#wouldn’t commit to a suicide pact basically.

[silkiemae]

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer My rating: 2 of 5 stars I’ll begin by saying that the last time I read this series, New Moon was my favorite one. And it’s 100% because Edward was barely in it. This book was essentially a memoir to how toxic their relationship is. New Moon begins on Bella's 18th birthday, and she's PISSED because she is now officially one year older than her vampire boyfriend Edward. Let's forget that he's over 100 years old, so her weird age problem is pointless. Bella has a supreme fixation on age regarding male/female relationships. Judging by what she's said, she believes the woman inherently needs to be younger than the man. Her mother married Phil, and he's "too young" for her. Bella is freaking out that she's technically one year older than Edward and one of the major excuses she uses for not dating Jacob is that he's two years younger than her. Move past your age complex Bella. So Bella is pissed that it's her birthday, she wants everyone to ignore her birthday, but obviously, no one cares what Bella wants, so they get her presents and throw a party for her anyway. She tries to use the excuse that she has a movie to watch, but Edward manipulates the situation so she can both attend the party AND watch the movie. The film in question is Romeo & Juliet, which is also apparently New Moon's theme? Edward and Bella have another casual discussion about who loves who more and what they would do if one of them died (commit suicide, naturally). I genuinely am so over seeing these suicide pact things in YA novels like my god. Please stop trying to promote to these young people that relationships should be like this because they absolutely should NOT. After the movie, they go to Bella's birthday party, where she is gifted a car stereo and a paper cut. My question is this. When Bella decided to open her birthday presents, why didn't Alice foresee her getting a paper cut and the following events? Shouldn't she have seen this coming? But no, because if she did, SM would have had no book to write. After Bella gets her papercut, like a rational person, Edward launches her into a glass table to 'protect her' but succeeds in cutting her arm even more. I'm wondering if the arm she injured was the same one where she got her papercut because, LOL, if so. All the vampires have to pussy out because they can't handle the smell of Bella's blood, and Carlisle stitches her up while telling her that Edward believes vampires have no souls. This is why he doesn't want to change her into a vampire, but like Edward, it's not your choice, bro. You don't have to be the one to do it, but you don't get a say in what Bella chooses to do with her life/body. I think that's one of the things that bothers me most about this couple. It's obvious how heavily Bella relies on Edward to make decisions for her. Towards the end of the book, after they get back from Italy, she instantly asks him what the story is--expecting him to have already it crafted for her to use. She seems genuinely shocked when he doesn't have an account to give. Like girl, find a backbone, please. After she gets all stitched up, Edward takes her home, helps her open her gifts and acts like things are relatively a-okay. Bella's got terrible vibes, though. For the next three days, Edward is super distant and basically ignores her, and instead of doing anything about it-like Idk maybe confront her boyfriend; she waits it out, hoping he'll come around. Instead, he dumps her in the forest and then breaks into her home while she's crying in the woods and steals everything he gave her. Because that's not super strange at all, but Edward is a master gaslighter, so it makes sense, I guess. I'm confused about why he didn't also take the car stereo because that is a clear indicator of his existence. I know it wouldn't have been too difficult for him to remove with his vampire strength and speed, so why did he leave it in? Also, why did he fake Bella out and make her think things were okay, only to dump her three days later? I don't understand. Did it take him three days to decide to leave her because I didn't buy that? Anyway, Edward leaves (they have been dating for five months), and Bella goes into a depression where she's essentially catatonic for four months. FOUR MONTHS over a FIVE MONTH RELATIONSHIP. Maybe I'm just a weirdo, but I don't get how you can become that attached/obsessed with someone quickly. What did they even talk about? They were always just trying to upstage the other one with how much they loved one another. "I love you so much I'd be willing to kill myself!" "No, I love you more!" Like, shut up. After four months of Bella moping about, Charlie finally decides to act. He threatens to send her back to live with her hare-brained mother. But her mom sends her monotone emails because Bella doesn't put in enough effort, so why should Renee? It's not until Bella starts giving more that Renee responds in kind. Bella stops doing all the things she loves, and they try to make it claim it's because of how depressed she is, but if you're me, you'll notice that she lost all her hobbies the minute Edward Cullen came into her life. When they started dating, her interest in books vanished, she barely listened to music unless she was with him, and she never talked about cooking anymore, which she seemed to enjoy genuinely. Before Edward left, she didn't do any of this either she just laid in his arms and did what? Not kiss? One up each other on the potency of their love? Most boring relationship ever, bro. The majority of this book is Bella staring into space, thinking about the hole in her chest. (Literally, it is mentioned so often I feel like it was on every other page) So because Bella doesn't want to get sent away, she decides to go to a movie with Jessica since Jessica wouldn't ask questions. Bella does some reckless nonsense and pisses her off, and has an Edward voice hallucination. Since Bella is definitely of sound mind, she looks for other avenues to hallucinate her ex-boyfriend's voice. She decides to watch her childhood friend Jacob Black fix her a motorcycle. I sincerely wish that Bella would have helped him improve them instead of just watching. She could've become a gearhead and maybe learned to be less clumsy. But no. I liked Jacob in the beginning. I liked that he was kind and funny and understood Bella without having to interrogate her like Edward. I like that things seemed easy and natural between them. I like that he didn't push her into a romance (at first), and they had a more healthy relationship. Bella got actual much-needed space from Jacob. She couldn't spend every waking moment with him, which I think is soooo important. She is ALWAYS with Edward, which has got to be so suffocating. Like girl, get some space, please. I liked him until he went to the movies with Bella and Mike. He tries to make some move on Bella, and she tells him no. Instead of listening, he starts questioning her further about how she feels about him, and she makes it clear that she is not over Edward and is not interested in a relationship beyond friendship. Instead of accepting this and moving on with grace, Jacob says he's prepared to be 'annoyingly persistent' until she changes her mind. Jacob, no, sweetie. Let's not do that. After the movie, Jacob ghosts Bella because he turned into a werewolf, but he's not allowed to tell her. We already know that Jacob can't keep a secret, as proven by Twilight when he spilt all the beans on the cold ones. He finds a way to tell Bella anyway, and then things are all okay again. The werewolves are all indigenous people from the Quileute tribe. When they turn into wolves, they cut all their hair off and shift when they can't control their tempers. They're also ALWAYS shirtless and seem to be far more bigoted towards the Cullens than vice versa. She even goes as far as to say that it's difficult to tell them apart, and they all look like brothers. Big OOF, Stephenie. Not all POC look the same. Idk. It reads remarkably tone-deaf to me. While Jacob is ghosting Bella, she freaks out because she has nothing to do now. So she goes hiking alone; the first time she tries to do something solo, she runs into a vampire and almost gets murdered. This girl can't go anywhere. Even when she goes cliff diving alone, she nearly dies. Like she needs a chaperone at all times, it would seem. Alice comes back after Bella almost dies from the cliff diving incident because she thinks Bella killed herself, and you know what that means. Edward is now also going to kill himself. So they have to race to Italy to save him. This is where we learn about the Volturi, the like vampire rule enforcers. On the plane to Volterra, Bella begs Alice to turn her into a vampire even though it would put her out of commission for days. You're on a rescue mission, Bella! Put your vampire boner on the back burner. It's so pathetic that Bella was willing to have Alice change her and then follow Edward around like a lost puppy dog for the rest of her days. Like girl, find some other reason to live! You'll have the rest of your life! Edward is not the fantastic guy you think he is! When they finally meet the Volturi, we only see Aro, Caius, Marcus, and some of their guard. It's mentioned earlier that two other women lead with these three, but they're never mentioned again? Unless Jane and Heidi are those two women, I didn't get that vibe off them. I'm so confused as to how Marcus' power works. How does one see relationships? What does that look like to him? Aro decides to allow Edward, Alice and Bella to leave Volterra on the condition that Bella is eventually turned into a vampire. Naturally, Edward is controlling af and is unwilling to do it. Bella, in response, puts her mortality up to a VOTE. This bothers me so much because like IT'S HER BODY, HER CHOICE. EDWARD GETS NO SAY. At the same time, I think Bella's reasoning for wanting to become a vampire is super ridiculous. They all vote to turn her, and Edward breaks a tv in a temper tantrum. Then he sits there trying to bargain with Bella. "How about when you're thirty? Okay, fine then, you HAVE to marry me if you want me to turn you." And it's so clear Bella doesn't want to get married, but she wants Edward to turn her, so she gets manipulated into something she doesn't even want again. God, I hate Edward. Oh, and like I said before, Jacob can't be trusted. To get Bella in trouble, he tells Charlie about the motorcycles. Little asshole. -- I find it interesting that Stephenie Meyer has such a large family of siblings but writes solely about only children who have 'found families'. I'm genuinely curious as to why. I'm also really curious why she named several characters in this book after her siblings. Could she not be bothered to research actual indigenous names? (A lot of her siblings, except Heidi, are Quileute...) Do the characters named after her siblings reflect their personalities at all? Does it reflect her relationship with them too? Because if so, I have some QUESTIONS. • Jacob Black is named after her brother and is the secondary love interest in this story. He doesn't know how to take no for an answer and seems to have a bad temper. • Paul is another one of the Quileute werewolves, and he has the worst temper of all. Like extreme anger management issues. The boy needs therapy. • Emily is the girlfriend/mate of the alpha of the pack Sam. She's also heavily scarred and a boyfriend stealer. • Seth is the adorable baby brother of Leah Clearwater. Also, a Quileute character. He is the most liked sibling. • And then there's Heidi. She's a vampire and a glorified bait lure for humans. She leads them to their death by bringing them to the Volturi for dinner. ANYWAY, THERE YE HAVE IT. I hope you enjoyed it. View all my reviews

#new moon #twilight saga #twilight #book review

[dracoria-azucar]

The more we explore C!Wilbur and C!Dream’s relationships with C!Tommy the more upsetting the:

“Who am I without you?” - “Yourself.” 

interaction gets. 

Like. We talk about the objectification/dehumanization C!Techno faces, being treated as a glorified secret weapon by his allies rather than a friend, more often than not.

But we really gotta start talking about how C!Wilbur views this kid as some unhealthy extension of himself, bordering heavily on treating him like his lap dog? And the fact that C!Dream has out right stated that he considers the boy to be a personification of conflict and passion that he wants to keep locked away all to himself??

The treatment Techno gets is definitely upsetting but there are certain moments where Tommy is objectified in ways that are viscerally disgusting. Especially considering. That he is a teenager. And being treated that way by people he legitimately trusted and idolized has very explicitly affected the way he views relationships as well as his own sense of self worth.

#people have definitely talked abt how gross some of the things C!Dream says about C!Tommy are #so I wanted to touch on that a little behfnbkj #basically what I’m saying is: lots of people view C!Techno as a weapon rather than a person. #while C!Dream views C!Tommy as a force of nature that he needs to gain control over to use for his own benefit #and C!Wilbur views C!Tommy as family? his right hand man? but also an extension of his own identity. he needs the kid as an asset because- #not having the boy bending to his whims is a loss/general set back. he just. EXPECTS C!Tommy to fall back into line because that’s just- #part of what C!Tommy IS. fundamentally. #idek if this is coherent #dream smp #ask to tag #/rp #dehumanization tw #objectification tw #abuse #child abuse #the main things I was thinking abt in this post were C!Tommy referring to himself as C!Dreams play thing. as well as what C!Dream said- #during the disc wars finale at the bunker #and then for C!Wilbur just the implications of him viewing C!Tommy not following him into death after L’Manburgs second explosion as C!Tommy #-being too cowardly to have C!Wilburs back? and for some reason that being the thing that tore their family apart?? the fact that a teen- #wouldn’t commit to a suicide pact basically. #c!dream critical #c!wilbur critical #except not bc I’m just talking about their canon actions? idk man I’m just being safe

[aloeverified]

okay so, we all know how killua used the word "shinjū", and that he said that he'd commit lovers' suicide with gon. however, hxhtwt doesn't really mention that for it to really be a lovers' suicide, both sides have to agree to it.

if killua planned on dying with gon, but gon didn't plan on doing the same, then he'd be using that word incorrectly.

therefore, either killua was either half joking when he used the term lovers' suicide (because there was no suicide pact and he made the choice to die with gon on his own), or gon had planned on dying with killua in the worst case scenario.

basically, chances are that gon had also planned on committing lovers' suicide with killua. either that or that killua had accepted that he'd die with gon, hoping to stay with him in the afterlife even if gon wouldn't do the same.

