#if i were hearing about this and it was someone unrelated to me id assume it was the guy doing the whole noooo dont dump me ill kill myself | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sanchoyo · 3 years

Text

danny phantom, season 3 episodes 3-6 thoughts!

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-johnny was actually pretty civil with danny and left when he asked! thats nice. also, SKULKER?? HAD A FRAMED PICTURE OF EMBER?? oooo fuck wait had they established they were a Thing Before?? I dont think so. thats weird. its like that country boy/goth girl meme lmfao. I think i am going to choose to ignore this new info and pretend I didnt hear it. 100% unrelated to the jazz/ember fanart I already drew and posted....😳

-LADIES NIGHT EPISODE THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT. wish it didnt really center around the guys or them being pissed at them, but. willing to bet this was written by men lol

-THEY ERASED ALL THE MEN??? meanwhile, jack and danny are fishing at. silent hill or something. im glad jack is trying to read a parenting book and making an Attempt. (theyre at lake erie, but, they made it actually eerie...thats fun)

-the girls alt outfits...cute. EMBER MADE A NEW SONG TOO!!! kinda. jazz being one of the backup singers and being AWFUL. NOOOO

-'how are we going to get kitty to blow a kiss?' 'she'll have to think there are still some males in town!' ...i dont know how to break it to you, but I dont know that a 100% het girl would wish for all men to Begone. I think. I mean im not a het or a girl so I dont really know for sure. she Is probably Bi tho. esp having the other ladies in town chanting NO MEN!!! excitedly............(then again, the kiss is to get Rid of men, so, she probably would have blown it at the ladies only if they were actively trying to attack/stop them, so...I MEAN. THE DRESSING LIKE DANNY BIT WAS SO EXTRA)

-I feel like an all female cast ep couldve been way way way way cooler than that was. like. why was it still somehow all about Men. ...anyway. (where was valerie...)

-next ep opens with the observants, and, way way more of them than I expected...existed? I mean I guess them being a council/jury of some kind is what I expected from their first appearance (bc at that time they were basically TELLING clockwork to kill danny, not asking,, so I figured they had SOME kind of authority) but. there were so many. anyway, here goes vlad! letting his own hubris go brrrr. releasing a weather ghost for political gain! #justvladthings

-okay say what you will about him (he IS an asshole) but having an umbrella with his own face on it and more prepared to share is SUPER FUNNY. and him being fanned by huge wads of money by his bodyguards. SO ineffective but so Dramatic. He UNDERSTANDS that if youre rich you need to be. you know. obnoxious and kinda eccentric about it! fuckign hate when rich people are boring about it. I would trust vlad with nothing except to not be a boring rich asshole who wears...fucking khaki or some shit. man knows his Presentation Skills. and that 'V' chair in his mayoral office. is that fucking embroidered?

-maddie get your MAN PLEEEEASSSE. IM SO EMBARRASSED FOR HER. the way jack stays simping for this man. in FRONT OF HIS WIFE!!!! ...my god its like a love triangle. jack clearly loves vlad, who loves maddie, who loves jack. jack fenton is at the very least bi, right................. this is an OBSESSION . 'THE V MAN COMETH'???? i...my god. (also, on a serious note, to have a friend THIS SUPPORTIVE...and still be SUCH A DICK TO HIM (TRYING TO KILL HIM AND STEAL HIS WIFE??) NOT COOL VLAD. JACK IS YOUR 1 AND /ONLY/ HYPE MAN. if someone loved and supported me THIS HARD...LIKE. CMON DUDE.

-STOMP the fucking GAS, JACK

-this would make a great shirt design, looks like a metal band design! we love The Maelstrom

-oh, so vlad did in fact get a mansion in amity park. and its purple! good color choice! not as flashy as a CASTLE or MURDER CABIN, but still pretty eccentric, which I appreciate.

-...vlad knows the difference between picasso and da vinci? in the ep last post where we were watching him fail at conquering every historical time ever he didnt seem to know history well enough to like. be effective...was vlad taking art history at college?? (was he an art MAJOR??? we never DID KNOW WHAT HE WENT TO SCHOOL FOR. I kinda assumed business because in the masters of time ep he was still rich without ghost powers so he had to have..known something about business or something, right...but also, art and or theater FITS HIS PERSONALITY. possibly also something science-y, I guess, but I always felt like he got roped into that, esp how pessimistic he was about the ghost portal in the flashbacks to college, like, i felt like he was just there for maddie and was uninterested/un-invested at the time...)

-THIS GHOST JUST ELECTROCUTED MADDIE (THE CAT) BITCH!! THATS MY FAVORITE MADDIE!!! vlad going after vortex and being ~shocked~ .....WHEN. WHEN WILL YOU LEARN. THAT YOUR ACTIONS. HAVE CONSEQUENCES!!!

-the way this random man with a camera sees the mayor laying in an alley covered in TRASH AND DECIDES TO TAKE A PICTURE HAHAH

*snap* this ones going in my cringe compilation!

-vlad 'if we're going to defeat vortex, we're going to have to do it together!' *immediately dips after dropping danny off in front of vortex* JKASDFHKJHJKN

-DANNY CAN DUPLICATE!!! ...he couldnt even attack with it, but he DID IT!!! INTO (4) OF HIMSELF!!! SO PROUD!!!!!!!!!!

-'THE ROLLER COASTER EMOTIONS OF A TEENAGER THREATEN MY PLANS!' ...0 self awareness of his own dramatic moodiness. incredible, how dumb this man is. its very close to circling around to endearing, if he was less of an asshole. at least its very very funny to see danny shooting him with tiny lightning bolts anytime he's even slightly irritated! vlad you should be nice to danny anyway. this is what you GET

-...making sandwiches and ice cream and playing video games with your nephew is a totally normal thing. WHY is vlad acting like this is the end of the world. if you were a GOOD UNCLE YOU WOULD ALREADY BE DOING THESE THINGS!!! bitch I make my nephew food all the time and dont forget what he does and doesnt like. if u didnt know danny didnt want tomatoes, thats on u. if u, a grown adult, are gonna piss of the 14 yr old by not letting him win, u deserve to have to pay for the arcade machines he ruins because he now has uncontrollable storm powers because YOU THREW HIM INTO A FIGHT WITH THE STORM GHOST. fuck u vlad. paypal me $400,000 while ur at it tho. (also, gamer vlad confirmed)

-VLAD CAN COOK THOUGH???! I assumed he had...people working for him that did that. I mean. billionaires usually dont do that. then again, we've only seen those vultures working for him (and I guess the dairy king was AT his old mansion, but it was never really clarified if he worked there...I think he probably just Hung Out and they Enjoyed Cheeses Together. thats what I think, I dont think a KING would be working for anyone and also the dairy king was nice <3) but then again he would be a private person and we cant have anyone accidentally finding Ghostly Things, so...still, that's hilarious. pour one out for that really cute banana split that got ruined 2 seconds later

-vlad just fucking picking danny up and THROWING HIM AT VORTEX TWICE WITHIN LIKE A MINUTE. JUST ABSOLUTELY LAUNCHING HIM. BITCH THATS MY SON BE CAREFUL!!! HES GOT ORGANS AND THINGS!!!!

-danny seeing those animal commercials and feeling sad is the biggest 2000s throwback so far. i legitimately had to change the channel or walk out of the room when those came on bc id CRY AND BE SAD ABOUT THEM FOR DAYS AFTER. fuck those commercials and fuck that IN THE ARMMMS OF AN ANGELLLL song 😭

-'vlads ego almost got the town destroyed!' yes danny thats the entire episode. the entire series anytime vlad shows up honestly. this episode was just him being really embarrassing the entire time, and, me laughing about it. 10/10 would laugh at him again

-NEXT EP WE HAVE A SHAPESHIFTING GHOST?? I've said it before but shapeshifting is the power I would want when asked those 'what superpower do you want' questions...its the Best power! this guy looks like a homestuck character. ive never read homestuck but thats the vibe

-I love every time we see tuckers family, they are by far the most functional family. and dash has a lil chihuahua!!! named pookie!!! i am crying (I've had 3 chihuahuas, so I am very biased, but...) AND HE WATCHES THE ROMANCE CHANNEL WITH POOKIE. POOKIE I WILL DIE FOR YOU YOU SWEET LITTLE BABY.

-danny can lift a bus! I shouldn't be surprised, but i am proud of my son. hes got lil kid fans. i am going to cry about this

-JAZZ KEEPS A SCRAPBOOK WITH DANNY'S LIL HEROICS AND NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS!!! we've actually seen it on her floor before, but I didnt realize it was a scrapbook!! thats sooo cute.

-...and danny has to stand there listening to his parents saying danny phantom sucks and is a 'filthy ghost' and calling him egotistical...i am once again stealing their kids!

-THIS GHOST RIPPING JAZZ'S SCRAPBOOK!!! ILL KILL YOU. SHE WORKED HARD ON THAT!!! BITCH

-yes, maddie, the one with red eyes is For Sure Actually Your Son. ignore the, red eyes... (CLEARLY she hasnt watched the other 2 eps where danny has been evil, she doesnt know red eyes= evil!!!)

-'billy fenton'.......................

-danny being stuck as phantom in his own house, no way out is a fucking NIGHTMARE. his parents pointing giant weapons against him and SHOOTING AT HIM. THIS IS A HORROR MOVIE.

-NINE INCH NAILS POSTER.

-this is the most screenshot of all time

-amorpho turning into mr. lancer because hes 'someone no one will want to be around' BUT HES WRONG, I WOULD BEFRIEND AND HANG OUT WITH MR LANCER SO FAST.

-tucker dressing as danny, now I have the full Tucker set of him being sam and also being danny. also saying 'the ghost...uh...RIPPED MY FACE OFF.' and then running. SMOOTH. NOT AT ALL CONCERNING TO ANY PARENTS.

-sam accepts the toast from jack. and then 2 seconds later is like 'why am i eating this.' THIS SHOWS HUMOR IS SO UNEXPECTED SOMETIMES ITS REALLY GOOD. and then the scene after, mr lancer running into his ghost doppelganger and being like 'YOURE GORGOUS' THEN FAINTING. I AM CRYING. AND DASH FAINTING TOO.

-sam disguising herself as danny again to help tucker run from the fentons. but leaving him shirtless in the streets. incredible. 'plEASE DOnt NOTice MY FACELessNESS I MUST LIVE IN EXILE' this episode is destroying me the humor in this show is exactly my brand of corny and cheesy

-the impromtu story made up by danny and amorpho to explain stuff to the fentons. my god they are both such bad liars. but amorpho is a good egg. wish danny wouldnt have said he didnt wanna see him in town again!! I want him to be reoccurring. not that thats gonna matter since I'm almost done with the series, but the idea of this being the Only Time We See him is :(

-NEXT EP SAYS STARRING MARK HAMILL??????!!! hello ! mr . joker....mr. star wars.... I feel like I should be. idk. taking off a hat im not wearing in respect. I shouldnt be surprised tho bc hes in a lot of cartoons as a very good voice actor, and dp has already had a lot of talented ones so I've been looking out for ones I might know, but....mr. hamill....

-sam has her own greenhouse, names all the plants, and says thank you to them (in the languages from where the plants are from) whenever she harvests from them. thats SO cute. and her lil gothy lunch box...

-and danny's lil red fuzzy lined jacket!!! ive said it before but every time the characters get alt outfits im like :D

-danny has ice powers now!!! THATS WHAT FROSTBITE MEANT. HE KNEW SOMEHOW WAY BACK THEN

-THIS SHOW NEVER LETS YOU FORGET VLAD IS A BILLIONAIRE, HUH.

-danny's lil 'holy hibiscus!' first off the 50s batman swearing is hilarious. 2nd. my username is from the flower sanchoyo hibiscus, so, shoutout to ME this ep. hi :)

-EURGH UNDERGROWTH MAKING EVERYONE PLANT ZOMBIES. HIVEMIND PLOTS SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF ME. and this dude made the city SO overtaken so quickly like how long was danny asleep?? oh god

-evil fucked up sam! now the whole trio has gone evil at some point! the voice actress did a really, really good job with making her sound like a zombie...

