#it was a pretty low-key rampage all things considered

[victorluvsalice]

And when they did, Alice was in full rampage mode! ...On the edges of the lot, so Smiler kept busy by befriending a bunny. XD Or trying to, anyway -- Clover wasn’t up for much conversation, and Smiler’s attempt at a present was received poorly. Smiler really doesn’t seem to have much luck befriending the animals around here, do they? Poor not-guy. . .

At least they have better luck with the specters! I noticed that the unique yellow “nerd glasses” one was bopping around, so while Alice ran around the outside of the lot, howling and scavenging the ground, Smiler made the little blob a drink and offered it. The specter’s dialogue box indicated they were unimpressed, but their gift said otherwise -- that glowy thing right there is a soul scrap! A wonderful thing that, if consumed by a Sim who has offered part of their soul to a specter, will relieve their spiritual aches and bring their age back down to what it should be (as giving up some of your soul does indeed age you). A good thing to have on hand should Victor or Alice be called to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Anyway -- while Smiler got their drinks on, Victor finished up his first flower arrangement (not great quality, but thanks to his garden, the damn thing was free to make, so pure profit no matter what there!) and made himself a nice dinner of steak tartare while Alice continued rampaging. Apparently she lightly spooked Victor while they were passing on the stairs there, and got a sad sentiment about scaring the ones she loves, aww. :( Even if I think it’s kind of ridiculous how she got it (Victor’s lip barely quivered), it does make sense for her. Fortunately, as the night waned on, she was able to put her new power to good use and regain control of herself, yay. No more spooking the boyfriend or -- well, the metamour was entirely enthusiastic about her werewolfing about before going in to mop slime creatures, so. . . XD

And so we end this episode with Alice making and fully enjoying some beef wellington now that they’ve got some proper food. Poor girl’s been through a lot this night, after all. Next time -- small house upgrade, Smiler’s final day of college, Victor practicing more magic, and Alice getting some werewolf advice from the woman who turned her! See you then!

#sims 4 #the lazy save #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler always #the smiler #poor Alice she barely featured in this update #hadn't realized I hadn't taken that many pics of her #I promise you'll get more picture time in future updates #just you were so busy rampaging around! #and yes one lip quiver on the stairs was enough to spark Alice's guilt #you never even touched him Alice #don't be sad :( #it was a pretty low-key rampage all things considered #having a big farm in the middle of Henford means it's really easy to keep werewolves busy #just running to and fro #much worse ways to spend a full moon I think you'll agree #queued

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 109

Tournament of Power Spirit Bomb EXPLAINED?!

This is the episode where Goku finally fights Jiren, but he’s still in the middle of a fight with Ribrianne.  I kind of forgot they went at it this long, probably because there was no clear winner and they wound up switching to different opponents.  It rules, though, mainly because it suits the Ribrianne/Vegeta rivalry that exists in my head.  Every second Ribiranne stands up to Goku is more credibility towards a showdown with Vegeta. 

The only gripe I have with Goku vs. Ribrianne is that Goku’s a little too accepting of her gimmick, but he also doesn’t understand it either.  I prefer Vegeta’s outright contempt.  For example, Brianne performs a second transformation in this episode, becoming Super Ribrianne, which is just Ribrianne with energy wings and an energy bow.  I guess I shouldn’t knock it, since it is pretty handy in a tournament where ki-based flight is impossible, but I would have liked her to change color or get bigger or something.  Anyway, Goku’s just impressed that she got stronger, and confused because all her attacks look like cartoon hearts and she won’t shut up about love and passion.  Her act demands a Vegeta to throw cold water on her parade.

Their interactions are still great, though.  For instance, Ribrianne tells him that she pans to use the Super Dragon Balls to be made into a goddess.  Can you guess what kind of god she wants to be?  If you said “A Goddess of Love”, then congratulations, you understand Universe 2.  Goku replies that he hasn’t even considered what he’d wish for, and then says he might wish for a supremely powerful fighter to challenge him.  What, is Beerus too easy for him now?  Ribrianne tells him his wish is already granted because she’s the powerful fighter he had in mind. 

That’s what makes Ribrianne so badass.  I think a lot of her critics are put off by the way she breaks the genre, doing shonen action stuff with a magical girl style.  And it’s a little frustrating to try to understand her, because everything she says is about love and maidens and romance and shit.  I sort of wonder if she’s just using “love” as a catch-all term for... well, everything else.  She doesn’t say “train to get stronger”, she says “love to get more maidenly” or something.  And it means the same thing, but she makes it sound like it’s a whole other thing. 

But at the end of the day, she’s shooting exploding hearts at Goku and slamming him into walls and just fighting like nobody’s business out there.  She’s like Orange Cassidy, doing awesome wrestling matches but with blank expressions and a low-key atttiude.  The action’s the same, but the presentation is so unusual that you either like it or you hate it.  Well I like it.

Anyway, while I’ve been writing all this, Ribrianne blasted him good, leaving a heart-shaped crater where Goku used to be. 

Then she Chungus poses for dominance.  “That’ll hold him all wight.  Huhuhuhuhu!”

GOKU KICK!  Don’t get it twisted, lady.  Ribrianne kicks ass, but Goku’s nothin’ to fuck with.  I had to rewind the video and play this scene again at half-speed to get this screenshot, and it was well-worth it.  These two are awesome.

So Ribrianne rolls across the stage and smack dab into Jiren. 

She speculates that Jiren has “fallen” for her “too.”  Wait, does she think all of her opponents are in love with her?  Or is this just how she describes fighting?  Let it go, Duhragonball.  Don’t get pulled into her world.

Anyway, she runs and hides, and warns Jiren that if he doesn’t declare his intentions toward her, she’ll lose interest and ignore him, i.e. run off to somewhere safer.

Jiren and Goku see each other now, and from the bleachers, Belmod, the God of Destruction for Universe 11, contacts Jiren telepathically with instructions.  Up to now, he’s had Jiren conserving his strength, using it only when absolutely necessary, like when he stoped Kale’s rampage, or rescued Dyspo from Maji Kayo.  But now, Belmod wants him to stop holding back, and his first target is to be Goku. 

So Jiren starts to power up, and everyone can feel it.  It’s like a change in the air.  Wait, can this goofy robot feel it?  Why is Vegeta having any trouble with that thing?  It looks like shit.

So Goku decides it’s time to see what Jiren can do, and he unloads with Kamehameha.  He’s still in base mode, but it says a lot that he opened with this.  But Jiren’s power is so intense that it creates this barrier around him.  I can’t remember if this is air currents or just ki.  The point is he’s gonzo tough.

Undaunted, Goku ramps up to Super Saiyan, but his punches and kicks do nothing.

As always, Super Saiyan 2 Goku looks rad as hell, but it doesn’t faze Jiren. 

On the bleachers, Shin wonders why Goku isn’t using Super Saiyan Blue already.  Could it be that he isn’t taking Jiren seriously?  But Krillin, Tien, and Roshi explain that it’s quite the opposite.  Goku wants to get a handle on Jiren’s powers first, and figure out his own strengths and weaknesses before committing to the fight.  Once Goku has the lay of the land, then he’ll go all out, so he can use his power with maximum efficacy.  One could also argue that this is also why Jiren is just standing there letting Goku do this.  He wants to see what Goku can do, and he’s at a level where he can just stand still with his guard down while he finds out.

Goku skips SSJ3 and goes to Super Saiyan God, and this is enough that Jiren has to move to block Goku’s strikes.  So that’s something at least.

But the fight doesn’t really get going until Goku uses Super Saiyan Blue, and it’s pretty one-sided.  Goku and fight Jiren, but he can’t hit him.  Even stacking Kaio-ken on top of Blue seems to make no difference.

At last, Jiren decides he’s seen enough, and blasts Goku through a big chunk of the stage and out of the ring. 

Well, that was anticlimactic.  The tournament’s not even half finished, and they just blew off the big dream match they set up.  Jiren turns to handle his next order of business...

Oh fuck yeah.

Goku jumps back on the stage and he’s like “Hey!  Where you think you’re going?!”

This right here, this is why.  There’s a vocal contingent of fans who get fed up with Goku always taking center stage.  I can sympathize, up to a point, because I do enjoy a lot of the other characters, and sometimes it’s frustrating that they don’t get more time to shine.  And Dragon Ball GT pretty much serves as a 64-episode testament to the dangers of over-relying on Goku to carry a show.   Goku is not an island unto himself.  Without his friends and enemies, he’s just a kid running around in the woods.

But he’s still the star of the show, and moments like these demonstrate why that is.  This guy was already in one fight with Brianne this episode, then he stepped to Jiren and got his shit wrecked, and he’s already looking for more.  His only plan is to keep trying, but he’s not going to lose, and he’s not going to run off to find an easier opponent.  He wanted Jiren from the start, and now he’s got Jiren, and he ain’t letting go. 

I love Vegeta and Gohan, but when the going gets tough for those guys, they start getting in their own head.  This is usually the moment where Vegeta cries over how he’s losing, even though he trained so hard and he’s the PRINSOVOL SAIYANS.  This is usually where Gohan starts to falter, and worry about how he’s letting everyone down, or how he’s making that mistake Piccolo kept warning him about. 

But with Goku, he muscles back up and says “round 2, bitch, let’s go.” 

Speaking of round 2, Jiren wins that one too.  He beats Goku down like it’s easy. 

Tien and Krillin figure Goku could still try again if he increased to Super Saiyan Blue/Kaio-ken x20.  But Whis informs him that Goku already had that idea, and this was what he just tried to do a second ago.  So what does that leave?

Goku admits to Jiren that he’s no match for him at his full power, but he still thinks he learned enough about Jiren’s power to try one more move he’s been keeping in reserve. 

And so he powers down and starts assembling a Spirit Bomb on the stage.  Okay, so let’s talk about this.

This always struck me as a really dumb idea for this arc, because the last time we saw the Spirit Bomb used, it was when Goku fired one at Majin Buu, and he needed the combined power of everyone on Earth (plus some additional characers in space) to pull it off.  Even Goku didn’t think it could work, until Vegeta suggested that they ask the Earthlings to send as much of their energy as possible, voluntarily. 

The problem here is that Jiren is clearly stronger than Kid Buu, and there’s a lot fewer people here for Goku to gather energy from.  There were never more than 120 people in the Null Realm for the Tournament of Power.  A lot of them were erased from existence, and most of the rest want Goku to lose this battle.  So really, all Goku has to work with is the energy from his nine teammates. 

Well, eight of them, since Vegeta refuses to participate. 

Krillin, Tien, and Roshi do lend some power, despite their being eliminated.  I guess this is legal, since no one stops them.  But I don’t see the Kais or Beerus contributing, so that may be a bridge too far for them.

And Jiren is fine just standing there waiting for Goku to finish his attack.  Like I said, he wants to see what Goku can do, just as much as Goku wants to see what Jiren’s capable of.  If Goku can actually win with this Spirit Bomb, then Jiren wants to test himself against it.   Otherwise, U11′s strategy is to demoralize the other figthers by taking down an ace like Goku and making it clear that no one can hold a candle to Jiren.  So a failed Spirit Bomb plays right into their hands.  

Ribrianne, however, isn’t above shooting Goku while he’s preparing.  Maybe she wants some revenge for U7 interrupting her transformation, but Vegeta spoils her shot and runs her off.

But back to the Spirit Bomb.  There’s no doubt that it’s powerful.  The eight guys Goku used to make it are no slouches, after all.  And the gods in the crowd recognize this as a dangerous attack.  Even Khai and Belmod are concerned, and they’ve been confident about their victory ever since Jiren was confirmed for their team. 

But how could this possibly stop Jiren when a bomb this size couldn’t stop Kid Buu?   It always bugged me, but when I watched this episode today, I think I finally got a clue.  It’s less about the bomb itself, and more about the Spirit Bomb technique. 

Let’s look back at the Spirit Bomb Goku used against Kid Buu.  Once he actually launched the thing, it auto targeted straight at Buu, just like it followed Frieza on Namek.  But Buu was able to push it back, although this took a lot of effort, even for him, and Goku was still able to offer some resistance, despite being exhausted.  I mean, it was a dangerous predicament, but Goku held out for a while before he started to get overwhelmed.

Then they wished for Porunga to restore Goku’s strength, and he was able to give the Spirit Bomb the push it needed to overcome Buu.  But Goku did this as a Super Saiyan 1, even after Buu had overpowered him before when he was a Super Saiyan 3. 

The point here is that the technique clearly gives the user some sort of advantage over the target.  I mean, in Frieza’s case, Goku wasn’t even pushing that Spirit Bomb, and Frieza still couldn’t stop it.  So there’s some something about the Spirit Bomb technique that gives the bomb a powerful forward momentum towards it target, and the user can add their own power to give it an extra boost, as we saw Goku do with Kid Buu. 

So it’s got less to do with the size of the Spirit Bomb, but the fact that Goku’s pushing any Spirit Bomb at Jiren.  His own strength wasn’t enough, so he’s trying to use the Spirit Bomb as a force multiplier. And since he’s pushing it at Super Saiyan Blue 20x Kai-Ken, this one is probably bearing down on Jiren with more force than the one Goku threw at Kid Buu. 

The bomb itself is smaller, but that’s probably not a concern, because Goku’s not trying to kill Jiren, after all.  He’d get disqualified.  Also, even if Goku wanted to murder Jiren, he might not need a Spirit Bomb as big as the one he threw at Kid Buu, since the purpose of that one was to destroy all of Buu’s cells in one enormous attack, to prevent him from regenerating.   This more intimate “party of eight” Spirit Bomb might be more than enough to knock out a guy who can’t grow back his whole body.

And yet, Jiren’s still one strong dude, so he pushes the bomb back in spite of everything I said.  I never said it would work, I’m just trying to explain how Goku thought it was a good idea to try this.  And it was worth a try, although Goku may not feel so sure about it in the moment...

But like the song says, you gotta “Get All You Can Take.”

#dragon ball #dragon ball super #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #tournament of power

[emersonfreepress]

What would the ro's be like in a zombie au?

whyyyyy anon whyyy. I'm actually gonna write this in like.. slightly different terms, you'll see. any time I even briefly think of a zombie au I'm just like

I WANNA WRITE IT SO BADDD

i don't even allow myself to entertain it for very long because getting into that would be the worst thing ever for my productivity with the alpha omg 😂😂 so I'll put like the ideas that pop into my head for writing a zombie au, to work some of that creative frustration out 😆

so in this very general, absolutely noncommittal idea of mine, the main cast are older and the setting is in and around a civilian settlement led by the Emersons.

and as a refresher, i like my zombie aus to have fast zombies and fast infections ^ ^ 28 Days Later/Train to Busan style babyyyy, we the Sprinting Dead up in this bitch 😆

= = =

Gabe is, predictably, looking for what's left of his family. Following rumors of safe havens and bunkers and such. Starts the story as someone who tries to be diplomatic, if not outright pacifist, but as times get tougher and resources dwindle, he'd become one of the most cutthroat motherfuckers in the wasteland. Low-key though, low-key. People won't trust you if they know you’re capable of throwing them to a horde for strategic reasons. Like if Rick turned into Shane (for those of us familiar with early Walking Dead--idk did that happen eventually? i gave up before we even met Negan lol). The end justifies the means :) Damn, I can legit see Gabe going full evil in a zombie au omg 😂😂 i want to write it so fucking bad

Preferred weapon for zed encounters: rifle

Preferred weapon for human encounters: handgun

Faith in humanity: fucking zero

Zombie kill count: plenty; the type to kill every zombie he has spare ammo and time for

Human kill policy: When it benefits him or the people he’s looking after

Survival rating: B+; he can make it out of some pretty dire situations through sheer will to live and ruthlessness

- - -

Kile has arrived--clearly, this is the timeline they belong in. They start their journey with Gabe (and their doggo) and stick to him like glue, even reluctantly so when Gabe eventually has them join the settlement. This can only go one way, though: Kile's just too much of a wildcard for the group and hates being told what to do. (Especially now that society has fallen, wtf) They'd make their exit alone and unannounced aside from a brief head’s up to Gabe. It's slightly bittersweet, but also? They get to loot and hunt and sneak around and kill fucking zombies, all by themself. Kile is a loner, a hiker, and a hunter to begin with so they do beyond fine on their own. However, once the inevitable violent human threat comes for the settlement, Gabe is sent out to convince Kile to come out of isolation, just this once please, to be the camp’s super soldier help defend the camp.

Zed weapon: p much anything they can get their hands on, ranged or melee, blunt or sharp, w/e; improvised weapons

Human weapon: hunting knife

Faith in humanity: never had any to begin with

Zombie kill count: lol infinite?? any zed they come across is double-dead if they have the time for it

Human kill policy: at Gabe’s direction or when provoked enough/threatened

Survival rating: A-; they trust no one, live in isolation, and prioritize survival above all else. only reason it’s not higher is they would risk their life for Gabe or their furbaby and also... their own Rambo-esque antics def attracts the occasional horde lmao

- - -

Jack... this poor boy, he doesn't deserve a zombie au 😂 He's one of those people that first believes zombies are just sick people, too squeamish to keep up with TV news coverage at the onset and too upset to consider anything else. He'd hunker down at home, staying holed up even while his neighbors evacuated, and probably be discovered while the main group is looting the same place as him. When people try to tell him the real state of the world, he'd be in denial until he absolutely couldn't be anymore. idk, probably after Kile shooting a bunch of non-lethal holes thru a zombie to make a point (attracting more in the process lol).

He’d almost immediately join the medical team at the settlement and as word spreads about how easy he is to talk to, he quickly becomes the literal on-site therapist. It's a role he embraces but... idk if it's an emotional burden he can bear. He's very emotionally resilient! But he ain't a professional lol imagine a whole settlement of traumatized zombie survivors seeking you out for counseling, yikes. He also can't say no to a person in need, so instead he quietly spirals into a very private depression while continuing to help others!!

Zed weapon: Oh gosh, do I really have to?

Human weapon: ...Kindness?

Faith in humanity: Unrealistically high

Zombie kill count: Single digit

Human kill policy: Not ever, unless completely unavoidable and to defend the defenseless

Survival rating: C...? idk, that feels generous. D+. To be protected at all costs!!

- - -

Jessie also had the initial reaction of hoping zombies could be saved, but she woke up from that dream swiftly. The science-minded person that she is, esp with her interest in biology, leaves her determined to find anybody who's got the intellect, expertise, and resources to start doing actual work toward a treatment, cure, vaccine—anything. Nothing would get her to finally unabashedly embrace her love of science (and innate leadership skills!!) faster than a zombie apocalypse! In fact, it’s thanks to her that the Emerson settlement’s got a small but growing team of scientists doing as much research as humanly possible to best educate the others on the outbreak and zombie behavior. Def no zombie experimentation going on though lol. ...Not yet, at least.

Zed weapon: rifle

Human weapon: rifle

Faith in humanity: High! We’ll find a solution! Don’t give up hope!

Zombie kill count: Double digits, but less than 30

Human kill policy: Only in unavoidable self-defense or defense of others

Survival rating: B! She has experience with ranged weapons, farming and gardening skills, first aid, camping experience, and a can-do attitude with a healthy dose of realism!

- - -

Rain remains cargo as I said in the last post about this 😆 They'd be very good for keeping clothes repaired and making useful modifications in the settlement, but their life up to this point has been very sheltered and privileged. We're talking somebody with a chauffeur and a personal chef before the outbreak! They would contribute to quality of life and homemaking efforts more than anything—an overlooked aspect of these scenarios tbh! After as many months of dragging their feet as possible and being nigh impossible to track down when you need them, they eventually become involved in meal planning and even help out with medical stuff if they're asked.

Zed weapon: how do you reload this thing again?

Human weapon: switchblade or other concealable sharp-pointy

Faith in humanity: Very low

Zombie kill count: 0! Can you believe it!

Human kill policy: Well if it’s you or me, of course I’m choosing me.

Survival rating: C. Being so tiny helps them find good hiding spots and their self-preservation is high enough to keep them from unnecessary risk-taking. Plus they're very stealthy! Self-defense is a major issue though, so hiding is always their best option.

- - -

Rupan/Rohan scouts for and leads scavenging missions and is Curt's right hand on the recruitment team. The two of them together are the perfect combo of diplomacy, debate, and deception--although R is more honorable about the last one and will only deceive for strategic reasons. When they aren’t looting and recruiting, they’re doing peacekeeping inside the settlement. Most social disputes end up getting brought to them for mediation and they’re pretty dang good at making and enforcing calls. One day they’ll wake up to realize they’ve basically become a sheriff and feel the need to puke their guts up and do something, anything, to reassure themself they’re still punk 😂

Zed weapon: SMG

Human weapon: shotgun

Faith in humanity: Believes in fundamental goodness but knows better than to trust first impressions

Zombie kill count: decent, more than 40; you won’t catch them having a field day tho, they’re trying to gtfo of most zed situations

Human kill policy: Violent threats have to be taken out. And they aren’t, at all, immune to a revenge rampage either...

Survival rating: B-. Can handle themself both with humans and zeds but is vulnerable to hostage situations and truly difficult sentimental/interpersonal decisions!

- - -

Vivian/Vincent manages inventory and stock and they run it so efficiently it’s scary! They're the perfect pick: a hawk-eyed tyrant and tattletale 😂 Despite constantly butting heads with just about everyone on every imaginable thing, they quickly become an important part of the inner circle of decision-makers for the settlement at large. Terrible at stealth, jumpy, and squeamish at the sight of blood and gore, they literally never go on missions unless they're 100% needed for their expertise on a supply run. (They would deny all of these shortcomings are that big a problem, meanwhile R is definitely acting as their bodyguard lol.) When they do tag along, they're prone to becoming the damsel in distress. Seriously, it happens near every fucking time. It's like they just attract only the most improbable and perilous zombie attacks and hostage situations 😆

Zed weapon: shotgun

Human weapon: handgun

Faith in humanity: Medium; seeing people work together at the settlement helps restore it a bit

Zombie kill count: Double digits, under 25

Human kill policy: Violent threats have to be taken out. Well, no, not by me! Get one of the ruffians to do it!

Survival rating: C-. They’d be higher if they weren’t such natural zombie bait.

- - -

Heidi is running the settlement, well-organized to the degree of actually managing to bring bureaucracy to a post-zombie apocalypse settlement 😂 People are free to come and go, but getting in if you don't live there requires trading something of value (fuel, med supplies, food, etc), temporary surrender and registry of firearms and explosives, and you gotta GTFO at the time and date specified upon entry! You can stay long-term if you contribute to the community in a tangible way—and each person admitted is approved by Heidi personally. Yes, every individual. No, she has no free time. And she is not known to be lenient with rule breakers—you want rule bending, you’ll have to go to Curt for that. People kind of hate her, but it can't be denied that she runs a tight ship. She kind of throws herself into the work to avoid the harsher reality at large and hasn't left the settlement in a long time. She's out of touch with how bad things have gotten in the wastes, but she knows better than to take reports at anything less than face value--even when she's skeptical.

Zed weapon: rifle

Human weapon: handgun; dagger

Faith in humanity: Medium. It fluctuates, honestly

Zombie kill count: Double digits, less than 20

Human kill policy: Violent threats must be taken out if they can’t be reasoned with. Spare those who surrender, eradicate those who don't, keep an eye on the newbies. Not tryin’ to nurse any vendettas around here lol

Survival rating: B. She's good with a firearm, masterful at persuasion, and savvy enough to calculate risks appropriately. Also far tougher than her prim exterior and demeanor suggests!

- - -

Curt leads the recruitment and reconnaissance teams! When a new person or group shows up in the area, Curt's the one who stalks watches them, decides if they're worth approaching, and if they should be approached with an invitation, a simple acknowledgment/announcement of their presence, or an outright armed warning to leave the area. He also keeps tabs on morale and general confidence inside the settlement, alongside R. When he isn’t leading those efforts, though, he’s flirting with settlers and squirreling his way out of manual labor and other chores. He’s also secretly growing weed at his place--don’t tell Heidi or Vi ‘cause they’ll wanna yell at him and ration it UGH.

Zed weapon: SMG, explosives

Human weapon: handgun, dagger

Faith in humanity: Pft, sorry, what now?

Zombie kill count: ...way more than you’d expect

Human kill policy: I don’t start confrontations, but I sure as fuck end them.

Survival rating: A! He’s good at playing hapless idiot when it suits him to be underestimated, good with firearms, and capable of being ruthless and decisive in life or death situations! Plus he has no qualms about ditching the settlement if he decides it’s not working out for him. Just don’t tell Heidi lol

#the rest are under the cuuuut #had to stop myself from writing too much SEVERAL times #love me a zombie apocalypse #lovely anon #answered #ROs #whoops got carried away lol #spent most of my work day finally finishing this ask because VIVA PROCRASTINATION #someone help ._. #phew #feels good to finally get it out of my system tho #now I can promptly never ever write it 😂 #AUs #fave #scenarios

[felswritingfire]

Your know zebra like the big titty mad man but like low-key himbo and could suffocate me in his tiddys yes that one thanks

I KNOW WHO THIS IS AND THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME MY LIFE-

since you didn’t specify, I just went with some general stuff uwu

General Zebra 

Idk if they ever state this in the manga/anime but he’s a big fan of grilled stuff, especially BBQ??? WHOOOOOOO- His favorite condamate hands down

He’s very into fashion and I like to imagine that he influenced Sunny and his interest in it as well

His favorite item of clothing is his leather jacket

Once in a while he’ll stitch up his mouth, and he’ll just say it’s for the hell of it but he actually hopes that it chills people out when they’re around him because…. He gets insecure too

That’s not to say that he’s a really insecure dude, he’s actually quite comfortable with himself and actively does not give a shit about what other people think 

He’s also a chill when he’s with people that he really like, like, people who aren’t his brothers, but people who are similar to Komatsu in that they don’t have Gourmet Cells

Contrary to popular believe, he can be gentle when he wants be 

He can also be a chatter bug when he’s into the conversations, not in the sense that he talks a lot, he’s just an active participant in the conversation and is animated in his movements when he is talking

Boy talks with his hands when he’s a place that he can relax; otherwise he’s all puffed and stiff if he’s in a place where he doesn't know anyone

When he’s home alone, he usually wears a pair of name brand sweats and nothing else since he’s like a big ol’ lion and he’ll lounge around on his fucking ✨LEATHER COUCH✨

Though he loves to lounge, he’s also really into trying new food and will actively try new recipes- he actually knows how to make some good ass dishes- he just likes someone else cooking more

He’s really knowledgeable about animals- like, super knowledgeable; if he wanted and if he was determined enough, he could be a whole ass Zoologist, but naw, he’s just here for the food and adventure and honestly?? What a mood

But he had to know a lot since he landed in jail because he took out a whole bunch of invasive species that were fucking up the ecosystem- like, he isn’t stupid, and I will die on this hill

When he was a little baby man, he was really protective of his little brothers- what happened? They grew up and became a pain in his ass (he still watches out for them in his rough ways)

Starting friendship with Zebra is honestly the most rewarding yet nerve wracking thing because it’s like trying to befriend a giant ass beast that you can’t read at all- which you really can’t, because the man can be a stone wall when he wants

You have to be an honest person to even be considered his friend- he doesn’t put up with any lying or two faced bullshit, that’s just how Zebra is 

If you are his friend tho, he’ll always be willing to lend an ear to you if you need someone who’s willing to listen 

He might throw in some advice here and there too

He’ll also be there to comfort you if you need it; he’ll even pick you up and cradle you, placing your head in the crook of his neck as he leans back and pats your back while you cry into him 

He’s really soft on his friends and family

That doesn’t mean that he won’t tease the shit out of you

Truly, the truest form of lovingly bullying your friends

He’ll gruffly apologize if he goes too far BUT he very rarely does that because he’s got those magic ears of his so he can tell when you’re getting angry/sad, then he’ll start to steer the teasing somewhere else

Relationship with Zebra

Zebra is a gruff lover through and through, it’s just in his personality, but he’s a little sweeter to you than he is to anyone else

He’ll make sure that your taken care of and protected, especially if you’re his combo and he’s taking you with him on his adventures 

He’s very observant of your moods; he’s actually ridiculously in tune with you???? It’s kinda freaky how he can read you like an open book

He’s the literal definition of “Babe is on her period, so am I. UterUS!” Even if you don’t identify as a lady or have the ability to have a menstrual cycle- it’s still uterUS-

What I’m trying to get at is that he’s a mega Ride-or-die bitch 

Like, you have to do some atrocious shit to get him to fucking do a 180 on your ass- or just cheat on him, or lie to him (please don’t do either of those things, it takes so much for him to become attached to people, please, cherish him-)

He’ll be MEGA ANGY THEN

But not like his usual angry, like, where he gets pissed and goes on a rampage; this angry isn’t loud- his anger is full of sadness and betrayal and he wouldn’t say anything to you, he’d simply look at you with these eyes full of emotion and then turn and leave

But get fucked because the other three aren’t that chill and Komatsu may not punch the fuck out of you, but you really will wish he would because he’d talk to you like a disappointed mother and it is the worst feeling in the world- (also I will come for your kneecaps, bro, DON’T TEST ME)

ANYWAY, OFF OF THAT TOPIC-

You know how I mentioned that Zebra likes to cook? Fucking consider it a date, because he’ll actively add you into the kitchen with him, even if it’s just him cooking and you sitting there being cute while you chatter away 

His love language is sharing his food, so, if he offers you food- you take it and you cling to that knowledge that you’re really one of the most important people to him 

UM, HE WILL SIT YOU ON HIS LAP, DEADASS

You will never sit in a chair again if he’s there; it’s an easy way to say you’re taken and to keep you close, so he kinda lives for it 

He’ll flaunt you to his brothers with zero hesitation- he adores you and they have to put up with his roundabout way of showing it 

Toriko and Coco don’t really care- They’re all actually really happy for him in general- but, that doesn’t mean Toriko won’t still tease him about it (but he only does that once in a while because Toriko has to be in the mood to throw down because, of course, this is Zebra we’re talking about). Sunny on the other hand complains about it because, “oh MY GOD, THIS IS THE SIXTH TIME YOU’VE BROUGHT THEM UP- SHUT THE FUCK UP-”

Which usually instigates petty sibling arguments between them, which are actually really entertaining??? You gotta intervene at some point because Zebra will whole ass chuck Sunny into the sun if he doesn’t watch it

Very soft with cuddles???? He’s like a giant (deadly) cat who likes to bask in your presence

His favorite position to cuddle you is with his head on your chest so he can listen to your heart. There’s just something about knowing that your a tangible person who genuinely loves him and wants to actively be in his presence that gets him all types of mushy 

Can you say a protective boi??? Because he is very much a protective baby

If anyone tries to hurt you for any reason, they’re dead. In very gruesome way too- I wouldn’t put it past him to grab someone and tear them limb from limb if he really wanted to 

He’s also has a bit of a jealous streak, but he’s pretty quiet about it

BUT, that doesn’t mean that he’ll be opposed to looming behind you and glowering at the person (they have to have pretty big balls in the first place to even try and approach you tbh)- which usually does the trick pretty quick

Please smooch him on the forehead and tell him that you love him- it’s a genuine anxiety of his that you’re going to leave him one day for someone who isn’t, you know, seen as a real ass walking disaster on the news cast so you can pursue an actual normal life.

