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shmaptainwrites · 1 year

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[CH. 4] New Doctor on the Block

Chapter 4: Dear Dad

Pairings: Hawkeye Pierce x fem!Reader

Characters: Hawkeye Pierce, B.J. Hunnicutt

Summary: Hawkeye writes home to his dad and tells him about the new surgeon at the camp

Warnings: sappy sap sapppyyyyy

Note: Okay you know I had to write a Dear Dad chapter, it was so cool exploring a bit of Hawkeye’s perspective in this! Hope you all like it :) please ignore that this is a day late i COMPLETELY forgot

Series Masterlist - NDotB Masterlist

When Hawkeye woke up that morning he knew something felt different. At first, he thought it could have been what Frank was arguing about with B.J. but that couldn’t be it.

Tale as old as time. He thought to himself.

But as he started to wake more he realized, today was the day someone was coming to interview some of the people working at their M*A*S*H unit.

He wasn’t sure whether he looked forward to or dreaded it, but either way, it was coming.

“You okay Hawkeye?” B.J. asked and the surgeon shrugged.

“Was gonna write to my dad this morning, but I think that’s going to have to wait,” he pointed to the jeep pulling into the unit.

“I’m sure you’ll have time to do it in the afternoon. It’s too bad not everyone is here for the interview,” he commented, noting yours and Major Houlihan’s absence, both away on a weekend trip to Tokyo. “Would have been good to hear from both of them.”

Hawkeye nodded his head and they exited the swamp waiting to be called on for their interviews.

Hawkeye did his interview in the mess tent. Some of the questions he thought were peculiar, almost wondering what was being hidden from the public about the war and seeing and hearing how normal things were going on back home only made him miss it more. He missed Maine, his practice in Boston, he missed his friend Trapper, and most of all, he missed feeling safe. As much as Hawkeye had come to love the South Koreans, their country had only brought him fear and he imagined it was the same for them, except eventually, hopefully, he got to go back home. This was their home.

Once the interview was over and he had just gotten settled in his tent, the notice came out that they were flying in more wounded and all available personnel needed to report to the OR immediately.

He sighed, putting down the paper and pencil he was going to use to write to his father and rushed out to triage.

He wasn’t sure how many hours later it was when they finished, but all he knew was he couldn’t fall asleep. Not immediately anyways, eventually the exhaustion would take over, but for now, the adrenaline was coursing through his veins and it needed to die down before he got any rest.

So he picked up the pen and paper he had left on his bed and sat down outside under the light of a portable lamp and began to write.

Dear Dad,

What a day it’s been. I know I’ve told you about our busy days here, but this one was a little different. A documentary group had come to interview all of us on what it was like being close to the front of the war. I’m not sure if they got what they were looking for.

A little while after the interviews finished a new wave of choppers came with wounded soldiers and we tended to them all night. I just got out of the OR myself.

I feel a bit bad though because I think I lied when the interviewer asked me a question. He said, who are your heroes? I wasn’t sure I had any so I said I didn’t but the more I thought of it I figured it out and it’s even funnier because get this, she hates my guts.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned the new surgeon who’s joined our unit. She’s from New Hampshire and worked as a nurse in the Second World War. She’s phenomenal, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone more capable for her position. I must admit a few of us were skeptical when she first arrived, but she’s got a knack for it, keeps up to date with the journals, and managed to save a few patients who wouldn’t have made it otherwise because of that.

Just a little while ago, we had this kid come into the OR, we knew right away there was nothing we’d be able to do for him and cutting him up would just add to the unpleasantness so we gave him some painkillers to at least numb him, but he was still lucid. He grabbed her arm and started calling her mom, all of us thought he was delusional or the pain was making him see something in her that wasn’t there. B.J. was about to step in and tell the boy that his mother wasn’t there, but she stopped him and sat down and acted like his mother until he was gone. It was one of the most selfless things I’ve ever seen anyone do here. It was no easy job, he was scared out of his mind, didn’t want to die, but then again who would at eighteen? Turns out he was carrying a picture of his mother on him when he went, the resemblance was uncanny.

I don’t know if I’d ever be able to do that for someone. I’m a doctor, I know I can do that much, but she’s a mom too, there’s another level of thinking there that I don’t understand. Suppose I never will.

And she’s not just a good doctor, I wish you could have seen the way she surprised everyone the other week. Father Mulcahy, I’ve told you about him, he’s our unit’s chaplain, and likes to organize sports and games to keep the morale high around here, so he planned a game of football for some of the enlisted men, a few of the surgeons were around when he suggested it and she asked if she could join them. One of the privates commented that maybe the game might be too rough for her, but before he could protest any more she took the ball from the Father and marched out to the middle of the compound. She asked the private to try and block her and when he refused she gave rank and the poor guy had no idea what was coming for him. She easily managed to get past him and across the line but didn’t stop there. Next, she tossed him the football and told him to try and get past her. Since he was embarrassed of course he had to try and rise to the occasion, but I’m sure you can sense where I’m going with this. She tackled the crap out of him then picked herself up and dusted off her pants as if nothing had happened. B.J. found out later that her mom was sick a lot when she was younger so she spent a lot of time with her dad and one of their favourite pastimes was playing football. I think all of us here at MASH can say without a doubt that he taught her very well.

Aside from that, I narrowly avoided spending the rest of my life in the stockade just by being a good doctor. It was the 557th time Frank had tried to court marshall me for mutiny, but all that came out of it was that Frank is an incompetent doctor and surgeon and I had every right to drug him with novocaine so his reign of terror would end.

Not much else has happened here aside from the usual surgery, sleep, and bad food, but I hope all is well at home. I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Love,

Your son,

Hawkeye Pierce

Tags

@montyfandomlove

#hawkeye pierce #hawkeye pierce x reader #mash #mashblr #mash fanfiction #hawkeye pierce fanfiction

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witchesoz · 1 year

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What we know of Oz: Book 4, the great retcon

Despite having tried his best to answer his audience’s questions and to tie together all the lose threads of Oz with “Ozma of Oz”, L. Frank Baum kept receiving letters and asks demanding to know more about Oz and to have more of Oz – while interest in his other works stayed quite thin, and smaller than his audience’s investment in Oz. As a result, he ended up agreeing to write a fourth Oz book – “Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz”, published in 1908, one year after “Ozma of Oz”. However, the book takes place in a lot of different various underground magical lands, with Oz being a very small part of the overall story – only six of the twenty chapters. This shows clearly that Baum was growing more and more uninterested in Oz, and sought to write other stories.

# After a long series of adventures and trips in the underground land, Dorothy finally thinks of using Ozma’s help to get out of danger, using the deal with the Magic Picture mentioned in the last book – however here conditions are changed, in that instead of every Saturday morning, now Ozma looks at Dorothy every day at four o’clock.

# Fascinatingly, this book is home to one BIG retcon of the Oz chronology, a big change from the previous books: The Wizard of Oz (who finally makes a return and is Dorothy’s companion for her travels) has absolutely no idea of who Ozma is – and in fact never had any interaction with Ozma at all. Which is in contradiction with the tale of Book 2, which explained the Wizard was the reason Ozma ended up in Mombi’s care in the first place. But more on that latter.

# The Wizard of Oz expresses a desire to live again among the “four nations of Oz”, and he mentions that apparently he was the one that built the royal palace AND the Emerald City (which indeed, was something mentioned in the first book). Dorothy also adds that the Ozians are “still proud” of their former ruler and “often speak of you kindly” – which brings back to mind the debate in Book 2 where Tip had heard about the Wizard being a crook and the Scarecrow defended the Wizard’s honor.

# Dorothy claims here that there is no horses in Oz, beyond the living Sawhorse.

# And finally our hero are teleported to the Emerald City, described as a “beautiful emerald-green city bathed in a grateful green light that was especially pleasing to the eyes” (quite a contrast to the city of the first book), filled with “merry-faced people in gorgeous green-and-gold costumes of many extraordinary designs” – with the palace having jewel-studded gates and a courtyard with splendid blooming flowers and pretty fountains shooting silvery sprays in the air.

# The Wizard meets Jellia Jamb, that he apparently already knew before from when he ruled over the city, and he meets again Omby Amby, who just upgraded from a private to the Chief General of the Royal Armies… and turns out that Omby Amby is actually the tall soldier with green whiskers from the first book! But as he explains, he shaved off the whiskers a long time ago.

# We have again a stress on how unique and bizarre horses are in Oz due to Jellia Jamb thinking the real horse is the “unusual” and “bizarre” one where the Sawhorse is the “normal” one ; and no stables existing for horses in the palace… which contradicts entirely what we were told in the second book that the Sawhorse was designed precisely to look like a real horse. But anyway, it is another Baum Inconsistency (name trademarked).

# The Wizard is offered to take back his old room for his stay, the one “at the back of the Great Throne Room”, and he gleefully agrees. As for Zeb, Dorothy’s cousin and new companion, he is very startled and anxious upon seeing all the luxuries he is treated to. He is offered a grand and beautiful room, with a closet filled with fancy costumes of rich velvets and brocades, while the bathroom has a marble tub with perfumed water. Zeb quickly abandons his old farmer outfit for “a maroon velvet costume with silver buttons, silk stockings, and soft leather slippers with diamond buckles”, while the Wizard appears dressed in black velvet, with sparkling emeralds decorating his breast (though Zeb notes that the bald and wrinkled head of the Wizard makes a contrast with the outfit that is more amusing than impressive).

# Now, this is very important… during the diner with Princess Ozma, she and the Wizard of Oz exchange tales of the history of the country, and this serves as THE major retcon and chronology re-alignment of the entire series. Forget what you heard in the first two books, things are going to be twisted! Ozma beings by describing the Wizard as “the famous man who built the Emerald City and united the Munchkins, Gillikins, Quadlings and Winkies into one people” [something that latter Ozma herself disproves as wrong, so why would she say that in the first place?]. She also asks the Wizard if he named himself after Oz or if Oz was named after him, which is apparently a mystery she always wanted to know [but again, the thing is that right after Ozma reveals she KNOWS the answer to her own question, so this whole conversation is actually nonsense when you look at it as a whole. Either Baum was subtly trying to slip in the questions of his audience, either Ozma is secretely tricking and testing the Wizard. Either she is losing her mind.]

