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papermoonloveslucy · 4 years

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LUCY & BEDROCK! (TWIST! TWIST!)

Lucille Ball & “The Flintstones”

“The Flintstones” was TV’s first primetime animated sitcom. It was produced by Hannah-Barbara animation and ran on ABC TV from 1960 to 1966. Following the show's cancellation, a film called The Man Called Flintstone, a musical spy caper that parodied James Bond, was released that same year. The show was revived in the early 1970s and several different series and made-for-TV movies. The original show also was adapted into a live-action film in 1994, and a prequel, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, which followed in 2000.

Although not officially recognized by its creators, the show bears a very strong resemblance to TV’s “The Honeymooners”. Fred and Wilma Flintstone are reminiscent of Ralph and Alice Kramden, and they have best friends and neighbors Betty and Barney Rubble that are very similar to Ed and Trixie Norton. The original “Honeymooners” (1955-56) also was spun-off into future iterations, including musical episodes, just like “The Flintstones.”

Lucille Ball admired “Honeymooners” creator and Jackie Gleason and Gleason even played Ralph Kramden on “Here’s Lucy.” Ball also worked with the show’s other stars: Art Carney (in “Happy Anniversary and Goodbye” and “What Now Catherine Curtis”), Audrey Meadows (in “Mother of the Bride” on “Life With Lucy”) and even Jane Kean, who played Trixie in the color “Honeymooners” (who was seen on a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show”).

CAST CONNECTIONS

Jean Vander Pyl (Wilma Flintstone / Pebbles) worked with Lucille Ball on several episodes of “My Favorite Husband” radio show in 1948.

Alan Reed (Fred Flintstone) played a train station luncheon counter attendant in “Lucy Visits The White House” (TLS S1;E23) in 1963, while also playing Fred Flintstone on ABC. He later appeared on an episode of Desi Arnaz’s “Mothers-in-Law”.

Bea Benadaret (Betty Rubble) was one of Lucille Ball’s favorite performers. She played Iris Atterbury on “My Favorite Husband” and was Ball’s first choice to play Ethel Mertz. Instead, she played Miss Lewis in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15).

Mel Blanc (Barney Rubble) was a master of voices best known for Bugs Bunny. He also worked extensively with Jack Benny, once with Lucille Ball. He did two films with Lucille Ball: The Fuller Brush Girl (1950) and G.I. Journal (1944). In 1969, Blanc did some ADR (dialogue replacement) work on “Here’s Lucy.”

Hal Smith (Various Voices) is probably best known as Otis the Drunk on “The Andy Griffith Show”. He appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1963 film Critic’s Choice and did three episodes of “The Lucy Show” and one of “Here’s Lucy.”

Howard Morris (Various Voices) played Howard Coe in “Lucy and the Golden Greek” (TLS S4;E2) in 1965.

Allan Melvin (Various Voices) is best remembered as Sam the Butcher on “The Brady Bunch” and Barney Hefner on “All in the Family.” In 1956, as Corporal Henshaw on “Sergeant Bilko,” he did was seen with Ball in “Bilko’s Ape Man.” Melvin and Ball also appeared together on the 8th Anniversary of “The Ed Sullivan Show” In 1954.

Harvey Korman (The Great Gazzoo / Various Voices) is best remembered for his work with Carol Burnett on “The Carol Burnett Show”, several times with Lucille Ball. He also appeared on “The Lucy Show” three times.

Janet Waldo (Mrs. Slaghoople / Hedda Rocker / Various Voices) is best remembered for voicing Judy Jetson on another Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, “The Jetsons” (1962-87). She played Peggy “Keep Jiggling” Dawson on “I Love Lucy” and Lucy Carmichael’s sister Marge on “The Lucy Show.”

Frank Nelson (Rockbind / Rocky Stone / Various Clerks) did two recurring characters on “I Love Lucy” - Freddie Fiillmore and Ralph Ramsey, in addition to other characters. His distinctive voice was heard on “My Favorite Husband” and he made one appearance, as the harried train conductor, on “The Lucy Show.”

June Foray (Granny / Nurses) was one of the most famous voice artists in Hollywood, most famous for Rocket J. Squirrel. Coincidentally, Warner Brothers recruited Foray to replace Bea Benadaret as Granny in their cartoons. On “I Love Lucy” she provided the bark of Fred the dog.

Paula Winslowe (Mrs. Slate / Various Voices) played Mrs. Martha Conklin on “Our Miss Brooks” opposite Gale Gordon. On “I Love Lucy” she was one of the passengers on the S.S. Constitution in “Second Honeymoon” (ILL S5;E14) and a patient (in wheelchair, above) in “Lucy Plays Florence Nightingale” (TLS S2;E14). She was the voice of Bambi’s mother in the 1942 Disney film Bambi.

Verna Felton (Pearl Slaghoople) received two Emmy nominations for her role in the Desilu series “December Bride,” playing Hilda Crocker from 1955 to 1959. She did two episodes of “I Love Lucy,” including playing Lucy’s stern maid, Mrs. Porter. Felton voiced many characters for Disney.

Howard McNear (Doctor) played Mr. Crawford, Little Ricky’s music teacher on “I Love Lucy.” McNear went on to play Floyd the Barber on “The Andy Griffith Show” from 1961 to 1967, filmed on the Desilu backlot. He was also seen in Lucy and Desi’s 1953 film The Long, Long Trailer.

Herb Vigran (Cop) was one of the busiest character actors in Hollywood. He played Jule, Ricky Ricardo’s music agent on two episodes of “I Love Lucy” in addition to playing movie publicist Hal Sparks in “Lucy is Envious” (ILL S3;23). He was seen in the Lucy-Desi film The Long, Long Trailer and six episodes of “The Lucy Show” - all as doctors!

Ginny Tyler (Daisy) voiced Clementine the sheep in “Lucy Buys a Sheep” (TLS S1;E5) and the bird voices in “Lucy Gets the Bird” (TLS S3;E12) and one episode of “Here’s Lucy.” She did the voice of the sheep in Disney’s 1964 hit Mary Poppins. Although she died in 2012, her voice can still be heard in the chorus of birds outside The Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Willard Waterman (Gus Gravel) was a versatile voice actor who appeared on hundreds of radio shows in the 1930s and 40s. He is probably best remembered for playing “The Great Gildersleeve” on both radio and TV. He was seen on “The Lucy Show” in “Lucy and The Plumber” (above) and “Lucy the Rain Goddess” (S4;E15).

Jerry Hausner (Clyde) was best remembered for playing Jerry, Ricky’s agent on “I Love Lucy” (including the pilot). He also did one appearance on “The Lucy Show.”

Sam Edwards (Agent) played the star-struck bellboy in “Lucy Meets the Queen” (ILL S5;E15). He was also the voice of the adult Thumper in Bambi (1942).

Sandra Gould (Various Voices) was best remembered as Gladys Kravitz on “Bewitched”. She made two appearances on “I Love Lucy” and one (above) on “The Lucy Show.”

Ann-Margret (Ann Margrock) was one of several celebrity guest stars to be honored with character on “The Flintstones”. She was also a guest star (as herself) on “Here’s Lucy” in 1970 and had appeared on Ann-Margret’s 1969 special.

Elizabeth Taylor (Pearl Slaghoople in The Flintstones live action film, 1994) was one of Hollywood’s most glamorous and popular stars when she guest starred with husband Richard Burton on “Here’s Lucy” in 1970. It is odd, then, that she was cast as Pearl Slaghoople, a character that was previously considered frumpy.

Paul Winchell (Umpire / Thief / Reporter in "Wind Up Wilma” - 1981) was best known as a ventriloquist, but he was also an accomplished character actor who appeared in two episodes of “The Lucy Show” and two of “Here’s Lucy.”

Arte Johnson (”Flintstone Kids” - 1989) was best known as a cast member on “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In”. He also did an episode of “Here’s Lucy” as an eccentric bird watcher.

George O’Hanlon (”Flintstone Kids” - 1989) was best remembered as the voice of George Jetson on “The Jetsons,” another hit Hanna-Barbera cartoon. On “I Love Lucy” he was one of two actors to play Charlie Appleby.

"I Love Lucy” and “The Flintstones”

First, Lucille Ball bears more than a passing physical resemblance to Wilma Flintstone. In “The Flintstones” it is clear that Fred is the leading character and most stories revolve around Fred and Barney, rather than Lucy and Ethel. The tried and true formula of a leading couple and the best friends / neighbors as the secondary characters is used in “I Love Lucy”, “The Honeymooners” and “The Flintstones”.

Here are a few more tangible connections:

The animated Lucy and Desi that opened pre-syndication airings of “I Love Lucy” were created by the Hanna-Barbera unit at MGM.

And both shows were sponsored by cigarette companies; “I Love Lucy” by Philip Morris and “The Flintstones” by Winston.

Wilma and Betty trying to sneak into the Water Buffalo convention in "Ladies Night at the Lodge" (1964) while disguised as men was very close to Lucy and Ethel disguising themselves as male reporters to infiltrate Ricky’s daddy shower in “Ricky Has Labor Pains” (1953).

The plot of “Operation Switchover” (1964) recycles the premise and many of the same plot elements of “Job Switching” (1952) especially with the domestic disasters on Ricky and Fred's end: scorched clothes while ironing, a fallen cake, and overflowing rice on the stove.

Like Lucy Ricardo, Wilma Flintstone’s pregnancy was incorporated into the storyline. It was originally thought that like Lucy, Wilma would have a boy, but merchandisers pointed out that there were more opportunities for products for girls, so Pebbles was born. Like Lucille Ball, Jean Vander Pyl (who voiced Wilma) was pregnant at the time of recording and gave birth to her son on the day "The Blessed Event" originally aired on February 22, 1963.

Fred and Barney undertake a rehearsal for the big moment, including Betty rehearsing telephoning the doctor, just like Ricky and the Mertz’s do for Lucy when ‘the time has come’.

Wilma seems to get cravings for unusual foods including hot fudge and sardines that Fred dutifully supplies, just like Ricky did for Lucy.

In the father’s waiting room, a man worries his wife might deliver more than one baby, just like Mr. Stanley (Charles Lane) on “I Love Lucy.”

In “Operation Switchover” a character named Hedda Rocker from Good Cavekeeping Magazine is obviously inspired by Hedda Hopper, the famous gossip columnist who appeared on two episodes of “I Love Lucy” as herself.

Arthur Murray, who’s innovate dance instruction method and dance studios became iconic, is parodied on “The Flintstones” as Arthur Quarry. In a 1965 episode, he was named Arthury Murrayrock.

In “Lucy Meets the Mustache” (LDCH S3;E3) Lucy wants to open a sealed letter so she tries a inserting a knitting needle under the flap, a method she says she saw in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The scene is underscored with “Funeral March of a Marionette” by Charles Gounod, which served as the theme tune of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”. On “The Flintstones” he is parodied as Alvin Brickrock.

Hollyrock star Rock Quarry is a tribute to Rock Hudson, but talks like Gary Cooper. Hudson guest-starred on an episode of “I Love Lucy” set in Palm Springs. Previously, Lucy dressed as Gary Cooper (complete with his trademark ‘yup’) to fool near-sighted Caroline Appleby.

An episode titled “The Soft Touchables” is modeled after Desilu’s hit gangster series “The Untouchables.” “The Lucy Show” parodied their own show in an episode titled “Lucy The Gun Moll” (TLS S4;E25) in 1966 starring “The Untouchables Cast” but using different character names.

Wilma and Betty’s favorite television show “Peek-A-Boo Camera” catches Fred and Barney acting silly in a 1963 episode that is clearly modeled after TV’s “Candid Camera” created by Allen Funt. In 1971, “Lucy and the Candid Camera” (HL S4;E14) also featured Funt in hidden camera shot plot. Lucy Carmichael also get involved in a hidden camera television show in “Lucy and the Beauty Doctor” (TLS S3;E24). In that show, the program was called “The Boiling Point.”

The hit Broadway and movie musical movie My Fair Lady inspired many satires (some in name only) including “My Fair Freddy” (1966) and “My Fair Lucy” (TLS S3;E20) in 1965!

In “Fred Flintstone Woos Again” (1961) Wilma convinces Fred to renew their wedding vows after realizing the official who originally married them wasn’t fully licensed! On “I Love Lucy” Lucy realized that their wedding was also invalid when she found an error on their license. They go to the spot they first wed to renew their vows, just like “The Flintstones”.

In “Dial ‘S’ for Suspicion” (1962) Wilma's devotion to a murder mystery novel causes Fred to wonder if Wilma is trying to away with him. In “Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying To Do Away With Her” (ILL S1;E4) Lucy's devotion to a murder mystery novel causes her to wonder if Ricky is trying to do away with her!

When Wilma can’t keep up with the housework, she hires a maid in “Wilma the Maid” (1963). The same situation happened in the Ricardo home in “Lucy Hires a Maid” (ILL S2;E23). While the Flintstone’s maid is an earthy Italian woman named Rockabrigida, the Ricardo’s maid is a humorless woman named Mrs. Porter. Coincidentally, Mrs. Porter was played by Verna Felton, who voices Pearl Slaghoople on “The Flintstones”.