Sometimes he just need to hear you say you love him to put him at ease, and that’s the tea, sis

To make a long story fucking short, I love him and he’s a whole sweet tart- he’s just a little burnt around the edges- please, I love him, please-

#toriko #zebra #sfw #x reader #gender neutral reader #toriko imagine #I FUCKING #LOVE ZEBRA #SO FUCKING MUCH #HE'S MY FAVORITE BOI #10/10 ONE OF MY COMFORT CHARACTERS

[jess-rewatches-prodigalson]

Bad Manners (S2, E5)

My time-stamped thoughts for this episode. As always I reference Malcolm’s mental health. A lot. So if that’s going to be a trigger for you, don’t keep reading.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

0:35 - Martin totally thought John Watkins abducted and killed Ainsley. Mark my words. 

0:44 - Holy. Shit. Ainsley is FIVE years old (or younger) here right? A five year old with that much determination?!?! She literally stayed silent in that clock for probably hours......and no one was concerned about this kid when Martin was arrested because...?

1:09 - Anyone else impressed with Malcolm’s aim here? Just me?

1:20 - Gil and Malcolm talking about sleep and murder is so freaking sweet. <3 Honestly, they’re acting like friends instead of co-workers and it warms my cold dead heart. 

1:29 - Does Gil become a grumpy old man when he doesn’t get 8 hours sleep? I really want to know now. 

1:39 - OMG. Gil pointing at Ainsley here is hilarious. He’s totally acting like some weird mix of a stern pissed off high-school teacher, and a step-dad trying to discipline an unruly teen. hahaha AND MALCOLM’S FACE. Look how done Malcolm is. He looks so so tired, sad, and exasperated. 

1:44 - Wow. Girl power. Ainsley has those camera guys bending to her will. I honestly would’ve thought they would just read the situation and turn the camera off themselves. 

1:47 - “It’s not a game.” Yikes. I have thoughts about this:

Malcolm is right - it’s not a game. 

Malcolm is a bit of a hypocrite for saying that to Ainsley. Although, to his credit even when Malcolm is excited/inappropriately happy about murder it’s always pretty clear that he thinks murder is wrong, and that he has sympathy for the victims and their families. 

Ainsley does not have that same sympathy for the victims. That much is clear later in this episode. 

Pretty sure the writers are trying to turn Ainsley into a serial killer this season. 

2:13 - “You know I like to share these things with my friends.” .....does this mean Malcolm thinks Dani and JT are his friends now? Last I checked (Ep 1x05) Malcolm didn’t have friends. This absolutely melts my heart. <3 I’m honestly so happy that Malcolm considers someone other than Gil to be his friend.

2:18 - “We lost Dani to vice.” .....What is vice? AND WHAT IS THE REAL LIFE REASON THAT DANI WASN’T IN THIS EPISODE?!? 

2:19 - Edrisa has a medical degree right? She has to know how dangerous consuming that much caffeine is right? Plus aren’t energy drinks super dangerous if you drink a lot of them (or maybe that’s just what adults in my neighbourhood told kids)?

2:30 - Edrisa SHINES in this episode. She’s so funny and awkward and I just love her. 

2:36 - hahaha Gil has adopted the whole team. Look at him throwing the “Dad warning stare” at Edrisa. 

3:31 - Why does Edrisa start bouncing around looking upset when Malcolm says, “rejection is a powerful motivator”?!?! Has she recently been broken up with or something? Is this a reference to how she has a crush on Malcolm (who doesn’t reciprocate)? I WANT MORE INFORMATION.

3:47 - TWIZZLERS!!! <3 Damn I love how this tiny detail about Malcolm’s character keeps coming up. 

3:55 - Ainsley is on a rampage this episode. She’s so determined ...actually she’s acting a lot like Jessica (think girl in the box bracelet). However, unlike Jessica, Ainsley’s motives aren’t about justice or the safety of her loved ones.  Ainsley is chasing personal gain (career) with a side of (a subconscious?) need to be exposed to murder and her father’s twisted world. 

4:05 - This whole interaction between Ainsley and Malcolm is really interesting. Ainsley is knowingly manipulating Malcolm to get the answers she wants. We’ve seen her do it in 2x4 and 1x19. She knows her big brother would do anything for her. It makes sense, they’re five years apart and after the trauma they experienced as children Malcolm felt responsible to protect Ainsley. He never wants to disappoint Ainsley. Not a burden he should’ve had to deal with but I digress. PLUS Malcolm looks weary of Ainsley here. He knows what she’s doing. He’s scared that she’s turning to the dark side. But he still gives her the answers because if he doesn’t - that means something has changed. He thinks that would make Ainsley suspicious and then she might remember what happened to Endicott. He’s scared of and for Ainsley. 

4:32 - OKAY. I’ll say it. The thing that annoys me the most about this episode is that it suggests that Ainsley was a debutant when in 1x6 AINSLEY TELLS MARTIN SHE WAS NEVER A DEBUTANT. She went to etiquette school - I guess that doesn’t strictly mean she also did debutant balls but it sort of suggests it in the context of this episode? Did she actually graduate from the etiquette school (there was bullying, maybe she was expelled/dropped out similar to Malcolm and Remington?)?

4:59 - “No stabbies” OMG. How is this show not classified as a comedy?!? Istg I laugh harder watching this ‘drama’ then I do watching most of the shows that call themselves ‘comedies’.

5:35 - It’s honestly kind of amazing that Ainsley and Malcolm are as ‘sane’ as they are. They were raised by a stubborn predatory psychopath and a stubborn rich meddling socialite. They had no chance of normalcy. Look at the amount of pleasure Martin is currently getting by throwing his son under the bus with regards to Jessica. 

 5:45 - “No actually, I cleaned it up.”.....does this have a dual meaning? Did Martin do something to make Malcolm dispose of the body? We already know that Martin has tried some sort of conditioning on Malcolm (remember ‘C’mon boy!’ from 1x14? The stabbing?). What if Martin said some sort of trigger word to control Malcolm and coerced Malcolm into getting rid of the body? What if this isn’t the first time?

6:05 - Ainsley is a sociopath. I’m calling it again. I called it when I first watched Q&A (1x7) because the way she treated Malcolm was more than just selfish/careless. It was cruel and she didn’t feel any remorse for literally broadcasting her brother’s private health details on television. That is messed up. I honestly won’t be shocked if the writers make Ainsley a full blown serial killers (although I’m not sure I want that because I don’t know how Malcolm would remain the main character if the story goes in that direction?). 

6:12 - Poor Jessica. I honestly feel really bad for her. Sure, she’s a headstrong alcohol dependant crazy rich woman. She also has a good heart. She’s been dealt a pretty shitty hand when it comes to relationships (minus Gil but she ruined that because she’s a MORON) and now she’s terrified that her own children have become monsters and she blames herself. She definitely hasn’t been a perfect mother but I don’t think she’s to blame for Ainsley and Malcolm’s obsession with murder. If these kids had a different bio dad, they would probably just have a low-key drug problem or some other common rich kid baggage. 

6:15 - “You know that’s not how cancer works right?” LOL. hahahaha

6:33 - Martin kind of has a point. There’s no rehab for murder. That’s why he’s been in jail for 20 years and he still wants to kill people. In my opinion, given what we’ve seen of Ainsley’s personality: as soon as she fully remembers that night - she’s gone. She’ll go full serial killer and Jessica and Malcolm will lose her forever. 

6:40 - Jessica’s little jazz hand finger twinkle as she spins on her heel and leaves Martin kills me. It’s so extra. It’s so funny. And it’s sooo Jessica. 

6:47 - Damn. Martin is pissed. I’m worried. That’s murder-level rage. If he escapes ISTG Martin is going to try and kill Gil. For so many reasons 1) because he hates Gil, 2) it’ll hurt Jessica, and 3) killing Gil will eliminate his ‘Dad’ competition. 

6:54 - Edrisa on caffeine is AMAZING.

7:43 - I love Edrisa but her blatant, unreciprocated crush on Malcolm is honestly getting a little creepy. 

7:52 - Gil spent all last season drinking out of a Yankee’s mug. Doesn’t that mean he’s a baseball fan? Why doesn’t he know this pitcher guy?

7:56 - hahahaa “Where is JT?” Because obviously JT is the team sports fan. 

8:22 - Does Gil get nightmares about cases? He always seems really uncomfortable around the dead bodies. 

8:45 - “And suddenly I’m wide awake” SERIOUSLY - is anyone else laughing every 60 seconds when they watch this show? Is my sense of humour just super dark and messed up?

8:54 - YES. The liquorice is BACK.

9:00 - I love Malcolm talking to JT about his obsession with candy. I love how Malcolm doesn’t even hesitate before giving JT an honest answer. Malcolm is acting like JT’s annoying little brother and I am here for it. One thing I did notice though - Malcolm specifically mentions candy+dopamine but doesn’t mention his depression/anxiety. Processed sugar can be a short-term (unhealthy) way to boost your mood. It’s why some people eat their feelings. I really want more backstory about Malcolm with the lollipops and licorice though. 

9:19 - “But you didn’t do anything wrong.” Awwww Malcolm is so soft here. I love how much he genuinely cares about JT. <3 I love how JT is comfortable enough with Malcolm to give him an honest answer. <3 THEIR RELATIONSHIP HAS GONE THROUGH SUCH A GLOW UP. <3 

9:32 - “Like toy dolls?” hahaha the way Malcolm perked up here. All I could think was “SQUIRREL!” hahaha. 

9:41 - Malcolm is doing better than he has been the past few episodes? I mean he’s still suffering and he’s still in a terrible mental state. BUT he also seems happier? IDK maybe he’s just entered the more manic nervous energy stage of his emotions as opposed to the depressed and scared stage. 

9:49 - “Deep childhood trauma”. So we’re looking for a debutant killer with childhood trauma who is chasing perfection? Debutant = rich lady culture. Like Ainsley. AND Ainsley went to the same etiquette school as the first two victims. The writer’s wanted us to assume the killer was Ainsley for the first 15 mins of this episode right? I’m not the only one seeing it?

10:04 - “My sister went there too.” ....why is there something super attractive about the way that line was delivered?

10:08 - I’m so done with this absolute tom foolery. Why does the team keep splitting up into two teams - where one team is JUST MALCOLM. The one who is unarmed and technically a civilian?!? This makes no logical sense to me (except for plot).

10:25 - Was Martin just about to say, “Just like the old days”?!? Is Martin referring to Endicott? OR is Martin referring to something that Malcolm’s repressed from his childhood?

10:30 - “I always root for the bad guys.” .....finally some truth from Martin.

10:40 - Soooooo I guess Mr. David doesn’t know? I promise you Mr. David has suspicions though. How could he not?!?!

11:24 - “It was brutal for Ains.” Look at how sad Malcolm is! Ugh. This hurts so much. He clearly loves his sister so so much and what she’s done is slowly killing him. I honestly think that part of the reason Malcolm helped Ainsley dispose of the body is that Malcolm doesn’t want to loose his sister. His sister is one of the only good things he’s always been able to count on. If word gets around that she’s a killer - Malcolm’s fragile world gets shattered a little more and I don’t know if Malcolm can recover mentally from that. 

11:36 - “Teasing made her capable of...stuff.” C’MON. There’s no way Mr. David doesn’t know. 

11:45 - Sooo is Martin saying that he recognized that Ainsley was a sociopath when she was a small child? Or did she just respond to his (or John Watkins’) grooming much ‘better’ than Malcolm?

11:56 - “Because she’s her mother’s” Okay. So I see the point. I can see that Ainsley is driven and stubborn like Jessica. BUT it feels like Martin is suggesting that Jessica is capable of murder? Which - I honestly don’t think she is. If anything - Malcolm is more like Jessica than Ainsley is.

11:59 - There was a look in Martin’s eyes when he was comparing Ainsley to Jessica that really freaked me out. I can’t figure out why. It makes me wonder if Martin still somehow views Jessica as ‘his possession’ (he refers to her as his wife all the time but I always assumed that was just to get a rise out of people?). Martin’s dream from 2x4 certainly suggests that he still wants Jessica romantically. I honestly think he’s going to try to escape and rekindle the romance with Jess; and it’s going to go very poorly when Jessica rejects him. 

12:06 - Preach JT. Preach. This is creepy af. 

13:00 - Ugh. Of course this creep has a history of indecent exposure. Now I understand why Gil and JT were hostile with the dude right from the start. 

13:12 - Man. People will use the Bible to justify anything. No wonder people hate Christians ( I say this as a practicing Christian).

13:18 - JT is such a good dude. I’m so glad he’s a dad now. <3 He’s going to be such a good one. <3

13:26 - “One phone call and this place will be shut down.” OH SHIT. GIL THAT IS VICIOUS AND I RESPECT THE SHIT OUT OF IT.

13:35 - I soooo thought that dude was going to sprint out of that room. 

14:30 - THIS. YES. This is why I have a problem with Ainsley’s enthusiasm for murder vs. Malcolm’s. Ainsley’s enthusiasm is centred on her nee to ‘get the story’. She’s obsessed with forwarding her career and as a result she’s treating crime like a competitive sport. Malcolm’s obsession (while it can border on creepy and reckless) is always centred on his need to find the killer and stop the murders. Malcolm is seeking justice and his heart is in the right place. I can’t say the same for Ainsley.

14:31 - “We’re brother and sister, everything is a competitive sport”.....whoever wrote this doesn’t have a sibling they experienced trauma with as a kid (and as a result was raised by a single parent). Seriously, my dad was abusive he lived with us until I was 10 and my brother was 7. Then my parents got divorced and my mom was a single parent (he didn’t pay child support or see his kids after the divorce). Are my brother and I competitive? Sure sometimes. But the way we grew up forced us to become partners. Annoyed with Mom? Let’s rant about it together. Is he struggling in math? I’ll tutor him in exchange for a Reese cup. Am I struggling at daycare because I have massive social anxiety? He’ll include me in whatever he’s doing so I’m not sitting alone in a corner. My point: siblings who experience trauma together don’t have the typical sibling relationships that are widely televised in North America. There’s a lot less fighting and competition and a lot more teaming up and commiserating. 

14:39 - “It. It’s terrible.” - Notice how Ainsley didn’t actually say how it made her feel? She gave the standard “TV response” to a murder “a terrible/horrific/tragedy has occurred”. She doesn’t feel bad that these women are dead. She’s too consumed with getting a story to even stop and let herself feel anything. I’ve been saying it since last season - the way Ainsley shows no regard for other people and their feelings when she’s obsessed with her job is concerning. 

14:50 - “Remind me of the people who cut us off after Dad’s arrest.” ...Are you kidding me?!? The whole fandom has been speculating about this since early season one and they’re not going to elaborate on that line?!? I’m going to need some more information about this and it better be in the upcoming episode where Jessica’s younger sister appears. 

15:40 - She thinks of her students as family? Sooo what does she think of Ainsley? Wasn’t Ainsley bullied at this school? Did she do anything about it? 

16:00 - this is like a ‘weekend/evening school’ right? Kids aren’t living in this house like a boarding school/summer camp?

16:01 - “Mr. Whitly” UGH. This bitch preaches etiquette and she doesn’t even have the common courtesy to call Malcolm by the name with which he introduced himself? Nah. I don’t like her. 

16:13 - Ugh. Ainsley, seriously? Why don’t you help your brother solve the case. AND PREVENT MORE MURDERS. Why are you indirectly but purposely obstructing justice?

16:37 - “Of course.” Huh. Do you think Martin might try and manipulate Ainsley into killing Malcolm? Ainsley definitely capable of it. She doesn’t actually seem to care about Malcolm nearly as much as he cares about her. 

17:17 - WTF?!? That’s creepy af. How did no one in this show think this assistant was a suspect? She has a super creepy doll that she ‘forgot’ on the floor the middle of a hallway. AND THE DOLL WAS STANDING UP. Not sitting, not dropped carelessly, STANDING UP.

17:30 - Look at Malcolm’s face. He’s definitely going to be having nightmares about that doll. 

18:25 - OMG. This was amazing. JT just totally bulldozed his way into catching that dude. Very badass. Also kind of funny (maybe that’s just my messed up sense of humour again?).

18:44 - Ugh. This dude has a thing for dolls. I don’t want to kink shame but - no. no. There’s something really gross about that.  

18:48 - I’ve seen some people say that this doll looks like Ainsley and how that’s supposed to be some sort of foreshadowing/symbolism. I kind of see it? I mean the hair colour is similar and if you pause the screen at 18:48 the angle kind of looks like Ainsley? It would be an interesting metaphor though - Ainsley played with dolls as a little girl. John Watkins gave her angel statues. She is Watkins’ and Martin’s doll’ in the sense that she was the object that murders manipulated/groomed. 

18:53 - Then again, pause the screen here and there’s something about the facial structure that looks like Dani to me. 

19:00 - Jessica lets Ainsley work in the murder office?!? No. No she doesn’t. This is garbage. Jessica would’ve forbade it. Jessica would’ve bordered up this room immediately after Watkins.

19:57 - Poor Jessica. She’s clearly terrified that she’s losing Ainsley and terrified of Ainsley. BUT Jess, sweetie, running to Europe won’t fix this. 

20:16 - “She wanted the dolls to look like her students.” AND PEOPLE SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO HER?!? WTF?!? NO. NO. NO. NOT OKAY. 

20:31 - HAHA look at Gil’s face when Trevor tells him he can make the ‘perfect woman’. Gil’s like WTF - can I arrest you for thinking you can fabricate a ‘perfect woman’?!!?

21:06 - Malcolm is having so much fun playing with Trevor’s doll head. Look at how excited he is. It’s kind of adorable but his manic energy is showing which is concerning. 

21:10 - Why is Trevor giving his doll fancy 1940s(ish) names? 

21:31 - Props to LDP. I honestly believed Gil was annoyed with Malcolm for barging in on the interrogation the first time I watched this. 

21:42 - “They got a word for everything.” hahaha OMG. This is so reminiscent of a teenager explaining some new tech to their tech-illiterate parents. 

22:00 - I can’t tell if Gil feels sorry for this creep or if he just thinks the dude is really gross. Probably a mixture. 

23:00 - Oh we’re bringing up the chloroform again. At least Malcolm knows not listen to Martin about this nonsense. 

23:25 - “It doesn’t feel fun.” - THIS. This is why I honestly don’t think Malcolm will ever become a serial killer. His guilt complex is just too big.

23:56 - Are. You. Kidding. Me? This is next level. Ainsley is so out of line here. AND SHE SHOWS NO REMORSE. SHE DOESN’T THINK SHE’S DONE ANYTHING WRONG. THIS GIRL HAS GONE DARK SIDE (she was already halfway there).

24:17 - I’m getting papa!Gil vibes when Gil is talking to Ainsley and I want more scenes of them interacting. Seriously, did Gil have a relationship with Ainsley when she was a kid? I MUST KNOW.

24:45 - Ainsley has no conscience. I honestly don’t think Ainsley has a conscience. 

25:00 - “Who is that!?” Malcolm is totally acting like he’s Ainsley’s father-figure right now. I’m here for it. 

25:22 - SORE LOSERS?!? I’m sorry. What? If you weren’t concerned about Ainsley you damn well should be now. That is seriously messed up. People are dead. This is not a game. Do you know who else thought murder was a game? Martin Whitly.

25:31 - Okay. Ainsley has a point. Malcolm lecturing anyone about being reckless is pretty hypocritical. But at least Malcolm cares about her. 

25:54 - Heart. Shattered. Look at how terrified Jessica is. Look at how gentle and reassuring Gil is. UGh. WHY DID SHE BREAK UP WITH HIM??! I mean, I know why I just think she’s a moron for doing it. 

26:00 - Poor Gil. He’s so confused and so concerned. The whole Whitly family is acting crazier then usual and he doesn’t know why. 

26:11 - “Both you and Malcolm are at an 11 and I’ve never seen Ainsley like that.” FIND YOURSELF A MAN WHO CARES LIKE GIL AND NEVER LET HIM GO. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Seriously. The love and concern he shows for this family warms my cold dead heart. 

26:16 - “Her father?!” Oh shit. Now Gil knows there’s something BIG happening. Jessica would never run to Martin unless she absolutely had to. 

26:19 - annnnd Gil’s also being a prideful man who’s feeling are hurt. “You went to him?” He’s right to be though - the woman he loves went to a serial killer for advice before going to the guy who practically co-parented with her. 

26:33 - “I’m here. Whatever you need. I’m here.” <3 <3 Gil is the definition of a good man. <3 I’m in love with it. 

26:48 - “You were right on time for me.” ....*snort* subtle Gil (and in front of JT!!)

27:08 - Edrisa is hysterical on caffeine. hahaha. This whole scene is perfect. 

27:20 - You know someone is acting manic when Malcolm Bright is concerned about their eccentric behaviour. 

27:34 - Annnnnd Tom Payne was a split second from breaking character here. I don’t blame him. hahaha

28:05 - EDRISA flipping and dropping that pencil. HAHAHAHAHAHA

29:10 - “Absolutely not.” hahaha this is funny but also really sweet. Malcolm knows that Edrisa hopped up on caffeine isn’t safe to have near an active killer. Who knows what’ll happen. I wish he’d care that much about his own well being. Looks like calling for backup last episode was a one time thing. 

30:37 - I’ll give the writers one thing - Miss Windsor makes a convincing murder suspect.

31:22 - GIL. STANDING. UP. FOR. JT. IS. EVERYTHING. Where is O’Malley’s back up? Oh yeah, they’re not brave enough to defend him.

32:00 - Huh. Bright texted for backup. This is growth. I’m proud of him. 

32:15 - YES. This JT arc was handled right. Sure JT could’ve complained. It would’ve been episodes upon episodes of bureaucratic nightmares and injustice. This show isn’t about racism. They showed enough to portray that the system is broken and they had JT act like a responsible adult. It’s not fair that JT had to go through this or that he’ll likely experience something similar to it again. But the fact that JT is acting like a bigger person is perfect. JT will protect his family. Always. That includes Malcolm. So JT avoids putting through a formal complaint because he knows that will take time away from doing his job, from protecting others, from hanging out with his wife and kid. JT’s taking the higher road, it might not be gratifying or fair but I respect the hell out of him for taking it. 

32:28 - Gil is so so proud of JT. Look at him. <3 <3 

33:40 - Look, Miss Windsor is a bit of a stuck up bitch but she has a good heart. Look at the way she immediately tells Malcolm where Ainsley is when she realizes what’s happening. 

34:14 - This confused me during the first watch - Ainsley obviously didn’t drink any tea - so why is she drugged? (obviously I know now). 

34:17 - Big brother Malcolm frantically looking for Ainsley is so so sweet. <3 

35:42 - The music, the dolls, and Miss Windsor’s speech here. There’s something about this part of the episode that is strangely reminiscent of 5x16 of Criminal Minds.

36:20 - ......does Miss Windsor have some sort of mental illness? She’s talking to herself and ranting erratically. Is this just emotional stress or something deeper?

37:00 - This is why Malcolm’s not a serial killer. Even now- looking at a killer - he’s trying to sympathize with her. He’s trying to understand why. He’s trying to calm her down, diffuse the threat, and get her mental help. 

39:00 - Oh yeah. Ainsley was definitely going to kill without remorse. Again. I’ve seen some theories that Ainsley only ever tries to kill to protect Malcolm. I disagree. I think Ainsley’s trying to protect herself. Ainsley is pissed off that this girl tried to drug her and kill her because she thinks Ainsley is wicked. Ainsley was pissed at Endicott for whatever he did to Ainsley before Malcolm got there. I think Ainsley felt threatened and scared so she reacted. I don’t think this has anything to do with protecting Malcolm.

39:41 - Malcolm isn’t a killer. Look. He smells gas but he takes the time to carry an unconscious murderer (who literally just tried to kill his sister) out of the building. 

40:00 - The drama. Holy hell. What a weird ending to this case.

40:48 - Who gave Ainsley a police jacket and let her keep it?

41:14 - She almost died and she’s still obsessing over ‘winning’. This is seriously unstable behaviour. Way more concerning than anything Malcolm’s done since 2x1. 

41:45 - “My father was a serial killer also.” Anyone else super irritated by that phrasing?!?  Just me?!? Something about the ‘also’ feels super wrong to me.

41:53 - Oh sweetie. I’d argue that you are more messed up than Malcolm. 

42:06 - Jessica went to see Martin twice in one episode. THIS IS BAD.

42:15 - “Maybe even more so than Malcolm if that’s possible.” Jessica knows her kids. I’m on her side here. 

42:20 - Martin is way too happy about Ainsley showing signs of serial killing. 

42:30 - Jessica? You married an act. That man never existed. He’s always been a serial killer. You just didn’t know it. He’s manipulative and you were a victim to it. 

42:50 - “A partner.” OH THIS IS NOT GOING TO END WELL. ESPECIALLY FOR THE GIL/JESSICA ARC.

Okay....so definitely the weakest episode of the season so far. AND the fact that we got no mention of Tally and/or the baby this episode is a crime. 

BUT I’M SO SO SO EXCITED FOR THE NEXT EPISODE. It’s going to be a televised fanfic and I can’t wait. 

#jess-rewatches-prodigal #malcolm bright #prodigal son #gil arroyo #dani powell #JT Tarmel #ainsley whitly #martin whitly #edrisa tanaka #jessica whitly #I LOVE this show #whump #rewatch #spoliers #malcolm needs a hug #ps #so good #2x05 #2x5 #Bad Manners #s2

[vaguely-concerned]

the mandalorian ep 6 reactions!

spoilers ahoy!

- the PALPABLE TERROR when mando realizes they’re going to use his ship and he’s not getting out of it :’) this poor poor man. the whole episode did such a good job with that ever-present tension born of the adult fear that very very bad people are in a position to hurt his kid. there’s something about sensing his love for the baby through the fear and stress that rises from it that’s so satisfying even if it’s nerve-racking haha 

- me, on the record as having called the razor crest interior depressing and sparse, listening to these assholes talking shit about it: “hey uh actually. have you considered. Fuck You this is my dad’s house and it’s perfect???!?!”

(the fact that it’s so old and janky that neither the empire nor the new republic know what to do with it tho fdsfkdslahf hilarious I love this ship)  

- the way he quietly stood vigil over the cot and just like. clearly stopped breathing for a long while there when they found the baby anyway... poetic goddamn cinema  

- some PEAK comedy acting from whoever was in the mando suit when that devil dude wrecked the big patrol droids. “I uh. well. ah. hm” fsdfhsadlkf just look at his body language next to all the others, he’s like five times more expressive than anyone else even though he’s still pretty low key as a person. so good

- listen how far into a romantic entanglement they ever made it seems to be deliberately left up to interpretation, but xi’an’s bitter-ass mocking “This is the way” is, to me, the hallmark of a gal who didn’t get to second base and probably didn’t even touch the first unless you count giving a beskar-flavoured peck on the cheek lol. AS IF she’s seen his face, at most his glove slid up a bit once and she saw a sliver of bare wrist. I think mando’s initial strong reaction is a fakeout for the audience and he’s actually internally going ‘...aw fuck’ because he screwed over her brother. 

- this episode really cemented my feeling that the no-taking-off-the-helmet thing is a metaphor for vulnerability (and specifically in relation to cultural and personal trauma). when mayfield is like ‘let’s see your eyes’ it’s so invasive and awful ugh 

- I love how willing this show is to joyfully roll around in tropes. this is the seven samurai/magnificent seven one! this is the jailbreak/heist one! (ooh I hope we get a pure heist one at some point) here’s a mexican standoff played straight! there’s a purity to it that makes me very happy and reminds me a lot of clone wars. tropes can be so fun when you take them seriously! 

- I feel bad about it but zero the droid and mando’s sincere distress at him piloting his ship... both endlessly entertaining to me

- I get the sense that mando really hasn’t changed that much, ran and xi’an are mostly projecting onto him and he’s staying deliberately blank to let them do it. the ruthless stuff he does has a pattern even before he finds baby yoda: it’s like in the first episode with the guy he bisects with a door (as you do when you’re him) -- he’s trying to deal with him non-lethally right up until the dude shoots at him first. as we’ve repeatedly seen he gives you one chance and if you misuse that chance you’re toast. even qin knows that ‘aren’t you a man of honour?’ is the best shot at getting out of it alive when even the promise of more money doesn’t do anything. (and yes, qin, he is, which is why you and ran are dead lol) anyway I love one (1) buckethead dad with a penchant for karmic justice 

I am willing to believe he was even more emotionally dead inside when he was younger and did some messed up shit because of it, though. he seems to me more likely to be dangerous out of numbness/indifference and going along with bad people than active malice. (not that this absolves him. set boundaries, mando! work on your self worth baby get better friends!! or at least more friends who don’t actively try to murder you the bar is so low here)

- mando stalking people like a horror movie monster and still leaving them alive but smack dab in the middle of some Poetic Justice (while implying he’s avenging the dead New Republic guard in the process) was Good For Me on several levels 

- obligatory ‘mando please rethink the flame thrower’ point (to be fair to him he’s probably been using it for intimidation/crowd control ala the shootout in ep 3 and it’s quite effective for that, it just isn’t working out for him in hand-to-hand scenarios lol)

- the parallels between mando’s little (surprise not!)murder rampage and baby yoda playing hide and seek with that droid... MORE goshdang poetic cinema!!!! like father like son I am crying 

- I’ve seen some people be discontented that these last few eps don’t drive the plot forward and maybe they don’t in the traditional sense but I’m not sure I agree -- I think they’re making you feel the precariousness of mando’s situation by showing the nitty gritty of the increasingly desperate measures he has to take to keep them afloat & alive, and that he doesn’t really have any enduring close relationships outside of baby yoda; he’s alone and has no one to turn to practically or emotionally. they’re doing a lot of characterization groundwork and the whole thing has been set up as more of a slice of life, down to earth and day to day story from the beginning. for me personally that’s really enjoyable but of course that’s a personal taste sort of thing! I get the feeling that they’re building things up slowly and that the Big Plot tm will unfold (hopefully) over several seasons. well I mean definitely at least two seasons haha

#the mandalorian #star wars #meta #the mandalorian spoilers #I had a lot of thoughts apparently haha

[bthump]

Favorite Guts/Serpico moments?

particularly since it comes after their genuine attempt to kill each other earlier that same day

Like for Serpico, putting himself in harm’s way is something he regularly does for Farnese, and only does for Farnese, and did for Farnese (against Guts) a few hours prior to this. This is a great indication that his priorities and loyalties are expanding beyond Farnese.