-frostbite's paws are so so so big compared to danny. oh my god. i want to hug the snow dog...

-the far frozen has an advanced medical stuff!!! very cool. very smart snow dogs

-im so glad danny has a friendly ghost snow dad to explain this new power and teach him!!! this is so sweet. DANNY'S GHOST SENSE WAS A PART OF HIS ICE POWER?? OOOH. COOL. we love a training montage!!!

-danny saying if he cant defeat overgrowth, that he'd want to stay with frostbite...oh my god...do you think this is the first real supportive adult figure in his life (I am NOT counting his parents because they threaten him on the daily even if they dont realize it.) I mean mr lancer is a Teacher, but he was also nice but this is different, but this is a GHOST WHO IS WILLING TO HELP HIM with his powers and also will help him when hes injured and is so so nice and comparatively so much more mature than 90% of the adults in this show!!!! god. dad frostbite is my everything.

-the framing and lighting this episode, and all the angles...they went all OUT and it looks really really good. this is my nightmare scenario, tho. like, FUCK zombies and dead city zones and hivemind shit. and using the humans as 'nutrients for the children' i am going to THROW UP.

-MALEFICENT VIBES WITH THE HORNS AND GREEN EYES! this costume kicks so much ass. sam is now mark hamills daughter, I guess.

-danny's ice powers making his eyes blue!!! thats neat. and him going for the roots underground was SO SMART. i will not stand for danny ever thinking hes stupid, hes SO smart.

almost done with the show... :"( thats a sad thought!!!

#sanchoyorambles #dp thoughts #danny phantom

9 notes · View notes

trans-shuichisaihara · 3 years

Text

fake it till (we) make it - Scene 3

it’s been over two years but here we go again

just in case, a warning for brief mentions of internalized homophobia

(read on ao3)

---

Later in the afternoon, his phone rings.

He slows on his treadmill and glances across the room to the offending device, wondering if he should answer. His manager called earlier and chewed him out, so he really isn't in the mood to deal with any more of that. Still, on the off chance that it's something important, he reluctantly hops off and crosses over to at least pick it up and check it.

He's glad he does; the caller ID shows his best friend’s name. Without any further hesitation, he answers the call, pinning his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he grabs a towel to mop up his sweat. “Hey, Shuichi! What’s up?”

There's a brief, shuddering silence from the other side. He waits patiently and is soon rewarded with a meek greeting of “hey, Kaito.” Then, there's an audible swallow. “I hope I'm not bothering you, but... Um, I tried texting, and, um, it didn't look like... Anyway, how, how are you..?”

He hardly pauses to think about Shuichi’s stuttering; that’s normal, after all. “I’m good, sorry I didn’t answer your texts; people’ve been blowing up my phone all day, so I kinda got fed up and just muted ‘em all.” The brief thought about Shuichi’s own reason for calling crosses his mind, but he quickly sets it to the side.

“I, I see.” There’s a long pause. “What, what are they bothering you about? Is... Is it about your Twitter, perhaps..?”

Kaito sighs; guess it was too much to ask for one unrelated conversation. “So you heard too, then.” He crosses the room to his computer desk, spinning around the office chair placed in front of it so he can plop himself down in it.

“Um, well... Kinda hard not to... Kaede said she and her friends were speculating that your account got hacked? And I wouldn’t be surprised if Kokichi can Photoshop, so... So, um, you, you shouldn’t stress too much if that’s the case? I’m sure Sakakura can fix this.”

If only. “Nah, all he’s done is yell at me.” He snorts, shaking his head. “Because, uh, my account wasn’t hacked. That photo’s real, and, uh, well... The caption was accurate..?”

There’s another long pause. “So, you, you and him are..?”

“Dating, yeah.” He remembers the story they agreed to place down. “About two weeks now, if I’m rememberin’ right.” Then, to make it slightly more believable, he edits it to, “Maybe three?”

Shuichi yet again goes silent for a moment. “... That long?” There’s the faintest hint of hurt in his tone, and panic flutters in Kaito’s chest.

“Hey, don’t say it like that. It, uh, it just...” He struggles to articulate his thoughts and trails off.

“Sorry,” Shuichi finally sighs. “I just... Thought you would’ve told me.” He swallows, and Kaito again regrets doing this at all; of course he would’ve told his best friend the second he started dating.

“I, I meant to- I wanted to,” he lies, the words feeling sour as he forms them, “It just, you know, it was something that just happened.” Literally. “Neither of us were sure it was gonna be more than a brief fling, but, well, here we are.” He forces out a laugh that he hopes sounds real enough.

“Oh, I see... Um, I’m happy for you, then?” He sounds unsure, not that Kaito can blame him for that. “Just... Be careful. You know how Kokichi is.”

He definitely knows. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry; I got this.” He certainly doesn’t, but he won’t worry Shuichi with that.

Shuichi doesn’t respond to that, and Kaito changes the topic to something lighter, something that won’t make him feel like his stomach is eating itself. They talk about Shuichi’s band, about the upcoming tour, about both of their workout regiments, about meals they've cooked recently.

By the time Kaito glances at his watch and finds it to be nearing 3pm, he reluctantly ends their call, hoping that the pain he caused Shuichi has been remedied enough. If it was up to Kaito, he would’ve let Shuichi in on what was really going on, but he knows he shouldn’t just tell someone without consulting Kokichi. No matter how much he trusts Shuichi, he knows how easy it is for information like that to spread.

It’s hard enough work keeping a secret between two people, after all.

He sets those thoughts aside as he hops into the shower, washing off the sweat from his workout and mentally preparing for the interview. A week ago, he would've said the questions were going to be about his latest role and those in upcoming films, but he can rightly assume they were scrambling to create a new set of questions at this very moment.

At least he wouldn't be able to complain later about the interview being boring; he's sure he'll have to keep on his toes to avoid screwing anything up.

Once the water is too cold for even him to stand, Kaito hops out and dries off, skipping on styling his hair and going straight to his closet. He scans the line of suits, rolling his choices in his head before settling on his favorite: a rather flashy purple suit that pairs nicely with the bold galaxy patterned tie his grandparents got him. As he begins to tie it around his collar, he stares at his reflection in the mirror.

Will I need to get some new clothes to match Kokichi’s flamboyant style?

As he mulls the question over, he crosses the room to grab his phone to call for Sakakura, pausing when he notices a text from Kokichi - or rather, a series of texts that Kokichi spammed instead of putting everything in one message.

Kokichi: [so boreddddd]

Kokichi: [mom is being]

Kokichi: [SO NITPICKY]

Kokichi: [plz send help]

Kokichi: [ASAP!!!!]

Kaito snorts at the absurdness and opts not to respond. Kokichi knew what he signed up for when he chose to be a lead role in Toujou’s film. He switches to Sakakura and shoots him an “I’m ready” text. As much as he’d rather drive himself and avoid another lecture, Kaito knows that’s not gonna happen.

He idles until he hears the doorbell ring, grabbing a hair tie and pulling his hair back into a quick ponytail as he makes his way to the front door. Juzo Sakakura stands menacingly in the doorway, displeasure creasing every inch of his face.

“In the car,” he orders with a sharp jerk of his head.

Kaito thinks about saying something along the lines of “what, I don’t even get a hi?” but decides against it; Sakakura was already beyond pissed at him and saying anything unnecessary would only make it worse. So, he does as he’s told, trying not to let his own hot-headedness get flared up at the daggers digging into his back. Even when Sakakura makes sure to slam his car door as he settles down in the driver’s seat.

He drives in silence for a few minutes until they hit their first red light. “You understand what you’re doing, right? This is a serious matter that you won’t be able to back out of, even if you decide later on that you’re not going to humor whatever bullshit that Ouma brat’s pulling.”

Kaito crosses his arms. “I’m sure about this. ‘Sides, it was bound to come out eventually that I like men; as much as I don’t want people all up in my personal business, that’s just how life as a celebrity is.”

Sakakura’s fists clench around the steering wheel. “So, you’re really dating him then?”

“Is it hard to believe?” he asks, genuinely curious if it’s as unfathomable as he’s imagining it would be - though he isn’t sure his manager is the best person to ask that question. The people they’re actually trying to fool aren’t so close to them.

“It’s hard to believe anyone would want to date that entitled brat, let alone a guy like you.” Sakakura sighs, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I wish if you had to do this, you would’ve picked someone quieter about shit like this.”

Kaito reads between the lines on that one. “Look, I’ll handle all the media shit about me coming out, so you don’t have to deal with it. You won’t have to make any public statements or acknowledge it, just don’t be an ass about it. Hell, you can quit if it makes you that fuckin’ uncomfortable.”

He clicks his tongue. “It’s not like that. Do whatever the fuck you want, but don’t bring it to work and we’ll be good.”

A disgusting feeling boils in Kaito’s chest, some crude mixture of shame and anger. It’s not an unfamiliar feeling, but certainly not one he’s felt in a number of years. He refuses to give Sakakura a response, glaring out the window as he talks himself down from acting rashly. He knows he’s pushing a problem to the side that’ll need to be solved before it explodes, but he doesn’t have the patience for this fight right now.

Dammit. While he was initially more worried about how the public was going to react to all this, it was now looking like he should’ve been more concerned about those around him, huh. He’s starting to feel more and more like a fool, and he’s not confident that that’s going to change before the day ends.

#oumota #kokichi ouma #kaito momota #shuichi saihara #juzo sakakura #drv3 #my post #celebrity au #fanfic

30 notes · View notes

coconut-cluster · 4 years

Note

Hihi!!! Uhh, so, do you have any headcanons or, like, anything you wanna rant about rn? I'm kinda lookin for something distracting! If you don't have anything, please don't dig for anything, just, if you have anything you had ideas fr but cant connect to anything, id love to hear them? um, have a good day!! thank you

oh yeah no problem!! under the cut because i’m adhd and when i write down one idea thirteen different ones pop up in my mind

i’m still stuck on Roman and Janus’ back and forth insulting from POF, mostly the fact that no one just said “hey roman that was mean but also you’re not evil” like. it could have been that easy man. just Patton or Thomas cutting them off and being like “okay we don’t laugh at each other, say sorry, and we don’t use someone’s biggest insecurity as a jab, come on man,” and then they could have kept the convo going. but no Thomas is a mess and his selflessness and creativity had to swing at each other huh

honestly i’m also still stuck on Roman at the very least feeling manipulated during SvsS and then no one taking a moment to realize that’s where his grudge is coming from in the Redux. like Thomas and Patton were so disappointed that Ro wasn’t gung ho to trust Janus but if they spent like two more seconds thinking about why maybe that would have cleared up like half the episode’s conflicts

but conflict is good for plot so i get it lol

but speaking of Roman having a grudge against Janus, i would love to explore that in like a human au, especially with Virgil’s grudge. like Roman watching his friends (and his brother) be close and cozy with someone who he feels slighted by (or worse depending on your interpretation), and Virgil just being scowl-y in general @ Janus, so they just bond over their mutual grudge and air their grievances to each other

unrelated to that entirely, i’m genuinely a tad annoyed with the wave of “roman being a jock in human au’s is ridiculous, he’s a theatre geek through and through” in the fandom because:

one, if we’re talking tropes, Roman being social and popular is completely believable, even if he’s a little awkward or geeky

two, Thomas has called Roman a little jock (in response to really cute art of him in running/workout gear by Brei Grace iirc) before so it’s not like it’s totally out of left field

three, people are multifaceted and can be a theatre geek and play sports guys High School Musical covered this in depth

four, theatre kids?? dance?? and it’s not unbelievable that they’d like exercising to work with that?

five, you can make your own headcanons about a character without demeaning or degrading someone else’s. the attitude of “that’s so stupid” i’ve seen with this hc in particular is very frustrating

anyway rant over about that

related, Roman totally plays baseball bc of I Don’t Dance thank you for coming to my TED talk

also i just think Ro in a baseball uniform is a sweet lil idea

you all probably know i like baseball player!Roman tho bc i’ve had him play baseball in like three separate AUs

anywho

I hc that Logan and Roman and Virgil got those Sensory Issues bc I said so

honestly i just want one of them to be a texture eater like me

one of them likes those Cronchy foods and that’s that

Patton is a plant mom but Logan is a plant emt because Patton always forgets to water one plant or the other and Lo has to bring it back to life before Patton plans an entire funeral for it

i always and forever want to remind people that Roman is scared of the dark. why? just because

Virgil totally plays FNAF and loves it

on that note I think it’s cool that Virgil is the one who digs dark and creepy and scary stuff, even though as Anxiety you’d assume he avoids it at all costs

I guess if Thomas is scared it makes V more powerful so from a role-centered pov it makes a lot of sense

I am very intrigued by the possibility that Roman views or even idolizes pushing oneself past their limits, almost as a sort of self-punishment, as the ultimate form of selflessness and repentance; this especially in relation to Thomas’ Catholic upbringing, Roman’s mention of karma, the concept of burnout with Roman’s role as creativity and pride, etc.

