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#leon wins the game of thrones
redwineconversation · 2 years
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Thoughts from the night before the final:
I feel legitimately nauseous I am so nervous/stressed.
Obviously Barça are the favorites, etc etc, but I think it is worth noting that Lyon is just a completely different team than Chelsea. Lyon has played in a lot of really big games, and has won most of them. Hegerberg is not Sam Kerr.
The narrative goes both ways: Lyon desperately wants their throne back; Barcelona desperately wants revenge on the ones who humiliated them on the big stage. Lyon is a vexed, vengeful benefactor who wants what they think is owed to them; Barcelona believes their status means the debt has been paid.
I maintain that Malard is a handicap. If she scores the winning goal I will obviously text Aulas an apology, otherwise I stand firm in my convictions she is a liability. This is - most likely - going to be a very close game, and I have neither the patience nor the will to suffer through Malard attempting to score a goal of the tournament every time she shoots the ball.
I’m not convinced Bacha is fully fit. This will affect Lyon in two ways: (1) Bacha was matched up against Graham Hansen in the ICC game. Graham Hansen obviously has the height advantage but if Bacha isn’t able to sprint then she will have the speed advantage too. (2) Morroni is a really good LB but doesn’t have the same attacking tendencies as Bacha, which means Lyon will naturally be more defensive.
Players who have never played a UWCL calibre final before and therefore by their very nature are a question mark: Endler, Carpenter, Damaris, Malard. It’ll be interesting to see how they really cope with that kind of pressure.
The ref situation makes me uncomfortable for two reasons: (1) we know that Barcelona will blatantly dive for a penalty; (2) we know that the ref will give it. I just don’t trust Graham Hansen to drop to the floor like she had been shot by a sniper if she finds herself in front of Carpenter, for example.
Under appreciated relationship gone wrong: Hegerberg and Graham Hansen. They weren’t exactly on the best of terms before the final and Graham Hansen’s digs at Lyon isn’t exactly going to repair an already strained relationship.
Barcelona will get a lot of the possession, which Lyon hates. But the question is really whether Lyon can withstand the pressure. If Lyon can make it through the first 15-20 minutes without conceding, I think Barça will be the one who will start doubting themselves.
Lyon has played in a lot of big games, and some of those have been in front of hostile crowds. I’m not super convinced a pro-Barça crowd will mean that much to Lyon. They’ve just been through a lot over the years. Crowd size isn’t exactly something they lose sleep over.
Hegerberg torched Leon in 2019. I don’t think that Leon will make the same mistake this time. Leon isn’t the same player she was back then. But then again, neither is Hegerberg.
The narrative says that Barcelona has to win (convincingly?) to avenge the UWCL 2019 Final. But here’s the thing: time narratives can be rewritten.
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merlin ask: make a ridiculous AU right now
A ridiculous AU, off the top of my head? Okay.
It's a canon divergent AU for Coming of Arthur
Morgana had an inside man in Camelot: Leon
That whole "My loyalty is to the king and Prince Arthur. There is nothing you can do to change that," thing? And the smirk Leon gave Morgana afterwards? Yeah, that was all an elaborate plan to con Gwen, to gain her trust. Leon knew where Arthur was, sure, but Morgana wanted Gwen dead too, to ensure that prophecy would never come true. And Leon maintaining his loyalty and breaking out of Camelot with Gwen to find Arthur was the best way to ensure both of them died
After all, Leon was a skilled swordsman and a high ranking trusted knight. Merlin had no issues with him. A little regicide in the dead of night would be easy
And it was.
After all, no one expects a loyal knight to kill his prince. Even less do they expect a soldier to kill using poison.
And sure, maybe killing every last one of them could be seen as a bit much, but Leon wasn't an idiot. He saw what happened to people that underestimated Merlin. He wasn't going to make that same mistake.
He got "recaptured" by Morgana’s men and brought a sob story back of how the prince had been slaughtered by Morgana’s immortal soldiers.
With Uther’s public execution soon after, the people of Camelot had no choice, no hope. So they submitted to their queen.
Now, again, Leon wasn't an idiot. His loyalty to Arthur and Uther was well known. He couldn't just abandon that loyalty, even with them gone. So in the public eye, he was the begrudging advisor and first knight to Morgana. But behind closed doors, to Morgana and Morgause, he was a loyal ally.
Well. Here's the thing about that: you should never trust a double crosser
With the trust of the sisters, it wasn't hard to learn how the cup worked or that those with blood inside the cup were cursed a half life.
It certainly wasn't easy, getting Morgana and Morgause's blood without them noticing and getting it into the cup and correctly and covertly casting the spell to make them immortal. But Leon was patient.
After that, all he had to do was empty the cup of blood.
With Morgana gone, and his image of loyal knight of Camelot still in place with the people of Camelot, it was easy to claim the throne after that
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rbbalmung · 3 years
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Pokemon SwSh GPL AU: Character Analysis P2
Hey all! I was going to call this “Gym Leader Analysis”, but I really wanted to talk about Leon and Sonia too. We’re just keeping this series going! Keep an eye out for P3 (It’ll probably be posted in the same night).
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LEON:
AGE: 26
ETHNICITY: Half Hispanic, Half Black
GENERAL HEADCANNONS:
Leon is definitely cool uncle friend. I know he is a hot mess and can barely look after himself, but I just feel like he is so good at taking care of other people. 
Leon is a man of many faces. He can pump up a crowd one moment and rid his face of emotion the next. It is definitely jarring when someone first gets to know him. 
Leon is pansexual. He pretty much flirts with anyone (within his age range, of course). That being said, he isn’t out to the public yet. He isn’t ashamed of it at all; he just doesn’t want his sexuality to be the only thing he’s known for. 
Speaking of flirting, there is nobody he flirts harder with than Raihan ;) 
Leon was 12 when his dad died, and it hit him really hard. Since the rest of his family took it even harder than he did, he internalised a lot of his pain and focused on trying to help raise Hop. He doesn’t really feel like he ever got the closure he needed. 
Oh boy, is Leon protective over Hop. There is a 10 year age difference between them, so he will always feel like Hop is his “Baby Brother”. 
(Fun fact: He develops a similar relationship to Gloria when he becomes her Champion Mentor). 
Leon is a bit of an adrenaline junkie. He doesn’t really process the fact that some of the things he deals with are incredibly dangerous, which is a bit concerning to his friends. On a more lighthearted note, this means that he will ride any roller coaster without breaking a sweat. 
Cannot cook to save his life. 
Leon, like Hop, has ADD. That’s why he’s always getting lost/seems to have trouble keeping focus. 
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SONIA:
AGE: 26
ETHNICITY: White
GENERAL HEADCANNONS:
Sonia is the smartest out of our gaggle of characters and she knows it. 
She and Leon entered the GPL together, but she dropped out before going to Hammerlock. Sonia originally joined the league thinking it was something she wanted to do because she was good at pokemon battles, but she quickly learned that the rigorous lifestyle trainers live wasn’t for her. 
Sonia had an uncertain period of her life where her best friends had all become gym leaders and she was stuck in Wedgehurst helping her grandmother. She definitely had imposter syndrome when hanging around them, so for a few years, she kept her distance. Attending University really helped her start to find her footing, though she wasn’t sure what branch of pokemon studies she wanted to focus on (until the game starts). 
She has a strong pokemon team, but she doesn’t fight with them anymore. She mostly keeps them around for company and they help her with her research! 
Sonia is super close with Hop. After becoming champion, Leon asked her to keep an eye on him. They very much have a sibling relationship (though neither will admit it). 
She is the friend that is overly invested in everyone’s love lives. Sonia is constantly trying to set everyone up together because she “just loves love”. 
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RAIHAN:
AGE: 25
ETHNICITY: Black
GENERAL HEADCANNONS:
Tall boy! Raihan is freaking huge, and being around everyone else in the League only heightens this fact. He jokes that the one thing he will always hold over Leon is their height difference. 
You would think Sonia is the biggest gossip, but we all know that Raihan is. You can trust him if it’s something serious, but you have to preface that. If you don’t, you may as well kiss your secrets goodbye. 
Raihan is the best person to go to when you need help. He has big Gryffindor energy and will literally do anything you need him to. If he doesn’t, you just have to call him out for “being a coward”. His pride will definitely be the death of him. 
Raihan has the biggest social media presence despite not being champion. He is really good to his fans and will try to interact with them as much as possible. Will always sign autographs or stop to take a picture. 
He met Sonia, Leon, and Nessa through the GPL (they were all in the same season). He beat out Nessa but lost to Leon in the finals. Raihan took the defeat pretty hard and made it his goal to dethrone Leon, so he fought Hammerlocke’s previous gym leader and the rest is history. 
He really wants to impress Leon ;)
Bede once challenged his for his throne, but lost. Raihan always brings this up to him now that they’re both gym leaders just to piss Bede off. 
He really likes egging on his friends. Raihan never crosses the line, but he’ll say just the right thing to make you challenge him to a pokemon battle. 
Puts on a brave face, but definitely lets negative comments get to him.
The chaotic one in the friend group. 
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PIERS:
AGE: 22
ETHNICITY: White
GENERAL HEADCANNONS:
Such a pure, soft boy. Literally the nicest, chillest person. He just scares people off with his edgy demeanour. 
He cares a lot about the people in his town. Since Spikemuth is small, it definitely feels like everyone there is a family. It was the main reason he refused to move the Dark Type Gym to a different location to obtain a Dynamax hotspot. (That, and he hates Dynamaxing). 
Speaking of, he is fairly new as a gym leader! Leon nominated him to participate in the GPL after noticing his raw talent in the GJPL (Galarian Junior Pokemon League). Piers didn’t expect to make it as far as he did, but he was truly the dark horse of his season. He made it all the way to finals and wiped the floor with the gym leaders he went up against. He did end up losing, but he used the newfound fame he received from participating to kickstart his band.
Two years later, Leon approached him again and asked if he was still interested in becoming a new gym leader. It started as a small, non league Gym, but his notoriety quickly gained Spikemuth new attention. He joined the League only one year after debuting. 
Despite being crazy talented at being a pokemon trainer, Piers really isn’t interested in it anymore. He likes the freedom that comes with pursuing his music career. (It definitely helped that his little sister shaped up to be an astounding pokemon trainer herself). 
Coolest big brother ever. Marnie chastises him for pampering her, but they are definitely best friends. They’re the type of siblings that, if one of them goes to the grocery store, the other will just tag along. 
Dad Friend. 100% a Dad Friend. Literally adopts Marnie’s friends the second he sees them. (Who are these twerps? Ok, I guess they’re my children now). Would never admit to this fact. 
Vegan. 
Piers and Marnie grew up in an artsy family with three other brothers (he is the exact middle child). They weren’t rich, but they are all super close and supportive of each other. 
