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sketching-shark · 3 years

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I think we should start a protection squad (although they don’t need it because they can protect themselves) for Sun Wukong and Guanyin

“Begone monkie kid fandom trying to down grade these really interesting characters with interesting personality’s and backstory ( the both of them like seriously Guanyin backstory is so cool) to a villain wile trying to justify your angsty backstory (that are no where near as cool as monkey who fights gods and Person who has 1000 arms and heads to help people in need) for the actual villain”

So who wants to join

Me:*raises my hand*

Ps: sorry if I got Guanyin backstory wrong am not an expert on it.

Haha okay so some critiques on the jttw & associated media western fandom & fandom in general coming up, so please skip this upcoming text wall if you don't want to encounter my undoubtedly ~devastating~ words (i.e. don't like don't read as people love to say, & if I have to be inundated with images of my notp every time I go into the sun wukong tag then I imagine people can be chill with me expressing my opinions & giving people fair warning that I WILL be critiquing common fandom trends, but no need for you to see that if you don’t want to. Cool? Cool.)

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PFFFFFTTT oh man there are many times when I feel like signing up for such a protection squad...when it comes to the current western jttw & Sun Wukong fandom I do feel like I'm often swinging at a rapid pace between "well it's fandom & people are allowed to make the stories they want" & "I am once again begging my fellow monkie kid enthusiasts (& sometimes creators) to do more research into the og classic/show it more respect so you can avoid any potentially offensive/off-the-mark misunderstandings of the status & cultural context of the characters in their country of origin (I promise it's super interesting & I can provide you with links to free pdf copies of the entire Yu translation, i.e. the best one ever created, so feel free to ask!) & maybe also stop constantly stripping away all the nuance of Sun Wukong's character for the sake of either making him an entire asshole so your little meow meow can look completely innocent in comparison and/or making the monkey king's entire life & character revolve around said meow meow."

Like I get that fandom's supposed to be a kind of anything-goes environment, but one thing that honestly seems to be true of a lot of fandoms--and the western one for Sun Wukong & co. is certainly not immune from this--is that there often seems to be a kind of monoculturalization at work in what stories are created & what character interpretations are made popular. Across a multitude of fandoms, you frequently see basically nothing but the exact same tropes being made popular & even being insisted on for the canonical work (especially hasty redemption arcs & enemies to lovers these days), the exact same one-dimensional character types that characters from an original work keep getting shoved into, the exact same story beats, etc. And I get it to an extent, as fandom is generally a space where people just make art and fic for fun & without thinking too hard about it & without any pressure.

This seems to, however, often unfortunately lead to the mentality that it’s your god-given right to do literally whatever you want with literally any cultural figure without even the slightest bit of thought put into their cultural, historical, and even religious context, even (and sometimes especially) when it comes to figures that are really important in a culture outside your own. For such figures--even if you first encounter them in a children’s cartoon--you should be a little more careful with what you do with them than you would with your usual Saturday morning line-up. It of course has to be acknowledged that there exists a whole pile of absolutely ridiculous & cursed pieces of media that are based on Journey to the West & that were produced in mainland China, but for your own education if nothing else I consider it good practice for those of us (myself certainly included) who aren’t part of the culture that produced JTTW to put more thought into how we might want to portray these characters so that at the very least (to pull some things I’ve seen from the jttw western fandom) we’re not turning a goddess of mercy into an evil figure for the sake of Angst(TM), or relegating other important literary figures into the positions of offensive stereotypes, or making broad claims about the source text & original characterizations of various figures that are blatantly untrue, or mocking heavenly deities because of what’s actually your misunderstanding of how immortality works according to Daoist beliefs. Yet while a lot of this is often due to people not even trying to understand the context these figures are coming from, I do want to acknowledge that the journey (lol reference) to understand even a fraction of the original cultural context can be a daunting one, especially since, as I’ve mentioned before, it can be really hard & even next to impossible to find good, accessible, & legitimate explanations in English of how, for example, the relationship between Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque is commonly interpreted in China & according to the Buddhist beliefs that define the original work.

That is to say, I do think it’s an unfortunate, if unavoidable, part of any introduction of an original text into a culture foreign to its own for there to be sometimes a significant amount of misinterpretation, mistranslations, and false assumptions. There is, however, a big difference between learning from your honest mistakes, & doubling down on them while dismissing all criticism of your misinterpretation into that abstract category of “fandom drama.” The latter attitude is kind of shitty at best and horrifically entitled at worst.

Plus, as I’ve discovered, there is a great deal of interest and joy to be drawn from keeping yourself open to learning aspects of these texts & figures that you weren’t aware of! I can say from my own experience that I’ve always really enjoyed & appreciated it when individuals on this site who come from a Chinese background--and who know much more about the cultural context of JTTW than me--have taken the time to explain its various aspects. It often leaves me feeling like woooooaaaahhhhhHHH!!!! as to how amazingly full of nuanced meaning JTTW is like dang no wonder it’s one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels.

And I guess that right there is the heart of a lot of my own personal frustration and disappointment with the ways that fandoms often approach a literary work or other piece of media...like don’t get me wrong, a lot of the original works a fandom may grow around are just straight-up goofy & everyone’s aware of it & has fun with it, yet the trend of approaching what are often nuanced and multi-layered works in terms of how well they fit and/or can be shoved into pretty cliche ideas of Redemption Arc or Enemies to Lovers or Hero Actually Bad, Villain Actually Good etc...well, it just seems to cheapen and even erase even the possibility of understanding the wonderful complexity or even endearing simplicity that made these works so beloved in the first place. Again, I feel like I need to make it clear that I’m not saying fandom should be a space where people are constantly trying to one-up each other with their hot takes in literary analysis, but it would be nice and even beneficial to allow room for commentary that strives to approach these works in a multi-faceted way, analysis & interpretations that go against the popular fandom beliefs, & criticism of the work or even of fandom trends (yes it is in fact possible to legitimately love something but still be critical of its aspects) instead of immediately attacking people who try to engage in such as just being haters who don’t want anyone to have fun ever (X_X).

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Anyway, I know I didn’t cover even half of the stuff you brought up in the first place anon, but I don’t want any interested parties to this post to suffer too long through my text wall lol. I was asked to try my hand at illustrating Guanyin, but as with you I’m nowhere near as informed as I should be about her, so I want to do more research on her history and religious importance before I attempt a portrait. I’ll try my best, and do plan to pair that illustration with my own outsider’s attempt to summarize her character. From what little I do know I am in full agreement that her backstory is so incredibly amazing...just the fact that she literally eschewed the bliss of Nirvana to help all beings reach it, and even split herself into pieces in the attempt to do so (with Buddha granting her eleven heads and a thousand arms as a result)...man, I can see why she’s such a beloved & respected deity.

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As for what western fandom commonly does with everyone’s favorite god-fighting primate...I can talk about this at length if there’s interest, but for this post I’ll just say that I guess one lesson from all of this is that for all the centuries that have passed since Journey to the West was first completed, literally no one drawing inspiration from the original tale in the west (lol) has come even slightly close to being able to equal or even capture half the extent of the nuance, complexity, religious, historical, and cultural aspects, and humor that define Wu Cheng'en's story of an overpowered monkey who defied even Buddha.

So thank the heavens we'll always have the original.

#journey to the west #jttw #guanyin #sun wukong #monkey king #monkie kid #fandom #fandom critical

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anythingbutmar · 4 years

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Lonely

Diego Hargreeves x reader

Summary: You love Diego, but you get tired as he keeps ditching you to save the world. Fortunately, he knows how to make it up to you.

Prompts: 21.“Shut up.” “Well why don't you come over here and make me?" 23."For the love of fuck.” “Yeah that's me, I love to fuck."

A/N: THIS IS MY FIRST TIME WRITING ACTUAL SMUT AND I’M SCARED, also, this is the longest thing I’ve ever written and I’m so proud! I love getting more and more Diego requests.❤

Warnings: unprotected sex, drinking, angst.

You know how you're still quite sensitive a few days after your period is gone? You told yourself that was the reason why you were sitting on your livingroom floor, drinking a wine bottle by yourself and crying your eyes out. But you knew the real reason had nothing to do with your cycle.

Diego had failed you, again. Maybe failed was too strong of a word, but he was late to your dinner for the third time in a week, and you truly wanted to understand him, but it was so damn hard.

It had been exactly a month and nine days since the day that he had stormed in your apartment rambling about JFK, 1963, the apocalypse and a commission. It took you a week to process the whole thing not only because it was incredibly hard to believe it, but because he kept adding details here and there like an excited little boy, except he wasn't excited at all, he was just mad at himself for not being able to save a president that had been dead for almost eighty years.

And so, he freed himself of his anger the only way that he knew: on the streets, which usually took him away from you for a few hours, but it was already one in the morning and he wasn't answering any of your texts and phone calls, so you drank and you weeped while listening to Toni Braxton.

You could say that Diego had changed for the better. He was no longer blaming his disgraces on his siblings, he told you he wanted things to get serious because of how much he missed you and you could see even more kindness in his eyes, but it still wasn't what you wished. You had always wanted him in every possible way, but this time you were asking for more, because even though he was your entire world it seemed as if you were never enough for him, given how he preferred to fight criminals over sharing one meal with you.

If you wanted to, you could have kept replaying depressing thoughts in your head, but you were tired already, so you laid your head on the couch and drifted away, holding onto an empty bottle.

And that is exactly how Diego found you half an hour later. He truly felt sorry, but he didn't want to wake you up, and he didn't want to fight, and in general he just didn't want to face you knowing he had disappointed you and a complete country, so he grabbed you in his arms, wanting to carry you to your bed, but even as you slept rage kept burning in the pit of your stomach, and it was that rage that woke you up, right as he was lifting you off the floor, so of course, your natural response was aggressively wiggling your way out of his arms until he accidentally dropped you. You could notice that he was about to laugh until he saw the terrifying look in your eyes and stopped himself.

Diego was no mirror, but you could almost see yourself through his expression. Messy hair, ruined makeup and wine stained lips. He might as well have called you Madremonte already, because you knew you must have looked just like her, same anger in your gaze.

"Where were you?" The alcohol could have blurred your vision but you could see him quite clearly, and it made you wanna cry because you loved him so damn much and you just wanted him to love you back.

"You know it's not a specific place, I just go around town."

"I'm not a jealous person Diego, but I'm not stupid either, and you can't expect me to be waiting for you as you're out there every night saving god knows who. It sounds ridiculous, but I envy an entire city because everyone in it gets to spend more time with you than I do."

Tears poured out again as you remembered the night you met him. You had just quitted your job and were too distracted with your worries to notice the robber creeping up behind you. Thankfully, Diego was there on his silly latex suit, and unlike you he had seen the guy, and he scared him before he could even touch you, freaking you out in the process, but he made it up by inviting you for a drink, and so, your "relationship" started, but it wasn't until that day when he showed up in your doorstep with longer hair and bigger problems that he'd actually adressed it as such. He had asked you to be his girlfriend, and you couldn't be happier to accept, you just didn't know it was going to be this hard, and thinking back to the days where he was saving you hurted like hell, because even though you didn't want to say it out loud, you knew you were alone now while he was saving everyone else.

Diego remained silent, he looked regretful, but that wasn't going to ease your pain.

"You don't have to say anything, I already know what you think. You regret this, you regret us." He frowned deeply, as if he expected anything but what you'd just said.

"What? Of course not!"

"You do! No matter how much you try to hide it it's the truth, you can't even stand to look at me anymore and I don't even know what I did!" Your breath escalated as you let out everything that you couldn't say before.

"Shut up Y/N, you don't even know what you're saying."

"It's not even what you try to tell me everytime! You don't think you've failed me, you just don't want me, so you go out to seek comfort on your fucking hero complex! You'll never learn that you can't save everyone and I don't understand why but somehow you resent me for it!" You screamed and it felt good even though he was right, you were just making up reasons for something that you couldn't understand, but he needed to know how much his absence harmed you.

"Listen to yourself! You're literally not making any sense! I've told you nothing but the truth since I got here because I want things to work between us, and when I say that I come late at night because I know I could have done more to protect you I really mean it. I can't face you when I fail at making you safe." He didn't even seem mad, he just looked frustrated, which actually made you sadder because you didn't want that to be the truth, you didn't want him to feel bad for something that he couldn't control.

"I should just leave, there's no point in arguing."

"No Y/N, you don't have to go, just shut up." He grabbed your wrist softly, letting you choose, and a devilish smirk appeared on your face as you got an idea.

"Well why don't you come over here and make me?" He looked surprised for a few seconds, but when the anger in your eyes turned into lust he mimicked your expression, more than eager to finish the discussion the right way.

He strengthened his grip on your wrist and he pulled you towards him so that there wouldn't be any space between you two, he looked down at you and kissed you passionately, playing with the hem of your skirt and gesturing for you to jump, and so you did, your legs hugged his waist and your hands tangled in his hair just the way he liked it as he walked to your bedroom, carrying you in a different way than he had planned earlier.

He sat you down on the bed and started undressing himself with quick clumsy movements that scattered his clothes all around the room, which might have not looked quite sexy to a normal person passing by, but to you, watching his back tense as he took his shirt of and threw it towards your nightstand was incredibly hot.

So you tried to do the same, to see if he would look at you the same way, but of course, you were still tipsy, and you almost fell to the ground for the second time while stumbling on your own skirt, but Diego’s arms were there to hold you once again, and much to your surprise, there was love and passion in his eyes, which only made you desire him more, but just when you were about to kiss him again, he stopped.

“You’re not sober baby, are you sure you want to do this?” He looked concerned and it made you soft because he was just such a good man.

“Diego Hargreeves, I’m not entirely drunk and I’m giving you my explicit consent.” You mocked him a little but you regreted it instantly, because as soon as you said the words he pushed you on the bed and removed your underwear, the last piece of clothing between you.

You reached out to kiss him and this time he kissed you back with the hunger of an animal. His hand went to your throat and pressed lightly, which gained a moan from you and allowed his tongue to finally meet yours, but it was too slow for you, you wanted more and more and more than you could take, so you turned the game and got on top of him, which he didn’t seem to enjoy as much.

Diego loved being in control, and by taking it away from him you were showing him what would happen if he ever made you feel lonely again.

You put your hands on his shoulders and eagerly lowered yourself on his dick, slowly taking it all in and getting used to his size before you started bouncing. It felt incredibly empowering to be in control and it made you drip with arousal.

He tried to help you by thrusting his hips but you pushed him down. You knew all about his games, he would start regaining his dominance bit by bit and before you knew you would be beneath him, begging for his mercy. But you weren't about to let that happen, not today.

“Damn.” He cursed both in pleasure and surprise.

You wouldn't even let him grab your hips, you fastened your pace by yourself and he was completely helpless, and the thought of him not being able to do anything he wanted made it harder for you to last. You had just started and you were about to cum already, all because it had been days since the last time he made you feel like this.

Apparently, your orgasm closing in was noticed by both of you, because the minute you got distracted in your pleasure he lifted you and helped you place yourself on his face, and when he was finally allowed to move he took advantage of it.

He ran his tongue across your folds in a painfully slow matter a few times before concentrating on your clit, licking and sucking fast and hard, the way he knew would make your knees shake in a matter of seconds.

“Oh for the love of- fuck!” He twirled his tongue around that extremely sensitive spot one last time before you came in his mouth.

You laid beside him, legs pressed together in adrenaline and a smile on your face, you had missed him in every possible way.

“Yeah that’s me, I love to fuck.” He laughed stroking your hair and pushing a few loose strands away in a loving matter. Diego was the absolute king of aftercare, he always seemed to know exactly what you needed, and he made sure you felt safe and loved before you both drifted off. “You do know that’s never going to happen again, right?”

“Oh it will happen over and over if you keep pissing me off, and I kinda liked being on charge for once.” You turned to face him but he wasn’t laughing with you. He wasn’t serious either, he was just staring at you as if you were an ethereal being, as if he couldn’t believe you were laying next to him, afraid that if he blinked or looked away you might slip from his arms.

“I love you baby, and I promise you will never ever feel alone again, and I’ll only leave when you want me to.”

You kissed him, a tiny peck on the lips to ensure him that you believed his words before you fell asleep, finally feeling how his warmth made your pillows softer, your bed more comfortable and your dreams more beautiful.

#diego hargreeves #diego hargreeves imagines #diego hargreeves x reader #diego hargreeves imagine #the umbrella academy x reader #the umbrella academy imagines #the umbrella academy imagine #the umbrella academy #umbrella academy fanfic #umbrella academy #diego hargreeves fanfic #diego hargreeves umbrella academy #diego hargreeves angst #diego hargreeves smut #umbrella academy angst #umbrella academy smut

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yikesevenworse · 3 years

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“God, you are so worried that I’m going to sleep with a pogue like you did! Well guess what? I already did.”

* disclaimer: this post is not to demonize kiara or to openly allow misogyny against her, it’s to highlight how she wrongfully treats some of her friends and her impulsivity often is not really justifiable. I know that the other characters have flaws and will make posts about them too.

Kiara as a character always confused me quite a bit. I appreciate her resilience and she is one of the most interesting characters in the show, she has a lot of potential for character development.

However, she’s morally ambiguous to the point where it bleeds into her relationships and how she treats people. While all of the pogues actually fall into more of a vigilante hero type category, Kiara seems to be more of an anti-hero. She’s extremely impulsive and unconventional in the ways she handles grief and dangerous situations (ex. continuously shouting murder this drawing attention & creating more problems, causing scenes in public). Everyone handles trauma differently and she has obviously been through a lot. I am neither demonizing or praising her behavior, but this helps us to understand why she interacts with people the way that she does.

Kiara’s relationship with Pope is very messy. It’s very hot and cold and even one-sided a few times throughout their romantic relationship. I truly believe that had they kept this relationship platonic it could have been a very iconic best friendship in the show. There was really no indication that Pope or Kiara had any mutual romantic feelings for each other in either season but their platonic chemistry is amazing.

Kiara did not treat Pope the best. In season 1 she truly did not care about his scholarship which obviously meant a lot to him which really stands out to me. This and the quote above proves that she did use Pope. Her parents have probably been spewing anti-pogue (classism) sentiment her entire life and forcing Kiara to be great full for a life she doesn’t fit into. They’re trying to mold her into something she just isn’t. While her ignoring her fiscal privilege does strike a nerve every time, her parents have no right to look down upon her friends for being poor. But, it was also wrong of Kiara to use Pope as a weapon of rebellion to her parents. It was a very dehumanizing thing to do to someone she supposedly cares about. This is unjustifiable, as Pope is a person with complex feelings. She does let him down rather gently but it does not forgive what she’s done and said to him.

Kiara is struggling with her identity. Shes trying so hard to deem herself a pogue and even gives up her familial life in favor of her friends, but I think she is a little obsessed with being considered a pogue. Up until the moment Kiara’s parents kick her out, which they should not have done when they know their daughter is struggling, she is a kook. She lives on the wealthier side of the island, had a chance to go to the ‘Kook Academy’ and even has a membership to the rich people club. She just won’t recognize that she has more opportunities than her other friends in both seasons, then abandons her wealthy lifestyle which is slight development. This plot line would have been better if she didn’t deny her lifestyle and seems very out of touch with how classism affect her friends (ex. s1 hot tub scene, JJ is breaking down over his father’s abuse and uses the stolen money to buy the hot tub- Pope says that JJ should have payed the restitution but Kiara says he should’ve donated it to charity- shows her ignorance around pogue’s financial state).