I honestly love the little moments we get where we see the quieter/softer side of Roman. He’s a lot of loud things - pride, ego, dreams, creativity - and he’s rambunctious and enthusiastic by nature, but dreams and creativity and romance are also about daydreams, wistfulness, admiration, stuff like rose petals and stargazing and gardens and singing under your breath and sighs, if that makes sense? and it’s nice to see that he’s as much sweet and dreamy as he is flamboyant and energetic.

i’m gonna end it here bc if i keep going it’s just gonna be me raving about Roman Sanders and yall see enough of that as it is aslksdkgjl, i hope this helped distract you anon!!! 💕💕💕

#ask #hcs #lexi talks #tw religion #janus sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #Anonymous

125 notes · View notes

imaginekpoplikethis · 5 years

Text

BTS Bad Boy Collection ~ Part 2 ~ KN

It’s been a while TT but I’m back and technically on summer holiday until October so stay tuned. I’m slowly thinking up weird plots my dudes

Part 1~ KT Part 2 ~ KN ~ Here

You’d heard many stories of encounters with strange people, even stalkers, who persistently harassed people on their ways back home from school or work. Despite this not once did you ever think you’d be one of these victims. That was probably your first mistake if you were being honest.

It was a warm Tuesday night and despite it being only the second day of the week, you were exhausted. Recently, you found that school work was taking up majority of your life due to final exams and what was left of your time was swiftly snatched away from you by your part time job.

Walking down the surprisingly well lit street at eleven in the evening didn’t warrant any warning bells ringing in your head because, well, it was so well lit that it was almost blinding. Nothing ever happens on a brightly lit street. At least not in the horror films you found yourself watching with your best friend Hana late on a Saturday evening.

This assumption of yours was your second mistake.

Instead of quickly making your way home you decided that you could spare a decently paced walk for leisure, your earphones playing one of the newest albums from your current favourite singer at a reasonable volume. Obviously this choice of volume level wasn’t as reasonable as you assumed it to be and this was proven when you failed to notice the figures that had been tailing you for at least three blocks. By some miracle you got the urge to look behind you and noticed what seemed to be two boys slowing their pace at your sudden awareness of their presence. One turned to the other, nudging him and began a conversation about something he had suddenly displayed on his phone and the other dropped his eyes to said device.

Though it now seemed they weren’t interested in you, a burning feeling in your gut had you picking up your pace and closing your music application. You chose to keep your earphones in to give the impression that you weren’t interested in what they were doing. This way if their footsteps began to draw closer or they said something alarming, you would be able to hear it without them noticing.

You still had another several blocks to walk before you made it back to your small apartment and this unnerved you to no end. Would you be able to outrun these two boys if need be? You had no doubt in your mind that you were about to find out since the bright lampposts decorating the streets were stretching two shadows underneath your feet, two shadows that were drawing closer by the second.

Reaching the end of the street you made a sharp turn out of their sight and started a sprint which lasted all but four seconds before you collided with what seemed to be a poorly placed wall. You were sure you hadn’t ducked into a dead end so, with your heart thumping painfully in your chest, you quickly snapped your gaze up from the ground you had unceremoniously stumbled onto and were met with the surprised gaze of a young man.

“I- I’m so sorry b-but you see- could you help me!?”

Just as you sputtered out these words, heavy footsteps made you jump to your feet and both boys rounded the corner before drawing to a sudden stop. It seemed the sight of the man who was now placing his arm around your shoulders had made them reevaluate their actions as their eyes suddenly widened.

Your eyes too widened at the sudden arm placed on you and the smooth voice that slipped out from between his lips.

“Hey, you took a while. Come on I’ll walk you the rest of the way home.” He squeezed your shoulder and shot a pointed look at the boys before directing his next words at them.

“Is there a problem? What do you want?” Chills ran down your spine at the cold words and one of the boys stumbled upon his words to give an answer.

“Namj-! N-No. No there isn’t. Sorry, thought we knew your girl...”

They proceeded to cross the street throwing a quick glance over their shoulders to watch you and the stranger before disappearing down another street.

Releasing a breath you didn’t realise you were holding, you crouched down and wrapped your arms around your legs, pressing your face into your knees to hide the hot tears that were slowly leaking from your eyes.

“H-hey! Are you alright? It’s okay they’re gone now.”

You simply nodded, face still hidden and released a small sniffle.

“I just... I genuinely didn’t think I’d make it home let alone have someone save me.”

He made no sound and instead placed his hands on your arms, gently pulling you up from your feeble position on the ground and pressing you against his chest.

You stood there for a minute or so crying into the chest of a stranger who potentially saved your life.

“Come on, I’ll walk you home...”

Normally such an offer from a stranger would have had you decline but you were so shaken up from this particular incident that you simply nodded meekly.

He asked for simple directions and then began guiding you down the street upon receiving your answer. You had mostly calmed down within five minutes of walking and so stole fleeting glances at the young man. His lips were pressed into a straight line and you took notice of his eyes that were trained ahead. If you were going to be a hundred percent honest there wasn’t anything particularly unique about them but you, strangely enough, were still drawn to them.

‘Beautiful...’

Your eyes widened once again though this time at your own thoughts and you felt yourself get flustered. He looked back down at you and let a sympathetic smile dance on his lips, revealing dimples.

“You okay now? You wanna talk to get your mind off it?”

You found yourself nodding silently for the umpteenth time that evening and he broke into a grin.

“So... are you a student? Why’re you out this late?”

You contemplated lying to him but then remembered that he was your saviour and the least you could do was tell the truth. Not much harm could come from your choice.

“Yeah, I’m a first year in university but I have a part time job which is why I’m out this late. Honestly, I finished early. I’m usually on my way home at one in the morning.”

If he was surprised he didn’t show it physically and instead opted to looking ahead of you both.

“Is that so? That doesn’t sound very safe. I know I’m a total stranger so you really don’t have to listen to me but you should consider changing jobs. Finishing that late and being a university student on top of that doesn’t sound very healthy let alone safe... how much sleep do you get on weekdays if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Uh, maybe around four hours?” You didn’t sound so sure of yourself due to the fact that you sometimes didn’t sleep at all. Insomnia was a frequent ever since you started your, admittedly, crap job. The pay was decent but your boss was unrelenting which had pushed you to write the resignation letter that sat on your desk at home. Maybe now was the right time to hand it in?

“Four hours? That sucks. Isn’t that around the same amount new mothers get? Then again I wouldn’t know...”

You couldn’t help the chuckle that slipped past your lips and the man cracked a small smile at the sound.

“Ah, you smiled... feeling a bit better?”

You let your own smile grow and looked up at him, a sincere look of gratitude displayed on your face.

“Yeah... thank you.”

Before you knew it you both rounded the corner of your street, your idle chatter making your journey seem much shorter than usual.

“Ah, I’m home...”

Your words almost went unheard with the lack of volume you projected them with but the man seemed to have been waiting for you to say something as his attention was now focused solely on you.

“Thank you again. For everything. I want to repay you but I’m not sure how...”

As you let your mind wander to the several possibilities you had of repaying the kind man, he tapped you on your shoulder to regain your attention.

“Listen, you don’t have to worry about it but if you really can’t let me go without some sort of repayment how about you get me a coffee some day?”

A cheeky grin made its way onto his face and his dimples resurfaced. Such a joyous expression drew a grin upon your own lips and you nodded eagerly.

“Here let me give you my number and you can call me whenever. And don’t hesitate to call me if you need someone to walk you home. I live pretty near and wouldn’t want you running into trouble again.”

You grimaced at the fresh memory of your almost disastrous encounter with the two boys and a flood of relief entered your body at his proposal.

“If it’s not much trouble...”

You handed him your phone and he quickly punched in his number before handing it back to you and stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“Thank you.”

He released a raspy yet smooth chuckle at your gratitude.

“You don’t have to keep thanking me. I couldn’t let someone as cute as you run into any trouble.”

You felt a blush rapidly spread across your face at his words and you looked down at your feet.

A sudden ringing sounded from his pocket and he dug around it, pulling out his own phone. A quick scan of the caller ID had him looking back at you with a sweet smile.

“I gotta take this... I’ll see you around though?”

He waved at you before answering his phone and making his way down the street once again albeit on his own this time.

“Ah.... I forgot to ask for his name.”

Unlocking your own phone you searched for the newly input contact, desperate to find the name tied to this handsome man. You smiled once again at the sight of the letters ‘KN’ along with the arm flexing emoji and the superhero emoji.

Needless to say, the next few weeks you found yourself being accompanied by none other than ‘KN’. Your conversations were always brief and you found yourself failing to ask him for his real name. Most of the time it was due to your own forgetfulness but other times you found yourself to nervous the get the words out. It was inexplainable why you felt the need to keep your curiosity to yourself but you believed that perhaps it had something to do with the somewhat intimidating and confident air he always radiated.

However, on this particular day you had set yourself a goal.

‘Work up your courage and ask him for his name already!’

You stared into the mirror hanging within the staff bathroom and gave yourself a curt nod. He was waiting outside for you just as he had been the past three weeks. You were surprised he was this dedicated to making sure you got home safe but at the same time you were incredibly grateful for his companionship.

Quickly bidding your boss a farewell, you hurried across the street where he was patiently waiting and offered him a gentle smile, one he returned dimpled.

“Good day at work?”

Your short journey began and you let out an almost inaudible huff.

“Same old. I’m looking into new jobs though. Ones that pay better and have a reasonable contract.”

You’d rather have a job waiting for you before you left the disaster you called your current one.

“Is that so? Well, if you want I can recommend you to a really popular café in central?”

“Really? Wait- don’t tell me you’re talking about the really pretty one next to the shopping centre? The one where they film dramas all the time?”

Grinning at your knowledge of said café, he pulled out his phone and began searching through his photos.

“Yep, that’s the one. The owner is actually my mothers college friend.”

He seemed to find what he was looking for and presented you with a photo of himself with a middle aged woman, seated inside the café of your discussion.

“No way, that’s amazing! Could you really do that for me?”

Placing his phone back into his jacket pocket, you both then turned the corner of street leading to your apartment and he let out a low hum.

“Of course. I’ll recommend you to her and let you know what she says.”

Stopping before your house, you grabbed one of his hands and clasped it between your own, your eyes shining in admiration for your saviour.

“Thank you so much! You’re like my guardian angel, always there when I need help.”

His free hand reached out to pat you on the head affectionately and you beamed up at him.

“Hey, it’s a bit a-awkward to ask this now but what’s your na-“

“Hey! I knew you’d forget about our hangout session! Come on Y/N it’s a Saturday what are y-!”

Hana emerged from your home and quickly cut herself off at the sight of you both.

“Oh- I’m sorry! You must’ve been waiting a while huh...”

She gave your companion a once over and her eyes widened slightly.

“Yeah... but I let myself in with the spare key you gave me... um, how long are you gonna take?”

It was then you realized you were still clutching his hand and you immediately dropped it whilst he removed his own from your head.

“I’m coming in now.”

Giving him one last grin, you waved and began walking backwards towards your home.

“Thanks again! I’ll see you soon?”

He met your grin with one of his own and shot you a thumbs up.

“Definitely. Good night.”

After entering your home, you made your way to your living room only to find Hana sitting cross legged with a bowl of popcorn sitting on her lap, staring at the paused screen of the movie you had agreed to watch tonight.