The Wizard answers with his tale and his version of the history of Oz: He clarifies that he uses “OZ” because these are his two first initials “Oscar Zoroaster”, and the rest of his initials just spell “PINHEAD” so he sticks with his two first names. He also explains how he arrived in Oz by mistake, and how people seeing the word “Oz” and all the various circus tricks he would do (including ventriloquism, his main ability) people assumed he was a wizard named Oz. The Wizard adds that when he arrived Oz was a “Land separated into four countries”, with each one ruled by a Witch – the people thought the Wizard’s power was greater than the one of the Witches, and Oz theorizes that the Witches perhaps thought it too because they never dared oppose or attack him. So the Wizard ordered the construction of the Emerald City “just where the four countries cornered” and he announced himself the “Ruler of the Land of Oz”, which included in his domain the four countries – and he ruled “in peace for many years” until he grew old and “longed to see his native city”, upon which he decided to leave with Dorothy on a balloon. [As you can see, the story is very different from the one we saw in the original book, where notably the Wizard was only ruling over the Emerald City, and he didn’t left because he felt old but because he was outed as a fraud by Dorothy – but a recurring element of the Wizard’s character in this book is that he keeps telling tall tales and twisting the truth, even outright lying to have a better role – notably at the beginning he claimed he never did anything wrong as a wizard, to which Dorothy reminded him that as the Wizard of Oz he made several mistakes…]

Ozma is quite impressed by this story, but she immediately complements this by another tale of the history of Oz, to better help the Wizard “understand” why and how things happened. According to her, many years before the Wizard arrived, the Land of Oz was united under one ruler – if the ruler was male, he was named Oz, if she was female, she was named Ozma – because Oz means “great and good” in the Ozian language. But one day, four Wicked Witches gathered together in a league to depose the current king, and rule the four parts of the kingdom for himself. This ruler was Ozma’s personal grandfather, that was stolen away and kept prisoner by one of those four witches. With the king gone, the four Witches divided the land among themselves – and thus this was why the Ozians were so happy upon seeing the Wizard arrive and thought them as the rightful ruler. She also adds that when the Wizard arrive, there were two Goods and two Wicked Witches, because the Good Witch of the North (still unnamed) and Glinda the Good (Good Witch of the South) conquered the evil witches of their respective corners. And then the bomb drops… The Wicked Witch of the North, the one that was deposed by the Good Witch, was none other than Mombi. Yes, Mombi, the villain of Book 2! Even more… Mombi was the one who imprisoned Ozma’s grandfather, and even after being deposed by the Good Witch, she stayed the jailor of Ozma’s grandfather… and then the jailor of Ozma’s father… and when Ozma was born, she turned her into a boy so that no one would ever recognize her. [If you recall, in Book 2, the story was WILDLY different, as it was said the Wizard of Oz overthrew King Pastoria, the old ruler of Oz, and he got rid of the little baby princess by offering her to Mombi… When here, apparently the Wizard arrived after all of that was done, and it was all the Wicked Witches fault]

# Mind you, this change of backstory is visibly done to turn the Wizard into more of a hero than the ambiguous person he originally was. And indeed, for all his good services to Oz, for having supervised the building of the Emerald City and having ruled “wisely and well for many years”, now that the Wizard is old and said he refused to rule again over Oz, Ozma offers him to live in the palace until his death, and to become the Official Wizard of Oz, with all the respect and consideration the position deserves. The Wizard agrees, but Dorothy tries to warn Ozma, saying he is only the “humbug Wizard”. To which Ozma answers with a smile that it is the “safest kind of Wizard to have”.

- - - - -

And thus began a series of unanswered mysteries. Who is the fourth wicked witch? Who was Ozma's grandfather and what's the deal with her father? Which of the dozen Oz continuities is right? And many more questions Baum never answered...

#oz #dorothy and the wizard of oz #land of oz #what we know of oz

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mwsa-member · 1 year

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He Charged Alone: World War I Medal of Honor Recipient Private First Class Frank Gaffney by John R. Strasburg

MWSA Review Pending

Author's Synopsis

Frank Gaffney was a 33-year-old papermaker from Western New York when America entered the Great War in 1917. While his age exempted him from serving in the military, Gaffney ran to the colors anyway. He fought bravely on Belgian and French battlefields as a U.S. Army soldier with the 27th Division's 108th Infantry Regiment. On September 29, 1918, Gaffney singlehandedly breached a section of Germany's Hindenburg Line, coming away with 80 prisoners. Six grateful nations recognized his bravery, including his own. In June 1919, the United States awarded him the Medal of Honor. Years later, the 27th Division's commanding general, Maj. Gen. John F. O'Ryan, wrote of Gaffney, "…no one man had performed more daring exploits and had exercised a bigger influence upon those about him by the gallantry of his conduct."

In He Charged Alone, John Strasburg chronicles the life of a First World War American soldier whose bravery was once compared to that of the legendary Sergeant Alvin York. The author weaves together Gaffney’s personal correspondence with military/government records, newspaper accounts, and published unit histories. Nearly fifty illustrations--photographs and maps--augment the narrative.

Much of the book focuses on Gaffney's military service, heroism on the battlefield, and subsequent rehabilitation from a combat injury he received in the war's closing days, but not overlooked are Gaffney's upbringing and how he managed the burden that comes with being a Medal of Honor recipient. At its core, this book memorializes a true American hero from New York State who, in life, was admired by people across the country but, in death, has been nearly forgotten. In He Charged Alone, Frank Gaffney's legacy returns to the fore, where it belongs.

Format(s) for review: Paper Only

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 249

Word Count: 59,000

#MWSA Review Pending #2023 Season #Memoir/Biography

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andthebeanstalk · 2 years

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* you could also take out any reference to Frank Castle in this post and it would still work for every American troop *

I could write a fucking essay about the bizarre centrist politics of The Punisher Netflix show. An anti-military and pro-veteran show? Yes. In a broad sense.

But also they have to make the main villain *not the US military* but actually this *one specific bad guy in the military*. No mention of the morality of the constant colonialist war in the Middle East, no sir! According to the show, Frank was completely right to have joined to do that! No no, the REAL problem! Is actually! This one guy who is a BAD APPLE! And now Frank has killed him so! We're good! NO FURTHER EXAMINATION NEEDED.

[Image description in alt-text]

#the punisher #netflix the punisher #jon bernthal #john bernthal #frank castle #mcu #it is absolute horse piss. anD THEN SEASON 2 HAPPENED AND. WOOF.#i cared so much about this character and i still do but they act like frank only committed war crimes as an american soldier due to #bad luck! a coincidence!#they really wanna straddle having an anti military message and also RESPECTING THE TROOPS #which. I'm all here for 'it is disgusting that the military targets poor people and tricks them and traumatizes them and throws them away'#but u can't just go halfway. you can't touch on the truth and then twist around and deflect the blame. u can't have a scene where frank #tells his son (way too violently) not to be racist to middle eastern people and then unironically goes back to war as tho to say #'i am going to kill brown people but fear not i do so not out of racism #'and i would never have killed any innocents except this one drug dealer went against the orders of the american government'#U can't say 'the government uses these young men and makes them hurt and even in some cases cruel' and then be like #'ANYWAY FRANK IS A HERO FOR BEING A SOLDIER.'#a show trying to appeal to liberals and conservatives simulataneously. and in S1 they almost had good writing.#bc a character like frank castle can either be EXTREMELY FASCIST or EXTREMELY ANTIFASCIST in his writing.#and unable to fully do either disney will never NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS produce a quality Punisher story. the guy is a dead end #as far as canon goes this well is dry and it will never again give water - if it ever truly did.#this one goes out to EVERY GAY FAN FICTION WRITER WHO WRITES FRANK AS A RADICAL ANTIFASCIST POWERBOTTOM.#i respect you more than our troops. this is the only true value in the character of Frank Castle RIP my precious blorbo i will always ❤ u #like i adore madani and it was smart to have a middle eastern character in the main cast but why does she appear to have no opinions #not about the war or her employer (the motherfucking CIA). no doubts about her absolute loyalty to the us govt. that's... weird right???

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marley-manson · 2 years

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@nimuetheseawitch said:

#i didn't realize anyone ever thought that hawkeye was going pro-miitary at the end there#he's so insistent that they're all victims#and i think there's even a case for potter being a victim of the military industrial complex#(early life glorification and then roping him in financially - not to mention the nationalist propaganda of patriotism and duty)#i also think you can empathize without condoning or approving#i'm a little bit of a commander pierce apologist because i like to read it as hawkeye seeing that it's difficult to run a hospital#as opposed to being specifically military (although it is - later seasons are definitely way more pro-military and that is uncomfortable)#also you're so right about bj but i have some thoughts about the brainwashing of the american public about duty

lol I wrote that while reading some guy’s thesis on mash where he basically applies the hero’s journey to the series and argues that Hawkeye betters himself by learning to respect authority, iirc, and coming to... I don’t quite remember how he put it, but like, align himself with the military (or at least military authority), relate to it, sympathize with it, something like that. This was written in the 80s by some dude so I don’t think he was all about criticizing the american military industrial complex lol, and honestly imo it’s a fair read of the way the show ended up progressing, unfortunately.

But I was also thinking of some more current fandom meta I’ve seen here and there about Hawkeye coming to view himself as a soldier, not in a positive way but in a negative self-loathing and harmful way, and that the finale sort of exemplifies this in that he gave an “order” to the mother. And I can kind of see the argument for Hawkeye viewing himself negatively as an extension of the military, as in Letters where he talks about being in weapons repair, but I don’t think it’s a strong interpretation of the finale flashback.

ANYWAY yeah sorry your tags are interesting so I mostly c/ped them to respond, but I just wanted to explain where I was coming from first lol.

I think Potter had so much potential to be a really like, interesting character and a good ‘in’ to criticize that aspect of the military, the financial and psychological entrapment - the way he joined when he was underage lends itself to that in theory imo, and yeah realistically there’s a lot worth exploring there. I just wish the show did, lol. Potter’s like the biggest missed opportunity of the show to me because his role as Good Military Dude could’ve been SO interesting if the show had like... maintained its disdain for the military and explored the ramifications of a nice likeable dude who loves the miltiary - why he loves it, how that’s affected his life negatively, how having a loveable representative of the military affects the draftees psychologically and emotionally... I think Dreams hints at this deliberately, and maybe a few other moments here and there, but in general I feel like it’s a take I’m projecting on the show, rather than something intended.

I also like your take on Commander Pierce a lot better, but Margaret’s speech about how he’s a hypocrite who Frank would admire in that moment really soured it for me. It could’ve been an interesting portrayal of how Hawkeye doesn’t take well to being in a position of authority imo, and it kind of started out that way (I like the idea of Hawkeye being stuck as a leader and totally failing at it tbh), but the narrative had a very heavy handed “Hawkeye is a hypocrite for hating specifically military authority” vibe imo.

I haven’t actually gotten to the episode where BJ mentions that he could’ve dodged the draft easily if he’d wanted yet (was it Bombshells? I feel like it was a different ep but idr), but I’m looking forward to it bc it’s interesting and I never feel like I actually understand something until I’ve watched it at least twice lol. I think yeah BJ as an average every-man figure especially really fits that propagandic brainwashing vibe, especially in a 50s setting, and now I’m curious whether that’s implied in the scene. Either way I think it’s definitely implied to an extent with BJ’s character overall, and if you have more thoughts on that subject I’d love to hear them! Also Potter come to think of it - I probably seem pretty negative about him because I dislike what he represents in the show and how he’s usually framed in the narrative, but I’m super into exploring him as a character from an anti-military pov, yk?

#sorry this response got so long lol i'm so incapable of brevity when it comes to discussing the stuff i'm into #also bad at tearing myself away from narrative intent too lol which i'm sure you can tell - i'm all about that narrative framing #love them themes #mash #marley on mash #text post #(also don't feel obligated to respond either at length or at all i can't help but respond to ppl with essays but i know that's not #everyone's jam)

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firerose · 3 years

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Dark-Seven part three - Jason

I apologize @reading0mens for the longtime it took me but I love Jiper angst sooo it got a bit long XD, feedback would be cool :)

- The day Gea was destroyed marked the end of the giant war

- But for Jason, it was the most horrible day of his life

- He wakes up in the infirmary without Leo and Piper

- They are dead Chiron tells him

- Leo gave his life to kill Gea and the eagles could not catch Piper on time

- Jason refuses to believe it until he runs out and sees her

- Her bloodied corpse, her lifeless eyes they will hunt him until the end of his life

- He wanted to grow old with her

-As he gently rocks her in his arms he tries to understand

- Why would Hera let her die after she screwed so much with her life already?

- Why would she let Leo sacrifice himself in such a violent way?

