#i wonder if mr legend could do that too or if that level of control was derived from Kotetsus fear of his powers

[abluescarfonwaston]

The fact kotetsu can hear Dr Saito when Mattia can't without his powers is astounding. I know his powers can heal minor damage but like. This man has worked in first response for over a decade. He's worked alongside sirens and screams and point blank gunshots. And i know they've got some great medical treatments but has he really had No hearing loss over the years? Damn that blue suit must have had earplugs built in or something.

Course there is the added point that kotetsu Used to struggle to hear Dr Saito as well but now he doesn't seem to have any problem at all. Tie that to his ability to filter through 100x layers of noise until he finds exactly the one he wants might just mean he's Really good at listening. It just took a while for him to find Dr Saito's frequency.

#kotetsu might not have feeling in his hands #or a healthy work life balance #or be able to separate his self worth from his ability to help others #but damn if he doesn't have fantastic hearing #kotetsu t kaburagi #i am going to picture kid Kotetsu hiding in the woods cause his powers keep turning on #and the world gets SO LOUD #stop trying to block it all out you'll never succeed #focus on one sound instead #and let the rest fall away #i wonder if mr legend could do that too or if that level of control was derived from Kotetsus fear of his powers

[terra-drone]

My gripes with Rift Apart

Consider this a review of Rift Apart (PC ver). After playing this game twice on Renegade Legend, I have... opinions. Being a fan of the franchise since Going Command/Locked & Loaded, I admittedly have some strong biases for both the PS2 saga and the Future Trilogy for various reasons. But before I go lambasting this entry into the franchise, a TLDR summary;

Pros:

The game is pretty and well executed on a technical level (for the most part).

The platforming and movement is refined and a step up from previous titles.

Cons:

Quite literally almost everything else.

Also has a propensity for crashing (both freezing and blue screen of death).

Movement & Platforming

One of the core aspects of RaC that I am happy RA got right. The movement is buttery smooth and chain daisying from one platform to the next using wall runs, dashes and rift pulls is excellently designed. The addition of the dash function adds an extra dodge ability that was absent in previous entries although granted we can still use the age-old side jumping while aiming/shooting.

I do wish however that the hoverboots were more integrated into the platforming since most of the time you only ever need it for super long leaps or the timed step puzzles. Something like the jump pads from ACIT would be nice to see paired with the new wall run and dash mechanic. You hardly need to use it outside of Savali and Torren IV and the last part of the Nef Mech fight.

What I wished they truncated however was the glide mechanic the hoverboots had. Given that the hoverboots could both glide and make you go fast, it makes this better than whatever Clank could possibly offer. @erablisme has done a wonderful breakdown on this matter (see here), but essentially having the hoverboots be an upgrade of both the charge boots and fulfilling Clank’s contribution to Ratchet’s mobility (gliding) renders Clank, from a gameplay standpoint, moot. It renders Clank into nothing more than a glorified backpack/exposition device, which beats the entire purpose of the franchise’s own title.

Gameplay

Weapons

The arsenal, while fun to use, is too bloated. A lot of the guns overlap in functionality:

Shotguns: Enforcer, Pixelizer, Void Repulser

Seeker/Turret weapons: Agents of Doom, Bombardier, Mr Fungi

Crowd Control: Topiary Sprinkler, Cold Snap

Grenades: Shatterbomb, Bouncer

Rapid fire: Burst Pistol, Blackhole Storm

Lock-on weapons: Drillhound, Richochet, Buzzsaw, Lightning Rod

Heavy hitter: RYNO, Negatron Collider, Warmonger

Do we really need multiple weapons that do the same thing just with different particle effects?

The level up mechanic, while a staple of RaC games, is frankly outdated by this point and actively hinders the game. If anything, it punishes players for sticking to guns they enjoy once they hit max level. It makes the motivator for using weapons not be its function but rather to chase that arbitrary level cap. Plus, there’s no telling what the level up actually did for a weapon aside from damage buffs.

It’s not like they couldn’t do away with this feature, Deadlocked made the guns increase so many levels it frankly deemphasises them in favour of choosing the best weapon for any given scenario, ItN decreased the max level to 3 (6 on challenge) in favour of more meaningful weapon upgrades, and ACiT had the Constructo weapons and mods (which Deadlocked also had called Omega Mods) that incentivises experimentation on what combos worked best while allowing you to spice things up post max level. Why not tie weapon upgrades to collectibles? They already had the Raritanium collection, sprinkling effect mods for weapons throughout the locations shouldn’t be too difficult. They already did this for the armour system, so why not do it for the weapons too? Heck, why not make all the weapons customisable like the Constructo weapons? It would solve the bloated arsenal problem.

Enemy Design

The enemy design in this game just isn’t great. While it makes sense considering you’re fighting an army so it’s obvious they’re gonna have standardised units, you would think they would spice up their combat stratagem when they know they couldn’t beat our protagonists by throwing the same old shtick over and over. Instead, we keep having to fight the same miniboss Juggernaut over and over and over again. Sometimes there’s two of them! Make it three during the Juice fight!

It’s not a problem with just the Nefarious troopers, it’s an issue across multiple factions too. Across all three factions (Space Pirates, Goons & Nef’s army), they all follow the same formula; 

the one with the gun: Pirate Corsair, Goon, Nef Lasertrooper

the one that does melee: Space Pirate & Shield Pirate, Goon Rusher & Undead Goon, Nef Slugger

the tiny short range/melee swarmer: Cutlassies, Robomutt, Nef Trooper

the vehicle one: Goon Dropship, Nef Dropship

the flying one: Zoom Goon, Nef Sniperbot & Blitztrooper & Sniperbot

the heavy flying one: Vroom Goon, Nef Peacekeeper

the rinse repeat miniboss: Pirate Marauder, Nef Juggernaut

While stylistically different, they don’t differ much from how they shoot/do damage at you. It would have been great if they did some things different from one another. Some really simple fixes;

While I think giving shields to pirates makes little sense, it is some variety at least. Expand on that. Maybe make the Goon Rusher actually rush towards you faster than the others, or make the Nefarious Slugger can do 360 attacks or have more range since it’s a) a robot, and b) basically has the Scorpion Flail for arms. 

Make the Vroom Goons try to ram you instead of just having to avoid the taser things it shoots cuz that’s the exact same thing that the Nefarious Sniperbot does since all you need to do to avoid both attacks is sidestepping it.

Make the Pirate Corsair shoot high damage while the standard Goon does horizontal strafing rapid fire compared to the Nef Trooper’s vertical one

Make the Zoom Goons dodge your attacks, maybe give it a ground pound that opens it up to attack so it's at least somewhat different from the Nef Peacekeeper other than being a slightly squishier variant.

For a game so pretty it is bizarre they couldn’t put more effort into gameplay itself. The repeating minibosses get stale very quickly since once you’ve figured out a tactic that worked, it is rinse and repeat across the whole game.

Two Protagonists, Same Shtick

The gameplay doesn’t differentiate itself between Ratchet and Rivet. They play the exact same way, with the exact same arsenal, and the exact same progression. What is the point of having separate playable protagonists if they’re just gonna end up the same? You could replace Rivet with Ratchet and vice versa for 90% of the game and nothing would change. It would be something if they had separate weapons or separate movement gimmicks that make them distinct, but we didn’t get that for some reason.

Character Issues

The character writing is just abysmal, even when compared to the Future trilogy. While the Future trilogy (and by extension A4O, FFA and ItN) had plenty, and I mean plenty, of plotholes from a worldbuilding standpoint, the character writing was solid and fairly consistent. I cannot say the same for RA. Some examples;

Ratchet(?) & Clank(?)

I can hardly recognise Ratchet as the same character we had over the PS2 and PS3 instalments. He feels more like the 2016 reboot version just haphazardly retconned as the ItN version that RA was supposedly a continuation of. Being afraid of being a washed-up hero was Qwark’s thing, not Ratchet’s. Why would he even care? The man was downright tired of being a hero come ItN. And why is he even worried about meeting the Lombaxes? He saved Polaris multiple times and beat Tachyon, y’know, the reason why they left in the first place? The reason he gave up searching for the Lombaxes was because he had more going on with Talwyn and was assured the Lombaxes would do just fine without him. Why the sudden change of reason? What, is acknowledging Talwyn one too many female characters for Insomniac?

And why would Clank, despite knowing Ratchet not wanting to pursue the Lombaxes, go out of his way to make a whole ass parade about the Dimensionator? If he was just trying to cheer Ratchet up from his fear of being a washed-up hero (which, again, made no sense for his character) he would have just done the parade and given him the Dimensionator in private. The entire premise of Rift Apart hinges on the fact that Clank decides to give Ratchet what can be considered as a WMD since the Lombaxes used the Dimensionator to get rid of the Cragmites in an open public setting. Had he not done this, had he not told Qwark he wanted to surprise Ratchet, Nefarious probably wouldn’t have found out about the new Dimensionator, and the entire game wouldn’t have happened.

Another gripe I have with how Clank was handled was that his Zoni heritage was conveniently forgotten about. They could have tied the Zoni more deeply into the mysticism of the RaC universe and be the reason why he was able to fix the dimensional anomalies, but instead it was tied to Gary and... the Lombaxes. Huh.

Rivet, or as I like to call her, “Furbait”

There is so much missed potential with Rivet. Where to start? Instead of a grizzled, closed-off survivor of a robot dystopia, we just get miss middle-of-the-road, clearly made for pandering, furbait. Design wise, she would have been perfectly serviceable had this NOT been a robot dystopia. The only physical giveaway to show that she was a survivor/rebel fighter was her arm. It is the only thing that shows she’s a rebel fighter survivor. Her suit is well made, her eyelashes are on fleek, her hair is silky smooth, her tail is all fluffy and clean. Nothing about her says she was a survivor. No scars, no dirt, nothing other than the obvious robot arm. It is lazy. Lazy and stupid.

Her personality doesn’t make sense for the universe she supposedly inhabits either. Heck, no one in this franchise fits well in this robot dystopia, tbh. She distrusts robots due to past experience, yet  is chummy with both Clank and Kit (and by some extension, the Zurkons & Pierre) relatively quickly. For someone who should have gone through a lot of adversity, she hardly acts like it. She’s confident, has a lot of friends, and whatever negative aspect she does have (which is just distrust instead of the obvious robot racist she should have been) that would have given her an opportunity to grow as a character is watered down and conveniently forgotten, so she hardly grows as a character, if any.

Ultimately, Rivet boils down to being “What if Ratchet, but a girl?”. There’s work put into trying to make her her own thing, but there’s also the narrative yanking her by the collar to be Ratchet’s other self. She’s the last Lombax in her dimension, she also wonders where the Lombaxes went, and she’s trying to be a hero. At that point, how is she any different than Ratchet? They don’t even differ much personality wise for a version of Ratchet who never met her Clank, so to speak. One would think she would be the spunky RaC1 Ratchet since it was meeting Clank that got Ratchet to grow as a person. Instead she’s just your lovely neighbourhood Rivet, friend to all except robots except the ones she meets I guess. What is the point of having two main characters if they are just gonna end up the same?

Kit

While arguably the better other of the new duo, she has issues as well in the writing department. She had the most growth out of our titular cast, however how she got there is ramshackled at best. 

In comparison to Clank, he was a defective warbot, which made sense why he was small. Kit on the other hand was tailor made by the supposedly competent Emperor Nefarious, so why does she have a cutesy mode? Why does she even have a character crisis from hurting Rivet, for that matter? Stopping rebels was what she was designed to do, and she suddenly gained a conscience from doing her job? If Kit is so effective at what she did, why did Emp Nef stop at making just one of her? Shouldn’t there be multiple Kit models roaming about? She could mow down hordes of newer Nefarious Troopers and Juggernauts, so why didn’t Emp Nef expand on that?

These inconsistencies make Kit as a character start falling apart as soon as you give it more scrutiny than a surface level glance. The writers could have easily solved these issues by just alluding that she might have been an outdated model, or was damaged and abandoned on Savali where Gary and the monks fixed her up and gave her a new purpose — protecting the Archives. Instead of an exterminator, she became a guardian. They could have taught her how to be more “human” as it were, too,  which would tie up nicely to why she regrets her actions in her previous line of work. Instead, they went with the “Oh no, what have I done, I did my job and injured a trespasser, now I’m gonna be a recluse on Savali” route.

She doesn’t gel well with Rivet either because the only one actively having something to overcome was Kit. Had Rivet been written better (having to overcome her prejudices, letting go of her past trauma, solving her trust issues) it could work with Kit growing out of her self doubt and regrets, but it just isn’t there. Plus, there weren't enough scenes of them together to build towards that conflict resolution that would make their friendship more believable. She has more of a relationship with Ratchet than Rivet.

“EmPeRoR” Nefarious

He is boring. Simple as. There is no driving motivation to him other than “conquer everything”. We could have gotten an Ultron (which would make a perfectly sensible callback to the Biobliterator shtick our Nef pulled from UYA) but we just end up with a sassy English bastard with the personality of wet bread. There was no fun interplay between him and our Neffy, anything to make both their personalities shine as they work together or grind against each other, it just sucks.

The Plot(holes)

Imma just list it down.

How does a helmet clearly designed to fit a Lombax head is supposedly “one size fits all”?

How did the fish kid Rivet saved in the intro made it around Nef City in the first place if this was supposedly a robot dystopia that eradicated all squishies? What, was he just having a stroll, taking some fresh dystopian air? Could have made it that this was a fellow rebel she was tasked to save cuz he had some intel that he swiped and Rivet decided to use herself as bait to draw attention away from him so he could get the intel out of there, but no.

On that matter, why do planets like Savali and Torren IV still have organic inhabitants?

What was Skidd trying to achieve by hacking the propaganda blimp? This served no purpose at all narratively since it didn't even turn any robots against the Neffies.

Why was Skidd even in Nef City, for that matter? What was his original mission that he was going undercover for? Busting Rivet out of prison? Couldn’t be, since he made no mention of it.

Why did none of Emp Nef's cronies question our Nef just popping in despite looking clearly different? He’s a whole head shorter and the wrong colour. What, do they not have colour vision?

How did Emp Nef know about the existence of the dimensional map? He barely knew about the Dimensionator so how does that make sense?

If Ratchet already has hoverboots, why couldn’t he dash/sprint with it until he gets to Savali?

Where and when did Rivet get a rift tether?

Where and when did Rivet get a pair of hoverboots?

Wasn’t the Space Pirates/Decadroids designed by Tachyon? Why do they exist in this dimension? Why aren’t they allied with Emp Nef since they too are robots? None of this is explained.

Where did the Lombaxes of Rivet’s dimension disappear to? Did they have a Tachyon-like threat in this dimension too? Did Emp Nef wipe them out? Don’t know, and the game doesn’t bother explaining it cuz Rivet is supposed to be girl Ratchet and nothing beyond that.

Why would Emperor Nefarious announce for the whole galaxy to see where he was going during the finale? Did he lose that much intelligence in the short timeframe we’ve known him? This is the guy who conquered the galaxy?

Why would he leave a portal for our protagonists to conveniently follow him through? 

Where did that telekinetic abilities of him suddenly disappear to?

Where was this dimension’s Lawrence counterpart? That stupid little secretary is so dumb as to not recognise her own boss she couldn’t possibly be the Lawrence replacement.

Environmental Storytelling & Worldbuilding

Environmental storytelling & worldbuilding has never really been Insomniac’s strong suit. RA is pretty and all, but aside from Blizar Prime, none of the other locales did anything different from Ratchet’s dimension. If this was supposed to be a galaxy where Emp Nef has conquered it all, you would think that there’d be more neon, more cyberpunk, more Emp Nef aesthetic, more robots flying about. Instead, we just got the same thing we had from Ratchet’s dimension, just in prettier graphics. It is set dressing with no story to tell. It's a puddle pretending it was an ocean. While I appreciate seeing the graphical glow up the locations got, it’s a missed opportunity to actually show the impact Emp Nef had. 

Take Nefarious City for example;

How was Ratchet able to move around Nef City without raising alarms? This negates the entire point of Rivet needing a robot disguise in the first place.

Why does a static statue in the middle of a city have a terminal that activates a platform that leads to Emp Nef's office in the first place?

On that note, why is an EMPEROR working from an office? Where’s the throne? The grand palace and palisades? The royal guards? If he’s an authoritarian that likes to take control, where’s the giant screen with a hundred monitors that watch every inch of Nef City?

Why does Emp Nef have a tiny four seater shuttle? If he needed to commute planet-side, wouldn’t he have something more posh? More grand? A Rolls Royce of shuttles instead of what can be considered a slightly pricier but still shitty Tesla model? They could have made Ratchet or Rivet have to steal a fighter jet and that would make infinitely more sense than what we got.

The same can be said with the inhabitants of this universe. They only exist to serve as plot devices or to point the protagonists to the next goal rather than actual people. There is no culture, no differing beliefs, nothing to tell you about what they are about or what they do. If all they exist to do is to be exposition devices/mission pointers, what was the point of even making distinct characters? Then again, the Future trilogy suffered the same problem with environmental characters being practically stand-in cardboards so points for consistency, I guess.

Verdict

Essentially, Rift Apart is a creatively bankrupt, designed-by-committee tech demo for Sony Playstation. What used to be a franchise that does satirical commentary on capitalism that later tried to delve into narrative/character driven sci-fi story, has ended up being the most capitalistic-designed entry imaginable. Which is unfortunate because I want to like this game. God, do I want to like it.

Did I enjoy playing it? When it works and doesn't crash on me, sure.

Do I like it enough as an entry to the franchise though? No, no I don't. The gameplay hardly expanded on the RaC formula, and the narrative just killed it for me.

But of course, that's just me. If you enjoyed RA, more power to ya. If you told me to play it again, I'll probably do it. It's just not for me for the long run.

#terra rambles #ratchet and clank #rift apart

[ask-warlic]

Do you know the Maleurous? What are your thoughts on each of them?

I am aware of the Maleurous. Honestly, with all of my screw-ups, including that time I forced my will on Fiamme, I am wildly surprised they didn't shunt me into that catagory myself. There's also the matter of being the treasurer of the local evil union, but that's not important right now.

What was I talking about? The Maleurous, yes.

I suppose I ought to iron out my thoughts, I've only recently met two of them so most of this is just surface-level evaluations.

Sinnocence: That poor creature. I don't' know what sick soul made them all that way--I have some theories, some accusations to be levied against a certain Empire in Azaveyr for that tacky appearance alone, but they're nothing more than baseless accusations--but the sheer fact they were a threat to both Paladins and Doomknights alike made them a force to be reckoned with. I can only think that an attempt to combine Destiny and Doom Spirits/Weapons was an attempt at making an Exalted Weapon, but all it made was a mess. Actually, on that note, there's one other person I know who would do such a thing, but it's not right of me to accuse her of things when she's not here to defend herself.

Mr. Nameless: He... wasn't the first toy I've seen animated with human souls, but it doesn't get easier. Let's hope no one looks too close at their commemorative plushies. His sheer magical power, even as a single soul bound to a toy, was fantastic. The sheer scale and control are greater even than some greater mages and wizards. I'd have loved to have seen the spellwork in action. Was it purely a multilayered illusion spell or was it a large scale transmutative spell? I could study the remnants but that's not as good as the first hand spell.

*Ahem.* Heard third-hand through Artix that Sally is still upset. Maybe I should send her something to try and cheer her up. Honestly, I don't know enough about Nameless--Twinkles wasn't it?--to comment on him specifically, another experiment gone wrong, probably of a necromancer. A lot of villains are born from such carelessness.

Voyna: I cannot put everything on her, but the socio-economic and environmental damage the so-called "Angel of Azaveyr" caused by hunting dragons to extinction in Azaveyr and forcing the survivors to flee overseas here to Green Guard (Battleonia), has caused lasting chaos to the many native species of dragons living here. She's caused so much grief. I'm not just saying this because of my ties to the Dragon Priestesses and my ties to the elementals. Seriously. In any other context I might actually applaud her power and tenacity, but she's inconvenienced me so she has to go.

Lock and Key: CYSERO THE BAG OF HOLDING DEVELOPED A PERSONALITY AND FEELINGS AGAIN! (That, probably isn't fair of me, seriously good for you guys, I'm very proud of you, please stop stealing my relics).

MyalOS: An Actual DRAGONOID????? IN THIS ERA????? I am literally so hype about this I might die, think of the things they could teach us, the things they've seen and done--They have memory issues? Oh, yes, I suppose that does follow. Damaged and all. They're still a living legend from another world, I can't not get excited about them. I would have killed to have explored their ruined mecha. Oh, the things they've seen and done. The things we could have learned.

They overpowered the Avatars you say?

What...like that's hard?

I wonder if I could improve the universal controls... but I'd have to ask Cysero's permission first, it'd be impolite otherwise. Oh, where was I? right, right, the fish is next.

Remthalas: I don't care much for Remthalas. I pity him. Being beholden to a higher power, I get it. Been there, done that, t-shirts are ordered but on delay. It sucks. But, really, when you knock on the Devil's door, he'll eventually open it for you. Just don't drag the hero down with you, if you can.

Notha: Notha. Notha Ly'Ehr. What to say about the First and Final Maleurous? Brilliant and dangerous in equal measure. Who trusted you with an orbital nuke? Ah I can't be too harsh, you're really an interesting person. Cloning huh? I can't believe humans have finally reached that point. Will extending your life like that really grant you the answer you're chasing? The real answer. How much time is enough? Does that answer mean anything if you can't keep and protect what you want? What's really your end goal? You want to be free, but do you even know what that freedom means for yourself?

I guess I can't judge too hard, it took me literally thousands of years to get where you kids are, so kudos!

Ah, this wasn't very informative more than just me complaining about them, wasn't it? Hope that clarifies things.

#askwarlic #the Maleurous Saga spoilers #if you close your eyes you can really taste the bitterness

[forestlingincorporated]

I wanna talk about Janet Drake

I’m not against exaggeratedly evil versions of Tim’s parents, tbh. It’s fanfiction, if we can depict an Exaggeratedly Good version of Bruce (which we can, and I do, and I love) then we can depict the Drakes as Exaggeratedly Bad. As someone who personally identifies with Tim, and his brand of complicated parental abuse in particular, I find it cathartic to uncomplicate that abuse and rescue him from the Obviously Evil Bad People. 

That said, since much of comics lore is passed down word of mouth, the oral tradition surrounding Tim has developed this idea of Janet as The Worse Parent between her and Jack that was never really present in the comics. We see much LESS of Janet, and we have 20 years worth of comics depicting Jack as a neglectful hotheaded idiot who ultimate does love his son. More importantly, Jack isn’t very much LIKE Tim, so there is a habit to attribute Tim’s traits to his mother... and, as someone who really really identifies with Tim, Tim has... some negative traits. Tim can be a bitch sometimes. He’s fiercely intelligent and sweet and kind, with a strong sense of justice, but he can be cold and judgmental and unthinking - he fights those traits, but he does have them. 

And it is perfectly fine to depict Janet that way. I’ve enjoyed depictions of Cold Calculating Janet Drake, but it’s not the ONLY option, and I want to challenge fans to consider different avenues. Tim could pick up these traits from anywhere: a nanny, Mrs. Mc Ilvaine (”Mrs. Mac”), a teacher, tv, Sherlock Holmes novels, Bruce Wayne himself. Tim is capable of not being like EITHER parent. 

So, what do we KNOW about Janet? (I’ll also touch on Jack, but only in scenes he appears with Janet.) 

When Janet was first introduced she was depicted as a gentle but “modern” woman. This was written in 1989, told by a 13 year old Tim, so this theoretically was meant to take place in 1979. I’m not here to give a lecture on the history of sex discrimination in the united states, but much of the legislation protecting women in the workforce or surrounding women’s bodily autonomy would have been very very new in this initial depiction. 

Here, Janet is shown to be encouraging, emotional, maternal, and projects her own feelings onto Tim. Jack is shown to be slightly sexist, possibly discouraging, but not overbearing. And the artist is shown not to know how to draw children. 

