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thepastisalreadywritten · 4 months

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By Brian Melley, AP News

13 January 2024

LONDON (AP) — An unlikely refugee from the war in Ukraine — a rare Asiatic black bear — arrived at his new home in Scotland on Friday and quickly took to a meal of cucumbers and watermelon.

The 12-year-old Yampil was named for a village in the Donetsk region where he was one of the few survivors found by Ukrainian troops in the remains of a bombed-out private zoo.

Yampil, who had previously been called Borya, was discovered by soldiers who recaptured the devastated city of Lyman during the Kharkiv counteroffensive in the fall of 2022, said Yegor Yakovlev of Save Wild, who was among the first of many people who led the bear to a new life.

The bear was found in a menagerie that had long been abandoned by its owners.

Almost all the other animals had died of hunger, thirst or were struck by bullets or shrapnel and some were eaten by Russian troops.

Yampil narrowly missed the same fate, suffering a concussion from a projectile that landed nearby.

“The bear miraculously survived,” said Yakovlev, also director of the White Rock Bear Shelter, where the bear recovered.

“Our fighters did not know what to do with him, so they started looking for rescue.”

What followed was an odyssey that your average bear rarely makes, as he was moved to Kyiv for veterinary care and rehab, then shipped to a zoo in Poland, then to an animal rescue in Belgium, where he spent the past seven months, before landing in the United Kingdom.

Brian Curran, owner of Five Sisters Zoo in West Calder, Scotland, said his heart broke when he learned of the plight of the threatened Asiatic black bear.

“He was in terrible condition; five more days and they wouldn’t have been able to save him,” Curran said. “We were just so amazed he was still alive and well.”

The bear was skinny but not malnourished when he was found, said Frederik Thoelen, a biologist at the Nature Help Center in Belgium.

He now is estimated to weigh a healthy 440 pounds (200 kilograms), Thoelen said.

The nature center in Belgium, which usually treats injured wildlife and returns them to their natural settings, has taken several animals rescued from the war in Ukraine, including a wolf, a caracal cat and four lions, though those animals had not experienced the ordeal Yampil endured.

It was remarkable how calm Yampil was when he arrived in Belgium, Thoelen said.

The bear was trained in the past two weeks to move from his enclosure to the crate that would transport him across Belgium to Calais, France, then across the English Channel on a ferry to Scotland.

Pastries from a local bakery were used for good measure to lure him Thursday into the cage, where he was sedated for the journey.

“We want to use the food that he likes most, and for most bears — and for people also — it’s sweet, unhealthy foods,” Thoelen said.

Thoelen had a sense of the bear’s weight as he drove the crate to the port.

“Every time when we had a red light or a traffic jam, when the bear moved a little bit, you could feel the van moving also,” he said.

“You could feel it was a heavy animal in the back of the car.”

Yampil arrived at the zoo about 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Edinburgh and immediately made himself at home.

He feasted on cukes — said to be his favorite food — and melon, said Adam Welsh, who works at Five Sisters.

The Asiatic black bear is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species as vulnerable to extinction in the wild, where it can be found in central and southern Asia, Russia, and Japan.

It’s known for the distinctive white crescent patch on its chest that gives it the nickname moon bear. It can live for up to 30 years in zoos.

It’s not clear if the bear will go into hibernation. The winter has been warmer than usual but colder days are on the horizon.

The zoo has other bears, but Yampil is the only Asian bear and unique in other ways.

“We’ve had circus bears, for example, that have been rescued,” Welsh said.

“We’ve had bears rescued from places like roadside restaurants where they’ve been used as kind of roadside attractions and been kept in subpar conditions. But this is the first time that we’ve worked with an animal that’s been rescued from a war zone.”

youtube

Scottish zoo welcomes black bear which survived war in Ukraine

13 January 2024

🖤🐻🤎

#Asiatic black bear #Ukraine #Scotland #Yampil #Borya #Save Wild #White Rock Bear Shelter #Five Sisters Zoo #Nature Help Center #Belgium #Poland #International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species #moon bear #save animals #protect wildlife #threatened species #refugee bear #private zoo #Youtube

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gingernut1314 · 4 months

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lemme read some of that siren song 👀

Of courseee!

This is the prequel some of you might have seen me say I am going to write for my Songbird series, so it's set before the events of its first part.

This is still very under development so please bear with me...🫣

Siren Song: (name changed to Songbird's Crescendo) Buggy x F!Reader Summary: It has only been a week since you were freed and your new captain manages to get you kidnapped once more...but you had not expected to step right into the middle of a circus.

It had been a week since you were rescued by Luffy, Zoro, and Nami. Just a week since escaping that cave full of precious gems that gleamed in the dim torchlight like the blood that had been spilled in its depth had crystallized into the walls.

Just as week since Luffy had Gum-Gum Bazooka-ed and Zoro had cut through the guards chasing after you. A week since Luffy had allowed you onto his ship despite the warnings from Nami about taking you away from those who had owned your life.

Just a week and you still didn’t believe you had escaped. You had convinced yourself this escape was a dream. That when you closed your eyes at night you would wake up the next morning back in the dusty cave, chained up and sleeping huddled in a corner with others chained with you.

And in just a week's time of being with Luffy and his reluctant crew, you were being kidnapped all over again. Kidnapped, knocked out by red dust, and locked in a wooden box that had your vision narrowing and your heart beating painfully against your chest.

You could hardly hear Nami whisper shouting at Luffy as you struggled to breathe and find a way out of the box--no, prison you were in. Not as you began slamming yourself against the wood, which shook like it wasn’t held together very well.

Funky music filled your ears and flashing, multicolored lights hit your eyes as the box was pulled apart around you. As a juggling man flew in front of you on a tricycle, men and women flipped and swung through the air, others doing elaborate cartwheels and backflips. There was flames and sword swallowing and a woman twisting herself into knots while trying to juggle red balls with her feet.

A circus. You had been thrown into the middle of a very intricate, very flashy circus and you felt--at ease. Felt your breath even in your chest and your hands stopped shaking.

That is, until you spotted the audience. An audience who cheered and clapped but also cried. An audience who was being forced to cheer and clap and sit there. An audience who was chained.

All those breath-stealing and vision-blurring emotions sprung back to life with revenge. You made to rush for the audience--to free them, only for a strong arm to grab you. Zoro said something quick and sharp in your ear but you hardly heard him. You didn’t hear him.

The performances came to a freezing, fear-filled halt as a man came storming out onto stage. A man all done up in glittery clown makeup and an outfit to match. And despite your panic, his danger-filled eyes snagged your attention. Eyes that were a pretty shade of blue-green. A shade that remembered you of bits of sea glass.

Sea glass your dad had given you. Your dad who had taken you, kicking and screaming, away from your mom. Your dad, the captain of your ship and the first to be killed by that wicked king's underlings.

A damp cave, dim light, horrid pain, red gems, chains.

You fought and slipped your way out of Zoro’s grip and sprinted at the clown.

Was it a good idea to go for the figurehead of this circus? No. Definitely not.

Were you going to get yourself killed? Hell, yes. But you couldn’t think properly past the ringing in your ears. Not when you had set your sights on that clown as your target to channel all your anger into.

He looked very surprised, to say the least when he caught sight of you. So surprised you were actually able to get your hands on him and tackle the clown to the ground. His hat was knocked from his head as he landed back with a pained release of air.

You were quick to grab hold of his fur-lined beige coat and pull his face closer to your snarling face.

“Let them go.” You spat with every bit of venom you could muster up. The venom was halted by a funky, crackling laugh spilling from the clown's red-pained lips.

“Sweetcheeks, if you wanted to get on top of me, all you had to do was give me a pretty please.”

@fanaticsnail (in case you were interested!!)

#wip #my wips #Buggy #one piece #Songbird #Siren Song #buggy x reader #buggy x you #buggy x y/n #buggy x female reader #angst #buggy angst

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nerd-with-a-fun-permit · 7 months

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just finished listening to the Spotify DC podcasts and i have some opinions

The Flash: Escape from the Midnight Circus

Interesting story, not what i expected from a flash podcast. It was… odd. Alfred was a DJ? Captain Cold rapped? Barry is depowered for most of it (like flashpoint) it’s actually a lot like flashpoint tbh. it shows barry attempting to go back in time and fix a problem but it goes wrong and he ends up in an alternate reality where everything is terrible. but in midnight circus barry goes back in time for a much more selfish reason. Iris kind of breaks up with him. but he could have tried to fix their relationship but instead of the LOGICAL THING he goes back in time to stop himself from missing an award ceremony which is the reason iris broke up with him. but instead of ending up back in time he ends up in the body of an alternate universe version of him, who is in a death game reality tv show called the Midnight Circus. I’m not gonna say anything else about the story because i feel like i’ve spoiled too much to begin with. Cons, Barry isn’t a very likable character, not at all the fault of the actor, entirely the fault of the writers. and also it bears the curse of being associated with the DCEU flash movie.

Batman: Unburied

(insert “oh this, this is beautiful” meme)

Amazing podcast, fantastic voice cast, truly the podcast of all time. It stars mortician Bruce Wayne who is NOT Batman. he is obsessed with a serial killer called the harvester who steals the organs of his victims. then during a routine autopsy the harvester breaks into the morgue and stabs bruce. bruce survives and we meet thomas and martha wayne. bruce’s obsession spirals even further as the harvester calls him in his home and leaves him a little present in the fridge. i cant really talk about it much more because of spoilers BUT Barbara Gordon and Edward Nygma are in this podcast as well and Ed is the best part of the whole podcast.

