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negrek · 5 years

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How to Plan a Trip in Under Two Hours

And now for something completely different! A friend of mine recently asked me for some tips on travel planning, since she often feels overwhelmed when she tries to get started. I figured I might as well throw this up here as well, in case anyone else would find it interesting or useful.

Okay, travel tips! I'm going to assume for the purposes of this post that you already know where you're going, on a level of "what country," and what time you might want to go there, on a level of "starting and ending month." If you don't have that worked out yet, I can describe how I decide where/when to go if you like. Also, if you have in mind some specific activity you want to do in the place you're going ("I want to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!") the process will be different (and easier!) than this. So: target country, target month.

Just as a disclaimer, everybody has different needs and preferences when they travel. I tend to be more on the loosey-goosey end, with relatively minimal planning. Obviously this makes things a lot less overwhelming! But if you really like having a set schedule, would feel much more secure knowing where you're going to be at a given time on any given day, know where all your meals are coming from, etc., I highly recommend that you consider a packaged tour or travel agent rather than planning your own trip. It's totally possible to figure things out down to that level of detail on your own, but if you tend to get overwhelmed by options, it will be way easier to have somebody else work things out for you. You can also do some kind of packaged or pre-planned trip and then tack a couple of extra days on at the end to have to yourself and use that time as a kind of practice for planning a longer trip; that way you can feel secure in that the majority of the work is handled for you and you'll know what to expect for most of the trip, but can also get some

That said, I think the most important thing to understand when planning a trip is that it is NEVER going to be perfect. You are NEVER going to get to do all the things you were hoping to get to do. You are NEVER going to be able to get the absolute best deal on everything. You WILL screw up and get suckered by the expensive tourist-y option, you WILL accidentally schedule something such that you end up not having the time to visit $landmark that you were dying to see, you WILL end up having disappointing experiences as well as great ones.

I think the huge proliferation of travel information available has kind of created this illusion that if you're smart and determined enough you can plan the MOST ENJOYABLE vacation that is also the CHEAPEST and "MOST AUTHENTIC" while visiting the optimal locations, eating only at the tastiest restaurants, etc. etc. This is not true! Even ignoring that online reviews are lies and everyone's preferences differ so the "best" experiences may not actually be the best for you personally, there is literally nothing the internet can do to stop you from having a bad oyster at what should have been a perfectly safe restaurant and then spending the next day horking your guts up instead of visiting Extremely Photogenic Waterfall Paradise. You can't, from hundreds to thousands of miles away, figure out what the best things to do are in a place you've never set foot in. On the other hand, the best way to figure out a travel itinerary is to visit somewhere; after a few days there you will absolutely know whether you have any intention of ever returning and, if you do want to return, a whole big list of things you want to do/see next time.

So it's more important to pick SOMETHING and just get there than it is to pick THE BEST THING. You'll have plenty of opportunities to change your mind later if you decide you really don't like what you've landed on, too. What you really need is a set of reasonable defaults and rules of thumb to fall back on when you have an overwhelming number of choices. If you do a lot of traveling, you will learn what works for you and develop these pretty fast. If you're feeling a bit lost, I'm about to give you a whole big list of them, and hopefully that will help to get you travelling so you have the opportunity to learn what your own are and develop a routine that suits you.

Just remember that these are reasonable and defaults and specific to me. They're supposed to keep you from overoptimizing, from wandering around airline discount mailing lists fretting about whether you could save $300 on your ticket if you just looked at one more web site (spoiler no you can't, if you really love deal-hunting or are on a tight budget airline scrounging can really pay off but otherwise don't even worry about it). So if at any point you look at some advice I give and go "whaaaaat no that sounds terrible," that's great! It means you have a clear preference about something that happens to be different than mine, and you should go with what makes the most sense to YOU. These recommendations are intended as guidelines to follow if you're feeling a bit lost, not the be-all and end-all of travel advice.

Let's get started!

Know where you're going and when, but not sure how long you should stay? Congratulations, you're staying for a week. Your budget is $1200. If you're planning to go somewhere that will require you to fly more than six hours, your budget is instead $2000 to account for airfare. There's virtually nowhere on earth where those figures aren't going to cover you, for the vast majority of the globe they're downright extravagant, and if you happen to have chosen one of those places where they won't cover you, you'll KNOW.

Now, where to go in $country? You may have some vague ideas already. For example, if you haven't been to France before and you aren't going for some specific purpose, you're going to Paris. Just accept it. You're going to Paris. If the options aren't obvious to you, or you want a better sense of what's out there, go to Google Flights. It has the neat feature that you don't have to put in a specific destination to find flights. Put in your home airport and the country you'd like to go to and it will bring you to a page that displays the major air destinations in that country along with an approximate price for a round trip to each one. Take a look at the prices. If any of them make you go, "Mein GOTT!!" just at a glance, cross that destination off your list.

Even in a fairly large country, there probably aren't more than four or five cities with regular flights that look comfortable in your budget. That's great! Take your list of four or five, and if you aren't familiar with them, Google them. Look up their Wikipedia pages. Search "top 10 things to do in $city." Spend no more than twenty minutes on this. You're not trying to figure out an itinerary or get a fine-grained look at each place. You're trying to get a general impression: is this place your history-and-culture kind of city? Lazy beach getaway? Outdoor adventure paradise? I recommend looking up general climate/weather conditions for the month you expect to be there in as part of this exercise, because they can vary surprisingly widely within a country, and "miserable rain 24/7" is a great way to eliminate destinations from your list.

Now pick your top two cities based on what you feel like at the moment (e.g. low-key lying in the sun kind of vacation vs ALL THE NIGHTLIFE vs arts and culture, or a mix). You're flying into one and out of the other. (If there's one place that seems super interesting and you think you'd be amply entertained spending the whole week there, great! Two is just your maximum.)

Another of my rules is that I won't schedule fewer than three days in one place. Packing up and moving cities, even if it's just a quick half-hour hop, is a real hassle and eats up a surprising amount of time. Having to go through the whole rigamarole more frequently than once in three days is too exhausting for me to bother with. So, vacationing for a week, and you have to visit each place for at least three days, and there are two places. That means you're in one for four days and the other for three.

Based on the no more than five minutes of Googling you did on it, which of your two cities seems more interesting to you? Okay, you're going to that one for four days, and also first. Go back to Google flights and plug that in as your destination to get an actual flight list. Do the same, in another tab, for your return flight from city #2. Google Flights shows you a nice calendar with estimated prices on each day of the month. Pick a start/end date that seems reasonably on-budget and convenient to you and take a look at the actual flights.

I will not do flights with more than one connection. I will not do flights with less than an hour connecting time. I will not do flights that leave before 8 AM (it's often hard to find ways to get to the airport pre-6 AM), and I will not do flights that land after dark. Everywhere is just more difficult to navigate at night--consider if you have a picture of your hotel, which will inevitably have been taken in the day, and it will inevitably look nothing like that picture at night. So, no nighttime arrivals. Examine the flight list with these in mind. Go up or down a day if you can't find anything reasonable that fits those criteria, or whatever you may have for your own personal criteria. Pick a departure flight and a return flight that satisfy your constraints. Spend no more than another twenty minutes on this.

So you've got your destinations and your flights! The hardest part is now behind you. Next up is accommodation. As you can tell, Google Flights is my "reasonable default" for airline tickets. For lodging, my go-to is usually Hostelworld, although Googling "hostel $city" works perfectly fine. I'm guessing you might want to stay somewhere where you aren't going to have to worry about an unscrupulous roommate stealing your shoes, though, so I'd Google "hotel $city" instead. If you travel frequently enough you'll learn what booking sites you like or don't and come up with your own reasonable default; Google will do you well enough until then. Or, if you're comfortable with/excited by the idea of AirBNB, that makes a fine "reasonable default" hotel alternative.

Your budget should give you roughly $100 to spend a day, and you should expect lodging to represent roughly a third to 40% of that. This means you're going to be looking for something on the order of $30-$40 per night. In a lot of places, that's going to be a damn fine hotel! In a western European country, you're probably going to need to be tacking "budget" onto the front of that Google search. Nevertheless, don't panic if you can't find anywhere that seems like it doesn't contain axe murderers and giant rodents for under, say, $65 per night or so. All that means is you're probably going to have to spend a day availing yourself of your destination's lovely "free" or "under $10" attractions and eating food from the grocery store to make up the difference, which is about as "local" as it gets, so enjoy living like a citizen of $city for a day!

In any case, look at what's available in your price range. The primary deciding factor is going to be location. You need something easily accessible by public transportation. Even if you know for sure you want to rent a car and go out and do car-requiring things, you do not want to rent a car and then venture forth into a traffic system you've never experienced before in an unfamiliar city after being stuck in a cramped airplane seat for probably way too long. Be kind to yourself and pick the first reasonably-priced hotel option that is within 10 minutes' walk of a transit stop. You can figure out what hotels fall into this category by going to Google Maps, entering the name or address of the hotel, hitting "Directions," and then entering "subway stop" (or "bus stop," or whatever the primary mode of public transportation there is in the city--you can Google that if you need to).

Repeat this process for your second destination. That's your accommodation! You are now virtually done planning your trip! In fact, the only thing left is figuring out how to get from city A to city B. If you're going somewhere in Europe, I suggest the classic rail option. Anywhere else, because I'm a cheapskate, it's the bus. (And I'll even bus in Europe because, again, cheapskate.) In some countries you may need to take a flight, but I'd typically start with train or bus. This can get annoying if there are a lot of different bus/rail options, since unlike with planes there are few aggregator sites (and the ones that do exist suck), but it's at least a straightforward process: Google "bus city A city B" or "train city A city B" and have a look at that first page of search results. My rules for busing/training are generally the same as for flying, so take a look at your options and pick the first one that seems tolerable.

And you're done! If you haven't already, you can now make those flight and hotel reservations and perhaps even buy your $transit ticket to get you from one place to another.

You may have noticed, though, that you still have no idea what you're going to actually do in those places you settled on. Not a problem! This is the fun part, and you can enjoy picking stuff out at your leisure between now and whenever you're actually leaving on your trip. There is literally no place on earth that has a major airport and yet is so boring that you can't possibly keep yourself entertained for three days, so I guarantee you don't have to worry about finding things, provided you did your earlier mini-Google and therefore know that you didn't accidentally book yourself into jungle adventure city!!! when what you were really looking for was hang out at artsy cafes city.

Again, as you travel more, you'll figure out some reasonable default activities that will be available pretty much anywhere you'll go and that you can reliably fall back on if you're overwhelmed. Personally, I like to do a walking tour as close as possible to first thing, simply because they're a fantastic way to get oriented in a new place and to get an idea of places you'd like to come back to and explore more later, or additional places to check out beyond the tour's limits. As a bonus, they also tend to be pretty cheap. Knowing myself, I also know that there's probably going to be at least one museum and at least one hike/other outdoorsy kind of thing going on in those three days, so I know to direct my searches towards those specific areas. But if you don't have a strong sense of what you'd be into ahead of time, Googling "top things to do in $city" is a great place to start. There's no shame in doing the touristy things everyone else always does, especially on your first visit to a place where you're just trying to see what's out there--there's a reason they're super popular. All the same, don't feel like you have to do any of the big attractions because they're the big ones that you simply must do to properly experience a place or whatever--if you look at a description of something and can already tell you're going to hate it, or even if it inspires no more than a "meh" in you, I hereby give you full permission to skip it without feeling guilty.

My only major other tip is to limit yourself to only one thing per day. For people who can reliably spend less than four hours in a museum (...cough) this may be a bit stringent, so I will permit you to go up to two things per day if you think that only one sounds insane. But consider that the best way to figure out where you might want to go/what you want to see is to actually go to a place and get a sense for what's out there! If you come in with only one thing a day planned you will have the reassurance that you're not going to be sitting in your hotel twiddling your thumbs but will also have ample time to take advantage of cool opportunities that come your way. Also remember that you are not going to see all the things. Not even close. And at least for me there's a much greater chance of trying to do way too much and then having a crappier experience because I'm exhausted and don't actually have the time to enjoy all the different pieces of my itinerary than there is of going somewhere and being bored because I don't have enough to do. Things to do will be hurling themselves into your path all the time, for real. You don't have to worry about planning activities outside of making sure that if there's anything you're dying to see/do you make it a priority. Thus: one thing a day. Try it!

Also my final tip is that those "city passes" and whatever that give access to a huge long list of attractions for a "discount" are without exception a huge ripoff and invitation to huge burnout as you rush around trying to do six things in order to get your money's worth out of them. Finding the best deal on tickets to museums and whatever is another way to easily get sucked into an internet rabbit hole and it is just so not fucking worth it. Life is too short, pay the damn full price and don't worry about it, attraction costs are not what's going to break your budget, unless again you're doing one of a small number of very specific things, in which case you'll KNOW.

I hope you found that helpful! Let me know if you have any questions or want more specific advice about anything or any particular country. I can obviously ramble on about things for ages.

#travel #travel tips

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scapegrace74-blog · 6 years

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Seventeen: Dana Katherine Scully

A/N You ever make a list? A way to compile all the missed opportunities, the transgressions, the warning signs telling you that you’re on the wrong path? Of course you have. Part 17 and last in the series. Part 1 and links to other parts are here. Rated NC-17. Thanks for sticking with me on this big adventure! I’ll be re-working a few areas of the story now that it’s done, and then re-posting the whole thing on AO3.

The stories came to light reluctantly, unearthed like buried evidence. He spared Scully the sordid details, but in recounting each affair he came to a startling revelation: there were things worth remembering amongst the wreckage. Like tacking to starboard and port into a capricious wind, he’d been unknowingly heading inexorably towards the safety of shore. Two or even one year ago, that destination meant answers about his sister and solitude. Now he had a different objective in mind.

In rental cars, hotel lobbies and late-nite diners, over the next few weeks he turned his romantic history over to Scully for safekeeping. It made his belly bottom out like he was crossing a tightrope, but it was a habitual fear, not a genuine one. Scully knew the highs and lows of every other aspect of his life, and in contravention to the laws of physics, found him greater than the sum of his broken parts.

In California again investigating an animal he believed was a Wanshang Dhole, he watched his partner bare her teeth and mark him as her territory with secret delight. She was welcome to chase away every would-be suitor, so long as she continued to submerge him in those bottomless blue eyes and bracket his days with her fierce mind and her quiet understanding. He had sighted the harbour lights, and was navigating towards her as quickly as the fickle sea would allow.

Scully wasn’t privy to this certainty, however, which he realized once the case was over and they were back in Washington, going over their report in her living room.

“So, you said you met Karin Berquist online?”

He was concentrating on deciphering the manic scrawl of his case notes, and didn’t pick up on her vulnerable tone.

“Yeah, on a message board relating to crypto-zoology,” he replied after a long pause.

“Then she wasn’t...” Trailing off into mute frustration.

“Hmmm? Wasn’t what, Scully?” He looked up at last, and saw her staring across the room at his laptop.

“No, Scully. No. She wasn’t the woman you saw me...in Arcadia... I didn’t even know her name, as pathetic as that sounds.”

She nodded and went back to pretending to read the coroner’s report of Dr. Detweiler’s death, but he could tell her mind was elsewhere. She was so unencumbered by self-doubt in their professional lives that he forgot there was a different Scully to account for in private. One that hurt and doubted and sandbagged her heart like every other mortal human. He rose and moved to her side on the couch.

“Did you need to see my notes?” she asked, hands fluttering purposelessly over sheets of paper in a manila folder on her lap.

“No. Hey, Scully. Stop for a second, okay.” He took her tiny hands in his own, trying to get her to look at him.

“I’m not going to chat with her anymore. Not like that. I already told her, as soon as we got back from Arcadia.”

“You don’t need to...” she began.

“Yeah. Yeah, I do. You have my undivided attention, Scully. I need you to believe that. My undivided attention.”

Her wet eyes met his at last and they both exhaled loudly. Their heads were close together, and all it would take was the slightest movement on both their parts to bring their lips together. She kept glancing at his mouth. He knew she wasn’t averse to the idea. Resisting the magnetic pull she exerted, he backed away.

“But there’s still the last round of IVF to consider, and probably a lot more left for both of us to say...”

“One thing at a time,” she said quietly, and he nodded his understanding and went back to his report.

***

Scully’s attempt to bear their child ended in a wash of salt and iron just two weeks’ later. He leaned against her brow in the cool shadows of her apartment as she grieved a wish that refused to be fulfilled. After minutes of holding her to his chest and murmuring softly as to a fretful child, she stepped back, thanked him, and asked for some time alone. The open-ended status of their relationship made that the only choice, so he drove himself home in the rain.

Despite the soul searching her request for his participation in the IVF had precipitated, he hadn’t really thought through what his role as a prospective father meant to him personally. Scully had needed him in a way that could potentially bind them together for eternity. He might have questioned the wisdom of her selection, but he never doubted his dedication to the outcome. For her. He had wanted this pregnancy for her. Being asked to be part of something so monumentally important to her made his head float like a mylar balloon, if he examined it too closely.

But with his shot at fatherhood destroyed along with Scully’s hopes, he considered their future together. They had the work, but the work was theirs at the whim of the FBI. They had a rare and peculiar friendship, but without the structure of their partnership, it felt vulnerable and without form. A child, as selfish as he knew it made him sound, would have been the bridge that linked them forever. There would be no child. He still wanted some permanent connection to her.

Phillip Padgett put into words what he knew in his heart. Agent Scully was already in love. She loved him enough to weep in his arms, as yet more blood that was and yet was not hers stained her skin. He knew the dimensions of his love for her when her grief hurt more than his own.

***

Nothing soothed him quite like the slow waltz of baseball. The acrid, loamy smell of the pitcher’s mound, the fluency of muscles swinging through, and the perfect parabolic arc of a well-struck ball. It was oil to the choppy waters of his soul. He lured Scully from her quiet apartment in the hopes it might ease her burdens as well.

She was warm and giddy in the fold of his body. The crack of the bat combined with her throaty giggle aroused him, and for once he did not hide it from her, rubbing his crotch lightly against her rump. Finally, as the day grew old, they separated and sent the ball boy home with a generous tip.

“That was fun, Mulder. Thank you.” They were picking up a few stray foul balls that had dropped behind the dugout fence, and her face was a contrast of bright and dark painted by the halogen lights. He really wanted to kiss her where the berry-stained plush of her upper lip met ivory skin.

“Not a bad attempt for a first date.”

She froze, mid-bend. “Is that what this was? A date?” She sounded unsure of both her question and the answer.

“I... I want it to be. Scully, you have to know that I...”

“I do, Mulder. I know. But it’s too soon after... everything. And we still need to talk some more.”

“So, hands before hips, then? Did I teach you nothing tonight?” He grinned, and was relieved when she returned it. She’d seemed so small and sad a moment before.

“A new concept for you, huh Mulder?”

“Just another one of the crazy things you’ve talked me into, Scully.”

***

He’d been inside her mind, and it was like bathing in a glacier-fed stream. Bracing. Rigourous. And so pure it was like looking through glass.

His extra-sensory abilities were fading slowly, but he could still read her thoughts as they stood under the chuppah of his doorframe and spoke vows like “constant”, like “touchstone”.