- He knows the truth deep in his heart

-As he watches Piper‘s body burn among the others he learns what real hate feels like

-It scares him

- He was supposed to be Hera‘s champion, a loyal soldier to the gods

- His pain gets worse when he is alone

- Percy and Annabeth leave Camp for school

- Hazel and Frank go back to Camp Jupiter

- He spends his time alone in his cabin living in the vision he saw when the gods came to help them

- Piper is alive whispering soft words to him that everything is going to be okay

- That he is a person instead of Hera‘s shallow Champion

- They even help him to continue his designs for the minor gods temples

- But soon his love for her turns to desire

- He knows that she is not really with him and who is responsible for it

- He does not want to sit around anymore doing exactly what Hera would want him to do

-“I…..I can‘t do this anymore Pipes.“, He tells her one night his body trembling in despair

-“Yes you can Jason! You are a hero that always stepped up to do what‘s needed.“ She says her words piercing into Jason‘s heart like her dagger

-To him, they feel like an accusation

- All of the sorrow and anger boils up in him

- He does not notice the wind around him growing stronger, or the thunder from outside

- He is tired of Hera, tired of being too perfect

- The papers are thrown across the room and he stands his body shaking with rage

- A yell of defiance leaves him and the storm sends lighting to hit the Cabin

- The Campers find Jason sitting still in smouldering remains

-His eyes are closed tears running down his cheeks but there is a smile on his face

- Invisible chains put on by Hera have just been broken

- Jason never felt more alive

-“I‘m done being their servant Chiron and you should be too.“, that is Jason‘s goodbye, a reminder that the centaur should be a protector not a trainer of child soldiers

- No one follows him when he leaves not even Nico

-They all saw the cold bitterness in Jason once-loyal blue eyes, they all feel his calm aura like wolve ready to strike everyone that comes to close

- Jason is glad for their fear

- He does not want anyone innocent getting hurt in his crazy plan

- Jason fly away but still stays close to the sea

- The papers of the minor gods are destroyed but he can still remember all of their names

- Kymopolaia is the first one he calls on the beach of Montauk

- She emerges from the water in all her glory and Jason can‘t suppress his joy

-He acts like Jason grace always did

- Flattering, his compliments even making the violent storm goddess blush

- Only when she wonders why he is here that he shows her a few of his true emotions

- He talks about how Hera forced his mom to give him to the wolves

- He tells her about all the friends that he lost to Hera‘s obsession with tormenting him, how much Piper and Leo gave him hope for a home, how the queen of the gods let them die

-When he is finished high waves are fluting the beach while Kymopolaia cries in pity for the young hero

- Jason‘s apology enrages her even more

-“The twelve Olympians will never respect or honour anyone who is not useful to them.No matter how many temples I build for them you are just a goddess of lower rank just like I was just their servant. I would just waste my time trying to fix their mistakes and in the end, neither of us would get what they want.“, He says true regret in his voice

-Poseidon's daughter grits her teeth while high waves flute the beach as her body is shaking

- Jason confirmed what she has been dreading since the war ended and her father made up excuses to exclude her from his royal court

-He comforts her and he can tell how he stirs up her hate for Posidon

- Jason can barely hide his satisfaction, his plan is working just like hoped it would

- He advises her to turn the sea against her father, it‘s her birthright after all

- Kymaploaia‘s eyes fill with a mad gleam, a whirlpool around her shows agreement

- She is not afraid to take on the sea, hundreds of tormented river gods will stand behind her angry because they had been forbidden to kill the humans that hurt them every day

-After Jason wished her good luck she leaves and he lets out a laugh of satisfaction

-Words can be more powerful than lightning he learned that from Piper

- A part of him still despises what he has become but he tells himself that Hera turned him into this

- She created a weapon and now she has to deal with the consequences

- He continues to travel all over the country flying over it with his storm horse, never staying at one place for long as he is sure the eyes of Hera are on him

- Every stop brings a talk to another minor god

-Hypnos and Morpheus are easy to convince

-Every mortal needs to sleep and dream so why are they never invited to mount Olympus throne room?

- Jason orders them to rebel against the Olympians in the cities of the demigod Camps first

-It is the only way to ensure that his friends will stay out of his way

- Aelous is harder

- The mad lord of the winds always hated demigods and he is not pleased when Jason holds the dozens Venti he sends to kill him still in the air with one move of his hand

-Jason uses no charm on him but instead reminders of all the times Zeus forced him to deal with storm spirits all by himself

-The idea that he can banish the storm spirits once and for all after Zeus is gone finally convinces him

-But Jason still wants the god to know that he is the leader of this rebellion who should not be messed with

- So he concentrates and moves his hands to control the storm spirits again

- He can feel their anger through the winds but he still manages to force them to turn into wolves their lightning eyes blazing with hatred

-“You will serve me from now on.“, He orders them through his mind his voice sounding like thunder in their heads and they indeed bow their heads before him

-Aelous only laughs at this sight

-“You have changed Jason Grace! If you are ready to rebel against your father just because of the Aphrodite girl and that son of Hephaistus then you are just as crazy as me.“ The lord of the winds jokes when Jason is about to leave with his new wolves

-“I‘m just ready to do anything for the people I love.“, Jason replies coldly

-From Olympus Hera hears those words too

- They seem a weak excuse for all the chaos Jason has caused

-The sea has been stormy for days swallowing ships and fluting beaches while the cities are fluted by rivers

- Zeus is barely able to control his winds and so the weather jumps from hot to cold in minutes

The gods own children are sleeping alongside hundreds of mortals unable to help their parents

- Hera knows that Jason will make things even worse if he is not stopped now

- But her love for him or rather the love for his loyalty to her is what makes her believe that she can bring him back

- Not herself she is not that naive

- Only one person can and even though she is gone Hera has figured a way to use her against Jason

-If only she could see the cruelty of her tricks

- Jason begins to hear Piper‘s voice again in his dreams

- She is not soft with him anymore

- Instead, she tells him how terrible he has become, that he acts like a pathetic child just because he failed to save her

-He yells that he is doing all this to get justice for and Leo but that only makes her laugh so loud that he has to cover his ears to drown it out

- Sometimes he also hears Leo mocking him, saying that he can‘t believe he ever looked up to him

- Jason wakes from those nightmares in sweat and tears until he decides that sleep is overrated

- He feels more comfortable moving around with his wolves anyway, it reminds him of old times, his childhood

- Unfortunately, his sleep deprivation changes his methods to gain more allies

- The nature spirits (Nymphs and dryads), aren‘t met with his charm but instead little patience and quick anger

- To Jason they are dumb, Zeus hit on them for centuries why are they so unwilling to turn against him?

-He tries to stay calm but their talks about how his plan is insane to remind him of Piper and the things she said in his dreams

- Not only once does he command his venti to burn whatever three or plant annoys him too much, the wolves happily oblige and tore the spirits apart with their electricity sparking teeth

- More and more Jason Grace begins to remind them of Zeus, unforgiving, cruel to anyone that does not obey his wishes

-When a young dryad girl dares to say that to Jason out loud he snaps

-A huge thunderstorm is summoned, lightning blasting the girl loved ones

-The forest burns in bright orange flames and Jason uses the winds to direct them towards the girls three

- She dies screaming in the flames while storm wolves bite at her to electrocute

- Jason grins at her Beggs as he looks directly into her beautiful dark eyes, Hera has those too

- Nature decides to join him out of fear

- The gods will be mad but it is the only way to avoid Jason‘s rage

-Jason feels powerful riding past them on his horse while they bow

-He can feel the wind gods around him ice cold, hot like fire

-On mount Otrys he calls for Hecate as the next step for his plan

- When she ignores his call he does not care

- Electricity runs through his veins power, it does not matter if he has to wait a bit until Olympus falls

- Suddenly a voice calls him making his blood turn cold

-He turns his head to look behind him and as expected no one is there

-He tells his rising panic that it was not real, he just hasn‘t slept for four days

- The temperature drops, darkness crawls over the hilltop, he feels watched

-“I‘m here Jason it‘s okay.“, Her voice is sweet close and yet it makes him shiver in fear

- It can‘t be her

- Jason draws his sword and gets on his horse, the wolves growl restlessly as they can feel their master distress

-“Who are you? Show yourself!“, He demands despite his shaking voice

- Her laughter is loud wild like the summers breeze, he has heard it a thousand times before

-His eyes fly around frantically there is only the shadows of the rising night

-“I‘m your girlfriend Jason! Did you already forget that?“, the girl that can‘t be her asks amused

- A person stands in front of him out of nowhere

-Jason‘s sword falls to the ground, his eyes fill with tears

-Her clothes are nothing she would wear and yet he would recognize her blind

-Piper McLean, the love of his life stands there in a white long dress, her dark brown hair falls loose around her shoulders, her eyes of lighter brown are reaching into his soul

-“No…...this is a trick! You…….you are dead.“, Saying it hurt but it was the truth

- His venti flicker with lighting in agreement

-“I……..don‘t know why they let out but does that matter?!, I‘m here and….I missed you.“, Piper sobs, her despair finally washes away his doubts with guilt

-He slides off his horse ignoring the suspicious neighing

-Jason goes to her slowly putting his hand on her cheek, she feels real

-“I missed you too Pipes.“, He croaks and then breaks down pulling her against his chest all pain of losing her, the hatred against Hera, the things he did to convince gods and spirits to rise against their rulers, even the nightmares in which she hated him, spilling out of him

-He is scared of her backing away when he is finished, of her making his horrible dreams come true

-Instead, she looks flattered and sad as she puts a hand on his chin

-“Perhaps that is why they allowed me to leave the underworld.“, She says so softly and Jason is caught in confusion and overwhelming relief that she does not hate him

-“What do you mean?“, Jason asks suddenly feeling worried, the gods would never allow someone to cheat death especially someone close to him

-“I think the gods want me to save you from yourself.“, Piper answers with concern,

-Jason looks at her stunned then as he processes her words anger rises in him

.-Yes it does sound like Hera to use Piper that way

-“No Pipes I never felt better ! They are just scared because I make their system fall apart.“, He responds not able to hide his pride,

- He is happy that she worries for him but he wants her to know that he is okay that they are okay

-He wants to squeeze her hand as recurrence but Piper steps back with guilt in her eyes

“ Jason…….you haven‘t slept for days and all those burnt nature spirits? This isn‘t you.“, She says her words soft but they are too much like his dreams

-“Yea I have been a bit crazy lately but only because I want to make them stop Pipes. All those mistakes or wars of the gods that we have to die and fight for. Losing Leo and you was something I don‘t want any other demigod to go through. I want us to live in peace and that is only possible if we aren‘t controlled by an egoistic good and his controlling queen.“, He explains and despite his fear, he means every word

- He just wants Piper to understand so that she will fight at his side again

-The image brings a smile to his face

-The two of them standing in front of a chained up Hera in all their glory

-Piper brings him back with a sigh and the deep pity in her eyes fills him with despair

-Why is she so against opposing the gods, Wasn‘t she the one that cursed Hera and despised how the goddess put herself in charge of his life?

