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secretmellowblog · 11 months

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On the subject of the Titanic ‘submersible’ that was lost in the deep with all its wealthy tourists— it’s so insane/eerie in hindsight to read this article from the Smithsonian that interviews the CEO Stockton Rush long before the disaster.

Despite the Smithsonian supposedly being an organization that cares about science and truth, and the fact that there were SO MANY obvious red flags from the beginning and so many people criticizing the company…..the article is a puff piece uncritically glorifying the CEO’s obviously terrible submersible project. It compares him in glowing terms to Elon Musk. It is an article about how private ventures like those of Stockton Rush and Elon Musk can and should be the future of the world.

We’ve obviously learned now that there were whistleblowers at the company who were warning for a long time that Stockton Rush’s submersible was unsafe— only to be fired and then sued. It makes sense the submersible was so unsafe, because the CEO in this interview is open about how he has no background in underwater engineering and is annoyed by quote “regulations that needlessly prioritize passenger safety.”

Soon after, the private [submersible] market died too, Rush found, for two reasons that were “understandable but illogical.” First, subs gained a reputation for danger. Working on offshore rigs in harsh locations like the North Sea, saturation divers, who breathe gas mixtures to avoid diving sicknesses, would be taken in subs to work at great depths. It was the world’s most perilous job, with frequent fatalities. (“It wasn’t the sub’s fault,” says Rush.) To save lives, the industries moved toward using underwater robots to perform the same work.

Second, tourist subs, which could once be skippered by anyone with a U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license, were regulated by the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993, which imposed rigorous new manufacturing and inspection requirements and prohibited dives below 150 feet. The law was well-meaning, Rush says, but he believes it needlessly prioritized passenger safety over commercial innovation (a position a less adventurous submariner might find open to debate). “There hasn’t been an injury in the commercial sub industry in over 35 years. It’s obscenely safe, because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn’t innovated or grown—because they have all these regulations.”

The fact that Stockton Rush (who was piloting the submarine when the disaster happened) is on record complaining about the evils of regulations that prioritize people’s safety, and the Smithsonian uncritically regurgitated that rhetoric in their glowing puff piece about how rich tycoons like Elon Musk and Stockton Rush are going to save the world is just…..in hindsight of how everything ended it’s just so much horrible black comedy? It’s like a satire about the dangers of uncritically worshipping the rich.

It is mentioned in the article that Rush chose to make his submersible in a different shape, and with a different (cheaper) material than is usually used for submersibles. The article frames this as a result of daring innovation, and not of negligence/ignorance. This passage in particular, which in context is supposed to portray Rush’s critics as joyless naysayers who were proven wrong by the noble tycoon, is pretty foreboding in hindsight:

Rush planned to pilot the sub himself, which critics said was an unnecessary risk: Under pressure, the experimental carbon fiber hull might, in the jargon of the sub world, “collapse catastrophically.”

And then!!

The exact problem that happened to Titan this weekend, happened on Titan’s very first test voyage to the Titanic! The experimental carbon fiber hull had an issue and it caused communications to break down!

The dive was going according to plan until about 10,000 feet, when the descent unexpectedly halted, possibly, Rush says, because the density of the salt water added extra buoyancy to the carbon fiber hull. He now used thrusters to drive Titan deeper, which interfered with the communications system, and he lost contact with the support crew. He recalls the next hour in hallucinogenic terms. “It was like being on the Starship Enterprise,” he says. “There were these particles going by, like stars. Every so often a jellyfish would go whipping by. It was the childhood dream.”

Both Rush and the article writer treat this as a fun quirky story, instead of a serious safety failure and red flag with his experimental macgyvered regulation-flaunting submersible.

Other highlights from the article include:

Stockton rush saying that if 3/4 of the planet is water, why haven’t we monetized it?

Stockton saying we will “colonize the ocean long before we colonize space”

Lots of weird pro colonialism stuff in general??? This article loves colonialism and thinks it’s cool

Rush saying he plans for this to eventually help find more underwater resources for the US to exploit and profit from

Elon musk comparisons. The article writer does not mention that Elon Musk’s rockets explode and therefore it would be a bad idea to get in one of them, because that would imply it’s a bad idea to get into the submersible

Stockton rush seeing himself as Captain Kirk

The article writer comparing the tourists who plan to join Rush to Englishmen who went on colonialist journeys to Africa as if that’s like, a good thing. So much pro colonialism stuff in this article

So many sentences about Stockton Rush being handsome when he literally just looks like some guy

The article beginning with an editor’s note from years later disclaiming that the extraordinary submersible they’re advertising in this article is uh. It’s now uhhhh

But yeah it really does just bring home how so many organizations that supposedly care about scientific truth or journalistic integrity are willing to uncritically platform propaganda for wealthy CEOS. It’s frustrating how easily people fall for the fake myths that careless wealthy people invent for themselves, and even more frustrating that supposedly respectable institutions will platform irresponsible lies that end up getting people killed.

Rush is such an obvious and simple example of this, and his negligence is “only” killing five people including himself. But to me it feels like a cautionary tale to bear in mind when it comes to uncritical puff piece media coverage of similar “daring tycoon innovations” by people like Bezos or Musk.

#titanic #oceangate #titanic submersible #sorry this is just so fascinating to me #it’s like a parody or piece of satire #if it were in a novel it would feel like the symbolism was too obvious and on the nose

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master-ray5 · 6 months

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My Response To “Why I love the Toxic Romance of Sailor Moon”

I came across this video online:

youtube

My short response: I disagree.

My long response: Buckle UP

It should be noted the video isn’t presenting the argument for just the 90s aspect of the Usagi x Mamoru relationship but is lumping Crystal and the Manga into the argument and insisting it's a toxic romance. The creator of this video breaks down their argument into pointing out three different aspects of the Usagi X Mamoru relationship:

The age gap and the power dynamic is causes

The lack of choice in the relationship

How Seiya offers Usagi choice

Let’s tackle all three of the points and see where the argument breaks down. First off the age gap…sigh…

The Age Gap

At this point I’m sick of even going into this aspect of the argument. Frankly over the years it comes off as far too personal for many individuals and they can’t separate these feelings when they enter into fiction. If you can’t get over the aspect Usagi is dating an older (4-5 years) man and are uncomfortable with the power dynamic this presents in a relationship then this isn’t the show for you.

Still, can people stop acting like it's a huge age gap? This isn’t like the age gap that comes like Bunny Drops (that series really took a turn later in the manga) so can we all stop acting like Mamoru is riding around in a van offering Usagi candy? Moving on…

The Lack of Choice in the Relationship

The video argues even if you look past the reincarnation element of the Mamoru x Usagi relationship, the introduction of Crystal Tokyo and them becoming King and Queen causes the relationship to become toxic. With this expectation to reach this status, the two are pressured to stay together whether they are ideal for each other or not. This lack of choice is described by the video as being toxic.

While the aspects of destiny are prevalent in Sailor Moon, it is important to distinguish the difference between fate and destiny. Fate are the events that will happen when someone doesn't take responsibility. Destiny is what can be achieved through growth and one's own actions. Usagi and Mamoru are shown to be willing to fight for their goals and each other. Usagi wants to be a bride. She wants to be Mamoru’s bride. Mamoru wants to have a family with Usagi so he never feels alone like he did when he was a kid (the movie Sailor Moon R: Promise of the Rose shows this in detail). They support and nurture each other and fight against the forces of evil in the process.

It should be noted despite knowing their destiny they still have moments where they need a reminder they need to keep fighting. Usagi has to be reminded at the end of Sailor Moon R to continue the fight. She is reminded of her need to step up by talking with Naru who has no idea she is Sailor Moon.

This doesn't just apply to Usagi. Mamoru, upon seeing Usagi with Haruka, feels jealous and is shown to be depressed by it. Only by working together on a project not related to fighting evil but something as simple as helping Chibi Usa with an assignment are they able to reconnect.

Also the future they are shown isn't terrible or apocalyptic. The two are shown to be happy, have achieved peace, and are still in love. Why wouldn't they work to achieve it?

The Illusion of Choice With Seiya

A recent argument I see a lot of Seiya x Usagi fans using is “Seiya offers Usagi choice. Something Mamoru never did.” While it can be argued Seiya is offering Usagi a choice, it is not necessarily a good choice. Look at the hard facts of Seiya’s mission: they are dedicated to Princess Kakyuu and planned on leaving the planet as soon as they found her. Under these aspects, the choices Seiya is offering are not in Usagi’s favor.

At best, Seiya is offering Usagi to leave the planet so they can be together, meaning Usagi would have to give up all her friends and family just so she could be together with Seiya. At worst, Seiya is asking Usagi to engage in a long distant relationship to be together. Considering how critical Seiya was about Usagi engaging in a long distance relationship with someone who was supposed to be on the same planet, the idea of even suggesting such a thing to Usagi makes Seiya a hypocrite.

In conclusion:

Here are a few examples of ACTUAL toxic relationships in anime:

Gundam Seed: When Fllay uses sex to keep Kira focused on fighting the enemy forces to exact her revenge.

Death Note: Light Yagami intentionally manipulates Misa’s feelings to use her as a tool to exact his plan for bringing his version of justice to the world.

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Akio romancing and bedding Utena for his own purposes while at the same time sexually abusing his sister Anthy.

Fruits Basket: Shigure slept with Ren (Akito's mother) as revenge for Akito sleeping with Kureno.

These are Toxic relationships where people are legitimately being hurt by being a part of it. Though the future Usagi and Mamoru witness is imposing, their interactions are actually supportive in nature. In summary, I don't agree with this video and continue to express that Usagi and Mamoru have a relationship others can and should ascribe to obtain.