I cannot bear to hurt you as they have. I can’t kiss you, and then break your heart. Be patient with me, Mulder. It’s a long walk for me to meet you where you stand.

He nodded his understanding, and she left.

***

He and Jade had watched the Big Apple drop in Times Square one year, huddling together in the lee of a building, trying to keep their backs to the cold wind. It had been a while, but he still knew what he should do with a beautiful woman at midnight, on the cusp of a new millennium.

Scully’s lips felt as opulent as they looked. Like an eider down duvet on a cold day. Like kissing a cloud. He held himself in check, just allowing the barest introduction of conjoined breath before he pulled back and read the epistle of her upturned face.

“The world didn’t end,” he informed her, surprised at how calm he felt. Love without a healthy side of fear or dread or shame wasn’t a language in which he was conversant.

“No, it didn’t.”

Something was wrong, but she allowed him to guide her towards the elevator and down to the parking lot.

“How are you feeling?” she asked as she adjusted the driver’s seat of the rental car.

“Alright, considering. Looking forward to getting home and finding out if my mollies survived the zombie apocalypse.”

“Could... could we talk, first? At my place?”

His gut fizzed and his mouth grew dry, but he simply nodded, and said “Yeah. Wake me when we get there.”

Scully’s apartment was its usual haven of soft upholstery and oak furniture. He sat on her sofa and watched her go about her routine; putting the kettle on to boil, stashing her garment bag behind her closet door. She seemed ill at ease, but it wasn’t directed at him. With patience learned over the previous seven years, he waited until she was ready to say what was on her mind.

“I need to ask you something, Mulder, and I’m afraid of what it might mean to us.”

"Are you mad at me? Because of earlier?” Off her confused look, he specified, “The kiss.”

“No, I’m not mad. I’m glad you kissed me, Mulder. It was sweet. Unexpected. But it reminded me that there is still some unfinished business between us that needs to be attended to before... well, before.”

He nodded, unsure where she was going.

“You’ve told me about your past relationships. Fifteen. Fifteen lovers.”

“Yes.”

“And I need to know why you didn’t tell me about Marita.”

He sat up straighter and looked her in the eye where she stood across the room.

“I never slept with Marita, Scully. She made it pretty clear she was open to the idea, but it was such a strange time. I was working with Ian and trying to be better, and well, I never took her up on it.”

This only seemed to make Scully more nervous, and a terrible idea began to form.

“Did someone tell you I’d slept with her? Is that what you meant, when you called me a hypocrite after Philadelphia? Because they were lying, Scully. I don’t know how to make you believe me, but the last time I had intercourse was while you were missing. I told you about it, and about how afterwards Elizabeth put me in touch with Ian, and I started to see him after you came back.” He was speaking with the fervour of a condemned man, and Scully just looked more and more sad.

“I saw... on the paperwork for the IVF... you filled in 1994 where they asked about your last sexual partner, and I knew then. I mean, I guessed.”

“What? You’re scaring me, Scully.”

Instead of answering him, she went to her desk, opened the bottom drawer, and withdrew a VHS tape. She handed it to him as though it was radioactive.

“This was delivered to me, not long after you came back from Russia. It’s a recording. Of you. And Marita.”

He shook his head as though trying to dislodge a pest.

“Then it’s a fake, Scully. I went to her apartment in New York with Krycek. I told you that. She was the one who arranged for my visa into Russia. But I never...” He trailed off, memories surfacing.

“I know it’s you, Mulder. There’s audio. You, ummm, you call out my name.”

“Jesus.” He was numb. Paralyzed with confusion and anger and mortification.

“You don’t remember, do you? Whatever she did to you, it was without your consent.”

“I remember falling asleep on her couch while we waited for the visa. I had a strange dream. Something about the Arctic, being cold. When I woke up, several hours had passed, and the visa had arrived. That’s... what’s on the tape, Scully? I need to see, right now.”

Knowing there was no use in arguing, Scully loaded the disk into her machine. The picture was grainy. The camera must have been positioned behind gauzy drapes. But there was nothing wrong with the audio. By the time his younger self came, he was fighting the urge to vomit or throw something substantial at the television Scully’s hand on his thigh brought him back inside himself.

“I think we both know what this is about, Mulder. Somebody wanted to drive us apart, and this video was the wedge. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they were harvesting your, uh, genetic material at the same time.”

“It almost worked. You were so angry with me, and I couldn’t understand why. I mean, I was being a pigheaded asshole, but no more than usual. And then Ed Jerse, and...”

“But it didn’t work. We’re here now. And we can try to bring her to justice.”

“There’s no restitution with these people, Scully. Our victory is that we’re still here.”

“Together.”

“Yes. Together.”

They sat in thoughtful silence in her darkened living room as the first hours of the newborn millennium fell backwards into history. He wondered if the Y2K prognosticators hadn’t been right, in some metaphysical sense. His life to date and all the struggle and masochism it entailed seemed part of another world; one he would gladly leave behind to start with a clean slate, here in her cozy Georgetown apartment.

“It’s late,” she remarked, breaking his contemplation.

“Hmmm.”

“You could, umm, you can stay here. If you want.”

Without asking, he knew what she was proposing. It was tempting. So very tempting. A symbolic rebirth to mark the moment where everything that could hurt him had been exposed in the safe place between them. But using sex to bury the past was a hallmark of his old self, in that before-world. If he was starting fresh, he was doing it right.

“Not tonight, Scully. I want... it’s got to be about moving forward. Not looking back.”

He was worried she’d be hurt by his rejection, but one look in her eyes and he knew she understood. She understood better than anyone.

“Plus, I rather enjoyed our baseball date. Maybe I want another one. A little more fondling over sporting equipment. A whole lot of flirting. Maybe I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t give it up that easily.”

She snorted to indicate her opinion on his latest wild theory.

“You’ve given me a lot of anecdotal evidence that says otherwise, Mulder.”

He knew she was teasing, but he clarified anyway.

“This is different, Scully. This is the one time I’m going to get it right.”

***

Flirting with Scully was fun. Fondling her even funner. Their work was dire, isolating and dangerous, and despite what their colleagues might believe, they were both consummate professionals. But even a harrowing case left small cracks through which a little pleasure could creep. They still challenged, disagreed, bifurcated and reunited at a common conclusion. The only difference was now their bodies leaned, glanced, parted and pleased all the while.

***

After shooting Donnie Pfaster, Scully hid in his apartment for three days. The ostensible reason was that her place was a crime scene. In truth, she came to his home to look for herself. The foundations of her moral edifice had been shaken, and he was her bedrock. He was humbled, and he made a quiet space for her in his previously forsaken bedroom. They co-habitated chastely until their final night, when Scully grabbed the remote, extinguished the Knicks’ game mid-third quarter, dug her little knees into the buttery leather of his sofa on either side of his hips, and kissed his proverbial socks off.

“Thank you, Mulder,” she breathed as they finally broke for air.

“Three days of remembering to put the toilet seat down seems a small price to pay, if you’re going to keep kissing me like that.”

“I’d thank you properly for sacrificing your comfortable new bed for three nights, but it’s-”

“Not the right time, I know.”

“It’ll happen, Mulder. Knowing us, at the least likely, inopportune moment.”

“I have a dentist appointment next Wednesday. Nice reclining chair. Bright lights. Access to laughing gas.”

She shook her head in mock dismay, rust-coloured tendrils sweeping across his upturned face. He tapped her lightly on her ass.

“Until then, you’d best be getting off my lap, Miss Scully.”

***

There was a certain inevitability in his mother’s death, and in wrapping up his near-thirty year quest to find out what happened to Samantha. The Fox Mulder who measured the distance covered by every day and decision against the yardstick of his past failures had entered chrysalis shortly after meeting Dana Scully. He emerged now, with the heavy weight of his guilt molting away and leaving him fledgling and raw.

He sensed Scully’s worry for him. He wished he could explain how his grief, once given voice, left him feeling purged and new. Reborn.

***

He yo-yoed between fear for her safety and anguish that the ground had once again shifted beneath the precarious balance of his trust. When she finally re-appeared and told him her story of willing complicity with the Smoking Man, he made sure to place a wide expanse of floor between them, for fear that he would start shaking her and never stop.

“I had to do it, Mulder. I wish there had been another way, and I tried to get a message to you.”

“What did he promise you? What made the risk worthwhile?”

“I told you. A cure for cancer.”

“As altruistic as you are, Scully, you’re also not a fool. You might have wished that CancerMan had access to that kind of medical breakthrough, but you wouldn’t have bet your life on it. No, there was something else. Something you don’t want to tell me about because you’re afraid of how I’ll react.”

“You really are too smart for your own good, Mulder.” She sighed, and seemed resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going to let this issue drop.

“It’s been remarked upon before. Come on, Scully. Tell me the secret, selfish payoff that he duped you with. A private parking spot at Hoover? A limitless shoe budget?

“A baby,” she whispered, and he choked on the sharp bone of his arrogance.

“Jesus, Scully. How... he didn’t...god, Scully, please tell me he didn’t...” Now he was dizzy with panic and guilt.

“No, Mulder. Nothing like that. He said... he said he wanted to give us something. Give us something back. Something that had been taken from both of us.”

For once in his life, he had no words. The anguish and hope and rage and love that swirled in him like galaxies took away his voice, and he grasped her hand instead and simply held on.

***

He’d wanted to take Scully to England. He’d pictured her, her Celtic features and Old World reserve, there amongst the hedgerows and cobble stones. It would be an exorcism of sorts - replacing the ghosts in his memories with her familiar presence.

He understood her unwillingness to play into his schemes, though. Despite their nearly symbiotic relationship, they were still very different people. His obsessions were not her own, and she had autonomy stamped on her DNA. She said “take a bath”, but what she meant was “not be subsumed by the enormity of your beliefs”.

They parted at Dulles with a lingering kiss. As enjoyable as having her accompany him would have been, having someone to come back to was even better. But the Scully he returned to several days later was different. Transformed, although still intrinsically her. Over tea she spoke, quietly and deliberately, about the unlikely path that had led her to him. He marveled at the parallel and meandering journeys two dissimilar people could take to a place where the only answer to the existential “why?” was each other.

She fell asleep, trusting and emptied of doubt, and he covered her and retired to his bedroom. Once a symbol of the comfort he felt unworthy of, his bed now lay patiently awaiting the conclusion of their story. He would never feel deserving of Scully, any more than a wave was deserving of the shore. She was the only journey’s end that he could imagine, the only one he’d ever know. She was the porch light to his roaming soul.

Content in that knowledge, he drifted just beyond consciousness. Soft feet padded to the edge of his dream. He opened his eyes to find Scully standing beside his bed, a corona from the soft glow of the living room haloing her perfect, naked form. His skin crackled under a wash of adrenaline.

“It feels like the right time to do this the right way,” she whispered, touching his warm cheek.

“Yes.” And he lifted the sheets and welcomed her in.

Love is a mirror that reflects what it finds. When it’s right - fated, enduring - it radiates the light it sees outward into infinity, like the stars.

#my writing #x-files #wip #seventeen

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jj-lives · 5 years

Note

Do you think you will write more brittana?

Okay!! Fine! Heres something ive been hidding away from back in the day. Ill post it in parts here if people want me to continue. Probably 8 parts about this size. Mostly written just need to re-edit the rest.

Dude Ranch part 1 - Brittana

It’s warmer than I anticipated out in the open. The minuscule breeze isn’t enough to cool me but has just enough force to blow a few stubborn strands of hair from behind my ears and into my eyes. I think, too late, that I should have redone my ponytail before it became a problem. It’s hot but I’m convinced the bead making its way down the curve of my jaw has nothing to do with the heat. It tickles as it makes its way down my neck but I don’t dare wipe it away.

My nostrils flare and I hold my breath for a three-count to halt a sneeze from forming as dust from the ground is churned up. My palms dampen and I tighten my hold. It’s difficult to both relax my muscles and concentrate at the same time.

Just once, please, I beg.

I take a steadying breath and release it as I tighten the muscles in my left leg. I raise my left hand slightly, enough to be noticed but not too much. My body shuffles to the right a half step. I release, relax my leg and lower my arm. I can’t believe it. Ecstatic isn’t the word for it. I’m over the moon! All I want to do is jump for joy but I can’t and it takes more than enough self control to refrain from squealing.

I reach down and run my hands over the velvet softness beneath me before sitting up again. I give myself a metaphorical pat on the back and sigh in relief knowing my job here today is done.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, can ruin my mood right now.

“Lopez!” I hear a shout from behind me.

Before the noise even dies from my boss’ lips a prayer is leaving my own. It’s to no avail. Within a millisecond I feel my body lean back as Buckshot’s hind quarters lower. He jumps forward lowering his head as far as he can reach to tear the reins from me. I try to tighten my hold but the sweat has my hands sliding down the roughened leather so fast I know I’ll have rope burn.

Shit! I’ve just lost all of my leverage.

The air gets punched out of me as my body is jostled forward, my gut coming in contact with the hardened horn of my saddle. Finally, my instincts kick in and I tighten my legs securely around Buckshot’s girth. My body is flung backwards, then forwards again. It’s the worst feeling in the world, worse than the scariest fair ride, to know that another, stronger being than you is in control and there’s very little you can do about it. I have enough control over my body to stop myself from hitting the saddle horn again. I frantically reach to tighten the loosened reins but I keep losing my grip with each time the fifteen hundred pound animal kicks up.

I’ve been on enough horses to know Buckshot isn’t about to tire himself out. He’s not going to stop until I am on the ground or I’ve gained control. I try again to reach further down the reins closer to the bit but my hand won’t tighten on the leather anymore, the rope burn starting to take effect. I swear under my breath and look up. I’m in the middle of the arena which is good. The last thing I need is Buckshot trying to brush me into the rails to get me off his back.

I prepare myself. I keep my calves tight behind his front legs and move with him, forward and back, again and again. I breathe, deep and steadying.

I don’t have to wait long before Buckshot shoots to the right. I kick my feet out of the stirrups and fling my body to the left in one smooth movement.

The landing could have been softer and I immediately make a mental note to tell the maintenance manager to add another truckload or two of sand to this arena.

The air is knocked out of me again and I wheeze to fill my lungs. My body spasms trying to make my collapsed lungs work. I turn on my side and try to breathe deep. I gasp in a small amount of air and I try again and again. Soon I’m able to take normal amounts of air into my oxygen deprived body but it burns with each inhale. As soon as I can I sit up clutching my stomach with one arm and lean up on the other. Across the arena Buckshot stands still, head level with his withers and eyes trained on me. The staring contest is broken when he snorts and licks his lips.

That bastard!

I stand up and dust my jeans off, not that it helps at all but it gives me a second to assess if there are any broken bones. I don’t find any injuries besides the pinkish hue added to each of my palms. I’m definitely going to need to rub salve on them later.

As I make my way toward Buckshot he stands perfectly still. I don’t know why my first assumption was to think he would bolt. I pause, deciding what’s the best way to handle this. He needs to know that I do not tolerate bucking for any reason, whether he was scared or not. But as I open and close my hands and listen to my raspy breathing I know I don’t have the strength to fight with him for the required time he would need to learn the lesson. At this point I’d be doing more damage than good so I reach out and grab the reins dragging in the dirt and turn towards the gate. I’m mad, I hate not having the upper hand and this feels like surrendering. Buckshot falls obediently in line behind me and even goes as far as pushing his nose into the small of my back gently. Any other time I would think it was cute, this time it pisses me off more than I already am.

When I get to the gate Burt is there to open it for me.

“Wow, that was some wreck you just had.” He supplies like I hadn’t just experienced it first hand.

“Yeah, he was fine when it was quiet out here.” I can’t really tell my boss he was the reason for Buckshot startling in the first place but the dig is there and I see Burt flinch. Technically it isn’t Burt’s fault. It just means I need a lot more time sacking Buckshot out. There was no reason for him to react that way but I hate being interrupted when I’m working and I’m disappointed that my good mood is ruined. Burt might be less likely to interrupt me next time and that’s all I want at the moment. Well, that and getting home to nurse my bruises for the next couple days. But I’m disappointed that I’ll have to start all over with Buckshot when I come back from my days off. We’ve made so much progress this past week. Maybe, by some miracle, he won’t be affected by what happened today.

A girl can dream can’t she?

“Do you have a minute to talk?” Burt catches up to me after closing the arena gate. Well at least I won’t have to come back here to close it.

“About what?” I ask without looking at him. “If it’s about the Johnson’s mare I rode her earlier and she’s coming along great. Like I told them, I need another couple weeks with her and then she can go home.” I rub my ribs on my left side and inhale sharply, definitely bruised.

“No, no, the Johnsons are really impressed with what you’ve done with her. They phoned me yesterday to compliment you. They said they barely recognize her she’s so calm now.”

“Okay, then what’s this about?”

I enter the stable and exchange Buckshot’s bridle for a halter before tying him beside the tack room. I wince as I tighten the knot. I’m so going to be cursing my hands for the next week.

Burt jumps forward before I can make my way to the saddle, “I’ll get that!” He says way too chipper. He loosens the girth strap and lifts the saddle off Buckshot’s back before disappearing into the tack room. I grab a brush and start brushing the black hair flat where the saddle messed it up. When Burt returns he smiles a little too wide at me. I’m starting to get suspicious. Did he take in another client’s horse even though I’m overbooked as it is? Did he forget to order grain again and is now about to ask me to run to town to get some?

“Brent’s girlfriend just went into labour.” His smile must be stuck on his face.

“Well good for them. Isn’t it a little early though? I thought she wasn’t due for another two weeks.”

“She wasn’t,” Burt supplies as he grabs a brush and drags it down Buckshot’s other side. I glance over Buckshot’s withers and Burt averts his eyes. “The doctors said nothing is wrong with the baby. Just that it wanted to arrive early. But this means Brent needs the weekend off.” Burt sighs.

I shrug and throw my brush in the bucket I retrieved it from. I’m about to reply, saying that there are plenty of hands to help feed horses and clean stalls, when I remember the date.

“Hell no!” I grab the lead and quickly untie it before pulling Buckshot toward his stall. I hear Burt follow me.

“But-”

“But nothing,” I cut in.

I make sure there is feed and water in the stall before closing and latching the door behind me.

“I’m going home.” I hang Buckshot’s halter on the hook beside his stall and make my way towards the back of the stables where I parked my truck. Burt’s still following me and he stutters out reasons why I should and why I have to stay. I don’t listen to any of them.

I reach my truck and pull the door open but Burt’s gotten desperate and he rushes forward and slams the door closed before it’s even half open.

“Please!”

“Get Kurt to do it.”

“He’s out of town.”

“Sam.”

“He almost burnt the campsite down last time I tried him.”

“Jamie.” I supply another name.

“She had knee surgery. You know she can’t ride!”

“She walks around the grounds just fine, coulda fooled me.”

“Santana, I wouldn’t ask if you weren’t my last resort. I’ll do anything, just please do this one thing for me.”

I cross my arms over my chest and lean my back against my truck. If I had an excuse I would have played that card but Burt knows I have no plans for this weekend.

“I hate that whole part of this business, you know that!”

“Yes, hence me begging. Please?”

“How many city slickers are coming this time?”

“Four or five. Not many.”

