#me: continuously getting attached to ideas that I have no proof or basis for. it’s a curse | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aranora · 2 years

Note

Hello! Can i request cyno x male!reader :)

Reader need something from dragonspine, so he agreed with aether to go with him, but cyno got a bit jealous, so he goes with reader too :D

We all know cyno's outfit🥶, reader asks cyno about the cold, but cyno tells him it's ok(it's not), so reader hugs him, cyno gets so flustered ;)

All I can see is just really pouty Cyno as he trudges through the snow behind you basically attached to you while traveller is just tryna talk haha. I actually really liked the idea considering the change in scenery and overall just feel of Dragonspine compared to the desert and how he just wouldn't know how to act properly with not being accustomed to the mountain. I just noticed this would be my first fluffy story on this account and I actually quite like covering a different thing to usual! I don't write for male readers that much but I will try! If I make any mistakes with pronouns (story will be using He/him but will be first person) please inform me so I can adjust it. ❄️Snowflake❄️ ❄️Warnings: I don't think there are many warnings as it's overall just fluff with some jealousy. Not really a warning at all but established relationship! ❄️Not proof read ❄️Word count:886 ❄️For the traveller I'm using Aether! ❄️Reader will have a pyro vision for only the most important reason, lighting the damn campfires. Will also be catalyst. (One time I almost froze because my Diluc just wouldn't light the fire and kept swinging at nothing and I'm still very annoyed about that) ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ Grumbles escaped from your lover that trailed beside you, glaring at the traveller that happily talked to you as you began to scale the mountain. You knew that Aether knew Dragonspine best of the people you were friends with in Sumeru, taking the chance to request for him to go with you to look for something that had piqued your interest. Aether accepted happily, seeing it as a chance to both hangout with you and see Albedo again if he was working at the lab. The Adventure was sure to be long and hold it's struggles, but with Aether is felt a lot easier than you're usual adventures. Cyno had demanded to tag along with you both, thinking he just wanted to see the snow which never was found in Sumeru with the harsh temperatures on a regular basis. As you reached the frost covered ground, the cold quickly hit you, nipping at your exposed cheeks and nose. You listed your hands to your face as you continued the stroll, snow clinging to the material of your thick pants. The pre set camp came into view as you slowed a bit, drowsiness finally kicking in after the long hike. As Aether wandered ahead, informing of his plan to visit a friend your attention flicked over to Cyno who awkwardly shuffled in the dense snow. You only now noticed him still in his usual attire, chest fully exposed to the cool breeze. You had expected him to be wearing his cloak that he would always wear when venturing out of Sumeru, so you were somewhat surprised by the fact that he wasn't and that you somehow didn't notice earlier. "Cyno where's your cloak? It's cold up here you'll get sick." Worry was evident in your voice as you look towards him, his nose turning a shade of red from the low temperature. "I must of forgotten it before we left. I'll be fine it isn't that cold anyways." He gave a small shrug walking towards the camp once again. It was clear that the cold was getting to him despite his denial, walking close behind him to follow him towards the tent. He stopped in front of a small tent, looking towards the frost covered trees in slight wonder, not seeing snow in what felt like forever. You hurried towards him, wrapping your arms around him as you leaned into him. You tilted your head back, looking at his flustered face as he avoided eye contact with you. "what are you doing?" His voice came out in a hushed whisper, one hand raising to cover the lower half of his face while the other rested around your waist. "keeping you warm of course" "But i'm not cold" "just accept the hug then" He slowly melted into your touch, wrapping both his arms around you as he leant against your shoulder. The both of you stayed in place for a few moments before you felt him shiver slightly, proving further his denial. You pulled back heading towards the campfire, taking out your catalyst and quickly lit the fire. Walking back towards Cyno, you began to tug on his arm to pull him towards the fire to sit on the log. You once again pulled him into an embrace, leaning against his chest allowing yourself to rest. Cyno's hand came to rest on your head, stroking your hair as he let you pull him closer. He felt something fall on his arm, looking up to see snowflakes falling gracefully. His free hand lifted up, catching a lone one in his palm watching the crystallised snow melt against the warmth of his skin. He looked down at you with a gentle smile, feeling your body slowly rise and fall. Your soft snores reached his ears as he pulled your cloak tighter around you, making sure to keep you warm as more snowflakes fell around you both. He leant against you , resting his head on your own as he let his eyes closed, keeping your body close to his. Aether walked back to the campsite with Paimon by his side, speaking to her hearts content as they scaled the steep slope on the mountain. The sound of fire crackling caught his ears as his eyes became level with the tents, seeing the both of you resting on the log by the still lit fire. He turned to Paimon, motioning her to keep her voice down as he pointed at you both who went unnoticed by Paimon at first. The two Sat on the opposite log, taking out a sunsettia each waiting for you one of you to wake up. Aether noticed Cyno shift as he tilted his head towards the pair, raising an eyebrow not realising when they had returned. He noticed their looks towards you, a mix of confusion and slight worry visible to him. "He's sleeping, he was tired from the walk. You guys can look for what we came for tomorrow." Aether gave him a nod as he gave Paimon a look, standing and walking towards their tent giving Cyno a small goodnight before closing the door behind them. His attention returned to you as he placed a soft kiss on your forehead, staying in place to allow you to sleep further as he allowed his eyes to wander towards the unfamiliar scenery. "I love you y/n." ❄️❄️ I wasn't sure what to do for certain parts so I wrote what came to mind. ❄️This is one of three requests so far! The next 2 will be written and published over the next 1-5 days.

#genshin x reader #genshin fanfic #genshin fluff #genshin x y/n #genshin x male reader #genshin x you #cyno x reader #cyno x you #cyno fluff #cyno x male reader

229 notes · View notes

k-s-morgan · 2 years

Note

I wanted to know your thoughts on Ciel in Wonderland - particulalrly the parts where Ciel is questioned why he's chasing Sebastian so hard. All of it has some very interesting implications with Grell interrogating Ciel after all that stuff about love, but everything being narrated by Sebastian in reality.

Funny that you sent me this ask because I was re-watching Ciel in Wonderland just today :D I have a lot of thoughts about it. I think it’s pretty much a masterpiece, albeit with some drawbacks (like over-sexualization of female characters that gets absurd in here).

Technically, Ciel in Wonderland is set at the start of S2, but plot-wise, it’s perfect for S2 finale as well. Both feature the same main idea: Ciel loses his soul and is chasing Sebastian, struggling with the idea of being abandoned by him.

Considering that Ciel’s soul forms the basis of their relationship, at least officially, it’s understandable why he feels so uncertain and insecure once he loses it. He thinks that with him soulless, Sebastian’s attraction and attachment will be gone, and he’ll be left trying to get his attention again with no luck. Throughout both parts of this OVA, Ciel is frequently changing shape physically: the very name everyone calls him (”Alice”) is not his. People are imposing a foreign identity on him because that's how he sees himself. Without his soul, he doesn't have Sebastian's affection, and without Sebastian, he no longer feels like Ciel Phantomhive. Sebastian has become a large defining part of him, and by losing him, Ciel loses his very self.

We see him experience different periods of his life. A scene with Lau and Ran-Mao is pretty distasteful, but its meaning is brilliant: first, Ciel becomes an adult, but he's not comfortable in this shape. It's curious because he always acted like one, striving to be seen as a grown-up. Now he has this chance but he's angry about it. Then he's turned into a baby, a time when his life was peaceful and happy, one that he was shown reminiscing about occasionally. He's not happy again: he's threatening Lau to turn him back right this instant. Being the age he is now is his preferred option - he's content with things as they are, but he needs Sebastian by his side. That’s the only thing missing.

Without Sebastian, Ciel doesn't remember who he is, but a part of him does. A part of him knows that no matter what state he is in, if something were to happen, Sebastian would save him - that's what happens after Ciel nearly drowns. But this part rests in his subconscious, and as long as he's conscious, he continues to dismiss it and chase Sebastian instead. Several people ask him why he's doing it and he can't reply to their question. The truth is too large and too uncomfortable to acknowledge and thus remember: Ciel just knows that Sebastian is everything to him and that finding him is vital, so he keeps going.

The scenes with Grell are amazing, I love them basically going into a hissy fit over Sebastian :D Everything about their talk and the positioning in this OVA overall is deeply and explicitly romantic. Like others, Grell encourages Ciel to look into himself and understand why he needs Sebastian so desperately and what he wants to prove. He openly calls him a lost boy in love.

During the tea session with Undertaker, Ciel sees several reflections in his cup, and most of them feature Sebastian one way or another. He's the center of everything: Ciel doesn't need the "sweetener," aka Elisabeth - he needs his butler.

The trial scene is epic and when everyone starts demanding proof, Ciel cringes away. He might feel affection for these people, but he doesn't need them: he has no proof to show them. But then Sebastian’s voice comes, and it drowns every other sound. Because ultimately, it's the only voice that matters.

When Sebastian appears, he says: "Prove it to me. Prove to me that you remain yourself."

In other words, prove to me that you are you still you even without your soul, without your memories. And Ciel does. He cries: "Even if I lose everything, I'm still me!"

Sebastian gathers him and gazes at him in such a warm, loving way... and what does he say afterward? "The truth is, you don't need any proof at all ... Simply call my name and I shall come."

This all is a definition of romance and self-discovery. Ciel re-discovers himself through his connection with Sebastian, comes to terms with the fact that Sebastian is essential to him, and proves to himself that Sebastian will always want him, soul or not. Sebastian won't give up on him at the start of S2; he won't kill him at the end of S2 even though Ciel is a demon because their attachment is mutual.

There are so many scenes, but if I keep talking about them, the post will get endless :D The last thing I'd mention is Sebastian's POV. Ciel is having an insightful dream inspired by Sebastian reading to him, and he tackles his own worries there; Sebastian, in turn, is reading Alice in Wonderland to a soulless Ciel. Ciel's favorite white rose is decorating his clothes; a cup of hot tea is waiting on the table, even though Ciel isn't going to drink it right now. Sebastian has no reason to stay close and do any of it, neither at the start nor at the end of S2. But he does - because he cares about Ciel and can't properly function without him. Their obsession is every bit mutual and this OVA shows it beautifully.

#black butler #kuroshitsuji #sebaciel #ciel phantomhive #sebastian michaelis #ciel in wonderland

127 notes · View notes

governmentissuedclone · 10 months

Text

6 years ago I dropped out of high school. I had a lot of fucked up shit going on in my life and it made finishing school just,, not an option. Abusive home, absent parents, severe mental health issues involving multiple suicide attempts that went completely unaddressed, working over 40 hours a week to help pay rent, parentification and being forced to take care of my sibling, taking drugs to cope, etc etc. How tf could I have been expected to balance a full high school workload on top of that??

It's not something I really tell people but it's not something I will lie about. There is a couple of people who know because it directly came up in conversation but most people in my life have no idea. When other people find out it always just sort of shifts the way they see me even if only a little bit. It doesn't matter that there was extenuating circumstances. It doesn't matter how much I can prove how smart I am. It doesn't matter that I have put a continued effort into continuing my education in the past 6 years in a self directed manner in an environment I can handle. It doesn't matter that my life is fine without out and that they and I are in the same boat.

The second you have the label "high school dropout" attached to you they will see you as slightly lesser. There will always be a part of their eyes that sees me as 'that dumb broad that couldn't even finish high school'. The world has decided that I am of an inherent lesser value because of it.

I'm fine! My life is fine! I have a stable job, my own apartment with my partner, friends and family and pets. But there is always this dark fucking cloud that hangs over my head and every survey or job application or anything that I apply for exists to remind me of it. I would give anything to never have it and to have just finished school the first time around but that's not the hand life dealt me. I want this stupid weight on me gone.

I haven't gone back sooner because it took time to get my life into a more stable position. I didn't want to start the process before I was ready because I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it.

I have been thinking about it a lot lately and realized that I'm kind of okay rn and I would like to work on tackling this and getting it done. I haven't told anyone, not even my partner, and I initially had no plans to until I had that fucking diploma because I can't bear the thought of fucking it up again and everyone knowing I failed twice at smth that came so easy for everybody else. I want to be able to put that dumb piece of paper on my wall so I could point at it and go "look! Look what I worked hard for for 17 fucking years! I earned that!!".

And I can. I can enroll and start an ABE course in January. There'd be shit to work out but I have the option now. I'm so fucking scared. I'm terrified. Now it's real instead of pipe dream and all of that buried school anxiety is rushing back into my head plus every adult anxiety and stress I deal with on a daily basis. I'm fighting every instinct in my body that's telling me to bail and run away and keep the status quo. But I want to do this. I have to do this. For me. I don't have anything I need to prove to anyone. But I need to prove it to myself. But I need to remind myself it's okay if I fail. It's okay if shit happens and gets all fucked up and I can't finish it. My life won't fall apart. I have to at least try.

If you read this far and are in a similar boat of being a lowly little drop out I just want you to know that it's okay. Realizing that life is different for everybody and some people do things later and that's okay and you're not a failure is a hard thing to accept and I struggle with it a lot still and probably always will. There's a bizarre value people place on things like this all "oh you have to complete X Life Goal by X time or you're a failure who will amount to nothing and die!!!" But they're wrong. Every day of my life is proof they're wrong. My life is fine and stable and happy. But it's so deeply ingrained in our culture and society that it's hard to ever move past it. I promise you'll be okay, just keep on chugging 👍.