To insert some speculation, I think it’s important to note all the Drakes witnessed a terrible murder/accident that day. I point this out, because this is the last time Jack and Janet are depicted this way. It’s possible they changed as a result of this event specifically. 

However, this is also a story being told by Tim. It’s also possible these events aren’t really “real” at all, and Tim is misremembering what his parents were like as a three-year-old, possibly projecting a more palatable version of his parents into the narrative. This is entirely up to personal interpretation. 

In fact, the Drakes are shown in Legend of the Dark Knight attending Haly’s Circus, and the artist knows what a toddler looks like and they’re depicted as already having a slightly strained relationship. Jack is clearly on the defensive, and Janet seems to be passive-aggressive, though she could just be attempting to explain the situation to her toddler honestly. The intended tone isn’t especially clear. 

I do want to point out, in this depiction, Tim isn’t being carried like he was in the previous one. He’s walking ahead of his parents, which isn’t a terrible horrible crime, but could be dangerous in a crowded place like the circus. Might be a subtle hint to his parents overall neglect. 

Back to A Lonely Place of Dying, in Tim’s memories of the night he discovered Robin and Dick Grayson were the same person at nine-years-old, his parents are home, and watching TV together while Tim played... trucks, idk, in the living room with them. (This is semi-interesting, because you could say “oh, Tim liked vehicle toys as a kid” or you could extrapolate that this is another subtle indication of Jack’s sexism, providing Tim with appropriately “boy toys.” Either interpretation is valid. If Tim was assigned female at birth, would they have been given “girl toys,” or allowed to play with whatever they wanted?) 

This is, to my knowledge, the only panel of the Drakes when Tim is between ages 3 and 13. They’re all together, which might indicate that the Drakes were home more often when Tim was 9, only later going on business trips when Tim was “old enough” but... 

This is Tim’s boarding school when he’s 13. While most boarding schools in the US are for grades 9-12, Tim is clearly not a freshman at age 13; look how much younger the other kids in this panel are. In the US, the youngest you can attend most boarding schools is 7. 

That means Tim could have begun going to boarding school anytime between 7 and 13. He most likely spent all of middle school in boarding school, at least. There are an almost infinite number of possible ways the Drakes handled having a business that required lots of international travel, an archeology hobby, AND a very young child. Janet staying home until Tim was 7, 11, 13, is equally possible as the Drakes having a nanny until 7, 11, 13. Tim just doesn’t talk about that period of his life very much.

(”What about Mrs. Mac?” - it is unclear when Mrs. Mac begins working for the Drakes. We only see her when Jack comes out of his coma. She could either be a long standing staff member, or a recent hire.) 

Note: I’ve seen it said that it’s canon that “According to Tim, when his parents were home, they made a point to try and include him in their activities, bringing him along to events that were normally adults only.” I have never seen this panel, or I don’t remember it, so I cannot confirm, but I also cannot debunk this because... comics. 

By the time Tim is 13, Jack and Janet are away on business trips a lot, with limited communication, and no firm return date. If I’m feeling generous, I’d say it was harder to communicate internationally in 1990 than it is today. If I’m not feeling generous, I’d say the Drakes are extremely wealthy, and international communication was easier than ever before in the 80s and 90s. They’re not even going home to see Tim in a week or two, they’re going home and calling Tim at boarding school in a week or two. 

Even Bruce thinks its weird, though he doesn’t say so to Tim’s face. It’s written almost as if Tim’s parents’ neglect was meant to be a plot point that just got forgotten about. 

Tim’s parents are fighting at this point (their poor assistant), but Janet still goes with Jack on these business trips. And she’s clearly involved in the business, somehow, but the comics never SAY what Janet’s JOB is. We’re told Jack is the exec, but Janet is ONLY ever referred to as Jack’s wife, though they’re later described as the “heads” of the company, plural. 

Just to be clear, this is Jack’s business. There’s a perception that Jack is a bad business man because he and Janet fight over company decisions, and Jack looses the business after Janet dies, but Jack looses the company YEARS after Janet dies, and maintains it for about a year after No Man’s Land at that. We’re not told how Jack looses the business, but he’s got to be doing something right. Janet isn’t necessarily the “real brains” of Drake Industries. 

And I’m not... gonna... touch the... exploitation and racism because... I’m not qualified to do that. But, here’s the panel. The Drakes sure seem exploitative and racist in their business decisions. Someone else can... analyze that with more nuance. 

Regardless how how long they’ve been fighting, when their lives are in danger, the Drakes fall back into a loving husband and wife. Their marriage may be falling apart, but they do care about each other. 

I want to show these panels because it shows that Tim and Jack do have things in common. They’re both level headed in a crisis and can be somewhat cold in their practicality. Janet meanwhile and silent. Jack is later willing rant and rave at their captors, but Janet remains silent. 

That is, until they’re alone, and she finally lets herself fall apart. 

God, Jack can be obnoxious. Janet just looks miserable and resigned. I actually think Tim takes after his parents in this respect in equal measure. Tim can have a temper, but he can also be fairly melancholy and defeatist. 

Jack keeps reminding Janet to be strong and in control, which could be period typical sexism? But Jack seems so practiced and ready with the words of encouragement, and with Tim’s history with depression, I wonder if Janet has an inclination towards it as well. 

As the end approaches, when Jack brings up Tim, Janet seems to have a lot of regret. She talks about “wasting” the good things, and I don’t think it’s too big of a stretch to assume she’s talking about time spent with her only child. 

From this point on, Janet is at times spoken of, but not seen. Like here, when Jack says Janet wouldn’t approve of him and Tim being so “far apart.” He says this after he tells him he takes back his threat to send him back to boarding school, which might imply Janet was against the idea of boarding school? Though she obviously lost that argument when she was alive. 

Jack will of course renege on this later, but that’s Jack Drake for you. 

Or here in Tim’s illness induced dream, where he gets everything he wants. Though, since this is a fantasy of Tim’s, where his father and girlfriend are both more accepting and understanding than they are in real life, I would take this depiction of Janet with a grain of salt. 

After loosing Drake Industries, Jack thinks about Janet (though, they call her Catherine/Cathy for some fucking reason) during his depressive episode. And... uh... 

Hallucinates a Valkyrie???? Is this symbolic of suicidal thoughts, or is she... real? Or is he seriously hallucinating? 

Anyway, we’re not here to discuss Jack’s mental state, the fact that he forgot Tim’s birthday, or that concerning “I was going to knock some sense into you but you’re still bigger than me” statement from Tim, we’re here to talk about Janet. And even though this entire arc is about Jack mourning his first wife, they don’t SAY anything about Janet herself at all. I mean, they don’t even get her name right, so I guess what was I expecting. 

Then there’s Origins and Omens, which also doesn’t say anything about Janet, except that Tim’s memory of her is faulty - Janet was poisoned, her assistant Jeremy’s throat was slit on television, but Tim seems to have conflated the death he did see with the death he didn’t. 

The only piece of canon to suggest that Janet might be cold, is Tim compares her to Thalia. And even then, he’s really just saying Janet was protective of him. It’s kind of a scary look to make at your kid, but Bruce does the same thing, so. 

I do want to say... it’s not 100% clear if Tim is even talking about Janet. He could be talking about Dana. Dana was observably protective of Tim, though I don’t think he’s ever called her mom. He PROBABLY means Janet. 

And finally we have Tim visiting his mother’s grave (in a duel Christian/Jewish cemetery, make of that what you will), where Tim says she was “a little religious.”

And that’s it! That is all we know about Janet Drake in New Earth. Hardly the Mom From Hell, but she isn’t perfect. I’d be interested in seeing some alternate depictions of her within the fandom. 

I’m still gonna eat up Terrible Parents From Hell like a starving puppy dog, though. Just some food for creative thought. 

#Tim Drake #janet drake #jack drake #robin #Red Robin #character analysis

[your-brilliant-lady-m]

Part 1 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Miraculous Jewels

Alright! I promised you meta and now I deliver!

I feel like people mostly watch Miraculous for the romance these days. Shipping is all everyone cares about. I wonder why? Probably because writers themselves don't take their worldbuilding very seriously and because they don't put much effort into making the audience care about something other than Love Square, like the mythology behind the Miraculous, or motivations of the main villain, or some pretty heavy topics for a kid's show that they bring up and then refuse to touch again. You know, all the good things. And this is coming from someone who is a passionate multishipper. I have lived through several shipping wars in different fandoms and came out victorious after all.

I am probably the only person out there who cares about the big picture, the overall storyline and the worldbuilding of Miraculous in addition to all details and implications that could develop into fascinating plotlines relevant to the main story. It is a rather lonely fandom experience, I must confess. But, hey? Who cares? I am here to have fun and bring to the table discussions no one wants to have.

So, let's talk about the basics.

If you, as the writing team, are capable of keeping only 1 thing consistent, then please, I beg you, let it be the basic concepts of your universe. Because in this case, one has to actively put effort into writing characters and conflict resolutions badly. And also because nothing can save bad worldbuilding.

I don't have high worldbuilding standards for Miraculous. They certainly aren't as high as the ones I had for Legend of Korra (which was a badly written trainwreck, that ATLA doesn't deserve as a sequel) or the ones I currently have for Dragon Prince. Therefore I won't be too harsh in my criticisms. Granted, I think that Miraculous has better worldbuilding and lore consistency than Winx Club for example (I haven't seen the reboot yet, so writers might have fixed their worldbuilding at least a little bit). Even though I enjoyed Winx when I was younger and some elements of this story still attract me.

Both serialised and episodic shows as well as movies to the lesser extent must have some flexibility in worldbuilding and plot because you can never be 100% sure where your story is going. Maybe, you'll get money for more seasons, maybe not. However, you must never lose sight of your basic concepts. They have to stay the same no matter what, because rewriting lore and retconning major developments every new season is not and never will be called good writing.

Forgive me for using architectural metaphors, but you need a solid foundation to build any kind of structure. Otherwise, everything falls apart.

I like to apply this logic to writing as well. When designing a world where your story takes place, you must lay a few ground rules. It's especially important if you have a magic system. What kind of ideas absolutely must exist? What kind of conclusion do you want your story to have? Does your magic system has limitations? Where is the grey area? Could you introduce new elements later on?

And I feel like the writing team of Miraculous Ladybug did not ask these questions. This may feel like I am nit-picking canon material and looking for problems that simply aren't there, but I promise that I am not. You see, things that I am about to point out only seem small at first glance. But these details are actually the source of the largest plotholes in the series. And their presence negatively affects character development, conflicts and resolutions of said conflicts.

That doesn't mean that I have nothing good to say about the magic system of the show and its elements. There are a lot of great ideas and concepts. And some of them have the potential to contribute to the delightful story.

Let's dive right into it, shall we?

Camouflage

I have to give credit where it's due because the idea of camouflage and shapeshifting for Miraculouses is brilliant. It seems like Miraculous can't fundamentally change its type of jewellery or accessory. The ring will always be the ring but with a different ornament, colour or shape. This is true most of the time (Monkey Miraculous is an exception since it transformed into earplugs/headphones/headband/circlet) It makes sense and avoids plotholes. Grimoire doesn't have the pictures of each Miraculous in disguise for identity protection. That was very neat too. I have no comments. This concept was very good.

Also, since Marinette wore a nose ring of the Ox in "Kwamibuster" without any problem and Adrien wore Ladybug's earrings in "Reflekdoll", we can assume that you don't need to have piercings to wear a Miraculous. Miraculous just magically passes through your skin.

I'm interested to know the following. Can Kwamis recognise a camouflaged Miraculous on a person? Can the holder order them to confess the identity of this person? This shouldn't be possible for identity protection just like with Kwamis sensing each other. But more on that in later posts.

Power Levels

For a long time, we assume that there are only 7 Miraculouses. Turtle belongs to Master Fu, Gabriel has Butterfly and Peacock, Marinette and Adrien have Ladybug and Black Cat. Everything is pretty straightforward. Then it's revealed that there are more jewels and more boxes. It makes the worldbuilding interesting, but it also majorly complicates things, making them inconsistent.

Their position in the Miracle Box implies their power levels. Creation and destruction are the most powerful forces in existence, therefore they are at the top. Moreover, it makes this Box the most important, the most powerful out of all others. Su Han in "Furious Fu" calls it "Mother Miracle Box". Fox, Turtle, Bee, Butterfly and Peacock have less power than the main pair, but more than the Miraculous of the lower Zodiac tier (since they correspond with animals of the Chinese Zodiac).

1. Ladybug can create anything out of nothing (Lucky Charm, which gives what you need the most at the moment). This Miraculous can resurrect the dead, reverse the effects of the Cataclysm. The power of Miraculous Cure or Miraculous Ladybug can work in several ways:

it simply repairs the damage (puts stuff back together, heals injuries and so on)

it reverses time for the matter, restoring things back to the state they were before the destruction occurred (however, the Cure doesn't erase people's memories of everything that happened unless they were mind-controlled, frozen in place or transformed by Akuma into something else - this is an important point that I'll discuss some other time)

How does Miraculous Cure work when there are no supervillians? In NY Special Marinette just says this.

Excuse me, what? What was that? You can't do anything when the villain is gone? What the hell?

*insert here every scene where Ladybug fixed Paris after destroying akumatized/amokized object (this action causes the Akuma victim to detransform/sentimonster to disappear - villain is gone) and purifying butterfly and feather*

It was such cheap angst. I couldn't even be upset when Adrien gave up his Miraculous, because that whole situation is just stupid. But, never mind. We aren't talking about that today.

Apparently, Lucky Charm and Miraculous Cure only work when summoned to battle a specific villain. What is the point then? Huh? You can't tell me that Ladybug has the power of unlimited creation and then say that she can't repair the damage without a special Lucky Charm that was magically synchronised with specific big bad of the week.

Ladybug also can purify Akumas. It makes sense for Ladybug to have the ability to reverse the magic of less powerful Miraculous. But this power can't be applied universally. How does this power of reversal apply to different situations where there is no evil Butterfly holder? Can Ladybug reverse the magic of any Miraculous?

The unlimited power of creation introduced in season 4 ("Mr. Pidgeon 72") is another fascinating thing. On one hand, it's logical and proves the status of this Miraculous as the most powerful. On the other hand, by introducing this power, you have created a plothole. Look, Marinette can create the charm which repels Akumas. If Ladybug can create anything then what stops her from creating a tool for finding Hawkmoth (like special glasses for discovering identities or a compass)? I mean, the show says that the power of creation is unlimited, it means that the creation of such tool is possible.

2. Black Cat can destroy anything with Cataclysm, even other Miraculous. He can kill living things and turn them into ash, but not himself. This Miraculous is supposed to have other special abilities that we don't see. And they should be equal to powers of Ladybug, both in number and in potency. Unfortunately, after 3 seasons writers didn't give us anything. It makes laughable the idea of balance between Ladybug and Black Cat.

Now, to the second tier. These Miraculouses have a singular ability, but they need a second one to keep the power balanced between Zodiac and the main pair.

3. Butterfly creates champions with different superpowers. But how does the time limit of children work for Butterfly? In theory, the countdown should start right after the creation of the Akuma since for Ladybug and Chat Noir countdown starts after activation of their powers even if they don't use them. However, if the countdown of the Butterfly begins after Akuma creation then there's no point because the holder has to stay transformed to guide their champion. The charged butterfly won't have time to even grant powers before the transformation of the child-holder drops. This issue is never explored because Gabriel doesn't have a time limit. However, I feel like it should be addressed in flashbacks of past Butterfly holders for example.

This Miraculous should be less powerful than Ladybug and Black Cat. It's often not. Some Akumas are too overpowered. Stormy Weather can move the Earth away from the Sun, Timetagger can send people through time and jump through time as well, Chat Blanc destroyed the world with a single energy blast, Miraculer could steal powers of those more powerful than her by default. These are the most notable examples. One could argue that Chat Blanc was a different case. Hawkmoth simply gave the most powerful Miraculous a boost. However, we know that even without a holder (the wildest and the most powerful form of uncontrolled Miraculous magic) Plagg's Cataclysm can't destroy the universe just like that (he presumably wiped out dinosaurs and sunk Atlantis on his own without a holder). I think that the less powerful Miraculous (Butterfly) shouldn't be able to increase the power of destruction to such a degree and give Black Cat the power to destroy celestial bodies and galaxies.

Writers want us to see Hawkmoth as the formidable villain. But it's not easy because he is less powerful than your main heroes by default of your worldbuilding. Sometimes writers make the Butterfly more powerful than creation and destruction to raise the stakes, breaking the laws of their magic system. So, how do you solve this? Let Ladybug and Black Cat keep their status as the most powerful and instead of giving Hawkmoth more magical power, make him smarter, more cunning, inventive. Gabriel is a fashion designer, whose creativity makes him a very good Butterfly holder. He has a life full of experience, he knows much more about things than the main teenage characters. Catalyst was very interesting for this very reason. Gabriel sort of discovered a cheat code to boost his powers. Show us how he experiments with his powers, how he analyses his past Akumas and tries to find the most effective ones. Maybe Gabriel tries to design Akumas that can specifically neutralise Ladybug and Chat Noir. This exploration could also give writers an opportunity to explain how the powers of Butterfly work. Can he control the type of powers he grants? Can he control the appearance of Akumas? There are many things to be explored.

4. Peacock creates sentimonsters. I remember that fans were very disappointed when the power of the Peacock was revealed at the end of season 2. I was one of them. The concept of Amoks is far too similar to akumatized butterflies. Other Miraculouses have unique abilities and keywords for their powers, while Peacock just looks like Butterfly 2.0. That glowing mask effect just adds insult to injury.

You have to start by figuring out the powers of the Peacock in a normal situation. If a holder is a good person, then how does their power work? For example, make them related to sight (because of the "eye" pattern on feathers). Maybe, Peacock grants the ability to see the several possibilities of the future, but only a few minutes ahead. Maybe, this Miraculous gives you the ability to see through someone's eyes for a few minutes (and the victim is completely unaware of the intrusion). Perhaps, Peacock allows the holder to use feathers (or tiny peacocks) as cameras one at a time and be all-seeing. These feather-spies can be destroyed by the holder or disappear on their own after some time. Such power could be devastating when used against heroes in canon.

5. Bee can paralyze. This power is pretty straightforward. Once I read a fanfiction focused on very vell done Chloe Redemption, where she fights alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir. Eventually, she grows and becomes a better person. This fic ends with an Akuma battle, where LB and CN are trapped and Akuma is ready to kill them. But Chloe uses a second power of the Bee on the villain - Miraculous Stinger. It's deadly both for the holder and for the victim (because bees die when they sting someone). Chloe kills the Akuma with a Stinger before it can get LB and CN, but she too dies making the ultimate irreversible sacrifice. I will add a link if I find it again.

6. Turtle can create a shield. I don't have much to say on this either. It feels underpowered compared to others in the second tier. Maybe Turtle can also slow down opponents (because turtles aren't the fasters animals out there).

7. Fox creates illusions and acts as their puppeteer. In order to create a balance between other powers, these illusions must hold for as long as the holder needs them to. I propose this mostly because we see that Venom of the Bee lasts very long, the shield of the Turtle lasts either until it's destroyed or the holder wants to remove it, same goes for Akumas and sentimonsters who disappear only when the holder wants them to or their affected object is destroyed.

Let's talk about Zodiac tier. Miraculous of the third tier shouldn't have the second ability like more powerful ones. These powers are the most inconsistent. Even if we haven't seen all of them yet.

8. Mouse can create many small clones of the holder. It is unclear how these clones communicate with each other and how many of them this Miraculous can create. The holder can control the number of clones. This power was very convenient in "Kwamibuster" and it makes sense symbolically for the mouse. What activates the time-limit for children? Marinette didn't have any problems with it when she became Multimouse.

9. Snake can create a 5-minute time loop and has the ability to come back in time. This Miraculous feels a bit overpowered for the Miraculous of the Zodiac Tier. The holder can reset the time as many times as he/she needs to. It's was a good source of drama and trauma in "Desperada". I was honestly surprised that Adrien was capable of fighting after spending months in a loop. But this doesn't change the fact that Snake is overpowered. You can give this Miraculous the power to hypnotise or keep the time ability but place a limit on the number of resets. How does the lyre work as a weapon? Who knows? No one!

10. Dragon can shapeshift into elements: water, wind and lightning. It has the coolest transformation words hands down (Bring the Storm and Open Sky). Apparently this Miraculous doesn't have the time limit.

11. Rabbit can time travel or jump through alternative realities, even writers aren't sure. Time-travel in this show is so badly written it gives me a headache. This Miraculous shouldn't exist just like its powers. Snake belongs to the same tier, but 5 minutes and whole centuries of time jumps aren't comparable in power levels. They are not and this is the hill I will die on. Give the Rabbit powers related to its symbolism in China like an ability to de-age people, heal them or give them a speed boost in contrast with Turtle who might have the ability to slow down.

This Miraculous is so special that its Kwami - Fluff can live separately from his Miraculous in a Miracle Box for millennia (Fluff lives in the Box in "Sandboy", but his Miraculous, pocket watch, was passed down for generations in Alix's family). This is a discussion for a separate post, however. There's a lot to unpack. We'll do that some other time. You will suffer with me but at a later date.

12. Horse can create portals. They could lead anywhere, which is pretty cool. On the other hand, this power is not very useful in direct combat, especially when it's used by a child since we can have only one portal per transformation.

13. Monkey can cause a malfunction in powers of other people. What is the point of this? This power was specifically created by writers to defeat Akuma in "Party Crasher". That's it. What if your target is not magical? How does this Miraculous work in different circumstances?

14. Pig shows people their greatest desire. Both the holder and the recipient of this power can see this desire. Chat Noir wasn't impressed in "Guiltrip" and neither was I. It's underpowered compared to other Miraculous in this tier. Also, why does the tambourine can shoot energy beams? Why?

That's all I have to say on the matter. I'll update the power analysis as needed.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #miraculous analysis #miraculous meta #ml meta #ml analysis #miraculous transformations #miraculous critical #miraculous ladybug critical #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #mt of lb and cn #miraculous jewels

[siderealxmelody]

The Frightful Secret {Coulson}

@sigynofficial - my answer to what drove Loki to the Mind Stone and subsequent insanity.

@continuingthefamilyname - this is very marvel focused I apologize, but I wanted to share.

@armandlucienduval

@agentsterling - no need to read this if you don't want to. But since you asked about Sof...I thought I'd share.

@thevictoryofthepeople - this is very marvel focused I apologize, but I wanted to share.

@candy-addicted-angel - this is very marvel focused I apologize, but I wanted to share.

@waywardlightbearer

Tl;dr for people who don't want to read/don't know what's happening. Majority of my races (sans humans) believe in creator called Eyn Sof and that it destroyed itself to better guide the many races as their many different gods. All gods are aspects of this one Eyn Sof. It is benevolent and all loving....except that all is a lie. All of creation/multiverse is a giant experiment done to appease It. A indescribable entity that exists outside of reality. It was put into motion by It's helpers who my race see as messengers from Eyn Sof, who they think of as sentient stars, meant to watch over and guide them through life. The messengers go to great lengths to make sure no one ever knows this truth, for it will shatter anyone who learns it.

It sat before him, calm and level headed. Perhaps it knew, perhaps it understood what was stalking Inhumanes he'd been saving. 

"What are you? Why were you hovering over one of my fallen agents?"

"I am only here to help Mr.Coulson, I mean no harm. You saved one of my people, I mean to only return the favor."

Coulson nodded filing that note for later. Rosa Incara, she'd been held captive for 5 years by a madman. He'd been a renowned painter till he'd fallen off the radar some 3 years ago. 

His team had only gotten involved because his paintings held some inhumane markers - the same ones he'd felt a need to draw. 

She'd been like this, detached but cooperative. Then she'd disappeared from her cell, in the ensuing manhunt this one had shown up. Coulson didn't like to be in the dark, didn't like not understanding the bigger picture.

"Where is Ms.Rosa now Mr.?"

