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bemused-writer · 3 years

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VNC Mémoire 50 Analysis

This chapter went down very differently from how I'd envisioned. XD My main error was that I forgot that introducing Vanitas into a situation doesn't necessarily improve it and this chapter really drove that home. I got used to "Gévaudan Vanitas" but what we're dealing with is "Bal Masqué Vanitas," someone who is more unhinged than he wants to let on. I mean, I think it's safe to say Vanitas efficiently steered things into a ditch this chapter. Let's take a look as to a possible why and how.

The first thing I want to address is how the transition from Vanitas's attitude in chapter 46 compared to chapter 50 is pretty severe in terms of how he's acting towards Noé and at first seems, uh, completely insane but it's actually pretty consistent with how Vanitas has been in general.

Vanitas: Noé, stop! Don't go near him. Mikhail is--!

His reaction towards Misha actually is pretty consistent all things considered. The very mention of Misha filled him with fear in the catacombs arc and it does so here as well. We also see Vanitas demonstrate he is afraid of what might happen to Noé should he encounter him. And that thread is continued at the very start of this chapter.

We're absolutely dealing with subtleties here, but there are three things I think we can take from this exchange:

1) Vanitas is worried about Noé, but he doesn't want to be too demonstrative about it

2) He's trying very hard to hide the fact Misha unnerves him

3) Misha can read Vanitas easily

That last bit is important. Misha knew Vanitas for a couple years while they traveled with VotBM, so he knows his ticks. In particular, he knows what Vanitas is worried about. "I only made him drink my blood." The implication is that he could have done something worse and he knows Vanitas was worried about that in particular. I think it's safe to say the worse option was that Misha had corrupted Noé's name. With that concern thwarted, Vanitas's main concern regarding Noé has probably already been alleviated, which may explain why the continuation of the conversation is actually pretty calm for a moment.

In the previous two images, Vanitas is panicked or suspicious bordering on angry. In this one we see something closer to compassion and understanding. I think if the conversation had simply remained on the subject of Misha not remembering what happened to VotBM we would have gotten a very different chapter. At the very least, I think Vanitas would have focused on handling Misha in a calmer manner. I don't know if he would have explained things properly, but I think the overall vibe would be different. I think that a loss of memory is something Vanitas would sympathize with considering how protective he is of his own memories and that's probably why we got this surprisingly quiet scene with the two.

Such a thing could not last, however. Misha shook things up by revealing that yes, he thought he was dead, but he was brought back by a kind individual. Furthermore, this kind individual can bring back VotBM, too! As if that isn't enough, he calls Vanitas's entire goal in life, vengeance, silly. It's basically the perfect recipe to make Vanitas go ballistic and it worked immediately.

Okay, so in my last meta I said it's basically confirmed that Vanitas killed VotBM. I think this absolutely confirms he killed her if there was any remaining doubt. Furthermore, he talks about how he's currently working to erase her existence entirely, which is not a small statement. It could be symbolic as he is curing vampires, something she would have hated and likely going against her philosophy in some way. He is "erasing" her existence by defying her values.

He could also mean it very literally. VotBM is blamed for malnomen after all, which is the very thing Vanitas is trying to cure. If she did create malnomen and if she even had something to do with Charlatan then yes, Vanitas is very actively trying to erase her entire existence from this world.

You know, I'm sure this attempt at erasing her could lend itself well to his own self-hatred. If he wants to erase her (literally or metaphorically) then having her mark on him must be torture.

As a side note, we see Vanitas shooting with a gun in this chapter. He doesn't own a gun (weirdly) and as such I think it's likely Dante's. Dante was pretty drunk at the restaurant they were at, so he was in no position to come along, I guess. XD But Vanitas knew he would need extra protection and borrowed it all the same. Still, even Misha comments it's odd for him to use one, which makes me wonder why. Actually, the more I think about it, the stranger it is for Vanitas to go about without a gun. Sure, he has daggers and other skills, but he's in constant danger and some range probably wouldn't hurt.

Regardless, he brought the gun to fight Misha specifically I expect, which means he doesn't want to get close to him. Questions abound as to why. I do not have an actual theory about this one just yet.

At this point in the chapter, I think Vanitas had completely forgotten about Noé until he reinserted himself into the situation. After all, he needs to rescue Dominique and Vanitas is shooting at the person who has complete control over her right this minute. Definitely a recipe for disaster.

Misha gives Noé 15 minutes to find some way to drink Vanitas's blood and reminds him pulling any tricks won't work.

And this is where our communication disaster begins this chapter. Vanitas wants to handle everything on his own without interference. Noé can't allow that because he needs to protect Dominique and, also, Noé is already involved. He can't not be involved at this point no matter what Vanitas wants.

Rather than attempt any kind of sympathetic response or understanding, Vanitas goes right for the throat.

This is around where I think we need to address the elephant in the room: Vanitas and Dominique's relationship with each other. The second they met one another they couldn't stand each other.

This is the first time they really talk to one another and it's a mess. Dominique is understandably suspicious of this random human using her friend to help him cure curse bearers. She even states later on that she thinks he's using Noé for his abilities. As for Vanitas, he's simply being incredibly petty and arguably possessive to boot. He just doesn't like her getting in the way of him and Noé.

Then there's all this:

So, Vanitas knows these two are very close and overheard them as they shared an intimate moment together and even seems to have some kind of opinion on it, though it's hard to say what it is. He first seems surprised, then his expression becomes the neutral, unreadable one above. I kind of think his ultimate opinion about the whole thing is negative judging by his infamous insult to Dominique later on.

Look, Vanitas is a raging misogynist, but I think he takes special issue with Dominique. We can see with Jeanne that he actually does want to help her and holds some measure of affection for her (and now believes himself to be in love with her). He's been utterly neutral to all the other women in the series as well, such as Amelia. But Dominique? There is absolutely no love lost there and all of the above isn't even getting into one of his primary issues with her: she claimed he might worship VotBM.

Of course, Vanitas seems to get most angry when people approach the truth because there's also this scene:

I will admit that it's a little unclear who Vanitas is saying he never really hated in this scene. The official translation went with "Lou" but it could very well be "Lu" the beginning of "Luna" who was confirmed as VotBM in this very chapter, so... He hates VotBM but also loves her. That would seem about in line with the complete mess that is our current Vanitas.

So how does all this tie in with chapter 50? Well, Vanitas has a lot of issues with women, especially relationships with women and most of those likely stem from VotBM with a side dish of his being the cause of his mother's death while constantly being compared to her visually. Furthermore, he really doesn't like Dominique.

With all this in mind, is it any real surprise he refuses to help her? Because it wouldn't be that hard to. He has The Book of Vanitas and he knows what Misha wants. He could either do something to undo Misha's curse on her or he could tell Misha the information he wants to know. Furthermore, he could just make something up to tell Misha! His memories about that day are practically nonexistent after all!

But he doesn't. Some of that is, I'm sure, because he's not thinking very clearly, but some of it is definitely out of spite. Vanitas doesn't like that Noé has an attachment to Dominique. He believes it makes Noé weak. It's why Vanitas can't stand his own interest in Jeanne or Jeanne's attachment to Luca or any relationship in general. He firmly believes attachments make someone weak and I'm sure he believes his own attachment to Noé makes him weak. It's why he must do his very best to stomp it out this chapter. He must deny his own attachment to Noé, remove Noé's attachment to Dominique, and kill Misha to restore his own warped idea of order.

Vanitas is, needless to say, a human disaster.

Even with all this, there are still little glimmers of Vanitas's better side. He seems genuinely shocked and disturbed when he first hears about what happened to Louis, but then Misha continues with how it affected Dominique and he's right back to refuting the whole thing. We also get this interesting tidbit:

Talk about a loaded statement and some insight into how Vanitas views relationships with women! I have very little doubt he's thinking of VotBM right now. He says that by killing Dominique, Noé will be "free" in the way he is. Vanitas saw his relationship with VotBM (whatever kind it may have been) as a weakness and a curse and he cannot fathom that Noé's relationship with Dominique isn't somehow the same. From his perspective, it's just not possible for them to have a genuinely good thing going. He believes Dominique is too protective of Noé and is holding him back and that, clearly, killing her would be doing Noé a favor.

Vanitas's expression here reminds me of a key moment during the catacombs arc:

Here he was angry at Noé for showing compassion to chasseurs and for "holding himself back." He then tells him to get out of his sight (something he also pulled before) and calls him a slur, finally provoking a reaction.

That's not terribly dissimilar to what's happening now. Vanitas is angry at Noé for showing compassion to someone he coudln't care less about, he's "holding himself back" (as well as Vanitas), and Vanitas says the cruelest thing he can, finally provoking a reaction.

Just like in the catacombs, he got a much stronger reaction than he was betting on. I think it both cases, Vanitas was just saying whatever first came to his mind without thinking about repercussions (just like in the Bal Masqué... there's a theme here) and therein lies the second problem he has: he doesn't believe Noé will ever retaliate against him even though he has no real reason to believe that. He sees Noé as kind and mistakenly assumes this translates to him never reacting to Vanitas's cruelty. Probably because it takes a lot to rouse genuine anger out of Noé, but still. That's a serious oversight and potentially a part of that blind spot he always seems to have when it comes to Noé.

As for Noé, first he's having everything he believed about his relationship with Vanitas cruelly denied by the man himself and then Vanitas trashes on the one relationship he's managed to maintain his whole life with Dominique. It's not like Noé was going to simply drink Vanitas's blood either (that much I was right about). He asks Vanitas for his help, begs him to simply tell Misha about that day, and is denied. He confesses that it's "self-centered" but he doesn't want to do what Misha requested. He doesn't want to drink Vanitas's blood to get this answer.

So, Vanitas actually had a lot of opportunity to turn this situation around or at least delay it, but he opted instead to goad Noé until the worst possibility was realized. When Noé lunges for him, he is terrified and immediately lost in his own past where he is told to never let anyone take his memories. Both Noé and Vanitas are having painful memories awakened during this scene, so neither of them is thinking all that clearly. Vanitas is coping with Misha being right there and memories of VotBM and Noé is dealing with his own memories of Louis's death and Dominique's imminent demise. The ghosts of the dead are haunting them both.

These two pages are the most powerful of the chapter in my opinion and my personal favorites. The angling, the mutual betrayal and devastation is very well portrayed. We can see that Noé is shocked that Vanitas shot him. Not only that, but right in the eye, something a chasseur would do to weaken a vampire. We also see that Vanitas is not unaffected by the whole thing. His arm is shaking after shooting the gun and he's flinching away from Noé.

And speaking of the eye injury, I had a theory awhile back that Noé might be partially blind in his left eye due to the injury he sustained as a child. He tends to guard more with his left side and has been consistently injured on his left side as well, which suggests that's the weaker side for him. Now that his left arm is injured and his right eye is also injured, how well will he fare against Vanitas? Especially now that he has the chasseur drug (gifted to him from Dante, I expect). Normally, I would say that in a straight fight, Noé would win without a doubt, but he's been severely hampered for this arc.

Of course, none of this is taking into account the fact Vanitas has The Book of Vanitas. While shooting Noé is far from a great move, it's significantly less destructive than using the book against him and I have to wonder, why didn't he? He easily immobilized Noé during the Bal Masqué with it and if he did something like that here he wouldn't even have to argue with Noé about what should or shouldn't happen next. Noé wouldn't get a say. It's entirely possible Vanitas has simply forgotten he has it but it's also possible that some small part of him is trying to avoid the ultimate betrayal because, despite everything he said, he does care about Noé.

Meanwhile, Misha is delighting in the whole thing. He's convinced Noé will win after all, and then he'll get his answers. Except, as I've said before, Misha hasn't thought this out all that well and he definitely didn't know Vanitas had the chasseur drug. That changes a lot for this battle. Still, Misha isn't entirely uninvolved in this fight. He unleashed a bomb (I think because they got too close to Dominique? or just for fun?) and he did this:

I'm... honestly kind of confused at what I'm looking at here. Did he just turn on the lights? Or did he transform the area? To me, it's a little reminiscent of Charlatan, but they're definitely not here, so I don't know. Regardless, Misha is the one in charge of the arena and Noé only has 15 minutes to accomplish his goal.

The time limit is going to be the main problem here. I foresee these two fighting to a standstill unless Vanitas brings out the book. Then there's Dominique. She's watching all of this in silent horror. Vanitas and Noé aren't likely to stop without outside intervention. What I'd like to see happen is Dominique reestablishing power over herself and getting them to stop, but I'm worried she'll take the more dramatic route of flinging herself off the building. After all, she's dealing with a serious load of self-loathing herself and she might think she's taking away Noé's friend by being taken. I'm still holding hope for Dominique to come out of this alive, but her fate is the one thing I'm genuinely concerned about in this arc because while things are bad for Vanitas and Noé, narratively they have to eventually come back together. That's the premise of the series. There may be a bucket load of trust issues and all kinds of difficulties--they may avoid each other this whole arc--but they have to eventually work together again.

Dominique does not have that same kind of plot armor. Her fate is tied directly to whatever Mochizuki thinks is most effective for Noé's plot and, well, I guess we'll see what that is.

As for who Misha is working for, there are a couple of possibilities. My first thought was Moreau to be completely honest, but Misha does have memories of him, so it's unlikely he'd ever refer to him as "kind," so I'm going to strike that option off the list. Teacher is a vague possibility, but I also think it unlikely. He wants to observe the events around the book, not create his own. Ruthven was another likely source, but if it is him I think it's indirectly through his connection to Charlatan. He doesn't want Noé to potentially die to Vanitas after all; he has future uses for him. He also doesn't seem to have that much interest in VotBM.

So, after crossing off most of the options, I think we're left with Charlatan (who isn't really a person, so probably a no on that too) and, weirdly, Marquis Machina. Oh, and possibly the de Sades, but while they dislike Dominique, I don't think they'd expend this kind of effort. It would look bad for the family. Now, we know basically nothing about Machina, which makes him a great option because we do know he's a major player somehow but not precisely how. I guess time will tell on that one.

As for other general predictions, I think Noé and Vanitas will fight to a standstill like I said before. Their battle will probably be interrupted by something, whether that's an action taken by Dominique or a third party arriving. Misha will definitely get away regardless of which it is. Whether Noé is willing to work with Vanitas will depend on what happens to Dominique and whether Vanitas will work with Noé depends on how capable he is of just... pretending the whole thing didn't happen and whatever Noé says to him. For the most part, Vanitas has stuck with Noé because of the way Noé has spoken to him, and that's likely to remain the same. Probably. Noé wants to save curse bearers, so as long as Dominique is okay he'll probably also shove the whole thing aside in favor of doing just that. But at some point they will both have to confront that things got ugly very fast and that this is in no small part to the secrets they kept from one another and the biases Vanitas keeps.

Waiting for the next chapter is going to be hard. XD I'm personally very excited about how things are going. They're not what I guessed, but they are super interesting and will really have an impact on the series, so I'm definitely here for it.

#vanitas no carte #vnc #vnc meta #vnc spoilers #Bemused's post #long post

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mwolf0epsilon · 4 years

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Sammy and Norman. One of them gets drafted? The goodbyes, the worry, maybe never get to see the other again ?

Summary: The battlefield took his arm and a finger, and maybe a little bit of his sanity, but that studio took much more from everyone else. It took their mind, soul and body.

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Dread had been a creeping stalker from the moment he'd witnessed many of his neighbors being called upon to help in the war efforts. It had followed Sammy around like a wolf in the shadows, making him fret for what he considered an inevitability of sorts. As the man of a household it only made sense that he'd be singled out as another viable soldier despite being the least capable sort to be found in a war.

A man of the arts, with careful and gentle fingers. Cannon fodder at best.

It was a harrowing feeling, because it truly made him fear for what may happen to his dear little sister without him around.

So really, one should be more sympathetic when his turn did come up and his only reaction was to fall to his knees in despair.