Season 2 Kiara is a completely different person than Season 1 Kiara and that’s a writing inconsistency. I also think she is the most prominently queer-coded character in the show (maybe tied with JJ). She seems to be trying to force herself to have romantic feelings for all of her friends, John B first, then Pope and now it seems to be JJ. Her reasoning for not dating the prior two is that she values their friendship and comes to the realization after being some kind of romantically involved with them (ex. kissing John B, having sex with Pope, etc.). The only story line that would not be complete misogyny and explore a romantic relationship between Kiara and JJ would be him being her last self-actualization that she cannot force her attraction to men and that she is queer. Either that, or JJ and Kiara have an incredibly slow burn relationship and they both make the best (and worst) parts of each other come out very, very slowly. I think this approach would seriously conflict and damage both of their relationships with Pope.

Sum: Kiara is an interesting character that the writers don’t care about, and she is also gay

#kiara carrera #character analysis #outer banks #obx #jiara #pope heyward #jj maybank #popekie #lgbtq+

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theholycovenantrpg · 3 years

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CONGRATULATIONS, CAROLINE! YOU’VE BEEN ACCEPTED FOR THE ROLE OF MICHAEL.

Admin Rosey: This was. This was absolutely beautiful to read, Caroline. I feel like there’s no other way to describe it because the emotion behind each and every word was so palpable. I think what struck me - not above all, just something that really struck me and sticks within my mind - is the fact that you identified him as heroic, and then as archaic. It was such a small detail, but it was the most perfect way to describe Michael. He wants to be the hero, the savior - but he’s archaic. Michael is the untitled King of Caelum, and boy, I cannot wait to see how much ruin you will cause to him and everyone else. Sincerely, this was a g i f t to read. Please create and send in your account, review the information on our CHECKLIST, and follow everyone on the FOLLOW LIST. Welcome to the Holy Land!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias. Caroline

Age. Twenty-five

Personal Pronouns. She/her or they/them

Activity Level. I will not lie to y’all, I work six days a week ten-hour days. But I also get very attached and want to stay up to date. Between those two, I like to stay up to date with the dash, but sometimes only get to post one or two times a week. Other times I’m always Here. There is no middle ground and I am so sorry

Timezone. EST

Triggers. REMOVED

How did you find the group. Let’s not talk about it (jk it was JJ and we’ve been knowing)

Current/Past RP Accounts. hutchingsb, brighidnolan, achillesgrieves

IN CHARACTER

Character. Michael

Are you comfortable with killing off your character. I sure am, pals. In fact, in the long run, I don’t think Michael should survive. I think he is too muddled in hypocrisy and his own arrogance to not be killed eventually. Especially if history repeated itself and Zadkiel killed him.

What drew you to this character.

When I was a second semester senior in college (arguably the worst time in my life) I was finishing my degree in philosophy. While everything else went to shit, I took this truly incredible class called the Problem of Evil. I got lowkey obsessed with the concept of this ‘problem of evil’ and what it means for the existence of God. Michael is, in a lot of ways, this discussion in character form. Throughout the roleplay, Michael will have to come to terms with the idea that it’s incredibly hard to be a God type figure and be morally good. And that dynamic excites the fuck out of me y’all.

More than just this philosophical idea that I would literally go feral for, Michael is such a complex character. There are depths to him that just writing this app I got to uncover, and I think that will carry on through writing him always. There is so much potential there, and so much characterization to uncover that I don’t think I could ever tire of the archangel. This being fucks y’all

Plots.

QUIS UT DUES. Who is like God? History repeats itself. Michael’s rise in the ranks and desperation for both mortals and demons to bend the knee to him shows this. He is not so unlike the figurehead he struck down. He will be forced to make choices that have to be made and enforce punishments that will seem to others merciless. The question truly is how does one become god-like without becoming God-like? What made God so wrong? What made it necessary for Michael to cut Him down? And does Michael even have the ability to notice the difference between the two? The answer, folks, is hell nah.

DEATH RIPENS. ONE NEEDS DEATH IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO HARVEST THE FRUIT. The fall of God gave Michael the first taste of peace since he can remember. Centuries of carving out punishments and protection means that the archangel has dealt with death before, but it has never soothed him. It has only ever added to his despondency. So when he moved to cut down his own God, he figured the feeling would be much of the same. An intense sense of duty to all creatures and nothing more. The shock he felt at the momentary calm was enough to make him pause. And he is carrying that into his position of King. This idea of death as an action that ends with peace sits in the back of his mind. And it is hardening him into something crueler than he can recognize.

THE APPALLING STRANGENESS OF THE MERCY OF GOD. Arrogance is almost second nature to the archangel. His pride and his self-worth have become tied into this idea of him becoming a better king, a better version of God. But Michael is also in for a harsh awakening when he has to realize that his idea of merciful, the standard he held God to, isn’t actually all that fair and just. How will he handle coming to terms with the fact that he cannot always be “merciful” and does this make him a hypocrite? If he raised a sword against his Father because He was not merciful, how will he come to terms with the realization that he, as this God-like figure, cannot be supremely good? Will he even be able to realize it at all, and what will push him to that edge?

BROTHER, THE CORD TO THIS WORLD IS A FRAYED ROPE. More than ever, Michael needs his brothers. And, more than ever, he cannot let them in. Michael has always held his position higher than his relationships, but it is more apparent now than ever. He wants the respect from his brothers, because he knows if they can kneel before him so can anyone. But that desire is sharply contrasted by his need for their earnestness. He did not realize the weight their voices held inside of his head until he could no longer hear them freely. I would love to play with this dynamic of Michael feeling isolated and alone without his brothers to act as a soundboard for his thoughts versus believing if he shows his hand too much to them he cannot be respected. This relationship epitomizes Michael’s struggle with finding his footing as a leader and not just a follower of God.

THEN YOU KISSED ME—I FELT HOT WAX ON MY FOREHEAD. Michael’s relationship with Zadkiel is going to cause me physical pain. Zadkiel is the only person who can truly understand the emotional state that Michael has existed in for millennia. He is the only person who has dealt with the conditional love that God had when loving a tool he could wield. And, as a result, Michael has acted the same way towards Zadkiel as God did towards him. His love is conditional on Zadkiel following his orders. But he has held him in high esteem, sought him out, wanted him by their side. There is a bond there that cannot be touched. Zakiel is their reflection in so many ways, and it hurts to look in that mirror. There is this push in pull, that for so long has been for the better but might be souring now in the wake of Michael’s actions. Where he originally could not be soft, could not be vulnerable, in front of the cherubim despite how much it would help him, he really cannot now. He cannot show himself weak to Zadkiel—in the same way God could not to Michael. It is fully a product of how they both have been loved by God, and it does the pair of them injustice. Following the fall of God, Michael has distanced himself from Zadkiel because of how much he sees himself in the other. The weakness he thinks he sees in Zadkiel is just the weakness he sees himself, but his arrogance can’t let him recognize that fully. So instead, he pushes the angel away. Makes the gap between them almost unbreachable, until he breaks again and needs the validation of someone he is constantly searching for that conditional love. Just like he did with God. Zadkiel’s hurt is the biggest doubt that tugs at Michael’s soul. It’s the thing that lets the thought ‘I made a mistake’ keep coming back to him. I would love to see the few moments of “weakness” where Michael allows Zadkiel—and only him—to see the real him especially in a counterpoint to him holding the cherubim at a distance.

I SENSED IN MYSELF A POTENTIALITY FOR CORRUPTION THAT TOOK MY BREATH AWAY. Viktoria is a mistake, but not one he’s ready to admit. Michael’s concept of love is well and truly fucked, because he has only known love from God. And mostly God had conditions for love that were based solely on when Michael acted most as a sword—something inanimate—and not as something conscious and feeling. So when the flicker of something akin to lust flared to life upon looking at Viktora, Micahel mistakes it for love. Or, at the very least, affection. He wants her gaze on him, wants her smiles. So much so that he cannot look through the careful veneer she has crafted. It’s a level of foolishness that he has not ever had to deal with before. Never even known existed, because his concept of love has never involved this kind of ‘love’.

I TOO A CARNIVOROUS LAMB. In a completely selfish turn of events, I think Michael’s relationship with Salome might be the one of the few times that they can show how successful they are. In this period of doubt and chaos, Michael keeps coming up short and having to put on a brave face. But in their dealings with Salome, they are in their element. They can feel the power he used to have as the weapon in God’s right hand when they deals with the demon. They can feel their power. And that’s probably the reason they seeks her out so often. To feel the comfort in something known. To feel useful, powerful, correct.

IN-DEPTH

Motivation.

LIKE MOST MISERY, IT STARTED WITH APPARENT HAPPINESS. In the beginning, Michael’s sense of duty was unfailing. His motivations started and ended with following God’s word. And while his heart may have whispered softly at rebellion and betrayal in the face of an unjust God, he didn’t dare take heed to any of it. Now, he misses that easy calm that caming with knowing one's duty. He misses the simplicity of following orders. He does not wish to return to being a tool for someone else, but god was it easier.

THE PAIN, THE BEAUTY: EQUALLY ACUTE, EQUALLY TRANSFIXING. The present is a chaotic time for Michael. There is blood on their hands, doubt in their heart, and all they can do is show their kingdom a solemn face. He struggles to keep the facade of this all knowing, all understanding figure head that he just slaughtered. It’s so damn hard when the chorus of ‘did you do wrong’ almost drowns out his thoughts. Michael, in his current situation, craves a validation of his actions that very few can give them. And maybe, he craves something a little more too.

IT MEANT TO CONSUME, TO ASSIMILATE, TO BECOME GOD. What comes next for the King of Caelum? There is ambition there, that lives just under the surface. Something that has maybe always been there, setting ablaze his soul, but he has never been ready to put a name to it. He still isn’t able to name it, but the threads of it are starting to work their way around him. He knows of mortals, of their fickle natures and how they cannot be left to govern themselves. He knows of demons, of their cruelness and how they all function better when they bow their heads to one person. That person used to be God, but Michael is starting to realize how it could—no, should be him. Because Michael remembers what it was like to be adored. God showed favor to many an angel. It was clear in His doting hand and soft words. Cassiel knew it in His allowance of her beauty. Arael knew it in God’s soft sighs. But it was perhaps Michael who knew it best. There is more love in the carpertener for their hammer than in their work. More adoration in the painter's brush than in the creation they makes. Something deep and dark in Michael craves that love again. Ambition feels almost unheard of in the hierarchy he is used to, but there it is, sitting at the base of his chest. And it will likely be the death of him.

Traits.

HEROIC. Inspiring, brave, damn good at his job

CONSTANT. Calm in the face of chaos, unwavering in all actions

UNDERSTANDING. More merciful than he should be jk unless

ARCHAIC. Stick in the mud, old fashioned, proper. A pain in the ass to deal with.

PROUD. When God put you on a pedestal for that long it’s really hard to climb down yo

CRITICAL. I mean

SAMPLE

“all gods who receive homage are cruel.

all gods dispense suffering without reason.”

HOW TO FORGE A WEAPON

FIGURE 1.

It means something to be made. To be created in the eyes of God. To become something more, something good, something holy and something full of righteousness. All because God deemed it to be so. Around him, his brethren understand this. They feel it deep within themselves, as each and every one of them is handcrafted. But Michael is different. He is not simply made, because he is a weapon.

And, by God’s own hand, Michael is forged.

FIGURE 2.

God molds him.

That he holds on to. The one truth he knows more than anything. God makes him. He makes him a weapon. Molds him into a sword. He crafts Michael solely as a tool to do His bidding, but He makes him all the same. So Michael follows without thought. A gift to his creator.

Because a weapon only does.

They spends days upon days in practice, in battle. Besting angel upon angel. With every win, they sees God smile, and something warms sparks into life deep in the cold of their chest. Something physical. Something hot. It sets his body ablaze, empassions him to try more, to push harder. Michael flips the sword out of the grasp of his opponent, recognizing the move coming two steps before it happens. He doesn’t have to think, he only has to do.

He’ll put a name to this feeling eventually. Later he will learn to understand what the fire in their soul means. But for now, he just stands in awe of his Father’s smile—a smile that is only for them and theirdeeds—and the warmth that it causes. It is the start of something dangerous for, what God fails to realize, that, out of nothing but sheer carelessness, He has taught his weapon to want.

And that? It’ll be the death of Him.

FIGURE 3.

He’s younger than he cares to admit and God gives them a bird. The world is still new. Bright and green in its creation. It’s perfect, Angels sing. Michael wants to agree but the mortals have already shown the treachery of their nature. And he has already learned how to cut down those who might have lifted their hand in blasphemy.

(Eve has taken the apple, Michael sharpens their sword.)

The bird is a falcon, and Michael names her Brenley. She is built for speed and her talons feel as sharp as the sword on his hip. He thinks he loves her, this fiercely delicate creature. She is his and he, in turn, hers. They travel the world together, witness the artistry and destruction God’s newest creations unfold. Michael stands an impartial beacon, watching it all.

Theoretically they know that Brenley is a test, as all things are with God. It is Michael’s first chance to deal with death. God showing him how mortality takes and takes and there is no stopping it.

But birds live years. So they have time. They push the thoughts of tests and traps and their own shortcomings to the back of their mind.

Brenley does not have years. She has only five and they are desperately short in the face of a millennia.

With thoughts of death and endings locked away, he enters the world of man, a bird by his side. The moment is like any other. Nothing different from any number of times Michael has walked among the mortals. He is still learning of how crooked their nature is and yet how soft they can be. It still makes him smile. Brenley makes a single sound, a warning Michael does not understand, so their smile does not falter. Eyes find the bird, high amidst the trees, as the sound reaches their ears. A long low whistle, and then a snap. An arrow flies through the sky. It’s rudimentary, human made, but it does it’s job. Brenley stills.

And then? Then she falls.

Like a rock, the bird drops from the sky. Her wings tucked to her, a nearly perfect and endless fall. Except it does. End. She hits the ground with a sound, sickening and hollow. He rushes to her side, but it’s too late.

There is no life left in her.

There is a softness in his features and wetness in his eyes when he turns to the Father. The broken body of what once was settled gently in his hands. Michael is still too new to learn how to steel their face into the mask of iron befitting of the weapon they are. They don’t even know to try. He knows at least not to beg. He’s seen angel, mortal and demon beg God time and time again. Michael has seen the answer that follows. Michael has been the answer that follows.

So instead he asks. A simple word.

“Please.”

God just smiles and shakes his head. A solemn but distinctive no. There is a scream that wretches its way through his body, but when he opens his mouth, it does not come out. But it is not for the loss, this noise that threatens to deafen him. It is for the foolishness in thinking he might change God’s mind. The stupidity in thinking he could be more than an angel formed blade.

There is no thought, no desire in steel. Nothing but the familiar cold of the pommel and a strong sense of duty.

Michael straightens his back, rigid and iron like. He buries a bird.

It’s the first time Michael truly deals in death. It’s the first time he lets death touch him. Later, when he’s picking away at the pieces of his soul, he’ll wish he’d never let it reach that deep. Because wound tightly around his heart, death holds tight.

It may never let them go.

FIGURE 4.

He remembers every lesson he has ever learned at God’s side. The ones that were easy are sweet and simple. The ones that came hard, something darker and richer. He remembers the ones that tasted bittersweet. He remembers victory and failure. And he remembers the Father’s smile when Michael had pleased Him. There are whispers amongst his brethren. They fall silent when they approach, but they do not sit at God’s right side for nothing. He hears them, and their discontent. They think he does not understand, and maybe they are right.

But what they have failed to realize is that Michael never forgets. Not even a single moment.

And yet, he still asks.

The girl is only three and Michael cannot find the logic behind it. There are no sins that weigh down her soul, no wrong doings she is being held to. Her parents even are good people, loyal to God. All that means nothing but it causes the sting they feel upon looking at her to vibrate deep within them. There is no reason for her death beside the abject horror of it. All Michael can see when he looks at her is a bird plummeting to the ground, wings held too close. And when she cries, he can hear the sinking thud of something so very mortal slipping between his fingers. The sound of a bird that hit the ground.

So he asks, the want burning him up from the inside.

God just smiles and shakes his head.

A solemn but distinctive no.

Something inside of Michael breaks and he does not know how to fix it. Because God did not teach him this lesson. He must learn it on his own.

FIGURE 5.

At the end, it is not himself who needs convincing but the Cherubim by his side. Some of him has known this ending and its inevitability since the moment he first craved one damning smile. Michael just wishes it would hurt Zadkiel a little less. Wishes he could have understood the crueller nature of their Father—how it’s only ever led Zadkiel to pain—so much sooner. ‘Poor Zadkiel’, he’ll think, instead of ‘poor Michael’.

(He forces his brethren to withstand the weight of his emotions as well as their own.)

“Help me finish this.” It wants to be a command, Michael is so good at commanding. But in the shadow of what is about to come, he cannot stop himself from asking. He needs Zadkiel on his side, needs him to understand this is right.

This is right.

This is for the best.

Michael must kill God.

There is one small nod, one small validation, and it soothes the frantic beating of his heart. The thing that started this journey in the first place. It does not go unnoticed to him that it is something else, someone else, that finally settles them into action. He turns from the Cherubim, Zadkiel’s job is done. The doors swing wide on his command.

He is a weapon, forged for duty without mercy, and that is how he stands before Him. The blade to His throat comes quickly. Michael knows His every move before it comes. This is his Father, this is who first held a sword against him. And Michael has never forgotten.

So God falls.

The thunder shakes the ground on which he stands. It should feel like a victory, but as he hauls in one short breath, Michael feels hollow. He mistakes it for peace.

And then he sees it, a flash of silver to follow the body of the Father. He knows the blade as Zadkiel’s just as he knows his own. Something dark and heavy settles around his heart.

Weak. He thinks, and the thought weighs heavier on his head than the crown he just won.

“half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers

real gods require blood.”

Extras

WINGS. From afar, Michael’s wings look soft and simple. A brilliant bronze and gold to rival that of his own weapon. But as one comes closer, it is clear that their wings are much more sinister in nature. Each “feather” is in fact a small, sharp weapon. The color of bronze fades way to the real metal. Michael’s wings, like all of him, are a weapon.

FIGHTING STYLE. At his side, Michael carries a sword. It has been his favored blade since gifted to him by God. It is more rapier than broadsword, and Michael favors a more elegant form of battle. He is a dueler by nature, the finesse of the craft allows for him to show off at one of the things he is most proficient at. But at the end of the day, Michael is a being made to destroy. Backed into a corner, he has the strength and fight to hold his own.

FASHION. There is an ease and simplicity to Michael’s style. Nothing is overstated. In fact, he looks almost subdued in the face of some of his brethren. But Michael knows his strengths, and it is the understated nature of his garments that draw the eye. Because, just when you think there is nothing to see, the intricate details of some fabric or the sparkle of something crystalline and expensive will catch the eye.