#sailor moon #sailormoon #bishoujo senshi sailor moon #pretty guardian sailor moon #pretty soldier sailor moon #sailor moon fandom #mamoru x usagi #usagi x mamoru #usagi tsukino #mamoru chiba #usagi x seiya #seiya x usagi #kou seiya #Seiya Kou #chiba mamoru #tsukino usagi #Youtube

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rathologic · 2 months

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P1 Saburov and Viktor are so terribly underrated and it's such a shame because their characters are immensely interesting and way more developed beyond "evil corrupt politician" and "isolated and rich single father with much children cooler than him", which is how I've seen some people halk about them. You are doing god's work

Oh deeply... I do think there's an effect where an important part of both of their arcs as rulers is that they're rendered obsolete halfway through the game, as soon as the Inquisitor shows up and overtakes their authority. from that point on only their associated healer gets to interact with them at any depth, but both of them are also planning to die (...normal reaction to being rendered obsolete) so it's harder for their dialogue to stick outside what's most vital for quests. also since nobody plays changeling route :-(

I see victor reduced to 'wifeguy' more than 'guy with important kids' more often (and enjoy it, even partake!) but he stands out to me as having the most personal, even self-centered wants in the cast- repairing his relationships with (living) family, the wish to leave and finish his university degree; in fact I'd say victor is someone who's been deprived of the things most important to him for a long time, and is in a position where he could get them back, if he only abandoned the project of leading the Town towards utopia which the kains have devoted themselves to for the past 5 years / forever. and nina's soul is present in and tied to that project, but there is some level on which only victor remembers her as a person instead of a divine instrument- and that lends itself to the ability to grieve and move on. if victor kain walked out of pathologic I think he'd ultimately be happy, and I think he's unique among the rulers for that. but the tragedy of all of the families is that they're embedded in a town and traditions that Will Not Let Them Out

whereas saburov is like. he grew up in this town, his mother would've been a Mistress herself, the town's needs and impositions as a structure are so ingrained to him that he doesn't conceive of any selfhood or duty that Doesn't involve his role as The Saburov, putting himself on the line for everything that might befall the town. and the patterns are also so ingrained to him that he starts to think he can change or at least outsmart them. come to think of it, the whole first half of changeling route is his trying to find someone responsible for the plague, and ultimately when there is no such person he takes that responsibility onto himself but He Tries so hard first... clara's presence disrupts the balance and therefore taking her in might allow him to control the balance (and per recent discussion there's a masculinity in his need for control), except the conjectures he makes don't really apply to something completely new and unknown. and to his credit saburov loves changing his mind when presented with new information and there's a lot of guilt accumulating because of it and ultimately he gives up that control to clara, being one of few characters to genuinely grow over the course of the game. But in a way that's still symbolically equivalent with death 🙂

So they're two self-abnegating people who are the "less important" member of their ruling family and become surpassed by their daughters in the town to come, but from totally perpendicular backgrounds that cross just at this point... it's very fun that they don't get along as administrators when rulerhood is the one thing they kind of share

#SALUTING_FACE. you may be able to tell that I like the rulers b/c it's cool when a place eats people.#victor kain #alexander saburov #pathologic #asks #anonymous

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gabrielsbubblegumbitch · 1 month

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OOHHH Ive already been thinking about How the order of who Valentino meets First, Vox or Angel would realate to Vox's Jealousy:

Like, If Val and Angel are together since before the partnership their relationship has been going on for so long no wonder Val is so attached to him! is a form of comfort to him, something he is so used to having that the threat of losing it scares him, and something Vox has been "rivaling" for a while, but in that case i feel either Vox would have already done something about it or get "used" to it, so idk

NOW If Valentino’s relationship with Angel happens after he was already “with” Vox that would mean his jealousy even more interesting, cuz Angel is a new interest of Val that he clearly treats different from previous ones, at least from Vox reactions, maybe he was just as jealous of Val's previous "toys" but i don't think that, i think he notices how much more intense Valentino's obssession with Angel Dust is, and he doesn't like It one bit

Don't know witch of this scenarios are closer to canon but both are interesting enough i guess

done something about it or get "used" to it I mean the man is PETTY, I don't think he'd used to it. And if Val was attached to Angel, Vox wouldn't be able to do shit about him.

Why do I think Angel met Val first? Because to me, it makes sense that Angel fell for him when Val was still a nobody. Angel is neither dumb nor evil*, and in my opinion, the Overlord (or even a mobster with a position established enough to hang out with Vox) would be a major red flag for him. But a young, aspiring porn producer just looking for his first big star? Not so threatening. One can truly believe in the idea of a fruitful partnership, especially if love is involved. Since Angel has 40 years more experience living in Hell, I can't imagine him being easily tricked into the contract. The only way I can see him signing off his soul would be based on the conviction that Valentino won't hurt him.

Babe, for this whole plan to work for us I will need your help. A little power boost, let's call it. Don't freak out, that's not that big of a deal, but we need to do this if we want to kickstart our project. Treat it like an investment in our future, amorcito.

*it was pointed out to me that's a terrible oversimplification from my side and I agree. Lemme clarify: I excluded the possibility of Angel being simply desperate - as probably many people that fell for Val - because I think before Valentino wrecked it, his life had been good enough to not take such risk. Like, Angel is - and always has been - the one making money, Valentino is just parasite leeching on his talent.

#hazbin hotel #valentino #vox #voxval #ask #headcanon #angel dust #angel dust hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel valentino

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allwaswell16 · 4 months

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All the One Direction fics I read and enjoyed in December 2023. You can listen to my podcast to hear me talk about each of these fics as well as an overview of what was posted on ao3 including the fics on this month’s fic roundup which you can find here! Please let the writers know if you liked the fics by leaving kudos and comments! Happy reading!

Fanfictional Podcast #57 | ko-fi | fic recs

— Louis/Harry —

⊹ Heart Beat by @allwaswell16

(E, 33k, kid fic) When Harry returns to start a music academy in his hometown, he finds himself face to face with his high school crush—and his charming daughter who wants to learn to play the drums.

⊹ Snow In Love by @lululawrence

(NR, 33k, fake relationship) An advent fic featuring childhood friends, fake dating turned actual dating, really horrible secret keeping, and a winter weather surprise.

⊹ You Ain’t Gotta Feel Fear Just Mingle by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup

(T, 32, coworkers) Harry has been at his dream job for less than three months, and he knows two things for sure; first, his project manager doesn't know what he's doing, and second, someone in the office is apparently pure evil, and no one will tell Harry who it is.

⊹ 'tis the damn season by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf

(E, 17k, girl direction) Harry returns to her small hometown over the holiday season and starts to think about the road not taken.

⊹ The Lonely Dance of My Despair (series) by The_Halcyonic_Lachesist / @chai-hat-tea

(G/T, 11k, Eroda) Louis lives a lonely life until he might find something that shows him that he might not be alone in his misery. Or did he?

⊹ Ride My Sleigh Tonight by @kingsofeverything

(E, 9k, sugar daddy) In exchange for free food and drinks at Liam’s office holiday party, Harry pretends to be his boyfriend. But this is not that story.

⊹ You smile all the time ('cause how can you not show it?) by thebreadvan / @thebreadvansstuff

(E, 9k, dentist/patient) Harry never liked dentists, until now.

⊹ don’t let the fire die by @nouies

(E, 8k, fantasy au) Harry makes a long trip to take back what is his.

⊹ I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm by @haloeverlasting

(NR, 7k, neighbors) Louis' heat is out, Harry's a terrible upstairs neighbor, and an empty Christmas tree is the perfect excuse to fall in love.

⊹ Unleashing Adoration by hazzahtomlinson / @itsnotreal

(E, 6k, songwriter Louis) Louis’ schedule has gotten a bit busy lately, so he trusts that Niall will find someone who can take care of his dog, Clifford, a few days a week.

⊹ I Want You to Linger by @insightfulinsomniac

(E, 6k, omegaverse) A friends-to-lovers fic in which oblivious alpha Louis courts his best friend, nests with the gifts he gets him, and is faced with the reality that sometimes telling someone you love them doesn’t go to plan (but turns out better in the end anyway).

⊹ Red by @disgruntledkittenface

(E, 4k, exes) Louis is wallowing after the breakup. He's never felt this kind of heartbreak before. All he wants to do is lie on his couch and listen to Taylor Swift alone.

⊹ Perfect, For Now by @parmahamlarrie

(T, 4k, omegaverse) Moving to a new city is always hard, being away from home, finding your new community - none of it is easy. Dealing with all of this while being touch deprived is even more difficult.

⊹ Oh Little Town of BATHlehem by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup

(G, 2k, Christmas shopping) Louis Tomlinson needs a small pink bathtub. He needs it.

— Rare Pairs —

⊹ Jump! by @reminiscingintherain

(M, 15k, Louis/Tommy Longhurst) “I absolutely know what this means, lad,” he replied, his voice gentle and supportive. “The way you’re reacting to being out there? That’s exactly why I chose you for the support slot.” He gave a reassuring squeeze. “You deserve this, okay?”

⊹ softer than satin by cinnamons / @sunbellylou

(E, 4k, Louis/Joel Miller) “Wanna go back to bed,” Louis whispered languidly, voice partly muffled by his boyfriend’s lips on his.

⊹ One by @allwaswell16

(E, 4k, Louis/Tommy Shelby) When omega Louis Tomlinson becomes pregnant after an unexpected encounter, he decides his only option is to flee his pack. But Tommy Shelby, pack alpha of the Peaky Blinders, might not be willing to let him go so easily.

⊹ Daydream by @allwaswell16

(T, 2k, Zayn/Louis) Every Thursday, Louis nods hello to her fellow regulars at Horan’s Cafe, one of whom is the woman of her dreams.

⊹ Baking Memories by @haztobegood

(T, 2k, Louis/Jack Cochrane) After a long day of songwriting, Jack convinces Louis to bake mince pies together.

⊹ Chaos by @haztobegood

(M, 100 words, Louis/OMC [bodyguard]) Against the barricade, it’s complete chaos.

#28th appreciation #1dficvillage #trackinghappily #trackinghome #hltracks #ficsfor4am

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minihotdog · 11 months

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Fearless Magazine

Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3

Prompt:

When you dreamed of becoming a television writer, you never expected you’d end up wasting your time writing for a vapid dating quiz show, but a job’s a job. One night, your very charming, very single boss asks why you’re working late; you mumble something about new truth-or-dare questions. “Great,” he replies with a smile. “Ask me one.”

Notes: I wrote this on my phone and hope that it formats not like hell. Might make this into a series because I like this one. Accidentally made the reader come off snooty :/

***

“That is enough,” Max’s voice booms through the room. “We will not be having this discussion again until you have earned to work under the Historian.”

“Have I not proven myself enough!” I argue desperately.

“Y/n, you are too young. You still have so much to learn and skills to continue developing before I can appoint you. Please, if you want the position you will continue working towards it.”

I drop my head in defeat, my head pulsating with frustration, stress, and disappointment. “Is that understood?”

“Yes, Max. I understand.” He sighs, sitting back in his chair.

“In the meantime, you will be working with the rest of the second-year writers on Fearless magazine. Do not disappoint me.” He warns me while motioning to the doors of his office, ending the argument. I drag my feet through the halls heading towards my room.

“Y/n!” Tris catches up to me. “How did the talk with Max go?”

