#❅ --- when all else fails‚ we remain ⌊ promo. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

talkfastromance4 · 3 years

Text

simmer down-- calum hood oneshot

yeah so this started out as a blurb but...I got carried away. The beginning is really descriptive and Calum doesn’t come in until the end but it’s some fluff after a horrible week I had.

Word count: 1.6k

Enjoy! :)

***

You come home in a huff, your anger is evident in the rise of your heart rate and the slight shake in your fingers. If you were a cartoon, there would be steam emitting from your ears. Calum or Duke haven’t greeted you yet which you’re a little thankful for.

When you’re frustrated, you tend to let it stew and fester inside until you’re in the safe space of your home. One comment that rubbed you the wrong way and you exploded in harsh words and a snap in your jaw.

You don’t mean to do it, and you know it’s unfair to lash out so it’s best that you aren’t around anyone when you’re heated. It gives you time to simmer down and get your thoughts in check.

You place your leftover lunch in the fridge and your lunchbox in its proper place then you rinse out your coffee cup placing it next to the coffee pot for the next day. There’s some crumbs you notice out of the corner of your eye on the counter where you place the cutting board when it’s in use. Calum must have made a breakfast sandwich and missed a few pieces during clean up.

With a small sigh, you swipe the crumbs with your hand and slip them into your other cupped hand to toss them in the trash. Then you turn the faucet on to let it warm and you suds up the washcloth and decide to clean up the whole counter before proceeding to your shared bedroom.

The living room catches your eye and you see a pillow on the floor and a coffee mug left on the table. You fluff the pillow placing it back in the middle of the couch and see Calum’s journal laid open next to his coffee mug that now holds stale coffee. Knowing he likes to keep his writing private until he deems it finished and shares it with you, you turn the cover but notice the words ‘8 hour absence’ scrawled at the top of the page.

Nothing else. You organize the magazines and other books of art and music before looping your fingers in the handle of the mug. There’s a ring of coffee lining the inside when you rinse it out, usually he finishes it.

It’s for him not to be home when you’re done with work, you think and make your way back to your room. You strip out of your clothes, folding them neatly on the end of your bed. You snatch your favorite shirt of Calum’s, breathing it in as you head into the bathroom. A warm shower always helps clear your head and ease your tense muscles.

You don’t look in the mirror as you wipe your makeup off with a wipe, tossing the rose smelling towelette into the trash. You remove your bra and underwear and turn on the shower, letting it rain through your fingers until you turn the knob to the perfect temperature. When it’s just the way you want it, you step into the water, the pressure pelts your face like a warm summer’s rain.

You close your eyes and just feel the water roll over your skin, you rub at your neck and twist your head from left to right so the water hits both of your temples. The constant thrum of the stream soothes you and you think you could stay in here for hours.

Memories of doing just that with Calum surface in your mind. When he’s been gone for promo or interviews all day and your schedules don’t meet up, you always find each other in the shower. Like ships passing in the night finally joining together.

His hands would roam over your curves while his lips taste the water off your skin starting at your shoulder to the conjuncture of your neck making you tilt your head sideways. When he nibbles at your ear, your body reacts with a pleasurable shiver and a soft laugh. Your own hands are squeezing around his forearms and biceps, your thumb stroking his warm wet skin.

You’d spend hours under the water catching up on each other’s day with soft kisses in between. Once you’d be all caught up he’d press you against the gray slate wall, his mouth sucking your neck while his fingers pull pleasure in between your legs. Sometimes he’d even be on his knees before you, your leg hitched over one shoulder and his brown eyes daring you to keep staring at him.

Not wanting to get too caught up in your real life fantasies, you continue your shower and massage the shampoo into your scalp.

There’s steam on the mirror when you get out and slip on Calum’s shirt. Your anger dissipated and swirled down the drain and the smell of him clinging to the fabric makes you miss him. Your body is sluggish and more relaxed when you put your clothes back in dresser drawers and closet hangers.

You decide to watch a movie until he comes home but when you make it back downstairs, the door closes and Duke is sniffing and licking at your feet and legs. His tail wags lazily from side to side and you scratch between his ears.

“You took a shower without me?” Calum’s smooth rumbled tone makes you look up at him. He has on a muscle tee with some athletic shorts, his curls held back by a thin purple headband, his forehead has a thin sheen of sweat. His lips are pulled into a mocking smile while his eyes scan over you in his shirt.

Upon seeing him, you feel your whole day--your whole week--crash all around you again and you skip into his arms. His arms wrap around your shoulders instinctively, caging you safely against him and you bury your face in his chest. You squeeze his middle as tightly as you can because somehow it keeps you from not falling apart.

“Hey…” his nose nudges into your wet hair and you feel his lips give a kiss. “What’ssa matter? Bad day?” All you can do is nod and squeeze harder. “You want to talk about it?” You shake your head. “Want me to just hold you for a bit?” You nod again and he chuckles at your silent communication. “I can do that…”

You remain there in the entryway, holding each other and listening to him tell you about his day. He woke up not too long after you left for work (he was disappointed he missed giving a good morning kiss) and made a breakfast sandwich with avocado and vegemite.

“Which was a pretty good combo, surprisingly, I don’t think you’d like it, though.”

Then he took Duke out and watched him sniff around the yard for a while and enjoyed the sun himself. He tried to write over a cup of coffee then fell asleep again for a bit.

“I had a dream we were camping in a small camper, just the two of us and Duke. There were millions of stars, it almost felt like we were on another planet.”

He tried writing at the piano but the notes weren’t flowing from his head properly.

“And when I picked up my guitar my fingers fuckin’ froze up,” he chuckles and kisses your hair again. “I can’t seem to write without my muse here.”

You smile into his shirt, his words giving you butterflies. He tells you constantly you’re his muse but it never fails to make your heart flutter. You tilt your head back, gazing up at him and feel his breath on your face. He didn’t shave today so his stubble is more prominent, you secretly hope he grows it out.

“You’re a cheese ball,” you grin.

“I’m your cheese ball,” he pecks your nose, your cheeks, your forehead, your nose again. He continues the circle of kisses until you’re giggling. “How about a back rub?”

“If you insist!”

You’re on top of him on the couch, watching an 80’s movie with his fingers making ellipticals over your back. That’s when you finally open up about your horrible week. He hums and scoffs and even threatens to have a talk with your co-workers.

“You’re a hard worker, sweetheart, I know it sucks that you pick up their slack but it will payoff in the end. You could get a big bonus at the end of the year, don’t think your work doesn’t go unnoticed.”

“Thank you,” you say in a small voice.

“Look at me.”

You turn your head, his lips smooth and inviting.

“I mean it, sweetheart. Keep being the badass that I know you are, and you know you are.”

“The anger helps me work harder,” you grimace.

“You don’t seem angry now,” he cocks his head to the side.

“I did a little cleaning, the shower helped and I thought about you...it helped me simmer down.”

His eyes flash and he wriggles underneath you until he pulls out his phone.

“What are you--”

“Shush!”

You watch him patiently as his fingers move across the screen, then the familiar sound of ‘She Looks so Perfect’ emits from the phone speakers. He flops his phone on his chest, the ‘hey-hey’s’ are muffled and he’s smiling widely.

“Simmer down, simmer down,” he sings along and you roll your eyes.

“A cheese ball,” you mock, poking his nose before stretching up to kiss him. The kiss lingers into something more and your legs move in a straddling position over his thighs.

“Don’t move honey,” he mumbles along with his own voice and his hands slip under your shirt. You simmered down only to have your temperature risen again, but this time you know you’ll like the ending result.

Taglist: @calumance @in-superbloom @calpalirwin @karajaynetoday @wiiildflowerrr @sunshineeeluke @littledrummeraussie @suchalonelysunflower @hoodhoran @fobodob @thew0rldneedsmcreycghurt @sunshineeashton @ashtonsunflower @mymindwide @itjustkindahappenedreally

#calum hood fluff #calum hood fic #calum fluff #calum writing #calum 5sos #calum x reader #calum x you

141 notes · View notes

awarmbowlofhomemadesoup · 3 years

Text

How Charlie F*cked Up her Own Project Promotion

As a marketing copywriter, I can say Charlie’s promotion of her hotel is professionally lacking.

(Note: I first started this as a fun post but ended up taking it seriously)

In the Hazbin Hotel pilot, Charlie presented her passion project. Unfortunately, it didn’t go well as she was laughed at and mocked on live TV.

While the viewers and the anchorwoman, Katie Killjoy, had been unnecessarily mean, their rejection is pretty much understandable in a marketing perspective.

A copywriter writes persuasive marketing and promotional materials to persuade readers to buy, subscribe, etc. When Charlie promoted her hotel, she was trying to persuade the demons to go to the hotel.

While copywriting is generally the art of selling through writing (video script, landing page, etc.), its structure is similar more or less to the art of verbal promotion.

Before we begin, I’ll be referring to her hotel as a project and the demons that she wanted to go to the hotel as prospects.

So here are the mistakes she made in her promotion.

Lack of Research about Her Prospects

Getting to know the prospect is important. It helps create a persuasive promotion for them to take action.

This can be done by interviews, polls, surveys, etc. Facebook insights allows you to know how many people of gender, age, occupation follow certain topics.

From all this information, we can build a Prospect Profile.

YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBER PROFILE EXAMPLE

If you're a Youtuber selling knee braces through exercise videos and you want people to subscribe, who are your videos for?

Knee braces are often used by athletes or the elderly. If your target is the athletes, you’ll need to build a Prospect Profile around them.

According to most buyer information, athletes who buy knee braces are mostly male (gender) athletes (occupation/hobbies) aged 20-40s.

Now it’s time to delve deeper on what makes them tick: their desires, needs and worries.

We can do this by giving surveys or taking note of video comments, etc. But from this buyer information data alone, we can have a better understanding of the prospects.

These are active men who want to be at the top of their game. (desire)

Athletes will want to play their sport while keeping their healing knee in check. (need)

Emotionally, athletes will also have pride in their performance. (desire).

Athletes may also have the fear of not being able to play anymore, professionally or hobby-wise. (worries)

With this Prospect Profile, we can persuade them to subscribe by showing how your exercise videos can help them with their desires, needs and worries about their sports performance.

The same goes for Charlie’s approach to the sinners of hell.

THE DEMONS’ PROSPECT PROFILE

As a privileged Disney-princess-like character, Charlie is disconnected from her prospects who live a harsh afterlife.

She believed in them that they deserve a chance to be redeemed. Which is a nice thought.

But what she didn’t seem to know or understand is the perspective of the demons that she was trying to help.

For these demons, they are already conditioned to believe they are already the worst of the worst. They have demonic forms that remind them of their sins. They live in poverty and violence with the logic that they deserve to because of their sins.

For them, redemption is already too late and impossible.

What does Charlie know of them? What will motivate them to redeem? What psychological resistances will she have to take down in her persuasion?

Surveys, polls and interviews are doable in order to answer these questions.

By gathering information of her prospects and understanding them, she would’ve made a more persuasive pitch that is designed to their outlook.

Weak Credibility, Zero Proof

As a copywriting professional who has to persuade people to take the desired action, this is my biggest pet peeve in Charlie’s approach.

Michael Masterson is renowned for inventing the Four-Legged Stool which is used to build a rock solid promotion.

Here are the legs of the four-legged stool:

Credibility is proving beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the project will do what you claim. This can be done by being “scientifically proven” or by certifications, personal profile of the founder behind the project, etc.

Track Record is proof that the project works on others. Track record can be in the form of testimonials or numbers. This can be stock performance, number of satisfied customers or even percentages such as “99.99% germs killed”.

Benefit or Promise paints a picture of what the project can do for them. Example is selling a sleek car with a unique fast engine (practical benefit) that also makes the buyer feel like an exciting individual (core emotional benefit).

An Idea must be huge enough to appeal to the prospect and simple enough to be communicated to someone else. This adds a unique and new dimension to the promotion. For example is Acorn, an app where you can invest spare change.

If the promotion only has three legs of the stool, it's liable to fall over.

Now let’s look at Charlie’s promotion:

WEAK CREDIBILITY

Charlie is able to use her status as the Princess of Hell to add credibility to her project. Other than that, she has no proof that her project works as pointed out by Katie Killjoy.

To prove that redemption can be possible, Charlie could’ve referred to studies showing the success rate of maladaptive behavior rehabilitation. Even expert opinions in religion could help support that a demon soul can still be redeemed.

Not Scientifically Proven. The rehabilitation system she has shown in her song “In Every Demon is a Rainbow” also has poor scientific proof. To the point that she is going to harm her prospects more than help them.

a. Abrupt Cutting Off of Vices. Throwing away their vices isn't preferable or effective to people who are reluctant to do so as compared to Gradual Reduction Treatment (DrugRehab.US).

b. Toxic Positivity. In another scene of her song, her patient was simply injected with positivity so that they'll be happy and full of kindness without reflection of themselves.

As someone privileged enough to get the best education in hell, she should at least have a better knowledge in mental health.

NO TRACK RECORD

This is another leg of the four-legged stool that is missing.

Their proof of successful redemption is when a demon soul to goes to heaven by rehabilitating them.

Angel Dust, as their first and only "patron”, is too premature to be part of the track record. Staying “clean, behaved and out of trouble” for two weeks is not yet proof of a successful redemption.

At best, what Charlie said is a naively hopeful but weak proof.

Even if Angel Dust didn’t get involved in a turf war, the demons have every right to remain skeptical when she couldn’t even give a successful track record of even one demon soul that had redeemed themself to go to heaven.

Her heart is in the right place of wanting to help everyone. But she’s just wasting everyone’s time if it wouldn’t even work in the first place. There’s a time and place for the saying “Go big” and a time and place for “Start small”.

PROSPECTS DIDN’T BELIEVE THE BENEFIT/PROMISE

Her prospects would benefit going to heaven instead of being in hell.

Charlie did a great job painting a picture of a happy afterlife in heaven with her song “Inside of Every Demon is a Rainbow”. Unfortunately, the benefits “Just puppy dog kisses and cotton candy dreams And puffy-wuffy clouds, you're gonna be like, wow! ” may not be well received by demons who had become jaded and cynical of living life in hell.

Aside from her lack of proof, Charlie doesn’t know her prospects enough to effectively reach them and dismantle their skepticism.