#my thoughts #tw life #tw drugs #tw suicide #tw mental health #tw abuse #high school #high school dropout #adult diploma #ged #education

9 notes · View notes

fox-steward · 2 years

Note

So I hope this doesn’t come off as anything other than a genuine question toward your last post as I’m someone who is breaking free of TRA ideas and really truly trying to understand this pov because I feel like I do understand and believe all of what I’ve heard here so far. But with your last answered ask you say you truly feel that the basis of trans as like a mismatch of body doesn’t exist.. the only thing that’s catching me on the shift of this view is this - I’m going to use they but this is someone born male. I have a family member who is trans, I was a teen when they were born. As an infant, they would actually self harm and aggressively be tearing at their genitals and cry. They continued this into being a toddler, where when they started speaking they would constantly express distress in their genitals and wanting to rip them off or otherwise speak of removing themselves from this body part and rejecting every part of being associated with their sex.. I was very involved and around for the early years while this was happening and there was no sexual abuse, and issues around trans/gender stuff was not discussed or even much a thought for our family at the time. Witnessing the distress and disconnect of body for this baby is one of the few things that does have me hold on to the idea that though most of this is bs, maybe there is /some/, though rare, truth or basis behind the idea of being born in “the wrong body”? Or is there a part of this that I’m still just missing because of the ways I’ve been taught to view transness??

i think your question is genuine, but i also think it comes from a place of...idk...something in the realm of a "gottcha," but less malicious. like a subconscious desire to hold onto a comforting belief.

how am i supposed to answer such a hyper-specific question? i think you're relying on this one anecdote to hold onto a way of thinking that comforts you, because it leaves room for the possibility of it all being real: gender, souls, misplaced souls, separation of body and mind. idk which one you're attached to.

but for me, it's so much easier to believe this poor child was influenced by gender roles (not necessarily trans ideology) and developed distress at his sex. there is also the possibility that he was suffering from another mental illness which, through the lens of a culture that sees distress at one's sex as evidence of cross sex identification, invited those around him to understand his suffering as a desire to be female. both of those are more convincing explanations of this specific instance than the sudden and miraculous proof of a soul, intrinsic gender identity, and the solving of the question of mind/body dualism.

i offer only two possible explanations but there are surely others that aren't so fantastical as the existence of a gender soul mistakenly placed into the wrong body. don't even get me started on what it might mean if a gender-soul WERE mistakenly placed into the wrong body, because then we must ask the question of WHO made the mistake? what happened to the RIGHT body? HOW does a mistake like this get made? WHERE do gender-souls come from that they are separate from the body? *cue religious existentialism*

#to be clear i don't think you asking this was wrong #thanks for being open enough to ask #i'm just tired today #asked #answered #anon #anonymous #trans #transgener #gender dysphoria #detrans #radfem #radical feminism #detransition #gender critical #transgender

19 notes · View notes

nordleuchten · 3 years

Text

La Fayette in Prison - Part 4.2 - Adrienne in Paris

After six months the dreaded news came. Adrienne was to be transferred to Paris. Virginie wrote:

My mother arrived in Paris on the 19th of Prairial, the eve of the fete de l'Étre supréme, three days before the decree of the 22nd, which organized une terreur dans la Terreur. At that time, no less than sixty people were daily falling victims of the Revolutionary Tribunal. All seemed to forebode approaching death to my mother.

Her children were allowed to visit her one last time and her oldest daughter, Anastasie, argued and pleaded with the guards that she was old enough to be taken with her mother to Paris, that she was an adult and guilty of the same “crimes” as her mother. Anastasie was fifteen at this point in time and the guard refused her, although they were visibly touched by her plea.

Frestel, well aware of the imminent danger, wrote Morris in Paris and informed him about the situation. Morris lost no time and immediately demanded Robespierre himself to release Adrienne - he was ignored. Morris had previously been quite open about this dislike for the revolution and was therefore not really welcomed. He however made it very, very, very clear, that the Americans were quite attached to La Fayette and his whole family and that if, should anything happen to Adrienne or the children, this could quite possible be the final straw for the Americans. He said, and I paraphrase here, Morris himself was a tad more diplomatic, “Our rebellion against England started with a trade boycott. America is one of the last countries that still trades with France. The American government is and will remain neutral, but if something were to happen to Adrienne or her children and the American people start boycotting French goods, well, what is the government supposed to do?” After that, Morris was even more hated by the Jacobins but his initiative proofed to be successful. Adrienne remained in prison but it was made clear that she should not be executed. Americas neutrality was nothing that France could afford to lose.

Frestel had furthermore collected all the jewellery that still reminded in Chavaniac and sold most of it, so that Adrienne would have money while in prison. A number of the servants even gave some of their own money to Adrienne (have I mentioned how great and loyal and amazing the servants were?).

Adriennes mother, the duchess d’Ayen, her sister, the vicomtesse de Noailles and her grandmother, the duchess de Noailles were all executed early in July of 1794. Her mother and sister had fled to safety in Switzerland but decided to return to France to nurse Adrienne’s dying grandfather. After his death, the three women were arrested. Virginie wrote concerning their arrests:

My grand mother and my aunt de Noailles, who had remained along time at Saint - Germain, to take care of the Maréchal de Noailles in his old age, returned to Paris after his death, anxious to attend once more to their religious duties. They were, soon after their return, put under arrest in their own house, at the Hôtel de Noailles. The danger of their situation filled my mother's mind with terror and absorbed all her thoughts.

They died on the same day. Their local priest was able to get close enough to them to give them the absolution. He later noted that the two duchesses at least were content with their fate because they would both die before their child. On the day of the execution, the duchess de Noailles was the first to be guillotined, followed by her daughter, the duchess d’Ayen who in her turn was followed by her daughter, the vicomtesse de Noailles. A parent should not outlive their child.

I can not imagine what Adrienne must have felt as she received the news. All her live she had been extremely close with her mother and her older sister Louise. She furthermore could never be completely certain that she were not to follow her family members to the guillotine. Her American connections kept her safe for the time being, but that could change quickly.

The downfall of Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety was Adrienne’s salvation. More moderate forces took over the reign of government and less and less people were executed. Adrienne however was still in prison - and she did not know why. James Monroe, a close and dear friend of La Fayette had just taken over as ambassador from Morris and getting Adrienne out of prison was one of his top priorities. He could not risk a diplomatic misstep in his affair and he therefor did something very clever - he asked his wife Elizabeth Monroe if she would like to visit Adrienne. Elizabeth naturally agreed and soon the Monroe couple visited Adrienne on a regular basis and brought her all sorts of things she might need in prison. Their visits served two purposes (beside cheering poor Adrienne up). They made it clear that America was still very invested in the wellbeing of Adrienne and her family. They also kept Adrienne in the spotlight because it almost seemed as if the new government had simply forgotten that she was still imprisoned - and still without any reasonable charges. Adrienne wrote Monroe on October 3, 1794:

It is likely that I will be the last to leave this place. I believe that the threat of execution is subsiding and if hope persists, there is no danger for me, as I have not the least reason to be held. But the situation of my children so far away from me adds to the sorrow that will follow me to my grave. These cruel anxieties and this kind of torment not being completely without remedy, I beg you to ease my cares by allowing me a moment of conversation with a man who should have your full confidence. Nothing is easier than what I am asking you, and I cannot believe that you would refuse me. (…)I truly need you to look after the interest of my dear children from whom I have been torn apart. It isn’t too much I think after a two-month confinement in the same place, to ask for the consoling confirmation that I have some right to hope for my liberation at the moment of their arrival. You see, my dear sir, that I assume no pride in this because I sense that you have already enough assurances of my appreciation that I am ready for you to undertake new responsibilities. But, I am accustomed to remaining silent when I am not allowed to express openly what I feel. Pardon the candor with which I express myself to you; and doubt not that not only what the United States and its minister has done for me, but what they have willingly attempted to do for me, has instilled in me a very sincere appreciation.

There are many letters between Monroe and Adrienne, a few letters between Adrienne and Washington and only one letter between Adrienne and La Fayette (that I know of). Monroe did not only aided Adrienne in obtaining her release but he also helped her further with her finances and to take care of several relatives and former employees. Here is just one of the many, many examples. Adrienne wrote to Monroe in an undated letter (in all likelihood November 1794):

I cannot finish without recommending again to the kindnesses of the American minister, Mr Mercier, a servant who has served me for seventeen years with fidelity and zeal, and who has also run risks for me and shared with me a month in prison. He has a position at this moment, but I cannot bear the idea that he would suffer poverty. And I need to hope that he will not be abandoned by the United States. A very poor family whose son is the victim with my husband also has sacred claims to their kindness, the father, the mother and five children will be furnished of what aid that will relieve them.

Adrienne was not in a great position herself, but she constantly thought of others.

After a grand total of sixteen months in prison, Adrienne was finally released. Her immediate aim was to get her son and his tutor Frestel to the safe shores of America. She first re-purchased Chavaniac from the government so that Louise Charlotte and her children had a safe place to stay. She also argued with the government that she was eligible to inherit her mother’s properties - they eventually agreed with her. Monroe in the meantime had “found” an American passport for Georges. (Let me know if you all are interested in a separate post about Georges time and reception in America).

Adrienne and her daughters travelled to Austria, there to argue for La Fayette’s release - and that is exactly where we continue next time, with La Fayette’s stay in the infamous Olmütz prison.

36 notes · View notes

jbbarnesnnoble · 4 years

Text

Where the Moonlight Shines (Part One)

Summary: You’re a junior deputy in Hope County, Montana when things go to hell in a handbasket with the local cult. It’s months before help arrives in the form of the Avengers, taking you down a road you never expected.

Features: Mild violence

Pairing: TBD

Series Warnings: Canon typical violence; depictions/mentions of torture; depictions/mentions of brainwashing; will add more as they become relevant

Notes: Part One has dialogue directly from Far Cry 5; Series will primarily focus on the fallout of Hope County and Rook’s (Reader’s) recovery. While I have through part seven written, posting will likely be every other week if not longer as I go back through for the 1000th time and expand the story even more. Because of this, more warnings may be added. The story diverges entirely from MCU canon. Bucky is part of the team, IW and Endgame don’t happen and Civil War is ignored.

This is a crossover between Far Cry 5 and the MCU

Word Count: 2631

You were the newest Junior Deputy with the Hope County Sheriff’s Department. Newest was a relative term. Hope County rarely saw newcomers, unless they were flocking to that damned Project. You had spent summers there growing up, sure, but there was something different about living there full time. It was a home away from home. You’d returned to Montana on a permanent basis for peace and quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of a more populated area. It was easier to keep to yourself there, even with everyone knowing you. You had healing abilities, something that happened when you were in high school, interning in a science lab. It was something you kept to yourself.

Everyone called you Rook, even the people who had known you since you were a kid. You had started there as a dispatcher when you moved to Hope County, went through the academy when you saw the way things were heading with the Project, and got offered the position two years ago. The one thing you hated about the job was Nancy. If you had to hear Nancy go on one more time about whatever mundane thing was going on in her life, you were going to lose it.

You had been in Hope County a few years when they started causing major issues. The Project at Eden’s Gate. Locals called the members of the Project Peggies. The Project had a dark cloud over it. Suspected kidnappings. Coercing businesses into closing. They had strict policies on alcohol. Namely that it wasn’t allowed. They had seemed innocent enough when they arrived years back. Joseph Seed, the so called ‘Father’, had worked with Father Jerome for a time. You weren’t sure when things started shifting, but they did. You hated working calls dealing with the Project. Especially calls in the Henbane, because inevitably, you would end up dealing with Faith Seed. You figured if you kept to yourself, only interacting when it was required for work, you’d be fine. You were wrong. So terribly wrong.

The real trouble started when you were at the bar in Fall’s End, the Spread Eagle. It was owned by Mary May Fairgrave, who was one of the toughest women you knew and one of your oldest friends. You had just settled in to have a beer and a burger, catching up with her, when trouble walked in.

One of the leaders of the Project at Eden’s Gate came in looking smug as always. You knew which brother it was by the designer clothes he wore and the look of disdain plastered upon his face. John Seed was an arrogant bastard. He was always trying to get Mary May to close up shop, going on about how alcohol was immoral and how it drove people to sin. Preaching about how he had been lost to the vice before his brother found him. You rolled your eyes at him and continued your conversation with the bartender, pretending he wasn’t there. You considered her one of your closest friends in the county outside of Joey Hudson and Staci Pratt. You knew being ignored would only serve to rile him up.

“I’m sorry, I thought it was rude to ignore a customer,” he said, flashing a smile that was so fake it put Barbie to shame.

“What can I get you?” Mary May asked through grit teeth. You watched the interaction with caution. You could never trust a Seed.

“A water, please, and a moment of your time,” he replied. You choked back a laugh. Of course he’d only order water. You took a sip of the drink in front of you, a watered down beer that reminded you of the bonfires in high school, when everything seemed so much more simple. Nights curled up against Staci’s side, his hand never straying from your back. Staci Pratt, ex-boyfriend turned colleague and one of your best friends. You remembered nights spent laughing with Rachel Jessop, now Faith Seed. Before the drugs. Before the Project. You knew Tracey had taken it hard when Rachel joined the cult. You all had. And now there were rumors about her and something called the Bliss. You didn’t like it and investigations into it had turned up nothing, the Seeds stonewalling you at every turn.

“You know, Deputy, it is certainly unbecoming of an officer of the law to be in a place like this,” John said, drawing out the syllables in the word deputy. You narrowed your eyes at him.

“Seed, this is one of the local watering holes. You’d be hard pressed to find an officer who doesn’t come in on a night off,” you snapped. Mary May set the glass of water down on the bar, water sloshing over the side with the force, earning a dirty look from John.

“We want you to stop serving alcohol, Ms. Fairgrave. It’s a temptation for many of our flock,” John said.

“Too damn bad, Seed. This bar was here long before you and it’ll be here long after,” she said.

“We’ll see about that,” you heard him mutter before he spoke again, “I’d hate to see something happen because of one of our more zealous members. We cannot be held accountable for their actions,” he said before standing and walking out the door. As the man left the bar, she gave you a look of concern.

“I don’t trust him or those brothers of his, Rook. Sooner or later something is going to give. Did you hear about the Anderson’s kids? They just up and left, leaving a note for their parents sayin’ they were leaving their life of sin to join the Project,” Mary-May said.

“I’m sure they’re harmless. If they weren’t surely the feds would be closing in on them...hell, maybe even the Avengers. Every time we’ve carried out a welfare check, the person was accounted for,” you said. You wondered if you’d ever believe that yourself.

You had seen things when carrying out those checks that set you on edge. But there was no proof that the Seeds were doing anything illegal, no proof that people were being kidnapped. You couldn’t even get a warrant to search their properties, John Seed made sure of that. Damned Georgia lawyer. He was a massive thorn in the side of the Sheriff's Department. The hands of the department were tied, no matter how much you all hated it.

“Now that’d be a sight, the Avengers here in Hope County,” she said with a shake of her head.

“For all we know, the Project could be an arm of Hydra, now wouldn’t that be something? With the rumors that swirl about those brothers, it wouldn’t surprise me is all I’m saying,” you said.

“Keep talking like that and I’ll send ya to hang out with Zip,” she said as she wiped down the bar. You laughed. Zip Kupka was the local conspiracy theorist. You’d answered more than your fair share of calls out to his place. The only other person who could top Zip for crazy theories was Larry Parker. You sat talking for a while, until she was closing for the night. Things happened in a blur. Something went through the front window as she was flipping the chairs up and hit her. You rushed to her side.

“Mary May, stay awake...stay awake damn it,” you said as you pressed your hand to the gash on her head. You focused on the injury. Your powers were jarring when you hadn’t used them in awhile. Blue encased your hand as you worked to heal the damage. She looked at you stunned.

“That ain’t normal,” she said. You sighed as you helped her sit up. You didn’t see the two figures watching the scene from across the street in their car.

“It’s...complicated. Come on, let’s get some food and water in you,” you said, helping her up. You covered the broken window up while she sat down. You picked up the rock. There was a note attached.

“What’s it say?” she asked.

“Last warning. Close up shop, or else...Mary, I’m taking this down the station,” you said. She frowned.

“I don’t see what that’s going to do. We don’t have proof it came from the Seeds,” she said.

