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cantsayidont · 6 months

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October 1966. You can't keep a dead butler down. About two years after killing off Alfred the butler in 1964, editor Julius Schwartz was faced with a problem: William Dozier, the producer of the forthcoming Batman TV show, wanted to include Alfred in the show, and wanted him reintroduced into the comics as well! Schwartz and writer Gardner Fox struggled with this challenge and finally came up with the utterly preposterous story presented in the issue above.

Even for a Silver Age Gardner Fox comic book, this story is exceptionally convoluted, so it's best considered chronologically. We begin with a flashback sequence involving iconoclastic "all-around scientific genius" Brandon "Plot Device" Crawford:

This is already straining credulity a little because the story in DETECTIVE COMICS #328 in which Alfred died (helpfully recapped elsewhere in this issue) showed that he had been crushed to death by a giant boulder. That did not seem survivable at all, and even if it were, this would imply that neither Batman and Robin nor whatever doctor who filled out Alfred's death certificate nor the mortician noticed that he wasn't actually dead! Anyway …

So, Alfred wasn't actually dead, he wasn't embalmed, and he was buried in a refrigerated coffin (that's what the purple cylinders in the last panel previous page were for). A stretch, but we'll allow it. However, upon discovering this, Crawford, instead of calling an ambulance like a normal person, seizes on the opportunity to do some Frankenstein shit with Alfred's maimed, broken, mostly dead body, as one does (if one is a reclusive "radical individualist" who dropped out of college to pursue unorthodox, dubiously ethical scientific experiments, I guess).

One of the initial objects of Schwartz's tenure had been to rid the Batman books of the fantastical aliens, monsters, and bizarre transformations of the 1957–1963 period in favor of something a little more grounded. All that goes out the window here, despite the rather defensive editorial footnote, which says:

EDITOR'S NOTE: Physics professor Robert Ettinger, author of "The Prospect of Immortality," has said that death can only be defined in relative terms. He points to the hundreds of persons revived after drowning, asphyxiation, electrocution, and heart attack. "Biological death depends not only on the state of the body," Ettinger says, "but also on the state of medical art!"

Okay, then. On to the Frankenstein shit:

So, Crawford's experimental cell regeneration machine has restored Alfred's broken body, but in the process transformed him into an unrecognizable, rather hideous-looking being who is also evil. Check! The regeneration effect we see Crawford panicking about then transforms him so that he looks like Alfred, while leaving him in "a catatonic trance." The Outsider, rather ungratefully, puts Crawford's unconscious body back in Alfred's coffin to cover his tracks, and uses Crawford's various machines and his own "increased mental power" in his new quest to destroy Batman and Robin.

This was not the first appearance of the Outsider, who had actually been hounding the Dynamic Duo on and off since DETECTIVE COMICS #334 two years earlier, although he had never appeared on-panel, and his identity had been a mystery. Where Schwartz originally intended to take that plotline is not clear (Schwartz's own account doesn't say, and Gardner Fox said later that he didn't think Schwartz had a solution in mind at the outset), but it doesn't seem likely that revealing the Outsider as Alfred was the plan, particularly since subsequent Outsider stories had shown that the villain had superhuman powers, including the ability to bring inanimate objects to life! In this story, the Outsider really does transform Robin into a wooden coffin, as the cover indicates — it's not a hypnotic illusion or some other such dodge. Fortunately, the effect is reversed after the villain is defeated:

Batman's determination to keep these events secret from Alfred is bizarre, since Alfred's death is a matter of public record: As seen in DETECTIVE COMICS #328, Bruce Wayne started a charitable foundation in Alfred's name, with its own building in Gotham City! Batman suggests that they can rename the charity the Wayne Foundation (as of course they subsequently did), but how he expects to resolve the various problems created by Alfred having been legally dead for months without his finding out is unclear. They do take the time to retrieve Crawford (who has miraculously not suffocated or starved to death in Alfred's coffin) and use his machine to return him to normal, after which Batman suggests that Bruce Wayne will give Crawford a job at the renamed foundation.

If you're wondering, "Wait, does this mean Alfred now had super-powers?" the answer is yes! Since he didn't retain any conscious memory of his death and resurrection, he was normally unaware of this, but Alfred's evil Outsider personality resurfaced several times, and he sometimes spontaneously reverted to the Outsider's form, in which he once again had supernatural abilities:

Notice the background, with the buildings burning like candles? The Outsider did that with his mental powers, along with a bunch of less grandiose but equally impossible feats. Fortunately, they reverted to normal after he split into separate good (Alfred) and evil (Outsider) selves and defeated himself. The Outsider resurfaced once more in 1985, battling the Outsiders and nearly killing Superman by transforming the Batcave's giant penny into Green Kryptonite.

I guess this whole saga did resolve the problem of resurrecting Alfred for the TV show, but in what I think can fairly be called the most ludicrous way possible. (And you thought the PENNYWORTH show spun out of GOTHAM was silly …)

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flanaganfilm · 11 months

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Hi Mike!

I am loving the LONG posts you’ve been making about your career and films. I wonder if there is any such one for ‘Ouija: Origin of Evil’?

‘Doctor Sleep’ was the first film of yours I had seen where I went “What else has this guy made?” And I was so surprised to learn Ouija was yours as well, it took me back to that college date! When I bought it on blu-ray and showed it to my friend, she saw Alice and Doris and went “It’s Shirley!”

Id love to know what your thoughts and feelings are on the film, 7 years later. Cheers!

Sure thing! This will be a fun one... I had such a great time making that movie.

Back in the spring of 2015, we were shooting Hush. Blumhouse was coproducing the movie with Intrepid Pictures. This was my second outing with Blumhouse after they came aboard Oculus at tiff in 2013, and they'd even hired me do a little uncredited consulting on another movie they'd made - a teen horror flick called Ouija. The first Ouija movie was... well... not great, but it made a lot of money. And I mean a LOT of money. A sequel was inevitable.

Jason Blum started calling me about the project while we were working on Hush. Initially I passed on it, I wasn't interested - I wasn't sure how to make a movie about a Ouija board interesting, and I didn't see myself as a sequel filmmaker. It just wasn't a movie for me.

If you know Jason at all, you know he is one of the most persistent and persuasive people in the business.

He wouldn't take "no" for an answer, and the phone kept ringing. The bar was low, he argued. The first movie performed very well, and because the franchise was just hung on a board game, there was kind of a blank canvas. "What movie do you want to make, buddy? Because I promise you'll wait your whole career for someone to make you this kind of offer again. You are a fool if you don't say yes."

He finally made me an offer that I couldn't refuse: I could approach the film from any viable creative direction I wanted, just as long as it connected somehow to the first movie and involved a Ouija board, and if I did that (and brought in the scares the kids wanted), I'd have a guaranteed worldwide theatrical release through Universal Pictures.

It's hard to understate how appealing that prospect was at the time. Oculus had been released theatrically but only performed moderately well. Before I Wake had been caught up in Relativity's bankruptcy, so the promised theatrical release never occurred (at this time, the movie was tied up in bankruptcy court without any release on the horizon), and Hush had been scooped up by Netflix, which meant it would never see the inside of a movie theater.

This offered me substantial creative freedom and a guaranteed wide theatrical release with the full weight of Universal Pictures behind it... I finally agreed.

How could I not?

The first film was a contemporary elimination horror film about a group of teenagers who awaken a scary little girl ghost with a stitched-up mouth. She kills them one by one. I wasn't really drawn to that, and I pitched Jason instead on a prequel that focused on a single mother in the late 1960s. To my astonishment, he agreed.

They had their conditions - it had to be PG-13, it had to directly connect to the first film, and I had to deliver the movie on their budget. And I had my conditions - I wanted my crew (including my producer Trevor Macy and my DP Michael Fimognari), I wanted my period setting, and I wanted the movie to look like it was made in the late sixties, down to the zooms, the film grain, and all the other aesthetic bells and whistles. This wouldn't look like a contemporary movie.

Again, to my astonishment, they agreed.

They had one more stipulation, this one from Universal Pictures - no one could smoke cigarettes. And not just that, there couldn't be evidence of smoking in the movie; not even ash trays.

"But this takes place in the sixties," I argued. The NO that came in was emphatic and resounding. There was to be no evidence of cigarettes in our 1960's, and this was non-negotiable. This was a priority for Universal Pictures, and they were far more interested in eliminating cigarettes from the eyes of their young viewers than they were interested in historical accuracy.

Frankly, they were right.

We all agreed on the terms, and to my own admitted surprise, I went off to write and direct Ouija 2.

There was an immediate skepticism in the press when the project was announced, and a fair amount of mocking online. I was determined to ignore it. I really thought this could be fun. I felt like I had been given a gift; I had a huge canvas and precious few rules, and a guaranteed theatrical audience.

I wasn't just going to make Ouija 2; I was going to make Ouija 2 as well as it could possibly be made.

Sitting to write the script was a unique process. The only thing I knew for certain was the very, very end. Our connection to the first movie was that we were telling the origin story of Doris Zander, the ghost from the first film.

She came with some backstory that we were married to: the first movie told us her mother Alice was a professional medium. When Doris had been possessed after using an Ouija board, her mother had sewn her mouth shut and killed her. And we knew her older sister, Lina, had spent the rest of her life in a mental institution (where she grew up to be Lin Shaye), and was absolutely not to be trusted.

So no matter what I did, we had to land there. Everything else was fair game.

I was very interested in the idea of a family who worked as mediums, but most interested in them if they were not authentic psychics. I'd researched a lot about fake mediumship, and the tricks that were used in those performative seances to separate willing marks from their money. What if that was the family's business? What if her mother was something of a con artist, and her kids were part of the act? And what if they ran afoul of a real haunting?

And further, what if it wasn't that they were con artists - what if they were good people, behind it all? What if they had experienced loss themselves, and had rationalized their behavior by saying they were offering people comfort? This was interesting to me. It was cool, it was fun, and I hadn't seen that movie before.

The story was a lot of fun to write. I really enjoyed the characters, I really enjoyed the world, and I kept thinking about the kinds of movies that I loved growing up. Yeah, this was a movie for a younger audience, but maybe they'd sit in that theater and have an experience that would stay with them, the way the movies of my youth had stayed with me.

I thought about those movies: Poltergeist, The Omen, The Changeling, Watcher in the Woods... and I thought about the theatrical experience of them. Their music (I particularly honed in on Jerry Goldsmith's score from Poltergeist), their aesthetics, even the little markers in the upper corner that signal the reel changes - "cigarette burns", as they're called in the business.

All of those things were ornaments of my earliest theatrical experiences, and I wanted to recreate that for the young viewers who might seek out Ouija 2.

One thing that set Ouija 2 apart right away was that we were going to shoot in Los Angeles. I'd lived in LA since 2003, but I had never actually filmed a movie here (and haven't ever again, sadly). This was a really exciting factor - I could spend the day in prep at Blumhouse, and then go home and sleep in my bed.

This was also great for my home life. Kate and I were engaged by then, and Blum was very happy with Hush, so she ended up playing a small role at the top of the movie. Having just spent the Spring living in a hotel in Fairhope Alabama and only working nights, it felt very novel that I'd get up in the morning and go to the office, and be home for dinner. We absolutely loved it.

Casting was also fun. Terry Taylor at Blumhouse did the casting, and for the first time in a long time I could be in the room when actors came in to audition. This was all in-person, because we were in LA. For Before I Wake, we'd had to run the whole thing through the lens of foreign sales value and over choppy, pixelated FaceTime meetings that did not give us much understanding of who we were casting. Compared to that, this process was a real delight.

For Lina, I really wanted to bring back Annalise Basso, the young actress from Oculus. She'd done a terrific job on that movie, and this was a great chance to work together again.

Henry Thomas signed on as Father Tom, and we hit it off immediately. I had been a fan of his since... well, forever I suppose, but I was really excited that he'd be in our movie.

The big revelation, though, was Lulu Wilson. We auditioned a lot of girls for Doris, and we used a particularly upsetting monologue as the audition piece - a 60 second speech about what happens when someone is strangled to death. Lulu's audition knocked me over, and we cast her immediately.

(Fun note: in the film itself, Lulu performs the monologue almost exactly as she did in her audition. And she did it so well, we never cut away. Don't know many 10 year-olds who can hold an entire monologue like that... in fact, I know a lot of 40 year-olds who can't. Lulu Wilson kicks ass.)

Production began in September 2015.

From the jump, this movie was FUN to make.

We were using an antique zoom lens package to achieve the look, and after spending much of prep obsessively watching The Changeling and The Exorcist for inspiration, we were really excited to do something fun. Every day was like a trip to an amusement park.

Michael Fimognari and I enjoy one of the vintage cars

One set, it was a family reunion. I had a lot of my crew from Oculus, Before I Wake and Hush, and a few familiar faces in the cast as well. It even reunited me with Dougie Jones, who had worked for one day in my debut feature Absentia, and agreed to let us bury him in gross demon makeup.

I really can't overstate how fun this was. The movie had more genre set pieces than most of my other work combined, which meant every day we were dealign with ghosts, ghouls, and some wild stunt work. Annalise and Lulu were just delightful, and spent their days pulling escalating pranks on the crew. I would find myself tagged with dozens of C47's (clothespins) whenever Basso was on set, and Lulu was doing all of her own stunts and making us laugh like hyenas.

I was also really enjoying Henry. Toward the end of the shoot, I told him I wanted to put him in everything I did. He laughed and said "whatever, sure man, sign me up." He's been in everything I've made since.