POORLY COMMUNICATED IDEA

The idea of her project is to go to heaven through redemption.

While it’s easy to understand, the idea could’ve appealed to the demons with a more convincing approach if Charlie understood her prospects well. And if her idea is well-supported by facts.

Her promotion only has two legs of the stool: Benefit and Idea. Her promo fell because she lacked research of her prospects. She lacked actual proof. She lacked credible information.

Because of all of these, she lacked the means to effectively promote.

The Art of Persuasion

Persuading people to take the desired action is often difficult. This is why marketing professionals and companies exist.

And this is where Alastor comes in with his charismatic seedy salesman mass communication skills and overlord status, making him the hope and solution to Charlie’s dilemma. Even if he did outright say that he was only interested in watching demons fail.

But other than that, Charlie, as one of the most privileged demons in hell, should have greater access to quality information and services on things such as marketing. And mental health science.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin charlie #charlie magne #hazbin hotel charlie

112 notes · View notes

blris96 · 2 years

Note

Heyy B. So what's up with Tim?!?! Do you think he's trying to save his relationship with Ashley by saying Lucy's not his partner? But then he was so up close and personal with her during that scene. Also that date scene was perfect.

Hi lovely anon!

The dichotomy of Tim’s behavior is interesting to me. Like you said, he was up close and personal with Lucy while being very far apart from Ashley. Yet, they remain together.

I think a lot of where we are now stems from that “fake” confession. It’s certainly not the only piece, but it’s probably the largest piece of the mess Chenford finds themselves in. Lucy pulled that “prank” (jury is out on whether it was meant to be a prank or if she turned it into one later), and you could see the pieces starting to click for Tim. But, since Lucy essentially brushed it off, he didn’t say anything when he figured it out.

Tim I think has a very good inkling of what he feels for Lucy, and maybe he’s fully aware, but he’s running right now and I don’t think he’s fully accepted it. If he has, he’s waiting for Lucy to catch up.

He’s prodding Lucy as the season goes on (the handsome boy comment, the hotness comment, the love life comment etc). Those are not coincidences. He’s trying to gauge how Lucy may feel. She’s either dodged or brushed off the question/statement every single time. So, in Tim’s mind, he’s probably thinking that Lucy doesn’t have feelings for him. As such, enter Ashley (we all know it will implode dramatically, but she’s a distraction for him).

Ashley strikes me as a very high maintenance, insecure individual. We know nothing about her outside of her father’s name is Jerry and he’s a retired cop and she’s a lifeguard who likes fancy dinners. We also suspect that she may be a little off her rocker based on things we’ve seen and her red flags keep growing.

Tim thinks Lucy doesn’t have any feelings for him, as such, he’s going to try to make it work with Ashley at whatever cost. She’s temporary, but he’s going to try to make it work even though they’re fooling themselves. The whole “she’s not my partner, I’m just her sergeant” thing reeks of a last ditch attempt to keep Ashley. It’s a denial, which makes me think he’s just simply avoiding whatever he may feel for Lucy and is trying to convince himself of those things too in addition to reassuring Ashley. In my opinion, she looked like she was ready to bounce after 4x12. We all know that the attempt will fail. Ashley also strikes me as the type who will want Tim to change who he is at his core. She doesn’t like anything about his life!

Let me pose this question. That one promo photo for 4x13 of Tim looking sad seems like he’s staring after someone. What if it’s Lucy and he says that she’s only his aide, and not his partner? Or says something else to hurt her to cause distance so he can also reassure Ashley that way since Lucy wouldn’t be around as much? A split is almost certain, and him saying one of those two things would hammer the split home. It would explain that promo photo.

By doing that, yes, it would reassure Ashley and hammer home the point he’s willing to do anything for Ashley no matter the cost to save his relationship, but it would also drive Tim to miss Lucy and might force a couple realizations. It would also cause a major fracture in Chenford’s relationship and would set up the way they’ll come back together.

The date scene was perfect indeed! 🥰🥰

#B Answers Questions #ask box #tim bradford #lucy chen #chenford #the rookie #ashley mcgrady

6 notes · View notes

calypsoff2 · 3 years

Text

Two. Part 2

Well this has become a nightmare I just wanted to go, but now it’s a standstill and Imani is not letting Robyn go. Rubbing my chin looking at Robyn, you know my kids do speak too much and they just need to shut the fuck up sometimes like now “Imani, come on let’s go and watch Paw Paw” Mel said, I feel irritated “we will be back, there ain’t no problem here” I said “but Rylee said what she said, I mean why? How long were you away from these kids Robyn?” Rylee snitching ass “Grandma, I want to go there. I want to go with them” this is bullshit “Rylee what did I say? Like honestly, you’re just being spiteful because you can’t get your way, Mel she doesn’t go anywhere. She doesn’t deserve anything, she couldn’t just be quiet and let us go” let her cry “no, this is not their fault here. This is certainly not her fault, what is happening here. I asked you Robyn, how long were you away from these kids” looking at Robyn, there is nothing I am saying will shut her mother up “when I told you I was in London; I never went home but I asked Chris, we spoke on it and he was fine with it, it doesn’t matter what you think or anyone really” Monica mean mugged Robyn “leaving your kids, your three kids at that! For that long was not good. You were busy prancing around, being treated like a Princess while they missed you? Now you’re trying to make it up to them now. They needed you, you said you would go back and check on them at least and now you’re running off to France for fun?” Robyn got this, this is Robyn not me because if I speak then it will be a problem “no, not for fun but to spend time with my daughter. I can’t get a word in edge because your just stood there judging me and I don’t need it, if you want to speak to me then you do it in private” she is right in saying that, not in front of the kids “I am judging you, you’re right. Then let’s speak” I groaned out “can we just go? You can slate your daughter later” Monica eyeballed me “I do not slate her, I am just hard on her because I want the best” nodding my head, is that what they call it.

I can’t believe we are going through this, like we need to fucking waste time by doing this “please do not speak, I am begging you Chris. Just let her say her peace and be done with it, please do not tell her about what Tianna said. She will think I am neglecting her” furrowing my eyebrows “why would I snitch on my wife? I got you, don’t worry about that” Monica made her way into the room, I feel like a school kid, this is straight dumb, but it is what it is. Placing my hands behind my back staring at Monica “what exactly is happening? All I am seeing is distressed girls there, you’re taking Tianna but not Rylee? You know how much she is crying” she is causing issues like always, I am not shocked “that is because Rylee wants what Tianna is getting, she is sick of being under Rylee, they aren’t twins, I think it’s something we need to realise. She is her own person, and she needs space and freedom, Tianna asked to spend time with us, and I want to give her that. Rylee does get our attention a lot, I have been failing and if you want to call me a failure as a mother then say it, but I am trying” Robyn’ voice broke “I am not calling you a failure of a mother, I just didn’t agree with having many at the same time. I knew there would be struggle somewhere, you’re a good mother but you need to make time. Something you can never get back, trust me. I appreciated every moment with you, watching you grow up but then you hit teenage and you was gone. I want you to be there, I see you working and working, too much work. I don’t think you’re that, I just want you to have time with your girls, they are precious. I see how much they love you Robyn, I get it’s hard but if you said that to me instead of just acting all suspicious about it then I will understand, I am always here for you. My daughter doesn’t cry” stepping back as Monica came to Robyn to hug her, I think Robyn has had enough, she’s tired too and I hate that for her “you always trying to make it seem I am a bad mother, I try my best” Monica is a hard woman, my mother on the other hand is a softie.

Sitting down on the couch as Monica consoled Robyn, there is a lot Monica doesn’t know because of her anal parenting and honestly she is strict on Robyn but let her come to America, she picks and chooses when. I am so fucking annoyed that my wife is crying because she wants to be mean to her, there was no need for this at all. She didn’t deserve to be treated that way, I am actually so angry right now “it’s a lot mom, I am trying my best I want you to just step back and stop assuming” Robyn said wiping her tears “I don’t need you to be talking to me like I am stupid in front of my kids either. I get you have your way and that you think things should be a certain way, but this is my life mom. I beg you, please back off. I need to deal with shit already ok?” I am glad she said it to her mother instead of me, I am about to blow “I just want the best for you and my grandkids, you’re right. I am sorry” Monica stepped back “thank you, but I just want to take care of my kids. I need to make it up to them, what happened was either I suffered and come backwards and forwards or I remain here, but it ended up shit, look at me. I am fucking stressed” Robyn sniffled “I don’t want that, when I saw you I knew you was looking off Robyn, I saw it. You could have sent one of the kids with me, I wouldn’t have minded, I love the kids” Robyn shook her head “they have school, things are different now, but can you just support me in this, can you just support me in taking Tianna to France to spend time with her instead of putting me down in front of my kids, can I?” Monica is quiet, I am glad she is quiet. She is putting them in her place which she should, it’s only right because her mom be doing the most about shit.

I think Monica understands now, she is quiet, but Rylee is still crying which is making Imani cry too “make it up with her Chris, make it right. We can’t just go like this, it’s not nice. Just let her go with Mel out, please” Robyn said, nodding my head. Licking my top lip as I made my way to Rylee, I am pretty pissed off with Rylee so to be honest I don’t want to say she can do something when she is being a brat, but we are leaving, anything could happen, and I don’t want that “hey” crouching down to Rylee “why are you crying? Come on, talk to me. You know what I said to you, I like you to talk to me rather then cry like this. I need you to speak to me Rylee” her sad little face, she reminds me of Robyn so much “because I want to be with you all, I don’t want to be here” she sniffled “I understand, I really do Rylee, but we can’t always cater to you, this is Tianna’ time and you will have your time. You and auntie will have a good time here, I know Mel has some fun things set up for you both, you know what I want from you though?” I pointed, her sad little face staring at me “I want you to be a big girl, I want you to be there for your sister and just listen to Auntie ok? When auntie says you can’t do this or do that you listen. No need to cry, we have so many other adventures we can go too ok? Come on” opening my arms, I know it’s not enough, it’s not what she wanted but she needs to accept it. Wrapping my arms around Rylee, she has to learn.

I am glad to be on the jet, it’s not even a long route. We will be there so quick, I thought we would take the ferry there, that would be fun, but Robyn booked this. Tianna is sat across from us on the jet, she is so quiet. I mean she is because she is watching her thing on the tablet quietly “how you feeling anyways?” placing my arm around Robyn “just thinking, I am always thinking Chris. How to incorporate home life and work, like having my meetings all they say to me constantly, you sell. Your face, your body. You sell. I try put forward that if someone else takes over and I don’t be there, like the event, even promo videos. They said no, it’s you. People want Rihanna, they tested it out on my product, we had Bella Hadid promote it, it didn’t work. It’s just having to do it myself and wanting to be there for my kids. I know my mom is judging me, she is not happy about this. And having to go through my own thing, it’s hard. I can’t even express what I went through because they would say, again? Can’t you stop” Robyn is feeling down, I know she is “it wasn’t meant to be Robyn, it’s fine. Don’t worry about that so much” she sighed out “I just can’t but think I keep losing boys, I just can’t even deal. It’s funny how I get judged for having kids close, like so what? How is she doing it, the fuck. Leave me alone” pressing a kiss to the top of her head “fuck them Robyn, we good over here. We will be ok, you know that” I hate to see her sad like this “maybe that is the forth baby Captain was talking about, I just don’t understand why I lose babies Chris, and I can’t say anything to anyone because they are like oh you’re having more babies, look at what they was like with Imani because I was not doing well with Tianna, I was too busy for her. I can deal with my kids, I know I can I just need to be not judged like what” I sighed out “Robyn, I think we should get a nanny” I just said it but Robyn laughed “oh, my mother will laugh and say hire her. She will want to do it instead and drive me crazy until I agree, you know how shit it’s been that we’ve had kids so soon. Like they came out of their vagina, I just want to deal with me and mine. Protected sex now” Robyn laughed moving away from me “don’t mind me, just expressing myself how I do. Also you’re the only one to understand, I just kept this to us, I never told Mel either” Robyn wiped her tears, licking my looking at Robyn’ body “and you still so sexy” she laughed “this is what got us in trouble in the first place, you can’t keep your hands of me Chris so no” she mushed my face, I can’t help it “my babies know how to swim, you know how it is” I love her so much.

Holding Tianna as I walked behind Robyn and into the four seasons, I picked this hotel while on the jet here and it looks amazing. I can’t wait to go to the room “you walk too slow, Frank was complaining” placing Tianna down as she laughed “I’m being lazy” I assumed she was “come on now, shall I go to the desk or you?” I said to Robyn “she is coming, I have been here before. The receptionist gets everything set up; you just go. Like here” the receptionist came over to us “Bonjour Christopher and Robyn, welcome to France. Please follow me” she gestured; Tianna ran ahead as she does “you now want to run!?” Frank spat which made me laugh, my daughter is awkward “you are top floor, and Madam Tianna Happy Birthday. Welcome to France my lady” Tianna stared at the receptionist in shock “my birthday?” she said confused, the receptionist pressed the elevator “every day is your birthday beautiful; your birthday always lasts a week so yes it’s still your birthday. How old are you?” she asked her “seven!” it’s nice to see Tianna take her own role “oh you are growing; well the four season would like to welcome you here. You are in charge of the key card, come. Let me show you” we walked onto the elevator “here, place it” stood in the corner “and we go up?” Tianna asked “all the way to the top yes” Tianna placed the card in “sir and madam, any issues please we are here” nodding my head “thank you” that was nice of them “so we go up now, all the way to the top” Rich and Frank got on “we have your presents here too, Frank and Rich” Tianna laughed “Rich said I walk too slow” Rich shook his head “blaming me, that was you” he pointed at Frank, I sighed out feeling drained as hell.

Tianna is so happy, they have made the room filled with balloons, fit for a birthday “it’s late you know so if we just have a little something downstairs and then take it from there” I said to Robyn “I don’t mind at all, I am just glad to be away from everything” wrapping my arms around Robyn “I love you” pressing a kiss to the side of her head “there is more then seven balloons here” Tianna made her way over to us “how much is there then?” since she knows everything “seven but then we got to include my name there, they are balloons too” Robyn chuckled “and how many is that then?” she is confused thinking hard now “ten?” I snorted laughing “oh boy, I am about to remove you from that school” Tianna mean mugged me “thirteen altogether, all for you” she is happy, I like that “shall we get dressed and go to get some food?” Robyn moved her hair back from her face “I can do your hair all pretty” Tianna did a sigh of relief “it’s been so long mom, dad just keeps brushing my hair back” I snorted laughing “he tried but come, let’s get ready for dinner” a nigga be trying but these girls don’t appreciate shit, women for you.