The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark

somehow even better than Unburied! It stars Edward Nygma, aka the best part of Batman: Unburied and OH MY GOD it is so good. basically there’s a deranged vigilante who is murdering costumed criminals. it gets personal when the vigilante kills Jervis Tetch. a friend of Ed’s. and Detective Flass who SUCKS tells Ed that he will also be moved to the asylum that Jervis was transferred to. naturally Ed breaks out along with Waylon Jones and begins to investigate. the mo of the killer is a lot like that of Batman. curved blades were used to kill him, and apparently the killer had wings? Ed is attacked by the killer and he cuts an X into his chest and he is rescued by Batman. that’s all i will tell.

please listen to all of these. Escape the Midnight Circus is optional but the batman ones are NOT!

#dc comics #dc universe #batman #dc riddler #barry allen #podcast #spotify

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ladyelizabethraven · 2 years

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Why is everyone saying that Loid will get mad for WISE not informing him of the kidnapping? There were a couple of reasons as to why Sylvia took that call:

1. It is highly possible that the extra mission out of town happened hours / days before the hijacking occurred. When Twilight received that assignment, the situation is just that Anya is going on a field trip to the museum. Deciding that his kid would be relatively safe since this would be a school - sponsored event, he chose to accept the far away assignment. While there were instances in the past that he went to the school to spy on Anya's progress, he also has other jobs to deal with (I. E. Work at the hospital).

Also, WISE had no intel about Red Circus mobilizing (only SSS got the info that the group is in Berlint and I doubt that WISE had spies or informants inside SSS that could readily relay that information) , therefore Twilight and Co. Could not make an informed decision that factors Anya getting in grave danger.

2. While this is an another case of WISE lacking capable agents, Sylvia could have not possibly sent Twilight far away from his main mission, Operation Strix, without considering the risks. I suppose then that this extra mission is way too crucial to be handled by amateur spies.

3. WISE 's main goal is to maintain peace between East and West, and would not interfere with local crimes that have no bearing with the peace relations. Sylvia was only forced to act when she found out that Anya and Damian were in the scene of the crime.

But it would be expedient to recall Twilight from his current mission because, as mentioned, he is way too far to actually rescue his daughter--meaning that aborting the current mission is not worth it. Also considering that they don't have the high speed tech that we have right now, we also have to factor the time it would take for the news to reach Twilight.

And no, considering that Eden is trying to cover up the whole hijacking incident, Twilight won't accidentally see it on TV. Even if Anya and Becky have already sent the SOS, we still don't know how Blackbell Corp is going to react with the situation : whether they go guns blazing (unlikely since this is a sensitive mission), or handle it more discreetly.

4. Then, remember that WISE is a spy organisation stationed in a foreign - - and possibly, hostile territory. Everything had to be done discreetly, at least away from the eyes of the local territory (especially the SSS). If Sylvia sends WISE agents like Nightfall into the front line, they would risk detection especially that this is an emergency situation involving the local authorities.

5. (I forgot to pont this out because I was sleepy af when I typed this lol) As of Chapter 70, there's no indication that WISE has info that there's a bomb strapped on Anya's neck. Perhaps Handler assumed that their background support would suffice in rescuing Anya and Damian. If that info reaches WISE, Handler /Sylvia might reconsider and send for the immediate extraction of Twilight. (But since this is not a Loid - centric arc, he won't arrive in time).

Storytelling wise, this is just Endo - sensei's way of benching out the main couple logically to give chance for NON-WISE characters like Yuri or Becky 's combat butler, Martha to shine. This is also a great opportunity for world building without resorting to boring filler episodes.

============

(Adding this in the post because for some reason, there's a character limit in the replies.)

@chaikajpeg @cinnamon-guardian have made valid counterpoints Twilight may be logical, but Loid is not and that there is already an internal struggle brewing inside his head. But I do think that the anger and hatred will not be directed towards WISE but rather towards himself in a form of self - loathing. "If only I have finished my mission sooner, I would be available to rescue my daughter." Twilight may have been pissed off before for Handler dog piling him with additional assignments on top of Strix, but I doubt that he is already at the point of questioning his organisation and their methods.

Why? Because he's a traumatised, war orphan that was taken in and trained as a spy in a chaotic war time. Other than training him in spy work, there is definitely methods employed to ensure that he would be loyal to WISE (because who the heck would train a person to become a super spy who would question orders? Heck, they even removed him with a personal identity and just referred to him as agent Twilight.). During Sylvia's arc, she questions herself if she has gone too soft towards the new recruits unlike how she trained Twilight. And, if we're going to base it on Loid's dream-flashback, that training was brutal.

That's why despite him getting pissed off at the additional assignments, he still takes them and accomplishes it flawlessly. Because deep inside, it was all for the sake of peace--an idea that has been ingrained into his skull for a long time.

But would this leave a crack on Twilight's relationship with WISE's? Maybe, but the internal conflict would have to be dealt with first before that happens.

It is also possible that by the time Loid gets home, Anya has already been rescued and it will be just an another "Waku waku" adventure where Uncle Yuri or some other party saved them and how she and her classmates banded together to stand up against their kidnappers.

#spy x family chapter #spy x family chapter 70 #spy x family #rant post #y'all need to chill #spy x family spoilers

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handeaux · 6 months

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Frank Frayne’s Fatal Shot Echoed Through The Decades In Over-The-Rhine

When Frank I. Frayne’s troupe rolled into Cincinnati back in 1882, there was scant indication that he would precipitate the darkest night in Cincinnati theater history.

Frayne managed an immense production bankrolled by New York impresario Harry Miner. It was really big. Frayne’s show was so big, it was advertised as a “combination.” That was a term the biggest circuses used to describe their organizations. The “circus” meant only the acts in the sawdust ring. Add a sideshow with various freaks and a traveling zoo and you had a combination. That’s what Frank Frayne brought to Cincinnati. An advertisement [28 November 1881] gives a fair inventory of Frayne’s traveling ensemble:

“During the week and Wednesday and Saturday Matinees, Harry Miner’s Frank I. Frayne Combination and Dramatic Artists, and the Wonderful Acting Dog Jack, the African Lion Emperor; also the two Performing Bears Bruno and Chio. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Wednesday Matinee, “Mardo, or, The Nihilists of St. Petersburg.” Thursday, Friday and Saturday and Saturday Matinee, “Si Slocum.”

One year later, in November 1882, Frayne was back in Cincinnati at the Coliseum Theater on Vine Street with the same two melodramas, but this time his menagerie was enlarged by the addition of a small pack of hyenas. Jack the Dog still got star billing. The Coliseum Theater up on Vine Street was the jewel in Hubert Heuck’s chain of theaters here and in various Midwest cities. It was formerly a beer garden but Heuck converted it into a theater and opera house at no small expense.

It appears that “Mardo” was Frayne’s personal adaptation of a play by Oscar Wilde, “Vera, or The Nihilists.” Frayne’s script has not survived, but the newspaper reviews suggest that it was a ton more exciting than Wilde’s drama. Here is the Enquirer [28 November 1882]:

“There are any amount of desperate actions, dastardly threats, fire scenes, murders, &c., and the lovers of this style of drama will see almost a lifetime of sensation in each act of “Mardo.” The dog Jack is a show in himself and acts his part with the best of the cast. During the play we see the Nubian lion, the ferocious hyenas and the wrestling bear, and these, together with a very passable cast, make it impossible for “Mardo” to be at all dull.”

Frank Frayne himself was fairly well known. He was a sharpshooter at a time when that was a popular stage act. Among his contemporaries and competitors were Annie Oakley and her mentor and husband, Frank Butler. Frayne found enormous success incorporating his rifle tricks into the context of various melodramas in which he portrayed heroic men of action forced to shoot their way out of diabolical predicaments.

Frayne’s second Cincinnati offering, “Si Slocum” was written especially for Frayne by Clifton Tayleure, a successful Broadway producer. The plot is inconsequential, but involves Frayne as Si Slocum, a poor but honest rancher whose lands are coveted by the nefarious scoundrel, Vasquez. It is doubtful that Tayleure envisioned all the zoological extravagances and sharpshooting folderol Frayne piled onto his script. In the course of five acts, Slocum kills a lion, gets rescued by his faithful hound, shoots a pipe out of a ranch-hand’s mouth, plugs a half-dozen playing cards, shoots a bear, scatters the stage with random crockery and saves his wife several times. Somehow, the hyenas made an appearance as well. This stuff sold tickets back then. The Coliseum’s 2,000 seats were occupied the entire week of Frayne’s residency.

The role of Slocum’s wife was played by 25-year-old Annie Von Behren, an up-and-coming actress who was at that time Frayne’s fiancée. Brooklyn-born Miss Von Behren had an extensive theatrical resume before she took on the role of Ruth Slocum. She was thoroughly familiar with the Coliseum Theater, having performed for a couple of years among the stock company of that venue. She later joined a traveling troupe that took her to New York, where she met the widowed Frank Frayne, joined his combination as leading lady and won his heart.

At a critical scene in “Si Slocum,” Vasquez has Slocum cornered, with a dozen bandits drawing a bead on him. Vasquez announces that he likes Slocum’s “pluck,” and offers to free Slocum and end their feud if Slocum can shoot an apple off his wife’s head, while facing backward and aiming the shot with a mirror. Frayne had performed this trick shot hundreds of times over the years.

For reasons never fully explained, Frayne’s trick shot failed, and he sent a bullet through Annie Von Behren’s brain. Frayne screamed in terror as he rushed to his fiancée’s side. The curtain dropped immediately as the audience sat in petrified silence. Theater manager James Fennessey sent H.M. Markham, the actor appearing as the villain Vasquez, to the front of the stage to calm the audience. Markham nervously informed the crowd that the dead Annie von Behren had sustained a slight injury and they should collect a refund on their way out the door.

