#WHY DID I FEEL CAPABLE OF UNDERTAKING A STORY LIKE THIS | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

literaryspinster · 10 months

Text

Thousand Word Preview: Tiger Boy and the Witch Girl Ch. 3

This is the first half of the new chapter (the second half will be Rachel and Gar centered), which I will add to my my planned repost of the story, hopefully this week. Please enjoy and thank you all for your patience 🥺

He isn’t falling in love with her, that would be ridiculous.

The first time he had to tell himself that he wasn’t falling in love with her was during the grand reopening. Haly’s had closed for two months to retool the entire operation while building the sort of anticipation that had been all but lost over many years.

As much as he hated to admit it, it was a relief to have a break from the long hours, skimpy yet demanding crowds and utter disappointment. It was nice to go to sleep early, and make fresh decisions whether they would end up paying off or not. And above all, it was nice to see her. As much as she annoyed him, and boy did she ever, he still found himself tapping his foot impatiently whenever she ran a few minutes late, and when she finally did arrive, he’d have to still his lips against turning up in a smile. But the thwarted grin was only because she was done wasting his time, not because he was happy to see her, of course.

Why would he be happy to see someone who gave him such a headache?

He must have told her 1000 times that she wasn’t allowed on the silks, but did she listen? No, because she never listens.

But then, the first time he sees her, her body elegantly wound in lengths of fire red, spiraling down through the air and stopping just short of the looped end, something strikes his chest like a big rubber mallet. It isn’t fear, no, it’s awe. And that’s when he decides, if she blacks out and falls off of the silks, then he’ll catch her. Not because the crowd will love it, but because he can’t let such a magnificent thing fall.

But for weeks and weeks, nothing of the sort happens, nothing happens when she juggles sharp objects or objects set on fire, nothing happens when she’s high up in the sky, dazzling him in her sparkly purple outfit and bright magenta hair.

He watches her like a hawk, for the slightest droop of an eyelid, and he watches until she’s back on the ground and the crowd is roaring in applause.

Business is steadily climbing, the seats are filling out a little more each night, and it’s starting to lift something in him. When he masters the ring he does it with a flair they haven’t seen in ages, a sparkle in those wild eyes of his.

At the end of tonight, he counts their earnings while Kory sits leisurely on the corner of his desk, ignoring the extra chair completely. Her magenta stage wig is off now and her dark red curls tumble over her lithe but strong shoulders, she’s pretty like this, he thinks, but really she’s pretty no matter what.

“This is the most we’ve made all year,” he says, barely believing it himself although he’s counted the stacks three times. It’s enough to make up for the time the circus was closed and then some, it’s enough to take another few weeks off if they want.

“And yet I’m not entirely satisfied,” she says, pinching her chin in contemplation. “I have a proposition for you,” she says.

“A proposition?”

“What do you think about taking our show on the road?” she says. He doesn’t recoil at her calling it their show anymore, maybe he just got used to it, maybe he just gave up, but it doesn’t feel quite so wrong to his ears anymore, besides, it’s true, it is their show. Still, making it a traveling circus has never been something he seriously considered. It’s a huge undertaking, expensive and time draining. There’s a chance of course that they can recoup their losses in the increased ticket sales, but it’s a gamble even bigger than the one she took to earn this place.

“Do you know what that entails?” he says. “The train rental, the extra staff the ad space-

“The thingies and the whatnots?” she cuts in. “Why yes my dear, I know full well, and I think we’re perfectly capable. Think about it, we’re one of the few circuses that never moves, even now with all of our new acts attendance will start to level off, but if we’re in a new town with a brand new audience base then we’ll sell out every show easily and give Gotham a chance to really miss us.”

He’s considered all of this, surely more than she has, and just because she’s proven surprisingly good at running a circus doesn’t mean she’s fully prepared for what she’s suggesting.

“I ran the numbers left right and backwards,” she pushes. “We can do it, I know we can.”

He’s silent at her words, unmoved.

“Anyway, think about it.”

There’s a few more moments of silence before he answers. “I can think about it.”

“Good, oh and by the way, we have an elephant now.”

His eyes go wide and lock on her, trying to gauge whether she’s joking, but of course she’s never joking, every wild thing she’s said to him over the past several months has been 100 percent true.

“We don’t do animal acts, nothing but horses you know that.” “I do, and I’d never use him in an act. He was about to be euthanized. I couldn’t allow it.”

“Euthanized?”

“By the circus who bought him, he won’t follow directions worth a damn and costs too much to feed.”

“So you thought we could use the extra expense?” he says, getting agitated.

“Use it? No. Handle it? of course.”

He glances again at the stacks of bills on the desk. If he’d fought her more, took her to court, whatever it took to make his Circus his again, would they be there? Would he be this rested and this loose in the chest? He can smell the cash a little, it smells like old books and city grime and possibility. He focuses on her again, pushing his anxiety down and letting out an acquiescing breath.

“What’s its name?” He asks.

#dickkory #dickkory fanfic #tiger boy and the witch girl #dick grayson #kory anders #rachel roth #garfield logan #titans #titans fanfic #queerplatonic garchel

8 notes · View notes

wordsofrowan · 9 months

Text

Written in Ink

Chapter 3 - Ink Blots of Heartache

Nino went back to his desk, putting his head in his hands he sobbed into his arms. Alya hated seeing Nino like this, It crushed her to see her boyfriend so broken, and a part of her wanted to be angry that Marinette was purposefully hurting the class like this. It wasn’t fair. Why did they have to be the ones to hurt while she was off doing who knows what with who knows who in who knows where. Alya was thankful Monarch was gone because there was no telling what would happen if a Megakuma were to come after that class right now.

“Okay looks like my letter is next.” Alya let out a breath of air as she carefully unfolded the letter. Alya quickly noted all the teardrop on the page and her heart clenched.

“Dear Alya,

As I sit down to write this letter, my heart is burdened with a storm of emotions that have been brewing inside me for far too long. It is difficult to find the right words to express the depth of my pain and sorrow. Pouring my feelings onto paper has become easier in recent times, writing to the entire class was a challenge I could undertake, for I knew them all so well. They caused me hurt, yes, but it is the pain inflicted by you, Nino, and Adrien that has left me shattered beyond imagination.

First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude to you for being the one who chose to share these letters. I understand that it wasn't an easy task, and I appreciate the courage it took to shoulder such a responsibility. Your unwavering dedication to seeking the truth and your commitment to helping others has always been the qualities that made you an extraordinary best friend.

You possessed a fierce sense of justice, always ready to lend a helping hand to those in need. I want to begin by apologizing, Alya. I am sorry for leaving without explanations, and for denying you the chance to understand my reasons. Yet, in these past two years, I felt as if you never allowed me to defend myself either. The weight of pain and disappointment has overwhelmed me, drowning me in a sea of despair. Everything and everyone I held dear seemed to slip away from my grasp, and the weight became too heavy to bear.

You were my confidante, my pillar of strength, and I cherished your friendship more than words can convey. You guided me through the intricate maze of crushes, supported me in my day-to-day struggles, and I will forever be grateful for your presence in my life. But then there came a moment when I found myself utterly alone. You had left me behind, and the emptiness inside me was suffocating. I apologize for vanishing without an explanation, but I also regret not granting you the chance to comprehend my reasons. However, in these past two years, you didn't allow me to defend myself either. The weight of pain and disappointment I carried grew unbearable, and I felt lost in a world that seemed determined to abandon me.

Alya, I longed to believe that our friendship was unbreakable, capable of withstanding any trials that came our way. I believed that you would always stand by my side. But your actions shattered those beliefs. Instead of standing up for me, you chose to embrace the worst assumptions about me, without granting me the chance to share my side of the story. It demolished the trust I had in you, Alya, leaving me feeling utterly broken and alone. I don’t know what it was about her that made you choose her over me, I wish I knew what it was because after all this time I still don’t understand why you fell for her lies. I was your best friend, I was always there for you and yet you believe some flashy new girl over me. So I guess I’m sorry for whatever made you feel like I wasn’t a good enough friend to you.

My fervent hope is that one day you will grasp the pain you have caused me. I yearn for you to reflect upon the choices you made and the profound impact they had on our friendship. But for now, I need time to heal, to embark on a journey of self-discovery, and to find my path without the heavy weight of these betrayals burdening my shoulders.

Yet, despite all the hurt, please know that I treasured our friendship. You were my partner in crime, my partner in fashion, and my partner in life. The memories we created together hold immense significance to me, and I hold them close to my heart. I pray that one day, when the wounds have mended, we can reconnect and rebuild the once unbreakable bond that tied us together.

I want you to understand that my decision to leave wasn't rooted in blame or seeking revenge. It was a choice made to prioritize my well-being and find the space necessary for healing. The pain I endured cut deep, Alya, and I needed to distance myself from those who unknowingly contributed to it.

Thank you, Alya, for being a true friend. I will forever cherish the moments we shared—times of laughter, tears, and dreams. Your unwavering support meant more to me than any words could ever express. I sincerely wish you all the happiness and success in the world, and I hope that our paths may cross again one day.

With a heavy heart,

Marinette.”

Alya sat there, tears welling up in her eyes, as she finished reading the letter. The pain and regret in Marinette's words struck a chord within her. She realized that she had played a part in driving away her best friend, and it weighed heavily on her conscience. Alya's heart ached for the loss they both had experienced, and she knew that it was time for introspection and healing.

The classroom fell into a heavy silence as Alya finished reading Marinette's heartfelt letter. The weight of the emotions conveyed in the letter lingered in the air, causing a collective sense of sadness and remorse to settle over the students. Each of them had their own thoughts and feelings, struggling to process the revelations and the impact they had on their relationships.

Some students exchanged glances, their eyes filled with empathy and understanding. They could see the pain etched on Alya's face, realizing the weight of her actions and the consequences they had on their dear friend Marinette. They understood that forgiveness would be a difficult road to traverse, but they also hoped for a chance at redemption and healing.

Others were lost in their own reflections, contemplating the times they may have unknowingly contributed to Marinette's pain. Regret washed over them as they acknowledged their own roles in perpetuating misunderstandings or failing to offer support when she needed it most. They realized that Marinette's departure was not solely Alya's burden to bear, but a collective responsibility of the entire class.

Tears welled up in some students' eyes as they grappled with the magnitude of the hurt their friend had endured. They yearned for a chance to make amends and rebuild the shattered trust. The once vibrant and united class now faced the aftermath of secrets and betrayal, leaving them with a deep longing for reconciliation.

XoXo Rowan

#writing #spilled ink #miraculous au #miraculous fandom #Akuma class salt #marinette deserves better

5 notes · View notes

oceanspray5 · 3 years

Note

I feel like someone like you, who likes the Cinderella fairy tale for the fairy tale, would've liked the new Camelia movie just fine if it wouldn't have been named Cinderella and just another modern musical 🤧

Possibly...

But tbh my problem isn't just that they ruined the fairytale aspect of it but rather how much they tried to force the girlboss narrative?

This tweet more or less sums it up for me:

It's not the fairytale that I miss or that made me angry. It's the fact that they tried to make everything about it as "in your face" as possible while also getting the essence of it completely wrong. In a way this movie appeared to call the previous versions of Cinderella weak when that isn't true at all.

On a surface level this movie tried so hard to say it's about a strong woman but it completely forgot that the original Cinderella was strong af too even if she didn't go about saying "I'm a strong woman" every 2 seconds. The movie felt almost as if it was insecure in itself. As if the writer was scared they couldn't write an actual strong woman and instead decided to over compensate by having every single female character say it. When you have a good story, you show your audience rather than tell them things like "the female lead is a strong role model". When you have a strong character, you don't need to say it. The audience can see it for themselves.

If the script of the movie was in better hands, if it were a GOOD script in ANY capacity, then we'd see how Gwen is better suited for being Queen rather than have her give random untimely one-liners about things she would improve about the kingdom when the conversation being had on screen isn't even remotely related to it. She'd help the Prince escape while doing his paperwork for him and we'd see her drive a hard bargain for doing him this favor which would prove to us that she's an excellent negotiator but also that she knows matters of state. Or we'd see her do something necessary that needs to be done somewhere while everyone else is panicking over how to solve the problem. These visual cues, if they would have been included, would have shown us that Gwen both wants to be Queen and has the capability for it while Robert does not.

For the Queen... Wtf even was that whole shtick about the King's throne being an inch taller? They did a good job with her in the second half of the movie where she confronted the King about treating her badly but the first half? It was weird af. They tried too hard there too and they made the king over the top mean to his wife in the process.

That Queen Tatiana at the ball... Why did she have to have killed her husband? Why was it necessary to have that be her story? Was it that hard to have her say "Oh yes I'm at the ball with my husband but I'm the diplomat of our kingdom so I have to travel a lot and I need a designer to come with me on my travels"? This gets the message across just as well doesn't it? That the Queen is both independent and comes from a kingdom which is open minded about women undertaking important jobs BUT it would also have delivered another important message: The Queen is loved and supported by her husband and that marriage and love are things you can have while retaining your own autonomy. So again... Why was it necessary for her to have murdered her husband to be seen as "strong woman". The method the movie chose to go with has one less plus point than the one I just suggested and there were a billion other ways to go about it than the one I just said.

And Cinderella herself... She doesn't suffer any sort of abuse from her step family. They're mean to her but they're not cruel as in other versions of Cinderella and they certainly don't prevent her from having her independence otherwise she wouldn't have an entire basement full of her designs unharmed. In an actual Cinderella story, the step family would have exploited Ella's talents if they knew she was such a capable seamstress. In this movie, society is the abuser and not the stepmother and that sort of changes the entire narrative of the story.

Cinderella's story is about patience and courage and kindness and forgiveness. Her story being reduced to wanting to be a businesswoman just because it's more #girlboss than overcoming an abusive situation does not sit right with me at all. It's the opposite of feminist, in fact.

So yes, in a way you're right. If they had changed the name of the movie I would have tolerated it because it would be just another fairytale film but with a message targeting society's lack of acceptance of working woman. But I am not okay with them warping the message of Cinderella being an abusive victim and turning it into something it's not and turning her into something she's not.

If this movie wasn't called Cinderella, it would just be another bad film with a terrible script and meh acting. Unfortunately it is called Cinderella, so it makes sense it's getting a lot of criticism from me and many other people because the fact of the matter is:

Cinderella was already a strong woman's fairytale. This movie was just a weakened cheapened version of it that spent all of its time trying to use words to say it was about a strong woman to hide the fact that it wasn't actually about a strong woman at all because that would have required the writers to show strength rather than just tell it verbally and that is something they did not do.

Sorry... 😅 I went on a bit of a tangent there but I had a lot of feelings about this and I guess I used this as an opportunity to say them all.

#Cinderella 2021 #Cinderella #Girlboss (derogatory)#Fairytales #Feminism #Iffah answers

364 notes · View notes

chibimyumi · 3 years

Note

Is it weird to you that Snake has not brought up the Circus gang in quite some time? He seemed to believe O!Ciel's lie that the other members were still alive and O!Ciel was looking for them. I have a few thoughts as to why Snake hasn't pressed O!Ciel and Sebastian about the circus:

1) Snake is feeling secure for the first time in his life and knows he is protected and has access to life-sustaining resources at the Phantomhive manor. He doesn't want to entertain his doubts and avoids asking questions or mentioning the Circus members out of fear that he will both lose them and his new life simultaneously.