“He told me that I haven't earned the position as historian apprentice. I have to keep writing raunchy garbage for the magazine instead.” I roll my eyes at the thought of wasting my effort and passion on meaningless assignments and ‘What you’re favorite takedown says about you’ type quizzes that are plastered on the back of each issue.

“I told you he wouldn’t budge.” She puts her hand on my shoulder, “You are talented but, hey, historian is a very important position and one that takes a lot of time to earn and train for. You’ll get it eventually, but right now, please, don’t beat yourself up. Ok?”

“Ok,” I sigh.

“I got to get back to the initiates, but you hang in there!” Tris runs off towards the training area leaving me alone wishing I had her resilience.

I walk through the kitchen I share with three other roommates before reaching my door.

I look around not knowing what to do with myself for the next three hours before work. I guess I’ll just get ready.

I take a quick shower and throw on a dark green t-shirt over a black long-sleeve and a knee-length skirt matching to match the shirt. The one nice thing about working in an office is getting to have a more diverse wardrobe rather than looking like I’m going to war all the time.

I grab the backpack I take to work with me, inside my laptop, snacks, and possibly a hundred papers scattered inside from countless projects. I make my way toward the office to see no one else has shown up yet. I open my laptop on my desk and begin typing away, working on an old document about the history of the factions.

I hear the door behind me open and I turn my head to see which of my coworkers walked in only to do a double take. Why the hell is he here?!

“No way,” I say, dumbfounded. Eric leans against the wall next to the door with a crutch under one arm and a cast on his right leg.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite former initiate.” His evil smirk sparks rage inside of me.

“Who let you out of your cage?” I spit at him, he rolls his eyes at me.

“I just thought you missed me so I decided to drop by,”

“Eric don’t do sarcasm, it totally doesn’t suit you.”

He rests his head against the wall looking up at the ceiling as if it’s killing him to be here.

“I’m your new boss.” He says smugly. I sit there looking at him, mouth agape at the horrific news.

“Oh, that’s terrible news.” I hold my head in my hands.

Little by little people begin pouring into the office and finding their desks. The sound of typing begins as everyone gets a head start on the day.

“Good morning everyone!” Our lead editor, Jacob, stands at the front of the room. Eric leans against the wall behind him listening to the whispers.

“Why is he here,” my best friend Lynn asks me quietly. “To kill us all,” I snark.

“I have some news in regards to who’ll be filling in for Jade while she recovers.” He motions toward the brooding man to his left. “Eric will be taking her place for the time being. If you guys didn’t know, Eric was the lead writer for the issue a few years ago on the Economic Relations Between the Factions. He’s an extremely talented writer and someone all of you can learn a lot from.”

Everyone turns to look at each other. Since when did he write? I didn’t think that brute could even read.

“Now, this upcoming issue is going to feature a rapid dating segment that will be done in the pit next Friday, we have the contestants in the shared drive.” I roll my eyes at the stupid idea. Another raunchy issue. One or two would have been fine but every publication is littered with nonsense. My eyes meet Eric’s and he smirks. Shit, he saw that.

Jacob grabs a folder from the desk in front of him. He opens it and flips through the pages before reading from one.

“The assignments will be… Lynn, you are in charge of contestant introductions for the magazine.” He goes on listing off names and whatnot as I get lost in thought staring at my screen. “And, finally. Y/n, you’ll be coming up with insight questions for the contestants to answer on stage.”

I snap back to reality and purse my lips at my assignment. “Any questions?” He looks around the room before heading back to his office, leaving us to begin our work. Eric takes the secondary editor's desk at the front of the room.

I flip through my tabs looking for the work center to begin brainstorming what to write. I run my hands over my face and huff before getting up and making my way toward the coffee maker. This is gonna be a long night.

hours later

Everyone starts packing up and leaving one by one. Only a few remain at their desks typing away.

“How’s it going,” Lynn peers over at my screen reading through the bulleted list of questions.

“I hit a block, I can’t think of anything else and they all suck,” I whine.

“They can’t be that bad,” she says before reading one out loud. “Tell us one time you pretended to like someone but actually couldn’t stand them…” She gives me a weird look, “Girl, what’s wrong with you today? These are boring.”

I snort at her. One thing she never lost when she chose Dauntless was her candor.

“Are you gonna stay late today?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna try to spice up my boring questions,” I drag out the boooring and she laughs.

“Alright, I’m gonna head on home. Good luck.”

Time passes and I’m the only one left, at least I think.

“Y/n, what are you still doing here?”

Dear god, not him.

“I’m still working on my questions.”

“Great!” He uses his crutch to balance as he moves a chair closer to me and sits down. The knee of his good leg almost touches mine.

“Ask me one.”

I look at him nervously. “A-ask you one?” I stutter, fearful of the wave of criticism he’d unleash on me like he did in my initiate days.

I sit there looking at him before he shoots me one of his famous glares.

“Uh… Ok then.”

I look back at the screen scrolling through trying to find the best one I had.

“If you met a genie, what would your three wishes be?”

“Not bad,” he says before thinking for a second. “I would wish for better initiates, more hair gel, and for my leg to heal instantly so I can go back to the gym.”

I laugh briefly before feeling stunned. Did he just make me laugh?

“I didn’t know you had a sense of humor.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, princess.” I scowl at him for bringing up the nickname given to me in training when blood got on my favorite gray top.

“That was forever ago!”

“Doesn't matter, you’re still a little princess at heart.” He shoots back before demanding another question.

“What’s the cheapest gift you’ve ever gotten someone?”

“Boooring, take that one out.”

I suck my teeth at him.

“Next,” he demands.

We sat there for what felt like hours. He even began asking me questions, every once in a while striking through one that he didn’t like.

“What are you thinking?” He pulls me back into reality. “Huh?” “You looked like you were thinking really hard… Didn’t know you could do that.”

“Ugh! You’re insufferable.” I say with a smile on my lips. I’d never tell him that I was thinking about how lovely he really was when he wasn’t being an ass. For the first time I was seeing a side of him I liked.

“Alright, last one. We’ve been here for ages,” he looks down at his watch. His perfect lips still curved upwards, his baby blue eyes look back at me - what the hell is wrong with me?

“Dauntless or Candor: kiss the person nearest to you or tell us where you’re the most ticklish. I like this one because all the dudes are gonna sit-”

He pulls my chair closer to him and plants his lips on mine. I feel his heavy hand on the small of my back. His soft lips send sparks through my body and my hands slide up his chest, resting behind his head. He pulls away, “That’s a great one.”

Part 2

#divergent #eric coulter #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter x reader #eric divergent #divergent fanfiction #divergent imagines #eric coulter x oc #eric dauntless

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korkorali · 8 months

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I have Feelings™️ about Beakley

She’s a grandmother she’s a spy she’s an agent she’s a director she loves Webby she’s the worst guardian in the manor she judges everyone she’s extremely good at taking care of kids she’s terrible with children she lies like its second nature she’s barely remorseful for her actions she feels terrible about everything she’s done she’s traumatized she’s the most well-adjusted person in the room she’s one wrong move away from blowing up she’s calm and collected but most importantly she’s a hypocrite.

She’s the biggest hypocrite in the mansion and I absolutely love her for it.

She judges everyone. If you exist in her line of sight, chances are she’s going to look at you and think ‘I could probably do X better than you’ to herself. Especially when it comes to parenting.

And here’s the kicker- she’s wrong. She’s so wrong about that. Without a doubt, she wins the ‘worst of the mansion’s parental figures’ trophy by a landslide. She did terribly by Webby.

She kept her in the manor, alone, and trained her to defend herself from much too early an age. She told her not to bother Scrooge, the only other person in their home, which means that the only person Webby every really had was her.

I mean this woman was ready to straight up kick her ass on the roof of the manor for saying ‘hey maybe traumatizing Huey and Dewey isn’t the best form of training’

This woman, on multiple occasions, looked Webby right in the eyes and lied to her without even thinking- twice! And that’s after knowing that Webby hates being lied to!

She’s had quite her fair share of fuckups when it comes to parenting, and yet she still freely judges Scrooge, Donald, and Della whenever they try to parent.

She’s one of the biggest hypocrites in the show.

And the thing is, it makes sense.

All of her actions so much sense, even the judgement.

She’s a thoroughly traumatized secret agent who’s probably never opened up about herself to anyone (well, maybe Scrooge, but that’s another post for another day), found a child kept in one of their secret bases, and made the impossible choice to abandon her mission (her entire life) to go into hiding and keep the child safe.

She used to be a secret agent, so of course her modus operandi is to lie. Of course she keeps her cards close to her chest (even when nobody else is playing), of course she waits to reveal anything until she’s deemed it absolutely necessary to do so.

She essentially kidnapped Webby, the top-secret project of an evil organization. Of course she never let her leave the mansion (or at least, go anywhere besides the mansion and the Money Bin, because she’s been there before), she had every reason to believe that their agents may one day show up to find and take her away.

Of course she trained Webby relentlessly, of course she reacted so harshly to the idea of not training the boys in the same way. In order to survive, she was treated as a soldier instead of a person, after all. So in order for them to survive, she’s got to treat them like soldiers too.

Of course she judges everyone around her and refuses to admit when she’s wrong, she’s been through hellish experience after hellish experience, took over as director for SHUSH after the previous director was kidnapped by FOWL. She’s learned to hide her weaknesses, bury them so deep that even she wouldn’t be able to find them if she tried. She’s had to lead others, monitor agents, make absolutely sure that no information leaked which meant running the tightest shop possible. After doing that for so long, seeing others not do that is grating (what do you mean, other people got to be safe? What do you mean, nobody else has dealt with the things she has? What do you mean, she doesn’t have to treat everything like a secret war is brewing just under the surface? Preposterous).

She’s been through more than anyone else will ever know, more than she’ll ever say, and she refuses to admit that it’s caused her harm. She refuses to believe that what happened to her may have been wrong. That it shouldn’t have happened at all (It ended up giving her Webby. How could anything that gave her Webby be wrong?)

She’s a bitch and an asshole and a jerk and a hypocrite and a badass super spy and a housekeeper and a grandmother and anything she needs to be to survive and is maybe just starting to allow herself to live.

But there is one thing she most certainly is not:

A secretary

#she’s great #I love how fucked up she is #and how little she’s willing to admit it #because she’d never admit to being as fucked up as everyone else in the family #it’d kill her #ducktales #dt17 #mrs beakley #bentina beakley #the reason she clashes (slightly) with della is because both of them have ‘I’m The Main Character’ energy #but where beakley is the main character of a long and detailed story-driven singleplayer #della is the main character of an mmo #so della never actually realizes that they have beef because she’s perfectly happy with the idea of there being multiple main characters #but beakley has to adjust to this new development #and she hates adjusting to new things

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pb-dot · 24 days

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WIP Anouncement: Thereafter

As I'm putting the final touch on the first draft of His Impossible Brushstrokes, I've come to realize something important about myself. I like writing, I like it a lot. Ok, not exactly a deep dark secret, that, but it has some implications as to how I'm going to do this one so I figured I should mention that up top.