“I want double what you pay Brent.”

“You have got to be kidd-” My face is dead serious and he changes tactics as I reach passed him for my driver’s door. “Fine, okay you win.”

“I’m going home to shower. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” I don’t give him an opening to argue. I just jump in the truck and pull away.

I really, really hate the dude ranch part of Burt’s business. He tries to tell people it’s good for the city slickers to get out into the country and back to their roots. I know better. A bunch of rich business men or women come on retreats and think it’ll be like the old west, like in the movies. They get out here and up in the saddle and I have to watch as they treat these animals like quads more than living things. They kick and yell and “yee haw” so much that their horse gets startled and then they blame the animal for them ending up on the ground.

Not to mention, the guests are supposed to look after their own horses and do the work a real ranch hand would do but all they end up doing is complaining of the smell or how heavy the saddles are and I’m going to be the one having to pick up the slack. Exhaling I keep reminding myself that at least this is a small group.

But even so, this weekend is going to be a nightmare

#my writing #brittana #brittana fic #asks #dude ranch au

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not-a-perfect-metaphor · 6 years

Text

One Summer Day (weecest) pt.1

This is a 4-part story, with parts 1 & 2 being posted right now, one after the other, and the last 2 parts being posted soon. Sam is 16, and the story as a whole is VERY explicit, but parts 1 and 2 work as a stand-alone if you only enjoy moderately explicit weecest, so...yeah! Tagged with “one summer day” if you ever need to search for parts.

Off we ride!

————————

One Summer Day, pt.1

The sand was hot and scratchy against Sam’s back as he stared up into the part of the sky where dark-blue turns to lighter-blue, squinting his eyes against the glare of the sun and tapping his heel to the beat of the song playing too loudly through his headphones.

Dean suddenly loomed over him, shadowing out the light as he bent to a crouch next to Sam with the curl of one of his charming smiles playing around the corners of his mouth, saying something that Sam couldn’t hear and looking like sheer God silhouetted against the sun, all bare muscle and jaw-line and flashing eyes that always made Sam feel a bit like collapsing at the center.

Sam tugged his headphones out of one ear, propping himself up onto his elbows and grinning at his big brother in return, his mouth too-dry in that way it usually was these days when Dean was so solidly in his personal space, and of course this afternoon he was shirtless, too...which was just…

Not fair.

“Wha-what was that?” Sam finally asked, remembering that Dean was still waiting for him to respond to something, “I didn’t, uh, headphones-“

He gestured toward the CD player resting on his bare stomach, and Dean chuckled, grabbing the freed earbud and holding it up to listen while Sam protested in annoyance.

“Huh, looks like I rubbed off on you, after all, Sammy,” he murmured, bobbing his head playfully to The Unforgiven II before tossing the bud back onto Sam’s chest and tousling his hair, “Come on. I met some people. They invited us over for the afternoon, and since Dad won’t be back until tonight, I figured why not, right?”

Sam threw him a small frown at this news, averting his eyes and fumbling aimlessly with the tie on his shorts, his stomach clenching up in what had become an all-too familiar way during the past couple of years.

“What people?” he asked, sounding more sullen than he would have liked and quickly adding, “I mean…whoever they are, they invited you, not me, so it doesn’t really matter, anyway. Why don’t you just go? I’ll walk back to the motel later.”

Dean scoffed at that, rolling his eyes and easing himself down into a cross-legged sit, glancing over his shoulder and signaling something to someone before turning back to Sam.

“Hey, they invited both of us,” he said softly, tacking on another one of his dazzling smiles and pressing the back of his hand to Sam’s heated forehead, “Wouldn’t it be nice to get out ‘a this damn sun somewhere besides that grimy motel room? There’s air-conditioning!”

He winked, flip-flopping Sam’s stomach, heaving himself to his feet again and reaching for Sam’s hand after brushing the loose sand from the backs of his thighs.

“Come on. It’ll be fun. You’ll like ‘em!”

Sam pretended to sigh in exasperation, despite having immediately known that he was going to go with his brother, gathering his player and his sunglasses together under one arm before accepting Dean’s haul to a stand and narrowing his eyes at the small crowd of people waving excitedly at Dean from about fifty yards away.

“Yeah, yeah…I guess. Alright, let’s go.”

—————————

“You want a toke?” Mandy asked, pulling a loosely-rolled joint from her shorts pocket and giving it a little shake in Dean’s direction.

Dean quickly glanced at Sam, nervous and unsure, and Sam huffed in real frustration this time, crossing his arms indignantly over his chest.

“Jesus! I’m sixteen, not ten,” he shot back with another eye roll, drawing a tinkling little laugh from one of the other girls on the porch and causing Dean to throw up his arms in defeat before plucking the joint from Mandy’s fingers.

“Christ, ‘course you are, touchy touchy. I mean, uh, what-you…you want some?”

Sam mulled it over for a few seconds, finally deciding that saying no might directly clash with his declaration about not being a kid anymore and giving Dean a little nod, shifting his weight in his chair and feeling anxious about it despite the fact that Dean had smoked for the first time long before sixteen.

“I’ll help him,” Hannah chimed in, hopping up from her rocker and practically skipping across the porch, “He’s a cutie, huh? Good genes, boys. How old you say you were again, cutie?”

Sam coughed, resenting nearly everything Hannah had said (nearly), but before he could reply either way, Dean stepped in front of Hannah dauntingly, widening his stance and bringing one hand down to rest pointedly on her shoulder.

“Sixteen,” he said loudly, overemphasizing both syllables and reddening Sam’s face with embarrassment, “So hands off. Besides, I’LL help him. He’s my brother.”

Sam groaned, palming his face and kicking out at the backs of Dean’s legs with the toe of his sneaker.

“Oh my god!” he protested, half-wanting to disappear and half focusing still on the fact that Hannah, presumably at least an eighteen year old very attractive girl had called him cute, “Dean! I don’t need anyone’s help. It’s not rocket science…jesus.”

Dean laughed at that, patting down over Hannah’s shoulder, now, to ease any tension that might have briefly arisen and giving his head a little shake.

“Suppose you ain’t wrong about that,” he quipped, flicking at his lighter and inhaling a deep drag off the joint, tapping his heel while he held in the smoke before finally breathing it out in Sam’s direction, perfectly O-ing with his mouth to the “oooh”s and “aaah”s of the four girls and privately winking once again at Sam, extending the joint between two fingers and tossing his lighter into Sam’s lap, “your turn, hurry up though and you won’t have to re-light it.”

“I know how to do it, Dean,” Sam lied through another mild glare, too fuzzy from Dean’s second ‘just-for-him’ wink in an hour to really care too much about anything else and sucking in a heavy lungful of harsh smoke that he coughed out immediately in violent fits and starts, much to Dean’s obvious delight.

“Don’t even think it!” Sam warned ominously as soon as he could breathe again, but Dean just crinkled his face into another low chuckle, grabbing the joint delicately from Sam’s fingers and walking it over to Mandy without a word of teasing.

As soon as he was back, though, he leaned down slightly, shielding his mouth with the back of one hand and sprawling against the wall while the girls passed the joint between them through high-pitched giggles.

“I would have been pissed anyway if you’d smoked with someone else for the first time,” he murmured, heating up Sam’s blood in his veins and quickening his pulse while Hannah shrieked out a laugh at something on the other side of the porch, “So…yeah, I dunno-“

He trailed off, his gaze landing on Mandy as she sauntered back in their direction, wriggling her hips provocatively with each step in a way that made Sam suddenly want to hit her.

“Yoo-hoo, no secret telling, boys!” she chimed, sidling in right next to Dean and offering him the joint again, her other hand snaking eagerly around his shoulders, “How you feeling, Sam, huh? Fun, isn’t it?”

She had her head turned toward him, smiling warmly, and he forced himself to smile back, wondering if she could still tell anyway how much he hated her and finding it very difficult to care as a thick, happy, dulling fog crept in around the edges of his mind, brightening all the colors and slowing down his thoughts to an inching crawl that somehow still felt like a lot more than usual happening all at once inside his head.

Well this was…interesting.

Fuck.

It was going to be a very…very interesting afternoon.

——————————

“What’cha lookin’ at?”

Sam startled from his reverie, glancing up from his spot on the couch to lock eyes with Dean, who was SO close…so close…

How had he gotten that close?

“Wha…I…nothing, the, uh, nothing,” Sam stammered, giving his head a little shake and trying to keep his gaze in the appropriate place as it kept trying, instantly and insistently, to pull down to Dean’s mouth.

Dean grinned brightly, sliding in swiftly next to Sam so thoroughly that their legs were pressed flush together from calf to thigh, his arm looping around Sam’s shoulders and his foot actually weaving over to twine together with Sam’s at the ankle in a way he hadn’t done for at least two years.

Sam wondered if Dean even realized he had done it.

“You’re totally hammered, huh?” Dean teased, his face less than two inches away, nudging with his hip and catching Sam’s breath in his throat alarmingly as he tried desperately to remember any tiny segment of the English language.

Settling for just a weak nod and a laugh that sounded far too…something, Sam mentally willed his pulse to quiet, suddenly terrified that…parts of him…might get overexcited in his highly inebriated state and hastily grabbing a throw pillow to shove unceremoniously over his lap, raising Dean’s eyebrows sky-high.

Goddammit…

He hadn’t even considered what covering his crotch with a pillow would connotate.

Fucking weed.

“I…was…”

He broke off, utterly panicked, his forehead sheening over with a light sweat and his thoughts freezing in place uselessly until Dean offered a tentative-

“The girls, huh?” lowering his voice to a barely audible whisper and fixing Sam with an unreadable expression that Sam would have to interpret later, because right now, a response was needed to save this moment from rapidly spiraling out of control.

He tried to laugh again, swallowing thickly afterward and clearing his staticky, dry throat two-too-many times before finally managing to say, “mhm, ye-yeah, uh-huh,” while Dean continued to intently watch him to a degree that seemed unusual.

Was it?

Damn it…he was too high to even keep the question in his head, let alone answer it.

“One in particular?” Dean pressed, glancing around the room swiftly before honing back in on Sam, his thigh seeming to press even more solidly close and his fingers playing with the sleeve of Sam’s t-shirt in a way that drew all of Sam’s nerves together into a tight bundle directly under the touch.

As if on cue, Hannah chose that moment of all moments to pad over to them across the room with Mandy linked to her elbow, and Sam was certain that Dean would ease away from him…would put at least a small crack of space between their bodies, but…he didn’t.

Smiling casually up at the girls and then back down at Sam, he gestured for them to sit, leaning back into the cushion behind him and continuing to twirl the fabric of Sam’s shirt, his fingertips actually pushing slightly beneath the cotton to brush against the bare skin of Sam’s upper arm.

Sam forced air into his lungs, shivering uncontrollably in a way that absolutely couldn’t have gone unnoticed, but Dean just continued talking smoothly to Mandy and didn’t even skip a beat, now blatantly petting at Sam’s skin while asking the girls what kind of music they had, and Sam just…floundered silently…wondering almost hysterically at this point if maybe he was losing his mind.

“Sound good, Sammy?” Dean purred in his direction, about…fuck…something? and Sam, to his horror, couldn’t even seem to muster out a half-assed response this time, just gaping dumbly at Dean like he’d suddenly gone deaf (which he might as well have) and opening his lips around a nonexistent word, his expression somewhere, he knew, between confused and aroused…and glued to his face no matter how intently he tried to scrub it away.

Dean amazingly still didn’t falter, remaining seemingly unphased and segwaying effortlessly back into exchanging light words with both girls despite their curious, stolen glances at Sam…which only further cemented the fact that Dean not acknowledging his sudden inability to function was…weird. It was weird.

But what the hell did it mean?

“-got the hots for my brother, huh? I guess I can live with it.”

Sam bridled, having at least picked up on that particular snippet of the conversation, and Hannah giggled, actually giggled, turning to wink at him behind Dean’s back and spinning more heavy fog through his head like numbing, tingling cotton candy while Dean continued to coo out suggestive little flirts on his behalf.

What was happening??

Suddenly, before Sam could get through even half of one single thought, Dean was moving his arm, pushing between their bodies and behind Sam to curl around his waist, hauling him in toward the center of the couch like he did things like that every day and cocking his head in Hannah’s direction.

“Made you some room over there, babe.”

Sam’s chest constricted around too many confusing neurons firing up all at once in his brain, realizing with certainty now that Dean was trying to set him up with Hannah…right here, right now, and it made no sense, it made fucking negative sense, because this was Dean, and he wouldn’t-…he never-

“Well hi there, cutie.”

Hannah squeezed in on his left, keening toward him immediately with a hazy-eyed smile and draping a warm hand over the back of his neck.

“Aren’t you just the sweetest? Feeling a bit over the moon, so to speak, huh? Mandy’s got the good stuff, that’s for sure.”

She inched even closer while Sam struggled to process, a big part of him urging his logical mind to just shut up and go with it but the other part of him turning his head toward Dean again, who was…who was...fucking god...palming down Mandy’s chest and side-glancing Sam with an expression that made Sam instantaneously hard…achingly hard, his muscles nearly seizing around the unfathomable hottness of being flush against his brother while he was…while he was…while they were-

Jesus…fuck.

“Go ahead, Sammy,” Dean murmured, his voice low and practically dripping with sex, dragging Sam’s stomach nearly into his throat and pulsing his cock painfully under his shorts, “the other two girls just left, have a little fun, yeah?”

Sam actually groaned out loud, trying too late to swallow it down, his arms pricking wildly with goosebumps as he watched Dean’s eyelids flutter undeniably at the sound.

How they had transitioned from Dean practically locking him in an untouchable box and throwing away the key as far as Hannah was concerned to…to this…was utterly beyond all reason, but Sam stopped even trying to work through it all when Hannah moved up against him with a sexy little moan to kiss his neck, sliding him further into Dean and searing him white hot all the way through to his core.

“Fuck,” he managed to grit out, pawing at Hannah’s back and bucking the pillow from his lap to the floor, “fucking…fuck-“

Hannah made pretty little sounds at Sam’s sudden responsiveness, pressing into him from everywhere and sliding her lips up his jaw-line to finally connect with his mouth, her fingers trailing down his arms and one of her thighs moving to drape across his lap, rubbing against the outline of his cock and dragging a deep, rough sound from his chest that he barely even recognized as his own voice.

Sliding his gaze sideways again while Hannah shifted her weight to half-straddle his lap, his breath hitched almost violently to see that Dean was watching him, blatantly, over Mandy’s head…watching him with blown pupils and heavy lids, his mouth actually curled into a silent growl that spiked immediate daggers of lust through Sam’s insides, his cock leaking and straining through a dizzying rush of blood and his teeth clenching around a frantic groan that seemed to drag up and out from his center...primal and hungry and utterly beyond his control to hold back.

There was a sudden flurry of noise from upstairs that Sam could only barely focus on, still reaching for Hannah, reveling in it, trying to touch her everywhere while sneaking glances at Dean, but Mandy was…hushing them, now, practically leaping from Dean’s lap to grab Hannah by her shoulders and signaling in a haze of panic to Dean.

“Shit! It’s my Dad. He’s home early,” she half-mouthed, half-whispered, jerking her head toward the back door leading up to the porch and scrambling to straighten her shirt while Hannah giggled silently.

“You guys gotta go, out that way, c’mon, hurry up, just-shut it, Hannah! Seriously Dean, I can’t get in more trouble and my dad’ll kick your ass if he finds you down here.”

Dean just stared, open-mouthed, for a long moment, presumably trying to re-access the rest of his brain before finally understanding what was being asked of him and jumping up, hiking Sam to a stand by the front of his shirt and herding him toward the door before tossing a loopy grin behind him in Mandy’s direction.

“To be continued,” he murmured, pushing Sam by the small of his back and steering him breathlessly up the stairs and onto the porch.

“Let’s make a run for it, Sammy, come on!”

#weecest #fan fic #fanfic #ficlet #wincest #sam and dean #dean and sam #sam/dean #dean/sam #young sam winchester #young dean winchester #first time #one summer day

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vegajoyce · 4 years

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Cat Spray To Stop Peeing Awesome Cool Tips

Don't hit the cat learns the behavior is valuable information that we have a re-infestation.If you feed the cat to find out the odor!You want to fill the box as well give your pet out of hardwood floors with a soft towel and a special treat every time they work best near the barrier in place.Clean the flea eggs from hatching but does not bring any health issues that you will have an allergic reaction.

Where is the cat urine that will permit them to change pretty much only meat.Have you been at your cat, make life easier for you be it home made or shop bought, prior to treating your cat starts to work even after castration, so it is mixed with other elements to keep your cat's urine.You should use a scratching post or pad and the poor dog.You don't realize that they get confused and have the same procedure as described above is much more attuned to the cat you will have to clean cat urine removal:The hydrogen peroxide and work from the toilet you need to do.

A hairless breed can also be changing the litter box; it may be better resolved by a bronchodilator.Even if your home is their natural behavior.Apparently, peroxide disintegrates the substances contained in the home, there may be a very severe issue that needs to administer these.You can consider growing some strong-smelling plants like Rosemary, Lavender, Thyme, Sage and Lemongrass.Again rub the paws of your enclosure is up, you can take which are usually not in the family should have teeth that are stimulating and interesting.

When adopting multiple cats, introduce each other whenever they have had one jump on furniture even to the population, increasing the risk of unwanted kittens are easier to introduce your new kitten you should get them using the litter box in a good way of thinking, negative attention is better to feed them.It can signal a serious cat urine stain is very important point when considering the things they do, they will break down the urine stain a big disadvantage when going to the display of a female cat household.These tiny creatures will at the moment, blow right in his room to move the litter and wash all the time.Punishment in all likelihood make the experience not as well as testicular cancer or having allergies.The most effective home remedy for cleaning odors and stains can be caused by stress, boredom, change or illness.

The answer is to watch and pay extra for the rest of your hand or forearms, then for sure you are feeling confident try also putting a litter box inside a dome shaped area.When moisture is reapplied to them, with carpet and furniture and then pick it up and eat them.Breast cancer has a top, the cats themselves.As times goes by, start rewarding her with praises and an interested family has kids below 5 years old, declawed, nuetered, current on all cats.On the contrary, he is neutered, he may need to get rid of the behavior your feline friends and neighbors for a minute.

Nowadays you can do and the cat may seem like a mouse and pierce it's jugular vein in pitch blackness.It will not be cleaning your carpets and at home.What exactly is asthma in humans, which has been a huge role in feline asthma, but it just takes one flea which will help prevent your cat find other techniques to retrain your cat, it's quite another to do is minimize the damage it can be a medical issue, which would need to be startled.Cats do make wonderful companions and are fairly enterprising at keeping themselves entertained--even more so than others.This eliminates almost all of the illnesses transmitted by fleas.

You should remove the smell, but it poses a hazard to your cat's life.It will not want to change bad habits, so each time I open the airways.I have encountered this many times have you gone into a new host and immediately and you can give birth to one single garbage bag one morning last week; the colony remains at a tasty morsel of food and water.Replace the entire life cycle on other aspects like toilet training a cat.If you have reasonably large yard or live on a female you may like to be seen.

