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theggning · 3 years

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I Hate the Alternate Ending of Blind Betrayal, and Here's Why!

DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: Massive spoilers for Fallout 4 abound. This post discusses Blind Betrayal, a quest with suicide as a heavy theme. Content warning applies.

DISCLAIMER THE SECOND: This post discusses cut OFFICIAL content from Fallout 4 that has since been repurposed into multiple mods. I am not criticizing any modders or their implementations of this content. Mods are fun and people can enjoy whatever the hell kind of game experience they want with whatever mods they want.

I am ONLY interested in discussing the original cut content as Bethesda had written it, and how it would have impacted the story and lore of Fallout 4.

So, yeah, it seems there was originally going to be another way to conclude Blind Betrayal (BB).

As described in this Kotaku article (citing this post by Tumblr user tentacle-explosion,) there are unused audio files of Danse’s dialogue that show an alternate ending to his pivotal quest. These lines are the only evidence we have of this ending (suggesting that it was cut fairly early on, as no other actors/characters seem to have recorded for it.)

From what we can tell, in this alternate ending of BB, Danse comes up with a possible way out of the sticky situation re: his identity as a synth. According to the Brotherhood Litany, he is able to challenge Maxson’s authority as Elder via combat. If you agree to this idea, you go with Danse to challenge Maxson. The Paladin and the Elder duel one another, Danse wins, and Maxson dies. Then Danse names the Sole Survivor the new Elder-- or with a hard charisma check, you’re able to convince Danse to take the job himself. It is unknown how the main plot would have progressed beyond this point, as there is no other evidence of what being (or influencing) the Elder would have been like or what choices it would have given you.

There is understandable disappointment in learning that this ending was cut. Choices in games are great, and it could have been fun to have multiple different options for how to resolve the quest. In many gaming circles, people complain that this theoretical ending is superior to the one we got and shouldn’t have been axed. The Kotaku article calls it a “way better” ending, and you’ll see many players lamenting that it wasn’t implemented, saying Bethesda was bad at writing for cutting it, etc.

So why did Bethesda get rid of the Elder ending of BB?

In December 2020, after the Fallout 4 Cast Reunion, Danse’s voice actor Peter Jessop answered questions in a private signing session on his Instagram. Peter Jessop is an extremely kind and gracious man, an avid gamer, and a huge fan of Fallout. During the stream, he reflected on the alternate ending and remembered recording the lines, but stated the content was ultimately cut because Bethesda decided it was lore-breaking.

Peter Jessop is right. Bethesda was right. The Elder ending of BB is a bunch of dumb nonsense. It sucks, I hate it, and I’m glad they got rid of it. And now I’m going to tell you why!

SIDENOTE: King Shit of Fuck Mountain

There is no wrong way to play a single-player video game. If you are having fun, then you are accomplishing the task for which the game was made. Good for you! Play it on easy. Play it on hard. Mod it. Speedrun it. Make up an intricate roleplaying scenario. Perform “challenge” runs. Kill everybody you see. Ignore the story and run around collecting wheels of cheese. Games are meant to be fun and there is nothing wrong with enjoying a game however you damn well please. This is especially true for RPGs like Fallout, which are designed with player freedom in mind.

There is an RPG playstyle I like to call King Shit of Fuck Mountain: a naked power fantasy in which your protagonist is the most powerful person ever, even beyond normal RPG plot significance. Through brute strength, incredible charisma, or having completed tons of quests for world-breaking artifacts and weapons, your character wields godlike influence, able to control people, factions, and the fabric of the world itself. A game enables KSoFM gameplay when it allows the player limitless freedom to gain as much power as they like with zero consequences to plot or storytelling.

A great example of this is the Dragonborn in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. If the player chooses to pursue every questline in the game, one single person can become Harbinger of the Companions, Archmage of the College of Winterhold, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, Nightingale and Guildmaster of the Thieves’ Guild, hero of the Imperial/Stormcloak army, the chosen one of like, 11 different Daedric princes, a bard, a Blade, and otherwise just, absurdly goddamn powerful in completely unrealistic ways. And that’s not counting DLCs. A fully-kitted-out Dragonborn is King Shit of Fuck Mountain.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with playing KSoFM if you like to. But I’m not a big fan of this style, personally. Sure, my first Skyrim character became KSoFM while I was figuring out the game, but after my first playthrough I preferred my characters become coherent figures in the story of the world. I pick one or two character traits and things that my Dragonborn is good at, focus on them, and make them part of some overall story. My honorable Imperial paladin werewolf is in the Companions, and hunts vampires on principle. My Argonian sneaky archer is a gleeful thief, but would never jive with the College or the Dark Brotherhood. I like creating protagonists who fit into these settings immersively. I don’t care about power fantasies or being in charge. I don’t WANT my character to be all-powerful, because that ruins my immersion and my little story.

Additionally, in a plot-driven story-focused game like Fallout, KSoFM tears the narrative apart. Skyrim is fairly light on story, so the Dragonborn can be the leader of the Companions and the Dark Brotherhood and whatever other factions without any of them noticing or caring. But FO4’s themes, faction drama, and the main thrust of the plot don’t work at all if the Sole Survivor is able to become too powerful or too influential. The Sole Survivor cannot become the leader of every faction, solve every problem, or eliminate every inconvenient bend of the conflict because it makes the lore of the entire setting implode. Thus, the game forces you to choose between factions. You cannot be with the Minutemen and the Nuka-World Raiders. You cannot be with the Railroad and the Institute. And you cannot become Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel.

So if you’re the kind of person who loves playing KSoFM, if you like plots that your character can “solve” with relative ease, or if you just think it would be super cool for your Sole to become Elder regardless of surrounding storytelling, then you might think the Elder ending sounds super cool. You are absolutely allowed to disagree with me here. Install all the mods and write all the fic and have all the headcanons you like. I respect that. There is no wrong way to enjoy a single-player video game. Have fun!

But if you’re a big nitpicky pedantic lore nerd like me, a fan of cohesive storytelling, or if you just want to hear how the Elder ending of BB absolutely fucking ruins Maxson, Danse, the Brotherhood of Steel, and the entire plot of FO4 from a narrative perspective, read on!

1. The Synth Thing

The Elder ending requires the stupid plot contrivance of the BoS forgetting about Danse’s synthhood.

One of the biggest problems with the BoS as an institution is their strict and dogmatic beliefs, which include a widespread dislike of non-human species. Perhaps more than any other non-humans, the BoS hates synths. Synths are, in their eyes, machines given free will, a violation of the sanctity of human life and the ultimate example of technology run amok. To them, synths are not sympathetic, they are not slaves, and they are not victims of circumstance. They are weapons that left unchecked will destroy all of humanity for a second time. Synths are anathema to everything the BoS stands for, and finding out that one of their most beloved and trusted Paladins is one is an earth-shattering blow to their integrity and sense of security.

It is completely absurd that the BoS would allow a synth within their ranks, particularly as they are waging war against the Institute, who created synths in the first place. It is even MORE absurd that they’d allow one to influence their Elder, or even worse, to become Elder. It completely undermines their mission in the Commonwealth, and the core tenets of their extremely rigid beliefs. No matter the Elder, no matter the Litany or obscure BoS law, no matter how valuable the Sole Survivor is as a soldier or how much influence they wield. Danse is a synth. He’s the enemy. He is physically the embodiment of everything they hate.

Not only wouldn’t they trust a synth in general, but the BoS specifically believes that Danse is an infiltrator for the Institute. Even Danse believes that he is a danger, that the Institute may be able to take control of him and use him as a weapon. Sure, we know none of this is actually true, or possible, but the BoS don’t know that. And given how quick they are to order Danse dead without even the possibility of surrender, I don’t think there’s any charisma in the world that’s going to convince them otherwise.

According to Peter Jessop, this, ultimately, is the reason why the Elder ending was cut. He talks about it around the 11:30 timestamp in his Instagram stream, linked above:

“We recorded an ending where you keep Danse alive and you take over the Brotherhood. But there was a question of content… there’s no way the Brotherhood, once they knew he was a synth, would let him be even the right hand of the person in charge.”

Bethesda correctly recognized the incredible narrative contrivance for the BoS to shrug off the reason they’re trying to execute Danse in the first place. Whatever other beefs I have with this ending conceptually, they all come in second to just what a big dumb leap it is to get beyond this first and most important problem.

2. The Complete Death of Conflict

The Elder ending of BB destroys the conflict of the quest, and potentially the conflict of the entire game.

Greed is a poison. There is no such thing as a perfect ideal or a perfect organization. Power corrupts. Humanity has the choice to build back better. War never changes. The Fallout games are full of themes, depicted by the characters and quests and factions we play out.

Blind Betrayal is rightfully praised as one of the most powerful quests in FO4. Not only is it well-acted, but it puts the player in a very difficult position. The BoS has given you clout and glory and free power armor and lots of firepower, but now you see the price: unquestioning obedience. You are ordered to execute your friend and mentor Danse for the mere fact he is a synth. Are you going to follow that unjust order? Are you willing to give up your principles on command? Or is this where you can no longer stay quiet and stay in line?

To be honest, I’ve always thought the fact you can talk Maxson out of killing Danse but still remain with the BoS in good standing was a cop-out. BB goes 90% of the way to forcing you to choose between a companion and a faction, and then chickens out at the last second to let you have both, if your charisma is high enough.

(I believe this has the fingerprints of Skyrim’s development on it-- Bethesda’s writers got nervous about doing another Paarthurnax choice involving the fan favorite Brotherhood of Steel. That’s right. Danse is the Paarthurnax of Fallout. Frankly, I understand why they chose not to go there, but damn, wouldn’t it have been wild? You want to run with the BoS? Then kill your friend and feel the burn. THIS is what it means to follow orders without question.

As for me, I’d pick Danse every time and sleep soundly without the company of shitty bootlicking dieselpunk LARPers- but I digress.)

Anyway, you know what would have REALLY been a copout? If the game asked you to make a difficult thematic storyline choice, and you solved the problem by just not choosing at all.

You are supposed to feel uncomfortable when Maxson orders you to kill Danse, because the game is telling a story about how it is maybe a bad thing to thoughtlessly follow orders without question. It is asking you to think about what the BoS is, what they are doing, and how they are going to run things, if you choose to let them “win” the Commonwealth. It is pointing out that there is no room for gray in the BoS’ black and white. That a good, loyal man may die because of the way he was made, through no action of his own. That soon, you’ll be killing other people on command. The Railroad. Fleeing Institute synths and scientists. Others, down the line. It all depends on who’s giving the orders. Are you going to follow those orders?

Eesh, that sounds thought-provoking and unpleasant and difficult! Let’s just skip it by killing Maxson and making ourselves the boss. Now we get to tell everybody else what to do!

It’s unknown what powers the Elder ending would have granted the player, or how it would have interacted with the other factions. There is speculation that you’d have been able to ease back on the BoS’ dogmatism, or change some of the later events of the game. For instance, perhaps you could talk the BoS down from attacking the Railroad, sparing popular characters like Glory and Deacon who must die in the normal BoS storyline. Perhaps you could have made the BoS a kinder, gentler faction and directed them to run the way you want them to.