#Chrianna #Chrianna FF #Chrianna Fanfic #Chrianna Fanfiction #Fanfic #Fanfiction

6 notes · View notes

coralstudiies · 4 years

Text

hello everyone! I got an ask from an anon asking for tips on time management so i decided to type this out before school starts heheh…

poor time management and procrastination, unfortunately, plague just about all of us lol. people with a short attention span (like me) and who are pretty much always on their phone (me again) and who hate scheduling are the most susceptible to these.

over the years i struggled with time management(studying the night before the exam 🤙🏼) but! these are some tips that have helped me in scheduling, avoiding procrastination and improving time management.

1. Write it down

as always, we’re starting with BEFORE the actual task. write all tasks, assignments, projects and homework, test dates down somewhere (notebook preferably so that you dont lose it. it doesn’t have to be your bujo and you do not have to start a bujo for this specific reason!!!) and write the deadlines. this is subconscious pressure to do work once you get home. also, since you can see everything, it’s easier to schedule it out later

2. Use travel time

i cannot stress this enough!!!! sorry that it appears in all my tips posts but it truly is very useful. for short commutes, review the content you’ve learnt so that when you start on your homework, you’ve already got the hang of it. ie you dont struggle to understand the chapter and be put off from finishing your work because you hate it. long commutes can be used to complete work itself. i like to place some books and a file under my worksheet while i write (if i have a seat lol) or you can take this time to plan your time in greater detail

3. Actually plan your time

you dont have to fancy it up with like, brush pens and highlighters. just do something on google sheets or excel. divide the day into appropriate blocks of time.

for me, since i use a focus timer (50+10 or 100+20, rare cases i do 120 with a long break after that) i keep my days in 1hr blocks. so i’d block in about 1hour after i reach home to chill, clean up and so on, 2hrs for homework and the remaining time can be divided by hour/2hours to complete my work. you can tweak the timings to work for you but so far this one suits me pretty well.

4. NEVER RUSH YOUR HOMEWORK AND REVISION WHEN PLANNING!!!!

i repeat, never rush. because when you give only, say, one hour to review 3 chapters and you fail to do so within that time limit, you feel demoralised and hence, will not want to work more. this is a very common issue i believe. sometimes i would rush revise and when i couldnt stick to the timelines, i’ll feel so defeated that i’ll probably binge watch youtube to cure my self-pity LOL

give yourself an ample amount of time. Assign one or two hours a day as ‘delay time’ (this was my free time) so that you can catch up on anything that unfortunately, you couldn’t finish. Assign one day of the week to be the ‘delay day’ -- anything that you cant finish the week before, do it now. this means that you can still ‘save’ your plan even if it screwed up somewhere along the way. it works wonders, believe me! i used to have ‘delay hours’ after training where i would (ahem sadly) study from 2330-0030 if i needed to. while i was tired, i always got my work done.

5. Prioritise

this one needs no explanation. i usually choose which task to start on based on a combination of deadline+importance+graded/non-graded. i start early for graded assignments because they count towards my semester’s final grade and i want to hand up the best quality work i can. find a system which works for you! note: start project work and large assignments early.

you can assign simple tasks first to start the ball rolling, and proceed with harder tasks.

alternatively, if you’re at your prime focus, start with the hardest and scale down to the simple.

6. Make good use of holidays + Wake up early

ok i used to game a LOT and go to training a LOT (still happens now lol) during holidays but i wouldnt get any of my holiday work done.

do your holiday homework first. schedule your time well, and maybe stay home and resist the urge to go out for the first 5 days. finish all your work (again, schedule well) with breaks in between.

thereafter, schedule maybe 3-5 hours a day to revise. if you’re going out with friends, i’d suggest you wake up early to study because once you come home you’re usually dead tired HAHA

so how early is early?? during my o levels study break i would wake up at 0330 (yes, for real) but i slept at 2130 every night. so thats 6 hours of sleep wew but AT LEAST i was very productive. think about it this way: waking up early to study at 0330 makes you more productive than studying till 0330. you don’t have to wake up THIS early, but preferably early enough when the sky’s still dark so that you can fit in those extra hours. DO NOT sacrifice sleep. that’s why you can see i’m still sleeping my usual amount, albeit sleeping and waking earlier.

more perks of waking up early: its quiet outside, the air is cool, your mind gets into the ‘get shit done’ mode, and if you absolutely have to use your phone to search something up, your social media probably won’t be pinging. in other words, early mornings are actually a great time to study! remember to eat something though :>

7. Remove all distractions to prevent possible procrastination

YES i know this is the dreaded one. lock your phone somewhere inconvenient and put the key outside your room. or if you don’t lock it make sure your phone is far away from you as possible. please i know how deadly your phone can get so just put it away.

if you find yourself drifting away and looking at something else, remove that.

alternatively, change up your study environment. you don’t have to go to the library or something (you can if you want to). this is as simple as studying in a different part of the house. a new environment helps to ‘prick’ my mind and help me ignore distractions. i dont know if this is scientifically proven but oh well, worth a try.

8. 2-minute rule

this is something i picked up from @studyquill! it’s pretty helpful (although i was skeptical at first). Tell yourself you’re only going to work for 2 minutes, which helps you get into the workflow. chances are you’ll get so into it (ok not in an excited but rather in a determined way) that you don’t feel like stopping.

if you’ve had a long day and after 2 mins you still don’t get any momentum, just stop and take a 15 min break. that means you’re really too tired and there’s no point in forcing yourself to complete your work.

9. Use reminders

set reminders on your phone for the tasks you need to do. for example, if you’ve planned to start work at 1500, set the reminder to ring 5 minutes before so you have time to gather all your stuff and ready yourself to do work. no excuses!!

set reminders for your breaks as well! those are equally important.

10. Reward yourself

if everything you need to do is done, give yourself a pat on the back. have you been extremely productive? great, treat yourself to your favourite drink/snack. honestly i feel like many of our brains function on the ‘reward’ system. if we reward ourselves for a job well done, we’ll be more willing to complete tasks and stay on time in the future (the brain thinks there’s a reward coming)

remember to take care of your mental health as well! this is one good way to ensure you don’t end up mentally exhausted.

Apps to help with time management

1. Tide - focus timer, meditation, beautiful and calming soundtracks (my fav!)

2. Pendo - everything in one tbh, schedule, to-do list, journal etc. (my fav too!)

3. Forest - focus timer $$$ (free alternative: flora)

4. Donut Dog - focus timer

5. Todoist - minimalist to-do list

6. Minimalist - minimalist to-do list

7. Google Calender - your entire schedule

8. Todait - smart study planner

a quick search will bring out many more! note these are all available on iOS but i’m not sure about google play. you don’t need everything to be productive. i rely only on Tide, Pendo and my iPhone calender and reminders. It’s less about having many ‘tools’ and more about how you properly and wisely utilise them to boost your productivity and manage your time.

also i don't think pendo is very well-known?? so this is how its interface looks like for 'Notes':

it's pretty, simple and clean and there are several themes to choose from! i rly like it omg HAHA (not a promo)

alright that's all! hope it helped :>

974 notes · View notes

shikantazaart · 3 years

Text

Shikantaza Creativity Interview III - SPARTALIEN

At Shikantaza we are not content to just create art. We want to understand art. We want to understand the people who make art. Into the act of creation. Who are the people behind the art work? What motivates them? Where do they find their inspiration?

No two people think and act alike, so it is even less likely to find two artists who think and act alike. Yet, there will be crossovers, shared thoughts and shared experiences. Where do we adjoin and where do we diverge?

Our series of interviews with artists and creators aims to answer these questions.

In interview number three we speak to multimedia experimenter SPARTALIEN. You can find his creations here https://spartalien.com/visual as well as a collection of his work in the Shikantaza gallery.

1 - Starting with the most important question - Who is Memoria?

Memoria is Latin and means, when translated, memory / remembrance.

I named the merchandise for the album "2358" Memoria instead of Memory, because the main track titles are also translated into Latin.

I see my merchandise as small memories/artefacts. Not only because they are very rare, but because I can never go back to that time.

“Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things” - Cicero

2 - You work across different mediums. Do you have any preference for a specific form? When did you first find the format that was “you”?

I became really infected with the digital virus around in the late 90s when I built my first computer. A year or two later I started taking photos and manipulating them digitally. I also had a few printed, which allowed me to bring the digital into the real world. Then I discovered IRC and started learning a little bit of TCL. Since I had fun coding, I decided to learn the basics of web development because I needed a website to show my pictures to other people. In general, I was fascinated by the flow of information on the Internet. That distance is no longer a real hurdle when it comes to data transmission.

I've always loved music as a listener and small collector. I was then and still am one of those people who never go out of the house for long periods of time without a Walkman. Music production came into play when a couple of friends set up a small studio where they produced Techno/Psy. When I was there for the first time, I knew immediately that I wanted to try it too. A few old tracks from back then are still available on my website.

From then on, many of my projects have developed in the direction of music. The input for a program was often music metadata or it was a website that was about music in some way or another. But since I was still at the very beginning of my learning process, I kept discarding practically everything in order to improve it or to learn new things. Around 2001, I started a web radio with friends, which was online for several years. The music was mainly Downtempo, Trip-Hop, IDM and Ambient. Promos from unknown artists from around the world were also broadcasted.

The atmosphere, the feeling I got from this time - how the music finds me and not the other way around, how it can change people's thoughts - has never left me since then.

3 - Do you feel that each medium allows you to express yourself differently from the others? How do you choose which medium you work in any given moment?

Yes. But I think you can convey the same feelings with any medium. The question is how direct it is. For example, pain can be expressed with fire but also with a chair in an empty room. At the end of the day, in my opinion, it's not about the artist's intention but about the perception of the viewer and his or her subsequent thoughts and actions. For example, imagine you make a dark ambient track that you experience as sad and heavy, but someone else tells you that it helped to relax and develop thoughts.

In addition to all of this, each medium also has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to technical implementation. So, sometimes the choice can also purely depend on skill or resources.

We all have ideas and often out ambitions outweigh our resources. Sometimes we need more resources, but more often than not we need to chip away at our ideas until our ambitions and resources align.

4 - Do you seek different sources of inspiration for your music than you would for your visual creations?

It's everything in the world around me that inspires me. Everything I perceive and feel, so to speak. Most of the time I don't have a melody or a picture in my head. It is more of a feeling and then I look for the right tone or shape for it, so to speak.

5 - How closely are your creations connected to each other?

Very close one could say - through my thoughts that I have wrapped in it. I always had a bit of a problem putting my thoughts into words. I tend to stray through various topics when I talk about something. With music and visuals, it feels lighter and more natural to get to the point. The "message" doesn't always get through, but being able to do so is liberating and invaluable to me.

6 - If you were to direct people to a specific piece of work that you feel really nails what you are aiming for with your creations, which would it be?

This is a hard question. Maybe I would ask you to sit down and listen to the album "FLOATING HIGH" in one sitting. Since it felt like coming home to me while making it. The music is less intrusive and not as precise in its message as the previous releases. Like its cover art, where the clouds could be seen as opening or closing. I wanted to create tracks that leave more room for thought while still telling a story.

7 - You have “X minutes of peace” on your site. Why is this needed? Was this made for you or for others?

For others but also for myself. For me it is self-reflection that allows me to understand myself better. But since I have problems with "just switching off my head", the moments in which I just sit quietly and let the recording device do its work are very valuable. In moments like these I can really switch off and think about something very carefully. Asking questions even though I feel like I don't have an answer. Or simply enjoying the precious fresh air and sounds of nature.

Unfortunately, too many people don't have time for that kind of peace. Too much pressure is on them. They either get this or that, or they can't survive. It's so sad how the system works. I simply think that if everyone would have more inner-peace, the world would be a better place. But then again, what do I know living under a rock between mountains?

The videos should allow us to find peace for a few minutes, no matter where we are. So that new and hopefully useful thoughts can develop.

The series Let It All Go is actually the same thing, just with music.

For the really dark hours there is BRAIN I/O. From time to time I prefer to embrace the pressure. Difficult to describe. The concept is basically: don't think, just feel and record it. It's about things that I personally want to leave behind or at least want to learn to accept (not necessarily being okay with) them if I can't change them.

Peace is an issue for me. When I briefly find it only points the way to the next act. This is fantastic but self defeating. Why can’t we just stay in peace?

8 - When inspiration has left the building where do you look to find it?

I'm not really actively looking for inspiration. Somehow it doesn't work that way for me. So variety is important to me. That is why I usually have several side projects going on in the areas that I do not much publicize. Much of it never leaves my hard drive and is mainly intended to free my mind and get on to new ideas in the process. Coding, graphics, drawing, etc. But the music production is and remains the main focus.

9 - These are the questions I am asking all the interviewees. Why do you create? What is it that pushes you to keep creating?

The inner child is just too strong. I've been living for a while and I know exactly nothing. It kind of feels like that. So many things that you can create with the computer alone. I'm stuck in that loop where you just love to create things and learn - and use the new knowledge to create new things. Things!

10 - What would most assist you to create more works? Is there an ultimate goal for your creations?

More time and resources for sure. but most important to me is the feeling that my loved ones are safe. When I have to worry about their future because the system is going the way it is, it feels like a pile of stones in my head.

The creative / social goal of my art is relatively simple and based on my own experience. Art has helped me tremendously when I felt lost - or when I was just "bored". Taking time to really listen to or look at something can be very liberating.

My short-term financial goal is to generate a more or less regular income through art. But since I never released anything commercially before 2016, this world is still new to me.

My dream goal is to hear my music in film and games and to generate an income that supports my family.

Nonetheless, I think goals are here to create an initial path, not necessarily motivation.

I do not know of a single soul who has not been lost. Some never find their way back. Some don’t need to find their way back, they are happier in the place they found.

11 - If you were to offer a creator any advice what would it be?

Based on my own experience in no particular order:

Stay curious and open minded for different viewpoints.

Tutorials can limit your creativity. Sure, learn the basics, but explore as much as you can on your own and never be afraid to fail. It's a process, not a game.