We didn't have a lot of money, but had a lot more money than I'd ever had before, and because Universal was committed to a theatrical release, they wanted the movie to work. I felt supported at every turn. Trevor handled the production the way we'd always done, and this was now our fourth collaboration - I knew I had a producer for life.

Blum was also a delightful collaborator, popping up frequently to check in but always just to see if there was something we needed. I felt an enormous amount of trust from Blumhouse, Hasbro, Platinum Dunes and Universal. That's a lot of cooks for one kitchen, and believe when I tell you it can easily go south... but it didn't. In this case, it just clicked.

We got to do a lot of fun things that had nothing to do with horror, too. There's a lovely little scene in the movie where Lina has her first kiss. We modeled the entire shot sequence after the best kiss in the history of movies: Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly's smooch in Rear Window.

We were even able to perfectly mimic a slower frame rate just as their lips meet, exactly as Hitchcock had done in that movie. If you look in the background, the Rear Window poster is hanging on her wall. We were always careful to cite our sources (and there were a lot of them).

My favorite scene of the whole movie was a dinner date between Elizabeth Reaser and Henry that we filmed at the Cicada Club in downtown LA. This was a restaurant that I loved, as once a month it transformed into a full-blown time machine, putting a brass band on the stage and functioning like a 20's-era speakeasy.

The scene where Alice and Father Tom spend an evening out together was among my favorites in the script. It was two adults who were clearly attracted to each other, and who acknowledge it, but recognize the reality of their situation. As we were filming, I remarked to Fimognari that - for a movie about a haunted Ouija board - we were really getting away with murder. This was lovely, sweet, subtle character development, and no one was stopping me. After what we'd gone through on Before I Wake, I had to pinch myself.

My favorite scene of the film

It was set in a restaurant in the late 1960s - almost everyone in that room would realistically be smoking. Universal had been clear that there was to be absolutely no suggestion that cigarettes even existed in this world. But for the restaurant, I had to haze up the air. It was the only time I was questioned creatively, as there was immediate pushback.

"It's a restaurant," I said. "What if there's a fire in the kitchen, an entree got burned and that's why it's smokey?"

No one bought that for even a second. But they let me go ahead anyway. Man, I love that scene. And later, when it was all said and done, Jason Blum shocked me by telling me it was his favorite as well.

We wrapped the movie just before Halloween, and off we went into post. The holidays came and went, and Kate and I got married in February 2016. There was gentle pressure in the cutting room to make the film as tight as possible, and keep things short, but as with everything else, the pressure was decidedly gentle.

The movie's test screenings were very positive. People were very engaged by the story of the family, and the only issue people took seemed to be with the ending. It was a real downer to get so attached to everyone, only to have to kill Doris so brutally. The ending was, to put it mildly, very depressing - Father Tom was dead, Alice was dead, Doris was dead (and her mouth stitched up to stop the demonic voices), and Lina was condemned to the asylum. It was exactly what was required of us, and what was dictated by the first movie. But it hurt people's feelings.

My original ending had Lina in the asylum, crafting a handmade Ouija board out of her own blood, and trying to contact her dead sister. She tries and tries, but there is no answer. It is just silence. And we leave her saying "are you there? Are you there?" over and over again, as tears fall down her face. Doris wouldn't answer - in fact, Doris wouldn't answer for decades, when the first movie finally caught up to us. It was a haunting and sad ending, and I kind of loved it.

But test audiences are a fickle thing, and so we came back to tweak the ending, as the studio wanted one last scare to send us out on - not an unreasonable position, though it was a cliched one. We shot the film's current ending, with Doris' ghost on the ceiling of the asylum. It's as rote and impersonal a horror movie ending as I can imagine, but... well, it was Ouija 2, for crying out loud.

The movie we'd made up until that point had no business being as much fun as it was.

I remember the phone call I got from Blum after the movie was done. Universal had decided that they wouldn't call the movie Ouija 2 after all, they were worried about the number 2 making it feel less interesting.

Instead, they'd taken a big swing: the movie would be called Ouija: Origin of Evil.

I laughed out loud. I thought he was kidding. When it became obvious that he wasn't, I filed a protest. "It's not very good," I said. "It's cheesy. And not to put too fine a point on it, but the movie depicts neither the origin of the Ouija board, or of - um - Evil."

"Buddy, the title tested well. That's the way the cookie crumbles. Trust us, if the studio says it's Origin of Evil, it's Origin of Evil."

With a big theatrical release comes a lot of pomp and circumstance. There was a huge premiere for Ouija: Origin of Evil that October, and whatever nerves I had about the critical reception to the movie proved to be short-lived. People really enjoyed it. The overwhelming sentiment was that a sequel to a movie like Ouija frankly had no business being this interesting.

For all the pomp and circumstance, I missed it all. I didn't get to go to a premiere or walk the red carpet, as I was already in Alabama shooting Gerald's Game. On opening weekend, I took the cast and crew to a local theater in Daphne Alabama to see Ouija: Origin of Evil on the big screen.

The projection in this little backwoods theater was NOT good. The lamp was too dim (a common cost-saving strategy in some theater chains), and it was out of focus. I ran up to complain to the manager.

"The movie's soft focus on purpose," he said. "That's what the filmmakers wanted."

"No, it really isn't," I said.

The movie ultimately was not the runaway hit that the first Ouija was. Not even close, in fact.

To everyone's surprise, the teenagers just... didn't really show up. The first movie had grossed 103 MILLION dollars worldwide, but our little prequel only managed to do about 80. It was considered a modest success, not a hit by any means, but no failure. In the end, Universal decided maybe there wasn't a franchise to be had here after all.

So in the end, I had single-handedly revitalized and destroyed the Ouija franchise.

But man, believe when I tell you I've got no regrets whatsoever. I had the time of my life making that movie. Sure, some people groan about the ending, but that was kind of our only job - those were the cards we knew we had to turn over. Did you see everything that led up to that, though??? Did you see what we got away with?!

Since this movie, I've worked with a lot of people again. True to my word, I've put Henry Thomas in every single thing I've made since. Elizabeth Reaser came back to play Shirley in The Haunting of Hill House, and little Lulu Wilson - who was so wonderful as Reaser's daughter Doris - played the younger version of Shirley on that show. Lulu is also in The Fall of the House of Usher (and if you look closely, her original Ouija board and planchette are in frame with her.)

Kate sported a fun blonde hairdo for her small role in Ouija: Origin of Evil, and it was a really fun stepping stone between Hush and Hill House for her as an actor. There's a fun deleted scene where she goes home and murders her father, played by the great Sam Anderson. I really dug that scene, and I wish it was in there. You can see it on the blu-ray and DVD though, because even in a world where Netflix is trying to erase such things, Universal Pictures actually takes care of their movies with proper physical media releases.

I haven't yet found the next project to do with my friends at Blumhouse, but it's not for lack of trying, and my dance card has been booked solid since we wrapped this movie. It was an important step for my career, and their support was amazing. I know that we'll work together again, as soon as the timing is right.

Also, get this...

Ouija: Origin of Evil is my most successful movie.

Ever. Of all of them.

It did 82 million worldwide. That's better than Doctor Sleep, which did 72 million. It's better than Oculus, which did 44 million. The rest were all dumped to Netflix.

So yeah, Ouija: Origin of Evil is my most successful movie. Ain't that a trip?

We weren't trying to change the world, or reinvent the genre. I was making the second entry in a PG-13 franchise about an evil board game, and dammit if I didn't get to do everything I set out to do. There's an exuberance to the camera movement, the staging, the set design, and the lighting. There's an unbridled joy in this movie, and I smile whenever I think about it.

Up until this point in my career, every movie I had was hard-fought. Oculus was a trial by fire whose distribution deal was detonated days before it premiered. Before I Wake was a brutal experience both creatively and logistically. Hush was a labor of love and determination against all odds. But this one... man, this one reminded me why I wanted to make movies in the first place.

Because it can be really, really fucking fun.

#ouija board #ouija #ouija origin of evil #blumhouse #behind the scenes

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episodeoftv · 5 months

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Prelims, Vote 1 of 8

The top 4 finales will move on to be included in the main bracket

Propaganda is under the cut, may include spoilers

Agent Carter - 2.10 Hollywood Ending

Just as Peggysous became canon, just as Jack is about to start his redemption arc, they cancelled the show and left all of us on a massive cliffhanger for, let's see, almost 8 years at this point. We need ANSWERS.

Daybreak - 1.10 FWASH-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

It was written as a cliffhanger for a second season that would never come, but it just felt flat. The one objective that our leading lad (Josh) had been chasing (saving Sam) was rendered pointless, because the moment the big bad was defeated she effectively declared herself the new big bad and everyone who wasn't a major character went 'hmmm, okay!' And accepted it! They didn't even address this all that well, just ended with a shot of the MCs looking shocked.

Doctor Who - 12.10 The Timeless Children

this finale is shit!! absolute ass! nothing happens in it for it to justify having such a cool name. the master captures the doctor, shows her a slideshow that amounts to ‘‘you’re adopted!! :)" doctor breaks out of her matrix prison thing by overloading it with memories when the matrix is The Supercomputer and it’s used to hold all memories of all time lords ever? you know, the species whove been doing their thing for a billion years and live up to 10,000 years? the doctors new memories should either already be there or make nary a dent in it. the doctor’s like ‘‘why would they do that! why would they lie?’’ girl they have been lying to you since forever. they killed you once. theyve tried to kill you so many times. they turned you into a fucked up anti time monster that one time. one of the doctors past past selves even told her it doesnt really matter!! what was even the point

Loki - 1.06 For All Time. Always.

The series was going downhill past Episode 3 tbh, but it really just was a load of crap only interested in setting up the multiverse

Tales of Arcadia - Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

This finale undoes everything the show worked for. In order to give itself stakes it kills off a few characters, but in a way that only indirectly impacts the MCs (such as Jim's Mom's fiancé getting killed). Then, at the end of the special, the main character uses time travel to go back to the start of S1E01 and changed history so he never becomes the trollhunter. Instead he makes his next friend the trollhunter instead. In terms of anticipation it was not at all what anyone was anticipating. (I had assumed he'd go to the start of the special and defeat the titans without any casualties). Having undone time only he remembers the previous timestream and he makes no effort to engage with it outside of accepting his changeling principal far sooner.

Ted Lasso - 3.12 So Long, Farewell

This trash ass finale undid three seasons of character development for every single person involved (except Nate!). A long-distance parent returned "home" despite having no attachments besides his child and leaving behind his entire found family, an abused and neglected woman was left behind by the person who taught her she didn't deserve abuse and neglect, and two characters who spent the whole show learning to cooperate and care for each other got into a fistfight over the girl they both dated.

Torchwood - 3.05 Day Five

No propaganda submitted

#prelim #wfprelim #wfpoll #poll #polls #agent carter #daybreak #doctor who #loki #tales of arcadia #ted lasso #torchwood

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vickyvicarious · 7 months

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Oh No. You made me aware of the implications of Mina's words (when Mina says that some may say that this is a happy occasion for her and Jonathan) that she nay already be dealing with peoples' Whispering or subtle comments... from Hawkins' circle perhaps.

Yeah. :(

See, the thing is, there has been talk since last year of an outside perspective of all this with various degrees of apparent shadiness in different characters (I think I made a post about exactly that last year). But most of those takes I've seen deal with people suspecting our main characters of outright murder. Arthur, getting into Mrs. Westenra's will and then killing her and Lucy off with the help of his doctor friends to cover up for him. Or even just killing Lucy after her mother dies and leaves everything to him. Jonathan and Mina killing Mr. Hawkins in order to inherit everything he has, including Jonathan's big promotion shortly beforehand. It's all very sinister-sounding stuff.

But it doesn't have to be that bad, even in other peoples' minds. For Arthur, his father's illness seems like something that would have been well-known, and of course he was due to inherit everything from him anyway since they were quite close and he has no siblings. It sounds like there were rumors going around about him and Lucy, so their engagement wouldn't have been a surprise. Mrs. Westenra kept her illness secret from Lucy, but not really the other characters, and it's possible she would have allowed some other friends in on the secret too, so her death might not be a surprise either. Lucy's illness was abrupt and tragic, but having a friendly doctor consult/care for an invalid at home wouldn't have been anything too weird, so it's not necessarily ringing alarm bells. The weirdest part is the inheritance and the super-fast funeral, but in addition to Arthur getting potentially more leeway since he's so high-status, the knowledge of his father's death at about the same time might have led people to be more excusing of him even if they didn't like how he conducted the funeral. The inheritance is really weird though, and I could see even people who trust he wasn't responsible for any deaths believing that he maybe manipulated or pressured an ill woman to convince her to sign off Lucy's money to him when he knows she's likely to die much sooner than Mrs. Westenra thinks. And then he had them both buried as fast as possible and tried to move right past it. Not necessarily murder, but scummy. Even then though, I feel like most people wouldn't be saying this kind of thing openly even if it did run through their minds - and it would be less likely to occur to most in the first place since they know Arthur more already.

But while Arthur's status, both as a rich and presumably well-liked member of high-society, and someone who was known to be close to both the Westenras before they fell ill, serves to make people more forgiving of him... Jonathan and Mina don't have any of that.