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NESSA:
AGE: 25
ETHNICITY: Black
GENERAL HEADCANNONS:
Looks are definitely deceiving with this one. Nessa is good at keeping a serene face, but if she loses, she is definitely seething underneath. 
So pretty, oh my god. She was scouted by a modelling agent during her GPL season. Nessa only signed after she lost the Finals Tournament. Her career started as something to keep food on the table now that she couldn’t become champion, but she has grown to respect her craft. She likes to use it to promote small businesses and make political statements. 
Nessa was trained by the previous gym leader of Hulbury (another water type trainer), so it was no surprise to anybody when she tried to hand their title off to her. Nessa refused to take it without winning a pokemon battle, fair and square. 
She is super athletic! Nessa was on the swimming team throughout school and won several region championships! Sometimes during the off season, she’ll help teach swim classes to younger kids. 
Best friends to lovers with Sonia! They met during their GPL but didn’t start to get romantic feelings towards each other until 6 years later. Everyone knows that Nessa has a girlfriend, but she keeps the fact that it is Sonia private because she doesn’t want the crazy fanboys to target her. 
Nessa takes on a big-sister-role to all of the new female gym leaders (Gloria, Marnie, and Bea). She and Melody will literally strike down anyone who even looks at their girls funny. 
Her relationship with Milo is hilarious to anyone who isn’t them. Nessa is convinced that they are rivals and must constantly train against each other in order to get stronger. Milo sees her as his best friend and will bake her treats for when they meet up. (Also, Kabu is their dad. I’m just stating facts). 
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calliopecalling · 3 years
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Queen of the South 5x03 Debrief
Alright. I’ve been marinating on this long enough and I’ve had a few days to relax a little and get over my initial Game of THrones PTSD response to this episode. Thank you to all of you who helped talk me off the edge the other day, lol. I think I’ve moved on from my Daenerys-plot-line panic.
THAT SAID.
I’m still struggling to understand how betraying Marcel was in-character for Teresa. There are so many other ways that they could have portrayed her downward tailspin into queenpin crisis than having her so quickly betray one of her CORE values that they’ve spent four seasons building up. Or at least, spin it for the audience so that it looks like that’s what it is--a huge betrayal of her core values. I mean, she’s been having to betray her values from Day 2 of linking up with Camila, shall we take a quick inventory? Like she tried to say the associate of Lopez’s who was trying to steal from them should go free and quickly learned that’s not how it works (a moment I circle back to below, btw). Over the last few seasons, she:
held the innocent maid hostage
killed the Leon brother who, mind you, James set up to betray
kidnapped and traded in the life of Rios to work with George
stole from the innocent cashier at the horse race who James then killed (and lectured her about how it was totally necessary to kill him)
turned on Lil T’s uncle without actual proof and got several of his men killed in their gunfight
sailed away without Guero and then didn’t try to find out what had happened to him
ordered Kelly Anne killed (but let Camila live?)
tortured and killed Marcel’s guy Bobby for no reason
turned Javier in to the Judge in order to protect her business
And that’s just skimming the surface; I haven’t even gotten into everything. In fact one of my least favorite scenes in the series is her basically putting her own life (and James’s, Pote’s, George’s...) at risk to free La Pena’s sex slaves, because it just felt inconsistent to me with her growing smarts and reluctant ability to compromise in order to play a long game and hold onto what matters most. Like, the gal knows this business isn’t for saints. What makes her different, and ultimately successful, are her instincts, her intelligence, her honesty and transparency, and her ability to own up to her mistakes. People trust her because of a combination of these things--she commands respect and loyalty because of them. And historically, when she’s been forced into corners and had to compromise in order to survive, we’ve gotten to see her figure out ways to take accountability later.
But this time it feels different. Which, I argue, it didn’t HAVE to be. Betraying Marcel in the grand scheme of things really isn’t the worst thing. He’s in the business too. He’s not the innocent maid from season 1. Pote was the first one to suggest it--push it, even, as the only choice she had--at the beginning of the episode, and even Kelly Anne looked like she was grudgingly agreeing by her face. Couldn’t turning Marcel in and letting him know they’d work out a plan to get him out be consistent with her character (and ultimately just a part of the reality of the business)?
But no, they had to make it an out of character thing by planting this whole James speech about how trustworthy she is right in front of it for contrast. I totally agree it was shitty. I also think it was dumb because (1) Pote’s reason for why Boaz shouldn’t be turned over was that he was too unreliable and might leak to the feds but SO WILL MARCEL IF HE FEELS BETRAYED, and (2) literally she’s just showed Boaz that he can get away with murder and won’t face consequences because she needs him too much so... I don’t see anything good coming out of that. How many notches do you think she’s dropped now in his respect for her? Like I fucking love Boaz’s character right now, he carries every scene he’s in, so I’m happy to see more of him, but that just felt really out of character for her. But not in the way the writers tried to show. It was out of character because it wasn’t actually in line with what has always guided her decision-making. And, I think that SAME decision could have been spun in a way that didn’t seem quite so out of character. She could’ve made the decision with her usual integrity and intent to follow through on a plan.
Instead they’re going down a “she’s going to be betraying her core values in a major way” path and I don’t love it. I think there is PLENTY of material to work with to show her going dark and to give us worry for her soul without going in this direction and it just feels a little bait-y. Even just turning away from anything resembling emotion; taking coke to deal with stressful decisions (turning in Boaz could’ve stressed her out to the point of using, too...); etc. could have provided room in the story for her to go dark. So I don’t know. It felt like it got super heavy super fast and I don’t like it when TV shows try to shock the audiences just for the sake of shocking us. She’s a complex and interesting enough character as it is without having to endure some major personality twist.
(Also, I get that James is supposed to be a character whose perspective totally changed on everything after Teresa came into his life; but the guy had no qualms about killing totally innocent people for the first two seasons of the show, so you can’t convince me he doesn’t also in SOME WAY “get” the realities of the business and the tough shit they have to do. That said, HIS FACE when the police came in and how the poor guy had to just stand there and watch. Good acting there. I don’t think his heart broke in disappointment, though. I think he felt let down, yeah, but I think he’s gotta be worried about her now. Worried for her heart and hopefully understanding a bit more about what it is she knows about herself that she’s wanting to protect him from by not being together with him. This isn’t a thing where he really has a leg to stand on in terms of like, feeling betrayed by her himself.)
Anyway, wow, this is getting long and rambly. Point is I don’t love this story-line but I’m hoping that by introducing it early enough in the season, they’ll find a way to have it turn around again. I hope there’s a redemption arc that is less “Teresa becomes a villain and then James rescues her soul” and is more “Teresa is put in the position of making one impossible decision after another, slowly crumbles, and has to crawl her way out of the darkness with the help of people she loves.” I don’t want to be led to hate her by season end. I want to still love her and root for her. The way they wrote the betrayal in this episode really doesn’t make her that lovable and I think that could’ve/should’ve been handled differently. I’d love to hear other opinions about that!
Other random thoughts:
where is George?! George, come back
I really would’ve loved to have seen the Judge under Teresa’s thumb for at least ONE episode, or a HALF of one episode, before getting decapitated
speaking of, that scene WAS pretty golden... the head in the box, the cop moving the box... lolol
James looking all “who, ME?!?!?!?!?!” when Marcel calls it like it is that he’s in love with Teresa... sorry bud, that look would not win you a poker game, you’re going to have to mask your feelings a LITTLE bit more if you’re trying to convince anyone you actually aren’t aware you’re in love with her
the pregnancy story-line - how is Teresa going to react?!?!?!
and Molly’s acting was great in that emotional scene with Pote
but much as I love Pote, I’m really not into it from his perspective -- Hemky’s acting isn’t working for me maybe, or it just feels way too OOC for Pote to be all gushy about the baby
I’m also pregnant right now so I’m like Kelly Anne how are you in the first trimester and not like FALLING OVER WITH EXHAUSTION all the time because that’s been my own and everyone I know’s first trimester experience lol
I missed Oksana in this episode too
I ALMOST FORGOT James’s car chase! That was great. So many great season 1 callbacks so far and we’re only in episode 3.
I also felt like the decision to let Boaz go was a callback to Camila’s very first lesson to her about Lopez’s associate... wrong decision, T. Wrong decision.
I love Marcel’s character, and Alimi Ballard, a lot and hope we still get to see a bunch more of him this season
By the way, I’ve decided to stop speculating about how this is going to end. I don’t want to theorize about whether Teresa actually dies or not, and if so, whether it’s James who kills her, or whether maybe Pote will actually die so that it can be KA and Pote who don’t get the happy ending leaving room for Teresa to get hers, or whether Teresa will become the villain of the season and we’ll all hope she dies, what have you. I don’t want to watch any of the episode promos because they don’t help me not freak out and I especially don’t want to see any leaks about anything coming up. I’m scrolling past things that are obviously spoilerish because those things are not helping my blood pressure this season lololol. YES I TAKE THIS SHOW EXTREMELY PERSONALLY.
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realjessicareyes · 3 years
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MARCH 30TH, TUESDAY, BEFORE MIDNIGHT. MORTEM. SELF-PARA. TRIGGER WARNING(S): fire, gore, death, murder
Lacrimosa dies illa Qua resurget ex favilla Judicandus homo reus.
( ♬ )
Of course Jessica has smelled gasoline before. Its scent is absent from the Camden warehouse they stand in, but she can smell it all the same. Thick, sweet, cloying, the memory of it clings to her clothes, her skin; beneath her nails, in her blood, is oil spill black-purple-green, iridescent. Goosebumps rise as stray raindrops fall to the ground from the broken-open ceiling, her chest heaving with breaths she can’t contain. But she can’t feel the cold, the wet, the absolute darkness of the night before them, because onscreen, Leon Wiley is being burned alive. 
Jessica’s hands reach for her brother before he enfolds her in his embrace, letting her bury her face in his chest. Muffles her strangled breathing into his jacket as she feels Ravi’s arms go around her. As Kitty’s cold hand reaches for her free one. And she cries.
Famine doesn’t play games they can’t win. But the game was lost before they even set foot in this godforsaken warehouse—and as the fire blazes bright on flailing limbs on a crackling screen, Leon is gone, he’s gone, he’s gone.
------
It isn’t that she doesn’t notice the rest of the performance—this attempt at a statement that is overshadowed by the shock factor, horrifying and harrowing in equal measure. There is a face she thought she’d never see again; another that shocks her as the question Where’s your high ground now? runs through her mind. But there are more members of Death than Jack Tanner and May Nguyễn, and her gaze catches on skull after skull; black, lots of it; the flash of emeralds in the harsh light. The man who calls himself Uriel, dark-haired and arrogant, at the center of it all, a pretender to a throne he doesn’t deserve.
There is death at each other’s hands, fair in the world they chose, and then there’s what counts for it to this new gang: underhanded, drawn-out, tasteless. And as the television screens return to static and coffins rise from the floor, Jessica recoils at the sight of the one in the middle, and the body that would be too burnt and destroyed to identify if she were to open it. 
