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peterspinkrobe · 10 months

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Revelation - Priest!Miguel x Reader [part 3]

Word count: 2,878

Rating/Warnings: mature. Naughty thoughts and naughty bits. Mentions of parental death, religious content, food, soooo much Catholic guilt.

A/N: I’m so glad you guys are enjoying the series so far! No more money in my budget for commissioned art this month, but I did take this picture of St. Phillip’s Church while visiting my uncle in Charleston. Please let me know what you think of this chapter! If you haven’t read part 1 or part 2, go do that first :p

Tagged peeps: @friendlynbhdzero @ceoofghosts @hoelychildofgod @tayleighuh @luckycandykitten @beebslebobs @milkyardbetter @miaasmf @koimess @miggyswhore (sorry if I missed you in the taglist or if it messed up the tag!!!)

There were two things known about your mother: her cooking and her follow through. She was the delegate for church and community event meals; oftentimes in the kitchen doing the work herself alongside people that respected her and her cooking.

Your mother prided herself in her cooking and it kept her going in times of hurt for you both. She was the one baking casseroles to give to neighbors when dad passed. It was you who had to sit her down to eat something most days.

If God had anything to do with her getting better, it was in giving her that ability to provide in a way some overlooked. She buzzed while she worked her talents in the church’s kitchen now. The previously mentioned follow through evident in her meticulous manner of cleaning right behind herself as she cooked.

That follow through was especially true now as she was making sure you followed the rules she had set in place regarding church and attendance. Not only were you going this Sunday since you missed the last service, but you were also helping with the Wednesday church dinner.

You know she wants the best for you. It took you a long time (and a lot of space) to see that she showed it in the ways she knew how, the ways she was raised. You try to sprinkle the amount of salt she showed you earlier onto the massive amount of rolls. Despite your physical presence where she asked, you know your hearts and values don’t lie within the boundaries of shared faith.

You didn’t mind the service aspect of religion though. In fact, you enjoyed assisting your mother when she helped others in the community. You only pretended to follow the ‘good book’ and ‘walk the righteous path’ to spare her. What you had issues with was the institution of religion itself and some probably never-to-be-resolved personal qualms with the man upstairs. First, why did god have to be a man?

You’d never admit these questions and doubts to her, it would devastate her.

You did, however, admit it to someone.

Your confession last Thursday and the fact that Reverend Miguel was on the receiving end of all your revelations had you waking up suddenly in the night this past week - jolting from the bed, a quickening pulse, and sweat dampening the sheets. The concern in his deep, dark-eyed stare from that day stuck with you. You felt shame, guilt, maybe both, or something else unnamed and it kept you from indulging in the pleasure he had so easily made you feel without even being in the room. You still felt tense knots in your shoulders as you worked.

It was easy to feign sickness when you actually felt feverish and drained after you’d let those inner thoughts become spoken truths.. Your mother worried when you wouldn’t come out of your room. When you missed (skipped) church, she showed her concern and care with homemade chicken noodle soup. Moping, unbothered lasted only another day before she was yanking covers off you and having you run errands around town. ‘Getting back on your feet is the first step to feeling better,’ she retorted to your groans early that Monday morning. No more laying out of church…

You had to think of another way to avoid him. A way to steer clear of any sort of confrontation

You thought about moving away, dramatic, yes, but maybe into the city. Not too far from mom, because she needed help more than she admitted. Tonight was a prime example as her usual kitchen hands said they weren’t feeling well. This was helpful in negating any suspicions your mom had of you lying about being ill. Moving wouldn’t be running away, you were an adult.

You had literally run away though. As soon as the reality of who had taken your confession set in, you ran right out of that booth, back into the bustling city, onto the bumpy bus, and curled up into yourself at home. As you’re thinking about the many help wanted signs and rent postings you saw in the city, you hear chatter that interrupts the flow you two had created in the kitchen.

Mom is being pulled away by another member of the church and she instructs you to make two plates for the people who weren’t able to help her with cooking this evening. You’re pulling the last of the vegetables out of the oven and she hovers a moment, uncomfortable leaving you to the important final preparations.

It’s hard not to feel offended. Five years ago you would have rolled your eyes and commented on how if she didn't trust you, you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.

“It’s okay,” you assure her as you wash your hands before preparing their plates, “I’ve got this.” You smile gently at her for you know you both need reassurance at times. She pinches her lips together but nods and leaves you alone.

Styrofoam to-go plates were open on the counter, waiting to receive their fill. You eyed the dinner and patted yourself on the back. Mom thought up the meal and did most of the actual ingredient brain power and temperature controls, but you’d done your part as well. It did feel good to do for others even if you still felt down.

A wide pan of meatloaf with a perfect caramelized sauce on top sat as the main course. Alongside it was some cabbage slaw and a broccoli cheddar bake. You make the to-go plates with equal portions and top them each with a roll. Your favorite part were the green onion rolls and you couldn't help but sneak one as the hours of prep and cooking left you famished.

You placed foil over the containers of your mom’s truly famous strawberry cobbler for it to cool when everyone ate. Most of the produce has come from the local farms. You savored the first bite of the fresh roll and marinated on the flavors of home, wondering if you could really leave this behind again.

You’re setting out the plates and silverware for the church members when you hear footsteps behind you. You turn to tell your mom that you’d made the plates, but it’s not her that now joined you in the kitchen.

Tense shoulders, little sleep… you were as tight as a coil ready to spring so you jumped a little when you saw the towering figure as you turned.

Reverend O’Hara’s eyes showed the same concern from last week, but softer. His feet shuffled slightly and he put his hands up as if he had approached an animal in the wild. He had a hesitant, more nervous aura than the suave confidence he usually eluded.

He opened his mouth to speak and you heard him say your name again in that sweet voice…

______________________________________

Standing before you now, Deacon Miguel found himself reflecting on the unexpected confession he heard last week. It was a confession that had stirred within him a mix of emotions and conflicting thoughts.

Miguel had contemplated how to address this delicate situation for it simply couldn’t go ignored. You matter. Your feelings matter. The deacon knew it was crucial that he approach this with compassion and understanding. Faith was a deeply personal journey, and each individual had their own struggles and doubts. Lord knew he’d faced his own in the past and that even if his current standings were solid, they were shaky.

His mind had been consumed by the weight of what he had learned. He couldn't help but feel a profound connection to you when he first placed the communion wafer on your tongue, the tongue that had inadvertently confessed impure thoughts to him. Though your honesty and vulnerability struck a chord within him.

Unbeknownst to you, the deacon struggled with similar doubts and desires. When he heard your confession, his heart weighed heavily with empathy and understanding. Though he couldn’t help the mix of relief in his emotions as well. It was comforting to know he wasn’t alone in grappling with faith, the temptation, and the forbidden attraction that he felt towards you.

Denying his own attraction to you was impossible.

Despite his commitment to his faith and role within the church, he too has found himself captivated by your presence and constantly battled his own desires. Since he’d laid eyes on you that faithful Sunday morning, he’d felt an invisible force bind himself to you. Much like he had bound himself to the service of God Almighty, he found himself wanting to serve you.

Miguel O’Hara couldn’t get that mental image out of his mind. Serving you… The more he tried to control his urges, the harder they became to ignore. He’d been doing what he was told all these many years in the church, abstaining from giving in too much. But no matter how much he tried to uphold the image of chaste, he is merely flesh.

The views of his brothers in Christ were archaic. They forget that the sacrifice of the only Son was done in love, despite our sins. He truly believed that it is natural, God-given even, to experience attraction to fellow flesh. It’s natural to seek a partner in life. He’s human. He’s prone to straying from the path. He is only human. He just hopes that God understands when he asks for forgiveness and repentance.

He struggles with the guilt of falling into temptation when he feels he’ll come undone if he doesn’t allow himself release. He isn’t able to hold back now as much as times prior. Not when you had captivated his spirit.

He also felt guilty for viewing you in the explicit ways that he thought of you. Focusing on the way clothes hugged your body and needing to know what hid in the heaven of your thighs. While Matthew says not to judge others, he also mentions in the Good Book that, “whoever looks […] to lust at someone, has already committed adultery with them in his heart.” If he were to really follow the written word, Miguel would have to pluck out his eyes for his transgressions against you in his mind.

His flesh weakens when he remembers how soft your lips were under the pad of his thumb. The way your eyes looked into his as he cupped your chin.

Cold showers are his usual go-to when it comes to trying to avoid the temptation of touch. His large shoulders hunched slightly when the frigid water fell onto his skin. It’s in vain though each time because his body still radiates heat of passion from thoughts of you. When he looks down at himself, he curses his body’s reaction to thoughts of your mouth. His painfully hard cock begs for your touch. It’s always too much to bear. The tip of him screaming red and leaking despite the cold temperatures.

When he gives in, it’s always too fast. Finally gripping himself the way he’d liked, imagining showing that way to you, he pumped himself with his hand. His grunts steamed the shower even further as he envisioned you with him. Oh, how he longed to feel you and learn you like scripture. His wanton movements force him to brace himself on the shower wall as an image that always brings over the edge flashes his in mind: your legs spread in offering of your own communion. It’s enough to make him see stars as your name echoes in his shower like hallelujahs.

He wishes it wasn’t shame that he felt after. He wishes his comedown was met with comfort from you. He allows the evidence of his shame to wash from himself down the drain, but the feeling is still there. You were more than someone to be lusted over.

While the sexual attraction was strong, he also yearned to know more about you. You’d only revealed little bits of yourself in the confession booth but he was intrigued, nonetheless. He wanted to know more about your conflict with faith, wondered what your childhood was like and what foods you enjoyed, interested in learning your outlook on life. Miguel wanted to learn your personal philosophies as if it were doctrine.

Not seeing you at the previous Sunday service hurt. He understood, given your beliefs, that he couldn’t expect you at church. It wasn’t an attendance issue, which he would not enforce on anyone, but the empty aisle seat in the middle pew made him feel equally as vacant. It didn’t matter to him if you were conflicted or steadfast on Christian values. Matthew 7 held his strongest position on the matter of judgment: it wasn’t his place. He was simply a figurehead of spiritual guidance.

In fact, he had geared his sermon slightly towards you for that Sunday. He couldn’t help the itch to address the issue in a way he was comfortable, through scripture. He didn’t want to convert your faith to Jesus Christ. He wanted to help you restore faith in yourself.

You conjured in him quotes from Corinthians: a book in the Bible that speaks of faith, hope, and love. He carefully highlighted 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 the night of your confession as he crafted his sermon. “[…], our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” Yes… the Bible is literally referencing heaven as the eternal glory, but it’s all metaphorical. “Unseen” was the key word in this theological message. He knew the congregation visualized pearly gates and mansions of clouds as a reward for the pain they experienced on this terrain. What he had hoped you would have gotten to hear was that there were so many possibilities when one had faith in themselves. He wanted to show you the unlocked potential housed within yourself.

He had a lot to say as he stood before you now. There’s so much you need to know, need to hear.

First, you needed to know that you were wrong.

He said your name to get your attention.

But, there wasn’t a sound after that for a moment, until your mother and a few other members of the church came through the double doors.

________________________________________

You snapped out of the trance Miguel had you locked in with the song of your name on his lips when your mom burst into the kitchen with some of her friends.

You reach to get the cups out of a cabinet and simply ignore the deacon for a moment despite the flush in your cheeks. Easily explainable by the heat of the kitchen.