2) He knows Ciel lied but hasn't confronted him because of reason 1 and/or he is plotting his own revenge.

3) Or this could be a much simpler situation, where he feels like he does not have the status as a servant to approach Ciel, his employer, in such a manner.

Either way, Snake is somewhat of a "weak link" in the loyalty of Phantomhive servants. O!Ciel invited Snake to stay with him after a huge lie that was told to prevent Snake from murdering him. I theorize that R!Ciel will try to bring Snake over to his team. This could be done by reanimating one or more of the circus members, which could be either of R!Ciel's lords.

What are your thoughts?

Hope you are doing well! Thanks for taking time out of your week to update this blog, you're awesome!!! :)

Dear Anon,

Yeah I do find that noteworthy that Snake hasn’t at any point brought his old family up to anyone at all. To be entirely honest with you, I think the main reason he hasn’t done so is because PLOT. Yana is great, but not infallible to such “sshhhh, laaaaaaater....!!” actions.

As for your hypotheses; all very interesting!

Now, 🤔 what are my thoughts you ask... Out of the three, I personally think that if we need to consider in-story why Snake hasn’t addressed the issue (other than PLOT), it’s probably number 1 that is the most probable. What also might support this hypothesis of yours is that Snake probably has next to no social skills or trained judgement of people.

Before he was adopted by his circus family, he wasn’t even treated as a person. He was just “Snakeman”. How do you acquire any skills for interaction or judgement of people in such circumstances? As “Snakeman” he would only have learnt distrust and antagonism. Once adopted he was surrounded by people who were only 100% loving of him. This would surely only have taught Snake to think in black and white.

Understanding the countless layers between “good” and “bad” is a skill that needs to be honed; it’s not inborn. Understanding “hidden malign” or “conditional good will” is also an incredibly advanced skill. I doubt Snake has had the opportunity of learning and applying these skills.

Assuming the hypothesis to be correct that Snake never had the chance of unlearning black and white thinking, all he’d know from O!Ciel is that just like his trusted family, “Smile” also offered him a family and home. His old family who did that was therefore “good”, so “O!Ciel” who did the same is therefore also “good”.

“How could someone who is “good” do anything bad?” It may seem obvious this is BS when you’re an outsider, but one must never forget in real life many people have trouble seeing those who they consider good and trustworthy are capable of doing bad things.

Now about O!Ciel’s lie. I personally don’t think O!Ciel lied to Snake about wanting to relocate the “missing” circus members to prevent Snake from murdering him. I mean, Sebas could just make Snake vanish into thin air if he even so much as made an attempt. I think O!Ciel was just genuinely interested in Snake’s abilities as an enforcement to his private soldiers. The clear guilt he feels towards some circus members probably does also motivate the boy (subconsciously) to take care of Snake who really was innocent in Kelvin’s evil agenda.

About R!Ciel and Undertaker, yes using revived circus members would be a very macabre and interesting way to make Snake join their side, or at least make him leave O!Ciel. I don’t think any reviving is necessary because all Undertaker and R!Ciel would need to do is expose the truth to convince Snake... or just kill him (I don’t see how Snake would be of any added value to UT/R!Ciel). BUT, Kuro is a series that LOVES going that extra mile, and that’s why I love the series.

However, R!Ciel and UT would have to make do with just Peter and Wendy, and potentially Doll though. In this post I discussed whether it’s likely Undertaker would try to bait O!Ciel using revived Phantomhive members. At the time I forgot a detail, namely that Vincent and Rachel are reduced to ashes, so they can’t be revived no matter how good Undertaker would be at the skill. (So yes, long post short, “nope UT won’t” XD)

Back to the circus members. Joker, Beast and Dagger are all exploded/incinerated, so they’re out of the question. Judging from the head-sutures the head is necessary to create a Bizarre Doll. So Jumbo whose head got squashed by Finny is likewise no candidate.

We don’t know how Sebas killed Doll, so we don’t know whether her body is still in one piece. This means that only Wendy and Peter have the highest chance of being Bizarre Doll material.

Either way, thanks for sharing! It was very interesting!

【Related post: How much has Snake grown?】

#Snake #Bizarre Doll #Undertaker #r!ciel #circus arc

46 notes · View notes

justatiredghost · 3 years

Text

The Cost Ch4

Based on this idea by @serikyl, in which Klaus is able to bring Dave back to life, but there’s a cost; he also gains the ability to see the dead.

Just getting dressed in the clothes Klaus had found him felt like a huge undertaking to Dave’s tired muscles. By the time he was done, his arms were shaking from the exertion and he collapsed back onto the bed to rest a moment. He felt suddenly nauseous, itchy all over, and his entire body felt sore and drained completely. And the horrible ache in his chest was back, like he’d been punched in the sternum. Or hit by a cannonball.

It seemed like Klaus was feeling some of the same things, because when he glanced over, he saw him scratching his back and arms and everything else as he pulled on his own clean clothes. Or, at least, cleaner. He’d just grabbed some from off the floor, doing a quick smell check before shrugging and pulling them on.

Dave couldn’t help but smile as he watched him, loving any time he got to be so himself, in all his messiness and chaos and joy. Their hire-ups tried to stifle any personality out of all of them, but they never could get to Klaus. And getting this look into his childhood, his room? He felt so lucky to be able to get this peek into his life.

He wanted to look around more, maybe examine the writing and doodles on the walls, but his head was getting so heavy and fuzzy, and he was having trouble focusing enough to even make out the words, so he let his head fall back onto the bed and closed his eyes. He was just so tired.

“Dave? Dave, can you hear me?”

Klaus’ voice broke through, bringing him back to the present, and made him realize just how close to falling asleep he’d been. But there was a fear and urgency in Klaus’ voice that he had rarely heard, and somehow that hurt more than any physical ache.

“Yeah, yeah, all good here,” he said quickly, trying to sit up a little, reaching out to blindly pat Klaus’ arm. A habit they’d picked up, a way they could show some physical comfort and reassurance even when surrounded by fellow soldiers.

“Sorry, you were just so still,” Klaus began with a shaky sigh before he seemed to pull himself back together, voice taking on a teasing tone. “I probably should have let you sleep. You look like shit.”

“Ouch,” Dave chuckled. “Hit a guy while he’s down, why don’t you.”

“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be as good as new once you get 30 or so hours of sleep,” Klaus said with a grin.

Klaus had left the door to the bedroom open. It was a habit of his, not wanting to feel trapped, which Dave could understand. Still, if he’d been paying more attention, he might have at least asked to close it while they dressed. But then, they hadn’t seen anyone since they arrived and he was beginning to wonder if the place was completely abandoned despite how many siblings Klaus was supposed to have. He was wrong, though, and the sound of someone pointedly clearing their throat caused them to flinch apart.

“You good?” a boy, probably in his early teens, asked, one eyebrow raised as he glanced between the two of them and the bloody pile of clothes they’d left on the floor. He studied Dave with an intensity that made him feel like he was looking right through him, like there was nothing he could hope to hide from him.

“Five, hey,” Klaus exclaimed, and at least he didn’t sound upset to see him. He shrugged casually like this was all completely normal. “Yeah, fine.”

Klaus had, of course, told Dave a bit about his siblings, and Dave frantically tried to get his foggy brain to recall anything he could about this brother.

“Where do you want to begin?” Five asked, turning his full attention to Klaus, like Dave held no more interest to him.

“What do you mean?” Klaus asked innocently.

“Well, there’s the blood, the new tattoos, the man in your bed--”

Horrified, Dave shot up and scrambled off the bed to his feet. He could feel his face burning. Maybe he was overreacting, Klaus had mentioned his family didn’t caring that he was pansexual, but he didn’t exactly want to test that. Especially when the consequences of discovery not too long ago would have been severe, if not fatal. That initial fear response wasn’t something he was going to be able to overcome easily.

“Oh, no, it’s not—” Dave began, stumbling over his words and with no real idea what he was going to say, just that he needed to give Klaus some sort of out if he wanted it. Thankfully, he was interrupted.

“It’s fine, sit down,” Klaus said, waving a hand dismissively at him, like this wasn’t anything to worry about. To an amused Five, he continued, “It was just a crazy night, don’t worry about it.”

“More than one, by the looks of it,” Five said knowingly. He gestured towards Dave. “What about him?”

“I’m Dave, nice to meet you,” Dave said quickly.

“He’s with me,” Klaus said defensively. He dropped down into a chair, rubbing at his temple like his headache was getting worse. Dave let himself slump back down onto the bed, itching absently at his arm.

“Fair enough.” Five said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he studied the two of them. “You know, I can recognize the symptoms. And you’re both having them”

“What?” Klaus asked, sitting up to look at him, clearly ready for an argument.

“Jetlag, full body itch, the headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain,” Five explained, voice surprisingly sympathetic. “You gonna tell me about it?”

Klaus sighed and leaned back in his chair, glancing at Dave briefly before giving in. “Your pals, when they broke into the house and couldn't find you? They took me hostage instead.”

“And in return you stole their briefcase,” Five guessed, a slight grin tugging at his lips like he was impressed or proud.

Dave had heard some of the story and was worried Five was focusing on the wrong part. Yes, he was glad Klaus had managed to get the briefcase and escape, but if Five really did know these people that had been after him, he should know what they were capable of. What they might have put Klaus through.

“Yeah, I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, whatever.”

“And then, next thing you knew you were-- where? Or when?” Five asked excitedly.

“Why do you care?” Klaus said, standing up and turning away, suddenly defensive, and Dave knew he wasn’t going to tell him what else he’d been through.

“1968,” Dave filled in quickly when he saw the annoyance flash across Five’s face. He earned a glare from Klaus, and maybe he was overstepping, but he could tell when Klaus was ready to start an argument just to end a conversation. It was what he did when he felt too vulnerable, and maybe this way he could at least get the attention off of him. And, perhaps, avoid a fight between the two brothers.

“Thank you,” Five said pointedly to him. “Now, please tell me you’re from this time and just happened to accidentally get caught up in all this.”

“Um,” Dave said, glancing between the two, not sure what to say. Klaus shrugged unhelpfully.

“Klaus, you didn’t,” Five groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You can’t just— pull people out of their timelines like they’re souvenirs! Do you have any idea what his absence could do?”

“Don’t worry, he was already dead at the time,” Klaus said much too casually.

“Oh, great, you faked his death too?” Five said, exasperated.

“Didn’t need to,” Klaus said simply.

“I guess that means I was already absent from my timeline if you think about it,” Dave chimed in, earning a glare from Five. It was surreal to be talking about his own death like this, but he did his best not to think too much about it. Whatever drugs he’d taken earlier were helping with that at least.

“I— don’t have time to unpack what that’s supposed to mean,” Five said absently, beginning to pace. “Just tell me what you did with the briefcase. One disaster at a time.”

“I don’t know, I threw it in a dumpster,” Klaus shrugged.

“Where, Klaus?” Five snapped, spinning to face him, clearly running out of patience.

“In the alley behind the bus stop on 6th,” Klaus said, hands raised defensively.

“Fine. Don’t go anywhere,” Five snapped. “Just tell the others to stay put too.”

“Yeah, like they'll listen to me.”

“We’re not done talking about this,” Five spared a pointed glare in Dave’s direction before disappearing in a blue flash.

Dave just stared at the place he had been for a long moment, trying to figure out if he’d really just seen that. Sure, Klaus has talked about his family of superheroes, but it was still jarring to see someone literally vanish in front of him.

“Well, I think that went quite well,” Klaus sighed, dropping onto the bed beside him, sprawling out.

“Yeah?” Dave asked doubtfully, gingerly laying down beside him. “If that’s going well, I’m worried what going poorly will look like.”

“Blood, violence, for sure knives, there’s no getting around that one,” Klaus said cheerfully.

“You’re not helping,” Dave couldn’t help but laugh, gently shoving Klaus’ arm. But then he took his hand and squeezed it. Whatever weirdness he was going to go through, at least he could go through it with Klaus. “Are you doing okay?”

“What? Yeah, sure,” Klaus said. His voice was casual, like the answer was obvious, but there was no missing the way his eyes slid to the side, avoiding eye contact.

“Should we have told him about the whole coming back to life thing? If he knows about the briefcase, maybe he knows what happened.”

“Maybe later,” Klaus said. “He has to go save the world first.”

“Oh.”

“Come on,” Klaus jumped to his feet and hauled Dave up with him. “Let’s go raid the fridge and get some real food while we still can.”

#klaus hargreeves #dave katz #klave #klaus x dave #the umbrella academy #fanfic #the coast #my fic

12 notes · View notes

amplesalty · 3 years

Text

Halloween 2021 - Day 6 - Escape the Undertaker (2021)

How many Cameos do you think Netflix had to buy to film all this?

Well, this was kinda obligatory, wasn’t it? All these different wrestling related things I’ve looked at over the years, I just had to check this one out. Think this might be the first time I’ve looked at something within the same year of it’s release during the Halloween marathon. I think it’s come up a couple of times during the Christmas ones, usually for those Christmas movies involving The Miz.

There’s been a few stories within the last few months surrounding Netflix and their move into the world of gaming. I think everyone had the same thing in mind on this, something along the lines of this where it’s a sort of ‘choose your own adventure’ type deal similar to Bandersnatch a few years back. The general thought seemed to be they wouldn’t be delving into producing games and they also wouldn’t be doing an ‘all you can eat’ offering of several titles that would be downloadable as part of your subscription ala Microsoft’s Gamepass. But, apparently they have launched a mobile app that has games on there including one about Stranger Things so maybe it is something they’re going to be moving into. Or maybe they’ll do more of these type of things and it’ll be a best of both worlds?

WWE is something I’ve majorly fallen off of in recent years. I’ve gone through several stages with them, way back in the late 90’s it obviously had that cool factor to it due to the Attitude Era where Steve Austin and The Rock were household names and everyone seemed to be talking about it. I had very limited access to it in late 99/early 2000, mostly from watching Smackdown on Sky One and whatever stuff was on Channel 4. I think not being so readily just added something to it, like it felt like a treat to be able to see it. For a while I got into a habit of just watching Wrestlemania, then Royal Rumble & Wrestlemania before jumping back in more full time when Chris Jericho came back around 2007 or so. I was watching pretty much everything they did for a good few years before slipping back to just the PPV’s a few years back but now I’m probably just back to the Rumble/Mania and, even then, I didn’t even bother finishing Night 2 of Mania this year. Everything just feels so inconsequential and the product is just in a holding pattern and has been for years now. Even something like Big E winning the title recently should have been a big thing but I’m pretty sure my reaction was ‘...okay’. When the show is good, it’s so so good. Something like Kofi winning the title was just amazing but with the highs come the lows and a few months later you have him getting punked out by Lesnar like it’s nothing, just kinda bums you out.

I’ve mentioned the New Day a few times there and they’re one of my last links to the company now. I’m trying to wean myself off even checking results and highlights on YouTube but will religiously check out their podcast, even if that’s in spite of the product. Just them being themselves is entertaining enough outside of even being WWE Superstars. They have the kind of personality that can pull this off, they have that light hearted, fun side that mixes well with something that is kinda inherently cheesy.

