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eerythingisshaka · 3 years

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Ficmas Day #15 “Should Old Acquaintance Be Diego?”

[Diego Hargreeves x Reader]

Word Count: 1.5k

“One more!” You call the bartender to refill your drink. The bar is packed with patrons as music blares over the speakers and party horns are tooted constantly. New Years’ Eve pulled you out of the comfort of your home for a chance of having that whimsical moment with a stranger who you might share the stroke of midnight with, however this spot seemed rather dull.

“Adrian, let’s go across the street. They know how to make my gin and tonics the right way,” you slur, pulling on your white faux fur coat over your silver shimmery jumpsuit.

Adrian puts down her half done drink, giving you a look. “You didn’t say that with the first four you had. My feet hurt, it’s almost 10 minutes away from midnight can’t we stay here?”

You shake your head, moving your curly locs of your wig out your eyes clumsily. “It’s not the right vibe. I want my New Year to start right. I’m tired of these half washed looking sons of bitches sharing my air. I want beautiful people and a playlist that tells my life story!”

Adrian gets up, putting her arm under yours. “You’re drunk but ok. Let’s try the other bar.”

The cold air hits your face, giving you temporary sobriety. The streets were pretty clear since the bars were packed, as you and Adrian walk down to your current favorite spot but you’re greeted by a bouncer.

“Sorry ladies, we are at capacity.”

You groan. “Come on! It’s just two more! What’s the difference?”

“Two people. Because we are at capacity.” He says once again.

Adrian pulls you back. “Look, let’s just go back. The countdown starts in five minutes.”

You look at her with surprise. “Five minutes! Sir, you gotta let me in, my boyfriend is in there and you know if you don’t kiss at midnight, you won’t make the new year!”

The bouncer looks over his shoulder. “What does he look like?”

Your mouth freezes open as you think quickly, looking through a side window.

“Short haircut, black turtleneck,” you squint your eyes, “Latino looking…”

Adrian interrupts you. “She is just messing around, we’ll go.”

The bouncer stops her. “No, I know who you’re talking about, he’s a regular. I didn’t know he has a lady. I’ll get him.”

You grab a hold of his arm. “If you go in and it’s over capacity, you might as well let me! I got two minutes to get to him, it’s more romantic that way.”

The bouncer mulls it over.

“You can’t be serious,” Adrian says under her breath.

“Ok, go ahead, but you and him need to be out quickly. You don’t need more to drink.” The bouncer opens the door as you make a stank face but thank him just the same.

“SIXTY SECONDS!” Someone shouts as you push through the crowd looking for your ‘boyfriend’. Everyone is buzzing from the anticipation of the new year to come. You keep losing sight of him in the crowd, but realize he is playing darts, so you use the board as your North Star.

“Ten...Nine…”

You reach out for his shoulder just as he is about to throw another dart.

“Do I know you?” he asks.

“Seven...Six…”

“What’s your name?” you ask, making mental note of his square jaw and intense stare.

“Four...Three…”

He puts his darts aside, folding his arms. “Diego. Yours?”

As the crowd erupts, you pull his face to yours, giving in to the sudden passion you felt deep within. You don’t make time for social norms, this New Years is about primal instinct. When you pull yourself back, you feel slightly small as he stares into your eyes wordlessly. Feeling smaller now, you get the urge to retreat and turn away, but he pulls you back to him.

“Do you need a drink?” he asks.

You burst out laughing, partly from the relief of moving past the awkward air and partly because of the flashback to the security guards warning.

“Sure, but not here. Come back to my place.”

---

“You all have a good night,” you call out to your friend, who managed to bring home the bouncer from the bar. Closing your bedroom door and untwisting the bottle of gin, Diego wastes no time to grip you against him and make you forget how your legs work.

You and Diego roll around on top of your bed, exploring each other under the haze of new year bliss and gin. As Diego licks on your neck, you reach back for the bottle, pushing him back so you can straddle him.

“Open your mouth,” you command, holding his jaw until he complies with a warning in his eyes. “I won’t drown you!” You pour the liquid into his mouth, petting his stubble as you fill him.