“Everything is ready! Mom, I’ve got two plates ready to go for later. Come on and eat, everyone!” Your mother’s friends all compliment her on her well behaved child and you catch her eyes. There’s no strictness in her expression. She simply beams at you, her child.

Members of the church start calling out, ‘Let’s eat!’, ‘Smells good!’, and mentioning how they knew they were in for a good meal as it was your mom that did the cooking.

As people pour into the serving area and line up, you hear Reverend Miguel’s voice above the hustle of hungry people.

“Before we enjoy this delicious looking food, let us first thank the cooks and then I suppose we should bless the meal, yes?” He was smiling as he said this, as if prayer before a meal was only a formality. It seemed as though the appreciation for you two was what he was after as you watched the church thank your mother and you for your cooking. You shrugged off the bits of praise you received as it really was your mom who did the majority of the work.

An elder member is selected to lead the church in prayer and everyone bows their head. You’re still riding a buzz from the work, not to mention seeing Miguel again after almost a week. You can’t seem to bring your eyes down.

You scanned the room of bowed heads and smiling faces and found the deacon’s gaze on you again. This time, you smiled at him and nodded in appreciation. The prayer concludes and your mother’s smile at the praise makes your heart feel warm. Due to the spotlight on her cooking she was forced to be first to get her plate of food, something she usually didn’t do until after everyone had gotten their own plate. Sometimes after they’d gotten seconds. She had found her a community of support and love.

As the church members started scooping portions onto plates, you saw Reverend Miguel approach you again. He stands by your side and you watch as the congregation gets their food and he leans to his side a little toward you. He speaks in a hushed tone as he asks,

“Can we go somewhere to talk?” You swallow dryly, but his next word nearly knocks you off your feet.

“Alone?”

#miguel o'hara #fanfic #miguel x reader #priest!miguel #miguel x you #priest au #across the spiderverse #heathenry

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familyabolisher · 11 months

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hi! i'm a follower, & i enjoy reading your posts and essays. in your recent post about the anti-intellectualism kerfuffle on tumblr, you said, "Part of my communism means believing in the abolition of the university; this is not an ‘anti-intellectual’ position but a straightforwardly materialist one."

i haven't heard of university abolition before, and if you are willing, i would like to hear what it's about. what is the university abolitionist image of a better alternative to universities? should learning still be centralized?

thanks for your consideration. :)

University abolition, as with any other form of abolition worth its salt, understands the role played by the institution of the university under capitalism in sustaining the conditions of capitalist-imperialist hegemony, analyses the institution accordingly, and recognises that the practices that the university purports to represent (that of intellectual production, the sharing and developing of knowledge) will undergo a fundamental overhaul and reconstitution under communism. This means looking at the university not merely as an organic institution wherein we study and develop ideas, but asking what ideas are developed and legitimised, and who is afforded the opportunity to do so, and why the university exists in the first place; we are taking a materialist rather than idealist approach.

Simply put, the role of the university is to restrict access to knowledge and knowledge production, and to ensure the continuance of class divides and hierarchised labour. These restrictions come about in a vast number of ways; the most immediately obvious is the fact that one must meet a certain set of criteria in order to qualify for entrance in the first place, and this criteria tends to require compliance with the schooling system (itself another such arm of capitalist governance), a certain amount of wealth (and/or a willingness to accrue debt), and an ability to demonstrate methods of intellectual engagement compliant with the standard of the academy. Obviously, there are massive overlaps in this set of criteria; those who come from wealthier backgrounds are more likely to have had a good education and thus can better demonstrate normative intellectual engagement, those who can demonstrate that engagement have probably complied with the schooling system, and so on. The logic behind the existence of private schools is the idea that sufficient wealth can near-enough secure your child's entry into the university and therefore entry into the wealthier classes as an adult, with the most prestigious institutions overrun by students from privately educated backgrounds. Already, you can see how this is a tactic that filters out people from marginalised backgrounds; if you’re too poor, too un[der]educated, too disabled, not white enough, &c. &c., your chances of admittance into higher education grow slimmer and slimmer.

Access to the university affords access to knowledge; most literally through institutional access to books, papers, libraries, but also through participation in lectures and seminars, reading lists, first-hand contact with active academics, the opportunity to produce work and receive feedback on it, the opportunity to develop your own ideas in a socially legitimised sphere. As I explained above, who is afforded access to such knowledge is stratified and limited; the institution is hostile to anyone deemed socially disposable under capitalism. Access to the university also affords access to a university degree, with which you can continue down the research path (and thus participate in the cycle of radical knowledge-production being absorbed and defanged by the academy, and water down your own ideas to make them palatable to institutions which tend to balk at anything with serious Marxist commitments), or gain entry to better-paid, more stable, more prestigious jobs than those which people without degrees are most often relegated to. In this sense, the people who are more likely to be able to meet the access criteria for the university and then successfully participate in it are able to retain their class position (or else promulgate the myth of social mobility as a solution to mass impoverishment) and thus gain a vested interest in maintaining the conditions of hegemony. Those who gain entry into the middle class have done so after undergoing a process of stratification according to means; which is to say, class, race, [dis]ability; and tend to lose interest in defending a politic which seeks to destabilise their relatively privileged position in the pecking order.

Success in a research career, too, depends upon liberties afforded by wealth; can you afford to go to all these conferences, do low-paid and insecure teaching work in the university, churn out research, and support yourself through a postgrad degree without going insane? Not if you don’t have independent means. In the UK, the gap between undergrad and masters funding is absolutely wild—obviously there are scholarships afforded to a limited number of people (another access barrier—the whole institution runs on the myth of artificial scarcity), but broadly speaking, it’s pretty much impossible to put yourself through an MA with just the money you get from SFE unless you work a lot on the side to pay your bills (this is what I tried to do; I went insane and dropped out, lmfao) or have independent wealth. Establishing oneself as an ‘academic’ is simply easier when you have financial security. In this way, the people who make it to the very top of academia (the MAs, the PhDs) tend to be people who come from privileged backgrounds; people who are less likely to challenge hegemony, who will maintain the essential conditions by which the university sustains itself, which is to say the conditions of social stratification. These people often tend to hold reactionary positions on class—the people who are outraged at how little a stipend postgrad students get tend not to think twice about the university’s cleaners being paid minimum wage, or think of working-class jobs as shameful failstates from which their academic qualifications have allowed them to escape (how many people have you heard get absolutely aghast at the thought of ‘[person with a BA/MA/PhD] working a typically working-class job’?). Academic success tends to engender buying into the mythology of academia as a class stratifier and class stratification as indicative of one’s value, even amongst people who probably call themselves academic Marxists.

Universities are also tangible forces of counterinsurgency. I live in the UK, where universities are huge drivers of gentrification; university towns and cities will welcome mass student populations, usually from predominantly middle-class backgrounds and often coming to cities with significant working-class and immigrant communities, neighbourhoods formerly home to those communities will be effectively cleaned out so that students can live there, and the whole character of the neighbourhood changes to accommodate people from well-off backgrounds who harbour classist, racist feelings towards the locals & who will assimilate into the salaried middle-class once they graduate. More liberally-oriented universities will tend to espouse putatively progressive positions whilst making no effort to forge a relationship with grassroots movements happening on the streets of the city they’re set up in; student politics absorbs anyone with even slightly radical inclinations whilst accomplishing approximately fuck-all save for setting a few people off on the NGO track; like, the institution defangs radical potential whilst contributing to the class stratification of the city it’s set up in.

This is without even touching on the role played by the university in maintaining conditions of imperialism and neocolonialism, both through academic output regarding colonised regions (from ‘Oriental studies’ to the proliferation of white academics who specialise in ‘Africa’ to the use of the Global South as something of a playground for white Global North academics to conduct their research to the history of epistemologies such as race science as transparently fortifying and legitimating the imperialist order) and through material means of restricting access to and production of knowledge based on country of origin (universities in the Global South are significantly limited in what academic output they can access compared to those in the Global North; engagement with Global North academia relies on the ability to move freely, something that is restricted by one’s passport; language barriers and the primacy of English in the Global North academy) keeping knowledge production in the Global South dependent on the hegemony of the North. Syed Farid Alatas has termed this ‘academic dependency,’ as a corollary to dependency theory; academia in the GS is shaped by the material dependence it has on the West, which in turn restricts the kind of academic work that can be undertaken in the first place. Ultimately, all institutions under capitalism must ultimately reroute back to the conditions that favour capitalism, and the university is not an exception.

This is just a very brief overview of an expansive topic; I would recommend going away and examining in greater detail the role played by the university under capitalism, and what the institution filters out, and why. What sort of research gets funding? What sort of knowledge gains social legitimacy? What can the university absorb and what must it reject? Who is producing knowledge and to whom are they accountable? etc.

#ask

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bamf-jaskier · 2 years

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Cavill is not a martyr

I have been seeing so many posts and comments along the lines of “Henry Cavill left the Witcher because they were inaccurate to the books and he had enough of all the changes”

And this thought process, especially if you mention the recent DeMayo writer’s interview, is just a flawed thought process.

Just a quick blurb on DeMayo, as I said here his comments are probably a cry for attention from a fanbase he knows how to rile up and I would take what he says with a grain of truth salt. And Cavill has already filmed season 3 and I can assure you that a random writer he probably has already met making these comments didn’t send Cavill over the edge and have him march into the office an rage quit. Recasting and deciding on a new actor and getting out of contract is a lengthy process that has likely been going on for months. If anything it’s more likely DeMayo knew about Cavill leaving and then made his comments than the other way around.

So Henry Cavill announced he was leaving the Witcher just a few days after announcing he was returning to Superman.

In fact, he was quoted as saying this about his recent cameo as Superman in the new Black Adam movie:

"It was a very powerful moment for me. I wasn't sure how I would feel… whether it would be something very emotionally connective because I put the Man of Steel suit back on," Cavill said. "I chose that one in particular because of the nostalgia attached to the suit. It was important for me to be standing there and enjoying that moment. That is one of the top moments in my career. It feels great to have the opportunity to wear it again."

"The character means so much to me. It's been five years now. I never gave up hope," Cavill said of the half-decade he spent waiting for news about playing Superman again. "It's amazing to be here now talking about it again. There is such a bright future ahead for the character. I'm so excited to tell a story with an enormously joyful Superman."

And that 5 year mark is important. Because it is no coincidence that on September in 2018 it was reported that Cavill will no longer be playing Superman in the DCEU just days after it was announced he would be taking on the role of Geralt in The Witcher.

In fact, it was stated:

the Witcher commitment came after the Warners impasse, suggesting a change in the studio’s strategy.

Meaning he signed onto the Witcher because he stopped being Superman. So what we are seeing right now with Cavill announcing he is returning as Superman and then announcing he is leaving The Witcher is an exact reverse of the situation in 2018.

Cavill loves playing Superman and not only is it a project he is passionate about, but he also nets in a massive paycheck.

Even back in 2018 when Cavill left the role of Superman there was talk that he left because of contract disputes:

Cavill's original contract was for four movies, so a contract extension would naturally need to be arranged before Warner Bros. could move ahead with another standalone Superman movie. According to Revenge of the Fans, Cavill's team wanted to leverage a better deal out of the contract extension - including more movies, more money, and possibly even a producer role. From Warner Bros.' perspective, however, there isn't exactly a burning need to get another Superman movie made.

Then in August of 2022 reports began to come out from comi-con that Henry Cavill was looking to return to the role of Superman but wanted more money for the role.