“John Seed has been pressuring you for weeks now to stop selling alcohol and to close down...but you’re probably right. He’ll just say it was an overzealous member of the Project,” you said, feeling defeated. You stayed the night, worried that something else would happen. You left early, glad you had the day off. You headed up to the station to drop the rock and the note off with the Eden’s Gate files before you headed home. Something was coming, you just weren’t so sure what.

-------------------------------------------------

A few days later, Cameron Burke arrived in town, with a warrant from the Federal Marshals for the arrest of Joseph seed. You had a bad feeling about the arrest. None of you were comfortable with the task. Sheriff Whitehorse had tried to talk him out of it. He had no idea what he was doing. You knew it would only provoke the hornets nest, not destroy it.

“You sure you’re alright? You can sit this one out, no judgment,” Staci said as your group headed to the helicopter.

“Alright is subjective, Pratt. I just have a bad feeling about this arrest,” you said. He nodded.

“I don’t like it either but the Marshal won’t change his mind. You know that as well as I do. He’s bullheaded. All he’s gonna do is rile them up,” he said. You nodded in agreement.

“We’ll be alright,” you said. You knew neither of you believed it. Through the flight, you tried re-watching the videos. The videos were the closest thing to evidence of wrong doing. Your stomach churned at the thought. Joseph Seed was shown on video gouging out the eyes of someone.

Pratt landed the helicopter and your feelings of unease grew. Members of the Project stood with guns at the ready. You could hear the sounds of their music playing, some song about Jacob Seed setting the sinners free. You hated the Project music, even if it was catchy. It was creepy.

“Hudson, on the door, watch our backs, don’t let any of these people get in. Rookie, on me,” Sheriff Whitehorse said. Whitehorse was like a father figure. You knew he had reservations about the arrest, which was why he told the Marshal to follow his lead. You didn’t like how cocky the Marshal was. As the three of you entered the church a chill ran down your spine as Joseph Seed spoke. His flock were listening intently, hanging on every word the man said.

“They will come, try to take from us, take our guns, take our freedom, take our faith! We will not let them!” Joseph preached. Anxiety had made itself at home, feeling like a rock in your stomach. Everything in you said to run, far away and never look back.

“Sheriff come on,” Burke said. His impatience grated on you. He didn’t understand just how tenuous the situation was.

“Just hold on Marshal,” Whitehorse said. You were saying a silent prayer, hoping Burke wouldn’t do something stupid.

“We will not let their greed, or their immorality, or their depravity hurt us anymore, there will be no more suffering,” Joseph said before the Marshal interrupted, against the warnings of the sheriff.

“Joseph Seed! I have a warrant issued for your arrest on the suspicion of kidnapping with the intent to harm. Now, I want you to step forward and keep your hands where I can see them,” Burke said. And there it was. Whatever happened now, Burke had all but sealed your fates.

You thought about what you knew about the Seeds. John was a lawyer. You’d had to deal with him on multiple occasions. He was smart, good at what he did. He was the youngest brother and owned a ranch in the valley. Jacob was the oldest, a veteran. When the family bought up St. Francis, up in the Whitetail Mountains, he’d made himself at home there. And then there was Faith Seed. Rachel Jessop. Joseph Seed had taken her under his wing and suddenly, she was known as Faith, Rachel just a memory. You avoided her if you could. She was a friend, once upon a time.

“Here they are, locusts in our garden. See they’ve come from me. They’ve come to take me away from you. They’ve come to destroy all that we’ve built!” Joseph said. The jeering from the crowd grew louder. Your breathing grew more shallow. You were terrified. There were far more of them than there were of you. Even with Hudson at the door, just outside, you were outnumbered and outgunned. Burke made a move for his gun.

“Don’t touch that service weapon!” Whitehorse snapped. He called for calm as Joseph did the same for his congregants.

“We knew this moment would come. We have prepared for it. Go, go, God will not let them take me,” Joseph said, as his siblings moved behind him. He raised his arms in the air, head tilted up toward the ceiling as members of his congregation walked toward the doors.

“I saw when the Lamb opened the first seal and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts say “come and see” and I saw. And behold, it was a white horse, and hell followed with him,” Joseph said, his gaze falling on you as he held his arms out.

“Rookie, cuff this son of a bitch,” Burke said. You felt a cold sweat form. Why you? Why did you have to be the one to cuff him when the Marshal was the one who came to arrest him? You were there as back up, not to be the arresting officer. You looked at him. You felt the eyes of all four Seeds on you, curious about what you would do. You were frozen to the spot. You could refuse, walk away, pretend it never happened. Live your life.

“Rookie, come on,” Burke said, getting impatient. You went against your gut. Your hands shook as you took your cuffs from your belt. You closed your eyes as you locked them in place, feeling as though you had just set something in motion you couldn’t take back.

As you got Joseph into the chopper, his people snapped into action. They were not going to let you go. Even as Pratt went to take off, people were still climbing on the chopper and soon, it was falling from the sky as Joseph sang Amazing Grace. You blacked out for a moment, opening your eyes to see Joseph staring at you. You reached for the dangling headset as Nancy’s voice came over the radio. Joseph responded, and when you heard her call him Father, you cursed her out in your head. You should have known she was one of them.

“Let the Reaping begin!” Joseph yelled. As much as you wanted to help your colleagues, your friends, you knew you couldn’t save them and yourself. You got yourself out and took off. You found Burke and the two of you attempted to make a get away, only to end up going off the bridge and into the water. When you next came to, you found yourself cuffed to a bed in a bunker, only to find it belonged to Dutch, a prepper who saved you from the Seeds and the Project when you came on shore. You couldn’t help but think back to what Whitehorse had said before you’d headed to the church. Sometimes it’s best to leave well enough alone.

#far cry 5 fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #wanda maximoff #bucky barnes #natasha romanoff #natasha romanov #far cry 5 reader insert #marvel reader insert #marvel fanfic #far cry 5 fanfic #fc5 fanfiction #fc5 fanfic #fc5 reader insert #where the moonlight shines

12 notes · View notes

invertedeidolon · 4 years

Text

The Longest Library #6: The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondo

This is a series in which I attempt to read and review all (or most of) my library of 297 books.

Rundown: Chiaki is a twenty something on her own, with a messy apartment that's been attached to a lifetime of failed relationships (although a lot of them seem like unrequited crushes she tried waaaay too hard for). The clutter and the drain it causes literally buries her own dreams and aspirations. Even if you don't intend to use KonMarie's method for things, it's a cute and concise way to see the impact it has when properly applied. Very wholesome, 5/5, would even give to my grandma.

Because of copyright and being respectful to the authors and artists, I'm going to try and keep pictures to a minimum, and do my best to describe things without them. Such is the hazards of reviewing a manga.

First off, before you even open the book, it's got this really nice matte satin finish on it. It's extremely pleasant. I had to just pause and say that for a second.

When I first picked this up in barnes and noble about a year ago, I didn't expect it to be so... I guess rich? There was no part of it that felt wasted or unnecessary. All of it felt good, and if it wasn't good, it was better. The art is pretty simplistic, almost all of it done in the same pen, and if you look close enough it all retains that human element. You can tell a hand did that. But it's still so consistent and, I suppose experienced, that it doesn't become distracting. The characters stay on model and don't look too weird, even when drawn tiny and comedically.

I like how the very first step is deciding that you want to tidy up. Even if the method described is much different than what everybody thinks it is, still coming at it with that same willingness and energy, resolute to do some real work, is necessary. It isn't as frantic and energy consuming as the heavy cleaning most people think of, but instead the method can be emotionally and mentally taxing. It requires that same decision to dedicate yourself to it.

Even though my house isn't as fine tuned as it would be had I used the konmarie method, I still make a point to do small tidying sessions as soon as I see there's a need for it. I come from a hoarder house and so do my partners, so there's an extra motivation to keep the space as far away from that as possible.

That being said, I recognize the main character's exhaustion. The startling mess that comes from such a professional seeming young woman just doesn't really register, she just kind of lives with it 'for the time being' (this is a phrase that pops up later).

As an aside, When she goes to answer the door, there's this curtain she pulls over to kind of hide the rest of the apartment behind her. I have no idea if it's a staple of Japanese apartments (in which case, what a neat idea! Nobody who's just at the door needs to know what my home looks like). If it's just her, deciding that she needs a curtain to hide her embarrassment, however... just damn.

So the reality of needing to tidy up sets in when the neighbor accidentally DOES see what her apartment is like. (He initially came to tell her to please get the garbage off her balcony because it's starting to stink... she kept putting it there, intending to bring it down in the morning, but then forgets). So a valiant? effort is made. But the roadblocks to starting on such a huge mess is apparent. Can't do garbage, there's too much on the balcony already. The sink is so backed up and she can't find the sponge. You kind of move from task to task and can't really find a place to start because you don't know HOW to start. And tackling something that huge in more manageable pieces isn't for everybody. Sometimes you can make messes faster than you can clean them. So it feels like treading water, like you're not getting anywhere. And that's usually where people give up. So she does.

Also, I find it hilarious that she found out about KonMarie while on a search for proof that there's people who are way messier than her.

She was totally expecting a Hoarders type situation. Nope! It's all just you and this tiny fairy woman.

So this being my first exposure to KonMarie, I was actually super invested when she asked this question. I appreciate this question so much. My (literal) garbage television of choice is Hoarders, and usually on that show, if they set goals, it's extremely short term. Mostly because they have only so much time that the workers can be there. Sometimes it's even so small as 'clear this one hallway so that my husband doesn't fall and break his leg and potentially die in his own home'. Meanwhile KonMarie is over here like 'what's your life going to look like after your place is clean'? Which is a very good question to ask, especially if you don't want someone to fall back into old habits. Cleaning is basically making room for yourself and your life, instead of just your stuff.

So, living 'for the time being'. I see this way of living as a form of energy preservation. You don't make the effort to do the 'right' thing, which would be expending the small effort to clear your coffee table so you can have a nice place to eat breakfast tomorrow. That's okay, it's just temporary, right? But then the next day, you go to have breakfast. You see the messy table and immediately deflate. You need to eat standing now because you don't have the time to clear the table AND make breakfast. You don't feel as great as you could be, but that's okay, right? The trend unfortunately continues. It also spreads to other areas of your life. Unfortunately, by preserving energy by not doing the small tasks, the small tasks become bigger ones. That you no longer have the energy for. Especially now that you're having to SPEND energy working around those large tasks. Doing the small thing in the first place would mean you would RECEIVE energy as a result. Clearing the table the night before means a nice, calm peaceful breakfast, and you get to the rest of your day feeling energized now that you've had that bit of quiet to yourself. If you find yourself avoiding tasks, you might need to do something specifically to restore yourself. That's what self care is about in the context of maintaining your space.

“Nine out of ten items demoted to loungewear...are never worn!”

So, I have this talent for knowing where everything is in the house at all times and remembering what I have (a Forbidden Skill that comes from living with hoarders and also a shitty birthgiver who would arbitrarily throw stuff away). And I know exactly which pieces of clothing she's talking about. The huge pair of pj pants that I barely use unless it's abnormally cold. The various camisole tops with the missing underwire that I don't wear because the straps are synthetic and melted at the ends so it makes this unfortunate stabby bit. Yeah. I should get rid of those. Tshirts and shorts are better off as loungewear because that's what I use them for apart from exercising.

"Besides, why would you wear joyless clothes inside when you would never wear them outside? Your time at home should be special too."

This is something I've come to appreciate during quarantine. I feel TONS better when I'm wearing something nice, even inside. I get more work done and I feel more professional when I actually 'get dressed' instead of trying to work in my nightgown. Even putting on an apron makes housework feel more purposeful. (I'm going to take this to the next level and eventually make my own apron)

This is what I mean by it becoming draining over time. Even a good day is hampered by coming home to a cluttered area. Even having one space to sit that looks nice helps. (for context, Chiaki only just tidied her clothes, but nothing else yet, so she had an amazing day, feeling great in clothes that made her feel great, and then came home to this.)

"Books that haven't been moved in a while are dormant, so it's hard to judge whether to keep or discard them."

I appreciate this humanizing element of objects. I feel like a lot of us are taught early on to stop caring so much about our belongings, especially when they're no longer age appropriate, and we're pressured by peers and parents to 'let go'. When I give any object in my home a character or spirit, I find I take much better care of it. It's also partially the basis of my teddy bear medical project (the stuffed animal is essentially an emotional mirror, and taking care of the bear helps it echo back a need to care for yourself). Also interesting, to quote from wikipedia: "Kondo says that her method is partly inspired by the Shinto religion. Cleaning and organizing things properly can be a spiritual practice in Shintoism, which is concerned with the energy or divine spirit of things (kami) and the right way to live (kannagara)"

Also on the subject of books, I readily agree that #thelongestlibrary is a way for me to avoid immediately throwing away books. But now that I can make regular content out of them, they all have a purpose now, don't they?

This bastard. No matter how many times I purge my writing stash, one of these always shows up. Why is it sticky??????

"That's right. Things that are kept 'just because' are stored 'just because', and accumulate 'just because'."

This is true. However, I'm in a weird place because of my skills and profession. Can KonMarie please come validate my decision to keep crafting supplies and surplus packaging???

"Instead of buying storage goods to make do, wait until you've completely finished and look for ones you really like" "You mean don't buy things 'Just because!' "

I don't know how many times I've seen a messy house with a stack of brand new storage bins, never used, or storage bins overstuffed and sometimes broken. Something I forgot to mention that is a huge part of the KonMarie method, is organizing by category, and not by room. You get ALL of one object in the house, and put it in a pile in the middle of the floor, so you can see just how much you have (clothes, books, cosmetics, etc.) If you clean by room, you may have gotten all the clothes in the bedroom put away nicely, but they there's still dirty laundry, and also the workout clothes in the living room, and some in the bathroom, and it all doesn't fit and has to go in a storage container or gets stuffed in a weird place and you never see it again! So don't get storage. If it doesn't fit in your house, that means it likely doesn't fit in your current life. And either the object has to go, or your life needs to change.

"Wait, it's not the things I'm discarding, but the things I'm keeping that are in this room!"

This is a principle that I think didn't really occur to me, or a lot of people. Getting rid of excess stuff is important, yes, but making sure what you're keeping is meaningful is equally and sometimes even more important. It's something that could be applied to all areas of your life.

"Your home is linked to your body. If it isn't comfortable to live in, you'll feel exhausted, just like I did."

KonMarie puts so much love into her method. If you've never seen her show, I highly recommend it. It isn't like Hoarders at all. It's like the difference between American Gordon Ramsey and The Great British Bakeoff. Even if the families depicted are a little tense, it's clear they still love each other deeply and just need to be guided into making their home a place where that love can happen unimpeded.

If you've never gotten into KonMarie, I'd say this is a stellar first exposure. I love the hell out of this tiny, thoughtful woman.