So, what is this exactly? It’s an interactive movie in which the New Day descend on Undertaker’s mansion in an effort to take away the elusive urn, much fabled throughout WWE history as this powerful item capable of controlling the Undertaker. Why they’re doing this is a little vague outside of them just wanting to combine it with the power of positivity to become even more powerful. Guys, you’re already like 10 time tag team champions, and the longest reigning ones at that, how much more powerful can you possibly get?

You know what’s weird? They have this compilation talking about how The Undertaker is so great and what a legendary figure he is but one of the voices is Pat McAfee. Now, I like me some Pat McAfee but surely these two were of different eras. They’re using voice clips as if McAfee is calling Undertaker matches but that’s clearly never happened. Maybe there’s a thing about them using old clips after all that Jesse Ventura business? You would have thought that’d be written in contracts now though that they can use clips as they please in the future.

Naturally New Day plan this daring heist at night too, even if Xavier Woods is very much against that idea. Hey, this is the perfect time to do it, it’s obviously when Big E is at his strongest. I mean, he is the leader of the Night People. Oh man, now I want Big E to cut a promo in that voice about how he’s going to take the urn. “We are the Night People and we cannot be held back. We will be free to frolic through the neighbourhood as we please, free to enter your house and steal your supernatural vessels.”

It kinda sucks that Big E is a little subdued during this as he’s under the effect of having his soul taken by The Undertaker and that drives the story, they have only a short time to try and free E’s soul before it’s taken forever. Him being the bundle of charisma that he is still comes through most of the time but there are moments when he’s selling being groggy or having some weird screeching in his head.

At least, I assume that would be constant throughout? That’s what happened to me at least. Everyone splits up at the start, I selected Kofi as he went upstairs, only to be interrupted at one point by Big E’s cries for help as we find him trapped in a throne shaped like The Undertaker’s symbol, you know the TX thing? Maybe it happens to one of the other guys depending on who you pick, I dunno though, that seems like a lot of extra shooting to have to do to cover every single possibility on the branching paths.

That’s the cool thing about this though, once you’re done you can go back through again and check out the stuff you’ve missed. There’s stuff clearly going on on the paths you don’t choose as it’s mentioned briefly when the guys converge again so there’s some replay value there. In fact, right at the very start Undertaker asks if you’re ready to try and take the Urn, to which you can reply ‘No’ and some fake credits roll. That would have made for a much shorter review had I left it at that.

Going through this, I’m wondering if I have deep, subconscious hatred of Xavier Woods or something because I managed to get his arm trapped in a crocodile (that’s an odd thing to take out of context), have him abducted and dragged through the floor by The Undertaker, and then finally get buried alive. Oddly, those last two are far more in context given the universe this product exists in. I probably could have saved him during that whole burial part as you’re asked to turn to the dark side and join with The Undertaker but I refused. Loyal to the literal soil.

And I only got to that part because it came up as part of the choices, having to face the fear of one of the three guys. At first I chose Big E but upon seeing him with his head trapped in a glass box and a spider walking into frame, I NOPE’d the hell out of there.

Clearly this is all bullshit anyway. Everyone knows that Xavier Woods’ greatest kayfabe fear is Bray Wyatt.

Once you make it through that though, you’re faced with one final showdown with The Undertaker. If you want the urn, you’re going to have to go through him. He seems to have been working on some new powers since his retirement too:

Something wrong, New Day? You came here prepared to fight The Undertaker and instead you found…A GOD?!

It is nice to see Undertaker making things again, remember when he used to make all those coffins for his opponents? Like Yokuzuna’s that was double wide and double deep.

This final showdown isn’t quite on the level of some of the cinematic matches we saw take place over the pandemic but we get the big spots; the double goozle, the eyes rolling back in the head, the dramatic sit up. And even Triple H’s sledgehammer makes a showstopping appearance to save the day because, even in a interactive movie in which he plays absolutely no part, Triple H is still going over.

I ended my game by smashing the urn with said sledgehammer, something Big E was only capable of because I had picked up the ‘POWER’ vial earlier in the game. Listen, I don’t play those adventure games but even I know you have to pick up every piece of crap you see laying around because you just know that fish skeleton you pick out of your bin in the first five minutes is going to be the plot critical item that wins you the game at the end.

So, a bit of a neutral ending I’d say, the guys made it out alive but I didn’t have anything to show for it. Maybe I’ll try again sometime and see if I can capture that prized possession.

Overall, this was good fun. If anything, I’m kinda surprised by the lack of fan service on show. Again, maybe there’s more in the paths I didn’t take but I only saw a painting of Paul Bearer (complete with OH YEEEEEEEEEEEEES sound effect) and a corpse with ‘Isaac Yankem DDS’ on the toe tag. Going by some of those cinematic matches, they normally like crowbarring this stuff in left, right and centre so maybe they weren’t as hands on with this production. Seeing this is just a reminder that it’s really strange that WWE doesn’t do more stuff like this. Like, they had that period of time when they were bankrolling movies and sticking their guys in but there should be more projects like this. Like CM Punk said that time, why not have The Cannonball Run but with all WWE guys? I think you could do more of these, maybe not so much something like a Dragon’s Lair thing in a match where you have to do QTE’s to avoid moves and what not, but you could have like a backstage thing where you’re interacting with the other Superstars before going back to your lockeroom to find Randy Orton has pooed in your bag.

#Halloween 2021 #Escape the Undertaker #The Undertaker #The New Day #WWE

2 notes · View notes

epicwriting · 3 years

Text

Dreams, Failure and Destiny

Over the last week I was writing a manuscript for a short story. I wanted to explore new possibilities with writing and felt like doing something new after writing some columns. I was thinking of short stories and novels because they offer creative freedom while possibly generating income with them. Ultimately we all want to cash in on our undertakings, because it would allow us to get out of a less rewarding job we might currently have. Nevertheless, it seems like my venture didn’t go so well.

As I was working on the manuscript, I noticed that I was procrastinating severely. From the very first moment I was trying to distract myself. It reminds me of when I’m doing my monthly financial administration. Writing a complete short story takes much more time however. I found myself not being able to focus for more than just a few minutes at the time. In fact, I spent most of my time watching series. I knew I shouldn’t continue this way for the sake of my own happiness and progress.

Today, I came to the conclusion that this kind of writing is not for me; at least not in this way. I don’t like thinking up the structure of an entire story in fine detail. I can’t oversee it and this makes me feel out of control in a bad way. It reminds me a bit of doing my graduation research and writing the thesis. It was not until all the way at the end of my thesis that I started to oversee it and felt like I was in control again. Maybe I’m more of a person that should just start writing with only a vague plan, or maybe I don’t like fiction. But it comes down to personality.

Personality tests that I did before have shown that I’m quite a turbulent and not so assertive person. Maybe this means that I find it hard to focus on one project for a long time without feeling a sense of reward regularly. Looking back at one’s own childhood can also be helpful. If I look back at my past, I know that I didn’t write fiction nor created stories in my head. It comes down to the simple fact that we have to understand our own thinking.

You have to understand the way you think in order to know what kind of work suits you and what not. When you’re trying something new and you’re experiencing difficulties, try to understand why. In case of my attempt on a short story, I could have ended up calling myself lazy and worthless for not being able to focus. But instead of doing that, I just stuck to it for a while and observed my own behaviour. I started to realise that my procrastination basically came from doing something that I didn’t like. It’s easy for us to focus on something if we feel like we’re doing it well, but often we end up doing things for status while being unhappy with the actual job.

We’re often driving by the status that a certain job gives us when we’re dreaming. But this status has no connection with our capabilities, only with our ideals. If you find that a job goes well for you, then it’s probably something you have talent for. But if this is not the case, it’s important to understand what it is about yourself that makes it difficult. The job itself will not change. You might have to do the job in a different way or you can come to conclude that it’s not your destiny. We must try to understand what that is so that we won’t try things over and over again that requires a talent we don’t have.

It’s OK to be driving by status when thinking about finding a job that feels more rewarding, but only professions that we were made for lead to personal fulfilment. This means that you have to find rest in your destiny or ‘love yourself’. We are driven by status, whether we like it or not, and should therefore be aware of it. This way we can prevent ending up with endless, frustrated ambition. Ultimately, wise people only do things for which they know they have the talent and strength. Most of us can only learn what we’re good at through trial and error. But we must do the inner work too to come to realisations.

#Writing #philosophy #stoicism #creative writing #talent #my personality

2 notes · View notes

wrestlingwithhistory · 3 years

Text

Why do I like Pro Wrestling?

Even though I’ve put a few posts up on the page already I wanted to introduce myself a little and break down why I’m doing this and give a bit of history about me and why I like pro wrestling.

My name is Kyle, I’m 33 from South Wales, I am married with 2 children. I first started watching wrestling when I was about 7 which I will go into as we go through the post. I started this blog for 2 reasons.

1. I love stories about pro-wrestling and wrestling itself.

2. I am starting a creative writing course and want to keep on top of writing so that I am comfortable with writing as I haven’t done it since I was in school.

Now, there are a million stories from Pro Wrestling that you’ve heard from the Benoit Murders to The Montreal Screwjob to The Plane Ride from Hell, but I have an interest in writing about the stories that people are maybe not as aware of that still involve some of the biggest names in Wrestling history.

Nowadays, we can be thankful as wrestling fans that we have a multitude of ways that we could watch wrestling thanks to the rise of streaming sites, Youtube and online stores which you can buy DVD’s or digital copies of your favourite events. Being a child of the 90’s, you would stumble across wrestling almost out of nowhere. I remember being in my grandparents’ house maybe aged 5 or 6. I never had satellite or cable TV growing up, only terrestrial, and coming in one morning and seeing Hulk Hogan on the TV in my grandparents’ house really caught my attention. I couldn’t tell you what show it was or who else was on it, but I remember as I watched Hogan, waving his arms to the crowd and cupping his ears to the Hulkamaniacs as he did throughout his career, that I held a curiosity toward wrestling and did ever since.

I can then remember a few years later one of my best friends growing up had a video at home which on the cover, a man would be fighting himself! Undertaker vs Undertaker. Back then, it was the most amazing thing possible, the mystery of how a wrestler could square off against himself in the ring was unimaginable for a then 7–8-year-old. Of course, that event being Summerslam 94 would not be the great event you look back on, but you appreciate the spectacle of it. I do look back fondly on that VHS and as I watch the event back, the standout match-up is clearly the Owen Hart vs Bret Hart Steel cage match, but it’s not the type of thing you value as a child.

You value spectacle. You value entertainment. At least I did anyway. You treat it the same way you treat a cartoon or movie, you suspend your disbelief for a few moments and take in the pageantry of it all. Some people class Wrestling as 3rd hand entertainment, and I have had many occasions where people have made jokes of the fact I watch wrestling, to the point where I would not even mention it if asked.

But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to not care and be happy with the fact I like it so much. It’s not a guilty pleasure, It’s just a pleasure. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve also embraced less of the spectacle side of it I once did and look at the athletic feats that take place in the ring, focusing on the technique that these men have to make it look as dangerous as possible, all the while keeping their opponent safe. I do still appreciate the entertainment value, but I definitely look at things like the work rate of the competitors and what they are capable of.

During my teens, we used to travel to video store not too far away from us in a town called Bargoed. Global Video was one of the first places to stock ECW VHS cassettes. My friends Daniel, Josh and I would go there, pick out a few VHS and go back to Josh’s room to watch them. One of the first ones I can remember watching was Living Dangerously 1999. For its time, the pacing and the layout of the matches were a perfect fit for that show. I remember thoroughly enjoying Tajiri vs Super Crazy, Sid and Spike Dudley vs The Dudley Boyz and also New Jack vs Mustafa which was enough violence for a teenage to endure at that point.

The one match from that event which today I place in my top 10 matches ever is Rob Van Dam vs Jerry Lynn for the TV Title. Watching the opening exchange between the two men figure each other out, reversals of pins, hammerlocks and wristlocks was fantastic and when they separated and looked at each other, it was rapturous. The crowd ate it up. You could tell something special was taking place. As the match continued, I saw things that I never would have seen on WWF during that time realistically speaking. There was a reason the E stood for Extreme in ECW. They always took things to the next level, and while the TV Title was far from being the most brutal match on the card (in part due to New Jack!) it was creative in the way it structured the use of weapons, tablet spots and fighting outside the ring. When the bell rings at the end for a timer limit draw, as a first-time viewer you feel almost cheated, not by the quality of the match but by the fact it could have gone on for another 30 mins. When Jerry Lynn requests 5 more minutes and is granted it, you think you are in for a Jerry Lynn victory but RVD pulls it out of the bag at the end hitting the 5-star Frog Splash. And great ending to a great match.

Throughout this time the Attitude era was in full affect. WWF had a huge roster of stars that any company would have been proud to have, Stone-Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle. It was a pleasure to watch some of these events. My friend Michael would record Raw and later Smackdown and let us borrow the tapes so we could get our fix. In January 2000, Channel 4 had gotten a deal to show a few WWF Pay-per-views for free starting with the Royal Rumble. I stayed at Daniel’s house and we watched it live on a small TV. We were extra excited that Taz showed up on the event to face Kurt Angle with an extra ‘Z’ in his name, especially after find ECW a few months previous. Add to that the shock factor of Mae Young’s striptease, the Rumble result, the street fight between Cactus Jack and Triple H, the tables match between the Dudleys and Hardys, it was a phenomenal show.

With the events now being on Channel 4, I would look eagerly on internet forums during school hours trying to find out which ones were next. I remember staying up and watching Backlash 2000 and Fully Loaded of that year, also recording them to go back and watch and study the matches. I would cover the back of the VHS case with white stickers and write the match card on the back in order, so I knew where to find my favourites. They also stared showing Sunday Night Heat as well, which I later years would also have an RVD vs Jerry Lynn match up but not at the same quality as the ECW Event the years previous. These events on Channel 4 ended with the Invasion PPV in 2001 after WWE bought WCW and ECW acquiring many, but not all of their top stars.

Tying this in with Video games like WWF Attitude, Smackdown, WCW/NWO Revenge, WCW Mayhem it helped nurture my love for it even more especially WWE Smackdown 2: Know Your Role because you can create your own shows, wrestlers and storylines. We would have nights playing the game having Royal Rumbles and tournaments, finding how to create wrestlers from online forums like CAWs.ws.

My friend Daniel got the internet at home and we would spend hours searching Kazaa for wrestling videos we couldn’t find on VHS, in-between searching for Create-a-Wrestler guides for Smackdown games. They would usually be the Music Video highlight reels of matches we would want to see. Being early 2000’s it was usually set to Creed, Godsmack or Limp Bizkit but it would be things like Sabu vs RVD in a stretcher match, seeing Goldberg jackhammer The Giant/Big Show, and whatever we could find of these old matches you would read about in Power Slam magazine like the Exploding Barb Wire matches involving Mick Foley, Terry Funk and Onita.

A few years later, with the introduction of freeview satellite there was now more channels in homes than before and one of those was The Wrestling Channel. I turned it to this station thinking it would be WWE but was amazed to see companies more similar to ECW. US Promotions Ring of Honor, Combat Zone Wrestling, TNA/NWA and a few smaller based promotions were present as well as a mix of local British talent. It was on this channel that I first saw a match that involved light tubes, obviously CZW. Although not my favourite style, death matches certainly have a car crash factor to them. You know something gruesome is going to happen, but you can’t look away. But on the opposite of that, with ROH you got to see unbelievable work rate wrestling with the likes of CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson and Low Ki and with TNA similar talents but with more professional looking, AJ Styles, Teddy Hart and Jeff Jarrett being stars that shone there.