Jonathan didn't already have money, to point to and say "he didn't need to inherit that wealth anyway." Jonathan didn't have his own property to make him getting that house less weird. He didn't already have his own staff, he didn't already have his own title/job even. He worked for Mr. Hawkins. He literally only just became a lawyer a couple of months ago, and he hasn't even been in the country let alone actively involved in the practice for most of the time since then. His meteoric rise is definitely weird, especially if you consider that his relationship with Mr. Hawkins, pre-trip, seems to have been pretty professional. Maybe he and his boss both secretly were more fond of one another than that, but I don't get the sense they expressed it very much.

So it's much easier to make the jump to the Harkers killing Mr. Hawkins. But there's a leap that's even easier than that and in some ways sadder. We know that Mr. Hawkins didn't have family, and apparently his funeral wasn't super well attended. His gout had been an ongoing issue, and while that alone isn't typically enough to kill someone it can go along with other illnesses. Jonathan had worked for him since he was a boy, and then his first business trip went wrong.

I think it could be quite easy for people to assume that Jonathan was ambitious, and deliberately played on the feelings of a lonely, sick old man. Perhaps he manipulated his guilt as a way to get 'in' with him past professional roles, and then started acting the part of a son in order to con Mr. Hawkins into giving him everything. Again, it doesn't have to be murder to still be mercenary and cold.

At the very least, if you're an old acquaintance of Mr. Hawkins, or someone who has worked with him for a while, the sudden appointment of his former clerk as his chief mourner, heir to all his wealth and his legal practice - it definitely seems odd enough to attribute to greed. Jonathan and Mina don't have any social status or wealth to protect them from that, and so I feel like they could get a lot more open suspicion or scorn or snubbing than Arthur ever would. No one ever has to say a word about it looking like murder; they could make 'jokes' about the Harkers 'lucking out' or at least 'landing on their feet' with a certain tone and that would be enough to be quite hurtful (and yeah, Mina's line suggests that at least she suspects some are saying that). They could easily not give accounts to them, or back out of existing contracts, and apologize by saying they were used to counting on Mr. Hawkins' many years of experience, but Mr. Harker is... newer to this. They could just fail to make any social offers, in a way that the Harker probably couldn't call anyone out on. And so on.

#dracula daily #mr. hawkins #jonathan harker #mina murray #arthur holmwood #burekstation #replies #it's not necessarily that bad but it could be much more easily than it could for arthur i think #without anyone to speak for them they are kinda stuck #hence another reason for jonathan to be flinging himself all the harder into his work because if he fails to prove himself that will only #seem like justification for any rumors

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justatalkingface · 9 months

Text

The 'Great' MHA Read Along, Part Three (Chapters 8-11): "Support" Gear and Dodging Death.

Well. You asked for this, so I deliver; upon your head be it.

So. We start off with talking about costumes... actually pretty interesting, though, with companies doing these costumes, I'm kind of surprised there's not brand names on them; All Might, Brought To You By Sony, or something. I guess that was a level of realism Hori wasn't prepared to deal with.... (Note Bakugou's costume comments; 'kill with my knees'?) but then we get to Izuku. And I can't help but feel jipped by this, in a couple of ways. Izuku ends up looking... well, like his mom made his costume, a sore, underdressed thumb compared to all the professionally dressed heroes... and he's also the only one whose face is entirely covered for some reason?

On the other hand, though, it is a nice touching scene, the family reconnecting, Inko admitting her mistakes and that she'll support Izuku.... but couldn't it have been done differently? As is, it feels like Inko is being used as a blatant emotional tool to make Izuku different, and that's rough since her character is barely existent in the first place, and quickly fades away into oblivion as time passes. In the same way that Izuku is the only one who can't actually use his Quirk, the same way he's the only one who is so completely unprepared for UA, he's now the only one who who doesn't actually have a proper costume.

I mean, I get it; on one hand, it's symbolic, and the way he eventually updates it shows his evolution as a hero. But at the same time, I've already made it clear what I think of Izuku starting off so behind, so I don't actually like that symbolism, and even if I was, the narrative feels like it's going a little too hard on the 'he doesn't belong' thing at this point. First time around, I was fine with how Izuku was, and even now my dislike of the starting situation is more on a meta scale than anything, despite the bad logic behind it, because it's written in so engagingly, but I never once liked the costume thing.

There's also the question of why she's OK with Izuku going to UA with either, A, no Quirk that she knows of, or B, a Quirk he just... randomly got, somehow, while applying? When, according to a literal doctor (Dr. Diabolus Ex Machina himself; is the fact that AFO's most loyal minion apparently was Izuku's doctor going to be relevent at some point or...?), that was never going to happen? Ever?

There's... there's a lot of questions she should be asking, here, and as far as we can tell, that just never happens. This whole dynamic here, there was all sorts of room to play with it, expand it, develop Inko as a character and Izuku's background more (and look at the fact that she found out her son was Quirkless and... got fat? Because she handled that guilt badly? The way they talk is like they never talked about Inko saying he couldn't be a hero until just then. Did they... did they really just never ever talk about this again until just now? The more you think about all, the more things don't make sense) and Hori didn't just drop the ball with this, he spiked it into the ground rather than use it.

I'm... sort of grudgingly OK with All Might being a not great teacher here, but not really. I mean, it's still in line with how his brain got ripped out of his head after Arc One, which at this point is something I have a well established history of being... not well pleased about, but it'd track that he wouldn't know how to train students in basic heroism, unlike exercising....

But that leads back to the question of, 'Then why is he a teacher if he can't teach?' Him doing something he explicitly has no idea how to do makes no sense. It's super double dumb though since, again, this is All Might's precious powered-time, and he's using it to... not just to teach kids when he could be saving lives, but teach kids badly, and again, that's stupid, and everyone involved, including Nezu, Super Genius, should realize this.

God, he's so badly shoe-horned into all this I'm actually wondering if he was supposed to die in Arc One and pass on his Quirk to Izuku that way, and him being in at all is Hori changing that plan at the last minute.

So, before I start on Bakugou vs Izuku... let's pause it here so I can go on a tangent: Bakugou's support gear.

There's several problems with it as an in-setting item, all focused around a simple fact: they're not there for 'support', they're weapons. Fundamentally, Bakugou's Gauntlets are just... giant explosive cannons, just like the literal grenades he gets, or the edgy machine guns in late story. No other hero's support gear we see are like that, pure weapons based only around harming others (I remember later, a Random Civilian gets his hand on support gear, I think from Detnerat gear, and that's a weapon, but A, that's from Detnerat, and so made to bring society to its knees, literally, and two, the entire point of that little scene was to show how stupid and helpless civilians are, and how they should dare get above themselves and try to defend themselves (which is clearly set up to support sheep narrative of civilians Hri loves to pull, while also making it make less sense since, if civilians doing anything backfires that badly, then yeah, maybe they're right to do literally nothing so they can't fuck it up) and so I am far from giving it the benefit of the doubt.)

I know later, Bakugou take one off and Izuku uses it, and so they're just... literally giant explosive guns, literally just a pair of guns he has strapped to his arms. Everyone else has gear that supports their Quirks, even Snipe with his actual gun (which enhances his Quirk, which is dependant on a projectile), while Bakugou alone has something that replaces it.

Thematically, that's weird and has bad vibes. On a more practical level, someone, somewhere, must have approved this thing, looked at this design with the more or less literal description of 'giant bomb', and said, 'Yeah, this is OK, let's do it'. This basiclly has no purpose other than to kill people or to cause massive property damage; there's no... safe mode, no limiting, it's just point and FIRE EVERYTHING!!! Why? Why did they just hand it to him? (And, as a side note, how was it full enough to use when Bakugou had just got it? There's no way he sweat enough to fill that thing; otherwise he would have collapsed from dehydration.)

So. Yeah. I have problems with that. And now the fight, and I find this fact distinctive:

Bakugou starts off this fight by proclaiming he's going to use this to beat up Izuku. I'm going to be honest here; if I was a teacher? I would absolutely respond to that, somehow, even if it's simple as, 'Bakugou, no, also now I'm watching you'. It's not exactly a reach to call that an obvious red flag.

(Side note; 'Rage You Damn Nerd' or 'Ferocity of a Fucking Nerd'? Really? What the hell is this chapter title.)

Flashback: Bakugou, as a kid, saying to murder those villains. God, really? Was nobody ever concerned about that?

And then Izuku counters Bakugou, and he just... loses it. Completely. Because of course; how dare Izuku fight back! How dare he resist Bakugou's righteous anger?!

And yet another reminder of the cringy fact that Bakugou was first place, despite the fact it's against his narrative set up of being the little fish, just because of how much Hori hypes him up.

Bakugou: I've been torturing you for all these years, and you've been sitting back and taking it. Clearly, you've been hiding your Quirk all this time, just so you could laugh at me!

Me: ????

Holy fuck, the ego on that comment. I've heard about 'everything being about you', but this is nuts.

Izuku builds up courage to face his fears/bully, and meanwhile Bakugou flashes back to how useless everyone else is, and how great he is, and how dare Izuku stand up to him, when he gave him the perfect name to describe how worthless he is? How dare he try to rescue him that one time when they were kids?! How dare he have concern?!?!?!

*leans back in chair*

Hoolyyy fuck, Bakugou, that is a lot of clusterfuck in such a small, three page sequence.

'Ah, Iida. What a wholesome palate cleanser', I think, more or less in lockstep with Uraraka. I love how his big plan is literally cleaning; I mean, I get the logic, but still.

Alas. All good things end.

So, for a lot of people, the big, defining moment of Bakugou's story and how bad they think he is is Chapter One and the suicide baiting. That's obviously shit, but to me, this is the big moment, the, if you pardon the drama (I can't think of a way to phrase it better), the 'original sin' of MHA as a whole: Bakugou tries to kill someone, and absolutely nothing happens.

This isn't an exaggeration, BTW; let me lay out the scene here:

Bakugou is armed with, as I said before, an insanely aggressive weapon, one that has no purpose other than to kill people or destroy things. He is given this weapon with, apparently, absolutely no comments about being careful with it, not to harm someone with it, or anything, and then takes it into an exercise with his classmates.

This exercise takes place in a building, one that can easily be damaged by the blast of that thing. As this is a multi-story building, even a blast not aimed at someone could easily get someone killed if part of the building collapses on top of them.

Bakugou takes this weapon, and he aims it at a human being. To top it off, All Might, who by all means should be an authority in, 'Yeah, this could definitely kill someone', explicitly tells him that, 'No, you'll kill him!' before he fires.

Bakugou's response? 'He'll be fine if he dodges!"

And then he fires.

And the fact that, not only does this happen at all, but this fight continues afterwords, is inexcusable. Blatantly, obviously, inexcusable. This is, unironically, Bakugou attempting to kill someone.

On tape, no less!

I mean, hell, with this one chapter, we have the means (the gauntlet), the motive (Izuku's... existence? The fact that he dares to stand against Bakugou?), and the opportunity (this entire exercise), along with witnesses watching him do it in real time. If this had hit Izuku, the trial against Bakugou would have been a cakewalk.

And the thing is? Everything before this, everything, is something that could be excused. Granted, it would strain the suspension of belief to the breaking point at times, but everyone could be that stupid and/or that biased, in theory.

But this? There is absolutely no way that this could happen, and be acceptable in the logic of this story. I don't care if All Might is literally missing his brain, I don't care if Aizawa just.... hates Izuku with a deep and unexplainable loathing (BTW, I think I forgot to mention last time that Aizawa sabotaged Izuku's scores? Well, considering how Izuku with his super toss was in a contest against a girl that only is invisible, there's no way he was in last place, so... yeah. Aizawa sabotaged him). Forget their heroic instincts, forget all of that; if they let this happen, everyone involved with this would have their lives destroyed. They can't cover it up, because at some point, Inko is really going to wonder, 'Hey, where is my kid at?' and the second she asks that everything crumbles.

That, and why would they try to cover it up? Bakugou's character is, in many ways, the cliche of the sports star from a small school, who the entire school, if not the town, bends over backwards to keep him in that position (which, ironically, never would have helped Aldera that much, because Bakugou, as is, would never give them credit, respect, or money. Bakugou, if he improved enough to give them that? Would give them shit for what they let him do instead. That plan was doomed from the start). The thing is? That tolerance only goes so far; sure, he can bully the nerd all day long, and hell, he can beat him half-to-literal-death if there's no one there of importance to serve as witness, but this? This isn't just attacking the nerd. This is chasing him in a car. And, when the nerd escapes into the school? The jock then drives into the school, and only stops when the car itself gets jammed in a wall.

There's a point, in other words, where all that tolerance ends. This is waay past that point.

That, and the fact that UA isn't a small school, with a sports department propped up by their one good athlete; UA is the school that athlete wants to go to. To UA, Bakugou the metaphorical athlete is completely replaceable; how many students were trying to get in again?

And all of that? All of that is assuming that every single one of them is, in fact, the absolute worse, trash, shallow self-serving shit versions of them possible, instead of being heroes, in a school for heroes, for whom there should be standards all over the place.

So the fact that he fires this shot, and that the flash-stepping All Might doesn't just bitch slap him out of it beforehand, or at least make it clear if he does his heroic life is over, and then afterwards he allows this fight to continue, and then after that, there's barely even a harsh word said in response to this, by anyone, much less any sort of consequences for it, school based or otherwise, shatters my SOD into dust.

The logic and foundation of this setting can not support this sequence of events. So... why? Why did this happen? Why was this allowed to happen?

Bakugou. The completely irrational, completely assholish Bakugou, who would do this, because this falls in line with his behavior from what we've seen of him thus far... if he was held to account for this? Given consequences, realistic consequences, for his realistically horrific behavior? He'd be gone, at least. Out of UA, out of Izuku's life (if only), and out of the story.