During the duel we got this monologue:

“He truly is strong. Unbelievably so. I am a man generally disassociated from intense emotion. I adapt to my circumstances and fill the role I am given. That is my style. Even in situations that seemed more or less unreasonable, my mind was at rest. Adapt... no. Perhaps my mind was merely benumbed. But as I encountered you and shared in your journey... it would seem not only Lady Farnese, but I too changed considerably. You clash head-on with your own destiny. Compared to my cooled demeanor, that is a life similar to being scorched by hellfire itself. While I arrayed myself in feigned ignorance, perhaps before I knew it, I too was affected by that heat.

You are certainly... a man impossible to ignore.

I felt ineffectual, but happy, that Lady Farnese was being changed by you.

And that’s why... I’ll never allow it. I won’t allow that to happen...!”

And I’m js you can read this as Serpico making a last-ditch effort to kill Guts for Farnese’s sake because he knows he’s getting kind of attached to him and doesn’t actually want to kill him any more, and is maybe even considering how he’s growing less exclusively attached to Farnese and actively trying to resist that change by trying to kill Guts here. And along with that you can make some pretty sweet comparisons to both Griffith and Casca. It’s much more low-key, but all three duels have that “you’re a threat to the thing/person I’ve centred my life around” vibe, they have some consistent visuals, and they all have that “yes, this is indeed a real, “serious” fight where death is a possibility,” moment.

And after he loses Serpico gives up and goes all in with Guts. He doesn’t like, toss Farnese aside lol the way Griffith throws away his dream and Casca decides to try to move on from Griffith and leave with Guts, buuuut after this we start seeing more of those ‘Serpico on the outside looking in on Farnese and her new life and being kind of melancholy about it’ moments. I could see this maybe leading to a separation of the RPG group with Serpico on Guts’ side and Farnese with Casca. Or, more cynically lol, since Guts destroyed Griffith’s dream and also Griffith maybe Serpico’s fears will come to fruition and he’ll destroy Farnese too. Hopefully not though.

The point is, it’s a great significant moment for Serpico, defending Guts the same way he’s defended Farnese in the past, and could be indicative of the direction their relationships might take in the future.

And now for Guts, this moment is a giant parallel to the first Zodd encounter.

We’ve seen Guts willing to abandon a fight exactly twice: first Zodd encounter, and this most recent Zodd encounter. Both times a cute guy stepped up to face the monster with him and told him to stop fighting and leave. (Casca has also tried to tell Guts to stop fighting and leave a few times, but it doesn’t work for her for some reason...)

Anyway, first time, Guts and Griff had a meaningful conversation and Guts decided the Band of the Hawk was his new home and lived happily ever after for a few weeks. Second time is presumably a culmination of Guts’ relationship with the rpg group as a whole, and yeah Casca gets her moment to coo meaningfully before Guts makes his decision to not fight, but it’s still Serpico in Griffith’s place, defending him from the monster and convincing him to give up the fight.

Like Guts abandoning fights is the most significant indicator of personal growth and emotional security he gets. Guts didn’t want to fight Zodd again after Griffith ran in to save him for ~no reason in particular, he wanted to fight Zodd again after overhearing the Promrose Hall speech and deciding to abandon the Hawks. Guts was prepared to abandon his sword swinging plan to settle down and take care of Griffith in the lead-up to the Eclipse, and after the Eclipse he went on a 3 year rampage.

Guts saying “see ya” to Zodd is the emotional climax to his side of the Millenium Falcon arc, and while it’s probably meant to reflect his personal growth in regards to his relationships with the entire rpg group with an emphasis on Casca, Serpico still gets the spotlight.

And he gets the spotlight not just for being the one to step up, but also because he’s the last person to properly join Guts (other than Casca, who imo probably/hopefully has a separate role, and the newbies who don’t count). Like we got Puck’s moment first at the end of the Lost Children arc when Guts lets him move in with him, Isidro and Farnese when they join him at the start of the Millenium Falcon arc, then Schierke solidifies her choice to be there after the rescuing Kushan kids adventure, and the last section of this arc is for Serpico to finally shift from being a hanger-on for Farnese’s sake to accepting his own loyalty to Guts for Guts’ sake and choosing to trust him, and the climax of that is this moment when he steps between Guts and Zodd.

Like I don’t want Guts to live happily ever after, I want him to die with Griffith, but if he had to grow as a person due to his new relationships and live happily ever after then as far as I’m concerned Guts/Serpico should be canon bc it just makes the most sense.

Also since you asked for moments plural shout out to their very first fight and the way it continues the homoerotic introductory duel tradition

#Anonymous #a #b #ask #ship: guts x serpico #damn i had more to say about guts/serpico than i thought #theme: relationships as personal growth #theme: rpg group #theme: opinion #character: serpico #scene: docks

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff ~ 7 of the Season: Steven Universe Future

WARNING: Almond milk is better. Thank you, take care where you be, and enjoy.

Peace Out, Show

So Steven Universe is over, and I’m a little relieved. If I had to face another year of crits and simps barking about how this anime salvaged or ruined their lives, I would’ve started practicing my hangman somersault. “Enough with the cynicism, Monkey, how was the final season?” Pretty good, all things considered. It isn’t like season 5 which was just not good, but it had its downs with trying to make me think all the suffering and drama was entertaining... it wasn’t. With that said, here are the TOP 7 best final episodes of Steven Universe Future. Seven, because it’s lucky. Here We Go...

7. Why So Blue

Am I just putting this on the list because I like Lapis? Yes. The fight scene was shit, but again I love how low-key it all was, it took its time for the most part. We got to see Lapis’s progression even when she hardly interacted with any other character in the series, and to me had a great message of understanding the strength that comes in pacifism. Not a memorable episode, but I guess it’s as great of a send off episode for Lazuli as I’m gonna get.

6. Volleyball

The one gripe I have with this episode is when Steven apparently couldn’t cancel the rejuvenation process when they listened to him in the first place, and he needed to go all the way back to the foyer to switch it off? Why didn’t he try breaking open the shell with his Super Saiyan strength? It doesn’t kill an otherwise lovely episode centered on Pink Pearl and OG Pearl. It was surprising that Steven was the cause of the problem and the ending with Omega Pearl is one of my favorites this season.

5. Snow Day

This episode somewhat is what I wanted SU Future to be more of. Some fun with a more worn out Steven learning to look on the bright side of his life finally moving forward. The fanservice was cheeky and it felt like the cast was actually having a good time with it. That’s all I can really say, it was fun and I wish the season was more like this.

4. Fragments/Everything’s Fine

In truth, I only like this episode because Fragments introduced us to Chad Steven, which is the best Steven ever. Makes me wish he was the final boss instead of Corrupt!Steven And Everything’s Fine because most of it had Chad Steven and is also genuinely hilarious. I hardly laugh with a Steven Universe episode, but this actually slayed me. I mean it, it is the funniest episode in the whole series and Zach Callison helped that tenfold with his performance. Both are brought down by their endings, but both had Chad Steven and that’s enough for me.

3. In Dreams

You probably noticing a pattern with this list because honestly, the less focused on Steven’s melodramatic fuckshit stack, the better the episode. Not to say this episode isn’t centered around Steven’s pressuring anxieties, but this episode knew not to make it the focal point. It’s generally about Steven and Peridot’s bromance and how their venture is affecting Steven’s long term insecurity. It reminds me of a good MLP episode where the issue doesn’t get in the way of fun. Additionally this has a satisfying ending with a great resolution. Plus it’s about Peridot. Enough said.

2. Homeworld Bound

Spinel was in the episode, she was great, and I don’t think I need to explain myself. So I’m not...

1. The Future

I always promise myself with these lists, “No finales because that’s unfair towards the whole season.” But I’ll give some leeway this time since after that wack conflict of a previous episode, it was just nice seeing Steven finally pick himself up with those he loves and take an actual step towards a new life. This has some parallel to MLP’s final episode in terms of plot and this had just as good an effect. It’s sadly hilarious that Steven just figured out therapy nor hasn’t been arrested for his rampaging, but if everyone is happy, then I’m happy, you feel me? Goodbyes are made and as much as criticize this show, I can’t be mad at an ending like this.

Last sentence is how I can best describe Future in general. Future throws a lot of wrenches in the canon, for better and worse, but I appreciate it for trying either way. Had some good moments. I have my issues with it, but I can’t be all that mad at it. I’m tired of SU, yeah, but after all is said and done, this series will always be a gem to me. And that is that... on that.

#steven universe future #su future #suf #steven universe #su #cartoons #reviews #animation #Good Stuff #long post #last one

[marvel-wlw]

Another Universe Alternate Version (1/?)

Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Requested by @liarafan517

Request: Pt.1 How about an alternate version of Another universe series where storyline is similar, but with a twist because Nat is actually a werewolf. And Azure Witch AKA the reader, finds out that Nat is a werewolf sometime after Marvel's The Avengers movie event when she followed Nat at the Central park late at night on a full moon. They both start off as close friends until during the AoU event, Azure Witch started developing romantic feelings for Nat and she's afraid that-

Pt.2 - Nat doesn't feel the same way. But little did she know that Nat actually had already considered her as her mate. And Nat would be super protective of her, especially during the party scene and during the Salvage yard battle when Wanda used her powers on Azure Witch and Nat would be pissed off at Wanda up to the point where Nat was growling at her. And as Azure Witch wanders off, trying to shake off Wanda's powers until Ultron's drone tries to grab her but Nat quickly grabbed-

Pt.3 -Azure Witch and took her some place safe and made sure that she's okay. Then Azure Witch remembers about the twins going after Bruce and she went to help Tony stop Hulk from rampaging and used her powers on the Hulk until she passes out and when Tony carried both Bruce and Azure Witch back to the Quinjet, Nat immediately became worried about her and she quickly took Azure Witch into her arms and held her close until they arrived at Clint's house. Nat then carried Azure Witch inside the -

Pt.4 -the room, Nat gently set her down on the bed and she would gently brush away Azure Witch's hair before she placed a tender kiss on her forehead and she wouldn't leave her side until Azure Witch woke up. And Azure Witch would leave a note inside Nat's catsuit, in case she gets kidnapped by Ultron. And during Seoul, maybe add the scene where Azure Witch rides on the motorcycle with Nat and she freaks out? And during the fight, Azure Witch would look for the-

Pt.5 -Maximoff twins and convinced them to help them stop Ultron. And both Azure Witch and Wanda teamed up to stop the train. And after that, Ultron sneaks up behind Azure Witch before knocking her out and grabbed her. Wanda tried to save her but ends up getting knocked away by Ultron before he flew away with Azure Witch. And when Nat finds out that Ultron had kidnapped Azure Witch, she gets really pissed off. Meanwhile, Azure Witch telepathically contacted Wanda and told her-

Pt.6- and told her where she was located. Then the Avengers head to Sokovia and Nat quickly head towards the Hydra base and rescues Azure Witch before Nat immediately grabbed her and pull her into a hug and she would confess her feelings to Azure Witch, which really surprised her until Nat finally pulls her into a passionate kiss. And when they finally joined the fight, Azure Witch noticed that Wanda was hiding from the fight and she quickly pulls her into a safe area-

Pt.7 -and Wanda starts blaming herself but Azure Witch told her that it's not her fault and that she is a good person and what she had done in the past doesn't matter now. And she tells her that once she walks through that door, she's an Avenger. And Azure Witch heads back out to fight off the drones before Wanda joins the fight as well. And later on, Azure Witch would save Pietro and Clint from getting killed by Ultron before she told them to help evacuate the city while Azure Witch went-

Pt.8 to Ultron and Ultron would tell her that if she stays on Sokovia, she'll be killed. And Azure Witch replied, "I know. I just need get rid of one loose end." And Azure Witch would use her powers to rip out Ultron's heart, killing him. And that's when Sokovia started falling from the sky and Nat freaks out about it because she realizes that Azure Witch is still on Sokovia while Azure Witch tries to use her full powers to stop Sokovia from falling, but it wasn't enough-

Pt. 8 or 9? -until Vision came and saved her before taking her back to the helicarrier where Wanda and Pietro rushed over to Azure Witch and hugged her before helping her walk inside the helicarrier because she was really weak due to Azure Witch overusing her powers up to the point where her nose started bleeding. And Nat would immediately run up to Azure Witch before lifting her into her arms and carry her to the med-bay. And later on, Steve, Nat, and Azure Witch would train the-

Part:10 -new Avengers and Azure Witch would train the Maximoff twins.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters, they belong to Marvel.

Tag list: @casey-anne-j @pharaoh-of-time-and-space @morbid-gaymer@geekycatlover @rainydaysrnevergrey @natalia-helena-alianova-romanov @alphalesbianwolf @dancurse @autumnjackson4

Natasha tag list: @liarafan517 @5aftermidnight​ @natxhiddles

A/N: So this is going to be different than Another Universe. But I hope you guys like it! :)

You let out a sigh of relief as you began to drive home from work. Work had been very stressful so once it was over you pretty much ran out of the building. All you wanted to do was go home and relax.

You were almost home when you saw a bright light flash out of the corner of your eye. You pulled your car over and parked, you got out and slowly made your way in the direction the light was. 

You weren’t sure why but you felt like you needed to see what it was. What you found wasn’t what you were expecting. It was a portal. What the hell? Your curiosity got the better of you and you began walking closer. 

Suddenly you were pulled into the portal. It was like someone had pushed you into it. You screamed as you fell and the next thing you knew everything went dark.

xxxxx

Natasha was walking around the city, enjoying the fact that she didn’t have to go on any missions that day. She took a sip of the coffee she had gotten not long ago, she sighed as she felt the warm liquid go down her throat.

As she was walking she looked up at the sky, that was when she saw what looked like a portal open up. Her eyes widened, she began running over to the location where the portal opened.

She turned into an alley, she gasped when she saw a woman on the ground. That woman was you. “Miss?” 

Natasha rushed over to you, she knelt down next to you. She moved some of your hair away from your neck and put two fingers on your neck. She let out a sigh of relief when she found a pulse.

She couldn’t just leave you there so she carefully pick you up bridal style. Natasha quickly brought you back to the helicarrier and right to the med-bay. The whole time you were in the med-bay Natasha didn’t leave your side.

An hour later you let out a groan as your eyes slowly opened. You were met with a white ceiling and a beeping sound. Where were you? Then you realized there was someone with you. Once you saw who it was your jaw dropped.

“S-Scarlett Johansson?” 

The redhead raised an eyebrow at you. “Who?”

Then you got a better look at her and you saw what she was wearing. Your eyes widened. There was no way she was Natasha Romanoff. All of a sudden the door opened and a man walked in with a bow.

“Nat what are you-” He looked at you. “Who’s this?”

“Barton-”

You stopped paying attention to what they were saying. This couldn’t be real could it? You have to be dreaming. What you didn’t know was that while you were lost in your thoughts there was a blue energy glowing around your fingers.

But Clint and Natasha did. Clint didn’t hesitate to grab his bow and aim an arrow at you. You looked up and saw an arrow pointed right at you. You screamed and moved back on the bed. He glared at you when he saw your eyes glowing blue.

“Stand down Barton!” Natasha moved in front of him, shielding you. “She’s not a threat!” Clint looked at Natasha, sighing he lowed his bow. Natasha nodded before moving out of the way. 

You looked between them, your heart was beating like crazy. You looked to the side of the room and noticed a mirror, that was when you saw your eyes glowing blue and there was a blue energy glowing around your fingers.

“What the hell?!” You screamed before passing out.

xxxxx

While you were passed out Natasha told Clint about how she found you. After he left the room she ran her fingers through her hair. She needed to find out who you were and where you were from. That was when she remembered that you had a backpack with you when she found you. There has to be something in there to give her some information.

Natasha grabbed your backpack and opened it. She had found your ID, she smiled when she read your name. She set your ID to the side and began looking again. That was when she found your keys, she saw a key chain that has her symbol that she has on her catsuit, she looked at it with a raised eyebrow before looking over at you. She’ll have to ask you about that once you wake up.

As she continued looking through your backpack she had found a photo. Looking at the photo she saw you and with some other people. She could see how happy you looked in the photo. Then she heard you groan. She set everything down and stood up. 

“What the hell happened?” You groaned and placed a hand on your head.

“You passed out again when you saw your powers (Y/N).” Natasha grabbed your keys and the photo before grabbing a chair and bringing it over to the bed. She sat down next to you.

Your eyes widened. “H-how do you know my name?”

Natasha chuckled. “When I found you, you had a backpack with you. I needed to find out who you were so I looked through it.”

“Oh.” You blushed.

“I do have some questions.” She waited for you to nod before she continued. Once you did she held up the photo she found. “Who are these people?”

You smiled when you saw the photo. “These two are my parents.” You point to the couple in the back. “This is my sister and my brother.” You point to them, they both had there arms wrapped around you. “And that is my best friend, though she’s more like another sister.” You point to her, she had her arms around your neck while she was on your back.

Natasha smiled, she gave you the photo back before holding up your keys. “Where did you get this?” At first you were confused but then you saw your Black Widow key chain. 

“Oh um... well you see...” You blushed and ran a hand through your hair. “I-I’m not from here.”

“What do you mean you’re not from here?” Natasha set down your keys.

“What I mean is... I’m from another universe. In my universe none of this is real. You and everyone else here are fictional characters and you’re played by actors and actresses.” You looked down for a second before looking back at Natasha. “That’s why when I woke up the first time I called you Scarlett Johansson.”

Natasha eyes widened. Now that she thinks about it, it makes sense. How she saw that portal and how she found you unconscious in an alley.

xxxxx

Within the months of being there both Natasha and Clint started training you. Since you had powers you had became a Shield agent. You go by the name Azure Witch. 

When you first saw your powers you immediately knew what they were. You knew they were the same powers that Wanda Maximoff has. But you couldn’t say anything about that. All you could say was what powers you had but Natasha and Clint had a feeling you knew what they were because of one of the movies you’ve seen back in your universe.

You knew the battle of New York was going to happen any moment now. Knowing what’s going to happened helped in a way but you were still nervous and when that day came you knew you needed to do everything you could to stop Loki.

xxxxx

Loki was in a room that was meant for the Hulk. Now everyone was in the lab fighting. You were standing next to Natasha, you knew what was going to happen. You tried to get everyone’s attention but it was no use.

Suddenly there was an explosion and you, Natasha and Bruce fell. You groaned as you stood up, you helped Natasha up.

“Are you okay?” You asked her. Your eyes widened when you saw Bruce turn into the Hulk. “Shit.” You turned to Natasha. “You need to go, go find Clint.”

“What? No I’m not leaving you (Y/N).” Natasha didn’t want to leave you.

You gave her a look. “You need to go now. I’ll be fine.” You smiled. “Now go.” 

Once she was out of your view you turned back to where the Hulk was. “Hey!” You screamed to get his attention. Hulk growled as her came running after you.

You took off running. “That’s right come after me you big green monster!” 

Right when the Hulk was about to grab you Thor showed up, now he was fighting the Hulk. You moved to a corner, you were breathing heavy and your heart was pounding.

Once your breathing was back to normal you got up and started fighting agents that were being controlled by Loki. You ran into the room where Fury and Maria were. 

“Grenade!” Maria yelled.

Your eyes glowed blue as you used your powers to catch the grenade, you create a shield around it right before  it went off. After it went off your eyes turned back to their normal color. 

“You two alright?” You ran over to Maria and Fury. They both nod. 

“Thank you agent (L/N)” Fury said.

“You’re welcome sir.” You nod. 

You heard Natasha talking through comms. She had found Clint and she was able to knock him out. That was one thing taken care of. Now there was just Loki to deal with.

xxxxx

The chitauri were everywhere. You were trying to stay by Natasha but during the battle you had gotten separated. While Natasha was fighting she was trying to look for you. She saw you getting surrounded by the chitauri. She quickly made her way towards you, any of the chitauri that got in her way she didn’t hesitate grab them and throw them out of her way.

You used your powers to grab one of the chitauri, you threw them against a building. Between using your powers you were also fighting them in hand to hand combat. 

Looking up you saw Natasha making her way towards you. You could’ve swore you heard her growling but you brushed it off thinking you were just hearing things.

Between you and Natasha fighting side by side it didn’t take long to take care of the chitauri. You sighed when they were all down. You and Natasha both looked up when you saw Loki fly by with other chitauri chariot following him.

“I have an idea.” Natasha said. “I have a way to get on one of those things, but I could use a boost though.” She smirked at you.

You immediately knew what she was going to do. You walked over to the car she was standing next to before standing in front of her. “You sure about this?” You eyes glowed blue as you made a shield with your powers.

Natasha backs up so she could get a running start. “Yea. It's gonna be fun.” Natasha ran towards you, she jumped on your shield and you pushed it up to give her a boost.

You watched as she grabbed onto one of the chitauri chariot. You smiled before going back to the fight.

xxxxx

After Thor took Loki back to Asgard you moved into Stark Tower, now known as Avengers Tower. One night you couldn’t sleep so you went into the training room for a late night training session.

You looked out of the window and saw a full moon. That was when you saw Natasha walk past the training room. You frowned. What was she doing up? You were worried about her.

So you decided to follow her. When Natasha left the Avengers tower you started to become even more worried. Where was she going? You followed her until she got to Central Park. What was she doing there?

You found a tree and hid behind it so Natasha wouldn’t see you. That was when you saw her change into a werewolf. Your eyes widened, you had to put your hand over your mouth to keep yourself from gasping out loud. Natasha was a werewolf?! 

Wanting to get a closer look at her, you slowly made your way to another hiding spot but as you were moving you stepped on a stick. Shit. You quickly hid. Natasha’s head snapped around in your direction. Her eyes weren’t their normal green anymore, they were a golden yellow color. 

“Who’s there?!” She growled. “Come out right now.” 

You were frozen in place. You weren’t scared of Natasha, you never were. Even now that you found out that she was a werewolf you still weren’t scared of her, you could never be scared of her.

“Whoever you are you better come out now!”

Taking a deep breath you moved out from your hiding spot, your hands held up. “It’s just me Nat.”

When Natasha saw you her eyes widened, her wolf ears lowered as she looked down. “How did you find me?”

“I was in the training room when you walked by, I was worried about you and I followed you.” You slowly made your way to her. 

“You really shouldn’t have followed me (Y/N)...” Natasha couldn’t look at you, she couldn’t see the look you were giving her now that you found out what she was.

“Nat.” You were now in front of her. “Please look at me.” You softly said. She slowly looked at you, you smiled. You held your hand up. “May I?”

Natasha was confused but she nodded anyway. You gently placed your hand by her wolf ears, you started to carefully scratch behind her ears. At first it made her shiver but after a few seconds she started to really liked the feeling.

xxxxx

When Tony said that he found Loki’s scepter you know what was going to happen. You tried to get Tony to not make Ultron but he didn’t listen. During the party after the guests left it was just the Avengers when Ultron showed up. You immediately looked over at Tony and Bruce.

When the robots started attacking one of them went to grab you but Natasha growled before she grabbed you. She pulled you behind the bar, you landed on top of her and your face was against her chest. 

“Um Nat?” Your face started heating up.

Natasha couldn’t help but smirk. For some time now Natasha had started to fall in love with you, she already considered you her mate. You had also fallen in love with Natasha but you were afraid that she wouldn’t feel the same.

“Sorry (Y/N).” She loosened her grip on you a little bit so you could sit up. 

Before you knew it all the robots and Ultron were gone. You and Natasha moved out from behind the bar. You followed everyone so you all could try and find Ultron.

Once you got the location where Untron was headed you all got onto a quinjet. When you got to the Salvage yard you took a deep breath. You knew what Wanda was going to do to Natasha and you weren’t going to let that happen, you weren’t going to let her go through that.

As soon as Ultron attacked Tony and the fighting started you went to find Natasha. When you found her you saw Wanda was about to use her powers on her. You ran towards them and pushed Natasha out of the way.

The next thing you knew you were at the Civil War event. You saw your family fighting each other. Your eyes widened and tears started to roll down your cheeks. You tried yelling at them to stop but nothing you said was working. But then you realized this wasn’t real, it was Wanda messing with your mind. 

Natasha looked at you with a worried look when she saw your face. She then looked at Wanda, she glared. “What the hell did you do to her?!” She growled. When Wanda didn’t answer her, Natasha’s eyes started to glow golden yellow. “What did you do?!”

You started wondering off trying to shake off the mind tricks Wanda was doing to you. As you were one of Ultron’s drones tried to grab you but Natasha immediately grabbed you.

When she found someplace safe she sat you down, Natasha knelt down in front of you, she cupped your face in her hands. “Hey, hey look at me.” She said softly. “Are you okay?” She ran her thumbs over your cheeks.

You looked at her, you shook your head as tears rolling down your cheeks. But then you remembered about the twins going after Bruce. You quickly got up and went after Tony. You wanted to help him stop the Hulk and you knew how to stop him.

“Tony!” You yell through the comms. “I know how to help the Hulk! You just need to keep him in place long enough for me to get to him!”

“I really hope this works (Y/N).”

You saw Tony holding the Hulk still. That was your chance. You ran over to them, you used your powers to take away what Wanda was making him see. 

You saw the Hulk change back into Bruce, you sighed. It worked. But then you passed out from overusing your powers. Tony carried both you and Bruce back to the quinjet.

Natasha was pacing back and forth, she was worried about you. Then she saw Tony carrying you and Bruce, she started worrying even more. She ran over to Tony, she took you into her arms and held you close. The whole flight to Clint’s house Natasha never let you go.

xxxxx

When they got to Clint’s house Natasha carried you inside, she brought you into a room and laid you down. She brushed away some of your hair before leaning down, placing a tender kiss on your forehead. Natasha went to the other side of the room where there was a chair, she sat down. She wasn’t going to leave your side.

An hour later you slowly sat up, you put your hand on your forehead. Looking over you saw Natasha, she got up and went over to you. She sat down on the bed.

“Why did you push me out of the way?” She looked at you.

“I knew what she was going to do, I couldn’t let you go through that.” You slowly moved so you were sitting next to her.

Natasha closed her eyes for a second. “So that makes it okay for you to go through that? (Y/N) that look you had after she messed with your mind...”

You shook your head. You didn’t care about how much pain you were in, you knew what was going to happen and you didn’t want Natasha to go through that. “I would do it again and again if I had to. Nat I couldn’t let you go through that pain.”

You stood up and walked into the bathroom. Not long after you did you heard the bedroom door open and close. Sighing you walked out of the bathroom. You found a notebook and a pen and began writing a note to Natasha.

In the note you put that the note was in case you got kidnapped by Ultron and about your feelings for her. When you were done you put the note inside Natasha’s catsuit.

xxxxx

You, Steve, Natasha, and Clint were in Seoul. Steve went to go find Helen Cho. You were standing next to Natasha, she got on the motorcycle and you got on behind her. You blushed when your wrapped your arms around her waist. 

“We got a window. Four, three...give 'em hell.“ Clint said before he dropped you out of the quinjet.

As Natasha was driving you were holding onto her tightly. Then you saw Steve's shield. “Nat.”

“I see it.” She smiled. You used your powers to grab Steve’s shield, you gave it to Natasha. “We’re always picking up after you boys.” Natasha sighed and you chuckled.

While Clint was telling Natasha which way to go you started to get really nervous. “Nat watch out for the pedestrians!”

Once she was back on the road you let out a sigh. Then you saw Steve fighting Ultron. “I’m going to help him. Can you get me close?” You grabbed the shield. 

Natasha was able to get you close enough for you to use your powers to push yourself off the motorcycle. You gave Steve his shield and began fighting Ultron together. That was when you both got thrown into the train. 

As you were about to get up you felt a gust of wind and saw Pietro, Wanda used her powers to try to trap Ultron but he escaped. You sighed and walked over to the twins.

“We need to stop this train.” You look at Pietro. “There’re civilians in our path, can you get them to safety?” He nods and speeds off. You look at Wanda. “We’re going to need to work together to stop this thing. Ready?” Wanda nods, you both use your powers to stop the train.

Once it stopped you took a deep breath, you looked at Wanda. “Nice job.”

Wanda looked at you with a confused look. “Why are you being so nice to me after what I did to you?”

“Because I know you were only doing what you thought was right. I know you’re a good person Wanda.” You smiled.

While you were busy talking to Wanda Ultron sneaks up behind up and knocked you out, he grabbed you.

“No!” Wanda screamed, she tried to use her powers to stop him but he just pushed her to the side and he flew off with you.

xxxxx

When Steve and the twins get back to the Avengers tower Natasha didn’t see you. She looked at Steve but before he was about to say something Wanda did.

“Ultron took her. I-I tried to save her but he just knocked me out of the way...” Wanda looked down, Pietro wrapped an arm around her.

Natasha growled. “We need to find her now!”

“Tasha calm down.” Clint walked up to her. “We’ll find her.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down Barton!” Her eyes started glowing golden yellow. She needed to find you, if something happened to you she wouldn’t know what to do.