If this was indeed the case, then the Elder ending would not only suck the gravitas out of BB, but torpedo the entire main plot.

If you can get rid of any and all downsides to siding with the BoS, why in the hell would players side with anybody else? With the player given total power, the BoS becomes a perfect faction with no drawbacks, no weaknesses, no tough decisions to be made. Screw slumming it with the Railroad or the Minutemen, let’s take over the BoS. Free power armor and a giant robot! Forget the whole intolerance thing, I hereby proclaim the BoS No Longer Problematic! Now to force all the factions to get along, completely removing all conflict and nuance from the plot!

That’s some real anticlimactic “tell Legate Lanius to go home and then he does it” bullshit right there. King Shit of Fuck Mountain!

Look, it might be nice if there was a perfect path like that to take through the game. It would be cool if our characters could be that powerful and the game was that tailored to our individual choices. On the other hand, “I change all the factions to suit my exact liking” might be a fun idea for a fanfic, but it’s an incredibly boring plot for a video game. “I get to make everything in the world exactly how I want it” is Minecraft, not a story-driven RPG with a complex and intricate plot.

It would be great if complex conflicts could really be solved that easily and effortlessly, but hey, you know what? War never changes.

3. The Assassination of Arthur Maxson (Literal)

Arthur Maxson’s death is too significant and fundamentally disastrous for the Elder ending to make any sense at all.

Hero, villain, leader, monster, tortured soul, brutal dictator, immature twerp, bearded sex hunk. However you personally interpret Arthur Maxson, there is no denying that he is a venerated, popular, beloved figure in the BoS. He is the blood heir of the organization’s founder, a powerful warrior, a brilliant tactician, and a charismatic negotiator. He is responsible for reuniting the East Coast BoS with the Outcasts, leading the new, stronger BoS with a sense of shared purpose. There is a damn good reason his name is Arthur and he named his ship The Prydwen, echoes of King Arthur and the legends of his glorious kingdom of Camelot. Arthur Maxson is so beloved that many view him as a demigod, a messiah sent to lead the BoS into a mighty and prosperous future.

So I’m sure nobody’s going to be upset when some wasteland jackass recruited a month ago stumbles in with a synth, kills him, and takes over his job. Right?

It doesn’t matter that it’s “honorable.” It doesn’t matter that it’s done “by the book” via obscure BoS rules. There is no codex or litany or rule so binding that it’s going to overcome the cult of personality around Maxson. There is no way that the BoS is going to accept the death of Arthur Maxson, a man whose reverence borders on worship, especially not when he is immediately replaced by a wastelander, or a synth.

The death of Arthur Maxson removes the unifying glue that’s been holding the BoS together since mending the rift with the Outcasts. Maxson’s death eliminates the one person that both sides of that conflict agreed could steer the organization in the right direction. Some level heads may try to keep the focus on the mission and the Brotherhood tenets, but Maxson loyalists will never forgive the new Elder for his death, and that amount of passionate righteous anger will not be quelled by appeals to the rules. The new Elder’s war on the Institute is basically over before it begins, when the forces splinter and start infighting over the change in leadership.

And this is if the new Elder lives long enough to actually give any orders. I give them around 24 hours after the duel before some angry Maxson loyalist “accidentally” pulls the trigger and “tragically” empties a clip into their back.

24 seconds, if it’s Elder Danse, the dirty synth abomination.

4. The Assassination of Arthur Maxson (Figurative)

The Elder ending of BB falsely pretends that Arthur Maxson is the biggest and only problem with the BoS.

In the Elder ending, as written, the conflict of BB is considered completely and totally solved by the death of Arthur Maxson. The core problem, that Danse is a synth and considered an enemy by the BoS, has not gone away. But by getting rid of Maxson, this apparently no longer matters. Nobody else is going to take offense to Danse’s nature or protest his presence. Nobody else is going to attack him or try to follow through with Maxson’s prior orders. Nope, that meanybutt guy who gave the order is gone, and everybody else is going to welcome Danse back into the fold like nothing ever happened.

I touched on this a little bit on an ask about Maxson a few weeks back, but a lot of people seem to believe that the FO4 Brotherhood of Steel is the way they are purely because of him. That he is the one making them treat non-humans as second class citizens at best, and enemies to be slaughtered at worst. That it’s his fault the BoS is so vehemently against synths and the Institute. That he is the one influencing their imperialistic tendencies, and treating the Commonwealth like territory to be conquered and people to be ruled over by their betters.

He’s not. That’s the Brotherhood of Steel, guys.

The charitable, altruistic, virtuous BoS that many of us met for the first time in FO3 were outliers. Lyons’ group was literally disowned by the rest of the faction because their kindness to wastelanders had gone so far astray from the “core” tenets. The BoS as a whole has always been exclusive, isolated, and seen themselves as “superior” to the average wastelander. They have long disliked or outright hated non-humans (and even Lyons’ BoS in FO3 use ghouls, feral or not, for “target practice” if they get too close!) The rigid dogmatism of the BoS is not something that Arthur Maxson started, but has always been part of their fabric.

Now, it’s true that Maxson is absolutely going hard on the BoS tenets, and extremely dedicated to upholding them. His BoS are the way they are and act the way they act because he believes that this is the way it should be. Is it possible that a different leader may be a little more flexible? Absolutely. Could a skilled Elder eventually show them the benefits of a softer approach and a more generous worldview? Totally. Is getting rid of Maxson and replacing him going to make that happen overnight, or going to make the rest of the BoS who supported him shrug and follow suit?

Nope.

Blaming Arthur Maxson for everything unsavory about the Brotherhood is unfair to him and also foolishly ignoring the deep, massive problems that are far older than he is-- problems that plenty of its members wholeheartedly believe are not problems at all. Getting rid of Maxson does not make the BoS kinder or gentler. Even pretending Maxson isn’t as personally beloved as he is, any new Elder who steps in and starts trying to fundamentally alter the way the BoS operates and what they believe in is going to face some major, immediate pushback.

Like, a full clip of bullets in the back type of pushback.

In the face if it’s Elder Danse, the godless freak of nature.

5. The Un-Redemption of Paladin Danse

Last, and my personal least favorite!

At first glance, Paladin Danse is a steely jackboot, a die-hard Brotherhood loyalist who fully and firmly believes in their cause. Many immediately dismiss him as a humorless brute, or completely ignore him because they think that’s all there is. But if you spend any time with Danse at all, you’ll notice a sort of weariness in him. He is tired, overworked, and his years of service are starting to weigh on him. He has watched friends, comrades, and mentors die in horrible and gruesome ways, and he suffers from PTSD. Though he has always been told that his own sacrifices, the sacrifices of his brothers and sisters have been” worth it,” he’s starting to question if that’s true.

After telling of the incident where he personally executed his best friend Cutler, who’d been turned into a super mutant, the Sole Survivor is able to console him:

Player Default: You did the right thing. Danse: {Somber} It's what I was taught. I don't know if it was right.

This line is an excellent summary of Danse’s entire character arc. He learns to question whether to believe what the Brotherhood has taught him, or to believe in himself. His gut feelings. His sense of justice and his own ideas of what’s right and wrong.

(In the interest of not turning this into an essay about Danse’s character, I won’t even get into how this also applies to his beliefs about his worth as a person. But keep in mind, that dimension is there, Danse just covers it up by making everything about the Brotherhood.)

During Blind Betrayal, after getting the orders to execute him and hearing Haylen’s plea for mercy, we may expect Danse to be ready to fight back or flee. But when you confront him in the bunker at Listening Post Bravo, he’s compliant and suicidal. Danse is so deeply poisoned by the BoS’ rhetoric that his own feelings or will to live don’t factor into the conversation. He demands that you follow your orders and execute him, because he believes, as the BoS does, that all synths are dangerous and must be destroyed.

Danse: {Stern} Synths can't be trusted. Machines were never meant to make their own decisions, they need to be controlled. Technology that's run amok is what brought the entire world to its knees and humanity to the brink of extinction.

{Confident} I need to be the example, not the exception.

Through various dialogue options, if your charisma is high enough, you are able to talk Danse off the ledge. He is able to consider, at least, that the BoS’ merciless judgment of him is wrong and that what he was taught isn’t right. He is a thinking, feeling, self-aware synth, and that makes him as much a person as any human. Danse is no danger to humanity-- and maybe, most synths aren’t either.

Danse is an example, not an exception.

Later on, if you manage to get him out of BB alive, Danse shows further acceptance of his nature. His approvals about synths begin to soften slightly (or many of them do, at least… it’s not perfect.) He is still struggling with his identity and reconciling it with his former hatred, but his dialogue suggests that he’s on the road to being more open-minded and understanding. Along with this, Danse learns that he has value as a person beyond the Brotherhood. He no longer needs to define himself with BoS beliefs or judge himself by how useful he is to them. He learns that he is worth caring about, worth being friends with or being loved because of who he is-- not what he is, in any regard.

[SIDENOTE: Many players, myself included, are frustrated that Danse’s arc leaves off sort of midstream there. Due to the open-ended nature of the game, we don’t get a real conclusion to his arc-- even though much of his idle dialogue doesn’t change and he still espouses pro-BoS sentiments ( an unfortunate by-product of writing for a video game) there is every indication that he’s started down the right path, but understandably has a ways to go.

Also, Peter Jessop agrees with us.]

Meanwhile, in the Elder ending, Danse doesn’t get a redemption. His entire character arc, actually, hits the skids and does a total 180.

He never leaves the BoS. So scratch the need for Danse to ever think about himself as separate from them. He never needs to question what they’ve taught him or whether they’re right or wrong. He never needs to find any worth in himself beyond his use to the BoS. Why would he? He might be the Elder. The BoS is all he needs to care about anymore. The BoS is all he ever needs to be, ever again.

And I think, most horrifying of all, this Danse never needs to change his mind about synths. On the contrary, one of the surviving dialogue files includes Danse’s speech to reassure the rest of the BoS of his stance:

Danse: I want to make one thing clear to everyone. This body might be synth, but my heart and mind belong to the Brotherhood. The Institute is still a tremendous threat to the Commonwealth. They possess technologies that need to be confiscated or destroyed. And even if that means I have to pull the trigger on my own kind, I’m willing to make that sacrifice.

Elder ending Danse doesn’t grow more understanding on the nature of synths. He doesn’t accept that synths are people, or anything more than technology run amok. He won’t even accept that for himself. Elder Maxson wasn’t wrong about synths-- they’re the enemy and they need to be destroyed.

But, see, he was wrong about Danse. It’s okay for Danse to exist in spite of his nature. It’s okay for him to never fully accept his own personhood, and to outright deny it to his kind. Because his body is a machine, but he’s different from the rest because his heart and mind belong to the Brotherhood.

He’s the exception, not the example.

CONCLUSION:

The Elder ending of Blind Betrayal is dumb, contrived, stakeless, character-derailing powergaming crap at its finest and I’ll happily dance on its grave.