TAG. MOCKBLOG

#accepted #accepted: michael

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dangerliesbeforeyou · 5 years

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HIStory’s ranked (no one asked, but here i go)

so i was sittin here, talkin to myself about the HIStory series’ and was like ‘hey, i should rank them’ (which i’ve seen a few other people do, but mines a lot more rambling than there’s because i can’t shut up lol)

so here’s my views lol (ordered from worst to best, imo):

6) My Hero (HIStory1) -

probably universally acknowledged as the worst episode, and i’d be inclined to agree with the masses on this lol... not only is the tone and humour of this series so weird and disjointed, but the entire story line literally makes no sense lol?? it’s unclear who the audience should be rooting for (especially as it goes out of it’s way to paint our protagonist as really unlikable lol, not to mention the love interest is the dullest character ever conceived like ???), as well as this the ending feels completely unrelated and bizarre...

i think this concept /could/ have worked if the guy the woman was inhabiting (which sounds weird without context, but like she’s dead lol) was somehow also inside his head? or if she got to see his memories or whatever & tries to adjust her personality to match the guy’s, causing love interest!dude to fall in love with the guy... (like i could go into more detail, i basically hav an entire au written in my head lol, but yh...)... that way, her letting go of him in the end would feel so much more well set up? especially if she was generally more understanding and likeable..

i think overall this series just fails in telling a decent story lol... & the cringe is even beyond what i can handle lol

5) Obsessed (HIStory1) -

people might be surprised to see this one so low down, especially since i know a lot of people really love this series (& if u do, no hate to u btw, ur allowed to like whatever u want idc), but i realllllly don’t like this series... like at all ...

the plot is weird anyway, which isnt inherently a bad thing, but then u add on the really bad couple and it’s just...... bad lol... like everything about their relationship is built on lies and deceit, and even more so than that it’s built on a lack of mutual respect and fundamental trust for each other! tall guy (i don’t know names soz) feigns memory loss in order to get closer to short guy (btw, the scenes with them being domestic were really sweet, & i firmly believe this could have been an alright series for the actors if the story line wasn’t so bad), short guy’s whole existence in that universe was a lie lol (like i know there’s no easy way to tell someone ‘lol well i’m technically from the future’ but still), then there’s the whole resolution at the end & it’s just so ??? frustrating lol!

nothing bugs me more than seeing conflict in relationships (on screen or irl) that could be solved simply by TALKING TO EACH OTHER GODDAMNIT & isnt lol... my other issue with this series is the fact tall guy 100% forced himself upon short guy in the tent & like we’re just supposed to accept it cos ?? he’s saying no and pushing away but actually he wants it because he loves tall guy ?? like fuck no i’m not accepting that lol!

basically, bad & bizarre story & characters, & gross tropes just makes this hard for me to watch and enjoy lol... i think, like in my hero, this could’ve done with being a different story altogether lol... (maybe tall guy actually did lose his memory & he falls for short guy all on his own with no predatory intentions?? idk something like that)

4) Right or Wrong (HIStory2)

this one & my number 3 are very much tied tbh, but this one is just slightly lower just because i’m not as big into the couple as i know a lot of people are... & it’s not necessarily the age gap, cos i dont actually mind age gaps in pairings (just as long as the younger one isnt a minor, obv... and also i think any gap that’s 30+ years is a bit weird lol..).. i think my big problem with this is i dont really see why younger guy (again, i have no idea of any of these characters’ names lol) would fall for the older guy? like the older guy is obvs going thru some issues, and hasnt been taking care of himself or his kid properly because of them, but like we dont rly see a lot of why he’s a great guy? like we get the sense young guy is attracted to him, but like love is more than just thinkin they’re hot lol... idk lol this might just be me tbh i just couldnt see why he’d be interested lol

i did like the whole family side though, and showing how a man who was previously with a woman can still end up with a guy (bisexualityyyyy (or some variation of that thereupon)) is something you dont always see in media, so i thought that was pretty cool! (even if the ex-wife thing was kinda lame lol...)

i think overall i see what this series was going for, and that it actually did an alright job in some parts... the biggest problem is that it’s kinda just forgettable lol... maybe that’s why people like obsessed so much lol? maybe it was a train wreck but ohh boy at least u wont forget it in a hurry lol!

3) Stay Away From Me (HIStory1) -

i’m a bit torn about this one, cos there are parts of it i actually really like (them going from rivals/enemies to being good friends to being more), and other parts i really didnt (the stereotypical squealing yaoi fangirl friend)... & tbh, i kinda wish this had just been a show about the budding friendship between the 2 guys... it almost feels too forced to me that they’re made to ‘fall in love’ when i actually think them both becoming less selfish and learning to respect each other as step brothers & friends is actually already a really great story (& i know that it doesnt fit with the whole ‘HIStory’ thing, but stories of platonic brotherhood/’bromance’ are just as important as gay representation... isnt a /substitute/ for representation, don’t get me wrong, but it’s always so beautiful to see decently portrayed non-toxic friendships between guys... ok this is a rant for another day tho shhh)

i think maybe why i like this one more than the other HIStory1′s is because kinda nothing happens lol... it’s not overly complex with weird unexplained magic things happening, it’s just a simple story lol... is it still tropey as hell? of course lol! but i think the ‘realism’ of the world really helps, and i def think this was incorporated more into HIStory 2, which i’m really glad about...

overall, this is a relatively harmless series & is actually quite sweet at times... the kiss is awkward as fuck tho (there, i said it lol...)... it suffers the same forgetability as right or wrong tho...

2) Crossing the Line (/Boundary Crossing) (HIStory2) -

ok, so here’s a series i 100% love & totally agree with the hype around lol! i hav no interest in volleyball (or any sports tbh), but the way this show handles the friendships and dynamics between the characters is really well done, especially for a series that’s only 8 episodes long! i also really love that none of the characters really fall into any stereotypes (which is a great improvement from HIStory1 i can tell u lol), and are given the space to actually have some growth & nuance at times?!

(nuance? in MY HIStory series?? it’s more likely than you think!)

the main couple have really amazing chemistry, and the way they get together doesnt feel too out of place or that it’s going to fast, it just sorta flows really nicely... even the side couple are pretty well done (though i wasnt that big into them on my first watch, just cos the whole overbearing older brother thing was kinda annoying... i liked them more as the series went on tho...)

i kinda dont have any major complaints? which is bizarre cos i always hav complaints about things lol... maybe my complaint would be that they all look way too old and attractive to be whatever teenage age they’re supposed to be lol... (but tbh that doesnt take anything away from the story so i’ll forgive them lol...)... i think maybe i wouldnt consider it my favourite because the story line didnt grab me like the number 1... but i really cant fault it in terms of what it delivers lol, legit such a well put together series!

1) Trapped (HIStory3) -

lol i think anyone who’s been following me for the past few months aren’t in the slightest bit surprised this is my number one... i just love it too much lol!

from the incredibly well written and well acted characters, to the interesting and engaging (even if a bit ridiculous) plot, to the beautifully told romance , it really has it all doesn’t it!!! & i think even if this wasnt an enemies to lovers thing (aka one of the most godtier of all fanfic tropes), there’s so many things going for this series that make it worth watching! i have a few complains about editing choices and a few bad trope plot points which were just unnecessary (plus the fact we missed out on a lot of background info on some major characters lol...), but like despite everything this series rly struck a chord with me deep down in my soul lol

i could go waaay more into detail (and maybe i will one day lol... tho not rn, i’m v tired), but the gist of the matter is: i really love trapped lol

(conclusion)

Even though i’ve complained quite a bit here, i am so grateful for the HIStory series’ for bringing really interesting, and a little mad, stories with gay characters and story lines, with a big emphasis on happy endings! there are so many lgbt stories/characters in things that end up dying or just have bad endings, which just sends this horrible message that lgbt people aren’t worthy of having happy endings, which is completely untrue!

So i look forward to future HIStory’s, even if some of them are gonna be bad (& maybe none will live up to the trapped!shaped bullet firmly lodged in my heart lol)

fin~

#HIStory series #HIStory1 #HIStory2 #HIStory3 #(not gonna tag them all individually cos we'll be here for years lol)#review #rant #(not really)#gay series #taiwanese series #lgbt series #lgbtq #HIStory #i've not read it through lol... might make no sense... dont read this lol

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hufflly-puffs · 5 years

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 37: The Lost prophecy

The entire conversation between Harry and Dumbledore in this chapter remains one of my favourite in the entire season. Something J.K. Rowling is extremely good at is to write about loss and grief. In a way Harry experiences it for the first time – he was too young when his parents died and Cedric’s death left him in shock, but then again they didn’t really knew it each other. This time it is different. And my reading experience changed, because I have experienced a loss similar like Harry (like Rowling, who had lost her mother shortly before she started writing the Potter series) between the first time I read the book as a teenager and now again as an adult. It might be because Rowling had lost a parent that so much about Harry’s grief resonates with me. It feels real.

“It was his fault Sirius had died; it was all his fault. If he, Harry, had not been stupid enough to fall for Voldemort’s trick, if he had not been so convinced that what he had seen in his dream was real, if he had only opened his mind to the possibility that Voldemort was, as Hermione had said, banking on Harry’s love of playing the hero … It was unbearable, he would not think about it, he could not stand it … there was a terrible hollow inside him he did not want to feel or examine, a dark hole where Sirius had been, where Sirius had vanished; he did not want to have to be alone with that great, silent space, he could not stand it –“ – Sirius’s death is not what causes Harry’s depression, but it certainly factors to it. The anxiety, the impossibility to escape your own thoughts, and how he blames himself for Sirius’s death, despite all logic and rational thought saying he can’t be blamed. And it is what makes things even worse – not just losing Sirius, but the circumstances, that Harry fall for Voldemort’s trap, that it was the love they felt for each other that brought both Harry and Sirius to the Department of Mysteries to save the other. That Harry should have known better, that Hermione (who always represent logic and rational thought) even warned him it could be a trap. Harry let his heart decide for him, he did what he felt was right. And whenever we make a mistake because we let our heart decide for us we feel foolish and weak. Dumbledore will tell Harry later that it was his heart that saved him, but to Harry it is his heart that failed him.

“The guilt filling the whole of Harry’s chest like some monstrous, weighty parasite, now writhed and squirmed. Harry could not stand this, he could not stand being himself any more … he had never felt more trapped inside his own head and body, never wished so intensely that he could be somebody, anybody, else …” – The thing about Harry is that the moment he entered the Wizarding World, the moment he learned he was famous, he has always been confronted with the image others have of him. The boy who lived, the tragic hero. In the last year he has been portrayed as a liar, mentally unstable, attention seeking. He has never let himself defined by these things, knowing they are not true. Now though he sees himself different: as the one responsible for Sirius’s death. He never claimed to be a hero, but it has never been less true than now. Ironically it is his hero-complex, as Hermione calls it, that brought all of his friends in danger, that did cost Sirius his life (at least from Harry’s perspective). It is unbearable to connect himself with the image of a hero others have painted of him, now that he has made a terrible mistake, that he did not save the day, but is the one who brought everyone in danger in the first place.

“‘I know how you’re feeling, Harry,’ said Dumbledore very quietly. ‘No, you don’t,’ said Harry, and his voice was suddenly loud and strong; white-hot anger leapt inside him; Dumbledore knew nothing about his feelings.” – Dumbledore of course has experienced loss and grief himself, but he also knows how it feels to think you are responsible for someone’s else death, as he blames himself for his sister’s death. But Harry does not know this, and he does not ask Dumbledore either, because we always feel like our pain is individual, like nobody could ever know how we really feel. Grief and loss are very personal feelings, because everybody experiences them in a different way, and at times it feels like it creates a barrier between yourself and the rest of the world.

“‘Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human –’ ‘THEN – I – DON’T – WANT – TO – BE – HUMAN!’ Harry roared […] ‘I DON’T CARE!’ Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace. ‘I’VE HAD ENOUGH, I’VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON’T CARE ANY MORE –’ He seized the table on which the silver instrument had stood and threw that, too. It broke apart on the floor and the legs rolled in different directions. ‘You do care,’ said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Harry demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. ‘You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.’” – This always reminds me of a poem by Mary Oliver, “The Uses of Sorrow”: “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.” Dumbledore, in his age and wisdom, knows that experiencing pain the way Harry does, is part of being human, or as he even says it is a proof of being human (and therefore would make Voldemort unhuman). We can’t understand pain like this when we right in the middle of it. Harry experiences it for the first time really and he feels like he will never get over it, like nothing will ever be whole again, that this is the final straw. In time he will learn that you can live with the pain, but you never get used to it. And once he understands what Voldemort has done to his soul, he will understand Dumbledore’s words and what a great gift it is to feel that deeply.

“Voldemort’s aim in possessing you, as he demonstrated tonight, would not have been my destruction. It would have been yours. He hoped, when he possessed you briefly a short while ago, that I would sacrifice you in the hope of killing him.” – But in the end that is exactly what happens: Dumbledore sacrifices Harry in order to kill Voldemort. And that might have been a part of Dumbledore’s plan as well: that after this night Voldemort was convinced that Dumbledore would never do such a thing, that when Harry sacrificed himself in the end Voldemort never assumed that it was part of Dumbledore’s plan.

“‘Kreacher is what he has been made by wizards, Harry,’ said Dumbledore.” – It is interesting that it was Sirius who told Harry that in order to understand someone’s true nature you should look how they treat their inferiors not their equals. Of course Sirius did not hate Kreacher because he is a house elf, but rather because he was a constant reminder of the family/home he hated so much. He could not show Kreacher even the simplest form of respect. And house-elves, bound to their families, always become a product of how their masters treat them. And Dumbledore, unlike Voldemort and many other wizards, never underestimated house-elves. They are individuals, they have feelings, and they have magic of their own. And they are always overlooked, which can make them incredible dangerous.

“ ‘Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Harry, safe and whole, as I had planned and intended. Well – not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle’s doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years.’” – I think this is the first time someone actually acknowledges in words the abuse Harry had to endure. That what happened to him was neither right or fair, despite Dumbledore explaining the reason why he had to stay with the Dursleys.

“Did I believe that Voldemort was gone for ever? No. I knew not whether it would be ten, twenty or fifty years before he returned, but I was sure he would do so, and I was sure, too, knowing him as I have done, that he would not rest until he killed you.” – Imagine though it would have taken Voldemort 70 years to return, the book series would have been quite different.

“‘While you can still call home the place where your mother’s blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, whilst you are there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years.’” – First, I still can’t believe that Dumbledore could not be bothered to explain this in person, that all he did was to write a letter. Second, the very complicated relationship Petunia has with her nephew. Harry claims that she does not love him, which might be true. Regardless she loved her sister. She took Harry in because her sister gave her life to protect him, because she knew that if she wouldn’t Harry would die. And yet Harry is a constant reminder of Lily, of Petunia’s loss, of all the complicated feelings she had towards Lily. And interesting enough both Petunia and Snape help to keep Harry alive, they both protect him in their own ways, but out of respect and love towards Lily, because he is her son, nothing more. It is not just her blood that protects Harry, but also the relationships Lily made while she was alive, the people who loved her.

“‘I cared about you too much,’ said Dumbledore simply. ‘I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act.” – Dumbledore thinks that his flaw, that the mistake that he made, was that he cared too much about Harry, that his happiness became more important than the lives of others. And many criticized Dumbledore for his final plan: that in the end Harry had to give his own life in order to defeat Voldemort. But this is exactly what this is about: that Harry’s life is no more important than the lives of thousands. Some see Dumbledore as cruel and manipulating, and perhaps they are right. But he still cares. He cares so much about Harry and yet he knows what he needs to ask of him, knows what it will take to end Voldemort. And one could ask what is more cruel: to sacrifice one live so thousands can live or to accept the pain of the many in exchange for one man’s happiness?

“I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination teacher, though it was against my inclination to allow the subject of Divination to continue at all.” – I mean honestly, it is the most useless subject ever.

So, the prophecy. It reveals something that to the readers might be obvious, but this is the first time we actually hear it: that Harry is the only one who has the power to defeat Voldemort. And Harry of course is famous because he survived the Killing Curse, but perhaps he thought that there might not be a special reason why Voldemort wanted to kill him and his parents. After all Voldemort and his followers killed so many. Perhaps Harry thought Voldemort simply wanted to finish what he had started, that this time he wants to kill Harry because of what has happened to him. Maybe deep down Harry had wondered if there might be more about it, what the real reason was that Voldemort had considered a baby as a threat. If he did he probably ignored that thought, because as Dumbledore explains, it is an incredible burden to live with this knowledge.

Then of course there is the fact that it could have been Neville as well. There are many speculations what would have happened if Voldemort had chosen Neville instead. I always assumed that Alice Longbottom, just as Lily did, would have sacrificed herself for her son, giving Neville the same kind of protection Harry had. Neville would have still grown up with his grandmother (and through her blood he would be protected as well) though with even more pressure put upon him. But I always loved the fact that it could have been someone else, that in a way there was nothing special about Harry, and that of course the irony is that in choosing Harry Voldemort marked him as an equal and gave him the power to destroy him (though Voldemort of course was not aware of this, as he had not heard the whole prophecy). And Voldemort did not choose the son of two Aurors, the pureblood wizard, but Harry instead, the halfblood, because as Dumbledore explains, he saw himself in Harry.

The thing about prophecies is of course whether or not they become true, and in fiction they usually do, especially if people try to avoid their fate. Voldemort did not hear the full prophecy, he did not know that he would be the one to mark his enemy as an equal. The question is, if he had that knowledge and never had tried to kill Harry or Neville, could he have avoided his fate?

Also, we don’t know it yet, but of course it was Snape who had overheard the first part of the prophecy, which made me wonder what he was doing there in the first place. Was it a coincidence? Was he there on Voldemort’s order, spying on Dumbledore? And how come he would not know or figure out that the prophecy could refer to Lily’s son, and therefore would put her in danger by telling Voldemort about it?

“In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you.” – Harry has never been and will never be the most talented wizard, but that did not matter. It does not matter how advanced the magic is that Voldemort works. It is Harry’s ability to love, and the love of his mother, that saves him. And that is something you can’t learn or achieve. If Voldemort has ever been able to love he successfully got rid of this ability. To him love is a weakness, something he never understood and always underestimated. And in Rowling’s work it is essential our ability to love what makes us human. And losing that has made Voldemort dead long before he actually died.

“‘So,’ said Harry, dredging up the words from what felt like a deep well of despair inside him, ‘so does that mean that … that one of us has got to kill the other one … in the end?’ ‘Yes,’ said Dumbledore.” – Just moments before Harry told Dumbledore that he doesn’t have powers like Voldemort does, that he can’t kill someone, and yet he has to or he will be killed. In the end however he defeated Voldemort without actually killing him, and I always loved that he didn’t have to become a murderer.

#Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix #the lost prophecy #chapter notes #ootp

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jadekitty777 · 5 years

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Are you waiting to be asked about Team STRQ? I'll bite. Team STRQ for the character ask meme.

You know it! Although I’mhaving a lot of fun with all of them.

Unsurprisingly doing four of my top favorites all at oncegot long, so I’m putting it under a read more.

Taiyang Xiao Long(YEAH BABY THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!)

· Favorite thingabout them: Everything. Alright,alright – anyone who has spent five seconds with me knows he’s my ultimatefavorite, I’ll try not to be TOO biased. I think what I like the most about Taiis that, while he has a bit of a fiery nature to him, overall, he seems like sucha gentle soul. He’s not afraid to be a little cheesy when it comes to praisinghis girls. He loves doting on them if the opportunity arrives (breakfast in bedfor Ruby, anyone?). He’s also not afraid to push them, yet still tries to be kindin his methods.

· Least favoritething about them: To be honest, while it’s absolutely understandable and realisticto how many parents do act in these situations, I wish Tai had been moreforthcoming about Raven when it came to talking to Yang about her (granted ifhe was, it would certainly lessen the impact of Yang’s own character arc, but Idigress). Keeping her completely in the dark is part of what leads his eldestinto her obsession with knowing more.

