#in my defense the last three years didn't exist

[boltlightning]

top five psych episodes/moments?

oh boy oh BOY

gus walks into a bank. when i think of prime psych, it is this episode that comes to mind

shawn takes a shot in the dark

if you're so smart, then why are you dead?

the scene at the end of daredevils where shawn puts aside the jokes and tells a dying man that giving his family money and love is far more important than any insurance scheme that may net them enough money to live in luxury for the rest of their lives. god. goddamn

i am legally obliged to include this episode sucks

ask me my top 5 anythings ✨

#i really should finish my rewatch from *checks calendar* 2020 #in my defense the last three years didn't exist #thank you SO MUCH this was a fun trip down memory lane :') #theachivsta #ask game

[jxckchxmpi0n]

hey love, congratulations on 200!

i was wondering if you could do ethan landry with the prompt (please tell me that at least a part of it was real) some good old ghostface angst!

GOOD OLD GF ANGST! 🕸🔪 Thank you, love! I hope you enjoyed this! 🌼

Damaged Soul

Summary: Your boyfriend of almost a year isn't who he says he is. He's a killer, and he killed your love and your trust. | m.list

Word count: 1.1k

Warning: ANGST ANGST ANGST 😈. swearing, blood, character death, lying, cursing, (i want to say that's everything)

did not proof read.

also I'm making it through all the requests plus the new ones! AhHh

your heart sank as you watched Ethan take the Ghostface mask off, tears filling your eyes as they locked with his. Tara looked at you worried, "Never trust the love interest, right?" he had an evil grin on his face like he was proud he played you.

Bailey grabbed Ethan's shoulder and started talking about how proud he was of him for using you like Richie had done to Sam last year. "They grow up so fast don't they." your body felt frozen in time as you looked at Ethan, questioning everything in existence now.

Sam kept yelling at Bailey asking why they were doing this, Tara stood holding herself as she felt herself bleeding out.

You haven't been injured yet as bad as the sisters, and something was telling you it was about to get worse. Ethan and Quinn were now circling around you three while bailey gave his big speech.

"Ethan, why?" your voice was broken and cracking. Your body turned with his following his as he walked around.

"Don't you see y/n I needed excuses, econ wasn't always going to work, but being with you oo you knew. you knew what I was up to, yet you ignored it. All the late nights coming back to the apartment, y/n you were just an object to me. Nothing more, but God you know I will miss the sex." he shook the knife in your face as he got closer.

"I didn't know" You stepped back as he got closer, tears falling from your eyes. your back hit the wall. Bailey and Quinn were too busy with Sam and Tara. Letting Ethan have you to himself, "I didn't know!" you screamed in his face causing him to jump a little.

He lunged forward, his hand wrapping around your neck while the knife cut into your cheekbone. "It doesn't matter anymore sweetheart; did you know you weren't even part of the plan? hm? now, but Quinn you see Quinn came up with the idea of getting with you, seeing at how much you gave me heart eyes she knew it was a good idea."

"You're a monster!" your voice was broken, shattered even. your body ached as his hold tightened on you.

"No! I'm not the monster, Sam is okay she killed Richie she's the one that ruined our lives, if anything she ruined your life too" his eyes were glossy as he talked about his brother.

"She killed him in defense, while you have killed- three people" pushing yourself against the knife you felt it cut deeper into your face. You could feel the warmth of your blood running down your face, Ethan's eyebrows drew together as he noticed a change in you.

You were beyond angry now the fact that he used you, and yet deep down you knew you knew something was up, and yes Ethan was right you ignored it. but you can't anymore.

"You used me, Ethan, you killed people, if anything you ruined my life. You made me fall in love with you, you used my body, I trusted you with everything, and you stand here in front of me and you're telling me you aren't the monster?!"

You didn't need a weapon to scare him, you saw the fear he had in his eyes when he took the mask off. Seeing the look on your face when he realizes what he has done, he knows that you know he loves you and that behind closed doors he wanted this all to end.

He slowly stepped back as you stepped forward his hand loosed on you and the knife. you were getting inside his head. "I hate you; I hate you and I want you to fail, I want you and your whole family to die."

"Y/n I-I had no choice it was my father's plan" his eyes were getting watery by the second. your hands balled up into fists.

"Fuck you!" you punched him in the face causing him to fly back, dropping the knife. Baily was chasing Sam on the stage while Quinn cornered Tara.

"You fucking dumbass Ethan get the fuck up" Quinn shouted at Ethan as she saw him on the floor. You took the chance to run to Tara, she had a stab wound in her abdomen and on her arm. She had it worse than you.

"Y/n you have to get out of here, find help" Tara tried to push you away but failed. The sound of screaming and shouting filled the auditorium as Sam was fighting Bailey.

"God as much as I hate you killing you is going to be so fun" Quinn was behind you waving her knife, and you pushed Tara away motioning her to go help her sister.

Ethan was standing behind his sister watching as she was getting closer. "No Quinn, she's mine let me have her" she looked back at her brother seeing the way he was looking at you. Not only did he have the look to kill you, but he also still has lust written all over his face.

"You've got to be kidding me, you can't really have feelings for this bitch," Ethan was trying to justify that he never had feelings for you. Looking around you saw broken glass, picking it up took the shard, and stabbed Quinn in the back. she screamed out in pain; Ethan ran forward and without thinking he pulled you off of her.

Taking the Kinfe Quinn he pulled his arm back, the sharp end meeting with your stomach. You screamed right into his ear, his heart breaking as he felt your blood pouring onto his hand. "Do it Ethan" Quinn watched holding her side as he twisted the knife and pulled it up creating a deeper cut. "I'm sorry y/n I'm so sorry" he held your body close as you couldn't even make any noise from the pain.

"Please tell me at least some of it was real?" your face was ghostly white, your cheeks stained with tears and blood. Your body is already feeling so weak, you weren't going to make it but

"Yes, it was, y/n it was real, and I-I love you. I always will love you" Tears were streaming down his face as he felt your body go limp. He had just killed the one person that ever understood him. He shouldn't have done it; he shouldn't have done any of it. he set you down looking at your face. You looked nothing like you did when he was with you at nighttime.

"Ethan let her go, dad needs us" Quinn pushed him with her foot causing him to lean closer to you. He wiped his tears, got up and followed his sister.

#jack champion #ethan landry #scream vi #ethan landry imagine #ethan landry x reader #jack champion imagine #jack champion x reader #spider avatar #ethan landry smut #ghost face x reader #avatar spider #spider socorro #spiderman ethan landry #ethan landry x you #jack champion fluff #jack champion fanfic

[scarletsaphire]

DP Sidehoes Week Day 5: Dani, Self Defense

Trigger warnings for: Dissection, dehumanization, brainwashing, organ harvesting (kind of)

The incision was only slightly over a millimeter deep, carved in the lines of scar tissue that had formed directly under her rib cage. A second set of gloved fingers reached into the incision with forceps, peeling the skin away from the muscle and tissue underneath it. Dani's nerves were set alight with a searing, scorching pain as the free hand began to scrape whatever fat build up had accumulated there, but she did not move or scream. She didn't even look away.

Not that she could have, even if she wanted to. The muscles that allowed her to move her neck had been removed sometime last week, or perhaps only a few hours ago. It wasn't like it mattered. They'd grow back eventually, and then they'd be taken away again, and again, and again, just like they had been a dozen times before. In the mean time, all Dani could do was watch, unblinking and unmoving, as the scientists took her away in jars and vials in bits and pieces.

She didn't blame them. At the beginning she did, back before she'd understood why. She remembered fighting and screaming and swearing that she'd kick all of their asses into next week, and even if she didn't, than someone else would. She remembered screaming and writhing in pain and anger, even after they'd restrained her. It was only after they'd gone through three rooms and double as many agents that they explained it to her.

The woman who had talked was nice. Still in the bright white uniform and black sunglasses, of course, but she'd talked to Dani as if she was a dog or a cat, or maybe even an infant child, if Dani was willing to stretch it. She talked to Dani as if she could understand, as if Dani was anything more than the pile of spare parts she now knew she was.

It was her explanation that allowed Dani to understand what she was. Why her cooperation was important.

"We are alive," she explained, her gaze strong even behind the shades. "And you, simply put, are not."

Dani tried to argue, but the bubbling groan of ectoplasm and blood in her throat silenced her faster than the scientist's words.

"I know that you think that you are, but just look at you." She walked away, pacing a few steps, and then turning back. "Living things die. That is a simple fact. If you were a living thing, than you would not be here to listen to me speak. You are not living. As you exist now, you are worthless."