-A dread rises in the back of him, he suppresses it quickly

-“Our lives aren‘t controlled by the gods Jason. The fates are the ones that decide what challenges a hero has to face. You are wasting your time and ruining your own life fighting for something that will never change. Call off the rebellion Jason and tell the gods to be actual parents. Tell them to protect their children from their destines as long as possible and then go home to rest. That would be easier than a war you can‘t win.“, Piper finally says

-Despite all of his anger Jason has to admit that her advice is tempting

- The vision of him growing old with Piper could come true plus he truly is not strong enough to fight fate itself so why not ask the gods for a favour? Maybe he can convince them to change after all he is the favourite of their rulers

-But then a thought washes away that option and he figures a way to tell Piper why the Olympian council needs to be reformed

- When Piper takes his hand again he looks at her with determination

“I can‘t. Hera loves using demigods too much. Look what happened to Leo. She claimed that she wanted to prepare him for his future just to let his mom die and let him sacrifice himself. You once said that heroes have to step up and do what is right and that is what I‘m doing right now.“, He explains

-For a short moment he thinks guilt washes over Pipers face

- Suddenly he realizes how strange her pleading was

-Piper always was someone to take action, she would never tell him to just do nothing and the way she almost took all fault from the gods……..

-“Hera only did that because she knew what Leo‘s role in the war was gonna be. She may not be the best but she is not our enemy Jason. She cared for Leo and she cares about you too.“, Piper says and now Jason is sure

- He rips his hand away from her his eyes burning with rage

-“Piper would never defend Hera ! Who are you?“, He asks coldly anger numbing the shattering of his heart

-The girl looks at him in confusion, he hates that she does it through Pipers eyes

“ Jason -“

-“ Don‘t! Stop using her voice and show yourself! I want to know which god I have the honour to kill!“, Jason spats

- At this moment he forgets all of his good morals, only blind hatred is left

-The Venti come to his aid, they swirl around him like a mini hurricane and he can feel their power pulsing through him, waiting for his command

-“I‘m just trying to help you Jason even if you could kill me that would not solve anything.“She warns but it is still Piper's voice and he will make her pay for it.

-“Oh no I think this will make me feel a lot better and if Hera send you just know that what happens to know is her fault, not mine.“, Jason says with a cruel smile before turning his storms to pure lightning

- with a hand wave the spirits turn into pure lightning crashing into where she stood

-Flames light up the hill but she is not there anymore

-A huge dove is in her place attacking immediately scratching at his face

-Dark clouds gather thunder is booming, rain falls,

-the Windlords themselves lift Jason into the air pushing his attacker away

- He does not need his sword

- The sky is his weapon

-Jason chases the goddess, calls cold wind to let hail fall onto her instead of rain

- Lightning strikes and he catches it in his bare hands, it flickers over his entire body until it gets thrown towards his victim

-Despite all of this the dove keeps trying to get closer, her voice pleading for him to stop his madness

- A hysterical laugh is his answer, he remembers a time where the gods loved him for his kindness, the same one that forced him to keep Heras chains on him for too long

- This goddess is treating him like he is still a pawn but that will end now

- Jason spins himself around his arms outstretched

- Wind blows around him, the dove shrieks in panic

- A tornado is throwing her around in circles like a puppet

- She changes form to other animals, attempts to escape through the cloud storms walls

- That is when they become pure lightning

- it hits her makes her body twist unnaturally

- She falls and Jason is still in the storms eye, He feels like a god bathed in his fathers lightning bolts

- The goddess unmoving body beneath him looks so tiny almost fragile even when she has changed to her Olympian form

- He would have pitied her if he hadn‘t recognized her, now he only feels disgusted

- Another shockwave is sent through her body before Jason dissolves his tornado

- The wind gods hesitate for a moment not liking what Jason might have in mind

- Jason is stronger and so they follow him down towards his victim as only a soft breeze

-“Why?“, He spats down at her as she wakes up

- His short question holds her crime all the pain and false hope she put him through

- She gets on her knees to look up at him her ever-changing hair clothes and eyes even her skin that is healing her burns are no beauty to him anymore

-“Hera and I only wanted to help you Jason.“, Aphrodite apologizes maybe there are real tears in her eyes

-“ I need help? I‘m not the one impersonating my dead daughter to manipulate her boyfriend!“, He spats finding her trick even more disgusting as he puts it into words

- He thinks about how she held him, what would have happened if he did not find out who she was

- He feels dirty

“I always take on the form of loved ones that's why Hera send me. She knew that Piper was the only one to get you out of your grief. Love is the only thing more powerful than hate“, Aphrodite explains and with every word, she looks more and more like Piper again

- Jason realizes that she is just as bad as Hera, another god that messed with his mind

- He sees how heavy she is breathing, it is time to punish her

-“Well then let me tell you something about love.“, Jason says making a pulling motion with his hands reaching for her breath

- He bends the oxygen out of her, the goddess head being forced forward

-The winds grow stronger again, he hears their whispers to not do this, he is deaf to their pleads

-“N – No!“, She protests in horror, her body glows attempting to release her true form but his attack surprised her and is now making her too weak

-Jason continues an air bubble forming around her head

-She digs her nails into her throat until they are bloody, her eyes nearly pop out of her skull and her face is an ill shade of blue

- the chocking noises she makes are music for him

-Jason enjoys every second

-Her looking like Piper does not save her

- It only reminds him more of the future he has lost and that makes him more furious

-When her sounds and body become still and her face is one mask of fear he finally tells her

-“Love never lasts long in this world.“

-No air gets added to the bubble, it dissolves

- An Aphrodite goddess of Love and beauty falls dead to the ground killed by her daughter's lover

- Jason feels empty

- He just killed a goddess he should feel ecstatic

- But instead, he feels as if something broke inside him

-Jason stares at the sky waiting for a reaction

-“ Come on Hera! This is what you wanted me to become right? A murderer your weapon. Just come to me and admit it !“, Jason yells tears streaming down his cheeks

-He falls to the ground as the thing he did crashes down on him

-He killed for revenge just like Zeus, Hera and all other gods did for centuries

-How is he better than them now?

-His allies seem to think the same thing

-Jason can‘t summon his venti in the morning

- The winds are harder to bend under his will

- Nature hides from him it does not matter how much he burns no one shows up

- Sometimes he hears the spirits weeping but he knows it is not meant for him

- Jason gets more and more desperate

- As of last hope he goes to San Fransisco

- The first step he takes into the city shows him that it‘s full of life again

-He plays with the thought of going back to Camp Jupiter

- But he does not want his friends to see what he has become

- On Ocean Beach, he yells for Kym

-Jason tells himself that she can help him turn his fate around

-“I‘m sorry Jason but I don‘t talk to traitors.“, She whispers from under the sea

-Jason feels like a wolve being cornered

-“ I never betrayed you the gods did !“ He shouts his voice sounding childish in his ears

-“You promised to fight in my name and then went on a crazy rampage just to make Hera feel bad. I expected better from you Jason.“, Kym told him in a stern almost motherly tone

- The words are a punch to his gut, a mirror showing him the truth

-His plan was supposed to be a peaceful change of the god's council, yes he knew about the damage the minor gods would cause but that was just to get the higher gods attention

-He sees the dryad girl in the flames, aphrodite chocking as air is pulled out of her

-This rebellion started with a wish for justice for Leo and Piper, for all those treated badly by the gods

- His lust for revenge destroyed all that

-Regretful he walks into the sea the water going up to his knees

-“ I‘m sorry.“, Jason says honestly

-That is when they finally react

- The waves grow bigger a man with a trident emerging out of them, Nature spirits come out of their plants with pinecones and daggers for weapons the blond-haired woman with her crown of corn is their true goddess

- The mist rising around him lets him hear his victim screams once more

-“Jason Grace we are here to punish you for crimes against us and the entire western civilization. Surrender now or seal your fate.“All of the Command in Unison

-He thinks of giving himself up

-He was raised as a Roman, he learned when a soldier has no chance to win

- Yet the thought of kneeling and letting Hera win so easily makes him sick

- And so he refuses

- The fight does not take long

- Jason summons lightning to blast away Nyads that grasped his ankles

-He runs out of the sea directing lightning at the advancing Dryad warriors

-They burn but the flames seem to have gathered they're own concise

-Orange and high they rage towards him growing on sand which was not possible

-They burn Jason‘s arm as he attempts to fly over them

-Screaming in pain he struggles to stay in the air

-Demeter uses her giant staff to let the three roots attack him like huge arms

-Her followers throw weapons at histones that for some reason always hit no matter how much he uses wind to push them away

-Rain comes and turns into a huge rain shower blinding his view

-He is forced to fly backwards and that is when Poseidon's trident impales his gut

-Blood spills pain forbids him to breath

-His vision goes black before he falls in the threes arms

-Jason wakes in ironically on chains in front of Hera and Zeus

-"I hope you know what a disappointment you are to me.", Zeus says but Jason's eyes are fixed on Hera

-She looks at him with a deep sorrow he did not expect so he chooses the last beg

-" Whoever you choose as your next heroes Hera please don't control them. Remember me as a warning of what happens if you do.", He pleads

-He is scared of his punishment but if Hera realizes her mistakes then maybe all of this was worth it

-Hera only replies with a small nod

-Then he is dragged off to the underworld by Hades off to the cliffs that lead into Tartarus

Jason panics as he realizes

He thought that he would end up in the fields of punishment

-But of course, Zeus hates when his children ruin his good name

-He struggles against his bonds begs his uncle to at least let him see his friends one more time

Luckily Hades is one of the kinder gods

-He summons Piper's ghost, he does not say why Leo is not there

-She smiles at him sadly and maybe with anger which Jason does not blame her for

-Her kiss on his forehead brings tears to his eyes

-"Goodbye Jason. I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble.", She whispers and he shakes his head

-"Don't be. All of this is Heras fault and mine.", He tells her and with that, she is gone again

-He thinks of her and Leo while he falls

-Hera mourns him for days

-She watches the rest of the seven holding his funeral at Camp Jupiter

-They understand his motives and that's why they still love him as the friend he was

-Hera understands him too

-She was not liked in the past few centuries and that was why the idea of her very own hero made her blind for letting him be a child

-Now that was what killed him and Zeus was already off making another hero that he can be more proud of

-A child he warned her to not even look at

-The other demigods resent her even more

-Frank Zhang would be her other hero but Hazel Levesque would never let her near him

-She thinks about Jasons last words, his beg that she shouldn't mess with children's lives

-It's when Leo Valdez returns and learns of his friend's fate that she promises herself to remember

-The hatred in his eyes is enough to bring even a goddess to her senses

#Percy Jackson #heroes of olympus #Hoo #jason grace #dark jason #jiper #piper mclean #major character death

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the-badger-mole · 4 years

Text

Hero to Zero

Sit down, kids. I want to have a rap sesh with y’all.

There is no such thing as a perfect show. Even if you think there was a perfect show, it’s rare it holds up to multiple viewings. Still, Avatar: The Last Airbender probably got as close to perfect as any children’s show could hope to. All this to say that ATLA is a good show. A great show, even. But it is not a perfect show. and they missed some pretty big opportunities.

Specifically where Aang was concerned.

So, here are the Top 3 Opportunities ATLA Missed with Aang:

1. Having Aang actually work for his victory.

If you’ve followed me for literally any length of time, you know that I hate,hate, HATE the LionTurtle/Rock of Destiny Deus Ex Double-Team ( ™ © ®) in the last episode. Now, I know some of you think that I- and others like me- just wanted to see Aang kill Ozai. To you I say...

Look, some of my favorite superheros have a no kill policy. I have no problem with the idea of Aang capturing Ozai and having Ozai stand trial. What I have a problem with is the fact that Aang didn’t have to work at finding that solution at all. There were plenty of chances to set up the finale in a way that wouldn’t have made it a complete and utter cop out. It wouldn’t have even taken that much. Aang was confronted by the terrible realities of war all throughout the series. He knew everyone expected him to end the war. He was involved in the deaths a lot of Fire Nation soldiers at the battle in the Northern Water Tribe. At any point, there was room to have Aang face what was expected of him as Avatar and consider what it meant for him as the last Air Nomad.