When the conversation finallydoes happen, I do like that Tai does his best to not badmouth Raven, which willallow for Yang to make her own decisions on what she thinks of Raven as aperson when she ultimately finds her – as he knows she will.

· Favorite line: Oooh Taiyang’skind of a walking Chinese proverb, so it’s a little hard to pick. I’m going togo with: “You’re right, it’s not coming back… but that doesn’t have to stop youfrom becoming who you want to be.” The message basically comes down to ‘don’tlet it be you who holds yourself back’. I’m sure all of us have faced being ourown worst enemies at times, wherein we never even try because we’re too focusedon saying “I can’t”.

Honorable shout-out to RWBY chibiand “I make a home for this family, that’s what I do all day! And it wouldn’tkill you to show a little APPRECIATION”.

· brOTP: No one gasps insurprise when I tell you it is Qrow. When it comes to actual canon, I like tothink these two are best friends that are as close as brothers in everythingexcept blood. They’ll always be there for each other when the worst of timeshits (Emotion-numbing depression vs. Blackout Binge Drinking).

…They’ll also pants one anotherin the middle of broad daylight for a cheap laugh (Cargo shorts really are easyto get down. One of these days, Tai might just go commando just so he cantraumatize Qrow once and for all).

…And argue over stupid shit likewhose turn it was to do the dishes (Hint: It’s always Qrow’s turn).

…And do irritating shit justbecause they know it annoys the other (Qrow has a really obnoxious singingvoice, so he makes sure to sing EXTRA loud when he knows Tai’s trying to gradepapers).

And yes, Qrow is absolutely theyounger brother.

-On a smaller, but no lessimportant note, I absolutely believe Taiyang had close friendships with Summerand Raven as well.

· OTP: As with all myfavorites, I will multi-ship the hell out of Tai, especially any that can fallunder the friends-to-lovers requirement.

Absolute top OTP will always beTaiqrow (A true shocker, I’m sure). The biggest drive I have for these two hasalways been the amount of emotional support available between them. There’s somuch potential simply on the lengths Qrow may have had to go through helpingout at the house after Summer’s passing or Tai’s rigorous efforts to try andpull Qrow away from his drinking habits. They’re also just… really sexytogether. Like hot damn.

I do remain rather fond of bothof Tai’s canon ships too though. Oh yeah and I will also polyship the hell outof Tai and you will have to tear STR-Crossed out of my cold, dead hands.

I’m also happy to throw him inthe ring with James and really enjoyed my little writing session withJames/Qrow/Tai.

· nOTP: Other thananything that puts him with one of his children, nothing that tends to botherme too much? Even Ozpin/Taiyang, while a little out of nowhere, is still prettysexy to read.

· Randomheadcanon: *Holds up 20* Which one do you want?

-Contrary topopular belief, it’s actually Tai thatRuby and Yang get their daredevil behavior from. Though he’s mellowed out overthe years and as he’s gained wisdom, when he was the girls’ age he could bejust as reckless. Many times, that had gotten him into trouble and, not wantingthe girls to make the same mistakes, tries to ward them from the same flaw hehimself had. (He’s secretly a little proud about it too).

-The sunflowers are either torepresent Summer Rose or they were originally tended to by her and Taicontinues caring for them to keep the memory of her alive. He always cuts freshflowers for the girls whenever they’re sick or hurt, so that their mother canwatch over them.

-Taiyang is either estranged fromhis family or lost it at a young age. He spent most of his childhood inisolation or feeling like he didn’t belong anywhere. When he became apart ofteam STRQ, he finally felt like he’d found a new family and it was one he neverwanted to give up – that was why losing Raven and Summer eventually crushed himand led to his mental breakdown.

-True to his name, Tai fucking loves dragons and if he ever gets luckyenough to see the Gods’ true forms, he’s going to flip out.

· Unpopularopinion: So maybe it’s just the generation I grew up in, but the ‘joke’Tai gives Yang about her arm? Yeahthat one didn’t even hit on my Richter scale as bad. These kinds of ‘off-color’jokes were pretty common place when I was a kid. I think it goes back to what Isaid about the Sun and ‘stalking’ thing. Intent is extremely important, and Taimeant nothing by it… except to make his daughter laugh.

Could it have backfired? Oh yeah,and he would have probably tripped over himself to apologize. But that wasn’twhat happened – nor was it what the writers’ intended to make that happen. Otherwise, they would have led Yang’sresponse in another direction or gave the animation team a specific expressioncue to work in.

· Song Iassociate with them: Going to continue picking random songs, because this isdefinitely not my strong suit. I probably went through all my playlists, but I’mgoing with Chris Daughtry’s “It’s Not Over”. If you read the verses as stages ofTai’s life with those important in it, it lines up fairly perfectly.

-The first twoversus are for Raven and their failed love (“You’ve taken away everything/And Ican’t do without, I try to see the good in life… This love is killing me”)

-Then the next two verses are forSummer and the loss of her (“I cannot wait/We’re wasting too much time… My lifewith you means everything/So I won’t give up that easily”)

-Finally the last verses are forQrow’s losing battle against his alcoholism and depression (“We can’t let thisget away/Let it out/Don’t get caught up in yourself”) and Tai’s own resolve to getback up and start again for his girls (“It’s not over, let’s start over!”)

· Favoritepicture of them:

Never been so attracted to a picturebefore.

Summer Rose

(Our dearestflower, born white and bled red in her final hour)

· Favorite thingabout them: For now, simply that it’s implied she was both a kickasshuntress and an incredible mom. Now, if only we could SEE that in action.

· Least favoritething about them: Well. Being dead’s kind of a drag,ain’t it? I feel my least favorite thing about her is the same thing we��re allkind of feeling at this point – that we know virtually nothing about her. I washoping she’d be brought up when the whole ‘Silver-eyed’ thing got addressed –BUT NO. I’M STILL STARVING RT, GIVE ME SOME CONTENT PLEASE.

· Favorite line: *Saves thisspace for when we get any*

· brOTP: I particularlyenjoy the dynamic Summer and Raven may have had. Like Qrow and Tai, I often seethe girls growing close during their years at Beacon, the two eventuallydeveloping a mutual respect for one another that turns into friendship. Theyboth start to realize just how much they care about each other when Raveninadvertently makes a portal to Summer to save her life. Summer is secretlyhappy whenever she manages to get Raven to confide secrets to her – one ofwhich was her growing feelings for Taiyang.

· OTP: Speaking of Tai,of course I rather enjoy that Summer and he had fallen in love. Just like with Taiqrow,the emotional support factor really drives this one in deep for me. I know thisone gets a lot of flack as a ‘rebound’ on Tai’s part (And equally should getflack on Summer for being a ‘Hero’s complex’, since she’s literally swooping into ‘fix’ what Raven broke), but I personally feel like their love was genuine, simplybecause of how significant an impact losing her had on Taiyang. Just because ithappened quickly after one loss does not immediately discredit it from beingtrue and powerful.

· nOTP: Absolutely herand Qrow. And yes, I know someone is going to call me out for this one because ‘I’vewritten it before’ – AND YES, I KNOW. It’s not that I don’t see the potential inthe ship because I absolutely do. It’s that I’ve come across it just one timetoo many that to put them together, it’s often done at the expense of villainizingTai, Raven, or both, which has soured my ability to enjoy it – one person inparticular does this so well that seeing her work actually turns my stomach. Ialso really think it weakens in-canon Qrow as a character, since I can’t fathomhim lying about being Ruby’s dad and most arguments that try to explain why hewould feel flimsy at best. Also, just, this: “Don’t lie to him Ruby, we’rebetter than that.”

(I will however accept PolyQrow/Summer/Tai in which neither of them know who impregnated Summer and Qrowjust goes by uncle because it was easier for the kids to understand).

· Randomheadcanon: -Summer Rose was first attempted to be killed by then lateractually killed by Marcus Black. The first encounter I see happening sometimein her school years, in which on a mission he comes after her. Taiyang has tointervene, maybe at the cost of his own semblance, and eventually they’re both savedby Raven and Qrow who portal to them just before either are killed. In thesecond, Summer is alone and is being hunted down both by Marcus and his wife.Though she calls Qrow for back-up, he never gets there in time. In the last fewminutes, she manages to kill Marcus’ wife, but is in turn killed by him. I particularlylike this because this would make Qrow and Marcus foils, both who startdrinking heavily from loss but have different responses to those around them.

-HAVE I EVERTOLD Y’ALL ABOUT MY EVIL SUMMER IDEA? I have said it once and I will say it again:black magic and curses are criminally unused in this fairytale inspired show.The idea that Summer was ‘brought back to life’ by Salem to use for her ownpurposes is deliciously fun – or, seeing as we don’t know what it can do yet,being brought back by the relic of creation. In ether scenario, it brings backthe body but not the heart. Her reveal would be devastating to _TRQ, especiallyif they are forced to fight her. If they did I see the scenario going inmultiple directions –

A. In a team fight: Either theyare all killed by her or they kill her

B. In single fights:

+Raven is killed by Summer or theykill each other. I see Summer giving out a lot of passive-aggressive quips overRaven running off and maybe even goads her about her powers and her fears.

+For Qrow, I never see him dyingto her in a one-on-one fight. Getting heavily injured, yes, but never dying. Ido see them being fairly evenly matched, actually. And maybe even Summergetting super offended if he uses his scythe on her.

+Tai fights her, but spends themajority of the battle on the defensive, trying to remind her of who she reallyis. Just as he’s got her hesitating, another villain either injures him orstrikes him down.

That’s not even touching on whatit would mean for Ruby and Yang to encounter her.

· Unpopularopinion: While I do think she probablyhad a habit of being socially withdrawn, I really don’t see Summer as painfullyshy-mannered as some of the fandom portray her as – at least not to a debilitatingextent. I don’t think it’s a bad character trait for her, per say, and it worksin some contexts especially when it’s balanced well. It’s just hard to see hermanaging to survive as team leader with such a submissive personality traitwithout the twins or Tai completely eclipsing her.

· Song Iassociate with them: Mostly because I once envisioned an entire fight scene leadingto her death to this song, I’m going to go with “Heroes” by Zayde Wolf.Surprisingly though, it fits fairly well. Being a ‘hero in the darkest of times’really does exemplify what a huntress is and what Summer herself is meant torepresent.

· Favoritepicture of them: *Saves this space because she stubbornly refuses to put up theteam STRQ photo we’ve all seen ten thousand times*

Raven Branwen

(The sexiestpsychobitch you ever will meet)

· Favorite thingabout them: Her character potential. With the end of volume 5, it feels likeshe’s been left at a crossroads, in which she can choose to continue to lookout for herself like the coward she’s been, or choose to attempt to redeemherself when her daughter gets into trouble again. The fact that we haven’t quiteseen the result of her visit to Tai (or if it ended up being a visit at all)tells me the team is holding back on that decision for now; but, I have absolutelyno doubts that we will be seeing her again.

· Least favoritething about them: Can anyone say manipulative bitch bordering on total sociopath? Thatfirst conversation Raven has with Yang made me jerk back a bit and go ‘Whoa,crazy alert’. It’s definitely a trait that is um… a little hard to like. It hasmassive amounts of writing potential though.

· Favorite line: “Two childrenyou’ve tricked into following you, a disgraced Atleasian scientist, and a FallMaiden with a surname so appropriate, she probably picked it herself. Thatabout right?” Vol 5. Chapter 9 gets a lot of flack for not being veryinteresting, but I could not get enough of Raven’s snark throughout theconversation.

· brOTP: How about withher literal brother? I’m a total sucker for inseparable twins and I’ve alwaysliked the idea that, growing up, the two of them were extremely close. Raven’sa teeter-totter of opposites for me, so I can also see that relationship goingin the exact other direction – BUT FOR NOW…

· OTP: Speaking of teeter-totters,how about that relationship with Tai, huh? Was it toxic as hell or did they trulylove each other and just had an awful falling out, wherein the bitterness wouldsettle in much later on? Who knows! I don’t! But I love exploring both anglesto their fullest extent. I’ll also drive the pain all the way in: If Taiyangends up dying in canon, the break of their bond is powerful enough it causesRaven to cry.

In AUs, I ship the hell out ofSummer and Raven. In-canon, I’ll always go the STR-Crossed route in which allthree of them are just hopelessly in love with one another and in which Ravenpretends she doesn’t regret leaving them behind.

· nOTP: Honestly, beyondthe obvious incest ships (like with her daughter, wtf?), there’s not really anyships with Raven that make me squelch. Even a crackship like Cinder/Raven hasthis weird, sexy angle to it.

· Randomheadcanon: -Like everyone else, Raven used to have a copy of the team STRQphoto. Much like her brother, she kept it on her, even after she left. But shortlyafter Summer died, she burned the photo in the camp’s firepit, cutting off herfinal ties to them.

-Qrow and Ravenwere never sent to Beacon to ‘become huntsman and return with their skills’. Itwas what they were told but they were sent there because the leader at the timehoped they’d die in the process – in Raven’s case, to eliminate her dangerouslyambitious nature. Qrow always knew this was the real reason, but Raven didn’t acceptthis until much later. Upon her return to the tribe, she eventually confrontedand ultimately killed the former leader for that act.

-Though it relies on help fromone of her teammates, Raven can cut things in half with her portals if shecloses it when it’s only halfway through, and has done so on multiple occasionsto cut right through Grimm.

-Raven is either going to die acoward… or a hero.

· Unpopularopinion: I don’t really think Raven left because she got pregnant; ifRaven was so intent on abandoning her, I don’t feel like the show would tell usthat she visits her daughter enough that Yang is able to recognize her birdform. I think it’s an interesting angle, but I think her fear of Salem is thegenuine reason she left but she only really knew one other home: The Tribe. Herdecision to leave Yang behind either was forced from her by the rest of her teamor was her own choice at the time, knowing her daughter would be more at risk ifshe came along.

· Song Iassociate with them: Alright, I scoured around for a bit for this one. I’m going tosettle on “Heaven’s a Lie” by Lacuna Coil. Though there’s not much to actually workwith, it rather matches well with how she feels she was given false promises byOzpin (“Destiny of a lie/Set me free, your heaven’s a lie”) and how sheultimately left her team behind and returned a life of corruption (“I need toknow when I’ll fall into decay… I need to know why did I choose to betray you?Something wrong with all the plans of my life”)

· Favoritepicture of them:

God damn she’s hot when she’sabout to wreck people’s shit.

Qrow Branwen

(The man whowas Emo before it was cool)

· Favorite thingabout them: There’s a lot to love, from his dashing good looks to hisendless sass, but I especially like his emotional vulnerability. I think it’s thesadist in me, but I get endless amounts of joy from him letting down his wallsand being more open: talking about his semblance, panicking whenever Ruby is indanger, his fury and sorrow over Ozpin’s half-truths – yeah, I live for thisshit. If he cries in the show, it will almost definitely become my new favoritemoment.

· Least favoritething about them: So, fun fact: I hatedQrow at first and simply because of this fact -he’s a drunk. Now, this is superpersonal, but I grew up with addiction in my family, so characters like Qrowalmost never make it high up on my list, if they make it on at all. It’ll alwaysremain my least favorite thing about him, but I do like how the show isexploring the issue and, in fact, have enjoyed exploring it myself in mywriting. It’s therapeutic.

· Favorite line: As far as linedelivery goes, got to give it to “Look, this has nothing to do with trust. I- …It’s a long story, okay?” The amount of emotion put into those simple words is frankly,just beautiful. Got to also give proper appreciation to “I DID IT!” and “Well…that’s unfortunate.”

I’ll always be most fond of “Youtwo? You’re gonna go far. But only if you keep learning. If you never stopmoving forward.” Not only as it’s a homage to Monty, but it really shows Qrow’skinder, more loving side when it comes to his nieces.

· brOTP: So whileshipping them is generally off the table, Summer and Qrow being best friends isalways my jam. I can see these two having little drinking sessions together or gettingcompetitive over two-player video games. Perhaps they even geeked out togetherwhen they both realized they loved the tale of the Grimm Reaper. I also stronglybelieve that it was Qrow who encouraged Summer to admit her feelings to Tai, advisingher that to wait could mean to lose her chance entirely. And then, when sheactually did, teased her endlesslyabout it.

· OTP: Can I just fillout a second paragraph about how much I love Taiqrow? Because, I really love Taiqrow.I can see it happening entirely on accident. One night, Taiyang and Qrow aresaying good night and, without thinking, Taiyang just dips down and gives him akiss. He freaks out, not because of the action insomuch that he was afraid hejust ruined their friendship until Qrow just rolls his eyes and drags him infor another one.

On a side note, I’m really startingto get a soft spot for OzQrow and I blame the rest of the fandom for this. Ironic,that I ship them now that Ozpin has technically died and it’s TOO LATE.

As for James/Qrow, I see thehighlights of it, and in small measures like it myself, but it’s not very highup on my list.

Winter and Qrow is a total guiltypleasure ship and I’m not sorry.

· nOTP: Again, beyondthe obvious choices? Eh, I’ve noticed Tyrian/Qrow is gaining some traction and,while it definitely doesn’t give me the heebie-jeebies some ships do, that oneis definitely not my cup of tea.

· Randomheadcanon: -Qrow likes to bestow nicknames to people he likes, as nicknamesare terms of endearment to him. For people like James or Oz, who are Jimmy andWizard respectively, he uses them sparingly; whereas, for family, he tends touse them much more frequently. Especially with his nieces. They often can tell whenhe’s being serious or when they are in trouble if he starts using their actual names.When he was a teacher, almost all of his students got nicknames, since he wasterrible at remembering them by their actual names.

-Qrow’ssemblance caused him to be sent to Ozpin’s office. A lot. It gave everyone,except for the very few who actually knew what his semblance was, theimpression that he was nothing but a troublemaker. Eventually, Qrow started paying Glynda on theside to use her own semblance to fix whatever his would break.

-Qrow’s drinking actually startedin school. He’s generally a happy, reckless drunk, and people tended to likehis company more and, craving both that feeling and the attention, he continuedto seek out social events for an excuse to drink. When he was young, he wasalso extremely choosey on the brew he would have, as a bad mixture often hadthe effect of making his mood plummet instead. As he grew more dependent on thealcohol, he stopped caring as much.

-Qrow isabsolutely bisexual and no one can convince me otherwise.

· Unpopularopinion: I really don’t think Qrow sleeps around as much as the generalfandom believes he does. I get why the archetype is there, especially with how flirtatioushe can be, but with how insecure Qrow actually is, I feel like he’d actually bepretty hesitant when it comes to getting intimate, especially with strangers. Accidentalpregnancies, anyone?

· Song Iassociate with them: Okay this one was actually an easy choice: “Breaking the Habit”by Linkin Park. It really highlights the current struggle Qrow’s going throughin this volume (not knowing what is worth fighting for) while it also can relateback to his addiction and self-worth/depression issues (Not feeling all rightand hurting a lot more than ever before).

· Favoritepicture of them:

Just your resident bird man, looking badass as shit.

#taiyang xiao long #qrow branwen #raven branwen #Summer Rose #rwby #strq #team strq

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spiderbabypxrker · 6 years

Text

Intrigued (2): Peter Parker x Avenger!Reader Imagine

PART TWO

Where he’s curious.

Word Count: 1508

Warnings: none

a/n: here is part 2! I hope you guys like it, I don’t think I will do another part after this

Part 1

series masterlist

masterlist

------------------------

You swear you were about to go mental.

Tony had basically put you on house arrest ever since the incident with Spider-Man. It had been about a week. You were getting so sick of reading the same books and watching the same movies and shows. Itching to do something, even go out and save someone. You were pretty much shielded from the superhero world, but you wanted so desperately to experience it.

