#do they give a blue check to anyone whose name has been published on the internet or something

[comrade-meow]

A great deal of the transgender debate is unexplained. One of the most mystifying aspects is the speed and success of a small number of small organisations in achieving major influence over public bodies, politicians and officials. How has a certain idea taken hold in so many places so swiftly?

People and organisations that at the start of this decade had no clear policy on or even knowledge of trans issues are now enthusiastically embracing non-binary gender identities and transition, offering gender-neutral toilets and other changes required to accommodate trans people and their interests. These changes have, among other things, surprised many people. They wonder how this happened, and why no one seems to have asked them what they think about it, or considered how those changes might affect them.

Some of the bodies that have embraced these changes with the greatest zeal are surprising: the police are not famous social liberals but many forces are now at the vanguard here, even to the point of checking our pronouns and harassing elderly ladies who say the wrong thing on Twitter.

How did we get here? I think we can discount the idea that this is a simple question of organisations following a changing society. Bluntly, society still doesn’t know very much about transgenderism. If you work in central London in certain sectors, live in a university town (or at a university) or have children attending a (probably middle-class) school, you might have some direct acquaintance. But my bet is that most people don’t know any trans people and don’t have developed views about how the law should evolve with regards to their status.

So the question again: how did organisations with small budgets and limited resources achieve such stunning success, not just in the UK but elsewhere?

Well, thanks to the legal website Roll On Friday, I have now seen a document that helps answer that question.

The document is the work of Dentons, which says it is the world’s biggest law firm; the Thomson Reuters Foundation, an arm of the old media giant that appears dedicated to identity politics of various sorts; and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Youth & Student Organisation (IGLYO). Both Dentons and the Thomson Reuters Foundation note that the document does not necessarily reflect their views.

The report is called 'Only adults? Good practices in legal gender recognition for youth'. Its purpose is to help trans groups in several countries bring about changes in the law to allow children to legally change their gender, without adult approval and without needing the approval of any authorities. 'We hope this report will be a powerful tool for activists and NGOs working to advance the rights of trans youth across Europe and beyond,' says the foreword.

As you’d expect of a report co-written by the staff of a major law firm, it’s a comprehensive and solid document, summarising law, policy and 'advocacy' across several countries. Based on the contributions of trans groups from around the world (including two in the UK, one of which is not named), it collects and shares 'best practice' in 'lobbying' to change the law so that parents no longer have a say on their child’s legal gender.

In the words of the report:

“'It is recognised that the requirement for parental consent or the consent of a legal guardian can be restrictive and problematic for minors.'

You might think that the very purpose of parenting is, in part, to 'restrict' the choices of children who cannot, by definition, make fully-informed adult choices on their own. But that is not the stance of the report.

Indeed, it suggests that 'states should take action against parents who are obstructing the free development of a young trans person’s identity in refusing to give parental authorisation when required.'

In short, this is a handbook for lobbying groups that want to remove parental consent over significant aspects of children’s lives. A handbook written by an international law firm and backed by one of the world’s biggest charitable foundations.

And how do the authors suggest that legal change be accomplished?

I think the advice is worth quoting at length, because this is the first time I’ve actually seen this put down in writing in a public forum. And because I think anyone with any interest in how policy is made and how politics works should pay attention.

Here’s a broad observation from the report about the best way to enact a pro-trans agenda:

“'While cultural and political factors play a key role in the approach to be taken, there are certain techniques that emerge as being effective in progressing trans rights in the "good practice" countries.'

Among those techniques: 'Get ahead of the Government agenda.'

What does that mean? Here it is in more detail:

“'In many of the NGO advocacy campaigns that we studied, there were clear benefits where NGOs managed to get ahead of the government and publish progressive legislative proposal before the government had time to develop their own. NGOs need to intervene early in the legislative process and ideally before it has even started. This will give them far greater ability to shape the government agenda and the ultimate proposal than if they intervene after the government has already started to develop its own proposals.'

That will sound familiar to anyone who knows how a Commons select committee report in 2016, which adopted several positions from trans groups, was followed in 2017 by a UK government plan to adopt self-identification of legal gender. To a lot of people, that proposal, which emerged from Whitehall looking quite well-developed, came out of the blue.

Anyway, here’s another tip from the document: 'Tie your campaign to more popular reform.'

For example:

'In Ireland, Denmark and Norway, changes to the law on legal gender recognition were put through at the same time as other more popular reforms such as marriage equality legislation. This provided a veil of protection, particularly in Ireland, where marriage equality was strongly supported, but gender identity remained a more difficult issue to win public support for.'

I’ve added my bold there, because I think those are very telling phrases indeed. This is an issue that is 'difficult to win public support for' and best hidden behind the 'veil of protection' provided by a popular issue such as gay rights. Again, anyone who has even glanced at the UK transgender debate will recognise this description.

Another recommendation is even more revealing: 'Avoid excessive press coverage and exposure.'

According to the report, the countries that have moved most quickly to advance trans rights and remove parental consent have been those where the groups lobbying for those changes have succeeded in stopping the wider public learning about their proposals. Conversely, in places like Britain, the more 'exposure' this agenda has had, the less successful the lobbying has been:

'Another technique which has been used to great effect is the limitation of press coverage and exposure. In certain countries, like the UK, information on legal gender recognition reforms has been misinterpreted in the mainstream media, and opposition has arisen as a result. ….Against this background, many believe that public campaigning has been detrimental to progress, as much of the general public is not well informed about trans issues, and therefore misinterpretation can arise.

In Ireland, activists have directly lobbied individual politicians and tried to keep press coverage to a minimum in order to avoid this issue.' (Emphasis added).

Although it offers extensive advice about the need to keep the trans-rights agenda out of the public’s gaze, the report has rather less to say about the possibility that advocates might just try doing what everyone else in politics does and make a persuasive argument for their cause. Actually convincing people that this stuff is a good idea doesn’t feature much in the report, which runs to 65 pages.

I’m not going to tell you what I think of the report, or the agenda it sets out. I’m not going to pass comment on it or its authors. I’m just going to try to summarise its nature and contents.

A major international law firm has helped write a lobbying manual for people who want to change the law to prevent parents having the final say about significant changes in the status of their own children. That manual advises those lobbying for that change to hide their plans behind a 'veil' and to make sure that neither the media nor the wider public know much about the changes affecting children that they are seeking to make. Because if the public find out about those changes, they might well object to them.

I started my first job as a researcher in the Commons in 1994. I’ve been studying and writing about politics and policy ever since. And in my experience of how changes in the law are brought about, the approach described in that report is simply not normal or usual. In a democracy, we are all free to argue for whatever policy or position we wish. But normally, anyone who wants to change the law accepts that to do so they need to win the support or, at least, the consent of the people whose authority ultimately gives the law its force. The approach outlined, in detail, in the Dentons report amounts to a very different way of lobbying to get the laws and policies you want. Even more notably, it suggests that in several countries people have been quite successful in lobbying behind a 'veil' and in a way that deliberately avoids the attention of the public. That, I think, should interest anyone who cares about how politics and policy are conducted, whether or not they care about the transgender issue.

I’m going to conclude with an observation I’ve made here before, but which I think bears repeating in the context of that report and the things it might tell people about other aspects of the trans issue: no policy made in the shadows can survive in sunlight.

#Anglo.txt

[myasssaysno]

THE BATMAN! Swinging through rooftops. In some unnamed city, while two gown (you know their goons because one of them is awkwardly holding a gun) watch. for some reason. 

This is Detective Comics (1939) with an emphasis on 1939 (despite it being in brackets) The very first Batman story ever published and I'm going to review it because current comics make me want to die.

WARNING: It's a really long post, so only read if you have time and patience to waste.

Okay first lets talk about that front cover, that rope he's swinging on is simply wrapped around one of his arms. In other words, he's lost that arm or at least damaged it quiet badly (don't try this at home kiddos)

Next, he's carrying a man with him, in a head-lock. So, that man's probably dead (again, don't try at home)

And finally, did the sky need to be yellow? The rooftops blue? Or the buildings red and purple? DO ANY OF THESE COLORS MAKE SENSE?

Anyway, quick explanation. Detective Comics don't function like most modern comics, it doesn't resolve around one single superhero and their fight against evil. Instead, it introduces multiple in the same issue. 

Also, the caps lock is permanently on, to make everything exciting! (Pro tip: use exclamation marks for EVERYTHING!)

The Bat-Man doesn't appear until the 27th issue (according to Wikipedia) which is where we'll be starting, other superheroes be damned. 

This is the first introduction of the character of Batman at all. 

And it goes like this:

“The Bat-Man, a mysterious and adventurous figure, fighting for righteousness and apprehending the wrong doer, in his lone battle against the evil forces of society. His identity remains unknown. "

Okay, so immediately drawn to the 'his identity remains unknown' for two reasons. One, everyone knows who Bat-Man is but I get it at this point no-one would know which sounds ridiculous but then it goes on to tell you who Bat-Man is. Like by the end of this one story.

You would think they'd drag it out a little longer, but old comics don't play around like that. 

Next thing to note, Bat-Man really did start out as a moody loner which is both disgusting and impressive. On account of a lot of character's becoming unrecognizable to their past interpretations, especially spanning decades. 

Now the story is called:

"The case of the Chemical Syndicate."

It starts in Commissioner Gordon's house, who has some of the most colourful furniture. We are talking bright fireman red arm chair, and a sky blue arm chair. Like old comics just went crazy with colours. 

Also, Bruce Wayne used to smoke a pipe (back in the day when everyone smoked) while Gordon prefers what looks like a cigar. Old comics aren't the easiest to tell what's going on half the time. 

Anyway, Gordon is entertaining the young socialite Bruce Wayne. 

(Side note: At the moment Commissioner Gordon doesn't even have a first name which is deeply disrespectful to the man). 

Bruce is playing up the bored rich boy act, head in hand and wishing for death. While Gordon's puzzling over the Bat-Man (which again is extremely disrespectful to my man, Commissioner Gordon who knows better)

Then the phone rings! Dun Dun Duuuun!

We only hear Gordon's side of the story, which explains that a man named Lambert, known as the Chemical King has been stabbed and his son's finger prints are on the knife. 

Okay, first mistake deary. That crime literally just happened, Gordon turns up to the scene is a few panels over and the body hasn't been moved, the crime scene hasn't been analysed and the son's sat waiting for the Commissioner. 

This isn't a case closed, better let the Commissioner know. This is a, their a case that needs the Commissioner phone call. How the hell did they know whose prints are on the knife, how did they know anything about the knife if they're waiting for the Commissioner to analyse the scene. 

But jumping back to the phone call, Bruce Wayne's still in the room. Within hearing distance which is bad but then Gordon asks if he'd liked to come along. 

Commissioner Gordon invites Bruce Wayne to a crime scene. If the people who first read this, didn't immediately work out who Bat-Man is, they're stupid. Plain and simple. 

Anyway, they speed over (because they have to) in a little red car that's looks exactly like Bat-Man's car. (But we don't know that yet)

Arriving at the scene, Gordon examines the scene but doesn't really have anything to say about it. For summary, it's a dead man in a dressing gown who got stabbed in the back (because where else would you get stabbed) and died on his library floor. 

If you haven't worked it out yet, this man is rich. Big mansion, named after him. He's known as Old Lambert, and he's the Chemical King. Which I researched a little into, and it really was early days for chemical corporations in America (and other places) so I'm guessing they wanted to show that's he's some big-shot of a chemical corporation or something?

Either way, Gordon's right on to the good part. Accusing the son of murder, who immediately panics and goes on the defence. Which by todays standards makes him seem guilty as hell. 

As it turns out, he came home early (don't sons just always do that, when their father's getting murdered) heard a noise from the library, found his father with a knife in his back and removed it. 

So technically, he did murder his father. 

The boys story also contains a part where he got the impression someone had jumped out of an open window (not sure what that means) and that the safe was open, and his father's dying words as he held him in his arms were contract. 

God damn it, just once think about your son Old Lambert, but no once again business comes first. 

Gordon then proves himself a good detective and asks the lad about any enemies. Which the boy replies with, no but yeah and lists three names who all become relevant to this story, almost like the boy knew all along. (Kidding)

The first former businessman is Steven Crane, and guess who just phoned the Lambert residency. Steve Crane (maybe it's his brother) who informs the commissioner that Lambert had received a death threat before he'd died, and that he has also received a death threat. 

Gordon tells him to stay put, don't let anyone in. At this point Bruce Wayne taps out and then we're in Crane's library. And oh no, he's just been shot. 

Why give the death threat, did these businessmen just immediately go sit in their libraries and stare at their safe's when threatened?

Crane's murderer steals something from the safe and immediately runs to a nearby rooftop to meet up with Lambert's murderer. 

Okay, mistake number one. If there's two of you, and you're both going to murder a businessman, strike at the same time. Don't wait for the police to turn up to one crime and don't threaten the second victim so he has time to warn the police. 

Next mistake, don't meet on a rooftop, that draws attention. Meet inside a car, or a back alley or at least a few streets away, not down the street from victim two's house.

Finally, don't carry paper around in your hands when your going to meet on a rooftop. Like nothing happens to that paper, but I'm telling you that's the biggest lie of this comic, that paper should be gone.

Instead, they get their ass kicked by Bat-Man who sends one of the criminals flying through space. (The comics words not mine) like Bat-Man just yeets one over his shoulder without looking. 

Anyway, the police turn up, Gordon shouts about catching Bat-Man who is able to disappear into the night with his piece of paper (unrealistic) and then Gordon gives up on finding Bat-Man and goes to Crane's house. 

That's right, one panel of Gordon shouting at Bat-Man and then he's outside Crane's house, speaking with the man's butler who explains Crane's dead. And it's terrible. Heck, Gordon doesn't even check just takes the butler's word for it. 

Gordon then comes to the conclusion that if two out of four businessmen, who Lambert's son mentioned got death threats before dying, the other two businessmen must also have gotten death threats. 

Once again, the are just mention as former businessmen, not even if they knew each other or were part of the same business. Gordon's going out on a limb here. 

Doesn't matter anyway, because he's investigation ends here. 

Bat-Man on the other hand is sat in Bruce Wayne's car, grime smile as he looks at a piece of paper. And then he speeds forward onto an unknown destination. (Um, what?)

Next we jump to the former businessman number two, Paul Rogers whose heard of Lambert's death on the news. Rushing over to the last businessman the son name dropped Alfred Stryker. 

Rogers is met by Mr Jennings, the assistant of Stryker at the door to the neighbouring lab, who lets Rogers in. Only to sock him in the back of the head. Ouch!

He's then tied up, taken to the basement and placed under a glass cylinder. Mr Jennings explains its a gas chamber he's used on guinea pigs (why always guinea pigs)

Anyway, Bat-Man jumps in through the skylight and picks up a wrench. Jumping into the cylinder with Rogers, plugs up the gas jet with a handkerchief before breaking the glass. 

I want to call bullshit, but like it could work. Maybe. I don't know.

Jennings pulls a pistol on Bat-Man. Idiot. He's thrown over Bat-Man's shoulders for his troubles and sat on (that's right) by Bat-Man who then punches him in the face a good few times. 

Stryker finally arrives. Tries to kill Rogers with what looks like a butter knife, Bat-Man immediately twists the knife of out his hands, before grabbing him by the front of his clothes. 

Now comes the part where Bat-Man explains what's going on. Okay, so basically, Stryker didn't have ready cash to buy the company (Apex Chemical Corporation) off the other three. So, he set up secret contracts saying he'll pay them off in set amount, but instead had them killed. 

Not much of a chemical syndicate (which is an organized crime)

Anyway, then Bat-Man kicks the man into a tank of acid (did I forget to mention the tank of acid) for hiring people to kill of some businessmen. I mean what about the people who actual kill them. 

Whatever, Jason's proud Bruce. 

Bat-Man leaves with a quick “a fitting end for his kind” before pulling the disappearing act on Rogers, the only surviving businessman who can't prove Bat-Man was ever there and has to explain the disappearance of Stryker. 

Anyway, Bruce joins the Commissioner again at his house and hears all about the Bat-Man. Not sure what Gordon actual knows about that but Bruce pretends to be uninterested and Gordon thinks Bruce has a boring life and he's disinterested in everything. 