The thing I came to realize is that the way things are going, I'm going to make what is hopefully one final pass on The Clockwork Boy to shine up the dialog a bit, and while editing is a fine and indeed neccesary part of writing, I have a need to keep writing-writing these days. Speaking from a purely practical standpoint, I also need some way to pace myself, as losing my mind in writing frenzies isn't doing my brain any favors.

So, with that in mind, I have decided to write and release my newest project, Thereafter, myself in the style of serial fiction. I'm going to set up a newsletter service to send my subscribers individual chapers of the series and host the backlogs on some apropriate site, looking like Cohost at the moment. After a period of outlining and writing up character bios, I plan to start at a slow but hopefully manageable clip, releasing two chapters per month, possibly ramping up to three if I find the workflow suiting me.

I don't really plan on earning any money from Thereafter at the time of writing, but considering hosting costs for the newsletter side of things, I may set up a patreon or other crowdfunding page if I ever start getting close to the 100 subscriber limit of the free plan I have my eyes on. It would be nice to get paid for this thing even if it's just the hosting costs, but honestly I just want to get the project out there and get some eyeballs on it, and if it catches on it catches on.

Thereafter is a bit of a appraising look, perhaps even deconstruction of the Portal Fantasy type of narrative, think your Narnias, your Warriors of Virtue, Your Pagemasters and what have you. In it, we meet 4 souls in their thirties who saved a secret magical land from a great evil as children, and have been struggling to make everything work in the aftermath of that. Now solidly among the ranks of the adult, these ex-heroes of legend find themselves, each in their own way, long for the magic, freedom and purpose of their adventures. When the strange wind that once whisked them away to their magical lands finally comes for them again, our heroes learn that they should have been careful about what they wish for.

The magical lands which our protagonists saved are all gone, shattered into fragments by something so vast and terrible not even the survivors could describe it, leaving the magical realms as floating pieces of flotsam and jetsam in the void between worlds. In this void, what scant few survivors there were from the calamity band together to build a refuge out of the broken pieces of their old worlds. It is to this refuge, a town called Thereafter, that our heroes arrive, learning that not only are these worlds they bled and suffered for destroyed, but they were destroyed centuries after their departure, their exploits turned into legends.

It is this legendary status that their summoners, the de facto ruling council of Thereafter, wishes to exploit. Plagued by a scarcity of resources and a truly wild variety of cultures, species and levels of magical ability, the desperate masses of Thereafter seem poised on the brink of panic and/or revolt. The council of Therafter prop up our heroes as having returned to save the world once again, hoping that their utter failure to do so will take long enough that someone will be able to come up with a better plan in the meantime. Our heroes, on their side, are ambivalent about pretending to be these larger-than-life personas that their legends have been turned into, but recognizes that their only way home is through the good will of the council, and so play along, at least until it becomes clear that Therafter's problems are far from over, and that it is impossible to rule the unwilling with clean hands and a clean conscience.

I'm pretty excited about this one. The idea of not getting to go back once I'm finished to make the style uniform is terrifying to me, and I'll have to get used to a kinda different way to pace the story, but I have decided that this is a good way to keep myself writing while leaving enough room in my schedule to keep the editing more or less consistent. Also, I can make it every bit as queer and political as I want to, so that's nice. Worst case scenario, it'll be a fun distraction while I work on getting The Clockwork Boy published.

A more detailed plot synopsis and some talk about the characters will follow at a later date.

#Thereafter #Peebs writers #writeblr #self publication

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konig-varorson · 1 year

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Lost Chinese Lore: Grenth Be Just

Preface

Last year, I began a project to dig through the Guild Wars 1 websites of all the languages, mostly hoping to recover trailers that were lost to time (mostly successfully too). I also found some lore articles that weren't available to western audiences. Such articles were known to exist - mainly lore on Abaddon for Nightfall - and those were later (mostly) canonized by ArenaNet in Guild Wars 2.

So I decided to gather and begin slowly translate them. Previous posts on reddit:

Lyssa

Abaddon

Dwayna

Balthazar

Disclaimer: While there is overlap with canon lore, there is no guarantee this is all canon as well. China is known to have alterations to the story to account for regulations in that nation, so it is unclear how much of this is expanded canon or simply reworked for China and thus non-canon.

For those who would like to see the original text and do their own translation: http://news.17173.com/content/2007-04-11/20070411113342700,1.shtml

Translated Text

The God of Death and Ice - Grenth

About Grenth

Among the five main gods of the Guild Wars (GW) world, Grenth is undoubtedly the most mysterious. He oversees the death of all creatures and all ice in nature, and as such is the patron god followed by necromancers and ice magic elementalists. The statue of Grenth is carved with a demon head and body, with two magic claws clasped together; its shape is enough to make people's skin shiver. Even so, at his feet, there are still many devotees worshipping and thirsting for his great power. Grenth never shows his true face, a black cloak covers most of his face, and even without the cloak you can only see his terrible mask. His eyes emit a terrible green light, it is said that looking directly into his eyes will take away your soul.

Grenth is keen to find and cultivate his followers in all parts of the world, which he considers a great pleasure. There are many people who claim to have seen Grenth with their own eyes and signed a death contract with him, but not many of these claims are true because Grenth is extraordinarily demanding of his followers and not everyone will be appreciated by him. As for what his criteria for identification are, I'm afraid only he himself knows.

Grenth has the power to manipulate all things of death. The necromancer, with close association with death, has long ago understood that to obtain the power of sincerity, we must absolutely submit to Grenth. The god taught them the language of communication with spirits, and could even show them the way to the Underworld. Therefore, all great master necromancers are characters with power beyond life and death. This also makes a lot of people willing to give up their original beliefs and defect to the Grenth who can give them great power.

Worshipers of Grenth

Belief in Grenth is not the same as belief in other gods, because once you have committed to Grenth, it is a committment you cannot turn back on even after death. Elders would always caution their children with these words, "Never make any agreement with Grenth lightly, for that will be an eternal contract." Despite this, the promises of power still bring many people to join the ranks of Grenth's worshipers. Because their actions are so mysterious and they deal with the souls of the dead all day long, they are regarded as bizarre by most people, who may even become hostile towards and stay away from them. This is all a misunderstanding of the world, because worshipers of Grenth are not directly equated with evil. There are times when their inner devotion even surpasses that of monks, only the beliefs are different.

Towards other part of the Grenth's followers, the ice elementalists, people take a very different attitude. This may be due to how most people do not know that these powers come from the god of death. The size of this group is also still relatively small, so it is less likely to attract attention.

Currently, the followers of Grenth are still a relatively contentious group. They rarely have close contact with other people or groups. They are used to solitude and isolation, but of course the perception that they are "lonely" is basically someone else's perception, because they never feel that way themselves - they are accompanied by a large number of dead souls.

The Story of Grenth

Desmina, who had always been despised by the villagers, could not escape the fate of being exiled by the villagers. Faced with her miserable and unfortunate fate, she cried out to the sky in despair: "O God! If I can take revenge on those who scorned me, I am willing to sacrifice everything I have!" At that moment, there was a horrible sound deep underground, and Desmina looked up in horror. The earth began to tremble, and then a crack opened up in the ground, and countless skeletons began to emerge from the crack. Then, the god of death, Grenth, finally appeared from the pile of skeletons. Grenth stretched out his skeleton-like hands and took Desmina into his arms: "I am your god. As long as you obey me, all the undead will obey you."

Desmina agreed without hesitation. As a price to pay, Desmina received the bizarre ability to dominate the undead and curse her enemies. Resentful of the villagers who had mercilessly expelled her, Desmina began to wait for the day of revenge in her dreams. And the days of waiting did not last long.

When Desmina was strong enough to satisfy the god of death, Desmina left the Kingdom of Ice and began to spread Grenth's teachings around the continent of Tyria. As people had never seen him and could not imagine that people can come back from the dead, no one believed her and even treated her as an ominous existence. Even so, Desmina continued her unpopular journey until she stepped into the area that had cruelly exiled her from her home, Cardone.

Unable to forget the bitterness of her past, Desmina settled down in Cardone and built a temple dedicated to Grenth in a cemetery. The villagers, who were deeply frightened, tried to expel her again but could not pass the boundary set up by Desmina. News began to spread that warlike barbarians were about to invade the village. The barbarians numbered in the thousands, but the village had only a few hundred people. The villagers had no choice but to put aside their prejudices and pride and seek help from Desmina. And Desmina thought that the time for revenge had finally come.

Just when Desmina wanted to give the villagers who begged her the curse of Grenth, which she had honed a thousand times for this moment, the voice of the god of death came: "Desmina, go and help them. In this way they will listen to my teachings." Desmina obeyed the god's instruction and proceeded to summon hundreds of undead souls that then crawled out of the catacombs. She commanded to the undead, "You who have gained the power of my life will never be allowed to return until you have completely defeated the invading barbarians!"

In this way, the undead saved Cardone. And this place gradually became celebrated - it was the birthplace of necromancers.

#Guild Wars #Six Human Gods #Grenth #don't let lore get lost #gw #gw1 #gw2 #Guild Wars 2 #gods #god of death

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ellascreams · 29 days

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I Can’t Handle This

[Ollie managed to leave his job at Zoraxis and find his calling as a handler for the Agency, and it was all thanks to Agent Phoenix. When their usual handler is out of commission and Ollie has to fill in for him, he hopes he can do something to show Phoenix his gratitude and that their trust in him wasn’t in vain.]

Agent Phoenix changed Ollie’s life. He had suspected Zoraxis may not have been such a good company after all, but when he saw how that agent was kinder to him that any of his coworkers, despite him being the “enemy,” it was the final straw. That escape pod was not nearly as safe as it seemed at first glance, but he survived long enough for the Agency to find him. That was no easy feat. The Agency offered him a job on the spot. Finally, a chance to do some real good!

Unfortunately they wanted him in the Enhanced Operatives Devision. Ollie knew that was not his field. It was far too dangerous, and truthfully, he kind of got lucky in the escape pod. Surviving it did take skill, don’t get him wrong, but he was still lucky. He didn’t often have luck like that. He’d have to accept death or turn them down.

