#they’re incredibly powerful and also incredibly secretive. in order to fully commit themselves to their holy duty their memories are sealed

[hawnks]

Spiritual opposite of junji ito wet dog

#every day I have to stop and ask myself if something I’m adding in is too much #should I reel it in? #no I’m having fun <3 #I have FINALLY settled on what Evie’s actual role in the military is #she’s a part of this organization of sorcerers and witches trained to be like… the Heroes of their country #they’re incredibly powerful and also incredibly secretive. in order to fully commit themselves to their holy duty their memories are sealed #so they are like killing machines basically #and then there’s Evie. a little tiny woman who walks with a limp #who’s paperwork list her magical aptitude as ‘empath’ #and everyone’s like how the fuck did u end up here #except for Crow who’s like oh wow your life sucks. come back to my home and I’ll hand feed you grapes :)

[marmarparadoxa]

Concerning the Warriors - Reiner, Annie, Bertholdt

“You were still ignorant children...and all of that was beaten into you by ignorant adults. You were just a child. What could you have done to fight that? Your environment. Your history.”

Nowadays, we’re assisting at the global mass-genocide that is exterminating every living being on the planet. This genocide has been determined and chosen by Eren, a single man, out of his personal, adamant convinction that that is the only practicable path.

However, this is not the first time that we’re assisted at something like that. Right from the very start, the Colossus and the Armor Titan, opening a breach in the most external ring of walls in Paradis, led Pure Titans to enters the walls, which resulted in the slaughtering of tons of people living in Wall Maria area. After that, Paradis people faced a severe food crisis, resulting in a further thinning of their population. In other words, what Reiner, Bertolt and Annie have committed, in their mission to retaking the Founder Titan, could easily be described as a partial genocide of Paradis inhabitants. 

However, they were just children (precisely, they were about 11-12 y.o.). Even after discovering the truth about their identity, I don’t truly realized it until their mission was showed from Reiner pov, showing us Marcel’s death, and how they managed to reach the walls from the coast where they have been left by Marley’s army. 

Right from their childhood, they were raised in an oppressive environment, taught about the crimes of the past Eldian empire, led to hate the devils of the island, told that they were nothing like them.

They were trained to be perfect warriors, capable of perpetuating mass murder actions, not only against the devils of Paradis, but also against any other nations with whom Marley had the pleasure of going to war. And they did everything that they were asked to do. They attacked other nations, subdued their populations, increasing the power of Marley empire.

They were still ignorant children, raised and educated by ignorant adults. How could they have done otherwise, in such environmental conditions, given their history? And anyway, they were raised in such conditions, which would have prevented a full understanding of the meaning of their actions, of the cruelty of all the death they brought, right? How could they fight that?

The environment that surrounds you in your life, the “nurture” would affect who you’ll be. No one can escape that, we’re all subjected to this kind of influences, this is just the normalcy for every person. Moreover, that kind of influences is even stronger in your infancy, years when the environmental stimuli have a major impact of human subjects, both in cognitive, both in emotional terms. However, I think that speaking about a deterministic impact, one that would affect you leaving no room for personal thoughts, feelings and resistance, is grossly simplistic. And if we’re speaking about killing people, all in the name of your motherland, there’s no way one can simply cut things like that.

How could the warriors, even if still that young, agree to slaughter mass of people without giving it a thought, just because someone has told them that they’re devils, or that they are their enemies of war? How could someone do something like that without even try to oppose to that, or worse, thinking that all of that is right?

By choosing to become Warriors, and then managing to become one of them, they were allowed to lead a privileged life in Marley’s nation, they were able to improve their own social position and that of their families. We don’t know much about Bertoldt, but Reiner’s case shows us fully the self-serving range of the motivations that he had to do what he did. He never thought about improving the social standing of Eldian people to the eyes of the rest of the world, he has never had great aims in mind. He just wanted to bring happiness to his lonely mother, to live in an happy family. Mostly, he wanted to “save the world”, to be a hero, because he just wanted people to respect him.

And his mother did nothing but encouraged him in pursuing his mission, the mission that Marley has assigned to him. She always encouraged him to become a warrior, strongly believing in Marley’s ideology, and she cried with emotion and pride seeing his sons finally parading on the carriage with the other warriors, ready to go on a mission of genocide of their own contrymen devils on the other side of the sea. What a touching family scene.

And a similar thing has happened to Annie. Her adoptive father raised her forcing her to undergo a rigorous combat training, because he wanted for her to become a warrior, to improve their life conditions. However, he eventually changed his mind. Differently from Reiner’s mother, he recognized that he just wanted from his daughter to return back, and that nor being a warrior and the honors that ensued that, none of it mattered, but Annie coming back alive.

Hence, contrary to Reiner, she doesn’t disguised her motivation under the appearance of noble aspirations, like “becoming a hero” and “saving the world” from the devils.

“They’re all liars, every one of them!! They only ever think about themselves!! And I’m the same!! I need to get back alive!”

She didn’t give a shit about that stuff, she simply admitted the selfishness of her motives. When faced with their mission, she just did all of what was necessary in order to stay alive. She simply went with the flow, without trying to oppose herself against external forces.

Speaking to Marlowe, she also affirms that acting in that way is just what regular people do.

Therefore, she asks Marlowe to think of her just as human.

And then Bertholdt. He has never been the leader of the group, he has never taken the initiative. He has never given the impression of being convinced of the rightfulness of what they were doing, nevertheless, he still opened a breach in the wall, not only once, but twice, in Wall Maria and in Wall Rose. 

However, in RtS arc, these were his last thoughts before turning himself again into the Colossus titan:

“No one’s at fault here...Nothing could have made a difference. Not in a world that is this cruel.” 

So, they could have done nothing to avoid what they have done. They were forced to do all of that, by a so cruel world. There was no way to things to have been different, so no there’s no one to blame.

So, is that true? Is it reasonable to say that Reiner, Bertoldt and Annie acted just as regular people? They didn’t have the possibility to make a difference? Was it only environment and history, and their compelling forces, that obliged them to do what they did?

Of course, there’s no definitive, simple answer. They were actually just children, abandoned on an unknown island, just three kids with an incredible mission. They were raised in an envirnoment which led them to believe that the inhabitants of Paradis were devils, and no one ever contradicted this statement. However, they came to know that island, to know their inhabitants, still, they continued in their mission. In order to rule his sense of guilt, Reiner developed a dissociative disorder, splitting his personality and his memories. In that way, he manages to persevere in their mission, while still continuing to behave like a soldier.  Bertholdt and Annie, on the other hand, had to endure their sense of guilt, and somehow they continued to carry out their duty as warrior. They suffered as well. They had to go against their feelings, causing Marco’s death, in order to keep their secret.

Could they have done otherwise? Wasn’t it just environment and history in play?

I don’t think so. They chose every action that they did. They chose to kill Marco in order to preserve their lives, they chose to open a breach in the walls, causing the death of so many people, and they chose to betray their friends.  Whatever effect does your environment exerts on you, whatever flow tries to drag you, humans have still the possibility to choose (at least, this is what everyone who believes in free will thinks. Otherwise, we’re not more than deterministic machines). This is what defines the human nature, the possibility to choose according to your own judgement, and the responsibility that ensue. Hence, certainly the history, the environment determined the circumstances, but eventually it was just them, and their choices, along with their awful consequences.

Now, they’re fighting together with the Alliance. They have chosen to oppose to Eren, to the mass genocide that he’s perpetuating. It seems that there’s no possibility to fight him, that there’s no possibility to overcome such overwhelming power (according to Eren, the power of a predetermined history). But they have still chosen the most difficult path, the one of opposing to him, and they’re doing that by joining their forces with their prior enemies. They’re not forgetting their precedent sins, and there’s no way to atone for all of what they did. But now they are choosing what to fight for on their own. Now they’re going against history and environment.

#snk meta #snk #shingeki no kyojin #reiner braun #annie leonhardt #bertholdt hoover #reiner #annie #bertholdt #snk warriors #eren jaeger #eren #snk 131 #marco bodt

[sapphicsongbirdblues]

Calanthe and Eist’s Birth Charts

okay so because I’m a fucking nerd I decided to spend upwards of 6 hours a couple of weeks ago making birth charts for Calanthe and Eist, and I figured that I’d share them here since I put so much fucking work into them. 

Good to note that all of these traits are heavily influenced by @marvellouslymadmim ‘s incredible fics....

I’ve also taken the liberty to give them birthdays bahaha, and I didn’t do houses because that would have taken me an extra 10 hours so this is just the planets. It’s long so read below cut :)

Calanthe, December 23, 1218 (Sun- Mars + Rising placements)

Sun in Capricorn: center of self, other traits mix with this

Meticulous, dead-pan, practical, they get shit DONE son, very self-assured, sarcastic, need structure or they will literally fall apart (and they often do.. Although secretly), resourceful, intelligent, blunt… need I say more

Moon in Aquarius: rules emotions, moods, feelings

Observant, oftentimes considered “loners,” powerful defense mechanisms, willful, wil deny “irrational” emotions (jealousy, possessiveness, fear) in order to seem “above” others, independent, thrive off of “shock-value,” proud, don’t like “messy” emotions, can seem incredibly distant to the people closest to them, hide sensitivities very well, unpredictable, stubborn, and incredibly seductive and charming

Ascendent in Leo: the “mask” you wear, public persona

GREAT hair, cares about appearance (not necessarily out of vanity but out of an understanding that appearance can be a weapon), aware of how they are perceived, very tender and gentle with loved ones, say exactly what they think, enjoy being the center of attention… but ONLY when they choose to be

Mercury in Scorpio: planet of communication

meticulous→ gets to the bottom of EVERYTHING, great observers, suspicious, tend to focus on the negative, passionate, prone to lecturing rather than listening, however they are excellent at giving advice, better communicators when it comes to subjects that are not close to home→ have a hard time communicating needs/feelings, excellent strategizers, constructive criticism = destructive criticism (they will rip you to shreds), want to WIN conversations (and often do), defensive of people they care about, love a challenge

Venus in Pisces: planet of love and relationships

In love they are dreamy and soft, can be a little moody and irregular, hard to read, like to “feel things out” (HATE decision making), can take YEARS to commit to something/someone, want partners to know that their love is unconditional, like to save people, tender and affectionate, oftentimes hard to reach, flippant, absolutely devoted (eventually)

Mars in Scorpio: planet of sex and aggression

Lovesssss a challenge→ like to set personal goals to see if they can meet them/ bend the rules, formidable opponents, hard to read, high sexual stamina, generally get what they want in bed (ahem), possessive of partners (but will never admit it), can have a hard time compromising, great survival instincts, very protective people, show love through physical touch and sex, extrememly passionate individuals

Eist, June 26, 1219 (Sun-Mars + Rising)

Sun in Cancer: center of self

Protective, caring, nurturing, moody, led by emotions, good at hiding vulnerability but are VERY VULNERABLE, soft, self-sacrificing

Moon in Taurus: rules emotions, moods, feelings

Cherish familiarity, strong-willed, sensory, materialistic, persevering (sometimes to a fault), crave stability and often ARE that stability for others, very romantic, affectionate, sentimental, warm, enduring, hold on tight to their loved ones, loyal, serene, stubborn af, crave routine, need clear lines and boundaries

Ascendant in Pisces: “mask,” public persona, physical appearance 

Very very dreamy (and often have dreamy eyes), idealistic, go with the flow, gentle, peacemakers and peace lovers, chameleon- like persona (often can change easily to blend in with their environments socially and emotionally), can be shy or quiet but that’s because they are taking time to observe everything around them, however they loveeee to talk when the time is right, restless and searching, “feel their way through life,” rely heavily on emotions, irresistible charm, soft aura, very likeable

Mercury in Cancer: planet of communication

Communicate through feelings, sensitive, deep thinkers, can take time to respond to situations, excellent listeners, meditative and reflective, incredible memories (especially good at remembering emotional context), has a hard time letting emotions go, gentle, intuitive, sentimental, protective, soothing, nurturing, can get “lost” in another person’s way of thinking/feeling, very good with words (especially along the lines of letter writing and poetry)

Venus in Cancer: planet of love and relationships

Need commitment and predictability, sensitive, need security and care, pay more attention to their partner’s feelings than their words, excellent listeners, can be incredibly moody (especially if they don’t have an outlet for their stronger emotions), hate indifference (like indifference could literally kill them… so don’t do that), not afraid of confronting emotions, a bit anxious in love→ need reassurance, can be possessive, sentimental, tender, attached, cuddly, soft

Mars in Taurus: planet of sex and aggression

Calm and easy going, can have powerful tempers when pushed over the edge (but it doesn’t happen often), value strength and stability, need security, will spend years trying to achieve a goal, will not change their mind (like ever… well almost), immovable, extremely sensory when it comes to sex, long lasting and steady sexual stamina, not necessarily spontaneous but they stick to what they’re good at, very emotionally connected to sex (it’s never just physical)

Shared Placements (Jupiter-Pluto)

Jupiter in Scorpio: Jupiter represents the traits that bring us fortune

Incredibly emotional (but secretive about it), decisive, intense, have great will power, intuitive, creative, in control

Cal and Eist are both emotionally intelligent. They are seekers of truths and are determined in their efforts. Both like to be in control, both are led by emotions and passions rather than logic. When fully tapped into their emotions, they are unstoppable. When cultivated correctly, emotions become their most powerful tools and weapons. 