Suddenly Wanda heard your voice in her head. Since you and Wanda had the same powers you could telepathically contact her no matter how far you were. 

“Wanda, I’m in Sokovia. Ultron has me held at the Hydra base.”

Wanda’s eyes widened. “I know where Ultron took her!”

Everyone looked at her, Natasha glared at her. “How would you know?”

“She just told me. Since we have the same powers we can telepathically contact to each other no matter the distance.” Wanda looked at Natasha, she sighed when the redhead didn’t say anything. “She’s being held at the Hydra base in Sokovia.”

xxxxx

Natasha immediately ran off the quinjet as soon as they got to Sokovia. She ran towards the Hydra base. “(Y/N)?!”

Your head shot up when you heard Natasha’s voice. “Nat! I’m down here!” You moved to the front of your cell. You smiled when you saw Natasha. 

As soon as Natasha got the door open she grabbed you and pulled you into a tight hug. Natasha sighed and nuzzled her face into your neck. You smiled and hugged her back.

Natasha pulled away from the hug slightly. “I found your note... I’m in love with you too (Y/N).” 

Your eyes widened. “Y-you are? You’re not just saying that because of the note?” 

Natasha smiled at you before she raised her hand up and cupped your cheek, she pulled you into a passionate kiss. When you felt her lips on yours your breath hitched. After a few seconds your eyes closed and your arms wrapped around her neck as you kissed her back.

xxxxx

After you and Natasha kissed you both finally joined the fight. During the fight you had noticed Wanda trying to hide. You quickly ran over to her, you grabbed her hand and you pulled her into a building so you two could be safe.

Wanda sits down, tears started rolling down her cheeks. “How could I let this happen? This is all my fault...”

“Hey.” You said as you knelt down in front of her. “None of this is your fault Wanda. You’re a good person and what you’ve done is in the past. The past doesn’t matter now.” You could sense more of Ultron’s drone‘s outside of the building. You closed your eyes for a second and took a deep breath before looking back at Wanda. “Once you walk out that door, you’re an Avenger.”

You stand up, your eyes glowing blue as you walk outside. You use your powers to take out some of the drone’s. Suddenly you see Wanda walk out, her eyes glowing red as she takes out the rest of the drone’s. You smiled at her, she smiled back at you.

During the fight you and Natasha had found each other. Tony said that he had a plan and everyone was meeting up to finally take out Ultron. You and Natasha had found a way to get there quickly.

“Romanoff you and (Y/N) better not be having a quickie.”

You were blushing like crazy. “Tony!” You cleared your throat. “Now isn’t the time for that and besides not all of us can fly.”

“Shut up Shell-head before I make you train with me. I’ll kick your ass over and over again.” Natasha growled as she rolled her eyes.

As soon as you and Natasha got to the Vibranium core the fighting began. When it was over Wanda said that she would protect the core, that it was her job. You were going to stay with her to help but she told you that she could handle it.

When you got to the lifeboats you saw Clint run towards a kid that was trapped, you then saw Pietro running after him. You knew what was going to happen. You couldn’t let that happen so you ran over to them, you used your powers to make a shield around all of you.

Once the coast was clear you let your shield fall. You looked at Clint and Pietro, they both were looking at you with shocked looks on their faces.

“What? Didn’t see that coming?” You smiled before giving them a serious look. “You need to help evacuate the city.”

“What about you?” Clint asked as he stood up.

“I’ll be fine.” You looked off in the distance before looking back at Pietro and Clint. “Go, I’ll be fine I promise.”

They didn’t want to leave you but they knew you wouldn’t let them stay. Once they were gone you sighed. You knew exactly where to find Ultron. You ran over there and sure enough there he was. 

Ultron looked over at you. “If you stay you’ll be killed.”

“I know.” Your eyes glowed blue as you moved closer. “I just need to get rid of one loose end.” You used your powers to rip out Ultron’s heart. Suddenly you felt Sokovia start falling. 

Natasha watched from the helicarrier with wide eyes. Then she realized you were still on Sokovia. “(Y/N)!”

You tried to use your powers to stop Sokovia from falling but it wasn’t enough. Vision came over to you, he grabbed you and held you as he took you back to the helicarrier.

Wanda and Pietro were the first ones to see you. They rushed over to you, they both hugged you tightly. They both helped you walk inside, they could tell you were really weak due to you overusing your powers to the point where your nose started bleeding.

“I... I tried... I’m so sorry.” You told them. You really tried to save Sokovia but you couldn’t.

Natasha saw Pietro and Wanda walk in with you. As soon as she saw you she let out a sigh of relief, she ran over to you and lifts you into her arms. She carried you to the med-bay so you could get checked out to make sure you were alright.

xxxxx

You smiled as you looked at the new Avengers compound. You felt Natasha walk up to you, she wrapped her arms around your waist from behind. You smiled and leaned into her embrace. Natasha placed a loving kiss on your neck.

Steve smiled when he saw this. He was really happy for the both of you. He walked over to the two of you. “Ready to train the new members of the team?” 

Natasha removed her arms from your waist, she smiled. “Come on babe, let's beat 'em into shape.”

You laughed and shook your head before kissing her cheek. You, Natasha and Steve walked over to where new members of the team were. You looked at everyone before looking at Wanda and Pietro, you smiled and nod towards them. 

When Steve came to you he talked to you about training the new members you told him that you wanted to train the Maximoff twins, he had laughed and told you that he was going to ask if you wanted to train them anyway.

Steve smirked. “Avengers assemble!”

#natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff x reader #avengers imagine #marvel imagine

[mothermaidenclone-blog]

Godzilla: King of the Monsters or It’s All About That Queen Bee Though

Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a very cool movie. Yes, it was pretty stupid, but was it also a gloriously fun, utterly ridiculous romp? Definitely. Warner Bros. knew we wanted to watch a bunch of massive monsters beat the ever-loving shit out of each other, and they certainly delivered on that front. As with any Godzilla movie, the main problem was that they spent too much time on the tiny, insignificant people and not enough on the aforementioned battling titans. However, there were some notable ladies featured amongst the squishy humans.

*Godzilla: King of the Monsters spoilers follow*

The first on screen conversation takes place between two women, Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown). Dr. Russell is evidently an exceptional scientist, as she has invented a device to communicate with, and to some extent control, the titans. She is also portrayed as brave and compassionate, risking her life to run to the aid of Mothra with her ORCA device. In addition, she wants her daughter to be strong and to experience what life has to offer, helping her to stroke Mothra once it has calmed down. She then guides her through the horrors of being held captive with the advice, “Eyes straight ahead, deep breaths, just like we talked about.” She isn’t shielding Madison from what is happening, but trying to help her to cope with it on her own.

However, it soon turns out that Dr. Russell is one of the villains of the movie, as she approached the eco terrorist Jonah Alan (Charles Dance) rather than being abducted by him, as it first appeared. As such, she is responsible for countless deaths in the movie, regardless of whether or not she is acting for the greater good of the planet. On the other hand, she is unwavering in the defence of her decisions and ethics, and even after the movie has declared her a baddie she is still portrayed as rational and somewhat empathetic.  She justifies her actions as being for the benefit of her daughter, and perhaps her daughter’s whole generation: “I couldn’t be more sane and Madison couldn’t be stronger. At least now she has a fighting chance.” At least Dr. Russell is granted a redemptive end - she dies saving not only her family, but arguably the entire planet, from the destructive forces of Ghidorah. It’s still shitty that she dies, no two ways about it, but at least she is granted some agency. Once a film like this declares you a villain you don’t stand a chance - it’s a noble sacrifice on her part and she isn’t just squashed by a giant monster foot while delivering a monologue about how her plans were right all along.

One of Dr. Russell’s plans does come to fruition, and that is that Madison becomes an incredibly strong young woman. She goes from slyly flipping off Jonah at the start of the movie to literally standing down Ghidorah and screaming right back in his fucking face. Now, it could well be argued that these are not the most considered of actions, but it cannot be denied that Madison has some nerve. In addition to being categorically courageous, Madison is also intelligent and principled. When she sees that Ghidorah’s rampage is becoming uncontrollable, she not only steals the ORCA from under the nose of a group of highly organised armed terrorists and escapes their fortified secret base, taking the time to appropriately supply herself for her journey (like no one in movies ever does!), but she also figures out the most effective location to broadcast from and operates the ORCA independently. Kudos to Madison, she knows what she’s doing. She does end up having to be rescued by her parents but two things are worth remembering at this point: firstly, Madison has just done her bit to save the entire planet and secondly, she is still a child. She’s more than allowed to run scared for a moment when a three-headed, lightning-breathing dragon from space is trying to cause the end of days.

Dr. Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) reprises her role from the first film, and we are treated to a brief reminder of what a competent, intrepid scientist and eloquent, fearless defender of Godzilla she is before she is unceremoniously felled by Ghidorah. I didn’t even notice her death, and while it’s true I might have been taking notes and missed it, I was informed by a small piece of text on a character’s computer screen, which seems like an unnecessarily dismissive way to end the life of such an intrinsic character to the series.

Perhaps in an attempt to compensate for the loss of Dr. Graham, several new named female characters were introduced, and credit where credit’s due, pretty much all of these women are immediately addressed by their name and title. This not only shows them the respect they are due, but saved me the kind of IMDB credits trawling I usually have to do when writing a review. We meet another of Monarch’s top scientists, Dr. Ilene Chen (Ziyi Zhang). She is notable not only for her scientific competency, but also for her heritage, as she reveals she is the direct descendant of one of the female founders of Monarch, and shows a selection of photos of completely badass looking explorers and scientists that make up her family, all of whom are women. Her twin sister, Dr. Ling (also Ziyi Zhang) also briefly features, although she is seemingly working for the terrorists. We don’t see much of her except for an appropriately awed look at the hatching of Mothra, but it’s safe to assume by her presence at the site that she is an equally accomplished scientist. Dr. Chen is also notable for being an advocate of not blowing Godzilla to smithereens, pointing out that, “slaying dragons is a western concept.”

Another new female character is Colonel Diane Foster (Aisha Hinds), an extremely competent officer and woman of colour, who seems to be in charge of the military branch of Monarch’s operations. She continues to excel throughout the movie, surviving the attack that killed Dr. Graham and continuing to lead others safely through danger until the end. Foster is shown to be a strong leader as well as a distinguished field officer - she is a highly skilled sniper who cares deeply about saving innocent lives.

Black women continue to occupy positions of power, if not leading roles, in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as further exemplified by Senator Williams (CCH Pounder), who presides over the Monarch hearing at the start of the film and appears to have the power to turn the whole organisation over to the military if she so chooses. Women do very much inhabit the world of this movie, with many women being present of all sides of the conflict as scientists, soldiers and terrorists alike. Although I’m not sure we hear all their names, many are credited, including Asaj (Tracy Garrison), one of Jonah’s team, First Lieutenant Griffin (Elizabeth Ludlow), Lieutenant Bottin (Natalie Shaheen), G-Team Officer Harryhausen (Shauna Rappold), Argo Officer Arvin (Skylar Denney), Argo Officer Cross (Kelli Garner) and a news anchor (Fiona Hardingham) who is one of the first voices we hear in the movie. The fact that two of these characters are named for practical effects superstars tells me that they held a special place in the hearts of the movie makers.

However wonderful all of these women are, let’s talk about the real leading lady of this movie - Mothra. Not only is she utterly radiant and resplendent, she can hold her own in a fight -  penetrating Rodan with her stinger - and apparently has the monumental power of the ability to resurrect Godzilla. In short, she’s amazing. She is also the only titan to be named as female, which makes it all the more shitty that she’s the only one - other than the big bad Ghidorah - to die. It seems even female kaiju aren’s safe from the played out and tired fate of dying for the benefit of their male counterparts. Now, my little brother (who is more of a Gozilla expert than me) texted me as soon as he knew I’d seen the movie to tell me not to worry and that Mothra is apparently immortal, because he knew I’d be so cross and sad about this. Thanks, baby bro. However, as this is not addressed in the movie, I have to stand by my initial assessment that Mothra’s death is pure garbage.

Overall, the women in Godzilla: King of the Monsters are incredibly strong and adept in a wide variety of fields ranging from science to combat, are without exception incredibly brave, and most of them hold to a high moral code. Furthermore, for a monster movie where presumably thousands of people are slaughtered, their mortality rate isn’t too bad. I think one more named male character dies than female, but this doesn’t make the loss of talented female scientists on screen any easier to swallow. Also, they killed Mothra, so I can never forgive them. Well, not until she comes back in a sequel and fucks up some even bigger bastards because you know I will watch another Godzilla movie, no hesitation. On balance, this is an absolutely ridiculous movie about giant dragons murdering each other, so I think we’re lucky that so many competent human women were featured at all.

And now for some asides:

Umm, excuse me, was that casually Atlantis? And did you blow it up?

Also did this movie low-key endorse hollow Earth theory?

Thank you, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, for the gift of someone ejector-seating straight into Rodan’s fiery maw. You truly know your audience.

#godzilla #king of the monsters #sci-fi #scifi #science fiction #movie review #Film Review #feminism #feminist #kaiju #titan #vera farmiga #millie bobby brown #charles dance #Sally Hawkins #ziyi zhang #aisha hinds #cch pounder #king ghidorah #mothra #rodan

[cheswirls]

The Reality of Nightmares ch 6

i lived, bitch so spoiler: i really didn’t wanna push for sendoff spring, so this is me building on other things before i have to drop them in the lake setting. i know it’s been, like, a year+, sorry. i never forgot about this tho, i jus didn’t know how to handle it and everything else i started around holiday 16. 

i’m working on a shorter fic based entirely off a drama to help ease me back into writing for longfics, and that’ll take precedence through this month. once i relearn how to do this, tron will be back in full swing ! so jus consider this an intro to the return, i’ll do a bigger follow-up on everything addressed here before they visit the lake in the next chapter.

She regained consciousness before she regained the strength to open her eyes.

“ . . Faced with multiple lacerations and burns -what happened?”

“Hard to say. Lavana came at us pretty hard with a Magmortar, so some of the burns came from that. As for the others . . Well, she was with Isaac during the final stretch, up the second portion of the tower. He still hasn’t told much, but apparently, they had final encounters with each of the Sinis Trio. I could easily imagine things getting ugly. Especially with Ic-”

“Whaa,” she mumbled, eyelids lifting some, bright blurred forms coming into view. She wasn’t lying down all the way, her upper body propped up by something -pillows, maybe? She blinked and tried to clear her vision, too tired to do much else. In front of her, the forms began to move, one coming around to her side.

“Kate? Kate, it’s Keith. Are you okay?”

“Kei . . ?” She stopped, squinting as her view came into focus. “You look horrible,” she muttered, sniffing.

To her side, Keith stared at her in surprise, not expecting that. After a moment, he cracked up, shaking his head. Catching her confused gaze, he snickered once more. “You should see yourself, hun.”

“Mysel . .” She trailed off, looking down at her form. What she could see atop the sheets was covered in bandages, and then didn’t exactly look fresh, sickly orange patches on some, others stacked so much she could’ve sworn peeling them back would reveal bloodsoaked ones near the center. She couldn’t lift her arms. She couldn’t lift her head. Everything ached. She winced, flopped her head back to the side, and opened her mouth to ask Keith what the hell happened when another voice spoke.

“Ah, she’s awake.”

Keith winced and Kate moved her eyes to see Hastings gesturing for the doctor on her other side. He mumbled a few words and he hurried back to her, fidgeting with the machines she was hooked up to. Hastings looked back at her and hummed, lips curling into a frown.

“Maybe debriefing should be moved in here,” he muttered, glancing to Keith. “How long has she been up?”

“You got here just in time,” he replied evenly.

“Hmm.” Hastings stoops on his cane, thinking. Finally, he raises his eyes to meet Keith’s. “You’ve got two days. Make sure she’s up and able to move.” The scientist doesn’t waste another glance at Kate, choosing to turn around and walk out.

Kate lolls her head back to Keith, a question on her face. He shakes his head.

“Mission clear,” he croaks, finally breaking, tears springing to his eyes, happy to see her awake, knowing she was awake.

“You don’t look happy,” Kate tells him.

He turns his head away, biting down on his lip to keep it from trembling with little success. “Things are complicated,” he finally says. “Things are over, but not everything is fixed, not all is normal.”

She’s too tired to think. “What do you mean.”

“You’ll find out.” He locks his eyes with her tired ones, already drooping again. “In two days, forty-eight hours, you’ll see.”

-

Her room in the Pokemon League was shared with Keith. The beds were comfortable, but they were cold. Everything was cold in this land. But she wasn’t cold now, which concerned her enough to crack open an eye, searching for the source in the darkness.

Heavy breathing fell on her forehead. Her eyes were level with a neck, Keith’s, she assumed. Interesting.

Not that this didn’t happen sometimes. They were -something. She wasn’t sure what. But why, exactly, she couldn’t-

Oh.

Yes she could.

It had started late, with her bursting up in a fit of choked tears and barely-held back whimpers so harshly she fell off the bed, legs tangling in the sheets. Keith was up in an instant, beside her, ever present, and she remembered clinging to him as she settled down, rasping out a name over and over as he whispered to her it’d be okay.

Blake Hall.

Because they never recovered the people swallowed up by the darkness. Darkrai had vanished after her rampage on the machine and the converging of the dark crystal to a purer form. And it wasn’t like the magical superhero shows where the villain is defeated and everything returns to how it once before. The people that were taken never showed back up. They were lost. Missing.

Trapped in the darkness.

She regained control of herself by blocking it out, by letting herself be lead back onto the mattress, by not letting go of his hand until he climbed in after her, a needed presence.

It wasn’t good, to block it all out. But it was how she dealt, for now. It worked, for now. It was fine, for now. And if it held, well, what was the use in changing it?

She glanced out their window without raising her head to see it still dark. Fine. She’d sleep for a bit longer, then.

They had such a long day ahead.

-

Dahlia didn’t care for the scones at the league.

Not they that were hard as a rock, no, because they weren’t, and no one would like them that way.

It was the fact that they were near perfect. Not burnt, which, again, she could do without. It was the flavor.

Overpowering. Cheri, pecha, rawst, you name it and the scone was packed full of it. It was too much. It was a scone, not a strudel.

“You’re making that face again.”

She scrunched her nose up more and dropped her breakfast pastry. To her right, Thorton breathed out a sigh.

“I know, I know, it’s-”

“Not how it was when Cynthia was here.”

He sighed again, taking a bite of his own meal before replying. “Lots of things have changed. ‘M sorry our current champion doesn’t appreciate the sweetness of the bread more. Deal with it. We won’t be here that long.”

She slumped forward, her upper arm resting in full on the table while her palm lies on her forehead. “So you say. But do you really believe it?”

Thorton shrugged, disinterest in the topic beginning to take form. “The rangers were called.”

“Yeah.” She sat up, then, eyes brimming with . . something. “Do you think they’re qualified?”

“I think they’ve been through shit,” Thorton told her. “I think one of them’s traumatized, and that doesn’t go away. Just look at Maylene.” She grunts in understanding at the last bit. “But here’s the thing: That’s experience. They’ll know what to look for, what to expect. They’ll know how to handle themselves and the people they’re working with. So, yes. Damn right. I think they’re qualified.”

“Okay okay, you’ve convinced me,” she mumbled. “Just, you weren’t right there, with Kate. When she was telling Keith her location, that whole transmission, it was chilling. She was all cheery and shit, after just being put through an underwater cave-in. Said it was her way of dealing with things. Mentioned the last time was when a cargo ship she’d been on sank in the deep waters. That the ocean wasn’t her friend. That’s a shit way of dealing with things, y’know?”

“Sure.” He pushed his plate back, finished just before his appetite went. “Like I said, the girl’s traumatized. It happens. But she’s still pushing.” He leaned forward, cocking his head at her. “Like Argenta said, she’s a fighter. We just gotta trust in her.”

“Oh. You two are up early.”

Thorton expects it, but he still jumps along with Dahlia at Dawn’s voice as she enters, balancing a plate of food and a glass of juice. She pads over and takes a seat across from them, and for a moment, they just stare.

Her eyes were sunken, frown in place, expression worn in general. It’d been like that for a bit now, ever since . .

Her clothes were rumpled, clearly not sleepwear which suggested she’d been up walking through the castle. Again. But she wasn’t dressed for the day either, like she’d thrown on something in a hurry without a care.

What was always interesting and equally disturbing to see were the twin scarves. Today was no different. The red one was coiled tightly around her neck, like it couldn’t get closer, while the pink hung loosely from her shoulders, sides draped down over her chest. It was clear which was prioritized.

Her eyes narrowed, and she stabbed a piece of food before scoffing. “What,” she muttered, chewing slowly as they broke from their trance.

“Where are we going today,” Dahlia asked, recovering first.

Dawn swallowed and paused, thinking. “Dunno,” she settled on. “Wherever they want.”

The frontier brains share a look. For now, they supposed that’d have to be enough.

-

The port city might actually have been a bit chillier than where they touched down first in the region, which was . . odd, at least for her. Nearly all of Almia’s townships were set by the sea, after all. And it was decent there. The few inhabited spaces that weren’t near the ocean were in the mountains and this was, well . .

Rhythmi spun around after departing the train, her luggage spinning along with her figure. She pulled her League-issued cloak tighter as the breeze picked up.

Nope, they were definitely at sea level.

She made her way out of the station, using the hand not clutching at her suitcase handle to dig out the map she’d been given by the champion. She remembered it being dual-sided as well as having a key and- yep!

The map of elevation showed Canalave and the surrounding area to the east as very flat and very low. The land did rest against a small cliffside to the west, but it wasn’t very prominent-

“Oof,” she choked out, staggering back upon ramming into someone, the map fluttering from her grip.

Before she could issue an apology, the person turned around. Rhythmi thought she had experience being tall, or at least, being around tall people. But this person was . .

The man before her chuckled awkwardly before she stopped her staring, head raised as if she stood before a skyscraper.

“I’m sorry,” she uttered, doing her best to bow slightly without having her bags slip from her grasp.

The man waved her off. “No no, I was in a precarious position anyway, and- oh, you, wait . .” He paused, reaching to grasp at his chin, eyes fluttering closed in thought. They opened back up with a pop a moment later and he nodded as he looked back to her. “You’re the operator from Fiore, aren’t you?”

Rhythmi deadpanned with a hesitant smile, her mouth falling open slightly. She regained herself after a moment, but her tone was still lackluster. “Sir, there are no operators in Fiore. They’re all stationed in Almia.”

“Oh! Sorry, sorry, my fault,” he waved off, reaching a hand up to rub his head sheepishly.

“I suppose you were the person I needed to meet, seeing as you were expecting an operator?”

“Yes,” the man said, nodding. “My apologies, miss. I am Byron, the gym leader here in Canalave. I’ve been instructed to guide you to your operating base, and also to keep an eye on you, make sure you stay safe.”

She frowned at that, the thought of her well being being left to someone she didn’t know unsatisfactory. Also the fact she was simply assigned a burly bodyguard for the heck of it, like this was some show. And the gym leader, at that. Wouldn’t he be busy enough? Besides, it’s not like she couldn’t defend herself. She’d picked up a thing or two from working with the Union. Byron seemed to pick up on that, as he leaned forward slightly.

“Think of it this way, then: You’re not exactly in the safest place in the world, right? So-” He broke off upon seeing horror dawn on her face. “Oh, no no not here! Here is good! I meant, well, Sinnoh in general right now. And your friends are on the case to hunt down whoever or whatever is causing this. And since you have ties to them, it just, well, it wouldn’t hurt to be careful, right?”

Now thoroughly disturbed, Rhythmi just nodded, very blatantly, and then realized the guy in front of her trying doesn’t know her name. “I’m Rhythmi.” She stuck her sole free hand out. “Pleased to meet you.”

Byron shook it and gestured behind him. “Suppose we should get going, then.”

“Hm.” She nodded to him and then looked down at her map. She made to hunch over, letting go of her suitcase handle to grasp at her bag straps, but Byron waved her off and did it himself, handing it to her as she straightened back up.

“That’s a pretty fancy one,” He noted. “Don’t think they make those much anymore. Is it-”

“League issued, yes.” Rhythmi frowned at this news, though. She’d make sure to take care of it.

#writing #tron #the reality of nightmares #pokemon ranger #soa #dppt

[kpop-muses]

Power (6/?) - Kim Jongin

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / PART 6 / Part 7

Summary: Jongin, the son of a wealthy CEO, and a few of his friends end up interning at the company of an attractive young businesswoman’s company, and you don’t mind having him visit your office occasionally.

Genre: Smut (finally)

Length: 2.8k+

Hours. That’s how long minutes felt while Jongin sat as his desk, tapping a pen against the side of his laptop, waiting for the day to end. He wasn’t one to vocalize his emotions constantly, unlike Baekhyun, so he was glad none of his friends asked why he had been staring at the same spreadsheet for twenty minutes without adding a single piece of data to it.

A generally calm person, Jongin couldn’t stop bouncing his leg and flipping through pages and pages of numbers without actually comprehending them. Your note was so cryptic - Meet me in my office after your shift today – judging by the events of that morning, Jongin was pretty sure he knew what would happen, but the fearful thoughts refused to be shoved away.

Whenever he thought about the kiss, about your lips on his, about the sweet gentle scent of your perfume, different emotions clouded his vision. These thoughts, although much more pleasant, would arguably make his job much harder to manage. Plus, if any of his friends noticed he had a boner caused by seemingly nothing, they would never let him live it down.

At lunch Jongin managed to get down a sandwich, but he was getting more nervous and excited by the second. On one hand, he might be getting another chance to kiss you, to hold you close. On the other, much less reasonable hand, he could be immediately fired, and the only reason you had told him to wait was to save him the embarrassment of packing up his desk at the mercy of all those watching eyes.

“Jongin? Hello?”

He looked up to see his three friends staring, and hoped his face wasn’t as red as it felt.

“Yeah?”

“We were asking if you’re free after work today?”

“Oh, uh... why?”

“We’re thinking about getting a couple drinks. You up for it?”

“No, I-uh-I have some extra work I need to get done after my shift.”

“Really?” Sehun raised an unintentionally judgemental eyebrow, “Then why have you been staring at your work and doing nothing for the past hour?”

Shit. He noticed.

“I’m just a little tired. I’d rather get it all done tonight and get a good night’s sleep than come in early tomorrow.” Jongin’s friends quietly considered this, and he wasn’t sure they’d accept the excuse. “Can I get a rain check for next week? I’ve been wanting to go to that new lounge on 5th Street. How about we make it a guys’ night?”

The three boys enthusiastically agreed while Jongin breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe. At least for now.

The rest of the day was more bearable, excitement bubbling on Jongin’s chest. You weren’t buzzing around the office as usual so he didn’t get a chance to see you, but the mental image of your flushed cheeks and soft lips that he had memorized that morning kept him focused.

Soon employees began to filter out of the office, quickly followed by Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Sehun, who were still intent on getting some drinks despite their future plans.

“See you later, man,” Chanyeol said, patting Jongin’s shoulder on his way past.

“You too. Don’t let Sehun and Baekhyun get you into too much trouble.”

Chanyeol snorted at that and left the office

In his effort to take his mind off of his current situation, Jongin almost didn’t realize the office was empty while his nose was buried in his work. Then slowly, he turned off the laptop and shut it, taking his time filing away the finished papers. He needed some mental preparation.

He threw his suit jacket over his shoulders, then thought better of it and threw it over his arm. Jongin walked towards the door to your office, straightening his back and keeping his chin up. Whatever was to come, he decided he was ready for it.

After two short knocks, your muffled voice told him to come in, and when he stepped inside your well-lit office he saw you sitting in your chair, deep in your analyzation of a paper on the desk in front of you.

“Give me a moment,” You said distractedly before glancing up at him with a neutral face, adding, “Please, sit down.”

Nervously, Jongin sat in the chair opposite you. He was beginning to wonder if his calculations had been entirely wrong. What if you actually were firing him? What would his friends think? How would he tell his dad-

You looked up at him, stopping the rampage of thoughts stampeding through his brain.

With disciplined precision and patience, you closed the file and set it inside one of your multiple desk drawers. You dropped a few loose pens with similar utensils in a cup on the desk. Casually you brushed nonexistent dust off the front of your blouse and leaned forward, chin resting on your entwined hands, staring Jongin directly in the eyes.

He hoped you didn’t notice his nervous gulp.

“Mr. Kim. Can I call you Jongin?”

Jongin nodded, mouth getting dry.

“Jongin,” You stood up and slowly walked around the desk, stopping a little to the right of him and sitting against the desk a bit, never altering your gaze. The small smirk tilting your lips was nearly imperceptible. “What exactly were your intentions when you got this job?”

Well. He wasn’t expecting that.

“I,” He cleared his throat, “I was looking for some working experience before taking more leadership roles at my father’s company.” Jongin was incredibly proud that his voice didn’t shake.

“Is that still your intention?” You followed up, narrowing your eyes a small fraction of an inch, “Are you still only looking for job experience?”

Jongin wasn’t sure how to answer, and wasn’t sure he could speak even if he did have an answer, so he stuck with a firm nod.

“Because... it seems like you’re here for something else as well. Do you have any idea what that might be?”

He answered with a shake of his head.

Jongin managed to keep his breathing even as you stood and placed your hands on the arms of his chair, leaning dangerously close. There was no doubt in Jongin’s mind that if he looked a mere inch lower he would have a full view down your shirt (had your blouse been unbuttoned that low this morning?), but he fought the temptation.

“I think you know exactly what you want.” You murmured, flickering your gaze between his eyes and his lips. “You’re just too afraid to go get it.”

Jongin surged forward, colliding his lips with yours. In an instant your hands were tangled in his hair. He stood up, bringing you with him. You sat back against your desk, giving Jongin the opportunity to get even closer to you.

Your make out session was getting more heated by the second. Jongin’s hands were on your hips, squeezing the flesh there and making you shiver. You moved your grasp from his hair to his back, digging your fingernails into the crisp fabric. His lips migrated to your jawline and then to your neck where he took the time to admire your scent and ravish your skin with small sucks and bites, barely gentle enough to ensure that they wouldn’t leave any lasting marks.