The next day, Coroner John Rendigs conducted an inquest, at which Frayne appeared. Some witnesses claimed Frayne’s rifle malfunctioned and that, in particular, a screw broke as the gun fired, dropping the rifle barrel downward. Some suggested the cartridge was defective. Other witnesses questioned why Annie was not wearing a metal cap under her wig as she usually did. The coroner declared the death accidental, caused by a bullet fired without criminal intent. Frayne announced he would never return to the stage but did so within a year, reviving the role of Si Slocum. Soon after, he married a woman named Margaret Thompson, who wisely refused to go on stage in his act.

Another victim of the Frayne shooting was the Coliseum Theater itself. Robert Heuck, son of Coliseum owner Hubert Heuck, explained [Bulletin of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio - Volume 20, No. 4, October 1962] that the theater had to be renamed as a result of public opinion.

“The court decision declaring [Frayne’s] innocence was not taken lightly by a great many people in Over-the-Rhine. The show was only closed November 30th and December 1st, however; the receipts for the 2nd and 3rd were light. The court decision was so unpopular that it was thought best to change the name of this new theatre. In fact, it was called just that, "New Theatre," for some time. In 1883, the name of the New Theatre between 12th and 13th on Vine was changed to Heuck's Opera House, and the former Heuck's Opera House at 13th and Vine was re-named ‘People's.’ Of course, it's confusing! Many accounts relating to actors and plays of those earlier show days are in error for lack of understanding of this gobble-de-gook.”

The rechristened Heuck’s was renamed again in 1930 when it became a movie theater known as the Rialto. The building was demolished and the site is today a parking lot.

#frank frayne #si slocum #coliseum theater #hubert heuck #over-the-rhine

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themculibrary · 13 days

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Bonding Masterlist

5 Times MJ Made a Friend (+1 Time She Wanted More) (ao3) - juurensha mj/peter G, 3k

Summary: It’s hard moving to a new school, but maybe hanging out with a bunch of nerds is exactly what MJ needs. Also, she tells Spiderman to call her MJ because really, who does Peter think he’s kidding?

A Special Bond (ao3) - Capsicle2013 G, 2k

Summary: When Tony needs to leave for a few days on a business trip, Steve watches Peter and promises they’re going to have a lot of fun. What he doesn’t expect is creating a special bond with the little boy and officially being welcomed into the little family he’s come to love.

Circus Tragic (ao3) - xWitchAlchemistx T, 188k

Summary:

Thor's 'overpowered' fight with the Hulk on Sakaar leads the Grandmaster to regress Thor back to being a child. Loki decides he has to rescue his brother, the child Thor thinks he needs to rescue Loki, and Thor's best chance of a cure is in Asgard. Where Hela has taken over and Loki has no desire to be, so he decides to detour in Alfheim. Valkyrie and Bruce think Loki has bad intentions and that Thor needs to be rescued from Loki.

Incidentally, Loki's heart is increasingly a giant soft spot for his doting little!big brother.

Sakaar-Alfheim-Asgard.

Fireside Chat (ao3) - Rosie2009 T, 2k

Summary: Kate successfully drags Yelena into something that she never expected. However, to her surprise, Kate flourishes in the situation and Yelena is left strangely proud of the kid.

Go Now (ao3) - Sunflower78 G, 1k

Summary:

”I am sorry,” Groot said.

But he had long since learned that all they heard was: “I am Groot.”

The prisoner cursed and spat before turning back around in his hard metal bed. Groot stopped his scratching. He couldn’t blame him; Groot knew they couldn’t understand. That was a part of his life he did not enjoy. The loneliness.

Groot meets Rocket.

Honey, Honey, Nearly Killed Me (ao3) - StarksKiddo G, 3k

Summary: Peter never suspected that helping out with Tony’s beehives posed any risk of danger to him. It was just a fun way for the two to spend time together. But while helping to harvest honey from the hives, he discovers that he should probably refrain from any bee related activities in the future.

It's Only My Everything (ao3) - STARSdidathing loki/tony T, 31k

Summary: In order to save Anthony Stark's life, Loki performs a powerful spell. Although the mortal consents and is willing to suffer the consequences of whatever it entails, Loki knows it will be a burden difficult to bear. Because, the only way to save the life of his friend and the mortal he loves, Loki had to bind their lives together.

live, laugh, loki (ao3) - dante_baby G, 5k

Summary: Thor took Loki for some shopping and while they were lying on one of the display beds, they had a very heartwarming conversation.

questions for the universe (ao3) - qui_nn T, 3k

Summary: So, when Mr Stark asks him if he wants to take an eight-hour road trip to his lake house, what is Peter supposed to say? No?

Turns out road trips are much harder than he remembered.

or, peter and tony go on a road trip. an eight-hour-long road trip. in the middle of nowhere.

or or, tony drives, and peter is totally not trying to bond with him. definitely not.

ready or not (ao3) - blondsak pepper/tony G, 3k

Summary: Tony turns back to the group, looking at Morgan. “Okay kiddo, you’re in charge here. Who’s the seeker?”

“I want you to be the seeker, Daddy!” Morgan says, pointing at him.

Tony stifles a groan. “Are you sure, honey? What about Auntie Nat, or Uncle Thor, or--”

“No! It has to be you.”

Tony sighs, resigned to his fate.

AKA The entire team plays a giant game of Hide & Seek, with Tony as the unfortunate seeker.

Sleep and Dream of Me (ao3) - airas_story tony/stephen G, 9k

Summary: Once was an incident, twice was a coincidence. Three times was probably a pattern, but in Wong’s defense, he hadn’t been looking for a pattern. Four times… four times was a pretty solid indicator that Wong needed to start paying attention.

5 times Tony helped Stephen sleep, +1 time that Tony helped Stephen wake up.

Swimming (ao3) - von_gikkingen G, 1k

Summary: “Look,” she starts before he can continue with what no doubt would have been quite the self-congratulatory monologue, “we established Mantis can manage a decent metaphor some weeks back now. Can we maybe just say what we actually mean? You suck at being single – and now you’re marginally better at it. Good for you. If I wasn’t star systems away I’d give you a pat on the head.”

The terran rolls his eyes at that. “Are you just mad because you finally have some competition? Because that is adorable. There’s no one in the galaxy that can come close to your impressive record for being… You know, I don’t think single even is the right word in your case.”

“You sound just like Mantis.”

“So she did have a talk with you before she left,” he says. In a very I knew it tone that succeeds in reminding Nebula why she used to find him so puncheable back in the day… “Knew I couldn’t have been the only one.”

The Candy Hunt (ao3) - endlesstwanted bucky/sarah G, 1k

Summary: Sarah and Bucky come back from a Halloween party in Delacroix to find AJ and Cass still awake from trick-or-treating with friends.

there's a starman (waiting in the sky) (ao3) - djinnandtonic G, 2k

Summary: She didn’t think she could come back before she managed to end all of it, but having the others on board with her made everything felt so.. lively. Unlike anything she has experienced.

—

or, in which carol realizes she’s not alone

Unofficial SI Lemonade Business (ao3) - happyaspie pepper/tony G, 4k

Summary:

Morgan's teacher read a book about a boy running a lemonade stand. Morgan is sure she can do it better. After all, she's a Stark! She knows all about, analyzing, marketing, profits and how to propose a good business deal.

“Does this mean we have a deal Mr. Parker?” Morgan asked, emulating her father’s cadence as she spoke. Her hands were on her hips, and her head was dipped down as she looked him over with scrutiny.

Rather than answer, Peter held out his hand for Morgan to shake. Apparently that wasn’t enough. He had to sign a binding contract as well. The second he scrawled his name at the bottom of the crayon inscribed document, Morgan snatched it up and laughed maniacally.

“You need to start working on product development! I’ll work on marketing materials!”

Vents (ao3) - StepOnMeYosano clint/tony G, 1k

Summary: Hissing under her breath as she felt the vent panels rattle beneath her, Wanda wondered why on earth she had listened to Clint today of all days.

aka

Family bonding :)

While They Were Gone (ao3) - Jadeys_World N/R, 36k

Summary: A glimpse into the lives of the Avengers during The Blip Years

Wing and a Prayer (ao3) - Sholio T, 32k

Summary: Bucky and Sam fall out of a HYDRA plane into the Canadian wilderness. Nothing like a hundred-mile walk to civilization while severely injured and being hunted by HYDRA, right?