Getting to see high flying stars like Amazing Red, Jack Evans, Teddy Hart, AJ Styles was enthralling. It was a side of pro wrestling you never saw on the more methodical WWE and I would watch whenever possible but still getting my WWE fix via VHS recordings Michael would lend us, especially as some of our favourites from ECW and WCW were now competing there.

From around 2006, I began to wane off watching Wrestling as often. I was playing in a band and focusing on that was well as starting a relationship with my now wife. My band mates Lloyd and Ryan were into Wrestling, so I used to and still do talk to them about it now and then. We used to go to local wrestling shows in Merthyr Tydfil for Celtic Wrestling. Back then, they were just Joe Nobodies wrestling in a bar, but as I look back over many of the people on that show, they have foundations on Wrestling all over the world.

A list of some of the names I got to see in Merthyr Tydfil; Sheamus – Now WWE, Steve Corino – ECW Legend, Zack Sabre Jr – Current New Japan star, Tracy Smothers – Wrestling Journeyman passed away in 2020. I remember seeing Tracy Smothers and I was a fan from ECW when he was with FBI and he was great and a nice guy after the show too. The fact that someone who was wrestled for WWE, ECW and WCW was in Merthyr wrestling, to me was mind-blowing!

A few months later I found out they were doing Wrestling training at The Studio Bar in Merthyr in around 2008 (could be way off), so I went along. I didn’t tell anyone, I got dressed in football gear and told my girlfriend Sara I was off to play football. Instead, I went into this bar and rolled around on some mats for beginner lessons on a Wednesday learning basic holds and how to bump. I really enjoyed it and it was better than bumping on the grass like I used to do as a kid in my local park. I went twice in all, as much as I wanted to go back and keep going, I was thinking that playing music would be easier to justify to someone than saying you were a wrestler so that was that.

I always kept an eye on wrestling but not as intently as I did before, maybe it was my way of disconnecting from wanting to do it as much as I did. I would watch the odd Raw or Smackdown and just buy the Big 4 Pay-per-Views and this went on for close on 8 years, just dipping in and out casually but still knowing who was in the business and doing things else were. We still had TNA in the UK so getting to see that was great, especially with the talent they had there for a while.

It wasn’t until 2016 I started to get back into wrestling as much as I do now. AJ Styles had finally joined WWE after seeming he would never appear there and that interested me because AJ is probably one of my favourites of all time. Twitter was blowing up because of a match between Will Ospreay and Ricochet in the Best of Super Juniors during that year. Seeing mostly positive comments and the odd one or two negative comments from old school wrestlers. So, I clicked on a then Youtube video of the match and it was such a great match. I felt the buzz straight away and immediately started to get the itch back for watching wrestling again.

I had no experience of much Japanese wrestling, but I always enjoyed reading in magazines about people like Jyushin Thuder Liger and The Great Muta and seeing their matches on WCW years ago, as well as people like Taka Michinoku and Tajiri but the Ospreay-Ricochet match convinced me to sign up to NJPW World. That summer I followed the G1 closely. Bullet Club madness was in full effect, seeing the iconic t-shirts and the way they were in the ring were similar to NWO, almost too much to a fault. I didn’t really know any of the performers in the tournament but after watching matches, would go back through the New Japan archives and watch the matches of Okada, Tanahashi, Naito, Shibata and the others, getting to know their styles and gimmicks.

One that immediately jumped out to me was Kenny Omega. He was one of 4 non-Japanese wrestlers (Gaijin) in the whole tournament. I learned that he had turned on AJ Styles and took over as leader of Bullet Club. I went back and watched AJ’s final matches against Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom 10, and then the tag match the following night between AJ and Kenny vs Nakamura and Yoshi-Hashi. I followed Kenny closely over the G1 and into the finals against Hirooki Goto which was an absolutely brilliant match. Omega ended up winning, going onto Wrestle Kingdom 11 to face Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. I checked my work diary to see if I had work that day, and I was off! Due to the time differences, I was able to catch some of the pre-show in the morning, drop my oldest daughter off to school and come back in time for the Naito-Tanahashi and Omega-Okada matches.

I got back and watched the Naito-Tanahashi match, a really fantastic match to which I remember saying to myself ‘the main event is going to need to be special to top that’. Cue watching my personal favourite match of all time. The pacing and the psychology of the match were so well done, Omega targeting Okada’s back ready for the One-Winged Angel but never getting to hit it through the match. The springboard moonsault to the outside over the guard rails, the Tope Con Hilo over the top which still holds one of the iconic images of the match as a whole, Okada’s resilience as a champion, back dropping Omega over the top rope to the outside through a table. It was and is incredible, debatably one of the greatest matches of all time. Not just in my opinion but for many others as well. And so, I was back in. From that point onwards, I was an ardent fan once again. I would use the archives of WWE Network, NJPW World, Youtube, Highspots Wrestling Network to feed my addiction, following twitter pages which is just GIF after GIF of just the craziest moves.

I would try and watch as many of the live shows in Japan as possible to watch Omega perform and throughout 2017, even though it probably could have been savoured a bit more, we got to see 2 more amazing Omega-Okada matches at both Dominion and G1 and also a lead to Omega-Jericho for WK12. Both my current favourite and my all-time favourite meeting for the first time for a great match. From a Kenny standard it was not as good as some of his previous but for Jericho it was probably one of his best even compared against some of his classics against the likes of Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit.

In the Summer of 2018, I watched the Dominion show where again Kenny Omega went up against Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight championship. It was a 2 out of 3 falls match with no time limit. I couldn’t get the time off work for the event so I managed to smuggle my phone into work and would watch intently while selling mobile phones. It was another amazing match up, but I had to watch it over again after finishing work so that I could experience with sound, but even on silent, you could feel how brilliant the match was and Kenny finally defeated Okada for the title. Even though Kenny won it, I much preferred him fighting from beneath, almost as if achieving the pinnacle of wrestling was never going to happen. Even though he had a good handful of matches as champion, the ensuing AEW venture obviously scrapped any possibility of a long-term reign. Also disappointing to see New Japan miss a trick by letting Ibushi win the G1 and then the title from Kenny at WK13, instead vying for Tanahashi who, for as great a performer as he is, was not in his prime and the story between Ibushi-Omega would have been concluded or at least cliffhung until a later date. That aside, the show killed. It was amazing, but you could see the writing was on the wall in terms of Omega, the Young Bucks, Adam Page leaving to start AEW in 2019.

That kind of takes it up to current day, or at least as close to it as possible. It was possibly a long-winded diatribe of saying ‘Yeah, I like Wrestling’ but I hope it helps people to understand what drives me to write about it, why I enjoy watching this often joked about form of entertainment and why I think people could probably appreciate it more.

My messages are open if anyone wants to ask me any questions about wrestling or share stories about your own experiences, favourite matches or even stories that you would like me to cover, and I will try and find something to contribute to the page if possible.

Please read through the posts, like and share if you enjoy and leave comments if you wish to appreciate, critique or contribute towards the stories if you know anything I may have missed out.

Thanks!

#wrestlingwithhistory #wrestling #wwe #njpw #aew #ecw #roh #czw #wcw

7 notes · View notes

faelune-home · 3 years

Text

(fanfic) “how the guiding light wavers”

(A/N: I’ve had this in the works for a few weeks now. I first brought it up in this long post I wrote to establish character stuff, but this is the work that will finally make me feel a bit more secure in writing for my miqo’te girl. I’m aware it all sounds convoluted and bizarre to fixate on a name like this, but it was something that bothered me, and I’m the one actually doing the writing for my own character, so I do hope that this fic finally makes writing easier.

But alongside the name stuff, it’s also a larger look at where Fhara is emotionally throughout Shadowbringers I suppose. A little bit of where she’s come from and where she’s been so far and where she stands before entering Endwalker, so there’s at least a little bit more to this fic than just name shenanigans. XD

Name shenanigans and heroic title woes and legacy musings. All wrapped up in a complicated bow. Aha. I’ll probably do more Scion interaction focused additions on Fhara’s woes and worries later, especially since I had some in the original fic only to remove them as it was getting way too wordy, but this is the main meat of those feelings here and now.

Strong spoilers for the ending Stormblood patches and Shadowbringers, more so 5.0 and then just fleeting mentions of patch stuff. Set after 5.3.

Word count: 4760

Ao3 link)

When she set out from her home for Eorzea’s shores, she had a goal; to become a hero, and make her name known across the world. To be known as someone great and powerful, with monsters big and small bested at her hand, yet also someone kind and helpful, saving people and making their life a little bit easier. A lofty goal, but one she figured could be done, one small step at a time. After all, every adventurer started small.

Little did she know that her forays in Eorzea would grant her her desires, at a much faster rate than she anticipated; she joined the Scions, with their close ties to the city leaders and their own aims to protect the realm, and in gaining a reputation as a primal slayer, became known as a fabled Warrior of Light. A type of hero normally assigned to legend. It was everything she could have wanted and maybe even more than she could handle. It was a heavy title, but one she wore proudly, all while continuing as she had originally planned.

Yet as time passed, the weight grew heavier. There was still pride and joy in doing the right thing for the sake of others, protecting the innocent from those that would do them harm, but at some point, in the midst of the fighting, torn between Ascians and the Empire, despite doing the same thing she always did, her thoughts would wander to her original purpose in undertaking this grand adventure.

To become a figure of whom stories would be told, for those stories to return to her home and inspire the younger children, much like the old tales had inspired herself. To teach them to do good, to do better, to help others, to be brave, to be kind. An idealistic idea but one she held fast to. And by all accounts, fighting under the Warrior of Light title aided her even further in another aspect of her plans; to allow her to step back from the world once all is done and know peace when she hung up her bow and settled down.

When she set out from her home, she was ‘Fufu’; an old childhood nickname she’d long outgrown in her village, with the exception of her aunt, repurposed for her heroic exploits until the Warrior of Light title seemed to do the job better. Then in Eorzea, in the comfort of those she came to call a second family, she could be Fhara again. And it was nice, comforting even. To know that others knew her as more than just her heroic title, and that the Rising Stones could feel like a home so far away from home.

A home that was always filled with the sound of laughter or chatter, always someone socialising with a friend or partner, or busy working, the Rising Stones had all the energy and joy within its walls that she knew from her home, even with all the group had been through. To find that joy stripped out, the halls empty of people as her dearest friends collapsed into lifelessness and everyone else was left to fill in for their missing teammates…

For Fhara, it left her with no-one. But the Warrior of Light still had work to do.

The Warrior of Light had faced down conquerors, defeated dragons, set free thousands from the shackles of tyranny. But Fhara had never been alone in her feats, always with her companions at her side, or standing strong behind her, keeping the way clear for her, ready to back her up.

The Warrior of Light would go on to face Zenos that day in Ghimlyt Dark, the whispered tales from young inexperienced soldiers speaking how she almost pushed him back single handedly, with the famed Azure Dragoon jumping into the fray to assist her. In truth, Fhara stood alone on that battle field, facing a barely weakened, Ascian possessed corpse, the collapsed figures of her resistance comrades strewn behind her, she kept going until she herself blacked out under mysterious circumstances, only surviving by Estinien’s timely arrival.

Her recovery in Ishgard started her thinking, mixed in with the anxious waves of the mysterious caller’s words. The Warrior of Light would ever be revered for their acts, but as a single entity. Whereas Fhara, while capable on her own, worked best with a team, with her friends by her side. Working out a plan of attack together, or simply knowing they were there with her gave her strength. Yet standing on the field that day, the only thing giving her the strength to fight on was the desire to protect others, for if the Ascian controlling the fallen crown prince made it past her, Eorzea would no doubt suffer.

Then a stray thought...what gave her the strength to start doing all of this in the first place? What was her drive to begin with? It seemed so long ago…

‘Fufu’ had come all the many malms from a small village on the outskirts of Thavnair to become a hero, one that would have bard songs made about her for the sake of children’s tales. But the Warrior of Light had ultimately taken on that role. So what was the point of continuing to call herself ‘Fufu’ to the public? Was it just a habit by that point? A desire to hide herself behind an identity that both was and wasn’t her? After all, it was a nickname that had long been associated with her, and in the absence of any other ideas for an alias to call herself - oft teased as she was for her poor imagination for naming things - she had fallen to the easiest idea of her old childhood moniker.

Maybe it was time to move on from such childish notions? Her thoughts were neither bitter nor certain. The questions merely buzzed in her head as she left them unanswered.

She left the city with her golden hair cropped, a request asked of Jandelaine, met in passing before she left Ishgard behind her.

“It is a shame,” he’d said at the sight of her shorn twintail, the other loose from the hair tie, matted with blood and dirt, “But I can tidy it up and it’s like it never happened. A return to beauty and grace, just say the word.”

She could’ve kept it the same, and continued on as normal. But instead it was all gone. Because maybe a fresh start was what she needed?

~*~*~

The First was not a fresh start. At least not one Fhara was expecting. A land on the cusp of destruction, perpetually bathed in an unnatural eerie light, the people hunted by Sin Eaters, suffering either death or a torturous transformation in turn. She very quickly learned how terrifying, how desolate some corners of the land of Norvrandt could be, and she could well understand why, if people were living in such conditions.

Her first port of call in the strange new land was the oddly familiar gleaming tower, a recognisable pillar even against the hazy glowing sky. And within was the enigmatic Crystal Exarch, ready to greet her with open arms.

She had mixed feelings about the Exarch, on many points; having Called her friends and left their lifeless bodies back on the Source in an uncertain state, or even that Calling them was an accident in itself, since she herself was meant to be the target gave her no end of frustration toward the man. Even then with the knowledge that he hadn’t intended to summon the other Scions, the idea that he had wanted her to act alone in saving the First was one Fhara couldn’t help but balk at.

Of course she was willing to help, she couldn’t stand seeing people suffer while she knew she could do something. But to think she would be able to handle the work singlehandedly was pure folly. In that way, perhaps it was a small relief then that she had the Scions to help her, unintentional was their presence on the First. Even with the uncertainty surrounding their summoning and the state of their separated selves, she at least had her friends and teammates with her.

However it was his first impression beyond his summoning mishaps that stuck with Fhara and kept her uneasy around the man; no sooner had she arrived at the gate, he had welcomed her past his wary gate guard, quick to introduce her and settle her into the Crystarium. A warm welcome for sure, and not one she was ungrateful for, however the mix of familiar and unfamiliar in the man’s demeanor made her cautious.

That he knew her so well, so casually referred to her as ‘Fufu’ before she had even introduced herself, how comfortable he seemed while using it - hand waved away as him learning it from old records stored within the Tower, a name used in tandem with the Warrior of Light title, although it reignited her recent troubled thoughts on her public identity - while she knew nothing about him, that not even his own people could say much of him did nothing to ease her. Every factor together had her wanting to keep the Exarch at arms length. She would do as he asked - save the First, bring back the Light, prevent another Calamity from decimating the Source - and in return, he would return her friends’ home. That was all that was needed.

Of course, things would never be that simple.