But... for whatever reason, even before all the polls came in (I think), Hori just wanted Bakugou to stay in the story. Why? Maybe there was a more proper redemption arc in the works. Maybe it was always going to be like it was now. Maybe Hori just likes Bakugou. Who knows?

The point is Bakugou, The Living Idiot Ball, is born into the story at this moment, a character who makes everyone around him their impossibly worse selves. His behavior will improve, somewhat, but the behavior of those around him won't.

Well, thankfully, the building doesn't collapse on all of them after that (thought maybe it should have? I'm not an expert, but that is a big hole there)... and here's something else that bothers me.

I can't understand All Might's motivation here for not stopping the match, as in I'm looking at his stated motivation for that, and it doesn't make sense.

In his head, he's talking about this will fuel Izuku's growth, basiclly. And, maybe it does, but that's not the problem here. The problem is Izuku could die, and is getting some serious injuries as Bakugou beats the living shit out of him; it's not worth all of that for some extra growth now, when he still has his entire school life to improve. And sure, we know that, in a meta sense, this is A, prep for the villains soon to show up, and that, B, Izuku does not, in fact, have his entire school life to get better. But All Might doesn't know that; All Might doesn't have any reason to think AFO is still alive, much less masterminding an attack. So... why the rush?

Before, he was rushing Izuku's training, but there was a concrete reason: Izuku needed to get into U.A. Well... mission accomplished; he's in. So why the push?

To give a somewhat in character reason, I guess, to try and excuse Bakugou, The Living Idiot Ball.

Meanwhile, all the characters can't stop talking up about how great a fighter Bakugou is, because it's not enough to excuse him from a murder attempt, apparently everyone needs to make sure the audience knows about how much of a 'beast' Bakugou is!

And, all of this, while Bakugou has this crazed sounding rant about how Izuku is 'looking down' on him, when until five seconds ago he thought he was beneath your boot. Even while they're fighting, Izuku can't help but talk up the person who single handedly ruined his entire life.

*sighs for forever*

Anyways, Izuku barely claims a win with teamwork, determination, and the magically ability to remember what his objective is!

(cue funny little omake where Mt Lady breaks her office with puns)

And... the last chapter of this arc: 'Bakugou's Starting Line'. Ugh.

Anyways, Bakugou beats Izuku half to death, but he loses. He loses, and has a mental break down because of that, and All Might is remarkably fine with this whole situation.

Then, Momo proves that she's smart and on top of things (enjoy that while it lasts), the other fights happen, which... brutally honest, I can't care much about, beyond Todoroki proving that, suprise suprise, he's actually the big fish in the 1A lake (enjoy that while it lasts as well! The nerfs are coming for everyone not named Bakugou or Izuku), which is yet more mental damage on Bakugou's oh so sensitive ego.

Izuku, unsurprisingly, ends up needing to be put back together after all that, and Recovery Girl has a rare positive portrayal where she says that Izuku getting beat to hell and back is, in fact, bad, which All Might agrees with like a sheepish child rather than an adult who has carried massive responsibilities for years now and who, need I remind you all, was not too long ago competent and did in fact avoid letting Izuku be permanently harmed... you know, the good old days.

Anyways, everyone is impressed by Izuku, cool, cool, and then... Izuku shits on it by telling Bakugou, 'This isn't my Quirk!', thus locking in his participation in late story stuff forever.

And again... why? Why does he feel responsible for this? Why does he need to make sure he's not... accidently, tricking Bakugou by letting him be an idiot and think he was just... holding back his entire life, and instead all but blows a secret of nigh incalculable value. To his bully. Because his bully felt bad.

*resists the urge to scream into my desk*

And, for a second time this sequence... why? Why would he do that? Why is he simping so damn hard for him?

*spreads hands*

Bakugou, The Living Idiot Ball, whom proximity to drives idiotic and irrational behavior into all.

And then Bakugou has tears in his eyes as he realizes he's not the top dog, and we're apparently supposed to feel sorry for him, and then All Might shows up, burning more of his precious time to talk to Bakugou, not long after his murder attempt, and rather than trying to... chastise him or anything, he rushes to tell Bakugou to cheer up!

I don't know about you, but if I could only give Bakugou one piece of advice, it would definitely be, 'protect your ego!'

Then Izuku affirms to the audience that Bakugou is still the standard he's chasing after, just in case we didn't get the message that Bakugou is the best, because Hori wants to make that very clear in our minds.

Finally: villians. ...Why is the mindless Nomu in the bar?

#bnha critical #mha critical #The 'Great' MHA Read Along #bakugou critical #izuku deserves better #bakugou the living idiot ball #the arc the SOD breaks and never quite recovers #i have no idea what i'm doing #what the fuck did i just bring upon this cursed land

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creedslove · 9 months

Note

Haiiii i was thinking if you could write something about the readers death and pedro grieving?

Agent Whiskey (Jack Daniels) x f!reader

A/N: Hai anon, I had to change it to Jack because let's be honest that's just canon whiskey at this point and also a happy ending because no one is hurting Jack on my watch 🔪

When Jack got the news of your death, he honestly wasn't able to assimilate it properly, he just went shocked and didn't say or do anything for several hours

His heart refused to believe you were gone, though his mind tried to remain rational, he could feel you were still alive, hating how people didn't believe him and only pitied him for believing you weren't gone

But when Jack got to your shared home he broke down

He was taken by rage and sadness and he just smashed all the whiskey bottles he could find, he was broken, red bloody eyes out of crying, he just couldn't believe his disgrace of losing two wives, the two people he'd loved most in his miserable life

Technically you weren't his wife yet and the thought you would never be gutted him, because he didn't have enough time to show you how you meant to him

And for the next days Jack was a mess, he didn't eat, he didn't shower or shaved, but he couldn't sleep either, he spent the days staring at the wall, lost his thoughts and daydreaming you were still there, and would walk in at any minute

Jack couldn't even get out of bed, let alone plan the details for your funeral so Champ asked Ginger very kindly to plan a beautiful and respectful ceremony

Jack refused to go to your funeral, the mere thought of having to face you in a casket made him even more depressed, he just didn't want to go and didn't want to face reality

And when someone let it slip next to Jack the casket would be sealed because you were unrecognizable after the accident, it was enough for the melt to have a meltdown and Ginger had no other option than to give him sleeping pills

And that's how Jack grieved you for the next week

Until Ginger came knocking on his door, taking him out of his drug induced sleep where he sometimes dreamed of you

She explained to him there had been a terrible mistake with the body identification and that the woman buried under your name wasn't really you

And that another person involved in the accident was staying in a hospital with no identification

Jack jumped off the bed and was ready to go to the hospital, but Ginger stopped him and forced him into shower first

But once he was done, they rushed to the hospital and Jack wasn't able to hold back his emotions when he saw you lying in that hospital bed

Yes, you were bruised, connected to all kinds of tubes and it would take a while to recover, but you were there, alive and well

Jack rushed to you, hugging you tight and he cried, not caring if people would see him shed his tears, he was so thankful to see you alive and he promised you as soon as you were discharged he would marry you

So Jack spent day and night next to you, he'd hold your hand, always talking to the doctors and nurses to know more and more about your condition

Feeling extremely happy to see you recovering and getting stronger each day, he would just spoil you rotten and buy you so many things

Including snacks and other treats the doctors forbade you from eating but Jack would just ignore it and bring it to you, anything to see your smile

He did anything he could to see you happy, it was all that mattered to him, after he pretty much lost you, he was so thankful to have you in his life ❤️

_____

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seaweedstarshine · 3 months

Text

*Poll inspired by typical ambiguity in the new audio story Victory of the Doctor, which on an unrelated note is amazing!

Evidence for each argument beneath the cut!

Open marriage

The Doctor's wedding to Marilyn Monroe occurs in A Christmas Carol, when he storms off to a chapel with lipstick marks on his face. “I’ll just go and get married then, shall I? See how you like that. Marilyn? Get your coat!”

While he wasn't yet with River then, he maintains this relationship afterwards, apparently with River involved. In the mini-episode Good Night, the Doctor enters the TARDIS with a euphonium, calling over his shoulder, “River! I’ll see you later! Tell Marilyn she’s too late, she’ll have to use the biplane. Take care!”

Another piece of evidence comes from The Wedding of River Song, when they're passive-aggressively flirting.

“Hallucinogenic lipstick. Works wonders on President Kennedy. And Cleopatra was a real pushover.” “I always thought so.” “She mentioned you.” “What did she say?” “Put down that gun.” “Did you?” “Eventually.” “Oh, they're flirting. Do I have to watch this?” (from Kovarian)

I've never understood the innuendo (please tell me what I'm missing), but Kovarian does, and as we know from The Husbands of River Song, the Doctor and River are both married to Cleopatra, so… it's definitely something.

There's also that diary page in The Eternity Clock game that suggests the Doctor, River, and Jim the Fish got blackout drunk at karaoke night and started “some sort of religion of love” which went on to last for centuries.

Serial cheaters

“How can you be engaged, in a manner of speaking?” The Doctor is jealous in Flesh and Stone before he's even kissed her, which doesn't set him up as a person who'd be interested in an open marriage.

“No, wait. That's your husband? That's who you're married to? Not anybody else?” In The Husbands of River Song, the Doctor is clearly not expecting the other husbands. Culminating in the same episode…

“So, King Hydroflax?” “Oh, how many times? I married the diamond!” “So you say.” “Elizabeth the First!” “Ramone!” “Marilyn Monroe!” “Stephen Fry!” “Cleopatra!” “Same thing!”

It appears he is well aware of her other spouses (and that she's aware of his); so perhaps his surprise was more that didn't expect her to be so flagrant about them. It makes him insecure (“I posed as his nurse. Took me a week.” “To fall in love?” “It's the easiest lie you can tell a man. They'll automatically believe any story they're the hero of.”) enough to start an argument about it.

River also expresses her jealousy as an obvious fact, as seen in The Day of the Doctor Novelization (written by Moffat who (along with Alex!!) knows the character best):

“Ow!” “Madame de Pompadour?” “Jealous?” “Of course I’m jealous. Keep your hands off her.”

In The Name of the Doctor, we learn that the Doctor, who has had a number of... sexually-charged moments with Clara (including, but not limited to, Victorian Clara), has avoided telling her that River is his wife. Vastra is uncomfortable with having to introduce them, having “gone a darker shade of green.”

“The Doctor might have mentioned me?” “Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, of course he has. Professor Song! Sorry, it's just I never realized you were a woman.” (from Clara)

Actually both

This could mean many things (i.e. open marriage with boundaries which are violated), but potentially, all the same evidence from prior arguments! With a shade of “Our lives are back to front.”

In the mini-episodes First Night/Last Night, when River, having burst into the TARDIS and pretended to faint, mistakes her past self for another woman the Doctor's hiding from her, she openly expresses jealousy.

“Doctor. Have you brought someone else here? Does anyone agree to wear that dress? Where is she!” “River, think it through!” “This happened the last time we were here. You brought someone else!” “No I didn’t!” “Yes you did, I heard you talking to her!”

However, when a third and significantly older version of River makes the same mistake, she no longer expresses jealousy, but rather curiosity, which could at least signal a shift in how she sees their marriage.

Maybe there was a conversation that happened. Maybe it slipped the Doctor's mind when he forgot Clara.

Actually neither

This could also mean multiple things, but one of those things is this. The Doctor is a widower from the start. Likewise, River is well aware of Doctor's death on Trenzalore, “of course River would know, she's always known,” having been raised to prevent those events, and having refused to be bound by that destiny.

How can fidelity be defined the same way for time travelers? Everyone's spouses are dead somewhen. River understands the paradox of her husband's existence better than anyone. To quote The Day of the Doctor Novelization yet again…

‘Because you live in a time machine. All of history is still happening outside those doors. On a good night that means everyone you ever met is still alive and you can’t wait to see them again. On a bad night, it means everyone’s dead, and you want to charge around the universe, pretending you can do something about that.’ She looked up at me. ‘I know which version of you I prefer.’

And there she was, so alive again. I remembered her, twisted, burnt and dead, in the depths of The Library. ‘What if there are people who died because of me?’ I asked. ‘What if there are people I should have saved?’

‘People die. All people, everywhere. We grieve and we move on. That is how we respect the dead. That is how we forgive ourselves in their presence and their absence.’

Please feel free to add anything I missed!