People give Bethesda a lot a shit for their writing-- whether it be stuff they left out, stuff they left in, or stuff that they never, ever could have made work due to the limitations of writing for a video game. Plenty of it is well-deserved, or at least worth a discussion. But from the minute I found out about its existence, I have always wanted to extend a congratulations to Bethesda for cutting the alternate Elder ending of Blind Betrayal. It was a good choice. A very good choice to cut a very dumb plot that would have fundamentally altered the story they were telling, and characters that I’ve grown to love. I think the writers deserve some credit and a hearty handshake for the wisdom of this decision.

Now as for why Nick Valentine isn’t romanceable--

#fallout 4 #fallout meta #paladin danse #arthur maxson #blind betrayal #this one was a long time coming #any thematic resemblance to any fics of mine is a coincidence #the blind betrayal manifesto #king shit of fuck mountain #the initial intrigue of the idea wears off if you think about it more than not at all

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meganshinsou-tm · 5 years

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Sugarcoated. (m)

↳ chapter fifteen: extraordinary

❧ genre: pro-hero hitoshi, adoptive siblings, happy ending

❧ chapter warnings: none

[multi-chap masterlist] [previous chapter - next chapter]

"Okay, so," you spoke with a mouthful of pancakes looking at Hitoshi who sat next to you on his laptop, "You're going to be an art teacher at UA? I thought it was a hero school?"

Hitoshi rose a brow, turning his sight from the screen and looking at you, he chuckled when he saw you had a small dab of syrup on your cheek. Leaning over he placed a hand to cup your neck and pull you closer as the tip of his tongue licked your skin clean. You smiled and thanked him by giving him a sticky sweet kiss. He licked his own lips clean as he pulled away and shook his head as his thumb dried his lip.

"It is, but once the second half of the year starts in a few weeks they are implementing more laid back extra-curricular courses. Those kids work their asses off with all their hero courses and the school faculty wants to try and give them courses that aren't so intense and fun, like de-stressers. They are still teenagers, growing into young adults and need to relax every now and then. Even when they're adults and pros they need to remember they're still human and deserve some down-time to indulge in their hobbies."

It made since to give the kids a somewhat normal high-school experience with such courses. Hitoshi told you besides his photography/art course there would be music, cooking, tech, sports and other language courses. He would teach a class for each year. Everyone would start at the same level this year and as the kids moved up in grades they would pick up from where they left off the year before and step up their subject matter and difficulties the older they got, he'd start new with each first year and just make it a cycle. As he talked about his plans for his class and students you couldn't help but smile and feel so happy and proud for him. This was something he was extremely passionate about and you loved how he never seemed satisfied in life, always striving to try different things and reach for bigger goals.

"So, what does that mean for your hero career? You're gonna have a lot on your hands with that teaching job."

"Well having the quirk I have and being the type of hero I am gives me the freedom to pick and choose my jobs for the majority of it. You see, I'm not really a combat type of hero, meaning I'm not who you want to call in during big fights and attacks. I can fight but it's not really my forte. I'm more low-key and undercover, the less you see of me the better I can do my job. I get called out for missions that involve infiltration groups, interrogations, uh –" Hitoshi struggled for another example.

"Like a spy pretty much?" You offered up and took another bite of your food.

Hitoshi nodded and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah I guess you can look at it that way. Keeping the details of my quirk hidden is really a must, if the target or villain knows my quirk then I'm really out of luck because they can just choose to not talk to me. That's also why when I do go on missions or take jobs, they're away from here where no one knows me. The work I do here is mostly just research and intel for a few people, gathering information on certain wanted villains and making up profiles for them, I study them pretty much."

You raised your brows and nodded, somewhat smiling. You've never really gotten details before on what Hitoshi does as a hero. You knew he wasn't very well known and liked to keep it that way. He had told you before that he did intense training on learning how to read people, he didn't need you to talk to him in order for him to pin down what kind of person you were. Hitoshi was extremely intelligent and calculated. It made sense that he was used for more undercover and hushed jobs, his quirk was definitely more suited for that type of work.

"So when you say groups, you mean like big villain groups or even terrorists?"

Hitoshi nodded and looked back at his laptop continuing what he was doing.

"Yeah, pretty dangerous people who intend to do large scale attacks that could put a large amount of people at risk. It's my job to help stop them before they can fulfill those plans."

"Wow, you're really amazing Toshi."

Chuckling, your boyfriend made a face as he clicked and leaned more towards his screen, "I mean I don't really do as much as the other heroes so –"

"What are you talking about? Hitoshi, with what you do, you don't save just a couple of people, you save hundreds. You're able to stop things before they even happen, meaning that no one has to get hurt or know fear and distress from what could've happened all because of you. They are able to just go on about their lives and live, because of you. You do just as much as the other heroes, if not more. So yeah, you are amazing and an amazing hero."

Hitoshi was now looking at you, totally silent and taken back. He never really put much thought into what he does and how much it benefits society. His small group of fans didn't know the full extent of what he does besides that he's always called to help interrogate really stubborn big-name villains and always gets them to crack. So besides you, no one has ever made him realize just how important he is - period. Coming from you made it that much better though, you were beaming with pride, all over him. It made him smile so big it hurt.

You smiled back and he reached out for you, his hand cupping your neck again and pulling you closer to him as he kissed your lips sweetly. You smiled as he kissed you with so much gratitude and happiness, pecking your lips continuously. When he gave you one last kiss his forehead rested on yours and he sighed. "Thank you (Y/N), that really means so much to me."

"No problem hero, I'll always be here to shower you with all the admiration you deserve. All those people who don't know you saved them, I'll be the one who thanks you each time for them."

Shinsou smiled and kissed your cheek, letting you finish eating as he went back to his laptop, holding your free hand on the counter surface. After you finished you looked over to see what he was doing, he had a picture pulled up of you from Disneyland with Pooh and Piglet as they kissed your cheek.

"What are you doing Toshi?" You asked, hopping off of your seat and taking your dishes to the sink to wash them.

"I'm editing the pictures from yesterday," he replied with a smile.

You hurried to finish washing your dishes then dried your hands and skipped over to Hitoshi. He chuckled and held his arm up, inviting you to sit on his lap. You stepped on the bottom bar of the stool and lifted yourself up to sit comfortably on his thighs. His free hand wrapped around your waist as he kissed your arm and worked on the editing software.

"The lighting wasn't too bad but it could've been better, and I'm making it look a little sharper, making the colors stand out more."

"That's it?"

"Well yeah, everything else is perfect, especially you. You're genuinely beautiful (Y/N), in every angle and light. I'll never need to edit you if that's what you're wondering."

"Actually that is exactly what I was wondering, thank you for clearing it up!" You laughed and watched as Hitoshi continued. "So what do you plan on doing with these if I may ask?"

"Well I'll print them up and put them in my book with all my other pictures, but this one for sure is going to be printed up on a big canvas and hung in the bedroom, it's my favorite one of you so far. I also may get a smaller size printed too to hang up in my classroom."

Your cheeks blushed and you couldn't help but feel flattered again.

"Don't you think those kids will get sick of seeing and hearing about me and Eri?"

Hitoshi scoffed and shrugged his shoulders as he saved his file and closed the program out. He kissed your arm and pressed his cheek to it, looking up at you. "Maybe but they can get over it. It's my class and I can do whatever I want."

You laughed and wrapped your arm around Hitoshi's back, looking down at him.

"Just don't get too power hungry Toshi. I don't want to have to put you in your place if you come home one day cockier than usual."

Hitoshi chuckled and squeezed your side, "Oh I'd love to see you try!"

"I'm sure you would you perv!"

"Who's the one that offered a blow job just to see a notebook earlier? I think you just wanted an excuse to suck me off!" He replied with a smirk and squeezed your thigh.

You stuck your tongue out at him and removed your arm, leaned forward and placed your elbows on the counter. You grabbed your phone from the spot you sat at and started to scroll through it mindlessly. "So what if I did!"

Hitoshi smiled and kissed your cheek before he checked the time on the microwave clock. "Now, ready to go get our temporary kid?"

"If I can drive the jeep!"

Hitoshi laughed and pinched your cheek, "Only if you can reach the pedals halfling!"

You pulled up outside of a very modern and nice looking home. Putting the jeep in park you looked at it and awed. Hitoshi placed a finger under your chin to help close your mouth and your eyes finally looked at him and you smirked. He smiled back and leaned over to kiss you and asked if you were ready.

"I guess, I'm kind of nervous. Deku and Shouto are like a big deal!"

"Thanks!" Hitoshi replied with a laugh.

"I didn't mean it like that Toshi, it's just I've never met any of the other pro heroes before. Some of the older ones would come into the café but not the new generation."

"I know what you mean sweetheart, I was joking. You'll be fine, Deku is extremely friendly and Shouto is very kind, he may be kind of serious looking but that's just how he is. Now come on, let's go get our kid and go get some food, I'm shocked you aren't trying to eat my arm or something, it's been like an hour or two since you ate."

You rolled your eyes and shoved Hitoshi's face away as he laughed. He got out of the vehicle first and ran around to your side and opened the door to help you down. He pulled your beanie down to cover your ears and tugged the collar of your coat up closer to your face. You giggled as he wrapped an arm around your shoulder and walked with you up the walkway to the front door and kissed your head. Hitoshi lightly knocked on the door and you both waited for it to be answered.

Only a few seconds later the door knob turned and the barrier opened, a man with red and white hair split down the middle opened it and gave a friendly smile.

"Hello Hitoshi," his grey and turquoise eyes looked at you and he smiled again, "you must be (Y/N), it's nice to meet you."

He extended his hand and you froze for a bit staring at him, Hitoshi squeezed your shoulder making you blink and blush from embarrassment. Quickly you took Todoroki's hand and shook it rather fast and eagerly.

"Uh – it's nice to meet you too. I'm sorry you're just – you're really pretty!"

Hitoshi turned his face away and started to snicker, Shouto chuckled himself and slightly blushed.

"Well thank you, you're very stunning yourself."

Your eyes widened and you blushed violently and tried to bury your face further into your coat. Hitoshi smiled and pulled you closer. Shouto ushered you both inside and out of the cold, once you stepped through the door and walked into the living room a familiar voice was heard coming straight for you.

"(Y/N)!"

You turned to see an excited Eri smiling big and running towards you with open arms, you bent down in enough time to catch her as she leapt into your arms. Smiling, you held her close and tight as she hugged your neck. When she pulled away you kissed her cheek and she giggled. Hitoshi popped his head out from over your shoulder and she smiled and greeted him. He ruffled her hair and kissed her forehead.

"Hey kid, were you good?" Hitoshi asked.

"Yes, I helped take care of baby Aito!"

Shouto chuckled and let Hitoshi know that Eri was indeed good for them and was a big help with their five month old baby boy. Hitoshi asked him how parenthood was going for him and his husband while Eri talked you ear off about how cute and chunky the baby was. Soon she gasped as if she suddenly remembered something and she grabbed your face. Your eyes widened as her little fingers dug into your cheeks and you tried hard not to laugh.