Then, we see Bruce return home and disappear into a room, only for Bat-Man to step out. OH NO! BAT-MAN KILLED BRUCE WAYNE.

Quick summary, four former businessmen. One gets stabbed in the back and for a hot second it looks like his son is the murderer. Businessman two get shot in the front. Both have contracts stolen from their safe. The murderer's meet on the rooftop and are beaten up by Bat-Man.

Businessman three goes to businessman four whose assistant tries to kill him. Saved by Bat-Man. Businessman four is kicked into a tank of acid for his trouble and businessman three goes down for the crime. Maybe, he can't prove Bat-Man murdered businessman four. 

Bat-Man says keep calm and yeet criminals into space (and the one's who hire them into tanks of acid)

#Detective Comics: Issue 27 #Detective Comics #Batman #Bruce Wayne #Commissioner Gordon #The Case of the Chemical Syndicate #Batman's first appearance #Golden Age Batman #Golden Age #Earth-Two #Earth-Two Batman #Earth-Two Commissioner Gordon #dc comics

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #327

starting to run outta steam... haha.

What design is on your shower curtain? It doesn't have one. Did you get in trouble for cussing on accident when you were a kid? Ha ha yeah, for yelling "HOLY SHIT!" once, lmao. Ever made a snow angel? Yeah. Do you laugh at racial jokes? Absolutley not. What’s the highest you can count in a different language? 999, in German. How’s your flirting skills? I wouldn't know, ask those I've flirted with. Have you ever cried over a breakup? For a whole year and then some. I still have episodes. What does your dream life look like? Living isolated in the woods by a river and waterfall with a fantastic spouse, me being a very successful photographer and at least somewhat above *just* financially "stable," maybe having at least one poem published, lots of pets (mostly snakes), plenty of travel opportunities (mostly for photography), being free of my social anxiety and actually being reasonably confident, back in great physical shape... I'm really daydreaming now. What’s something you wish would happen, but know won’t? bleh Where did you meet your current or last significant other? YouTube, back when it was a much more social platform. Do you enjoy wine? No, it's way too bitter. What did you last ask your parents permission for? I asked Mom if I could snack on some chocolate chips she was saving for fudge (since Christmastime...). She was fine with it. Periods are fun. Do you get annoyed when you hear babies crying? I shouldn't, but I do. Me and babies just don't mix. Why were you in a waiting room the last time? I was at a doctor's appointment. What’s your lawyer’s name? I don’t have one. Do you own a lot of scarves? I don't think I own any... Would you ever get a face tattoo? I doubt it, but maybe something very small and subtle. Are your expecting anything in the mail? No. What would you like to see out of your window everyday instead of what you see now? Nature. The woods. Would you rather have a house exterior made from wood, brick, or stucco? Aesthetically, wood, but I don't support the continuation of wood housing in a society where we have many other options that don't harm the environment as much. So, realistically, brick. What is your favorite breakfast? Cinnamon rolls. Do you own a diamond ring? No. Have you ever stripped? No. Do you remember the last movie you saw while on a date? IT with Girt. Whose house did you last sleep over at? Sara's. Yes or no: foreplay? Lmao who the fuck does it w/o foreplay first. Would you ever record you having sex? No fucking way. Something nobody’d ever guess about you? I used to be in great shape. Would you like to be a journalist? I actually wouldn't mind it. It was almost my minor the last time I was in college, actually, but the required courses were a no-no for me. Last year for school, we had an assignment where we had to choose a popular song to write a story based on. What song would you’ve picked? I don't know popular songs, so I'm picking any song. Off the top of my head, given my love for dark and morbid shit, maybe "Voyeur" by Otep. That song is messed up as fuck. No, it's actually not about sex, 'cuz I ain't interested in writing about that. Did the vacuum scare you as a child? I don't think it did. Do you have a long driveway? No, it's actually very short. Have you ever begged someone to stay with you? Oh yes. Are you friends with anyone missing one of their five senses? Not to my knowledge. Are you good at Pac Man? I'm no better than anyone else. Do you have an embarrassing period story? If so, what is it? No. Have you ever gotten high off a prescription medication? No. Do you prefer tampons or pads? Tampons. Pads are mega uncomf. How old were you when your parents talked to you about puberty? I don't know, actually. What stereotype do you fit the most? Geek, maybe? Emo? Idk. If you’re a worshipper, how do you worship? I don't worship anything. What’s your favorite pain reliever? Advil. Do you have a lot of people blocked on Facebook? Not a lot, no. Does your father have facial hair? Yes. Have you ever had a hamster? Yeah, we went through a few. All of 'em were evil. Grape or strawberry jelly? Absolutely grape. What language would you most like to know fluently? German. Do you remember the last song you slow danced to? "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin. Do you plan on having alcohol at your wedding? I don't know. Do you have an idea of who you might kiss next? I know who I WANT to kiss next, but that doesn't mean it'll happen. I hate psychic questions. Who’s the most controlling person you know? She's not in my life anymore. Do you own a microphone? No. Do you enjoy trailers at the cinema? I do. Name a pet you definitely wouldn’t want. A centipede, to name one. I've gotten more into the idea of owning invertebrates, and centipedes are in that hobby, but they creep me the fuck out. They're cool to watch, but I don't want one in my house. Do you have a picture of you throwing up the peace sign? Yeah, it's actually one of my favorite pictures of me without makeup. Has a very "me" vibe. Do you enjoy romantic movies, even when they’re cliche? Ha, yeah. Can you tell the difference between a Scottish and an Irish accent? Nope. Can you read music? Probably not anymore. Ever sang someone to sleep? No. What is the movie that you have waited the longest for/which film do you remember anticipating the most/are still anticipating? Finding Dory takes the cake. What is something that an interested guy/girl could comment about you, that would make you instantly open to them (e.g., “That book you’re reading is from my favorite author”)? If you compliment my Markiplier tattoo because you get it, we are immediately family. Out of all your usernames for websites, which one is your favorite? Do you use it for more than one site? Ozzkat. I use it essentially everywhere. Have you ever spent the whole day (or multiple days) just looking up one thing on the internet (e.g., videos of your favorite band, how-to videos, quizzes, etc.)? HA, way more than once. Hyperfixation is a friend of mine. Bow ties on guys, dorky or adorable? C U T E ! ! ! What are your thoughts on mini-skirts or mini-dresses? ALSO C U T E ! ! ! Have you ever died in one of your dreams? Yes. What appliance in your kitchen do you use the most often? The microwave. Do you use Skype to talk to your friends? Sara, yes. And Sam once in a blue moon if we're playing WoW together. Are you allergic to any animals? No. Have you ever had to go to the police department? No. Have you ever been called bipolar? Well yes, because I am. Have you ever made fun of a handicapped person? Hell no, and fuck you if you ever have. If a necklace/ring gives you green marks, do you still wear it? No. Have you ever had food poisoning? I don't think so, no. Favorite emoticon? Probably c: Do any emoticons annoy you? No, but an excessive amount of them I find disruptive to whatever I'm reading. Do you think there will be a WWIII? Yup, someday. Has anyone ever asked you if you were emo? Yeah, back in high school. The most interesting thing that’s ever happened to you at a grocery store? I dunno. Probably running into someone unexpected. Do you have any good book ideas? Having written RP since I was 10 years old... I could by now write a dozen dictionary-sized novels encompassing what I think are the greatest storylines. I genuinely do believe there's some fantastic stuff we've got, but there's just too many horribly dark and twisted parts in the evil mobs that I am not comfortable publishing. Are you gonna see Cars 2? Well, this is old. I never even saw the first one. In all honesty, can a person be too nice? Yep. *points at Weed from GDW* Have you ever posted a video onto YouTube? Yeah, mostly "meerkat music videos," I guess you could say. Some tributes to certain MM characters, others just music with meerkat clips. How often do you compliment other people? I try to any time I have a sincere one. I am very much for complimenting people openly and often. The Legend of Zelda series: Twilight Princess or Ocarina of Time? I'm not a fan of the franchise, honestly. Never got the hype. Do you even game at all? Most certainly, but not nearly as much as I used to... You can only replay old games but so many times before you just can't anymore. And the "newest" console I have is the original Wii, so... I definitely don't have the modern equipment. Would you give Zumba dance lessons a try if presented the opportunity? Probably not. Definitely not while my legs are in such bad shape; the dancing is pretty intense and would seriously hurt. I could easily imagine myself fainting. Do you own a rosary? No, but I did in my Catholic-raised childhood. Do you like Adult Swim? No. Sorry excuses for humor everywhere. What’s the first thing you do when you get on the computer? Do a quick check on KM just to ensure everything's in order. What’s one thing that you just wish you could do all of your life? Not have to pay bills, haha. If someone asks for your honest opinion, do you give it? Yes, if they emphasize they really want honesty. When was the last time you felt uninformed or out of the loop? Apparently some politician (I think) died recently and people practically rejoiced on Facebook. I knew zip about him. When in a car, where do you like to sit? Passenger seat/shotgun. Have you ever fought with a good friend over something completely stupid? Oh, absolutely. There have been plenty of RP-related arguments with multiple people... In the big picture, it's laughable to fight over a game, but when you're so invested in your own creations, in the moment, it can seem like a big issue. Those drama days are long behind me now. Would you ever visit a third-world country? I don't think so, no. It would shatter my heart, especially seeing children in poverty. Are you the type that’s too ashamed to ask for or use directions? No. You overhear two people gossiping about you; what do you do? Probably call over something like, "I'm not deaf, you know." I highly doubt I'd sit there with my mouth shut. Have you ever felt manipulated? Yes. If you were homeless, how would you cope? If I was truly, entirely homeless, quite honestly, I'm almost positive I'd kill myself. Have you ever done something just to fit in? Yeah. When was the last time you tried to impress someone, for whatever reason? I'm not sure, but I've certainly done it at one point or another. Do you think that the world could function in a state of anarchy? Definitely not. How well do you know your U.S. [or your country’s] history? I mean, I know the bare bones of it, but I'm far from well-versed in history. It was one of my weak subjects in school. Would you ever wish to move to another country? I'm not kidding when I say if it weren't for family, I would probably move to Canada. What is something that you do that others might consider “nerdy”? The way I write, particularly for academic purposes. I'm very descriptive and have an exceptionally large vocabulary. Have you ever had anything expensive stolen from you? Not from me specifically, but our basketball hoop was stolen from my childhood home. I doubt it was very cheap. Do you understand/notice when someone’s using sarcasm? Usually, anyway. When was the last time you were fooled? HAHA there was this drama video suggested to me on YouTube that involved Mark in the title, and I was mega confused and inevitably clicked. Now it's basically a YouTube meme just how "perfect" Mark is, so there was no real drama; apparently some newer fans are just upset at him for playing the sequel to HuniePop, a very sexual puzzle/dating game that's honestly entertaining and can be really funny. Like... he's played the original and despite the discomfort of some scenes (which are censored, mind you), he still had fun, and it was a big hit on his channel. So him playing the sequel isn't surprising, but apparently some people got shit to say. What first Impression do you hope you make with other people? Something along the lines of "wow, she's very nice." Have you ever thought about how you make other people feel/think? Well of course. I think everyone should take time to consider this. What is your stance on getting revenge? A petty waste of time. Any wise/truthful/witty quotes that you live by? Ha, another Mark answer. He once gave the casual innuendo of, "Life's hard; shouldn't you be, too?" (this might have actually been in a HuniePop video!), but when you take the... uh... sexual theme out of it, it's a good way to look at life???? Have tough skin, unmoving willpower, y'know, that stuff. Who was the last person you sat beside at a restaurant? My sister Ashley. Spongebob or Patrick? Patrick is a whole-ass mood. Would you rather watch little kid’s cartoons, older kid’s cartoons, or adult cartoons? Hm. Probably little kid's, given my love for Pokemon. How about watching regular cartoons or anime? Anime. Who is the last person you spent money on? Myself. Do you own a copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon? No; I had SeaWold Tycoon instead. I loved that game. Do you have any birth marks in embarrassing places? No. Have you used Limewire before? Of course. Free music for the low price of a catastrophic virus. :^) When was the last time you required a band-aid? I think when I cut one of my toenails way too short. Are you afraid of snakes? Oh no! I adore them so, so very much. Not saying I'm gonna go scoop up the first copperhead I find herping or something, but I love and respect them so very much. They are such fascinating animals. If you believe in reincarnation, what animal would you want to become? I don't think I believe in reincarnation, but hypothetically, maybe a lioness. Who do you tell everything to? Pretty much whoever reads these surveys, haha. Did you have candles on your birthday cake? Not my most recent one. Exactly, how old are you? I just turned 25 years and one month old. Have you ever been bitten by anything? Besides bugs, I don't think so. I've had cats and dogs playfight with me, but none have ever seriously bitten me with actual effort. Do you wear hats? No. What was the last song you sang along to? "Lunchbox" by Marilyn Manson. Do you think you’ll be married in 5 years time? I'd like to be, but idk if it's realistic.

#survey #surveys #questions

[in-tua-deep]

Ok so like I’m big dumb and have been stalking your blog for hours and just realized the tua should be pronounced like too ripppp anygays I absolutely fucking love and live for your writing and have a question for you (feel free to ignore it this is your blog!),,,,what do you think would’ve happened if Klaus had died instead of Ben.

asdfgDFSGH okay big mood but admittedly I pronounce as in too-ah deep myself lmao

HMMM that’s an interesting question because if Klaus died, he would just vanish. No one can see him, because he’s the only person that ever saw ghosts to begin with. If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around, does it still make a sound? If a boy becomes a ghost, but no one can see him, does he really exist?

You have Ben, who doesn’t numb himself with drugs but also probably withdraws from the rest of the family. Klaus used to coax smiles out of him, and Five used to throw books at his dead and demand Ben discuss metaphysics with him. Admittedly different relationships, but they were the ones that held him together. And then Five vanishes. And then Klaus dies. 

And Ben is well enough liked by the rest of the family, but he’s not really close with any of them. Luther and Allison are too obsessed with one another, Diego is too obsessed with beating Luther at anything, and Vanya is a ghost that only Five ever really reached. 

Ben leaves the day he hits eighteen. He doesn’t tell anyone, he just leaves. He quietly finds the shittiest apartment on earth, works two jobs, and puts himself through community college during the time he doesn’t have. He changes his name. He keeps the Ben, but ditches the Hargreeves.

He keeps his head down, he works hard, he never mentions the Umbrella Academy and he spends his nights with his hands pressed against his stomach wishing that his ‘superpower’ was anything but what it is. 

He’s a bright kid. He makes friends. He doesn’t have the money for med school, which he wanted since he desperately wants to heal instead of hurt, so he compromises and goes into nursing instead. He gets to help people just as much, and he doesn’t have to deal with the staggering amount of debt he would be in. (He’s still in debt from schooling, just not as much.)

Ben works long thankless hours. He holds the hands of an addict whose organs are failing. There’s nothing the doctors can do but ease the young woman’s suffering. He sees Klaus in the eyes of the desperate young people who come in, and he rolls up his sleeves and tries to help. 

Vanya write her tell-all book, and Ben reads it as carefully as he did the various tomes that Five tossed at him so he would know what Five was yelling about this time. He traces his fingers across Klaus and Five’s names as they appear, and he pretends he isn’t angry that Vanya just pulled back the curtain and exposed their gaping wounds for all the world to see. 

Five and Klaus are not props in Vanya’s coming of age story. They are background characters killed off for development. Ben understands that Vanya is angry, that she was abused, but he wishes she could see that this wasn’t the way to go about it

(Ben understands now, that Vanya was abused. He sees her, sometimes, in the people who float through the hospital with scars on their arms and legs and stomachs. The ones who stare right through the doctors and look away when their very concerned parents speak up. He sees her in the young man whose father yells for all the ED to hear that he is selfish, that he needs to be more like his older brothers who are successful. The father is escorted out, but the young man checks himself out against medical advice. Ben never sees him again.)