He had two days to make preparations. Then he'd be sent out with the rest of the sheep to the slaughter.

"You're leaving?!" Joey Drew, as slow as he was to move about without that silly looking cane of his, was much too fast getting to his feet for Sammy's liking. He shot up from his seat like a serpent ready to strike at any moment.

The safety of a desk between a scared mouse and a vile snake was a comfort.

"I don't have a choice in the matter." The blond kept his composure despite knowing quite well what Joey was more than capable of doing if he felt like he'd been crossed. He'd rather be scorned by the devil than be labeled a traitor to his country.

One of these outcomes had a 50% chance of survival. "I've been drafted. In two days I'll be sent off to die in a nonsensical war."

"But your obligations to the studio! We need you here to put a tune to the cartoons!"

"My obligations?! Joey, I've been drafted. I can't kindly decline!" Sammy exclaimed in disbelief. "It's not like picking what you want to eat at lunch. If I try to skirt around this I'll be as good as dead."

"If you go you'll most certainly be dead, and then who's going to compose for the studio?!" Joey's tone had a hint of accusation, as if Sammy wanted this to happen. Might as well blame him for the war while he was at it.

"It's a fucking cartoon, Joey! My life is worth more than your stupid pictures!" His blood was beginning to boil. "I'm leaving and that's that. I'm dropping off the rest of my scores so Jack can finish them up, and I'm conducting the band one last time today. But tomorrow I ain't coming in because I'm helping my sister move out."

"You can't do this to me! How am I supposed to find a composer on such short notice?!" Joey slammed his hands on the table. From the looks of it, he was seething.

"Figure it out. You're the boss aren't you?!" Sammy turned away from the shaking Joey and walked out of his office. He felt strangely lighter on his feet. For once, arguing with his employer didn't make him feel vulnerable.

It was great, despite the circumstances.

"I can't believe you're going to war... Sammy that's..." Jack's reaction to the news was a tearful one. It was quite sobering after getting a little giddy from getting under Joey's skin with no real consequences. "I'm gonna miss you."

"Aww... I'll miss you too, you big softy." The blond gave the shorter and pudgier man a pat on the shoulder, allowing him to squeeze his midsection in a tight hug. "You're going to be the man of the house now. Don't let the band trample over you... Those savages can sniff out weakness like a pack of hungry hyenas."

"They're not that bad. You're just easy to rile up, is all." Jack teased, laughing when Sammy gave him a pointed look.

"You know as well as I do that Joey will go after the head of a department if the lackeys slack off." He ignored the few glares he got from said 'lackeys'. "And this bunch gets what it deserves for being a bunch of children on the job."

"Can you leave sooner?!"

"Fuck you too Johnny! I hope your pipe organ falls on you!"

Jack cackled, which got a few other band members to crack up as well. Sammy too found himself smiling. Despite the frustration of leading this group of hellions through a carefully composed song, he'd miss the few occasionally humorous banters and mishaps.

He'd especially miss his good friend and pal. He could only hope the stress wouldn't get to Jack while he was away.

People either gave him knowing pitiful looks, complimented his bravery in confronting Joey over his leaving on such short notice, or gave him a vague 'nice working with you, good luck' sort of gesture.

Word had spread through the departments and Sammy felt genuinely impressed at how quickly people went from detesting his presence to sucking up just to save face. No one wanted to be that one guy who was a dick to a soon to be dead patriot.

Susie absolutely smothered him with tearful kisses and tight hugs. She was a mess and, in return, he felt a mess as well.

He didn't want to leave...

"I'll see you off tomorrow." She whispered in his ear during a particularly long hug in the recording booth. "For good luck."

"Thank you doll..." He held on to her for as long as he could. "I'm going to miss this."

"Getting cried on?"

"Just being with you. You make my world so much brighter..."

"Sammy Lawrence you're such a sap, I love you." Susie giggles into his chest.

"Love you too Susiebell."

They'd parted ways, Sammy to collect his belongings and Susie to freshen up in one of the women's bathrooms.

On the way he encountered Norman while passing by the stairs that lead to his booth.

"Who'd have thought..."

"Hm?" He looked up at the projectionist who was staring down from his vantage point. Norman backed off and went for the stairs, meeting him halfway.

"My pa was military. He did things a particular sorta way." Norman explained "Includin' raising his kids in a rather peculiar fashion."

"That would explain your... Eccentricity." Sammy rolled his eyes, which got a laugh out of the older man.

"N'aw. I'm just the weird one... My siblings are pretty normal folk." He chuckled "But I digress. Thing is, my pa would wake us up at 5 in the morning, to do drills with us. 'Case of emergency he always did say... There's a war out there now and yous would think they'd call on me to help."

"Haven't they?" Sammy frowned.

"No." Norman's smile gradually faded. "My eye. It ain't no good, so they decided to call on my little brother instead..."

"....Shit."

"Uh-huh. Was lookin' for ya to tell ya. Your sister can still move in. Nelson's just gonna be the head o' the house instead."

"What about income? Who'll pay the rent and bills?" He felt uneasy about the situation. "They're still too young."

"I'll help with expenses ta best I can, but my little niece and nephew is looking for work. I'd advise your sister do ta same. Times gonna get rough Sammy."

"They are... Thanks Norman." The blond worried his bottom lip. "For helping."

"Well I'll be... Sammy Lawrence thankin' me for being a decent fella. What a day."

"Fuck you."

"You offerin' dinner first?"

"GOD!" He threw up his hands in defeat, which got a good hearty laugh out of the projectionist. "I'll be around your brother's tomorrow then. Good luck with Drew. I got a feeling he'll be extra surly in my absence."

"Can't imagine why. Poor Grant will go nuts if he hires an entire orchestra's worth o' folks to substitute yous."

The music director laughed and went back to what he'd been set to do. It felt nice to hear that he was worth an entire orchestra in someone's eyes.

He hoped Norman wouldn't have a hard time.

Saying goodbye to his sister felt like a death march in its own right. He spent the entire day helping her move her belongings to the younger Polks's house. Her two friends were good help, and they even offered him tea and told him to rest whenever he got winded.

The boy, Nelson, warned him that he'd need to train his resistance if he wanted to survive the military drills. The family cat was much more sympathetic, seeming less worried about his physical capacity and more content with having a warm lap to sit on and a set of dexterous fingers to give it some good scratches.

When they'd finished, Sammy had taken his sister out to lunch. They'd run around town just having fun, something he'd rarely been able to do while working at the studio.

Then came the time to go.

To his surprise the train station was packed with a few studio workers.

Susie, Norman, Jack, Wally, Emma, Shawn, Grant and even a few of the band members had come to see him off.

He wasn't ashamed to admit he cried like a baby getting to say goodbye all over again. It felt good to be cared about, even if he wasn't the easiest person to be around of. The only other person that cried just as hard was his poor sister.

"Please come back, I can't lose my grumpy brother." The pleading broke his heart. He couldn't promise he'd come back which was what made this so upsetting.

"I'm not grumpy, just misunderstood." He retorted playfully in between hiccups.

"You're a grumpy butt, grumpiest goof there ever was." A tearful chuckle. His little Abby was flushed and covered in snot and tears. They were both very gross criers.

"Slander! I'm a misunderstood suffering artist." They pulled away and Sammy made sure to take a handkerchief from his pocket and begin trying to clean his sister's face. "Be good to your little friends. I'll try to write to you as much as I can..."

"I will... Please be careful Samuel." She pulled that old doll he'd given her and handed it over to him. Seamus had seen better days, well loved that he was. "Both of you have to come back."

He took her doll and smiled a sincere but rather sad smile.

"I'll do my best Abigail."

His best was not enough, but damn if he wasn't a stubborn son of a bitch. He'd return with her doll, even if he had to drag himself all the way back.

Henry gave him a sympathetic look as both descended the lift with Boris looking at them uneasily. They'd pleased Alice enough that they'd gotten the tommy gun from her to complete the last task on her list of demands.

Sammy glanced at the cartoonist with a sad and tired expression. His prosthetic pinkie tapping against his ruined prosthetic arm.

It had already been clunky enough. After a few hits from a Piper, it had become virtually useless other than as a makeshift instrument.

"Are you ready?" Henry asked.

"No... But I never am for this part."

The lift stopped on level 14, and Sammy walked forward. Stamping his feet and kicking up as much ink as possible.

The shrill screech of the Projectionist filled the room as the twisted horror that Norman Polk had become ran forward to evicerate whomever dared intrude upon its domain.

Henry shot it down effortlessly and left Sammy to kneel beside the fallen beast.

The blond sighed sadly, staring at the dying creature with pity, before gently brushing it's back. He could hear Henry moving around, collecting the hearts.

"Shhh... Hush now." He continued to comfort what had once been a friend, feeling the burning gaze of Alice upon him. Judging him. "Sheep, sheep, sheep, It's time for sleep. Rest your head. It's time for bed. In the morning, you may wake. Or in the morning, you'll be dead..."

If it appreciated not being alone as it died, the Projectionist didn't give any indication. But the gentle pawing at his leg made Sammy hopeful that something of Norman remained to thank him before the poor creature went limp for good.

It would reform with no memory of his kindness, but it made his soul feel less heavy with guilt.

"Such a pity." Alice taunted from above. "If only you'd cared and stayed... Maybe less of us would have suffered so greatly."

"I doubt that Susiebell." He replied, uncaring if he would end up enraging her for denying her new identity. "I doubt that..."

The battlefield took his arm and a finger, and maybe a little bit of his sanity, but that studio took much more from everyone else. It took their mind, soul and body.

What was left made Sammy feel hopeless.

#Eps Writes:#Bendy and the Ink Machine #BATIM #Sammy Lawrence

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steve0discusses · 4 years

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Live Action Fullmetal Alchemist Pt 2: Winry

OK, it appears tumblr will let me edit a draft again (yay!) So I can go ahead and quickly edit this post I made long ago, before this corona situation, when I was just...so happy...all of the time.

Anyway, it starts out with meeting a villain

So like, I don’t want to step on the toes of one of the biggest and most highly regarded fandoms but Lust wears more clothes than Envy and only seduced one idiot and yet her defining trait is that she’s Lust?

Just seems like she could’ve been more lusty.

And yeah she’s the first to die so it’s not like she had much time, but like, is she Lust just because she’s a lady with boobs? Boobs make you Lust? I see boobs every time I look in a mirror, and I’m pretty sure I’ve worn less clothes than lust on multiple occasions and I am a very prudish person. Whatever, that said, lets get to the good stuff, that’s right, it’s a train, this is what we’re all here for, step aside, Lust and your boobs, we want that good train action.

Damn look at that train. Look at that good train.

Last we left off, Al was cleaning up the mess Ed made, although I’m pretty sure in the anime, Ed could easily fix this stuff in like half a second. But in the movie, they removed that particular alchemy superpower and just kind of leave the town wrecked and go “sorry guys, we’re gonna just leave it like this so we can hold it over Ed later, sorry about the fruit stand. We gotta get realllll catty with my older brother.”

Which is when we introduce Winry.

So like...you can’t really tell from here but they decided to put rivets on everything Winry wears and that’s about all we have here to make her into the Winry I recognize, and that’s OK. It’s OK they stepped away from blonde. They were just so completely exhausted after how many times they had to stick Ed’s braid back on that they just...gave up. However, she is absolutely wearing fake bangs. Just throwing that out there, it’s not a bad look, and I’m a little jealous of them, but no one has bangs like that naturally, as a person who tried Zooey Deschenel bangs for 6 years.

And also--I got a comment on the last post that apparently a lot of Ed’s hair is REAL and they dyed it for the movie. I don’t know which parts exactly, I feel very suspicious of The Braid, but...that is so unfortunate.

So, lets see what Ed’s been up to, considering he left about 5 minutes ago.

(read more under the cut)

Yeah. Just don’t think about it. Maps don’t exist in this movie. It’s a little rough coming from the anime which was pretty map heavy, but this movie says “nah” to maps. This map doesn’t exist. The whole thing where they were making a big alchemy circle out of Amestris? Not a thing anymore, don’t think about it.

Ed and his substitute Dad, Roy Mustang, are too busy fighting about Ed’s only motivation in this movie. This scene happened in the anime as well, and it was sort of different, but again this movie has to abridge a hell ton of content so this is what we got.

Enter, Hughes.

So Hughes is great. Easily one of the best characters in the anime, who only exists just to die, and they made him just as likeable in this movie. This actor was clearly really jazzed to play a soon to be dead Hughes and he did a great job. Course, it’s a pretty wacky Hughes, but that’s fine, this is a weirdly wacky movie.

Also now this guy is here.

(and sorry to let you all down but Ed’s Real Dad or Ed’s Real Dad’s Clone does not even appear in this movie. I know. You might be wondering...so what else is left when you remove...all of that...don’t worry. We’ll get there.)

General Hakuro, I had to look up, because I had completely forgotten who this tool was. But it didn’t really matter, because in their attempt to shorten the anime, Hakuro ends up taking the part of like 10 other people in the original. I mean yeah, you gotta edit, but I just didn’t expect all those people to be played by the part of Hakuro.

No one expects the twists to be honest, it’s...it’s really freakin weird.

Anyways, at least we get to enjoy some Hughes time before he kicks it and this actor will absolutely get his Hughes fill out of every line because he knows he’ll be dead by Act 2. Ah Hughes, the worst spy. I love Hughes. This movie did such a good Hughes.

Listen I know that Winry and Ed are BELOVED. But like, I didn’t feel it in the anime. Be aware of my shipping immunity--I am sort of stone cold and I haven’t really shipped any fictional couples in my entire life. I have to really get sold on a ship to go for a ship, it’s just my weird superpower to be immune to shipping. I’m weird.

But I totally get that Ed and Winry are very beloved and so if you ship it, that’s wonderful. All ships are welcome here. However, this is a very different Ed and Winry dynamic. They’re actually attracted to each other from the get go and their dialogue is playful and they sync up really well like a married couple. And, they do all that without having Ed ignore her until she’s about to die and without any awkward underboob sequences (which was actually very funny in the anime, I’m not gonna lie). And again, this is entirely personal preference, but they do the bare minimum and it worked for me way better than the anime had in 50+ episodes.

Maybe it’s not for everyone, this, again, is just personal preference but...you do not need to torture your female protagonist to turn her into a romantic interest, you just have to have your characters romantically interested in each other. That’s really it. That’s the science. Yet, so many shows refuse to do the bare minimum.

Bear in mind, we also cover Yugioh here, so I might just be getting excited to actually cover a legit romance in a recap for once in my life that isn’t laced with so many bodies/cursed paper cards.

Also, while I make jokes about the sister vibes in the recap--the movie totally dropped any indication that they had been raised in the same house for a while (unlike the anime, which liked to remind you a lot).

Meanwhile, the General is having a really great conversation with himself and it’s like...all over the place. Maybe it was a translation error but this dialogue was kind of a mess.

props to this actor for doing a really good “Oh no she stabbed me through the head!” face. I imagine this face was half his audition. It’s good.

Anyways, as this guy gets eaten alive, Gluttony’s shadow reveals it has a hellton of teeth coming out of it’s stomach. I remember these teeth being a really neat reveal in the anime because it was like halfway through the series, but like, I think this movie kinda expects you to have already seen the anime, so they didn’t really bother hiding this.

Don’t worry we get to see real CGI teeth later and it is *bad*

By bad I mean really good.

Anyways, if you’re new here, I freakin love prop food and I will always take like a good minute to admire any food that is on set.

Like it’s pretty blurry but I’m pretty sure there’s two soups and two salads. Maybe they just decided to raid the actor’s buffet table for this scene but it’s just a really random assortment and also a really huge ass buffet for like 4 people since Al doesn’t eat.

Hughes’ cute girl was written out of the script but I don’t blame them because wow how many bad child actors do you need? That does mean we don’t get the sweet scene of Hughes pulling out his gun at a children’s birthday party, but this movie does have to end at some point so yes, the cute child antics got cut.