"(Y/N) did Sou-Sou take you on a date? Did you make him your boyfriend?"

You nodded with a smile.

"He did, he took me to Disneyland and it was so much fun, I really missed you though and Toshi promised to take us both one weekend."

Eri smiled and looked at you, expecting more information.

"And yes, I did make him my boyfriend, he was practically begging me!"

"Hey, I heard that!" Hitoshi interjected from behind you.

You and Eri giggled until a cheery squeal came from behind Shouto. You looked to see a green eyed and green-haired freckled man. He was decently buff and extremely handsome, a adorable baby bundled in his arms. Your lips pouted and awed at its bright green eyes and curly white hair. It squealed and smiled a messy and slobbery smile and your heart melted.

"Hi there Hitoshi," the man looked at you next and walked over excitedly with a smile, "You're (Y/N) right, I'm Izuku!"

Smiling, you looked at Eri and she giggled, you put her down and she ran to Hitoshi who picked her up as he continued talking to Shouto. Greeting Izuku, you shook hands while looking at the baby in his arms. It bounced and made spit bubbles, making you verbally awe and waved at the child while cooing. Izuku chuckled and pet his sons hair.

"He's so adorable and so happy!"

"You should see him when he's hungry, he turns into a monster!" Izuku chuckled.

"I know someone who acts the same way!" Hitoshi smiled and looked at you.

Your eyes narrowed at the purple hero before they looked back at Aito. "I know this is weird but ... can I hold him? He's the same age as my nephew and he hates being held."

Nodding, Izuku handed you the baby, "It's not weird at all, Aito never meets a stranger he doesn't like. I need to make him a bottle anyway so please be my guest!"

You took the baby with a smile and brushed noses with him. Holding him in your arms you cooed and baby talked with him. You were completely lost in his sparkling green eyes and sweet laugh. Eri scurried out of Hitoshi's arms and ran to you, she tugged you over to the couch and you sat down with her and Aito, playing with them both. Shouto and Hitoshi smiled at the three of you and snuck off into the kitchen with Izuku.

"Thank you guys again for taking Eri for the night on short notice, I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem Hitoshi, we enjoy keeping her and like I said she really was a big help with the baby. Did you have a good time on your date?" Shouto asked and offered Hitoshi some tea.

Shinsou declined and smiled, "Yeah it was great. We barely missed the rain."

"Well I'm glad you had a good time. She seems really nice and Eri seems to really like her, she wouldn't stop talking about how excited she is to have her around." Deku replied as he mixed together a bottle.

"Yeah they really connected instantly, I'm extremely lucky she didn't turn down the job, in more ways than one." Hitoshi spoke with a soft smile and blush.

The sound of Aito crying suddenly filled the living room, making all three men jump and look. They all went to help but stopped as you stood to your feet and started to rock and bounce the baby in your arms, shushing him quietly before softly singing to him.

"Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination. Take a look and you'll see into your imagination."

Deku, Shouto and Hitoshi watched in awe as your voice soothed the crying baby, making him coo and reach his hand out to you. You let his little fingers wrap around yours and smiled. Eri herself seemed entranced by your lullaby as you sat back down and she melted to your side, holding your arm and staring at you with her ruby eyes. You looked at her and smiled, then poked her nose as you sang.

"We'll begin with a spin, traveling in the world of my creation. What we'll see will defy explanation."

Izuku and Shouto both sighed in unison and smiled at each other as their son was enamored and captured by your voice. Hitoshi was also just as amazed, he had only ever heard you singing along to poppy songs, mostly fooling around. He could tell you had a nice voice and could keep a tune but he never actually heard you really sing. Your voice was still as soft and sweet as ever but now as you lulled the kids it was melodic and angelic. You were so amazed by all the things he could do and said that you weren't as talented but he quickly learned you were being extremely modest.

"We may need to get a recording of that. Usually he only cries when he's hungry or tired and he doesn't just cry, he screams. You can't get him to stop unless you stick a bottle in his mouth or just let him cry it out, so this is really extraordinary." Shouto finally commented and broke the silence between the three of them.

Hitoshi smiled and nodded as he ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah, she is."

#hitoshi shinsou #hitoshi shinsou x reader #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha x reader #mha x reader #eri #bnha fanfiction #mha fanfiction #friends to lovers #fluff

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metalgearkong · 4 years

Text

The Mandalorian - Season 1 - Review

12/30/19 **Spoilers

Created by Jon Favreau & Dave Filoney

It’s a miracle that someone finally come up with something in the Star Wars universe of which fans are unanimously happy with. The Mandalorian is easily the best live-action Star Wars content since Return of the Jedi, and is some of the best Star Wars in any medium since the original trilogy concluded. This is a reasonably low budget and smaller Star Wars tale that draws inspiration from old Samurai and Western films, the very thing that inspired George Lucas to create his vision in the first place. The Mandalorian is deliberately paced, and has a focus on character over having a big entangling bombastic story.

One of my favorite features is how grounded, dirty, and inelegant the show is within its own world. The Mandalorian himself, “Mando,” (Pedro Pascal) is far from a super human with flawless skills and incredible perfection. While he clearly has experience with blasters, gadgets, and hand-to-hand combat, virtually every action scene he’s in comes off as a real guy just doing the best he can. He almost always needs help from a side character, and survives by the skin of his teeth, with only a handful of standout moments when you see him in full control of his environment and enemies. It helped make the entire show feel relatible, realistic, and dramatic.

The Mandalorian takes place a few years after Return of the Jedi and the collapse of the Galactic Empire. Jedi are still a thing of misinformation and myth. The galaxy has become a wild west, and the Force isn’t even a concept most people know about. Although I do find it odd that Mandalorians wouldn’t have some knowledge of the Force or Jedi as the two factions have quite the history together over the past thousand years. It’s a nit pick but it gives the Jedi an heir of mystery and sorcery once again. It also contributes to the low key nature of this show where magic and spectacle are nearly non-existent. The Mandalorian doesn’t seem as concerned with bringing in huge masses of audiences, although it does draw in multiple demographics, more on that later. It’s a huge relief that something in Star Wars can feel so adult and be taken seriously, and it gives me a lot of hope for the future.

The Empire itself in The Mandalorian are resigned to an underground organization, with its only high profile leader seeming to be Grand Moff Gideon (possibly operating completely independently) played by Giancarlo Esposito. They still have their share of soldiers, vehicles, and weapons ordinance, but this is no longer a galaxy ruled or patrolled heavily by the “Imps.” One of my favorite things about this show is that we get a ton of stormtroopers and scout troopers as guys in dirty armor, which are unmodified from how they look in the original trilogy. I’ve been so sick of the fake CGI that brought clone troopers and battle droids to life in the movies and other shows. Some scenes give troopers a lot of humanity and personality as well. However the show perpetuates my issue with Star Wars as a whole where rank-and-file enemy troops prove to be little or no consequence as they can’t hit anything they shoot--and die themselves in one hit. I want stormtroopers one day to actually mean something and pose a threat to a protagonist.

The true star, however, happens to be the “Child,” the most brilliant creation of the show. Most of The Mandalorian is about a lone warrior shooting guns and fighting through dangerous situations, but the Child brings in entire audiences that may not have been interested in this very macho kind of show to begin with. The best part is, he’s a natural addition to the story and lore. The Child isn’t just an adorable shoe-in to give women and kids something to go “aaaw” at. The Child is an infant member of Yoda’s race, a race the creators intentionally never gave any detail on ever in Star Wars history. It sparks tons of intrigue as to where the race is from, how it develops, and its natural strong connection to the Force. It’s one of the greatest mysteries of the show and aside from the Child’s cute antics, it kept me hooked.

Mando himself is your typical stoic gunslinger type who makes his living on bounty hunting. While he doesn’t have much uniqueness at first, you slowly learn more about him and the Mandalorian clan he is part of. Pedro Pascal gives a great physical performance, as his face is hidden by the helmet he is sworn never to take off in front of another living thing. The Mandalorians themselves seem to be a creed of people who were once regarded as great warriors, but are now nearly extinct. It’s yet another mystery to the show that I crave to learn more and more about. The heart and soul of this show is truly the relationship between the Child and Mando, two people who couldn’t be more opposite, and I think the memes infecting the entire internet speak for themselves.

We run into a lot of great side characters as well, usually one stand out per episode. These sidekicks are usually played by famous comedians or actors, and it was a fun game of “who’s that” every week it came on. These people Mando comes across are usually former solders or people who fall into the Chaotic Neutral category of washed up past their prime. The best of these is IG-11, the same model as IG-88 briefly seen in Empire Strikes Back and several Legends material. We finally get to see this kind of droid in action and why it’s so great. IG-11 is brought to life by excellent CGI, and what I’m guessing is a lot of robotic work as well. He’s voiced by none other than Taika Waititi and he gives a hilarious and poignant personality to the hunter droid.

My other favorites include Carl Weathers as a bounty hunting guild leader, Nick Nolte as a lonely but helpful Ugnaught engineer, and Gina Carano as Cara Dune, a former Rebel shock trooper. Each of these characters are contrasted to Mando’s. He gets help one way or another from these people, and it helps flesh out his character seeing how he reacts to what they do and say. Mando goes through a great but subtle arch throughout the show, as we see him go from what appears to be a cold blooded killer, to someone who cares again about the people around him. Again, it’s nothing new or original, but it’s executed very well. The side characters aren’t just celebrities of the week either. Many of them come back in later episodes to help Mando and the Child, and I hope they continue to appear in future seasons.

Not only does The Mandalorian pay excellent homage to the original trilogy, but also combines elements from both the prequel and sequel trilogies as well. Small things like technology and droids (mostly background elements) help solidify the entire Star Wars canon in very subtle and realistic ways. It’s a great transitional time in the universe between the Empire and the First Order, and I can’t wait to see how this show continues to exist and influence the world its in. The only weakness I could say is that many of the episodes don’t go through a lot of change in terms of plot, and are more excuses for character introductions and character development. The show is so well executed, however, this isn’t a huge problem because nearly every minute has something to appreciate and enjoy. I love the mature tone and pace, and hope that never changes.

The Mandalorian may be a sign that Star Wars should transform itself to being small scaled. It seems like just about everything that can be done with the Jedi has been done, and I don’t know how you can throw more twists into Force using and blowing up giant super weapons. The Mandalorian was created with so much love and care, I want all Star Wars content to follow this same philosophy. Forget the big movies with huge lineages and chosen one prophecies, I want to take a fine toothed comb to the underbelly of the Star Wars universe. Keep it character focused, keep it low key. I can’t wait to see what future seasons of this show hold, and I pray that it maintains its quality and pace its established here.

8.5/10

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persephonealmana · 5 years

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My Thoughts On The Vic Situation

I’m aware that I’m going to be called a “cunt”, “bitch” and other vile names for speaking my opinion but this is just my thoughts on the whole situation.

~*~*~*~*~*

Considering that I'm more caught up with Overwatch VA's these days, but I have sadly learned of a situation with a VA that I loved.