He isn’t as impacted by the book as perhaps the others are. No one knows what happened to the Horror. Ben isn’t questioned about it, because no one knows that they should question him about it. He watches the youtube videos of Allison getting accosted by paparazzi and wonders if Vanya knew what she was doing when she published that book.

Somehow, he doubts it. 

He adopts two cats. Their names are Séance and Boy. Ben calls them Seya and Brat. His friends ask him if he was a fan of the Umbrella Academy growing up, and Ben shakes his head with a wry smile. “My brothers,” He explains, “They were always more into it than I was.”

And then Reginald dies, and there’s going to be a funeral, and Ben doesn’t want to go. But he thinks about the siblings he never calls, thinks about the hospital room with the old man who is dying who told him with a bitter smile that he never mended any bridges, and picks up his phone. Ben applies for time off due to a death in the family, is granted it, gives his spare key to the girl across the hall who has vowed to take care of Seya and Brat as if they’re her own, and he goes. He goes to the manor for the first time since he left it, over a decade ago. 

He almost thinks it’s his power at first, that something went terribly wrong because he hasn’t let out the Horror for a good long while and the flash of electric blue was unmistakable. But it’s not him, and the portal in the courtyard spits out a child and Ben’s hand shoots to his mouth and it’s shaking because that’s Five. That’s Five the day he left, all scrawny limbs and drama, in a too big suit.

He ushers Five inside, and gets down some bread to hand to his brother who already has the peanut butter and marshmallows well in hand. (Ben wonders, for a moment, why those ingredients are in the house to begin with. He’s positive Reginald doesn’t like marshmallows, after all. But he has more important things to worry about right now, so he lets that thought go.)

He listens as Five tells them they have eight days, and he believes. Four-Five-Six have always had more nebulous powers that the first three children combined. Strength, mind control, and knife throwing are surprisingly straight forward. Ghosts, dimension ripping tentacle monsters, and fucking with the fabric of space and time are… not so much.

Ben looks at his siblings, who have changed so much and yet so little, and decides that priorities are in order. Because as much as he cares for his siblings, and he does, they’re all grown ass adults. Despite what he says, Five looks very young and Ben has seen too many children with the same haunted eyes and sharp words. 

Somewhere in the middle of all of this there’s an open window, and Pogo saying something about a missing box or a book or something, but admittedly Ben isn’t paying all that much attention. Not when he has bigger things to worry about

And Five has a choice between Vanya, who he loves but doesn’t want to drag into his general bullshit because she doesn’t have powers, and Ben who is a nurse and who seems most inclined to believe him. So after the Griddy’s incident, he goes back to the manor and Ben stitches him up with steady, experienced hands and asks Five what he can do to help

Five looks almost surprised. “You believe me?” He asks, suspicious lacing his voice. It makes something inside of Ben ache, but he blames it on the Horror. 

“I’ll tell you what.” Ben says, looking Five in the eyes. “I’ll make you a deal - I’ll help you with anything apocalypse stopping, no questions asked.”

“But?” Five asks, but he sounds less suspicious and more comfortable with terms on the table. Their family isn’t used to unconditional support, after all. 

“Come stay with me after we save the world.” Ben requests, and holds up a hand before Five can protest. “Yes, I know you aren’t a child. I know you can take care of yourself. But quite frankly, I’ve been missing my brother for almost seventeen years now, and I don’t have anyone to debate the finer points of mathematics with at three in the morning, do I?”

I don’t want to let you go now that I have you back. Ben doesn’t say, because he’s already pushing Five’s ability to deal with sentiment as it is. 

Five’s eyes look suspiciously wet as he looks away, but he spits out a quick “Fine.” and they shake on it. 

And so Ben ends up accompanying his brother to MeriTech to check out a serial number on the back of an eyeball. He places a calming hand on his brother’s shoulder, and calls in a favor with a doctor who he prevented from killing a patient who talks to a friend of a friend and they find out that the eyeball they have hasn’t been manufactured yet.

And hey, if Ben didn’t believe the whole time travel thing before he certainly does now, looking at an impossible eyeball in the hands of an impossible boy. 

And Ben is a trustworthy ally, level-headed with enough deadpan humor to make even Five snort in laughter. Ben cherishes even aborted giggle close to his heart. 

Five comes to him with a shy look and introduces him to a mannequin named Dolores. Ben thinks about the little girl with the spiral fracture telling him solemnly that she wasn’t scared but Mr. Hippo was, and he thinks about all the years that Five spent alone, and he gently takes Dolores’s hand in his and thanks her very much for looking after his brother all those years.

Five blinks in surprise, but it’s a good kind of surprise, and he’s notably warmer towards Ben after the interaction. 

It reminds him, just a little bit, of Klaus before Reginald ruined him. The way he’d occasionally just talk to thin air or react to something that no one else could hear. It makes Ben oddly nostalgic, and probably means that he’s much more tolerant of Five’s interactions with Dolores than he should be.

Ben is with Five when Hazel and Cha-Cha storm the mansion. Luther and Allison and Diego hold their own with knives and kicks and the destruction of one chandelier. No one is taken, no one is kidnapped, because there wasn’t anyone just getting out of the bath with headphones in to catch unexpected. 

Eudora Patch listens to Diego tell her that his mother is dead, and that his brothers are running off together to who knows where, and she doesn’t find a message on a van’s window and go to rescue a hostage. Detective Eudora Patch lives to fight another day. 

Five scribbles probability maps on his walls and tells his audience of Luther and Ben that he plans to kill to save the world. Luther gets up in arms about it, but Ben just stares Five down and quietly tells him - “You promised.”

Because Five can’t stay with him if he’s in jail. 

And Five looks away and says there is one way to get more information, and Ben can already tell he’s not going to like this. 

They don’t have a suitcase to bargain with this time, so Five offers himself. He tells Hazel and Cha-Cha to meet him, because he’s decided to give himself up in return for them leaving his family alone. They get there, and they’re having a stand off, and Five demands that the assassin duo call the Handler.

Between one breath and the next, Five vanishes. Not like he’s supposed to vanish, in a flash of blue light. Just gone between one blink and the next.

Ben may or may not be responsible for the ensuing destruction of Hazel and Cha-Cha’s car and subsequently their briefcase which was located within said car. In his defense, it had been a while since he last drove out to the middle of nowhere and let the Horror go ham. And if, in this timeline, it’s Hazel who gets taken hostage because Ben is furious and he’s not losing his brother again, and Cha-Cha figures she’ll bust her partner out later but for not retreating is a wise move well

“Call your boss back.” Ben says, voice tight as he stares holes through a Hazel that Luther has helpfully tied up with some rope from the trunk of the car. “This is now a hostage exchange, you for my brother.”

“I’m just a grunt.” Hazel informs Ben, helplessly, “They’re not going to trade me for a legend like Five.”

Ben gestures for Luther to drive as he shoves Hazel into the backseat. As someone who has seen a man burst into an eldritch horror and destroy his only chance at going home, Hazel wisely complies. Ben smiles with all his teeth as he informs Hazel cheerfully that he’s going to tell Ben everything he knows about the Commission, the apocalypse, and his legend of a baby brother.

Later, in a family meeting with Hazel sitting tied up on the couch as they all loudly debate what they’re supposed to be doing now, Five shows up in a bright flash curled around a suitcase and scaring everyone

In another world Five brushes everyone off and proceeds to collapse. 

In this one, Ben pats his brother down while ripping him a new one about telling him to full extent of plans for gods sakes and when his fingers come back wet with blood Ben frog marches his brother to the infirmary for Mom to stitch up with his assistance. 

“We are a team.” Ben informs his idiot brother, “Yes I know we have to do everything to stop the world from ending, but it’s no use if you die along the way! I care about you, you idiot! So you’re going to sit here and heal while I go with Diego and Allison and deal with this Harold Jenkins motherfucker, okay?”

And Five grudgingly agrees when Ben pops a phone in his hand and teaches him how to facetime so that technically Five is with them the entire time and kept in the loop. Allison’s sacrifice of her phone for this purpose is duly noted and ignored, and Ben spares a split second to make a mental note to get Five his own phone at some point.

And when Luther finds out about everything, Ben quietly asks Five to pass the phone over and basically informs Luther that yes, Dad was a grade A prick but Luther is Number One. Dad might not care, but the dozens of people that Luther helped save during their stint as the Umbrella Academy? They sure as hell cared. And right now, Luther has a mission. Babysit both assassins sitting under their rooftop, because as proven by the break in Hazel is dangerous and where Hazel is surely Cha-Cha isn’t too far away.

That, at least, keeps Luther from going off and drowning his sorrows. 

Since Diego isn’t wanted for murder in this timeline and Patch is alive, there’s no splitting up involved. Ben and Allison and Diego trick a cop, investigate a hospital, and find their way to Vanya’s cabin where secrets come to light.

Allison reveals that she rumored her sister into believing herself ordinary, and Ben can’t help it when he just loudly mutters “I hate this fucking family.” which breaks the tension and makes everyone stare at him.

Since he is not going to admit that he’s stress quoting a vine (god damn Dr. Hernandez got him hooked on them) he ends up just blurting out “I can’t believe Dad made Allison do that!” because really it’s important to establish that yes, Allison did the thing but also Allison was four it’s not like she knew what she was doing, “I’m glad he’s fucking dead, jesus. What kind of a prick does that to a couple of toddlers? Fuck him like, for real.”

and in the aftermath they’re all just sort of standing there staring at one another?? And then Diego is like “Uh. so. i have a police file on your boyfriend? And turns out his name is also the name of the dude Five says caused the apocalypse? Say hello Five” and Five just waves from his little screen

and Ben puts his hands on his hips and is just kind of like “Five if you repeat any of that language I will gut you like a fish. You’re too young for that.” and Five starts sputtering about being older than all of them and cursing and Vanya is giggling and Diego is grinning and mission accomplished! And then he turns to Vanya and is kind of like “Hey Vanya also if you need me to kick Leold Jenbody whomstever the fuck his name is’s ass, I do kind of have a big old tentacle monster at the ready. But of course, you get first dibs. Also like, have you seen his creepy attic shrine to the academy with all our eyes x’d out and our throats slashed? Because it’s like, honestly up there on the level of creepiness. Not quite as bad as that very explicit letter Allie got when we were fifteen, but not too far off either, you know?”

and look i’m not an expert but Ben just. De-escalates everything. He’s a tiny bit like a capybara who will also kick your ass if you really need him to. 

And they confront Leonard-Harold and he tries to convince Vanya that her siblings are evil and he’s the ultimate good of whatever but it’s really hard when there’s Ben there muttering “God we all need so much therapy” to the side and “why is this family such a hazard to society. why do we always attract the weirdos.” and “this is what we get for the lack of a strong father figure in our lives I just know it” and other weird shit like that

anyway Vanya realizes that Leonard has only ever been using her for her powers and was manipulating her from the start, especially when he pulls out his knowledge of her powers as his little trump card as if they didn’t all just have a weird heart to heart about Allison sort of erasing Vanya’s knowledge of them as toddlers

“So do we just? Lock Leonard up until April 1st passes?” Ben asks Five and he feels a little like he’s cupping a magic 8 ball instead of a phone but whatever. But it’s Diego who just is kind of like “Oh hey I got this, this fucker has skipped out on so much probation and done a runner and shit and I can totally just call Patch to come out here and lock him up. Can’t cause the apocalypse from jail now, can you?”

And okay when Patch arrives to them all cornering Leonard in this cabin and also she sent some people to his house and there is a Whole Ass Dead Body up in there alongside this creepy serial killer shrine and oh yes Harold Jenkins is going away.

After that it almost seems a little anticlimactic to just climb in the car and go home? But I mean. That’s what they do. They argue half heartedly about music choice in the car and arrive home to find out that Five has untied Hazel and they’re both chilling at the bar drinking and honestly no one is sure where the little umbrellas materialized from because surely Reginald wouldn’t allow such a thing in his house, right? Luther is just kind of shrugging in the background (maybe a little tipsy) because you can’t expect him to know what’s going on in Five’s head

on the bright side Hazel seems pretty chill and has decided he is not going to try and kill any of them anymore because what he really desires is to run away with the nice donut shop lady. No, no one knows how to respond to this except perhaps Five who is cheerfully wishing Hazel luck. 

and considering that Luther has the whole general time they dealt with Leonard and the car ride back to come to terms with Vanya’s powers and the fact that Dad sucks and there’s also the matter that in this au Vanya did not slit the throat of his most favorite siblings so i mean. He’s okay with this. He is so beyond caring about the shit this family gets up to anymore. He’s going to need so much therapy when this is all over. 

Ben just sort of looks at this motley crew and everyone just looks fucking exhausted and he’s just kind of like. “Okay! Well. I for one did not get that much time off work for all of this but seems like y’all could use a vacation. My apartment is sort of shitty but i have a fuckload of extra blankets because sometimes I stress quilt, and no, no one is allowed to judge me for that fact, and my sofa is pretty great so I mean. You guys can come meet my cats?”

and that’s how everyone piles up into the car and goes to Ben’s place and meet his cats while buying a metric fuck ton of ice cream (Allison insists because even if Leonard ended up a creep, Vanya liked him at first and so it’s break up time) and no one can agree on a movie to watch and Diego is complaining because Ben put Dolores in the best spot while Five argues it’s because she deserves it

and look. Ben has been quiet and kept his head down and lived his life for a very long time. But looking at his siblings, at Luther ducking his head because he burned the popcorn and Allison gesturing dramatically with a bottle of nail polish as she does Vanya’s fingers and Diego teasing a scowling Five who both cats are fighting over his lapspace

and Ben can’t help but think that if Klaus were here (and his brother’s power was seeing the dead, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility) he would be proud of how far they’d come.

Ben certainly was.

#ask me #idkhow2beablogrip #welcome to my blog friend it is a little bit of a disaster but i call it home #thank u for the interesting au premise !! #love me some ben #ben is the only non disaster hargreeves #tua #the umbrella academy #tua au #far tua long #long post #ben hargreeves #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #number five #vanya hargreeves #cha-cha #hazel #tua hazel #tua cha-cha #leonard peabody #harold jenkins #just the whole squad is here tbh #the timeline is kind of messed up bc admittedly it's been a while since i watched the show and also things were messed up by ben existing #rip klaus in this au though #my poor boy :( #ben saves the day au

[egopocalypse]

Return Home

This is one of, if not the longest piece I have posted on this site. As such, most of it will be under the cut. 

Also, some parts of it may seem… familiar. I published the original draft of this about two months ago, but have since revised and edited it for class. And as most things have recently, it turned into Domino Effect. What else did I expect.

TW: Suicide

“Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice messaging system. Stacy Danvers is not available. At the tone, please record your message. When you are finished recording, you may hang up, or press one for more op-” Click.

Chase sighs, flinging his phone onto the bed beside him. His eyes slip shut as his thumb digs into the scarred flesh on his temple, the circular motion working to loosen the muscle and tendons underneath his skin.

“Great,” he mutters. “Just great. Can she just pick up the phone and answer me for once?”

His hand stretches out, fingers curling tight around the cold glass as he raises it, damp condensation leaving a ring on the wooden nightstand. Water rolls down the sides, dripping on his jeans as he toasts the air, staring at the bland, off-white of the ceiling. “To a happy marriage,” he huffs. “And an even happier divorce.”

The whiskey burns the back of his throat. He grimaces at the taste, tipping the glass back to swallow it all in a single gulp. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and glances at the contents of the bottle gleaming in the lamplight. Only half-empty. Not bad for a bottle he picked up yesterday.

He bounces his leg. How long has it been since he called? Maybe she’s busy, or she’s eating dinner with the kids. Those are valid reasons to ignore him, right? They have to be. He twists around and grabs his phone, the bright light burning his eyes as he checks the time. 7:36 PM. And the call was made… not even five minutes ago. Great.

He pours another drink. It’s going to be a long night waiting for her to call back- that is, if she decides to call him back. At this point, he doesn’t know whether or not he can even expect a call. She might’ve just seen his number and ignored it. He wouldn’t put it past her.

What would they even talk about? Would she finally apologize for the shit she put him through? Would she let him see the kids?