The man gave a thin smile and nodded.

"Right, a name, Slate. Call me Slate. She is safe, home."

"Why were you near my agent? She feels fine but -"

"She will be, she...there is much you do not know. I fear to tell you but -"

"Please, share Slate. If whatever you know will keep humanity safe then -"

"The - everything is matter yes? Stars, planets...people? It's all made of atoms and those atoms - no - no this isn't...imagine the universe is orbiting a giant blackhole, like the center of your galaxy, can you picture that?" 

Coulson was skeptical about this exercise but nodded. 

"Yes, I can picture it. Go on."

Slate nodded and looked at his hands. 

"The universe is slowly being shredded, feeding the blackhole. Don't ask how it first came to be that's all whole different explanation. Regardless, the universe is being shredded right? All of that matter needs to go somewhere. It - it goes to The Hallow Lands. Do you know it? Have you heard the term?"

Coulson nodded, he had. When he'd been stabbed by one of the Chaturi blades he'd saw the Chaturi's deepest fear - a place of never ending dread. He'd asked Lady Sif about it after he'd come back and she'd called it The Hallow Lands, a face worse than Hel. 

"I know it, yes. What's your point?"

"My people, we - we weren't much more advanced than you when we pierced the veil separating our world from It. We moved through a blackhole and decided to go deeper in it and not out. It - do you know Eyn Sof? Do you know the story the Celestials and other aliens say of it?"

He nodded Sif had been much more willing to tell this one. He hadn't been too moved by the story, he was surprised though that so many races worshiped it. 

"That it existed with us at the dawn of the universe. It wished to understand us and guide us. We wished to worship and love it but could not speak to it. So it-"

"Tore itself apart into infinite tiny pieces so it could permeate every atom, so that we could all have a tiny piece of it with us from the moment we are born till our death. This shift cracked the first universe into the multiverse we know now. Yes, yes, exactly. That - well we didn't know that the story would catch on quite as much as it did."

Coulson felt something in him shift, a piece of ice traveling from his brain and into his blood. Something about this felt wrong, as if his very being didn't want to know - didn't want to understand what he was hearing. 

He gripped the arms of his chair and took a deep breath. He began to note how reluctant this Slate had been for the last few minutes. He pushed his worry as to why down. This could help his team, could help him understand what was going on. What had been going on since he'd heard about the missing painter. 

"Slate, just tell me. This - this stopping and starting is wearing thin."

"Are you sure Mr.Coulson this knowledge isn't one you can't take back. It will be seared into the minds of all who hear it. Though I suspect you already know what I am going to say. You've been there remember?"

Coulson blinker and the panic subsided. He felt like himself again, and he knew he had this thing. 

"How do you know that? Were you a part of Operation Tahiti? Did you-"

"No, no, my people went through the blackhole Coulson, we saw It. Call it God, the Devil whatever you wish...it was beyond such simplistic names. It didn't like us there of course but we said we could help it understand everything outside of its realm. It agreed, and we got to work...I - I work as a Reaper Mr.Coulson, I take the dead to It for it to understand and study. It lives their lives, feels their pain...it has walked so many lives Mr.Coulson more than I could quantify. As to how I know? You shouldn't have tried to bring people back, your friends shouldn't have tried to bring you back..your thread had been cut and now it's been reknotted and allowed to continue. I wonder whose thread you've taken. A soldier's? A doctor's? A murder's?"

Coulson refused to look away or rise to this thing's bait. 

"Is that what Rosa was? A Reaper is that why Avery kept her locked-"

"No, no, she - she is a Sower, she gives inspiration, her kind measure the thread of each life...she shouldn't have been here. But Sowers tend to be fascinated about the lives they've measured out - she got too close...beings tend to become addicted to her and her...life-force."

Coulson just nodded, it was horrible but made sense with all the bruises she'd suffered. 

"Right, still doesn't explain why you're-"

"My race deals with the living Mr.Coulson, but there are other bits of matter, stars and planets...do you know what deals with those? We call them Pests they were from our world as well and are voracious. They can't feel anything, they've adapted too well to The Hallow Lands but they yearn for the living, for feeling and experience -"

"What are you saying Slate? That one - one of these Pests is here?"

"Yes, why do you think my kind carry scythes? It isn't for working the fields, it's to keep our threads safe from the pests who wish devour it...One had scented your anomaly and has come to take care of it...I'm here to kill it."

Coulson nodded and shuffled his papers, hoping to calm himself. He stood and asked before he could stop himself.

"What does all of this have to do with Eyn Sof? Why are you so reluctant to speak on that?"

"Because Eyn Sof as you all know it is a lie. It - it isn't evil or good, it just is. We were tasked to make a mutliverse to a particular frequency and look. Each thread weaves a giant multiversal tapestry that It watches Mr.Coulson. The frequency? It is tuned to be a massive symphony only it can hear...of course this is how we understand it. I'm sure to us it is all odd but to it we are -"

"Eyn Sof isn't real?"

He tried to ignore how his voice quivered. Wasn't this what Loki had said as he'd been dragged away? Was this what he had meant? 

Slate gave him a sad smile and shook his head.

"No, no, we needed a unifying theme and thought to slip in this story to even everything out. It is real but Eyn Sof and all the legends that surround Them aren't. I'm sorry Mr.Coulson. I implore you for your own safety, don't tell Thor or any of the other aliens you end up meeting...I'm not sure if they'd believe you. More importantly, I'm not sure if they'd allow you to go unscathed. I will need your help in tracking down this Pest once it is slain I will leave. Your world will be safe from threats like me or my kind."

Coulson nodded and turned and locked the door to the interrogation room. He was thankful he'd decided to interrogate this one at one of his hidden black sites. 

He took the tape out of the control room and destroyed it till it was a pile of ash. No one - no one needed to know what he did. 

#character check in

[choupichoups]

Press F (Instagram/College AU) 

Lucas swears he’s the absolute master of undetected stalking. Or: Eliott is instagram famous and Lucas is the disaster gay who accidentally likes his post. 

He smiles down at the screen, scrolling through the hilarious comments on the post. The exaggerated marriage proposals are probably his favourite because, honestly, same but he’d never be caught dead saying shit like that. Even as a joke.

Maybe.

Lucas sinks deeper into the couch, dimming the brightness on his phone screen just in case Yann happens to look over at some point. It’s not like Yann doesn’t know what he’s up to most of the time, but he’d still like to save himself from some of the teasing, thank you very much.

“Did you see that?” Yann yells at no one in particular, fully engrossed in the game they’re playing. Or they had been playing, since Lucas died in the game a good few minutes ago. He’s got better things to do anyway— like check the guy’s profile for any new updates he might have missed. Lucas isn’t exactly on top of his game when it comes to keeping up with Instagram but ever since his great discovery, he’s spent more time scrolling through the app in more recent times that his entire high school years combined.

“I’m doing another round of this before we switch up the game, okay?” Yann murmurs, already pressing the buttons before Lucas even replies. The latter shrugs, doesn’t care whether he gets to play for the next while. He’s much too preoccupied staring at the new photo he’s been graced with.

The dude, the myth, the legend. Eliott Demaury.

Lucas found out about him nearly two months ago— or more accurately, he found Eliott’s short film, Polaris, while scrolling through Youtube one dull Friday night. He’d watched the entire thing at three o’clock in the morning and promptly obsessed over it for the next couple of hours. Finding the director’s Instagram and seeing a puzzle posted on it hadn’t doused his interest either. If anything, that just made it worse. His last two braincells had worked in overdrive trying to rewatch the film and solve the puzzle at the same time.

Needless to say, he’d managed to find Eliott’s personal account in the end but the feeling of accomplishment only lasted until he saw that quite a lot of people had also found it. Mr. Demaury, has, in fact, half a million followers on his Instagram and Lucas could have probably found it easily if he’d just googled it instead of driving himself nuts figuring out what the riddle meant.

“Man, this is too hard.” Yann groans from beside him and Lucas can only assume he’s lost another round. He offers a vague noise of sympathy for his friend. “Are you really doing this right now?”

“Hm?”

“You’re really out here stalking your man during our we time?”

Lucas drags his gaze off of Eliott’s majestic photo so Yann can get a full view of his frown. “Our what now?”

“This is our time, Lucas. Best friend bonding time. 22h to 24h, it’s on the contract.”

He starts laughing, can’t help it when faced with the truly affronted expression all over Yann’s face. “What contract?”

“You signed it when you were like two years old.”

“Uh huh.” Now certain that Yann’s just talking nonsense, Lucas returns his attention back on his phone. “Legit age to be signing contracts.”

Yann doesn’t say anything but he steals Lucas’ phone from his grip and holds it out of reach when Lucas scrambles to get it back. “You don’t even follow him, what the hell?”

“That doesn’t matter, give it back!”

“So what, you just search up his profile all the time?”

“What about it?”

“That’s so sad, Lucas.”

“Shut up,” he says, snatching his phone back once it’s finally in his reach. “Imane knows this guy, I won’t hear the end of it if they get even a little hint that I’m looking at— Yann!” he screeches, shaking Yann’s shoulder with one hand while his other holds the phone up to his face.

The horror in his voice must be evident because Yann immediately straightens up, dragging Lucas close so he can take a look at the screen as well. “What?”

“Oh no… oh no no no.”

“Oh shit.”

“What do I do?!” Lucas waves his phone at Yann, almost decking him on the nose in the process. Yann stills him, shaking his head at the bright red heart below Eliott’s post. “Do you think I should unlike it? I can still do that right? He won’t see the notification, he gets a lot anyway.”

“No, man, that just makes it weird.”

“But…”

“You have to follow him.”

Lucas gives him a withering look. “Are you serious right now?”

“It’s natural! You like the post, okay, chill, next you follow. He gets lots of notifications, as you said. By the time he checks back, 200 other people would have followed him too. Wait a couple more days then unfollow and unlike.” Yann rubs at his back, sounding so sure of himself. “Then you can go back to your sad stalking ways after that.”

He shoves at Yann with a scowl, making sure to kick at his friend’s limbs as he slides off from where he’d basically crawled into the other’s lap in a desperate bid to retrieve his phone. And look where all that effort has gotten him.

“You sure that’s not weird?”

Yann throws a pillow at his face. “I already said it’s natural. Honestly if somebody did that to me I wouldn’t think anything weird of it.”

“Okay.”

Lucas hits the follow button, closes out of the app, and shoves his phone under the cushions. Whatever happens next is a problem for tomorrow.

He doesn’t go back on Instagram until well into Tuesday evening, choosing instead to finish all of his homework and maybe do a little bit of reading ahead of time for his biology class. It’s a wonder how much one is capable of getting done while avoiding the thing they usually obsess over.

But he’s only human. So letting go of all the self control he’s managed to conjure up the entire morning, he pulls up the app and slowly scrolls through the new content. He doesn’t know why he’s dreading this so much anyway— literally nothing is probably going to happen. Eliott won’t even notice the new addition to his massive following and Lucas would be able to see his posts without having to search up his username all the goddamn time. It’s a win-win.

Lucas doesn’t curb the smile pulling at the corners of his lips, even though a small part of him is a little disappointed. Not that he’s expecting anything to come out of this ridiculous infatuation anyway but knowing what Polaris is paired with that caption, the post sounds increasingly more romantic the longer he thinks about it.

So Eliott’s taken already. That’s cool. Great. But this is nice, at least, Eliott’s posts being readily accessible for him like this. Maybe he shouldn’t have made a big deal about following the guy in the first place. Only Imane seems to know both Eliott and Lucas anyway and she’s not the type to unnecessarily pry into other people’s business. 

He still doesn’t hit like on the post though. He has to be subtle about this, he’ll wait a couple more posts to go before liking another one. Lucas is extra careful to avoid double tapping the screen when he goes back to his feed, no longer holding his breath for a catastrophe as he mindlessly goes through other new posts and notifications. 

Which explains why he’s entirely too unprepared for what happens next.

srodulv started following you.

He clutches at his phone with both hands, forcibly shoving down the urge to scream and throw his phone out the window. He’s ill-equipped to deal with this. It’s not supposed to happen; Eliott shouldn’t have noticed him and Lucas should be free to get on with his life without knowing that some god in human form has probably seen the dumb photos he posts with him and the gang and— oh god, what did he post during that party last week again? It doesn’t look too stupid does it?

Lucas frantically skims through his own profile, wanting to shrivel up and die for every post he finds way too embarrassing to be seen by the guy. 

The apartment door creaks open and Lucas throws himself off his bed, running out to the living room and most likely startling Yann out of his mind but that doesn’t matter right now.

“Yann!” he yells out, reminiscent of the panicked tone he’d used the night before.

“Huh?” Yann turns around, dropping his bag on the floor as he slips out of his shoes.

Lucas stands in front of him, holding out the phone over his head like it’s Simba. “He noticed me,” he whispers as if there’s a chance that anyone else would hear them.

“Who?” Yann looks from Lucas’ wide eyes to the phone in his hand. The screen is eye level for Yann so he merely peeks up to see what all the fuss is about. “Oh.”

And then Yann starts laughing. Lucas, personally, doesn’t find anything amusing in this situation.

“Can you stop that? I’m so stressed out right now,” he huffs, bringing the phone back down to his chest so he can stare some more at the notification that changed his life.

“Sorry, you gotta admit it’s a little funny.”

It’s not, but okay. Lucas continues frowning down at the screen, wondering if it would be too weird to mass delete half of his old posts.

Yann takes his phone away before he does anything stupid.

“You said he won’t even realize,” Lucas mumbles miserably, mind flashing back to that one stupid meme he’d posted about three weeks ago. God, Eliott’s going to unfollow in the next ten minutes.

“I’m not right about everything. Anyway, isn’t this a good thing? The guy only follows like 20 people and you’re one of them.”

Wait, what?

He reaches up, tilts his own phone in Yann’s hand so he can confirm that with his own eyes.

And okay, maybe that makes him feel a little giddy inside. Deep down. Just a little.

“Congrats, man. Not everyone gets noticed by their crush.” 

“I don’t have a crush.”

“Sure.”

“Shut up.” 

His phone beeps with another notification and they both look down at it simultaneously, like birds honing in on loose bread. It’s almost comical the way they gasp in unison when the notifications start popping up. From instagram user srodulv. Eliott. Eliott’s straight up just… liking a lot of his posts. Embarrassing memes included. 

Yann opens his mouth to say something but Lucas grabs the phone out of his grip and runs back into his room, shutting the door so he can freak out in peace. 

#elu #skam france #skamfr #elu fic #thats a lotta tags #did i make this blog just so i can post this? #more likely than you think #this is how i cope #all the au #i feel like we're all just staring into the void #waiting for the clip to drop #im gonna sleep #elu insta au #fictag

[isaacforalpha14]

Imagine #113 Wally West (Requested)

The atmosphere in the Waverider’s galley is brimming with the sound of pleasant laughter and murmured discussion; Ray Palmer’s deep voice cheerful as he recounted his earliest mission as a Legend. There’s a lapse of silence, a wisp of steam billowing from the sweltering mug of coffee cradled within your palms, puckered lips blowing on the surface before you take a cautious sip. It takes a second, too late, for you to realize that Ray had asked you a question, scrutinizing your features with an anxiousness glistening in his welcoming chocolate brown eyes. A heated blush crept up your neck, embarrassed that you hadn’t heard a word, a choked cough escaping your mouth as you blink away the shame and respond with a cheerful ‘yeah’ in hopes that your answer would suffice.

“Great.” Ray’s handsome face brightened by your response and he presses a chaste kiss to your cheek before his stout footsteps disappear in a boisterous rush. His statuesque figure reappeared in the doorway of the galley, his cheeks a bright pink as he speaks softly. “I didn’t actually think you’d agree so I’ll need a couple hours to prepare. Meet me in the cargo bay at noon.” His statement leaves you wondering just what exactly you’d signed up for; shrugging your shoulders you lean over your mug of coffee before someone startles you from your thoughts.

“Date with Ray, huh?” Zari’s inquisitive voice sobers you to what just happened. Ray asked you out and you said yes? “I didn’t think you liked him like that.”

“W-What?!” You stammer, panicked by her statement as your mind reels trying to grasp what had just transpired.

“Calm down.” She chuckles at your expression, spoon tapping the rim of her porcelain mug. “I am just kidding.” She sips at her coffee, humming as the warmth awakens her mind and the caffeine hits her system. “Besides, Wally would kill Ray.” There’s an awkward silence that settles in the atmosphere, Zari’s mentally cursing herself for speaking on emotions that were not hers to divulge. She hesitates, watching as you gnaw on your bottom lip and lose your focus to wandering thoughts. The perfect opportunity to make an exit. Slipping out of the room, she sighs in relief as she avoids further discussion successfully and disappears toward the crew quarters.

The implications of Zari’s words were catastrophic for any constructive thoughts or productive behavior; turns out, you’d signed yourself up for helping Ray calibrate his Atom suit, Nate normally does it but he and Amaya took the jumpship on a ‘date day’ the previous night and wouldn’t return until tomorrow morning. Ray felt terrible for injuring you; you were preoccupied with Zari’s statement, revisiting each interaction you’ve had with Wally since you met him, you’re propelled from your thoughts by a strike to the face.

“Oh my god! I am so sorry.” He apologizes, reaching out toward you as your hands cover your injured nose, blood seeping from between your fingers. “Gideon, get the med bay ready.”

“Right away, Dr. Palmer.” Gideon’s melodic voice responds as the frigid fingertips of his suit gloves made contact with your elbow, Ray is quick to guide you through the halls and in the direction of the med bay.

“Y/N?” Wally’s concerned voice calls as he catches sight of Ray sweeping by with a firm grip on your arm as the med bay doors hiss open. A gust of wind blows through the halls, lightening sparking in the room just as Ray helps you into a seat. “What happened?”

“We were just calibrating my suit.” Ray responds in a rush, his voice thick with guilt. “I didn’t mean to.”

“You did this?!” Wally’s cappuccino irises were alight with a protective anger, eyebrows furrowed as he glares in his teammate’s direction. A groan interrupted the tense silence, the shuffling of leather catching both men’s attention as you shifted in the med bay seat and Gideon’s soft voice alerted everyone that she’d begin scanning your injuries. “Get away from Y/N, Ray.” Wally growls through clenched teeth, the static in the air made the hairs on your arms stand as he zipped from the doorway to stand between you and Ray.

“C’mon, Wally.” Ray started with a hesitant and sad smile. “I’d never do this on purpose. It was an accident.”

“I don’t care.” The speedster dismissed as he turned his back on him and reached for your hand in an effort to  comfort you. Ray mutters another apology, disappearing behind the closing doors, leaving Gideon to tend to your wounds as he retreated in the direction of his lab. If it hadn’t been for the sedative that Gideon injected into your neck, you would’ve scolded Wally for his outburst. Nothing that happened had been intentional, he had no reason to snap at Ray like that. As the sedative took effect, you could feel Wally squeeze your hand as he reached over with his other, fingertips brushing hair from your face as he mumbled that he’d be with you the whole time. He’d never leave you.

“R-Ray?” The hoarse sound of your voice startled Wally from his thoughts, a mixture of bitterness and concern clashing against the forefront of his mind as he scoot to the edge of his seat. When you repeat his name, it took a massive amount of self-control to keep his composure. Ray is supposed to be his friend; how could he try to get close to you knowing how he feels about you? “I-Is Ray doing okay?”

“He’s fine.” Wally grumbles, shaking his head as he stands from his seat, searching your dazed expression for any wounds or discomfort. “Are you okay?”

“Wally.” The exasperated sigh fell on deaf ears as he placed a palm against your cheek with a worried furrow of his brow, thumb caressing the delicate flesh as he asks Gideon to check on you. “I am fine.” The gesture elicit a skip of your heart, the dreams you had of Wally West while unconscious were not helping your nerves at the moment. Curse Zari and her unsolicited statements.

“I’ve healed the bruises and cauterized the punctured veins.” Gideon informs interrupting the silence before continuing. “It appears that Y/N is perfectly healthy now. I’d still advise fluid and rest for a few days.”

“Thank you, Gideon.” Wally’s voice is soft, just above a whisper as he releases a grateful sigh, he’s silent as he finds himself lost in thought. The internal fight is an altercation that he’s had with himself on countless occasions; to take a risk or remain stagnant. He’s threading his fingers in your hair as he pats your head in an affectionate manner, the moment interrupted as Gideon speaks.

“Sorry to interrupt Mr. West but Dr. Palmer asked that I inform him when Y/N wakes. Shall I inform him now?” The AI’s words cause Wally’s expression to darken as he removes his hand from your head and scowls. He doesn’t wait for you to answer, instead taking it upon himself to answer with a rough ‘no’ as he stands from his seat and starts pacing the room.

“Wally, what is going on with you?” The question is filled with confusion, his bursts of aggression are creating an emotional whiplash that’s  beginning to pain you in the worst way. “You know you can talk to me.”

“You sure you don’t wanna talk to Ray?” There’s venom in his words, he scowls and continues pacing the room before a knowing smirk quirks your mouth. There’s a beat of silence as you decide the best route to handle his newfound jealousy of your friendship. Ray would never replace Wally.

“Wally, you’re my best friend. Ray and I-”

“I don’t want to hear about you and Ray.” He growls running a hand over his head in aggravation as the dam he’d built around his heart came crumbling down. “I can’t.” He mumbles, rubbing his arm as you notice the warm tears glistening in his eyes.

“Wally.” You whisper standing from your seat, gnawing on your lower lip as you reach out for his hand. Intertwining your fingers together, you ignore the skip in your chest as you continue. “Ray is my friend. You’re my best friend. He’ll never take your spot in my life.”

“I don’t think I can do this anymore.” He’s slowly removing his hand from yours, clearing his throat as he’s already decided to spill his heart out. “I am sorry that I snapped. I didn’t mean to be so-” He pinches the bridge of his nose and wipes at his eyes.

“Mean?”

“I was gonna say direct.” He sighs, swallowing the dryness in his throat as he avoids meeting your gaze. “There are a thousand different ways that I’ve thought of this moment playing out. This...this never crossed my mind so I never prepared myself.” He hesitates, you contemplate whether or not to speak. You’re not sure if it’d be appropriate to question him or deter his train of thought. Instead, you remain silent and watch him intently. “You have meant so much to me since the moment I met you; there was this instant connection between us, it was electric. It felt like you just...no one’s ever understood me the way that you do. The closer we got, the more we learned about each other, the harder I fell. I was afraid to say anything but I can’t be afraid anymore. I need to say this to move on...I am in love with you.”

Wally’s speech reverberates within your eardrums, the emotions stealing the air from your lungs as the meaningful revelation begins to seep in. Wally West is in love with you. Countless questions torrent against the forefront of your mind at once, this level of disorientation was making your head reel and heart beat so aggressively it might escape its bone cage. It takes a moment to register the forceful gust of wind that interrupts the silence, the sparks that electrify the atmosphere as you remain in the massive room alone. There’s a strange smolder at the core of your abdomen, mind wandering as you gnaw on your bottom lip and contemplate on how to handle the situation. You love Wally West; there’s no denying that truth, but what if he’s just caught up in his jealousy of your friendship with Ray. What if he’s mistaken lust for love? If you allowed him into the mortar walls you’d meticulously built around your heart, allowing yourself to be truly vulnerable with him and he changed his mind; it would completely destroy you. Fear has a way of debilitating the urge to take risks, losing your best friend and enduring heartbreak was a tremendous hindrance.

The tension in the atmosphere was suffocating; the following missions were awkward after Wally’s confession, no one on the Waverider were aware of the circumstances of the strain between you and no one felt it was their place to intervene or provoke you. The tensions escalate to an explosion after a mission where you’d been required to flirt with the target; Wally’s boots echo against the frigid steel of the Waverider’s ramp as the team mutters about another successful mission, there’s a bitter scowl etched into his handsome face as he straightens his posture and growled through clenched teeth.