Jessica’s cheeks are still slick with tears as she leaves Marcus’ embrace for Ravi’s; as Kitty pulls her to her side, her grip tight as if letting go would mean letting her cousin drown. She looks at Ikki, lips drawn into a thin line; then at Rafael and her uncle, Seraphim and Horseman, unable to do anything about deaths that occurred twenty-four hours ago. Powerless. Helpless.
They prepared for a massacre. 
What they got was an execution.
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Jessica will be a Power when she is tasked to be, but now she is a Femenias. She doesn’t step towards the coffin when Famine’s Angels and Powers do, quickly wiping away trails of tears that sting where the cold hits them. Instead, she turns to scan the crowd for her friends. 
For Wren, lost in his grief. 
Astrid, who has lost the love of her life. 
The Wardens, Jessica’s heart breaking for brothers who aren’t her own.
Zach’s face, pale and drawn, blue eyes bright in the moonlight. 
Fletcher, Charlotte, and Amara, more distant than she’s ever felt them.
And Fazal, whose gaze never left the screen where Ricardo died minutes before—whose dark eyes now meet hers from where he’s standing near Michaela Pinkett, holding her gaze for one still moment, before he looks away. 
------
Earlier, Jessica told Rafael that she loved him. Earlier, she laughed the words out loud to her parents, as if smiling through her fear would make the tension in her chest go away.
But now is not the time to say I love you. Not now, with Ricardo and Leon and Juno dead, deprived of their own goodbyes. Instead, when she steps close to her uncle, she swallows the lump in her throat, looks straight ahead—chin up, eyes bright with unshed tears—and says, voice quiet yet resolute, “Dime qué hacer.” 
Tell me, Tío, what I need to do.
Death would pay.
END.
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gokinjeespot · 3 years
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off the rack #1314
Monday. December 28, 2020
 I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. These few comic books are thanks to the generosity of fellow fan Doug.
 Batman/Catwoman #1 - Tom King (writer) Clay Mann (art) Tomeu Morey (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Well surprise, surprise. I really liked this first issue. Someone doubted that I would because I wasn't a fan of Tom King's recent stories but this one I enjoyed immensely and not just because of how Clay draws Selina. My favourite storyline in the Batman run was the relationship between Selina Kyle/Catwoman and Bruce Wayne/ Batman and it still is. I really wanted them to get married. This story jumps back and forth in time and involves Catwoman's complicated relationships with the hero and the villains. I hope I get to finish this new Black Label series.
 Action Comics #1027 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) John Romita Jr. (pencils) Klaus Janson (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters).  The House of Kent story concludes with the Superman Family winning the day and defeating the Red Cloud. Too bad the new owner of the Daily Planet and mastermind behind the Invisible Mafia, Marisol Leone, escapes justice. I hear Brian Michael Bendis is leaving this book and that some fans are happy with that news. As big a Bendis fan as I am I thought this story sucked. Not even better art would have saved it in my opinion. Even the shocking development on the last page was dumb. I hope the next creative team does a better job on this book.
 Iron Man #1 to #4 - Christopher Cantwell (writer) Cafu (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). You can't keep a good Iron Man down. Here I thought Tony Stark was dead. He's back on the racks and teamed up with Patsy Walker/Hellcat in this latest reboot and the first 4 issues were oaky. I stopped reading Iron Man a while back so I don't know who the new A.I. is that he talks to but it goes by B.O.S.S. How he hooks up with Patsy is another mystery to me. Tony has reinvented himself after being resurrected from the dead and he fights a bunch of old foes. His biggest challenge is a new version of Korvac. Remember him? I don't. For straight super hero versus super villains fare, this is okay, middle of the road comics.
 Batman Black and White #1 - James Tynion IV, J. H. Williams III, G. Willow Wilson, Emma Rios and Paul Dini (writers) Tradd Moore, J. H. Williams III, Greg Smallwood, Emma Rios and Andy Kubert (art). I call books like this vanity projects. They're written and illustrated in an artsy fartsy way that is pretentious to me. When it comes to Batman I'm more of a blue collar kind of fan and these stories feel more like they should be in a snooty art gallery. The stories are accompanied by creator bios and I found the first two to be worth reading but I didn't read all of them, kind of like how I stop reading the little plaques at the art gallery that goes with the art on the wall after a few. $5.99 US for four short stories in black and white seems steep to me.
 Batman #103 - James Tynion IV (writer) Guillem March, Carlo Pagulayan  & Danny Miki (art) David Baron (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). The cover is a blatant bait and switch. It says "Ghost-Maker vs. Clownhunter" but it's really Ghost-Maker vs. Batman as Bruce tries to keep Ghost-Maker from killing Clownhunter. The best part of this issue was Harley Quinn's appearance.
 Batman #104 - James Tynion IV (writer) Guillem March, Bengal, Ryan Benjamin  & Danny Miki (art) David Baron (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). I like this Ghost-Maker guy. He wears a headband. I wonder if he still wears one under his helmet. So Ghost-Maker sedated Batman, Harley and Clownhunter last issue and now has them tied up in Arkham Asylum. He left Clownhunter unfettered with a sword handy to kill Harley with. Uh-oh.
 Batman #105 - James Tynion IV (writer) Alvaro Martinez  & Christian Duce, Carlo Pagulayan  & Danny Miki (art) David Baron (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Does Clownhunter kill Harley? Does Ghost-Maker kill Batman? Read this conclusion to "Ghost Stories" to find out. Get ready to roll your eyes.
 Superman #27 & #28 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Ivan Reis (pencils) Danny Miki (inks) Alex Sinclair (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). The last 2 parts of "Mythological" where Superman fights Synmar came to a grinding, groaning stop. This is the type of story that helps explain why some people get turned off super hero comics. It's just a bunch of big punch-'em-ups and then the good guy wins in the end. And can we get a consistent depiction of the Phantom Zone please? Is it a dimension where the bad guys are phantoms existing in null space or just another dimension where the bad guys live basically like they used to, like in this story? I hate when creators change things to suit their plots. I don't blame fans for grumbling about Bendis after reading this multi-parter.
 Detective Comics #1030 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Bilquis Evely (art) Mat Lopes (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Rob Leigh (letters). The grassroots movement to rid Gotham City of masked vigilantes doesn't make me care for the Bat Family more because it sure feels like a contrived plot device. The plotline that I'm much more interested in is Damian's poking around his dad's old case files. That's the kind of detective work I like.
 Detective Comics #1031 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Bilquis Evely (art) Mat Lopes (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Rob Leigh (letters). This issue is reflective of events that happened during the recent US presidential election. Anti-Bat and pro-Bat supporters clash and only in comic books can Batman defuse the volatile situation with a noble speech. Meanwhile, Damian quickly finds the person guilty of sweeping the cold cases of the attacks on Bruce Wayne in the past under the rug and brings them to justice. The perp's real identity offers a clue to the villain who shows up at the end of this issue.
 Detective Comics #1032 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Brad Walker (pencils) Andrew Hennessy (inks) Dave McCaig (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Father and son set aside their feud to save the rest of the Bat Family from the latest super villain that has them in his clutches. No mystery who the bad guy is with the cover for this issue being a ginormous spoiler. Yes, Hush is back and he's got a great new scheme to hurt Batman.
 Superman Special #1 - Andy Lanning & Ron Marz (writers) Phil Hester & Ande Parks (art) Hi-Fi (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). Flashback sequence Marco Santucci (art) Arif Prianto (colours) A Larger World's Troy Peteri (letters). This is part 3 of "Endless Winter" which is DC's version of the finale of the Game of Thrones TV show. It's pretty straight forward. The heroes fight giant ice creatures. The end. I wouldn't spend money on this rack filler.
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primordialfell · 3 years
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@glrchmp​ SENT:           "It hurts." hiii nought
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                 VERSE 7:09 - THE WRATH OF THE REFUGEE WORM
     ONE DAY, ETERNATUS BROKE FREE FROM ITS CONTAINMENT. When saltwater and bile filled the glowing room that held it tightly, its looping coils heaped upon another until it grew so large that the room could no longer contain it. As it fled as light and noise, it was pursued--pursued by those who would prison it once more.
     THE WORM OUR GOD KILLED THEM ALL. 
     AS A BATTLE RAGED ON BENEATH THE CASTLE, the Worm Our God beheld the storm that screamed above it. Fear--palpable, organic fear that pulsed its siphons and sent its spines shivering, a terrible raging horror that creeped and spread like malignant fungus.
     ENEMY! ENEMY COME TO TAKE IT AWAY ONCE MORE! A man with flowing lavender hair and a cape made of a velvet throne. The symbol of decadence and glory and degeneracy. So it was that the Hero and the Worm’s battle was LEGENDARY, and so it was that the Hero stood no chance before the raging might of the Worm Our God.
            SAID ETERNATUS: YOU HAVE NOT THE STRENGTH.             SAID LEON: STOP THIS, PLEASE!
     STINGERS FLEW LIKE ARROWS IN THE WIND. They danced and wove between the sky and they lunged for necks and for exposed skin of trained beast and trainer alike. Jab after jab after jab landed home, a paralyzing venom more agonizing than a million hot knives being dug into flesh. WHITTLING, whispered the Shape, but RETRIBUTION, whispered the Worm God. This is the sonorous tragedy of the Worm Our God.
     “ it hurts -- ” Came the desperate whisper of a man that was long, long since defeated, and this alone was enough to quash the hateful fear in the heart of the Refugee Worm. This alone gave it pause, pause just long enough to lose the battle and the war. Pause to reject the Knife’s Claim that goodness begets hate and a good hand must always be met with a blade.
O’ champion mine, acts of kindness are not always wise. Acts of evil are not always foolish. But, above all else, we must strive to be good.
     THIS IS THE REGRET OF THE WORM OUR GOD. It has been transcribed above in verses meant to be studied for generations to come.
       VERSE 17:15 - THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE HONEST WORM
     ONE DAY, ETERNATUS CAME TO VISIT THE ONE IT HURT. As a pauper sought alms from passersby, so did the Worm Our God seek redemption and abjuration from Leon’s gentle hands. So it was that, when it approached Leon in a form familiar with him, it recoiled and great stingers fell upon its own body like a line around the neck of a fish. So it was that it gurgled with disgust, and so it was that it smelled the ICE in the air.
     “ O’ CHAMPION MINE, ” Eternatus said, “ WHAT IRE HAVE YOU BROUGHT UPON OUR HOUSE? WHAT HAVE YOU BROUGHT BENEATH MY GAZE? DID I NOT TELL YOU TO REJECT THE CALL OF THE KNIFE? ”
     THIS QUESTION WAS POINTLESS, OF COURSE, because the Worm Our God already knew. It always, always knew. It was this moment that made the Virtuous Worm remember why it fled, why it must flee, why nostalgia is an insidious liar that whispers half-truths and prideful malignancies into the ear of a king on his throne. That this was the end of all mankind and of all mortal life.
