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schmergo · 3 years

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Weird obscure little rant here: There's this one particular conspiracy theory I've seen floating around the internet a lot lately that's a minor pet peeve of mine. There are a lot of more famous, major, and dangerous conspiracy theories going around right now, ones that are clearly anti-Semitic, anti-science, and doing genuine measurable danger to families and communities across the countries. But those have been extensively covered and analyzed by way more knowledgeable people than me (those articles are very much worth reading), and I don't think there's anything new I can bring up there.

The one I'm talking about is just skirting mainstream discourse and starting to become more widely known. It's the Missing411 'conspiracy.' The reason I put 'conspiracy' in quotes is that this isn't a traditional conspiracy theory with a clear bogeyman or scapegoat like some of the others. A traditional conspiracy theory usually goes something like, "[Group of people] are secretly [doing bad thing] so that they can [accomplish sinister goal]. but they control the [powerful organization], so nobody knows about it!"

By contrast, Missing411 is super vague. It basically boils down to, "Mysterious disappearances are taking place throughout America's national parks and protected wilderness lands, and they fit a pattern!" There are hints among fans of this theory that the National Park Service knows more than they're letting on, but the extent of their 'involvement' doesn't seem really central here. The 'theory' doesn't come right out and explain any root cause for this pattern of events, just drawing attention to the pattern itself, though, once again, there are hints as to a deeper meaning.

Here's the thing: "Missing411" is the brainchild of one guy named David Paulides who wrote a bunch of expensive self-published books compiling these cases. He's an ex-police officer (either retired or fired, depending on who you ask) who also happened to be super invested in Bigfoot hunting before he started with "Missing411," and, indeed, a lot of Missing411 stories do seem to point toward something... sasquatchy without ever coming right out and saying it. The other thing is that Paulides is the only one who can officially label a case a Missing411 case. A lot of people on the internet will say, "Oh, this sounds like Missing411," but Paulides is the one authority on which cases count and which don't.

Turns out a lot of 'missing person' cases in the national parks don't fit these criteria, and others that Paulides claim do are stretches. The criteria themselves are loose, and a missing person doesn't need to fit all or even most of them to be considered a Missing411 case. Missing411 cases include people who were never found, people who were found dead, and people who were recovered safely. Common factors in these 'patterns' include such vague terms as berries or berry bushes playing a role, being found near or in bodies of water, bad weather shortly after the disappearance, someone who is sick or disabled going missing, and someone being with a group at first but becoming separated from them after a surprisingly short period of time. And, of course, the fact that these disappearances take place in National parks and protected wildernesses.

Humans naturally seek and recognize patterns and make connections, but are categorizing cases in a way like this really helpful? I've seen people on the internet gleefully jump to this explanation whenever someone goes missing in a national park. Comments of "Google Missing411!" are common on news articles about this topic. I honestly think it's insensitive to the family members of the missing people who are looking for answers-- and misleading to those participating in the investigations. Currently, there's an incident going on in which a young couple was traveling cross-country in a van and visiting many National Parks. The man returned home with the van but without the woman, who hasn't been heard from in a few weeks, and isn't talking about what happened. Believe it or not, I've seen internet posters comment, "MISSING411!!!!" in response to this tragic story. A few months ago, a young man disappeared in Shenandoah National Park and his body was later recovered. I followed the case closely and the posts by Shenandoah National Park were full of "MISSING411!!!!" comments, despite the fact that it was very clear what led up to the disappearance: according to family members, a new medication caused psychosis and led to him driving in his pajamas from his home to Shenandoah (his family followed him there), crashing his car, and running into the woods, unprepared to deal with wilderness and not in good mental health.

Like I said, I think this gleeful pattern-recognition is a little distasteful, but more than that, I think Missing411's eagerness to spot sinister causes behind disappearances in the wild is problematic for another reason: I think the average American has a difficult time grasping the concept of 'wilderness' and its dangers. We're used to everything being safe and convenient for us in our towns and, because national parks are popular tourist destinations, it's easy to forget that there are many dangers that exist in wild public lands.

Inexperienced hikers often misjudge their skills and set off on trails too challenging for them and with inadequate water and supplies. Even experienced hikers can easily get lost or turned around-- and cell phone signals are usually nonexistent in national parks. Falls from cliffs, ledges, and waterfalls (mossy rocks near waterfalls are often lethally slippery) can mean injured people end up in inaccessible areas where they're not visible from the trail. A sudden health emergency like a heart attack, stroke, or even a broken leg can occur during vigorous physical activity. Abrupt changes in weather can change a pleasant stroll into deadly freezing temperatures in the blink of an eye. Dangerous wild animals like bears do live in the national parks. Although national parks are popular tourist destinations, these dangers are very, very real and can happen to anyone, and the parks themselves emphasize the importance of being prepared when entering wild areas.

On a darker note, remote hikes and camping trips in national parks are often a convenient way for people to cover up foul play (a few of the high profile Missing411 cases seem to fit this narrative). And, like the young man who disappeared in Shenandoah, many people who disappear in the wilderness alone are mentally unwell and, in many cases, disappearing on purpose. (National parks are sadly a popular place for people to take their own lives.)

Some of the common Missing411 traits, like people being found without clothes on, could be explained by foul play but, more likely, it's a phenomenon called 'paradoxical undressing' that happens when you have hypothermia to the degree that you actually feel warm. Family members will talk about how a missing person is an experienced outdoorsman and unlikely to go missing, but 60 years of experience in the woods also comes with the health limitations of advanced age-- the 'mysterious' disappearance of a partially-sighted man with notable mobility issues might not be a huge mystery. Others, like the presence of berry bushes and bodies of water, points to basic survival instincts. Why so many disappearances in national parks? Well, it's a lot harder to be found in dense wilderness than in, say, an Arby's parking lot.

I've watched two Missing411 documentaries, which are easy to find on mainstream streaming services, and, while many of the cases covered are truly strange, some seem easily explainable by Occam's razor, and the selection of why some cases are included and others aren't seems bizarre to me. Some don't even involve a disappearance at all but hearing or seeing strange things in the woods. Some don't involve national parks or public lands. There are very vague hints throughout that 'Bigfoot type creatures seem to exist in the woods and use outer space or interdimensional technology to hide themselves from people or spirit people away, and the government might know about it' but nothing more than vague hints.

Like I mentioned, some of the cases they profiled point toward foul play. The most prominent case featured in the original Missing411 documentary was about a little boy named Deorr Kunz Jr. who disappeared on a camping trip with his family... but there's also no proof that he actually was on that camping trip with his family... and the family's stories have some discrepancies... and even if it really was a disappearance from the campsite, the stories are that the grandfather thought he was with the parents and the parents thought he was with the grandfather.

Life is often boring and repetitive and it's totally normal to use stories to make ordinary life more interesting and exciting, but the almost... gamified way that I've seen internet dwellers react to real-life stories of heartbreaking disappearances and deaths in dangerous and remote locations is kind of disturbing, and similar to the over-the-top fanciful theorizing I've seen from other, more insidious conspiracy theories. The idea that there's a secret 'other world' being hidden from us behind the curtain of society is enticing, but it can lead down paths as confusing and dangerous as the ones that real travelers get lost on in the wilderness.

#national parks #nature #conspiracies #conspiracy theories

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doyoufancyathought · 3 years

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Through The Utility Closet Part 3: Get Tested

Y/N had never been a fan of hospitals. In fact, she had gone above and beyond in her efforts to avoid going to them. She thought she could probably count all of her hospital visits on her fingers. Thankfully, she was a fairly healthy individual, so it wasn't hard for her to stay out of the Emergency room. They were too sterile, too clean, and everyone was always bustling and grumping around, and poking and prodding all the time. Y/N knew that the hospital wasn't supposed to be an enjoyable place to spend time, but she definitely was of the opinion that steps could be made to make it at least comfortable. Or hospitable, if you'll excuse the joke.

Still, she was in a new dimension, apparently, and so exceptions must be made when it comes to personal dislikes against institutions. She wanted to get home, after all, and this was a necessary step. In order for these scientists to send her back home, they must figure out where exactly she is from, otherwise they could end up sending her to a completely wrong place or time or what have you, and that would just be a disaster.

Once she was up on the exam table, Y/N did her best to appear friendly to the business-like nurse. She was quick and efficient as she hooked Y/N up to at least different machines, and tied a rubber band around her upper arm. For a moment, Y/N was worried that these strangers might be shooting her full of drugs, but then she remembered that this was simply routine for drawing blood. She hoped that medical procedures weren't too different in this world from her own.

Y/N was relieved when the nurse brought in a tray of empty vials and begin to explain what she was doing.

"I'm going to draw some blood so we can do some tests. I'll also need a hair sample, and I'm going to do a saliva swab as well, just so we can take a look at your DNA. How's that sound?"

"Invasive."

The nurse smiled. "I promise you'll barely feel a thing. The swab will be oral, same as checking for strep."

The nurse did her tests, and then let a few scientists in lab coats in. They pulled up chairs in front of the exam table and introduced themselves, although Y/N forgot their names as soon as she heard them.

"Okay, so I guess the first question is for you to introduce yourself and where you're from."

"My name is Y/N Y/L/N, and I'm from (hometown) in (country). I was working at one of my jobs when I fell through an inter dimensional portal and ended up here."

"Good start. Can you tell me about the planetary system from your home world?"

"I guess so." Y/N thought about it for a second, trying to remember those astronomy lessons from many years ago. "Earth is the third planet from the Sun, which is the centre of the system. Then there's Mercury, Mars, Earth, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Pluto, and I think I'm missing some. I can't remember the order, sorry, I've never been good at planets."

"That's all right. Can you tell me how many days in a year?"

"365."

"And how old are you?"

"22."

"And how old do people usually live to be?"

"Uh, I don't know. Maybe anywhere from 70 to 90 years?" Should have paid for attention in stats class.

"How big are spiders in your world?"

"Some of them are super tiny, like you can barely see them. And then some of them are huge, like a dinner plate."

"I see. And how big are chickens?"

"What?"

"How big are chicken? I know it's a weird question, but some worlds have gigantic chickens that actually prey on humans."

"Thats, um, disturbing. But my chickens are normal size? Like small enough to fit in an oven."

"Ok, well that's good. "

There where more questions like this, some about history and some about geography and flora and fauna. When they were all done, the scientists discussed for a minute by themselves.

"Okay, well, from what we can tell, your world is incredibly similar to our own, with the major differences likely being social development. You say you don't have the Avengers in your world?"

"No, we don't have any superheroes or superpowers at all. I wish, though."

"Yeah, that makes sense. How much do you know about inter-dimensional portals?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"Ok, well that's fair, it's a tough subject. So pretty much, each dimension has kind of bridges to reach out to other dimensions. When two bridges line up, there's a chance for people or things to cross over."

"Okay, that makes sense I guess."

"A lot of the time, these bridges go unnoticed. Some dimensions are connected permanently, some are connected cyclicly, and some are connected for less than a second at a time, which makes them extra hard to track. You with me so far?"

Y/N nodded.

"Don't worry if you don't get it. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that we might have a hard time tracking down your world."

"Okay, but how long do you think it'll take? How long does it normally take?"

The scientists shifted uncomfortably. "Well that's the thing. There is an infinite amount of universes you could be from, and it'll take a while to narrow it down to just the most likely. From there, we would have to figure out what kind of bridges they all have, and figure out how to predict it, and then figure out a way to send you back."

"Oh, that does sound complicated. So like a month?"

They glanced at each other. "We've never done this before, and we've never sent anyone back through a bridge."

"Two months?"

"Maybe a year."

"What?"

"I said, maybe a year?"

"I'm going to be here for a year."

"Maybe, like I said we've never done this before so we can't really give you an idea of how long it will take."

"Oh my God."

"We're very sorry. We'll give you some space."

The scientists left, and the nurse from before came back in and started unhooking Y/N from the monitors.

"We've run all the tests we need to, dear. Do you have any questions?"

"I have so many questions, I don't even know where to begin."

"That's understandable. We'll have your results back in a few hours, and that'll help the scientists get a head start on where you're from. I've got your clothes here, if you step through that door you'll be able to change in privacy."

Y/N nodded and jumped off of the table, gathering her clothes in her rooms and she quickly walked across the cold floor to the changing room. She pulled on her work clothes, which consisted of jeans and a black t-shirt, but opted to leave the apron and baseball cap off. There was no need to wear them here. Y/N put her shoes back on, simple canvas slip-ons, and reflected on what she had just learned. Here are the facts.

1. She had magically teleported through a door.

2. She was now stuck in a world that apparently had superheroes.

3. The superheroes had no idea how to get her back, or how long it would take to figure it out.

4. She was stuck.

Now, a normal person might cry when they considered this situation. But, Y/N was not a normal person. She had the fun meal-deal of anxiety and depression, and at this moment, she thanked her ill little brain for causing her to overthink every little scenario so she would be prepared for the worst to happen. Of course, none of those thoughts covered time and dimension travel, but they had covered a sudden zombie apocalypse, so it was just a matter of adjusting the survival strategy. Find shelter, find friends, and fight to live.

So far, Y/N had maybe found friends. The Avengers seemed like a friendly bunch, if oddly beautiful, and Sam had offered his basement as shelter. Now, all she had to do was figure out the day to day stuff. Get a job, live a life, and get back to her world.

So she stepped out of the changing room back into the hallway, and say the Avengers gathered around. They all turned to her as the door closed behind her.

"And what did you find out from the scientists, Y/N?" Vision asked.

"Well, they tried explaining how inter-dimensional portals work. That went way over my head. But basically, I'm gonna be stuck here for a while until they can figure out where I'm from and figure out how to get me back. So, I guess I'm going to need to find a job or something pretty quick."

Tony shook his head and stepped to the front of the group. "That won't be necessary. I'm loaded, and I'll make sure you're set up to not need anything."

"Why?"

"Because I want to? You just flew through outer space into a whole new world, and you're worried about getting a job? Come on, live a little! You look like you work too hard. What work do you do?"

"At which job?"

"Well how many do you have?"

"Three."

"Holy moly."

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Y/N shrugged. "I get bored."

"So you work?"

"Beats sitting around on my ass."

"Fair point. Well anyways, enjoy the vacation for now, and in the future if you still want a job, we'll have to figure out the proper documents. For now, enjoy your vacation! I'm loaded, and this is the perfect opportunity to share, okay?"

"If you really want to, I mean, I don't mind working."

"Clearly, you have three jobs. Psycho. But no, I don't mind. In fact, I would be offended if you didn't accept my offer."

"Okay, well, then, thanks!"

"No problem. I already gave Sam a credit card for you, so you can go shopping on your way to his house. You do know how to work a credit card, right?"

Y/N grinned. "Yes, Tony, I know how to work a credit card. My world apparently isn't that different from this one, just a few small differences I guess."

"Good. Alright, well, roll out, team."

The Avengers dissipated until it was just Sam, Steve, and James standing around with Y/N.

"So you're still coming with us, right?" Sam asked.

Y/N shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. If you don't mind, of course."

"Not at all. It'll be nice having a girl in the house, for once."

The group of four started walking down the long hallway.

"So do you just collect strays, Sam?" Y/N asked, curious of why he was so eager to offer his spare room to a total stranger.

Before he could answer, Steve cut in. "Yeah, I mean, why else did you think we lived with him?"

"I don't know. I thought maybe you were in a band, or really good gym buddies, or maybe even a throuple."

Sam choked on a laugh, but Bucky and Steve looked confused. "What's a throuple?" James asked.

"It's like a couple, but instead of it being two people, it's three." Y/N explained.

"And you thought?" Steve almost looked offended.

"Look, sorry, I don't know what's normal for you here, and I didn't want to assume it was all platonic!"

Sam was dying laughing. "You thought -" he had to lean on a wall to keep standing upright. "Man, we're just good friends, and these two have absolutely no credit, so it's hard for them to find places to stay."

"Ah. I guess being a superhero might not pay well."

"Well, I mean there are other reasons too, but yeah let's go with that." Steve didn't exactly want to jump this poor girl with the fact that he was also over 100 years old and had been frozen for a while. She had enough to worry about.

Y/N didn't pursue the other reasons, because they had finally exited the building and she was looking around, comparing this new world to her own. It was dark out, because it was night. She looked down the street and saw a McDonalds sign, which made her smile. At least she could have her chicky nugs if things got too tough. Turns out this world was just like hers, just with a bit of a different history. A lot more violence, hence the need for superheroes.

They got into the car, and Sam drove them to a mall, where they spent an hour and a half hopping around to different stores to get stuff. Y/N got used to spending someone else's money, and she definitely took advantage of the three guys following her around who offered, nay, insisted on carrying her bags. However, she insisted on going into the drugstore alone so she could collect toiletries.

She grabbed a cart (and honestly who uses a cart in a drugstore unless you have serious money to spend) and spent about 45 minutes going up and down most of the aisles to find what she needed. Luckily, the products were exactly the same as she was used to, so it was only a matter of finding exactly what she needed.

When Y/N finally walked out, she spotted her new companions sitting down on one of those middle-of-the-mall benches that are intended for senior citizens and mothers with rowdy children and men waiting for women to finish their shopping.

"Got everything you need?" Sam asked as he stood up and stretched.

"Yup."

"Alright, let's head home. You feel like pizza for dinner?"

"What's pizza?" Y/N deadpanned, and the three guys looked shocked.

"You don't know what pizza is?" Steve asked.

"Nope, never heard that word before in my life."

"Seriously?"

"Why would I joke about it?"

"You've never had pizza before." James reiterated.

"Nope. What is it?"

"No, you gotta experience it." Sam smiled and started walking back the way they had come.

Steve and James were perfect gentleman, and oddly strong as well, but Y/N again did not complain when they grabbed her bags from the drugstore. She opened doors for them as they went out to the parking lot.

Once they were back in the car, Sam got on his phone and ordered pizza that would be delivered right as they got home, provided traffic cooperated. Y/N spent the drive looking out the window at all the lights and people she saw, and didn't pay much attention to the conversation the guys were having. Nothing looked too out of the ordinary, except for the whole superhero thing.

Once they got to Sam's house, a tidy little bungalow in a quiet neighbourhood, they unloaded the car and headed inside. Steve and James ran downstairs to put Y/N's bags in her room, while Sam gave her a tour.

As they were walking down a hallway, Y/N stopped to look at family pictures hanging on the wall.

"Is this your family?" She asked.

"Yeah, that's my sister and her two boys. They've grown a lot since that picture was taken though."

"They look like lots of fun."

"They're a handful, that's for sure."

"And these are your parents?"

"Yeah," Sam said quietly. "They passed a few years ago, that's the last picture we ever took of them both together."

"Oh I'm so sorry." Sam shook his head as Y/N reached out to touch his arm. "They have really kind eyes." She said, her gaze returning to the picture.

"They were the kindest people I've ever known." Sam said, and just then, the doorbell rang. "Sounds like the pizzas here."

Y/N could hear the two boys thundering back up the stairs as she followed Sam to the front door. She expected that he would need help carrying all the food in.

She was right. The delivery driver had to go back to his car to get a second load of pizza. Y/N brought the first load into the kitchen and got a few plates down from the cupboard.

"Oh, good, you found the plates!" Sam said as he walked into the kitchen a few minutes later.

"Yeah, lucky guess."

They set the table in silence as Steve and James washed up, and then they sat down for dinner.

Sam decided he wanted to know more about Y/N. "So, Y/N, tell us a little bit about yourself."

"Ok, well," Y/N hated this questions, because how do you boil yourself down to just a few facts? She just wished people would ask direct questions, because she could answer questions if they were clear. She hated vagueness. "I'm 22, I still live, or lived, with my parents. I like dogs. My favourite colour is yellow. I have three jobs, as a nanny, in retail, and also at a Bubble Tea shop in my hometown. What else do you want to know?"

"Well that's a lot. Why do you have three jobs?" Steve asked.

Y/N shrugged, having to explain her workaholic tendencies twice in a day. "I get bored. And I like working, keeps life interesting."

"I'll bet. What do you do for fun?"

"I read a lot. And I like to go to the lake. And crochet."

"What kind of books do you read?" Steve asked.

"It depends. Sometimes fantasy, sometimes mystery. I read a lot of those cheap drugstore romances."

"Wait, you crochet?" Sam asked. "What are you, a grandma?"

"Like a crazy, chaotic grandma, kinda. I drink a lot of tea and wear a lot of sweaters, sorry for being comfy!"

They went back and forth for a few minutes. "How do you like the pizza?" Sam asked.

"Well," Y/N waggled her head back and forth, debating how to break the ruse. "Not the best I've ever had, but it's close."

"Wait, you've had pizza before?"

"Yes."

"You said before though-"

"And you believed me?Rookie move, gentlemen."