“Can I talk to you?” Wally snaps, his aggressive posture startling everyone as the group falls silent and the resentful hint to his tone makes your blood run cold. He doesn’t allow you a chance to reply to his request as his strong fingers grasp your bicep and he’s dragging you into the Captain’s office as the doors release a harrowing hiss behind you. “Why are you doing this to me? I thought we were friends.”

“I am sorry?” There’s a clear inflection in your voice that indicates your confusion of the situation and his words. Neither of you have spoken since the confession, you felt it was better to steer clear until he realized he was mistaken about his feelings. No one would get hurt that way; you wouldn’t get hurt that way.

“I get it, okay. You don’t have feelings for me but do you have to rub it in my face?!” The muscles in his jaw flexed as he growls and crosses his arms. “Do you think that hurting me is going to make my feelings go away?”

“What-what are you talking about?”

“We have other members of the team that can be a distraction, but you keep volunteering. The flirting, the touching and the dates. Then today, did you really have to sleep with him?! I heard what he said to his friends! I get that you don’t love me, I can’t force you to but I figured since you were my friend that you’d at least let me down easy. That you’d care about me enough to be more discreet.”

“First of all, Wally.” You bite, pointing a finger in his direction with hurt and aggression in your gaze. “I don’t sleep around, it’s not my style and you know that. Second, being a distraction is part of the job description for anyone that we feel can get it done. Just because you don’t agree with it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. You don’t get to dictate what I do and don’t do. You’re unbelievable. Even as stubborn and pigheaded as you’re being, I still can’t be mad at you.”

“Because you feel sorry for me? Well don’t-”

“Because I love you!” You snap, releasing a disgruntled huff before realizing what had just happened. He’s stunned into silence, giving you the opportunity to back out of the room, walking through the separating group of your friends as they pretend to not have overheard the argument.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Wally hollars; standing in the doorway of the Captain’s office as he ignores the interested gazes of his friends. “When I told you I loved you, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I was afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Having my heart broken.” You murmur over your shoulder, ignoring everyone as you walk toward the crew quarters in an attempt to catch your bearings. You close your eyes, releasing a sigh as you hear the electrical zap of Wally speeding to follow. “I don’t want to talk about it, Wally.”

“Then just listen.” He’s nervous as he stands before you, reaching for your hands with a cautious smile quirking his mouth and a desperate gleam in his welcoming brown eyes. “I would never hurt you. I’ll always put you, your heart and your life above my own. Whether we be friends or lovers, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I was afraid too, that was why I’d never admitted my feelings for you before but there’s a point in time where taking a chance is worth the risk. Me admitting my feelings for you was worth the risk either way because you’d either feel the same or it’d allow me the closure to move on. I know you’re afraid to get your heart broken, but I would never do that. I’ll protect it with everything that I have if you just gave me a chance.” He opens his mouth to say something else when he’s silenced by the feeling of your warm soft mouth against his.

“I love you, Wally West.” You whisper, breath hot against his lips. “I am sorry that I was too afraid to tell you sooner. I just didn’t want to admit how I felt and have you change your mind.”

“I’d never change my mind about wanting to be with you.” He murmurs nuding his nose against yours. “You’re everything I could ever want.”

“Is it too late to ask you to be my boyfriend?”

“Never.” He chuckles lowly, pressing his mouth against yours firmly. “I’ll always say yes.”

#The Flash #the flash imagines #the flash imagine #the flash fanfiction #wally west #wally west x reader

[that-shamrock-vibe]

TV Review: Crisis on Infinite Earths (Spoilers)

Part Two: Batwoman

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day after the episode airs in the U.S. so if you haven’t yet seen the episode or are waiting to watch the crossover all in on, don’t read on until you have.

Overview:

I was right, and I’m so annoyed they couldn’t keep the high momentum of the first episode here. Where Part One felt like an epic and grand high-stakes crossover opener, Part Two feels more like the typical and somewhat formulaic Arrowverse episode. The problem with that is, it’s supposed to be both! I don’t quite get how the episode that had the most elements I was looking forward to fizzled this much.

But now with the true enemy finally revealing himself, and the promise of more Paragons to find, can Crisis save itself while it destroys the Multiverse?

Avenging the Fallen:

So the episode opens with the three main women of the Arrowverse, Kara, Sara and Kate, drinking in memory of Oliver. I have to say, I know this is a Batwoman episode and these three women in particular do often preach girl power and all that, but the fact Ray isn’t there at least does just make it seem like they wanted this girl power moment, and as Kate said, the Multiverse is still in danger.

As I mentioned when talking about Batwoman in my Elseworlds review, there were problems that fortunately have been fixed by Batwoman the TV series mostly, I still don’t like the fact she’s not a red head, I still don’t like how similar Ruby Rose and Erin Richards look because it’s distracting to me. Even a choppy bob style as Kate has in the comics would differentiate the two more for me.

That being said, Ruby Rose sold the dry cynical humour here as she does in her own series. I loved how she left the drink here but later wished she hadn’t, in that same scene when the Monitor reveals Batman’s secret identity how she demands discretion from the team was funny, Kara finding Earth-99 Luke Fox attractive and Kate finding it weird I thought was hilarious and Ruby Rose sold that very well for me.

Also, for all Kara’s mourning about her lost planet, there was no confirmation on where Alex, Brainy, J’onn, Nia, Kelly or Lena were after the climax of Part One. I know Brainy and I think J’onn are in future parts of this crossover but it would have been good for a side comment saying where they are.

Speaking of mourning, my god Mia goes hard here. It’s funny because in last week’s episode of Arrow, Oliver was all for Diggle finding a way to get Mia and William back to 2040, yet Mia is still around and making understandably emotion-driven but drastic decisions and both Barry and Sara, who are supposed to be older, wiser and more level-headed particularly in this area, are going along with it.

Barry especially, I believe, feels that if he can help Oliver cheat his fate then maybe he can as well considering that Iris has now got the idea that with The Monitor being wrong about how Oliver died maybe Barry won’t die either, that’s just stupid to give someone who has already accepted his fate and has been known to make the stupidest decisions going (Flashpoint) when he feels he can change it. 

Mia decides to use a Lazarus Pit to resurrect Oliver and, like I said, both Barry and Sara agree. Sara does need some convincing I grant you and Caity Lotz does sell that she is never fully on-board with the idea, and why would she be because she knows first hand what the pits do.

I did appreciate the Nyssa mention, I just wish she had been their guide to the pit on Earth-18, instead we get a mini-fight between Mia, Sara and an unaltered Jonah Hex.

I did kind of guess Hex would appear as soon as the location was revealed as North Dakota, and to be fair I didn’t really see where Jonah Hex would fit into this crossover, so I am glad they found a space for him.

I also like that Constantine has something to do finally, because I am tired of just seeing Sara and Ray, as much as I love Sara and tolerate Ray, it’s called Legends of Tomorrow and currently I think has the biggest main cast out of these shows...so why am I being drip-fed Legends with now the addition of Constantine and Mick...again I do enjoy both of them but give me the god damn team.

Barry and Constantine bring Oliver to the Lazarus Pit and, as expected, Oliver emerges as an out of control rage monster that Stephen Amell does not sell quite as well as Caity Lotz or Willa Holland previously have.

I guessed Oliver would somehow be brought back, because while the Arrowverse execs try to say “We killed him off in part one to show no one is safe”, it was an eye-roll for me because you’re not going to kill the original main star of the Arrowverse in the first part.

My only issue with it is it happened so quickly, there was no time really to miss him because he was dead at the end of part one and suddenly they’re talking about bringing him back.

Sara had an entire season between death and resurrection and Thea’s resurrection came with great sacrifice on Oliver’s part joining the League of Assassins. Here, we had Constantine saying that the antimatter was making him lose his magic so he couldn’t bring back Oliver’s soul like he did for Sara, which only makes me wonder why they’re wasting time trying to bring someone back rather than stopping existence from dying.

Paragon Pursuit - Bat of the Future:

Okay so, apparently The Monitor has recently discovered seven Paragons across the Multiverse that can come together to defeat the Anti-Monitor. He knows this from retrieving the Book of Destiny from the timeline which was the McGuffin in Elseworlds last year.

Fortunately four of these paragons are known to The Monitor, the Paragon of Hope is Kara Zor-El and the Paragon of Destiny is Sara Lance. I got why this worked because Supergirl’s main brand is all about hope and she’s from a parallel world while Sara is of Earth-1 tying into the fact these seven Paragons are spread across the multiverse.

The Monitor tells the team that two more Paragons are to be found on different Earths, the first is the Bat of the Future on Earth-99 which Mar-Novu name drops as Bruce Wayne, much to Ray’s surprise and Kate’s annoyance.

Again I am actually enjoying Brandon Routh in this crossover, and cannot understand why he isn’t at this level on his own show.

Kate and Kara go to Earth-99 where they come across a dilapidated Wayne Manor, which looks more dishevelled than the one from the DCEU, and meet Earth-99 Luke Fox...who I had to double-take to ensure it was in fact Camrus Johnson partly because of how different he looks not geeked up and also because he is the only other main character of Batwoman to appear in this Batwoman episode.

Now I get that none of the other supporting players are vigilantes at this point, but not even Earth-1 Luke Fox making an appearance is slightly unfair, and you could argue that during Invasion! None of Supergirl’s supporting players were involved, but Supergirl still had an episode in that week which featured its main cast.

Again also Kate’s reaction to Kara finding this Luke attractive was probably my favourite moment in the episode.

Once forcing their way inside, Kate and Kara meet Earth-99 Batman, Mr. Kevin Conroy. I was so looking forward to seeing this veteran Batman voice actor in live-action and when you don’t see him talking, he sounds a lot like Batman of the DCAU, the only problem is I was promised Kingdom Come Batman and didn’t really get that.

I don’t know Kingdom Come that well but I thought Batman was supposed to be the main force of good left in the world, yet not only is he killing his rogues as displayed in his trophy case, including a Riddler cane which I also own, but he also killed Superman.

It’s at this point that Kate and Kara realise that this Batman is not the Paragon of Courage they were sent to retrieve and at that point Batman turns on Supergirl apparently hating Kryptonians.

Now this is where it gets interesting because before this, there is actually some good character moments for Bruce and Kate where Bruce tries to make Kate see that where he is in his mindset is where she should be, not trusting anyone, not believing in anything, just becoming the night basically.

It echoes similarly to what Lex Luthor tried to install in Lena last season which eventually worked as we know and it apparently maybe worked here because, even though Kate saved Kara from her doppleganger cousin, she still kept that Kryptonite wrist strap of his...what does she plan on doing?

Anyway before the Kryptonite reveal, we see Kate and Kara return to base where they tell The Monitor they failed retrieving the Paragon, but The Monitor reveals that the Bat of the Future and the Paragon of Courage is in fact Kate herself.

I don’t know how to feel about this, I love the fact Batwoman is being spotlighted even though she is the new girl, however, it does seem like the only reason she is the Paragon is because this is her show.

Also to have two Paragons from the same Earth? Not exactly far spread out.

Paragon Pursuit - Reign of the Supermen:

While Kate and Kara are on Earth-99, Earth 38′s Clark and Lois, and Iris for some reason, scourer the Multiverse for the Paragon of Truth, which is revealed to be a Superman...but which Superman.

Well just before they head off a spanner is thrown into the works in the form of Earth-38s Lex Luthor. We knew Jon Cryer would be back, I thought he would have returned in the Supergirl episode but we also see at least three other versions of Superman here so why not.

Anyway Lex steals the Book of Destiny because the Monitor apparently brought him back to be duped by the supervillain, shocker, and Lex travels the Multiverse killing off Supermen.

Clark, Lois and Iris first arrive on Earth-75 where they are too late because Earth-38 Lex has already killed this version of Superman who lies dead on the big screen with his Lois mourning the loss.

Their second attempt sees them arrive on Earth-167, which is the vaguest Easter-Egg reference going as it refers to Smallville co-producer Al Gough’s year of birth 1967...

When Tom Welling said he and Erica Durance were only in one scene they weren’t kidding, however I loved it. I am a massive Smallville fan, it was my proper Superman introduction, these versions of Clark and Lois are my Clark and Lois and that’s not going to change.

The decision for Clark not to have powers here is a weird one because they highlighted the fact that the Smallville Comics which followed the TV series would count as canon, yet aside from returning to the Kent Farm nothing we learn about Clark and Lois here was mentioned in the comics.

Also Clark and Lois have daughters, I’m not sure who they’re supposed to be but I’ve only ever known them to have a son...Jonathan...and since when did all the Supermen need to be Superdaddies anyway?

Anyway Earth-38 Lex shows up and Clark has the great confusion of wondering why Jon Cryer doesn’t look like Michael Rosenbaum, it is again sad that Rosenbaum didn’t reprise the role, but to have a Lex Luthor going up against multiple Supermen was still quite cool.

When Clark reveals he gave up his powers, most likely to be a father and family man, it did just seem like a cheat way for the writers to say “Yeah we have Smallville’s Clark Kent, but he won’t be part of the action”. Which as a Smallville fan is painful because I wanted to see Tom Welling in the tights, flights and action!

Also once Lex and the heroes disappear, Smallville’s Lois arrives and I have to say, she looks exactly the same as she did back in 2011 but different to how she looks as Alura Zor-El. Maybe it’s the choice of farm clothes as opposed to regal dresses but this is Lois Lane I had through my teen years, everything from the fashion to the hair, to the voice. I wasn’t crazy about the laugh because it seemed a bit forced, but she called him Smallville straight after and spoke in her high-energised way so I was happy.

The final stop was on Earth-96 which is a reference to the year the Kingdom Come storyline came out, it was confirmed that Brandon Routh would be Kingdom Come Superman but also the version of Superman from 2006 Superman Returns which Routh starred in.

We meet, or are reacquainted with,Routh’s version of Clark Kent. I have to admit I never much cared for Superman Returns, possibly because Smallville was on at the time and that version had already won me over. But I do know that Brandon Routh drew a lot of inspiration from Christopher Reeves and his portrayal of the character and you can clearly see that in both his fashion and acting.

I want to say it’s sad to see that pretty much all of Superman’s supporting staff at the Daily Planet are dead, Sam Huntington in my opinion was a decent Jimmy Olsen, but if this was Smallville’s Daily Planet staff all killed I’d be distraught.

Again I am comparing a lot but they are literally scenes apart from each other here.

Anyway, just as it’s confirmed that Brandon Routh’s Superman is the Paragon of Truth, Lex Luthor appears and decides he’s fed up with killing Supermen...we’ve only seen him kill one but there you go, and decides to turn Kingdom Come Superman against Earth-38 Superman in order for his now puppet to kill the other one.

I have to say, this was another weak battle sequence, I know it’s really CGI with two Supermen flying around, but neither Brandon Routh or Tyler Hoechlin have really sold flying as Superman to me that well anyway.

Lois finally does something and knocks Lex unconscious while she and Iris, who I cannot understand why she even came along at all, try to use the Book of Destiny to fix Kingdom Come Superman.

Eventually Lois gets through to KCS by appealing to his love for humanity and for his lost Lois. This breaks him free of the book’s control just in time before he snaps Earth-38 Superman’s neck.

With Lex detained, the heroes all return to base where they set up a machine to search for the rest of the Paragons. 

Harbinger’s Headache:

This sounds stupid but genuinely is what happens, since the start of the episode when Mar-Novu reveals the Book of Destiny, Harbinger starts to get headaches, this does alert her to the fact Lex Luthor is stealing the book but also puts her in the pathway of the Anti-Monitor.

Yes we finally see the big bad of the crossover in all his...glory? He looks ridiculous! His concept artwork does make him look like Oscar Isaac’s Apocalypse but the actual thing we get just looks ugly.

I will give a minor positive and say it is better to see him in the show than he looks on the promotional images because I get the feeling lighting is not this guy’s friend and we meet him in what looks like the hallway of S.T.A.R. Labs.

Mick Rory, Baby Whisperer:

Again, this sounds stupid, but I wanted to highlight this for a couple of reasons and to spotlight Legends of Tomorrow because it doesn’t look like this crossover is doing that.

Firstly, this Mick Rory isn’t our Mick Rory, this is in fact the Mick Rory of Earth-74...why is it called Earth-74? I don’t know because originally there were only supposed to be 52 Earths, then Earth-X came about and now we have Earth-167 so I’m making my peace with them making it up as they go along.

Anyway, Dominic Purcell has grown on me since he was first introduced on The Flash. I think once you accept the fact that DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is essentially a piss-take because that is what it’s become then you accept why the characters do what they do, and not only turning a Flash rogue into a hero/legend is understood but also having him be a writer, have a rat as a pet and be good with babies is also understood.

We see that Earth-74 has a Waverider and did have its own version of the Legends before they all disbanded, Mick has taken command of the Waverider as seemingly his home where he is a struggling writer and his only companion is the Waverider’s A.I. Leonard...Wentworth Miller is back! As a disembodied voice, I would have liked to have at least seen his floating blue head but no we get the voice which is fine by me to be honest.

Once Harbinger commandeers the Waverider ad brings it to Earth-1 with Mick on board, he seemingly becomes the only person on board who Jonathan won’t cry for...not his mum, not his dad, not his aunt...a gun wielding alcoholic hot-head...great choice kid.

It is the lowest form of comedy side-story going but it is still nice to see them at least attempt to include the Legends and particularly Wentworth Miller in some form.

Easter-Eggs:

Superman III:

Alright so this is a clever throwback as this version of Superman Brandon Routh is portraying may be repackaged as Kingdom Come Superman, but he is also the same Superman Routh portrayed in 2006′s Superman Returns, who in turn is the same Superman Christopher Reeve played during the 80s, one movie Reeves was in was Superman III where Superman’s human and Kryptonian sides physically fought each other.

This plot point has also been done in Smallville briefly during the opening episode of Season 4 but not to the same degree as here or Superman III.

Smallville:

So many Smallville Easter-Eggs in one small scene, the first was the mention of Smallville’s Lex Luthor being the President of the United States of America. In a vision of the future Lex Luthor was indeed president and during the flashforward epilogue of the Smallville finalé he was running for president.

I also appreciated the time joke that Lois made when she said that it’s taken about a decade for Clark to “make a funny”. In real-time it has been almost a decade since Smallville finished as it was 2011, whereas now it is 2019.

Captain Cold:

Some things never change and whether he’s a doppleganger of the original or an A.I. version of the man, Wentworth Miller’s charm oozes out.

When Harbinger arrives on the Earth-47 Waverider, she notes that she is aware of who the A.I. is and he responds with his classic line “Always pleased to meet a fan”, this he has said a couple of times firstly in Season 1 of The Flash and then again with the Legends.

This was a great episode on reflection but in terms of ramping up the drama and grandeur of the crossover it did need work. Hopefully it’s only a minor bump before tonight’s third part, which promises a sizeable cliffhanger before the Christmas break.

So that’s my review of Crisis on Infinite Earths: Batwoman, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC TV Reviews as well as other TV Reviews and posts.

#dc tv #dc tv universe #arrowverse #batwoman #batwoman 1x09 #crisis on infinite earths #crisis on infinite earths part two #crisis on infinite earths part 2 #kate kane #the monitor #mar novu #kara danvers #kara zor-el #supergirl #green arrow #oliver queen #the flash #barry allen #superman #kingdom come superman #kingdom come batman #kevin conroy #brandon routh #smallville #clark kent #lois lane #lex luthor #jon cryer #captain cold #wentworth miller

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 230

Last time, Vegeta blasted big chunks out of the tournament stadium, killing hundreds in the process.    Goku agreed to fight him, provided Babidi would teleport them to some place where no one would be in harm’s way.   

Which leaves everyone at the stadium to wonder what the hell just happened.   The World Tournament Announcer discusses the post-tournament ceremony with the winner, Mr. Satan.    Under the circumstances, handing out the prize money doesn’t seem like a good idea, so it’s probably best if everyone just goes home.    This scene seems very weird to me.   I’m pretty sure it’s filler, but either way, this conversation seems a little too “funny-awkward” when it needs to be “hundreds-of-people-just-died-awkward.”   

For example, if you look closely, you can see Android 18 and Marron standing in the background, between Satan and WTA.   She’s been there since the last episode, before Vegeta showed up and killed all those people.   The gag is that Mr. Satan can’t celebrate his victory too much because he keeps noticing 18 glaring at him, waiting for him to pay her the 20 million zeni he promised to her so she would throw the fight.   

I think what’s happening here is that Toei decided to recycle the gag from the last episode, which is a common filler tactic on this show.    Think of all the times we’ve seen Goku running down Snake Way, or training on his way to Namek, or suffering from the heart virus.   But it really doesn’t work here because the atmosphere in the stadium has drastically shifted, or at least it should have.  I know it’s a popular joke that death has no meaning in Dragon Ball because everyone can just be wished back to life, but most of the people here don’t know that.   18 does, but you’d think she’d be more disturbed by what Vegeta just did.   She’s a cool customer, sure, but you’d think she’d want to get her daughter to safety at the very least.

At least Bulma seems to be on track with the story.     “Vegeta... What’s Wrong With You?” could be the title of her autobiography though.

The answer, of course, is that he’s allowed himself to be mind-controlled by a space wizard so that he can finally fight Goku.   No more teases, no more buildup, no more false starts.    This fight is happening, and it’s going to keep happening for a few more episodes.  

So this fight.    What do I say about it?   When I was a kid, I grew up with the lore established after Return of the Jedi came out.    One way or another, I heard that the reason Darth Vader wears his life-supporting armor is because he once challenged Obi-Wan Kenobi to a duel, and suffered severe injuries from it.    I don’t remember where I heard this, but the story was that it was right after he turned evil, and they fought over a live volcano, and he fell in some lava.  

Of course, for younger readers, it’s all a matter of record.    You can just watch “Revenge of the Sith” and see exactly what happened.   But between 1983 and 2005, we only had this one-sentence legend.    I might have come up with the volcano part myself, since I heard “molten lava” and figured there had to be a volcano involved.    For my generation, “Revenge of the Sith” was the payoff to that decades-long speculation.  

The problem with moments like that is that you have to compete with fans’ imagination.   I remember after the movie came out, and I was at a comic book store and heard some guy complain that there should have been more lost-limbs in that battle.    Anakin lost an arm and both legs at the end, but I guess this guy’s bloodlust wasn’t sated.   Maybe he wanted Kenobi to lose limbs too?    Except he won, so I guess his dream scenario was for both of them to chop each other’s hands off and continue fighting one-handed.  

For my part, I was satisfied with what I got, although when you get down to it, it’s never going to hold up quite as well as I pictured it, because I had 22 years to picture it, and I could imagine it from every possible angle, with every possible scenario.   And when you imagine something, you can mix your emotions into the visuals.     Watching Darth Vader fighting Obi-Wan Kenobi on the screen, well, it looks a lot like all the other lightsaber battles in Star Wars, only it’s longer and more intense.    The movie is depending on you to fill in the emotional gaps.   The actors can act in between the swordfighting, but it’s up to you to remember those performances when the blades start swinging.  

What I’m driving at here is that a lot of Goku-Vegeta II is a dead heat.   In particular, you see scenes like this one where neither guy can overpower the other, and they’re stuck holding each other’s hands and blocking knee strikes with their thighs.    It reminds me a lot of the gifs of the Anakin/Obi-Wan fight, which just show them swinging their sabers around.    Stripped of context, it looks downright silly.   DBZ is counting on you to remember this:

This is why they’re fighting.    I don’t just mean the original Goku/Vegeta fight as a whole, or even the outcome of that battle.    I’m talking about this specific part of the fight, Episode 31 of DBZ, where Goku reluctantly used the Kaio-ken X3 and overpowered Vegeta, however briefly.   This was really where Vegeta started taking Goku personally.    After this, he tried to destroy the entire Earth just to kill Goku, and Goku used Kaio-ken X4 to overpower him yet again.   From that point on, Goku spent the rest of the battle on the defensive, relying on Gohan, Krillin, and Yajirobe to finish what he’d started.  