#themculibrary #masterlists #fluff #bonding #bonding masterlist

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theofficialheartboundblog · 3 months

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Heartbound

Nikki Hawkins is tired of the rules imposed by her parents and sister, Dabria. One day, after the sisters have a heated argument, Dabria is struck by a car on the way to school, and is taken to the hospital; Nikki can only blame herself for the situation. That night, she wakes up in a dream-like state and leaves her house to find a being called the Golem, who tells her that her sister’s heart has been taken by a collector known as the “Queen of Hearts” who currently rules the Land of Mystia. The Golem gives Nikki a map of Mystia and a compass, sending her to the Queen’s floating castle. She first passes through a forest, where she rescues a boy named Deacon from a spider-like monster. Nikki and Deacon next come across Gina, a girl with a teddy bear being pursued by an inhuman hermit. After helping Gina evade him, they find his decrepit house, where they rescue the twins Harlo and Harlem, whom he is holding prisoner. The hermit pursues the children until they destroy the house’s main supporting beam, leaving him to be crushed to death; however, the map is lost in the process. They are later spotted by an inhabitant of Mystia, who contacts a hunter employed by the Queen, Rezrus, to capture the children; Rezrus corners them, but they are saved by other human children, who drive him away before being forced to scatter by the arrival of a group of "gatherers", who are seeking children for display in their circus/zoo-like "Humanium", abducting Nikki. Deacon and the others infiltrate the Humanium and rescue her, freeing all the other humans in the process. Rezrus comes across the ruined Humanium and coerces its owners into divulging the children's destination. Meanwhile, Nikki learns that her companions are also from her hometown, having entered Mystia to find the stolen hearts of people they know. Snow starts to fall, and the children take shelter in the burrow of small skittish creatures. When the snowstorm ends, the five realize they are near Mystia's Capital City. They enter via trolley and witness the insectoid Queen's royal procession, but are captured by Rezrus, who got there before them, and taken to the Queen’s castle, where Deacon is selected to be the first of the group to have his heart removed. The Golem appears and helps them escape, and Nikki leads the others to save Deacon, with Rezrus having his own heart removed by the heart extraction machine. The children and the Golem confront the Queen of Hearts, who offers her the chance to leave Mystia with Dabria’s heart, but Nikki, unwilling to let the other humans suffer because of the Queen’s greed, chooses to destroy the massive container holding the collected hearts. The Queen tries to stop her, but Gina breaks her mask, revealing the Queen to be a heartless humanoid being in a costume. The escaping hearts damage the castle, causing it to fall from the sky and forcing the children to escape on the Golem, with Nikki saving the Queen’s life. Back on the ground, with the hearts restored to their original owners, the five find the stolen hearts they were searching for, and the Golem creates a heart for the dethroned Queen, who, humbled, goes into self-exile. With the humans of Mystia now able to live easier lives, the Golem, now the new ruler of the realm, returns the heroes to their own world, where Nikki is woken up on the porch by her mother, and they learn that Dabria has made a full recovery. Sometime later, Deacon, Gina and the twins visit Nikki, having also successfully saved their friends and loved ones. Now friends, the children head out to play together.

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thenewnio · 3 months

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Heartbound

#original story #fantasy #the story I've been brainstorming forEVER

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vulpemarshmallow · 1 year

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Part 1 Part 2 Art by CatBatStudios

The king of the Mistlands, Lycaon, welcomes the Chosen with open arms and asks for their aid in the upcoming war with New Daeda. He gives them a safe place to stay, the option to take classes, and everything they need to outfit themselves, including a 40,000 gold coin purse that Amaryllis uses to buy a Staff of the Magi. Things start becoming strange. They take what are effectively entrance exams in which Amaryllis becomes immune to fire, and after 4 days at the school they all realize Lana has gone missing. In trying to find Lana, Melody and Rosie discover a schematic for a magical device that could rid the world of magic completely, which the king means to use to strip magic from everyone outside of the Mistlands, and Rosie decided would be even more useful stripping magic from the world. As Rosie tries to explain his rationale to the party, Amaryllis loses their temper and burns his book of notes. Rosie takes Guildy and leaves that night.

After finding Rosie gone, two new people are introduced to the Chosen. One is an awakened bear, formally a circus bear, named Domino, who is actually also a Chosen and just wants to help. The second is Octhavius Thinwisp, a strikingly handsome blue tiefling who is introduced as the new evocation professor. Octhavius makes a comment about teaching them to control “magical mishaps”, to which Amaryllis immediately takes offense and tells him off.

Before classes can begin, Amaryllis discovers Lana is being held in a magically sealed cell under Lycaon’s office and Melody goes to save her. Once she is rescued, Lycaon, who it turns out had been in the business of killing off entire lines of successors to the throne to get his seat, goes on a rampage trying to kill the Chosen. They escape to their boat at the last minute, Melody trying to stay behind and fight with her mother and Rosie’s father, the latter of which casts the spell Gate and shoves her through it to keep her from being killed. On the ship they are approached by three people, Cardinal Qyuen, who had aided their escape from New Daeda, Dharren’s boyfriend, a grave cleric named Xallak, and a rogue named Delrir. They then find out that the cat that has been following Amaryllis since Gnashor’s Valley was actually Triss’ familiar, but the cat, Snickerbloom, decides he would rather be Amaryllis’ instead.

As they are escaping, Amaryllis and Dharren feel something strange, and consulting Rary’s Tome of Secrets, they are given information about a power known as Ji, which is commonly found in tieflings from the Coastal Baronies. Amaryllis scours the ship with their lantern that can reveal invisible creatures and finds nothing. Just the same, after Melody goes under the deck to comfort the now rescued Lana, Octhavius knocks on her door.

A fight ensues on deck as Octhavius summons two spirits with his Ji, a power that is like magic, but is not magic, which the Chosen will later find out are spirits of Death and Superstition, and quickly the Chosen find out that hitting him hurts everyone around him too. They back down, trying to figure out how to fight him, and instead of letting them get their bearings, Octhavius opens his shirt, pulls needles out from loops sewn inside of it, and begins to stab himself in the chest, greatly damaging the party.

Amaryllis nearly goes down in this fight, but Dharren banishes the spirits and, unable to break Dharren’s concentration, Octhavius drops his rapier, puts his hands in the air, and drops to his knees, surrendering.

He explains that he is bound in a magical pact to Triss, the cardinal who chased them out of Gnashor’s Valley and whose familiar had been following the Chosen, and that she is trying to see a prophecy come to fruition. He explains the prophecy, which says an ancient king would be resurrected if certain things were to take place, one of which is the killing of Lana, says he has no dog in this fight, that he was only following his orders, and lays himself at the mercy of the crew.

After having been chased by multiple assailants who had gotten away or seemingly come back from the dead, the group votes to kill him and dump him into the ocean. Amaryllis intercedes on his behalf, and since they had been a de facto leader of the group since Rosie’s departure, the others back down and Octhavius is blindfolded, gagged, has his hands tied, and is placed under the deck as they sail for Gnashor’s valley to put him in prison. Del interrogates Octhavius, and he tells them that troops would be descending on Crossmeda, as well as the fact that the barrier around the Mistlands, which kept an invasion from happening, had been shrinking greatly.

Dharren begins talking with Octhavius under the cover of night using the message spell, and Octhavius imparts upon him the ability to see invisible creatures as well as the magical ties between people, in an effort to help him control Yckwyt. Octhavius tells him he can tell one person, but not tell them who helped him, and Dharren says he’s going to tell Amaryllis. Octhavius says that’s fine.

The next day Dharren explains to Amaryllis that someone is helping him control Yckwyt and Amaryllis immediately clocks what’s going on, so they go downstairs to talk to Octhavius in Infernal, already having hatched a plan of what to do with him to keep him from returning to Triss.

Amaryllis and Octhavius hash out a plan for him to break the pact with Triss, which he can’t willingly break. The catch is that the pact is exclusive, and if Amaryllis binds him into a pact the initial one will break. There are consequences to breaking it that he cannot talk about, as the pact literally prevents him from speaking on it. Since he couldn’t say anything, Amaryllis asks Snickerbloom if he was in the room when the pact was being signed, and while he wasn’t, he knew that Triss used the same pact for everyone, and he was in the room with Sevas when he signed his. The consequences for breaking the pact are that a meteor swarm would be unleashed, and Amaryllis decides that’s a reasonable risk, as they can break the pact with him when they are in the battlefield, bringing down meteors on the Daedamorian army.

Just in case though, Amaryllis obtains a scroll of Foresight to see the result of the battle, and realizes that the meteors would be a mile wide each, and there would be four of them. Driven by their desire to get Octhavius on their side, to have their rescue of him be meaningful, Amaryllis breaks the pact anyway, and meteors begin to slowly descend on the Mistlands.

#Amaryllis Lux #Octhavius Thinwisp #the bells of daedamour

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abhiquarius · 2 years

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My Weekend in Wildlife SOS

I think one of the best travels/projects I’ve had was visiting Wildlife SOS

A rehabilitation centre for sloth bears and elephants who’ve been rescued from circus and kalanders

On one of my visits to Friendicoes, an animal NGO in Delhi, I had a tete-a-tete with Geeta Seshamani, the founder of the NGO and co-founder of Wildlife SOS along with her nephew Kartik Satyanarayan. I expressed my interest to visit the centre on behalf of my former company ‘Tour My India’ and do a small cover of the rehabilitation centre. Perhaps seeing my enthusiasm both readily accepted my proposal and organised a one-night accommodation at the centre.

So on the day of my journey, I boarded one of those early morning seater trains from H. Nizamuddin Jn. to Mathura Jn. After I arrived, I was received by the centres’ taxi driver and escorted to Astha City to get refreshed. Astha City is a gated colony between Mathura and Agra, it is here the guests, staff and volunteers are accommodated. I met one of the staff who was to show me around the centre.

I was first driven to the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre (ECCC) where I met so many abused elephants. The elephants at ECCC are either too old to work or were brutally abused by their owners. Most of these elephants are rescued from places where they are beaten into submission and made to carry tourists against their will. This act is extremely barbaric and I was glad to see the elephants living a comfortable life at the rehabilitation centre.

The next day I was driven to another rescue facility, Agra Bear Rescue Facility (ABRF). This centre is located within the Soor Sarovar Bird Sanctuary. It is a massive 15-acre sanctuary separated by the Yamuna River. I had to be driven in a jeep and ferry to completely explore the area. There I spoke to Madhumita, the educational officer and volunteer coordinator. The centre has all basic medical facilities for bears. It also has a separate area for blind bears.

