#this was meant to be an anthology series and i hope it still happens when it's safe!

[cloveroctobers]

OCTOBER PROMPTS 🦇 — 10. Napoleon “Leo” Usher

A/N: where is the work for my man who’s gonna do it for me every time?! This series wasn’t my fav (better than the midnight club ofc! Argue amongst yourselves) but everything was executed very well! EAT THE RICH! Anyways I’ll probably do a re-watch at some point to appreciate it better. Look at me being back on my writing kick, someone bring me a treat and by treat I mean truffle fries. Alright this is kinda late and I usually never risk writing for any of Mike’s work but here I am. Hope this doesn’t flop but with the dust in this tag makes this very likely!! Okay ✌🏽

PROMPTS ARE FROM HERE & HERE + I’m using: A is afraid to get the Halloween decorations out of the attic or garage, fearing there’s bugs, which leaves B to do it. + Going to questionable lengths to decorate their house/apartment.

Synopsis: People can say a lot of things about Napoleon Usher but some may not be aware that he’s actually a homebody. However there’s a few places he doesn’t mind spending his time and that so happens to be at his best friend’s place, who also doesn’t mind actually putting him to work.

WARNINGS: Platonic x reader! language + dark themes/humor + mentions of s*ic*de + gender neutral friendly!

<- read my previous anthology prompt here.

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[6 weeks before the fall…]

Second guessing.

That happened to be something that was always jammed into Rudelle Povea’s head ever since they were young. Their parents taught them to be curious when things didn’t feel right in their gut and many times that resulted in phone calls home for being, “too disruptive to others in class,” which really meant too annoying for teachers who just wanted to teach without mountains of inquires coming from this kid to being, “too smart-mouthed and a know it all for me,” from their maternal grandmother who eventually gained guardianship over Rudelle.

If something’s been instilled in you for the longest, it can become a habit—whether good or bad is always up for debate. Sure at times it made Rudelle feel as if they were being a bit indecisive but they always looked at life as one big question mark. They didn’t have to just simply take it for what was thrown at them. If they were prompted to question it all, then in a sense they were persuaded to see everything from all angles before going through with a final thought.

Rudelle wasn’t incapable of making a decision, never think that but they always needed all of the facts before going forth. For instance: take the death of Rudelle’s parents when they were only twelve years old back in the United Kingdom. Rudelle’s grandmother was not only controlling and cruel but she was also a really good liar that kept up with the tale of how Rudelle’s parents died. As if Rudelle would never get older and do a deep dive considering the career they went into as a pathologist assistant before Rudelle got laid off.

How convenient that they seemed to be laid off the further along they got into the reports of their parents’ apparent murder-suicide. Lots of sealed off information and blocked out text was enough for Rudelle to come to terms with their family constantly hiding but what exactly?There were always more questions than answers but there was no doubt in Rudelle’s mind that their grandmother had something to do with this.

A crack sounded at the window, bringing Rudelle out of their lengthy daze, spotting a black crow flying from their sight yet again. Rudelle didn’t waste any time, pulling out their phone to make note of the arrival of the same crow and exact date when it provided more damage to their window in the living room. Sighing they got to their feet, phone still in their hand as they got closer to the window, inspecting the cracks that seemed to get bigger each time.

After the sixth ring the line picked up.

“Leo, you coming ‘round?”

“…what’s in it for me?”

“Good company.”

“Is that a underlying proposition for us finally hooking up?” He sounds wide-awake now.

Rudelle snorts, “Keep on dreaming, mate.”

Rudelle doesn’t wait for a response as they end the call, knowing that when they called each other it was rarely for a chat since they could just text and send voice notes to each other. If they called each other it was usually within good reason—although it was a fact that Rudelle Povea and Napoleon Usher lived slightly different lifestyles.

It was about half an hour later when Napoleon shows up to Rudelle’s apartment, barely appearing, almost as if he was struggling to hold himself upright against the door.

Rudelle snickers at the dark attire and their friend’s appearance, “I’m surprised you didn’t use your key this time, why the long face? Did I ruin the post party?”

Napoleon rolls his eyes as he shoves his way inside the familiar apartment. He’s kicking off his shoes in the foyer and heads to the right to dive face first into the beige couch.

Rudelle closed the door behind the man and heads to where he is and squats beside him, “So…”

“No! I don’t want to take your fucking quiz, let me sleep.”

“I wasn’t going to ask any more about your night because I can just tell how it went,” Rudelle responds before adding, “I actually saw that crow again—

Napoleon lifts his chin to glance towards the window and sighs, “Where’s the maintenance manager when you need them? You do have that here in this unpleasant building, yeah?”

“I don’t care about the window.”

He blinks hard at Rudelle, “well you should, love. There’s what? Three cracks now and if you don’t know, they can spread and who knows what else will get into this building once the window finally decides to give way?”

“Your concern is sweet.” Rudelle’s reply is sarcastic.

“Oh, shut up.”

“Buuut! This is the crow’s third time doing that and it’s got me thinking.” Rudelle plops down on the floor, eyes wide with curiosity.

“Let me guess? About you fantasizing about being Brandon Lee’s eternal lover.” Napoleon mumbles—as if he hasn’t heard this before.

Rudelle’s been going on about this crow for a few weeks now and, “the Crow,” (1994) happened to be one of their favorite movies. The thing about Rudelle is that they always tried to find meaning and symbolism for everything. They honestly should have went into literature. Napoleon may have half-lidded eyes right now but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t ever listening. He’s known Rudelle for years, before Roderick came around and molded him into a Usher. They’ve always had a hunch for something and Rudelle wasn’t wrong about Napoleon’s father so who’s to say they would be wrong about this crow?

“No Leo…this time I’m thinking about decorating.”

Napoleon sighs as a smile appears on his face then, “I knew this day would come! There’s not much to work with but I’ve been saying this flat needs a makeover. It just doesn’t fit for you, you know? You’ve got personality and yet this still looks like a staged showing when we first toured this dreadful place. It’s boring and sort of stale—much like Tamerlane’s home now that I’ve come to think of it.”

“Whoa there, I don’t have nearly enough mirrors for us to match.”

“Funny,” Napoleon smirks a bit at the jab since that’s what it was. It’s not like he would ever blame his siblings for the way they all turned out and carried themselves, they had their father to thank for that but that also didn’t mean they were really loving towards each other either. They didn’t know what that felt like either and although Napoleon had his mother in his life, they drifted the moment she sent him here to meet Roderick at eighteen. The Usher siblings gave each other shit right to each others faces and behind each other’s backs.

Rudelle’s been around since before Napoleon gained the title of “being a usher,” so she’s seen it all and only threw in jabs to get a reaction from Napoleon. They knew to tread lightly, not out of fear but they still knew their lane and left that open for Leo to completely bash—if need be. However that still wasn’t in his nature to bash any of his half-siblings, he still saw something in them that they all shared…the torment conditions of being a usher maybe?

Believe it or not, he’s got some feelings about the mere thought of having siblings although they had their issues…there was still some level of respect beneath it all. This was just who they were, take it or leave it.

The world would most likely leave it.

Yes he was closer? If you want to use that term—to Camille and Perry but he was the one who wasn’t afraid to stand on how fucked this family is and always would be while the rest chose to shield that to the public eye.

“Which space are you thinking of first? This living room should be it since it’s the second focal point of this flat. And please don’t tell me you’re going for wallpaper? This is not the bloody 1920’s.” Napoleon spoke, resting his cheek against the back of his hand.

Rudelle shook their head, “I’m not really talking about renovations Leo. The crow’s got me thinking about Halloween decorations…which are down in the basement.”

Leo sits up instead and opens his mouth ready to respond until something catches his eyes on the coffee table. He leans over to snatch the files up, already sensing what they were before his eyes briefly scanned over them. “Ru! You’re investigating again?!”

“Well yes but this has nothing to do with my desire to be festive this time around.”

“I can’t say I believe that,” Leo shakes his head in disapproval, “this is the same shit that got you laid off from a decent pay—for your standards and now look! You’ve gone and decided to be some sort of archivist?”

“They actually haven’t called me back about that interview so…”

“And why do you think that is?”

“My nan’s got just enough pull as daddy Roderick and Auntie Madeline?”

Leo rubs at his beard in frustration, “for fucks sake I almost threw up in my mouth just then. I told you before not to refer to Roderick as that!” He glared at Rudelle who is definitely amused, knowing that irritates him then continued on, “…That could be almost true since your nan gives shady vibes too but you can’t keep doing this.”

“Why not? I’ve got nothing else better to do.” Rudelle shrugs confused before stating, “Just your unemployed friend on a Tuesday that’s keeping busy and trying to not ride on their savings.”

Leo raised his brow, “you think cracking the case on your parents’ death is somehow gonna give you income? That’s like wishing on a lucky star babe. There’s a reason you haven’t got anywhere with this and it’s been months, yeah?!”

“They were framed for a murder they probably didn’t commit which led to their deaths…if I can fix this then I can sue this shit system for if not all it’s worth then…I’ll take half.”

The determination was clear in Leo’s best friend’s eyes. They didn’t see that it was sounding a bit deranged but they had their own facts as well and if they strongly believed this then who was Leo to stomp on it? Leo didn’t know how it felt to not have two parents around but he did know how it felt to have a emotionally sad mother raising him. His mum was kind hearted to Rudelle back when they all lived in Redbridge and it certainly wasn’t out of pity, she was kind to anyone who shared the same decency to her son.

See, Napoleon’s mum is also very observant. She knew from the moment that Napoleon and Rudelle became friends (aged fourteen) that they would be able to keep each other afloat.

They were the pieces of good—more so Rudelle on the surface—that battled the bad the world laid upon them.

“Alright then…” Napoleon trailed off glancing upwards in thought, “in the mean time, you suppose decorating for Halloween will bring you clarity?”

Rudelle shrugs, “maybe. This could be a breakthrough.”

A breakthrough to just accept the job Napoleon’s been offering them since they settled into this city back when Rudelle was twenty-one. Leo’s been into gaming since he can remember, always wanted the latest games that his mother couldn’t afford at the time just to end up with it later on mercilessly. Not really—Roderick made it his job to buy his way in and taking care of Leo financially from a distance.

Yet when those eighteen years arrived and he actually met the mysterious man who tried to buy—definitely not his love—but rather his place as a Usher…Napoleon thought he was getting a chance to build a relationship with a man he didn’t know very well…but instead he was one of the shiny pieces in Roderick’s game.

Rudelle had dreams of being a geologist until she was in custody of their grandmother. They always had that woman in their ear growing up, dictating what they should be instead of what they wanted. All kids have dreams and aspirations but along the way there’s often detours. Those detours happen to be people who only saw greed and Rudelle chose what she thought would be the better option. To do it all on her own instead of being beneath her grandmother’s claws and Leo was still affiliated business wise or not no matter what choice he made.

They were both similar in that way.

Making their own choices, thinking it would work out in their favor.

“Fuck it, let’s do it.”

“Great,” Rudelle grinned ready to get to their feet, “I’ll grab the keys for the basement and you can head down. It’s seventy-four which is in the path of almost like a S shape.”

Leo frowns as Rudelle begins to move around the apartment in search of the keys, “wait…you’re not sending me down there alone are you?”

“Yes I am.” Rudelle went through the cabinets of their white kitchen, “there’s bugs down there. I can’t—I won’t. I can still feel those ant bites from last year just speaking on it.” They trail off in thought, scratching at their collarbone, “Which is why I kept most of my decorations shoved in closets up here.”

Leo frowns, “you sure you weren’t on shrooms?”

“Oh piss off! I still got the bills to prove it.”

“So you want me? This glorious piece of ass to be a early feast for some critters? Do you hate me? Do we suddenly have a problem that I’m unaware of?”

“You just said you’re going to participate in my breakthrough? Aren’t we mates?”

“Mates don’t set up mates!”

Rudelle pretends to think about it, which earns them a shove from Leo while Rudelle laughs in return latching onto some keys that were tossed into a drawer.

“Fine, if you wanna hold hands just say that.”

“Are you really going to hold my hand? A taken man?”

Rudelle was tempted to throw in a, ‘Glad you remember that you actually have a boyfriend this time around, considering how many times I’ve caught you in cheating acts.’

But they refrained…only because they had this idea to get their hands on the decorations and didn’t want to do it alone. Sure Rudelle maybe grasping at straws but that holiday changed the trajectory of everything losing their parents on that Halloween night. If you believe in the supernatural…maybe just maybe they could communicate with them in some way.

“Only if you’re afraid of the dark.”

“It’s not of the dark, rather what’s in it.”

“Don’t you worry buttercup, I’ve thought of it all.” Rudelle’s patting Leo’s cheek who furrows his brows as they disappear again around their home.

Leo exhales deeply, “if you did then why am I being dragged into this?!”

“Because you’re my best friend and you can’t help but to love me back.”

“I guess…”

“What?!” Rudelle calls from somewhere in the apartment.

“I said I must confess! You know like queen Britney once said.”

“Uh huh.” Rudelle appears back in front of Leo who started peeking through their fridge.

He clasps a tatted hand to his chest, “I forgot that you’re so light on your feet, should have been a astronaut.”

“Not a chance, I think you’d miss me too much,” Rudelle winks and begins to model out the accessories they gathered for the both of them on their sudden adventure.

Leo thinks about it, taking a bite out of the cold veggie pizza and shrugs, “eh you’re probably right.”

There was no denying that Leo classified Rudelle as his only and legitimate friend who didn’t care about his nepotism. Don’t think they didn’t argue over money when his ignorance got the best of him in the beginning but it didn’t become a thing until it became a thing from time to time.

The basement in Rudelle’s building always smelled of moth balls, fresh dirt, cigarette smoke, and wet air. It wasn’t the best thing to inhale but with the city that they lived in it wasn’t anything foreign. The deeper the pair traveled through the bottom of the building, the colder it felt; even with the friends standing side by side.

Leo whispers to his left, “you look like you’re not batting on a full wicket.” Referring to Rudelle’s attire of a full hooded wetsuit, sunglasses, and a KN95 mask.

“Sounds like you’re jealous and wouldn’t be able to pull off this fit.”

“Even if I wanted to,” Leo starts doing that irritated blinking he so commonly does, “which trust me I don’t—I’d like for my balls to breathe so that’ll be a negative on the jealously part. You however still are giving very much nutbag.”

Rudelle bows, “thank you, thank you. A true star is going to war.”

“Star? Let’s not go that far with that outfit you’re wearing.”

“You should really talk to your therapist about your haterism,” Rudelle bumps Leo’s shoulder, “ready?”

“Not really,” Leo comments, “what are the sunnies for?”

“The jumping spiders.”

“The what?!” Leo stops in his tracks, “you never said a thing about that. I thought we only had to worry about the ants. Spiders are much worse than ants!”

Rudelle shushes the man from beneath their mask, “can’t turn away now, we’re not far from the decor.”

Leo is muttering away as Rudelle begins to drag the brooding man along, “you have me smelling like a old man who has back spasms on a daily with this lavender and eucalyptus oil. You better be lucky that I like you.”

“Oh what ever would I do if a usher despised little ol’ me?” Rudelle pouts beneath their mask.

“More like, what would you do without me?” Leo mentioned as they traveled the s path to the storage room.

You know that eerie feeling you have when it feels like someone is watching you from the corner of a room or standing over you as you sleep? It’s one of the reasons why Rudelle sleeps with the covers completely over their face. It’s also one of the reasons why Leo was more of a side sleeper than any other position—unless he was up to something else that is. That same feeling was creeping up the nape of Leo’s neck although his hoodie was tightened to his head.

As the friends take what feels like slow steps closer to the storage, there’s a tapping feeling that falls upon Leo’s right shoulder. It’s instant that he whips his head to his left to where Rudelle once stood but they’re actually up ahead, unlocking the first gates to the storage room.

“Did you feel that?” Leo calls out, while looking behind him at the path in which they came.

The creaking of the gate is followed before Rudelle says anything, “depends what was felt.”

Leo isn’t sure if he likes that response, “what do you mean?”

“I’m not the only tenant that doesn’t like coming down here.” Rudelle says, “come on then, don’t be afraid.”

“I’d actually feel quite better if I had my Mjölnir.”

“You’ve got me, babe?” Rudelle grins over at Leo who snorts as he cautiously approaches them.

Leo stands at the entrance of the gate while Rudelle is already inside, “is that supposed to be comforting?”

“Sonny and Cher think so.” Rudelle winks over at Leo who shakes his head at that.

“Cute but not really my style of music.”

“Don’t I know it Mr. Hangs out at cracked out pubs for fun.”

“Definitely not my kinda party either.” Leo steps inside the gate while Rudelle searches for their storage, trying to recollect which side it was actually on.

Rudelle let’s out a cackle at that. They remembered a time when a tattoo-less glasses wearing Leo was afraid to try a spliff back in the day and now look at him, the main party man out of the duo.

Leo let’s put a whistle as he walks down the aisle of gated storages that seemed to be collecting dust on top of their piled up items. “This isn’t so bad although most of you may have a hoarding problem.”

With those words lingering in the air, the main gate behind them seems to slam shut behind them making both Rudelle and Leo’s heads turn back to the entrance.

“Don’t tell me—

Rudelle shakes their head in disapproval, “I told you to use the brick to keep it open!”