"Why would you trick us?" They weren't mad, just a little confused. And amused. James hadn't really said much since they sat down for dinner, but he grinned and chuckled at the confused looks on his friends faces.

Y/N shrugged. "Gotta keep you guys on your toes, yaknow?" They all laughed. "But hey, tell me more about you guys. You're super soldiers? What does that even mean?"

Sam and Steve took turns explaining who they were, and how the Avengers came to be. They didn't touch too much on James, who excused himself fairly into the evening. He was a little shy and quiet around newcomers, apparently, but Y/N wasn't bothered. She had bigger things to worry about than someone being shy around her.

When the talking turned to yawns, Sam offered to show Y/N to her room. He took her down the stairs into the basement, which opened up into a spacious rec room. There was a massive TV and a pool table. Down a short hallway were the two previously spare rooms, both of which were now occupied by strays that Sam had picked up. The only bathroom was unfortunately across the basement, but Y/N didn't foresee any problems with that.

Sam explained how every room had it's own colours for sheets and towels and stuff, and Y/N was very impressed with how domestically organized he was turning out to be.

Sam went back upstairs, and Y/N took a few minutes to settle in. She would unpack and run her new clothes through the laundry tomorrow, but for now all she wanted was a hot shower and a good long nights sleep.

She went into the bathroom, and saw that James had already made space for her stuff in the shower caddy, on the towel rack, and in the medicine cabinet above the sink. With a smile on her face, she put her few new belongings in those empty spaces, then drug herself through the shower and fell into her bed, exhausted.

Before her eyes closed, Y/N considered what had happened to her today. In a new dimension, living with three strange yet wonderful men, something that would be sure to give her mother a heart attack. And yet, she was excited for the morning to come. Part of her hoped that when she opened her eyes again, she would wake up in her home world, and she would be surrounded by people she knew and recognized. That's what a normal person would hope for in this situation, right?

But as I've told you before, Y/N is no normal person, and the other part of her was wishing that when she woke up, she would still be here, in Sam's house. She wanted to opportunity to explore, so see what else was out there. Maybe she'd discover a new life, a new chance to be the person she had wished to be but never got the chance. Whatever happened, she knew that tomorrow would be full questions, and hopefully a few answers. She hoped, anyways.

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jazy3 · 4 years

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Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 16X21

I loved this episode! It finally happened! Hayes asked Meredith out and she said YES!!! I’m so happy right now! We're going to see them go on a date and have drinks next season! It’s all I could have hoped for and more! I can’t wait! This episode was a finale that wasn’t supposed to be a finale. With that in mind I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was great! I loved this episode! Mainly because it delivered on the one thing I’d been hoping for since the mid season premiere! It didn’t have the usual shock factor that comes at the end of a planned Grey’s finale, but it was exciting and we got movement on pretty much all of the major storylines up to this point. It’s not where the cast and crew were planning to leave things for this season, but with the sudden onset of the COVID-19 virus and the mandatory shutdowns worldwide they were forced to halt production when filming for this episode had wrapped.

So with that in mind this episode leaves things in a pretty good place with some great set up for next season. Originally the shutdowns and the quarantine was supposed to be temporary and so I had hoped that they would be able to come back and film the remaining four episodes for this season as from what I’ve read the scripts have already been written and the plan was already in place. Unfortunately, since none of us know when the quarantine will end they have decided to roll those episodes into next season and rejig what would have been episode 16X22 to make it more exciting so that it can be the season opener for Season 17.

While I’m sad we won’t see the remaining four episodes as planned this hopefully means that there won’t be any filler episodes next seasons as they’ll rejig and add the four from this season and then write 21 new ones. So let’s talk about that scene with Meredith and Hayes! It was so so great! After hearing the news that she and the other doctors had finally found a diagnosis for Richard’s condition Hayes sought Meredith out as she was leaving for the night. He congratulated her on a great catch and asked her if she’d like to grab a drink with him and celebrate. She said yes, but said she was to exhausted to go out right now and asked her if he’d ask her again some other time. He said of course and told her he’d see her later and she said goodbye for the night.

There were so many things I loved about that scene! It was perfect! I loved that Hayes respected Meredith’s boundaries. He didn't push or try to change her mind. He understood what she was saying and accepted it. With any other love interest they’ve put her with that would have been a whole thing. They would have tried to change her mind or argued with her or tried to convince her and that’s not okay. But Hayes doesn’t do that. Why? Because he’s a mature adult who’s got his stuff together who understands the concept of consent and that yes, but not right now does not mean convince me.

I love that he's so understanding! He gets it! She's tired. She wants to go home and sleep, but she also wants to go out with him when she's feeling better and he wants that too! I can't wait to see them go out! I'm so happy. He's so smitten! Just the way he looks at her! And the way she looks at him! She's so into him! My heart! I love that they established that Hayes doesn’t like setups and he doesn’t even know that he’s in one right now! Jo’s sure not going to tell him. Where would be the fun in that? And he’s right that people are talking about his personal life when he’s not around. Specifically, the fact that Cristina sent him across the Atlantic and set him up with Meredith and everyone’s into it. I love it so much!

Also how deceiving was that episode description? “Hayes asks Meredith a surprising question.” It’s only surprising if you’ve never seen the show before or aren’t caught up on this season! Hayes has been into Meredith since he got to Seattle and Meredith has been into Hayes since they worked that Vaping case together. It’s very obvious in the googly heart eyes they keep making at each other all the time. I love that Hayes asking Meredith out was done in a subtle way with not a lot of fanfare. I really loved that. Because the episode description made it seem like it was going to be this big dramatic thing and I love that it wasn’t. Because real life is not like that. Real life is about the small moments. The intimate moments. The moments that matter. That come naturally when you build up a rapport with someone over time. And that’s what Meredith and Hayes have built.

I was also worried, especially after the Conference episode, that Hayes was still processing his grief in such a way that he wouldn’t feel comfortable asking Meredith out or that everything that’s been happening with DeLuca and now Richard would make him hesitant to ask her out or take the next step. Instead, we saw the opposite. Jo made comments about how him and Meredith would be good together and implied that other people thought so too. He heard about the nonsense that DeLuca had pulled yet again and he heard about what was going on with Richard and his eventual diagnosis. Instead of preventing him from asking her out it actually propelled him. He heard about what had happened with Richard, sought her out, offered his sympathies, congratulated her on a great catch. He then used that as a spring board to ask her out and in response she reciprocated his feelings and said yes! It was subtle, simple, and sweet. As it so often is in real life when you meet the right person.

I’m a big Taylor Swift fan and the slow burn they’ve created for Meredith and Hayes and the way he asked her out really reminded me of Taylor’s music and album journeys from reputation to Lover. The reputation album is about the death of Taylor’s reputation and her response to it. But as she has spoken about in interviews it’s also about a beautiful love story. It’s about how in some of her darkest times she found and formed the most beautiful and amazing relationship with her partner Joe. There’s this undercurrent running through the album about that relationship as it begins. Then in Lover it blossoms fully and we get to hear all about it and how great finding that kind of whole hearted love really is.

To me there is such a great parallel between that musical journey and the relationship we see forming between Meredith and Hayes. It’s this beautiful undercurrent that’s forming amidst the constant chaos that is Meredith’s life and that’s a wonderful thing. It’s this steady current in the background that once given the chance to fully bloom will blossom into this beautiful thing. I’m excited that we’ll get to see that next season. Hayes was back in a big way this episode and I loved it! I love him as a character. I really hope they make him a series regular next season because he is great and he needs more screen time. The female patient Daya who couldn’t express emotion or smile because of her condition and needed facial surgery was hilarious!

I'm really glad that they figured out what was wrong with Richard and he's on the mend! I'm glad Richard kicked Catherine out. She deserved that and in fairness to him he doesn't remember her being there. It looks like he doesn't remember anything prior to the Conference so I get why he's mad. He was also real petty about it and I loved that. Although I was surprised that Meredith wasn't in his room with Maggie and Jackson and Catherine at the end.

She’s his family too and up until he married Catherine she was he’s next of kin, his emergency contact, and had medical power of attorney. Catherine’s left him and was MIA prior to him getting sick, Richard didn’t even know that Maggie existed until a few years ago, and Jackson had barely spoken to the man until Maggie pointed out that Richard thought he was taking Catherine’s side in the divorce. Side note: I’m glad that Maggie and Winston are still texting! Steamily I might add! He should definitely move to Seattle next season!

DeLuca annoyed the crap out of me this episode not because he was wrong, but because of the way he chose to express his opinions as usual. He was right but instead of explaining that calmly to others he screamed at Richard's family and threw a bunch of sharp surgical instruments onto the OR floor while Richard was on the table. I really hope they write him off next season because he annoys the crap out of me, he still hasn’t picked a speciality yet, and I feel they’ve gone as far as they can with his character and then some.

As for that end scene with Meredith and DeLuca here’s how I saw it. I didn't see it as her going home with him. I saw it as she was on her way home when she found him crying on the floor and either drove him home or admitted him for treatment. They established that Carina's back in Seattle so I think she either she drove him home and then called Carina to come take care of her brother or got him admitted and then called her to follow up and then went home and got some well deserved sleep.

I'm glad that he's finally acknowledged that he's got a problem and needs help. That's the first time since he started behaving erratically that we've seen that so that's good. I hope Carina can get him some help and get him admitted somewhere or that Meredith already has. More and more I see the interactions between Meredith and DeLuca as motherly. She’s clearly concerned about him and feels guilty because he went to jail for her and is now failing apart. I hope they write him off next season, but if they don’t I hope he gets the treatment he needs and they both move on or they remain in each other’s lives on a friendly co-worker basis as that’s the only time they ever really work on screen in my opinion. They don’t have chemistry romantically or as friends. I loved that moment in the OR where Bokhee prayed over Richard! Bokhee for the win!

Teddy was a hot mess as usual! I knew the truth was going to come out eventually, but I did not expect that god damn! I'm not an Owen fan, but that scene in the supply closet was still a gut punch. Oof! I loved Tom's speech to Teddy and how he called her out on the fact that she was running into marrying Owen rather than confront her own confused feelings. Teddy really needs to figure out what she wants and pick a lane! I hated the fact that she had sex with Tom in his office and then when he said let's run away together she told him this was goodbye and she was marrying Owen. Who does that? No matter what side you are on here Teddy’s behaviour is just not okay! Oy vey!

I’m glad that Owen stood her up and cancelled the wedding. It’s bad enough that she’s engaged to Owen and carrying on an affair with Tom, but the fact that she had sex with Tom in his office on the day of her wedding and then had the audacity to tell him that was goodbye and she was marrying Owen when she is clearly conflicted is an awful thing to do to everyone. She’s literally hurting all parties involved and that’s just awful. Also how is she planning on explaining this to her kids when they’re older?

Amelia and Link we're super cute this episode! I'm glad that their baby is okay and healthy and that Amelia is okay after what happened with her first pregnancy. She’s been through enough and it looks like she’s finally getting something good in her life with a beautiful new baby and a healthy pregnancy and delivery and a wonderful supportive partner. The throwback to Bailey being there for Amelia like George was there for her was so beautiful! Kudos to Bailey for showing all that strength after she suffered a miscarriage recently!

I'm glad we got to see Bailey spend time with Richard as I felt that was missing last episode. Carina was great in this episode! She has so much potential as a character and I wish they would use her more. She’s such a badass and her facial expressions are always on point. Although I only watch Station 19 sporadically these days I love her relationship with Maya. I’m not an Andrew DeLuca fan at all and I would love if they would start focusing on her more and move her brother back into the background or off the show entirely.

Jo was hilarious! I’m glad she’s getting her spunk back. She reminds me in a lot of ways of Amelia from her early Private Practice days. I loved her comments to Jackson in the OR! Real talk though, what do you think Jackson’s dating profile pic would be? Jet or Yacht? Comment below! Also I love that Jo is so team MerWidow! She totally ships them together! And she's helping to make it happen! Go Jo!

I love how she almost spilled the beans to Hayes about Cristina setting him and Meredith up but then stopped when she realized he didn't know and didn't like set ups. I'm glad she did. Because if she'd said something further then Hayes might not have asked Meredith out. I feel like by the time the truth comes out Meredith and Hayes will already have been dating for a while so he'll be annoyed, but it won't change the way he feels about Meredith. Although let’s be honest nothing could he’s so smitten and he should be! Meredith is amazing and she deserves an amazing man like Hayes.

I saw someone on Twitter comment that it looks like the storyline with Meredith and Hayes beginning to date and the truth coming out about how Cristina set them up was supposed to play out in the next few episodes and I think that’s true. I’m sorry we won’t get to see it this season because of the shutdown but I’m really excited to see this play out next season. Something that did surprise me is that the character interactions in this episode imply that Jo didn’t tell Meredith about what DeLuca did to her and tried to do to her at the bar in the episode ‘Life on Mars’ and still hasn’t told her. I’m surprised by that because Meredith and Jo are friends, what DeLuca did was disgusting and unforgivable, and Jo clearly hasn’t forgotten. In fact in this very episode she made it super clear to Hayes that she detests DeLuca and hates the idea of him and Meredith together and so do others.

This once again brings to light the big problem with DeLuca in that the only reason Meredith went out with him, continued to date him, and continues to interact with him out of concern is because her friends and family aren't being completely honest with her about his behaviour and how he acts when she’s not around. Because let’s face it. If Meredith knew what DeLuca was really like when she wasn’t there she wouldn’t give that asshole the time of day. I can’t emphasize this enough. Your friends and family should be able to be honest with you about the person you’re dating and anyone that’s in your life. They should feel comfortable being honest with you and telling you how they feel. They shouldn’t have to hid the worst parts of them in order to protect you or so that you can be happy. I also don’t get how anyone can ship Meredith and DeLuca together or want him to continue to be a part of her life when he treats the people she loves so horribly and they openly detest him so much.

I’m sorry we have to wait so long to find out what happens next to our heroes. But I am very much looking forward to next season and watching Meredith and Hayes develop further!

Until next time!

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lydia-yougowith-stiles · 4 years

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My Top Ships of 2019!

My favorite time of the year is back yet again! This year I had to expand my top ships to 15!!! I know, but 12 just wasn’t enough. Making this list I didn’t realize how many new shows I started watching in 2019 and how many of my favorites came to their conclusions. They were some pretty great picks that brought about some of my favorite ships. Hope to see them develop more in 2020!

15. Poldark: Ross and Demelza

While I did not overly love the last season of Poldark and had many episodes culminate on the DVR, I have to put Ross and Demelza on this list. Their overall relationship is one of the strongest parts of the show and I do like where they ended up at its conclusion. They rely so much on each other and Ross left Demelza in charge of so much at home as he went to London, which many other husbands at this time would not have done. They experienced much with each other over the last five seasons to get them to this point. The first season will forever be my favorite because of watching their early development and having Ross notice his love for Demelza and how he needed her over Elizabeth. They said this a couple of times in the show, but without Demelza in his life we wouldn’t have the show. It was beautiful to watch the love they had for each other grow. I definitely see myself going back and watching this show from the beginning in the near future. I’ll probably just skip a couple episodes here and there.

14. The Walking Dead: Jesus and Aaron

This ship is so bittersweet because the show did not give it enough time to develop and it could have been amazing. I know Tom Payne was leaving the show to pursue another project. Bingeing the show allows for a few spoilers to come here and there so i knew Jesus would be dying. BUT I did not expect for it to happen like that! It was so sudden that it took a couple of minutes to sink in. I really wish he could have stuck around longer not only for his personal character development, but for him and Aaron. This was another spoiler that I remember encountering and I honestly thought that meant the two would have had more screen time. It was not enough! They would have been great. The few scenes we had between them, while not enough, were beautiful and that is why they are on this list. Aaron describing the amount of loved ones he’s lost and including Eric and Jesus right after each other show how important Jesus was to him. If only we could have gotten more.

13. Pandora: Jax and Xander

The CW’s summer show Pandora seriously needs more love. This Sci-Fi show might have felt jolting at times (and by this I mean that there were times where I felt like I missed an episode because a lot of time had passed or they referenced something we hadn’t been introduced to), but despite this I still really looked forward to it every week. I am SOOO HAPPY it got picked up for a second season. Can’t wait to see where the story is headed as it left us on a great cliffhanger at the end of season one. Jax had several love interests this season (as did many of the characters) and while I liked her with several of them (as I seem to be doing with more entries to follow on this list), I was always drawn back to her and Xander. So, I was very excited to see their relationship get explored more in the second half of the season. It contains some of my favorite tropes like a forbidden match, hate/love banter and keeping secrets from one another. The episode they pretended to be a couple really sealed the deal for me as they started to come to terms with their true feelings. What I liked about their relationship was that they weren’t always the center of the plot, but certain lines that were said reminded you of their interests for one another. With the expected drama for season two, it should be interested to see where their romantic story line is headed.

12. Stranger Things: Nancy and Jonathan

Stranger Things was an early binge for me at the start of the year. Immediately I felt that Nancy and Jonathan needed to be together-even while she ended season 1 with Steve, which I will still never understand. (I love Steve. Don’t get me wrong, but it just didn’t feel right. Plus, I feel like he really grew as a character without her. But that’s for another post.) I always love how Nancy and Jonathan got paired up in their own story line before joining everyone else at the conclusion of the season. Their personalities compliment each other well and they can see each other’s true self. Their off-screen relationship is extremely evident in their chemistry on screen. After seeing the end of season 3 and how they will be separated I can only hope it is not for good as these two are meant for each other.

11. Jane the Virgin: Jane and Michael

The age old question: Team Michael or Team Rafael? Up until moments of season 4, I was Team Michael all the way. Another show that I came in as a binge-watcher at the earlier parts of 2019 I knew a lot of spoilers (or let’s say some of the MAJOR spoilers involving Michael). As a telenovela, there was always a lot of back and forth who Jane would pick. Again, as I came into the show later, I knew she’d be with Michael, but I still felt on my toes watching. (This show was so great and I’m so upset the final season aired this year.) Michael was my favorite because of the history he and Jane had. They cared so much for each other and supported one another. I think I was also more Team Michael at first because I enjoyed his personality. However, despite all of this I was not a fan of his return as Jason. I feel like they were pulling straws at what to do for plot-lines and decided to bring him back for the final season. I felt we were in a good place with Jane and Raf and didn’t need it. Michael was a major part of Jane’s life, but she had moved into a different part of her life. I know when I watch this show back I will still be Team Michael in the early seasons. It’s sad his character was lost so early, but I did really like how they adapted the show without him.

10. Derry Girls: James and Erin

Would this list be complete if I didn’t include a pairing that is not an official couple (...yet) that have not alluded to any romantic feelings, expect for me reading too much into things? No it wouldn’t be. :) DERRY GIRLS is one of my TOP shows of 2019 and I am so happy that we were not graced with one season, but TWO this past year! I am still mad that there are only six half hour episodes per season when there should be more! And I’m also upset that season 3 (which could be their final season) has not started filming yet. But while I complain about all of that (because I love this show so much), I’m crossing my fingers for James and Erin. The wee English lad is often shown standing (or sitting) very close to Erin and early on I felt the two would be adorable together. In season one she hopes he won’t sleep with an Ukrainian and in season two James decides to not go to a Doctor Who convention in order to take Erin to the prom. Tell me this isn’t building up to something more. While watching season one I couldn’t find any fan postings about them and then once season two aired I found a bunch. I love watching a ship grow!

9. Legacies: Hope and Josie

Last year when I made my Top Ships of 2018 it was too early to pick which my favorite ships for Legacies were. They were so many options and honestly I still feel like I ship many people together and wouldn’t be overly upset if one became canon over another. As season one progressed I became more and more team Hosie (or Hope and Josie). Then I discovered the large fan-base for the two of them and fell more in love with them. There were many moments in season one that strengthened the fact the two would be great together: the moment above, the dream episode with Lizzie when she experiences different realities if Hope never came to the school, etc-there are some key moments between Hope and Josie that showed they would work and have feelings for one another. This season, Josie was experiencing a lot at the Salvatore School making her not my favorite character as she often is. She seemed to make up with Hope, but now that Landon has chosen Hope I am unsure what will happen to their relationship/friendship. However, this season Hope did let it slip that she once had a crush on Josie too. I really feel like Julie Plec might give us some Hosie in upcoming seasons. Personally, they feel like an endgame relationship that we will have to wait a long time for (each will get involved with other people-you know how these shows are.) But I’m here for anything that comes my way.