He snorts. Yeah, right, like that’s going to happen. Ever since she dropped off the signed divorce papers two months ago, he hasn’t seen Sam and Emma except for a few hours every other weekend. If the court hadn’t ordered Stacy to give him partial custody, he wouldn’t even have that. She didn’t want anything to do with him. Changing her last name so soon was proof of that.

He can’t remember filling the glass the next time, or the time after that, or the time after that, but by the time he puts the glass down for the last time, it’s 4:30 A.M. The bottle’s empty, shattered pieces scattered across the carpeted floor. He doesn’t remember throwing it, but there’s a dent in wall that wasn’t there a few hours ago. The largest shard spins in his hand, the light reflecting off the sides as he stares at the foot of his bed, elbows on knees and a bored frown on his face.

She still hasn’t responded.

It shouldn’t bother him. It’s not like she hasn’t blown him off before. But something about this is different. Maybe it’s just the alcohol, but something gnaws at him- a monster lurking out of sight, ready to pounce on him and rip him open for the world to see.

A sudden thud catches him off guard, the glass slipping through his fingers as he loses his grip, hitting the floor with a tiny thump. He freezes, his heart pounding furiously as a slow, disordered realization crosses his face.

There’s someone else in the house.

Chase clambers to his feet, clammy hands clutching at the covers as he staggers forward, stumbling through the glass maze. The hall beckons to him, spinning out of proportion and the door dancing out of view, but he trudges forward, stubby nails dragging along the wall as he leans against it.

“Hello?” His voice slurs, dragging the word from his tongue. “Anyone there?”

Silence.

He groans. Of course, no one was going to answer. Anyone in their right mind would be asleep, just like he should be if he has any hope of waking up without a hangover.

“Oh, who am I kidding?” he grumbles, holding the wall for support as he turns back to his room. “Tomorrow’s already gonna suck.”

Crunch.

He pauses, his eyebrows scrunched together as he turns back towards the kitchen. “What the hell?”

There’s that feeling again- that insatiable need itching at the back of his skull. He needs to know if someone’s there. He needs to know that his mind isn’t playing tricks on him.

A hand clamps his shoulder and shoves him against the wall, cold metal pressed against his throat. His head hits the edge of a frame, a searing pain flaring behind dull blue eyes and he blinks, his blurry vision refusing to clear.

“Wh-Who are you?”

“Forgotten me already, Chase?” The figure clicks his tongue and he’s paralyzed, frozen from head to toe. “We’ll just have to fix that, won’t we?”

“N-no, wait-” Fuck, why can’t he think? The knife’s cold steel seeps through his skin and he shivers, goosebumps prickling on his skin. “I-I just- I thought our meeting was next week?”

“Is that so?” Oh god, he can just imagine the smirk lurking in that damn voice. “Tell me, Chase, what else have you forgotten?”

He blinks again, the haze finally clearing from his eyes, and the figure’s exposed in full glory- pearlescent white teeth bared in a sharp grin, short brown hair combed back into a quiff, and beady black eyes staring deep into his soul.

A perfect copy of his own image, except for the eyes and a bloody gash ripped across his throat.

It sickens him to look at it, but he just can’t stop. He’s mesmerized, falling in line with cheap words and empty promises. The memories are faded, dim and just out of view. Something about the kids? Maybe?

“I…” He wets his lips, running his tongue over chapped and split skin. “I don’t know.”

Anti scowls, his eyes boring into Chase’s soul. “Have you forgotten? Or are you just too afraid to remember?” He reaches up and presses a thumb over his scar, digging it into his temple as Chase winces, pain shooting through his skull. “Maybe this will help.”

Anti murmurs something he can’t understand as the memories shove back into place. He staggers, grabbing at the demon to hold himself upright. “I remember!” he gasps. “I remember.”

Anti’s smile stretches, growing into a ghastly grin. “Go on.”

He swallows. “I remember the red seeping into my skin, the sirens blaring in the distance, and screams- screams calling out my…”

Oh.

“My name.”

“Very good.” The knife pulls back from his throat and he retreats, tucking into himself as he distances himself from it.

“I- I killed them, didn’t I?” He accuses, glaring at the figure. “All of them. Stacy, Sam, Emma- they’re gone.”

“You did what had to be done, Chase,” Anti smirks, his hand tilting up Chase’s chin. “I’m just returning the favor.”

He snarls, balling his hands into fists. “Why are you here?”

“What do you think the cops will do when they find you, Brody?” The knife flips in his hand, Chase’s eyes following the path up and down. “Do you think they’ll let you off easy? You shot your own children. You slit your ex-wife’s throat. They’ll charge you with murder and lock you up for good- if they don’t put you right on Death Row.”

Anti catches the knife by the blade and holds the handle out to him. “Better to get it done yourself than wait for the cops to do it for you.”

Chase tries to swallow past the thick lump in his throat. “I can’t-”

“Of course you can,” Anti cocks his head to the side, black eyes glittering in the flickering light. “You’re already a murderer, Brody. Suicide isn’t that different when you think about it. The only difference is whose blood is spilled.”

Chase slumps over, arms curling into his chest as he shudders, icy goosebumps racing along his skin. “I didn’t want this,” he mutters, his voice strained and weak.

“But it’s yours all the same.” The voice grates against his ears, a mockery of his shame, yet he can’t help but fall into it. He’s a wilted corpse; all the fight and anger dissolving into pure exhaustion, and he almost collapses into the other’s waiting arms, burying his head into the crook of his neck. A hand rakes through his hair, sharp nails scraping against his tingling scalp, and he barely resists the urge to sigh, leaning in closer despite his agitation.

He doesn’t want this. He doesn’t want to see himself like this. He doesn’t want his family to see him like this.

But what’s the point of living if they’re dead? Killed by his own hand, no less.

He’s missed this. He’s missed the touch of another person that he’s ready to cling onto the first thing- figment, demon, hallucination, whatever it is- that gives him even the slightest bit of attention, and he hates it. He can’t stand it.

And yet, he can’t get himself to let go.

“There we go,” Anti croons, caressing his hand through Chase’s hair. He melts into the touch as Anti chuckles, the low rumble of his chest a contrast to Chase’s racing heart. “A single slice and you won’t have to worry anymore.”

“What about you?” He asks, the words muffled by the other’s shoulder.

“Me?” Anti pulls back, a wicked grin splitting his face. “I’ll be right there with you, Chaser. When you go, I will too.” He stifles a laugh. “Hah- In a way, I’ll be the only thing you take with you.”

Chase glances to the side and reaches for the knife, gripping the handle in his clammy palm. “Will it hurt?”

There’s a scoff. “It’s a slit throat, Brody, not a papercut. Of course, it’s going to hurt.”

Chase swallows, staring at the blade in his hand. It wasn’t anything special, just a kitchen knife Anti had probably pilfered from a drawer, yet he can’t suppress the chill that raises the hair on the nape of his neck. One slice and it’d be over. Forever.

Sunlight filters in through the window and he squints, peeking at the colors poking from behind the trees. It’s a thing of beauty, and he appreciates the scenery for his death.

The steel drags across his throat, tearing through flesh and veins. Crimson blood flows from the jagged cut, spilling down his neck and staining his shirt collar a dull red.

The corpse falls forward, a small puddle spreading on the floor, and from his pocket, his phone buzzes. Anti takes it as his form shudders, stripping away his guise. The blood on his neck disappears. Black eyes turn silver. The brown hair becomes dark green, just long enough to tie back. Marvin slips several rings on his fingers and paints a smile on his lips as he looks at the caller ID. A picture of a blond woman with a bright smile lights up the screen, with a name flashing across the top.

Stacy Brody.

“Hey Stacy, Chase can’t pick up the phone right now. He’s a little… preoccupied at the moment. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure he calls you right back when he gets the chance…”

@ill-spink @abouttobesilenced @kisstheashes @lostinegomayhem @sylver-striings @here-be-becquerel @assbutt-of-the-readers @dakotathewhale @acuaticamber06 @spicy-spedicey @superbanananinja234 @imallwaysconfused @cest-mellow @starlightxnightmare @help-trashbin @epicfangirl01 @clownoutofdarkness @mihaela-tbg @iris-the-asparagus @cutewarmachine @sqxxddygremlin @nextstep17 @bunchofdoodlesinspace @dreamsoffallingstars @redangel201 @abyssshifter @eridangan @jaysflight @skyewardlight @wildhorsewolf @metautske @allons-ychey @stuck-in-a-l-o-o-p @kyerrio @unadventurousjulie @lunatrixyl @oliveroxenfree3 @kairomancerr @kitnkas @gray-avidan @dorito-with-no-weakness @lildevyl @glixbitch @spontaneoustornadoes @littleluversblog @hexatrash @paperhatcollection @bookwormscififan @novelistgeek @worm-does-shit @taikeero-lecoredier @mad-men-inc @seannbean

#jacksepticeye #antisepticeye #chase brody #marvin the magnificent #jacksepticeye fanfiction #writersofjack #river's writing #Domino Effect #Don't worry. #Chase will be back. #He trusts his necromancer after all ;) #Ink =)

[carlatsukinamistolemyhamsandwich]

Amaryllis - Chapter 2

Link to chapter 1

A/N: Oh my word this took forever but it’s finally here! Real life is keeping me very busy at the moment so I’m afraid I don’t know when I’ll be able to publish chapter 3 but it will appear at some point! 

Chapter 2: Spoils of Tragedy

It was not often Carla felt nervous, but as time stretched on and Shin failed to make a reappearance, a distinct sense of anxiety descended upon him. Coupled with the already unsettling air of the mansion, it was enough to make his stomach twist as he tried to think of plan of action.

Even if they could find somewhere with phone reception, it wasn’t like there was anyone they could call aside from Karlheinz, the man who’d led them here in the first place. His thoughts trailed the same paths over and over as his eyes traced the patterns in the carpet, trying to find something he’d missed, anything they could use.

“My sincerest apologies for keeping you waiting.”

Carla jerked his head up in surprise at the female voice coming from directly in front of him. Before him was a young women who could be no older than himself, dressed in a crisp black shirt with a short, pink and black checked skirt; definitely not a member of staff.

He hadn’t heard anyone approach him and that she could get this close to him without his notice… Was his illness playing tricks on him?

“Oh, did I startle you?  Then, being in a creepy old mansion like this does tend to set one on edge, doesn’t it?” She offered him a polite smile that Carla made no effort to return.

“I suppose.” He stood to his full height and gave her an assessing glance. Surely she was too young to be the business contact Karlheinz had spoken of, or the proprietor of such a grand house, but then appearances could be deceiving. “And you are?”

“My name is Kuronagi Seiren and I suppose you could say I’m the owner of this mansion. I knew I’d be having house guests but I was misinformed as to the date, so I was unprepared for your arrival. But er…” She made an effort of looking around the entrance hall. “I thought there would be two of you.”

“Yes, myself and my younger brother. When no one greeted us, he went in search of someone. You haven’t seen him?” Carla tried to keep any trace of concern out of his voice. If Shin hadn’t found anyone, he should have returned by now.

“No, I haven’t I’m afraid. I shouldn’t worry though; it’s a large house so he could easily be lost or even still looking for someone. The mansion is a little understaffed, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he’d gone this long without finding someone.” Seiren offered him a reassuring smile. “I tell you what, why don’t I give you a tour of the place and we can look for him at the same time?”

“Hm, I suppose.” Something still felt off, but there was little he could about it. At least this confirmed the place hadn’t simply been abandoned.

“Good, someone will fetch your bags,” she said with a dismissive wave towards their luggage, before turning to walk down one of the many hallways leading off from the entrance hall. Carla fell into step behind her and she turned back slightly to look at him. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

“Tsukinami Carla,” he replied simply.

“Hm, Carla? That name’s German in origin I believe, an interesting selection on your parents’ part.”

“My mother’s family hail from Germany, it was her choice,” Carla said, before quickly shutting off that train of thought. It wasn’t something he wanted dwell on, especially not now.

“I see,” Seiren said before turning back to the corridor. “On the first floor, we have the dining hall, the kitchen, the living room…” She continued to list off rooms and point out various doorways an she led him around the grand estate. 

Carla paid only a moderate amount of attention, more intrigued by the large number of paintings decorating the hallways than anything else, a collection that certainly rivaled his own from before they fell into ruin and impressive enough that it allowed him to forget the unnerving aura surrounding the place.

Seiren appeared to notice his interest, as when they started a tour of the second floor, she paused in front a spectacular piece portraying a castle build from pale stone, dyed a soft pink by the light of a vibrant red moon hanging in the sky. “You have interest in art, I take it?”

“Yes, you certainly have quite the assortment.” He looked over the painting, scanning over the texture of the brush strokes, how the artist had used them. The warmth of the pink and reds against the midnight blue sky.

“Ah indeed, I’m something of a collector. A lot of the paintings here are very special.” Seiren’s voice was wistful as she trailed a finger over the thick layers of paint. 

“This one here, for example, is the only remaining work of the artist. The others were all destroyed in a fire sometime after his death. A pity, he was quite skilled, but then it does make this piece all the more unique. The spoils of tragedy, I suppose.” Her lips quirked in amusement as she spoke.  “Anyway, we should be getting on, I’ll show you to your room,” she said, turning back to the corridor.

Carla spared the painting one last glance before following. The artist was indeed talented, and now that he knew what had happened to the rest of his legacy, the artwork seemed to take on a melancholy air. Even the red of the moon looked duller, the color closer to that of partially dried blood. It was uncomfortable enough that he turned away, keen to leave the picture behind.

“Most of the rooms on this floor are unused, but I’ve put you and your brother next to each other. This one’s yours.” Seiren paused in front a dark wooden door and opened it, allowing Carla to look inside.

The room was certainly better than the one he’d become accustomed to. The space was furnished with heavy wooden furniture and thick, plush, dark red fabrics covered the bed. The finery of it was enough to remind him of what they’d lost once more. What they needed to regain.

“Is something wrong?” Seiren asked, and Carla turned to look at her.

“How did you come to own all of this?” The girl’s wealth was clear but Kuronagi was not a name he was familiar with and Carla was well versed in who was who in the upper echelons of the business world.

“Ah, well my father purchased this mansion for me and has allowed me to do with it as I please for the most part. He was the one who informed me you would be coming to live here, but you won’t be meeting him during your stay, he’s a very busy man. ” Although there was more Carla wanted to ask, Seiren gave him no room for any further questions, turning instead to the next door along the corridor.

“And this,” she said, pushing it open, “is your brother’s room. Would you care to take a look?”

Carla approached but stopped dead in front of the door, the air in his throat turning suffocatingly thick as he caught sight of what lay within.

Hanging from the frame, suspended by his wrists, was Shin. He appeared unconscious with his head hanging down and his legs limp, like a marionette whose strings had been cut. 

That alone was enough to make Carla feel sick, but the most horrifying detail was the wounds littering his younger brother’s body. Shin’s shirt had been ripped clean from him, revealing bloody puncture marks covering his neck and shoulders and one of his arms was twisted at an uncomfortable angle.

For a moment, Carla stood frozen in horror as he scrambled to process the situation. Something hard slammed into his back with enough force that he was sent sprawling onto the floor. It was only instinct that had his hands brace his fall, palms stinging as he just stopped his face from colliding with the carpet. A dark chuckle came from above him and Carla looked up to find Seiren giving him a wicked smile.

“What an excellent expression! I really should have taken the time to set up a camera.” Her tone had changed from the polite, mild one she’d used with him earlier, now it was full of sick amusement.

“You! What is the meaning of this?” Carla cursed his sickness as he struggled to get to his feet, the action requiring far more effort than it should have. 

Shin was strong, he knew how to handle himself for the most part, so how could a lone woman overpower him and inflict that much damage so easily? There wasn’t a scratch on her. He could only conclude she’d had help, but he had yet to see any trace of anyone else in the mansion. Something icy crept through his veins and it was only years of behaving as the perfect heir that kept him from showing it.

Seiren chuckled and placed a foot flat on his back, pushing him back to the floor. ”Why don’t you use your imagination and try to figure it out? It’s a bit more fun that way.”

Carla grit his teeth at the humiliation of being forced to the ground, he tried to move away from her but she simply applied more pressure until his torso was being pressed into the carpet. “Release me and explain yourself,” he barked. Even though he was in no position to give orders, it was not in his nature to cower or beg.

