island to defeat an Ubermensch, Battle Tenacity had a lot of creativity and seeing Joeseph get out of each situation with his wits and sheer dumb luck is a joy to behold.

Ben Diskin (who also performed Sai from Naruto and Knuckle from Hunter x Hunter) is hysterical as Joseph and the fact that he has this thick British accent the whole time makes it worthwhile. Diskin’s always had a great range but him playing this buffoon makes the whole enterprise a laugh riot.

Wendee Lee as Lisa Lisa is fine (that’s not to say that Wendee Lee gives a bad performance, far from it. It’s just that after voicing so many roles, you can tell which ones she’s pouring her soul into and which ones she’s just putting on a funny accent. This is the latter). It’s also nice to hear Stephanie Sheh as Suzy Q being more of a lighthearted ditz rather than a shy introvert.

Aside from the wackiness and over the top reactions, what really sets this series apart is the animation. Using striking color pallets and digging into the manga aesthetic really sets the tone whether it’s Joseph goofing off or Jonathan fighting a desperate battle. David Productions made their name with this series and it’s no surprise they’ve been listed to do other works such as Fire Force. Even when the anime resorts to using a panning shot or speed lines, there’s a kinetic pace that pulls you in.

But, you didn’t come here for Jonathan, did you? You didn’t come here for Joseph, either. You came for a certain high schooler with a hat and a mission.

Stand proud, true crusaders.

Next time, we’re covering Part 3.

Verdict: Buy it! If you’re unsure, you can watch it for free on Crunchyroll.

https://amzn.to/2UK8uye

#jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo no kimyō na bōken #jonathan joestar #joseph jostar #ben diskin #wendee lee #johnny yong bosch #michelle ruff

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andersunmenschlich · 4 years

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Episode 10: Vampire Killer

All right—I'm out of packing tape, and it's really tough to pack flat boxes, so I guess I'll listen to the statement of one Trevor Herbert, an itinerant vampire hunter. Statement given... huh, I was 21.

He says he's been meaning to visit the Magnus Institute and give a statement for almost fifty years, which means he's been doing this for a while. And that (of course) means that either vampires aren't that tough, he's really good at killing them, or he's making this whole thing up.

So he's homeless, which I suppose means he blends into the street, and he has a knack for guessing ages....

Ha. I wonder how well he'd do at guessing mine?

This face throws everyone off.

...I wonder if he'd think I was a vampire. I mean, plenty of people think that already (or at least joke that they do), what with my cold skin and aversion to light (especially sunlight) and the fact that I don't actually appear to age and all that. At least none of them have ever tried to stake me! I get the feeling that this Trevor Herbert might.

Oh, and he straight-up says two of the people he's killed he's not sure about, and one he's positive was actually human (but also a violent criminal so that, apparently, is all right).

He's leaving what he claims are vampire teeth with this statement. Neat.

Apparently Trevor Herbert expects to be reported to the police for murder, but doesn't mind because he has late-stage lung cancer and hasn't long to live anyway. I... can't help but wonder whether the Magnus Institute is the kind of institution that reports things to the police.

So far they don't seem terribly interested in legality to me.

Anyway.

Trevor Herbert says he killed his first vampire in 1959 (I would've been -30), and that he was... lessee... about sixteen at the time.

His dad killed his mom when he was about thirteen, then died himself four months later. Trevor and his older brother started living on the street in preference to being split up into different foster homes, which frankly seems perfectly understandable to me. Family is family. There's a reason it's so close to the word "familiar," and frankly I've always liked the familiar—and my family.

So it's October 1959 (almost November) and it's starting to get cold out, and Trevor (16) and his big brother (18) are shivering in a side street next to a big fancy hotel when the vampire comes along. The vampire's name, apparently, is Sylvia McDonald.

Trevor, incidentally, insists on referring to the vampire as "it," which I find rude.

Clearly vampires are intelligent beings capable not only of having thoughts and feelings and desires of their own, but also of actually communicating with humans: that makes them people. Murderous people, maybe, but still people! And you don't call people "it" unless they ask you to, that just isn't polite at all. Kill people if you have to, but don't use a word for them that makes it plain you don't think they're people! That's taking rudeness too far.

So.

Sylvia McDonald takes the form of an older woman who looks like a widow, and xe offers Trevor Herbert and his brother some food and a place to stay. The two of them talk about it for a bit, and decide to accept.

Here Trevor goes off on a bit of a tangent—an interesting one.

According to him, vampires don't speak aloud.

The way he describes it makes me think of Kusuo Saiki's method of communication. If you've ever read or watched The Misfortunes of Kusuo Saiki, you know that the eponymous character never opens his mouth to speak; but people understand him anyway. Kusuo doesn't remain silent because he lacks a windpipe the way vampires do (though apparently he also doesn't actually need air), but the method still seems similar.

When Sylvia McDonald comes to the two brothers in that alleyway, xe doesn't say a word, but they understand that xyr name is "Sylvia McDonald" and that xe's offering them a meal and a bed—it sounds like a form of telepathy to me.

What's more, just like the people around Kusuo, Trevor and his brother don't find this odd.

Trevor Herbert says he thinks this is "some instinctive form of hypnosis or mind control," but I don't see why that should be the case at all. It certainly isn't for Kusuo. Bit of a leap to conclusions, is my point.

He goes on to describe the vampire's sensitivity to sunlight, which makes it sound like they actually do a bit better than me during the daytime. I find this idea simultaneously annoying and amusing. Oh yes, I'm more sensitive to sunlight than a vampire. Brilliant. (Not that I catch fire, mind you! I just get a horrible pounding headache, then start hallucinating for some reason, then I throw up and pass out.)

Sylvia McDonald takes the two brothers down to xyr house on Loom Street. The house smells of old blood, though Trevor's not familiar enough with that smell to recognize it at this point in his life. This suggests to me that Sylvia is messy and wasteful. I do not approve.

Also, the house is so badly taken care of that it looks like xe only walks through it, taking the same path each time, and otherwise doesn't really use the place.

Xe takes them to separate bedrooms, next to one another on the same hall, and then brings Trevor, at least, a bowl of really old, gross fruit. He finds an apple and a couple of grapes that're still edible and eats them while the vampire watches. Then Sylvia leaves, and he lies down on the bed (which is also old and musty, like everything else in the house), and considers the fact that all the windows are barred, the front door's locked and, despite the fact that the place is old, it seems plenty sturdy enough to keep them in.

Sixteen-year-old Trevor Herbert figures they'll wait until Sylvia McDonald has gone to sleep, then sneak out.

There's no electricity in the place, but there is a candle.

That seems like a fire hazard in a place that badly kept. Yes, all right, I prefer lamps and candles to light bulbs myself, but that's mainly because light bulbs tend to be blindingly bright and candles are better, and though I may live surrounded by thousands of books made (naturally) of flammable paper, I at least keep things clean and don't put fire near anything that might catch.

In any case, Trevor uses his own cigarette lighter to spark the thing up, and goes to conference with his brother next door.

Oh, and finally we get a name for the brother!

Trevor's older brother is named Nigel.

Trevor and Nigel talk for a little while, refining their escape plans, then they hear a noise outside the bedroom door and the handle starts to turn. Trevor goes under the bed, and Nigel pretends to be asleep—and presumably the candle gets blown out, which of course would leave a nice, smoky smell in the room as a total giveaway, but hey.

I suppose it's better than taking the lit candle under the bed with you, right? Now, that would be a fire hazard.

Sylvia McDonald enters the room. Xe attacks Nigel.

Trevor, under the bed, sees his brother get thrown to the floor, then he's treated to a clear view of the inside of the vampire's mouth, which is very toothy. Sort of sharkish, really.

Sylvia tears Nigel's throat out, spilling blood everywhere and confirming my hypothesis regarding xyr messy wastefulness.

Vampire tongues work like straws, apparently. Interesting.

Apparently Sylvia takes ten minutes to drink maybe a gallon of blood (given the messy, wasteful spurting caused by the throat-ripping and the fact that Nigel's undoubtedly at less than peak health, I'm going with "around a gallon"), and xyr stomach becomes visibly distended, which is interesting because it suggests that vampires don't have extra space for blood—just the same stomach capacity your average human's got.

Dripping blood untidily, Sylvia McDonald's tongue retracts into xyr throat and xe subsides into a pleasant after-dinner lassitude.

Trevor, meanwhile, has come out of his frozen, horrified terror.

He's considering killing Sylvia with the small knife that fell out of his brother's pocket onto the floor when he was attacked. As potential courses of action go, this one seems fairly suicidal, but he's right: what else could he do that would give him a better chance of surviving?

He decides to stab xem in the stomach.

...Messy.

Yup—he's definitely making a mess. Sylvia's stomach pours blood everywhere while xe does that "I have no vocal cords and I must scream" thing. Trevor even ends up with blood on his face, which I'm certain is not healthy.

Hang on, wait a minute: the candle's still lit?

Nigel was pretending to be asleep in a room with a lit candle?

That does not seem like a believable ploy to me. Everyone knows you don't leave an open flame unattended. No one would go to sleep without first putting out the candle.

Even those fancy Aladdin lamps ("A bright light for any night!" "Modern white light from kerosene!") have to be extinguished before you nod off, it's just a matter of common sense safety. And besides, who can sleep with a light on anyway? Sylvia McDonald should have spotted that one right off.

Anyway, Trevor sets fire to the vampire.

Xe burns surprisingly well—and so does the rest of the house, so Trevor Herbert decides to leave, which strikes me as a good move.