“Sorry about that Hana.”

She turned towards you with a raised eyebrow, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

“Hey why didn’t you tell me the guy was Kim Namjoon?”

The confusion must have been painfully clear on your face.

“Huh? Who’s Kim Namjoon?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve been walking home with the notorious leader of a gang and you didn’t even know. Because honestly I’m gonna have to start questioning whether your body is running without a brain if you didn’t.”

“Hana, what are you talking about? How would you even know it’s him, what are you part of a gang now?”

Your joke flew over her head and she narrowed her eyes at you.

“I went to school with him back when I was a teen. We were in the same class and everything, there’s no way I wouldn’t recognize him.”

You felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over you at the information Hana was spouting.

“That guy was trouble, always fighting people. Somehow he was never suspended though. Then again it’s not like he went out of his way to be a bad person... I heard he’s really only known for how good he is at fighting though.”

Your feet began moving on their own accord and you sunk into the sofa, staring blankly ahead with your mouth agape.

“So I’ve been escorted home by a gang leader and I didn’t even realise?”

You soon came to the conclusion that your naivety had reached a whole new level.

You had been avoiding Namjoon for the two weeks that had followed your enlightenment. Fear had planted a seed in the pit of your stomach and it was slowly growing. He had sent you messages multiple times throughout the span of several days, asking where you were and why you were avoiding him.

You had, with shaking fingers, replied that you were granted sick leave and were not feeling one hundred percent though even that sounded unlikely within your own mind. Not many took two weeks off for a simple flu. He didn’t seem to believe your words but didn’t press any further.

It was somewhat irrational that you were treating a man, who was kind enough to walk you home at ridiculous times in the morning and offer to help you get a job, this poorly. Despite his kind deeds, it was hard to ignore who he was though you weren’t sure what him being a leader of a gang entailed.

For all you knew they could be a good gang.

Who were you kidding, did good gangs even exist?

Hana did mention that he didn’t really do anything bad though... did that mean he wasn’t dangerous?

“That can’t be true! He’s known for fighting...”

You folded your work uniform and placed it into your locker, grabbing your bag and making your way towards your boss.

“I’ll see you tomorrow sir.”

He nodded in acknowledgment and you set out for your walk home only to stop dead in your tracks when you noticed two figures standing across the street, watching you.

Since they were standing underneath a street lamp it wasn’t hard for you to realise they were the same boys from a month or so back. Your heart begun thumping painfully in your chest and your face drained of colour.

You didn’t know what to do. You didn’t want to call Namjoon and beg for his help since you had been pretty mean to him. Then again he had mentioned for you to do just that.

Swallowing the saliva that accumulated in your mouth you took a step forward, legs shaking. One of the boys nudged the other and they began crossing the road, eyes set on you. You felt light headed, the fear from that fateful day returning tenfold.

“Hey, we’ve been waiting ageees for you. You really work hard huh.” They snickered, reason remaining unknown to you.

Now taking several steps back, you kept your eyes trained on them, waiting for any sudden movements that would alert you to make a mad dash down the empty street.

“Where’re you going? We just wanna talk.”

A nasty grin made itself present on the first boys face whilst the second one narrowed his eyes at you, caution clear in them. You weren’t so sure what the safest way out of this situation was. You were sure even if you did take them by surprise and start running, they’d catch up to you in no time, that much was proven last time.

Still, you weren’t about to stand there and do nothing. So instead, you began taking more steps back, hoping to near the corner of the street in time to dash into a twenty four hour shop stationed nearby.

They seemed to grasp what you were planning and the first boys hand shot out to make a grab for you.

“Stop!”

The volume you used seemed to shock him and his arm paused in mid air, the other boys head frantically whipping around to see if anyone had heard your shout. You had a feeling that the only person who could have possibly heard would be your manager but knowing him he probably could care less.

“The fuck you shouting for? Just keep quiet, we ain’t gonna hurt you.”

You begged to differ.

“I-“

Suddenly a hand gripped your forearm and you were pulled behind a larger body.

“The fuck you want with her? I thought last time I made it clear to stay away?”

Lo and behold, Namjoon had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and saved your skin yet again. The immense relief that flooded you had made you feel light headed and in a poor attempt to keep yourself from collapsing, you clutched the back of his jumper and rested your forehead on his back. All previous fear for Namjoon had dispersed and all you could comprehend was the adoration you held for him.

“You brats are really starting to get on my nerves. Do you want to get on my bad side ‘cause I’m this close to losing it with you.”

You couldn’t see the expressions on either of their faces but the shift in the atmosphere was enough to tell you that the tables had turned, fear instilled into them.

“We had the wrong person, I swear! We didn’t mean to scare her!”

You released a shaky breath and Namjoon seemed to tense at the uneasiness that resided within it, his tone growing somewhat darker.

“You have five seconds to get outta my sight, after that I’m not responsible for what happens next.”

The sound of footsteps hastily making an exit reached your ears and Namjoon turned around, your hands reluctantly releasing him.

“You’re okay, don’t worry. I swear I won’t let anyone hurt you...”

You could only blink up at him, your eyes burning with unshed tears. He offered you a sad smile to which you returned.

“I’m sorry... I was ungrateful and avoided you even though you took time out of your days to make me feel safe. To be honest, when Hana told me who you were I was scared of you...”

A sigh escaped him and he brought you into his arms for a simple hug.

“Don’t be. I won’t hurt you ever.”

You could have crumbled at the sincerity of his words if you hadn’t been overwhelmed with awe.

“I know that now. Sorry for being a brat.”

You chuckled simultaneously and he dropped his arms, motioning in the direction of your home with his head, patiently waiting for your response.

“Ready?”

27 notes · View notes

courtrae89 · 6 years

Text

Queens Of Odins Eye (A Sons of Anarchy, Vikings AU)

Warnings:Language, Criminal activity, Crooked Law Enforcement, Smut insinuated, kinda some fluff at the end.

Pulling up to the club house in my Police issued vehicle was the last thing I thought I would be doing today. “Damn it.. Gray really is worthless” I said aloud to myself. Thank Odin I was last to pull in I thought as I watched Brii, pull out from the back lot with a couple of Ragnars sons with her.

Floki, Rollo, and Ragnar all lay on their bellies on the ground, I straddled Ragnar to cuff him, down on one knee I laened down to whisper in his ear “Sorry about this, I have a plan worked out. I’ll have you guys out in a couple hours. Give that bitch hell while your in there” I could see the smile creep up on Ragnars face as his eyes shining with pride met mine “no problem sweetheart, I'd kiss you if Floki wouldn’t chop my lips off for it” I began to lift him up, and gave him a little shove in the direction of another officer and his patrol car. “watch yourself BITCH” Ragnar called out to me, spitting at my feet, he enjoyed giving my co-workers a show a little to much.

I made my way to Detective Halfdan, I was over this bullshit, and I was going to put a stop to it. “Hey Danny can I borrow you for a moment?” Halfdan looked up and smiled at me, he probably already knew where I was going with this “Sure Courtney, walk with me while I sweep the club house again, you know how the feds are” I smiled, and went to follow “that’s kinda what I wanna talk about Danny, what the fuck is Agent Gray doing on this case? Why is she poking her nose in local affairs, she’s goddamn FBI Danny and we haven’t even had a chance to investigate our own case for her butting in” Danny stopped walking, sighed and put his head down, kicked an imaginary rock then looked me in the eye “your right Courtney, I’m not stupid I know your intentions here, however that doesn’t make it any less true, and to be honest, Id love to see her at the department a little less” I nodded, stuck my hands in my pockets and began to turn “thanks Danny, that’s from me, not the club, but they appreciate you too” I made my way back through the club house looking to see if I could spot Kia and Ubbe, there was no sign of them, I hope they got out ok.

Once I was safely in the Tahoe I opened my burner, I had a missed call from Brii, and one from Ivar, I knew they were together, and honestly I needed Ivars “special skills” if this was gonna work, I preferred Floki, but let’s be honest he was Ivars “teacher” and Floki was headed to the department to be interrogated by that fucking house mouse or more like RAT Gray. I dialed Ivars number, he started this shit, and he was gonna fucking finish it.

Ivar “hello”

Courtney “Ivar listen, they have a witness, I have the location, but I’m only giving it to you if you promise to take someone with a little bit of a brain, do NOT kill the witness, just make them never want to come back to this gods forsaken town, got it?”

Ivar “of course Courtney anything you say”

I could hear his smirk through the fucking phone and honestly thought better of giving him the address, but what else could we do? I reluctantly gave him the information as I started my vehicle and headed to the department, still on the line.

Courtney “let me talk to Brii”

Brii “Hey Court tell me something good, I can’t put up with these fuckers for much longer”

Courtney “ hahaha I understand your pain sweetheart, I’ve got a plan, just a waiting game now, just wanted to give you a heads up, Ubbe and Kia are at the safe house, you guys can head over if you want, gotta get back to work, talk to you soon, be safe” and with that I hung up.

After writing my reports for the day I decided to head for home, I needed my own shower, and I didn’t feel like the drive to the safe house.

Getting dressed after my shower my phone began to buzz

“hello Agent Gray, how may I help you?” I said, sarcasm dripping from my tongue “Courtney you fucking cunt I swear to God’s I will fucking have your head for this shit” I laughed a deep laugh throwing my head back “something wrong Agent Gray?” I guess my plan worked “you know what I really don’t care this county cop got shit done pig” I hung up and decided to give Detective Halfdan a call.

Speaking with Danny confirmed it, he had her boss take her off the case, what was FBI doing dabbling with local cases? That’s not worth their time, and apparently the witness recanted their statement, club was free to go. I called Kia to let them know it was safe to go back to the Club house.

Once I hung up I heard the roaring of an engine pull in my drive, assuming it was Rollo coming to fetch me again I swung the door open to tell him not to bother, and my body was met with the hard chest of Flokis instead, pushing me into the house and kicking the door shut behind him.

Floki’s lips crashed into mine, he wasn’t the best with words, but he always made sure I understood his actions. His kisses became more urgent, his hands striping me of all clothing, soon I was straddling his hips as he carried me back to my room, throwing me on the bed he towered above me, stopping to admire what was his, what had always been his “My Queen” were the only words I needed to feel those butterflies in my stomach again.

Lying with my head on Floki’s chest I began to question it all, I gave so much effort to Floki, to the club, I loved them all truly, but would that all end one day? I could be a pretty bad bitch on the job or for the club, but when it came to Floki I was a mess, when we were fighting I was fierce, when we weren’t it was all bed sheets, tangled legs, sweet nothing’s, giggles and rainbows and shit, he was the same, maybe that was the problem, shit just blew up in our faces and we were to stubborn for our own good, but I was ready, it’s all or nothing, I needed to lay it out.

“I got a job offer in Rogaland” this job offer had come about right after Floki and I went off again a few weeks ago, and I had not accepted nor declined. My love for Floki was undying, but I was tired.

“You taking it?” he said without a trace of what he might want me to say.

I sat up on the bed pulling away from him, so I could look him in the eye “I feel like I’m where I should be, with you, with the club. My love for you Floki is unrelenting you know that. I know you give a ahit, you make it undoubtedly clear that I’m a priority in your life, you've saved my ass almost as much as I’ve saved the clubs, but we're either together or we're not, I am very well worth the it, but I can’t keep this up, and…..”

His lips met mine with urgency for the second time tonight “I love you Courtney, you will always be my Queen, you and the club, that’s all I’ve ever given a shit about, now shut up about this job your not going to take and lay back down with me” he grunted, then pulled me close and threw the covers back over us….I guess I had my answer.

My fellow trouble makers:@laketaj24 @imgoldielikehawn @grungyblonde

writing with you ladies has been a blast!!

@therealcalicali @wheredidallthedreamersgo @titty-teetee @mostlikelypantsless @kitkat1690 @ivarsrideordie @readsalot73 @ivaraddict @akamaiden @hippybride @whenimaunicorn @sparklemichele @dangerousvikings @ivarsshieldmadien @lucifersfavoritedaughter @anarchy-is-coming

#soa #fanfiction #floki #vikings #queensofodinseye #soaau #vikingsau

59 notes · View notes

performerartest · 3 years

Text

Frantic Assembly

Frantic Assembly is a well-known dance and physical theatre company. They are best known for their lively yet precise movements, as well as a company-wide culture of cooperation. They began as three college students interested in Contemporary Physical Theatre but learning unrelated subjects (a combination of Geography and English Literature).