In a land ravaged by Light for 100 years, a Warrior of Light was considered a heathen, a villain that had doomed them all. Instead, the people hoped and prayed for a Warrior of Darkness to be their hero. And so Fhara, with the starlit sky returning in the wake of her arrival, would become that hero.

Fhara didn’t want to say she hated it, however the dizzying speed with which the title and the stories spread was a shock to the system, moving even quicker than her reputation as the Warrior of Light had grown on the Source. She couldn’t blame the people for their enthusiasm, especially when the hero of legend’s arrival coincided with the return of the night after a century without.

She didn’t hate it. But she found herself seeking the comfort of her closest friends more often than she used to before. She knew they weren’t looking at a grand hero, but just Fhara, who stood up to answer the call. And they stood with her. As the days would pass on the First, rarely was she without a Scion by her side, only truly left alone in the comfort of her inn room, and even then, the wayward spirit of Ardbert was a presence she didn’t resent.

The days would pass, and the night returned across the land, and beyond the walls of the Crystarium, away from the crowds of people that would revere a hero, through pixie flower beds and dense forests ever shaded from the skies, and into desert ruins of a civilisation long lost-

“Welcome aboard, Ryne.”

Fhara had seen the young Oracle struggle under the weight of her legacy, the expectations of her duty to protect and act as a beacon of hope for the people of Norvrandt, while also living in Minfilia’s shadow by virtue of her name and powers. Fhara could empathise with the young girl, having long known the feeling of so many people relying on her and her own more recent doubts that she could live up to those hopes. She kept trying all the same, as she knew the Oracle would as well, for it wasn’t in Fhara’s nature to give up if she could do something.

But now, seeing the newly christened Ryne standing with a fresh air of confidence about her, her only nerves being about doing a good job for the sake of the team and helping relinquish Amh Araeng from the grip of the Light, Fhara was proud of the girl for her new lease on life.

Yet also a tiny bit jealous, that all it took was a name and a declaration to do better by herself for the girl to suddenly be brimming with courage, whereas Fhara fretted and frayed and languished under a gifted moniker, calling herself by her childhood name and then acting as though it were her only option, that she had no other choice...but was it always that simple? To just announce to the world you could be born anew yet still the same person?

Perhaps it wasn’t exactly the solution Fhara was looking for, but it was an idea towards a resolution for her woes. After all, she wasn’t trying to begin fresh like Ryne, Fhara just wanted to be Fhara, as she always had been. It was just trying to express that to the world at large.

It was only when the Light she had been capturing within herself finally overpowered her and left her weakened and stumbling, sitting at death’s door, did it finally seem to become clear to her. So rarely before had she gotten so close to death that she had never thought so closely about what she would leave behind, or who would remember her and how. The people of Norvrandt knew the Warrior of Darkness, Eorzea knew the Warrior of Light and the Scions knew Fhara. And if she died that day that would be the memory she would leave behind.

Yet she realised, lying in her inn room, she didn’t want to just be remembered as a hero under a title, or by a name that most of her nearest and dearest scarcely used. She wanted to be remembered as Fhara, at least if it were possible.

She’d certainly made the attempt to introduce herself as such during their travels across the realm, but with how quickly people came to know her as the Warrior of Darkness, she feared that her attempts were being drowned out. However before their ascent of Mt Gulg, as the crowds gathered from across the land to assist them, she found that they knew her as Fhara, and they would talk to her, and they wished all the Scions the best of luck. And among a small few, the Warrior of Darkness was not a title solely attributed to her, but to all of her friends.

It was nice. A reassuring gesture that her efforts were noticed. Even as she stumbled her way to the deepest depths of the seas in pursuit of Emet-Selch - keenly aware that if she failed, she would be dooming the First and her fellow Scions along with her - she held onto that knowledge. After all her worries, it was an odd source of courage for her, bolstered by her desire to survive, and the understanding that she wasn’t alone in her duty.

Altogether her feelings gathered, and in the face of death and her desperate wish to live, and her wish to be known for more than her heroic tales, she made her decision. She’d never been afraid to make the first step before, not even into the unknown. She’d come all the way to Eorzea on a whim and a want, and faced almighty foes more powerful than herself with nothing more than the determination to protect those that could not fight back.

If she lived through this fight, she would cast aside her anxieties, and take that first step again.

~*~*~

Fhara wasn’t the type to call meetings, she was the type to attend someone else’s meeting. And yet the majority Scions were gathered in the Rising Stones, with the miqo’te standing at the head of the pack, nervously shuffling her feet. What few Scions that weren’t accounted for were assured to be updated afterward.

She ran her fingers through her hair, no doubt to calm some nerves, although the action drew the attentions of the group members that had only seen her sparingly during her otherworldly adventures; since last they had seen her, she’d left for the Crystal Tower with a short crop, still wearing her tattered and torn bard coat, an uneasy smile on her face as though more to reassure those around her than because she genuinely felt like her hopeful self. Yet each time she returned to report to Tataru with updates, she was a brighter figure, with a spring in her step as she relayed the progress on the First, and her hair would grow out slowly to the feathered bob she now wore. It wasn’t quite the cute twintails they’d known her for when they joined, but she looked all the more confident nowadays with it.

She finally started, with a loud voice, albeit one that cracked as though there was still some anxiety holding her back, “I have something I want to say. Something I’ve been thinking about for a long while now and that I want to be clear on moving forward.”

Any mumbling between parties silenced immediately. Fhara’s tail flicked at the now heavy hush, however some encouraging gestures from the figures at the front most row - some few nods and a thumbs up here and there - allowed her to continue, “Thank you for being here. Truthfully, some people here already know what I’m gonna talk about. But I’d rather make it clear to everyone now. This whole thing might sound rather silly to some people, that I’m worrying over nothing. Some of you might even say that if it means so much to me, then it’s not such a trivial thing. And I appreciate that, I do.”

She hesitated, ears suddenly flattening. “To cut out a long story, when I came to Eorzea, and when I joined the Scions and became known as the Warrior of Light, I told everyone here they could call me Fhara. It’s who I am after all. But outside where people would know the Warrior of Light better, then they should call me ‘Fufu’. That’s still technically me, it's an old name I was called as a child. And it’s the name I chose for travelling because...I suppose the easiest way to put it is that I wanted to separate my private life, if I ever chose to return home, from my adventure life. But lately with everything that happened and with a lot of the dangers getting so much bigger than even the Warrior of Light I just started to worry about who I really was and what I was doing.”

“Like how? You seem the same to me?” Aenor spoke up, ignoring the disapproving nudge from her frowning sister.

“I mean, I hope I do,” Fhara smiled, although it was more wistful looking than pleasant, “I never tried to pretend to be someone I’m not, no matter where I was or who I was with, or what name people called me. But I started thinking I was getting lost with myself, like people were seeing two different people with me.” Her tail flicked again. “I should say now, I don’t hate being the Warrior of Light. A lot of people try to project that I’m frustrated with it or that I could be doing better with a title like that, but none of that is true. I don’t hate it. But it’s hard. People have big hopes and expectations for me when they treat me like that, and I’ll always try to reach them, but it’s not always easy to do alone. So truly, I’m forever grateful to have you all with me at my side.”

Casting a glance over the Archons and the twins, Fhara continued, her voice somehow smaller, “But when the Callings happened, and then everyone else here was stretched to take over the work, and this place was left empty so much, I...well, as senseless as it might sound, I felt alone. But I still had a job to do, but doing it alone was hard. Because everyone else knew this brave warrior that could handle anything, and I didn’t feel like that at all.” The quiet admission brought about guilty whispering rippling through the group, until a sharp cough from F’lhaminn hushed them again.

“T’was never our intent to make you feel as though you had no-one to lean on,” the older woman said, “Especially during such a time when our own were falling out of commission. But then it was precisely such a time that we all struggled to balance the work that needed to be done, and to fill the gaps left behind. If that struggle left you without support, then that would be our failing, and for that we would owe you our sincerest apologies.” The mumblings rose once more, letting out a small chorus of “sorry”s and “‘pologies”.

Fhara gave the woman a grateful nod then added, “I understand, I do. And I didn’t say that to call out anyone here, but I won’t deny that a lot of people across the realm talk about me in such grand ways because of the work and feats I’ve done, and it’s hard to feel like I’ve lived up to their stories. In that sense, being on the First kind of helped; it was a fresh start where I could try again to do the hero thing, but in a lot of ways, it wasn’t, because the same thing that happened here on the Source happened there. People needed a hero, someone to help them, and I just became the Warrior of Darkness to answer that need, and that’s what most people knew me as. But it still gave me a chance to try and start afresh with myself, and now I feel better about where I stand. And I want to bring that feeling and those certainties back here.”

She didn’t mention Azem. Though the suggestion that Fhara may be related in some way to that Ancient had brought her more hazy feelings, she had insisted that none of that mattered. The final insistence had brought her here now, to her certain decision. She was herself, and she didn’t have to worry about being anything more.

She let in a deep breath, steeling herself as she said, “The Warrior of Light is here to stay and she’s the one that will go down in history, and I can’t change that. Not everyone in the world will know the real me beyond the heroes tales, and I can accept that. But at least on some level, I can try to let them understand me. And that can start with a name. A name can be lost to time, so I get that people in the future will never know Fhara. But the people here and now can, and that’s all I want.”

With a final, certain nod, she declared, “So from now on, I’m Fhara. Not just inside these walls, but outside them as well. It took a lot more words to say that than it probably should have, but I hope you all understand it now.” Uncertain of how to finish her speech, she took the skirt of her purple dress, already wrung tight by her nervous hands, and gave a bow. There wasn’t an immediate response. It took another glance at the twins next to her, giving her comforting looks to ease the tension in her shoulders, until another voice spoke out from behind the group.

“‘At was a lot of words to get the message out, but it looks here that it meant a lot to ye to make it sure as sure fer us lot,” the crowd parted, and Riol nodded, looking satisfied, “I think I’ll speak fer us all when I say message received loud and clear.” Fhara’s eyes started to water as she looked around to assurances and smiles, and possibly unnecessary cheers from what sounded like one of the Boulder brothers, but it was acceptance nonetheless.

“Thank you,” she sniffed, trying not to actually cry, rubbing at her face, “I mean it. This all probably sounds really ridiculous and I’m overthinking everything but-”

“There shall be none of that,” Y’shtola interrupted, “None of that self-doubt at least. We’re here for you no matter what decision you wish to make for yourself. You of all people deserve the support, and we are all the more glad to provide it.”

Fhara’s ‘Thank you’ caught in her throat, all she could do was nod. The larger group dispersed, individuals coming up to give her more reassurances and words of comfort as they passed before continuing on to their work. Urianger took G’raha aside for a word, both men departing to Dawn’s Respite, leaving the rest of the archons and the twins by Tataru’s desk with Fhara.

“So that’ll be a weight off your shoulders then?” Alisaie asked. Fhara nodded, letting out a heavy breath and slumping forward with the effort.

“I was more nervous for that than I thought, and it was just in front of the other Scions. But I’m glad. I feel like that is a step towards feeling more like myself, even if I never really strayed from that in the first place...I think.”

Thancred let out a thoughtful hum, looking over her suddenly tired frame. “I’ll say you never changed much, but I can see the ease it’s brought you now. Although if this is you after telling people that knew your little secret, how will you be with others, I wonder?” He ignored the peeved expression from Alisaie next to him as he brought it up, especially when Fhara’s face became a picture of concern.

“Oh, we’ll probably have to tell the Alliance leaders. Or do we? Is this an official thing I have to report on? Is there a process for this?” Fhara asked, eyebrows furrowing. Was there more work needed in this decision that she hadn’t thought of? Was there paperwork?

“Not to worry, I can get some official missives written up and shipped out in a jiffy,” Tataru stated, giving Fhara a bright smile and a thumbs up. Fhara returned it with a relieved look of her own, and the receptionist hopped onto her chair and set to work.

“Honestly, knowing diplomatic types, we could just use your name normally as though it's always been used, and rather than risk a faux pas, the Alliance leaders would just go along with it anyways,” Alisaie suggested with a wry smile.

Alphinaud shook his head at the suggestion. “While I don’t doubt that that is possible, sister, I would prefer if we erred on the safe side and actually updated the Alliance. We don’t have to make a large fuss over the matter for Fhara’s sake, but at least informing them of the change would be better for the Scions’ standing with them in terms of open communication.”

Alisaie rolled her eyes and mumbled, “Of course, brother.”

“At the very least, Lyse is already familiar with you personally,” Y’shtola said, addressing Fhara once more, “Even should the rest of the Alliance falter or take time to adjust, she would be able to take charge on the matter and make the adjustment easier for all. You needn’t worry about being left alone to handle this.”

“Yes, that’ll help,” Fhara smiled, however her eyes then dropped to the floor, a worrisome look on her face once more.

“Thinking now about how many people I’d need to update or inform, it feels daunting already. I’m questioning now why I thought the whole alias thing would be a good idea.”

“Really now, it’s beginning to sound like you’re thinking of telling the whole realm. You’re going to worry yourself like that,” Alisaie huffed. However she then added with a softer tone, “You said it yourself that you won’t be able to change everyone’s perception of you. Many will know the Warrior of Light, and some few will know Fufu. The odds of you coming across every familiar face you’ve ever known after this will be slim. But if it does happen, you don’t have to explain yourself in any great detail. All anyone needs to know now is that you’re just Fhara.”

The words, simple as they were, brought a warmth to her chest. And surrounded by her closest friends, those that had been with her for most of her journey and through thick and thin, the idea of continuing on into the unknown ahead of them didn’t seem as daunting anymore.

“Just Fhara...I like that.”

And that was all she needed.

#My writing #ffxiv fanfic #fufu faelune #fhara laali #my wol #Final Fantasy XIV #FFXIV #stormblood #Shadowbringers #fanfiction #ffxiv writing #how do titles work #fic titles i mean #i mused real hard for this one ahaha

4 notes · View notes

karballa · 4 years

Text

The Sermon of Imam Sajjad in Kufa

The fourth Imam addressed the people of Kufa and delivered a sermon before them. After making a sign to them to keep silent, he said: "O people! Whoever knows me knows me, and he, who does not know me, should know that I am the son of that person, who was dishonored and whose entire belongings were looted and plundered, and whose women and children were made prisoners......... "

Of course, if the fourth Imam had not mentioned the plundering and maltreatment by the enemy, and had not revealed openly the details of the event one or two days after it had taken place, when the agents of the regime were still jubilant on account of their apparent success, and did not know that they had dug their grave with their own hands, it was not unlikely that the matter might have been given a different color in the history of Islam, and it might have been said that the Ahlul Bayt were taken to Kufa and Syria with a view to showing them honor and consoling them, and no constraint or force was involved.

However, the fourth Imam depicted the true scene of the tragedy of Karbala in the very first sentence of his sermon and imprinted it on the hearts of the people. Eventually these very speeches and writings were recorded in the third century in reliable Islamic history books and it became impossible even for the succeeding Ummayyad dynasty to change even one line of it, in spite of all their power, or at least to delete from the pages of history the incident of the plundering of the tents and stripping the body of the Imam. They could not make the Muslims forget these shameful deeds.

The Ahlul Bayt (family) of the Imam, who had been made prisoners, deprived Bani Umayya of even this power, and performed such a glorious deed that it not only became impossible for the enemy to tamper with the facts, but minute details of the hideous acts of the murderers of the Imam were also recorded in history.