She turned back to face Dani head on. "But you do not need to remain worthless. With our help, you can become more. You can help."

With a wave of her hand, a sickly man was wheeled in. He was not dressed in the customary guys in white uniform; rather, he was wearing a hospital gown. His legs were weak and bony and covered in lesions, and the rest of his body wasn't far behind. He smiled brightly at the woman, with a look that channeled as much hope as any look ever could. "Introduce yourself," she said.

He only glanced at Dani for a moment, before looking away. "Uh. My name is Xander." His voice was not as weak as his body, but he clearly had not been prepared to speak.

"Xander is dying, in the way all living things do. And he will die before the end of the year." With another wave of her hand, a different agent wheeled in a table, a series of vials placed in orderly rows on top of it. "But with this..." She grabbed the closest vial, a soft, muddy brown, and held it out to Xander.

He grabbed the vial and twisted the cap off, before downing the whole thing greedily. The effects were instant. The color returned to his face, the meat to his bones, the strength to his grip. He slumped into his chair further, eyes closing as he sighed in relief.

"And now he will live." She turned back to face Dani. "Possibly for only a few more years, but he will live. All thanks to the samples we have taken from you." She grabbed another sample off the table. "This is your essence, your ectoplasm and blood mixed together. A miracle cure for all of humanity."

She set it back down, and stepped forward slowly, until she was standing next to where Dani was propped. "Do you see what you can give us?" Her voice was soft now, the tone of authority dropped. "Your cooperation is all we need to cure... everything. Humanity will not need to suffer, will not need to go through pain. Fighting us is to fight against the saviors of millions. Is your freedom really worth that much misery?"

At the time, Dani had spit in her face. Now, with months to think it over, she couldn't help but agree. Sure, everything hurt. The feeling of hands and metal inside of her body, tearing her into pieces, was nothing shy of the worst thing she could ever imagine. But it had been... months? Months of pain, to the point of it carrying her far away on an ocean of agony.

She was being useful. She'd never been useful before. Vlad had cast her aside near instantly, and no matter how hard she searched, she'd never found a place for her. Maybe it was a good thing. There was no one to miss her, not really. Danny and his friends might wonder, but she'd disappeared before. They would not dwell on her.

The scientists had finished. They did not bother to stitch Dani back up; the wound would heal on its own by tomorrow. They filed out of the room, turning the light off with them, plunging Dani into darkness.

It was nice, to find her place.

#danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danielle fenton #dp side hoes week 2024 #dani is not the one who is acting in self defense here.

[your-old-sins-tournament]

12 YEAR OLD OCS; SIDE A

Emma [Crow]

I made Emma a long time ago, like when I was 10. So she went through like so many reworks and stuff but this is the current version of her.

Emma has an identical twin sister named Amanda. Though in childhood and even as teenagers Amanda was always the favorite child. Which left Emma in the shadow of her sister for most of her life. It didn't help most people avoided her too, leaving her with her thoughts while growing up.

One night when she was walking home at night, she was attacked by a masked figure. Who she accidentally killed in self-defense. This event was like a tipping point for her, it was soon she descended into madness, and started her life as a serial killer.

Liz Turner [@linzerj]

My first ever OC was a self-insert for a three-way crossover of Danny Phantom, Fairly OddParents, and Teen Titans, because i thought a half-ghost cousin of Timmy Turner who fights bad guys with the Teen Titans was a really cool idea. I created her when I was 12 and she was like the main thing i would draw from the ages of 12-15. She was the first of many, MANY OCs, kicking off a phase that would last until the end of my freshman year of college, actually. However, Liz has actually stuck around and evolved into someone who could almost exist separately from the fandoms she started in, if only I could figure out how to make a cool-sounding teen hero group name on my own. ANYWAY Liz kicks ass and takes names and can't figure out what the fuck her superhero code name should be (because I originally called her Storm before I realized the name Storm was already taken, and haven't been able to come up with another good name since.)

#oc #ocs #polls #ocs you made when you were 12 tournament #liz turner #emma #side a #old sins #bracket tournament

[vineofroses]

15 questions, 15 mutuals

tagged by @your-catfish-friend !

1. Are you named after anyone?

i do not think so though my middle name might be either my grandmother on my dad's side or my great grandmother. we weren't really that close with my dad's side of the family so im unsure.

2. When was the last time you cried?

sometime this week. there's a lot of shit happening in the world this week.

3. Do you have kids?

nope, and i do not intend to.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

a few weeks ago i told a friend of mine who's a new friend of a couple of years that in high school i was pretty much a jock. she was shocked lol because i am not athletic anymore.

but anyway, soccer was the first sport i played and i loved it. played rec league through middle school and joined a B competitive team through sophomore year of high school. that was my fun sport.

i ran JV cross country in high school. all of my friends were on the team and i got pretty decent at it.

but the main sport i was involved in was competitive swimming. from the ages of 9-18 i was swimming all the time and it was the bane of my existence. yes, it got me on the varsity team and to the State meet all four years of high school but holy shit, there's a lot of ups and downs in competitive sports. i miss it now, but there's a reason i didn't get back in the pool for three years after high school was over.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

noooooooooooo

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

probably their sense of humor.

7. What's your eye color?

Brown.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

i like scary movies, but i'll go with happy endings, although i prefer a complicated happy ending. i think my favorite endings are the ones where the character isn't okay yet but there's a moment where they realize they will be. that feels more realistic to me and speaks to an ongoing journey.

9. Any talents?

i ...... have no idea which makes me kinda sad. im sure other people might view a few things that i do as talents but i won't ever view them that way because none of it comes easy. i always wished i could draw, or could play an instrument. i admire anyone who does.

10. Where were you born?

san diego

11. What are your hobbies?

writing, designing the rooms of my house, hanging out with my friends, sending birthday cards in the mail, drinking wine, reading fan fic

12. Do you have any pets?

yes

13. How tall are you?

mid

14. Favorite subject in school?

my favorite classes in college were my writing workshops. they were always so supportive and i loved the writing community on campus. one of my favorite parts of this advanced creative writing workshop i took was how my professor framed how we give constructive criticism during workshops.

the way the workshops worked was we would discuss two students' stories a workshop, coming to class with our notes on their stories ready. we would go around the table and talk about what we loved about the story first. the writer of the story was allowed to engage in the conversation about their story (an important detail because during sophomore year i had a professor who didn't allow the writer to engage during the discussion of their story and i thought that created such a weird, uncomfortable atmosphere).

when it was time to move on to the constructive criticism segment, my professor always started it by saying "what can so and so work on to take their story to the next level?" even though she started the first segment with "what did everyone love about the story," she didn't follow that up with "what did you dislike about the story." I always appreciated that very intentional distinction because it eased everyone into the next part of the workshop where yes, it could be easy to get defensive about your story (as experienced in the sophomore year workshop). it allowed for more thoughtful conversation about the construction criticism and put the writer in a more comfortable position to take in the constructive criticism. the question "what can so and so work on to take their story to the next level" also framed our stories as ongoing works, which is just inherently part of the process. we were not going to write award winning short stories for a single workshop, but that draft could be turned into something down the line. it was a great mindset for a writing workshop. it's been 8 years since that class. I miss those types of workshops and hate how hard it is to find a similar atmosphere once you leave college. But i still carry that class with me.

15. Dream job?

write for tv. i've been saying that for years and it gets further and further away each year it feels like but i suppose it doesn't hurt to keep putting it out there. i've started taking some very small steps to at least start the learning process of crafting stories for tv again, which is very exciting. baby steps.

honestly im not quite sure who are mutuals and who are not so apologies if im crossing a line by tagging you if we are not mutuals lol! tagging @paperstorm @welcometololaland @rmd-writes @thisbuildinghasfeelings @carlos-in-glasses @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @liminalmemories21 @strandnreyes @reyesstrand @michellemisfit @rutherinahobbit @mybrainismelted @storms-s @firstprince-history-huh @freneticfloetry

#writing #creative writing #the writing process #ask game #tag game

[periwinckles]

He's a Keeper - Chapter 1

(I wasn't planning on posting this so soon, but in honor of @little-lynxpopping up again in my feed, and because this was inspired by this marvelous post , here is the first part of a new fic I'm working on. It might not look like it, based on the first chapter, but this is mainly Everlark.)

He’s a Keeper 

An Everlark in Hogwarts story, or the one where Annie Cresta risks her dignity for a Quidditch Cup, Peeta Mellark drinks a full bottle of Veritaserum, and Rye Mellark declares war on all Hufflepuffs. What could possibly go wrong?

Chapter 1

Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

 It’s always a thrill to be back for another school year.

