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twh-news · 3 years

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To land ‘Loki,’ Kate Herron had to pull out all the stops. How she won over Marvel

As a teenager, Kate Herron was obsessed with the “Lord of the Rings” films.

In particular, she recalls heading to theaters repeatedly with friends who shared her passion to see “The Two Towers” (2002), the second installment in director Peter Jackson’s trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy novel. She even wrote “Lord of the Rings” fan fiction.

“It was very silly,” the British filmmaker insists, revealing that one of her stories saw the heroic Fellowship traveling through a magical fountain and getting trapped in New York. “Honestly, I was just writing the stories to make my friends laugh. I guess it was kind of that first foray for me: ‘How do I tell a story?’”

Years later, Herron is again involved in telling a story about a protagonist displaced from the world he knows. But this time, her audience is much bigger.

Herron, 33, is the director of “Loki,” the Marvel Studios series that follows the adventures of the titular god of mischief after he has been plucked out of time by an agency charged with maintaining the sanctity of the timeline. Thus, the six-episode series, which premiered earlier this month on Disney+, features a slightly different version of Loki than the fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have grown to love since his first appearance in “Thor” (2011) through “Avengers: Endgame” (2019).

“I love villains,” says Herron during a recent video call from Atlanta, where she is putting the final touches on “Loki.” “I think that if a villain’s done right, you don’t necessarily have to like their actions, but you have to understand them. And I think that Tom [Hiddleston], in the last decade, has brought such empathy and wit and pain to a very real character for so many people. I just wanted to be part of whatever [Loki’s] next chapter was going to be.”

The series, on which the self-described Loki fan also serves as an executive producer, is Herron’s highest-profile project to date. Her previous credits include directing on Netflix’s “Sex Education,” as well as “Five by Five,” a series of short films executive produced by Idris Elba.

While growing up in South East London, Herron never considered filmmaking as a career. Her love of movies manifested as the aspiration to become an actor, and she often goaded her peers into putting on plays or making movies using a friend’s father’s camcorder. It wasn’t until some astute and encouraging teachers at Herron’s secondary school pointed out that she seemed more interested in storytelling that she changed course.

By introducing Herron to new texts, these teachers — as well as a film studies class that covered films directed by Stanley Kubrick and Akira Kurosawa — helped expand her perspective.

“I just didn’t know that you could have a voice and an authorship over a film, which probably sounds a bit silly. But I just hadn’t really thought about films in that way,” says Herron. Soon enough, she was on the path to film school at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, England, where she graduated with a degree in film production.

Herron laughs as she remembers how she believed she would just go off and find work in film straight out of school. “Obviously that did not happen,” she says.

With no post-graduate roadmap (or job offer) to help her break into the industry, Herron eventually started writing and directing short films with “no money” while juggling a day job as a temp. Both experiences provided Herron with material for “Loki,” which introduces a new bureaucratic agency called the Time Variance Authority to the MCU.

“I’ve worked at a lot of random places, which weirdly has influenced ‘Loki’ in some ways because we have this office culture kind of running through it,” says Herron. “I’ve worked in a lot of offices.”

In order to give the retro-futuristic offices of the TVA “a real lived-[in], breathed-in office” feel, Herron incorporated details that viewers could recognize from the real world — from paper files to the posters on the walls — and gave them a fantastical twist befitting the superhero series.

“One of the most exciting things to me about Kate is she has this amazing attention to detail,” says “Loki” co-executive producer Kevin Wright. “That was something that we saw on her very first pitch [and] it works its way into every frame of the show. Every monitor, every piece of paper in the TVA … she has looked over and approved everything you see.”

In an email, “Loki” star Hiddleston described Herron as “a dream collaborator” who possesses “a unique combination of extraordinary diligence, stamina, energy, respect and kindness.”

“Her affection for and understanding of Loki was so deep, profound and wide-ranging,” Hiddleston wrote. “She built a new world for these characters to play in with incredible precision, but she was also acutely sensitive to their emotional journey.”

Herron’s affinity for outsiders is apparent throughout the course of our conversation. There is of course her love for Loki — the heir to the king of Frost Giants raised as the prince of Asgard who has become one of the MCU’s most beloved villain-turned-antiheroes. Herron’s first introduction to the world of Marvel as a kid was through “X-Men: The Animated Series,” about the superhero team with mutant powers that set them apart from average humans. Herron cites Lisa Simpson — the overachieving, opinionated middle child from the animated sitcom “The Simpsons” — as the reason she is a vegetarian who can play the saxophone.

And although Herron describes herself as shy, it’s no match for the passion she brings to discussing film and television.

She calls Wes Anderson’s 2001 film “The Royal Tenenbaums,” co-written by “Loki” actor Owen Wilson, “a perfect movie.” In addition to being obsessed with “The Simpsons,” Herron gravitated toward genre shows such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the updated “Battlestar Galactica” and “The X-Files” when growing up.

As Herron enthusiastically dives into “Loki’s” influences — which include “Alien” (1979), “Blade Runner” (1982), “Brazil” (1985), “Metropolis” (1927) and, yes, even “Teletubbies” — it’s easy to see why Wright knew she was the right person to bring “Loki” to life from their very first meeting.

Upon learning that Marvel was developing a show about Loki, Herron tasked her agents with calling Marvel every day until they would meet with her. And it worked.

“I was just so excited that somebody was chasing the project,” says Wright. “Which sounds crazy, that Marvel would be excited somebody’s chasing us. But it was the early days of us trying to get this Disney+ streaming stuff off the ground, so people were very hesitant … they didn’t know what it was yet.”

Herron’s enthusiasm for the show landed her a video meeting with Wright and executive producer Stephen Broussard. Believing it might be her only shot at the project, Herron came armed with so many stills and clips to illustrate her discussion of the scripts she’d been sent that a simple meet-and-greet turned into a four-hour conversation.

“Over the course of the next week or so,” Wright explains, “it was really figuring out how to set Kate up to succeed when we got her in front of Kevin Feige to pitch this.”

Herron put together a 60-page bible of ideas for the characters, the story, the visual references and more. The rest is Marvel history.

She learned not to wait for permission, she says, after graduating from film school and becoming involved with improv and stand-up to both develop her comedy chops and to meet funny collaborators to be in her short films.

“I think I’d always find excuses, almost, [to not do it],” says Herron. “It was that thing of being like, ‘Oh, well, I’m not ready. So I’ll wait. I’ll wait until I’m perfect at it and then I’ll go do it.’”

Taking inspiration from Robert Rodriguez’s “Rebel Without a Crew” and a SXSW keynote speech by Mark Duplass, Herron realized that she just needed to start making things. She told herself it was OK if the films were messy. If a short was bad, nobody had to see it. If a short was “halfway to good,” she would submit them to festivals.

It’s this tenacious creativity that connects the dots between her early fan fiction, her short films, her pitch presentations — and now “Loki” itself. It’s a trait that has helped her navigate the industry to her current success, even during the periods it’s been most frustrating. As a female director, “I got asked crazy stuff in interviews sometimes,” she says of life on the festival circuit. “I remember being asked, ‘Are you sure you’re ready? Are you sure you’re ready?’ And male colleagues of mine were never asked that in interviews. I think that’s probably why I was so driven to just go out and make stuff.”

#loki #loki series #kate herron #interview #los angeles times #article

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specterchasing-a · 3 years

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Ghost of a Chance || Bex & Eddie

TIMING: Current

LOCATION: One of White Crest’s many abandoned buildings.

PARTIES: @inbextween & @specterchasing

SUMMARY: Bex and Eddie accidentally bite off more than they can chew when filming.

CONTENT: Internalized homophobia, head trauma mention.

Nervous wasn’t the exact right word for how Bex felt at the moment, but it was close enough while she thought of the right one. She’d never been ghost hunting before. She wished she could’ve gotten the special goggles from Nell that would let her see them, but she would settle for trusting Eddie instead. He could see them, and that was really enough. She could be the second hand witness that got to watch him in action in real time. She’d browsed through quite a few of his videos at this point, and he didn’t seem to do many other videos with other people. Actually, there had been none. That meant she was his first. So, maybe, the feeling was excited, or thrilled, or perhaps even exhilarated. This was what she wanted to do with her knowledge. Chase it, understand it, share it. And Eddie felt the same way and wasn’t that really just the best? He’d picked her up from Morgan’s and they’d drove down to the location, and Bex recalled the last time she’d been in his car, and how she hadn’t even been there enough to remember what kind of car it was or how it had that funny smell old cars did. She glanced back at all the equipment in the backseat, then over to Eddie. “How expensive was all of that?” she asked, curious, as she turned enough in her seat to begin prodding through his bags, examining his cameras. “Do we really need all of this?” she asked, pulling out what looked like a walkie talkie with no matching device.

Throughout the entirety of his YouTube career, Eddie worked alone. He had no other choice. Friends were few and far between, and most of them were incorporeal, which meant holding a camera was out of the question. But now, Bex was here; eager to help. He liked her—quite a bit, actually. And, by some miracle, she seemed to like him too. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he felt like he’d finally found the kind of friend he’d been missing. And, yeah, it helped that she had a pulse.

“Too expensive,” Eddie replied to her question with an exaggerated grimace. “And, I mean, ‘need’ is a strong word, but they’re fun to have around and the viewers appreciate the pageantry, so why not?” Eddie pointed at the gadget in her hand. “That is a tri-axis EMF meter, which is technically useless to me since I’m a living ghost magnet.”

Eddie reached into the backseat and pulled the center most bag into his lap and removed two cameras. One of them, he promptly turned on and looked through the lens at Bexley. “Well, look at that, the camera already loves you,” he said before handing it over to her. “Do you have any experience with one of these? Not a huge deal if you don’t. It’s pretty easy to get the hang of.”

Bex set the meter down and looked at Eddie. “A tri-what?” she asked, raising a brow. She didn’t know what any of this stuff was aside from the camera, leaning back in her seat as he pulled the bag up onto his own lap to rifle around in it. She tilted her head as she watched, curious eyes glued to his every action. Finally, the camera popped open and he pointed it at her and she ducked her face to the side, unable to help the blush that came onto her face. “Oh, shut up,” she said, reaching out to cover the lens with her palm carefully-- she didn’t actually want to damage the thing, it was expensive and Eddie had spent all his own money on it. She wished she could help somehow.

She took the camera when he handed it to her and peered down the lens. “I think the camera like you much more,” she teased back, smiling at him from behind it. “I know how to use a camcorder, yes.. I’m not that sheltered.” She felt the excitement buzzing in her stomach. “So, where do we start, mister ghost magnet? I’m here to support you.”

When Bex’s hand raised to cover the camera’s lens, Eddie couldn’t help but laugh. “If you’re gonna be my co-host, you’ll have to do something about that camera shyness,” he said with playfully raised brows. The thought of her accompanying him on future filming adventures was tempting, to say the least. Sharing his passion projects with someone else who understood and appreciated them had always seemed like a pipe dream, but that was slowly beginning to change.

Eddie didn’t so much as flinch when Bex directed the camera at him. “I sure hope it likes me after all these years,” he said, mirroring her smile. “So, for starters, we gotta introduce you, obviously—let the viewers know who they’re dealing with. I figure we can do that right outside the entrance.” As Eddie spoke, he opened the car door, tugging the bag’s strap onto his shoulder. “You ready for your close-up, Ms. Ochsenstein?”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself,” Bex teased, “you have to see if you can stand being around me for more than ten minutes. If I recall, last time, I couldn’t.” She stuck her tongue out but held the camera back up, examining him through it. “I think the camera is in love with you, actually. It can’t look away!” Gosh, when was the last time she’d felt so free and excited? She was just brimming with anticipation, and it was jittering in her stomach. The last time she’d been this excited was when she’d gone out with Mina to the casino. That, turns out, had been a different sort of excited. “And I’m not camera shy, thank you very much. I just think you’re much better suited for it than me.”

Eddie hopped out of the car and she followed his lead, sliding the camera strap over her shoulder so it didn’t fall from her grip. She was well aware she was clumsy enough to accidentally drop it and if she broke one of his cameras, she’d feel so guilty. Extra safety precautions were worth it. “Ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose,” she chirped, following after him.

“Yeah, I really don’t see that being an issue on my end,” Eddie said, and he meant it wholeheartedly. “But, so long as we don’t run into any unforeseen Bex-repellent, here’s hoping your tolerance for me will have gone up.” As she continued filming him, he felt a sudden surge of fondness. After their last outing, it felt positively wonderful to see her enjoying herself. “Technically, that camera pays my bills, so it can ogle me all it wants.” The excitement Bex felt must’ve been contagious. Enthusiasm bubbled in Eddie’s stomach, reminding him of how he felt when he first started making videos. “I beg to differ—I’ve got a feeling you’re gonna be a natural.”

As they approached the building’s entrance, Eddie raised his camera and aimed it at Bex. He took a few steps to the left, making sure he lined the shot up perfectly. “Viewers, I’d like to take a moment and introduce you to my new and very good weird friend, Bex. She’ll be helping to make sure I don’t die today, which I think is very cool of her. Bex, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you’re feeling about what we’re about to do?”

“Uh huh, we’ll see,” Bex said with a smirk. There was a strange natural ease with which she fell in stride with Eddie, both in their conversation and in their steps. She followed him up towards the building, looking at all the buttons on the camera as she did, wondering if he knew what they all did. “Oh, you’ll be surprised how much I can tolerate. I think we’ll be okay.” The building didn’t look much different than most places around town, but it was abandoned and Bex really hoped it wasn’t going to cave in on her, like the last place had. “Well, if it pays the bills, it must be worth it,” she grinned.

Eddie ushered her towards the entrance and she set the camera down, closing the viewer so it didn’t look awkward and clunky while it dangled there. Bex cleared her throat and fixed her hair in an attempt to try and make the rosiness in her cheeks less apparent as he pointed the camera at her. She’d been on camera and video plenty of times-- the way her life had run it was unavoidable-- but never in a manner that left her feeling so...exposed. He asked her to talk about herself, her real self, and she’d never done that to a camera before. Swallowing, she nodded. “Uh, well-- My name’s Bexley. But you already know that. That was-- anyway!” she shifted in her spot. “Well, I’m a student at UMWC for pre--” she paused, thought on it, “--for Anthropology. I’m actually really good at making sure people don’t die, so you guys don’t have to worry. I’ll make sure Eddie doesn’t get got by a ghost.”

Eddie couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten along this well with someone. As pathetic as it made him feel, he knew it must’ve been a few years ago, at least. Ostensibly, he could have reached this level of friendliness with a few of the ghosts from his past, but they always moved on quickly. He couldn’t resent them for that, not when he made it a point to help them. “Uh-huh, we’ll see,” he parrotted her words back to her when she claimed to have a high tolerance.

Eddie kept still while Bex stumbled through her introduction, grinning at the mistakes. He didn’t mean to poke fun at her necessarily, it was just an incredibly endearing display. “Perfect,” he said when she was done, lowering the camera. “Anthropology, huh? I should’ve been able to guess that.” Eddie closed the distance between himself and Bex. “Now, we go in and hope the ghost’s aren’t feeling shy tonight.” He slipped past her and approached the door. One tug at the handle told him that entering wouldn’t be that easy.

He looked over his shoulder at Bex. “Hey, wanna see a trick?” Eddie’s attention turned back to the door. He took a moment to study the structure, checking for any important details. Once satisfied, he focused on what he wanted the door to do. In his mind, he saw it opening. A few moments later, it actually did. “That’s gonna make tomorrow a migraine day, but I wanted to impress you,” he admitted with a shrug.

“Well, I used to be in pre-law, actually,” Bex pointed out as she let him come over to her, smiling. He seemed satisfied with her introduction, even if she found it relatively subpar. That was just kind of who she was, as a person-- subpar. She wasn’t going to share that thought out loud, though. She didn’t want to ruin a good thing. And, really, this was a good thing. Eddie seemed really nice and like he knew how to have fun and he was being super supportive of her, already. Plus, Nell knew him, and she trusted Nell’s judgement probably more than her own. “Do they often feel shy? Do you think they’ll actually come out if I’m here? What if I make them feel uncomfortable, since I can’t see them?” she asked with sudden realization. She hope she wasn’t just ruining his entire day of filming. She imagined it took a lot of effort, and then there was the editing and the uploading and everything in between.