When superhero “Superstone” is hired for a birthday party but can’t make it - Fred takes his place. On “I Love Lucy” when Superman is promised for Little Ricky’s party, but can’t make it, Lucy takes his place - nearly!

In “How To Pick A Fight With Your Wife” (1966) spats between spouses escalate to such a degree that the couples split: Fred and Barney are thrown together as roommates, while Wilma and Betty are bunking together at the other house. In “Vacation from Marriage” (ILL S2;E6) much the same thing occurs between the Ricardos and the Mertzes!

The real comparison with Lucy and Desi is something Joe Barbera could have only hoped for in 1960 — enduring popularity. Lucy is still justifiably loved by hoards of fans and “I Love Lucy” is on the air somewhere. “The Flintstones” remains a part of the popular culture, 60 years after the show’s debut.

#The flintstones #I Love Lucy #Lucille Ball #Jean Vanderpyl #Bea Benadaret #Lucy #Fred Flintstone #Mel Blanc #Hanna-Barbera #Alan Reed #Ann-Margret #Elizabeth Taylor #The Honeymooners #Hedda Hopper #frank nelson #Janet Waldo #Verna Felton #Willard Waterman #paul winchell

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chronicbatfictioner · 4 years

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Exchanges and Compromises - Chapter 9

The first time Barbara saw him, she thought she was seeing things.

The first time Barbara noticed Tim noticing him, she turned towards Dick while wondering out loud if she was seeing things. Dick had answered not-helpfully, "no, but I have been watching you both glaring at them monitors for a really good long time that my eyes are getting sore. And my eyes are kind of surgically and genetically modified."

Turning to Dinah for encouragement and/or clarification was not helping. She has been alternating her glare at the monitors, Tim, and when she saw Barbara's glare, she quipped, "this may be the beginning of a very, very interesting telenovela."

"What's a telenovela?" Dick wanted to know, there was a shit-eating grin on his face that was directed to Tim, who was still glaring at the monitors almost unblinkingly.

"It's... something I'd rather you don't know of..." Barbara replied mindlessly, trying to refocus at the scene on the monitors before her. But to say the sight was somewhere between odd and - dare she thought it - endearing would and should be constituted as an understatement.

There has been quite a ruckus in Gotham since the discovery of the bodies of the Court of Owls' High Council. Dick's data was sent over to the GCPD - discreetly and exempt from all or any incriminating snippets. The GCPD matched the names with the headless carcasses they had found throughout the city. The names were haphazard, and even Barbara could not figure out the direct relationship between most of the victims.

There were a few, however, whose link was rather obvious. One was a Harriet Arkham, and the other was a Philip Kane - both are members of Gotham's Founding Families. Philip Kane was the brother of Martha Wayne, wife of Dr. Thomas Wayne; whereas Harriet Arkham was the wife of Philip Kane and daughter of Amadeus Arkham, the founder of Arkham Asylum.

From then, they were stuck to the point where Barbara decided that they ought to keep the 'why' under 'because they were members of the Court of Owls', and not look further for the time being.

Figuring out the 'Bane' guy was proven to be less difficult.

Born in a prison city of Peña Dura at the island country of Santa Prisca, where his mother was incarcerated for an unknown reason, Bane was said to have overturned the 'corrupt and vile Government of Santa Prisca and came to Gotham for business opportunities' - or so his visa statement said. He came under a diplomatic passport, alright. But Barbara knew that the passport was forged nine ways to Sunday. The Immigration's excuse when an inquiry was sent to them - under the pretext as a federal agency - was that they have no information of legalities of Santa Prisca, and thus have no reason to deny Bane's entry to the US.

It has only been a month since Dick got 'integrated' to the Birds of Prey, but he was proven to be quite an asset. Bane-matters aside, there were a number of missions in which Dick's stealth skills - be it in an enter-exit situation or in providing physical backup - were immensely useful. Dick himself turned out to be quite an easygoing person - not to mention that he looked quite exotic and very well-built that is pleasing to the eyes.

When it comes to a new alias, he had requested the name 'Robin Goodfellow', and Barbara complied without thinking much aside for the literary reference. It was Tim who commented that he recalled that the name 'Robin' was something Dick's mother used to call him.

Today, they were greeted with a rather brutal scene from the surveillance cameras around the Wayne Tower. A group of heavily armed people was attacking someone who apparently was quite versed in fights and lethal forces. From a distance, the person looked like Ra's Al Ghul, the supposedly immortal Master of the League of Assassins in all of his gloriously extravagant costume. Green, overflowing cloak with gold lines that Barbara knew were made of real gold; loosely fitted tunic; a long wraparound belt made of very, very soft leather that hid several weapons; loosely fitted pants with cuffs on the ankles; and shoes that would cost approximately as much as her monthly electricity bills.

Given that Ra's Al Ghul was also the CEO of Algol Enterprises - the company that owned half of Gotham along with Wayne Industries, the attire was not overly curious. Barbara had met him once in a gala held to benefit the Gotham PD. Her subsequent investigation of Al Ghul eventually discovered that the man was using the Algol Enterprises as a front; and that his real money came from assassination business through a group called the League of Assassins. It was rumored that he controlled two-thirds of Africa's indigenous tribes, as well as two-thirds of the Indochine's indigenous tribes. And not a single law enforcement agency in the world had ever even come close to find evidence of the 'assassination business'.

The person was holding a small bundle of a child under one arm while fending both of them against costumed thugs. While he looked like he would be able to finish the job, Tim commented that several groups of armed thugs seemed to be coming on to help their fallen comrades.

"I'mma go and help." Dick eventually decided. "Really, people are having a free-for-all brawl right on my doorstep and they're not inviting me? Rude."

She didn't stop him, or Tim, when they went out and vaulted over several buildings toward the rooftop where the altercation was taking place. Once she could switch on Tim's goggle-cam, she realized that the man was not, in fact, Ra's Al Ghul.

He was a few inches shorter, but a lot wider than Al Ghul, albeit with similar jet black hair that was not as long as Al Ghul's would have. His features were decidedly caucasian, in spite of the tanned skin. His facial bone structures were square-ish, different than Al Ghul's longish structure. He was also still very young, approximately her age with the scowl, probably less without.

Within minutes, Dick and Tim's assistance of the man managed to drive the thugs away. The next step should be - if the guy was willing - Tim would take them to the Birds' safehouse. Otherwise, and if the guy was not willing to be persuaded, Tim would place a tracker so that Barbara could figure out who they were.

Right now, though, Barbara wondered if Tim would be as effective and diplomatic as she needed him to be and not affected by the other man's... charisma.

Tim was smitten. Clearly and absolutely. Every inch of his body language screamed, 'hi, let's frolic. And by frolic, I don't mean the PG-rated one!' - and Dick confirmed her suspicions by giving a stage-whisper through the comm-links, "O, did our kitten has just reached puberty?"

She didn't groan. Oh wait, she did. "I was hoping he won't get it for another year or two - decades, that is. Or ever. Mama cat is sharpening her shotgun's bullets by now, I think." she quipped back.

"What even, you two... I can hear you, you know," Tim growled at them and glared at Dick for a moment before turning back to the other man. "But, anyway. Hi, hello! We're with the Oracle and would like to extend the invitation to you and your... charge here to get some rest, and maybe stitches," he told the stranger. "I'm Stray, by the way."

"I'm Talon," Dick waved at the guy from a safe distance - both out of range of his sword and of Tim's claws. Tim, on the other hand, stood a mere few feet away right in the guy's personal bubble.

"I have heard of the Oracle. I am the Red Ghost." The stranger growled between gritted teeth. "We duly appreciate your hospitality, gentlemen, madame. Especially since I reckon our reservation at the Ritz has likely been compromised."

At the comment, Barbara promptly searched for new reservations of the presidential or junior suites made under Al Ghul's company, name, or anyone linked to Ra's Al Ghul. She found one, hidden deep under several shell companies and nominees, for the Presidential Suite.

She also found the bug planted within the hotel's international server that would alert whoever planted that thing for reservations under about three hundred names, including some quite formidable politicians and dignitaries. Being - as Tim said it - the data hoarder that she was, she downloaded and stored the names for future references. Maybe one of these days, she could send herself on vacation to a Ritz somewhere under one of those names. If she's lucky, somebody might try to assassinate her and she could practice her defense and evasion skills.

Come to think of it, a girls' night out in a presidential suite sounded quite cozy. Adding assassins or ninjas to the mix would've been the highlight of their year.

She shook herself out of the daydream and refocused on Tim. The little child has been set on the ground and was scrutinizing Tim intently.

"I am Damian Al Ghul Wayne," he stated in an oh-so-high-pitched-yet-so-regal voice. "I duly thank and shall accept your hospitality before continuing my journey to reach my father, Bruce."

The pen in Barbara's hand fell to the floor.

"Houston," Dick quipped, "we have a problem."

#Batless!AU #Tim Drake #Barbara Gordon #Dick Grayson #Dinah Drake #Red Ghost #Jason Todd #Damian Wayne #Stray!Tim #Talon!Dick #Oracle!Barbara #RedGhost!Jason #bby!damian

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 8 Easter Eggs & References

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This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains spoilers.

If anyone was on the fence as to whether or not the Lower Deckers in Star Trek: Lower Decks were also giant in-universe Star Trek fans, the latest episode, “Veritas,” will reveal the truth. Mariner, Rutherford, Tendi and Boimler know their Trek history better than most real life Trekkies. And to prove it, this episode has more Easter eggs and deep-cuts than (mabye) all the other episodes combined. From discussions about the hair styles of obsecure TNG characters, to some very big homages to a big seen in Star Trek VI, this episode packed in the references, and then decided to throw in a Gorn wedding.

Here are all of the Easter eggs and references we caught in Star Trek: Lower Decks, Episode 8, “Veritas.”

Klingon trial from The Undiscovered Country

Later in the episode, Rutherford describes the setting for the episode as “Alien trial 101.” He’s not wrong. From the elevating platform to the tall alcoves full of shouting aliens, everything about this setting — including the banging of the creepy gavel — is meant to remind us of Kirk and McCoy’s trial on the Klingon Homeworld in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Granted, the gavel in The Undiscovered Country was not shaped like a skull, but the guy who banged it in that movie was wearing a metal claw.

The voice of Klarr

Kurtwood Smith plays the alien Klarr in this episode. Smith is famous to RoboCop fans as being the bad guy in RoboCop and famous to Star Trek fans as the guy who played the President of the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. As the President, Kurtwood Smith is the guy who said Kirk and McCoy had to stand trial for the murder of Chancellor Gorkon.

Roga Danar versus Khan

Mariner and Boimler’s debate about “biggest badasses” is hilarious because everyone has heard of Khan, and only hardcore TNG fanatics have heard of Roga Danar. For most people, Roga Danar (played by Jeff McCarthy) is as Mariner says, “some dude nobody has heard of.” He appeared in the TNG Season 3 episode “The Hunted,” and briefly, did “outsmart” Picard, just as Boimler says.

Mariner’s defense of Khan echoes what Trekkies generally think; that he’s the best Trek villain ever, though obviously, nobody would pit Khan against Roga Danar! Mariner describes Khan as a “genetically engineered supervillain. Dude was a space seed!” Naturally, “Space Seed” is the TOS episode in which Khan first appears. Tendi’s reference to Khan’s “thick, thick chest’ is likely an allusion to the urban myth that Ricardo Montalbán wore a prosthetic chest while filming The Wrath of Khan. However, many sources (including director Nicholas Meyer) have repeatedly said that the “thick, thick chest” was all 100 percent Ricardo Montalbán.

Living on Earth

Mariner is super concerned about getting kicked off the ship and being forced to live on Earth “Where there’s nothing to do but drink wine and hang out at vintners and soul food restaurants.” This is a reference to both Captain Picard and Captain Sisko. In 2380, however, Jean-Luc Picard has not returned to his family’s vineyard full-time, The “soul food” references Sisko’s Creole Kitchen, a restaurant run Ben Sisko’s family and specifically operated by Ben’s father, Joseph Sisko. The restaurant first appeared in the DS9 episodes “Homefront” and “Paradise Lost.”

Picard’s family wine vineyard, made famous in “All Good Things…” and the series Star Trek: Picard, first appeared in the TNG episode “Family.”

Bug Captain Is Kenneth Mitchell

Star Trek: Discovery actor Kenneth Mitchell — who played the Klingons Kol, Kol’sha, and Tenavik— plays the voice of the insect-like Captain Seartave. In this same episode, Mitchell also plays a Federation guard and a Romulan guard.

Send them a message

When Captain Freeman tells Mariner to “send them a message” to the alien ship, Mariner fires the phasers right away. This could reference The Wrath of Khan when Khan says “explain it to them,” which means, he wants his lackeys to fire a photon torpedo.

“Denobulan flesh-eating bacteria”

Jax mentions a “Denobulan flesh-eating bacteria,” which references the Denobulans, a race of friendly aliens made famous by the prequel series Enterprise, specifically Dr. Phlox. Interestingly, Phlox did have a bunch of unorthodox treatments on the NX-01 Enterprise, which might have included weird fleshing-eating stuff.