Have a couple of bonus faces because the artist is a gem.

*don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious*

I’ve already lost count of my books. 6 down, 200 something to go.

#thelongestlibrary #book review #marie kondo #konmarie #the magic of tidying #manga

5 notes · View notes

wolfpawn · 5 years

Text

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 2

Story Summary - Based on an idea I had that I submitted to Imagine Loki. Imagine Loki was raised on Jotunheim as Laufey’s son after the war, but an agreement was then made that he would wed Odin’s daughter so Odin could secure the alliance of Jotunheim through the marriage. Loki, in turn, was raised to be king of Jotunheim, but how he views Asgard is far different from how Odin’s daughter is raised leading to a clash of cultures as well as uncertainty between the pair of betrothed youths.

Chapter Summary - Time goes by, and with it, the betrothed son of King Laufey and the daughter of King Odin grow and become their own people, both worried about the life they will lead very soon.

Previous Chapter

Request if you wish to be tagged

Tags - @peppermint-j @damalseer @perpetual-fangirl @tinchentitri @inspired-snowflace @raphaelaisabella

authors Note - I guess I am trying to get back on the horse. I have not written a Loki centric story in over a year so I am hoping that I can get into character for him again.

“Prince Thor, have you seen the princess, by any chance?” Hilda, Ella’s governess asked as soon as she set eyes on the older child of Odin.

“I fear I have not seen her today.” Thor tried to recall if he had. He had eaten breakfast with his friends so he was not able to say if she had even eaten with their parents. “I have no doubt that if you station yourself near the library, you will see her at some hour of today.” He said nothing more and went about his day again. He always paid little heed to his sister. They spent little time in one another’s company outside of formal events that required them to interact.

“Oh, Valhalla knows where that girl is. She will succumb to frostbite on Jotunheim long before she ever marries that Prince if she continues to scurry off like this.”

Thor said nothing more in the matter as Hilda continued on her search for his sister and went about his day.

It was one of the main reasons he rarely concerned himself with Ella, she was going to wed the son of King Laufey and remain on Jotunheim as soon as he was deemed fit to be king. He knew there was little to be gained from getting attached to her when she would simply have to leave to live on the ice realm. Ella shared his opinion for the most part. There was no animosity between the siblings, they simply did not like the same things so their interests rarely caused them to bond.

As far as the Odinson and Odindottir were concerned, there were no two children born to the same parents less alike in all the realms. Even their appearances were entirely different. Thor took his father’s build and looked more like him, yet he took his mother’s sun coloured hair while Ella took Frigga’s build and had her father’s darker hair.

Thor paid little heed to anything as he made his way through the halls of the great palace. High above him, in the window ledge of one of the highest windows to light the corridor, his sister ignored the world below as she read the full history of Jotunheim, studying for the day she would have to go to the realm she would have to call her home.

When her father’s raven flew past her only to swoop around and land on the ledge next to her, she rolled her eyes before looking at it. “Let me guess, I am required somewhere to do something for someone?” The raven cawed. “Why you choose to be his messenger pigeon, I’ll never know.” With a flash of her seidr, she brought herself to her parents’ rooms. “Mother, Father,” She turned around and her smile fell. “And Lady Belinda.”

“Ella, have you raided the library again?” Frigga asked.

“It depends on your definition of ‘raided’,” She countered.

“Three books on apothecary are missing,” The librarian wailed.

“Okay, first off, there are about three to four hundred books on apothecary in there, so noting that three are missing is commendable, secondly, with regards to said apothecary books? No, I have not.”

“Ella…” Her mother warned.

“No, honestly, I have not. I was there today and I borrowed two books on the history of Jotunheim and one on the native fauna of the ice realm, all with the acknowledgement and consent of Lord Gregor,” She explained.

Having heard that she had the consent of the Library master, all three adults frowned.

“So why say it depended on our definition of ‘raiding’,” Odin challenged.

“One of the history books is supposed to be for reference only on the basis it is the only copy of it on all of Asgard. Lord Gregor only gave me consent to remove it from the library on the grounds that I have in returned before breakfast tomorrow morning.”

Lady Belinda looked personally affronted by such information but she knew she could not challenge her superior on the matter. “They are all books that you were apprehended reading when you were not yet permitted to read them.”

“Well, that is your proof it was not me, I don’t need to read books twice,” She smiled. “Thor and his band of friends were entering the library after a night of drinking when they had drills they would be in trouble for failing, so if any of these books pertain to negating the effects of beer and other such beverages, then they very may well be your culprits.”

“Thor never studied apothecary.” Her father countered.

“No, but Fandral and Hogun did.” She left the room to go back to her study, eager to avail of her permission to use the reference book as best she could before having to return it.

“Prince Loki, what ails you?”

Loki turned to see his father’s primary advisor standing close by. “Why would he say it?”

“What are you referencing, Your Highness?”

“Helbindi said that he was to be king until father changed the order of succession. Why would he say such?”

Arden sighed and cast his gaze over the realm. “Jotunheim lost a lot the day the Casket was taken. It lost more still in the great war, you know this.”

Loki looked over the realm beside him. “And Odin Allfather cost us the most. The men who died, the Casket, our source of power, he took it from us and expected us to do nothing.” There was anger in his words.

“Yes, but we can retrieve it once more, through you.”

Loki grimaced. He was told this a lot, especially by his father. “I know. I have to wed his daughter to do it.” He turned to look at Arden, “So that is why I am to be king because she was chosen for me? Am I to be the Aesir's puppet king here?”

“No, your father never agreed to make the daughter of Odin our queen, merely to wed her to you. Your father made that choice on that day. To this day it is clear you are the best choice for the realm. You are the only one with the mind to rule, your brothers are not kings, not at heart. It could only ever be you.” Arden stated. “All of Jotunheim see that clearly. Helbindi and Bylestr are of a different mind, they will make good generals.”

“But I still have to marry that warmonger’s daughter.”

“She is said to be quite pretty, for an Aesir.”

“I have seen images of her sire, for her to be pretty would have to bring in questions of her parentage.”

Arden laughed at his words. “So swift of mind and sharp of tongue. You have many commendable attributes, my Prince. She is supposed to look more like the Allmother from what I hear.”

“I doubt her to be much better than her husband,” Loki growled. “And whatever of their outward appearance, their hearts are dark, that makes them ugly regardless. To willingly choose to do what he did to Jotunheim and for her to choose to be by his side as he does it, they are monsters and Norns only knows the creature two such monsters would breed.”

“You cannot say for certain that she will be like her sire,” Arden argued, having known the brutality that Odin was capable of from his own youth.

“You forget that her brother is Prince Thor, the future King of Asgard. He is known amongst all the realms for his actions. Alfheim is still recovering from his last Name’s Day celebrations there. He is a one-being a natural disaster. Midgard blamed the deaths of thousands on a storm of his doing because King Ranier’s greatest knight bested him in a dual. She is born to the ones that bred that, she will be just like him. A monster.”

#pride and prejudice #loki fic #chapter 2

36 notes · View notes

kendrixtermina · 5 years

Text

Someone finally uploaded a Kingdom Route run with everyone recruited!

So imma be doing a bit of reacting

Kingdom!Ignatz works a bit like Empire!Felix - He wanted to go his own way unlike what his parents said and is thus following Byleth. In this case it’s of course somewhat less angsty ‘cause the Victors have the means to flee if necessary, unlike Rodrigue who was a prominent leader of the kingdom side of things

In an interesting parallel to how half the cast abandons the kingdom cause it’s a sinking shipload of kamikaze, on the other routes, Raphael complains about the instability and confusing politics of the alliance and how she should probably grab Maya and his grandfather and get them to Garreg Magh. I suppose a lot of people without connections or political accumen must feel this way. the monastery IS light javelin proof, so yeah...Raphael isn’t salty toward Claude himself tho. Then again he has little capacity for salt and in his paralogue it’s kinda shown that he makes a deliberate choice to live a low-salt lifestyle its not just obliviousness, he actively doesnt want grudges or awkwardness in his life

Leonie is also here to babysit Byleth and tells them not to let Dimitri push them around

Hilda: “The Monastery is a mess. So is Dimitri. I’m only here because Byleth is competent and Holst is annoying“

Dorothea and Bernie have so far gotten identical dialogues to the church route

Lysithea is interesting and kinda morally ambiguous. She says outright that she cares nothing for the kingdom or anything other than a peaceful life for her parents. She wants to get at the slitherers for her own revenge and they’re in the empire so she finds Dimitri’s revenge obsession convenient. Also very ironic cause, are she and Edelgard gonna fight each other because they both want to get at Thales? Very interesting bc vanilla BL doesn’t adress the slitherers that much - of course Lysithea says she has beef with “the empire” and doesn’t elaborate. At the same time Lysithea is MUCH more logical and self aware than most of the kingdom crew bar Sylvain so yeah

actually, Lysithea, like Felix, has TONS of route specific dialogue. I guess the devs expected those two to get recruited a lot since they are just flat out the strongest students apart from the house leaders.

The Kingdom is arguably just as infiltrated but Lysithea doesn’t know... and at this point Cornelia’s cooperating with the Empire anyways

General trend of the Alliance recruitees not being all that attached to the Alliance as they hardly knew each other at the start and half of them had nothing to do with politics

Nothing to do with the recruitees, but so THATS what happens if you propose to go to Fhirdiad first. Dimitri is like “You’re supposed to lead the church! Go rescue Rhea!” ...he doesn’t know the whole thing with Byleth being experimented on by Rhea (neither does Byleth at this point) but it is kinda low. Mitya you have no leg to stand on here indeed the main reason I was sympathetic to you last playthrough is that you never ASKED Gilbert & co to put you on the throne and made clear that you’re not interested in that... so following you was on them to an extent. but you don’t get to say “Do your Bishop job” (that Byleth never asked for) if you’re not doing your job cause you’re too busy doing your kamikaze raid. Then again he’s probably too emotional and just plain done with everything rn to see the contradiction/look at this with perspective he’s probably physically incapable of chilling out rn

It just ends with Byleth doing a pointed sadface. daamn Mitya don’t be mean to By-By she still believes in you dude : ( Though it makes sense he’s big on obligation he’s doing this revenge trip because he feels he must. So it’s more a distortion than it really is a contradiction, as far as he’s concerned he IS doing his duty...to the fallen. I guess if you can’t handle him at his “Go be a bishop or something” you don’t deserve him at his “my beloved~”

Still hurts a bit tho. Especially when Claude, though not without his own agenda, was distinctly a good friend on the topic, “Teach you’re in charge now be more confident~ the church doesnt run you, you run the church”

Before Aillel Dorothea says something about the Kingdom people also looking undecided of where to march, but she also wonders if some fighting/ victory will quell uncertainty

Also she and mercie are standing next to each other! Ive said before that it’s weird how they don’t rly have a support though they are the two most popular extroverted ppl on the campus... they GOTTA know each other at least on a smalltalk basis

Alois is like “These kingdom ppl dont seem to know what they want... but hey this allow YOU to shine as a leader”... so basically Byleth is running this show but for all that they’re a good field commander and decisive when it comes to immadiate practical problems, as far as big picture direction goes, well, Sothis’ “boulder” quote comes to mind. They just never had big attachments on convictions, the Felix support chain is also salient here. They kinda just did whatever job they were given until they found a bigger cause/purpose after throwing in their lot with one of the lords or the remaining saints.

I wondered how this would play out as the Kingdom route is very kingdom-specific, whereas Claude, Edelgard and the church all have an universal cause for people to get behind. I guess how this plays out is that before Dimitri’s turnaroud there’s the kingdom faction and the Byleth faction and Byleth is kinda trying to run the show as they think Dimitri would if he were at his best

Caspar is still on the more unphazed side but also substantially more phazed than on the church or GD routes, he wasn’t particularly close to Randolph but he’s not unaffected by Dimitri going a tad over the top here - he also has the takeaway that Dimitri probably never trusted him much since he was born in the empire.

Sylvain actually alledges something about Dimitri not socializing much with any Adrestians even back in the academy days if you recruit him on CF so this does not come out of nowhere. Also kinda makes me wish they had a support - theyre both naturals at smashing things but they have very different attitudes towards it. then again i suppose it would go alot like the raphael one

Ferdie recognizes Myrrdin is a strategically better location but as Aegir territory is closeby he wishes we could have invaded through there so he could take it back... Would the citizens want him back tho? After the war its a no-brainer cause he helped end it, the peasants arent going to complain about too much peace and prosperity nor are they gonna feel nostalgic about anyone who started a war with their tax money and then lost it, but if he waltzed into an area that had thus far been far from the frontlines, following his fathers’s exploitative management and 5 years of semi equal rights under edelgard? he might have been welcomed with pitchforks, through no fault of his own.

He says something implying hed like to come rescue his relatives implying that some of them are still alive. of course the pm deserves all Edelgard threw at him and then some, but id be curious about Ferdie’s other relatives. His mom probably looks just like him, because he sure didnt get the looks from his dad... or anything else really, apart from the crest and hair color. - though i think the a support with bernadetta implies that shes no longer around

Lorenz bitterly remarking that of course Claude and his dad eventually made peace since they both only serve their own interests. (”So long as their interests are in allignment they will continue to cooperate”) Says the guy we just rescued from his endeavors in turncoatery. Lorenz you’re pretty opportunistic too, and as for your redeeming features Claude has those too - but of course you’ll never find out in this one. Still, it shows that he’s painfully aware that his father - whom he would have died protecting if we hadn’t spared him - is a villain and a hack

Claude isn’t super trusting and knows that he gets percieved as shifty so he promises people to get them theirs so that they support him out of self interest. No need to take a chace. Of course by the end of this route he WILL take big chance on Dimitri

That says Lorenz is not SO biased that he can’t tell that Claude might be interested in working with the kingdom army

Lysithea (who surprisingly has TONS of unique dialogue here, and I like that it’s a complex mature plot) is having her doubts and not trusting Dimitri for all that she finds him an useful idiot. By and large you get the sense that many consider Byleth the leader of this operation, she’s glad that Byleth is there to issue sensible orders. She tells Byleth not to tell anyone and worries about what will happen once the empire’s vanquished. No faith in team Kingdom... at all. Understandable of course

Hilda’s dialogue is largely the same as in the church route and at times kinda the same in all routes but I like how she’s like “Claude might’ve looked like a lazy bum but he’s smart! If he says he’s on our side he will defs help!” before the gronder fiasco

A lot of NPCs stir the suspicion here so it stands out how much she totally trusts him like hes any other friend

As with the other routes with the recruitees you get an idea of what’s going on in the other territories such as Lysithea deducing that Judith must be backing Claude in his gambit

One moment you think Lorenz is going to add some somber insightful commentary to the sincerity of Claude’s offer but then he’s like, “Granted Dimitri is much improved. He must be asking us for help cause he trusts ME” XD Like... no friend. You’re almost right but if there’s anyone here he was faith in its Byleth. And then he’s even like, “Well no choice but to save poor Claudesy” On the one hand it shows that there not just pure hate there on the other... lulz.

apparently one of the first things Dimitri did after getting his act together post gronder is profusely apologize to Caspar for that ugly business with Randolph. Thats a worthwhile detail and i want fanfic of it. Caspar being Caspar he wasnt really keeping a grudge, they’re a warrior clan and they were at war

They had to move out so quickly that Hilda had no time to go shopping in Fhirdiad #Priorities XD

Meanwhile Ignatz, like a normal person, hopes his folks will be safe

hilda does eventually remember to maybe save her folks and claude but only after making Byleth promise to go on a shopping trip with her. Someone should probably write that fanfic

Someone told me that Ferdinand had some prominent critical lines but it was really just one, and it’s as I suspected actually just a variant of the same “a king can’t be emotional” line he gets in all the routes, this time with the addendum that if he turned around and decided to go rescue the capital, he might be capable of reason/being a decent leader after all. granted I guess compared to how most of the Kingdom people go along with everything it comes off critical? IDK.