But then Agent Phoenix, THE Agent Phoenix, put in a good word for him. They had been the one in the lab. They said that he was a comforting voice in the chaos, that he understood their signals and ideas, that he could handle technology well, and that he even helped them figure out how to deal with that giant squid when their own handler couldn’t. They said that Ollie wouldn’t be a good field agent. He would be a great handler.

And, well, that was that. He became a handler. He loved it. It was stressful of course, but he was good at it, and he was finally helping people. He was making the world a better place and making up for the evil he had done. He really felt like he found his calling. And it was all thanks to the Phoenix. How can you repay something like that? How can you thank someone for changing your life like that?

Ollie didn’t know the answer, but he knew that it started with today. Phoenix’s usual handler, who Ollie knew as Mason although that probably wasn’t his real name, had gotten sick. He wasn’t in terrible condition but the Agency wanted him to get better as soon as possible so they made him rest. His agent, on the other hand, still had to do their job. They had a mission today. They still needed a handler and ideally one they were somewhat familiar with. Ollie was going to be Mason’s stand in. This was it. His chance to start to pay off a fraction of what he owed them.

Sitting in his office, watching the agent break in, Ollie thought back to the debriefing. “Ok! So. The Zoraxis INK model, they were using it to control a giant squid, you remember her right? We still don’t know much about it but I convinced the Agency to look into it as soon as I joined up, and wouldn’t you know, we actually found something! It’s a lab and sort of a warehouse in New Zealand where they’ve been working on the project. There should only be one guard, but we’re still expecting overall security to be tight, so we’re sending you in! You’re our best agent so I’m sure it will probably go great! I think!”

Oh gosh, he was so embarrassed. Why had he sounded so awkward? Why hadn’t he sounded more confident in their success? He was just so nervous about trying to show that Phoenix was right to think he’d be a good handler that he probably showed them they weren’t. Even now he was shaking, drenched in sweat, his heart pounding, just hoping the mission would go well. He almost didn’t notice when the agent finished disabling the security system and walked in.

“Great job Phoenix!” He said earnestly. “Now go down this hallway, turn right, go to the end of that hallway, and you can go into Hivemind’s office! It might not have all the information we need, but his office seems like the best place to start. It is his invention after all! If nothing else there should be something to lead us to what we…”

Ollie’s voice trailed off. He watched as the agent examined a vending machine next to the entrance. They were eyeing some Zor Cola, Ollie recognized it from the vending machine back in the underwater lab. It tasted like pure chemicals but it was better than nothing when you were really thirsty. Phoenix began searching around the vending machine, presumably looking for a misplaced coin, a secret code, or some problem with the machinery they could exploit.

“Sorry if you’re thirsty agent, but maybe Hivemind has some sort of drink in his office?” Phoenix continued looking until they found something on the back of the vending machine. “I don’t mean to pressure you, it’s just that the guard is still doing their rounds and we might not have much time before she gets here.” They began pressing buttons on the machines control pad. “Seriously, we don’t have much time.”

The vending machine accepted the maintenance code and its door opened. Ollie sighed. “Ok, just take the Cola with you and drink once you get to the office.” Phoenix nodded as they grabbed the Cola with their TK and headed down the hallway.

When Phoenix closed the door to Hivemind’s office, Ollie couldn’t help but give a sharp inhale as he saw that the agent had just barely missed the guard. Then Ollie took some slow, purposeful breaths. The guard only patrolled the hallways. She wouldn’t go into the office without reason. Close call or not they were safe now.

Agent Phoenix sat at Hivemind’s desk and drank their Zor Cola as the examined it. On top of it there was a lunch prepared for later, (it was a banana with a peanut butter and honey sandwich,) a lighter, ashtray, and cigars, (knowing bees and smoke he probably wasn’t the one who used those,) and Hiveminds’s name plaque. Where Phoenix was sitting they could see the desk had two drawers. One opened up to reveal bee keeping supplies. The other had to be unlocked with a code. A sticky note had the code written on it but it was, somewhat ironically, written in code.

“Alright, do you still have that cipher I gave you?” They nodded as the took the piece of paper out of their blazer pocket and unfolded it. “It probably won’t be the exact same as the one in my lab, but it should be a good place to start!”

The code was in fact different from Ollie’s old one, but the cipher did help. They managed to figure out as much “A___A_S B___AV_” before they had to start looking around the office for more clues. The beekeeping items were labeled in code and with Ollie recognizing the hive tool they were able to get the letters I, L, H, and E. Hivemind’s name plaque had his name in code on the back which gave them the extra letters N and M. That gave them the full code. “ANIMALS BEEHAVE.” Of course it was a bee pun.

Phoenix punched in the code and the drawer opened up. Inside there were a few documents. A couple talked about the actual function and design of the devices. Another seemed to be reporting on experiments. Annoyingly, that one was written in code too, and they definitely didn’t have enough information or time to decipher all of it. What they did get from it was a room number: 28.

“Room 28 is bit far away but I should be able to guide you there. The guards still doing her rounds around here though, so you can take a quick break!”

Phoenix picked up the peanut butter and honey sandwich and examined it for a moment. Then they picked up the lighter. They toasted the bread quite a bit before they ate it. That’s fine, by the time anyone notices the sandwich is gone, the agent will be gone too. Then they set a poster on fire.

“PLEASE, please be careful about that! You might burn yourself or set off the smoke alarm!” Ollie pleaded, but Phoenix set yet another poster on fire before putting both flames out with what was left of the Zor Cola. Were they like this with Mason too? They had to be, because if they weren’t that would mean…

That would mean they don’t respect his abilities as a handler. That they don’t think Ollie has the authority or even the skill give them instructions. It would mean that what they said to the Agency, what they said to him about his potential, wasn’t true. The person who believed in him enough to change his life didn’t actually believe in him.

Ollie did his best to ignore the thought. They were probably just like this. Hopefully. “The guard is out of the way now, so it would be a good time to head out.” Phoenix nodded and walked out of the room. Slowly, carefully, and quietly they walked through the hallways as Ollie told them what turns to make. Phoenix’s curiosity once again almost got them caught but Ollie’s directions were very well coordinated and the agent wasn’t stupid enough to stick around for too long. At the very center of the building, they found it. Room 28.

Phoenix looked at the room though the door’s window. The lights weren’t on but it wasn’t super dark. They didn’t see anything in the room but it was because there was nothing to see. It was a big empty room. There was maybe a table in one of the corners? It was a lot harder to see near the walls.

“I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe you should just take what we have and go.” Phoenix crossed their arms stubbornly. Ollie felt his stomach squirm. A room that large should never be that empty. Still, Phoenix was an incredible agent, and their instinct about what information is needed is probably pretty accurate. Maybe he was worrying too much. “Oh ok, I don’t think there’s any alarms in there but just, be careful.” They nodded and began picking the lock.

Ollie tried to stifle his gasp as the agent closed the door behind them but he mostly failed. He chose not to say anything and Phoenix took his silence as a go ahead. They walked towards the small table they saw earlier hoping it might have some readable notes. They began to hear a faint hissing sound. Then some quiet growls. Then a roar. Then barking. It was only when they got to the center of the room that their eyes had adjusted to the low light enough for them to see where the noise was coming from.

The walls they couldn’t see before were lined with caged animals. Barred doors were all that kept them safe from bears, wild cats, dogs, wolves, snakes, all of them wearing familiar shackles. All of them angry and ready to attack Phoenix. All of them loud enough to alert—

“What’s wrong you stupid animals?” The guard said as she opened the door and turned on the light. She was certainly surprised to see Phoenix there. The shock died quickly though as she looked them in the eyes and smirked. She left the room and Phoenix heard the distinct click of a door being locked. It was only then they noticed what had made Ollie gasp so nervously earlier. The door couldn’t be unlocked from the inside. Then the cages opened.

“There should be a vent in there, can you get to it? It might be a tight fit but it’s the only exist you’ve got.” Phoenix scanned the room while trying to dodge animal attacks and saw the vent near the ceiling. They climbed one of the cage doors and jumped to the vent, hanging off the edge of it. They tried to use their TK and lock picking tools to unscrew the grille while things tried to bite at their feet. They dropped the their tools and caught the grille before it could could hit them in the head, and dropped it below them. Luckily it didn’t seem to hit any animals. Phoenix pulled themself up and began to crawl.

It was a bit of a tight fit as Ollie had predicted but Phoenix had probably been in worse. They stopped after crawling for long enough that the animal sounds were noticeably muffled. Sadly there was also the muffled sound of the guard opening the door and telling the animals to search for them. Once there was a moment of quiet Ollie felt so much adrenaline and guilt. Worrying too much? His job was to worry! He should’ve insisted that they didn’t go in there, or pointed out the suspicious lack of lock, or something! He didn’t know what to do anymore. Well, there was one option. Sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is find someone more helpful than you.

“Well, I was given a way to contact your handler for emergencies, and I think this is an emergency. You’ll just have to hang tight until I get through to him.” Ollie tried to keep his upbeat tone but it was wavering. “Sorry.”

Ollie was too busy typing to see the expression of heartbreak and guilt on Phoenix’s face. Why in the world was he apologizing? He told them not to go in there and they did anyway, anything that had gone wrong in this mission was because of their own actions. Was Ollie blaming himself?

“No.” Agent Phoenix spoke. It was one small whisper but it was enough to make Ollie stop in his tracks. Phoenix was selectively mute. He knew they could speak, but if they were speaking, they had something very important to say. “Mason doesn’t know as much about INK as you or as much about animals. And he isn’t my handler right now. You are. So I need your help. Please.”

Ollie still felt his heart pounding. He was so scared to mess this up. But the agent, his agent right now, really did believe in him. They said they needed him and who was he to tell them they were wrong. “There’s no way you’ll be able to get the shackles off of all those animals, and honestly I’d like you to avoid hurting them.” He said. He looked through his maps again. “Can I see those design papers?” Phoenix struggled to take them out of their pocket in the vent but they managed it. Ollie studied them the best he could and cross referenced them with other maps and notes of the project.

“It seems like all these animals are given the same orders since they’re just test subjects, and to save money they connected them all to one control panel and one power source. If I had to guess, and it seems like I have to, I’d say the controls are in room 17. I can guide you there if you’re ready to start crawling again.” Phoenix put the notes back in their pocket and got into crawling position. Ollie told them where to turn until they got to another room: room 17. They kicked the grille off and hopped down.