#River Song #eleventh doctor #twelfth doctor #yowzah #11th doctor #12th doctor #the doctor #doctor who #new who #please no hate votes from people who hate the ship/just wanna slander them. thank you for your consideration. <3 #also I know there is very much the possibility 'monogamy plus threesomes with both parties involved' wherein everything else is cheating #which fits them well as anything given the evidence. anyway- if that's how you read them- vote as you see most accurate!#at the end of the day its all about consent #btw i do have an opinion that isn't likely to change by the results- but im not gonna risk the integrity of this poll by saying it.#this is an interesting aspect of a ship I love and I wanna see how fans interpret it! (please be civil tysm ilysm)#thank you everyone that votes!#words by seaweed #disclaimer that cheating is morally repugnant. ALSO this relationship IS built on lies. 'rule one: the doctor lies. so do I! all the time'

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badass-queer-couples-battle · 9 months

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Propaganda for Sergey Razumovsky and Oleg Volkov (Major Grom comics)

I picked "implied" but I'm gonna be straight (haha) with you, if they were officially canon everyone involved in the making of this book would be at least fined out of business. It's from a russian publisher, they're doing their best but they also don't want to go to prison over fictional characters. They're as canon as they can be though, and have been since the 2010s. Anyway Sergey and Oleg are always together, they're basically a single unit and when they're separated it's almost always because something bad is happening to them. For the entirety of Plague Doctor they act like a married couple. They literally live together in an apartment that only has one bed and fuss over each other and flirt with each other. In Major Grom (their first appearances) Sergey was the villain to Grom's hero, and Oleg was his childhood friend / current head henchman, but after some (a lot) of plot happening they agreed that they're actually equal partners (in a conversation that sounded more romantic than some actual kisses). One of their most important plot points is that Oleg is as important to Sergey as Grom's girlfriend is to Grom. Literally that was on the page. They had a one-shot issue that was about them taking a trip to Mexico, which in comic book imagery pretty much always means a honeymoon. Idk, you tell me if that's implied or canon. Technically they're murderers / terrorists but the Plague Doctor comic book (their own spin-off! woohoo!) is pretty much all about them raising a younger woman to take up the mantle of the titular vigilante plague doctor because they're retired from that. Which doesn't prevent them from getting into bloody fights, mostly for each other. Sergey loves his knives and Oleg is very proficient with every weapon, and even when they're not physically in the fight they stay together to make sure nothing goes too wrong. After a spousal abduction and spousal rescue arc they now have matching scars. The artists / writers regularity spend a page or two or three just focusing on them fighting in synch. They literally fight back to back many times, because it's more safe and efficient and they trust each other like that. A couple in work in life and in battle. Also the artist who pretty much defined their entire characters drew a lot of fanart of them, which I'm aware doesn't really count as canon, but. Well.

They sleep in the same bed. When Sergey is working on his computer and worrying too much Oleg makes him a meal. The things Oleg does for Sergey include breaking him out of prison, kidnapping and/or killing people, training someone to be the next Plague Doctor, even dying for him. It looks like a very unbalanced relationship to some other characters but those characters don't really know them. There was an entire arc that was mostly about Sergey being willing and ready to risk everything (his recent comfortable anonymity, his long-term project, even his sanity) to go save Oleg. At a time when he thought Oleg was dead Sergey agreed to let a god take control of him and effectively erase his own existence. It didn't work ultimately but it still happened. Their post-injuries "oh god I thought you were dead I'm so glad you're mostly alright" hug was the most emotional scene in the entire series. They're not doing physical fighting so often in this comic book because while they're main characters the actual protagonist is the girl they're training to be the new Plague Doctor, but they're always working together behind the scenes, and when they do fight it's a feast for the eyes (very violent and bloody). They have different weapons because Sergey just loves knives and Oleg is much more pragmatic so he mostly uses guns when he's at liberty of choosing his weapons, but they work extremely seamlessly together. If the publisher wasn't in Russia they'd be wearing matching wedding bands for years.

3. i think the reason they're not currently wanted by multiple countries is because they're still presumed dead. they're officially criminals, maybe terrorists? sergey began his criminal career by killing the corrupt rich, so then of course the publisher had to make some late changes to the story and his motivations to make him less likable. i don't think they really managed it. he's most people's favorite character from that comic book, i'm pretty sure that's why they gave him a spin-off years later. oleg is an even later addition (actually just an arc or two later), because they needed sergey (the villain) to have someone who would be a parallel to the hero's girlfriend. so they introduced his childhood bff / kinda estranged best friend / worried right hand man to fill that role. they made him a scary mercenary with experience from the special forces and he's ready to kill anyone who needs to die for sergey's plan. sergey can also stop him anywhen too. they weren't really equal in their first arc together, because sergey was going through a lot and his alter didn't like oleg and was always bossing him around, but since then they both went through A Lot More and talked a lot and made things between themselves clearer. they're equal partners, for better and for worse. sergey once killed over a dozen of mercenaries just with a knife and a wire, because someone had kidnapped oleg as a trap for sergey and he knew it and still went there to save oleg. they're fighting for the same things, together, and sometimes it's literal and they go kill people with guns and knives, sometimes separately but more often together. their canonicity is… it's complicated. i think you'd consider sergey and oleg canon if you consider the guys from good omens to be canon. * like there's no i love yous, no kisses, or maybe just not yet, who knows, but it's still evident that they care so much about each other and only have eyes for each other. except in this case i'd even say they're more canon because there's no yearning or will-they-won't-they anymore, they're just together since their childhood or teenage years, they have no problem talking or touching or holding each other or living together.

*Mod note - This was submitted before season 2 of Good Omens came out.

#coupleganda masterposts #major grom #bubble comics #oleg volkov #sergey razumovsky #serovolk #i HOPE i'm tagging this correctly i do Not know anything abt this franchise #these guys seem great though #congrats on the murders and basically-marriage

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cod-dump · 6 months

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I'm not Simon Riley, I'm Ghost - Chapter 17

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SoapGhost

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The moment the plane landed, Ghost was leaving. He wasn't going to stick around and wait for everything to go to hell. He was getting Soap and Jamison out of here and back with the rest of 141. He was in the hanger, staring out at the landing strip with his bag by his feet. There was a since of dread hanging over him that he didn't like. What was causing it he wasn't sure but he was choosing to believe it was caused by what happened outside that church.

He heard feet moving towards him, turning his head slightly as he smelled Jamison approaching. She dropped her bag on the ground and huffed, no doubt feeling disappointed that this mission ended so soon. Ghost wouldn't really call it a mission considering they were here for little more than a day. Ghost looked behind Jamison to where she came from, not surprised that Soap had yet to show himself. He felt a ache in his chest, maybe anxiety but Ghost felt like he had no reason to be anxious.

He was angry at you. Disappointed in you.

Ghost huffs and chases the thought away. He couldn't grasp why he cared beyond being obligated to protect Soap's physical well-being. Why does he think about him so much? Was it his friendliness towards him when they first met? His determination to be his friend and include him on things he did with those that clearly distrusted him? The signs were all around him to keep his distance, everyone around Soap was distrusting, scared. Yet... Soap still kept walking closer.

Ghost blinked when he realized Jamison was talking to him, having not heard a word of what she said.

"What?"

Jamison blinked at Ghost's interruption, realizing that he wasn't listening. There was a moment of annoyance, disappointment, hurt, before she spoke again.

"Our ride should be landing in ten. The captain's... friend, Nikolai."

Fucking hell- "Nikolai is getting us? He usually only comes around when Price is directly involved."

Nikolai was an interesting fellow. While everyone else looked at Ghost with distrust and fear and uncertainty, Nikolai looked at him like he knew. Given the man never said anything (to his knowledge) that he knew anything was less than human about Ghost, Ghost always felt like he had to be on high alert around him. Like he could expose him at any moment even though it would have to take something more than his word to do so... well, logically he would need proof, but his closeness with Price could easily have that part skipped over.

At least now he doesn't have to worry about being exposed.

"Captain sent him because he was close by."

"Supposedly," Ghost growled.

There was silence, Jamison rocking on her heels in a bored manner. Ghost kept looking over, looking for Soap. Where was he? Was he that angry at him? Or did the wound the vampire caused do more damage than what the DGSE doctor could detect?

"Where's the sergeant?" Where's Johnny?

Jamison blinked and looked over her shoulder, "I don't know..."

She quickly pulled her phone out and dialed a number. Ghost could see Soap's name on the screen as she raised the phone to hold to her ear. He could hear it ring and ring, no answer coming. His heart picked up at that, maybe something was wrong with Soap? Did that vampire actually do serious damage?

The call goes to voicemail and Jamison muttered in annoyance. Ghost pulled out his phone with more urgency than he would've liked to admit to using, dialing Soap's number and waiting.

Ring... Ring... Ring.. Ri-

Ghost swallows, forcing himself to keep calm. Even if Soap was angry at him, he wouldn't act like this. He was smarter than that.

"Wait here."

Ghost turned and left, keeping his normal pace. Everything was fine, he was just overreacting. Maybe he fell asleep? He knew they were leaving so that couldn't be the case, especially not since Soap didn't answer his phone, he would've woken up when he heard the ringer.

Ghost comes closer to the room Soap was assigned, slowing in his step the closer he got. Soap's scent was in the hall, it smelt dull. Old. Ghost got closer to the door, the smell not stronger lie it's supposed to be. If Soap was here Ghost would've been able to smell it. But he didn't smell him. He smelt an old scent, something left by Soap passing by which makes sense considering he wasn't here long enough to actually leave a lasting scent to the room or the hall outside.

Ghost opens the door quickly, eyes immediately narrowing on Soap's bag. His gear was gone but his bag of necessities was still here. Ghost felt his heart drop. Did Soap leave?

Ghost blinked before he hissed. That fucking idiot!

Ghost took off down the hall, following Soap's scent. He moved faster than what was average for a human male of Simon's size and build but still restrained himself. Soap left, he left to find something on the mission. Ghost felt anger but he mostly felt concern. The vampires would kill him! They left their warning, and now they were going to continue on with their threat.

Ghost heard the sound of the hinges tearing as he opened the door to the outside a little too carelessly. He turned his just enough to see the door hanging, barely, on the frame. He couldn't care less about the door and just kept going. The further he got from the barracks, the faster he got. He was in the open, exposed, but he didn't care. It was dark out, vampires were out. Soap was in danger--

He didn't bother going to the gate, choosing to climb and launch himself over the ten foot fence. He knew he was setting off alarms as he moved, he could here something going off in the distance. Ghost couldn't recall the last time he moved like this, especially not in this body. Was this body even capable of keeping up? Had it adapted to handle Ghost? Ghost hadn't ever tested that out.

Ghost was in the streets, dodging cars and not bothering to care when he heard them swerving. He climbed a building to avoid making too much of a disturbance and continued on that way. God, he could hear Price's lecture already. But that won't matter, if he can get to Soap in time--

Ghost heard his phone ringing, it was probably Jamison. He didn't answer, that wasn't important. Soap is what mattered, and Ghost was making sure he was coming home.

Because, for some reason, Ghost didn't want Soap to die, and he had to accept that.

#i'm not simon riley i'm ghost #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #soapghost #ghostsoap #eldritch simon ghost riley #monster simon ghost riley #fic #also on ao3 #eldritch fic

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useless-catalanfacts · 11 months

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All our support to Dani Gallardo, Spanish young man sentenced to prison for his solidarity with Catalonia

Dani Gallardo was 22 years old when took part in a demonstration held in Madrid (Spain's capital city) in solidarity with Catalonia, right after the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced a group of Catalan civil society leaders to prison for their involvement in the Catalan independence movement. The demonstration also stood against the brutality of Spanish police against Catalan people and in solidarity with Catalonia's right to self-determination. It was the first time that a demonstration like this was held in Spain (outside of the occupied nations like the Catalan Countries, the Basque Country and Galicia), and the protestors were met with police violence as well. (At the same time, on the other side of the square, there was a counter-protest organised by a fascist group who opposed the solidarity protest and rallied in favour of the indivisibility of Spain. That one was not attacked by the police.)

Dani Gallardo tried to help his friend Elsa, a young woman who was being violently reduced by 5 anti-riot policemen at once. Then, the policemen beat him up and arrested him and Elsa. In total, 4 protestors were arrested that evening. That protest happened on October 2019, and since then Dani's life has changed completely.

All the detainees were insulted and threatened with violence by the police, and Elsa (being a woman) was constantly sexually harassed and insulted with misogynistic insults and very vulgar sexually explicit comments that I will not replicate here. Dani kept shouting to defend her, so they beat him with a stick with nails on the head. He says that Elsa was the one who got beaten up to a worst condition, but in the end Dani was the only one who wasn't freed.

Dani spent more than a year in pre-trial jail, while waiting to be judged by the Madrid Provincial Court. Then, he was freed on probation but, later, he was sentenced to 4 and a half years of prison for "basic public disturbance" and "attack against authority", because a policeman says Dani hit him. He appealed this decision but now (June 1st 2023) the court has confirmed the sentence, and Dani will have to go to prison.

The trial was a joke. The policemen declared things that contradict what happened, or pretended they hadn't seen anything. The doctor's report that was used to claim that Dani had attacked a policeman was signed at 9:30pm in Plaza del Sol hq, when he was arrested at 10:45pm at Tirso de Molina. This shows that the police had decided that they would accuse someone of this crime even before they arrested anyone, and then went out to look for some protestors who they could blame for it.

More than 4,200 Catalan people have been repressed by the Spanish courts since September 2017 for their involvement in the independence movement. This number includes people who have gone to court with many different outcomes, from prison sentences to more commonly fines, and also people who have been arrested and retained by the police, some of whom have denounced being tortured. Dani's case is unique because he isn't Catalan himself, he is Spanish. But this didn't save him, because the Spanish State has wanted to make an example out of him: this is what will happen to any Spaniard who dares to stand in solidarity with the peoples oppressed by Spain.

Dani has talked about why he supports Catalonia's right to self-determination. Dani is an anarchist, he doesn't believe in states, so he believes that everyone should have the right to self-determination and understands the want to get away from Spain and its fascist institutions.

He has also talked about the support he has received since he was arrested. He has received lots of support from Catalan people at all levels, from all kinds of social organizations and local assemblies to many individual people who sent him letters, and politicians who have him their support. On the contrary, he denounces he hasn't received any support from Spain (only a small support from the Madrid anti-repression movement at first, but they never followed up), and has not even heard a word from the Spanish "progressive" political parties. In fact, during the time he was out on probation, he moved to Catalonia because it was the only place where he knew he'd find help and solidarity.