And considering Cavill was paid a truly insane amount for 2013′s Man of Steel -- an estimated $14 million and a $20 million for 2017′s Justice League I have to wonder what wildly high amount he will be paid to return as Superman now in 2022 when he is a bigger star than ever before.

And his Witcher paycheck does not compare to that Superman money -- with him making 500k an episode in season 1 and $1 million an episode in season 2. Even if he was just making as much money as Justice League, and he is likely making much more to return, that is still well over double the amount of money to play Superman vs playing Geralt.

And at the end of the day, The Witcher is a show with very specific scheduling requirements and set locations. Blood Origin and Season 2 lost actors because of the scheduling conflicts. And that is not at all unusual for the industry.

And for set locations The Witcher is mostly filmed in Mafan Film Studio in Hungary as well as various locations around the country as well as Arborfield Film Studios in the UK and other locations there such as North Yorkshire & The Lake District. And with fewer COVID restrictions the production team is likely to want to go around Europe again for S4 and S5.

Meanwhile it’s hard to know where the new DCEU movies will be filmed but Man of Steel was filmed around Vancouver, British Columbia and Illinois in the US. Justice League was filmed around Scotland and London. Black Adam was filmed in Atlanta Georgia in the US.

All this to say filming DCEU movies and The Witcher are two very time intensive processes that require film locations that could be on opposite sides of the world. And in addition Cavill is starring in the new Highlander Reboot and in the Enola Holmes movies. Being a TV actor takes a lot of time for not as much money and acclaim. Cavill is seemingly going back to just being a film actor instead of a tv actor which considering his busy schedule makes a lot of sense.

So it’s pretty clear why he would leave The Witcher to return to Superman and his other films roles:

1) Far higher paycheck to play Superman

2) He loves both the characters but Superman is very meaningful for his career and he has stated he has always wanted to return to the role

3) Scheduling conflicts and very different filming locations and the prestige of film vs tv

Trying to spread the narrative of “Cavill is a martyr in the battle against the inaccuracies of the tv show” is based on nothing but your own confirmation bias. And it honestly says a lot about the type of person you are that you jump to find a symbol to represent the victimization of your hatred of the show.

You can dislike the show but the tinhatting and conspiracy theories I have seen flying around are quite frankly embarrassing and this is a needed reality check.

At the end of the day Henry Cavill is a high-level movie star who makes choices based on his career and what he wants to do. Your parasocial relationship with the man is entirely in your own head and I recommend trying to get out.

#and there's my thoughts on all the people commenting under my other post #the witcher #henry cavill #twn #liam hemsworth #discourse #superman #dceu #long post #myposts

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ecoamerica · 2 months

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bonefall · 2 months

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what poison/s were used in riverstar's heir at moth's celebration and when bright and flowerstar ate together? suggestion (if you hadn't decided yet): Monkshood/Aconite/Wolfsbane (Aconitum napellus) its a VERY poisonous plant native to the uk and europe, lethal with both ingestion and body contact and has historical use in killing and murder. symptoms appear quickly and death often comes in only a few hours; its a shame it wasn't used in canon lmao

Oh symptoms don't just appear quickly-- Aconite's name is said to be ancient Greek for "Without Dust." That refers to how aconite kills SO quickly that you will not even kick up dust in your death struggle. Death coming in a few hours is from the minimum deadly dosage, any good assassin worth their salt would use more (and take care to mask its bitter taste, it's not a subtle flavor like cyanide is.)

Forget "deathberries." Yew is nothing next to aconite.

Yew's deadly compound, taxine, acts by stopping your heart. Yawn. Aconite targets your heart, liver, kidneys, AND brain all at the same time. It's so potent that handling young roots will make your hands go numb. Only 2 miligrams of the deadly compound, aconitine, is a fatal dose in a human being; a single grain of rice weighs 20 miligrams.

Anon, my friend, you undersold aconite. It's not just a very poisonous plant in Europe, aconitine is top 5 deadliest poisons period. Members of the aconite family are widespread through the northern hemisphere-- indigenous Alaskan people have used it to hunt whales for tens of thousands of years. Its toxic properties break down within 24 hours, leaving the meat completely safe to eat.

So naturally, suggestion accepted. This is going to be SICK.

Especially since no one will be able to tell what happened. It looks like every major poison because it is. You might assume it was some kind of toxic cocktail from the symptoms. Convulsions, rapid heartrate, vomiting, numbness. It looks like yew, nightshade, and bryony all at once.

It'll be very easy for Bright Whisker to survive this and shake off suspicion simply by poisoning herself with a small amount of something else. If I go with Maple Whisker being a sibling instead of a cousin, I could have her simply join their meal a little late and realize that her mouth feels numb, just as everyone else enters convulsions, so she spits it out.

(Autism win! Avoided a poisoning because texture bad! Maybe she was waiting for the food to cool down too lmao)

And LASTLY... Aconite is Wolf's Bane. I think this is a really cool place to see the earliest incarnation of the Wolf Motif that will later show up in Bluestar's family. It tickles my brain a bit to think of Flowerstar somehow having the "hood" shape of the flower, and then she loses her first life in her gambit to poison the wolf among sheep.

I also had a stroke of inspiration and had an idea for one of the BB!DOTC cats, too. Dappled Pelt gets massively neglected in canon, imo, and I could set up the wolf thing even earlier. African Wild Dog time (painted wolf.)

#better bones au #bone babble #riverstar's heir #BB!Maplewhisker #BB!Brightwhisker #BB!Flowerstar #tw poison #cw poison #aconite

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justmediocrewriting · 3 months

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“Messy,” {r.z}

A/n: and the second installment of the dialogue prompts, this time featuring our beefy mosshead ;) this is only the second part, I’ve got 10 more to make, and I’m already having the time of my life. I hope you guys enjoy this one!

Warnings/tags: explicit sexual content, irrumatio, rough!zoro, lots of bodily fluids (spit, cum, juices, sweat, etc), deepthroating, dirty talk, explicit language, cock worship, d/s undertones, slight dumbification, outdoor sex, semi-public sex, Zoro really likes to pull hair, 100 follower NSFW dialogue prompt special

Genre: smut

Pairing: Zoro x fem!reader

Word Count: 1.2k

Prompt: “Don’t make a mess, baby.” (#2 on the list)

“You’re so fuckin’ messy.”

Zoro’s statement from above you was punctuated by a stinging in your scalp when he used his grip in your hair as leverage to repeatedly fuck his cock deeper into your throat, spreading open the walls of your esophagus as if he didn’t care that you were on the brink of blacking out from poor oxygen intake. The chill of the evening air slightly cooled your heated skin, but it did nothing to douse the flame of arousal burning hot in your gut, and the fresh air didn’t clear the fog from your head either — it was impossible to think clearly or feel anything other than fiery arousal when Zoro was using you like this.

You moaned around his thick cock, eyes nearly rolling to the back of your head from the heady taste of salt in your mouth. Your nose was clogged with the scent of Zoro, so much so that the minute breaths you could pull through it were saturated with the scent of sweat and sword oil, a mixture that you had come to define as unique to the swordsman, and it was so mouthwatering, almost as much as the cock in your throat.

“You’re fuckin’ droolin’ all over my cock. You like it when I fuck your little throat like this?”

Zoro’s hips snapped at a rapid pace, the weight of his balls slapping against your chin as each rough thrust landed him buried to the hilt in your throat. The velocity of his thrusts left little room for recovery in between, your head already light and floaty from the deprivation of oxygen, so you barely even registered the fact that spittle and drool was currently being fucked out of your mouth and plopping down onto the deck. But Zoro noticed, and that visual combined with your glazed over eyes looking up at him as if his cock was the best thing you’d ever tasted, as well as the wet glide the copious amounts of liquid granted, sent him into a near-feral frenzy.

Zoro knew you couldn’t answer him, but his filthy questions never stopped, lips dropping a litany of abrasive verbal abuses as his pace never faltered, cock drilling into your mouth almost painfully.

“You were made for this, weren’t you? Made to take my cock down your fuckin’ throat.”

“Fuckin’ look at you. All fucked out just from this. I bet you’d love this cock in your pussy right now, wouldn’t you?”

“Fuckin’ take it, baby.”

Every single word rumbled by that deep voice sent heat flaring straight down to your core, your clit throbbing in time with your rapid heartbeat as your pussy clenched around nothing — Zoro’s comment about you wanting his thick cock in your pussy wasn’t too far off the mark. No matter how many times he fucked your holes they never truly adjusted to the stretch of his massive cock, the slight discomfort of it offering you a euphoria that previous partners had never managed to touch. Of course you’d love to have Zoro’s cock in your pussy… but this right now, the smooth glide of his cock across your tongue and the intrusion of his length in your throat… there was nothing that could beat that at the moment.

Zoro’s hips stuttered and his cock twitched on a particularly rough thrust, momentarily hardening even further within your mouth. Excitement and anticipation clawed up your spine, because you knew what that meant — Zoro was close, and soon enough he would be rewarding you with a stream of hot, salty cum straight down your throat.

“Fuck, your mouth is gonna make me fuckin’ cum. Fuckin’ touch yourself, baby. Rub that pretty pussy while I fuck your face.”

Your hand dropped down immediately to comply with Zoro's order, your pussy more than welcoming the touch when you shoved your fingers past the confines of your panties and promptly shoved two of your fingers inside. They slid in without any resistance, your walls wet and mushy from arousal, and you set a rapid pace to match with Zoro’s. It wasn’t the same as Zoro’s cock, but the stimulation of your mouth and cunt being filled cinched your gut with hot arousal, and with just a few well timed curls that familiar coil formed.

The deck became home to a symphony of muffled moans, grunts, squelching and filthy curses, orchestrated by the act Zoro and yourself were partaking in — there was a risk that came with this, one that would be hard to recover from, as anyone could walk out at any point to find Zoro’s cock buried in your throat. But somehow, that risk only made the coil wind tighter, the edge of danger adding an enticing amount of lewdness to everything.

Zoro’s words faded into mere grunts and groans, and his thrusts became even faster, sloppier, his hand in your hair tightening and moving your head in a contrasting rhythm than that of his hips — he was close, his cock throbbing and twitching with every rough thrust into your throat, and you pulled your fingers out of your cunt to harshly rub your clit with as much velocity as you could muster within the confines of your pants and underwear. You wanted to cum when Zoro did, so you could feel that euphoria of an orgasm at the same time.

“Fuck, fuck, here it comes. Don’t make a mess, baby; swallow every fuckin’ drop.” Zoro growled, hips reaching a peak speed before slowing to a near stop, your nose pressed into the pubic hair just above Zoro’s cock as he buried himself as deep as possible.

Your throat constricted around his cock as you gagged, your brain screaming at you to pull back as your ability to breathe was stolen from you, but Zoro held your head in place with a firm hand as his cock twitched once, twice, then throbbed heavily as ropes of cum splashed against the walls of your throat.

“Shit,” Zoro breathed, the curse being dragged out and completely drenched with pleasure. “Fuckin’ — yes, fuck, take it all.”

Zoro’s hips moved in small thrusts as he rode out the rest of his orgasm, saltiness bursting over your tongue as droplets of his spent smeared over it with each little buck. You drank down the remnants fervently, sore throat constricting pleasantly with every swallow, and when Zoro pulled his cock out and demanded you to open so he could make sure you swallowed everything, you did so without hesitation.