Read the journal for more information:

There are some journals about this.

I never thought that the #metoo movement was going to be a problem movement. It was originally combating against Sexual Harassment, but I guess there are people out there to twist it for their own agenda. Like Monica and Jamie did. They twisted it to fit their own agenda to take a person down, just like anyone that uses this movement to twist it for their own personal gain. These fucking idiots felt like using it as a weapon to ruin people's lives JUST for the hell of it. Susan B. Anthony must be rolling in her grave right about now, I can't blame her though. Since all of her female descendants are poisoning the feminist movement and forgetting about equality.

I also forgot that Vic was accused of sexually assaulting girls at cons, which there is no EVIDENCE of him doing that.

Both Monica and Jamie DON'T have evidence that Vic did this to them. Allegations like this require evidence and so far Monica & Jamie show none of it. It's all a hearsay.

These people basically don't know what sexual harassment is! They never met anyone or experienced what sexual harassment is like or how to feel. They decided to say; well I was sexually harassed by this person, but I don't know what it's like being sexually harassed anyways.

Was Vic being inappropriate? No. But yes, he is a bit of a touchy guy but he doesn't mean to be touchy it's just who he is. He always asked permission before giving hugs and kisses on cheeks, but there are at times where he does it without consent. The fans are ok with that. But what was his crime? Being Overly-friendly to people. Being too nice to people even his co-workers, now he's going to be afraid to hug his fans again after this situation, he's going to be afraid to give out his hugs and kiss on the cheeks to fans. Since he won't know if they will sue him or file harassment against him. Studying Vic's body language, tone, and speech during his apology he displays textbook remorse, sorrow, and self-awareness. From what I have seen he clearly got comfortable with treating everyone fairly, assuming everyone wanted to be hugged, kissed or fan serviced with a scene of one of his popular characters. The man has already apologized for becoming too lazy about hugs which display self-awareness and remorse.

They, Monica and Jaimie, think hugging and kissing on the cheek is sexual harassment. Which is not! Vic is very affectionate to his friends and fans, he's not afraid to hide that. Even they should go to some European countries that are big on giving hugs and kisses on the cheeks.

The fact that the voice actors of DBZ are throwing Vic under the bus to save face makes me sick to my stomach even their comments, don't get me started on the comments some made. Personally, they have a personal vendetta against him, which I'll explain at the end, they know Monica and just want to defend her of all this BS. Then again the majority of these voice actors at Funimation are narcissistic Leftists.

Funimation dropped Vic without hearing his side, cons banned him and now he's left with nothing. He's banned from Cons and fired for doing a job that he loves and a community that he adores.

It's funny that they dropped Vic without evidence, but remember the incident where another VA of FUNimation was accused of Child Pornography? FUNimation decided to wait until the evidence comes out. But with Vic? Nope, sorry bud you are cut from the scene.

The only voice actor that is on Vic's side is Todd. He is standing by Vic's side, which I praise him for.

I literally lost respect for Funimation, which I haven't watched them for years, they fired Vic without evidence shown. While Funimation said that they don't condone harassment, they still have Monica, Jaimie, and Sean who openly harass fans who question them over the lack of evidence.

Monica is basically acting like a bully who constantly says that they are going to tell on you but with her, it's like "I'm gonna screenshot this to show my lawyer!" She obviously now thinks she can sue people for disagreeing with her. Can I say that those who were sexually harassed sure as hell won't go online to tell the whole world what happened!

I’d say if you’re accusing someone of something serious you are OBLIGATED to provide evidence. Where has the mentality come from where you accuse someone of something horrible and serious and you expect people to go off nothing but word of mouth alone and treat the accused as 100% confirmed guilty? That’s a disgusting backward way of thinking.

Especially with screenshots being capped of people wanting to edit photos of Vic to make him look guilty because of their twisted sense of justice. The people who felt uncomfortable exist, but don’t you dare sweep under the rug the proven false allegations still circulating and people with malicious intent trying to lie to make things worse.

You can’t accuse people and when someone asks you to bring more info and proof to the table you essentially say “I don’t owe you proof, you’re supposed to just believe me completely.”

NO. That’s not how things should ever work in real life. It’s illogical and illogical to expect that of people.

Does she not realize serious allegations like this can lead Vic to depression and suicide? But then again she doesn't care nor does SJW's care about whose career was destroyed. Which I hope Vic doesn't consider even doing. No one wants that.

Monica Rial has officially gone on a complete meltdown on twitter. She's showing her true colors: she's a textbook narcissist with false victimization tendencies. She displays compulsory to lying, passive aggressiveness to hold herself accountable. She doesn't want to stop the harassment on Twitter, she's fueling it. She said that she had to be far from social network because of her lawyer's advice (which is the best solution honestly), and now she keeps threatening people like that. She threatens those that question her for evidence and to show proof. How can she still work at Funimation after this, this is unacceptable. She didn't give us any PROPER photo evidence, video or audio evidence to back it up these claims. Now if there was evidence I'll happily change my mind but this is all just a hearsay. When Monica threatened to sue anyone who simply makes a video that has a different opinion than her, it showed a guilty conscious. She bragged about getting his job after this, she claimed he didn't have the right of innocence before being guilty outside of court. Can I just say it's funny that I know two people that are treating Twitter like a courthouse? Monica Rial & Timethy Heller? Both are treating Twitter like it's their personal courthouse just to be sided with.

And FUNimation is basically defending her through this BS. Monica personally LIED to take Vic's job away from him.

Also, how can fans follow this VA that constantly harasses people that asks for evidence? Like, how can you still support her after what she's doing? She has no video evidence, no anything to prove her point that Vic did this to her, it's all a hearsay!

But now let's take a look at this at another angle, this is just a thought: If Monica Rial and other coworkers apparently knew that Vic Mignogna had been this “sexual predator” for years, why didn’t anybody do anything about it beforehand? Why didn't they report his behavior to HR(Human Resources) if he was sexually harassing them? Or even try to talk with him to curb his behavior.

How were they still working with him that whole time? No investigation, no police report, no credible evidence, nothing? And she’s saying she doesn’t owe any sort of explanation? Yes, she does! She OWES an explanation to fans about him. She and others put fans in danger because of him if he was a "Sexual predator".

Especially if she’s trying to make claims against someone regarding sexual assault or sexual harassment. Those are serious offenses that should be reported to law enforcement immediately, not some angry Tweet to vent to some fans and subscribers about on social media years after the supposed offense.

If Vic is proven guilty (which I doubt cause I've yet to see hard solid proof but there hasn't been any) then they should be held accountable as well cause they let a predator on the loose and turned a blind eye to his wrongdoings and all the people he "sexually harassed" after that are because of them cause they knew but didn't stop him.

Thanks to them they banned someone who's the most sweetest VA anyone has met, a lot of people had met Vic and they literally said he's the sweetest person. Vic also defended the LGBT+ community and told off a bunch of Christians in front of the building where the con was being held to leave so that those that were attending can enjoy.

To those who say he's "homophobic", he supports the LGBT. He might be Christian but he defends and supports the LGBT+ community.

Much to the saying says; Rethink your heroes and never met your heroes. Since you may not like who you meet. It's like a punch to the gut for fans to realize that these VA's of DBZ are shitty people. All respect that fans had for them, they lost their respect for them.

But I'm also saying that there are friendly VA's that you should meet and that you should have a great experience with. Just remember that VA's are humans too and they can have emotions just like us.

Continuing,

I need to add that Sean Schemmel, Goku's VA. Funny enough, I liked Sean since he seemed like a cool guy but after this situation (probably from the youtube videos that make him look like a cool guy). I stopped liking him as a person, I love him as a VA but not a person, he's also coming to Wisconsin Comic Convention so a lot of fans will give him shit about this situation. I bet that no fans would ever wanna meet him in person anymore and avoid him because he turns out to be such a rude, disrespectful douche. A fan talked about Sean that he's a mixed bag, he can be nice & Friendly but he stresses a lot, another said he has Bipolar Disorder.

He basically defended Monica and Jaimie after this situation, he absolutely has lost my respect by his behavior to some people. Some people like myself are trying to stay neutral and objective about this, but Sean is making it personal by tweeting this out.

Only, I think Sean jumped into the Vic situation because he doesn't like him. Maybe that he has a fear that he's not going to be FUNimations poster boy anymore since Vic is a very talented Voice Actor. People give Monica, Sean Schemmel, Chris Sabat and so on way too much credit. They've been planning to get rid of Vic for years, ever since Vic stepped into the studio. Now that the Super Broly movie has gotten so much praise, it was the perfect opportunity to get Vic in trouble with false accusations. Vic is a white European male who has strong Christian ties - it's exactly who the Leftists love to side against. This man is literally one of the nicest guys out there. And there's also proof that was leaked of people planning to stage evidence against Vic, such as photoshopped pictures to accuse him of something he didn't do.

Monica is one of many threats. There's also Chris Sabot, who stated only the so-called 'survivors' know the truth and that we should listen to them. Sonny Strait is also attempted to back up Monica's claims. And there's that Neil, who openly admits he's always hated, Vic. He posted a video of Vic riding on the guy's shoulders at convection. Almost like a damn parody, he tried using that video as evidence, claiming he felt assaulted. Which wasn't an assault, he got on his shoulders and was having himself a good time, Neil looked like he was having fun too.

Then there's Jamie, who stated she basically wants Vic dead. How psychotic do you have to be? Jamie is an absolute psycho, just like that Marzbitch(Who started the whole kickvic campaign). Even Jamie has a lot of nerve to tell Vic to apologize to her. What for, Jamie?! If you ask me, Jamie Marchi needs to apologize to him for the death threats, name-calling treating him like shit. She needs to apologize, but she won't because she'll refuse too. Every FUNimation VA's chose a side, some have remained silent on the matter, but some have decided to add fuel to the flames making it bigger.

Anyway back to Sean, he is dragging us through the mud throughout all of this bullshit. Fans want answers. Monica made this public on twitter. It is our business now. Which it shouldn't.

If they wanted to handle this professionally and privately, they would have done so. They did not do so. They are acting like children. Monica took to twitter, she made it public and now it's the fans business now. She's treating Twitter like a courthouse so that she can be believed and have fans turn against Vic, she's manipulating them into thinking that Vic is this monster, which he isn't. Those that want evidence, they know what's going on and they don't believe her. There is more proof coming out of the woodwork.

To everyone defending Monica, stop. You have fallen for her lies. This woman, instead of going to the authorities, staying neutral til proof was presented, choose to talk about something this serious on Twitter. She wants attention and she got it. Hell, her withholding information like this alone makes her a shitty person because of she alone, for those who believe that Vic is a monster, put more people in danger.

She knew that saying she was a victim would get everyone on her side because she voices Bulma, a very well-known and loved anime character. And you believed her. No questions asked just “Omg not you too!” “I’m so sorry you had to go through that!” “NoT mOnIcA!”

Doesn't take much to win y'all over huh? Anyone could say that Vic touched them inappropriately at this point and you’d immediately believe them without proof or a bit of an explanation on what happened, and no, saying “He was creepy” isn’t good enough. Not when it comes to accusations like this.