We are very thankful to Dani, Elsa and everyone else who has showed their support.

Other sources used for this post: interview with Dani on Vilaweb (23/07/2022), 3/24.

#actualitat #dani gallardo #catalunya #catalonia #independence #political prisoners #antifascism #solidarity #catalan independence #police brutality #europe #human rights #acab #catalan #minorities #minority #spain

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thefirstknife · 1 year

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This question just randomly popped up in my mind, do Ana Brays face markings mean anything? If they do, would you please tell me?

Also would you please, give some interesting facts about Ana Bray? Or any lore including the involvement of Ana Bray?

Thank you!

Nothing in particular on her face markings, as far as I'm aware. We know that she didn't have them before becoming a Guardian, which means she put them on at some point after being rezed.

Her comic (part 3) also further specifies by showing her without the markings during Twilight Gap:

But the next time we see her in the same comic, when she's hiding after faking her death, she has them:

Possibly something to help her hide her identity? She also changed her hair style in the meantime. But we don't really know if they have any additional meaning.

One of my favourite Ana Bray facts was the stuff she was doing before she became a Guardian. I love her talking about her profession:

You can lead a machine to language, but you can't make it think. Well, you can't. But I can. My name is Ana Bray. If you want to insult me, call me a neurolinguist.

Not that it isn't a fine and noble profession, but neurolinguistics is about encoding language. I'm a psycholinguist. I study how language can lead to independent thought.

People don't really see her as a scholar and I've even seen people saying she's not smart, but she is absolutely incredibly smart and educated. Her profession is what led her to teaching Rasputin everything she did, in an effort to teach him not just how to speak, but essentially how to feel and think independently by using language as a base.

These are some older lore tabs that were recently reinforced with some extra details in Season of the Seraph. It's a fascinating read into Ana's expertise and thinking and her work that I've rarely, if ever, seen people mention. I linked the first bit up there, the rest in order: 2, 3, 4 and 5. Favourite part:

Military history, he's been fed by the truckload. But then I started in with operas and symphonies. I don't want him just to think about things.

Humans don't communicate strictly through data. We also communicate through art, through expression. If Rasputin is to be the most effective communications device in the Sol system, I want him to feel things.

Ana was incredible as a scientist and once you know how smart and innovative she is, you can kinda see why she always wanted to return to that passion and learn more about her pre-Guardian life. She even says it in the same comic I linked above:

At Twilight Gap, that Fallen gave me the opening I needed to let the world believe Guardian Ana Bray was dead, so that Doctor Anastasia Bray could finally do what needed to be done.

Another interesting and peculiar less known fact is that Ana was very likely a member of the Future War Cult. I kept seeing that being said, but couldn't figure out where it came from so I went to do a little research. Now for start, Future War Cult wasn't all just bad stuff we remember from Splicer; they were founded by Maya Sundaresh herself and have long lasting ties to Golden Age science and experiments. It might be that Ana joined or cooperated with FWC with that connection to the Golden Age in mind; Ana always knew who she used to be and always wanted to learn more about it. FWC could've been an early attempt to find out.

Back in Destiny 1, there was a mission that had Lakshmi sending you to Twilight Gap as part of the quest to get the exotic No Time To Explain. The quest involved a lot of different missions and included artifacts from Praedyth and Pujari, but also Ana Bray; they were artifacts manipulated by the Vex and time, with links to death. The artifact found at Twilight Gap was Ana's bracelet:

Upon returning to Lakshmi with it, she says:

Interesting! She is not only familiar with this, but she also says that the FWC inner circle will be grateful that the artifact has been "returned," sort of implying that it has been there before, with Ana. I wouldn't say it conclusively proves that Ana was a member, as the FWC may have been interested in the artifact purely for research purposes; the quest itself delves into researching artifacts that were pulled from time; Ana's bracelet may have been pulled because of the connection to No Time To Explain and Elsie. It's an interesting quest, if anyone wants to see it in its entirety, link to the only full playlist I could find is here.

Either way, it's a neat little tidbit from the past. I can definitely see Ana exploring FWC for potential links to not just her personal past, but also for the Golden Age in general.

#destiny 2 #ana #long post #lore vibing #ask

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madwomansapologist · 1 year

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Happy Halloween!!!

Did you really tought I wouldn’t do something special for the most terrifying night of the year? Dear reader, you should know me better! Your derision with my sacred indole challenged me! Not only I will give you one story, but several! Choose from your preference: brutal killers, innocent victims or misunderstood monsters.

Read if you dare!

ROUND 1: SLASHERS

Michael Myers falling in love with his nurse would include

• At the beginning of your carrear as a nurse you took care of the elderly in their homes, but since then you've only worked in hospitals. Your job was good, you loved it, and you wouldn't have decided to quit if you hadn't met Dr Loomis

• You happened to take care of one of his patient. The man was admitted to the asylum and an accident involving stairs and sheets meant that he needed to be taken to the hospital. Loomis came along, took care of him through the whole process, and you already knew his name. He was a legend

• Taking care of the patient, helping him change and trying to convince him to eat, Loomis talked to you. He praised and thanked you. He said you had a different gleam in your eyes. That your hands showed affection, that your speech was sweet, that your care was not an obligation but an intrinsic desire to ensure that patients in such a vulnerable state could feel safe. He respected you, but more than that, he saw you. So when Loomis said you'd have a job alongside him if you wanted to, you decided in his favor

• You've quickly climbed up the list of Doctor Loomis' trusted employees. You were rewarded, promoted, you became an example to others. It took a while, but when he realized that you knew what you were doing he invited you to be part of the team that took care of the man who hadn't spoken a word since childhood

• Michael, as you'd expect, didn't say a word the entire time you took care of him. What you couldn't have known, at least not at first, is that you didn't go unnoticed in his eyes

• Michael noticed you. Michael felt how careful but always sure your hands were when the medication was intravenous. He noticed how you respected the head nurse. He saw how you could recognize medication bottles even with your eyes closed. He saw how when something happened to another patient your quickness to act was not a result of irrational concern but of an exemplary knowledge of what to do to ensure no one got hurt

• After a while, Michael stopped just noticing. He started to admire. How you tell him what you’re doing, what medication you gave him, what effects they would have, even if he had never done anything more meaningful than following your movements with his eyes. How you didn't throw the masks he made in the trash like other nurses did, but just keep it in the drawer. How after a while, almost without realizing it, you started to medicate him sitting on the stretcher, next to him. How your gaze, even if suspicious, would meet his when you were doing your work

• Michael felt sad when you passed in front of the door but didn't stop by his room. Michael missed hearing your technician mutter about medication during your break. He felt jealous to discover that he wasn't your only patient. He was jealous of patients who weren't always bed-bound because he saw how more comfortable you were to touch them. He got angry when one of them had a breakdown and tried to hurt you. Michael felt so much about you

• Without you even noticing, Michael has set himself to one task: to be better for you. He stopped fighting with patients or reacting to nurses. He stopped ignoring requests for him to come to the group therapy room, despite not saying anything. He ate what they brought. Michael even stopped glaring at Doctor Loomis

• He did this so he could participate in the activities in the yard, where you and the other nurses were on duty to make sure no one got hurt. He started to be medicated in the ward made for that, so you didn't have to go to his room and go out to deal with the other patients. Even if he wasn't the center of your attention, he could watch you. He's stopped being strapped to a stretcher, so when you take his food or help him with an exam, he can move around. And even though he never touched you, he didn't want to scare you now that he had you so close, just being a little bit closer make him felt like his body was on fire

It turns out that Michael tried, but it was inevitable: he got into a fight. And, unsurprisingly, he won.

He had a cut on his right shoulder, nothing more, while the other patient lost two teeth.

Concerned about the lost, and rightly so, the nurses were divided into four groups: those who would take care of the main injured, those who would take care of who were injured by the shards of glass, those who would pay attention to the most sensitive that because of the noise ended up freaking out, and who would deal with Michael. There were many problems and not so many employees during the morning period. Noticing that Michael reacted better when you medicated him, the head nurse decided that you would take care of him and at least noticed that, in doing the division of tasks, he ended up leaving you alone with Michael.

With Michael seated on a gurney and his right hand chained to the metal table with the necessary instruments, you cleaned the wound and sewed the necessary stitches into the silent giant's skin. "I thought you were getting better", it was clearly you who said it. Michael never spoke.

You quickly completed the task. Besides being something simple, Michael was barely hurt. It was a deeper cut than anyone would want, but nothing compared to the rigidity of Michael's anxious calm. Even before you saw him standing, noticed how he was bigger than anyone you've ever seen, you were already sure that if he fought anyone, he would win.

"It's a shame. Now you won't be able to sunbathe on the yard anymore."

It could have hurt Michael, wasting a moment with you was all he feared most, but it didn't. Because you, while concentrating sewing the stitches, at least noticed what you had done. Michael's arm was stretched out on the metal table and you were standing behind it, leaning down so you could do your job. You rested your elbow on what you thought was the table, but you were wrong: you rested your elbow on Michael's open palm. For the first time he felt what his skin felt like. During all those minutes, he can touch you. Nothing would make him sad at that moment.

• Michael would never be the same again. Not after your touch.

Jason Voorhees falling in love with a camp counselor would include

• Crystal Lake has reopened. You had no idea what this place was, but when you saw how much they would pay you to basically camp out while babysitting, you didn't have to know: the answer was yes. This was the best possible job for the summer. Swimming, spinning around campfires to tell horror stories, playing with children: all this far from their parents. That was a blessing

• When you got there, you realized the job was as good as it looked. You loved taking care of the kids, you spent a lot of time with them, and you were able to enjoy your time with the other camp counselors a lot. Despite a strange sensation running through your spine, a feeling that someone was watching you, there has never been any serious problems. Some children would fall, sometimes the food you made would burn, nothing more. It was paradise. Until it ceases to be

• Jason watched as Crystal Lake reopened. He watched as the owner left the place to let the camp counselors take care of everything. He watched as the children arrived. And later, when one of the teenagers had to come back because she got sick, he saw when you arrived.

• Jason would attack, he was just getting ready, but when you arrived something changed. There was something in your gaze that distracted him. There were several times when, while planning a trap, Jason heard your voice calling the attention of some mischievous child and he simply lost any thread of concentration. You were kind. This wasn't just an excuse to stay away from home: you cared about every single one of the kids. You chased the kids at tag, hid during games, fought whoever did something that could put another child in danger, laid the kids down and kissed each of them on the forehead. You were different and it made him doubt himself

• He decided that if he couldn't help but look at you, Jason would at least work during the day to get his chores done and if there was time left he'd walk around Crystal Lake and check on you. He always did, but thinking that way made Jason feel like he still had control over his mind. At night, when you passed each of the huts to put the kids to bed, Jason followed you through the trees. It was visible how afraid you were to walk alone and at night in that environment, Jason kept you company at night and made sure you got to your own cabin safely. Sometimes he spent more time watching you, he could see through the window that your bedtime ritual included a cup of tea while you read a Regency novel. He would just watch you turn the pages and take sips of tea, and when you turned off the lights Jason would move again. It was his routine

Night after night, even when everything was ready, Jason would retrace his steps through the trees so he could follow you from a distance. When he didn't meet you on the usual path, Jason prowled the entire camp.

When he was already worried, running instead of walking, he heard laughter. Following them, he found the group of teenagers in front of the lake. The lake he feared so much. For a second, he remembered his task: making sure no one ever came near it again. He would even have turned around and finally rid the camp of the counselors, which would have shut it down for good, but your laughter was louder than anything.

In your bathing suits, you and a group of teenagers were having fun in the shallowest part of the lake playing volleyball. Your laughter, your conversations, the way you moved so lightly in the water: Jason was mesmerized.

He didn't notice when one of the teenagers hit the ball too hard. He didn't notice when you walked away from the group to get it. He didn't notice when you started to freak out when you realized that there was a hole in the sand and that now the water was almost getting into your nose.

Jason just heard your scream, and when he saw you were drowning, he acted.

As you writhed, water rushing into your lungs, something pulled you out of the water. You felt hands grabbing you, holding your belly and preventing you from going deeper and deeper into that dark water. You clung to your savior, hugging his body as you reached the surface. With your eyes closed, the only thing you could do was cough. You felt it when you were lying on the sand and, coughing desperately, you managed to spit out all the water in your lungs.

When you finally opened your eyes, your vision blurred by the whole situation, you didn't see one of the boys: you saw a man in a hockey mask.

You might have convinced yourself it was a hallucination if it weren't for the hand caressing your cheek. You could have convinced yourself you were crazy if it hadn't been for the screaming group. You could have denied everything if you weren't feeling that same strange affliction as when you were alone in the cabin and thought someone was looking at you.

You might even have done any of those things if Jason hadn't put you on his shoulders and guided you into the woods.

• You needed help. Jason would take care of that.