#tw suicide #suicide tw #killugon #gon freecss #killua zoldyck #hunter x hunter #hxh

[justalittlelitnerd]

Cruel Prince by Ashley Jade

Honestly, I was surprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did. At first I was hesitant because while I liked the sound of the description and the quotes I’d seen pop up on my social media ads for this book I wasn’t sure how I felt about a self-proclaimed “bully romance” and was pretty sure I wouldn’t like it, but was willing to give it a shot. 

And then I was hooked. I’m still not a fan of the bullying and downright abusive elements of the book, but Jade created insanely complex characters in a fucking complicated situation where it was almost understandable why the characters acted the way they did. Basically, the book starts with the Covington siblings (Jace, Cole, and Bianca) talking about how their brother, Liam, committed suicide because he was bullied and they make a pact to essentially be the biggest bullies and make everyone pay. 

Things get even more complicated when Dylan returns to town expecting to rekindle her childhood friendship, if not romance, with Jace only to find out he blames her for Liam’s suicide. He makes it his mission to drive her out of town, but somehow unexpectedly finds himself falling for her all over again. Through a series of seriously fucked up misunderstandings, lies, and an unexpected amount of violence the truth finally comes to light.

HUGE TRIGGER WARNING for suicide and some dub-con elements because it was pretty graphic and I honestly had to skim over it because by the time it showed Liam’s suicide I was too invested to just put it down, but I want others to know before they pick it up so they’re not shocked.

Keep reading for some of my favorite quotes because I really liked the way Dylan’s brain worked.   

His edges are sharp like broken glass…deterring someone from getting too close. And while most people would walk away out of fear of being cut…I want to merge my broken pieces with his.

He’s my person. He’s always been my person. The only one who can reach me when it gets too dark. When it hurts too much. For the first time in four years, my universe feels right again. 

Some people run and hide at the first sign of a scandal. Not me. I prefer to confront the jerks responsible for spreading rumors head-on. See what they’re really made of underneath all their hair extensions, push-up bras, and makeup. “We’re late for class,” the tall blonde declares before they make a mad dash for the door. Shocking. People rarely have the balls to say the shit they spew behind your back to your face.

I, however, thought I was safe, because the person I gave my heart to…was my best friend. And best friends aren’t allowed to break your heart. It’s against the rules.

One second Jace looks at me like I’m the answer to some unspoken prayer. But the next? It’s like I’m the Devil dragging him on a road trip to Hell. 

He’s the opposite of colorless. Jace Covington is blue. A beautiful, turbulent ocean full of depth…and an incandescent sky that only gives you small glimpses of all its radiant colors…before turning gloomy and dark. “I see you,” I breathe between kisses. “You’re my favorite color.”

Jace might not act like his feelings for me are mutual, but he’s kissing me like he’s been trapped in the desert for days and I’m the only source of water for miles.  As if he wants me every bit as much as I want him. Maybe even more. 

My reaction to his close proximity is visceral. Instantly, my pulse, my breathing, my emotions—slam into overdrive.  When I was a kid, I didn’t understand why I’d experience such an extreme response whenever he was near, but now I do.  No one in the whole wide world has the power to make me feel both love and hate simultaneously the way Jace Covington does. He’s the yin to my yang. The down to my up. The crazy to my normal. The damaged pieces to all my broken parts.

I want all of Jace. Every fucked-up piece and broken part. All to myself. 

His lips curl in a slow smile. “You have no idea, do you?”  “About what?” The intensity of his stare makes my breath catch. “How deep my feelings for you run.” No, but if what he feels for me is even a fraction of what I feel for him, I fear we’ll both spontaneously combust.  “How deep are we talking? Puddles? Ponds? Lakes?”  Tell me oceans, dammit.  His hands frame my face.  “The Mariana Trench isn’t deep enough.” 

Makes me want to merge my broken pieces with yours. “Cracks me wide open,” I whisper, because friends or not, I’ll never be able to keep anything from him. “I guess my broken pieces missed yours as much as I missed you.” He exhales sharply. “You say the weirdest shit sometimes.” I can’t help but laugh. He’s not wrong. He’s also the only one who ever truly got me. “Yeah, but you love it.” He grins before his expression turns serious. “Yeah…I did.” I wish I knew what caused that change, or how to fix it, but Jace has built his walls so high, they’re impossible to climb. However, I’ve never been the kind of girl to give up. The locks to his fucked-up kingdom might have changed, but I still remember the layout.

He’s right. But the heart doesn’t choose who we love by their worth. Because love isn’t a choice. It’s an illogical, all-consuming consequence that results from someone stealing a vital piece of you. And I wish like hell Jace would give me my piece back. 

“Breathe, baby. I got you.” With a heart full of lead, I carry her inside.  I’ve spent the last four years pining for the opportunity to destroy this girl’s life so I could watch her break.  Who knew success would taste so fucking bitter. 

The muscles in my chest draw tight. Our demons are almost identical, and it’s clear hers are wreaking havoc right now. For once, Dylan can’t fight them off on her own. Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her close. “It’s okay. You don’t have to.” I’ll fight this battle for you.

“Maybe everything isn’t so absolute, you know?” He exhales sharply. “I used to believe everything was black and white…right and wrong. But now I’m starting to think people might not be the sum of their greatest achievements…or their worst mistakes.” He swallows thickly. “Maybe someone can do the cruelest thing imaginable…and somehow…still be a good person underneath.” 

The tips of his fingers press into my jaw and he searches my face, as if seeking permission. I nod. He already has my heart, if he wants my body and all my fucked-up fragments too, I’ll gladly hand those right over. God knows I want every single jagged piece of Jace Covington there is to have. I don’t care how sharp and deep the cuts will be. 

Ironic that a shade representing the best things in the world—the sky, the ocean, the color of Dylan’s eyes—also symbolized the worst.  

I loved her first.  Hell, I loved her before I even knew her name. Back when she used to sit on the playground by herself with her headphones on…tuning out the world. I wanted to join whatever world she’d built. 

Now he’s dead, Dylan’s heartbroken…and I’m still sitting here choking on the goddamn ashes of the mess I made. 

It’s impossible for me to be truly happy without Dylan. She’s the one this fucked-up thing in my chest beats and bleeds for. I’m tired of living without the other half of my soul. I’m tired of missing my best friend. I’m tired of waking up every day with nothing when my everything is right there. 

“I lost you once…and I’ll burn the whole fucking world to the ground before I ever make that mistake again.”

#cruel prince #ashley jade #a jade #covingtons #royal hearts academy #romance #high school #trigger warning for suicide #dark romance #friends to enemies to lovers #HEA #bully romance #books #book quotes #quotes #booklr #book blog #jace and dylan

[thecomicsnexus]

2020 VISIONS #1-3 MAY - JULY 1997 BY JAMIE DELANO, FRANK QUITELY, JAMES SINCLAIR AND DIGITAL CHAMELEON

SYNOPSIS

Alex Woycheck is an aged pornographer living outside of the protective “wall” of New York in the year 2020.

While doing business in the street, selling old pornography in exchange of a “Bombshell” magazine, a man commits suicide, splattering everyone in the street, including Alex.

The main concern is, of course, that the man that committed suicide was sick with one of the many viruses going around the east coast. Apparently, antibiotics became useless after a while, and then old diseases came back with a twist. So this society can only keep the sick in “quarantine” in Ellis Island, until they die.

This is Alex’s 70th birthday but he feels too sick to celebrate, he comes down with fever and shits himself during his agonizing time in bed. After a while he gets better and feels like an immortal. Happiness wouldn’t long, as he finds out he is bleeding through his skin.

He then goes to visit his old love, another smuggler named Zandra, who since then became a lesbian and “adopted” two bimbos. Alex tries to sell her his “bombshell” collection, but she refuses, he then starts spreading himself over her, sharing the bug with her. She pays him.

Alex then tries to get some medicine. Rumor is, humanity already has the cure but they don’t want to use it because it will most likely be the last possible cure, and then humanity will be dead. He basically falls into a trap and ends up being sent to Ellis Island.

After a while living there, he notices that between the new arrivals, there is Zandra. She tries to kill him but eventually the two commiserate, as they are the only people with a connection in that place. She makes him be part of a suicide pact.

But the drug cocktail doesn’t work on him, and he sends her corpse to the furnace.

Taking advantage of a “revolution” of sorts, he kills a guard and all the sick people leave on a boat back to the archipelago.

But Alex doesn’t want to be part of a suicide mob, instead he makes his way into the Wall and admires what life is inside of it.

In there, he hears someone yell that there is a virus and thinks they found out he is there and takes a girl hostage. Turns out it was a computer virus (people in the wall go crazy for a computer virus). But she knows he is infected and is afraid for her life. Alex plans to “spread” his virus from the top of the wall, by committing suicide, throwing himself into the ventilation fans.

In the end, he cannot do it and the girl escapes, bringing the police with her. Alex realizes the world is never going to end. And he will try to end it all some other day.

REVIEW

2020 visions is a 12-issue volume, telling four different stories. This one being a “horror” story.

It is obviously not coming true (apart from the obvious differences with reality like the WTC). But it does look like the future of 1997.

For someone who lived through the early nineties, the whole “stigma of having a virus” was a reality. It still is, but at least science has advanced enough for certain incurable diseases to not kill you. But I can imagine, in 1997, after seeing how the late reaction of the United States to deal with the HIV epidemic created a world that wasn’t that different from this one. If you were sick, you were alone, you would be avoided completely. You were already dead.

By 1997, that wasn’t the case anymore, but living with that leaves a mark. And in a way, something very similar happened to Alex. He is a Boomer, and he grew up thinking that the bomb was going to kill him (ironically, he is fascinated with the bomb and the “bomb shells”). This, I don’t think is a neurosis that belongs to Boomers alone. I feel like anyone living in the United States in 1985 was still afraid of a nuclear holocaust. In other words, the world was always about to end, and at a certain point, you would be waiting for it with a lot of anxiety. That seems to be the case with Alex. He is still waiting for the world to end, but to his surprise, it is not ending, it is only getting worse (for some).

This need of him for the world to end takes him into very dark places. He wants to spread the disease (he wouldn’t be the first person to do this, as you may have noticed in the news), he wants to share his misery with others. His anxiety grows bigger when the virus he is hosting, doesn’t even kill him. He tries to kill himself with drugs and he doesn’t die. Is this a reflection of boomers who were living like there was no tomorrow, and now have to face the reality that it is not their decision for the world to end?

This is written by a boomer, by the way.

The protagonist of this story is a horrible human being and throughout these issues does very despicable things. But the whole story is quite deep. You don’t realize of all this right away, but it is there.

Is that Dan DiDio in the cover of #1?

I will review the other three stories as part of a whole, so...

TO BE CONTINUED...

#john eder #frank quitely #2020 visions #2020 #1997 #vertigo #vertigo comics #dc comics #comics #review #modern age

[maevelin]

Do you not like how the pregnancy plot was used in acofas as a plot or because you feel that babies don't belong to that universe?

Well I do feel that concepts of immortality don’t go very well with pregnancy tropes but it depends on how a universe truly works and how a writer makes it work. In the ACoTaR universe it is established that even though pregnancy is not an easy thing to happen it is not an impossibility. And given the established population and the familial relationships we have seen this is not out of the norm for this world and the concept of immortality does have its limitations obviously.