Vulcan nerve pinch

Rutherford points out he doesn’t know how to do the Vulcan nerve pinch but managed to do it anyway. Non-Vulcans have done the Vulcan nerve pinch on several occasions. Picard did it in the TNG episode “Starship Mine,” Data did it “Unification,” and Michael Burnham did it in “The Vulcan Hello.” Most hilariously, McCoy tried to do a Vulcan nerve pinch in The Search For Spock, while Spock’s Katra (soul) was in his body.

Vulcan shuttle

During their covert mission to the planet Vulcan (presumably) Jax, Rutherford and Philips are flying a classic Vulcan shuttle. This is the same design of shuttle Spock took to hook-up with the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Famous starships in the museum

The museum where Jax, Rutherford, and Philips steal a Romulan Bird-of-Prey is packed with a ton of famous Star Trek ships, including:

A Jem’Hadar fighter (Deep Space Nine)

A Ferengi shuttle (TNG and DS9)

A D-7 or K’Tinga class Klingon Battlecruiser (TMP, TOS, TNG, DS9, and, technically, Discovery)

Several Federation shuttlecraft (Mostly TNG era)

A classic TOS shuttlecraft

The Vulcan landing ship from First Contact.

A Tholian ship (“The Tholian Web,” “In a Mirror, Darkly.”)

And…something that looks like the Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Romulan Bird of Prey

The ship that is stolen, and later used by Ransom and Tendi, is a classic TOS-era Romulan Bird-of-Prey. Prior to this episode of Lower Decks this style of Romulan ship has only been seen in canon three other times: In the TOS episodes “Balance of Terror” and “The Enterprise Incident,” and in the Picard episode “Absolute Candor.” That said, the Bird-of-Prey in “The Enterprise Incident” was digitally inserted into the remastered “Enterprise Incident” in 2008. So, really, this ship has only appeared in canon in 1968, 2008, and twice in 2020.

Federation Guard

Also voiced by Kenneth Mitchell, the Federation Guard has security armor and a helmet reminiscent of the kinds of outfits security guards wore in The Motion Picture, The Search For Spock, and The Undiscovered Country.

Fan Dance

Jax tells Rutherford to “to a fan dance,” to distract the guard. This references Uhura doing a dance with feathery fans on Nimbus III in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. In that case, the fan dance only got Kirk and Spock some horses.

Does Philips know the TNG crew?

The chief engineer of the Cerritos, Philips, makes two references to TNG episodes when he’s running out of oxygen. He says “Mark Twain’s got a gun!” and “Tasha No! The garbage bag’s behind you!” The Twain thing references Mark Twain pulling a gun on the TNG crew in “Time’s Arrow.” And the Tasha comment seems to reference “Skin of Evil,” when a creature who you could call a “garbage bag” did kill Tasha Yar.

Gorn Wedding

Does the Gorn wedding count as an Easter egg? Considering we’ve never seen this many Gorn (Gorns?) in one place, ever, this feels like yes, this counts as an Easter egg. Also, if the shuttle crashlanded during a Gorn wedding, does that mean they crashlanded on Cestus III, a planet the Gorn took over in the TOS episode “Arena?”

Romulan Bridge interior

Everything about the interior of the Romulan ship matches a TNG-era Romulan ship, which seems to reference, mostly, the TNG episode “Face of the Enemy,” in which Troi is kidnapped by Romulan agents, but also, made to work for them.

Covert Ops Starfleet Outfits (Again!)

This marks the second Lower Decks episode in a row that references the all-black bodystocking outfits from the TNG episode “Chain of Command.” And because Ransom wore one in “Much Ado About Boimler,” this is the second episode in a row that he’s been on an undercover mission.

“You know who I hate, Remans”

The Romulan guards are talking about how they hate “Remans” and that Remans are “the worst.” The Remans are an alien species who live in the same planetary system as the Romulans on the planet Remus. We never met the Remans until the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis. Although he was human, the Picard clone named Shinzon (Tom Hardy) considered himself a Reman. The events of Nemesis and the attempt for the Remans to take over the Romulan Empire happened just one year prior to Lower Decks, in the year 2379.

“Like whenever Q shows up”

John de Lancie voices “Q” in a flashback where he forces the crew of the Cerritos to play some kind of absurd chess game with playing cards and a soccer ball. Q is dressed in his judge’s robes from the TNG episodes “Encounter at Farpoint” and “All Good Things…” In the context of “Encounter at Farpoint,” this outfit is actually taken from Earth’s future history; at some point in the 21st century, several draconian courtrooms existed on Earth, in which the rulings were neither fair nor just. Q says “Do you think humanity is really worth saving?” which was basically his whole beef in “Encounter at Farpoint,” when he calls humanity “a savage, child race.” The ridiculous board game, in which the crew is turned into chess pieces could reference the DS9 episode “Move Along Home,” in which the crew has to act out certain moves that are reminiscent of a board game.

Salt Vampires… are… alive!

When Mariner tells Ransom that his date is a “salt vampire” the says that “salt vampires died out more than a century ago.” This references the very first aired TOS episode “The Man Trap,” which takes place in 2266, more than a century before Lower Decks. This is the second time the M-113 “Salt Vampire” creature has been referenced on Lower Decks, but the first time we’ve actually seen it in the flesh — sucker hands and all.

Dr. T’Ana has a “Remember Me” moment

When Dr. T’Ana says that nobody on the ship remembers her, this could reference the TNG episode “Remember Me,” in which Dr. Crusher enters a small bubble parallel universe in which people she knows, start to vanish from existence.

Boimler’s speech about what Starfleet officers “don’t know”

To prove that Starfleet officers are good people, but sometimes totally ignorant of what is going on in the galaxy, Boimlter rattles off several examples of Starfleet officers not knowing something that was utterly nuts.

“Did Picard know about the Borg?” References the TNG episode “Q, Who?” in which Q forces the Enterprise to encounter the Borg. Picard may not have known about the Borg in 2365, but there’s some debate that some people in the Federation did. Seven of Nine’s parents knew about the Borg in the 2350s.

Did Kirk now about that giant Spock on Phylos? This references an episode of The Animated Series called “The Infinite Vulcan.” The “giant Spock” was a huge Spock clone named “Spock 2.”

Did Dr. Crusher know about that ghost in the lantern from the Scottish planet that she hooked up with that one time? This is from the TNG episode “Sub Rosa,” and yeah, Dr. Crusher hooked up with a ghost that lived in a lantern.

“Drumhead!” Boimler’s mic-drop moment is the word “drumhead,” which references Picard giving a speech that ends a witch-hunt trial in the TNG episode “The Drumhead.” The “drumhead” itself, refers to the head of a drum that would be up-ended on a battlefield to serve as an ad hoc judge’s bench.

Q references Trelane!

When Q appears at the end of the episode, he says “I challenge you to a duel” to the Lower Deckers. This references the character of Trelane from the TOS episode “The Squire of Gothos.” Trelane was a being with powers that were basically exactly like Q, and later Trek novels like Q-Squared, made it clear that Trelane was a member of the Q-Continuum who had been cast aside. When Gene Roddenberry first created the character of Q, TNG writers were worried he’d be too similar to Trelane and fans wouldn’t accept it. These days, naturally Q, is much more famous that Trelane. And yes, Trelane did challenge Kirk to a duel in “The Squire of Gothos,” and Kirk accepted.

Q speaks French, talks about Picard

When Mariner says : “Get out of here Q! We’re not doing any of your Q bullshit” he says “S’il vous plaît Mariner!” This implies he knows Mariner pretty well, which is hilarious, but she tells him she’s not French and he should go bother Picard. Q says, “Picard is no fun!He’s always quoting Shakespeare, he’s always making wine.” Picard quoted Shakespeare to Q, specifcally Hamlet in the TNG episode “Hide and Q.” Mentioning that Picard is making wine at this point in time is interesting. We know that by 2385, Picard will leave Starfleet and go live on his vineyard in France. But, in 2380, Picard is still in Starfleet. Is he making wine on the Enterprise?

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Star Trek: Lower Decks has two more episodes in season 1, which air on CBS All Access on Thursdays.

The post Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 8 Easter Eggs & References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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sunshinetidings · 5 years

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things i’ve overheard at school

since the school year ended a couple weeks ago, i figured now would be as good a time as any to post one of these

kid who has repeatedly stated he’s not gay: “aidan, you have no idea how good i’d dick you down”

“i can’t even remember the last time i did long division”

“she got you good. you got an f, just like me”

“i will shoot you in the neck and make you not alive”

“yesterday was amazing. i mean, my uncle died, but that’s okay”

“dude, if you’re having a party, you’re not supposed to have decorations. you’re supposed to have weed”

“there is nothing worse than losing money”

(on january 14th) “christmas was what, 13 days ago?”

“ why are you wearing slacks to pe?”

“oh my god, i’m going to hell. oh my god!”

“my brother’s thicc”

“i’m gonna post a pic while my nuts are in his mouth… that’s damn near gay”

“i love rice” “okay and? you’re not special, there are asian people in the room”

(referring to a teacher) “see? i told you he was getting freaky!”

“your throat is probably bleeding right this second”

teacher: “nasty slug baby aborted fetus creature or whatever you call it”

“my friend smokes in front of his alpaca. what will it do to his alpaca?”

teacher: “you don’t know your memes? come on guys, that was like the one thing this generation was bringing to the table”

“oh lord! i mean, oh gosh! sorry, i’m catholic”

“this is stress relief tea, this is tea to make me feel better, this is filled with tea to make me feel better”

“it was only a whore?” “oral!”

“i smell juul”

“fetal alcohol syndrome can cause smaller, less developed brains, thin upper lips…” “oh my god is that what happened to white people?”

“but i’m a christian!” “you’re a shitty christian, now stop talking”

“if i can see your eyeballs staring into my eyeballs, you are too close to me”

“do you know how many potheads are in this class?”

“i was wondering if i could get an extension on my essay. i didn’t do it”

“i didn’t do kindergarten, so i don’t know what’s happening”

“i don’t want to sprinkle this on like some kind of chef. what am i? a whore?”

“obviously, we haven’t been able to get a lot done because bureaucracy is terrible”

“pop tarts are the poor man’s pastry”

“everyone, i am officially out of brain cells”

“life is about bugs and how they’re killing off the world”

“i had a question that was multiple choice, but all the answers were feet, feet, feet, feet, with no difference”

“you want saggy old man nuts?”

“did you know i used to think megalodons were illegal in airports?”

“y’know, the bathrobe boys”

“i’m going to eat africa”

“chew your food, and then scream”

“alex, you are a glorious little bird”

“you’re half a percent of a tree”

“ask philip. he’s white, he’s made of money”

“you haven’t seen hidden figures? then you’re not black”

#high school #public school #school #shit students say #rory.txt #my life #ok not really #but im using the tag #yknow for organization within my blog

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botanistlester · 7 years

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A Dance With Death

Summary: Dan is the God of Death, who helps people to the Underworld when they pass. One day, he randomly pops up at a masquerade ball for Prince Philip's coming of age ceremony. He doesn't know why he is there, but it's hard to focus on his job when the prince asks him to dance. Word Count: 7,919 Warnings: character death, blood, graphic depictions of dying A/N: Many thanks to Haley ( @haleykinz) for this WONDERFUL idea! I just kinda took this idea and ran with it, and now it's far too long. As you can see, this does have character death in it. BUT, it is a happy ending. I mean, Dan's the God of Death, what do you expect? Also thank you to Jillian ( @jilliancares) and Elizajane ( @snowbunnylester) for helping me develop this fic, and thank you to Hannah ( @flyingstarshowell) for betaing this for me :') love u all

Voted Second for Best Combination in the phanfic awards 2017! tag urself, god edition art by haley art by @dilshamster Read it on AO3!

Dan has a guilty pleasure.

It’s a weird one, that’s for sure, something that most people like him don’t have any desire for. But he can’t seem to help it, honestly. He likes the way people move around him, how they laugh and dance and genuinely don’t care about anything else in the world. He likes the way girls’ dresses flow as they twirl and the way men wear little bow ties around their necks. Hell, sometimes girls wear bowties, and Dan likes that too.

And for a single moment, nobody thinks about death.

Masquerade dances are the perfect excuses for Dan to be himself. Well, kind of.

He’s dead. He’s been dead for thousands of years, in fact. He is a creature of the underworld, one made of bone and paper-thin flesh that he can mould to his liking. He have s changed his appearance sometimes, just because he could. Once, he had found himself moulding into Shrek and had laughed for a good three weeks before deciding to change it up.

His current appearance was one that he’d taken quite a liking to. He looked human. As human as someone without a soul could look, at least. He had dark brown eyes and curly brown hair to match. His skin was pale, because he was dead of course, and there were two dimples in his cheeks when he smiled. He towered over other humans, but he kind of liked it, and he wore black because he was dead, damn it.

To some, he was known as the devil. To others, he was known as death. But to Dan? He was Dan. Just a guy who accompanied those who passed on their journey to the Underworld. He made sure that they didn’t get lost, like the fumbling babies they truly were upon dying, made sure that they didn’t get stuck in Purgatory, and for God’s sake, don’t drink the water, Susan.

That’s why Dan liked masquerade balls so much. He liked how nobody knew who he was, how nobody paid attention to death staring them right in the face. He liked the life that flitted around the room, and he definitely liked the punch that made his brain rattle in his skull.