“When did you say that?!” Leo exasperates, hands thrown up in the air.

“Back when you said someone tapped on your shoulder.”

Leo rests his clasped hands on top of his hood as he gulped, “I—I never told you that.”

“Yes you did.”

“No! No I didn’t, Ru!” Leo felt unsettled, “I only asked if you felt it but never elaborated to what it was.”

Rudelle hums at this.

They could have sworn they heard Leo explaining that to them? There were reasons why the tenants on Sycapine hardly ever came this far down in the building. Things that couldn’t be explained, much like what the two best friends were experiencing. Leo would later brush this off not bothering to connect what he encountered with Ru as similar incidents his own family would face but way more extreme.

“Well…might as well stay awhile. We got nothing else better to do, since you just locked us in.” Rudelle unlocks their storage section, holding eye contact with a very annoyed Leo.

Leo points, “I didn’t do anything! You thought you could suddenly telepathically tell me shit for real this time?!”

It wouldn’t be Rudelle’s first time.

“You’re the one who said someone tapped on your shoulder, so clearly you’re the one who failed at telepathy.”

Leo felt his eye twitch, “I knew I should have stayed home.”

“Whatever,” Rudelle says kicking a box towards the dark haired man, “pop a squat buddy, you’re not going anywhere.”

Leo kicks back at the box and rushes over to the gate to rattle against it, thinking that would apparently get it to unlock. Slipping their hand against the padlock, he couldn’t angle his wrist just right to pad any numbers in and the extra stab was seeing a brick right across the gate, almost mocking Leo with bright green eyes while the hallway went black for a good two seconds, demanding that Leo witness the disturbing image.

The after effects of a party never had Leo like this before.

There’s another touch but it’s a pinch this time that sends him snatching his hand back through the gaps in the gate. Holding onto his skin he examines it to see that there’s no damage only tricks playing on his mind?

He glances back at Rudelle who comes back out shoving a heavy box out of their storage.

Leo finds a spot on the lighter box Rudelle previously kicked his way, keeping quiet until they come back with yet another box to sit across from Leo. He tilts his gaze sideways to read the text, “HALLOWEEN,” on the brown box.

“You owe me big time for this.”

Rudelle dips their head, “cross my heart—

“Don’t finish that sentence!” Leo shushes his friend while peering around, “never made any sense to me anyway. Who the fuck hopes to die?!”

“Relax babes, the yelling.” Rudelle curls a finger against their ear.

“Sorry are my frustrations bothering you?”

“No but you acting like a dickhead is.”

“How are you being so calm about this?”

“Normally I wouldn’t be but things are happening too much for this to be a coincidence so I’m looking at this as another perspective. This all could be my parents’ doing. Thus! The breakthrough.” Rudelle taps on their temple.

“If you say breakthrough one more time,” Leo warns, “you’re good at second guessing yourself and believing whatever your brain tells you to but has it occurred to you that this could all be the devil?”

Rudelle says, “and here I thought you weren’t religious.”

“I didn’t put a label on anything, it’s not really my thing but one thing I know is evil. And what I feel down here is not necessarily kind. Are you sure you wanna fuck with that more with these decorations?” Leo leaned his elbows into his knees.

Rudelle sighs, “can you definitely say that? And not just blame it on anxiety?”

“Would you say the same with the crows? I mean that is the whole reason why we’re down here.”

Rudelle is silent at this for awhile and Leo can see the wheels turning but he’s not the most patient.

“I’m convinced it’s something else.” Rudelle exhales, “I know this building better since I did the research before moving in.”

“Do I wanna know that history?”

Rudelle lightly shakes their head, “I’ll keep it to myself…otherwise you might burst a blood vessel and I feel better having you focused rather than pissed.”

“fucking hell! I don’t like it when you keep secrets.”

“I know!” Rudelle yells back, “but this is an itch that I can finally scratch and I just need the support.”

Leo rubbed at his face, digging the palms into his tired eyes. He understood, of course he understood, he just didn’t exactly enjoy things that go bump in the night.

Never did but being the kind of friend that he is, he would get his point across—even if you didn’t like it but still find a way to be what you needed.

“Fine,” Leo holds out his hand which Rudelle smiled at before quickly tapping the back of their hands together before moving into a smoking motion, pointer and thumb pressed together as they pressed a kiss there before pulling away to exhale the bad into the air, “one love.”

“Always.”

Leo’s smile quickly vanished, “Just know…”

“Ah, here we go.”

“I’ll fucking haunt you if I go first.”

“Way to ruin the moment, Leon.” Rudelle rolls their eyes, “there’s answers in here somewhere.”

Leo feels he’s holding his breath as Rudelle begins to reach for the flaps of the brown box. He’s not sure what could be so off-putting by Halloween decorations and if these would be the usual kind? He personally wasn’t the biggest fan of Halloween as he didn’t enjoy being spooked since that tended to make things difficult for him.

‘Yes there are…but are they the answers they want?’ A feminine voice belonging to the entity named Vera, who hasn’t fully introduced themselves yet speaks above the long time friend’s heads but she doesn’t show herself.

She lingers in the shadows for now but she’s never far. So she watches on as the box becomes open, four flaps folded back as Rudelle takes a large inhale, peeking at Leo who holds their stare.

Unbeknownst to them, the gate behind Leo quietly unlocks and leaves the door ajar.

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Continue along with my fall anthology prompts here.

#queued #tfothou #tfothou netflix #the fall of the house of usher #Netflix #rahul kohli #rahul kohli x reader #Napoleon usher #Napoleon usher x reader #leo usher #Leo usher x reader #fall prompts #Spotify

[territorial-utopia]

From @therealbrigeedarocks:

My name is TheBrigeedaRocks, or TheBrigeeda. I'm mostly on Tumblr now but I still have a dA. I'm a writer and artist who sticks mainly to Fantasy and Modern/Urban Fantasy settings with a preference for adventure/slice of life over romance. Trying to branch out to other genres, but it's slow going. Mainly stick to the Swift Scale (12x) when it comes to heights but it's not set in stone. I love puns, comedy, and crafting heartbreaking moments in whatever I do.

While I have a couple of spots you can find my art and my writing it's hard to decide what to choose to highlight

Far From Home: Bridget is stolen away to a giant world where Humans are considered pests and pets by its inhabitants. Can she convince Colm, her captor, that her kind deserves more out of life? What perils must be faced before the right thing is done? Is a friendship possible despite it all? And will she ever find her way back to Earth? One way to find out! 2 out of 3 "books" complete, 2 side stories, and has its own ask blog

Gianthology: Like tall tales and short stories? Want to see what happens when a Giant auditions for a play? When a Human asks for help building a road? Or when a pair of mouse people try to steal a cellphone? Then this comic is for you! An anthology series meant to feature a variety of Gt stories, with each chapter alternating between stories. Currently on hiatus but hoping to start up again soon! Has Webtoons, Tapas, and Tumblr mirrors

#sharing is caring #submission

[collecting-stories]

Getaway Car - Rafe Cameron

Request: So I LOVED your “That’s the way I loved you” JJ fic. But I think that song would be perfect for the reader dating topper after dating Rafe! Like the drama! But anyways, could you do a fic like that please? I understand if you don’t because you just did one based off that song. Have a good dayyyyy 💖💖

A/N: I’m tagging this as Rafe cause I guess...technically it is?

TS Anthology Series | Outer Banks Masterlist

_ . ◦ ⭐︎:*.☾.*:⭐︎◦∙._

“I have a feeling this is a bad idea.” While you were reluctant to point out the bad decision making on your part, and his, you felt like it was necessary. Someone had to say something, surely, before you and Rafe went any further. It wasn’t like you were suggesting that you should stop or even really rethink what you were doing...simply pointing out that maybe being alone in his bedroom, in this position, wasn’t the best idea either of you had ever had.  

Rafe hummed in agreement, the sensation sending a jolt through your already warm skin, his face pressed to the crook of your neck. You willed yourself to think of your boyfriend, possibly somewhere in this ridiculously large house, maybe looking for his best friend...who was currently sucking a bruise into your skin. Topper wanted to go together but you’d lied about feeling sick and he’d been sweeter than you cared to admit on the phone when he asked if you wanted him to come over to your house instead. “Of course not Top, go have fun.”  

Because Rafe was supposed to bail too but somehow instead, you had ended up here. In an upstairs bedroom with your shirt pushed up over your stomach and breasts and Rafe’s hands everywhere.  

“What Top doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.” Rafe’s voice was like honey and your alcohol-induced brain fog was happy to hang on every word that passed through his lips. “You said yourself that you weren’t that into him.”

“Yeah...” you trailed off. You had heard all the rumors of Topper’s last girlfriend before he’d even started dating her. Sarah Cameron, much like her older brother apparently, wasn’t too interested in monogamy. She got “bored easily” as the claims went, and while Topper hadn’t handled the situation as well as he could’ve, she had supposedly cheated on him pretty much from the start of their short-lived summer romance.  

Whether Sarah really had cheated or Topper was just paranoid, you potentially being caught in some bedroom at the party you were too sick to go to with his best friend wasn’t a great look. You’d known from the beginning of your relationship with Topper exactly what Rafe wanted. Not a girlfriend, that was too much commitment for him, but someone else’s girlfriend? That was just his speed.  

“Wait, Rafe...” you pushed at his shoulder and he pulled away, hovering over you as you pulled your tank top down just enough to cover your chest. It was silly to stop, only because you knew that what you were looking for wasn’t exactly what you would get. Reassurance that everything would be alright? Sure. But it was empty, just for right now, in this space, just to ensure that you gave Rafe exactly what he wanted.

“You okay? What happened?” But god damn did he seem so concerned. It was scary how well he knew you in such a short amount of time. He might’ve not been catching feelings but you were ready to throw away months with Topper just for this to never end.  

“I just...” you covered your face with your hands. “I can’t keep doing this to Topper.”  

It was a nice sentiment but it wasn’t one you were unfamiliar with. It wasn’t some new thought that you had when you suddenly decided that you were being awful and truly wanted to fix this. It was just a sentence, just words that you repeated to make yourself feel a little better. As if you had any conscience at all.  

“Baby,” he started to speak, sitting up and bringing you with him. You felt his hands on your arms, smoothing goosebumps that had sprung up and you wanted to curse him as you felt any resolve melting at the sound of his voice. “You don’t have to figure anything out tonight.”  

“I either leave or I stay Rafe.” You almost snapped; your voice surprising you. “I can’t keep doing this.”  

The ultimatum, the choice that you knew one of you would have to eventually make, seemed to dictate the next five seconds of your life in a way that you hadn’t expected. Or you had, somewhere in the recesses of your mind, before you’d downed half a cup of Kelce’s jungle juice and made out with Rafe for the better part of a half hour. The door flew open because Rafe had never bothered to lock it, and Topper walked in, his face in clear view, letting you see the rapid change of emotion as he took in the sight of you there on the bed with his best friend.  

Still somewhere in the back of your mind you couldn’t help thinking that it could’ve been worse, he could’ve come in while you still had your top up or when Rafe was actually kissing you. Now there was just the aftermath, the mussed hair and wrinkled clothes, the fact that you were here when you said that you would be in bed, sick. You were here...and you definitely didn’t look sick.  

“What’re you...” whether he just didn’t want to figure it out or he hadn’t yet, Topper sputtered out the question as he stared at you, “what’re you doing here?”

“I was-”

“You said you were sick.”

You pressed your lips together into a thin line, as if that would stop you from saying anything else to him that might incriminate you. As if this wasn’t incriminating enough. You crossed your arms over your chest and looked to Rafe, waiting for him to say something, though you knew he wouldn’t.  

“I’m...uh, I was feeling better.” You lied.  

“Actually, I think you said you were feeling kinda shitty again...” Rafe finally cut in, before Topper could even process the lame attempt at a lie. “That’s why you came in here. Cause you were-”

“I was gonna throw up. Yeah, that’s right, I’m...I should probably go...uh, home. Again. I should probably go home again.” You stuttered out, slipping out the bedroom door passed Topper. His whole body turned with you, eyes following your movement as you entered the hallway.  

Rafe was quick to follow, pushing passed his best friend, “I’ll take you home.”

“That’s it?” Topper finally said as Rafe laid his hand on your arm, ready to guide you down the stairs and out of the house. “That’s you’re shit excuse for why you’re here...at the party you said you were too sick to go to, with my best friend...upstairs in a bedroom together?”  

“I’m sorry?” You chanced, small and maybe just the slightest bit unsure. Were you really sorry? It was doubtful.  

“So then what? All of this just meant nothing?”

“Dude, this isn’t the place.” It was almost comical hearing Rafe say those words. You could count on both hands the number of times Rafe had embarrassed all of you at parties with things that shouldn’t have happened because it ‘wasn’t the place’.

“That’s fucking hilarious coming from you.” Topper almost laughed, though there was no mirth there behind his eyes, “So you just totally shit on this whole relationship and then give me some lame excuse and walk out the door with him?”

You didn’t answer, looking back down the stairs behind you, hoping maybe the carpet under your feet could swallow you whole or you could rewind time to play out differently. Were you embarrassed that you’d been caught or ashamed that you were cheating? You wanted it to be the latter but you knew it was the former.

“Just go.” Topper finally said, “just get the fuck out of my face.”

“Top-” Rafe started to say something but Topper shook his head.

“Go.” He repeated the word, all the finality he needed in it and then Rafe was dragging you by the arm down the hallway toward the staircase and Topper was standing there watching you like someone had stabbed him in the gut. And you had.  

#rafe cameron x reader #rafe fic #rafe fanfic #rafe x reader #rafe imagine #rafe x you #rafe x y/n #rafe fanfiction #rafe cameron x y/n #rafe cameron x you #rafe cameron imagine #rafe cameron fanfic #rafe cameron fanfiction #rafe cameron fic #outer banks imagine #outer banks fanfic #outer banks fic #outer banks fanfiction #obx imagine #obx fanfic #obx fanfiction #obx fic #collecting stories imagine

[shipping-receiving]

Jaime x Brienne Fic Exchange 2021: Update for languageintostillair

Thanks very much to the @jaime-brienne-fic-exchange team for putting this whole thing together once again – your efforts are very much appreciated! I'll start off with my own fics, but I have some shout-outs at the end of this long post.

Without further ado, here are the two very different genre stories I wrote for @albatrossisland:

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A Small Patch of Sky

Rating: T | Word Count: 7,155 | Chapters: 1/1 Tags: Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Bickering, Mandalorian-flavoured

Summary:

‘Stranded with his captor on a barely habitable planet’ is probably up there on the list of inconvenient things that have happened in Jaime Lannister’s lifetime.

It really doesn’t help that he’s also missing a hand.

—

[Notes] This is a one-shot with lots of unexpected twists and turns, which I somehow managed to conjure up in a week when I realised I wouldn't be able to finish the other story in time. Written from Jaime's POV, it's sort of a take on their road trip, but I can't say much else that won't be better experienced as a surprise. It's a fun one (well, I had fun writing it anyway, barring a few crises) that has some of the vibes of The Mandalorian and stole plot points from an episode of the animation anthology series Love, Death & Robots.

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Belated

Rating: E | Word Count: 23,524 (so far) | Chapters: 7/10 Tags: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Late-19th-Century Westeros, Older Jaime and Brienne, Second Chances, Brief Mentions Of Past Relationships

Summary:

This is foolish, he thinks. He had turned fifty, and looked back on his life, and thought he owed at least the last third of it to her. She had given him shelter when she didn’t need to; seen to his wounds and his fever when she didn’t need to. Perhaps it hadn’t seemed like much to her, but they were on different sides of the war, then, and she should have let him bleed out where she found him on the edge of her family’s farm.

—

Fifteen years after she saved his life, he returns to her farm at Pennytree.

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[Notes] If you want to read about fifty-year-old Jaime Lannister having a mid-life crisis and unexpectedly falling in love because of it, then boy do I have the story for you! Also, when I say this is set on a farm in a vaguely late-19th-century Westeros, I really mean this in the sense that the farm is just... there? I started writing this even before the exchange was announced, inspired by a (non-weirwood) dream. It's meant to be a quieter, more pared-down exploration of Jaime and Brienne meeting again when they're older, after having led entirely separate lives. At least, it was pared down until they started having emotions and, uh, sex. It's still a WIP, but I do think it's one of my best stories, so I hope you'll give it a chance!

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Now that I've gotten the self-promotion out of the way, I'd like to give a shout-out to my lovely gift fic, lay this body down by thebothsandneithers (if this person is on Tumblr, please let me know so I can tag them!). My prompt was the poem ‘Words, Wide Night’ by Carol Ann Duffy, and I never could have imagined that this sweeping canon-adjacent story with soulmate and fairy tale elements would come from it. They did a really admirable job of weaving together their own takes on plot points from canon, all while maintaining this deep connection between Jaime and Brienne, who see each other in their dreams long before meeting in person. There are some killer lines in this story too. Thank you so much again!