8. Legacies: Hope and Rafael

Another Legacies ship-What a Shock! :) It was very hard for me to pick which one to go first, but ultimately I picked Hope and Rafael because of this season. When Hope came back and no one remembered her I could have sworn that Rafael’s werewolf state would have been immune to Malivore’s power and he would have remembered Hope as she took the spell off of him. While this did not happen, we did get some cute scenes between them. I like how he immediately still liked her even though he didn’t remember their past. I like how he looked for her at the dance and hung out with her afterwards. Of course, it was super ironic when Landon wanted to be his wingman, but it was nice seeing Rafael happy as he’s not often. Then once the truth was uncovered he went back to avoiding Hope. This is a relationship that I am surprised they are already exploring. As I mentioned with Hosie, Hope and Rafael felt like a potential relationship, but that would be developed more later-not already in the first season. I am very surprised how many love triangles are already emerging and it’s only season two, which begs the question how long Hope and Landon will stay together? You know you have a good show on your hands when you can ship so many people together and be happy with multiple pairings and alternatives. (Although I would prefer Hope with either Josie or Raf over Landon for sure.)

7. The Walking Dead: Rick and Michonne

Aww, another ship with a devastating ending. Seems to be a common thread with some of these. Rick and Michonne were two people that complimented each other nicely throughout the earlier seasons and just made sense when they officially became a couple. They had similar personalities and were like a little family living in Alexandria before they actually became a family. Rick had a few different flames before Michonne, but none were as right for him as she was. Watching the past one and a half seasons without him on the show feels different, and I really miss seeing the two of them lead Alexandria. Michonne, Judith and RJ are keeping him alive, but it isn’t the same as seeing him there. Despite all of this remorse, I really did enjoy seeing them together on the show and I think it came at the perfect time. They had a bond, but were able to act on something more once they reached more stability. I know Danai Gurira wants to leave Walking Dead soon. I just hope there’s a way she can see Rick before she does.

6. Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Jake and Amy

Last year I got to be introduced to Jake and Amy and watch their relationship develop from “hating” each other to something more. Now in the latest season as the show moved to NBC I got to see more of them as they took their honeymoon and Jake stood up to Amy’s parents. While it feels like a very long time ago that I watched this season (and I am very happy to see it is all available on demand so I can catch up before the new episodes), I can remember really enjoying the episodes and this couple even more. I know I’ve said this before, but I really enjoy the kind of ships that don’t always have to be around each other, but you hear them talk about each other or state something that remind you that they are a couple. Those often feel like the realest ones to me. I honestly think Jake and Amy can go down as one of my favorite ships of all time. (That’s BIG I know.) I am so excited that we are going to get more seasons of Brooklyn Nine Nine because it is what they (and we) deserve.

5. Single Parents: Will and Angie

A slow burn that feels like it might be coming to confession time.... That’s just an inference from reading next week’s episode description. A classic plot device: people assume they are together and they have to “pretend to be a couple.” We ALWAYS know how these story-lines end up. Will and Angie have always had a connection since season one. They were the two that I thought would be together, so it was a bit of a shock when Douglas and Poppy became the first ones in a couple. (Although I really enjoy the two of them as well.) I don’t see the show pairing up two of their major couples at the same time, so while I don’t want Douglas and Poppy to break up I REALLY WANT WILL AND ANGIE TOGETHER. This season they have become best of friends; as they often call each other. Almost like they are rubbing it in our faces! Before the mid-season break there were quite a few moments alluding to something more happening between the two of them. I mean Will’s girlfriend called out Angie during Thanksgiving. I think that might have caused some realization for Angie. I have a strong feeling Graham’s dad is going to come back into the picture and ruin things. Either way you know I’ll be watching this Wednesday and hoping for something monumental to happen!

4. Jane the Virgin: Jane and Rafael

I know it’s SHOCKING! As someone who was so Team Michael at the start I have placed Jane and Rafael so far up on this list. Well, after Michael’s death and watching the two of them get so close before becoming romantically involved again made me grow to really enjoy them together. I really love the fact that they were endgame. I seriously got worried there when Jason came back into the picture, which made me not a huge fan of the first half of this last season. Luckily, the second half of the season was fantastic as Jane won back Rafael and they officially became husband and wife. The more I write about this show the more I want to add it to my ‘Want to watch again list.’ I feel it will be different because now I know what’s to come, but I can still enjoy all the great moments.

3. The 100: Bellamy and Clarke

Yes, I’m just about as shocked as you are (again) that Bellarke is not my number one pick this year (yet again). But I have to keep you on your toes and I don’t want to seem too predictable. I had to evaluate these last couple very closely. If you are on this page you know of my LOVE for Bellamy and Clarke. Number One Bellarke fan, right here. So every season that Jason Rothenberg gives us a little more I am a happy girl. As a Bellarke fan you train yourself for this. Well, this season, despite Bellamy still being in a relationship with Echo, we got several monumental Bellarke moments. From Bellamy recognizing that Clarke was still alive and helping take down Josephine, the CPR scene, more head and the heart talk (I’m dead btw) and more and more hugs. With only one season left I am praying to the gods that we will have them become endgame. This will be our last chance and you cannot tell me that everything we witnessed in this last season was PLATONIC! I’m sorry, but no. These two are meant for each other. Their love is so strong, that Eliza and Bob got married in real life. (Which can we just say how I still have moments where I’m like did this happen???) Such a good year for them. Cannot wait for the last season.

2. iZombie: Liv and Major

I called it! I hoped these two would be endgame, but as the final season progressed I was getting more and more worried. Liv and Major would have scenes together, but they were strictly business. I could always feel like something was still between them, but we were running out of time and didn’t know how they would conclude it all. Well, I am extremely happy that not only did they wind up together, but they are in a place where they can have a family and be together forever. I know I haven’t spoken about this couple much, but I have always liked the characters together on the show. While their time romantically together was pretty short overall, their characters drastically changed from season one episode one. There were times when I liked their new love interests, but I always hoped they would wind up together. Happy to see this ending.

AND NUMBER ONE GOES TO........

1. Anne with an E: Anne and Gilbert

Shirbert for the win!!! While season three has just been released on Netflix, I have seen MANY spoilers thanks to YouTube for the third (and sadly final) season. Could I have avoided them? Of course I could have, but I didn’t have the will power. I only watched a couple, but they were some big moments between these two. As a fan of the books and other adaptations of the beloved classic I knew Anne and Gilbert were meant to be even with all the back and forth/will they won’t between them. Just like any good movie or show, just knowing the outcome doesn’t make it true and they extended this slow burn nicely. I cannot wait to watch the full third season on Netflix this month and experience all the romance again. These two are meant for each other and I am just upset that we won’t be able to see more of their story.

Shirbert forever!

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its-flicked-switch · 4 years

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The One They Deserved

3.5K | William Arc | The Story We Deserved | Post-MS4

William emerges from the harbor.

I know I can't be the only fan out there who was deeply disappointed by how William's character arc was handled in S11! So, for those of you on team #notmyWilliam, stick with me — I got you.

—

"And maybe what growing up really means is knowing that you don't have to be just a character, going whichever way the story says. It's knowing you could be the author instead."

― Ava Dellaira, Love Letters to the Dead

—

JACKSON

Returning to Wyoming was a decision made on a whim — an instinctual impulse. Because when battered and broken, animal instinct predominates, driving the incessant urge to return to a place of comfort and security.

When Jackson emerged from the harbor, he knew he needed to seek refuge somewhere far removed from Virginia. Returning to the place where it all began just seemed fitting somehow. Poetic almost. For the beginning was also the end.

Of all the places he has lived over the course of the last seventeen years, this is the only place Jackson has ever considered to be home. As he crouches down in the tall grass behind his former home, he becomes enthralled with how quickly and slowly time can pass in the same instance. Saying goodbye to his childhood home seems like something that happened a lifetime ago to someone else, yet it happened only yesterday, and it's strikingly familiar.

Having risen from the dead once before, he knows that not finding his body in the harbor will put his pursuers on edge. Only a fool would accept his death as fact without a body at this point, and those who pursue him are not fools. With that being said, coming here was a risk, but his lack of confidence in his ability to manipulate video feed and hide his identity in larger crowds kept him from attending his parents' funeral.

As a child, he always dreaded attending funerals, oftentimes begging to stay home or to sit outside because he found them to be too unbearably sad and uncomfortable. But now, having been kept from attending the funerals of those closest to him, he has a greater appreciation for their purpose. Funerals aren't for the dead. They are for the living. He understands that now.

The circumstances surrounding their deaths prevented him from seeing their bodies. He wasn't there to watch their caskets being lowered into the ground, nor was he ever able to return to their home in Virginia, where he would have certainly been faced with blood-spattered walls and silence. Any or all of those things would have helped to ground him into the reality that they were really gone, and that he would never see them again. Ultimately, that is what he hoped to gain by coming here — closure. But as he settles in the tall grass behind his childhood home, all he feels is sorrow.

The Van De Kamps' former home hasn't changed all that much in their absence. The new owners have painted, changed up the landscaping, and added on a garage, but overall, the rustic farmhouse where he spent the first twelve years of his life has remained relatively untouched by the passage of time.

Jackson wishes he could say the same.

His early childhood was happy, carefree, and uncomplicated. Although they didn't live in a standard neighborhood, other families lived within a reasonable walking distance. The Brooks family, who owned the land adjacent to theirs, had two boys around his age — Ben and Zak. The three of them spent nearly every waking hour together in the summers. Collectively, their families owned a little over 6,000 acres of land, which, in turn, gave them quite a bit of terrain to roam and raise the kind of hell that only little boys are capable of concocting. Their more notable transgressions included but were not limited to: hitting a baseball into a busy highway where it shattered the back window of a brand new four-door Chevy pickup, a magnifying glass mishap that escalated into the incidental burning of an entire wheat field, and poking a hibernating bear. Yes. You heard right. Poking an actual bear. Suffice it to say, the old saying 'don't poke the bear' holds an entirely different meaning to him now than it did before.

Poking of bears aside, the majority of his childhood, although interesting at times, was fairly unremarkable — until the day that it wasn't.

He was nine when it started.

Phase one came in the form of nightmares. Intense night terrors that propelled him out of his bed and sent him screaming into the night. Twice his parents found him in fields behind their home staring up into the sky with his heart racing, clothes soaked with sweat, and tears streaming down his face. When it occurred a second time, they installed latches at the top of all of the exterior doors, in fear that he would end up in the middle of the highway or in one of their irrigation wells before they could wake and calm him.

The doctors had assured his parents that it was only a phase, but when weeks turned into months and months turned into a year, it became apparent that what he was experiencing was more than just a phase. The drugs the doctors prescribed were successful in sedating him, but they did not curve the frequency, intensity, duration, or nature of his dreams.

Phase two began shortly after his tenth birthday. His hair and eyes had always been fair, but in January of 2011, he woke up to the reflection of a boy he didn't recognize. His blue eyes and sandy brown hair had disappeared overnight, transitioning into a deep charcoal brown. Nobody in the medical community had ever seen anything like it, nor could they explain how or why it had occurred. Test after test confirmed that he was healthy and otherwise unaffected, but a sense of unease filled their home nonetheless.

The night terrors and physical transformation each snapped something within him, unraveling him into a child no one recognized. Within a year, he transitioned from being the light-hearted, jokester with lots of friends into a fearful, shy, and awkward isolationist. It was as if he was a completely different person altogether — mentally and physically. The friendships he had developed within the first ten years of his life slowly dissolved. One by one, they all eased away until there was no one left. Then the bullying began.

First came the inquisitive stares and whispers, which were quickly followed by finely pointed questions that only rude children ask.

"What are you? Some kind of alien?"

It was fairly common knowledge that he was adopted, which only served to make matters worse.

"Jack wasn't born, he was hatched. That's why he can change his coloring like an iguana. What color will you make your hair and eyes tomorrow — Jack?"

"I hear that he hangs out in the fields a lot. He's probably waiting for the mothership."

The digs were endless, and he didn't cope with any of it well. At first, he cried a lot, but he learned very quickly that ten-year-old boys can't cry on playgrounds. Witnessed tears added a whole new layer to his misery. It was if he had opened Pandora's Box to hell.

Jerry Marriott was the worst of the bunch. He coined the name Alien Jack — AJ for short, and it stuck. Soon, nobody other than the teachers called him by his given name.

Thankfully, summer arrived, providing him with a much-needed reprieve from hell.

His parents had hoped that the summer would bring Ben and Zak back, but it didn't. When he wasn't helping his father on the farm, he would walk through the fields alone, which troubled his parents far more than it ever bothered him. The silence was far more favorable than the alternative. School had taught him that much.

Midsummer, his father returned home from an errand with a large box. Since it was the first time he had seen either of his parents genuinely smile in weeks, he knew immediately that whatever was in the mystery box was a much bigger deal than the new dirt bike they had given him for his birthday. They had been placating him for weeks. Making special meals, renting extra movies and video games …any and everything they could think of to try to lift the depressive fog that hung over him. But that day had been different, their smiles were confident and infectious, and when he opened the box, he understood why.

Inside the box was a small wiggling ball of energy. A chocolate lab puppy with large animated brown eyes and tan tipped paws. To this day, Jackson still refers to that moment as being the happiest moment of his life.

He named him Abe, after Abraham Lincoln, because he ended the period of misery and loneliness that had enslaved him by offering him true and unbridled friendship. For the first time in over a year, Jackson looked forward to getting up in the morning. His mood and overall outlook brightened considerably.

His mother's allergies had always prevented them from having pets, which was why Abe's sudden appearance had come as such a surprise. After his arrival, new kleenex boxes appeared in nearly every room. Her congestion and sneezing fits worsened as Abe aged, but she never once complained. Jackson never really thanked her enough for that. Kids are kind of assholes in that respect. They don't truly grasp the meaning of sacrifice.

Unfortunately, for his family, itchy, watery eyes, and nasal congestion would be on the low end of the totem pole in comparison to the sacrifices that would lie ahead.

Phase three was the most troubling for everyone except him. For him, phase three was the glorious redemption that typically only exists in a bullied preteen's dreams. It began with an excruciating headache and a low-grade fever that kept him in bed for nearly three days. When it waned, the world was different. He's since been asked by numerous medical and mental health professionals to describe it, and the best analogy he has been able to come up with is hibernation. When he woke up on that third day, he felt as if he had woken up for the very first time.

Initially, the difference was subtle — something he could sense but not entirely identify. As the days passed, however, the subtlety faded, and the awareness that he possessed unnatural abilities became more and more apparent. For example, he could gain access to people's innermost thoughts, secrets, and fears by merely making eye contact with them or by being in close proximity to them. He wouldn't call it mind-reading per se, because the information was far too pointed to be ramblings of the mind. No whispers, no visions… just infinite knowledge that would appear in his mind as if it had always been there. He would just know.

Ten-year-old boys aren't the coyest creatures on the planet, and Jackson had been no exception.

Returning to school following his summer reprieve had been difficult. The only thing that got him through each day was the knowledge that Abe would be sitting at the bus stop waiting for him, so the timing of his mysterious illness couldn't have been better… or worse, depending upon your perspective.

His ability to obtain sensitive information was a game-changer. As it turned out, Jerry Marriott had an irrational fear of clowns, slept with a night light and stuffed elephant named 'Snuffy,' and hated the father who abandoned him and his mother to go live with his boyfriend in Nevada.

It was at this juncture that Jackson's name transitioned from being Alien Jack to Alien Jackass.

While his tactics didn't win him any humanitarian of the year awards, it leveled the playing field and facilitated camaraderie. Jackson wasn't Jerry's only target. Lewis Weedin and Jessy Scott were also victims of Jerry's unrelenting treachery. Lewis ate every booger he could find, and Jessy rarely bathed properly, but they were both kind, troubled souls whose home lives were miserable. They made an awkward trio and didn't have a tremendous amount in common aside from their mutual hatred for Jerry. But the knowledge that Jessy's stepfather molested him and that Lewis's mother was a worthless drunk made Jackson all that much more determined to make their time at school more tolerable — and he did.

Exploitation worked for awhile. Instead of calling him names, tripping him in the halls, and smashing his lunch, his peers gave him a wide berth.

What Jackson hadn't anticipated was Jerry's resolve. Revealing Jerry's deepest secrets had taken the terror level down a few notches and given Jackson some breathing room, but beneath Jerry's seemingly calm and avoidant exterior, he was seething and biding his time. Alien Jack was child's play. Teasing him about being an alien, from Jerry's perspective, had always been just that — teasing. All in good fun.

Jerry kept his distance for months, leading Jackson to believe that it was over. It wasn't until Jerry ended up on his bus buddied up with Ben and Zak that he knew something was amiss, and he wasn't wrong.

It started as soon as the bus pulled away.

Abe had been waiting for him in his usual place with his body wiggling from head to toe in anticipation as the bus stopped.

"Nice dog, jackass."

Having already weaponized all the intel he had gathered from Jerry's psyche, there was little left for him to say that hadn't already been broadcasted. Ben and Zak remained silent at Jerry's side but looked rather pleased with themselves for acquiring a new and powerful friend. Abe, oblivious to their tone and intentions, had approached him with his typical after school enthusiasm — wiggling, jumping, and nudging along his side to be petted.

Jackson considered telling Jerry to bug off but thought better of it since he was still a good ten minutes away from home and outnumbered three to one. So instead of commenting, he regarded the three of them as if they were cockroaches and turned to walk away.

Neither he nor Abe saw the rock coming.

The jagged, medium-sized rock struck Abe in his hindquarters, causing him to stumble and yelp. The hurt, confused, and terrified look in Abe's sweet, gentle eyes filled Jackson with a sense of rage that he had never experienced before. And turning to find their snide, taunting smiles and hands filled with rocks only served to intensify that rage.

As he watched them chuckle and tauntingly toss the rocks up into the air, an eerie calm settled over him. In that moment, Jackson felt a lot of things but fear was not one of them.

"Time to see how fast you and your friend can run, jackass," Jerry said, giving Ben and Zak a slight nod before arching to hurl the second rock.

Abe, at this point, was no longer oblivious to their intentions and had begun to growl, but it didn't matter. Before the rock could leave Jerry's hand, he hit the ground — hard.

Ben and Zak immediately dropped their rocks and ran away in terror, leaving Jerry to gasp, sputter, and writhe around in the gravel along the side of the road alone.

Without batting an eye or taking a step in his direction, Jackson had sent Jerry hurling backward with such force that it knocked the wind out of him and broke three of his ribs.

"No," Jackson told him as he moved to stand over him, "you are the one who is going to run."

And Jerry did.

The jagged rock left a gash on Abe's hindquarters right along his hip that required several stitches. But true to his nature, Abe remained standing, wagging his tail and licking Jackson in the face as he knelt down, removed a layer of clothing, and cleaned up the wound as best he could before walking them both home.

The events that followed the bus stop brawl changed all of their lives forever. Within a year, Abe was gone, and his parents were forced to sell their farm, farmhouse, and a good portion of their possessions to avoid bankruptcy.

As he watches the sunset over the top of the trees, Jackson knows he has to get moving. He's already stayed longer than he intended, but it's taken more time than he anticipated to gather the courage to visit the very spot he traveled all this way to see. Rising from his obscured position in the tall grass along the tree line, he makes his way deeper into the woods that line the south side of the property.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he approaches the clearing where he and his father had laid his one and only true friend to rest. Getting down on his hands and knees, Jackson brushes aside layers of leaves until he finds the flat stone that marks Abe's resting place.

Abe was a true light. The year he spent with Abe was the happiest time of his life. Abe's eyes had always been gentle, loving, and hungry for adventure. Even after all of this time, Jackson can still feel the coldness of his nose, the sloppiness of his kisses, and the sharpness of his toenails. It's been nearly six years, but the emptiness, sorrow, and furry that filled him following Abe's death has never truly waned.

He doesn't stop the tears that stream down his face as he traces the outline of Abe's name chiseled into the stone. His tears aren't for just Abe. He can feel his parents here too. Abe's death took something out of all of them. It was like being struck by lightning: nothing was the same afterward.

In the years that followed their move, he allowed vengeance to drive and shape him, destroying everyone and everything around him. Being powerful is cool, until the day that it isn't. Now, as he kneels in half-frozen leaves overlooking a grave, he realizes that the one ability he longs for the most is one that he doesn't possess. He can't turn back time. If he could, he would rewind to the day he lost Abe with the knowledge that he has today. If he could do that, he wouldn't be kneeling over Abe's grave in the forest. He would be sitting at the kitchen table inside their farmhouse ordering graduation invitations with Abe snoring at his feet.

At the times of their deaths, he wasn't who they deserved.

Now, all that is left of them in this world are their graves and the imprints they've left on him.

His parents had been sweet, gentle, and loving people, who despite everything, never once resented him. They gave him everything they had, and in return, all he had given them was trouble and heartache. And Abe… Abe was just Abe. Always loving. Always happy. Always looking to him to lead, because where Jackson was — was exactly where Abe wanted to be.