“Good, now hold it.” You set the bottle back on your nightstand and hold his face in your hands, taking in his facial structure, his hands on your hips, the hardening you sit upon.

“Open your mouth again.” He does so, gin still sitting where you poured it. You hover your mouth above his, letting your tongue out to lap at the alcohol like a cat.

Diego snorts, spitting some at you as he sits up and laughs. “Shit, girl! What’re you into?”

You sit back wiping your face. “Different shit! Damn, you couldn’t control your reaction for a minute?” Eventually you chuckle, but aren’t over him spitting all over you.

“Hell am I supposed to do! My bad, lemme see.” He eyes your face, wiping one side. “Hm, what’s that?”

“What?” you ask, reaching your hands to feel, but he holds them down.

“Let me.” He leans into our face closer and closer, almost getting eyeball to eyeball with you causing you to go rigid. Then, he licks your cheek.

You push his chest hard. “Diego!”

Falling back on the bed, he looks shocked. “Is that now what you like?? I thought I was on track there!”

You wipe your face in shock. “No lie, you are...but now I’m trying to figure YOU out.”

“What is there to know?” he asks.

You shrug. “Tell me...your childhood pet’s name.

He pauses. “I didn’t really have a pet...not like what you’re saying.”

“An animal?” you ask.

“...yes?”

You furrow your brow. “Why is that such a hard question? I don’t get-”

Diego interrupts you, sitting forward in preparation. “Ask me another, come on.”

You think. “Ok...something easy that you will make difficult. Hobbies?”

Diego scoffs, reaching for something under his pant leg. “I’ve got a thing for these.” Pulling out of a sheath, he brandishes a dagger.

“Whoa! Why do you have weapons on you like that? In my house?!” you exclaim, getting off the bed to add some distance.

Diego puts a hand out to you, holding the knife away. “Listen, I don’t hurt anyone with these unless they’re asking for it. We’re good, by the way.”

“So if you don’t use it, what do you do? Cuz a knife collection is feeling a little dark web right now.”

He smirks, holding the blade in between his fingers. “I didn’t say I don’t use them. I use them a lot actually. I’m pretty good with aiming these. Like the dart game you interrupted me on?”

“Oh,” you say, intrigued. “How good?”

Diego shrugs, looking you up and down, he stands up. “Very good. Like, carnival attraction or Penn and Teller in Vegas good.”

You nod slowly, studying the weapon in his hand. “Can you show me something now?”

Diego points the blade at you. “How much do you like your outfit?”

You fidget with it, looking it over. “I mean, it;s kind of nice. Old, but-”

“Let me rephrase that. How badly do you wanna come out of it?” Diego asks, scraping the blade lightly against his face.

You grow warm at his suggestion, standing back toward the door in feigned peril. “My gosh, what will I do. Me, being so warm, yet unable to come reach my zipper?!” You laugh out loud, waving him off. “Nah, I don’t trust you that-”

You see him flick the blade at you, but before you finish screaming out to stop, you can barely catch your jumpsuit before you’re holding it over your chest, yelling like you’re at the peak of a rollercoaster.

“Whoa, you ok? I didn’t mean to scare you,” Diego says, flipping his blade in his hand a couple times, completely unphased by you.

When you catch your breath, you let the fabric fall, this time sending Diego into his own state of shock as you walk up to him, snatching the blade. You pull his shirt from his pants, starting at the hem to run it up the length of his shirt, stopping at the neck. You can see him tense up as the blade hovers under his Adam’s Apple.

“I think you have a lot left, you need to show me.”

@chaneajoyyy

#diego hargreeves x reader #shakafic #ficmas

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merry-melody · 4 years

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umbrella academy s2 thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I was intrigued by the lizard reveal, though.

So, Luther wise...hmmm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I liked the scene with him and Vanya facing off?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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bushleaguefpl-blog · 6 years

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DO YOU BELIEVE IN JINXES? GEORGE AND THE INVINCIBLES

We’re 4 weeks down and the dreaded international break is upon us. We have a clear leader sitting atop The Bush with a zero loss record and a tonne of managers sitting only one point behind him. With the incoming break though The Bush is surely in line for a shakeup with incoming injuries, a wildcard shower more golden than those Rowan collects from 14 year olds, and apparently a little light racism? Brody’s learnt photoshop and It’s GW4 IN THE BUSH!