 I watch the boats crossing the big lake in front of the castle. Headmistress Mags Flanagan is always stressing the importance of us giving a big welcome to the first years. All the other students are already waiting inside the Grand Hall.  The four Head of Houses, stand with the Headmistress, in front of the stone steps, to wait for the group of eleven year olds. 

Well, three of us, for now. 

Professor Brutus, Head of Slytherin, stands tall and menacing to her left, the big scar across his face an unwelcome souvenir from one of his creatures, for sure. 

Professor Beetee, Ancient Runes Professor, and Head of Ravenclaw, looks remarkably bored and unimpressed with all the efforts to make this a memorable Start-of-term Feast. 

Hufflepuff is my House, and I’m technically not a teacher, just the Quidditch Coach. It’s fairly uncommon for someone so young to be Head of House. I was what they call a Career: a quidditch player who graduates from school tournaments to join a big league team and play professionally, but Mags offered me the spot, three years ago, and I was tempted enough to take it. Since there were no other former Hufflepuffs among the faculty members, she didn't have much choice but to make me Head of House as well.

“Anyone know where Abernathy is?” Mags asks with a smile, maintaining her impeccable posture.

Probably drunk, by now. I saw him retreating to his office, a couple of hours ago, with a bottle of Firewhiskey.

Haymitch Abernathy is one hell of a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but also the most lazy and slack Head of House the Gryffindors could possibly have. I was his student myself, and we all stood in awe of his stories. As a Veteran of the Great War against the Dark Wizard Coriolanus Snow, and a war hero, he was our idol. Yes, the Defense Against the Dark Arts class couldn’t be in better hands. The House of Gryffindor? Not so much.

“Headmistress Mags!” The young wizard runs down the stone steps, his robes fluttering behind him from the haste, and his hair remaining perfectly in place. Probably some charm, no one has that perfect of a hair, all the time. Many call him handsome, even when he was just a scrawny pimply student. Now in his late twenties, he’s well aware of his good looks and how to take advantage of them. 

“Headmistress, Professor Abernathy sends his apologies. He’s indisposed and asked me to take his place to welcome the first years!” 

Indisposed. That was his excuse last year, as well. 

“Good! Good!” Mags exclaims with a grin, and an affectionate pat to the young wizard's face.

He gives me a playful wink.

Finnick Odair. Charms Professor. The bane of my existence. We all know he’s the one who picks up the slack and makes sure the House of Gryffindor doesn’t collapse under Abernathy’s chaotic ruling. Don’t get me started on the Quidditch team. Abernathy hasn’t been to his own team practices in years. Yet, here they stand, as winners of the House Cup and Quidditch inter-house tournament for seven years in a row. All Odair’s doing, of course. I don’t get why Mags doesn’t make him Head of House already, Abernathy would surely be grateful. 

In true honesty, I don’t care that much about the House Cup. 

Yes, it would be nice if we won, every once in a while, but I’m lucky enough to lead the loyal and hardworking students. Hufflepuffs don't rely on external validation to always do their best, even when they lose year after year.

The Quidditch Cup? That’s a totally different game. I’m this school’s flying instructor and Quidditch Coach, I'm their Head of House, and still it’s been thirty nine years since Hufflepuff won a Quidditch tournament.

 Well, this year, that is about to change. 

“Miss Cresta, lovely to see you, again!”

Read the rest on AO3

#the hunger games #everlark #everlark fanfiction #peeta mellark #peeta x katniss #katniss everdeen #katniss x peeta #thg #Hogwarts #everlark in hogwarts

[oh-three]

PJO S1E8:

Oooh, flashback to fighting Luke. That's poetry.

Percy over here having been in this world for like two weeks and already fighting one of the most dangerous Gods and foiling a plot meant to start a war.

The look on Ares's face as the wave came down 😂

Well, at least he gave up the helm. Maybe he really didn't know that Kronos was using him? Or was he on Kronos's side all along? Idr.

I fucking forgot about Alecto. Quite funny that she was after them for the helm and not the master bolt.

"Good luck on Olympus." See, maybe there is some honor in the monsters' side after all.

"I'm done running from monsters. This is too important. I have to try." / "You're gonna need all the luck you can get." 😭

And, it's back to New York.

Not Percy walking in like he owns the place. Good for him.

Luke over here instilling bad thoughts into Percy's mind thinking he can corrupt him.

Damnnnn, Olympus looks fucking amazing. 👀

There's something hilarious about the fact that Zeus looks absolutely nothing like his brothers.

POSEIDON!

Poseidon using Thalia's existence against Zeus in defense of Percy 👍

There is something hilarious about Percy and his father wearing shirts over such similar color.

"The sea does not like to be restrained." What a line.

"She taught me a lot of things." 😭

"Do you ever dream about Mom?" 😭

gets fucking dropped conveniently right next to where the other forbidden child rests Poseidon could have put him anywhere in the Camp, there's something very significant about this.

PERCY STARING AT LUKE AS HE REALIZES THAT HE IS THE TRAITOR.

Luke's first words not being of denial, but: "I didn't think you'd give them to Grover to wear" is actually kind of scary, especially in that almost-sad tone.

HIS SWORD JUST CUT REALITY OPEN

"I met your dad" being the line that provokes Luke is fucking perfect.

ANNABETH WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME, OH MY GOD. IMAGINE HOW SHE MUST FEEL RIGHT NOW. HOLY SHIT. HE WAS HER BEST FRIEND 😭😭

Chiron giving a heartfelt speech, with Dionysus coming up to fucking ruin the moment 😂

ANNABETH IS GOING BACK TO SEE HER DAD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LIKE FOUR YEARS 😭

"Just...be a kid." I wish someone had told me that when I was their age.

I love seeing how close these three has become. And the way Percy made them promise to come back to see each other again. Goddddd, I love them so much. The childhood nostalgia is real.

Percy, you forgot to close the door.

Back to what I said about some monsters having honor...Hades kept his word.

Fuck off, Kronos.

Percy went from "You're better at this than me" to "Well, it turns out I'm pretty good at this" and I am so happy for him. Our boy's gained some self-esteem.

I mean, he's not wrong about calling Kronos his grandfather, but man is that funny 😂

AYYY, SHE DIVORCED GABE.

THEY DID NOT FUCKING SEND MEDUSA'S HEAD BACK TO PERCY. The fact that Gabe was the one to find and open it in his spite is the best shit ever.

Wait. If the box got turned to stone because he was holding it, does that mean the head just turned itself to stone as well?

Okay, so. I was googling who Lance Reddick was because of the tribute at the end, and. It is truly so tragic that last year two actors died before the release of a project they would likely end up returning in. Looking back at everything he's been in, I'm honestly surprised I've never heard of him before. But, man, he and Ray Stevenson...I am actually so sad about this.

#pjo #pjo spoilers #percy jackon and the olympians

[aelaer]

Multiverse of Madness: Spoilerific Review Ahoy!

It's all going under the cut! Everything! All the thoughts about everything in this film! It's very long.

So I'm going to likely see it again on Saturday so my thoughts may change between now and then. I'll just reblog and add more thoughts if they do, as part of my brain throughout the first thirty minutes was just processing the fact that OMG I'm watching a Doctor Strange film again after so many years!

A video on YouTube that someone on Discord posted, by ComicBookCast2, said it perfectly: this movie is a stepping stone, an Iron Man 2, an Age of Ultron, a movie that has to exist in order to expand the greater universe. Those two movies are usually panned as not being some of the greatest, but I'd say of the three there, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is definitely the strongest stepping stone movie we have. And I understand why Feige would want to use Doctor Strange as a character to open up this immense concept. Considering the importance of Iron Man and the Avengers in the overall MCU, that speaks to good things regarding Doctor Strange's future (especially as Benedict seems to continue to want to play him).

I'll start with all the side characters first:

America: I really liked America's arc in this film, how she basically started as not knowing how to control her powers to being forced to take control to save herself, and then getting a pep talk from the Best Strange to show Wanda what she was actually doing. That was a powerful climax, and a hugely emotional climax for the character. And in Kamar-Taj in the MCU, I think she has the capability to grow into the powerful comic book character that she is, and gain all the skills that she has as a young adult when we first meet her in the comics.

Christine: One of the first rumors I read about this film that completely bummed the hell out of me was that Christine was going to die on her wedding day, presumably from the creature that the toy companies call "Gargantos" but that really looks like a "Shuma-Gorath" but dies as easily as your Monster of the Week. As this didn't happen, I was bloody thrilled. I have no idea if that scene was actually filmed or not. I wasn't expecting to like her multiversal version as much as I did, though that she was also betrayed by her Stephen was definitely something else. It put Stephen in the same position as he was with his Christine, in a way. It made their last scene together all the more precious, I think.