Wiping at his tears, he makes a promise to each of them, one he should have made years ago. From this day forward, he's going to be the one they deserved. They may be gone, but they will not be lost for their imprints will now fall on him.

Moving the leaves back to cover Abe's resting place, Jackson blankets his one and only true friend with as much warmth as the environment will allow, comforted by the fact that he will no longer be buried there alone.

Moonlight guides him alongside the highway. The night is silent except for the distinct jingle of tags and clicking of nails against the asphalt. Should somebody happen upon him tonight, they will find a quick friend in a lively chocolate lab with tan tipped paws, a green collar, soulful eyes, and a smile that begs for adventure. What they won't see is a troubled teenage boy or a monster.

Cloaked in a true spirit of light, William heads due south in search of the man who is referred to in his visions only as Praise.

AN: This is a chapter from a larger work you find here.

I'm not going to lie, this was an emotional chapter for me to write. In S11, we were introduced to a young man who was insanely powerful and a bit of an asshole. After 18 years of buildup, I expected more and was devastated that we didn't get it, which is why I made the decision to write a more William-centered story. His arc was important to me. There was a story there that wasn't told, and I'm determined to tell it. For those of you here strictly for the MSR, don't fret... without Mulder and Scully there are no X Files ;)

And, as always, a HUGE thank you to my betas @kikocrystalball, @admiralty-xfd, and @suilven19 for their edits and encouragement… because nobody gets there alone ;)

#the x files #william arc #x files season 12 #x files fanfic

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commentaryvorg · 4 years

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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 6.4

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time in chapter 6’s investigation, one of Shuichi’s flashbacks contained fake memories of real people and was therefore genuinely inspiring for once, Tsumugi rather tellingly pointed us to a ridiculous red herring about Kaede’s twin instead of anything actually helpful, Himiko was being just a little bit Kaito to compensate for how useless she feels in this investigation, and the hidden room contained a bunch of clues about the real mastermind’s identity and the truth of Kaede’s case.

Now, we’re headed to the Flashback Light classroom.

This very heavy rubble in the way which requires all 4 Friendship Power to move happens to be the shelves of music CDs and the entire piano from Kaede’s lab, which is through the wall to the left. It’s kind of neat how they thought about what rooms the rubble would have come from and made it match, even if this sadly means that Kaede’s lab is totally ruined now.

We can see the full moon outside the hole in the wall of this classroom. We could also see the full moon outside of Kaede’s lab during that scene where Shuichi was mourning her… and that was weeks ago, but only something like two weeks, not four. Yep, that’s a projection, isn’t it. (Or probably just a developer oversight. After all, you’d think Kaito or Gonta or anyone at all would have noticed, hey, the moon’s been full for over a week now, something’s up with that.)

The Flashback Light setup computer has all kinds of tantalising options available that it’d be fun to look through… but unfortunately Shuichi’s inner monologue funnels you into picking only the options you’re meant to pick, and you can’t see anything else. Boo, game designers, not writing optional text for this; it would have been interesting! Buuuut it would have been a lot of branches of text for something entirely optional, so fair enough.

- The survivors on a different planet

- Other survivors in the Ark

- There are no survivors

Note how there’s no option for them to remember that actually there were some survivors on Earth and it wasn’t quite as devastating as they’d been led to believe. So apparently the memory of the apocalypse really did involve them remembering that literally everyone on Earth must be dead, with such certainty that future memories weren’t allowed to contradict that. Meaning no possibility of an audience, not even a small one. Meaning that, once Kokichi saw the Flashback Light in the Virtual World containing the memory of this apocalypse, he had to have known Flashback Lights were fake, if he hadn’t already figured that out when he saw the outside world in the first place.

Shuichi: (And these categories… there are several inconsistencies about the survivors. Do I… have to select the correct one?)

Come on, Shuichi, you must know that doesn’t make any sense. You’re going to be quizzed about this thing you don’t remember, and you have to get it right before you’re allowed to remember it! That seems incredibly silly and unnecessary. The real implication of this should be immediately obvious.

Adjusting to match other memories.

Haha, yeah, that’s also not a thing that real memories should need to do. Though it’s neat that the computer has a built-in system to keep track of everything that’s already been decided as the “truth” for them and make everything else consistent with it. That could cause issues otherwise.

Shuichi: “… Is there more than one truth…?”

There is something beyond the “truth”, just like Kaito knew you could reach, Shuichi!

Himiko suddenly shows up, despite having been trapped behind rubble in the hidden room last time.

Himiko: “Be happier that I survived! I was able to make a spectacular escape from that sealed room!”

Yes, the Amazing Himiko’s Spectacular Sealed Room Escape Act, never performed before and improvised on the spot!

Himiko: “Nyeh? You don’t understand how I escaped from there?”

Shuichi: “…No?”

Himiko: “Hmhmhm, I see… you don’t get it… You don’t know how I escaped… Then I shall tell you! I escaped from that sealed room with my magic!”

I love how gleeful she is about having done something he can’t figure out even though it wasn’t a prepared and practiced magic trick. She’s finally got something that she can claim really was her using her magic, rather than having to constantly make excuses about why she can’t use it!

With a bit of prodding, Shuichi convinces her to actually tell him.

Himiko: “G-Got it. I’ll tell you… I definitely used my magic, but another thing that helped me escape that sealed room… was the girls bathroom on the 1st floor of the school building.”

It’s okay, Himiko, that still used your magic. Finding secret passageways is definitely something mages are good at (and obviously not because they use hidden passageways a lot in their acts), right? Like, with some kind of Detect Hidden Things spell? Totally.

Himiko: “Nyeeeh!? That’s a Flashback Light!”

Shuichi: “Y-Yes, but we shouldn’t use it…”

Heh. Shuichi has finally started to realise that maybe they shouldn’t really have been using any Flashback Lights at all this whole time.

Shuichi: “… This is an emergency. Nothing I can do about that. Ah, now’s not the time to be thinking about boys and girls bathrooms… Alright, I’ll do it.” (I repeated several excuses in my mind as I stepped into the girls bathroom.)

This kind of (perfectly understandable and gentlemanly) mindset is why Shuichi didn’t find this hidden passageway in chapter 1 and save everyone except possibly Rantaro. Kyoko had no such qualms, but she was a very different kind of detective than him.

Himiko: “Geez… Caught up on past killing games… That’s typical of a Remnant of Despair.”

It’s also even more typical of a Danganronpa fan.

Motherkuma: “I can’t birth Monokumas unless the designated person specifically says the word ‘birth’…”

One might wonder why Motherkuma was set up so that he even needed to be given an order from the mastermind to be able to make another Monokuma and couldn’t just make them on his own, but it does make sense if you think about it. Monokuma is a psychopathic AI programmed to cause suffering for entertainment – they’d want to have failsafes in place in case he decided to go rogue and carry out that purpose of his on some “real” people beyond what he was meant to do. So they limited the physical power he had, first by having the Exisals only able to be controlled by the relatively harmless Monokubs and not Monokuma himself, and then also by making it so that Motherkuma can only clone Monokumas when the mastermind deems it necessary and not just on his own whims. That way there’s no risk of a sudden Monokuma robot uprising because he’s decided it’ll make good entertainment.

Himiko: “Even I, the wise and powerful Himiko, panicked a little bit when I saw I was trapped in here.”

I really like this new Himiko who’s trying to put up a bit of a façade of false confidence, even if it’s obvious to everyone else that it’s a façade. It’s so Kaito of her!

And the more I think about it, the more I realise that Himiko never really did this kind of thing before this chapter. She was pushing herself to act positive, but not showing overblown confidence in her ability like this. Which makes it all the more likely that she is deliberately trying to imitate Kaito in his honour, and that’s adorable.

Himiko: “W-Well? Was I… useful?”

Of course you were, Himiko! This hidden passageway you just found is a vital clue!

But Shuichi just kind of brushes her off at first and doesn’t tell her that. This is unfortunately not the first time he’s been so in detective-tunnel-vision that he’s been unintentionally dismissive towards his friend who really wants to know that they’re being helpful to him.

Himiko: “…”

Shuichi: “Hm? Something wrong?”

Himiko: “J-Just tell it to me straight… like a man.”

Himiko’s even correctly invoking Kaito’s concept of manliness! Don’t beat around the bush, just be open and honest about how you feel about things! Even if the truth is that she wasn’t useful, Shuichi should just come out and say it instead of trying to hide it.

Himiko: “I-I want to be useful for my friends. But I can’t help much in investigations, can I? I couldn’t find the mastermind…”

She’s also doing a little bit better at actually applying that manliness herself than Kaito was when he was having similar issues, because Kaito never directly admitted to how badly he wanted to be useful and how useless he was feeling.

Shuichi: “Himiko, not only were you *useful*, you may have cracked the case wide open.”

Himiko: “Really!? If I found such an amazing clue, that’s proof I’m no ordinary person! Hiii hee hee hee! I’m terrified of my own magical power!”

This is so adorably like the kind of immediate bouncing back that Kaito would have done if Shuichi had ever told him something like this. All in a day’s work for the Luminary of the Stars! Himiko being like this too is lovely.

Kaito’s continued insistence on presenting himself like a hero when he no longer truly felt like one and when everyone else was sure he was still sick was essentially him showing them a fiction in the hopes of inspiring them and keeping their spirits up. Himiko’s constant commitment to her act even when she’s not on stage and even when everyone’s perfectly aware it’s not real magic really is a lot like Kaito in some ways. Her doing her best to fill Kaito’s shoes like this is going to be a great help for boosting Shuichi and Maki’s mood once the three of them are living outside and trying to cope with all this. And the fact that Himiko has her own issues that she’ll need help with too outside of this fiction she presents isn’t going to dampen that, despite what Kaito thought on that front. Kaito was afraid his fiction was only a lie, that everyone believed it was true and it’d stop working on them if they knew it wasn’t, but that was never the case.

While Shuichi and Maki’s talents are necessary for their arcs and for the overall plot, it might seem like an arbitrary choice for the third survivor to be a magician, and that Himiko’s talent really could have been anything else. But I think this was still probably chosen on purpose, because Himiko presents fictions that are meant to cheer people up and make them smile, and that’s wonderfully relevant to the overall theme.

Maki: “What… were you doing? Why were you in the girls bathroom?”

It’s pretty awkward writing that Maki has this immediate scandalised reaction to this. She’s supposed to have lost the instinctive sense for gendered bathroom taboos, based on the time she casually offered to check on Kaito in the bathroom without realising it’d be the boys’. Also, like, come on, Maki knows Shuichi, she’d know he’d never do that unless there was a reason that was actually important and relevant to the case. Danganronpa writing, please stop shoving this annoying talk of pervertnedness into everything, it’s chapter 6, now is especially not the time.

Anyway, Maki has the photo of Rantaro.

Shuichi: (With this… I can fight. I can fight the mastermind behind this killing game. …And I believe I can end it all.)

Look at Shuichi believing in himself! He’s got so much more genuine confidence now than he ever used to, without anyone else needing to encourage him to feel that way! Kaito would be so proud of him. And it’s thanks to Kaito that Shuichi’s come this far.

Shuichi: “Monokuma… you’re the one who calls these class trials… But not this time! This time, *we* choose to call a class trial! One to end them all!”

He’s become such a protagonist and such a hero! Look how far he’s come! Kaito would be so proud of him! Of course, Kaito already saw Shuichi as this much of a hero in the first place, but now Shuichi’s really started to realise and embody that image Kaito had of him, so that everyone can see him the way Kaito did!

Monokuma: “And I think it’s pretty interesting that you guys are on board with holding a class trial. In fact, I welcome your initiative! This turn of events will make things very interesting!”

Unfortunately… that’s still exactly what the gamemakers wanted Shuichi to do. This was the plan for him all along. (That’s even exactly why they killed Kaito.)

To keep the stakes high, Monokuma threatens to kill them all if they can’t expose the truth and provide an interesting class trial, and he asks if everyone else has as much resolve as Shuichi does.

Maki: “I’ll trust you. But if you screw this up…” [she smiles] “…I’ll kill you before Monokuma can.”

Shuichi: “…Y-Yeah, I believe you.”

I love how this would seem on the surface to be an “I’ll be mad at you if you mess this up”, when what it really is, since Maki specialises in quick and painless deaths, is her saying, “If we fail, I won’t let Monokuma make you suffer.” Shuichi is smiling, too, because he understands that. This is the second time Maki has offered to help her friends by killing them painlessly if it becomes necessary to do that, and it’s weirdly adorable?

Himiko: “I have friends I can trust! There’s nothing to be scared of!”

Oh, Himiko. Most of them, at least.

Shuichi: “Our hope is going to end this game of despair!”

Shuichi, no, you’re now sounding far too much like a perfect scripted Danganronpa protagonist and not enough like your own person doing this for your own reasons that have nothing to do with that bullshit Flashback Light that brainwashed you all.

Keebo: “Do you really think that ending awaits us? It sounds too good to be true, honestly.”

Yeah, because obviously there’s only two options here, the hope ending and the despair ending, right? That’s definitely how this works. Even without his inner voice right now, Keebo still instinctively thinks that.

Shuichi: “That ending *is* hope for us. …And we can’t give up on hope.”

Shuichi is basically just tautologically saying “the hope ending is hope”. Come on, Shuichi, shake off that brainwashing, dammit.

What’s really going to happen in the end, though, is just an ending, a permanent one, for the whole killing game. And that really is something that they would all genuinely want to hope for.

Tsumugi: “Keebo… let’s trust Shuichi here.”

Tsumugi also wants this class trial rather than Keebo’s continued rampage, because of course she does.

Shuichi: “Our final battle! Our hope will defeat your despair!”

Monokuma: “Puhuhu… puhuhuhu… Ah-hahahahaha!”

Shuichi: “Why are you laughing…?”

Because you’re giving the audience exactly what they want, Shuichi! This isn’t supposed to be about a battle between hope and despair like it’s just good versus evil, but the audience sure wants it to be!

Tsumugi: “I-It’ll be okay! He’s probably just bluffing!”

And Tsumugi does not want them to think too hard about why Monokuma’s so happy about all this.

Shuichi: (But it was still much easier than I imagined it would be. …No sense worrying about that now.)

No, this is definitely something you should be worrying about, Shuichi! If Monokuma wants something to happen, it’s not a good thing! Remember last trial where you forgot until it was too late that Monokuma is always the real enemy?

Tsumugi: “The four of us, and Keebo… By combining the marks of our friendship… we can overcome this class trial!”

These words from Tsumugi sound way more trite than anything anyone else has ever said about friendship in this game. How do you even “combine the marks” of friendship?

Finally we can walk freely without a stupid time limit. The courtyard has a few half-hearted piles of rubble here and there but is otherwise looking remarkably intact for having been the battleground of a huge robot war all night. Methinks the developers were being a bit lazy here. (But at least the training spot is okay and that is good.)

Maki: “Up until now, we had to find the culprits among the people in our group during the class trials. That’s why we couldn’t work together even if we wanted to. But… this time, it’s different.”

Tsumugi: “Ah, since there isn’t a culprit among us, we can work together without any doubts.”

Himiko: “We’re all going to be working together this time… I already feel more at ease!”

Shuichi: “…”

Shuichi already knows what’s up. He’s realised the that the clues indicate the mastermind is one of the five of them. He should be able to realise exactly who it is, too, but in the trial he doesn’t seem to have figured that out until shortly before he tells everyone. Maybe he does know, though, and just doesn’t want to admit it to himself because he still hates accusing his friends.

Keebo comes back with all his weapons removed and his antenna replaced, meaning his inner voice is back.

Keebo: “I acted recklessly and put you all in serious danger… I’m sorry! I’m very, very sorry!”

As he should be, really. He was willing to kill all his friends, and now he’s realised that maybe that wasn’t the best idea.

Keebo: “I was wrong to try to destroy everything just to avoid losing to despair… Even if I had followed throough, there would have been no hope or future left afterward. In which case, my actions would have merely resulted in a different despair altogether.”

Yeah, that’s exactly what he would have done, and at least he finally realises this. The narrative is not doing a great job of hinting that Keebo’s inner voice is effectively mind-controlling him, because he’s being more rational and making more sense now that he’s mind-controlled again than he did when he wasn’t.

Granted, as it turns out, searching for the truth and holding this class trial is exactly the kind of thing the audience wants, and maybe it would have been better for everyone to just be randomly killed by Keebo’s rampage and give the audience a boring ending that might end Danganronpa for good. But since Keebo doesn’t know anything about the audience or what they want, then as far as he knew while he was doing it, his rampage was completely illogical and wouldn’t have achieved anything worthwhile.

Keebo: “But… will you allow me to fight alongside you!? I want to help you find the truth! Please!”

Shuichi: “Of course, Keebo. That’s what I’ve wanted from the start.”

Maki: “If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to do all this.”

Sure would have been nice if Keebo had realised that he could use his weapons to help them find the truth earlier. You know, like in chapter 4 when four more people were alive and could have also potentially been saved.

Tsumugi: “…”

Keebo: “Oh… You seem angry, Tsumugi. Would you prefer I not help…?”

Tsumugi: “I’m not mad… I’m just holding myself back.”

Tsumugi goes on to explain that she’s just “holding herself back” from making what sounds like some kind of reference to something that would ruin the mood. This moment would otherwise maybe seem like a hint that she’s the mastermind and is angry at what Keebo just did, but then that bit just makes it awkward because apparently she isn’t actually angry at all? Unless she made that excuse to try and cover up her genuine anger, but you’d think her acting skills would have prevented her from even showing it in the first place.

There’s also the fact that, although she definitely was mad at Keebo going off-script, she’d have been most angry about that while it was happening, and would just be relieved now that he’s got his inner voice back and is acting like he’s supposed to again.

Maki is still carrying the Bugvac, so Keebo offers to look at it with the zoom function he’s installed on himself. This is something that Kokichi also could have asked Keebo to do while he was alive. It’s possible, as I mentioned before, that Kokichi didn’t realise the Bugvac was finished until after trial 4, at which point it’d be basically impossible for him to ask Keebo for help… but it’s also entirely possible that it just didn’t even occur to Kokichi that Keebo could help here, because lol he’s just a thing he’s not a person it’s not like he could ever help with anything at all.

Keebo: “Because I’m a robot, I can evolve in ways that are simply not possible for a human. I’ve… finally accepted that. There are notable differences between us, but they’re nothing to be ashamed of. Because… with my talent, it’s possible that I can save you all.”

This is the most half-assed attempt at making it seem like Keebo has actually had a character arc here. There was no kind of build-up to this at all. The change that made him decide to put on all his weapons was his inner voice being gone and had nothing to do with character growth, so now that his inner voice is back, he should be back to how he was before, which was apparently not wanting anything sci-fi at all.

…I say apparently, because whenever Keebo did happen to make use of his other functions like his recording function and his flashlight, he was always quite proud of himself and happy to be making himself useful in ways nobody else could. And yet he also kept saying that he didn’t want to be sci-fi and adamantly refused to install far more useful functions until now, which seems rather contradictory. I suppose you could handwave that the previous functions are too basic for him to consider them “sci-fi” and be averse to them? But even then, his speech right here implies that it’s less about what counts as “sci-fi” and more simply being able to do things that set him apart from humans that (supposedly) made him uncomfortable.

The writers, and I mean the out-universe ones here, really just did the absolute laziest job at what should be a vital piece of character work to justify why this killing game didn’t end in chapter 4 like it really should have. At least they did a pretty good job of justifying all of Kokichi’s terrible decisions that were vital to the plot having them be fairly plausibly linked to all of his issues, but man, they barely even tried with Keebo.

Clearly the Nanokumas need to be bear-shaped and just holding tiny little cameras, right. It couldn’t possibly be more efficient to just have their entire bodies be cameras with wings.

They talk about how these tiny cameras prove that Kokichi was right to use the Electrobomb in his plan.

Tsumugi: “Umm… the more I learn, the more I wish that Kokichi had just worked with us normally.”

Yup. That sure would have been fucking helpful of him, wouldn’t it!? And that’s definitely not exactly why you wrote him to be the kind of person who’d never be that helpful and would never want to trust or work together with anyone, not at all.

Tsumugi: “Gonta discovered it, Kokichi made a design, Miu built the device… It was because of all of them that Keebo was able to find the final clue. It’s almost like… everyone is cheering us on.”

Yeah, because Kokichi and Miu totally cared about helping us with this Bugvac, that’s definitely why they, you know, let us know they’d made it and didn’t just leave it for Maki to discover by chance through a lot of tedious effort, right.

Maki: “Relax. If we end up failing, and it comes time for me to kill you… I’ll make sure to end your life swiftly, so you won’t have to suffer.”

Shuichi: “…Th-Thank you?”