ROUND 2: MONSTERS

Dracula finding his soulmate would include

• Life is so short. I mean, for most people. For Dracula, who in an older life than this was called by everyone the Count, life was long and time was not a concern. Though, of course, he didn't travel back in time to the moments he wanted to live: he needed to wait, and the thing he most waited for was to find his half. Centuries were collected by him and the person who would complete it remained beyond his reach. He just waited, it was the only thing he needed to do, and he kept waiting

• Dracula would hate himself if he didn't live like a god. How could someone hundreds of years old not be rich? What was he doing in the meantime between the present period and birth to not be part of high society? No, Dracula was enjoying the best that life had to offer. He participated in the great parties, he was friends with the artists, he participated in high society. He realized that achieving stardom was not the best choice, people might recognize him and the only thing he abhorred was making trouble for himself, so he found his place. Little did he know what would happen when he agreed to attend the painting studio of one of his friends

• For you, that was such a simple service. Just stand in the same position. One thing you couldn't deny: being a model for that painter was like getting an injection of self-esteem. Muse. That's what he calls you. You met him by chance and he seemed obsessed. You even thought he was in love, but it wasn't that: he was just interested in saving your image for the future. The first time you posed was strange, now you are used to it. It is good, even. You both talk, with each painting you felt more comfortable, and at the end you used to have a glass of wine to celebrate the end of a working day. Time has made you less shy. The poses got more dramatic. It was just seeing how beautiful you looked in a painting that you want to be portrayed again. Wearing nothing but a thin fabric, which covered what needed to be covered but exposed everything that would make a person yearn for your hands to loosen the fabric and reveal everything that was hidden, you stared at the wall. All that teasing, and your face was hidden from the painter. Don't see, see, don't see so much: that's what the painting in progress screamed.

• You heard when a man kept him company. Yo even greeted him with a brief speech, unable to face him as the slightest movement was reprimanded, and heard them talking. It was a good voice. A beautiful voice. Matured like a great wine. Courteous like the best of sparkling wines. Provocative like a raw whiskey. With nothing to do but face the wall, that voice took over your body. When you realized you was salivating, you had to force yourself to swallow the liquid. You fantasized, daydreamed

• Dracula couldn't control his eyes. That glorious, divine vision dominated his body, mind, and soul, if he still had one. He joined in the conversation in an effort to appear normal. He could only see the person who, in a mixture of shame and provocation, posed with their back to him. Every curve of the skin, every fold and stain and mark, every exposed spot and every hidden territory: everything made him look. He forced himself to stop staring, thinking your back must burn, but seconds later his mind was lost again. He noticed when his gums started to itch, he had to fight not to squirm, but he held himself in place. Talking was the only thing keeping him from leaping toward you and tasting the iron taste in your neck.

• The moment the painter said the session was over, you hugged the fabric covering your body. Calmly, you arranged it so that your nudity was not exposed, and turned towards your old friend. As your gaze met the elegant man, a man who seemed to have known the secrets of the world and have not been impressed, something happened. An explosion. Your heart twisted in your chest, nearly escaping your skin. The world lit up, colored, enchanted. You had never experienced it, but you had read so much about it that you knew what it meant: you found it. Your soulmate.

• And admiring you for the work of art that you are, Dracula knew he had never been so thirsty in his long life. An ancient verse repeated in his mind: your cup will never be empty, for I will be your wine. Perfect. He would be yours and you would be his.

Werewolf finding his mate would include

• It was a beautiful day. One of those where people wake up with the certainty that something bad is going to happen because it's not natural for everything to be perfect. Still, a beautiful day. The full moon was approaching. His senses were already more complex. He could feel the sweat of the person walking down the street with the dog. Hear the leaves falling. He can barely look at the lighted lamp without having to sit and pray for the migraine to pass. With all this tension, he knew there was only one thing that would ease the moon's pressure a little: running.

• You were trying to enjoy the fall. Soon it would be too cold to do anything but stay under the covers. You started this morning run routine in a lot of pain and wanting to give up. What is this rush that everyone talks about? You just felt tired. Of course, the rest of the day felt more alive, but it still felt like hell. But as the weeks passed, you began to understand. Started to like it. No longer just running around your block, you started going to a park. Now you took a hike every morning. It was safe, airy, and nothing but plants around it. Walking up the trail around the soon-to-be snow-covered mountain and watching the green leaves start to turn orange, you had no worries in mind. One foot in front of the other: simple as that

• On top of the mountain, he was getting ready. He didn't always choose to transform, but when the moon was close it was like a dull pressure begging him to ease his mind and body a little. He knew how empty this place was, especially now that the cold was coming, and how that tranquility was what he needed to know that nothing bad would happen. There weren't any cameras on that route either, it was so isolated. He left his backpack between the roots of a large tree, undressed and left his clothes beside it. He had already understood: it was useless to insist on keeping himself dressed, in the end you would always tear your clothes during the transformation. Naked, he let the human go and the wolf take over. His bones broke, his muscles strained, his skin burned, his body split in half and turned inside out: for a second he lived through hell, then he was already who he longed to be. Without any fear, the wolf ran

• The world was nothing but a blur. A mere space for life to exist. Nature surrounded him, dominating the situation, and the sun warmed his once-human skin. He ran, and ran, and ran. He was free, complete, fulfilled. And when he had already taken advantage of what nature had to offer, when he had silenced that pressure in his mind, he returned to the top of the mountain and untransformed among the trees. Walking towards the tree at the top of the hill that contained his things, so light for all the time spent there, he only noticed you when it was too late.

• You were drinking water at the top of the mountain, resting before going all the way back so you could go home. Your heart was pounding so loud it was all you could hear, your breathing was erratic and messy. Delicious. Running was now not just another chore, but a pleasure. You felt challenged, competitive, capable. Anyone who can go up and down a mountain before working can do anything. And as you turned to go down the mountain, all that sea of emotions disappeared. Because when you turned around, you saw a naked man.

• You would have screamed, called the police and run faster than any professional athlete if it wasn't for what happened to your vision

• He covered his intimacies the exact moment he noticed you, but it wasn't fast enough. Dirty with dirt and leaves, it was as if that man had rolled on the earth. His bulging muscles rose and fell rapidly, his breathing was no more regulated than yours, and his hands clenched in an attempt to cover himself. His hairy, strong chest trembled. His face was a mixture of surprise, fear, shame, self-hatred. It was a beautiful face, on a beautiful body, but what made you stand there, frozen in place as if your legs didn't exist, were his eyes. Those dark, almond-shaped eyes. Those eyes that, the moment they met yours, shone like pearls. You felt the shiver run up your spine, the sigh escape your mouth, the lights explode in front of your eyes: when you looked at him, your world exploded in pink tones. It was him. Your half

• How he wished he could go back in time and stop this from happening. When he came out of the woods and headed towards the tree, the only thing that made him realize he wasn't alone was the loud gasp you let out, a mixture of surprise and fear, and instantly he covered himself. He went as fast as he could, but not fast enough to keep him from looking like a sexual predator. He thought about running away, but surprise kept him from being able to move. Then, with no choice but to look at you, his eyes revealed the truth he dreamed of knowing

• You were… stunning. Sweat was running, breathing was barely controlled, fatigue was visible on your skin. Your hands were gripping the bottle so tightly it might explode. You smelled like lavender, not even your sweat could hide it. But it was not just that. He took a breath, trying to find out. Honey. Milk. Maybe chamomile. It was delicious. Such a mesmerizing scent. You were tired and scared, and yet you were the most beautiful person he'd ever seen. As he stared into your wide eyes, prepared to apologize, it happened. It was as if a typhoon passed through his body. As if everything he knew became just a family shadow. The world glowed in shades of pink. And so, he knew. You were the missing half

"I can explain," he said so fast you barely heard him. "I'm not a pervert."

You swallowed hard. "I hope so."

• Not at all romantic. Not at all orthodox. Not comfortable at all. Still, he wouldn't choose to forget this moment for the world. You... He knew it would be worth it. he smelled it

ROUND 3: SURVIVORS

Sidney Prescott planning a date would include

• Sidney would be so anxious. She would change clothes a thousand times just to decide to go with the first look she put together. Decide the place, then create an escape plan because what if you hate it. With every speech she makes to you, she will overthink everything. Everything. Sidney wants it to be a nice time for the two of you, which makes her go through hell at first.

• You will notice, it would be impossible otherwise. She'll pretend nothing is happening when you ask, but the moment you hold her hand warmly and repeat that you're there because you love spending time with her, Sidney would relax a little.

• Sidney would suggest watching a horror movie. She wouldn't do it just because it seens good, but because she would have an excuse to hold on to you. The entire movie would pass with a silent tension between you both. The comfort of being together is nice, but the chemistry you share would prevent you from breathing normally.

• Even if the movie was awful, even if the ice cream shop was trash, even if the meal was a waste of money: with you, not even anger can ruin the experience. Of course she would be very nervous at the moment, thinking it was her planning that went wrong, but at home she wouldn't mind and would be daydreaming with your smiles and laughter.

• Sidney had planned to walk together until the moment your paths parted, but she was overjoyed when you walked her to her door. She felt like a princess being taken to a castle. Silly, but who else but her could know that?

Laurie Strode planning a date would include

• Laurie is an exemplary planner. Not just thinking about where to go, but everything that encompasses a perfect date. She'd start by deciding on something the two of you could do for fun but still able to talk: an arcade, a restaurant, an ice rink, an afternoon shopping at the mall. She would think about what would make you smile, Laurie really wouldn't mind doing what she doesn't find so fun if it meant you'd have a good time and good memories with her: after all, she could talk to you. How can this not be good?

• She's the kind of person who would literally have a planner with everything written down. What clothes would she wear, what would you eat, where would you go. Are you the type of person who would love to revamp your wardrobe? She would know which stores have the nicest and cheapest clothes. Is skating more your thing? Laurie would know exactly what the best lanes in town are. Is a movie your choice? She will choose the perfect type of movie.

• Now thinking about what she would love to do: go to a bookstore. You would choose your favorite book in life, she would do the same, and then you both would switch. Each would read, jotting down in the margins, pasting post-its, and then swapping so the other could know their reactions. That would be perfect for Laurie

• Laurie is romantic by being responsible: the kind of person who asks if you've eaten, who asks to call when you get home, who goes out of her way to make sure you're safe. If the date involved any physical activity, I'm sure she'd bring ice water and some candy. Laurie cares about others and likes to show it. Sometimes she can be a little too serious, but she knows that this has saved her from a lot of problems.

• You still haven't received your salary and can't go out? That's not a problem: her house will always be available to you. Whether studying together, watching a movie, venturing out trying to cook something different or just reading in silence: being with you is what matters.

• But if Laurie is still trying to win you over, know that she's going to be spot on. Step one: compliment your outfit. Second step: pay attention to what you say. Third step: be funny, but not so much. Step Four: Show interest in what you want to do. And fifth step: whenever she go through a mirror, she make sure her hair is done. A woman needs to take care of herself

if you enjoyed, please reblog! i promise it makes a difference ♡

@ madwomansapologist.tumblr.

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thehollowwriter · 1 month

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📚🔺🐉💚🍔🤒

All for Silas!

(Still not done sending these 😈)

I'm excited to see more!

📚 BOOKS — What level of education has your oc most recently completed/is currently in (GED, undergraduate, grad school, phd, etc)?

Absolutely none. At all. Ever. At least not "formally" or "officially." He grew up in the Abyss, and there certainly aren't school down there.

Lady Rhoda taught him how to read, write and do math as well history and biology (sex ed at 20 something is better late than never,right?), but he already had steady income, so there was no need for trying "formal" education. He does research things on his own since he doesn't like not knowing things and having that used against him, though.

🔺 RED TRIANGLE POINTED UP — Does your oc know how to use any weapons?

Silas most certainly does! While he mainly uses magic as his weapon, he knows how to use spears, harpoons, knives, and probably swords if you give him one. I feel if guns could actually work under the sea, he'll be able to use one. Also, a fun fact from Silas: seaweed can, in fact, be used to strangle if you use it right.

🐉 DRAGON — What is your oc's favourite mythical creature?

I'd say Sirens from Greek Mythos. He finds them fascinating. It does annoy him that so many think these half bird half women creatures look like merpeople, including the mer people. It's probably the first thing he'll infodump about. Finn has heard his rants about the many misconceptions about Sirens hundreds of times.

🍔 HAMBURGER — Is your oc good at cooking? are they good at baking? which one do they prefer?

Silas is good at cooking! Though he technically can't "cook" anything since they're underwater? But I like to imagine there are heated air vents on his property he can go to cook something, though usually it's just not worth the trip when there are many raw dishes like stuffed crab, seaweed wraps, etc that he can make.

Baking involves cooking in dry heat without exposure to flame, usually in an oven (hah! I learned that in Hospitality), so I guess he could do it in those air pockets and mini volcanoes? But it's far from house and not worth the trip, though maybe he will "bake" on special occasions. He likes it and is good it at it. He prefers cooking, though.

🤒 FACE WITH THERMOMETER — Does your oc get sick easily?

Okie angst time

Hah! Nope! He used to get sick a lot as a child, then (and kinda now too, actually...) he was just sickly because of how malnourished he was. His immune system is something else, truly, as he's been exposed to so many sicknesses and infections it'll leave doctors confounded. It's difficult for him to get sick. Well... though it wasn't necessarily an illness, he gave himself "refeeding syndrome" by trying to make up for what he was lacking when he finally had steady access to food.

Refeeding syndrome is when someone malnourished or starved suddenly begins eating again, and the quick introduction of foods can cause problems and even be fatal. This is why it's best to have the process of healing from starvation overseen by a qualified medical professionals.

Now Silas didn't trust doctors at the time, so he never went to one, but what he did do was simply go back to eating the same amount of food he used to so he didn't keep throwing up and getting sick. Morrigan eventually forced him to go to a hospital. (Silas was horrified when he learned what a feeding tube was)

Tagging: @distant-velleity @kitwasnothere @the-banana-0verlord @cyanide-latte @cynthinesia @jovieinramshackle @skrimpyskimpy for Silas lore hehe

#quinn quips #quinn answers #quinn's friends #leechy #silas clearcove #twisted wonderland #twst oc #oc ask game #ask game #starvation tw

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magnetothemagnificent · 1 year

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If you're still okay talking about adoption stuff?