On projects that take longer than a day to complete, set yourself a deadline when you want to have it completed. Not important if it takes longer, but in general that helps to stay more focused.

Very few things are easy when you start.

Limitations are not necessarily bad.

Don't wait for motivation to create. It will kick in usually a few minutes after you've started. Therefore keep your tools ready and organized so you can start creating at any time.

You can always turn off the internet.

Be open for constructive criticism.

Especially for the digital crowd, backup your stuff!

(All images and works by SPARTALIEN)

#shikantaza #art #music #video #visual #creation #peace

11 notes · View notes

ubiyytsa-a-blog · 7 years

Text

GENERAL TAG DUMP

❅ --- you’re a weapon and weapons don’t weep ⌊ visage.

❅ --- hey demons‚ it’s ya girl ⌊ ooc.

❅ --- all things truly wicked start from an innocence ⌊ character study.

❅ --- lost in translation ⌊ meme.

❅ --- listen close and listen well ⌊ psa.

❅ --- patience is a virtue ⌊ queue.

❅ --- baby‚ i’m howlin’ for you ⌊ audio.

❅ --- who’s gonna fuck you like me? ⌊ nsfw.

❅ --- when all else fails‚ we remain ⌊ promo.

❅ --- beautiful‚ violent‚ vulgar ⌊ self promo.

❅ --- if we can’t have it all‚ nobody will ⌊ wishlist.

❅ --- everything she wants is everything she sees ⌊ desires.

❅ --- and when history did not cooperate‚ history was changed ⌊ headcanon.

❅ --- you don’t get a win unless you play in the game ⌊ starter call.

❅ --- and so the story starts ⌊ opens.

#❅ --- you’re a weapon and weapons don’t weep ⌊ visage.#❅ --- hey demons‚ it’s ya girl ⌊ ooc.#❅ --- all things truly wicked start from an innocence ⌊ character study.#❅ --- lost in translation ⌊ meme.#❅ --- listen close and listen well ⌊ psa.#❅ --- patience is a virtue ⌊ queue.#❅ --- baby‚ i’m howlin’ for you ⌊ audio.#❅ --- who’s gonna fuck you like me? ⌊ nsfw.#❅ --- when all else fails‚ we remain ⌊ promo.#❅ --- beautiful‚ violent‚ vulgar ⌊ self promo.#❅ --- if we can’t have it all‚ nobody will ⌊ wishlist.#❅ --- everything she wants is everything she sees ⌊ desires.#❅ --- and when history did not cooperate‚ history was changed ⌊ headcanon.#❅ --- you don’t get a win unless you play in the game ⌊ starter call.#❅ --- and so the story starts ⌊ opens.

1 note · View note

gallavictorious · 3 years

Text

11x01 Reaction Post

Random thoughts on and reactions to 11x01; no careful analysis or anything, just the bits and pieces that's not likely to make it into meta proper but which I still want to make note of so I can go back later and remember what my initial reaction to the episode was (since my impressions are likely to change as the season unfolds). Mostly Gallavich related, because duh, but there's disordered rambling on a bit of everything. Under a cut (God I miss LJ sometimes) because this got long.

Ian looks damned good as the homocidal muscle. I don't do AU:s, but if I did... On the other hand, Frank as a member of the Chicago “Eight” looks like a werewolf. Less interested in that AU. And listen, I get that they couldn't get Emmy Rossum for this, but I really miss Fiona showing up in a few random olden day pictures. She's gone, but she's still a Gallagher dammit! Carl at the slaughter house looked weird – and part of me thought that was appropriate because slightly off editing would be a sweet way of communicating that it's all bollocks, but the rest of shots looked okay (Debbie as a milk maid and Frank as the aforementioned werewolf) or good (everything else) so no.

The sound of a baby crying is a horror matched only by persistent lack of sleep so I feel for Lip and Tami so much. Here's to all parents who managed to get through the first year without murdering anybody! I think that maybe you don't get enough credit... I, for instance, want to kill someone just hearing Freddie cry in the background for half a minute. Not sure it bodes too well for their relationship for them to be so ready to spend every night apart like Lip suggests, but a, what wouldn't you do for a good night's sleep, and b, love the thought of Lip spending more time at the old house. Could see them breaking up during the course of the season, though. Not sure how I feel about that – Tami's my favourite out of Lip's love interests, but having too many of the couples staying together all through the finale wouldn't feel quite right (for Shameless) and I don't see them breaking up Ian and Mickey or Kev and V. Don't really expect Sandy or Debbie to last either, but since it's more of a casual thing it might have more of a casual end.

Do you remember when the promo dropped and there was Concern about That Look on Ian's face after he kisses Mickey, and I tag theorized about it being because Mickey stole his coffee? Turns out there wasn't really A Look in the actual episode, but I sure as hell was right about the coffee, and I want noted somewhere. Maybe there should also be a small diploma? A golden statue seems a little over the top, but I mean, if you insist...

I appreciate that Ian is very adament about it being their money but when Mickey thinks it's their breakfast it's suddenly every man for himself. Do you share or not, Ian? Hmm? (Let the record show that I'm joking, please. Ian is damned right to take his toast back, and I say this as a “person most likely to steal their partner's toast right out of their hand”. I also love that Mickey completely gives up on breakfast when he can't have Ian's toast and just grabs a beer instead.) The kitchen scene is glorious and I just really like their dynamic here; the casual kiss, “I only make breakfast for husbands who have jobs”, how relaxed it is even when Ian's a bit annoyed, Mickey being so... Mickey. I do wonder what went through his head when Ian started talking about their wedding present money, though – he seems worried for a moment, but then shrugs it off, and that could be either bravado or just actual lack of concern. I tend mostly towards the latter, since Mickey quite genuinely figures this isn't a big deal (even though he still recognizes that Ian will probably think it one). Please note that he immediately offers to get money when Ian mentions that they need more of it coming in. Not his fault Ian vetoes his methods, right? (Also love that Ian's objection is due to him not wanting to be separated from Mickey, rather than any moral qualms about robbing stores.)

Okay, the gag ball. Would they really keep it like that if they were actually using it? Maybe either of them just tossed it there after taking it off, I suppose... Yeah, I don't know. Not what I'd imagined them being into, but that might be my own extreme lack of enthusiasm for gag balls and harnesses talking. Either they're into it and if so, you do you, boys, or it was a gift and they're keeping it around and semi-prominently on display for shits and giggles. (But if it was a gift, they did try it at least once, right?)

Mickey in the bath remains stupidly and surprisingly gorgerous. Incidentally, I really don't think his question about the meds is any indication of him not thinking them important, but there's little wonder that Ian bristles at the mention of them. Maybe not be an ass just to prove a point, eh, Mick?

I've already talked about how hard Ian is trying here but let's just take another moment to congratulate our boy on his persistent attempts at mature communication. Though he might have given some actual consideration to Mickey not wanting to save the money if he's really serious about them making decisions together... But he gets there! I think this whole situation – which would royally piss most people, including me, off – is actually particularly difficult for Ian, because he might well see Mickey's behavior as uncomfortably reminiscent of Frank and Monica's destructive habits and yeah, that would fuck him up. And still! He forces himself to calm down! He takes Mickey's hand! He refuses to let himself be distracted by Mickey looking SO INSANELY PRETTY I CANNOT EVEN UNDERSTAND IT! Ian, I salute you!

[starwars_eu_nerd_mode]KORRIBAN! YES! HA! TAKE THAT DISNEY! You take your new so-called “canon” and your “Moraband” and you fuck right off. I salute you, Bitcoin Boy![/starwars_eu_nerd_mode]

Ah, the porch scene... This one I do have a bunch of thoughs on that will probably make it into meta proper one day, so I'll leave it for now. It was the one that took the most thinking about for me to square (still not a lot, it should be noted), but now I'm actually very happy about it. (Full disclosure: none of their scenes feel quite right the first time I see them these days, because I'm just so very on edge about what's to come that I kind of miss the forest for all the trees you know? It's not a Shameless thing – it's always like this when I'm extremely invested in something and have waited for it for some time. Will it fit with how I see the characters? Will it be cringey? Will Mickey suddenly profess a love for hideous Hawaii shirts? Also, what are they saying because English is hard... But then I watch them a couple of times and they sink in and I start to get giddy over them. I guess watching actual canon unfold always requires a little bit of re-calibration if you've been busy fanoning while waiting for it to arrive, and while I love that sort of interpretative work, there’s also the fear that the show will veer off into a direction I cannot easily follow.)

Mickey's insistence that he spelled monogamy wrong does genuinely amuse me. Not to mention the whole “No more parking tickets for me!” - “You don't have a car, dumbass.” Also, Mickey being friendly with Carl kills me, in a good way. Family FTW!

Frank's storyline fails to stir even the vaguest hint of interest in me, as per usual. For all his talk of family in this episode, the lack of interaction with any of his kids is striking. If he's to have any value at all this season I'll need him to get involved in the rest of the Gallagher's storylines (which seems like it might be happening at least for a bit later on, so I'm vaguely hopeful?). I find but faint intrigue in Carl's and Debbie's stuff, but it doesn’t annoy me either so I'll call it a win. Kev and V are (almost) always a delight, but do anyone else feel like their kids are only props, even to them? I don't know... I just don't think there's a connection or sense of realness to their relationship, you know? Maybe it's just me... Anyway, here's to hoping V turning pageant mom changes all that! Oh, and I'll need Liam to have some more screentime and stuff to do.

The Tommy and Kermit thing was weird. Eh. Whatever.

Sandy is so gorgerous. I can't. The Milkoviches really be bringing it this episode.

This is only the second season I've watched episode by episode as it airs (other one was S6) and it's a curiuos experience. I think that by and large, and particularly in later seasons, Shameless works better when you binge it, but I love the delightful anticipation of waiting for a new episode and the feverent discussion that follows. Sometimes I also despair over the ferverent discussion that follows, but... you know. It is what it is. Admittedly, any attempts at meta this early in the season is a precarious venture at best, since we don't have the whole story, and it might be wiser to abstain but it's just so much fun, so I'm not very likely to stop.

All in all, I love the Gallavich stuff, am intrigued by Lip & Tami and Kev & V's lives, okay with whatever Debbie and Carl's got going on, hot for Sandy, bored by Frank, and missing Liam. It sets up a lot of promising things, but as an episode all unto itself it felt a bit empty – probably because there were no real plots and the storylines didn't intersect as much as I would have liked them to. Shameless is best when it's about family, which both the show and Frank seems to recognize, but there's little narrative follow-through on that realization in this episode; everyone is pretty much doing their own thing. Adored the Lip and Ian convo, and that house party scene was wonderful, but so short. Think we'll get more of all of them together going forward, though, and more actual plots too, so I'm very excited about it all. Can't wait for Sunday!

#11x01 #shameless spoilers #episode reaction post #random ramblings #my stuff

27 notes · View notes

columnsalary12 · 3 years

Text

Ten Effective Ways To Get More Out Of Pin Up Bet

Our voucher codes can be utilized in 2 ways. Method 2 is where you click 'VIEW OFFER'. In approach one, click 'SHOW CODE', copy and paste it into your buying cart. This approach is much faster, but it requires some familiarity with the command line. 61/2 in. fishing neck calls for a fairly weak connection size (4 in. Obtain a shadow box, size is determined by what quantity jewelry you desire to hang, at your close-by art shop. Sonic the Poster Mag was a collection of nine spin-off comics devoted to supplying a "giant" poster at the very least twice the dimension of a typical pin-up. All nine of the publications consisted of one poster each and also very early versions given absolutely nothing else but the poster and a brief special feature. Before checkout, go into the discount rate code in the space supplied and also it should be applied automatically. What is a Pin-up Sport coupon code? Check to make sure the coupon code is added properly. Take a close look at the shopping cart for the room made available for your promo code as soon as you are done shopping. You can have one-of-a-kind appearance and capability of these internet sites as they are completely independent of each various other.

So users willing to use pin woman wallpapers on their desktop, can look at them on net where variety of wallpapers are readily available free of cost for the customers. Windows 10 can not add PIN - Many Windows 10 customers reported that they are unable to include PIN code. In such a case, obtain one more voucher code that uses for that product. Additionally, the coupon may stand for an additional product. If the voucher is not valid, then it has run out. You wish to ensure you pin degree what your leads as well as guests remain in search of and afterwards provide it to them. You will observe that there are vouchers for specific items. Each of these coupons can be utilized in the UK. Gamblers have to bet their complete deposit for 12 times with minimal probabilities of 1.70 prior to they can withdraw the bonus. Pin-up gives them a total of 720 hrs to meet the wager otherwise nullify the generous offer. So, if you are patronizing Pin-up Sport, make use of voucher codes from our web site. We have provided over 20,000 online shops based in the UK on our website each with a variety of coupons as well as voucher codes.

pin up casino

Look into our site for the most recent voucher codes! When pulling them out of the staples, others might now be damaged due to sticky or torn. You can now tailor your research study end results with the natural positions, removals, leave notes against every page for long term recommendation and see just how other Yahoo customers have customized their searches. Entrepreneurs and also Seo market now thriving on Google, will be much much more proactive on Yahoo, Quil and more as choice selections. Keep an eye out for the Dice Scatter Symbol to land on the reels due to the fact that it will let you spin with the Queens. The SMS contains a single pin (OTP) that a customer has to generate; otherwise, they are shut out of the system. Are you all set to bet with them? Your best option is to call a relied on and also expert pest control operator to evaluate your infestation that can make a well notified therapy approach for your specific invasion. You can sign up for daily e-mail alerts on the finest sell Melbourne city otherwise you can decide for RSS feeds of different companies. To get the very best and latest advertising codes, browse to the top of this page. Start by seeking your preferred store making use of the search function on top of this web page.

Seeking promotional codes and also vouchers to go shopping and save at Pin-up Sport? You can discover excellent deals on Pin-up Sport. We want to supply you unique Pin-Up bonus offer code for sporting activity which is GETSPORT. This is a special code created by a computer formula made to use you discount rates on your following order. Don't fail to remember to review the terms of the discount rate code. Here, the discount will be used instantly. EGT Interactive presents 4 Queens that will certainly make your video game remarkable. Intermediate - We specify an intermediate vaper as a person who recognizes with e-cigarettes, has some experience utilizing them. This way, you will certainly save as well as appreciate your purchasing experience. By doing this, our loyal site visitors will certainly conserve when buying worldwide. In this manner, you will certainly be able to repaint the sea creatures and also landscapes, in more vibrant tones. In the domain of interaction, you will locate a great number of service carriers that supplies trendy global calling facility.