The room did in fact have a large control panel. “I doubt they have a simple off button but we should be able to cut off the power. Thing is it uses kinesium, so we have to be really careful about how we turn it off. I’m sure we can figure something out though!” And they did. There were some close calls and it took a while, but with Phoenix’s puzzle solving skills and Ollie’s information on Zoraxis tech they managed to cut the right wires and press the right buttons to turn the power off. They were glad it didn’t take too long, some of the animals were getting really close to finding them. Noises of anger and hostility quickly turned to confusion and fear. Accept for the bear, which continued to sound angry as the guard screamed. Phoenix still left through the vents again. It was better to avoid wild animals when you could.

In the end they didn’t get all the information they wanted but they still got quite a bit. Phoenix’s handler was still going to be out of commission for a few days— no, that wasn’t right. Mason was going to be out of commission for a few days. The handler for the great Agent Phoenix was still going to be doing his job, because right now, their handler was Ollie. If Mason was ever out of commission it would be Ollie again.

Maybe he couldn’t exactly repay Phoenix for all they had done, or prove that their belief in his talent wasn’t misplaced, but he didn’t have to. Phoenix never questioned if their belief was misplaced and never thought Ollie had to repay them. Instead, Ollie proved to himself that their belief hadn’t been misplaced and Phoenix proved to Ollie that he was their friend. That was probably better than what he could’ve hoped for.

#Am I already working on a different ieytd one shot a short comic and maybe some fanart? Yes.#Did my brain come up with this idea while I was trying to nap and immediately decided I needed to write it right now? Also yes.#Well honestly I’ve had the idea of Ollie being a handler before I was even aware this was a fandom but the plot in new #i expect you to die #ieytd 3 #ieytd fanfic #agent phoenix #ieytd Ollie #hurt/comfort #one shot #ieytd #ieytd fandom #tw animal cruelty #tw mind control #I did beta read this but only once and I’m dyslexic so I still expect us to die like men #handler ollie au

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quietwingsinthesky · 8 months

Note

Do you agree w/ the fandom interpretation that john was so homophobic he’d have beaten up and abandoned his sons for being gay? Cause sure, he grew up in the 60s as a mechanic and then later became a marine during the vietnam war, but i also don’t think homophobia would’ve necessarily been a priority for him? Like obviously he’s not gonna be the full on supportive and politically correct loving dad, but i think that the fandom’s general opinion on that is pretty warped by people’s relationships w/ their own fathers

I do think this is one place where people tend to project. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that; working out our issues through fiction is healthy and good! I don’t think there’s any canon proof of it beyond, as you said, him being a marine from the sixties who would probably not be super knowledgeable about being queer, maybe a little apprehensive about it from what he’s absorbed through the culture he grew up in. I think we’d be correct to point out that if Sam or Dean were queer, he might be uncomfortable about it, he might try to avoid the topic, which is in of itself hurtful.

The thing about me is: I fully disagree that John was ever physically abusive towards his kids. At most, I will bend this interpretation to say he was probably too harsh on them while teaching them to fight and that maybe he and Sam have traded blows before when arguments got too loud (by blows, I mean, probably shoving with the yelling, you know, assertion of physical space. It seems realistic to me that two people who have been using violence for a long time to protect themselves, and for John, his family, down to the hierarchal power he’s put in place of him -> Dean -> Sam, would resort to it when things got too heated.)

(I also think that sometimes fandom’s insistence that John had to be physically abusive can sometimes get a little insulting because it perpetuates the idea that emotional abuse does less harm and can be overlooked and for flattening out John’s character in a way the show very literally pointed to and said He Did Not Do That. This is the entire point of Max’s episode in s1, for the show to point out that their experiences of abuse were different. How well it was handled is arguable, but I take it as clear evidence that when we talk about John’s relationship with his sons, the focus should be on the emotional abuse, the codependency he developed with Dean from a very young age, his neglect of them both, his attempts to suppress Sam, etc. And I appreciate this about the show, because you can’t talk about any of those things without also talking about why they’re happening, why John thinks this is necessary, how he loves his sons and isolates them to protect them and ends up doing more and more damage that will never leave them through their entire lives.

I’m sure there’s depictions of John being physically abusive that handle it with the same amount of nuance that the show handles him being emotionally abusive in canon. I have not seen them, unfortunately. I’ve seen John being physically abusive 90% of the time just being used as shorthand for him being Bad and Evil and A Terrible Father. Which does not interest me. So I will remain here as a staunch defender of He Would Not Fucking Hit His Kids.)

Sorry, okay, we got off topic there this is about gay shit.

The point of All Of That was for me to be able to say, John’s not going to react to his sons being queer by beating them. He’s definitely not going to abandon them. Hello? John Winchester? Abandon his kids? John Winchester, the guy who has been keeping them in warded up motel rooms their whole lives and moving them across the country out of paranoia the demon who killed his wife could find them if they say anywhere too long? John Winchester who only trusted one or two people to ever look after his sons when he went on a hunting trip too long? We think that John would ditch his kid because they’re queer???

Like I said, I think the most realistic reaction for John, (if not just flat out him going ‘that’s fine, now load this gun while I time you because that’s more important for me to know that you can do’, because. He kind of has bigger priorities to worry about here. Like werewolves.) would be discomfort and pushing it out of his view, ignoring it. Which would still fucking hurt! And would have horrible effects on Sam and Dean both, would encourage Dean to repress it if he thinks his dad is ashamed of him, would push Sam away if he trusts John with this fact about himself and can’t be accepted easily.

I just think this is truer to John’s character.

Anyway. If nothing else here persuades anyone reading that John Would Not Fucking Do That, well. He thought his kid was demonspawn, remember? He thought Sam was corrupted and might not be able to be saved. I don’t think you can get more clear queercoding than that, and you know what John’s very telling response was to that information, to finding out something a thousand times more terrifying than Sam being gay ever could be? To refuse to look at it. To insist to himself that whatever Hell wanted with Sam, he wouldn’t let it happen. To tell Dean to take care of it, because even when John is certain that his son might literally become a demon, he could never bring himself to pull the trigger on him. Because he loves Sam.

So like. He literally would not do anything for the much smaller realization that Sam is gay. His son has demon blood that might turn him super evil, and John still wouldn’t hurt him.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is, I try to keep the fact that John loved his sons at the forefront of my mind when I’m writing stuff about him, because I think if you let that slide out of your head, you can very easily make him much worse, much more flat than he was in canon. The real picture of him is just an extremely flawed man in a terrible situation who fucks up his kids as much as he protects them.

And also he wouldn’t care about them being gay because JohnAzazel real and true and they fucked sloppy in that hospital basement-

#this was so many words holy shit I did not need to ramble that much #but I did <3 #this is what u get when u send me an ask I have too many thoughts #john winchester #ask #spn #again reiterating that like. it is not a bad thing to work out ur issues through fiction.#hell knows I do. and hell knows I used to be a lot less kind to John BECAUSE daddy issues. so I get it. it’s literally fine. it’s fandom.#u are free to do whatever so long as you aren’t a dick to other people about the character they like that you dont #(…I am going to side eye you if you feel the need to insist john had to be physically abusive because he was just That Bad to his kids.#but that’s more like. ‘I think you might have some unexamined biases about the nuances of abuse.’ more than anything.)#tw abuse #re: John abandoning his kids:#I know Bad Boys(?) has John leaving dean at the boy’s home. uh. personally?#I think that’s just bad writing. I think they misunderstood John’s particular brand of weird relationship to dean.#I don’t tend to count that instance as canon or at least not in the way the show presented it.#but ur mileage obv may vary. it’s just my opinion that that was a later seasons fumble.

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neon-green-reagent · 1 month

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50 Underrated Horror Films: Part 4

What in absolute hell. We made it to part 4? Well, here we go then! Oh, also, links to the other parts: One : Two : Three

Undead : Starting off with an absolute banger. This is an Australian zombie apocalypse film. If you're familiar with Ozploitation cinema, then you know how nutso it can get, and this is a perfect example of just that. The action sequences are wild crowd pleasers, and the plot twists until it nearly breaks off.

Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory : I realize that sounds like porn. Just stay with me. It's a giallo! With a werewolf! For me, this was like finding the holy grail. Best of both worlds, truly. With... not the best looking werewolf, but this is an older movie, so cut it a little slack. It turns into a fun mystery with that special Italian flavor to it.

The Outwaters : Everyone was talking about Skinamarink. No one was talking about this. It has a similar conceit. To make a horror film that defies the idea of plot. It starts like your average found footage, then becomes a drug trip straight to the depths. It really does feel like witnessing a cosmic horror story where the horrors are, indeed, impossible to describe.

Tomie : This is the first of me cheating and actually recommending way more than one film. The Tomie film franchise is a series of loose adaptations of Junji Ito's manga of the same name, and there are nine at the moment. They get wild and weird, and they explore parts of Tomie that even the manga doesn't cover. Female monster! You need these in your life.

Murdercise : Low budget silliness trying to be throwback 80s and mostly just being hilarious and noticeably cheap. I love that. It's stupid and seems like the kind of movie that was a blast to make. I definitely felt like I was laughing with them and not at them, which made it feel really charming. A great one for a dumb movie night.

Zombie Death House : Zombies in jail! Directed by John Saxon who strangely didn't case himself in the lead like some vanity project. Rather he plays a character I have dubbed "Colonel Herbert West" if that sounds at all appealing. I mean, it clearly was to me.

Dead Birds : There aren't a ton of horror films that crossover with westerns, so this is a rare gem. A bunch of outlaws take refuge in a deeply disturbed location, and things get super dark.

Satan's Princess : A neo-noir detective story with supernatural evil at its core. Imagine if Angel Heart was dumber and way cheaper looking. With Robert Forster giving a really fun performance and an ending that had me laughing out loud.

Werewolf Bitches from Outer Space : Do you love Troma movies? Do you wish they were worse? Do I have the film for you! With scenes that were clearly filmed without permits. Random bystanders interfering with the production. Terrible werewolf masks. And pizza sex? It's a laugh riot.

Butterfly Kisses : A genuinely upsetting found footage movie that understands exactly how to use the urban legend format. There's a beastie out there that, if you stare at it, it will imprint on you like a baby duck. Then if you blink, it gets a little closer. Try to imagine how long you can go without blinking.

To Die For : Wanna watch a really shitty, late 80s Dracula? Here you go! It's dumber than a box of rocks. No one's motivations make any sense. Dracula seems like kind of a jerk despite being a romantic figure. But most of the actors are hotties and know the silly movie they're in, so it comes out fun in the end. Oh, and no one can agree when it came out. But rest assured I don't mean the one with Nicole Kidman.