My problem was how this was used as a plot and how it affected the female character. We had Feyre making a big deal about certain things in the trilogy and in ACoFaS, things that mattered to her characterization but ultimately were negated by default. This is what happens with SJM’s writing and it couldn’t be more obvious in ACoFaS. 

For example we get the story of the weaver lady in ACoFaS right? We have the void and the hope that inspired Feyre and I was staring at what I was reading wondering if SJM actually forgot what she wrote in ACoWaR because what she was doing was so contradictory. She aimed for the profound message and I was there rolling my eyes because SHE MADE SURE FOR THAT TO NOT FREAKING COUNT.

So Feyre understands the weaver’s loss and decides to have a child because in case that Rhysand would die like the weaver’s mate did she would not have anything left to remember him by and I was like…anyone remembers the suicide pact? The weaver lady was indeed someone to lead an example and was strong and kept on living and grieved and mourned but did not let that grief destroy her and she found hope in the darkness and ultimately was everything Feyre was not. If anything that story line highlighted the weakness of the main characters. We had the survivors of the war and the attack, people that lost their beloved ones and kept on living and turned on their High Lords for support but if we place that mirror against Feyre and Rhysand what do we get in return? They would never be like those people would they? Because when push would come to shove they would just quit life because they wouldn’t be able to handle the loss. It is just so problematic. Too much love is poison indeed as Rhysand has once said. It turns ugly. And it tainted what SJM was trying to preach in ACoFaS. The weaver was admirable for sure. We didn’t see her taking her life because she lost the love of her life did we? No. And Feyre was inspired by this and made it a big deal when the message SJM promoted in the previous book about her female lead was…if the one you love dies go on an die with them. 

So can anyone explain to me using simple logic what was the point of Feyre deciding to have a child so to have something of Rhysand when with their pact the only thing left would be an orphan child without having anything to remember their parents by because they were idiots and committed suicide because they formed a completely toxic codependent relationship?

The weaver plot with the tapestry and the gift and all that leading to Feyre’s decision were literally completely pointless because SJM made them be pointless by default. How is that a motivation for Feyre when she does not have to worry about it given the moronic bargain she made with her mate? And how is it possible that at no point her mind actually made that connection? A bargain mind you that was created in a post traumatic period for both Feyre and Rhysand and the writer made it all seem ‘romantic’? And how did that tie in in ACoFaS? There was no logic or consistency and it really cheapened the whole thing. It would work with how things were presented in ACoWaR up to a point. If SJM had stopped before that pact in the end it would actually be one of the few saving graces of the book. If she knew where to stop that is. With Rhysand’s intentions for self sacrifice for example while he wanted to ensure Feyre’s survival even in the expense of his own life. This was his goal, this was his motivation. For those he loved and for Feyre in particular to survive even if he had to die fighting for them and for that endgame. It was heroic, it was noble. It made sense with who Rhysand was revealed to be in ACoMaF. And on the other end I was not expecting anything less from Feyre either. This is what you do when you love someone. You want them to live and have a good life even if you can’t be there. And it would also show that life does not come with guarantees even for immortals so every day is meant to cherished with those you love as if it is the last because it very well could be and there are examples for that. And if one is gone then the other lives on and should live life to the full extent not just for them but also in honor of those that they lost that would live through them. That is how you honor a memory and a love story either it has a happy ending or not. And the plot with the weaver would tie in perfectly with that. Only it doesn’t now does it? Because the last pages of ACoWaR and the closure for Feysand’s story there ensured that. Now going around in circles around that is a parody really. Senseless.

And putting all that aside let us focus on Feyre and the timeline here. Let us see how this baby plot fits in Feyre’s story and all the points ACoMaF had made? One of the best parts of ACoMaF was that it subverted certain tropes only for ACoFaS to come like a badly written fanfiction and demolish all that progress. Everything in this story happened in what? A year? Two? More or less. So in that extremely small amount of time you get a girl that has been through hell and went through extremely traumatic situations that affected her mentally and emotionally and made life changing decisions that contradict everything she seemed to have wanted when she was recovering from depression and PTSD. 

In the end of the day you have a very VERY young inexperienced girl that was deprived of kindness and basic care in her whole life and has gone through some very traumatic events in the span of 2 years that are bound to affect her perception of the world and those that surround her. Someone throws her a crumb of kindness and they become perfect in her eyes to the point she glamorizes them beyond logic because she is starving for affection. She is starving to have a loving family. She is starving to be loved and cherished and appreciated. So she just jumps in. With a guy that is 500 years old. That has lived his life. That is also recovering from severe trauma. This is where their relationship is based on and how it is shaped. They don’t think clearly. They are still healing. They gave themselves no time to even see if their relationship can stand in time (outside the concepts of mates and with having immortality looming over them). And there is nothing wrong with people wanting to get things they have been deprived of and chase those dreams till they would make them come true. But at least in stories we should get the gradual development that would get us there and not an abrupt conclusion that counters the progress that was made - in entire books- and the progress that was used as a central axis for the characterization of the characters.

With Tamlin for example such a future and so soon for Feyre was a nightmarish terror. Even Rhysand made it sound like that when he was trying to show her how restricting such a life was and couldn’t understand the rush of it all. You put the basics of Tamlin’s expectations with what we are seeing with Rhysand and Feyre and if you strip the storylines down to their core you see alarming similarities. Excluding the abuse of course. But in the sense of a certain lifestyle that Feyre abhorred and suddenly lives on ACoFaS but somehow this is a dream coming true now. With Tamlin the exact same thing when Feyre was in love with him was still something she didn’t want and for good reason but in the span of months this changes all of the sudden and with Rhysand it becomes perfection when she has not been able to achieve the dreams she had before. But what about Feyre as a unique personality outside her romantic interests? So the only difference in the end is the male she is so her life is regulated only as her worth is defined as a love interest in the narrative? The world is a big place and Feyre still has no idea of it. She does not even fully understand the concept of her Fae nature and of immortality yet. She has not even experienced or enjoyed what she has with Rhysand and their bond either. Feyre in ACoMaF had said she wanted time. Said she didn’t want to become a decorative piece while the High Lord would be active and she would be there to basically breed children, sign letters and host dinners and have people serving her while she would be there to be the rich wife. Does that -especially after ACoFaS- sound familiar? And her not wanting children in the near future was something that was discussed in ACoMaF and it was a big decision and Rhysand respected it. It gave a certain depth in their relationship but also in Feyre’s character that wanted to grow and mature before she would be a mother and a wife. She wanted time to live, to love, to be herself, to be with Rhysand and so on. She wanted independence and to mature. And here we are so soon after and everything is once more negated. 

Not to mention that this feels manipulative in a way. There is the mate bond that is influencing Feyre’s emotions to a big extent and not to mention that she has  already seen the image of her future son which is also influencing her decisions.

And it is just so… simplistic. To take an interesting plot that was one of the parts that made ACoMaF so successful and to erase it completely for no reason just a few books later. This is a pattern that keeps repeating really. SJM makes a certain point, hypes it and then erases it. So what was the point of making it in the first place? More so when she is planning for an extended universe that will stretch far beyond the original trilogy and she could give this later on in a time frame that would make sense.

And I get it when fans that like a ship want such things for their dream couple. And I mean…this is what fanfiction is for. And on the other end I understand and respect when a writer wants to deliver to the fans what they want. It is a great thing to want to please your fans that have supported you and your writing like this and with so much passion. But I feel that it should not come to the expense of your writing to this degree and I am sure that this could have been handled much better and with a more consistent writing that would make the delivery make sense without being so contradictory, sloppy, and messy. You can honor the fans while still remaining true to the story and what made the characters and their dynamic so alluring to the fans in the first place. Those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. 

#anti sjm #anti sarah j maas #anti feysand #anti acofas #Anonymous #there was just no consistency #and yeah I am not fond of baby storylines #but if you decide to give them at least do it right #this just hurts me so much because I used to ship Feysand so hard #I guess I'll have to pretend acowar and acofas didn't happen and focus on their acomaf version #feyre archeron #rhysand #mymeta

[avasmixtape]

The demons and what’s going on with them

Basically just wanna keep track of when and how the demons died, how they came to be with the hosts, when they pacted, ages and years, the evidence, etc etc, and i hadn’t seen anyone else do this as of yet so i thought it might be helpful for theories! Will update as we find out more and I’ll chuck it under the cut bc it's already pretty long and we haven’t even met all the demons yet welp

Things to keep in mind:

- the current year of the comic is 3031

- Ava and Maggie are 15 turning 16 (born most likely 3015)

- Odin is 18 (born most likely 3013)

- Gill is 19 turning 20 (born most likely 3011)

Wrathia Bellarmina

Species: Vengess

Home planet: Unknown

Sin: Wrath

Sexuality: Unknown

Colour: Orange and red

Died: year 3015 (15 years ago, coming up on 16)

Cause of death: Poisoning her share of cursed wine.

Haunting: Ava Ire for 15 years (since her birth)

Evidence: explicitly stated in the comic in pages #181 through #190

Pacted: year 3031 after Ava gets fatally impaled on the sword of a TITAN statue.

Terms of pact: Ava receives a new life in exchange for helping Wrathia seek revenge on TITAN.

Evidence: explicitly stated in comic pages #210 and #211.

Pedri Nanezgani

Species: Vengess

Home planet: Unknown

Sin: Pride

Sexuality: Unknown

Colour: Red and purple

Died: Between 3021 to 3030 (between 10 to 1 year(s) ago)

Cause of death: Mostly unknown (believed to have something to do with being imprisoned ((probably by TITAN)) because of his pages in Wrathia’s plan but no solid evidence as of yet) though it is almost 100% certain he died drinking his cursed wine as he and Wrathia poisoned their shares and he wouldn’t have been able to bond to Odin without drinking it.

Haunting: Odin Arrow for between 10 to 1 year (believed to have been since he fell into a frozen over body of water between ages 8 through 17) 

Evidence: The portrait of Odin in his mother’s study (time stamped at 3021, putting him at 8 years old) shows him with black pupils, a proven sign the host hasn’t been possessed yet, while his current pupils and scenes depicting it explicitly show Pedri is already haunting him. His lack of surprise at Pedri’s appearances shows this as a fairly regular for at least a little while. Death is commonly believed to have been drowning/near drowning as he has a strong phobia of water as well as an official portrait showing him floating in water with ice around him (unsure whether it’s important to note that he doesn’t appear much younger than he is currently, as this is official artwork rather than a scene in the actual comic. As such, while it may hint towards his possible death, it doesn’t necessarily accurately portray it) though that is a theory at this point.

Pacted: No pact as of yet.

Terms of pact: N/A right now.

Evidence: Pedri hasn’t yet merged into Odin’s body.

Nevy Nervine

Species: Covetess but she also belongs to ‘a small portion of aliens that can change their biology with their minds’ called Biofluxites

Home planet: Unknown

Sin: Envy

Sexuality: Unknown

Colour: Pink and blue

Died: also year 3015 (15 years ago)

Cause of death: Unknown (popularly believed to have something to do with children, possibly Wrathia and Pedri’s egg, because of her pages in Wrathia’s book but there is no solid evidence as of yet.)

Haunting: Gil Marverde for 15 years (since he was resuscitated at age 4 after having died from acidic burns to most of his body) though she doesn’t stay visible to him until he’s around 11 when he takes the TITAN entrance exam (around year 3023) and doesn’t speak to him until even later that same year.

Evidence: explicitly stated in the comic in pages #383 through #483.

Pacted: No pact as of yet.

Terms of pact: N/A right now.

Evidence: Nevy hasn’t yet merged with Gil’s body.

Tuls Tenebrose

Species: Unknown

Home planet: Unknown

Sin: Lust

Sexuality: Unknown

Colour: Red and green

Died: Most likely 3027 (4 years ago)

Cause of death: Unknown (popularly believed to have had something to do with protecting Ranunculae as he was charged with protecting her, due to his pages in Wrathia’s plan but there is no evidence as of yet)

Haunting: Magnolia ‘Maggie’ Lacivi for 4 years (believed to have been since she possibly tried to kill herself - assumed to be by hanging - but there has been no explicit explanation as of yet.)