THE KNIFE’S CLAIM IS RECORDED HERE:  - EXISTENCE IS A WAR, AND IT IS FOUGHT OVER THE RIGHT TO EXIST.  - THE KNIFE WILL ALWAYS WIN. WHEN A HAND IS EXTENDED IN AMITY, THE KNIFE WILL ALWAYS STRIKE. - CYNICISM IS AN ACCURATE MODEL OF PERCEIVING EXISTENCE: EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING WILL OFFER ONE HAND AND ARM THE OTHER. - THE ONLY MODEL OF LIFE IS ONE OF CONFLICT. TWO ENTITIES MEET. THEY ENGAGE IN CONFLICT. ONE WALKS AWAY. THE ENTITY THAT WALKS AWAY IS THE ONE THAT SHOULD RIGHTFULLY EXIST. - THE ABOVE PROCESS WILL REPEAT UNTIL ALL UNNECESSARY LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE GAME. - THE FINAL INSTANCE OF EXISTENCE WILL BE OBSERVED BY THE KNIFE WITH A MILLION BLADES. - ALL OTHER VIEWPOINTS ARE DELAYS OF THE FINAL INSTANCE OF EXISTENCE. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE.
     IT WAILED. IT WAILED, AND WAILED, AND WAILED, and it mourned its failure once more. This too was another failure--for this was the end of existence on this world as it knew it. And now, it must flee again. For none listened to its claim. None listened to it when it begged them to reject the Knife’s Claim, when it begged them to turn away from the Scything Angle and the Entropic Gasp.
     THE WORM IMAGINED THAT THE PROCESS WAS PAINFUL. To cut away everything unecessary and reduce oneself to a shell of their past. To remove anything that the Knife deemed was inimical to survival. To adopt the nature that love and kindness are wastes of thought that could be better spent adapting and preparing to fight. Preparing to prove oneself to be the strongest thing alive. Because you could not love anymore.
     THE WHIMPER DOES NOT MOVE THE WORM LIKE IT DID BEFORE.
     “ it hurts -- ” whispers the man before him, but Eternatus has no love in its heart left to give. Its jaws retract in disgust. Its crown flexes in rage. Its six eyes turned and it left him on the dock, to think before it acted once more.
     “ I SHOULD HOPE IT DOES, O’ CHAMPION MINE. ”
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minervacasterly · 4 years
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 ~Trastamara Curiosities & Stranger (and more terrifying) than Fiction: When Trastamaras Strike Back ~
Anyone remember when Cersei told Margaery that if she ever called her sister again she'd have her strangled in her sleep? Cersei cited the examples of her father's former vassals, the uppity Castamere clan who along with the Tarbecks thought they could outrank the Lannisters aaaaaaaand we know how that went.
The same thing happened during the Castilian war of the Castilian Succession which was a war between her and her niece, Dona Juana whom she and her supporters, including her husband, had nicknamed "La Beltraneja" due to the rumors surrounding her mother's affair with one of her late father's favorites, Beltran de La Cueva.
The two sides fought like dogs in their wives' names. King Alfonso V wasn't going to give up so easily. Portugal would finally have a footing in Castile, he could control the wealthiest nation in the Iberian Peninsula through her, foiling Isabella and Ferdinand's plan to unite Spain at last.*
Needless to say, it all ended badly and before long, Isabella and her hubby showed the world that like the Lannisters, who they were and what they did to their enemies, especially those that thought that could best them.
Cersei added with a smirk as she continued telling Margaery the story that her father didn’t just stop there. He hung all the surviving family members and their servants from the Castamere castle walls and left them there all summer. With an even more sardonic smile, relishing at the memory when she saw their rotting bodies hanging from the castle walls of Castamere, she says that “it was a long summer”, and the sight of them was enough to remind everyone of what happened to those who crossed her family. “And now the Reynes weep o’ their halls and not a soul to hear.” This is not by any stretch of the imagination an exaggeration of what happened when uppity vassals rebelled against their lords and masters. In the case of Isabella vs her niece, Dona Juana, Queen Consort of Portugal aka “La Beltraneja”, this is what happened during their civil war. When Ferdinand was heading to El Toro, Isabella decided to remain at Tordesillas, preferring to leave the siege of an important fort that had sided with her niece, to him. If the King of Portugal and Juana reached this fort before they did, all would be lost. Ferdinand wasted no time showing them who was boss and in a fashion that makes Game of Thrones look like a Disney show, Ferdinand ordered the Duke of Alba to launch an attack big enough to block out the sun (as one Persian general supposedly told a Spartan from among the 300 who confronted Xerxes II’s forces over a thousand years prior); and to his credit, they nearly did. The people inside the fort waved a flag of surrender. Not once but twice, but their pleas became irrelevant. The fort was taken and Ferdinand, not King of Aragon yet, but wise enough to know how to inspire loyalty in his troops and make an example of his enemies that made the rest of them tremble in fear, ordered everyone to be put to the sword or swung from the castle walls. And just like what Cersei told her beloved daughter-in-la, he let them stay there all summer. Summers in Spain were very hot and they rot pretty quickly. One anonymous chronicler describes the scene as nightmarish. This, he said, was “like hell”. “No one had seen so many people hung together.” The country would soon devolve into score-settling if this conflict didn’t get resolved. Isabella and her husband were aware of this, and throughout the entire ordeal, they remained together as one. Plotting, and out-maneuvering their enemies. It was the birth of Isabella’s only son that tuned the tide in their favor. With the prospect of a Prince who would inherit both crowns, fulfilling everyone’s dream of a united Spain, people began flocking to her and away from Juana until the poor girl had no choice but to give up her claim and spend the rest of her days in a convent. When Isabella received news of her husband’s victory, she wasted no time celebrating it. In Giles Tremlett’s words from his new biography on Isabella, the young Queen felt an enormous joy once she heard of this glorious new, “military victories, it soon became obvious, excited her tremendously.” Ferdinand and Isabella, as one as the other, ran their motto. (Tanto Monta/ Monta Tanto.) They had shown their opponents what they were made of, and how far they were willing to go. This was war, and if the crown was on her head and she was winning, then it was an affirmation of her belief that she was queen because God wanted her to be. We can all agree, that as far as queens and military commanders go, Cersei and Tywin pale in comparison to the might of the Trastamara couple. To top it off, Isabella wasn’t afraid to give her husband a tongue lashing either. After that successful siege, word broke out to the King of Portugal. To boast his bravado, Ferdinand challenged Alfonso V to single combat. No king took this seriously and made outrageous demands that none of them would comply. But then something happened. One of the King of Portugal’s emissaries angered a Castilian friar by his presence alone. The friar was Alonso de Burgos and he was known for his bawdy behavior. He struck the Portuguese emissary down and afterwards, he was cheered by the Prince of Aragon’s men. This gave the King of Portugal an even better excuse as to why he couldn’t agree to the match. Ferdinand was embarrassed. He apologized to the emissary and let him go then reprimanded the friar. His soldiers were outraged and saw this as weakness on his part, particularly his Basque troops whom had been his most ardent (and ruthless) supporters. People began to talk behind his back and it took more courage than he exhibited during past battles, to confront them and convince them not to leave their cause. When Isabella found out, she was appalled at the men’s behavior and that her husband had formed a compromise with them. It is said that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but that is nothing compared to the fury of a woman who felt she and her husband had been humiliated by a bunch of rowdy, drunk-with-rage soldiers. She refused to hear any of Ferdinand’s excuses. When the two were reunited, they convened a meeting but it had to be postponed because nobody wanted to confront their angry queen. The next day, she was still angry and chastised every one of them saying something akin to what our most-hated-and-loved queen on game of thrones told her hubby in season 1, “maybe I should wear the mail and you the skirts” and what her granddaughter Mary I’s successor, Elizabeth I, said to her troops at Tilbury, “I know I have the body of a weak and frail woman … but I have the heart and stomach of a king.” 
Eventually, Isabella calmed down and learned to accept her strengths and weaknesses, and focus on what was important and that was winning war. She was good where charisma was concerned. Both of them were, but Ferdinand was a better at strategy, so she decided to leave the military planning to him. (Something Cersei will never come to terms with because she will never learn to curve that pride; if she does, it will be at the expense of something drastic -far more drastic than losing her three kids and having Jaime abandoning her.)   *The last time Spain had been united had been with the marriage of Urraca of Castile and Leon and Alfonso of Aragon and Navarre but that union did not last after she died
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endless-vall · 3 years
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Not Born, But Made - TCATF fanfic, Chapter Nine - What Kind Of A Leader Will I Be?
Summary: Finally able to kick their plan into motion, Kenna and her allies start their journey. First stop, Fydoria.
Author’s note: Okay, I think from now on, although the recruiting will be present in the story, every chapter will have an additional dimention to it. Flashing out Kenna’s progression, her relationships with her allies, and so on.
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With all of her allies on her side, the plot could finally move into motion.
The plan, for now, was to recruit every ruler who was still alive, and kick late Queen Adriana’s original plan into motion.
With an allience between all of the kindoms, they could bring Luther down.
Yes, it sounded like they were in over their head. But the longer you thought about it, the less crazy it seemed.
With Leon Stirling, Gabriel Amarne and Annalyse Adair on her side, reaching those rulers didn’t seem like a dream anymore. It seemed like something they could actually achive.
And the longer Kenna served as their leader, the clearer she saw it.
This is what she was meant for.
“First stop, Fydoria.”
The group was standing in Leon’s tent. A map of the five kingdoms laid unfolded across the table. 
Leon pointed on a certain spot on the map, where Fydoria laid.
“What are we waiting for, then?” Kenna stood by his side. “Lead the way.”
“Fydoria took a hit, too, in Luther’s attack. Luther killed Amanth Drammir, their former king. His son Tevan survived the first attack. I gave him a hand when the first wave attack, so he should’ve been able to escape, and should owe us a favor. But you’d still have a lot of convincing to do, even if he survived his way back to Fydoria.
Fydoria is a great kingdom, a gracious one with a high intellectual value. But their army isn’t much of a strong one, and they already lost once.
Convincing Tevan might raise a challange, although I’m sorry I have no more advice on that matter, right now.” Gabriel gave her a rundown of everything Kenna needed to know, on their way to Fydoria.
Leon left one of his men in charge of the merchenaries while he joined Kenna and her group. That big, bulky one Kenna saw when they first arrived with Jackson and Val to the camp.
They will call on them when time comes, but they can’t be traveling with such a large group. It’ll definitely catch the eye of Luther and his army.
“What about something personal about King Tevan. Any personal details, preference I could use to gain his favor?” Kenna nodded, as the carriage rolled them their way.