What is a Pin-up Sport coupon code? Check to make certain the coupon code is added appropriately. Once you are done buying, take a close appearance at the buying cart for the room made offered for your discount code. In such an instance, obtain another coupon code that uses for that product. Looking for marketing codes as well as coupons to shop and also conserve at Pin-up Sport?

#Pin Up

1 note · View note

tigerkirby215 · 4 years

Text

5e Yone, the Unforgotten build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

A YouTube comment on “The Path“ cinematic:

I can’t top this. This comment is fucking gold.

GOALS

Asakana - Trust me as a Kayn main I’m salty that we have another half-demon anime boy who isn’t even Darkin. But we still need a mask of many demonic faces.

Three swift strikes... - “Brother, why did Elder Souma let you have two swords?” Regardless we’ll need two swords for many slashes.

Death is like the wind - Yone is dead except not really, but he’s still capable of some astral projection to fight his foes from a distance.

RACE

Yone may have been human but with a demon fusing to him that gives him just enough infernal blood to be a Tiefling! As a Tiefling your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Intelligence score increases by 1. Your Hellish Resistance grants you resistance to fire damage, and Infernal Legacy grants you a few innate spells which I’ll cover in the build.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You’re an anime sword boy who was second best only to your brother who is the most anime sword boy who ever did swing an anime sword.

14; CHARISMA - As the more level-headed brother you had to do most of the talking. Remember that Charisma is strength of personality; not raw attractiveness. (Though you certainly have that going for you too.)

13; INTELLIGENCE - A master swordsman needs to study the art of war, which is more theory and less art. (Feel free to set your CON higher instead if you want more health.)

12; WISDOM - Yasuo’s the hothead and you’re the calm one. Not calm enough not to try to kill your brother, and definitely not calm enough to not be a target for Asakana.

10; CONSTITUTION - You died before, and dying generally means you weren’t that sturdy to begin with.

8; STRENGTH - Being cut down by the legendary wind technique and then brought back from the dead doesn’t spell a good workout routine. Yeah Yone has big pecs but put simply we need everything else more.

BACKGROUND

You had a background before, but unfortunately dead men tell no tales. You are a Haunted One brought back to life to hunt the creatures of the night. You can choose two skills from the Haunted One list to be proficient in: Investigation will help you find any stray Asakana, and depending on if your definition of emotional demons are Religion or Arcana you can pick either of those for your second skill. (Arcana is probably going to be more useful though.)

As a Haunted One people can easily see into your Heart of Darkness, easily telling that you’ve faced unimaginable horrors in your past. No shit you have a demon mask permanently attached to your face. Regardless commoners will be willing to aid you as much as possible unless you’ve shown yourself to be openly hostile, such as throwing their promo games.

You also learn two languages of your choice: one of which must be Exotic but since you already know Infernal as a Tiefling Sylvan would be good to talk to the spirits in a dating sim. For your other language Elvish seems fitting for Ionia.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE PATH BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Perhaps not the most fitting for the honorable brother, but being a Rogue will give us the skill to strike swiftly. As well as more skills in general! Take Perception and Insight to find Asakana, Acrobatics to fight them, and Intimidation to strike fear into their hearts. You also get Expertise in two skills your proficient in: Investigation and Perception would help further with finding Asakana.

When you find the Asakana you can strike it down with Sneak Attack. If you have Advantage on an attack roll or are attacking an enemy within 5 feet of an ally you can do an extra d6 of damage. Despite the name “sneak attack” you don’t actually have to sneak, but you do need to use a Finesse weapon such as a short sword. Yes your swords aren’t exactly “short” but for the purposes of dual wielding it’s the best you’ll get.

And after striking the demon down you might need to speak its true name in Thieves’ Cant. That’s not what Thieves’ Cant is? Well regardless it’s a code language shared among rogues; perhaps you picked it up from the Navori? At least you can shout the demon’s name loud and proud as you seal it away thanks to Tiefling Thaumaturgy, along with all other sorts of little supernatural effects I suggest reading into.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

At level 2 Rogues get Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a bonus action. Hiding isn’t very in-character but being able to move swiftly across the battlefield is key for the twin blade technique. Unfortunately attacking with a twin blade also requires your bonus action, so pace your movements accordingly.

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Level 3 Rogues get to choose their Martial Archetype and in order to strike swift and true you’re going to want to play a Swashbuckler. Swashbucklers get Fancy Footwork to be able to slip away from enemies they attacked without provoking opportunity attacks, even if they miss.

Additionally they get Rakish Audacity which ironically provides two benefits: for one you get to add your Charisma modifier to your initiate, but you can also activate your sneak attack if you strike an enemy in melee with no other enemies nearby. Single the demon out and cut them down now that your Sneak Attack does 2d6 damage!

And finally you can cast Hellish Rebuke at second level as a reaction once per long rest thanks to Infernal Legacy. Strike a ganking lust demon with a big burst of “BEGONE THOT” damage!

LEVEL 4 - FIGHTER 1

Adding a quick level in Fighter because Yone was professionally trained, so a Fighting Style would be good to have. Naturally we’ll be going for Two-Weapon Fighting to fight with twin blades. You also get Second Wind to heal for a d10 plus your Fighter level once per short rest for a quick Corrupting Pot in lane.

But unfortunately now we’re going to have to die...

(Artwory by KAIZERS02 on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 1

Just kidding of course because it’s ya boii coming back with the WARLOCK LEVELS! You can choose your Warlock Patron straight at level 1 and as someone who came back from the dead you may think we’ll be going for the Undying patron right? Well that’s where you’re dead wrong because we’re going for a pact with a Fiend.

Why Fiend Patron? - Along with the lore reasons (not all Warlock pacts have to be made on good terms) Pact of the Fiend gives us Dark One’s Blessing to recreate the shield from Spirit Cleave (W), and Burning Hands also gives us an easy-to-use cone spell to recreate a cone-shaped cleave.

Why not Undying? - Undying has a pseudo-support role and a heavy focus on not dying, neither of which Yone does in-game.

Why not Hexblade? - We need at least 12 levels in Warlock for an invocation, and that means we’d be getting Accursed Specter from Hexblade. Yone doesn’t summon spirits to fight for him and while I could normally get past that bit of flavor fail (as both Hexblade’s Curse and Armor of Hexes actually make a lot of sense for Yone) Fiend made a lot more sense given that he literally gets his powers from a demon. A DEX build also allows you to be shirtless in Ionia.

Pact of the Fiend Warlocks have the Dark One’s Blessing, granting them temporary hitpoints equal to their Charisma modifier and their Warlock level when they down an enemy for some spiritual shielding.

Additionally Warlocks gain access to Pact Magic. You learn two cantrips from the Warlock list: Minor Illusion creates a sound or small visual you can use to trick an Asakana into falling for a trap. And Toll the Dead isn’t Eldritch Blast! Excluding the war crimes I just committed by not putting Eldritch Blast on a Warlock (you’re going to be using your swords most of the time anyways get over it it’s one spell) Toll the Dead forces the enemy to make a Wisdom save or take a d8 Necrotic damage, or a d12 Necrotic if they’re injured, making it a great finishing blow after using Soul Unbound.

You can also learn two first level spells: Burning Hands forces enemies to make a Dexterity saving throw or be Spirit Cleaved for 3d6 fire damage. If you want to mark an enemy for Soul Unbound however Hex will let you do an extra d6 of necrotic damage every hit, and give an enemy disadvantage on skill checks related to an ability score of your choice. You can also cast the Darkness spell once per long rest as a Tiefling, blinding everyone in the 20 foot sphere of darkness. If only you could see through it...

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations and we actually won’t be taking the one that helps us see in the dark. We will however be taking Armor of Shadows to let us cast Mage Armor at will and go shirtless in Ionia. Your second invocation will remain empty for now.

You can also add another spell to your repertoire and Protection from Evil and Good will help a lot with fighting Asakana. A creature blessed by the spell is attacked with disadvantage by aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. Additionally they can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. If they’re already debuffed by these types of enemies they have advantage on future saving throws against them. Once you know the truth of Asakana there is no reason to fear them... or some other edgy one liner.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get their Pact Boon and hey look it’s Pact of the Blade. You can create a magic weapon in your hand as an action. The weapon counts as being magical to overcome armadillos who say “okay” a lot. And you know that Invocation I told you to hold off on? Improved Pact Weapon will let you do more damage with the blade of the Asakana. If you want to remain in character I’d suggest only attacking with your pact weapon in your offhand, but remember that Two-Weapon Fighting takes your Bonus Action so feel free to hit hard and then run if needed.

You can also now cast second level spells like Misty Step for some sick plays with Flash.

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 4

Fourth level Warlocks finally get an Ability Score Improvement: increase your Dexterity by 2 for swifter and deadlier strikes with your twin blades. Could we take a feat? Yeah, but we won’t.

You also learn another cantrip at this level on top of another spell. For your cantrip Prestidigitation will further your ability to cast small spiritual magic, and for your spell of choice we already got flash so how about Ray of Enfeeblement for Exhaust? There’s a lot of other great options though: Blindness / Deafness from the Fiend list is also a great choice.

LEVEL 9 - FIGHTER 2

Second level Fighters get Action Surge, allowing them to take one additional action on their turn. Right now that only means one extra sword swing but you can cast a spell after you attack!

LEVEL 10 - FIGHTER 3

At level 3 Fighters can choose their Martial Archetype and to unbind one’s soul you must travel to the world of Wildemount for the Echo Knight subclass. I’ve already made a few Echo Knights before on this sub so I’m going to give the cliffnotes version of a class that has quite a long ability description at level 3 for Manifest Echo:

You can summon your soul within 15 feet of you as a bonus action.

You can move your soul up to 30 feet for free on your turn.

Your soul can’t be more than 30 feet away from you by the end of your turn, or else it disappears. (Goes back to your body)

Your soul has an AC of 14 + proficiency and 1 hitpoint.

It’s immune to all conditions and uses your saving throws.

You can swap places with your soul using 15 feet of movement (regardless of the distance between you two.)

When you attack you can make the attack come from your soul instead.

Your soul can opportunity attack (using your reaction.)

Additionally Unleash Incarnation will let you attack an extra time from your soul’s location on your turn. You can use it a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier but your CON mod is currently zero. Thankfully you can use it a minimum of one time before finishing a long rest.

(Artwork by Valkhar on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 11 - FIGHTER 4

Fourth level Fighters get an Ability Score Improvement: invest further in Dexterity for 19 DEX and all the benefits that provides.

LEVEL 12 - FIGHTER 5

5th level Fighters get an Extra Attack, letting them attack twice with their main action. This means that with your bonus action you can attack three times in a round! Now would also probably be a good time to put the Asakana’s blade in your main hand instead of trying to work around your fancy passive.

LEVEL 13 - WARLOCK 5

It’s straight down Warlock now to become one with the Asakana we wear as a mask. Level 5 Warlocks get another Invocation and it wouldn’t be Pact of the Blade if we didn’t take both Improved Pact Weapon and Eldritch Smite! Pretend to be a Paladin by turning a spell slot into more sword damage and pretend to be your brother by knocking people over when you do so!

You can also learn another spell like Gaseous Form to turn into petals on the wind. Additionally Hex is probably wearing away its welcome by this point so I’d suggest taking Hold Person instead to CC-chain a foe to death.

LEVEL 14 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fiend Warlocks get Dark One’s Own Luck, letting them add a d10 to an ability check or saving throw once per short or long rest. I consider this less you being “lucky” and more you going all out just this once.

You can also learn another spell from the Warlock list such as Spirit Shroud from Unearthed Arcana to give nearby enemies a Randuin's Omen while you cut them down.

LEVEL 15 - WARLOCK 7

7th level Warlocks get another Invocation and while there are plenty to choose from it’s only fair for the man who collects masks of many faces to get a Mask of Many Faces, allowing you to cast Disguise Self at will! Is this mostly done for flavor and is it a bit late to get Disguise Self? Yes but it’s still a very good spell to have.

And you can learn a 4th level spell like Fire Shield from the Fiend List. You can make a Fire Shield for resistance to Cold damage or a Cold Shield to resist Fire damage which you already resist. But regardless of your choice anyone who hits you with a melee attack for the duration will take 2d8 damage of either Fire (if you chose the Fire Shield) or Cold (if you chose the other.)

Also I’d perhaps suggest replacing Misty Step with Dimension Door? Sure Dimension Door takes a full action (while Misty Step takes a bonus action) but Dimension Door has a 500 foot range which will never not be useful! Teleport can be just as useful as Flash you know.

LEVEL 16 - WARLOCK 8

8th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement: put one into Dexterity and the other one into... yeah Charisma. You also could learn another spell but none of these really interest me so I suggest holding off on it for now.

(Artwork by MizuriOfficial on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 17 - WARLOCK 9

9th level Warlocks get another Invocation, and while again there’s plenty to choose from we strive for accuracy here so how about some spiritual levitation? Ascendant Step lets you cast Levitate on yourself without using a spell slot or material components, so you can float towards a wise old man who definitely isn’t an Asakana in disguise.

But most importantly you now gain access to 5th level spells! Hallow is a big spell with a lot of effects, a 1000 gold cost, and a 24 hour casting time but it’s the ultimate way to protect an area from Asakana! To seal the fate of your foes Synaptic Static forces an intelligence saving throw on all enemies in an AoE to try to avoid massive damage along with a disorientation effect that tends to come with being knocked up into the air by a tornado.

LEVEL 18 - WARLOCK 10

10th level Fiend Warlocks get Fiendish Resilience, allowing them to resist one type of damage of their choosing. They can swap the resistance out on a short or long rest but damage from magic weapons or silvered weapons ignores this resistance, so probably better just to resist wind magic (Thunder damage) in general instead of specifically resisting a magic wind sword.

Additionally while you won’t learn any more Warlock spells you do get your final cantrip: for some more minor spirit projection how about Mage Hand to grab things within 30 feet and bring them to you?