Evidence: Tuls states it’s been four years since he’s seen Ranunculae (page #874) so it has been assumed this is when he died/possessed Maggie, whch means she would have also of had to die at that time. There is a picture of Ava and Maggie that has Maggie with ‘normal’ eyes, appearing around 9-11. This all suggests they pacted relatively quickly after that as Maggie has already used five other flowers/spells as well, though it is uncertain. Death is generally believed to have been hanging as it has been stated that her necklace when visiting Tuls (page #811) is significant and the necklace resembles a noose to most. Again, mostly speculation at this point.

Pacted: Most likely 3027 through unknown circumstances.

Terms of pact: Tuls uses his magic to help Maggie find love in exchange for a chance to tell Ranunculae that he loves her, regardless of her answer, and to make sure she is safe.

Evidence: pretty definitively stated in pages #851 through #861.

Some interesting things to note:

- Wrathia and Nevy died the same year

- Odin/Pedri has a pretty wide margin of when they could have died

- Nevy died after Wrathia as she was aware Wrathia committed suicide. (page 1995)

- Out of the demons we have currently met, it appears Wrathia died first, closely followed by Nevy, then Tuls. As of right now, it is uncertain whether Pedri fits in before or after Tuls

- Out of the demons we have currently met,, it appears Pedri or Tuls had lasted the longest before dying.

Will update as we find out more info!

#ava's demon #ava's demon update #ava's demon spoilers #ava's demon theory #ava's demon theories #wrathia bellarmina #pedri nanezgani #nevy nervine #tuls tenebrose #ava ire #maggie lacivi #odin arrow #gil marverde #my theories #demon info #important #mine

[kierongillen]

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 1923

Spoilers, obv.

Jamie said that for once, an issue of WicDiv will have more of my prose in it than are in the writers note. I joked that “We'll see about that” but I think I'm actually going to keep this one relatively tight. There is a lot of allusions and nods, and if I start doing the full Jess Nevins League Annotations, it's going to take forever, be over-explaining the joke and generally come across as a bad look.

The 1923 special was one of the logical pantheons to go back to, not least as the implicit floating question of “Who the hell were those four people at the start of issue one.” Not that alone made it happen – hell, maybe to the contrary. WicDiv is so big in historical implication that half the way it works is by implication. You choose a detail, and let the imagination populate around it. This nervous stand-off between saying too little and saying too much is very much a core balancing act.

I've had people ask what I knew about them back in issue one. The core, necessary stuff. The nature of what led to the suicide pact, the Gatsby-ish setting and the emotional underpinings between the four – Susanoo and Amaterasu's divine bro-sis complications, the history with Amon-Ra, the broad strokes of their personality, what movement in art they were representing, etc. But stuff changes, and lots of stuff added.

I forget where the core idea came from, but it was there and immediate and obvious in its “Oh yeah – that's clearly something that is intellectually and artistically valid, and also dumbly hilarious.” Which is very much the go-to WicDiv move. The way I described it to people was “Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, but with a bunch of modernist figures getting bumped off. Theme of high art versus low art, the birth of the 20th century culture, the war, etc.”

Details added to that – the gods' suicide pact to try and avert WW2 – which started to lead to the gods we wanted to cast elsewhere. A number of figures who echo with the war interestingly – Orwell, Hemingway, Piccasso started to appear in there. There were figures I just knew I wanted – Woolf, etc.

The form came there – I had the idea of being a prose/comics hybrid early, but resisted it, because I knew it would be a lot of work. I say that not out of laziness, but out of simple possibility. In the end, I was right – there was no time to do this along my usual workload, and I ended up working over the Christmas holiday to write this. I had Christmas off, but otherwise, I was with the gods. Still – it was done quickly. As the lady says, “The deadlines were crushing”

The other options were to do in multiple issues. I found myself thinking that two issues may work – and that idea was before the Christmas Annual. That was rejected, as I was aware that while it wasn't laziness, it was to some degree cowardice. A prose/comics hybrid was the right idea to support the story. Commit.

So we did, and I started playing for time. There is a lot of research – obviously involving reading a bunch of the relevant figures, not least Christie to think of structure. I was picking my cast, and seeing how they fit together, and so on.

There was a problem. I still didn't have a plot. What were these gods doing?

At which point, on the suggestion of a reader on twitter, I read John Carey's The Intellectuals And the Masses and the scales fell from my eyes. Of course. I've been so blind.

The book is a gleeful, sustained and viscous intellectual evisceration of high Modernism. Much of it I already knew, but this specifically argued case made me realise the obvious: intellectually speaking, a bunch of them were fellow travellers with totalitarianism and had nothing but disgust for the common person. In other words, in WicDiv's universe, it made me realise I could step past my actual admiration for many of the figures in question and just follow those implications through.

And suddenly, there's the plot rather than the concept. In my head, I was thinking everyone would be very anti fascism. By realising some of them wouldn't necessarily be (or, at least, “Hey – it won't be that bad, and what really matters is art and the people who can actually appreciate art”.) I have multiple sides with multiple questions and a bunch of place to explore.

At which point, we needed our artist. Aud worked with Al on the Ultimates, which was my first extended exposure to her bar individual bits of art – we loved it, and thought she'd be perfect. We approached her, and she said yes.

At which point, the problems of scripting. I played with time to actually write the prose to get more and more research. The script I wrote her had the comic pages, but only included a synopsis of what happened in the prose bits, so Aud could follow the narrative. I'll include one of them later in this to give you an idea. The point being – the structure, and the primary clues (and red-herrings) were in existence at that point. I just had to execute them. I could put that off.

I did.

I ended up actually writing the prose two months after Aud got the script, so I had all her pages to look at while working. This obviously led to a lot of inspirational material back and forth. There's a few problems – some fun ideas I had in the process of writing aren't ever shown in the art, and some areas where I had to write around a problem. But some of those writing around a problem led to some of the more memorable bits in the story.

It was fine. This is a dense issue of WicDiv. I did the math, and I think in terms of material, you'd be pushed to do it in any less than 4 issues without compressing, and maybe even five. However, that was necessary to be what it was required to be. It was a dragon, and we killed it.

Here's a section from the opening letter to Aud, which basically speaks to the core intent...

The mood is basically an Agatha Christie Murder Mystery. This is pulp and light. It just happens to star riffs on some of the most intellectual writers of all time. As such, we kind of mock them. They're trapped in this kind of story – and this story kills them all.

At the same time, this is a story about form. What is comics? What is prose? Is illustrated prose just a comic with a really big caption? This is arguably the most modernist issue of WicDiv that we've ever done. As such, we're saying the exact opposite to the above as well – that we are the successors to these geniuses, and this is our ultimate tribute to them.

My tongue is in cheek with the above, but perhaps less than it should be.

I smile. There's a lot about this issue that makes me smile. And readers too – it went down in basically the most optimistic scenario it could have been. We knew that there would be some people who just rejected it due to the comics/prose hybrid form – and hell, I don't even necessarily think those people are wrong to do so. However, with a handful of exceptions – none of whom were reviewers – the only people who didn't like the issue were those who rejected it because of formal reasons.

I admit, this has led me to unpacking why people did, and some theories will come below. I also get the feeling this is an issue which I am at risk from taking the wrong lessons from.

Let's do this.

Jamie Cover: Minimalistic, clean, book cover. Instantly classy. Instantly foreshadowing That Fucking Lighthouse.

I notice the $4.99 price here. Yeah, we decided to sort of stack the odds in people liking the oddness. This is a lot of content for five dollars. If people like the way I think, you get your money's worth.

Aud's Cover: In giving Aud a brief, I wanted to do a scene which we likely weren't going to see inside. Plus the final cast hadn't been sorted out at this point, so we wanted to do something with the four figures from issue 1. As such, doing Amaterasu and Susanoo in a waltz among the living light dead struck us as fun. Aud wanted to integrate the title, which also works well. The doomed romance of the pair of them is certainly a key nature part, and felt good to foreshadow here.

Image Expo Cover: This was done far later than the other ones, and is so good we tried to work out if there was a way of switching it with the main cover. Alas, too late. This is inspired by Weimer Pursell's World Fair poster. Jamie is almost unrecognisable in style due to the lack of classical inking. I especially like this as it shows Lucifer on the cover, which obviously adds to the impact when we kill him.

IFC

The headshots were done last by Aud, after she done the rest – it was a “If we have time, it'd be good to do this too.” We played with some ideas for using them in different places (perhaps even as far as topping each bit of prose) but decided that was too much. That we go in deep with the prose at the start causes big problems. Oddly, my main take from reading Christie is how the opening of the books are the hardest parts – they're trying to set up so many characters, and I had a tendency (especially with my somewhat loose relationship with names) to lose which dude was which dude. That was always going to be a sticking point in this issue, so I felt a Dramatis Personnae to open would work as a visual anchor to the cast. “Dionysus? Who's Dionysus.” <Flips back> “Ah!”> and then back in.

Lovely design here by Sergio. I'll want to rave about Sergio throughout, but let's say it here loudly. This is amazing work.

Okay! The gods. Let's do what everyone's been asking for and saying who's influenced by who. Or at least, broadly.

Part of the reason why I wanted to do 1923 in prose was it would give the opportunity to have all 12 gods. The specials have gone down well, but there's been a regular undercurrent of “We want to know more about the others”. In 25 pages, that's not going to happen, at least in any way which is useful. We have to focus to some degree. In this case, for once, we wanted to give a full image of a full pantheon, just to show how it worked in another period – and with that, a readers' imagination can populate others with more guidance.

Secondary issue: while I've been describing the comic as “Modernist poets in an Agatha Christie Murder Mystery” that clearly wasn't true. We'd already shown four gods from 1923, so it clearly couldn't just be modernist poets. Of course, this is the theme – high art versus low art and the various different approaches to the gods is key.

Essentially, the 1923 pantheon is half way between the 1831 and 2013 pantheons in approach, with elements of both. As a mid-way point between the two, that seems to work. The gods that hark to the future have an approach more similar to the 2013 pantheon. The defeated gods have an approach which has a little more to the past. It's more complicated than that, and there's obvious exceptions, but that's what the backbone is.

So some gods are based on an archetypal sort of creator or artform, with a few nods to specific things, (Amon-Ra, Susanoo, Amaterasu, Minerva, Baal) while others are inspired an actual figure with a few grace notes from elsewhere (Neptune, Dionysus, Morrigan) and others are inspired by a creator merged with something from their fiction (Lucifer, Norns, Set). And then there's Woden, who isn't a god, so the rules change.

I swapped “based on” for “inspired” just now in the above. WicDiv may be inspired by figures, but the real figures also exist in the world of WicDiv. This gives us the narrative distance required to do what we do with them.

So, from the top, and in broad strokes. If you want more of the indirect influences and some theories, I think TWATD has the best round up.

Baal: One part of the conspiracy. Researching the period, there is a lot of white elitist dudes of various stripes, and Baal ends up being them all. In terms of actual references, there's a lot of TS Elliot in there, but there's strong notes of Ezra Pound and the big reference only a few people have spotted is Wyndham Lewis, who I think provides the majority of the look. I'm not sure Jamie was thinking of that explicitly, but he wanted to definitely have someone who looks like an elitist. Of all the older-gods, he's the broadest and most archetypal, and that's because there's a lot of this sort of guy, and it felt like repeating the same character multiple times. It's also a pretty white pantheon anyway.

Amaterasu: The concept of her in issue one was “all of Dramatic Film”. As such, she recalls a lot of early movie heroines. In terms of her powers, she recalls Georges Méliès in several places. I wasn't aware of The Four Troublesome Heads at the time of writing, but I really wish I was.

Lucifer: Fitzgerald meets Gatsby.