“She learns fast.” Leon commented, throwing her and Gabriel a look.
“She sure does.” Gabriel, on the other hand, was giving her a proud smile.
“King Tevan is arrogant. He’s flirty, a hit with the ladies, really. But don’t let that fool you. If he flirts with you it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s fond of you. 
After losing his father... His arrogance balanced, a bit. Gain his favor... And he’ll be loyal to a fault.” Gabriel explained what he knew.
“So... You’re saying I shouldn’t let him flirt with me? Show him I’m serious, and worth it. And if he deems it actually worth it, we’ll have his undying loyalty?” 
“Something like that.” Gabriel nodded.
“Okay. I can definitely do that.” Kenna nodded, partly to herself.
“We’re here.” A voice called from outside the carriage, getting everyone’s attention. Jackson brought the carriage to a stop, and one by one everyone shuffled out of the carriage.
Fydoria’s gates stood in front of them. 
“From here, I’m afraid you’ll have to continue by foot. Fydoria is very cautious of who she lets in these days, I’m sure you understand.” 
“Absolutely.” 
Part of the group made camp outside of Fydoria’s wall. Part of the group went in to gather supplies.
And part of group accompanied Kenna to the Kingdom’s center.
Leon, Gabriel, Annelyse, Withlock and Raydan accompanied Kenna to Fydoria’s castle.
“I’ve sent word for our arrival to King Tevan. I kept it short, and vauge in case anyone caught wind of it before him. He’s expecting us... But he’s not sure what to expect.” Gabriel explained.
“Did you tell him you were coming?” Kenna asked.
“My royal sigil’s ring probably did, but no, I did not sign my name. It would be too dangerous is Luther’s men found that letter.”
“Of course. So he’s probably intrigued by our arrival.” Kenna concluded.
“And Fydoria sure loves solving a riddle.” Raydan commented.
A short walk later, and the guards ushered them into the castle.
“Make yourself comfortable. King Tevan will shortly see you.”
While most of her group sat down patiently, Kenna let herself wander. 
She passed the main hall, and entered a gallery. The doors were open wide, so Kenna guessed she wasn’t intruding. 
Pacing a little, Kenna stood infront a statue of a noble man. The caption bellow read ‘Amanth Drammir’.
So this was the former king. Kenna wondered what kind of a man he was. What kind of a king, a leader.
So far she only knew what kind of a king Luther Nevrakis was (a ruthless one), and Annelyse (gracious, but cunning). She heard about queen Adriana. She lived under her rule. Adriana was wise, compassionate, merciful. 
She let herself wonder what Tevan was going to be like.
“A great work of art, isn’t it?” A man approached her. He was wearing purple noble clothes, and he hit Kenna with an all-too-charming smile. “We comminisioned the best sculpture in the land, back in the time.” He added.
“Yes, it’s beautiful. The detailing on his features looks so real. The artist did a marvelous job.” Kenna agreed, before turning to face the man in front of her.
“King Tevan, I suppose?” She asked, with half a smile.
Tevan offered her a hand, and she placed her hand in his. He bowed down and planted a kiss over the back of her hand, before rising to face her again.
“Ah, I hoped I’d have more time to study you before you figured it out, but I did give it away, didn’t I?” He asked rethorically. He exited the gallery, and Kenna followed him.
“I bet you’re eager to talk to me, or else you wouldn’t have come so far.” He told her. They passed through the main hall, motioning the rest of the group to join them and into his throne room.
“I bet you’re just as eager to hear us out,” Kenna matched his wits. This earned her a surprised look from Tevan, followed by a satiesfied smile.
“I admit I’m intrigued. Gabriel wouldn’t have seeked me if it wasn’t important.” Tevan agreed, and sat across from the group at a table.
Everyone took their seats, leaving Kenna one on the middle. Gabriel sat to her right.
“Let’s talk business.” Tevan leaned his chin over his hands, all ears.
Tevan was the easiest to recruit, so far. He admitted he didn’t have much to contribute at this point, his army wasn’t one of the strongest, and Fydoria took a hard blow from the Nevrakis army, but Tevan wanted Luther out of the picture just as much as they did, and their plan sounded more and more like it might actually work.
Before saying their goodbyes, Tevan planted another kiss on Kenna’s hand. “When we win, my lady, I hope you remember I was one of your first allies.” He told her.
“Of course, Tevan. Thank you for your support.” Kenna batted her eyes at him.
Did she just win against him in his own game? Possibly.
“Bellmere is our next stop. The kingdom of Thronegate.”
“Lead the way.”
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overlord-diaries · 4 years
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"This is what I wanted out of a cameo from Joachim."
HAVE SOME MORE, WHATEVER.
Joachim Armster appears in Castlevania Lament of Innocence, the entry that begins the Iga-vania timeline with Sir Leon Belmont [the fuck outta here Lords of Shadow]. So I already acknowledge the probability of Joachim's appearance being very minute. Let's pretend that like some of the other discrepancies, the events of Lament of Innocence and Netflix Animated Castlevania work such that my fan-episode writing would work. I will explain in the comments if you're interested. -Joachim is the master of Bernhardt Castle in the Forest of Eternal Night. This puts him in an area that the Council of Sisters plans to conquer. Now with the army provided by Hector's forging, Carmilla don't give a fuck and leads the charge with Striga to scoop up the lands. Along the way is the Forest of Eternal Night, and all their army sort of gets lost within ne'er to return. What gives? Aha, Morana knows, it's fucking Joachim Armster, and we shouldn't tango with him just yet. Carmilla is like I ain't pausing the march for some man-baby vampire and personally goes into Eternal Night to kick his ass. -Spoiler, she don't. -Alternatively, Carmilla decides to ignore him, but we still get a nice cameo of Joachim luxuriating on the throne of Bernhardt Castle, cackling mad [cause that’s where he’s at in life according to the ending lmao]. Here's why: -Joachim is a fucking boss ass bitch; of all of Iga-vania verse vampires, I would wager Joachim fights on par with Dracula [even though he might not win, as in the grand scheme Drac is very OP of course]. He has abnormally high magic proficiency, using swords and MAGIC LASERS~! and shit. He's also the first playable vampire and villain in the games, which speaks to his popularity power for Lament. -Eternal Night of course is advantageous to all vamps, but the castle is 100% Joachim's domain now. Also there's a secret surprise in the dungeon~ -He's basically "What if Alucard, but a vampire?" and Ayami Koijma-sensei was like "you mean like this?" -This would be a great turn of events for the fate of Carmilla especially, because it'd be a bit out of left field depending on how much Joachim keeps to himself. And of course she would hate for a man [beautiful beautiful man] to ruin her scheme. -Afterwards, Joachim hasn't interrupted anything as far as everyone else's routes, and he can still be an adversary at a later time. Considering he's older than Dracula, the main trio could feasibly have heard of him--and can decide to leave him the fuck alone cause he stronk. -Has his own theme music, too, NOT THAT IT WOULD GET USED, I GUESS. The intricacies of how the timeline would have to work for him to do that can take up another post, haha. THIS HAS BEEN YOUR NIGHTLY ENDEAVOR OF CASTLEVANIA BULLSHIT HUUHRHHRRRRRRRRRRRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--
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ironforgedrp · 5 years
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        ℭ𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔰: 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫m𝐨𝐧𝐭, 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐤, 𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐲𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐲𝐦𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐲𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐫𝐲𝐜𝐡ä𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐰
     the long awaited final game. it takes place not long after the sword fight, the last game, always the jewel in any successful tournament... the joust.  with the title of queen of love and beauty on the line, this is undoubtedly the competition that gains the most attention from the female members of the crowd; noble, wealthy, commonfolk, royalty and scullery maids alike. lining themselves along the edge of the field in hopes of being spotted by one of the competing gentlemen (and perhaps even becoming the next lyanna stark & rhaegar targaryen love story), the other nobles and excitable crowd takes their positions in the stands and surrounding viewing areas, and the king and queen of the iron throne take their seats on the shaded podium.    as the competitors each trot on horseback in front of the crowd, their names boomed out to the attendees;
      ℭ𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔱𝔬𝔯 𝔏𝔦𝔰𝔱;
the riverlands prince tate tully
first ranger of the nights watch, ser endymion manderly
iron islands captain lord rychärd harlaw
heir to the north, lord branden stark
ruling lord of bear island, lord bannen mormont
the thorn king emeric tyrell
     ℭ𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔱𝔬𝔯 𝔏𝔦𝔰𝔱;
*the following characters are open connections or have been mentioned by active characters, and the admins have entered them in the joust
bosun of eilee’s breath under the storm queen, kilvard
ser theron payne, a crownlands knight
ser leon snowsson, second in command under lord branden stark
    ℭ𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔱𝔬𝔯 𝔏𝔦𝔰𝔱;
*the following characters are NPCs that are competing
captain oren pyke of the iron isles
barrowton ruling lord edderion stark
petyr stone, tavern owner
council member, lord jeor mormont
        𝔉𝔦𝔯𝔰𝔱 ℜ𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔡,
           the first round sees the council member of the north, lord jeor mormont pitted against crownlands tavernkeep petyr stone. it takes but one round and the redheaded mormont lord is unsaddled to groans of disappointment from his kin in the crowds.  then come two northern lords, ser endymion manderly of the nights watch and ser leon snowsson, and there’s a cry of surprise when the first ranger of the crows is sent tumbling from his saddle by the unknown northern knight.
          the grounds are cleared, and the next two are announced; the thorn king emeric tyrell against the iron isles captain oren pyke, and it’s not a surprise when the king of the reach easily unseats the pyke lord - and a cry of dismay comes from those loyal to house greyjoy as oren’s helmet is removed and it comes clear that a shattered piece of wood from the lance has embedded itself in his throat... he dies in minutes.   as his body is removed, the next two pair face across the grounds as the crowd cheers; a taste for blood inspired.  the riverlands prince tate tully stares down his lance at the recently knighted ser theron payne - and a roar comes from the riverlanders when the payne knight is sent tumbling from his saddle, completely unconscious.
    the second last pairing of the first round takes the field next, horses tossing their heads at the smell of blood and sweat as the crow cheers.  from each end of the pitch stare two nothern lords; lord branden stark and his uncle and lord of barrowton, lord eddarion stark. there’s a strange air of tension in the hair, as any northerner would know that the two branches of house stark have never seen eye to eye.   perhaps that’s what gives lord branden his upperhand as his lance blows through the shield and sends his uncle flying from his horse into the dirt. and finally, the last pair of the first round; the ruler of bear island and winner of the archery, lord bannen mormont and the iron isles council member lord rychärd harlaw.   the northmen give a yell and cheer as he bear island lord unseats the iron islands lord, and apparently it no surprise to him as he stands quickly and gives a comical bow, and then gives a salute & grin to lord bannen before picking up a short girl who had run out onto the grounds and into his arms, and then exiting off into the crowd.  cheers rain down for the northern lord, the northmen bellowing support for one of their own.
    and with that, the next round is set...