Saturn in Pisces: reveals limitations of the self

Saturn in Pisces people are incredibly helpful and are excellent caregivers; however they are not so good at directing that care towards themselves. In fact, they often shut down when someone directs pity (or what these Piscean placements deem as pity) at them. They like to be in control, so when they aren’t they become paranoid and anxious. Saturn in Pisces individuals have to work extra hard to take care of themselves-- this is one of their greatest faults.

Cal and Eist are both care-givers; they fiercely protect the people they love most. However, they have a hard time taking care of themselves, and letting others take care of them. They believe that they have the ability to protect themselves if they hold onto that self-control, but they often do not have self control as they are led primarily by emotion. Each of them needs coaxing from their loved ones to truly take care of themselves. They rely heavily on their close circles. 

Uranus in Gemini: rules friends, relationships, community, transformation, change, ideas

Uranus in Gemini people are super energetic and are incredible innovators. They are quick witted and quick tempered, often moving between emotions and ideas in moments. They are great transformers of thought, and often break traditions and taboos (rather gleefully). They hate authority, and will question it relentlessly.

Cal and Eist are both witty and intelligent people. They’re excellent strategists and politicians. Although they both perform their roles as diplomats and political leaders, they often go out of their way to subvert norms and question authority. They create new rules, they bend tradition. They hide in plain sight. 

Neptune in Virgo: to refine, planet of inspiration

Neptune in Virgo people are idealistic and detail oriented. They love to serve others, especially those in need. They value work and health and safety. They are versatile and adaptable. They are motivated by a sense of duty and helpfulness. 

Cal and Eist are excellent leaders and they truly value their positions as respective rulers of their nations. They are compassionate, though stern, and are ready to make hard decisions when it comes to issues of diplomacy. They are also quite stubborn, and oftentimes their opinions are conflated with fact. It’s important to note that the two generations following are Neptune in Libra (full of individuals who value harmony and diplomacy and justice-- ahem Pavetta), and Neptune in Scorpio (full of individuals who are secretive, profound, and enjoy solitude; people who also enjoy the search for truth and justice-- ahem Cirilla).

Pluto in Taurus: symbolizes rebirth, change, secrets

Pluto in Taurus individuals are incredibly stubborn and persistent. They value materials and will never be satisfied with the amount of resources they have. They hate change and love their way. 

Cal and Eist (and Mousesack and other characters around their age group) were born and grew up in a generation which sought, conquered, and maintained resources effectively. Cal, especially, used her strengths and her resourcefulness to protect and improve her kingdom; and for a majority of her rule maintained diplomacy without surrendering any of her power. However, the generation following Taurus is Gemini. This generation (including Cahir and Pavetta and potentially Ciri) are inquisitive and thirsty for ideas and knowledge. They are the breakers of tradition. Where Cal and Eist’s generation built and maintained some version of stability, Pavatta and Cahir’s generation destroy borders and bring about great change and innovation. 

#calanthe of cintra #eist tuirseach #calanthe fiona riannon #calanthe x eist #the witcher #birth charts #planet placements #this is peak nerd shit and my hyperfixations are showing for sure #enjoy #marvellouslymadmim

[chiseler]

Little Devils: 50 Years of Killer Kid Movies

Face it, children are just plain creepy—especially the really cute ones.

Historically—and I’m talking about going back thousands of years—we’ve always been scared to death of the children we’ve spawned. Before they’re born we worry they might be physically deformed or just a little off in the head somehow. And after they’re born and as they start to grow and think and talk, hoo boy, that’s when things really start getting scary, as you start to glean a little something about what’s going on behind those cold, staring eyes. I’m not a parent myself, but having been a kid once I fully understand the panic and fear that can grip parents as they come to better understand their kids. What if they’re no good at sports? What if they start hanging out with a bad crowd and using drugs? What if they get bullied by the other kids and take revenge by shooting up the school? Worse still, what if they decide to bludgeon us to death with a crowbar in our sleep one night? What if they turn out to be the bona fide offspring of Satan himself? What the hell do we do then? Sure, we all pretend to be shocked and dismayed when we hear news stories about some eight-year-old in Kansas or Oregon stabbing the little neighbor girl twenty times for no apparent reason, but let’s be honest—we all know what these pint-sized miscreants are capable of doing, and have simply come to expect it.

As with a few of those other fundamental adult fears, like asteroids, nuclear war, clowns and deadly plagues, over the years our fear of children has led to its own unheralded cinematic subgenre of Killer Kid movies.

While countless slasher films from Halloween onwards feature tykes with butcher knives who grow up to become adults with butcher knives, I’m focusing here on those films in which the snot-nosed killers remain snot-nosed throughout. While I could have included those rambunctious hobo youths from William Wellman’s Wild Boys of the Road (1933), those little back-to-nature wastrels from Lord of the Flies (1963) and the matricidal zombie girl with the trowel from George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968), I, um, didn’t. So sue me.

Here’s a quick chronological list of a double handful of notable features about murderous children. It’s interesting to note that as the years pass, the films themselves seem to grow less clever, endearing, original and interesting. Just like kids!

The Bad Seed (1956)

I’ve long been a big fan of that Mervyn LeRoy. As a director, he always understood the darker side of human nature, and had a sly sense of humor about it. In 1931 he directed my two favorite (and two of the bleakest) Edward G. Robinson pictures, Five-Star Final and Two Seconds. Then eight years later he directed The Wizard of Oz. I always like to think (though I’m undoubtedly wrong about this) he intended his 1956 creeper The Bad Seed as a kind of bonk on the head to those audience members who hadn’t recognized the darkness that lay at the heart of The Wizard of Oz.

Okay, Nancy Kelly plays Christine, the nightmare-plagued mother of the world’s most perfect little girl. Not only is blonde, pigtailed and always immaculately dressed Rhoda (Patty McCormack) perfect, the ten-year old knows she’s perfect. As a perfect child, she also knows what she deserves out of life and those around her, and lord help anyone who doesn’t cough it up. As time goes on, Christine  begins to suspect Rhoda may somehow be responsible for the tragic drowning of a classmate who’d recently won an award Rhoda felt she rightly deserved. And if she was responsible for that, maybe she was responsible for all those other weird deaths that have been happening all over town, too. And what the hell’s the deal with that recurring nightmare, anyway?

Although based on a stage play that was itself based on a novel, it was LeRoy’s film that would become the standard reference point and template for so many of the Killer Kid movies down the line, though few would come close to matching it.

Village of the Damned 1960

John Wyndham was a reasonably popular pulp writer in the 1930s. While his crime stories gained him the most attention at the time, these days he’s best remembered for his occasional forays into sci-fi and horror. Day of the Triffids, his end-of-the-world masterpiece about killer plants (a personal phobia) was a major hit when adapted for the big screen, but his cautionary evil kid tale Village of the Damned had a much longer reach after director Wolf Rilla got ahold of it.

Yes, we all know the story: one day everyone living in a small English village falls asleep at the same time for some unknown reason. When they awaken several hours later, all the women of child-bearing age (even the virgins!) find they’re pregnant. Weirder still, they all go into labor at exactly the same time.

Ten years later, all the kids born that day have turned out to be extremely intelligent, blond, beautiful, and emotionless. Snappy dressers though they may be, they’re also arrogant little snots who have no time for adults or other kids, and only hang out with one another all the time. They also seem to share a psychic connection, and there are hints they have some larger purpose in mind. Anyone who tries to interfere with them gets the creepy glowing eyes treatment shortly before unexpectedly committing suicide. George Sanders at the top of his game plays a rational sort who tries to get to the Bottom of what all the hell,

It remains a starkly eerie and atmospheric picture that to this day can still make you want to punch blond British pre-teens right in the face.

The film went on to spawn one lesser sequel (1964’s Children of the Damned), one superior sort-of sequel (Joseph Losey’s 1962 These Are the Damned), a 1995 remake directed by Jon Carpenter, and a Simpsons parody. My favorite bit of cultural impact, however, is that some of your more out-there paranoids have worked Village of the Damned into the Montauk Project conspiracy, claiming beautiful, blond alien/human hybrids were created in the secret government labs in the caves beneath Montauk, Long Island. These Montauk Children, as they’re called, were set out into the world as sleeper agents (though most settled in Denver for some reason), and to this day are awaiting their secret orders from above.

The Twilight Zone: “It’s a Good Life” (1961)

It was included as one of the segments in Twilight Zone: The Movie, but good as that was, there’s just no topping the original. And there’s no topping the original because back in the early Sixties Billy Mumy was the creepiest kid on the planet. Rod Serling clearly recognized this, which is why he kept casting him.

Little Anthony Freemont (Mumy) lives in a pleasant small town where everyone knows him and everyone’s really nice to him. I mean really, really, REALLY nice to him,. And they’re really nice because over time they’ve come to realize that even if he doesn’t opt to simply blink them out of existence if they don’t do what he says, he has the power to make incredibly awful things happen to them. Even thinking bad things about Anthony isn’t such a hot idea. Things aren’t any better in the Freemont household, where his terrified parents (John Larch and Cloris Leachman) have to walk on eggshells out of fear he might do something else to his siblings, or them. )“It’s a…very GOOD thing that you did that…”)

It remains one of the most delightfully wicked and true portraits of just how terrified adults are of kids, and just how sinister kids can be.

Interestingly, Mumy apparently also had this power in real life, later going on to have a big hit with the novelty song, “Fish Heads.”

The Other (1972)

Kids alone are creepy enough, but you get twins to boot, you know you’re in for some bad news. And you get twin boys in a rural town in the 1930s? Holy mackerel, you might as well just pack it in right there and go home. Nothing good is going to come of it.

I don’t know how many times I watched Robert Mulligan’s film (based on the Thomas Tryon novel) on TV in the early Seventies, but it was a lot. Enough that to this day I still remember every shot and every line of dialog., but it still gets under my skin as one of the most effective of the lot.

Real twins Martin and Chris Udvarnoky play Holland and Niles Perry. As with most twins, one is mostly nice and sweet and innocent, while the other, Holland in this case, is the dominant, wickedly mischievous one.. Also like most twins, Niles and Holland share a weird psychic link. But in their case, and under the guidance of their Russian grandmother Eda (Uta Hagen), they can use a special ring to take things one step further. They call it The Game. As in Being John Malkovich, they can actually enter the consciousness of anyone they choose, from a magician in a traveling carnival, to a passing crow, to a corpse.