Much like moooooost of the people in this cast. At this point I’m just accepting it and moving forward.

Anyway, here’s a link you can click to read all of these in chrono order. There’s just 2 of them. I only have 2 left before I actually have to start watching this movie again so...hopefully by then I’ll...be better adjusted from this quarantine burn out I’ve been dealing with.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/FMA/chrono

#FMA #Fullmetal Alchemist #FA #recaps #photo recaps #Fullmetal Alchemist the live action movie #winry #winry rockbell #I think was her last name don't quote me #ed elric #al elric #hughes #roy mustang #hawkeye #so much anime food #I'm so glad the cheese continues to be in every show we watch #give me that cheese tray #train

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beliefbeautyizwithin · 4 years

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Are you okay with the fact of people excusing Beths shooting of Rio ? What is going on here ? What am I missing? I was watching this show with my friend and we WERE ALL rooting for her until we saw that crap. Then my mind changed to I hope she gets caught , I hope she gets locked up. Then all these blogs with Beth Avitars OFCOURSE, claiming the idea that she HAD to do it ? While saying how can people blame Beth with out blaming Rio? She pulled the damn trigger. Ugh I hate that !

So firstly, I'm not the person who answers anon questions. I feel their are more "qualified " bloggers on here for that. Plus sis got thannngs to do, okurrrr ....With that said I so appreciate u trusting me with this question anon.

To simply put this : people live in their own heads when it comes to this show. You will find those who infactically see themselves in Beth, or in some of the other women on this show. They feel like they can relate to them on some levels. Then there are those who love Rio for his sexual presence , the way he plays Rio as MORE than just a "gang friend and ofcourse his chemistry with Beth( myself included)... I 👏🏽get it !

But what I dont like is the politics used on this platform. The categorization clause : The idea that you must be either for Beth, Rio, or Beth and the girls when it comes down to what happened in the S2 finale. It's like I must check what party line I'm on or who am I FOR or against. When for me its as simple as who's right and who's wrong in the situation. There can be grey lines but in this particular situation, Beth was DEAD AZZ WRONG.

Let me explain: I watched this show like EVERYONE else , got my friends in on the show too. LOVED the dynamic of the women, their interaction with each other and I genuinely liked Beth's character. You could tell she was the leader of the group. To me shes that type of friend that always has a solution to your problems........ I was rooting for Her ( check the history of my posts). I Was happy seeing the girls work with Rio getting their own. PLUS Beth's relationship with Rio.

Now to Rio and Beth's relationship :

I never looked at their relationship as toxic per se given the context of the show and what these women were involved in. The women are wannabe criminals who willingly get involved with a gang member. Beth most of all( bc as I said shes the leader of her pack). RIO although he is assumed to be this dangerous criminal hes really soft on Beth. Speak to any GUY about this show and I promise you the first thing their gonna say is Rio should have killed Beth and the girls ( given their involvement in his business). They were liabilities..But some where through these episodes Rio fell in love : Yup I said it !!!!🥴

I believe when a man truly loves a woman he shows them through action. The things Rio did for Beth ( bc he mainly delt with Beth) you dont do that for someone you dont love. Im talking about despite these women helping him wash his cash. Theres a point in Season 1 where he TELLS Beth shes nothing but a charity case to him. Meaning he never needed them, he never needed HER.

Things Rio did out of his gang character :

1. BETH refusing to take care of her rotten egg; total liability to Rios business.

2. Beth snitching on Rio to the FEDS. Instead of Rio just shooting Dean , he had EVERY right to shoot / kill Beth too. But he never wants to hurt Beth so he settles with shooting her husband:" Now were good".

3. Finding out Boomer who was talking to the feds about Rio and his gang had something to do with Beth and the girls. He should of kill Beth and the girls. But instead he gave THEM the opportunity to take care of it.

4. Beth and the girls failing to take care of Boomer , which snowballed into an even bigger problem.

5. Rios money becoming compromise bc of Beth and the girls failing to listen or do anything right.

6. Beth going into the drug house for a DAMN dubby and Rio seeing how much it meant to her then going back to collect it.

7. GAVE Beth the keys to the kingdom. Now let me explain this..... people think he took it back. But after the bathroom break I believe in Rios head the sex solidified Beth( A woman he could see does not believe in one night stands and has only been with her husband sexually) was finally his ; "were partners now". Hence why he went ballistic in Boland Motors after he saw Beth going to Dean....Not to mention Beth realized the money and EVERYTHING was always in her possession. That was his woman yall. But ofcourse as women we always get hung up with the man actually SAYING it. Defining the relationship was unnecessary, given his actions.

8. The pill business. He gave Beth 50% (something he does with NOBODY else ; remember him saying he usually pays 30%) . Rio could have said no and killed her ( sorry guys but in EVERY scenario it was in Rios BEST interest to kill Beth).

8. Beth has passionate love making with Rio then kicks him out. TO go back to DEAN ,,okurr . So what does Rio do : send her pieces of the body hes been HOLDING for HER the entire time. Bc ofcourse it cant be that easy to first of all get out of a life of crime period. BUT he wasn't going to let go of Beth that easily. Beth gets the body back to do something as silly as burying the body in HER BACKYARD..How dumb!!

Rio has done nothing deliberately to compromise Beth's freedom . BUT he has forced Beth to be accountable of her actions.

So with all this information : Beth tries to send Rio away forever ! Knowing his fear of getting locked up that he disclosed to her during the shut down episode. Knowing he has a kid to take care of; as you can see now RHEA doesnt make enough cash to support Marcus, at least not like Rio can. Then tries to KILL the man ! In closing I dont CARE what floppy azz explanation people want to give about Beth shooting Rio. Her azz was W.R.O.N.G. she was messed up for that. That move changed my mind completely towards her . At this point she DESERVES Dean ugly lying azz. I hope they DO get caught and go to jail so she sees how it feels. l respected Beth but I lost respect after he snazzy azz smile when she said "Rio is gone"

Therefore anyone rally for Beth just because shes a woman and you stan Christina Hendricks. Let's get back to the context of the show and ask yourself: WHAT the hell HAS ShE ever done FOR RIO ? That wasn't to save her own behind. I'm gonna keep it 100% anon I didnt know who the hell Manny was or Christina was until this show. So this is not from a STAN prespective. This is from a real azz honest perspective. Hopefully this makes u understand how I feel.

#beth x rio #brio #nbc good girls #beth boland #gg spoilers

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jswdmb1 · 4 years

Text

Identical

I don't just know you, I've grown like that too...

If I don't dislike you, I'm withdrawn, unrighteous too...

I’m no prophet, I'm your friend

Take my advice, make your mistakes”

- Phoenix

Every four years, the PBS series “Frontline” presents an episode called “The Choice”. It presents the two candidates running in that particular presidential election. But, it is not a show about the current campaign, policy issues or even the politics behind the particular candidates. It is instead a personal biography of each candidate up to the point of the current election told chronologically. The show portrays each individual’s story back and forth as the years go on that allow the viewer to both understand the people behind the front their campaigns present, but also provides a unique opportunity to compare and contrast the two candidates. I have watched this particular episode of Frontline in every presidential election dating back to 2000, and I find it to consistently be the single best source of information for me to decide (or confirm) which candidate I am to support in that year’s election.

I was going to pass on this year’s version as I didn’t think there was anything I could learn about either man, and my choice is already made, but I watched anyway. I have to admit that I was surprised to pick up nuggets of information that were new to me such as that Joe Biden’s first wife and daughter were killed six weeks after his election to the Senate for the first time, or that Donald Trump’s mother fell ill when he was very small and was effectively absent for his nurturing years. Those are facts that seemingly are unimportant when weighing which man to support in a presidential election, but I think we have all found out in the last four years that an individual’s personality, temperament, and morality are just as important as their stance on any issue or their knowledge of the inner workings of government. In the example of this year’s election, it finally crystallized the stark difference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump that has made my decision for whom to vote so easy.

Let’s start with the challenger Biden. If there are two things that are clear about Joe, it is 1) he makes a lot of mistakes, and 2) he has overcome quite a bit of adversity of the years whether they are of his own doing or not. You can watch the show to see the examples of both, but Biden’s approach to problems in his life has been remarkably consistent. First, he acknowledges the problem exists and that he has responsibility to address it. Next, if it was a problem of his own doing, he owns up to it. Often times, he does this quite clumsily and occasionally makes things worse, but he does, at a minimum, take responsibility. Finally, once it is out there, he puts his head down and gets to work with an amazing ability to ignore the long odds that he may face or the chirping he hears in the background about how badly he messed up and/or how he will never make it right. He simply has a fundamental belief that humans make mistakes and he is no exception to that rule. At times, it would be refreshing if he demonstrated better that he learns from some of these mistakes so as not to repeat them, but there is at least a good faith effort even if the execution at times is mediocre.

There is no need to go into detail how Trump behaves whenever he is faced with a problem and it is well documented that he never admits to making a mistake (and likely doesn’t even believe he has ever made one). There are daily examples of this behavior and running through the list at this point is massively unappealing. What I do find interesting is why he is this way. The show goes into great detail about the influence three men have had on his life. The first is his father Fred. We all know his background and his ruthlessness in business and within his personal relationships and this was applied to each of his sons. The first, Fred Jr., bristled at the notion of going into the family business, and became an airline pilot instead (a decision for which both father and brother Donald would mock him mercilessly and drove him to alcoholism and an early death). Fred Sr. then set his sights on son #2 who was more than willing to take up the cause. After a stint in military school that hardened his outlook on life and reduced what little emotional capacity he had, he moved into his father’s footsteps and practiced the approach that personal gain is everything and little else matters.

The second man was a lawyer named Roy Cohn. Cohn rose to fame in the 1950s as Joseph McCarthy’s hatchet man in the blacklisting of innocent American citizens for unfounded (and mostly false) accusations of communism. Despite the shame eventually brought upon him for that role, he rose to become one of the most powerful attorneys in New York. A client of his was a young Donald Trump and Cohn taught him three things that helped him rise from the ashes: 1) deny anything that makes you look bad as even having happened 2) attack those that bring these things up and deflect the blame elsewhere, and 3) never take responsibility for your actions unless there is a transactional gain that serves you. This has been Donald Trump’s blueprint his entire life and it can be found in his business, his marriages, and certainly his presidency. He literally has never operated in a manner that is different in any aspect of his life, so the fact that this has come through during his time in the White House should be surprising to no one who witnessed him before his election.

The final man was the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale who was the pastor at the church Donald Trump attended for over 50 years. Peale’s claim-to-fame was the publishing of a book The Power of Positive Thinking and the Trumps followed it like their bible. Boiled down, the main tenant of the book was that one must think positively at all costs and negative thoughts must be barred from the mind or success cannot be achieved. That seems okay on the surface, but it becomes a problem when situations require more effort than simply a good thought and a wish that it goes away. This clearly explains Trump’s complete inability to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though he obviously intellectually understood the severity and danger of the virus from his recordings on the Woodward tapes, this brainwashing of Peale on the Trump family made it impossible for Donald to acknowledge that the problem existing in any way. When combined with Cohn’s teachings on taking no responsibility and Fred Sr.’s example of bulldozing past anyone who disagrees with you (like a scientist or doctor), the end result of his response makes a lot of sense. It’s why even when catching the disease himself, he views it as a positive event that only he could dream up.

I do find it curious that I spent three long paragraphs on Trump with only one brief paragraph on Biden, but that meshes with each approach they have on the basic issues of life as a human being which is confronting adversity and accepting that we do make mistakes. Biden’s approach is simple and to the point, sometimes to a fault. Trump has this complicated troika of mad men’s teachings running through his head when problems come up and it is no wonder he is paralyzed with inaction when it comes time to do something about it. For me, this is the defining trait between the two men that seems to tower over everything else about them personally or this election in general. The question then is what do we do with this information.

I’m certain it is obvious which way I am going to go, but it may surprise you why. You see, I have struggled myself with some of these same issues that each man has faced. Up until a few years ago, I actually would describe myself as really being more Trump-like in my approach to life than I really care to admit. I rarely acknowledged I was wrong and often blamed others for problems that were within and could only be solved by the guy responsible for them in the first place – me. This attitude prevented me from seeing what was the real root of my unhappiness and depression and did not allow for me to acknowledge that my drinking and moderate drug use had become a problem. It wasn’t until everything broke down and I ended up in an intense six-week program of therapy and deep soul searching that I discovered that mistakes we make are what builds us up and not what tears us down. Granted, we need to learn from those mistakes to become better people and achieve great things, but admitting responsibility is the only path to doing either of those things. I know now after a few years that I will never get things totally right, but I can get up each day and at least try to improve on the one before. At a minimum, I strive to not make things worse, and it all gives me strength to fight whatever demons I have head on. It’s a trial-and-error approach for sure, but I don’t see how it can be done any other way.

And given where things are at now, I don’t see how any other approach can help us overcome the enormous problems we face at this time whether it be COVID-19, or the economy, or global warming, or any other massive threat we face right now. There is no amount of positive thinking that will help us overcome any one of these things and clearly wishing the problems away (or denying they even exist) is not going to work. We need someone who understands this and there is no doubt the current president has no ability to do so. Joe Biden may not be perfect, and he is not going to get us all of the way there on likely any one thing, but we have to start somewhere. And, if there is one thing that he is good at, it is looking at a big hill, putting his head down, and climbing up. It’s not pretty, and it isn’t the easy thing to do, but it is what we need right now more than anything.

That is a tough pill to swallow for many Americans who think their freedom is a birthright that requires no effort, but that fantasy has been squashed. In three weeks, the choice is clear about what needs to be done and the decision is up to you: are you going to acknowledge fault and accept responsibility for our collective actions that have led us to this point and vote for Joe, or are you going to give Trump another four years by simply wishing that all our problems away (spoiler alert – they don’t)? The politically correct thing to say at this point is that either way you decide please make sure you vote, but I cannot apply that here. The stakes are too high and the path is too obvious – either vote for Joe or don’t vote at all. That second option may be tough for some people to take, but consider it your first step on a long road to recovery and redemption not just for yourself but our nation.

Good luck, everyone, we are going to need it.

- Jim

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atinytokki · 5 years

Text

𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐎𝐧𝐞

Chapter 5: Sold

(Warnings: Slavery, violence, and blood)

“Give. Me. Time.”

Hongjoong was in the back corner of the prison cell, in the middle of an argument with Mingi. “Hyung, we’ve given all the time we can. We need to act now.”

From a few feet away, Seonghwa heard the edge in Mingi’s voice and listened in more closely.

“I haven’t gotten enough of his trust yet, Mingi. I can’t just pocket tools and smuggle them down here when he’s watching me the entire time I’m working!”

“Well, you’re just going to have to figure it out because I don’t know whether you really did forget about Yeosang or you’re too busy enjoying all the perks of being the Master’s favourite but in case it escaped your notice, he was screaming in this hallway— something about wanting to come back to us— while they were dragging him away, not two days ago! And we haven’t heard anything about him since!”

Hongjoong was about to crack when Seonghwa’s waving hand suddenly appeared in front of Mingi’s red face. “Hey, hey, hey, what is going on here?”

Both parties diverted their attention from each other and took note of their peacemaker. “I thought this was supposed to be about the escape plan and here you are arguing in front of everyone else.”

He frowned like a disappointed parent at both of them before they relented and settled back down onto the floor. “It’s not like there’s anywhere else to argue, you know,” Mingi mumbled. Hongjoong was gazing intently at his own hands for a minute or two before he found the words.

“I’m really sorry we’re in this situation. I’m responsible for getting you out, I can’t blame you for wanting results.”

Mingi looked over at him in acknowledgment before deciding to explain himself. “I’m sorry, too. For saying those things. It’s just that I’m so sick of being stuck in this stupid cell... you get to leave every day and I know you’re working hard but I just get jealous. It’s not your fault.”