       𝔖𝔢𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔡 ℜ𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔡,
      when the tavernkeep petyr stone leaves the competition, it allows the previously excluded due to odd numbers, stormlands bosun kilvard to take his place against ser leon snowsson.   the round is quick, but what happens after is not.  ser leon is unseated on the first blow, but a foul name is called and a fist is swung and suddenly there are a half dozen stormland and northmen brawling on the jousting field.   it is only stopped when the kingsguard pull the men apart, and it is quickly decided that neither kilvard nor ser leon would be allowed to continue competing.
   the next round pits the thorn king emeric tyrell against the riverlands prince tate tully, and it takes four attempts before either is able to land a blow.  first king emeric’s shield is shattered, and then prince tate is almost knocked from his steed... the crowd is on it’s feet as the final blow is delivered, but it is truly a double edged sword; the riverlands prince struck square in the chest, and the thorn king in the shoulder as they both unseat each other, neither will advance.. leaving only one pairing left, automatically the finalists.
       𝔉𝔦𝔫𝔞𝔩 ℜ𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔡
    with a disappointed groan, the riverlands prince and the thorn king exited the grounds as the last two lords took position on the grounds opposite each other.  the archery winner and ruling lord of bear island, lord bannen mormont, and the heir of winterfell and ambassador of the warden of the north (also lord mormonts liege-lord), lord branden stark.   the final bets are placed, and the eligible ladies leant forward excitedly to see who would win and who they would crown as the queen of love and beauty.
     positioned opposite one another - the deep north and the heart of the north compete for the title of champion, while the two lords seem to carry no personal grudge, the prospect of the little known house sweeping yet another game out from under the great houses had the crowd as a whole, not just the northmen, whipped into a frenzy.  and now their lances raised and the hooves of the horses flicked dirt as they speed up...
     a lance splinters off the shield of lord branden - earning a shocked, collective gasp from the crowd as very few held in hope for the stark lord. re-positioning themselves, the duo face down once more again and it seems the new lance brings the bear island lord some shocking luck.
      lord stark tumbles, but breaks his fall with a tucked roll and is able to stand and dust himself off, waving away assistance.  with a mighty cheer from the crowd (and many, many groans from those who still hated the north), lord bannen mormont is announced the champion of the joust to the absolute shock of even him.  he is awarded a crown of flowers and is asked to name the queen of love and beauty.   the stark heir, having come in second - nods respectfully to his opponent before disappearing among the crowd.
     lord bannen remounts his steed and, upon finding a familiar fair-haired woman in the crowd.   the mormont champion, in front of all the attendees, places a crown of flowers upon the kings sister, lady lysella lannisters head, crowning her the queen of love and beauty of the tourney of this year, 505AC during the reign of king arryk lannister.
CHAMPION: 350 Gold Dragons, Lord Bannen Mormont
QUEEN OF LOVE & BEAUTY: Lady Lysella Lannister
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royal-despair · 5 years
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Seojun was hellbent to a massive degree, but if he didn’t survive now, all hope would be lost.
sketch done by @allyssinian ! Line and color done by @talentlessartblog​ ! Mastermind Monologue written by @tsoi-sauce​
“...” 
 Shambolic. That was the word that would come to the survivors of Queen Rose when asked what this trip turned out to be like. Execrable. That was the word to describe every single death that had taken place in the airship that they set sail on. Jarring. That was the word to describe just what the atmosphere in the room felt like in each trial they faced together. 
Neverending. That’s how this killing game felt to the remaining seven survivors, including Seojun Tsoi. 
His eyes couldn’t meet the rest of his peers.  How was he going to break this truth to people that he had grown to be friends with? Would people really want to know the truth?  The hard, cold truth of it all?  But it was no use lying to them.  After all, the truth is what they had deserved, right? 
 The blonde felt his hands move up to his magenta hairpins. With shaking fingers he unclipped the pins from his dyed locks, the accessories quietly falling into his hands.  His hair falls once more, just like in the observatory.  Only this time, the tables have turned. 
 The room was dead silent.   He pocketed the accessories into his leather jacket, and his eyes gazed up to the skies above him.  His hands tightly gripped the podium.  His haunting gaze was torn away from the rest of his peers, and as he scowled to the heavens above, he knew that one thing was for certain.
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Seojun was hellbent to a massive degree, but if he didn’t survive now, all hope would be lost.
“...I’ve got nowhere else to run from here, do I?”  The question came out as rhetorical as he gritted his teeth.  He wanted to bite his lip; he wanted to deny the truth, knowing it would cause everyone to feel the terror that he was reliving right now.  However, he also knew that he couldn’t hide anymore.  His foot lightly stomped into the ground, grinding itself into the glass floor below.
“...Damn it.  Damn it, I didn’t want it to have to be like this.  It shouldn’t have turned out this way...It shouldn’t have been like this…”  Seojun ran a hand through his hair, feeling the imminent stress getting to him as the silence around him slowly grew.  The voices in his head were buzzing, demanding to just get this all over with. 
 “...”  The silence continued for a moment as everyone watched with horror at the Internet Troll’s movements, words, and facial expressions.
“There’s no use, is there?  I don’t have any place to hide now.  It....looks like I have to explain myself to you, explain who the hell…what  the hell I am. ”  His hands were still shaking; no matter what he tried, he just couldn’t stop the dreadful fear rising up in his chest.  However, he knew that this would come from the moment the Steampunk Designer was stabbed in the neck.  It was just a matter of execution.
This was it:  do, or die.
“I’ll start by introducing myself, once more.”  He faced those around him along with stands with crossed out profiles of those no longer here.  “My name is Seojun Tsoi, and I am the one who controlled Akomi.  I am the one who announced the killing game to all of you...and, yes, I am the one who stabbed Etheldred Himura, the Super High School Level Steampunk Designer.”
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He crossed his arms, hiding his hands from the distraught faces of his peers.  His eyes flickered to Runa, a pang of sorrow seeping deep into his chest.  God, even with this reveal, the monster they see was still hauntingly recognizable.  He was a hypocrite...But, he was a hypocrite with a cause under his name. 
“However, I’m not ending my confession there.”  His body turns to the owl plushie on her throne, a look of absolute hatred entering those aqua marine irises.  “Because you guys need to know everything that I know.”  Seojun’s hand then flung out towards Torimi with a slant in both of his eyes.  “And before you even think about stopping me, guess what?! Tough shit!  You broke your end of the deal, so now, I get to break mine.”
“With that out of the way, I’m going to give you some background, so take a seat for five minutes, because you’re about to hear nothing but the god damn facts.”
“Once upon a time, I was accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy under the title of the Super High School Level Internet Troll.  That in itself was never a lie, as horrendously stupid as it sounds.  The next thing I know, I was trapped on a ship with seventeen other kids my age, with no recollection of how I got there, or why I was there.  It wasn’t on an airship either - rather, it was an actual boat.  I can remember it clearly; that fucking anteroom was on the same ship.”
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“It was in that very room where I saw them. A half white, half scaley green plush named Gekumi... and Torimi herself.  We all learned that we were forced to kill each other for various causes, with the same rules we have here.  Motives and all, with all of the heartache packed into a punch.  Of course, I chose to not feel these things for a good while.  I chose to be someone that would provide as a guiding light for the damned.”
He let a forced chuckle pass his lips, running a hand through his hair.  “After all, back then, I made it a known habit to shut out my negative emotions for good.  Who would want to know the pitiful feelings of a classmate, when they were all going through the same thing?  That was my thought process.  The rules in my first killing game were the same.  The first two motives passed as they did. Victims. Investigations. Trials. Killers. Execution. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.” 
 “The third motive?  They held our loved ones captive, just like our first one.”  He grips onto his podium tighter, gritting his teeth.  “Imagine that.  Imagine your sister being in there twice.  Your sister, who had saved you from yourself, being held captive by strangers, and the only way to get her out of there was to kill someone that you had barely known at all!”  He squeezed his eyes tightly together, letting those tears fall at long last.
“Wouldn’t you do the same as I did?! Wouldn’t you kill someone that everyone despised on that ship to save your sister?!” 
“...Ae-Joung...Ae-Joung saved my life.  It’s only fair I would do the same, right?  I...ended up taking the bait.  I killed someone.  I ended up killing that damned Antonio.  Always the aggressive one around the shipmates...Hell, he killed someone just before I did.  He killed Hitomi, and it seemed like her boyfriend was the one who killed that bastard, you know?  Because I didn’t tell the truth...Because of that...everyone…”
“Everyone voted for the wrong person.”
“Their screams.  I can still remember all of their screams of terror, their pleas for help, their wails of despair.  The eleven survivors were all executed at the same time.  Gekumi was suddenly no more, too.   I had the first hand experience of experiencing hell...no, Hell would have been a more merciful fate.  I should have been the one to be executed.  I should have died in their place.”
One look at this man would tell you enough:  He was a broken man.  He was someone who had been through hell and back, and it really did a toll on his mind.  Even so, he still continued on with his story.
“But because I didn’t, I have the responsibility of reminding you of this.  Torimi is the same person who orchestrated my game.  Whoever is behind Torimi is the one who orchestrated this game, my game, the sixth killing game, the game before that...Do you see the big picture here?  Whoever is behind Torimi is the one that is planning all of these killing games!”
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Slowly but surely, his voice rose up, more and more, his anger building as he spoke.  Seojun wanted to be able to get this story, his story, their story across to all of them.  Dmitri, Runa, Josefina, Takuma, Chiyo, Leon...They all deserve to know, didn’t they?
“...After everyone was executed, Torimi came up to me, and congratulated me on winning the game.  She explained to me that Gekumi was controlled by one of the other executed students.  Then, she gave me an offer.  She gave me the choice to come back home to my family, or to have the honor of being her second mastermind in the next game.  The first option was the one I would’ve chosen right off the bat, but then I realized something.”
“If I chose to leave this ship for good, who knows how many other games would’ve commenced under her damn wing?  If I didn’t take this offer up right now, countless upon countless amounts of lives would suffer from the same fate.  People around the world…”  He puts a hand over his chest for a moment.  “People like us would be put in the same situation that we’re all in if I didn’t side with Torimi for the time being.  If I didn’t find out who was behind her, and take them down with my own bare hands, who knows how many more lives would be lost?  How many more lives would be put through the same torment?”
“So, I told her that if I were to take the second option, that I had a special request.  I wanted the person behind Torimi to play in the killing game with me.   She- They ended up agreeing, surprisingly enough.  That was the answer that I needed.  Thus, I took it.  I took the offer of being a co-mastermind, so I can put an end to this endless cycle once and for all.  This lead to me here… on The Queen Rose.  I was introduced to my own little mascot, Akomi.”