I no longer do much reading, so I won't be able to do any recs for this exchange. However, I'd like to recommend the fics by my two irreplaceable betas. First, safe by @it-may-be-dull-but-im-determined (a.k.a. jencat), a compelling and beautifully-written heist fic in which Jaime and Brienne – who have history – work to break into a safe belonging to Petyr Baelish. Also, that safe is on a train. Also, they have sex on that train, naturally. I beta-ed this fic, and I have to say my favourite chapter is the one in which Brienne breaks into the (Valyrian!) safe, and how that whole process interweaves with her memories. It's really elegantly and creatively done. GO READ THIS!

@firesign23 (a.k.a. Roccolinde) surprises absolutely no one by writing more than one fic for this exchange. First, however long the night, the dawn will break again, a World War II AU response to an amazing ‘sexy weapons removal’ prompt. Second, with all the years between us, YET ANOTHER S8 fix-it, which she never seems to tire of writing and always finds new ways of approaching. GO READ THESE TOO!

(Hope you can send lots of kudos and comments to any exchange fics you read! It'll be much appreciated!)

#jaime x brienne #braime #jaime x brienne fic exchange 2021 #jaime x brienne fic exchange #my fic #a small patch of sky #belated #sorry for the long post #i just thought it'd be better to have everything in one place since i'm not on here much anymore!

[masterhandss]

Hello! Uhm… there’s something I’ve been wondering about for a long time now regarding Nicol. And I figured I may as well ask now, since S2 has started airing.

I’ve seen his wiki page. And it says and I quote: It was later revealed that his emotionless face and quiet nature is a result of extreme trauma. From a young age, people of all genders and ages would tend to do absurd things, as well as assaulting him.

I’ve been so fixated on this probably since S1 had finished, yet I haven’t really had the time to read all the light novels to know where this specifically comes from or even be sure if it’s actually true. The only thing I managed to find was a scene (I think in one of the later volumes) about Katarina pointing out this creepy guy that took Nicol’s used utensils and stared at him a lot, but she didn’t do anything about it because Sophia saw nothing wrong with that guy’s behavior and told her it was okay.

I’m not sure if the wiki was referring to that scene, or something else. And since I know that you read the light novels, I was hoping if maybe you could check that info and confirm/deny it for me. If it is true… then it really puts a whole different perspective on Nicol. People in the series have been shown to faint if Nicol smiles, but it was also mentioned how he was one of the only second year students in the student council because people would fight over him.

And to think their behavior possibly had escalated to the point of traumatizing him as a child makes me very heartbroken to think about. Especially when the wiki also mentioned how he feels very uncomfortable when he’s the center of attention… makes me wonder if the anime will even touch upon any of that.

Hello! I'm sorry if answering this one took such a long time. This one definitely caught my interest so I wanted to take my time in writing a response for this.

// trigger warning: brief mentions of assault (nothing too graphic I swear)

I'm an editor for the wiki, so I admit that I have seen that description on Nicol's page too. I don't know who wrote it (and I never bothered to edit or adjust the wording), but that doesn't really matter since it's not exactly something I can deny.

Before that I just want to make it clear first that the "assault" mentioned in the wiki is probably not sexual or physical assault, it's likely referring to a simple assault, aka any unwanted advances that is done without consent. Whether or not any advances on Nicol while he was growing up were leaning towards sexual assault or physical assault (unwanted physical contact from men and women, sexual invitations, groping etc.) has not been mentioned by the books. It used to be a very popular headcanon for the more darker and realistic depictions of the hamefura or fortune lover world to give Nicol that kind of backstory, which is why I still feel like clarifying just in case anyone might get the wrong idea.

Hamefura is a very light-hearted series so I doubt it would put Nicol is such a tough dark position. While it's played for laughs, thankfully Nicol's beauty makes him so dazzling that people can't get close to him rather than being so handsome that people would try to initiate physical contact at every opportunity lmao.

Rather than the wiki pertaining to a specific scenes, I think it might be written in hindsight instead. It could very much be referring to the guy from Volume 6 who keeps staring at Nicol and stealing his uetnsils, but I feel like it could also be referring to the possibility/likeliness of such events and advances happening regularly. Like we don't really need to be told that men and woman throw themselves at Nicol for us to know about it. I mean if its frequent enough for Nicol to be unbothered by it, then it must happen a lot (as gross as that is). Regardless, those advances can still be classified as assault (since Nicol is not a fan of it at all) and the only reason he doesn't do anything about it is because it happens so often that it might be not worth the trouble anymore. At least we do know from the StoryMe hamefura game that Nicol will act in the face of an unfavorable position if he can, so hopefully he isn't just sitting around like an animal in the zoo if he were to receive unwanted advances.

I wouldn't deny that all of these interactions hadn't traumatized Nicol though. They never really mention in the books word-for-word why Nicol is so emotionally stunted/incapable and silent, they only really mention that he doesn't talk because he doesn't want to receive any unwarranted pity. In the first hamefura anthology (whose canonicity is up for debate), they do say there that the reason why Nicol doesn't talk a lot is because people would twist his words in order to turn it around and make him sound more tragic and pitiable than he actually is. I'm no expert on what is or what isn't considered as trauma, but that sounds like a source of trauma to me. The idea of Nicol being so fed up of people misinterpreting his words and expressions in order to fit what they want to hear must have been so hard on him, to the point where he decided to just not speak at all. It can be easily link to his emotionless-ness too, since any positive reaction like a smile could be twisted to mean other things.

Realistically, having people constantly fight over you, whisper things about you behind your back, constantly ogle at you and be constantly flirted on regardless of gender sounds terrible. If that was me I'd be traumatized too. He definitely hates being in the center of attention for all the reasons previously discussed and other well-known variables; he's always in the eyes of every noble around him which makes him hate being in the spotlight (from his perspective, maybe he always feels like the spotlight is on him, like it'll just never leave. he'll always bothered by the eyes of other people even maybe when he's at home... eyes watching him with desires and expectations, haunting him even when he's alone...). It really makes you think about what kind of life Nicol had been living in without Katarina's positive influence. He would have to bear the burden alone, without being able to say a word about it because he needs to act tough for the sake of Sophia.

Like geez, Nicol is even aware that he has stalkers but isn't doing anything about because "they aren't harmful". He never even really clarified what he meant by that (at least I don't remember anyways, feel free to correct me), like is he already doing something to stop the stalker, is it happening so often that he doesn't care anymore or is he fine with it because the stalker hasn't done anything dangerous (yet)???

If you want an /objective/ answer to whether or not the wiki description was referring to the stalker man from Volume 6 or something else, that line on the wiki was added on April 27, 2020; while the JP release of Volume 6 was on March 20, 2018 vs the EN ebook release which was on June 28, 2020.

The editor is likely a JP reader, or it was just an interpretation based most-likely what-if scenarios/interpretations. That's a fun fact for ya :DD

—and since you mentioned that you haven't read all the volumes of the light novels yet, let me help you by listing chapters in the books with a Nicol POV (that I can remember, as of Volume 9)

Volume 1 Chapter 5 (Encountering Katarina) Volume 2 Chapter 4 (Remembering Katarina's Positive Influence) Volume 3 Chapter 2 (School Festival Various Vignettes - Nicol Ascart) Volume 4 Extra Chapter (The Troubles of Nicol Ascart) Volume 5 Chapter 4 (A Lady for Nicol) Volume 8 Chapter 2 (Nicol's "dream")

With this, hopefully it'll be easier for you to cross-reference if you want to look into Nicol's character on your own :DD

TLDR; the trauma and assault mentioned in the wiki is definitely real, although the extent and severity might depend on the reader('s imagination). There's no particular scene to point to as the source, explanation or example of Nicol being given uncomfortable treatment, but it's not hard to imagine given the kind of character Nicol is. He is a silent beauty who caries himself smartly and politely, which in the eyes of many carnivorous nobles is the perfect kind of prey. Whether or not he was assaulted in any way or if people's behavior towards him can be considered as assault depends on the reader, since we still have yet to get a deep dive on Nicol's life outside of his friend group.

If there's any confirmation or deconfirmation to anything I said that I have missed during my skimming on the light novels, feel free to tell me! If I got the definitions and examples of trauma and assault wrong, feel free to tell me and I'll edit this post as fast as I can!

I know this might not exactly be the response you were hoping for, but I hope it was good enough to read qwq. There's so much I could still say but I know I'll go too deep into interpretation (I kinda already did though...), which I want to avoid since the question is asking for in-canon proofs and instances.

Thank you for the ask!

#mh ask #hamefura #my next life as a villainess #hamehura #bakarina #destruction flag otome #nicol ascart #sophia ascart #mhmmm this question makes me nervous because I feel like I could have said something incorrect or triggering #HELP ME AGSJHGD

[gffa]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Stories of Light and Dark, coming August 25, promises to be a beautiful tribute to the just-completed animated series. The anthology will collect 11 stories by 11 authors — Lou Anders, Preeti Chhibber, Zoraida Córdova, Jason Fry, Rebecca Roanhorse, Greg Van Eekhout, Tom Angleberger, E. Anne Convery, Sarah Beth Durst, Yoon Ha Lee, and Anne Ursu — including 10 retellings of memorable episodes and arcs and one original Nightsisters-based story.  So if you loved the tales of Ahsoka, Maul, and clanker-busting clones, Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Stories of Light and Dark will give you the chance to experience them again in a whole new way. Like Captain Rex on a recon mission, StarWars.com reached out to each author to learn why they love The Clone Wars, and which stories they’re telling. Lou Anders (“Dooku Captured” and “The Gungan General,” based on the episodes of the same name): I love The Clone Wars for expanding the story of Anakin’s fall from grace. Skywalker really shines in the series, and we see what he truly was, and what he could have been, and by giving him so many opportunities to excel in the early season, his ultimate fate is that much more tragic. I also love the series for gifting us my all-time favorite Star Wars character, and one of my favorite characters from any universe — Hondo Ohnaka!      My chapter is a retelling of the first season story arc that plays out across the episodes “Dooku Captured” and “The Gungan General.” I wanted to explore this storyline because I find Count Dooku a fascinating character. Sometimes pure, mustache-twirling, mwa-ha-ha evil can actually be boring to write, but a villain who feels they are justified, either because of perceived slights or intellectual superiority or the failure of their rivals or birthright are much more interesting, and Dooku is a bit of all of this. For research, I obviously watched tons of Clone Wars. But I also read up on everything about Dooku I could find, and I listened to Christopher Lee and Corey Burton’s interpretation of the character over and over, trying to internalize their speech patterns. Dooku is so gorgeously supercilious. It was just a blast to get in his head and see the world from his perspective. (And the fact that the storyline gave me another chance to write for my beloved Hondo Ohnaka was an added bonus!) Tom Angleberger (“Bane’s Story,” based on the episodes “Deception,” “Friends and Enemies,” “The Box,” and “Crisis on Naboo”): There’s a lot to love in The Clone Wars, but I think it’s Ahsoka’s arc that really stands out the most. Ventress’s arc does, too, and the way that these arcs cross at the just the right moment is really great Star Wars!      My chapter is based on the “Crisis on Naboo” story arc. It’s basically a Space Western. The baddest bounty hunter of them all, Cad Bane, is hired to kidnap the Chancellor. What he doesn’t know is that almost everyone is lying to him, especially a fellow bounty hunter who is really Obi-Wan in disguise. In the TV version, we see it all from Obi-Wan’s point of view, so we know that Bane is getting played. In this retelling, we see it all from Bane’s point of view and, boy, is he going to be mad! To prepare I watched both The Clone Wars AND old spaghetti Westerns starring Bane’s inspiration: Lee Van Cleef. Preeti Chhibber (“Hostage Crisis,” based on the episode of the same name): I love the story that the prequels tell, but because of the nature of what they were trying to do — tell a decade and a half worth of story in three films — we’re missing major moments in what the war really means to the galaxy at large, and in the Skywalker saga itself. The Clone Wars tells us that part of the narrative, it gives us the shape of what entire populations of people had to go through because of this war manufactured by the ultimate evil. And within that scope gives us the hope and love and beautiful tragedy we associate with Star Wars on a larger scale. (Also, Ahsoka Tano — The Clone Wars gave us Ahsoka Tano and for that I will be ever grateful.)      I’m writing Anakin’s story during “Hostage Crisis” — an episode in the first season of The Clone Wars. I decided to write the story entirely from Anakin’s perspective, which meant being inside his head before the fall, but where we are starting to see more of the warning signs. And then there’s also the romance of this episode! Anakin’s love for Padmé is real and all-consuming and, as we eventually find out, unhealthy. So, this is a romantic episode, but one that shows us Anakin is ruled by his heart. And that that’s a dangerous thing for a Jedi. In order to best wrap my own head around what was going on, I watched the episode itself several times, and read the script, and then I watched the chronological episodes of Anakin’s run-ins with Cad Bane, so I could get a real feel for where he was with his understanding of Bane’s character. E. Anne Convery (“Bug,” based on the episode “Massacre”): I love it because I think it’s a story that manages, while still being a satisfying adventure, to not glorify war. It does this mainly by following through on the arcs of wonderful, terrifying, funny, fallible, and diverse characters. From the personal to the political, The Clone Warsredefines the ways, big and small, that we can be heroes.      My chapter is the “original” tale, though it still touches on The Clone Wars Season Four episode “Massacre,” with brief appearances by Mother Talzin and Old Daka. If I had to boil it down, I’d say that it’s a story about mothers and daughters. Honestly, it felt a little like cheating, because writing new characters meant I got to be creative in the Star Wars universe somewhat unencumbered by what’s come before. I did, however, have several long text chats with Sam Witwer because I was interested in Talzin’s motivations. We talked about stuff like her capacity (or lack thereof) for love. I think I came away thinking she was more a creature driven by issues of power, control, and the desire for revenge, whereas Sam was a little kinder to her. I mean, he is her “son,” so you can’t really blame him for wanting to think better of her! I always love a story within a story, and I was interested in the space where the high mythology of Star Wars and the home-spun mythology of fairy tales could intersect. I drew on my own background in mythology, psychology, and the language of fairy tales, plus I did my Star Wars research. Re-watching the Nightsisters episodes was just plain fun. Zoraida Córdova (“The Lost Nightsister,” based on the episode “Bounty”): The Clone Wars deepens the characters we already love. It gives us the opportunity to explore the galaxy over a longer period of time and see the fight between the light and the dark side. Star Wars is about family, love, and hope. It’s also incredibly funny and that’s something that The Clone Wars does spectacularly. We also get to spend more time with characters we only see for a little bit in the movies like Boba Fett, Bossk, Darth Maul!      My chapter follows Ventress after she’s experienced a brutal defeat. Spoiler alert: she’s witnessed the death of her sisters. Now she’s on Tatooine and in a rut. She gets mixed up with a bounty hunter crew led by Boba Fett. Ventress’s story is about how she goes from being lost to remembering how badass she is. I watched several episodes with her in it, but I watched “Bounty” about 50 times. Sarah Beth Durst (“Almost a Jedi,” based on the episode “A Necessary Bond”): I spent a large chunk of my childhood pretending I was training to become a Jedi Knight, even though I’d never seen a girl with a lightsaber before. And then The Clone Wars came along and gave me Ahsoka with not one but TWO lightsabers, as well as a role in the story that broadened and deepened the tale of Anakin’s fall and the fall of the Jedi. So I jumped at the chance to write about her for this anthology.      In my story, I wrote about Ahsoka Tano from the point of view of Katooni, one of the Jedi younglings who Ahsoka escorts on a quest to assemble their first lightsabers, and it was one of the most fun writing experiences I’ve ever had! I watched the episode, “A Necessary Bond,” over and over, frame by frame, studying the characters and trying to imagine the world, the events, and Ahsoka herself through Katooni’s eyes. The episode shows you the story; I wanted to show you what it feels like to be inside the story. Greg van Eekhout (“Kenobi’s Shadow,” based on the episode “The Lawless”): What I most love about Clone Wars is how we really get to know the characters deeply and see them grow and change.      I enjoyed writing a couple of short scenes between Obi-Wan and Anakin that weren’t in the episode. I wanted to highlight their closeness as friends and show that Anakin’s not the only Jedi who struggles with the dark side. There’s a crucial moment in my story when Obi-Wan is close to giving into his anger and has to make a choice: Strike out in violence or rise above it. It’s always fun to push characters to extremes and see how they react. Jason Fry (“Sharing the Same Face,” based on the episode “Ambush”): I love The Clone Wars because it made already beloved characters even richer and deepened the fascinating lore around the Jedi and the Force.      I chose Yoda and the clones because the moment where Yoda rejects the idea that they’re all identical was one of the first moments in the show where I sat upright and said to myself, “Something amazing is happening here.” You get the entire tragedy of the Clone Wars right in that one quick exchange — the unwise bargain the Jedi have struck, Yoda’s compassion for the soldiers and insistence that they have worth, the clones’ gratitude for that, and how that gratitude is undercut by their powerlessness to avoid the fate that’s been literally hard-wired into them. Plus, though I’ve written a lot of Star Wars tales, I’d never had the chance to get inside Yoda’s head. That had been on my bucket list! Yoon Ha Lee (“The Shadow of Umbara,” based on the episodes “Darkness on Umbara,” “The General,” “Plan of Dissent,” and “Carnage of Krell”): I remember the first time I watched the “Umbara arc” — I was shocked that a war story this emotionally devastating was aired on a kids’ show. But then, kids deserve heartfelt, emotionally devastating stories, too. It was a pleasure to revisit the episodes and figure out how to retell them from Rex’s viewpoint in a compact way. I have so much respect for the original episodes’ writer, Matt Michnovetz — I felt like a butcher myself taking apart the work like this! Rebecca Roanhorse (“Dark Vengeance,” based on the episode “Brothers”): I always love a backstory and Clone Wars was the backstory that then became a rich and exciting story all its own. The writing and character development is outstanding and really sucks you into the world.      I chose to write the two chapters that reintroduce Darth Maul to the world. We find him broken and mentally unstable, not knowing his own name but obsessed with revenge against Obi-Wan and we get to see him rebuild himself into a cruel, calculating, and brilliant villain. It was so much fun to write and I hope readers enjoy it. Anne Ursu (“Pursuit of Peace,” based on the episode “Heroes on Both Sides”): The Clone Wars creates a space for terrific character development. The attention paid to the relationships between Anakin and Obi-Wan, and Anakin and Ahsoka make for really wonderful and resonant stories, and give so much depth to the whole universe.      I was at first a little scared to write Padmé, as her character felt pretty two dimensional to me. But the more I watched her episodes in Clone Wars, the more dimension she took on. She’s such an interesting character — she’s both idealistic and realistic, so when corruption runs rampant in the Senate she doesn’t get disillusioned, she just fights harder. She has an ability to deal with nuance in a way that is rare in the Republic — and it means she’s not afraid to bend a few laws to make things right. In this chapter, the Senate is about to deregulate the banks in order to fund more troops, and Padmé decides to take matters into her own hand and sneak into Separatist territory in order to start peace negotiations. Of course, neither Dooku nor the corrupt clans of the Republic are going to allow for this to happen, so the threats to the peace process, the Republic, and Padmé’s life only grow. This arc is the perfect distillation of Padmé’s character, and it made getting into her head for it fairly simple. But I did watch all the Padmé Clone Wars episodes and read E.K. Johnston’s book about her, as well as Thrawn: Alliances, in which she has a major storyline. I really loved writing her. Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Stories of Light and Dark arrives August 25 and is available for pre-order now.

#obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #asajj ventress #ahsoka tano #katooni #yoda #captain rex #darth maul #novels #news #long post

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy VI Review

Year: 1994

Original Platform: Super Nintendo (originally released as Final Fantasy III in the West)

Also available on: Playstation One (Final Fantasy Anthology), Game Boy Advance, Android, iOS, Steam

Version I Played: Game Boy Advance

Synopsis:

Terra is a slave used by the Gestahl Empire because of her magic powers. The Gestahl Empire seeks to hunt down espers (summons) and harness their powers too, effectively killing them. Terra escapes their clutches and falls into the hands of the Returners – a small band of rebels hoping to return freedom to the world.

Gameplay:

Final Fantasy VI doesn’t exactly add anything super-new to the gameplay unlike its predecessors. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong or boring with it. It has an ATB system and each character, like in Final Fantasy IV, specialize in certain jobs. Therefore, each character has a special unique ability that no other character can perform.

I find the style of the game unique for its time because you can easily split the game into two parts. There's a pivotal point in the story that changes everything. The first half is a typical story-driven RPG. The second half is actually more open world. With a huge cast of characters, you are not actually required to end the game with all of them. The second half of the game offers a unique style where you can take on the final boss with what you’ve got, or hunt down the rest of the cast members and then take on the final boss.  

 Graphics:

This is the SNES in its prime. Character sprites are much bigger, and the world looks so much more detailed and vibrant. Shadow looked weird though. Sometimes you had to squint to discern what his face actually looked like. Other than that, the game looks great! It’s notable for utilizing more graphics power from the SNES in some cutscenes, and also when you fly an airship.

The PlayStation One version again has a FMV sequence that hasn’t aged well at all. Okay, maybe it’s a tad bit better, but that’s not saying much.

Story:

One of the biggest debates in recent Final Fantasy fandom is asking whether Final Fantasy VI or Final Fantasy VII is better. While I won’t get into Final Fantasy VII much now, it was always the most popular game in the series. It seems that in recent years, gamers have retroactively judged Final Fantasy VI as the best Final Fantasy game of all time.

I wish I had appreciated more when I was a kid. When I first played it then, I actually despised it. I was much more critical about stories back then. For whatever reason, I didn't think the world building was coherent. I also wasn’t used to Final Fantasy games by then.

I finished Final Fantasy VI about four years ago, and that time I was taken by it. I became enlightened and completely changed my opinion of it from sour to sweet. I wish I could erase my memory on playing it only so that I could experience it for the first time and appreciate it for the first time. I had already known most about what happened in the story, so I really wish I could experience the shock and awe of it brand new. Final Fantasy VI does things with its story that no other Final Fantasy game has done. It has drama, it has brevity, it has an amazing cast of heroes and villains. To date, it has the most playable characters in a Final Fantasy game.

The plot even incorporates a little opera that you sit through.

 At first glance, Final Fantasy VI seems derivative. There is once again an evil empire seeking to control the world, and there is once again a rebellion. People often make the parallel to Star Wars, much like Final Fantasy II. The name “Returners” doesn’t quite stick with me personally as the name of an epic rebellion. Final Fantasy VI also created the recurring characters Biggs and Wedge, a further nod to Star Wars.

But you have to look past the simple setup of a ragtag rebellion fighting an evil empire. First of all, the steampunk setting is one of the most original in a Final Fantasy game to date, and hasn’t really been revisited. The world dabbles in late 19th century architecture, with fine arts and opera. The empire is only beginning to realize the ancient power of magic, and combines it with technology to make “Magitek”, starting a sort of “industrial revolution”. The opening scene to this game is one of the most memorable. Terra, under the empire’s mind control device, in her magitek armor with Biggs and Wedge, trudging through the snow as the opening credits roll by, comes off as a real live-action movie.

 While the official creators say that there isn’t a main character, I still say it’s Terra. If not, she’s at least the most important. She propels the plot forward. She’s one of those rare great female protagonists in a video game RPG. She’s more than just “a strong female character”. She has depth as she tries to find her place in the world, and other characters, such as the thief Locke, try to help her.

 Also, just like Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI has its own villainous goofball - Ultros.

He’s not quite as charming as Gilgamesh, but he acts in the same manner regardless.

 Each character has their own story – no matter how small or big. They’ve all lost loved ones, or suffered hardships, and the central theme about the entire game is really about grief and dealing with it even in the face of nihilism.

 Nihilism comes in the form of Kefka - Emperor Gestahl's court mage. Kefka did the whole nihilistic evil clown thing before Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. Kefka retroactively rose to popularity, rivaling longtime favorite villain Sepiroth from Final Fantasy VII as the best Final Fantasy villain.

 Final Fantasy VI deals with heavy topics. I was shocked that it even dared to show a scene of attempted suicide. Things get dark. Really dark. But Final Fantasy VI deals the darkness with such elegance. I admire its ability to treat such heavy plots for basically children.

The ending to this game is probably the most epic out of any Final Fantasy game. I can gush with details but this is meant to be a spoiler - free review. I just have to say – E P I C. But the most admirable thing I just have to say is that it treats Terra’s journey with the utmost respect and tact. It doesn’t try to define her by having some hokey romantic subplot.

Music:

Another legendary score. Given the tone and atmosphere of the story, the score reflects something darker. Right away, the opening titles before you begin is accompanied by foreboding music. With the exception of battle themes, the story demanded that Uematsu put away most of his drumming and rock undertones for a more conventional, instrumental score with pathos. It sounds most like the score to an actual fantasy movie, very operatic and Wagner-like.

Shadow’s theme sounds inspired by typical Western movie fare, being that he is a drifter. In fact, Final Fantasy VI’s score is diverse in tones with its character themes, which is obvious once you think about where all the characters come from. Cyan’s theme has Asian influences. The theme for the Veldt, a stretch of wilderness, has a jungle beat. Then of course there’s the opera music. Many Final Fantasy concerts, such as Distant Worlds, play the opera about the fictional characters Draco and Maria. Kekfa, the villain, has a jovial but sinister theme scattered throughout. Terra’s theme is practically the main theme of the game, and it too is referenced throughout.

The end credits song is a whopping 21 minutes and 36 seconds. It goes through every single character’s theme and more. The entire soundtrack is 3 hours long. I don’t think any other game at the time had a soundtrack that long.

 Notable Theme:

 “Dancing Mad”

To me, Dancing Mad is Nobuo Uematsu's magnum opus. It is a sprawling 8-minute epic for the final battle.

Verdict:

A must-play. Any RPG fan will love this game. Any RPG fan SHOULD play this game. There’s nothing obnoxious or vainglorious here. Every subsequent Final Fantasy game tried to live up to its drama and scope, but with all of them falling short ever so slightly.

Direct Sequel?

No. Thank God.

#final fantasy #final fantasy vi #final fantasy kefka #kefka #kefka palazzo #square enix #fantasy rpg #rpg #video games #video game rpg #onvideogames #terra branford #terra

[dappercritter]

Invader Zim: Taller Tales of Terror - The First Fic That Wasn’t

This was going to be my first fanfiction that I ever published, but things came up and I found other story ideas and fandoms to get into. However, because there’s nothing I hate more than leaving a story untold and forgotten.

 So like a writer jilted by a big name studio working on a big superhero movie that went terribly wrong after they left, I’m going to share it with you good folks to see if you still think there’s hope for it in some capacity. If so maybe I’ll choose to revive it in some capacity, or one of you kind folks can adopt it. Whatever you think of the once untold tale I’m about tell you, I hope you enjoy it.

The fic would have been either a mini-series/anthology or a movie-esque sequel—or two—to Enter the Florpus.

It would have followed the stranger further misadventures the kids would go on as teenagers, all of which have at least something to do with getting taller, literally or metaphorically.

 Although I'd do my best to recreate the series' darkly comic tone, there'd be more to the story than just that. I'd like to do a sort of character study with my fanfics and explore what they would do as they got older, how they would change if they could change, if they'd mature and try to connect with each other more, or if they really do just hate each other. It'd be like a coming-of-age story but done in the style of Invader Zim.

 But don’t be fooled, folks! It's not going to be one of those big dramatic fanfics with high stakes (nor any smut) thrown in. At it's core it's still just a fun, dumb, mildly disturbed "What if?" sort of fic. There would be a bit more emphasis on character and plot than normal, because I do love me a good character-driven plot, but still plenty of room for (what I hoped would feel like) the usual weird dumb creepy fun that original series excelled at.

 The story is set in basically the same continuity (or at least the closest thing to a continuity that can exist in Invader Zim) as the show and comics. The only difference is that the Battle of Meekrob actually happened—but not really.

 Long backstory short, there was a big showdown between the Irken Armada and the Meekrob-allied Resisty, but Zim and Dib missed it because a food fight got them stuck in detention. Zim tried to get Skoodge (who was rooming with him at the time because the scrapped Season 2 episodes were sorta canon here) to cover for him until her got there, while Dib tried to get Gaz to take Tak’s ship to provide support against the Irken. By the time they got out, however, the battle was over, Gaz blew the whole thing off to get a new game, Skoodge and some other Invader became the war hero Zim always aspired to be, and The Almighty Tallest decided to cancel Operation Impending Doom 2 because after the big exciting space battle they felt like they couldn’t top anything after that. Suffice to say, Zim took it pretty hard. Dib however would have seen this as something of a win since Zim still failed in a sense. Albeit it was a very anticlimactic win, even to him.

The actual story would have taken place about 5 years after the Battle of Meekrob, where Zim, Dib, and Gaz have made it to high school (or “hi-skool” as this is the Invader Zim universe, after all). Setting wise, things haven't changed much but the characters have made a few surprising or not-so-surprising developments. The most important of all, so important that it would be the focus of the entire story, in fact! would have been Zim developing a brand-new disguise utilizing an exoskeleton, based partially on the Almighty Tallest, in attempt to make him look like a normal teenager AND impress superiors. Naturally, things go horribly yet amusingly wrong for everyone involved.

 Now just where and what has everyone been up to/going through in those five years? Here’s a rundown:

-Zim spent those 5 years obsessing over his crushing failure, begging the Tallest to give him another chance, which they refused every time. Being stuck on a planet of smelly, stupid, and increasingly annoying creatures for so long without any real victories has left him bitter and frantic with more shmoopiness than usual. Even the little "VICTORY FOR ZIM!" moments he used to have got harder and harder to come by. By the time he reached high school, he was so messed up he didn’t realize his classmates had all had growth spurts until Dib easily overpowered him in one of their petty fights and points it out to the whole school. Thus, leading to the new exoskeleton and subsequent schemes to redeem himself in the eyes of the Tallest while looking normal in the eyes of his human classmates. Unfortunately, due to his desperation and general lack of understanding about the human body, the exoskeleton comes out looking like a lanky robotic nightmare with clawed fingers that jerks around like a big cybernetic marionette.

-Dib meanwhile has been doing slightly better. He and his paranormal research are still looked down upon, but he's persevered through the hope that someday he'll prove he's right. After (indirectly) stopping Zim from joining the Battle of Meekrob, Dib got a small confidence boost, thinking of it as a big step to exposing for Zim real now that he’s effectively trapped on Earth with him now. Although, following a rather blunt intervention from his family, he's started thinking about what he’ll do with himself once Zim is gone. He still hates his guts and he's still hellbent on beating him, but he's also started getting out more and trying to socialize more—however awkward his attempts may be. That he's also gotten taller and his head isn't quite as big compared to the rest of his body has been good for his self-esteem too. But make no mistake—when he's not going for runs, working shifts at his dad’s lab, or looking into a “totally normal” science major, he's toiling away on improving his array of anti-Zim strategies and defenses.

-Gaz is doing pretty good but she is totally done with Zim and Dib's junk. Although she's still her old apathetic self, she's doing everything in her power to broaden her horizons so she doesn't end up in the same, stupid rut that they ended up in. She would have gotten into indie art and game development; although her work is still fairly obscure, it's quickly gaining attention for it's macabre, edgy, punishing and geeky nature. (Imagine the works of Jhonen Vasquez, Toby Fox, Hidetaka Miyazaki, and Hideki Kamiya mashed together.) She also participates in e-sports tournaments on occasion, if only because crushing countless so-called “gamers” brings her amusement. Her psychic powers have also gotten stronger with her age, and she likes to experiment with them whenever she can—usually when somebody really annoys her. She's doing fine in the story until, after a run-in with a certain unkillable spoiled brat at an e-sports tournament, sends her over the edge and she trashes the place in a Carrie-esque episode. This gets her sent to anger management therapy, and now she's trying to find a way out to avoid sitting through an endless slog of "sappy" sessions.

-Gir would still be insane.

-Minimoose would still be the ultimate techno-lifeform Minimoose.

-Zim's Computer is still tired.

 -Prof. Membrane is still the greatest and most powerful scientist who ever lived but he’s also trying to make time for his family more and mentoring Dib to be the successor to his legacy he always thinks he was meant to be. That is if is experimental new immortality machine doesn’t work out. May or may not have to fend off Clembrane whenever he comes to visit.

-The Almighty Tallest are still living content, tyrannical lives. They didn't take canceling Operation Impending Doom 2 very hard because, as it turns out, they just got bored with it after a while. (Of course, Zim's repeated interference didn't help keep their spirits up either). However, they'd come up with the perfect plan to obtain absolute control of the universe AND get the feeling back: by making Operation Impending Doom 3 a thing and setting up a huge hype campaign for it. Thing go pretty well for them until Zim calls them and tells them about his new exosuit. They believe that Zim is trying to make himself look like a Tallest so he can lead a rebellion against them and get revenge for treating him like garbage. (He's not, obviously, but they're too dumb and paranoid to realize this.) So, they pretend that they're ok with it and let him carry on his merry way while they figure out how to dispose of him without making him look like a martyr figure of some sort, thus giving the other Irkens they mistreated any ideas.

-Tak would show up again in the second half and this is where it gets spoiler-y. She would come to Earth on the Tallest’s orders with a squad consisting of a reformatted Mimi, rogue SIR units, as well as Tenn and Skoodge who she had recruited to aid in her vendetta against Zim. She would subsequently reveal that after drifting through space in an escape pod, she crashed landed on Meekrob just as the battle was about to begin, and using the element of surprise, rescued Tenn from captivity and assisted Skoodge and the Tallest in devising a battle strategy so brilliant that it crushed the Resisty and Meekrob’s alliance and earned her the status of Irken Elite. She grew comfortable in her new position but could never get over her fear that Zim would eventually ruin it all again, so she waited and prepared for the day she would strike back. I don’t know how or if she would adopt an updated disguise (perhaps a hologram of her older humansona projected over her, Tenn, and Skoodge standing on top of her shoulders?) or hide in the shadows while Tenn, Skoodge, Mimi and the berserk SIR squad did her dirty work.

 -Skoodge would have gone from aspiring to be Zim’s friend to being his worst enemy after Tak turned him to her side by digging into his past with him, making him realize how little his supposed old friend cared about him. Despite this he still keeps an unusually cheerful disposition—even repeatedly apologizing to Zim whenever he attacks him—and acts as the heart of Tak’s squad. He thinks of them as his real friends, so he always goes out of his way to help them out or keep the energy up. Even though Tak looks down on him because of his size, she appreciates his gullibility and unquestioning loyalty. Tenn just thinks he’s nice, especially since he’s good at keeping the SIRs in check.