Aww! Though I’m sure Shuichi already knew that that was what she meant when she “threatened” to kill him earlier and she didn’t actually need to clarify. I also love Shuichi’s awkward thanks – he does appreciate the gesture, but this is an odd thing to be thanking anyone for.

Shuichi: (There’s no point in worrying anymore. Right now… we only need to think about getting out of here alive.)

Ahahaha. They’re still blissfully oblivious as to what the attempted end goal of this trial is going to end up being.

Shuichi: (I’m sure… this is the end of despair. And the beginning of hope.)

noooo Shuichi stop it

Shuichi: (The killing game of Hope’s Peak Academy… The killing game of Jabberwock Island… And the killing game of this Ultimate Academy. How much more until they’re satisfied?)

Yeah, definitely just these three, right? They definitely haven’t had way more than that and still aren’t at all satisfied.

Shuichi: (This is the end of it. I’m… tired of this. We’re going to end it. We’re going to end this cruel game.)

This is very, very true, though, more than he realises right now.

I once saw an LPer observe that this final trialground looks kind of like the set for a game show? Which is quite appropriate, really.

Monokuma: “Puhuhu, it’s not up to you or me to decide whether or not this is the end.”

Oh boy, it sure isn’t. But we’ll get to that problem (and I mean that as an out-universe problem and not just an in-universe one) in several more posts’ time.

Monokuma casually threatens to murder his cubs if they don’t help him out during the trial. (Yeah, they’re still here, in case you forgot. I’ve been sparing you from them.)

Shuichi: “…You really are the worst.”

Monokuma: “I’m the best at being the worst, don’tcha think so? Puhuhu… I tell ya, people can’t get enough of my crude antics!”

Yep, Monokuma knows exactly what he’s here for – to play the villain and make himself hateable in an entertaining way (not that anyone should hate him for wanting to kill the Monokubs, but, you know). This is yet another thing he and Kokichi had in common.

…And the part where Monokuma was furious at Kaito for dying his own way? He was probably kind of okay with that having happened, too, beneath it all. He’s the villain, after all. He knows that he’s really here to make you root for the good guys to beat him and feel triumphant when they do.

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[Next post]

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #chapter 6 #deadly life #commentary

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duhhthor · 6 years

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Unprofessional Crush | Pt.1

Tom Holland x fem!celebrity!reader

Word Count: 1.9K

Pairings: Tom Holland x reader ; PLATONIC!Harry Styles x reader

Warnings: cursing and an adorably nervous Tom.

Summary: Tom’s in the middle of an interview, when you’re brought up and he accidentally admits his huge crush on you.

| Part 2 |

Tom’s P.O.V.

“Tom Holland and Harry Styles everyone!” James Corden exclaims, causing the audience to scream and clap once hearing our names. He gestures for the pair of us to take a seat on the couch. “As always great to have you back Harry! It’s been a while!”

“Yeah, it’s been like two months? Thank you for having me once again! I feel like the audience already expects me.” He chuckles.

“It’s great to finally have you here!” James motions me, I nod with a smile.

“It’s great to be here! Thank you for having me!” I respond while taking the seat closest to James. Harry quickly following and sitting besides me.

“So, for those of you that haven’t heard, the new Avengers movie comes out next week and is expected to break a bunch of records! Tom what can you tell us about the movie?”

“Nothing?” I say with a sheepish smile, squirming on my seat.

“As expected! You seem nervous all of a sudden, does this have to do with your reputation of not being able to keep secrets?!” He teases me with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

“Maybe?” I wince, the audience chuckling at my guilty expression. “I mean since I was a kid I was a Marvel fan so I get really excited to be able to be a part of these movies! It’s literally a dream come true!”

“Ah! My best friend is obsessed with those movies! She makes us have Marvel marathons all the time! She’s made me quite obsessed actually! Oh! And Congrats on ‘Spider-man: Homecoming’ she dragged me to the cinema on the launch date, I ended up loving it!” Harry excitedly intervens.

“Thank you! That means a lot actually!” I say with a smile. “Anyways, Marvel hates any kind of spoilers! I’m under very strict instructions of speaking the least possible. It’s just that I get so excited about the movie, I always end up getting carried away! That’s why Benedict Cumberbatch’s always with me, he stops me from speaking too much!”

“You must be really nervous then, since he couldn’t make it!”

“I’d say I’m not the only one that’s worried, I feel like everyone at Marvel and my publicist must be even more than me!”

“So what can you tell us about the movie?” He questions with a smile.

“I play Spider-man! And you should all go watch Avengers: Infinity War on April 27th! I really hope you enjoy it!” I exclaim while opening my arms to the audience with a smile on my face.

“Well done, well done! No spoilers came out!”

“Yeah, I feel like my publicist just released a breath she was holding.” I instantly relax once I realize he’s turned to the singer next to me.

“Harry! You mentioned your best friend earlier, and since I wasn’t the one who dragged you to the cinema, I’m guessing you must be talking about the other best friend.” James jokes while rolling his eyes. “No but seriously, I feel like your relationship with her is adored by literally everyone! I mean, you guys have the cutest friendship ever! It only beats ours by a bit!” James extends his thumb and index finger to show how much it beats their friendship.

Harry and I chuckle at that. Although I’m trying to search my brain for this famous friendship of his that they’re talking about.

“Yeah, she’s like this annoying little kid that I have to look after!”

“So, you’re on your break from the ‘Live on Tour’ tour and (Y/N) posted this video on her Instagram where she’s literally sobbing because she found out you were leaving for tour again this weekend.” My eyes widen at the name. While, Harry nods with an amused smile on his face, as if he were remembering the moment.

“She’s killing me for this.” He mutters, while chuckling softly. “When I moved in with (Y/N) she warned me about how she gets on her periods, I told her not to worry because I grew up with Gemma and knew how it was.” He paused and sighed. “Well, I was wrong.” That causes everyone to chuckle.

“I wasn’t prepared for this, no one is, I swear I’ve never seen someone get so affected by their period before. Okay, so basically there are three moods she can be in. She can be extremely clingy and the cutest human ever! You’re always hoping for this (Y/N). Then there’s this terrifying version of her where she’s always in the worst mood and irritates herself if you so much as breathe loudly. You never want to wake up in the same house as this version of her. Trust me.” He emphasises. “And finally, the (Y/N) you saw in the video, anything can make her super emotional or stressed out and cry. Like, I’ve caught her crying because she wasn’t born in the 50’s or-” He pauses and shakes his head.

“Okay, imagine this. I’m in the middle of this important meeting for the tour and she calls me, but I decline. Because, obviously I’m in the middle of the meeting. The problem is she won’t stop, so I get super nervous and excuse myself from the room. Once I answer she’s sobbing which only makes me more worried, I try to understand what she’s saying but there’s no way I can. I’m about to tell my manager that I have to leave for an emergency when she goes ‘Oh Harry I just found it nevermind!” He imitates her voice, which causes everyone to chuckle at his impersonation. “And I’m like ‘What’s going on (Y/N)?’ ‘I couldn’t find the remote for the TV, but I just did!” He faces the audience with an incredulous look.

James has his mouth open, he starts laughing. “I-That’s amazing!”

Harry chuckles. “Yeah, amazing when you’re not the one terrified of which (Y/N) you’ll be facing in the morning.” He grumbles. “I still love her though, this actually makes me love her even more because it’s so hilarious to talk about afterwards.”

“Anyways, she was obviously on her period. She was sad that I was ‘abandoning’ her and that she would have to stay on her own at our house again, she’s always a huge drama queen, it only gets worse this time around. But she’s such a hypocrite! She’s never home either! She’s always got photoshoots and fashion shows around the world!” He rolls his eyes jokingly.

Suddenly he turns to the audience. “Oh! For those of you that have no idea of who we’re talking about, (Y/N) (Y/LN) is my best friend we met each other when I sang at the Victoria Secret Fashion Show!” My eyes widen with realization and before I can even process what’s leaving my mouth.

“Holy Shit! I’ve got this massive crush on her!” I instantly slap a hand on my mouth. “I can’t believe I just said that, on TV and in front of her best friend.”

That makes the entire audience roar with laughter and screams.

“Nothing to worry about, I think I have yet to meet someone that doesn’t have a crush on her.” Harry says in between his laughter, patting my back.

“This just got so much better! So, Tom just for the record, (Y/N)’s your celebrity crush right?” James questions with a huge smile on his face. Of course he’s loving this, it’ll probably go viral. Me on the other hand, I feel like my cheeks are as red as my Spider-Man suit.

“Yes, she is. Oh god. Why can’t I keep my mouth shut?” I bury my face in my hands.

“She’ll actually love this! I told you she loves Marvel movies!” Harry reminds me trying to make this better.

Holy shit, (Y/N) (Y/LN)’s is obsessed with Marvel! Can this girl be anymore perfect?

“Wait, James would you mind if I called her?” Harry muses besides me. The audience goes crazy with this.

I shoot up from the position I was in. “No! No! No! That’s the worst idea ever!” They’d tease me to no end and I’d probably be a stuttering mess.

James starts laughing and quickly exclaims. “Please! Please do! Harry that’s the best idea you’ve ever had! Why didn’t I invite her on the show?! This would’ve been amazing!”

Harry grabs his phone and starts facetiming her. I groan at the sight.

“Thank god you didn’t! I’d be a mess and make a bigger fool of myself!” I laugh. “I’d be so nervous if she were actually here.”

James gets up from his place and sits next to Harry. Waiting for the Victoria Secret Angel to pick up. She ends up declining. But, Harry quickly calls her again.

“Come on! Pick up! Pick up! Pick up! Pick up!” Him and James whine when she continues hanging up.

Suddenly his phone dings lots of times. James starts cracking up.

“Guys! (Y/N) just texted Harry ‘Stop calling me!’ And ‘I don’t speak to people that abandon their best friends.’ And finally ‘Unless it has something to do with junk food or us having another movie marathon?” James makes air quotes when he reads her texts.

Everyone chuckles, Harry quickly sends her a text while reading it outloud. “Trust me, you’ll want to answer. It has to do with that spider-kid you like.” He turns to me. “I know it’s Spider-Man it just always gets on her nerves when I say that.” I chuckle at that.

His phone starts ringing. The audience goes crazy. James claps excitedly. And I just wish the ground could swallow me up. “Let me answer! Please! Please!” Harry chuckles and hands him the phone. The host turns to everyone and motions for them to quiet down. He finally accepts the call, when a camera man came behind us so he could record Harry’s screen.

“You ass, how many times do I have to tell you it’s- James!” (Y/N) squeals once she realizes who’s on the other end. My hands already start to get clammy, several situations where I make a fool out of myself go through my head.

“Hey there angel girl!” James responds with a smile.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen you! You traitor, always calling my stupid best friend to your show! You should know you’re making the wrong decision, I’m the one that would make your shows more unpredictable and amusing!” She exclaims.

“Oh, trust me I know! It’s as if you were here today!”

“Oh no. What did he do? Why are you calling me!? Nope, not liking this!” She whines, in this adorable voice that makes me like her even more.

“I told you guys she was a drama queen!” Harry whisper shouts to the audience.

“And for the record (Y/N) I’m not stupid and you love me. But, we’ve got a surprise for you!” Harry pops his head next to James so (Y/N) can see him. He takes his phone from James.

“Look who’s here with us!” He puts the camera in between me and him. Thank god he didn’t hand me his phone, I’d probably drop it. I smile and wave, as I’m about to say something, she beats me to it.

She gasps and slaps a hand to her mouth.

“Peter! I mean Spi-Tom!” She practically yells. I laugh at her excitement finding it adorable.

Her mood changes completely and she looks like she’s about to cry, that disappears just as quickly. And she ends the call.

“What just happened?” James questions.

His phone dings.

“Harry you ass! I look like a mess! But, holy shit I can’t believe I just talked to Tom Holland. WTFFF” Harry reads out loud trying to hold in laughter. (He reads it spelling it which makes it more hilarious).

It dings again.

“I hate myself. I was such a dork in front of him. Ughhh”

I chuckle at that, still in shock that I kind of talked to my celebrity crush today. I never thought that would happen.

It goes off once more.

“For the record I’m still mad that you’re abandoning me!” Harry reads, which makes everyone including me to laugh.

A/N

I haven’t edited this so I’m so sorry if it has a couple of mistakes! Don’t love this, but I hope you do! Please give me feedback I love it!!

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edwinfaulding7-blog · 5 years

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Totally different Sorts Of Music Genres For Children

The previous few years have been something of a golden age for music documentaries, with the Oscar-successful success of Looking for Sugar Man and 20 Feet From Stardom opening up the sector http://www.audio-transcoder.com/ for jerrodgreenwald.mobie.in films about much less apparent stars. No other word has appeared on extra t-shirts followed by the word sucks" than disco. While the opposite genres on our record had a period of peak reputation followed by a steep or regular decline, disco is the one style to have had a literal loss of life date". On July twelfth 1979, marthawright.hexat.com Disco Demolition Night was held at Comiskey Park in Chicago. A crowd of 50,000 confirmed up to present their deep hatred for the style. The occasion culminated in a riot as fans rushed the sphere after the ceremonial exploding of a box of disco vinyl. It has been called the night that disco died", and certain enough, it marked the beginning of a rapid decline in recognition of the style. That was until Daft Punk made it cool again with the discharge of their 2013 album Random Entry Recollections. My favorite style in music would have to be Tejano. I like Tejano as a result of when I hear it, I all the time really feel like I'm listening to the stories of an actual arduous working Mexican-American. My step father introduced Tejano Music into my life and for that I thank him, because Tejano isn't just Spanish music. Similar to everybody else who listens to their "music" Tejano is a lifestyle. To many it is just a bunch of Mexicans singing about ineffective things, however to me Tejano is the guts and soul of the Valley. Positive we hear about many new artists that come and attempt to deliver their hip-hop and rap music, when their music is the kind that has no that means to it. I am not one to speak and disrespect their onerous work, as a result of I take heed to some of it also. However I do not forget my heritage and where I come from. It's possible you'll suppose that I'm only a child that does not know what I am saying, but I do. If I'm born Tejano, and I am raised Tejano. Then consider me Tejano. The scent of incense drifted throughout the dark, cavernous house. By a forest of bodies, it was potential to catch glimpses of a dancer onstage, contorting her physique to the dense, rhythmic music thundering from the audio system. The mix was potent. Experiencing electronic music this unusual being interpreted as dance gave the performance an uncommon vitality. The artists on stage that October evening have been the US electronic producer Jlin and the Indian dancer Avril Stormy Unger, who took a prime slot on the Saturday night time at this 12 months's Unsound competition. Their set was emblematic of a lot of 2017's greatest stay artists, whose emphasis on performance mesmerised audiences. The history of Widespread Music hardly qualifies as an actual science. It's a retrospective analysis of events that focuses on the underlying forces or widespread symptoms in the overwhelming manufacturing of music records, ignoring nuances and side-results to understand a understandable construction. It is because (fashionable) music is far from a static phenomenon: it's a continually evolving, transforming, big organism. Nearly by no means has a music style all of the sudden emerged as a shocking revolution without any hint or evolution up to now. All of them have naturally evolved, mutated, merged, or turn out to be (theoretically) extinct. Solely the previous may be examined of this pure, natural network.

In 2017, extra DJs took advantage of the only element that makes their artwork kind truly unique: they can play anything. Nina Kraviz, despite the absurd controversy it once brought on her, continued colouring exterior the strains, be it with 150 BPM techno or straight up drum & bass, on the primary stage at EXIT Competition or in room one at Unsound's Hotel Forum. Avalon Emerson, armed with wildly eclectic music on impeccably organized USB sticks, drifted seamlessly from straight 4-four into hip-hop and R&B. On the ultimate morning of Sustain-Launch, PLO Man appeared intent on encompassing as much as possible of the entire panorama of digital music in a single set, with separate chapters dedicated to jungle, garage, deep house, dub techno and ambient.

Unsigned Solely is a competition exclusively for newbie musicians, who've an opportunity at getting publicity and recognition from trade professionals. The purpose of this contest is to seek out an excellent performer, band, singer, or solo artist who has yet to signal a report deal. The foundations of this competition are additionally very useful to the beginner musician; for one, anybody can enter, and they can submit as many songs or pieces of music as they like. Secondly, Unsigned Solely offers a wide range of different genres during which musicians can enter their music. Plus, there aren't any restrictions regarding into what number of genres you can enter a track.

The problem with the concept of "genres" is that it caught the public's creativeness. The public, along with the music critics in the press, seemed to enjoy the idea of "I am a country music fan" or "I am an R&B fan" and defining themselves thusly. I keep in mind within the Nineteen Seventies when nation music followers would put on T-shirts that said, "If it ain't nation, you can kiss my ass", that means that they would solely hearken to music which the radio stations and document labels, and by extension the advertisers, defined as "country". For a lot of a long time, people turned accustomed to solely being prepared to take heed to music which was marketed within the specific "genre" that the followers had recognized because the one they preferred.Of the 4 Roles, Sentinels only got here first of their appreciation of two genres: nation (forty three%) and spiritual music (forty%). The sturdy sense of group that characterizes Sentinel character varieties - whose work ethic and desire for order stems from their perception that life is essentially about sustaining the social fabric for the nice of all - could clarify their affinity for these two types, both of which often comprise messages in reward of service, whether or not to a higher power or to 1's fellow human being. The ambivalence that Sentinels tend to have for standard entertainment - a lot of which strikes them as a waste of precious time - may additionally explain why music should embrace a minimum of a bit of didacticism to carry their attention for long.Via my travels I had all the time questioned if the world audience was in harmony with the music trade on the subject of music-style. The answer is indisputable no. Most people in the world like one genre more than others and that genre is - maintain on; it's nation music. In almost every country I have been to on the earth, country music usually wins. And it would not actually matter what kind of country music we are talking about; American nation music, Canadian country music, Australian or Swiss nation music. Folks want good tales, substance and creditable lyrics with nice artists to carry out.MARTIN: For those who're just becoming a member of us, we're speaking with musician and composer Jae Sinnett about the future of jazz. What does that say? How do you - how do you interpret what which means? Does it mean that it is a good news, unhealthy information story? That people who perceive and recognize music are nonetheless searching for it out, or is it that there is simply got to be this ongoing fight to take care of house for jazz amid all of the commercial pressures? They've always been there.

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sparda3g · 6 years

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One Piece Chapter 921 Review

One Piece is back. After the revelation of the Samurai from 20 years ago, it’s finally time to reclaim the rightful glory to Wano Country. If only the two-week break in real life applied to the series as well. You can feel the hype and it’s only going to rise higher. This chapter was more of a follow-up discussion with elaborated pre-planning details with new outfits for the crew and a dreary reminder of who will they be dealing with in two weeks.

It does make sense to continue on with the discussion since the last chapter was more about the backstory of the 5 Samurai from 20 years ago. Therefore, this one is about the preparation prior to the decisive battle. I still believe Luffy’s fleet will get involved and 2 weeks is plenty of time to call them over. That all said this chapter is text heavy from the start, though it is interestingly necessary to be aware of its world. It’s also humorous, so it’s good enough to keep my attention.

As said before, the decisive battle will take place at the Demon Island, Onigashima, where Kaidou and his Beasts Pirates’ HQ are located. Here is where the battle plan is explained. Kin’emon already has a ship to sail there and they don’t really have to ride a full-sale ship since they are so close by. The setting will take place during the Fire Festival, a grand festival that is celebrated annually. It sounds like a recipe for a major background stage for an epic battle.

Kaido is considered to be a Wise King. Yeah, a wise king who tried to kill himself dozens of time already. Sure, okay. Orochi and his followers continue to show their despicable nature by acting like they cherish the theme of the festival and pay their respects, but in reality, they’re just party animals. Well, if you include the Beasts Pirates, then jokes on me. Basically, they want to use the opportunity of when they’re drunk and out cold to reach for the Commander’s head. Not a bad idea.

There’s another revelation to be said. Apparently, Kin’emon is married already, well before a time warp. Here I thought Kiku was hitting on him. Then again, maybe she doesn’t have any shame when approaching to a married man. Speaking of married man, judging by Kiku’s words, Tsuru is his wife; the same woman who looks nearly identical to the traditional art style. He has yet to meet her, so there’s one reunion to expect. I like Sanji’s reaction towards him and his sudden popularity with women. He’s not wrong for some reason about a married man attracts women more than ever…

Going back to the serious discussion, Kin’emon has a symbol or symbols that marks the Will of Rebellion. It looks like a mask design. It’s kind of neat to learn each of the symbol’s representation. The crescent moon is the giveaway for who is behind the message, which is honorable. The cards need to be spread to issue an alliance from various places. This idea could play out similar to Vivi and Strawhats with their X mark on their arm, only this is about the mark of a new beginning. I like this concept. Funny how they said Zoro hasn’t been useful. Well, he did save Kin’emon’s wife (assumingly), so there’s that.