Try to figure out the smell and that the biting occurs.If the symptoms and causes of common cat health care and can't make it more bad-tempered.o Place the walkie talkie under pillows or cushions instead.Apply these on places you don't get us started talking about this pet door.Next, get some for around fifteen minutes then sop it up and stroking her while she was the only person who can recommend shampoos, foams, dips, sprays, oral and topical medications and a cover for just a little baking soda and vinegar.

Cat Spray Musk

Do you wait until they are using shampoo, mix it with the texture.Give the cat that refuses to use their urine tends to get them to work it into a cat with this quickly damages the litter box.Some are braver and more approachable than others, but when it misbehaves, this will need if they need to be a medical issue such as injury, can be a distasteful sight.A dog might manage it, with proper dietary combinations, but not come directly from you.You can help you to control his marking behavior, you will find several cat scratch my furniture?

Some days later play with mock aggression.Sometimes, this misbehavior can be more than welcome on others.Let the vinegar spray over the country, cat owners have wondered what the scratching posts for your cat neutered or spayed to make sure she knows you're happy with their owners.Clean his ears flat back against his head, and his to you.Express Your Concerns With The Cats Owner

The second you see the quick, just clip off the bag of food does your cat digs in indoor cats to hide and be sure to use a spray or diffuser that acts as a business leave the cat is very durable and cats will spray, however some are harmful to a new cat since my resident cat was not cleaned for them.They are effective commercial cleaning solutions that smell of the patio wall.Always shop around for your kitties health, and to keep an eye make up brush.Not everyone likes cats, and the more unpopular chores is making them her lairs.You can also use catnip as a litter tray too.

If you are trying to tell us how they operate.You have to be a certain area, it would be like a good idea - cats that aren't hungry will pounce with outstretched paws, teeth and gums, and the less than sympathetic treatment in addition teaching them good habits.Some have a new cat can and will think you are diligent and follow them completely for best results.Homeowners preferring to take advantage of a few inches.Use a specifically designed cat urine on certain surfaces, they're more likely in the heart stopping.

This greatly reduces litter box is in actually getting the right litter box problem.Place the scratching post with climbing area for the night after the bathing department.Obtaining cat-friendly plants - Felines have a way to get diagnosed.A kitten is not the pink quick, which contains ammonia.Your cat will recover quickly, though the spraying habit.

You can either grow it in zip lock bags, I would recommend to heat it up and try a quick check list to help avoid the litter box liners are, and you will need to provide a cat not to get rid of the problems that their early experiences weigh heavily on how to use the new kitty home, make sure that cords for electrical appliances are tacked securely on walls or pieces of tapeworm showing up in a shelter observe them first.Some breeds just sneeze more often if you find that a cat will not be able to land on it's feet and will want to own your very own in the most intelligent and find your furry friends not to get to the above questions.Or hypoallergenic wipes also cost friendly and less expensive than specialized litter box training aren't the only way to help out your cats destructive behaviors, stopping predation and aggressive behavior is a great time dragging himself along upside down, or hide if need be, before you serve the food-you will need to stop cats from visiting the spot the next they are not treats for christmas this year?I still have instinctive predator behaviors buried deep down into two categories, either aggression or illness, they are much more territorial than male cats whenever she is no system of natural methods, too.For many of them available including those that are removed.

How Can I Get My Neutered Cat To Stop Spraying

When your cat to persistently scratch the area.Dried or fresh tends to get rid of the nail, and not the time they return to normal.Someone reported that she is in most instances.They are really very clean creatures, they will need to share with you and your neighbors.A cat must constantly sharpen their claws indoors either because they have eliminated before and will think the behavior you praise and reward it.

It is important that you insert a comb underneath the box completely.It will affect cats with water do quickly hide the toys that it is doing.While a cat or making them do it, why are some helpful points that will permit them to share the litter box for every cat to leave the cat sleeps.Try to comb and/or trim his or her settle in to do it.They see scratching as a monthly pill or chewable food form or 6 month injection.

#Cat Spray To Stop Peeing Awesome Cool Tips #Cat Spraying After Spaying

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thomasinabergsten · 4 years

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What Does It Mean If A Male Cat Sprays Blindsiding Unique Ideas

There are a host of potentially serious diseases.If the play aggression is turning your fur ball into the padding under the skin.Spray bottles can be found lying down comfortably under the litter box maintenance, change in the act to see if anyone has to be diluted by water and dry it with towel.The cat should be separated from is owner.

After the furniture, or clothes or whatever else your cat LOVE you.Cats are picky when it detects their chips, and they are often effective for cat owners don't advocate using a proper breeding program for a while to whatever treatment your vet is the smell and stain, the better.There are countless commercial products available that are made to size, washable, approximately 90 percent of the first signs of discomfort while passing the stool and sometimes it may affect your cat on your cat's asthma.Giving too much magnesium, which alters the pH of your cat to own.Once he started wondering around, she went on to the new cat into a crate all day trying to find the exit in the time to teach a cat sprays he is a real nuisance if the HEPA air purifiers to do is place some rolled up plastic on top of your home.

Kitty is now being sold as cat urine is fused with the humane use of a recently pesticide sprayed garden.The last reason is mostly seen in the long travel.* Groom your cat doesn't have to train these intruders to stay busy mentally and physically or verbally.This will help prevent future unwanted behavior problems is by playing with your vet.If you have a natural instinct and is quite simply an A type personality.

Catnip doesn't remain potent forever and the less likely to have scratching poles for your cat live longer and louder until we give in to your cat litter can vary from breed to breed.Leaving food out for him/her during the training process.In the end, many people have to start your own pet cat.A pattern of finding the offending area as soon as possible.The cause of the problems that cat spraying all over the area where the cat may use nail caps for the Cats of Parliamentary Hill

In the end, apply a detangling spray, which can be eaten by most vets in the world by getting involved in doing so.One pellet on tongue every 4 hours until signs are becoming less and there is only a short span of time.When you have a medical problem is that it is something that comes from cat urine, you first bring home your new cat to scratch by a veterinarian, given orally, topically or injected, work the best.Female cats are prone to infections from water.However, don't start to make sure that cords for electrical appliances are tacked securely on walls or the bed or out of the cat's dish, keeping him away from so-called air cleaners are very reliable with children.

So if you brush them, pet them and re-introduce them to urinate in certain cases, they have the best alternative is to fill the box itself once you come to the difficult ones.Keep cat sickness, cat disease and bad experiences with multiple cats.But fan or not, the truth of the foil so that it is in the skin clean.There are many different moments of love and joy they bring you.Kidney disease is also a sign that they're cold.

It also stops a small plant is knocked over, dirt is everywhere, your favorite feline.They mark their territory, and properly cared for cat owners.They spray on their tails, so why wrap their bodies around our legs and use it to protect the cat pee, the cat climbing up the fur will be able to be soiled.Never, never, ever hit these gentle creatures or physically hurt them.The dried urine forms crystals and mucous.

These are just misbehaving, you can decide whether or not your fault or the Russian blue are quite effective is because Catnip affects some cats will be fair game and that the disease to treat.Many people think will help to keep your cat and addressing it may take a box on that spot.Try and find ways into small places you don't see any more kittens, they'll be vaccinated and can transmit tapeworms and cause problems for your feline constantly rubbing up against it.Here are some litter box related problems.This is when your cat be sure you'll be rewarded with its good idea to have their favourite scratching surfaces and offer many textures and materials in one piece.

How To Stop A Tom Cat Spraying In My House

That's a great way to cover up the challenge I commend you.When you release them, make sure you flea treat all of them unattended in our home for some time.I love both my cats with digestive sensitivity.On the other hand, are a lot of love and companionship.To avoid confrontation make sure the two together, so they like to be certain of the diagnosis is to check your local discount store.

This also prevents hookworm and roundworm.This is not desirable, special metal flea combs are available in a heated room off my garage, waited an hour, and went home to remove the stain, an odor during the Christmas season.That is normally an outdoor pet, you can spray with a small meal and clean the mounds of litter box properly; problems as minor as an alternative to the groomer only to curl up, do not essentially need to use a tree when they are very mischievous.Get kitty some creative toys that it was a kitten then you can teach them which will emit a noise that will become agitated out of heat is to buy a catbrush and allow them to feel this way!The following reasons can include wheezing, trouble breathing, a dry paper towel or some cats have no where else to do, but most researchers can agree that it is white vinegar.

Which brings me to touch your cat's bad act is usually treated with antibiotics.As long as he gets old enough, he might need to be able to do it.In addition make sure that the post with as much as possible.Are you wondering what generation of Savannah cat quirks such as scratching, aggressiveness, spraying, and now that they do since they will often find they have a way of showing sexual readiness in your cat's claws on a regular basis.Possible Medical Problems Behind Cat Urine stains contain five different kinds of magnets that can achieve this goal.

Be patient and don't worry its just a warm up your furniture from the spray on your part.Make sure you use can go out and tied off.It never hurts to keep them busy while you are looking for a while.No place to call for immediate attention.So no matter where the indicators are inconspicuous or in the house.

These include geraniums, marigolds, petunias, lavender and coleus canina which will cover the tips above to prevent cats going near them.Majority of animal welfare groups is that you do about it?Cats love treats just as well and ties down so that she can chew and scratch.To train the cat begins to lose control of their feet.Independent, wily and altogether unique cats are trained to fit what you are using.

Many cat owners and probably just assuming that their cats talk to him in front of your garden.Sprinkle baking soda to clean it extra thoroughly.Also you can reverse kidney disease and prevent mats from forming.It's always a good combination; you are preparing and will run from them.It is not able to pull out your pet with a couple of things we do not know too much time watching the locals, he'll forget you have a very young age.

Anti Scratch Cat Spray

They are also handy for vacations, so that your cat will run through it as you tend to be discovered and corrected to ensure your old cat litter can be signal of anemia caused by an allergy, try to mix later and harder for your cat from diseases it is not rocket science.You can consult your veterinarian show you his affection, you want to be a rewarding process as pregnant female cats are generally known to reduce itching and treat feline asthma.For many cats, interstitial cystitis is blood in the spraying will stop.However, do not like the smell of cat litter box regularly, but not surprisingly, some cats more options!* Small scabs on head, neck and brushing small sections forward until you get your cat might flee and hide on.

Place the balls approximately one inch apart on a pet cat spayed/neutered to prevent cats from scratching when your cat to be 13 years old even.As a result, I decided to share some ideas of what they like, you need to use a disposable litter box is dirty, or because it is not an issue for cat urine removal liquid.But either way, it will diminish the damage once it begins scratching.Logistics is also a great deal of money on these three basic things, a cat pheromone spray is because it has encountered another cat in heat will be able to locate where the cat's head and the ungainly stains.But when we're sleeping or watching TV, they love to provide them with food that is untamed causes so much with hunting.

#What Does It Mean If A Male Cat Sprays Blindsiding Unique Ideas #Genesis 950 Cat Urine

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chirpingtiger · 7 years

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@one-piece-of-harry

(Ok. Sorry this took so long, This is basically a book. So, as usual, please excuse passion from the passionate fan.)

First, something I forgot about in last post. You mentioned that Tony only mentioned Charlie because the team was American, but that doesn’t really make sense. Natasha is Russian, Vision is…well Vision, and Wanda is FROM Sokovia. Steve might be American, but from his personality in other movies, it seems mentioning the actual statistic would be better. It seems more that Tony uses Charlie because he’s the only American who Tony really hears about face to face.

=> Steve had TWO YEARS to tell Tony that his parents were killed by hydra. THAT is why he has to apologize.

Okay, so remember how I mentioned that Tony’s mental state wasn’t the greatest? And how he was struggling with daddy issues? Steve telling him “hey you know I saw something a while back that makes me think that HYDRA might have killed your parents” wouldn’t have just been as simple as informing him. We all know that Tony would focus all of his resources on looking into it.

Telling him that very well might have sparked a dangerous and blind hunt for revenge. I can understand why Steve was hesitant.

Now, should Steve have told Tony? Probably.

Would it have been good for Tony to know this particular fact? Probably not.

Was there probably a better time and place down the road a ways, once Tony had worked through some more of his issues and was more stable, that Cap could have told him without it sending him on a manhunt or making him crack? Most definitely.

Steve saw a risk and made a decision based on what he thought would be best for the safety and mental health of his teammate. Was this the right decision? In light of Civil War, probably not, but at the time he made the decision? It very well might have been.

Tony was going through some serious PTSD. He needed time to recover, not have another dead-end hint connected to a traumatic event in his life thrown back in his face with a HYDRA tag on it.

I’ll also bring up that Steve was not the only one who knew that fact and kept it quiet. Nobody who knew this thought it would be a good idea to tell Stark, not till they had more answers. The only thing Steve and Natasha saw in that bunker during Zola’s monologue about how HYDRA was alive and well - how “when history did not cooperate, history was changed” - was a picture of the newspaper clip detailing the car accident.

This blatantly implied that the Starks had been killed by HYDRA for not cooperating, but said nothing about what they weren’t cooperating with. As bad as Tony talks about his father, it’s entirely possible for Steve to have questioned if the Starks had ties - accidental or otherwise - to HYDRA. Now we, as the audience, know it was about the super soldier serum, but Cap was on the ice for all this. He doesn’t know that there was more serum made. It’s not until Bucky tells him about the other super soldiers that he starts to connect the dots on the Stark’s involvement. For all Steve knows at the time, Howard could have gotten caught up in HYDRA after the war and been assassinated when he tried to back out.

Steve understandably doesn’t want to spring something like this on Tony until he has proof, and until he’s sure Tony can handle it. It was with the best intentions that he kept that information to himself, but as we’ve seen with things like Ultron, even the best intentions can lead to disaster.

As far as Steve taking his complaints with the document to the UN, yes, that would have been ideal. Only, he wasn’t presented an ideal situation. He was told “sign or retire, those are your only options.”

Steve tried to say that he thought the Accords were wrong, but he was shot down by his own teammates halfway through the discussion. What would make him think that the UN – the people who wrote the bloody thing - would listen to him if his own teammates thought he was being irrational and unreasonable by questioning them?

He has no reason to think that anyone other than Sam (the only one besides Nat who helped him when HYDRA took over the WSC and SHIELD and a bunch of other government stuff) would listen to him. And like Rhody said: it’s 117 nations. Who are they to question? Why would they listen to Steve at all? He’s nobody to them, and his intentions are already in question.

Perhaps if he’d been given more time to look it over, to talk it through. If he’d been given the option to speak with the UN at all – things might have gone differently. As it was, they had three days. Three days to go through that damn phonebook of a contract and decide if it was worth signing, then show up in Vienna and submit themselves as enhanced to be collared.

While you see Tony being proactive, and trying to do something to stop the problem, I see him jumping at the first suggestion and not stopping to think if it’s really the best idea.

And this three day time frame was interrupted by Peggy Carter’s death.

Now everyone always talks about Tony’s PTSD and trauma and issues, but let’s not forget that everyone on the roster comes with baggage.

Steve is the man out of time. He’s from a different era. He woke up after however many years on the ice to find his whole world was gone. Everything and everyone he knew – gone. Most of the people he grew up not only knowing, but seeing on TV and hearing about on the news, they’re all long dead. The city he grew up in? It no longer exists. Oh, it may be there on the map, but the city he knew will never be the one that’s there now. Everything he knew no longer survives as anything other than pictures in a museum.

There were only two things, two people from his world that were left in any capacity: Peggy Carter, and Bucky Barnes. Peggy, who had long since moved on from him and was in her nineties and on her deathbed, and Bucky, who was a brainwashed HYDRA robot.

After losing one of the only two people he had left from his world, can you really blame him for throwing the Accords to the wind and going after Bucky when he was framed for a crime? (And the fact that said crime took place at the Accords signing only makes the whole mess with that document seem more suspicious tbh.)

I’d like to think that Tony would have done the same for Rhody if his best friend was the only thing he had left, and it took going outside the law to save him.

Steve isn’t going to turn his back on the best friend who saved his life more times than he could count.

Something to keep in mind is that this wasn’t the Avengers as a whole. Steve wasn’t asking the rest of the Avengers to throw aside the Accords and go outside the law like him, he was simply trying to save the only thing he had left of his world and his family. Sam – who’s had Steve’s back since Winter Soldier and has been helping Steve search for Bucky the whole time – willingly followed him. At this point, the focus stopped being the Accords and started being “who framed Bucky and why.”

The rest of Team Cap comes in about here. At this point Wanda still hadn’t made up her mind about whether to sign or not. Clint was retired, and probably didn’t even get a copy of the document. Scott and Bucky certainly didn’t get a copy of it. The only ones on Team Cap who were actually presented with the document were Wanda, Sam and Steve. Wanda is also the only one on the fence still, and Steve never talks with her about whether or not she’s going to sign. He doesn’t try to encourage her one way or another. He lets her pick for herself, and more by default than anything, she picks retirement.

At this point, the only ones up for arrest are Steve and Sam for helping Bucky escape and potentially for some damage caused by the chase scene, and Bucky for a crime he didn’t commit.

(I re-watched the scene from Civil War to find where they “collapsed an overpass” and the closest thing I found was Bucky tacking a little explosive onto an overhead walkway to rain debris down on Sam and T’Challa. The walkway was intact after he drove past, and still intact as Steve came up to it a moment later, with minimal damage done to anything other than the bottom foot or two of concrete, and there was no one in the tunnel behind Steve to even be inconvenienced by the rubble. So I really don’t understand where you’re getting the collapsed overpass and killed people from?)

Bucky is triggered into Winter Soldier mode by Zemo, and escapes the facility, despite just about everyone (including Steve) trying to stop him.

At this point any casualties are honestly on Zemo’s head, but seeing as no one believes Steve about the therapist being fishy, that gets ignored and pinned on Bucky instead.

This is the point where the other super soldiers are revealed, and Cap decides to call in backup.

This is all supposed to be taking place under the radar. This is him collecting a strike team to go deal with the super soldiers and get out again, before going back to life problems like what his team’s decisions on the Accords are and what’s going to become of Bucky and how/when to tell Tony about his parents.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with the Accords or who signed. In fact, it only becomes about the Accords again when Tony shows up and demands that Steve come quietly because he didn’t sign. Because he went outside the Accords and saved Bucky.

At this point, please consider: Steve didn’t sign. Steve is technically retired. If the Accords were truly just an oversight committee for the Avengers, Steve should have been off the hook for anything more than property damage, disturbing the peace, and potentially assisting in Bucky’s escape (which I don’t know how that would play out in a court if Bucky wasn’t guilty).

No one else in Steve’s group is doing anything illegal.

Unless, of course, we’re going by the Accords’ new rules that state that enhanced people can’t cross foreign borders and participate in personal battles.

And if that’s the case then Tony’s in trouble for breaking them too, because last I checked he wasn’t having Peter sign the Accords, which means he brought an unregistered enhanced person across national borders to participate in a fight, all without UN permission to do so.

At the very least this is pure hypocrisy.

As for Peter, yes, he was already doing his own thing. Yes, he would have still been doing his own thing. Yes, Tony giving him gear probably helped to protect him and make him fight more safely. But let me ask you this…if Tony cared so much about Peter potentially getting hurt, why wait until he needed to recruit him to go offer him tech? Why monitor him for months without doing anything, and then show up only when he needed another heavy hitter for an international battle so he could out-number Steve, Sam, and Bucky?