“You are a curious pair, aren’t you? I thought your brother behaved in an overly self-important manner for a mortal but it seems it runs in the family. Tell me, you come from wealth, don’t you?” Carla twisted around to look at her and found her staring down at him with a faint curiosity. “It’s always amused me the way humans think that having a certain amount of money entitles them to respect, as though they were ever more than chattel to begin with.”

Fear gripped him as he stared up at those bright grey eyes. He was not used to being at another’s mercy and the way she spoke about them… Current assets aside, Carla was still his father’s heir, he had more dignity than this; being trodden on and treated like a curiosity had his temper flare but it was quickly being smothered by a sense of panic at his own helplessness. He glanced towards his younger brother, the taste of bile coating his tongue as he took in the sight of him once more.

“What- What are you?” It took everything he had to keep his voice steady. No mere girl should be able to keep him pinned like this, even with his ill health. And no matter how much his rational mind tried to explain it away, he couldn’t help but notice the way the puncture wounds on Shin were all in pairs, all equally spaced and mostly centered on the neck. 

Then there was the way she’d just referred to them as humans, as though she was something else. The explanation his brain supplied was not one he liked, not something he could accept as being real.

“From your expression I think you’re starting to work it out, you just don’t want to accept it. Would it help if I told you your brother’s blood is delicious?” Carla snapped his head back to her and she drew back her top lip, revealing sharp white fangs.

“That’s not possible.” This had to be a dream, some nightmare induced by his sickness or the drugs used to treat it, even as his senses screamed at him that the creature above him was something out of fiction.

“Would you care for some proof? Normally a simple bite is effective enough but-“ she sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose in distaste “- I can smell the sickness on you. I’m surprised my father would even think to send me any sort diseased prey, let alone someone like you. I can’t tell what it is exactly but from the stink of it I’m sure it’s serious. A shame, you’re very pretty, for a human, and I’m fond of pretty things.”

Carla spluttered as heat flooded his cheeks, never in all his life had been spoken about in such a crude manner, as though he were nothing more than a slice of meat. The mention of his illness stung too, even if it were all that spared him from being preyed upon by the supposed vampire before him.

“I suppose a demonstration of my strength might suffice.” The force pressing against his back increased sharply and Carla hissed through his teeth at the pain. “Is this enough or should I keep going until I crack a rib? In your condition I’m really not sure how much you can take.” Her expression was positively wicked.

“Stop this,” Carla wheezed, struggling to draw enough air into his lungs. His body was weak enough without this sort of abuse, he didn’t dare to think what might happen if she did worse.

“I think that request is missing something, do you not know how to ask for something politely?”

Damn it, he shouldn’t be treated like this, let alone yielding to it, but his chest burned and he could feel another coughing fit on the horizon. As much as he wanted to hold his head high, he was in no condition to do so. “Please,” he rasped, grateful that at least Shin wasn’t conscious to witness this.

The foot on his back vanished and if he had enough air, Carla would have sighed in relief. “There, that wasn’t so hard was it?”

Seiren gazed down at him, eyes devoid of any sort of empathy as he took rasping breaths interrupted by spluttering coughs.

“What is it you intend to do with us?” His voice wasn’t as strong as he would have liked but at least he was able to get the words out.

“I would have thought it was obvious,” Seiren said, glancing at Shin. “But if you really need me to spell it out for you, you’ll be staying here to provide me with food and entertainment.”

“You won’t get away with keeping us here against our wishes.” Carla got to his feet, trying to retain some semblance of dignity.

“Oh really? And who’s going to come looking for you? The only humans sent here are the ones with nowhere else left to go and no one to miss them. I find it very unlikely that you’re an exception.” The words made his skin crawl.

“You mean other people have been sent here before us?” Carla thought about how empty the house was and his gut to turned to lead with the implications of their fates.

“Not for a while, I’ll admit, but yes. As for what happened to them, well, all you need to know is that you and your brother are the only living mortals here.”

Carla instinctively took a step back in horror. He needed to get out of there, now, but his chances of escape seemed low. Even if he still had the strength needed to carry his unconscious brother, he would have to contend with the vampire standing between him and the door to the room.  

“I tell you what, I’ll make you an offer. I have no interest in drinking from a sick human so you’re really not of that much use to me. Your brother on the other hand…” Seiren walked over to Shin and ran a hand over his chest.

“This is my offer Tsukinami Carla, I’ll let you leave this house, with transport to a nearby village and enough money that it’ll make whatever fortune you once possessed seem like a pittance but, in exchange, your dear little baby brother will be trapped here with me, left with the knowledge that you chose to abandon him. And should you get it into your head that you could come back here and save him, well, you’ll find that all memories relating to the location of this house become rather difficult to recall.”

She gave him a wicked smile that showed off her fangs. “What do you think? Freedom and your fortune restored for however long you have left, or sacrificing it all just so that darling Shin here doesn’t have to endure me alone?”

Carla’s mouth went dry. It had to be a trap, there was no question of it. No matter how tempting the idea of regaining their status and leaving this wretched place behind may be. But not only that, even if Seiren’s offer were genuine, he couldn’t abandon his only brother to this fate, to spend the rest of his days with a monster. They’d find a real way out of this, together.

He fixed her with the steeliest glare he could muster. “No amount of money is worth Shin’s life. When we leave here, it will be together.”

Seiren looked at him for a moment, scrutinizing, and then burst into laughter. “Aw Shin,” she said, taking hold of his chin and tilting his head towards her. “Did you hear that? It seems like your big brother really cares about you. How precious… and stupid.”

She let go of Shin and his head slumped down once more, still fully unconscious. “You’d really trade the offer of being a free man just so that you and your brother can share in your misery? It’s so disgustingly sentimental I think I might vomit. Alright then Carla, let’s see how far your love for your brother goes, shall we?”

She slipped a hand beneath her skirt and withdrew a small, sharp dagger. Before Carla could react, it was pointed at Shin’s neck. “Now, you’re going to follow my orders to the letter, or else I’m going to slit his throat. Although,” she trailed the edge of the blade against his skin, “I think I’ll have some fun cutting him open first.”

Digging his nails into his palms, Carla assessed the distance between himself and Seiren. Even if he were in good health, there was no way he’d be able to reach her before she’d been able to do some damage with the dagger. And what would he do once he reached her anyway? She would have no difficulty fending him off with that hideous strength, as much as he hated to admit it to himself. No, he was left with little choice but to submit and it made his stomach curdle.

“Hmm, what should I have you do first, I wonder? Ah, I know, I think I’ll have you kneel for me. I get the impression that you’re not used to lowering yourself before anyone so I think you’d better start getting used to it.” Her expression was positively viscous.

Carla glanced at the plush carpet beneath his feet and then back towards Shin. He had to do this, no matter how much it rankled with him.

Gritting his teeth, Carla sank to one knee and then lowered himself so that he was kneeling, glaring hatefully at the woman before him all the while.

“Now, normally I’d have you kiss my feet to demonstrate how utterly beneath me you are but I don’t particularly care to get your saliva on my shoes, so I think I’ll have you lick the floor instead.”

Even with everything she’d already done, for a moment Carla thought that she couldn’t possibly be serious. There was no way he could lower himself to doing something so base.

“I’d suggest you do it quickly, before I start to get bored. Or-“ she pressed down with the knife and drew it slowly across Shin’s skin, leaving a thin gash behind “-have you decided your brother’s life isn’t worth your pride?”

The sight of Shin’s blood was enough to get Carla to force his head to the floor, silently spitting every curse he knew. One day, somehow, he would make her pay for this.

He ran his tongue over his lips, bracing himself for the shame of it.

A knock sounded on the door and irritation flashed across Seiren’s features, while Carla lifted his head, relief surging in his chest at the interruption.

“What is it?” She snapped.

“A letter has arrived for you mistress Seiren.” A voice came from the other side of the door, soft and male.

The vampire let out an exaggerated sigh. “Can’t this wait? It’s been a while since I’ve had guests and-“ she locked eyes with Carla “-we were just getting to the good part.”

“It’s from the King himself, mistress.” The man, who Carla presumed must be some sort of servant, replied.

“Very well, leave it in my room; I shall be there in a moment.” The dagger became a blur of silver, arcing towards Shin’s arm before Carla had time to react and he felt his heart stop. A second later, Shin’s body fell to one side, one arm now hanging down. Mercifully, it seemed she had only cut the rope tying Shin to the bed,

“I trust you can now get your brother down by yourself,” Seiren said, turning to make her exit. “I’d advise you not to try to make a run for it, though I doubt you could get very far, given your condition and the fact I dislocated Shin’s shoulder earlier. If you stay put like a good boy then I’ll send someone to fix it soon but if not-“ she paused at the door, turning to give him a truly terrifying smile “-then I might just be in a poor enough mood to cut his whole arm off. Until later, Tsukinami Carla.”

The door closed behind her with a soft thud and Carla felt the tension in his muscles loosen a fraction. He looked down at his own shaking hands with a sense of disgust. To be forced into such a low position by someone like Seiren was beyond humiliating, even if no one else had witnessed it.

Looking back up at Shin, Carla felt his stomach churning, along with a pang of guilt. He should have taken over the family business the moment he noticed the unwise decisions his father had made. Even failing that, he should have stopped him from fleeing with the remains of their fortune.

And now, that lack of action had stranded them here, in a mansion with a monster.

Carla had thought there was nothing else he stood to lose.

He’d been wrong.

#Amaryllis #my writing #AU #my OC #Originally this chapter was going to be longer but I felt I reached a nice place to end it #I hope it's okay I ended up rewriting it a lot #I'm sad there isn't more Shin in it but don't worry he'll be back next chapter #This is mainly a Shin story

[digitaldiscipline]

Dan Simmons showed his ass, so I handed it to him.

[Review] Carrion Comfort

(Originally posted 27 Feb 13)

I'm going to say this right up front: Stephen King doesn't know shit about what makes a horror story great. His cover blurb, proclaiming Dan Simmons' sophomore effort, Carrion Comfort, "One of the three greatest horror novels of the 20th century," is frankly and flatly ignorant, in addition to being laughably inaccurate. This wouldn't even be a top-three book in King's own body of work, and nobody's going to mistake the guy for a grandmaster of anything but pulp (and I say this as someone who owns about five linear feet worth of King's books in hardcover and trade paperback; I read just about everything he wrote up through the turn of the century; I may be performing a hatchet job, but it's an informed hatchet job). Guillermo del Toro penned a similarly effusive and purple blurb, presumably in exchange for the other six shots of absinthe he'd been bribed with to write it. Even the meta for this novel, released as a 20th anniversary special, where Simmons details the novel's journey to publication, is a steaming pile of overwrought hubris. It weighs in at thirty-two pages, most of which is Simmons' assertion that he's smarter than the publishing industry and, specifically, an editor he takes pains not to name, but describes unflatteringly (both physically and intellectually) who, eventually, I came to sympathize with... her eventual assertion that he scrap everything but the title was an opinion I shared about five hundred or so pages in, too. So, to the text itself. There are, to its credit, very few typographical errors[1], though it's obvious Mr. Simmons (and whomever may or may not have edited this thing) doesn't know the first fucking thing about physics, firearms, sharks, or vampires. He's watched too many episodes of Starsky and Hutch to be able to write a decent action scene (frenetic, disjointed, implausible... it's almost painfully obvious that he wrote this book to end up as a movie, even including a Hollywood producer and a couple sexy starlets who serve almost no purpose but to be sexual objects). Leaving aside the story's specific shortcomings, there's the small matter of craft, which can be most easily and kindly be summarized by saying that the author bit off way, way more than he could chew. This book wants to be a psychological monster horror story wrapped around some plucky discrimination victims interwoven with a political potboiler. It manages this trick with all the grace and elegance of a truck full of cheap beer going over a guardrail and rolling down an embankment made of lawn jockeys, rejected Tom Clancy novels, and Bram Stoker's spinning corpse. The villains are supposed to be psychic vampires, and, early on, it's suggested that they draw power, sustenance, and longevity from using their power to compel people in their thrall to commit acts against their will, specifically murder and/or suicide. Unfortunately, the only one who appears to have resisted the ravages of time particularly well takes a mid-caliber bullet to the forehead before the end of the first act, and the author actively ignores the fact that one of the chief antagonists becomes exponentially more powerful, causing a substantial amount of sustenance-providing chaos, while remaining little more than a breathing corpse. Maybe this was Simmons' way of suggesting they don't draw power from exerting power.... or maybe it's just sloppy writing. But if this is the mechanism upon which the entire horror premise is built on, maybe you ought to think it through a little more comprehensively and pay attention to the rules of the world you build. (To this end, I'm currently giving the author of the book I'm editing a ration of shit over the logistics of her characters' commute and how a made-up drug might work with a made-up physiological condition, because they're introduced and need explaining to keep secondary things from unraveling.) When it's something as large and prominent as the mechanism by which your vampires vampire, you might want to not fuck that up or ignore it altogether. Likewise, there are broad hints that the bad guys are a shadowy, world-controlling behind-the-scenes force, ensconced in the halls of quiet power (because that's never been a cliche).... but without ever actually doing much more than pulling some strings to fatally harass friends and family of the protagonists, and the protags themselves. Illustrative of petty tyrants, or just a cheap swipe at Washington, carried out by someone who thinks that J. Edgar Hoover was actually the most powerful man in the world during his formative years? The topic of race, in a couple of dimensions, is slathered on this book so heavily that you'd think Al Jolson used it to wipe his face after a show. We have the young black woman whose father is killed teaming up with the Holocaust survivor, teaming up against a bunch of white people; all but two of which are old white guys in suits (one of whom is a former Nazi officer; another is a closeted televangelist); the other two are a young white guy who is a blatant sexual predator and an old white woman who is an overt, old-school Southern racist. Racial tensions were high in the late 70's, and there were plenty of cold war fears to go around, but, really, having the FBI used as puppets to go shooting up the Philadelphia slums, while not a finger is lifted by local police, and the Mossad being white-kinghted to aid the protagonists is laying it on a bit thick. What passes for moral ambiguity is almost immediately undermined by sermonizing on both sides, good and bad. Simmons admits in the foreword to more or less ripping off the collective gestalt of the child-monster horror trope that was big in theaters during the late 1970's. I'd love to say this is a complex and heady blend of body-snatcher paranoia with notes of victimization (two of the three main protagonists are preyed on ("Used" in the book's parlance) by the bad guys at various times, and the author isn't at all shy about calling it "mindrape" early and often, but that's a lot more credit than is due. This book has pretentions of moral philosophy, but it's flat and preachy and, frankly, Neal Stephenson does "here are several paragraphs of completely irrelevant and sanctimonious shit I think is interesting and am going to force you to read now" better. There's also the matter of what is simply bad writing. We have a scene where we're told, "Natalie awoke to the sound of an explosion."  She spends one sentence disoriented and getting dressed, and two sentences looking for the other people she was sharing accommodations with. She then steps outside to admire how nice and blue the sky and how pleasant the weather is "Natalie went downstairs and out the front door, marveling at the blue sky and warm air" (page 487 in the TPB edition). Then she spends a sentence checking out the landscaping. Then she walks around the yard to see where the noise is coming from. JESUS CHRIST IT'S AN EXPLOSION LET'S CHECK OUT THE SCENERY.  This kind of inept action is endemic, even without Checkhov's gun masquerading as a bandolier of C-4. In the book's favor, it kills off a love interest early and unapologetically, it doesn't flinch about depicting some touchy shit (even ineptly, at least Simmons is trying to make some social commentary), and is blissfully ignorant of the Bechdel test, which it skirts fairly thoroughly (since the aforementioned baddie is a mean old broad, she talks to both of the other main female characters, though they do spend most of this time discussing their plans, which generally revolve around doing harm to various men). [1] As anyone who lived at the time knows, the personable gentleman who hosted Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom was named Marlin Perkins, not Martin. At the time, fucking this guy's name up would be the contemporary equivalent of saying "Darryl O'Reilly" or "Bob Stewart"; the man was the host of one of the most popular shows on television, and there were a lot fewer fucking channels back then. Very little of the foregoing has probably gone unsaid by the folks at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11286.Carrion_Comfort ; however, I'm not going to plow through all of those before hitting "post" and putting this thing behind me. I may, in fact, perform the act of near-sacrilege and tear out the page upon which the person who gave it to me penned an inscription before remaindering the book to my favorite used book store so that someone else can subject themselves to it. One half of a reheated Clancy/King slashfic out of five.  