Home for the Holidays : Made for TV Christmas slasher! Starring Sally Field. With a whole lot of family drama, which makes it feel authentically connected to the holiday. Merry Christmas! It's March. Ahem.

Welcome to Hell : Heavy metal horror strikes again. This time, a black metal band impregnates and kidnaps a groupie for their dark ritual. She escapes, but they're hot on her trail. The ending is nothing short of a religious experience. WINK.

Isolation : If Alien took place on a farm. With mutant cow fetuses. I swear, there is science that makes some sense of that. And it's not a comedy, I swear! It's actually very nasty with some wonderful body horror.

Dr. Crippen : Based on a real crime of passion and clearly cashing in on the Psycho craze. It's a strange one to recommend, because it's based on a true event, and the movie leans pretty hard in the bad doctor's favor. But it's worth it if you're a fan of Donald Pleasence. He gets to be his strange, little self and also be the star for once.

Tamara : What a mid-2000s romp this is. A good girl gets treated like garbage and goes bad in a witchy-demon-spell kinda way. Jenna Dewan as Tamara is perfect in every way. Gives me the gay.

Dark Harvest : Don't be like "oh, I've heard of that, didn't that just come out last year?" Yep, and everyone ignored it. When it was pretty fucking great. Set in a cursed town that openly sacrifices their kids to a fantastic monster by the name of Sawtooth Jack. His head is full of candy. Like. Go watch it.

Night Screams : Regional 80s slasher where a guy dies getting his face grilled. I'm pretty sure that shouldn't have killed him. And there are like three killers by the end? Did it before Scream, just saying. Enjoy the vibes on this one.

The Third Saturday in October Part Five and Part One : Speaking of slashers. These low budget gems came out last year, and there was a cute, little gimmick to it. You're supposed to watch five, then one. It simulates growing up pre-internet. You walk into the video store, and all they have is part five. You decide to rent it, even though you've never seen the first one. Then a week later, you find one. This really worked for me. Gave me nostalgic feelings. Please, if you watch them, try it this way.

The Vampire Doll : What if Japan made a Hammer film? Well, here it is. With one of my favorite tropes: a super cute couple investigates the horrors!

Night Feeder : Genuinely the best shot-on-video horror film I've ever seen. It actually fooled me. I thought I was watching a bad VHS rip, but no, this was not shot on film. It's stylish, clearly better than you'd expect, weird, dark, and has a really bad rock band in it.

Older Gods : Low budget and full of heart and also Lovecraftian horrors. If you're reading this and care, to me it felt as if someone wrote an original story around Azathoth. Which is cool, because no one ever uses him in anything. Also, if you're like, "so what does that mean?" It means that reality is up for debate in this one.

Cheerleader Camp : One of those that people clamor for when you talk about movies that still need a proper physical media release. I see why. It's extremely fun with its tongue lodged in its cheek. It uses every slasher trope and laughs hysterically while doing so.

Below : I love my underwater horror, and this delivers wonderfully. Haunted submarine, dude. But honestly, that wasn't the scariest part. The plot was cool, and I enjoyed the mystery, yeah yeah. But more to the point, everything that can go wrong... does. Imagine being trapped at the bottom of the ocean in a giant, metal coffin. BRR!

The Werewolf and the Yeti : How many werewolf movies are on this list? Uh, shut up. As I was saying, this is great. Paul Naschy brings a massively enjoyable werewolf flick our way again. With all his swashbuckling charm. By the time the yeti shows up, so much awesome shit had happened that I forgot he was supposed to fight a yeti. I mean...

Subspecies : And how many vampire movies are on this list? SHUT UP I SAID. Anyway. Another where I mean the whole series. All of them. Radu, the main villain, is a joy. Michelle's story arc is super dramatic and full of that Interview with the Vampire angst. Special mention to the second film, which goes all out with the gore effects.

The Hills Run Red : A horror movie about horror movies. A lost film has gained a cult following, and a bunch of dumb college kids decide to track it down. You can guess how that goes. William Sadler steals the entire movie when he shows up. Babyface also has iconic slasher energy.

Abby : This one's underrated because the filmmakers got sued by the guys that made The Exorcist and lost. This is essentially the black version of The Exorcist, and it's so good that I'm depressed we'll never get a great release of it. Carol Speed is amazing as Abby. William Marshall, Blacula himself, is in it. Track this down and get mad about it with me.

The Appointment : What the hell is this. Even I'm not sure. Edward Woodward crashes his car. I mean, I don't know what else to say about it. The film ramps up the tension and dread until a ridiculously Rube Goldberg thing happens, and you have to experience it.

Frostbiter : Another of those movies made with ten cents and a lot of gumption. A bunch of people wanted to make Evil Dead II, and so they did that. They even put an Evil Dead II poster in the cabin they filmed in, so that you wouldn't even wonder about what inspired it. Also, special mention to the chili song.

Hell's Highway : Have you ever seen a movie that was really cheap and goofy, but you could see EXACTLY how it would've looked if they'd just had the money? This is that movie. Every special effect fails. Everything's so awkward and odd. But you can tell what they MEANT for it to be. So bad it's good and then some.

Dance of the Damned : Vampire. Sorry. So this one is about a vampire who wishes he could stop living eternally, because it sucks to live that long and be so alone. He finds a sex worker who is also feeling like she wishes things would just end, and they share their pain with each other. Way better than it has any right to be, mullet and all.

The Werewolf of Washington : Werewolf. I really am sorry. Dean Stockwell plays a truly adorable werewolf. And nothing about it is meant to be taken seriously at all. Gives An American Werewolf in London a run for its money in the goober department.

The Curse of Kazuo Umezu : From the man who brought you The Drifting Classroom comes... this! It's a pair of strange tales. One about a vampire, fuck, I'm sorry. And one about a haunted house that even the narrator can't figure out what's going on. Horror anime!

Lo : A young man has recently lost his love. She was dragged to hell. That old chestnut. So he summons a demon named Lo to try to get her back. With a twist that'll make you go, wait, I thought this was a comedy?

The Spider Labyrinth : This one recently got a really nice release, and I'm so glad, because it's bonkers. A young fella is sent to Budapest to find a lost professor. Instead he finds a cult. Uh oh.

End of the Line : Apocalypse horror that turns your brain inside out just a bit. A religious cult has decided it's the end of the world, and they start executing innocents so they'll "go to heaven." Are they brainwashed or is the world actually ending? You decide!

Off Balance AKA Phantom of Death : Just barely a Phantom of the Opera riff. A pianist discovers he has a rare genetic disorder that threatens to cut his career short. Also, he's kinda losing it. Starring Michael York, Donald Pleasence, Edwige Fenech, directed by Ruggero Deodato, oh my GOD!

The Lure : Killer mermaids. Well, sirens. Kind of a mix. It's also a musical. And about how awful the entertainment industry is for young women. It's also super gory, and they eat people. Truly little else out there is like this.

Redneck Zombies : What do you want me to say? It's a Troma film. It's called... that. I'm pointing. I'm pointing at the title. That's the movie. Just... Right? Yeah?

The Killer Reserved Nine Seats : Another of those gialli that is really just And Then There Were None. But the nice part is that Italy likes to get more sexual, violent, and fucking awful than Agatha Christie ever dreamed. This one also takes place in an old theater, so the vibes are choice.

Mary Reilly : I always include at least one entry in these lists that begs the question, "how did this become underrated?" And obscure, that too. When it's a Jekyll and Hyde retelling with an emphasis on the gothic and lush, starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich? By the way, I heard people hated it because of Roberts' terrible Irish accent. Damn, dude, I've heard way worse, fake accents than that. Anyway, this is fantastic. Watch it.

The Forest : One of those slashers where I thought I understood what I was getting into, but I did not. There's a man living in the woods who went postal on his cheating wife one day. The ghosts of his family are also haunting the woods. And he's a cannibal who feeds a guy his own girlfriend. I need other people to watch this so that I can be assured it was real.

Autopsy (2008) : I put a year, because there are around 800 horror films with that title. To further narrow it down, it's the one where Robert Patrick plays basically Herbert West fused with Mr. Freeze, and Jenette Goldstein is his nurse, and they chase a bunch of college kids around for science. Kind of a pitch black comedy with torture porn aspects, and I loved it.

Glorious : A guy gets trapped in a public restroom, which is horrifying enough. Then a cosmic horror god starts talking to him from a bathroom stall. He gives him the assignment of helping to stop the end of the world. The god is J.K. Simmons, and the whole thing is a delightful bottle movie.

Nightmare Detective : From the director that brought you Tetsuo: The Iron Man... Do I have your attention? Comes the Japanese Nightmare on Elm Street! That's oversimplifying, but that is my elevator pitch. It involves all sorts of dream powers and psychic battles that will blow your socks off.

House of Lost Souls : Directed by Umberto Lenzi, which means it feels as doobery as Ghosthouse. It's about a hotel desperate to decapitate you, and it has the silliest dialogue and acting known to man. Special mention to psychic powers being cited as a "rational explanation."

The Cleansing Hour : A priest who livestreams fake exorcisms has to rumble with a real demon. Super fun character piece where a conman has to look his sins dead in the eye. Truly obsessed with this one. Also, super fun demon effects. With Kyle Gallner, everyone's favorite scream king.

Deathrow Gameshow : What if Airplane was super violent? Or The Running Man was a dumb comedy? This hits the sweetest spot, where the humor is idiotic and the violence is cartoonishly nasty. This will speak to the sort of person, like myself, who wants their comedy to be indigestible for most audience goers.

Double Blind : This is a very recent release. A diverse group take part in a double blind drug test. Things go so extremely bad. I won't give anything away, because part of the fun is the unfolding chaos.

I can't believe I managed to do that again. Enjoy! I hope you find some new favorites from this list.

#horror #horror films #80s horror #horror movies #horror recs #horror recommendations

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welcome-to-green-hills · 7 months

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how do you think they’ll tackle Maria’s character in the 3rd movie? Do you think they’ll make her appear frequently or rarely?

Hello, my dear!❤️✨

I’m terribly sorry for taking so long on your ask. I wanted to make sure that my thoughts and feelings were clear for my answer. I feel that there will be a healthy amount of Maria Robotnik content in the third film. What “healthy amount” means exactly is up for your interpretation.