What I- and others like me- wanted was not for Aang to become a compunctionless killing machine. What I wanted was to see Aang realizing his duty and working to find a solution that would end the war and keep his values in tact. Instead, he waits until the last minute to consider what how he would end the war, snapped at his friends for pushing the obvious, and (until the magic Lion Turtle arrives) best solution to the problem that the world’s been facing for 100 years, and is rewarded for (let me be frank) his absolute laziness and refusal to accept responsibility.

Aang’s whole arc was supposed to show that he had to stop running away from his problems and accept his role as Avatar. The thing is...he didn’t. He had one moment where it looked like he was ready to stop running and do his job (DoBS), but that moment is robbed of any power by the finale. Why didn’t Aang have this moment then? Why wasn’t the rest of the series spent with Aang putting in work towards finding a solution? As the story stands, Aang looks inexcusably stupid, even for a 12 year old who didn’t grow up with a war. Not having Aang actively working towards a solution, freaking out over the solution presented, and then stumbling on the one being in the whole world that could help him undermines his entire journey. Aang was not the Real Hero of the series. Plot convenience was.

2. Having Aang learn more about how the war affected his friends personally.

This kind of ties in to my first point, but Aang never really had a moment where he realized exactly what was at stake. Not just for the world in general, but for his friends. Heck, he never really reckoned with what happened to his own people (but we had time for a nonsense Footloose pastiche???). Had Aang made any effort to understand the war from his friends’ perspectives- particularly Katara, with whom he was allegedly in love- it might have occurred to him sooner what they expected of him.

There’s no real moment of Aang understanding how much Sokka and Katara and even Toph have lost because of the war. He meets war refugees and is there when Katara rescues the earthbenders from the Fire Nation prison ship, but it never sinks in how much damage any of these people have survived. I don’t think I’m asking for that much here. I understand ATLA is a children’s show, but look how they were able to show us the devastation of war and abuse through literally every member of the Gaang except Aang. Even finding out that his mentor had been murdered washed over Aang like a summer squall.

It’s great that he had the perspective of someone who got to live in a world without war, and that he got to be a kid a bit longer than his friends, but at some point it would have been nice to see something stick to him. There were moments where I thought Aang was finally starting to understand the enormity of what the war had done and what it would take to end it (like in DoBS), but then the very next episode would have him goofing off (remember when Aang wanted to take off and play the day after a bunch of people- including the father of two of his “best friends”- sacrificed their lives and freedom for him? Pepperidge Farm remembers.) Nothing seemed to stick to him, which is why his refusal to kill Ozai and lack of preparation with another solution is both infuriating to me and honestly not that surprising at all. Aang is the most static character in ATLA (a show that included Mai, cardboard puppet brought to life by dark magic). He learns nothing. And honestly the fact that he stays the same from the beginning to the end of the series makes him look incredibly unempathetic. Who remains so unmoved by the tragedies of his friends?

3.Having Aang not get Katara and having the hero of a popular TV series handle unrequited love in a mature and realistic way.

Even less secret than my hatred of the Deus Ex Double-Team ( ™ © ®) are my feelings about Kataang. ( Shut up! You knew this was coming. Don’t act brand new). Now, normally, my focus is how bad Kataang was for Katara (the canon did my girl dirty, and I will NEVER forgive or forget), however this time, I want to focus on what the show lost by forcing this pair (Kataang was only developed if you only care about Aang’s feelings. Fight amongst yourselves. My mind is made up on this point).

Avatar: the Last Airbender was amazing in a lot of ways- groundbreaking, even- but it also perpetuates the idiotic myth of the Friend Zone, and those lucky fellas who break out of it. Throughout the whole series, we see that Aang is super into Katara, but the show also drives home pretty clearly that the feeling is not mutual up until that last scene (which makes it clear that the show runners didn’t give a crap about Katara). The showrunners had a golden opportunity here to show a young boy graciously accept that his crush isn’t into him, and remain good friends with her despite the fact that romance is off the table. Instead they chose to push the message that a guy can, through persistence, intimidation (lava fissure anyone?), and a healthy dose of arrogant entitlement, win the girl in the end. It’s not even that this was a terrible relationship for Katara and Aang; it’s that it’s such a boring and typical conclusion for this show to end on. Following through on Aang needing to let go of his unhealthy attachment to Katara would have been a much more powerful move.

That’s not to say he had to stop being her friend. In fact, I think had he actually let Katara off of that pedestal he’d set her up on, they could have formed deeper bond based on mutual understanding and respect. Instead, we got “Hero Gets the Girl, Because...Hero?” Instead we got a pair that upholds the dangerous Fiend Zone myth, which arrested Aang’s development, turned Katara into a hollowed out trophy wife and produced three maladjusted adult children. It would have been a fascinating direction to take the story...if it had been done on purpose.

Anyway, kiddos. I’m done here. If I pissed you off, call my lawyers. You can rebut me if you’d like (I’ll be honest,I probably won’t read it if it’s too long), but if you’re rude in my comments, I will delete and block you. Smooches!

#atla #anti-kataang #anti-aang #aang critical #atla critical #master katara #master Katara deserved better #anti-mai #slightly #I was supposed to dedicate this to the nonnie who was trying to harass me a couple of weeks ago #but i forgot their name and I blocked them #you know who you are though #this is for you #on the off chance you see it

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alakeeffectgirl · 3 years

Text

I read the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel so that you don’t have to.

And when I say “read”, I mean I skimmed half of it because no one needs to read that much about the various TV shows Jim Stacy guest-starred on, or read any of the Manson stuff. Anyway, relevant spoilers/notes below the cut.

Questions the novel DOES answer:

Did Cliff kill his wife? Yes. On the boat, as the movie suggests (in 1967).

Which war did Cliff fight in & what did he do that made him a "war hero", per the movie? Well, the book actually says how old Cliff is in 1969 - he's 46 - which would make him 22 at the end of WW2, so I guess that fits well enough. (I still liked the Korean war veteran option better, which would have allowed him to be a less young war hero.) He fought in Sicily first, then the Philippines & won two Medals of Valor as the American serviceman with the most confirmed kills of Japanese enemy soldiers. (I guess QT figured he'd already put Brad Pitt in Europe in Inglourious Basterds.)

Other notes:

instead of meeting Schwarz at Musso & Frank's like at the beginning of the movie, Rick meets at his office, and then he cries in front of Schwarz instead of Cliff

this book goes on for pages and pages about the movies Cliff likes, and the movies Cliff doesn't like. It is very clearly Tarantino talking. In the film, you never get any idea that Cliff really cares much about movies aside from his stunt work

Rick and Cliff met on Bounty Law, became actual friends when Rick was doing his own fire stunt & got lit on fire & Cliff was like "you're standing in a puddle of water, just fall down"

Rick is 1000% an alcoholic and bipolar, although after another alcoholic bipolar actor he's good friends with commits suicide in '71, he tries to drink less, and by '73 is only drinking on the weekends - with Richard Harris! - if he has to work

the billboard section of Rick's face is outside his house because someone bought it for him and he didn't know what to do with it so he just left it there - I feel this, lol

the entire third act of the movie is done in three paragraphs of Rick explaining it to someone in the future about 100 pages into the novel (so while there are some scenes with the Polanskis and their friends, they take place much earlier than the movie’s third act, and I don’t think there was any mention of Sharon being pregnant)

Brandy: Was previously owned by a douchebag who owed Cliff money, so suggested entering Brandy in fights to win said money, but when Brandy got hurt Cliff felt horrible, and then when the bad man suggested entering her in a fight that she would not win and betting against her, Cliff broke the man's neck. As Brandy is the Best Girl, this just feels like the dude fucked around and found out, honestly.

the macaroni and cheese is the same, lol

parts of this are basically QT's Roman Polanski fanfiction, also lol

this does clear up a bit of dialogue I could never quite catch in the movie, when Rick shakes Sam Wanamaker's hand and his (Rick's) hand is all wet because he'd just had his face in a bowl of ice water, and Sam says "I'm used to it with Yul", meaning Yul Brynner

the way Cliff's wife is described as being injured (in the murder) absolutely does not line up with how long it takes her to die :-/ where was your research, Tarantino?

there's a bit about Cliff socking (on set, for some under the table cash) both Otto Preminger and Robert Conrad as lead-in to the Bruce Lee part that's kind of hilarious

Cliff's other murders are when two Mafia guys try to scare him off a date he's on with one of the Mafia boss' girlfriends in the 50′s and he just shoots both of them in the heads right in the middle of a restaurant. And since Cliff's a war hero and the dead guys are Mafia goons, the cops don't really care

Cliff's "prison been trying to get me all my life" makes way more sense once you know he's killed people for sure

Cliff's whole outlook on life is that meme with the increasing-in-size dominos where the small one is something like "got a rock in my shoe" and the big one is something like "nuclear reactor meltdown"

"Your dad dropped acid with the guy that ruined his life?" is a line that should have been in the movie but I am SO GLAD the movie didn't use Margaret Qualley's character taking her clothes off while driving with Cliff

while expositioning Trudi Fraser's future Oscar nominations (two roles actually played by Elizabeth McGovern and Meg Tilly and one made-up), Tarantino name-checks himself as the director of the third movie she gains a nomination for. Oh, to be so self-important.

remember every time in the movie where you’d be like “oh it’s Tarantino’s foot thing again”? same for the book

Francesca is reduced basically to Cliff’s notation that his time with Rick is basically over, since unless she likes him, he’s just in the way (and also that Cliff figures they’ll wind up getting divorced in a few years)

Rick and Cliff go to a bar with Jim Stacy after Lancer filming and talk about nothing but movies for another million pages, but at least it makes more sense than Cliff going on about Kurosawa earlier.

Rick waters his rosebushes in a red silk kimono.

Rick then has an entire conversation with McQueen as McQueen's on his way to the Polanski house for a pool party Sharon has insisted Roman let her throw as payback for doing Playboy After Dark.

Rick then runs lines with Trudi Fraser over the phone at midnight, still in his kimono. And then the book ends. WHAT?

#once upon a time... in hollywood #ouatih #quentin tarantino

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theplumsoldier · 3 years

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fear he who fears nothing

prologue summary: as a public figure living in modern germany, you would have thought your past was just that, just a past, but now, it has come back to haunt you and pushes you into the clutches of one baron zemo, while making you acquainted with the american heroes, falcon and the winter soldier.

series warnings: vulgar language: cursing; explicit scenes: mentions of blood, explosions, shootings, torture, injuries; a wannabe’s pathetic try at german; hinting at sexual themes.

a/n: little german is used in this but enough that i felt the need to add translations. translations will be marked as italic and are hedged in between “<>”. note i am not familiar with the languages colloquialisms so if you notice something wrong with my translations, you are most welcome to message me! this is the prologue to my series “fear he who fears nothing”. it will kick of in the next year in will be no longer than around six to seven parts. i haven’t figured it all out yet, but im working it out and updating along the way!

The two men, the ones whose identities later would be divulged and state to be an age-old relic and a national hero on the lam, did not at all fit into the club. It was always dark inside the White Lady, however the blinding lights – which one would not be wrong in their observation, should they deter them prone to trigger epileptic seizures – could not hide the two most rigid gents standing tall in the midst of the dance floor. You can ask why one, who does not dance, would stand on the dancefloor, however, your words would be in vain and your time lost, for Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes do not have time for anyone who is not Baron Zemo—

Who in this very second was in full swing of a Super Smash Bros match, using your club for arena.