Lysithea misses Rodrigue :(

Lorenz and Ignatz standing next to each other was a nice touch they have a fairly wholesome friendship

Leonie’s just glad that ol’ Mitya is “back to normal” especially since she’s pretty sure that they don’t have enough soldiers to get to Fort Merceus let alone Enbarr

For obvious reasons, Petra is pretty sympathetic about the whole “retaking Fhirdiad” thing

Seeing Seteth and Catherine so certain that Rhea would want them to save the people of Fhirdiad first when you know that she wouldn’t hesitate to set the place on fire is just...OUCH. Though it does show the goodness in Seteth and Catherine themselves.

Manuela wishes she could’ve moved her informary to gronder and save a few more peeps :(

It seems like to Leonie, Dimitri will always be just “Dimitri”, King or not. Figures she aaaaalmost adressed even Byleth by name XD You really DO get the sense that he interacted alot with the recruitees

All the house leaders shouldve had more supports.

If you grabbed hanneman he’ll give you some extra backstory on Cornelia - apparently she was originally from the empire and an eminent scholar whose great work Hanneman was vaguely aware of. I would assume that was still the real cornelia. Judging by the timing it sounds like she might’ve smuggled Patricia out of Adrestia. Assuming both were still original at this point this might present a possibility for why she trusted/vouched for cornelia without being complicit / lend itself to a “she was duped” reading

But it’s still suspicious that she would end up courting the second most powerful man in the land right after number one.

Some had suggested that Cornelia caused the plague in the first place but the thing is there was a perfectly credible “mundane” explanation for it (the city’s sewers not being up to date technologically) that theres no reason to doubt

Assuming that all the replacements occurred 14 years before part one when Arundel stopped his donations/ thins being about the time when Cornelia’s personality was noted to have changed completely, that would mean both the “fixing the severs” thing and the soppy story about how Edelgards’ parents met would be real

AAAA everything to do with patricia is just so ambiguous - if they were longtime friends wouldn’t she have noticed something “off”? Same with her brother actually. Lambert had his own country so its not like there was no one to protect her.

Ahhh THIS is how lorenz gets iinto the midset for that prissy, hes pissed that Claude dissolved the Alliance and misses it XD

you DO get to call him out for being a turncoat himself tho. particularly hilarious since Byleth just blinks and asks a casual question there

He immediately changes his tune

oh lorenz dear, i love you but you, sir, are WEAK xD

Lysithea as always calls everything and notes how suspicious arundel was alluding to the hrym nightmare also mentioned in her paralogue

She also mentions that he was said to be good and just at one point suggesting that there was a real Volkhard von Arundel at some point.

if the replacement took place when those donations ceased then Edelgard and Dimitri were 3, 14 years before part 1. Early enough that this could be around the time Patricia left enbarr, if this is when it happened then the romantic tower story might be real assuming that the Arundels were replaced at the same time - whatever arrived in Faerghus recomended patricia for a job so it probably had already happened by then

Its all so ambiguos tho we can only speculate there are so many possibilities

Ignatz marvels at how Claude managed to minimize damage to Alliance lands throughout the war, as in CF only Deirdru itself got particularly thrashed. Ignatz’ folks are safe and sound! Leave it to him to wonder where Claude might have absconded to. He was always one of the insightful ones but not in the same way as the other clever ones. More intuitive I guess. Cant remember if it was indentical to what you get if you spare Claude on CF (Cue the lets player remarking that Claude is probably stuck in a washing machine somewhere... he hadn’t cleared the Alliance route at that point)

Lol HILDA “And then the whole Alliance descended into chaos...” or actually she is surprised that that DIDNT happen and how orderly Claude managed the dissolution. “But I Guess we’re screwed if Dimitri turns out to be a crazed despot... he’s not gonna go crazy again is he?” You of little faith XD But she says all this in her usual cheery nonserious voice like

this chapter has a lot of unique dialogue actually

Linhardt impressed that anyone would have the guts to attack Fort Merceus directly and suggests looking for weak spots in the old walls

He shows up guarding it in SS and Vw doesn’t he? Guess he was visiting Caspar or something - or would have been familiar with the place from visiting the Bergliez clan in the past.

Ferdinand is wowed by Claude bowing out giving him kudos for caring about the peoples wishes. He thinks Edelgard ought to quit at this point and he’s alot harsher on her here than in any of the other routes. (”Not reveryone with noble blood has noble ideals” - Coming from Ferdinand that’s an accusation ) Interestingly at this point hes sticking with Dimitri cause post character developement, lots of ordinary ppl support him at this point and hes popular with the crowds. He’s wholly on the Savior King bandwagon, and maybe that’s why he’s harsher. He’s partial. Says something about him actually, largely good things when you think about it. Dimitri is probably the closest to what Ferdinand’s (and Lorenz’) own beliefs were. He likes the existing order and living in a fancy palace but he thinks the rulers should serve the people.

Its kinda ironic and sad because in ALL the other routes he clearly thinks Dimitri is an idiot and a bad ruler, and says he should be more composed and objective. But Dimitri wasnt at his best there now was he?

now ill be sad everytime I get to those “Ferdinand disses Dimitri” lines. They couldve been buds!

but i dont see this happening in any other route. According to something Sylvain says in cf Dimitri avoided ppl from the empire at the academy so they wouldnt have cozied up pre-timeskip, and its only the version of Dimitri who has his shit together which appeals to Ferdie as a leader.

really torn here on the one hand its a nice synergy to see lorenz and especially Ferdinand (who is waaay less arroganz than lorenz) sort of getting to win on their own terms with a ruler that jives with them and their Lawful Good fantasy classic thing. It’s not just a status quo thing its a protectors of the people thing. It’s heroic. On the other hand it feels like they’re stagnating when they could have had growth. This is basically the same Lorenz and the same Ferdinand we first met except slightly more mature. Notably lorenz is the same in the church route whereas Ferdie isnt as he still ends up rebelling fleeing and fighting against the empire. It helps that he practically winds up leading the remaining Eagles, albeit under Byleth and Seteth.

He still gets that line about being kinda sad to see the empire go though he knows there must be an end to the chaos, i think a few lines are different, so, not wholly without doubt

Shamir muses about hoe the three countries were once one and the same, but wonders that even if we put fodlan togethere theres no guarantee that it wouldnt come apart again. i mean there isnt, and wether thats a bad thing would depend a lot on the circumstances but its also possible that theyll get used to being one and forget they wrere ever separate. no one controls the far future... and should they? After all its always possible that someone in the future will have unforseeable circumstances or better ideas

Caspar sighs with relief that they didn’t have to fight his dad, last second worry about him turning up in the capital nonwithstanding... right does he get to live in this? Carpar wonders what’ll happen to him if they win, but he’s not holding down Faerghus so he might not have died the way he did in Silver Snow and Verdant Wind. It’s at least possible that he was captured alive and pardoned somehow.

Marianne’s adoptive dad sure smelled which way the wind was blowing; He was supporting Claude’s strategy to get the Cloucesters back under controll but sent Marianne to curry favor with the kingdom. Make friends with whoever wins I suppose. Ambitious politician indeed.

When she doesnt her from him in a while she wonders if he forgot about her but says she wouldnt mind that much because at least she wouldnt have to do any more politics? I distinctly recall that in gd there was something about how they got along better after the timeskip. Sigh.

she is real glad that Dimitri and claude ended up cooperating in the end

So does Dorothea but then she makes herself sad wishing that Edelgard was also there :( Me too friend, me too. I think thats the one unique line she gets this route. I like how it’s consistent in the church route she’s also the one who feels the most sad about betraying her, they were pretty close pre timrskip

as far as leonies concerned Dimitri is still just Dimitri even after taking back his kingdom. i like to think hed appreciate that. its also very typical of leonie. as with the “Caspar gets an apology” thing plenty of the recruitees get lines hinting that theres been more personal interaction between them and dimitri, kinda goes with how ppl in his own house follow him more out of personal loyalty than because they follow his plans like with the other two. hes kinda a very approachable sort of leader, makes the decisions with the group or follows whatever gilbert and Byleth decide, in the other routes theres always a distinct inner circle. Its cool how they incorporated the recruitees into that dynamic.

Petra is dissapointed that they DIDNT do a sneak attack on fort Merceus contrasting her usual line about how she likes sneak attacks. Dimitri naps both that an Enbarr head on doesn’t he? The Church has a smaller Army full of peeps who would rather not destroy Enbarr, and Claude agrees with Petra on the sneak attack thing and then Edelgard did that sorta shady but largely very gutsy thing where she didn’t sound the evacuation to restrict Claude’s movements knowing that there was zero danger that he would plow through the civilians (they don’t do this here cause last time they met Dimitri he was not feeling merciful indeed judging by huberts welcome lines and engage quotes he doesnt buy the turnaround), the AM ending narration also suggests that Enbarr wasn’t rebuilt, though Dimitri gave distinct “No pillaging!” orders, so they probably just couldn’t avoid wrecking the buildings and relocated the citizens.

Ashe also speculates where Claude went. That’s one of the things i like about Ashe he consistently averts out of sight out of mind I particularly always loved how he consistently worried about Dedue. Someone ought to.

Ingrid interestingly changed her tune here / kinda speaks positively of claude here - in CF she was like “I always though he was creepy”

Then again that was before fighting him I don’t recall If those two dont get the same lines if you spare Claude, have to go back and check

id like to mention that the lets player put lorenz in the pyjamas/loungewear the whole time as “punishment” for being late to the reunion and poked fun at him throughout.

#fe3h #fire emblem: three houses #fire emblem three houses

11 notes · View notes

real-life-pine-tree · 5 years

Text

Into the Arcverse: An Assembly of Celebrities (3/?)

Yuan Amaya just wanted to hide away from public eye, but fate had other plans. Based on Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse.

Hello, Vagabond. I heard about your legendary coding skills. I wish to meet up with you tonight to discuss them and how they can benefit my personal goals. -Striker

Inside what appears to be a truck, a young man was busy typing on a computer when he received the message. The computer had a total of six screens; one had an open window containing several files, a few were all connected to varying databases, and the rest had an assortment of files scattered all over the desktop screens, with one having the message from Striker opened up. As he finished reading this short yet urgent letter, he couldn’t believe who signed it. He had heard rumors and reports about how famous this Celebrity Duelist has become, but why him specifically? He placed his fair-skinned left hand over his chin—which had a dark violet goatee—to think. There was no doubt that Striker’s personal goals involved Sol Technologies’ supposed coverup based on those rumors and J.W. Frog’s morning news report. Speaking of which, Ghost Gal made a call to discuss this latest activity going on in Link V.R.A.I.N.S., so why couldn’t he converse with her and get himself some allies from CyberTech Sector? Regardless, this meeting was too good of an opportunity to pass up and he had to meet him as fast as possible.

But before he could respond, his phone unexpectedly rang. After a bit of alarm from the sudden noise, he answered it. "Hey, you've reached Café Nom," he said. "This is Cal Kolter, the one and only chef and founder. What would you like to order?"

"Have you received my message?" a heavily-filtered voice asked.

Cal paused, realizing who called. "So you're Striker," he assumed.

"Correct," the voice confirmed. "Greetings, Mr. Vagabond. It is nice to finally contact you. Now then, about my personal goals..."

"I know what you've been doing," Cal said. "Every night you're uncovering some cover-up information about Sol Technologies. It was even talked about on the news this morning."

"Do not listen to that amphibian," Striker dismissed, referring to J.W. Frog. "His information about me is false. What I am doing is for the good of all who use Link V.R.A.I.N.S., especially a few specific individuals."

"So why drag me into it?" Cal wondered. "You're already a skilled hacker. Why would you need a coder?"

"I was able to uncover the names of five individuals who were scarred because of something that occurred ten years ago," Striker explained. "So tell me, Mr. Vagabond... Does the name Jin Kolter ring a bell?"

A small gasp slipped out from Cal's mouth and he felt a short yet sharp thumping noise from his chest, indicating his heart has skipped a beat. How did he discover that Jin was indeed one of the victims? He has heard of how much of a skilled hacker Striker is, but he didn't expect his skills to be that impressive. Sneaking through potentially classified information from Sol Technologies in the middle of the night and finding proof of this alleged cover-up being true through five specific names with one of them being Cal's own brother? It's surprisingly miraculous Striker is not wanted by them or anything given his reputation.

More importantly, how did he deduce the two were related? You would think a jump to a conclusion like that would be rather creepy, and while that may be true, Cal was more speechless than creeped out. His gray eyes shifted to a computer screen containing the open window and he briefly scrolled through the files to open one of them up. For a short while, he simply stared at a photo from a decade ago, obviously not long before this incident occurred. It was a simpler time back then; he recalled how happier Jin was before the incident. There was life in his eyes and he would smile as much as Cal. Six months later, that smile and lively personality was gone. Cal had gave up on his sports career and spent the next ten years honing his hacking skills and it all led up to this: assisting a rising Celebrity Duelist in solving this mystery once and for all.

"Is that why you want my help?" Cal asked, now knowing how serious this is.

"It is more than that," Striker answered. "I know you are more than just a coder. You run a dueling archetype known as Codebreakers, a group of cards that can weaken the opponent's monsters through slight placement and subtle trickery. While you are not like typical Celebrity Duelists, your reputation exceeds you. Therefore, I must ask you to assist me in fighting a group of enemy duelists who are connected to the Sol Technologies cover-up."

"And if I refuse?" Cal asked.

"I am telling you this because I know you will not refuse," Striker revealed. "You will give your own life to help your brother regain his smile. Therefore, I would like you to meet me in Link V.R.A.I.N.S. this evening, along with two other Celebrity Duelists I have already spoken to. But you cannot come alone. I am already aware of your faceless associate. Bring him with you."