He starts looking for the key to the front door. He assumes it's in Sylvia's handbag, which he finally finds in xyr bedroom. Sylvia's bedroom is a mess, further confirming my hypothesis regarding waste and general lack of cleanliness and tidiness.

As if that needed more confirming at this point.

The key, it turns out, actually is in the bag, so Trevor unlocks the front door and runs for it before anyone can accuse him of being a pyromaniac murderer.

His next vampire turns up about a decade later, so I guess that would make him about 25?

He's still homeless, begging for change on the street, and at this point he says he's just about convinced himself that the vampire was his brain's way of dealing with the horror of watching his brother get murdered by another human being. Almost. But then, on a warm night in June 1968, he's panhandling around a sort of bar, hoping to hit up happy sports fans—and he's doing quite well until one of the people who turns him down does it without talking.

Trevor assumes the person in question is a "he," walking with someone who he assumes is a "she," which tells us something about Trevor: he doesn't understand how pronouns work, and thinks he can assign them himself.

Which I suppose makes sense, given the era he's living in.

...Of course, I've been assuming pronouns this whole time, too. Like Jonathan Sims—our narrator never bothered to give us any pronouns, did they? "He" could easily be a she, or a xe, or a shey, or... there are any number of pronoun sets out there, and how'm I supposed to know which is correct when I'm never told? It's very annoying. Still, because it's fiction, I went with the pronoun set that usually goes with the name "Jonathan" and figured I was unlikely to be wrong.

In real life, of course, you ask!

(I, for instance, am agender but male-leaning: I typically go by “he” offline and “they” or “xe” online.)

Trevor Herbert follows the pair of people through the streets and confirms: when the human asks questions, the vampire responds with a simple look, and the human acts as though something's been said aloud.

Somehow Trevor's managed to make it through nearly a whole decade without once upgrading his weapons set.

He's got his brother's old knife, and that's it.

So he improvises. Spotting a broken wooden pallet sticking out of a trash can, he breaks off a bit and sharpens one end, turning the thing into your standard vampire-killing stake. Somehow he manages to do this without losing track of the people he's following, and without either of them noticing the nutty tramp with questionable taste in whittling hobbies.

The vampire (who he later learns is named Robert Arden) leads the human into xyr, uh... lair... and closes the door before Trevor can get up there and whisk inside with them.

Going around the windows, he sees the vampire lead the human into a mostly-empty living room.

...Which he says has no obvious signs of previous slaughter.

My first thought was, Oh, so this vampire's tidier than the last, but then he says "I remembered how cleanly Sylvia McDonald had sucked up all the blood from my brother," which suggests he's forgotten the way the blood spurted when Sylvia ripped Nigel's throat out, not to mention the way xyr tongue was dripping blood afterward, and hey, didn't he imply it was obvious in which room Sylvia did most of xyr feeding?

That doesn't sound very clean to me.

Anyway.

Robert Arden sets xyr victim on a couch or something, slides in behind the human, and goes in for the bite. Trevor Herbert chucks a rock through the window. The drunk human freaks out—then sees all the vampire's teeth and freaks out more.

The vampire, meanwhile, has definitely spotted Trevor. Xe jumps straight through the broken window and tackles him.

They wrestle for a while, Trevor compares the feel of the vampire's skin to the inside of a bruised apple, then Robert finally gets a bite in. Xe doesn't rip his throat all the way out, but it's enough to make him bleed, so out comes the living bendy straw and xe starts drinking. Unfortunately for xem, Trevor's poisoned.

Apparently vampires don't like heroin. Bad reaction.

Robert Arden's lying on the ground choking. Trevor Herbert's lying on the ground recovering. And the vampire's would-be victim has gotten a kitchen knife from somewhere.

Robert gets stabbed repeatedly by xyr own dinner. Dear me.

And then Trevor goes for the stake, because of course he does.

Having staked the vampire to the ground (he notes that xe doesn't seem to have a rib cage, so I guess it's kind of like pinning a worm), he gets out his lighter and sets fire to xem while the other human drops the knife and heads for the hills.

Robert Arden burns just as well as Sylvia McDonald, so apparently that is a vampire thing. Really dry. Huh.

After this, Trevor Herbert makes killing vampires his vocation.

...Though he sometimes messes up.

At this point our statement-giver starts into his ideas about vampires—he thinks they're very rare, and don't feed very often, and don't turn their victims into new vampires (though he has no idea what they do with the bodies once they're done drinking them)—but he hasn't gotten very far into this when the statement ends. Jonathan Sims says that Martin says this is because he took a break at this point, went to sleep, and didn't wake back up again. I wonder how the Institute handled that?

Well, whatever the case, it looks like Mr. Sims is willing to admit the truth of just about every part of this statement but the vampirism. There are records of Sylvia McDonald's house burning down, Nigel's remains being found in it, Robert Arden vanishing and leaving behind not much more than a broken window and a scorch mark on the pavement, etc.

...Hang on, first he says there was "a small bag left on top of this statement which appears to contain six shark teeth of varying sizes," and then he says he "can't find these supposed vampire teeth anywhere in the Archives or the Secure Containment Room"?

How would you know what the bag appears to contain, Mr. Sims, if you've never seen it?

[sigh]

Ah, maybe there was a photo or something.

Anyway, he says the Institute checked with the zoology department at King's College, and the teeth didn't match any species of shark that was known at the time.

So there must've been a note and probably a photo in with the statement.

Ooh, he also says the Magnus Institute has contracts with government and law enforcement! That makes sense—in a world like this one, any number of agencies would need information about spooky stuff. I bet the Institute has underworld contacts, too. ...Which might explain why Tim gets away with being so cavalier about bribery and whatnot.

I'm just saying, they don't strike me as an entirely aboveboard operation, here. No, indeed.

And now I guess it's time for work. Well, I'll do the next one the next time I've got time! This is a good show and, even under stress, I'm enjoying it.

#The Magnus Archives #episode 10 #commentary #late to the party

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clarasimone · 5 years

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A GREAT Iain Glen Interview

(pic edits by @favor757)

A really enlightening interview given by Iain Glen after the premiere of MY COUSIN RACHEL by someone who knows how to ask intelligent questions to actors, a rarity !!!!!!!

http://legacy.aintitcool.com/node/78006

Capone talks MY COUSIN RACHEL and Game of Thrones with actor Iain Glen!!!