He thought he looked particularly snazzy that night. His hair wasn’t as frizzy as normal and actually had some defined curls, which was nice. A black mask covered his face, one decorated with rubies and had roses crawling up the sides. It perched upon his nose like a bird and he liked the protection it gave him. He was wearing an all-black tux as well, including a black undershirt and a black bow tie. He wore a black cloak just because he could, because he was Death, and he was extra, damn it.

He looked like Death himself. Pun intended.

He didn’t have to worry about whether or not he was invited, because he could just say a name and have it pop up on the list. Being a person of the Underworld had it’s perks, he supposed.

Today was one of the days where Dan popped up at a masquerade dance without expecting it. Normally, whenever somebody was close to death, he would just pop up somewhere and he'd have to wait for a little bit to know who was actually going to pass, and today was one of those times.

It just so happened to be at a masquerade ball, much to Dan’s excitement.

He made his way through the crowd, watching as the humans all chattered away, dancing to weirdly fancy violin music. They ate little cakes on tiny porcelain plates and their drinks were in champagne glasses, regardless of whether or not it was actually alcohol or not. Just from this, Dan figured that he was at some sort of important event.

Maybe something to do with royalty?

He blended in for a while, tried to chat to some of the humans as if he were one of them, as if he wasn’t rotting flesh stretched around dead bones. Meanwhile, he kept his eyes on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary, for someone who would randomly drop dead, sending their soul into the fourth dimension.

Nothing yet, so he engaged in a conversation about how the punch was absolutely divine with a woman wearing a white dress made mostly out of feathers. Dan didn’t quite understand human fashion, but he appreciated the absolute absurdity of it anyway. Back when he had been alive, Dan had been wearing pretty much just a loin cloth, so the evolution of clothing was always so fascinating to him.

Suddenly, a hush fell over the crowd and Dan thought, this is it. The humans all turned, the music stopped, and a trumpet started to sing a tune that hurt Dan’s ears. He didn’t know why there was a trumpet playing when someone had died, but Dan didn’t pay any mind to it and stepped forth, trying to shove himself between the masses to the center where he would be able to walk the poor soul to the Underworld.

Except, nobody was dead.

For some reason, everybody had turned to look at a man. He walked onto the floor wearing a navy blue blazer with a white undershirt and black bowtie. He was also wearing black dress pants and had various pins on his blazer that screamed royalty. His hair was as black as a raven’s wing, his skin putting Snow White herself to shame, and his eyes sparkled against the blue of his dress clothes. There was a white mask perched against his face, pearls dancing around the edges. It made his skin seem ever more pale, but it also made him seem to shine.

For a moment, Dan lost his breath. And then he remembered that he didn’t have to breathe in general, so he let out a useless breath anyway and gaped because that’s what he felt like he should do. If he had a heart, it would have stuttered a beat, probably fallen out of his ass and shattered on the floor.

Dan didn’t believe in love. He was a god of death, not a god of love. Adoré was in charge of love and all things gross, not him.

And yet, for a moment, Dan forgot he was the god of death. He looked around for any signs of Adoré hanging around. Maybe she’d hit him with her magic love potions or something. But alas, she was nowhere to be found, and Dan caught himself staring at this beautiful human once more, taking in the beauty mark on his cheek and the way his eyes sparkled three different colours in the light.

The trumpet stopped singing, and a voice rang out then. “Thank you all for coming to our Royal Ball to celebrate Prince Philip’s coming of age! By the end of the night, we are hoping to find a bride for the Prince, who will carry on the Lester name.” Dan glanced around to find the source of the voice, and he found the man a little ways in front of Philip, holding himself with his head held high and his fist to his chest. It was a bit strange, but Dan didn’t question it.

He didn’t quite understand human customs yet, apparently.

The ball commenced then, and Dan stood back as a mass of people flocked to the prince like bugs to a light. Dan crinkled his nose, figuring that it would be pretty horrible to have that many people stood around him, so he decided to leave the prince to himself (no matter how badly he also wanted to flock to him). Instead, he busied himself by looking around, taking in the exquisite details of the room.

There were giant pillars that cast shadows on the floors and paintings on the ceiling of various flowers and trees. The floors were black and white marble, and Dan could even see gold glinting on the floor under the bright lights. Lanterns hung on the walls, long mahogany tables lining them, obviously pushed out of the way so that people could use the dance floor. A few people were eating at the tables, and there were butlers carrying around plates of food.

One approached him, and Dan couldn’t help but be surprised by that. Usually if he wanted to talk to a human, he was the one who typically approached them. Someone had mentioned to him before that it’s because he has an uneasy aura, which he could understand. He is Death after all. “Would you like a strawberry fudge brownie bite?” the man asked, and Dan couldn’t help but snort at how not fancy the foods were.

“Of course,” Dan said nonchalantly, and then he took three off of the plate just because he could.

The man held up his finger. “Ah, only one per guest,” he said timidly, and Dan frowned.

“I’m taking three,” he told the man, cocking his head with a smirk. He narrowed his eyes, basking in the way the man seemed to shrink under his gaze. “Or did you have a problem with that?”

He knew he was scary, and he took full advantage of that fact. He knew that his eyes would glow red on command, something that the humans didn’t fully understand - something the humans didn’t want to understand. So they quaked in their shoes, terrified for their lives, and gossip spread around towns like wildfire about a man with eyes of blood and a cloak of black death. Most people didn’t believe in Death, but the folktale was there nonetheless, a story to tell the kids at night to make them stay in bed, a story that made people fear the dark.

The man fled. Dan smiled at his three brownies and began to dig in.

Dan was halfway through his second brownie when he heard a chuckle behind him. He didn’t pay any attention to it at first, because this brownie was truly delicious so he didn’t really care about anything else, but then a voice followed the chuckle, and Dan furrowed his eyebrows as he realised that the person was talking to him.

“Excuse me?” the voice came again, and Dan turned, only to nearly choke on his brownie. He swallowed it down, cleared his throat, and tried to look presentable, because the prince was standing in front of him, his eyes shining against the blue of his blazer. He looked so alive that Dan wanted to press his head against his chest to listen to his still-beating heart.

He didn’t understand why he was having these feelings all of a sudden. He’s seen many humans, many that were alive, and even more that were dead. None of them gave him a fuzzy feeling in his chest that made him wonder if he had come back to life. None until the prince of wherever the hell they were, at least.

Dan set his brownie on the table. He’d seen enough humans to know that he was supposed to bow down when he was graced by a royal presence. He didn’t usually care about human customs, but for some reason when it came to this ethereal specimen, he just couldn’t help himself. “What can I do you this honour, your grace?” he asked, a bit confused as to why the prince was talking to him, of all people.

The prince smiled, a pink tongue sticking out between his white teeth. His eyes sparkled and Dan was once again in amazement of how alive he was. Dan didn’t want to think about how one day, he was going to be the one to lead this beautiful human to the Underworld, never to be seen again. “That was impressive how you just ordered the servant around like that. I’m quite intrigued.”

Dan was at a loss of words, rather taken aback, so he just fiddled a bit with his cloak. He bit the inside of his cheek. He was supposed to be Death, he scolded himself. Now was no time to be shy about it. So he smiled, his lips that weren’t really his lips turning upwards. Under the scrutiny of the prince, he felt as though he could feel every twitch of his muscle, as though he were a machine being watched for any mistake. It was a strange feeling, one that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. “Thank you?” he said, a bit confused at the statement.

This just made the prince laugh, who threw his head back heartily, showing the skin of his neck. Dan could see his adam’s apple bounce and his tongue felt heavy in his mouth. “I like your cape,” the prince said sincerely, and Dan frowned despite himself.

“It’s a cloak,” he corrected before he could stop himself. Immediately, he internally groaned and wanted to bash his head into the wall. Why would he say something like that to the most beautiful human in existence? He probably thought he was weird now or something.

But Prince Philip just laughed, and shook his head a little bit. “I like your cloak then,” he corrected himself, and his smile was blinding now. Dan could feel the presence of the hundreds of other guests around them, watching them, but Philip didn’t pay any attention to them. His eyes were all on Dan, and God, Dan must have died all over again. “I’m Phil. And you are…?” Phil. The nickname made Dan’s cheeks warm, which is weird because he definitely didn’t have any blood in his veins the last time he checked. “I’m Dan,” Dan replied dumbly. There was a reason he was the god of death, damn it! He wasn’t good with people, didn’t understand them! The last time he was human, he didn’t have any of the new age crap they had, so it all went over his head.

“Dan,” Phil said, and the name rolled off of Phil’s tongue like it was greeting an old friend. Dan shivered because it’d been awhile since anyone had said his name. Or maybe it was just because it was Phil who was saying it. “Would you like to dance with me?”

Dan’s first instinct was to eye the brownies he’d set on the table. There was still one and a half left, and they were so good that he didn’t really want to leave them. But then he cleared his head a little, yelled at himself a little bit, and had a moment of realisation that a prince wanted to dance with Death.

... What?

Dan gaped at him. “You want to dance with me?” he asked stupidly.

Phil smiled and didn’t say anything, just extended an arm to him, and Dan could do nothing else but take it. He didn’t quite know what was happening or why Phil wanted to dance with him, but he did know that Phil was supposed to be looking for a wife and Dan was supposed to be looking for a lost soul. However, when Phil’s arm curled around his waist, and his hand settled on Dan’s shoulder, Dan’s mind went completely blank.

He couldn’t see anyone else, couldn’t think of anything else. All he could focus on was the prince, how he was so full of life, how his skin was illuminated under the lights. It was like he was emitting his own golden glow, like he was some otherworldly creature that had captured Dan under his spell. It was unsettling, but Dan didn’t pay any attention to that.

He laughed a little when he tripped over the prince’s feet. He’d never danced before in his life, but Phil was quick to steady him, his arms strong and supportive, and Dan could feel himself falling deeper into infatuation for this human. He was really going to have to get on Adoré’s case later, because she was no doubt playing a trick on him.

They danced until Dan’s feet were aching and Phil’s breath was coming out in short gasps, but they were grinning nonetheless. They didn’t pay any mind to the people around them, and Phil seemed to be ignoring the whole wife thing completely.

Dan was curious though. He’s always been a curious guy; it was just in his nature. So he brought it up when they broke away to grab some punch from one of the servants, served in some crystal champagne glasses that were far too fancy for punch.

“Why are you wasting your time dancing with me when you could be looking for a beautiful bride?”

Phil paused before he could take a sip of his drink, and Dan’s eyes were drawn to the glass. Something was niggling in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t quite tell what, so he decided to ignore it instead, hanging onto every word that Phil said. “I wanted to dance with you,” Phil told him, smiling as Dan met his eyes again. He swore he could get lost in those eyes. “Out of all of the people in the room, you were the only one who stood out to me. You and that cape, that is.” He flicked Dan’s cloak with a finger to accentuate his point and Dan gasped in mock offense.

“Excuse you, this is a cloak!” Dan exclaimed, watching as Phil lifted the glass to his lips once more.

All of a sudden, Dan could feel everything turn to slow motion. His fingers began to tingle and his eyes widened in horror. The glass rose to Phil’s lips inch by inch, and Dan’s chest began to ache. The god of death inside of him began to tremble with want, the way that it always did right before someone was about to die, and-

Holy shit, Dan was here because Phil was going to die.

He didn’t know what to do. For the first time in his immortal life, Dan didn’t want to see a human die and go to the Underworld. In fact, he didn’t want to see this human die at all. Phil was too good, too full of life, and Dan didn’t think he could fathom it if he had to watch those gorgeous blue eyes slowly lose their light.

Without thinking, Dan caught Phil’s wrist in his hand. Phil squeaked and a little bit of punch spilled out of the chute and onto the pretty marble floors, staining it with the poison. Their eyes met, Phil’s expression one of horror and confusion, and Dan didn’t even have to see his own reflection to know that his eyes were glowing red, his cloak seeming to flutter without any breeze in the room.

Dan was well aware that people were staring, that a guard was yelling at him to unhand the prince, but all he could focus on was the fact that Phil was safe, that he wasn’t going to die tonight.

“Don’t drink the punch,” Dan said, his voice coming out as more of a growl. He could feel his physical body start to dissipate and he let go of Phil’s hand to throw the punch on the floor before lifting his hood up to cover his face.

“Dan, what-?!” Phil gasped out when he got over his initial shock. He reached out to grab Dan’s arm, but his hand went right through him. Dan watched, his stomach sunk to the floor as Phil flinched away, staring at his own hands as if they’d offended him themselves.

Before Dan could completely disappear from sight, he smiled as best as he could. But it was a sad smile, knowing that he would most likely not see this man again for a very long time. He didn’t know what would happen because he just defied Fate, but he knew it would not be good.

“Someone is trying to kill you,” Dan told him in a soft voice. “Please don’t make me come back here. I really don’t want to have to help you travel to the Underworld.”

Phil didn’t get to reply before Dan vanished into thin air, leaving chaos in his wake. He only knew that he would no longer be able to show his face around Phil’s city again without changing his features.

After all, the God of Death isn’t welcomed to masquerade parties.

“Dan, what the hell?”