So, you did what you knew was the only way to get your sanity back; sneak out.

Slipping on your superhero spare suit in your closet under your clothes (since Tony had your official one locked away). You snuck through the complex, tiptoeing to the front door with your head down.

“Ms (Y/L/N) where are you off to?” Vision pops up from behind you abruptly, making you nearly jump out of your skin.

“Oh I uhm, I just wanted some fresh air, yeah…” you fumble with your fingers, regaining your uneven breath.

“Didn’t Mr Stark forbid you from leaving the house?” he questions with a raised brow.

“It’s just some fresh air Vision, no need to get worked up,” you laugh nervously.

He sends you a sceptical look, shrugging, “Alright then, call if you need anything.”

You nod, spinning around quickly as scurrying out of the door. Letting out a sigh of relief, you look up to the sky and smile as the sun warmed up your body.

Queens, here I come.

———

Peter was getting incredibly bored with the same routine he’d been living. He’d wake up, go to school, be Spider-Man and come back home to sleep. This was generally his routine for just about every day.

He needed something new, something surprising to liven up his day.

Though, he didn’t expect at all to find the unknown, quirky girl he met a week ago sitting on top of a vacant building looking down to the streets of Queens.

“Fancy seeing you here darling,” he smiles under his mask making you jump a little, head spinning around to meet his suited figure.

“Oh, uh hello again,” you respond back shyly.

“What brings you back over here, hm?” he hums, walking over to the ledge where you were sat.

“Just escaping my house arrest,” you laugh awkwardly, looking up to his mask covered face.

“That so? I’m guessing Mr Stark wasn’t too happy about your visit last week,” he guesses, sitting down next to you casually.

You nod, “Yeah, something like that.”

“So what’s his deal?” he asks.

“Just protective I guess,” you cut it down to that, you weren’t stupid enough to reveal everything to the masked boy you had just met.

He looks at you thoughtfully, looking down to your suit-clad body wondering why he had never seen you before, he was sure he had known about all the Avengers but you were a complete mystery.

“So, who are you?” he inquires bluntly, an itching feeling to learn more about you overcoming him as he waited for your response.

“Now why would I tell you who I am when I know nothing about you?” you laugh and he looks away from your wide smile.

“Fair enough,” he responds with a sigh.

As he looks down at the streets of Queens he contemplates what he should say, and in an act of pure curiosity, he did something that he would never have done.

“I’m Peter,” he says softly, holding his hand out for you to shake.

You smile lightly, grasping his hand gently, “(Y/N), nice to meet you, Peter.”

He grins underneath his mask.

(Y/N) huh?

“Are you an Avenger?” he continues to question.

“Uh, kind of…?”

“Kind of?”

“Well, I haven’t really been officially announced as one and I’m not really allowed on a lot of missions to be honest. I’m kind of a secret,” you explain carefully.

He nods slowly, “But why are you a secret?”

She shrugs and he drops the subject, looking back down at the busy streets.

A fire truck siren abruptly fills your ears making you stand up from the ledge defensively, watching as it speeds down the streets to an unknown destination. You start to walk across the building to follow its direction.

“Where are you going?” Peter stands up behind you.

“To see what’s going on,” you respond, not even sparing a glance behind you.

He walks forward to grab onto your wrist to pull you back, making you spin around to face him.

“Why do you care?” he asks breathlessly.

You look back at his motionless masked face thoughtfully, pulling back your wrist after a moment and not responding to him, picking up the wind with your hands and jumping off the building to let it guide you across the buildings to follow the truck.

He huffs, watching as you disappear from his sight. He has a mental battle with his mind before groaning and shooting out a web to follow you.

The fire blazed brightly, corroding the building it had latched on to. Civilians stood at the bottom with policemen pushing them back and away from the building. You could hear the cries of the civilians as some reached out to enter the building.

There were still some people trapped in there.

Landing firmly in front of the building and people, you spring into action, sprinting into the building enveloped by the scorching flames. The interior was destroyed, furniture burnt and things crumbling down the remaining walls still standing.

“Is anyone here!” you yell out through coughs.

You could hear a young woman wail out from the floor above you, concentrating, you moved the fire to make a path with your hands and run through it up the unstable stairs.

The woman crouched in the corner coughing out loud loudly. You move to where she was, wrapping your arm underneath her shoulders and carrying her body along down the stairs and out of the toxic building.

You place her down on the pavement in front of the medics who rush over to her aid.

“Are you okay?” you ask breathlessly.

She sobs outwardly, holding her hands out towards the building.

“I t-think there are more people in there,” she says shakily and you nod.

Turning back around you run back into the building and up the stairs again.

“Hello?” you yell, trying to control the heaviness in your lungs.

Your body was burning up as you trudged through the burning debris. Your vision was starting to become blurry as breathing suddenly became harder and harder. Your body buckled and hit the hot floor, feeling yourself slip out of consciousness.

Then, you felt your body being lifted softly off the ground, you could just catch a glimpse of red and blue before all you saw was black.

Peter stood up with you in his arms swiftly, pulling you into his chest as he exited the crumbling building. The crowd watched on as Spiderman came out with their unknown saviour unconscious in his arms.

He held you with one arm tightly into his body, your head lulled into the crook of his neck as he shot a web out and lifted you both off the ground and away from the scene.

He safely lands the both of you firmly on top of a building, laying you down sideways gently and placing your head on his lap.

He looked down at your unconscious state as fear settled into him, he had no clue what to do. Were you okay? Would you wake up?

On cue, your body launched forward in a fit of nasty coughs, making you hunch over and hold your chest.

Peters' eyes widen and he quickly moved over, rubbing your back as you choked up ash. Luckily it didn’t seem like you had inhaled too much to damage anything.

“You’re such an idiot,” he laughs bitterly.

You look back at him in confusion, eyes still watery.

“Why would you do that, why would you risk your life like that?” he asks almost angrily.

You shake your head weakly.

“Isn’t that what heroes do?” you croak.

He almost scoffs as he looks down at you, anger filling up inside his chest. Why would you do that? You could have died.

“I’m not going to stand back and let an innocent person die when I have the power to save them,” you say softly and under the mask, his expression drops.

He looks away from your burning gaze, knowing that you were right. He just didn’t want to give anything back to the world, truthfully, he was scared of its rejection but his path seemed to become clearer as you spoke.

Comfortingly, he runs his hand up and down your back. Bringing his other free hand up to pull off his mask.

Your eyes connect with two warm ones, curly brunette hair and a tight-lipped smile.

“I guess you’ll have to teach me how to be a hero.”

You smile softly, bringing his hand in yours gently.

“You already are one, Peter.”

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #spider man imagine #Spider-Man: Homecoming #spiderman #Avengers #avengers imagine

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junker-town · 4 years

Text

What if NBA teams got to add one Disney character to their roster?

We drafted a Disney character for each NBA team in the bubble.

The NBA is officially in the bubble on Disney World propery, getting ready for the return of the league on July 30th. In honor of this rare situation and the option of teams adding replacement players, we decided to take time to have some fun and see what it would be like if NBA teams could draft a Disney character for their team to use on the court. This is serious stuff!

The draft order was randomly selected and the only rule was that teams must choose an original Disney character, not franchise characters from Star Wars or Marvel. So we gathered our NBA writers that have respective teams in the bubble together and held a Disney character draft.

Here are the very important results:

1. Milwaukee Bucks - Robin Hood

Not only can he serve as a primary floor general, controlling his on-court compatriots with leadership skills sharpened on commanding a forest of misfits to upend the ruling class. He’ll run point, and there won’t be any questions about his ability to nail shots from deep, whether he’s slinking around picks like he’s climbing trees in a forest or just pulling up from the halfcourt logo before defenses know what hit him. Should Eric Bledsoe falter at all in the postseason, Bud has a tried and true replacement for him. I’d even venture to guess Hood may get the call sooner rather than later in the starting lineup.

- Adam Paris, BrewHoop (Read the full breakdown here)

2. Houston Rockets - Jiminy Cricket

If you thought the Rockets were small before, wait till you get a look at their newest addition. Doubling down on #PocketRockets, Houston not only added the smallest player in the draft but also one of the most dynamic. Crickets can jump over 50 times their body length, making them one of the animals kingdom’s most prolific leapers. The lob game that left James Harden when Clint Capela was traded just might return with this draft pick.

In addition, Jiminy has one of the highest basketball IQs in this draft class. Being that he’s actually just the embodiment of a conscience, he always knows the right decision to make on the court.

- Darren Yuvan, The Dream Shake (Read the full breakdown here)

3. New Orleans Pelicans - Simba

While Jrue Holiday, Derrick Favors and JJ Redick are a nice collection of veterans, none have an NBA championship ring sitting at home. In addition, the upcoming slate of contests will present an unprecedented challenge. There will be no crowds to create much needed momentum for players. The basketball courts at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex will be unfamiliar terrain. And as we’ve learned in recent days, the Pelicans will be without at least two key figures (Jeff Bzdelik and Jamelle McMillan) on Alvin Gentry’s coaching staff.

- Oleh Kosel, The Bird Writes (Read the full breakdown here)

4. Utah Jazz - Maui

Maui? Are you kidding me? A shapeshifter fell this far? The Utah Jazz select Maui, Demi-God of the Wind and Sea, Hero of Men, and stretch four of Quin Snyder’s dreams.

Need someone to guard the perimeter? Boom. Shapeshift. Need switch onto a wing? Boom. Shapeshift. Need someone to take over in the paint? Boom. Shapeshift. AGAIN. This guy is the total package and sure to be a hit knowing Utah’s connection with the Polynesian islands.

- Mychal Lowman, SLC Dunk (Read the full breakdown here)

5. Miami Heat - The Beast

His enormous ultra-athletic frame alone would be an intimidating presence in the paint, freeing up the Heat’s shooters on one end of the floor while also racking up blocks and rebounds on the other side. Whether he’s paired alongside Bam Adebayo to form a truly fearsome duo or in relief off the bench to boost the second unit, it’s a good problem to have for Erik Spoelstra and his coaching staff to see where he best fits before the games start up.

- Surya Fernandez, Hot Hot Hoops (Read the full breakdown here)

6. Washington Wizards - Mickey Mouse

This team is in desperate need of a sorcerer heading into Florida as the “cupcake” team of the field — Who else can be better than the OG of OG’s? Mickey by himself is a jack of all trades, like Bradley Beal is as a guard for Washington. Mickey can do everything on the court pretty well against smaller players. But I get it. He’s a mouse. That’s when his sorcerer hat (from Fantasia) comes in. Here, he can magically help his teammates in the post in the form of giving them a skill boost, or maybe he can magically grow himself!

- Albert Lee, Bullets Forever (Read the full breakdown here)

7. Los Angeles Lakers - The Genie

Genie is the perfect pick for the Lakers at No. 4, because he is one of the most versatile players in this draft. With the ability to change size at will and stretch and teleport himself all over the court, Genie is exactly the type of versatile contributor that will allow the Lakers to make up for any loss with his ability to play any position. Honestly, given the scope of his powers and abilities, the Lakers may have just created an unstoppable big three.

- Harrison Faigen, Silver Screen & Roll (Read the full breakdown here)

8. Sacramento Kings - Hercules

Upon arrival, Hercules is expected to start alongside De’Aaron Fox, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Harrison Barnes and Richaun Holmes. Standing at 6’5”, Hercules, or “Herc,” is probably better suited to play the 1 or 2, but he has the strength to play the 3, 4 or 5, similar to Zion Williamson.

In addition to Hercules, the Kings are working to bring Hercules’ personal trainer Philocetes, or “Phil,” onto their training staff, according to a league source. Hercules credits Phil for all of his success to date, and the Kings could always use a player development coach.

- Christian Rivas, Sactown Royalty (Read the full breakdown here)

9. Phoenix Suns - Tarzan

The strategy was simple: we needed to replace the services of Kelly Oubre, Jr.

He’s quick. He’s agile. He has a killer wingspan. He adds toughness and a mean streak to the Suns roster. He’s high-flying and strong as hell. He hangs out with apes, so you know he and the Suns Gorilla would get along splendidly. Tarzan is made for the NBA. He is a steal at #9.

- John Voita, Bright Side of the Sun (Read the full breakdown here)

10. Brooklyn Nets - Moana

Yeah, the Nets need help. Lots of help. Especially when it comes to bigs. Soooo, I went and drafted the Nets the biggest Disney character I could: Moana. The biggest, you say? Yeah, the biggest. According to Google, Moana measures at 7-feet, 6-inches tall. Say it again. 7-feet, 6-inches tall. And, with speed.

- Tom Lorezno, Nets Daily (Read the full breakdown here)

11. OKC Thunder - James P. Sullivan (Sully)

James P. Sullivan would be the perfect addition to an already-stacked Oklahoma City Thunder team because the man is scary with a sweet soul that could light up any defense. Also, watching him throw alley-oops would be fun to watch.

Sullivan is also 7’6, which in NBA terms is huge to have on a team. He could block a lot of baskets and throw the basketball down the court with ease and could easily score on everyone without much effort.

Sullivan would fit perfectly in with the Thunder because he has a laid-back attitude and I could definitely see Steven Adams and him being best of friends and scaring other teammates with each other.

- Sarah Dewberry, Welcome To Loud City (Read the full breakdown here)

12. Orlando Magic - Peter Pan

As the proven leader of the Lost Boys, Peter Pan also gives the Magic’s young core some valuable leadership they’ll need while transforming into a contending team. And just think of what some of Peter’s Pixie Dust could do for the Magic’s crucial but plodding players like Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier.

- Mike Cali, Orlando Pinstriped Post (Read the full breakdown here)

13. San Antonio Spurs - EVE (a.k.a. Eva)

What Disney character better to represent Pop’s crew than EVE, the Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator that wins the heart of the titular WAL-E?

EVE goes about her business with a calm, seemingly detached efficiency that belied the passion inside, but when the moment was big enough, was able to cut loose. EVE wreaked havoc on an abandoned shipyard in her frustration. EVE rebuilt WAL-E and sparked him back to life.

- Pounding The Rock

14. Toronto Raptors - Alice (Alice in Wonderland)

The on court stuff is obvious. Girl has magic mushrooms, given to her by her chain smoking caterpillar bud, that help her grow quite tall, which seems useful for basketball to me. With Marc Gasol deep in the throws of his mid-thirties and Chris Boucher being more of an erratic four than a steady back-up five, post-shrooms Alice fits as a rim protecting reserve who can give you 10 minutes, even while rocking dress flats. A 2019 Sixers team with such a reliable back-up may have beaten the Raptors in round two.

- Sean Woodley, Raptors HQ (Read the full breakdown here)

15. Los Angeles Clippers - Elastigirl

Elastigirl truly has no ego and is exactly the kind of hero who can easily slot in with an established team. She comes from a family of superheroes, so she is used to working together instead of going rogue. Elastigirl is willing to let others shine, which she does with Mr. Incredible, but she also has the capacity to take a leading role, like when she battles the Screenslaver. She has an acute understanding of how best to optimize the talents of others and bring our their peak performances, which Violet would surely attest to. A player who is comfortable sitting on the bench but always stays ready — after literally years of inaction, in one instance — is a crucial piece of a championship team.

- Sabreena Merchant, Clips Nation (Read the full breakdown here)

16. Denver Nuggets- Mr. Incredible

Mr. Incredible may have some selfish tendencies at times, but he’s at his best when he’s working within a team concept. Nikola Jokic is the brains behind the operation while Jamal Murray is often the tip of the spear. Sometimes you need a hammer though, and that’s what Mr. Incredible provides the rotation: brute force power and athleticism.

- Ryan Blackburn, Denver Stiffs (Read the full breakdown here)

17. Portland Trailblazers - Mufasa

Mufasa is clearly the most NBA-ready character in this draft class. We anticipate he’ll be able to lift teammates to new heights with his fantastic physique and off-the-charts leadership skills. Once he gets his footing, he’ll be a fantastic voice in the locker room. We suspect he dropped so low because he’s a bit shaky running the break and makes questionable decisions in traffic, but with help from the coaching staff, he should develop those skills as his career progresses. At the end of the day, we feel quite confident that we got the steal of the draft.

- Dave Deckard, Blazer’s Edge (Read the full breakdown here)

18. Memphis Grizzlies - Elsa

On the floor, Elsa ices out everything around her. She can be a lockdown defender, freezing ball handlers (literally) while creating opportunities in transition for a Grizzlies team that wants to run. As a help defender, she can assist players like Jonas Valanciunas who may struggle with stretch fives by not allowing those bigs to get to their spots on the pick and pop. She has ice in her veins and will not allow for any proverbial storm raging around the Grizzlies to impact them.

- Joe Mullinax, Grizzly Bear Blues (Read the full breakdown here)

19. Philadelphia 76ers - Air Bud

he Philadelphia 76ers go a bit unconventional here selecting a dog who can not talk, does not have superpowers, and is not an animation, like the other players selected in this draft. However, Air Bud has one thing that I’ve yet to see from any other prospect: game film.

A golden retriever with two-way ability, Air Bud gives Philly a wing who can hound opposing ball-handlers on defense and provide some much needed energy on the offensive end. He also figures to serve as quite a fine complement to Ben Simmons in the transition game.

- Kevin F. Love, Liberty Ballers (Read the full breakdown here)

20. Boston Celtics - Yen Sid

Remember in the movie Fantasia? Mickey is a sorcerer’s apprentice and gets into all kinds of hijinks when he borrows the wizard’s magic hat? Yen Sid is the wizard. So why him and not some more popular figure? Well, like any good drafter I did my research.

There are few Disney characters out there with the magical powers of this wizard. In fact, based on a thorough internet search of about 5 minutes, I concluded that Yen Sid is right up there with the Genie and Maleficent as the most powerful characters in the Disney cannon.

- Jeff Clark, Celtics Blog (Read the full breakdown here)

21. Dallas Mavericks - Kronk

That’s right, Kronk, from the criminally underrated film, the Emperor’s New Groove.

Why Kronk you ask? Well, for one, the Mavericks could use some size. With Willie Cauley-Stein opting out of Orlando for personal reasons, Dallas has a thin front court. Though he should be considered an emergency option in Orlando, Dallas needs a banger, a guy who will play hard and do the dirty work and not need recognition and the spotlight.

- Kirk Henderson, Mavs Moneyball (Read the full breakdown here)

22. Indiana Pacers - Trusty (Lady and the Tramp)

Though he may be getting up there in years and doesn’t boast superhuman strength like Hercules, the dead-eye shooting of Robin Hood, or Maui’s thicc frame, Trusty arguably best reflects the three —admittedly, somewhat corny — tenets of Indiana’s culture: toughness, togetherness, and...wait for it..trust. I mean, c’mon, it’s right there in his name.