Wong (and Kamar-Taj): I loved seeing Sorcerer Supreme Wong really lead the defense of the entire society, and I couldn't blame him breaking under pressure by seeing people he knew and cared for being tortured like that. In terms of who was Sorcerer Supreme, I think Wong really worked having the title here, because it let Stephen's job open to protect America (and explore the multiverse) as opposed to needing to stay with the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj to regroup once it fell.

It was also very enjoyable to see Wong's own badass moments, though I don't blame him at all for falling to Darkhold!Wanda. We got a good look at just how OP the Darkhold made someone who already had huge amounts of power. RIP Sara though, existing for just a couple lines only to burn to a crisp. Just like the London Master, Sol Rama, in the first DS film xD

I enjoyed the cameos by Hamir and Rintrah and I hope they survived the attack. It was also great to see the London and Hong Kong Sanctum masters. The little bowing joke was fun, as was that little payoff at the end!

Mordo: One of the earlier spoilers I read from this film was that Wanda killed our Mordo, and I was really happy to see that if it was filmed, it didn't make the cut, because our Mordo has the history with Strange that's important. I was totally tricked with Mordo. Like, I knew that he looked like the one that was sword-fighting him in the trailer, but then he was so nice and all and I figured "oh, this must be a different universe", and I honestly thought that the Illuminati universe was going to be another one.

Then nope! Here's Mordo and the Illuminati. His hand-to-hand fight with Stephen was just *amazing*. I didn't get Stephen's comments to him though, about him always hating him. That was part of the comic lore, but I definitely didn't get that feeling in the first DS film. It feels like something that happened behind the scenes between DS1 and IW, maybe things Mordo said to Wong, or if Mordo left behind writings--or something. Definitely seems like it's something untold that someone should write a fanfic for. Was very happy overall with his character though, even if I didn't get our Stephen's comments in the context of the MCU.

Loved Stephen's reaction to his first name lmao. Also found it very interesting that he called himself Baron here! I wonder if that will be the same case for our Mordo?

The Rest of the Illuminati: I'm glad they were just cameos and that they were the only cameos serving basically as obstacles for Wanda. I'm really glad. The only other cameo I'd have been fine with is Deadpool, and that's just because Deadpool's super amazing. I don't think it'd fit with the tone of the rest of the film though, so it makes sense he wasn't in it, despite rumors. Illuminati!Strange definitely fit with this gang, being about "end justifies the means", and them making the "hard decisions" that don't necessarily mean good ones. Illuminati!Strange in the comics, too, destroyed an entire Earth, though that was a "kill or be killed" type of situation the Illuminati dealt with in the comics. I like that this variant of superheroes exist, all with people who've made insane decisions somewhere in the comics or the MCU as part of it.

Black Bolt's death is one of the most gnarly deaths on screen ever, and you won't change my mind. That was insane.

Wanda: I don't remember where I said it--probably in a Discord chat--but I basically said that if the trailer of her attacking Kamar-Taj killed innocent people, that they really could not redeem this version of her as a hero in the MCU. And because she was so brutal and corrupted, because she hurt so many people, her destroying the Darkhold and (potentially?) dying was probably the best end that they could have given her.

I think I would have preferred a plot where she fought against the Darkhold's power earlier on, that someone had caught up with her earlier and that this movie was a path of redemption for her. But since they didn't go that route, I think the original MCU!Wanda staying supposedly dead is probably the cleanest exit they can give her because she at least realized the monster she had turned into and kept it so that others would not fall to the same fate ever again across the Multiverse. It gives her tragic fall a noble ending.

I do find it interesting that the Scarlet Witch is singular in the Multiverse (IIRC), but that Wanda Maximoff is not (as we saw). I'm not sure if they'll have people travelling across universes into the MCU to take the place of the dead characters we have if the actors still want to portray them, but that may be what we see with Wanda, especially since White Vision still exists out there.

I was very happy to see an non-corrupted Wanda too. I think it showed a great contrast of who Wanda was before the Darkhold (combined with her grief) corrupted her. My brother, who apparently really liked WandaVision (and went to see the film with me), said he really didn't like corrupted Wanda himself, and I wonder how many people were looking for redemption arcs in this film after that show, or how many were looking for Wanda to embrace the evil of the Darkhold.

Stephen: The one and only--only, not the one and only. I could see one of the re-shot parts immediately within the first few minutes with Defender!Stephen repeating nearly word-for-word what Stephen told Peter in NWH. And, honestly? Fucking brilliant. I was shocked he would be like that, but at the same time, he's had to make the hard calls before--especially in the name of keeping control. So seeing Defender!Strange look at America as, ultimately, a threat? Yeah, I see it.

But in having all other three Stranges--Defender, Sinister, and Illuminati Stephen--make the decision to sacrifice others for their own need for control was a great way to juxtapose how different our Stephen is. There was some loss of control with using the Time Stone, out of necessity as he saw no other way. But he continues to learn that he cannot control everything in NWH and even moreso in MoM, until we get to the finale where he goes against Wong's order and uses what he's observed, his cleverness, to tell America what no one else has told her. And his wisdom leads to the end of the conflict.

It wasn't an ending I was expecting, to say the least--but damn, it's satisfying that both the ending of DS1 and DS2 were not Stephen beating an enemy by hitting magic at it, but by using his head. Magic was still used (the Time Stone and the Darkhold, respectively), but the solution would not have come if Stephen wasn't clever about his creative thinking. And that's one reason he's so unique as a superhero--and more unique than his counterparts, who simply go for control and power.

So many other Stephen details and plot points I liked:

I'm glad we got clarification of Stephen's status amongst the normal people now. I feel like this happened after Infinity War in particular, when the Avengers had to tell people what happened and he started getting known. Then after Endgame it got really known.

The film seemed to clarify that Stephen was never Sorcerer Supreme because he never learned about the Book of Vishanti being real. That was a very, very appeasing fact to me. Yes, I love being right.

I loved that dreams were glimpses of alternate realities, because I have written this concept in fanfic (the Sherlock/Strange crossover). IMO it's not all dreams though, and I think some people are more likely to have these types of dreams than others.

I love that incursions (convergences in the comics) are a thing. I also love this because I have an unpublished fanfic that is leading up to this, so now I gotta really get working on that so I can publish it already.

I adored what little we got of Sinister Strange and could easily have an entire film about our Stephen and Sinister Stephen just outwitting each other in this epic adventure. Like, replace Wanda with Sinister Strange and there's a new favorite film xD But I get why they didn't do that lol. Still, it was great to get a glimpse of this unhinged, corrupted character. He's not the tragic, fallen hero of What If?; he's simply unhinged.

I'm still torn on the musical fight scene. My logic brain that has written thousands upon thousands of words of meta on magic and its inner workings went "this make no sense" but my visual brain went "omg look that's so cool and pretty!" So what I'll likely end up doing is writing that scene in fanfic with so much technical magic explanation that people won't know what to do with it. But that's not happening until the film's out on streaming so I can watch it over and over and over again. (And I get other pieces done first).

All the shots we have now of Stephen in everyday wear and formal wear makes me so so so happy. So happy.

So the film wasn't about Stephen- it was definitely more a film about watching things unravel from Stephen's POV. But I'm glad we got to know more of his character (DONNA FINALLY GOT A MENTION), and that he had a solid character arc and definitely an impact on the climax and ending. And that it wasn't a cameo-stuffed CGI monster battle. I'm happy it wasn't- I was worrying about that.

I don't know about how I feel with Stephen getting a literal third eye. I always saw it as something a lot more metaphorical, personally. But hey, it led to a verrryyy interesting ending hinting at a lot more Doctor Strange and, of course, a quick cameo by Clea! I am very glad Clea is not being played by Rachel McAdams. I would have liked an Asian actress but I figured that'd be a long shot.

Things I would have liked to see:

I think I would have still enjoyed Superior Iron Man. So long as he wasn't played by Tom Cruise. And knowing that he would die in the end lmao. But I get why they went with Reed Richards instead, new era of Marvel and all.

There was a rumor that one of the credit scenes was going to be RDJ coming back as a cameo as Iron Man and apologizing for having him die, and that Stephen would have been able to make a similar apology. A pipe dream, alas; I don't think RDJ's coming back for any cameos.

WHY THE FUCK WASN'T THE EYE OF AGAMOTTO EXPLAINED? WHAT THE HELL MARVEL? WHY DOES IT SUDDENLY WORK AS IT DOES AND DID YOU FORGET THAT THANOS CRUSHED IT IN INFINITY WAR?