“Fuck, that’s my good girl. Did you cum, baby?” Zoro ground out, his dick beginning to soften slightly in the aftermath of his orgasm.

With a start you realized that no, you hadn’t. You’d been so wrapped up in the sensation of Zoro’s come sliding down your throat that your fingers had completely stopped moving. You gave a small shake of your head. Zoro reached a hand down and stroked his thumb over your lips, his own quirking up into a devilish smirk.

“We’ll have to fix that baby. You did so good, and you deserve a reward. Get on your fuckin’ hands and knees and let me fuck you ‘til you can’t take it anymore.”

I probably should have clarified this in the first installment of the series, but these prompts won’t be written/posted in numerical order. My brain does really have the focus to do it that way, so whichever prompt offers me the most motivation is the one I’m going to write. I hope you all enjoyed this one, because I sure did ;))

#opla #opla x reader #one piece live action #opla zoro #opla zoro x reader

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dopscratch · 10 months

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mugshot meme with the trio :) i love fishlegs which reminds me....

INCOMING BOOKS-MOVIES RAMBLE- even if you only know the movies please stick around, i cant make you but maybe you'll find the rest of this interesting

SO, so so so. i love the movies (well the first two...) but i will never forget their transgressions on the original plot

they took away hiccups Heroic Hair why would you do that he's nothing without his Heroic Hair

they swapped hiccup and fishlegs's personalities why would you do that why would you take away my nerd protagonist my nerd self is weeping

hiccup and fishlegs are no longer best friends why why would you do that to me i live for their loser friendship its just like me

they took away camacazi and made a mid love interest i dont care what you say astrid is mid tier never liked her much apologies i also dont like love interests so take my opinons with a grain of salt

in the movies toothless is actually Super Cool and hiccup also becomes Super Cool and earns massive respect and is not a laughingstock ever since the very first movie which hurt his appeal to me in the movies since, believe it or not, i am a Loser and hiccup also being a Loser and Becoming A Hero The Hard Way was very compelling to me

hiccup is the Absolute Main Character in the movies and the supporting characters don't get much spotlight while in the books it's a pretty well balanced group which i like

snotlout is no longer hiccups cousin and is just comic relief which is a HUGE missed opportunity for drama and depth that i loved in the books

villains in general are sort of mid tier throughout (except viggo viggo was cool. also i love dagur he's the best)

WHERE'S ALVIN

dragons are no longer complex. i loved their society of sorts and their unique morals (generally selfish, cruel creatures who have full knowledge of their actions and just don't care- though have the capacity for kindness) and their whole language and the fact hiccup knew that language because he is a Nerd

HICCUP'S LANGUAGES!! GUYS WHO ONLY WATCHED THE MOVIES, DID YOU KNOW HICCUP IS FLUENT IN AT LEAST 4 LANGUAGES?? HE KNOWS NORSE, DRAGONESE, FRENCH, AND LATIN!! WELL YOU DO NOW

HOOOOLY CRAP the story is SO much darker i'll avoid huge spoilers but let's just say. war. slavery. torture. death. surprisingly generous amounts of blood.

more main-line content- technically yes the shows and other companion materials count for the movie-verse but some things are questionably canon and all that. meanwhile you have 12 whole books that are irrefutably canon and are incredibly well-connected especially through the end.

thats everything that my brain feels like spitting out now. there's obviously more (ESPECIALLY in regards to my uh... opinions about the third movie) but im too lazy to do anything about it at the moment

overall all two movies and the shows are still good and i cherish them so my smack talking is pretty lighthearted. still love the books more though

#httyd books #httyd art #httyd fanart #how to train your dragon #hiccup horrendous haddock iii #art #fishlegs no name #camicazi #barbie mugshot meme #httyd hiccup #httyd fishlegs #httyd rant #the books are better #httyd #httyd movies #trashmann treasure #rancid ramble

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mariacallous · 5 months

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Several years ago, I invited my new boyfriend to Yom Kippur at my aunt’s house. He didn’t need convincing – I think he adored my family early on – but to entice him further I made sure he knew what was on offer.

Bagels. Cream cheese. Lox.

Let’s just say he showed up on time. I knew my aunt would be thrilled when he devoured the pickled herring. (He earned similar accolades when he asked for seconds of gefilte fish at Passover.)

Jewish food, he says, is just a hop, skip and a jump from the Scandinavian food he grew up with. “It’s like the foods of my people. Foods of your people, foods of our people.”

Apart from being poetic, it was a very Jewish thing for him to say.

Now my husband, Brad is definitively non-Jewish by all religious standards. His father was raised in a big Irish Catholic family and his mother, raised in the Midwest, is of Scandinavian descent. He was the first non-Jewish person I’d met with his own proclivity for pickled fish and smoked salmon.

Among the items he always kept in his pantry — before he met me and still today — are tinned fish and Triscuits, often eaten as a meal. He and I have been on a year-long journey of finding the best “real rye bread” within driving distance in the greater Metrowest area of Boston. (Haven’t found it yet.)

To say that he embraces all things Jewish is obvious. That he loves me is only part of the reason; another is the food.

My grandmother always had enough food to feed an army, no matter whether it was Shabbat, Passover or Tuesday. I watched as Brad became accustomed to the foods we loved and the leftovers we take pride in sharing: the containers left on the table after Yom Kippur for extra brisket, the paper bags for challah and rugelach.

But he’s taught us about food, too. Our family text chain is called “Smashburgers Unite” because of my family’s newfound favorite meal, brought to us by my husband. A better cook than I (a generous understatement), he loves cooking projects.

At that point, my biggest cooking project I’d taken on was making latkes for Hanukkah.

It had been my job for years. I’d shove the potatoes in the Cuisinart, wring them out as best I could, and do my best guesswork with how much egg, matzah meal, onion and salt should go in. Then I’d stand at the stove and fry them, the kitchen filling with that wonderful greasy-spoon smell, as the rest of my family arrived. I laid them out as they were done, always in an inadvertent ombre from light to dark as the oil, and my patience, decreased.

So for Brad’s first Hanukkah with us, I told him — who once made a BBQ for 40 people with no help from anyone — that I (and, by proxy, he) was in charge of latkes.

“Cool,” he said. His indifference both alarmed and relieved me.

“It’s more work than you think,” I said.

I should have known he’d have better tricks for peeling massive amounts of Russet potatoes and draining their water (cheesecloth! The man I’m dating owns cheesecloth?!), adding cornstarch to help the eggs adhere better to the mix, and adding enough salt so they actually tasted good. He added seasonings like zaatar, onion powder and garlic powder. He showed me how to wait until all the oil – way more than I was used to adding for frying – was shimmering, and to be patient while each side cooked.

I think he wanted to add a shallot.

“It’s not traditional,” I said.

“So?” he said.

He had a point.

The latkes that year were a hit. My family made sure he knew that it was now his task for life. They were joking, but they were also serious.

I knew he was about to take this latke-making to the next level. On the way home, he thought up different flavor combinations, like adding dill and black pepper, and what if we fried them in schmaltz – we’d have to roast a chicken first; store-bought schmaltz wouldn’t cut it – and what if we added cayenne, and what if we used different root vegetables, like turnips and rutabagas, and what if made a sweet potato version?

I was exhausted just thinking about it. The latkes take a great deal of effort, and I don’t have the same love of cooking that Brad does. Where he sees opportunity, I see how long it will take to clean up.

Maybe we buy shredded potatoes, to make it easier? I suggested.

But no: Everything from scratch, no shortcuts. Our first year in our new home together, we made them in our kitchen. He shredded the potatoes, I wrung them out. He set up three bowls with different seasonings and spices. I spooned them into balls, and we’d take turns at the stove, frying, flipping, frying again. We ate several between us right away – impossible not to. Yes, it was an hours-long process. But the pride I felt at bringing them home, measured by the silence while people ate and ate, was unmatched.

I learned that the effort, the planning, the execution: it’s a way of showing love. The energy we put into the latkes as a team made me feel closer, somehow, to the holiday and to my Jewish roots.

That first meal of jointly-made latkes also included my mom’s brisket. Over dinner, the conversation turned to other traditional Jewish foods like corned beef and pastrami. Brad pointed out that they were both brisket, just made different – something we hadn’t really ever thought about.

He mentioned he could make a pastrami.

Our eyes widened.

“It’s just a matter of brining it…then smoking it…”

So we’re in charge of both now: latkes and pastrami.

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helshollowhalls · 10 months

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I have some thoughts. On Mysta's graduation. And the current state of Nijisanji in general.

At the end of the day, I am not surprised. I expected someone else to graduate first, hell I even expected Niji to keep more of an iron grip on their money makers aka Luxiem in order to milk them for more cash, but I digress.

Mysta is graduating and it only goes to show that their 'money first, talent... third? last?' approach comes back to bite them in the arse. This might be the potential wakeup call for everyone who has yet to realize that the entire English branch of Nijisanji is crumbling away in record time because of the absolutely abysmal talent management and treatment of the livers.

I refrained from speculating who would be the next ones to graduate after Nina - simply because I will leave that job to the anonymous leakers on the site/platform that shall not be named here. Apparently Shu and Vox were brought up as the potential next people to graduate (this is according to a recent Depressed Nousagi stream but he didn't show any screenshots so take that with a massive bucket of salt.) Mysta was allegedly also mentioned down the line, but he seemingly wasn't the first choice.

Honestly, if you think about it the entirety of Luxiem must be so done mentally. They didn't know what to expect when they signed up to become Nijisanji's first male English-speaking Vtuber group. They waltz onto the scene, explode in popularity all over the world out of nowhere basically and suddenly they're Niji EN's favorite child. The company is milking them for all they have because OH BOI do they rake in the cash - not to mention from a target audience that was completely ignored before in the EN corporate sphere - female viewers.

In a lot of things the boys weren't given any choice. Jazz On The Clock? The first ever second unit song in Niji EN ever and it was released even before their anniversary. With Luxiem being the fourth EN wave in total it felt a little counterintuitive - Wouldn't they start another potential wave of unit songs with LazuLight, their first wave? Well, now that Light Me Up is out and Pomu talked about the entire fiasco of LazuLight basically fighting management tooth and nail to be allowed a second unit song, I think most of us can guess how things are going at Anycolor. And in case you're not entirely convinced, just look at the amount of Luxiem merch Niji has put out compared to any other EN wave.

It's not just JotC, but their anniversary/irl Japan meetup stream as well. That stream was something that personally really rubbed me the wrong way because it felt very inauthentic. It felt like the five of them were just shoved into a room at the Niji HQ to play Smash and do some batsus while the executives and managers proceeded to lock the doors and breath down their necks for the entirety of the stream. The stream had a very different feel to it - Comparing it to other Luxiem collab streams or even other anniversary streams. Management didn't consider it necessary to order Obsydia or Ethyria to Japan and record their anniversary streams at the Niji HQ - Well, that would be because none of them make the company as much sweet sweet cash as Luxiem - Closest would maybe be Selen. And even she has been public about the management fuck-ups - I am talking about her outfit design contest here, of course.

But back to Luxiem. I don't follow them as closely as I used to in the beginning, infact I am only subscribed to Shu out of the five, so let's start from here.

The entire wave collectively tweeted very salty and sarcastic remarks about the official announcement of the EN 3D Live Concert being "postponed due to COVID" earlier this year. But out of all of them, it seemingly hit Shu the hardest. I noticed that he was streaming less and less, infact he still isn't streaming as much as he used to.