[the-captains-ayebrows]

I am curious about the Fall for CS story.

Hi there, Nonny! Thanks for the ask!

It was/is a grocery store meet cute between single mom Emma and Children’s Book author Killian. I had the beginning going fairly well, but I couldn’t ever figure out where the plot should go from there. 

Here’s the (unedited) part I actually wrote in case anyone is interested - with a cut so as not to clog dashboards:

“I’m hanging up now. I need both hands to park.” Not a complete lie, Emma thinks. Her ancient Volkswagen does require both hands, both feet and a little bit of Jesus-take-the-wheel to maneuver through the overcrowded parking lot. The real reason she wants to hang up on Ruby, however, is because she’s so tired of hearing--

“So whatcha buying at the grocery store today? More chocolate? You know it’s been scientifically proven that chocolate produces the same brain chemicals as an orgasm, so why not just--”

“Ruby, no.”

“You can’t argue with science, Emma.”

“I’m not arguing with science, I’m arguing with you. For the millionth time, I do not need to get laid. I’m fine. Not to mention I don’t have time for a guy, between work and Henry and--”

“You’re telling me you don’t have six minutes for scientific purposes?”

“No, I do not have--Wait, six minutes?”

Emma can actually hear the leer in Ruby’s voice. “If you’ve got a partner who knows what they’re doing.”

“I don’t know whether to be horrified or impressed right now.”

“Both. Definitely both.”

“Okay, but the thing is, I’m parked now. Gotta go. Bye.”

“Fine, fine. Go buy a mountain of chocolate. I hope it keeps you warm at night.”

“Hey, the chocolate is for Henry’s school carnival!”

“Sure, girl. Whatever you have to tell yourself. Bye!”

With a frustrated grunt and grinding of gears, Emma shifts her beloved yellow Beetle into park. Not that kind of frustrated. Ruby’s wrong. Very very wrong.

She continues to muse on how wrong Ruby is as she yanks a shopping cart free from the cart barn just inside the sliding glass doors. Emma Swan’s life is full, overflowing even. Especially this year when Henry finally has Mary Margaret for a teacher after years of wishing to be in “Aunt M&M’s” class, because of course, when one of your best friends is your son’s teacher you find yourself volunteering for all sorts of school activities. Almost as if your name appears on the parent sign-up sheet by magic. Kinda like how she’d found herself responsible for buying all the candy for the 5th grade class booth at Storybrooke Elementary’s Halloween Fest.

Emma swerves at the last second to avoid smashing her cart into a card table set up at the end of an aisle, and whose bright idea was it to put that thing there? She mutters an apology to the vaguely man-shaped individual sitting there, but doesn’t give him much more thought.  Probably a poor schmuck getting paid minimum wage to annoy people into changing their cable provider or some such bullshit. She takes a hard left and continues on her way. The guy might have said something to her as she passed, but it didn’t register. All she wants to do is grab a gluttonous amount of candy--most of which is definitely for Henry’s school carnival--and go home. To a nice glass of wine. And to not thinking about Ruby’s commentary on her love life.

Emma dutifully loads bag after bag of “fun size” candy bars into her cart. Maybe she grabs a few extra of her favorites, but those aren’t for her. It’s for the kids. She’s a damn saint. Henry should be happy with her at least. Operation Sugar Coma or whatever catchy little name he’s come up with for his class booth ought to be a complete success.

As Emma strolls down to the end of the aisle before making her way back up the next toward the check out, she falls into that a special kind of supermarket trance that only a mom who’s finally getting to do the shopping without her kid along can understand. Eyes glazed over. Colorful packaging and fellow shoppers passing by all strangely out of focus. Actually able to hear her own thoughts. That is, until--

“I’m coming to your house, love.”

The voice snaps Emma back to alertness, her wide-eyed stare finally landing on the guy at the table she is now passing for the second time. Her instincts put her immediately on the defensive, ready to maul this creep who is… who is…

Who is mischievously grinning at her with perfect white teeth and a wry tilt to his full, sensuous lips. And if he were just a pretty mouth, it’d be bad enough, but the rest of his face is pretty damn pretty, too. He dips his chin, looking up at her through unfairly long eyelashes and raises his dark eyebrows encouragingly. Her reply, when she finally remembers to make one, is a profound and very badass-

“Huh?”

He leans back in his cheap, plastic folding chair and gestures lazily to her cart. “You’ve got the good candy. I’d surely enjoy a piece.”

Her pulse jumps. She isn’t even really sure why. He said it completely straight-faced, but there was just… Just a little quirk of his eyebrow or flicker of his tongue behind his teeth or… Nuh-uh. Nope. She’s in no mood for nosy best friends or flirty cable guys. She tightens her grip on her cart handle.

“Nice try, but these goodies aren’t for you.” She puts as much sneer into her voice as she can and stalks off, the sound of his laughter behind her eventually fading into the ambient noise.

She’s halfway to the register when she realizes there are a few more items she should probably pick up while she’s at the store. Bread, milk, toilet paper, Lunchables. You know, actual non-chocolate groceries. Still, she forces herself to walk all the way down to the produce section before turning her cart so the smart-mouthed stranger doesn’t get the idea she’s hiding from him or something.

Because she’s not hiding. Emma Swan does not hide. Avoid maybe, but not hide. Honestly she’s not even thinking about him anymore, not much anyway.

Maybe his stupid smirky face popped into her head while she internally debated whether Henry would notice if she bought generic mustard and funnelled it into the empty French’s bottle. And maybe while she grabbed a week’s worth of lunches from the frozen section, it occurred to her that he must be freezing sitting so close to the ice cream with the top buttons of his shirt undone like that. God, man-cleavage is so cheesy. That’s probably why the cable company put him there. Some flirty, enticing little treat to lure in all the female shoppers. Or hell, maybe the male ones, too. Who was she to judge?

Well, it wouldn’t work on her. Emma had a will of iron and a Netflix subscription, so she didn’t need anything this guy had to offer. And if he tried to chat her up again she’d tell him so. Again. Except that…

She realizes that what she thought were pamphlets on his table are the wrong size. They look more like… books? Kid books, probably, if the brightly colored cover art is anything to go by. The closer she gets to the table, the more apparent it becomes that the guy is a) attempting to sell said books and b) not doing a very good job of it. Most of the shoppers that pass don’t even look at him (like how?) and the few that do just wave him off and go on their way.

He seems really bored and kinda lonely and it tugs at something in Emma’s gut. She remembers feeling alone and invisible. Nowadays she has a son she loves to pieces and a handful (yeah, Ruby is definitely a handful) of well-intentioned if meddlesome friends, but she still remembers. So, she decides to go talk to the guy. Throw him a bone, or whatever. Not that kind of bone.

He doesn’t look up as she approaches, focused instead on the sharpie he’s fiddling with. Admittedly the rolling movement of his fingers as the pen twirls from knuckle to knuckle is distracting as hell, and it takes some effort for her to redirect her attention to the cover of a book.

“Killian Jones?”

He perks up instantly. “Ah, so you’ve heard of me?”

His smile is dazzling and his eyes are a little too blue. It does weird fluttery things to Emma’s stomach. She’s not about to stand for that. She glances pointedly at a stack of books.

“Just reading the cover.”

His smile dims and the hand holding the sharpie reaches up to scratch behind his ear. “Ah. I see. I’d honestly be surprised if you had. We self-published types rarely attain much in the way of name recognition. Otherwise I wouldn’t be hawking my wares in a grocery store.”

Well, shit. Now she feels even more awkward. She came over here to… Well, she’s not really sure why she came over here, but it wasn’t to be a buzzkill.  She tries again, picking up the top book in the stack and turning it over in her hands without really looking at it.

“So, you’re the author then?”

He nods. “Indeed. Though, erm, you’re not exactly the target demographic of that particular work.”

It’s then that Emma notices the cutesy drawing of a puppy dressed as a pirate, complete with a little hook on one paw and a trick-or-treat bag clutched in the other. It’s actually pretty adorable and Emma finally lets a tiny hint of smile break through.

“Jolly Roger, huh? So the puppy decides to be a pirate for Halloween?”

“Aye. You see, it’s a bit sad at first because Roger doesn’t want to go to his friends’ Halloween party. They’re all dressing up as superheroes and he doesn’t think he can be a hero because he’s missing one paw. Fortunately he has a big brother puppy to set him straight and teach him that he doesn’t have to be like everyone else. It might even be more fun to be a little different. So they decide on Captain Hook for a costume, Roger goes to the party and wins the costume contest.”

Okay well that’s charming. She’s officially charmed. Dammit. She can hear Ruby’s voice cackling somewhere in the back of her mind. “You know, my son may be a little old for picture books, but I do have a best friend who’s an elementary school teacher. She might be interested in some of your books for the school library. Do you have a business card, or…?”

Now his original smirk is back in full force as he stands and withdraws a card from the pocket of his very, very well-fitted jeans. He leans closer holding the card between two fingers, and Emma eyes can’t to decide where to look. At the card, which is conveniently located right next to the open placket of his shirt, thus putting an enticing view of chest hair in her line of sight. Or into his eyes which seem to be twinkling at her. Or worst of all at his lips which seem to be saying something… Oh right, she should probably be listening right now.

“If you wanted my number love, you needn’t stand on ceremony.”

Emma snatches the card from his hand and rolls her eyes. “Does that routine work on all the moms?”

#captain swan #ask box games #captain swan fan fic #cs ff #WIP game #maybe I'll actually finish this one day #Anonymous

[thesteamgoth]

W.I.P Tag

Firstly, my apologies for how long it’s taken to finish this. Thank you for your patience! Thank you to @cassandra-maher-writes for tagging me. You can read about her amazing WIP here! (Do check it out!)

1. What is the working title of your book?

Currently, its ‘Daughter of Fire’, though this no longer fits the novel because the current version has now evolved into multi-pov narrative it has no diverged into rather than single. I’ll probably change it when I can think of a better one that fits!

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?

So many things! The current version has certainly evolved from when I first started writing it around 5 years ago (though then, there was no sort of plan. Now I kinda have an idea of the route I’m taking, thank god!)

I have been inspired by:

1) A lot of the media I have been consuming over the past 5 years: Buffy, Catwoman, The Shadowhunters, Dracula (Books and movies), Blue Bloods Series, Penny Dreadful... (and lots more, especially YA Novels, which I cannot name off the top of my head).

2) Mythology

3) My Classical Civilisation Classes (’One Man’s fate curbs the next man’s fate’ from Aeschylus’ Aggamemnon which relates to a key theme explore in the story).

4) Music

3. What genre is your current work in progress?

Either YA Urban Fantasy, or NA Urban Fantasy.  

4. Choose the actors for your movie rendition.

I would love to see my book as a movie (maybe a series, but we’ll see, first it’s got to be written. NB: Some of the actors are way older than my characters, but are nevertheless match the image of them in my head).

Cailean Calhoun: Robert Sheehan

Aliskandariya Korkmaz: Cansu Tosun

Iara Vega: Teyonah Parris

Markus Istvan: Neil Jackson

5. Give a one-sentence synopsis of your book.

Aliskandariya Korkmaz, Iara Vega and Cailean Calhoun would never though that their paths would ever cross with each other; but then again, they never thought they would be racing against the clock to uncover the mystery of Sanura Sharpe, whose awakening threatens to shake the foundations on which the worlds of the Human and Supernatural have remained at peace, distinctly separate from one another, for centuries.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agent?

I haven't completed enough research into this to make a decision to be honest. I like the idea of traditional publishing, but I’m not keen on the controls imposed on you if that route is taken. But then, I really want to walk into my local bookshop and see my book on the shelves.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft?

Not finished yet. 5 years ago I embarked on this journey, with no idea as to where I was going. But now I think I have a clear(ish) idea of my destination. Now to finish writing it. (Wish me luck)

8. What other books would you compare your story to?

A bit similar to the Shadowhunter series in relation to the fact that there is a masquerade in place where humans aren't aware of the existence of supernatural creatures. Plus I’m kinda a sucker for anything with vampire hunters in it, and urban fantasy, 

9. Who or what inspired you to write the book?

The whole writing thing started when I tried to read twilight (spoiler: I didn’t finish it) and thought to myself, I can totally write a book, though in terms of writing DOF, as I’ve said above, lots of media I consumed through my teenage years has been a source of inspiration.  I would say the film, The Mummy (90s version) has inspired the latest version of my first draft (and the direction which I'm taking with it).

10. What else about your book might peak reader’s interest?

The uncovering of secrets which seem to tie all the main characters together on this whirlwind of a journey halfway across the world. I’ve created my own mythological creature which concerns the lineage of one the main characters (can anyone guess who?). Lot’s of Character development, fighting the bad guys, visiting historic sites. Also, characters with wings!!!

I shall tag: @katshouldbewriting ​, @dantedevereaux ​, @moiraaward @goforwardgreenwriter ​, @allthatpurpleprose ​, @byriamallo ​, @authordai ​, @authorlaragrey ​, @writeontheedge ​ @colubrina , @arwallace , @wolvesofarcadia, @idreamonpaper and ANYONE ELSE who wants to do it! please tag me so I can see your WIPs!

Feel free to ignore if you've done it already or don’t want to do it.

#writeblr #my writing #thesteamgoth speaks #thesteamgoth writes #creative writing #urban fantasy #urban fantasy writing #writing tag #dof #daughter of fire #iara vega #iara #aliskandariya korkmaz #cailean calhoun #my wip #wip:DoF #wip:amot #wip: amot #tag game:amot #tag game: amot

[chrismaverickdotcom]

To my friend Aspen...

I almost never post to my blog anymore (should fix that) Aa lot of what I say I put over on VoxPopcast), but I do pretty frequently say shorter things on Twitter or Facebook. Today, I wrote this on Facebook… a eulogy for a friend. I decided that it was something I wanted to have a copy of here.

I’d like to tell you about my friend Aspen. This morning, my wife woke me up, clearly very sad and distraught, asking me to look at a Facebook post. The post was on Aspen’s wall, from a friend of hers I’ve never met, informing the world that she’d passed away a couple days ago. Details of the post were slight, but reading between the lines.. and mixed with things I know… It’s especially sad. But that’s not what I want to dwell on.

I won’t pretend we were “best friends” but we were definitely good friends. At least to me. Loving pen pals! Just looking at the people posting comments and condolences, I don’t know the vast majority of them. She was someone who modeled for me years ago, but we’ve always kept in touch. She struck up a friendship with both me and Stephanie and I can honestly say that Aspen was one of the kindest, sweetest, most adorable, most genuinely delightful people I’ve ever met.

I don’t know her mother or her sister, but I do know Aspen spoke of them QUITE frequently and loved them very much. So on the off chance that either of them ever see this… or really, anyone else whose life Aspen has ever touched (which, is actually probably way more than anyone knows as I’m about to detail)… I want to share a few thoughts about Aspen in the hopes that my words bring whatever solace to whoever reads them that they can.

The first is about my podcast… and the #BLM movement, which… I guess is now forevermore immortalized in Aspen’s FB profile avatar. The morning after George Floyd was murdered on national TV, Aspen texted me to talk. It was a … I guess weird… conversation in a way, but also completely natural in its own way. She was distraught, and angry, and sad… just like a lot of the rest of us. But she wanted to ask me if she had any right to be. I asked her what she meant. She explained the obvious. She found everything disturbing and awful… she was angry and upset… but she was white and she wanted to know how I was feeling as a black person.

She was concerned for me. It was very clearly from a place of love. Not from obligation. It wasn’t performative. I wasn’t her only black friend. She wasn’t getting advice from a meme to “check in on black people”. She had just been watching something horrific… and I was a person she felt like she could have an honest conversation about her feeelings with. She honestly wasn’t sure if she was even allowed to show concern as a white person because she (in her words) “didn’t want to take away from the hurt that black people had to be feeling”. And what she wanted most of all was to help. And then she felt like she might even be patronizing by showing concern. We had a very honest conversation about this that went on for like… three days.