Seonghwa smiled at both of them cheerfully before retreating and allowing them to work it out themselves.

Hongjoong was shaking his head. “It is my fault. I should have stopped it before it got this far but I couldn’t. I’m going to do everything in my power to get Yeosang back here, but I just need the right opportunity.”

Mingi patted the captain’s shoulder and tried to look on the bright side. “At least Wooyoung is gaining strength.”

Jongho slid into the conversation. “Speaking of gaining strength, I think I have something else you can do other than start fights, Mingi-hyung.”

...

Hongjoong was collected for his work day and marched up to play a few songs for the Master’s wife, as had become customary in the last two days of work.

The Master was usually present to stare down the captain, but today he was nowhere to be found. Acutely aware of the potential in this situation, Hongjoong wasted no time in asking the wife where he was that morning. She had been more timid around him since his opportunism the other day, but had stayed true to her word in not ratting him out to her husband.

“Planning a banquet for some of our richer buyers,” she explained. “It’s going to be held tonight in the ballroom, we’d like you to play for us.” He offered a distracted nod and asked how long the preparations would take.

“All day, most likely,” she got up to leave but threw a last comment over her shoulder. “He won’t be with you at the shipyard today. The guards can direct you instead.”

Just as he had suspected. The time was now.

...

“And 48...49... Yunho, back straight please...50. Well done.” Jongho was directing his companions in a workout session, trying to keep everyone fit and occupied, as was his usual job.

The boys looked up from their pushups as Hongjoong was brought in the cell to join them for lunch.

“Alright, Mingi. You know how I was talking about an opportunity? I think this is it. Put this on.”

From carefully hidden beneath his own clothes, he drew out a guard’s uniform and tossed it at the taller boy.

“Where did you get this?” Mingi gaped at it.

“I snatched it on my way back. Listen, there’s a big party tonight and the Master is going to be busy all day getting ready— which means he won’t be with me at the shipyard and I’ll have a better chance of stealing those tools to break you out.”

The group tightened into a close huddle as the plan took shape. “With that uniform, Mingi, you can get into the guard’s room and open the portcullis with the lever inside. Is everyone in agreement?” There were mumbles of approval and nods all around before everyone returned to their meal.

Yunho left Wooyoung’s side for the first time since he had fallen ill and sat next to Hongjoong, mindlessly munching on some hardtack as he looked over at the older boy.

He flashed back to the memory of his captain’s sheen pink eyelids, limp strands of sandy hair, even his lips drained of colour and life. “You were dead not even a week ago,” he said quietly, a little afraid what Hongjoong would think about his suddenly bringing it up. “I can’t imagine how it felt, but I...”

“You want to know?”

He nodded.

Hongjoong became pale and his eyes were distant. “I only really remember the moments leading up to it. The very thought of lifting a finger to wipe away your tears was exhausting. To lift my own head was impossible. It’s like being a useless sack of skin and bones. Unable to do anything. Comparable to... how I feel now.”

“That’s how the Master wants you to feel.” Yunho pointed out. “We have our chance tonight. We’ll find Yeosang and get out of here for good.”

Hongjoong smiled fondly at the rigger. “You’re right. I’m just letting it get to me.”

There was a short beat of companionable silence before he became curious. “Why did you ask about the sickness, anyway?”

Yunho hung his head. “I held your hand while you were dying, you know. I didn’t even get to hold my own parents’ hands when they died and I wondered... what it’s like on the other side.”

Hongjoong hummed in understanding and grasped Yunho’s shoulder. “They’re in a better place.”

It wasn’t the first time Yunho and Hongjoong had spoken of such things, and soon Hongjoong was taken away again to the shipyard.

Mingi pulled the uniform back out from where he was hiding it so the guards wouldn’t see.

“I really hope this fits me.”

...

Yeosang had been led to a cart, along with at least ten other slaves who had materialised alongside him, and fastened in for the ride back to town.

His new master’s residence was still impressive, though not as fortified. He still hadn’t actually laid eyes on the buyer, having blacked out while he was removed from his glass box for the last time and dragged out of the Fortress forever.

There was an aspect of relief, and also a tremendous fear of the unknown. His new master was that unknown at the moment, and all he could do to survive was comply with what he was told by the various overseers that gave orders to the group.

The first night was spent in the corner of the small shack the slaves shared, minding his own business and staying away from everyone else. Rain pounded onto the boards that made up the roof, and a few leaks were discovered through the course of the night.

Of course the first order of business the next morning was not fixing the damage, but setting the slaves to work. Being the new slave, Yeosang had to be tested for his abilities before he could be placed somewhere in the household.

When his overseer pulled him out of the shack and toward the main house he decided to be honest with him from the start and save some time and pain. “I can read and write.”

The overseer stopped in his tracks. “I don’t know if that’s a skill you want to make use of, but...” Yeosang continued while the man considered him. “Very well, I’ll take you to his study,” the overseer concluded.

The study was on the first floor of the building, tucked away into a lesser frequented part of the house, and the stone floor stretched on for longer than expected. It looked from the outside like a much smaller room than it was on the inside, and the interior was a mess.

Bottles and vials were strewn all over, mismatched furniture placed in random places, papers scattered across them. The overseer sat him down in a squeaky wooden chair and provided a quill and some parchment.

With a confident tone of voice, he asked the new slave to write down the following paragraph and then recited some unknown passage.

Yeosang effortlessly transcribed it, attractive handwriting flowing from his nimble fingers.

When he was finished, he handed the paper back. The overseer scanned it over quickly before stuttering out an “excuse me, I just need to check with the boss” and running out of the study.

Yeosang would put money on his theory that the overseer couldn’t actually read and had only been hired for his muscle. At any rate, it took him quite awhile to “check with the boss” and Yeosang was left to explore the study himself.

One ancient tome was of particular interest. It sat open on a stand atop the main desk, and it was clear some pages had been ripped out. Yeosang examined the writing more closely. It looked like some kind of incantation. Shocked, he took a step back. It was a recipe for a magic potion. Is my new master some kind of sorcerer?

...

When the time came, Wooyoung insisted on being the one to go find Yeosang, and San insisted on going with Wooyoung.

“He’s still getting over the sickness!” He argued. “I’ll not have him collapsing.”

Hongjoong appeared with some nails he had snatched from under the guards’ noses just before sunset and handed them through the bars to his crew with a few short instructions. “I knocked out the guard at the other end of this hallway, so you should have a bit of time. As soon as you get it open, Mingi you know what to do. I’ll be playing piano at the party, so I’ll try to cover any noise you make opening the portcullis. Meet all of you, including Yeosang, at the gate in twenty minutes.”

He was about to scurry off again when Seonghwa grabbed his arm through the bars and asked a question. “What do we do with the tools when we’re finished?”

Hongjoong thought about it for a moment. “Leave them in the cell, I guess. Hide them for the next poor soul waiting to be sold.”

Once the lock had been picked by the sure fingered Yunho and the nails had been hidden in a crack in the stone wall, all six members tiptoed out of their stuffy prison wing and toward freedom. Wooyoung remembered which direction the screams had come from that evening Yeosang had tried to escape and took a path off to the left, an apprehensive San trailing behind.

The heavy looking door at the end of the hallway was their best bet, and as they got closer Wooyoung realised it was already cracked open. He motioned for San to stay close behind him and carefully pushed the door until he could peek through.

“It’s clear,” he whispered. San had grabbed his hand. “Do you see anything inside?”

Wooyoung strained his neck to get a glimpse into the room. “There’s some kind of box... like a large prism. Tall enough for a human to stand inside!”

He stopped squinting and crept into the room for a closer look. San gasped and tugged on his sleeve. “Wooyoung, look! There’s a lock on it!” A chill slithered down Wooyoung’s spine.

“Someone was in here, for sure,” he muttered. There were a few drops of dried blood on the bottom of the box. “I’m willing to bet it was Yeosang.”

...

Seonghwa, Yunho, and Jongho were waiting in a small crevice next to the portcullis as a disguised Mingi wandered around looking for the guardroom.

When he found it, the coast was not as clear as he had hoped. Two guards sat inside with tankards of rum and gambled over an item of jewellery wrestled off of some slave.

Mingi broke out in a sweat. How was he supposed to pull the lever for the portcullis without being caught? He ran a few scenarios in his mind in the seconds he had before the other guards noticed him and came up dry.

“You there! Fetch more rum!” Mingi wordlessly took their tankards and slipped out of the room. He had no idea where he was supposed to get rum and more importantly, how he was going to get the portcullis open.

Again, he wandered the corridors, peeking in rooms to see if they were stocked with rum barrels, when an idea hit him. The party!

Hongjoong was on his third song when he glanced at the clock and saw twenty minutes had almost passed. It was time to make his exit.

He excused himself to use the restroom when he bumped into someone tall. After a double take he realised who it was. “Mingi?” He whispered harshly.

Mingi glared at him through his borrowed helmet and jerked his head to the left. The two slipped away from the festivities and into the kitchen next to the ballroom. “What are you doing here?”

Mingi explained hurriedly, “There are two guards in the room with the lever, I can’t pull it while they’re sitting there! And they told me to get rum, so... Oh, look! There’s rum over here!”

He went to fill both tankards and go back down to the dungeon level but was stopped by Hongjoong. “Wait, don’t give them rum. Give them something stronger to knock them out. I’ll give you ten more minutes.”

With that, Hongjoong went back to the piano and began another song. Mingi searched the kitchen until he found a strong enough substitute and carried it back to the guards.

They accepted the alcohol gratefully and downed it at remarkable speed. Mingi loitered uncomfortably until the second guard’s head hit the table, and then rushed over and began opening the portcullis.

There was a lot of resistance on the lever but he threw his entire body weight into it with a stifled grunt and pushed it down until it clicked. The sound of the portcullis opening jerked his body up. Mingi hurried out to meet the other three who were frowning in confusion.

After a scan of the area he knew what the issue was. “Shouldn’t they have found Yeosang by now?” Their extra ten minutes had passed.

...

“He’s not here anymore,” San whispered into space, grasping the opened lock in his hand. “Does that mean he’s been sold?”

Before Wooyoung could answer, there was a sound at the door. Both panicked, but there was nowhere to hide and no time. A familiar face emerged from behind the door.

“Seunghyun?”

San wasted no time leaping at him to tackle him to the ground but Seunghyun was quick and snatched the boy’s raised arm, twisting it behind his back. Wooyoung ran over to free his friend but a yell from San stopped him short.

Seunghyun was pulling the twisted arm harder, threatening to break it. “Get in the box,” he ordered over San’s whimpers. Wooyoung backed slowly into the transparent prism behind him, not wanting to lie down without a fight.

“Is this your only fighting tactic?” He mocked. Seunghyun snorted at him and began to advance, San still secure in his tight grip. “It’s worked just fine on you lot,” he retorted, throwing San into the box alongside Wooyoung.

There was barely enough space for the two of them and as they squirmed around each other someone else entered the room and locked the glass box. It was the Master.

“Well, look who has volunteered to be sold!”

...

“We can’t just go without them!” Yunho hissed. “How do you expect to break back in later?”

Jongho groaned back at him, “The portcullis is wide open, when do you expect we’ll get another chance like this?”

A guard appeared at the end of the hallway. “Slaves are escaping!” He screamed. “Slaves escaping!” He repeated it and fled back the way he had come. A bell began to ring somewhere.

“Run for it, now!” Jongho was yelling now. “I agree!” Mingi chimed in, throwing off his helmet.

“Captain’s not here yet either, we can’t just—” Seonghwa was cut off by the thunderous drumming of boots on the ground and the sudden appearance of about a dozen guards, crossbows aimed at the four escapees. Jongho wiped his hand down his face in irritation before raising both in the air.

They had been caught.

...

Hongjoong bowed for the applause and then made for the exit. It was now or never. His path was suddenly blocked by the Master’s wife. “I know what you’re thinking, and I would advise against it,” she crooned.

Hongjoong met her eyes and fiercely returned her gaze. “I’m sure you’re mistaken,” his voice was low and firm. Her long icy fingers wrapped around his wrist. He wanted badly to shake them off but the entire company of party guests was staring at them now.

The woman sensed it too and spun around to face them, a sparkling smile displayed. “Another round of applause for our lovely performer!”

As the clapping died down she pulled him with her back to the imperial staircase and up the opposite side. When they were out of the ballroom, Hongjoong began to struggle but was suddenly restrained by a pair of guards.

“What exactly is this concerning?” He gritted out as he was pushed along behind the wife.

“Your crew members were just caught attempting to escape downstairs. My husband has gone down to deal with the matter but he told me it was best if you stay up here in this part of the mansion for your own sake. Can’t have you getting wrapped up in all that, can we?” Her tone was composed and her pace was normal, but her cold grasp was unnerving and Hongjoong wasn’t buying her act.

They drew up to a plain one person bedroom and the woman ushered him in, standing at the door. Hongjoong’s frown stayed on his face, even as he touched the soft pillows prepared for him.

“When’s the last time you slept on a real bed I wonder?” The wife laughed from the doorway. She pulled out a key and began to close the door but was interrupted by Hongjoong’s call.

“When can I see my crew?”

Her hands fidgeted with the sleeve of her dress. “That will be discussed later. Sleep well,” she blurted out before closing the door and striding away.

Hongjoong took his coat off with a sigh and sat on the bed. It was the first time he had truly been alone since those long days on the abandoned island, before the ATEEZ.

There was a bigger problem now; it was going to be even more difficult to escape now that they were separated. In the depths of his mind, a thought waited to be addressed. “Should we try to leave at all?”

...

The night was long and sleepless for Wooyoung and San. They managed to wiggle themselves into a position where they could at least breathe even though they couldn’t stretch their legs. They sat back to back, heads resting back onto the other’s shoulder, gazing up through the tip of the glass box.

“We’re really going to be sold,” Wooyoung whispered into the void. “Just like Yeosang.”

San shifted his head to whisper back, “As long as we stick together we’ll be alright. Still have the necklace?” Wooyoung checked and cleared his throat. “Yeah. Don’t you suppose they’ll confiscate it? Whoever buys me—”

“Let’s not think about that now, huh?” San drowned out his worries. “Try to get some sleep.” Wooyoung sighed deeply and forced his eyes closed. Sleep did not find him.

Only when the Master opened the door and entered the room hours later could Wooyoung tell morning had come. San stirred on his shoulder and tried to stretch, stopped short by the glass walls. He rubbed his elbow with a pout and squinted at the Master.

“The buyer from a couple of days ago is back for more slaves. Be still and silent,” the man recited, striding over to the curtain at the end of the room and preparing to raise it. “It will be over soon.”

The curtain swept up and light poured in. Both boys shot to their feet in surprise, bumping into each other. “The buyer from a couple of days ago! Yeosang’s buyer?”

San didn’t get a chance to respond because a cacophony of bidding broke out in the audience that had assembled behind the curtain. It was dizzying for a few minutes as the prices went higher and higher and for a moment the boys weren’t sure which of them was currently being bid on.

When the Master finally yelled “Sold!” and then yanked Wooyoung out of the box, it was clear that they were about to be separated.

Wooyoung was handed off to the iron grip of the bearded man that had bought him and San was left screaming and pounding on the wall of the box.

“Buy me, too! Take me with you, I’m useful! Please!” His voice became hoarse but he continued slamming his hands into the side of the prism, tears and sweat streaming down the glass. “Take me with you! I beg you, don’t leave me! Please!”

Wooyoung kicked and fought the man that was beginning to drag him away as his servants paid the Master the sum he was being traded for. He could see a cart pulling up to take him away and he struggled for his life.

For a split second, he caught sight of San, who was yelling at the top of his lungs for the buyer to come back for him. He can’t hear you!

“Sir, please!” Wooyoung halted in place, no longer fighting but refusing to move all the same. “Please buy that boy in the box! He’s very strong and very smart. He’s a carpenter and he knows about medicine, too! He’ll be useful to you!”