"You sure?" Cal asked. "He's not exactly a good duelist."

"Trust me," Striker insisted. "I have heard about his potential to be just as good as you. If we wish to uncover the truth behind the cover-up, we need all the help we can get."

Cal thought about it for a few seconds. "Alright," he decided. "I'm in."

"Excellent decision," Striker replied. "I am sending you the coordinates right now. See you this evening, Mr. Vagabond."

Almost a minute later, a new window popped up on one of the computer screens. Sure enough, it listed the exact coordinates of where Striker wishes to meet up with Cal in Link V.R.A.I.N.S., and without hesitation, his fingers typed on the digital keyboard and downloaded it onto his Duel Disk so that when he logs in, he'll be in the vicinity of their desired location. Once the download was complete, he unplugged the Duel Disk from the USB cord and attached it on his left wrist. But first, he had to call his associate. So he picked up his phone and dialed a familiar number.

A few seconds later, a familiar voice answered. "Cal? What is it?"

"Hey Yuan, I need you to come here after school," Cal explained. "It's about Striker. He contacted me personally."

"...You're kidding," Yuan said after a few seconds of silence.

"It's not a joke," Cal replied. "But that's not all. He wants to see you too. Dunno why, though. You don't go to Link V.R.A.I.N.S. that often."

He was right; Yuan isn't the kind of person who usually goes to Link V.R.A.I.N.S. on a daily basis. But even with his low activity there, it was peculiar that Striker would want to see him, but not as peculiar as Striker knowing who Yuan was in the first place. The latter may be a fan of him, but he doesn't know him personally, so why bother wanting to see him along with Cal? It doesn't make sense.

"How could he know about me?" Yuan wondered. "My avatar is still in default mode and I only go there on the rare occasions to help you out with saving Jin."

"That must be why Striker knows about you," Cal guessed. "Remember when I asked for your help the other day, when I was cornered by these duelists in white robes?"

Realization struck Yuan. "Striker is a skilled hacker," he said. "He probably uncovered archive footage from Link V.R.A.I.N.S.. That's how he found out about me."

"You think so?" Cal asked. "Cuz if that's the case, it makes Striker suspicious."

"Then I better come with you," Yuan decided. "Plus this might be our only chance to see Striker in action. And..." His voice trailed off.

"What is it?" Cal asked.

"I...think we need some added muscle just in case," Yuan continued. "I know someone who could provide that muscle."

Cal quickly realized what that meant. "I know what you're thinking and it's a bad idea," he warned. "I can't risk letting an innocent duelist get hurt."

"Trust me on this one," Yuan insisted. "I know what his deck is like. He'll provide just the strength we need."

Cal was still hesitant on this decision to include him in the mix, but Yuan explained that whenever the two duel in Link V.R.A.I.N.S., their decks balance each other out when it comes to Tag Teams. While the Weather Painters are more oriented in skills, the second deck is composed of Beast-Type monsters that focus on strength, especially with the Link ace monster having a matching ability as the other monsters. Cal won't lie; Yuan did bring up a really good point. Even so, will that be worth it in bringing some extra firepower? Or was it just another risk of some bystander getting harmed? Cal thought about it for a short time before he finally made a decision.

"Alright," Cal decided. "Invite him over, but make sure he doesn't tell anyone about my true identity."

"Thanks," Yuan replied. "We'll come over after Duel Club." And with that, he hung up his phone. "Naoki, can you come with me to Café Nom after club?"

"Hmm?" Naoki muttered. "That hot dog truck in town? Why?"

"I'll explain more afterwards," Yuan answered. "Just trust me on-"

"What are you two talking about?"

The sound of a familiar voice caught the boys off guard, especially Yuan. They both turned their heads to see Hannah, who had curiously walked in on their conversation. "Oh, uh..." Yuan muttered. "Just...stopping by a friend's place afterwards."

"What friend?" Hannah asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Um... Well..." Yuan stammered, but he lost his train of thought.

Some of you may be wondering why he suddenly forgot what he was about to say. The answer is obvious: he was getting distracted by who was standing in front of him. Her ginger hair pushed back by her headband and flowing wavily from the back of head with her light orange side tails reaching past her cheeks, her amethyst irises glistening from the sun's rays beaming through a window and reflecting off her eyes, and her smooth fair skin. Not to mention her overall sweet, kind-hearted personality, as demonstrated from his arrival at the Duel Club to her defending him during his duel. Yuan was close to becoming quiet, his own cheeks becoming flushed with a pink hue. She wasn't doing much to make him act so flustered…other than the fact how cute she was, something he managed to catch on.

"Are you feeling alright?" Hannah asked, sounding concerned.

"...You're cute," Yuan blurred out. He quickly covered his mouth as his face turned crimson.

"Oh!" Hannah said, blushing as well. "Thanks...I guess."

Before things could get any awkward, Naoki took the awkward silence as his cue to step in. "Sorry about my friend," he apologized. "He's not very social like me."

"That's okay," Hannah replied as she smiled. "It's still nice to have another club member. I hope you enjoy your time here, Yuan."

"Oh... Thanks..." Yuan muttered, still blushing.

Some time later, the sun was setting over the horizon as the evening hours approached, signaling the end of the club activities for the day. All over the school campus, students were either putting away the clubs' respective items—whether it's the equipment for sports, the various art supplies for arts and craft, or the instruments for music—reorganizing the desks back to their original positions, which was the case for the Duel Club. Despite the unexpected outcome of Yuan and June's duel, a few more duels were initiated to give the members some practice on their current deck strategies. But with the club coming to an end, just about everyone had finished packing up and already left the club room. Well...everyone except Yuan and Naoki.

"Alright, so we're supposed to head to Café Nom for some reason," Naoki recalled. "Why's that?"

Yuan quickly looked around the club room before locking the door, not wanting anyone to eavesdrop. "What I'm about to tell you is top secret," he said. "Promise me you won't tell anyone."

"Tell anyone about what?" Naoki asked.

"I'm serious!" Yuan insisted. "This is classified information!"

"Okay, geez, I won't tell anyone," Naoki said, raising his hands defensively. "So what's this secret."

Yuan slowly walked closer to Naoki and took a deep breath. "I know who the Vagabond is," he revealed.

Naoki was in stunned silence for a few seconds before snorting a laugh. "You're bluffing," he finally said. "No one knows who the Vagabond is. His profile's so secretive that he even hides his avatar's face from everyone on the net. How could you know who he is?"

"He's a close family friend," Yuan explained. "He's kind of like an uncle to me. And during today's club meeting, he wanted me to help him out with a very specific mission. Luckily I was able to convince him to let you tag along." He held out his hand for a handshake. "So how about it? Is the Brave Battler ready to step up and help me out?"

Naturally, Naoki held his hand and returned the offering handshake while stating he is always ready to help his best friend out. With the decision fully made, the duo departed the building where the Duel Club was and left the school grounds, making their way to Den City's downtown area. It happens to be a common site for citizens to gather and watch any duels or special events taking place in Link V.R.A.I.N.S. thanks to the sixteen gigantic monitor screens of various aspect ratios. Parked in front of those skyscrapers with the screens is Café Nom, a truck serving mainly hotdogs and coffee to its customers.

Inside Café Nom, a fair-skinned man with dark purple hair and goatee was grilling a couple hotdogs, his gray eyes staring down as he used a pair of tongs to cook them evenly. His usual attire was casual as it was comprised of a dark violet hoodie, denim jeans, and burgundy boots; he usually wears a brown trenchcoat over his clothes, but he has it resting on a chair and is currently wearing a white apron while preparing the hotdogs. In the midst of cooking, his eyes glanced up and quickly noticed Yuan and Naoki heading towards the truck to see him.

"Hey Yuan!" the man called out. "About time you got here! I was starting to worry you bailed on me!"

"Relax, I didn't," Yuan reassured once he and Naoki got closer to the truck. "And I brought my friend along like I said."

Naoki looked around. "So where's the Vagabond?" he asked. "Is he meeting us here?"

"Um, Naoki..." Yuan said. He gestured at the man and started whispering. "This is Cal Kolter. He's the Vagabond."

Naoki's eyes shot wide open the instant Yuan finished talking. On top of that, he took a step back, left in shock and awe from the revelation to the point where his voice had enough strength to produce a yelling "WHAAAT?!" He turned his head to face Cal and back at Yuan a few times, his mouth still left agape as he hadn't fully recovered from the reaction to what he just heard.

"Shhhh!" Yuan quickly hushed.

"Sorry..." Naoki apologized.

"I get you're excited, but we'll talk more inside," Cal suggested. "Gotta keep a low profile from unwanted fans."

"I was thinking the same thing," Yuan agreed.

With Yuan leading the way, he and Naoki headed to a pair of doors located on the back of Café Nom. He opened them and the duo hopped into the truck, shutting the doors behind them. He then went over to the attendance window to disconnect the hatch and close it, leading to the sign to automatically retract. Now they would have some privacy to talk to Cal regarding their upcoming mission.

"Alright, here's the deal," Cal explained. "As Yuan already knows, Striker contacted me about a special mission in Link V.R.A.I.N.S.-"

"Whoa, hold there!" Naoki interrupted as he raised his hands defensively. "As in that new Celebrity Duelist goin' around the net?"

"Yeah, that Striker," Cal answered. "He said he's got some info about something that happened ten years ago. Something that happened to my brother."

"Who?" Naoki wondered.

Yuan, on the other hand, knew who his friend was talking about. "He knows about Jin?" he realized.

"That's just one of the names he pulled up," Cal continued. "Striker said there were four other victims, but I never got around to learning about their names. And for some reason, he also asked for Yuan to come along."

"But that's why I wanted to bring you here, Naoki," Yuan added. He lifted up his Duel Disk. "My Weather Painters aren't strong, but your bamboo monsters are."

"Oh, I get it," Naoki realized. He grinned. "No problem. The Brave Battler's got your back!"

"You sure you're up for it?" Cal asked Naoki. "We might end up dueling some pretty strong opponents."

"Pfft, piece of cake!" Naoki bragged. "Besides, this could be my chance to duel alongside my best bud!"

"Okay," Cal said. He strapped on a purple Duel Disk that looked similar to Yuan's. "I'm sending you both the coordinates Striker gave me. Once we're in Link V.R.A.I.N.S., we should arrive at the same spot." He walked over to a pair of doors. "C'mon bud, let's get going."

"Huh?" Naoki muttered. "What're those things?"

"Special login rooms," Yuan explained. "Cal and I need them to log in because our Duel Disks are older models."

"Oh, okay," Naoki replied. "I guess..."

It's honestly weird that Cal and Yuan still use the older Duel Disk models and the login rooms, mostly because Sol Technologies have been improving and updating their Duel Disks to the newer models. Heck, almost everyone owns one, even Naoki, so they could log in without having to use those rooms; not only does it save a bit of time, but also a bit of space, depending on where they were constructed in the vehicle or building.

Regardless of whatever method they use, Naoki and Yuan's Duel Disks had retrieved the designated coordinates, with text appearing that read "COORDINATES RECEIVED" on the older version and an A.I. implanted in the newer build confirming what was sent to Naoki. With everyone ready, the doors shut in front of Cal and Yuan to prepare them for the login sequence. They pulled out their respective desks and inserted them in Disk Zones, followed by the words "INTO THE V.R.A.I.N.S." appearing on the sides where the blades are projected from. Outside the login rooms, Naoki stood in front of the six-screen computer as he simply raised his left arm with his Duel Disk on his wrist and shouted four words, along with Cal and Yuan.

"Link into the V.R.A.I.N.S.!"

While Naoki was instantly transported into the network, the loading time for Cal and Yuan took longer. While inside their login rooms, blue digital orbs surrounded them as their minds were transported into the network. For Cal, his outfit was transformed within a few flashes of light so he wore a black turtle neck, teal pants, red buckled boots, and a dark red coat with a matching cap and a brown belt used to store his deck. As for Yuan, since he never really came up with a proper avatar design, his outfit remained unchanged as his body transformed into the default Link V.R.A.I.N.S. avatar design, which was a white and black faceless robot build.

With their avatars fully loaded, Cal and Yuan caught up with Naoki through the network to log in. Sky blue, holographic pixels materialized at the location Striker informed to meet up, going from the head downward and cloaking them in the same pattern. Once those pixels reached their feet, they dispersed to reveal who they are in Link V.R.A.I.N.S.: the Vagabond and…well, Yuan doesn't have a name for his avatar since it's in default mode, so for now, his name is essentially the same as it is in the real world. Next to them stood Naoki, who goes under the alias Brave Battler; his attire was composed of a tealish-blue, black, and white robotic suit with yellow decals, having a matching mask with a green lens on his head—his green hair had become longer, pointer, and more magenta while his olive green eyes were now blue—and a logo on his chest comprised of a pink "B" on a white hexagonal-like polygon, which was surrounded by a yellow border.

"That's your avatar?" Cal asked, not impressed. "Looks a little..." He tilted his hand to the side. "...flashy."

"Hey, don't underestimate how I look!" Naoki defended. "I wanted to look flash for when I finally appear on camera!"

Yuan remained silent as he crossed his arms. "You okay, Yuan?" Naoki asked. "You're not sayin' anything."

Suddenly, a digital screen materialized in front of Yuan, who proceeded to type something into his Duel Disk. As he did that, words appeared on the screen.

YOU HAVE TO EXCUSE MY SILENCE. I CHOSE TO REMAIN MUTE IN THE NETWORK SINCE MY VOICE CAN BE EASILY RECOGNIZABLE. IT'S TO MAINTAIN A LOW PROFILE FOR CAL SO NO ONE WILL RECOGNIZE ME AS HIS ALLY.

"Whoa... That's a cool way of talking," Naoki complimented.

THANK YOU, MY TRUSTED FRIEND. NOW WE MUST STAY ON GUARD. WE DON'T KNOW HOW MANY DUELISTS STRIKER CONTACTED, OR WHO HE CONTACTED. FOR ALL WE KNOW, WE HAVE UNKNOWINGLY TEAMED UP WITH-

"So you're the infamous Vagabond! 'Bout time you and your buddies got here!"

Yuan, Brave Battler, and the Vagabond all rotated their heads to where the voice was coming from and saw a 19-year-old man walking to where they were. He had tan skin, light blue eyes, a brown chin beard, and a two-toned flattop haircut: blonde with red highlights on top of his head and brown from the forehead down. A greenish-gray jacket is worn over his built body frame and his neck had a separate collar of the same color and a golden animal necklace. His pants were also greenish-gray, but there was a large patch of denim on the front and a belt was shown supporting it, with the strap having the same color as his jacket and gold studs and the gold buckle containing a magenta "G." He wore dark gray boots with a bronze stripe on the front of each boot and golden plates buckled on the toe areas. More gold plates can also be seen on his abdomen and forearms, which extended over his greenish-gray, fingerless gloves, and a gold ring gripped onto his upper left arm. With an appearance like that, it was clear who he was: The Gore, a famous Celebrity Duelist in Link V.R.A.I.N.S..