It’s toight as a tiger at the top of The Bush at the moment with the top 9 managers with only a 1 point spread between them. A start to The Bush this even has never been seen as the opening weeks are usually extremely troublesome for managers as the season takes ahold. Usually down to a huge variety in teams with random sporadic performances from players, this year however the ownership of players throughout the league is much less wide spread. Call it down to an all in method regarding proven 2017/18 scorers, but The Bush is stagnant with Salah, Aguero and Mane ownership, with the deciding factor being less than a few points in 95% of the matches so far this season. As you can see from the table, the tippy top is looking to be a dogfight after the international break concludes.

George “Specialist in...” Chittleborough has had a great run over the first few games and as it stands, is undefeated through his first four. We at The Bush are selectively superstitious, and we’re leaving it down to you whether we Jinx the Wenger boys by asking... “How long can he stay invincible”. Looking back to Bush3, the manager of the month curse loomed heavily throughout the year, being the undoing of a number of strong managers. Should GC get the popular vote for MOTM... it’ll surely have him quaking in his boots. Looking ahead though, George’s fixtures look strong, having a fixture against embattled and lowest scoring manager Blake “Choker Chopper” Hands up next and a visit to the Morgan “Out Witts[ed]” Witts’ Hurrikanes camp the week after that. Judging on the stats and the form of a manager looking to emulate the early Wenger years rather than the latter, he should be sitting pretty sweet through the end of game week 6 (Shade thrown Blake and Morgan). George however, is keeping his eye on the prize and always looking to improve focusing on why he drew rather than the wins stacking up: “I was one Sanchez no-show away from 4″. He’s the man to beat, let’s see how The Bush responds.

But hey, I know we at The Bush times like rewarding failure but we’re in a good mood, so let’s keep the good vibes going and discuss a manager who’s been in The Bush since season 2 and has been slowly growing in momentum each year. Of course, it’s your favourite Mullet-growing, Diego Costa-esque, bustling utility man Alex “Mine’s better than Dustin Martin’s” Horne. Alex had a shit first year, coming in a fair way down the table and I’m sure increased commitment to work at McDonald’s or a forgotten password will probably be an excuse for why his attention was elsewhere during his debut season. Last year, improvements were shown before crumbling down the table in a run of losses that he couldn’t quite recover from. However, so far he sits in that top portion of managers on 9 points, with a decent and league best 267 points from his first 4. We’re proud to see flourishing Bush Careers and we hope one day certain OG managers could show this sort of improvement (*Cough* Madde “38-0″ Bowshire *Cough*). Alex set his team up well and has also been lucky, dropping a free hit chip early on in the season to grab a fantastic win over fellow frontrunner Harrison “I shoulder the write up every week :’((((((” Kennedy. Alex copped some flack from illustrious manager Logan “Have you seen my haircuts?” McIndoe who claimed it was a fuck up to use the Free Hit instead of the wildcard but hey, a win is a win right?

Just jumping back to Madde for a second though. Do y’all remember when he claimed he was going to be a top 4 team? We do... Well things started out well for the long time bottom dweller with a great win in week 1 over former-former-former champion Rowan “This is what hitting the bottom feels like” Flanagan (a loss to Madde set the tone for Rowan huh?) before an unlucky loss to Horney’s Heroes set Madde on a path to what could be a new season of destruction. For those of you who don’t know Madde, he’s a genius, a soon-to-be doctor and a science nut. So for him, we’ve set out his season graphically, in a way he’ll understand, using a new algorithm we’ve produced at The Bush Times to map out his ego paired with his projections against the reality of things and this is what we’ve come up with and we must say...something has to change in the Sneed’s camp whether that be ego or personnel...

Yikes...God speed Bowshire....banter aside we really really really want that top 4 finish from you this year. You’re on holidays now...research and get back on the Horse!