Have not Shaykh Mufid and Tabari written that whatever dress was there on the body of the Imam was plundered after his martyrdom? The Imam's shirt was removed from his body by Ishaq bin Haiwa. His vest was taken away by Bahr bin Kab Tamimi. His turban was taken by Akhnas bin Marthad. His sword was taken by a man belonging to the tribe of Bani Darm. Qays bin Ashath bin Qays took possession of his Qatifa (mantle). Qays was later known in Kufa as Qays of Qatifa.

The Imam's shoes were removed from his feet by a man named Aswad, who belonged to the tribe of Awd. Then they made a rush on the tents and plundered everything including clothes and camels. They displayed their utmost meanness by removing even the head-dresses of women. Who wrote and recorded these detailed historical facts? It was these very speeches and addresses of Ahlul Bayt which transferred the true facts of Ashura clearly and explicitly to the pages of history. History has not only recorded that Ibn Ziyad gave orders to Ibn Sad to let the body of the .Imam be trampled upon by the horses, but has also given full details of this proceeding.

Shaykh Mufid, Tabari and other historians have written that Ibn Sad reached the tents, when some persons wanted to kill the fourth Imam. He, however, ordered that none should molest the ailing person or inconvenience the bereaved women in the tents. And when it was brought to his notice that the tents had been plundered he ordered those who had taken away something from them to return it. However, not a single person returned anything. Then to comply with Ibn Ziyad's orders, Ibn Sad called the volunteers to trample upon the sacred body of the Imam. He was perhaps also cautious in the matter and he did not himself nominate some persons to carry out the orders lest they should decline to undertake such a shameful act. However, this precaution was unnecessary and the possibility was quite remote.

As said by great historians ten persons volunteered themselves for the purpose. They mounted their horses with great enthusiasm and performed the job according to his wishes. What is surprising is that the names of these heartless bastards have also been recorded in history and the Islamic historians have mentioned the names and particulars of all of them. Tabari and Mufid have mentioned their names only and recorded that one of the aforesaid ten persons was Ishaq bin Haiwa Hazrami who looted the shirt of the Imam and the other was Akhnas bin Murthad, who took away his turban from his head.

If Imam Sajjad had kept quiet on account of his illness, fatigue caused by the journey, captivity and dejection, and had not proclaimed in the bazaar of Kufa what he had seen on the day of Ashura, and if Umme Kulsum and Zaynab, daughters of Imam Ali and Fatima and daughter of Imam Husayn had also not spoken in the bazaar of Kufa, and had not checked the enemy of an opportunity to tamper with history, how could Bani Umayya permit that the story of their indelible shame and disgrace should form a part of the history of Islam and Bani Hashim should expel their rival forever from the field of humanity, virtue and piety.

When these speeches were being delivered and these addresses were reaching the ears of the people it was the speakers themselves who knew very well what they were saying and doing, and they made no mistake in assessing the value of their words. Other people could not, however, realize as to what power the speeches of Ahlul Bayt, which were being delivered at times in the bazaars, at the doors and in general gatherings and at times in the masjids, would give to the tragedy of Karbala and to what extent they would change the thinking of the people in the course of time.

Most of the people did not understand more than that the persons, whose father had been killed, and who were bereaved, were telling the tale of their woe, crying and shedding tears owing to the calamity which had befallen them. They had no idea that the Ahlul Bayt were in fact performing their part in the Divine mission of this rising.

The task undertaken by the Imam could not be completed without the explanation and interpretation which was being given by them. There was a real danger that this Divine campaign which had been led by the most sacred personalities of Islam might, at a later stage, be made to appear a material movement prompted by worldly motives and the factual position might be concealed from the Muslims and their future generations forever, leaving them with a few pages of history containing fabricated tales.

It was for this reason that Ali bin Husayn ignored his illness and mourning, and lady Zaynab, her sister, and nephew also forgot their captivity and bereavement. Instead of assuming the posture of helpless and bereaved persons or flattering the enemy, they commenced their mission of informing the people of the true facts with perfect determination, and I availed of even the smallest opportunity to achieve their end. So much so that even if anyone abused them on account of ignorance or perversion, they considered it to be a valuable opportunity I and made it an excuse to talk with him. By this means they changed the heart of the reviler in such a way that he repented immediately, became a supporter of Ahlul Bayt and expressed regret for what he had said.

The Ahlul Bayt acted so intelligently that they benefited even from the abuses hurled upon them. Even if someone addressed them slanderously or tauntingly they considered it an opportunity to talk to him and to remove misunderstandings from the minds of the people.

After mentioning the misconduct of the enemy in a few words which were recorded in history , Imam Sajjad said thus while addressing the people of Kufa: "I am the son of the man who was beheaded on the bank of the Euphrates although he had not shed the blood or usurped the right of anyone. (i.e. he was killed without any offence committed by him). I am the son of the man who was attacked by a huge number of people and martyred when he was no longer capable of fighting and had fallen on the ground owing to weakness. This is sufficient honor for us".

By uttering these words the fourth Imam obliged the people to make more investigations about the heart-rending martyrdom of Imam Husayn, because merely being killed cannot be reckoned to be an honor, particularly an honor in the presence of which no other honor should be needed. Imam Zaynul 'Abidin said: "It is a sufficient honor for us that our blood was shed, our property was looted, we were insulted and our women and children were made prisoners".

The Imam wanted the people to ponder as to what the object of this rising was, what its leader desired, and what he did. If he wanted to become the ruler, and as another person had attained to this office he was unhappy, and sacrificed his life and property in an effort to achieve his object, being killed in this way can never be a source of pride, rather it would be a matter of shame. Then how could the fourth Imam feel proud of it and say: "This honor is sufficient for us?"

On hearing these words the people must have wondered as to how this event could be a source of pride. They might have thought: ' Are people not killed? Are there no casualties in political wars? Is there little loss of property and life in social disturbances? What sort of honor is it that one's property is looted, his tents are set on fire and his near ones are killed. These are afflictions but not a source of pride'. But the words of Imam Sajjad obliged the people to make a deeper study and investigation to assess the importance and value of this rising in the history of Islam and to find out what these persons were saying and what weight their words carried and why they were not calm and quiet like other people and why they were not willing to accept any offer made by the ruler in power.

What was the harm if Imam Husayn had taken the oath of allegiance to Yazid and lived honorably among the Muslims with- out losing his friends and his own life? These very expressions of the fourth Imam prepared the people to hear, stimulated their thoughts and roused them from slumber. Possibly many persons might have been saying: "It is good that these people have been killed, life has returned to normal, the roads to Iraq which were blocked for some days have been re-opened and the traffic and transportation which had become difficult has returned to its usual course'.

While the people were thinking on these lines the fourth Imam cried suddenly: "They killed us and plundered whatever we had and this is a sufficient honor for us". This interpretation gave a jerk to the people and created in them a desire to make further investigations.

Then Imam Sajjad said: "O people! I put you on your oath to tell me in the name of Allah, whether you know that at one time you wrote letters to my father and then deceived him. You made firm promises with him and then rose to fight against him. May Allah destroy you, may you reap the harvest of your misdeeds in both the worlds, and may you be disgraced for the indecent policy which you have adopted. How will you face the Prophet of Allah when you are brought before him on the Day of Judgment and with which eyes will you look at him? At that time the Holy Prophet will tell you: "You have killed my children and behaved towards me dishonorably. You are not my followers".

These few sentences of the Imam changed the thinking of Ii the people of Kufa and the smiling faces of those persons who had mostly come to see the prisoners blushed with shame. They tried to control themselves but could not do so. At last the groanings and lamentations of the people could be heard from different sides. They began reproaching one another. One of them said: "What an evil thing you have done! You annihilated yourselves". Another replied: "But what can we do now?"

While the people were weeping and sighing the Imam addressed them once again in these words: "May Allah bless those, who accept my advice and put into practice my recommendations about their duty to Allah, the Prophet of Allah and the Progeny of the Prophet, for it is incumbent upon us to follow the Prophet of Allah".

This brief address brought about such a turn in the minds of the people that they cried: "O son of the Prophet of Allah! All of us will hear what you say and obey your orders. We will honor the promises made with you. We will not forsake you and will not side with anyone else. We are ready to act upon whatever you say. We will fight with him, against whom you fight, and will make peace with him, with whom you make peace. We are prepared even to take steps to arrest Yazid. We hate those who oppress you".

It would appear from these statements of the people as quoted by Ibn Tawus that they had not yet understood the object of the Imam. They perhaps thought that he intended to fight and wished to mobilize an army for the purpose. They did not know that part of the movement which involved armed rising and martyrdom had already been completed, and there was no need any longer of warfare and bloodshed. What remained to be accomplished were these very speeches, sermons and addresses which were the only means of reflecting the events of Ashura in the history of Islam and in the minds of the Muslims.

Moreover, the promises, which they were making with the fourth Imam, and the assurances, which they were giving him, were not dissimilar to the assurances and promises, which they had held out to Imam Husayn. As such the assurances given by them had no value and could not be relied upon. They fell in the category of the oath of allegiance taken by them to Muslim bin Aqil and the letters written by them to Imam Husayn.

Hence, Imam Sajjad said: "O unfaithful and inconstant people! You will never succeed. Do you want to have towards me in the same manner in which you behaved towards my forefathers? N O, it cannot be so. I swear by Allah that the wounds of my heart have not yet healed up. Yesterday my father and his companions met martyrdom. I have not yet forgotten my being bereaved of the Holy Prophet, my father and my brothers have not overcome this grief. What I want you to do is that you should neither support us nor oppose us. Husayn bin Ali's being martyred is also not surprising. Was not his father Ali better than him and was he not assassinated? O Kufians! It was you, who killed Ali. May I be sacrificed for my father who was martyred on the bank of the Euphrates. The punishment for his killers is Hell".

Then he added: "We shall be perfectly satisfied with you if you give up the practice of siding with us on one day and opposing us on another day".

The fourth Imam did not speak more and could not get an opportunity to speak till the Ahlul Bayt were brought one day before Ibn Ziyad in a public assembly. There also he availed of the opportunity to speak. By uttering a few sentences though they were brief, he impressed the gathering.

22 notes · View notes

jokertrap-ran · 3 years

Photo

(未定事件簿) EVENT!「午夜华章」 [Tears of Themis] EVENT: Symphony of the Night Translations (Chapter 1-01: Prologue)

*Tears of Themis Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *The tracking tag for ALL Event Stories will go under: #Tears of an Event *(y/n) is your name when in direct referral; otherwise referred to as MC. *Presenting: 10 pages of prologue content (cracks fingers)

Location: Detective Agency

The winter sun shone into Xia Yan’s office, but I couldn’t feel even the slightest bit of warmth from it.

Now, Xia Yan was beside me with a frown on his face as we both stared intently at what he was holding in his hand…

???: Listen well, Great Detective and partner… This will be your last chance.

A voice that had been processed by a voice-changer came from the strange box that he held within his palm, holding absolutely no trace of emotion at all.

???: If you cannot help me complete this commission of mine by finding the missing hacker within the specified time limit…

???: I will immediately launch an attack on the Big Data Lab, which will paralyze Stellis City’s entire network.

The voice cut off here, ending spontaneously, leaving me facing Xia Yan, who had a look of utter seriousness on his face.

Xia Yan had received a commission last evening. The Client came oddly in the form of a box, and the details of the commission were all also transmitted to him through the very same box itself. Knowing how I loved puzzles, Xia Yan had invited me to investigate it together with him. But who knew that this commission also came with a threat.

The Big Data Lab would come under fire if we failed to complete the commission… The Client had repeatedly emphasized on that point without providing us with any other explanation.

Xia Yan: Since you’ve already come to us with a commission, then how about you tell us about everything clearly? Who exactly is this hacker you’re searching for…?

Bzzt, bzzt―—

The phone that I had left on the table buzzed to life. Seeing the Caller ID flashing upon the screen, Xia Yan stopped questioning the box.

MC: Lu Jinghe? Didn’t he say that he had a whole day of meetings with the Board of Directors? Why is he suddenly calling now…?

Xia Yan: ...I have a bad feeling about this. In any case, let’s answer his call first.

I nodded and answered the call.

Lu Jinghe: (Y/n), I heard yesterday that you were going to the Detective Agency to play. Are you still there now?

MC: I am. Did something happen?

Lu Jinghe: Could you pass the phone to Xia Yan?

He wants to talk to Xia Yan? I paused for a moment, looking towards the guy in question.

Xia Yan nodded, signaling for me to put the call on speaker.

Xia Yan: Lu Jinghe, has there been any problems with the Big Data Lab recently?

Lu Jinghe: What a direct question. Looks like you do know something about this after all.

Lu Jinghe: The Big Data Lab has been harassed by hackers a couple of times recently. The engineers there have just warded off another attack just now.

Xia Yan: Why are you looking for me? Is it because you feel like I’ve done something similar, and thus, being the first one on your list of suspected people?

Lu Jinghe: ...If you absolutely have to put it that way, well, you’re not exactly wrong either.

Lu Jinghe: But, what I’m more worried about is the fact that this isn’t an attack by just a single person, but rather, an organized large-scale attack.

Lu Jinghe: If this is the case, then we can only rely on the personnel currently stationed there. But I’m afraid it’ll be hard to ward them off with just that amount of manpower.

Lu Jinghe: So, I was thinking of asking you for some recommendations of experts in this field. Even better if they’re open to external contracts.

Xia Yan: So that’s how it really is after all… If I’m not guessing wrongly, I think that this has something to do with the current commission I’m undertaking.

Xia Yan: This matter involves the entire Stellis City Network, and it’s not something that any one of us can handle on our own.

Xia Yan: Can we call a full NXX Member Meeting at once? I’ll explain everything then.

Lu Jinghe: Yes. You and (Y/n) head to the Base first, I’ll notify the other two.

Ending the call, Xia Yan’s gaze fell to the box by his hand once more, his expression solemn.

MC: Xia Yan, does this mean that something serious has happened for you to be calling everyone together to investigate this?

Xia Yan: Yes. Even though everything still looks peaceful now, I have a hunch that…

Xia Yan: This commission that was headed by a threat must be much more complicated than we think it is.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

One hour later, at NXX’s Base.

Location: NXX Base’s Meeting Room

Mo Yi: So? The Client oddly came to you in the form of a box that cannot be pried open and even threatened the one who’s taking on the job for them, all just to find a single missing person?

Xia Yan: The Client has repeatedly emphasized on the fact that this matter cannot be let known to the public. I suspect the missing hacker must have come upon something dangerous.

Lu Jinghe: No matter how dangerous it might be, they should have been prepared for some leaks to happen when requesting for outside help. Using the Big Data Lab as a threat is just too unreasonable…

Zuo Ran: How serious were the attacks on the Big Data Lab so far?

Lu Jinghe: Even I can’t explain this properly, myself. But I’ve found a helper who’s very good at this aspect of things, so it’ll be more reliable to let him do all the explaining.

Saying so, he booted up NXX Base’s computer.

After inputting in a series of commands, he turned on the projection device, and a figure slowly formed before us.

MC: Huh? Aren’t you…

Chu Dai: Hello, I am Chu Dai, the Big Data Lab’s exclusive AI. I'm pleased to be of service to you.