- Cailtin Cooper, Indy Cornrows (Read the full breakdown here)

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news4dzhozhar · 7 years

Link

Perhaps you know the scene: someone, usually a young person, is facing a grand dilemma. It’s something serious—dire. She’s scared to even talk about it. The stakes are just too high. Perhaps it would involve admitting something about herself she hasn’t come to terms with yet, or that even discussing the issue could have severe repercussions for someone she cares about or any other number of more or less infinite possibilities. But the dilemma isn’t going to go away on its own. She needs advice, or at the very least to talk to someone. So she ends up presenting it as a hypothetical (“say there was this person…”) or that she “has a friend” facing a tough choice. Ironically, she has to provide herself with at least the illusion of distance to take that all-important first step towards actually meeting this problem. This scenario is so typical it’s cliché, but that does not mean it lacks value. In fact, it just might hint at a strategy that could prove incredibly useful right about now. But this is all very broad, so let’s make it a little bit more specific & talk about evil. Specifically, humanizing evil. As you are probably aware, the New York Times took a crack at doing so less than a week ago & it did not go well. At all. But even though the results were a hot mess, their intentions were not off-base. “What we think is indisputable, though, is the need to shed more light, not less, on the most extreme corners of American life & the people who inhabit them,” Marc Lacey wrote in the New York Times’ response to the neo-Nazi fluff piece backlash, and he’s not wrong. There is no comfortable way to discuss the everyday humanity of people who do awful things—the “banality of evil,” as it is often called—but for a whole host of reasons that people more knowledgeable than me on the subject have elaborated, it is an extremely important that we do anyway. Not so that we can excuse their behavior, but precisely the opposite. When evil is only something other people do when evildoers are supposed to look evil—remember the backlash Rolling Stone got their “glam” “rock star” cover photo of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev?—it makes for dangerous oversimplification. I agree with the arguments regarding an over-emphasis on the perpetrators as opposed to those whose lives were taken or irrevocably damaged by these horrific crimes. In the Rolling Stone controversy, there were plenty of commentators who primarily took issue with the magazine marketing Tsarnaev as a “hero” as opposed to primarily arguing that they should have highlighted the victims over the perpetrator. The issue is, of course, that evil can look like a hero, or a cool guy, be present in someone who also helps old ladies with their shopping & recycles & donates money to charity. Well duh, you might be thinking. But this still presents a huge problem in how we understand the evil that directly affects our ability to deal with it. Consider the past few weeks. How many times have friends & colleagues of men accused of sexual harassment & assault presented defenses based on the fallacy that “because X has been a good friend to me & such a nice person & done A, B, & C, there is no way X could have done this terrible thing”? From Lena Dunham defending Murray Miller to David Yates defending Johnny Depp, it’s the same argument. Based on the idea that a person who does something terrible must be so fundamentally different from “good” people that they — knowing an accused person & having not sensed this core wrong-ness from him — are sure that the accused could not have done the terrible thing. In other words, it’s based on nonsense. So yes, we should “shed more light, not less,” on why people do the terrible things they do, the many forms evil can take & how and why poisonous ideologies take root in certain people’s minds. To provide an analogy in a subject I have studied more in-depth; it’s like dealing with a disease. If you don’t understand how the pathogen in question works, attempting to come up with a treatment is like trying to hit a bulls-eye in the dark when you have no idea where the target even is. It’s theoretically possible but highly unlikely. But exploring & coming to understand what makes that pathogen tick is something that must be done carefully. And, partly due to the risks involved, such exploration is often done whenever possible through the use of non-pathogenic model organisms—a solution that serves the same basic function as a conflicted youth presenting her dilemma as that of a friend: the individual in question can take a precautionary step back while still being able to investigate underlying mechanisms. The news has no precautionary step back. It deals directly with real people in the real world & interacts directly with real events as they unfold. And when you start profiling real live neo-Nazis & name-dropping all these actual neo-Nazi leaders & organizations, you are giving them all free press. Not even the cleverest journalist can avoid that. “But it’s bad press,” you might argue. Well, late night TV didn’t emphasize the Trump campaign from its earliest days & CNN didn’t air Trump’s 2015 rallies in unprecedented excess because they thought he was the best man for the job. Their coverage contained no endorsements but it was still coverage. Of course, there’s no way of demonstrating exactly how much all this free press & airtime contributed to Trump’s success but it’s pretty safe to say it didn’t hurt his campaign. Perhaps news media isn’t always the best place to do these explorations. After all, there is an alternative, a place that allows for a step back from the real world while still enabling the exploration and investigation of incredibly important political, ethical & philosophical concerns: fiction. Perhaps we need that step back, the distance & arguably even the limitations provided by a fictional context in order to be able to discuss these matters that are so fundamentally important but incredibly volatile. Cinema, at its best, is in a sense a safe space to feel unsafe & be made uncomfortable. A means through which we can be challenged and challenge ourselves & how we understand & interact with incredibly complex ethical, philosophical & political situations. While I love movies that leave me feeling warm & fuzzy inside, I have chosen to dedicate so much of my time—and my life, really—to cinema because of films that have left me uncomfortable or unsettled, that have challenged my beliefs and ultimately broadened my understanding of both myself and the world. Films like Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Get Out, American History X, and Fritz Lang’s M. Cinema, at its best, is in a sense a safe space to feel unsafe and be made uncomfortable. Movies have the ability to be one of the best, safest, and most accessible ways to foster discussion of hugely important but volatile matters. Fiction filmmakers trying to tackle huge ethical dilemmas aren’t working with real-life neo-Nazis with their own agendas. They aren’t leaving real-life victims in the dark by focusing on the story of the perpetrator. Yes, of course, these stories can still be told exceptionally well or abysmally or anything in between, and there are still stakes, they’re just somewhat lowered. But wait, you might be thinking, what about a film like Griffith’s Birth of a Nation? That one sure did a lot of harm. Well, the thing about Birth of a Nation and others of somewhat of a similar ilk like Triumph of the Will is that they are fiction masquerading as truth. Remember that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson commented that Birth of a Nation, the most successful propaganda film the KKK never paid for, was like “writing history with lightning.” This is utter bullshit, but it did hefty damage nonetheless. What I’m talking about is exclusively fiction that calls itself fiction. There are issues that need discussing and debating, and we need to figure out a way to talk about these matters far more productively than we have of late because the growing polarization that has made it nearly impossible to hold productive discourse is quickly becoming the problem to end all problems. It makes just about every other problem out there even worse. As much as I love movies, I’m not saying they have the potential to cure all the world’s ills. What I’m saying is that they can provide a context in which we can discuss the questions and concerns at the heart of various issues while also taking a step back from them, and that is something we ought to embrace wholeheartedly.

#jahar tsarnaev #dzhokhar tsarnaev #rolling stone

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a-panda-reads-act-omega · 7 years

Text

ACT OMEGA PART 24

THE 04/02/17 UPDATE

Hey look at that, I’m bored and I can’t urge myself to close that act omega tab. You know what that means. I’m doing another part today, w o o o o o

Alrighty, last time. Aranea showed up, and I reacted in a perfectly calm and orderly fashion. Let’s see where this goes!

Yup. Nobody’s happy. Put that grin away Aranea.

MEENAH: serket?? MEENAH: HOLD the GLUB up MEENAH: i thought you like MEENAH: got owned or w/e

She did indeed get owned or w/e. By you, in fact. You from another universe in which you became a giant hot troll wearing a goddamn skintight outfit.

Oh yeah, and she is currently destroying the hell out of the kiddo’s back at the lily pad.

ARANEA: ... Nice to see you too, Meenah.

Pssst.. it’s not nice to see you aranea...

ARANEA: Just as anxious to get to the point as ever. 8ut as per usual, I encourage you to exercise a 8it more p8tience. ARANEA: All your questions and concerns will be addressed eventually, I assure you. MEENAH: UUUGH MEENAH: i cannot B-ELI-EV-E this MEENAH: you go all crazy and try n pull off some ridiculous timeline divine intervention stunt MEENAH: prolly kelped actin like a hotshot all the way up to getting fuckin WAST-ED MEENAH: im out here thinkin i aint never gonna sea you again cause you got it in your head you had ta be the ultimate magnanimous blowhard just like your STUPID ALT S)(-ELLF MEENAH: AND T)(-EN MEENAH: you reappier outta NOW)(-ER-E MEENAH: lookin just as smug as you got no business bein MEENAH: and you tell me i gotta put up with whatever sanctimonious salmon youve prepared before i get any answers?!

LET ‘ER HAVE IT MEENAH. Can Aranea get the idea out of her head that SHE has got to be the one everybody looks up to? Because everytime she’s had an effect on this story, it’s made everything completely horrible. Honestly, she just tries too hard to be worthy of admiration. If she were like Vriska, she’d care more about doing what needs to be done instead of being admired by all. Merely because Vriska isn’t so dependent on the approval of others, and is happy with doing what needs to be done just so she can brag to herself and others. Alright, I kinda feel like getting deeper into this. How Vriska and Aranea differ and parallel eachother, because it’s a pretty thin line that doesn’t feel obvious. But here’s a very simple way of putting it:

Vriska wants to be the hero Aranea wants to be seen as the hero

Vriska wants to force dead weight to carry itself Aranea wants useful people to depend on her

I feel like that sums it up fairly well, really. Maybe I’ll start making sideposts of character analysis if I feel like getting deeper into these topics.

ARANEA: Sanctimonious what? MEENAH: OH MY COD I M-EANT S-ERMON

GET MAD MEENAH. IMPALE HER WITH YOUR POKEY FORK.

And here we find Porrim, in her natural state of “tired of everybodys shit”

PORRIM: Meenah. Yo+u might want to+ reel yo+urself in for a mo+ment.

S)(-ELL NO

MEENAH: >38( PORRIM: Maybe try to+ avo+id making the same mistakes as the yo+unger Serket.

DONT BRING VRISKA INTO THIS

VRISKA: Excuse me???????? PORRIM: O+h, hush. Yo+u’ve spent far mo+re energy externalizing yo+ur frustratio+n than you+ have do+ing anything pro+ductive. PORRIM: We can o+nly take so+ much o+f this. We're here to+ try and do+ so+mething with o+ur afterlife o+ther than willfully subject o+urselves to+ its infinite echo+ chamber o+f teenage drama.

Porrim

porrim, baby

i love you, i do

but this is n o T JUST TEENAGE DRAMA? I mean, Aranea killed EVERYBODY.

PORRIM: I myself have had eno+ugh o+f that fo+r at least two+ lifetimes. PORRIM: So+ if either o+f yo+u are ultimately o+nly go+ing to co+ntribute to+ the endless caco+phany, rather than fo+cus o+n getting results, I suggest yo+u mo+ve it to+ so+me o+ther bubble. PORRIM: If no+t, then co+nsider jo+ining the rest o+f us in seeing what Aranea might have to+ o+ffer to+ o+ur cause. ARANEA: Why, thank you, Porrim. That was very eloquently put. I promise you won’t 8e disappointed. ::::)

Goddammit Porrim, you gave her a reason to be smug. Just because Porrim is tired of the arguing, doesn’t mean you’re somehow at all justified in anything you’ve ever done ever.

ok im salty

PORRIM: Hmmm. We’ll see. ARANEA: Really, I was well prepared for my reappearance to cause something of a stir. It’s completely understanda8le to want an explan8tion.

UUUUUGHHhfadjnkms SHuuut uppp

ARANEA: I’ve 8een lying low for quite a while now. Gathering inform8tion, drawing conclusions, revising and perfecting plans... All of which will certainly prove invalua8le for you all in your current predicament! ARANEA: It really is a shame you’ve landed yourselves in such a 8ind! It was ultim8ly inevita8le, 8ut unfortun8 all the same. ARANEA: Isn’t it lucky, then, that I’m here to put this tr8n 8ack on its tracks?

Im gonna die from salt poisoning help

PORRIM: SIGH...

SIGH...

PORRIM: If yo+u have any interest in keeping that pro+mise o+f yo+urs, I suggest yo+u skip the preamble.

Thank you Porrim. I’m trying to find somebody to latch onto here, but everybody is starting problem’s n s t uf f .

Everybody looks so

VRISKA: Hold the fucking phone! Why should we listen to ANYTHING you have to say?

YOU sHOULDN’T

VRISKA: Your track record isn’t exactly stellar! And from what I’m seeing right now, you haven’t learned from your colossal fuckup one iota!

WOAH, VASKA... who the hell says iota????

VRISKA: I have a8solutely ZERO interest in letting the same washed up has-8een whose mess *I* had to clean up waltz up here and act like she’s my goddamn s8vior!!!!!!!

YEAH TELL HER VRISKA! EVEN THOUGH IM PREEETTY SURE YOU DID NOTHING AND TEREZI DID EVERYTHING...

And, oh god my memory of the timelines and stuff are getting me confused. I’m sure I’m probably wrong about this, but y’know what I’m gonna talk about it anyways. Would this Vriska really even know about Aranea? I mean, she didn’t die, so... maybe just in her dreams or something. or. gdi im confused.

ARANEA: Come now, Vriska. You of all people should know that there are 8etter times to choose for throwing hissyfits!

This isn’t a HISSYFITS. This is clear and rational thought. And I don’t get w hY NOBODY ELSE IS QUESTIONING THESE THINGS.

ARANEA: And 8esides, what a8out your little plan? We can all pl8nly see how well that turned out. You were smacked down just as unceremoniously as I was, so don’t act as if you’re suddenly the only person who can pull their own w8 around here.

Yeah, but you know what? Her plan didn’t revolve around dooming EVERYBODY. Her plan had essence of COMPETENCE.

ARANEA: You may 8e incredibly stu88orn, 8ut you can’t 8e so foolish as to dismiss common sense purely for the s8ke of your ego. I’m your 8est shot at m8king it out of this alive. While your army was 8eing eradic8ed, I was 8usy uncovering the truth. ARANEA: If you would just allow me to expl8n, perhaps you could finally reg8n your wits and 8e a8le to focus on what TRULY matters.

oh god i hate her h e l p.

pLEASE.. DOUBle DEATh HER.

VRISKA: I already HAVE my wits! And I was just a8out to use them to whip this 8unch of losers into sh8pe 8efore YOU and your 8loated delusions of grandeur showed up! ARANEA: Is that what you were a8out to do? I never would have guessed. Considering from my perspective, you were in the middle of some sort of mental 8reakdown 8rought on 8y 8eing utterly incapa8le of comprehending the magnitude of your own failure!

At least she DAMAGED HIM. SHE INFLICTED SOME FORM OF HARM TO THE UNKILLABLE GOD TRYING TO FUCK THEM OVER. You literally just got everybody killed with no positive result, you cannot claim that you are A N Y better than her.

ARANEA: If you had been p8ying attention, you might have t8ken note of when I mentioned that this outcome was inevita8le. There was hardly anything I could have done to prevent it. YOU, on the other hand... ARANEA: The mishap with your dice could easily have 8een avoided if you had simply realized how thoroughly outmatched you were. Did you actually try your little luck-stealing trick on LORD ENGLISH?

FIRST THE F U C K OF ALL... If this outcome was inevitable, then that literally makes EVERYBODY IN PARADOX SPACE JUST AS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS DISASTER. NNGH YOU CANNOT PIN THIS ON VRISKA JUST TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK BETTER

VRISKA: Yeah! I did!!!!!!!! That’s kind of what I DO? VRISKA: 8ut... it didn’t WORK. ARANEA: Tsk, tsk. Of course it didn’t. Lord English is hardly on the same level as the 8lack king, or the myriad low-level imps, hapless trolls, and pitiful ghosts from which you’d previously acquired your ill-gotten fortune. Your a8ilities aren’t even close to developed enough to stand a chance against such an opponent! ARANEA: 8ut say, I think that perhaps we can strike a deal. We all know that time has 8een kinder to me in that I’ve had enough of it to refine my powers considera8ly. 8etween the two of us, I am clearly the superior Hero of Light.

. . . . . . . . F U C K Y O U .

Can’t deal with this. Can’t TAKE this girl’s superiority complex.

God im turning into the human equivallent of a salt shaker.

VRISKA: Oh, yeah. Sure. 8ecause I’m totally interested in whatever 8ogus “deal” you have to offer. Especially when you phrase it like THAT! ARANEA: And yet you don’t deny truth of my words. A smart choice. VRISKA: Are you going to w8ste time gloating, or actually get to the point?! ARANEA: My point is that I would 8e more than happy to lend you my services. Allow you to maximize your potential in a more... expedient fashion, given the sizea8le constraints we are currently under. ARANEA: All you would have to do is ask nicely. May8e even apologize for raising your voice? A little more respect and deference would 8e appreci8ed as well. ARANEA: What do you say? A deal is a deal? ::::)

GOD. DAMN IT I CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS. I REALLY REALLY R E A L L Y HATE HER. NOBODY WANTS YOUR HELP. Oh god this is turning into the worst liveblog ever, B U T SERIOUSLY I HATE HER AND THAT IS LITERALLY ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT RIGHT NOW.

VRISKA: How a8out this: I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP!!!!!!!!

YEs. PRECISELY

OHFUCKHIKANKRI

KANKRI: *PHWEEEEEEEET!!!*

...

O k you know what. For once, I’m actually happy about Kankri existing. That fuckfest needed to end.

And jesus. I need to calm myself down.

Oh god poor Mituna is freaking out.

KANKRI: I think that is QUITE en9ugh 9f that f9r n9w. While I n9rmally endeav9r t9 enc9urage c9nstructive de6ate in the interest 9f inf9rming the ign9rant masses, this argument has 6ec9me far t99 pr96lematic f9r me t9 all9w it t9 c9ntinue!

Gdi I haven’t even read it yet, but it already hurts to look at.

Alright. So yeah, this is getting out of hand and he’s putting a stop to it with his space jesus powers.

KANKRI: There isn’t nearly en9ugh time f9r me t9 g9 9ver all 9f the deeply distur6ing c9mments disparaging n9t 9nly the magically disadvantaged, 6ut the mentally challenged, which I have just 69re witness t9. S9 I will settle with 6riefly chastising y9u 69th f9r y9ur cavalier disregard 9f y9ur inherent privilege, and enc9urage y9u to 6e m9re aware 9f h9w the nature 9f y9ur w9rds might affect the very imp9rtant feelings 9f pe9ple that aren’t here.

And people that ARE here. Like, you know. The mentally challenged Mituna right behind you. Though I’m pretty sure you’re speech his having a worse affect on him than they are. Also, how the hell did they even offend any mentally challenged people??

LATULA: ummmmmm, l1k3, not to b3 UN-r4d or wh4t3v3r, b3c4us3 th4t 1s TOT3S not my styl3, LATULA: but m1tun4 1s l1k3, R1GHT h3r3??

Thank you Latula, the poor guy is dying at all these words.

KANKRI: He is?

Oh my god Kankri, seriously? Were you too busy ogling at Latula to realize that their were handicapped people who needed defending in the area?

MITUNA: 1 H4T3 Y0UR FUCK1NG W157L3 KANKRI: 9h. Right, 9f c9urse. My mistake. Ap9l9gies, Mituna. I h9pe y9u d9n’t mind that I have taken it up9n myself t9 help speak 9n y9ur behalf, c9nsidering y9ur vari9us issues with speaking at all.

kANKRI. that is not how you speak to handicapped people. Is he just salty that he’s dating Latula? Yeah. he’s totally salty about latula.

MITUNA: UM KANKRI: Exactly. Y9u’ve 6een rendered n9n-ver6al 6y the sens9ry 9verl9ad caused 6y all this unnecessary sh9uting. Which makes the wh9le thing w9rse, really. Right, Mituna? MITUNA: WHY 4R3 7HR33 S0 M4NY W0RD5 MITUNA: 175 4LL MITUNA: 8UZZ1NG LATULA: dont worry 4bout 1t b4b3! 1ts 4lmost ov3r. MITUNA: 5H0U71NG 4ND MITUNA: 5TUP1D 8ULG3 WH1FF1NG WH157L35 MITUNA: FUCK

Latula is literally the best supportive girlfriend. Is she gonna cover his ears for him next?