Dan opened his eyes to find that he was in the deity conference room, a huge colosseum in the sky where the gods held important meetings. He should have figured he’d end up here after the stunt he’d pulled.

It was Adoré who’d spoken, her rose coloured eyes filled with fury. Her ebony skin shined in the iridescent light of the colosseum and she wore intricate patterns of gold that sat against her skin like it was engraved into it.

Dan frowned and rubbed a hand through his face. He could feel the bones jutting out from his cheeks, the skin having dissolved from his bones. He focused on his soul and formed a body for himself once more, despite how it made his head ache and his bones crack. He just really didn't feel like walking around as a giant skeleton in front of the other gods at the moment. “What are you yelling at me for?” he mumbled, pulling his cloak back over his head.

This time his statement made a round of grumbles travel its way around the table. Dan sighed, bracing himself.

“You can’t just fuck with fate, Dan!” Theos, the God of Fate shrilled. Dan knew that this would happen; Theos never liked him, even though Dan had never really screwed around with fate until now. Yet now that he did, Theos was taking full advantage of his hatred. Dan didn’t really blame him. He didn’t know what had come over him in that ballroom, but it was definitely not Death God-like. “Do you know what you’ve done?!”

Dan could guess, but he shook his head anyways because he liked hearing Theos freak out on him. It was a bit funny to see such a small man - only rearing on three feet tall - yelling at him in a strong voice, his face turning the same shade as a tomato. It was rather hilarious and Dan found himself stifling his laughter, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You- how can you be so relaxed right now?!” Theos snarled, shaking his head with a scoff. His beautiful golden locks of hair flicked around the air and Dan watched in rapt fascination. If he truly wanted to, he could also have hair that bodacious and beautiful, but he found himself more comfortable in his current form, and that saddened him greatly. He wanted cool hair too. “You just upset the sequence of time! That man - Philip Lester - was supposed to die tonight. What is going to happen to the time sequence now?! That man currently doesn’t have a fate! He is literally a being with no meaning!”

Dan frowned. He didn’t like the way they were talking about Phil. He was too good of a person to die. He should live a happy life, maybe have a wife and kids, and then Dan could watch from afar as he lived to his fullest potential. And only when Phil was ready, Dan would be there to take his hand and walk him to the Underworld. Now was not his time. “Well then just make up a timeline for him. It’s not that hard, and you and I both know it.”

The whole table gaped at him, and it was Leonidas who spoke next. He was the God of Time, and Dan was pretty sure he and Theos were sleeping together. “Dan, you unfathomable idiot.” Leonidas flexed his muscles and Dan hummed, staring at his biceps. Physical bodies were so fascinating. Theos was a lucky man. “I’m afraid it doesn’t quite work like that.”

“Well, why not?” Dan asked, feeling like a child stomping his foot. The entire god race was pissed at him and Dan didn’t understand why. So what? Death saved a life. Sure, it was ironic, but they were literally gods. They could do what they wanted.

“If a god saves another human, none of the other gods can touch him,” Adoré murmured in her soft tone of voice. This time, she seemed sad, as if she could look right through Dan and see exactly why he’d decided to save Phil’s life. “Philip literally doesn’t have a fate anymore. He has no reason to live. The entire world will be against him now and he’ll most likely be dead within a fortnight at this rate. It’s nothing Theos or Leonidas or you can fix. He’s a goner, Dan.”

Dan’s heart dropped. Well, if he had one. He felt like he had one, that’s for sure. How many millennia has it been since he’s felt like there was a physical muscle beating in his body? He didn’t have emotions, he didn’t have feelings. And yet, he still felt as though he was going to pass out. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not, Dan,” Adoré murmured quietly, and the whole room went completely silent, waiting for Dan’s reaction.

Dan couldn’t breathe. He could never breathe, but now his entire chest was constricting and he could feel his skin beginning to melt away, revealing his true form. He didn’t have enough energy to keep on the mask anymore, it seemed. Why had nobody told him of this? Why was he so blissfully unaware that if he saved a human life, he would have to end it shortly after? Phil had a life before Dan. He had a reason to live. He could have had a happy night before passing.

And then Dan had to get involved and ruin it all.

“Are… are you in love with him?” Adoré asked, and Dan’s head snapped up.

“No!” he snarled, his cape beginning to rise and his eyes shining red. “I’m the God of Death, Adoré, I don’t have human emotions like the rest of you!”

It seemed to cause a riot throughout the colosseum, because everyone started talking at once. Dan could make out snippets here and there, but nothing really stood out to him. They were all rambling, coming up with their own theories, trying to figure out why Dan had saved a human if he didn’t feel anything for him. Dan didn’t know why either, but his head was beginning to hurt. He hated being scrutinized by the rest of the gods like a piece of bad meat.

“Wait!” a voice shouted then, and all of the attention was turned to the end of the table. Gabrielle stood tall. She had climbed on the table and her white hair shone in the godly light of the room. Her purple skin sparkled silver and her eyes burned blue bullets into Dan’s body. He froze, uncertain as to why the God of all gods was talking to him. She usually didn’t give a care in the world about what the rest of them were doing. When they were fighting, she was usually cooing over the dogs that were birthed every day on Earth. Dan didn’t know too much about her besides that fact, but he always thought she looked cooler than the rest of them. “Dan,” she said, pointing at him. Dan raised his eyebrows, pointing to himself. He could tell that she was talking to him. There was no need to point. “You were a human before you became a god.”

Dan rolled his eyes. He’d known that already, could remember being a human. So why did that have anything to do with the topic? “Okay, yeah, I know. I remember.” He scowled, raising an eyebrow. “The fuck does that have to do with anything, Gabrielle?”

She walked towards him, still on the table, and her white gown flowed behind her as though it was performing a ballet. Dan always liked dresses, had even worn some on occasion, but they always felt too breezy for him to be fully comfortable. “You’re the only one of us who was born a human. What if those human emotions remained after you became the God of Death? What if you’re feeling something because that’s what your human part wants you to feel?”

“If that’s the case, then why did it take me tens of thousands of years to actually feel something?”

Gabrielle shrugged. “Obviously Philip triggered something in you that made you remember how to feel. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. However, I think it’s wrong of you to act on those emotions and mess with the fate that Theos chose for him. That was a huge mistake on your part, Dan.”

Theos muttered aloud, “You tell him, Gab,” under his breath, and Dan resisted the urge to growl at him.

“But!” Gabrielle continued, holding up her finger to silence the other gods. Her eyes burned brighter and her cheekbones were sharp and slightly terrifying, but Dan has seen things, has seen Death itself, so he wasn’t scared of her in the slightest. “I pity you, so I’m going to let it slide this time.”

A round of groans sounded around the colosseum. Dan wasn’t exactly the most loved of the gods, mostly because he simply didn’t care about anything; he had to bet that most of them wanted to see him fall. But Dan knew Gabrielle, knew her more than any of the other gods knew her. She was there when Dan had become a god, had been there when death took him and abandoned him in Purgatory. She’d opened her arms wide, told Dan that he was special and that he could live an eternal life as long as he helped lost souls find their way home.

He hadn’t understood what she’d meant at the time, but he was eternally grateful for her and the way she’d raised him into the being he was today. In a sense, she was the mother that Dan had been craving since he’d shown his own mother her way to the Underworld.

“You can’t just let him get off with this,” Leonidas cried out, followed by angry nods from the other gods. The only exception was Adoré, who seemed a bit intrigued, staring at Dan with something curious and soft in those magenta eyes. Dan hated it.

Gabrielle snorted, rolling her eyes. “I can do what I want. Don’t talk to me, Leo. I’m talking to Dan.” She turned those blue eyes back on Dan, looking thoughtful. She twirled white hair around her finger until it was in a tight coil, kind of like a snake. “I’m not going to punish you because I like you and I think you had good intentions, Dan. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you display any human emotions.” Dan knew exactly the last time she was talking about. When he’d just walked his mum to the Underworld and he completely broke down in Gabrielle’s arms. After that, he couldn’t really feel anything at all, and that’s when he guessed his humanity left his body. “The fact of the matter is that Phil does not have a fate anymore because you saved him, so he will not be able to live. But I made the same mistake as you before, and it was the best decision of my life.”

Murmurs broke out around them, and Dan couldn’t look away from those bright blue eyes. He had a feeling that he knew exactly what she was talking about, but he couldn’t remember what it was. It was on the tip of his tongue, a memory on the edge of his mind that just couldn’t come to life.

Gabrielle smiled and memories flooded his mind.

He had just celebrated his birthday and had been out with some of his friends. They spoke an ancient language, one that Dan could understand because it was his original language. They were all shooting their bows and arrows, having a good laugh, when all of a sudden a cry came from behind Dan.

Dan had turned, found his friend staring in horror at a woman with skin that held a million galaxies and white hair that sparkled in the sun. She had an arrow in her shoulder, one that was oozing blood the colour of ink. Dan couldn’t tell much from the situation, but he could tell enough to know that this woman, this strange and alien woman, had just jumped in front of an arrow and saved his life.

He had sprung forward, speaking so quickly that his tongue tied up and he could barely understand what he was saying, but he found himself at her side, trying to pry out the arrow. His mum had been the healer in his village so he’d known a lot about medicines and how to patch people up, so he used that information to extract the arrow and stitch the wound with a needle and twine.

The woman disappeared after that, and Dan only saw her days later when he’d drowned in a river and she was there to greet him, kissing him on the forehead and offering him eternal life.

Now, Dan understood. She had made the same mistake as he had. For some reason, she had saved his life, and when Dan had later passed away, he was made into a God because he had no fate with life nor death.

Gabrielle smiled at him and she closed her eyes, ignoring the backlash from the other gods. She knew that Dan understood, knew that Dan could choose to follow in her footsteps for the person that Dan felt affection for. It was a rare circumstance, one that had only happened once before, but Dan was ready to take the risk.

Even if he didn’t want to watch Philip die.

“Go to him,” Gabrielle told him, and Dan nodded. He felt a bit brighter now, more hopeful than he had in his entire life.

He wrapped his cloak around his shoulders, put his hood over his head, and focused on the image of Phil in his mind. He didn’t know what he was doing at the moment, but Dan knew that he would show up wherever Phil was.

The colosseum broke into loud chatter as Dan dissolved from the room, only to pop up in a room that he’d never seen before. It was dark, the only light emanating from the open window where the moon was leaving a kiss of silver upon the walls. There was a bed in the middle of the room, and Dan figured that it was Phil who was wrapped up in the elegant duvet, a lump among the covers.

Dan watched for a moment, not moving. Now that he was here, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Wasn’t it a bit creepy to watch someone sleep? Would it scare Phil off if he had just randomly appeared in his bedchamber? Dan hesitated, not moving, and just waited.

He waited until a cough erupted from the bed and Phil moved, turning around in bed. He turned so that Dan could see his face, that beautiful face that Dan had missed so dearly in the short time they’d been away. Although, time passed differently between the realms, so whereas only a few hours had passed in the colosseum, Dan knew that a few days had passed in the human world.

His nonexistent heart dropped when he saw Phil’s face. His eyes were closed, he was sleeping, but he seemed horribly sick. His eyes were sunken into his head and his cheeks were caved in. He reminded Dan of what he looked like when he didn’t mould himself some skin, and it made Dan’s chest ache to see. His skin was so pale that there was a light blue tinge to it, and his lips were dry and cracked. As Dan watched, Phil coughed again, one that was congested and made blood spurt onto the sheets.

He was dying and Dan was here to take away his life.

Slowly, Phil began to open his eyes. Dan could tell that it took him a moment to focus on him, that he probably just saw a black shadow, but when he made out who it was, Phil smiled, albeit a bit bitterly. “Are you here to kill me?” he rasped out, letting out a sour laugh that made Dan frown sadly.

He didn’t want to kill Phil. He didn’t like seeing him like this. He missed when Phil was so full of life, that first moment that Dan had seen him and had been so enraptured by his beauty that it made him feel human once again. Seeing Phil like this, so close to death, made Dan hurt. He felt as though he could cry, as though he wanted to curl around Phil and shield him away from death.

Shield him away from himself.

And that was the worst feeling of all, knowing that he was the one who would have to bring Phil to his doom. Is this how Gabrielle felt when she had to see Dan to his own death?

“I’m here to offer you eternal life,” Dan told him sincerely, taking a step towards Phil. He had expected Phil to shrink backwards, because everyone was afraid of Death. But alas, he didn’t, just stared up at him, his mouth still in that half smile. Dan wanted him to smile for real, but Phil seemed so sickly that he wasn’t sure he would even be able to do so.

“Eternal life?” Phil mimicked, before coughing some more. This time it seemed worse than the others, staining the white sheets with crimson. Dan took another step forward and brushed the hair out of Phil’s face. Phil’s eyelashes fluttered under his touch, and Dan was amazed by how calm Phil seemed around him. “How is that? Aren’t you the God of Death?”

Dan smiled painfully at him. He was glad that Phil didn’t seem angry at him, didn’t seem scared of him, but he couldn’t help the pool of guilt starting in his stomach that told him you did this, you’re a monster, you ruined this man’s life. “Basically I pissed off the God of Fate by saving your life, so now you don’t have a place in life or death. So Gabrielle, the Goddess in charge of all of us told me that the only way to save you is if you become a god.” Dan paused. The words sounded rather insane when he said them, but he didn’t know a better way to explain it. “That’s how I became the God of Death, because Gabrielle saved my life. So I’m offering you another chance at life.”