It’s a Northern Gothic tale complete with dark family secrets, farm accidents, dead babies, emotionally shattered mothers and real freaks. And an evil twin. It unfolds very slowly and quietly, and even though we get the Big Revelation at the halfway point, it doesn’t matter because the story rolls on with a few more twists and surprises left. It’s not shocking or terribly bloody, but extremely unnerving. Featuring an early turn by John Ritter and a Jerry Goldsmith score.

Don’t Look Now (1973)

Nicholas Roeg’s brilliantly shattered, hallucinatory narrative with the shock ending might be a loose fit here, but it had such an influence on other sort of Killer Kid movies (like David Cronenberg’s The Brood) it deserves mention.

The great Donald Sutherland was rarely better than he was here as John, an architect whose young daughter recently drowned near the family  home in England. He takes a job in Venice, thinking a few months away from home might be just the thing to help him and his wife cope. Shortly after they arrive, however, they encounter a blind psychic in a restaurant who tells them their daughter’s spirit is around, and seems happy. Being the slide Rule sort, John is less willing than his wife to accept this at face value. At least until he starts having recurring visions of what seems to be his daughter all over Venice. Dresses like her, anyway. He becomes a little obsessed with that little girl in the red cloak who may or may not be his daughter. Who cares if she might have something to do with that whole nasty string of brutal stabbings around the city?

The less said about it at this point, the better (and easier, to be honest). Almost 45 years on now, it still works, that ending still gets me, and there’s nothing else like it.    

It’s Alive! (1974)

People might cite Rosemary’s Baby as the be-all and end-all of films about pre-natal anxiety, but think about it. Sure, she gave birth to the Antichrist, but she has a good support network right there in the building, and if she treats him right, she’s set for life. No, for my money Larry Cohen’s breakthrough monstrous infant hint trumps them all, beginning with one of the most unsettling ad campaigns of the Seventies.

Funny thing is, though it’s remembered as a film about a baby with fangs and claws who slaughters all the doctors in the delivery room before escaping to go on a killing spree around town, if you go look at it again now you realize that’s only a minor subplot. It’s also a conspiracy film about government scientists using unwitting citizens as guinea pigs. Above all else, though, it’s an indictment of the mass media, which has the power to destroy the lives and reputations of innocent people on a whim, in this case the Davis family. And damn but that John P. Ryan is great as the horrified and disbelieving father who finds himself and his wife being publicly blamed (as is So often the case) for giving birth to a kid who isn’t quite right.

Much smarter and more subtle than most would give it credit for, It’s Alive ! Is loaded with Frankenstein references, and went on to spawn two equally good (and very different) sequels. To this day I will not put my face or fingers anywhere near a baby’s mouth.

Devil Times Five (1974)

The early to mid Seventies were mighty good years for Leif Garret. Not only was his picture plastered all over every teeny-bopper magazine in the country month after month, he was also scoring supporting roles in huge drive-in hits like Macon County Line and Walking Tall. Let’s just say considering his squeaky-clean image, Devil Times Five (aka Peopletoys) was a departure.

Garret plays one of five kids traveling on a bus which crashes in the mountains during a snowstorm. With the driver dead and not knowing what else to do, the five youngsters take refuge in a nearby resort.

It eventually comes out the bus was actually delivering the kids to an institution for the criminally insane, as they’re all kookoo bananas and extremely violent. There were hints of this beforehand, as per the standard asylum movie cliche, each nutty kid has a telltale tic—this one thinks she’s a nun, the black kid thinks he’s in the military. etc. But it’s all just mild comic relief until they pick up the knives.

Well, before you can say “Mr. Green Jeans,” they begin slaughtering everyone at the resort in a variety of hilarious ways, and occasionally in slow motion.

Unlike other Killer Kid movies which try to explain away antisocial behavior by blaming it on assorted external forces (government scientists, radiation, aliens, Satan, or an eclipse), these kids are just plain old evil by nature, and that’s all there is to it.

It wasn’t a big hit, it didn’t do much to propel Garret into leading roles, but today it’s earned itself solid cult status as a pre-slasher grind house number. And what’s not to love about the ol’ “piranhas in the bathtub” gag?

The Omen (1976)

In the Seventies and Eighties, a number of once-huge stars—Ray Milland, Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Rory Calhoun, Ida Lupino, George C. Scott and, in this case Gregory Peck—found themselves making genre pictures simply because that was all that was available to them. Granted, The Omen was a few cuts above The Devil’s Rain and Tentacles, but still.

Okay, regardless what the producers and screenwriter David Seltzer may claim about the franchise’s origins, the original trilogy of Omen films was lifted wholesale from “The Devil’s Platform” episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

Be that as it may, when you get a cast like this, a smart director like Richard Donner, a simply astonishing score by Jerry Goldsmith, some diabolical camera trickery and editing, wonderful practical effects (Lee Remick’s fall from the balcony kept me going for years), and a story about a smiling, (mostly cheerful 3-year-old Son of Satan wandering around England leaving a trail of beheadings, impaled priests, seriously pissed off baboons and hanged nannies  in his wake, how can you go wrong? Even if the script itself is absurdly silly.

In an interesting postscript, like so many other child actors deeply associated with high-profile horror films of the era—think Danny Lloyd from The Shining—Harvey Stephens (who as Damien spoke, what, five words onscreen?) would not appear in another film for the next four decades. And even then he hasn’t been in much, though he did have a cameo as a reporter in the remake of, yes, The Omen a few years back.

Alice Sweet Alice (1976)

I dare you to show me one worthwhile horror film about Presbyterians. No, as far as religious sects go, Catholics have it all over everyone when it comes to horror. You got your robes, your chanting, your weird rituals, your transmutation, your Inquisition, your fetishism, your magic relics, your ghostly visions, oh, it just goes on and on. The Catholic Church is just one big horror show, top to bottom. As a result, Catholicism lay at the heart of countless horror films, and Alice, Sweet Alice is among the best.

The tagline read, “If you survive this night, nothing will ever scare you again,” which may or may not have been a reference to the fact this was Brooke Shields’ film debut. Shields plays 10-year—old Karen, the cute, quiet, polite and well-dressed younger sister of that moody, smart-mouthed and generally ornery Alice (Paula Sheppard), who likes to pull nasty pranks and doesn’t dress nearly as well as her sister. Everyone from  the neighbors to their own parents to the local priest adores Karen and showers her with gifts, while they just wish Alice would go away. She clearly needs to see a shrink or something. So when Karen is brutally stabbed to death outside the church on the morning of her first communion and Alice is found with Karen’s veil in her pocket, well, there you go. And then when a whole bunch of other people around town somehow connected with Alice end up all stabbed to death as well, well, there you go again. I mean, she just looks like someone who could do something like that, right?

Alice, Sweet Alice is an American Giallo, so the less said about the story the better. For having such a tiny budget, the visuals are rich and gorgeous, filled with Catholic imagery and ritual throughout, featuring a cast of wholly unlikable characters you honestly don’t mind seeing stabbed to death (especially that Little Miss Perfect Karen). The one standout is Alphonso DeNoble as the crass, sleazy, filthy and morbidly obese landlord Mr. Alphonso. DeNoble has a terrifying charisma, which may have come from being a bouncer at a gay nightclub in Jersey in real life.

Yes, the film owes quite a bit, and blatantly so, to Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, but aimed at a more lowbrow mainstream audience. It’s a bloody, nasty little shocker still held dear by thousands of disaffected girls who survived Catholic school.

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)

1976 was not only a busy year for Killer Kid films, it was also  the busiest year of Jodie Foster’s career, during which she appeared in half a dozen films ranging from Taxi Driver to, well, this, a film she and other cast and crew members would bad mouth down the line. In retrospect, it’s not really as bad as all that.

A 13-year-old Foster plays 13-year-old Rynn Jacobs, a precocious girl who may or may not be living alone in a rented house in a secluded section of a small, affluent seaside town. Her rich, nosy and suspicious landlady keeps barging in uninvited to ask too many questions, the landlady’s perv of a son (Martin Sheen) keeps putting the moves on her, a local cop is endlessly curious but nice enough, and a gimpy teenage magician from the area knows the score. But Rynn is self-sufficient and smart beyond her years. Enough so anyway to dispatch with all those nosy yokels who’d try and pry into her business.

It’s less a horror film than an atmospheric mystery that ties up all the loose ends by the three-quarters mark. Based on a 1974 novel, the claustrophobic stagebound film is mostly forgotten today, but back in ’76 the poster creeped the hell out of me. Certainly more than the film did.

The Children (1980)

Although “creepy bloodthirsty children” seems to be a simple, straightforward notion just bursting with possible storylines, 1980 marked the point at which screenwriters and filmmakers everywhere seemed to run out of ideas, so simply began rehashing those earlier, better films. Case in point is this slight variation on Village of the Damned.

This time around, instead of mysterious alien impregnation, a school bus full of perfectly normal kids drives through a cloud of yellow radioactive fog released from a nearby nuclear power plant. The radiation, it seems, turns all the tykes into shambling, emotionless and murderous zombies. Instead of glowing eyes, the infected kids have black fingernails (which was easier on the fx budget), and instead of psychically driving adults to kill themselves, the mere touch of these evil zombie children can fry any adult to a crisp. With little else to do, the radioactive zombie kids lay siege to their small town as the adults try to figure out just how to handle this. I mean, it was already hard enough trying to get them to go to bed on time.

Oh, derivative as it is, the film does have it’s moments. In fact it includes one scene I must admit I’ve never seen repeated in any other Killer Kid film, in which a group of well-armed adults barricaded inside a house open fire on the army of evil radioactive curtain climbers massing in the front yard. And when the adults finally do figure out how to dispatch the little monsters, well, let’s just say it was unexpectedly gruesome.

The Godsend (1980)

Given the year had already provided a Village of the Damned knockoff, it was apparently time for a Bad Seed knockoff, and an obvious one at that.

A pleasant and kindly British couple, the Marlowes (Malcolm Stoddard and Cyd Hayman) decide to take in a young unmarried pregnant woman even though they already have six kids of their own, telling her she can stay with them until she has the baby.  What nice people those Marlowes are! But wouldn’t you know it? As soon as the ungrateful wench spits out the baby she vanishes without a word, leaving them with a seventh mouth to feed.

Being pleasant people they don’t complain too much, and over time the child grows into a polite and lovely little girl named Bonnie (Wilhelmina Green).

Well, sure enough before you know it all the other Marlowe kids start dropping like flies, and the parents take their own sweet time connecting the dots. I mean, come now people! We all know what happens to the youngest kid in a large family.

Itself based on a less-than-original novel, director Gabrielle Beaumont’s low-budget film plays like a TV movie, and lacks pretty much everything that made The Bad Seed so effective.

Bloody Birthday (1981)

On June 9th, 1970, three women in a small California town give birth during a total solar eclipse (uh-oh!). The resulting three kids—Debbie (Elizabeth Hoy), Curtis (Billy Jacoby) and Steven (Andy Freeman)—understandably share a tight bond, and as their tenth birthday approaches in 1980, plans are underway for a big bash pretty much everyone in town is expected to attend.

In the week before the party, maybe just to trim that guest list down a bit, the trio of little scamps undertakes a killing spree. They bludgeon and strangle a couple of stereotypical slasher film teens making out in a graveyard, beat Debbie’s dad (the local sheriff) to death with a baseball bat, shoot a teacher, and attempt to lock a classmate in a refrigerator in a junkyard. No one suspects them, of course, because they’re freaking nine years old. Nowadays we know better. While you’d expect the big party to be the film’s climactic scene, it just comes and goes without much happening, and those darn kids keep killing.

Around the halfway point, a teenaged amateur astrologer offers up the closest thing we get to an explanation for such naughty behavior. During that eclipse, see, both the sun and moon were blocking Saturn. Since Saturn controls the emotions, these kids were born with no conscience. Okay, so you come to accept a lot on faith in these things. Ultimately, though there are hits of both Village of the Damned and Bad Seed here, the picture owes much more to Devil Times Five.