Throughout the years, we're given a sample of Maria and who she is through video games and TV shows. She doesn't necessarily make big appearances, but we've learned plenty of the little girl that grew up on the Space Colony ARK. With various game titles and character interactions, we see that Maria Robotnik plays a significantly large role in people's lives. She might not get a whole lot of screen time in general, but we—as the audience—can feel how beloved and cared for she was with others. We can feel her pure love and support emitted by found family members, ARK scientists, and others that watched her grow up. Even Sonic, who was born fifty years after the ARK raids by G.U.N., valued her immensely (Sonic Channel Story, 2021). We can painfully see the love that is generously given to a 12-year-old girl. This shows that one or two sentences (I.E. Sonic Battle, Gerald's Journal), or even a flashback is just as fruitful in conveying her purpose of existence and her golden heart.

I can completely understand and appreciate where you are coming from. For a character that makes minor appearances here and there, it's incredible seeing how much her legacy is cared for by those that are still living... and how fans view her. It's It's only fitting that we buy into curiosity and explore her character more. We must understand that Maria Robotnik is important. It's crucial to see how much of an influence she makes to core characters in the third film.

In game canon, we can conclude that nearly everything that occurs has an influence with Maria in mind. Project Shadow almost didn't happen if it weren't for Maria being diagnosed with Neuro-Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (NIDs). If Prof. Gerald Robotnik was not given the opportunity by the United Federations to seek the answers of immortality, then there wouldn't be a strong drive to desperately use government funding to finish making Shadow in order to find a cure to NIDs. Without the compassion and humanity that Maria gives to Shadow, our hedgehog-alien hybrid would most definitely have viewed himself as an artificial weapon. He wouldn't bat an eye on the possibility of being a relatively good person if the idea was not proposed to him. Without Maria, Prof. Gerald Robotnik would never have had the inspiration needed to craft Shadow's soul like Maria's. Without Maria's horrific death, the crippling insanity that Prof. Gerald Robotnik faces would not have been a driving influence to reprogram Shadow's mind to carry out revenge on the planet. This is malicious act that did more harm that good to a literal adolescent if you think about it. And without Maria's entire existence, we might not have the understanding on Dr. Robotnik/Eggman's influence of becoming a mad scientist today.

The third Sonic movie needs establish how beloved Maria was when she alive. The fantastic thing about these movies is that they've left enough wriggle room with subplots (it's heavily implied that Longclaw and her people have engaged with humans and Earth frequently), character interactions (Dr. Robotnik and Agent Stone talking about aspirations of continuing an evil plan that were planned years ago, implying that the United States government knew about aliens and the Chaos Emeralds), and other possibilities (Green Hills, Montana having a Wachowski look after the town for over 50 years; all of the town's memorabilia implying that it's residents were retired government veterans) for us to weave the past into a perfect timeline. Even if Jim Carrey doesn't return to reprise the role of "Dr. Robotnik," we can see that his plans for world domination are honored with Prof. Gerald Robotnik in mind. Agent Stone would acting upon a dead man's wish.

I think that when I say a "healthy amount," I mean that there's enough for us to fill gaps in for places that need them. I hope that this answers your question, my dear.

#sonic movie #sonic movie 3 #Maria Robotnik #Shadow the Hedgehog #Movie!Maria Robotnik #Movie!Shadow #mystery anon #off topic

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miles-and-waylon · 2 months

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A Betrayal of the Worst Kind

Camerashipping and fluff, what could be better?

Miles ‘punishing’ Waylon and Lisa’s of no help.

Being on the run and trying to take down a major corrupt corporation with near infinite resources take a toll on a man. Waylon kept his mind away from his stint at Mount Massive by working. Lisa was the one keeping them up on personal maintenance (and driving a majority of the time), Miles handled the execution of dangerous ideas (given the fact he was already dead), and Waylon was the planner.

He was almost always on his laptop, a laptop protected by a motherload of security measures as he’d learned to use after getting caught that first time. He only stopped for long when it came to eating and sleeping, and when one of his partners got fed up and forced a break.

In another cheap motel found on some highway in the middle of nowhere, with Lisa out getting food from the gas station next door, Miles smacked his laptop shut just after he saved his newest project. Before he could even complain, he was laid out across the couch, hips straddled by his dangerous captor.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Waylon tried to protest, squirming as his death-cold grip tugged up his shirt. “Bad time! What if Lisa walks in?”

“I mean, the last time she walked in on us, she seemed quite happy with what she was seeing. Did you really tuck a t-shirt into a pair of sweatpants? You’re such a geek it’s painful.”

Waylon bucked up his hips, kicked his legs, tried to swat away his hands—all to no avail. He proved absolutely terrible in a struggle when his life wasn’t on the line. “Are you judging how I wear pajamas? Are you kidd—“ Miles fingers came in contact with his stomach, nails dragging down against his skin. Immediately, the pinned man turtled into himself.

“I was curious, you know, at our last stop. I brushed up against your side, and you jumped juuust enough for me to notice, and you said that I scared you!”

“Miles—“

“Ah-ah! You said that, but I’ve seen how you startle. That wasn’t it. I’m still a journalist, Way. A bored journalist! When I think I’ve been lied to, that’s when my gears get working.” He wore the most evil grin, contrasting with Waylon’s suddenly wide, terrified eyes. He scribbled slowly, teasingly across exposed flesh. “Did you lie? Did I really startle you?”

“Miles,” he began again, voice wavering. Waylon twisted to press his face into the dusty couch cushion beside him. “Really? A-are you held up on a lit…” He paused to swear. It was the only way to keep a giggle from getting out right then. “…little thing like that? I don’t even remember it!” Journalist or not, who would realistically be able to tell a startled flinch from having sensitive sides?

“Well, honestly, I only remembered it because I basically have nothing to do right now. Doesn’t change that you lied. You lied, and you’ve been neglecting me. I think that’s worthy of a little punishment, don’t you?” Then he found those sensitive sides to attack in earnest.

“Wait! Wait, wait—!” God, then the *buzzing* started. There was no point trying to resist after that. His brief exposure to the engine was still enough to make poor Waylon more receptive to sensing the Walrider’s presence, and he’d be damned if the sudden hum of nanites against his body wasn’t an abuse of power! He broke out into sweet, bubbly laughter, unsure if he should try to protect himself or keep trying to push him away.

Then came a glimmer of hope.

Lisa came through the door right then, plastic bags full of food and much-needed toiletries hanging from her arms. She quickly realized she arrived to a scene of chaos. Her expression turned into curiosity and bemusement.

“Lisa!” Waylon gasped. He threw his arm out towards her in a pleading gesture. “Lisa, help me! Please!”

To his horror, as she realized what was going on, her look twisted into a traitorous smile. “You gotta go lower,” she advised. “Get his hips. He can’t take it. It’s adorable.”

Was this the woman he married? One so willing to throw him under the bus like that? His shock was interrupted by Miles gleefully following her instructions. Laughter turned to mirthful, unmanly squeaks and squeals echoing across the walls of the room.

“Let me put away what I got for us, then I’ll come help.” She better mean help him! “It’s been way too long since I’ve gotten to see him like this.” Apparently not.

He was doomed.

#camerashipping #miles upshur #waylon park #lisa park #outlast fanfiction #I had a need for them

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hot-take-tournament · 9 months

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After reading more of that terrible vocaloid/ vocal synth take, I feel the need to recommend some of my personal favourite songs that use vocaloids, in particular I wanted to show the diversity and range that can be a polished by different producers.

I feel like these are all very basic, but they are just so good.

Pumpkin spice dummy - Momocashew

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CnHtaYiTrVM&pp=ygUTcHVtcGtpbiBzcGljZSBkdW1teQ%3D%3D

Scrap boy - Steampianist

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRTbYJ8V5g&pp=ygUJU2NyYXAgYm95

The undertakers daughter - Steampianist

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xVpvRAKD_W0&pp=ygUZdGhlIHVuZGVydGFrZXIncyBkYXVnaHRlcg%3D%3D

Detention teacher - Honeyworks

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k7DayMp2L7Q&pp=ygURZGV0ZW50aW9uIHRlYWNoZXI%3D

The chattering lack of common sense - Ghost

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksW7SuH6IAs&pp=ygUgY2hhdHRlcmluZyBsYWNrIG9mIGNvbW1vbiBzZW5zZSA%3D

Hyperdontia - Ghost

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=04BqFwERmac&pp=ygUPSHlwb2RlbWlhIGdob3N0

The entirety of the kagerou project by Jin, but specifically Kagerou daze and Ayano’s theory of happiness (this one always makes me tear up)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A7KNYk4f3XQ&pp=ygUMa2FnZXJvdSBkYXpl

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hll18UugDTE&pp=ygUbYXlhbm8ncyB0aGVvcnkgb2YgaGFwcGluZXNz

Similarly, evillious chronicles by Mothy, specifically regret message

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R4shMkF0ymk&pp=ygUOUmVncmV0IG1lc3NhZ2U%3D

Punch it punk - Ferry (every thing Ferry makes is great but this song itches my brain perfectly)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s_lGrcOtzck&pp=ygUNcHVuY2ggaXQgcHVuaw%3D%3D

I’m glad your evil too - PinocchioP

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PLevj9bdRRA&pp=ygUUSW1nYWxkIHlvdXIgZXZpbCB0b28%3D

Villain - Teniwoha (this song holds such a special place in my hear you have no idea)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p9FJXfGHtDA&pp=ygUQdmlsbGFpbiB0ZW5pd29oYQ%3D%3D

Rolling girl - Wowaka, an obvious, but correct, choice.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vnw8zURAxkU&pp=ygUTcm9sbGluZyBnaXJsIHdvd2FrYQ%3D%3D

The blessed messiah and the tower of Ai - Hitoshizuku × Yama

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CiEC329xPos&pp=ygUndGhlIGJsZXNzZWQgbWVzc2lhaCBhbmQgdGhlIHRvd2VyIG9mIGFp

The idea that voice synthesisers are trying to take over human vocals is so dumb, not every song using them even try’s to sound human. It’s such a cool instrument and a great way to tell stories, I don’t like the idea of it being filed down to evil AI.

Saying every song that has ever used a a vocaloid sound exactly the same is just blatantly incorrect. Some vocaloids do sound really similar but different producer put their own style into it and make them sound so unique ( I have included 3 songs that use Vflower and they all have their own special spin on her voice, which is so cool).

An important aspect of vocal synths is human creativity, we wouldn’t have awesome stories like the Kagerou project without real people like Jin thinking them up. Tuning a vocal synth takes so much work it’s incomparable to stupid AI covers.

I really like vocal synths it’s such a cool medium, sorry if this is long I’m very passionate about this.

don't apologise!

never listened to much vocaloid other than what you guys have sent me so i've got these on in the background now <3

#asks #not a poll #vocaloid #vocaloid drama #vocaloid discourse

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