Ike... oh boi, where do I even begin. Judging from his spontaneous irl hangout with Vox recently and the amount of projects he has been involved in as a vocal mixer, not to mention his two recent songs of which one is an original, this man seems to be working 30 hours a day and is stressed to the max.

Mysta made his personal situation and his ongoing burnout/lack of goals to work towards very clear in his graduation announcement stream, so I won't go into detail.

Vox has also been streaming less frequently. During the course of his employment at Nijisanji he got diagnosed with ADHD and PTSD (I believe), started therapy and medication, had a panic attack during an ASMR stream, started new projects and also some personal issues in his private life to deal with.

I have to be honest about Luca - I don't really know anything about what is going on with him apart from the fact that he planned to move again and got a puppy.

In conclusion, I could see reasons for anyone of them graduating anytime soon. Management isn't treating them well - Management isn't treating anyone in EN well, it seems - and at some point that fact doesn't warrant staying with the company anymore. Plus, money isn't really an issue for any of them at this point I assume - Especially Vox and Mysta. Both of them have enough money to fulfill their potential aspirations as indies or under another agency or manager.

Infact, apart from a couple of livers I can see anyone graduating next because of how Nijisanji handles things.

Some may argue that it all started going downhill when they kicked Yugo or when Zaion got terminated - Regardless of what you think, at the end of the day, the entire branch is seemingly falling apart right in front of us and Nijisanji's reputation is tanking, especially with the English-speaking fanbase, while Hololive idly sits by and watches the drama unfold.

The consequences of Mysta leaving and the message it sends about Nijisanji and how they treat their livers can't be understated.

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rwby-encrusted-blog · 4 months

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You know, because it's hard to give a massive amount of character in one post, I'm gonna list stuff about alternate rusted knights here

Repentant Thief: Emerald Sustrai, desperate for company used her semblance to hallucinate her friends/allies. Over time as her memory of them began failing, the illusions became flatter, more generic in their kindness and support, and at some points she truly believes that's what RWBY and Co. were like, while at others she can't stand the sight of them, the inaccuracies making her sick to her stomach.

She waits for her Heroes. The ones that saved her before.

She wears leather armor with a Leather helm that covers the lower portion of her face, with a large cloak and hood over all of it. her pants are very similar to previoupairs, simply plainer and sturdier. She has traded heels in for full hiking boots.

~~~~~

Fathomless Angler: Clover Ebi, now an old man, has grown tired, very, very tired. So tired he no longer cares to find a way out, and lets time slip by - He never read The Girl that fell Through the World, his knowledge of it's tale being minimal. He figures this is some twisted afterlife, that he'd done wrong fighting Qrow and has to let himself be punished for fighting his friend.

He Waits, as catching a fish is mostly waiting for it to take the bait. He's still trying to figure out his fish.

Clover wears a faded, dusty Atlesian coat, meant to have water and snow slide right off, with a large scarf and slick bucket hat. due to lack of care, his beard has grown long and scraggly, a veritable bush of salt and pepper. He wears Waders in place of his old Military boots.

~~~~~

The Cobalt Knight (Oxidized Cobalt): Alyx, upon deciding to amend her mistakes in the Ever After was assaulted by The Curious Cat. Jaune Arc, the Rusted Knight, still sick from the poison rushed to her aid. In the end, Alyx was saved, and the cat slinked away to lick it's wounds.

Jaune's didn't make it, and was swallowed by the tree.

Alyx, unable to heal him, to fix this mistake took up his weapons and trained. She was smart - out maneuvering and outsmarting the cat for years until she was able to fight it directly. Then they stayed apart, the Cat not wanting to risk themself, and Alyx not wanting to her own life in revenge.

Alyx waits for the same reasons Jaune did - Guilt, anger, self-loathing, and a need to help RWBY, with all the same weapons he fought with; Mind, Sword, and Shield.

She wears armor like Jaune's only simpler, and lighter, and in FAR better condition - only a little dirty and scuffed.

~~~~~

The Frosted Empress (Lonely): Weiss Schnee, Knowing all she had to do was wait, did just that. She waited. and Waited. And waited. She did her best to stay stable, she practiced arts, she kept up her training, she began to speak to herself in off moments, she never got along with people too much liker herself so Alyx was a handful to deal with.

She oscillates between a very sweet, matronly figure, and an Icy, bitchy Vol-1-esque personality, with moments of lucidity being not too uncommon.

This Weiss wears very simply constructed outfits - basic chain mail and dresses, with immense ornamentation, and a veil, like one would wear at a funeral. She has many different trinkets - leaves, feathers, jewelry and what not.

~~~~~

The Wilted Rose: Ruby Rose fell into the Ever After, and Suffered. She fought as much as she always had, but with no support, no clear goal and the weight of her failings crushing her, Alyx and Lewis were the Straws that broke the Camel's back.

She Ascended into the one person she knew could do anything.

Summer rose.

As motherly and sweet as ever, this rose has thorns only for The Curious Cat - even if she can't remember why.

She looks like an older Summer. With like, very graying hair. It's just Summer Rose.

#rwby #ruby rose #weiss schnee #alyx rwby #rwby alyx #clover ebi #emerald sustrai #alternative rusted knight #rwby au

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shelaghdette · 30 days

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the mischaracterisation of shelagh turner

this post will be a bit of a ramble, and i promise im not directly attacking any one person or group! i've just seen a few things over the course of my involvement with the fandom that trouble me a bit.

as a disclaimer: i LOVE shelagh intensely. she's perhaps my favourite fictional character in ANY piece of media. of course i have my own fixed opinions, so this makes me inherently biased. take whatever i say with a pinch of salt, im just an internet lesbian.

damselification

there's a common take in the fandom that shelagh left the order just for patrick. i'd like to argue this isnt true. patrick was a massive part of her reason, and i'd even agree that falling for him gave her the final push, but we have evidence to suggest she was considering it LONG before we first saw the turnadette plot.

shelagh wanted to hang out with the GIRLS. shelagh saw jenny, trixie and cynthia's freedom and she wanted it. in the beginning, it had very little to do with a man. when she takes her wimple off and stands in front of the mirror, shes trying to find herself.

shelagh had a desire to be a free woman. being in love with patrick was a part of it, but not the whole picture.

even when she did choose to be with patrick, she made those decisions all on her own. she didn't read the letters he sent her until she was already certain of her choice. she wasn't going to be begged, and she wasn't going to beg him, either. shelagh would have left the order whether patrick really wanted to be with her or not.

in fics, shelagh is often portrayed as a helpless baby who needed patrick to save her from her indecision paralysis. i don't think this is true.

stupification (sex mention ahead!)

shelagh is a MIDWIFE. not only that, she's confirmed to be the most accomplished and talented in her field at nonnatus house. i would argue her intelligence and competence in her job is equal to, if not greater, than her husband's. she has an extensive knowledge of the female anatomy. she's studied it for years. she works with it every single day.

SO PLEASE STOP ACTING LIKE SHELAGH TURNER WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT A BLOODY CLITORIS IS! the amount of smut fics ive read that have been instantly ruined by patrick mansplaining her own anatomy to her is not ridiculously high, but it isnt zero either. and whenever it happens, it does my head in. i'm not saying shelagh's going to leave the order and immediately become an absolute sex goddess, that's also unrealistic. but dear god, she knows what her own bits are called. it's just another way she's infantilized and turned into a weak little angel baby who patrick has to smother and save.

on a less nsfw note, i just feel like some fics don't give shelagh's intelligence the credit it's due. it's hard to fully explain without giving examples (which i don't want to do bc i feel like that's unfair and really mean), but in general, patrick just hand-holds her a lot and explains basic things she'd have no trouble understanding on her own. girly is CLEVER. let her be clever.

#call the midwife #shelagh turner #roo speaks absolute shite

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thelovelymissbigbadwolf · 18 days

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I guess some of you must've heard about what's happening on Rio Grande do Sul. Or if not, I wanted to try to spread awareness.

Basically in the last week or so, we've been hit by a intense flooding that not only flooded everywhere, but destroyed entire cities in the process.

Eldorado do Sul is underwater. An entire city UNDERWATER.

Half of Canoas is flooded, covering entire buildings.

I live in the capital, Porto Alegre. I'm one of the lucky few to not have been affected by the rain, we just don't have clean water here.

But entire districts are flooded, Sarandi had to be evacuated due to the rising waters.

The measurement system we use to measure Rio Guaíba is a physical one, a vertical ruler that goes up to 3 meters. It's underwater, as the waters are about 5 meters.

We have so far about 78 deaths confirmed, though I doubt this is the total amount. There's over 60 people disappeared. Over 5000 affected by the rains. But honestly, I just know it's a much higher number in reality.

I don't know any donation links nor do I even know how international donations work, if anyone knows, please reblog and spread awareness of what's happening.

Our governor had a year to prepare and he did nothing.

If you need more to sympathize with this post, I'll share stories I heard on TikTok from people on the front line, both volunteers and victims.

A man was rescuing three children and one of them asked him to retrieve a floating doll they saw. When the man retrieved said doll... It wasn't a doll, but a baby. A baby that had died on the flood.

There's an audio of a family screaming desperately for help, quote: "The smell is too strong", a young voice said, "It's leaking gas," an adult added.

A woman waited for rescue for over 40 hours for someone that could rescue not only her, but her many pets. Around 27 cats and dogs, I'm not sure if she had other pets.

Close friends woke up late in the night to go to Eldorado do Sul to rescue family members before ir flooded entirely, they are currently doing fine as far as I know.

A man had found his best friend's dog and can be heard sending an audio to his wife, saying he found the dog... But lies the question of where his friend is.

A mother cried saying "My daughters are stuck there, I gotta get them out of there" while being interviewed.

Those are the ones I could quote from memory, I'm sleep deprived at the moment.

The airport of Salgado Filho here in Porto Alegre is flooded.

One of the biggest supermarkets here is called Havan and it's a massive one... Water is reaching the rooftops.

A hospital had to be evacuated, saving about 240 patients, doctors and nurses on shift had to be taken to work on a military car.

This Sunday, Brasil's president came to talk of the situation, promising to help.

Even with the disaster happening, the news still make sure to give space for Madonna's concert, while Rio Grande do Sul suffered with its most historical flood since 1941. It's not Madonna's fault by a mile, but the problem is that they basically said "it's very sad, but we can't forget about Madonna", though they could've mentioned before the tragedy, as it seemed a very poor choice of placing of news.

Madonna donated 10 million reais to help Rio Grande do Sul.

99Pop is giving free rides for the blood donation bank.

One of my boyfriend's coworkers won't be able to get to work due to roads outside of Porto Alegre being blocked, one even was destroyed.

People who have beach houses were instructed to go there and take refuge for a while, as there are many beaches such as Cidreira and Xangrilá that are salt water, but Tapes is a river beach, according to my cousin it wasn't so bad, but we're still keeping an eye for news as her grandmother lives there.

I have relatives in Barra do Ribeiro, but haven't heard from them, but the city is said to have been flooded as well, though I don't know to what levels.

Cars have been entirely swallowed by water and a school bus WITH STUDENTS was seen afloat.

Many animals have been affected as well, one case that infuriated everyone was of a dog that was left behind by its owner, not only on a leash but with TWO padlocks in it. One on the collar and one to the wall. The animal did not survive, the poor thing.