KANKRI: Even m9re sincere ap9l9gies, Mituna. Even if the use 9f the whistle was vital in the c9nstructi9n 9f y9ur safe space, I understand that it did upset y9u and that y9ur feelings 9n the matter are valid. KANKRI: 6ut thankfully, and despite the unf9rtunate side effects, it did its j96 9f helping 6ring every9ne t9 their senses. KANKRI: Really, this wh9le thing c9uld have 6een av9ided if y9u 69th had just listened t9 P9rrim's advice. PORRIM: O+h. PORRIM: Kanny, did yo+u just... AGREE with me fo+r o+nce? KANKRI: ... KANKRI: I 6elieve I have asked y9u several times n9w n9t t9 call me that!

what has this devolved into? What is this BICKERING. Can anybody remain on the same page for more than two sentences? Honestly, I’m surprised Lord English hasn’t just killed them all yet.

AND HERE THESE TWO ARE, indifferent as always.

SOLLUX: (well.) SOLLUX: (this is pr0bably the worst clusterfuck i have ever had the f0rtune 0f n0t seeing.) SOLLUX: (are y0u sure we can’t just leave?) SOLLUX: (as if whichever smug fuck that ends up running the idi0t brigade is g0ing to s0lve 0ur impending d00m. it’s alm0st starting t0 feel like the wh0le pirate crew bullshit all 0ver again.) SOLLUX: (except s0meh0w even m0re 0f a catastr0phe.)

Sollux, there’s one thing you’re forgetting. The pirate ship was a disaster, yes. but now you have one KEY FACTOR that will lead you all to victory. The power of F R I E N D S H I P. Can’t you just feel all the good vibes radiating off of these assholes?

ARADIA: (we cant go yet sollux!) ARADIA: (i have no intention of leaving) ARADIA: (and while i understand why you may want to this time it really is somewhat imperative that you stay) ARADIA: (we all have a part to play in the preservation of reality) ARADIA: (a mission which is even more critical now than it has ever been!)

Alright, so this team’s objective “SAVE REALITY” Team lilypad’s objective “DONT.. DIE” Team Lowas’s objective “THERAPIZE ERISOL”

SIMPLE ENOUGH.

oh god i just remembered Calliope already died and that’s s A D ...

SOLLUX: (ugh. really?) ARADIA: (yes!) SOLLUX: (s0 i’m like. imp0rtant s0meh0w?) ARADIA: (does it help you feel better to think about it like that?) SOLLUX: (... kind 0f? bizarrely en0ugh.) SOLLUX: (where did that c0me fr0m all 0f a sudden?) ARADIA: (i couldnt possibly tell you) ARADIA: (but what i can tell you is that i think this brief setback will be over soon) SOLLUX: (fine, if y0u say s0.)

All setbacks can be overcome with enough TIME. HAHA.... TIME JOKE. The hell am i doing with my life.

Oh shit is Davepeta here to drop some calm bombs on the group?

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < man this is just getting sad DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but guess i oughta toss my two cents into this clusterfuck DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < beclaws honestly i KIND of agr33 with vwiskers a little? DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < my subconscious is clawing at me that we totally cant trust aranea at all ever

THANK, you.

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < cause shes seriously bad news DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i dont have any real concrete memories or anything to support it but DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i dunno! thats just how i f33l DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < meow on the other paw DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < we kind of are in some purrty hot water DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < and i ALSO have the conflicting f33ling that whatever info she has fur us will be impurrtant DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < so if anything we should just hear her out DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < so long as you dont try to pull anything fishy!!

SIGH... I G U E S S. It still feels horrible to even let her get a word in, just because she’s literally gonna act like every useful information she gives is worth everything, and they have no right to blame her for anything.

ARANEA: Er... ARANEA: Thank you for the endorsement. And the warning, I suppose. ARANEA: If there won’t 8e any further interruptions? MEENAH: yeah sure fine whatever MEENAH: but u beta believe im gonna be gilling you later ARANEA: I look forward to it.

I’m gonna hope that was a fish pun, and what she meant was ‘killing’

TAVROS: i THINK VRISKA LOOKS LIKE, sHE IS READY TO STOP SHOUTING, TAVROS: sO WE CAN BEGIN LISTENING, TAVROS: wHICH IS GOOD, bECAUSE I AM VERY CURIOUS, TAVROS: eSPECIALLY SINCE, i SORT OF, aLWAYS LIKED YOUR STORIES, aRANEA, TAVROS: wHEN THEY DIDN’T RUN TOO LONG, aNYWAY,,,

N O B O D Y A S K E D Y O U T A V R O S

putthatfuckingsmileaway

ARANEA: Don’t worry, Tavros. I will try and keep this as 8rief as possible. ARANEA: While also ensuring all vital inform8tion and context is provided, of course. ARANEA: Now, allow me to 8egin...

...gjdkgfignjfij

conflicting feelings about everything here. Alright. WELL, that is the end of this update. you can listen to my whine a bunch on the next part. SO. yeah.

#homestuck #homestuck liveblog #Act Omega #hs act omega #act omega liveblog #hs act omega liveblog

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directorscutandsomeotherstuff · 7 years

Text

Scarlett Spider #1

(Hey, kids. It’s Director’s Cut time again, the time when I find really old fanfics and make them better and/or worse through the power of second drafts. One of these days, I’m gonna run out of subjects that I personally was involved in, but today’s not that day. Let’s talk Spider-Man, bitches!)

(Spider-Man was one of my favorite super heroes growing up. Part of that could have been the whole “every day nerd turning out to be a super cool guy” thing that became standard procedure for YA fiction in the nineties and 2000′s, or it could have been the fact that Spider Man was a super hero who dealt with terrible, life-threatening scenarios by snarking at them, making him my spandex clad spirit animal. It sure as hell couldn’t have been the spider part, because I’m pretty sure even now, I would not want to be even in the same room as a radioactive spider, even if its bites made you a super hero and didn’t, say, just give you spider-cancer.)

(Of course, one of the best things about the comic book universe, in my opinion, is the fanfiction side of things. Rather than indulge in complex sexual fantasies involving mass murderers being made tame in the presence of horny women or turning potentially years worth of established canon on its head to justify two men being reduced to a rudimentary desire to touch each others dinguses, the world of comic book fanfics gives us a greater chance of running into power fantasy of a very typically male bent. Such is the case with our buddy, the appropriately named Max Mercury, and his story about a totally not like the author teenage boy who’s best friends with a super hero and then becomes one because he’s also best friends with mad science. This is gonna be a fun one.)

Dark Alley

Ethan is in a dark alley when he comes against three thugs.

Thug 1: Hey kid gimme your money!

Ethan: I don't have any.

Thug 2: What did we say!

(Thug 1: Fool, you didn’t say nothing.

Thug 2: Bro, I know that, all right? We been over this. I’m just tryna establish a “united front.” Like, your words are all our words, and shit. Businessmen in, like, Japan and shit do it all the time.

Thug 1: We ain’t in Japan, neither. Quit fucking around.

Thug 2: Bro... Bro... holy shit. I know we ain’t in Japan, alright? I ain’t a moron, or nothing.

Ethan: Should I just leave you guys alone, or something?)

Thug 3: I think this kid needs to be taught a lesson.

Scarlet Spider: Get away from my friend!

Thug 1: The Scarlet Spider.

(Scarlet Spider: People’re usually a bit more surprised when I sneak up on them.

Thug 1: We’re nameless thugs in a fanfiction. This was pretty much a guarantee.

Thug 2: Hey, Spider-bro. It’s all good. Maybe we could exchange business cards’re something. You know, businessmen in Japan...)

The Scarlet Spider beats up the bad guys.

They get up and run away. Scarlet Spider: Stay here Ethan I'm gonna take out the trash!

Ethan: Go take them punks out!

Classroom – Daytime

Ethan Masters, a 15 year old African American Male is sitting in class asleep (dreaming) when his teacher calls him. (Well, it’s good that we have the barest description of the character in the scene after he’s been introduced. Also, what’s he dreaming about? I choose to believe he’s having the “I have to go to the bathroom, but there don’t seem to be any in this building” dream.)

Teacher: MR MASTERS!

Ethan (Groggy): What, huh?

Teacher: WAKE UP!

Ethan (Groggy): I'm not sleep.

(Teacher: WELL GOOD! I’D HATE FOR THIS CLASS TO BE BORING FOR YOU!

Ethan: Man, do you have to yell like that all the time?

Teacher: WHAT? OH, SORRY! I JUST TEND TO GET REALLY EXCITED ABOUT TEACHING! *clears throat* Now, then...)

Teacher: What's the answer to number 3.

Ethan: Um 17!

Teacher: That might be right but we're in history class.

(Ethan: No, that’s what I mean. UM ‘17. The Utrechtmarkt of 1717. You know, Dutch East India Company and all that.

Teacher: Oh... well... Good job, Mr. Masters. You managed to remember a thing.)

The class laughs at him. The bell rings. And they leave. _______________________________________________________

Hallway – Daytime

Ethan is walking thorough the hallway as his girlfriend Lenina a 16 year old African American Female comes thorough the hallway and sneaks up on him.

Lenina: Hey baby.

Ethan kisses Lenina and begins to grab her butt.

Lenina: Not here baby.

Ethan gets off.

(Lenina: *recoils* Ugh, Ethan! I said not here! You and your stupid hair-trigger...)

Ethan: Sorry. What's up baby?

Lenina: We goin to the movies tonight.

Ethan: I can't.

Lenina: Why not?

Ethan: I gotta go over to Doc Samson's lab tonight.

Lenina: Again. You've been goin over there all week.

Ethan: But today the Doc's ready to test the Neogenic Recombinator. I gotta be there to see it. We've workedreally hard on this.

(Lenina: Oh, right. Pardon me. I was just offering boring old action flicks and some hot over-the-pants rubdown action when we made out in the car. I should have known that I couldn’t compete with a teenage boy and the siren call of cutting edge genetic engineering.

Ethan: Don’t feel bad, baby. I still like over the pants rubdowns. It’s just, we can do that any old day, and we often do. How many opportunities does a guy get to stand on the threshold of God’s domain and drop a flaming bag of dog crap on the porch?)

Ethan goes over to his locker and opens it up showing pictures of Spiderman and even more of the Scarlet Spider.

Lenina: I could see idolizing Spiderman but that other guy. (Actually, now that I think about it, isn’t it a bit weird you only have pictures of muscly men in skintight spandex bodysuits in your locker, that you fawn over constantly?)

Ethan: The Scarlet Spider was bangin girl! You don't know what you're talkin about. He busted up bad guys better in the short time he was a round than Spidey ever did. And if Philly had a hero I wish it had been him.

Lenina: Whatever. I got to get to the bus on time so I'll see you later.

They kiss and they go their separate ways.

_______________________________________________________

Doc Samson's Lab – Daytime

Ethan walks in Doc Samson's lab and puts his equipment on.

Samson: Ethan I've got the recombinator up and online.

Ethan: Great. (Glad to know you’re able to run the machine that allows you to do your job, Doc. I was worried we were just gonna be staring at the thing all day, without plugging it in.)

Ethan goes over to Freddie, Doc Samson's pet, genetically engineered Spider.

Ethan: Hey Freddie.

He puts his hand in the cage and the spider bites him.

Ethan: OUCH! Your tarantula bit me.

(Samson: Well, why did you put your hand in the cage? It’s a spider, not a puppy.)

Samson: It's not just a tarantula, it's been spliced between a water spider, a tarantula, and a black widow. I devenomized him he won't poison you. (I also gave him racing stripes and the ability to whistle. I’ve created a mockery of natural design, and God save me, I don’t ever want to stop!)

Ethan: Good let's fire this baby up!

Samson: Okay we're gonna do some genetic crossing like I did with Freddie there. (I’m thinking today, we’re gonna combine a dog with a fish. I’mma call it a dosh!) Once we activate it.

Ethan: Cool.

Samson: Let's prepare for a test run!

Doc. Samson turns it on and the beam fires up.

Ethan (Raising his voice over the noise of the beam): Got a good flow.

Samson (Raising his voice over the noise of the beam): Yeah nice and smooth!

The Recomnbinator begins to overload.

Ethan (Fearful): It's overloading!

(Samson (over the noise of the beam): What? I can’t hear you! Did you say it’s overloa-)

The blasts come toward them.

Samson: GET DOWN! I'm gonna get the reflector.

Ethan is down while Doc. Samson gets the reflector. (The reflector was actually an umbrella, made of aluminum foil, but the Doc really seemed to get a kick out of using it.)

A beam goes toward Doc. Samson but he reflects it and hits Freddie then the same beam hits Ethan. Ethan springs to his feet. He tries to turn the Recombinator off. But it continues to overload.

Samson: It's to late get out while you still can!

Ethan: But Doc. (We can still save it. I mean, you wouldn’t be so stupid as to design a machine that deals with this much energy and not give it an emergency shutoff or some other safety feature, right?

A heavy, awkward silence fills the room, punctuated only by the chaotic rumbling of the Recombinator.)

Samson: GET OUT!

The room begins to explode and Ethan jumps out of the nearby window and lands on the ground running as fast as he can from the scene.

(Doc Samson stares at his machine, watching the arc of electrical shorts as they run along its surface, and opens up his reflector umbrella.

Samson: This is gonna suck, Freddie. You know what to do.

Freddie: *whistles the ending credits theme to the Incredible Hulk 1970s TV show*

Samson: *tears up* Good boy... good boy.)

Streets – Daytime

Ethan is running down the street as Police and Paramedics and firemen pull up and assess the situation putting the fires out etc. Police questions him as he returns to the front of the building. After a tough session he goes home.

Ethan's House – Daytime

Ethan's parents are watching the report of the science building exploding worrying about Ethan as he comes in. They hug him.

Mom: We thought you were dead.

Dad: We were so worried about you (I mean, not worried enough to go check it out, but...)

Mom: Are you okay?

Ethan: Yeah I'm fine I just want to go and rest. Mom: Okay honey take all the time you need.

(Ethan: Really? So, I could, like, get out of going to school tomorrow?

Mom: Yeah, not even a good try, kid.

Ethan: Crud)

Ethan: Thanks.

Ethan's Room - Nighttime

Ethan is in his room talking to himself.

Ethan: Man I almost didn't get outta there today good thing I jumped from the window. But it was on the top floor, how did I survive. I don't care I'm just glad I did. (Yeah, it doesn’t matter that my mentor’s probably dead and that I got out of an exploding building unscathed. I wonder if there’s still time to take Lenina up on that date...)

Ethan hears pots landing on the floor startled he jumps to the ceiling and sticks to it. He looks down.

(Ethan: Wait a minute... pots? In my bedroom? Pots don’t belong in my bedroom. And neither does this stove. Or this refrigerator. Also, I appear to be hanging from the ceiling.)

Ethan: What the hell's happening to me.

#fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction commentary #Director's Cut #spiderman #scarlet spider

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myviewmyvoice · 5 years

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I saw Queen & Slim (Q&S) and liked it but had some major issues with it. However what intrigued me the most about the movie wasn’t their ride to freedom, but the rides, themselves. There were six distinct automobiles that Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) were in that made me use a different lens to view the film (I saw it twice). If you don’t know by now, I think in hip-hop. So, as I watched Q&S and listened to the film score, I couldn’t help but think of the article “‘Can’t C Me’: Surveillance and Rap Music” by Erik Nielson which used 2Pac’s “Can’t C Me,” to argue how Black Americans, more specifically rappers, use cars for (in)visibility and evade the police. Hop in, let me take you on a ride.

“The car has always been an important symbol of wealth and mobility in African American culture…” Erik Nielson

The White Honda Accord Religion is a major theme throughout this film. From conversations and prayers to rosaries hanging from the review mirror of cars, to crosses hanging in bedrooms and morgues. The first car of Q&S journey is Slim’s white (a symbol of purity) Honda Accord. Slim, a God-fearing man, license plate reads: TRUST GOD. How much more obvious can it be?

Hondas are Japanese cars and to me it represented the “outsider” or the “other” in America unlike a European foreign whip (But I will get to that later). Despite acclimating to the whiteness of America and having faith in God, Q&S were still targeted by the oppressive state. The white car mirrored its owner; an innocent outsider in America. Therefore, they couldn’t avoid the gaze (re: surveillance) because by default they were seen as other. So, no matter how much Slim complied the officer wanted some smoke…until he got (accidentally) smoked.

The Ford Pick-up Truck They go on the run until they run out of gas and have to flag down a vehicle. Slim hoped the person was Black, Queen warned that just because the person is Black doesn’t make it a good thing. An initially unsuspecting off-duty sheriff volunteered to give them a ride to the gas station. Things go left and they end up with the truck but forget their wallets in the Honda. Smh. They find some money in the glove compartment of the truck and get a little boy to buy them food from a mom-n- pop joint. The boy’s father recognize them and tells them how much he appreciates what they are doing…

This. Is. America. For survival purposes, they “abandon” the Honda and steal the Ford (read: acclimate). Metaphorically, the pick-up truck is the burden of being Black in America. Not everyone carries this intersectional burden the same way, but it does exist regardless of where you live in America. Moreover, there are other factors that impact this burden such as “succeeding.” For example, Q&S learned that they were “heroes” from the Black father, who raised his fist to salute them. They were on the lam, and at one point had to process how their actions affected Black America. It kind of reminds me of the weight of immigrant parents hopes and dreams on their first-generation children who have difficulty navigating through systemic oppression of various institutions. Or maybe I’m projecting—maybe. Anyways, they were broke. So, they had to “rob” a gas station, but hey, “it’s the American way.” Word to Nino Brown. What do I mean? Historically, getting things in America was done by money and violence. Think about it.

PONTIAC Catalina Next is my favorite car of the journey, the blue Pontiac Catalina which meandered in and out of the white gaze in Queen and Slim’s journey, which makes it the most complex. When they reach to New Orleans to see Queen’s uncle, Earl (Bookeem Woodbine), there is an unmasking that is done via conversation and hair cutting, but I am getting ahead of myself…Q&S need a plan to escape and decide on fleeing to Cuba. Queen gives Uncle Earl a list of demands including one of his cars because he owes her. Goddess (Indya Moore), one of the ladies of the residence suggested the Catalina, the blue car. Uncle Earl didn’t hesitate to correct her and says: It’s turquoise!

Catalina & Goddy

He argued that its’ visibility would draw attention, but Queen’s counter-argument is that by standing out, they will fit in because no one is suspecting two people running from the law to be in a bright, big blue car. With reluctance, Uncle Earl agreed to let go and give them the Catalina.We later learn from Goddess aka Goddy that Uncle Earl “ain’t shit” in the streets, but inside of their house, he is king. And an extension of his kingdom would be his car, hence his attachment.

The outlaws get haircuts and Slim starts to learn why his Tinder date-turned-accomplice is so cold and distance…And as fate would have it, they needed to leave Uncle Earl sooner than expected as the Ford pick-up truck drew suspicion from NOPD. In the early morning, they take the truck to a desolate location and they burn it. Metaphorically, they were letting go of the weight they were carrying, just like their haircuts. Uncle Earl and Goddy bid them farewell and we see Queen soften and tell Uncle Earl she loves him.

“Here and elsewhere, the car becomes another example of the tension between seeking attention and trying to avoid it: It is large, colorful, and (when appropriately waxed) gleaming, and with its stereo bumping, incredibly loud and difficult to ignore, yet the driver and its occupants often remain unidentifiable.” Erik Nielson

For those of a certain age, in the Black community, Pontiac is the acronym for Poor Ol’ Ni–a Think It’s ACadillac. The Cadillac (which is driven later in the movie) back in the day was the crème de la crème of automobiles. It’s a symbol of “you made it,” but if you couldn’t afford it, Pontiac was a more affordable option.