Seriously, I'm still annoyed by this. I have to fix everything myself, I swear.

I think it could have been 15-20 minutes longer with some more downtime between the action, with more scenes between Stephen/Wong and Stephen/America, or Stephen/Stephen. The talk between the two Stephens was freaking amazing.

Uh yeah, actually, not a lot of complaints. I think the biggest one would have been a preference with Wanda not as the villain, but that would be an entire rewrite of the story and it's not that much of a deal-breaker to me since she got her alternate version as well as something of a way to make herself not terrible at the end.

When it comes to a rating, I think I'll need to sit on it a bit more. I think NWH still packed more of an emotional punch for me, but I still definitely enjoyed MoM. Maybe an 8? 8.5? I'll see it again on Saturday, I think, so we'll see how I feel then.

#multiverse of madness #doctor strange #review #stephen strange #mcu #spoilers #ds mom #wanda maximoff #wong #benedict cumberbatch #benedict wong #america chavez #karl mordo

[fostercare-expat]

Various people on my life are all voicing strong opposition to introducing my daughter to birth family. The mindset of closed adoption is very strong still in our culture, as is the mindset of ignoring emotionally difficult situations will make them non-existent. Honestly managing the fears of other people has been way more difficult than managing the fears of my daughter.

Good news, she has a wonderful support system around her to listen to what she wants and support her. She can decide at any time that she doesn't want to meet her birth mom or birth sister. And if she does go ahead, it likely WILL be confusing and scary, because that's part of the complexity of adoption. But hopefully it will also help answer some fundamental questions that most adoptees have in their lifetime about their birth family origin, resemblance, etc. And my daughter has a lifetime of choice ahead of her, so if she does want to meet her birth mom and birth sister now, and then she never wants to see them again, or she just wants to continue contact with her sister but not her mom, that's also ok. Whether she meets or doesn't meet her family in June, none of that will change the reality of the necessity of adoption. My daughter will still have to process the big emotions that come with the entire world of adoption. I think that having an in-person meeting with her birth sister and/or birth mom might really help her with that processing, but there is a risk it might hinder it. But either way, I don't think meeting or not meeting her mom in a safe environment for 3 hours on one day of her life is going to fundamentally change the entire reality of my daughter’s life. We have to have confidence that pouring love and stability into her for the last 7.5 years has given her the fundamental feeling that she is loved and safe no matter what happens in those 3 hours. (And we will do our best to make those 3 hours as positive as possible. We have the ability to control the location of of the meeting, the people there and the translation of language so anything we don't want her to hear, we won't translate. We can't guarantee that her family will actually show up on the day itself, but we will do our best to communicate with mom and sister ahead of time to sense their willingness, find out their addresses so we can locate them, and also have a second day as a back up plan to give them a second chance if they want. And we will prepare our daughter that it is possible one or both of them won't show up, and also that she can change her mind too.)

I feel like everyone else's feelings about this situation are way more negative than my daughter’s feelings about it. Let's give her some credit about being able to handle things. Generally speaking, I think she's a pretty emotional stable kid, with the exception of being around animals, where she has some irrational fears. And she had a weird three days where she was very scared of death, but since then she can speak about death just fine and we talk about things like our rabbit dying and Grandma and Grandpa dying and she's emotionally fine with it. She certainly has some sadness and some questions about her adoption, but I think those are normal. I don't think she's overly sensitive about adoption, actually I'd be more worried if she didn't feel sadness around the fact that wasn't able to stay with her biological mom.

I think I’m feeling particularly defensive and I probably need to work on just accepting that other people won’t understand and focus on doing the best I can for my daughter’s needs.

[weezly14]

Speak your truth about tcr 🎤

ok, i'm gonna break this up into episode 10 thoughts and series overall thoughts.

episode 10:

this is easily the prettiest episode; the cinematography and direction is great. i'm a sucker for long shots and creative lighting and framing several characters the same, etc - well done.

love that we get an arc for lawyer guy in the last two episodes (sarcasm.) what purpose does it serve?

ah, yes, we need him and Rya to have a moment in the diner. he needs to have PTSD so that he can mention it and Rya can monologue and then have a lightbulb moment

EXCEPT - a) i cannot buy that this dude - a MAN - told a woman he's known for three? weeks? not long anyway - that he has PTSD in public. not only that! it is, remember folks, the 1970s! i don't remember PTSD entering the public lexicon until the early 2000s, maybe, and it was bothering me so i looked it up and PTSD didn't enter the DSM until 1980; it started being used to refer to Vietnam vets in the 70s but it wasn't as commonplace as it is now.

Which just gets further into the issue I have with this episode and this show where the writers can't seem to remember where we are in time. a man being vulnerable about his war service and trauma with a woman he barely knows in public? using terminology that wasn't commonplace at the time? rya's entire monologue in the diner felt very current, in the way she laid things out. is this truly how they spoke about mental illness in the 70s? it doesn't feel like it.

i said the second we entered the courtroom drama portion of the show: they're gonna put "Adam" on the stand. AND THEY DID

honestly as much as i know the subject matter of this show is dark, i've personally never felt triggered but fuck me, i hated that scene of Danny on the stand talking about Adam. not only can i not believe that Danny - being confronted for the first time with the fact that the abuse Adam suffered was actually abuse he suffered, on the stand, in public - would take it all in stride like he did and not fracture further, BUT he called it rape, out loud? it definitely was, but do you know how hard it is for people to name the thing that was done to them? i'm not saying Marlin didn't rape Danny; I'm saying I can't believe Danny would accept that the rape happened to him in one moment and then in the next one call it exactly that. his testimony on the stand was that of someone who's spent years in therapy working through this, not weeks/months.

add to that - i absolutely hated the way that Danny spilled his guts, is on the stand in tears, and when he's done speaking Stan simply says, "the defense rests" and turns his back and walks away. Danny needs care, and that mic drop moment wasn't as effective as it was cruel - to me, anyway

Rya just? Quit? lol ok.

the thing that pissed me off the most, though???????? i've said before, the existence of Adam before Marlin's abuse indicates that Marlin was not the first abuser. Danny's dad is alluded to in passing, and then we have an entire fucking episode about trying to find him in London which, I stand by my statement, is such a waste of an episode, but nothing else really? they sort of implied that maybe Marlin wasn't the first abuser Candy had dealt with? but it was all very implied, blink and you'll miss it - to the point that I thought it was just going to end unresolved. THEN, ten minutes from the end, Candy drops the bomb that Danny's dad abused him first?????????? this bothers me on several levels. 1) the way she danced around saying the words was imo how Danny should've been in the courtroom but given that we're past that it seems odd to suddenly be unable to say the words? 2) we're supposed to believe that this woman found out her four year old was being abused by his father and left, and then when she realizes that same child is being abused by her new husband she does nothing? the glimpse into their life that we see in that episode introducing kid Danny to us - it does not appear that they are struggling so desperately that she needed Marlin. 3) relatedly, Candy was called to testify to Danny's abuse, and Marlin scares her into not pointing the finger at him. BUT SHE KNEW ABOUT DANNY'S FATHER. why would she not have said anything? it absolves Marlin, it paints her as a good mom ("I got us out of there as soon as I knew") and it helps Danny. 4) They waited until the last ten minutes of the last episode to reveal this!!!!!!!!!!

this episode both felt too short and also, i was so done by the end.

overall series thoughts

Tom can act. Truly, he deserves an Emmy, Golden Globe, etc for this performance, because he's the shining star

the script was terrible. certain lines just bothered me and the characterization was all over the place. i feel like we watched two different shows - one about Danny in therapy, and one about Rya and Stan teaming up to save him. this was not a cohesive story.

again, the crime he was charged with was stupid. he shot at someone in broad daylight, missed, and the person didn't come forward? pick a different angle in, this one was toothless

i hated the courtroom stuff, i'm sorry. it was bad.

why was this set in the 70s? billy milligan. aside from DID and the not guilty by reason of insanity, in what way did this story or character in any way resemble billy milligan? they got the set dressing and the costuming right, but the racial and sexual politics, the way that rya is apparently divorced and on decent terms with her ex and former professor (love how that's never discussed and also - until 2010, new york state did not allow no fault divorce. maybe this is a minor quibble but my first thought watching this, seeing Rya doing the single mom thing, saying she's divorced, was to ask: what were the laws around divorce back then in New York? 1974 is when women were first allowed to open their own bank accounts), the glossing over of Vietnam until it was useful for Stan to be a vet with PTSD, the way that's thrown in at the last minute and also discussed in a way that seems inaccurate to the time - like, the writing either needed to reflect the time period, or they should've changed the setting. they were already changing everything, why commit to the one most exterior piece of the story? set it in 2005. Stan can still have PTSD, Rya can still be a divorced struggling single mom, prosecutor's speech about the incarceration of black and brown men wouldn't have felt quite so heavy handed - i mean really. What purpose did the 70s setting serve?