Susanoo: If Amaterasu is dramatic film, Susanoo is comedy. Biggest influence in terms of me thinking of how he moves is Buster Keaton, and for me, Susanoo's movement was the thing that was always on my mind.

The Morrigan: Primarily Joyce. Jamie using the later-period Joyce eyepatch is one of my favourite notes in all of this, but Aud just makes him sing as the bedraggled writer. He's a heartbreaker. He's notably the Modernist who is against the Modernists' elitists and topics, which is one of the beats to complicate things.(Random quote from Woolf on Joyce: “a self-taught working man, and we all know how distressing they are, how egotistic, insistent, raw, striking, and ultimately nauseating.”)

Neptune: Hemingway, with a few random grace notes from Nemo. I smile at “Sea god. Short sentences.” I had far too much fun writing Hemingway parody – the active character with the active voice.

The Norns: Wells, Huxley and Orwell, with grace notes in Little Brother from all their books. The idea of a triple-god who are all Future was the core of it, and I yelped in excitement.

Set: Woolf meets Orlando (which basically means it's Woolf meets her literary love portrait of Vita Sackville-West). Her historical-anecdote-for-any-occasion twitch comes from Orlando done in the style of Baron Munchausen's loving hyper-parody, but I can't deny it does come off a little like Tahani from the Good Place. The Set from Bloomsbury is my favourite pun in the issue, not least because people either get it immediately or just miss it completely. The figure I'm least comfortable with throwing under the bus, but I've already written her as a hero figure in Uber, so it probably evens out. I also remember things like the quote from the Morrigan above, which as a self-taught nauseating working man, does tend to soothe things somewhat. Like the Baal, her position is less being pro fascism (and Set is distinctly less pro fascism than Baal) and more a complete lack of interest in anything which isn't art. It's definitely one when the “inspired by” distance is key.

Amon-Ra: Embodiment of Jazz and Blues – primarily blues – with a little of the Harlem Renaissance. Most of the tiny nods are Robert Johnson ones.

Woden: Most of the visual language is are from German Expressionism (most obviously Fritz Lang) and the political beliefs (to state the obvious) Nazism. Like 2013 Woden, Woden isn't a god. He's a god who's killed someone and stolen their place and turned it to his own awful ends. When researching Uber, I found people like Hitler difficult to get on a human level. I've never known anyone like Hitler. Conversely, Joseph Goebbels? If you take the guy in his 20s propping up the the bar talking about how he's working on his novel and add virulent anti-semitism, then you basically have Goebbels. You can almost see him shiver in delight that he murdered his way into controlling art in his country... but there isn't a note of art in him. That's basically Woden. He's appropriated the art of a country at gunpoint. He looks like a villain, but even that look isn't his, and his villainy more profound. He would rule a people through sound and light. As Morrigan is the Modernist against Modernist's elitism, Woden is the Populist Against The People.

Minerva: Child-star archetype generally, Shirley Temple specifically. (I just typoed “Shirley Crabtree.” Now that is a very different look) In terms of personality though, I found myself falling into a slightly frenzied Enid Blighton Famous Five-ish voice.

Dionysus: Picasso as living Guernica. As good a place as any to mention the time-mashing in all of this – basically, the Spanish Civil War experience was moved from the thirties to WW1. That's the sort of editing we do with the figures. This is about (broadly speaking) “Between the wars and what that felt like, and giving birth to the 20th century.”

I lobbed a bunch of ideas at Jamie, and he did full body length plans for each. We'll probably include them in the trade when we get there.

Page 3-5

Right – 3000 words in and I haven't started the story yet. Things are going to be looser now – most  of the thinking is above.

The second two pages were originally written as a splash, but Aud wanted to do it widescreen. I originally WANTED it as a two-page splash, but I didn't have the space to spare, so this re-creating it pleased me. Obviously this sets out the visual location of the whole story – here we have the island, here we have a lighthouse, etc.

Aud suggested doing it in a limited palette form, with the ink washes, and we clearly loved it. When actually describing the sea in the text bits, I was trying to evoke these actual seas, which is a fun way to do interplay.

But yeah – it's our “Here's Ananke.” As I suspect many have noticed, the specials main connective tissues are Ananke and Lucifer. The backbone of the specials trade is the meetings of Anankes and Lucifers across the centuries.

The “This will have to be my masterpiece” is lots of fun. I suspect this is how Christie felt about And Then There Was None. It's interesting that in all the conversation around the issue I haven't seen anyone realise that Ananke is Christie – some kind of demonic Miss Marple figure, writing the plot. It's also the first red herring. Clearly we know Ananke is a murderer at this point, so she's always the logical suspect. The story is based around flirting with that, stepping away from that, then stepping back to it.

The title was decided late – literally when this page was being laid out. I felt it was a little too obvious, but decided it was just obvious enough. Layout minimalistic, clipped, recalling both books and film (especially of the period). It's the first of that sort of thing, and far from the last.

Page 5

We initially decided we didn't need the icon page. We didn't think we'd have space.

Then the do-a-splash-as--two-pages actually created some problems, in terms of leading to all the early death reveals to be on the right. We were in a position of either padding the first text section by a page (and when that was long, it felt bad) or strimming it (which is bad, in a different way). Then we did some math and realised if we had an interstitial here it would actually bring us to the exact 56 pages.

So Jamie did the icons and everything became perfect.

Here he picks up the Art Deco from issue 1, which is a delight. Much to love here – I think his personal favourite is Dionysus' icon, which is understandable, as that's just awesome. I'm glad we actually found space to do this – yes, part of the book was showing a complete pantheon... but a pantheon isn't really complete until you see their icons.

In other notes, I'm considering using these icons as shoulder transfers for my Space Marine chapter.

7-12

Chapter 1!

Here's the synopsis of what I wrote in Aud's drawing script...

This is basically a series of short chapters, ala the opening of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (but shorter), introducing the various parties making their way to the island. I suspect they will be three, who will be...

The first ship reaching the island – Dionysus, the Norns, Woden, Morrigan, Minerva, Neptune. Possibly two ships. We set up some key relationships here – at least, Morrigan and Minerva seem to be getting on.

The Awesome Egyptian-mode approach carrying the Egyptian gods. It belongs to Set. Baal tells Amon-Ra Set is getting reading ready, before Amon-Ra then teleports down to the island, having seen...

...Amaterasu/Susanoo's approach, setting up their own somewhat populist beliefs in art (and light) and their fear they may be in an incestuous relationship. Amon meets them.

(Regarding teleportation: the gods have their selection of appropriate abilities to their archetypes – it's perhaps worth noting that the “Good” gods in this story tend to be sun or light gods. In the 2014 pantheon, the underworld gods tend to be the “Good” ones.)

One of his servants – made of living light, projected from the house – tell them that the final gods are arriving now. “Give them five minutes, then send them down.” Alone, drinking, he muses on all he's done to build this place? Will she finally be impressed with him?  Someone arrives. He asks “Does this impress? “They smile, say it's perfect and for a second he's happy, before they click their fingers.

So there's the shape of it there, especially the key beats – it's enough for me to know there IS a solution.

This is the longest of the prose sections, and unavoidably so. The first movement of a Murder Mystery is to reveal the cast. It's also the longest section anyway – we start primarily in prose and we move towards primarily to comics. Prose is high art, old europe, etc and comics is low art, the new world, etc.

In terms of prose style, I weighed up what to do. I started thinking a pure Christie homage in actual prose, but backed away – it's a fun card trick to show, but I think it'd be less satisfying to the reader (who may or may not like Christie), and more easy to fuck up (So high risk for little reward). So structurally it was based on Christie, and instead the found a voice I found fun – a little period, but also a performance. And far too reference heavy for its own good. But Fun.

Fun is a key thing. The more I decided to be playful with the book, the better it seemed to work. As said, this is a key WicDiv stance. I haven't re-read it in detail (and I'm only skimming now) but I'm not too angry with what's here. That'll do.

The d____ was one of the Christie stylistic choices I chose to keep for period. It's fun.

Morrigan basically speaks in stream-of-consciousness parody throughout, including bits of Joycean scripts. Part of me was tempted to do the ““MORRIGAN: (softly). Aye.” said Morrigan, softly.” joke throughout. I can imagine Neptune wanting to punch him for the adjectives, evidently.

Hmm. Yeah, I'm sitting here thinking “I really don't need to say much about the prose sections.”

Page 13-14

The structure is key visual and plot relevant scenes are played out in comics. The stuff you need to see and we want to show you.  Plus, abstractly, I suspect someone could just read the comic pages and get the core of the story.

(The things are prose are also things which are inefficient in comics – drawing room discussions are rarely riveting visual prose, and nightmarishly tricky to do with a large cast. Not that it's impossible – see THE WATCH chapter in Imperial Phase)

I like Ananke's complicity-inducing glance-to-read in the fourth panel of thirteen.

I do like the Butler.

And the reveal! These splashes were considered a bunch – my original idea was actually to have them in a frame, to REALLY AGGRESSIVELY make them works of art, and turn it into a gallery wall. In the end, the distance from reader seemed too much, and we went a way which took a lot of it in (as in, we're still looking at an image, the caption is designed to evoke a plaque in an exhibit, the caption of the prose also a framing in art) but just let Aud be Aud and blow people away.

So much here  - First appearance of a non-sepia cover. I wish I did something with that apple too, for the full Lucifer-in-Paradise.

Page 15-18

Chapter 2!

The Metropolitan are definitely the great-lost-visual from the issue. Clearly, the robot from Metropolis as a servant.

Honestly, getting the cast to go at each other here is fun, in the dual conversation of what they're talking about (the murders) and what they're really talking about (Art). Also, they're mostly funny – some I like more than others, but when doing the prose, I rapidly found how much I enjoyed doing these affectionate mockeries.

Skimming through this, I'm considering who the lead actually is. In some ways, obviously, it doesn't have one – in my head, the Norns are the lead, and Verondi, specifically, but I suspect Susanoo is the moral and human backbone of it. People seem to like him too: everyone loves a sad clown.

19-20

See – this is where the “comic pages alone are still readable.” As in, we specifically show the core clues you need to know in the comics. There's other clues in the prose, and there's certainly red herrings in the comic (Ananke's sinister nature is played up).

I really like how Aud does the Butler here, which is good, considering it's the last we see of him – that fade in between the second and third panel.

Yes, page 20 is probably the most PAINFUL pun in the issue.

21-24

Chapter 3!

Man, the small change which nags at me most which I may change for the trade is Woden saying “We're not too different. Perhaps... two-thirds different.” Clearly, it should be one-third different.

The word “posset” is my tribute to The Box Of Delights, which is a traditional Xmas watching in my house.

25-26

And the last two pager – prose firmly dominating as the old world dominates the plot, to state the obvious.

Oddly tricky first panel to letter – I kept on trying to get a BIG BROTHER WATCHING YOU joke into it, but it always felt clunky. Or rather, clunkier than normal.

The red seaweed is a lovely touch for Neptune.

27-28

Pace-pace-pace. Neptune not being able to swim is, I suspect, my favourite character beat. Masculinity is one hell of a drug.

This whole sequence I imagined Ananke as a passive-aggressive Sherlock Holmes pretending to be Watson.

29-33

And Set giving serious pose at the end of 29. Well done, Set. You've risen to this occasion.

Quiet tension leading to violence. Honestly, I really like the My Chemical Romance vibe to the Norns – Verondi is very much the star here.

First appearance of the full on screen interstitial card – obviously saving the full explanation until later, nearer the climax, but the edging into comics formalism aping period cinema necessity.

I think the most chilling of the death scenes is this one.

34-35

Chapter 5

Always the shortest of the interstitial texts, this expanded with the end of Perhaps the biggest change from the synopsis was bringing forward the Amon-Ra/Amaterasu/Susanoo plot as the counter-plot to the issue. It was a case of me realising it served as a distraction, but also a useful human arc to them. I wanted to see it. If I wanted to see it, it implies that the reader would too.