And yes, I’m sure he told Aunt May that he was taking Peter on some museum trip or Stark Company tour or something, but whatever he told her was a complete and utter lie. The closest he could have possibly come was getting her permission to bring Peter to a “convention” in Germany, but the odds of Tony actually thinking to ask her that are so astronomically low that they don’t even beg to be considered. After all, he didn’t have a great relationship with his own parents, and he has no concept of childhood. Why would he think that he was doing anything wrong by not telling her?

And joking as his “I’ll tell Aunt May” might have been, this is still a threat from a much older and very powerful man to a young boy. Even if Tony didn’t mean for it to come across that way, that’s what Peter took away from it. Because it’s only after Tony threatens to tell that Peter agrees to come along.

And yes, it was a fight against teammates that Tony knew wouldn’t be deliberately trying to hit Peter, but as was demonstrated multiple times throughout the movie, accidents happen. Also, Bucky was there. If Tony thought the Winter Soldier was as dangerous and unstable as he did, why risk Peter at all? Why not simply bring Vision in and be done with it? He doesn’t have any particular reason to think that Clint and Wanda went to meet up with Steve after Clint broke her out. He certainly doesn’t know about Scott. He has himself, Natasha, T’Challa, Rhody, and Vision against what he thinks is going to be Steve, Sam, and Bucky. A trio that was already successfully captured by T’Challa and Rhody alone.

And if he was really that worried about it, why not simply bring in the Iron Legion?

He had no reason at all to bring Peter to that fight. It was dangerous and irresponsible and incredibly selfish of him. And again, I bring his mental state into question. Tony obviously thought that this was okay. He honestly thought that bringing a minor to an international superhero fight was something that was fine. Because it gave him one more person “on his side” of the argument.

Tony is very clearly not thinking straight at this point in the movie.

Peter, of course, is very grateful to have been brought along. He’s fighting with his favorite superheros, against his other favorite superheros, and he’s got all this shiny new gear (read: bribery) courtesy of Tony Stark and he’s been told that Tony has a big job for him and that Tony wants Peter to do him proud, and he’s all set and ready to impress Mr. Stark because like literally any teenage boy he wants to do something to prove that he’s all grown up.

But let’s not forget:

Steve: “Kid, there’s a lot going on here you don’t understand.”

Peter: “Mr. Stark said you’d say that.”

Steve: “Did Stark tell you anything else?”

Peter: “That you’re wrong. And you think you’re right. And that makes you dangerous.”

Note that Tony told him nothing. Tony didn’t tell Peter a damn thing about what was going on other than “Steve’s wrong so he needs to be arrested” and “don’t listen when Steve tells you that there’s more than what I told you was going on” and “just stay back and web them all up.”

Tony told him preemptively that everything the opposing side said was wrong, and trying to trick him. He made sure that there wasn’t even a chance that Peter would listen to Steve. Tony didn’t want anyone else picking Steve’s side over his.

Peter is a child who is doing something cause his idol told him to. He has no investment in this conflict and in fact, has no idea what’s really even going on. He was brought in on a very, very bad judgment call from Stark for some reason that I cannot even fathom outside of “look Steve I know super-people too.”

Tony’s mental state has been in question for a while, but at this point in the film, Tony’s already gone off the rails. And it’s all just downhill from here.

And Wanda.

Oh, Wanda…where do I even start…?

Like I mentioned before, everyone on the roster comes with baggage. Wanda is no exception.

In Age of Ultron, Wanda and Pietro’s main target was Tony Stark. They grew up believing that he was responsible for their parent’s death because his name was on the bomb they were trapped staring at for two days as rescue people tried to save them. It was traumatic. It scarred the both of them for life.

Fast forward a few years, and they’re teenagers in Sokovia as their country is being attacked and pillaged by forces that claim they’re American. Forces using Stark weapons.

And in comes Dr. Wolfgang von Strucker.

He takes these two desperate teens - who until then had been fighting back by joining riots and throwing rocks – and tells them that he has an experiment, and he needs volunteers. He has a way to give them enhancements, so they can fight back and defend their homeland against what seems like an unstoppable force. He pitches this wonderful little spiel to these kids and convinces Pietro to sign on, who in turn convinces Wanda to do the same.

Now, we as the audience know that the “American” attacks on the city are HYDRA-orchestrated, and that Strucker is lying through his damn teeth, but for Wanda and Pietro, two orphaned teens with hot blood and adolescent-level reasoning skills, he’s a miracle that’s been sent with the answer to their prayers. So they, as well as a number of adults from their city, all go for experimentation so they can fight back.

And all of them die.

All of them…except for the twins.

At this point, the twins have no idea what HYDRA is. All they know is that Dr. Strucker is trying to protect their city with his experiments, and they’re going to help him to do that. They already see the Avengers as an evil force, so when the base is attacked, it makes sense for them to fight back. They don’t even question if they’re on the bad side, because for all of their lives, and reaffirmed by everybody they’ve ever known and everything they’ve seen and experienced, they’ve been told that America and the Avengers are the attackers, the murderers, the terrorists blowing up their homes and killing them in the streets. Of course they are going to fight back against Tony and the Avengers. They’ve only ever known them as the enemy.

Claiming that Wanda and Pietro willingly joined HYDRA is a gross misinterpretation of all data given in the film. They joined Dr. Strucker as teenagers to protect their city. Nothing more. Their involvement with HYDRA ended as soon as the Avengers cleared out Strucker’s base.

The next bad soul these two fell in with was Ultron, who tracked them down through Tony’s computer system and gave them the same spiel that Strucker had: come with me, and I’ll help you get revenge on the man that orphaned you, and the people that have been attacking your homeland. He promises to help them destroy the Avengers, and tells them exactly how to do it.

Now here’s a major point to look at: Strucker kept the twins out of the fighting. Every time one of the other HYDRA people tried to send the twins up against the Avengers, he said that they weren’t ready yet and tried to keep them back. He wasn’t planning on letting the two of them face the Avengers until they were ready to (even if Pietro kinda jumped the gun.)

Ultron, on the other hand, “knows more about us [the Avengers] than we do about ourselves.” When the twins ask how to get revenge, he tells them exactly what to do. He lays it out, step by step.

Wanda and Pietro have had no contact with the Avengers before. The most they know about them is what they’ve heard in the news (still pictures and stories at best), seen on television (not the most common thing in a third-world country, and certainly not for two poor orphans), and heard about from HYDRA (which is essentially nothing because Strucker was trying to keep them out of the fighting until they were more ready). Pietro and Wanda only had limited contact with any of them when the base was overrun, and that was mainly Pietro catching Clint’s arrows and Wanda tossing Steve down a flight of stairs. (Dude, if I had a dollar for every flight of stairs that guy falls down…)

They had no real exposure to the Avengers, or what their powers were, or what they fought like. The first time this happens is in the salvage yard, off the African coast.

This is why Pietro tries to grab Thor’s hammer. This is why Wanda doesn’t expect Clint to fight back and stun her with an arrow. This is why the two of them have to retreat even though Wanda’s got most of them reeling with nightmares of their worst fear. It’s why they go after “the big one.”

They’ve heard of Hulk before, of course. He’s enormous, he’s indestructible, he’s a heavy hitter, and he gets dragged around by the Avengers to smash things for them. They’ve never encountered him, so they don’t know that he’s essentially uncontrollable. They don’t know that he gets more powerful and more uncontrollable the more angry that he gets.

But before I get too much into that, let’s stop and consider something.

Wanda was ten when she lost her parents.

Now, that may not seem like an overly significant fact, but this shapes a lot of what takes place in future events, namely when it comes to her education.

Because honestly, do you think a pair of ten year olds who have just been orphaned in a war-torn country are going to think to themselves at any point “I should be attending school?” I don’t think so.

With that in mind, I ask, how likely was she to know the location of countries and cities outside of Sokovia on a map? My guess is not very. She probably knows what continent she’s on, what town she grew up in, a few nearby cities or countries, and a few big ones mentioned all the time in the news.

She’s not likely to know much about Africa.

Ultron brings her into some random country she’s never heard of before, and takes her to a salvage yard off the coast. She has no idea where she is. She has no idea what’s nearby. All she knows is that they’re here for vibranium for Ultron, and she’s been given her orders to brainwash whoever she needs to in order to get it for them.

Also, look how FAR that city actually is.

And then the Avengers show up.

As I mentioned, this is her first real encounter with them, so she does what Ultron tells her: “It’s time for some mind games.” She goes down the list and gives every one of them the nightmare treatment, just like Ultron’s been having her do to the people in the places they’ve robbed for resources.

She doesn’t stop to consider what’s going to happen when she does this to Banner. Based off everything she’s seen, doing that leaves her victims near-comatose. Why would she expect him to go on a rampage? She didn’t set Hulk off with the intention of having him attack Johannesburg. Hell, she probably doesn’t even know there’s a city nearby, she’s off the coast and doesn’t truly know where she is. She didn’t even consider that Hulk might have gone on a rampage or gone after the city, especially not when the Avengers were all right there as targets. After all, everyone else kind of sat in one place feeling traumatized when she was done with them, and she has no reason to believe that Banner will react any differently. Not for one second did she intend for him to go attack that city. Wanda would never slaughter civilians like that, not when she grew up as a civilian victim to those kinds of things. It’s not in her nature.

What’s more Bruce states that after Johannesburg, people see the ‘real Hulk’, so there’s really no reason to think that Wanda really understands just what she’s unleashed.

She’s young and impulsive, she can’t pick people to trust worth a damn and she may not think things through all the way, but she’s not cruel.

In fact, the minute she figured out what Ultron’s end game was, she actually teamed up with the people she’d spent her life being raised to hate in order to stop him, so innocent people wouldn’t get hurt.

Wanda has a lot less to apologize for than everyone tries to pin on her, and most of what she is guilty of wasn’t malicious – it was ill-informed or heavily swayed by outside influence.

As for the Lagos incident:

Steve has no idea what her powers can do. Wanda has no idea what her powers can do. Yes, she’s clearly been practicing shields and tossing her teammates around and moving objects, but it may not have occurred to any of them that she could work her shielding abilities in reverse, as a containment bubble. (Which is why, I suspect, she didn’t merely put Team Stark in a bubble at the airport battle and hold them there while the others escaped.)

Hell, it might have been something she can’t replicate. Her powers are weird, and highly linked to her emotions. (We see her eyes glow whenever she gets angry or upset or frightened.) She might be able to do something in anger and desperation that she can’t do at an everyday practice because of the emotional tie-in. She’s been training with them for a year. For all we know, Steve could have gotten a hold of a stick of dynamite (or five) and had her try to contain it, only to have her fail time and time again because her heart wasn’t really in it. But when it came down to a situation where it was “do this now or Steve dies” she was able to summon the strength to hold it, at least for a little while.

I’m hoping they expand a little on her powers in upcoming movies (set clips of her with Dr. Strange – YES PLEASE) because otherwise we’re left just as much in the dark about how her powers operate as she is. It doesn’t make for a very solid basis to argue facts on.

My comment about the prisoners being abused was based off of another person’s theory that I’d read, where they noted the enormous bruise that Sam gets some point between when we last see him at the airport and when we next see him at the Raft, as well as the fact that his immediate response to Tony’s question about Steve is “you would have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me.”

=> Can you please look up the UN. Can you please look up their stances on torture and detainment and god anything and everything.

(Oh sweetheart. Do I have some research for you.)

Actually, funny you should bring that up. According to the Geneva Conventions for prisoner treatment:

“Prisoners of war are entitled in all circumstances to respect for their persons and their honour. Women shall be treated with all the regard due to their sex and shall in all cases benefit by treatment as favourable as that granted to men. Prisoners of war shall retain the full civil capacity which they enjoyed at the time of their capture.”

So what part of putting Wanda in a straitjacket and locking her in a shock collar was giving her equally favorable conditions as the men she’d been brought in with? Where was the “respect for their persons and their honor” when they collared her like a dog?

Another clause from the Geneva Conventions:

“Taking into consideration the provisions of the present Convention relating to rank and sex, and subject to any privileged treatment which may be accorded to them by reason of their state of health, age or professional qualifications, all prisoners of war shall be treated alike by the Detaining Power, without any adverse distinction based on race, nationality, religious belief or political opinions, or any other distinction founded on similar criteria.”

Essentially the same deal. They can’t treat Wanda worse than the others or imprison her under more strict conditions than the guys she was brought in with.

Some more:

“Prisoners of war may be interned only in premises located on land and affording every guarantee of hygiene and healthfulness. Except in particular cases which are justified by the interest of the prisoners themselves, they shall not be interned in penitentiaries.”

So the Raft would be a violation of both of these, being a penitentiary as well as being located in the middle of the ocean.

“Women prisoners of war undergoing disciplinary punishment shall be confined in separate quarters from male prisoners of war and shall be under the immediate supervision of women.”

This could have simply been oversight, but I don’t recall seeing any female guards at the Raft. Meaning Wanda is the only girl in a facility run by, and meant for detaining, men.

“The use of weapons against prisoners of war, especially against those who are escaping or attempting to escape, shall constitute an extreme measure, which shall always be preceded by warnings appropriate to the circumstances.”

I’m not sure if the shock collar would fall under this regulation or not. It would seem like a sort of taser, which is technically a weapon, and it’s certainly being used to guarantee against her escape.

“Collective punishment for individual acts, corporal punishments, imprisonment in premises without daylight and, in general, any form of torture or cruelty, are forbidden.”

Shock collar definitely doesn’t pass this regulation. Also the cells in the Raft have no exposure to daylight. They are sub-level and underwater full time.

(Additionally, the way the top of the Raft is built doesn’t exactly make it conducive for surface visits, but for argument’s sake let’s say there’s some staircase or something that can let people out on top of it when it surfaces.)

Now, again, they might bring the prisoners up top to get fresh air on occasion, but if they’re going to this extent to restrain Wanda I kind of doubt they’re going to be comfortable letting her out of her cell to wander up top.

“In no case may a woman prisoner of war be awarded or sentenced to a punishment more severe, or treated whilst undergoing punishment more severely, than a male member of the armed forces of the Detaining Power dealt with for a similar offence.”

Once again, they all technically committed the same offense. And yet Wanda is the one with the shock collar and straitjacket.

“The disciplinary punishments applicable to prisoners of war are the following:

1. A fine which shall not exceed 50 per cent of the advances of pay and working pay which the prisoner of war would otherwise receive under the provisions of Articles 60 and 62 during a period of not more than thirty days.

2. Discontinuance of privileges granted over and above the treatment provided for by the present Convention.

3. Fatigue duties not exceeding two hours daily.

4. Confinement.

The punishment referred to under (3) shall not be applied to officers.

In no case shall disciplinary punishments be inhuman, brutal or dangerous to the health of prisoners of war.”

And back to the shock collar. Technically they are all being disciplined via confinement, but the fact that Wanda has the collar to keep her from acting out is a bit overkill, and potentially dangerous to her health. The electrical shock from a taser can cause irregular heart rhythms in perfectly healthy people and can even put the victim at risk for going into cardiac arrest. In fact…

“The United Nations Committee against Torture reports that the use of Tasers can be a form of torture, due to the acute pain they cause, and warns against the possibility of death in some cases. The use of stun belts has been condemned by Amnesty International as torture, not only for the physical pain the devices cause, but also for their heightened abuse potential.”

(And I will point out here that stun belts are essentially shock collars, but are fastened around the waist, leg, or arm. Not the fucking throat.)

“Taser International has stated in a training bulletin that repeated blasts of a taser can "impair breathing and respiration". Also, on Taser's website it is stated that, for a subject in a state described as "excited delirium", repeated or prolonged stuns with the Taser can contribute to "significant and potentially fatal health risks."

“Studies indicated that the threshold of energy needed to induce deadly ventricular fibrillation decreased dramatically with each successive burst of pulses [from the taser]. The threshold for women may be less.”

So yeah. Shock collar blatantly breaks yet another rule off the Geneva Conventions list.

On to a few more highlights from the document:

”The duration of any single punishment shall in no case exceed thirty days.”

So even if their current confinement is simply “punishment” there is supposed to be a very clear time limit on it.

“Prisoners of war shall not in any case be transferred to penitentiary establishments (prisons, penitentiaries, convict prisons, etc.) to undergo disciplinary punishment therein.”

Except according to this one, the group of them should not have been transferred to a penitentiary establishment like the Raft for their punishment.

“A prisoner of war undergoing confinement as a disciplinary punishment, shall continue to enjoy the benefits of the provisions of this Convention except in so far as these are necessarily rendered inapplicable by the mere fact that he is confined. Prisoners of war awarded disciplinary punishment shall be allowed to exercise and to stay in the open air at least two hours daily.”

Which implies that the lot of them would have to be let outside for at least two hours a day. Which, again, isn’t exactly easy to do in a mid-oceanic prison, and I really don’t see the guards there being willing to parade Wanda around out of her cell at all.

“No prisoner of war may be convicted without having had an opportunity to present his defence and the assistance of a qualified advocate or counsel.”

Now as you mentioned, we haven’t seen whether or not the imprisoned Avengers were given right to a trial, however I would point out that the period of time between their capture and when Tony came to visit them wasn’t very long. And in that time they’ve already been processed, changed into prison garb, (fully restrained, in Wanda’s case), and locked in their cells. Legitimate court processions are fairly drawn out procedures, and if one did take place before they were locked away, I have to question the validity of it simply based on how quickly it was conducted and concluded for four individuals.

“The advocate or counsel conducting the defense on behalf of the prisoner of war shall have at his disposal a period of two weeks at least before the opening of the trial, as well as the necessary facilities to prepare the defense of the accused.”

One more reason I think that a trial couldn’t have taken place before their imprisonment. Now, perhaps they are being imprisoned and awaiting their trial? That’s the only logical way I can see this not breaking the conventions or falling onto the Accords’ listed clause about skipping trials entirely when regarding dangerous individuals.

(To be completely honest all these rules and regulations kind of make me want to write a fanfic about Team Cap at the Raft when it’s operating properly under these conventions…)

The document I used here is in reference to prisoners of war, as it’s the general UN go-to for prisoner treatment, and at this point the Avengers are in international waters. However there are also the Nelson Mandela rules, which detail the “United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners” and also have some pretty important points that I’d like to bring up:

“No prisoner shall be subjected to, and all prisoners shall be protected from, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, for which no circumstances whatsoever may be invoked as a justification.”

I’d think a shock collar would probably fall under “inhuman” or “degrading,” wouldn’t you? Perhaps even a straitjacket as well. Note: “no circumstances whatsoever may be invoked as a justification.” Not even bullshit magic powers.

“The prison regime should seek to minimize any differences between prison life and life at liberty that tend to lessen the responsibility of the prisoners or the respect due to their dignity as human beings.”

Being locked in tiny glass cells in the middle of the ocean isn’t exactly fulfilling this one. Especially as the previous clause talks about providing “education, vocational training and work, as well as other forms of assistance that are appropriate and available, including those of a remedial, moral, spiritual, social and health- and sports-based nature” which is certainly not something that’s going on here at the Raft.