If they didn't want any of this to happen, they should not have gotten their fans involved. Now some people could be in serious danger because of these FUNimation VA's releasing private information. Do they think about their fans? No. This just shows their true colors, they don’t care about them. They don't care that they put their fans in a serious situation because they couldn't keep their mouth shut.

The swatting incident is absolutely awful and I hope whoever did it is found and charged with attempted murder. Sean talked about this in a tweet. This has already happened several times in the gaming community and has even lead to someone being killed. Swatting is a very serious matter and should not be done on any side. I know that a voice actor almost getting killed is terrible (it's a relief Reuben is alright and alive), but scapegoating the Vic supporters into this is just idiotic. We have nothing to do it with it and even if were someone who supports Vic, he's not doing a good job and we disassociate that person from us. If Vic is innocent, this is not how you prove it.

He's digging his grave ever deeper, just like Monica is. He's ruining his reputation more. He's showing more of how much of a douche he is. He's making more of his fans losing respect to him.

All of it is his fault, not the fans. He's dragging the fans down with him.

He said he was going to "stay off of twitter" but he decides not too. Why is it that hard for him to comprehend that?! If you want to "stay off of twitter" then do what you said before and not do a freakin' 180. All he had to do was say nothing. Stay out of this shit show, but no, he just had to take a side and add his fuel to the flames.

All of this SHOULN'T HAVE BEEN MADE PUBLIC. There are reasons why lawyers tell you to stay off the media to avoid letting people know about this. When this goes to court, these tweets can and will be used against them. Monica obviously should've listened to her lawyer's advice but nope, she refused to listen and threatened anyone who wants proof since "she has a lawyer". Obviously, Vic has a lawyer so he's doing a good job of laying low and not saying anything until they go to court.

Then what would Funimation do if these tweets are used against Monica? They would face an option on firing her, then try to find someone to voice Bulma or just keep defending Monica once everything was revealed.

In the end, if Vic is found innocent. Then we can all say karma played her sweet role in this. That still won't recover Vic's career sadly, since it's already been tarnished because of these allegations and it won't be the same. I even doubt he would even want to step foot in FUNimation ever again, due to all of them stabbed him in the back and ruined his career for good.

#istandwithvic

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vnmblast · 5 years

Text

LISTEN UP, BITCHCAKES

BASICS. Given / Birth Name : Jessica Miriam Drew Nickname / Preferred Name : Jess Alias(es) : Spider - Woman Birthdate / Age : December 7th 1931 / 88 Place of Birth : London, England Current Location : Hell’s Kitchen, New York Gender Identity : Cis Female Sexual / Romantic Orientation : Pan pan pan pan pan all around. Her standards : low. Sexuality : mysterious. Romantic inclination : sad. Ethnicity / Race / Cultural Heritage: Indian, Greek Cypriot Marital Status : Single Occupation : Private Investigator + Back up Avenger Religious Beliefs : None.

CHARACTERISTICS. Height : 5′10″ Weight : 150 lbs Body Type / Build : Athletic. She’s all legs and core and could probably kick a hole through you if given the chance. Lady is, as the recently incarcerated might say, thicker than a bowl of oatmeal. Eye Color : Green Hair Color / Texture : Dark brown shoulder length hair. It’s thick. Makes summer months uncomfortable and winter a delight. Has been known to wear a wig with her spandex. To keep things interesting. Recognizable Features / Scars : Her entire body is littered with scarring but nothing that could be picked out of a lineup. Speech Patterns / Accent : Absolutely no discernible accent. When she was younger, yes, there was a definite British twang. That Spy Life ^ TM taught her to blend in well though, so her speech patterns drift towards whichever area she lives. Right now it’s New York and ... you can hear it. Languages Spoken : A lot. Hindi, Greek, English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Russian. Don’t piss her off she will literally drag you and all your ancestors in every last one of them. Powers / Skills / Abilities : You know ... typical metahuman stuff. Superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, agility, healing, endurance and durability. She can generate bioelectric currents at her fingertips that can range from an annoying shock to lethal ( venom blasts ). Lady can not nor will ever stop sticking to walls. If you are her friend, there will be footprints on your ceiling. Poison / Toxins have mild effects on her at first exposure - but her body tends to nullify them pretty quick. Yes, that does include alcohol. Annnd last on the ‘metahuman’ list : she secretes pheromones. It’s not great. Results in people either taking an extreme liking to her or H A T I N G her. The later being more common.

Non - power - wise she’s fan - tastic at hand to hand combat in various styles. She was trained thoroughly in the art of espionage, intel gathering, covert operations and wise cracking. Knows her way around weaponry. Typical stuff. Sunday brunch stuff.

Overall Health : Excellent so long as you never look at an x-ray of hers ever.

RELATIONSHIPS. Order of Birth : First Number of Siblings : 0 Father’s Status + Relationship : Jyotish “Jonathan” Drew, deceased. A geneticist recruited by HYDRA for his works in creating radioactive resistance in spiders ( thought to be applicable in human genome, never tested prior to Jessica ). He was a quiet immigrant from Bombay ( now Mumbai ) and friend of Edgar Wyndham. Though he reported to the organization, they lived as a family near Wundagore Mountain in central Europe. His work with radioactive materials resulted in Jessica’s initial radiation sickness / deteriorating state when reaching toddler age --- he exposed his pregnant wife to near lethal levels of uranium. Mother’s Status + Relationship : Merriam Drew, UNKNOWN. ( Hello, Ophelia. ) Not much is currently known about her, and all records Jess could find indicate she was a mild mannered house wife. Kind, perhaps to a fault. Everything she knows about Merriam comes from an old physician’s file, it’s how she knows they have the same eyes. The file is currently locked up in her apartment. Sibling Status + Relationship : N / A Loyalty / Affiliation : Who is this ..... loyalty. Where’s her number, Jess just wants to talk.

PERSONALITY. MBTI : INFP Hobbies : --- fighting off existential crises on friday nights ya’ll holla atcha girl. Fixes old motorcycles. Binges a lot of Netflix. She’s a huuuuuuuuuge Foodie. Bad Habits : Fidgets, has a tendency of lashing out + pushing people away, keeps everything surface, all ‘yas girl’ and star wars references. Three Positive Traits : Knows where all the good places to eat are in any city at any given time / season. She’s resilient, able to take way too many punches in her personal and professional life. And she sees good in literally everyone. No one, to her, is hopeless. Don’t take her jabs as anything more than face value, she’s empathetic to a Fault. My girl here Cares. Three Negative Traits : Struggles hard with un - diagnosed Depression. Her pride, and sometimes her own thoughts, have convinced her not to seek treatment. Do not be like Jessica Drew, take care of your mental state. Paranoia is a big factor in her day by day life. Was that a weird looking tree or is she about to get drop kicked by some experimental AIM pet again. Disregard for personal safety. She’s a self - sacrifice - r. When in a Good headspace, she thinks through a situation with clear intent and plan. When not, it becomes a Hail Mary Every Time. Moral Alignment : Neutral Good

ASSOCIATIONS. One Song : make me feel One Quote / Piece of Art : “ from even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent. ” One Fear : rejection ! but with pizazz. One Strength : pop culture extraordinaire One Object : her motorcycle One Place : the beach One Food : no, all food One Scent : lemon One Lucky Charm : novelty deodorant stick called webpits

BIOGRAPHY BREAK DOWN.

born to a dumb - smart guy and his kind of complacent wife ( different times ). one of jon’s experiments shot an eXpErImEnTaL bEaM of radiated spider dna through merriam’s very pregnant torso. turns out, human dna doesn’t like that. jessica suffered the effects of radiation poisoning well into her eighth year of life when she experienced a sudden rapid breakdown of tissue. as a last ditch attempt to save her life, her father injected a serum of irradiated spider goop ( we only use the Best technical terms in this house ) that fundamentally altered her dna.

fight uranium with more uranium, just like grandma used to.

surprising exactly no one : she was still dying faster than the magic drug. this is where her entire history with HYDRA begins : Wyndham. wyndham was a fellow geneticist, you see, and really loved the idea of cryostasis ( heading the project himself ). he took jess’ case and allowed her body time to properly heal itself to the tune of thirty years.

it’s really disconcerting falling asleep a child and waking up a teenager. has zero perks.

in a truly fucked up move to uncover how jessica’s father altered her physiology, she was put through a battery of tests / training. they even went so far as to fabricate a boy they thought she’d care for. suffice to say, after an emotionally exhaustive day, jess discovered she could lightly fry people with her fingertips ... and that is apparently her new normal. mr. boyfriend died by her hand. she ran away.

fury found her.

she worked with SHIELD then didn’t. it’s a long story, maybe she’ll get into it one day.

“retired” to san fran where she started “masked hero” work with a PI business on the side.

now she’s in new york, still doing the masked hero gig and PI work but with cheaper real estate.

you may think i’m over-exaggerating about jessica being That Foodie but i’m telling you now she is eating in practically every background panel she’s ever been in and we Support her high metabolism.

#united task 001 #united intro #▼ ( jessica drew. )

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skvaderarts · 3 years

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Hiraeth Chapter 32: Crepuscular

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Thirty-Two: Crepuscular

Notes: PC upgrade is on the way, and I am irrationally overjoyed about my pc fans. I just like to assemble tech, okay? I know I’m weird! Hope you enjoy this chapter! I thought we could all use something wholesome!

(-~-)

Trepidation gripped the descendants of Sparda as they looked towards the doorway, the rippling surface shimmering as it returned to its original unmoving state. Was this some sort of gateway? Some sort of ward? A boobytrap for unwitting assailants? While they trusted Magnolia implicitly, they had no idea that her family home would be so… abnormal. It made perfect sense considering some of the things that they had seen her do, but neither Dante nor Nero had considered the possibility that Magnolia’s family would so openly practice their craft, especially within full view of the street.

“So… Is this safe to walk through or…?” Nero asked hesitantly, clearly referring to the doorway. It was nearly impossible to tell that there was anything there, the surface having stilled completely. But despite the fact that seemingly nothing disastrous had occurred when she’d walked through ahead of them, Nero wasn’t entirely sure that entering this house didn’t take a little something extra. For all he knew Hydrangea might have used a spell or something to enter the front door.

Oh, live a little, will ya? Why wouldn’t it be? Do ya think she’d just walk us into a deathtrap?” Nico said, gesturing towards Magnolia. She seemed to find some degree of humor in Nero’s sudden uncertainty. It wasn’t too often that Nero hesitated. This was a golden opportunity to mess with him a little. “How about I go first, ya scaredy-cat? Make sure it’s safe for you, and all that.” Nero looked mortified. “I’m not scared! I’m just saying that-” Nero stopped, looking over at Dante as if to ask him to back up that statement. The older devil hunter shrugged, much to the horror of his befuddled nephew who stared at him in frustrated shock. V looked as though he were going to say something, but Vergil shot him a disagreeing look, clearly interested in where this was going. “You know what? I’ll go in right now. you just watch. It’s just a doorway, right? How hard could that be?”