LEVEL 19 - WARLOCK 11

11th level Warlocks get Mystic Arcanum, which are like regular spell slots which only come back after a long rest because you’re no longer special. Regardless if you want to harness the wind technique look no further than Investiture of Wind Stone, because the rock spell actually lets you knock people over.

Regardless until the spell ends you have resistance to nonmagical slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning, you can move across difficult terrain without spending additional movement, you can move through terrain without spending extra movement (but can’t end your turn there), and you can spend your action to try to knock everyone near you over with some basic wind techniques.

Yes there are better spells to take (even in the Investiture spell line, such as the genuine Investiture of Wind which would let you fly as well as block projectiles with a wind wall of your own) but you’re not your brother. You’re a simple, practical stone who gets the job done. Or you can be a wandering poet: make your own Yone - you don’t follow this build point-for-point.

You also apparently get another spell because Mystic Arcanum doesn’t count as a spell? Hold Monster is like Hold Person but it works against everything at the mere cost of a much higher spell slot, meaning that you can only affect one creature with parallelization but that should be more than enough for your little brother to get the job done and flash his fancy blue crest afterwards. You do have three spell slots now after all.

LEVEL 20 - WARLOCK 12

12th level Warlocks get our final Ability Score Improvement and... ugh. As much as I want to do something fun I have to accept the fact that Charisma will help us more, so you may as well grab the Resilient Feat with Charisma for better saving throws and a higher Charisma mod.

But that Charisma mod is going to get a lot of use since now you can take the Lifedrinker invocation which grants the Asakana’s blade Necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier! That’s a lot of damage? How much damage? Well...

FINAL BUILD

PROS

One to cut, one to seal - Let’s do the math for how much damage you do with your swords every round: two strikes from the Asakana’s blade (d6 + 6 slashing + 4 necrotic), one from your regular sword (d6 + 5), and sneak attack damage (2d6) for a total of... 5d6 + 25 damage (8 of it being Necrotic and the rest being Slashing) every round. Not to mention Eldritch Smites in a pinch and a large assortment of spells.

Fear, once named, controls no one - You are also incredibly elusive with 18 AC and strong saving throws. Swashbuckler lets you get into the fight fast and get out before your enemy has a chance to react, and cunning actions let you weave around the battlefield as you see fit. To top it off Echo Knight levels let you attack your foes without even being near them! "Cross the veil!"

Wear a mask long enough, and you forget the face beneath - You have a great deal of out-of-combat utility too. Language proficiencies (along with Thieves’ Cant), skill proficiencies (including expertise in two very important skills 23 passive perception, anyone?) Thieves’ Tools, several utility spells which you can cast pretty much at will, not to mention the utility of near-infinite teleportation and flat out infinite levitation.

CONS

Blink, and you'll miss your own death - Between two-weapon fighting, cunning action, and interactions with your echo there’s such a thing as too many bonus actions.

Do not wish to hide behind masks - There’s also such a thing as being too elusive. Swashbuckler gives you plenty of mobility as does Echo Knight, but putting them together means that you’ll be everywhere at once.

Are you here to usher me back? - Multiclassing a spellsword means that you miss out on some vital ability score increases. This means your Charisma isn’t topped off, the saving throws you aren’t proficient in are subpar at best, and your health is just barely over the Power Word Kill threshold.

But a hunter with many weapons will always have the right one to catch its prey. Lure out the Asakana and strike them down. Just remember that even if you alone can stop the demonic plague you don’t have to work alone. Your brother may have struck you down but if you learn to forgive the Asakana will be a lot weaker. "Long before blades and sorcery are needed, words... can save a soul."

(Artwork by @ThatwasforZED on Twitter)

#DnD 5e #dnd #dnd build #dnd guide #dnd warlock #dnd fighter #dnd rogue #league of legends #League of Legends Yone #League of Legends Yasuo #anime #weeb #demon hunter

11 notes · View notes

bedeliainwonderland · 4 years

Note

I understand disliking a character..but you realize anything that happens to bedelia in context of the show is driven by hannibal, right? the man you ship her with? the stinger, her fear, all that necessitates her self preservation is instigated by hannibal. the show frequently did a disservice to its female chars, but hannibal was the tool they used to do it. denying that and then shipping him w/ your fav only to turn it around on another char seems...hypocritical.

Ahh yes, some good ol’ anon hate, I missed that. Honestly, perfect timing, I am having the worst of times and getting to talk about my favs literally saved my day. So thanks!

First of all, Bedelia and Hannibal are a canon ship, whether you like it or not, so let’s get that out of the way (as opposite to certain other ship but that is a whole other thing). I merely fill in the blanks of what the show failed to provide because, for some inexplicable reason, the show named “Hannibal” was centered on a character named Will and every other character (especially the female characters) served only to further his “man pain”. But I digress, that is surely not why you chose to hide behind that grey square.

I don’t know whether you follow me or just saw that one reblog (which ironically weren’t even my words but I stand fully behind everything said), but I have already spoken about this extensively. Every day, really. I find it hard to understand how something is hypocritical when it is based on canon information. I am not denying anything. So here we go, under the cut, because I have a LOT to say:

The stinger- oh god, you all know how much I hate it. First of all, there is no proof that Hannibal is involved, we don’t know who is involved, that is kinda the point of a cliff hanger. We don’t even know if it’s real. But it’s absolutely pointless and makes no sense! It was quite literally Fuller wanting to do something “shocking” to finish off the series without any regard to continuity or characterisation. It was supposed to be shocking and look aesthetically pleasing, that’s it, no logic. It is as if he looked at the character list and thought “hmm, which female character is yet to be hurt? Oh right, Bedelia!” The so called “punishing Bedelia” as the fandom loved so very much is mere misogyny. Why can’t a female character do something morally questionable or even plain evil and get away with it? Because Will didn’t that is why. If she were a man, no one would scream for “she has it coming”, no, he would be uwu baby.

Having Hannibal involved in that would be completely out of character and contradictory to all their previous interactions/ their relationship. So let’s expand, shall we?

When we first see Bedelia and Hannibal, it is mentioned that she has been his psychiatrist for 7 years. 7 YEARS, let that sink in. No one, NO ONE, has been in Hannibal’s life for such a long time. It is clear she means a lot to him. If she didn’t, he had plenty of chances to kill her. It is established she is a loner, so it would so easy for Hannibal to dispose of her and claim “she left to UK” or something, like he did with his secretary. But he didn’t because he cares for her and she is important to him. He literally says he feels protective of her. Every session, you can see how much he needs her approval and how he hangs on her every word. How hurt he was when she said she wasn’t his friend (and yet he did nothing). How enamoured he is with her. When he comes to bring her dinner in Savoureaux, the dish included roses! Such a romantic.

Hannibal knew Bedelia was similar to him that is why he set up the whole Neil incident; he wanted to make sure she is. Do note that Bedelia wasn’t ever in danger, since Hannibal was there to step in if needed. But here is what I’ve found interesting; Bedelia killed someone, proving Hannibal’s hunch right, but she refused to fully acknowledge that part of herself. And Hannibal let her withdraw, doing nothing (as in not killing her, as I’m sure he had done many times with unsuccessful “candidates”) merely securing her continuous therapy. Because she was more than just another experiment to him.

And Bedelia isn’t so innocent in other aspects as well. She knows, yet she purposely evades the truth while talking to the FBI (“Will could use friends like Hannibal” ha!) under the cover of patient/ doctor confidentiality and even warns Hannibal directly (“they are starting to see your pattern). I have had my fair share of “Bedelia doesn’t care for Hannibal” posts and nothing could be further from the truth. If she hadn’t cared, she would not have done any of that.

But then of course, Hannibal’s game goes one step too far and he gives her the written permission to discuss him with the FBI. This is bad for Bedelia because it puts her under the scrutiny as well and that is not where she wants to be. Bedelia’s self-preservation always comes first (both Bedelia and Hannibal are egocentric by nature). Yet, she still comes to say goodbye to him and he lets her go! The script described Hannibal’s reaction to her words as “imperceivable wound”. “But he then went to kill her!” I hear you say? *Thor’s gif* Did he though? If he wanted to kill her, he would have done it then and there. No, he went to check if she were really gone (again, script) and whether she betrayed him. That was his only concern (betrayal is a big thing with Hannibal), but she didn’t. She even left him a memento. It said it was a memento of friendship, I think it was a “see you later” card.

This is getting super long, so let’s quickly skip to Florence. Bedelia left with Hannibal, knowing exactly who he was. Unlike other (all of them, actually) characters, she did not reject him/ was scared of him. “You let them see you/ I let them see enough” exchange says it all. She is not surprised by him or shocked by what he is; she is merely stating the facts. She has long accepted him in full. They lived together in Florence, openly behind the so called veil, as fake husband and wife, but the wedding rings remained intact even at home (showing how important it was to them, not just a front), displaying a ridiculous amount of domesticity and intimacy. This deserves a whole separate post but I am trying to be brief(er). “But she was scared!” you might shout again, except that she wasn’t. Even if Antipasto purposely played with the ambiguity of her situation for suspense purposes, the following episodes made it clear she was exactly where she wanted to be, from the very start, on her own terms as Hannibal’s equal. We were obviously misled by the promos, they promised us a Bedelia and Hannibal show and what we got was, well, you know… And that is yet another post altogether.

Now to the glorious farewell, boy, do I love to talk about that. Bedelia packs Hannibal’s bags and tells him to leave, and he does! What more, he promises to tell her story. HER STORY. Now, that is a major thing, because Hannibal has never ever done that for anyone. He always turns other people’s stories into his own, manipulating and adjusting accordingly. But with Bedelia, he simply agrees to do it, on her own terms. Not only that, he is visibly impressed and enamoured by her. Again, if he wanted to kill her, he could have just killed her then. He was going to get caught anyway, what is one more murder? All this “he waited until he could eat her” story makes no sense at all, since as it was already mentioned, he knew her for almost a decade, plenty of time to eat her if he wanted to. He lets her go because he wants to. Because he cares for her.

The point I have made several times is that Bedelia is the only person that Hannibal treats as, well, a person! Everyone else is beneath him, meat only if you will, but not her. Even the ever so special (apparently) Will and Abigail aren’t treated as “people”. Bedelia is the only person that Hannibal respects; that is what makes her so special. Not love (even though he obviously loves her), because respect is rarer for Hannibal than love. Sure, he “loves” Will, the same way you love your favourite book. You want to have it and you don’t want anyone else to have it, but you don’t expect the book to return your feelings. Bedelia is Hannibal’s only equal.

The Red Dragon arc was a mess of epic proportions so I don’t even want to get into that. But I do appreciate the acknowledgement of Bedelia’s darker side and now she has become comfortable with it since Florence. Let’s make a few notes so it doesn’t look as if I am purposely omitting things: Hannibal’s letters to Bedelia? Clearly a part of his “telling her story” and helping her cover, plus he was not able to send her proper letters, so that is his way of telling her he thinks of her. Sessions with Will? You can’t really take everything she told him at face value, she is obfuscating after all. Why would she be honest with Will? She wouldn’t be, she was just continuing what Hannibal has started with much better results (slightly too good actually, as proven by Will’s stupid plan). Bedelia wasn’t afraid Hannibal would come after her, because she had no reasons to be. NONE. She was protected by him.

So there you have it, the great many reasons why I am so unapologetic in my shipping. Because it is all there. Thank you for reminding me why I love these two so much! Have a great day, maybe next time you can message me off anon.

(And thanks to all who got to the end of this almost dissertation, this is my testament, I love you all fellow bedannibal fans!)

#bedannibal #bedelia du maurier #hannibal lecter #anonymous #asks #anon hate is great sometimes #reference for future anons

47 notes · View notes

cee693 · 4 years

Text

I Loved and I Loved and I Lost You.

Cee693

Summary:

The Paragon of Love deals with life alone at the Vanishing Point.

Notes:

Brief, based on how *awful* Barry looks in the new promo pictures.

This wasn't the plan.

Barry leaned heavily against the stone wall where he spent the majority of his days and used a shaky hand to pull out his cell phone.

His fingers moved unhurriedly along his phone screen. They had been in this place for a long while and he still didn’t understand its rules. The remains of the oculus that Sara was trying to get to--- well he didn’t know exactly what--- remained dark in spite of their tinkering, but his cell phone still worked as if he were still on earth. In cruel ironic twist, he could still even make calls. Not that there was anyone left in the galaxy to call.

Still, he dialed one number without fail every night before he fell into restless sleep. Of course there was never any answer. Her line never even rang. It just went straight to voicemail which he appreciated. All he wanted was the sound of her melodic voice apologizing for missing him, asking him to leave a message or try again later.

He always did.

But, that’s not what he was after right now.

The apology was for nighttime. The daytime was meant for her laughter.

He tapped into his own voicemail and pulled up the message he'd been playing on loop every day since they'd been in this place.

It was from a little over two years ago. He'd saved it to his phone back then after it'd come through.

Iris had called from the loft after work wondering when he would be home.

She didn't know he was already upstairs getting changed after a shower. He'd heard her leaving him a message as he crept downstairs to her.

Iris's back was to him and he tiptoed up behind her. He grabbed her sides and growled playfully in her ear and she shouted in fright.

The message muffled for a few seconds as she turned in his arms.

When the line cleared, it was to the sound of her lightly chiding him for scaring her.

That wasn't very nice. And to think I was excited to see you because I'd brought you a treat."

Barry remembered her sliding her arms around his neck and pulling him close to her.

"I don't even want it."

"Is that right?"

"You're all the treat I need."

Iris had chuckled breathlessly. "Alright, smooth talker. Slow down."

"Barry!" She laughed.

Barry's eyes shut in pain.

In his head he can see the scene. The setting sun sprinkling dusk in their apartment.

The golds and earth tones of the loft reflected the warm hues and glowed against Iris's warm skin. Her teeth blinding him as she laughed.

He’d stopped peppering her face with kisses long enough to ask what she’d gotten him.

Iris demurely reached behind her and grabbed a familiar pink bag.

Barry had grinned and taken the bag from her, recognizing the logo of their favorite bakery.

She stopped him before he could open it though. “Okay, I may have exaggerated to make you feel bad for scaring me. Maybe a more accurate statement would’ve been that I brought you the gift of leftovers.”