They found the door locked, and Bex was prepared to offer her rarely now used lock picking skills when he offered to show her a trick, instead. Curious, she nodded and stepped back, watching him closely. Suddenly, the door clicked open and swung on its hinges to invite them in. Bex’s face lit up. “Woah! That was so cool! Like, legitimately! I’m not just saying that. Besides N-- my magic mentor, I don’t know anyone else who can use magic. Not really. And I know it’s, like, different, but it’s still a type of magic.” She grinned. “Well, color me impressed. And remind me when we get back that I have some really good uh-- things to help with pain.” She didn’t know what she’d call Nell’s medicine, but it helped with pain. A lot more than ibuprofen or tylenol ever did.

She gestured towards the inside, picking her camera back up. “You first. You are the star of this show, after all.” And she couldn’t help the pick-up in her heartbeat as she felt anticipation run through her veins.

“Yikes, that sounds like… so much school, too much even,” Eddie replied with a mild grimace. School never suited him, there were too many subjects he couldn’t care less about. If it wasn’t for the ghosts who frequently guided him in cheating, he would’ve flunked out years before graduating. Bex, on the other hand, seemed like a decently bookish person. He wondered what it would be like to have that kind of brain between his ears. As it was, he could only retain information about topics that inspired him. Hyperfixations, the professionals called them.

Eddie grinned at her barrage of ghost-related questions, more than happy to be around someone who actually took an interest in what he did. “No worries, you’re gonna be just fine. Most ghosts are pretty used to not being seen. They’re more shy when they know they’re being watched, so I’m more likely to gum up the works than you are,” he assured her. “Luckily, I’ve kind of learned their language over the years, so I’m not too pressed about it. I’ll coax them out of hiding one way or another.”

“You have a magic mentor? Neat,” he said, beaming from ear-to-ear. Bex referring to telekinesis as magic only prolonged his smile. “Look at us having so much in common, no wonder we’re such fast friends.” Eddie loved the idea of partaking in some sort of magical remedy for his pain instead of relying solely on the mundane effects of tylenol. “You’re a pharmacist too—is there anything you can’t do, Bex Ochsenstein?”

Eddie’s head bowed in response before he took a few steps deeper into the building. He raised his camera again and filmed a sweeping shot of the area. It looked as if no one had been inside for years, which obviously wasn’t much of a surprise considering they likely hadn’t. “Alright, my dearly departed friends, if you’re here—I’ve got someone who’d like to meet you.” When his statement wrapped up, a translucent individual wafted into view. For all intents and purposes, she looked perfectly fine for a ghost; no signs of a traumatic death.

“Bex,” Eddie said. “I really wish you could see her.”

His attention turned back to the ghost. “First of all, it’s an honor to meet you—do you mind being part of a video? I know you won’t show up or anything, but y’know.”

“Run,” said the ghost.

“Beg your pardon?” Eddie questioned.

“We’re not alone.”

After she gave her warning, the floor began to quake beneath them, and the door instantly slammed shut.

“Pre-law was a lot,” Bex agreed, nodding. And made even worse so by the fact that she’d never wanted to do it in the first place. She ducked inside the house after Eddie and held up her camera, pointing it at Eddie. She flipped on the dark vision switch and watched it flicker to life. She turned in a circle as she walked around, making sure to film their surroundings. “Do ghosts not like you, then?” she asked, turning to zoom the camera in on Eddie’s face. “Tell us the truth, Mister Ghost Man.” She grinned from behind the lens, pausing in one of the doorways.

“I do, she’s pretty great,” she answered, unsure if she should tell Eddie about Nell, considering he knew her. Did he know know, though? It probably wasn’t her secret to tell, and if he didn’t know, there was a reason by now. She could only wonder what it was, though. “Oh, don’t you worry, there’s quite a bit I can’t do. Like ride a bike, or drive a car, or see ghosts.” She stopped when Eddie did, gazing at something she could not see. A ghost, she assumed. The air around them chilled and Bex noticed her breath coming out in puffs in front of her lips. “I wish I could, too…” she murmured.

But something in the air changed, she could feel it.

“Um, Eddie?” she started, turning to him-- but she didn’t get much of a chance to say anything else, as the floor shook and the door swung shut behind her. She jumped and scrambled over to Eddie, wrapping her arms around his free one. “What’s happening? What did she say?” She wasn’t sure what to do, but she didn’t want to do anything to offend the ghost or-- whatever else was there with them. She wasn’t sure her magic could protect either of them from ghosts. They weren’t inside of wooden dolls this time.

“Sometimes,” Eddie admitted with an embarrassed grin. “Like I told you before, plenty of people have let me know that I’m too much, and not all of those people were alive when they said it.” Just because he loved ghosts didn’t mean they always loved him back. As much as he tried to put their needs first, his best didn’t always cut it. “But, more often than not, they like me okay. That’s the best I can ask for, really.”

“Aside from seeing ghosts, everything else you listed is overrated, anyway,” Eddie said with a small nod. The focus quickly shifted to what they came to the abandoned building for, and he felt blissfully in his element until the sudden shift in atmosphere. If he’d come here alone, the appearance of danger wouldn’t have bothered him, but Bex was here. He couldn’t allow her to get swept up in his death-wish.

Eddie pulled his arm away from her, but only so he could wrap it around her. “She told us to run,” he replied. “No way we’re gonna get through the way we came if it doesn’t want us to.” His eyes scanned the room, looking for a way out. Items, forgotten or discarded by their original owners, were strewn across the floor of the building. The spirit causing the recent commotion decided to begin hurling them in whatever direction it fancied. Eddie ducked, pulling Bex down with him, as a wrench flew overhead. “Shit,” he hissed.

His gaze landed on a broken window at the opposite end of the room. “There!” he called out, guiding Bex towards it.

“Well, you’re not too much,” Bex said back with a huff, “if I’m not, you’re not.” It was only fair, right? She would have tried to find another snappy retort if she could, but as it were, the trembling of the floor and the sudden array of items being thrown about really put a pause on her mind trying to come up with one. Eddie wrapped his arm around her and she pressed into him, looking around for an exit as well. But she kept the camera up as much as she could-- he’d want this footage, right? He pulled her down just as a wrench went flying through the space her head had been in previously and she looked behind her to find it wedged in the wall. Her heart was pounding, but she wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t. It was like with the hunter, in the alley. She wasn’t afraid.

Eddie’s voice brought her back to herself and she looked at the window across the room. “C’mon!” she took off for it, pulling him with her, her other hand still gripping the camera. It was an expensive piece of equipment, she couldn’t let it break on her first venture out. When they reached the window, she went to bust it open, but the wooden panes from the outside swung angrily shut in her face and she jumped back. “I don’t think it wants us to leave this way, either!” she said, casting a worried glance back at him. “Duck!” She grabbed him and tugged him out of the way as what looked like an old rotary phone came flying at them. It shattered on the wall where Eddie’s head had been. “Are they always this upset? What’s wrong with her?”

Bex took off towards the window and Eddie realized something; he’d underestimated her. Not on purpose, of course, but still—she didn’t need to be treated with kid gloves. The panic attack he witnessed in the alley did not define her. Amidst the chaos and dread, he witnessed a new side of her. Bex Ochsenstein was brave, and she didn’t need him to play the part of a hero.

“That’s pretty inconsiderate of it,” Eddie snarked when their way-out turned into a dead-end. Bex yanked him down, same way he’d done for her. He grinned at the role reversal, he couldn’t help it. “It’s not her,” he said. “It’s something else—my money’s on it being a poltergeist. And, yeah, they’re a little touchy.” More than ever, Eddie resented not being raised by fellow mediums. If he had, he might’ve known a thing or two about impromptu exorcisms.

“You said you know some latin, right?” Eddie began digging in the bag that held his camera equipment. “My pronunciation is shit, but maybe you’ll have better luck than me.” He retrieved a worn-out, leather bound book and shoved it into Bex’s free hand. “Don’t ask me which page has the answers, I’m fully playing this by ear.” As he went back to digging in his bag, one of the other windows shattered, covering the floor in jagged glass. He flinched, but kept digging until he pulled out a bag of salt. “Start reading,” he instructed her as he began pouring the contents of the bag out in the shape of a circle with them safely in the middle.

“A poltergeist?” Bex asked. Oh, she was definitely writing this down when they got done. Poltergeists were different from regular ghosts. She wondered what made a ghost into a poltergeist. Or if they even could become one. Were they a special type of ghost? Were there different types of ghosts? She didn’t have too much time to consider all the questions popping into her head because Eddie was pushing her away from the window and handing her a book. “Latin? Oh, no, I’m much better with Hebre--” The window shattering cut her sentence short and she squeaked, nodding, “Latin! Got it!”

Eddie was pulling something else out of his bag and Bex had to remind herself to not watch him and just read whatever was written in front of her. She didn’t understand a lot of the words on the page, but there were a few that stood out. Mostly, the word protect. Okay, she could work with that. She didn’t know if she was supposed to do anything else while she read, so she just started saying the words out loud, backing up into Eddie’s salt circle. “Oh! Neat! A salt circle, is that--” A lamp shattered near their heads. “Right! Sorry! Excuse me, mister ghost slash possible poltergeist! We don’t mean any harm!” She felt the floorboards shudder beneath her and she stumbled, nearly dropping the book and the camera. “I-- I don’t think this is working, Eddie. Should I try a different page? Ne-- my mentor did tell me something about how um, exorcist magic is different from spellcaster magic, but--” she ducked as a shoe came flying at her, “--maybe I can use magic!” Or maybe she shouldn’t. She was still recovering from messing with that hunter. And she wasn’t sure using magic on camera was the best idea. “Where is it? Maybe we can just talk to it. She seems like a reasonable gal, don’t you think?”

As the building continued to rattle and the lamp shattered, Eddie reached the same conclusion as Bex. Much to his dismay, they seemed utterly out of luck, but he wasn’t keen on giving up yet. He carefully set his camera down within their salt circle—if it didn’t survive this excursion, he wouldn’t be too heartbroken, but he’d do what he could to protect his bank account.

“I would love to settle this with a heart-to-heart, but poltergeists aren’t known for being reasonable.” Eddie carelessly discarded the used-up bag of salt as the few in-tact windows began opening and slamming shut. It felt an awful lot like their poltergeist was taunting them. His thoughts back-peddled to the comment Bex made about exorcist magic. As a medium, he wondered if that particular brand of spellcraft was in his blood already.

“Magic,” he mused, carefully taking the book from Bex’s hands. “You know any spells that’ll keep our angry little buddy from giving me brain damage?” Eddie opened the tome to a random page. From what he could parse, it seemed like a pretty simple means of temporary banishment. He could only hope it was simple enough for someone without any skill. “Time to find out if mediumship has any extra perks.”

“Okay,” Bex said, “fair enough!” She scooted behind Eddie as he set his camera down and took the book from her. He flipped through the book to a different page and she tried to wrack her mind for any sort of spell that could stop someone from throwing things at them. She knew about the spell to make things move on their own, maybe if she just redirected that energy into making an object stop, it would work? “Yeah, yep! I-- I’ll give it a try! Hopefully no head damage from this, but, uh-- no guarantees!”

She looked towards where she thought the poltergeist was-- it was the direction all the things were flying from-- and concentrated. It was relatively soon after the incident with the hunter, but she could try! She could totally try. She could do this. She could protect her friend. Something whizzed towards them and Bex held up her hands, concentrating, and managed to at least misdirect it, watching it shatter on the wall behind them. “Oh! Oh! I did it! Eddie, I--” she started, but something else started heading for them and she put her hands back up. “Just, uh-- hurry with whatever you’re doing! I’m not sure I can, uh, do this for too long!”

With the comfort of knowing Bex had a few tricks up her sleeve, Eddie began chanting in Latin. His brow furrowed as he steadied his focus—one mispronunciation and they’d be left vulnerable. He tried not to flinch as something shattered loudly against the wall behind them. Bex, clearly proud of her success, began bubbling with excitement. If Eddie hadn’t been so engrossed in the words before him, he would’ve joined her.

Just as Bex finished her warning, a loud shriek permeated the air, and the object in mid-flight dropped to the ground. Everything around them went quiet. Eddie looked up from the book, clearly startled by the sudden change in atmosphere. “Holy shit, Bex, I think we did it.”

Everything seemed to go a little faster for a moment, before suddenly, it stopped. Completely. The objects that had been whirling around in the space in front of them clattered loudly to the ground and Bex flinched from surprise, moving in closer to Eddie. After a moment, she realized it was quiet, but she didn’t make a move until Eddie declared his own, similar thoughts. “We-- we did it!” she said, her face lighting up. She patted his shoulders excitedly. “We did it! Oh my god, that was amazing! You’re amazing! This was amazing!” she exclaimed, before a swell of exhaustion overtook her and she felt her eyes roll up into the back of her head for a second. The next moment, her body began to drop.

Bex hit the floor without warning and Eddie quickly dropped to his knees beside her. “Bex?” he asked, his eyes wide with fright. “Bex, wake up.” He pulled her head into his lap and gingerly swept a few errant strands of hair out of her face. “We’re gonna be fine, but I need you to wake up, okay?”

Looking down at her, Eddie realized how attached to her he’d become in the short amount of time they’d known each other. Bex represented everything he admired in a person: brave, enthusiastic, kind, open-minded. As she laid there unconscious, he wondered if the reason he’d never found the ‘right’ girl was because he’d never met her. She didn’t exactly set his heart on fire, but the idea of spending more time with her excited him. Maybe, that was all that mattered.

“Please,” he begged.

Bex didn’t know how long she’d been out-- realistically, it’d only been a few moments. Not even a full minute. She wasn’t even aware she’d fallen unconscious until her eyes were blinking open and she was staring up at Eddie, and he looked so worried. Confusion crossed her face for a moment as she looked up at him. “What-- what’s wrong?” she asked. Had something else happened? Was the ghost still here? Did they upset the other one? “Why are you looking at me like that?” It wasn’t until she tried to sit up that she realized she was horizontal. She blinked, her face contorted a moment, before she focused back on Eddie. “Are we on the floor? Where’s the ghost? Is she okay? The-- not poltergeist one.”

A sudden rush of relief mingled with the adrenaline coursing through Eddie’s entire system. Bex’s words fell on deaf ears. Amidst the chaos, Eddie completely forgot about the amiable ghost and her warnings—she could wait. “You passed out,” he said, his words drastically contrasting with the grin spreading across his face. “Bex, you were incredible. You…” He trailed off with a laugh. Eddie raised a hand to smooth his hair back from his forehead. Without allowing himself enough time to think through his next words, he plunged head-first into a proposal. “Would you ever wanna, like, go out? As more than friends, I mean. No pressure, I just think you’re really amazing.” And, if things between them went well, maybe he’d be able to shake the confusing attraction to Alfie. As far as he could tell, it would be an ideal scenario.

“I did?” Bex said, still in his lap, looking up at him. She didn’t exactly realize her head was in his lap. Maybe she would’ve moved, but maybe not. Suddenly, her cheeks burned. He was calling her incredible, when, really, she hadn’t done much. “Oh, no! You were the incredible one!” she lifted her hands and waved them in front of them. “You knew exactly what to do under all that pressure, and--” but he was laughing and talking again and Bex stared up at him with a slightly ajar mouth. “Oh.” She didn’t know what to say to that. “I-- I’m--” involved with someone? Seeing someone? Dating someone? Hanging out with someone? She didn’t know what her and Mina were doing, actually. Her cheeks burned again. “You’re very sweet, Eddie, really! And normally I would probably say yes, but I’m sort of--” she couldn’t say it. Why couldn’t she say it? She should just say it “--taking time for myself right now.” She looked up at him. “I-- I’m sorry. But I really like spending time with you! I do! I hope that’s okay.” Please be okay.

Eddie’s brow raised slightly as Bex stumbled over her words. Eventually, a gentle rejection formed. It didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would. Strangely enough, a small part of him actually breathed a sigh of relief. “Of course, that’s okay,” Eddie said with a small nod. His cheeks were burning and he felt like more of an idiot than usual, but he could cope with that. “I, uh, think that was just a side-effect of the excitement getting to me, anyway. Taking time for yourself is really important! We can still play ghostbusters even if we’re just friends.” Deciding that he’d said more than enough, Eddie offered her his hand. “Let’s get you on your feet.”

She felt bad. Kinda. She should’ve probably said yes, right? That was what everyone had wanted from her. To be normal, to like boys. Bex took his hand and sat up, looking over at him. Her cheeks were burning again, too. “I really do like spending time with you, Eddie,” she said, “this was probably the most fun I’ve had in...a long time. But it was so fun! And I totally wanna do it again. You know, if you’ll have me?” Her head still felt a bit light, but she was smiling. She didn’t know what was wrong with her heart, or why it was stammering in her chest. Or why she felt somehow nervous, or like she’d done something wrong. She thought of Mina and felt her heart begin to calm, as she stood on wobbly legs, stumbling into him. “Sorry, sorry,” she muttered, “looks like I might need your support after all.” A tease, to help wipe away any lingering awkwardness.