Two heart-breaking stories of the unfortunate wild animals

What completely broke my heart was listening to the story of Mohan. He is famously known as the world’s unluckiest elephant. As a baby, Mohan was stolen from the wild by a group of poachers in the 1960s. This separation broke Mohan’s heart as he was far off from his family. From there, the calf was systematically traumatized. He was used as a begging elephant and had to endure brutality and suffering for more than 50 years. Hooks were pierced through their nose which was used as a tool to hurt the bear if he did not listen to the owner. Wildlife SOS had to undergo 2 years of an intense court battle to win Mohan freedom.

If being held captive by abusive owners is already saddening, losing a parent at a young age is even more heart-wrenching. This is the story of Mowgli, the youngest sloth bear who found a home in ABRF. He was rescued from Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve in MP after his mother suffered a severe electric shock from the fencing around the sanctuary. The incident was an act of unfortunate when the unsuspecting adult bear was looking for food for her cub, she wandered too close to the electric fence and was instantly killed. The saddest scene was seeing the cub tightly clung to his mother crying utterly helpless trying to nurse his mother.

How to volunteer at Wildlife SOS?

Contributing to help animals is always a soul-satisfying experience, in this case, why not physically help around by visiting Wildlife SOS as a volunteer. The role is simple and exciting, build hammocks for sloth bears, create enrichments, bathe elephants, prepare food for animals and assist on daily afternoon feeding, company elephants for daily evening walks, help to maintain the surrounding/gardening etc.

Another way to help is by sponsoring any one of the animals. Even a little donation can go a long way for these rehabilitating animals. Wildlife SOS has two centres, you can physically visit any time of the year and be very close to the wild.

Click here to know more about volunteering at Wildlife SOS

Wildlife SOS website: www.wildlifesos.org

To know more about volunteering: E-Mail at [email protected]

Contact person: Madhumita – 07351455544/ 07708568098; Bheema – 09927099980

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doberbutts · 2 years

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On the other hand we have breeds like the chihuahua where there really is no way of knowing what they were before they were chihuahuas. The only thing we have to tell us what went on with the techichi is a handful of journals from Cortes, who is um... probably not the most accurate source considering everything. The native people who owned them first have been systemically all but wiped from existence thanks to the Spanish genociding them off the face of the map and the few left often want absolutely nothing to do with their colonizers which, super fair. So all we have is what Mexico has decided they should be, and to try and stay true to that.

Cortes said the Aztecs kept them in hutches and ate them like rabbits, he did not consider them dogs until he got a good look at one. The dog he describes is yellow in color, with short coat and large upright ears. His drawings depict a dog that closely resembles what would be a toy xolo, coated. He later describes a larger dog that can be hairless or coated- which is probably more accurately a xolo. This is why it can be hard to tell exactly where “chihuahua” (techichi) and “xolo” split in Mexican history, since without those who invented the breeds to tell us we’re left to make our best guesses based on what evidence we find.

These are all Xolos, not chihuahuas or chihuahua mixes. The top two photos are from xolo rescue- so it is possible they are not purebred- while the bottom is from a breeder’s page to use as an example of coated vs hairless. This is why describing “small, primitive, terrier-type dog originating in Mexico” makes it incredibly hard to tell where the chihuahuas’ ancestor ended and the coated xolo began. In this modern day, purebred and papered chihuahuas even in Mexico bear little genetic resemblance to the Xolo (most of them are related to small breeds coming from various parts of Asia, or to the line of ancient wolf that proliferated everywhere around the world), where a lot of “deer head” (terrier head) chihuahua specifically are closely related genetically to the Xolo. This tells us that at some point the breeds may have been indistinguishable from each other, and that any chihuahua that does not bear the classic apple shaped head is likely not a purebred chihuahua.

In any case at some point they were used as circus dogs, animal actors, and street performances, so a chihuahua in theory should be relatively obedient. I would also argue they should be relatively social- considering they as feral dogs allowed people to catch and interact with them- and should be terrier-like but not wholely terrier in attitude, which would contribute to how they survived for years without human intervention.

The Mexican standard describes them are spirited, happy, peppy little dogs with some saucy expressions and a little bit of standoffishness towards other dogs which can include barking at another dog as a challenge. However it also says they should not follow through on the challenge- if the situation escalates to fighting a proper chihuahua should attempt de-escalation before fighting. This also makes sense for a feral dog- issuing a challenge is one thing but fighting is costly and aggression can cost you your life, best to avoid a true confrontation and rely on bluffing to get your way. They should be clannish, vastly preferring similarly sized/shaped dogs and specifically other chihuahuas, which again makes sense if you’re an absurdly tiny dog trying to survive by yourself in Mexico wilderness or on the streets.

And they should be totally obsessed with their owners, this is something repeated throughout what we do know of the breed’s history that they should love their owners more than they love anything else. This I find interesting as I would say most primitive dog breeds are intended to have that unwavering loyalty. Something about how we domesticated the first dogs must have highly favored the packbond one would have with a dog like this, for a lot of these original dog breeds to be so dedicated to their one person or their family.

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sandflow · 2 years

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So I just finished reading Golden Kamuy

Oh boy I got lots of things to say about it.

Warning: spoilers from latest and final chapter 314 + rants that might anger people

[Edit] - added new info from vol.30

So I’ll preface by saying that I first started reading Golden Kamuy because of Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san which sort of advertised the series. And when I checked it out, I liked the combo of a grown ass man teaming up with a kid and hunting stuff. So it got me super hooked.

I checked out the first season, and then I picked up the manga back when the latest chapter that around that time was 179. It was a super great experience.

Fast foward 5 years and it finally ended. Let’s start:

Pros:

1. The plot is simple and great, it starts off with a simple premise of finding the hidden ainu gold and then it slowly builds up with episodic criminals being killed off and skinned one by one. Sure it does go shonen tropey when it immediately followed with “you need to skin an x number of convicts to get to the gold treasure” but that problem is solved when they find out they didn’t really need all the skins.

2. The humor was mostly great, anime/manga doesn’t normally humor me but GK really delivered something more different than your average "main character gets slapped or yelled at because of a oh so funny misunderstanding har har”.

3. The overall positive and great portrayal of the indigenous group (ainu). The whole ainu theme really contributed to lore for the series. I admit there were times when I didn’t really pay attention to the trivia and cared more about the main conflict and characters but overall, or at least in the first half of the series - learning about the culture of ainu people and seeing the main characters + readers explore it was a nice breath of fresh air.

4. There are a lot of great characters. You just can NOT end up with a favourite by the end of the series. Every main and most secondary characters are likeable. Hell, the main character who is a child isn’t annoying as hell which already is a big + for me. While I did end up disliking some of them by the end of the series, they were still enjoyable at a certain point in the story.

5. Abashiri jail was the best arc in the series. Hands down. It got so well built up, the arc itself had amazing action, the factions blended in so well, and with a great shocking ending too. I may be biased though. Other amazing arcs were : the fake ainu village, Anehata, blind bandit, banya, circus, hospital rescue, and around half of the sapporo arc

6. Tsurumi ended up being a satisfying villain. Best mother hen for a bunch of normal and well adjusted soldiers. My only gripe was that he felt more of a gray to black area character in the first half of the series, while in the second half he fully became black, and that he didn’t get to kill off Sugimoto for good. But he was fine and didn’t drastically change his course.

7. I really liked the aspect of there being different factions having their own goals. It made it seem like there was no true villain. So when they were clashing you’d root for who you like rather than what the plot is trying to show how you should root for.

Cons:

1. The final arc was bad. Characters kept dying one by one and you just stop feeling any sadness or shock for them at some point. You’re just waiting for the next corpse. There’s also a ton of plot conveniences. Sugimoto being so exhausted, shot, stabbed etc etc only to still be able to lift an adult bear and let it hang unto him for at least 20 minutes, or Ogata who didn’t shoot Sugimoto directly in the head when he was pinned by the bear. Or Ushiyama who doesn’t one hit kill Tsukishima. Or Koito who easily killed Hijikata, and so on.

2. Goryokaku was boring. It was mostly filled with Wilk and Hijikata flashbacks. Wilk does have his importance in the plot since he was supposedly the initial “villain” in the series, but Hijikata ended up being a very boring character to me, so him getting around 3 separate flashbacks in the same arc really didn’t do it for me. Other than that, the arc spends a very big amount of time with characters killing off completely irrelevant background soldiers and criminals.

It also had this style of advancing really slowly in the plot, but also rushing through it.

3. Sugimoto and Asirpa’s partnership was pretty cool and I liked their bond a lot. But after Asirpa rebounds with Sugimoto after Karafuto, their bond starts to feel very codependent. So codependent that Sugimoto turns from a soldier that had issues with PTSD, to a guy who at any time opens his mouth says “Asirpa”. If he’s not near her we see him monologue about “what’s Asirpa doing?”. That’s his whole character now.

And Sugimoto kind of stopped having this active role in the story at some point. It’s mostly Asirpa who points the story forward, with Sugimoto burying the bodies left behind. Maybe it was like that even before Asirpa got kidnapped, but it’s a lot more obvious in the later half.

It also didn’t help how after Karafuto the plot kept hinting at Asirpa’s crush on Sugimoto even more. Boutarou full on shipping them like “oooh you care about him” and “take Sugimoto and have a family with him”.

And in the end, Sugimoto chooses to live with Asirpa for an undetermined time as “partners”.

I don’t ship Sugiripa and I don’t really care if other people do, but the ending was written intentionally ambiguous with slight shipping tones. I’d definitely think it would have been a purely comradery ending if Noda didn’t add in the numerous hints that Asirpa is crushing on him.

4. Koito was handled pretty badly by the end of the story. I was so invested in his character development. I was waiting in anticipation for his betrayal after he got bitchslapped by Ogata. And it was THIS }{ CLOSE to happen.