Barry peeked inside and saw that there was in fact only a half-eaten cookie sitting on top of a bunch of parchment paper.

Iris bit her lip when Barry looked at her quickly.

Amusement colored her face. "Sorry."

Barry tossed the bag on the counter and he'd tickled her then. Long and hard. And her laughter had filled his ears then just as sweetly as it did now.

She eventually escaped his clutches and he'd chased after her, not using his powers.

Her phone had dropped somewhere and with both of them occupied, neither noticed the call still recording.

Eventually, his voicemail ended her message, but before then he had a few glorious minutes of the faint sound of her laughter ringing somewhere from the apartment.

The recording ended too soon, just like it always did and he was once again in the morbid landscape of the Vanishing Point.

This wasn't the plan.

He grabbed his hair and used all his energy to keep the scream bubbling in his throat down.

He felt broken. Not like himself. Not like any human with a heart still beating.

He felt dead inside. Like his life force had left him long ago.

Like the Barry from 2024.

He thought he'd changed that future, but he guessed not.

Because this was who he couldn’t outrun. The person he would always become without her.

It was inevitable.

Though, he'd tried to fight it. Tried to put plans in motion to prevent it.

After Yorkin. After Savitar and the Speed Force, he'd sat Iris down and had a talk he needed to have more than anything.

"I know I've asked you for so much," Barry had started. "But, I need you to promise me something. And I need it to be a promise you never break. Okay?"

She had nodded slowly, unsure of what could be so serious. So vital.

"In sixty or seventy years, when it's time for us to go, let me go first," he requested.

Iris was at first taken back and then horrified. "Barry! What-"

Barry shook his head just needing her to agree. Not to question- or worse reassure- him.

He knew what he was asking.

"I can't do it," he told her seriously, trying to calm the tidal wave that had encompassed him ever since that first time he saw her die on Infantino Street.

"I can't. Not even for a second. I've been to hell and it's you dying and leaving me here. I can't do it again. So when the time comes in the far-off future, whenever you're ready, just hold on long enough for me to go first."

Tears had pooled her eyes and she swallowed hard at the thought, but she searched his face for a long pause and she saw that he meant what he said.

So, she nodded once and touched his hand. "I promise."

And yet here he was. In hell. Alone.

This wasn't the plan.

Iris was dead. Everyone- they were all dead.

He touched his wedding band.

He was a widower. He was all alone.

The other six were still fighting. Still trying to save the world. Hell, even Lex Luther had stepped up to the plate.

But, he couldn't. He wasn't who they thought he was.

He stood among them a fraud.

They were Paragons independent of the world around them.

Truth, honor, hope, humanity.

They chose to embody these things in spite of the world around them.

Their strengths came from within themselves.

His came from another.

Truth.

Destiny.

Honor.

Humanity.

Hope.

Courage.

Those things were inside of heroes. They were virtues that heroes found inside themselves when all else was lost.

Those things were innate.

But, love... Love was taught and love was found.

Love had a source. A center. It had a face. It had a name.

His Love had a name.

And she'd taught him everything he'd ever need to know about love. Boundless love. Unconditional love.

The source of his powers both as the Flash and as a Paragon was her. And now she was no more.

And his fight- his purpose- were no more too.

So he sat. And he grieved. And he raged. But, he couldn't help the others.

He couldn't pick up all the broken pieces of himself in time to be of use to anyone.

And, in spite of mostly bit tongues, he knew all the others hated him for it.

Well, not all.

Ryan Choi got it. Ryan left him alone. Ryan was all but leading the charge, never losing hope, but he understood enough of what Barry was feeling to show him sympathy.

While everyone else yelled in frustration or badgered him to do his part and try, Ryan brought him water and sat with him in silence at his favorite spot on the floor.

Ryan understood.

J'onn too.

Two men who had loved and lost and had no other choice but to keep breathing.

They got it.

Everyone here had lost family, friends, home.

But, losing your soulmate. Losing your guiding light - it changed your DNA.

He had lost everything.

This wasn't the plan.

He didn't belong here.

Truth.

Destiny.

Honor.

Humanity.

Hope.

Courage.

All meaningless words without love.

Above all else, Love was and always would be the driving force in his life.

When the truth was hard or hidden, Love made him see it clear.

When destiny showed him death and destruction, Love told him that there was another way.

When his morals wavered- when he was tempted to throw them away to save the day, Love reminded him exactly who he was. Love was his honor code.

Love was the center of his humanity. The thing that kept him grounded in a storm of the impossible. His lightning rod. Even before the speed force. Since they were kids. Love was what kept him alive in a sea of death.

Love was hope. Loving Love meant years of hoping they would one day be together. Years of believing in a happy ending.

Now she was no more.

This wasn't the plan.

What courage could be found here when he was only fearless with her? The thought of her is what made him keep going even when he was terrified.

It's what filled the cracks of broken bones long enough for him to hold his tired body up and persevere.

If anyone wanted to know about his courage, it was her. She was his courage.

He was a fraud.

She powered the hero. She sustained the man.

He was the face of the operation, but she was its soul.

And now she was no more.

His Iris.

He began to weep again.

It wasn't long before he heard commotion a ways away.

"---just give him some space."

"He's had all the space in what's left of the world! What about the rest of us? We've all lost everything. Not just him."

Batwoman, he recognized. She sounded angry. And Ryan who was holding her back sounded exhausted.

"Get the hell up, Flash!" Kate shouted angrily over Ryan's shoulder. "There's work to do."

It had taken a lot for the normally reserved and understanding woman to lose her cool. Days trapped in this place had done her in.

Or was it months?

Barry didn't know. He didn't count. He didn't care.

And Kate had put up with that apathy until she couldn't anymore.

"Pariah put us here for a reason! We're the only ones with a chance of saving the multiverse, but only if we work together. All of us!"

'Pariah,' Barry thought with a snarl.

If he ever saw that man again, he'd kill him with his bare hands.

Pariah could've saved them all.

Why hadn't he saved them all?

Why hadn't he waited long enough for Barry to grab Iris's hand? He could've brought her with him.

Pariah had saved the Paragons. The universe’s last hopes. But, those were just titles with no meaning.

If Pariah had really understood what it took, if he really understood just exactly what constituted as a hero, his golden streams would’ve flowed right past Barry and encompassed his wife.

Pariah had saved the wrong Allen.

And now here they were at the center of nowhere. Where nothing grows and nothing speaks, with no more of a plan than the day they'd arrived.

“Get! Up!” Kate gritted out. "Get up and try! Fight!”

The rest came between them, trying to calm Kate and throwing Barry looks that ranged from pity to disgust.

He was unmoved.

Barry watched silently as Ryan and Kara gently led Kate off somewhere. He could hear Kara's soft words of comfort.

And then he heard Kate whisper brokenly. “We all lost. All of us…, Sophie… I couldn't save her. I couldn’t…”

He felt the tiniest bit of intrigue before he felt nothing at all.

He hadn’t counted correctly, Barry realized. There weren’t only two others.

Kate understood too.

And he understood why she was so mad.

He’d had that fire right at the beginning. When they’d first arrived, before the finality of it all had settled in, he’d raged against the rest; yelled at them to find a way back to the Waverider.

But, no one had listened and they made him see why going back was impossible.

And then he grew silent and he'd found his favorite spot on the floor.

Once Kate’s outburst was quelled the others meandered off, back to whatever tasks they’d been busying themselves with.

And Barry was once again left to the quiet of his thoughts.

He was grateful.

His trembling fingers picked up the phone he'd put down and they swiped at the screen.

He opened up the folder of the saved voice recording and he pressed play once again.

#westallen #Barry Allen #Crisis on Infinite Earths #The Flash #Iris West #Ryan Choi #Kate Kane

65 notes · View notes

merry-melody · 4 years

Text

umbrella academy s2 thoughts

Or you can read here if you prefer. Formatting’s probably easier there and this is like 4k, so be warned.

So, was not much of a fan. (Wasn't surprised to learn none of the S1 writers were retained into this season, either!)

I feel like it's a little early for this show to be separating the siblings into New Lives, considering how little they interacted throughout the first season.

I would have liked more childhood flashbacks, having an additional Reginald subplot in a show stuffed with seven (or six and a half) leads seems a choice when it didn't link into the siblings in any meaningful way.

It also made all the siblings curiously less sympathetic, as Diego and Luther in particular, but also Vanya and Klaus to an extent, are berated for showing any kind of effect of their upbringing; but without much 'showing' of said upbringing (or emotional impact at all from the last season - Vanya's obviously out for that own with the hackneyed amnesia plot; Diego is completely over Patch's death - and Grace's, for that matter, although she does at least get acknowledged; and Klaus for some reason seems to have stopped seeing ghosts 99% of the time.)

I'm very mistrustful, as I mentioned in my S1 notes, that the show will in any way support Reginald's abuse, whether it be the siblings furthering their patterns of copying him without learning to recognise and address this; or by some kind of time loop casuality bullshit.

This season didn't really allay that, just with the general tone - the line Vanya had about sarcastically saying he was loving, or Five calling him 'no boy scout' just seem tonally a very different vibe from S1, like there were already aspects of that where it felt like none of them except Klaus really acted like they'd been raised by a guy who outright harmed them so much as a tough Professor type; and here it seems to double down on that idea.

Five in particular was almost his father's yes man to an extent, he had several lines about how right their father was; although it was intriguing to see Diego reference how Reginald may have become even worse after Five's disappearance with that 'golden years' remark.

I was intrigued by the lizard reveal, though.

So, Luther wise...hmmm.

Also, on shallow notes, the hair and fashion was really lacking from last season, like apart from Allison/Emmy who looked lovely in the 60s clothes (and Five, Ben and Vanya, who remained pretty much the same), everyone looked worse (even Luther had a little Tintin grown out hairdo going on!)

Didn't love the toilet humour, either, but again, YMMV.

He was a little more likeable than S1, I appreciated how he acknowledged his own failings (which iirc, no one else but Vanya really did all season, and since she didn't recall hers at the time, there wasn't as much emotional impact) - although the cocked gun lessened it a little, lol. And the return of that lovely musical score during, too, nice touch.

It was good to see at least two scenes with him and Vanya interacting, and for them to return to the Five/Luther duo.

It was also interesting to see how Luther, like all his siblings, projects his own feelings onto others, (like his first instinct being that Vanya's pulling some 'bullshit game' when obviously, Vanya was pretty upfront when she lost it; whereas it was Luther who was the one scamming her into the hug-n-choke.)

I liked them bonding over Five being an asshole, too.

(Although I think once again, the lack of trust between the siblings was almost contrived, like Luther in particular seems genuinely pissed off that Five didn't, what, let them all die in a fiery death? I get that they grew up in an environment that promoted mistrust and that they don't really seem to understand their own powers or each others, and Five never explains when he makes a mistake, anyway, but I'm just not sure what Luther's ideal outcome here was.)

I'm clearly an asshole also, because the 'Rooming House for Solitary Men' sign made me laugh every time they showed it.

I feel like some of his characterisation was unsubtly telegraphed (although that's a complaint over all, not just him specific) - like they decided 'sensitive' was their key word there, and just jam in everyone referring to him as that rather than showing it. (...Is Luther sensitive? Like, not dragging him, I'd just not pick that at all for him as a description.)

I also didn't much enjoy the pairing of him and Diego, like to be honest, it was never a pairing even from S1 that I was particularly fascinated by, it's such a well-worn dynamic; and while at least they weren't bickering over numbers, the dude bro banter ('women, amirite?!') and matching lack of IQ (I never thought I'd say Diego seemed dumber than cracking a raw egg to posture, and yet...) was just kind of lowhanging fruit.

I also feel like the goon for Jack Ruby stuff seemed inserted purely for plot contrivance to link to JFK.

(This is also a universal complaint, but I really felt for the actors doing promo, like they come up with all these well thought out explanations about why their characters are making these choices, but the work doesn't really show up in the writing or what was shown onscreen. IIRC, Tom Hopper was talking about Jack Ruby as a replacement father figure and how it's Luther's first stab at independence in terms of supporting himself; and there's this whole thing of Ruby saying he treated Luther like a son, when really, he's in like, two scenes and Luther is very clearly a paid goon. Which isn't to say that's not supporting yourself, a job's a job! I just felt like it didn't really go anywhere.)

I liked the idea that he's the only one who looked for their dad; I liked him still eating his feelings, funnily enough, it's just a good character note.

I don't particularly have investment in him and Allison one way or another yet - I don't care about the moral indignation; I just feel like when they're together, it seems one part them being smug about the others, one part yearning based on the same plot as S1 (she's moved on but seems to want to keep Luther as her back up guy.) Like, I'd love to see those two actually interact over something based on their disparate characters (what would Allison have said if she'd heard Luther's little defense of the Feds to Five?)

There's also a return to that odd juxtaposition from S1 of Klaus' drinking with Luther taking drugs cheerfully and to no effect. (I'm not expecting a DARE commercial, it's just all over the place in tone. That, and I thought Luther 'waSN't ReADy for THaT!')

(This isn't Diego specific, either, but they also do that thing I hate in TV, where they purposefully reference someone specifically in the episode before they rereturn, and Diego got the short straw on that one with the Pogo mention apropros of nothing, so we know we'll see Baby!Pogo shortly.)

Diego: Again, lots of telegraphing. (Do you think the writers want to get across Diego has a hero complex? I wasn't clear after he cat leaps through dimensions, stops a mugging, obsessively stalks JFK, and almost everyone he meets literally holds up placards mentioning 'DIEGO HAS A HERO COMPLEX'.)

Diego got a lot more time onscreen, which is a plus, but the haircut combined with his role as plot monkey made it a neutral point.

I also think Castaneda got the short straw on some of dialogue this year, oof, that Luke Skywalker 'it's a great reference' dialogue felt a bit try hard.

(Sheehan also took a body blow later with the 'Sexy trash!' one, ouch, like that felt very Designed to Retweet/Gif.

No one's topped S1 for blatant exposition yet, though: 'You haven't been sober since you were a teen! Not since you started taking drugs to block the ghosts out.')

Randomly, I liked the decent English accent he pulled out of nowhere. And again, David Castaneda I believe, mentioned Patch's death, so it's neat that he thought about the impact of her death on his character, even though it wasn't evident in the plot.