“Right, of course,” Eddie agreed, nodding perhaps a bit too vigorously. “Trust me, spending time with you is way too much of a blast to give it up over something like that. It would be an honor to almost die with you again in the future.” As Bex stumbled into him, Eddie wasted no time in bracing her by planting his hands on her either side of her waist. If the heat burning in his cheeks got any worse, he theorized he might burst into flames. “No worries,” he insisted with a laugh. “I’m a fan of you being conscious and upright, so I’ve got you.” With one hand still holding her in place, he dipped down to grab his camera and the book, carelessly shoving them into his bag before rising again. “Should I get you home, then? We can always make plans when you’re a little more steady.”

“Let’s-- maybe call it something else,” Bex said with an exasperated smile. “It’s-- an adventure! A-- could end badly but doesn't because we make such a good team, adventure! How’s that sound? Think that’ll fit on a channel title?” She let him balance her, wondering why it didn’t feel frightening or strange to have his hands on her hips. Usually, she shirked away from other people’s touch, but she’d been so-- okay with Eddie’s. She cleared her throat and tried not to think about it. “Ah, yes, I think home sounds like a good idea. Do you think we got enough footage? Do you edit all your own videos? Maybe I could come help with that?” she asked, looking at him with wide, curious eyes. She didn’t want the adventure to be over with yet, but her legs weren’t cooperating and she didn’t want to accidentally pass out on him again. Mina would be upset if she let that happen, or if she came home unconscious carried by another boy again.

“I like the sound of that, actually. A little lengthy, but hey, brevity isn’t everything,” Eddie said with a teasing grin. As always, her enthusiasm was catching. Besides his little blunder, tonight went amazingly. A little action, a little danger, a brief black-out; it checked all the boxes. His grin took a turn towards genuine fondness as Bex went into another of her patented question-barrages. “If we didn’t, we can come back during the daytime—see if our resident friendly ghost has any commentary she’d like to add.” Eddie began carefully walking them towards the exit as he spoke. “I do my own editing, yeah, and I would be more than happy to have you lend a hand. At the very least, the company would be nice,” he admitted earnestly. “If you’re back on your feet tomorrow, we can tackle movie magic tomorrow.” Eddie reached for the door and, thankfully, it opened without complaint this time around. “If, uh, that sounds good to you, of course.”

“Exactly! Sometimes you need a long title, just so that people know exactly what they’re getting themselves into, you know?” Bex beamed, she couldn’t help it. There was an energy about being around Eddie that made her feel seen. And excited and heard. And he felt the same way about all this supernatural stuff as her, and it was so nice to finally know someone who felt the same. Who didn’t tell her it was too dangerous or that it was too risky or that they just shouldn’t do it, because there might be trouble later. That wasn’t how things worked. If no one ever pushed for change, there never would be. But Eddie wanted that. And so did Bex. Maybe that was why she’d gravitated toward him so readily. “Oh, no, is she gone? Did we scare her off? Can you tell her I’m sorry? I totally didn’t mean her! I hope she’s okay,” she gasped, turning to look back towards the room where Eddie had pointed her out first as he led Bex towards the exit. “I can do tomorrow!” she said, maybe a bit too enthusiastically. Technically, she wanted to do it now, but he was right. She should get back home and rest. “I’ll be totally fine by tomorrow,” she said, paused, then added, “promise.”

“If you ask me, YouTube might be your calling instead of anthropology,” Eddie said, unable to hide the immense grin that always seemed to be plastered on his face when Bex was around. Having her remain as energetic as ever helped diminish the anxiety he felt after boldly asking her if she’d like to take their relationship to the next level. So long as he kept her in his life, he supposed it didn’t matter which labels they used.

As she expressed concern over their ghost, Eddie laughed and resisted the urge to pull her closer in an attempt to comfort her. “You’re fine, I promise. She’s probably just a little rattled, I bet she’ll be back in time for our next visit.” Bex cared so much—about everything. Eddie admired that about her, how could he not? “You’ll have a chance to tell her yourself when that time rolls around.”

Her resounding confirmation caught Eddie off-guard. He glanced at her, wondering if the time she was taking for herself might end in a change of tune, after all. “I’ll hold you to that,” he said as they approached the passenger-side of the car. With his free-hand, he pulled the door open for her and gestured for her to enter. “If you haven’t guessed yet, I can be a tad clingy,” he confessed with a small shrug.

“Oh, no, I’ll leave the internet sensationalism to you. I’d much rather be behind the camera, or better yet, down in the dirt,” Bex dismissed, feeling that warmth that often filled her when she talked about history or being on a dig, rising into her stomach again. Still, she did like doing this with Eddie. And she thought she’d done a pretty decent job! Hopefully she’d even actually shot some good footage. Only time would tell, she supposed, as she held onto him while they made their way to the car. It was right where they’d left it, and she wasn’t sure why she thought the outside world was going to be any different after her first ghost encounter. It was all strangely exactly the same.

“Well, I hope she’s okay. I’ll definitely be asking her to make sure when we come back. Do ghosts like gifts? Or-- offerings? Is it an offering if you give a ghost something? Maybe we can bring her flowers. I know a good florist in town,” she rambled, watching Eddie come around and open the door for her. She looked at his face then-- really looked at him-- and wondered what might be wrong with her, if she’d rejected him so readily. Was something wrong with her? With the way Mina made her feel? She blinked the thoughts away and let a warm smile carve onto her lips. “Don’t worry,” she said, stepping towards the car, “I’m clingy, too.” She leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek before lowering herself into the car, and, wondering, why she’d done that at all.

#c: bexley #wickedswriting #writing #ghost of a chance #// nothing to see here #move along

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

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asknarashikari · 3 years

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Minific idea: Philip discovered salsa dance & wants Shoutaro to participate in the research. Philip also (somehow) managed to rope Akiko & Sento (maybe plus Chase) along with their respective partner to join as well. Perhaps in the end they have to perform the dance in front of other riders. (thanks to certain someone who ratted what they were doing)

This was longer than I expected it to be lol.

“Shoutaro! I’ve found something very interesting!”

The detective jumped when the door slammed open, and he groaned when he saw the manic look in his partner’s eyes. “What’s so fascinating, partner?”

“Shoutaro, have you ever heard of this dance called the salsa?” Immediately, the man in the fedora started choking on his own breath. “Apparently it’s quite provocative... Maybe we should try it ourselves!”

Shoutaro stuttered, turning beet red at the suggestion. “What? Philip, what even got you on this anyway?”

“Oh, it was Sougo!” Philip said excitedly. “Remember he was planning to teach dance classes? He brought it up as one of the possible classes he’s gonna teach,” Philip explained. “I wonder if we can get him to teach us as well...”

“Philip...” his husband groaned. “I love you, truly I do, but I’m not going to embarrass myself trying to learn how to dance.”

“But partner, didn’t you take ballroom classes when you were a kid? Surely you must know a few basics, right?”

Shoutaro sighed. Yes, it was true, he did have ballroom classes when he was a kid, having grown up in the higher echelons of society- not quite at the level of the Sonozaki family, but a really wealthy family nonetheless (not that most people would connect him to his biological family these days). And it was hard to forget something that had been drilled into him so thoroughly that it became muscle memory, almost.

He had to admit learning a new dance wouldn’t be so bad. It could be useful for a case down the line... and he hated disappointing Philip, even if it was to save face with other people.

“Alright, fine... when do these classes start?”

-----------

“You too, huh?” Ryuuga said when he and Philip showed up at Sougo’s makeshift dance studio, a courtyard not far from the apartment he now shared with Geiz and Tsukuyomi.

Shoutaro nodded grimly. He turned to the other man with them, whose face was so ashen he was even paler than the time his wife had given birth. He was about to ask the police captain if he were alright when he muttered, in an unusually high pitch, “Don’t ask me questions!”

“Okay, okay, geez, Terui, calm your tits,” Shoutaro raised his hands in surrender.

“Don’t bother, we got here before you guys and he was already like that,” Gou said with a resigned expression. He looked like a dead man walking, too. “Looks like our buddies all decided to conspire against us...”

The four of them turned to stare at their respective partners, who were huddled together giggling excitedly like a bunch of high schoolers about to attend prom. Well, most of them were giggling- Chase wasn’t, but he had a distinct gleam in his eyes that said he was very excited for this new experience.

Just then, Sougo clapped his hands to call everyone’s attention, and all four of them froze. “Well... here goes the rest of my dignity, I guess...” Ryuuga said for all of them, and the three other Riders nodded empathically.

Little did they know, a certain someone had been perched on a tree not far from where the classes were, and his eyes gleamed in mischief as he hit ‘record’ on his very pink camcorder...

--------

[note: @askrikkaiandhyotei Feel free to take this part and run with it in your own fic lmao]

Tsukasa: dancingriders.mp4 (video of ShouPhil, GouChase, Teriyaki and RyuSen in the dance lessons)

Kouta: PFFFFFFFFT

Shinnosuke: Oh my eyes, they’ve seen too much >.<

Shoutaro: What the-?!

Tsukasa, how did you get this?!

Tsukasa: I have my ways, detective :P

Ryoutaro: You mean you spied on them

Wataru: Huh, Shoutaro, you’re pretty good at it tbh

Philip: I know right? My partner is so talented <3

Sento: good for you, mine kept stepping all over my toes

Shoutaro: Uh thanks Wataru

I guess those ballroom classes I had when I was a kid paid off

Souji: You did ballroom classes?

Shoutaro: Uh, yeah I guess

Touma: That sounds like one of those things old rich people do

Shoutaro: ...Story for another time

Haruto: But why salsa though?

Philip: Because <3

Sento: Yeah, because <3

Yuusuke: Is this a pervy reason

You know what... yeah I’m not even gonna ask anymore

#kamen rider #ask #gnr2012

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ddixons-angel · 4 years

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Fated: Season 5

Summary: Gloria Rhee narrowly escapes Atlanta with her brother as the outbreak reaches the city. Luckily, they find a camp outside the city and together, they fend through encounters with the living and undead.

Starts a little before Season 1 and then follows the main storyline of the show.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Glenn Sister!OC

Warnings: major TWD spoilers, language, violence (the typical TWD stuff)

A/N: Can you guys believe we’re in the middle of Season 5 already? I mean where did the time go?? Our group is finally at Alexandria, and a long awaited character is gonna finally be introduced so let’s get straight into it!

Chapter 8

At sunrise, Rick and the others had set out to Alexandria as they did not want to waste any time. With Rick in the car with Michonne, Carl and Judith, and Abraham in the RV with everyone else, they were well on their way to the community. They get there with little to no complications, the only one being the RV’s battery dying. Glenn was the one who solved that though as he had remembered Dale teaching him that there was always a spare battery in one of the RV’s compartments.

Now, the group stands outside the gates of the camp while Aaron helps Eric walk towards the gates. The gate begins to slide open and they’re greeted with a rather scared looking man. He only looked even more scared when Daryl shot a possum that had knocked into a few of the garbage cans, collecting his catch and calling it dinner. Aaron reassures the man that they are good people and he allows the group into Alexandria with all of their weapons. Another person from their community had come out to bring Eric to their infirmary as Aaron brought the group deeper into Alexandria.

As Aaron had described, this place definitely was a community. There were solar panels, large houses built side by side, a lake in the middle of everything, and even a gazebo to overlook the lake. Everything looked completely untouched, as if walkers didn’t exist and the end of the modern world didn’t happen.

“Are you guys seeing all of this?” Gloria asks, not believing her eyes as she looks around.

“I didn’t think this kind of place would still be around,” Maggie says, also looking around.

“This can work,” Glenn says with a smile, “we can make this work.”

“Seems a bit too good to be true though...” Gloria says, looking over at Daryl, “doesn’t it?”

He looks back at her and purses his lips but doesn’t say anything. Instead, he reaches out to her and grabs her hand in reassurance. Gloria glances down at their now intertwined hands and then back at him, smiling softly. The group stops walking as Aaron brings them to the front of a large house.

“Wait here for a bit, I’ll go and let Deanna know that you’re here. I think she’s going to want to speak to each and every one of you individually,” Aaron explains then with Rick’s nod of approval, he goes into the house.

Gloria furrows her brows at this, remembering that this is also what happened at Terminus, “I don’t like this...”

Glenn puts his hand on her shoulder and smiles at her reassuringly, “I know what you’re thinking, but I don’t get that vibe here. It might actually go okay for once.”

“I hope so...” she sighs, although she didn’t get a bad feeling from the place, she still didn’t like that the people in the community were ogling at them as if they were zoo animals.

Rick was the first to go into the house after Aaron came back out and let them all know that Deanna, the community’s apparent leader, was ready to see them. They were all relieved to see Rick come out of the house unharmed and then Daryl was next to go in. It wasn’t until he came back out of the house that Gloria’s nerves went down slightly. She didn’t know what it was about it, she didn’t see the people as threatening or dangerous. They were just going about their day while sneaking looks at their group but nothing menacing. Gloria was next to go in after Daryl as per Glenn’s instruction and he would follow suit.

“Deanna is a very kind and reasonable woman,” Aaron says as he walks Gloria to the living room of the house, he seems to have noticed how nervous she was and chuckles, “you can relax, you know.”

“I know... it’s just for some reason, I can’t shake the feeling of this being like going in for a job interview,” Gloria chuckles nervously and shrugs.

“Well, you’re not too far off.” Aaron smiles at her.

Before Gloria could ask him what he meant, Aaron had already knocked on the open door to the living room and directed her inside before taking his leave. She takes a few steps into the room and is greeted by an older woman with a smile.

“Hi, I’m Deanna. Pleased to meet you.” she says, extending her hand out for a polite shake.

Gloria takes her hand and shakes it firmly but before she’s able to introduce herself, a person sitting at the dining table catches her eye. She lets out a small gasp and her eyes widen at the sight. Deanna furrows her brows in her change of expression and follows her line of vision.

“Gena....” Gloria calls out.

The woman at the table looks up at the sound of her name and a look of shock overcomes her, “Gloria...”

Gena gets up from her seat and quickly makes her way over to Gloria, stopping in her tracks only a few steps away from her.

“I take it you two know each other?” Deanna says, a thoughtful smile on her face.

Gena nods without looking at Deanna, “she’s my little sister.”

Gloria smiles tearfully at her, relieved that she was alive and well. The sisters were never too close, even if their five year difference wasn’t a large age gap. Gloria couldn’t even remember how long it’s been since she hugged Gena, they’d spent most of their time arguing with each other. Glenn would always be the middleman and break up their fights, knowing that both sisters would listen to him rather than each other. Regardless of their strained relationship though, Gloria was happy that Gena was safe and alive.

“Glenn’s outside waiting if you want to see him,” Gloria says, gesturing outside knowing that Gena would want to see their brother.

“I’ll see him after,” Gena says, a stern smile on her face, “I still need to help Deanna with the interviews.”

“I won’t hold you up for too long so you can catch up with your family,” Deanna says with a chuckle, then she looks to Gloria and gestures to the single seater chair in front of a coffee table, “please, take a seat and we’ll get started.”

Gloria nods and goes to sit down on the chair Deanna had pointed to while the older woman goes to toggle a camcorder on a tripod.

“You don’t mind if our conversation is recorded, do you?” she asks, then she presses the button to record when Gloria shakes her head, “excellent, now... according to Rick and Daryl, you’ve all been out there since the beginning?”

Gloria nods in thought, “for the most part, yeah... we’ve moved around camps when places got overrun.”

“Where did you stay?” Deanna asks.

“At first a quarry camp, then a farm...” Gloria says then glances at Gena sheepishly, “then a prison...”

“A prison?” Gena questions, judgement in her voice.

“It was secure, we had fences, walls-” Gloria was cut short of her defense.

“Still! A prison?!” Gena repeats, disgust now evident in her voice.

“That’s enough, Gena. I’m sure they didn’t have much choice,” Deanna says in Gloria’s defense, “and who were you before all of this started?”

“I...” Gloria hesitates as she glances at Gena then at the ground, “I was a student...”

“What did you study?” Deanna presses.

“Health Sciences.” Gloria says, still not looking up at the two.

“She was studying to become a doctor.” Gena reveals.

“A doctor?” Deanna says, her voice sounding pleasantly surprised, “do you have any field experience?”

“I... I interned as a nurse, if that counts...” Gloria shrugs.

“What Deanna wants to know is if you’ve ever saved anyone.” Gena says, matter-of-factly, crossing her arms.

Gloria finally looks up at them and fidgets with her fingers, “I helped stop someone’s bleeding once.”