The white gaze was temporarily blinded by the turquoise Catalina, which allowed Q&S to go unnoticed across state lines because according to the logics, no one on the run does it with such flair, but in America, we don’t see it that way. As they continue on their journey, the couple spotted horses grazing Queens tells Slim that her uncle said that white men hated black men on horses because they had to look up to them. Slim gets hyped and decided he wants to ride one for the first time. He does so before the owner starts yelling at them and they have to run. Day turns to night and Slim hears live music and wants to dance. They go to the source of the music; a bar called the Underground playing live Mississippi blues. With some cajoling, Slim gets Queen to dance with him for their “second date” and promises to buy her a drink. They connect through music and dancing. Queen asks for her drink in which Slim obliged. The bartender informed Slim that the drinks were on the house, she (and others) knew who they were and that they were safe. Initially Q&S panicked, but then let it go and continued dancing till they were ready to go. (They should have never left.)

As they continued to Uncle Earl’s friend house, the Catalina breaks down. Slim had to push the car to a mechanic shop in broad daylight and no one notices them. Again, they are recognized by the mechanic, but nothing here is on the house. The mechanic gets his son, Junior, to take them on a walk. There is a conversation about memory, being loved and immortality. When they return, the Catalina is ready to go, but before they peel off, Slim wants to take a pic to be remembered by.

Benz Station Wagon aka The Foreign They pull up to Uncle Earl’s friend, Mr. Shepherd (Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers!) home and across the street is a white woman on her porch being nosey—we know how this is going to play out. Uncle Earl’s friend knows a guy with a plane that will help them get to Cuba. As they ate dinner, SWAT surrounded the house and Q&S had to go into hiding. They get cabin fever from their hiding spot and decide to leave, but they know that police are outside and have to figure out a way. After a crazy stunt and a dislocated shoulder, they found a Benz in a garage, but no key. Slim used to steal his dad’s Accura without a key back in the day and after a few tries with a screwdriver they got the car to start. With a little help from an unlikely ally, they were able to evade the police. After some driving along the coastline, Queen slides out of the window holds onto the car with one hand and lets the other hand go free—something she has always wanted to do. She is liberated…and wants Slim to feel the same—so they switch places. However, Slim isn’t as graceful and almost falls out the car so Queen has to drive slow for him to get the same effect. Night is upon them again, Queen requests a story from Slim and then they both knock out.

“2Pac’s power is derived from his invisibility—he establishes control over his own image by denying everyone else’s access to it.” Erik Nielson

The car that they steal is an old Benz station wagon—a Benz, nevertheless…This is when the concept of this piece kicks in. Slim was determined that with or without the key, they were riding. After a while, foreign (read: German) luxury cars including the Mercedes Benz and the BMW replaced American cars and become king for Blacks and many Americans. Have you ever heard of the “Black Man’s Wish”? However, it’s not easily (economically) accessible to (Q&S) us, and if we want it—we will get it just may take a little longer (shout to my dad and his one-time foreign, “Big Boy”). These cars are about status and mobility. And so, we watch how Queen easily adapted to the status and mobility sitting outside of the window, while Slim struggled before he was able to adjust. The terms “acting brand new” and “don’t know how to act” speaks to this scene when some—not all Blacks—start experiencing change in status and mobility like Slim. Before, I play myself, Queen sitting outside the car window was about being liberated and evading the gaze and its consequences. She was breathing and “acting brand new” in a good way. However, the fact that she does it in the Benz, goes back to those who climb the financial and social ladder, to evade poverty and can handle it.

The Cadillac It’s nighttime now. They don’t know where they are, but they think they are close to their destination. They wake up to a Black guy with a sawed off shotty and mouth full of gold teeth. Slim asks if he knew the Shepherds. The guy doesn’t give straight answers, but isn’t mean and says that he can help them. They go back to Goldmouth’s trailer where he arranges for them to get a plane for the next day. Slim insists that they need the plane the same day. Goldmouth makes another call and tells Q&S that they can get a plane in an hour and drives them in a Cadillac. This is the first time neither Queen or Slim drove. They are no longer in control. Goldmouth tells them how paranoid he would be and how he has to watch his back from the police and his own people. They get to the plane and it’s a set up. They die a poetic death.

OK, Let’s talk cars (yes, this transition is jarring, you’ll live to tell about it). The Cadillac in its’ prime was the dream car before the Benz and the Pontiac. It was made as an residual outcome of Henry Ford and his team, but got into a dispute with the auto company and left. Ford and ’em then went onto create Ford Company and the Model T car which was affordable to all due to production (the things you learn when you’re a communications major!). The Pontiac is the U.S. Polo Association of the Cadillac, but nevertheless cars are important as status pieces in the Black community.

“…in his 1963 autobiography, for example, Malcolm X frequently notes the iconographic status of the Cadillac in the Black community, and the importance of cars generally is readily observable in Black music and popular culture throughout the decades leading up to hip hop.” Erik Nielson

I don’t like the ending at all, but I’m not mad at the very end because Goldmouth has internalized the American ideology of individualism—everyone for themselves in their pursuit of justice, liberty and happiness. I get it. It’s what rappers have been warning us about for years. It’s also what Queen foreshadowed the first time they ran out of gas. As mentioned earlier, money and violence are staples that keep this country functioning the way it does and Goldmouth definitely subscribes to that notion. He saw an opportunity to get paid and took it. The American state knows this: Everyone has a price (S/O to CJ and Martense). Someone wanted and will try to get that $500,000 if the opportunity presented itself. Why not Goldmouth? Cause he Black? Nah fam, he’s American before he’s Black. In the words of Casanova, “I hope that didn’t go over your heads.”

The Hearse The final ride is in Black hearse. On the way to the funeral home they are met with signs and sadness. (This, however, is disrupted by Uncle Earl in a fly ass black fur over a Sean John sweat suit that luxuriously sways as he adjusts it. For a fraction of a second, you forget about Q&S.) The community comes out to say their farewell to the couple who for even a moment gave them hope and are immortalized as the couple who took their destiny in their hands. I hate the romanticizing of it, but that’s what it was.

And f–k the world cause I’m cursed, I’m havin visions of leavin here in a hearse, God can you feel me? Take me away from all the pressure, and all the pain “Shed So Many Tears,” 2Pac

Catalina, Life after Death

In the wake of their death, a huge mural of the picture that Q&S took in the mechanic shop is being plastered on the side of a church. They are on t-shirts of little boys with hoop dreams. This is the legacy of Queen, Slim and Uncle Earl’s Catalina. Their immortality.

Well, thanks for riding with me, I appreciate you. This could have been longer, but I have things to do to make sure that the future Queens & Slims grow old and are still immortalized. Peace and love.

Queen & Slim: The Rides I saw Queen & Slim (Q&S) and liked it but had some major issues with it. However what intrigued me the most about the movie wasn’t their ride to freedom, but the rides, themselves.

#2pac #analysis #benz #black america #Black life #cars #catalina #erik nielson #ford #hip hop #honda accord #lena waithe #pontiac #queen #queen & slim #rap #slim

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imzenagirl-blog · 5 years

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no heroes, no sinners

I’ve been thinking a lot about love recently. Maybe it’s because my dysfunctional family is all together right now. Or that I’m addicted to watching Youtube clips of the British reality show First Dates. Either way, I’ve had some thoughts.

When I was growing up, I saw my parents as perfect saints, people who did no wrong and always made the right choice. Eventually, about the time I went to college, that visage of perfection quickly faded away. I became acutely aware of the flaws in each of my parents, the faults in their marriage, all the things I was seemingly blind to beforehand. The new knowledge that my mother can be selfish or judgemental and that my father can be cold and emotionally distant rocked me. I almost felt personally offended, how could it be that the people who raised me were so deeply flawed?

Eventually, I entered my first romantic relationship. Looking at my old journal entries, I was intoxicated by the idea of an ideal partner. I spent months and months writing about my love for Joe, but looking back it’s so easy to read between the lines, to see the blatantly obvious flaws and shortcomings. I ignored all the bad, in search of perfection, pure happiness. I thought that’s what love was supposed to be, a constant joy, the picture-perfect romance I saw in movies. And in due course, the same as with my parents, I started to see the deficiencies in the relationship. And it rocked me.

If my parents and my partners are so deeply flawed, then what about me? In search of perfection in others, I also lost sight of my own shortcomings. I only wanted to see the good in others, but also within myself. Just as my mother can be so engrossed in her own life, I am frequently self-absorbed with my own problems. I have a tendency to think that my problems are more complex and interesting than others. My dad can quickly write other people’s feelings off as insignificant or unimportant. While I think I can be understanding with mental health issues and heartbreak, I have to admit I’m awful at dealing with drama or people with low self-confidence. Joe was an obsessive partner. We were both awful at setting boundaries and expectations for each other and frequently ran too hot and cold. I refused to hear any critical opinions from others about him, when I should’ve listened more to the people who cared about me.

I think that to reach a certain point in emotional maturity to truly understand what it is to love someone, you have to experience the coming-of-age realization of your parents imperfections. You have to experience heartbreak by someone you thought never would do that to you. At the end of the day, you have to believe that there are no heroes nor sinners, that all of us have this wonderful perplexing mixture of the good and the bad. No matter what, people are flawed and they will continually hurt, anger, disappoint, frustrate, and disappoint us. But I suppose that love is deciding whose pain is worth suffering for. It’s saying, I see your light and I see your evil and I choose to stay for both.

I suppose no first interactions start by asking, “How are you crazy?” But maybe they should. “How have you hurt the people who love you?” “What makes you hesitant about loving someone else?” “What are you too nervous to share with me?” “What’s wrong with you?” We’re too self-conscious of our flaws or don’t have the emotional maturity to be aware of them. But taking the deep dive into someone’s insufficiencies, becoming aware of their shortcomings, that’s how you learn to love them.

The same goes for loving yourself and being able to allow others to love you. Facing your own issues so that you can let others see them too. So that you can be aware of how you don’t live up to perfection and let others learn who you really are. I’m trying to spend more time thinking about my own problems and answering the questions above for myself so that I can love myself and so can others.

And in this painfully ironic way, I usually find that people’s flaws are what fuels their strengths. Their energy comes from their dark side. Once you can see that, feelings are deeper. I’m incredibly fascinated by what people don’t like about themselves. What they do like. I’m curious about their perceptions of their parents and their former friends and partners. Do they see the complexity of their relationships and their love? Do they see where they went wrong too?

And perhaps that’s what this finsta is all about for me. I share with you my flaws, my fears, my secrets, my insecurities. All in hopes that you will still love me for those as well. You can see first-hand my self-absorption, my obsessiveness, my deviancies. I tend to overanalyze. I’m sometimes elitist. I oftentimes find others boring. I am deeply flawed and scared and sad and I hope you will accept my shortcomings with the good pieces of who I am, too.

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firstpuffin · 6 years

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“It’s just a movie”: Does quality of writing matter?

-Note= minor Avengers: Infinity War spoilers.

As an aspiring creative writer who really cares about writing something fun, internally consistent and plausible, the one phrase that irritates me the most is “It’s just a movie” or some equivalent. It’s dismissive of the efforts of everyone involved, and of fiction in general and it is being said by people who spend money to consume this, for lack of a better word, service. Don’t people want quality in their product?

I’ll try not to be too serious, or rant and whatnot, but this is a concerning subject matter for me. After all, who wants to spend money on something sub-par?

I have a friend who watches some of the same stuff as I do and he once responded to my criticisms of a character with “well she’s hot”. I was watching one of the Hobbit movies, doesn’t matter which as I found them all terribly boring, with my mother and when I pointed out some flaws that really grated on me, she responded with “it’s just a movie”. I’m pretty sure I was lost for words and it kinda hurt; given all of her support for my own writing, what does she actually think of my chosen path?

An uncomfortable amount of television that I watch is honestly quite poor and I justify continuing this by saying that I’m learning from the mistakes being made but when I see a fellow aspiring author who loves a series that is pretty terrible, I become concerned. Let’s take The Flash as an example: in the television series that follows the titular super-powered runner, major plot points are also often major contrivances. The events of the second season only happen because the main character goes back on a promise and lashes out at the villain who was about to leave forever, and earns his eternal hatred. This screws things up, killing one of the teammates (which conveniently leaves his wife free to pursue a new love interest for the next series) and allowing for a new villain.

But okay, he was new to the hero scene and it was an emotional situation so I’ll let that slide. But then he does something equally stupid at the end of the next series. You see The Flash has had time to mature and has discovered both time-travel and its dangers, so naturally when he gets the girl that he has been chasing from the beginning, he proceeds to go back in time to do what he deliberately chose not to do at the end of the last series, potentially losing everything. But you know what? He had just lost his father who had finally been cleared of murder so I’ll, reluctantly, let this slide too. Even if it, conveniently, sets up the events of the next season.

So we can’t blame The Flash for the events of series four because he nobly sacrifices himself in series 3. Instead, his friends decide to stumble all over his sacrifice and bring him back at the beginning of series 4. This is getting old. All I can say is that at least season 5 isn’t going to be his fault.

It’s going to be his daughter’s. I guess bad decisions are genetic?

So let’s change things up and talk about less forgivable contrivances. It is established repeatedly and early on that The Flash can move so fast that he can have an entire one-sided conversation with somebody who won’t have the faintest idea that it has happened due to the speed with which it happened. So how does anyone stand a chance fighting against someone so incredibly fast? Urm… ice guns? No. I mean yes, but that’s because the hero apparently just isn’t as fast for some reason, not because it’s a legitimate weakness. They don’t give a reason why.

So once these absurd levels of speed have been established and he’s supposedly gotten multiple times faster since, he is framed for murder in series 4 when he finds a body in his apartment with one of his knives stabbing it and armed police at his door. We know that he could 100% clean up the body, have a bath and probably even read a newspaper on the toilet before the police enter his apartment and find nothing there. Does he? No. Because earlier in the episode he told his wife that he wouldn’t run away.

Do you know what’s not running away? Cleaning up evidence of a false murder of someone who isn’t actually dead so that you are free to save lives and not rot in prison.

So why is The Flash such a popular show? And it’s not just people like me who watch it because it’s bad, the show actually gets praise.

This is my question: what actually matters in fiction? Should I write a screenplay for attractive actors and flashy fight scenes and just ignore character development, motivations and dialogue? Or should I continue writing in the hope that people will appreciate the effort I put into making a complex character involved in an internally consistent narrative?

So I’ve given examples from a series that I feel is particularly bad, so where do I go from here? I could mention how when I was a child I loved the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies purely because it was my favourite superhero, but I was a dumb kid who honestly got a lot smarter after I left school and had to learn things for myself and so that particular anecdote would go nowhere. I could find more examples, particularly from the Arrowverse that spawned The Flash, but what is the point?

I’m not very good at online research, I can’t google to save my life, and nobody thinks that the poor television that they watch is low quality because that reflects badly on them. This means that I am going to have to form my own counter arguments. One, people don’t realise that what they are watching is badly thought out and contradictory and if I am to be honest, why should they? I only do because I am looking for it. Two, they are more forgiving than I am of flaws which is… fair. I can be way too unforgiving. And three, most people aren’t nitpicky bastards like I am.

-Note= I’ve been working on this piece for a couple of weeks now, unsatisfied with my one-sided tirade, and as I often find, time has given me an answer. I googled “do plot holes matter”. A simple solution that took far far too long for me to think of. Still, this gave me some rather useful, and sometimes distressing, opinions on the subject of plot holes and thus quality of writing.

So, what is a “plot hole”? One of the sources I found took this definition from Google:

“In fiction, a plot hole, plothole or plot error is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story’s plot, or constitutes a blatant omission of relevant information regarding the plot.”

To summarise, those moments where you go “that don’t make sense” are plot holes. As I have complained a lot already, I might as well continue for a bit longer. The very first source that I found, and the same one that gave the above definition, provided a list of times where a plot hole doesn’t matter and would you believe it, I disagree vehemently with the first one. The author says that a plot hole doesn’t matter if there wouldn’t be a story without it, which I can accept only in those action films where the action is what is important.

They use The Matrix as an example: why have a matrix at all? It seems the machines don’t need people to be conscious or something. Unfortunately it has been far too long since I watched it for me to comment, but like an uncomfortable number of the points made in their article, their argument is basically “it’s not real so don’t think about it”. The trouble is that while some “plot holes” are merely people taking things too seriously, an inconsistency in the story itself is worth pointing out. A personal example of this came from when Infinity War came out and people asked “why is Thanos trying to destroy half of the universe when he can just make more resources?” and this could fit into “there wouldn’t be a movie without it”. But this is complete balderdash.

Ignoring the fact that the makers were trying to stay true to the source material, I always have to ask “when did we see Thanos create anything?” We didn’t. Well, there were illusions, but even if those were physical, they were also temporary. We didn’t see him create and we didn’t hear anyone say that he could. And if those don’t appear in the movie, then we have to assume that he can’t. It doesn’t matter what the source material was (y’know, those comic books where Thanos wanted to date the anthropomorphised Death), but instead it is what the movie itself has established.

A Quora user called Sam Morris posted an answer to this question which kinda hurt my pride as a writer, but it made sense. He pointed out how it depends on the medium: novels and such need to be consistent because the reader will be paying more attention to the story and events, while television intends to serve a different goal; he describes watching television being like zen meditation, where the watcher clears their mind while the television stimulates the more excitable parts of their brain. On top of this, a television writer has to be able to work with what the producers want and sometimes cannot account for the inevitable holes that appear. This might well explain my problems that I mentioned with The Flash, although I am loathe to admit it.

Finally, a writer for screencraft.org tried to categorise five different types of plot holes. His first type can basically be summarised with what I said earlier: we can only know what we have been told, with a slice of “roll with it”. His second type covers holes that are inconsistent within the story so again, we only know what we are told, although a better way of saying it in this case could be: rules are made within a story, so anything that goes against those rules is a plot hole.

I could keep going and explain all of his five types, but that isn’t the point of this article. Instead, I will try to summarise everything I have found so far: quality of writing does matter, to different people. An unsatisfying answer, right? One source basically doesn’t care, while another obviously does and has categorised why. I think that it was Mr Morris who really got it right. As an aspiring novelist, I should definitely be concerned about quality because readers will be paying attention; they will notice and be brought out of the moment by a glaring mistake. But should I delve into screenwriting, I should be prepared to deal with temperamental producers and try to write with as few obvious flaws as possible.

On a more personal note, I feel motivated to keep the quality of my own writing, whatever the medium, as high as my skill level allows. Of course I wanted to anyway, I have long intended to write for children and I feel that anything relating to children should be top quality; high expectation results in high results, and quality writing has been shown to have various benefits on children. Regardless of what you think of The Guardian newspaper, their article on this study provides links on how reading effects children, increasing empathy and is not alone in their findings. There has also been talk of there being other benefits, such as improved critical thinking and can help to deal with serious themes such as coming of age etc.

So while I was always intending on aiming for quality, my findings from this brief search are reassuring. People do care about quality, and yet are willing to let some flaws slide under the right circumstances, although this does not mean that they do not care in general.

-Note= What with a review of the first two Predator movies in the works, I feel like this blog has been quite negative, so I’m going to try and put something positive out soon. Maybe an Alien review; I watched it for the first time recently and I loved it.

#first puffin opinion the flash fiction plot holes quality television movie

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