 -Tenn has recovered from the traumatic escapades she endured on Meekrob at the hands of the rogue SIR units and imprisonment under the enemy, returning to her usual competant Invader self—something Tak values quite a bit in an armada largely composed of egomaniacs and morons. Tenn values Tak’s companionship even more, viewing her as a conquering hero who not only won the most important battle of Irken history, but also, her heart. …Not she’ll ever act on her feelings. That would inconveniance the mission! (Although Skoodge has picked up on this and gladly supports her, thinking they’d make an adorable couple.) After investation revealed that Zim was supposed to receive the rogue SIR units instead of her while he trashed the Megadoomer that was rightfully assigned to her, she bought into Tak’s view that Zim’s very existence was a threat to all Irkenkind, gladly assisting her efforts to eradicate him.

 -Mimi and the rogue SIR units have been reprogrammed to be less insane and follow orders again thanks to Tak and Skoodge’s efforts. However, Tak also had a berserk mode installed specfically for eradicating targets with optimal, brutal efficiency. Mimi still tends to glitch though. In addition to Mimi retaining her cat holo-disguise, the berserker SIRs would gain new disguises resembling either feral cats or rabid teacup poodles. (I hadn’t decided yet.) Tenn still gets anxious around them.

 -Gretchen might show up again and would possibly get to reconnect with Dib, maybe even finally be honest with him about her feelings for him when she surprises him with her surprising new position at Membrane Labs: the janitor.

 -Keef will… er, uh… actually, don’t get your hopes up.

 Well, I think that’s everyone important. Okay back to the plot now!

 So, right up front, the biggest part of the plot as well as the biggest reason why I got uncomfortable with the whole thing was there wiould be some romance in here between a few couples and that it would have figured into the plot. The most significant of all: ZAGR (a.k.a. Zim and Gaz Relationship). But I wanted to make it feel organic and even sweet without sacrificing the feel of sardonic madness but also keeping it in the wholesome zone.

 I always felt like Zim and Gaz were a natural fit for each other (like quite a few other people, admittedly) because I always felt like their personalities were a good fit and they could have a lot in common. The story would follow them as they unexpectedly developed a romantic friendship, bonding over their resentment of the Earth and humanity, their absent family members, a love of technology of questionable intent, and subjugating those who anger them. It would all start with Gaz agreeing to help Zim improve his suit and his unassuming human act just to get back at Dib for annoying her. At first they’d be acting entirely out of spite and necessity, but as they spent more time together, they’d start to enjoy each other’s company more.

 Gaz would be the first develop feelings, since she voluntarily rejected the concept of love instead of being programmed to reject it like Zim, as she slowly realizes how much they have in common—much to her horror. Zim would take more time but when he begins to understand how he feels about and just what these DISGUST feelings are, he’d handle it just as poorly. (e.g. I pictured a scene where Zim has such a hard time admitting his feelings for Gaz that he ends up vomiting black goo like he’s possessed or something. For comedy of course.) But they’d both start to open up to each other in the end, if only because they’re the only two people in the universe they can stand. Gaz would try to help him overcome his anxiety and stop caring as much about what humans think of him, while he would be someone that she can actually relate to.

 Dib, however, would take sincerest offense to it. He’d be totally freaking out, nearly diving off the deep end to put his plans to defeat Zim into action and expose him before he could be exposed. He’d also make a point of demanding what Gaz could see in a monster like him, even reminding her of everything that Zim had done. Probably in an exchange like this:

 DIB: He stole our organs! He tried to crush the planet with Mars! He kidnapped me and threatened to turn me inside out! He tricked me into helping him teleport Earth into outer space so his rulers could destroy it! He turned me into bologna, Gaz! (*holding back tears*) BOLOGNE!

 GAZ: I thought you got over that.

 DIB: Well, physically I did, yes, but not mentally.

 Gir would be pretty on board with it though.

The other biggest plot of the series would have been Tak’s return and the reveal of her and the Tallest’s master plan to destroy Zim once and for all: kick off Operation Impending Doom 3 by placing Zim on trial, executing him, and completing Tak’s plan to turn the planet Earth into a snack bowl for the Tallest (which she still insists is a good plan, she just never got to complete it) big enough to feed them while they watch the conquest of the rest of the universe in style. Zim and the Membranes get through to her and her squad, and possibly the other Irkens, by turning them against the Tallest to stop the Irkens once and for all. Maybe.

Finally to wrap this little nightmare up, here’s a vague outline of the stories I had planned for this wannabe whopper:  

 -A Whole New Nightmare – Following an amusing prologue about how Zim and Dib ended up missing the battle of Meekrob, Zim finally realizes that his natural Irken height threatens to expose his façade to all the classmates who have reached proper adolescent human height. He creates his exosuit then proceeds to cause a scene when he calls the Tallest and goes to hi-skool. Meanwhile, Gaz bugs Dib about still wasting his time bullying Zim. Zim then challenges Dib to a contest of normalcy: a series of challenges that are just overhyped normal teenage things like loitering, hanging out with friends, and finally a dance-off. Whoever loses has to admit they’re a complete weirdo and admit they’re most embarrassing secret. Dib wins the first round, but after he blows off Gaz to hang out with the other kids, she and Zim strike up a nice conversation and he wins the second round. The final dance-off ends in a draw when Zim and Dib both end up looking like total dorks. The story ends with Dib and Zim standing up for themselves against their judgemental peers, but Zim ends up overtaking his big speech and convincing his classmates to completely forget about his bizarre new appearance.

-Gaz the Befriended - Zim and Gaz make a deal: Gaz helps him fine tune his suit while posing as his "NORMAL HUMAN!" friend, and in return he helps her figure out how to control her powers while posing as her friend so she won't have to go to anger management counselling. While they do drive each other nuts, they eventually learn they have a lot in common and start acting like real friends. Dib grows suspicious of their "friendship," sets out to uncover the truth.

 -They Follow - Dib goes on social media to share his findings on Zim with the world in an attempt to verify all his evidence via wisdom of the crowd. Zim finds out and retaliates by joining social media as well to make himself look like a hard luck case in an effort to gain sympathy from the (basically ignorant) public. As their war of words escalate and their follower bases grow, they end up starting a flame war that threatens to destroy society itself.

-Star Dib - Hoping to find some real help, Dib sends a message to outer space looking for reinforcements. He ends up with what remains of the Resisty, who dissolved after their crushing defeat on The Battle of Meekrob. Taking pity on them, he volunteers to become their new leader. Shenanigans ensue on a galactic level.

 -C for Conspiracy - Dib stumbles across a mysterious conspiracy involving Earth tech being backwards compatible with alien tech. He wants to take it on himself, but realizes that he might actually need Zim’s help. So he has to swallow his pride and ask him for help, and as if that weren’t enough he has to put up with his and Gir’s (who tagged along) antics.

 -Night of the Living Prom-goers - Prom night comes along and all the hormonally-imbalanced kids are ready to go, except for Zim, Dib, and Gaz. Until Gaz works up the nerve to ask Zim out, which he actually accepts. While Gaz prepares for her perfect tolerable evening, Dib desperately tries to convince her that Zim’s up to something while trying uncover his true motives, only for her to snap at him and challenge his views on Zim. Little do either of them know, Zim plans to use the prom as an experiment to harness Gaz’s power for his own ends. But at the same time, he ponders whether his friendship with Gaz is just a means to an end or something more. Either way it will be a night they will never forget. Or survive! Probably.

 -The Return of Tak’s Revenge Rises - Tak finally returns to take her revenge on Zim and the Membrane siblings. Striking them when they least expect with the aid of an upgraded MiMi, a squad of berserk SIR units, and two fellow invaders Zim had wronged in the past.

 -Doomed Together - Following Tak’s strike, the Almighty Tallest kick off Operation Impending Doom 3 with a mission of utmost importance: sending in the Irken Armada to ensure Zim is destroyed once for all so they can finally proceed with absolute universal domination. Now, Gaz, Dib, and some unlikely allies must come up with a plan to save their even more unlikely new friend and the rest of the universe from the most fearsome force in the universe! It’s basically the grand finale.

 And that is all there is, or was, to Taller Tales of Terror. I can’t guarantee I’ll ever revisit it, what with all the other stuff on my plate right now, but I’m glad to have finally shared the story of my first fanfic with y’all.

 So, tell me, my filthy monkey maggot mutual friends. After all that horrible rambling, what did you think?

#invader zim #taller tales of terror #iz fanfiction #iz fanfic #iz zim #zim #iz dib #dib #iz gaz #gaz #prof membrane #dib membrane #gaz membrane #iz tak #tak #iz tenn #tenn #iz skoodge #skoodge #iz gir #iz minimoose #gir #minimoose #iz gretchen #zagr #writings of the critter #critter fics #ramblings of the critter

[tcm]

In Conversation with Eva Marie Saint and Norman Lloyd by Susan King

Anybody who has attended the TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL in Hollywood knows what a magical experience the event is for fans of vintage movies. There’s such good will, love and friendship there that it’s hard to choose what the favorite event is at the Festival, which would have celebrated its 11th edition this April until Covid-19 cancelled the four days of classic films.

One of the most popular presentations are the “Live From” events, which features some of the greatest actors and filmmakers from the Golden Age of Hollywood in conversation with the late, great TCM host Robert Osborne and now with Ben Mankiewicz, the channel’s primary host. These interviews have played on TCM over the years. And a select few, including interviews with Oscar-winners Luise Rainer, Eva Marie Saint, Faye Dunaway and such legends as Norman Lloyd and Peter O’Toole, will be featured during the TCM Classic Film Festival: Special Home Edition.

As a movie writer for 26 years at the L.A. Times. I’ve had the good fortune of interviewing many of these legends. Here are some memories of my conversations with two of my favorites, Eva Marie Saint and Norman Lloyd.

Eva Marie Saint

I have lost count of how many times I have interviewed Eva Marie Saint, now 95, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as Edie, the girlfriend of Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), in Elia Kazan’s 1954 Academy Award-winning masterpiece ON THE WATERFRONT.

But I remember the first time.

I was at the now defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner when I was assigned to talk to her in 1986 about director Garry Marshall’s NOTHING IN COMMON, which stars Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason in his final film. Saint had long been a favorite of mine. I was a huge fan of ON THE WATERFRONT and admired her performances in 1957’s RAINTREE COUNTY opposite Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 romantic thriller NORTH BY NORTHWEST opposite Cary Grant and Otto Preminger’s 1960 epic EXODUS, where Saint was romanced by Paul Newman. I had also seen her on stage in 1979 in Los Angeles opposite Henry Fonda in the hit comedy First Monday in October.

From the moment she opened the door of the Westwood townhome she shared with her late director husband Jeffrey Hayden, I felt an immediate bond with her. Not only did we both hail from the same hometown, East Orange, N.J., Saint was down-to-earth, friendly and smart as a whip. And she’s always been frank and funny.

The last time I interviewed her in person in 2014, Saint talked about doing live TV in the late 1940s and 1950s. “My God, terrible things happened,” she said with a laugh, including exposing more than her talent on the soap opera One Man’s Family. Saint was doing a scene in a small pool opposite the actor who was playing her brother. At one point, she recalled, “someone was doing something offstage. You learn not to look away from what you are doing because you can be distracted.” But she finally looked, only to see a man off camera pulling his shirt up and down. “I looked down and saw my boobies were showing coast to coast,” Saint said, laughing. “I just kept in the scene and slid under the water. What could I do? It was live television. To this day, all of these years later, someone will say to me ‘Miss Saint, you were doing One Man’s Family…’ and I’ll say, ‘I remember.’”

Saint was married to Hayden for 65 years until his death at 90 in late 2016. And he was as exceptional a person as Saint, sweet and friendly. I asked her how the two met. Saint was a young actress and model in New York in the late 1940s, and Hayden was working in radio at NBC. “He saw me on the subway from the back, and he liked the way I walked,” Saint said with a smile. Hayden also noticed a big black book she was carrying that was her modeling portfolio. “The book I was carrying said ‘Eva Marie Saint’ in gold letters,” she noted. “He thought ‘I like the name.’”

They were fated to meet. Not long after seeing her on the subway, Hayden saw her again at Radio City talking with actor Arnold Stang, who also happened to be the only actor that Hayden knew. “So, he could go over to Arnold and Arnold would say ‘Hi Jeff, do you know Eva Marie?’”

The married in 1951, had two children and grandchildren.

My heart skipped a beat when she talked about how strong their marriage was after six decades. Saint noted she had been “thinking about life and I guess I was a little low. I said ‘Jeffrey, what in today’s world inspires you?’ He put his head up and said ‘You.’”

Norman Lloyd

Norman Lloyd, who is still going strong at 105, is one of the most accomplished actors/producers/directors. Beginning as child actor in the 1920s, he starred on Broadway as a member of Orson Welles’ legendary Mercury Theatre in the late 1930s.

He’s appeared in countless movies, including as the evil villain who falls from the Statue of Liberty in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1942 classic thriller SABOTEUR, as well as Jean Renoir’s 1945 THE SOUTHERNER and Charlie Chaplin’s 1952 LIMELIGHT. And TV audiences may know him as the kindly Dr. Auschlander on NBC’s acclaimed medical drama St. Elsewhere from 1982-88.

Lloyd also had one of the strongest marriages in Hollywood. He and his wife Peggy, who died in 2011, were married for 75 years. Having interviewed him several times, I can attest that he is a terrific storyteller and the sweetest of peas.

When I chatted with him at his cozy Brentwood home in 2014, he was still playing tennis twice a week and regaling me with stories about Hitchcock (Hitchcock, Renoir and Chaplin were among his best friends.) In fact, Hitchcock saved his career in the 1950s. Lloyd had discovered jobs hard to find because of the Hollywood Blacklist. Though he was not officially blacklisted, his liberal leanings and friendship with those who had been blacklisted hurt his career.

That didn’t stop Hitchcock from hiring him to be an associate producer on his classic anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1957. CBS told the Master of Suspense that there was a “problem” with Lloyd. Hitch persisted. “He said three words: ‘I want him,’” Lloyd recalled.

The Tiffany network, not wanting to upset one of the biggest directors in the world, immediately greenlit Lloyd, who initially worked with producer Joan Harrison, eventually became the executive producer of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour which ran until 1965. Lloyd also directed episodes of the series, including the devilishly fun 1960 installment “Man from the South,” starring Peter Lorre, Steve McQueen and the King of Cool’s then-wife Neile Adams.

Hitchcock and Lloyd reunited in the late 1970s for THE SHORT NIGHT, a thriller Hitch was hoping to make after 1976’s FAMILY PLOT. “Hitch, by the way, was not at his physical best,” Lloyd recalled. “He was really getting old and had difficulty walking. We were working on the script one day and he says to me, ‘You know, Norm. We are not going to make the picture.’”

Lloyd asked him what he meant by the statement. “He said to me a classic line: ‘Because it’s not necessary.’ When he died, the Directors Guild asked me to write a tribute to him, which I did. That’s what I ended it with.“

#Eva Marie Saint #Norman Lloyd #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #TCMFF #Film festival #blacklist #alfred hitchcock #old hollywood #Susan King

[iamnotawomanimagod]

Thd Haunting anthology for the ask game! :)

Thank you, my friend!! Sorry I took so long, lol.

Top 5 favourite characters:

This is hard.

1. Theo Crain

2. Dani  Clayton

3. Hannah Grose

4. Luke Crain

5. Viola Willoughby

Other characters you like:

It would be a lot easier to just name the characters I don’t like. These characters are so well-written and have so much depth. So if I don’t mention them in the next question, assume I like them.

Least favourite characters:

Peter fuckin’ Quint, Joey (Luke’s “friend” from rehab,) and Henry Wingrave.

Otps:

This show has more of my OTPs than any other. Hannah x Owen, Jamie x Dani, and Nell x Arthur. 

Notps:

Luke x Joey, Perdita x  Arthur (Viola’s husband,) Becca x Peter

Favourite friendships:

Theo and Shirley, Luke and Steve, and Hannah and Jamie. 

Favourite family:

The Crains own my heart, obviously, but what I loved best about BM over HH is that found family dynamic the main group develops. 

Favourite episodes:

Touch, The Bent-Neck Lady, Two Storms (!!!!!!!!!! this episode oh my god,) Screaming Meemies, Silence Lay Steadily, The Way It Came, The Altar of the Dead, The Romance of Certain Old Clothes, and The Beast in the Jungle.

Favourite season/book/movie:

I always say this: THOHH is a masterpiece, and THOBM is a really, really exceptionally good show. I do prefer HH, but only by a tiny bit. 

Favourite quotes:

“You have loved me, so I will always be here [in your heart.]” - Owen to Hannah. I’ve heard a thousand variations on this theme, but for some reason, the delivery and context of this line broke me. I always cry.

“You loved me completely. And I loved you the same. The rest is confetti.” - Nellie to her siblings. Rip me wide open!!

Best musical moment:

I really like the score of this show, but no one song or moment sticks out. 

Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest:

When it really disappointed you:

It never did. I think these two shows are some of the best television ever created. 

Saddest moment:

Picking a top five (in no particular order,) since these are inherently sad and tragic shows...