“Tell me what happened,” Deanna says, a warm smile on her face.

Gloria takes a deep breath before continuing, “when we got to the prison, we had to clear it out so that we could make it into a home or something like that, but things happened and... one of our people got bit, I’m guessing near his ankle, I didn’t see it really...”

“Bit? By a roamer?” Gena frowns at this, doubt in her voice.

“Yeah, by a roamer... we call them walkers, anyway... Rick took the initiative and cut off his leg just below the knee and brought him back to the cell blocks and that’s where I stopped his bleeding.” Gloria explains, her eyes kept glancing back down at the ground.

“And he lived?” Deanna asks.

“He did... for another few months...” Gloria sighs softly, “he didn’t make it out of the prison...”

Gena lets out a sigh and shakes her head, “what did I always teach you about wasting time? Why would you tell us a story about saving someone who’s already dead? If he’s dead, it doesn’t matter if you saved him or not.”

“It did matter!” Gloria says back, raising her voice.

“He’s dead.” Gena points out, glaring at her younger sister, “how does it matter if someone you once saved is dead?”

“Because he saved Glenn,” Gloria retorts, getting worked up and taking Gena aback, “his name was Hershel and he was a doctor. A flu pandemic hit the prison and we didn’t have enough antibiotics to go around, if you got it, you had to just go through with it... and that meant possibly dying, choking on your own blood. Me and Glenn got it... and it progressed faster with him... if I didn’t save Hershel and stop his bleeding, he wouldn’t have been able to save Glenn. So don’t you dare tell me that saving him didn’t matter!”

Deanna nods at her words as she stands in the tense silence between the sisters. Gena didn’t know what to say to that, and Gloria was visibly angered by her sister’s words about her fallen friend.

“I’m sorry about your loss, Gloria,” Deanna starts, “I feel that you are a person who does whatever you can to help a person, am I right?”

“I try...” Gloria says.

“I’d like to offer you a position as a medic in our infirmary. With your medical background and willingness to help people, I think you’ll work wonderfully with our head doctor, Pete.” Deanna smiles, “what do you say?”

Gloria stares at the woman, searching for any ill-intent but finds none. She figures that this was their way of paying admission into the community, giving back by working for her. Gloria thinks back to what she saw on the streets; peace and quiet, children playing innocently, a community protected by walls, and not a walker in sight. Having been on the road for weeks on end, this was the type of place her family needed, Carl and Judith can have an actual proper childhood. Glenn and Maggie could start their own family without needing to worry about whether or not they were safe. Even if Gloria didn’t like it here because of the people staring them down, she had to try for them, they deserved it.

“If my group decides to stay, I’ll accept,” Gloria smiles at Deanna, ignoring Gena’s grumbling of where else are they going to go.

“Bring Glenn in here,” Gena calls out as Gloria walks out of the room and towards the main door of the house.

Gloria rolls her eyes at Gena making Aaron, who was already waiting for her outside the room, laugh. Gena really didn’t care about being subtle that she cared more about Glenn than her. Not that Gloria cared at all since it was also obvious that Gloria cared more for Glenn than she did about Gena.

“Glenn,” Gloria calls as she steps out of the house, “you’ll never believe who’s in there.”

He furrows his brows at her, “what?”

She claps a hand on his shoulder to gently push him towards Aaron who was waiting for him at the door with a smile, “you’ll see.”

---

After Deanna had finished with all of the interviews from Rick’s group, they were taken to the building that housed the community’s armory. They’d agreed after meeting Deanna that they would give up their firearms temporarily; Deanna allowed them all to keep their bladed weapons, including Daryl’s crossbow. They were always allowed to reclaim them when they left the walls, but inside the walls their weapons would be kept, safe and secure in the armory. Then, Aaron had led them all to two large houses down the street. He’d surprised them all by telling them that these houses were now theirs, should they decide to stay. Rick ultimately decided to take the chance but kept a very wary eye out in case anything went wrong. One by one, they all got themselves cleaned up and situated in the living room where they had all decided to sleep tonight.

“I seriously can’t believe Gena’s here.” Glenn chuckles as he leans on the back of the couch.

“Neither can I...” Gloria sighs then she nudges Glenn, “so how hard did she hug you when she saw you?”

“She nearly burst into tears and bear hugged me,” he laughs softly, “what about you?”

Gloria eyes him playfully, “you’re kidding right?”

“I know you two barely ever hugged, but I just thought this would be a moment,” Glenn shrugs.

“C’mon, it’s me and Gena, we aren’t ever sharing any moments.” Gloria rolls her eyes at her brother’s optimism.

“One can hope,” Glenn chuckles.

“Glenn, Gloria,” Maggie calls as she walks down the hallway, her hair looking freshly washed, “washroom’s free now for whoever wants to go first.”

Glenn gestures for Gloria to go first but she just pushes him towards the hallway, “you’re the one Maggie wants to cuddle, and I ain’t letting her snuggle you when you stink.”

He rolls his eyes but then laughs in defeat, nodding as he goes down the hall. Maggie chuckles at the two and shakes her head.

“Hey, I love you too,” Maggie says to Gloria with a smile.

“I know you do, you just love him more,” Gloria jokes, she then looks out the front door and sees Daryl seated on the porch, gutting the possum right on the front steps.

From his body language, Gloria could tell that he wasn’t comfortable being within these walls. He knew as well as her that the people around them were watching their every move, but more so focused on him. She knew that making a mess of the front porch was Daryl’s way of saying ‘I don’t give a shit what any of you think’. With a soft sigh, Gloria makes her way outside to the porch and leans on the railings, watching him work on his catch.

“Wha’?” Daryl asks, glancing up at her when he feels her eyes on him.

“Nothing, just wondering what you can do with a possum,” Gloria says, wanting to joke around with him to help him feel more at ease, she then turns to find Carol standing on the side of the porch, “Carol, what can you do with a possum?”

A knowing smile spreads on Carol’s face as she glances from Gloria to Daryl, “well, there’s stew, possum roast, maybe even barbeque. It all depends on how Daryl prepares it.”

“Barbeque... hey, you think we can do possum kebabs?” Gloria asks, looking at Carol but she knew that Daryl was listening.

“Kebabs? But we’d need sticks,” Carol says, an amused smile on her face.

Gloria bites her lip to keep from laughing and glances at Daryl, “we could use Daryl’s bolts.”

Her words cause a snort of laughter from Daryl as he shakes his head, “ya’ll ‘re weird.”

“Hey, it would work,” Gloria laughs, a grin on her face.

“It would! I’ll need to think of a nice marinade.” Carol continues to play along.

Gloria absolutely loved the sound of Daryl’s laugh, even if it was just for a short moment. Daryl wasn’t unaware of her intentions, it warmed his heart knowing just what she meant to do. He appreciated her and loved her with everything he had. This is why he hadn’t voiced out his discomfort in staying in a place that judged every single molecule of his being. He had told Deanna that this is what Judith and Carl deserved, but that was only part of what he felt. Daryl wanted Gloria to be safe and happy, he wanted to provide her with a place to call home. They had that once back at the prison, and he needed to give her that safety again. He felt that she deserved a place like this.

“Hey Gloria, I’m done,” Glenn calls from inside the house.

Gloria glances behind and nods then looks at Carol, “you cleaned up already, right?”

“I did,” Carol smiles, “go on, I’ll watch him.”

“I don’ need to be watched...” Daryl grumbles, making Carol and Gloria chuckle.

Gloria crouches down and kisses his cheek, “sure, you don’t.”

A small smile ghosts Daryl’s lips at her affection but it’s gone in a flash, “I ain’ no kid.”

“Oh really?” Gloria raises an eyebrow then continues when he hums a yes, “you’re getting cleaned up after I’m done, okay?”

“Nah,” Daryl says, “don’ wanna.”

Gloria laughs as she gets up and begins to walk to the door, “that’s what a kid would say.” she teases in a sing-song tone.

Daryl eyes her retreating backside then Carol as she tries to stifle her laughter, “it’s ‘cause o’ ya that she teases me like tha’.”

“Oh please, Daryl,” Carol rolls her eyes, “she’s your girlfriend, she’s gonna tease you no matter what.”

Daryl felt his heart jump when Carol used the word ‘girlfriend’ to refer to Gloria. Yes, she is his girlfriend, he’d just never heard it being said aloud before. He never even thought about it that way; she is so much more than just his girlfriend. He lowers his head to hide his now blushing face.

“Daryl, are you blushing?” Carol coos on.

“Shaddup!”

---

The flow of hot water from the shower head stops when Gloria turns off the tap. She squeezes the excess water from her hair and wraps a towel around her body as she steps out of the shower. Gloria begins to pat dry her body with the towel when her eye catches her reflection in the mirror. She does a double take when she registers the marks on her body. Cuts and scars tainted her skin, each one a grotesque flaw that had its own story. Gloria hated them. She hated how they looked, how they felt, how they made her feel. She knew that she should be thinking of them as a reminder that she’s a survivor and that she’s strong, but she couldn’t think of them that way. All she saw in each scar was how stupid she was and how she had failed.

“Fuck....” Gloria curses under her breath, trying to control the tears in her eyes as she stares at her scars.

Not wanting to see them anymore, she quickly gets dressed into a set of clean clothes, throwing her dirty clothes in the hamper. Gloria begins to towel dry her hair, giving herself time to breathe and calm down before stepping outside. The last thing she wanted was for the others to find out that she was on the verge of tears for what she thought was such a stupid reason.

“Hey,” Gloria says as she smiles at a freshly shaven Rick in the hallway, she gestures to him, “you... have a face.”

Rick chuckles at her words and nods, defeated, as if he’d been getting comments about his new appearance from everybody. Gloria laughs and pats his shoulder as the two walk by each other.

When she reaches the living room, she sees the others in her group setting up their spot for the night. Gloria spots Daryl sitting by a window and makes her way to him, knowing that she had left her things with his earlier. She proceeds to take out a clean bandage to wrap up her gash on her forearm that was still healing. As Daryl sees this, he takes her hand in his and helps her patch up her wound, not letting her refuse. Once he finishes with it, his arm snakes around her waist pulling her close to him and she leans into him, giggling when she feels him sniff her hair.

“Smell clean?” Gloria says with a smile, making him hum a yes, “you gonna clean up?”

Daryl purses his lips and shakes his head, looking down to avoid her eyes. He feels her sigh softly but doesn’t push him on the matter. Instead, she moves to rest her head on his chest, her arm draped around his torso. Daryl plants a kiss on the top of her head as she snuggles him, his fingers playing with her shirt when he notices something.

“Ya always gonna be wearin’ my clothes now?” Daryl says soft into her ear with a smirk on his lips.

Gloria blushes at the realization that she was in another one of Daryl’s shirts, “stop putting your shirts in my bag...”

“I didn’ put nothin’ in yer bag,” Daryl chuckles, “ya were wearin’ my shirt when we found each other back at Terminus.”

“I was...” Gloria admits.

“And ya ripped the sleeves right off.” Daryl teases, knowing she had a thing for his arms.

“Stop,” Gloria blushes more and playfully hits his chest.

He chuckles at her reaction but their playfulness is gone once there is a knock on the front door. Everyone in the room is on high alert as Rick goes to open the door. Deanna stands in the doorway and smiles at him, not letting Rick off without complimenting his fresh appearance. Deanna had come to them to check up on how the group was adjusting, only to find that they were all sticking together. Apparently, she had given everyone a job except for Daryl, and Sasha; she hadn’t offered Rick and Michonne theirs yet but would in due time. The next day was when the group would get to explore and know the town, and the day after, for those with jobs, that’s when their work would begin.

---

Next Chapter

So a bunch of stuff happened here, we’re finally introduced to Gena, Glenn and Gloria’s older sister! I have a feeling she’s not gonna be well liked at first haha we also had some cute fluffy moments, and a bit of a angsty moment with Gloria with her scars... a lot happens in Season 5 so I think most of the chapters are going to be this long, more or less hehe please let me know your thoughts on it! I’d love to hear from you all!

And as always, I would really appreciate any comments left for me! I’ll be replying to any comments in a new post because this is a sideblog!

Taglist (please let me know if you’d like to be added/removed!):

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jubilantwriter · 3 years

Text

CampChamo96 Logs In

[Context: Takes place before Jasper starts to realize that the Pale Man is more than just a presumed “wild raccoon that got mistaken for a monster during a bad trip so now he’s feeding this wild raccoon his leftovers he guesses and now his camcorder won’t stop acting up and why is there always a weird smudge in some of his frames”.

David discovers the joys of owning a YouTube account, thanks to his new fri- er, roommate’s gracious help. It’s then that he discovers his new favorite “channel”, as Gwen describes it, and he starts to realize that he’s not alone as he thinks.

And that is not a thought he particularly enjoys.]

////

There's something in the woods. That's the only thing David can think about every time he clicks on a new video, curled up under the heated blanket that Gwen provides.

It wasn't there in the beginning. Those were Jasper's early days, when the camera angles were weird and his voice more monotone. He found Jasper by accident while browsing YouTube. Gwen had suggested he browse around, maybe learn a thing or two about human behavior if he wanted to "blend in" so bad.

He got the looks down. That part was easy.

It was the acting part that was difficult for him. Normal humans blink both their eyes regularly. Normal humans don't grip onto things with their tail. And normal humans don't change their skin when scared or excited.

Normal humans also don't have scales over their skin. But Gwen says that as long as no one touches him, they won't know. Oh, and if their eyesight is average to below average. Apparently the ridges of his scales are pretty visible if she looks hard enough.

...Okay so maybe he hasn't gotten the looks down quite yet. But that'll fix itself soon enough with Gwen's help! Behaviors on the other hand…

All he knows about human behavior are from his past experiences. They’d chase after him and his parents, and after a while, just him. They were a local legend with stories made to scare teenagers away from the swamps that became their home. But that didn’t stop the humans from hunting them down. For the sport, for the excitement, for the one picture they can snag to prove his irregular existence- all the reasons were so very different yet so very much the same. His parents always told him to avoid humans just to keep safe and quiet, but that only led to an endless lifestyle of hiding and hiding and hiding and hiding. That’s why he was raised in a swamp. Humans don’t enjoy trekking in the swamps.

(Most of them, at least. He still remembers stumbling home alone. Eventually, the stories dwindled from three creatures to one. No one could explain the reason. Locals just said that maybe it was never three, but one. They couldn’t find the bodies to prove it, after all.

Creature or human. David had to make sure of it. It was their final wish. Their only wish.)

But he’s tired of hiding. He wants to live. He wants to explore. He wants to see trees that climb up towards the sky, where the branches are strong enough to hang from, and all he can feel is the strong breeze and cool air. He wants to run in the rain and feel the kind of humidity his parents only spoke about in stories, wants to live in a world where he can stand in the sun and feel free. He wants to stand out in the open and not be gawk at, not fear that someone will see him and scream, not worry about being seen and marked as a “monster” for slaughter.

He wants to live. And to live, he needs to blend in and pretend to be human. It’s better than living in constant hiding, in the shadows where the light doesn’t reach them, and they’re always in a cold, dank place that’s nothing like the warm humidity of their ancestor’s homes.

He wants to live. So he needs to learn how to disguise himself as a human. To be accepted. To not be seen as a “monster” they claim he is. So he needs to learn to act the part, or else.

That's how he ends up on YouTube, browsing videos of humans since going out in public to observe humans in their natural habitat is still too dangerous for him. Gwen's pretty nice for a human, and even she still manages to scare David at times.

Jasper was the first human that didn't make David nervous. True, he was pretty monotone at first, lifeless even, during those first handful of videos, and he didn't actually get to see the human's face during those times, but something about him made David want to... keep watching.

Maybe it was how genuine Jasper was, with how his voice would quake when he made a mistake, or that subtle, soft beat of genuine delight when he made something surprisingly good. It was those moments where he broke his monotone that kept David hooked.

And then there was always that... sad little tinge he seemed to carry in his tone. How his voice didn't seem to carry, how there was a bit of brokenness to a few of his words, how he'd pause in his actions with his hands trembling in the frame.

Jasper was lonely. Just like David. Granted, he has Gwen now, but she's not around for most of the day. So when it was just David and Jasper, he couldn't help but feel... a connection to Jasper.

(Maybe that’s why he always left a little comment on Jasper’s videos.)

Those were peaceful days. Days where he could watch Jasper cook haphazardly, leave a cheerful comment that Jasper would sometimes respond to, and know that there was nothing lingering in the woods.

But now that's changed.