Civil defense and others are working hard on rescuing victims along with volunteers of all places, other states are helping as well, I think it was Minas Gerais who was said to have sent professional firemen trained to deal with catastrophes to come and help.

Water advanced to Menino Deus a few hours ago, though I haven't seen reports on it other than a warning from a official page.

Remembering, I'm from Porto Alegre, I don't have many info on other cities other than the most spread news and reports from victims and volunteers. Though I'm trying to keep up to as many as I can.

Finally rain has stopped, but we don't know for how long and neither do we know for how long Guaíba will stay like this and even if it'll go down anytime soon. I fear it going to connecting rivers, since there's a large watershed I think it's the term.

I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject, I just hope to help with what I have. Here's a map of the flooding so far in my town.

It's zoomed out to get the full extent, but you can see entire districts flooded.

My English isn't perfect, but I hope I could explain it well enough. Send prayers for everyone who suffered with this. Feel free to reblog if you have more info.

#irl #rio grande do sul #brasil

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ghostflowerdreams · 9 months

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The Lost Boys (1987) Novel

Ever wonder what extra details or differences about the characters, scenes or what was left out when it comes to its novelization and the film? If not, I hope I made you curious enough to find out.

The Lost Boys by Craig Shaw Gardner, is a novelization of the 1987 American supernatural horror film directed by Joel Schumacher.

A mother and her two sons move to a small coast town in California. The town is plagued by bikers and some mysterious deaths. The younger boy, Sam, makes friends with two other boys, the Frogg brothers, who claim to be vampire hunters. Meanwhile the older boy, Michael, is drawn into the gang of bikers by a beautiful girl named Star. Michael starts sleeping days and staying out all night while Sam starts getting into trouble because of his friends' obsession.

This book has been out of print for over two decades and is a rare, highly sought-after item within this film's massive cult following. At the time I write this the prices for the physical book ranges from $300-$500. Even a previously used one can run up to $100 or more. You're best best is to stick to a digital format, which I heard there's a free PDF version somewhere online.

It's only 220 pages long and despite being so short it's a novelization that's pretty faithful to what was on screen. It even includes several scenes that were later dropped from the film, such as Michael working at the beach as a trash collector. The roles of the opposing gang, the Surf Nazis, who were seen as nameless victims of the vampires was actually expanded upon. It also included several tidbits of vampire lore, such as not being able to cross running water and salt sticking to their forms.

Anyway, here are my notes and thoughts about it, along with what I've learned from the novelization about the characters, their fictional world and whatnot.

Why did the Lucy, Michael and Sam Emerson move to Santa Carla, California?

"His mother had explained it to him [Michael] until he had practically memorized the words. Even after their little scandal his father was still a pretty important person in their part of town. There was no way they could stay in Phoenix [Arizona] without running into him. He didn’t want the kids, and Mom didn’t want him. So Michael and Mom were on their way to Santa Carla, along with brother Sam, dog Nanook, and all their worldly goods.

Their grandfather lived in Santa Carla. From now on they would stay with him."

It's never outright mention, but strongly implied that the scandal is that his dad was having an affair. Well, that's what I think because an affair would indicate premeditation or deliberate intent over a period of time, while cheating is usually a one-time event.

This would probably explain why Lucy's financial situation wasn't improved after the divorce. There was no repairing the relationship, especially if it's an affair. She just wanted the divorce to be done with as quickly as possible and have full custody of her sons, even if it meant she wouldn't get a fair amount for child support.

Fun Fact: Santa Carla is a fictional quintessential beach town, located in California. It was actually based on and filmed at Santa Cruz, however the name, Santa Carla is actually an anagram of Santa Clara.

Fun Fact 2: Santa Cruz also earned the moniker "Murder Capital of the World," because of the town's real life history with serial killers in the '70s. The film borrows that aspect from Santa Cruz as well.

Director Joel Schumacher thought the location fits so well for the fictional world of the Lost Boys' vampires.

"The movie didn't come together until I saw it [Santa Cruz]," he told the Santa Cruz Sentinel. "At the time, there was an enormous amount of transient kids moving through Santa Cruz. This is exactly where I would come if I was a teenage vampire." [x]

Fun Fact 3: In real life, a trip by car from Phoenix to Santa Cruz takes about 11 hours. I was curious about how long it would've taken for Lucy, Michael and Sam Emerson to drive all the way to Santa Carla. So I imagine it'll be about the same amount of time in the fictional world too. This is also good to know if you want to be super accurate or better plot out your Lost Boys fanfiction. XD

Also, in 1987 the average retail price of gas was $0.90 cents per gallon. [x]

Fun Fact 4: The most iconic part of the Santa Cruz boardwalk is the wooden red-and-white tracks of the Giant Dipper, which was feature in The Lost Boys and among other medias.

The Giant Dipper was built in just 47 days at a cost of $50,000. Today, labor and materials for merely painting the Giant Dipper are estimated around $300,000. It also now costs a little more to ride the classic coaster compared to May 17, 1924, when the Giant Dipper opened to the public. The fare then was 15 cents; today (as of 2023) it’s $8.00 per ride.

On February 27, 1987, the Giant Dipper and the Looff Carousel (which was also in the film) was designated a National Historic Landmark. I tried to find the fare during that time period, but the closest I could get was an old article from Los Angeles Times which mention that the fare for the Giant Dipper was $2.00 in August 12, 1990. [x]

What is the name of Michael and Sam's father?

We don't know in the film, but the readers find out that his name is Lance.

Did you know that the Lost Boys entrance scene in the novelization differs from the film?

And then the Lost Boys walked in. Another gang, a lot better dressed than the Surf Nazis, but still a gang. Their leader, a tall, blond fellow named David, walked up and got right on the slowly moving carousel. The ride was almost over. The other Lost Boys followed him on. And as they spun around, Shelly managed to smile in David’s direction. David smiled back and nodded his head slightly in greeting, a polite gesture, the sort of friendly nod you might see a hundred times in the course of a day. Greg didn’t think so. He scowled at his girlfriend and jumped up from his seat. He took a couple steps in the Boys’ direction, but the other gang was moving too. No, not to face Greg. He realized they were going to go by him as if he weren’t even there. Greg stood up and said something that wasn’t exactly flattering. He shoved the Lost Boy out of the way. But now David was there. The calliope played on. Waltzing Matilda. The Surf Nazis joined Greg. Waltzing Matilda. The Lost Boys closed ranks as well. If the Surf Nazis wanted a fight, they were ready. Won’t you go a-waltzing, Matilda, with me. Greg stared at David. David took a half step forward. He found a nightstick pressed against his Adam’s apple. David let his eyes follow the nightstick down to a beefy hand, attached to the body of Big Ed. All three hundred pounds of Big Ed, a security guard with no love for Surf Nazis or Lost Boys. The carousel ground to a halt. The music stopped. The ride was over. Big Ed’s mouth was small for his head. When he opened it, his voice was soft after the calliope’s “Waltzing Matilda.” “I told you to stay off the Boardwalk.” David stared at the guard, not moving for a long moment. Big Ed’s eyes were small, too, but the anger there made up for what they lacked in size. David smiled and turned his head toward the Lost Boys. “Come on,” he said to the others, “let’s pull.”

That was the novelization and in the film there's a noticeable difference...

Shelly spots David coming up from her left and their eyes meet for a brief second, catching his attention. She turns and he stops behind her, cupping her cheek to look deeply into her eyes.

He walks off and she continues staring after him. Greg who was sitting right beside her on the ride, realizes they were having a moment. In his jealously he puts his hand on her face to push her away and to take his anger out on Dwayne as he was the closest.

She snaps out of it, but is stuck in her seat trying not to get caught up in the scuffle. David see Greg trying to grab at Dwayne and he joins in by planting his hand on his face to keep him away.

They get interrupted by the security guard, who puts his nightstick against David's throat and drags him away. With all their attention on him he tells them all, "I told you to stay off the boardwalk."

With a short chuckle David grips at the nightstick and says, "okay, boys, lets go."

The guard releases him and before leaving David throws in a quick wink at the other gang.

What did Sam and Michael do when fighting about who would get the room that was closest to the stairs and the bathroom, and it had a great view of the backyard?

Michael nodded. There was also only one way to handle younger brothers. “Okay,” he said calmly. “I’ll flip you for it.” Sam glared back at Michael, but he didn’t speak. He knew as well as Michael that older brothers usually win out in the end. But Sam also knew that Michael’s offer was his only chance. “Okay,” Sam said slowly, as if he had to drag the two syllables from his lungs. Michael laughed, grabbed Sam, and flipped him upside down. This will show the little bugger! Thinking of Sam as a bugger made him laugh even harder. Michael gasped as white-hot pain shot through his body. He looked down to see Sam biting his thigh. “Owww!” Michael pushed Sam away with what energy he had left. “You little shit!”

This is one of the deleted scenes from the film. It instead jumps to Michael chasing Sam down the stairs. Lucy telling them to not run inside the house. Sam opens the sliding doors to one of the rooms to hide in, only to stop in shock of what he sees inside of it. Michael catches up to him, but also stares in surprise. It's their grandpa's taxidermy room.

What did the Emerson family do in the afternoon they arrived?

They spent it unpacking and having dinner (probably a pizza) when they were finished. Michael helped his mother with the dishes by drying them, while Sam was in the other room looking for some music to put on.

He’d made another decision this afternoon too. He put the platter down at the back of the dish rack. There’d be no better time to tell her than now. “Mom,” Michael began. “I think I’d like to get a job.” His mother looked up from the sink, a question in her eyes. She didn’t ask it. “School’s only a few weeks away,” she mentioned. He took another plate from her hands. He dried it for a moment before he spoke again. “I was thinking of not going back to school.” The stereo kicked to life in the other room. His mother frowned at Michael.

Before she can say anything about it Sam and Nanook rushed in. Sam grabs her hand and pulled her away from the sink to dance with him.

Mom and Sam boogied all over the kitchen, while Nanook barked for emphasis. The two of them danced in his direction, reaching out to drag him in. Michael shook his head and backed away. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do. But he really didn’t feel much like dancing.

This is another deleted scene from the film. The difference however, between the novelization and the film's deleted scene is that Michael doesn't pull away and lets himself get dragged into dancing with them.

In the actual film, however, it jumps straight to the Emerson family (not including grandpa) exploring the boardwalk. Michael and Sam stick together to check out the live concert while their mother tries to get a head start on job hunting.

Fun Fact: In general, most public schools in California start the school year in mid to late August or early September.

If we're sticking to Santa Cruz as the basis for Santa Carla, that would mean the first day of school is in August. So the events of The Lost Boy film and novelization takes place on the last month of summer -- July. As that would certainly match with school being "only a few weeks away."

How did Lucy get a job at Max’s Video?

She was looking for 'help wanted' signs at the boardwalk when she noticed a little boy crying near a restaurant sign. He was all alone and looking very lost. Next to the restaurant was a well-lit store with a bright neon sign that read Max’s Video. She guessed that the boy might've wandered out of from there and took him inside it.

“This boy seems to be lost,” she began. She glanced around the store. Besides the youths, there were four other customers. “I thought maybe his parents might be in here?”

It wasn't long before a young woman rushed in and headed straight towards the little boy. After that Lucy talked to Max and he offered to interview her for a job at his store.

In the film Lucy walks pass a woman putting the security guard's picture up on a bullet board with other missing people posters. She awkwardly makes eye contact with her and continues on. She notices a 'help wanted' sign, but her attention gets draw away when she hears a little boy calling for his mother and that he can't find her.