You lulled your head to the side, giving him better access. It was growing impossible to hold back the small whimpers that were catching in the back of your throat, especially with Jongin’s sinfully plush lips taking all of your attention.

“Jongin,” You breathed.

“Hm?” He hummed, brushing your hair back and nibbling at the sensitive spot behind your ear.

“How far away do you live?”

“Twenty minutes.”

“My place is closer.”

Jongin pulled away and looked you in the eyes. There was an intensity in his gaze that made you even more eager.

Without another moment of hesitation, Jongin quickly picked up his suit jacket that he had dropped on the floor and you grabbed your keys and purse off the desk.

The two of you rushed out of the building, all but running down to the parking garage.

“Your car or mine?” Jongin asked, trying to tear his focus away from the problem beginning to make itself apparent in his slacks.

“Yours.”

The drive to your apartment was a blur. The only words exchanged were directions to your home and when Jongin flew into a parking space near the entrance he threw the car into park and got out as fast as possible, only a second behind you.

He watched as you took his hand in your own and politely greeted the doorman before bidding him goodnight. The man smiled good-naturedly at the two of you and didn’t seem to question Jongin’s presence. It made him wonder if this was a regular thing for you. The thought made him jealous. He wanted to make sure you remembered this. Remembered him.

The elevator still had an inch left to close when Jongin pushed you against the wall, slotting your mouths together.

“This seems familiar,” You grinned. He kept your mouth occupied and didn’t let you say anything more until you reached your floor.

You remained surprisingly calm despite your rapidly beating heart as you led him to the door that opened into your pristine apartment. In the few moments while you were locking the door behind you, Jongin glanced around and saw a large white couch facing a large television, a few plush chairs and a coffee table surrounding it. He briefly noticed an open doorway which he assumed led to the kitchen, but he didn’t pay much thought to anything but you once your lips were on his again.

The two of you paused in the entryway to kiss a little more. Jongin’s hands sunk down to squeeze your ass. He smirked into the kiss at the small sound of surprise that came from you. He continued running his hands over the cushiony flesh until you were pushing him towards your bedroom.

You and Jongin traveled across the hardwood floors to your bedroom, practically stuck together. Luckily the door was open and within moments you had Jongin sitting on the edge of your bed while you climbed into his lap, straddling him. You took your turn attacking his neck with your lips, reveling in the soft, almost silent groans that escaped his mouth.

You ground your hips down against his, instantly feeling his growing erection straining against his pants. A low, nearly animalistic growl erupted from Jongin at the friction that felt indescribable after craving it for so long. He picked you up and threw you back against the bed, crawling on top of you.

“Why do you have to be such a tease?” Jongin mumbled, kissing down your neck and as low down your chest as he could access while your shirt was still on.

“Please Jongin,” You moaned, closing your eyes when you felt his warm breath against your chest.

He glanced up at you, staring from beneath his eyelashes. Jongin hadn’t expected you to be so submissive, hadn’t expected you to be the type to beg. A mischievous grin lit up his face at this enticing new discovery.

Jongin reached up and slowly unbuttoned your shirt, revealing a dark maroon bra trimmed in lace. He wanted to take the time to properly appreciate how your chest rose and fell rapidly, how your skin was a stark difference against the dark fabric. Still, he wanted much more for it to be off.

He took his sweet time sliding off the rest of your clothing until you were left only in your bra and matching underwear. Mentally you thanked your earlier self for choosing to wear the set, but it was difficult to pull your thoughts away from the hot kisses Jongin was leaving across your torso, inching lower and lower until he was nudging his nose just above the hem of your panties.

Your dug your fingers into his hair once again, waiting for him to make a move. With every warm breath that came in contact with your already throbbing center your resolve drizzled away, and it didn’t seem like Jongin was in any hurry to help you out.

“Jongin-“

“Yes Mrs. Y/L/N?”

“Call me Y/N,” You murmured, gently brushing your legs together in search for even a tiny bit of release.

Jongin looked up and locked eyes with you. Less than a second later his lips were on yours. He hovered over you, bracing himself against the bed with one arm. With the other hand he squeezed your thigh and pulled it up beside his him.

Jongin ground his hips against yours with enough pressure to make you gasp. He kissed along your neck in time with the movement, making you even more desperate.

“Please,” You moaned.

“Please what?”

“Please fuck me.”

Something snapped in Jongin and he was leaning back to yank his shirt off, throwing it to the side. You leaned forward to suck small bruises along his collarbone, just low enough so that they wouldn’t be visible above the neck of his dress shirts. Jongin fumbled with the button on his slacks, but with both of your pairs of hands fumbling with them he was able to pull them off. His erection was clearly visible beneath his gray boxer briefs and straining against the fabric. The sight made your mouth water, and if you hadn’t been so eager to get him inside you, you would’ve taken the time to properly admire it.

Jongin flipped the two of you over. You were on top, but Jongin was clearly still in charge of the situation. Still, you couldn’t let him have all the fun, so you took your time sliding his boxers off his tan legs. He sucked in a harsh breath at the feeling of the air against his now unrestrained cock.

You straddled his hips and wrapped your hand around his thick member, giving it a few gentle tugs just to hear the short, sinful noises that escaped his lips. He watched you with half-lidded eyes when you quickly slid on a condom that was luckily stashed in your bedside table. Sitting up and giving him a full view of your now naked chest, you slowly lined him up with your entrance and sunk down just an inch before stopping.

Jongin must have been sick of the teasing. He grabbed your hips and pulled you down until you felt incredibly full. It was slow enough to give you time to adjust, but fast enough to let you know that he meant business.

“Fuck,” Jongin hissed at the tight feeling. He waited for you to give him the go-ahead signal. It came quicker than he expected and soon you were bouncing up and down on his cock, moaning unabashedly.

The slick, erotic sound of skin against skin combined with the warm atmosphere added to your shared arousal. It had been too long since you’d felt this full. Jongin ran his hands up and down your skin, pausing to squeeze your ass or fiddle with your sensitive nipples. When he snapped his hips up into you, you fell forward, leaning your hands against his chest and unintentionally digging your nails into his firm body. Jongin moaned at this. He was done playing around, switching positions so he was fucking down into you, one arm holding him up on the bed and the other bracing him against the headboard with white knuckles.

You wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling him as close as possible, willing him to go deeper. The sound of your moans mingling with his low grunts was like music to your ears.

“J-Jongin, I’m-”

He leaned down and kissed you fiercely. You didn’t think it was possible, but he thrust even harder, snapping his hips against your thighs and ramming into your g spot over and over until you were seeing stars.

“Just let it go, baby,” He murmured, dropping his forehead against your neck. His voice was thick and rough with lust and the anticipation of his quickly approaching release. “Come for me, Y/N. Right. Now.”

Without thinking, your body followed his firm command. Your orgasm came rushing over you like a storm of pleasure. You couldn’t think straight. You were moaning Jongin’s name like your life depended on it, making you short of breath. You dug your fingertips into his back.

The sharp sensation threw Jongin over the edge. He thrust into you, cashing in every last bit of his saved energy to ride out his high. Jongin was panting against your neck, jerking towards you as he emptied his warm load into the condom.

Slowly the two of you caught your breaths. Your grip slackened, but you were sure you had already left tell-tale marks on his muscular back. Jongin placed sloppy kisses across your neck and collar bones, quietly murmuring support and praise.

His arms were turning to jelly so he flopped back against the bed beside you after taking off the condom, tying it up, and tossing it into the nearest trash can. You stared up at the blank white ceiling and Jongin did the same. He blushed feeling your bare thigh against his. The room was now silent except for your labored and erratic breathing. Neither of you said a word.

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#jongin #kim jongin #kai #exo #exo kai #jongin scenario #jongin scenarios #kim jongin scenario #kim jongin scenarios #kai scenario #Kai scenarios #exo scenario #exo scenarios #exo kai scenario #exo kai scenarios #kpop #kpop scenario #kpop scenarios #smut #kpop smut #jongin smut #kim jongin smut #kai smut #exo smut #exo kai smut #Power #my work

[cle-3racha]

Miles Dual Electric Skateboard Review

Hey, Nate from e Skate Hub here and today I've got for you the Miles Dual electric skateboard review. Straight up, this is probably one of the most fun electric skateboards I have ever ridden. Now, it is the first short electric skateboard that I have ridden before and it did take me quite a little bit of time to get used to it especially after riding electric longboards for so long.

But after riding it a little bit and getting used to the kick tail, I found myself really enjoying it. Considering how small it is and the stiffness of the deck, I don't usually take it out for longer trips but, it's my go-to board when I need to go to the supermarket or meeting a friend for coffee down the road or if I'm riding to the train station to head into the city for the day.

On the Miles Power website, they say the Miles Dual and the Single both have a top speed of 22mph which is 35. 4km. And on my first ride, I managed to hit a top speed of 24mph which is 39kmh. For the range, Miles say that with a standard battery you will be able to get 7-12 miles on the Single and 10-18 miles on the Dual and if you opt to have the airline friendly battery you should get 6-14 miles.

I ordered the Miles Dual with the airline safe battery so this is what I've tested the range on. I weigh 83kg, the track was fairly smooth and there were a few up and down steep hills. I rode the Miles Dualit a steady pace of about 20mph because that's probably what most riders are going to be cruising at. And I managed to get 9. 5 miles which are 15. 1km. So, I'm fairly impressed by the range capabilities on the airline safe battery. Now I only wish I had the standard battery to test its capabilities.

One  the thing to note though is when the battery goes flat, completely dead, everything switches off, including the brakes, so, make sure you're not riding down any steep hills as the battery goes flat otherwise you're going to be completely out of luck. I tested the brakes on both the low mode and the high mode by riding it at about 18mph and applying them brakes at 100% at this line.

And you can see that it took me about this long to stop on the high mode. And it took me about this long to stop on the low mode. Now the Miles Dual does struggle a little bit up hills. I rode up a 100m long hill which had a hill grade of about 30% and the board completely died about halfway up the hill. I then rode it up a hill which was about 50 meters long with a hill grade of about 20% and it did make it up but there was a decrease in the speed and I could really feel the board trying its best to pull me up the hill.

As I said, the deck is really small but in a good way. It's nice and compact and lightweight and it's easy to carry around. When I'm riding, my back foot is right on top of the kick tail and my front the foot is way out the front and my stance can't get any wider but to me, I think I'm an average height and the stance is perfect. The entire deck is made out of carbon fiber and all of the electronics are housed in the casing so it looks super stealthy.

People wouldn't even think you're riding an electric skateboard until they realize that you're cruising along without kick pushing. The grip tape is more like a grip plate, you can unscrew it, take the whole thing off and replace it with new grip tape. This is cool because Miles actually offer a ton of different graphics which you can swap and change whenever you feel like it.

And this is actually the same way that you change the battery, by taking the grip plate off, changing in the new battery and putting the grip plate back on.

Miles originally released the board with pink wheels only which never really bothered me but obviously, it bothered some people because you can now get them in black as well. They are 80mm wheels with a durometer of 80a making them super squishy and grippy, keeping you stuck to the ground.

The PU tires around the motors are actually replaceable so you can easily take them off and put on new wheels making maintenance super easy and really cheap. The interesting thing about the trucks is that the kingpins are facing outwards which is normal on a longboard but on a traditional skateboard of this size they generally face inwards. However, I haven't really noticed it is too much of an issue.

You still get great maneuverability out of them and the kicktail definitely helps. The Miles Dual has two hub motors at the rear while the Single, as the name suggests, has only one hub motor. Now Miles don't disclose their power ratings on their website for their motors because they believe that the skate industry is notorious for manufacturers lying about the power of their motors.

This is kind of disappointing and annoying as consumers because we can no longer trust the manufacturers to tell us the truth about the power and the specs of their components. It would have been nice to see Miles recognize this and go against the grain of the other skate companies and be more transparent and open about the specs of their products. Because I plan to take this board overseas, I opted to get the airline safe battery which is 99Wh and you can freely travel with it.

The standard battery, however, is 144Wh which means you can travel on the airlines with it but you need to get permission from your airline first. And as I mentioned before, the battery is swappable with a 2. 5mm hex key. You just have to unscrew the bolts on top of the grip tape, put the new battery in and away you go. Miles Power has two different remotes.

One for the Miles Dual and one for the Miles Single. The one on the Miles Dualis quite cool because it has an LED display that shows the remote battery, the board battery, an odometer for the total amount of miles on the board. Then under that, you've got your current trip length.

Then you've also got your current speed and the max speed you hit in the last few minutes. Along the bottom of the display, it also shows the direction you are going. FW for forward and BW for backward. It'll also show you which of the two-speed modes you are in. HI for your high mode and LO for your low mode. Turning it on is super easy, all you have to do is hold the power button on the remote and move the Miles board back and forwards a little bit until it beeps and turns on.

There is also a little light at the end of the remote which isn't really bright enough for you to be able to see in the dark but maybe it'll help you be seen when you're riding around in the dark. TheMiles Dual comes with the standard set of accessories such as the board charger, USB cable to charge the remote, a T-tool and a user manual. But the T-tool is pretty shit. The hex key that it comes with doesn't do any of the bolts on the motors or on the grip tape.

You're gonna have to go get another sized hex key. However, the T-tool does have the bolts to change the wheels over. So, overall, I think this is an epic little, mini electric skateboard. It's now my go-to board for short trips, like ducking to the supermarket, meeting friends for coffee or riding to the station if I'm heading into the city for the day. It's just super easy when you're not riding it, you can pick it up and take it into the store with you, you can stow it away under your seat on the train or at your feet in the car, it's easy.

The kicktail is nice and small which is perfect for tic-tacking around corners, doing manuals, launching off curbs but you're not going to be able to do any real tricks with it. It kind of feels like I'm riding an old school traditional skateboard but it's electric which is super cool. You can pick up the Miles Dual for $769 or theMiles Single for $599. Also, Miles Power is releasing a brand new electric longboard called the Miles Rampage which you can preorder now for a discounted price. So that's everything I have on the Miles Dual electric skateboard.

#Miles Dual Electric Skateboard Review #best skateboard #best skateboard reviews

[operationrainfall]

Title Carrion Developer Phobia Game Studio Publisher Devolver Digital Release Date July 23rd, 2020 Genre Stealth, Horror, Metroidvania Platform PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One Age Rating Mature 17+ – Blood and Gore, Violence Official Website

I like to think of myself as a good person. I preface this review thus because after playing Carrion for a few hours, you start to feel like a sociopath. Gobbling up humans like popcorn chicken and cutting a red swath of destruction across sinister facilities. But just cause I’m generally decent doesn’t mean it’s not fun to be bad sometimes. And playing this reverse horror Metroidvania definitely puts you squarely in the shoes of the monster. Though really, if you think about it, you didn’t ASK to be placed in a vat. So I’m sure those devious humans brought this mayhem upon themselves. Regardless, Carrion is a wholly unique experience, and one of the most noteworthy games I’ve played in a long while.

As you might expect, there’s not much plot in Carrion. The writhing mass of red tentacles and mouths you control doesn’t do much talking, though you do encounter several potential flashbacks. This happens when your character, who I started referring to as Tentacly Joe, inserts himself into strange mechanical devices. The focus shifts to you moving around as an unknown human going about searching for specimens and unlocking facilities. It’s not clear to me whether these are actual flashbacks or some premonition of the future, but they provide the bulk of the narrative. The rest of the time, you rampage Joe through many facilities in your effort to escape.

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The loop of the game goes like this. You search for hive crevices which unlock the portal to the next area. These are eerie openings in the walls of the facility that Joe burrows into. The crevices also double as save points, and heal you. As you progress through each area, you’ll encounter vats identical to the one you first escape from. By interacting with them, you’ll gain a new ability, such as spitting spider webs, turning invisible or using echolocation to identify key locations around you. Once you’ve gotten all you can from the area, you’ll be able to reach the newly opened portal and squeeze through into someplace new. But as you go from point A to point B, you’ll have to deal with a lot of pesky humans first.

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While you might think Joe is totally overpowered in the game, that’s not entirely true. You’re a grotesque entity capable of gobbling up humans to increase your mass and alter your available abilities. The bigger you are, the more you can do, but at the expense of other powers. Small Joe can do things Large cannot, and Medium can do things neither is capable of. You can always dislodge excess mass in murky pink pools to adjust your skill set, often strategically. But none of that changes the fact these humans are more than capable of putting the hurt on you. Your size corresponds to your overall health as well, but they have tons of tricks and traps to cut you to pieces.

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Humans will shoot you with pistols, burn you with flamethrowers and block you with sizzling electric shields. They also have littered the facility with powerful machines, including various drones, gun turrets, explosive devices and more. And as you might expect, the farther you get, the harder the challenges thrown at you become. A great example are the walking mechs piloted by humans and armed with gatling guns that can easily pulp you. Thankfully, as you progress you learn plenty of new tricks to deal with them, though my favorite is Parasitism. It lets Joe extend a tentacle, plunge it into a human host and turn them into a puppet. You can then use that host to activate switches, shoot other humans and even pilot machines. A favorite moment of mine involved using one meat puppet to pilot a mech and proceed to blast everything in the room to shreds, including another mech that was trying to stop me.

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Your primary means of dealing with humans is stealth. They’re smart and react to sounds and sights, so you’ll have to sneak about. Once you get your tentacles on a human, you can smash them against walls to incapacitate them. Once you’ve got them, Joe will automatically drag them towards his hungry mouths and gobble them up, regaining some health. Often you can’t wait that long, since the humans will protect each other. So in the interest of avoiding damage you might have to get extra violent. Joe is very nimble and surprisingly fast, can squeeze into small openings and slither about effortlessly. He’ll automatically cling to walls, so you have a lot of flexibility how you explore. Thankfully that lends itself to the stealth sections. I admit that I really wasn’t expecting this element of the game, but overall I’m a fan. Carrion is a great blend of terror, caution and violence, with puzzle solving to space sections out. Though there’s no distinct bosses I encountered in the game, many rooms are set up as a gauntlet. You’ll always have the means necessary to get past them, but sometimes figuring that out is the biggest hurdle.

Now, I’m a big fan of Metroidvanias, and for the most part Carrion gives me what I expect. The challenge scales nicely and combat keeps expanding based off your skill set. The one surprise for me was the lack of maps. Granted, you can use Joe’s sonar to get a rough feel for your surroundings, but I always prefer a visual key to guide me. And though the lack of a map wasn’t a problem for most of the game, it became one late in the experience. I got to one section called the Armored Warfare Facility, the second to last area of the game. Things were going great, until I decided to meander. Instead of relentlessly proceeding forwards, I meandered to a switch I thought I needed to activate. Instead of helping me, it effectively locked me out of the path I was meant to take. I tried finding an alternate route, only to discover indestructible blast doors had blocked my egress. This after 10 hours or so of playtime. Unfortunately, this meant I wasn’t able to fully beat Carrion, which is really disappointing. I’m always paranoid about getting trapped in any game, and find it’s usually due to poor design. While the rest of the game was quite enjoyable, this definitely prevented it from getting a perfect score from me.

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I’d say Carrion controls pretty well, with some provisos. As you control a constantly moving mass of murderous intent, it stands to reason the controls are a bit slippery. It’s not too hard to kill humans, but often it can be tricky to accurately interact with specific features. These include flipping switches, shooting webs and grabbing a nuclear core in one section. I would imagine the game controls more precisely with a mouse and keyboard, but all things considered it runs pretty great on the Nintendo Switch.

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Visually, Carrion is a treat. It uses pixel art in astonishing ways, and is equal parts glorious and hideous. This is a gory game, and you’ll literally paint the walls red as you play. And though Tentacly Joe is no hero, he’s a very unique looking creature. Likewise, the many humans that you’ll mow down show off a lot of personality, reacting to your intrusion with alarm. The sound effects are no slouch either. You’ll hear lots of screams of distress, both from your prey and Joe when he’s injured. Though there’s not much in the way of actual music, there is a low key ambiance that builds the dread remarkably well.

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Carrion is a game I’ve been looking forward to for a while. And though I am more than a bit disappointed I got stuck, I’m still eager to play through again sometime soon. It’s an absolute steal at $19.99. Warts and all, this is a fascinating and wholly unique game. I’m glad as always that Devolver Digital takes chances on titles like this, and can’t wait to see what’s next from Phobia Game Studio.

Cue the muzak! Joe is coming for dinner.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3.5″]

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

REVIEW: Carrion on Nintendo Switch Title Carrion

#Carrion #Devolver Digital #Metroidvania #nintendo switch #oprainfall #Phobia Game Studio #reverse horror

[preserving-ferretbrain]

Retribution Fails

by Dan H

Saturday, 26 June 2010

Dan did not like Retribution Falls~

A little personal history: the original title and subtitle for this article were “Still Up In the Air – Dan Hemmens is ambivalent about Retribution Falls.”

Then over the course of writing this article, I came to realise that while I really enjoyed reading the book (I finished it in two sittings over two days), in retrospect I found large parts of it cheap and annoying, and found myself increasingly unable to defend its hideous gender-fail. I also found out that this thing had been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke award which made me frankly despair, because if this is the best SF has to offer then the genre really is fucked.

So yes, this started out more balanced than it ended up. Short version: the book is quite fun, extremely faily, and not all that well written. Judged as a low-investment romp, it’s alright. Judged as a nominee for a prestigious award, it needs to be killed with fire.

Oh, and spoilers, for those that care.

Anyway, Chris Wooding's Retribution Falls is generally billed as a “steampunk western” although as recent discussions here at FB show, neither term is really well enough defined for this label to have much meaning. Speaking personally, I didn't get much of a western vibe from it, but that's possibly because Kyra and I have been neck deep in Deadwood and therefore I have trouble getting the real “Western” feel from something where people aren't yelling “cocksucker” every two minutes. Or it could be the fact that since it's primarily set onboard a ship, and concerns itself almost exclusively with pirates, it fits more into “pirate” than “cowboy” in my personal cataloguing system. Although actually this is all so much pettifogging since the whole distinction between “fantasy,” “steampunk,” “western,” and “pirate yarn,” can be neatly avoided by treating the whole thing as part of that (now obsolete) genre the “adventure story”.

So yes, Retribution Falls is an adventure story. It concerns the crew of the airship Ketty Jay as they develop from a ragtag group of ne'er do wells into a properly formed and fully functioning crew.

The crew (who are all neatly introduced by means of in-character introductions to one of the viewpoint characters in chapter two) are as follows: Darien Frey, hot lothario captain; Pin, stupid pilot; Harkins, cowardly pilot; Silo, silent technician and obligatory brown person; Malvery, the drunken doctor; Crake, the tormented daemonist and Jez, the new navigator who is also, for what it's worth, the only woman on board. I'm pretty sure I've remembered everybody, and if I've forgotten anyone they're probably highly forgettable.

I'm going to come back to gender issues in a bit, but I'm going to start by pointing out that having one female character out of seven is the worst possible option. Zero out of seven, and you have a setting in which women don't fly airships, which is absolutely fine. Put in exactly one, and you suddenly have a society where women are apparently perfectly accepted on the setting equivalent of the Spanish Main, but never the less you've only got one in your crew. Zero is a better number than one in this situation is all I'm saying.

But like I say, I'll come back to this later.

Anyway, the crew are hired to board another aircraft and steal a cask of gems, for which they will be paid fifty thousand ducats. This too-good-to-be-true job offer turns out (surprise surprise) to be too good to be true. Which results in the crew blowing up an airliner and having to go on the run from both the legitimate military (the “Coalition”) and a variety of scoundrels and bounty hunters that want to hand them over to various interested parties.

So far, so swashbuckling, and it is indeed about sixty percent rollicking good fun. Unfortunately it's then twenty percent tedious exposition, ten percent sloppy writing, ten percent sexism.

Anyway, where to begin:

You Can't Take the Sky From Me

A lot of comparisons have been made between Firefly and Retribution Falls, and this might be a good time to say that much as I find Whedon annoying, and as much pleasure as I take in questioning the man's uber-feminist image it's worth admitting that he does about a million times better than a lot of other writers out there. Sure, Mal Reynolds may have a rampaging case of nice-guy syndrome, and might treat Inara like dirt, but by comparison to Wooding, Whedon deserves every Equality award he's ever got. Which is good, since he's clearly going to keep on getting them.

But I digress.

Superficially, Retribution Falls is a lot like Firefly. It's even got an on-the-run aristocrat with a girl in a box. Structurally, however, it's a lot more like Lost or Heroes.

I'm going to digress again. One of my favourite things about Heroes is the fact that I once read an interview with Tim Kring, in which he admitted that he neither knew nor cared about the history of the superhero genre, and that his main inspiration for Heroes was the way in which Lost (and here I confess to paraphrasing) cynically manipulated its audience by doling out tiny pieces of information about members of its large ensemble cast over the course of the series. He just thought that this was a fantastic structure for a TV show.

Retribution Falls works very much the same way. The first three or four chapters are taken up with fast-paced introductions to the cast, which more or less go like this:

“Hello, I see that bullet wound you had healed mysteriously fast”

“Yes, it is, mysterious isn't it?”

“I know, I noticed it because of something that happened in my past”

“Your past? Gosh, might there be something mysterious about it?”

“Why yes, you'll find that most members of the crew have something mysterious about them.”

“Wait, we've just heard news that we're being followed by the dread pirate Trinica Dracken!”

“The dread pirate Trinica Dracken you say! Gosh, mysteriously I think the captain may have some kind of connection to her, in his past. His mysterious past.”

“Gosh how mysterious!”

It's not quite that bad. But it's almost that bad. Although it's not necessarily that bad that it's that bad, because this really does make the whole thing quite readable. Yes it's shoddy and manipulative, but the thing about shoddy, manipulative tricks is that they work. Show me a character with a mysterious past, and I'll be unable to put the book down until I've either found out what that mysterious past is, or convinced myself that I'm never going to. Therefore if you give me seven characters, each with their own mysterious past, and give me the background on one every four chapters then you can pretty much guarantee that I'll be reading until one in the morning.

Of course the downside of this kind of strategy is that in-the-moment readability comes at the cost of after-the-fact satisfaction. Few and far between are the occasions on which I've discovered a character's secret backstory and not found it some combination of trite, predictable, and implausible. It's like popcorn, utterly compelling but at the end all you're left with is a faint cardboardy aftertaste.

Structure and Story Issues

The book is certainly readable, and mostly fun, but there are times when it bogs down in tedious exposition. This would be bad enough if it was just your classic “as you know, your father, the King...” dialogue, although there is an awful lot of it – people in this world seem to spend an inordinate amount of time having conversations in which they explain the basic causes and consequences of wars that happened a couple of years ago, the equivalent of people in the real world saying “of course after the Al-Quaeda bombings in 2001, the American government launched a series of military actions throughout the Middle East, beginning by attacking the Taliban who at that time were in control of Afghanistan...” over their morning coffee. Unfortunately, as

other reviewers

have pointed out, the same principle is applied to little things like character development.

The key offener here is Darien Frey himself, the vagabond captain of a vagabond crew, guiding his motley band of reprobates to high adventure on the open skies. The emotional thrust of the book, such as it is, involves Frey learning to take responsibility for his role as captain, and to learn respect and affection for his crew (and perhaps for other people in his life as well).

The problem with this is that our only insight into Frey's emotional state is what the book tells us Frey's emotional state is. We are told early on that he does not value his crew, and that he considers himself a bit of a loser. We are told later that he does value his crew, and that he's pretty much okay with himself, and has accepted the responsibilities that come with his position as captain. The problem is that – with the exception of a couple of clearly signposted set-pieces - we see no appreciable change in his behaviour, or even his attitude. The man who leads his crew the a doomed attempt to plunder the Ace of Skulls at the start of the book is not discernibly different from the one who spearheads the attack on Retribution Falls at the end. Both ultimately involve Frey risking his ship and his crew, without their knowledge or consent, in pursuit of a large reward which he has little reason to expect receiving. The fact that the first attack is doomed and the second succeeds has everything to do with narrative structure and nothing to do with Fray's leadership choices.

To put it another way, Frey spends the first half of the book chiding himself for his selfishness, indolence, and pisspoor leadership skills. By the end of the book he has stopped chiding himself for all of these things, but has failed to show any actual change in his behaviour. Which creates the impression that all of his growth and development over the course of the book has served only to make him less self-aware.

A

member of the twitterati

sums this up all very succinctly as “The Heavy Handed Adventures of Captain Uttercock”.

In many ways, the book reminded me of

The Last Five Years

. I spent so much of the book going “this guy is a cock, am I supposed to think this guy is a cock, I must be supposed to think this guy is a cock, but nobody else seems to think this guy as a cock except his psycho bitch exes, but this guy is clearly a cock...” that it wound up being remarkably intrusive. I had no problem with the other unsympathetic characters (Grayther Crake the daemonist, for example, is clearly a judgmental asshole, but he's obviously supposed to be a judgmental asshole so I understand how I'm supposed to react to him) but with Frey I always felt like my perception of his flaws was always slightly to one side of the author's perception.

For example, the book opens with Fray and Crake captured by a gang lord (here Wooding gains points for starting with some action, and loses them immediately for having the action be completely unrelated to the rest of the story). The Gang Lord threatens to kill Crake unless Fray gives him the ignition codes to the Ketty Jay. Fray of course refuses, and Crake has a massive chip on his shoulder about this throughout the whole book. Then later in the book, Trinica Dracken (evil pirate bitch-queen – incidentally I'm using the word “bitch” a lot in this review, for reasons that should become clear later) captures them again, and makes the same threat, and this time Fray gives her the codes, thus causing a big sign to appear saying THIS IS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

That particular element would have been more effective but for two things. Firstly, it was so telegraphed it lost all its impact – Crake spent the entire freaking book saying “hey Frey if that EVER HAPPENS AGAIN you'd better give over the damned codes, m'kay.” Secondly, refusing to give up the codes was absolutely the right decision.

Consider. You are being held captive by a psychotic bastard who is only keeping you alive because you have information they want. Your only chance of survival is to not give them the damned information. If you do give them the information, chances are they'll kill all of you anyway. In this situation, giving up the codes is certainly understandable, but it's also completely stupid.