Phil closed his eyes, and for a moment, Dan was scared that he was dead. But then he spoke, his voice a mere whisper. “Will I be a Death God too?” A pause. “And what happens if I say no?”

Dan didn’t want to think about the second question just yet, so he only focused on the first. He knelt to the ground beside Phil’s bed and found Phil’s hand under the duvet, holding it tightly in his own. He spoke in a hushed voice, almost like he was telling Phil a bedtime story, one that would follow him to death. “You will take on the role of a God whose soul represents you. That could range from anything from the God of the Sea to the God of Plants. You’re chosen based off of what your soul represents.”

Phil nodded weakly, taking this in. Dan knew what he was thinking: how had Dan’s soul reflected death? And what would Phil’s soul take on? “And my second question.”

“If you do not take on this duty, then your soul will be lost in Purgatory for eternity.”

That fact hurt Dan more than Phil could ever know. He hated how he’d done this, how he’d made Phil give up a life of eternal happiness in the Underworld for his own selfish reasons. He hated how he’s basically forcing Phil to become a god for his own selfish needs, because he hadn’t wanted to let a man he’d just met die from poison. He was the worst Death God the world had ever seen, for sure.

Phil laid back in his bed, turning so that he was staring at the ceiling. He was still holding Dan’s hand, which was a good sign, and his skin was so warm whilst Dan’s was ice cold. It made him feel as though he were on fire, but it was a good feeling, one that lit up Dan’s insides and made him feel something other than harsh emptiness.

“If I decide to do this whole thing,” he gestured to Dan with his free hand, but didn’t turn to look at him, “will I still get to see you?”

The words were so innocent, almost like a child who was fearing that they’d never see their mother again. They made Dan’s face feel hot, just like when he’d first met Phil, and he had to take a deep breath to force himself back to earth. “Of course you’d still get to see me,” Dan told him honestly, because at this point he didn’t think he would be able to stay away even if Gabrielle ordered him to. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. I destroyed your life, after all.”

That made Phil laugh, but it was weak and made him cough some more. He ended his chuckle with an elongated sigh;he looked truly and utterly exhausted. Another flash of guilt went through Dan but he tried to push it away. It wouldn’t be long now before Phil’s soul would leave his body and would join Dan in the fourth dimension.

“Tell me a story,” Phil murmured, and Dan could do nothing else but obey.

He told him a story of an immortal being, one who had no purpose into life other than to witness the death of others. He told him of how that being had grown bored of his undead life and found solace in masquerade balls because they let him hide away from who he was and just enjoy himself for once. However, one night, he saw a man so beautiful that he could have sworn his dead heart had come back to life and made him human again. They danced the night away and the immortal found himself falling for this human, only to find that he was supposed to be bringing death upon him. When the time came, the man found that he couldn’t do it, and ended up saving the man’s life instead, knowing that it would bring displeasure to the other immortals.

It was blindingly obvious that it was the story of how they’d met, of why Dan had saved Phil’s life, but Phil didn’t care. It brought a smile to his face, one that was weak, yet still so beautiful that Dan thanked the other gods for this very moment. Time was running out, and Dan could feel his cloak begin to quiver with the precipice of death.

Then Phil turned and looked at Dan and his eyes sparkled in the moonlight, despite the exhaustion on his face. He was still smiling and Dan didn’t know how he did it when he was dying so soon. “Can you kiss me?” he asked suddenly, and Dan was taken aback.

In his entire life, nobody had ever asked Dan to kiss them. Especially not someone who was more beautiful than Gabrielle herself, with eyes the colour of the grass and seas and skin so pale that it reflected the moonlight. Dan didn’t know what to do at first. He found it a bit ironic at the same time, those rumours coming to mind about how death would come to you if the God of Death gave you a kiss.

He pushed all of those thoughts out of his mind as he leaned forward and pressed their lips together. Phil’s lips were cold and Dan could taste the blood on his tongue. But the kiss was soft nonetheless, something meaningful and full of life despite the fact that both beings were anything but. Kissing Phil made Dan feel as though he’d been brought back to life, like his heart was beating and his blood was rushing through his veins. He felt warm all over, everything that death wasn’t supposed to be like.

When he pulled away, Dan kept his eyes closed because he wanted to bask in the feeling of kissing Phil. He didn’t want to open his eyes and come back to reality. He didn’t want to acknowledge the way Phil had gone limp in his arms or how Phil had slowly grown colder.

He didn’t want to see a cold and motionless Phil laying right in front of him, eyes dark and soulless.

“Dan?”

A ray of sunshine poked through the clouds. Dan twirled around, ignoring the empty body in front of him, and instead focusing on the being that was now standing behind him, standing tall and smiling so widely that it seemed as though his face was going to split in half.

If Dan had thought Phil looked alive when he was alive, then he was exuberant in death.

His eyes, those beautiful ocean eyes, sparkled with the light of a thousand suns. If Dan looked close enough, he could see rolling hills of grass in those gorgeous irises. His cheeks were tinted pink, his skin shining like the moonlight. His hair was glossy and seemed to have a life of its own, and he was emanating a certain bright light all around him, one that was a light yellow colour that Dan had never seen before in a God.

Before he could stop himself, Dan was crossing the short distance between them and hugging him close. He littered kisses over his shoulders and his cheeks, and they were laughing, and Phil was crying, and it was nothing like when Dan had accepted his own eternal life. This time, Phil was greeting him with hope and happiness, shining so brightly that Dan nearly had to shield his eyes.

“Thank God, thank God,” Dan whispered over and over, even though he knew that Phil was going to be here even after he’d passed, that he was going to stay with Dan for eternity and longer, until they were just specks of dust in a large, meaningless expanse of nothingness.

Phil was here, and he was never going to leave.

After they parted, Phil kissed Dan once more on the lips, and then took his hand. They were both ignoring the soulless body lying on the bed behind them, not wanting to look back at what Phil’s life used to be, and instead focused on each other.

“So?” Phil asked, cocking his head. He was smiling so widely that his tongue was sticking between his teeth. “What God am I, then?”

Dan didn’t have to even think to know the answer. He’d known it as soon as he’d first laid eyes on Phil, known it as soon as he saw that gorgeous smile and the way he carried himself. He knew it by the yellow glow surrounding him and the ethereal beauty that took Dan’s breath away.

“You’re the God of Life.”

Part Two

#phan #phanfic #phanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #botanistfics #botanistlester #gettingtogether #phan angst #phan death #phan happy ending #dan and phil #writing #gay #lgbt

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hamilheros · 7 years

Text

what do you fall for? (2)

Words: 2445

Tags:@an-enigmatic-avenger

Warnings: Cursing, insults

A/N: sorry for the delay! things have been hectic lately, but we finally updated the next chapter! enjoy!

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

//a drop of faith//

Hercules sat at his desk in the shared building, typing away at a document on his computer. Lafayette strolled in casually, holding a cup of coffee in his hand. He nodded at Hercules, sitting on top of his desk. Hercules sighed, clicking out of the work he was doing.

“Are you here to scowl me like Alex?” He asked, raising his eyebrow. Lafayette shook his head.

“Not quite. Although, you were very reckless. The woman could have called the police if she didn’t speak up,” Lafayette pointed out, “Alexander was lucky to have been there. Replacing her bag and finding her wallet in a matter of seconds saved your skin.”

Hercules scoffed, “Sure.”

Eliza and George walked in, talking to each other quickly. Sometimes Hercules wished he had super hearing, but unfortunately, that was a no. Eliza and George turned to Hercules, both smiling. He could tell George was annoyed from the tight smile he was giving him. He was sure Alex told him a mouthful.

“George. Eliza.” Hercules stated, turning back to his work. His designs needed to be finished and sent later that day, and he didn’t have much time to waste. Lafayette leaped off Herc’s desk, and walked to his own.

George walked over, with Eliza on his tail. Ever since Angelica left, Eliza stuck to his side. Hercules wasn’t sure of the nature of their relationship, but he did notice that Eliza comforted George after the death of his wife.

“Hercules, you do know that was a bad idea. Intimidating Charles Lee in public was a horrible idea. You could have gotten hurt, or those two women watching could have gotten hurt as well,” George said, leaning on the wall next to Hercules’ desk. Hercules sighed, closing his document again.

Here we go again. The talk. He couldn’t make one mistake without everyone lecturing him. And he also knew George was reading his thoughts right now, but he didn’t care.

“You should care. Everyone is lecturing you for a reason, Hercules.”

Hercules stood up, anger fuming from him. “You know what, George? Why does everyone blame me, for this? You all told me to find Charles, and now I’m being criticized for it? Finding him was one step closer to finding Thomas. And Angelica,” He pointed out, looking over George’s shoulder at Eliza. She looked away, walking over to Lafayette.

Okay, he might have hit a sore spot on that one. He began walking over to apologize, but felt a hand on his chest. He looked down, seeing John standing there. John must have shape-shifted into a bug or something to be nosy, like usual.

“Give her some time, man. You know she overheats sometimes,” He pointed over at Eliza. Lafayette was mumbling some words to her. He could see the smoke rising from her hands. He’s already been burned by her once. He’d rather not be burned again.

Hercules sat back down, his head in his hands, “Look, all I’m saying is, I made a mistake. Okay, I’m sorry about that. But all of you piling up on me and giving me shit isn’t going to help the situation. Did Alex even tell you about the info I got? All he ever did was complain.”

George nodded, “I knew about the information. I can read your mind, remember?” George joked. Hercules didn’t laugh. George rarely made jabs, and when he did, they were terrible.

He walked around Hercules, and opened a door.

There was an old, mining shaft elevator on the other side. Hercules gestured for the others to follow along. Lafayette and Eliza stopped their talking, and followed the rest. Hercules wondered where Aaron, Philip, and Alexander were. They were usually on time.

Of course, George answered his inner monologue, “Alexander is prepping Aaron on the mission to follow Y/N. And John may be preoccupied to make sure Aaron is going a good job, so Philip may need to watch Aaron as a replacement.”

“Y/N?” Hercules asked, the elevator door moving slowly.

“Yes, Y/N. The woman who witnesses everything. She is still questioning the incident, so we have to make sure she does not involve herself further. If any of our enemies find out about her…” George grimaced.

He was right. They would do to her, what they did to his wife. The door closed behind them.

Alexander was pacing back and forth, staring Aaron down. Aaron was fixing the hole that Hercules left in the wall, installing new brick. Philip was standing on the side, playing with his fingers. Alexander never wanted his son to be involved in any of this, but after George’s wife, they all had to make sure their loved ones were safe. And if that meant for Philip to join their team, then so be it.

“Alex, I can feel you staring at me. Just because I don’t have superpowers doesn’t mean I can’t feel your stare,” Aaron mumbled, putting some cement in the spaces. Philip laughed but quickly stopped after getting a glare from his father.

Alexander knew George was right. In order for this to work, he had to trust Aaron for his abilities. Aaron was the type that people could easily talk to. The others were blunter, besides Eliza, and direct. But still, Alexander thought it was, slimy. Cunning, even. Like someone who’s name started with the letter T.

“Pa, what are we even doing here?” Philip asked, “I’m supposed to be with John, you know. Learning, about this whole thing?”

Alexander waved him off, “Yes, I know. But I need you to be here right now. Aaron?”

Aaron looked over his shoulder, “Yes?”

Alexander sighed, “We, we have a mission for you,” Aaron’s ears perked up. Alex didn’t know why that frustrated him, “Remember that mistake that Hercules did early today? Well, we need you to befriend and pay attention to the mistake. She’s still questioning what happened, and George doesn’t want to erase her mind, so this is the best bet. Are you ready to do something like this?”

Alexander noticed the hesitant look on Aaron’s face, “Do you not want to do this?”

Aaron quickly stood up, dusting off his pants, “That is not what I said, Alexander. I’m just, surprised, as all. You don’t trust me, why would you want me to be kind to this person? Philip is much more likable than me, like you’ve said. I don’t want to be anywhere I am not wanted.”

Philip sighed, “But Alexander’s,” Alexander glared at his son again, “Sorry. Pa’s ideas aren’t everyone else’s. We all trust you, Aaron. Pa’s opinion is important, yes, but not at this moment. I’m sure he will grow to trust you after this mission, right, Pa?” Philip patted his father’s shoulder.

Alexander gave Aaron a fake smile, “Right. Are you up for it?”

Aaron pursed his lips. “Sure. When do I start?”

Alexander glanced at his clock, “Well, it’s six in the afternoon right now, so in less than 15 hours. George may need to brief you on some things, but other than that, it’ll be fine.”

The brick wall was fixed, for now. It needed to dry, but it was good enough. Aaron nodded, grabbing his tool bag and walking away. Alexander sighed, rubbing his cheeks. Philip watched Aaron walk away, then look at his father.

“So, why was I here again?”

Oh, he almost forgot! “We’re going to need one of the team members to watch and make sure Aaron isn’t messing up. Which is you, kiddo. It’ll mostly be John, but you could help him in anyway-“

Philip pumped his fists in the air, “Finally!”