Director Ed Hunt had made a handful of genre cheapies prior to this, but today Bloody Birthday remains his most memorable film. The dialogue is often painful, the soundtrack is comprised of library music from TV movies, and it’s not nearly as gory as would become standard for slasher films, but his three little killers all exude a believable David Berkowitz vibe, and the film contains enough boobs to earn an R rating. In an irrelevant sidenote, it remains one of the very few entries here in which the kids use guns, and, I think, the only one in which they use a bow and arrow.

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Writer/director Robert Hiltzik’s weirdie is a delightfully oddball number not only within the Killer Kid subgenre, but also among slasher films, which is doubly surprising considering when it was released.

Although the film at the outset has all the standard earmarks of a cookie-cutter post-friday the 13th slasher film (a bunch of youngsters at summer camp, and endless supply of sharp implements, a fast-rising body count), careful viewers will note a few unsettling details. First, apart from the counselors, most of the campers (and victims) are pre-adolescent, and all the males, young and old alike, wear shorts that are just a little too short and a little too snug. Hmm.

Anyway, Angela (Felissa Rose), has been sent to summer camp against her will with her older brother. She’s pretty and nice and shy, but has clearly been damaged in some way. She adamantly refuses to go swimming or play games ore shower wit the other kids, despite repeated (and usually understanding) pleas  from the counselors. She prefers to be alone, and isn’t much interested in making new friends. I know the feeling. I was sent to summer camp once, and after a lummox named Trent got to go home because he got a fish hook in the eye, I considered bribing those kids with the fishing poles to do the same to me.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen it, the less said the better. Let’s just say it fits the category, but with a notorious twist, and remains near the top of the lists of many slasher film fanatics I know. I do wonder, though, given the age we’re living in, how this one would go over today. It also leaves me wondering what the deal is with that Robert Hiltzik.

Children of the Corn (1984)

Yes, it’s a stinker, but remains a memorable touchstone within the then exploding subgenre of Stephen King stinkers. I always find it funny that King continues to bitch about Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining, but never has a word to say about this, or The Mangler, or Silver Bullet, or Maximum Overdrive or…

But that’s beside the point. Given the subject at hand, both the original short story and Fritz Kiersch’s film adaptation are interesting in that they represent a genre-blending crossover between Killer Kid movies and Religious Zealot horror.

AS much as there is to chuckle at here—my goodness what an awful bit of filmmaking, from the script to the performances to the camera set-ups and fx—dammit I keep going back to it. I do enjoy that flashback in the diner, as well as the fact the initial slaughter of the adults is never clearly explained. Not really, anyway. And I do dig the amateurish overacting on the part of John Franklin as the crazy young preacher Isaac and Courtney Gains as his True Believer henchman Malachai. And I’ll watch that R.G. Armstrong in anything. Mostly, though, I think I keep going back time and again just to hear the line “He wants you, too…Malachai!,” which has been a catchphrase of mine for years now.

Firestarter (1984)

Amid the mid-‘80s flood of Stephen King quickies, at least director Mark L. Lester had a few more chops than most. He also had a much larger budget, which allowed him to sign a cast that included George C. Scott, Art Carney, Louise Fletcher, Martin Sheen and Heather Locklear (!).

So a young couple who met in college while volunteering as research guinea pigs in a secret government drug test later get married and have a daughter. As these things happen (see Blue Sunshine or Jacob’s Ladder), those secret government drug tests have a way of hanging around awhile, with some mighty unexpected side effects. In this case, their new daughter Charlie (Drew Barrymore, who was in a few King adaptations) was born with pyrokinetic powers, meaning she can set anyone or anything she doesn’t like ablaze, the lucky brat.

Well, a few years later when the secret government agency that ran the secret government drug test catches wind of what little Charlie can do, they decide they’d like to have a little chat with her, and maybe her dad too (the briefly popular David Keith), who himself might have psychic powers. Or maybe they’d like to have something more than a chat.

Less a horror movie than conspiracy thriller and chase picture, Firestarter remains an oddity here, as it’s one of the few Killer Kid films in which we’re asked to root for the Killer Kid, actually hoping the wee pyro in question, even though she’s cute and blond, will set a few of those icky, mean adults on fire.

It’s hardly on a par with The Shining, Carrie, or The Dead Zone, but at least it’s better than Night Shift, Sometimes They Come Back, Children of the Corn IV, Cat’s Eye, Maximum Overdrive…

The Omen IV: The Awakening (1991)

As would become standard for plenty of other franchises that had seemingly run their course, some bright TV executives thought there was still some money to be made with that whole Omen thing. A decade after the last and supposedly final entry came out, why not give it the TV movie treatment? And while we’re at it, why not give it a fresh twist by doing a little gender switcheroo, right? So this time around, why not make Damien a girl? That’d throw viewers for a loop, wouldn’t it?

(An Omen IV novel had actually been released shortly after The Final Conflict came out, but it had nothing to do with this.)

The events of the previous three films have long been forgotten by the time we get underway here, I mean, don’t we see the Second Coming of Christ at the end of Final Conflict? Okay, so I guess Jesus had gone on vacation or something by the time two young smug and wealthy lawyers (Michael Woods and Faye Grant) adopt a new daughter without asking too many questions.

Their daughter Delia (Asia Vieira) grows into a pretty, dark-haired young girl who is extremely unpleasant. Oooon, but she’s a bratty little smartass who could use a spanking.  I always thought the Antichrist was supposed to be charming and charismatic, but I’ll let it slide. In any case her New Age hippie nanny starts to suspect something far more sinister than smug parents might be at the heart of Delia’s bad attitude. When all her magic crystals turn black in the little girl’s presence, she starts making frantic calls to her other New Agey friends.

I’m going to stop there. Hilariously awful film, save for one scene, And that one scene alone is reason enough to forgive the film’s countless other unforgivable flaws.  

The nanny drags Delia to a New Age fair in a park in hopes of getting a snapshot of her aura, and let’s just say things don’t go well for much of anyone. In simple slapstick terms, it’s on a par with Final Conflict’s montage of baby murders.  

The Good Son (1993)

As he transitioned from the “dorky, buggy-eyed but still weirdly cute” kid in the Home Alone pictures into a “dorky, buggy-eyed and much less cute” adolescent, Macaulay Culkin decided to prove his range as an actor by playing against type in still another take on The Bad Seed.

Instead of telling the story through the mother’s eyes, in Joseph Ruben’s film we see things through the eyes of a nice, wholesome kid named Mark (a young Elijah Wood). After his mother dies, he’s sent to live with an aunt and uncle and two cousins. Not yet knowing he should avoid anyone named “Henry,” Mark and his cousin Henry (Culkin) become good friends. But after Henry is clearly delighted when one of his silly boyhood pranks triggers a deadly multi-car pileup, and after he shows off his homemade gun to Mark, and furthermore hints he once tried to kill his own brother, Mark starts to get the idea Henry might well be a psychopath with bigger diabolical schemes in mind.

Ruben’s picture is a slight cut above the likes of, say, The Godsend thanks to that change in perspective. Although Culkin makes for a believable psycho kid, it didn’t really do much to revamp his career and set him on that road to an Oscar. Thinking about it, though, Henry’s use of improvised and homemade weaponry wasn’t that big a step away from his Home Alone character, but with more fatalities and fewer cartoon sound effects..

Home Movie (2008)

The found footage/hand held video/POV horror film was pretty well dead and buried as a style by 2008, but that sure didn’t stop anyone. It was a cheap way to make a movie, after all. In this case, though, the story would have worked much better as a straight narrative, as the POV gimmick just gets in the way, leaving viewers (or maybe just me) repeatedly asking, “Why would anyone be filming this?”

Why, for instance, would an alcoholic Lutheran minister (Adrian Pasdar) choose to film an intimate argument with his psychiatrist wife (Cady McClain)? And why would a psychiatrist use the family video camera to record private patient notes, leaving them mixed in there with the Christmas and Easter home movies? Maybe writer/director Christopher Denham was trying to make a point about people so obsessed with living through screens that they can easily ignore the obvious and increasing threat posed by their clearly disturbed twin children, who mostly just lurk in the background as the parents focus on themselves. I doubt it though.

The creepy ten-year-olds Jack (Austin Williams) and Emily (Amber Joy Williams) were born on Halloween. While their parents try to desperately prove just how fun and cool and hip they are by setting up haunted houses in the basement and teaching their kids how to pick locks, Jack and Emily spend the first half of the film staring sullenly at the floor. Soon enough though, they begin killing goldfish, crushing toads in vices, crucifying the family cat, and attacking schoolmates, working their way up the evolutionary chain toward You Know Who.

Oh, I’m not giving a goddamn thing away here—the goddamn tagline gave it away! And even without the tagline if you couldn’t see exactly where this was headed with the first scene, maybe you need a nap or something.

To it’s credit, like Devil Times Five, Home Movie offers no explanation for why the kids are funny in the head. If you wanted to push it you could make something out of that Halloween birthday or the fact the family name is “Poe.” Myself, I just tend to accept that any kid unlucky enough to have a preacher or a shrink as a parent is fucked from the start.

Case 39 (2009)

Renee Zelwegger stars as a young sincere and overworked case worker at Children and Family Services. After the seemingly unbalanced parents of a shy, sweet and neglected girl on her case list try to cram the pre-adolescent into the oven (repeatedly!) one night, the parents are institutionalized and the social worker adopts the girl.

Okay, same as with Home Movie, if you can’t see where this one was headed ten minutes in, theres something wrong with you. Funny twist is, while I initially took it to be simply yet another Bad Seed knockoff (which it is) before deciding it was simply another Omen knockoff (which it is), by the half way point it finally  became clear: what I was watching was in fact a knockoff of Omen IV: The Awakening. And that’s pretty bad. To make it all even sadder and more pointless, Case 39 is capped by a climax that makes absolutely no sense, if you think about it even  for a little bit. Even the Omen IV had a better ending, and that’s saying something.

Considering all the above, the ultimate lesson to take away here is that, talk as we might about The Terrible Twos, it’s when the little monsters turn ten that you really need to watch out.

by Jim Knipfel

[beca-mitchell]

the world’s ours (1/1)

summary: A stolen moment. Alternative ending to PP3. Established relationship. Rated M/E. Basically PWP. Apologies.

word count: 5075

a/n: i’m not even sure where this came from. Inspired loosely by this beautiful piece of art by @setaptadraw as well as Bazzi’s “Cartier”. In fact, his entire album is great inspo.

Enjoy!

Also on AO3.

For a moment, Chloe pauses just to observe Beca and the way she casually leans against the old stone. Even from the distance, Chloe can see that Beca’s eyes are glimmering with a mix of tears, excitement, and awe from the whole experience.

Chloe has never been more proud of Beca, as a teammate, best friend, and more recently, as a girlfriend.

Chloe wishes that it had all been born of something more romantic – like a heartfelt, tearful confession of love. But really, she had just been sitting at their tiny breakfast table in Brooklyn and she had been watching Beca struggle to balance two cups of tea for their morning ritual.

Chloe would be remiss if she didn’t admit that her feelings for Beca had never really gone away – not since she had come to terms with the depth of said feelings sometime near the end of Beca’s freshman year.

And upon seeing Beca at that tiny kitchen table, hair tousled from sleep and a moderately disgruntled expression on her face, Chloe had quietly asked if Beca would mind terribly if she kissed her right then and there.

Beca had been surprised, but pleasantly and shyly so – and that had been their first kiss amidst many more to come.

Keeping it a secret had been difficult at first, but it’s something that they want just for themselves. It’s not that they’re actively trying to keep it away from everybody, but it manifests out of a selfish need to just have something to call their own especially when so much of their lives have been jointly lived with many other people at any given time.

At that moment, Beca’s eyes flick to her own and she zeroes in on Chloe, a small smile gracing her face. She is ignorant then to the many voices and people clamoring for her attention, just as Chloe can’t imagine seeing anybody else but Beca in that moment.

(Vaguely, she wonders how long this has been the case for her – the fact that she has eyes for Beca and Beca only, more often than not.)