i think i liked this show more before i watched episodes 9 and 10.

it had such potential. and that's what irritates me the most, honestly. Tom gave a great performance, Amanda and Emmy were criminally underutilized, the story could have been there and could have been something. but they fumbled it. it wasn't cohesive or clear about what it wanted to be. was it about Danny or Rya? was it about the criminal justice system or mental health? was it about Mental Health or DID? because honestly, we didn't get nearly enough time with the alters, and Danny seemingly was told he had this disorder and then immediately was able to master it and control his alters. he was cagey and didn't wanna talk and was confused for several episodes, then he's "hooray for therapy" and not even speaking in the courtroom scenes/episodes. is this show really about him? it feels like this show is about Danny in the way that the movie 42 is about Jackie Robinson - it says it is, the title's about him and everything, but look closer. it's about him but he's not the active agent in this story. it's about what has been done to him, the forces enacted against him. we see less of Danny's journey than we see Rya and Stan and even Candy talk about it.

(the 42 comparison is another tangent but if you wanna talk to me about it please don't come at me in bad faith.)

i think the "just ask for help" bit bothers me so much because DID isn't so much a disorder about asking for help? yes, Danny did eventually seek help with the voices in his head, he worked to integrate them. but DID is not depression is not bipolar is not anxiety - is not any number of other things, and i think we do mental health a disservice by painting it all with the same brush. and of course this is where the issue of umbrella terms comes in. yes, all of it can be grouped under Mental Health, but asking for help in the context of: i'm feeling stressed and anxious about bills/starting a new school/my future is very different from: i think i have clinical depression, i have insomnia, racing thoughts, suicidal thoughts, flashbacks, etc. Danny needed help, that much is clear, but not in the same way that you or I might. so is his story unique or is just another mental health story? am i expressing this distinction clearly enough?

that being said, i appreciate immensely how respectful the abuse and suicide attempt were depicted in this show. not showing it is often more powerful, and i'm glad for the sake of the audience and the actors (particularly the child playing young Danny) that an attempt was not made to show the abuse, to depict the slashing. we know. it's enough.

did i like this show? i don't know. i'm gonna think about it for a long time. again, the performances were outstanding. there were moments that moved me and made me feel seen. but, for the hundredth time, just because a piece of art can evoke an emotional response does not mean that that piece is objectively good or well-constructed. i don't like amy pond as a character and i think the weeping angels are overrated but even i cried in the angels take manhattan. does that mean it's a good episode and i liked it? no, it means stephen moffat knows how to emotionally manipulate/impact an audience.

idk, i'm not sure i'd recommend this show except to say that Tom is great in it, or if i wanted someone to discuss it with me.

overall? it feels like a missed opportunity.

#weezly talks tcr #weezly responds #weezly has strong opinions about doctor who

[jackawful]

The only time I've been to Colorado Springs I was eleven. It was a stop on the way back from a mission trip and we visited the Focus On The Family headquarters. I'm still very jealous of their three-story slide. It doesn't seem like something as evil as an organization of theocrats who advocate for hitting kids and forced pregnancy and conversion "therapy" should get something as cool as a three-story slide.

Colorado Springs was the place we didn't need to send people to Save. Other bits of Colorado, we were told, had a higher concentration of sinners than Colorado Springs.

Club Q reminds me of the bars I desperately snuck into as a baby queer by fudging two years off my birthday - not trying to be served alcohol, slap that underage wristband on me and I will keep it on the whole night, I just want to see a drag performance in person once. I just want to know that people like me can have fun and make art and live to adulthood, even in the places that compete over who gets to be called the "buckle of the bible belt." I know intimately why places like this have small windows and privacy fences on their back patios.

I devoted a lot of my activist work in college to ensuring that all-ages drag shows would exist, both so our small-town community could experience the art form and maybe not be so repulsed by us, but also so that the kids younger than me wouldn't have to lie about their age to engage in our collective culture.

Since I moved, I've found myself constantly bracing for bad news from home. Did I know anyone who was performing in that donut shop art exhibition in Tulsa? Is the next arson going to be at Martha's? When I do drag queen story hour defense here, I think of all the kids who attended the last one I saw before moving, at Joplin pride in 2019, and I worry about what those kids are hearing about their parents from kids and teachers and news outlets.

I haven't spoken to my dad in years. Since my name change, I kept meaning to come out to him, but I knew it was going to be a touchy conversation and I wanted to wait for the political temperature around trans issues to cool down. And it never did, and maybe it never will. My heart rate jumped when my mom asked whether I was sick on our last phone call - I couldn't explain that my voice had dropped because of testosterone.

It feels like the sorts of people I grew up around have drawn a line in the sand with this one, doubling down on the anti-trans blood libel a la Alex Jones. It feels like what I was fleeing when I left the bible belt is coming home to roost. I hope desperately that everyone I know that's still in rural Missouri has an IFAK and knows how to use it and can maybe stomach learning pistol shooting from That Uncle, you know the one. I hope I never see you in that kind of news. I hope our community grows enough teeth and open carries outside enough drag shows and stomps in enough faces of mass shooters that they stop trying to kill us.

I hope Eureka Springs flourishes and that Milk Carton Jesus falls someday. I long for a time when we aren't under threat, but I will settle for enough of us becoming so threatening it doesn't matter.

#personal #spiritual abuse #tw #not even gonna do specific tw just all the tw #ex christian #homophobia #transphobia #I would very much like to personally remove all of matt walsh's teeth

[mysticparadigms]

Book Review: The Coward by Stephen Aryan

Disclaimer: This is my first time giving a book review rather than analysis, so please bear with me.

Let me start off by saying that it has been a long time since a novel has last captivated me like this one does. This book is under the fantasy genre, and I originally learned about it when I went on a trip to a bookstore with my best friend and was half-heartedly perusing the fantasy section. I’m fairly picky when it comes to the fantasy content I enjoy. While Tolkien has basically influenced all of modern fantasy, media that follows his format of elves, dwarves, orcs, and hobbits have little to no appeal to me, especially considering the racist underpinnings of the orcs. I’ve become tired of novels that focus on having a Chosen One, some kid being the primary defense against evil, romances between humans and elves or fairies (although this one is a personal preference as I don’t like romances in general), and worlds where the nonhuman characters are made up of species that have become oversaturated in our current zeitgeist. Although I'm not immune to popular modern fantasy; I adore Adventure Time and Attack On Titan as well as every Studio Ghibli movie I've seen to date. With all of this context, I had low hopes while looking through the fantasy section that day, but the title caught my attention. I picked it up, read the back cover, and bought it, and it sat untouched on my book shelf for roughly six months. But this last week, I told myself that if I want to read The Priory of the Orange Tree, I have to read the other fantasy book I bought this year first. It took me three days to get through it all.

Politics and Religion: One of the things that I think makes Attack On Titan, for instance, so compelling is that while there is the aspect of "ah there are monsters trying to kill us and we gotta fight 'em" is how much politics there are controlling the plot and actions of the heroes. The Coward does this wonderfully. While we follow Kell Kressia on his journey, we are also given chapters following Reverend Mother Britak, who leads the church that exists within the Five Kingdoms (side note: while the religion is not Christianity, there are definitely some connections to be made and what I think is a striking commentary on the state of Christianity as an institution today) and is trying to enforce this religion following The Shepherd across the Five Kingdoms, using political tactics to try and achieve this goal. Every royal court we are introduced to within this universe has some sort of political tension of its own, often coming into conflict with the other courts. Following the politics and scheming was very enjoyable.

Semi-Original Species: I appreciated that the author didn't include species such as elves, fairies, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, orcs, etc. in the book, although one might argue that the Alfár are a type of elf. Regardless, I appreciated that and the creatures such as the Qalamieren and the voran. It was enjoyable learning about new sorts of species and reading about them from the perspectives of people who these creatures are normal to know about, even if they don't believe in them.