The buyer slapped the disobedient slave across the face. “You’re just saying that because he’s your friend,” he declared and pulled Wooyoung closer to the cart. “No, look! He’s very strong, I promise!”

With the last of his strength, Wooyoung turned his buyer around, pointing at the box which shook from the force of San’s fists. The man paused and sighed. He glared at Wooyoung and chained him to the cart, but turned and rejoined the audience to outbid them for San as well.

Wooyoung reached for his friend as he was fastened to the other side of the cart. They were just out of reach of each other, but as they kept their eyes linked they both relaxed into their seats. They may face separation again later, but they would cling to each other while they could.

...

Yeosang rose with the sun for his new job. He was to transcribe his master’s correspondence and experiment notes every morning, and then run errands in the afternoon. The boss was late this time, only emerging in his office a few hours after the sun was up.

Yeosang had a slight suspicion that he had been at the Fortress auction but when he returned to the slave shack for the slime that was dubbed lunch, his suspicions were confirmed. Wooyoung and San huddled in the corner, waiting to be tested and placed.

“What are you two doing here? Does Captain know about this?” Yeosang tried to look angry, and be strict with the two younger boys but the way Wooyoung was already breaking down in relief softened his heart and he simply shook his head.

Wooyoung bit his lip as tears rolled down his cheeks. “Yeosang, you have to understand. If we succeed, we succeed together. If we go down, we go down together.”

Yeosang was speechless. He stuttered for a minute before sitting down and facing the two boys. “I wanted to rescue myself, just once. Once again you’ve come to fetch me,” he covered his mouth as tears choked his speech. “I’m afraid it’ll be for nothing, Wooyoung. The two of you have just doomed yourselves.”

...

“And now there are four,” Mingi groaned. “Our group has been reduced to half its size.”

“How much longer now?” Seonghwa asked no one in particular. “It smells in here.”

“It smelled worse when there were eight of you,” a voice came from outside the cell.

It was the guard who had caught them at the portcullis. He watched them with narrowed eyes and a hand rubbing what looked like a minor stab wound on his neck.

“Second escape attempt this week from you lot,” he sounded annoyed, but there was an undertone of astonishment in his voice. “You realise those are very rare around here, don’t you?”

Seonghwa shook his head slowly. The guard tilted his head curiously at him. “What do you have out there that’s so worth all the trouble?” Seonghwa was dumbfounded. “Nothing,” he shrugged. “All we have is each other. But we want our freedom.”

The guard looked lost in thought for a few seconds before he walked out of sight. Seonghwa turned to Yunho and lowered his voice. “If we play our cards right, we may be gaining an ally on the inside.”

A clamour at the end of the hall perked up all four of the prisoners. As they met at the bars of their cell they looked down the hall. There were about a dozen people being led past the rows of cells.

“New prisoners?” Jongho muttered. The group was forced into the next door cell, their protests echoing through the entire chamber. Yunho turned to the others. “Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” Seonghwa couldn’t tell, but he did know one thing for sure.

“I believe we’ve tapped into something larger than ourselves.”

...

Taglist: @nightynightnyx @theinvisablessed @bustdownyunho @celestial-yunho

A/N: Oops I made myself sad... Expect another update or two soon, school is coming and I’m trying to get this out while I have time >.< Also in addition to spinoffs I have a special Treasure series-unrelated work in progress right now I’m biting my nails over here hoping you’ll like it when it’s ready but until then enjoy and as always please consider reblogging!!!

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urfavmurtad · 5 years

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Well folx it’s that time of year again: the Starving For Allah festival begins shortly. (I’m only gonna be fasting in public this year and will be stuffing my mouth the second I get into my room, for the record.) As a Special Ramadan Series, I’ve dug through my asks to find the most common question that I get, and the resounding answer is: sectarianism!!! People raised Sunni, people raised Shia, and non-Muslims whose knowledge of this part of history is “some people think the fourth guy should have been first” all wanna know Shaikha Urfavmurtad’s hot take on the mess that unfolded following the death of our beloved prophet (PUBG). And I will give the ppl what they want!

Let me give you a brief rundown of the sources for everything that follows. Written Islamic history began in the mid-8th century, over a hundred years after these events unfolded, though it built upon a systematized oral learning tradition. By that point, the first two dynasties of Islam had faded away, and the third, called the Abbasid dynasty, was freshly in control of the majority (but not all) of the territory conquered by the first generation of Muslims. The Abbasids were descended from a member of Mohammed’s extended family, and this fact was essentially their sole claim to rulership. They engaged in constant propaganda against their predecessors, called the Umayyad dynasty, who by this point had been reduced to a tiny stub of their former territory. The Umayyads were descended from the same tribe as Mohammed, but were not specifically descended from his family within that tribe.

For reasons that will eventually become obvious, this means that all accounts of the complete political clusterfuck that was the caliphate in the 50 years following Mohammed’s death have to be looked at with some degree of skepticism. There were reasons why authors writing in this period would feel compelled to characterize certain individuals as evil or at least misguided and others as pure souls, and they doubtlessly exaggerated and embellished some reports. And even the reports that truly do seem to go all the way back to the first generations of Islam can’t be fully trusted--these people were talking about their own lives, defending their own actions and criticizing those of their political enemies. Despite that, we have enough solid reports from enough people on different sides of each divide to put most of the story together. The main events of the story actually don’t differ that much between sources--the differences are mostly in the ways people are depicted during those parts.

Full disclosure: I was raised Sunni. I do not have the emotional attachment to certain historical figures that Shia people do. Even non-religious Shia people have a tendency to cry when they hear some of the stories that we’ll talk about, whereas I just think “lol that’s a biT much tbh”. However, given my current belief that all of these guys were dumb assholes, I feel that I can offer my fairly unbiased take on which dumb asshole deserved to be King of the Dumb Assholes.

After reading this, I believe you’ll come to agree with my thesis statement, namely that the true hero of Islam is the one who probably didn’t even believe in the damn religion.

And so I present my pre-Ramadan gift: part one of The Death of Crazy Mo.

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS

THE QURAYSH: The tribe in charge of Mecca and essentially the only relevant people in the story. Prior to this whole fiasco, they made a living primarily as merchants, traveling along caravan routes to other lands. They also catered to polytheistic pilgrims visiting their shrine, called the Kaaba. Most of Mohammed’s early followers (including Mohammed himself) were from clans of the Quraysh. Though most of the Quraysh originally strongly opposed Mohammed, they were worn down by years of conflict and “embraced Islam” following the conquest of Mecca. The leader of the Quraysh’s military prior to Mecca’s conquest was Abu Sufyan, a member of the Banu Umayya clan. Abu Sufyan is the father of one of Mohammed’s wives (Ramla) and several other children, including a son named Muawiya. He and his sons “converted” the day Mecca was conquered and have served Mohammed ever since. Muawiya currently works as one of Mohammed’s scribes.

MOHAMMED: Some old guy from the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh. Spends most of his time in a state of fever-induced delirium while ranting about religious minorities. Had several children, but all but one--his youngest daughter Fatima--have died of disease.

ABU BAKR: A wealthy, well-connected merchant of the Quraysh who converted to Islam early on and brought a bunch of people into the religion. He knew his fellow merchant Mohammed before Islam’s creation and grew to become his best friend. Mohammed bestowed the title of “as-Siddiq” or “the Truthful” upon him when Abu Bakr affirmed his belief that Mohammed took a round trip to Jerusalem on a magic horse/donkey in the middle of the night. As the years went on, he established himself as Mo’s closest confidante and has been vested with a great deal of political and military authority in the Muslim community as a result. His daughter Aisha was married off to Mohammed as a child and has been his favorite wife ever since.

UMAR: A belligerent asshole from a well-known family of the Quraysh who was also an early convert. He is another one of Mohammed’s fathers-in-law via his daughter Hafsa. Everyone knows that Umar is unpleasant, but they are forced to tolerate his existence because Mohammed and Abu Bakr are his buddies. Serves as The Big Guy and is good at yelling at people to whip them into shape.

UTHMAN: A wealthy merchant and old friend of Abu Bakr’s, who converted at the latter’s insistence. Went on to marry two of Mohammed’s daughters, Roqaya and Umm Kulthum, both deceased at this point in time. As such, he is also a member of Mohammed’s inner circle. He is from the Banu Umayya clan, meaning that Abu Sufyan & Sons are his relatives. This will cause drama later on.

ALI: Mohammed’s cousin (the son of his father’s brother) and son-in-law via Fatima, with whom he has two young daughters and two young sons, Hasan and Hussein. Mohammed was raised by his uncle, Ali’s father Abu Talib, after his own parents died. As an adult he returned the favor and helped raise Ali when Abu Talib was in a tough financial situation. Ali converted essentially right away as a teenager due to the fact that he lived with Mohammed and his family. He has been one of the Muslim army’s most notable soldiers since his early twenties and is one of the most prominent members of the community despite his relative youth. Like his father and cousin, he is a member of the Banu Hashim clan.

ABBAS: One of Mohammed’s uncles (his father’s brother), though the two are actually very close in age. Originally a successful spice merchant, he converted to Islam shortly before the conquest of Mecca and served in his nephew’s army. His son Abdullah ibn Abbas is only a teenager at the moment, but he will be relevant in the future. From the Banu Hashim.

THE ANSAR: The Muslims from Medina, mostly from the Aws and Khazraj sister tribes. After getting kicked out of Mecca (because the Ansar pledged to assist him in battle and the Quraysh learned of this stunt), Mohammed moved to Medina and brought a couple hundred of his followers from Mecca with him. Medina became the Muslim base of power, and the heads of the two tribes were made essentially subservient to him. Anyone who opposed him was gradually “dealt with”, and now the Ansar are more or less 100% Muslim. Whether their loyalty extends to Mohammed’s entire tribe is an open question.

MUSLIMS WHO ARE UNRELATED TO THE ANSAR OR QURAYSH AND NON-MUSLIMS IN GENERAL:

PROLOGUE: IN WHICH THE JEWS AND/OR COCCOBACILLI BACTERIA ARE AT IT AGAIN

Mohammed falls sick with a sudden, debilitating illness. We don’t know exactly what it was, and it’s blamed on The Devious Jews in many sources, but it was clearly one of the many infectious diseases that battered the Middle East throughout the sixth and seventh centuries. Islamic sources state that Medina in particular endured some sort of plague around that the time. He’s described as becoming shaky and fever-ridden essentially overnight, and so his companions put him on bed rest.

His condition is not improving, and it soon becomes obvious to everyone, including himself, that he is probably going to die. His followers move him into the home of his youngest and favorite wife Aisha, and he is given around-the-clock care. Mohammed’s fever worsens, though he remains lucid for most of his illness. He spends most of his time in bed, but sometimes he gets up and is sort of dragged around with the help of a couple of guys.

A few things happen around this time that will be relevant later. First of all, due to Mohammed’s illness, he can no longer perform his role as the imam (leader of prayers). So he appoints Abu Bakr to fill in for him. Abu Bakr has been Mo’s bestie and a member of his inner circle for decades, so this doesn’t surprise anyone. But appointing someone the leader of Medina’s prayers has certain implications.

The immediate issue is that Mohammed serves as the head of his state’s government, military, and legal system in addition to serving as the head of its official religion, Islam. Whoever succeeds him as the leader of this state--which is in a constant state of warfare in order to extend its borders--will likewise have to serve a triple role as a religious, military, and political authority figure. This will not be easy, as the new Islamic nation includes a number of people who are not particularly happy about living under its rule, and their numbers grow every month as the attacks continue. Ibn Ishaq’s sira states that before he fell ill, Mohammed had ordered raids both south and north, into Yemeni and Syrian territory. His nation is still almost entirely located in Arabia in this era, but it is getting quite large and complex, and there isn’t really any appropriate bureaucracy to deal with it. Whoever takes over will have to come up with that on his own, and will need everyone to go along with his decisions. Mohammed’s own claim to rulership comes “from Allah”, and it looks like Allah isn’t interested in conferring the same honor on anyone else.

That brings us to the second thing, which is something that did not happen: Mohammed never actually stated who he wanted to succeed him. In hindsight, this is a puzzling decision. By this point in the story, Mohammed knows he is seriously ill and probably going to die. He is pretty old (a grandfather in his sixties). He is very sick, but he’s still able to communicate with people in a clear manner, until, like, the very last day of his life. And he’s always been more than happy to issue orders for how his followers should eat, shit, and breathe, in addition to a litany of other religious, social, and political rules. Why he not only neglected to name a successor but even a process by which that successor could be named by others is a mystery. He just evidentially made virtually no preparations for what would happen after his death. Maybe he was in denial--he obviously wasn’t planning on dying at that point, and had unfinished business related to conquest and/or ethnic cleansing. Maybe he thought he had a little more time. Maybe he believed it was obvious that he wanted Abu Bakr to succeed him. In any case, he never named his “heir”.

There is one hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas that is sometimes believed to be related to this topic:

When [Mohammed] was on his deathbed and there were some men in the house, he said, 'Come near, I will write for you something after which you will not go astray.' Some of them said, 'Allah's Messenger is seriously ill and you have the Qur'an. Allah's Book is sufficient for us.' So the people in the house differed and started disputing. Some of them said, 'Give him writing material so that he may write for you something after which you will not go astray,' while the others said the other way round. So when their talk and differences increased, Allah's Apostle said, "[Get out]." Ibn `Abbas used to say, "No doubt, it was very unfortunate (a great disaster) that Allah's Messenger was prevented from writing for them that writing because of their differences and noise."

What was he going to write? (“Wait, I thought he was illiterate!” was he tho) Another hadith says one of his last orders related to the state was just a “remember to FUCK UP the polytheists, lads” thing, and Ibn Ishaq’s sira says that his last command was to "let not two religions be left in the Arabian peninsula". But that can’t be what we’re talking about, because everyone already knew that Operation Bring Everyone Into The Loving Embrace Of Islam was the plan. They didn’t need it written out for them. A third hadith informs us that Umar was one of the people who refused to give Mohammed something to write with, believing him to be delirious and declaring that the Quran contained all the instructions they needed anyway (lolololol). So because of goddamn Umar, we really don’t know for sure what Mohammed meant to do there.

A story involving Ibn Abbas’ father, Abbas, provides a hint as to what some people wanted him to write:

[Abbas said to Ali:] “By Allah, I think that [Mohammed] will die of this illness. I recognise death in the faces of the Banu Abdu'l-Muttalib when they are dying. Let us go to [Mo] and ask him who will have this authority. If it is for us, then we will know that, and if it is for other than us, we will know it and he can advise him to look after us." Ali replied, "By Allah, if we ask him for it and he refuses us, then the people would never give it to us afterwards. By Allah, I will not ask it from the Messenger of Allah."

Abbas and Ali here are both from Mohammed’s clan, the Banu Hashim. (Abdul-Muttalib was Mo’s grandpa.) When Abbas says that he wants to know if Mohammed’s empire “is for us”, he means for their clan. So while Mohammed is dying, it’s clear that at least some people believe that he might keep the leadership of the state/theocracy/whatever within the family. If Mo did opt for that, Ali was a reasonable choice. He was young--like 30 years younger than Abu Bakr & Pals--but he had been vested with a great deal of military authority already, he had been given the honor of carrying Mohammed’s banner in battle, and he was the closest thing Mohammed had to a son (besides Zayd the Ignominiously Un-Adopted, but he’s dead by now so whatever). Mo was very protective of his almost-son/cousin, as evidenced in this adorable hadith involving slave rape, and described him as the Aaron to his Moses. He told everyone that they must view Ali as their ally (some of Ali’s followers would later interpret this as Ali being declared Mohammed’s heir, though it was obviously not viewed as such at the time).