This was broadly the interpretation I was assuming the Doctor was driving at when, after Crake complained that the captain almost let him get killed, the Doctor insisted that no, Frey was a good man who would never let his crew down. I thought, in fact, that they were going for a kind of Mal Reynolds effect – making the captain good but not nice, the kind of man who would always do the right thing, even if that meant letting somebody die for the good of the ship.

Turns out this wasn't what they meant at all. Clearly, giving up the codes to the psychotic maniac was supposed to be the right decision, which is why it's CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT when Frey does it later, so when the Doctor says he's a good man he just kind of means – I'm not sure. That he might be a selfish, whiney, borderline amoral dickhead but at least he wasn't actively malicious?

The only reading I can really support for Frey's character development over the book – as in the only reading which I think the author and the text expect you to take away from it – is that Frey is a good man deep down, but lacks the confidence to act on that goodness. He is, I think, supposed to be afraid of getting too close to people and it is that fear which we are supposed to see as his great weakness, not the fact that he chooses to act on that fear by treating people really unacceptably badly. To draw yet another comparison which will require me to link my own articles, it's rather like Tanis Blacksword in

Banewreaker

- Tanis as you might recall murdered his wife in a jealous rage, and perhaps I'm being a prude, but to my mind the key problem here is not the fact that he flew into a jealous rage, but the fact that while he was in it he murdered his freaking wife.

Wooding seems to be under the impression that Darien Frey is a good man who sometimes allows his insecurities to get the better of him, and seems to see the book as chronicling his battle to overcome those insecurities. I read Darien Frey as a gigantic asshole, who sometimes uses his perfectly forgivable insecurities as an excuse to treat people like shit.

Women

Probably the most illustrative example of this dissonance in Frey’s personality is in his reaction to his ex-fiancée, Trinica Dracken.

We are first introduced to Trinica as a terrifying pirate, a ruthless, ass-kicking queen of the skies. We learn fairly early on that she has some kind of connection to Frey, and I initially had high expectations for their reunion. To fully explain the reasons behind this, I’m going to have to go into some detail about Frey’s behaviour up to this point, so bear with me.

Throughout the book it has been clear that Frey has a history of treating his romantic partners like dirt. It is clear also that part of the reason he treats his romantic partners like dirt is that gorgeous women constantly throw themselves at him. Not only throw themselves at him, but throw themselves at him and actually fall in love with him, and then stifle him with their smothering girlness.

For example, when Jez – the new navigator – shows up in chapter two, Frey observes that he’s glad she isn’t too attractive, because if she was he’d “be obliged to sleep with her.”

How exactly is the causality supposed to work on this one? Does he mean that if she was more attractive he would want to sleep with her, in which case it wouldn’t be an obligation really, would it? Or does he mean that if she was more attractive she would want to sleep with him? In which case what, does he think that unattractive women don’t have libidos? (I suspect the answer to that last question is probably “yes” actually). At the time I took the most charitable reading, which is that this is evidence of Frey being a self-deluding cock who isn’t capable of owning his sexuality, and that over the course of the book he would come to realise this.

Then about halfway through the book, he has to infiltrate an Awakener (think Catholicism meets Scientology) stronghold in order to find one of his many former conquests and – if you’ll pardon the phrase – pump her for information. It’s a single sex institution and he spends most of the time while he’s infiltrating the building fantasising about all the nubile, sex-starved young women he’ll find in here. I’ll say here that I actually found his fantasising perfectly reasonable, because again I read it as evidence that Frey is a bit of a prick, and was quite pleased when it became clear that his infiltration wasn’t going to end in spankings and baby-oil.

Then he meets his ex (whose name I shall look up when I get home), who kicks him in the head (because she r strong wimminz!) and has a go at him for leaving her in a nunnery for two years, despite having promised that they’d always be together. Frey then has this long, self-justifying internal monologue about how you had to lie to women because if you didn’t they’d only go and find somebody who did lie to them (because you see women want a man who says he’ll be with them forever, and men just want sex, and there is no overlap whatsoever – no men are interested in commitment, no women are interested in straight-up fucking) and that it therefore wasn’t his fault. Then of course he lies to her again, they have sex and she tells him everything he wants to know, and he promises to come back for her which he of course has no intention of doing. But you have to lie to women, so that’s okay.

So anyway, by the time Trinica Dracken shows up on the screen Frey’s pick-up-artist bullshit is wearing pretty thin. Up to this point, however, I was honestly expecting Trinica Dracken to turn the whole thing on its head. I was expecting this to be the one relationship in his whole sorry past that had actually been a partnership of equals, a woman who instead of clinging to him with doe-eyed devotion had been strong and confident in her own right, whose relationship with Frey had been tempestuous and remarkable. I expected the love of Frey’s life to be a woman who had a ship of her own, a crew of her own and a life of her own. It wouldn’t have justified his acting like a dickhead ever since, but it would at least have explained it. I know that this strays into the realms of

counter-factual criticism

but my intent here isn't to say “Trinica Dracken should have been different” but rather “I had a number of false impressions about what Trinica Dracken would be like, that led me to read all the sexist bullshit in the book more favourably than I might have otherwise.”

Here, for what it is worth, is a summary of what Frey's relationship with Trinica Dracken is revealed to have been like:

Trinica Dracken was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist for whom Frey worked. When they were both in their late teens, they fell in love. Trinica was a lovely sweet girl with long hair who wore white dresses, Frey was much as he is now. Eventually, the relationship had gone wrong. Here is Frey's description of it:

In the early months he'd believed they'd be together forever. He told himself he'd found a woman for the rest of his life. He couldn't conceive of meeting someone more wonderful than she was, and he wasn't tempted to try. But it was one thing to daydream such notions, and quite another to be faced with putting them into practice. When she began to talk of engagement, with a straightforwardness he'd previously found charming, he began to idolize her a little less. His patience became less. No longer could he endlessly indulge her flights of fancy. His smile became fixed as she played her girlish games with him. Her jokes all seemed to go on too long. He found himself wishing she'd just be sensible

Okay, leaving aside for the moment that Frey's analysis of what went wrong with his relationship boils down to “the bitch wouldn't keep her mouth shut” note that here his dissatisfaction with Trinica stems simultaneously from (a) the fact that he starts to see that she isn't the perfect fantasy figure he thought she was (he “idolizes her less” which in sane-person world is a good thing in a relationship) and (b) the fact that she still displays many qualities of the fantasy figure he wants her to be (her “girlish games” and her “flights of fancy”). You've got to feel sorry for the girl, because I seriously don't know how she was supposed to please this arrant cocksucker.

It gets worse. Obviously Frey takes the sensible and mature attitude to being in a relationship with somebody for whom you feel manifest contempt, which is to agree to marry her, get her pregnant, and leave her at the altar. He does, of course, admit that this was sub optimal. Here is his magnanimous and painful admission of culpability, which represents a significant moment in his growth and maturation:

His love for her had been the most precious thing in his life, and she'd ruined it with her insecurities, her need to tie him down. She'd made him cowardly. In his heart he knew that, but he could never say it.

This? Seriously Chris Wooding? This is Frey's big moment of self-realization? That he was wrong to let her make him stop loving her? Not, say, wrong to be an emotionally abusive asshole? Or that he was wrong to abandon his pregnant girlfriend on their wedding day? Oh no, his great fault, his great flaw, is that she made him cowardly?

A fairer man might point out at this stage that Trinica does at least call him on this, the fact that he's always blaming his problems on everybody else. The problem is he doesn't stop doing it, but the book treats him like he has.

Anyway, Frey abandons Trinica, leaving her pregnant in a world where, it is strongly implied, a woman who has a child outside wedlock is basically ruined. This results in Trinica attempting suicide, which results in her having a miscarriage. Which results in Frey spending the next ten years hating her for murdering their child.

Of course here again, Frey has a Big Character Development moment, when he realizes that while he is totally justified in hating Trinica, because she totally did murder their child, he has to accept that he is also partly responsible for her murdering their child, because he allowed her to make him cowardly, so that when she attempted suicide (which, let us be clear, was also cowardly) he didn't get back in time to save the day.

To put it another way, Darien Frey's character arc ends with him confronting a woman who he emotionally abused to the point at which she tried to kill herself, and forgiving her for it.

Up until his reunion with Trinica, Frey comes across as a feckless, self-absorbed cock. His interactions with his former love, far from making him more sympathetic, instead reveal him to be a judgemental asshole. He accuses her of murdering their child – an accusation neither Trinica nor the text challenges. He calls her a coward for attempting suicide – an accusation which the text treats as factual. And of course he has a great deal to say about her appearance:

Her skin was powdered ghost-white. Her hair – so blonde it was almost albino – was cut short, sticking up in uneven tufts as if it had been butchered with a knife. Her lips were a red deep enough to be vulgar

Ironically, of course, this actually makes her sound totally awesome (although where the fuck does he get off judging her choice of lipstick – I'm sorry Darien, is your ex not looking virginal enough for you? Well fuck you you misogynistic shit). But just in case we don't get that her new badass look is bad m'kay we get the following exchange during their next meeting:

”How'd you get this way Trinica?” he said. He raised his head and gestured at her across the gloomy study. “The hair, the skin...” he hesitated. “You used to be beautiful.” “I'm done with beautiful,” she replied

Because of course after she attempted suicide (sorry, I mean “murdered her unborn child” - her life is not, after all, important here) she tried to run away on an airship, but she was captured by pirates who gang raped her. And of course she responded to that by making herself UGLY. Because it is made very clear in the text that She Was Raped Because She Was Beautiful. Incidentally, despite being “through with beautiful” she still wears lipstick, and apparently a particularly vulgar shade of it, if Frey is any judge. I can't be sure, but I'd have thought if you were going down the “I shall make myself ugly so people won't rape me” route you'd avoid lipstick entirely. Then again, maybe Wooding knows something I don't.

And of course Frey's reaction to the whole thing is:

He didn't pity her. He couldn't. He only mourned the loss of the young woman he'd known ten years ago. This mockery of his lover was his own doing. He had fashioned her, and she damned him by her existence.

So ... your ex girlfriend, the former love of your life shows up, and tells you that she's spent the better part of the last ten years getting beaten and raped by a series of pirate crews until she'd eventually clawed her way into a position where she finally had a modicum of security, and all you care about is the fact that she's no longer the innocent little girl you fell in love with? The innocent little girl who you fell in love with but also treated like shit, wanted to get rid of, impregnated and abandoned? You can't spare one second to think about anything except how her present situation reflects on you.

Die in a fire you smug, self-centred little fuckstain.

Umm, there's a fair amount more fail in the book, but I'm really not sure I can go on. Suffice to say that the only other female characters in the book of any significance are Jez the navigator, whose contribution to the climactic confrontation is to whore herself out to a mid-ranking Naval officer (and she doesn't even get to do it on page) and Bess, the golem that Crake created out of his eight year old niece, who he stabbed to death while possessed by a daemon. Crake occasionally angsts about allowing the crew to use Bess (who it is strongly implied can feel pain) as portable cover in firefights. This does not stop him from doing it repeatedly.

Fantasy Rape Watch

Number of Named Female Characters: 4

Of Whom Protagonist's ex Lovers: 2

Of Whom Dead: 2

Of Whom Rape Victims: 1

Of Whom Murdered By Viewpoint Character: 1

Causes of Rape and Sexual Abuse, by Attribution in Text

Nature of Violent Culture: 0%

Nature of Patriarchal Society: 0%

Decisions Made Freely by Rapists: 0%

Beauty of Victim: 100%

Consequences of Rape and Sexual Abuse, by Importance as Judged by Text

Emotional Distress to Victim: 0%

Physical Injury to Victim: 0%

Emotional Distress to Victim's Ex-Boyfriend: 25%

Victim No Longer Physically Desirable to Ex-Boyfriend: 75%

Who Suffers as a Result of a Woman's Suicide Attempt, by Attribution in Text

Her: 0%

Her Unborn Child: 70%

Her Boyfriend: 30%

Who Suffers as the Result of the Murder of an Eight Year Old Girl, as Judged by Text

The Eight Year Old Girl: 20%

The Murderer: 80%

Ways In Which An Intelligent, Talented Woman, Who Has Superhuman Strength And Is Nearly Invulnerable to Physical Damage Could Attempt To Rescue Her Companions At Short Notice

Steal a Ship and Mount a Rescue: 0%

Sneak into Execution and Mount a Rescue: 0%

Prostitute Herself: 100%

My Level of Surprise That This Book Was Nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award:

30%

My Hope For the Genre, Taking This Book As a Standard:

0%Themes:

Books

,

Sci-fi / Fantasy

,

Minority Warrior

~

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http://alex-von-cercek.livejournal.com/

at 20:16 on 2010-06-26Holy shit.

I don't even have anything else to say. Just...holy shit.

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http://furare.livejournal.com/

at 20:48 on 2010-06-26Wow. That just *is* a world of fail, isn't it?

Focusing just on the "you murdered our child" bit for a minute, it's uncomfortably reminiscent of

something I read recently

about men who want to make abortion all about them, a terrible tragedy foisted on them by the actions of an evil woman. I know a suicide-induced miscarriage isn't exactly abortion, but I think Frey's reaction comes quite close to theirs. Made me wonder if it was possibly intentional - the parallel seems quite obvious to me.

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Arthur B

at 22:49 on 2010-06-26

Focusing just on the "you murdered our child" bit for a minute, it's uncomfortably reminiscent of something I read recently about men who want to make abortion all about them, a terrible tragedy foisted on them by the actions of an evil woman. I know a suicide-induced miscarriage isn't exactly abortion, but I think Frey's reaction comes quite close to theirs. Made me wonder if it was possibly intentional - the parallel seems quite obvious to me.

It's an analogy that jumped out at me too. At the very least, if performing an act that leads to a miscarriage is regarded by Frey as murder, then abortion has to come under that category for Frey's views (and the text's views, it seems) to be even slightly internally consistent. And "men's rights" morons do seem to like portraying abortion as a crime against fathers, and to blame women for everything that men do wrong in a relationship.

Out of interest, how do books get nominated for the Clarke award?

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Dan H

at 23:11 on 2010-06-26

I know a suicide-induced miscarriage isn't exactly abortion, but I think Frey's reaction comes quite close to theirs. Made me wonder if it was possibly intentional - the parallel seems quite obvious to me.

I think that's fair, there's a rather skeevy implication that she deliberately attempted suicide *in order* to induce a miscarriage *in order* to get at Frey.

Because Women Are Evil.

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http://furare.livejournal.com/

at 12:59 on 2010-06-27Because she couldn't have wanted to kill herself because she couldn't deal with the disgrace *he* left her with? I'm not trying to undermine her autonomy by saying it's his fault she slept with him; however, it's unquestionably his fault that he abandoned her at the altar. So surely, by his own logic, if she had succeeded in committing suicide, he would have murdered her. (Just kidding, I can see that Frey's "logic" serves no purpose other than to make sure that he is not genuinely to blame for anything.)

One slightly off-topic thing I feel the need to say is that I Have Had Enough of anything - books, magazine articles, people - who claim that women all want romance and/or commitment, while men just want sex. A lot of women actually want sex, and some of them are actually willing to admit that they're not looking for candlelit dinners or long-term commitment in exchange. Actually, "in exchange" is the problem, isn't it? It implies that sex is something you have to compensate a woman for if she "gives" it to you.

And seriously. If a guy I was dating told me that he wanted to "be with me forever", I would probably laugh in his face. And then try to scrape him off my leg. I don't mind commitment in and of itself, but that sort of declaration fucking terrifies me. But then, I've come to the conclusion that when pop culture talks about "women" and "what women want", they are almost never talking about me. It's like I don't exist or something.

To bring this comment back to the book under discussion, I think it's a real shame that the author squandered a potentially awesome character by treading tired old ground. I mean, a woman who's a badass airship pirate captain! That has so much potential - a character fantasy-reading women might enjoy and identify with. If she wasn't defined almost entirely by what men had done to her. Kind of typical for the genre, though, isn't it.

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Niall

at 14:38 on 2010-06-27

Out of interest, how do books get nominated for the Clarke award?

The Clarke Award is administered by a body called the Serendip Foundation. Each year, they arrange a panel of five judges: traditionally (that is, for pretty much the whole of the Award's thirty-year existence) two of these have been nominated by the British Science Fiction Association, two by the Science Fiction Foundation, and one by A. N. Other invited body, which at present is SF Crowsnest.com, and has been the Science Museum and various other groups. Around this time of year, the Chair of the judging panel writes to UK publishers inviting them to submit books for consideration. Any science fiction novel published in the UK in the relevant calendar year is eligible; the Award does not define "science fiction" or "novel", that's left up to publishers and to the judges to debate. The judges read all the books. They may ask the Chair to contact publishers and request that other titles are submitted for consideration.

The judges then meet in February (ish) to select a shortlist of six. The shortlist is announced in March or April. The judges re-read the books they shortlisted, and meet in April/May (for the last few years, it's been at the start of the Sci-Fi-London film festival) to select a winner.

Basically, it's the Booker Prize process, although I think that in the case of the Booker the Chair is a full member of the panel, and in the Clarke they're a facilitator, appointed by Serendip to run the judges' meetings but not having a vote themselves. Other differences: publishers aren't limited to submitting only two titles, as they are in the Booker; and judges are typically asked to serve for two consecutive years (not all on the same schedule, so there's some refreshment and some carry-over from year to year).

The other titles shortlisted this year were Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts, Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson, Spirit by Gwyneth Jones, Far North by Marcel Theroux, and the eventual winner, The City & The City be China Mieville.

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Niall

at 14:40 on 2010-06-27Oh, and the judges for this year were Jon Courtenay Grimwood and Chris Hill for the BSFA, Francis Spufford and Rhiannon Lassiter for the SF Foundation, and Paul Skevington for SF Crowsnest.

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http://alex-von-cercek.livejournal.com/

at 16:36 on 2010-06-27

To bring this comment back to the book under discussion, I think it's a real shame that the author squandered a potentially awesome character by treading tired old ground. I mean, a woman who's a badass airship pirate captain! That has so much potential - a character fantasy-reading women might enjoy and identify with. If she wasn't defined almost entirely by what men had done to her. Kind of typical for the genre, though, isn't it.

Hell, Trinica sounds like the only interesting character in the book. In fact, the book that would be interesting to read would be titled "Kill Frey" and it would be about Trinica Dracken crossing off names from her Death List.

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Dan H

at 21:10 on 2010-06-27

Actually, "in exchange" is the problem, isn't it? It implies that sex is something you have to compensate a woman for if she "gives" it to you.

I believe this is an attitude which I've heard succinctly summarized as "women have sex, men want sex." And yeah, it's kind of a problem. It creates this notion that sex is something that men are supposed to get out of women by whatever means society deems acceptable, which leads to all sorts of nasty places.

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Melissa G.

at 22:31 on 2010-06-27

One slightly off-topic thing I feel the need to say is that I Have Had Enough of anything - books, magazine articles, people - who claim that women all want romance and/or commitment, while men just want sex.

I totally forgive you for off-topicness because I am so sick of that attitude too! It's so annoying and gender box-y.

But I have to say that I'm even more sick and tired of this attitude:

Because it is made very clear in the text that She Was Raped Because She Was Beautiful.

Because that is such utter BS and a total misunderstanding of what rape is and why it happens. Rape is about power, not desire or lust or being unable to control oneself because the other person is so beautiful. It's so disgusting and irritating to see rape twisted into something where the guy just can't control himself because she's so damn hot. Come on, who could blame him? And then, that brings you to the "She should be flattered he raped her; he could have any woman he wants" mentality. Just...no.

Apologies for going slightly off-topic myself, but that mentality about rape is a huge rage button of mine. Especially since I recently seem to be reading scripts (for my job) of movies where violence against women seems to be the most used plot point for the male character to do anything.

Women in Refrigerators

, anyone?

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Dan H

at 22:55 on 2010-06-27

And then, that brings you to the "She should be flattered he raped her; he could have any woman he wants" mentality. Just...no.

Which might be an apposite moment to bring up the scene fairly early in the book when the characters are attacking an information-broker's hideout, and the guy's pet whores are holed up with shotguns worried that the band of armed psychos who just burst in might, y'know, rape them.

But fortunately Frey reveals that it is he, the hot man from earlier. So he can't be a rapist, because he is hot!

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Melissa G.

at 23:20 on 2010-06-27

So he can't be a rapist, because he is hot!

::facepalm:: That's right, hot guys can't be rapists, and ugly girls can't be rape victims. I mean, who'd want to rape them? They're ugly. And rape is just about how hot a girl is. Really, it's the ultimate compliment!

Sigh. The fail just hurts sometimes....

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http://alex-von-cercek.livejournal.com/

at 23:22 on 2010-06-27You know, taken 100% and entirely out of context, the interchange of

”How'd you get this way Trinica?” he said. He raised his head and gestured at her across the gloomy study. “The hair, the skin...” he hesitated. “You used to be beautiful.” “I'm done with beautiful,” she replied.

could actually be a snappy wisecrack on the lines of those typically delivered by pulp heroes or, say, Sam Spade. You know what, I think we should all ignore the context, Trinica is an awesome character without it.

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Dan H

at 23:28 on 2010-06-27

Sigh. The fail just hurts sometimes....

To be very slightly fair, I should add that I'm only presenting one of several possible readings. It's possible that they decide to trust him because they recognize him from earlier, for example, but mixed in with all the faily stuff about beauty it bugged me.

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Melissa G.

at 01:55 on 2010-06-28@Dan

That's true, but there's still a sigh on my part at rape-fail in general because I've heard that kind of mentality and attitude expressed far too many times. Especially in conjunction with celebrities who get accused of rape. >.< So the book may get a pass, but society does not. ::shakes fist angrily at society::

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Wardog

at 09:26 on 2010-06-28I was going to read this ... now I am not.

I am depressed.

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http://furare.livejournal.com/

at 11:06 on 2010-06-28Oh hell, don't get me started on the rapefail. I didn't touch it in previous comments because it kinda makes me too angry to write coherently. Let's just say I've read an awful lot about rape in recent weeks and months, and I am sickened by the attitude Melissa mentions with respect to rapist celebrities. I guess the assumption that a celebrity could "have any woman he wants" is pretty damned insulting, too. Sorry, but I don't sleep with guys who act like they're doing me a favour just by noticing me.

And on the general subject of rape and rapefail - it is really aggravating that blog posts on rape are *always* commented on by someone claiming that the real victims of rape are men who are unfairly accused. Because women love "crying rape" and having their sex lives, choice of clothes and conduct at the time in question, and a million and one other things scrutinised. I would not be surprised if an awful lot of retracted accusations were actually due to the fact that investigation of the crime makes the victim feel like they were at fault.

Regardless, "false" reporting occurs in 2-8% of cases, which is about the same as an awful lot of other crimes. (Rape apologists carry round a 41% false report statistic that was taken from a fatally flawed study done in the 70s, rather than the most recent FBI statistics, because it's the one that makes them look right.) But then, issues that largely affect women - like rape and domestic violence - have to be invaded by men telling us that MEN are the victims here, that rape is a stick evil women use to beat MEN and why are we still talking anyway SHUT UP.

So yeah. Novels - and anything else written by anyone ever - that put the blame for rape on anything the victim did or is, rather than the decision made by the rapist to rape her, are things I have no patience with at all. The fact that rape is seen as the victim's fault in real life makes it really far from okay to say that in a novel. Unless you're trying to make the point that your viewpoint character is a misogynistic shit - but I don't think that was the intended reading here.

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Melissa G.

at 01:14 on 2010-06-29

Oh hell, don't get me started on the rapefail. I didn't touch it in previous comments because it kinda makes me too angry to write coherently.

Ditto for me. It's gotten to the point where every time rape shows up in a book/show/movie/what have you, I tend to roll my eyes and then start to judge harshly. Usually it just seems like the writer thinks "What's the most traumatic thing that could happen to this girl? Oh, I know! She gets raped." Or even worse, "What's the most traumatic thing that could happen to this guy? Oh, I know! His girlfriend/wife/mother/daughter/sister gets raped." It just ends up seeming unoriginal and lazy - not to mention the possibility of epic fail.

I do just want to plug something that I was really impressed with as far as how it handled rape and incorporated it into the story. And surprisingly, it's a comic book! It was Ultimate Elektra - a short mini-series type deal. I actually thought that the rape was handled realistically and was meaningful to the story; it all felt like something that could really happen. I'd love to know if anyone else read it and what you thought of it.

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Arthur B

at 01:49 on 2010-06-29

It's gotten to the point where every time rape shows up in a book/show/movie/what have you, I tend to roll my eyes and then start to judge harshly.

Same here. I started to read

The Heart of Myrial

by Maggie Furey a while back, and at first it was silly but basically harmless fun.

Then there was a bit where some peasant woman gets raped by bailiffs to establish two things: that their employer is a rotter, and that the guardsmen who show up and summarily execute the rapist they catch in the act are basically good people who we should cheer for.

I stopped reading at that point.

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http://ignisophis.livejournal.com/

at 15:03 on 2010-09-14A friend of mine recently recommended this book to me. I read it, really enjoyed it and recommended it to my friends, one of whom pointed me to this review. Which is full of things I disagree with, so I thought I should post to explain why.

Judged as a low-investment romp, it’s alright. Judged as a nominee for a prestigious award, it needs to be killed with fire.

Surely a book should be judged on its merits, or lack thereof? Nominations for the Clarke Award have very little to do with quality, and shouldn't your issues with its shortlisting be a matter for a review of the Clarke Award and/or its judges? After all, I doubt Chris Wooding wrote it specifically with the Clarke Award in mind.

I don't agree that zero female crew would have been better than one - it gave me the impression, not of a setting where "women are apparently perfectly accepted", but of a setting where there is very strong social pressure against women entering that line of work. Given the sexism inherent in the rest of the setting, positive discrimination in the crew's gender ratio would have changed the whole focus of the story.

To put it another way, Frey spends the first half of the book chiding himself for his selfishness, indolence, and pisspoor leadership skills. By the end of the book he has stopped chiding himself for all of these things, but has failed to show any actual change in his behaviour. Which creates the impression that all of his growth and development over the course of the book has served only to make him less self-aware.

I had a different reading on all of this. For me, part of the appeal of the book is that almost all of the information we have is told from the point of view of a character who is, not to put too fine a point on it, a horrible self-deluding wreck of a human being, damaged by the consequences of his own actions and continuing to damage both himself and those around him. Considering the timescale of the book, I think any genuine change in his behaviour would be too rushed to be plausible. Instead, we see a change in his internal attitude and intentions which will maybe lead to a future change in his behaviour, and till then he's faking it until he can make it. We've spent the whole book being shown how much he wraps himself in delusional self-justification and I don't think there's ever much of a change in its level, just in its form and motives and likely consequences.

That particular element would have been more effective but for two things. Firstly, it was so telegraphed it lost all its impact – Crake spent the entire freaking book saying “hey Frey if that EVER HAPPENS AGAIN you'd better give over the damned codes, m'kay.” Secondly, refusing to give up the codes was absolutely the right decision.

I did find it extremely effective, and honestly didn't know which way Frey would jummp. Firstly, Crake's earlier harping on about it did telegraph that a similar situation would probably happen again but could have just been to add weight and consequence should Frey have handled it the same way. Secondly, to my mind it was the right decision not to give the codes the first time, but the right decision to

give

the codes the second time - Macarde just wanted the information, the ship and a bit of revenge, whereas Dracken primarily wanted Frey and the crew and had a good reason to kill Crake; to her the information and the ship were just a bonus. Which is why I didn't think we were meant to think that giving up the codes the first time would've been the right decision.

The only reading I can really support for Frey's character development over the book – as in the only reading which I think the author and the text expect you to take away from it – is that Frey is a good man deep down, but lacks the confidence to act on that goodness.

This is a reading I completely disagree with. If this is the case then why, on the third-to-last page (after Frey has done some heroic things and finally started to bond with his crew), does the author feel the need to remind us of all the horrible things Frey has done? The impression I get from the text is that Frey is a horribly flawed man, but that even horribly flawed people can have some redeeming features, can occasionally do good things despite themselves, and can strive to be better.

Wooding seems to be under the impression that Darien Frey is a good man who sometimes allows his insecurities to get the better of him, and seems to see the book as chronicling his battle to overcome those insecurities.

I'm always reluctant to claim knowledge of an author's mind, but here in particular I think you're doing Wooding a great disservice. Particularly as Wooding never tells us what he thinks, only what Frey thinks.

because you see women want a man who says he’ll be with them forever, and men just want sex, and there is no overlap whatsoever – no men are interested in commitment, no women are interested in straight-up fucking

For me this was one of the cues that Frey's thought processes are not an authorial voice. He may think about it that way, but the one sex scene in the book has the woman taking the initiative and displaying a greater sexual appetite.

Causes of Rape and Sexual Abuse, by Attribution in Text Beauty of Victim: 100%

According to testimony of said victim, possibly in order to give herself security by thinking that she's safe from rape now that she is attempting to present herself as being far from beautiful. Attributed by a character within the text rather than the text itself.

Consequences of Rape and Sexual Abuse, by Importance as Judged by Text Emotional Distress to Victim's Ex-Boyfriend: 25% Victim No Longer Physically Desirable to Ex-Boyfriend: 75%

Who Suffers as a Result of a Woman's Suicide Attempt, by Attribution in Text Her Unborn Child: 70%, Her Boyfriend: 30%

Both according to the viewpoint of Frey, who as we've already established is a horrible self-centred git. Judged and attributed by a character within the text rather than by the text itself.

Who Suffers as the Result of the Murder of an Eight Year Old Girl, as Judged by Text The Eight Year Old Girl: 20%, The Murderer: 80%

Again, this is according to the point of view of the murderer, not judged by the text itself.

Ways In Which An Intelligent, Talented Woman, Who Has Superhuman Strength And Is Nearly Invulnerable to Physical Damage Could Attempt To Rescue Her Companions At Short Notice Steal a Ship and Mount a Rescue: 0% Sneak into Execution and Mount a Rescue: 0% Prostitute Herself: 100%

Jez is somewhat stronger than she would be as a human, can heal from a knock to the head and a flesh wound and is a decent shot, but this hardly makes her anything like invulnerable and it certainly doesn't make her some kind of superhero. The prostitution did irk me, but I mostly saw it as a comment on the way in which she was coming to see herself as an inhuman monster, and an acknowledgement that she was intelligent enough to realise she couldn't have pulled off either of the first two options on her own.