But it didn’t....or....it sort of does? back when they’re in Goryokaku but it went like “Tsurumi you lied to me and dad but let’s say I’m fine with that now, but if nothing good comes out of all this then I gotta protect my men from you-” “oh ok Koito then kill me here and now” And Koito just looks down and leaves. Koito still keeps fighting for Tsurumi.

His character was severely limited to redeeming and saving his subordinate in distress Tsukishima.

[Edit] Since vol. 30 is out, Koito’s confrontation with Tsurumi has been altered slightly. Tsurumi instead of the line “kill me now” he now says “I have no intention of losing” and Koito feels sad that Tsurumi didn’t persuade him to being on his side. “W-why don’t you ask me to be by your s-side? FINE I’m leaving let’s go Tsukishima.” Lol. And Koito still fights for Tsurumi’s goals on the train. A strange and kind of useless addition if you ask me.

5. Tsukishima was frustrating to watch. I truly liked him up until chapter 210. But then he swears total loyalty to Tsurumi and threatens Koito’s life. But then he saves Koito from the Sugi stab. But then he actively hunts down Tanigaki and pregnant Inkarmat just to kill them. But then he’s saved by Koito who reminded him of his ex finacee! But then he gives death glares at Koito when he accidentally speaks normally to Tsurumi. But then joins in the Sofia interviewing thinking he’s finally seeing Tsurumi’s true colours! But then he’s loyal to him again and ends up (almost) killing Ariko (followed by sparkly eyes) and Kikuta.

It’s like Noda wasn’t sure wether to keep him alive or die with Tsurumi. And Koito kept pushing his ass into redeeming him soooo so much that Tsukishima literally fainted.

Tsukishima got so exhausted of being constantly juggled around between Koito and Tsurumi that he ended up fainting in his moment of choosing any side. And in the end, he isn’t even taken out of his misery. He keeps searching for Tsurumi in the sea, and then Koito appears and asks him to forget Tsurumi and join the him as his right hand man. And Tsukishima is like "sure!”. Welp. That was fast.

6. Tsukishima and Koito end up not confronting Tsurumi at all. Which is honestly dissappointing. I was fully expecting them to have a final battle with him. Nope. Tsurumi fights the main characters. Not that he didn’t have to fight them too, but there was still unresolved tension between him and his subordinates. Tsukishima never finds out that Tsurumi played him again, and Koito still fought for his cause until he had to save Tsukishima from joining Tsurumi.

7. Vasily was the most underused character in the series. He was put back into the plot just to keep Ogata away from sniping anyone from the Sugi group. He never got a backstory, he never got a proper character ending, he had an annoying language barrier with everyone around him which was lame because I really wanted to see him truly bond with ANYONE. But nope. He’s simply an extension to Ogata’s character.

And his ending concerning his Ogata lynx painting is just....I mean...if he truly was obsessed with Ogata then why keep a painting of him dead rather than alive? Because it reminds him of how he failed to kill him? Oh wow that’s so romantic Vasilygirls please rejoyce.

I think what Noda truly wanted to do with Vasily is to portray him as the typical Ogata fan insert of the readers (who are also coincidentally creating a ton of Ogata fanart).

8. Ogata was handled like garbage. He was a pretty complex character plus a total enigma. Lots of people wrote a ton of theories about him. Everyone was talking about him endlessly wether they loved him or hated him.

But then chapter 304 dropped and it reveals that he just wanted to advance in rank because he wanted to see if a low life like him can reach such a high and esteemed position. Which was...huh? Ogata said he isn’t interested in ranks to Hijikata around the time they were about to attack Abashiri. Now he is.

In chapter 310 he kills himself because he didn’t want to feel guilt. Because he killed his only chance at true love with Yuusaku. ?! He didn’t want to have anything to do with Yuusaku. He was unifying with the walls when Yuusaku was trying to approach him. But now he was his only chance at love?? What about his grandparents??

Oh and he also felt guilt because he was always born a blessed child just like Yuusaku. ???? Yuu was rich and had loving parents. Ogata was raised in poverty, with shitty parents and was being constantly ostrasized for his bloodline. By this logic, if your parents had sex once, had the child and then broke up, even if they did feel a little bit of true love in that moment, it fully justifies their child in being blessed from the very beginning and growing up just as blessed even if they’re raised in a shitty environment with a dysfunctional family.

9. Sugimoto should have died. There were so many hints that he’d die in the last chapter. His name, his “going to hell” catchphrase, his numerous wounds in the final arc, the SWORD STABBED IN HIS HEART, his final line to Asirpa after he throws her off the train “I’m immortal you know?”, seeing him with closed eyes and being sunk deeper into the ocean.

Next chapter he’s okay and already found Umeko. He doesn’t even confront her directly, and he doesn’t even get emotional when he eats the persimmon. OK. So much for the pay off of that amazing emotional scene when he started crying inside the deer.

[Edit] 10. Sofia’s character was treated poorly. You start off with a really strong woman who can wrestle and ride a tiger with ease. But then she fights Tsukishima and overpowers him and she conveniently- I MEAN accidentally hits a pole thus now is Tsurumi’s hostage in the church.

And afterwards, She kills a ton of 7th soldiers with utmost ease only to be killed by Tsurumi because she froze (initially) though in the volume version she tries to shoot him (even though she wasn’t able to even scratch him which makes me think she deviated her shot because of guilt).

Conclusions:

- don’t ever read an ongoing manga especially when you have no other series that you’re following. Noda was sometimes taking breaks in moments where he’d drop a chapter with a cliffhanger ending. It’s paintful. Plus more and more expectations get built up the more you wait. So yeah, don’t touch anything that isn’t finished.

- the series was super great but then the quality dropped at around 65% progression of the story (around the beginning of the Sapporo arc). Maybe it was becoming a lot more serious and had less comical scenes. Or maybe I’m just hung up on Pre-Abashiri times lol.

#golden kamuy #sugimoto saichi #ogata hyakunosuke #asirpa #koito otonoshin #tsukishima hajime #golden kamuy spoilers

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whumpthisway · 3 years

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April is the Cruellest Month

T. S. Eliot whump prompts

-- from The Waste Land

A/N: Hi! I know this is very short notice, so I made this really for myself and because I had fun with it. But if anyone ends up having a go at it, please do tag me so I can see!!

All of the prompts are from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land poem, listed in the order that they appear in the poem, which you can read in full here! The whump tropes after the quotations are only suggestions, so feel free to interpret the poem any way you want, including less literally!

There are also three alternative prompts at the bottoms, in case any of the first thirty aren’t of interest/are a squick for you. Anyway, I hope this is of some interest to someone! :)

1. The dead tree gives no shelter - Environmental whump | Abandoned

2. I will show you fear in a handful of dust - Poisoning | Magical whump

3. I could not speak, and my eyes failed - Sensory deprivation | Choking

4. I was neither living nor dead - Unconsciousness | Coma

5. I knew nothing - Amnesia | Possession

6. I am forbidden to see - Darkness | Blinded

7. Fear death by water - Waterboarding | Drowning

8. Stay with me - Caretaker | Restraints

9. Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak. - Begging | Gagged

10. "What is that noise?" - Paranoia | Crying

11. Her strange synthetic perfumes… troubled, confused/ And drowned the sense in odours - Drugged | Sensory flashback

12. “You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember nothing?” - Brainwashing | Interrogation

13. “Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?" - Taunting | Dissociation

14. He said, I swear, I can't bear to look at you - Rejection | Scars

15. I sat down and wept - Hopelessness | Relief

16. White bodies naked on the low damp ground - Murder | Nightmares

17. Exploring hands encounter no defense - Intimate whump | Possessive

18. His vanity requires no response/ And makes a welcome of indifference - Obsession | Delusional

19. "Well now that's done: and I'm glad it's over" - Rescue | Resigned whumpee

20. He wept. He promised 'a new start.' - False promises | Forgiveness

21. The broken fingernails of dirty hands - Prisoner | Runaway

22. The agony in stony places/ The shouting and the crying - Buried alive | Dungeon

23. We who were living are now dying - Sickness | Starvation

24. One cannot stop or think - Denial | Survivor

25. Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand - Drought | Lost

26. Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit -Slavery | Tied up

27. Sullen faces sneer and snarl - Circus exhibit | Prisoner of war

28. Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop/ But there is no water - Dehydration | Fainting

29. Who is that on the other side of you? - Recaptured | Ambush

30. Blood shaking my heart - Panic attack | Bleeding out

Alternatives:

1. The awful daring of a moment's surrender - Obedience | Trust

2. We think of the key, each in his prison - Escape | Multiple whumpees

3. Your heart would have responded…beating obedient to controlling hands - Manipulation | Devotion

#whump prompts #whump prompt list #April whump prompt list #recapture tw #recapture #intimate whump tw #intimate whump #noncon mention #idk it's kinda suggested in no.17 #mine #t s eliot #the waste land #April is the cruellest month

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inlovewithhisblueeyes · 3 years

Text

Last Minute

Pairing: August Walker x Reader

Prompt: Someone write me a pic where you somehow convince August Walker, your next door neighbor, to babysit to you dog/cat whenever you’re away. Then one day you come back from wherever the hell you went to, he slips up and says “Our son/daughter missed you.”

Word Count: ~2k

Warnings: Mentions of nudity and the morning after, implied sexual activities

A/N: This is a Christmas present for the wonderful @raspberrydreamclouds who also wrote the prompt. I hope you enjoy!

A/N 2: I decided to give my own dog, Paris, a chance to play a starring role in one of my stories. She’s definitely a character.