The frantic method approaches devising as a set of tasks, each of which is broken down into individual building blocks. This is intended to create progress starting with the most basic discoveries. Performers are encouraged to start with the most basic truth and work their way up from there.

Frantic assembly, a well-known physical theatre company, that has performed all over the world. Frantic is one of the most studied theatre companies, with an unmistakable style and a long history of delighting audiences with their bold, collaborative and dynamic approach.

Frantic assembly was founded in 1994 by Scott graham, Steve hogget and Vicki Middleton. They were students at Swansea university. Who were hugely inspired to have their own theatre company. None of these students studied or any form of the arts. But had an idea in mind that made them want to have their own theatre company which then turned out and still has one of the biggest theatre companies.

Frantic assembly is known by allot of theatre students including myself. They formed together to work on realistic performances using physical movement. Using movement for performances show allot of passion and explanation of the feelings and emotions coming from the performer. That being a performance/ rehearsal process I did back in college called chair duets a frantic assembly performance by them.

I done chair duets with a partner in my first year of college where we had to sit in chairs and show movements by linking hands and arms and using touch, not letting go and making sure to be linked at all time. This allowed us to show emotion through physical movement and allow the audience to see the work made just by using movements between you and your partner.

Chair duets necessitate a call-and-response style of working–they worked with a series of three movements each, and then your partner began their movements, hence the term 'duet.' A tale would emerge spontaneously after adding context to the movement, according to Frantic Assembly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB-9LERsyY8

In order to stand out, Frantic Assembly employs a variety of devising strategies. Hymns Hands and Push Hands are two styles of physical interaction that are intended to attract the performer's attention to the physical touch of the other(s) and to help the performers form a bond of trust. The confidence that develops between the performers is the result of this. Design is an essential part of the creative process. They agree that their production designers should engage in research and development sessions so that they can learn as much knowledge as possible and create their own interpretations and ideas for the piece. This method promotes a shared practise room and has the added benefit of allowing the designers to work more efficiently. has a practical benefit in that it allows designers to determine what is feasible and what is not. This relationship also fosters a sense of community, which helps them become a more successful organisation. As a result, rather than being something the output happens on or in front of, the set becomes a creative factor in the process. This is important for our physical work as a whole.

“One of the most important and defining features of our artistic process is that the initial ideas come from us. Even if we work with a writer, that writer is often engaged long after the genesis of the idea and is invited to embrace and expand that idea. This is not to belittle their input, but merely to clarify that we are not able to commission and develop writers in the same way as, for example, Paines Plough. Clearly, we are not a writer's company, but I like to think that we are a company that a writer can get a lot from.” https://ibreadingroomasianedition.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/frantic_assembly_resource_pack_2012.pdf

These methods may be used in my own work to inspire and bond my performers, resulting in good team dynamics and cohesion, as well as a slick, well-rehearsed show. I believe that ‘Push Hands,' a technique in which two or more performers stand close to each other, one places their hand on top of the other, and applies pressure, is the most effective. This individual is the 'follower,' and the other actor must lift their hand to make the other move. Other strategies, such as closing the eyes of the 'follower,' adjusting levels/dynamics, and putting in lifts/jumps, can be added as the performers' confidence grows and they become more comfortable with each other.

I have decided that the company I have used will be reliable for me with what I’m going to use in my performance because I want to use physical theatre in my performance and make sure I show my emotion through movement. Mental health being a huge part of it. Mostly using my expression and emotion with the performance through physical movement. This blog describes not only about the company but how they use their movements to show the range of emotions in themselves. Mental health being so difficult to speak up about, can be an issue for most people. Using a range of movements and expressing themselves through movement can be challenging but also very easy if you allow it. That being just expressing yourselves through movement but using your “flow” and brain to allow yourself to show how you are feeling. Also letting the audience see you expressing yourself through emotion will help them allow themselves to relax and watch and take in any spiritual feeling they might have towards the performer.

Daily aerobic, resistance, endurance, and balance exercises, such as cycling or gym-based aerobics, can also help to alleviate depressive symptoms. This would indicate that letting your movements and body structure show what you are capable of and letting it show your mental stability through movement. You could also use no movement whatsoever. Letting your facial and body structure and gesture show that through your facial image. Being powerful enough to show it to the audience.

I am hoping to show the audience my performance through the mind of myself, showing them what I go through on a daily. Just like frantic assembly do. Just like how they perform to the audience showing their moods through their movements. I would like to link it somehow in a way where I can maybe use my facial expressions and movements for each different one of my disorders. I feel this would work amazingly purely for the power it would give to the audience and help me engage with them. Everything I just stated, is what frantic assembly likes to show the audience, and other practitioners around them, that your there and then mood can balance through your performance and feelings.

My plan of work based around this would be a workshop purely based on movement, id have them stand there and think about a time where they felt most vulnerable, or sad, or even happy. I would then make them use their feelings that they feel there and then, walk around the space and use it to express that feeling that they felt, without thinking about it first, making sure they are letting it all out using their movements and body posture. I think this will give them a brilliant idea of what frantic assembly are like and how they use their forms of performance to show their emotions.

“It is about the ethos of collaboration, of empowerment, of that constant desire to improve. It is about telling stories in a voice we don't always hear and about finding talent in places we don't always look.” https://www.franticassembly.co.uk/about.

I think having the students research the frantic assembly ways of performing will help them more than just putting a laptop in front of them and finding it out through the internet. Movement shows how you are feeling in the moment and not just thinking too much about it.

My rationale for this project would probably be the reasoning behind why I would be doing it. I think its important for the students to feel the connection between themselves and their partner but also for them to understand their partners emotions just by feeling the movement. Frantic assembly is a perfect example as to why you should be able to show your emotions through movement and explore the emotions with someone else but also with the audience. You don’t have to speak or even have any text whatsoever but use a lot of movement in order to allow yourself to express that along with just simple facial expressions, could be amazingly powerful.

This devising technique will be very helpful to me in the future while I am putting together a show because it allows me to visualise exactly what I need from my actors. It would also encourage me to portray each character's emotions and emotional development in a more realistic way. I assume that telling the storey to the actors before allowing them to improvise and build action will be helpful.

Helping me in the future is massive, I have always loved physical theatre but I have always loved frantic assembly and working with their techniques in order for me to have an understanding of the practitioner and also the idea of what frantic assembly gives to their audience. Its always been a huge thing for me as a past dancer, I feel frantic assembly is another form of company that helps dancers also in the performing arts/theatre industry, it being either a stepping stone for them or just a go to when dancing just doesn’t help them and they want to try something different. You are not only exploring the dancing elements of it but you are exploring the performance knowledge as well as all the other things that come with it. Making sure I know my knowledge on frantic assembly is crucial for me as I want to explore frantic movement and movement in performance in the future, so I should be able to, in a few years, say I have some form of background knowledge behind me and I can actually say its been worth all the sweat and tears, being involved in movement helps me express myself and show my emotions which Is why I think performance students need that help and understanding of frantic so that they can show what stuff they are capable of during their time as a performer. I have really enjoyed doing physical theatre in the past and I haven’t really had the chance to do it recently but with most of knowledge that I have already this will be a massive help for me for future productions and hopefully I can get other students involved once I leave university and then we can product a show maybe and hopefully show the world how amazing frantic assembly is. I remember speaking to someone who said that they know someone who have seen frantic assembly’s work and they said it was amazing and really made them look wider into their work and made them stand still and just embrace what they were doing and it was “really moving”.

The company's production of Abi Morgan's Love song, a well-known playwright and poet, exemplifies a new level of Physical theatre. The play has a substantial dialogue script, but the movement work depicting a couple's relationship over time has a significant effect on the performance. This video shows a group of Frantic Assembly actors collaborating with director Scott Graham on the play.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/ztfk6sg/revision/2

Stockholm, Othello, and Exquisite Burnout are among the works of Frantic Assembly. Stockholm, for example, was based on the ‘observation' of a real-life event, Othello was based on the re-contextualization of a classic, and Beautiful Burnout was based on a personal experience. Their performance "Stockholm" is based on their observations of an abusive relationship and the fine line they walk while they are with their mates. When this topic was brought up in a 'house meeting,' and Stockholm syndrome was discussed, the idea was born. As a result, the viewer is depicted as ‘friends' who are influenced by the relationship and watch the relationship deteriorate.

thank you so much for reading my blog, I hope it has come of some help for yourself and you gain some knowledge of the amazing frantic assembly just like I have recently.

and REMEMBER!

“Who knows what may lie around the next corner, there may be a window somewhere ahead, it may look out on a field of sunflowers.” – Joe Hill

0 notes

cassolotl · 6 years

Text

Gender and sex are [not] different

Content note: Article refers to transphobia, TERFs, sex essentialism.

I have recently seen nonbinary people, even high-profile nonbinary people like Asia Kate Dillon, saying that gender and sex are different. This is bothering me a lot, for reasons I’ve struggled to articulate, but I’m gonna try anyway damnit.

Disclaimer: This is just the way I see things. I’ll back up my assertions where I can, but please do understand that I am the internet equivalent of some dude you met in the pub last week.

AN OVERVIEW / SOME CONTEXT

Sex and gender are both social constructs, which basically means they’re ideas that humans created. A penis is just a penis, but only a human would say that a penis (or a person with a penis) is inherently male.

The definitions of sex and gender are broadly agreed to be subtly different: sex is purely anatomical, whereas gender is an experience, a combination of physical, behavioural and psychological things that no one is really able to pin down.

I live in the UK, and here there is no legal difference between sex and gender.

The “sex” marker on your birth certificate can be changed with a gender recognition certificate (hormones and surgery not compulsory), and birth certificates are not connected to medical records at all. Getting that sex marker changed is very difficult and expensive.

You can legally have a different gender or sex marker on all your state-issued IDs and at most it’ll cause some bureaucratic confusion.

You can put any title on any record and some people will probably frown at you if you put Mrs if you’re an unmarried person but those people are legally speaking in the wrong.

Basically anything is legal as long as you’re not doing it to deceive or commit fraud, and the Gender Recognition Panel is way outdated and about to be dismantled anyway.

To put it another way, what the UK calls “legal sex” is actually just legal gender, misnamed. Even the sex marker on medical records is a gender marker misnamed.

To add to the confusion, linguistically speaking sex and gender are generally described in the same way - because until very recently, English-speakers have largely been unable to change their bodies and therefore unable to change the way the world treats them. Words like “female” can describe someone’s body and/or someone’s gender, while also describing the reproductive capacity of non-human lifeforms, the shape of the connecting end of a computer cable...

Because of the body/mind distinction, people who say that only we can define our genders will often comfortably say that sex can be objectively determined by an educated professional.

Doctors generally agree that sex is defined by:

the number and type of sex chromosomes;

the type of gonads—ovaries or testicles;

the sex hormones;

the internal reproductive anatomy (such as the uterus in females); and

the external genitalia.

Since finding out someone’s sex chromosomes takes months and is very expensive and largely unnecessary for most people, unless your doctor has found a pressing reason to test your chromosomes (such as signs that you may be intersex and it may affect your physical health in some way), you do not know your own sex. Yes, you. You have, at least, a (probably but not necessarily accurate) guess based on the information you have unequivocal access to: external genitalia.

This blog post assumes that misgendering people is harmful. It may not harm everyone, but it harms enough people that it’s a good idea to behave in a way that prevents that harm.

SEX AND GENDER ARE THE SAME

1: Sex --> gender

The idea that gender is defined by sex is an obvious wrong thing, so it seems like a good place to start. That’s the idea that your gender comes from your body. If you were born with a penis and testicles, you are a man, whether you like it or not.

Who does it: Some people (eg: TERFs) say that hormones and surgery simply “mask” your “true” sex/gender, and you can’t change your chromosomes or the way you were born. Some people (eg: some outdated gender recognition systems) say that your body must be changed in order to change your gender.