But again: at this point, Mohammed’s days are numbered, and he hasn’t indicated he wants Ali or anyone else to succeed him. And Abu Bakr is the one leading the prayers. It’s easy to dismiss the whole account above as some dumb Abbasid story--the Abbasids are so named because they are descended from Abbas--but it seems like it either actually happened or was strongly believed to have actually happened by the early Muslims. That’s because there is a sort of competing hadith to the one about the would-be letter declaring Ali the rightful caliph, this one narrated by Aisha and involving a would-be letter declaring Abu Bakr the rightful caliph:

A'isha reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) in his (last) illness asked [her] to call [her father] and her brother too, so that he might write a document, for he feared that someone else might be desirous (of succeeding him) and that some claimant may say: “I have better claim to it”, whereas Allah and the Faithful do not substantiate the claim of anyone but that of Abu Bakr.

So the idea that Mohammed was going to write something related to the succession seems to have truly been A Thing in the first generation of Islam, with different camps offering different spins on what he wanted to write. Obviously, no letter was ever actually written, thus the problem. But there were plenty of reasons why Abu Bakr also made sense as Mohammed’s successor, apart from his high standing in the community and his appointment as the designated imam. He was fanatically loyal to Mohammed and had joined him in holy broship, so he was viewed as unlikely to “betray” Mo’s final wishes. Mohammed had entrusted him with increasing religious authority even prior to his illness, and in the year following the conquest of Mecca, Abu Bakr had been put in charge of the pilgrimage to the Kaaba. He had also led platoons of Muslim soldiers (more slave rape in that one jsyk!) and was treated as essentially a substitute teacher at times:

A woman came to the Prophet (ﷺ) who ordered her to return to him again. She said, "What if I came and did not find you?" as if she wanted to say, "If I found you dead?" [Mohammed] said, "If you should not find me, go to Abu Bakr."

Plus, the guy was old. Around Mohammed’s age, actually, in a society that prized the wisdom of elders. So Abu Bakr had quite a bit going for him at this juncture. The one thing he permanently lacked was Ali’s close blood relationship to Mohammed--and Ali held multiple advantages here. It wasn’t just that he and Mo were cousins, it was also that Ali was the husband of Mohammed’s daughter and the father of Mohammed’s only grandsons. Abu Bakr’s daughter was Mohammed’s wife, but neither she nor any of Mohammed’s other wives from his polygamous days had any surviving children. Fatima’s boys were the only males around with his blood. (Mo had granddaughters too, from both Fatima and one of his other daughters; the latter granddaughter also ended up marrying Ali.)

A final note is that not all Muslims were eager for either Abu Bakr or Ali to succeed Mohammed. Some weren’t interested in living under permanent Qurayshi rule. In particular, the Ansar of Medina wondered why exactly the Quraysh were seemingly destined to rule them just for being related to Mohammed, when the Ansar were the ones who sheltered Mohammed and his followers for years after the Quraysh kicked him out of town.

As people ponder all of this and the power struggles start to heat up, Mohammed is still in his bed, dying of disease. Oh, and just a teensy problem: some people have gotten word of his illness and think that now is a great time to try their luck and break away from the proto-caliphate. Some are in open revolt and refusing to pay tribute to the state, while others have even declared competing religious movements and have started building up their own armies. Mohammed’s successor, whoever he is, will have a lot to deal with. As all of these people will learn within the next two decades, it turns out running an enormous expansionist state is actually a shitty job with a lot of headaches, many of which involve being stabbed to death.

CHAPTER 1: PRESS ﷺ TO PAY RESPECTS

Despite his followers’ best attempts to cure him by using the “methods” he’d taught them, Crazy Mo dies in Medina around noon on a hot June day in the year 632. He was 62 years old, and had served as the self-declared prophet of Islam for the last two decades of his life.

The Muslims are, naturally, distraught by their leader’s death. Mohammed’s wives immediately begin hitting themselves (uhh... it was a custom) in mourning when his heart stops in Aisha’s room. The news slowly spreads. Some wail; others are frozen in fear. Some like Umar take a more denial-of-reality approach to hearing the rumors. He addresses a crowd of people and begins rambling:

When the apostle was dead, Umar got up and said: "Some of the disaffected will allege that the apostle is dead, but by God he is not dead; he has gone to his Lord as Moses went [for] forty days, returning to them after it was said that he had died. By God, the apostle will return as Moses returned and will cut off the hands and feet of men who allege that the apostle is dead."

“SO THIS MOUNTAIN, SEE?!”, exclaims Umar, who is in a state of mania. “THE MOUNTAIN IS JUST, LIKE, IN AISHA’S APARTMENT. ALLAH MOVED IT THERE, THEN SHRANK IT, THEN MADE IT BIG AGAIN, BUT YOU CAN’T SEE IT FROM HERE--LIKE THE MAP OF NI NO KUNI, YOU KNOW?--AND THE PROPHET CLIMBED IT TO GET SOME TABLETS LIKE MOSES. HE’LL BE BACK WITH THOSE TABLETS, WHICH WILL SAY ‘FUCK Y’ALL’, AND THEN HE’LL MURDER EVERYONE WHO SAID HE WAS DEAD. YOU’LL SEE!!!”

“That sounds incorrect, but I don’t know enough about mountains to say it is false,” decides an onlooker, thoughtfully.

Abu Bakr pushes through the crowd that has gathered to gawk at Umar. He visits Aisha’s room to observe Mohammed’s corpse and confirm his death. Satisfied with the deadness of the body, he returns to Medina’s center to put a stop to his buddy’s maniacal ranting:

Umar was still speaking and he said gently, "Umar, be quiet." But Umar refused and went on talking, and when Abu Bakr saw [this] he said: "O men, if anyone worships Mohammed, Mohammed is dead, but if anyone worships Allah, Allah is alive". Then he recited this verse: "Mohammed is nothing but an apostle. Apostles have passed away before him." By God, it was as though the people did not know that this verse had come down until Abu Bakr recited it that day.

(Hmmm at that last part.)

“Umar,” says Abu Bakr, gently.

“BRO! YOU’RE WITH ME, RIGHT? EVERYONE’S SAYING ‘THAT’S THE DUMBEST FUCKING THING I’VE EVER HEARD’, BUT THEY SAID THE SAME THING ABOUT THE FLYING DONKEY, YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE WHO BELIEVED!! NOW YOU’VE GOT MY BACK, RIGHT?”

“Of course,” Abu Bakr replies, sweetly. He then slaps Umar across the face.

Stunned, Umar shuts up for a moment and everyone accepts that Mohammed is, in fact, dead and had not somehow gone missing inside his wife’s bedroom.

Mohammed’s only surviving child, his daughter Fatima, is obviously among the most devastated by his passing. Fatima’s mother Khadija had died when she was still a young girl, her sisters all died of disease within the previous five years, and none of her brothers survived their childhoods. Even Zayd the Ignominiously Un-Adopted is gone. So she is the last of her nuclear family at the age of, like, 25 or younger. Her husband Ali is presumably equally distraught, but as one of Mohammed’s closest surviving male relatives, he has to deal with the burial arrangements. Abbas helps Ali wash Mohammed’s corpse, in keeping with Islamic custom. They respect Mohammed’s never-nude wishes and keep his privates covered during the process.

Meanwhile, the news that Mohammed is dead has spread throughout the entire city. The issues that people had previously been grumbling about, related to the succession to Mohammed, immediately start spilling out into the open. The Islamic empire is engaging in constant, ongoing battles--if a new leader is going to be chosen, it has to happen now. There isn’t any time to waste.

But not everyone is convinced that there needs to be a singular leader. Some of the Muslims believe that Mohammed was irreplaceable in terms of being one single authority figure to whom all Muslims were required to pledge their absolute loyalty. He “earned” that loyalty by being The Prophet, and he was The Last Prophet. He couldn’t have a real successor. People who followed this line of thinking began seriously considering the possibility of de-centralizing the new empire, so that different Muslim tribal confederations would be more or less self-governing, as they had been prior to Islam. After all, Arabs were accustomed to living in tribes, not bureaucratic nations. Why not just return to the way things were, with slightly more attacks on polytheistic shrines?

The Ansar are intrigued by this possible outcome. They know that if there is one single ruler, he is doubtlessly going to come from the Quraysh tribe, and they’ll be relegated to the back seat forever. In the interest of preserving their autonomy (or rather renewing it, now that Mo’s dead), they quietly arrange a meeting to discuss this problem. The goal of the gathering is to agree upon a leader for their community, with Saad, a chief from one of their tribes, being the current frontrunner. They invite the senior members of their tribes to the meeting and pointedly do not invite any of the Quraysh. But some of the latter get word of the gathering, and they move to crash the party immediately.

I (Umar) said to Abu Bakr, 'Let's go to these Ansari brothers of ours.' .... we reached them at the shed of (a clan of the Ansar, the) Bani Sa`da.

After we sat for a while, the Ansar's speaker said, ‘...To proceed, we are Allah's Ansar (helpers) and the majority of the Muslim army, while you, the emigrants, are a small group and some people among you came with the intention of preventing us from practicing this matter (of caliphate) and depriving us of it.'

When the speaker had finished, I intended to speak as I had prepared a speech which I liked ... Abu Bakr said, 'Wait a while.' I disliked to make him angry. So Abu Bakr himself gave a speech ... he said, 'O Ansar! You deserve all (the qualities that you have attributed to yourselves), but this question (of Caliphate) is only for the Quraish as they are the best of the Arabs as regards descent and home, and I am pleased to suggest that you choose either of these two men, so take the oath of allegiance to either of them as you wish.’ And then Abu Bakr held my hand and Abu Ubaida bin al-Jarrah's hand

“Hello friends,” Abu Bakr begins. “Y’all are great. Truly. Thanks for opening your homes to us, surrendering control of your city to our cult leader, and sacrificing your money and lives in battle on his behalf. But here’s the thing, folks: we’re better than you are. I’m sorry but these are the facts. We’re richer. We’re from a more well-developed city. Our tribe is more respected. Abraham himself built a mosque where we live. Mohammed was one of us. Frankly, we’re also better-looking. That’s very important for good PR.”

The Ansar stare blankly at him.

Undeterred, Abu Bakr continues: “Now, we’re not going to force you to follow anyone. There is no compulsion in religion. You have a choice here--between two of our tribe’s most famed assholes!” He grabs two individuals from the crowd and presents them. “On your left: Umar ibn al-Khattab, who many of you know as a short-tempered and over-emotional manchild. On your right: this other guy named Abu Ubaida, who honestly hasn’t done much beyond fight in some battles at this point in the story. I guess there was that time he killed his own father while we were trying to raid one of our tribe’s caravans.... anyway. What are y’alls thoughts?”

[Crickets.]

And then one of the Ansar said, 'I am the pillar on which the camel with a skin disease (eczema) rubs itself to satisfy the itching (i.e., I am a noble), and I am as a high class palm tree! O Quraish. There should be one ruler from us and one from you.'

“OK... first of all, what in the name of Christ is that metaphor,” Abu Bakr replies. “We’re also better at poetic imagery than you are. Forgot to add that, so thanks for reminding me. Second of all, as I just told you, we’re above you. Who the fuck lied to y’all and said you were on our level? Lmao losers”

“We’re not better than fucking UMAR?”, the Ansar retort. “Or this other guy who will remain B-tier in relevancy throughout this entire story?! YOU WOULDN’T EVEN HAVE THIS EMPIRE WITHOUT US, YOU UNGRATEFUL CLOWNS!”

Chaos erupts in the hall. People are five seconds away from throwing hands. Suddenly...!

Then there was a hue and cry among the gathering and their voices rose so that I was afraid there might be great disagreement, so I said, 'O Abu Bakr! Hold your hand out.' He held his hand out and I pledged allegiance to him, and then all the emigrants gave the Pledge of allegiance and so did the Ansar afterwards. And so we became victorious

Umar dramatically declares his loyalty to Abu Bakr in the chaos, recognizing him as the new leader of the Islamic empire, henceforth known as the caliph. Frankly speaking, it probably wasn’t that much of a shock to Abu Bakr himself, as he knew that Umar (and... basically everyone else) wanted him to be the first caliph. The whole offering Umar and Abu Ubaida as options thing was just false modesty he knew would be shot down in favor of himself, imo. But that’s my hot take, not something the sources say.

Anyway, everyone pauses for a moment to consider this. It probably seems clear to the Ansar at this point that the Quraysh aren’t gonna just leave them alone and let them do what they want; they will have to pledge loyalty to one of these guys eventually. Given that their previous options were Umar and Irrelevant Guy, Abu Bakr likely appears pretty good in comparison. So perhaps it’s not surprising that most of the Ansar present at this gathering decide: “if we gotta serve one of these assholes, might as well be this one”. They sigh and agree to recognize Abu Bakr as the caliph. (Poor Saad gets roughed up afterwards, something Umar considers punishment for daring to even consider himself for the position of caliph.)

So now the whole succession issue is behind us, right? Well... no. We have a slight problem here: Abu Bakr, Umar, and Abu Ubaida may have crashed the Ansar’s party, but zero members of the Banu Hashim were present at the impromptu coronation of their kinsman’s successor. Because they’re busy preparing his corpse for burial. Oh well!

Team Abu Bakr has a more pressing concern, namely telling everyone else in Medina (and those hundreds of thousands of other people living in the caliphate, but who gives a shit about them?) that they have a new ruler. So the next day, Umar and Abu Bakr direct a general assembly to gather in Medina’s mosque, where the people are told to give Abu Bakr their allegiance. First, Umar gives a brief speech in which he basically says that this decision hadn’t come from Mohammed, but is nonetheless the evident “will of Allah”:

O men, yesterday I said something based on my own opinion and which I do not find in God's book, nor was it something which the apostle entrusted to me; but I thought that the apostle would order our affairs until he was the last of us alive. ... God has placed your affairs in the hands of the best one among you ... so arise and swear fealty to him.

The residents of Medina do so, and then Abu Bakr gives his own speech in which he asks the people to “obey me as long as I obey God and His apostle”. Then he leads them in prayer, acting as the caliph for the first time. The commoners apparently don’t have much of a problem with any of this, or at least none are bold enough to disagree with the leaders of their tribes after the latter swore loyalty to Abu Bakr in the hall. So that takes care of that situation.

But the larger issue, namely the fact that the Banu Hashim and their sympathizers have had basically no say in this process, is still unresolved. Mohammed’s burial occurs the day after the general oath of fealty to Abu Bakr, with the men of his extended family lowering him into his grave. They’re now ready to catch up on everything they’ve missed in the past couple of days. It probably isn’t anything important, since the people of Medina have no doubt been so preoccupied with mourning Mohammed’s death that they’ve hardly had time to do anything else.

(On to part 2!!)

#long post #history #adventures in sectarianism #ramadan

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koalas-koalas-everywhere · 6 years

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People are... over here, saying Tilde was emotionally manipulative/abusive/that her and Eggsy’s relationship is toxic... because she got upset that he said he couldn’t marry her?

(More under the cut. I always think I’ll barely fill three paragraphs but end up here.)

Has anyone considered that marriage is a major aspect of one’s life, one of the breaking deals in a relationship, there along with wanting children, and something you can and should break up with someone over if you absolutely can’t see face to face on?

I mean, sure, it’s 2018, back then 2017, we all know marriage isn’t necessary for a fulfilling relationship or life, but some people just really want to get married, and Tilde’s a princess. She’s got the whole old-blood, traditional thing going on, she was probably raised to think marriage was not optional in a relationship. That a relationship led to marriage or it was going nowhere.

She’s got the pressure that comes with fame - she’d have to hide the fact that she’s even dating Eggsy, which would probably lead to questions about why she’s single. She was ready to marry Eggsy, and Eggsy wanted to marry her, or at least spend the rest of his life with her. They weren’t planning on breaking up. Imagine being a 50 year old Princess having to hear speculation from the press, from people at your court (I don’t know how modern Swedish monarchy works), from your parents, who have no idea about Kingsman, about your “single” status while you’re hiding your boyfriend.