Shimmering rays of gold slipped into the room on the gentle morning breeze. August had woken up a short while earlier to find that the spot beside him on the bed was cold and empty. He had been retired from his life as the Hammer for a few years now. The skills of observation that August had prided himself had completely vanished as soon last night’s romp slipped into his life. The only thing that comforted him was the fact that he could hear the shower turning on. With a groan, the blue-eyed devil removed his legs from where they were tangled up in the sheets and rose to his feet.

Where he had expected to feel the clothes that had been discarded from his latest tryst, August had only felt the cool wooden floor. Glancing around, he noticed that his clothes had been folded up and placed on the dresser. He could just barely remember a soft voice teasing him about making a mess. His arms reached out above his head as he yawned before one of his hands scratches down through the fur on his chest. It just narrowly misses brushing up against his impatient cock. The man remained perplexed while racking his head for the memories of last night.

He chuckled and just then he heard a tender lilt steaming out from the bathroom.

“Hold me close and hold me fast”

This voice was incredibly familiar to him, yet August couldn’t place where he had heard it before.

“The magic spell you cast.”

He couldn’t refrain being drawn into it like a ship in the night. He needed to know who this angel was.

“This is La vie en rose”

Steam seeped out from the cracked doorway as he crept closer.

“When you kiss me, heaven sighs”

The former agent slowly pushed the door the rest of the way open carefully so he didn’t alert his songbird.

“And though I close my eyes”

The glass of the shower door was all fogged up and August could scarcely make out the curve of her breast. Who was she?

“I see La vie en rose”

Her face turned away from the door and he leaned up against the doorframe, content with listening to her siren song. The mystery woman continued to hum the rest of the song as she swayed under the warm water. As if she was listening to his prayers, she slowly turned around. One glance at her face and the bewhiskered man saw that it was you. With a crook of your finger, you drew him closer to your heavenly body. August reached out to open the shower door and-

A sonorous snort yanked August away from your teasing ways. He immediately sat up and searched his bed for your sleeping form; however, he had the rude awakening that his visions of you were just an incredibly realistic dream. He only found your mutt happily snoring away belly up in the middle of his bed. The blue-eyed devil ran a hand down his face as he glanced at the sun just rising in the distance. Scratching his mustache, August considered his options. Option one consisted of moving the snuffling mutt that had stolen his bed from him, but the chances of waking the needy pup up were high. He wasn’t particularly in the mood for getting attacked with affection this early.

Option two was abandoning his bed for a dog free couch, yet he had a feeling the pup would trail after him. She was rather attached to him which is why you had asked him to watch her. When August had moved in a few years ago, the clingy dog had gotten off her harness and ran all the way back to your townhouse. She happened upon August as he was sitting outside and instantaneously attached herself to his lap. Normally, dogs could sense that he wasn’t the best of men around and would leave him be. This mutt, your little Paris, had decided the former agent was the best person to run to.

Now he had seen you with her a few times and knew that this rascal was never allowed outside with her harness. So when she happened to be outside sans harness and running around freely, August immediately knew he had a runaway pup. By the time you had finally arrived back to your townhouse, which happened to be right next to his own, you were noticeably in tears with the harness and leash in hand as you called out for her. Paris had decided to not even stir from where she decided to rest on his lap and the bewhiskered man had decided it was better to wait for you to return.

He was never good with tears especially when they came from a pretty lady. Even stranger in that moment he wanted to perhaps be the reason the stopped. It was a puzzling thought. August called over to you and let you know that he had your runaway pup. Your cries immediately stopped and you ran towards him, thanking him profusely. Once you had the naughty dog back on her harness, you had hugged him. Given that he was just recently retired from his life as the Hammer, John Lark, and all the other names he went by, August had distinctly noticed how your body seemed to slot up just right against his.

Thinking back, he had never received a hug or any commendation for any of the various contributions he made to his country’s security. It shocked him at first and then it was over before he could even get used to it. You thanked him profusely and in that moment he realized he wanted to hear your voice say his name any way he could get you to. This is the very reason why he had agreed to be your saving grace when your usual sitter had backed out. By this point, he had spent some time getting to know you; there had been a few dinners at each others places and trips to the movies. You had made him welcome in his new home and he didn’t want to mess this up like he had in the past.

August wanted to fuck you of course, it had been awhile since he had the pleasure of someone other than his right hand. But, it was your personality, your beliefs, your way of giving love to those who needed it most, that had really drawn him in. You had rescued Paris and had rehabilitated her and his troubled soul wanted you to do the same for him. You had a lightness in you, an innate goodness, that reached out and soothed the tattered remains of his dark heart. The former secret agent found himself actively seeking you out when he felt he hadn’t seen you in a while. He wanted to spend as much time in your presence as he could.

Granted this desire led to him watching the mutt which he was definitely handling well. It was just a dog after all, a very needy, attached to his hip, dog. Another obnoxious snort broke him from his reflections. It had only been one night so far and he only had three more days of this. He could do this and prove to himself that he doesn’t destroy everything good in his life. It was then he noticed how high the sun was in the sky and decided it was best to get started with his first full day with the mangy mutt. With a slight groan, August rose from his bed and made his way to the kitchen. He was going to need all the caffeine he could get to handle this overexcited bundle of fuzz.

After two cups of coffee, he had deemed himself ready to take the ball of fluff out for her morning walk. The man prayed to whatever was out there that the mutt wouldn’t get off her harness. He really did not have to call you and let you know that he had lost your dog. That would not bode well for his plan of a future with you. The pup was easy enough to wrangle into her harness as soon as he mentioned the magic word walk. August had to laugh at how fast her tail was wagging at the prospect of going out. He was certainly beginning to understand the appeal behind owning a dog.

The two slipped out of the house and into the cold morning air. He allowed the dog to lead him wherever she wanted to go. She seemed eager to sniff various spots along the way and walk at a leisurely pace. It was refreshing to be out in the open air like this even if he was stuck there with the mutt. The rest of the walk continued without issue that was until she caught the scent of home. The poor thing tried dragging him back to her home, but August stood his ground as she whimpered. The sound just might have broken his heart when he realized for the first time that she missed you probably much more than he did.

“Paris! Puppy! You see here, Paris. I miss your mommy too. Luckily you only have to be without her for a few days. Alright pup? Now let’s go have some breakfast. If you come willingly, I might just let you snuggle up on my lap,” the bewhiskered man murmured starring down at the sad dog.

At the mention of food, she immediately bounced back to being the overeager pup he knew her to be. The rest of the days passed by in a similar manner. He would get up, walk the pup, remind her that her mommy would be home soon, feed her, and cuddle with her which he was slowly starting to enjoy. The pure unadulterated love that poured out of this tiny thing soothed him just how you did. He could definitely get used to this puppy love. August had almost forgotten that this furry baby wasn’t even his by the time you returned home. The pup had nestled herself right into his world like she had been a part of it all along.

The chime of the doorbell had the puppy leaping from his lap in circus of barking and jumping. August paused the movie he was watching and he made his way over to the door, careful to avoid tripping over his excited baby. He opened the door to reveal you waiting patiently. If he thought Paris had been going nuts before, it was nothing compared to this display of affection.

“Par-bear!!!,” You squealed as you stepped into the house.

You bent down in front of your puppy and were greeted with a flurry of kisses that August feeling a bit left out.

“How was she?” You beamed up at him.

“Paris was great. Honestly, none of the things you were concerned about came to pass. Our daughter did seem to miss you a little bit,” August admitted as he scratched the back of his neck.

“Our daughter?!?” You questioned with a smirk that could rival one of his.

He could feel the color drawn from his face as he sputtered, desperate to come up with a way to save his from this mess. You stood up and gently placed a hand on his arm before giving his bicep a squeeze.

“Is this your way of finally asking me out?” You teased as a bright smile appeared on your face.

The blue-eyed man could only nod yes not trusting his voice in that very moment.

“Well Paris seems to love you so I’d be happy to go out with you sometime. You know how to reach me.”

In that moment, August was grateful for the fateful day Paris had gotten of her harness. Maybe someone out there was looking out for him after all.

#henry cavill #august walker #mission impossible #mission impossible fallout #august walker x reader #august walker x you #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill fandom #the cavillry #reader insert #august walker fanfiction #august walker fanfic

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pokelec · 3 years

Text

A Dead By Daylight Novice Reviews All the Killers' Trailers (and makes suggestions for what they'd change)

Reveal trailers are paramount for an audience's first look at new characters. First impressions are everything, so your trailer for your shiny new character needs to be perfect for what's in store for the video game! I started playing DBD a month-ish ago but watched all the trailers for the killers before I started playing, and watching some of them got me to thinking about how I would have changes some of the trailers. Some require no changes, while others I think need an overhaul.

Disclaimer: This is in my personal opinion, is not objective at all, and I'm only doing this because this is something I've been thinking about for a month and need some sort of release or else my brain will implode.

Under a read more bc this gets long.

The Trapper - The first trailer! For a first trailer, I think this one is pretty spot on. It follows a lot of beats of slasher movies, in terms of following a survivor that's gonna be killed, her encountering dead bodies, and the suspense of the killer looking for her. Considering Dead by Daylight is effectively a playable horror movie, I think this is a perfect intro to the game. As for what this means for the Trapper, aka our Jason substitute, I think it showed him off alright! We saw his bear traps and got a good look at him doing this thing. Pretty good, all things considered!

The Wraith - The Wraith, Hillbilly, and Nurse all features gameplay as the means of showing off what the killers can do. The Wraith's isn't too bad, since it does show off his Wailing Bell power enough for people to understand "This is a killer that can turn invisible, and you may not know he's right next to you until it's too late". I wish it has a more cinematic style, but I'll be forgiving here because DBD was still young when this was made. I also thing it showed the new map, Autohaven, pretty well. I'm not too big of a fan of ending the trailer with his mori, but that could be because I don't find his mori exciting.