1. Rebecca’s forced suicide at Peter’s hand.

2. Nellie’s death and realization that she is the Bent-Neck Lady.

3. Luke’s reaction to Nellie’s death - how he could literally feel it.

4. Jamie going to the lake and seeing Dani’s body and begging her to take her, too.

5. Dani having sleep paralysis and being unable to help Arthur when he has an aneurism.

Most well done character death:

I mean, they’re all really good and well-done. Appropriately heart-wrenching, shocking, and they all work in context of the plot. If I had to choose just one, it would probably be Nellie’s, since it’s the basis of the entire first season. The hints about the Bent-Neck Lady and the way we slowly get to know Nellie, and then come to love her the most right as she’s finally about to die - ugh, so good, so sad.

Favourite guest star:

Kate Siegel as Viola Willoughby. 

Favourite cast member:

Victoria Pedretti is a goddamn delight. She’s an incredible actress - so raw and real and compelling. She’s a stoner IRL and seems super chill during interviews. I would love to share a joint with her someday. (If I ever share a joint with anyone ever again, thanks coronavirus.) 

Character you wish was still alive:

Rebecca Jessel really deserved better, man. :( Fuck Peter Quint. 

One thing you hope really happens:

Well, the series is officially on a semi-permanent hiatus. Mike Flannagan said he has no plans for future seasons in this universe. He is currently finishing up work on another horror show, Midnight Mass, so I’m looking forward to that. I would love to see more from this universe and this cast, though.

Most shocking twist:

The Bent-Neck Lady, for sure. So well foreshadowed, and still so shocking when the realization hits. My stomach dropped through the soles of my feet. 

When did you start watching/reading?:

I caught this bandwagon pretty early - only a week or two after the first season premiered. I remember watching and realizing they had synced up the show’s timeline with real life - if you watched in 2018, Nellie dies that same year, and her date of death was just a week or two after the premiere. An extra little detail that made me very sad.

Best animal/creature:

There are no good animals in this show, lol. Fuck those kittens. 

Favourite location:

Bly Manor is soooo pretty. 

Trope you wish they would stop using:

I really hate anything with animals suffering in horror, so I just hope that never comes up again. 

One thing this show/book/film does better than others:

Everything.

...

Okay, okay. The plotlines are very clever and super well-done. 

Funniest moments:

Dani sleeping in the back of Owen’s car with her mouth wide open; Theo’s “I’m gonna get my fucking PHD;” like, most of what Theo said in general.

Couple you would like to see:

All I can say is that Hannah and Owen deserved Paris. 

Actor/Actress you want to join the cast:

Meh. No opinion. 

Favourite outfit:

I really loved the 80s and 90s looks in Bly. Dani’s jean jacket. Jamie’s looks when she and Dani are together later in life. All A+.

Favourite item:

Moonflowers.

Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?:

Nah. 

What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?:

I gotta go with the found family at Bly. Jamie, Dani, Hannah, Owen, the kids. They clearly had a lot of fun together, and I’m a sucker for found family. 

Most boring plotline:

I gotta go with Henry Wingrave’s doppelganger. It didn’t really do much for me, and I think the episode that centers on him, while showing important exposition, was one of the weakest in the anthology.

Most laughably bad moment:

I can’t think of one. 

Best flashback/flashfoward if any:

The entirety of “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes” 

Most layered character:

I would argue Olivia Crain. She starts out as a creative, kind, loving mother, and is slowly unraveled by the house - but that core of goodness is still inside her, and still motivates everything she does. 

Most one dimensional character:

I think this show does a great job of making all of its characters complex and interesting. I wish we had learned more about Joey, but I think she’s meant to be unsympathetic on some level. But at the end of the day, she’s kind of just Luke’s addict almost-girlfriend, and a pretty weak character among much better ones.

Scariest moment:

Ooooh, that’s tough. I think for me, it’s when Steve sees Nellie’s ghost. It’s not a super spooky episode, up to that moment. But that close-up shot of Nellie’s graying, dead face, her eyes all fucked up, her mouth gaping open unnaturally wide - and the sound she makes. Woof. Ugh. Aaaaah. It’s a lot.

Grossest moment:

The kittens. Enough said. 

Best looking male:

Best looking female:

Who you’re crushing on (if any):

I’ll always be a little in love with Kate Siegel.

Favourite cast moment:

I’ve never really looked for cast content.

Favourite transportation:

Theo’s Jeep. 

Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise):

I just think Bly is so pretty. Most of the overhead or scenery shots of it are really nice.

Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you:

There aren’t any. Anyone who tells you otherwise misunderstood something. 

Best promo:

I intentionally avoided promo to avoid spoilers. 

At what point did you fall in love with this show/book:

The end of the very first episode of Hill House!

I’m not doing anymore of these ‘cause I’m bad at answering them!!

#asks #bombshellsandbluebells #thanks my friend! #thohh #thobm

[secret-diary-of-an-fa]

The End of Year Awards Are Back... and This Time, It’s Personal!

And so we approach the end of 2020, the year that never really began. On paper, at least, it looked incredibly promising. There were lots of great movies slated to come out; culture seemed slightly less paucity-riddled and pointless than usual; good things were in the air. Then COVID happened, and basically fucked everything. Actually, that’s not quite true: my personal year has been fucking spectacular. I’m in a long-term relationship with a gorgeous woman for the first time in forever- no more abrupt trysts and stolen moments for yer humble narrator: I’ve got a sumptuously plus-size lady-friend who actually wants to spend substantial amounts of time me (and has knockers you could sled down, were you so inclined). I also started a Youtube channel where I upload performances of magic tricks I’ve designed and a few people seem to quite like it. Oh, and I’ve written four novels, with a fifth well on its way to completion. Unfortunately, that’s my life, not the life of our civilisation and culture as a whole. The fact that bugger all happened in that makes this end-of-year round-up a little hard to write. With that in mind, I’m going to hand out the gongs for 2020, but I’m also going to do my usual dodge of giving end-of-year awards to things that I discovered in 2020, even if they came out the year, decade or century before. It’s not like any right-minded person gives a hoot about my opinion anyway. Right then, everyone clear on the rules? Then let’s roll up our sleeves and plunge elbow deep into the fetid trough of our decaying society to ferret out the best and worst of the Things That Humans Have Done Recently.

The ‘I Like It Because It Confused Thick People’ Award for Best High-Concept Sci-Fi Movie... … Goes to the sterling Tenet, a spy film that used entropy inversion and symmetric, opposite-direction timelines within the same physical space the way most spy films use hacking and guns. Christopher Nolan films are always intricately constructed and meticulously-executed, but this one must have had Japanese Master Puzzle-Box Makers crying into their breakfast cereal. Is breakfast cereal a thing in Japan? I honestly I have no idea. For some reason, all I can imagine is a sort of dry kedgeree where all the ingredients that aren’t rice have been removed. But I digress. For all its intricacy, Tenet is actually really easy to follow once you’ve grasped the basic premise that there’s a machine that lets people move backwards through time, and that this makes them appear to move in reverse to the rest of the world while they perceive the rest of the world as moving in reverse. Nolan maintains a mastery of cinematic visual language that makes even the most abstruse concept easy to wrap your head around. Nonetheless, following Tenet’s release, dumb people took to the Internet on mass to complain that the film was confusing and stupid, never once realising that their inability to conceptualise time in non-linear ways was their own failing, not Nolan’s. I find that refreshing. It’s nice to see a sci-fi film that’s actually made for smart-cookie sci-fi fans and doesn’t give a hoot if it alienate thickos.

The Award for Most Inexplicably Compelling Web Comic… … Goes to Questionable Content. I originally started reading Questionable Content because I’d heard that the female lead and love interest was a plus size lassie and that shit’s my jam. However, the art style makes everyone look like a skinny indie-type, regardless of their actual, in-universe size, so it doesn’t do much to titillate my Fat Admiring Titillation Centres. And yet, I’m over five hundred ‘episodes’ in and still reading. The thing is, I couldn’t tell you why for the life of me. Maybe it’s the hope that the art style will evolve to the point where the people look like actual human beings with different body types (but then, why would I care unless I was invested for some other reason). Maybe it’s the fact that when I get one of the many, many obscure band or pop culture references, I feel a little buzz of kinship with the writer. Maybe it’s the fact that it takes place in a universe where robots and superheroes are things that regularly happen, yet most of the strips are just normal people chatting shit in a coffee shop and the slice-of-life narrative/sci-fi setting appeals to my sense of juxtaposition. I don’t know, but I find it really compelling to the extent that I’ve pissed away entire days reading it. I have a horrible feeling that it’s a short step from this to really angsty hentai. If I start singing the praises of that, somebody please shoot me in the crotch.

The ‘Forest Gump Debating Peter Andre’ Award For Most Sustained or Elongated Instance of Stupidity… … Goes to Donald Trump. I was tempted just to award this gong to his entire presidency, but that wasn’t just stupid: it was also venal, corrupt, horrifying and punctuated by terrible moments of low cunning. So, instead, this award goes to his ‘soup’ rant. For those of you who missed it, the former President of the United States spent a really, really long time (in the run-up to the election) wittering on about protestors throwing cans of soup at police. What was dumb and weird about it was that he appeared to be extolling the virtues of soup as a siege weapon, going into really specific detail about how it was better than a brick because it could be thrown with more force, finishing with the utterance that protestors would just argue that “this is just soup for my family” if they were caught with the cans… which is phrased wrong in such a subtle and inhuman way it’s hard to imagine that anyone actually ever said it, at least in those words. I have no idea if protestors in America were throwing soup cans at police (which would be entirely justified considering how many innocent people American police have murdered in cold blood quite recently) or if this was a fantasy dreamed up by the former president in the cloudcuckooland that is his diseased little brain. Either way, the connected rant was balls deep in dumb.

The Most Disturbing Unintentional Impression of Vincent Price Award… … Goes to the narrator from One Step Beyond, a Twilight Zone-esque anthology of weirdness that purports to be based on true events and has to be seen to be believed. The stories are oft-disturbing instances of spooky-inflected human drama and can occasionally be quite disconcerting… until they’re book-ended by a dude who sounds like Vincent Price reading a children’s book in a really earnest voice. It’s weird and no, it didn’t hit our screens in Space Year 2020, it dates back to Ye Olden Times of the 1950s or 60s, when men were men, women were women and technincolour was a distant dream that could get you strung up for witchcraft. Nonetheless, I only encountered it this year, so it’s getting its prize. I warned you I was going to pull this shit, but you foolish fools didn’t listen.

The ‘It’s Not Gay If I Don’t Clench’ Award for Cognitive Dissonance… … Goes to Amazon Prime, the content-making branch of evil, tax-dodging, anti-monopoly-law-breaking megalith Amazon. You see, while Big Daddy Amazon is off being incredibly sinister and worrying, like a shifty vampire hanging off the economy’s throat, the creative people at Amazon Prime are busy making or acquiring some of the flat-out best TV ever committed to a streaming-service, from the extra-weird slice of fun-pie that is The Tick, to the entertainingly horrifying cultural dissection of The Boys to the utterly unique Carnival Row, to the superbly adapted American Gods. It’s a bit like discovering that Geoffrey Dahlmer single-handedly created a body of artistic work to rival Vincent Van Gogh’s when he wasn’t pouring acid onto the brains of emotionally vulnerable young adults. It gives me a headache.

The Clint Eastwood Award for Most Effective Older Gentlemen… … Goes to Joe Biden, for unseating dipshit in chief Donald Trump with the casual badassery of a Wild West gunslinger shooting a baddy (probably played by Leonardo Di Caprio) in the balls. I mean, he’s not the best Prez America could ask for but a) as a Brit I don’t have to care and b) anyone who ousts Trump gets mad props from me.

The ‘It’s a Pity Everything Else is Shit Now’ Award for Best New Ongoing Series… … Goes to my own Youtube series, Victor The Magician, in which I claim to be a reality-hopping, interdimensional wizard on an endless quest to… perform magic, basically. I’ll admit that the quality is super-variable (Youtube algorithms and their constant demand for fresh content be a harsh mistress, etc., etc.). However, when I’m good, I’m really good. If you’re looking for a punch-line other than the fact that this whole bit is a self-promoting plug, it’s this: my Youtube series really was the best thing to come out this year. Not because I’m great or anything, just by default. A promising year really did turn into a cultural wasteland the moment COVIDius Rex reared its scaly head.

The Zombie Ian Curtis Award for Most Crushing Disappointment… … Goes to Rick and Morty Series 4. As I think I’ve said before, it was still good, but it just didn’t reach the dizzy heights of nihilistic lunacy achieved in series 1-3. I think the problem is that the audience is meant to learn something from Rick’s poor choices, even if he doesn’t, because the creators saw the amazing success of Bojack Horseman and decided they wanted a slice of that sweet, tangy deconstructionist pie. It worked up to a point in the climax of Series 3, but having made their point, the showrunners probably should have moved onto a different point. They forgot that the appeal of Rick Sanchez is his combination of ‘entertaining car-crash of a human being’ and ‘unstoppable superbeing’. Push him through an arc and you risk breaking the thing that makes him and the show so endlessly watchable. Rick, unlike Bojack, just wasn’t built for heavy introspection. Also, the team hired on new writers who were less than familiar with the characters, setting and subtext, and that’s always an invitation to disaster.

The Special Sir Mixalot Award for Posteriority… ...Goes to… my girlfriend and glamorous assistant, Mystic Miss Terri, who’s arse is gorgeous and majestic.

The ‘Are They STILL Making That?’ Award for a Show You Forgot Existed And is Now Back… … Goes to Supernatural, which never technically went away and whose final series is apparently being broadcast on one of the 4 channels (though who knows which one, any more), It’s kind of nice to realise it’s still out there and be reminded that there are still people who care deeply about what happens to it. It’s like when you remember ‘oh yeah, [insert cute animal here] actually exists and isn’t just an internet meme. That’s nice’. Also, it’s good to see Jared Padelacki working steadily. It can’t be easy to find acting gigs when most producers just want to shoot you and mount your antlers over a fireplace.

The Irritating Magician Award for Something That Just Won’t Fuck Off… ...Goes to this blog entry, which is three pages long in Word. Good grief. Bye y’all! See you next year, assuming that the last few days of 2020 don’t culminate in a civilisation-destroying attack by giant space-ants. If that seems worryingly specific, let’s just say that- as Leonard Cohen would say “I’ve seen the future and, brother, it is murder”… by giant space-ants.

#Secret Diary of a Fat Admirer #2020 #2021 #New Year

[collecting-stories]

Tim McGraw - John B Routledge

Request: No.

A/N: This literally just popped in my head the other day when I was working through a writer’s block. 

The TS Anthology Series | Outer Banks Masterlist

✰...when you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think of me✰

_ . ◦ ⭐︎:*.☾.*:⭐︎◦∙._

You weren’t sure if it was homesickness or something else entirely but you felt like you were in a fog as you unpacked a semester’s worth of clothing and personal belongings, trying to make your side of the dorm look a little more like your room back home. The dorm wasn’t very big, one loft bed on the right that you claimed immediately and a bed on risers that your roommate was sitting on, trying to fold all the clothes that she hadn’t bothered to fold before when she was emptying out her drawers. 

“I might go take a look around campus,” you suggested. Summer had been cut short this year and you couldn’t deny that the thought of facing another September without John B was weighing on you. It shouldn’t have been, but you couldn’t help the unavoidable feeling in the pit of your stomach. 

You’d thought about telling him, wrote everything down in a letter and sat with it for a long time. He was just a summer crush, a temporary love that you let you let go every September, this time shouldn’t have been any different. Except this time you hadn’t left to go back to Pennsylvania, you’d left the Outer Banks but stayed in North Carolina, settling in Chapel Hill for your freshman year of college. 

-

There were plenty of perks to being a touron, despite what the islanders thought. Being a touron meant reinventing yourself, even for just a summer. You could be whoever you wanted to be, no one would know any different. Most summers, every one since you were fifteen, you reinvented yourself into the same beach-loving, party-going, John B-dating summertime pogue that you wished you could be year round. 

Whether he dated other girls during the months that you were back in Pennsylvania you didn’t know, and didn’t want to know. It was only three months that you were there but it was three months of John B’s attention unwavering and you took it because you liked him so much. 

“I’m telling you, it broke down,” John B insisted, his VW Bus pulled off the side of the road, hood popped up. It was dusk out, the warm glow of the setting sun washing everything in oranges and pinks. You were sitting in the driver’s seat like he’d instructed, waiting to start the car and hit the gas when he said to. 

“Seems kind of coincidental, don’t you think?” You said, opening the door and turning to sit sideways in your seat as John B came around the side. 

“Coincidental how?” He asked, laying his hands over your bare thighs, running them down to your knees and back up to the hem of your shorts. 

You pushed his hands away and laughed, “well I just so happen to tell you that I can’t hang out tonight because I have dinner with my grandparents and your car just so happens to break down.” 

“I have no control over the Twinkie.” He replied, trying to look as innocent as possible as he smiled at you, “but you should probably let your grandparents know you’ll be late.” 