Published at: June 12, 2017, 10 a.m. CST by Capone

Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here. The Scottish-born actor Iain Glen has made a career out of playing intense men on stage as well as the big and small screen. After finishing at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, he went on to appear in a succession of highly touted stage Shakespeare productions, as well as the musical version of "Martin Guerre" and "The Blue Room,” opposite Nicole Kidman. Although I’m sure I spotted him in early film works like GORILLAS IN THE MIST and MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, the role that first stood out for me was as Hamlet in Tom Stoppard’s 1990 film version of ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, the ultimate statement on the plight of a story’s minor players, with Tim Roth and Gary Oldman in the title roles. I think it’s fair to say that Glen is the living definition of a working actor—always busy, moving effortlessly from television to stage to film. On the big screen, we had memorable roles in SILENT SCREAM; BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (opposite his MY COUSIN RACHEL co-star Rachel Weisz); LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER; many of the RESIDENT EVIL films; HARRY BROWN; KINGDOM OF HEAVEN; THE IRON LADY; KICK-ASS 2; EYE IN THE SKY; and the aforementioned MY COUSIN RACHEL, directed by Roger Michell, in which he plays the godfather and estate executor of Sam Claflin’s Philip, who falls in love with his cousin (by marriage) after believing she may have killed the cousin who raised him. Glen has been playing the Irish private investigator Jack Taylor in a series of made-for-television films for all of the 2010s, but he has also had significant roles in such television productions as “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “MI-5,” “Downton Abbey,” “Cleverman,” and most notably as Jorah Mormont on “Game of Thrones,” which begins its seventh season in about a month. Although I would love to do an interview with Glen that covers even a fraction of his dozens of roles, I think we do alright beginning with MY COUSIN RACHEL and moving on to a few other choice parts. We even dig a little into his life since beginning “Game of Thrones.” He was a tremendous interview subject and seems game to talk at length about pretty much everything. With that, please enjoy my talk with the great Iain Glen… Iain Glen: Hi, Steve. Capone: Hello, sir. How are you? IG: I'm very well. How are you? Capone: Good, good. It's funny, I just, last weekend, saw the filmed version of the Old Vic's recent production of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” and it reminded me that, I think, that you were Hamlet in the original film version. That might have been one of the first times I ever saw you on screen. IG: Yeah, you're right. That was Tom Stoppard’s only sort of foray into [film] directing, I think. With young Gary [Oldman] and Tim [Roth]. Capone: Exactly. IG: Which was a ball. We filmed in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. Capone: At that point, in that early part of your film career, you had already worked with Tom Stoppard, Michael Apted, David Hare, and Bob Rafelson—you must have thought you were doing pretty well back in your late 20s. IG: [laughs] Yeah, I did. I'd cross over, sometimes, between theater and film when I started, when I left Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, all those years ago. I did a fair amount of work in the theater and film, and I'd done a play with Tom Stoppard—it was "Hapgood" with Nigel Hawthorne, Felicity Kendal, and Roger Rees, and we got on very well then. He always said, "I'd love to work with you again,” and then [the role of] Hamlet [in ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD] came around, and I’d just played Hamlet at the Bristol Old Vic, playing the full Shakespearean role, so it seemed obvious I was up to speed on whatever lines were required of me in ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN so it was fun coming into it. Capone: So in this film, most of your scenes are with Sam, and each time the two of you meet, he's in a different frame of mind when it comes to Rachel. I feel like that would have been much easier to do if you had been able to shoot those scenes chronologically. I'm guessing that wasn’t the case. IG: [laughs] Well, that's the art of film, and you get used to it. They never, eever film chronologically, except in very, very, rare occasions, so that's really part of the structure and the work you do as an actor before filming is to know where you are in any given part of the story. That was enhanced by the fact that Roger called a rehearsal before filming for all of us. We were all together for a week and went through it piece-by-piece, so we knew where we were on the journey. Roger is very consummate when it comes to working with actors. He's quite a rare breed. Sam Mendes is another, Stephen Daldry, who've had a great history in theater and done a lot of work with actors in theater, and has a very strong film career as well. But, he always zones in on stories that always offer great performances for actors. It's very reassuring having someone behind the lens whose taste you entirely trust. He does so much of the work for you, in a way. He's very clear about where he wants the story scenes to play out, where actors might be in any given scene. It never feels like a constriction. It's always a liberation, and he's up for change, as well. Other directors can be very confident with the camera and what the camera should do and leave you to your own devices in terms of performance. But, Roger is very nurturing throughout the filming of it. So you're right, I was predominantly with Sam, and I suppose the role, in its simplest sense, he's almost like a Greek chorus. In some ways, I follow the audience's point of view. I'm a benign, rational presence who has Sam's best interests in mind and can see him oscillating wildly as he gets caught by the passion of seeing this very exotic, beautiful creature from another planet who arrives in this sleepy, parochial setting. So, we're all very disconcerted by what Rachel brings to the story, so I'm the voice of reason trying to keep the character that I care a great deal for sane. Capone: It's funny you say that, because, you're right, in the beginning, we are looking at these events through your eyes to a great degree. But once we meet her and are charmed by her, we switch into seeing her through Sam's eyes and are bewitched the same way that he is. IG: Yeah, well I think that's right. And it's a testament to Rachel's performance, because I do think whatever preconceptions this story might lead you to believe before you meet her, she's utterly entrancing and charming when she arrives on screen. So, whatever preconceptions we have get slightly thrown out the window. We forget them, and then they reemerge later in the story when other details and facts come through about the history. But that was Du Maurier's milieu, and Roger did a remarkable screenplay. It's so much easier said than done to turn what is a fairly thin novel—very, very concentrated—into dialogue. You have to turn it into a screenplay where everything is told through the words or between the words. Roger did a great job of that. It’s a psychological thriller. It's all about questions being thrown into the air. Audiences are trying to decipher exactly what's going on, and it's very conscious of Du Maurier to not give you a clean landing. Then you say, "Oh, now I… that's what was happening. Yes, she’s definitely sinister” or “Yes, she was entirely innocent.” By the end of the story, my character, and I think the audience, deep down don't really know. Capone: The one scene that really stuck with me is the one that you and Sam have in which he's basically signing over his life and fortune to her. For your part, it’s an amazing exercise in barely restrained panic. IG: Well, I'm glad you thought so. It was good to play. As an actor, it's always lovely when the story is supporting you so well up to the point where the scene happens. There’s so much there that's been stated or understated, and my character's caught in a predicament of desperately wanting to look after his financial legacy, but not wanting to ruin their relationship. We've all been in those situations where we feel a loved one is making the wrong choices, and how do you offer advice without distancing yourself from them? In a way, people have to make their own mistakes, but it's just that the stakes are so high, because Phillip, the character, is willing to give everything over to Rachel. He just wants to express his love and his conviction by giving her everything, and my character just wants to say, "You can feel what you feel, but you don't need to do this. This is not a step that you need to take.” Yeah, I think that was one of the most enjoyable scenes to play. Capone: It's also the the moment, at least for me, where I remember that you’re his godfather, so that means that you've known him since the day he was born, and it make it that much more heartbreaking. IG: I think that's right, yeah. I've been his legal guardian and, again, just to contextualize, what makes sense in the psychology and certainly makes sense of what happens to the character Phillip throughout is that he's been bereft of a father and mother. He was orphaned and brought up by his cousin, who is also this absent figure who's now abroad and dies earlier in the film. So, he's not grounded in the way that other young men might be. The world of femininity is totally alien to him, so that explains why he oscillates so madly between his feelings of either hatred or love for the woman, because she's so exotic and unknown to him. I think that the world that the Kendall household is such a strong contrast to Phillip's household, which has never known a feminine hand. Capone: You also have a lot of scenes with Holliday Grainger, who plays your daughter and is very quickly becoming one of my favorite young actors. IG: She's gorgeous, isn't she? She's lovely. Capone: Tell me about the interactions between those two characters, because they are co-conspirators for good, we assume. IG: Well, I think in my character's ideal world, in some ways, Phillip and Louise would have been a perfect match, and I don't know, but I felt it when I watched the film, you almost want to scream out to Sam's character, "Please, stop looking that way, look this way because you have this beautiful creature here. She's good, she definitely would be a gorgeous wife and a beautiful mother to your children, and she's willing and uncomplicated." So I think, in my ideal world, that would be the match. But almost beyond that, I feel enormously protective toward Sam's character having been his legal guardian. And it's very painful watching your daughter because you know how much she adores him and wants him to look her way, but you can't impose that upon him, so you get that odd, tentative suggestion, "Would you like to say 'Hello' to my daughter just while you happen to be here, giving your entire life away?" So, yeah, it's a tricky one. And I think that's partly why people love period pieces so much. It's because there's a delicacy of manners and emotion there, a subtlety of behavior where everything isn't exposed. Everything isn't stated so quickly. And, yeah, hopping back to the past, I think people feel, somehow we were subtler humans back then somehow. What we required from each other was just a little more complicated and delicate and human. Capone: I was gonna ask you about that. There’s something glorious about a costume drama where someone is becoming unhinged, and they break through that placid façade that you're supposed to have in those movies. IG: That's right. I do love period films for that. It's worth remembering that Roger -- I don't know if you know this, but Roger Michell did this quite radical interpretation of PERSUASION quite early on for BBC, early on in his career, where he started to use hand-held cameras, which had never been done in period films before, and just messed it up. I think often, we have strong preconceptions about period, about what could or could not be done, which we don't really know, but we just put that on period films. Roger's very good at bringing spontaneity to scenes and losing an archness in the dialogue so there's a freshness to it, and I think MY COUSIN RACHEL has a lot of that. It feels very modern in a lot of ways, even though the world is very period. Capone: You've had a regular gig for the last few years that you have to keep coming back to, and I don't know how that impacts your schedule exactly. But knowing that's always coming around, how much time do you have between seasons of “Game of Thrones” to do other projects, and what sorts of things are you looking to do in those periods where you're not making “Game of Thrones”? IG: Well, it's a funny one. when you sign up for something like “Thrones.” I think when we all initially singed up, it was between three and five years and none of us knew, really, whether it was going to run or whether we were going to survive or how it would be received. You hum and haw about something that does feel a little bit like a sentence when you start up on it, and you have no idea how it's unfolding. But, the more “Thrones” has gone on, just a bigger and bigger treat it's been to be involved, and it's become such a global hit and it's opened up different possibilities. As an actor, if you don't celebrate the stuff when it's a massive hit, then you might as well just give up and do something else. I've loved doing it. HBO has always been very good. As long as you turn up looking roughy as you looked the last time they saw you, and you're there a day before you're required to film—they’ve gotten a little tighter, I have to say, over the last couple of years. It’s gotten so massive, and they want to protect the audiences. Maybe they feel it’s easier to suspend disbelief when they don't see you in competing series elsewhere. But generally, they've been very good about allowing the actors, a lot of the supporting cast and principals from “Game of Thrones,” to do other work. So, more than anything, I will feel a great void and loss when it's gone because it's been a part of my life for pretty much a decade and it's been nothing but good fun. Dan [D.B. Weiss] and David [Benioff] are just the best show runners you could ever hope to work with. It's a lovely, very tight cast, and the storylines are such now that we're all starting to overlap with each other and starting to enter the same scenes. Everything's accelerating towards the end game, so it's an exciting time, but it's nearly gone. Capone: So, are you done shooting? Am I allowed to ask that? IG: [laughs] That’s actually something, yeah ... I can't say, yeah. Capone: The new season starts in a little over a month. Is it a relief to a certain degree when a new season starts airing that you don't have to keep as many secrets? IG: Yes, it is. It really is. [laughs] It's funny, because whenever anyone asks you, you know deep down, they don't want to know. It's a no-brainer. But, for a part of them, it's a bit like a drug or something, “Oh, brilliant. I know! And then now I feel hugely disappointed and now I have a headache because I wish I hadn't done that because now I know.” So you just deny people that possibility. Deep down, people really, really don't want to know. Capone: As serious as some of your roles have been over the years, you always seem to find time for genre work. You were in LARA CROFT. You were in several of the RESIDENT EVIL movies, and obviously “Game of Thrones.” What do you enjoy about going the adventure route? IG: I just really dig the variety. I really dig the change. It's a very, very different working environment if you're in a massive-budget, action-led film. But it's one thing that's always been a benefit of being a British actor. There used to be quite a strong divide between film and TV, particularly in the states—if you were doing TV, it was probably because the film career wasn't quite working out as you hoped it would be. That's never really been the case in the UK. I’m as likely to bump into Judi Dench in a radio studio as I am on a TV series or a film or a piece of theater. We are much more mixed-medium over here. So, I just really enjoy change. I just did a small film with Lena Headey from “Game of Thrones” that was about the refugee crisis called THE FLOOD. It was all hand-held. It was all swiftly shot in three or four weeks. It's a great little story and it’s the total polar-opposite to “Game of Thrones,” and honestly, I enjoyed the difference, and that's the trick. Capone: Before “Game of Thrones,” what did people on the street most recognize you from? IG: Honestly, it varies. It’s quite ephemeral, so it depends what you're in. I've done a series for a while playing an Irish detective, Jack Taylor. If you reappear in something, then that roots people in your mind. In the early days, I did a TV thing, something called “The Fear,” where I was playing a London gangster. It's always a lovely, delightful surprise when some people says, "Aw man, I saw you in 'Henry V' at The Royal Shakespeare Company" or "I saw you doing 'The Crucible' at the Royal Shakespeare Company,” and when I did "The Blue Room" with Nicole Kidman here in New York. But it's mainly TV because it has massive audiences, global audiences, so they tend to be the things that people know you for. I've been lucky enough to land a few visible things over the years, but it changes. But, “Game of Thrones” definitely washed everything to the side. Capone: Other than THE FLOOD, is there any other work coming? IG: I hope to be doing something…I better not say the name, but a Second World War drama, which we're inches away from committing to. And that will probably be in August or September; that's a feature. I'm doing a second season of “Cleverman,” an aboriginal drama that I shot in Australia, and more “Jack Taylor,” the Irish detective, so there's quite a bit coming up. Capone: Iain, thank you so much. It was a really great to talk to you and reminisce about your days with Tom Stoppard. IG: My pleasure. Yeah, thank you. He's about to have a birthday party. I'll get his age wrong [Stoppard turns 80 on July 3], but he's an incredibly lovely, adored man in the theater and he holds these fantastic parties in the Chelsea Physic Garden, and he invited me and my family so that's next week or the week after. I'll be seeing him soon. Capone: Thank you again and best of luck with this. IG: Yeah. Take care, mate. -- Steve Prokopy "Capone" [email protected] Follow Me On Twitter