Why it’s harmful: It sucks for trans people. Either you can never be correctly gendered by other people, even when you pass, or you can only be correctly gendered by other people once someone has inspected your genitals or judged your facial hair or whatever.

What to do instead: Don’t say that gender is irrevocably tied to one’s body. Support the idea that people know themselves better than anyone else can, and trust them when they tell you what their gender is.

2: Gender --> sex

Who does it: If you’re on Tumblr you’ve probably read blog posts that say things like “I am female, therefore my penis is female.” A lot of us feel this way about our own bodies, and taking ownership of the language used to describe your body is a very positive thing. In the UK it’s supported by the medical system, which lets you change the gender/sex marker on your medical records just by asking the receptionist.

Why it’s harmful: It’s not - unless you start to impose it on others. It’s not universal. Some of us strongly feel and identify with the sex of the body; for example, Asia Kate Dillon is nonbinary but strongly identifies their body as female.

And then there’s Big Freedia, who says she’s a man because she has a man’s body. Her name and pronouns and presentation, everything that we use as gender cues, are decidedly feminine - but she is very open about her body being male.

What to do instead: Don’t assume stuff about people’s bodies or the language they use to talk about their bodies based on their gender, pronouns, presentation, etc. Don’t say that in general, for example, a body is female if it belongs to a woman. Respect everyone’s right to bodily privacy. Support the idea that people know themselves better than anyone else can, and trust them when they tell you what their sex is. But like, don’t ask, okay? Don’t even hint. It is none of your business.

SEX AND GENDER ARE UNCONNECTED

This is the one that’s been bugging me lately.

Who does it: I’ve seen nonbinary people go out of their way to correct people who equate gender and sex (or man and male, woman and female), and in doing so they state that sex and gender are never connected.

And it’s understandable! The idea that someone can be born in the wrong body has been central to the campaign of visibility and understanding aimed at cisgender people for quite a long time now. It counters the idea above, that sex defines gender, that has been socially prevalent for basically all of living ciscentric memory. A lot of us probably learned about what being transgender is by hearing the idea that your mind can be one gender while your body is another, and said, “damn, that could explain a lot for me.”

Asia Kate Dillon takes this to an extreme. I mentioned above that their gender is nonbinary and their sex is female, but they have also stated that sex and gender are entirely unconnected, for everyone. They insist that male and female are words used to describe sex only, and that it harms them when trans women call themselves female. They said that sex is defined by those five characteristics I listed in the overview, and if any of those characteristics doesn’t match the others then your body stops being male or female at all; a person who’s had a hysterectomy can no longer be called female in terms of sex.

Why it’s harmful: When people say to a trans person, “well you might be a man but your body is not male,” they are implying that someone’s biology would be relevant to anyone but themself, the people they may be physically intimate with, and maybe their doctor. On this level alone it’s personally very intrusive, in a way that no cis person would have to tolerate.

On a practical level, it allows people to exclude trans people from gendered spaces in which they belong on the basis of aspects of their body that may never even be visible, because their body is somehow more relevant (to gendered spaces like toilets and changing rooms) than who they are, and cis people can’t possibly cope.

There are two common excuses for excluding trans people from these spaces.

Random cisgender humans will accidentally see a weird body and be needlessly alarmed or frightened. (Frankly, not our problem?)

Some people are incurably violent or harmful because of their bodies; even someone seeing their bodies may cause harm. (That’s, at very generous best, insulting. In reality, if you are perceived as a serious threat when you walk into a room you become a target.)

What to do instead: Don’t make sweeping statements like “trans people were born in the wrong body” or “gender and sex are different and unrelated.” Support and respect people when they tell you about their own experiences of their body and gender. Encourage cisgender people to take responsibility for their emotional issues, improve and increase resources for victims of sexual violence, advocate for partially gender-neutralising spaces, and welcome trans people into gendered spaces where possible - and it almost always is possible.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS

Always respect people’s right to bodily privacy. Always.

If you feel like your sex is defined by your gender then great but it’s not true for every trans and/or nonbinary person. Similarly, if you feel that your gender and sex are independent of each other then that’s fine but don’t impose that on other people.

Barring unusual phobias, there is no need to ever consider the impact of someone’s sex on you personally. Unless you’re a doctor or you’re about to have sex or something.

In reality, there is a relationship between one’s body and one’s gender for a lot of people, otherwise gender dysphoria wouldn’t be a thing. What the connection is we may never fully understand, but that doesn’t matter. There is a connection for many people and it feels different for everyone, and that needs to be acknowledged and respected. At the same time, for many people there is no apparent connection between their gender and their body, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be one or that deep down everyone else is just wrong about themselves.

Gender and sex are complex individually, and their relationship to each other is complex too. Trying to logic it and sort it into boxes and make a flow chart of it just isn’t going to work. We can stop trying to teach each other, and start supporting each other instead.

#original posts #my words #gender #trans #nonbinary

24 notes · View notes

claremal-one · 4 years

Text

Did Sexism — And Fear of Sexism — Keep Warren From Winning The Nomination?

cwick: To mark the end of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign, I’ve gathered some of FiveThirtyEight’s finest thinkers on the topic that has dogged the Democratic primary for months: electability. Warren’s campaign had a slow and steady rise last summer, but seemed to peak when her opponents took issue with her support for Medicare for All. From there, her support dropped as Sen. Bernie Sanders’s rose, and now Sanders is again the standard-bearer for the progressive wing of the party.

Clare, Amelia, Maggie: Much will be written about how Democrats didn’t think Warren was electable. But if needed, let’s dispense with euphemisms right away. In this case, were voters’ “electability concerns” really just sexist concerns?

clare.malone: Let’s talk about sex(ism), baby.

I think we should define “electability” first.

maggie: Basically, for the 2020 cycle, we’re talking about “can this person beat President Trump.”

clare.malone: There’s a political science definition of it where you can say, “Oh, women are actually really electable when they run for office.” And then there’s the 2020 pundit definition that makes it a shorthand for “Who will appeal to white male swing voters in six states?” That brought us to a lot of national handwringing over what these voters like, don’t like, and on and on. By the way, voters probably aren’t wrong at all to assume some sexism is in play.

ameliatd: Right, Maggie, which is just voters making a lot of guesses and assumptions about what will make someone a strong opponent for Trump. I think voters’ concerns about “electability” were largely — but not entirely — about sexism. Some people thought Warren was too liberal to get elected. Which isn’t unrelated to her gender — there’s research showing that voters generally think women are more liberal than they actually are. But it seemed like a different bucket of worries than “Will sexism doom a woman against Trump?” which is also something I heard a lot on the campaign trail.

cwick: Maggie, you wrote about whether electability is real. What was the verdict?

maggie: The basic gist is that some people are more likely to be elected than others. But if you’re trying to mentally strategize which of several candidates will be able to win a general election months down the road … you’re probably playing yourself.

ameliatd: And then there’s the question of whether “electability” is just a polite cover for a voters’ personal unwillingness to vote for a woman, or their genuine concern about whether other people would vote for a woman. (Or a little bit of both!)

clare.malone: That’s the most interesting part to me. On Super Tuesday, TONS of liberal voters decided to cede to the electability argument. Thereby bolstering … sexism!

maggie: I kind of love the fact that you get these polls where people say, “Well, I have no problem voting for a woman, but I know all my neighbors would.” They remind me of the surveys of doctors that are like, “I can take a sandwich from a pharma rep and not be compromised. But all the other doctors would be.”

cwick: And we know — or at least some data shows — that many Democratic primary voters are sexist themselves, and that may have held Warren back.

ameliatd: Is “electability” the “likability” of 2020? I think people have mostly figured out that “likability” is a pretty sexist conceit.

cwick: “You’re electable enough, Eizabeth.”

ameliatd: I think we can say pretty confidently that outright sexism did hurt Warren with some voters. Whether it doomed her candidacy, though … that’s the million-dollar question.

clare.malone: From my inbox just now:

People are fascinatingly, stubbornly against entertaining the idea that societal sexism trickles down into voter preferences.

ameliatd: And also, based on what I’ve heard on the campaign trail, getting people to understand that sexism is a factor could inadvertently make them less willing to vote for a woman. It’s a weird, self-defeating conundrum. You get people to accept that sexism in politics is real and it shakes their confidence in whether women can win.

cwick: Delaney definitely did not lose because he was bald.

maggie: Well, I mean, given what we know about people’s preferences for who they think “looks presidential,” all those things could actually be true. Including Delaney and his vote-losing pate.

Amelia, I’m curious about the dichotomy between the data that shows women who run for congressional office do just as well as men in elections and these big, executive elections where the pattern from congressional races doesn’t seem to hold.

ameliatd: Yeah, that’s such an interesting question, Maggie. Part of the issue is that with presidential elections, we’re kind of flying blind because there have been so few. But there is evidence that gender stereotypes align better with legislative races (people tend to be more comfortable with women in collaborative roles, for example) than executive races. The presidency is kind of the last frontier — it’s much harder to get people used to the idea that a woman could inhabit that role.

Also, I think what people don’t understand is that 1) there is sexism in politics, but 2) women candidates have gotten pretty darn good at responding to voters’ sexism, to the point where they do mostly win at the same rates as men. The sexism is there. It’s harder for women to run a campaign. But that doesn’t mean they can’t win.

maggie: I think that’s a pretty good encapsulation of some of our oversimplified ideas of what sexism (and racism) must look like. It doesn’t have to be blocking someone out completely. It just means making it harder.

cwick: Amelia, how much of this is also about Trump, since Democrats have seen how Trump runs against a woman?

ameliatd: I think a lot of it has to do with Trump, and Democrats’ sense that Trump somehow managed to tap into the country’s sexist id during the 2016 election, and that he’ll do it again this year. Which isn’t wrong — there’s plenty of research showing that Trump appears to have motivated more sexist voters in that election. But it also makes the assumption that all female candidates are the same, and that with Warren you’re just getting Clinton 2.0.

clare.malone: Right, this is where I throw in the “Clinton and Trump were each historically disliked candidates” line.

ameliatd: It’s not even clear that Clinton lost because of sexism! It was a weird election, and there’s evidence that some Democrats were motivated to vote because of Trump’s sexist attacks.

But I think it’s hard for a lot of Democrats to shake the visceral feeling that Trump did something akin to sexist black magic to defeat her, and that he can do it again to another woman.

cwick: Sexist black magic conjured up Comey’s letter.

clare.malone: I think it was also the demonstrated capacity of GOP or independent, conservative-leaning women to still vote for Trump despite the sexism and the “Access Hollywood” tape. That also jarred Democratic voters.

maggie: Which comes back to the inherent mystery of who is electable. If former Vice President Joe Biden wins in November, that doesn’t prove he was more electable than Sanders or Warren. It just proves he was more electable than Hillary Clinton.

cwick: And maybe not even that, Maggie! Given this is a whole different cycle.

maggie: True!

cwick: How much does Sanders’s treatment tell us about Warren? Take, for example, that he was not punished at the polls — at least noticeably — for his support for Medicare for All. Does that tell us something about whether a woman running for president has to be “just right?” Not too liberal, not too impractical, not too shrill.

ameliatd: I have heard many a Warren supporter complain about Sanders’s yelling. Why should he get to yell when Warren can’t?

clare.malone: Well, lemme start with this fact: Biden tends to do better with women voters than men (or about the same between groups), whereas Sanders does better with men, according to the exit polls.

ameliatd: That’s right, Clare — Sanders consistently gets more support from men than women. Including in states where he did well (like New Hampshire) and states where he lost (like Minnesota).

clare.malone: And I think some of that has to do with the perception that Sanders’s campaign and its supporters — not necessarily the man himself — are sexist and are critical of Warren in particular in a gendered way.

ameliatd: I think it might go back even further than that to the way some of his supporters refused to coalesce behind Clinton back in 2016.