She also probably knows about Kingsman’s rules against relationships- heck, she might think that’s the only reason why they’re keeping their relationship a secret, since Eggsy had to tell her why he couldn’t marry her. But that was probably also making her worry she wasn’t that serious to him, since he wasn’t commiting. No, I know making your partner the most important thing in your life, above the job that gave you your life as you know it and love it now, isn’t necessarily good, but as far as she knew she was there to look pretty until Kingsman found out and she was dropped. After all, she can’t really know that he isn’t using her because she’s a pretty Princess and a reliable source of sex when he’s home and picking up someone else when he’s as far as Scotland. Mind you, I’m not saying she doubted him, but it is a thought that might have come up after he refuses to marry her.

See, now Kingsman’s all but dead. She probably thought that the last obstacle to a free relationship was gone (a silver lining). Then Eggsy calls her and tells her he has to have sex with someone else for a mission, not even explaining the particulars. From their reactions it’s clear that, in the last two years, Eggsy had never done anything similar. Then Kingsman dies and he has to cheat on her? She doesn’t even know why. Does he want info? Was he ordered to do it? By whom? They’re all dead! Did he just decide sleeping with her was the best way to get what he wanted? He’s never done this before and she has no reason to think he did (actually, she has every reason to think he hasn’t because he bothered to call her and is actually upset at not getting her permission), but is this the first stain of mud of a slippery slope?

Then she asks him if he’s offering to marry her when he proclaims his fucking undying love for her and says that a proposal would make her feel secure enough in their relationship to let him sleep with someone else. Trusting nothing but his word that he’s doing only what needs to be done and that he’ll marry her later.

Then he says no for completely understandable reasons. I’ve already said that being a Kingsman agent is not only a big part of what gives Eggsy a feeling of fulfillment, but also the reason he loves his life. Because of Kingsman he met Roxy, his best friend, Merlin, the only real friend he has available at the moment, the people at Statesman, the only support he has at the moment, Harry, the man who made it all possible and trusted him, and Tilde. It’s the reason he and his family’s not living in poverty, probably why he’s not in prison. It’s the reason he’s happy. He can’t give it up and not only because of what it has done to get him where he is now, not only because he loves that job, but also because people depend on him doing it, especially now that he’s the only field agent Kingsman has. (There’s Statesman, but there’s a reason Kingsman existed, it’s too much for only one organization to handle it. He probably also thinks that, since he’s capable, he’s also responsible.)

However, that also means he can’t marry Tilde, since (disregarding the rules, who’s gonna enforce them?), by making himself a public figure he’d risk getting discovered, which would endanger him, Tilde, and all of Kingsman, including the new, inexperienced recruits they’re probably planning to get once they are running again. Maybe even Statesman, too.

So, the situation’s like this. To be happy with their relationship, Tilde needs Eggsy to marry her. To stay happy, Eggsy can’t marry her. They were incompatible in that way. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Eggsy wasn’t backing down about fucking that other girl. He wasn’t giving her, them, the chance to talk it over later, he couldn’t. Tilde did the only thing that would let her keep her dignity: she broke up with him. Usually, things like this need to be discussed first, to see if they can reach an agreement, but there wasn’t time, Eggsy was at that very moment literally in another girl’s tent at Glasto set on fucking her with or without Tilde’s permission (as far as she knew, and she was right). While it’s commendable that he told her and wanted her to be okay with his actions, was ready to abandon the mission because she wasn’t and, when it proved to be to costly to do so, did his best to keep the sex to the bare necessities, he didn’t really to ask for permission, he called expecting to get it and knowing that he might not be able to back out if he didn’t (which he wasn’t). It wasn’t a bad thing, with people who’d been on Kingsman radars since even before they blew them up running amok. Call me cold-blooded, but I'd rather someone prioritzed the fate of the world over their personal relationships, even if it sucks for them and it hurts seeing a beloved character suffering on-screen. But the relationship will suffer, especially since that one action was indicative of how things always are in that aspect of the relationship.

Some people can deal with that and that’s fine, but Tilde couldn’t and that’s fine, too, as long as you either solve this with your partner (which they couldn0t have and, if you ask me, they shouldn't have, not as they did) or you back out. And Tilde backed out. She wasn’t “emotionally manipulating” Eggsy into marrying her. She went “this is a deal breaker - I can’t not marry you” and when Eggsy said they couldn’t marry, she broke up with him, even though it pained her just as much as him and she didn’t even have some world-saving mission to keep her grounded. She wasn’t waiting for him to grovel his way back to her. He was already groveling his way back to her and she wanted him to give it up.

She did the mature thing and ended a relationship she saw no future to and people are calling her amotionally manipulative and abusive and saying that their relationship became toxic when she decided she’d rather take the chance to love someone again and be happy with them instead of unhappy with Eggsy.

She didn’t break up with Eggsy to get him to marry her, she wasn’t planning to take him back. She just realized the life she wanted wasn’t compatible with the one Eggsy was planning/leading.

About their romance in general: was it unnecessary? I guess. Aren’t most relationships in a movie which isn’t about that relationship in particular unecessary, though?

And couldn’t they have used other important people in his life to motivate him? I guess. I mean, beyond asking him if he’s all right, (although, then again, they might know he doesn’t use anymore) I don’t see why his friends would call him, since they don’t know that he can help. His mom, on the other hand, definitely would have known and definitely would have needed his help since she’s a confirmed user. I wish she had appeared more.

The thing is, Vaughn had a goal which was doing the complete opposite of James Bond movies. You can see this in how, for example, the male characters don’t perform toxic masculinity*, Roxy (for all that she’s the token girl) is given the same respect by the characters that they give anyone else (in-universe - out of universe this movie has some issues. Although, brownie points for making her having to hook up with a girl barely a deal and not having her sexualized at any time, don’t know if it’s a good thing that they developed her more than the other characters or if I should be rolling my eyes that it was making her be afraid of heights. But then again, she overcame her fear twice while that other guy almost messed up the test. But then again) and she even becomes Lancelot, and probably other things people who are better versed than I in James Bond films can point out.

What I’m trying to say is that putting the main character in a committed relationship that’s important to him was something even I, who hasn’t seen a James Bond movie in her life, knows has to be done. So they were going to make a big deal out of it.

It also served to jolt him out of his indecision over whether to marry her by making her (almost) die just days after they had a fight, when Eggsy was probably still hopeful for a reconciliation and probably felt guilty for not marrying her, for cheating an her and, if he finds out she was smoking because of him, maybe for killing her. (We’re talking about guilt here, not blame.) And he had to marry her to carry on the anti-Bond theme.

Once more, we might say, “marriage is not the mark of a happy relationship”, but to the writers it probably is. More to the point, it’s probably the mark of a successful one. For all their attempts at being progressive, they miss the mark as often as they hit it.

But it’s perfectly acceptable for them to think so just as it’s acceptable for Tilde to think so.

I didn’t like that they got married. Unless Eggsy left Kingsman right when he was most essential, since he’s one of its last three members (Statesman might still be there, but there’s more to being a Kingsman than to be a spy and that’s something only a Kingsman can understand. This is not about Statesman being worse, but about it being different.), nothing got resolved. Which is why, I think, a lot of people think Tilde was abusive. She won. She didn’t have to give up anything while Eggsy did. What it is he gave up, we’ll find out in the next movie (we better - in this respect, I actually have a lot of faith in Vaughn, which is weird, to say the least. Writers are usually enemy #1 where I’m concerned), but he sacrificed something. The fact that he came to the decision of marrying her after facing the possibility of losing her, when part of losing her involved Tilde breaking up with him probably doesn’t help. The point is, while the wedding is probably a mistake, it’s not the result of manipulation on Tilde’s part, and she sure as hell isn’t reprehensible for wanting to be happy and keeping her dignity while at it.

None of them were wrong.

(I mean, Eggsy does a lot of very agressive stuff, but I read that as more of an “abused kid who saw his life go down the drain and so has anger management issues that appear in ways ‘acceptable’ by his surroundings’ standards” than “you offended my masculine sensibilities so now I have to show you that I’m the alpha”. He’s agressive towards 1) his abusive step-father (verbally), 2) his gang who are actively threatening him, at a moment when he’s in a bad mood, and say his abusive step-father might be doing him a favor, 3) Charlie and his clique of classist assholes when they’re picking on him [he tries to fight them when they throw water on him, which, may a remind you, instantly takes him back to that time he almost drowned and he thought someone actually died, but later only responds by telling them to fuck off and by proving he’s better than them], 4) Merlin when he thinks he was chosen as the expendable one, 5) enemies, 6) you’ll have to complete this part for me because I can’t think of any ocassion when Eggsy is agressive towards anyone. Maybe his friends when they won’t get out of the carwhen he’s trying to get them a chance to escape? None of these are about him feeling they’re trying to usurp his place of privilege, they’re about him trying to prove he deserves respect as a human being [and him killing people, that too]. The thing is, his outbursts are related to either his abusive stepfather or his class. So against the man who harms him, his mother and will probably be a danger to his baby sister or whe he’s being discriminated against, which isn’t only a matter of dignity which is often denied to him but also his and his family’s very survival. He never hides his feelings, whether they’re hard or soft.)

#Kingsman #The Golden Circle #The Secret Service #Eggsy Unwin #Gary Unwin #Princess Tilde #give her a last name you cowards #also leave her alone #Galahad #spoilers

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ashxpad · 3 years

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Photographer Finds Peak Design’s Customer Service Claims Misleading

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A photographer is questioning Peak Design’s messaging and recommendations for servicing its products thanks to an experience he had with the Peak Design Travel Tripod. After dropping it, he took issue with Peak’s customer service. They told him he needed to replace it, but he shows it was repairable.

YouTuber Andrew Leonard, who goes by Emergent Technology, published a video where he explains how his experience with the Peak Design Travel tripod left him scratching his head at some of the decisions that the company has taken with regard to addressing damaged parts.

Leonard says that on his first trip out with the tripod, he dropped it and the head landed squarely on a rock. Later that day, he realized that it was exhibiting a terrible grinding sound and while it did not appear to affect the tripod’s ability to securely hold a camera, he wanted to deal with the problem. He figured it was a piece of dirt or sand that had gotten lodged in the head, he looked to see if he could be given instructions on how to clean it.

To his surprise, Peak Design did not provide any information on how to do this, but instead actively cautioned against taking it apart at all. Peak Design instead suggests using a compressed air can to dislodge any debris, but do not submerge the ball head or run it underwater.

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Because the head is the most complex part of the entire tripod head, Leonard says it makes sense that Peak Design doesn’t want someone messing with the parts as it would be very easy to accidentally break it.

After contacting customer service and explaining what happened, a representative told Leonard that the tripod head was a sealed unit, and was therefore impossible for any dirt or sand to enter into the head. Therefore, any sound he was hearing was the result of a damaged part and the entire head would need to be replaced. Unhappy, but obliging, Leonard ordered a replacement.

Additionally, since the head was being replaced, he decided to take it apart to see what piece may have broken since aside from the grinding, it appeared to still function correctly.

What he found was that contrary to what he had been told: there were no broken parts inside the tripod head and instead, it just needed to be cleaned properly. He also believes that the instruction to use a can of compressed air actually may have made the problem worse, as it looks to have sent the debris further into the mechanics of the device.

“In short, Peak Design claims their ball head is a sealed unit, and tried to place additional blame on me as the customer when I let them know I had dropped it,” Leonard writes in a since-removed Reddit post (removed for breaking a rule of the subreddit). “I paid for a replacement ball head, and after further analyzing the ‘broken’ unit through a teardown — the results of which I shared with Peak Design — the company refunded me for my replacement ($50) ball head purchase.”

Leonard says that he has no issue with the design or the construction of the tripod and head — quite the opposite, actually — but hopes that this situation reveals some constructive criticism about the right to repair, and how companies can be more transparent with customers.

“I am thankful that Peak Design, after talking with me in more detail about their claims, has refunded me for the replacement ball head purchase,” Leonard writes. “In the future, my hope is that Peak Design better communicates with their customers about reparability, instead of making misleading or outright false claims that place additional or undue blame on the consumer.”

Calls to grant buyers more rights when it comes to repairing purchased products have been growing in volume over the last year, and a national right to repair bill has been filed in Congress. While the most vocal critics of right to repair are large tech companies like Apple and Microsoft, situations like this one would assure that not only would customers end up paying less, but fewer parts would end up in landfills. Being an environmentally conscious company is at the forefront of what Peak Design champions — and is at the core of its newly-launched used marketplace — so coming up with a solution feels like something that it would be behind.

“To reiterate, they do not want people executing repairs on the part of the tripod that is most critical to keeping their very expensive camera attached to it. On the other hand, the right to repair movement is becoming increasingly critical,” he says.

“I would like to see Peak Design put together something as a middle ground here, like an RMA program for units that they don’t want people disassembling and tearing down themselves. At the very least, Peak Design in my opinion should revise their approach towards communicating with customers about how these replacements are supposed to work.”

When reached for comment, Peak Design tells PetaPixel that it plans to do just that. After reviewing the details of this particular case, the company has changed how it will look at cases going forward.

Up until this instance, every Peak Design Travel Tripod Ball Head that has been returned for inspection due to a drop has been found to have suffered a broken part within the Ball Head. In addition, these dropped Ball Heads have all exhibited the same “gritty,” noise as described by the customer. Peak Design Customer Service does own an instructional video on Ball Head break down and reassembly but has chosen to keep this video private. First, the process of tearing down and reassembling the Travel Tripod Ball Head requires a high-level of skill and precision to properly complete. Second, the Travel Tripod Ball Head is composed of a high-volume of precision parts, making it difficult for the company to stock and fulfill for individual customer repair.

In light of this customer’s determination that grit was indeed the culprit for the noise within the Ball Head, Peak Design Customer Service will change how it handles these cases moving forward. In instances where the customer believes that dirt and sand have penetrated the inside of the ball head, Peak Design Customer Service may choose to share the instructional video that provides guidance for disassembling and reassembling the ball head. Unnecessary waste is an environmental impact that Peak Design takes very seriously. If a change in Customer Service procedure can help further mitigate waste, Peak Design is more than happy to do so.

In addition, after being alerted to the problem, Peak Design’s CEO Peter Dering noted in a reply to Leonard’s video that he was glad the issue had been brought up.

“I just want to say… I really appreciate the thorough video and explanation,” Dering writes. “When I heard our CS team said that the unit was sealed, I cringed a little bit. It is simply not sealed. As you clearly demonstrate, it is merely a slightly difficult and/or finicky reassembly process, which is precisely why we’ve discouraged its maintenance. However…I agree that we should have a middle ground, and provide an opportunity for those who want to be able to service it, to service it. We’ll get something put together in a reasonable amount of time. Thanks again for the fair video.”

Image credits: Photos of Peak Design Travel Tripod teardown by Andrew Leonard and used with permission.