The Hillbilly - Next is our Leatherface expy! This one feels shorter, still using gameplay to introduce our new killer but at least shows off his chainsaw wielding and hints at the map associated with him. I like the shot of him revving his chainsaw underneath the tree with the animal carcasses! I don't mind the ending with his mori here because even if it's off screen, getting cut with a chainsaw is brutal enough to leave a lasting impression. Again, I wish it had the cinematic style, but it's fine.

The Nurse - I think the Nurse's trailer is the weakest of the three gameplay-focused trailers. The text intro is... fine, but I honestly think it fits the Doctor more. It does an okay job of showing us her Blinking mechanics, but it also doesn't? Like we see her teleporting to Nea, but it feels lackluster. I do like the ending shot of dead Nea as the Nurse just blinks away. I'm not quite sure how to change this trailer to be more effective in my opinion, if I'm being honest.

The Shape/Michael Myers - Our first franchise killer, and a perfect trailer. The first second in, we hear John Carpenter's legendary Halloween score. Even non-horror fans will quickly pick up which killer this is. The suspense of Laurie see Michael, Michael coming up the stairs, and especially the shot of Laurie and Michael being on opposite sides of a door is *chef's kiss*. We see enough of the Shape to be satisfied and eager for his release. It's the perfect trailer for him AND Laurie imo.

The Huntress - Ah, the Huntress. She is my favorite killer to play as, and I probably have the majority of my playtime on her. Unfortunately, I think her trailer leaves a lot to be desired. It's the start of the 'let's look at the killer from different angles, have them turn around to the camera, and then attack the viewer' trend of DBD trailers. I call for a complete rewrite! Here's what I would have done:

The map is Mother's Dwelling. Two survivors (David aaaand idk Dwight?) are running and hides behind some trees. We hear the Huntress's lullaby get louder, and we see the bottom half of her and her axe as she walks past the survivors. The lullaby gets quieter, and the survivors take a sigh of relief. Then, a hatchet is thrown and lodged into Dwight's head! David screams and runs. We then see our full look at the Huntress as she picks up the body. Her signature lullaby continues as the trailer ends.

The Hag - The Hag's trailer also follows a similar formula to the Huntress' trailer. There is an animation bump, so we get to see the Hag's emaciated appearance in full detail. I'm not too mad about that, since the Hag's appearance is unsettling enough to cause viewer distress and curiosity more than the Huntress' would. However, because this is a DBD original killer, we need to see what her deal is with her trailer. Thus, I propose this:

On the swamp, Ace is repairing a generator but hears another survivor (Dwight?) get hooked. Ace goes to rescue him, but we see as he steps on a rune in front of the poor survivor. The illusion of the Hag pops up, jumpscaring poor Ace (and the audience) but disappears. Ace then rescues Dwight for real, but Dwight quickly runs away. Why? Because the real Hag is behind Ace and lunges at him, biting his neck. Trailer ends.

The Doctor - I now realize that my taste in writing DBD trailers is 'have the survivor do a thing, they think the killer is near, they then relax, and only then are they attacked by the killer'. It's a bit stereotypical, but again, we're dealing with a game centered on the horror genre, so that's why I'm okay with it.

I mention this because that's effectively the story beats the the Doctor's trailer follows. Instead of attacking Feng, however, the Doctor just looks at her run and stares menacingly. Even though we don't see the Doctor's shock therapy powers here, I think the long look at the killer is still effective because of his design. A first reaction I (and other reactors) experienced went from the initial "OMG the killer is here, run girl!" to "Why tf are his own eyes and mouth held open like that A Clockwork Orange scene?!". We also don't linger for too long on him either, so I think this trailer works well enough.

The Cannibal/Leatherface - Another franchise killer, this time good ol Leatherface! This trailer is a little different, using text to draw up suspense. I do like the reveal of "What is his mask made of? YOU.", but I would've loved to have seen some actual Cannibal action, or at least his in-game model doing his Texas chainsaw massacring thing.

The Nightmare/Freddy Kruger - Oh, c'mon, we got one of the most well known characters in horror in this little video game, and all we get for his trailer is some scratch marks and a 'killer does nothing but stand there menacingly and attack the camera' trailer?! I do like the detail that when we see him, it's DBD's version of the dream world, but we could've at least featured a survivor falling asleep and then seeing him for themselves.

(Also kinda sad it's the reboot version of Freddy instead of the Wes Craven version and the survivor is Quentin instead of Nancy Freaking Thompson, but I guess we should be happy he's in the game at all)

The Pig - Largely, I think this trailer is pretty good. I'm not too big of a fan of Amanda just standing there menacingly near Dwight, but I do like everything else. I especially love the security camera shot of the famous Saw bathroom and the cutaway when Dwight's reverse bear trap activates (but we still see a good bit of gore!). It feels very Saw-like.

The Clown - This trailer is pretty good! Even though we don't see the Clown in much action, we get a lot of visual storytelling with the bottles, the circus, and the ring of fingers, all leading up to the reveal of his face. The diagetic music from Kate is a nice touch, too.

The Spirit - This one is alright. There is a lot of focus on Adam, but it does build up tension to when the Spirit reveals herself. My biggest problem with it is the ending card that is used for her. Yes, I know that's traditional for the end of these trailers, but her pose and expression is kinda meh after the face she makes when she's about to attack Adam. Seriously, that couple of seconds haunts me (sorry) otherwise.

The Legion - My other favorite killer to play! It's so funny how I didn't like Legion when I first heard of them but now they're my favorites. I love how the trailer emphasizes that the new killer(s) looks similar to survivors and the brutality of when Frank reveals himself and stabs Jeff. However, the trailer does a disservice to the other members of the Legion. C'mon, that's their whole shtick!

My recommendation would be to end with a shot of Julie, Joey, and Suzie joining Frank (and obviously getting a good look at them) and surrounding Jeff right before they all stab him. This is a little disingenuous since you can't play as all four of them at once (unless you count that one Blighted skin...), but you also can't disguise yourself as a survivor, so... Yeah. They are The Legion! They act as one! Treat them as such in their trailer, dammit!

The Plague - The Plague's trailer is interesting. Even though we don't see her in action, I think it's fine because seeing her puke on people during her trailer might be a bit off-putting. Just a bit. We still get some storytelling with her whispered prayers, the candles and incense thingy, and, of course, her face. I think because the Plague's design is inherently unique among all the killers so far, she can get away with the 'let's just tease the audience by looking at the killer and nothing else' trend.

The Ghost Face - Not too much I can complain about with this one. I do like the wtf factor of 'wait, why is a DBD trailer at a modern day warehouse???', especially if you're watching a trailer playlist like I first did. It all makes sense when you learn it's Ghost Face, though! Also, justice for that poor cashier.

The Demogorgon - RIP Stranger Things DLC. I don't watch this series, but I really like the Hawkins Lab map and I'm going to be sad when it's gone. :(

I love this trailer! When I hear the Stranger Things music, it actually gives me chills. I'm legitimately so sad the DLC will be gone from the stores, but I do own them myself. I need to actually sit down and play Demo, Steve, and Nancy one of these days. Why am I crying? No, I'm not kidding, why is this trailer making me cry? Renew the contract, Netflix, please! I don't want this stuff to disappear forever!

(Is it weird that I've been nagged on for years to watch Stranger Things but it's Dead By Daylight that's actually convincing me to watch it?)

The Oni - This is an interesting case. The "main" theme of this trailer is the contrast of modern day Japan's Yui and her motorcycle vs the literal ancient samurai Oni. I think it works out, and again, I think the presentation makes up for us not seeing too much of the new killer.

The Deathslinger - Oh boy, do I love my cowboys! This trailer is nearly perfect. We establish the western setting quickly over the sounds of some poor bastard in pain. The reeling in of the chains and the closeup of The Redeemer is so great. My biggest complaint with this trailer is that we linger a bit too long on the Deathslinger's face at the end. Yeah, he's creepy with his eyes and his disjointed jaw, but you can only look at a horror for so long before you want to move on.

The Executioner/Pyramid Head - I like this trailer! I haven't played Silent Hills, but I'm at least somewhat familiar with the premise and Pyramid Head. I love the shot of him passing the classroom door window and the sword cutting a rift through the ground. Yeah, my lack of SH knowledge makes me unable to recommend any changes here.

The Blight - I have no changes to suggest. The Blight's transformation is super horrific, reminding me of the typical depiction of Jekyll and Hyde. Honestly, he is so much more terrifying in his trailer and in lore than in gameplay.

The Twins - No changes needed. BHVR is really starting to hit their stride with these trailers! Seeing Victor come out of Charlotte's body is amazing.

The Trickster - We depart from all of the other trailers by using an K-POP music video style. It does a good job at referencing some of his story beats (namely torturing/killing people, recording their screams, and using them in his music), but it doesn't really make me afraid of the Trickster. Sure, it fits with his theme, but I would have preferred seeing more of him, y'know, instead of just looking pretty and making faces? I still wouldn't change the art style of the trailer, though. It's fitting enough for him and a breath of fresh air from the doom and gloom.

The Nemesis - No change needed, mostly because I'm not too familiar with the Resident Evil series, but seeing Jill, the twink Leon, and Nemesis on-screen is a very cool moment. Also can we get an F in chat for Meg?

The Cenobite/Pinhead - This is a perfect trailer. We got the Lament Configuration, we got the chains pinning up Dwight, we got Pinhead himself! What more can I ask for?

If you actually made it this far, thank for reading? I don't think I really contribute anything to the fandom with this analysis, but DBD has been living rent free in my brain for the past month, so I may as well write something, eh?

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