#Iain Glen #behind the scenes #my cousin rachel #favor757

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ladyherenya · 5 years

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Books read in August

So, yeah, finally reviewed everything from August.

I’ve been reading a bit fiction set during 20th century wars. I’ve always been interested in books set during that period, but I’ve been reading more of them lately.

Favourite cover: Flygirl wins (although I borrowed The Alice Network based on its title and cover so good marketing there I guess).

Reread: Pretty Face by Lucy Parker, Promised Land by Connie Willis and Cynthia Felice, and bits of other things.

Still reading: Secrets of a Sun King by Emma Carroll.

Next up: The Bride Test by Helen Hoang.

(Longer reviews and ratings are on LibraryThing. And also Dreamwidth.)

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (narrated by Rebecca Soler): Alice and her mother Ella have lived on the road, moving somewhere new each time their strange bad luck has caught up with them. When Ella is mysteriously abducted, Alice is desperate to get her back. To do so, Alice has to uncover the truth about her grandmother’s weird fairytales and her grandmother’s estate, the Hazel Wood. This is such a sharp, compelling story about fairytales and fate and family, with a sharp, compelling voice. The ending felt oddly anti-climactic and I’m reserving judgement on some things until I see how the sequel resolves them -- but otherwise, this is excellent.

Masques by Patricia Briggs: Even though this edition was revised years after Masques was first published, it’s still very obviously Briggs’ first novel. Clichéd and, in many ways, clumsy. Yet in spite of the book’s many imperfections, I liked Aralorn (the illegitimate daughter of a lord and a shapeshifter who left home to become a mercenary-turned-spy) and her enigmatic friend Wolf (who spends his time as a talking wolf or a masked magician). I liked individual scenes, even if some transitions and connections between them were not as strong as the scenes themselves, and there was enough tension to keep me turning pages.

The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon): Fifteen year old Rhea is made an offer of marriage she can’t refuse -- there are consequences if peasants offend lords. Lord Crevan’s house is found at the end of an eerie white road and when Rhea arrives, she discovered he is already married. This book is creepy and yet I never found it too dark. It acknowledges that horrors exist and shows someone ordinary with courage and resourcefulness (and a hedgehog companion) who is equal to overcoming them. I’m sure Kingfisher is capable of writing something totally terrifying but I trusted that that was not the goal here.

Mort by Terry Pratchett (narrated by Nigel Planer): A young man called Mort is offered an unexpected apprenticeship -- with Death. Reading this after twenty-four of the later books highlights how both the Discworld and Pratchett’s skills as a storyteller developed over the series. But if I’d started here, I definitely wouldn’t have cared as much about Death or Ankh-Morpork or the wizards -- and I would have been a lot less confident that this would be an entertaining and satisfactory story. So I can’t regret my reading order. Also, Pratchett’s way with words is always fun.

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo: Emoni Santiago has the opportunity to take a culinary arts class in her final year of high school. This is a vivid look at Emoni’s world. It was particularly interesting to read a story about a teen parent which doesn’t focus on pregnancy or babies. Emoni has a two-year old daughter which affects so many things -- Emoni’s relationship with her grandmother, her finances, her hesitations about college and dating. But what drives this story is Emoni discovering how to approach her passion for cooking with discipline, and what that means for her future.

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (narrated by Saskia Maarleveld): Sharp and tense, occasionally horrifying, occasionally heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful, and oh, do I have lots of thoughts and feelings about this! It alternates between Charlie in 1947, a college student who asks Eve to help her find her missing cousin, and Eve in 1915, a spy in France. I love how the two storylines fit together, occasionally echoing each other with themes and variations. This is about fierce, difficult, unconventional, broken, women and so much of the story is driven by their relationships. It isn’t perfect, and sometimes made me uncomfortable, but it balances out darkness with hope. Captivating.

The Headmistress (1944) by Angela Thirkell: This revolves around the Belton family, who have rented out their large house to a girls’ school, and some of their closest neighbours. It’s Thirkell, so it is amusing and observant about life during wartime, told with a gentleness that is very -- very -- occasionally broken by an unnecessary moment of prejudice. Those moments aside, I enjoyed reading this a lot. I thought it was particularly insightful when it came to a sixteen year old’s (somewhat confused and contrary) fantasies after being rescued. Something else which stood out was its portrayal of navigating the changing relationship between parents and their adult children.

The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow: Post-apocalypse, an AI has decided to discourage nation states from war by taking all heirs hostage. Greta, Duchess of Halifax and Crown Princess of the Pan Polar Confederacy, a seventh-generation hostage, knows she will be killed if the confederacy ever breaks the peace. This was compelling (the first half slightly more than the second) and there’s a lot I could talk about: the terrifyingly yet believable future of fighting over resources; the darkly-humorous AI overlord; the cutting commentary on power and politics; the delicate bonds between the hostages. Maybe after I’ve read the sequel.

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith: In 1943, Ida joins the Women Airforce Service Pilots, knowing she will only succeed if she can pass for a white girl. I enjoyed seeing what the WASP training process involved. There’s the appeal of boarding school stories: young people living and training together, teamwork and camaraderie, friends supporting each other, standing up to bullies, and so on. But what I found most interesting was how passing is an everyday concern for Ida. And what does it mean to put so much effort into making a place for herself in a white world where she can’t reveal her true identity?

#Herenya reviews books #Melissa Albert #Patricia Briggs #T. Kingfisher #Angela Thirkell #Kate Quinn #Erin Bow #Sherri L. Smith #Terry Pratchett #Discworld #Elizabeth Acevedo

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some-mad-lunge · 6 years

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Just Dad - Robron Fic

I kept thinking about Seb being older and calling Aaron and Rob both Dad. So then this came to mind.

Just Dad

Sebastian crumbled up his sandwich bag and threw it with an exaggerated arc towards the trash can in the corner. Of course be nailed it. Nothing but net.

“My Dad lost it on me last night.”

Seb looked over at his best mate and cousin Isaac who was sitting across from him in the caf. They both would have loved to be outside kicking the footie around but it was just too wet. Again. Fucking Britain for you.

“What’d you do this time?”

Isaac just scoffed around the crisps in his mouth, a few crumbs flying across the table. Seb rolled his eyes.

“I took the ATV to check the fence line like he asked.”

“Mate your Dad can be a bastard but not over nothing.”

“Well he caught me not wearing my helmet. Blew the roof off. Almost lost car privileges for a month.”

Seb tossed one of his mini carrots in Isaac’s direction. He caught it easily and shoved it in his mouth.

“Stupid move. Don’t want to die a virgin do you?”

“Do one.”

But there was no malice behind Isaac’s words. It’s how they were, who they were. Just then a tall lanky body slide onto the bench beside Isaac. Their pal Nigel must have taken a break from snogging Janice Feltham in the broom closet.

“What we talking about?”

“Just Isaac’s Dad giving him a hard time.”

Nigel just nodded his head in agreement.

“My Dad is right git lately. I can’t breathe without him telling me I’m doing it wrong.”

Seb just hummed in agreement.

Nigel eyed up Seb.

“What about you Seb? I mean you’ve got two Dads. I can barely stand just the one.”

Seb shrugged. His Dads were pretty alright. Isaac piped up.

“Nah man his Dad’s are cool. I mean to be fair though Mr Sebastian Sugden-Dingle doesn’t get up to much worth worrying about.”

“Yeah well some of us want to go to uni don’t we? It helps that I have the good sense to not get caught. Besides you know if I keep my nose clean this year they said they’d buy me a car when I pass my test next week. I’m not fucking that up.”

Isaac smiled at that. His best mate having a car basically meant he did too. Fucking freedom.

“Yeah we can cause all sort of trouble once we got wheels under us.”

“Don’t get too excited. My Dad was talking to me about getting a car to fix up. Something we could work on together. Would take a bit of time but it’d be custom. Fucking sweet.”