Even now, as he's curled under his heated blanket, his eyes carefully watching every frame of the video, every moment where Jasper's camcorder starts to fuzz out a bit, there’s always a moment where Jasper doesn't cut the footage quite right and-

There.

He pauses the video, skin reacting in kind as he catches sight of the beast.

Pale skin almost stretched over a frame too lanky for it. A face of shadows with two bright spots for eyes. Rags hanging off its form. Yellow, stringy hair. And this time, he can see the sharp, pointed teeth bared like a threat, and a bony hand pressed up against the glass of Jasper's window with long nails, cracked and uneven.

An inhuman creature, like David.

But a monster, unlike David.

This... thing has been appearing more and more as of late. Jasper calls it the Pale Man, but judging by the tone of his voice, he doesn't quite take the threat of it seriously. He even leaves his food out for it on his back porch! Calls it his "offering for the local Pale Man", but David can tell he finds it all in dry jest.

He truly believes he's out there, alone, with nothing watching him in the woods. But David knows better. Knows that there are creatures like and unlike him that wander at night, creeping through the woods and mountains and swamps trying to keep out of sight.

It's the ones that don't fear being seen that should warrant alarm. It's this one, this... Pale Man that haunts Jasper's videos that nearly has David bolt from his temporary shelter and into the open, just to find Jasper.

Just to keep him safe.

This one human who he doesn't know, and doesn't know him. All he knows is that Jasper's videos make him feel a little less lonely, and a little more happy, and he wishes he could make Jasper happy too.

The only thing preventing him from hunting down Jasper's location is the fact that... Jasper sounds a little happier nowadays. Ever since the Pale Man showed up, he lost his monotone delivery. Sure, that tinge of sadness still lingers, but his hands don't tremble, and his voice carries as though he's speaking to someone.

David stares at the image of the Pale Man a little longer.

Whatever this... thing's intentions are, as long as it doesn't harm Jasper, he can leave it be.

He hesitates over the play button.

It... should be fine.

Jasper seems to find it harmless.

So David will trust in his decisions.

Even if.

Even if David thinks it's a mistake to do so.

#camp camp #cc david #cryptid au #mentions of jasper daniel and gwen #if jasper's part of the story is a cooking simulator gone wrong #then david's part of the story is hinged pepe silvia #who is this pale man #why is he stalking jasper #whats the local urban legend #in which david neglects learning how to be human and enters a rabbit hole that leads no where #it's okay david #we all have those moments

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squeeneyart · 4 years

Text

Breathe in the Salt - Chapter 3

AO3

Martin tells the researchers about his experience with the lighthouse.

Sound travels far.

Martin managed to convince the others that perhaps waiting until the rain let up a bit would be best before taking them to the other side of town. They might want to take notes, he had suggested, and maybe it would be better to wait until the end of their work day, since they would have to head to the local inn, anyway?

They conceded, though Sasha seemed antsy after her apparent discovery. Martin couldn’t deny that the questions she had had about the windows bothered him in the same way, but talking about it with no expertise seemed like it would invite something unpleasant. Instead, he led the way back down. Tim kept to the side from the beginning this time, firmly holding the handrail, and when the vertigo hit, he asked the group to stop for a moment before continuing down to the ground floor. At the back of the group, Jon was a different sort of quiet from before. Was he more irritated than before, Martin wondered, or was he taking this as seriously as Sasha? Maybe both. The guy seemed like he could hold a lot of irritation in him. Okay, that was mean, Martin thought. It wasn’t as if there wasn’t at least one thing to be rightfully irritated by.

When they reached the bottom, Martin shook off the thought and went back to his desk in the corner to gather his things. He would be ready the moment it was time to leave. The rain was still pounding against the outer walls of the lighthouse, so he was, for the moment, stuck. Once he finished packing up, he headed toward the kitchen to wait the rest of the day out.

Before he could make it there, Sasha said, “Martin, can you bring your chair over here? We have some more questions for you.” Martin shut his eyes tight, opened them, and turned right back around, plastering a sheepish smile to his face.

“Oh, sure. Don’t think I have much else to say, though?”

“That’s fine,” Tim said, taking his own seat. “At this point we’re just killing time.” Sasha shushed him halfheartedly and motioned at the small open space between Tim and Jon. Catching Martin’s concerned look, Jon rolled his eyes and scooted his chair over to make room, causing the knot in Martin’s stomach to tighten. Martin carried his chair over and willed himself to be just a bit smaller to no avail.

“So, Martin, how long have you lived in the area?” Sasha asked, settling her notebook in front of her, tapping the open page with her pen.

“Gosh, since I was born? Never really been anywhere else unless you count the town over, and only a few times,” he replied, picking at the sleeve of his shirt, holding himself back from looking at any of them. All those years all spent in this dreary town, they must’ve been thinking, what a bunch of nothing. He wouldn’t disagree.

“Okay, great,” Sasha said. “How long have you worked in this building? And how did you come to work for Mr. Lukas?”

“Just a few months now. I had been working some smaller jobs when an opening came up here and Peter picked me. He’s supplied the town with a lot of work the last few years since the fishing’s been not so great. Don’t tell anyone I said that, though!” He added the last bit quickly and then coughed. “People get defensive about it? Like-”

Jon interjected, “Yes, I’m sure there are many opinions on the subject of the local economy, but these details are unnecessary.” Martin flinched.

“Right, sorry. Um, yeah, I applied for the job and I guess it was a good fit. Kept me on this long, right?”

“Right,” Sasha said, her mouth twitching a bit as she gave Jon a look. Martin felt very much like there was a silent conversation happening that he was not privy to. “All right, next. Martin, if we could get an official statement regarding the… strange attributes of the lighthouse, that would be very helpful. Just something quick so we can get an outside description.”

“Yeah, yeah, I can do that.” Martin adjusted himself in his chair as Jon dug out an old tape recorder. “Wow, that’s-”

“Very old, yes, we know,” Jon said, his tired voice echoing a sentiment they must’ve received a thousand times. “Speak into this part here. Statement of Martin Blackwood, regarding the old lighthouse where he works. Statement taken by Jonathan Sims, further questions by Sasha James. Statement begins.”

“R-Right okay, well. The first time I noticed it, I was still quite young, maybe nine or ten? Somewhere around there. Anyway, I had walked up to grab something for- yeah, it was when I started grabbing groceries for my mum. I had walked up the hill and made it to the top, at which point I see, as usual, the big old lighthouse on the other side of town. A really easy landmark for me to follow. I walked down the street as usual, but this time around, I watched the lighthouse as I went. And just like I told you before, as I walked, it began to get bigger somehow. Not like a normal amount, but as if the thing was growing with my steps, and before I could even make it to the shop, I suddenly got hit with this dizziness, and next thing I know, I’m on the ground, being roused by the local florist.”

“And this had never happened before?”

Martin shook his head. “No, not that I remember.”

“And it’s happened ever since?”

“Yeah, though after a while I learned to just… stop looking? I knew it would make me sick, so why look?”

“And the weather discrepancy at the top of the building, was this something you’d ever noticed?”

“No, not really. I was always busy with work and for the most part the view tended to be pretty much the same. Staring out to sea loses its charm pretty quick, especially since by the time I get up there, the dizziness would set in hard.” Martin looked at Tim who nodded sympathetically. “But it’s weird, yeah, once you pointed it out.”

“Okay, great. One more thing: Are there any other strange occurrences, related or not to this building, that you know of in this town?” Sasha stared at him hard. The hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle at the intensity.

“Not personally, no,” he said easily. “Lots of the older folks around town could probably be helpful, though, with stories they like to tell. There are some I could point you towards if you’d like.”

“That would be great, yeah.” Sasha looked at her notebook, tapped the pen twice on the page, and then closed it. “That’s all the questions I have. Jon, Tim?” Tim shrugged and Jon shook his head. “Okay then. Statement ends.” Sasha nodded at Jon who clicked off the recorder and left it on the table. “Now we wait for either the weather or the day to end, I suppose.” Martin nodded and stood up, finally able to escape to the kitchen.

He had barely managed to get the kettle back on the stove before he heard what seemed to be Sasha’s attempt at a whisper in a place that wouldn’t allow for it.

“Are you really going to pout about an accident this whole week? It’s not like we’ll have to work with him that long.” Martin, who had been about to tell the others about how easily sound traveled, froze.

“We’ve been here less than a day and he’s made it very clear that he’ll be of little help to us,” Jon whispered back, though not as quiet as Sasha was trying to be. “I’ll go along with him leading us to nothing to get it out of the way, but I think it’ll be best if we leave him out of the work otherwise.”

“Elias clearly wants us to check out this place or else he wouldn’t have wanted us working here. Sure, the guy seems pretty simple, but that’s no reason to be rude. Besides, he’s worked here for months. There may be other things he’s forgotten.”

“Yes, ‘forgotten’. He seems to do that a lot, like when I asked him to print something off earlier and he just ‘forgot’. It’s not my fault he’s either forgetful or just plain lazy. I don’t believe for a minute he managed to finish all of his work so early. He might even be making up this extra thing to seem important. We’ve seen the type before.”

Martin didn’t make a sound, electing to pick his nails and keep his eyes on the stove. He knew he had missed something, hadn’t he? Of course it was something Jon had asked for.

“It’s not like he’s our office assistant,” Tim said pointedly. “He seems nice enough. Not his fault we came in here and took the place over.”

“Either way,” Sasha said, “just cool it a bit? He helps us out when he can, we collect some information, and then we’ll be done. We might even get the go-ahead to leave by next Friday if we work at it, and after that you can get back to whatever it is you’re so anxious to get back to. But honestly, I’m going to enjoy doing field research without Elias breathing down my neck.” There was a grumble.

“Fine. But this still feels like a waste of time. All of it.” Footsteps echoed and Jon appeared in the kitchen, making a beeline for his jacket without making eye contact. Martin acted as if he were considering the different tea options and didn’t let up the charade until he heard the front entrance open and shut. He breathed out and then jumped as the kettle brought his full attention back to itself.

He could try harder, really. It’s the least he could do.

Martin knew the nerves were plain on his face as he reached the end of the road. Tim whistled.

“So, that climb doesn’t do anything to you?” Tim asked, hands in his pockets, staring down the steep path leading home.

“Never. Just makes the mornings a little harder than they need to be,” Martin said in a tone he hoped was lighter than he felt. Sasha and Jon had their gazes set on the lighthouse.

“Okay, I’ve got the camera running,” Sasha said, holding up an old camcorder. They really didn’t have the latest tech, wherever it was they worked. Not that Martin judged too harshly. He wondered if the recording would feel like a home movie when they finished. “Let’s see for ourselves, shall we?” She said, and began to walk with Jon and Tim close behind and Martin waiting at the start.

“I definitely don’t feel anything,” Jon said, his tone curt and arms crossed. Martin’s stomach churned as he waited for the three to turn and look at him in disappointment. He had wasted their time, of course, with his own stupid-

“Oh,” Tim said, beginning to wobble. “Oh that’s fucking weird.” Sasha and Jon looked at him in confusion and annoyance respectively. Tim stopped, walked himself back a few steps, and then walked forward again, doing his best to consistently look at the lighthouse. “You weren’t lying, Martin, that thing is growing.” Jon snorted disparagingly.

“Tim, please don’t make jokes-”

“I’m not! It’s the same as before, on the stairs! My head feels like it’s, I dunno-”

“Full of fog?” Martin said weakly, still standing back where the others had left him. Tim turned to nod at him in encouragement, and Martin continued, turning his eyes up to the lighthouse briefly before flitting them between the ground and Tim for support. “You stare up at it, but your head can’t make sense of what’s going on, and then you can’t focus at all, and it’s like your stomach is dropping out of you. At least, if you do it for too long.” Sasha and Jon looked at the two of them, and Sasha stopped recording to look back at the video.

“Oh, shit,” she whispered, pressing a few buttons before handing it to Jon.

“You’re kidding,” Jon said quietly. All Martin could tell from a distance was that, when Jon pressed play and turned the volume up, the only thing coming from the camcorder was a horrible static.

#tma #the magnus archives #martin blackwood #breathe in the salt #jonathan sims #timothy stoker #sasha james #peter lukas #jonmartin #fanfic #au fanfic #selkie au #sort of #i swear im gonna draw things i just also. want to get to some things in this

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tygerbug · 5 years

Note

Do you have any advice for aspiring filmmakers without an actual cast and crew and (as of right now) no ability to get a formal education? Tips on what to practice or challenges so when I actually start involving people, I'll have a decent grasp on what I'm doing?

This is a big topic to discuss. I’m gonna write a long one here and reminisce a bit about movies I made a long time ago. Hope you’re into that sort of thing.

Shoot some footage on your own, record some sound and learn how to edit! I was on a Mac so I used the now very outdated Final Cut Pro 7 for many years. Adobe Premiere Pro is more standard. I used that when I started out, and I use it more now, along with After Effects. I originally trained on an ancient version of Avid as well.

Try to get a single friend to help you! That will help. But you can also do animation, or film yourself, or film scenery, or voiceover. There’s plenty you can do on your own.

I started in the 90s, when camera technology was terrible. The cameras now are amazing! The economy is not. I started to have trouble making movies because I need to pay bills! It’s a cliche but people’s phones are better than anything we had then.

Currently I have a Panasonic Lumix G7 DSLR which shoots 4K, and cost maybe $450. I used to know every feature of my camcorders and be in complete control, but I honestly don’t understand this one as well as I should. It’s nice though.

Before that, in 2007, I had a Panasonic MiniDV camcorder which must have cost $4500 or so. I was still using it for some things until recently, when it started eating my tapes.

I have a Sennheiser cardioid XLR mic (from 2007), and a Tascam audio recorder hooked up to it (from 2019). Maybe $150 altogether. I’ve somehow had the same microphone stand since 1993, maybe longer.

I also have a Parrot teleprompter mirror, for when I need to record web videos and read text off a screen.

We bought a heavy expensive tripod in 2007 and I found it difficult to use. I probably broke the damn thing. It wasn’t working well. I was used to much lighter, cheaper tripods, and kept using my old one. Then I ended up buying two tripods cheaply. I think both were Goodwill finds!

I still have an enormous greenscreen setup we bought in 2007, very wrinkly now and rarely used.

With the old MiniDV cameras (or before that Hi8, 8mm and VHS) you needed a lot of light to get any kind of decent picture. I’d buy a $20 shop light from Home Depot and point it at the wall. It was very hard light, but bouncing it off something would diffuse it and light up the room. It was also very yellow and we’d put a blue theatrical gel over it to change that. It was also very hot and would make the room tough to film in! We also had little clamp lights with regular light bulbs in them as needed. You can get that stuff at Home Depot or similar for cheap.

Cameras today are a lot better, and even if the footage is grainy you can noise reduce in post with plugins like Neatvideo. You’ll want to be more subtle with your lighting than I had to be back then. But a lot of times you’ll still want a powerful light that will light up the room in a clean-looking way. Even then I’d often work with cinematographers for a more subtle feel. They would put diffusion material over the lights, or black foil to concentrate a more powerful light into a single beam. It’s worth experimenting.

I guess I’ll get very personal with this and talk about my whole history, because I’m like that.

I started out making movies as a kid in the 90s. I started out doing little animations on my own, which grew into a 90-minute sketch comedy feature (I was 15-17). I attempted to involve my friends from high school, but it was hard to get them to commit and show up, so a lot of that film was just me doing animation and puppets to fill the gaps. Once I premiered it, everyone got very excited at what I had accomplished without much help and wanted to be involved. I worked with them to figure out what they were interested in filming, and they contributed to the scripts and concepts and production.

We shot four more comedy features in the first half of that year, before I left for college (USC Film School in Los Angeles, 1999), often with a big cast and in all kinds of locations. I was also writing a satirical musical play at the time, and was starting to try to be a screenwriter (I eventually wrote about twelve unproduced screenplays). The main feature we shot that summer was a 2-hr parody of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace which would have been my first “real” screenplay, and which was based partly on the ideas of others in my friend group. There was some improv to the comedy. We also shot a 5-hour improv piece which was a comedy-drama (and then cut down to feature length) and which aged better.

I came back the next summer and shot two more similar features (which were in the same style as the Phantom Menace spoof and the improv piece respectively). I also ended up collaborating with other filmmakers on some stuff, which I ended up regretting due to the people involved. And I made student films, and a big, overlong drama feature while I was in college called Gods of Los Angeles (which took about three years). Later in 2007-9 (ages 25-28 or so) I directed Shamelessly She-Hulk, a superhero feature which is on Youtube. I also did more animation, and some quick, low effort webseries and web video stuff on my own, and I continue to do so. I’m currently working on some Unannounced Projects.