We have to shout out the worst fixture of the year so far this week with Guy “Spoon 2″ Ethell and Reid “Happy as Judas on crucifixion day” Kennedy giving us one of the worst performances and worst scoring games so far. Both managers struggled, with Reid finally getting his lowest scorers on the bench...but also keeping the lowest on the pitch. Guy was lucky to escape this one with an equally mediocre performance, only grabbing 30 from the game week. Both managers need to get cracking if they hope to keep in touch as the leadership group look to pull away through game weeks 5 and 6.

Congratulations are in order for Riley “Water is Jesus’ favourite drink” Guest who will surely be hitting the early bird specials this weekend for a first win bender. Congratulations lad, it’s always tough busting that first nut but we, and the almighty, are proud of your tenacity and wish you all the best for the coming weeks. let’s go newbies! Hilarious that Rowan is the only person yet to win this year....

Now...The Bush Times doesn’t usually like to get political, we’re one of the only media outlets not owned by Rupert Murdoch and his gang of corruptible conservatives and we like to keep our speech free and without political influence. However, there’s always exceptions. We live in the times of Trump, Brexit and Mourinho’s final meltdown, but The Bush always seems to escape troubling times unscathed. This week however, a darker turn was shown as one manager turned a little bit too “North Queensland” on us. Ben “Institutionalised” Petersen was understandably upset this week as his unbeaten run came to an end at the hands of Kirby “Quick boys the Misso is out” Lloyd. However, Ben seemed to hold the blame firmly upon Mo Salah’s FIRST LESS THAN 3 POINT GAME so far of the season and decided to throw out a slur that we’ve asked our Lawyers if we’re allowed to print...

Well....there you have it....Fair Play has been corrupted and #SayNoToRacism has come crashing down lads. All aboard, let’s build a wall and keep our players white only...Benny boy, if Salah is in your team after the international game week we’ll know your political beliefs are as flimsy as your team was this week. WE LOVED YOU BEN. YOU WERE THE MOST HUMBLE OF THEM ALL. WHERE TO FROM HERE? FUCK. THIS HURTS. I WANTED TO RIDE THAT MOUSTACHE.

On that note I’m going to rap it up...I’m tired man...tired of believing in things...like myself and my fantasy team. Good luck no doubt with all of you dropping your wildcards this international break you bloody sheep. As always, Get commenting on our posts and contribute to the banter. No excuse considering the amount of people we’ve got (28 people fuck me, I can only type so much you fucks). But! We’ll see you in just over a week for GW5...big things ahead lads. let’s get transferring

#TheBushTimes #BushTimesArticles

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mubal4 · 6 years

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“Suppose To’s”

It seems each day I become more fascinated by how this universe works. You put a thought out there and the world conspires to provide you with wisdom or clarity. Lately, I have been feeling a bit lost, sometimes, a bit confused, more than not, and not feeling a “normal vibe.” Just today, as I arrived at the airport in Phoenix, a place I’ve been countless times, it felt odd, at least a little bit. I chalked it up to me continue to adjust to all that will become our new normal. However, after having a splendid 😊 conversation with one of the Southwest employees, gratitude set in and that “abnormal feeling” subsided. The last two months have been a weird and wonderful trip and those times when I am not sure where I am headed; I look back to where I have come from and appreciate what I have in front of me. Yesterday on my Mastermind call that was brought up; how we can get wrapped up in the overwhelming pulls of life and, if you are like me, and hopefully not too much, tend to beat ourselves up. Am I doing enough? Am I working hard enough? Am I smart enough, pretty enough, rich enough, powerful enough?????????? Blah, Blah, Blah!!! We talked about this and how, we, as a group, and as a culture, struggle with what we perceive as, “what we are supposed to be like.” What are we supposed to do? “I am SUPPOSED to get this report done by tomorrow. I am SUPPOSED to get the laundry done (Robin will get this 😊). I am SUPPOSED to run 10 miles today. I think you are getting my point. We condition ourselves to believe we are SUPPOSED to do all things, and, when we don’t, we criticize ourselves and become hard on ourselves. I am incredibly guilty of this. We (I) forget where we (I) have come from, the road we’ve traveled to get where we are, the effort and work we’ve put in to be better. Why? Maybe because we believe we are supposed to be at a point that is much farther along than where we are right now? We are focused on an outcome that we perceive to be the place we are supposed to be, but, in reality, we are exactly where we are MEANT to be, right now, with what you have, based on where you have come from. This topic of “supposed to’s” came up in our Mastermind call yesterday, and then today, during my flight to San Diego, reading Brene’ Brown’s book, “The Gift’s of Imperfection,” it came up again. Having these two instances come to me in a span of 24 hours compelled me to right about it, so, there you have. #ThankYouMastermindGroup #ThankYouBreneBrown. (I have mentioned how much I friggin love her stuff 😊.)