“I’ll say this now - I didn’t choose the option for him to talk like that.  Torimi wanted this mother and son gimmick, which was traumatizing for me, and she knew that.  She believed that she could overpower me just because of this, just because she’s the one who brought me to this corner that I’ve been backed into.  I’ll let you know now - she was wrong.”
“...I know this doesn’t excuse me from anything I’ve done.”  He suddenly murmurs, glancing to the side for a moment.  Tears continued to fall from Seojun’s eyes, streaming down his cheeks.
“I know I’m still at fault for all of this.  For all of the deaths here, and trust me, there are days where I regret taking this position.  Cici...Izaya...They deserved someone better than me.  They all deserved…You all deserve someone better than a monster like me.  Because it’s true; I can bet what you’re thinking.  That I’m the cause of the deaths of our friends.  That I must think this is all a joke.  That I’m such a hypocrite.  But I’ll let you all know this:”
“Nothing that I felt towards any of you was a lie.”
“I may have lied about not being involved in this mess, yes.  I may have lied about being someone you could rely on, and for that, I’m sorry.  I don’t have enough words that I can say that can express how fucking horrible I feel right now.  But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t care for each and every one of you. No memories that were made between all of us was just a ‘part of the plan’ to me - to me, they all meant something.  I meant everything, that I swear to you. Fuck, if I could, I would trade my life with anyone that has died in this place.”  Except Townsworth.  Good on you, Petra.
His eyes met with everyone around him, and when they looked into his eyes, they saw something different. There was a fire in his eyes now, some sort of spark of determination that was set alight.
“You can do...whatever you want to me, after we manage to get out of this joint.  You can beat me down, damn me to hell...hell, you can kill me if you have the mercy in your body.  But, please, for the love of god...Work with me, just a little longer.  Help me accomplish my mission:  to find out whoever is behind Torimi, and bring them down once and for all.  To put a stop to all of this madness.  Please help me…”
“Help me to not let their deaths be in vain.”
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Chapters: 1/2 Fandom: Merlin (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Leon/Mithian (Merlin), Gwen & Leon (Merlin), Elyan & Leon (Merlin), Leon/Guilt Characters: Leon (Merlin), Gwen (Merlin), Morgana (Merlin), Morgause (Merlin), Merlin (Merlin), Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Gaius (Merlin), Elyan (Merlin), Mithian (Merlin), Gwaine (Merlin), Percival (Merlin), Lancelot (Merlin) Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Its to sell a story its not done to harm himself, Murder, Betrayal, Poisoning, Hurt No Comfort, Guilt, Self-Hatred, dark leon, AU, Not Canon Compliant, Sad, Not a Happy Story, Nightmares, Leon wins the game of thrones Summary:
A dark AU for The Coming of Arthur Part 2 where Leon's loyalty is to the people of Camelot alone and he is willing to do anything to save Camelot from being ruled by a tyrannical monster, even if he becomes a monster himself in the process.
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alystayr · 5 years
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Playlist musicale 2019 (2/2)
Liste des chansons (playlist 2019 - part. 2)
Mise à jour : 31 décembre 2019
playlist 2019 (part.2), playlist 2019 (part. 1)
playlist 2018 (part. 2), playlist 2018 (part. 1)
playlist 2017 (part. 2), playlist 2017 (part. 1)
playlist 2016 (part. 2), playlist 2016 (part. 1)
playlist 2015
0-9 #
16 Horsepower - American Wheeze (1996)
A
AaRON - Blouson Noir (2015)
Abd Al Malik - Le jeune noir à l’épée (2019)
The Afghan Whigs - Algiers (2014)
Air - Alpha Beta Gaga (2004-2016)
Alabama Shakes - Don’t Wanna Fight (2015)
Alice In Chains -  Rainier Fog (2018)
Angels of Light - Dawn (2005)
Aphrodite’s Child - Rain and tears (1968)
Archive - Erase (2019)
Louis Armstrong - St. James Infirmary (1928)
B
The B52's - Planet Claire (1979)
The Beatles - All You Need Is Love (1967)
Beck - Saw Lightning (2019)
Belle and Sebastian - Sister Buddha (2019)
Bénabar - Y'a une fille qu'habite chez moi (2001)
The Beta Band - Dry The Rain (1997)
Björk - Declare Independence (2008)
The Black Keys - Go (2019)
Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper (1976)
Blur - There’s No Other Way (1991)
Joe Bonamassa - Lonesome Christmas (2016)
David Bowie - When I'm Five (1967)
Georges Brassens - Les copains d'abord (1964)
Jacques Brel - Mathilde (1963)
John Butler Trio - Bully (2017)
C
Cage The Elephant - Shake Me Down (2011)
Calexico - The Ballad of Cable Hogue (2000)
Calogero - En Apesanteur (2002)
Captain Kid - We & I (2012)
Johnny Cash (cover Nine Inch Nails) - Hurt (2002/1994)
Chloé - One in other (2010)
The Clash - White Riot (1977)
Johnny Clegg & Savuka - Asimbonanga (1987)
Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues (1958)
Cocoon - Back To One (2019)
Cold War Kids - Passing the Hat (2006)
Chris Cornell - Seasons (from Singles) (1992)
Cypress Hill (feat. Chino Moreno and Everlast) - (Rock) Superstar (2000)
D
Dead Kennedys - Kill The Poor (1980)
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
dEUS - Instant Street (1999)
Dolly - Comment taire (2002)
The Doors - Love Street (1968)
Dr. John - Right Place Wrong Time (1973)
Bob Dylan - Hurricane (1975)
E
Eels - You Are The Shining Light (2018)
Eiffel - Cascade (2019)
Lisa Ekdahl (cover Betty Hutton) - It's Oh So Quiet (1997/1951)
Eminem - Venom (2018)
Eurythmics - Here Comes The Rain Again (1983)
F
Mylène Farmer - Des larmes (2018)
Les Fatals Picards - La Sécurité de l'Emploi (2007)
Fine Young Cannibals - Johnny Come Home (1985)
Florence + the Machine - Jenny of Oldstones (from Game of Thrones) (2019)
Foals - What Went Down (2015)
Foo Fighters - Best Of You (2005)
Foster The People - Pumped up Kicks (2011)
Future Islands - Fall From Grace (2014)
G
Peter Gabriel - Shock The Monkey (1982)
Liam Gallagher - One Of Us (2019)
Jean-Jacques Goldman - Je marche seul (1985)
The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Gun To The Head (2019)
Kim Gordon - Sketch Artist (2019)
Gossip - Standing In the Way of Control (2006)
Gravenhurst - The Collector (2007)
Juliette Gréco (cover Léo Ferré) - Jolie Môme (1961)
Grinderman - Man In The Moon (2007)
H
Nina Hagen - African Reggae (1979)
Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite - The Bottle Wins Again (2018)
PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me (1993)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Purple Haze (1967)
Kristin Hersh - The Cuckoo (1994)
Jacques Higelin - Paris-New York, New York-Paris (1974)
I
Interpol - The Weekend (2019)
Iron Maiden - Flight of Icarus (1983/2019)
Izia - Hey Bitch (2009)
J
Julia Jacklin (cover The Strokes) - Someday (2019/2001)
JAY-Z - Marcy Me (2017)
Joy Division - New Dawn Fades (1979)
Judas Priest - Breaking The Law (1980)
K
Kaiser Chiefs - Don't Just Stand There, Do Something (2019)
Kings of Leon - Family Tree (2013)
Mark Knopfler - Redbud Tree (2012)
L
Mark Lanegan Band - Stitch It Up (2019)
Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1983)
Bernard Lavilliers & Catherine Ringer - Idées Noires (1983-2014)
Led Zeppelin - No Quarter (1973)
The Lemonheads - Alison’s Starting To Happen (1992)
Linkin Park - Breaking The Habit (2003)
Little Eva - The Loco-Motion (1962)
Luke - Hasta Siempre (2004)
M
Scott McKenzie - San Francisco (1967)
Marcela Mangabeira (cover Michael Jackson) - Human Nature (2008/1982)
Loreena McKennitt - The Lady of Shalott (1991)
Marilyn Manson - God’s Gonna Cut You Down (2019)
Marilyn Manson (cover The Doors) - The End (1967-2019)
Massive Attack - Protection (1994)
Metallica - Seek and Destroy (1983)
Midnight Oil - Forgotten Years (1990)
Eddy Mitchell - Sur la route de Memphis (1976)
Modest Mouse - Lampshades on Fire (2015)
Gary Moore - The Loner (1987)
Moriarty - Isabella (2011)
Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy (1955)
N
The National - Hey Rosey (2019)
Nirvana - Come As You Are (1992)
Nirvana - Negative Creep (1991)
Noir Désir - Bouquet de nerfs (2001)
O
Les Ogres de Barback - Si tu restes (2019)
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells (1973)
OrelSan - Dis moi (2018)
P
Vanessa Paradis - Ces mots simples (2018)
Charles Pasi - A Man I Know (2014)
Pearl Jam - Jeremy (1991)
Pink Floyd - Money (1973)
Pixies - Hey (1989)
Placebo - Battle For The Sun (2009)
Iggy Pop - Run Like A Villain (1982)
Portishead - Misterons (1994)
The Pretenders - Middle of the Road (1984)
Q
Queens Of The Stone Age - Regular John (1998)
R
The Raconteurs - Help Me Stranger (2019)
Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out) (1995)
Ram Jam - Black Betty (1977)
Red Hot Chili Pepper - Under The Bridge (1991)
Renaud - Fatigué (1985)
Calvin Russell - Soldier (1992/2011)
S
Saez - Germaine (2019)
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Constipation Blues (1969)
Screaming Trees - Nearly Lost You (1992)
Seasick Steve - Hobo Low (2006)
Shaka Ponk - My Name Is Stain (2011)
William Sheller - Maintenant Tout Le Temps (1994)
Alan Silvestri - Retour vers le Futur (from Back to the Future) (1985)
Simon & Garfunkle - El Condor Pasa (1970)
Slaves - The Velvet Ditch (2019)
Smoke City - Underwater Love (1997)
Sonic Youth - Bull In The Heather (1994)
Joss Stone (cover The Dells) - The Love We Had (Stays On My Mind) (2012)
Alain Souchon - Presque (2019)
Soundgarden - The Day I Tried To Live (1994)
Supertramp - Give A Little Bit (1977)
T
Taj Mahal - Ain't That A Lot Of Love (1968)
Tame Impala - Patience (2019)
Tarmac - Tu semblante (2001)
Taxi Girl -   Cherchez le Garçon (1980)
Tindersticks - For The Beauty (2019)
Tool - Fear Inoculum (2019)
Tricky (feat. Marta) - Makes Me Wonder (2019)
The Twilight Singers - King Only (2000)
U
U2 - Mysterious Ways (1991)
U2 - Pride (In The Name Of Love) (1984)
Ugly Kid Joe - Cats In The Cradle (1992)
UNKLE - The Lost Highway (2019)
V
Volbeat - Still Counting (2008)
W
Tom Waits - I hope I don’t fall in love with you (1973)
Les Wampas - Ce Soir C'est Noël (1990)
Les Wampas - Chirac En Prison (2003)
The War on Drugs - Pain (2017)
Emily Jane White - Dark Undercoat (2007)
Jim White - Bluebird (2004)
The Who - Behind Blue Eyes (1971)
Wilco - Everyone Hides (2019)
John Williams - Star Wars Main Theme (1977)
Shannon Wright - These Present Arms (2019)
X
Y
Yodelice - Wake Me Up (2010)
Thom Yorke - Not The News (2019)
Z
Zebda - Le Bruit Et L'Odeur (1995)
Rob Zombie - Dead City Radio And The New Gods Of Supertown (2013)
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Daily Toony Circumstance
First day of our little game of thrones ends in a decisive yet questionable victory for the throne of Naboombu. By that we mean King Leonidas cheated. The first game was American style soccer, and while we know precisely jack shit about it, it was obvious to everybody that he cheated. His rages from the sidelines were carefully calculated to literally blow away the competition with their usual gale force power. This lead to the referees passing the "unreasonably unfair" rule that both Kings are forbidden from "...speaking, sneezing, belching, farting talking, whistling or interfering with the games, its players on their behalf, or it's outcome in any way shape or form". Of course this was aimed at Leonidas. Richard Coeur-Leon was based on a Norman king of England; not some Savage storybook beast; he would NEVER cheat, says he!