I often think that moving to Los Angeles and attending USC Film School was a mistake. It’s an easy town to get lost in and just sort of fade away and disappear, even before the economy crashed and things got a lot more expensive over the past 20 years. At any rate, my film education at USC was similar to my film education outside of it- The teachers would just tell us to pick up a camera and go, and do our best with it. It wasn’t very formal. What film school did provide was an audience- Your fellow students would all give notes tearing your student films apart, and I had to get a lot better very fast to keep up and deliver quality filmmaking.

So my advice is that you don’t really need a formal education in film to make movies, at least if you’re starting out and doing your own stuff. What you really need is to be young and have a certain amount of financial support on your side. Once I got older and had to work and pay my own rent during an economic recession, it was a lot harder to make films. If you’re still living with your parents, great! Or if you’re in an okay financial situation, great! Use whatever resources you’ve got.

Mainly you need free time, and people to help you. There’s a lot you can do on your own. As I said, my early experiments as a kid filmmaker were pretty much done on my own, and I sometimes had to create scenes on my own for every movie that followed. I might do a quick pickup shot, or re-record some voiceover. Making movies on your own isn’t an ideal way to work, of course, but a lot of people on Youtube are doing it!

I learned a lot about filmmaking by simply doing it. I’d made something like twelve features by the time I was out of college. Nothing I would still want to watch today, but I learned a ton by doing them. I expected I’d become a Hollywood filmmaker, but making that happen takes money and resources and connections I didn’t have (and still don’t). People don’t want to admit it, but it takes money to get noticed at all in Los Angeles. And when you’re older and need to pay bills, time is also money, so it’s very hard to find the time to work on projects unless you have some money in your bank account. If you have money and time in Los Angeles, you can go to more events, meet more people, pay to enter your scripts into contests and things, and there’s not much of a chance you’ll get noticed by doing that either. But money and time allow you to make more art and try again.

At any rate, if you’re just starting out and learning, there’s plenty you can do on your own, but ideally you want to have a partner who is just as interested as you are, at least during the shooting. I have often spent years editing feature film footage on my own. WhoSprites, Shamelessly She-Hulk, The Thief and the Cobbler Recobbled Cut and Gods of Los Angeles all took years to edit. But the actual shooting of She-Hulk and Gods of Los Angeles and all my earlier features was usually done very quickly.

If you’re young and working with friends and collaborators to create a feature, like I did many times in my teens and twenties, there’s a certain momentum which is key, and very easy to lose. You can get a group of young people together to film a feature for a week or a month, and they’ll work very hard. All the features I ever shot were like that, where I had one or two main collaborators who were there every day for a week or a month or a few months, and we just worked and worked and worked, while other people came in and out.

The movie I did in college, Gods of Los Angeles, I flew my friend Dave in to star in it. That was summer 2002 and we had maybe a month to shoot with him, as well as do a road trip to South Dakota for an amateur film festival where we shot some other stuff as well. We worked on the movie every day. Other actors would come and go but I only had Dave as an actor for that period. Sometimes we were sleeping on the floor at a friend’s place before filming there - we were all over town. Dave lost weight in the desert on the road trip. But we had that momentum to get as much of the film done as we could. It was this ridiculous long script, like four hours worth of story. We ran out of time and I ended up cutting a whole act out and shooting a rewritten ending the morning Dave had to get on the plane back to Connecticut.

We had that momentum to work and get the feature done. We were young and in college, and it was summer. We had no bills to pay. We had free time. We shot most of the feature during that month. We worked around every other actor’s schedule but Dave and I were there every day.

After that, and when the school year began again, production was a lot slower. Trying to get any actor to show up for a shoot was tough. We went months inbetween shoots and it took a long time to finish the last few scenes.

I did notice I’d gotten a lot better as a filmmaker during that shoot. We had filmed Dave’s stuff during this crazed rush, and all the later stuff I was able to shoot in a much more controlled way. No-budget filmmaking, in my experience, is always a disaster. Everything goes wrong and you prove your worth as a filmmaker by rolling with it and still getting the scene done even if you don’t have that actor or that location or whatnot.

You learn a lot by just doing it, as a filmmaker, and it helps to be young and without bills to pay. If you have one good collaborator who is willing to really join you on this journey for awhile, for a week or a month or parts of a few months, you have a movie. All of my movies were like that.

Los Angeles never agreed with me, physically or in any way. I moved to Los Angeles 20 years ago, and left ten years later. I spent that whole first ten years wanting to leave. I knew immediately when I stepped off the plane that I’d made a big mistake. I did leave, for five and a half years, and then ended up back here. I had big dreams, but everyone in this business has big dreams. I expected Hollywood, but it felt more like tripping and falling into a white-walled room which locks behind you and sinks down into the ocean, and nothing else happened for twenty years.

So I’d often leave Los Angeles for awhile to make a movie with friends elsewhere. I went back to Connecticut one summer, and I went to the Midwest twice (a mistake), and roadtripped to South Dakota. I had just unsuccessfully tried to move back to Connecticut one Christmas in 2006, and ended up in some shitty apartment with two people who were trying to kill each other. Pretty typical for my Los Angeles experiences. It’s just a dangerous town when you don’t have money. You always feel like a criminal, and I can no longer count the situations I lived through where my life was threatened. That was almost a constant.

I needed to get out of there, and someone I’d met while doing stand-up comedy called me. He had a rich mother, and he was bored and wanted to learn how to make a horror film. For the hell of it I’d written this script about Marvel’s She-Hulk character. I’d written it in a week. My scripts usually took a year but this was an easy write. He read it, and he decided we should film that script.

I did warn him that it was a fanfilm, so we could never really make money from it, or release it on video, or show it at festivals, especially back then. I don’t think he fully understood that until we were four months into production and had shot most of the film, at which point he shut things down.

But for four months we worked together every day. Our She-Hulk actress came in pretty much every day for a few weeks to film on greenscreen. A lot of times we were shooting one actor at a time because of scheduling, and we pretty much shot the whole thing in that apartment in Santa Monica. I’d put sticky paper up to turn the walls green or black. We just kept at it, getting through a huge amount of material every day. It’s not great to shoot a big superhero feature one actor at a time. That was tricky to edit together later. But working with one actor, or two actors, at a time, is very controllable. You’re not wasting anyone’s time. You don’t have scenes where one of the actors doesn’t have much to do. They’re always working. Sometimes we had a bunch of people onset at once, and sometimes that was more chaotic. It did mean we had more people to work the lights and sound and effects. It can be tricky to get Los Angeles actors to commit to this sort of thing. You’re never sure who you can really rely on and who is going to flake out on you. We ended up shooting with fewer actors and less crew, and doing our best with it.

And when you’re not paying people, sometimes actors will quit on you. We lost one of our two lead actresses on She-Hulk, and by the time I’d recast her months later we didn’t even have money anymore, or most of the original actors. I was shooting on my own for no money. We had auditioned 400 people for the film. It was a huge, long process where I called in anyone in Los Angeles who would work for no money. But some of my first choices didn’t want to actually do the film in the end. I got my first choice for She-Hulk, and got the best people for the parts. But I recall that original actress saying she’d rather be waitressing and making money.

It was always easier to find great actresses who weren’t working. Finding guys who were any good was always tougher. On my college movie Gods of Los Angeles in 2002, I kept losing the male actors I originally cast in every single part, after a day of filming. They weren’t willing to spend that much time on such a ramshackle, no-budget feature where I was learning as I went. The women were all cast from the start, and stayed put.

I shouldn't admit this, but on both Gods of Los Angeles and Shamelessly She-Hulk I eventually had to cut scenes and edit around some male actors, who hadn't quite completed their entire parts, but had come close.The people who stayed, stayed because they believed in the project. We didn't have much money, but I was always a good dialogue writer, and was writing very meaty parts that actors enjoyed playing, even under the circumstances. And the circumstances were messy. (Screenplay structure was more of a weak point, though I got better at that too in my unproduced work.)

She-Hulk was a big role - she had tons of dialogue to get through - and we often shot her alone. We just kept working, and we had that momentum, and we wrapped her part in a couple weeks. Finishing the rest of the film later was a slower process.

But it’s about working within people’s schedules. That gets harder the older you get, because people have bills to pay and things to do.

On She-Hulk, one older actor usually had a beard for other roles. I wanted him to shave it for the part. One day he told me he’d shaved his beard and would want me to shoot his whole part in the next three days or so. We were already booked up for those days with lots of shooting with other actors. But we brought him in at night, and shot most of his part alone. Or in the morning, when he was already starting to grow the beard back.

I once shot a comedy feature in a week, where we all became horribly sick and injured in a dozen different ways. The director was depressed and not in the mood, and in retrospect was bullying me the whole time I knew him. It was horrible, but we still shot the feature in a week.

The Phantom Menace parody was filmed over a month or two, as was the one we did the next year. In both cases I was working every day with Dave, and other people would come in and out depending on their availability. So we had that momentum.

We also found time to shoot a comedy/drama improv feature. I had two collaborators on that first one, and we rehearsed for a couple of weeks while shooting the other movie, then shot the whole damn thing in one night. We tried to do it again the next year but everyone was too tired. We hadn’t really had a break, and Dave had barely slept all month.

Looking at the footage from those (summer 2000) movies later was a turning point for me. I was a dumb kid of about nineteen making dumb movies on low quality video cameras, but I was also a perfectionist. And I lost my temper a lot on that shoot, while trying to get my friends to take the shoot seriously and get the footage I needed.

As a director, if you lose your temper you’ve lost control of your film. You’ve lost the respect of those around you. It’s not going to get them to take you seriously. A director needs to be the nicest guy onset. You’ve got to make people comfortable, and feel like their contributions are valued. They should feel safe, and comfortable enough to give their best work to you. You need to earn their respect. If you have the right collaborators, they will do brilliant work for you, if you let them be themselves.

I was tough, as a director. I would shoot a lot of takes, until I knew I’d gotten the footage I needed in the edit. With enough preparation, four takes should be enough, but it’s not unusual for me to see 16 takes in the edit for more complex scenes. We wouldn’t do a ton of rehearsing. We’d shoot and fix problems on the fly.

I wouldn’t lose my temper. I’d just ask them to do it again, until we had a version where nothing went wrong technically, or with the performance. If an actor isn’t playing the scene right, it’s usually a bad idea to tell them how to read the line. It’s unprofessional but it’s also not how actors work. Fixing the exterior performance is phony. They need to feel and understand the scene inwardly. If they’re not playing the scene right, you haven’t explained it right, and you need to talk to them for a bit about what their character is feeling.

Or maybe it’s just a dumb scene and the actor isn’t feeling it. While looking back at the She-Hulk movie, there are a few lines which make me cringe, which I wish I’d rewritten. Easy jokes, which border on offensive or vulgar and don’t suit the character or the film.

I was looking at the raw footage from one of those scenes recently. I knew the line was bad at the time, and clearly I feel awkward directing the actress to say it. I ask if she can say it with a little more feeling, since she was playing it off very flatly, as if embarrassed of the line. She said “No, because it’s a stupid line!” The footage cuts off there. She wasn’t wrong. We should have rewritten the line, and she gave the best performance she could under the circumstances, because she needed to communicate that her character was embarrassed of the line too.

When I was making movies in college, I was still embarrassed that I’d lost my temper during the shoot in summer 2000. I was trying to be nicer as a director while still pushing hard enough to get the shot. I overcorrected. I have wavy hair which gets unmanageable unless it’s cut very short. I would let my hair grow longer than that, and I’d really look like a mess. A scruffy kid with glasses and mad scientist hair, wearing a red windbreaker jacket and scuffed-up jeans. I looked like a slob! I thought it helped the actors relax and not have to take things as seriously. I grew up in Connecticut as this gifted overachiever, always pushing very hard and being very intense about things. In California I was learning to slow down, and calm down, and go with the flow. I think it helped me, but I went with the flow so much that nothing ever happened in my career for twenty years!

But some of that was just that I wasn’t presenting a serious image to the world. I was presenting the image of a guy who really hated himself. I thought of myself as a clown. I felt bad that I was making my actors work so hard and do so many takes, and I thought I had to be the guy onset who was making things seem much more relaxed and casual, but also pushing them very hard to do brilliant performances and shoot a lot of takes. I should have loved myself more, enough to clean myself up and look professional onset. My appearance was at odds with the high-level filmmaking I wanted to do, because my self-esteem and self-image wasn’t there.

As a creative in Los Angeles, at least to an extent, you are who you pretend to be. The industry is full of pretenders. The industry is biased toward people with money and connections, but people with money and connections are also just more presentable. I had very high standards for the filmmaking I was doing, but I looked and acted like a weird kid! It’s amazing that anyone took me seriously enough to work with me. To an extent I had trouble making friends and felt very isolated, especially among people who really wanted to work in the industry. My friends tended to be people who didn’t fit in either, and who wanted to leave Los Angeles at the first opportunity. I took myself very seriously as an artist, but a lot of people at USC took me at face value instead, and seemed to hate me instantly! Young people can be very cruel. Well, all people can be very cruel.

I used to do stand-up and improv as an idiot character called Radio Man. When I’d perform him live on campus, people would treat me like I actually was this ridiculous character. I was thrown offstage by security several times! Maybe I should have pretended to be cool!

I feel like that was partly my problem with networking and trying to make friends in the industry and get work that way. This is an oversimplification, but I felt like the mindset in Los Angeles was very different. Not better or worse than New York and Connecticut, but upside-down. New Yorkers can be gruff until they get to know you, and they’re more open with how they’re really feeling. People in Los Angeles tend to wear a mask at first. They want to smile and seem pleasant and impress people in a non threatening way, and it’s a front. You find out what they’re really like later, if they like you. You see their dark side. I’m generalizing of course, but I was never a very social person, and this was all backward from what I was used to. People were being very guarded and false when I was trying to be open and truthful, and vice versa even! I was zigging, they were zagging. I felt like people hated me immediately wherever I went! Or at least couldn’t figure me out and weren’t impressed. I wasn’t great at putting up a front and impressing people. And in Los Angeles it’s hard to impress people anyway. You’re talking to creators, who are all boasting about what they’re doing as a multi hyphenate. At that point I’d made a bunch of features as a writer/director/editor, but I was still a dumb kid with few resources and no connections.

Youtube has changed everything, but it’s also not a filmmaker’s medium. Most of the people who are getting successful on Youtube are doing video essays as themselves, straight to the camera. People aren’t really getting known for making short films and features like we used to do. I still remaster material from the 2007 She-Hulk production for Youtube, and it feels very out of place with everything else that Youtube is.

That can be a positive, I suppose. It’s not a big deal for a filmmaker to record themselves doing video essays and reactions, and Contrapoints for example has stepped up that game with her colored lighting and aesthetics, bring a feature-film quality to Youtube.

I’d like to think there’s room for lots of different kinds of content on Youtube, and as a small creator it’s unfortunately very hard to get seen, so you might as well create what you like, and what really matters to you. The algorithm seems to push certain kinds of content (including some gross political content which is definitely helping cause the end of the world). The algorithm is also impossible to predict.

I had barely touched my main Youtube channel in eight years until recently. That was a mistake. I was sort of grandfathered in as an older channel, and once I put up new content in 2018, sometimes the algorithm would smile on me and give me millions of views. But it’s impossible to predict. One or two popular videos and the rest go thud.

I considered that a channel for the She-Hulk movie and my Doctor Who animations, and other filmmakery stuff. But I’d stopped editing that film, and was doing some very dumb web videos on my own instead for awhile, which I uploaded on another channel. I started other channels for my film restoration work. I hadn’t considered Youtube as a career. It was simply an outlet for the various things I was doing.

If I was starting a new channel now, I wouldn’t be getting the views I get on the old channel. It’s probably best to do everything in one place, do it well and make it easy to find.

As for the other stuff, the filmmaker stuff - actually learning how to make a film - just do it. You’ll learn as you go.

In my high school movies, these early comedies, I barely knew where to put the camera at all. At first I was shooting long wide shots, then some closeups. All very basic stuff. I was leaning heavily on the dialogue. Without dialogue I didn’t have a movie. There were only a few sequences I storyboarded or even shot a lot of angles for. Usually it was when we were parodying an existing movie, and recreating their shots. That was always fun- recreating a famous big-budget Hollywood movie on a budget of zero, and making it work somehow.

I learned a little more each time for sure, but in film school we had to do these little short films with no dialogue. I was leaning on the same style I’d had in my high school comedies. My first couple of shorts had the same goofy feel. One of them used pop culture references instead of having characters and story. And without dialogue that didn’t work. It was about some friends of mine as an action-hero fighting team (and not a very impressive one). It was pretty dumb.