Overall, I think the heart of our disagreement over the book comes down to a preference for or against didacticism. It's something I strongly dislike - I want stories which present interesting situations and complex flawed characters then leave me to make up my own mind about them. Which don't try to insert authorial comment into the mindset of a flawed and potentially unreliable viewpoint character. Which present a sexist and corrupt society as what it is, without feeling the need to explicitly lecture the audience about it.

Judging from your review, particularly those percentage breakdowns at the end, you want a story in which the text and the author tell the audience what they should think of the horrible things that happen and the horrible things the characters do?

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Arthur B

at 15:43 on 2010-09-14Dan said:

Frey spends the first half of the book chiding himself for his selfishness, indolence, and pisspoor leadership skills. By the end of the book he has stopped chiding himself for all of these things

ignisophis said:

Instead, we see a change in his internal attitude and intentions which will maybe lead to a future change in his behaviour

How does going from "I'm quite bothered by my behaviour" to "I'm OK with my behaviour" make it

more

likely that he's going to change?

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Dan H

at 16:07 on 2010-09-14

Overall, I think the heart of our disagreement over the book comes down to a preference for or against didacticism.

I don't think it has anythign to do with that. Didacticism is one of those irregular adjectives. You're being Didactic, I'm just presenting things as they are. He has an agenda, I'm telling a story.

It's something I strongly dislike - I want stories which present interesting situations and complex flawed characters then leave me to make up my own mind about them.

So do I. Retribution Falls does neither of those things.

Your interpretation of Frey - as a flawed and complex but ultimately sympathetic character, that despite the horrible things he does he is always striving to be a better man - is exactly the one which I complain that the book was forcing down my throat.

Which don't try to insert authorial comment into the mindset of a flawed and potentially unreliable viewpoint character.

Authorial comment is *absolutely* necessary when you're dealing with a flawed and potentially unreliable viewpoint character. Otherwise how do you know they're flawed and potentially unreliable?

Which present a sexist and corrupt society as what it is, without feeling the need to explicitly lecture the audience about it.

You're presenting a false dichotomy here. You seem to believe that the options are "present a sexist and corrupt society in an uncritical and shallow manner" or "lecture people".

I'd also point out that /Retribution Falls/ does not, in fact, present a sexist and corrupt society. It doesn't really present a society at all. It's an adventure novel, it pays no attention to the way its setting would or could actually work. What you take as "presenting a sexist society as it actually is" I take as "just being sexist".

Judging from your review, particularly those percentage breakdowns at the end, you want a story in which the text and the author tell the audience what they should think of the horrible things that happen and the horrible things the characters do?

This is what I don't understand. The text *does* tell us what to think about the horrible things that happen, and the horrible things the characters do. It's extraordinarily heavy handed in that regard. Frey's interaction with Trinica is a good example. In the article I quoted the following:

He didn't pity her. He couldn't. He only mourned the loss of the young woman he'd known ten years ago. This mockery of his lover was his own doing. He had fashioned her, and she damned him by her existence.

This is telling you exactly how to feel, and exactly why you should be feeling it. Frey did a Terrible Thing in running out on Trinica, and we are supposed to condemn him for running out on her, but recognize that he has accepted responsibility for it and grown as a result. That's what allows you to interpret Frey as a "complex and flawed character".

Frey is only complex and flawed if you interpret his character in exactly the ways the book (very directly, very heavy-handedly) tells you to interpret his character. Otherwise he really is a dickbag with no redeeming features whatsoever and that's not an interesting character to read about.

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http://ignisophis.livejournal.com/

at 16:58 on 2010-09-14

Your interpretation of Frey - as a flawed and complex but ultimately sympathetic character, that despite the horrible things he does he is always striving to be a better man

But that's not my interpretation of Frey. That's how you think the author wants us to interpret Frey. My interpretation of Frey is that he's a flawed and complex and almost entirely

un

sympathetic character, who doesn't strive to be a better man until we're approaching the end of the book - and even then the motives for his striving are suspect and its eventual outcome uncertain. I don't sympathise with him, but I do pity him, and despite his being a git with virtually no redeeming features I do find him interesting to read about.

Authorial comment is *absolutely* necessary when you're dealing with a flawed and potentially unreliable viewpoint character. Otherwise how do you know they're flawed and potentially unreliable?

From an evaluation of their narrative.

You're presenting a false dichotomy here. You seem to believe that the options are "present a sexist and corrupt society in an uncritical and shallow manner" or "lecture people".

If you're going to rewrite what I say, please don't put quote marks around it! Or at least, use quote marks but put some editorial square brackets around the altered text.

"He didn't pity her. He couldn't. He only mourned the loss of the young woman he'd known ten years ago. This mockery of his lover was his own doing. He had fashioned her, and she damned him by her existence." This is telling you exactly how to feel, and exactly why you should be feeling it.

This is our disagreement in a nutshell. You think that excerpt is telling the audience what to feel and why they should feel it. I think that excerpt is telling the audience what

Frey

feels and why he thinks

he's

feeling it. What you appear to read as an objective narrator uncritically describing Frey's reaction in what we are meant to take as reasonable terms, I read as subjective narration by a selfish and dysfunctional viewpoint character speaking in the third person.

I think it's a deeply unhealthy way to feel, and would agree that the book deserved to be killed by fire if it suggested that the audience

was

meant to feel that way about Trinica's condition. Fortunately, I don't think it is.

Is not the definition of a didactic reading of a text the belief that the text is telling us what to do and why we should do it?

And in response to Arthur:

How does going from "I'm quite bothered by my behaviour" to "I'm OK with my behaviour" make it more likely that he's going to change?

If he was genuinely bothered by his behaviour beforehand then he'd have made an effort to change it. I see the transition as going from "I shall self-flagellate about my failings while using my awareness of them to convince myself that tryin to change would be pointless" to "I have failings, but I am making an effort to change". How genuine and lasting that effort is has yet to be seen.

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Dan H

at 17:50 on 2010-09-14

My interpretation of Frey is that he's a flawed and complex and almost entirely unsympathetic character, who doesn't strive to be a better man until we're approaching the end of the book

I think we're using the word "sympathetic" differently. I'm using it to mean "has qualities with which you can sympathize" whereas you seem to use it to mean "has no flaws".

You see Frey as flawed, complex and almost entirely unsympathetic but (presumably) with some redeeming features (you suggest as much in your previous post). Again this is *exactly* the interpretation I believe the text is pushing for.

The problem I have with Frey isn't that he's unsympathetic, it's that he's unsympathetic *in different ways to the ones the text cares about*.

From an evaluation of their narrative.

Which you would do how? I mean seriously how do you know a narrator is unreliable without some clue that comes from outside their narration?

I think it's a deeply unhealthy way to feel, and would agree that the book deserved to be killed by fire if it suggested that the audience was meant to feel that way about Trinica's condition. Fortunately, I don't think it is.

Umm ... I'm a bit confused here. What about the way Frey feels about Trinica's condition are we supposed to disagree with? How do *you* feel about Trinica's condition and how do you think it's different, and how do you think the text supports that feeling?

The book clearly explains to us that Frey had a responsibility to Trinica, that by running out on her he shirked that responsibility, which caused her to attempt suicide and lead to the death of their child, and ultimately to her getting raped and becoming the Dread Pirate Dracken. Frey feels guilty for shirking this responsibility. What about this interpretation do you think is incorrect? How do you think Frey is mistaken here?

Is not the definition of a didactic reading of a text the belief that the text is telling us what to do and why we should do it?

Umm ... yes it is. I read the book as extremely didactic, and dislike it because I consider it to be didactic. You seemed to think that my problem was wanting the book to be *more* didactic, when in fact I want it to be *less* didactic. The book as it stands tells us exactly how to feel about everything in it.

If he was genuinely bothered by his behaviour beforehand then he'd have made an effort to change it. I see the transition as going from "I shall self-flagellate about my failings while using my awareness of them to convince myself that tryin to change would be pointless" to "I have failings, but I am making an effort to change". How genuine and lasting that effort is has yet to be seen.

Again, that's exactly my problem and once again, your interpretation of the text lines up exactly with the interpretation I believe the text is telling me to have.

Frey's big flaw, as dictated by the text, is that he runs away from his responsibilities. That is the flaw he spends the book dealing with, and that is the flaw he overcomes at the end when he realizes that he has a duty to his crew.

Frey's real flaw is that he believes everything is about him. The thing is that it *really is*. This isn't a matter of perception, every single person he meets is willing to risk everything to either help or harm him. Even Trinica's suicide attempt was *about Frey* and she freely admits that it was about Frey. This isn't unreliable narration, this isn't the subjective viewpoint of a flawed character, this is how things actually are in the setting.

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Arthur B

at 20:44 on 2010-09-14

Which you would do how? I mean seriously how do you know a narrator is unreliable without some clue that comes from outside their narration?

To be fair, you can do it without outside clues. Gene Wolfe did it quite well in

Peace

- if you take the narrator at his word it's about a nice old man reminiscing about his life, but if you pay attention to the bits where he contradicts himself, glosses over something, or is clearly omitting something you realise that he's a horrifyingly evil person. (To pull a fuzzily-remembered example out of thin air, a particular character just plain disappears partway through the story after a fairly tense conversation with the narrator, and it's only later when he casually mentions possessing a piece of property that most definitely belonged to her that you realise he probably killed her - and if you go back and revisit the scene in question you can put together a fairly good idea of how he did it and how he disposed of the evidence.)

Not that that's necessarily what's happening in Retribution Falls. And I do agree that you do need the contradictions and omissions and whatnot in order to give textual support for interpretations that directly contradict the narrator's own assessment of things. The more internally consistent and solid a narrative is the less wiggle room you have for challenging the statements in it, after all.

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Dan H

at 13:44 on 2010-09-15But that's still a metatextual clue - Wolfe clearly included the reference *specifically* to allow for that interpretation, which is sort of my point.

I'm not saying the text has to stop and say "just so we're clear, the narrator is lying to you here" but it is actually very clear what *is* just viewpoint and what *isn't*. It's like people who will argue that Star Wars is shot from "Luke Skywalker's Viewpoint" and that the Empire might not be evil at all. It's not a legitimate reading of the text, and it displays a fundamental misunderstanding of how viewpoint works in fiction.

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Arthur B

at 14:01 on 2010-09-15Well the other difference is that

Peace

is very much delivered from the narrator's viewpoint - it's all spoken in the first person. It's not Wolfe writing in the third person who tells you that the narrator has the vanished girl's stuff, it's the narrator himself not managing to keep his story straight.

Of course, the other big argument against the "it's OK because he's an unreliable narrator" take on

Retribution Falls

is that as far as I can tell it's written in the third person, which would mean you can't firmly say that the narration is from Frey's point of view. The argument that the narrative voice isn't "subjective narration by a selfish and dysfunctional viewpoint character speaking in the third person" seems to me - unless there's textual support for it somewhere - to be a bit of a leap, when the default assumption in most books is that the narrative voice is objective, omniscient, and impersonal. I'm sure there's been books written in the third person where the narrative voice is in fact subjective, unreliable, and personal, but you'd expect to be tipped off to the fact if that's what you're meant to take away from it.

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Niall

at 14:16 on 2010-09-15

the default assumption in most books is that the narrative voice is objective, omniscient, and impersonal

Say what? No it isn't. I wouldn't even say it's the default assumption in most books written in the third person. In fact, I'd say that in contemporary fiction, an objective, omniscient, impersonal narrative voice is rare.

The specific paragraph being debated above is limited third person. Every sentence is grounded in Frey's subjectivity. For me to read it as an objective assessment of the situation, it would have to stand further outside him: "Frey didn't pity Trinica. It wouldn't do any good. The only thing to do was to mourn the loss of the young woman he'd known ten years ago..."

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Arthur B

at 14:46 on 2010-09-15

Say what? No it isn't. I wouldn't even say it's the default assumption in most books written in the third person.

OK, checking the wikipedia article on narrative modes I see that I've been sloppy about my terms and not used them especially correctly (though I note that over the entire sweep of literature the third-person omniscient has totally been the most commonly used so ya boo sucks :P).

For me the narrative voice came off as impersonal - the very fact that it's the third person seems to point in that direction, for starters. But I'm assessing that on a fairly limited selection of quotes, and I'd need to read a lot more to work out whether the narrative voice is meant to take an over-the-shoulder perspective where it follows Frey but doesn't necessarily condone or identify with him or whether it's meant to be Frey.

This is all, of course, secondary to the question of whether the reader is meant to sympathise or condemn Frey. And the thing is, the various attitudes he expresses, which both Dan and ignisophis agree are problematic, are common enough that I can easily imagine many readers reading the book and thinking "Yeah, that Frey guy's totally got it right - my ex's abortion was all about me too!"

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Arthur B

at 14:48 on 2010-09-15(Also I'd argue that the third-person omniscient has maintained a greater foothold in SF/fantasy than it has in other genres thanks to the influence of Tolkien in fantasy, and various brick-sized multiple-viewpoint novels of the Alastair Reynolds/Peter F. Hamilton variety in SF.)

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Niall

at 15:00 on 2010-09-15

I'd need to read a lot more to work out whether the narrative voice is meant to take an over-the-shoulder perspective where it follows Frey but doesn't necessarily condone or identify with him or whether it's meant to be Frey.

To be pedantic, I'm less interested in whether it's

meant

to be one or the other, and more interested in what it

is

, if only because we can't know the former and can meaningfully debate the latter. So: I think

Retribution Falls

is basically over-the-shoulder with occasional slips which come about because, when it comes down to it, Wooding is not a particularly impressive writer on a sentence-by-sentence level. It doesn't help that, as you say, the prose has a fairly unexciting default voice, neither strongly

of

the character it's following nor strongly

not

of the character it's following. Still, I didn't experience the book as didactic in the way that Dan did.

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Niall

at 15:05 on 2010-09-15Do you know, it's so long since I've actually read Tolkien that I can't remember what his narrative is like, but I wouldn't characterise Hamilton as third-person omniscient. From what I remember, even if he follows multiple characters, he sticks pretty tightly to a single character within any given scene. So I'd say he's multiple third-person-limited, and reserve third-person omnisicient for books like

Middlemarch

, where there is a single narrator that wanders between characters whenever it feels like it.

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Arthur B

at 15:05 on 2010-09-15

To be pedantic, I'm less interested in whether it's meant to be one or the other, and more interested in what it is, if only because we can't know the former and can meaningfully debate the latter.

But there's no objective test which will conclusively prove it's one or the other, if it's a borderline case; all we can do is see what it seems like to us, and consider what prompts the text are giving us (the latter of which is what I meant by "meant").

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Arthur B

at 15:07 on 2010-09-15

Do you know, it's so long since I've actually read Tolkien that I can't remember what his narrative is like, but I wouldn't characterise Hamilton as third-person omniscient. From what I remember, even if he follows multiple characters, he sticks pretty tightly to a single character within any given scene.

Yeah, but he'll regularly set up situations using the technique where the characters who are going into a particular situation know much less than we do, because the narrative voice has clued us in to stuff that's been going on which the current viewpoint character doesn't know about. The overall point is to give this helicopter overview of what's happening on a stage covering half a galaxy, which no one character can get a clear picture of but which the narrative voice seems to be showing us as we travel around in its company.

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Wardog

at 15:18 on 2010-09-15I'm with Niall on this - I think it is rare to find books where the narrative voice objective, omniscient and impersonal. Otherwise everything would sound like it was written by Henry Fielding. Most third books have conscious POV shifts, usually between chapters or between scenes, as you move between characters or else are specifically situated as being the perspective of a specific character - the Harry Potter books, for example.

Where it gets difficult is locating the overlapping subjectivity of character and author - and, by author, I mean the hazy figure present in the text, not the person giving interviews to the media.

Sorry to randomly tangent, but this discussion reminds me the discussion about

Sisters Red

over at The Book Smugglers. Essentially Ana condemns the book for its victim-blaming and honestly slightly unhealthy attitude to certain types of girls - later the author inadvisable rocks up in the comments to claim s/he has been misrepresented since the unhealthy victim-blaming stuff was all from a unhealthy character's POV.

Unfortunately "it's okay, it's a bad person saying it" becomes difficult it is very often implicitly supported by the structures of the book itself. to use the Sisters Red example, what you have is a damaged character expressing an offensive viewpoint, the same viewpoint echoed by a less damaged character not two pages later AND a world in which the offensive viewpoint is LITERALLY true. In the world of Sisters Red, girls who dress, look and behave a certain way are, in fact, targeted by predators. Whereas the "dress up pretty will get you raped" mindset is actually not only untrue (since the majority of rapes are committed by people who knew the victim, not strangers jumping on beautiful girls who go clubbing in short skirts) but a control strategy to keep women feeling vulnerable and dis empowered.

To return to the book in question, the issue, I think, is not with Frey's viewpoint itself but with the way the narrative as a whole functions to support it, rather than condemn it. I mean Frey views women in a completely obnoxious but the behaviour of every woman in the text actually reinforces the fact he's right to treat them as he does - I mean everyone he sleeps with, apparently falls madly in love with him and wants him to settle down and twu wuv with her. It doesn't matter how much pseudo bad-assery you paint onto a female character if *her entire life* revolves around a dude then Frey is, in fact, exactly right to view women as clingy, fragile and emotionally demanding.

The whole "He had fashioned her" line is grossly offensive - not least because, in the text, it is actually true.

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Arthur B

at 15:33 on 2010-09-15

Most third books have conscious POV shifts, usually between chapters or between scenes, as you move between characters or else are specifically situated as being the perspective of a specific character - the Harry Potter books, for example.

OK, I've tended to think of multiple viewpoint books as being objective/omniscient/impersonal because the narration isn't exclusively associated with one viewpoint, and gives you an overview of what's going on which no single character actually enjoys - so it averages out as being objective-ish and omniscient-ish and impersonal-ish when you take the book as a whole, but I'm obviously doing great harm to the terminology there so I'll stop.

Though that said, if the main character's ideas are never actually challenged by anything they encounter in the world, it doesn't matter much where the narrator's sitting does it?

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Melissa G.

at 17:35 on 2010-09-15

Though that said, if the main character's ideas are never actually challenged by anything they encounter in the world, it doesn't matter much where the narrator's sitting does it?

That's pretty much my problem with the "But the narrator is unreliable/a bad person so it doesn't matter if their POV is offensive" argument. If you want us to accept that the POV is in an unreliable person's hands, we needs clues in the text.

A good example of it being done right, imo, is Lolita. I don't particularly *like* Lolita, but Nobokov actually did a pretty stellar job of writing from the POV of a pedophile while still providing us with enough textual clues to be able to interpret Humbert Humbert's behavior and mindset as destructive and wrong. It's very subtle and not concrete evidence - hence all the controversy surrounding that book - but I truly believe we're not meant to view Humbert Humbert as *right* in what he does. Lolita displays characteristics of a sexually abused child, for example. Humbert Humbert doesn't pick up on this, but the reader can.

Anyway, back to the original point, I think if a writer is going to have an unreliable narrator or a morality effed up narrator, the text outside the character needs to display at least *signs* that they are effed up and unreliable. If the world bends to their viewpoint, I don't think there's any way that defense works. They are just being proven right, in that case, which is basically what people have stated above, and I agree with.

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Dan H

at 18:40 on 2010-09-15

The specific paragraph being debated above is limited third person. Every sentence is grounded in Frey's subjectivity. For me to read it as an objective assessment of the situation, it would have to stand further outside him: "Frey didn't pity Trinica. It wouldn't do any good. The only thing to do was to mourn the loss of the young woman he'd known ten years ago..."

I think you're right that the specific paragraph is a bad example, but I think part of the confusion here is that people seem to be misunderstanding precisely what I find offensive about Frey's reaction to Trinica and the way it is grounded in the text.

People are focusing a lot on the "didn't pity her" line which is actually the line in the whole thing I find *least* offensive. Pity is a patronizing emotion, and what offended me most about Trinica wasn't the lack of sympathy in the text, it was the lack of *respect*.

As Kyra points out, what's really offensive about the whole thing is the second line: "This mockery of his lover was his own doing. He had fashioned her, and she damned him by her existence." What is offensive about this line is not that Frey thinks that way but that the text really does provide strong evidence that he is *right* to think this way.

Frey's *entire* arc (as ignisophis observes) is about going from making excuses for his flaws, to facing up to them and taking responsibility for them. In this context, his taking responsibility for Trinica's condition is presented as both right and correct, and a step on his emotional development towards a better and more complete person. Similarly he *takes responsibility* for his part in the loss of their child, accepting that his cowardice in running away from Trinica was comparable to her cowardice in attempting to take her own life. These are all *personal revelations* which are presented as *unambiguously positive and correct*.

To lay it out clearly, this is a list of things which I consider to be facts about Trinica Dracken which (a) are what Frey believes, (b) are the canonical truth of the setting and (c) are deeply offensive.

1. Trinica attempted to kill herself because Frey left her. Unambiguously true, he admits it, she admits it.

2. Trinica's attempted suicide was motivated partly out of a desire to hurt Frey. She says specifically tells Frey that "I wanted you to know what I had done".

3. Trinica's decision to kill herself was cowardly. Frey believes this, the text does not challenge it, and Frey is presented as developing emotionally when he compares his own cowardice to Trinica's.

4. Trinica's attempted suicide was worse because she was pregnant. Again Frey believes this and the text supports it. Again, Frey's emotional growth comes from his recognition that he *shares* in Trinica's moral culpability for the death of their child.

5. Trinica is a tragic figure. A lot of the argument about what is and is not Frey's PoV seems to come down to the question of whether it is right that he "does not pity" Trinica. What is most certainly *not* subjective, or simply a result of Frey's distorted viewpoint, is that Trinica is *worse off* as a capable, independent Pirate Captain than she was as a nineteen year old china doll.

These are all genuinely, deeply offensive to me - particularly point 3: "suicide is cowardly" is one of the most repugnant ideas to go unchallenged in popular opinion, and a text that repeats it without condemning it reinforces it.

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http://ignisophis.livejournal.com/

at 20:42 on 2010-09-16

I think we're using the word "sympathetic" differently. I'm using it to mean "has qualities with which you can sympathize" whereas you seem to use it to mean "has no flaws".

"I'm [tautology] whereas you [are ridiculous]"? Heh.

In this context I'm using 'sympathetic character' to mean 'a character in whose circumstances I could potentially see myself having similar reactions and making similar choices'. To make it clearer with some examples, in this particular book I find Crake, Harkins, Jez, Malvery and Silo sympathetic. I find Frey and Pinn unsympathetic. Trinica Dracken I find to be about half-and-half.

I mean seriously how do you know a narrator is unreliable without some clue that comes from outside their narration?

I think Arthur and others have already addressed this point. To be clear, I don't consider Frey unreliable in his recounting of facts but I do consider him unreliable in the way he judges and presents those facts. Not due to explicit cues in the text, but by evaluating his judgements and presentations in relation to my own experiences of the real world, in the same way as Melissa suggests the audience is meant to pick up on aspects of "Lolita".

I'm a bit confused here. What about the way Frey feels about Trinica's condition are we supposed to disagree with? How do *you* feel about Trinica's condition and how do you think it's different, and how do you think the text supports that feeling? The book clearly explains to us that Frey had a responsibility to Trinica, that by running out on her he shirked that responsibility, which caused her to attempt suicide and lead to the death of their child, and ultimately to her getting raped and becoming the Dread Pirate Dracken. Frey feels guilty for shirking this responsibility. What about this interpretation do you think is incorrect? How do you think Frey is mistaken here?

As others have said, it's probably not the best idea to get overly hung up on this one paragraph. But to answer your questions...

As you say, one of Frey's big flaws is thinking that everything revolves around him. This is a perfect example. Yes, Frey shirked that initial responsibility, and he is right to feel guilty for doing so - but not so much for the fact that he did so as the manner in which he did so, which is never something he questions because as is stated elsewhere in the text he believes women

need

to be lied to. The crucial error is his assumption that each step led inexorably to the next, as if his initial flight toppled the first in a line of dominoes. The causal links are there but it's not a simple case of "If A Then B", at each step Trinica had a choice in how she reacted and there were multiple other influences on that choice besides the previous steps - such as the culture, her family and the pirates who captured her.

I read the book as extremely didactic, and dislike it because I consider it to be didactic. You seemed to think that my problem was wanting the book to be *more* didactic, when in fact I want it to be *less* didactic. The book as it stands tells us exactly how to feel about everything in it.

My point is that the didacticism doesn't lie in the book itself but in your reading of it. I don't consider it particularly didactic, and Niall appears to agree with me. Furthermore, your review rarely gave me the impression of wanting it to be less didactic - instead you are constantly railing against the book for telling you the wrong things, and rather than not telling you anything you seem to want it to tell you different things: that suicide is not cowardice, that rape is not motivated by beauty, that the person who suffers most in a murder is the victim.

Frey's real flaw is that he believes everything is about him. The thing is that it *really is*. This isn't a matter of perception, every single person he meets is willing to risk everything to either help or harm him. Even Trinica's suicide attempt was *about Frey* and she freely admits that it was about Frey. This isn't unreliable narration, this isn't the subjective viewpoint of a flawed character, this is how things actually are in the setting.

Again, I think you're seeing things in the text that aren't there. For a start, I disagree that that

is

the way things are in the setting. The first two NPCs we meet, Macarde and Quail, most definitely

aren't

willing to risk everything to help or harm him. After that, most of the focus Frey draws isn't because of who he is but because of what he represents; to the Century Knights and society at large the killer of the prince who was the nation's sole heir, to Duke Grephen and his allies a threat to their conspiracy. The only people willing to risk anything for his sake (besides his crew) are Trinica Drecken and the Thades, all three of whom have solid motives for doing so.

what offended me most about Trinica wasn't the lack of sympathy in the text, it was the lack of *respect*. As Kyra points out, what's really offensive about the whole thing is the second line: "This mockery of his lover was his own doing. He had fashioned her, and she damned him by her existence." What is offensive about this line is not that Frey thinks that way but that the text really does provide strong evidence that he is *right* to think this way.

As I explained above, I don't think the text does provide strong evidence that he is right to think that way. Frey believes it, because he thinks everything is about him, but the reader hopefully has enough awareness of the real world to know that life doesn't work like that. I think part of the problem here is that Trinica is also a dysfunctional and psychologically damaged person, about which I shall go into more detail below.

To lay it out clearly, this is a list of things which I consider to be facts about Trinica Dracken which (a) are what Frey believes, (b) are the canonical truth of the setting and (c) are deeply offensive.

1 & 2: (a) and (b) hold. But I'm not sure why you're taking offence? People find many reasons to attempt suicide, and it seems odd to take offence at somebody being psychologically vulnerable. (Tangent: The physiological changes brought on by pregnancy are well known to have an effect on mood, a brief google suggests that some people claim natal depression can cause an increased suicide risk while others claim there is a reduced suicide risk during pregnancy; I don't have the knowledge or inclination to properly search and evaluate the medical literature on the subject, but it's entirely possible Wooding didn't do his research properly either and happened across a study claiming an increased risk?). It's not as if the text suggests she was morally or intellectually justified in attempting to kill herself in that situation or for those motives, which is something I could support taking offence at. These are the interactions of two deeply dysfunctional people, and I see them presented as such.

3: (a) and (c) hold, but I think it's a considerable leap to go from "not challenged by the text" to "the canonical truth of the setting". To my mind, your wanting the text to explicitly challenge and condemn this belief of Frey's also counters your claim that you want the text to be less didactic as opposed to just differently didactic.

4: (a) and (c) hold, and it's possible that Trinica believes it as well. But it's only a canonical truth in the sense that certain characters in canon believe it, as with (3) I think there's a difference (at least in fiction) between not explicitly challenging or condemning a viewpoint and presenting it as a valid and objective ethical judgement.

5: Aristotle defined a tragic figure as someone whose misfortune is brought about by some error of judgement. So yes, I agree that Trinica is a tragic figure and that (a) and (b) hold. But I'm not sure what it is about Trinica being a tragic figure that you find offensive?

Whereas I do find it offensive that you characterise her nineteen year old self as a "china doll". We aren't given that much detail about her life at the time but we do know that she was a wealthy heiress and trained pilot capable of romancing Frey against her family's wishes, convincing Frey to say he'd marry despite his reluctance, and even after her suicide attempt and miscarriage able to steal some money and fly off alone in a small aircraft. Yes she was emotionally vulnerable enough to fall obsessively in love with Frey and attempt suicide when he left her standing pregnant at the altar, but to me the rest of that sounds fairly awesome, not particularly badly off and not particularly "china doll" like either.

Whereas she then spent years being raped and abused, stuck in a situation where she had to use her sexuality as a tool for survival and advancement and a culture where violence and murder are commonplace, then remaining in that culture while denying her sexuality and attempting to present herself as something undesirable. Laying aside the fact that despite the way it's glamorised by fiction and cultural mythology piracy is actually rather horrible, her position as a pirate captain may be capable but whether it's more independent than her early life is a position open to much debate. It's also a position in which I'd say that she possesses a lot more 'public agency' but a lot less 'personal agency', and one which I see as reinforcing and perpetuating the psychological damage she's suffered. So yes, I do think she is a great deal worse off.

A lot of the argument about what is and is not Frey's PoV seems to come down to the question of whether it is right that he "does not pity" Trinica.

I think that's in large part due to the choice of example paragraph!

"suicide is cowardly" is one of the most repugnant ideas to go unchallenged in popular opinion, and a text that repeats it without condemning it reinforces it.

I'd find it really intrusive to have an explicit condemnation, and I think the text does challenge it by showing that Trinica is most definitely not a coward.

To close, I just reread the last chapter of the book and noticed something I didn't before this discussion. When Trinica has Frey (and his crew) at her mercy she lets him go with the following dialogue, which I think stands by itself:

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http://ignisophis.livejournal.com/

at 20:44 on 2010-09-16Oops, missed a blockquote closure in my comment, hope the site admins can edit to make it a bit more readable?