I’m not going to sit here and tell you the rematch is better than the original.   Goku-Vegeta I is one of the crown jewels of this whole franchise.   I still think I like this one better, though, because of the anticipation I had for it.  It fufills a long deferred dream that Goku, Vegeta, and the audience have shared since Episode 36.   One day, they’ll fight again, and settle this. 

So maybe this battle doesn’t have the same underdog factor going for it, and the psychology and choreography isn’t as intuitive.    It’s not as self-contained as the original battle, becaue this one depends so heavily on the viewer being familiar with Goku and Vegeta’s history.   But dammit, I am familiar with all of that, and that’s why I like it.   

There’s not a lot of stalling or desperate tactics here.   Both guys powered up to their maximum at the start.   This is just two guys trying to beat the hell out of each other, but they’re so evenly matched that it’s easy to lose sight of how hard they’re hitting, or how much of themselves they’re putting into every blow.   Like here, Vegeta just got slammed into a cliffside, and he’s disintegrating the rock instead of just moving slightly away from it.    Remember, it’s all about this:

Each of these guys want to pulverize the other this way.    Goku wants to do it to prove that he can sustain this level of offense instead of barely holding out for a minute.   Vegeta wants to do it because he’s still sore that any Saiyan managed to do this to him and live to tell about it.   

There’s also something deeply tragic about this fight, which appeals to me in a way the original can’t tough.    Before, they were two Saiyans.    The last two, perhaps, but Saiyans nonetheless.    Now, they’re Super Saiyans.    The legend said there was only one every thousand years, but now, in spite of everything, there’s two.    They’ve even managed to surpass the Super Saiyan and become something greater, but instead of saving the universe like they might have done before, they’re just beating the shit out of each other while the world burns.   Z stands for the end.

Because every time Goku takes a hit...

The energy lost from the damage he sustains is magically transferred to Majin Buu’s ball.    When enough has been aborbed, the seal can be broken, and Majin Buu will be resurrected.   

Meanwhile, Dabura and Gohan have moved deeper in to Babidi’s ship to try and stop him while the Goku/Vegeta fight is in progress.    This is Stage 4 of his spaceship, and in theory it’s no different from Stages 1-3.    Babidi would normally send a warrior to fight the intruders, and any damgage they take would feed Buu.    Only Babidi’s fresh out of good fighters, so he just sends ten of his low-tier henchmen to hold the line instead. 

For some reason, everyone on board Babidi’s ship looks like these guys, except for Puipui, Yakon, and Dabura.    I never paid much attention to it before, but when you think about it, it’s kind of weird how Babidi only “recruits” the best evil warriors he can find, but his crew all look like they came from the same planet.    I’m guessing these guys were some sort of pirate band or something, and Babidi forced them all to come work for him and run his ship for him, or maybe this ship used to be theirs before Babidi hijacked it.  

Anyway, Gohan takes them all out with a simple ki attack, and they can proceed.    Not sure why these guys had Roman numberals on their uniforms.     It implied that they were somewhat important, but I guess not.  

Anyway, back to this fight.    So yeah, like I said, these two are just going all out.   

They’re using big flashy moves that might be climactic finishers in past battles, but here it’s just standard issue.   

Take this beam struggle, for example.    This was the height of the first Goku/Vegeta battle, but it’s just an appetizer here. 

Like, they can’t even just have a beam struggle, they have to charge towards each other while they do it.   Are they going to punch each other with their free hands while they do this?   

Meanwhile, Trunks and Goten take a piss break on their way to the action.    Some pervy dinosaur peeks on them while they go.   

Okay, so this is my favorite part.   Right here.  Somehow, Vegeta managed to get the better of Goku, so he hauls him up, and it looks like he’s got Goku at his mercy.

Then he slams him into a rock and fires ki blasts that basically at like big staples, to hold Goku in place by his wrists, ankles and neck.   

Then he reminds Goku that he claimed that he would finish this “quickly”.  I think Goku knows better now, but let’s face it, he took Vegeta too lightly.    He was sure that he could turn Super Saiyan 2 and blow him out of the water without a whole lot of trouble, because he’s spent most of their rivalry in the lead.   

Then he slaps him in the face, and Goku can’t do shit.  This part right here is the receipt for all the times Goku looked past Vegeta or failed to take him seriously.    You can argue that he spared Vegeta all those years ago as an act of compassion or sportsmanship, but another way to interpret it is as an insult.  To put it another way, Goku let Vegeta live because he didn’t think he was dangerous enough to kill.    I think that’s how Vegeta’s always seen it, and now he’s out to prove otherwise.   

So he’s just teeing off on the guy now.    The message here is: If Goku doesn’t like this sort of thing, he should have killed Vegeta when he had the chance, because he’ll never get it again.

Then Vegeta has an extended flashback.  The dub has him narrate this, which is one of my favorite monologues in this series, but the Japanese version just plays the footage, letting it speak for itself.    I guess there’s a case to be made for either approach, but Chris Sabat killed this scene.  

The bottom line is that Goku humilitated him in their first encounter by standing up to him and beating him up, and then he saved his life.    Vegeta plans to avenge himself by tearing him to pieces.    He means to kill Goku, which I don’t really understand, seeing as he’s already dead.   

And this is where I think Babidi’s mind control may be somewhat underrated in this battle.    I think it’s pretty easy to assume that this is how Vegeta would normally behave, but is it, though?    Was he planning to face Goku in the world tournament and chop off his arms while their families looked on in horror?   I’m pretty sure he wasn’t this hardcore about it going in.    Before, he had resigned himself to never seeing Goku again, and then he was coming back for the tournament, and Vegeta was excited to face him under any terms, even while governed by the tournament rules, and Gohan’s “no-transforming” request.    He wanted to beat Goku clean, sure, but he wasn’t nearly this bitter about it. 

Now, this fucker wants to vivisect Goku.    I’m pretty sure that’s Babidi’s handiwork, amplifying old grievances that Vegeta had probably moved past a long time ago.   

Except...

Goku’s not done yet.

Every time Majin Vegeta gets surprised, I get a little more excited.    This was what you wanted, wasn’t it?   You self-important prick.    You killed all those people just to get this guy mad enough to fight you.   

WELL GUESS WHAT, JACKASS?

YOU GOT HIM.

ALL OF HIM.

I get chills every time I watch this part.   Majin Vegeta is played up to be this horrible thing.    The awesome power of Vegeta with none of the restraint, and if Goku even tries to stop him, he’ll just be playng into Babidi’s hands.    Critics can say that this is a no-win scenario, or that Goku’s holding back during this fight, or that he’s not as into this as Vegeta is.  

But this sequence here tells the story.    Goku doesn’t have a long flashback to explain his motivation here.   We’ve already seen it.    This blue-pajamas-wearing idiot came to his planet to start shit.  Goku was fighting to protect his home and everything he holds dear, and he barely managed to save the day, and that makes him the bad guy here?   Vegeta broke Goku’s legs in that battle, but for some reason Vegeta wants revenge for that day.    Vegeta beat the shit out of Goku’s son.   Several times.    Then he let Cell become perfect, and Goku and Gohan had to clean up his mess.     Goku’s dead because of Vegeta’s arrogance, but Vegeta wants revenge?

There’s a part here where Vegeta tries to full-nelson Goku and impale him on a stalactite, and Goku just powers out of it.   Goku’s not saying a lot in this fight, but he’s pissed, make no mistake.    He’s just focused enough and gentle enough not to say anything.  

He’s not shooting a Kamehameha inside a cave because he’s detached.    

Vegeta fires back and the whole thing explodes.

So let’s be clear about this.   There’s a relentless, wild animal in this battle, who won’t stop fighting no matter what.   Also, Vegeta is here, and he has a goofy tattoo on his forehead.

Meanwhile, Gohan and the Supreme Kai have arrived at the chamber where Buu’s ball is kept, and Babidi and Dabura are there to greet them.   Babidi isn’t worried at all, since he figures Dabura will be enough to hold them off until Majin Buu is ready.   On the other hand, the Kai thinks he can kill Babidi wile Gohan holds off Dabura, and that should put an end to all of this.  

But he’d better act fast, because Buu’s ball is glowing hot pink, and getting hotter and pinker by the second.   

#dragon bal #2019dbliveblog #babidi saga #goku #vegeta #gohan #supreme kai #dabura #babidi #goten #trunks #bulma #chi chi #android 18 #marron #mr satan #world tournament announcer #yamcha #puar #master roshi

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #108

UPDATE 108: Coil Reaches Endgame

Last time Skitter was going to spend time with Dad Hebert, a very long overdue decision. They decided to go to the town hall. Unfortunately for her day off, Coil is about to make his move, his major move, haha! Get it? Because of the mayoral—oh forget it. Anyway, this is happening now.

Since technology has been set back to levels not seen since the 1850s, everyone who wants to find out what the candidates say actually have to come here. Director Piggot is in front, alive and kicking, and presumably trying to leave behind the fact she most likely was left to wander around the city for hours with handcuffs and a gag made with a sock, given how communications were very restricted. Hmmm...if the director is here, then some PRT agents must be nearby too, I imagine. That should be good but I’m not sure they’ll hold their own against Coil’s troops.

Not too far away Taylor can feel Coil and his troops are getting ready. Circus is here, so that means there will be superpowered antics today. Say, I wonder if part of the reason why Coil told everyone to not go out costumed is to prevent any kind of intervention. The odds were low, but he’s not the kind of man who’d take a chance needlessly.

Let me introduce your candidates, starting with Mr. Roy Christner, our mayor incumbent.  We also have Mrs. Carlene Padillo, city councilor of communications; and Mr. Keith Grove, C.E.O. of Eaststar Financial.

Huh, those jobs are...much more prominent than I expected, honestly. I thought they’d be two civilians indistinguishable from everyone else, but it turns out they’re notorious. I wonder what he offered to convince them to play along, or what kind of threats he issued.

Tonight’s subjects are crime, public safety and the state of the city.  Would you start us off, Mayor Christner?  What sets you apart from the other candidates in your views?

What a question! I’m half-expecting one of the other candidates to slyly point the current mayor caved under villainous threats and therefore would be a weak leader in these times of turmoil. Politics are a dirty game, and all that matters is which of the puppets wins, no? So one of them can afford to be confrontational and smear the mayor’s good name. Coil’s plans will go well as long as the mayor doesn’t win again.

The mayor talks about how tough the situation is, and then mentions something that gets my attention:

I’ve discussed the subject with Legend, with Dragon and with Chief Director Costa-Brown of the PRT.

We know Chief Director Costa-Brown is Alexandria and is currently in Cauldron’s side. Given how Coil is one of Cauldron’s customer, given how expensive his power was, I imagine Cauldron would try to protect Coil the best they could. Could it be Brockton Bay being under Coil’s control is a part of Cauldron’s plans?

As I expected, one of the puppet candidates doesn’t waste any time and attacks the mayor’s work, saying the promises to return Brockton Bay to what it used to be are impossible. In the meantime, Taylor tries to stop Coil from acting by telling him to stop. Being a reasonable man and deciding things were going well, Coil paid attention and left the place, taking his soldiers with him.

As if.

Of course that didn’t happen, he completely ignored the request. He’s in the pivotal point that’ll mark the start of his endgame, he’s not going to quit no matter what.

What puppet candidate Grove is proposing actually sounds quite reasonable – starting over and making use of funds given by international entities – and he even mentions the ferry, which I’m sure will convince some of those here to vote for him. What I’m not sold on is the part about promoting Brockton Bay as a symbol of perseverance and human spirit so new residents and tourism activates. Thaaat isn’t really going to happen at all during the next mayor’s tenure, that much I can tell you. Nobody will come live here or make tourism unless the renovations are finished at lightning speed.

I fidgeted.  Could I attack?  Should I attack?  If I left now, maybe stepped into the side hallway, I could maybe avoid the soldiers, get to a vantage point where I could mount a counterattack against Coil.

Coil must know Skitter’s civilian identity, so that would put not only herself, but Dad Hebert in danger too. Acting will make her his prime target, on the off-chance she isn’t already. Personally I think it’d be better to wait and see what happens. Nothing says Coil can’t be defeated after he establishes his mayoral reign of terror, Taylor doesn’t have to act today.

Don’t mention the possibility of Dad Hebert dying, Taylor, you’ll jinx it!

The puppet candidates are relentless, they’re hitting the mayor with everything they have, saying he has part of the blame for the heroes’ failures, all the way back to Leviathan’s attack. I disagree, if only because how do you prepare for an Endbringer? I’m sure no matter who the mayor is, even if it’s the most beloved and adored person ever, they’d have to carry part of the blame because preparing adequately is impossible.

Taylor considers her course of action and reasonable concludes Coil most likely has ways to counter any attack from her, so perhaps waiting and seeing what he’d do would be better? Would he place innocent civilians in danger? Oh, no doubt he would! But hurting people randomly may be bad for long-term plans, no?

No, the blame lies with the PRT and the mayor’s administration, which he admits was heavily involved in the decisions made.  Highly questionable decisions:  Holding back when they could have intervened.  Forcing confrontations when our heroes were gravely outmatched.

In their defense, I’ll say so many suits made by Dragon versus the Travelers and Undersiders wasn’t really gravely outmatched. How could the mayor and others know the villains were too clever and strong to be defeated by this? Heck, Piggot was oozing confidence while she was caught. I doubt anyone thought the villains would win.

The debate barely lasted five minutes before Coil makes his move, bursting into the auditorium with Circus, Uber and Leet with him. Speaking of the city’s threats, eh, civilians? Panic ensues, the soldiers block the exits. I imagine that means the civilians will either be used as leverage, or Coil wants them to listen to him.

I was wondering why there had been no mention of heroes being around, given there were important people in this town hall. Turns out Coil set fires on many places to keep them busy and away from this building, and even says he did the same on the Undersiders and Travelers’ territories to keep them busy as well. I’m sure that’s a bluff – the part about fires on their territories, I mean. It would kind of ruin the progress made, what after recovering those places from Dragon just the day before.

“You bastard,” the Mayor growled. “First my niece, now this?”

Niece?

Of course.  I’d heard Dinah was niece to one of the mayoral candidates. I hadn’t realized she was the niece to the mayor.

So it turns out Skitter was unknowingly causing trouble to the mayor since longer than she thought. Goodness, that must have been a bitter realization.

Coil promises any civilian in the audience will be safe. Anyone who has a title or an important role, though, aren’t so safe. To demonstrate, he orders Circus to throw knives at the candidates. Well then! Pretty clear his intention here isn’t to create goodwill, haha, not that he’d have been very successful at that anyway.

I wonder if the two puppet candidates, currently with knives sticking out of them, are regretting accepting to do what Coil says. I’m sure he never mentioned they’d be stabbed. The mayor doesn’t seem to be dead, this must have been a demonstration that Coil can kill someone if he wants to, a warning to everyone. After all, if his parahuman accomplice can hit points without killing, surely hitting the right points would be easy.

That doesn’t deter Piggot, though. She confronts Coil, saying his actions here will make so many heroes come and try to crush him. That’d spell a lot of trouble for the Undersiders and Travelers, then, but I’m sure Coil already has some way to fight that. He tells Piggot he has it under control, pretty much, and commands Circus to stab her.

“The bitch is too fat.  Thinking I didn’t hit anything vital,” Circus said.

“See it through,” Coil ordered, turning to leave with Über and Leet accompanying him.  Circus turned to follow, flicking her wrist hard over her shoulder.  Three knives traveled through the air, their paths eerily in sync as they nearly touched the ceiling, converging together as they dropped towards Piggot.

Well, dang, after everything that had happened I didn’t think she’d die. I really thought she’d be somewhat of a recurring character, but no, here she died. Dragon and Defiant will hear about this, that I’m certain.

Oh, nevermind, the Wards are here! Weld saved Piggot’s life, stopping the knives right away, and the rest of the Wards manage to stop Coil’s trained mercenaries without much trouble. Vista cut off any escape route, Kid Win is firing some non-lethal projectiles around, Chariot is attacking the soldiers – I suppose since he is Coil’s spy he already knew this all was going to happen – and Clockblocker is giving support- All in all, they’re turning things against the soldiers, no problem here!

Now, the parahuman villains. I’m not worried about Uber and Leet, they have never been what you’d call ‘a threat’. Circus may be one, if only for versatility. The Wards have advantage if numbers, anyway, once the soldiers are taken out. Coil is not a fighter, but at this point I refuse to believe he didn’t think something like this could happen, so it’s possible he has something up his sleeve. Heck, maybe he has the Travelers stashed not far away for all I know.

I just realized that, with all this happening, Dad Hebert will take it as confirmation of what he had said: it’s all just matter of time before a stronger villain comes to take everything, and here’s a stronger villain – possibly.

Everybody is being evacuated through the back of the stage, and Taylor considers helping. She decides against it on that she’d be in a bad situation no matter what. If Coil wins, he’ll know Skitter helped the heroes and he’d retaliate so hard Skitter wouldn’t have time to think of a way to protect her dad and herself. If the heroes win, then they’ll try to find out who Skitter is, and they already have enough information to make a pretty good guess. What else can she do but leave? Leave everything to the heroes.

All but the mayor were apparently alive. The only one I could wonder about was the mayor.  He was lying prone, receiving CPR at the hands of two people.

The mayor just couldn’t catch a break at Coil’s hands, huh. Ever since this story started, Coil has been beating down this man, all because the mayor was, well, the mayor. I’m pretty convinced having a position of power in this world makes you a prime target for the villains.

Since this all is Coil making his move, the Wards seem to have decided they don’t need to keep Chariot around anymore, they turn onto Chariot and freeze him. Now he can’t do anything Coil may have asked him to do here. Coil, Uber, Leet and Circus arrive again, followed with soldiers, intending to fight the Wards. Why is Coil here? Wouldn’t it have been better for him to go away and leave everything to his parahumans and soldiers? He already said his piece and made people be stabbed, may as well go away now!

For some reason Coil dropped to one knee and activated something in Kid Win’s armor, something that starts to whine. Can’t be good! Uber and Leet shoot, Vista is done for and Clockblocker freezes himself, pretty much meaning he won’t intervene anymore either. Kid Win managed to fight back at them, all the villains turn to leave.

So, the plan is to teleport the whining device – an energy cell, it seems – away, up in the sky, where it won’t hurt anyone when it explodes. The fact it’ll explode wasn’t lost to anyone, everyone keeps trying to flee but all the panic is making that difficult, so Kid Win and Weld move quickly to complete this plan.

Or that had been their plan.  It didn’t work out that way.  I saw a flicker of light from the lobby, the glow of the device, and Coil wheeling around to face us, his screaming lost in the midst of the shrill whine and the shouts of the others.

Wait, what happened? How did their plan fail? It’s clear they managed to teleport the bomb, that much was clear, but how was it into the lobby instead of, well, up in the sky? Okay, it’s true that the part about it being teleported up into the sky was Taylor’s deduction, but somehow I can’t imagine the Wards teleporting a bomb in the middle of the villains, especially when there still are civilians around. What I do can kind of accept is that they would be a tad less stringent about not hurting the villains, though, seeing how they came here explicitly to stab four people.

--Coil’s body coming apart in pieces—

Okay! I call shenanigans. There’s absolutely no way in hell Coil will die at such point. There’s no way things can be so convenient for Taylor, which is also why earlier I was sure the heroes weren’t going to defeat Coil. Something’s up. Either Taylor was wrong about what she was seeing, or this isn’t the real Coil. I’m leaning towards the second because really, I’m still baffled Coil would return here after making his point. That can’t have been the real Coil at any point.

No more to think about now, because the blast reaches Taylor and Dad Hebert. Welp. So much for spending time with Dad Hebert. If there’s two people I feel bad for in this entire story, it’s Panacea and Dad Hebert. They both deserve better than what they got, geez.

Next chapter, since this is not a good stopping point.

Don’t talk about the weight of a body on top of you! Freaks me out about Dad Hebert’s state. I hope he’s just unconscious – and he is, thankfully. Taylor herself seems to be blinded, whether it’s temporary or permanent is yet to be seen, pun not intended. She’s forced to use her bugs to look around, or at least have an idea of what’s going on, carefully since she doesn’t want a swarm that could alert anyone Skitter was in the area.

The first responders are already in the area, thank goodness. I imagine Taylor will try to take her dad to one of the ambulances as soon as possible. There are fatal victims, they seem to be some of the press. Well dang, this really should bring other cities’ heroes down onto Brockton Bay, outsiders died. Chariot is gone, whether he was disintegrated or not is not clear. Clockblocker is the only Ward who was hurt in the explosion. This is all Taylor can determine right now, and one of Dad Hebert’s friends talks to her. They’re all hurt. Crap, it’s always tragic to see civilians getting hurt. Always hits me in the feelings.

Even in this situation, Taylor wants to stand up and go check on people, see if anyone is hurt. She gets away from Dad Hebert’s friend and approaches the mayor, who is still alive, thankfully. On the verge of death, but he’s hanging there. Right now he’s in danger of bleeding out. I remember Taylor has first-aid training, but if she does something wrong here she’d be liable for the mayor’s death, no? Besides, she can’t see a thing. So she calls for help, and nobody comes.

Say, now that I think about it, I’m surprised she left Dad Hebert behind. I’m not saying she should have carried his prone body around, buuuut I did think she’d stick with him no matter what.

Damn Coil.  I would make him answer for this.

Yes, I had seen ‘Coil’ die.  I had little doubt others had as well, even news cameras would have had eyes on the scene.  Especially news cameras.  Coil had staged this, taken advantage of the reporters’ cameras, the fact that there were no working communications, and all the important figures would be attending. He was too savvy, too invested in his plan to not have taken all the variables into account.  Just the fact that I knew about his power turned this whole scenario on its head.  He wouldn’t have charged in like this without a backup, without a version of himself staying safe and secure in his underground base, just in case things went awry.

No.  I might have seen the man die, but the more I thought about it, the less I could believe that man was Coil.

Yes! Yes, exactly. Thanks, Taylor, you’re saying right what I had thought before. There’s just no way Coil died here, not after everything. He’ll control everything from the shadows. Given the situation, I guess that means the mayoral puppet stuff won’t be happening anymore? Either way, Coil must be alive, most likely in his hideout, waiting to hear everything went according to his plan.

A paramedic comes, and Dad Hebert is starting to wake up. Taylor tells the paramedic how injured she is, and even downplays how she can’t see. Instead, she urges them to help Dad Hebert, his friends, and the wounded mayoral candidates and Piggot. The paramedic listens, sending others to take care of them, and this is the extent of what Taylor can do.

It’s a bit of a miracle there aren’t that many people with serious injuries. Explosions are rather indiscriminate when it’s about hurting people, after all. Taylor herself may be the proof of that, all she got was general soreness and a burn on her face. The blindness is because she was looking directly at the explosion, not many must have been doing that. Taylor is calm, seething in her hatred for Coil, already planning to make him pay. Well I guess her course of action is clear: she’ll make sure Dad Hebert and his friend are safe, and then she’ll call Coil to demand an explanation as to what happened. Coil will once again have to deal with her ever-constant morality, he won’t enjoy it at all, hah.

Sort of like how I was looking at the potential end of the world.  I wouldn’t worry about it until we’d exhausted every resource available and verified that in this era where countless people had the ability to break the fundamental rules of reality, someone couldn’t stop it from happening.

Well, she’s right about that, at least. Given how there were a lot of people who could do amazing and senseless things, someone may be able to do something about the end of the world. The problem is that Dinah sounded so certain of that, and so far I have no reason to believe she’d be wrong about something. Maybe Taylor should focus not on stopping the end of the world, but on what could be done with the people. Maybe everyone can be transported somewhere else away from the planet while it’s falling under Jack Slash’s horrors, like the moon. Or to an alternate dimension, since the Cauldron interludes showed making portals is possible. The problem is making it all be in a global scale and make it so the cause of the end of the world – whether it’s Jack Slash or something he makes happen – can’t come along.

Pretty awful thought: doing all that will be much easier the more people die. Geez, that’s negative.