Subverting the teenaged Chosen One trope as well as the model of the Hero: This might be my favorite aspect of this novel. Instead of having these larger-than-life heroes, we're shown how heroes are flawed, and oftentimes more flawed as individuals than the average person. Even Kell Kressia, the savior of the Five Kingdoms who beheaded the Ice Lich ten years ago, struggles with the expectations this victory put on him versus his knowledge that he basically just got lucky. It wasn't his skill that helped him win, or some prophecy foretelling his victory, it was nothing more than a matter of chance. I liked how human this made all of the characters feel. I truly felt like I could relate to Kell because he struggles with the troubles of others' expectations of him versus what he knows truly happened, but additionally he comes home with what would likely be diagnosed as PTSD. Even a victory comes at a severe psychological cost.

Addressing the realities of how traumatizing these romanticized quests can be as well as the fragility of the body: There was no over-the-top gore, which I appreciated as someone who has recently become much more sensitive to it than I used to be. But at the same time, excessive gore wasn't necessary to drive home what physical strain the characters experienced when making their Hero's Journey. I am particularly intrigued by how the human body as an entity is portrayed in literature, and this book was perfect for such an interest. We were shown how humans overestimate the danger they can handle, and they don't understand that every hero we idolize is simply Just Some Guy who also can have wounds get infected, or bleed out from one (albeit deep) stab wound. While this made the fight scenes feel somewhat less intense physically than scenes where there is a lot of wounding of the main characters and killing is seen as casual, the psychology behind what the characters were feeling as well as the stress of knowing that it doesn't actually take much to get killed by a wild animal or adversary made the fight scenes intense in their own right.

Romance: As someone generally averse to the romance genre and dreads romance in fantasy books due to the advent of romances between humans and elves/fairies/werewolves/vampies/etc., I'm happy to say that this route was not taken in The Coward. There is mention of sex (for instance we have scenes where we're told two characters just had or are about to have sex, one character getting offered money for a sexual encounter but is denied, and one seventeen year old's sexual fantasy going horribly awry in a nightmare of his) but nothing that goes into detail. The main character hopes to one day have a wife and start a family, but this goal is portrayed more as representing the idea of having a "normal" and simple life, thus escaping the trauma of Kell's time as a "hero." It's hardly even mentioned that Kell would like to start a family and is not one of his actual goals he pursues but rather, as I mentioned before, symbolic of the sort of peace he wishes to achieve. There is, however, a side romance in the novel. But it's beautiful and doesn't dominate the narrative or even the goals of the characters within the romance itself. They are both fully formed individuals with dreams and fears and quirks and triumphs of their own, their romance just portrays the beauty of two lost souls finding refuge in a chaotic and lonely world. I enjoyed every scene that featured them.

My critiques: I wish that we had been given a clearer picture of how, in his first quest, Kell had defeated the Ice Lich. Or just their journey into the castle altogether. We know how a lot of the eleven heroes died, and I appreciate the author trusting that his readers are intelligent enough to piece together the story of what happened through the sporadic vignettes given, but I would've liked to hear about what happened with Kell after the last hero died, even if we saw it through a flashback he has within a dream where the maze is foggy in his memory and weren't given the exact play-by-play. On another note, while the book's climax originally felt like it could've been—for lack of a better term—more climatic than what we saw, I realized on reflection that the climax being as it was fits the story, its overarching themes, and Kell's disillusionment with The Hero's Quest perfectly. 

Overall, this book was amazing. After I finished it, I ran right back to the local bookstore to grab the final novel in this series: The Warrior. If you're looking for a fantasy novel where the "hero" is Just Some Guy and where the realities of the stereotypical Hero's Journey are presented as being traumatizing events rather than proud conquests, then this is the book for you.

#book review #fantasy

[staringdownabarrel]

Alright, so here's my overall thoughts on Picard's final season.

I think this was ultimately the best paced season the show's ever had. Previous seasons have traditionally ended up getting a bit derailed halfway through and introducing a lot of plot threads that they can't really wrap up properly. For the most part, every plot thread that season three introduced was wrapped up by the end of the season. I think this season also did a much better job at keeping each individual episode well paced than previous seasons as well.

On a gut level, this is also pretty much always what I wanted from a season of Picard: bringing back the entirety of the old crew, putting them on a ship, and having them do one last mission together. While that's always been a bit of a fan fic-y desire on my part, the fact that there even is a Picard show is a fan fic-y thing.

I don't necessarily think this means it was a good final season for the show as it existed prior to this, though. There's a lot of threads from previous seasons that would have made sense to bring up here. Soji could have been doing something with the Daystrom Station for example, and bringing back Jurati for the Borg twist at the end would have made a lot of sense.

I'm also not really a big fan of bringing back Ro and Shelby just to kill them off, either. At least with Ro, the defense can be made that she at least got to do something that's important to the plot before she was killed off. Shelby was there for like a minute before she took three to the chest.

At least in this regard, season three hasn't been any worse than previous seasons, though. This is the time-honoured tradition of Picard ever since they immediately killed off Maddox in season one.

With Ro specifically, I feel like Picard's anger with her about her defection to the Maquis wasn't really in line with how he's traditionally been portrayed. Traditionally, Picard's always been the kind of guy who sees Starfleet's orders as something that can ultimately be disobeyed if his conscience says to do that. This is why he's willing to tell Admiral Haftel that Data can keep his child in The Offspring; it's also why he shows up to the battle in First Contact and why he sides with the Ba'ku in Insurrection.

Prior to this, the only time when Picard's known to have taken issue with someone acting like this was when Worf killed Duras. A lot of that wasn't just the murder is wrong angle; it was also the risk of how it could have complicated the Federation's relationship with the Klingon Empire at a time when they needed the Klingons on side to maintain their position against the Romulans.

This kind of reasoning didn't really apply to Ro Laren defecting to the Maquis. The Federation's relationship with the Cardassians was already being complicated by the Maquis' existence; one more Starfleet officer going over wasn't going to change that too much. Plus, the Federation's justice was very forgiving--Bashir's parents only got a couple of years for having him genetically modified for example, and that was one of humanity's biggest social taboos.

Plus, for the most part, Picard's general vibe really wasn't to make anyone who ever crossed him a personal nemesis. That was always more of a Sisko thing. We don't ever see him on the brink of making Admiral Nechayev his own personal nemesis even though they had a rocky relationship, and he doesn't seem to do it with Ishara Yar or Sela, either. Towards the end of TNG, he's even starting to warm to Q, and Q is kinda the closest thing he's ever had to a personal nemesis.

So this idea that Picard was just dwelling on what Ro had done in Preemptive Strike for thirty years seems a bit rich to me. I think it's one of those plot threads that really only existed because the writers didn't really understand what Picard's vibe was. I think it also undermines the progress Picard had made in the previous season, because I feel like if he was willing to let go of this deep childhood trauma that had informed his character forever after, then at some point he would have sat down and said, "Okay, but why not also this?"

I think it was also a mistake to basically bring Data back from the dead, too. Part of his arc in the show's first season was that he had the realisation that life had value because it ended. They ended up scrubbing that idea entirely so that they could bring him back but different, essentially.

While this is broadly in line with how death in Star Trek can work--most shows will have at least one character who's brought back from the dead at some point--I feel like doing it twice in one show starts to make the franchise a little bit too much like Dragon Ball Z for my liking. No hate to DBZ fans because it's also great, but thematically speaking, if I wanted to watch a show where death was ultimately just a temporary inconvenience if you're part of the main cast, I'd be watching that instead of Star Trek.

All of this being said, I feel like season three probably would have been great if it'd been the show's first season, not its final one. As just a standalone plot, there's a lot of things about it that I think are a bit fan fic-y, but are ultimately forgivable. It's just not a very good follow up to what had happened in the previous two seasons. Really, my contention with season three is that while it's decent as a standalone thing, it really isn't a good final season.

I also liked how they kept Worf as kind of a funny guy. This was never something that was explicitly canon, but there were a couple of moments in TNG where it's kinda-sorta implied that he has a very subtle, very dry sense of humour where people wouldn't necessarily pick up on the joke until a while later.

Like, in 11001001, he makes a comment to Riker about not seeing the point in keeping score in games if not to win, and Yar and Riker both seem to be on the same page about it maybe being a joke. Later on in Transfigurations, he tells LaForge that a woman he's interested in has to be able to see the passion in his eyes, and then later on tells Riker he'd been coaching him on his dating life.

While stuff like that was probably intended to be the writers thinking it'd be a good way to emphasise how different Worf was from some of his human crewmates, I've always taken it to mean that Worf is kind of a funny guy once you start to pick up on his style of humour. For him, part of the punchline is always other people's reactions just as much as the literal punchline of the joke.

I think his line in the finale, "I'll make it a threesome," generally kept with that. This isn't really the kind of thing people would pick up on as a joke in the moment, but they'd probably realise what his intent was a couple of months later. It very much fits with the "confusing now, funny tomorrow" sort of jokes Worf would occasionally make in TNG.