The White Lady was a luxurious club, everyone in Germany was well aware of that. A place for important people and all who frequented the state of the art club knew the person next to, too, spent money like water. It was not a space for gang violence and illegalities, so when security had let them distract for just long enough, politicians and business owners, men and women of wealth ran around, much portraying the image which comes to mind when one would think of a fox entering a henhouse.

Panicking, people ran about like headless chickens, not for the exit, per say; for when in shock, instinct conquers rationality, sprinting and pushing their peers as if their lives depended on it. In a way it did, but in a club of important Europeans, they were not the target. Should they injure tonight, it would merely be in the result of the live American action movie-like fight which had now taken to the balcony lounge.

It took a rough shove to the back to send you back to the current state of affairs. It dawned on you now you would have to act, howbeit you had yet to figure out in which way.

Ushering past the frantic dancers that previously had revelled, you went pretty much unnoticed up the stairs. Pretty much unnoticed surpassing entirely unnoticed due your loyal bodyguard.

You quelled the urge to scream at the fighters when two of them pretty much shot through the air, hurling through at least 30k worth of ceiling lights.

They were the ones you had heard of multiple times through the years now: They were the “good guys”, from America. Albeit as they impoverished you, ruining 10 years of blood and sweat, before your very eyes, they were far from the good guys. Having pushed through what you had over the years, it now became clear if anybody was going to push you to your knees it had better be in another setting, with a whole other mood–preferably with some Frank Ocean in the background.

“Na los, komm schon!” Lina called, shoving you back down the stairs to get you out of danger. Your safety was her priority and so she updated security of your location via her Bluetooth earpiece. <Let’s go, come on!>

You were halfway down the stairs when the sound of an explosion went off. It was impossible to tell where it came from, but the next thing you knew was shattered glass raining from the ceiling. A group of red lights had severed from the ceiling and judging by the panic-stricken cries people were hurt.

The lights were suddenly killed, the whole club jet black for seconds until the standby generator switched on. You used this to your advantage, and scurried past Lina. You knew she only acted in your best interest, however your moral compass did not allow this terrorist to destroy your club.

When the lights turned on, the whole place lit up in a hideous yellow light, the kind you will find makes life difficult for drug addicts. This allowed you to properly see the damage done. It made you angry, seeing all these people suffer in your club; foreigners using your territory as playground.

“YN!”

“Schafft sie hier raus! Ich werde dafür sorgen, dass es hier oben kein Versteck gibt! Die Polizei soll Krankenwägen schicken, die Türsteher sollen die Umgebung sichern! Bin gleich draußen!” Lina protested, stepping up the staircase but you were adamant, and if Lina had learned one thing in her many years of her current position, it was that you were stubborn and steadfast as hell. “Ich komme schon klar, kümmern Sie sich um die Kunden!” <Get them out of here! I’m going to make sure there’s no hiding up here! Contact the police and have them send ambulances, have the bouncers secure the perimeter! Be right out!” > <I’ll be fine, tend to the customers!>

With that you sprinted down the hall to your office, punching in the code to unlock the door. At least your safe space was still intact. For now.

Getting the gun from the classic secret-safe-behind-the-wall-painting spot, you swiftly checked the chamber for rounds at full tilt. Finding only five bullets, clicked it back in place and took a second to exhale. Inhale, exhale.

Checking the chamber was about as nifty as your skills – if one could even call it that – got, so let’s just say it was going to be fun carrying out your little idea, threatening them.

You made sure to only hit the floor – it had to be replaced anyway – when shooting, and if a couple of toes would suffer your not-at-all refined skills, so be it–better that than accidentally killing one of these buffoons because you were not about to have a death on your conscience.

That got their attention.

“Y’all better get the fuck out of my club now!”

Shooting pretty much fuelled your wrath, but a fuming woman with a gun in her hand was something to fear, and you wholeheartedly trusted these idiots knew that.

“Ma’am, you should get—”

“Shut up!” seethed you, jaw clenched as much as the index finger you kept hovering over the trigger. “Now!”

You had lost sight of the bird-man. You hoped he had the decency to have grabbed a broom by now, cleaning up what chaos he so ignorantly had commenced with his little cyborg friend.

“Ah, Miss YN,” charmed Helmut Zemo then, not letting down his guard to the soldier not far from him, but he allowed himself to send you a duplicitous smile, evidently having convinced himself that this was a friendly visit.

But you had two bullets left and one hell of a grudge against this one.

“I was hoping to find you here,” spoke he, he thick-laced accent ringing through the room with an aftertaste of a memory of someone you once knew. “Perhaps we could have a little... Chit-chat, hm? Put down the gun, will you?”

“Du Hurensohn!” swore you and grit your teeth. “There are other ways to reach out to a person than destroying their livelihood!”

“Well, I had to get your attention, you understand—”

“Yeah, you got it alright! Now get the hell out of my club before I blow out your brains!”

That is if there are any left, you thought, waving the gun towards the exit. God, you hoped the police had the place surrounded.

Sirens sounded from the street, and the Winter Soldier took the opportunity – Zemo being distracted with you – to charge at him, attacking him with a knife. Zemo noticed the change in your expression, and thwarted the attempt.

You did not noticed the man coming up from behind you before he had you in a neck lock, pulling you away from the balcony railing. Screaming, you pulled the trigger, trying to twist your arm around, while out of his reach, and shoot him blindly. To no avail, however. The sound of the shots must have been what ushered the police through the doors, yelling and firing warning shots to stop the whole affair.

You could not be sure, though, for while you struggled for air, clawing at the assailant’s muscular arm, you vision veiled in black and the last thing you felt before drifting off, was a heaviness taking you to sleep.

#fatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #bucky barnes #sam wilson #falcon #the winter soldier #marvel #the avengers #sebastian stan smut #Sebastian Stan #anthony mackie #anthony mackie smut #marvel smut #baron zemo

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westerhos · 4 years

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Our Story: Chapter 6

[December 24th, 1998]

There is something to be said for the peculiar hour of the blue-morning, when a hospital beeps into quiet life. Death rattles behind drawn curtains, expletives are spat over set bones, and shots are taken in the thigh. It is not like Jamie’s Grampian refuge, which springs forth naturally from the earth. Instead, Boston GH scars the landscape, numbing loneliness through morphine drips and the tug of sheer necessity.

It is during this gradual reawakening that Claire hides in a closet, imagines the pink, wet sacs of her lungs contract and expand. She counts her breaths to release the night’s chaos, still lodged deep in her throat.

During the wild evening hours, Claire sees only what exists outside her body. Such an easy thing to do as a doctor, this sudden corporeal separation—a leap into the procedural dance, a temporary loss of oneself to the staunching of blood and the sewing of sutures.

But eventually the window of calm arrives, and the wall of dissociation begins to crumble. Claire, in her closet sanctuary, returns to her body once more, the sight of her arms and her hands like four old friends reacquainted.

Claire hunkers down between two shelves, and relief travels from foot to torso, settling somewhere inside her gut. As always, she has brought her medical bag—a gift from her husband, CER embossed in golden filigree—and rummages through it. As always, she finds the folder and flicks it open, seeking the page that is stowed inside. She is forever tethered to its final sentence, which launches a fresh rip of longing straight to her chest.

And as always, she goes back to the beginning, following the words. Fingers like greedy sponges, text absorbing into skin.

NEW YORK CITY, 11:30AM - The diner hushes when the bell tinkles, announcing the arrival of literary darling James Fraser. He is a giant in more ways than one: six-feet tall, wide-set shoulders, and a critically-acclaimed author with legions of fans. But for all his inches and his clout, Fraser is blissfully unaware of the eyes on his back. When he sits opposite me and shakes my hand, I, like the rest of the world, find him to be impulsively likable.

Sporting one month’s growth of beard and a wrinkled v-neck, it doesn’t take long for Fraser’s roguish charm to earn a complimentary meal. He is quick to thank the waitress, and for not the first time, one has to wonder how the man could possibly be single. Surely his good looks, his talent, and Reformed Bad Boy reputation draws the ladies in?

Point proven: Our waitress lingers, hungry for Fraser’s attention, but he closes his menu after ordering a glass of lemonade. (An odd choice, but then our writing heroes are full of idiosyncrasies, aren’t they?) I almost leap to console the girl, that poor thing, as she runs a self-conscious hand down her apron.

Alas, one gets the impression that it isn’t pickiness keeping Fraser romantically unattached. Nor is it misogyny or closeted homosexuality (despite what those tabloid vipers spit). James Fraser simply enjoys his place in the lonely hearts club—and is perfectly content to stay there, sipping ice-cold lemonade.

Frank’s ring glides across the lines, pauses over “single”. Such a different life, so removed from Claire’s, though here it thrums beneath her hands. Suddenly, her head grows heavier, weighted by the chain draped around her neck. Jamie’s thistle ring dangles there, cold as death. Forever tucked inside her shirts, a secret between her breasts. (Frank lets her wear it, just as she lets him wear his stained button-downs, other women smiling from the collars.)

Fraser’s second and latest novel, Two Centuries in Purgatory, released just last month to stellar reviews. Hailed as a “modern classic” by The New York Times (and truly, it is), Purgatory has found a comfortable seat at the top of the bestseller lists, and shows no signs of losing momentum. Now touring the U.S., Fraser seems nonplussed by the bustle of the Big Apple, his eighth time to our concrete jungle (“I’ve a parade of publisher meetings and interviews tomorrow,” he grumbles). Though he’s a longtime resident of both Edinburgh and Glasgow, he says no city feels like home nowadays. “Where is home then?” I ask him, and in traditional Fraser fashion, he deadpans: “Lost.”

For all his fame and glory, there is something decidedly melancholy about James Fraser. But of course, we all know why. We’ve read his books, haven’t we? We know his story.

Gillian Edgars: Are you enjoying your lemonade, Mr. Fraser?

James Fraser: Aye, verra much so. Lemonade in Scotland doesna taste like this.

GE: Mmmm, exploring the pleasures of America. I like it. Now, shall we begin? Let’s start with Two Centuries in Purgatory.

Claire brings the page a few inches closer. This is not the first time she has read the article, its edges worn to yellowing curls.

A familiar anger sinks its claws into her side as this reproduction of Jamie staggers into a flickering half-life. Gillian Edgars thinks she knows the man behind the book jacket. The entire world, for that matter, believes they can claim the bold-faced names on their hardbacks.

But, Claire seethes, do these people know that Jamie smiles in his sleep? That he’s prone to seasicknesses, could not wink at the waitress even if he tried? No. Only Claire knows these smaller, intimate truths—but still, they are not enough. Jamie is no longer only hers, but a communal being disseminated and shared amongst millions. Strangers have molded her Jamie into something new, into hollow casts of their false impressions.

Without warning, the closet door swings open and Joe Abnernathy leans in. “Knew I’d find you in here,” he says, but he draws up short. His smile falters when he sees Claire on the ground. Falters further still when he reads the headline, "Scotland’s Newest Literary Hero," on the page and on her face.

“Lady Jane, why do you do this to yourself? We’re working, I know, but can’t you try to be merry? It’s officially Christmas Eve!”

Joe kneels down, and levels his gaze with hers—the gentle but silent disappointment of an older brother. Claire holds firm when he pries the clipping from her grasp, the paper snagging the skin of her palm. It glides over and up, a shallow curve that splits into fine, shining rubies. A jeweled J, just at the base of her thumb.