As I mentioned up top, I think Diego kind of suffered from the same thing Klaus did last year, where upon he seems to be the only one who recalls they were actually brought up in an abusive environment; and yet here the focus seems more generic to Diego's a baby (right down to constantly talking about 'bad guys' like a three year old) who has masculinity issues about his mean pop (who tbh, seems to be presented as entirely correct in labelling him a fuckwit, since he behaves like one pretty much all season: 'We chop off his trigger finger!')

(Also there's that contrived Batman style ethics that came up with Luther last year, where they're like 'We can quip over bodies and we grew up literally murdering people', but for some reason, Diego won't 'kill a man before he's committed a crime' (he can stalk one, and cut off his hand, though?)

Likewise, there wasn't a ton of interaction between him and Allison, like in S1, I enjoyed how they kind of overcame their initial mutual dislike with small moments of bonding; whereas here he has to be prompted to talk to her (and that was an adlib, which again, means the actors were considering something the writers overlooked.)

Last year I talked about how much I enjoyed Diego's character and how they walked a very fine line between him combining his desire to be the stereotypical macho figure with his innate sensitivity, so naturally this season we get him butchified to a factor of ten ('I'm the man, here!' 'You're a big pussy!') and almost zero interactions with Klaus, the person besides Grace who brought that out the most last year.

(What happened to those two, last time we saw them they were pretty much the closest in the family besides the Allison/Vanya link; here, Diego's almost contemptous. Has he levelled up in his mind now he's bffs with Luther?) I wanted to find the scene with him and Ben endearing, since we get so few interactions with Ben and any one besides Klaus, but it wasn't even that personally linked to them beyond 'Remember our one specific memory? Anyways, lolz, u should keep Klaus' body, idgaf.')

Allison Allison I think suffers from a lot of the same problems as she was introduced with - like Vanya, her powers are kind of linked to a lack of control in a way that the guys aren't; and a lot of her development is offscreen.

I actually really enjoyed the episode focusing on her, though, I thought it was one of the strongest of the season.

Her husband got a bit OTT with his catchphrase - where Diego's was 'JFK', Ray's was very clearly ' the movement!' and I found it odd how easily all the siblings but especially Allison gave up on returning to their own time and committed to another relationship built on lies (albeit this time of omission - baby steps!) but I kind of like that, like that's Allison, kind of co-dependent and self-deceiving.

Really, I feel like Allison's more interesting when they plunge into her darker side, I was riveted in the 'more!' scene, as well as the 'I heard a rumour you killed your brother'.

I think it's especially important as she's a WOC, which this season focused on more, like, it's very important not to fall into the common writing trap where the guys are allowed to be vindictive or needy or selfish and the women are there to be the moral guidance (for the same reason, I also loved the Five/Vanya stand-off); and that goes double for the model minority bit.

I was worried that they'd fall into the trap of Allison needing to be twice as good not just with how the sit-ins were portrayed but also generally (she speaks seven languages! She makes extensive notes on the state of race relations with specific regard to Dallas in the 1960s!) and once more, it seemed like Emmy Raver Lampman was trying to put across a more interesting read on Allison in terms of how isolated she was from any awareness of oppression in the outer world, first in the Academy and then through being a powerful celebrity and the contrast that creates for her in Dallas which didn't quite get met by the writing/direction.

It was great to see how she got to become part of a community in a way the others didn't, also, and particularly being protected by the beauty shop ladies when she arrived; like, the imbalance of genders as well as races in the Academy genuinely made it refreshing to see.

(The relapse is also very up and down in tone, like they make attempts at pathos, but it's also accompanied by the Styx soundtrack/60s light effects...)

Klaus and Ben - Probably my least favourite aspect of this season.

There was a bunch of telling not showing (Klaus' three year sobriety being expressed in Ben's expository sentence and that .5 second shot of him turning down a joint) and once you remove the biggest impacts on Klaus' character (the addiction and his power) without explanation, you're basically left with 'Klaus causes problems for himself for comedic value.'

I don't really care about who fights well or which powers are developed (didn't read the comics, don't plan to) but it seems to be like the best portrayals of superheroes show the powers as metaphors for their lives - Vanya struggles to control her emotions, Ben feels powerless, etc. If you take away the powers, you take away the reasoning behind the character.

Why is Ben pretty much the only ghost (particularly when in S1, they seemed ever-present)? How or why did Klaus learn to summon them in the alt-apocalypse?

I liked the scene of Klaus interacting with Ray before they find out he's married to Allison, that was cute.

I also liked seeing him interact with Vanya and Allison (there was an interesting shot where Allison says she has a life she worked for, and Klaus smiles - is that because in contrast, he doesn't? I'd have liked them to acknowledge the link between cults and celebrity, tbh, those two have a lot in common. Or is it because she isn't using her power and neither is he?), and I thought it was cool to note how when the group are reunited, they fall into a power structure right away.

Like, right away, Klaus sells out Vanya and Allison to the guys ('It's usually Vanya!' or mentioning how Allison's being 'involved in community politics'.) Likewise, everyone kowtows to Five, then Luther, over the rest (like when Five says they won't go with Vanya to the farm) and no one speaks up for Diego in front of Reginald.

I want to give the others the benefit of the doubt and say they were kind of shitty to Klaus in particular in this season because they were in a group, because it's a huge downgrade in compassion (especially since Allison was like, covering him with a blanket when they're alone.)

Like, I get sibling culture, I have 'em, but I feel like when you're bringing possible 'seizures' up, you're sort of skirting what's then played as comedic (Luther dragging him, the 'check please' line), especially Diego's: 'He's probably having an overdose.' (Kinda seeing why no one rushed to join Team Zero.)

Like, he and Klaus do just kind of seem contrivedly not communicating - I would think after the isolation, you'd crack through boredom if nothing else.

Ben's kind of an odd duck - I feel like with Steve Blackman's comments, he's supposed to be this philosophical voice of reason; but tbh, he seems as self-involved as Klaus, and if anything, they mirrored each other (that line in S1 about Klaus being cowardly plays a little differently after the revelation 'He was afraid to go into the light'...) rather than separating him into his own person.

I mean, I don't want Saint Ben (or St. anyone!), but Ben does kind of irritate, like it's not like he even particularly gets much wit or personality in his lines (and I doubt Justin Min would be short of inspiration there, so it does seem to be a writing choice) or they give him much warmth or concern (I still like that shot of him walking off in the sixth episode of S1, though - where is he off to?!) In S1, we do at least get to see him panicking and how helpless he must feel that he can't alert the others to danger etc. He doesn't really offer opinions that offer a personal philosophy beyond 'Stop being a junkie' (he was willing to shut off Grace - was that to tick off Klaus for taking the opposite opinion, or is he super pragmatic generally?) or 'Admit it, Klaus, Luther's Okay!' (Again, is this nostalgia for the other siblings, or what? It would have been nice to have Ben interact with all his siblings, considering they included the whole possession plot for less than necessary stuff like 'Ben kisses a girl!' and 'Vomit shenanigans!')

I just feel like his personality was kind of an afterthought still, and it made his sacrifice for Vanya, touching as it was, feel a little unearned.

Why doesn't Klaus tell Ben he wants to go back for Dallas for Dave? Why doesn't Ben tell Klaus he wants to go back to San Francisco for Jill? Was Ben in Vietnam? How come he's gone from using Dave as A Reason to Get Clean to a 'fling' - dark reading of Ben, tbh, like does he want Klaus clean purely for his own gain, and now he is, Dave's of no further value? What does Ben think Klaus is looking Dave up for - he says it's 'selfish', does he literally think Klaus is just there to hook up with Dave pre-death? It's hard to parse whether Ben has a low opinion of Klaus in particular or whether he, like the rest of them, has kind of adopted to a point Reginald's views - it was neat to see a comparison of the two there.

The possession stuff was a cool parallel, as well, if underused on the whole - Ben's happy to take advantage of Klaus' body despite his clear ambivalence and then outright refusal; Klaus is happy to take advantage and have sex with his own cult followers.

The cult stuff was even less strong, imho - I said last year how I'd enjoy a darker reading of Klaus, as S1 I felt sometimes was unfair to the others in that we see them being impatient with him; but never how his addiction would have impacted upon them negatively; but here, there's no real exploration of Klaus' narcissism or manipulation (in fact the plot seems to play out exactly the same as Allison's in S1 - we start with all the action about why they pursued fame etc. dealt with offscreen, and begin when the lead has already tired of it all.)

I mean, Klaus is self-destructive, as we saw in S1, but here it's an odd combination, like he's at once both cowardly of physical harm (in a way he wasn't really in S1, even post-Dave, so it doesn't seem to be in reaction to his death) but also running a cult for the attention, but the attention is presented as negative almost exclusively throughout.

Like, I'd get it if it was an interest in money and the finer things in life, even, you could make an interesting point there (and iirc, Robert Sheehan and I think Emmy Raver Lampman have) about how while the Hargreeves were abused, they were also 'spoilt rich kids'; and reflect on that; but it's literally just there for gags.

There's no real explanation for the cult itself (they literally just regurgitate pop culture references) or an exploration of Klaus as a con artist (again - here's where you could show some kind of progression in character, whether it's forward or backwards, and use the powers; and have Klaus working as a shady medium, but nope, it's physical comedy only.)

You could delve into his refusing to even tell the others about Ben's presence, but that's handwaved as much as ever (Five didn't go 'Huh, well, Ben was there when the Soviets came...') not just from the other siblings, but also Ben and Klaus themselves.

‘Cause I could see how Klaus would feel guilty about saying that, regardless; but then Ben's all 'Well, I was chicken to go anyway'

It might have been a little more affecting if Ben's motivation for possessing Klaus wasn't Jill, a character we know exactly zero about, but talking to his family; not to mention a lot more sympathetic towards Ben himself. As it is, it plays more like he's petty and jealous Klaus gets to be alive, rather than frustrated that Klaus is essentially silencing him.

And again, that's fine, maybe that is Ben, he stopped aging at 17, after all, but I'm not sure what the point is of a plot where we don't really get to see much exploration of either character.

Like, what did we learn about Klaus from this specific sub-plot? We knew in S1 he felt guilty that Ben died young, and that he was happy to allow his siblings to believe Ben is gone.

Likewise, Ben? We knew in S1 he was envious of Klaus being alive, and bitter that his position was so powerless.

It was nice to see the teenage actors (did they dub Teen!Klaus??? Odd.) post Ben's death, but it kind of didn't resolve much, really - it seemed like Klaus was supposed to be bullshitting about the 'golden light' and whether or not you can just...'go' whenever you please, but then it seemed like it turned out to be true?

(Might want to have mentioned that, then, like I get he's a Hargreeves and therefore a fail at interpersonal relationships, but you'd think it wouldn't take a smart guy to figure that if your brothers already toying with self-destruction in his teen years, it might not be the most genius move to additionally allow him to believe you're trapped in the 'real torture' of berating him endlessly solely due to his advice; if for no other reason than your one link to humanity is then going to keep up the booze and drugs that blocks you from his presence.)

I was inclined to like the Dave subplot a little more than I did last season, just because something was happening at all (and we got some tiny semblance of Dave's personality, even if it was basic as hell - he likes hamburgers!), but I feel like the Dave recasting thing really stretched credulity.

I would guess it was written backwards, in terms of if Dave was the clearly fully grown adult we saw in S1 a mere five years later, why wouldn't he just go 'Oh, thanks for the tip, dude, I'll avoid all that military jazz'? And why wouldn't Klaus just be like 'Fuck it, can we not just...date now?' Aha, we could make him a little younger, chuck in a Mean Uncle, throw in some manufactured conflict, and zow-pow!

It definitely wasn't the most contrived plot ever or anything (or even on this show), but I did feel like it's weird that again, via the cult, we're kind of asked to see Klaus as this expert manipulator of people, when he seemed almost purposefully stupid here (like, even compared with Luther and Diego.)

Why act as if the only chance you'll ever have to see the guy in the same timezone as you is right that second in front of his crazed uncle? Why say you've tried everything when you met the kid three times (once instigated by him, and I have to say, it's sort of odd, like Klaus is just drinking throughout, like you'd think this would be the one opportunity he'd take to truly and honestly engage without that) and basically just asked him twice, and in the least convincing way possible.

Shoot him in the foot! Burn down the recruitment office! Use your international platform and pull with local government to influence your huge movement towards stopping the war in Vietnam!

Like, if what you're going for is that Klaus is defeatist and unimaginative, fine, but I'm not sure it's not just that they kind of didn't write beyond the circular 'telling him only made him sign up sooner' casuality because it's so Tragic.

(Also, I feel like they're overplaying the iconography of those damn dogtags, like at this point, Klaus looking sadly at the dog tags has still probably had more screen time than Dave himself.)

I liked the scene with him and Vanya facing off?

Five I think didn't really get much more development than S1, he drives the plot forward, but not much else. In fact, in S1, he probably was more interesting, in that he interacted with all of his siblings and showed moments of vulnerability and care (knowing Claire's name, telling Luther not to waste his life, asking Klaus if he was okay) and got to properly react to his siblings' deaths.

Um...it was cool to have two of him?

It was nice and kind of ambigious where he lied to her about the cause of the apocalypse, like you could go by what he said about how he wanted to avert her anger, or you could wonder if it's a rare moment of kindness in his old age, lol.

I also loved it when he said to Luther about whether he could talk to her 'without squeezing her to death'.

I found Sissy probably the most interesting of the new characters (probably her and Lila more so than Lil!Dave and Ray, tbh.)

Vanya I probably have the least to say about. I was satisfied with how they portrayed the culpability of the others, particularly Luther, without erasing Vanya's part in the apocalypse. (I really, really hope this'll end the endless discourse on her emails book now, that got tired fast.

I could also do without the endless 'lolz, Ellen Page was so bad at playing straight they had to write Vanya as gay'. Ellen Page is pretty convincing as an actor - I bought her raping Rainn Wilson in 'Super', for god's sake, I doubt 'heterosexual' is a challenge.)

The amnesia plot was pretty cliched, and it did mean we didn't get so much actual interaction between the 'real' Vanya (so to speak) and her siblings but I really enjoyed the dream sequence of her in the academy.

#the umbrella academy #ua meta #meta #s2 #i didn't love it #to warn you #luther hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #ben hargreeves #allison hargreeves #diego hargreeves

5 notes · View notes