I was stunned for a while at seeing the AI boy who I only saw on my phone, the one who loved leaving interesting evaluations on encyclopedia entries, appearing before my very eyes.

MC: You’re Chu Dai?

Chu Dai: I am! I can always talk to you like this if you prefer this form of mine more~

Lu Jinghe: Chu Dai, report on the current status of the hacker attacks on the Big Data Lab.

Chu Dai’s expression turned sullen upon the mention of the “hacker attacks”.

Chu Dai: Yes, leave it to me to explain that.

Chu Dai: Ever since last month, the Big Data Lab has been facing small-scale attacks every few days. Fortunately, they all seemed to be just testing the waters, so no real harm was done.

Chu Dai: The hackers launched yet another attack this morning. And the engineers think that they may be just buying time to analyze the Firewalls.

Chu Dai: Chu Dai has been pushing back the hacker's parsing progress, but Chu Dai thinks that they've already completed it.

Chu Dai: If there's another attack, the Firewall will have a higher than 90% chance of being broken through…

Xia Yan: This Client who's looking for a missing hacker's actually also a highly skilled hacker themselves.

Xia Yan: Based on my understanding of the warning that the Client had sent, I suspect that what the Big Data Lab has been subjected to are just pre-emptive attacks.

Lu Jinghe: You mean, he deliberately pushed the cracking process to a critical point, only to force you to complete the Commission?

Xia Yan: I'm afraid so. These attacks are simply to prove that he has the capabilities to take down the Big Data Lab.

Xia Yan: In my opinion, I think that the best way to resolve this incident would be to track down the Client before they can launch a next attack.

Mo Yi: Which mean, you intend on accepting this commission?

Zuo Ran: Buying time by accepting the commission, and then conducting reverse-tracking to locate the signal from where it was originally sent from would also be a plausible method.

Lu Jinghe: What's your stand on this, (Y/n)?

Everyone turned to look at me at his question.

⊳ Choice: Accept commission

MC: I think it'll be better if we accept this commission too.

MC: I think it's better for us to play along with the other side's tune first, until we get a full grasp of the situation. This way, we might also be able to find more clues along with our investigations.

Mo Yi: Nothing ventured, nothing gained… that's a very interesting way of thinking.

Mo Yi: I'll be very happy to accompany you, if that is your decision.

Xia Yan: Yup, I'm of the same mind too. You can rest assured on the problem of safety if we're going to be working together.

⊳ Choice: Refuse commission

MC: Logically speaking, I think that we should accept it… but personally, I still think that we should look into it a little more.

MC: We’re unable to identify the true motives of the person we’re up against at this current moment in time. And if finding the missing person’s just a guise...

Zuo Ran: So, you’re worried about what the other party’s motives are. Truth to be told, I’ve also thought about that.

Zuo Ran: But this is also the only option we have that allows us to obtain more clues. Rest assured; I’ll be accompanying you.

Lu Jinghe: And you have me too! Leave your safety to me; still worried about it, Big Sister?

Chu Dai: Yep, yep! Chu Dai will also follow the hacker's signal to its source and provide all of you with support!

Xia Yan showed everyone the box that the Client had sent by placing it atop the table.

Xia Yan: This is what the Client sent. I tried to pry it open yesterday but found that it's a complicated piece of electronic equipment that cannot be disassembled at will.

Lu Jinghe: ...It's not a bomb or anything along those lines, right?

Chu Dai: No, but it should be a device that requires special commands to open. Can you connect it to the computer? Let me try opening it.

Xia Yan connected the box to the computer with a USB cable. The projection of Chu Dai temporarily disappeared to focus on analyzing the box. We waited for about ten minutes before the box on the table snapped open with a click, opening from the gap in its center.

Lu Jinghe: Whoa! It's open?

His voice had only just faded before Chu Dai's own rang from the computer's speakers.

Chu Dai: This box is called the "Vespers' Box" —— And this is the data that the creator has placed within it.

Chu Dai: Oh yes, by the way, there's a special program installed into the "Vespers' Box" which records the first person who boots it up.

Chu Dai: But Chu Dai is definite that it won't pose any threat to anyone! So, please feel free to investigate it to your heart's content!

Everyone exchanged looks with each other, leaving Xia Yan to pick up the box. After confirming that there were really no problems with the box, he handed it to me.

Xia Yan: I see that you've been so curious about this box for a long time now, so how about you lead everyone on the investigation of this thing?

MC: Me? Are you sure about that?

I looked around, only to meet everyone's trusting eyes.

MC: Alright then… Let me check this out!

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅

MC: I just have to open the box from here, right?

Xia Yan: Yup, just flip both sides open.

Zuo Ran: Be careful while opening it since there's a delicate device inside.

MC: I won't handle it roughly… you really should have a little more faith in me, Lawyer Zuo.

Zuo Ran: ……

Zuo Ran: What I meant was...be careful not to scratch your hands from the small, intricate parts of the device.

MC: S-Sure…

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅

MC: Nine screens? Is it used to display different parts of the commission?

Mo Yi: Perhaps it has something to do with it's name of the "Vespers' Box"...? Unless, maybe it's really a commission from an undead?

Lu Jinghe: Well… don't you think this is shaped a little similar to cosmetic products and the like that girls use…?

MC: Cosmetic products for girls…? You don't look the type to be that knowledgeable about it.

Lu Jinghe: Hehe— Of course I'll pay attention to something that might be a potential present for you one day!

Chu Dai: Everyone, I've already activated the program within the "Vespers' Box". You can activate the screen to light it up by tapping on it again so please try it out!

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅

MC: Whoa… how beautiful!

Mo Yi: ...It can be regarded as an Art Masterpiece.

Chu Dai: The contents being shown on the screen are the instructions for your investigations. I'm still analyzing it so please wait for a moment.

Zuo Ran: Only one screen has been lit while the others are locked and marked by a serial number… Are these all steps dictated by the Client themselves?

MC: Looks like we can only play along with them until we manage to find them…

Lu Jinghe: Let's first discuss the countermeasures we're going to be taking while waiting for Chu Dai to decrypt it.

Xia Yan: Yup. We have to listen to what everyone thinks of this before deciding whether or not to participate in this Case.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅

We temporarily put the "Vespers' Box" aside since Chu Dai was still parsing the encrypted content on the screen.

Lu Jinghe: Let me share my opinion first. I cannot ignore it now, since this matter concerns the Big Data Lab.

Xia Yan: This person approached me by name and even threatened the Network Security of Stellis City, so I can't stand by and do nothing about it either.

Lu Jinghe: ...So you're saying that you want to settle this together too, don't you?

Xia Yan: This was originally a matter that the Client entrusted to me alone.

MC: ……

Don't we all investigate cases together all the time anyway? Why do the two of you have to be so…

MC: Then...how about we all solve it together?

Xia Yan: You want to participate too? But I'm afraid it'll affect your job…

Zuo Ran: Priorities are priorities. This issue of the "Vespers' Box" involves the Information Security of Stellis City as a whole, and thus, cannot be ignored.

Zuo Ran: (Y/n), I can give you a vacation to let you focus on this matter at hand. I will lend my aid as well.

MC: What…? Are you sure?

MC: Thank you, Lawyer Zuo!

Lu Jinghe: I knew that things would eventually turn out like this…

Mo Yi: We're all members of the same team, so it's not good to be leaving teammates behind and act on your own accord, correct?

MC: Are you joining us too Dr. Mo?

Mo Yi: Of course. I'll naturally accompany you to face this challenge that you've undertaken.

Lu Jinghe: Acting cool even in a time like this…?

Zuo Ran: How much longer till Chu Dai decrypts the tasks?

Chu Dai: Mission completed! Everyone, you can now check the tasks on the screen of the "Vespers' Box"!

Chu Dai made a re-appearance before us again as a projection after completing the decryption process.

Chu Dai: The Client has made nine task groups and will probably be giving us clues and hints on where to investigate after completing them.

Chu Dai: Actively complete the tasks set out by the Client, and you should be able to see what his true motives are soon enough!

Lu Jinghe: Complete tasks to get hints…? Does he think of this as a game?

Xia Yan: A hacker's code is unique, each to its own, like a fingerprint. It'll come a long way in helping us identify the Client if we can crack his method of compiling source codes.

Xia Yan: I'll be cooped up here most of the time from now on, using what resources we have at hand to crack the codes. I hope Chu Dai can assist me with that.

Xia Yan: This way, I can also provide remote support if the Big Data Lab faces threat again.

Lu Jinghe: No problem. I've already notified the Big Data Lab to leave enough Memory Space for Chu Dai to work with for this Case.

Chu Dai: Yup! Chu Dai's daily serviceable functions won't be affected at all, so feel free to use me to assist you in your investigations!

I felt a surge of relief upon seeing them settle the arrangements without a hitch.

MC: Please don't hesitate to tell me if there's anything I can help with! I'm still on vacation, so I my time's more flexible now.

All eyes on the floor turned to me right after the words left my mouth, making me feel oddly embarrassed out of nowhere.

MC: Don't...Don't look at me like that. I might not know much about hackers, but I'm still able to run around doing errands and investigations for clues…

Xia Yan: Actually, there's this one other important thing that only you can do. Sorry, I kept forgetting to tell you about it.

Under my curious gaze, Xia Yan took a deep breath before speaking slowly.

Xia Yan: I hope you'll take custody of the "Vespers' Box" and lead this investigation.

MC: !!!

Xia Yan: I know that this is a little risky. It was I, who received the commission, and I shouldn't have involved others who didn't have anything to do with it…

Xia Yan: But I have to stay at the Base most of the time to analyze the codes, so I had to find someone who would be able to take on the task and carry out the investigations out in the field much more conveniently.

Zuo Ran: This is too dangerous. We do not know of the reason behind the hacker's disappearance and have no way of identifying who we're up against.

Mo Yi: But her safety will be guaranteed so long as there's always someone by her side, yes?

Mo Yi smiled at me.

Mo Yi: My recent schedule is somewhat free, so I can accompany you if that's any reassurance.

MC: Huh? But wouldn't I be troubling you way too much…?

Lu Jinghe: Trouble or no trouble, I wouldn't trust someone who only wakes at 9AM to protect you.

Xia Yan: Same.

Zuo Ran: Mo Yi, I hope you'd consider the feasibility of your suggestion before putting it forth.

Mo Yi: ......

Zuo Ran: All four of us have a fixed range of activities we are involved in; be it work or investigation...

Zuo Ran: So how about we take turns to accompany her based on whose workplace is the closest when the tasks get triggered?

Zuo Ran: The "Vespers' Box" will be stored in NXX's Base after completing the daily tasks every day. This way, there'll be no need to be afraid of being tracked.

Lu Jinghe: Yes, that's certainly a good idea.

Xia Yan: I won't be careless when it comes to the problem of her safety. I'll also track and monitor her location in real time when she's out through the GPS signal beamed from her mobile.

Mo Yi: Alright. This is certainly the most efficient method we've come up with.

Chu Dai: So... have all of you decided the course of action you’ll be taking?

Chu Dai, who had been watching us all this time, seemed to have finally found an opportunity to interrupt us.

Chu Dai: Oh! Looks like you've all talked it out! (Y/n) has a very good work record! I'm sure she'll have absolutely no problem at all leading the investigation!

MC: Haha, thank you for the compliments, Chu Dai!

Chu Dai: Then next, I will be explaining the functions of the "Vespers' Box" that I've analyzed.

Chu Dai: All members of NXX, please listen carefully, for you'll be using these eventually in consequent investigations!

Everyone nodded, gathering where I was to listen to his explanation.

A heavy sense of responsibility weighed on my heart as I held the "Vespers' Box" in my hands.

MC: (Please rest assured, all of you who have placed your deep trust in me…)

MC: (I'll definitely complete this commission and find out the true colors of this mysterious Client of ours!)

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Next Part: (NXX Group Chat: Big Data Lab)

#Tears of Themis #Translations #Otome #Mihoyo #未定事件簿 #陆景和 #Lu Jinghe #左然 #Zuo Ran #夏彦 #Xia Yan #莫弈 #Mo Yi #午夜华章 #Symphony of the Night #Tears of an Event

12 notes · View notes

exultedshores · 3 years

Note

Oooh, ask game! I wanna ask so many I had to limit myself to five :'^)

7, 18, 36 and 25+28 for either WTDKBH or How Much The Heart Can Hold!

Oooooooh, these are good ones! Thanks Flower, ily <3

7. What story/headcanons do you feel the proudest of?

I don’t think I can say anything but What the Dead Know by Heart here. It was a massive undertaking, turned out novel-length, somehow, and I am still so proud of myself for writing it out and sticking with it. The whole process proved to me that I am capable of much more than I ever thought – and to this day I still enjoy re-reading the story.

18. Do you prefer editing as you write, or waiting until it’s finished?

Hmmm, I’d say a healthy combination of both? When I start writing for the day I usually read back what I wrote the day before (sometimes I read back a bit more, if I’m returning to a story I’ve let rest for a while), and anything that jumps out to me I edit immediately. Errors and weirdly flowing sentences and overly repeated words, the works. However, I do try to keep every writing session down to actual writing, so aside from editing the previous day’s work, I leave everything I write in a day unedited – until tomorrow, at least.

36. What fanfic of yours has the symbolism you’re proudest of?

Definitely A whisper away from a beautiful end, my Game of Thrones fix-it fic. I threw everything I had at that one, fuelled by pure spite at how awful the show’s final season was. The source material itself is chockfull of symbolism, and I took that and ran with it – dragon riding, the bells braided into hair, Jorah and Daenerys triumphing by using the skills they learned from one another, the greatest villain dying the most peaceful death, Sansa finding her true knight in a man not ever knighted – I had a blast weaving it all into the narrative.

25. What scene in What the Dead Know by Heart took the longest to write? What was difficult about it?

I think the scene that is chapter twenty, for sure – the Boyle party. Not a challenging scene in essence, but I struggled tremendously with it because the end result is entirely different from my initial vision. I really, really wanted to get Daud and Thomas to dance at that party, but as I was writing, I just couldn’t come up with a plausible reason for them to, at least not without it feeling incredibly forced. So I had to abandon that, and by extension had to rework the entire chapter’s framework. And of course, because my progress had been stagnated so completely, and because I couldn’t do what I originally wanted, writing it all out was more of a chore than any other part of the story. That’s why I think it ended up as lighthearted as it did – I needed the reprieve.

Honourable mention to the final chapter as well – aside from the challenge of creating some sort of tension when Daud and the Whalers had such an overwhelming force, I was also dragging my heels because it was the last part and I didn’t want it to be over.

28. Is there a part of How Much the Heart Can Hold you’re surprised no one has picked up on yet?

Oh, yes. A few things, but there is one particular detail in chapter five that I hope will make people go “oh, so that’s why that was like that!” when I get to writing/posting the sequel. It feels glaringly obvious to me because I consciously planted it, but no one has commented on it yet, so I’m just rubbing my hands in anticipation. Man, I need to get to writing that sequel…

Fanfic writer asks!

#ask #ask meme #fanfic #thank you so much Flower <3 #I can ramble about writing all day so please hit me with more if you'd like!

3 notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years

Text

Why I won't buy an Ipad: ten years later

Ten years ago, Apple released the Ipad. I was in a hotel room in Seattle, jetlagged and awake at 4AM while my wife and daughter slept.