Before Alexander could explain more, Philip shifted into a bird, and flew into the sky. He was chirping loudly as he flew into the distance. Alexander chuckled, getting on his knees before speeding off into the night.

You rolled around in your bed, squinting at the phone screen. George emailed you about your assignments that were due in the morning. You puffed out a breath. Remember when you said you loved your job? Well, that thought was slowly slipping away.

You tossed your phone to the side, not even bothering to put it on the charger. The heat in summer nights in the country wasn’t as bad as this. You had central air back at home, but here, this little fan wasn’t working. Your feet were falling on the side of the mattress. You leaned up quickly, muttering some vulgarities under your breath.

If you couldn’t fall asleep, you might as well explore the city. You grabbed a pair of sweatpants and put them on quickly. You grabbed your phone and keys, and walked out the door. Maybe your apartment had the heat on, because it was a cool night.

The breeze was strong enough to make you shiver a bit, but other than that, it was fine. You pulled your hoodie over your head, and strolled down the over-illuminated park. There was an overcast tonight, but with these bright lamps, you would probably not be able to see anything anyway.

You sat on a bench, crossing your arms on your chest. Okay, maybe you should have grabbed that jacket. You saw a small dog walking around the bushes. You watched it, then glanced around. There wasn't an owner in sight. The dog looked strange, though. It's hair was curly, a dark brown. But it's eyes, it was hazel. The dog was sniffing at the ground, then ran down the sidewalk. You stood up quickly, and began to jog after it.

You don't know why you were doing it. Maybe your curiosity was getting the best of you? It ran down an alley way, almost the same one as this morning. It stopped in the middle of the walkway. You stood there, confused. Suddenly, it's shaped blurred and grew in size. You widened your eyes.

It must be a trick of the eye. The figure began to form into the shape of a man. It was dark over here, but you saw the curly hair. Almost the same as the dog you just saw…

Wait, where did the dog go?

The man took a deep breath, and stretched out his arms. Oh, he must have been homeless or something. You didn't want to mess with his home, so you turned into the opposite direction. You could have sworn that the dog was there! Your eyes were trained on the little pup, but, did it just change into a man.

No, you're being ridiculous. Nothing like that could happen. If this like that existed, scientists would have found one already. But you could have bet… you didn't know what to think. You pushed your hands in your sweats, and began walking home. Might as well get those things ready for Washington tomorrow.

You pulled on what you called a fancy shirt, and walked out your apartment. This time, you didn't even bother to grab some coffee on the way to work. You'd rather not black out for a few seconds and end up in front of your building. And you finally got your coffee machine to work, so that was a plus!

You pushed the door open with your bottom, holding dozens of files in both of your arms. You stumbled over a wire in the middle of the room, and saw your inevitable demise. But a hand reached out and caught the folders. You let out a sigh of relief, looking up at your savior.

The man was smiling at you. He held out his hand, “Beautiful introduction. Nice to meet you, my name is Aaron Burr.”

You shook his hand with your free one. It was smooth, and warm. You smiled at him, “Oh yea, George told me all about you!”

He raised his eyebrow, “Really?”

You shook your head, “Nope. He told me nothing, besides your name. Small talk doesn't seem to be something he likes. My name is Y/N, by the way.”

Aaron laughed at your comment. You two were still shaking hands. You let go first, smiling nervously. Great, George didn't tell you he was coming in early. You shouldn't have assumed that the new guy would just pop in the middle of the day, but still. You weren't prepared. Now you looked like a complete clutz in front of him.

“Ah, I see you've finally met Aaron, Y/N. Sorry, I was in a meeting early today,” George said, walking out a conference room. It was usually for a superior to say sorry to their employee, so it was refreshing.

“No problem, sir. Aaron just saved my life,” You gestured to the papers in his hand, “It took me house to organize that last night.”

Aaron smiled at George sheepishly, “It was nothing, Geor- sir.”

Ah, so he wasn't as experienced as you thought? Good. He made you look like less of a klutz than before.

George smiled, then glanced at his watch, “Today is a busy day. Why don't we get around to finishing everything early?” He walked ahead, the two of you marching after him.

You glanced up, seeing two birds perched on the ledge. They were still, unmoving. You felt a shiver go down your spine. It reminded you of the dog last night. What the hell was going on in this city?

Aaron broke you out of your staring, and guided you to another office. You took one look back at the birds, then disappeared.

John sighed, transforming back into his human self. He stretched out his limps, standing on the edge of the roof. No one looked up this far, so he didn't bother with hiding himself. Philip did as well. John noticed that there was always a smile on that boy's face. He was just like his father when he was younger.

“Pip?” Philip perked up at the nickname. “Maybe next time we actually act like birds, you know. Tweet, and other things.” John was so focused on the scene in front of him, that he didn’t even notice how stiff he was.

Philip nodded, “You're right, Y/N was staring at is like there was something wrong,” he chuckled softly, “Did you see Aaron? Hercules was right, he’s way better at this than I’ll ever be.”

John saw Philip’s face drop. He patted his back, and Philip smiled softly.

“Don’t worry, you just started! You’ll get better soon enough,” John replied, winking at his apprentice. Philip shook his head up and down quickly.

“You’re right!”

John’s phone beeped, and he glanced down. Alexander was calling him back to base. He gestured to Philip, and they both transformed back into birds, flying off.

#lafayette x reader #john laurens #laurens x reader #alexander hamilton #hamilton series #hamilton superhero au #hamilton imagine #hamilton one shot #hamilton x reader #hercules mulligan #mulligan x reader #thomas jefferson #eliza schuyler #james madison #charles lee #angelica schuyler #peggy schuyler

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slendermanlore · 7 years

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Original Mythos + Literary References

Here’s a compilation of references to (allegedly) real books, movies, online stories and sites, etc. made by contributors to the Original Mythos.

Original Mythos Meta:

Slender Man would make a pretty nice horror novel in the lines of "House of Leaves".

Essentially, make the novel a collection of witness statements, newspaper clippings, pictures, drawings, articles discussing evidence for an against the slender man and, to tie it all neatly together, a few stories of people who want to track the slender man, unravel the mystery,

And the kicker would be the last 20 or so pages would be missing, with only scraps of paper left, arranged as logically as possible, just excerpts, words, rips, ink stains, etc.

Original Mythos Meta:

It's The Rake all over again!

Conspiracies:

When you posted the part about the chest injuries it reminded me of the Dyatlov Pass incident that was posted in the Unsolved Mysteries thread:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_pass_accident

Wikipedia posted:

and both Dubunina and Zolotarev had major chest fractures. The force required to cause such damage would have been extremely high, with one expert comparing it to the force of a car crash.Notably, the bodies had no external wounds, as if they were crippled by a high level of pressure. One woman was found to be missing her tongue.[1]

Original Mythos Meta:

I'm suddenly imagining a Slender Man "documentary," done in a style similar to The Last Broadcast or that old Alien Abduction TV special. Interviews with witnesses of various encounters through the years, investigation into the different events brought up in this thread, and specialists analyzing photographs, intercut around home video footage taken by a missing family, showing them being picked off by the Slender Man. As we get further into the film, we also start to see behind the scenes footage of the making of the documentary, with crew members not showing for work and not answering calls, various production problems… then finally ending with a note that the director disappeared immediately after completion of the film.

Original Mythos Meta:

"Some say that the worst monsters reside in the imagination, drawn from the greatest fears of those who imagine them. I say there are horrors beyond mortal imagining, and they are far worse. And I have looked on both."

Original Mythos Meta:

The backstories have been working well so far because they talk about things without explaining them, it's sort of along the lines of House of Leaves in that way.

Marble Hornets Preamble:

He agreed, but only under the circumstance that I never bring them back to him, and never discuss what was on them with him. He also highly discouraged me from showing any of it to anyone else. I laughed at this, and said that he must have accidentally made The Ring or something with the way he was talking. He didn’t acknowledge this and brought me up to his attic, where he was storing the pile of tapes.

British Myths, Legends, and Unsolved Tales:

Adair, J. (1989) British Myths, Legends and Unsolved Tales, London: Pan Books.

Original Mythos Meta:

Has anyone thought about the possibility that we are creating a tulpa? It's a thought form that is realized through the efforts of a group of people. We might be creating the Slender Man, making him real.

The Toronto Society for Psychical Research did this with an entity called "Philip" in the mid-70's. There was a book written about it, called "Conjuring up Philip." "He" was a fictional person, knowingly created by the group. It was all fun and games until "Philip" started to take on a mind of his own. "Philip" became real, as far as any paranormal thing could be said to be real. So take all this with a big grain of salt.

Original Mythos Meta:

Now go watch Aphex Twin's 'Come To Daddy' video. Take careful note of the inhumanly tall, emaciated figure the children gather around.

Original Mythos Meta:

The Slender Man, to date, is the only thing to creep me out worse than the Black Eyed Kids… of course, not all the missing children were recovered… who knows what happens to them when the Slender Man is finished?

Original Mythos Meta:

After all, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

Original Mythos Meta:

No, the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he DID exist.

Small Findings:

I have this coffee table book of photos from Life magazine. The pictures go back to the late 1800s.

Imagine my surprise when I took a closer look at this photo of Yosemite Valley from the 1870s.

Not only did I see our mysterious boogie man

But also the skull and rib cage of some unfortunate soul.

I can’t say for sure that the remains are one of its victims, but I’d be willing to bet on it.

Conspiracies:

XI 20: He who several times has Held the cage and then the woods, He will return to the first state His life safe shortly afterwards to depart, Still not knowing how to know, He will look for a subject in order to die.

Original Mythos Meta:

"There are those who believe they can be "one" with those who are not of our world. These people often think that somehow they have some kind of mental or "spiritual" link. Oftentimes these people will go out into areas that have been reported to be the hunting grounds of said creatures. These individuals are often more dangerous than the creatures that they worship/are in love with. When faced with the choice between the reality of the creature not existing or staying in a fake world they will choose, sometimes to the bitter end, the made up world.

In a somewhat ironic way, those who believe themselves to be the worthy follower/lover of these beings are in fact far removed from the "ideal" being the creature would choose!"

Edvard Tobin "Humanity and the Supernatural: A Dangerous Combo" Pub: 1994

Original Mythos Meta:

In reading this thread, I'm struck by one behaviour of Der Ritter in particular, that of its impaling its victims in a tree, while removing and reinserting their internal organs. It's remarkably akin to the feeding habits of shrikes, also known as butcherbirds.

See, what a shrike will do is capture a smaller animal - anything from a cricket to a smaller bird or mouse - and kill it. Shrikes are songbirds, and their musculature is pretty lacking compared to a straight-up raptor like a hawk or owl, so their kill is messy and inefficient, consisting of many pecks and bites to the head and neck. This continues until the prey animal is either dead or too tired to fight. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that as weak as their jaws are, their claws are weaker, and they wholly lack talons. They're built to perch. So, what a shrike will do, is it will take its prey to a thorny tree, or bush, or even barbed wire, and it will ram its prey down on a spike so that it won't move when the shrike tears it apart.

It's a songbird that's learned to kill, and it does so far more cruelly than any raptor.

Anyone ever hear the Slender Man sing?

e: Wikipedia on Lanius excubitor, the Great Gray Shrike: "This species will lure birds closer by mimicking their calls."

Original Mythos Meta:

I'm still REALLY seeing Slender Man as being related to Shadow People and, now, the hat man. http://www.thehatmanproject.com/

I have this vision of Slender Man coming up to you and Shadow People just… gurgling out of his shadow. As if he creates them.

Original Mythos Meta:

Slender Man is like that stupid game where you lose as soon as you think about it.

If you think about him, he knows. If you fear him, he comes. The only way to escape the Slender Man is to not know about the Slender Man.

Conspiracies:

In 1977, as Led Zeppelin embarked on their tour of the United States, Jimmy Page’s interest in the occult and addiction to heroin were at their peak. His playing was spotty at times, his weight had dropped considerably, and his focus was clearly elsewhere. His delving into the supernatural spirits made him lose sight of the goal of the band, with Zeppelin’s lights manager later remarking that singer Robert Plant would often have to snap Page out of his between-song trances, with Page not remembering how their own tunes went. Page also grew increasingly paranoid in an infamous incident prior to an interview with Cameron Crowe where he ripped a phone out of the wall because he felt that someone was spying on him. It was as if a force he tapped into was corrupting him.

Original Mythos Meta:

I wonder perhaps if Slenderman's name is Zoso, but he would come for anybody who figured it out, which is perhaps why Jimmy Page has been so secretive about exactly where they got their symbols for their IV album.

Hang on guys, I think there's somebody standing in front of my house…

Ghost Stories of the American South:

So once the Slender Man began popping up in this thread, I could have sworn something about it seemed familiar. I’m an amateur folklorist, so I had a few source books lying around. It took me a while, but I finally found something in W.K. McNeil's Ghost Stories of the American South. Most of the tales collected are transcripts of recordings other folklorists made, but McNeil compiles them and offers notes. A really handy book. So anyway, this particular story appears in the book’s seventh section, “Other Supernatural Creatures.”