So… there’s an episode of VoxPopcast… in fact, I think still one of the most popular shows we’ve ever done, which is just me and several other black friends of mine talking about the George Floyd murder and the aftermath. That was Aspen’s idea. She wanted to hear me talk about it. I thank her at the beginning (calling her Amanda, her name at the time) for giving me the idea. This delighted her… she didn’t even want credit. She thought it was silly to think of her. She just was happy to hear honest opinions from people on what happened. It was important to her. I value that integrity and honesty and genuineness. And, based on the feedback that I got from that episode… her idea… it meant a lot to a lot of other people. I told her that. She was proud of it… or happy about it… her feeling was that she didn’t do much. I disagree. She mattered here a lot. I will never forget it.

Second memory: Three years ago, her purse was stolen. Her response was to post a Facebook message the next morning wishing the anonymous person who robbed her the best of luck, saying “I hope the food and gas from the gas station bought with my card last night fed you and took you where you needed to go. I also hope that things turn around for you in life. I’m sure you’re just in a bad spot and need some help.” It almost sounds sarcastic; if you didn’t know Aspen you’d think it was. If you did know her, you’d know it was the absolute most sincere thing ever. The only thing she was sad about was that that purse contained a necklace given to her by her deceased fiancé. To Aspen, the biggest tragedy was that some poor person “had to rob her”

Final memory: The last real conversation we had (other than brief FB comments or happy birthdays). A few months ago, after Aspen wrote a post publicly coming out as: genderqueer, polyamorous, and pansexual… and ummm… as Aspen (instead of Amanda, her given name), I wrote her a private message to congratulate her. We’d talked about sexuality a bunch over the years, so I actually already knew all of those things. I think a lot of people in her life did… I don’t feel like she was ever trying to hide anything. But Aspen felt like taking the definitive step was important. I think more for other people than for herself. For normalization. She felt it was important because, in her words: “I��m a raging, feminist, poly, pan, nonbinary, spiritual atheist who’s sorry she showed up to the game a little late.” She wanted to help others.

In particular I asked about the pronouns she’d chosen: specifically she/he/they. I actually went back and forth on what I should use on this post. I decided to go with feminine because of what she said. I once asked if she had a preference. What should I use… Her answer was a predictable “oh no… I sometimes feel totally like ultrafemme or some days I feel more masculine or somedays neither and it changes so much. I’m genderqueer! I embrace the entire spectrum of pronouns. Just do whatever is easiest!” And that was that. Mostly, she told me, that she was just happy that there was so much love and support from people on what she said was a little scary and a very vulnerable day. She was glad she did it. She thought it was important to just be her.

And it was… Aspen was important. I wish she knew how important she was to other people. She was important to me. She was important to my wife. She was clearly important to so many people who knew and loved her… and from the three examples that I just shared, I wish she understood how important she was to people who had never met her.

So… to her mother and sister, and again, anyone else who loved her/him/them as Aspen or Amanda (or Mandie… which is what I actually mostly called her): My most sincere condolences to the loss of one the brightest lights in the world.

And to Mandie, I love you and miss you. I already miss talking to you… I miss your quirkly flirtiness… I miss your goofy tiktok videos… I miss your deep and sincere desire to help everyone that you’ve ever (and never) met… I miss your periodic checking in on me to make sure I was having a good day… I miss your writing me randomly to ask a question about race or to discuss gender or sexuality… I will miss you texting me to point me at some random asshole you want me to roast for being sexist or racist online…. and I miss you writing me out of the blue to say “hey, what comic books should I be reading?” I will miss not waking up to a private text next year that says “Happy motha fuckin birthday!!!”. And I will miss the wonderful person who had the courage to write me on a horrible day and say “I don’t know how to feel”.

You’re gone… today is a horrible day and I don’t know how to feel. But I know I miss you.

-Love Mav

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To my friend Aspen… was originally published on ChrisMaverick dotcom

#amanda #Aspen #eulogy #mandie

[epochxp]

Aerial Wargaming Part 3, The Miniatures!

Maidstone Wargames Society 

I didn’t think I was going to do a part 3 to this series. But here we are. For those wishing to game out aerial wargaming in miniature, you have a bit to choose from. I won’t be doing the larger scales (1/100 and larger) because, at that point, you’re building models. 

In the smaller scales, they have a lot going for them. First off, you can put a lot on the table, especially at 1/600, but even at 1/300.  Look at this combat box of B-17s, right?

There’s a lot out there, and I hope we can scratch the surface and show you some things to get you interested in one of the fun aspects of the hobby!

1/600

1/600 scale B-24 and FW-190 | Tumbling Dice website 

There are two main manufacturers of 1/600 scale aircraft, Tumbling Dice, who has been producing models for years, to very high quality, and affordable at that. I really like their discounted sets that allow you to cheaply build both sides of a given engagement. The discount packs cover everything, from WW I Barrage Balloons to aircraft for the Falklands and the Gulf War. If you want to simulate a conflict, they have the means to do so. And at $20.00 a pack (not including shipping) for anywhere between 32 to 48 aircraft, it’s not a bad deal. Postage isn’t too bad, being a flat rate of $5.56, plus 10% of the order value. You can also order the aircraft individually, at 4 to 6 aircraft a pack. Again, you get a lot for a little, and the sculpting quality is top-notch. There are even $20.00 Squadron packs for B-17s, B-24s, Lancasters, and B-29s, 18 for everything except the B-29s, where it’s only nine aircraft a pack, but for those bomber swarms of World War II? It’s not a bad deal either. They also have rules and flight bases for sale as well. All in all, not too shabby. And, their naval and land ranges make nice target markers for games as well.

Another entry into the 1/600 field is Pico Armor, whose detail is downright incredible. A bunch of us have been marveling at it for the armor, but the aircraft is nice as well. Here’s a side-by-side of two F-4s from Tumbling Dice and Pico Armor.

The Pico Armor (right) and the Tumbling Dice (left) |  SexTwentyEight Blog 

I can recommend the review of both lines at the sixtwentyeight blog, and Pico’s offerings are superior to the long-standing offerings of Tumbling Dice. 

French Nieuport 17 by Pico Armor | Pico Armor Site 

Pico’s sculpts are clean, and you get six to eight aircraft in a pack for $4.25, and Pico Armor is the importer for the Oddzial Osmy (08) line of miniatures sculpted in Poland. I must say, having ordered some of their 15mm line, I was impressed with the quality of the figures if a bit concerned about the hardness of the metal. It does make working with the figures a touch difficult, but as you can see, not overly so.

Decals are a bit tough to come by in this scale, sadly. Dom’s Decals, who were the go-to for 1/600, has gone away. The best plan going forward is Flight Deck Decals, which has more than a few choices in 1/600 scale for you to choose from! (They also do 1/300)

1/285 and 1/300

1/300 B-24 painted up for the Ploesti Raid, model by Raiden/I-94 Enterprises | A Gamer’s Tales Blog 

There’s a lot to offer in 1/285-1/300 scale aircraft in both plastic and metal. We’ll just be calling it 1/300 collectively for now, and we won’t be hitting EVERYTHING, but I want to, at the very least, cover the big producers and some interesting places to look as well.

First up, we have I-94 Enterprises. They bought the Raiden line of aircraft miniatures and are redoing the molds. And may I say, as someone who owns a lot of their aircraft, I am impressed with the quality of the sculpts. 

Some early war USN SBDs and Wildcats by Raiden Miniatures. | Chris Geisert

Raiden’s line covers both World War II and modern conflicts. Sorry, no World War I, but I-94 has the old Goblintooth line, which does cover World War I. I can’t speak for those planes, but the rest of the line is just stunning in the quality of the aircraft. Planes typically run $3.00 each, and you can get Battle Sets for Check Your Six for around $100, which is a bit pricy sounding but consider you get 20 or so aircraft, flight stands, and decals. Not a bad deal if you ask me. I-94 also does a nice line of decals of which I can attest to, as I am a repeat customer. 

The next entry into the 1/300 field is MSD Games. 

B-10 Martin bomber | MSD Games

MSD has been around for a while and markets their aircraft line under the “Luftwaffe 1946” label, which in addition to historical aircraft, you can find all the Wunderwaffen that never left German or Japanese drawing boards towards the end of the war and do some nice “what-if games.” They even have a set of rules to cover it, as well as various historical periods for World War I and World War II. 

I have more than a few MSD models, and they run about the same price as Raiden, or $3.00 for most planes, with exceptions for larger aircraft. The sculpting is a bit less crisp than Raiden, but you can get two aircraft in one pack. Even if they aren’t any cheaper, you do have to remember to buy fewer packs. And, they have some of the lesser-known World War II air forces covered better, such as France and the Netherlands.

The store has its own decal line, called Blue Sky Decals, which I haven’t tried yet, but I will at some point, and probably what may be one of the largest remaining stock of Dom’s Decals to be found. Be advised; it’s not much. 

Another line to be found in the UK is Scotia/Grendel’s Collectair Line. 

FW-200 Condor, Model by Scotia Grendel | DakkaDakka Forum

Scotia-Grendel is a massive line. It covers, well, everything. And it’s widely available here in the US (through I-94) and the UK, with costs comparable to Raiden and MSD. I have only seen the aircraft in pictures, but the sculpting is comparable to MSD. I can’t say too much more about it than that as I don’t own any myself.

Another option, though limited, is plastic. Trumpeter has a line of 1/350 scale aircraft carriers and, well, makes packs of planes to go with them. 

F/A-18 Hornet kit from Trumpeter | HobbyLinc 

I happen to have a pack of A-6s and A-7s and two assembled SU-27s. I’m eager to get more, but the darn things are rarer than hen’s teeth, even if they are only $9.99 for six aircraft, which makes them a really cheap option for anyone’s air force. 

Finally, there’s 3-D Printing. A fellow by the name of Captain Ahab gives out a number of STL files for a number of aircraft in 6mm at Wargaming 3D. They’re sized in 15mm, but you can easily resize them with most slicing programs. I haven’t printed any out yet, but I think the models would look great in resin! What makes it great is you get planes like the PBY-4 Privateer, or the SB2C Helldiver, neither of which is a very easy-to-find aircraft in 1/300! 

F-100 Super Saber | Wargaming 3D

I didn’t get to all the models today, but I got to more than a few. The main thing is to see this as a starting point. If you want to do the miniatures end of air wargaming, these are the places to begin. A little more research can find even more aircraft, but they might be pricier as they weren’t intended to be much more to denote airstrikes for a micro-armor game. That said, they still might surprise you, especially if you’re looking for helicopters.

As always, Good gaming, everyone!

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At Epoch Xperience, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse Epoch Xperience’s service on our parent site, SJR Research.

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(This article is credited to Jason Weiser. Jason is a long-time wargamer with published works in the Journal of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers; Miniature Wargames Magazine; and Wargames, Strategy, and Soldier.)

#Wargame Figures/Miniatures #miniatures #wargames #wargaming #history

[everthegirlanachronism]

Older Haitian-Americans Eager To Vote Lean On Family, Poll Workers For Help

A Creole flyer created by the Brooklyn Voters Alliance encourages people to vote in the upcoming election.

By Larisa Karr

Bienne Domand, a retired certified nursing assistant in Stamford, Connecticut, has not missed voting in a presidential election since she became a U.S. citizen in 2003. But while the 62-year-old grandmother of eight is always sure of her choice for president, she often leaves the rest of the ballot blank.

“When I don’t understand the ballot information or get confused, I go to the poll workers and say, ‘Can you point to the Democrat, the Blue one?’” Domand said. “I just want to know who they are and that’s all I need to know.”

Older Haitians, from the baby-boomer generation in their 60s and above, are among the most attuned to U.S. politics. For many, who fled Duvalier-era bloody elections that caused them not to discuss politics openly for fear of reprisal or death, being able to discuss and participate in U.S. elections is a civic duty they fill faithfully.

However, older Haitian-Americans struggle with several unique barriers when it comes to casting their ballots. Language translation is consistently viewed as the biggest obstacle hindering these senior citizens from fully participating. Other issues include information inundation, the layout of the ballot and, this year in particular, adjustments made to the voting process due to COVID-19.

As a result, with Nov. 3 rapidly approaching, Haitian-Americans are more attuned to the needs of senior community members whose votes are so crucial. Translating ballots into Creole is not enough, community members say. They also need support with the logistics of the process and to have clear explanations of items beyond the presidential nominees, such as the state and local races and legislative amendments.

Even in Florida, which has extensive language translation assistance, there are smaller logistics of voting that activists say older Haitian-Americans need to know.

“Miami-Dade County has workers providing language assistance at the polls, but it’s tricky because they will only know that you need language assistance if you check a box when you register,” said Léonie Hermantin, Director of Communications at Sant La Neighborhood Center. “Even though it’s in Creole, people who have literacy and language issues overlook that little box in the corner, which is barely visible.”

Help with language and logistics

Many are taking steps to provide direct and simple translations to help older voters successfully cast their ballots.

“We’re giving election information to the elderly Haitian community in plain Creole and we’re really keeping it as simple as possible,” said Stanley Neron, a community advocate in Elizabeth, New Jersey. “You don’t want to utilize the original linguistics of the ballot because it will get too complicated and you will lose them.”

Stanley Neron works with churches in Elizabeth, NJ to help older Haitian-Americans learn how to vote. Photo courtesy of Stanley Neron.

Neron and others are working extensively with the faith-based community in Elizabeth by creating videos in Creole and sharing it with pastors of different churches. The videos contain information on how to place and seal the ballots into envelopes, where to put names and addresses, and the importance of returning ballots earlier than the day of the election.

“With this election, we definitely have more people registered to vote than four years ago but they have no understanding of what the ballot means,” said Sheenaider Guillaume, a Linden, New Jersey resident. “What we’ve especially come across is that they don’t understand there’s a backside to the ballot and they don’t understand who to vote for outside of the presidential election.”

If older voters do not fully understand the process or properly complete ballots, their lack of participation could negatively affect Haitian-Americans as a bloc.

Jan Combopiano, senior policy director at the Brooklyn Voters Alliance, said this is why organizations such as the New York City Board of Elections must do more to improve language access. She said the state needs to implement legislation and allocate more money to provide voting resources in languages besides English.

“We want people to make informed choices when they vote and language should not be a barrier to people voting,” Combopiano said. “Any time anyone gets dissuaded because there’s no one to help them, this might mean they’re not going to vote in the future and they could be sending a message to the rest of the people in their family that voting is not important.”  

In battleground Florida, Haitian-American politicians and advocates are proactively working to ensure the older population gets the help they need before the election.

Dotie Joseph, a Florida House of Representatives member whose 108th District is heavily Haitian, has been explaining on Haitian radio what the ballot amendments are and answering questions about them from Haitian-Americans in Creole.

“The ballot amendments and voter education are necessary across the board and it’s even more pronounced in any immigrant community, especially when there’s a language barrier,” Joseph said. “In addition to this language barrier, a lot of these folks are just intimidated by the whole voting process and they need somebody there to assist them.”

Help from family and friends

Some Haitian-Americans see their older family members struggling with a mountain of election-related mail and have become concerned about information overload on their behalf.

“My parents receive so many requests for mail-in ballots and are being flooded with information,” said Lana Joseph, an Atlanta-based attorney.

Joseph’s 74-year-old mom speaks only Creole, while her dad, who is 78, speaks English but needs assistance with complex topics. When Joseph recently visited them in Stone Mountain, Georgia, she explained to them that the mail they had received was not a ballot, but a form to request a ballot. After they successfully received their ballots, she sat down with them and had a conversation about the candidates and the issues so they could fully understand.

Joseph said that if older Haitian-Americans do not have family members who can assist them with understanding how to vote, they might not even try to seek help.

And with COVID-19 curtailing opportunities to socialize, some older Haitian-Americans may put the election on the backburner.

“We are not able to see them face-to-face anymore at events and if they have family members who are not at home helping them, it is even more frustrating than before,” said Joseph, 41. “They cry out for help, but we might not be able to get to them because they’re in their home.”