Even with such a huge change in her life, Beca carries herself just as she has all those years ago when Chloe first met her at Barden – all confident and slightly awkward glory and a humbleness that is still unparalleled after all these years.

And, Chloe thinks, she looks incredibly beautiful and she would like nothing more than to kiss her.

But she also knows that they have a very small window before the Bellas come looking for either her or Beca to celebrate their last full evening in Europe.

“Hello,” Chloe greets as Beca nears. Beca holds her hand, leading her to an even more secluded area. “That was incredible.”

“I love you,” Beca says.

It makes Chloe inhale sharply at first, then deeply.

It’s not that she says it casually that throws Chloe – this is not the first time Beca has said this to her. They first exchanged more-than-platonic ‘I love yous’ more than three and a half months ago, near the beginning of their dating period after the realization that every year they did not spend together in a romantic capacity was just a year wasted.

No, it’s the fact that Chloe still can’t believe that Beca is hers to love and cherish through everything and she’s going to do everything in her power to keep her.

“I love you, too,” Chloe murmurs, voice sticking in her throat. She tries to blink back the unexpected tears to no avail, trying not to shiver when Beca’s thumb comes up to swipe at them before her hand lingers on Chloe’s cheek.

“Say it again,” Beca implores, eyes searching.

Chloe raises her eyebrow slightly at the change in Beca’s eyes, wondering if she’d be correct in assessing the gentle heat in her body as a response to the intensity in her favourite blues.

“I love you,” she says, though she can’t help that her voice is thicker – though it has less so to do with emotion and more so with the way Beca steps closer so that her body is just barely grazing Chloe’s, teasing her.

Beca doesn’t say anything. Instead, she puts a hand around the back of Chloe’s neck and pulls her down for a kiss – one that is definitely reserved for the privacy of their bedroom, or rather, their bed. It makes a shiver ripple up Chloe’s spine as she thinks of everything she and Beca can get up to if they could just steal away to their hotel room for the night.

There aren’t any people around, so Chloe allows herself to indulge a little. She allows herself to back Beca up against the closest wall so she can lean into Beca’s body as much as she wants. She loves how neatly Beca’s body fits into her own, even when Beca’s heels make their height difference (already and admittedly very minor) even more minuscule.

Beca eagerly responds, head tilting just enough so that her lips slot neatly and perfectly right against Chloe’s. She slides a hand around to push under Chloe’s jacket and rake up her back teasingly. The pressure of Beca’s fingers through the fabric of her dress is enough to make Chloe sigh happily into the kiss.

“We should stop,” Chloe murmurs, once she manages to detach herself from Beca’s mouth. She leans back in to steal another kiss, inhaling sharply when Beca only tightens her hold, and uses her tongue to pry Chloe’s lips apart.

Moaning quietly, Chloe tries to ground herself enough to remind Beca that they have commitments, but Beca appears to be committed to sliding her lips leisurely down her neck, nipping at every weak spot Chloe has while her hand boldly slides down her back, dangerously close to her ass.

Chloe pauses, stopping Beca’s hand from sliding too low, lest she accidently pulls the skirt of her dress up too high.

“What?” Beca asks, pouting.

Chloe kisses her quickly to placate her, smiling against Beca’s lips when Beca responds eagerly with both tongue and wandering hands. “Not here. Later,” she murmurs, trying to steer Beca’s mind back on track.

“I don’t understand how you do it,” Beca mumbles, leaning into Chloe again and pushing off the wall. She pulls Chloe into her body, eyes fluttering shut as her lips find Chloe’s instinctively. She can still feel the ebbs of her performance high rolling off her in waves, turning into something more primal as she simply takes in how good it feels to have Chloe by her side and how nice it feels to have Chloe’s body pressed against her own intimately.

“Do what?” Chloe asks quietly, reaching up to tuck a few loose strands of hair away from Beca’s face.

“Flip from sexy to…” she tilts her head. “This, in the blink of an eye.”

Chloe laughs at that, tugging at her hands. To placate Beca and her pouting, she quickly presses a soft kiss against Beca’s lips, although she does so quickly because she knows that people are wondering where Beca disappeared to – though Chloe’s not too sure either of them are too bothered about being caught. “We should find the girls before they send out a search party for you.”

It turns out that their first stop is a private party at a vacated loft. Beca has to give props to DJ Khaled and his team for pulling this together. As excited as she is to finally move to L.A. and work on something meaningful, she’s going to miss her friends – her family – and of course, she’s going to miss Chloe.

“Guess what,” Chloe whispers, looping an arm around Beca’s waist when she finds her alone, pouring a drink for herself. She’s a little disappointed Beca opted to change into black jeans and a jacket as opposed to that fun number she had on for the performance, but regardless, she still thinks Beca looks beautiful. She leans over Beca’s shoulder, making sure to press as much of her body as she can against Beca, molding against her back. The comfort she gets from the warmth of Beca’s slightly smaller body against her own still never gets old.

A slow smile spreads across Beca's face as she leans back into her girlfriend, forgoing the drink for the moment. “What?” Beca asks, lacing their fingers together against her stomach.

Chloe pauses for a moment, shifting so she can reach for the drink Beca had been holding. She takes a generous sip before setting the cup back down. Tilting her head, she presses a kiss against Beca’s neck as best as she can, letting her lips linger. Cool from the drink, her lips relish the warmth of Beca’s skin and she stifles the grin at the quiet sound that just barely escapes Beca’s throat. “I have the most beautiful girlfriend in the world and I’ve never been more proud of her.” She lets her words stick – rather, she lets her mouth ghost over the skin of Beca’s neck, heating up her flesh even more with the warm air of her breath.

There’s something thrilling about being intimate with Beca like this, in nearly full view of all their friends. They’re separated by a mere wall and at any moment, somebody could come along and poke their head into the kitchen just to see Chloe Beale feeling up Beca Mitchell without a care in the world.

“Sounds like she deserves some kind of reward,” Beca suggests, eyes fluttering shut when Chloe’s other hand moves over her hip, sliding teasingly just beneath the hems of both her hoodie and her t-shirt. Beca leans back, letting the sounds of their raucous, noisy friends fade away. Chloe’s breath stutters out over her neck and shoulder as she nudges at the fabric of Beca’s sweater to try an access more skin.

Beca isn’t expecting what Chloe says next. “Maybe she does,” she murmurs before kissing the space behind her ear.

Beca definitely isn’t expecting Chloe’s hand to slide teasingly around her body in order to stuff her crumpled panties into the front pocket of her jeans.

Beca’s hand flies out to grip the counter tightly and she glances around furtively to make sure they’re fully alone before she moans quietly. Chloe’s hips press more intimately against her just as she chuckles into Beca’s neck again.

Beca shifts her stance and turns her head to stare at her incredulously. “What?” she chokes out. “What did you-?”

“Surprise, babe,” Chloe says, allowing a small grin to flit across her face. Beca’s eyes flick down to her lips. “It’s for later,” she says, winking. “Or for whenever, really,” Chloe says lightly, pushing herself away when she hears footsteps approaching. Winking once more at Beca, barely resisting a smirk at her girlfriend’s slightly gobsmacked expression, she busies herself with pouring herself another drink while Beca is engulfed by Jessica and Flo in a huge, drunken hug.

Beca can’t help but gaze back at Chloe, hoping that she’s blazing as much of a trail across Chloe’s body as she can. Chloe raises an eyebrow at her in response, though there’s a telltale smile behind the rim of the cup that she brings to her lips and her eyes are alight with an easy warmth and love that only makes Beca fall in love just a little bit more.

Chloe's back thuds hard against the bathroom door.

Beca’s hands immediately work on moving her dress up, ensuring that the fabric tightly bunches up around her upper thighs and hips. Chloe whimpers at the absolute lust-addled expression on Beca’s face as she leans in to press the barest of kisses against the overheated and sensitive skin of her inner thighs.

“They’re going to look for us,” Beca mumbles between kisses. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“O-kay,” Chloe moans out, stuttering across the syllables. She presses both her hands into Beca’s hair, trying to push her along.

“I can't stop,” Beca whispers before hoisting a leg over her shoulder, seemingly making the decision for both of them. Chloe’s very nearly eyes cross at the abrupt action before she squeezes them shut at the sensation and sound of Beca’s lips working and sucking at her inner thigh. “I’m not going to stop for anything,” Beca assures her, muffled and wet against her skin.

Chloe’s body feels like it’s on the verge of exploding. She’s not sure why Beca is still speaking, or how she’s formulating coherent words at all considering that Chloe thinks she short-circuited somewhere around the time Beca’s hand slipped low on her back and she had whispered exactly what she wanted to do to Chloe in the very nice bathroom of this very nice loft.

“You can't stop,” Chloe repeats, vaguely aware that she’s breathless. Beca’s lips latch on to her clit and suck mercilessly and unforgivingly. “Fuck!” she cries, feeling her entire body tense at once. She looks down for a moment to see Beca’s tight grip on her thighs and the way her eyes are half-lidded but staring determinedly up at Chloe while she adds the barest hint of her blunt, even teeth into the mix.

The sight makes her eyes immediately slam shut again and she’s simultaneously torn between finding the closest horizontal surface or just skipping out on all their friends and dragging Beca back to their hotel.

And yet, Beca is content with this medium – this in-between of fucking Chloe in the bathroom simply because she couldn’t wait any longer.

Chloe thinks she might relate to that sentiment, as she tightens her grip into Beca’s hair.

Gazing up Chloe’s body, Beca marvels at how beautiful Chloe looks, even slightly disheveled. The black dress and black leather jacket combination nearly shot Beca’s concentration to hell and back while she was on stage, but she is so, so grateful that Chloe opted to continue wearing the outfit late into the night.

Somehow, being with Chloe here feels more surreal than anything, mostly because Beca thinks how much her life has changed in the past few hours, but Chloe – Chloe is a certainty that she never wants to let go of.

Eyes falling shut, Beca revels in how fucking fantastic it feels to have Chloe tremble against her – how responsive Chloe’s body is to Beca’s fingers, tongues, and lips – she alternates without any real pattern, content to have Chloe coming apart under her expert guidance.

Her attraction to Chloe has never fizzled out; in fact, her attraction has only increased exponentially over the past few months now that she can vividly experience what it’s like to have Chloe Beale reduced to a shivering, breathless mess beneath her, above her – regardless of how often they’ve had sex at this point, Beca still thinks that watching Chloe come undone is one of the most beautiful sights she’s ever seen.

Tracing her tongue over Chloe’s clit just once more, she lets her fingers thrust up and into Chloe just a bit harder, grinning at the strangled gasp that Chloe emits before she drives a steady pace into her girlfriend. The high of performing still rushes through her and she feels the ebbs of confidence coming in waves.

Chloe gasps out, pulling at Beca’s hair just enough to get her attention. Her chest tightens as she tugs Beca up to kiss her thoroughly, earning a surprised inhale from her girlfriend. Vaguely tasting herself on Beca’s lips and tongue, Chloe curls a hand around the back of Beca’s neck to hold her closer while the other hand begins to unbutton Beca’s jeans.

“You didn’t-” Beca begins to say between kisses.

Chloe shuts her up the best way she knows how: by kissing her. It is by far the most effective way and her favourite way.

Chloe shoves Beca down on top of the closed toilet seat, thanking some vague force that the bathroom is clean. Beca catches herself just in time, a hand coming up to press against the wall while the other holds tight to the back of Chloe’s neck to keep their lips fused together.

Tearing her mouth away from Beca, Chloe takes a moment to heave a breath as she notes Beca is a similar state of breathlessness. Beca’s cheeks are flushed with arousal and her lips are swollen, leaving her looking like she has already been thoroughly debauched. Chloe grins at the thoughts that flit through her mind, though she resumes her steadfast determination as she crouches, very aware of how Beca’s eyes track her movements.

Resting on her knees momentarily, she runs her hands from Beca’s knees to her thighs and finally to her hips in order to finally tug Beca’s jeans down. She bites her lip at the little scrap of lace Beca is currently sporting and raises her eyebrow at Beca, tugging at the material with a finger. “This is nice,” she rasps, only barely managing to keep the tremble out of her voice.