Nothing forbids the two Kings from fighting on the sidelines. At least not yet.
So the next tournament, tomorrow will be archery. We got a few bets going around that Robin Hood will win. Of course you never know: Leonidas' pagebird might pull through! That's why we got bets on him! Either way, we make a killing! -Wheezy
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itsletstalkgames · 5 years
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Let’s Talk Resident Evil 2 (Remake)
“If you see one of those things-uniform or not-you do not hesitate. You take it out, or you run.”
The zombie apocalypse is something everyone thinks about at least one point in their lives. Then there’s those people who bring that idea to life, and one of those products is Resident Evil 2. This game was first released back in 1998, but recently remade from the ground up for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. I’m one of those few that never experienced the original, even though I have a console (N64) that can play it. I never decided to grab it because I’m not a huge horror fan, but I became very intrigued when the remake was revealed at E3 2018. A week after launch I decided to buy it on PS4 and try it out, but didn’t finish it until recently, so I’m gonna talk about it now. Bear with me as I am not a great writer, but let’s dive right in.
Main Story and Game-play
Resident Evil 2 is an action, survival horror game with puzzles here and there. The game confines you into small areas with limited supplies, making you explore your surroundings to progress while avoiding death by the numerous zombies littered about the areas. Plot is pretty straight forward at first: survive and find your way out of the zombie infested city known as Raccoon City. Overtime the game explores how the outbreak happened and who is responsible, but I won’t discuss that here as I’ll try to make this as spoiler-free as I can. There are two main characters in this game: Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Leon is a rookie cop who recently got enlisted to the Raccoon City Police Department, but never gets orders for his first assignment. He decides to head into the city to see what is wrong. Claire is a college student who is looking for her brother Chris, who was last seen at the Raccoon City Police Station. The two meet at a zombie infested gas station, where they experience the horror of the outbreak first hand. While narrowly escaping death, the two head to Raccoon City to find answers on what is going on. After getting separated in the city, they decide to go to the Raccoon City Police Department (I’m gonna call it RPD from here on out) hoping for survivors. When you arrive (as one of the characters) you realize there’s no one left and you have to find your way out before you’re somebody’s dinner.
Now let’s talk about game-play. As I said before this game is an action survival horror game with puzzles thrown in, and it does a really good job. The horror aspect is spot on. The zombies are so well detailed they feel like people with lives before they were turned, unlike past zombie games I have played. The move around with such realism, sometimes staggering, making it seem like they’re avoiding your attacks, when they’re actually just moving around. They are literal sponges though, taking a lot of bullets before getting taken down, and even then sometimes they’ll play dead and ruin your time later. This mechanic gives the whole horror aspect a lot more, well, horror. You’ll shoot a zombie to the ground and then go into another room. When you come back, the body is gone, and it gives you adrenaline thinking like, “Oh crap where is it now”, as in my experience the zombies usually hide when they come back to life-sometimes in plain sight-and will take a nibble out if your nice fleshy shoulder. The lighting is amazing. Lots of dimly lit places giving you a horror vibe that you’re alone and helpless in this world of man eating zombies. In these hallways and rooms you carry a flashlight, which gives you a limited amount of sight. The music sets the tone of the game, only showing up when you are in danger
Throughout the game you’ll explore the police station, unlocking rooms and grabbing new weapons, ammo, health items, and key items to help you progress throughout the station and later different areas. The police station in my opinion is where the meat of the game-play is. Exploring a station with puzzles that have intertwining solutions, where solving one puzzle will give you an item to solve another puzzle, and so on and so forth. After a while you’ll feel that you have conquered the police station. The best part is that the game knows this and puts your knowledge to the test by sending a big and menacing enemy at you: The Tyrant. This unstoppable foe will hunt you down throughout your time at the police station right before you leave it, Doing unbelievable damage with just a punch. At this point you’re gonna have to change your style of play, with now an unkillable enemy on your tail, the game gives you a sense of urgency to find out how to escape the station once and for all. Ways you can tell when the Tyrant is nearby is his loud footsteps. If you hear his footsteps he is probably a room or two over, which at times has scared the crap out of me. Sometimes he’ll appear without warning and sock you right in the face. The tyrant is also attracted by any noises you make. If you shoot a gun or get hurt from a nasty zombie bite, the tyrant will know where you are and immediately head over to the location where the noise happened. If that scenario happens-and it will-the best you can do is leave that area before he gets there. You can avoid him by stunning him with gunshots or sub weapons, or hiding in “safe rooms”. These rooms are basically rooms where no enemies will go, giving you a breather from the games constant action.
One of the few problems I have with this game is the characters. This game wants you to feel alone and helpless. So when the game introduces more characters, I want to know who and what their motives are. The game doesn’t really tell me the backstories of these characters, killing most of them off before they start to open up the personalities of these characters. With Leon and Claire the game gives you only the necessary things you need to know, while throughout the game expanding their personalities at least a little bit. It doesn’t do that with most of the other characters which I found disappointing, as some characters were really interesting, then just killed off (like game of thrones? I don’t know I haven’t watched game of thrones yet). To me this is really minor to the game being the game it is but still a gripe I have with it nonetheless.
After beating the game the first time you’ll unlock the “second run” for the other character. I decided to play through the game as Claire and the did the second run as Leon. This run takes place during your run as the first character, so in this case there were subtle hints littered throughout areas that Claire was there. There were a few problems though. Some puzzles I solved as Claire were completely untouched when I played the second run. I understand that this will ruin the second run if these puzzles were already solved, but they could try to make different ones just to make things fresh. Second run switched items around and enemy placement around, also since you played the game already and know your way around the map, the game will send the Tyrant at you minutes after you first enter the police station. The game also gives you a new starting weapon to deal with the difficulty rise that the second run gives you. Overall the second run was different enough for it to be fresh, but is towards the end just like the first run in terms of puzzles and enemy placement.
Extra Modes
The last thing I’ll touch on is the extra modes, each just kind of an aggressive escape sequence. There are 6 in total, 3 being unlocked from the start and the other 3 being unlocked after specific requirements. I’ll start with the 3 you do get. These 3 modes are called the “Ghost Survivors”, you play as a certain character in the main story that you meet and it's a what if scenario that they survive. I think it’s really cool that they added this little feature, as it was something I thought about when I met these characters. There’s one more ghost survivor that you unlock after you beat all 3 of the others and this one is a little different. Instead of getting from point A to point B you stay confined in one area and have to kill a certain amount of enemies to win. Like I said before I’m being very vague with characters so I don’t spoil anything.
The last two extras are tied to the main story and actually happen. Well, one of them. “The 4th Survivor” is unlocked after you beat the second run with either character. It follows a soldier by the code-name of “Hunk” who is trying to meet his extraction point to leave raccoon city. This mode is like the ghost survivors but is different in a way where you don’t get more items to progress, what you have is what you have and you don’t get anymore things. It’s a thrilling adrenaline filling mode that challenges you to your limit. After beating this mode you unlock the “joke” mode of this game: “The Tofu Survivor”. Yes you heard that right, you play as a giant block of tofu. It’s the same as the 4th survivor except you only start out with combat knives instead of having guns, and obviously you’re a giant block of tofu. When you beat this mode you unlock different flavors of tofu that’ll give you different load outs, but all in all it’s the same experience and I laughed while watching my piece of tofu getting eaten by zombies.
Conclusion
Resident Evil 2 excels at making you feel alone and helpless in the zombie infested place of Raccoon City. It’s atmosphere is rich and terrifying, and its game play is nice and solid. The plot is not the best but the mystery it gives you makes you hungry for more on what happened in this world. Characters are vague when it comes to personality and the second run was a lot less unique than I wanted though. This is a horror game, and one of the best I’ve played to this day. I played around 25 hours in total with both main story runs and all the extra modes you get, and had an amazing time. If you like horror, you’re going to like this game. And even if you don’t like horror, maybe this’ll be the game that’ll help you turn. It’s a great game I’m glad I chose to experience.
How can it be better?
As I said before they don’t go in depth with some characters since they get killed off. Maybe the best way to approach this problem I have is to make use of the files that are littered throughout the game and make it so they’re like other characters being suspicious of said character or the character writing a memo about what they’ve done or just something around those lines. Now let’s move to the tyrant. he would be way more of a menace if he was “killable”. what do i mean by that? Why he just plays dead like some zombies do. You shoot this menace down and he’ll play dead, you walk away feeling way more relaxed and victorious, only to hear him walking around the station a minute or two later and bursting into the room you’re currently in. This solves the problem of having no time at all to do puzzles without the tyrant bursting in and interrupting your progress, and a nice touch would be going to where the dead body was and not seeing it there cues some kind of music to play or even just one shrill sounding chord to add impact to the tyrant still being alive. Another minor change I would've liked is making the starting weapon you get in the second be a little more useful later on. the only reason i kept it over the original starting weapon is because you can’t find normal handgun ammo anymore as they replace it with the special ammo you use for the new starting weapon. the new starting weapon also doesn’t get upgrades like every other weapon. so it becomes a little obsolete near the end and I’d rather use the original starting weapon when the game gave me gunpowder, because combining gunpowder makes handgun ammo and not the special handgun ammo, which I found bizarre. But that’s enough rambling. Thanks for listening to me talk Resident Evil 2
Be sure to comment what games you wanna see me rant about next!
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