"Lemme guess... Striker called you here too," the Vagabond assumed.

"'Course he did," The Gore confirmed. "Said he's got some important info 'bout somethin' bad that took place years ago. Dunno what for, but it must be important if he's askin' for my help." He noticed Brave Battler and Yuan. "So what's with the backup?"

IF YOU MUST KNOW, STRIKER ASKED FOR ME TO COME WITH THE VAGABOND. BUT BECAUSE MY DUELING SKILLS ARE NOT AS GOOD AS HIS, I ASKED FOR MY TRUSTED FRIEND, WHO GOES BY THE ALIAS BRAVE BATTLER, TO ACCOMPANY ME.

Brave Battler grinned in response. "That's right!" he confirmed. "We've known each other since preschool!"

Yuan's hand twitched, indicating slight embarrassment. Luckily the Vagabond stepped in. "So who else did Striker contact?" he asked The Gore. "He said he already talked to two other Celebrity Duelists before he reached me."

"Dunno," The Gore admitted with a shrug. "But from what I heard it could be-"

Before he could finish, a small group of stars began to shimmer in the air, something the group quickly noticed. The stars then descended towards the ground, leaving behind the same sky blue pixels as they formed into someone else and unveiled who it was. In front of the four stood a fair-skinned teenager who looked a few years younger than The Gore and looked reminiscent to a magical girl. Her long, blue hair with light blue highlights were tied into pigtails with dark blue ribbons and formed hearts at where they were tied in place. On her face, periwinkle irises glistened from her eyes, and on her right cheek, one would notice a light green clover tattooed on it. Her uniform stayed true to the magical girl trope: dangling earrings shaped like winged pink hearts, dark blue choker, white, sleeveless shirt with pink trims, a blue tie, and stopped just below her breasts, a dress with light blue fabric on the upper half, blue on the lower half, pink trimmings with one shaped like a heart on the front, and wing-shaped frills, dark blue stockings with light blue frills, blue, light blue, and pink boots with winged purple clovers, and dark blue upper arm rings with small wings. Two giant wings adorned each adorned with a pink heart and a purple clover completed the outfit. Turns out The Gore wasn't the only Celebrity Duelist present because he, Brave Battler, Yuan, and the Vagabond were joined with the one and only Blue Angel.

"Wow..." Brave Battler said, completely in awe. "We're actually working alongside Blue Angel?! This is incredible!"

Yuan, on the other hand, didn't type in a response. Instead, he slowly walked over to Blue Angel, his gaze fixated on her. "What's goin' on with ya?" Brave Battler asked, sounding concerned.

The Vagabond, on the other hand, knew exactly what was going on, since he groaned and rubbed his brow. "Not again..." he muttered.

At that point, Yuan was right next to Blue Angel, who was a bit annoyed with the close distance. "Can I help you?" she asked with her arms crossed.

Yuan typed something into his Duel Disk before placing his arm on Blue Angel's shoulder. At that moment, a single word appeared on his screen.

HEY.

Blue Angel simply remained standing near Yuan, her widened eyes staring at him, her right eyebrow furrowing downward, and her left eyebrow raised upward. Brave Battler and The Gore had similar reactions as they also faced Yuan, wondering what that was for. The Vagabond knew exactly what his partner was doing and all he could do was place his hand on his face out of pure embarrassment. Now is not time, he thought to himself.

"Okay, that's enough," the Vagabond said as he stepped in, pushing Yuan away from Blue Angel. "I take it Striker called you out here too."

"Well like your little armor friend said, that's true," Blue Angel confirmed. "Striker told me his research reveals what happened to one of my childhood friends. If he knows what happened to her, it's bound to be important." She glanced at her Duel Disk and sighed. "But where is he?"

"Good. Everyone is finally present."

#Into the Arcverse #spiderman into the spiderverse #yugioh vrains #yugioh arc v

3 notes · View notes

pedra-ring-blog · 5 years

Text

Top 10 Greatest Leonardo DiCaprio Movies of All Time

Source We all love Leo for his promising performance. May he be a bad boy, a romantic boyfriend, or a mentally-ill child, we couldn't deny the fact that he's an incredible actor. Plus, he's the King of Freak-Out scenes! Now, let's find out his top 10 greatest movie roles of all time. 1. Titanic

His most popular movie performance of all is playing Jack Dawson in the award-winning 1997 movie, Titanic. This box-office, record-breaking movie that stunned millions of people across the globe has made a worldwide phenomenon that goes deep down in history. Besides the heart-breaking story of the tragic ship, there's also Leo and Kate's chemistry that binds the audiences into a more level of attachment. No doubt, it's still the summit of Leo's career, and one of the greatest old-school movies to come out of Hollywood in the last 20 years. Fun facts: Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet committed to the film even before the script was written, on the basis only of a 165-page outline James Cameron had written.The hands seen sketching Rose are not Leonardo DiCaprio's, but director James Cameron's. In post-production, Cameron, who is left-handed, mirror-imaged the sketching shots so the artist would appear to be right-handed, like DiCaprio.Both Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio learned how to dance the polka for the scenes set at the party in the third-class compartments.Johnny Depp was offered the role of Jack Dawson, but turned it down, and considers it a big regret. 2. What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Source In this emotional, tear-jerking movie, our young Leo plays Arnie Grape, who is a mentally handicapped teenager. He's the younger brother of Gilbert (Johnny Depp), who struggles to bring their family out of difficult circumstances. Leo's performance as a mentally disabled teen is so convincing, it'll make you think that he's definitely not normal at all. This movie brought our young Leo to his first Oscar-nominated role. It's just so sad that he won't be able to tell his "Mamma" about his Oscar award, because she won't wake up anymore. Fun facts: Leo said that playing Arnie Grape was "the most fun I've ever had."When getting into character, Leo remarked of it. I spent a few days at a home for mentally retarded teens. We just talked and I watched their mannerisms. People have these expectations that mentally retarded children are really crazy, but that isn't so. It's refreshing to see them because everything's so new to them."Leo created Arnie's trademark flicking his finger against his nose, describing it as a sort of "brain wipe...like Arnie is massaging the inside of his brain."Leo really did not bathe during the period in filming when Arnie refused to go near water! 3. Romeo + Juliet

Before Leo had the role of Jack in Titanic, he's already a hot icon for being the handsome, sexy, and romantic boyfriend that every single ladies dream of having. Set in the modern era, Baz Luhrmann's histrionic, gang-war-filled setting take on the classic play. Although Kate and Leo's chemistry is so much perfect in Titanic, it is undeniably true that Leo and Claire's pair up is also stunning. Fun facts: Leonardo DiCaprio's version of Romeo's speech at Juliet's bier was so good it movedClaire Danes to tears, nearly ruining the scene. The moment the director yelled "cut!," Danes smacked DiCaprio on the arm and said, "Don't make me cry. I'm supposed to be comatose, here!"Leonardo DiCaprio was Baz Luhrmann's first choice to play Romeo.Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio initially did not get along well on set. Danes accused Leonardo DiCaprio of being immature, while Leo said Danes was just uptight. 4. Catch Me If You Can

Source Who would've thought that this handsome, good-looking man is a fugitive? Not in real life though, but in Steven Spielberg's hit movie, "Catch Me if You Can". Leo is Frank Abagnale, a real-life con-man who traveled around the country and lived the high life as he impersonated pilots, lawyers, and doctors. Leo's acting from one character to another is just so promising, we'll all convinced that he's not just impersonating. Fun facts: To get her to achieve the way he wanted her to sloppily kiss Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg asked Amy Adams to pretend she was starving to death and eating a cheeseburger.According to the real Frank Abagnale Jr. approximately 80 percent of the movie is true.When Frank begins recruiting decoy flight attendants; when announcing the girls picked he announces the actresses by real name.17-year-old Frank tells Brenda he's 28 years old, which was Leonardo DiCaprio's true age when Catch Me If You Can premiered in 2002. 5. The Departed

Source One of the most intense roles that Leo ever had was playing the role of Billy Costigan as a cop infiltrating the mob. Together with Matt Damon as a mobster infiltrating the police force, the film is an intricate, fascinating tale of competing cat-and-mouse games. However, the film director and his screenwriter infuse it with so much tragedy that it winds up becoming something almost mythic. But seeing Leo's performance is just so intense, in a totally unglamorous way by being a desperate man who almost loses his identity. It's one of his all-time greatest performances. Fun facts: Leo could've won an Oscar award for this movie. A possible reason why he did not receive an Oscar nomination for his performance in this movie was because the Warner Bros. Studios initially did not want to favor him over his co-stars and place him in the leading actor category. The studio favored his leading performance in Blood Diamond (2006) (which eventually got him a nomination). DiCaprio himself refused to campaign against his male co-stars in the supporting actor category, so Warner bought no supporting actor ads for DiCaprio, and he did not receive a nomination.Leonardo DiCaprio was cast in the title role in The Good Shepherd (2006).Leonardo DiCaprio called his one-on-one scene with Jack Nicholson "one of the most memorable moments of my life." 6. Django Unchained

Source Playing the matured role of a slave owner Calvin Candie in a smooth and attractive way is definitely a credit to Leo's amazing talent. His dirty, racist, and demented heart on Quentin Tarantino's hit movie "Django Unchained" brought him into a remarkable role of being the bad guy playing his cards on a sophisticated way. This is a man who breeds and forces his slaves to fight each other, who has a weird fascination with France, and who is, at heart, a murderous psychotic. Fun facts: When Leonardo DiCaprio's character Calvin Candie smashes his hand on the dinner table, the actor accidentally crushed a small stemmed glass with his palm and really began to bleed. DiCaprio ignored it, stayed in character, and continued with the scene. Tarantino was so impressed that he used this take in the final print, and when he called cut, the room erupted in a standing ovation. DiCaprio's hand was bandaged and he suggested the idea of smearing blood onto the face of Kerry Washington. Tarantino and Washington both liked this, so Tarantino got some fake blood together.During the filming of one of the dinner scenes, Leonardo DiCaprio had to stop the scene because he was having "a difficult time" using so many racial slurs. Samuel L. Jackson then pulled him aside telling him, "Motherfucker, this is just another Tuesday for us." 7. The Basketball Diaries

Source Another young Leo movie, this is just one of the many proofs that Leo was born to act. His role in the movie adaptation of Jim Carroll's memoir, The Basketball Diaries, is a big shift from playing the sweet, innocent, and mentally-challenged Arnie in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" to a high school basketball star, who eventually becomes broken, and worse, a homeless drug addict. But Leo's flexible character made him so amazing in this movie, which brought a dramatic atmosphere in his struggles as a broken teenager. Fun facts: The guy Jim talks to in the underground drugden, is the real Jim Carroll.Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis previously appeared together in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993).This is the first film with Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg. They would later appear together in The Departed.Jim Carroll was unaware of who Leonardo DiCaprio was at first. "When they first told me it was gonna be Leo, I didn't know who he was," Carroll told The Los Angeles Times. "If they'd said the kid from Growing Pains (1985), I would have known, because when I first saw that kid, I said, 'This kid has a lot of presence.' I said, 'That kid is very pretty. He's gonna do well.'"To prepare for his role, Leonardo DiCaprio hung out in Greenwich Village and went to a poetry reading with Carroll. 8. The Aviator

Source This movie is another Martin Scorsese's. Leo plays the role of Howard Hughes in his early years of being an inventor, and at the same time, a bigtime millionaire businessman. He's facing a lot of problems in almost everything. As he tries to continue chasing his plans and dreams, there are times when he's about to get mad, and Leo's characterization on this part of Howard's life is truly convincing. He's definitely a great actor for this movie. Fun facts: Leonardo DiCaprio spent a day with Jane Russell to hear her memories and impressions of Howard Hughes. She was very impressed with DiCaprio's visit and told him that Hughes was a quiet yet extremely stubborn man who always got his way in the end.Howard Hughes' Los Angeles home in the film was actually the home he lived on Muirland Drive.Leonardo DiCaprio received an Oscar nomination for playing Howard Hughes.Leonardo DiCaprio (standing roughly 6ft) is several inches smaller than the actual Howard Hughes (6ft4). 9. Revolutionary Road

This 2008 movie is kind of special, as Leo and his Titanic partner Kate were reunited for this adaptation of Richard Yates' classic novel "Revolutionary Road". This movie is mainly about suburban despair and two adults who realizes that life is not as easy as one-two-three. Contrary to their adventurous and colorful characters in Titanic, their roles in this movie is matured and somehow full of problems. Leo's excellent performance in this movie is his signature freak-out, where we're all stunned and scared for a moment as he burst out his anger and disappointment. Fun facts: While directing the love scene between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, director Sam Mendes (husband of Winslet at the time) opted to watch the monitor from another room.This was the second movie Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet worked on together since Titanic (1997). Paramount Pictures, which distributed the early film in the U.S., was the worldwide distributor of this film.This film marked the second time Kate Winslet has been in a movie where she makes love in a vintage car, and someone's hand hits the window and slides down it in the throes of passion. The first time was in Titanic (1997). 10. The Man in the Iron Mask

Source After the success of Titanic comes this movie. Leo, who played the sneering, playboy King Louis XIV with his long-imprisoned twin has become a hit after Leo's stardom in Titanic. Young Leo was so versatile, he was able to play two different characters in one movie! Besides, we can also see Leo in his elegant robes while hiding the fact that there's something more dreadful in those shiny dress. Fun facts: Leonardo DiCaprio's mask was made out of polystyrene.Louis XIV did have a brother named Philippe, but he was not a twin. He was several years younger, a flamboyant homosexual, and had the title Duc d'Orleans.MGM discovered the audience the movie attracted was "directly related to appeal of Leonardo DiCaprio", being 55% female and 46% under the age of 25.The film cast includes two Oscar winners: Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeremy Irons; and two Oscar nominees: John Malkovich and Gérard Depardieu. Read the full article

3 notes · View notes

icarianfate-blog · 6 years

Text

Something that’s very important to me and I don’t budge on is Regulus’s continued attachment to his family and connections in the elitist pureblood society. There’s a few reasons for this, which I’ll go into here.

1. Life is Messy

Did Regulus grow thanks to his exposure to the darkest parts of his community, the reality behind their beliefs and his views become less bigoted over time? Yes. But the fact he no longer views muggleborns as filth doesn’t eradicate a lifetime of indoctrination, a need for human connection, a justified fear of rejection, still loving your family even when they’re awful, or utterly pragmatic needs like business partnerships. He’s not Sirius or Andromeda, for Regulus utterly removing himself from the society they were raised in is not an option. Life is messy and sometimes you’re the liberal-ish gay cousin at christmas dinner trying to fend off war flashbacks because your baby cousin just said the word “lake”.