I had a hysterectomy to save my life. Every doctor I spoke to asked if I was going to keep my ovaries and reassured me that even if infertility treatment didn't work out "at least I'd be able to adopt".

It wasn't until after my surgery that I found out how horrible both the adoption and the infertility industry can be even if you do everything "right". I've already seen firsthand how awful the foster system is as well, so it really showed me that there's a lack of proper regulation no matter where the children are coming from or being placed. I already firmly believed that children are one of the most oppressed classes in our society, so this was heartbreaking even without considering my own infertility.

I wish more infertile people would take these issues as something they should be fighting for as well, rather than brushing it under the rug and hoping it just magically works out for them which happens often enough that I want to pull my hair out. But I also wish I didn't have to walk through these circles on eggshells because of how disparaging victims of these industries can be towards infertile people that want children that haven't said or done anything besides be infertile in their vicinity.

I don't mean when people talk about how infertile couples aren't owed kids or that birth parents deserve support to either abort or keep their child, even if that means infertile couples can't adopt. Those are very important conversations that need more light. But some people say truly horrible things - sometimes to infertile people's faces, including those advocating for them - such as that they should accept that they don't deserve to have kids because if they did they'd be able to have them naturally/that they're not allowed to mourn their infertility and if they do they don't care about adoptees/that having kids isn't the only way to have close relationships or a family so them being upset must mean they just wanted to take advantage of their kids so it's good they can't have any/that even being upset about it at all or needing a support group means they haven't "done the work".

Obviously, not everyone is like this and I've seen plenty of advocates call the behaviour out and even more welcome us happily, but it still makes trying to get involved nerve-wracking and makes me feel like I have to hide my infertility or risk being the punching bag for someone's trauma which... I would just like to point out is also traumatic. Infertility can be traumatizing too. It's not the same and I'm not trying to say it is, but acting like all infertile people are entitled rather than grieving doesn't help anybody. It's just the age-old issue of two traumatized groups taking their hurt out on each other and I don't see enough people acknowledging that's what's happening, y'know?

Not to mention that even people that do acknowledge that adoption needs to be reformed quickly still often act (usually without knowing the truth) like infertility treatment is an option with fewer ethical concerns when they both really, truly suck in the vast majority of cases. The utter lack of regulations for fertility treatments haunts me.

All important discussions to be had!

The infertility industry is also horrendously predatory, and there actually are a lot of intersections between the infertility industry and the adoption industry such as:

-Adopted children and donor-conceived children not having access to their medical and familial history, often running the risk of accidentally dating a sibling or being a carrier for a condition they have no idea about.

-Vulnerable people being targeted for their reproductive potential: birthing parents being targeted for their children, and people with ovaries being targeted for their eggs.

-Adopted children and donor-conceived children often facing social isolation and stigma from their peers and family.

-Little to no regulation in both industries, leading to mountains of abuse and malpractice.

I've seen incredible examples of solidarity between donor-conceived children and adoptees, and it's something that really needs to continue.

Both industries prey on childless couples by treating children like products, and cause serious harm to the children involved.

I wish I knew a perfect solution.

Until then, in order to reduce as much harm as possible, we need to:

-Get rid of the societal expectation that in order to be considered a family, a couple must have children of their own.

-Normalize non-Nuclear families. You can still have children in your life without being a legal parent- aunts/uncles, cousins, friends, etc. should all be cherished as being integral parts of a child's life. You shouldn't have to be a parent to love a child.

-Stop treating infertile people like they're failed people, and provide counseling and support for those who are infertile, and allow a space for infertile people to voice all their feelings without shame.

-Family reunification should be the top priority when it comes to foster care. While of course this is not always possible, even when the parents are out of the picture, too often, children are whisked away to foster care when their grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling, or family friend would be more than suitable and even willing to provide care for them.

-In the cases where adoption or donor conception has already occured, full-transparency must be provided for the child. This means access to their medical records and their familial records at any time.

-And lastly, center adoptees and donor-conceived children in the conversation. I am not an adoptee nor a donor-conceived child (although there are people close to me who are), and I only speak for what's already been said much better by actual adoptees and donor-conceived children.

#adoption #adoption industry #adoption reform #infertility #infertility industry

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cami-stuffs · 8 months

Text

Pushing Towards You

Chapter 1: Back to Nevermore

Calista was in the middle of a meeting when a message came in. It was from her ex-wife, Gaia.

"G: Hey. I have some news. Let me know if you are free to have dinner with us tonight"

By us, she means her and your teenage daughter, Ártemis. Before you can answer, Ártemis texts you as well.

"A: Hey, mum. Mumma G wants to have dinner with us tonight. She said she had big news to share. I hope you can make it. Love you."

"C: See you later, babe. Miss you and Love you." You answered to your daughter.

Only then do you remember to reply to Gaia.

"C: Hey. It settled. I'll be taking the dessert. See you."

Calista was a pharmacist. She is a professor at the University of North Carolina, where she graduated and received her doctorate. She was also an outcast, although her colleagues didn't know about this part of her life. It took a bit of effort to hide what she was since telekinesis was a power that came to a hand sometimes. Nevertheless, Calista was aware of the relationship between normies and outcasts. That was a constant subject of discussion with Gaia, who never missed the chance to express her thoughts about how normies are arrogant and prejudiced.

Gaia was a botanist whose powers involved mimicking plants' essence and features as long as she was in contact with them at least once. For that, she had a free spirit and mind. This freedom included the speech of her thoughts and her feelings toward people no matter what. Calista admired her ex-wife for being so herself, but this wasn't enough to keep the marriage going. Over the years, the differences became too apparent. For the sake of their daughter, they decided on a friendly divorce and maintain a healthy relationship.

Consequently, having dinner together weekly became a tradition, especially when one had something to share with the other two. Tonight was no different, and Calista was heading to Gaia's apartment with the promised dessert. Ringing the bell, she heard a yelling from inside.

"It's open! Come on in!". Gaia was in front of the oven, finishing what looked like a Spaghetti Carbonara.

"Hey, you!" You greeted her. "Hmm...That smells delicious." You simply loved good pasta.

"Well, since I was the one who sent the invitation, I felt the need to spoil my two Italian girls!" Gaia said, smiling at you.

"I'm not your girl anymore, but thank you anyway." You replied.

"Yeah, yeah... Sorry about that. It's just a habit." Gaia said, blushing lightly.

"That's ok. And where is Ártemis?" You asked, changing the subject.

"In the shower. She just came back from the gym. I guess all these exercises are making her feel better. She seems so relaxed!" Gaia pointed out. Ártemis had a bad year at school. Turning fifteen brought some unpleasant changes in her point of view, but expected ones in her mothers'.

"That's awesome. It makes me glad to see her feel better about herself. But I've been thinking, and I guess it's time for us three to consider Nevermore an option for her education. After all, we both studied there. It is the right place for outcasts. I know is far away, and we will miss her, but..." Calista was interrupted by her daughter entering the room.

"Hey, mumma C! How are you? Who are you going to miss?" Ártemis asked, embracing her mother from behind.

"Hey, my precious. I was just saying to your mumma G about sending you to...Wow!" Turning around to face Ártemis, Calista was startled by her height. "I swear that you look higher since the last time I put my eyes on you, and It's been what? A couple of days?" Ártemis was indeed taller, and that growing-up speediness was one of the reasons why she felt so uneasy lately.

"Yeah...Well, I am taller, yes. But, as you can see, I am also stronger!" She said playfully, exhibiting her muscles.

"I can see! My pretty little monster!" You replied, laughing at her.

"So...what were you two talking about?" Ártemis asked, sitting on a stool in the kitchen.

"I was just telling your mother that maybe It's time for you to study at Nevermore." Calista said, looking from Ártemis to Gaia, seeking support.

"Wait...are you serious? Oh my goodness, thank you!" Ártemis jumped out of the stool and held her mother close in a tight hug. Calista searched for Gaia's great green eyes, waiting for her to say something. "Are you both aware I would be almost a thousand miles away from home? By my own! Is it okay?" Ártemis asked, stepping back.

"I was saving all this conversation for after the dinner, but you two are in a hurry to discuss this. So, I called you both today to announce that I am the new Botany Professor at Nevermore Academy!" Gaia was beaming in joy. Returning to their old school was in her life plans after graduation, but marriage and Ártemis made her delay it.

"Heeey... What a great news, mom! Congratulations!" Ártemis hugged Gaia.

"Well done, G! What an achievement! A whole life dream. I'm proud of you!" Calista cheered her ex-wife, indeed.

"Thank you for the support. From both of you! I was interviewed by the deputy headmaster last week after I applied for the position. And today, the big news came!" Gaia was beyond happiness. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. As a member of the school staff and a mother, Ártemis has a vacancy there. And I agree with you, Calista. Nevermore is the right place for her, for all outcasts, in my opinion." Gaia completed.

Dinner time passed smoothly. Calista decided to go on vacation to help Gaia and Ártemis move to Vermont. Ártemis was thrilled about going to a school for outcasts. She wanted to know all about the school. Her two mothers happily fulfilled such a task. They told her about the school, the events Nevermore held, and their outcast fellows. When they mentioned their friends' powers, Ártemis became quiet and with a distant stare.

"Temis, darling, what is going on?" Calista was worried about her daughter's sudden change in mood.

"Do you think they gonna accept me? Me and my powers?" Ártemis asked Calista and Gaia. The mothers exchanged glances.

"I must admit that we haven't met any shapeshifter back in our time, right, Calista?" Gaia reached for her ex-wife.

Calista has met a shapeshifter at Nevermore. Larissa Weems, her teenage crush. But Larissa made Calista promise never to tell anyone about her, so Calista never did. Including now. Seeing her daughter and her doubts about herself made Calista heartache, but Calista kept the promise. Shapeshifters were not well accepted, including among outcasts. Exposing one on behalf of the other was no use for Calista. But she came up with an idea. Maybe Larissa, wherever she is, could help Ártemis find herself and understand her powers. Making a mind note, Calista decided to call Larissa at another moment and ask her for assistance.

"Shapeshifters are rare. But we are very supportive at Nevermore. Rivalry and fights occur for common reasons, as with the normies. Powers are never used as a form of bullying. I am pretty sure you're going to fit in. Besides, if you don't feel confident enough to tell your friends about your powers, just don't. Take your time." Calista reassured her daughter. "In my opinion, you should be worrying about having your mother as your botany teacher." Calista joked. Ártemis bulged her eyes, suddenly remembering this "tiny" detail.

"Oh my goodness! Mumma G, will you take it easy on me, please?" Ártemis pleaded with puppy eyes.

"Have I ever taken?" Gaia smirked.

"Not that I can recall." Ártemis seemed defeated.

"There you go, your answer, child. But I feel you won't need any help from me or anyone. " Gaia winked affectionately at her daughter.

"Good luck with that, babe." Calista wished to Ártemis playfully. The dynamic between the two was very well-known for Calista. Gaia was stern to Ártemis. Ártemis was clever and skillful, but her low self-esteem stood in her way. She didn't trust herself. So Gaia tried hard to make Ártemis see her greatness. Sometimes, Gaia tried too hard. Keeping the balance between them was a role played by Calista. And now, with their departure, all she could do was wish good luck to both.

"Well...I think we call it a day. Tomorrow, I'll ask for my vacation and be free to help you guys pack." Calista declared. "Now, bed!" She pointed out to Ártemis.

"Can I have a hot chocolate before bed?" Ártemis required.

"Hot chocolate? Really? After this marvelous dinner and a panna cotta for dessert?" Calista exclaimed incredulously. "I am still trying to figure out where this taste for hot chocolate comes from. It's not from me. I am sure." Calista pointed out.

"It's a cozy drink, almost an affectionate one. I don't know why." Ártemis said dreamly.

"A whisky is a cozy drink for me," Gaia whispered.

"Can I try it? Maybe I'll change my cozy drink." Ártemis asked, half playful, half expectant.

"Of course not! You're fifteen. I'll make you a hot chocolate, and then, bed!" Calista finished that strange conversation about cozy drinks.

Later, at home, Calista decided to call Larissa. It's been a while since they last spoke. She dialed the numbers and anxiously waited for Larissa to answer.

Larissa Weems' answering machine: "Hello, you've reached Larissa Weems. I'm unable to come to the phone right now. Leave your message, and I'll return your call when I'm free. Thank You."

"Hey, Larissa. It's me, Calista. Calista Cos'Anto, by the way. It's been a while. Guess what! I have a daughter who is coming to Nevermore Academy this year. Can you believe it? Well, I'm calling to ask you for some help. I know I have disappeared since the last time we've seen each other, but only you can help. Ártemis, my daughter, is a shapeshifter, and you are the only shapeshifter I've ever met before her. Don't worry, I still keep my promise. No one knows about you. But Ártemis has trust issues and doesn't know how to control her powers. I was wondering if you could help her. I don't know if you are back in England or still live in the US. Call me back if you feel you can help me. I hope you are doing great. See you. Bye."

Well, that was it. There was no turning back. Calista's mind was spinning. Too many emotions for just one day. Her beloved daughter was going away; she had just sent a message to her former crush, and now she was returning to Nevermore, even if it was just for a few weeks.

She could barely wait to see her old school again and make sure it would be a home for her daughter as it was for her.

Chapter 2

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