For Domand, the Connecticut septuagenarian, the best way to ensure she is able to cast her ballot is by voting in-person. This year, she said she plans to have her son go to the poll with her because she wants her vote to count.

“There’s anxiety around this election because they’re hoping that their votes count, that people are not stealing the ballots or discrediting the ballots,” said Domand. “I can’t wait to go in person and vote Democrat.”

This article was originally published in The Haitian Times.

#2020 #Elections 2020 #US politics #politics #voting #elderly voters #Haitian-Americans #Connecticut #Florida #New York #New Jersey #Georgia #The Haitian Times #Larisa Karr

[wbwest]

New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/07/07/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-7717/

West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 7/7/17

I took last week off, but I hope y’all had a great 4th of July weekend. Life’s still kinda kicking my ass, so this’ll be an abridged edition this week.

I finally got around to watching a movie! It’s been on my list since I first heard it was in pre-production, and I’m amazed it took me this long to watch it, considering my love for the source material. The Founder stars Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc, the “founder” of McDonald’s who really just stole the concept from the McDonald Brothers. A down-on-his-luck shake machine salesman, Kroc happens upon the fledgling McDonald’s restaurant in Southern California. Knowing a good thing when he saw it, he pretty much insisted on becoming a part of the operation, mainly focused on franchising the business. And that’s when things get interesting. I LOVE McDonald’s. You can hate me all you want, but like Jim Gaffigan says, “Everyone has their own McDonald’s”. Mine just happens to be the actual company. I don’t know enough about the history of the company to know how factual an account the movie was, but it was sure damn entertaining. Keaton is amazing in it, and I feel like anyone would enjoy the movie even if they think they don’t give a rat’s ass about McDonald’s as a company. I highly recommend this film.

We finally got our first trailer for Marvel’s Inhumans, and now I realize why they were so hesitant to release it. MY GOD THIS LOOKS TERRIBLE! It looks like Into The Badlands – a show that I hate because people fawn over it when it looks like something that would’ve aired after Xena on Saturday afternoons 20 year ago. Yeah, I even told one of the Badlands creators that when he confronted me over my “appraisal” on Twitter. Badlands is a bad show, but it gets “diversity points”, so folks give it a pass. This show doesn’t even get diversity right, so it’s really just a shitshow in the making. I hate hate HATE that this is considered an official part of the MCU, even if it’s just a part of the never-referenced TV wing. Anyway, this trainwreck debuts in IMAX on September 1st, but will officially air on ABC beginning September 22nd.

Speaking of diversity points, CBS lost all of theirs when they let the Asians go from Hawaii Five-O last weekend. Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park both left the show after salary negotiations broke down as they requested pay equal to their costars. I’ve never seen more than 15 minutes of that show, but I know the dude from Lost seemed pretty important to things. He was basically the White guys’ interpreter to all things native. CBS has claimed that they offered them sizable increases, which weren’t deemed acceptable to Park and Kim. Now the Five-O showrunner, Peter Lenkov, is now joining the side of the network, saying that CBS made “generous offers” to the stars, yet they decided not to renew their contracts.

This has turned into a discussion of race in Hollywood and how things still aren’t equal across the board. I’m a big fan of billing. Billing is important, and should go to the most well-known star. It’s the reason all the ’89 Batman posters say “Jack Nicholson” first. Dude was a bigger star. Now, I didn’t watch Lost and I didn’t watch Battlestar Galactica, but I still recognize Kim and Park from those shows. Maybe it’s just because I’m a geek and folks were always talking about those shows. The show’s star, Alex O’Loughlin? I can’t name a thing he’s been in. Don’t know that dude from Adam. And the other lead? James Caan’s kid? Whatever. Y’all mean you couldn’t pony up the cash to keep Lost Dude and Battlestar Girl? We’re not talking about big names here so, unless there was a favored nations clause where O’Loughlin would have to get a raise if they got raises, thereby thwarting the whole “equality” thing, I don’t see what the problem was. As has been pointed out, all O’Loughlin and Caan had to do was stand in solidarity with their costars and this would’ve been a non-issue. Word on the street it O’Loughlin is quitting at the end of the season anyway, so it’s not like we’re talking another 5 years here. He couldn’t keep his ego in check for a season? Nah, for too many folks, as long as they’ve got theirs, they don’t care if you’ve got yours.

We also got a trailer for Pitch Perfect 3, forcing me to reiterate that NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE A TRILOGY. I know everyone involved likes money, but sometimes there are natural, built-in ends to things. That thing was a 2-movie franchise and that’s it. Don’t forget – I lived that life. I was in the same competition the Bellas won in the first film (we came in 2nd), and I experienced the aca-graduation blues that the girls experienced in the second film. That’s pretty much it. There’s nowhere else to go. I mean, sure there are some random outlier outcomes. One of my groupmates is a hit producer in Asia now. Another is a pretty big pop star in Hong Kong. The rest of us? Dead-end jobs and bills. I used to occasionally do karaoke, but even that got to be too depressing. That shit is fun while it lasts, and then you’ve got to move on. So, in that vein, I can understand the plot of the 3rd movie, with the girls wanting to have one last hurrah, but I don’t really understand the concept of putting them on a USO tour. Is that something the troops wanna see? Has Pentatonix been dropped into the theater of war? It just seems kinda farfetched to me, and I was fine with how things were left in the last movie. Sure, I’ll see it, but it won’t be in a theater.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Hide grandma’s wallet – QVC is buying out Home Shopping Network.

After 3 seasons, The Carmichael Show has been canceled by NBC. I really wish someone else would snatch it up, as it’s a smart show

Netflix has renewed Dear, White People for a 2nd season. Meanwhile, they canceled Girlboss after one season. Reed Hastings giveth and he taketh away.

Speaking of Netflix, hearing the cries of fans, Sense8 will officially conclude with a 2-hour finale special

Netflix also renewed one of my favorite original shows, F is For Family, for a 3rd season.

Apparently a series based on the popular Step Up film series, called Step Up: High Water, will premiere on YouTube Red, where absolutely NOBODY is gonna watch it.

Fuller House season 3 will coincidentally premiere on the 30th anniversary of Full House, September 22nd.

Make your vacations weird again, as Cirque du Soleil has purchased Blue Man Group.

Patton Oswalt is engaged to 80s actress Meredith Salenger. Ya know, the same Patton whose wife died last year. I guess we all grieve in our own ways…

Lack of interest brought down The House, which bombed at the box office last weekend. It was reportedly Will Ferrell’s lowest live-action opening for a major studio.

Nick Fury will reportedly be making his MCU return in 2019’s Captain Marvel

HBO is reportedly getting the True Detective band back together, with a 3rd season to star Mahershala Ali

Nixing speculation that she was still up for the White House Press Secretary job, Kimberly Guilfoyle has reupped her contract with Fox News

Rob Lowe and his sons will chase the supernatural in The Lowe Files, and I literally cannot wait.

New game show, Snap Decision, premieres August 7th. Hosted by David Allen Grier, the show breaks precedent because it will debut on GSN and in syndication on the same date.

The world’s leading (and only) bar scientist favorited my tweet this week

We’re gonna do something different here this week. Usually, if you’ve been paying attention to the week’s news, you can at least try to figure out who or what had the best week. Some weeks it’s harder to choose something than others. Then I remembered, “Will, this is YOUR site.” After all, this is all pop culture through my lens, so it’s my rules. So, sometimes I might choose something that meant a lot to me that week, while you were none the wiser. But I bring it up on the site so that we’re all on the same page. And that’s the kind of pick I have this week.

After watching The Founder, I was left thinking, “Michael Keaton is a goddamn national treasure”. After watching Spider-Man: Homecoming last night (yeah, we’ll talk about it next week, when more of y’all have had a chance to see it), I was thinking “Why have we been sleeping on Keaton the past 20 years?” I mean, with the exception of The Other Guys, I honestly hadn’t seen a Michael Keaton movie since probably Batman Returns, and yet Birdman is the one considered his “comeback vehicle”. In The Founder, he really made you feel for a traveling salesman who was at the end of his rope. After a string of laughable failures, he finally found something to which he could hitch his wagon: McDonald’s. And while he also had to prove this to everyone in his sphere of orbit, most importantly he had to prove this to himself. He really needed a win, and Keaton did such a great job conveying that.

In Homecoming, Keaton plays Adrian Toomes, better known as the Vulture (though he’s never called that by name in the film). Not unlike Alfred Molina’s Dr. Octopus, he’s something of a sympathetic villain. Were it not for the fact that comic book franchises deal in the good/bad binary, you could almost relate to him and understand where he’s coming from. He’s a modern-day working class guy who feels ignored by the fat cats up on high. He doesn’t have evil goals. He simply wants to provide for his family, and he has a code of honor that dictates he must do whatever it takes to make good on that promise. I felt that Keaton did a great job expressing the plight of the working man. Sure, he got to utter some cheesy villain dialogue, but that simply comes with the territory. If you stopped for a minute, and ignored the fact that Spider-Man HAS to win, you realize that Toomes is actually kind of on to something. Again, though, I’ll get into more Homecoming thoughts next week.

My pal Chad pretty much swears by Michael Keaton as his favorite actor – a lot of that having to do with his immense love of 1989’s Batman. I’ve gotta say, I was never a huge fan of Keaton’s Batman, and when Chad would laud Keaton’s praises, I wasn’t really seeing it. I see it now, though. I have seen the light and I am healed! Dear Hollywood, more Michael Keaton, please! He pretty much impressed me on two different cinematic fronts this week, and that’s why Michael Keaton had the West Week Ever.

#80s #A Cappella #Batman #Comics #Marvel #Movies #Politics #Race #Social Media #Syndication #Television #West Week Ever

[thisdaynews]

Fox News town halls divide Dem presidential hopefuls

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/fox-news-town-halls-divide-dem-presidential-hopefuls/

Fox News town halls divide Dem presidential hopefuls

Pete Buttigieg takes a selfie with audience members after a Fox News town hall on May 19, 2019, in Claremont, N.H. | Jessica Hill/AP Photo

2020 Elections

The choice of whether to appear on the network illustrates deeper strategic divides in the Democratic presidential primary.

LACONIA, N.H. — Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Kirsten Gillibrand hail from all over the country and fall across the spectrum of Democratic politics. But they’re linked by the latest test in the Democratic presidential primary: All decided to participate in Fox News town halls.

Whether to appear on the channel has suddenly become a polarizing decision for the sprawling field of Democratic presidential contenders, since Elizabeth Warren declined a town hall invitation and called the network a Trump-aligned “hate-for-profit racket” last week. Kamala Harris’ campaign also said she wouldn’t participate. Still other Democrats are pledging to go on the network, if they only could score an invite.

Story Continued Below

The town halls have become an unlikely inkblot test for Democratic presidential candidates. They have carved up the field partly along the lines of who wants or needs the most press attention — but especially based on how the candidates envision their path to the presidency: appealing to Obama-Trump voters who may watch the network, or activating Democratic base supporters who believe Fox’s primetime “gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists,” as Warren said.

“Each candidate will make their own decisions about what they want to do in their own campaigns, but I’m someone who really wants to talk to everybody and that means meeting them where they are,” Gillibrand, who’s scheduled to appear in a Fox News town hall on June 2, told POLITICO in defense of her decision. “A lot of Americans watch that network, and those are people whose votes I hope to earn as well.”

On Sunday night, Buttigieg parried questions from Fox News host Chris Wallace, facing pushback on abortion and several other issues. But the friendly crowd in a New Hampshire high school gym greeted many of Buttigieg’s answers with applause. And he took the opportunity to echo some of Warren’s comments about Fox while enjoying the network’s airtime.

“A lot of folks in my party were critical of me for even doing this with Fox News,” Buttigieg said.” And I get where that’s coming from, especially when you see what goes on with some of the opinion hosts on this network,” criticizing Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham by name.

But Buttigieg, along with the three other 2020 candidates who have done or scheduled town halls so far, is betting that there are persuadable voters who watch Fox News.

“Maybe some of it comes from being in a purple state, where you have to think about how you’re going to reach people,” Klobuchar said in an interview with POLITICO. “If you’re going to make change, if you want to be a proven progressive, [then] you do that by not just talking to the base.”

That messaging tracks with the narrative that these candidates have been selling voter to voter: They can win elections deep in Trump country. On the campaign trail, Gillibrand reminds voters that she won her first House race in a two-to-one Republican district. “”I think we need someone who will do the hard things that other people are unwilling to do,” Gillibrand said, “and sometimes that means crossing party lines and sometimes that means finding common ground.”

“Everyone is trying to make their own electability argument, and we’re seeing that through these Fox News town halls, who’s accepting them and who’s not,” said Lucinda Guinn, a Democratic strategist. “For those who’ve chosen to do it, it’s on brand for what they’re trying to say. And for those who aren’t, it’s also on brand for them.”

On Sunday afternoon, Klobuchar told Democrats at a crowded house party in Salem, N.H. that she turned 40 rural Minnesota counties blue in 2018 — counties that Trump had also won in 2016.

“I started my morning with Fox News Sunday, talking immigration and abortion. What could go wrong?” Klobuchar said to laughter and cheers among several dozen voters gathered.

“I don’t think that if you’ve got a message that serves everyone then you should shy away from sharing it everywhere,” said former Ambassador Jim Smith, who hosted Klobuchar at the house party. “Life is full of gotcha questions — deal with it.”

Sanders used his town hall – the first of any 2020 candidate – to bounce into a Midwestern swing of states Trump won in 2016, while Klobuchar landed a jab at her Democratic primary opponents during her town hall: “”The last time I checked, if you want to be a progressive and support progressives, then you’re supposed to make progress.”

Sanders, too, has argued that he can win over white, working-class voters in deep red states. The Vermont senator’s goal for his own Fox News town hall was to “enhance our argument about Bernie Sanders’ electability,” said Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager. “He believes you need to have a credible case to try to win over people who may have voted for Trump or who are disaffected by politics.”

But some Democratic strategists said it comes down to strategy for who each contender is trying to appeal to: “The candidates who are saying ‘yes’ to the town halls are either at barely 1 percent in the polls or they’re the candidates who need a supermajority of white voters to win the nomination,” said Rebecca Katz, a Democratic consultant who works with progressive clients. “The candidates who are saying ‘no’ are the ones that are building a broader coalition of the traditional Democratic Party.”

Warren, for her part, sent a fundraising email out soon after her statement that she would not appear on the network. Fresh off trips to West Virginia and Ohio, two states where Trump is popular, Warren also argued that she doesn’t need to go through Fox News to reach Trump supporters.

Going on Fox News, for those who choose to do it, presents high risk and high reward, Democratic strategists said.

“Part of the prep going into a Fox News town hall is about creating a moment — a counterintuitive moment — where you say something that won’t necessarily resonate with the traditional Fox News audience, but it works for your base,” said Karen Dunn, a partner at the law firm Boies Schiller who prepared former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for presidential debates. “Then, you can go back into the primary and say, ‘I feel so strongly about this, I went and said it on Fox News.’”

And simply, an hour of TV time with millions of viewers is another persuasive reason for 2020 candidates to show up. Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, a frequent cable news guest, complained that Fox News rejected his town hall offer, though a spokeswoman disputed his characterization and left the door open for a future event. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard sent a fundraising email with the subject line: “I’m ready to be on Fox News,” adding that she’ll “sit down with anyone, anywhere.”

“When you’ve got enough Democratic presidential campaigns to field two soccer teams, you need to take basically any media exposure you can get, whenever and wherever you can get it,” said John Lapp, a Democratic strategist.

Fox News declined to comment on ongoing conversations with presidential campaigns about future town halls.

The Fox town halls have also turned up one other positive side effect, from the point of view of Democratic presidential candidates: They seem to trigger the president.

Hours before Buttigieg’s appearance on Sunday night, Trump tweeted that the network is “moving more and more to the losing (wrong) side in covering Dems” and “Alfred E. Newman [sic],” his nickname for Buttigieg, “will never be President.”

Buttigieg’s campaign welcomed the attention.

Holly Otterbein contributed reporting.

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#Foreign #hopefuls #Politics #Presidential