Claire presses the wound to her teeth, tastes the heady, metallic taste of herself. (Later, she will trace the cut with reverence, grateful to be marred, at the very least, by a shade of Jamie.)

Joe tsks and reaches for a shelf, bringing back the first aid kit.

“Perks of hiding in a hospital supply closet. Bandages, everywhere. Take this.”

“It’s fine, Joe,” Claire assures him but accepts the bandaid anyways. “I’m fine—just a bad day and a scratch. See? No significant blood loss.”

“Thought I’d witnessed the first fatal paper cut,” Joe says, but then continues, more softly, “LJ, I thought you’d given this up. That Frank made you promise you’d stop.”

“He did,” Claire replies. “And I did too, for a while.”

Her stomach turns as the memory resurfaces: her husband, feeding the shredder a feast of papers. The machine’s tight-lipped and fanged smile destroying Claire’s collection of articles, her glimpses of Jamie. Frank had held her as the teeth had chewed, tightened his grip when she repeated his words back to him, “Time to leave the past behind.” And afterwards, once the the bin had emptied into the trash, Frank had dragged the bag of shreds to the curb. Claire had looked on, standing in the doorway, a soldier’s wife already in mourning.

(That evening, she almost snuck outside to piece the words together, for old habits die hard and a planet will always yearn for her sun. But then Frank’s arm had risen in the darkness, flopped sleepily across her waist. The weight of it had held her there, and so she’d stayed, picturing the night creatures stealing Jamie away, piece by piece.)

“I just…wanted to see what people were saying. About his new book.” She sighs. “I know I’m being ridiculous. It’s just that…”

“He’s everywhere, isn't he? In the papers, on TV. Saw they’re making a Lifetime adaptation of A Blade of Grass. Jesus.”

Claire nods. “Steering clear of that one.” (But she won’t, of course. Claire will want to see herself and Jamie on that screen, their better, manufactured selves broadcasted in technicolor.)

“You’re really gonna let me down like that, Lady Jane? I thought we’d drink cheap Scotch, put the movie on mute, and invent the dialogue ourselves. Next weekend, the two of us. Drunk and vengeful. Whaddya say?”

“A hard pass, Joe. We’ll be in Oxford for the holidays, anyways. Visiting Frank’s family.”

“Well, la-di-dah. I’ll be on this side of Atlantic throwing popcorn at my TV.” Joe leaps to his feet when his pager beeps. As he walks out the door, his hand flies to his coat pocket and he withdraws a shabby paperback. “Before I forget—a Christmas gift, for the Lady. If you’re gonna scramble your brain with nonsense, let it be Tessa’s ‘membrane of innocence’. Not ‘Scotland’s Newest Literary Hero.’”

Claire laughs and flips through The Impetuous Pirate, inhaling its smell of antiseptic and mildew and the vestiges of long-ago fingerprints. A Harlequin, taken from the hospital waiting room. “Aye aye, captain. But if it’s all the same to you, I’ll stay here in Davy Jones’ Locker for a while longer.”

Joe nods, consoling, before he turns to answer an intern's cries for help.

Alone again, Claire tucks The Impetuous Pirate inside her bag, picks up the discarded article from the floor. For the first time, she notices its publication date, October 20th, was her 31st birthday. She cannot remember the details of the occasion—Did Frank take her to a concert, or to a movie? Buy her flowers or chocolates?—and yet a foreign scene plays so clearly in her mind. It is something cut from the script of her life, the stagehand’s hook pulling her to the wings before she has a chance to speak. Cast in the closet’s dim spotlight, it unfolds as the playact that could have been but never was:

Jamie, in the New York diner, drinking lemonade. Condensation like dew drops, rolling down the pitcher. A young girl in Gillian Edgars’ place, singing a high soprano. And Claire, beside her, blowing out candles in a single huff.

As she slices the birthday cake, this almost-Claire nicks her finger on the knife’s blade. “Kiss to make it better!” the young girl cries, and Jamie does, his lips are on the sting, and then Claire’s mouth. He tastes of citrus, of yellow and sunshine, a marigold paradise in a city of dying autumn leaves. “Does it still hurt, Sassenach?” he asks her. “Not anymore,” she says. And when the little girl giggles, watching them, it is something sacred. She licks the frosting from the candles. “So what’d you wish for, Mama?” she asks, not knowing that, in a moments like these, there is no need for wishes.

Claire’s pager rings, rearranging her memories. Now she remembers her 31st birthday—and knows it did not happen in that diner. On that day, there was no little girl; no citrus kisses in a molting New York.

Instead, Frank had taken Claire to the opera house, a drawn-out affair they had both fidgeted through. Back at home, he had led her to the bedroom and its king-sized bed, had slipped off her dress while she kept her chain on. “Talk to me,” he’d panted, silver thistles against her chest. And when she came, it was not Frank’s body that drew her cries. It was not Frank’s name that rose from her lips.

Claire scans the article, skipping again to the final paragraphs. Here lies the line she reads over and over, the very reason she shells $15 for subscriptions and scavenges in bins for scraps. Anything to discover some evidence of herself, some proof that she still lives in the peripheries of Jamie’s life. And whenever she finds it, it pours into her and lingers, like wine.

GE: Your debut was quite impressive—an instant bestseller, an Oprah Book Club pick, an upcoming TV movie. I’m sure you’ve been asked this before…but allow me to be a hack for just one moment. Let me ask the nosy questions. Let me pry.

JF: I dinna have a fear of rats [SMILES]. Get on wi’ it then.

GE: I appreciate it, Mr. Fraser, I do [LAUGHS]. The protagonist’s struggles in A Blade of Grass—the financial woes, the criminal record, the years of solitude—they seem to mirror your own. Is it accurate to say that the book is autobiographical?

“Randall?” a voice calls from outside the closet. “Randall, are you in there? Mr. Duncan in Room #18 needs to be—”

“Prepped for surgery, I know!” Claire finishes. Her voice is shrill, rising with her goosebumps as she nears the interview’s end. “I’ll be out in a second, Dr. Hildegarde!”

JF: In some respects, aye, A Blade of Grass is autobiographical. Mind, I made a lot of it up myself. Embellished a few things.

GE: Oh yes, certainly. But even without your embellishments, your life does make for such an interesting tale. In a way, your struggles are what made you a literary sensation. But still, I do wonder—do you regret any of it? The gamble, the money, the arrest?

JF: [LAUGHS QUIETLY] I thank ye for the compliment, Ms. Edgars, but I hope my sins are no’ responsible for the book’s success. And for the record, they were largely exaggerated by the press.

GE: Ah, right. We rats are despicable creatures, always desperate for crumbs. But they never fill the belly, not really.

JF: Have ye tried poetry before, Ms. Edgars? You’ve a knack for it [LOOKS AWAY]. But nay, it isna the crimes themselves that I regret most. Whether they were exaggerated or no.

GE: Really? There’s something else [LEANS FORWARD]? Will you tell me then, your life’s biggest regret? Or will you keep me and your readers in the dark, forever wondering what keeps our beloved James Fraser up at night?

Now Claire closes her hand into a fist, forces herself to bleed out from that thin, half-mooned J. She imagines Jamie’s face, inscrutable to Gillian Edgars, but fixed in an expression that she, and only she, can read. And if Claire had been there on that October afternoon, sitting in the diner’s vinyl booth, she would have understood. Would’ve known already what Jamie regretted most, what he would and could not say aloud. For within this precious, final line—their spoken and unspoken wishes:

JF: My biggest regret? I let the story end early.

(JF: I should have loved her better—God! I should have loved her better.)

_______

I have very few comments about this one, but I will say A) Jamie’s POV comes much more naturally to me—probably because I, like Jamie, love Claire so frickin’ much—so writing this was like pulling teeth. And B) As I was writing this chapter, I knew it was time to bring Jamie and Claire back together. Even I was rooting for them to reunite.

I love Joe and Claire’s friendship, and I wish I’d shown more of it in this fic (although what’s here I think fits pretty naturally). And I have to say...I love Geillis—or the idea of her: witchy, feminist, and confident—a whole lot, despite her Voyager crimes. Here, she is my Outlander version of Harry Potter’s Rita Skeeter, and I could write an entire fic from her voice any day.

#outlander #claire beauchamp #jamie fraser #myfic #i am so bad at dialogue!!!!!

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

Text

Legend of the Three Cablleros: Pyra-Mid Life Crisis Review “Get Back, Ya MonkeyBatDonkeyRat”

Saludos Amigos! After four days of working on intensly exausting and through projects, my best of the year list and second Scott Pilgrim review, it’s nice to get back to some fun hyjinks with my boys. And boy oh boy.. did I get that. This one was a fun one.. not the best so far and we’ll get to it’s flaws as we go but damn if it wasn’t hilarous and insanely weird.

So let’s get right to it, on with the show. We pick up where we left off, Leopold, Felldrake’s mummified monkeybatdonkeyrat, as the boys come to refer to him, is carrying donald off and after a game of “What the fuck is this thing” And Jose understandably asking Xandra what the fuck is that, they try freeing him wiht Xandra successfully shooting him down... before the boys nearly kill donald with spikes and other pointy things before using Panchito’s hat to catch him.

So Leopold returns to his master, and Feldrake reveals his plan for the episode: Their going to egypt. Okay so FELDRAKE is the reason Ancient Egypt is so evil. Huh, you learn something every day. Meanwhile the boys try to hide because well.. Donald just got kidnapped and they’ve been at this one day. After some meh shenanigans, Xandra reveals her world map, where she can fast travel to any location with a “spark point”. Oh boy that means we’ll be getting Zoey’s Infinite Playlist Crossover any day now... but while we ait for that, and we get a nice bit of the boys comparing the map to a GPS and Xandra for once being the one whose totally lost with the girls just nodding for her to accept it. But she can also track felldrake with it. You may be wondering “Wait why and how” but I thought of that: Because the original cabs mission once freeing Xandra was undoing Feldrake’s damage, she likely set up the atlas to track traces of his magic, and any flare ups in case he somehow returned.

So our heroes are off to egypt, though while the girls are staying behind, they give Donald the magic mirror from last episode so they can call them if they need them. HOnestly.. a pretty clever setup and a way to let April, May and June help without having to shove them into every episode. And being a fan of Ducktales, having it feel organic that a character isn’t going and still finding things for them to do is just.. it’s nice okay. Seriously Frank why didn’t you watch this. You still have hte better show so far but come on.

My griping about another show aside our boys are off to Egypt.. anddddd in the middle of the desert.... wait so Xandra set up fast travel world wide to alls orts of leylines and stuff.. but the best she could do in freaking egypt.. was in the middle of one of the many stretches of uninhabitable desert.

I mean I get it for some locations but this is freaking Egypt.. why isn’t the pyramid their going to the fast travel point. Start making sense making sense! Anyways so Feldrake gets an easy lead because Xandra took her stupid pills when picking this spot while Xandra and the cabs sweat it out, eventually arriving after them. We also get a really great bit where Panchito and Jose give the camels their water, and then Donald naturally needs some. I”m.. i’m not giogn to questoin where theyg ot suplies or anything, again the bigger issue of “why was your mystical fast travel point in the middle of nowhere” still stands. I mean at least say it was the best she could do or it screwed up or something. Not just “whoops guess we gotta somehow get camels to get the pyramids. “ Sheldgoose and Feldrake are ahead of them, and while obviously I can’t cover EVERY single bit.. there is a TON of good banter this episode, as Kevin Micheal Richardson shows a humerous side to feldrake, constnatnly insulting Sheldgoose, rightfully so, and just in genereal being throughly hilarious. Which given I was expecting him to be a pretty 1 dimensional bad guy, It was a nice suprise. My faviorite being when they fall on a skeleton “You are useless.. not you Carla, I like you... liked you”. The point is our villians are ahead and our heroes have to get past Leopold. Xandra suggests strategy.. but Donald’s already ahead to do a Donald and yell at it, wanting revenge. Before Donald can die horribly, Xandra simply blinds him and they run inside, accidently triggering all the traps and taking out leopold. Leopold finds his master.. just in time for the Cabs to find a control room..