And I’ve also seen some signs that women are especially likely to prioritize beating Trump over choosing a candidate they align with on the issues, which could also help explain why they’re moving toward Biden.

maggie: I think issues like Medicare for All really get into the subtle ways that unconscious bias can affect how you view the candidates. We know people assume female candidates are more liberal than male counterparts, even when that isn’t true on a policy basis. Was Warren punished because voters didn’t like women, because she seemed waffly on Medicare for All, or because people assumed she’d be to the left of Sanders and were then even more pissed off when she was a little waffly?

clare.malone: A great point to bring up. I do think Warren had the electoral baggage of being actually pretty damn liberal. And generally we see more centrist people elected as president.

So she was pushing the envelope on a couple of fronts.

maggie: She was! And yet I kept hearing anecdotally people complain that she wasn’t lefty enough. Which, once I found out about the “women are more liberal” assumption, seemed more about what people thought she should be.

ameliatd: What I will say is, a lot of people consistently liked Warren. And continue to like her. That’s very different from Clinton. And I was actually surprised by how few voters compared her to Clinton in my conversations with them. Or when they did, it was to say how different she was. So even though I’ve seen a lot of depressed Warren supporters talking about sexism in my Twitter feed today, I think Warren probably did expand voters’ views of what a woman candidate can be.

clare.malone: She styled herself as a candidate — and like, literally styled herself — as a person who wasn’t “of the elite,” which was the big Clinton critique. Target runs, sweaters, not the power suit. “Look at my cute dog!” Her persona was all about accessibility.

ameliatd: Warren was always wearing sneakers on the campaign trail! That made me happy every time I went to one of her events.

cwick: We’ve been focusing on what Warren didn’t win, but what did she earn through this campaign? What power has she now amassed? And how can she potentially use it for the rest of the campaign or a new administration?

ameliatd: I think she still has a lot of power, even though she’s out of the running for the nomination. The wealth tax is her baby, and it’s extremely popular. She’s got a zillion plans for the taking. I will also be interested to see how Biden and Sanders try to appeal to her voters. Because, as we were discussing earlier, I don’t think it’s obvious at all that her supporters will automatically flock to Sanders.

clare.malone: I think her voters tend to be more establishment-leaning, so Biden voters more than Sanders ones.

maggie: Which is interesting, given that the policy positions between her and Sanders are much closer.

cwick: It’s clear what Sanders needs from her (her voters). But what does Biden need from her, given his coalition and momentum?

clare.malone: Right, Maggie. But I guess if this primary is turning into a pragmatic one — beat Trump above all else — voters whose preferred candidates have already dropped out might just turn to the “electability” metric once more.

ameliatd: And now it might be Sanders’s turn to get burned by “electability” as Warren’s supporters look for an alternative. It would be ironic if Warren supporters who were upset about how the “electability” narrative hurt their candidate rejected Sanders for similar reasons.

maggie: I think it’s really interesting that both Sanders supporters and Biden supporters right now seem to think the other side is making an obvious and idiotic mistake in choosing a clearly unelectable candidate. At least if my Facebook feed is any indication.

clare.malone: Intraparty polarization.

maggie: And also goes back to what the scientists told me about electability. When figuring out who’s electable, people first figure out who they like more, then say they like them because they’re more electable.

cwick: If only there was a third candidate to split the difference, Maggie.

maggie: TULSI GABBARD

cwick: Now there’s a good electability chat.

clare.malone: I would most like to get a beer with Tulsi … to ask her what’s going on???

maggie: Out of all the candidates, a night drinking with Tulsi feels like it has the most potential to be memorable. I mean, now that Marianne Williamson is out.

ameliatd: This gets back to what we were discussing earlier, Maggie — how much of the “electability” worry for Warren was really just a socially acceptable cloak for sexism? Maybe even an unconscious cloak?

maggie: Exactly, Amelia. And there’s just no way to quantify that. Because even the people who did have sexist reasons for not liking her, most of them probably feel like it was just, “Well I don’t like her as much.”

clare.malone: Here’s my theory of sexism and the presidency and why it’s different from women running for office at lower levels: When you vote for your female member of Congress, you don’t actually ever see her that much. She probably doesn’t have enough money to do tons and tons of TV ads, etc. You probably don’t watch her debate. But with the presidency, you’re CONSTANTLY exposed to the woman candidate. You analyze her every move in debates, what she looks like, what she wears, how she talks to other people. And either you relate to her and like her or she just brings out every sexist pet peeve that’s been ingrained in you societally. She becomes home to all your projections, “likeability” tropes about librarians and teachers and on and on. She becomes every woman in your life you’ve liked and disliked.

ameliatd: I also really do think that growing awareness of sexism in politics — because of Clinton, because of #MeToo, because there are more women in politics talking about their experiences — spooked some voters this year, and those fears had a lot of power because many people are extremely risk-averse. So I wonder what the next presidential race will look like, hard as it is to imagine life after 2020. Do voters put less emphasis on their fears and awareness of sexism?

That is, assuming a woman runs of course.

maggie: Does whoever gets the nomination have to choose a woman for vice president at this point?

ameliatd: I would think yes?

clare.malone: I mean … Biden probably will.

ameliatd: A female VP would be interesting for your theory of sexism in politics, Clare — would four years of exposure to a woman almost at the top of the government make people less inclined to judge and analyze her? I’m genuinely not sure. In some ways the presidency feels kind of sui generis.

clare.malone: Yes, totally, an interesting thought experiment, Amelia.

cwick: Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state suggests people are OK when women are in high-profile positions of power for several years, it’s just different when they seek those positions of power.

OK, I think we can wrap it there. Anything else, everybody?

clare.malone: Nada

maggie: Nope

ameliatd: We have solved electability.

maggie: I just checked twitter to find a video of Bailey the dog stealing someone’s burrito. Vote Bailey.

ameliatd: Ugh, yes, pets for president. No more people. Too unelectable.

from Clare Malone – FiveThirtyEight https://ift.tt/2PUaCRJ via https://ift.tt/1B8lJZR

#clare malone #clarethings

0 notes

theliberaltony · 4 years

Link

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

clare.malone: Let’s talk about sex(ism), baby.

I think we should define “electability” first.

maggie: Basically, for the 2020 cycle, we’re talking about “can this person beat President Trump.”

cwick: Maggie, you wrote about whether electability is real. What was the verdict?

clare.malone: That’s the most interesting part to me. On Super Tuesday, TONS of liberal voters decided to cede to the electability argument. Thereby bolstering … sexism!

cwick: And we know — or at least some data shows — that many Democratic primary voters are sexist themselves, and that may have held Warren back.

ameliatd: Is “electability” the “likability” of 2020? I think people have mostly figured out that “likability” is a pretty sexist conceit.

cwick: “You’re electable enough, Eizabeth.”

ameliatd: I think we can say pretty confidently that outright sexism did hurt Warren with some voters. Whether it doomed her candidacy, though … that’s the million-dollar question.

clare.malone: From my inbox just now:

People are fascinatingly, stubbornly against entertaining the idea that societal sexism trickles down into voter preferences.

cwick: Delaney definitely did not lose because he was bald.

maggie: Well, I mean, given what we know about people’s preferences for who they think “looks presidential,” all those things could actually be true. Including Delaney and his vote-losing pate.

cwick: Amelia, how much of this is also about Trump, since Democrats have seen how Trump runs against a woman?

clare.malone: Right, this is where I throw in the “Clinton and Trump were each historically disliked candidates” line.

ameliatd: It’s not even clear that Clinton lost because of sexism! It was a weird election, and there’s evidence that some Democrats were motivated to vote because of Trump’s sexist attacks.

But I think it’s hard for a lot of Democrats to shake the visceral feeling that Trump did something akin to sexist black magic to defeat her, and that he can do it again to another woman.

cwick: Sexist black magic conjured up Comey’s letter.

cwick: And maybe not even that, Maggie! Given this is a whole different cycle.

maggie: True!

ameliatd: I have heard many a Warren supporter complain about Sanders’s yelling. Why should he get to yell when Warren can’t?

ameliatd: That’s right, Clare — Sanders consistently gets more support from men than women. Including in states where he did well (like New Hampshire) and states where he lost (like Minnesota).

ameliatd: I think it might go back even further than that to the way some of his supporters refused to coalesce behind Clinton back in 2016.

clare.malone: A great point to bring up. I do think Warren had the electoral baggage of being actually pretty damn liberal. And generally we see more centrist people elected as president.

So she was pushing the envelope on a couple of fronts.

ameliatd: Warren was always wearing sneakers on the campaign trail! That made me happy every time I went to one of her events.

clare.malone: I think her voters tend to be more establishment-leaning, so Biden voters more than Sanders ones.

maggie: Which is interesting, given that the policy positions between her and Sanders are much closer.

cwick: It’s clear what Sanders needs from her (her voters). But what does Biden need from her, given his coalition and momentum?

clare.malone: Intraparty polarization.

cwick: If only there was a third candidate to split the difference, Maggie.

maggie: TULSI GABBARD

cwick: Now there’s a good electability chat.

clare.malone: I would most like to get a beer with Tulsi … to ask her what’s going on???

maggie: Out of all the candidates, a night drinking with Tulsi feels like it has the most potential to be memorable. I mean, now that Marianne Williamson is out.

That is, assuming a woman runs of course.

maggie: Does whoever gets the nomination have to choose a woman for vice president at this point?

ameliatd: I would think yes?

clare.malone: I mean … Biden probably will.

clare.malone: Yes, totally, an interesting thought experiment, Amelia.

OK, I think we can wrap it there. Anything else, everybody?

clare.malone: Nada

maggie: Nope

ameliatd: We have solved electability.

maggie: I just checked twitter to find a video of Bailey the dog stealing someone’s burrito. Vote Bailey.

ameliatd: Ugh, yes, pets for president. No more people. Too unelectable.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #A FiveThirtyEight Chat

0 notes

creepypasta-fictions · 6 years

Text

The Teacher (pt.8)

Susan removed her now wet, and shaky hand from the soggy inside of Amy’s schoolbag, only to discover that her hand was completely coated with blood. Thick, dark, brown & red, still wet blood. How did it get there? Amy had been dead for a week? And how hadn’t the police picked up on it? There had to be only one explanation - the blood had been put there after Susan had left the police station. Picking up the bloody jar from inside the bag that she had somehow missed, Susan cleaned up all of the blood out of Amy’s bag, not daring to speak a word of this to anyone. She decided to wash the jar, too, because she assumed that there wouldn’t be any more clues. However, whilst she was subconsciously washing the jar, she didn’t notice a small, soggy strip of folded paper fall out of the jar, and down the drain. It was a note directly addressed for Susan, and she was supposed to find it, but she didn’t. The note read;

“Susan Higginson,

I told you you wouldn’t get away with this Detective shit anymore. You little investigation is over.

Your time at Harvard is over.

Your time in life is almost over.”

Susan used the rest of the evening to ponder about how that blood may have got there, attempting to trace her every move.

***

She had stopped off at the corner shop to buy a large plastic bag for everything, however it was dark, so someone could have been following her and she wouldn’t have known. She had set the bag and all of Amy’s belongings aside for just one second. She then started a conversation with the strangely familiar looking cashier, who had long brown hair which appeared to be a wig. His face resembled Mr Andrews’ - even the purply tint from heavy drinking. Speaking of which, they both reeked of alcohol. Susan even remembered thinking ‘I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to drink on the job’ But the name badge, it didn’t match Stephen Andrews. It said... Daniel Shields... obviously he was trying to impersonate someone. Susan then thought back to the conversation.

“Did ya hear about the killer that’s going round killing law students? I heard he’s operating in multiple states right now,”

“Yeah, unfortunately, it’s been all over the news. How could anyone not hear about it? The last murder was a couple weeks ago, a girl named Amy Parker, was at Harvard. Since the Universities have both closed now, things seemed to have calmed down a bit.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Yale is still open, isn’t it?”

“It won’t be long before it closes. The headteacher is the same for Yale as Harvard and he travels. I have no doubt the area will remain safe,” She finished that sentence with a fake smile, unsuspecting of the fact this was Mr Andrews, until she looked back on it now...

“Here’s your receipt, Miss.” he said. Now this was the moment of opportunity for him to slip something in the bag. Susan was looking at her phone, telling her mom she would be home late. However, it seemed like the receipt wasn’t the only thing that was slipped into her bag...