She gestured towards the doorway, trying not to laugh. Nero had fallen for her little tease, hook, line, and sinker. “Well okay then, big shot! be my guest!”

Turning away from her and shaking his head, he headed over to the doorway. Nero leaned over and peered at it, unsure of what to make of it. If he hadn’t known that there was some kind of magic going on with this doorway, he’d have no way of being able to tell by looking at it. Maybe that meant that it was thin and easy to walk through? In truth, he had no way of knowing. Nero wasn’t exactly sure what to make of any of this. It wasn’t the kind of thing that he had a lot of prior experience with.

Realizing that Nero was going to take a while if left to his own devices, Nico leaned over and gave him a careful but firm push. He let out a startled sound before crashing through the doorway, disappearing from sight. She gaped at how he disappeared, but couldn’t help but laugh a little. She was sure he was fine, but she just knew that he was probably on the other side of that doorway in a less than agreeable state. Nero was probably livid. But before she could say or do anything, a hand reached through the doorway and snatched her through, eliciting a startled yelp from her before she disappeared through the doorway.

Vergil shook his head as he watched V approach the doorway, not entirely sure why he found the way that things had just played out so damn funny. Nico was quite the character, wasn’t she? Dare he say as much, he was actually quite fond of her no-nonsense attitude. It was admirable, especially for someone who probably didn’t possess anything in the way of actual combat ability. Or did she? Maybe she had a gun or something? It was hard to believe that she could have conceived of the Devil Breakers without some sort of first-hand experience, even if she and Nero had worked together on their initial concept.

“We should go, then. We have work to do.” Vergil said as he gave the doorway a sideways look. He’d been through this before, but not at this specific house. The concept was somewhat familiar to him. It seemed that everyone present was overthinking it, but at least they were willing to try it out. In fact, V seemed more curious as to how it worked than anything else. “That girl… is she…?”

Before he could finish inquiring, Magnolia and V stepped through the door, seemingly tired of standing out in the chilly weather. Vergil assumed that she would tell him once they were inside, and stepped through after them. One could only hope that Dante and Lucia would follow their example and take the steps required to follow them. Clearly, there was nothing substantial to worry about.

A strange blurriness gave way to a sprawling space cloaked in the dim light, candles proving to be the most common means of providing light to an otherwise dark space. A tall spiral staircase made its way from the lobby to the second story of the house, adding height and grandeur to the large vaulted ceilings that a crystal and candle chandelier the size of a small car was suspended from. Dripping wax coating the railings that lined the upper floors, some even running down the hand railing. It was a perplexing sight to behold, and nothing that V could attest to having experienced before. For lack of a better way of putting it, it was all very Eldredge.

“Come along, then! And welcome. This way to the parlor. As I said before, tea will be out shortly.” Hydrangea said cheerfully as she turned away from them and headed towards the doorway on the left just behind the staircase. The group shrugged and followed her, Magnolia stopping for a moment to look the place over. V watched her quietly, wondering what was going through her mind right now. It had been a long time since she’d stood in this spot, hadn’t it? He didn’t need her to say it. It was obvious.

“Hydrangea is my niece, in case that isn’t clear. I don’t know that I’ve explicitly said as much. I haven’t seen her since she was a toddler. My departure was not as smooth as I would have liked.” Magnolia seemed to trail off as she spoke, a tinge of something hard to recognize in her voice. Her brow furrowed slightly before she turned away, allowing Hydrangea to continue to lead them along. “I see some renovations have been done to the house. It has been a while, after all.”

“I know what you’re all probably thinking, and don’t worry, no one outside of the manor can see what goes on inside of it. You're safe to be yourselves here. Don’t worry.” She nodded in agreement with Magnolia’s statement. Yes, there had been a few renovations in that time, but she could talk about that with her aunt once the tea was ready. “As for what I did outside… well, just don’t tell my mom, hu? There is a tree in the way.”

They rounded the corner and continued after her, noticing that the house was quiet but certainly not empty. Somehow they just knew that there were other members of her family just out of sight, and the eerie silence that filled the sprawling mansion was made almost unnerving as a result. What were they under lockdown from? V couldn’t remember hearing an explanation just yet, but he had a feeling that they would find out sooner rather than later if this kept up. Maybe Hydrangea could explain while they enjoyed this tea she kept mentioning?

Seemingly feeling a need to break the silence that was forming between them as they walked, the young woman decided to interject. The house was strangely quiet today, wasn’t it? It was probably disconcerting to her guests. Maybe idle chit-chat would help to liven up the otherwise uncomfortable atmosphere? It was worth a try. After all, what did she stand to lose? She didn’t really know any of these strangers.

“My mother likes to be difficult for no particular reason. I’m sure you’ve known her long enough to know that.” Her accent was more prominent than Magnolia’s but they were incredibly similar. At a glance, one would probably get them mixed up from speech alone if they were unable to see them. V filed this away into his subconscious, sure that it was unimportant, but undeniably interesting.” She’s also unnecessarily hostile towards her extended family when she hasn’t seen them in a while, especially when it’s her fault in the first place. But you already have enough experience with that situation to know all about it, aunty Magnolia. I wish I could tell you what made her so bitter and twisted, but unfortunately, I can’t. It’s just the way that she is. I’m at my wit’s end over it, though.”

Magnolia nodded in agreement. “I wish I had the answers, too, little one. She used to be a bit better, but after our parents passed away, she just… changed. It was as if their passing brought out the worst aspects of her personality. Sometimes I hardly recognize the person she’s become.”

Hydrangea continued down the corridor, her long robe trailing behind her as she walked. She didn’t respond, but everyone present could feel the shift in her mood. She agreed, and it pained her. The dim light from the central garden that trailed through the floor-to-ceiling windows provided the only source of light for the entire hallway, and it was admittedly strange to walk through a space with so little light. V felt strangely at home in this kind of environment, the gloomy atmosphere having little to none of the effect on him that it had on the average person. It was peaceful and it made him want to take a nap. Aside from that, there was nothing that stood out to him about it.

Looking over at Nero, V noticed that his mind seemed to be elsewhere. Be it their unusual surroundings, or simply the pressing matters at hand, he couldn’t help but notice that his younger counterpart was distracted by something. As the young man with the short white hair looked around the room and took in everything there was to see, V decided that perhaps it was best to simply ask the younger devil hunter what the cause of his mental hang-ups was. “Something is on your mind. What is it?”

Pausing for a moment, Nero looked out of the window for a moment before continuing onwards, still dutifully following Hydrangea towards their destination. The house was a maze of hallways and doorways, occasionally punctuated by large windows and seemingly random staircases that he couldn’t place the destination of. The entire building seemed to be too small and entirely too large all at once, and the more he tried to wrap his head around it, the more confused he became. “Nothing I just… I shoulda brought Kyrie. She’d love this place.”

V was taken aback by the sheer genuine kindness in that statement. He knew that Nero cared greatly for Kyrie, and in turn, she cared a great deal for him, but he would have never thought to bring her along on this kind of journey. It occurred to him just then that Nero hadn’t probably seen his family in about a week now, the younger man working on various tasks in order to accomplish… something. He didn’t honestly know the details. He had spent several days in a foggy, exhausted state after his encounter with Belial, and as such, couldn’t attest to the validity of any of his higher cognitive functions. One could only imagine that whatever he had been working on had been in service to the end goal of keeping the demon prince at bay, but the only way he’d know for sure what he and the rest of their family had been up to would be to ask them, and he wasn’t sure this was the right place and time to do so. That conversation might be better kept between them in private. There was no way of knowing how anyone present would react to that kind of topic.

Still, his heart went out to Nero. He knew that the children probably missed him, and that Kyrie was probably sitting at home right now worried sick in anticipation of return. No doubt the young devil hunter had called her and told her that everything would be alright like he always did, but that still left the burden of making that promise come true to Nero, and things that he swore he’d do were strong bonds as far as he was concerned, especially in regards to Kyrie. Anyone who had known him for more than a few seconds could attest to that much. V was sorry that he might be contributing to any action that kept his younger brother away from his loving home.

“Your right. She would have. Perhaps a visit is in order once this is all over? Maybe the two of you should spend some time away from here together. I feel like she would enjoy that.” V peered ahead for a moment, noting the passing of what seemed to be a servant of some sort. She was carrying a tray with a lid on it. Was this the tea that he had heard so much about, or was he simply assuming too much based on factors he knew next to nothing about? “If a thing loves, it is infinite… and the both of you have much of that to share amongst one another.”

The younger man seemed genuinely surprised by his older sibling’s words, a look that said as much lingering on his face for a moment before he stole another short moment to look out of the window towards the garden. Yes, Kyrie would love that. The flowers were just so vibrant and colorful, the ivy trailed so high around the windows. He had gone with her past a place like this once, and she had been giddy and full of laughter and joy. He would do anything to see her as happy as she had been back then every day of her life. Her smile was heavenly, and she did so much for him in the name of the love they shared. He just wanted to put her mind at ease. Knowing that she spent so much time worrying about him pained his heart.

“Well, that's nice of you and all that, really, but what would we do with the kids? We can’t just slip away and spend a day at the pier anymore like we used to when we were younger. Both of us have responsibilities and stuff now.” Nero’s mind seemed to drift for a moment as he considered things in his past that V knew nothing about. He could tell that they were happy memories of a time he had never had the privilege of experiencing, and if Kyrie was involved with them, then he probably had no reason to be involved. But seeing such blissful wistfulness cross Nero’s face was all the more reason for his younger sibling to be able to experience those happy memories yet again. He wanted to help him do that. It was the least that he could do to repay the boundless kindness that they had both showered him with upon his return, and in Nero’s case, even before that. Had he ever truly repaid him for not abandoning him in his darkest hour in order to fulfill the need for vengeance and retribution that had helped bring him to Redgrave City in the first place? That had been a huge sacrifice to make for him, especially considering the fact that they had not known one another all that well at the time.

He was grateful for that kindness. It had saved his life.

“... I will not pretend to know much about children or how to care for them, but I would like to formally extend an offer to hold guardianship over them for a short while should the need to spend a little time alone become too much to bear.” That came out far more formally than he would have preferred for such a casual invitation, but he was sure that Nero got the point either way. It was something that he knew he was capable of doing, and as he had pointed out, they could both use a break every now and then. The beach trip had been wonderful, for what it had been worth, but they still had to keep a watchful eye on the children. “The both of you deserve to know that you can step away and live your lives without fear of burdening another. It would be no problem. I can’t say that I am particularly busy. Perhaps every now and then for a weekend or so?”

A hint of a small smile ghosted Nero’s lips as he gave V an appreciative look. It was times like this when he truly remembered that even though his older sibling was bad at expressing it verbally at times, he truly did care about Nero and the rest of their family, be that on his end of their father’s. V was always welcome at his table, and apparently, Nero’s children were always welcome at his, even if the gloomy part devil didn’t own one right now.