Nigel was oozing envy.

“Which Dad?”

“Dingle.”

Seb looked in surprise when Isaac and him spoke at the same time. As long as Seb could remember he’d referred to his Dads by their last name when he had to clarify who he was talking about. Calling them Aaron and Robert always felt weird. Really weird.

The buzzer rang and they collected their bags. Nigel nodded his head while Isaac and Seb walked to maths. Once seated Seb looked at Isaac who was chewing on his pen.

“How did you know which Dad I was talking about?”

“Well Uncle Aaron used to be a mechanic.”

“Oh right.”

“Plus it was the way you said Dad.”

“You what?”

“You said Dad the way you do when you mean Dingle.”

But then the teacher walked in and Sebastian concentrated on the revision for next week's exam.

After school they’d finished up their homework and we’re playing video games in the living room, shoving each other on the couch. Isaac was losing badly, naturally. They both laughed when Isaac’s character finally died with a kill shot from Seb’s rifle.

“Fuck this controller, mate. It’s broken.”

“Yeah right. You’ve been saying that for years.”

“Well it’s been bloody broken for years.”

Seb just smacked Isaac softly on the head and then heard his cell ping on the coffee table. He picked up and read the text.

Dad - Sugden

Be home in 15. Please turn on oven to 375. Chicken for dinner. Isaac can stay if he wants. Love you.

His phone beeped again.

Dad - Dingle

Love you more.

Seb smiled. It meant his Dads were sitting with each other somewhere. Always competing good naturally over who adored Seb the most. He liked to pretend he found it annoying and embarrassing but they all knew better.

He got up and pushed the necessary buttons on Sugden’s fancy ass oven that Dingle swore cost too much money.

“But it’s worth it to see your Dad smile Son, and he does all the cooking. Imagine if I did it?”

They’d all laughed at that.

“My Dad says you can stay for dinner if you want. We’re having chicken.”

“Nah mate but thanks. Mom’s been on my case about eating here so much. I’ll head out in a few.”

Seb sat forward on the couch, shoving Isaac’s feet off the coffee table.

“Don’t man. You know how my Dad is about that.”

Isaac just rolled his eyes.

“Yeah yeah.”

Seb looked at Isaac for a second.

“Hey earlier today, when you said I used my “Dad” for when I mean Dingle. What did you mean by that?”

Isaac looked at him confused.

“Well you say Dad in a different way depending on who you’re talking about.”

“No I don’t. I just say Dad.”

“Really mate? You’ve never noticed?”

Well he hadn’t. I mean they’ve both been Dad for as long as he can remember. He just assumed it was weird parent magic that they always knew he was calling when he shouted from his room. The right one always came.

“No I never have.”

“Huh. Weird.”

“So how is it different?”

“When you mean Dingle you say it really quick, DAD. Almost don’t even pronounce the last D so it almost sounds like Da. When you mean Sugden you draw it out. DaaaD. Almost with a harsh D on the end.”

“Are you bloody serious?”

“I mean most people might not notice it but everyone in the family does. Or at least I assume they do. Your Dads totally know.”

“Huh.”

Later that night while they were sitting around the kitchen table and eating Dad’s awesome curry chicken he thought to test his theory.

He looked across at his Dad who was wiping at his stubble with a napkin.

“Hey Dad?”

Sure enough Dingle looked up and Sugden just kept cutting his chicken.

“Yeah Son?”

“I was thinking it’d be nice to go looking this weekend at cars. Maybe see if there is anything out there we want to tackle.”

His Dad smiled at him happily.

“So you want to fix one up with me?”

“Yeah it’d be cool. What do you think Dad?”

Yep. Sugden looked up and smiled.

“I think it’s a great idea but you have to promise to focus on your studies first alright?”

He just nodded. He was kind of bewildered about it all. Had he been doing this is his whole life and just never noticed it before?

He was quiet brought the rest of dinner and loaded up the dishwasher without being asked once. He then went and hid in his room for a while, texting with his friends and laughing at some weird memes Isaac had tagged him in. Finally he changed into the sweats he slept in and headed down to say goodnight to his Dads and get a glass of water.

Like most nights he found them on the couch. Sugden was sprawled out reading a book with his feet in Dingle’s lap. As always Dingle was just flipping through the channels.

“Night.”

“Seb wait.”

Sugden took off his reading glasses and swung his feet off Dingle’s llap.

“Sit down for a second.”

He shrugged and did as he was asked.

Dingle shut off the TV and scooted closer to Sugden. United front. Oh shit what he done now?

“Don’t worry you’re not in trouble. Your Dad and I just noticed you seemed off tonight. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah of course.”

Dingle put his hand on Sugden’s knee. Squeezed. Cleared his throat before speaking.

“Is it about the car? You know I won’t mind if we just buy you one ready to go. I just thought it’d be a laugh.”

Seb smiled.

“No Dad I want to. It’s not that. It’s just…”

He saw his Dads look at each other. Bracing for impact.

“Isaac pointed out to me today how I say Dad differently depending on who I’m talking about. It just weirded me out. I’ve never noticed it before.”

Sugden looked surprised but Dingle just smiled at him.

“Why would you notice? It’s your normal.”

“Yeah I guess.”

“Rob remember when he first started talking?”

Sugden smiled at his husband.

“Oh yeah. Your Aunt Vic pointed it out to us actually. You would just shout “Da! Da!” When you wanted Aaron and you’d babble “Dadadada” when you wanted me.”

“I did?”

“You did. And then when you got a bit older you’d call Robert Daddy and I was Dad. Then it morphed to how you do it now. Didn’t you ever wonder how we knew who you were talking to?”

Seb couldn’t help but be embarrassed.

“I just assumed it was like, parent magic or something.”

He looked up to see his Dads beaming at him.

“Yeah yeah I know. Can I go to bed now?”

“Aaron he’s asking to go to sleep.”

“I know Rob. Must be our parent magic.”

“Ha ha Dads. Hilarious.”

Seb made for the stairs.

“Night Son. We love you.”

“We really do.”

“Yeah yeah, love you too.”

Then Seb crawled into bed and never gave it another thought after that day. It just was his normal. No big deal.

***********

Downstairs Aaron slipped his hand into Rob’s as he nestled his head onto the blonde’s shoulder.

“Aaron he thought we had parent magic.”

“Yeah.”

“I am going to miss him so much when he’s gone to uni. I mean next week he’ll have his license and then we’ll never see him.”

“Why do you think I wanted us to rebuild the car together? Give us a few more months of his mug around the place.”

Aaron felt Rob kiss the top of his head and heard his husband’s sigh.

“He’s going to be okay right? I mean, he’s not always been easy but….”

“Rob he’s a good kid. Smart. Respectful. He’s amazing. He’s perfect. We have parent magic after all.”

Rob squeezed Aaron’s hand.

“Yeah we do.”

#robron #aaron dingle #robert sugden #seb white #fan fic #parent magic

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frickengreenfrickyeah · 6 years

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Sides Fantasy AU Context Dump

Warnings: Mentions of violence, murder, discrimination, parental death (Please tell me if I missed anything)

The World and Backstory:

- The kingdom is called Sanderia, ruled by Queen Uthra, who has two(2) sons. Simon and Roman. Roman is the second son by about ten(10) years

- Queen Uthra came into power with her husband King William and his brother Damarcus by defeating a Tyrant Invader who was enslaving their people (and who doesn’t have a name yet because that’s where his plot relevance begins and ends).

- But after they defeat Tyrant, Damarcus got power hungry and wasn’t content to let William have the throne, so he killed his own brother. Roman was there when it happened, our poor boi.

- The assassination sparked a Civil War. The Crown (Uthra, most of the nobles, some army, and the druids) versus the Insurgents (Damarcus, the rest of nobles, a majority of the army, and Dark Magic.)

- The Dark Magic would have won Damarcus the war, except [spoiler] happened and it was dispersed. No human can control it now. It roves the countryside as a giant storm called the Scourge. The Scourge is bad. Damarcus loses the war, takes the remainder of his forces, and flees to the mountains.

- As a consequence of [spoiler] and misunderstanding, Queen Uthra thinks that the druids betrayed her, and therefore all magic is bad. She orders a Purge and puts her own brother, Lord Nigel, in charge of it. Think of the tv show Merlin.

- Lord Nigel does a Witch Hunt. All known magic users are burned at the stake, and druids are persecuted wholesale. They can’t leave the kingdom because the neighbors (where Tyrant came from) will enslave them, but they can’t live out in the open either, so they become nomads who hide in the vast forests and mountains of Sanderia.

- And that’s about where our story begins.

The Sides:

Roman

- As previously mentioned, he’s the second prince of Sanderia. He loves being a knight, is eager to prove himself, and dislikes being in the shadow of his older brother, Simon. He loves Simon though, and they have a decent relationship despite the age gap.

- Queen Uthra put him in charge of managing the druids, which means he organizes and leads raids whenever a druid camp is located. Any druids caught are killed. He doesn’t see anything morally wrong with this duty when the story begins.

- He and Anxiety have a history. Anxiety is the Murderous Magical Menace of Sanderia and Roman’s nemesis.

- Roman has a terrible secret though. He has magic. Dun dun dun. No one, not even Logan, knows. He discovered his powers a year or two before the story begins and he doesn’t really understand them. All he knows is that he needs to keep it a secret. He’ll sometimes use it instinctively in a fight. And, though he doesn’t know it, he’s a little more powerful than the average magic user.