Also, in the chapters I was reading today, Brene’ Brown talked about how she used to cringe when someone would ask her, “So, what do you do?” I laughed at that when I read it because, just yesterday, I was getting my haircut and was asked the same question……. I laughed out loud. I really don’t like this question, but I catch myself asking it, AND, most times when I ask, I don’t say what I should say. I say what “I am supposed to say.” (haha – see what I did there?). What I should really be saying is, I work hard each day to be a better husband, father, and human being. In reality, that is what I do, all the other stuff is building blocks, tools I guess, to help me get there. They are opportunities for me to learn the skills and principles necessary for me to continue to improve. Yes, there are many times, in those opportunities, I screw it up and make mistakes. However, those are still moments to help me improve. I am not too sure how much others give a shit about what I do to make money. I know there are people out there that have a career that matches to exactly what they do; Tony Robbins comes to mind quickly; Andy Andrews, Wayne Dyer was another and Jim Rohn. See a pattern there. Oprah is another!! My career, helps me feed my family and provide but, I don’t believe it matches to what I do!!! I am working on that and putting in a lot of effort to change that. This blog, my writing, my podcast, coaching/mentoring, running ultras/endurance events – those are things that I do that match directly with what I am “doing!!” – Trying to be a better husband, father, and human being. They are all things that not only challenge me but bring me joy, AND, I hope others too! My intent, at some point, is that these things are the source that put food on the table and help provide. I am not sure if that will happen, but I do know that I don’t need it to happen. These are the things “I do” that I will continue to do without getting paid for them. I believe they are what I am “supposed to do.” These are things I “get to do.”

“What do you do?”

#forgetsupposetos whatareyouabout? forgetwhatyoudo #masteringthrougfailure RFP

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emeraldcity2oz-blog · 6 years

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This might be long...

So. Many of you might have noticed that I was sad yesterday...because I posted about it. I am happy to report that I am no longer sad. Of course, you knew that already because I started that sentence with “I am happy”. After a night of feeling sad, and a bunch of very random interwoven dreams of bouncing between the states and Oz and having half-remembered conversations about things that only make sense in dreams, I woke up feeling better. I want to share the antecedent to my sadness, which I will get to later...but first, I want to muse about all the things that I like about my life in Oz.

First, I would like to note that you should be proud of me for thinking of this all on my own. No consulting google. I may have heard it somewhere though. Like, when you are angry at someone, list the things you love about them. Something like that. Some of these things I may have mentioned before, but this is about my self-comforting, so...yeah...skip to the end if you just want to know what set me off yesterday. ;-]

Architecture: The buildings here are on par with buildings in most cities. Mix of older and newer, different shapes and designs...but when you get into the neighborhoods, and my neighborhood especially, there are a lot of really pretty homes. There are a mix of styles, but I have seen a lot more contemporary homes around than I see in the states. No massive scale, cookie cutter houses, though there have been a few side by side homes that are duplicates. Just walking down my road, I see a lot of really pretty homes that are fun to look at and imagine living in. I can’t afford the 1,000,000+ pricetag (or 781,000 USD), but as far as I know it is free to look at.

My Home: Specifically, my home is not too bad. I have 2 room mates and 2 kittens. There is a big kitchen and a big lounge room (living room). All 3 bedrooms are on the second story, but it is designed so there are no shared walls on any of the bedrooms, so I don’t even really know when my roommates are there. Since moving in, I have seen one, once. The kittens, which are soft and friendly, I see most days. They wander about. I clocked the walk to the beach and it is 17 minutes from my front door to standing in the sand. That is at a leisurely pace. Not bad. I am also on top of a bakery, so my window gets the aroma of fresh baked goods. I also see nothing but pretty brick, two trees, and sky out my window. Most of the time I have just kept the windows open for the warm breeze, songbirds, and smells. Within 2 minutes from me, I have the post office, 4-5 restaurants, 2 cafes, a grocery store, a liquor store, and a farmer’s market.