Franky works as an apprentice of the man who built Kaidou’s residence. That way, he can obtain the blueprints of that building. That’s a good idea and the most suited person to do the job. As for Robin, she’s masquerading as a Geisha to make Orochi grant her to his sitting room. That’s one risky task, but it’s Robin, so she’s used to it. Sanji would have love to see her as a Geisha. Who wouldn’t? I got to say, I’m impressed with Kin’emon with his crafty planning. I guess I was used to him being comical, so this is a good change of pace. He even has an idea for others based on their characteristics.

After the crew feeling the hype to change appearances and become part of the country’s culture, it is time for Clothes-Clothes no Jutsu. Is that seriously a jutsu? Because I want to learn it. Now, everyone dress their part. Brook has me laughing with his outfit as a ghost who still has battle scars or in this case, arrows sticking out. Chopper is an adorable ninja. Curious how well he will do with skills. Carrot is like a villager who is still doing chores. Sanji is normal, but the difference is he is mesmerized by Nami’s outfit. She dressed as a Kunoichi, but more revealing than necessary. I know they have a technique to seduce, but Kin’emon, ease your urge. Even Nami thought this is too much.

What got me laughing a lot is the proof of Kunoichi’s outfit to be what she’s wearing. Throughout the chapter, every time you see Sanji on panel, his reaction is towards the ladies more so than himself. Even when he was told that he’s going to suit up, all he thought was Nami as a hot ninja. It’s time for the real Kunoichi to appear and he was super hyped. Shinobu arrives at Kin’emon’s command and well, she is a Kunoichi but old as one can be. Not only this proved Nami’s thought is right, but Sanji is dying from disappointment. Take notes, Kaido. In Kin’emon’s defense, there are two types of Kunoichi. I think…

In One Piece, you can’t get enough of new characters, so here comes another one. Shinobu is a veteran and apparently, she has mastered the Art of Bewitchment. Sanji is slowly recovering, but the damage is severe. If Nami didn’t appear sexy earlier, he probably would have died. Death by disappointment; now that’s new. Hilarious how she believed her attractiveness is a threat to men. Sure, let’s go with that.

Right before the scene shifts elsewhere, Kin’emon was about to explain The Three Samurai they must recruit. Their names are Kawamatsu, Denjiro, and Ashura Douji. They are a must if they want increase manpower significantly in their squad. It stops there, which implies that perhaps next chapter, we will learn more about them and probably their backstory. Kin’emon sure has a lot of knowledge to tell, so be aware of more introductions.

Just when you think you are done with Okobore Town, we return there and this time, trouble is happening. Scums are roaming around and stealing everyone’s food. I thought it would be Beasts Pirates, reclaiming “their” stuff, but they’re bunch of thieves instead. The one in charge is a fat Samurai, Shutenmaru. I was wondering what the chapter’s title referring to, but can he be any larger. It doesn’t help with his nasty attitude towards the country, despite being a Samurai himself. I wonder what the deal with his introduction at this time. Connection to The Three Samurai maybe? One thing is certain is the demonstration of his skills.

Jack returns from slumber and gets ready to fight Shutenmaru. I thought it was time for Jack to get hype boost as Shuntenmaru gets annihilated. Instead, that large Samurai comes off as a shock and cut Jack with a quick slash. Only One Piece could this pull off. So yeah, I was surprised he’s that good. Hell, he matched up well with Jack. Hard to say who would have won, because it was interrupted by the highlight of the chapter.

The moment the sky was swirling, I knew it had to be Kaido. Hell, I thought he was trying to fall down and see if he can die this time. That said I got chills from the sequence of the devil’s arrival. Ironic since he arrived from above. Everyone stopped fighting and Jack even feels intimidated. After Strawhats and others felt anticipated for the day to reclaim the country, they have a grim reminder on who they’re dealing with. Actually, this is their first time to see Kaido. He emerge from Heaven (Hell), but not as himself, but as a damn dragon.

It was bad enough with him being a giant and considered as the world strongest man. Now he can turn into a dragon. So what does this all mean with Momo? His design isn’t like the innocent or cutesy one like Momo; his is like a lost brother of Shenron from Dragon Ball, back when he was intimidated. Not to mention, he’s seriously huge as hell. Every time I see him, I go back and say, “The series is concluding earlier than I thought.” If Big Mom really allied with him, game over?

This was an intriguing chapter to boot after a break. It may not be the chapter fans have been craving for, well, depending if you’re all about action, but with its elaborated details of the plan and amusing moments such as Sanji’s near death experience from heartbreak, it doesn’t come off as bore. The art is pretty good as well, especially Kaido’s design as dragon. It also leaves expectations for future events, including The Three Samurai. Kaido continue to be the most fearsome foe. If this arc supposedly makes Marineford War Arc look childish in compare, then a god-like enemy is a good start. Where do we go from here is anyone’s guess.

#one piece #chapter 921 #review #spoilers

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exxar1 · 3 years

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Episode 4: Waking Up

11/14/2020

Good morning, folks. As I write this, I’m sitting in my living room, listening to an Apple music channel of classic Christmas carols, while late morning sunshine streams through my front window. I have just finished putting laundry in the dryer and washing the few dishes in the sink that piled up during the week. My McDonald’s iced coffee is almost gone, and I’m feeling ready to face the day.

I have a couple hours before I have to start getting ready for work, so there’s not a lot of time to hammer out this blog entry. I don’t have a lot to say for this episode, but I have been feeling somewhat strange for the last couple weeks. Not ‘strange’ in the physical sense, but ‘strange’ as in ‘there’s something happening with me that I can’t quite explain’.

And now I’m going to try to explain what I’m talking about.

Per my usual work routine, I spend 5 ½ hours every morning, Monday through Friday, in the lobby of Walmart, greeting customers and making sure everyone is wearing their face mask. And, as usual, I have nothing but my own thoughts and the occasional conversation with co-workers to keep me company. But mostly just my own thoughts. And boy, my brain lately will just not shut down – or even go into standby mode. It seems that all I can do lately is just think, think, think. Here’s a sample of what tumbles through my head from morning until night every day:

· Is the ballot recounts for the national election close to being done? Will Trump retain his presidency (I hope), or will America finally get its first female president? (Yes, you read that correctly.)

· Spencer Klavan of the “Young Heretics” podcast so damn good looking, and the fact that he’s also a “Super Mario Bros” fan in addition to being ivy league educated and possessing near-savant level human intelligence has forced me to finally admit that I have had a massive crush on him for almost four months now. (I just wish he wasn’t such an avid gym rat. That’s such a turnoff. Well, that, and the fact he already has a boyfriend.)

· I need to start working on the story ideas that came to me a few weeks ago. There’s two really good ones that I know would make excellent short stories, or, at the very least, novellas. One’s about a superhero called The Red Mask, and the other is about cats and dogs that are created with a sophisticated AI that allows them to look, feel and behave exactly like real animals but without all the maintenance and mess that pet owners have to put up with (such as feeding them, combing them, bathing them, walking them, training them, cleaning up their poop, etc.).

· Oh! A circuit court judge in Georgia just ordered a bunch of ballots to be thrown out in that state’s recount!

· Spencer Klavan liked one of my tweets about Young Heretics!!!!

· Should I have McDonald’s for lunch or the apple I brought with me? The apple. Definitely the apple. Need to stay healthy.

· I can’t believe all the idiots on social media that not only voted for Biden/Harris but actually think that he will make a good president. What the hell is wrong with them???? Anyone with half a brain can easily recognize what Trump has done for this country, and it scares the shit out of me that the radical left (capital ‘R’, capital ‘L’) just might get their foot in the door of the White House. What the fuck is wrong with half of America right now??? It’s all that “white fragility”, “systemic racism”, “white privilege”, “black lives matter” bullshit!!! How the fuck did that horseshit gain such powerful traction in this country????Robin Deanglo and Ibram X Kendi and all their pathetic followers are so full of shit they ought to open their own manure factory!!!!

· Yay! The 2021 “Super Mario Bros” and “Star Trek” wall calendars I ordered on Amazon have shipped! They’ll be here Tuesday!

· And that reminds me, I need to start working on the photo calendars that I give to my family every year for Christmas. Maybe I should do that this Saturday morning before my shift at Check City.

· Oh. Time for my break. Yay! Coffee!

And…repeat. That. All of that. Over and over all day long – creative story thoughts, political thoughts, work thoughts, checking my phone three times an hour to review the latest posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay on top of all the latest news and current events that serve to fuel my new woke self. Texting friends and family about this and that. On and on and on...

Hhmmm. My new woke self.

The other day, as this new thought occurred to me, I mentally reviewed everything that’s happened to me this year, everything that I wrote about in that first blog episode. I also thought about my recent self-examination of my whole life up to this point, the stuff I covered in episodes 2 and 3 of this blog. Then I thought back over the last two weeks: the sudden and unexpected passing of Aaron; his memorial service that I made an emergency trip home to Idaho to attend; and, finally, this new, strange…’wokeness’, for lack of a better term, that I now find myself in.

I honestly don’t know how to precisely describe it. I’ve been trying all this week to come up with apt, specific words and/or phrases, and then, finally, I thought of something. I’m a huge fan of the reboot of “Battlestar: Galactica” that was done by Ronald D Moore on the SyFy channel in 2004. It’s been a few years since I last binged all 4 seasons of that terrific show, but I was thinking about it the other day as my mind wandered, and it suddenly occurred to me what this new ‘woke’ state that I’m in feels like: the Cylon sleeper agents (who looked and acted like real humans) that were suddenly awakened to their true nature.

Yeah, I’m not kidding. Yes, I know how that sounds, but let me explain. I really feel like that, somewhere deep in the core of my brain, a metaphorical ‘switch’ was flipped from ‘off’ to ‘on’ along about late August or early September of this year. The world around me did not change, but my perception of it – as well as my perception of my place in it – did fundamentally change. I realized this week that for pretty much all my life I’ve been coasting through it. Everything that I’ve done and accomplished took no real effort or sacrifice on my part. Everything after high school pretty much just happened naturally. I decided to join the Army on a whim. When that didn’t work out, I came back home and enrolled in college. I spent 4 ½ years doing what I loved – reading, writing, discussing reading and writing – and I came out with a Bachelor’s in English. Again, no real effort. I coasted through on my natural talents. The only real work was in the core classes that I needed for my degree, like math or biology. But those were few. And then, after college, instead of putting my degree to use, I just settled for a day job in retail and then, later, in an elementary school. And then, in 2012, on a whim, I quit my job and moved to Las Vegas. Once again, I found a cushy day job where I make really good money, and…then 2020 happened.

In other words, I’ve never been an active participant in my own life. I just kinda let everything happen and went with the flow. I even had this same attitude in high school and it drove my parents and teachers absolutely mad. I didn’t care about being valedictorian or captain of the sports teams or even being the best damn piano player this side of the Rockies. All that mattered was hanging out with my friends and making sure the VCR was set each week to record the newest episodes of “Star Trek: DS9” and “Star Trek: Voyager”. And, without consciously realizing it, that’s been my attitude for my whole damn life. I’ve never cared about the world beyond my own front door. If it didn’t affect my life directly, I never paid it any attention. That’s especially true for politics. No matter who sat in the White House, my life never changed. So I figured, why bother? I’m perfectly content to live a quiet, solitary existence, and the rest of the world can do its own thing.

Except that now I’m no longer content with my quiet, solitary existence. Something within me fundamentally changed this year, and there’s no going back.

I am awake. (But, unlike the Cylons, I’m not about to start murdering humans.) I’m certain that it was God’s hand that reached down to flip that invisible switch in my brain, but now that I have rejected my former sleeper state, I don’t know exactly what to do. For the last couple weeks, I have felt nervous; anxious; excited; jittery; like a live wire that’s been cut and is now flopping on the ground, shooting sparks and energy. I have to constantly resist the urge to grab total strangers off the street and shout at them to “Wake up!” The world around us is changing, and we can’t live as sleeper agents in our own lives. Everything that’s happened in 2020 is going to shape the future of this country and the lives of everyone in it, and no one can afford to not care and just keep living their quiet, solitary lives.

This is why I scream on social media about the stupid mask mandates, and the ‘lamestream’ media, and politics, and everything else that I’ve been ranting and raving about for nine months. And yes, I’m sure some of my friends think I’ve gone crazy, and more than a few have probably unfollowed me. I don’t mean to alienate folks, but I have to put this energy somewhere or I’ll go crazy.

One of biggest changes that I have noted is that I no longer have a desire to park in front of the TV in my time off. I still have a few regular shows that I watch each week, but my passion has turned to reading and podcasts. I renewed my Audible.com membership a few months ago, and I have started stockpiling audiobooks on various subjects: biographies of the Founding Fathers of America, non-fiction books on artificial intelligence and other new forms of technology, books on world history, western literature and Greek philosophy. (I recently began listening to a series of lectures from Boston University on Plato’s “Republic”). And, of course, the highlight of my week is a new episode of “Young Heretics” every Tuesday. (And no, it’s not just because of my crush on Spencer Klavan.) I also have started carving out an hour here and there each day to grab my laptop and write a few paragraphs of new stories or just jot notes for upcoming stories.

I really, honestly feel as if something is coming. I don’t know what, I don’t know when, but God woke me up for a reason. He’s got something planned for me, and I need to be ready for it. I’m pretty certain the world is not coming to an end anytime soon, and I’m sure 2021 will be a better year for our nation than 2020, no matter who’s sitting in the White House. And yes, Lord willing, this stupid “pandemic” will also be over sometime soon. For me, personally, 2020 was the year that changed me and got me ready for whatever is coming. A fire’s been lit under my ass, but I’m not sure where yet where I’m supposed to be jumping up and running to.

I am sure, however, that It’s time to be an active participant in my own life.

Hey mom and dad, I really do care now, and I really, truly want to do my best. I want only top grades and to be the captain of…something. It only took twenty-six? Twenty-seven years? But now I’m going to be that grade-A student that you and Mrs. Tutty and Mrs. Jones and Mr. Walker always knew I could be.

Better late than never, eh?

#life #Christian #gay #politics #truth #woke

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dsmroleplay · 4 years

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#PaintTheWallsRed #DSM #SPN #RP #ChapterFive

Written by: @LegacyHunterDW & @JulianRyker Warning: Rate R Violence, Sex, Mature Themes. Fiction

Julian: -Julian wanted to smack the hell out of Dean but he couldn't for obvious reasons. He just shook his head, he couldn't say anything to many people around. Coming to a stop behind his "savior" and waits for the clerk to acknowledge their presence. It was like the world lit up for the portly woman who was probably in her seventies. Eyes glued to Dean, Julian just watched holding back his smile. He'd seen the magic effects the Winchester had on women more than a few times.- ::::::::::::::::: Dean: Dean smirks seeing the look on Julian's face turning his attention back to the Clerk's desk. When the lady calls them forward Dean leads Julian to the desk. Keeping his hand around his upper arm Dean smiles charmingly at the elderly lady behind the desk. Laying his forearm across the counter he leans forward just enough to see her smile brighten even more "You look like you are having a rough day. I do believe you should go home and soak in a hot bath with a nice glass of wine and leave all this stress here." He flashes that charming smile again and nods down to the file that has 'Julian Ryker' on it after seeing the grumpy detective tosses it in front of her and walks away "Detective Grumpy Pants must've signed off on my prisoners transfer. :::::::::::::: Julian: -He hoped Dean went easy on the lady, she'd probably have a heartache if he got any sweeter with her. He shifted from one foot to the other, his body ached. He wanted to soak in hot water and drink a fifth of whiskey right about now.- :::::::::: Dean: Dean can relate to what Julian is going thru. He spent months locked in a tiny room with no communication from the outside world, his brother, not even a TV. He had a cot, a sink, and a toilet with 3 meals put thru a slit in the locked door. No shower, no booze, no nothing until he made a deal with a reaper and literally had to die before he was able to escape the nightmare. He even said that it was worse than when he was in hell The clerk handed him the proper papers and a big brown envelope that contained Julian's property. Dean gave her that charming smile and a quick wink before standing back up fully. He pulls as gently as possible on Julian's while still making it look good "Don't forget, hot bath and glass of wine." Turning his attention back to Julian "Come on, let's go. ::::::::::::::: Julian: -Julian was pretty sure the woman had a small orgasm just picturing Dean and that glass of wine but he kept that to himself and followed him down the hallway and outside. He squinted his eyes it was bright out here and he'd been in a dark room a couple days now. Following Dean out to the car he smiled.- Still, got her huh? I have to respect your loyalty on keeping her and in top shape no less. :::::::::::::: Dean: As soon as they get out to his baby Dean open's the passenger door and puts his hand on top of Julian's head to lower him inside taking a quick look around. Not seeing anyone watching them or even giving two shits what they were doing he closes the door and walks around getting into the drivers seat. He looks over at Julian and grins patting her dash "Hey, she's my girl. We've been thru a lot together. Gotta say, she's the only one who's never let me down and loves me for me." He starts her up grinning hearing her engine purr. Dean has never been lucky when it comes to relationships. Even his own brother has skipped out on him once or twice but this car, she's always been here waiting on him "As soon as we get outta this lot i'll pull over and take those restraints off. I seen a Taco joint down the street. We can stop there and pick up some grub or i can drop you off at the motel and you can shower while i make a supply run. I just got into town, stopped changed and came straight to you but i have some beer in the cooler i can take in. ::::::::::::::::: Julian: -Julian was breathing fresh air and it felt damn good. His big hands rested in his lap the cuff's on him. He looked over at Dean and for the first time saw him in a different light. Who else would have showed up without being called? Put their neck on the line for a guy they barely knew. This guy was a really awesome guy, Julian would return the kindness one day he promised himself that.- Dean I'm okay man, I'm not a fan of being restrained by strangers anyway. -Tries to make a joke and lighten the mood.- I'd say let's go back to my place but I'm not sure if there will be reporters... although there wasn't anyone around just now in front of the precinct... I mean if you don't want to crash in a hotel. Least I can do is put you up? Besides you said I stink I doubt your clothes would fit me since I'm four inches taller than you and shopping for new clothes would probably bring out the press quicker than us going to my place? We could pick your stuff up then go to the penthouse? :::::::::::::::::: Dean: Dean clicks the radio on but keeps it on low looking in his review mirror. Once he sees they're not being followed Dean pulls off to the side of the road and shuts her engine off. Leaning over he pulls out the handcuff key and pulls Julian's arm up until he's able to reach the small hole. He unlocks both of his wrists and takes the cuffs. Holding them up he smirks with a nod "These might come in handy later." Opening Julian's left hand he sits the key in his palm and sits back upright turning the key in the ignition again. Putting her into drive he checks the mirror and pulls back out onto the road with a chuckle using an english accent "We could go to the penthouse..." He glances over at Julian with a grin licking his lips then quickly snorts "Wait, did you just call me short?" Rolling his eyes he shakes his head to that idea after giving it a quick thought "I don't think that's the best plan to hang low. Is there anyplace else you have access to that the cops won't think to look at? A friend you can stay with maybe? I'm used to staying in lousy motels, it's part of my everyday life. :::::::::::::: Julian: I wasn’t calling you short, just stating a fact I got a few inches on you. I wouldn’t want anyone involved... I’m good with the hotel and believe me the navy didn’t give us much to sleep on. My first year back I felt like the bed was melting because it was so soft. So your brothers hunting alone just like you? Dangerous isn’t it? :::::::::::: Dean: Dean stops at a light and quickly puts the shifter up into drive. Reaching into the backseat he opens the cooler and grabs out an ice cold can of beer. Closing the lid he turns back around and holds the cold beer out for Julian giving him a quick wink The light turns green and Dean pulls off again "I know Bobby used to have a bunch of cabins scattered throughout the west coast. How close are we to a place called Big Bear? It won't be much but it'll have running water, a stove, fridge and a generator if that sounds better than a motel? :::::::::::::::: Julian: It’s about two hours away. -Taking the beer he relaxed a little.- I’ve got a beach house in La Jolla, it isn’t my name it’s under my companies name I lend it out to my guys during the summer for their families... :::::::::::: Dean: Dean raises both his brows and glances over at Julian. He can't imagine what the man has been thru. It's one thing knowing the supernatural exists but a whole other thing when you have something happen to you and the men he lost weren't just employee's of his, they were his friends and if anyone knows what it's like to lose them, it's Dean "Then we go to your beach house. As far a me and Sam goes, him and Cass are out on a case together. I sprained my ankle pretty bad on the same hunt that got my faced bruised up and had to stay off it for a few days but even so, Sam has kinda been doing his own thing these days. As far as it being dangerous the answer to that is it's not actually safe but knowing Sam is doing less and less of it since meeting that chick it's worth the risk. I'm gonna clean up that bite when we stop to pick up my stuff. Those hellhounds aren't known for their gentleness so that arm of yours must be hurting like a mother fucker. I have all the supplies in the first aid kit in the trunk. ::::::::::::: Julian: -Julian downed his drink as he listened to Dean. He felt protective all of a sudden. He wouldn’t leave his guys for a piece of ass no matter how awesome. But he didn’t comment.- Dean, you got me out of there if you need to get out of here and go take it easy you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll figure shit out somehow I’m stubborn like that. :::::::::: Dean: Dean turns into the motel where he was staying and into a parking spot killing the engine. He turns to look at Julian shaking his head "That's not gonna happen so don't say it again. I drove a 24 hour trip in 17 hours to help you and that's what i'm going to do, caphice? Now, let's get you inside and get your arm taken care of. Sam usually keeps a duffel in the trunk for emergencies so you can jump in the shower and throw on something of his. He's like 6'4" so his jeans and a shirt should fit ya then we'll head to your beach house.