Logan

- He’s a nobleman. And you’ll never guess who his father is. It’s Lord Nigel. Who is Uthra’s brother. Who is Roman’s mother. That makes Logan and Roman cousins. (I need family tree stuff explained like I’m two(2) years old, so sorry if that connection was obvious to you.) Logan’s not in line for the throne though, because Uthra married into the Crown. I think that’s how the line of succession works, right?

- He doesn’t have a good relationship with his father, Lord Nigel, mainly because Nigel was off Witch Hunting for most of his childhood, leaving Logan back at the castle, and Nigel isn’t a very emotionally available person anyway. Logan’s mother died when he was young.

- He’s besties with Roman though. They were glued at the hip as children and still are despite their different personalities. His calling in life is to be Roman’s adviser, and he loves knowledge, so he soaks up all he can. He’s good friends with the Court Librarian.

- But there’s a problem. I looked it up, and glasses didn’t exist in medieval times. That was a Renaissance thing. When Logan was around eight(8), he vision started to go bad. By the time our story begins, his vision is worse than mine, which is saying something. So, when it comes to things like reading facial expressions or depth perception, he’s hopeless. I won’t say he blind, but he’s definitely impaired on a day to day basis. He can still read though, since he’s nearsighted.

- He does not have magic.

Patton

- Patton was born a druid. Not only was he born a druid, he was born a special druid. I’m not sure how much I can get into without spoiling anything, but think Merlin (from the tv show) levels of power (and if you don’t know the show, I just mean, like, stupid powerful. OP much?)

- He was a happy child for those first few years of life. Then tragedy struck. He, his sister Cassidy, and his parents were all captured in Nigel’s Witch Hunt. His parents were burned alive in front of him. His mother’s last words to him were something to the effect of, “Look away, sweetie. Close your eyes and everything will be okay.” and he’s taken those words to heart. To make matters worse, the druid’s rescued Patton at the cost of abandoning his sister to die because they deemed it too risky. He carries that trauma with him to this day. (This got dark, I know.)

- His special status with the druids means that he’s been groomed to take over as their leader once he comes of age, but that responsibility scares him, especially since lives are at stake. Virgil supports him though, which is a great help. Unfortunately, when the elders force him to take on too much responsibility too fast, he leads the clan right into a raid. People die. He’s separated in the chaos, and, unable to face the horror of what just happened, he runs away.

- Through a wacky series of events, he becomes Roman’s manservant. (The tv show Merlin was a big influence for me, can you tell?) He keeps his magic a secret. Logan doesn’t like Patton until he discovers he can read, which is the icebreaker that leads to friendship. Patton is really close friends with Roman as well, but he sabotages Roman’s attempts to ‘manage’ the druids. That leads to drama later.

- About Patton’s glasses... Glasses exist in this world, but they’re a known druid invention, so he can’t wear them or risk outing himself. Instead, he uses a spell to see. It hurts him that he can’t do the same for Logan. Another thing about his appearance: Druids wear distinctive cloaks, and Patton misses his, so he ties a sweater around his shoulders to imitate the feel of it.

Virgil

- He was born in a small mining town to blacksmiths and had an older brother. The town was destroyed by Insurgents and his parents were killed. His older brother took care of him for a few years before being conscripted into the Crown’s army. Virgil was apprenticed to a blacksmith while he was away. Then his brother was killed in the line of duty, his wages stopped coming, and Virgil had to fend for himself.

- He saved a couple druids from the Witch Hunt and got adopted by the clan (read: by Patton). He and Patton are besties. Virgil refused to leave Patton’s side, to the effect that he got basically the same ‘leader’ training as Patton did. So when Patton disappears and is assumed dead and everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off, he steps up and declares himself the Temporary Leader.

- It’s at this time that he embraces his moniker, Anxiety, and becomes the Magical Murderous Menace of Sanderia. Basically, he and a couple other druid warriors will create a big distraction in one(1) place so the rest of the clan can slip away unnoticed when they come under heat. The job is stressful, but he’s the only competent leader available.

- He has magic, but it’s really weak. If he hadn’t been adopted by the druids, he would have never been able to do anything useful. Only through years of rigorous training did he get to the level he’s at right now. I’m talking, like, maybe four(4) spells a day, maybe more if he saves his energy for a few days. The Anxiety persona gets lots of help to pull off his stunts. He’s self-conscious about how weak he is but tries not to let it show.

Other Characters, Original and Not:

Simon

- The Crown Prince of Sanderia, Roman’s older brother. He too witnessed his father’s murder. He was around twelve(12), and Damarcus gave him a nasty facial scar in the attack.

- He loves Roman and wants to protect him from the cruel world.

- He’s in charge of dealing with the Insurgents.

- Technically, he’s not totally an OC. Remember that one vine where Thomas changed his name to Simon to win Simon Says? Let that be a hint as to his personality. Yeah. Huge inspiration for me, no joke.

Adrian

- This guy is OC

- The top knight. Technically, Roman and Simon are higher rankings than him because royalty, but he’s got the most experience.

- He’s a father figure to Roman.

Tristan

- also OC

- Roman’s personal guard from when he was about five(5) to around thirteen(13). Basically an older brother to Roman and Logan, even if they’re hesitant to admit it because of his common-born status.

- He died while protecting Roman from and Insurgent assassination attempt.

Blazon

- I swear, I’m trying to keep the OC's in this post to a minimum, but I needed at least one female character on here.

- The Insurgent leader(Damarcus)’s second-in-command. Pretty much an enigma. We don’t even know her real name. She admits to being a druid, but we don’t know how she got to be so powerful in the Insurgents, and she insists she has a brother, but we don’t know who that is either.

- Honestly, she’s really fun to write. The perfect balance (I think) of cruel and compassionate.

Emile

- Based off of Dr. Picani, obviously.

- He’s a druid. Good friends with both Patton and Virgil. Just about thirteen(13) when the story starts.

- His magical affinity is mind-speak. The mind-speak spell is within the power of most druids. What his affinity allows him to do is connect with people really easily over longer distances than usual. Other than that, an average power level of magic. More on affinities later.

- He’s training to be the Oral History Teller of the clan, which means he has hundreds of stories memorized and is always ready with a reference to one of them.

Misc:

Monikers: Part of (my) druid culture is that they give everyone a nickname. There are a couple legacy titles, but most are specific to the person. Obviously, Virgil is Anxiety, and Patton is Morality when the story starts, and there’s a backstory to both. The others are worked in later. Blazon is a moniker.

Magical Affinities: All magic users have an affinity. It’s the type of magic that comes easiest (and sometimes most powerful) to them. Emile’s is Mind-Speak. Other examples include Teleportation, Water, Fire, Earth, Air, Battle Magic, Healing, etc.

Marks: I haven’t mentioned this yet, but (my) druids have a tradition of tattoos. Usually put right above the heart, the Mark magically connects all its bearers. Patton’s is shaped like a heart. Emile’s is a bird. Virgil declined to receive his.

Magic Levels: There’s no formal scale or anything, and I haven’t worked out numbers for what percentage of people have magic or anything. Most people are like Virgil, capable of casting spells only if they train really hard for years. Must druids are like Roman or weaker. Magic comes naturally to them and they don’t require training to achieve some amount of accidental magic. Patton’s power level is pretty much unheard of. I have lore explaining why he’s so powerful, but it’s really spoilery so I won’t go into it now.

Dark Magic: There’s a difference between magic that has negative effects and Dark Magic. True Magic is balanced, like the ying-yang. Dark Magic is bad. It’s a man-made corruption, and virtually indestructible. There’s spoilery lore that goes more in-depth.

Crofters: You bet I managed to make jelly integral to the world, plot, and characters! In fact, it’s so integral that I’m not sure how much I can tell you without spoiling anything. So this is all you get :P

Muggles: This more a hole in my world building than anything else. I can’t figure out what to call non-magical/non-druid people. And I can’t think of any other term for accidental magic (Unintentional? Incidental?). Obviously, HP was a big influence. Should I just name the elephant in the room and call muggles muggles, or should I try and be a bit original? I’m open to suggestions.

Also, I don’t know what to call this thing. The working title is the Sanderiad, but I think that’s a bit too presumptuous. I’ll keep working on it.

I HAVE A PRELUDE SHORT(ISH) STORY FOR THIS IN THE WORKS AND ALMOST COMPLETE. LET ME KNOW IF YOU’RE INTERESTED. I mean, I’m gonna post it regardless of what you say, but still.

Disclaimer:

Any time I mention druids in this post, I am referring to my version specific to the story I’m telling. I did a lot of world building around my version of druid culture by flipping through an Ancient Celtic history book that I got for free when my local library spring cleaned. I just grabbed whatever seemed really cool (like the fact that druids had a religious taboo against writing things down in their own language) and put it in the story. In some cases, I willfully played into stereotypes because I liked them (for instance, I’m pretty much ignoring the fact that druids were actually the intellectual caste of the Celts and not representative of their entire people or the fact that the majority of them were farmers, not nomads.) and I’m really ignorant as to how much of that culture is still relevant today. I’m sorry if anything I end up putting in the story is culturally insensitive. If you notice anything, please point it out in a respectful manner that helps me educate myself and others and fix the problem. But also I think it’s important to note that I’m creating a landscape that, on many levels, I purposefully distanced from our modern world in the name of fun and storytelling. Please know that I have good intentions, and I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Additional Disclaimer:

I don’t know how taglists work. Do you just type out the username of the person?

Hey, if you got this far, thank you for your time! You’re my favorite person :) And since you’re already here... I love constructive criticism. I may be shy af and anxious to boot, but I take pride in my writing, which means bettering my craft. And I want to make friends!*

*See previous post for disclaimer about friendship. (Darn I wish I knew how to link stuff... Oh well, wisdom comes with time. I’m kinda patient.)