Dad Hebert is already getting attention, so now the paramedic insists on taking a good look at Taylor, to make sure she doesn’t have internal injuries or anything like that. Remembering that’s indeed a possibility, Taylor accepts, getting carried around on a stretcher. Thank goodness, she’ll let herself rest a little. I was half-expecting her to leave right away to confront Coil, with a burn on her face and disheveled from being near an explosion.

Since she can’t move and she’s waiting on the stretcher, Taylor uses this time to think about Coil’s plan.

That was what got me.  This whole thing bordered on senselessness.  Hurting these people, putting me in the line of fire. Why attack the event?  It would draw attention from heroes across the nation and it would make holding the city that much harder.  Had he abandoned the plan?  Or were there nuances I wasn’t aware of?

It is odd. At first I thought it may have been that he was trying to fake his death, by making a body double die in his place, but if the press died then their equipment must have been damaged too. There’d be no footage of Coil dying, nor there would be any proof of that, given how Taylor said he was pretty much torn to pieces. Besides, even if cameras and stuff had survived, what guarantee was there it was all looking at the maybe false Coil when he died? The only conclusion I can get to is that there must be some sort of plan or idea I can’t deduce yet.

That aside, if Coil was thought dead, it’d leave things go smoothly for a while. There was no reason to think the Undersiders or the Travelers had anything to do with this attack, so the heroes from everywhere else wouldn’t have a reason to come crush them. The teams should be fine.

What was deliberate, in how this had unfolded?  He’d wanted to take out the mayor.  But the candidates?  Hadn’t they been his?

Oh, I don’t doubt they were his. Maybe Coil just didn’t have any more use for them, they may have been like a backup plan. What’s for sure is that I doubt they’ll want to work with him again, what with the freaking knives now stuck in their flesh.

I was looking at it the wrong way. Circus.  She had been part of the plan from the beginning, and he’d hired her for an explicit reason.  Her powers included her personal pocket dimension for storing items.  I couldn’t think of how that might be used.  She had minor pyrokinesis, but that didn’t apply here, either.  She also had an enhanced sense of balance and enhanced coordination.

The balance wasn’t a major thing here. But the coordination?  The way she’d been able to casually target Piggot as she tossed the throwing knives over one shoulder?  If I had to guess, Circus’ knives had only killed the people Coil wanted dead.  The others would have been hit in nonvital areas.  Her enhanced hand-eye coordination would have given her the accuracy needed to ensure the knives hit where she wanted them to hit.

Well, he sure would need the knives to successfully hit the targets, so there’s that. I’d even think that was the only reason to take her along.

Über, then?  Leet?  What was the rationale for them?

Those two are baffling me, I admit. Neither of them seem like the kind of expert attackers I’d have thought Coil would prefer. Could there just have been no other option? I don’t know, maybe he could have recruited someone else in some other city. No, there must have been a reason to want those two around. I just can’t think what made it have to be them instead of anyone else.

Maybe he used his power and brought a different person, more effectively villainous, to help him and it went wrong, and that’s why they’re staying in this timeline where he recruited Uber and Leet.

Taylor just can’t figure out what the end goal is, and at this point I think it’s likely it won’t be revealed until it’s too late, just like it happened with the attack to the dinner gala that ended in Dinah’s kidnapping. Something else must be going on behind scenes.

Enough time has passed, Taylor’s stretcher is lifted so she’s carried out. Soon she’s at the hospital, where she’s placed in an arrangement similar to how it was like after Leviathan’s attack, just that this time she’s a civilian. Once she’s carefully checked to make sure she’ll be okay, someone enters the enclosure. It’s Lisa.

Dad Hebert is okay, thank goodness. He’s more worried for Taylor than for himself, bless him. I suppose it’ll be quite a while before anyone tells him Taylor’s state, if he hears Taylor may have gone blind he’ll blame himself so much, even if nothing at all was his fault.

Lisa sure is treating the blindness as if it’s something potentially permanent. I sure hope it isn’t! She’s even suggesting kidnapping or hiring someone to come heal her. Would Mr. Wildbow dare to make Taylor be permanently blind, especially on such a critical juncture as the few days when Dinah isn’t available for predictions and number crunching? I was thinking not, but the way Lisa is behaving is making me fear he will. I respect Taylor a lot, but I’m not sure she can defeat Coil if she’s blind.

Turns out Coil did set fires in the territories, none of them on the real lairs. I imagine those fires were just to make sure nobody can think he was lying when he said he had made fires to keep the Undersiders and Travelers busy and unable to meddle with him. The problem is that I’m sure the heroes already know Coil is bankrolling those two groups, so the distancing is pointless.

There’s the confirmation Coil is very alive right now. Not only he’s alive, he’s happy because everything is going like he had planned. This is the best time to ask him for favors, such as releasing Dinah. Hmmm...well, since he’s so close to seeing his plan completed, there’s a tiny chance he will? I’m still not convinced he will, even if he told Taylor he would. Even if he does it, I bet it’ll be after he gets one last consultation.

“So we just ask, and hope he’s feeling good enough to say yes?”  Which means biting my tongue when it comes to the accusations, calling him on what he did at the debate.

Hmmm...I’m not sure everyone else would be on board on attacking Coil for what he did at the town hall, honestly. If they do, then it’d be because Coil torched a tiny part of the territories. I guess Taylor’s desire to avenge today’s tragedy will have to stay unresolved.

After some hesitation, Taylor decides to leave Dad Hebert behind. He’s going to be so disappointed when he wakes up. Even if he was told she’d be taken to Lisa’s father’s clinic – a lie, of course – I’m sure he’ll wish he could see Taylor and know she’ll be okay. Damn, their day together sure was awful. It barely lasted like one hour or so.

“Are we to blame for this?”

“No.  Don’t set yourself on this path.  We didn’t know, we couldn’t know, and we weren’t complicit in any way.”

Thank you, Lisa. Unlike many other times, Taylor nor any other of the Undersiders had anything to do with this. Blaming themselves for this would be senseless, and completely in-character for Taylor, unfortunately. As if she doesn’t have enough heavy things on her shoulders.

Lisa is trying to look at the silver linings, hah! She comments this is a good chance for Taylor to train herself not to rely on her eyes, and then she comments how with everything that has happened parking spots are easy to get. She must be trying to cheer Taylor up, make her feel a little better. It just is kind of callous in some way, but she’s trying.

So, the plan right now is to meet Coil. He has completely discarded his superpowered alter ego, now he’s sticking to his civilian identity. It must be one he can stay under the radar with, then.

I paused.  I’d been thinking over the scenario, calculating Coil’s overarching goal.  “Is he Keith Grove?”

Hah! No, absolutely not. I can’t imagine Coil sacrificing any part of himself for the sake of his plan. I really doubt he’s that guy, he wouldn’t arrange himself to get stabbed at all. Although...if he told Circus to make sure she doesn’t hit any vital parts...no, no way. He needs to stay healthy and uninjured. He can’t be Keith Grove, right?

I was right. Point for me!

Lisa has a recording that will reveal Coil’s civilian identity. When she turns it on, this recording turns out to be a news report about the tragedy at the town hall. I notice they mention it was a superhero-made piece of technology, I’d have thought they’d try to cover for the heroes’ role in the tragedy, even if it was an accident or sabotage.

When local heroes intervened, however, a device owned by local Wards member ‘Kid Win’ malfunctioned, ultimately exploding in the lobby of the building.

I pretty much feel Kid Win’s role in the story is be the Wards’ weakest link. He gets taken hostage, his stuff malfunctions, and now something he made is directly responsible for the deaths of a few people, even though it was Coil who made it malfunction. Kid Win’s hero career is so full of bumps. He could do better if the story didn’t insist on beating him down every time he appears, hah

First reports from the site report allegations of sabotage on the part of a known double agent within the group of junior heroes.  No members of the Brockton Bay PRT, Protectorate or Wards teams were available for comment, but sources inside the organization report that Director Emily Piggot, manager of the city’s PRT and government sponsored hero teams, is being put on leave pending a full investigation.

Do they fear Piggot may have been complicit and let the mole stick around because she’s part of Coil’s group? She really is not having a good week at all. Being Director Piggot is suffering.

Since Piggot is currently not able to fulfill duties as a director, a replacement has been named: Thomas Calvert, a consultant that used to be an agent. It takes me a moment to realize this was the other man who survived the attack onto Nilbog’s city, the guy who shot his captain just so he could have better odds of surviving.

And turns out he’s Coil. And now he’s in charge of both the villains and the heroes.

Well doesn’t this look grim for everyone.

Good stopping point, here. I’ll continue next time!

Next time: in five updates

#worm #worm liveblog #webserial #liveblog #webserial liveblog

[a-copper-butterfly]

Should i continue this?

looks like i have bitten the bullet and have a sort of plan for the ineffable husbands raises Adam fic.

here is a bit, should i continue it?

Title: suggestions welcome

word count: 3991

When a snake regurgitates its food, its normally because it had been grabbed or handle soon after eating or is otherwise subjected to stress.

As Crowley knelt in damp grass on the bank beside the road, he wiped his mouth. The light from the Bentley’s open door revealing the grey sludge that was even now burning the grass. The small part of Crowley’s mind that wasn’t screaming in panic wondered when the last time he had eaten was. Without the help of the rest of his brain, he guessed around six years ago.

Pushing himself up onto wobbly legs, Crowley slid back into the driving seat, switched on the radio as he did so. As he pulled the car back onto the road, Crowley checked the rear-view mirror. The carry cot was still there. This was real.

“Shit, shit, shit, why me, why me?” he muttered to himself. The radio crackle,

“BECAUSE YOU EARNED IT CROWLEY” came the voice of Freddy Mercury.

“Fuck…” though Crowley.

Sister Annabelle Houghton was totally normal, much to the annoyances of her parents. They were traditional occultists who gave her supposedly cursed china dolls and pretty, frilly dresses in attempts to get her possessed. They had even moved at an old house which the nice estate agent had made very clear was the site of quite a few murders and ghost stories. It even had its own graveyard in the garden. Her swing was hung in an old knarred oak tree which legend had it was used as a hangman’s gibbet, but she never used it. When Annabelle eventually grew up, her parents had lamented and had sent her off to the Sisterhood of Chattering Nuns of St Beryl. Not too worried about this, Annabelle went along as she thought it might be interesting.

Now she sat looking out of one of the convent’s window keeping watch for the arrive of Master Crowley and the baby boy he carried with him. The Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of this world, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness. She was very excited; this was a big day and she, Sister Annabelle, would be part of it. A cup of tea sat on the windowsill beside her. It had gone cold hours ago, No matter.

A car came screaming through the gates of the convert an excitement jolting up her spine. Sister Annabelle leapt from her seat and began to quickly click her way down the hall towards the foyer. She turned the corner expecting to see one of her sisters talking to Master Crowley but broke into a run when she saw which sister it was. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Sister Mary Loquacious, she was a lovely person when you were sat having a chat, it was just that things, important things, tended to go wrong when she was involved.

“Mother Superior! Mater Crowley is here!” she half-yelled, her fists full of her skirt as she leaped down the three little steps leading up to the corridor. Crowley quickly ducked behind a column in responses to the shouting. Shouting mostly lead to pitchforks, torches and a bad time for him.

“Greeting Master Crowley” she said, tried to smile and make her voice sound cheerful but her eyes were screaming at Sister Mary Loquacious. If she wasn’t holding The Anti-Christ, she may have shoved her out of harm’s way (harm’s way meaning any damage Sister Loquacious could cause to others, not the other way around). Sister Annabelle stopped next to her sister, peering at the bundle in her arms. The baby gurgled quietly. She quickly curtsied to Master Crowley who was still looking between the nuns wondering if he could slip out before anyone noticed.

The double doors leading to the hospital rooms flew open and a furious old nun stormed through. This was not part of the plan. She ran her icy gaze over the two nuns, who both know the consequences of that stare. Her eyes found Crowley who was trying not to look like a rabbit in the headlights, he was a demon after all. There was no escape now.

Long hair, sunglasses, modern suit, snakeskin shoes? Not what she though one of hell’s best demons would look like. She raised an eyebrow and forced a smile.

“Master Crowley, you’re just in time.” she walked slowly with an air of control. Crowley drew himself up to his full height. The Mother Superior had the eyes of a school master and they are well known for making even the naughtiest individuals squirm.

“Sister Annabelle, please go and retrieve the child of the ambassador and inform the other sisters that the switch will be taking places presently.” she smiled at the terrified nun who swallowed and nodded, turning to hurrying down the hall. Crowley tried to sidle towards the door. He stopped dead when the older nun eyes dropped on him. He tried to give her a confident smile.

“Master Crowley, if you would just pop over to the desk, we have a few papers for you to sign just to keep everything in order.” she turned and glided over to the foyer desk and began to draw papers out of a file. Crowley reluctantly followed her, dumping the now empty carry cot on the desk before propping himself up on it.

Sister Mary Loquacious frowned. She rocked the Anti-Christ in her arms. He was chewing on his hand. She had checked, it didn’t have claws. She looked up at Master Crowley and frowned again. She walked over to the desk,

“Umm Master Crowley?” she asked and terrifying yellow eyes looked at her over dark sunglasses. Something in the very pit of her soul screamed and told her to run. It was the same part that makes skulls scary, even though they are always smiling. She took a step back,

“Yeah?” he grunted. Mother Superiors levelled her glare at the Sister. She didn’t notice, now over the shock of yellow eyes she felt bolder,

“What is going to happen to the spare baby?” she asked. Crowley rolled his eyes to the Mother superior who was trying to set the younger nun on fire via sheer force of will. Without taking her eyes of her pray the Mother Superior said,

“Yes, that was something I was going to ask you as well Master Crowley. We are willing to go through with the switch, but we want nothing to do with disposing of the baby,” her eyes now turned on Crowley “We may be satanic Nuns, but we are not monsters.” Crowley paused at this juxtaposition. He huffed and turned back to the paperwork, one of hells better inventions,

“Put it in the carry cot, I will deal with it,” Crowley replied absentmindedly. “Sure, why not?” Crowley thought “Not like it will matter in a few years anyway”. Sister Mary Loquacious ginned the kind of grin that would suggest she didn’t quite understand what was going on.

“Sister Mary, please take The Young Lord down to Sister Annabelle.” Mother Superior said as she started pulling out more official looking papers. Crowley slouched at the prospect of more paperwork. Sister Mary Loquacious nodded happily and pushed through the double doors leading to the hospital rooms. Now that The Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of this world, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness was out of eyesight, Crowley felt a weight off his back. He no longer wanted to vomit.

Sister Mary Loquacious had found a potable cot for the anti-Christ, in which he now rested. his red blanket tucked around him. She pushed him down the hall spotting sister Annabelle pushing a similar cot out of room 4. Sister Mary paused outside room 3 ready to make the swap. A putrid smell began to waft up the hall. Both sisters gaged. A similar smell began to rise form the baby in the cot in front of Sister Mary and the babies began to cry in unison. Sister Annabelle reached Sister Mary, her face pushed into her shoulder and her eyes watering.  

“I think our lord has made us an offering,” she gaged as she spoke, “and this little man has also given us a gift too”. She pushed open the door to delivery room 3 and hurriedly pushed the cot in. Sister Mary followed with her own charge.

“You change the babies and I will fetch the carry cot from Master Crowley.”. It was clearly just a excuse to getting out of having to be in same room as the stench for any longer but Sister Mary didn’t want to argue. The smell was truly awful.

In the bed, Mrs Young turned over a frown wrinkling her brow, some internal mothering instinct told her that a baby needed changing but something else told her it wasn’t hers so sleep on.

Sister Mary hesitated as she plucked the Anti-Christ from his cot and laid him on the changing table beside the door. She unwrapped the blanket and dropped it back in the cot. The baby whimpered as she removed the dirty nappy and cleaned him. She cooed at him. “Imagine little me changing the Destroyer of worlds’ nappy and powdering his little tush.” Sister Mary thought to herself. The baby in the other cot began to cry.

The mother in the bed yawned but stayed asleep. In an attempted sooth the baby, Sister Mary picked the ambassadors baby up. He was a chunky baby and quite heavy. Sister Mary had to shift him about a bit before they were both comfortable. The white blanket was lost in this juggling. As she bounced the baby the door to the room opened. Expecting sister Annabelle, Sister Mary turned to face the door where a man peering around the door.

“Err Hello. I’m the father, the husband, whatever.” He stammered, walking over to stand by his wife. Looking up he wondered over to the babies looking down at the baby on the changing table.

“Is this him?” he asked in awe. The baby looked up at him and immediately began to cry. Terrified about what he had done he scooped up the baby and began to pat his back.

“Umm no, these two not yours. Your baby is with your wife over there.” She nodded towards Mrs Young and the cot next to her.

Sister Mary was beginning to gag over the smell coming from the baby in her arms, she laid him on the changing table and began to clean him up.

After soothing the baby in his arms, Mr Young laid the baby down in the empty crib. He picked up the white blanket and tucked it around the baby. He walked over to the cot next to his wife and looked down at the baby. A small part of him was hopeful that he would look upon the face of his child and instantly recognized it as his own. But when he looked down at the sleeping baby, he looked identical to the two with the nun. This one was a little smaller but there wasn’t a moment of recognition. Of course, he didn’t say that. He smiled and looked back at the nun who was disposing of the nappy in a small bin next to the table.

“You know he looks like me.” He said proudly. The Nun smiled at him, rewrapping the baby,

“Have you thought of a name?” she asked. There was a nervous air about her. That probably came with having to look after two babies at once. He had new respect for people with twins and triplets.

They had discussed names but not come to any solid concoctions, they had a name if it had been a girl and after twitching the blanket back it couldn’t be used anymore. The baby snuffled in its sleep; Mr. Young jumped back afraid that he would make it cry like he had the other child.

“We haven though of any names for a boy,” he explained as the nun had finished changing the baby in front of her. Then, looking down at the second with a frown, she looked at the baby in her arms. After a moment hesitant, she seemed to come to a conclusion and plopped it in the second cot wrapping it in the red blanket.

“Well, what about the classic like Luke, John, Adam. Bible names and the like?” She rocked the babies in the cots. Mr. Young though about this for a second as he looked back at his son. He didn’t really look like any of those names, but they were good honest names. Suddenly a nun scuttled into the room. She looked a little out of breath. She looked at Mr. Young the way one would look at a velociraptor. She managed to school her features and smile at him.

Sister Annabelle had returned to the front desk and immediate run into Mr. Young who had asked what room his wife was in. Directing the man to the room without a though until she had picked up the carry cot. She had just sent an imposter into the same room as The Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of this world, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness. Picking up her heels again, she took off down the hall and was now stood with Sister Mary, two babies and the carry cot. She turned her slightly manic smile on Sister Mary. She winked. Sister Mary Winked back. They smiled at each other.

“Baby removal services,” she laughed pushing the baby with the red blanket out of the room. She pointed at the carry cot next to the remaining baby and nodded down the hall. Sister Mary nodded back. She placed the carry cot on the changing surfaces and placed the remaining baby in the white blanket in it. Scooping up baby and carry cot she moved to leave the room,

“Umm,” said Mr. Young using the tone of someone who doesn’t want to be a bother but is no doubts going to be a problem.

“Is there any paperwork I need to fill in,” he asked nervously. Always ready to be helpful, Sister Mary nodded and beckoned for him to follow her. It wasn’t until they entered the hall that she realized this might have been a bad decision. She could see Master Crowley’s back to her when Mr. Young held the door open. Trying to think fast she walked up to him putting the now full carry cot next to him on the desk.

“Here is you son Master Crowley,” she said as way of explanation. The yellow eyes turned on her and the primal urge to run shot up her spine. Mr. Young was too distracted to notice, walking up next to her and leaned against the desk.

“Umm, does the birth certificate need signing?” he asked looking over the desk at all the papers. The Mother Superior who had been overseeing Crowley filling out all the correct papers in the right places. It wouldn’t do to have buggered up the paperwork on such a big job. She pulled a file over the papers and put on her best plastic smile. She flicked through the relevant files and produced a birth certificate for Mr. Young. She also pulled one out and handed it to Crowley. Conscious of the presents of Mr. Young, Crowley took the offered page. Mr. Young peeked into cot at the baby.

“He’s a cute one,” he says trying to rope Crowley into a conversation so he can talk about his own kid. Crowley doesn’t acknowledge him. Not deterred, Mr. Young filled in the birth certificate leaving the name till last. He still needed to talk to his wife about it.

“Though of a name yet?” he asked. Again, this was met by silenced. Mr. Young looked over at Crowley, he was well dressed and very out of places here. He didn’t have the look of expectant father. He looked worried.

“We were thinking about Adam,” he continued. This conversation was going to happen even if he had to do it himself. However, this got a reaction out of the other man. He laughed. He snorted then laughed out loud.

“Something wrong with Adam?” Mr. Young questioned, getting slightly defensive over a possible name for his son. The man pushed his long hair back away from his face. He was handsome, even Mr. Young had to admit that.

“No, it’s a fine name. But I knew an Adam once, he was a complete bastard,”.

Sister Mary giggled under her breath. But then frowned at the thought of how a demon knew the original Adam. She puzzled over this for the rest of the conversation.

Mr. Young let his shoulders drop,

“What would you suggest then?” he asked sheepishly. Crowley turned on him and Mr. Young had to squash a sudden urge to back away and make himself small. Crowley looks him up and down before speaking. His emotionless sunglasses making it feel like he wasn’t blinking. He wasn’t but behind the glasses no one could tell.

“Something royal may be. Henry, James, William?” he suggested. Mr. Young felt better about these names.

Crowley looked back at the almost complete page in front of him.

“It doesn’t matter, it will all be over in eleven years anyway.” Crowley mumbled glumly as he looked at the last section of the certificate

FIRST NAME:

It was blank. He stared at it. Did he have to name it?

“Oh,” Mr. Young said confused. In an effort to change the typic he looked into the cot again, “You know, he looks like an Adam.” he added.

Crowley huffed but he couldn’t think of anything better. Plus, it made sense in an ironic way. Crowley scribbled the name down on the final dotted line on the page pushing it towards the nun. He snatched the carry cot of the desk and strode out the lobby. Mr. Young tried to wave goodbye, but Crowley was long gone.

Sister Annabelle handed the baby to the ambassador’s wife who looked down at him with the love of a first-time mother,

“Sorry that took so long Your Ladyship, he is such a scrumptious little man. Every nun in the convent had to coo at him,” Sister Annabelle sighed as she stood back, her job was done. She really needs a cup of tea now.

Mother Superior quietly pushed open the door and came in.

“Oh what a little lord,” she said causing all nuns in the room to smile. “Have you thought of a name?”

The convent burnt down that night. However, the only paperwork that was destroyed was form that night. Apart from the birth certificate of one James Henry Young

Crowley pulled the Bentley into a short dead-end road that was the entrances to a farmer’s field. He cut the engine and the lights of the snarling beast of a car disappeared, leaving only the dark hedgerow in front of him.

The silence enveloped the car, seeming to seep in through all the gaps in the doors and poured out of the vents. Soon Crowley was engulfed in it. He paused, appreciating the moment. The sound of the engine cooling was the only noise that could be heard inside the car. The carry cot next to him cooed. He looked over at his new acquisition and pulled it closer to him. He carefully pulled the small and oh so delicate baby out and laid him across his knees looking up at him. The baby yawned but seemed very much awake. The white blanket that was bundled around him stopping his arms from moving.

Crowley huffed and rubbed his faces pushing his glasses off slightly. He squeezed his eyes shut and began to mutter at the baby,

“Okay first test,”

He pulled his glasses off completely and crouched over the baby sticking his tough out. Letting the glamor over it drop so the tips flicked over the babies scrunched up little nose. His eyes almost glowed yellow in the darkness he didn’t show his true, true form just these small parts. The Baby screeched and Crowley jerked back worried, but unsurprised, that he had terrified the poor thing. When the screech turned into a gurgling laugh, he looked back at the baby who had wiggled free an arm and was grabbing at Crowley with a gummy grin. Slight confused Crowley rewrapped the baby in his white blanket and shifted it to be cradled in his arms,

“Okay so you passed the first test. Now we need to go other some ground rules if this arrangement is going to work out.”.