The City: I only spent 1 day in the city so far, but it reminds me of a cross between Chicago and San Diego. Climate and vibe feel like San Diego, but infrastructure is Chicago. Strong train network, built up around the river with bridges, and just really pretty buildings. Right now there is a comedy festival going on, and I caught an Irish (I think) performer doing a free show at federation square, and it was hilarious. It was a mix of adults and kids in the audience, and he did a great job of getting everyone involved and rolling. I also took a stroll through China town, and the smells alone were worth it. Along the river there was the aroma of paella and kebabs and burgers and all sorts of delicious foods. There is a helipad in the river that was really cool to watch as a helicopter took off and later came back to land. So cool. I also enjoyed that the city is like a maze. Businesses are down side alleys and hidden from view, so you have to explore to find stuff. I followed a piece of graffiti, and found myself at a bar without any signage promoting it at all.

Coffee: Ok. Seattle is the coffee capital of the states, and Melbourne is the coffee capital of Oz. I have to say that it’s a draw for me. You can’t get a drip coffee here, and if you ask, they will A: stare at you like a strange insect, and B: list the options of espresso-based drinks that you can get. I have often heard folks complaining about how Americans let their coffee sit in a percolator (I think they mean carafe) all day instead of making it fresh. Fair points. And, the coffee here is good, and plentiful. Most restaurants have an espresso machine, and you can get a latte with any meal basically anywhere you go. That is where Melbourne definitely wins. The access and quality of coffee across multiple venues makes it beat Seattle. Even Mackers (McDonalds) only has espresso drinks. Quality of like-coffee drinks is a draw. Too close to call. Where Seattle wins, is in home brewed coffee, and in scale coffee. I can’ t get a 32oz latte here anywhere, so when you want volume on the go, you have to stop at multiple places and get multiple coffees. Not great. Also, every time I have wanted coffee during training or at someone’s home...all they have is instant. And they can complain about my percolator (or your carafe), but I can make it fresh, and it beats their instant. But...all in all, the coffee is a positive. My flat white this morning was superb.

Attractive People: This is a repeat, but I have a theory on why I am attracted to most everyone here. I was going to dedicate a blog to this, but I’m going to try and smoosh it into here. It boils down to 5 basic points that combine to make Aussies such an attractive people. 1: Aussies on the whole are more fit than an American counterpart. There are still a range of people of different sizes and shapes, but people are more on the fit than fat side (not that either is better or worse to me). 2: Aussies wear better clothes. When I say better, I don’t mean style, I mean fit. Regardless of the body or style or other factor, the clothes are rarely baggy or wrinkled or loose. It is like everyone is wearing tailored outfits. 3: Aussies are more likely to be well-groomed. Trimmed beards, fresh haircuts, styled hairdos, and good fragrances are abundant. 4: The accent. As soon as an Aussie starts talking, it is all over. Enough said on that one. 5: Because you find yourself staring at the pretty people, it is like the rest of the world disappears...making the normal looking people seem like they don’t exist (of course until they talk, then I refer you to point 4). Ok. Now this is all my perceptions, and not based on any facts. Also, I only really pay attention to people ages 20-40 or so...yeah...oh and also, not all Aussies meet all points. For example, you might meet an Aussie who is wearing baggy clothes, but they are well groomed, and have a good body, so you forget about the clothes. Or, you meet someone with a pudgy body (like me), but they are well groomed and have great clothes. Boom. Attractive. Then, relatively often, you see someone meeting everything, and you can’t stop staring at them on the whole train ride home...and because of point 5, boom. Everyone on the train was super-duper attractive. Also, point 4 is a killer, because you can be doing something like writing a blog about attractive Aussies, and then the person next to you (who has an average body, ok clothes, and in need of a new do) starts talking...and boom! Attractive. Definitely a positive to living here.