TLDR; I wrote a thing. The Sides are in it. There’s magic and tragedy and shenanigans. Cultural Appropriation is a thing. A general appreciation for all the beautiful people in the world. I’m clueless and/or socially awkward and crave attention. (Now this is how tldrs work).

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the-magnus-archives-archiver · 6 years

Text

Vampire Killer

Case: 0100710

Name: Trevor Herber Subject: His life as a self-proclaimed vampire hunter Date: July 10th, 2010 Recorded by: Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London

Right then. Been almost 50 years I’ve been meaning to pay you people a visit and get this down on paper, but I finally got here. So where to start? My name is Trevor Herbert, like I put at the top of your form there, and I’ve been homeless for most of my life. In fact if you lived in Manchester there’s a good chance you’d have heard of me. They call me “Trevor the Tramp”. I mean, I’m not exactly easy to miss am I, and I’ve been living there in public view for so long I guess I’ve become kind of an institution. Helps that I’ve always had a kind of uncanny knack for guessing people’s ages. People will come up to me on the street and ask me to guess their age, and I’ll tell them and most of the time they’ll be shocked when I get it right. It’s fun. So everyone around Manchester knows about Trevor the Tramp, sure. I hear someone even made me a page on the Internet and it got a few thousand likes. I don’t know exactly what that means but it sounds nice. Obviously that’s not why I’m here, though, is it? No, I’m here because I have also dedicated my life to finding and killing vampires.

I have killed five people that I know for sure as vampires, and there are two more that may or may not have been. There is one man I have killed, unfortunately, who I am now sure was human, but I also know he was a violent criminal so I try not to feel too badly about that. I’m sure it’s hard to accept for anyone, even an organisation such as yourselves, but I do not have proof to give you except for the vampire teeth that I will leave with this statement. Do not feel bad about reporting me to the police for the murders, as I am sure you must, since I have recently received a diagnosis of late-stage lung cancer and it is doubtful I will be living much longer anyway. That is the main reason for finally putting down on paper the details of the mission I have been secretly undertaking for the last half a century.

I killed my first vampire in 1959. At that point I was still living a mostly normal life, save perhaps for the abuse my family was subject to from my father. He was a vile man who ended up killing my mother in ’56. It was a clear-cut case of drunken murder but the courts ruled it as an accident and my father stayed out of jail. Luckily, myself and my brother only had to endure four months of unpleasantness from him before he finally finished drinking himself to death. I was thirteen when he finally died and my brother was fifteen. Following his death, there were several attempts to rehome us as orphans but they always split us up, and we couldn’t be doing with that, so we’d generally run away. After a while it became so we were happier finding our way on the streets than in another stranger’s home.

It was in autumn of 1959 that we were taken in by Sylvia McDonald. It wasn’t any sort of official fostering agreement, but it was getting to be quite cold at the end of October and it just saw us shivering in a side street next to the Kings Arms Hotel, as it was back then, on Tipping Street before the ring road took it over. Looking back I believe it to have been visiting the pub for the purposes of locating down and outs for use as victims and in my brother and myself, I must say, it successfully found some. It looked like an older woman, a widow I assumed, from the way it dressed in black and had a strange manner, which I now know to be the mark of the vampire, but back then I paid no attention to it. Many of the older folks had lived through both wars and it was not uncommon for them to be somewhat strange. I thought this was the case with Sylvia McDonald and after a small amount of discussion my brother and I agreed to the offer of food and shelter.

Let me say a little bit about the vampire’s manner, because once I taught myself to read I read as much on the subject as I could and it isn’t covered often or clearly in those books I have found. You see, from my own observations I believe a vampire to be more like an animal than a man. That is not to be taken as merely a turn of phrase but more to do with how they work. I do not believe vampires are human in anything more than their appearance, nor have I ever seen evidence that they create more of their kind through feeding. One thing that should be noted is that they do not speak. In fact they are in my experience totally silent, having no need for air and no room in their throats for a windpipe. They are able to make themselves understood, however, with absolute clarity, though the manner through which they do so has never been clear to me. When Sylvia McDonald came to us in the alleyway that day, we understood that was the name it gave itself and that we were being offered a meal and a bed, even though it never uttered a single sound. More than that, I do not recall the fact that it never said a word as striking either of us as strange in the slightest. I have never fully understood how they are able to do this, and I doubt that I ever shall, but I can only assume it to be some instinctive form of hypnosis or mind control.

Another misconception I have always faced when trying to discuss vampires is that people think they cannot go out during the day. They can. While I have witnessed them avoid direct sunlight if possible and wear generally more covering clothes when moving around during the daytime, they seem to have no significant problem doing so. I would describe them as weaker during the day, but whether this is scientifically due to the sunlight or simply because evil has less power in the daylight hours is unclear to me. Sylvia McDonald came to us on an overcast afternoon and enough of its pale flesh was uncovered that, were sunlight to truly harm a vampire, then it would likely have been destroyed.

On that afternoon my brother Nigel and I agreed to go back to the house of Sylvia McDonald in the hopes of a roof over our heads for a little while. She lived on Loom Street, which is still there, though the house itself was torn down long ago and there’s just a bit of scrubland now where it used to be. I sometimes go there to pay my respects, since my brother has no burial or grave I can visit. The house was old, even when I went there in 1959, and entering it I was hit by a stale, coppery smell that I did not recognise as old blood at the time, since I was barely 16 and did not have then the experience I have now. The furniture and wallpaper had clearly not been changed in many decades and a thick layer of dust covered everything. Even the floor was pale with dust except for a stark line where Sylvia McDonald moved, the train of its dress dragging behind it. I remember wondering whether Sylvia McDonald walked exactly the same route through the house always, as I saw other clear lines of passage in the rooms we passed through. None of the furniture looked used and when I picked up a book from one of the shelves the pages were solid with damp and mould. I began to feel very uneasy at this point, but whatever powers of persuasion the vampire had calmed me enough to continue following it with my brother.

We went up the stairs and I was led to a small room with a bed in it. I was made to understand that this would be my room and was left there as Sylvia McDonald led my brother away to the room next to it. When it returned it brought a bowl of fruit and offered it to me. The fruit was clearly a few weeks old and in various stages of rotting, but just to appease the thing I found an apple and a couple of grapes that seemed edible and I ate them. It watched me silently the whole time and then turned and walked out towards Nigel’s room. By this time whatever the creature had done to make me compliant seemed to be starting to wear off, and I was realising just how wrong everything was. I was also realising that it didn’t look like there was any easy escape from the house. All the windows I had seen were barred, and I recalled Sylvia McDonald had locked the sturdy-looking front door behind it after we had all entered. So instead I just laid down in the old musty bed and I waited.

Couldn’t rightly say what I was waiting for, but soon enough it got dark and I assumed Sylvia McDonald had gone to sleep, not yet realising the manner of being that I was dealing with. I wanted some light to comfort me but the old house seemed to have no electricity at all, so I used my cigarette lighter on a candle I found next to the bed and crept towards the door. It wasn’t locked, thankfully, and I left the room assigned to me and walked over to where I believed my brother was. I went in and found him lying in his own bed, pretending to sleep. After a bit of talk it became clear that Nigel was no happier with our situation than I was and we both resolved that another night on the cold streets was better than staying with this strange woman. As we talked through possible ways to escape, however, we heard a rustling sound outside the door, and the handle began to turn. Not wanting to anger our strange host, I crawled under the bed to hide, while Nigel returned to pretending to sleep.

From my vantage point under the bed, I could see the door open and the skirt of Sylvia McDonald enter and move towards the bed. I simply laid there and tried not to make a sound. I am not proud of this and sometimes have a certainty that my inaction led directly to my brother’s death, but most of the time I accept that if I had alerted the vampire to my presence then I would also have died. Either way, the fact of the matter is that I did nothing as I heard the sounds of a struggle overhead and Nigel’s strangled cry. The creature turned quickly and hurled him down, something fell to the floor in front of me, but I didn’t look at it, my eyes locked on Sylvia McDonald as it pounced upon my brother. It opened its mouth for what I then realised was the first time since we met it, and I could see nothing inside save for a dozen long, thick, pointed teeth like a shark. In one fluid movement it plunged those teeth into my brother’s neck and tore out a great chunk of flesh. Blood started to spurt from Nigel’s spasming body, as Sylvia McDonald’s throat began to twitch. Its jaw detached and a long tubular tongue about the thickness of my forearm snaked out of its throat and clamped onto the gushing wound. There was an awful slurping sound, the first noise I’d ever really heard the creature make, as the tongue sucked the blood from my brother’s throat. I just lay there watching as its stomach began to distend and swell, the now bulbous belly straining against the black dress it wore. After the longest ten minutes of my life, the vampire finished. Its tongue retracted back into its throat, still dripping blood onto the now-pale corpse of my brother, and it lay back upon the floor, apparently contented.

As this had been happening all my energy had gone towards not screaming or giving away my presence. But as the vampire lay satiated on the floor, I turned my attention to what had fallen from Nigel’s hand when he had been dragged out of the bed. It was his pocket knife. I had no idea what a small knife like that would do against a creature that seemed far stronger and faster than me, but I didn’t see any option other than to try. I moved so slowly as I reached for the knife that at times it seemed like I wasn’t moving at all. I was worried that the creature would spot me and strike as it had with Nigel, although I now know that smell is in fact the vampire’s major sense and, with all the blood around, there was little chance of it detecting my scent. Grasping the knife in my hands, I crept over towards the creature as it placidly digested my brother’s life, until I stood over it. I felt a sudden surge of rage and adrenaline come over me and with a speed and strength I never knew I had, I plunged the knife into Sylvia McDonald’s blood-bloated stomach.