Obviously Minerva is the player to watch at this point. I'm reminded of one of the minor influences  on Minerva – namely, Alice of Wonderland fame. I say the core stuff earlier, but there's a bunch of that kind of thing.

Really nice how Sergio fills the half page at the end of this sequence – as I've said on twitter, it's interesting that many people have said “Most” of the comic is prose. That's not true – the majority of the book is comics. Prose just takes longer to read in the same given space. For readers, I get it, but it did grate slightly when reviewers did it. Basic fact-checking is the basic minimum.

36-39

We finally get Morrigan' dialogue in comics form – it was the first Morrigan wrote. Courier seemed the right choice.

I laughed when writing TO THE LIGHTHOUSE. No, this is not what Woolf was writing about.

40-42

Chapter 6.

The Modernists' last flourish – I was considering doing this section in the style of From the Lighthouse, with the floating perspective and virtuoso parenthesis use, but decided it wasn't worth the risk. Even if done in the parodic style, it's still a huge risk, and not necessarily one which will travel to more than a proportion of the audience. Plus, this is the Explain Everything To The Readers bit, so we really do want it to be clear.

I did consider going back to it at the last minute after I had done this take, but decided against it, in favour of a heavy smattering of Modernist injokes. Most obvious is that Orlando opens with Orlando playing around with someone's decapitated head.

43-49

And the climatic fight scene!  Where things get sillier, but also more pointed. The ironic distance is opening up again with the cards.

“It's not all fine” a flirtation with WicDiv's core “It's going to be okay”

I kind of admire Susanoo's determination to pretend it isn't all this bad.

Aud suggested the multiple panels on 43 to show the disappearing of the light, which is a good call.

I also feel a little iffy about the quasi-Wells of Urdr – he's a mess of faults, and certainly was fond of many of these ideas, but he also was an avowed pacifist. I suspect he's the flip of Woolf – she got her hero spotlight in Uber, and now we get a twisted take. He appears like he does here, murdered after he gets in over his head while not realising what was actually happening, and is someone considerably more heroic in Spangly New Thing. But you'll have to wait for that, right?

Set's blowing of them apart is A+. And the dagger-twist of the core quote of Room of One's Own is... well, it's hyperbolic, but if you read Room, it's absolutely there. Room is an economic argument as much as anything else.

The final sequence being a Keaton-stunt married to pure-cinema-magic train creation (a nod towards the famous L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat which reputedly had people running out the cinema as they thought a train was going to hit them).  Metaphorically, a lot of people were like Baal here. They got run over too.

There were some dialogue tweaks here to ensure clarity – Minerva's “Goodbye Set” to ensure it was clear it was Set who was alive.

50-52

Chapter 7!

If I went the FULL HOMAGE route, if Chapter 6 was going to be a To The Lighthouse homage, the first section of this would have been written as a screenplay while the second bit would be written like a propaganda news report. Ultimately, I don't think we needed to disrupt the reader any more than we already did.

Especially as clarity here is absolutely the key thing – we have a statement in Chapter 6 of what Set/Baal thought they were doing... and now we have a different reading presented by Ananke to the gods of light and then ANOTHER reading of what Woden thought he was going on with the Zeitgeist which is then immediately undercut by Ananke.

The key thing was making the mystery of it as plain as possible – we give you what we can, and then underline the fact “Perhaps someone will work it out” of it.

(Minor detail here, ala Alice – Woden gets  Lovecraftian nod with the Colour Out Of Space)

Ananke's last lines came to me as wrapping it up, and one of those “Yes, this is exactly how to end this)

I suspect for all the monstering of the modernists, there's more of a fundamental ambivalence than you expect. If given a choice between Art Elitism and fascism or populist arts and advanced consumerism, I'd choose the latter... but doesn't mean the latter is ideal, especially when it's clear how all the gods of light have been played as much as the literary gods. As always with WicDiv, we're not really interested in easy answers.

53-54

And once more we return.

Back tomorrow, where Mothering Invention kicks off.

Thanks for reading.

#the wicked and the divine #WicDiv #aud koch #writer notes

[princeescaluswords]

Hi! I admire you and you n your blog! I wish to know what you think is gonna happen in TW 6b because it gives me anxiety to think they might not give Scott a fair end. Jeff said in an interview he wanted a shocking end to mark TW, that he'ld do by killing Scott. He is apparenlty not bringing back Kira. And Tyler P said in another interview that he thought they would give another relationship for Scott or a Romeo n Juliet final as in him dying with his girlfriend. I'm dead worried! do you think?

*Blushing*  Thanks.

I have several thoughts about your very interesting question.   Pardon me if I engage in some speculation without evidence and some production bashing.

Jeff may have said that in the past, but as fellow commentator @bigskydreaming pointed out, what would be shocking about Scott dying?  He has already died three times in the show (Alpha Pact 3x11; Time of Death 4x08; and Status Asthmaticus 5x10).  Only once was it a violent death, but still, a ‘shocking end’ would require there to be something new about it.

The show also doesn’t seem to think that Scott dying is a particularly important event, considering how little time they spent on those events – the ‘darkness’ disappeared after two episodes, Time of Death resolved itself in an episode, and it took Scott 17 episodes (17!) to mention he died after Status Asthmaticus.  Note: this makes five times in two seasons its been mentioned, and twice was for humor.  If they think that another death by violence is going to shock the audience, I think they’re not paying attention to their own story.  (This could happen).  As you can tell, I’m not a fan of how they treat Scott’s deaths as a plot device.  It’s exploitation.

The only way to make this death shocking would require one of the three things.  It would have to happen before the series finale – which negates the idea of it as a trade mark of the end – in order to demonstrate that it is permanent.  It would have to be betrayal (but they already did this with Liam and Theo).  Or it would have to be a suicide (which they’ve touched on before and your original question remarked upon).  But I think that it is highly unlikely with the way MTV treats the show – having the main character commit suicide is not what MTV paid for.

What I suspect is more likely is another transformation that completes the narrative arc of the show – ever since the first episode, Scott has been dragged farther and farther away from what he envisioned himself to be. In season 1, he had to deal with the fact that he was a werewolf.  In season 2, he had to deal with the fact that this transformation altered his basic relationships with other people (Stiles, his mother, Allison).  In season 3, he became an alpha not because he wanted to but because he had to and he had to learn to utilize that power.  In season 4, he very nearly succumbed to the urge to violence that is part of having power and being a werewolf, culminating (and symbolized by) his Berserkerization.  In season 5, he had to struggle with the burdens of a leadership he didn’t want – such as judging Stiles and bearing the weight of his failures.   Season 6a was a wash. 

What 6B could do, if they wanted to be shocking, is to complete the process.  Scott has salvaged at least part of what he wanted from life, but I can imagine different scenarios where he lost this as well.   It could be a Romeo and Juliet thing, but it wouldn’t be Scott giving up his life, but giving up his humanity. 

As a side note – given the situation, I don’t think it would necessarily have to be a girlfriend.   Hell – it could even be Theo.  (No, I don’t ship them.  I just admit the possibility).

#teen wolf #teen wolf meta #teen wolf season 6

[a-weird-blog-in-general]

Heathers/ITH Au

What do ya know it’s another AU. Look, this one was waiting on the back burner, and now it’s done. So sit back, relax and watch me delve into this.

So they way I’ve got it is this: 

It starts off pretty much like Heathers, with a few changes (to both canons, actually):

Sonny would be our Veronica, and a 16-yr junior, while pretty much everyone else is a senior; it does cause conflict, everyone he knows is graduating and getting out and he’s gonna be alone, further fuel for the “I hate school fire.”

Nina (17) could be Martha, closest friend Sonny who’s really smart, and she would have a crush on Benny

Benny (18) and Lincoln (17)  could be Ram and Kurt, respectively, minus the assholeness; they fit the same arc (somewhat, obvs. some things will have to be redacted), just not the character. They’re both trying to fit in by being on the football team; Benny because he comes across as a tough guy, why wouldn’t he be on the team? And Lincoln because he’s trying to please his father. They’re just going along with what the rest of the team expects to not be socially shunned (Lincoln especially).

Usnavi (20) doesn’t fit into a character (besides being a parental figure); he’s there for comfort, to provide Sonny advice (doesn’t always work). Looks after Sonny with Abuela Claudia (though Chip probably does most of the work). Usnavi’s been crushing on Vanessa for ‘about two years, hasn’t taken any initiative of course, for reasons (coughagecough). He still runs the bodega, and Sonny still works shifts there.

Pete’s kind of like J.D.? (hear me out); Pete’s got this friend who has the more “unstable” personality and mental traits. The two of them together create the whole J.D character, Pete being the part that genuinely cares for Sonny and doesn’t like society, the “friend” the part that deals with all their problems by blowing them up. Oh and Pete’s 18, the friend 19

And of course, the queens: Vanessa (17), Daniela (18), and Carla (17). They’re the Salon Girls (always hanging out at some salon, their bags have enough stuff to be a mobile one). They act the way they to fit in expectations; do they really want to be such bitches? Not really, but it keeps them on top. Vanessa-H. Chandler, Daniela-H. Duke, Carla-H.Mcnamara

And then we move onto a plot I’ve conceived for this.

The girls take Sonny under their wing because he manages to talk their way out of a problem and make him a pretty boy. (But he’s not getting rid of the hat, no one can do that).

Sonny meets Pete first at a shop, probably at Usnavi’s bodega, Pete there freezing his brain, lowkey flirtation starts, and then Sonny's introduced to Pete's friend, who is acting shady af. And they hang out until Usnavi comes in and asks if they’re gonna pay for all those drinks (and lowkey get away from my cousin you look like gang members so please back off). Sonny introduces Pete to Usnavi, and Usnavi is suspicious™.

The girls try to get Sonny to get Nina to embarrass herself at a party at one of the homecoming party at some dude’s house. Sonny denies them at first, and the girls are like “Sure, do what you want. Just don’t come crying to us when everybody hates you.” Benny ends up inviting Nina anyway.

Doesn’t matter much, because Benny and Lincoln are there to defend her

Sonny, drunk and high af (Usnavi would be disappointed), is having a good time and he brought Pete along (Pete’s just uncomfortable he’d rather be tagging a wall). The girls are about to pull some sick joke on Nina, so Sonny confronts them and vomits on Vanessa’s shoes. Sonny drags Pete with him when he runs out of the party. Benny and Lincoln take Nina home.

The whole “Dead Girl Walking” thing doesn’t happen (yet?). Sonny’s drunk and high (not a healthy combination) and Pete’s not drunk enough to just do something like that with Sonny, no matter how much Sonny insists it’s okay. Both of them are not in the most stable mental place right now to make that decision and deal with the repercussions. The end up agreeing that they have a thing (whatever that could be), but they’re not going to deal with the have stuff yet.

"Pete, I'm probably gonna die tomorrow, both socially and physically, so I really want to take our relationship up like three levels." "wat."

The next day, Sonny and Pete go over to apologize to Vanessa about last night (for moral and ethical reasons), and Pete's friend comes along (they weren’t invited, and want to be involved in something). The friend pulls off the switch drink with cleaning solution, but Pete notices and slaps the drink out of Vanessa’s hand (a bit too late; she did drink some of it)

Vanessa ends up in a coma. And Usnavi is not happy with that no no. Now all Usnavi knows is that Sonny was invited to some party, not everything that followed. Sonny doesn't want to say anything because a)Last person at the scene of the crime and b)He'll have to explain everything else and Usnavi already doesn't like Pete and hates the friend.The event is painted as a failed suicide and generates sympathy for Vanessa. It also provides an opening for Daniela to take control of the Salon Girls. Sonny's not dealing with any of this well, and while Pete is trying to be a source of comfort, but the friend is making it apparent that they like Sonny at the same time.

Kinda inconvenient timing, seeing that Sonny and Pete at this point are kind of a thing.