Beca is less capable and clears her throat, blinking hazily down at Chloe like she still can’t quite believe it’s happening.

“Very nice,” Chloe murmurs, resting her hands on Beca’s thighs in order to better lean up to meet her girlfriend for a kiss. Beca cups a hand around her neck immediately and kisses her – a reminder that every kiss they share feels like the first over and over again.

While Chloe nips playfully at Beca’s lips, easing herself out of the passionate embrace slowly, she skims a hand down Beca’s stomach and grazes the front of the lace – lets her fingers dip down ever so slightly. She pulls back completely to watch her progress, panting out across Beca’s lips and feeling an answering exhale against her own face.

Beca’s legs spread just very slightly, like she could be persuaded to spread them further. The inexplicable shyness only makes a whine stick in Chloe’s throat as she gently nudges Beca’s knees apart. Even through the lace, she can tell how wet Beca is – how ready she is for Chloe.

“May I?” Chloe asks, politely if anything, as she tugs at the waistband.

“God, yes,” Beca replies instantly, her hands immediately flying to Chloe’s shoulders as she lifts just enough for Chloe to tug her underwear down.

“I fucking love you,” Chloe says instantly, kissing a hot trail up Beca’s thigh. She hears the dull thud of Beca’s head dropping back against the wall and feels the telltale clench of Beca’s fingers in her hair. “Do you know how fucking good you looked tonight?” she asks, not really expecting an answer.

“Baby,” Beca begs, already delirious from Chloe’s breath against her center and the added joy of hearing Chloe curse simply because she can no longer contain herself. “Fuck me, please.”

Chloe moans, her hand flying between her own legs for a moment just to alleviate the unattended and abruptly-abandoned pressure. She kisses Beca’s inner thighs, licking a long strip up towards where she wants to touch Beca the most.

So she does.

Beca cries out at the first touch of Chloe’s tongue and lips to her center; it is a messy, heated, wet kiss that makes Beca’s hand tighten into her hair to a nearly-painful threshold.

Chloe coaxes Beca along the waves of pleasure, noting all the signs and tells of Beca’s impending orgasm. She digs her fingertips into the tops of Beca’s thighs, holding her steady while her tongue steadily pushes against and into her girlfriend. Chloe hums a little against wet flesh, slowly pressing through with a consistent pace.

Chloe alternates between pressing her tongue into Beca and taking swollen flesh between her lips. She tilts her head as best as she can, but Beca’s thighs have all but clamped around her ears, though they do little to drown out the sounds Beca has begun to emit – the high-pitched whimpers and occasional grunts. Once Chloe’s maneuvers her fingers to press firmly against Beca’s clit as best as she can, she hears Beca’s long, drawn-out moan and feels further pressure around her ears. Chloe moans quietly in response into Beca’s skin, nearly sighing at the familiar sensation of Beca coming apart above her.

Distantly, Chloe is only slightly aware of her own hand moving between her legs in an attempt to quell the tension.

For a moment, all Beca can do is remain still to catch her breath, only vaguely aware of Chloe slowly untangling her fingers from auburn curls. Beca thinks her body has forgotten a few basic functions like swallowing and possibly breathing as she takes huge gulps of air into her lungs.

When she manages to turn her gaze onto Chloe, she sees her girlfriend looking no worse for wear, albeit slightly smug, if anything. She frowns at the sight, pouting playfully. There’s more than a hint of unresolved arousal in Chloe’s eyes, though she looks concerned for Beca’s well-being first and foremost.

Chloe leans forward to press a kiss to Beca’s knee, eyes still fixed on her face with utmost care.

“C’mere,” Beca rasps, eyes half-lidded and determined. “Up,” she says softly. “Please.”

“Okay,” Chloe whispers against soft skin. She feels Beca tug at her hair, as if trying to pull her up and she rises, letting Beca pull at her previously occupied hand in order to suck her fingers into her mouth. Chloe watches Beca’s eyes, transfixed by the shiny dark blue, as she sinks onto Beca’s lap.

“Ride me,” Beca demands, kissing at Chloe’s fingertips. Chloe shivers at the intensity of Beca’s gaze, realizing that Beca had looked equally intense and passionate while she had been on stage. It only makes Chloe want her more than ever – a reminder that Beca and music and passion are so unrestrainedly intertwined.

Hooking one arm around Beca’s neck and the other cupping her cheek, Chloe leans in for a kiss while Beca’s hands work frantically at trying to unzip the back of her dress. Neither of them are looking for anything soft and sweet at the moment. When Beca successfully unzips her dress, she pushes at the fabric until the top half falls to meet the skirt around her waist and hips and Beca’s hand immediately flies to cup a breast, thumb expertly finding Chloe’s nipple. Chloe tugs at Beca’s lower lip, grinding up Beca’s lap, feeling heat against molten heat. Beca grunts into the kiss, a hand moving between them to cup Chloe suddenly. Chloe jolts at the contact, both of them moaning quietly at the sensation of Beca’s warm hand against the pooling wetness between Chloe’s legs.

Beca is addicted to how Chloe feels against her. Even now, with their clothes only half off, in the bathroom of a nondescript loft, and their friends likely looking for them – all Beca wants is to hear the sounds Chloe makes when she goes down on her, or when she’s two fingers deep inside her. She isn’t picky. She loves how desperately they want each other.

A loud knock startles them right out of their bubble, Beca only just managing to hold Chloe to her lest she fall to the ground completely.

“Chloe? Are you in there?”

It’s Aubrey.

Chloe freezes and locks up.

“Chloe?”

Aubrey’s persistence is very much unappreciated at the moment.

“Shit,” Chloe mutters. The haze doesn’t dissipate. She can feel Beca’s smirk against her neck, where she has taken up refuge for the time being. “Uh – ye-yes!” she calls back just as Beca nips leisurely along her collarbone.

“Found her!” Aubrey calls out to somebody else behind the door.

Chloe stifles a loud gasp as Beca’s fingers slide inside her mercilessly. Resisting the urge to cry out, Chloe tries to pay attention to what Aubrey is asking. It is difficult when her entire existence is occupied by Beca – she feels Beca consuming every inch of her, like she always has.

“-seen Beca? We’re going to head out to the club down the street. We should leave soon.”

“I – fuck – no, no I ha-” Chloe chokes as Beca’s fingers start moving in and out of her. “I haven’t seen her – she’s probably just ta-taking a c-call! Outs-outside!” The last syllable comes out on a near scream and Chloe hopes to God that Aubrey takes the hint because Beca sure isn’t helping her in that moment. Her heart races wildly.

She thinks Aubrey says something in the affirmative, but she can’t be certain because Beca’s fingers curl just then. Barely waiting for Aubrey’s footsteps to disappear, Chloe gasps out, holding Beca’s face against her chest and neck as her hips finally begin to move in earnest against Beca’s body.

“Jesus, yes,” Beca half-moans, half-grunts against her neck when she clenches around Beca’s fingers. “You feel so good, Chlo.”

“We need to stop,” Chloe murmurs, making no move to stop. Instead, she holds tighter to Beca with one hand and lets the other fly out to the wall behind Beca’s head to keep herself upright. Beca’s arm curls tighter around her waist. “We have to go, we need to go,” Chloe repeats, eyes slipping shut just as Beca’s hand finds its way between her thighs.

Beca doesn’t seem to take this as encouragement to move faster as her hand continues to move leisurely between Chloe’s legs in both a teasing and exploratory fashion. It makes Chloe grit her teeth; it’s just at the cusp of too much, especially when she has the memory of what Beca had looked like on stage, so confident and sure, it’s just-

Slapping a hand over her mouth, Chloe barely resists from cursing; such crude, crude, dirty words were just on the tip of her tongue, but she fixes Beca with as best a glare as she can prompting her to hurry up, lest she screams each disjointed thought flitting through her mind.  The knowledge that their friends are lingering – somehow still nearby – only makes Chloe’s body flare up with arousal and desire once more.

Barely coherent, just as Beca’s thumb swipes over her clit, Chloe manages to exhale, though it’s noisy and she can’t help the smallest moan when Beca kisses her, a little aggressively, as if to stifle the noise. “Bec,” she whimpers against Beca’s mouth, letting her girlfriend swallow the noises. “God, do we n-need to stop?”

“No.” Beca whimpers back, trying to focus on the expressions slipping across Chloe’s face. She loves how expressive Chloe is – how vibrant and alive she is in everything she does and especially when now when Beca has two fingers deep inside her, fucking her steadily with the intensity of somebody just coming down from a high of the biggest performance of her life. Still – she can only manage so much. The pressure only intensifies between her own legs and the way Chloe’s head tilts to mouth at her neck isn’t helping – not that Beca wants to stop, by any means. “Fuck,” Beca curses, voice thick and low with unadulterated lust. Chloe has always known how worked up Beca gets after a performance, though of course, this element of heightened arousal is a new experience and Chloe finds herself blessed that she gets to experience it. She gets to experience it after what felt like hours of foreplay and teasing that led up to this.

“Chlo,” Beca whimpers, eyes squeezing shut.

Chloe doesn’t respond, not that she can at the moment. Chloe’s jacket is slipping off her shoulders attractively, followed by the loose fabric of her dress.

Finally, Chloe manages a moan, louder than she intends, followed by “I'm so c-close. So fucking close to coming.”

At that, Beca manages a short, desperate gasp, head tilting back and smacking hard against the wall.

Chloe considers herself – and Beca – blessed that the walls a thick enough and the bathroom is private because the high-pitched whine that leaves her throat is louder than she intends. It has a positive effect, however, because Beca’s arm tightens around her and the fingers inside her curl just slightly, pushing them even closer together. Chloe can feel her girlfriend gasp against her neck – short, staccato bursts.

Chloe’s scream is as muffled as she can make it, pressing her mouth against Beca’s shoulder. It rips through her, as intense as her orgasm.

Beca shivers at the force of it and how tightly Chloe tenses around her fingers – it elicits a similar response from between her own legs, causing her to whimper helplessly into Chloe’s neck as best as she can.

Chloe drops her head against Beca's shoulder, her shoulders and chest heaving with the force of her breaths.

Through rough, erratic pants, Beca steadies herself, hands rubbing across the skin of Chloe’s hips and waist. Chloe can only manage a gentle knock of her forehead against Beca’s, staring right into her eyes as she regulates her breathing.

As much as she’d like to continue and spend all night tangled up in Chloe’s arms, after a moment of silence, Beca says as helpfully as she can muster, “we need to go. We should go before they come looking for us again.”

She says this like Chloe hadn’t tried to stop her earlier, with this exact reasoning.

Chloe rolls her eyes.

Still, as Chloe feels her heartbeat slow and the tension slowly uncoil from Beca’s arm wrapped around her waist, it settles in her mind that their lives did just change forever only a few hours ago.

There’s a part of her that doesn’t necessarily know where this journey will take them, but she knows with certainty that she’s going to be by Beca’s side through it all.

“They can wait for a bit,” Chloe suggests, thumbing at the corner of Beca’s mouth. Her eyes soften as she gazes down at Beca. “Tell me you love me,” she whispers, cupping Beca’s cheek tenderly.

Beca’s breathing has only just evened out, but she tilts up to meet Chloe’s lips in a kiss, generously parting her lips with a gentleness that belies her previous actions. “I love you,” she murmurs, eyes closing to better appreciate the moment. “I love you,” she repeats, kissing the corner of Chloe’s mouth. She trails kisses down to her neck, nipping gently and slowly here and there.

Chloe smiles, tucking herself closer to Beca as best as she can. Sliding her fingers through her hair, she holds Beca close before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I love you too, Beca.”

Another stolen moment to tuck away in their memories; another stolen moment for the road.

fin.