Oh.. the what has not even begun as a button Panchito presses.. sends a rocket off to the MOON.

Yup their going there. As Feldrake explains to sheldgoose, rapidly as he dosent have the patience for it but to Sheldgoose’s credit he picks up on all of it, the pyramid is a ship, aliens built the pyramids in this universe, they mysteriously vanished but left a city full of robot soldiers on t he moon, hence why we’re going there.

Yeah this is GLORIOUSLY weird stuff, our heroes having to go into space to fight an army of astro-mummies and ancient robots copotped by an ancient sorcerer. Yes.. yes just.. gimmie. This is insane in the best ways. WHat’s not is that the boys can’t work the ship together as they approach the dark side of the moon... huh I wonder why the moonlanders left all this here. Questions for later. Oh .. and theirs an astro mummy on board, forcing Panchito to reveal he’s a famous luchador and he and xandra hold him off while Jose and Donald TRY to pilot the ship but can’t translate the manual and just make things worse. Thankfully he remembers the mirror and asks the girls for help, so they put the instruction manal through a translator.

So with our heroes subuding the mummy and having instructoins they finally encounter feldrake and sheldgoose, whose in a cool looking hood with a mask and is naturally baffled to find his idiot neighbors who screwed him over are on this spaceship with him, while Panchito asks to donald’s reply. “You ever been to a party where everyone knows everyone but you? “ “Every day of my life”. PFFT. But the whole group notices their about to crash so the bad gys use the escape part which Xandra condems as cowardly.. before admitting that was her plan too. Thankfully the girls come through, and they land.. I mean kinda.. Donald insists on landing, but their alive so better than Jose expected. So on the moon.. wait let me cue the approraite music.

youtube

There we go. Scrooge is on the other side though, long story. Point is our boys disembark sharing the astromummy suit and Xandra says they need to work as a team. The.. where did this moral come from? No seriously their incompitent sure, ti’s part of their charm.. but this dosen’t reallyc ome up till the last act. Them not working together. Sure they push a lot of random buttons but this seems like they pulled a teamwork moral out of their ass, especailly since them learning to work together is a GOOD idea, it’s a classic trope for a reason teams take time to get the rythum right, it’s just sorta shohorned into an otherwise unrealted space adventure. But they soon find the bad guys have taken over a giant super robot, and have the army preparing to blast off for earth. Uh-Oh. While Xandra prepares to stand and fight the boys.. flee.

And while this is played off as their usualy incompetence... their the right ones this time. Xandra is thor with hawkeye , the good one from the comics, aim. She is VERY powerful.. but as it bears out even she can’t take down a whole army. She can fight them well enougha nd destroys man, in a very awesome sequence reminscent of Claude from Fire Emblem three houses, been playing that lately good game, but... she’s one person. And the boys are three normal guys with no combat training in a clunky robot suit. What’d you EXPECT them to be able to do? They made the right call.. as while they ran off they also found a giant robot of their own so we get an evil sorecer versus donald duck, panchito and jose, both in giant robots on the fucking moon.

Look at times i’m a simple man. But if you can’t enjoy donald duck and his two best friends fighting an evil sorecerer, his descedant voiced by Wayne Knight, and a donkey bat rat, with both parties in giant robots .. I don’t get you and enver will. Our heroes end up finally working together smoothly with each boy taking a leg and donald? “I’ll take the fists!”.. bad...ass. And he does and despite a tense fight our heroes win, destroy the ships and donald FUCKING UPERCUTS FELDRAKE’S MECH’S HEAD OFF AND SENDS THEM INTO SPACE. Our heroes won, relfect ont heir teamwork because apparnelty that’s the lesson and Feldrake and Sheldgoose head home, with Feldrake pointing out that those idiots being next door means their just an easier target for him.

Fianl Thoughts; This was a fun episode. While the teamwork thing is kinda.. shoved in there everything else is just a brisque, fun and rediclous adventure episode. And this is from someone who dosen’t like the ancient aliens idea for the pyramid as it has racisim at it’s core.. but works here because clearly their just being rediclous. I didn’t even get to the flight attendant or half the jokes. This is just a really fun, charming, delightfully cheese episode. And sometimes.. that’s all you need. Unitl the next rainbow, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.

#the legend of the three caballeros #The Three Caballeros #ride of the three cablleros #donald duck #pachito pistoles #jose carioca #baron von sheldgoose #april may and june #xandra goddess of adventure #lord feldrake #disney #disney+

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crystalelemental · 3 years

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I have 20 minutes before I have to feed the cat and get started on these courses that finally allowed me access, so let’s take a moment to talk about my good friend Thracia 776.

I made it through Chapter 5, and got both sidequest chapters along the way. So that’s fun. I decided to play on Paragon mode, because I don’t give a shit about challenge, I’m here to try and enjoy the experience for a game whose story I actually really like.

Currently, Leif is doing pretty well, mostly seems to do great with strength and speed, but his skill is bad and I don’t think he’s gained any build so that’s fun. I think Macha’s been the most unprecedented hero so far. She’s had two 6 point levels. That’s really good. Brighton’s had mostly 1 point levels so he’s not doing so hot. Asbel seems super magic screwed, he still only has like 4 magic at level 7. Not looking forward to that long-term. Tanya actually got some fantastic levels too, including a lot of extra strength, so I’ll be doing my damnedest to get her back.

Chapters 1-3 remain pretty enjoyable. Moreso now that I understand capturing as a mechanic and how to do that effectively. A big issue before was not knowing how to set up a good capture, but now that I’m in the swing of it...I kinda like this feature? Like it’s kinda cool. Only kinda, though. And the “only kinda” part kicks in as soon as you hit Chapter 4, where everything starts breaking down, but I’ll get to that.

I’m currently playing with the Lil Munster patch, which also allows me to see the hidden skills for units. Such as Miracle+ on Eyvel, which just literally prevents her from ever dying. I did not know that was a thing, and let me tell you, everything going on with Chapter 5′s pitfighters is suddenly a lot less bullshit. Yes, you can argue all you want that it increases the tension when you don’t know it’s there, but also fuck that.

Chapter 4 is really where I think I’m going to start complaining. Which is funny because on a second playthrough? This is actually a pretty fun chapter. You know, mostly. Facilitating the escape of the civilians was pretty simple and fun, and it honestly helped out Karin the most, since she wasn’t particularly threatened by a guard holding a captive. I was also pleasantly surprised at how engaging that map managed to be in terms of just...gathering Vulneraries. Like, looking at it, I expected a disaster, but judicious use of the thieves and maybe a capture here and there actually nets you enough to equip everyone with a full vulnerary.

Until the trouble. Let me be frank: I am always one for soft resetting when a character dies, and I’m trying to break myself of that particular habit a bit. It’s not that I want to not care about characters, so much as recognizing that some characters I don’t give a shit about so why reset everyone else for them? I play a quick run of Shadow Dragon before this, and just let people die, and honestly it was a lot more engaging when you’re not resetting for stupid things. But there was one unit who causes two of the three resets, because I couldn’t afford to lose him. Julian. I couldn’t just lose the thief and that utility. Resets occur not because of character love, but because you cannot give up the utility presented.

I feel like that’s part of early Thracia’s problem. Chapters 1-3, it’s pretty easy to keep everyone alive, especially with Eyvel being actually invincible, and having three super units in Eyvel, Dagdar, and Finn. If you got the Vouge and the Brave Axe, Osian and Halvan are actually ridiculous too. But once you hit Chapter 4, things feel like they change to a level that’s a bit absurd? If you didn’t successfully set up recruitment of Dalsin, I kinda feel like Chapter 4 and 4x are just impossible. The only way to damage these armor knights are Leif’s Light Brand at range, and Dalsin’s axe. Pretty much everyone else is dealing about 2 damage, and hoping for a crit, with none of them having the B-rank swords to make use of Armorslayer. So the chokepoint strategy to the north feels decisively impossible because of how much damage you take, how little you deal in response, and how hard it is to actually break through and take out the mages when their numbers dwindle. Not to mention one less unit means you have less defense against the soldier reinforcements, and it’s that much harder to protect your thieves. Which, actually, speaking of: Thieves plural. Which requires you actually got Lithis. You probably did, his condition is super easy to achieve. But. My recollection is that the original version of this game didn’t give you little icons to tell you when people could talk to one another. So unless you just figured out that Leif can talk to Eyvel (but not the other way around, that’s too much), you’d miss the hint about “Just catch him and hold onto him.” At which point I feel it is fair to say people might release him after taking his stuff. And then you only have one thief. Which is. Not great. And slows down that prison escape significantly.

Then there’s 4x, where you really need 4 strong frontliners to block off attacks, and if you don’t have Dalsin I honestly feel like you’re just hosed, both in terms of taking too much damage, and having too few units to deal with the mages. I’m not going to say it’s impossible to deal with, but for a putz like me it feels pretty impossible without the big tank man on deck.

Then there’s the issue of capturing. Capturing only works if your build is higher than the opponent. If you have a lower build, you can’t capture anyone. Which is all well and good when you have four chunky axe bros and a cav on your side. Then you can capture just about anything, especially with Tanya and Ronan giving you some nice chip damage to set up those easy captures. But Chapter 4-5, you really don’t have many options. Brighton is consistently able to capture, but Fergus isn’t. 8 build isn’t bad, but it’s not enough to capture one of the soldiers and take their vulneraries. So if you didn’t get Dalsin, you have one guy who can consistently capture people. One. The thieves can steal, but Lara’s build is so low she basically can’t steal anything heavier than a vulnerary or door key, and she’s got 14HP so good luck leaving her in range of anything. So like. That’s fun.

Point being, some of these challenges feel distinctly impossible without save states as a result. I think the biggest offender was admittedly an optional one: the two Loptyr mages in front of the chests in Chapter 5. Man, those guys are fucked. Tremendous damage output, poison, and had an absurdly high crit rate that would one-shot anyone if it hit. I think Leif was able to deny the crits with Light Brand but I’m honestly not sure. The fact you had to deal with two of them, or risk Leif having to chip them 3 damage at a time at range, was kind of a problem. That’s the kind of thing where I don’t really know how you’re supposed to manage that, and save states feel incredibly necessary if you’re going to stand a chance. Granted, this is optional, you can escape and just leave those chests. But this isn’t the only situation I can think of where the game just plays stupid, and usually the stupid is with mages, because magic is resistance and no one has any. Except Karin, who is delightfully too weak to actually KO a mage in response. So that helps. Situations across Chapters 4-5 have been difficult, because of the presence of magical hits that can 2-shot people if they connect, and a lot of situations feel like you’re desperately hoping for a particular attack to connect so you don’t start losing people left and right. And then the attack misses anyway because 100% accuracy doesn’t exist, and whoops now you’re gone.

Despite that, I’m still enjoying this more than my first time through. Maybe it’s familiarity with the game and its mechanics, but I do feel like being able to clear Chapter 4 without screaming is a good indicator that maybe it’s not as bad as I remembered. We’ll see though, there’s much worse to come.

#personal shenanigans #thracia 776

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