#DSM SPN RP

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thotyssey · 4 years

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It makes sense that there’s a “Job” in her name, cuz this queen is Working! Currently a digital darling, reality TV starlet and video vixen, the Minneapolis-born burlesque clown gogo queen Glow Job can’t wait to get back to a real life stage… but until then, let’s get on point with this rising drag star.

Thotyssey: Yo, Glow! How is quarantine treating you on this beautiful day?

Glow Job: Hi! It really is a nice day out. At least we got that going for us! But, you know… Quarantine Life. Just when you think you’ve got some rhythm, things change up. I’ve somehow got a lot on my plate, all of a sudden!

Yes, I noticed! How are you liking the strange new world of digital drag?

At first I was really reluctant–mostly because I didn’t want to come across as sad or desperate, even though in the beginning I was. But after realizing there was a way to get in this space beyond just doing a number in my living room–and started thinking outside the box–I started getting into it. That’s not shade. I just saw everyone flood the market, and it was overwhelming. I definitely wasn’t “crushing quarantine” the way I saw others do, and wasn’t feeling inspired either. But the Met Gala got the juices flowing again, and then I just started to create. I did the online challenges, and had some real fun.

And now with Black Live Matter taking the forefront, I really have the time and energy to put my drag to good use and be a part of that movement, too. So, being a part of that and making my drag mean something more: from raising money in Zoom parties, to taking some leadership with online communities, to being out on the protest lines, to producing my own parties. Again, I feel like I have a place in this new world.

[Photo: SidewalkKilla]

Indeed you do! I’ve also been enjoying a lot of the pre-recorded pieces many of the queens have been putting out there, including your clip for the Grace Jones showcase you were part of, where you performed “I’ve Seen That Face Before.” It was really polished, stylized and fun. But it must have been a huge effort putting that together, and shooting with limited access to resources in quarantine.

Well, my style is basically “I have an idea, and I’m gonna wait until the very last minute to do it all.” Seems to work for me! So for that number I figured out the storyline, sort of made a quick shotlist, got into drag and filmed and edited it all in one day, all by myself. I almost forgot I have a background in video editing, and I never had really used it in my drag before. So it was fun to incorporate that skill. But yeah, tripods and ring lights are my new best friends. Also, I already happened to have an accordion from the time five years ago when I thought I’d try to learn that! I have a lot of random stuff in my apartment that sees the light of day eventually.

youtube

Werq, Prop Queen! Actually between that clip and your role in Bright Light Light Bright’s music video for “This Was My House,” you are a veritable video vixen of the modern era.

That shoot was super fun! I love Rod and Bright Light Bright Lights music! I’ve been a fan for a while, and was kind of in awe and starstruck when he started DJing my Retro Factory parties. So I was honored to be in his music video, but also because it is exactly the message I want to spread with my drag. And it’s catchy as hell! We shot that all in one day, and just every hour went to a different location. It was a little party. It’s a little surreal to see it now, ’cause it was shot right before lockdown.

It’s a great video! And I see that you appeared in the third episode of a Bravo reality show, Camp Getaway! I’m not familiar with that yet; what’s it about, and how did you get involved?

It’s a show that basically follows a group of camp counselors–or social coordinators–at this camp in Kent, Connecticut which gets turned into an adult campground each weekend. I’m friends with Glen North, who is one of the featured counselors. He is the only queer cast member, and actually was integral in getting me and another drag queen, Sol, there for their LGBTQ weekend.

That particular weekend was especially cool, and for me personally it came right on the heels of me ending my marriage. You don’t get to see much of my story (and there were so many stories shared from other people that day too, like one guest who decided to live her life as a trans woman thereafter), but it was cool to be in the show and get featured regardless. There was even a contest with Carson Kressley judging… and I won’t give any spoilers, but let’s just say he gave me a real boost of confidence in the choices I was making in life.

youtube

I see that you’re a Minneapolis native, and and I’m guessing that growing up queer and Asian in that predominantly white, hetero-normative city was tough on you.

More than ever right now, I’m seeing how desperate I was trying to fit into a white supremacist normative that I was never going to fit into. All my friends were white. I’m actually half-white, but definitely look Asian. There was no way around that, no matter how much Abercrombie cologne I’d spray on. I think I suppressed so much of who I am, including being gay, that I didn’t truly explore those parts of myself. It wasn’t “tough” because I ignored it, and laughed off any micro-racism or homophobia I felt or saw.

So I overcompensated. I got everyone to like me; I became all the things in high school. But it wasn’t until I was in New York for college that I came out. And it was here, after college, that I started hanging with non-white people. It wasn’t until the last few years that I started exploring drag and gender expression. And it wasn’t really until this past month that I started breaking down how much I was subscribing to a system that wasn’t designed for a small, Asian, non-binary queerdo–and how I was then contributing to that culture. So fucked up. And it’s been tough hearing how silent it is now from my MN peers.

It must be very surreal and upsetting for you to see how things have unfolded in Minneapolis.

Seeing how people are reacting is making it super clear that it isn’t a surprise that that stuff is happening there. So many people just live, acting like it isn’t their problem. It’s super upsetting. I have a couple friends who have really stood up as allies though, and I know a couple are looking to me for guidance and support. So I try to offer that now, at the least.

[Photo: Fwee Carter]

[Photo: Bronson Farr]

[Photos: Fwee Carter and Bronson Farr]

You said you didn’t create Glow Job until recently… what were the exact circumstances of how she got born?

The first time I took my drag to the streets was the Women’s March in DC. It was incredibly powerful showing up in the biggest, loudest, queerest way I could imagine. Then the first time “Glow Job” was fully realized was when I did my first show put on at Bar 9 for an amateur showcase, featuring drag queens and comedians from the NYC gay dodgeball league Big Apple Dodgeball. There were, like, seven of us that wanted to do drag, and Jose Paz / Miss Ogeny just decided to create her own show from scratch. Since then that group has expanded, and I had been going back every so often to perform.

But truly, my drag came from the realization that drag can be whatever I want it to be, and it combines many of the things I am already good at! And now it incorporates my love of circus, gogo-ing, pole dance, painting, photography, video editing, costume design, set design, etc. I have a background in ceramics, so that’s gotta be incorporated next somehow too!

I’m actually just super excited about my drag right now, and where it’s going, and how it’s finding new life (especially when I thought Glow had died this March once Covid hit), so I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m bragging! I just love it so much!

[Photos: Fwee Carter]

Brag away, it’s well-deserved! How did you come up with that four-“pronged,” butterfly-shaped signature lip that you often have? It’s striking! The only other queen I’ve seen sport something like that is Sandy Devastation.

Love Sandy! Madame Viv once told me I looked like her… just less devastating, lol! I dunno, I just didn’t like how painting my regular lips looked. And I wasn’t looking pretty like I had hoped when I started, so I definitely veered into a more clown aesthetic. I was sort of doing clown work, so it came from that… and it just stuck. It was one of the first decisions I made [for Glow’s look], and the only real original signature aspect I kept. I love them, too; they go well with the name.

You’ve done Viv’s “Hot Mess” drag competition at House of Yes a bunch of times. Do you consider yourself a Brooklyn girl?

House Of Yes is a bit of a home base for me. I had been working the line entertaining people as they waited to get in, and also gave the consent speech for them in my own way. I also did set design, and ushered for them, too. My style, I suppose, is more Brooklyn Drag? Or maybe it’s Sunnyside, Queens drag!

But I’m kind of all over, and doing my own thing. I’m the resident burlesque drag queen with Siren Pack; we performed at Madame X in the Village. I hosted [the party] Ultramaroon at Blue Midtown. And I recently got in Susanne Bartsch’s crew!

[Photo: Chris Sorensen]

Your last digital show with the POC Drag Art Collective (headed by Thee Suburbia) was that Grace Jones tribute, but now when you all return to our screens for a new show on Wednesday, June 24th (on Zoom, with proceeds going towards the Black Trans Protesters Emergency Fund) it’ll be the Solange songbook that gets the star treatment! What an interesting choice! Do you have an idea what you’ll be doing for that?

I have an idea… but knowing me, it could end up being anything. It’s gonna be meaningful, though! Know that!

Then on Thursday the 25th, you’ll be livestreaming all the body-ody as a digital gogo boy for Michael Block and Haireola Grande’s Zoom party, Elation!

Yasss! Love that! It’ll be super fun, turning a look and giving some energy and moves. Being a professional hype-person is my most natural state. And it’s for a good cause. So yes, very happy to be in this show.

As far as the Bartschland crew goes, you were just part of her BLM fundraiser that earned a whopping $32,000 in donations. And now comes “Pride On Top of the World” on Sunday the 28th, once more care of Zoom! Several Drag Race faves will be in virtual attendance including Latrice Royale, Laganja Estranja, Scarlet Envy and Aquaria. And of course, the large cast of beautiful Bartschies!

I’m so excited! I’ve been going to Susanne Bartsch parties forever, and always just showed up in typical club kid fashion. She’s nightlife royalty. I can’t wait to be in this one, too! I gotta figure out my look; I feel like nothing is too big with On Top!

Anything else coming up for you?

I’ll be out protesting again on Juneteenth, but on the 20th after more protesting some of us are gonna put up an outdoor show in front of the Barclays at 7pm. And then I’ll be on the front lines again in drag the following weekend with the Bushwig crew, starting at 5:30 in Maria Hernandez Park.

Fight the good fight! So, to end on a light note: whose team are you on for All-Stars 5?

Shea Couleé is perfection! But Jujubee cracks my shit up!

Thank you, Glow!

[Photo: Kenny Rodriguez]

Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Glow Job’s upcoming appearances, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

On Point Archives

On Point With: Glow Job It makes sense that there's a "Job" in her name, cuz this queen is Working! Currently a digital darling, reality TV starlet and video vixen, the Minneapolis-born burlesque clown gogo queen Glow Job can't wait to get back to a real life stage...

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jadehqknb · 7 years

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Okay. I'm going to do it. Let's have Tendo being the new boyfriend of the reader, and while they're on a date, they meet by accident with Ryota, her ex boyfriend. Like, Tendo goes for 5 mins, and when he returns he's already talking with his gf and Tendo knows perfectly who he is. Give me some jealous Tendo pleeeease hahaha

So this came out a bit more…angsty and while there isjealousy it blends more to insecurity which I guess is something that breedsjealousy. Either way, I hope you like it and thanks for adhering to my callout! 😊

“Thanks for coming with me Satori-kun! It’s always so muchmore fun having someone to go to games with,” you say taking his hand andsqueezing. The red head returns your smile though his is a bit more strained.He knows you’re a friendly person, good with people and generally the completeopposite of himself, but he wonders not for the first time why on earth you’recoming to your ex-boyfriend’sbasketball game? As far as dates go, this one must be on the bottom of his listof favorites. Scratch that, it’s not even going on the list! He knows heshouldn’t care, that he can trust you, but when he’d heard where you were goingand who you were going to see, he couldn’t stop himself from saying he wouldtake you.

The gym is full, basketball fans as far as the eye can see,pumped and ready for the Winter Cup to begin. Tendo has never had any interestin the game. A bunch of tall, sweaty guys running back and forth lazilyshooting a ball into a basket? Boring!

“Just you wait and see,” you’d commented when he’d said asmuch to you in the train on your way to the arena, “These teams are anythingbut boring.”

As you take your seats, rather close to the court he noticesand figures someone must havearranged for you to have such a good vantage point on, of course, Kaijo High’sside, Tendo realizes he forgot to take you to the snack stand. Looking at thetime, he figures he can make it there and back before tipoff. Not that hereally cares but he is trying to for your sake; it’s not your fault he’sbitter, that’s his own issue to deal with.

“I’ll be right back,” he says standing, “gonna go get ussome snacks. Gotta make this trip worthwhile somehow and greasy, sugary arenafood is the way to do it.” He smirks down at you, ruffling your hair and kissingyour pout before leaving.

It takes him a bit longer than he anticipated and he missesseeing the teams’ entrances catching them on the TV screens scatteredthroughout the hallways. What he doesn’tmiss is the roar of the crowd, particularly the squealing screams of the girlsas Kise Ryota, the literal golden boy of Kaijo’s team, makes his way onto thecourt. Nearing the front of the line, he’s assessing the menu choices when aquestion of, “I wonder who that girl is that Kise is so interested in?” catcheshis attention.

Looking back at the screens, his pulse pounds in his ears ashe watches the blonde lean into your space, his face exceptionally to close toyours and your smile a bit too bright for his liking. Gritting his teeth andforgetting all about his reason for being where he is, he rushes out of line.

Coming down the stairs, he can see Kise still talking toyou, mouth opening in a laugh, his eyes squinting in mirth at whatever yousaid. Tendo clenches his fists unable to stop another type of monster of the green-eyedvariety from emerging. Just who does this guy think he is, touching you likethat! Wait, touching?!

Sure enough, Kise’s hand is on your shoulder, his thumbtracing back and forth and Tendo can feel his eyes narrowing, a deep inhale ofirritation filling his lungs. Doesn’t he know you have a boyfriend?!

The sudden realization of the possibility that you’ve saidnothing about him quakes Tendo to his soul. Mind racing to worst case scenarioshe feels faint, sitting down heavily on the ground and leaning against thewall. Maybe he’s just a fool. Maybe you don’t really like him that much andhe’s just a rebound to get over Kise. Who was it that broke the relationshipoff again? In his flustered brain, he can’t remember at the moment. You? Him?Mutual breakup? Does it even really matter?

And what is he,the “guess monster” compared to golden boy? Tendo doesn’t even play the sportthat made him infamous anymore and here you are, placed right back in front ofsomeone with fierce ambition and natural talent. A good-looking guy (hey, hecan admit it), taller than him (by only an inch but still) and so freaking sureof himself. Not to mention his career as a model (really, what do you see in Tendo?), he’s probably filthy rich too.

The sound of the buzzer snaps him out of his haze, promptinghim to stand back up; the game has started. He looks back to your location,eyes becoming sad when he realizes you’re completely absorbed in the game, noteven turning around to look for him; do you even notice he’s still gone?

Heaving a sigh, Tendo makes his way back down to your seats.When he sits down, you flash a quick glance at him. “There you are! Did you getlost or something?” you say teasingly elbowing his side.

Normally, he’d just grin or quip something back at you butnow he can’t help thinking you that you think he’s stupid. But you’re alreadylooking back at the court, not even noticing his face falling at your light-heartedjab.

“Go Kise-kun, whoohoo!” you shout, fist up in the air. Theblonde smiles at you, sending a wink your direction and making the girls behindyou swoon. Again, Tendo can’t stop himself comparing you with him and you withKise; did you cheer this loudly for him as hisgames?

“Aren’t they amazing?” you ask looking up at his face andfinally you see, something’s not right. “Satori-kun? Are you feeling ok? Youlook a bit…green.”

Closing his eyes, Tendo takes in a deep breath. He can’t doit. He can’t sit here and watch and hear you have such a good time cheeringfor, encouraging and fawning over your ex-boyfriend; he just…can’t…do it.

Standing up again, he says briskly, “I’m gonna go, I wasright, this is boring me to tears.” His eyes are a little watery and you standup as well, grasping his wrist.

“Hey, wait a second, why- “

He wrenches his hand away, startling you as he snaps, “Justlet me go, huh? Have fun watching your golden boy!”

Completely caught off guard by his anger, you hastilyfollow, apologizing to people as you trip over their legs in your haste tocatch up with your clearly upset boyfriend.

“Satori-kun, wait!” you call, rushing up and standing infront of him, hands pushing against his chest to get him to stop moving. “Whaton earth is the matter?!?”

You’re unprepared for the vitriolic tone of his voice whenhe answers, “You! You’re what’s the matter! This whole, “date”, is what’s thematter! How can you not know?!”

“Wait? You’re jealous of Kise-kun?” you ask bewildered. “Whyon earth would you be?”

“Oh, don’t give me that! The flirting, the cheering, how canyou stand there and pretend it doesn’t mean anything?!” he shouts.

“Because it doesn’t!” you yell right back. “Flirting? Ifyou’d take two second to really look you’d see that he was flirting with mebecause that is what Kise-kun is! A flirt! That’s part of why I broke up withhim!”

Tendo blinks, dropping his arms and you take the opening,stepping into his space and placing your hands on his cheeks, looking deep inhis eyes. “That’s one of the things I love most about you, Satori-kun,” you say more softly, “you treat me like I’m themost important person on earth. Kise…Kise just didn’t know how to turn off. He was always making a scenewherever we went because of fan girls, never thinking about how his behaviorwas affecting me.”

Tendo feels his heart burning, ashamed he’d accused you ofwhat he did when you were the one who’d been treated unfairly by the blonde.“Then…then why are you still friends with him?” he asks, finally reaching foryou, hands rested on your waist.

You sigh. “Because we’ve been friends since middle school.We have a lot of history and even though he hurt me by his behavior I knew hewasn’t being malicious, he’s just a dumb blonde sometimes.” Tendo snorts andyou grin up at him before going on, “But we had a pretty good friendship and Iguess I wasn’t willing to just throw that away because we’d made the poordecision to date.”

Drawing you into his arms, Tendo rests his chin against yourhead. Very softly you hear him say, “I’m sorry, _____-chan, I just…gosh it hurtto watch that.”

He feels you nod against his chest. Pulling back, you angleyour head up, getting on tiptoes to kiss him gently. “I’m sorry I hurt you,”you say.

He shakes his head. “Not your fault, it’s all my own stuff.”Taking a deep breath, he says, “So, want me to finally get you those snacks andwe can go finish the game?”

You shake your head with a soft smile. “No, they’ll be playing again anothertime, let’s just go.” Taking his hand in yours, the two of you make your way out of the arena.

#tendo #kise #haikyuu #knb #vball-baes-bball-baes #admin jade #500 follower celebration #haikyuulovercompany

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wired-novel-blog · 7 years

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Chapter one

It had all started out pretty simply. A dead pet, needing a replacement to fill the void of loneliness. So...how was she here?

”Simple. You're here because you need someone to fill that void in your life Mittens left.” Minnie practically beamed.

"You're awfully cheerful, considering we buried my cat this morning. In the rain.” That was me. Minnie's best friend. Only I knew her real name, but she got nicknamed Minnie after it came out she could do a flawless impression of the overly pink clad mouse.

“Mittens was so old even the neighborhood dogs left her alone. She's in a better place, where all cats who scratch people just trying to help them go.” Minnie was overly pink clad herself as well, usually. Today she wore a sleeveless white button up tucked into one of her favorite skirts, a color change knee length that looked like it was made of a flowing metal.

“Min you ever worry that that skirt of yours would turn blue when you fart?” I was trying, my head still hurt from all the crying I'd done at the cat funeral.

Minnie only rolled her eyes and chose not to comment. But if she didn't know I wasn't in the mood to argue, she would have mentioned something along the lines of a lady never farts.

“So explain to me again what your issue with this store is? And why its such a big issue that we're standing outside despite the very threatening rain clouds?”

In terms of the company, this store was small. Just a little shop that sold the old and used, the damaged, the discounted. Androids.

“I think its just another kind of slavery. But this time instead of dark skin light skin, its real skin synthetic skin. It just feels wrong.”

Minnie scoffed, the sound somehow ladylike coming from her. As though it were directed at a cookie that didn't go with the tea she selected, rather than my beliefs.

“You don't feel the same guilt when you open Sirius to ask a question and then shove her back into your pocket.”

“Sirius is a program on my phone that literally everyone has to ask questions. This is different. These things...they have bodies, minds, personalities. It feels wrong to just go and buy one. On top of that, you're asking me to spend the savings I put aside for a car.”

“Lil You're sort of buying a person. I mean not to make the moral aspect worse, but you're paying for a living being that will love you unconditionally. And when you're old and gray, you can turn it it, and get whatever its worth to leave to your kids, or say your best friend.”