Max watches in interest as the little boy and Lucy interact outside his store. The Lost Boys walk in and he's immediately frowning at them, but his attention gets pulled back to Lucy as she walks in and tells him that the little boy lost his mother.

Everything after that is basically the same in the novelization.

Fun Fact: Lucy Emerson's name was chosen as a reference to the fictional character Lucy Westenra from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Fun Fact 2: Max is inspired by Peter Pan, as he is the leader of The Lost Boys and immortal. Just like Peter with Wendy, Max also wants Lucy to be the mother to his boys.

Who else worked at Max's Video store?

Maria, the cashier is an attractive young black woman. She shows Lucy the ropes and reveals that...

“You know, I’d be out on the street if it wasn’t for Max.” Maria laughed softly and shook her perfectly coiffed head. “Nobody would have given me a job the way I looked when I walked in here.”

It was Lucy's first day at work and she noticed that Max still hasn't shown up. What excuse was she given for his absent?

“Didn’t he tell you?” Maria frowned as she studied her perfect nails. Whatever she found wrong with them was completely beyond Lucy. “He only comes in here nights. He’s busy opening another store in Los Gatos. It’s going to be much bigger than this one.”

Maria also told her that...

Max usually showed up an hour or two before the store closed to do a little financial business back in the office. Besides that, she never heard from him, either.

Fun Fact: The town of Los Gatos, California does exist. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The drive to Los Gatos from Santa Cruz takes about 30-48 minutes, depending on traffic.

Los Gatos is Spanish for "The Cats". The name derives from the 1839 Alta California land grant that encompassed the area, which was called La Rinconada de Los Gatos ("The Corner of the Cats"), where the cats refers to the cougars (mountain lions) and bobcats that are indigenous to the foothills in which the town is located.

Sounds like it'll be a perfect place for a vampire to set up a second location (or make it into another possible hunting ground) as any deaths can be blamed on cougars, bobcats and hiking accidents.

It's a smart plan and we know that Max is the careful type (seeing as only the Lost boys knew his true identity and not a half-vampire like Star). He has lived long enough in Santa Carla to know it's better to keep a low profile and plan accordingly, especially for a more secure future.

What job did Michael get?

He had seen the notice the night before, tacked to a telephone pole along the Boardwalk: “Dayworkers wanted. $4.00/hour.” The notice had said to show up for work on the beach at seven a.m. From the crowd around him it looked like about thirty other people had read the notice too.

He was one of the lucky few who got picked to collect the trash on the beach. This was another deleted scene from the film.

Fun Fact: In 1987 California, the state's minimum wage had been $3.35 an hour since 1981. But it was raise to $4.25 an hour on July 1, 1988. [x] [x]

What motorcycle does Michael have?

Honda XL 250

What did Michael do with the money he earned from collecting the trash on the beach?

When dropping off Sam with their mother, he attempted to give it to her (along with the money he had leftover from Christmas). She thanked him, but said it was unnecessary and gave it back to him. She wanted him to save it for school and focus on being a teenager, not adult things like their financial situation.

Michael smiled as he looked at himself in the mirror. This was all right. He was glad his mother made him keep the money, after all. He squared his shoulders and frowned at his reflection, tugging the battered black leather sleeves until they were just right. This jacket made him look years older. Michael smiled and shoved his hands in the jacket pockets. With this jacket on, he belonged on a motorcycle. Those teenagers last night had nothing on him anymore. He told the shop girl with the spiky pink hair that he’d take it.

This was another deleted scene from the film. Instead it jumps to Michael on the boardwalk already wearing the leather jacket and checking out a small booth in which a girl was getting her ears pierced for $10.

Fun Fact: A thick, long-lasting leather biker-jacket is expensive, especially a brand new one. It would've cost around $300-$600. However, an affordable and good leather can still be found thrifted.

It sounds like Michael did just that because he found a used leather jacket, indicated by the "battered" sleeves for a decent price. It makes sense because I doubt he had worked or saved enough money to get himself a brand new one. He must've thrifted one for less than $90.

“What’s this?” Lucy opened the envelope to find a folded Christmas card with a half dozen folded five- and ten-dollar bills inside.

He might've had enough leftover to also get his ears pierced for $10, but before he can check Star popped up from behind him. She told him it was a rip-off and offered to do it for him for free.

Star and Michael introduced themselves to each other and learned that both their parents were once hippies. But before Star could go with him to get something to eat David interrupts them. He calls Star over and tells Michael to follow them and surprisingly Michael never once question how David already knew his name.

At Frog's Comics book store, what did Sam say to impress the Frog Brothers?

“If you’re looking for the diet frozen yogurt bar,” the first one added, “it went out of business last summer.” So this was it. His first real challenge in Santa Carla. Sam had to cool these guys out fast. “Actually,” he admitted, the slightest touch of boredom in his voice, “I was looking for a particular Batman, j Series E, Volume 26, Issue 14?” The two commandos looked at each other. “That’s a very serious book, man,” the first one said. “Very serious,” the other agreed. “Only five in existence.” “Four, actually,” Sam replied with the slightest hint of a smile. “And I’m always on the lookout for the other three.”

Fun Fact: The names of the Frog brothers, Edgar and Alan, are a reference to the classic writer of horror fiction, Edgar Allan Poe.

Fun Fact 2: The original comic book store, Atlantis Fantasyworld used in the film was actually located in downtown Santa Cruz—not on the boardwalk, as it appears to be in the film. It was also destroyed in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 and has changed locations twice since then.

The shop's owner Joe Ferrara II even appeared as an extra in the film. He still carries the original #1 issue of 'Vampires Everywhere' that Sam reads in the film. The comic was created only for the film, and its opening page is signed by all of the cast members from the movie. I've heard that it's still on display at the shop for everyone to see and to take pictures with.

Fun Fact 3: In the film Sam doesn't say all that, just that he's "looking for Batman #14". It does exist and its status as an early Batman comic makes it valuable in its own right, but it’s not “only five in existence” type of rare. However, a 9.8 graded copy apparently goes for around $54,000.

What type of motorcycle did David have?

The Lost Boy gunned his bike. It was a Triumph, a machine big enough to make Michael’s Honda look like a toy. He eased up, letting the engine rev back down.

Fun Fact: Kiefer Sutherland, who played David broke his wrist in three places. They weren't filming at the time so he popped a wheelie on his bike, but hit one of the trolley car tracks and injured himself when he fell. He had to wear gloves the entire time to conceal the cast. They also modified his bike so that it was easier for him to used with one hand.

At The Lost Boys panel at FanExpo Dallas he recount this story and reveals that he wasn't just having fun on the bike, but he was showing off. This is because there was a cute girl on the boardwalk that he liked and wanted to impressed her.

Fun Fact 2: At the time of filming Kiefer (David) was 19 years old, Jami (Star) was 20 years old, Jason (Michael) was 19 years old, Alex (Marko) was 19 years old, Brooke (Paul) was 21 years old, Billy (Dwayne) was 22 years old and Chance (Laddie) was 10 years old.

This, however, doesn't mean that their characters were the same ages too. In the novelization we know for sure that Michael's 18 years old and once summer ends he'll be starting his final year of high school. Sam is 13-14 years old and would to be entering it. The Frog brothers are about the same age, but might be a year or two older than him. As for the vampire boys...we don't actually know.

In the fandom it varies, but the general consensus is that Dwayne is the oldest in the group (as in their bodies' physical age) and guessed to be 20-21 years old, David is 20-19, Paul is 18, and Marko is the youngest at 16-17.

As for who's been a vampire the longest it would be David as he's the leader of the group for a reason. The second oldest is usually a toss up between Dwayne and Marko though. But most usually go with Dwayne as the second in command. From the novelization we definitely know that Paul was the last one to joined the group before Star and Laddie.

We know this because Star mention how she was able to connect with him better than the others. She believed the reason for that was because he hadn't been a vampire as long as the others and still remembered what it was like as a human to be lonely and lost.

Anyway, I bring this up because the film was originally set to be directed by Richard Donner with Fischer and Jeremias' screenplay which was modelled on Donner's recent hit The Goonies (1985). They envisioned it as more of a juvenile vampire adventure with 13 or 14 year old vampires, while the Frog brothers were "chubby 8 year-old Cub Scouts" and the character of Star was a young boy.

When Donner committed to other projects, Joel Schumacher was approached to direct the film. He came up with the idea of making the film sexier and more adult, bringing on screenwriter Jeffrey Boam to retool the script and raise the ages of the characters.

Fun Fact 3: In the film and novelization we only know the Lost Boys' first names. And Dwayne's name was never said out loud in the entire film and was only known in the end credits.

Also, there's a bit of confusion within the fandom as some believed David's surname is Powers. It's not. In The Lost Boys: The Tribe (which is technically non-canonical) Shane Powers (who's actor, Angus Sutherland is actually Kiefer Sutherland's real life half-brother) meant it in a ‘blood brothers’ way.

Shane was a member of the Surf Nazi and while at a bonfire party (the very same one the boys took Michael to), the Lost Boys attacked the group. He survived their feeding frenzy, but got unintentionally turned into a vampire by David.

Why did Michael drink the "wine"?

It's a combination of being high on marijuana, peer pressure (mostly from vampire mind manipulation/compulsion nudging him) and he didn't actually understand what was really going on. He thought this was all a part of an initiation. That the final step was to drink the wine, and that Star was in on it too.

He smiled at David. He knew what they were doing. First the maggots, then the worms, now this. How much of a fool did they think he was? The wine really was as dark as blood. It was the best joke of all. He lifted the cup to his lips. He’d show David and the others that he wasn’t afraid of anything. “Good joke,” he said. “Blood.” They all watched him drink it. It was salty and sour for wine. Michael wondered where David had found it. It probably had been down in this cave ever since the earthquake.

Fun Fact: When they're eating Chinese food, David leaves his chopsticks sticking straight out of his and Michael's food. In many Asian cultures, including but not limited to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, share standard rules of table manners across the board.

One of the biggest taboos is placing your chopsticks vertically in your bowl, especially with rice. This is because it is not only brings bad luck but it is a sign of death. The act of sticking your chopsticks upright can be seen as an invitation for spirits to come to dine with you. In Vietnamese culture, it can also resemble a funerary incense bowl, which is often associated with the commemoration of the dead.

What happens after Michael drinks the "wine"?

He passes out and somehow gets home and into his bed. I'm guessing the Lost Boys helped him as they already knew where he lived. As for how they got that information they followed him because they originally planned for him to be Star's first victim, which she revealed to him.

“What did you do last night?’’ Sam asked. “You look totally wasted.” Michael shook his head. “I can’t remember much after the Chinese food that looked like maggots.”

And for some odd reason...

"The bottoms of your feet are covered with salt,” his brother replied. This was just too much to deal with. Michael stood up with a groan and began to shuffle out of the room. "I told you it was pretty weird Chinese food,” Michael culled to his brother as he walked out the door.

Fun Fact: I was curious about why would salt be sticking to the bottom of his feet so I looked it up.

Salt is known for having purifying properties that can ward off evil. Since vampires are often considered creatures of evil, it would make sense that salt can ward them off too.

For example, in many folklores the best way to stop a vampire (or most evil spirits, creatures, etc.) is to carry a small bag of salt with you. If you are being chased, you need only to spill the salt on the ground behind you, at which point the vampire is obligated to stop and count each and every grain before continuing the pursuit. If you don't have salt handy, some say that any small granules will do, including birdseed and sand. Another example is to simply toss salt over your shoulder. This is so you can blind any creature trying to sneak up on you.