On her way home, she carried the bag on her arm, and it did feel a bit heavier than what it did when she first arrived in the corner shop, although she put it down to the material, unsuspecting of the fact he slipped a jar in it, filled with Amy’s preserved blood, and a blank tissue as opposed to the receipt. And of course, the ominous warning note that Susan had received.

***

The next morning, Susan was awakened with a jump in shock, as a result of her mother calling loudly to her. “SUSIE! Get down here now, I need a serious word with you!!!”

Apprehensive, Susan shakily slipped on her slippers, and made her way cautiously down the stairs into the dining room, only to find her mother with one hand on her hip, and the other clutching a letter that was obviously from Harvard, holding it up high. “Can you explain this to me?!” She slammed the letter down on the kitchen table. Susan picked up her glasses and began to scrutinise the letter.

Dear Mrs Higginson,

I am writing to inform you that your daughter Susanne Higginson has been removed from Harvard University due to interference with private affairs. I am aware that she has had a rather difficult time in the past few months, especially since a peer unfortunately fell victim to the current state of affairs. Due to these unfortunate events, I have taken unprecedented actions and closed Harvard University.

As you are already aware, I am also the principal of Yale University in Connecticut, and students from Harvard have transferred there. Due to the recent exclusion of our daughter, she has not been present on the automatic enrollment list. That being said, if you are concerned about your daughter’s education and future, please do not hesitate to contact the American education authorities and work something out.

Yours sincerly,

Prof. Steven Andrews, Principal of Harvard University

“Interfering with private affairs - what’s he on about Susie?! If this is about Amy, then I told you to-“

“Stop playing Detective, I know! You’re not the only person who has said that to me. But no! I won’t stop playing Detective! You know why? Because I’m the only one who has clues!”

“But Susie-“

“No ‘but Susie’s’ either! I’m through with it! I’m done with all of everyone’s shit! Amy, Nicole and all of those other victims are still waiting for justice. Mr Blackburn is the killer and I’m gonna do whatever it takes to prove it!” Susan slammed the door, running away with the letter, off to the American Education office of Cambridge, hoping that they could sort something out at Yale for her. This was her last hope now. Mr Andrews and Mr Blackburn had jeopardised all of her other chances of catching them. Because Harvard was closed and there were no students left, they had no reason to be there, thus all the more reason to carry on murdering students up in the Connecticut University whilst Susan was out of the picture. In that letter to her mother, Mr Andrews had left Yale as an open option to Susan just so as not to make it obvious he wanted rid of her or whatever he may have insinuated with the whole “private affairs” statement. He was sucking up to her, and Susan did not appreciate it.

************

Susan was denied a place at Yale University, so she decided to continue with her degree at home. However, she made it her business to travel up to Connecticut whenever she could. She even stayed in a hotel there one night. That exact same night, she saw on the news...

“Breaking news, Channel 7. There has unfortunately been another murder and the victim was unfortunately a law student named Sally Claire, of whom attended Yale University. This has been our first murder up in Connecticut for a month, which makes us wonder, did the killer take a break? This has been addressed in the news, but warning goes out to all citizens, particularly Yale University law students, to watch your back. This may be unrelated, but the body has been examined by forensic pathologists and they have determined that the brutal methods of torture used on this individual match the killer’s methodical ways of killing the previous victims.”

Susan raised her eyebrows. This had been the first murder since Amy, which now dated back to a month ago. A lot had happened since then. Susan had since turned 19, she was way ahead of the national average on her degree, and was predicted to achieve a Grade A and possibly graduate early. She hadn’t seen Mr Blackburn or Mr Andrews since and ironically, there were had been no more murders. The news people were still blabbering on and on about the killer, though, as they thought he had gone into hiding, little did they know, he’d just moved, along with his partner in crime. Also, what was particularly disturbing about this murder case was the physical appearance of Sally Claire - the latest victim.

Brown hair, pigtails, braces, large glasses, pale as a ghost, slender, and dressed in very formal - almost masculine - attire. Susan could have sworn this was her doppelgänger. She wasn’t exactly the same as her, however she was eerily similar. Hopping on to the computer, she grabbed the first image of Sally she could find (unfortunately it happened to be from CNN, which she knew was fake news but she only wanted the image) and she proceeded to print it off, sticking it in her enquiry file that she had made especially for her own personal investigation into the murders. This folder included photographs of the victims (mostly photos of Amy) an autopsy report copy for each of the victims, news articles, and any information she could find from trustworthy news websites (which mind you, are virtually impossible to find nowadays).

After Susan had stuck in the photograph of Sally, she stuck a photograph of herself beside it. She chose the one in which made her look most like Sally, just so she could compare them both. There was virtually no difference. And it scared Susan, despite Mr Blackburn and Mr Andrews being oblivious to her secret trip to Connecticut, it seemed as though they had narrowed down her criteria.

Not only did they want to kill law students - they now were going after law students that looked like Susan Higginson.

***

When Sally’s autopsy report was published, of course Susan downloaded a copy.

Briefly glancing at her brown wristwatch, Susan threw on a green flannel shirt and some denim overalls before heading out, to the woods nearest Yale University. Upon getting there, she stumbled upon a pile of debris halfway down the public walkway. She knelt down and shuffled through it, hoping to find some kind of indication that something had been going on up here. There were several things; A wig, of a brown bowl cut hairstyle, a wallet, which contained the ID of Daniel Shields, (the photograph showed his hair resembling the wig) and a backback which appeared to be empty. Perhaps it was a mugging?

Name: Daniel Shields

Date of Birth: 17th January 1998

Occupation: Shop assistant at Thames St, Cambridge, MS, United States

Education status: Currently studying law at Yale University, previously Harvard

Current state: Connecticut

Susan came to an abrupt halt in her tracks when she heard yelling. However, it was too far away for her to comprehend what they were saying. However, she recognised two of the evil, booming voices as Mr Blackburn and Mr Andrews, who were now laughing sadistically. Frowning, Susan edged closer to where the shouting was coming from, and eventually could make out a series of desperate cries for help. Peering over the hill cautiously, she gasped in horror at the scene that was unfolding. There was a man who resembled Daniel Shields’ ID, who was tied up from behind, on his knees. In front of him was the purple-faced Mr Andrews, pointing a Glock .17 handgun at Daniel’s forehead. Behind Daniel was Mr Blackburn, with a large knife poised on his back, as if he was getting ready to stab him in the back (which sounds ironic in the circumstances).

Susan’s suspicions were confirmed now. She scrambled through her coat pocket and pulled out her phone. She knew this was an extremely fucked up thing to do and she felt guilty as sin, but she began filming. If she did not catch the perpetrators now, this video would be the only evidence she had in court. Whilst the video was recording, the conversation was as followed:

“I GAVE YOU MY DAMN ID AND WALLET?! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT, MOTHERFUCKER?!” Daniel Shields begged, crying for mercy. However, this just seemed to aggravate Mr Andrews even more. “That’s Professor Andrews to you, you little bitch! You are a law student! You’re destined to grow up and be one of the greatest lawyers in all of America!” His volatile voice reeked of sarcasm. Mr Blackburn was the next one to pipe up. “We can’t let that happen! You’ll send a down to court for the minor, petty cries we’ve committed! We can’t let law students expose us like that! I’ve already done enough time in prison!”

“W-will you let me go if I promise not to say a word?” Daniel sniffed.

“Pfft. Letting you to is outta the question now, kid. We got you, and you’re gonna die. Just like Nicole, just like Amy, just like Sally, and just like in the future Susan Higgin-“

CRASH.

.....

To be continued...

0 notes

ashleydpalmerusa · 6 years

Text

Accounting News Roundup: Talent Wars, Tax Havens, and 20/20 Visions | 11.07.17

Talent war

I’ve noticed that there’s something hostile about how people describe the search for qualified finance and accounting talent. Statements like, “IT’S A WAR FOR TALENT” or “THE BATTLE FOR THE TALENT IS ON” are so pervasive, I’ve been assuming that human resource departments line up every Monday to calls of “Spears and shields! Spears and shields!” Even if it’s larping or just rhetoric, I imagine HR professionals like these pugnacious metaphors to break the monotony of explaining crappy benefits packages and ignoring sexual harassment claims.

This CFO article takes a new tack with the melodramatics, upping the stakes a bit:

As it turns out, predictions that the economic recovery would inevitably draw companies into a fierce tug-of-war for talent were off-base. As far as finance executives are concerned, the hiring process now more closely resembles a scavenger hunt.

That insight into labor market dynamics emerged from the third-quarter results of the Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey, which drew responses from 850 CFOs.

I’m excited to see where this goes next. If CFOs are engaged in a scavenger hunt now, by mid-2018, they’ll be rummaging through piles of business-casual carrion, trying to revive anything with a pulse to fill a low-level FP&A position.

Tax havens

The “Paradise Papers” is the latest massive leak of documents chronicling the maneuvers of wealthy individuals and corporations to avoid taxes and other questionable activities. One of the most visible of these companies is Apple, which has been fighting the image as a serial tax avoider for a few years now, most famously in an appearance by CEO Tim Cook before a Senate subcommittee. The New York Times was one of the media organizations who helped break the news of the Paradise Papers, and it includes this callback to Cook’s testimony:

It was May 2013, and Mr. Cook, the chief executive of Apple, appeared before a United States Senate investigative subcommittee. After a lengthy inquiry, the committee found that the company had avoided tens of billions of dollars in taxes by shifting profits into Irish subsidiaries that the panel’s chairman called “ghost companies.”

“We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar,” Mr. Cook declared at the hearing. “We don’t depend on tax gimmicks,” he went on. “We don’t stash money on some Caribbean island.”

True enough. The island Apple would soon rely on was in the English Channel.

Yes, Apple moved its tax haven of choice about 1,000 kilometers from an island in the North Atlantic to Jersey, an island in the middle of the English Channel. The Times reports that “the company canvassed multiple jurisdictions” before settling on Jersey, and you have to wonder if any of the tax lawyers bothered to stand up and say, “Uh, guys? Shouldn’t we find a place a little farther away from Ireland?” Maybe this was Apple’s way of giving the finger to the tax-haven shamers.

Elsewhere in Paradise Papers: Bono ‘distressed’ by fears firm he invested in may have avoided profit tax

2020

As someone who has worn eyeglasses for 30 years, the idea of 20/20 vision is a bit abstract to me, kinda like true love or auditor quality. In other words, I know that it’s a concept, but I’ve accepted that it’s not practical in real life.

Anyway, here’s an amusing Wall Street Journal article on the business cliche du jour: strategic initiatives entitled “Vision 2020.” Organizations far and wide adopted “Vision 2020” plans because, ironically, most executives are terrible at bringing their ideas into focus and no one in a corporate marketing department can resist corny wordplay.

At least 10 universities and school districts in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. embraced visions. Competing businesses began to out-vision each other. International Paper and Asia Pulp & Paper both presented 2020 visions. So did the professional-service consultants EY and Grant Thornton.

Fun fact: PwC also has Vision 2020 strategy. I’m sure you can find Vision 2020s for KPMG and Deloitte as well if you cared to look, but no one does, so let’s just agree that 2020 can’t get here fast enough so these stupid initiatives will end and for other, completely unrelated reasons.

Previously, on Going Concern…

In Open Items, one user wants to know if Big 4 internship offers will be rescinded after a DUI. Also, “What are accountants good for?”

In other news:

Tax Overhaul Faces Major Hurdles

Sports Stadium Projects Lose Tax-Exempt Status in GOP Tax Plan

Barclays and Munich Re criticised for keeping ties with McKinsey and KPMG

iPhone X’s Face ID will still work after you become a zombie

Papa John’s asks white nationalists not to buy their pizza amid neo-Nazi endorsement

Get the Accounting News Roundup in your inbox every weekday by signing up here. You can also sign up to receive our job alerts for select cities like Atlanta and San Francisco.

See something we missed? Have a correction, comment, or complaint? Email us at [email protected].

The post Accounting News Roundup: Talent Wars, Tax Havens, and 20/20 Visions | 11.07.17 appeared first on Going Concern.

from Accounting News http://goingconcern.com/accounting-news-talent-wars-tax-havens-and-2020-visions/

0 notes

lisarprahl · 6 years