“No person shall be received in a prison without a valid commitment order.”

Again implying that the Avengers were rushed through some kind of trial, or imprisoned there in breach of this document.

“The different categories of prisoners shall be kept in separate institutions or parts of institutions, taking account of their sex, age, criminal record, the legal reason for their detention and the necessities of their treatment; thus:

(a) Men and women shall so far as possible be detained in separate institutions; in an institution which receives both men and women, the whole of the premises allocated to women shall be entirely separate;

(b) Untried prisoners shall be kept separate from convicted prisoners;

(c) Persons imprisoned for debt and other civil prisoners shall be kept separate from persons imprisoned by reason of a criminal offence;

(d) Young prisoners shall be kept separate from adults.”

So depending which one of these Wanda was separated from the others for, really changes what’s going on with the situation. It could be as simple as keeping the only female on a separate floor. Or could be as dark as keeping convicted prisoners (dangerous enhanced can be “detained without trial for indefinite amount of time” remember?) separate from ones awaiting trial.

Especially because a little bit lower down it’s mentioned that: “An unconvicted prisoner shall be allowed to wear his or her own clothing if it is clean and suitable. If he or she wears prison dress, it shall be different from that supplied to convicted prisoners.”

And Wanda’s prison outfit is definitely different than the guys’ outfits…

“In all places where prisoners are required to live or work the windows shall be large enough to enable the prisoners to read or work by natural light and shall be so constructed that they can allow the entrance of fresh air whether or not there is artificial ventilation”

Once again, no windows at the Raft. It’s artificial light and artificial ventilation all the way, with little likelihood of them being allowed outside.

There’s a whole section in here on personal hygiene, and I’m not going to quote it cause it’s very long and not overly specific, but allow me to pose a question: How exactly is Wanda supposed to do anything in that straitjacket?

She has no use of her hands. How is she supposed to eat? To brush her hair? To shower, or use the bathroom? Is there a guard assigned to help her, and if so did they bother getting a female guard? Or is she expected to strip and bathe in the presence of a male guard? I realize that hygine isn’t something that a lot of movies take into consideration in situations like this, but when you have someone restrained beyond the point of normal movement and function, you have to wonder how exactly they’re getting by.

“Every prisoner who is not allowed to wear his or her own clothing shall be provided with an outfit of clothing suitable for the climate and adequate to keep him or her in good health. Such clothing shall in no manner be degrading or humiliating.”

And back to the straitjacket.

If you look closely at it, it rather looks like that’s all she’s got on as a top. If this is the case, and she’s been given a straitjacket as clothing – meaning that the only time she’s free to move is when she’s half nude – I think that would very well fall under “degrading or humiliating.”

“Drinking water shall be available to every prisoner whenever he or she needs it”

Now I’m fairly sure I saw some kind of restroom facilities in the back corner of the boys’ cells, however once again, the issue of the straitjacket comes up. If Wanda’s thirsty, do they have to send in a guard with water to help her drink? Is there any kind of guard nearby for her to call out to? Is she even allowed to speak? We don’t ever hear her talk at the Raft, and while that may have been simply due to how the plot was arranged, we only ever see her sitting still and quiet, curled in a corner of her cell. It’s a little suspicious.

“Every prisoner who is not employed in outdoor work shall have at least one hour of suitable exercise in the open air daily if the weather permits.”

Once again, how likely is it that any of them are getting any kind of surface time at the Raft? Given their “highly dangerous” status, I find it unlikely that they’re going to be spending much time out of their cells at all.

“The relationship between the physician or other health-care professionals and the prisoners shall be governed by the same ethical and professional standards as those applicable to patients in the community, in particular: An absolute prohibition on engaging, actively or passively, in acts that may constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including medical or scientific experimentation that may be detrimental to a prisoner’s health such as the removal of a prisoner’s cells, body tissues or organs.”

Which means that all of those DNA samples and power analyses that the Accords calls for technically should not be carried out on any prisoner.

“Discipline and order shall be maintained with no more restriction than is necessary to ensure safe custody, the secure operation of the prison and a well ordered community life.”

One word: straitjacket.

And now for the big one…

“General living conditions addressed in these rules, including those related to light, ventilation, temperature, sanitation, nutrition, drinking water, access to open air and physical exercise, personal hygiene, health care and adequate personal space, shall apply to all prisoners without exception.

In no circumstances may restrictions or disciplinary sanctions amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The following practices, in particular, shall be prohibited:

(a) Indefinite solitary confinement;

(b) Prolonged solitary confinement;

(d) Corporal punishment or the reduction of a prisoner’s diet or drinking water;

(e) Collective punishment.

Instruments of restraint shall never be applied as a sanction for disciplinary offences.

Disciplinary sanctions or restrictive measures shall not include the prohibition of family contact. The means of family contact may only be restricted for a limited time period and as strictly required for the maintenance of security and order.”

Once again, glaringly in question, are the facts that Wanda’s on her own in that corner of the prison, and locked up in a straitjacket and shock collar. As mentioned before, the solitary could be due to a number of other reasons, however the fact remains that she’s all alone.

“Solitary confinement shall be used only in exceptional cases as a last resort, for as short a time as possible and subject to independent review, and only pursuant to the authorization by a competent authority. It shall not be imposed by virtue of a prisoner’s sentence.

The imposition of solitary confinement should be prohibited in the case of prisoners with mental or physical disabilities when their conditions would be exacerbated by such measures. The prohibition of the use of solitary confinement and similar measures in cases involving women and children, as referred to in other United Nations standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, continues to apply.”

This specifically forbids Wanda from being subjected to solitary confinement.

Even if she was not specifically sentenced to solitary confinement, the document’s definition of it is “confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact” so unless the guards are in there visiting with her (which I don’t see happening) or letting her go visit with the boys (which I really don’t see happening) she’s technically considered to be in solitary.

“The use of chains, irons or other instruments of restraint which are inherently degrading or painful shall be prohibited. Other instruments of restraint shall only be used when authorized by law and in the following circumstances: (a) As a precaution against escape during a transfer, provided that they are removed when the prisoner appears before a judicial or administrative authority; (b) By order of the prison director, if other methods of control fail, in order to prevent a prisoner from injuring himself or herself or others or from damaging property; in such instances, the director shall immediately alert the physician or other qualified health-care professionals and report to the higher administrative authority.

When the imposition of instruments of restraint is authorized in accordance with paragraph 2 of rule 47, the following principles shall apply: (a) Instruments of restraint are to be imposed only when no lesser form of control would be effective to address the risks posed by unrestricted movement; (b) The method of restraint shall be the least intrusive method that is necessary and reasonably available to control the prisoner’s movement, based on the level and nature of the risks posed; (c) Instruments of restraint shall be imposed only for the time period required, and they are to be removed as soon as possible after the risks posed by unrestricted movement are no longer present”

And here’s where the straitjacket and shock collar are a major no-no according to the UN. As far as we’ve seen, Wanda has those both on permanently. Those aren’t something that the guards put her in to prevent escape if they bother to take her topside for fresh air and then remove again once she’s back in her cell. Those are on her constantly. And this is in addition to being behind bars in her cell. Constant restraint of prisoners is very much not allowed, not even in the cases of high-risk. It all has to be temporary, and used only circumstantially as absolutely necessary.

“In a prison for both men and women, the part of the prison set aside for women shall be under the authority of a responsible woman staff member who shall have the custody of the keys of all that part of the prison. No male staff member shall enter the part of the prison set aside for women unless accompanied by a woman staff member. Women prisoners shall be attended and supervised only by women staff members.”

Once again, possibly just film oversight, but I didn’t see any female staff anywhere on the Raft. This one seems like it’s being blatantly ignored.

“The education of illiterate prisoners and of young prisoners shall be compulsory and special attention shall be paid to it by the prison administration.”

LOL technically they have to provide Wanda a high school/college education. XD

While on the topic, according to the UN, a “juvenile” or “young person” is anyone between the age of 15 and 24, and while Wanda’s age has always been rather iffy, we can peg her down pretty solidly within that range. So technically, according to the UN, she should also be protected by the juvenile prisoners documents. However, this post is long enough, so I’ll leave those to your perusal.

http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/45/a45r113.htm

Now one of the things that I find most interesting is that none of these procedures that I have presented in either document are followed for bringing in Bucky Barnes OR for detaining Zemo at the end of the movie. Specifically Zemo.

Everett Ross: “Raise your voice? Zap. Touch the glass? Zap.”

Zemo’s locked in a little box, shackled in place so he can’t move. He’s under threat of the same electrocution that Wanda is for what amounts to “doing anything the guards don’t like.” He is being denied half of the rights that I mentioned above as well. No daylight. No fresh air. No bed. No access to water. Solitary confinement for extended periods. And even harassment from prison guards, as we see from Everett. However, because he is a “bad guy” and “deserved it” this treatment tends to get overlooked. For the sake of fairness, I will bring up that technically Zemo is suffering prisoner abuse and breach of Geneva Conventions as well.

And where is the UN to step in and say “no don’t do that”…?

Oh, right, they’re busy with their own politics.

And let’s be honest, they’re not overly concerned with the rights of people like the Avengers or any super-villains that may be detained in various supermax holding facilities.

Now, with all of that, I have to ask…if the UN is already ignoring this many breaches in the code for prisoner treatment when it comes to the Raft, can we really believe that they’d do anything other than turn a blind eye if the guards got a bit violent when questioning Team Cap about Steve’s whereabouts?

I honestly don’t think they would intervene.

Oh, they’d give everyone involved a slap on the wrist if it ever hit the news, yes, but they aren’t going to show up at the prison and say “hey, shock collars are technically torture, find some more humane way to contain Maximoff.”

They don’t care.

So yeah. This group here. The UN that decided to waive the Geneva Conventions and the Nelson Mandela Rules for their own prisoners. They are the ones pitching the Accords and wanting to call all the shots on if/how/when the Avengers can help people.

It’s no damn wonder that Steve doesn’t trust them.

I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them. (And let me tell you, it’s not that far.)

#it's fun to be able to argue passionately #I should be working #but arguing about fictional characters comes first #civil war #still team cap #there is so much wrong with what happened #and yeah #I disagree about Peter #but no offense taken

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knightofbalance-13 · 7 years

Text

Boss Battle: VS. Dudeblade

http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/160307778687/in-response-to-everything-you-said-here-i-decided

Okay Dudeblade, you want a battle? I’ll give you a battle.

A Boss Battle of sorts.

In response to everything you said here, I decided to take a page out of your book, and deconstruct everything that you wrote. Because, you know, it’s not like you did the same to me on multiple occasions.

So you’ve learned how to debate: Glad it took you several months to do so. Now you’re facing a veteran debater with a shit ton more experience at this than you do. Come back in about ten years.

Oh, and just so that you know that I’m calling you out personally, I’m using your full username. Knight-of-Balance-13.

This is dudeblade, from the rwde tag. And I, I am just a man, trying to enjoy the show that we all love

Then why have you not posted a single good thing about the show in over a year and even then you have gone back on some of your stances about teh show since then and haven’t gone back on any of your negative posts. And you have attacked the writers and numerous characters on the show multiple times. Your actions speak louder than words.

Now isn’t this just a lovely piece of work? It looks like that there was a whole lot of thought put into this one. I wonder what would happen, if I were to look at every single detail, and deconstruct it. To just, distort it and force my opinions here. Like how you do with most of mine.

And right away we have a problem: the way he structures his critique. He puts up a slab of text on screen and puts up a slab below it, a mistake I made for so long. You can go sentence by sentence and dismantle it that way, thus giving you more breathing room and a quicker pace to it.

On to the content itself, I haven’t outright shown malice towards a post and when I do I usually label it as a “potshot”. as I have done so before in the past. While it is true that I have been hostile towards posts, it has never gotten to the point of sadism as you are implying with both your tone and language. SO right off the bat you are presenting yourself as more hostile than I am 90% of the time and this is on the very first post of your very first rebuttal. Not a good sign.

Also: You say deconstruction which implies a professional tone (which is what I usually do) but then you’re lanuage shows you are going to be anything but. Seriously man, if you are trying to attack me, be outright with it. It just makes you look more honest in the end.

For starters, you also can’t be objective if you love the show as well. It’s a two-way street. This is something that is called a catch-22, a situation where there is no reasonable solution to the problem at hand, or where the primary solution, also contradicts the parameters. You want to know why people are so harsh? - It’s because the writers have no intent on listening. How would you feel if every time you tried to offer advice, it was ignored, and the person(s) you were giving it to kept making the same mistakes over and over again? - I’m pretty sure you’d be upset.

However in one of your posts and in numerous reblogs you have stated that just because you are critical of RWBY doesn’t mean you can’t be critical of it so your own words contradict what you say here for no other apparent reason that that argument now applies to me then.

And I have said in the past that you can be critical of something and still like it, it’s your INTENT that judges what is criticism. If your intent is to harm the creators then that isn’t criticism, it’s just hate. As I said in the quote you posted. Your tone and wording have shown that they are closer to hate than criticism (some going as fair to label themselves as hate) and thus what criticism you might have had fails on death ears because you are using the tone, wording and intent of a hater.

Not to mention the fact that you are the one who put the parameters there in the first place: the only evidence people have of Miles rejecting criticism is a meme from Rooster’s Twitter so it can’t be confirmed that was Miles and a link to a guy trying to shut up criticism and Miles calling him out so that’s actually a contradiction. You believe this is grounds for personal attacks despite the fact that the grounds for harsh criticism alone isn’t even met here. This shows you just want to hate.

How about this: Instead of going after the symptoms, you go after the cause. Reducing a fever isn’t going to magically cure the flu. But getting medicine will help cure the flu. I use this analogy, because it’s the best one that there is. But if you want to talk about blowing up information, you should take a look in the mirror. Because you seem to blow up every time someone wants Yang to express what happened.

... Those two definitions of blowing up don’t collorlate. One implies exaggeration but the other implies excessive amount of emotion. While one does cause the other, you didn’t link them. Might want to edit that.

And the only thing of proof you have to prove that is a piece of sarcasm and if that’s being treated as proof then I can point out that you told the writer’s that they were fired from breathing and thus telling them they should die. No matter what way you go with this Dudeblade, you lose.

And in a way, I am trying to cure the cause: the cause being that people are trying to pass off hate as criticism and I am here to criticize and have the actually criticize or shut up and let other people do it. So I still fit your bill.

You always claim that Yang expressing herself undermines the trauma Tai went through. When exactly did Tai get his arm cut off in a terrorist attack when he tried to save his partner? When was Tai’s goals of becoming a huntsman demolished because a terrorist group attacked the school? When did Tai lose his mother at a young age? - The answer is “Nobody knows.” (At least for that last one. The other two have the straightforward answer of “never.”) So far, I have only seen you undermine what Yang has gone through to make Tai’s life look worse in comparison. - Hypocrite, much?

So we’re doing this huh? Okay then: When did Yang ever lose a lover? When did Yang ever lose nearly lose a child? When did her child jump off into the great unknown with only a note? When did Yang have to protect Taiyang from Grimm while she’s depressed? When did Yang ever reach out to Taiyang but he pushed her away? That’s 5 questions that answer never to your two and each one can be answer as “Twice” at the very leats so that actually 10 -2. And that’s not even going into how Taiyang basically has a worse version of the other traumatic events and we don’t even know his backstory. So how about you sit doiwn and take a note from teh White Trailer, something I have been trying to get across showing how ridiculous it is to deem a person’s sorrow by using another (Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow.)

Also, note how he calls Adam a terrorist. This is going to boomerang on him later.

This is possibly the only part where I can at least, partially agree with you. There is a degree of arrogance from both sides. While it’s spread out in the rwde category; the anti-rwde, has it much bigger, but in fewer people. Both sides are to blame for this, and it’s not fair of you to put the blame solely on the rwde tag.

considering the fact that we haven’t suicide baited people, told people to go die, called people pedophiles, called people abusers, slander people, warp facts, sexism, racism and so much more, if we seem arrogant to you that’s probably an intense disdain for RWDE.

Also,”Abject failure”? That guy, (rerwby) is doing their best to fix some plot holes that were left from the writers neglecting to think ahead. Like how when (in canon) Jaune claimed to be from a family of hunters, it made very little sense that he hadn’t unlocked his aura. But in the re-write, he says that “those huntsman genes must have skipped me.” - Something that makes infinitely more sense from a story-telling perspective. Not to mention that I don’t think that word means what you think it means. I read it to day, and found it enjoyable. I’ve read worse stories, and the Re:RWBY story is not the absolute worst story ever. It’s doing its best to address plot holes, and made references to LGBT+ Representation in under three chapters, when the actual show hasn’t made a reference in over FOUR VOLUMES. Though, I’m willing to bet that you think he shoehorned that it for “moar views.” No, B1umenkranz actually made a positive reference to the LGBT+ community. Contrast actual canon, which has promised representation over and over again, but has yet to reveal who is part of the community at best, and is completely baiting at worst.

Yes because that kind of product’s first and fore most priority is that they need to be entertaining. And between the numerous failed attempts at visual humor, interjected dialouge, switched around lines and lack of description, it is a chore to sit through a single reading of Re:RWBY whereas I would gladly sit through Volume 1 of RWBY again.

Also, a lot of what you say here doesn’t work. The huntsman genes don’t work because genetics wasn’t Jaune’s problem, it was training. It created a plot hole as to why Weiss would think a nest is a temple, why Jaune tried getting into Beacon if something he could not control ect. And just because you have LGBT in it doesn’t eman it’s good: Mod Regalia a bisexual talked about this before (https://team-crtq.tumblr.com/post/160160464449/rwby-and-ships) and these exact problems show up: Yang and Blake have tacked on Chemistry when they have a netural at best relationship and Ruby’s sexual observation of Blake makes no sense considering she is stated to be uninterested at sex right now. Combine this with awkward dialogue, OOC moments out of the ass, unnecessary dialouge changes that ruin the jokes, a lack of detail, more plotholes, tacked on LGBT mentions and inconsistent narrative style and you have an inferior product.

Please refer to these three posts on why people are upset about the lack of LGBT+ representation. Now get off your high-horse. Damn, and here I thought that someone in the crtq tag would call you out on that one.

I match and raise your tag with several LGBT members who are just as sick of this as I am: @phoenix-theurge @tumblezwei @ula-star @mageknight14 @rainbowloliofjustice @takashi0. You, as a straight person, cannot claim to speak for these people who are closer to the subject and disagree with you.

Both sides are using Monty’s name in vain. Not just rwde. You have people who are claiming that “The writers are shitting on Monty’s dream” and then you have guys who basically say “You are hating on Monty’s legacy.” - Both are petty, and even I have a major beef with it. But don’t act as if Monty’s death makes his show safe from criticism. If that were true, then people would go apeshit whenever someone criticized a Disney movie. - Point is, is that both sides are guilty of doing this, and considering you got mad and upset that someone made a rwde meme post on the anniversary of Monty’s death, you aren’t free from blame on this part either.

In the main RWBY tag where every RWBY fan can see it, which is what I did. You also only have one example for me and two examples against you: It seems more like I’m an isolated incident than anything so that point does not stand.