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Arthur B

at 22:05 on 2010-09-16

To be clear, I don't consider Frey unreliable in his recounting of facts but I do consider him unreliable in the way he judges and presents those facts. Not due to explicit cues in the text, but by evaluating his judgements and presentations in relation to my own experiences of the real world, in the same way as Melissa suggests the audience is meant to pick up on aspects of "Lolita".

But doesn't this mean that you end up disagreeing with Frey's assessment of his world because you don't buy into his preconceptions and biases, whereas someone who did share his preconceptions would just find them reinforced?

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Niall

at 09:02 on 2010-09-17Arthur: possibly, but (a) I'd be willing to bet that there's no way to write about a character like Frey that a person like Frey wouldn't find a way to sympathise with, (b) Even if you could find a way to make this hypothetical person-Frey find character-Frey unsympathetic, I would imagine they'd just dislike the book rather than be challenged or changed by it, and (c) I don't think it's literature's job to be concerned with the reactions of a hypothetical person-Frey.

I expect to get some disagreement here on (c), and to an extent I'm going to immediately walk it back, because I think that what is missing from ignisophis' analysis -- while I am broadly more in agreement with his reading than Dan's -- is a sense of a structural argument. Trinica's psychological vulnerability isn't offensive just because it's there, it's offensive because there isn't a broad enough range of female characters in the novel for it to seem exceptional, and because there isn't a broad enough range of characters in the sf and fantasy genres for it to seem exceptional; that is, it plays into prevalent and damaging stereotypes.

I would prefer that stories not do that, he said, with heavy understatement. But that's because of how

I

react to it, not because of how I worry other people might react to it. I don't think it's sustainable, and I do fear that it's arrogant, to pronounce on the latter.

As I say, I agree with much of the rest of ignisophis' response to Dan's five points, particularly

I think it's a considerable leap to go from "not challenged by the text" to "the canonical truth of the setting"

. Absence of endorsement is not endorsement of absence, and as I've already said, I didn't feel shepherded towards one interpretation as Dan did. (In fact, where the female characters are concerned, I was more bothered by Jez than by Trinica (or Amalicia), pretty much because I didn't believe what I was told about Frey's exes -- to build on ignisophis' point, I think the "straightforwardness he'd previously found charming" is a clear hint that young Trinica was

not

precisely the delicate flower Frey imagines her to be -- whereas we get Jez's point of view.) At the same time,

Retribution Falls

is not a good enough book that I want to die in a ditch over it. Also, I'm now late for work. Oops.

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Arthur B

at 09:52 on 2010-09-17

Arthur: possibly, but (a) I'd be willing to bet that there's no way to write about a character like Frey that a person like Frey wouldn't find a way to sympathise with, (b) Even if you could find a way to make this hypothetical person-Frey find character-Frey unsympathetic, I would imagine they'd just dislike the book rather than be challenged or changed by it, and (c) I don't think it's literature's job to be concerned with the reactions of a hypothetical person-Frey.

Ah, but my problem with ignisophis's analysis isn't just it lets people who already agree with Frey off the hook, it also isn't especially helpful for people who already agree with Frey.

If this really is a book the reader has to resort to things that they already know and believe to cobble together an interpretation, which is what ignisophis appears to be saying, then the book isn't really bringing anything new to the table. It's not opening their eyes to another way of looking at the world because it's just asking them to resort to theirs, it's not putting forward any new ideas so much as throwing out facts for people to whip into shape using their own ideas, it's not communicating anything meaningful because the reader finds no meaning or message which they didn't already completely believe in when they picked the book up.

This is something which is, to borrow Dan's terms from the start of an article, alright if you're just talking about a low-investment romp but is troubling if it's something that gets shortlisted for an award. Major landmarks of the SF genre - or any genre, or fiction in general - need to do something more than just saying "Meh, I dunno guys, what do you think?"

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Niall

at 10:18 on 2010-09-17Philosophy-of-awards as well as philosophy-of-reading, eh? It's like you're deliberately

trying

to distract me from work... :-)

I was surprised to see

Retribution Falls

on the Clarke shortlist, I think a lot of people were surprised, there were plenty of books I would rather have seen shortlisted, and had it won, I would have been upset for pretty much the reasons you outline. That said, part of the reason I was surprised was that books like

Retribution Falls

-- by which I mean adventure novels -- just don't get shortlisted for the Clarke very often. And in principle, I would like a definition of "the best science fiction novel of the year" to be able to include really good adventure novels, which do after all make up the bulk of what gets published as sf. So there was an extent to which I was happy to see it on the shortlist, even though I think it's pretty disposable, because it represents an assertion that this sort of thing

can

be the best sf has to offer, and because when reading the six shortlisted books in quick succession, it was a change of pace.

I would be interested to know what people make of

The Fade

, Wooding's previous novel, which I read several years ago and much less attentively than I read

Retribution Falls

, but which I remember as significantly more interesting (and better) on some of the issues we've been discussing here. I'm also quite tempted, now, to pick up the RF sequel

Black Lung Captain

, just to see how things pan out...

Also:

Absence of endorsement is not endorsement of absence

That doesn't actually make any sense at all, does it? Just forget I typed it, stick with what ignisophis wrote.

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Niall

at 10:19 on 2010-09-17

really good adventure novels, which do after all make up the bulk of what gets published as sf.

That is, adventure novels make up the bulk of what's published as sf. Really good adventure novels, sadly, seem to be thin on the ground.

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Arthur B

at 11:14 on 2010-09-17

And in principle, I would like a definition of "the best science fiction novel of the year" to be able to include really good adventure novels, which do after all make up the bulk of what gets published as sf.

Oh, I think there are books that qualify as classics of the genre that basically boil down to being adventure novels - like anything Jack Vance ever wrote. But ideally your pure adventure novel should say "Hey, I'm a pure adventure novel, I'm not trying to say anything profound", which is at least a positive statement, rather than being an abstention from making any kind of statement at all.

(Of course Dan would argue that Redemption Falls doesn't abstain from making any kind of statement at all, but I'm not tackling that so much as I'm taking issue with ignisophis's stance that you can work out how the book is intended to come across by resorting to your own personal knowledge and preconceptions rather than anything in the text.)

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Melissa G.

at 17:53 on 2010-09-17

I'm taking issue with ignisophis's stance that you can work out how the book is intended to come across by resorting to your own personal knowledge and preconceptions rather than anything in the text.)

I see what you're saying here (I think). To bring it back to my original example of Lolita, the only people who will find Humbert Humbert offensive and creepy and wrong are the people who already think "pedophilia is bad". Any pedophile reading the book is likely to walk away thinking, "Yes, exactly, he totally gets it!" The smart, non-pedophile reader will vilify Humbert Humbert, whereas a creepy child-molesting reader is likely to vilify Lolita, that damn little cocktease.

The book does require people to come to it with the preconception of "pedophiles are creepy and wrong", and honestly most people do. Unfortunately for "Retribution Falls" (and I've not read it so I'm just going on what the article/comments have said), most people do not come to a sci-fi novel with a preconceived notion of feminism and an expectation of strong females characters because, as Niall said, it plays into "dangerous stereotypes". These tropes exist so strongly in SF/Fantasy that it's more difficult to assume that the reader will know not to take Frey's attitude as how we are meant to view the world. Granted, this gets into "assuming your reader is an idiot" which can be even more infuriating, but I think this might be what some people are taking issue with. Correct me if I'm wrong. :-)

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Sister Magpie

at 18:25 on 2010-09-17I don't want to weigh in on Retribution Falls since I haven't read it, but I remember Lolita as having a few moments where Nabakov seemed to make it clear that Humbert was wrong too. For instance, doesn't he get sick when he catches sight of Quilty watching Lolita innocently playing with a dog and obviously perving on her, as if he's looking at himself from the outside? And one thing I do remember is one passage where Humbert is describing their happy life together and almost accidentally talks about Lolita crying herself to sleep at night.

The book is mostly in his pov but iirc Nabakov had a real history of writing unreliable narrators so that became a central idea of the book. Pale Fire has a seemingly insane person writing notes on a poem, Despair (I think it was?) is a novel about a guy who finds his exact double...except only the narrator actually thinks they look alike. I'm not sure if this author has the same interest?

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Dan H

at 22:03 on 2010-09-17

I don't want to weigh in on Retribution Falls since I haven't read it, but I remember Lolita as having a few moments where Nabakov seemed to make it clear that Humbert was wrong too

Humbert Humbert is fairly unambiguously wrong in Lolita. This is what I really don't get about "viewpoint" arguments - it's entirely possible for a book to be written from the point of view of a character and still be critical of that point of view.

Heck, Retribution Falls does this with its other viewpoint characters. Crake's chapters are full of his comments about how awful and common everybody else is, but it is extraordinarily clear from the way the book is written that we are supposed to disagree with him.

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Dan H

at 23:28 on 2010-09-17

In this context I'm using 'sympathetic character' to mean 'a character in whose circumstances I could potentially see myself having similar reactions and making similar choices'.

Umm, then you're using a very weird definition of "sympathetic".

I *sympathized* with Humbert Humbert. I wouldn't marry a woman just so I could fuck her daughter.

To be clear, I don't consider Frey unreliable in his recounting of facts but I do consider him unreliable in the way he judges and presents those facts.

But his judgment of those facts is reinforced by the way other people behave and what other people say about him.

. The crucial error is his assumption that each step led inexorably to the next, as if his initial flight toppled the first in a line of dominoes.

Except that there is no evidence in the text that he is incorrect, and quite a lot of evidence in the text that he *is* correct.

My point is that the didacticism doesn't lie in the book itself but in your reading of it.

I think "didacticism" is actually the wrong word to use here. The book is *heavy handed*. It tells you very clearly and explicitly what to think about things. It's not a subtle text.

Again, I think you're seeing things in the text that aren't there ... The only people willing to risk anything for his sake (besides his crew) are Trinica Drecken and the Thades, all three of whom have solid motives for doing so.

But don't the crew, Trinica, and the Thades together represent all of the viewpoint characters and most of the incidental cast. Who's left to not give a damn about him, other than the Century Knights?

As I explained above, I don't think the text does provide strong evidence that he is right to think that way. Frey believes it, because he thinks everything is about him, but the reader hopefully has enough awareness of the real world to know that life doesn't work like that.

I really, really don't understand what you're saying here. You seem to be saying that because something is not true in real life, it should not matter if it is presented as being true in a book, because people will know it is not true in real life? That's *fairly clearly nonsense*.

Fiction, whatever fandom may believe, operates off a set of conventions which are not the conventions of reality. When a character reaches a conclusion as part of an arc which is *all about* their growing sense of personal responsibility and self-awareness, it is *ludicrous* to suggest that the conclusion is meant to be wrong.

Real life doesn't figure into it. I know that black people aren't subhuman monsters, does that mean that

On the Creation of Niggers

should not be interpreted as saying they are?

1 & 2: (a) and (b) hold. But I'm not sure why you're taking offence? People find many reasons to attempt suicide, and it seems odd to take offence at somebody being psychologically vulnerable.

It's offensive because it reduces Trinica to a commentary on Frey. It's offensive because it reinforces Frey's claim to have created Trinica which you've just insisted that the text doesn't reinforce. It's offensive because it contributes to the massive amounts textual evidence that Frey is actually basically right about both Trinica specifically, and about women in general.

If Frey wasn't a misogynist dickbag who believed women were fundamentally weak and needy, it wouldn't have been so much of a problem that the love of his life was fundamentally weak and needy. I might add that while people attempt suicide for a variety of reasons "in order to induce a miscarriage, in order to upset their ex boyfriend" is seldom one of them. Again it makes Trinica sound like a horrible, vicious, hysterical shrew and that's *not* Frey's viewpoint, that's what she's *actually like*.

3: (a) and (c) hold, but I think it's a considerable leap to go from "not challenged by the text" to "the canonical truth of the setting". To my mind, your wanting the text to explicitly challenge and condemn this belief of Frey's also counters your claim that you want the text to be less didactic as opposed to just differentlydidactic.

I genuinely don't understand how your mind works here.

So Frey makes a statement: Trinica's suicide attempt was an act of cowardice. This statement is presented as part of his emotional development, and is reinforced time and again in the narration.

What you seem to be doing is letting your preconceptions from outside the text colour your ability to see what is *actually there*. Frey's beliefs are never challenged, therefore they are facts within the context of the text. That is how fiction works.

4: (a) and (c) hold, and it's possible that Trinica believes it as well. But it's only a canonical truth in the sense that certain characters in canon believe it, as with (3) I think there's a difference (at least in fiction) between not explicitly challenging or condemning a viewpoint and presenting it as a valid and objective ethical judgement.

No. There isn't.

What the characters in a text believe is what is true in that text, unless there is some other evidence *within* the text that the characters are mistaken.

The Chronicles of Narnia are not about a world where superstitious people mistakenly worship a lion. Star Wars is not about a group of terrorists attacking the legitimate government of the galaxy. Twenty-Four is not a scathing attack on the War on Terror. Harry Potter is not about a manipulative headmaster tricking a selfish idiot-boy into killing himself.

That is not how fiction *works*.

5: Aristotle defined a tragic figure as someone whose misfortune is brought about by some error of judgement. So yes, I agree that Trinica is a tragic figure and that (a) and (b) hold. But I'm not sure what it is about Trinica being a tragic figure that you find offensive?

Broadly speaking, what I find offensive is the fact that she's a woman in a refrigerator.

Whereas I do find it offensive that you characterise her nineteen year old self as a "china doll".

Since every single piece of imagery we get of her nineteen year old self is one of fragility and vulnerability, I stand by my phrase.

Whereas she then spent years being raped and abused, stuck in a situation where she had to use her sexuality as a tool for survival and advancement and a culture where violence and murder are commonplace, then remaining in that culture while denying her sexuality and attempting to present herself as something undesirable.

All of which are infuriating, offensive stereotypes.

The notion that women can only get on in the world by "using their sexuality" (whatever the hell that means) is a myth which fits in *exactly* with Frey's brand of misogynist bullshit. Notice we're never actually told how Trinica got to be captain, only that she "used her sexuality" and of course because she's a WOMAN and therefore has MAGIC WOMAN POWERS that's enough. Because apparently a group of people who will happily rape the shit out of you will also be totally awed by the mystery of your womanhood.

Trinica's entire backstory is founded on rape myths and misogynist bullshit. It is *impossible for her to exist* in a world in which a bunch of offensive, apologist bullshit about rape, sexuality and sexual power are not canonically true.

I'd find it really intrusive to have an explicit condemnation, and I think the text does challenge it by showing that Trinica is most definitely not a coward.

When?

Trinica is totally a coward. She's weak, pathetic and trapped. Hell you say as much yourself when you talk about how much worse off she is now than when she was an heiress. She's totally broken by everything that happens to her and transparently has nothing left to live for. She does dangerous shit, but that's because she's effectively dead already.

To close, I just reread the last chapter of the book and noticed something I didn't before this discussion. When Trinica has Frey (and his crew) at her mercy she lets him go with the following dialogue, which I think stands by itself:

You don't think maybe that was just a cheap cop-out to avoid having yet *another* improbable escape?

Whatever she says (after all, aren't you the one who insists that what characters say can't be taken at face value) her *entire life* still revolves around Frey. Her *entire purpose* in the book is to provide Frey with something to angst about.

She's an awful, stereotypical, insulting character.

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Niall

at 09:50 on 2010-09-18

Crake's chapters are full of his comments about how awful and common everybody else is, but it is extraordinarily clear from the way the book is written that we are supposed to disagree with him.

Can you pin down what the difference is? Ideally, I guess, with examples, which specific sentences you think make clear we're meant to disagree with Crake, the ones that are missing from Frey's chapters. I feel like we're getting a bit lost in the generalities, at this point.

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Alasdair Czyrnyj

at 01:04 on 2011-06-18Well, I've started on Dan's old copy of this book (Thanks again for shipping it to me!), and right now I'm in broad agreement with his assessment of Capt. Cockspank. I've read stuff that's worse than this (I'm looking at you, Stephen Hunt and George Mann), and I give Wooding credit for avoiding the creepy ultraviolence those guys like to delve into, but RF is really a shallow book. I've haven't run into Trinica yet, but I've got past Frey's encounter with Amalicia at the convent, and that whole sequence was pretty sophomoric.

Actually, this whole thing has started me wondering about how George Macdonald Fraser managed to make Flashman as much of a pig as Frey and still be a fun character to read about. Right now I'm juggling between Flashman's self-awareness, the fact that his transgressions always come back to bite him in the ass, and the simple fact that he's actually funny and has a brain or two in his head.

(On a side note, the story has me wondering yet again how vulnerable the "air pirate" pseudosubsubgenre is to technological progress. Most of the stuff I've seen never seems to stray much beyond the 1920s and 1930s tech-wise, so I'm wondering if this is a fantasy realm that can't survive in an era of radar, missiles, and jet engines. Hey, I'm a child of alternate history. This is how we think, dammit!)

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https://me.yahoo.com/a/0txE6GYMzdiwjPOqDTwLdeHMvOdijS5Jm1c-#9995a

at 05:52 on 2011-06-18

On a side note, the story has me wondering yet again how vulnerable the "air pirate" pseudosubsubgenre is to technological progress. Most of the stuff I've seen never seems to stray much beyond the 1920s and 1930s tech-wise, so I'm wondering if this is a fantasy realm that can't survive in an era of radar, missiles, and jet engines.

It's probably possible, but you'd run the risk of jumping straight from "air pirates" to "space pirates" toting lasers that can vaporise half a mile of woodland countryside in the blink of an eye.

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https://me.yahoo.com/a/0txE6GYMzdiwjPOqDTwLdeHMvOdijS5Jm1c-#9995a

at 10:34 on 2011-06-18

It's probably possible

I meant to put in "to write a novel featuring air pirates in a modernistic setting" right after that. Sorry, bit of an oversight on my behalf.

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https://profiles.google.com/Iaculoid

at 12:38 on 2011-06-18You could probably take some cues from modern pirates, like the ones operating off the coast of Somalia. Our hypothetical air pirates would probably fly fast, stealthy, and heavily-customised craft up-gunned from civilian marques and 'liberated' from their country's collapsed military, forcing down every cargo plane and airliner that enters their airspace and ransoming off their crew and payloads to the parent countries.

All you'd need is a slight advance in aircraft technology and its general commercial availability, as a matter of fact.

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Arthur B

at 13:57 on 2011-06-18

All you'd need is a slight advance in aircraft technology and its general commercial availability, as a matter of fact.

Perhaps not even that. Posit a Cold War era proxy war in which the US or Soviets armed one side with an air force... let the proxy war (and the superpower funding) die off with the end of the Cold War, and have all of these planes sat there with nobody especially keen on asking for them back (because that'd mean admitting the superpower's level of involvement in the war) and no effectual government to take charge of them. Throw in a bunch of fighter pilots owed a heap of back pay and with families to clothe and feed and protect in the anarchy that the war has left behind.

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https://profiles.google.com/Iaculoid

at 16:46 on 2011-06-18Indeed so. You'd even see several piratical conventions return with the aid of modern technology, like flying under false colours. Instead of, say, baiting in pirates with a lumbering freighter hiding a company of heavily-armed marines on board, you'd see stuff like military fighters using radar-reflectors to disguise themselves as juicy, tempting commercial aircraft.

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Alasdair Czyrnyj

at 01:11 on 2011-06-21Wow, you guys are all way more creative about modern air piracy that I am. I've toyed with the idea once or twice, but I just ended up decided that the precision machinery/know-how needed to keep modern planes going would be too much for a pirate outfit to afford. (Then again, I've rarely wondered about where airship pirates get their hydrogen/hydrogen knockoff, so maybe I'm being too close-minded here.)

Anyway, I've finished the book, and I've got to agree with the general consensus. I personally found that Frey's arc essentially read as a transition from a self-centered asshole to a self-promoting asshole (a.k.a. The Kirk09 Character Arc). I personally found Jez the most interesting character, though I felt she needed a meatier role (perhaps in a better book than the one she got stuck in).

One thing really irked me though, and it's something I haven't seen any other reviewers pick up on: the pilot Harkins. In the one chapter where he gets to be a viewpoint character, his interior monologue makes it clear that he's suffering from a pretty severe form of PTSD. And yet, his main purpose in the book is to be mocked for his "cowardice."

Not cool at all.

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https://profiles.google.com/Iaculoid

at 22:25 on 2011-06-21Yeah, I think that if you're disputing modern air-pirate concepts on grounds of realism (particularly Arthur's very down-to-earth redundant-pilots scenario), then you probably need to ask yourself some serious questions about why there weren't vast fleets of corsair zeppelins floating above London in the '20s.

In fact, I'd say that some old Cold War-surplus jets in a camouflaged airbase actually seem easier to operate than some fancy pirate airship. Could be wrong, though - my experience with airships is... less than exhaustive.

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http://ruderetum.blogspot.com/

at 09:03 on 2011-06-22I would think it is a question of familiarity. Airships have that air of classy obsoleteness about them, everybody knows they're not very practical as weapons of war and perhaps that whole slow ballooniousness makes them seem easier to supply and operate. Jet fighters on the other hand are well known as deadly and hugely expensive machines which require the financial capabilities of a nation state or a huge corporation to keep in the air. You also get the feeling that even if an airship has its problems, if it is filled and operational, it's quite autonomous; for example zeppelins flew to South America and back on a pleasure cruise. So a rogue airship, if it was armoured or whatever, could supply itself from the country side or land for a stop in different places, whereas a fighter needs a separate ground crew and all those facilities to remain operational from one day to the next.

So, airships could be more mobile basewise and thus it adds to the romance?

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Vermisvere

at 09:45 on 2011-06-22Perhaps the airship could serve as a mobile base and lift-off point for the jet fighters - sort of like a modern-day aircraft carrier, only airborne. Throw in some anti-aicraft turrets to be manned by the crew against hostile jets and airships and you've more or less got your pirate airship of the future.

In short, a militarised version of

this

.

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https://profiles.google.com/Iaculoid

at 14:18 on 2011-06-22Well, that'd certainly deal with the problem of having fixed, vulnerable airstrips on the ground for the military to demolish (though they'd best hope it's capable of landing planes of any size, or they'll still need somewhere to force their captives down onto). Plus it would serve as a convenient shorthand for 'hey, aircraft technology is really cheap and easy to use now!'.

Depends on how high-tech you want your air-pirates to be, I guess. Either daring, desperate wash-outs on a shoestring budget, or organised, brutally efficient criminals who are practically running a major corporate enterprise.

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http://ruderetum.blogspot.com/

at 14:21 on 2011-06-22Or an upgrade on

this

.

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Steve Stirling at 05:18 on 2011-07-13

I'm going to start by pointing out that having one female character out of seven is the worst possible option. Zero out of seven, and you have a setting in which women don't fly airships, which is absolutely fine. Put in exactly one, and you suddenly have a society where women are apparently perfectly accepted on the setting equivalent of the Spanish Main, but never the less you've only got one in your crew. Zero is a better number than one in this situation is all I'm saying.

-- not saying the book is good on male-female relations, but this bit is pretty accurate with respect to much of history. In other words, there -were- women pirates on the Spanish Main. Not many, but they existed, both in male disguise or 'disguise' and, still more rarely, as women.

And there was a well-known woman who became a captain in the Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars, and was allowed to stay on by special order of the Czar after she was 'found out'.

The usual attitude was, inconsistently:

a) "everyone knows" that women are too weak, fragile and vulnerable to do this (for various values of 'this'), but;

b) Cynthia/Alice/Whoever is a good troop and we don't tell the Captain about her because she's hauling her weight and we need her, and besides she'd kill anyone who blabbed, like she did Frank.

In other words, women were present, but rarely; they weren't accepted, but could occasionally push their way in, with guile, luck, great ability and incredible determination.

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Michal

at 06:10 on 2011-07-13There's only one thing I thought when I saw that cover:

Airship Pirate!

#Ferretbrain #Retribution Falls #Chris Wooding #Minority Warrior #Dan H

[npplots]

Finally, winter time has arrived, your favourite time of the year! A fresh blanket of pure white snow has covered the ground outside, your cocoa is just the right temperature in your hands, and you can’t wipe that giant smile off your face. Oh, the only thing that would make this perfect is if you were out there making snowmen with all your favourite pokémon! If only wishes came true, huh?

—W-wait, what? How did you get outside? Is that a hundred goomy!? 

What’s going on!?

RP PROMPT EVENT:

How It Works:

This is a wish event. Meaning: anything your character wishes can come true! Absolutely everything. Well, nearly everything. You wish you had a cup of tea? Done! You wish you were at home right now? Done! You wish you were on a beach in Hoenn right now? Done! 

That doesn’t mean your wish will be exactly as you wanted it... Did you wish for a cup with that or, or is your tea in the shape of a cup? You can’t hold tea! What if you ended up at the wrong home? Speaking of home, how are you going to get home from that beach surrounded by nothing but ocean!?

Get creative with your wishes. Wishes are great, but do you know that wanting is a form of wishing? Idolising, becoming angered—sometimes, you can want things a certain way, and that temporary emotion usually doesn’t cause harm... but here, you just made that fleeting desire come true. What if it wasn’t a very pretty wish?

There will be certain restrictions to what’s achievable with a wish. However, think of what could happen to your character instead. They wish with all their heart that they could change the past. Do they get the opportunity to change the past in their dreams? Maybe they ended up somewhere important, that moment they wish they could change—and they’re not the only one who’s appeared there either. An old friend has too.

Or did they—I can’t believe I’m suggesting this!—wish someone dead? Goodness, no, absolutely not! But maybe instead, that person can feel your character’s emotions: Their anger, their hurt. After all, sometimes, you just want someone to pay for what they did to you. And perhaps...your wish-granting powers would rather find a way to get you two to stick together permanently for 24 hours?

Literally. 

How well the wish works or doesn’t work is entirely up to you. Wish too flimsy because you expect a wish to work, and the wish will be lazily granted as well. Also, world domination is a pretty vague wish... did you mean, make a globe of the world your new seat? You silly!

Sometimes, wishes don’t come true, even during a wish event... but it’s more likely to happen than ever.

Surely nothing can go wrong. Right?

The Rules:

The event starts today, 1st December, and ends at on the 31st December! or whatever u mods want, idc

Wish restrictions are as follows: Death? Changing the past?

If a character wishes death on another, feel free to make them stuck to one another (linked at the arms by a mysterious red chain). Seriously. You’re welcome, future loving couples.

Remember, the ban against capturing legendaries is still in effect—unless you want to make a plot out of it, then please contact the mods. However, legendaries—and most common pokémon—aren’t going to be happy about being whisked away from what they were doing! And you can’t wish them to obey you.

What we’re saying is, don’t expect not to annoy Lugia or Mewtwo.

THE PROMPTS:

Remember, these are not the only activities you can do for the event, but just ideas for you to use for threads! Plot to your heart’s content.

All Snowed In!: You were just out and about, minding your own business when suddenly—what?! The snow is flooding it down! You manage to retreat into a nearby building with another, but the problem is... how do you get out? Why can’t you wish yourself out?! Will fire work? Not exactly... someone wants this snow more than you want out! But if you work together, maybe you can wish a way out of this mess! Maybe.

Artistic Ice!:** Or some kind of ‘creative’ activity. The more arty types are excited at the abilities these wishes/feelings can cause to happen, and there’s a grand prize to whoever can team up with another person to make the best ice sculpture that no human or pokemon hands could ever create! It’s a lot of money, too. Especially if you can stop any wish or pokemon from melting it!! Should it be ice sculpture, or something else?

Wistful Heart: Have you ever just wished you were...somewhere else in the world? Just in a moment, you heart yearned—and in the next, congratulations, wish fulfilled: You’re in another region! Whether it’s a city, someone’s house, in the utter wild, you’re there. Do you have your pokemon with you? Well, you’re not entirely alone… there’s another unfortunate person, too.

Talk:** Do we actually want to give people the option to talk to their pokemon this early or let players think it up themselves…. I kinda like the idea regardless of doing it again in the future, since pokemon universe makes it a meaningful thing than your dog suddenly speaking to you (i already know what they say, they say ‘love me’), and having it as its own event later on is just a low-key, chill thing. We’ll have new members by the time we use it again, so!

A Mile In My Shoes: Wouldn’t it be easier to not be you for the day? You weren’t even serious with the thought, you just hate that you burnt your pasta for the fifth time, or you were just looking at someone, thinking about someone, with admiration or contempt-- and now, you ARE someone them! Lucky you! What, that wasn’t what your heart desired?

Listen to me!: Wouldn’t life be easier if people just, you know… understood you? Well now they can, with this simple and easy to use wish: They can hear everything you think, in their head! Turn it off, you say? Oh… that’s not how you active the ‘off wish’ switch.

Surprise Attack: Lapras are so rare along the coasts of Kanto! ...but not anymore, with your heart wishing for one! But maybe a singular one didn’t appear, or maybe one it wasn’t a Lapras—what if it was a group of dragonite? Tyranitars? Rampaging in my city? It’s more likely than you think.

Legendary Anger: And then, of course somebody wished this: There’s the time where legendaries are brought suddenly where they weren’t just. But I would be careful if you wish so so so hard for that being to appear. Your wish may come true, but Groudon or Mewtwo aren’t going to be very happy about this situation… you may just be in for a fight than a friend hug!

Phew! We hope these give you guys some ideas of what you can do during the event. The world is your cloyster (or did you turn it into a vaniulluxe? mmm, ice cream), and what’s important to consider when you make wishes work or not, is this question: How will my character be affected once this event is over?

Because this is a canon event, and so whatever happens this month will have had happened for your character! Unless you want to keep it strictly AU for yourself, then please discuss that with your partner. But everything that happens this month will have a point to it, we promise. Yes, even the handcuffed enemies. Yes, even the temporary body swap.

“But how can such bizarre events seriously take place?” I pretend you ask. And I answer, look around you—is this so unbelievable, in the world of pokémon? I bet there’s a few pokémon that can do something like this. Hmmm...!

Please feel free to leave any questions in the discord sever in the #Event channel, or to send a message (to the mods?). If this inspires your character to take this opportunity to cause some mischief later on that may have a larger affect on the world, please let us know, and we can see how we can help! (i mean, i will.i’m down for help players plan that if possible, but i doubt you’ll get many or any requests for this SHRUG)

I wish you a happy December, National Park! ;) Ho ho ho ho!