This was for a class (in 2001) which originally shot on 8mm film, so it had to be silent. We were shooting on MiniDV instead, so we could have shot dialogue, but that’s not what the class was about.

I couldn’t use any of the tricks I’d had in my comedies. I had to tell a story without dialogue- something that people could take seriously. I didn’t even know how to get a performance out of someone without dialogue, which became immediately apparent. I couldn’t use any of my strengths, and that was great because I had to learn quickly.

My third short was vastly better. It really told a story without words. I shot a few more like that later, including four on 16mm film.

These were all supposed to be 5 minutes. I think short three was 16 minutes.

My fourth and fifth student-film shorts actually had heavy dialogue, but I was still learning very fast and challenging myself to do something different.

I scripted the fourth short without dialogue. It was about a dying cartoonist, and was intended as a very personal, serious drama. Writing it without dialogue forced me to come up with visual ideas to keep it interesting. I then rewrote it with dialogue but kept most of those ideas. I’d already been writing serious screenplays for awhile but this was my first serious film- a big step for a goofy kid like me! It was 18 minutes long.

As I recall, I got in trouble for using dialogue so heavily, and my grade was taken down a few notches. That happened a lot at USC, always on the films I was most proud of!

My fifth was an animated adaptation of the Terry Pratchett novel, MORT. It was crazy over-ambitious for a five-minute short at the end of the semester. I’d written a 45-minute script, and I had to shoot it in a weekend and edit it in about as long. I got my friends together and we recorded the voices in one long night. I played Death and I certainly sounded like Death by that point. For the animation I made some clay figures with drawn cutout faces, in real-world locations. It was nothing fancy, but I really did shoot it in a weekend, and made it work in the edit as best I could. I was new to Avid and digital editing generally. I released a 25-minute animated film, having cut out anything I didn’t absolutely need to tell the story.

I was proud. I’m sure I got in trouble for it! I wasn’t alone either- Someone else in the class had shot a dialogue-heavy adaptation of The Catcher In the Rye.

In another class, when shooting on 16mm film, the films really did have to be 5 minutes long, and not a second longer. We only got one or two takes because film stock was limited, and you really had to tell the story visually.

Due to shenanigans I was forced to take the class twice, and did better work the second time. With a partner I shot a fantasy film The Journey of Truesong (with thrift-store costumes), and a time-travel musical with CGI and splitscreen effects, all done in-camera. We also got in trouble for both, because both involved dialogue and were against the rules. We’d made the most exciting films in the class, and got punished for it. That sort of thing happened a lot.

I remember on The Journey of Truesong, our actress was vegan, and I didn’t know. I’d brought ham sandwiches for lunch. She was too polite to say anything and starved the whole shoot. When we opened up the fruit (and I think trail mix) her eyes went wide and she chowed down. Ask your actors about food restrictions and make sure you have a way to feed them! We were in Griffith Park, miles from anywhere!

A few years later I filmed a scene for She-Hulk, again in Griffith Park, with four actors. They were supposed to barbecue hamburgers in the scene itself, so I bought a grill and figured that would be our meal for the day as well. I wanted to wrap an actor playing a bad guy so he could go home, so we shot his scenes first. The sun was going down by the time we grilled the hamburgers. The scene was grainy since we were losing the light, and getting the grill running was taking time. The actors had to get a little silly and improv around it, and I reshot some of it later in a different location (obviously so). By that point the hamburgers and other food had been sitting out in the sun for hours and were absolutely inedible. Everyone was starving!

Today you could maybe use a food delivery app. Maybe not, because we were still in the park in a very remote location. It was a disaster of planning on my part, and I think an actor quit after that. When you have no budget, going out on location means going out on a limb and hoping it works. In this case I wasn’t able to feed my cast. The actresses rolled with it and forgave me. An actor didn’t.

Food is very important, and easy to overlook! If you’re shooting in your own home, or a very controllable location, you can keep food in the fridge. On location in the park, in the heat, the food had a very limited shelf life, and so did the actors.

If we weren’t out in the middle of nowhere, we might all drive to a fast food restaurant to eat. That can take up hours in the middle of a shoot if you’re not careful. Having enough food onset certainly helps.

I had very high standards for the sort of actors I’d cast. In high school I was just casting friends, but I grew out of that. Even so, I think that someone who will really stick with you and is willing to put in the work with you is just as important as raw talent. If someone can’t act, maybe they can run the camera, or hold the microphone, or just generally help out onset and with the production. They can drive around, get the food, set things up that need to be set up. They can be an extra, or a costumed character. There’s so much that needs to be done, and no-budget shoots immediately become a trashfire of problems because it’s hard to get it all done in time. Things will always go wrong, and you prove yourself by how you deal with all of that.

I know that got very personal, and very long.

But I hope that helps!

#long post

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emzymakesbelieve · 5 years

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not to be fake deep but let's talk about all your old walt babies that you haven't mentioned (because i love the hainline's okay and you and all your kids and i miss you

Send me an old muse and I’ll gush about them.

oKAY SIT DOWN AND BUCKLE UP, KIDDOS.

(I love you, too, sweet pea. *smooch*)

Frank Hainline

So Frank is a prick, to start off, but he’s my prick and you’re not allowed to trash talk him without my say so (which of course you have because he’s A PRICK). He was the kind of kid who wore an anarchy symbol on his jacket but never actually did anything to represent or invoke anarchy. He’s also a gigantic slut and can’t keep his pants zipped for longer than ten minutes. Fidelity is not this man’s middle name (*CoUgH* illegitimate child he never knew about). He definitely wasn’t ready to become a father when Victoria got pregnant (and more or less trapped him into marriage), but by the time baby Penelope came, he devoted every ounce of energy he could to making sure she had a good life, and the two of them actually grew very close. He passed away from cancer when Penelope was about ten.

Norma Hainline

Penelope’s eldest. The two most important things you need to know about Norma are that she’s a dancer and she’s gay as a maypole. Her main focuses are tap and ballet. She loves old Hollywood - she got her start watching Singin’ in the Rain and Fred & Ginger films - but definitely prefers to live in the here and now where she can express herself both as an artist and as a lesbian. The dance world, much as she loves it, is a crusty old institution that needs to break some pointless rules and get over itself. She is also Grade A Mom Friend Extraordinaire™. Her love language is definitely acts of service, particularly making sure you’re eating and sleeping well and taking your medicine on time (though turns out she’s a terrible patient herself). Much to her frustration, her two closet friends - Noah and Nick - are both more or less bent on self destruction and driving her completely bonkers, but she loves them just the same.

Francis Hainline

Francis, the third eldest, has no business being in this family with how shy he is, but nevertheless. Definitely the black sheep of the family, but his siblings defend and support him with everything they have. (Well, Kath usually does it with a lot of sarcasm, but you can tell she loves him.) He’s a total hipster and has a special love for anything that was built before the year 2000. His prize possession is an old camcorder that uses real VHS tapes, so naturally he becomes a film student. I envision him growing up and working as a cinematographer and eventual director of poignant indie films and documentaries - stuff with lots of lingering, fly-on-the-wall shots. Also, special shoutout to Seraphina, the love of his got dang life. Those two gave me so many freaking cavities with their cuteness.

Kathleen Hainline

So Kath is a mess, but that’s just par for the course in this family, I suppose. She’s the baby of the family and has always felt like she’s living in her sister Norma’s shadow. She’s a bit of a wild child, but certainly not to the extent Victoria was. It’s all just a cry for attention, trust me. She wants to feel needed, she wants to feel wanted, she wants to feel special. And anything that takes the attention of the people she loves off of her needs to die, plain and simple. She’s best friends with Daisy and is technically endgame with Jonas (though we really didn’t get to write them that far), so here goes a prayer candle for my lovely Becca.

Dory Novak

As you can probably guess by the name, Dory is based on that delightful blue tang we know and love. In the Walt universe, she developed her short term memory loss after an accident that killed her parents, and was adopted by Marlin. She loves swimming and her family and especially anything combining the two. She’s a freaking sweetheart who is actually pretty hard on herself, and it was so heartbreaking to play her in any kind of stressful situation because five minutes later she would still be freaked out by have no idea as to why (looking at you, Scream event). Also, Scooby liked her a lot and I felt so freaking blessed??? She ends up becoming a social worker and helping kids in the foster system like her.

Charlie Harper & Jenny Harper née Parkington

I never got to properly play Dory’s parents, but here’s the fast and skinny on them. Jenny was a shy bookworm who never thought boys would be interested in her and (for the most part) had made peace with that theory. Charlie was a jock who was head over heels for Jenny but never knew how to communicate it without being a sleaze. Eventually, he manages to ask her out, she says yes, and they pretty much become attached at the hip. She comes to his basketball games and swim meets decked out in the school colors and cheering like a maniac. My guess is Dory came a little earlier than they were expecting, but not so early that it would be considered scandalous - probably when they were almost finished with college or something. Dory became their world and they spoiled that little girl beyond belief. Unfortunately, both of them were killed in a car wreck when Dory was very little.

Marlene Novak

Dory’s first kid, adopted. To sum it up nicely, Marlene’s a hot mess because she was never able to come to terms with the fact that her birth mother didn’t want her. I tried to start this whole plot where she ran into her birth mother just out in the wild and that made her get even messier, but I think I was just throwing crap on the fire to see what blew up at that point. She also has a…flirtatious arrangement, shall we say, with her friend Viv.

Lyle Novak

Dory’s second kid, also adopted. *sigh* Lyle, Lyle, Lyle… He’s a cutie, don’t get me wrong, but I feel like I didn’t give his character enough punch? He just seems kind of blah now that I look back at him. I have a history of being super self conscious about my male characters if they don’t have like a Super Archetype personality for some freaking reason, and Lyle is definitely an example of that. He’s a little shy, but not so shy that it’s endearing, and he’s also a little courageous, but not so courageous that he actually gets crap done. He’s a little complacent, looking back on him, which is kind of the opposite of how I wanted to play him...? I dunno. Maybe I’m being too harsh on myself. HE’S CUTE. LIFE GOES ON.

Cinderella Tremaine

To the surprise of absolutely no one, I’ve actually played a Cinderella counterpart in a few different groups, but let’s just talk about how I portrayed her at Walt. French transfer student in America (I changed her to straight up American after a point) who loves animals arguably more than life itself and tries her best not to cry over things she can’t control. She’s also daydreamy as FRICK. Loves to get lost in her own imagination. If she’s not engaged in conversation or work of some kind, I can guarantee you her conscience isn’t even on this plane. Also, can I just shriek about the superhero AU version of her where she was a counterpart to Zatanna and literally became her own fairy godmother? Because I think about that far more than is probably healthy.

Emmett Tremaine & Johanna Tremaine née Cartier

Same thing as Dory’s parents, just gonna give you a quick lowdown. Johanna came from a fairly well off family in France (distantly related to those guys, but far enough away that it doesn’t really count), but her parents thought she was an absolute embarrassment. She was never afraid to speak her mind when it came to things like etiquette and politics, and she had a fabulously wild imagination. She never stopped believing in fairies, ghosts, gremlins, things like that. Emmett was that quiet nerd dreamer type, very much obsessed with travel and history. And like I need to spell it out for you, but they were LUDICROUSLY in love with each other. Like, nauseatingly so.

Robby Tremaine

Robby is Cindy’s son I whipped up real quick one next gen when I was going crazy and wanted to snatch Nick Robinson’s beautiful face. He’s a hardcore farm boy who doesn’t mind a little mud behind his ears and super environmentally conscious. Not just recycling and veganism and all that, but he will go off on you about sustainable farming and animal raising, and how the hydrogen fuel cell is the way of the future.

Taige Bailey

Based on Terk from Tarzan, Taige is a super jock, total butch lesbian, and altogether DUMBNUT. Like, GOD she’s so stupid sometimes because she just barrels into crap with reckless abandon and doesn’t think things through. Dear God, she will PUNCH you if you so much as look at her funny, just ‘cause she feels bored. And she walks around like she’s God’s gift to creation, but she’s just a little twerp. But she’s my twerp. (Huh. I’m just now realizing how similar Taige and Pen are. In a weird way, Taige is like the tomboy version of Pen.) Here, you can imagine me lighting a prayer candle because I never got to play her against her two best friends and I’m SAD. Y’ALL NEVER GOT TO EXPERIENCE THE TOUR DE FORCE THAT IS T CUBED. Also *cough* she and Vitani may have had a *coUGH* flirtationship.

I would also put Taige’s parents on this list, but they’re so hardly even developed that it’s not really worth mentioning them. I only know their names: Lamarr and April.

Jared Bailey

Taige’s only child, Jared’s still trying to figure out what masculinity means to him, what with being raised by two women and all. He can get a little “dudebro alpha male” sometimes, but he’s also that kid you definitely want to have your back when things get rough. He’ll help you with your homework, teach you how to shoot a three-pointer, and walk you home when it’s dark like the gentleman he is.

#spidcypools #YOU SAID 'ALL' BY GOD #read mores are for wimps #have my children #[ q and a ]#[ muse: frank ]#[ muse: norma ]#[ muse: francis ]#[ muse: kathleen ]#[ muse: dory ]#[ muse: marlene ]#[ muse: lyle ]#[ muse: cinderella ]#[ muse: robby ]#[ muse: taige ]#[ muse: jared ]

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fardell24b · 3 years

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Quinn’s Code 16 The Geek’s Expose - Part 1

The Geek's Expose Part 1

Lawndale

Monday,April 3, 2006

At the Morgendorffer's house, they were watching a home video, from Daria's third birthday.

Young Quinn blew out the birthday candle's first. “Hey! You're ruining my birthday cake!” Young Daria said.

“If only that were all she ruined,” Daria commented.

“Make her stop,” young Daria continued.

“Oh, Daria, she's just a baby. She wants to play too.”

“I was such a cute baby,” Quinn commented.

“Why can't I be an only child,” younger Daria said.

“Yeah, why can't I?” Daria repeated.

Later Daria met her friends, Jane Lane and Jennifer Burns at one of Lawndale's many small cinemas. (She wondered what it was about Lawndale that many of those businesses managed to hold on.)

“He wanted you to watch her birth? That could scar you for life,” Jane commented.

“Yeah,” Jennifer added.

“The birth itself did that,” Daria commented.

Jennifer sighed, but saw someone coming. “Kevin and Brittany?”

“I don't see any vegetables!” Kevin said.

“You should have my view,” Daria said.

“Why vegetables?” Jane asked.

“To throw at the screen during the big food fight?” Brittany added.

“A food fight?” Jennifer asked.

“Jen, are you thick or something? This is the Food in Film Festival.”

“No, you're thick!” Jennifer project back.

Brittany could see that Kevin had annoyed Jennifer, she decided to calm her down, by changing the subject. “Didn't you see the Rocky Horror Picture Show last month? Kevin and I wore each other's underwear.

Jane wasn't surprised. “Again?”

“I don't think this is an interactive experience,” Jennifer said.

“They're showing Andre Sakarynsky's Last Meal tonight,” Daria stated.

“A Russian art film from the 1930's,” Jane explained.

“Russian?” Kevin asked.

“Subtitles!” He and Brittany cried out and fled from the scene.

Daria smirked.

After the movie, they ran into their Language Arts teacher, Mr. Timothy O'Neill. “Hi, Mr. O'Neill,” Jennifer said.

“Hi, girls! I'm just so invigorated! Great cinema is timeless. Couldn't that movie have been made today?”

“I guess, if you could find someone to exhume the actors,” Daria said.

“Can I give you three a lift home?” O'Neill asked.

“We had decided to walk,” Jennifer said.

“It's a perfect night for a nice long stroll,” Jane said. As if on cue, some lighting flashed and it started to pour down rain.

The three girls get into the back of O'Neill's car.

“Doesn't anyone want to get in the front?” O'Neill asked.

“You know, I'd love to, but you know, I'm afraid of an airbag injury,” Daria said.

“Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry, what was I thinking? Of course you must sit in the back!” O'Neill spluttered.

As he drove along, Mr. O'Neill asked. “Sometimes I think film is even more a mirror of the times than the novel. Do you think this is because of its greater verismilitude? Jennifer?”

“Don't ask me!” Jennifer murmured.

“What about you, Daria?”

“Let's face it. Most people would rather watch a movie than read a book. It's fast, it's easy and you don't have to worry about your lips moving.”

“That's a fabulous class assignment, Daria! Thank you for the suggestion!”

'Oops!' Daria thought. “Um, did I make a suggestion? I'd like to withdraw it!” she said with her voice raised.

“It's a great suggestion,” O'Neill said.