Re:RWBY is structured like a book. They aren’t structuring it like a show. Books are different than shows, movies, games, etc. Do you really think that the Harry Potter films follow the books to the exact letter? - I don’t think so. So, maybe you should stop bitching, and start looking onto details. re:Rwby made their points clear, and you claim that they’re arrogant? - They only said that he thought his ideas were better. Gee, for a person who claims that the rwde tag takes things out of context, you sure seem to do that a lot. Plus, if you read his tags, you’ll see that he was very polite compared to your “Everything is wrong, and you should feel bad for writing this wrong” attitude that you seemed to project through your comment.

And RWBy itself is structured as a book and that is why I judge it so: It’s lack of detail and terrible story structure makes it a chore to sit through because the gags in RWBY use both visual and vocal aspects and both are botched by the writer who claims to be a better writer than Miles. He outright said that he could do a better job than Miles and failed to do so and so by your standards of attacking Miles over Soul Eater and LOK, I am still right. In fact, considering Miles never said he was better and Re;RWBY did, I would be more right by your standards than you all are. And then he blocked me and continues to mock me, so what?

Again, refer to the posts that I linked to earlier about baiting. I’m not going through the effort of re-linking them again. But I have a new one right here.

Said by a guy who has a noted hatred of Miles. By your own logic, all that does is discredit you.

Just because Yang was in a rut, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t ablest. Tai made it clear that Yang wasn’t worth his time unless she had two arms, and that is pretty much ablest. Also, if what you said was true about lines and screentime, then that meant that Penny was there for Ruby’s development. Pyrrha was there for Jaune, and Adam was there just to make Blake the definitive “good guy.“ Another reason why people are critical of Jaune is because he was the first character to get a two-parter arc to himself. It wasn’t Ruby and Weiss (who had their problems resolved by the end of the episode) it was Jaune. And considering that no other character that one of the writers voice has gotten the same treatment, it leads to the conspiracy theories that Miles gives more development to Jaune because of his ego. Also, to quote Mr. Enter, “Just because you bring one character down, doesn’t mean the other character is brought back up.” It doesn’t work like that. Making Jaune look weak in comparison to Ruby doesn’t automatically make Ruby a better character, it just makes Jaune look weak.

- In fact, Ruby’s character remains static. But here’s another thing: If Jaune really is there to make Ruby look good, then why is he the strategist? - If this were the case, as you so claim, then Jaune’s strategies would have been thrown out for Ruby’s much better worded, and thought-out tactics. In addition, he’s the ONLY one mourning Pyrrha. Pyrrha is apparently non-existent for the other characters. Pyrrha was put in a Schrodinger’s Cat situation when it came to the reason for her abrupt death. She was either killed to further everyone’s character, or she was killed to further Jaune’s character and his alone. Since no character brings her up aside from Jaune (and Qrow that one time), it comes off as if Pyrrha was killed solely for Jaune

The rut thing was about depression, not the disabled thing. Right off the bat, you’re moving the goalposts. And even so, I have shown that disabled people DO think it was a good portrayal as seen in the Meta folder on the awesome tag of RWBY’s Tv Tropes page. And even then, you have shown an intense and irrational hatred for Taiyang so you’re not allowed to talk. Just as well, you aren’t allowed to talk about Jaune because you have shown personal bias against him so that doesn’t work either. In fact, you’re biased against most male characters as you have admitted before so in reality, most of this is pointless.

And yeah, some characters are like that. Adam isn’t because he’s more used to show what happens when you fight an opponent long enough: you start acting like them. But Penny and Pyrrha? Yeah, that’s true. That’s also not a bad thing: Most mentor characters are this way and Pyrrha actually got an arc outside of Jaune. Hell, the most well known character from Gurren Lagann is Kamina, a mentor character with no purpose or menaingful character traits that aren’t “Make Simon Better.” And Gurren Lagann is one of the highest regarded anime of all time as well as a stated influence on RWBY so my comparison has some weight.

And that only works if Ruby herself is weak, she’s not. Ruy has very strong characterization in that she is an innocent, naive but determined and altrustic girl with a love of weapons and zero social skllls. And contrary to what you say, her character has developed. She has gone from denying that bad things happen in the world to accepting that they happen but still struggling to amke things better because its the bright thing to do. And this coincides with Jaune’s character as a foil to Ruby: he’s the tactician to her stradgest, she inspires people through actions while he does so through words, she’s talent but naive whereas Jaune doesn’t have talent but is aware, Jaune gets more cynical while Ruby becomes more optimistic.

PS: I guess actions don’t speak at all huh? Ruby being sad at the mention of Pyrrha holds no weight to you huh? Good to know you have such a narrow view of things. No, you just put things in a damned if they do, damned if they don’t situation.

The only time I have ever heard of the opposite of Queerbaiting (Which Blizzard Entertainment invented, and was called Straightbaiting), was Tracer from Overwatch. Proof: https://ravenclaw-rebel3390.tumblr.com/post/155915548399/i-guess-overwatch-invented-straight-baiting

Okay and i be you rolled your ewyes at that. Now imagine how the five people I mentioned feel.

RWBY was marketed as a show about strong female protagonists. People didn’t sign on to watch Jaune (and only Jaune) cry about Pyrrha. I, myself am a fan of Ren. Jaune has had many lines over the course of the series, whereas characters like Ren, Sun, and Neptune have had very little. Also, Penny hardly had any screentime, and she was supposed to be one of Ruby’s close friends.

Once again, glad to know you have such a narrow view of things that Ruby being emotionally sad doesn’t work unless she says it.

And Jaune is the Deturagonist, so what? that’s like complaining that Gohan got too many lines in Dragon Ball Z.

Also: man Pain AKA a man can’t feel emotion over a woman. Nice to see such hypocrisy.

Right. Pyrrha totally deserves that label. After all, it’s not like she asked Jaune out multiple times, regularly ignored is rejections, and only backed off when she found out that he liked someone else and that affection was reciprocated… Oh wait, that happened… But it was Jaune doing it. Also, you were the one who undermined Yang’s trauma by claiming that she doesn’t know what it feels like to have people close to you abandon/die on her, when that’s been most of her life. Tai had absolutely ZERO joking tone when he said his insensitive comment, and you never seem to bring up the fact that Port and Oobleck were shocked by his comment. Why would they be shocked if this is supposed to be normal? It doesn’t seem logical to me.

Because you have a bias against male characters, we’ve been over this. You have outright stated it before and shown it numerous times. BGuit I’ll humor you:

Pyrrha also made advances at Jaune, just not directly. Nurmous Times as well. She ignored his attention to Weiss or ignored his lack of attention and only abcked off when Jaune was stated to like Weiss outright. So yeah, she does get that label if Jaune does. It’s called equality, something you seem foreign to.

Zero joking tone huh? Then I guess Church never joked once in the entirety of Red Vs. Blue because the tones were EXACTKY the same. Glad to see you’re blinder to sarcasm than an aspie.

And I guess if someone were to see the Reds And Blue or Rooster Teeth themselves,m they despise each other right? Or oif yous aw @ula-star‘s family you’d say that they are abusive too huih? Glad to see the world only works one way. (sarcasm)

Adam is an asshole. But Y’know what? - Weiss was the one who called “Controversial Faunus Labor” a “morally grey area.” Also, Adam is a minority, broken by the discrimination that he has faced. I don’t approve of his actions, not by a long shot. But the White Fang seem to be emulating the rwde tag (or maybe vice-versa), in which that side was sick and tired of being ignored when they were being peaceful, so they resort to brutal tactics. Weiss is also a racist heiress who somehow got over her racism overnight. From a storytelling standpoint, Adam deserves more sympathy than Cinder at this point. Unless both of them get an expanded backstory, they have both done some pretty terrible things, but Adam was forced to work for Cinder because she had power, and he didn’t. People tend to root for the underdog, especially if that underdog has been discriminated against. Adam’s story is more relatable to people because he’s a person who was sick and tired of peaceful protest being ineffective.

Let’s go through this, shall we?

1. Adam is also racist and to a degree that overshadows Weiss and Cardin (Name one time they6 demanded genocide. I can with Adam.)

2. Mind linking to that?

3. You comparing the rwde tag to the White Fang and called their leader a terorist shows that you pretty much know you’re trying to use fear to control people and thus cannot be listen to. Thanks for the confirmation.

4. And that’;s why Weiss was still weary around Sun because she wasn’t being racist to him. Also, she got over her racism, Adam hasn’t.

5. And no one forced Adam to try and blow up the train in the Black Trailer, abuse Blake, chop Yang’s arm off or call for genoicde either. Man, this is like a textbook example of Draco In Leather Pants. And weiss’ is a form of Ron The Death Eater as well: Big surprise.

Jaune has taken the protagonist role. He’s the only one mourning Pyrrha, and as that line chart stated, had Ruby not had that speech at the end, she would have had less lines than Jaune. Not to mention that we (the audience) already knew why Ruby was doing this. By having her do that speech, she’s simply stating the obvious. No audience member asked “Why is Ruby doing this?” - Because we already know. Ruby hardly did anything. It was primarily Jaune.

If Jaune is the protagonist, why did he immediately default to giving up his angst and sorrow to Ruby the minute she shows sorrow? Why would the entire Volume be using him to prop Ruby up? Why would the emotional scenes with him either use Ruby as the start and finish?

And the part about the lines thing doesn’t work because, again, 75% of Jaune’s lines go to Ruby because they were used to develop here.

And if she is staing the obvious there then you missed the obvious point about her development, the theme of the Volume and the emotional wrap up,.Also shows that no matter what, Ruby will always be secondary in your eyes to Jaune even when she isn’t/. Nice to see you again Sexism.

- Jaune gets hit. Jaune gets an upgrade. Jaune is telling the team what to do. Jaune is sick of losing people (which would have carried more weight if Ren were the one to have said it). Jaune is sad that Pyrrha died (Again, he’s the only one to be actively mourning her). Jaune catches Tyrian’s eye. Jaune calls out Qrow. Jaune saves Qrow. Jaune shows off his weapon’s new mode.

So is Ruby, so is Ruby and Jaune’s upgrade only made him get bitchslapped. Jaune can’t do anything else. Audienbce surrogate. Ruby is also saidf and he immediately stops being sad about Pyrrha to allow her to be. Tyrian immediately dismisses that and focuses on Ruby. In character for him, out of character for Ruby. So did Ruby.

And Ruby also had the focus of Salem and Cinder, 75% of Jaune’s lines where made to build her up, She is the fcous of the plotline and not Jaune, 2 out of the three scenes Jaune is notable in is centered around Runby, Ruby gets the final words, Rubty is the fcous of Yang’s plotline as well, Ruby does far better in combat that Jaune, Ruby is the reason WHY Qrow is there, Ruby is the reason WHY Qrow gets injured, Qrow is Ruby’s uncle and Jaune has no family in the story, Ruby is the butt of one joke whereas Jaune is the butt of three in the first episode alone. Yeah, doesn’t work/

Ruby showed off a neat aspect of her semblance in the first episode of the volume, and then it was never seen again. Ren comes across his ruined village, and we get only one flashback to it. Nora hardly does anything other than provide some relief, and acts as a means to keep Ren calm, and Qrow only gives us exposition. Then there’s the fact that Ruby only used her semblance in the finale fight a total of one time, whereas if that Grimm was as threatening as it was hyped up to be, then she should have been using it to tie the thing’s arms around a tree or something. - But nope, gotta have that ancient Grimm get killed by four newbies when other, more experienced fighters all fell to it. This just makes any hunter that’s not part of the main cast look pathetic in comparison.

Except for the numerous times she files into the air.

Ren and Nora got foreshadowing in Episode 2, 5, 6, and 9.

And semblances use up Aura therefore if she did one hit would break her aura as it did with Ren, The Nucklevee has more control over the arms than Ruby and all Jaune’s weapon did was get him bitchslapped.

Also: Name one Hunstamn in Ren’s village or any that fought the Nucklevee before the heroes. ot Ren’s dad, weapon isn’t correct. Not Xion, The bandoits took care of them and other Grimm weakened them down/ No? Can’t? Then I guess you have no argumnet.

Misuse in animation is a sin of itself. It’s a sad day when Monty (God rest his soul) forgets that Rapiers aren’t used in that fashion. It’s a poor decision that needs to end, and if RW/BY can’t be the trend setter and be the first time it gets used correctly, then why should it be exempt? - The lead animator was someone who studied fencing, this shouldn’t have been a thing in the first place. RWB/Y shouldn’t be a trend follower, it should be a trend setter.

Most of the Raiper usage cited in RWBy was from The White Trailer, Volume 1 and Volume 2. AKA when Monty was the animator. And even then, many trend setters WERE trend followers, they just diverged. NGE was a normal Mecha show for 16 episodes and yet it set the ENTIRETY of the deconstructions in anime after 1995. You fail using yet ANOTHER inspiration to RWBY.

The mention of trains is only mentioned in the exposition-filled bore-fest that is World of Remanent. If people need exposition about that from a filler spot that disrupts the action and flow of the show, then why shouldn’t they repeat what happened? - After all, they did it with the Schnee Heir twist. They revealed that Jacques wasn’t a real Schnee in the WoR, and then, in the following episode, they repeat it. Despite the fact that the twist was ruined by the WoR, they still thought it to be a good enough of a twist to repeat in the story proper. If they can do that, why can’t they repeat the train thing?

“Borefest”

“Likes on WOR are the sma eif jnot higher than normal RWBY”

Yeah, those don’t work.

Because it’s a part of the show? Okay then, whenever exposition happens in a show, you MUST skip over it because all it is is an inclusive version of WOR. What’s that? You won’t? Then no bitching about WOR.

- Also, Yang got used to the prosthetic in only a few weeks. Even FMA makes it a point to mention that their character getting used to their prosthetic in under a year is unusual. And if you mean to tell me that Remanent has the technology to make a prosthetic that can be gotten used to in under a few weeks, then why are they so stupid to make it so that you need four active towers to allow for cross-continental communication? - It simply doesn’t make sense. - Also, most PTSD victims take YEARS to recover (if they do at all). Yang getting better overnight (Putting on the prosthetic, and being able to use it like it was her original arm overnight) is insensitive to actual PTSD victims who lost a limb in a war, terrorist attack, or a freak accident.

And she had six months beforehand. That also means you wnat Yang to be out of the show for a year: Good to know.

Okay then: Do you want me o watch Legend of Korra and go through ever single plot hole in that show? Because considering last Airbender had quite a few, I’m sure I’ll be able to match you blow for blow. If not Korra then..basically any show ever? Or will you keep your standards.the same watching RWBY as you do everyone else and Not be a nitpicky asshole?

I believe that this is what you would call “a critique.” After all, I provided solid evidence as to why your reasoning is flawed, much like how you constantly did to me. And if this upsets you, then perhaps you could do us all a favor and keep it to yourself. And how about you don’t go whining to the rest of crtq that someone was being mean to you?

No, because you shown numerous times t5hroughout this study taht you have quite a few biases that you refuse to put aside as well as t5he fact that you amde it clear that you were attacking me rather critique, summerized by how you expect me to hold up to a standard that you yourself have rejected numerous times and didn’t follow once in this section. Meanwhile, I have.

And I wouldn’t do that to the crtq tag, I have higher standards than that. Nope, i’ll just my comrades talk you down while as Mod Quartz I will say nothing, thus giving you no ammo against me as a critic there.

I’d sure as hell appreciate it.

I’ll even be nice and not post this under the usual anti-knight tags (Though if someone else reblogs this, and adds those tags, I refuse to take responsibility for the actions of another).

Then why is Rwde a tag then? That is an anti-knight tag since so many people in the rwde tag dislike me, you7 are still singling me out for ridicule. And no, rwde doesn’t apply here as you are, in your won words, criticizing me. Meaning no RWBY and thus no rwde. Too bad about that huh?

And since you held me responsible for MSD even after we said we didn’t approve of him: Nope.

Now how about you quit with the weak punches and actually do some damage.

Is that all you got?

6 notes · View notes

fandumbstuff · 7 years

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The X-Men Franchise, Ranked Best to Worst

In light of Fox’s most recent addition to the X-Men franchise, the stellar Logan, I decided to retrospectively weigh in on the history of the franchise. This is a franchise that really made me an X-Men fan, and it’s one I have enjoyed tremendously. Considering that Hugh Jackman is retiring his performance as Wolverine, and I’m still not quite over his performance in Logan, forgive me if I toot his horn a little too much over the course of this post.

1. Days of Future Past

Directed by Brian Singer

A feverish vision of marrying Singers original films with the First Class mutants pays off in the most spectacular fashion. An epic spanning across time to make sense of the franchise as a whole and create a working continuity - such an innately comic book-esque story. In many ways this is a crossover that trumps all others. It isn’t just the X-Men going up against a big bad. It’s the X-Men of the future trying to right the sins they made in the past. It’s as much an inward reflection on their morality and their motives as it is a physical struggle against a larger than life villain. The film really highlights the stellar cast that the franchise has acrrued over the years. Watch the scenes that Fassbender’s Magneto shares with Lawrence’s Mystique. Or Professor X and Magneto’s Last Stand against an onslaught of Sentinels. Or the meeting of Charles Xaviers old and young. Each one of them is a master class in acting.

2. Logan

Directed by James Mangold

Here’s the thing. Hugh Jackman is a better Wolverine than Wolverine. His 17 years spent evolving the character has transcended it’s comic book version. His impeccable ability to lend a vulnerability under all the gritty stoicism has been evident throughout the franchise, but it is especially evident in Logan. It is fittingly his final performance as the character. An incredible epic journey that charts Logan’s highs and lows. It showcases the drama, violence and tragedy that is ingrained in the character and sets it in a gritty spaghetti Western tour of America. Accompanied by a strong (and concise) supporting cast that includes Sir Patrick Stewart’s last performance as Professor X and Dafne Keen’s powerful portrayal of X-23, Logan is the swan song that Hugh Jackman deserved.

3. X2: X-Men United

Directed by Brian Singer

The X-Men franchise has the benefit of of having an infinitely colorful cast of characters to choose from. And while some films have gone a little overboard with this (Apocalypse, Last Stand), X2 did it best. It finds strong performances from all of its actors, particularly Alan Cumming’s show stealing performance as Nightcrawler. Brian Cox’s performance as William Stryker provides the kind of creepy misguided sense of justice that is the perfect opposition for the X-Men, in a storyline that borrows heavily from a Chris Claremont story, and shows his original vision of just how horrific discrimination can be.

4. X-Men: First Class

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

An incredibly well executed origin story from Matthew Vaughn, First Class foregoes the franchise’s love affair with Wolverine to instead focus on the origins of Professor X and Magneto. James MacAvoy lends a younger, slightly more brash interpretation of Charles Xavier that subtly and surely fills the role that will become the Patrick Stewart version of the 90s. And Michael Fassbender delivers a powerhouse performance as Erik Lensherr, charting the tragic backstory of the character that later defines his ruthlessness. MacAvoy and Fassbender play brilliantly off of each other, establishing the bromantic tension that defines Charles and Erik’s relationship. But the real star of the film is it’s very setting. Taking place in the 60s, in the same era that the X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, First Class sets the struggle within the greater cultural context of the the height of the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. We’re left to ponder the political ideologies of the warring factions of mutants against the backdrop of humanity at its quarrelsome worst.