Some rumor starts up that Sonny's gay (and a little something else that I won’t say now) and it's high school people are fucking rude and they bash on him for it. Lincoln ends up coming up to him and they have a little heart to heart conversation where Lincoln comes out as gay and Sonny really appreciates the support (Sonny feels this isn’t something he can turn to Usnavi for). Nina pops up too and they both help Sonny sort through what’s going on.

The friend, on the other hand, manages to convince Sonny that they can socially attack whoever started the rumor (all they know is that it was someone on the football team) and bury away Sonny’s social stigma. Pete’s already in on it so Sonny agrees, but he’s not buying the "Ich Luge" bullets bullshit. But Pete’s not questioning anything so Sonny reluctantly goes with it. (The basically called two “random” guys from the team to have them fake a suicide pact, bringing them under the premise that the Salon girls wanted to see them). Sonny’s supposed to keep the guys in a certain spot until the friend fires the gun. Turns out it’s Lincoln and Benny. Sonny tries to subtly tell them to run, but Lincoln gets shot before the message is received and Benny books it. And what does the friend do? Straight up shoots Sonny.Sonny ends up in the hospital, and Usnavi’s so worried and he’s asking all these questions and Sonny just can’t take it and breaks down. But he still doesn’t say anything to Usnavi (boi just talk to your cousin). All he really manages to say is “Cuz, I think I fucked up.”

Usnavi’s not having any of this first Vanessa now Sonny wtf is going on. And Sonny’s not helping with Usnavi’s parental anxiety.

It’s when Sonny gets back to school that Lincoln actually died and he’s just living in a panic cause shit he and the other guys go to the same school how the hell am I going to avoid them? Cause he doesn’t want to see either of them because they’re both bad news and he’s done with everybody’s bullshit. Not to mention he blames himself in a way for Lincoln’s death.

Nina is not okay. She’s just so sad and lost. She goes to Benny (those two have been growing closer), and Benny kinda spills that Sonny was there when Lincoln “died.” Nina goes to confront Sonny about what Benny said, but he refuses to say anything and Nina’s particular dislike and eventual resentment of Sonny grows; he's acting weird and he's not answering her questions (she needs answers please just help her). She almost tries to commit suicide but Benny’s there to help her.

Sonny does run into Pete, and while he’s unsure about everything, the two patch up and manage to get on some level ground.

The friend, however, thinks they did nothing wrong and Sonny is being unreasonable. I poisoned a girl and killed a guy for you and you still won’t go out with me?The friend breaks into Sonny’s room, detailing the plan to blow up the school (Pete’s already there setting up the bombs). 

Fighting time! Sonny and Pete gang up on the friend and they end up getting shot (taste of your own medicine you jerk). But now what to do with the bomb? Pete got the bomb out while Sonny was distracted, and is determined™ to blow up with it. Sonny obviously ain’t having that and literally they have a fight over the bomb until the friend comes up and just holds them all together before taking the bomb. But he doesn’t back up and it goes off too close.

But everything’s okay because while badly injured they still manage to stay alive and with the troublemaker gone we can try to patch things up and bring things back to normal. Vanessa wakes up after the social hierarchy is broken down, so she can just relax. Nina gets her acceptance letter into Standford, Benny manages to convince Mr. Rosario to give him a job at their dispatch (I think you see where this is going).

#ah dear god the length is killing me

[ah17hh]

Upvote my ultra instinct Satanic plot gai'z via /r/satanism

Upvote my ultra instinct Satanic plot gai'z

I had to share this with someone because what a coincidence, all my "friends" are part of this plot I have because they're sons of a bitches and never appreciated me or all I did for them so now imma make them suffer after a month and a half of blocking them.

For context basically some time ago my friends basically left me in the lurch saying I was acting too grumpy from being single too long. They made no attempts to help me alleviate that, they rarely would even talk to me, just bad friends. Now mind you ive known these guys for years, I know how they operate but I didn't think they were that selfish. Well I can be selfish too. And when I do it it's righteous and perfect.

But that isn't even why I'm mad at them, I'm mad because at some juncture in-between that time, I DID find a new girlfriend but surprise surprise, she was a cunt. That's nothing new. What is new is the way she just fawned over my friends but treated me like shit. Usually they hate them or are at least neutral, and it's not jealously because I wanted her to be friends with them, but not be like "oh he's so smart and funny and and and, but you're a dumbass tee-hee" fucking slut. So we got in an argument about something I don't remember, and she pulled the well why don't you just dump me then so I immediately said fine I will and blocked her ass. Oh she was upset (supposedly...) She was like im cutting myself again, I'm suicidal, I'm so sorry I need you, all this bullshit but it does appeal to my ego so I said ok fine you're unblocked. Then she fucking ghosts me for two weeks. So she was about to hang herself two days blocked but could go two weeks without talking to me?

Now I'm mad that she DIDNT kill herself.

Anyway, so all of this snowballs into how none of my friends were there for me when i needed them, one in particular has the hots for said whore ex which I wouldn't even care if I was getting something out of it, but they think im just their bitch lackey who shouldn't expect anything and am here to hear their bullshit, so I Thanos snapped all of them for a month and a half because honestly fuck them. I never wanna speak to them again, frankly I still don't but I'm still pissed and I can hold a grudge FOREVER I'm not even kidding. I remember one ex I harassed for three years, proud of it, she had to get a fucking court order to make me stop. I'm not someone to fuck with. They fucked with me, they gotta pay.

For a month or so i obviously didnt know how to make them pay, than it...golden dawned (HUH HUH HUH PUN) on me. Cause unrelated I was getting really sick of Christians shitting up every /pol/ thread, twitter, Tumblr, with their bad arguments and shaming cuck tactics that is the last thing I want to hear. So as you may or may not know denying the holy spirit is the only unforgivable sin in Christianity. It's right in The Bible.

I'm gonna pretend like im willing to forgive them all on one condition, that they verbally, all together in one fell swoop group call one by one deny the Holy spirit and commit the most grevious of sins. See they're all soft atheists, but they're also pussies. Just the CONCEPT of doing that will fuck with their heads. Basically they gotta make a soul pact with me.

Which than syke bitches, God won't forgive you this time and neither will I and immediately block them all again and let that just kinda fester away at their core.

I think it's a pretty damn good plan. Deliciously dastardly even.

Submitted July 19, 2020 at 06:06PM by Giovannilevel via reddit https://ift.tt/2CjrUV6

#IFTTT #reddit

[goodshitpostedhere]

Bernie's Defeat Shows Why Socialism Doesn't Work

Senator Bernie Sanders, berated his staff, forced female staffers to sleep in the same rooms as men, exposed them to sexual harassment, spread hate, allied with terrorists, all to win two elections he lost. The only thing the socialist got out of his failed campaigns was membership in the 1 percent. That and memories of flying around the country and the world on private jets, and his three homes, and bulging bank accounts paid for by an army of gullible idiots who believed in his cause more than he did. Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren could be locking up the Democrat nomination right now. Instead they wasted $300 million and lost to a crooked senile hack who can barely complete a sentence. The two socialist candidates had raised the most money directly and through PACs, $182 million for Bernie, $151 million for Warren, had the most passionate supporters, and the best media coverage. Why then did these two sprightly septuagenarian socialists lose? Because they’re socialists. Socialists believe in redistributing other people’s things, but fiercely cling to their own. The greediest people in the world are lefties. The two socialist senators were full of big ideas for what to do with other people’s money, but don’t touch their homes and their millions. And don’t redistribute their voters. When other Democrats dropped out and united behind Biden, Bernie and Warren couldn’t make way for each other. Even when Warren dropped out, she refused to endorse Bernie, dooming him to defeat. Bernie and Warren were running on the same basic issues. When Warren refused to endorse Bernie, it was a suicide bombing that not only blew up his campaign, but took down her own platform with it. It wasn’t about the issues. Bernie and Warren were really motivated by greed and ego. Neither Warren nor Bernie could do what all the other candidates in the race did, drop out and endorse somebody else. The socialists stayed in and doomed each other in a political suicide pact because they were too petty and greedy to overcome their differences for a higher cause. That’s how socialism dies. Socialists pretend that they want everyone else to sacrifice for the greater good, but they never do. The Soviet Union’s Communist leadership reacted to Chernobyl by moving radioactive dairy products away from Moscow and to other parts of the country. China’s Communist leadership dealt with the coronavirus by lying to their people and to the rest of the world to maintain their regime’s credibility. The EU has descended into infighting in every crisis, from Muslim mass migrant invasions to the coronavirus, over who has to make the sacrifices. New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted on going to the gym, with an NYPD detail, while others were told to practice social distancing. Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot decided to get her hair cut even as the city’s small businesses were being closed down. It’s easy for politicians to tell ordinary people to sacrifice while they live it up Masque of the Red Death style during a plague. But what happens when a trolley problem of two top socialist politicians arrives, and they have to decide which of them makes the sacrifice for the greater good? The answer is deeply revealing. Socialist leaders won’t sacrifice for each other. Not for the sake of their cause. Or for anything. Ideology didn’t unite Bernie and Warren. Instead, one by one, the two socialist politicians were forced to drop out, leaving both of them alone with nothing. Socialism doesn’t unite us. It divides and isolates us. Like the Chinese Communist virus. Socialism doesn’t work because instead of the noble altruistic leaders the ideology calls for, it actually attracts meanspirited and greedy control freaks who use it to set up their own private fiefdoms. Once implemented, actual socialism never turns into a utopia of angels, disdainful of materialism, but descends into a hell of demons who fight each other over the last stale cookie on a tarnished plate. That’s why idealistic revolutions end in cycles of purges fueled by ego, malice, and greed. Bernie and Warren couldn’t put each other up against a wall, so they had to settle for the next best thing. He brought down her campaign and then she brought down his campaign. Neither would serve in heaven and won’t even have the opportunity, like Milton’s Satan, or Stalin and Mao, to rule in hell. Before the two of them become footnotes in electoral history, there is a question they should answer. How dare they demand that everyone else sacrifice for the greater good, when neither of them would? Where did these two socialists get the chutzpah to lecture Americans on everything from how much deodorant they use to how much taxes they pay? Where is their commitment to redistribution? Bernie Sanders quadrupled his net worth since he began plotting to run for president in 2012. He made his millions from his national profile. And he also used that profile to funnel money to family members. Every time he ran for President on a platform of taking away everyone’s money, he came away richer. Why did Bernie take so long to drop out? Because even ActBlue idiots wouldn’t go on paying for his private jets if he dropped out. It took a pandemic and the effective shutdown of the election for the scam to end. If it wasn’t for the Chinese Virus, Bernie would have dragged it out to the last million. But there’s no private jet flights paid for by ActBlue donors to the Vatican in a pandemic. Bernie’s campaign slogan, “Not Me, Us”, was the biggest lie since, “Hope and Change.” It was always about “Me”. It was about Bernie, his book deals, his houses, his private jets, his interviews, and his fame. At his age, he knows that he will probably never run again and never cash in again. None of that makes Bernie a hypocrite. Worse. It makes him a socialist. Bernie Sanders has spent his entire miserable life figuring out a way to make money without working. The socialist lifestyle of collective farms wasn’t for him. He wanted to get into politics because he’s lazy, narcissistic, a control freak, abusive, greedy, and incompetent. Those character traits left him with two options: Hollywood and Washington D.C. And Bernie is a bad actor who can only memorize a few lines. His career was built on pandering to the same radicals when he first got into politics and when he tried to crawl into the White House. Along the way he completely changed his views on any number of issues from immigration to gun control. But he never stopped figuring out how to cash in on his politics. And now he’s done it. Bernie leaves his great socialist crusade as a 1 percenter, a millionaire with three homes, despite accomplishing absolutely nothing. Socialism isn’t real for ordinary people, but it’s real for socialists. “Not Me, Us”, Bernie claimed. What have the “Us” gotten out of the Bernie campaign beyond the opportunity to pay for all his stuff? The same thing anyone gets under socialism: the privilege of paying for the lifestyles of their leaders. Socialism isn’t about helping people. It’s about helping socialists. Between the two of them, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, brought down the socialist cause. But nobody destroys socialism like socialists. It was the Communists who really brought down the USSR and if the EU and Communist China’s leadership fall to the pandemic, it will also be entirely their own doing. Lefties have always been the great destroyers of their own movements. Bernie and Warren followed in that proud tradition, sacrificing their own movement to their greed and egos, and leaving the dumpster fire of their campaigns with millions in book payments from the very corporations that they condemn. And if you think they were a grifting disaster, wait until Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez runs for president.