It burst like a sick balloon, and blood began to pour out. The creature’s eyes shot open and it clutched at the wound desperately. Its throat was not capable of uttering a scream but its face displayed a silent pain and anger as it flailed on the floor. Stumbling back, trying to wipe the blood from my eyes, I felt an unexpected burning in my hand. I realised I’d touched the still-lit candle on the bedside table. I don’t know what I expected to happen when I grabbed the candle and pressed it to the dry part of Sylvia McDonald’s dress. I was just trying to find anything else I could do to harm it before it could recover from its split belly, but I certainly didn’t expect it to catch like dry tinder. The fire spread quickly over its repulsive form, though it did slow somewhat where the clothing or flesh was still moist with blood. It struck me that the vampire must be a very dry creature when not fresh-fed and engorged. Perhaps I had struck before the liquid could spread throughout its body.

Whatever the reason, Sylvia McDonald was alight, and to such a degree that the rest of the room was starting to catch fire as well. I was distraught at the idea of leaving this house without my brother, but he was clearly dead and I needed to escape. I recalled the vampire had been carrying a handbag when we first met it, and had used a key from it to lock the front door. It did not have the handbag with it now, though, so I began to desperately search the other rooms of the house, trying to find it. I did find it in the end, in what I assume to be the vampire’s bedroom. I’ll not describe it in detail, except to say that it appears to be where the creature took most of its meals. Hopefully that makes the picture clear enough for you. I found the key, though, and escaped that house before the fire did me any serious damage. I was terrified of the police coming and thinking I was a murderer, so I didn’t stick around. I just fled into the night.

It was almost a decade before I encountered another vampire. I’d been living on the streets all that time, occasionally in and out of various institutions, and had just about managed to convince myself that Sylvia McDonald had just been a bad reaction to the stress of watching my brother’s murder. It was in the late 60s that I learned different. It was 1968, I remember because that was the year United won the European Cup, and I did quite well out of it – people being generous to begging when they’re happy over a sports win. On a Friday night I would generally spend my time around the Oasis Club in Lloyd Street and hit up for change anyone who was slightly the worse for drink. Well, this night in particular I was doing quite well, as it was a warm June evening not too long after the Cup Final, and everyone was in a good mood.

Now about half eleven that night I spied a stranger all turned out for dancing, making his way from the club with a lady friend. I reckoned they might be good for a tanner, so made my approach. I gave them the spiel and waited. The man looked at me and I understood he wouldn’t be giving me any money, and I stepped away. It was as he turned to leave I realised that he hadn’t opened his mouth, and memories of Sylvia McDonald came rushing back to me in a flash. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I followed behind them at a distance. I didn’t try to hide or disguise myself, as I had long since learned, and it’s true now as it was back then, that no-one pays any real attention to a tramp. As I watched, I saw the clearly drunken woman asking this stranger questions and each time he’d just look at her and she’d smile as though he’d given some reassuring answer and stumble on behind him. All the while he never once opened his mouth.

I didn’t rightly know what to do about this. I had no weapon save my brother’s old pocket knife which I had kept sharp all these years, and while I was pretty sure of what I was seeing, I was still hesitant to attack with no provocation and no plan. As we walked, I kept an eye out for any discarded wood or timber and, sure enough, noticed a broken wooden palette partially sticking out of a bin. I grabbed a long shard and used my knife to quickly hack it to a point, ignoring the splinters. While I had not, at that time, done much research into the creatures I faced, believing as I did my experience as a youth to be the product of a disturbed mental state, I was still aware of their supposed weakness to wooden stakes. I had now followed the vampire, who I would later find out called itself Robert Arden, and its victim back to the building where it apparently lived. It let itself in the front door and the woman followed. I wasn’t fast enough to get in before the front door closed and obviously didn’t have a key, so I went round the windows and, luckily, it seemed the vampire lived on the ground floor.

I watched through the window as it led its victim into a sparsely furnished living room. I couldn’t see any obvious signs of previous slaughter, but I remembered how cleanly Sylvia McDonald had sucked up all the blood from my brother, so this did not strike me as odd. I gently tried the window and found it locked, so searched the garden for the heaviest stone I could find and watched what was happening inside. I had to be sure. Soon enough Robert Arden moved smoothly behind its now-seated prey, and finally opened its mouth to reveal those rows of shark-like teeth I knew would be there. I hurled the rock I held through the window, showering the room with broken glass and causing the woman to scream in shock. Robert Arden raised its head in surprise and for one moment our eyes locked and I knew I had made a terrible mistake. The woman looked at her monstrous companion and, seeing his now open mouth, screamed her terror even louder. In a single movement, far quicker than I expected, Robert Arden was through the window and on me. I struggled and fought, but it was far stronger than I was, and I could barely keep its jagged teeth from finding my throat. It was the first and last time I ever touched a vampire’s skin with my own. The flesh was cold and spongy, like the inside of a bruised apple, and I felt bile rise in my throat even as I fought for my life.

Finally, its teeth bit into my neck. Not enough to kill me outright but with enough force to cause the blood to flow. At that moment I saw a sort of frenzy enter the eyes of Robert Arden and with a spasm its leech’s tongue surged from its throat and I felt it attach to my neck. I do not know if you’ve ever felt your blood being sucked out of you, but I would not recommend it.

Now it is at this point I have something of an admission to make. For the three years preceding this event, as well as on and off through the years since, I have had a relationship with the drug heroin. I tried it for the first time shortly after Nigel’s death and since then I have periodically relapsed. I have always tried to keep this a secret, as I am aware that I have a certain reputation to uphold and I would not want it to be damaged with the revealing of my addiction. But it is important to this account, as I believe it was whatever heroin still remained in my system that night that caused the vampire Robert Arden to remove its tongue from my neck and start to shake, as though having a violent choking fit.

I lay there, trying to compose myself enough to fight back, when I became aware of the screaming. The woman, who had been brought in as a victim, was standing over the flailing Robert Arden, stabbing it repeatedly with a kitchen knife. Strong and quick as it was, the vampire didn’t seem to be able to cope with the sudden onslaught of violence and was on the ground. This gave me the precious seconds I needed to get to my feet and locate my improvised wooden stake. I took aim and plunged it into where I believed the thing’s heart should be. It was easier than I thought it would be – the chest was soft and yielding and there didn’t seem to be any ribcage to stop the blow. Robert Arden went rigid and froze, apparently unable to move its body, though I saw its eyes darting around wildly.

It was at that point the woman whose name I never discovered, dropped the knife and ran. I never saw her again, but she had already saved my life. I took out my cigarette lighter and set Robert Arden alight. Like Sylvia McDonald before it, it caught fire in a matter of seconds and, by the time the police arrived, there was nothing left but a small patch of scorched tarmac. I was lucky that night, and nobody saw anything or called the police before I was finished and had made my way from the scene but I was always more careful after that.

Following that night, though, I was never again worried that I might have been wrong about the existence of vampires. I always kept my eyes open for them, although sometimes I was too eager, as was the case of Alard Dupont who I killed in 1982 and later discovered was a human. It is my belief that they are very rare and feed only infrequently, as all evidence I have seen points to their feeding being fatal. If there were many vampires or if they ate often, the number of disappearances would quickly become noticeable to the rest of society. I do not know what they do with the bodies of their victims and this has always perplexed me, as they do not have any mechanism for eating solid food and I do not believe there are many, if any, cases of murder where the body is found completely without blood. I certainly do not think they rise as vampires themselves, as the vampire population seems far too small for this to be a possibility.

Archivist Notes:

According to Martin, who was here when they took this statement, it was at this point in writing that Mr. Herbert announced he needed some sleep before continuing. He was shown to the break room where he went to sleep on the couch. He did not awaken; unfortunately succumbing to the lung cancer right there. Martin says the staff had been aware of how serious Mr. Herbert’s condition was and had advised him to seek medical aid prior to giving his statement, but were told rather bluntly by the old man that he would not wait another second to state his case. I can’t decide whether this lends more or less credibility to his tale.

Regardless, there is substantial evidence to support the version of events told by Mr. Herbert in all aspects except the vampirism. There is a news report of a 1959 fire that consumed a house on Loom Street and apparently claimed the life of an 18-year-old boy, although no mention is made of the homeowner, and a police report from 1968 confirms the disappearance of Robert Arden in Manchester amid circumstances of violence, including a broken window and signs of a fire, though no human remains were found. There is also a murder report concerning one Alard Dupont, whose partially burned corpse was found in his home on August 2nd 1982. Unfortunately Mr. Herbert was never able to give details of others, so we cannot corroborate further.

There was, however, a small bag left on top of this statement, which appears to contain six shark teeth of varying sizes. According to correspondence with the Zoology Department at King’s College, they didn’t match any currently known species.

Personally, I don’t know what to think. I certainly don’t believe in wild tales of vampirism, but I can’t help but notice that the statement above appears to be a photocopy of a photocopy, and can’t find these supposed vampire teeth anywhere in the Archives or the Secure Containment Room. I don’t know where the originals are but the file number is listed among multiple information requests from the Institute’s government and law enforcement contracts. It may be that they take Mr. Herbert’s statement far more seriously than I do.

Source: Official Transcript and Podcast (MAG 10 Vampire Hunter)

#the magnus archives #magnus archives #MAG #MAG10 #MAG 10 #VampireKiller #Vampire Killer #Statement #The Hunt

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