#bechloe #beca mitchell #chloe beale #mine #my fanfic #fanfiction #pitch perfect #pp3

[creative-type]

How Fullmetal Alchemist Integrates Theme and Character

In a world where everything is subjective and polarizing opinions are the norm, where anti-fans and trolls take ‘love to hate’ a little too far, and where any story popular enough to become a pop-culture phenomenon is almost guaranteed to have a small-but-vocal minority that can’t see what all the fuss is about, I have never once seen, read, or heard of anyone say that Fullmetal Alchemist is a bad story. 

None. 

I’m sure they exist, but during the course of its run Fullmetal Alchemist reached the rarefied air of being almost universally beloved within the manga/anime community and being critically acclaimed as a damn good story. This success is wholly deserved. Arakawa was able to do something that a lot of shonen mangaka can’t, and as a result Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the best plotted, tightly written manga I have ever read. 

Others have and will write about the philosophy Arakawa presents, point out the incredible amount of research she was able to cram into her series, extrapolate on the world building better than I could, but today I want to talk about something I’ve not seen anyone else touch on, and that’s how she integrates her themes into her characterization in order to really drive the point she’s trying to make home. 

So what’s the main theme of Fullmetal Alchemist? Luckily Arakawa tells us directly on the next to last page of the series. 

So let’s pick this apart a little bit

There is nothing to be learned in a lesson without pain, because you can’t gain anything without losing something in exchange. But when you overcome that pain and make the lesson your own you will obtain an infallible, irreplaceable fullmetal heart.

Now since this is a comic we also have to take the image itself into account. None of the photos are of just one person. Even the dog managed to have puppies. So we can assume that the idea of community is also integral to what Arakawa’s trying to say here (I hesitate to say friendship, because, well, not all of these guys are friends, lol). Also, during Edward’s final showdown with Truth he states he’ll make due without his alchemy so long as he’s still got other people he can rely on

And Truth’s response is basically “Ding ding! You finally get it! Go claim your prize at the door, I never want to see your ugly mug again.”

(I don’t know Japanese, but I’m pretty sure that’s an accurate translation)

At its barest bones Fullmetal Alchemist is about overcoming past mistakes with the help of others. This is all fine and dandy, but without proper execution they just become empty words pasted onto the final pages in a halfhearted attempt at depth. I think most people know of stories about sacrificial love where there is neither meaningful sacrifice nor a healthy portrayal of love, or stories about overcoming overwhelming odds through the power of hard work and effort where every victory is handed over on a silver platter of asspulls and accelerated training arcs. It doesn’t matter how good something sounds if the execution sucks.

With that in mind, let’s look at some of the characters of Fullmetal Achemist and the mistakes they’ve made.

Fullmetal Alchemist: A Series of Terrible People Trying to Become Less Terrible

So this one is super easy. We’re presented with our lovable protagonists’s first major screw up on chapter 1, page 1

Oh look, it’s that quote again. Golly gee willikers, it’s almost as if Awakara knew what story she wanted to tell and integrated the main theme from the very beginning.

It’s not terribly uncommon for a manga to make some sort of thesis statement during their first chapter, but from the (few) long-running serializations I’ve read, the longer a series runs the more muddled these things get as far as theme and narrative go. It’s one of the difficult things about trying to keep an audience engaged over a long period of time. 

Fullmetal Alchemist is more tightly plotted than most shonen affairs, but there’s another thing that helps it keep from undercutting its own themes, and that’s that it lets its protagonists actually make terrible mistakes, and more importantly makes them suffer because of it.

The Elric’s attempt to resurrect their mother is never treated as anything but a horrible thing that never should have happened. Yes, the boys’s plight is sympathetic and the loss of their mother after their father abandoned the family was a tragedy, but they were told time and time again that human transformation was not only impossible, but forbidden

Of course the Elric brothers don’t listen, because otherwise there wouldn’t be a series. It cannot be overstated that they purposefully kept their plans secret. They didn’t tell Winry or Izumi or any one else that they were going to try to revive their mother. Perhaps they don’t feel like they can talk to anyone about their grief, but there’s also a definite hubris involved. Edward and Alphonse -- but especially Edward -- think they can accomplish something “adults” have found impossible.

Perhaps if they had talked to Izumi more she would have been able to guide them through their time of grief, but it goes back to one of the main themes of the series: Camaraderie, doing things together, trusting your friends, community as apposed to isolation. The Elric brothers lock themselves away to their father’s dark library and perform illegal experiments in their basement -- hidden from anyone who might try to stop them. 

And they suffer for it. 

(Keep in mind the word ignorant. We’ll be coming back to it later.)

This in and of itself is good, but this message is hammered home by the supporting cast, especially the characters from the military. Remember Roy Mustang, suave up-and-comer who wants to completely reform the government from the inside out for the betterment of the people?

Complicit in genocide

His number 2, all around team mom, and rescuer of cute puppies?

Complicit in genocide

Husband of the year and eternal winner of Best Dad Joke?

Complicit in genocide

Human teddy bear, series aesthete, and walking meme generator?

Complicit in genocide

The beloved small-town doctor?

Complicit in genocide and human experimentation

The grumpy curmudgeon with a hidden heart of gold?

Say it with me now, complicit in  freaking genocide.

That’s just looking at Armestrian military during the civil war. When the series jumps to the present day we see Scar has become a serial killer, while midway through the series Ling willingly becomes the vessel for an inhuman monster, nearly loosing his identity in the process. Hohenheim abandoned his family and was (unwittingly) complicit in a genocide of his own. In her grief Izumi tried to bring back her dead child via human transmutation, violating one of the fundamental laws of alchemy. The list goes on. 

It is impossible to fully implement a theme of overcoming past mistakes without having characters be fully responsible for said mistakes. I feel like it’s a common trap to sacrifice likability for pathos. How easy would it have been to say that Ed and Al couldn’t be held responsible for their actions because they weren’t aware of the consequences, or had never been told that human transformation was forbidden? How easy would it have been to say that the military made Roy and Riza and the rest participate in the Ishvalan massacre?

Luckily the writing never goes this route. While the various characters might not fully understand the ultimate outcome of their choices they never have their agency stripped away by something outside of their control. Each and every character in the series thinks they’re doing the right thing by acting the way they do, which not only makes them feel human as characters but brings me neatly into my second point.

Overcoming Ignorance and Finding Truth

During the Ishvalan flashback we see both Roy and Riza give their initial reason for joining the military, citing their desire to protect others as one of their main motivations.

Edward and Alphonse were young children when their mother died, and their desire to bring her back stems from a child’s love. Izumi and Sig had struggled for years for a child, and the grief of losing a baby after longing for a family for so long led her to try to resurrect her child.

None of these desires are in and of themselves bad, but they stem from a place of ignorance. Attempting human transmutation was forbidden for a reason. The military ended up not being as altruistic as the young soldiers were led to believe. The world, which our main characters looked at as a simple, understandable thing, turned out to be complex, and hard, and unforgiving.

With their worldviews essentially shattered it would have been easy to give up or give in to the darkness that they had seen, but instead each main character decides to take full ownership of their mistakes and takes steps to correct them.

There are very few irredeemable bad guys in Fullmetal Alchemist, and it’s a series that ultimately has a very hopeful view on humanity. Because of this underlying philosophy people are not ruined or broken by their pasts, but rather learn from them. 

This is the Truth that is presented. It’s not facts or book knowledge, which any alchemist capable of performing human transmutation would have in spades, but growth through life experience. Ed and Al see firsthand the evils alchemy can commit and strive to correct them. Roy and Riza stare down the barrel of the military machine and seek to dismantle it, even if it results in their own undoing. Ling learns to recognize the futility of his country’s current clan system and seeks to protect even the weakest of his people. It takes awhile, but Scar realizes that vengeance can only breed violence and strives to rebuild his people instead of the destruction of those who killed them in the first place.

None of these goals can be accomplished alone, building on the theme of camaraderie, but there’s also the side effect of preventing others from going down their path. 

That is Fullmetal Alchemist in a nutshell. It’s a series about flawed people making horrible mistakes, overcoming them with the help of their friends and in turn preventing others going down that dark path of destruction. It’s not a smooth transition, and the lessons learned are full of pain, but in the end you’ll find your own Truth and come out the other side a better person. The rest is just gravy. 

Although I will concede that having a main character who can turn his arm into a knife probably helps.

#Fullmetal Alchemist #Edward Elric #Alphonse Elric #creative-type analyzes #character analysis #Roy Mustang #Riza Hawkeye #Ling #character writing #Scar

[oumakokichi]

Could you clear up the backstory for chapter 4, because it seems like Ouma is walking into a trap he knew was there and could've easily avoided. The remembering flashlight in the VR world was obviously placed to counter Miu's plan, so clearly he knew she was trying to kill him in there. Why did he willingly go into the VR world and send Gonta or Miu to death when it could've been avoided, especially when his most important moral rule is not killing?

I’ve talked a little bit about it before, but the reasonthings reached the boiling point they did in Chapter 4 is less about thespecifics of Miu’s plan to kill within the VR world and more about the factthat she had made up her mind to kill atall. She had reached a certain level of fear where she consciously andwillingly made the decision to plan to take a human life, and to try to sacrificeeveryone else’s lives at the trial afterwards.

This isn’t something limited to Miu either but somethingthat many, if not most, culprits in DR games have experienced. The fear anddesperation of wanting desperately to get back to the outside world, no matterthe cost, is a constant in pretty much every main game in the series. Andhaving crossed that line and reached that level of fear and desperation, there’sno easy way to just calm that person down. Miu was committed to attemptingmurder regardless of the method or time or place—it’s just that the VR worldwas the most convenient plan she could come up with at the time.

Ouma’s decision to counter her there instead of avoidingentering the world entirely, or tipping off the others, or seeking help, waslargely tied to the fact that he himself is a very paranoid, distrustingperson. He and Miu both are, really. Seeing Miu’s desperation and need to getto the outside world and knowing in that moment that she had made up her mindto try and murder a person (not even counting the fact that she was alreadycalling off their temporary alliance) meant Ouma also pretty much gave up onany distant dreams or hopes of getting the whole group to work together inorder to get out of there alive.

Even if he came up with some excuse to avoid entering the VRworld program, lying about it would only make himself look sketchier. If hecame forward with the truth, about the fact that Miu was trying to kill him,the possibilities as far as I can guess range from the rest of the group eithernot believing him and Miu denying it emphatically (and there’s no real way toprove intent before a murderhappens), or else the group believing him, Miu getting watched real closely fora while… and then after a while of nothing happening, Miu would probably havecome up with some other plan to kill either Ouma or someone else in the group throughsome other method that wouldn’t make her look suspicious.

Despite her lack of common sense, Miu is extremely smart inthe field of her talent. Her inventions are incredibly useful, and that makesher dangerous when she’s already decided to sacrifice the group’s safety forthe sake of getting out. The problem wasn’t that she’d decided to try and killOuma in the VR world specifically, but that she’d already decided to sacrificeeveryone’s lives if need be. If her first plan failed, all she’d have to do iswait it out and try again. And I don’t think Miu is necessarily a horriblehuman being or the worst person imaginable; I simply think that this course ofaction if the most likely for her because she was so unable to trust everyoneelse in the group and she wanted to get to the outside world so desperately.

The moment Miu made up her mind to attempt murder was alsothe moment Ouma gave up on relying on anyone else in the group except, very tentatively,Saihara. The options were pretty horrible no matter how you look at it: if hegave up and just let her kill him, that would still mean putting absolutelyeveryone else’s lives in danger, because Miu would have had as much time andresources as she wanted to dispose of evidence in the VR world, and she knew theins and outs of it perfectly (plus Monotarou probably wouldn’t have helpedSaihara investigate the programming). Meanwhile, removing Miu as a source of dangerto everyone’s lives meant… well, that she had to die.

It became a zero-sum game where someone had to die in orderfor the game to move forward. Even if he killed her himself, that wouldn’tsolve anything. In order to get away with it, he would have to not be picked atthe trial—which would mean everyone else getting executed, once again. If hedidn’t get away with it, then he and Miu would both be dead, and everyone wouldstill be playing right into the ringleader’s hands and potentially gettingthemselves killed further down the line, all without ever finding out the truthabout the killing game they’re all in.