Regulus -- like Draco -- became a Death Eater at 16 and in canon died at 18. By the end of the second war Regulus is 36. He saw and did terrible things at an incredibly young age, then had to totally restructure his whole world view alone with no one to really talk to about it and rebuild his entire life-- all while dealing with the physical, psychological and social consequences of his actions. While it doesn’t take him long at all to mellow out, it does take him longer to defrag his ideology and figure out what the hell he does believe now and how to express those new beliefs accurately. Basically the man’s a mess and that’s really to be expected.

2. Portraying the Spectrum

I also feel it’s very important to have people who fall more on the “Bad Side” who are well, not so bad. While on paper these topics are very black and white in reality they’re not always so clean cut. Something I’ve always hated about Harry Potter is that until about the last 2 books there’s basically not a single “Good” Slytherin even mentioned let alone seen. Yes there are people like Severus who are there from the start, but he’s not revealed to be a “Good Slytherin” until the very end, the rest of the time he’s portrayed as one of the worst ones. This always just pissed me off so much, it’s just such an unnecessary and trite demonization of a whole group-- worse, a group of children. Yes it’s the most likely place for the Dracos of the world to end up, but that doesn’t mean every single child who was ever sorted into it is a Death Eater in the making. But we never see those Slytherins and it really, really pisses me off.

Regulus is not a “Good Person” in the sense he was always secretly good and eventually ~~broke free of the evil mind control and is now Pure again~~. I hesitate to even call him a good person honestly, even though his last and only canon acts speak to someone who is unwavering good and self-sacrificing. In his youth he genuinely believed in some truly terrible things but he had his own inherit limits and morals he could not sacrifice even for his family and their beliefs. That’s important, not everyone on that side is a Bellatrix, and while being less awful than Bellatrix doesn’t exactly earn you a medal it does speak to the spectrum. He’s not the best, but he’s definitely not the worst.

By the time the first war is over Regulus is on a knife’s edge at the near perfect center of the spectrum between acceptance and bigotry. He’s proof that a Slytherin coming from the most stereotypical, toxic pureblood upbringing with all the classic Slytherin traits can still buck a lot of the script and actually manage to not be a complete bastard.

3. Never Burn Bridges You Could Still Use

In true Slytherin fashion, we come to a manipulative, Game of Thrones-y reason. This is one of the key reasons for him IC and also one of the things I think can be difficult for people to get or swallow. Where most people likely feel that the only correct option would be to pull a Sirius and disown the family-- that they themselves could never stomach putting up with all the heinous things these pureblood types say and cannot imagine someone who doesn’t believe it doing just that for any reason-- the fact is that’s not always the right move, and that there are people who can do it just fine.

Regulus isn’t a fool. He’s the well-educated, intelligent son of a rich, prominent pureblood family with lots of connections all over the place in the wizarding community who got sorted into the “win or die trying” house. Publicly renouncing half or more of those connections is frankly a terrible idea for him to do on so many levels. He loses a LOT of power, access and leverage he could actually use to do things that could actually be a boon in the long run. While unlike Severus he wasn’t --and likely doesn’t become a spy ( though that is up for debate )-- those connections could be vital for his continued survival and provide a means of keeping tabs on enemies.

Why on earth would he run around making enemies of everyone he could still use? How does that help anyone? Especially when he’s already mastered the art of placating and maneuvering these types of people.

4. Love, Sentimentality and Loyalty are just as Powerful Weaknesses as Strengths

Something we actually get from canon is that Regulus is an unquestionably loving, loyal and compassionate person. When he has Kreacher take him to the cave he drinks the potion, he sacrifices himself. This is not something someone who is not at their core compassionate, empathetic and loving does. He saw the effects the potion had on Kreacher, he heard what he had gone through, and when the time came he refused to make the elf go through that again.

"And he order-- Kreacher to leave-- without him. And he told Kreacher -- to go home-- and never to tell my Mistress-- what he had done-- but to destroy-- the first locket. And he drank-- all the potion-- and Kreacher swapped the lockets-- and watched ... as Master Regulus ... was dragged beneath the water ... and ..."

"[...] that Regulus changed his mind ... but he doesn't seem to have explained that to Kreacher, does he? And I think I know why. Kreacher and Regulus's family were all safest if they kept to the old pure-blood line. Regulus was trying to protect them all." "[...] I've said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did ... and so did Sirius." [...] I do not think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human's ...

This core of kindness and empathy is both what ended up causing him to defect and also what keeps him tied to what family and friends he has left. It’s hard, especially when you are so loyal and loving to cut out people who you’ve known your whole life, who you love and love you back. Bellatrix is a monster she’s easy to cut out but Narcissa? How could he really cut ties with one of his only living relatives, who’s likely his favorite cousin? Who is herself a fiercely loving and loyal woman? It would take a lot for him to finally cut ties with his loved ones still in the purist community and it’s frankly one of his greatest failings.

5. No One likes a Former Death Eater

The cruel fact of the matter is that regardless of your reformation most people will not accept or acknowledge it and treat you like you are still a monster. Regulus could try -- and does try-- to integrate more with the mainstream, but it’ll always be met with mixed success at best because he was a Death Eater. Unless he moved to a different country, it’d be difficult to really start over again completely with any real solid success. The majority of the wizarding world socially ostracizes him while still engaging with him on a business and political level because of his status. The only people who still want to have a cuppa with him are all in the same boat as him, bigots or purist sympathizers.

He’s human, and however much he’d like to gripe about people and wanting to be left alone forever to become a hermit he craves interaction, especially since he himself is an intensely social extroverted person. If he cuts these people out of his life he basically has no one to talk to anymore and he’s left totally isolated, which would frankly lead to much worse and dangerous places for him.

6. Someone here has to be the Voice of Reason

Having literally no one in that community who isn’t a total nightmare is asking for trouble. Not only because it allows the toxicity to stew and intensify unchecked but it also means no one is there to try and help the younger generations break free of the cycle. If he just left like Andromeda and Sirius he’s just making it worse by removing a more moderate voice from the communal discussion. It’s not even about trying to show them the error of their ways, that’s in fact a terrible way to go about things with people like this. It’s about diluting the toxic ideology, providing the less dangerous paths and laying out the framework that can act as the basis for someone else’s journey out of the quagmire.

For example, when looking at cults and hate groups, the worst way to reach those people is by trying to point out everything wrong and arguing with them, it only entrenches them more. You make more progress by staying close and quietly slipping in the information and tools they need to work things out themselves. Telling someone they’re in a destructive cult will get you nothing, but telling them about this book you read about some terrible cult and all the signs of one you learned from it and isn’t that just wild? These people are bad news huh? Here give it a read yourself-- Is far more effective in the long run.

By being there he acts as a moderate, neutral adult figure who the children can both model and look to for support. He’s much safer than most of their families and willing to be the sounding board for their own debates and give advice from a place of having literally been right where they are now. He can act as a mid-point between the extremely insular and toxic pureblood community, the mainstream wizarding world, and thanks to his time in hiding, the muggle world for purebloods looking to escape or just broaden themselves.

#meta tbt.#reference tbt.#i'm not formatting this more than it is bc i don't hate myself #and i'm not bothering with a cut bc fuck the police #hc tbt #ooc tbt

4 notes · View notes

pedra-ring-blog · 5 years

Text

Top 10 Greatest Leonardo DiCaprio Movies of All Time

2 notes · View notes

blog-researchblog · 4 years

Text

The Inside Scoop of an Elementary School Teacher

Reflection:

When I graduate I want to become an elementary or special education teacher. By answering Scott Christ’s “ 7 Powerful Questions To Find Out What You Want To Do With Your Life” I got to reflect on what I value in life. I value many things that I believe will help me succeed in having this career. One thing I value is I love to help others, and being a teacher involves helping others all day long. You help your students to learn and understand the information being taught, and you also help other teachers around you. Getting my teaching degree in Pennsylvania, I have the ability to teach in almost every state without getting a new certificate. I would like to travel and teach down south, or even overseas for a year before having a family. Teaching also would give me consistent hours which is helpful when wanting a family. I would like to eventually live in a suburban area and be involved in my children’s school/social life. I am willing to work very hard for what I want in life. For example, I worked hard to create lesson plans and activities while traveling to South Africa with a group from Kutztown University. There we tutored middle schoolers to help with their fluency in literature and math practice. It took a lot of confidence to travel so far with only knowing my one friend. Going into teaching in general, and especially Special Education, it requires a lot of confidence and patience. You need to put in the time and energy into everything you do, which I believe I do.

In order to find out more about the teaching profession, I looked at the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

The Facts:

According to the entry “ Kindergarten and Elementary School Teachers” in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, an elementary school teacher starts the basis of learning for a child. They prepare lessons, teach students social skills, observe students, prepare students for standardized tests, etc. Elementary teachers typically teach basic subjects- such as math, reading, and writing. Teachers can work in public and private schools. A typical teacher schedule is working with the students during the week September- June , preparing lessons during nights/weekends, and having summers off. If a teacher teaches year long they typically work 9 weeks in a row followed by a 3 week break. An elementary school teacher usually teaches kindergarten- fifth grade. When students are in the classroom they instruct in several subjects. They may also escort their students through the halls to assemblies, recess, or other teachers classrooms (art, music, gym, etc.) To become a teacher, one must get a bachelor's degree from a college and receive a state-issued certificate. Most states have tenure laws which are laws that provide job security after a certain number of years of teaching in one school. In 2018, teachers held 1.4 million of the jobs in the US. The median wage for this profession is around $58,000.

Important qualities teachers should possess are communication skills, patience, physical stamina, and resourcefulness. To look more in depth about what being a teacher is like, I interviewed a current first grade teacher to get her insight.

In the Eyes of a First Grade Teacher:

When you were little do you remember what your favorite game to play was? Maybe it was hide and seek, dolls, toy cars, or tag? Well for this first grade teacher her favorite game was teacher. She found herself setting up her toys all around her basement and reading to them. She also had her sister who would sometimes play with her as well. As she grew older this love for teaching inside of her never died. Similar to her, growing up playing school was the moment I noticed I loved it while other kids hated it. Teaching is something that I am passionate about and want to pursue. She decided to start looking for colleges in which she would be able to get a teaching degree, and she seems very glad with the career she chose.

During our interview, she spoke her teaching philosophy to me and it has definitely made me more excited to teach and inspired to be a good teacher. Her philosophy is “ I believe in making all students feel welcome, safe, loved, and at home. I believe in teaching the whole child; mentally, socially, and emotionally.” You could just tell her excitement when she spoke about what she loved doing and having an impact in all her students lives. She enjoys so many things about her job such as the bonds she creates with her students and their families. Her favorite part of the day is teaching reading (the read alouds and shared reading) because “there is so much you can do with it that captures their interest and imagination.” She also appreciates all the other little things that come along with teaching- their notes, pictures, and cards, their funny stories and excitement, and watching how much they grow before her eyes as the school year continues. She loves being able to see how much they’ve progressed from the beginning of the year to the end. Each day is just as impactful as another to help shape their minds into little masterminds.

Her days are busy so I asked her to explain to me what it’s like. Her classroom has an 180 minute literacy block in the morning that includes independent reading, phonics, read aloud, guided reading rotations, as well as shared reading and writer’s workshop. They then have a break for lunch and then come back to complete 80 minutes of math which includes guided math rotations. The student’s break for their special and then they return for 25 minutes of science/social studies before packing up at 2:55. Her school days are pretty much always the same, just different material each day.

One thing she explained that is hard to do is move around. She said she had the idea to move into a suburban area that she subbed at but the pay cut was too extreme so she continued to accept a job and teach in the city. “When I moved to the city and was hired as a full time teacher in a grade that I loved, I just wanted to stay here because to leave would bring so much uncertainty.” While traveling was one thing I have always looked forward to, I would be willing to save it for the summer when we have off because I would become just as attached to my students and school district.

While you don’t go into teaching for the pay, you have to look at the bigger picture. She said while most days are super hard- it makes the good days that much better. “Your heart is what gets you through those really hard days.” Lastly, I was interested in what advice she would give someone like me about going into teaching. She suggests getting your masters degree as soon as you can. She is currently one semester away from getting her masters degree on top of maintaining a classroom and she explained that it has definitely been very difficult. Also to go to your mentor teachers as often as you need because they’ve gone through what you are going through and they know the ins and outs. Always keep an open communication with the parents and give them good news before delivering any bad news about their child's day. This will make them realize their child doesn’t only do bad things- you should call their parents about the good news too.

Where she is teaching they are dealing with it being their contract year. Three years ago her district got out of a contract freeze after six years without raises or a contract. They are all nervous that they will have to go through that again. Another thing is a lot of the schools around her are being closed for asbestos within the schools. Safety is one thing you don't think about right away going into being a teacher, but where you teach at definitely has an impact on your teaching and students learning.

I believe everyone has something in life that they were meant to do, so always take every opportunity you get so you get the chance to experience it and find it. Speaking with her definitely gave so much more insight on what a teacher has to go through and deal with, especially with all that is being broadcasted in the news such as the asbestos problem.

Education in the News:

In her article “Teachers are refusing to enter a Philadelphia Elementary school because of asbestos fears” Kristin A. Graham gives insight on the teachers feelings about the schools their teaching at allowing students back into the buildings without proof that the asbestos is gone. Teachers and staff refused to enter a school without proof that the asbestos was completely gone. A lot of them were boycotting going inside and holding up signs outside the school until there was evidence. Some parents kept their children home while others who didn’t have any other choice had to send their kids back to school. There was a leak in the schools boiler room and to fix the problem would have to be removed in one weekend. Parents are worried about their children's safety as well as teachers that work there.

This topic is one that definitely scares me. Going into teaching, you don’t necessarily always think about your safety or the building you are in before your students. I chose this topic because the teacher I interviewed teaches in Philadelphia where this epidemic is happening. I wanted to get a better insight about what was happening. Being a future teacher and mother, these are the types of things you need to be ready to face. Teachers and parents are boycotting going into a school because there is no proof it is 100% completely free. This topic relates to my career choice because it could potentially happen where I teach. In older schools it is possible things may go wrong or not always be as up to date as newly built schools. You need to be just as aware of your surroundings and safety with as much of thought you put into decorating your room or making lesson plans. I don’t know that I would want to continue to teach in a city where such a harmful substance keeps popping up. This may be something I could have to face and decide if I ‘m going to keep my job but be at risk, or risk moving and finding another job but being positive that your safety is a top priority. From this article I have learned to always research where you are accepting or applying for a job. Make sure you are willing to put up with all the challenges you might face. Also to make sure you weigh the factors going into deciding if your safety is worth the money. I would like to still know if anyone else got hurt besides the one teacher they referenced. I would also like to know how long it is taking for them to completely clean the schools. Also if teachers and staff can’t enter if they are still getting paid.

Lauren Kovacs

0 notes