SOURCE:: http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2020/04/bernies-defeat-shows-why-socialism.html

[isaacathom]

i dont /think/ the politics of the setting plays a huge role in the story, barring the effect it has on characters in a cultural sense (mostly re: Rien and Warzen). not unless the gang kidnaps a princess or something. it could play interestingly into the whole two gangs thing.

 since most of the story is spent tracking down Rien’s gang (Gang A) and then after the revelation that Saval was a Huge Fucking Liar, it swaps to the group trying to track her down (both for answers and because shes still a criminal and she straight up escaped). and maybe even that was tied into the plot. That Saval’s whole point, really, was to sufficiently distract the city/royal guard from focusing on the Hounds of Fovenis and making out Gang A to be the big villains. so the guard devotes its resources to fucking over Gang A, while the Hounds get ready for the real heist - royalty. while the guards off fucking around with random Gang A necromancers, they can just waltz in and kidnap members of the royal family and demand that $$$. a flawless plan.

except then Saval get found out. because one of the members of Gang A turning themself over and helping bring them down was not on the cards. Rien was a complete unknown factor. Koci and her justice god were unknown factors (sort of). Warzen was definitely an unknown factor, because Saval didn’t know he existed (cause, yknow, separate jails). and Saval didn’t get any pre-knowledge about Rien being an issue until Rien was supposedly murdered (the Hounds had faulty information - they assumed Amali was Rien) and Rien was chucked in the guys jail anyway. so. yknow. cool.

so Saval gets found out to be a liar. That she’s not from Gang A. how they figure out she’s a Fovenis plant instead is... hmm. not sure on that front yet. maybe its just simple process of elimination - if she’s not a member of Gang A, but she had all of this information, she was probably a Hound, and so forth.

so Saval fucking bolts. she fucked up real bad. they were almost ready to get big, but now theyre going to be under scrutiny. so she thinks, a) save my own ass and b) save my gangs ass. she leaves a trail. she plans to lure them out of the city if she can. get as much of the royal guard trying to track her down as possible. commit a bunch of random and dangerous crimes to make her a credible threat to society, etc. what else can she do???

but Saval probably falters. she’s spent a solid while with this specific group, the main cast. theyre friendly. they trusted her. and that was stupid of them. theyre stupid. but they were like... genuine about it. yknow? like they were neat. she liked hanging out with them.

and so of course the people that end up finding her are her friends. and after some fighting, she cracks. she ““accidentally”” outs the Hounds plan to kidnap royalty, which would send the region into some reaaaal chaos. cause. yknow. royalty??? especially if theres an assassination involved. which there likely is. the hounds dont fuck around. like their plan is basically to murder most of the royal family and scarper with a princex or two. everyone scrambles. the south rises. all that fun shit. makes sense to me that the hounds might be southern aligned.

then i guess the group (preferably + saval, but the logistics of that are.... complicated? disguises are possible though) races back to foil it. i dont know if they were fully succeed in that. someone probably does get straight up murdered. but they manage to mostly foil it. 

the alternative, at least in part, is to have Saval be directly betrayed by one of the Hounds. Flat out betrayed. set up. she was the fall guy. the plan, as far as she knew, was that the Hounds were going to break her out of jail just before the plan went into action, and she’d return into the fold seamlessly. that they’d put her back in her rightful spot. that she’d be back in control instead of at their whims (since her spot as the plant relies on the other hounds to do their jobs properly). and then they just dont? or something? she thought she’d be rewarded for her service to a gang she was literally born into, and that were her family, and they declined. they had no intention of breaking her out. she’d served her purpose. maybe before this mission she’d failed. she’d made mistakes. and they’d framed this mission, the long haul Gang A Plant, as a way for her to return to their good graces. but it was a suicide mission the whole time. a dead end. she wasn’t getting out.

the issue with that is that, while it basically makes sense, especially if they think lowly of Saval’s skills, is that idk how to like.... have that come up. as a way to fully convince Saval to help. without it, Saval’s only motive to urn on the Hounds is her friendship with the group, and that wouldn’t get them far enough as to convince her to fight with them against the Hounds. it would convince her to ““accidentally”” spoil the plot. which is tantamount to a full betrayal but idk, maybe they wouldnt figure out she’d done it. i mean she IS fucked either way. cause she failed. plus betrayal, ooh baby, she’s a dead ‘un, yknow? so maybe they could convince her. Rien would be a good candidate for doing that, since Rien is the only other person who is actually like, a Proper Crim (unlike Koci “i didnt want this” Farmer and Warzen “I just wanted to revive some friends” Eliodan) and would figure out how it works. besides, rien did basically experience what Saval will. if the Hounds let Saval back in, they’d execute her not long after. They’d send her to a routine job and then cap her in the head. Rien literally just had that happen (except Rien didn’t die, obviously, but the general event remains the same).

so Rien, presumably having basiiiically forgiven Saval for unwittingly setting up Rien to get murdered (its complicated), convinces Saval that if she thinks the Hounds will reward her for this, then shes the fucking idiot, not them. Because they won’t. If they don’t just kill her at the start, they’ll quietly dispose of her while she’s asleep, or while she’s on the open road. They’ll dispose of her. Failure is unacceptable to them, and Saval failed. So basically Saval’s only options are to Run, or to turn herself in and hope that the police can keep her safe.

Saval takes both. Saval agrees to help them get thwart the Hounds’ plan, and while everyone’s like, celebrating or some shit, she slips away. makes sense.

i think that would pretty much work? theres nothing wrong with the story being a smaller scale, but having Saval be the final boss would be.... weird. because she’d be really obviously less powerful than the other 4. they’d win. it wouldnt be challenging in any way. it would keep the story more.... like, personal, and thats fine too, right. i like that sometimes. but i feel like it needs a little more. plus, i could likely tie in the whole thing with the royalty with Koci. since she still has a pact in the air. the god fulfilled their end (p much), now its Koci’s turn. or something! im gonna have to think about it. esp since justice isnt omniscient and wouldnt know the royals are in danger for any certainty. maybe the pact is a bit more vague. like “if you enact justice. we’ll be good” “what the fuck does that mean” “uhhh do good things. protect people. right wrongs. save lives and shit” “arent i already doing that???” “yea but you gotta balance out what i did for you. equivalent and stuff” “huh.”

cause i guess the thing is that, without Koci knowing her pact, she probably would never do enough. its likely that if she switched too many times, they stop letting her leave, and now she cant even DO any justice. so she couldnt break her pact, and so forth. and if she knows her pact is to like. right wrongs and shit, or something, then she can convince them to let her keep coming along despite the risks, because it migh also set her free. and stuff? yea. especially as she communicates more w/ her god and they start working together more effectively. or something. again pacts are unclear as shit.

like i guess the issue with Koci’s pact is that not only was she brought back to life, BUT also that this happened so she could destroy the cultists. and then she went further. and it got a bit messy. and justice was lost. idk. maybe justice’s pact was basically ‘ill kill the cultists if you fuck over some people who have wronged me’ ‘do you know who they are?’ ‘not really’ ‘oh dude thanks youre a great help’.

idk. justice might be hard to work in to it in a way that feels satisfying or that couldnt happen without her knowing the pact. perhaps vengeance would be better? then its like, ok, i helped you get revenge. now help ME get revenge. but because Koci can’t talk to them (yknow, language barriers), Koci can’t do that. she can’t find the right people. but once they start talking, Koci figures out she can probably get what they want by continuing to do this whole main gang thing. the people they want fucked over are PROBABLY part of Gang A, right? she’ll work hard to keep fucking them up! and so the god agrees, because that makes sense, and gives her more control, which allows her to stay in the group (without the control, she’s a liability. with the control, she’s an asset) to work towards the goal.

except they arent part of Gang A. because Gang A just... doesnt do that? probably necromancy stuff. ok correction, they do, they do have a necromancer, but one who started doing that AFTER the Koci incident and therefore after the pact. and was not the goal. rather, their goal was someone from the Hounds. who i guess gets involved with the whole palace thing??? uh. ok this isnt Great. i do need to find a way to connect Koci’s pact to the story though. I’ll think more on that laaaaer??? hh

#story blogging #cano fe yula #for later - work on koci's pact

[constantinepayne]

💦😘😊👍💯💬👠💗🌼🏩💔💋💘

💦 At what age did my muse lose their virginity?

16.

😘 Would my muse have sex on the first date?

Well, it depends on your definition of what a “date” is... But under the right circumstances, probably; however, Constantine is prudent about who he sleeps with, in spite of it not appearing that way. He’s strategic about it, but for the most part it’s not emotionally driven. 

😊 Would my muse ever ask someone on a date?

Everyone not Emory: Of course.Emory: Fuck no.

👍 Does my muse prefer to be asked on a date, or would they rather do the asking?

Both, but if Constantine wants something specifically, he will do the asking.

💯 What is my muse’s ideal date?

Something adventurous. He wants something unique and unexpected. Anything that has to do with travelling, he will be pleased. 

💬 When did my muse go on their first date?

It would have been with his potential dominant, but Constantine didn’t see a point to it and postponed it. Before they could reach the next available time, they were sent to Iran for their final training mission and that’s when everything went side-ways. 

Oddly enough, I believe his first real date (instead of just having it be a transaction process) was actually with one of the people he slept with in exchange for something. Dr. Tarin Adler mentored him in the psychiatry field, but before that, they went out for dinner a week after they had slept together. If Con was being honest, he was a bit interested in him, but Adler was and still is the one that has more commitment issues that Constantine will ever have in his entire lifetime. They still communicate occasionally.

👠 What was my muse’s last serious relationship like?

Emory is his only serious relationship. xD The only other one that could possibly qualify was with Alaric Li. That wasn’t as much of a serious relationship as it was a frequent fling, but they do respect and have fun with each other. 

💗 Has my muse ever been in love?

He’s getting closer to it, and he’s becoming self-aware.

🌼 Would my muse prefer a big wedding or a small wedding?

You’re hilarious. If he had to choose between the two, the smallest elopement ever.

🏩 What was my muse’s first time like?

It was a painful experience, but probably one that he would appreciate much more now than for a first time. Rupin was not gentle with him. He was behind Constantine, back to chest, with Constantine pinned against the wall. He was far from sober during this, as that was the only way Con could convince him to do this. In spite of the pain, though, he didn’t say a word during it. He bit his tongue so hard that it bled a little. Again, it wasn’t the most pleasant time to start off with. 

First time topping was much better. That was with Tarin, and that whole time was basically Tarin helping Constantine explore what he personally liked instead of just going with the flow for the sake of ulterior motives. 

💔 What was my muse’s first heartbreak?

Hm. I guess with Tarin, there was a slight tinge of annoyance when Tarin made it clear that they couldn’t go further with each other. I wouldn’t qualify that has a heart-wrenching moment, though, but it did sting at the time.

💋 How many people has my muse slept with?

Ehm. More than 10, for sure. In the time that I have played Constantine, the number of characters (that haven’t been mine) he has slept with totals to 5 (I think! I lost track, honestly. He has banged all of Etienne’s male characters with the exception of Idris, but we make that up with AUs.) I’ll give a conservative total of 14. 

💘 What are the ways my muse says ‘I love you’ without actually saying it?

“I hate you. You know that, right?”“I’ll clean up your mess. Happy?”“Just remember that I’m not part of your suicide-pact.”

Non-verbal

Stolen glances

Subtle smirk/smile

Laughing

#I love doing these. I can't help it #headcanons #inboxday #anon