“Their gonna kill me JB.” You insisted as you pulled your phone out of your back pocket. John B’s hands rested just above your knees, his eyes on you as you dialled the phone, clearly unconcerned about the ‘broken down’ car. “Hi, mamam...I know, I, my friend’s car broke down so we’re just waiting for a tow truck...no, not a boy, my friend Kiara. Okay, I’m sorry. Yeah, love you too.” 

With the phone hung up, John B slipped his hands under your thighs, pulling you to the edge of the seat as you laughed. He bent over so that he toss you over his shoulder and you yelped in surprise as he lost his footing backing up and dropped you. 

“Shit!” He cursed, dropping down next to you, “are you okay? I’m so sorry.”

“I’m okay,” you promised, letting him help you up, leaning against the side of the car as John B crouched to inspect the cut on your knee. 

“Come on,” he pushed the back door open and guided you inside the car, helping you sit down on the floor, leaning against the back seat and the pillows that John B had tossed in there for your picnic today. “I think Kie put a first aid kit in one of these,” John B said, kneeling on the floor to check in the cubbies. 

“The one on the right.” You replied, “it’s really alright JB, you just brought me all the way out here to kill me.” You joked. 

“Not exactly the plan I had.” 

“So you admit it,” you said, “you did have a plan?” 

John B kneeled over to you, first aid in hand. “Yeah, getting as much time with you as I could.” He replied as he cleaned the wound, the stinging of the alcohol making you bite your lip. Once he’d bandaged the cut he tossed the first aid kit back behind him and leaned over you, “how ruined would you say the mood is?”

“Was there a mood to ruin?” You teased, pulling him into a kiss. It wasn’t the first time that John B had claimed his bus had broken down but you always played along. Letting him lead you to the back and being there with him until he decided to ‘try the car again’. 

This time would’ve been like all the others, as John B’s hands settled on your hips, pulling you close as you kissed, except the distinct red and blue lights of Kildare County’s finest shone through the windows before anything more than PG could happen. 

“Fuck this night,” John B cursed, getting up and climbing out the still open door. You fixed your hair as you climbed out after him, Peterkin getting out of the SUV parked behind you. 

“Your grandma called me, said your friend’s car broke down and it was getting dark.” Peterkin announced, “you got a tow coming John B?”

“Ugh, I was just about to call them.” He lied. 

“Why don’t you give it a go? I got cables if you need to jump it.” She said. 

John nodded, knowing he was caught in the lie and going around the front to put down the hood. You stepped back by Peterkin, too flushed to look her in the eye as John B climbed in the front seat and turned the car on, the engine coming to life with no problem at all. “Must’ve just been a hiccup.” He said, turning to look back at Peterkin. 

“Must’ve been.” She nodded. “Get yourselves home.”

-

You’d been to the quad before with John B but it felt like a whole other life, walking around now. You were too afraid to ask but you’d been dying to as the summer drew to an end, did he love you too? Had the summers that you spent together meant as much to him as they did to you? You didn’t want to ask and feel foolish when he told you that it was just a summer thing to keep busy. You didn’t want him to know you loved him if he didn’t love you back. 

Your phone chimes in your pocket and you pulled it out, a text from your new roommate coming up in notifications. 

-some guy is at our dorm looking for you, said his name is John B.- 

You were positive you half-sprinted/half-power walked back to the dorm, hands trembling and heart pounding at the thought that John B was in Chapel Hill, in your dorm. You had told Kiara where you were going for college so you assumed she’d told John B. 

You got back to the dorm, your roommate opening the door just as you reached for the handle. “Hey,” she grinned at you, stepping into the hallway, “I’m heading down to the caf, I’ll be like, a while.” 

“Thanks.” You slipped in passed her and shut the door. And there was John B, back to you as he stood at your desk. He put something down and you realized he’d been holding the picture of the two of you from three summers ago that you had framed. “Hey-“

“Hey,” he said, turning around to look at you. 

“I’m sorry about leaving, I can explain,” you started to say but he cut you off. 

“I know, I got your letter. Your grandma said she found it under your bed after you left and dropped it off at my place.” He pulled the well worn envelope out of his back pocket and held it up so you could see it. His name scrawled across the front, “of course, I had to listen to her ‘I don’t like you fooling around with my granddaughter’ speech too, but it was pretty worth it.” 

“You read the letter?” You asked. 

“Yeah,” he nodded, “you really thought I didn’t love you too?” 

“I was scared you wouldn’t. I mean, we only saw each other in the summer.” You admitted. 

“Yeah, and I spent every day in between waiting for you to come back.” He replied. “So you’re here for good?”

“I’ll be North Carolina for a while, yeah.” 

“Good, we can make up for all the lost time.” 

-

taglist: @maplelattes22 @poguesrforlife  @freckled-and-daydreaming  @chasefreakinstokes @millie-753 @fangirlwithme @alex12948 @katherine097 @tangledinsparkles @carbonated-beverage @mariofgreengables @damonsalvawhore27 @dopedoodes @dolanfivsosxox @belledutchess @poguelifeeee @faded-blue @parkerpetertingle @thebookwormlife @summer-clouds-and-long-days @jellyfishbeansontoast @minigranger @hoewkeye @love-someone-special @tiredfeels @strangerthanfanfiction713 @the-only-nana @tomzfrog @mozz-are-lla @vindictive-hearts  @ssprayberrythings @jenahbell @beautyandthebleh @gothackedalready @teenwaywardasgardian @sarahcxmeron @haha-fuck-you-thot @stillbelieve398-5 @rewindlr @queenniccimicci @thedarkqueenofavalon @alytavzla @bqmblebee @linniep @nerdypartytrashpsychic @xxchxrryxx @danielladreaming @obx-saltlife @youngestxhearts @spnobsessedmemes @wowitswondergurl @aoba-josigh @pineappleandcherries @mysterious-adventurer @justawilddreamerchild @rhyetaylor62 @calm-rejects @oh-annaa @aiifandomsunite @x-lulu @ceruleanjj @wicked-laugh @obxwriterfan @allie-mcginn @literarycharleton @khiaraaa-in-spacee @crushe-s @teamnick @daydreamlilys @collectiveuniverses @activist-af @mdgrdians @buckys-sunflower @vindictive-hearts @copper-boom @talksoprettyjjx @5am-cigarette @smiithys @dontjinx-it  @rudy-pankow-needs-an-oscar @babymatilda @raekenliar @lemur46 @under-a-canyon-moon @calums-betch @dpaccione @bbeauttyybbx

#john b x reader #john b fic #john b fanfic #john b fanfiction #john b imagine #john b x you #john b x y/n #john b routledge fanfic #john b routledge x reader #john b routledge imagine #john b routledge fic #john b routledge x y/n #john b routledge x you #outer banks imagine #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks fanfic #outer banks fic #obx fic #obx fanfic #obx fanfiction #obx imagine #collecting stories imagine

[the-awful-falafel]

Rick and Morty - S4E6 "Never Ricking Morty" Podcast Summary/Breakdown

So y'all probably expected this based on how often I've been talking about these official companion podcasts. I recommend listening to them yourself either on the official Adult Swim YT channel or the official website, but I thought I'd go ahead and make bullet point breakdown of some key points for this particular podcast, because trivia and behind-the-scenes knowledge really appeal to me. And this episode is pretty divisive in the fanbase, so I think this podcast will assuage some fears even if you still personally dislike it in the end.

For some reason, the title of the podcast calls this S4E7 instead of episode 6. It wasn’t commented upon, so I assume either it was a typo or it was 7 in the production order and got swapped shortly before release.

The interviewed staff involved in this episode were Carlos Ortega (character design lead), Erica Hayes (director), James McDermott (art director), and Jeff Loveness (writer)

The idea of this episode was conceived in October/November 2018 as a "one-up" of anthologies and clip shows. They didn't want to do a straight anthology because many other TV shows had already done that, so they tried to go more experimental and bold and basically went balls-deep with the metanarrative as a result

It was a substitute for Interdimensional Cable (which they were going to do instead but it fell through for unknown reasons)

"We had to go so far up our own ass, because if we didn't go far enough, people would be mad that we didn't."

The writers intentionally mocked themselves as much as the fans, pretty much, and it was meant to be all in good fun

The artists really enjoy designing all the weird aliens in the show, as well as getting to reuse/repurpose them when applicable. Apparently next episode (Promortyus) is going to be reusing a lot of designs for something (but they obviously can't say due to spoilers)

Compared to other episodes, "Never Ricking Morty" went pretty smoothly once it got to the art stage. That doesn't mean it was easy, but there weren't a ton of revisions they had to do

There was a joking spoiler about Rick becoming pregnant later this season. At least I think it's joking.

While writing this episode, the writers came up with a huge whiteboard list of complaints about the show, misconceptions about the show, etc. to consult for the meta jokes. Loveness later clarified that it wasn't quite about attacking "complaining" though, and it wasn't meant to be mean-spirited

The Bechdel test skit came from them realizing they hadn't done much with Beth and Summer this season, which definitely can be considered a flaw. Therefore, as part of their self-mockery, the writers decided to force them crudely into the episode as a joke, while also making fun of men who write women characters poorly and reductively.

The Jesus Christ / Rick suddenly being Christian part was written in response to the writers asking themselves "what would kill Rick and Morty as a show?"

Jeff Loveness said this in the "Inside Never Ricking Morty" video as well, but he really loved the "old man is really ripped and ready to kick your ass" trope and is partially responsible for it becoming a running gag this episode along with "cum gutters". Apparently cum gutters return in season 5 (also said jokingly, so who knows)

One of the Q&A callers called multiple times, with different phone numbers, and kept asking about potential crossovers for some reason

"A lot of people are saying that the show is fucking with their fans. Is that accurate?" "I think some of those fans deserve to be fucked with a little bit."

They point out how some fans feel entitled to the idea they should be pleased by the show all the time, and the writers feel like the show should ideally surprise the viewers in a good way, but you still may not like every episode and that's alright

At the same time, the episode wasn't meant as an attack on the fans, it was more of a "we'll do this our way, be experimental, and push the envelope of what we can do" message they were sending. Jeff Loveness promises that there's "good stuff coming up" that he thinks the fans will be happy with, presumably in late Season 4 or even Season 5

"Just because we showed it this way and you'll probably never see it this way again, that doesn't mean we're dropping these storylines completely." There you go, everyone! The ongoing story threads are still happening at some point, and the message of the episode wasn't about dropping continuity or mocking people for caring about it. Although if you were hoping for resolutions similar to what was shown in this episode (Evil Morty w/ a giant army, Tammy VS Summer with lightsabers), those scenarios are almost certainly not going to happen canonically based on this statement. Let's hope that what they do come up with is both unexpected and awesome.

The episode is intended to be non-canonical, similar to past once-a-season clip show episodes like Interdimensional Cable

Story Lord was inspired by characters like Mysterio and Q, and the writers created him late in development as a type of villain they hadn't done before. Dan Harmon also put a lot of self-mockery into the character with how much he loved narrative structure and the story circle. The character artists even initially asked if Harmon could be the design for the character but that received an immediate "no", as it was perceived as being too on-the-nose.

Jeff Loveness was surprised the Rick/Birdperson musical made it to the final episode since it seemed like the sort of thing that would be cut or lost in development. He was also surprised the Jesus thing stayed in mostly untouched

The Story Train was intended to be an actually purchasable product by the time the episode aired-- the writers were emphatically excited about that being the culmination of the joke in the writers room-- and they were surprised that it didn't go through by the time the episode aired. They guess it's due to the coronavirus pandemic interrupting merchandising plans, but they're ultimately unsure because the decision isn't discussed with them

The artists do receive some limitations on how much gore they're allowed to depict, but they can show as much blood as they want, so for the most part they can still be creative with gruesome violence (like the Tickets Please guy ripping in half in this episode)

The artists are credited for elevating most of the fight scenes in the show, sometimes with only vague script direction which they use to be very creative

In response to a viewer calling in and asking the question about whether Pickle Rick will return: "I think there's a conversation to be had about: do we want these things to return or it better to do a one-off story?" So my take on this is that not literally everything will factor into the continuity-- they put thought into what ideas have more long-running potential and they build those up. Which is kind of obvious but the question was silly anyway. (They're still ambiguous about whether or not Pickle Rick will come back, by the way)

They aren't going to do an outright Star Wars parody in Rick and Morty because other shows have already done that, but they can still parody what Star Wars represents rather than doing a "branded commercial" for it. Apparently there is a lot of that specifically coming up this season (although indirect in the way they're describing). I assume this is referring to the upcoming "Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri" episode, so I’m curious about how they’ll reference Star Wars in that one.

The COVID-19 reference this episode was thrown in last minute, presumably with just alternative dubbing and changing the lip sync animation. They say that sometimes episodes are still being worked on up until the moment they release on television. Referring to a previous episode as an example, the character of Shadowjacker from the dragon episode was thrown in last-minute

With the exception of James McDermott, most of the staff interviewed had no control or participation over the commercial product placement work, such as the Wendy's/Pringles commercials. They don't mind them for the most part and find them funny

The writers try to avoid being too topical because the scripts take so long to turn into animation that any references will become outdated by the time it releases. Therefore, they try to be "timely" in the sense that they're writing about things that are happening in the world, but in a more abstract/thematic sense. Jeff Loveness implies that the next episode Promortyus will have a lot of that

In response to another viewer Q&A: There is no Rick and Morty movie currently planned. They wouldn't mind one, but nothing is really in development at the moment

The staff say they're excited for the next batch of episodes and seem pretty proud of their work on this season

They don't plan on making a Rick and Morty musical episode at the moment, as they feel like other shows like South Park and the Simpson have done it excellently and don't feel like they're capable of doing it better. The Rick/Birdperson bit in this episode was the most we're going to get

The code inside the broken-off throttle lever was intended to just be a bar code decal (to show it's a toy) and doesn't actually mean anything. James McDermott jokingly said it's "where the bodies are buried"

The Rick army / Evil Morty scene was huge from an animation standpoint and they almost couldn't do it due to how ambitious the shot was. They were going for a "Lords of the Rings", faux series-finale vibe, where they "give the fans what they THINK they want". Justin Roiland insisted they do it

There are definitely more big animation setpieces planned for the future

And that’s it! I’ll probably do more of these for the future episode podcasts, if anyone is still interested.

#rick and morty #never ricking morty #companion podcast #q & a

[adapembroke]

Using Progressed Moon Phases to Understand Your Life

Progressed moon cycles are a powerful tool. I've done a lot of technical explaining in my series on progressions (#secondary progressions), but moon cycles are—more than any other progression—a way of seeing the overall shape of a life, and lives are best shared as stories. 

So, I'm going to take you through my life step by step, showing how each phase of the moon cycle has reflected changes I've gone through as an individual.

Beginning

I was born two days before the Last Quarter moon phase, when the moon in Aquarius squared the sun in Taurus.

My first progressed New Moon happened when I was nine years old when the sun and moon were in my 10th house. This means that the 30 year cycle that followed was focused on my career.

If you could have placed bets on my career before I turned 9 years old, odds are good you would have bet on science. I was profoundly curious, loved my science classes, was fascinated with insects and birds, and desperately wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. Within a year, everything changed. I learned that I would never go to space because I had severe, chronic knee problems. Becoming an astronomer was out of the question because I suddenly had a profoundly difficult time with math, and I learned that crickets (at least in captivity) are cannibals. My disgust turned me away from biology, the last refuge of my interest in science, but I kept a romantic love of nature. These revelations left me with no idea what to tell people when they asked what I wanted to be when I grew up.

New Moon in Taurus

When I was 9 years old, at the beginning of the New Moon phase, a teacher encouraged me to enter an international poetry contest, even though I would have been one of the youngest contestants. I wrote a poem about a chickadee, entered the contest, and won. In less than a year, I went from being science girl to writing poetry obsessively and having my stories and papers read in front of the class, a change that no one (least of all me) could have anticipated from the previous cycle.

First Quarter Moon

When I was 17, I experienced my progressed First Quarter phase. The progressed moon in 2nd house Virgo squared my Progressed Sun in 11th house Gemini. The questions being posed were: What communication (Gemini) goals (11th house) am I going to set? What skills (2nd house) am I going to develop (Virgo)? Because this moon cycle was about my career, these questions would be answered by my career decisions.

At the time, I didn't know what I was going to do. I was still writing poetry obsessively, but I knew that I couldn't make a career out of that, so I decided not to get a BFA in creative writing, which is what I really wanted. I knew that whatever I did, it would have something to do with communicating or teaching—both Virgo and Gemini are ruled by Mercury.

Because I didn’t do what I really wanted to do, I was extremely mercurial during this phase, switching programs and majors and schools with embarrassing randomness. My disorganization meant that, even with a nearly perfect GPA, it took me six years to get through undergrad.

Full Moon

When I was 24, I hit a few milestones all at once and entered my Full Moon phase with the sun in Gemini and the 11th house and the moon in Sagittarius in the 5th house. I graduated from college (Sagittarius) with a degree in English (Gemini). I became a community organizer (11th house). I started performing (5th house) at slam poetry (Gemini) open mics (11th house) in Boston and organized open mics of my own. I had settled on wanting to become a priest at that point, but the Episcopal Church decided not to ordain me as a priest, and I started my march out of Christianity (Sagittarius). I was accepted into an MFA in creative writing program (5th house, Sagittarius), retracing my steps back to that missed opportunity when I was 17. I started studying poetry and switched to fiction.