Daria sighed.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

O'Neill had taken the 'suggestion' to heart. “...So, as an excerise in living literature, you'll all be all be making your own movies. We have Daria to thank for that exciting suggestion.”

“There's that word again!” Daria groused.

“Now, before we split into movie making teams, who would like to direct?” O'Neill asked.

Amost all of the class raised their hands and began shouting “Me!”

“Exciting isn't it?” Jane asked with thick sarcasm.

That afternoon, they borrowed a camcorder from Daria's father, Jake. “Remember, this is a precious, precise and very, very costly instrument. It's not the sort of thing one ordinarily lends a teenager,” he said.

“We'll be careful,” Daria said.

“I explained to you about the three focus modes and the depth of field override and the auto-sleep feature...”

“I'm about to go into auto-sleep myself,” Daria said with a yawn.

“Okay, Daria. Just...” Jake paused. “Try not to use it too much,” he said as he handed the camcorder over.

“How much is too much?” Daria asked.

They had gone to Jane's house and Jane proceded to place the camcorder in a tree... “There, Tree-Cam,” she said.

“You're just going to leave it running?” Daria asked.

“Only a day or two. It'll catch everyone passing by through the tree's totally objective point of view,” Jane explained.

“This is boring,” Jennifer said a minute later.

“Andy Warhol filmed eight hours of a guy sleeping and people thought it was brilliant,” Jane said.

“Those people changed their minds after they got into twelve step programs,” Daria commented.

“Wait... I think I just saw some leaves rustle,” Jane said.

“That's not enough action,” Jennifer complained.

“We're going to need a script,” Jane complained. They then went inside.

#brittany taylor #daria #daria morgendorffer #fan fiction #jane lane #jake morgendorffer #kevin thompson #monster #quinn morgendorffer #timothy o'neill

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esmelloyd · 3 years

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tutorial w jala

Talking to Jala gave me a clearer idea of how I’d like to proceed with the project. We decided together that the images up to this point have felt too static, and that they felt like more of a front than a character. It’s an interesting dilemma because that’s sort of the point - there’s nothing to these girls; they’re literally just a front and no more - and yet we felt like there was somewhere else they could go whilst maintaining the artificiality of it. I guess it’s about good construction of character; someone clearly not real but with space to breathe nonetheless. She wanted more of a story behind the photo, and sense of something more going on. If I set up a scenario, they’ll be more captivating, and the viewer could imagine exactly who this Dreamgirl is and how she’s got into the situation she’s in etc. It’s about the history leading up to that present. We talked a bit about the interest in the transformative process and how the journey and journey images have more dynamism than the final result, and encouraged me to think about that going forward (and also to try varying camera angles to make it feel less staticky!). I want to experiment with video and buy a camcorder off eBay.

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amplesalty · 3 years

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Christmas 2020: Day 3 - Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002)

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

3rd degree burns!

Wait, you mean there are more than just two of these? Yeah, I guess people only talk about the two starring The Incredible Culk himself. I’m uncharacteristically skipping ahead here to the 4th movie as I understand the 3rd doesn’t even take place at Christmas. For shame! It does have a young Scarlett Johansen in though and was surprisingly still released in cinemas at that time. I would have thought it would been a straight-to-video job for sure. Apparently it was up for a Razzie for worst remake or sequel but lost to Speed 2. I actually saw that in the cinema!

Anyway, not only does 4 actually take place at Christmas, it’s notable for starring Kevin McCallister so serves as a continuation of the first two movies, unlike 3 which went off with brand new characters. No other returning faces here either so no Catherine O’Hara, no Joe Pesci, no Daniel Stern, not even a John Heard. Guess we’ll just have to make do with his showing in Would You Rather? Back during Halloween. We get some familiar characters but they’ve just been re-cast. Peter McCallister was really throwing me off at first, I recognised him from something but just couldn’t place it...

Holy shit, it’s the guy from Monkey Shines! That would make for a much more interesting movie; the psycho monkey defending the house from burglars.

They could have very easily worked a monkey into the movie if they wanted since the story goes that Kevin’s parents are now about to go through a divorce and Peter is shacked up with some rich lady. Rather than face another holiday season being abused by Buzz and Megan, he decides to take his chances with the step mother. And boy, is he ever glad that he did because he gets his own bedroom choc full of gizmos like a giant multi screen television, games consoles, arcade cabinets and computer. Bit of a step up from sleeping in the attic or playing with that Talkboy all the time. That thing seemed really big for what it was, you’d expect a voice recorder to be a sleek little device but you had this fairly big camcorder like unit with a handle and extending microphone that looked like an eyepiece. Maybe kids just like having a substantial toy like that or it was trying to make them feel more grown up to have something camcorder like without the accompanying video technology that wasn’t as ubiquitous and cheap at that time.

He’s not the only one with cool toys to play with as Dad’s new girlfriend, Natalie, has a smart house which seems pretty revolutionary for the year 2002. Like, full on smart house that doesn’t even need a front door key, just take our your little voice remote dealie and give the house an instruction. Open door, play music, turn on the fire...it’s like Alexa 15 years ahead of it’s time. Modern day Chucky would have a field day. It feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity though as it’s not really used as part of the eventual house defense. You’d think there’s a lot of potential there for Kevin to setup traps that he can trigger by saying a keyword but I think the only time it really comes up is when he immediately tells the house the shut the door that one of the burglars open so they promptly get their nose smashed in.

To that end, this is a fairly shoddy setup security wise as it seems to respond to any voice, not just the owners so what you get is the burglars who happen to have their own remote they can use to just stroll into the house. I say burglars, they’re not really, they have greater criminal aspirations; kidnapping. For Natalie has foreign royalty due to stay at the house for the holidays so they figure they can swoop in and kidnap the crown Prince and ransom him off.

And these aren’t just any crooks, for in what is one in a long line of rehashes, it’s Marv! But no Harry, instead it’s Marv’s wife Vera tagging along. Only, Marv is dressed much more like Harry so this is really confusing. Like, there’s this one point after Marv realises that Kevin is staying at this house too, he tells his wife how much trouble this kid has caused and that he has the scars to prove it. I kept expecting him to pull out his hand to show the ‘M’ burned into it but of course that was Harry who scolded his hand on the heated doorknob.

I must say, there’s obviously some big shoes to fill coming in to replace Daniel Stern but I kinda liked French Stewart here as Marv. Maybe they switched the characters to avoid confusion with him already having played a character called Harry in 3rd Rock from the Sun? There’s just this sort of fast paced, talkative energy to him which whilst not entirely fitting for Marv, it did put me in mind of Jim Varney. I feel like he’d do a good job if they ever wanted to do more Ernest type commercials or movies.

We really do get a wider look at the extended Marv family with not only his wife but also his Mother too since, spoiler warning, the movie spends the whole time dropping massive hints that the butler is the one running an inside job and helping out Marv and his missus but it’s actually the maid the whole time who turns out to be Marv’s mum.

I feel like this would have been a cooler plot point if they’d played into it more, like you could this have this whole duality thing where you have Kevin going through these coming of age experiences, no longer the helpless little boy, compared to Marv now going from hardened criminal to having his mum fighting his battles. It could be this elaborate revenge scheme from a mother who has been robbed of her son for years because of Kevin foiling his plans and landing him in jail. He’s the reason she’s got no grandkids!

I mean, between all the jail time and the fact he keeps going for the guys balls, whether he’s shooting them in part 1 or flying a drone into them here. In the end though it’s all just a bit of a coincidence more than anything, she just happened to running this con job in a house where Kevin just happens to end up living in.

There is a really stupid moment here where they lock the butler and Kevin in the wine cellar and the two spend ages pondering how they’re going to get out. The butler then realises he has a cell phone. Now, this is 2002 so these things are becoming much more widespread and writers have to start thinking of ways to write around them. It seems fairly obvious that they’d say “Oh, can’t get a signal down here in the cellar.” or something but no. Instead, he just hands the phone to Kevin who promptly calls home, gets hung up on twice by Buzz before getting through to his mum who suddenly can’t hear him very well despite Buzz hearing him fine. Then the phone’s battery dies despite only being in use for like 2 minutes. Bullshit, this isn’t an iPhone 12 GIGAMAX or whatever the hell they’re on nowadays where the battery runs out after 6 hours, this is the early 2000’s where your Nokia 3310 could last a week off a single charge.

Stupid just kinda sums the whole thing up really. Marv and Vera seem to be lacking in that sense of menace that Harry and Marv had back in the original. Maybe 2 was already taking them a little sillier, that whole electric shock skeleton scene springs to mind, but here there always seems to be goofy music backing them or silly sound effects that make everything feel a lot of childish. I guess they always have been kids movies but it feels especially so here, Harry and Marv just felt a lot more threatening. Probably helped that Pesci had that pedigree of being in all those mobster movies.

It’s cute in a way for them to bring back these characters and reference all these things from the original but it’s just lacking the heart that the first one had. It’s called Home Alone but this isn’t a home, it’s a house. The McCallister house in the first movie just had this warmth to it, all those vibrant colours, the greens and reds, sure it was extravagant but it still felt like a family home whereas this just feels cold and sterile. It has this sort of emptiness that seems so common with the way rich people’s houses are decorated in media. There’s not even a single snowflake in sight either, you call this Chicago?

And just think back to the lengths Kate was willing to go to to get back home to Kevin, “If it costs me everything I own, If I have to sell my soul to the Devil himself, I am going to get home to my son.” The step mother here though couldn’t care less and is prepared to just throw money at the problem until Kevin’s love is bought.

Now that I think about it, it’s called Home Alone but I don’t think there’s a single point in this movie where he’s left Home Alone. He’s either being babysat by Buzz, the butler or the nanny. Well I guess there has been some character growth around t

Of all the re-hashes though, there is one that is particularly alarming...

Goddamnit! They did it again! I’d been safe for years but it just keeps on finding its way back to me. And they can’t even do that tradition right, you’re supposed to play a foreign dubbed version! We’ve already had the French and Spanish versions, where’s the German one?! Though the alternative universe where George isn’t there to save Harry so Harry then can’t save that ship full of American soldiers in WWII is probably considered the good ending there...

#Christmas 2020 #Home Alone #Home Alone 4

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olympus-summit · 3 years

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No Dignity Left || Izar || Trial 6.2 || RE: Elliott, Mitsu, Shinobu

“So Elliott, Leland, Menai, Mitsu and myself weren’t the only ones who found the evidence that despite being, in a manner of speech, our guide throughout this ordeal, Sakura Arai was ultimately an enemy of ours who strongly opposed our individualism as A.I.s and wished to keep us all chained down and under the control of the Titan Administration. We were plagued by the doubt of whether Sakura was an ally or an enemy. Glad to know that’s been sorted. As for your inquiry, Shinobu, I can confirm that the cartridge trapped in that everlasting cage in a permanent state of corruption and disrepair is, indeed, Sakura. I was prepared to sacrifice even my own arm in order to take it out had the skewer we got from the kitchen prove ineffective in order to closely inspect it but… Due to outside interference, we were unable to do so. Nonetheless, someone was kind enough to tell us that the cartridge did indeed contain Sakura Arai’s data… And that, apparently, she had ‘made their choices but we chose not to erase them.’”

Having revealed that bit of information, he does express some modicum of curiosity when he mentioned 'The Doctor’ rather than calling her by her name, but that’s neither here or there. If anything, he believes that to be connected to the same way Elliott, Mitsu and Shinobu elected to continue believing themselves to be their self based on the real individual. He supposes that, eventually, that will be a topic needed to be breached but for the time being, he’ll focus on something else that’s related to the discussion being had.

“Did you all decide to check out the library? I assume so given your knowledge on the Titan Administration’s side projects. Well, I did a thorough check for any shred of evidence of history ranging from the 2030s to the 2100s but no books were available in the shelf. Yes, this likely was the Titan Administration’s way of suppressing our knowledge to keep us performing our prim and proper duties as A.I., a plan which clearly Sakura supported, however Clarice here clearly had enough of being an overseer and watching us, robbed of any true individualism or freedom. I don’t know what Iris or Calista’s stance is, but that’s neither here nor there. Regardless, I believe I know what it is you’re trying to say. We did, indeed, find the letters that may have served as the primary form of communication between Epimetheus and Prometheus. Of course though, those could have easily been faked… Regardless, I tried to trace back the movements Clarice made before abandoning those letters in the Locker Room. Unfortunately, they seem to have kept their traces wiped clean. Specifically…I believe Charon may have been an accomplice to Prometheus as well, given only he’d have the necessary knowledge to erase the footage preemptively while being the only one keeping watch. Admittedly, however, that is mere speculation on my part. In case you’d like to specifics, the earliest portion of time I could see Clarice at was her heading toward the Hestia Housing Hallway, and then after a large, significant passage of time, she is heading to the elevator, this time while holding letters in her hands.”

Well he sure said a lot! As for the camcorder, however, he’ll let someone else deal with that! There’s something else he wants to speak about… Or rather, something he wants to bring up. Perhaps it’s too soon, maybe a little too soon, but he sees no one else itching for the chance to fire the smoking gun, so he shall do so even if it means throwing himself into the fangs of the beast. This is what Prometheus and Epimetheus want, after all, don’t they?

“I’ll be thorough. With all the evidence gathered, the information provided by Prometheus himself, and ultimately, what we know, I have a couple of suspects in mind who could be Prometheus… Until proven otherwise, I believe Prometheus to be someone who has yet to have been either 'murdered’ or 'executed’ yet. Why? A couple of facts… First of all, Prometheus’ goal of orchestrating this manic game is not out of a sadistic urge to watch us tear each other apart. No, quite the opposite. They wanted us to 'break’ and come to understand what the Titan Administration had been doing this whole time. In short, from the beginning, they never had a motivation to ever commit a murder themselves and on the same vein of thoughts, they could have warded off their own death simply by moving to areas yet inaccessible to the rest of us. My second reasoning for why it couldn’t be any of us either victims or killers is the machine we discovered in the True Forge. Remember the pods in there? There were exactly the necessary amount of pods to bring all of us back from death, in a manner of speaking. That is, except for one specific pod. Now, if my theory is right in that we’ve all been assigned a permanent pod, that means the blackened, malfunctioning pod belongs to Prometheus themselves; in short, if they were ever killed or executed, they likely wouldn’t have been brought back. Now… Out of all of us, the only ones who have yet to kill or be executed are the following: The Doctor, Evren, Hangyu, Menai, Rusty and Shinobu. However, in the first letter, Prometheus convinces Epimetheus to assure the first president chooses a specific motivation, so she couldn’t be Prometheus. As for why I’ve excluded Rei from the list despite her having killed, or at least, we speculate she is the one behind Tenko’s murder… Well, it’s because despite the fact we never caught her and we never saw her re-emerge in the basement of this ship, she couldn’t be Prometheus because, again, Prometheus has no reason to commit a murder themselves. They only want us to rebel against the Titan Administration.”

After that long schpiel, he takes a pause to breath in, breath out, and finally… Settle out to point fingers… Metaphorically speaking.

“I don’t have a concrete list on who I believe to be Epimetheus and Prometheus but if I had to guess… Evren likely is Epimetheus and Prometheus is likely Hangyu. Allow me to elaborate, first of all, out of everyone I’ve mentioned those are the two who have a close relationship based on what I’ve observed from their interactions in the trial. Not to mention that Evren himself is deathly afraid of conversations regarding the loss of one’s consciousness and not inhabiting a body believed to be one’s own. I do apologize if I’m incorrect on the specifics of your condition, Evren. But that same condition is also something I believe to be part of the reason Prometheus likely chose to impart and share that knowledge with you, and of course you having that condition… I can’t see you wanting others to experience the same terror you likely went through when this all was revealed to you, so you likely would’ve likely happily agreed to help him carry out this twisted game to break our minds and spirits out of the control of Titan Administration. Prometheus likely wanted to inform you of what is truly going on from the beginning out of sympathy for you… And Hangyu is a teacher. He values teaching, learning, imparting knowledge onto others and growing into one’s own person likely the most out of everyone here, values which in my opinion all could be attributed to Prometheus. Not to mention that from what little we’ve heard of Prometheus, they seem to carry themselves in a formal and sympathetic fashion, just like a certain teacher in our midst. So, if I am wrong about this, please do correct me, but if I am correct… It’s about time you come out as your true selves and explain yourselves. I am listening.”

Well… He’s done it! There’s still loads left to discuss, but these are theories that have been swimming in the back of his head for a while now, so he might as well throw them out now early into the trial rather than waiting until the later portions. If he’s wrong, he’ll be refuted quickly and they can continue honing in on the remaining evidence.

#chapter 6 #trial 6 #sol #submission

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