I was going to list one more thing, but that last one should count as 2, I think. Ok. So now that I am full of positive energy, I am going to go through the events of yesterday.

I had my induction at work yesterday. It was scheduled from 10a-2p. It was basic on-boarding stuff...filling out tax forms, and learning policies. It wasn’t really anything special. Something that every employer does on some level. This is where instructors teach, this is where the first aid stations are, this is the office, this is what to do in an emergency, here are lesson plans, this is a roster, here is a book for you to read about teaching, and so on and so forth.

I found that as a former aquatic and a training professional, I had a really hard time keeping myself from judging the whole thing...like...you are doing a poor job of teaching what you are trying to teach...or why do you want me to sign this if it hasn't actually been completed yet...or is this really all you tell people before they start actually working for you? There were moments where I questioned the systems in place, and whether they had chosen to go down the right path. I heard complaints about issues with staff, that I know the solutions to...and sooo many more thoughts in my head.

At the end, they said, ok, you are working Mon-Fri these hours. We’ll see you later. Now, I had to stop and say no. What classes am I teaching? You never told me your level system. You haven’t told me how I get credentialed. I don’t know what the next steps are, and I don’t actually feel prepared to work for you...even though I have done this a million times. This orientation didn't teach me much. Also, because I was talking with a different supervisor, and sent information to a second supervisor, and now you are the third supervisor, you don’t have a unified system for communication or dissemination of information, so apparently my certifications are lost...and you don't know anything I already told person 1 or 2.

So now...because I am not a certified swim teacher, I have to volunteer (for free) to teach until we get things sorted out. Well. I have my Lifeguard certifications, why don’t we start with that. Oh, we decided not to use you as a lifeguard, and instead only have you teaching swim lessons all day every day. Two, 4-hour shifts Mon-Fri. I love teaching swimming, but that is a long time to be in the pool teaching. I will get waterlogged in a week...if I last that long...and again, we have to figure out that working for free thing you mentioned earlier...

Ok, so now you are at least working with me to answer my questions, and I suddenly understand. You already decided what I am teaching and when. You decide how I am going to do it, and with what equipment. You will tell me what square to be in...you will have the equipment there for me...and I just need to show up and do what is on the sheet of paper. I do not have to assess the students for progress, because you will come around and assess my students when you want to, and you will decide which of my students are moving to the next level. You have industrialized swim lessons so that swim teachers are basically warm bodies doing as you command. I am skeptical, but willing to give it a try...I guess...

So now...at this point, I am struggling to exist as the lowest person in the hierarchy instead of an influencer...I am disappointed in the lack of organization of my supervisors...I am not going to be doing any lifeguarding, only teaching...and I have no creative options for actually doing that job. Compare this to 2 years ago...when I was an influencer for all staff at all levels of an organization for training and development. I was taking calls from Executives preparing to take fundraising training, I was working out systemic issues with ensuring all 1500+ staff across a statewide area were compliant with CPR and First Aid. I directly influenced standards for aquatic safety and programming across 15 locations. I had the best boss in the world, who understood me, and supervised in a way that was perfect for me needs. I could put my energy into any problems that came up, and my job didn’t get boring. Every time I asked for a new challenge, it was easy to absorb a new job or take on a new hurdle.

It was tough thinking about the drastic change between working for the Y in AZ, and working for the Y here in VIC. Could I exist in this world? Should I go home and beg Peyton for mercy? I heard aquatics there is falling apart again, maybe I could go back and help bring it back instead of being a cog in this wheel. But...then I took a step back. This job is not my life. This job is not a career. I knew that coming in. I am only here for a year at most, and this job is something I can leave at the door when I walk out each day. This job is a way to make that colorful Aussie money that I need if I want to go snorkeling in the great barrier reef. That I need if I am going to catch a show at the Sydney Opera House. That will pay for my annual membership to the wildlife preserve where I can hold koalas. This is just a job. It has been so long since I have looked at a job that way, I will have to retrain my brain...like driving on the left...I am not here to fix Australia’s aquatics department. I am here to make money, have FUN, build up my people skills, and go back to the US (not now, but in the future), as a better, more worldly person. I can do this. I will do this.

Brass Razoo = Money

22 Days in Oz

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