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actiasteeth · 6 years

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angsty relationship asks: david/ryan

do they have a lot of arguments? if so, over what? so so so many. typically ghosting / lack of communication and “”needing space”””””. later: “pls stop trying to fucking kill me.””

who apologizes first? in what way? is it hard for either of them to apologize? seeing as ryan’s generally the one in the wrong,,,,,, he’s the one who Should be apologizing first. a lot of the time tho, he leaves it up to david or he apologizes w/o Explicitly apologizing b/c he has trouble owning up to being a shithead. ryan just gets softer and more affectionate w him, tries to do sth to make it up to him. a lot of “pls i didn’t mean it”” / “”forget abt it”” / “i love u”””.

which one has more insecurities? over what? david. probably abt whether or not he’s actually done sth wrong to warrant being treated poorly.

who gets more riled up? do they show their anger? nnnnn. it would depend on the context?? both of them are capable of showing their anger, lmao.

how do they hide their pain when they’re upset? do they try to hide their pain? on the rare occasion that ryan is not the one in the wrong he’s verbally v quiet abt being upset. he p much goes silent and gets v tense and untouchy. it takes a while for him to rly find the right words to be like “hey this upset me”” b/c on some lvl he’s always gonna feel like he deserves it.

who tries to make up first? does it work? ryan. he can go from 100 to 0 in the blink of an eye if he’s over it. will try to act like nothing fucking happened. it’s,,,,,,, iffy at best.

would they hate-fuck if they were mad at one another? if they had a falling out? eeeeeh. theoretically ryan could be into this but in practice he closes off when he’s angry so probably not. they’re all abt that make up sex game tho.

do they hold grudges? is it hard for them to let go/forgive each other? david does more so than ryan. once ryan is over sth, once he’s had the time to process it, he’s over it and doesn’t care to revisit it.

is there something big that could potentially tear them apart if it was revealed? no?? i mean there’s a lack of communication sure but they don’t rly keep things from each other??

if something already happened to tear them apart, what would make them come back together? is it even possible? main verse, i think they’re p much doomed. breakup au?? there would need to be a solid exhibition of Growth mostly on ryan’s end—in his stability, in the way he handles situations, in reeling in his vices. david would have to trust him to be better.

what’s their favorite pass time when they’re upset? leaving mean drunk comments abt himself on david’s videos.

who do they confide in when shit hits the fan (besides each other)? ryan always goes to his sister loren if he goes to anyone at all. 70% of the time he’s gonna keep that shit to himself tho.

is it hard for them to talk about their feelings openly with each other? if so, is there any way that can be resolved, even in the slightest? david is more open than ryan is when it comes to Real Shit. whenever ryan is gearing up to vent abt things he just ends up sitting there saying nothing. ryan needs a couple drinks in him before he starts talking tbh.

who grieves more when the other is away? david.

who misses the other more, or really thinks about them more? also david. it’s not that ryan doesn’t think abt him or miss him, he’s just less inclined to let it bother him.

do either of them have a special item (an article of clothing, a necklace, a book) that they use when they miss the other? if so, what is it? what do they do with it (read, wear, look at, smell)? ryan’s absconded w enough of david’s clothes,,,,,, he wears them around the house p much 100% of the time tbh, even when he’s not Highkey missing him.

who cries more? who gets more emotional in general? is this evn up for debate?? david. it’s david.

do either of them have the other’s stuff lying around their house? feel like david would be more inclined to leave shit lying around ryan’s.

how about teasing? do they tease each other while in a fight (whether it be with themselves or just general teasing)? unlikely. they generally take their fights p srsly?? unless it’s like clearly a fake argument then 5000% yes to both.

do either of them have any vices? ryan drinks too much and gets progressively worse as their relationship deteriorates.

what’s the thing they miss most about each other? ryan doesn’t usually miss one thing abt david in particular??? if he’s missing him, he’s missing him as a whole. if anything got to him in time tho, it would probably be the lack of physical touch. as shallow as that sounds, lmao.

what’s their go-to breakup/angst song? for ryan, trouble by cat stevens.

who’s more jealous? neither of them rly. like, sure, they’re falling apart but it’s not like there’s any legitimate fear of unfaithfulness or anything of that sort.

who is the first to forgive? again,,,,,,, not that david is the one who needs forgiveness, lmao. but ryan will convince himself that things are david’s fault evn when he Knows they aren’t; will then proceed to drop it and be all “””i just want us to be ok,, dw abt it”” ?????????? whom’st’ve’d.

what’s the one deal breaker for either of them (lack of communication, fear of commitment, etc)? lack of communication, def. and being “””needy””””””””.

who would take longer to let go? do they ever really “let go”? both of them get an F in letting go (see: the breakup au). never in the 4yrs that they were apart did ryan even Try to move on or let go. like did he date?? sure. but he never went into it w the mindset that it would last and the Smallest things fucked him up on how Wrong everything felt and how Not David everything was and he just,,,,,,,,,, No. also main verse????? david won’t go into the fuckign light and insists on terrorizing ryan instead???? double F in letting go.

which is more afraid of confrontation? neither of them are a fan.

who’s the first to distance themselves (if either)? u kidding?? ryan.

who’s more patient? is it hard to break that patience? david. he put up w so much, pls. that said, ryan likes to think he’s p patient w ghost!david but That is too little too late.

who’s the first to blame themselves? david. ryan will shift blame off himself evry chance he gets even when he Knows damn well he’s in the wrong.

who’s more likely to do something out of spite? both.

who would be the first to say they hate the other? would they mean it? ryan. not to his face but he def told his sister that he hated him not long before david died. he didn’t mean it for a single second. even when he starts being a shitty demon abt things ryan still doesn’t hate him. he clings so hard to this ideal version of david that,,,,,, idk if there will ever come a time where there isn’t this part of him that’s so incredibly deep in love w that version of him.

who worries more? in the grand scheme of things, probably david. but i don’t see either of them as particularly big worriers.

what scent reminds them of the other? firewood. warm sugar syrup. asphalt.

do they have any regrets (regarding the other, or just in general)? ryan regrets taking david for granted. he regrets not actively trying to better himself regardless of always arguing that he was “”Trying””””. he regrets that he couldn’t commit himself to having a proper Talk abt how they could begin to fix things. not spending more time w him. not giving him the love he deserved.

who’s quicker to walk away if a situation gets heated? ryan generally backs off if david starts crying??? but if they’re just having a yelling match and no one is crying,, it just goes down until it doesn’t.

who is more prone to anger? ryan. he’s more irritable at least, so small things can set him off.

who cries more in an argument? do either of them cry? david obvs. ryan cries After the fact when he’s alone but p much nevr in front of david. he Will cry in front of ghost!david tho b/c it’s not like he’s got a choice.

does it take a lot for it to get to the point of yelling? no,,..,,..,….,,,,,

who sleeps on the couch? can either of them sleep without the other? ryan sleeps on the couch but not rly b/c they’ve been fighting. he’s just restless and gets frustrated if he’s lying there for too long trying in vain to sleep. that said they can sleep w/o each other (ryan isn’t exactly the biggest fan of cuddling anyway) but they Do appreciate the idea of waking up together so,, while it’s nice when it happens, it isn’t Necessary.

who’s more likely to protect the other? ryan??? in that if someone is talkin shit or sth he will Pounce both verbally and physically if he’s gotta.

if one of them gets injured, who worries more? i mean ryan’s out here encouraging david to do risky shit, Sure, but he’s like,, halfway joking and if david gets so much as a Scratch u bet ur ass ryan is tending 2 that shit. whenever they’re play fighting or w/e ryan is also rly conscious of letting up if david shows any sign of discomfort. i think ryan is?? generally???? less inclined??? to get injured????? but he will straight up Fight ppl if they push him so idk,, david might have reason to fuss over him but it’s Rare. he was probably a whole five and a half messes after asking david to teach him how to skate tho.

who would be more afraid of the other’s death/harm? LOL. i feel like this wasn’t rly a thing they worried abt Legitimately?? then it Happened and,, rip.

who ends up yelling first? are they always yelling when arguing, or do neither of them yell at all? 50/50 depending on what the argument is abt.

who would be more likely to save who? i wld think both of them wld make efforts to keep each other safe?? can’t speak for ghost!david’s problematic ass.

who stays up at night brooding? ryan’s insomniac ass.

who has more dreams/nightmares about the other? ryan has a lot of both after david dies. if u thought he wasn’t sleeping well Before,, that shit got 100% worse. he hates both but the good dreams especially always choke him tf up.

who comforts who after a bad dream/event? ryan before. now, no one.

do they think about each other a lot? does it affect their performance/schoolwork? in the earlier days of their relationship ryan was so bad at work, especially if they had plans for after he was off. he was constantly checking his phone and sending not-so-sneaky texts. catch him zoning out thinking abt him too. if david ever surprised him at work he always came back late from his break, lmao. he was bad in other ways when shit started going downhill in that he was absent and cold and quick to snap at anyone who breathed in his direction.

if one of them were to come back after a long time, who would come to who? would it go well? would the other person take them back? don’t think either of them would actively seek the other out?? i.e their reconnection would have to come as a coincidence. this goes abt as well as u would expect. both of them are some part willing to take each other back but,,,,, there’s def some hesitation there. ryan doesn’t trust himself to not fuck up all over again and sometimes it’s like he’s watching himself frm the outside. he keeps slipping up and making moves and trying to get david into bed but he always ditches before they have a chance to get Too Deep into feelings. eventually he ends up spilling his guts ofc (“””i’m still so fuckign in love w u u have no fucking idea”””) and they eventually bite the bullet and decide to try again. how well That goes is up for debate.

#it took 70yrs but we got here #c: ryan suriyasen #s: don't mind you under my skin; let the bad parts in #v: love of life written by the dead #.mr #thanhpls #long post ///#v: i don’t belong to anyone else

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coolseanobuseng · 3 years

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New Post has been published on https://legitlover.com/how-to-save-your-marriage-when-you-feel-hopeless/

How To Save Your Marriage When You Feel Hopeless

You can tell that your marriage probably requires saving if you’ve been feeling angry about what has actually been taking place and/or hopeless about your capability to change the situation for the better, hence how to save your marriage when you feel hopeless. The good news is that feelings like anger and hopelessness can use essential clues and a fresh perspective.

These unfavorable emotions give you insight that can assist you clarify what you do– and what you do not– desire in your relationship. Let’s concentrate on utilizing these unfavorable feelings to assist you to a much better marriage.

How can I save my marriage by myself?

While, yes, one partner putting in all the effort to save a marriage is possible, if you find yourself in this scenario, understand that doing so isn’t an excellent sign of your partner’s commitment to your relationship.

However, there are certain actions one spouse can take in their efforts to salvage their relationship.

For example, think about how you react in particular scenarios. What can you do to respond with more empathy, love, and comprehending your partner?

It can seem like a substantial weight to carry, so make sure to take note of this factor when you’re the only one happy to put in the work.

How do I know if my marriage is worth saving?

When both partners are willing and able to do whatever it takes, that’s a terrific sign that a marital relationship deserves conserving. Obviously, not all couples are the same, and neither are marriages.

Because of fear from dealing with the truth of a separation or divorce, regreting about a stopped working marital relationship, many couples struggle to answer this concern.

A marriage is worth conserving if your relationship is not hazardous, trust can be restored, you share the same values after all this time, and still have the utmost respect for one another.

When you fell in love, it might have seemed like this was the glue holding you together. It goes much deeper than just being in love, because love alone can not repair a relationship. How to save your marriage when you feel hopeless is entirely up to you at least to try.

Can every marriage be saved?

With a divorce rate in between 40-50 percent, it’s clear that not every marriage can be saved. However a lot of marriages can.

Due to the fact that every couple is different and has their own set of concerns in their marriage, it comes down to the reasons you want to fix your relationship in the first place. Are you having trouble interacting? Does your spouse’s household come between you? Is your partner fast to criticize?

These are all examples of situations that, basically, can be resolved together.

There are some scenarios that make complex things, like a partner with an addiction, a partner who cheated and broke trust, or a partner with mental disease.

Can bad marriages be saved?

If a marriage is harmful, or physically or mentally violent, pay attention: this was never ever a relationship that could be saved. In fact, experiencing abuse or harmful behavior in your relationship must point you towards the exit door.

Hazardous or violent relationships aren’t just bad, they are hazardous– to you, to your children, and to your future.

As for whether a marriage can be saved, initially, ask yourself why you believe your marriage is bad. Is it due to the fact that you and your partner battle often? Do you have resentment towards your spouse? Do you hate some of your partner’s bad behaviors?

While none of those necessarily indicate a “bad” marriage, they are certainly elements of a relationship that couples can resolve.

Now let’s look at how to save your marriage when you feel hopeless.

1. Make a list of all the issues you argue or feel hopeless about.

Anger does not mean it’s time for a fight. Despondence does not suggest you ought to just give up on saving your marriage and get divorced. Anger and despondence do show that there’s a problem, a bump on your marriage path.

So, begin by asking yourself, “What do I feel angry or hopeless about?”

Draw up a list of all the problems you have been arguing about or giving up on. Include on your list the concerns about your partner along with the ones that aggravate and frustrate you.

2. Shift the focus back to you.

Notice that when you feel angry, your focus will tend to be on your partner, on what she or he does or does not do that irritates you. This 2nd action needs a shift in focus, from focusing outside on your partner to focusing inward by yourself issues and desires.

Circle back to your list, asking yourself, “With regard to this issue, what do I desire?” or, “What is my issue?”

Make sure you aren’t discussing what you desire your partner to do in a different way. If you have actually been writing “I desire them to …” you have yet to shift your focus. List just expressions that begin with, “I want to …”.

For example, composing, “I want them to stop being so untidy and to clean up after themselves” concentrates on your partner. Composing, “I want to find a way to make the areas I hang around in, like the cooking area and our living room, to be more neat and orderly” focuses on yourself.

Attempts to change your partner only invite defensiveness. That strategy will get you nowhere.

Rather, utilize your energy to figure out what you want and then what you might do differently to get it, becoming “self-indulgent” in the very best possible sense. When partners look at what they may do differently to get what they desire, they make progress towards conserving the relationship.

You can likewise utilize envisioning methods you can use to assist you with carrying out these first two actions. Visualizing enables you, by closing your eyes, to see more deeply into your subconscious ideas and understandings.

This video highlights initially how to use envisioning to identify the scenarios that have been producing your feelings of anger and/or or hopelessness (i.e., anxiety). Envisioning then can assist you to clarify how, without altering the other individual, you might discover better ways to get what you want.

3. Cut out the negativity.

The negative muck you offer each other is totally unhelpful.

Unfavorable remarks to each other only taint a favorable relationship. No more criticism, complaints, blame, accusations, anger, sarcasm, digs or snide remarks. No more raised voices or anger escalations either. Stay in the calm zone.

Exit an argument early and often if either of you start to get heated. Cool down so that when you re-engage, you only talk calmly and cooperatively.

Marriage researcher scientist John Gottman has found that marriages generally make it through if the ratio of excellent to bad interactions is five positive for every one negative.

However do you wish to make it through, or do you want to flourish? If prospering is your goal, go for a ratio of a million to one. That indicates do not sling mud.

4. Express your concerns constructively and make decisions cooperatively.

A basic method to remain useful in delicate conversations is to select from the following trio of possible sentence beginners:

” I feel …”. ” My concern is …”. ” I wish to …”. Comprehending each other’s concerns is important for the two of you to begin doing what I call that the win-win waltz.

The goal of the win-win waltz is to reach solutions that please you both. No more intending to get your way. Aim instead for both of you to feel comfortable with your strategy.

To do the win-win waltz, notice you have differences, which probably will become evident because you are starting to argue or to feel hopeless. Express your underlying issues. Inquire about and list to your partner’s concerns.

Produce a strategy of action responsive to the issues of both of you.

5. Get rid of the 3 “As” that mess up marriages.

Affairs, addictions, and excessive anger– you don’t have to read recommendations from relationship specialists to know that these are relationship deal-breakers. They are out-of-bounds in a healthy marital relationship.

If you are enjoying one of these self-defeating and relationship-destroying routines, get the habit out of your life. If your spouse is the one with the issue, trying to find out how to conserve the marriage may be an error.

Either build a brand-new type of marriage where these do not happen, or end the marriage.

6. Drastically increase the positive energy you share with your partner.

Smile more; hug more; have more sex; be more pleased; spend more time home on the things you like about each other; help each other out more; praise each other more; laugh more; agree more; do more fun things together.

The very best things in life truly are free. The more positives you offer, the more you’ll get.

7. Return to the basics.

Research study up on the skills required for an effective marriage.

You’ll discover that your anger and despondence fade, assisting you change your marriage a loving Would you expect to drive a car without very first taking chauffeur’s ed? Find books and marriage education courses to find out the communication and dispute resolution abilities for marriage collaboration. success.

I hope you have taken a thing or two from this article on how to save your marriage when you feel hopeless.