So the only viable solution, from a very cold, cynical, ruthlessstandpoint, was to have someone else kill Miu as a sort of sacrificial pawn.Two lives would be lost in exchange for not everyone dying at the trial, andOuma himself wanted to live on at the time in order to keep investigating theringleader and the killing game as a whole. So it was still something horribleand manipulative to do, but I can certainly understand Ouma’s reasoning in themidst of that situation without excusing it.

Knowing that Miu was going to try and commit murder nomatter what (and that she was going to try and murder him specifically, because that would be the easiest way for her toget away with it in the trial) can’t have done much good for Ouma’s paranoia,and he was hardly the most trusting person even before Chapter 4.

Gonta wound up being the sacrificial pawn he chose in orderto kill Miu and keep the number of deaths limited to just two people, and eventhen he still knew it was a horrible, awful, inexcusable thing—no matter howmuch he tried justifying it to himself or tried to think of it as somethingthat “had to be done,” he still couldn’t quite get past the point that it was murder, even if he wasn’t actingdirectly. And that wound up going entirely against his moral code and was alarge part of why I think he began pulling out all the stops in Chapter 5 andjust trying to make the rest of the group hate him more than ever.

The tragedy of Chapter 4 is that while it seems like each ofthe things that occurred in it might have been avoidable on their own, by thatpoint things were far too close to their boiling point and there really was nogetting around the fact that a horrible outcome was going to happen one way orthe other.

Miu and Ouma both were still incapable of trusting otherpeople fully. Gonta still wanted to throw his life away to fight the Exisalsfor the sake of trying to be useful to the group, and the VR world was only abrief postponement of that attempt. Miu still wanted to get back to the outsideworld no matter what even if it meant everyone else dying, and Ouma stillwanted to keep trying to put an end to the killing game once and for all. Allof these contributing factors led to the big horrible, messy, unavoidableoutcome that was Chapter 4 as a whole. And it’s painful and awful and one of myfavorite chapters in any DR game for exactly that reason.

I think I mentioned this a lot in my earlier posts too, butthere’s a lot in ndrv3 about how insidious paranoia is and how much it forcesan atmosphere where no one can trust each other. Not only Ouma and Miu, but mostof the cast can’t ever really open up to each other once the killing game is infull swing. Amami couldn’t even trust himself without his memories, let alonethe rest of the group. Even characters like Kaede and Momota, who genuinely didwant the best for the whole rest of the group, still couldn’t trust them withtheir secrets, whether it was Kaede with her attempt to kill the ringleader orMomota with his illness.

The inability to really, fully talk to and trust one anotherno matter how many “power of friendship” “let’s-all-work-together-and-get-out-of-here”speeches are given is a very real, tragic consequence of the killing game.Doubt, suspicion, and paranoia are the best sparks at lighting the way to theactual killing getting started, and that’s the saddest thing about it. Talkingto people and opening up to people should be a very easy thing to do—but it’sjust not, under the circumstances of something as awful as a killing game.

Anyway, I hope I helped clear your questions up. Thank youfor asking, anon!

#ndrv3 #drv3 #new danganronpa v3 #kokichi ouma #miu iruma #ndrv3 spoilers // #my meta #okay to reblog #anonymous

[born4change]

2017: I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror

You and I have something in common. We have experienced, are currently experiencing or will experience failure in one form or another in some area of our lives. Whether it be financially, relationally, morally or professionally; you and I are always one bad decision away from finding ourselves with a lot of explaining to do. We’re always one poor choice away from a mess. I’ve often sat opposite friends and family members who’ve found themselves in a mess and as I have sat and listened to their stories, I have discovered that messes are no respecter of persons. The only way to guardrail yourself and to live with fewer regrets is to learn from the wisdom gained through those costly experiences and to leverage that learning to make wiser choices. I know what you’re thinking, “this is another one of those New Year’s Resolution blog posts”, and you’re not wrong, but I’d like to propose a different approach to how you and I could make sure that as it pertains to our proclivity to make bad choices, this year won’t be like last year in that specific area of our lives.

 You’ve probably set (and maybe even already broken) your new year’s resolutions around your weight and your finances. I’ve got nothing against those types of goals at all. I definitely think we should all aim to be in better physical shape and to be better stewards of our money but since you are more than just a physical body and your life is more than just a balance sheet, perhaps it’s time to discuss how this season of change can be your path to a new “you” on the inside. The reason I think this is an effective strategy at the beginning of a new year is because it’s always a mistake to decide what you want to do (lose weight, save more money, stop eating meat etc.) before you resolve the question of who you want to be. My approach to that is to start with the mess in the mirror. Yes you read that right, I’m starting with the man in the mirror and I’m asking him to change his ways.

 As my year ended and I reflected on all that had transpired in 2016, I found myself staring in the mirror and seeing a guy who needed to make sure that the next year would not be like the last. Don’t get me wrong, some great stuff happened in 2016 and I am so grateful to my friends and my family who supported me through some major changes. You guys know yourselves. Thank you. Some of the highlights of 2016 were that: I built a great team at work, I made a big career change, I upgraded my living space, and over 100000 miles later I can say I saw a whole lot more of the world than ever before. I also started #IAmMyBrothersKeeper and supported the campaign against miserable living (CALM)’s effort to keep guys alive through talking. The peaks were very high but valleys were very low. In the same year I also let myself down in many ways. I made some really poor choices, I didn’t always live up to the values I extol and often put my own needs and desires ahead of the people around me. Socrates said on one occasion that “the unexamined life is not worth living” so while I was on vacation over the Christmas break I seized the opportunity to do some state of the heart soul searching. I decided that this year I would look in the mirror and the person who would be looking back at me would be someone I could respect. I had to fix the mess in the mirror. In order to start over, I’d like to share 3 BIG ideas. Before you start round 2017 financially, relationally, professionally or otherwise, would you pause and consider these ideas because something in me believes so strongly that next time could be better than last time for you.

OWN IT

In order to ensure that your negative history doesn’t repeat itself in your future you need to OWN your role in your negative history. You’ve got to pause long enough to own your responsibility in the mess. The reason we’re not good at this is that we often blame our way out of bad decisions. “It wasn’t my fault” is often a default but certainly not an effective strategy for making better decisions in the future. Here’s what you and I do when we mess up… we hide until we’re caught. If you and I don’t pause and take full responsibility we effectively undermine our own future and happiness. Not owning our part in the mess is the mechanism through which many of us have smuggled our issues into our future. I can’t emphasize how important this is. Because I have shirked responsibility in my past messes I have had to lose things that should have naturally fit in my future. Not taking responsibility brought back that familiar feeling of regret as the truth surfaced. My past showed up and ruined my new start. I really don’t want that for you or I in 2017 so let’s OWN IT. We make peace with our past by owning our piece of the past. So here’s the question as it pertains to your finances, your romantic relationships or your career… what was your part? A word of warning if you’re going to own it for real: you will get no sympathy for genuine confession. You will probably get backlash and your reputation will take a hit. Some of your inner circle may even shun you because of guilt by association. That’s okay. The important thing is that you will be free and that freedom is so worth it.

 RE-THINK IT

 Have you ever asked yourself this question… “What was I thinking?” I have. If I look back on the areas of my life where I have had to “own it”, my own bad decisions don’t even make sense to me in retrospect. Perhaps it’s the benefit of hindsight that allows me to say that now, but it’s so clear looking back how poor some of those choices were. The challenge most of us have, and I am super guilty of this, is that we don’t camp out long enough on the “What was I thinking?” question to come up with a good answer. Consequently, the way we think doesn’t change. We still think the same way and because we still think the same way, inevitably we do the same things. Insanity isn’t it: doing (thinking) the same thing and expecting different results. The challenge with re-thinking the past is that is requires something that I’m often tempted to brush aside. It requires time. Time is your friend and my friend when it comes to understanding how next time can be different from last time. It takes time to come to place when you and I understand FULLY why we did what we did, and how we can change our mindset so that when the same or a similar set of circumstances appear we will respond differently. Sincerity and commitment are actually not enough. You and I need time. In our bid to accelerate the process you and I will come across some thought patterns that will try to convince us that we are ready for the next thing. Here are 7 such assumptions:

1.     If I find the right person everything will be alright. Actually NO. If you become the right person (which takes time) then things will be better.

2.     My situation is unique. Actually NO. You and I are unique but our messes have happened before. Someone got into a mess similar to this before you or I.

3.     It’s not right but it makes me happy. Actually NO. If it’s not right it’s wrong. If it’s not right it won’t turn out right.

4.     If only I had _________ then I would be satisfied. Actually NO. Our appetites (for approval, sex, fame, food etc.) are never fully and finally satisfied.

5.     I owe is better than I want. Actually NO. It’s better to want than to owe.

6.     My secret is safe with me. Actually NO. Secrets seep. If you take secrets into any relationship you just break hearts.

7.     Sex will solve it. Actually NO. Sex will complicate it.

So… What were you thinking?

 RELEASE IT

None of us want the people, situations, and decisions that caused us pain in the past to have an opportunity to resurface in our future in the same way. So just like we have to own our part of the problem if we’re going to have a better 2017, we also have to address the other players that contributed to creating the mess. If you and I don’t address those people, processes and places, they will smuggle themselves into 2017 on a free ticket and the future will look a lot like the past. In order to really get under the hood of this, there are two questions I have to ask you. They’re not nice questions but they are incredibly powerful. 

How far into your future do you intend to carry the angst created in your past?

How long do you plan to allow the people who mistreated you to influence you? 

Every once in a while I meet someone who seems to have a wrinkle free life. Everything in their world looks great. They have a great job, they’re in great shape, they have savings, they’re spiritual and balanced. As I’ve begun to talk to these types of people, I’m always astonished at the fact that somewhere in their past, they have a story that doesn’t fit with their current circumstances. Often times they experienced a huge failure morally, financially, relationally or professionally and that event became the catalyst for them turning a new leaf. There is something that all these great people, some of whom have mentored me through some really challenging tests in my short life, have in common. When they explain their journeys to me, at some point in their story, this phrase comes up… “I decided.” They resolved that their past would remind them but it would not define them. They made up their mind. If you and I are going to have a better 2017 here’s what we have to do: we have to release the past so that the past can release us. We have to leverage our past experiences to inform future decisions but simultaneously ensure that the past does not control our lives. So how do you release it? Forgiveness is one way. Forgiveness is what allows you to learn the lessons from the past without lugging around the luggage from the past. The reason why I think forgiveness is also powerful is because, for some of the wrongs that have been done to you, no apology will ever be sincere enough. If that’s the case, then are you willing to deny yourself a rich and fulfilling future because you are angry? I’m not saying you are not justified… I’m just asking if they’re worth it.

 Ok, let’s wrap this up. I really hope you have an AWESOME 2017. I hope that you OWN IT, RE-THINK and RELEASE IT. I hope your dreams come true this year. I hope you find peace for your distress and you make better quality decisions and live with fewer regrets. I hope this year is better than last year for you. I hope you get the job, I hope you fall in love, I hope you get out of debt and for some of you, I hope you lose weight. I was really trying to avoid leaning too much on pop song lyrics in this post but I’m going to end this particular post with words from a song we all probably know by heart. The first part is something true and the second part is my promise to you. Before I leave you with that thought, I’d like to ask you for a favour… If someone in your life is in a mess right now, go easy on them. Too many people quit on life because they feel like they have hit rock bottom and no one will ever love them given what they have done. Now I’m not saying exonerate them without consequence but I am saying hear them, understand them, help them and love them. Next time it could be you who needs a shoulder to cry on. Have a great year!

Something true:

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain. We all have sorrow. But if we are wise, we know that there's always tomorrow.

My promise to you:

Lean on me, when you're not strong and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on. For it won't be long 'til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on.

 What do you think?

#NewPostAlert #NewYearNewYou #ANewYouResolution #QualityChoices #DecisionsDecisions #maninthemirror