“Says the best friend who already has two parents working for the company selling these things.”

â€œThey want me to get a job this summer, I'll be cut off at the end of the school year. Lets go inside, at least look at a few. Who knows, you might meet a cute boy and take him home.â€

â€œYou'd better be referring to one of these over-sized barbie dolls.â€

â€œOf course, of course. Come on, its getting windy.â€ Minnie's expression was one of pure innocence. How did she manage to do that?

The inside of the store was warm in contrast to the brewing storm outside. The smell of coffee from a machine in the back meant to make the business more inviting hit me as soon as we got in the door. It took me back, to old bookstores with free coffee, a live band playing on a stage made by the store owner. People sitting around enjoying the atmosphere, the small town feel that made me feel cozy and familiar anywhere in town.

I was instantly brought back when the door opened again, a couple attempting to get past me bringing in the smell of big business. The reek of smog, which seemed to be everywhere in Angel city. Of course the residents were used to it, always smelling it, taking the smell home with them on their clothes. No one was bothered by the constant presence of asphalt and smoke, they thrived in it like fish in the ocean. I missed the ocean. The pleasant little town on the coast, one I would miss for the rest of my life.

“Lily, you're blocking the entrance.”

“Right. Sorry.” I half slid on the floor trying to get out of the way. The manager shot me a look, mud smeared across the floor where I'd nearly done the splits. That was how Angel city worked. It didn't matter if you fell, only how much of a mess someone else had to clean up from you getting hurt. If not for Minnie I'd never make it here. Before we met I was a mess of walking into bike lanes, thinking people with Bluetooth were talking to me, and even once walking into a club ironically named The Library and finding out there were no books there. I missed the small town friendliness, the way people would just help each other out. They all knew each other, they were all family. Now, feeling the cool air on my back as people came in, pretending to look at product to get out of the rain. I felt a twinge of longing. Why did you have to buy something to stay dry until the storm passed? Why not wave hello to the shop owner, share a laugh about the sudden torrent of rain? I walked around to make the appearance that I was still fully there, not off on the coast somewhere dreaming about warm waves and caring people. The sound of quiet chatter fell away. The dim buzzing lights of the back room drowned it out. The musty smell of cardboard and discarded instruction manuals was almost enough to take me back again, if only the coffee would reach it I could close my eyes and delude myself that I'm home again. As the coffee smell finally reached me I smiled, letting my imagination take over.

I was home, sitting in the bay window watching the bees scuttle about to be finished before the sun would set.

“You know I don't like you sitting in that ramshackle addition, Lily. It looks like it could fall right off the house at any moment.” Mom was always worrying, it was what made her mom.

“I'm not bouncing or anything, and besides if it was going to break it would be creaking. And its never broken before. Dad made it sturdy.”

“Your father doesn't make things study, he makes them quickly. That window is hardly up to code.” Mom was a contractor, she worked for some fancy company up in the city, part of the Ark conglomerate. She left on business trips a lot, it was up to dad and I to keep the house standing while she was gone. Dad did basic construction, that's how he and mom met.

“Okay, I can watch the bees work tomorrow. When does your flight leave?” It was a tradition to make her a nice breakfast before she left, all started on a joke that airport food was terrible and expensive.

“I'm actually driving this time, its only to the border of Angel.”

“What's going on at the border?” The border had been crammed with homes and businesses, everyone trying to get a taste of the city without paying to be close to the center. There was nothing else to cram into the border. Certainly no large businesses buildings.

“I'm actually going to see a doctor there. A specialist.”

And that was the beginning. Ark had failed to provide her with proper breathing equipment when she went to a site, her requests for them finding the bottom of a stack of requests. A simple error in paperwork. When she came back she had a bunch of medical equipment, and doctors hired from the companies she'd worked for in hopes she wouldn't sue.

Of course she didn't sue, my mother was a good soul who loved to help others. Her only condition was a settlement, enough for dad and I to live on after she was gone.

“Excuse me.”

Once again I was yanked back to the present, but not by an angry stranger or Minnie. It was a boy, about my age by the looks of him. He looked grimy and kind of gross, covered in dirt and oil stains. He wore a fair amount of leather, though none of it matched. A faded black leather jacket, cocoa leather gloves, and leather combat boots that might have been dark brown at one point, but looked almost black. With a dirty oil t shirt and equally dirty and oil stained jeans, he looked like a homeless mechanic. And I was standing over him, staring down like an idiot.

“Yeah?”

“You're standing on my cards.” He was right, my muddy rain boots were on top of what looked like a game of solitaire.

“Oh I'm so sorry, that was all my fault.” I stepped back, some of the cards sticking to the bottoms of my boots.

“Oh no, no need to apologize. Not like I'm a human being or anything.” Where did the sudden attitude come from?

“Look I'll buy you a new deck, there's a corner store near here.”

“Stop. I've got an extra deck. There are a bunch back here, from back when this hole sold little gift shop gifts to advertise.”

“Oh...well. Um, I'm still sorry, is there anything I can do?”

“You can get out of the storage room.” The manager who'd glared at her before for making a mess now loomed over her.

“You're not supposed to be in here, little girl. Especially talking to this defective droid.” It didn't matter if he wasn't a human, though that did explain his rude comment. No one was defective.

“Well I'm interested in buying him.” What? That wasn't what I meant to say at all.

“Uh huh. You want this defective droid you don't even know the model of.”

“I do. I want him. I have an Ark card.” Part of the deal, a card that could be charged without limit, in case of emergency. This was an emergency, right? This kid looked miserable.

“No need, he's not for sale. The best you can do is sign the paper claiming ownership of him. Ark won't sell a broken product.”

“So he's free.”

“Yeah.”

“Then I'll take him.”

“Good.”

“Great.”

“Fan-freakin-tastic.”

#omg it doesn't take to quotations #it puts these weird things in instead #chapter one #the meeting #Early update #first update

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so-caffeinated · 7 years

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Hi!! Huge fan of Ficon :) I have a soft spot for Will (though Jules will always be my favorite) and my heart seriously broke when I learned that Samantha dies. Poor Will, losing a parent at a relatively young age is traumatic. Will we where see a one shot that explores the immediate aftermath? Does he shut people out bc he doesn't feel like anyone should shoulder the burden of his grief? Will somebody (Jules, Oliver, Felicity) comfort him in the after math? Will it help?

God, anon, I thought about this ask my whole drive to the coffee shop and I cried half the way here. I walk in all sniffly like - “DON’T WORRY - nothing’s wrong, I’m just a writer.” TBH, they’re used to it by now. FiCoN makes me cry several times a week (literally. Which is insane because I never used to be a crier).

I’m glad you love Will and Jules. I really, really am. Samantha’s death was sudden, for sure, and brutal for both Will and his stepdad and baby sister (who was severely hurt and too young to be aware, but will still grow up without her mom). There will be more deaths in this series. Some sudden, some not. By far the most traumatic for me will probably be coming toward the end of this year (I’m so mad at myself about it, I can’t even tell you. I’ve tried to find away around it; there is none).

But Samantha’s death…

I don’t have plans to write that oneshot. Not right now, but it could happen at some point if I get in a super angsty mood. Here’s what happened though…

(Character death and grief below… obviously)

Will had talked to his mom that morning, but he’d been distracted and kind of in a rush to hang up. They’d been a little more distant in recent years, both because Will’s a grown-up living his life and because he’s never quite accepted his mom getting married to David. They aren’t on bad terms, but they’re not as close as they used to be. That frustrates Samantha more than Will, though. He’s at work when he gets a phone call from his stepdad. David tries to keep it vague, but he’s such a mess of grief that it’s obvious something is very, very wrong. All he manages to say is that Will needs to get to the hospital right away, that it’s an emergency and that he should have his dad meet him there.

He’s in a panic at that point. He’s too nauseous to drive, too worried to see straight, but one of his roommates (both of whom work with him) drives him to the hospital and he calls his dad on the way. Somehow, they get there at the same time. David’s alone and he looks worse than he sounded. He barely manages to choke out what happened and Will doesn’t even realizes the voice saying “No, No, No” over and over is his own, trying so hard to push back reality, to block the words like that might change things. But he can’t.

A bunch of high school kids were idiots drag racing. They both ran the red light and they both slammed into Samantha’s car going more than twice the speed limit. She probably never saw them coming, David tells him - as if that might make it better. Samantha was killed immediately, David spares him the details. Both of the other drivers died, too. So did their passengers, none of the teens had been wearing a seat belt. The only one to survive the crash was Bethany and she’s very, very touch-and-go at the moment. The doctors have told him he should prepare for the worst, just in case. Will can’t keep upright on his own. He’s a sobbing mess and his knees give out, but his dad is there to catch him.

Will clings to his dad. He’s always been open emotionally, so much more so than Jules or even Nate, maybe even more than Ellie, and that’s not different now. His fingers dig into his dad as he holds on like he might disappear, too. In truth, Will has always worried more about losing his dad, given what he does. His mom had always seemed… so safe. But his father is fine and here. Oliver holds his oldest for what feels like forever. His boy is 23 years old, but it seems about seven all over again as he cries and calls him daddy. Oliver cries, too. For Will, for Samantha, for their splintered family, for the absolute senselessness of it all.

After his mom’s death, Will is never quite the same, but that’s not really a bad thing. He’s always been a great brother, a wonderful son and a good man, but he’s so much more driven after his mom’s death. He doubles down on his commitments to his family, especially to Bethany - who makes a long, slow, full recovery - and to his stepdad, who clearly needs him now more than ever. Will feels a bit like a jerk for never giving the guy a real chance before, but he can’t change the past and he knows his mom would want them to be there for each other now. So, he is. He’s the only real help David has, honestly. Will’s stepsister Macy is away at college on the East Coast. She’s never dealt with loss or death well and she avoids doing anything more than she has to that involves facing it now. When she graduates, she stays back East. David’s 50. One of his parents is gone and the other is in a memory care facility. He has no siblings. It’s really just him and Will and… thank goodness Will is the man he is, because David would have been overwhelmed otherwise.

Will takes only weeks off of work after his mom dies. His Aunt Thea helps him plan his mom’s funeral. David can’t talk about it beyond saying ‘thank you’ for everything they do. Will spends most of those two weeks at the hospital. It feels like he’s holding his breath waiting for news on Bethy. He doesn’t sleep at all the first night, afraid if he closes his eyes he’ll wake up to find his baby sister is gone. The only reason she survived the crash is the car seat he bought her, he’s told. Will has seen a lot of injuries and a lot of hurt kids in his line of work. He’s meticulous about car seat safety and had spent a small fortune on the very best safety rated car seat on the market for his little sister, installing and inspecting it regularly himself. The doctor tells him that the seat saved her life.

Jules shows up to keep Will company at some point every day - he loses track of time and what day it is pretty quickly. She never says anything, just lifts his arm to make a space for herself and curls up against his side. Felicity very quietly arranges for all of Bethany’s tremendous medical bills to be paid and flies in a top ranked pediatric trauma doctor in to consult. Nate and Ellie both come by after school a few times - he’s pretty sure Jules skipped class at least once to be with him instead. Nate is awkward, shifts back and forth on his feet and says he’s sorry, but looks like he’s got no clue what to say. Ellie is all optimism about Bethany and tight hugs. His dad never leaves his side and Will is painfully grateful for that because he needs him right now. He needs his dad and Felicity and Jules and Ellie and Nate and even David, who looks like he aged a decade in the span of a phone call.

It’s his family that proves to Will he has people to lean on and it’s them he’s dedicated to always being there for - David and Bethany included. After his mom’s funeral, which passes in a blur - Will goes back to work. Even if he’d been first on the scene, he knows he couldn’t have saved his mom. But that doesn’t mean he can’t save someone else’s. He channels his grief into his work and his family. Long after the pain of losing Samantha starts to dull a little, becomes something that feels more manageable, his devotion to his family and his job hold fast. Samantha’s death shapes the man Will grows into in a very real way and it’s absolutely someone that she would have been proud of.

…Now I’m gonna go cry again.

(cc: @dust2dust34)

#will queen #FiCON #almost a fic #character death

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d2kvirus · 4 years

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Dickheads of the Month: February 2020

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of February 2020 to make sure that they are never forgotten.

The issue with the Tory government being stuffed with morons and sociopaths is that it leads to solutions such as their new immigration policy which equates anyone earning less than £24k a year with being an “unskilled worker” so therefore not eligible for a visa...when in reality that is unreasonably raising the bar, which becomes immediately obvious when you realise that the majority of entry-level positions within the NHS are paid less than that per annum. But fret not, they also have a solution in the sudden gap of 8m in the workforce, namely having the “economically inactive” fill the gap...even though that figure is primarily made up by the elderly, the terminally ill, and students who are currently working on that “low skilled” issue whose post-graduation salaries are estimated at around £18k a year

Unelected bureaucrat/organ grinder Dominic Cummings had a genius idea for proven liar Boris Johnson’s first cabinet reshuffle: eliminate anyone who might possibly have any semblance of an idea of their own (plus Esther McVey) and install a bunch of unthinking drones into the cabinet who will all follow his specific instructions...which sounds a lot like communism, doesn’t it?

We should almost thank Andrew Sabitsky for proving exactly what Dominic Cummings’ directive of “misfits and weirdos” really meant, namely that what Cummings wanted was somebody whose track record includes saying that black people are intellectually and genetically inferior on multiple occasions, calling for forced contraception for the lower classes and attending eugenics conferences, and that’s somebody who fits the profile of being appointed special advisor to the Prime Minister

In the latest example of The Department of Work and Pensions appearing to exist for the sole purpose of committing an ideological genocide on the lower classes, it emerged that they had been destroying reports of former claimants who committed suicide after their benefits were stopped - and had been doing so since at least 2015

Has anyone noticed that proven liar Boris Johnson didn't show up in Yorkshire with a mop and bucket when it was flooded again? Or did anyone notice that, when the official line was given that he didn't want to cause a media frenzy by showing up and instead wanted to put his feet up at a lakeside mansion to do...whatever it was that he was doing, it appears to have forgotten that he didn't mind showing up in flood-hit areas with the resulting media frenzy when there was an election campaign going on?

The estate of George Orwell will want a word with Lee Cain following his role in proven liar Boris Johnson’s “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” moment where he divided journalists into two groups before a Downing Street briefing, before telling journalists from one of the groups - who were from the Mirror, Independent, Huffington Post and PoliticsHome, that they should leave as they are not welcome

In the latest example of Question Time being an echo chamber for the far-right, they bussed in two-time National Front candidate Sherri Bothwell to sit front and centre of the audience and be the person to ask the first question of the show...if going off on a rant about how we should close our borders constitutes a “question” - although it does constitute a blatant violation of editorial guidelines

Smirking cretin Priti Patel demonstrated her statesmanlike credentials when facing a question about forced deportations in the House of Commons...by getting the hell out of the chamber before she could even hear the full question, presumably because staying in the chamber would potentially involve having to face scrutiny or criticism and that’s not how the Tories work

It’s no surprise that the FBPE mob responded to the first anniversary of the formation of The Independent Hashtag Group for Hashtag Change UK Hashtag Ltd by hand-wringing about how a potential force for good in British politics failed, because if they didn’t they might have to accept that their blindly believing in one “centrist” neoliberal careerist after another, from Chuka Umunna to Jo Swinson to Jess Phillips and numerous other examples aside, played a large part in why man of the people/proven liar Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is currently Prime Minister

Good to see the Chinese government coming up with the best possible solution to the Super Magic Chinese Megaflu of DEATH epidemic by...adding World War Z to the ever-growing list of books banned by the Chinese government. I don’t know why, though, it's not like it says Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh or anything...

Of course the English media responded to the Irish election result, where the incumbent Fine Gael lost out to a combination of Sinn Fein gaining the most first-choice votes and Fianna Fail getting the most second choice votes by reporting why this was the case...oh who am I kidding, of course they bloody didn’t, they only looked at through the usual English-centric prism and assumed that Britait was the reason why Fine Gael lost out, completely ignoring there was a unique consensus between all three parties that Britait is A Bad Idea that has also led the bigheaded gobshites from across the water to treat the irish like some second-class citizens who should shut up and fall in line behind their imperialistic masters

Once again the point-missers of the internet seem to think that you can use suicide rates as the basis for a game of Top Trumps, as there was a depressingly vocal section who responded to Caroline Flack’s suicide by comparing the number of suicides related to Love Island to the number related to The Jeremy Kyle Show as if it’s a football match and Love Island is currently “winning” 3-2

It was a busy day for smirking cretin Priti Patel as she had to simultaneously deny *deep breath* that MI5 have been actively withholding sensitive information from her as they see her as a threat to national security (and have grounds to see her as one...), that she hasn’t been bullying Home Office staff since getting her feet under the desk, that she didn’t force anyone out of the Home Office because they wouldn’t blindly follow every insane directive she could think of and it’s just a coincidence that attempts were made to remove Sir Philip Rutnam from the department...at least until Rutnam called her a liar, that is

Self-appointed voice of all Jewish football fans David Baddiel was as predictable as he was vocal in his disgust at the Oxford English Dictionary changing the definition of the word “Yid” to include Tottenham fans, leading to him howling about how Spurs fans have no right to reclaim the word while pretending that he doesn’t know the reason why Spurs have reclaimed the word, namely their regularly being serenaded with chants about Auschwitz, gas chambers and the Holocaust by Chelsea fans since the 1970s due to the club’s Jewish identity. Chelsea fans such as...David Baddiel

Littlest Englander contender Douglas Carswell gleefully took to Twitter on February 1st to say the UK hadn’t collapsed into a pit after leaving the EU...meaning that either he doesn't understand that the UK is still in the EU as part of a transition period, or he knows this but knows that his followers don’t know this so thinks doing a victory lap during the warm-ups is normal

You would think that The Jewish Chronicle admitting that they fabricated stories of Louise Ellman being an antisemite and having to pay her damages would have gained more traction, but by complete coincidence they were being drowned out by David Baddiel and Stephen Pollard coincidentally throwing out a lot of think pieces about how Tottenham fans are the Third Reich unlike those nice, reasonable Chelsea supporters...

Of course Blizzard were going to have to issue a statement addressing the launch of Warcraft 3: Reforged going so well that the game has a record Metacritic user score of 0.5 at one point, but Blizzard being Blizzard the “apology” was more along the lines of saying they were sorry that fans didn’t get the game they wanted, in other words trying to transfer blame onto them that the game shown in the teasers bore no resemblance to those in the finished game while pretending that there hasn’t been a cascade of criticism about their new policy that says any user-created mods will become Blizzard’s own property, in other words admit fault...which they never will

The latest non-logic from the BBC states that, if a Tory MP refuses to appear on any of their programming, they will cancel the appearance of whichever Labour MP that was also booked, in other words responding to the Dominic Cummings issuing a media blackout by silencing the Opposition in his stead

What better advertisement for Australian policing than Mark Thompson taking a moment to forget that he was Detective Inspector for the murders of Hannah Baxter and her children when her estranged husband set their car on fire before killing himself and instead decided to suggest that maybe she nagged him too much and that’s what led to the tragedy

Becoming a homeopathic mentalist hasn't done Gwyneth Paltrow any favours, considering that the second that there was so much as a whiff of criticism about he waffling about coffee enemas solving all ills on her Netflix show she responded by howling about how valid criticism from qualified health professionals is “clickbait” and not, say, valid criticism from qualified health professionals

Nobody seemed to explain to Dele Alli that posting a video on social media cracking jokes about coronavirus isn't a good idea as people are going to see it, and more than anything else spend a good couple of days flooding Tottenham’s Twitter feed with “DID YOU KNOW DELE ALLI MADE A RACIST POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA???” more times than anyone is willing to count

What a great piece of advice Ninja gave to everyone, namely that if you lose in a video game the only sane and rational response is to get angry and, if you don’t, this makes you “weak”

So much for “Mad” Mike Hughes and his attempt to prove that the earth is flat by using a homemade steam-powered rocket, as instead he made a reasonably-sized crater in the San Bernardino desert which proved that the earth is pretty goddamn hard when you plow into it from several thousand feet in the air while going at an estimated 350mp

Good to see that Jess Phillips is handling her failure in the Labour leadership race well, with her mouthing off at an event commemorating female journalists by harrumphing that it’s a pity that Labour has never had a female leader...while both Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy remain in the leadership contest

And finally, a little more puffed up than usual, is Donald Trump and his sociopathic response to the Republicans allowing him to slither out from the sights of impeachment which was rewarded by him bringing down the axe on anyone who put the party (or, you know, country) ahead of him, which somehow looks less deranged than him mouthing off about Parasite winning Best Picture at the oscars because something something trade deal

#dickheads of the month

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