The period between my Full Moon phase and my Last Quarter phase was literally a highly visible time in my life. I was on stage performing and lecturing. I published stories and essays in magazines and anthologies. I ran an online literary magazine by myself and was the face of it.

Last Quarter Moon

When I was 31, I entered the Last Quarter phase with the sun in Gemini and the 11th house square the moon in Pisces in the 8th house. Just before I entered the Last Quarter phase, one of my stories was published in a "year's best" anthology, and a book with my work in it was on a shelf at Powell's, but I was shocked to discover that this success didn't mean anything to me. I was getting somewhere as a writer, and I suddenly wasn't interested in becoming a full-time professional fiction writer. The 8th house is the house of death. Less than five years after getting an MFA, my career was dying.

Not knowing that I was entering the waning phase of a moon cycle (or what it meant that my very driven Gemini Mars had just progressed into 12th house Cancer), I had an existential crisis. The realization that I didn't want to be a professional fiction writer was so traumatic for me, I refused to acknowledge it for years. I alternated between forcing myself to submit to markets I didn't care about and finding excuses not to. I could see the progression from poetry contest to creative writing degree, and I couldn't understand why this path that now seemed so logical was ending so soon—especially since I was succeeding. On the outside, nothing was happening to me, and yet I was changing.

I poured myself into learning (Gemini) astrology and Tarot (Pisces)—interests that I had developed in graduate school—and I started developing the psychic skills (8th house) that appeared out of nowhere during my Saturn return. I did readings (8th house), took the opportunities I could to teach (Gemini), and looked for others who were interested in things that I was interested in (11th house). I went back to my community organizing roots and helped bring people together at meetups and in online communities, and I was initiated into the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids.

Without realizing it, I was doing exactly what I needed to do. Kelly Surtees advises her clients who are going through the Last Quarter phase to withdraw from the world for awhile, go to school and re-train. Often you can't see where you're going until the New Moon phase, but you will intuitively know what skills to develop to prepare yourself for the future.

New Moon in Gemini...and Beyond

When I am 39, I will enter another New Moon phase. This New Moon will happen in Gemini and my 11th house and will mark a new phase of alignment between my identity and my personal goals.

During my first progressed moon cycle, I didn't really have any goals of my own. I entered a poetry contest because my teacher encouraged me to. I got English and MFA degrees because that's what people who are good at writing do. I started a literary magazine, wrote fiction, and submitted my work to magazines and anthologies because that's what people with MFAs do.

I can see now that when that moon cycle started to seriously wane, the standard script wasn't enough for me anymore. Success on society's terms didn't mean anything to me. I needed personal goals. I needed my own sense of mission. I needed to fulfill the promise of my 9th house Aries Mercury and do things my way.

And I needed to start embodying my 10th house sun in Taurus. At the end of this cycle, I'm finding myself returning to the place I was when I became a poet at 9 years old, when the sun and moon came together in that sign for the first time. I am remembering my love of nature. I am writing poetry again, and I am realizing that, even though the path of the scientist is closed to me, I can still serve the community with my love of nature as a mystic, Druid, teacher, writer, and poet.

What does that mean? I'm not sure. If I continue on the course I'm on, I will finish my training with OBOD by the time I'm 39. If I continue my work as a diviner, I will be celebrating my 15 year anniversary that year, and I will be marking almost a decade of work writing about divination and spirituality.

With my knowledge of progressions, I can look ahead.

When I am 47, I will enter the First Quarter phase again with my sun in 12th house Cancer, and the moon in 3rd house Libra. I see themes of spirituality, introspection, healing, art, communication, and peacemaking, all things that are in-line with being a Druid writer.

When I'm 53, I will enter a Full Moon phase with the sun in 12th house Cancer and the moon in 6th house Capricorn. Assuming all of the health signatures there don't indicate a preoccupation with health problems (Gulp!), I see themes of spirituality, introspection, healing, order-making, leadership, and service. All things that I would expect to see from continued growth along the path I'm on now.

I can calculate beyond that, but like Steven Forrest says in The Changing Sky, progressions show you the way a tree will grow if it grows from an acorn without too much interference from the environment. No one anticipated that a poetry contest at 9 years old would lead to earning an MFA at 26. I can't imagine how I'll feel when I'm in my 50s, but having the ability to trace the outlines of my past and seeing a way forward that gives me a sense of continuity makes me feel as if my life has a purpose and a track.

And that is really the most you can hope for from divination.

#secondary progressions #astrology #witchblr #self-indugently long post

[charmingpplincardigans]

Writer Tag Game

Tagged by @sullymygoodname! 

Author Name: momebie

Fandoms you write for: Many. My most current fandoms are The Umbrella Academy and Good Omens, but I wrote a metric ton of The Raven Cycle fic and that will probably happen again come November. 

Where You Post: momebie @ AO3

Most Popular Oneshot: Hello, I haven’t checked the numbers on any of my The Raven Cycle fic in a couple years, but apparently This Isn’t A Heist (aka, the one where Ronan and Adam are fake dating to annoy Declan and then real dating obvs) has 1,900 more kudos than the next runner up. So I am astounded to say it’s that one. 

Most popular multi chapter story: Without Having to Say, a The Raven Cycle Ronan/Adam college AU where Adam is a sculptor and Ronan agrees to model for a sculpture of Satan. I’m actually really fond of this one because I love both Adam’s sculptural style (I modeled his work after Claire Morgan’s) and some of my descriptions. As is typical for my TRC fic Adam is trying very hard to be understood and going about it in a difficult way. I love him.

Favourite story you wrote: I think it’s the weird TRC/BoysGirls fusion I wrote called Not a Dreamer, The Dream. Ronan/Adam, Blue/Gansey. They’re all myths and archetypes living in a strange and (I hope) beautiful world where love comes with magic and from it. I was trying to work in Katie Farris’s style, because I think it’s startling and achy and lovely and I’d love to write that way on my own. I wrote it for a friend who still hasn’t read it. I live in hope that one day she actually might. 

Story you were nervous to post: I was really nervous to post Oddities Observed, Vietnam 1968 (The Umbrella Academy, Klaus/Dave) for several reasons. The first was that the Vietnam War was a very real tragedy that still affects lots of people, most importantly the people who live there. And I know it’s a common trope in American cinema and pop culture now that always signals back to things that have very little to do with the people whose homes and land were being ravaged. I didn’t want to make light of that or hurt anyone by writing this dumb fic, which is why I shied away from showing actual combat and let it live in the stolen moments. The second was that it was my first TUA fic and posting in a new fandom is always nerve wracking. The third was that we don’t know anything about Dave! I had to make it all up and what if people hated the way I wrote him!? Luckily, if anyone did they didn’t tell me. 

How do you pick your titles: Usually it’s a lyric from a song I glom on to while I’m writing it. (What’s Done in the Dark was almost called With the Stars Pressing Down From Above OR It Matters But Little Babe before I settled on the Johnny Cash lyric, so you know, it’s mercurial until I post it.) Sometimes it’s a call back to a line I particularly enjoyed writing or another piece of art. 

Do you outline: I have started outlining in the last year or so, especially with the longer ones, but that’s because I’ve started outlining my original work more as well so that’s just becoming the Way I Work. Anything less than 6k or so is probably still just a brain dump, though. 

How many of your stories are complete? Everything posted is complete. Well, I still meant to add a fourth story to the collection of The Raven Cycle mermaid AU stories, but the stories posted are complete in and of themselves. 

In progress: I want to finish writing this follow up to What’s Done in the Dark that’s about that week Crowley and Aziraphale spend in bed together that I glossed over in that one. (Er, no actual human sex though, it’s mainly about Aziraphale and control and what happens when he can see the effect he has on things immediately. He’s used to the long game, you know? Manipulating the love in the world is all well and good until your adversary/best friend/most beloved becomes a glow worm.) I also want to finish this pre-series Klaus & Ben Best Brothers fic I started ages ago. I should do that before season 2 drops, huh?

Coming soon: The only thing getting to anyone soon is this poem I’m late on for the anthology. (So not soon enough, clearly.) Then I have artwork, and chapbooks to compile, and editorial work that I owe others. Then maybe I can think about just dicking around with fic again.

Do you accept prompts: Yes! Feel free to leave me a prompt about whatever whenever. Just know that the odds of it being written are literally 50/50 depending on my mood and what’s happening in my life at the time and that there’s a long list of prompts just chilling in my inbox going back LITERAL YEARS that haven’t been answered. But hey, maybe like Lisa you just know how to make me do what you want? Won’t know until you try! 

Upcoming story you’re excited about: I JUST WANT THE WORLD TO BE QUIET SO I CAN BE LEFT ALONE TO WRITE THIS, MY SECOND STORY ABOUT HOW BEAUTIFUL CROWLEY IS WHEN AZIRAPHALE’S LOVE TOUCHES HIM. JUST LET ME PINE AND ACHE WITH THESE CELESTIAL DUMMIES WHOM I LOVE. THANKS. 

Oh, and also this prompt @z-bot gave me requesting Crowley and Aziraphale in my original cyberpunk universe (AMLD). I am thinking gleefully about that every moment I can. 

I tag: @fourteenacross, @melayneseahawk, @farahandthemachine, @interropunct, and @anachronistique, and also anyone else who wants to talk about your fic! Tag me! I want to know! 

#memes #i write things #i have written things anyway #mostly raven cycle fic #NO REGRETS #the raven cycle #the umbrella academy #good omens

[gffa]

Hey! Long time reader, first time asker but I read your post yesterday about supplementary material enriching experience. I’ve seen all the movies, I’m loving The Clone Wars and I enjoy playing Swtor but that’s all I have experienced. Do you have any recommendations as to where to start with supplementary material? Are the graphic novels you reference on that marvel comic subscription do you know? Thank you for your posts, they are always so interesting!

Hi!  Thank you for the kind words, I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog!  And I love doing “where to start” posts!  Keep in mind that a lot depends on what you happen to like (if you’re more of an OT fan or a PT fan or an ST fan, if you like certain characters more than others, etc.) but I think the basic places to start when moving on from the movies are:- The Clone Wars TV show.  As you’ve said, you’re already watching this one but it’s still my #1 recommendation, because it sets up so much of the galaxy and the way things operate in the Republic and is just really good.  Finish this one first, as it introduces you to so much you’ll need down the road–a lot of the Jedi characters that will then break your heart when you watch Order 66 happening in Revenge of the Sith, getting invested in Ahsoka Tano and her role in Anakin’s life, getting more time spent with characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme Amidala, some trippy arcs like the Mortis arc that are fascinating for Force Woo, and a lot of stuff will come up in other shows, comics, and books!- Star Wars Rebels TV show.  While it’s about an entirely new group of characters, it has a lot of recurring familiar characters–like James Earl Jones reprises his role in voicing Darth Vader, you learn the fate of Ahsoka Tano here, you get to see some of the clones again, you get a look at what it’s like for Jedi under the thumb of the Empire, you’re introduced to the Inquisitors, you get to see the politics of the Rebellion as the show goes along, you get a better look at Mandalore, etc.  This is another show that will help form the foundations of other stuff.- Star Wars Battlefront II game.  You can play it or just watch a movie version of it on YouTube.  Yeah, the game got a lot of crap for the shit EA tried to pull with it, but it’s turned into a really great piece of media and the story itself is absolutely fantastic and will only take about 2 hours to get through, but a) it’s a great story with great characters (I LOVE IDEN VERSIO SO MUCH) and b) it does a great job at showing a lot of what happened after Return of the Jedi but before the Empire truly gave up.  This establishes a lot of the final fight stuff, like the Battle of Jakku and its importance (aka, that’s all those ships that Rey is scavenging at the beginning of The Force Awakens) and what Operation Cinder is and the epilogue helps lead into what the First Order is.- The Star Wars titular comic + Darth Vader volume 1 (by Kieron Gillen) comics.  These two are meant to be read concurrently, so I recommend them together, and they do an absolutely incredible job of filling out the space between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.  They’re telling fantastic stories (including some really powerful stuff about Vader finding out the name of the Death Star pilot is Skywalker) while also giving some really great insights into the characters, adding depth to the story of the movies, and made me fall in love with the characters all over again.  This Vader tends to be a little more mysterious, Gillen liked keeping the mystique to him (which appeals more to some, so if that’s your jam, read these first!), the feeling is very much in tune with the original trilogy in that sense.  Same for the heroes, they feel very OT!- Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith by Charles Soule comics.  You can read the Vader comics in either order, but I generally like suggesting this one to go second (release order is always good, imo) despite that this is my favorite of the comics.  Set not long after Revenge of the Sith, this is a comic about Darth Vader adjusting to his new life and about the bigger, overarching story of the psychological look at a character who cannot admit what he’s done wrong.  On the surface, it’s about him hunting down Jedi and trying to raise his wife from the dead, but in the macro sense, it’s about this guy who cannot admit that he had other choices, even when the Force is literally throwing those other paths in his face.  Great Vader content for him being powerful and terrifying, while also being an absolute human disaster garbage bag.- Age of the Republic comics by Jodie Houser.  If you like the prequels at all, these comics are stellar.  There are eight of them, four for the main heroes, four for the main villains, and they’re a single issue each, where there’s a short look into their lives at various points, all which illustrate really thoughtful things about the characters, whether through their actions or even sometimes comparisons with other issues in the series.  (ie, reading the Obi-Wan one and Jango Fett one really highlighted how each of them dealt with this young person they were taking care of.)  They were just REALLY GOOD STORIES, too.- Star Wars Adventures by IDW Comics.  These are cuter stories and set all across various eras, from the PT to the OT to the ST to occasionally other areas, but they’re always just absolutely CHARMING.  They’re pure delight to read, they tend to focus on moments that are just really fun, so it’s easy to think of it as a kids’ comic, but instead I think they work best at showing some of the more hopeful moments of Star Wars without being too fluffy.- Poe Dameron by Charles Soule comics.  These are SO GOOD, they really add so much to Poe’s character and they also do a great job of fleshing out that time between the New Republic still working to stabilize itself and when we know the First Order is coming.  But mostly it just really makes you like Poe as a character, it captures his sense of charm and swagger while giving him an actual character arc, as he learns to be a leader.- Kanan: The Last Padawan comics.  You need to see Rebels first (or at least the first two seasons, enough to make you care about Kanan as a character) but then this is a gorgeous, beautifully told story.  It’s half about the current days with his new found family the Ghost crew (the cast of Rebels) and half about his history as a Padawan in the Jedi Order, how he was apprenticed to Depa Billaba, how he watched her die, how he had to live in the galaxy that wanted him dead just for being born the way he was, how he was being hunted for it, and how he survived.  It’s really, really good!- Forces of Destiny animated shorts.  You can find them all on Disney’s YouTube channel, they’re these 2-3 minute long stories about the women of the galaxy far, far away (with occasional appearances by others) and they’re pretty light-hearted fare, they’re meant to impart messages to kids or just be bite-sized content, but they’re pretty wonderful and it’s nice to see the women of SW get some attention.- From a Certain Point of View book.  For the 40th Anniversary of A New Hope they put out an anthology of short stories, telling the various points of view of different side characters and adding depth to everything that was going on.  Not all of them are super great, you can feel free to skip ones if you’re getting bored, but there are some MUST READ ones, especially the Qui-Gon, Yoda, and Obi-Wan ones.  And the Admiral Motti story had me in absolute tears from cry-laughing while reading it.- Bloodline by Claudia Gray book.  It’s a really good Leia story, but it’s also a book that does a lot to cover what’s going on with the New Republic still struggling to establish itself, why Leia isn’t part of it by TFA, and more on how the First Order came to be and why people stuck their heads in the sand about it.- Thrawn by Timothy Zahn book.  While there’s some dissonance between Zahn’s version of the character and the character from Rebels, I think you can make them fit together, and this book really is one of the best of canon material.  It’s fun and zips right along and introduces some new characters and sets up some really interesting backstories and just fleshes out the Imperial stuff and gives us Eli Vanto.  ALL THINGS I LOVED.FINALLY:  The above is aimed at a general list of things that I thin pretty much anyone would enjoy, it’s meant to cover most of the bases as best I can, but if you have a favorite era or a favorite character, feel free to run straight to anything that involves them.  There’s a lot of good Legends stuff (as always it’s hard not to recommend the Revenge of the Sith novelization or Wild Space, but that’d just muddle the line between canon and Legends), but I’m sticking with canon right now because it’s easier and there’s so much good stuff and it’s less confusing that way.All the comics are available on Comixology (and there’s never been a comic I hated by any means, though, admittedly some of the mini series can be kind of bland, anything that ran for at least 20 issues is a good bet, and most of the comics are THE BEST of the supplementary material), and if you don’t mind waiting a couple of months for Disney+ (or Googling for streaming sites) the animated properties are all really worth watching.  Sometimes they take a bit to get going, but I’ve fallen in love with every single one.These might not end up being your favorites (some of my favorites–like the Aftermath books or the Join the Resistance books–are ones that I wouldn’t put on a list for new-to-supplementary-material fans, because they’re a little too distanced from established characters) but they’re great places to start getting a feel for whether or not you like this kind of thing!  :D

#galactic-pirates #fic recs #not really but that's my tag for recs for stuff :D