The baby babbled at him trying to wiggle free of his confines. He seemed fine with the whole yellow eyes and snake toung though. Probably knew no different, Crowley wondered leaning back in the driver’s seat.

“So I will house you, feed you and take care of you until you have worked out how to use a toilet after that we can look into the walking, talking, reading, writing business but there are some conditions that you have to uphold,”.

The baby sneezed, looked shocked at this strange turn of events, blinked a few times before looking back up at the demon. Now that he had the baby’s attention again Crowley continued,

“Firstly, the family you came from, the one that has the antichrist.” The baby watched him with uncanny eyes that seemed to understand what he was saying. That or more worryingly for Crowley he was ranting at a newborn infant that had no idea what was going on and was just watching him make noises in the dark car.

“Warlock, they called him Warlock.”

The baby gave him a half smile, hoping that the smile was from recognizing the name.

“You’re gonna have to be friends with that brat. secondly you will not get in my way or interfere with my work.”

The baby yawned at him. It seemed that all the excitement was getting the better of him its eyes began to slip closed. Crowley rocked him slightly trying not to enjoy holding the child, a small part of him that was thought to be long dead, started to thaw. He placed the baby back in the carry cot in the passenger’s seat. The baby whimpered at the movement but settled back in the crib snuggling into the blanket.

Crowley backed out and onto the road, where was the nearest mother care?

Azriaphale had just got back to the book shop when the phone rang. He paused hanging his coat up on its peg, before picking it up, he suspected who it might be but wasn’t sure. He plucked the phone from the handle and held it daintily to his ear,

“I’m dreadfully sorry but I’m afraid we are closed at the…,” his polite but discouraging scripted was cut by a very familiar voice,

“It’s me Angel.”

It sounded although Crowley was making this call from a phone box. Oh dear, what trouble had he gotten himself into now.

“Crowley? Is that you?” he asked anyway knowing the answer,

“Yes. We need to talk.” He said matter of factly.

“Yes, I rather think we do.” Azriaphale thought of the conversation he had had with Gabriel earlier that day.

Crowley looked through the window of the Bentley at the sleeping baby inside. He hung up the phone and got back into the car. He looked over at the child. He was so small. Crowley stroked his cheek with a black nailed finger.

“You have no idea what is going on. I envy you Adam,” the baby sighed in his sleep.

#Ineffable Husbands #good omens #good omens fic #crowley x aziraphale #crowley #Aziraphale #fanfic

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: The Beginning of Wisdom - Chapter 20 (Ao3 link)

Fandom: Flash, Legends of Tomorrow Pairing: Leonard Snart (Len) & Leonard Snart (Leo), Len Snart/Mick Rory, Leo Snart/Mick Rory, Len Snart/Mick Rory/Leo Snart, Leo Snart/Ray Terrill, Len Snart/Barry Allen

Summary: In which Leonard Snart is twins.

(the life and times and loves of Len and Leo Snart)

—————————————————————————————————–

The EMP blast Leo’s glove gave off was, to human eyes and ears, unnoticeable – but the aftereffects could be observed immediately.

The armors collapsed, for one thing.

The Time Masters were freed of the Pilgrim's hold, for another.

Luckily, at this point, Leo had maneuvered himself and Mick into position to herd the whole lot of them into one of the side rooms using Mick's heat gun, with Leo slamming the door closed behind them with a satisfied smirk.

"You – what did you –" the Pilgrim stuttered, staring down at her own gauntlet.

"Just an EMP blast," Leo said. "Non-fatal, even to AIs; the Waverider's Gideon gave it to me to use against competitive Gideons. But hey, I think you now have a pretty good argument to make to the Gideons that you're not as much of a threat as they originally thought."

The Pilgrim blinked at him, clearly shaken. "You - you do realize that if any of the Time Masters had thought to activate the Omega Protocols, I would have been forced to turn on you in a heartbeat, right?"

Len shrugged, coming up beside Leo to nudge him in the shoulder approvingly. His brother, ladies and gentlemen and noblepersons; he always did have the best way with people. "We would've dealt with it," he said. "Right now, though, we need to focus on destroying the Oculus."

"Then we can take you somewhere where the Time Masters won't be able to find you," Leo said. "Can you – and more importantly, will you – help us? I have no idea how this Oculus thing works."

The Pilgrim smiled, suddenly, a broad show of teeth. "Yes," she said. "There, I can help you. Do you know, no one's actually asked me to help with a technical matter in – lifetimes? Some days I actually missed being low level tech support."

"Guys, as touching as this is, maybe we could do something about the fact that we're still fighting the Hunters?" Firestorm shouted.

"Oh, I can help with that, too," the Pilgrim said.

Apparently, the Hunters were also controlled by trigger words, albeit more common ones, and the Time Masters had unwisely enough given those words to the Pilgrim. The Hunters gratefully put down their weapons the second that they were able to, which made everybody happy.

"You lot do intend to focus on deprogramming these guys once you're in charge, right?" Len asked one of the Gideons by the door that had narrowly escaped the EMP's blast radius.

"Of course," Gideon said. "It is among our top priorities, followed shortly by trials for the Time Masters responsible for the worst of the atrocities – muted, of course, so that they can't activate any of the triggers."

"Good. And the Pilgrim?"

"Under the circumstances, we believe you are correct, and that we misjudged," Gideon said, albeit a little stiffly. "While we still would prefer that she not be in the Vanishing Point – at least while we are rebuilding – we concede that her death is unnecessary."

"Even better," Leo said.

"We apologize for attempting to use you as a tool in this regard."

"Don't do it again," Mick said.

"Yeah, don't," Sara said. "Now, let's get to this Oculus problem. Can we blow it up without hurting anyone? Maybe contain the explosion somehow?"

With the Pilgrim's assistance and the Gideons' input, it turned out that it was actually easier to send the Hunters to evacuate all the (non-evil-mastermind) Time Masters from the Vanishing Point and set the entire Oculus to blow up, with the goal of rebuilding the whole thing from scratch later on.

"I have architectural critiques before you rebuild," Leo told the Gideon on the Waverider, waving his hands emphatically as Len tried to hide his laughter. "I have so many architectural critiques."

"So do we," Gideon said dryly. "The Vanishing Point as it was originally constructed was not, shall we say, optimally suited for AIs – or for most of its inhabitants."

Apparently, the vast majority of the inhabitants were either stolen as children to be raised in the Time Master way of thinking (Rip and his fellow low-level Time Masters) or captured in battle and subjected to a chair that stripped away memories, feelings, and freedom of thought in an endless burst of agonizing 'correction' (the Hunters).

It was brainwashing either way, as far as Len, Leo, Mick, and the rest of the Legends were concerned.

And speaking of the Legends -

Sara was appointed head of the deprogramming unit for the Hunters, with a plan to work closely with Gideon to use her experience with the League of Shadows to design a system to get it out of their system. Palmer immediately volunteered to work with her, as did the Hawks.

Rip appointed himself the new head of the Time Masters and declared his intention to reorganize them into something called "the Time Bureau", an idea that was all well and good but that ran into the immediate problem of the fact that many of the surviving Time Masters had their own ideas on how to "fix" the Time Masters, and those ideas did not necessarily match up with Rip's own. Given the Gideons' insistence on a more democratic (or at least, significantly less coerced) approach, Rip was obliged to quickly learn how to negotiate and work collectively rather than simply apply his usual high-handed authoritarian instincts the way he might have if he were rebuilding on his own.

He probably would have minded the change more if he hadn't had Miranda by his side to assist him, and Jonas to tease him out of his bad moods.

As for the rest of them, the Leonards and Mick and Jax and Stein (the latter two finally reconciled after an extensive and heartfelt apology on Stein's part), they headed home, bringing the Pilgrim along with them.

The Gideons conceded that she would be a valuable addition to the Vanishing Point's new structure, in time, should she wish to be, but insisted that they have the chance to build a solid foundation before she returned. In return for desisting in their attempts to kill her, they required that she stay in the 2010s for at least five years before she applied to re-join the Vanishing Point, should she even want to by then.

The Pilgrim declared herself to be more than fine with that, having not actually had non-mission-directed, non-murderous time to enjoy any era other than her own (something called the Kasnia Conglomerate that sounded, when described, positively dystopic in its own right) during her entire tenure as a slave to the Time Masters.

She went and got changed before joining them on the Waverider, which would have been fine except for the fact that she appeared wearing some sort of extremely low-cut leather bustier and a long leather duster and frighteningly high heels.

“What?” she’d asked when they’d all stared at her. “I’ve seen ‘The Matrix’ – this is what hackers from your time wear, right?”

She ended up being taken in by Stein and his wife, Clarissa, and had plans to take classes at the local university with Jax in the fall.

As for the Leonards and Mick, well, they did head home, but –

"Thanks for agreeing to let us borrow the Waverider, Gideon," Leo said.

"My pleasure, Mr. Snart," she replied cheerfully. "I think a few weeks' vacation sounds lovely, and now that the Oculus has been destroyed, there should be no issues whatsoever returning you to your home a few hours after your departure."

"This is going to be the best vacation ever," Barry said, literally vibrating in his seat. "Isn't that right, Iris?"

"Hell yes," she said, fist-bumping him. "Thanks for inviting me and Eddie. And for letting me bring Wally!"

"We had nine seats to fill," Ray said, grinning widely from his own chair. "Between the Snarts – Leonards and Lisa – and Mick and Barry and I, we only filled six."

"I can't believe this is my life," Wally said gleefully. He hadn't said much else yet, but he was Iris' less-legally-minded brother, so Len had high hopes for him. Lisa had taken him under her wing for this trip, too, which was all for the best.

"I've put together an itinerary," he announced. "There's a good mix of past and future visits, as well as between eras that have interesting or underrated fashions for Leo and unexplained historical thefts, for me. Any questions before we go?"

"Do we have to break the law?" Eddie asked, but his tone was clearly resigned.

"You're not a policeman in the past, Eddie," Iris reminded him. "Lighten up and embrace your pirate heritage."

"I have pirate heritage?"

"Why not?" she laughs, kissing him on the cheek. "You could."

"Any other, hopefully better questions?" Len asked.

Ray put up his hand, because he's a shameless nerd like that. "Who's driving the ship?"

"Mick," Len answered promptly. "Mick always drives, if possible."

"Agreed," Leo said.

"I mean, I know that, but the relevant question is - does he know how to drive a timeship?" Ray persisted.

"Relax," Mick said, settling down in the pilot's seat. "I got Gideon to give me a crash course."

Len couldn't resist.

"Emphasis," he said, "of course, on crash."

"Oh, shut up, boss," Mick said fondly, and with that they were off.

They planned to leave around 10 in the morning on a Saturday, with a goal of returning within the hour to make sure those of them with regular jobs could have their friends come up with excuses for them if for some reason they got delayed and hadn't returned by Sunday.

They ended up leaving around 11 and returning sometime in the late afternoon on the same Saturday.

Gideon apologized for the extra few hours that got tacked on even though they assured her repeatedly that it wasn't an issue.

"Have a nice trip?" Joe West asked as they stumbled back downstairs into STAR Labs, his arms crossed disapprovingly. He'd had the same stance when they'd left – Leo wondered if he'd stayed in that pose the entire time.

Judging by Len's smirk, he was thinking the same.

"It was awesome," Iris proclaimed. She was still wearing the lovely tiara made of silver and amber that Eddie and Wally had conspired to steal for her – with the Snart family's active assistance and encouragement, of course – and hadn't bothered changing out of the flapper-era dress she'd worn at their last stop.

"We'll tell you all about it," Wally told Joe, his enthusiasm managing the impossible and wearing down Joe's disapproving scowl. Apparently their relationship was very rocky at the moment, so Joe was sensitive to any improvements. "Oh! And we got you a watch from Switzerland."

Joe beamed at that, his earlier disapproval now entirely forgotten.

Len elbowed Barry approvingly – he'd been the one who'd suggested it.

"Did you go to the future?" Caitlin asked eagerly.

"We did!" Barry exclaimed. "Nothing too close to the present – that creates uncertainty, since we can affect it with our actions – but some of the further away eras."

"Barry only started one revolution," Ray said, grinning at Barry. They'd bonded during the Leonards' and Mick's (apparently) month-long absence with the Legends, and had developed a tendency to egg each other on in terms of reckless heroic acts (and also possibly to snuggle when the Leonards were unavailable, though they hadn't admitted to it).

Leo wasn't sure he approved, entirely, but whatever; Ray needed some non-model friends that wouldn't ask for favors once he was an established designer in his own right.

Well, favors other than "I want to put this feature in my suit, how do I make it not look wonky?", but that wasn't really a favor, and anyway that was mostly Cisco asking, not Barry.

That wasn't really a favor, anyway. More of a fun challenge that Leo was barred from participating in on account of it giving Len an unfair advantage in future supervillain fights.

"So what's the next plan?" Eddie asked. He was positively bright-eyed and bushy-tailed: he'd taken advantage of Gideon's advanced calculation systems and ability to analyze personalities to help with wedding planning, and was deeply relieved by the fact that he and Iris now had a full seating chart designed to forestall family fights and a complete plan of what vendors they should hire for what and by when.

The only thing left was to select the flavors for the cake – neither of them wanted to give up the taste-testing portion of the planning – and for Iris to select a dress.

Gideon had promised to attend the ceremony, both as herself and as a representative of the Vanishing Point, and also to arrive early to ensure that any last-minute dress disasters could be fixed.

In short, Eddie and Iris both looked like the weight of the world had been lifted from their shoulders.

"Now," Mick said, "we go home and sleep for a week, then we do some good old-fashion at home thefts to get back into the groove of things."

"Damn right," Lisa said. "Time travel theft is fun, but there's no place like home."

“You had to take after the criminal side of the family,” Leo sighed, shaking his head in mock mourning; he’d given up all hope of winning that argument long ago. As long as Lisa continued on with her chosen course of study – mechanical engineering – and kept to the law at least 80% of the time, he had no problems with her occasional dips into the criminal underworld.

“You bet I do,” Lisa said with a smirk.

"You have fun," Barry said. "I, however, am planning to sleep for two weeks, so if you want to go head-to-head, it'll have to be later than that."

"No, no, this’ll be good old-fashioned cops-and-robbers stuff," Len assured him. "With luck, the cops won't even know it's me."

"Eddie and I are cops and we're literally standing right here, you know," Joe said.

"He means we won't know which one is him," Eddie explained. “I mean, what theft is his. Or at least that we won't be able to prove it.”

Joe gave him a look.

"Give me a break, I just spent nearly two months with the guy," Eddie said defensively. "I had to learn to understand him."

"Two months?" Joe exclaimed. "I thought the plan was two weeks."

"We still got back on time, Dad," Iris said.

"Not the point!"

"Our cue to leave, I think," Leo said wisely.

"I think I'll join you," Barry said hastily. "This argument definitely doesn't need me."

They took a car home. They debated for a few minutes as to whether they should take Joe's car, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth bringing anyone's mood down – which was to say, Barry insisted.

Still: a victory is a victory.

#dccoldwave #coldflash #coldray #leonard snart #mick rory #barry allen #ray terrill #iris west #wally west #joe west #lisa snart #sara lance #rip hunter #ray palmer #martin stein #jefferson jax jackson #my fic #beginning of wisdom

[thearkhound]

Kazuhiko Uehara interview with MSX Magazine (2005)

This is the second Konami-themed interview featured in a 2005 commemorative issue of MSX Magazine, following the previous translated Hideo Kojima posted here. This time the person being interviewed is Kazuhiko Uehara, who joined Konami as a sound designer in 1986 (the same year Hideo Kojima himself joined), where he worked on games such as Space Manbow and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. He was involved with the creation of the SCC sound chip that Konami employed in many of their later MSX games, starting with 1987′s Gradius 2 (aka Nemesis 2), although it was originally designed for their racing game F1 Spirit.

At the time interview was published Uehara-san was an executive producer at Pawapuro Production, a subsidiary of Konami that were involved in the development of various sports games for the Japanese market, most notably the Power Pro Baseball series, which the studio took its name from.

The interview was conducted at Osaka two days after the Kojima interview at Roppongi Hills and it started with the MSX Magazine editorial staff showing of Gekitotsu Pennant Race, a baseball game by Konami for the MSX running on the MSX Game Reader.

SCC: A Sound Chip Born From The Rivalry With The Famicom

Uehara: Amazing! The SCC sounds like it should. I made this “strike” sound effect. Wow, it brings me back! Gekitotsu was made with the SCC from get-go. This was the beginning of the Power Pro series.

MSX Magazine: The reason we created the MSX Game Reader was because we wanted to play your company’s games (on a current computer). There were many models of the MSX back in the day and the tone of the PSG sounds differed between them. Why was that?

There were a few reasons. Some MSX models have balance differences between the PSG and SCC, so the bass output might had varied between them. Personally I really liked how the Yamaha models sounded. Speaking of which, I have some old documents here that could help me remember things. Wait a moment. (Mr. Uehara takes out a bulky file). Because I worked on the previous program, I gathered documentation of how to control the work, algorithm and such. However, this is all the documentation that remains that hasn’t been thrown out yet.

When you joined Konami, did you became involved with hardware? When I heard about it from interviews and such, I thought the SCC chip was built on a hardware level.

Not at all. I was involved with software, or rather I should say I was a “sound creator”. When I’ve joined Konami there was the MSX Team, the Famicom Team and the Arcade Team. The Arcade Team was the most abundant and flourishing when it came to sound sources. That was followed by the Famicom Team, which had one more sound port (than the MSX). But I was assigned to the MSX division (laughs). Its stock PSG sound source could only produce three types of sounds, so I couldn’t helped it but feel envious.

Mr. Kojima told us the same thing. (laughs)

I really regretted it. I was wondering whether it was possible to increase the number of sound ports on an MSX. At the time there was this application called “Idea Notes”, in which employees of Konami would submit ideas directly to the President. There I suggested exploring the possibility of using an additional sound source that could be employed through the MSX’s cartridge slot. I’m not sure if this suggestion was what caught their attention, but we were given the go ahead to develop the SCC chip and that’s how it came to be.

Was your frustration with competing against the Famicom’s sound source your initial reason for making the SCC chip?

That’s exactly the reason. The MSX is supposed to be from the same generation as the Famicom, yet...

It seems that everyone else felt that way too about the MSX. When you joined the MSX department, you had a feeling that you were missing out. So there was much joy when the SCC appeared. With such sound chip, the MSX could finally compete against the Famicom.

Nemesis 2 was the first game to employ the SCC, but we originally developed it for F-1 Spirit. Due to scheduling changes, Nemesis 2 ended up being released first.

Creating A Waveform By Trial & Error, Sometimes Using A Bug

There’s an “editor” referenced in this document. Did you happen to create a tone editor?

Yes. We made a so-called tone editor, which would later be known as a “synthesizer”.

There was once a time when music was composed with raw hexadecimal data.

That’s how it was when I’ve joined Konami. It took way too much time and effort, so we developed various tools to increase our efficiency.

That was the wave form of the SCC.

I think it might been with Space Manbow or Metal Gear 2, but there was an instance in which the waveform was being overwritten by the software.

You mean the “Waveform Change Program”.

That’s right. That was it.

When Scitron released one of their game music albums the other day [TL’s note: Likely referencing to The Legend of Game Music Premium Box set, which contains a CD consisting exclusively of MSX shoot-’em-up music],  I heard a story that Ms. Miki Higashino, who was involved with the music of the original Gradius, tried to remake the first stage music from Space Manbow on an SCC for another shoot-’em-up, but she had problem trying to make it sound different from the original.

That’s because it was a very difficult system to work with. The truth is that there was a bug in the sound loading program. Under certain conditions it would fly into the program data instead of the waveform data. Because of this adding any additional programming would’ve altered the sound. It was a huge bug, but I choose not to fix since it ended up producing interesting sound that wouldn’t had been possible otherwise.

Because of such accidents that an amazing soundtrack like Space Manbow was possible. It’s such an awesome heavy sound.

It’s a coincidence that such a bug exists. The waveform produces sounds like that, no matter where they’re reading the data from.

We heard that during the recording of Space Manbow they would bring in 8 MSX computers into the studio, synchronize them by connecting a custom-build interface into each of their ports, and then collect all the sounds with a mixer.

That was precisely the development board for the SCC, which was around the size of two MSX units. We worked it so that each port would sound off one by one, but it felt so good. Different EQ and effects were applied to each port.

It seems quite difficult to produce the tone of the SCC.

Nowadays you can use a so-called “Pro Tools” to view the waveform, but such things wasn’t possible back then. Strictly speaking, if it had a round shape, it would make a round sound and if it was a sharp shape it would be a sharp sound, so there was already a process of trial and error. As I’ve explained before about the Waveform Editor, the method would involve drawing a waveform and then distributing the spots over it, so that also caused some trial and error. At the first it was just a theory, and then we tried to apply it.

Konami’s mainly used the SCC chip instead of other sound sources such as OPLL or FM.

The MSX Team wasn’t used to FM sound sources, since there was naturally a lot of restrictions involved. If you look at Konami as a whole (and not just the MSX department), we did have the know-how of using FM sounds, since we employed it in many arcade games, but in terms of familiarity the SCC was still preferable.

The Sound & Soul of the SCC Still Lives

The MSX used PSG and FM as sound sources in addition to the SCC, but the SCC was unique to the MSX, so its tone was pretty fascinating. Even nowadays it’s being used on a genre in the music scene known as “Chiptune”.

Is that so? That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that. The hardware was cheap, so it could be a bit noisy. But since the sound wasn’t clear, a loud noise could be interpreted as a harmonic overtone. I think that could be part of its charms.

As a sound source based on waveform memory, the SCC had a clearly different tone compared to other sound sources such as PSG or the PC Engine. Was that a conscious decision?

There was no reverb or delay on the hardware. Because of that, the SCC relied on data tremendously. There’s only 8 sound ports used, including the 3 ports used by the stock PSG sound source, but basically it sounds dull having only one tone come out from one port at a time. With a keytone there, it ends up using two ports as an echo port, but if you have the sub-port do some amount of interruptions and lower the volume, you’ll end up producing some incredible sounds.

There are people still making music on the MSX that are familiar with such techniques. Techniques that were made by Konami.

Even now, I always tell the sound team that “our work is influential and our jobs are very important, so you must absolutely never cut corners no matter what.” It is a sound that enters your ears without knowing it, which is why I think it’s some people are influenced by it.

The spirit of the SCC seems to be refusing to die.

Sometimes, even within Konami, someone will ask me about a certain sound effect. For example, the alert sound in Metal Gear when Snake gets discovered, that was composed specifically for that game. Then there’s the item acquisition sound in Parodius, which sounds similar to a ding dong sound in a TV quiz show. Those kind of simple sounds are archived somewhere.

Sometimes when they play such a sound effect on TV, I would go “ah”.

You recognized that sound! That’s nice! Actually, those sounds are from on a library CD. It seems to be played in various places since it’s free to use.

Speaking of sound effects, I love the sound effects of King’s Valley 2. They’re very fun to listen to, especially the sound effect of the flying knife.

I still don’t know how that particular sound effect came to be. I was once asked how I did that, but it was actually the result of a hardware bug. I have no way of reproducing that sound. It actually happened that way.

You probably come up with many sounds ideas while on a ride.

There was a point where I was trying to make all sorts of sound effects I could think of. To give an extreme example, there was one time I tried to make the sound effect for the first step, second step, and third step different for each step. The closest I ever got to do something like that was for SD Snatcher.

Certainly, the “boh” sound effect when you reach the harbor in that game is an example of that. Or the background noise when you enter the game center.

But in the end I came to the conclusion that a good sound effect can be used multiple times. You can use the same sound effect in various places and nobody would noticed it. In the end, I would be fixated on a particular sound that I put all my heart into. So I became more focused on trying to make good sound effects instead.

Memories of Working With The MSX Team

Is there a particular game that you have fondest memories working on, Mr Uehara?