I have some other thoughts on this season, but I feel like a lot of it could probably work as their own posts. Some of this stuff could probably work as their own posts as well if I fleshed them out a bit more honestly, so stay tuned I guess.

#star trek #star trek picard #star trek pic #pic #picard #spoilers #rant

[padme-amitabha]

One of my favorite things I have seen that has changed in last couple years is people went from Anakin is bad for beating up Clovis to now, I see people cheering him on and rejoicing in him whooping ass. I have seen more people say they hate the way the show tried to make Clovis the victim when he was trying to assault Padme and how that plot aged horribly and was horrible for young girls to watch

True they tried to portray the darkness in Anakin as violence or possessiveness when it was just his inner conflicts. As much as I hate Clovis, all three of them were at fault in the arc imo. Clovis was a sleaze but he also didn't know she was married. And Padme lead him on and gave some mixed signals and was weirdly defensive of him to Anakin so idk he gets jealous. Anakin was right to protect his wife but also near the end he gets unnecessarily violent and also pulls that "I'm your husband" card. All in all, this scene was a raging dumpster fire with a character who shouldn't exist and Anidala being OOC.

#ask

[galacticexevt]

OC Prompt/Ask

Hi guys! I have another short writing piece to share with you all! I am so proud how this one turned out. I enjoyed writing this so much that I decided to make another version in a different POV. I should be able to share that one within the next week or so as I still need to make a few edits and corrections.

Just as a small heads up, this mini story alludes to chapter three of Galactic's lore- which is still a work in progress. There might be a few spoilers or a couple of things that might be a little confusing without context. Hopefully, this should still be an easy read and make sense within the prompt itself. Prompt: Who was/is your OC's first enemy? What was/is that relationship like? Do they still consider that person an enemy? Or have they moved past that? (Galactic regarding Bishop)

Uhm, I think I might have to give that award to Bishop. She and I don't go around holdin' hands, frolicking through flowers and making friendship bracelets. Nah, nah, nah; it's that on-sight, anywhere and everywhere kinda of relationship. 

So, lemme back it up a bit; this all started with me fallin' for one of Maelstrom's traps set up by Bishop. Honestly, I should've seen it comin'; it was a pretty...blatant setup thinkin' back on it; be we don't talk about my terrible perception, Kohren still gives me shit for it. 

It was just supposed to be a simple shipment heist, nothin' I ain't familiar with. Just grab the goods and bounce back to Kohren's shop. Easy peasy, right? Wrong. When I arrived at the shipment site, the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by at least twelve armed mercs, and a buncha red dots were aimed at my body. 

No biggie, I've dealt with Maelstrom's mercenaries before when I pulled off smaller heists, and they usually aren't hell-bent on catching just one person; more like they don't get paid enough to do so. Anyways, they typically aren't hard to take down; most of them don't know how to operate their own weapons- poor fuckers. So, you'd think this fight would go off without a hitch, right? Wrong again!

I don't know if they sent out some new special forces or some shit, but these guys were armed to the teeth. They had weaponry that I had never seen before- and should know what kinda weapons they have! I steal them all the time! And don't get me started on their armor. My funky-fun-gun was no match for it. Not even halfway into the ambush, the power cells in my gun ran out, and Kohren hates it when I use my more...volatile methods of fighting, but in my defense, I was being ganged up on by Maelstrom merc's! I had no other choice! 

And besides, it was a solo mission; what a perfect excuse to let off some steam without the old man baggerin' me. So ya boy let loose, and oh fuck was it a rush, alright. I finally got to break out the new explosives I have been fucking with, and while they are definitely still in the testing phase, I also didn't bother labeling which is which, so each time one went off, it was like a bit of surprise gift for me and those poor Maelstrom mercs. 

I was damn near able to grab the shipment and make my way out until I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck. A dart. A mother-fucking dart. It felt like I got a direct injection of the most potent drugs in the slums; I swear to fucking god, everything was moving in slow motion. I tried to kick on my hover shoes, but it felt like there were weights tied to me, and I couldn't get them to kick start. In a damn near shroom-induced state, I threw one last grenade I had in my jacket pocket...and...the last thing I remember hearing was a blood-curdling scream. And the last thing I felt was another dart in my side. 

I had no fucking clue how long I had been out, but when I woke up, it felt like I got resurrected from the dead; I had cold sweats in places I never knew could sweat. And I was greeted with the most angry-lookin' women I've ever seen in my whole 200 years of existence. She was coated with blood and nasty gashes; judging by the singed Maelstrom uniform, she must've been one of the lucky motherfuckers who survived the fight...and definitely wasn't happy to see my face, but she was more than happy to take her aggression out on it. 

She...she straight up tortured me- for what felt like fuckin' hours. That woman packs a severe punch- I swear I didn't have a snoring problem until her fist had VIP access to my nose. She damn near beat me 'till I turned purple; shit was brutal. But it didn't stop there; she had some of her science nerds whip up some kinda injection, and whatever it was...fucked my body up. It felt like I was burning from the inside out, I was coughing up blood, and my mouth was fucking foaming...just...awful...fucking awful...

Kohren managed to track down my current location, usin' one of his funky lil' drones, knocked out the building's primary power source, and blew up an exit for me. Despite being beaten to a pulp, I managed to get my lick back on her. I wasn't about to leave the scene, not having the last laugh. 

Despite being drugged to hell and back, I managed to knock her out to make my escape. She was already pretty banged up from the earlier fight, and her murderous adrenaline rush ran out. 

I reckon the takeaway from all of this is that we both struck a deep nerve within each other. I took the lives of some of Bishop's colleagues...she is within her right to want me dead. And the fucking torture she put me through...I wish the same upon her, too, I suppose...  

#dialogue prompt #prompts #vtuber #vtuberlore #galacticlore #original character #original writing #oc #character design #writeblr

[hopeintheashes]

Oversharing on the Internet

Tagged By: @mellaithwen! <3

ONE: Are you named after anyone?

Nope! My parents just liked the name. I was almost named after my dad's grandmother, though. (For clarity, my actual name isn't Hope, that's just for internet anonymity purposes. :-))

TWO: When was the last time you cried?

I just watched a sad documentary, so in that sense, less than an hour ago. Over something in my own life? My last therapy session. (Most therapy sessions. In a useful/productive way.)

THREE: Do you have kids?

Not yet! That's the plan, though.

FOUR: Do you use sarcasm a lot?

An average amount, I think?

FIVE: What sports have you played/do you play?

I danced all the way through school (lyrical/tap/ballet/etc.). I did one season each of soccer when I was 8 and basketball when I was in 7th grade. Really wasn't my thing. Now, I do non-competitive things like hiking and kayaking.

SIX: What's the first thing you notice about people?

Their expression/attitude - it's always a quick calculation of, Is this an interaction where I'm going to be safe? Comfortable and relaxed? On the defense? In work mode? Things like that.

SEVEN: What's your eye color?

Brown. (Which apparently is a rare combo with red hair! Yay.)

EIGHT: Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings all the way.

NINE: Any special talents?

Sight-reading piano music. This talent was honed via many years of not practicing and just showing up to lessons/to play for church and sight-reading the music on the spot, lol. It's a useful skill!

TEN: Where were you born?

About an hour from where I grew up. (I was adopted, for context.)

ELEVEN: What are your hobbies?

Music, reading (hey, I love it even if I don't do it as often as I used to!), writing (fanfic, of course), doing Vermonty outdoorsy things at a casual level, crochet/knitting/embroidery...

TWELVE: Do you have any pets?

No, not since I had fish as a kid. I'm not opposed to having pets in the future, but probably it will take a) a partner who really wants a pet and/or b) having kids, so that my life is already tied-down and complicated, haha.

THIRTEEN: How tall are you?

5'6"

FOURTEEN: Favorite subject in school?

Anything music-related, for sure, followed by anything that felt like I got to unlock a puzzle/discover something new - so really any class (English, science, math, social studies) that was taught in an interesting way. Or occasionally where we taught ourselves, in the semesters where we had teachers who didn't actually know the subject matter. Yes, this happened on a semi-routine basis. Our (rural, moderately-resourced) school was... okay. Adequate. It had some bright spots! We'll go with that.

FIFTEEN: Dream job

The one I have now! (The profession/career, I mean, although my first year at my current job has been a positive experience as well.)

I'm still in semi-hermit mode so I'm not going to tag anyone, but this is me waving at the world: Hi! I still exist! Okay, I'm disappearing again. :-)

#tag game