“You know, if you want to spend all day reading to my kids V, you could just say that.” The small smile that Nero had been trying to hold back poked through for a moment as he made eye contact with V, something that strangely enough didn’t send V running for the hills for once. It was rare that they had a genuine moment like this. “I think they would like that. Carlo and Kyle have been asking about you nonstop since you left, and Julio doesn't like one of his books unless you read it to him. They have no concept of the passage of time, or object permanence, so they probably think you’ve been gone a year or something like that.”

Well, then I shall humor them next time I am given the chance.” V said with a polite nod, heading towards the sitting chair that sat in the middle of the small lounge that they had been escorted towards. He found that he grew tired easily these days, and it was time to catch his breath and prepare for what was to come. “Let’s try this tea we’ve heard so much about. I hope it proves to be worth the wait. We have work to do.”

(-~-)

This was a fun chapter! I like it when Nero and V get to spend a little bit of quality time together, even when it’s just the two of them walking up a hallway lol! Steal the little moments when and where you can, right?

I got the final copy of the cover art today and IT IS STUNNING! I can’t stress enough how much l like how it turned out omg! I’m going to order my test copies by Friday so that I can see how everything looks, and I’ll see if I can get a copy of the link I was sent so you can show it to you. It was a google drive thing, so I don’t want to give it out without permission! I can’t wait to read your comments on this one. I’ve had people ask for a chapter like this, so I hope it met your expectations!

#Hiraeth #V #Vitale #Nero #Post Devil May Cry 5 AU #Post Devil May Cry 5

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startwreck · 7 years

Text

I’m going to attempt to recap Duchovny in Boston day (February 22, 2017.) Warning: this could get long and sappy because it’s 3 AM and I’m just brain dumping. Under a cut...

Woke up this morning think I would only go to the Bucky F*cking Dent reading/signing event. Had a ticket and I loved the book (read it / Audible’d it last spring) and thought secondhand embarrassment would be minimal in that setting. Great. Planned to cut out of work for a couple hours to go. As I’m walking to the venue, Jen @snowvitamins texted me, and through the magic of distinctive scarves, we were able to make our acquaintance. She was with Mer @damselindistressmya. Fun fact: In the course of trying to find each other, Mer was described as wearing “a Mulder season 10 jacket.” In my anxious and distracted state, I took this to mean that Mer was wearing a jacket with a likeness of Mulder in Season 10 on it (I pictured a varsity jacket, you know, with a leather torso and felted sleeves? and then just a giant Mulder head on the back of it.) Needless to say, I momentarily pondered hiding my scarf-marker. Luckily, I’m an idiot and Mer was wearing an Army jacket similar to the one Mulder wore in Season 10:

So the reading doesn’t happen. Not sure if this was due to the size of the turnout (we wouldn’t have all fit where they do their readings), time constraints, voice preservation, a rogue edible, or what (file under: none of my business.) I was excited to hear David read a chapter so I was briefly disappointed, but totally understand, would still follow the Booksmith and/or DD to the end of the earth.

Stand in line for a while and then it’s my turn. Give him the book with the post-it with my name in it. He pronounces my name correctly (as if I didn’t love him enough already) and I give a smile and say “yep.” He starts doing the inscription. My brain then says “fuck it; we’ll do it live” and I say “I really like the line, ‘Eighty-six years, a long and lucky life’” and tell him how my grandfather, a lifelong Red Sox fan, lived almost exactly those eighty-six years that he’s referring to, born in 1918 and passed in early 2005. I must have been looking down at the table/book when I said most of this, because when I return my gaze up to his face partway through this, he was giving me that Intense Eye Contact (TM), clearly flattered that someone quoted his own words to him. It was a solid looking-into-your-soul kind of stare, like he was trying to decipher who I was in a five second period (and I gladly would have given him my entire family’s social security numbers in that moment.) The man knows how to connect with an audience, that’s for sure (#ACTING.) At that point, either DD or the manager dude standing there (I blacked out so not sure who it was) says, “So he got to see them win.” Downer that I am, I reply bluntly, “Well he had Alzheimer’s at the end so we’re not sure that he really knew.” Manager dude said something like “I’m sure he did” (aka “stop talking, crazy.”) I say “thank you” and make my exit.

Now, had my Day of Duchovny ended there, my day still would have been made. But what happened over the course of the rest of the day was something special. It was a beautiful much-needed reminder of how the arts can connect pseudo-strangers in a magical way and how there is still goodness in humanity.

Over lunch with @snowvitamins, @damselindistressmya, and @myassbrokethefall, we all come back down the earth. I learned that @myassbrokethefall almost accidentally had David sign a book about sheep herding and @damselindistressmya had a lover’s quarrel with him over basketball. We exchange details about “real life” and also discuss topics of fandom and Tumblr politics. It is lovely. They’re all going to the concert, I want to hang out with them more, and they promise I can hide behind them if I’m embarrassed, so I buy a concert ticket on my phone as we’re finishing lunch. It’s mezzanine-level so I can always sneak out or hide behind a seat, right?

I go back to work for literally two hours. I catch up on email but also flail to @dangerscully and @crossedbeams, my transatlantic support team. Yes, you guys are a part of this story. Thank you for your support and sweet messages. Can’t wait til we unite. Let’s just meet halfway into the Atlantic, shall we? I’ll start paddling now...

After a solid two hours of work, it’s time to get our drink on. @stellagibsonisalifeforce and @x-files-behind-the-scenes joined the lunch crew for dinner/drinks pre-concert and they’re awesome too. Seriously, reminder that if you ever have the opportunity to meet Tumblr friends in “real life,” do it. I only have a couple drinks and I’m getting nervous that it won’t be enough to combat secondhand embarrassment. But I’m in it now. It’s happening.

Thanks to @snowvitamins, @damselindistressmya, and @stellagibsonisalifeforce, I actually end up on the floor rather than up in the mezzanine. Go big or go home, right? We’re very close to the stage, just two or three rows of people in front of us. Pat, local boy from Watertown (”Wahtahtown” - DD) who’s in the band, opens. There’s a little break to reset the stage, and then the band comes on stage. I have my ear plugs in my hand, ready to go as DD joins them to wild applause. I’m pretty sure I said “ohgodohgodohgod” half under my breath for the first 1-2 songs. But then I realize something. He’s actually...good?...in person. Err, better. But his stage (and floor) presence, enthusiasm, give-no-fucks attitude, and ability to connect with the audience -- sometimes through Intense Eye Contact (TM) -- more than make up for the occasional flawed pitch. I imploded about two thirds of the way through when I experienced Intense Eye Contact (TM) via the Duchovs for the second time that day. It was during the a song that I had definitely never heard. I was listening and our eyes just met and he sang holding his gaze there for more than 10 seconds. It was seriously transformative. While his eye contact while signing said “Who are you?”, this look said “I know who you are.” Truly a religious experience (TM by @kateyes224.) Update three days later: I finally figured out what song this happened during. All I remembered was that the song had “can’t” in it and that one of the words during the Intense Eye Contact (TM) was “love.” After doing some detective work and familiarizing myself with the album, I have determined that it was “Another Day” in which my Intense Eye Contact (TM) occurred, around the end of the first verse and beginning of the first chorus:

Another home Some other love Another guy sent high above Some other lie, we tell ourselves Passing time before the bell

I can't live long enough To bring you around

After this moment that briefly made me believe that romantic love was a possibility for me, he moved on to work another area of the crowd (I saw a review that said he was really an equal-opportunity crowd-worker and I couldn’t agree more, though he won’t engage with you if you are chronically camera phone-ing -- which I love.) I turned around and briefly freaked out to @damselindistressmya (”that was directed at me”) before returning my attention to the stage and really getting into singing along with the “Ooh oohs” since I didn’t know any of the other words. Not that I’m biased by that experience or anything, but after listening to the album for a couple days (trying to relive the memories), “Another Day”

My other favorite moment came when David came off the stage onto the floor during one song. We’re all dancing up a storm but @damselindistressmya was closest to the action so I gave her a friendly push into the splash zone and stay on the perimeter (apparently crowd control is a secret talent of mine?) I can’t see what’s going on exactly, but a few seconds later, Mer emerges, walking/dancing/shimmying backwards towards the stage, followed by David, who’s doing the same moves, but facing forward, towards the stage. In other words, they are face to face having a dance-off right in front of me. After a few steps of their impromptu tango, Mer somehow has the wherewithal to peel off to the side gracefully to allow David a path back up on stage. It was seriously a work of art. I'm not sure how Mer survived because I’m still not sure how I did, and I was merely a witness. I can’t draw for shit but I felt the need to produce an artist’s rendering of what unfolded before me (style inspired by @jamofappreciation):

Other concert highlights:

@stellagibsonisalifeforce and @snowvitamins’ love of band member Jeff (that eventually we all got in on.) He did have a great blazer (not quite as awesome as DD’s hooded number though. Good work, Nancy.)

Making new friends between Pat opening and the main event. New friends = Alexa & Scott, I think?

David dedicating a song to band member (and opener) Pat’s grandfather, who was there at 80-something years old. They pointed him out and he stood out and everyone clapped for him. Adorable!

Singing Happy Birthday to band member Colin. We were terribly out of tune. I’d like to think this put DD at ease because he realized we were also pitch-impaired.

David showcasing each of the band members individually during one song (”Sweet Jane,” maybe?), going over to each one individually and putting a hand on their shoulder while they played and just being the sweetest father-figure-esque thing ever

Dad dancing for days. I tried to mirror all his moves. Ended up sweating nearly as much as him and my calves hurt for two days after.

David talking about the best political songs are the ones that aren’t political until they suddenly are / need to be

They recorded the album in Boston and many (all?) of the band members are from Berklee, so it’s special for them

Intro’ing his new song “Half-Life” as “It has science in it”

Boston-accenting “Stars” to “Stahs”

Discussing the merits of traveling by train (very Biden-esque and I loved it)

A lot of sweat. At one point I noticed a bead a sweat drip off his face onto the floor. I wanted to live inside that moment forever.

Full band in pussy hats for the encore

Everyone singing along to “The Weight”

Everyone singing along to the chorus of “Hell or Highwater” (I said I’d love you forever, come hell or highwater / Well, babe the flood’s in)

Lots of genuine gratitude (holding his hand to his chest), especially during the closing “Thank you”

Also got to wave to @thattimetheykissed before the concert and say hi after the concert. Great to meet you!

Special thanks to @campaignofmisinformation for starting the Sunday night re-watches that brought so many of us together. The entire day was just the embodiment of @ihavefeministbones’ recent A+ character development post. Seriously, we were quoting it at every turn. Thanks to everyone who made this day unexpectedly great! I’m off to sleep for probably three hours and then will wake up thinking this was all a dream. Please pinch me tomorrow (err, later today.)

#david duchovny #david duchovny music #hell or highwater tour #duchovny in concert #February 22 2017 #duchovny in boston 2017 #personal #fandom #friends #I love you all #it's 4am #I'll proofread later #update: finally proofread and updated three days later #text post #long post #this is way too much information #but it's for the memories #so deal with it #personal fav

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