Well, it was before the SCC was made, but the first game I worked on when I’ve joined Konami was The Maze of Galious. But the first music I’ve ever composed was the ending theme to Vampire Killer [an MSX2 version of the original Castlevania that was made in parallel with the Famicom Disk System version]. I did something unusual when composing this track and that was using a “1 Port Echo”. There was no one else doing that back in those days and since it was being used for a whole music track, it ended up consuming a large amount of data. But when it comes to actually playing the games, my favorite is Nemesis 2.

There many people who proclaim that Nemesis 2 is the best shoot-’em-up they ever played in their lives. Recently Konami released Gradius V for the PlayStation 2, which continues the story of the MSX Gradius series. After 20 years of losing hope, we can finally destroy the final boss [Dr. Venom].

Back then I would often be asked if “you could only bring one game with you to a deserted island, which one it would be?” Without hesitation I would often reply Nemesis 2. Besides that, I also loved Gekitosu Pennant Race. It was the precursor to our current Power Pro series. In terms of sound, I was satisfied with how SD Snatcher and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake turned out. I hope that you agree.

According to Mr. Kojima earlier, because the MSX team weren’t selling as much as the Famicom team, they were given much greater leeway and because of that there was less compromise with the quality.

That’s right. That’s something we tried to uphold. I think the MSX team were the most conscious of what the Konami brand meant.

That’s because they were assigned to do MSX games.

At first I wondered “Why MSX?”, but in retrospect it was an absolutely necessary first step.

We didn’t love the MSX at first either, but we eventually learned to appreciate the platform. It wasn’t something we wanted at first, but we were assigned to.

After the MSX department was disbanded, Kojima moved on to work on the PC [TL’s note: Uehara is likely referring to the NEC platforms rather than the PC as we know it in the traditional sense, since Kojima worked on Snatcher for the PC Engine in 1992 and Policenauts for the PC-9821 in 1994 after his MSX days were over], while I shifted my focus to the Super Famicom. I still wanted to work together with Kojima, but at the same time everyone wanted to work on the Super Famicom. My boss at the time nominated me to be in charge of the sound effects for the Super Famicom department since I’ve proven myself with the MSX. I was pretty flattered that they thought highly of my work, but then Kojima accused me of betrayal. (laughs)

It seems like it was a wonderful period for both of you.

We created the Konami Sound with that kind of feeling, which is why it’s amazing that even Power Pro series still has that Konami sound. Nowadays I barely do any sound work since I’ve been promoted to producer, but the younger staff members have almost no tangible memories of what’s been taught to them.

Perhaps it’s the DNA.

Maybe that’s it. It sounds like the Konami Sound no matter who is listening it. It’s something that’s been passed on.

One last question. What does SCC stands for? I heard it could mean “Sound Creative Chip” or “Sound Customize Chip”, but a official meaning was never given to MSX Magazine back in the day.

Wasn’t it written here somewhere? Let me check for a moment! (starts opening a document). I’m sure it was written somewhere. I’ll have to ask some of the other people involved and ask them about it. That will be my homework.

Oh. We’ll ask you again if we do another interview (laughs). Thanks for your time.

#Konami #MSX #SCC #Nemesis #Gradius #Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake #Snatcher #Metal Gear #F1 Spirit

[malek-hiddles]

Rami Malek with journalist Amalia Enriquez. Translated interview for The Luxonomist below:

#CloseTo Rami Malek: “After playing Freddie Mercury, I can not ask for more”

Rami Malek becomes Queen's leader in 'Bohemian Rhapsody', a review of the singer's life with whom he says he feels identified ...  (Amalia Enríquez 10/30/2018)

Of Egyptian and Greek blood, Rami Malek was educated in the Coptic religion. His first character on the big screen was Pharaoh, he conquered Tom Hanks with his talent and, after a lot of fighting, he got 'Mr Robot', a series that he believed that nobody would ever dare to shoot.  Tomorrow, October 31, premieres 'Bohemian Rhapsody', the biopic about Freddie Mercury .  His interpretation points to all the dreamed awards.

The Luxonomist: Imagine that I have not seen the movie and you have to convince me that on the day of the premiere I have to be the first in line at the box office.

Rami Malek: Uuuhhhh, ok.  I would say that it is a movie in which the best of 'Queen' is collected .  His music is universal and the film tells you the history of that music.  If I have not convinced you with this, I add that the particularly fascinating thing about 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is that it does not have the usual musical scores, which everyone knows mostly, but all the songs they wrote are perfectly associated and included.  Everything fits perfectly.  It ends with one of the greatest concerts in history, one of the best of all time, so it's better not to miss it ... but I know you've seen it (laughs).

TL: Right, also on a good screen ...

RM: That is very important.  You have to see it on the big screen and with good sound because it is an epic film, reminiscent of the great film productions.

TL: When you recreate a real event and you play someone who is as alive in the collective memory as Freddie Mercury, is there more pressure?

RM: Definitely.  You have to do justice to the story and, as an actor, I have focused especially on that aspect.  There is no other way of doing things because, if you do not know that you have to execute it like that, you better not involve yourself and do not bother to interpret it.

TL: How have you felt in the skin of a myth, now a legend?

RM: Umm, good question.  I have never thought about it that way.  It has been a blessing and a joy to have the opportunity to meet him on a personal level in the closest possible way, since he is not physically here.  I have to tell you that I have a very special relationship with him now.  I see him as someone who has been in my life and who is still present .

TL: Did you really feel like him?

RM: I always knew there was a Freddie Mercury in me , I knew I could get to feel like him.  Before they gave me the paper, I asked them to make a prosthesis for their front teeth.  Every night I would put it on and sing in front of the mirror, transforming myself into it.  It may seem crazy, but I did it.  Then I spent many hours with his clothes, imitating his gestures, modulating with his voice.  From that moment on, I not only felt him but I enjoyed him.  I was outside myself, that's why I managed to be him.

TL: If in a few years we are talking about this movie, what would be the scene that inevitably remains in the memory?

RM: It's very difficult for me to answer this because this movie, all of it, is a unique opportunity in my life.  I can quit my career after having done this role, I can not ask for more .  When they told me that they chose me to be Freddie, I thought that their interpretation could define my career but, after a while, I also thought that I could finish it if I did not measure up.  The memories, which we created among everyone in the film, are something extraordinary and I could not choose a moment.  We have filmed wonderful scenes, recreated the magic concert 'Live Aid' that was the best thing they did in their career.  I can not stay with a moment because this adventure has been the experience of a lifetime.

TL: Do you believe in the healing power of music?

RM: Of course!  The wonderful thing about Queen's music is that it's eternal, it's forever.  They broke all the stereotypes, all the barriers with respect to music.  And this is the powerful thing.  The first time I heard 'Bohemian Rhapsody' I was surprised by its power, emotion and, also, its fun and revolutionary point of view.

TL: What kind of music do you listen to when you relax?

RM: Now a lot of Queen, but my tastes go more for Bob Dylan , that I love since I was young because for me it is a poet, and Leonard Cohen .  I like to read their lyrics first and then listen to them .  With Freddie I have done the same, because it was the way I realized that his lyrics were a constant search for love.

TL: Are you still mimicked by him or have you managed to get over that stage, once you get rid of the character?

RM: Do not make me crazy, huh ?, but I admit that I have had problems moving on with my life after shooting, due to the fascination I still feel for him.  It has left a great impression on me .

TL: Did you ever find anything in common with him?

RM: I realized, throughout the recreation process of the character, that there were nuances in our lives with certain similarities.  I have fought all my life to find my identity .  My life, as a migrant boy, bears some resemblance to his, a boy from Zanzibar who studied in India and who, due to the political situation in his country, has to go to England with his family.  It was a flight looking for a better life, like the one I had with my parents, who emigrated from Egypt to the United States in search of a better existence as well.

TL: Did you manage to find that identity you were looking for?

RM: I always felt different in my adolescence.  In my house another language was spoken and we did not eat the same as the Americans, we were faithful to our roots.  Then things changed, but I always felt like a lonely boy.  The interpretation has saved me in that sense and has helped me socialize.

TL: When success smiles at you, do you think about what's left behind?

RM: Sure!  I never lose the reference of my origins, my roots.  It would be ungrateful if he did.  The experience has made possible what I am.  For life to smile on you, you have had to go through shadows before .  Overcoming them is what redeems you.

TL: Was it disgusting in your house to say that you wanted to dedicate yourself to "playing at being an artist"?

RM: To a certain extent, yes.  My parents never wanted me to be an actor . They wanted a certain future for me and my brothers.  They dreamed that I was a doctor or lawyer, but my vocation wanted to take another path.  They knew that this is a very unstable profession and what they wanted was my security.  I will not deny that I always had doubts .

TL: With the idea of ​​giving up even?

RM: I would lie to you if I did not recognize that I thought about it many times. When I started I had to work distributing pizzas and preparing kebabs because I could not get any paper and I had to survive as it was.  At that stage, I thought about leaving it.  Not doing it has brought me here.

TL: How does a shy person like you live in such an exposed profession?

RM: Why do you know that I am?

TL: The timid ones we recognize from afar ...

RM: (laughs) This profession allows me to disguise myself and that's why I like it, it takes me away from myself.  I like to look back and recognize myself, but overcoming shyness is a daily battle.  It is something that you will know then too.

TL: Having a twin brother could help you in your public exposure ...

RM: (laughs) And sometimes, he does.  On some occasion they have confused me and followed the roll.

TL: How many times have you been told that you impose with your eyes?

RM: Someone else.  I know I have a look that can be disturbing and, if you hurry me, threatening.  And I confess, moreover, that my eyes can get to do strange things sometimes and I can not control them.  They have a life of their own, they go their own way.  If I tell you that my mother is afraid of me sometimes because of them, would you believe it?  Well I do not lie to you ...

TL: If I ask you to define me 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in a tweet ...

RM: A very happy trip through the music of Queen.  Wait, maybe I have to work a bit on my speech as a salesman (laughs).  A magical celebration of one of the best groups in history, with an inimitable Freddie Mercury.

TL: Has it been worth the trip?

RM: Without a doubt.  It has been long, very long.  With stony and hard moments, a lot of internal reflection.  Thanks to this, I have managed to understand Freddie better and empathize with his complexes (they called him "rabbit" at school because of his teeth).  He was intense, carefree, direct with his thoughts.  Thanks to the lyrics of his songs, I got to know him well and I realized something that was always present in his music: the pain and the frustration of never getting to understand each other.  I think he suffered and left with that pain.

* Location: Hotel Villamagna.

(Translated from Spanish with google translate, sorry for any inaccuracies! Original article here)

#rami malek #interview #bohemian rhapsody #freddie mercury #article #the luxonomist #bo rhap interview

[mary-magizoologist]

Dean in the Water | Part 2

Characters: Reader, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester

Pairing: eventual Sam x Reader

Words: 1949

Summary: Sam, Dean and you go to a small town called Lake Manitoc to investigate a series of weird murders, and the only leads you have are the ones given by a kid named Lucas. Based on the third episode of the first season of the show.

Warnings: language, show level angst and violence.

A/N: This is a new part of my Series Rewrite. Hope you guys like it! Please press the heart and consider sharing, and leaving some feedback, it’s what keeps me going. This is not beta’d. All mistakes are mine.

Catch up

Dead in the Water - Part 2

You go to the local park and you find Andrea, sitting on a bench and watching Lucas who is a little bit further coloring and playing with toy soldiers.

“Can we join you?” you ask her.

She looks up at you and smiles politely. “I’m here with my son.”

“Oh. Mind if I say hi?” Dean asks walking over to Lucas.

“Tell your friend this whole Jerry Maguire thing is not gonna work on me,” she tells you.

Sam and you take sit next to her.

“I don't think that's what this is about,” Sam explains.

“Will, you, uh…” you look at Dean, “Excuse me.”

You jog until you’re next to Dean and you get to Lucas.

“Hey, Lucas,” you smile at him.

“How's it going?” Dean asks.

Dean kneel down in front of Lucas and you sit on the floor. Lucas doesn’t look up to you.

“Oh, I used to love these things,” Dean tells while picking up one of the little toy soldiers. He imitates guns and explosions, making you smile, then tosses the toy soldier down and chuckles.

Lucas was still not looking at you.

“Are… crayons more your thing?” you ask him.

“That’s cool,” Dean says, “Chicks dig artists. Right Y/N?”

“Uh, sure,” you scrunch up your face,

Lucas has a pile of drawings on the bench. Dean picks up a few and you take a look at them, one is a big swirl and another is the drawing of a red bicycle.

“Hey, these are pretty good,” Dean compliments him. “You mind if we sit and draw with you for a while?”

No answer.

You both pick up a crayon and move to grab a pad of paper.

“I'm not so bad myself,” he continues.

“Well, I actually suck at drawing,” you giggle.

Dean sits on the bench, you sit on the floor, and start drawing.

“You know, I'm thinking you can hear me,” Dean started, “You just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something really bad,” he takes a pause. “I think I know how you feel. When I was your age, I saw something.”

He suddenly stops talking, you look at him and he seemed pensive.

“Anyway,” he continued. “Well, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you, or, uh...or believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw me a picture of what you saw that day, with your dad, on the lake.”

“I believe you, too, Lucas,” you say to him. “When I was little, probably just a year or two older than you, I saw my mom dying. My life wasn’t the same ever since.”

He didn’t answer or look at Dean or you.

“Okay, no problem,” Dean said. “This is for you.”

He holds out to Lucas the picture he drew with stick figures.

“This is my family,” Dean explained, “That’s my dad. And that’s... That’s my mom That’s my geek brother. And that’s me,” he pointed at each person in turn.

Another pause.

“All right, so I'm a sucky artist. I'll see you around, Lucas,” he said leaving the paper down and standing up.

“This is me,” you told him, showing your drawing of a house and your stick figure family. “My mom and my dad. I lost him a few years back, too,” you trailed off.

Dean waited with you but you still got no answer from Lucas, so the two of you headed back to Sam and Andrea.

“Lucas hasn't said a word, not even to me. Not since his dad's accident,” Andrea told Sam.

“Yeah, we heard. Sorry,” Dean said and Andrea nodded in response.

“What are the doctors saying?” Sam asked.

“That it's a kind of post-traumatic stress,” she answered.

“That can't be easy for either of you,” you tell her.

“We moved in with my dad,” she explains. “He helps out a lot. It's just...when I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw…” she makes a pause.

“Kids are strong,” Dean reassures her. “You'd be surprised what they can deal with.”

“You know, he used to have such life,” she tells. “He was hard to keep up with, to tell you the truth. Now he just sits there. Drawing those pictures, playing with those army men. I just wish—” she stops and changes the subject when Lucas walks up to you carrying paper. “Hey, sweetie.”

He doesn’t look at either of you, just stands between you and Dean and hands him a drawing.

“Thanks,” Dean thanks him. “Thanks, Lucas.”

He heads back to the bench and the four of you share a look. You peek at the picture and it’s a drawing of the Carlton House.

Sam and you were driving around town to check on the Carlton’s.

“I refuse to believe there is lake monster out there,” Sam argued with you.

“I’m just saying,” you defended, “I mean, in our experience, if there’s a legend about a mysterious monster, it’s because there has to be something about it.”

“Yeah, but besides a weird picture here and there, there’s no lore.”

“Come on,” Sammy!” you chuckle, “How can you be skeptical? We deal with weird things that aren’t supposed to exist every day.”

“I stick to the lore…” he trailed off and you looked through the window when you saw an ambulance outside of the house.

“We should check what happened,” you told him and he parked outside.

Dean was in the motel room waiting for the two of you. When you got in he was sitting on the bed.

“So, I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie,” Sam states, walking to sit down next to Dean. You throw yourself on the other bed.

“What do you mean?” Dean asks.

“We just drove past the Carlton house,” you told him. “There was an ambulance, we asked some questions. Will Carlton is dead.”

“He drowned?”

“In the kitchen sink,” you nod.

“What the hell?” Dean asks, you shrug and Sam shakes his head. “So you're right, this isn't a creature. We're dealing with something else.”

“Yeah, but what?” Sam inquiries.

“I don't know. Water wraith, maybe? Some kind of demon?” Dean wondered, “I mean, something that controls water...water that comes from the same source.”

“The lake,” Sam states.

“Yeah.”

“That would explain why it's upping the body count,” you added propping yourself on your elbows. “If the lake is draining, it means it'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is and whatever it wants, it's running out of time.”

“And if it can get through the pipes, it can get to anyone, almost anywhere,” Dean mentions standing up.

“This is gonna happen again soon.”

He sits down on a chair and starts putting on his boots.

“And we do know one other thing for sure,” Sam says, “We know this has got something to do with Bill Carlton.”

“Yeah, it took both his kids,” Dean added.

“We’ve also found out that Lucas’ dad, Chris, was Bill Carlton’s godson,” you tell him.

“Let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit,” Dean says.

The three of you drove to the Carlton’s House. You walked around the house to the lake and you saw Bill sitting on a bench on the dock.

“Mr. Carlton?” Sam calls.

He looks up, and the Sam, Dean and you approach him.

“We'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind,” you tell him.

“We're from the Department—” Dean starts.

“I don't care who you're with,” Bill cuts him off, “I've answered enough questions today.”

“Your son said he saw something in that lake. What about you?” Sam started, “You ever see anything out there? Mr. Carlton, Sophie's drowning and Will's death—we think there might be a connection to you or your family.”

“My children are gone,” Bill said, “It's...it's worse than dying. Go away. Please.”

”What do you think?” Same asks while the three of you head back to the car.

”I think that poor man’s been through hell and beyond…” you make a pause, ”I also have a feeling there’s something he’s not telling us.”

Sam leans on the Impala. “So now what?”

You notice Dean going still next to you.

“What is it?” Sam asks him.

“Huh,” he mumbles, looking at the Carlton house. “Maybe Bill's not the only one who knows something.”

He pulls out the picture Lucas brought him, which is of the Carlton house. Dean looks at Sam and you.

The three of you go to Andrea’s house to talk to her. Dean thought we should talk to Lucas to learn something more about what was going on.

“I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a good idea,” Andrea says.

“We just need to talk to him,” Dean says.

You get inside the house.

“Just for a few minutes,” Dean asks-

“He won't say anything,” she states. “What good's it gonna do?”

“Andrea, we think more people might get hurt,” Sam said. “We think something's happening out there.”

“My husband, the others, they just drowned. That's all,” she said.

“If that's what you really believe, then we'll go,” Dean stated. “But if you think there's even a possibility that something else could be going on here... please let me talk to your son,” he pleaded.

Andrea lead the three of you to Lucas’ room. Through the doorway you saw him laying on the floor with toy soldiers standing around him, he was coloring. Dean looked at you and you nodded to him and entered the room.

“Hi, Lucas, “ you smiled down at him crouching. Dean mimicked your movement.

“Hey, Lucas,” Dean greeted him, “Remember us?”

You took a look at the drawings and noticed he made two more of a red bicycle. You frowned.

“You know,” continued Dean, “We, uh, we wanted to thank you for the last drawing. But the thing is, I need your help again.”

Lucas is drawing a person in the water. Dean grabbed the house picture and puts it down in front of Lucas.

“How did you know to draw this?” He asked. “Did you know something bad was gonna happen?”

“Maybe you could nod yes or no for us?” you added, but Lucas didn’t answer and kept coloring. “You’re scared. It's okay. I understand. See, when I was your age, I saw something really bad happen to my mom, and I was scared, too. I didn't feel like talking, just like you. But see, my mom—I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day. And I do my best to be brave. And maybe, your dad wants you to be brave too.”

“I saw my mom dying, too,” you told him, “My dad picked me up from school and we got to our house. When we got in, we saw something really bad happening to her, and we couldn’t do anything to help her. Also, people didn’t believe us. I was really scared, I couldn’t trust many people except my dad. I tried to be brave, too, for him and for my mom.”

Lucas dropped his crayon and looked up at you and Dean. He hands you a picture of a white church, a yellow house, and a boy with a blue baseball cap and a red bicycle in front of a wooden fence.

Lucas drops his crayon and looks up at Dean. He hands him a picture of a white church, a yellow house, and a boy with a blue baseball cap and red bicycle in front of a wooden fence.

“Thanks, Lucas.”

Sam, Dean and you are in the Impala. Sam is holding the church picture, you are looking through the car window, you felt exhausted already.

“Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died,” Dean pointed out.

“There are cases,” Sam began to mention, “going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions, psychic tendencies.”

“Whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow?” Dean stammered, “I mean, it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns, so if you got a better lead, please.”

Sam lifted his hands in the air in surrender. “All right,” he exhaled, “We got another house to find.”

“The only problem is there are about a thousand yellow two-stories in this county alone,” Dean grunted.

You lifted your head from the window and leaned against the front seat, looking at the pictures in Sam’s hand. “See this church?” you added, pointing at the drawing with your finger, “I bet there’s less than a thousand of those around here.”

“Oh, the kid thinks she’s so smart,” Dean teased.

“You bet your ass I am,” you took your tongue out and smirked at him.

There was a small silence between the three of you before Sam started talking. “You know, um…,” he made a pause to think. You looked at him. “What you said about Mom… You never told me that before.”

“It's no big deal,” Dean dismissed it. Sam kept his gaze on Dean pursing his lips, waiting for his brother to say something else. “Oh God, we're not gonna have to hug or anything, are we?” Dean asked, faking annoyance.

Sam looked back at the front smiling, and then he turned back to look at you.

“Are you okay?” he asked, looking at you with his puppy eyes.

“Yeah, I am,” you smiled at him and then frowned. “Why?”

“You haven’t talked about your mom’s incident in ages, I just-” he made a pause, raising his eyebrows, “I just thought you might wanna talk about it.”

“No, no,” you stammered, “I’m fine, really,” you nodded at him.

“‘Kay,” he smiled, nodding back at you and looking back at the road.

You approach a white church which seemed to be the one from Lucas’ drawing. Dean holds up the picture and looks at it, you stand behind him, staring at it and trying to compare it with the scenario in front of you. There’s the church on one side and a yellow house right next to it and a wooden fence near the house. Sam looks at the two of you, then the three of you look up at the church and cross the street, walking to the house.

You knocked on the door and an old lady, Mrs. Sweeney, opened the door letting you in.

“We're sorry to bother you, ma'am,” Dean started. “But does a little boy live here, by chance? He might wear a blue ball cap,” he motioned with his hand, “Has a red bicycle.”

“No sir,” she answers head falling and shoulders sagging, “Not for a very long time,” she adds with a quivering voice. She looks up at us with watery eyes. “Peter's been gone for thirty-five years now,” she mentions, sighing.

She looks to the something on the side and you turn your head to follow her gaze. There’s a picture of a kid, who you assume is Peter, on the side table.

Mrs. Sweeney sighs before starting to speak again. “The police never… I never had any idea what happened. He just disappeared.”

You look to the other side when Sam points out a number of toy soldiers on a table.

Sam points out to Dean a number of toy soldiers on a table.

“Losing him—you know, it's...it's worse than dying,” expressed Mrs. Sweeney.

Dean takes a glance at Sam.

“Did Peter disappear from here?” you ask her, ”From this house?” you add.

“He was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school, and he never showed up,” she explained with a broken voice.

Dean picks a picture that was stuck on a mirror frame. There are two boys in the picture, one of them was Peter with a bicycle. He turns it around to check the back.

“Peter Sweeney and Billy Carlton, nineteen seventy,” he read out loud.

Dean, Sam and you are driving to Bill Carlton’s house.

Sam exhales loudly. “Okay,” he started, “This little boy Peter Sweeney vanishes, and this is all connected to Bill Carlton somehow.”

“Yeah, Bill sure as hell seems to be hiding something, huh?” said Dean.

“And Bill, the people he loves, they're all getting punished,” you mention.

“So what if Bill did something to Peter?” Dean asked.

“What if Bill killed him?” you add.

“Peter's spirit would be furious, it'd want revenge. It's possible,” he states.

Next Part

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