However, salt wasn't used like that here so I did some more digging around and apparently it can also be used as a tracking device. It would be dumped on the bedroom floor of a vampire victim. The idea was that the vampire would step in the salt and the salt would stick to their bare feet, which would then allow the Buffys, Van Helsings, and Winchester Brothers of the world to follow the saline path back to the vampire's grave.

That brings me to my next question, where would the salt come from and why? The only possible explanation I could think of is that maybe Grandpa Emerson (being aware of vampires) could've put some salt around Michael's bedroom floor, especially after noticing he shows signs of vampirism. It could be a way to know if Michael is being targeted as the vampire's next victim or if he is one now, than Grandpa Emerson would know better in what direction to look for the main vampires' lair.

I'm probably overthinking it, but we don't really know all that much about him. Just that he's a retired businessman, has a small marijuana bush growing outside his kitchen's window, has taxidermy as a hobby, keeps his root beer and double-thick Mint Oreo cookies on the second shelf and he visits Widow Johnson a lot.

He could simply be a hermit and scarcely ever ventures out to town or is secretly an experienced vampire hunter that knows how to keep a low-profile. Of course, I find out that in the The Lost Boys Vol. #1 comic (which is a miniseries that picks up after the 1987 film) it's apparently the latter and there's a bit more to him than I thought.

But the more likely possibility is that maybe the vampires in The Lost Boys' universe all have salty feet (well, more like salt sticks, collects and/or coats their skin -- if that's the case it's probably unavoidable when they're living so close to the ocean) as a trait. It sounds like it was made up for the film to help people like the Frog brothers to identified vampires. Or maybe this only applies to Santa Carla's vampires?

What else did we learn about the vampires' weakness?

He [Michael] realized that he had turned the hot water off. It didn’t make any difference. The water still burned. He pulled his arm from the shower. What was the matter with the shower? He looked at the angry red welts running down his arm. The cold water had burned him.

Fun Fact: Water is also known as the source of life and so naturally works against the undead. On a practical level, it can also deter predatory creatures that hunt by smell, as water can misdirect or damp scent trails. But running water in particular is a traditional weakness in many vampire mythos. Vampires are thought to be helpless when submerge in it and can be destroyed to many variations of death (such as drowning) because of it.

This myth comes from the Church (in ancient times) trying to feel protected because it was believed that nothing evil could swim or cross running water.

The origin of this may be that Jesus was baptized in a river (washing away evil and sin), but undoubtedly helping the folklore is that running water is much cleaner and safer to live near than stagnant water. Stagnant water doesn't wash away harmful content, is more inviting to mosquitoes and other vermin, promotes mold, and so on.

Vampires are thought to be wretched and disease ridden abominations. Because of that the purity of the running water repels them. However, in some folklore vampires are known to be territorial creatures and don't cross running water, such as rivers and streams because it often serve as natural marker boundaries in the region for hunting territory.

So, if they really wanted to they can cross running water just fine, but they choose not to. It's an unspoken rule that all vampires follow in order to keep the peace with other vampires in the same area.

From this we can accurately deduced that the Lost Boys can't take showers, but can still take bathes. As for if they can cross bridges, or take boats I don't know. Some vampires can't cross running water under their own power or by their own will. Others can as long as they use a human under their control to carried them across, maybe they can still [transform and] fly or jump over it themselves?

I think it's more the latter than former, as we don't actually see it or read it, but it's implied that the Lost Boys jumped off [or hovered above] the Hudson's Bluff, which overlooks the ocean, with their bikes while they were messing with Michael. It's hard to tell what they were actually doing because of the thick fog.

What did Michael tried to eat or drink?

Besides, his brother was right. He should put something in his stomach. He opened the refrigerator and took out a carton of milk. Pain shot through his stomach and chest. He doubled over, dropping the milk.

The room was also spinning and pulsing, he could even feel his own blood surging through his arteries and veins...

Michael forced his head back down. He had to stop this somehow. He saw a mouse in the comer. A large mouse in a trap, its neck slashed and broken, but not quite dead. It struggled feebly in the comer. And it bled. Bright red droplets fell to the kitchen floor. The mouse pulsed and expanded, just like everything else around Michael. He didn’t care. All he could see was the blood. The mouse stiffened, eyes wide open, dead at last. Michael dragged himself over toward the dead rodent, heedless of the pain in his stomach and chest. He reached out his fingers to the pantry floor. He had to touch the blood.

Michael calmed down a bit after tasting some blood and the pain went away too, but he needed more. At that point he was falling into feral vampire mode and wasn't fully himself. He followed the loudest heartbeat in the house, which was his brother.

In the film this scene is slightly different. Michael picks up a carton of milk to drink it only to drop it and collapse in pain. Then it cuts to him with his face and body hidden in shadow as he climbs the stairs menacingly towards his brother.

What song was Sam singing to in the bathtub?

Sam sang along with the tape on his boom box. Clarence “Frogman” Henry croaked “I Ain’t Got No Home.” Sam croaked along. He might not have a home, but this bathtub was the next best thing.

What kind of dog is Nanook?

Nanook is an Alaskan Malamute (which look similar to Huskies) which are known for their peak at the top of their head, which resembles Bela Lugosi's classic Dracula hairstyle.

Fun Fact: To keep up with the Peter Pan theme, the name Nanook was inspired by the Darlings family pet dog, Nana.

Fun Fact 2: When Michael was giving into his hunger Nanook protected Sam by biting Michael's hand. In Peter Pan the crocodile is known to have eaten Hook’s hand and this scene was a little nod to it.

Fun Fact 3: Completely unrelated, but if you're curious about what the name Nanook means-- In the language of the Inuit people, “nanook” or “nanuq” means “polar bear.”

In Inuit mythology, Nanook was the master of bears, meaning he decided if hunters deserved success in finding and hunting bears and punished violations of taboos.

How does Star describe each of the the Lost Boys like?

All the Lost Boys were so different. Marco was always mysterious; Dwayne a little awkward. Paul was the comedian of the group. He’d do anything to get her to laugh. From the time she had first gotten to know them, David had fascinated her, but Paul had always been the one she could talk to. She sometimes wondered just why that was.

Which of the Lost Boys was recruited before Star and Laddie?

Before she and Laddie had come here, Paul had been the newest member of the gang. She thought that perhaps, more than the others, Paul still remembered what it meant to be lonely.

Readers also learn that Star ran away from home. The why is still unknown but we can correctly assume that it was from an unsafe or toxic environment. As for Laddie we still don't know his story, only that in the film his photo is on the back of milk cartons (such as the one Michael tried to drink from) saying he's missing. Oh, and that his last name is Thompson.

I originally thought he was just a random kid that the Lost Boys snatch in order to keep Star from leaving them. They knew she has a soft spot for children and they, in particularly, David (or Max, as nothing happens without his say so) exploited it.

However, the novelization implies that Laddie was with Star before ever meeting the Lost Boys. That while on the streets she came across Laddie and because he's so young, she couldn't resist the need to help him. Soon after they got lured in by the Lost Boys and tricked or forced into drinking the blood.

Maybe they turned Laddie first so that she wouldn't hesitant to follow him? Or they both drank it without realizing it and she continued to stayed for Laddie because he still needed someone who genuinely cared for his well-being. To not only protect him, but try and save him from a damned life.

In the film, the Lost Boys interaction with him show that they cared for him in their own way, but there's probably a good reason why we don't often see vampire kids.

Laddie's presence certainly helped to keep her grounded to her humanity too. Maybe that's why we never saw her vampire face? It takes a lot of inner strength to not give in. Readers get a better understanding of that from Michael's perspective because he couldn't snapped out of it, and would have done something reprehensible if it wasn't for Nanook protecting his brother.

Fun Fact: Well, more like it's an interesting fact...In the mid-1980s, the nonprofit National Child Safety Council began a nationwide program called the Missing Children Milk Carton Program by putting photos of missing children on the back of milk cartons. By March 1985, almost half of America’s independent dairies had adopted similar milk carton initiatives.

However, the milk carton campaign faded out in the late 1980s and was abandoned altogether when the AMBER Alert system was created in 1996. The replacement of paper milk cartons with plastic jugs also contributed to its demise.

How long was Star with the Lost Boys?

They were killing the Lost Boys. In a way they had been her family. She had been with them for a couple weeks, ever since she had run away to Santa Carla. But she had never seen them as vampires. For some reason they had hidden it from her. She realized she had never known their true selves, only their human remains.

“A couple of weeks” generally means a time period that is more than one week but too short to be measured in months. For that reason many people considered it to mean 14 days; two weeks.

A lot happens in such a short amount of time, especially in the film, but in the novelization it has better pacing.

What happens after Grandpa Emerson saves them from Max?

He reveals that he always knew about the vampires living in Santa Carla and in the novelization, in particularly, the epilogue he's the one who's been narrating it...

After that things pretty much returned to normal. We fixed up the house, Lucy got a new job, Michael went back to school. Star did, too, after she found a place to stay at the Widow Johnson’s. Laddie remembered where his parents lived. And Sam decided he wanted to learn to stuff animals.

What's special about the Lost Boys’ cave?

Grandpa Emerson continues the epilogue and hints...

That place where all the Lost Boys slept is only the beginnings of the cave. Those tunnels seem to go on forever, maybe even all the way back into Santa Carla. And the noises that come out of there? My daughter insists it’s just gotta be the wind. Sam says it’s probably some sort of animal. But nobody knows for sure. So you’ll excuse us if we only visit the hotel during the daylight. And we haven’t quite gotten the gumption to go back there and check those noises out.

Fun Fact: The filming location for the entrance of the Lost Boys' lair, is the Hudson's Bluff Sea Cave at Rancho Palos Verdes in Los Angeles County, California. It's at the foot of a rock 'spur' jutting into the sea by Terranea Beach. The rest of their lair was built on Stage 12 of the Warner Bros. lot.

Fun Fact 2: The hotel was based on the Valencia Street Hotel in San Francisco.

Fun Fact 3: In early drafts of The Lost Boys scripts, there was suppose be an end credit scene. It would've been one of the few 80s movies to do so, but it didn't happen.

The film's final ending was so punchy that filming the tag was never a priority, according to the film's production designer Bo Welch. Once Warner Bros. cut the film's budget by 35% before shooting, the tag was the first to go. "It never got beyond the discussion stage," Welch said.

In the book, The Lost Boys: Lost In The Shadows by Paul Davis you find out what it is they had in mind.

The camera would've panned back to the Lost Boys' lair, focusing on an old weathered mural on the hotel wall, which would show a smiling Max in the early 1900s boardwalk, talking to a group of young men.

You don't see their faces as it was left to the viewers' imagination. It could've been David and his gang or another set of Lost Boys before them. But it's clear that Max and his Lost Boys (not just the current ones) have been terrorizing Santa Carla for that long.

Fun Fact 4: There were plans to make a sequel named The Lost Girls just two years after with David returning as the main villain. This is why David's body doesn't turn to dust like the others. He didn't die, even after being impaled on a pair of antlers. It can be assumed it missed his heart or it needed to be made of wood to be proper "stakes".

Scripts for the film circulated in the early '90s, but the film was never made. However, the plot point would eventually turn up in the comic book Lost Boys: The Reign of Frogs.

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