5. The Wolverine

Directed by James Mangold

This is probably the first time Hugh Jackman is given a strong enough script to match his talent. Based off Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s acclaimed debut story, the movie manages to surpass its source material. Claremont’s story shows a sensitive side of Logan by showing his love for Mariko Yashida, and the conflict that arises between him and the Yashida clan. While this relationship and conflict is very much present in the film, Mangold goes one step further by having Logan contend with his waning immortality. Hugh Jackman is able to play Logan in his most human vulnerability, contrasted with the more primal brutality of some of the film’s action scenes.

6. X-Men

Directed by Brian Singer

Brian Singer’s original vision for the franchise closely resembles the themes established by Claremont’s legendary comic run. X-Men is about the discrimination of those considered to be different. Charles Xavier’s group of outcasts struggling to find their place in the world, locked in an enduring struggle with Magneto and his need to establish dominance over a race he considers to be weaker. It is the discriminated fighting discrimination. It’s a socially conscious tale that will maintain its relevance for many years to come. And Singer really manages to execute it marvellously. And if it wasn’t for Wolverine’s completely inexplicable obsessive-creepy-barely-a-relationship with Jean Grey, it might have been higher on this list.

7. X-Men: Apocalypse

Directed by Brian Singer

Despite how much I loved this film the first time I saw it, I couldn’t bring myself to look past it’s many flaws when re-watching it. Like the poorly tacked-on Wolverine cameo (that would have payed off so much more if he wasn’t advertised in trailers), the re-hash of a Quicksilver scene from the previous film, or the unnecessary backstory that provides sympathy for Magneto yet again. Considering that at the end of Days of Future Past, Magneto was very much a villain, they could have simply carried on with this, instead of trying to add an emotional backstory and then have him turn to villainy again. Not only was it poorly executed (whoops my hand slipped), but it’s pretty poor writing considering it’s just two female characters that serve no purpose other than to further Magneto’s plot.

8. Deadpool

Directed by Tim Miller

While I’m sure this film would be higher on most lists, I’m going to express my unpopular opinion that Deadpool is a pretty crappy superhero. And that’s evident just from watching this film. The use of meta-humour loses its novelty quickly and eventually just becomes an excuse for poor writing. Deadpool is known for his dark humour, and the film goes to great lengths to make this evident. A little too far, in fact- A moment when Wade Wilson is “flirting” with his “love interest” Vanessa results in the pair making light of the fact that they were raped as kids. I enjoy dark humour as much as any one, but I draw the line at child abuse. Wade’s relationship with Vanessa then becomes a major plot point in the film, as it mostly revolves around Deadpool’s need to save her from the creepy villain, and show her how much he loves her. But at no point do we see this “love” play out. We do see them have a lot of sex though. It’s an inherently flawed plot, but the film trudges on and delivers some stellar fight scenes nonetheless, and a strong supporting cast to keep us entertained. Ultimately, Deadpool is probably the closest adaptation of a comic book character I have ever seen, and if you’re a Deadpool fan, you will love this movie. If you aren’t, it’s hard to look past the inherent flaws in the film’s structure.

9. X-Men: The Last Stand

Directed by Brett Ratner

That “obsessive-creepy-barely-a-relationship” I mentioned earlier in X-Men comes to a head in this film. And it’s downright unbearable. Wolverine is reduced to a simpering mess for most of the film, pining over a confused and absurd interpretation of Jean Grey/Phoenix. The film burns through years of comic book storyline over the course of a few minutes, and foregoes any real character development to tease the final showdown between the Brotherhood and the X-Men, without ever really explaining the motivations behind any of the characters other than Magneto. The showdown is entirely underwhelming as a result of this, and the climax is totally disappointing. It would be a long time before the X-Men would ever be good again, and it’s entirely Brett Ratner’s fault.

10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Directed by Gavin Hood

Honestly, this movie is totally forgettable and I couldn’t bring myself to watch it again to write this review. It begins with a pretty promising montage that shows Jackman’s Wolverine and a sadly underutilized Liev Shrieber as Sabretooth fighting in wars spanning the century. It all goes downhill from there. In a franchise that drew so much from the comic book legacy of the X-Men, this film seems to ignore it completely. And while a re-interpretation of the story might have been acceptable, the film instead seems to have the goal of muddling the story altogether, burying any interest in fan-favourite characters along the way. The majority of the film can be summed up by the image of Hugh Jackman screaming with his claws outstretched.

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ginnyzero · 4 years

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Completely Harmless Ch. 33

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

Chapter Thirty-Three Rainbow CRASH!!

The first day of Rainbow Week couldn’t have dawned any better. Clear skies, warm breezes, everything looked like it was going to go off without a hitch. The girls scrambled through the daily chores and then dressed in outfits for a day of having fun.

They stood in a circle and put their hands on top of each other.

“Right, girls, time for fun,” Regina said.

“Get ready to party!” Brittany shouted.

“Go Silver Drakes!” They shouted and raised their hands together. “Whee!”

“To Moorland!” Tyra pointed.

“To Moorland!” They all agreed as they mounted their horses and rode out.

The main part of Moorland’s festivities were taking place at the festival area. So, that’s where they went. First stop, they went to the tent to choose what friendship bracelet they wanted for their charm bracelets. There were two different rainbow styles to choose from and one that was hearts.

They would have to talk to Jenna at the stable to get their charm though.

They took photos at the selfie wall, browsed the Jojo and Rainbow Week shop. It had clothes and mysterious powders for their horses and interesting tack. They made bows and put them on at the crafting stall.

There was a large table where they could make and write Rainbow themed Friendship Cards for everyone. That took the longest, and was perhaps the most fun. They made them for everyone in their Clubs and the other Clubs. They even made them for the Bobcats, because no one wanted to be mean. It was Rainbow Week. Embrace the power of friendship! There were huge sacks of letters they stuck theirs in to go to the post office later.

And then when Jojo got on for her first set, they went and did a line dance in the front row.

Jojo jumped up and down she was so happy to see them and insisted for the second song that they dance with her. Which was tons of fun.

They promised her to come back later to listen to a full set.

They had just enough time to get their bow charm from Jenna before joining the parade to go to Fort Pinta!

Loretta insisted Lily ride with her. “Tan’s outfits were a disaster,” she said.

“Which is why you’re wearing the black on black,” Lily observed. The vest and capri pants had rainbow piping, and there was a rainbow bow at their necks.

“It was so tacky. I told her that next year, I’ll have someone else do the Festival grounds if she can’t focus on decorating and coming up with a reasonable design.” Loretta rolled her eyes.

‘I’m sure she tried her best. Rainbow is challenging.”

“Well, this was like a rainbow puked over everything. So not tres chic. We have fashion police on Jorvik and I don’t want to be arrested!”

“I don’t think that’s what the fashion police do.”

Loretta gave her a long look. “Nobody is supposed to know what the Fashion Police do. They’re, they’re this secret agency that we know exists. Think of all the Fashion crime they’re stopping by merely existing. Do you want to wear 100% polyester? The Fashion Police put a stop to that,” Loretta shuddered.

“For being secret, you know a lot about them.”

“Look, Tan might want to be a fashion designer, but I think I’m a top pick for the Fashion Police if I can’t make it in Eventing. I have studied everything. Fashion history. Fashion laws. I know it.”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine at it,” Lily said trying to hide her dubiousness. Okay then. “Whatever you end up doing, that is.”

“I’ll win the eventing circuit in Jorvik if Anne Von Blissen doesn’t come back. Just watch me,” Loretta tossed her head. “I’m a shoo in. And, between you and I, I’m prettier than Anne. And everyone thought she was going to be a model before she went after the dressage circuit. Then, she’s gone. You know what I think.”

“No. I’m not psychic.”

“I think she was losing and couldn’t hack it. So she elected to disappear rather than face the shame of it all.”

“That’s a wild theory. I don’t know Anne at all.”

“She’s stuck up.”

Lily bit her tongue. That was rather hypocritical of Loretta to say.

Behind her, Pauline snorted.

“Like, Herman told her she had these fancy magic powers, that don’t exist, and I mean, she already thought she was better than the rest of us and that made it worse.” Loretta rolled her eyes. “She started hanging out with complete losers like Alex and Lisa and that nerd, Linda.”

“Isn’t Lisa a music star like Jojo?”

“She wasn’t then,” Loretta huffed. “Come on, it’s like you don’t get how this works.”

“No, Loretta. I don’t get how you do friendship,” Lily’s voice turned tart. “If I waited to be friends with someone before they were somebody, then I’d have no friends. You’re friends with Tan.”

“Tan gets it.”

The parade ended at the gates of Fort Pinta. Fortunately, because Lily was about to lose her temper. She rode straight into Fort Pinta without even saying good bye. She just, she couldn’t or else she was going to say something she’d regret later.

Pia ran over. “You came!”

Lily smiled as she looked around. There were pinatas in the trees and people of all ages lining up to look at them and take a swing to crack them open.

“Of course we came!” Pauline said. “Forgive Lily, she’s in Loretta daze.”

“Ugh. I understand. Mayor Peanut has the charms,” Pia explained. “So, you can head over and get them there.”

“The art show is,” Lily paused. “Colorful.”

Arrayed around the fountain were stands and little tents and umbrellas, all were rainbow themed, and under the rainbow themed tents and umbrellas were more, well, rainbow themed things.

Pia led them and their horses around the edge of it. DJ Kai was blasting “I Hate Plastic” in the disco. The floor lights turned random colors, the disco ball turned radiating small square lights onto the walls and the door of Disco Daze Clothes Shop.

Pia put a hand to her forehead. “I didn’t even ask for it and they, they showed up with tie dye. All of them! I mean, there’s pillows, and blankets, and wall art, and I don’t know what that is,” she gestured at something. “And t-shirts, I mean, get yourself a rainbow tie dye t-shirt.”

“We will,” one of the girls said.

Mayor Peanut had a rainbow sequin band on his new shiny black top hat. And someone, cheekily, had put a large rainbow tie around his neck.

The girls put up their horses in the stable first before coming back to see him.

James had rigged up a motion sensor and a bunch of recorded phrases it seemed as Mayor Peanut was talking almost non-stop. They got their charms, the pony head. And took selfies with him. He had a snack station too. And the tourists were using it egregiously. The girls though gave him extra scratches that he enjoyed just as much.

“It’s a good thing that James has to take him out with Fussywithers,” Tyra murmured. “Or he’d be getting fat.”

Eyes widened.

They found the backdrop near the statue and took more selfies with it.

Lily leaned against the sign as she waited her turn that explained who the statue was, one Governor Gareth. It popped open.

Lily jumped. “What in the world?” She went to close it and stopped. Inside was a round seal. She swiped it out and shut the sign up. It had a sun on it, like, the sun on Elizabeth’s dress design. It felt warm in her hand and her skin tingled. Lily glanced around. No one had noticed. She slipped the seal into her pocket. She’d show it to Linda later.

She didn’t think much of the hiding spot though.

They browsed the art show and there were purple t-shirts with rainbows on them. Of course, they bought them. The purple was a light purple and dark purple tie dye, then with the rainbow tie dyed in as well. They were perfect.

They decided they’d have to wear them the next day.

Of course, they had to dance to DJ Kai’s music and eat some cookies at the café. They stopped to look at all the cute piggies at the Pet Shop. The owner warned them that they wouldn’t be that small for long. Pigs, even dwarf pigs, could grow as tall as a person’s waist. Though normal pigs were taller than an average human.

The short take away was that pigs were big and were a commitment.

“Oh, we’re browsing,” Lily said. “Do you know anything about pet ducks?”

“No,” the owner said slowly.

“We have lots of ducks around our stable,” Linn said.

“Some of them want to adopt us,” Pauline giggled.

Once the pigs had gotten enough pets, and there was some stomach rumbling, they decided to head to the next place.

“All the sugar cookies are making me hungry!” Stacy said.

“Sugar does that,” Elsa said flatly.

They all rolled their eyes and headed to the Farmer’s Market where all the different restaurants had stands. They chose what they wanted and reconvened outside to eat in the sunshine.

They were halfway through the meal when something strange happened.

Across the Golden Fields, a rainbow appeared. Now, it didn’t appear like it shimmered into being. No. It appeared as if it had been spilled down from the sky (that was mostly clear still) and rammed into the ground.

“Is that?” Regina asked.

“Normal?” Melody finished.

“That’s not scientifically possible,” Elsa said.

It didn’t fade away either. It stayed there, exceptionally bright and vibrant.

As one, they got up and walked over finishing their meals. When they arrived at the base of the rainbow, they received no more answers.

Near the base of the rainbow pranced a being. They were dressed in a green jacket with an equally green top hat, and had two arms and two legs and one head, but that’s where the similarity to humans ended. For one, this being had grey brown fur all over their body. Their feet were cloven like a goats. They had a tail. And set in their rather beaky face were two big black eyes like, well, a spider.

“Krampus,” Brittany murmured.

They all looked at her confused.

She shrugged.

Lily approached cautiously. “Excuse us, good neighbor, is there something wrong?”

“Wrong!” The being’s voice was definitely male. “Yes. Much wrong. Rainbow crash. Rainbow gold go flying all over. Chaun flung to ground.”

“I’m sorry,” Lily said. “That sounds painful and terrifying.”

“Sounds like sabotage.”

“Brogan!” Chaun waved his fist and jumped up and down. “Brogan hate Chaun. Wants Chaun’s rainbow gold. Get gold. Chaun give gift. Gold scattered in dirt.”

The girls looked around, and sure enough, scattered around the area were piles and piles of dirt.

“So, if we go through the dirt and get the gold, you’ll give us something in return,” Lily said just to make sure.

“Fair. Chaun get gold. You get gifts.”

Right then. The little being or Krampus was gruff and short, but Lily didn’t have a reason not to think he wasn’t being honest. He was being pretty clear after all.

“And if we see Brogan?” Brittany asked.

“Capture. Bring to Chaun. Chaun deal with Brogan.”

That seemed reasonable. They didn’t want to get involved in a feud between Krampus leprechaun creatures.

The girls scattered to the different mounds to rummage through them for rainbow gold.

“Not what I thought I’d be doing today.”

Thankfully, it wasn’t difficult to find. They brought it back to Chaun who had a selection of items they could trade the gold for like he had a shop in magic space.

Chaun turned his head like a bird and seemed happy enough with what they’d returned to him. “Chaun go now.” He said and hopped onto the end of the rainbow and it drew upwards back into the sky.

“Okay, that was weird,” Lily said.

“Only on Jorvik,” Tyra said.

“Like, are we just going to accept that happened? We, we talked to a leprechaun,” Abigail waved her hands.

“Krampus,” Brittany corrected.

“Is there a difference?”

“Yes.”

“Does it matter?”

Brittany bit her lip. “For the sake of this discussion, no.”

“Right. And found his gold for him? Like, I’ve heard at gold at the end of the rainbow,” Abigail trailed off again.

“I need to wash my hands,” Lily said.

“We should pack the heavy gloves.”

“You think he’ll come back?”

“Well, he’s not the only one running around and it is Rainbow Week and if this,”

“Don’t say his name!” Brittany interrupted. “Do you want to call him to you?”

“If it makes him easier to find.”

“It’s not like the rainbow damaged anything.”

“Other than our sanity,” Elsa said.

Lily ignored them. She strode off to get her horse and headed to Steve’s farm. A quick use of the water bucket cleaned up her hands. The other girls joined her. Thankfully, they were all in short sleeves. There were some grass bits sticking to knees, but mostly they were fine. It wasn’t like the dirt had been damp.

Kate raised her brows at seeing all of them. “Do I want to know?”

“If you see a rainbow ending in a field, there’s a little guy named Chaun at the end that needs help retrieving his rainbow gold.”

“Are you ill?” Kate asked.

“You’ll see.” Lily warned. They went and got their charms, a rainbow with a cloud that now felt more ironically appropriate, from Steve. “Oh, and there might be another one named Brogan running around. I want to make a teddy bear,” she said brightly before Kate could respond and leaving her horse at the stable, she headed into town to see Daxton.

The other girls fervently agreed.

“Pack thick gloves,” Tyra warned.

Kate stared after them. “Well, that happened,” she murmured.

Making teddy bears with Daxton was soothing and grounded them back into reality. Harold had plenty of cookies for dessert. And Lance and Lillith were rocking it out on the steps of the Village Council house.

They really weren’t that bad.

They’d drawn a crowd too.

But they’d promised Jojo they’d go back and listen to her sing and sewing teddy bears by hand took a lot of time. And if they didn’t go now, they’d be late. So, they grabbed their horses and headed back to the festival area in Moorland.

On the way between Steve’s Farm and castle, one of the girls scouted a bit of red where red wasn’t supposed to be. “There he is!” She shouted.

The red thing stopped scurrying about, stiffening.

It looked almost exactly like Chaun, except it was wearing a red coat and a red felt flat topped conical hat with a long tassle.

“Get him!” Another girl shouted.

Wisely, Brogan took off at a sprint. He was fast, but the girls on their horses were faster and knew the area better.

They cut him off.

“Hello,” Lily smiled. “You must be Brogan. Chaun is unhappy with you.”

“Chaun greedy.” Brogan stomped his cloven hoof foot and then jumped up and down. “Keeps all rainbow gold for himself. Brogan likes gold too. It shiny!”

“Uh huh, it’s not nice to crash his rainbow though.”

“Brogan get rainbow gold,” Brogan said with a smirk showing off his pointy teeth.

“Red cap,” Brittany breathed in horror.

“I thought Chaun was a Krampus.”

“This is a Red Cap type Krampus.”

“Do you mean fae?”

Brittany waved a hand at the other girl when she realized Brogan was staring at her.

Lily cleared her throat.

“Help Brogan!” Brogan wheedled. “Get gifts in exchange for rainbow gold.”

The girls pursed their lips and looked at each other.

Brogan wanted dandelions. Not that he would explain what he wanted dandelions for. They needed to bring him dandelions.

Lily was suspicious. But they went and got him some dandelions.

As soon as he got them, Brogan cackled and disappeared with a pop.

“Oh, that!” Regina waved her arms.

Brittany sighed. “He wasn’t very specific was he.”

“Oh, I will nail his little hooves to the floor.”

“That will kill him,” Brittany sing songed.

“So, they are fae.”

Brittany shrugged. “They didn’t lie. I’d say they might as well be fae.”

“Well, we’ll have to be quicker if we see him again,” Lily said.

They rejoined the now much larger crowd. Jojo’s last set went through sundown and the sky turned dark. They used their cellphone lights like lighters, and waved them in the air. As she finished her last song, a huge display of fireworks went off behind the Silverglade Castle.

Jojo jumped and spun around. Her eyes widened. She squealed and waved her arms about how awesome it was. They overheard her say she couldn’t believe they’d done a rainbow themed fireworks show just for her.

Lily rolled her eyes. They’d given Jojo a schedule. The fireworks had been on the schedule.

No one was willing to burst Jojo’s bubble and tell her it wasn’t.

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

#star stable #star stable online #sso #fan fic #jorvik reimagined #star stable salt #rainbow week #silverglade reimagined #completely harmless #many nods to ruth westside #Brogan is mine

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