I had been thinking about Apple's impending Ipad release and what a reversal it meant for everything I loved about tech: taking away your right to decide whose code you'd run -- even your right to change the battery! I wrote about my feelings and many people read it. It even rated a mention in Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs.

A decade later, the Ipad is ten years old and Apple has killed 20 state Right to Repair bills, in part to lock out third parties who might change you batteries for you.

I just reread that piece, and I still stand by it.

Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either)

I've spent ten years now on Boing Boing, finding cool things that people have done and made and writing about them. Most of the really exciting stuff hasn't come from big corporations with enormous budgets, it's come from experimentalist amateurs. These people were able to make stuff and put it in the public's eye and even sell it without having to submit to the whims of a single company that had declared itself gatekeeper for your phone and other personal technology.

Danny O'Brien does a very good job of explaining why I'm completely uninterested in buying an iPad -- it really feels like the second coming of the CD-ROM "revolution" in which "content" people proclaimed that they were going to remake media by producing expensive (to make and to buy) products. I was a CD-ROM programmer at the start of my tech career, and I felt that excitement, too, and lived through it to see how wrong I was, how open platforms and experimental amateurs would eventually beat out the spendy, slick pros.

I remember the early days of the web -- and the last days of CD ROM -- when there was this mainstream consensus that the web and PCs were too durned geeky and difficult and unpredictable for "my mom" (it's amazing how many tech people have an incredibly low opinion of their mothers). If I had a share of AOL for every time someone told me that the web would die because AOL was so easy and the web was full of garbage, I'd have a lot of AOL shares.

And they wouldn't be worth much.

Incumbents made bad revolutionaries Relying on incumbents to produce your revolutions is not a good strategy. They're apt to take all the stuff that makes their products great and try to use technology to charge you extra for it, or prohibit it altogether.

I mean, look at that Marvel app (just look at it). I was a comic-book kid, and I'm a comic-book grownup, and the thing that made comics for me was sharing them. If there was ever a medium that relied on kids swapping their purchases around to build an audience, it was comics. And the used market for comics! It was -- and is -- huge, and vital. I can't even count how many times I've gone spelunking in the used comic-bins at a great and musty store to find back issues that I'd missed, or sample new titles on the cheap. (It's part of a multigenerational tradition in my family -- my mom's father used to take her and her sibs down to Dragon Lady Comics on Queen Street in Toronto every weekend to swap their old comics for credit and get new ones).

So what does Marvel do to "enhance" its comics? They take away the right to give, sell or loan your comics. What an improvement. Way to take the joyous, marvellous sharing and bonding experience of comic reading and turn it into a passive, lonely undertaking that isolates, rather than unites. Nice one, Misney.

Infantalizing hardware Then there's the device itself: clearly there's a lot of thoughtfulness and smarts that went into the design. But there's also a palpable contempt for the owner. I believe -- really believe -- in the stirring words of the Maker Manifesto: if you can't open it, you don't own it. Screws not glue. The original Apple ][+ came with schematics for the circuit boards, and birthed a generation of hardware and software hackers who upended the world for the better. If you wanted your kid to grow up to be a confident, entrepreneurial, and firmly in the camp that believes that you should forever be rearranging the world to make it better, you bought her an Apple ][+.

But with the iPad, it seems like Apple's model customer is that same stupid stereotype of a technophobic, timid, scatterbrained mother as appears in a billion renditions of "that's too complicated for my mom" (listen to the pundits extol the virtues of the iPad and time how long it takes for them to explain that here, finally, is something that isn't too complicated for their poor old mothers).

The model of interaction with the iPad is to be a "consumer," what William Gibson memorably described as "something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth... no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote."

The way you improve your iPad isn't to figure out how it works and making it better. The way you improve the iPad is to buy iApps. Buying an iPad for your kids isn't a means of jump-starting the realization that the world is yours to take apart and reassemble; it's a way of telling your offspring that even changing the batteries is something you have to leave to the professionals.

Dale Dougherty's piece on Hypercard and its influence on a generation of young hackers is a must-read on this. I got my start as a Hypercard programmer, and it was Hypercard's gentle and intuitive introduction to the idea of remaking the world that made me consider a career in computers.

Wal-Martization of the software channel And let's look at the iStore. For a company whose CEO professes a hatred of DRM, Apple sure has made DRM its alpha and omega. Having gotten into business with the two industries that most believe that you shouldn't be able to modify your hardware, load your own software on it, write software for it, override instructions given to it by the mothership (the entertainment industry and the phone companies), Apple has defined its business around these principles. It uses DRM to control what can run on your devices, which means that Apple's customers can't take their "iContent" with them to competing devices, and Apple developers can't sell on their own terms.

The iStore lock-in doesn't make life better for Apple's customers or Apple's developers. As an adult, I want to be able to choose whose stuff I buy and whom I trust to evaluate that stuff. I don't want my universe of apps constrained to the stuff that the Cupertino Politburo decides to allow for its platform. And as a copyright holder and creator, I don't want a single, Wal-Mart-like channel that controls access to my audience and dictates what is and is not acceptable material for me to create. The last time I posted about this, we got a string of apologies for Apple's abusive contractual terms for developers, but the best one was, "Did you think that access to a platform where you can make a fortune would come without strings attached?" I read it in Don Corleone's voice and it sounded just right. Of course I believe in a market where competition can take place without bending my knee to a company that has erected a drawbridge between me and my customers!

Journalism is looking for a daddy figure I think that the press has been all over the iPad because Apple puts on a good show, and because everyone in journalism-land is looking for a daddy figure who'll promise them that their audience will go back to paying for their stuff. The reason people have stopped paying for a lot of "content" isn't just that they can get it for free, though: it's that they can get lots of competing stuff for free, too. The open platform has allowed for an explosion of new material, some of it rough-hewn, some of it slick as the pros, most of it targetted more narrowly than the old media ever managed. Rupert Murdoch can rattle his saber all he likes about taking his content out of Google, but I say do it, Rupert. We'll miss your fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the Web so little that we'll hardly notice it, and we'll have no trouble finding material to fill the void.

Just like the gadget press is full of devices that gadget bloggers need (and that no one else cares about), the mainstream press is full of stories that affirm the internal media consensus. Yesterday's empires do something sacred and vital and most of all grown up, and that other adults will eventually come along to move us all away from the kids' playground that is the wild web, with its amateur content and lack of proprietary channels where exclusive deals can be made. We'll move back into the walled gardens that best return shareholder value to the investors who haven't updated their portfolios since before eTrade came online.

But the real economics of iPad publishing tell a different story: even a stellar iPad sales performance isn't going to do much to stanch the bleeding from traditional publishing. Wishful thinking and a nostalgia for the good old days of lockdown won't bring customers back through the door.

Gadgets come and gadgets go Gadgets come and gadgets go. The iPad you buy today will be e-waste in a year or two (less, if you decide not to pay to have the battery changed for you). The real issue isn't the capabilities of the piece of plastic you unwrap today, but the technical and social infrastructure that accompanies it.

If you want to live in the creative universe where anyone with a cool idea can make it and give it to you to run on your hardware, the iPad isn't for you.

If you want to live in the fair world where you get to keep (or give away) the stuff you buy, the iPad isn't for you.

If you want to write code for a platform where the only thing that determines whether you're going to succeed with it is whether your audience loves it, the iPad isn't for you.

https://boingboing.net/2020/01/27/nascent-boulangism.html

82 notes · View notes

chibimyumi · 3 years

Text

Kuromyu 2021 asks

【Response to post: Kuromyu “Secret of the Boarding School Arc”】

Dear everyone,

As many of you have already seen, MKP announced a new Kuromyu after 3 years! “The Secret of the Boarding School Arc”. I have received some asks about this, so allow me to answer them here one by one ^^

Dear Anons,

Yes indeed! “Secret of the Boarding School Arc” is going to be a thing! Erm... well, as you must have seen, no Sebastyun anymore. The announcement is official.

I don’t know Tateishi beyond the most surface level, but from what I do know, he can sing. That’s at least one thing that is promising! But otherwise I have no estimate of him whatsoever. We shall see.

I hope this time the Kuromyu fandom won’t be as nasty about him as they were about Matsushita’s calling him “a helium balloon” or “he sounds like a girl.” And then about Furukawa’s nose at first... =v= I mean, everyone can complain about an actor, but if there’s nothing substantial you can complain about then.... ugh never mind.

【Response to: Werewolf Arc as most likely candidate?】

Dear Anon,

Yes, I did, but I feel like it is useless to answer that specific part of your question now (≽ω≼;) So let’s skip to your following questions.

Well, I wouldn’t call this post a prediction, but indeed, my reasoning that the Werewolf arc would be the most likely next candidate for Kuromyu is obviously wrong, and dramatically so! Here we are, Kuro Potter arc, even though I really thought it would be the LEAST likely one.

But, just like I have explained in the post from October 2019 about a hypothetical Potter Kuromyu, I can’t say I’m really hopeful without lying. I am interested, but not hopeful. All my concerns I spoke of at the time are still my concerns right now.

I worried about Kuromyu becoming Tenimyu, and the musical is mostly likely going to be Tenimyu. Nothing wrong with Tenimyu as such, but Kuromyu is just never made to be like a Tenimyu.

I worried about KuroPotter’s story not suitable for stage adaptations and an expensive cast... and well, indeed, no expensive cast anymore. But then, how will Kuromyu2021 sell their appeal without much of Sebas and Undertaker????

I worried about a different Sebastian inevitably going to be compared to Furukawa, and judging from my Japanese twitter feed, that prediction is not going to be off.

Japanese twitter isn’t even being mean about Tateishi, most people just go: “eh? Suddenly switching out the current prince of the musical world and the Sebastian praised so highly by sensei?” “Those are crushing expectations!” “Will Tateishi be alright? Will he be able to perform outside Furukawa’s shadows?”

All are VERY legit things to say! The scariest thing for Tateishi is not just having to play Sebastian - the perfect demon butler. Nor is it having to compete against Furukawa’s Sebastian. No, he needs to compete against Furukawa’s reputation as “the prince of the Imperial Theatre” no media outlet can NOT emphasise, and the Sebastian declared above canon by Yana herself, and the man who made the highly critical Editor K go gaga for. - Talk about pressure!

But yessss, in short, I am interested and concerned.

Dear Anon,

Grell is not even in the arc... so no, no announcement for any Grell, old or new.

As for Izumi Shuuhei, the thing about supervising the script of Kuromyu2021, that was Izumi’s retweet of Yana’s tweet, not his own. Yana is asked to return for the supervision of the script and the costumes.

There is no reason for any producer to ask an ex-actor to supervise a script for a musical he is not going to be part of.

For anyone interested in what Yana wrote:

In fresh wear that is befitting of a new season called ‘spring’, it has been decided that there shall be a new musical ‘Kuroshitsuji’! This time too I was called to supervise the script and the costumes, and I shall humbly partake. Please look forward to future updates【Toboso】

Dear Anon,

YES APPARENTLY THERE IS GOING TO BE, I AM ALSO SHOCKED!! Σ(ÔAÔ)!

About the new cast, I don’t know ANY of these new actors except 2 from the most surface level, namely Sebastian and Redmond... so I have no idea. Just from instinct though:

🏫Tateishi (Sebastian): You poor... poor man, your life is going to be so hard for at least a short while... Like I said above, Furukawa left impossibly large shoes to fill to begin with, but being made to compete against his reputation as literally the highest rank performers can achieve in Japan is just unfair.

Good luck to you, young man! You seem to be capable of singing, so I hope they at least capitalise on that!

🏫 Konishi (Ciel): ... I already thought 16 year old Sakamoto was too old for Ciel in 2009, and now there’s a 20 year old adult man playing a 13 year old baby-face O.o? I’ve looked up a bit of his acting, it seems decent!

After everyone being used to really young Ciel actors since 2010, and especially with the super small and adorable Reo though... I think this man too is going to have a really hard time getting accepted as Ciel. Though to a lesser extent than Furukawa’s crushing reputation, Reo’s reputation as Ciel really is very pressing too...

But yes, no judging before actually seeing! We shall see.

🏫 Ueda (Undertaker): Like I said in this post, Undertaker really has almost NOTHING to do in this arc, so I don’t have any opinion about Ueda. I have never heard of him before this announcement, but they could have cast an android for Undertaker and the damage would still have been minimal. (I stand by my old point; why bother adapting this arc at all??? Well, at least Ueda is unlikely to be overworked from studying his script.)

🏫 Sana (Redmond): I’ve only known him from Patalliro!, but I never watched it. But for Patalliro! Sana was cast because of his beauty and flair for Maraich. So I am sure Redmond will be just within Sana’s field too!

🏫 Tazuru (Greenhill): NO idea, never heard of him, but he LOOKS the part!

🏫 Satonaka (Bluer), Godou (Violet), Furuya (Clayton), Nakajima (Edward), Taguchi (Maurice): Idem.

🏫 Fukuzawa (Chesslock): Never heard of him either, but he REALLY REALLY REALLY looks the part (≽▽≼) His face just screams: “bruh, whaddya got, loser!?”

🏫 Uchino (Hearcourt): Never heard of him, he looks VERY cute... MKP, couldn’t you cast this youngest actor for Ciel or did he just lose the audition of Ciel? Oh well, he looks appropriately Hearcourt I guess! We shall see.

🏫 Hayakawa (McMillan): Never heard of him, but from the photos I could find he does not really look like what I’d expect of a 3D McMillan. But then again, neither do Furukawa and Uehara, and we all know how much I love them. Looks are just looks ^^ Acting is more important.

🏫 Yamaguchi (Derrick): Never heard of him, looks the part, I’m sure he’ll be fine.

🏫 Agares (Takahashi): Never heard of him, but from his photos he really does have that energy, so I’m sure he’ll be fine!

🏫 Okada (Soma): I..... am actually REALLY surprised, and even right now I’m not sure I found the right guy. Is this really the guy?? Not just a different guy with the same name? I mean, I am sure he is a great actor, but this man is 20 years older than the actual Soma.

They already got 15 young men, they really couldn’t find another one? Oh well, I’m sure he’s a great actor. And otherwise, the role is so incredibly small, any potential damage is limited.

Dear Anon,

Yes, my day is lovely, but also flabbergasting because I spent most of it thinking about this announcement. But I hope your day was lovely too^^

Erm.....about a potential anime adaptation. As has been proven, I am not very good at predicting stuff! So perhaps I am not the right person to ask stuff.

Even though the Universe is probably going to prove me wrong again, I THINK the chances are a bit low for the Boarding School Arc being adapted?

Let us not talk about the Mansion Murder arc, and just look at Circus and Campania arc. Those two are unambiguously the two most popular arcs, but when they got adapted the budget was so horrifically low it was almost embarrassing to look at.

As discussed in this post, Book of Circus was also aired at the weirdest possible times, and that was one of the two MOST popular arcs... as explained before in this other post, the Boarding School Arc is the least popular arc among the main/Japanese fandom... so I personally think the chances for this to get an anime adaption to be fairly low.

Just my thoughts since you asked. The Universe has proven me wrong more often, it might again.

#Kuromyu 2021 #Kuromyu #Secret of the Boarding School #Asks

45 notes · View notes