Original Mythos Meta:

Wasn't there an artist who painted a picture—supposed to be really famous, its in all the big fancy art books. Isn't called "The Scream" or "The Screamer" ? It showed an elongated person with its hands besides its head or doing like the microphone around its mouth.

[...]

Hasn't ANYONE seen the movie "Mimic" ? The Judas Bug. It EVOLVED to look like the prey that it hunted. Now, i understand that this doesn't fit every story (like the wood carvings, But it does rather fit the Woodcarving with the skeleton with the arm-spear, It looks human)

Nathaniel V:

From a grimoire of sorts I picked up at a used book store.

Called The Observations and written by someone calling himself Nathaniel V. I don’t know if that is a letter “v” or a roman numeral 5.

Original Mythos Meta:

I think I mentioned this before--but the original Slender Man pics associated him with fire, as in preceding or instigating fire. Dissection and other means of destruction came later--not that I'm complaining. As Call of Cthulhu d20 once said, a beastie can have a thousand legs today and no legs next time, so long as it makes each encounter more horrifying.

#Slender Man Arkive #original mythos #slenderverse #slender man #slenderman

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networkingdefinition · 4 years

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Dragonfly Quotes

Official Website: Dragonfly Quotes

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• And in time it will be as though men had never come to this perfect corner of the world-never called it paradise on earth, never despoiled it with their dream factories; and in the golden hush of the afternoon all that will be heard will be the flittering of dragonflies, and the murmur of hummingbirds as they pass from bower to bower, looking for a place to sup sweetness. – Clive Barker • Anyone can buy a car or a night on the town. Most of us shell our days like peanuts. One in a thousand can look at the world with amazement. I don’t mean gawking at the Chrysler Building. I’m talking about the wing of a dragonfly. The tale of the shoeshine. Walking through an unsullied hour with an unsullied heart – Amor Towles • As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame – Gerard Manley Hopkins

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Of blue butterflies, and dragonfly wings. Moonlight and sunbeams, raiments so fine. Silver and gold, for baby of mine. Go to sleep, baby. Sister will tell, of wolves and of lambs, and demons who fell.-Pierce’s Lullaby Kim Harrison (Black Magic Sanction) – Kim Harrison • He was becoming unstuck, he was sure of that – his bones were no longer wrapped in flesh but in clouds of dust, in hummingbirds, dragonflies, and luminous moths – but so perfect was his equilibrium that he felt no fear. He was vast, he was many, he was dynamic, he was eternal. – Tom Robbins • I got to keep a clip for my hair. It had a pretty little dragonfly on it and I got to keep it – Mackenzie Foy • I need to capture my sprite with trembling hands. Except I could crush her. Wonder how many small things of beauty – flowers, seashells, dragonflies – have met such a demise. Wonder how much fragile love has collapsed beneath the weight of confession. – Ellen Hopkins • If you are old and you wish to be young again, if only for a moment, try and identify a dragonfly. – Simon Barnes • I’ll be looking for you, Will, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you… We’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams… And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they wont’ just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we’ll be joined so tight. – Philip Pullman • It’s very far away/It takes about a half a day to get there/ If we travel by-dragonfly. – Jimi Hendrix • Perhaps everything lies in knowing what words to speak, what actions to perform, and in what order and rhythm; or else someone’s gaze, answer, gesture is enough; it is enough for someone to do something for the sheer pleasure of doing it, and for his pleasure to become the pleasure of others: at that moment, all spaces change, all heights, distances; the city is transfigured, becomes crystalline, transparent as a dragonfly. – Italo Calvino • Question four: What book would you give to every child? Answer: I wouldn’t give them a book. Books are part of the problem: this strange belief that a tree has nothing to say until it is murdered, its flesh pulped, and then (human) people stain this flesh with words. I would take children outside and put them face to face with chipmunks, dragonflies, tadpoles, hummingbirds, stones, rivers, trees, crawdads. That said, if you’re going to force me to give them a book, it would be The Wind In The Willows, which I hope would remind them to go outside. – Derrick Jensen • Reflected in the dragonfly’s eye — mountains. – Kobayashi Issa • Sitting on the floor of a room in Japan, looking out on a small garden with flowers blooming and dragonflies hovering in space, I suddenly felt as if I had been too long above my boots. – Mark Tobey • Smile / to see the lake / lay / the still sky / And / out for an easy / make / the dragonfly. – Lorine Niedecker • So, that was Nature’s way. The mosquito felt pain and panic but the dragonfly knew nothing of cruelty. Humans would call it evil, the big dragonfly destroying the mosquito and ignoring the little insects suffering. Yet humans hated mosquitoes too, calling them vicious and bloodthirsty. All these words, words like ‘evil’ and ‘vicious’, they meant nothing to Nature. Yes, evil was a human invention. – John Marsden • Sophia and Grandmother sat down by the shore to discuss the matter further. It was a pretty day, and the sea was running a long, windless swell. It was on days just like this–dog days–that boats went sailing off all by themselves. Large, alien objects made their way in from sea, certain things sank and others rose, milk soured, and dragonflies danced in desperation. Lizards were not afraid. When the moon came up, red spiders mated on uninhabited skerries, where the rock became an unbroken carpet of tiny, ecstatic spiders. – Tove Jansson • The beauteous dragonfly’s dancing By the waves of the rivulet glancing; She dances here and she dances there, The glimmering, glittering flutterer fair. Full many a beetle with loud applause Admires her dress of azure gauze, Admires her body’s bright splendour, And also her figure so slender… – Heinrich Heine • The girls chirped and chatted like uncaged warblers. They were delirious with joy… Intoxications of life’s morning! Enchanted years! The wing of a dragonfly trembles! Oh, reader, whoever you may be, do you have such memories? Have you walked in the underbrush, pushing aside branches for the charming head behind you? Have you slid laughing, down some slope wet with rain, with the woman you loved? – Victor Hugo • The point of the dragonfly’s terrible lip, the giant water bug, birdsong, or the beautiful dazzle and flash of sunlighted minnows,is not that it all fits together like clockwork–for it doesn’tbut that it all flows so freely wild, like the creek, that it all surges in such a free, finged tangle. Freedom is the world’s water and weather, the world’s nourishment freely given, its soil and sap: and the creator loves pizzazz. – Annie Dillard • Their love as a dragonfly, skimming over echo park, stoppin to visit the lotus. Eating dreams and drinking blue sky. – Janet Fitch • This dragonfly came up to me. He was hovering right in front of my face, and I was really examining him, thinking, How does he see me? I became enlightened. – Ziggy Marley • Time is for dragonflies and angels. The former live too little and the latter live too long. – James Thurber • Twisting through the thorn-thick underbrush, scratched and exhausted, one turns suddenly to find an unexpected waterfall, not half a mile from the nearest road, a spot so hard to reach that no one comes a hiding place, a shrine for dragonflies and nesting jays, a sign that there is still one piece of property that won’t be owned. – Dana Gioia • Unless you are here: this garden refuses to exist. Pink dragonflies fall from the air and become scorpions scratching blood out of rocks. The rainbows that dangle upon this mist: shatter. Like the smile of a child separated from his mother’s milk for the very first time. –from poem Blood and Blossoms – Aberjhani • Who would deduce the dragonfly from the larva, the iris from the bud, the lawyer from the infant? …We are all shape-shifters and magical reinventors. Life is really a plural noun, a caravan of selves. – Diane Ackerman • Whoever the kid had been, whoever had the grand attitude, has finally heeded the admonishment of parents, teachers, governments, religions, and the law: “You just change your attitude now please, young man.” This transformation in kids – from flashing dragonflies, so to say, to sticky water-surface worms slowly slipping downstream – is noticed with pride by society and with mortification by God, which is a fantastic way of saying I don’t like to see kids throw away their truth just because it isn’t worth a dime in the open market. – William Saroyan • Without constraint, without any form of mental compulsion, the act of belief becomes the freest possible projection of what resides in our hearts. Like the poet’s image of a church bell that reveals its latent music only when struck, or a dragonfly that flames forth its beauty only in flight, so does the content of a human heart lie buried until action calls it forth. The greatest act of self-revelation occurs when we choose what we will believe, in that space of freedom that exists between knowing that a thing is and knowing that a thing is not. – Terryl L. Givens • Yesterday a child came out to wonder. Caught a dragonfly inside a jar. Fearful when the sky was full of thunder. And tearful at the falling of a star – Joni Mitchell

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equitiesstocks · 4 years

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Dragonfly Quotes

Official Website: Dragonfly Quotes

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mrmichaelchadler · 5 years

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Nick Allen's Top Ten Films of 2018

Below is a small glimpse at my film year, a collection of the movies I was fixated on during and after festivals, recommended to you if you asked me what was good, or was simply blown away by. And in the case of my number one film, it was lodged so deep into my brain that its second-to-last shot made for a solid homemade Halloween costume. Of course, this list is subject to change at any minute, with special shout-outs to “Roma,” “Minding the Gap,” “Eighth Grade,” “Widows,” “Vice,” “Free Solo,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Blaze,” and the laugh-out-loud quality of “Mile 22.”

10. “Bird Box”

In 2010, Susanne Bier made one of the most unforgettable stories about the immediacy of day-to-day violence with “A Better World,” its plot hinging on acts of humanism across continents. She brings that focus on how we treat each other to the ruthlessly thrilling “Bird Box,” which tops off a year of nervous cinema, but is approximately 300% more stressful than the silent but deadly “A Quiet Place” (nor can “Bird Box” have its logic poked through by the prospects of farts). The hook here is an apocalyptic disadvantage—one’s eyes must always be covered from an outside force that invades consciousness, making them want to hurt others or themselves.

Adapted by Eric Heisserer from the novel by Josh Malerman, “Bird Box” takes the set-up of a survival story to its most tense limits, where characters are walking, driving, or riding down a river through unknown environments, without being able to see where they are going. In a year in which watching white supremacy terrorize families in “The First Purge” seemed redundant, “Bird Box” is one of the most terrifying depictions of fanaticism; those who do decide to see sometimes have a frightening, monstrous power, and try to force others to look. It's a scary reflection of our modern cults built on hatred, anonymous conspiracy theories, or willful misinterpretations of the Bible.

The whole of "Bird Box" hinges on dumb luck, but each major set piece has an inescapable claustrophobia, in which the ability to see what the blindfolded characters can't, and imagining what could befall them, makes it that much more terrifying. At the center of it all is a top-level performance from Sandra Bullock, portraying a mother in the most desperate mode of survival. She makes a viewer even more wistful that somehow she and her two blindfolded kids can survive the film’s impossible world.

9. “Searching”

Aneesh Chaganty’s “Searching” is a thrilling correction to a few bugs in mainstream filmmaking: it’s an unabashed crowd-pleaser that doesn’t talk down to its audience, a tech-savvy movie that doesn’t lament the growing presence of smart phones and social media so much as whole-heartedly embrace them, and a screen-based thriller that isn’t just the cinematic equivalent of watching a desktop. That it’s also a thriller that gives John Cho the leading role he’s long deserved is just one of its many elements to adore.

Scripted by Chaganty and Sev Ohanian, this story about a father (John Cho) searching for his missing daughter Margot (Michelle La) is one of the year’s most exciting examples of creativity, with elements of filmmaking one can easily take for granted—it’s one of the year’s best edited films for how it creates an emotional roller coaster using only the content on its characters’ screens, orchestrating a narrative out of an insane amount of on-screen detail that fully immerses us in everyone's lives. "Searching" plays wonderfully on repeat viewings, and the opening scene has deservedly won comparisons to the first ten minutes of “Up”—“Searching” is the debut of major storytelling talent, with a thrilling new perspective on the technology we use every day.

8. “John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection”

“John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection” is a sports documentary that begins with a Jean-Luc Godard quote, and doesn’t show its title subject until five minutes in. Yes, this movie is a dream for anyone who has felt film semiotics and sports analysis aren’t too different of beasts, especially when one talks about the strengths and weaknesses of a performance. Needless to say, “John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection” transported me back to my brain-fueling Film Studies classes, all focused around a pivotal match for the hot-head tennis player in 1984. This doc does not just thrill with how it toys with form, but also in how it proclaims the expansive potential of critical thinking. I dare anyone who is interested in the very concept of criticism, whether for athletes or filmmakers, to try to turn it off after watching it for those five minutes.

7. “Makala”

“Makala” popped into my life as a review assignment back in August, and by the end of the year it’s still the most exemplary idea of the power in minimalist storytelling. One of the most tense scenes this year is of Makala trying to push a huge bundle of coal, strapped to his bike, up a small hill, as captured with simplicity by director and cinematographer Emmanuel Gras. As it documents one man’s process in creating coal, carting it many miles and then trying to sell it, “Makala” speaks to the eternal values of filmmaking, and recognizes that walking many miles in someone else’s shoes is an instrumental part of it.

6. “Cold War”

Anyone who was a bit miffed by the ending of Damien Chazelle’s musical “La La Land”—not that it ended on a surprising note, but that it felt like an incomplete thought—will find refreshing heart and soul in Pawel Pawlikowski’s musician story, “Cold War.” Told over various years and across countries, the story of two Polish musicians and their romance in spite of years and geographical distance beautifully condenses time but doesn’t cut short its emotion. “Cold War” precisely captures the different chapters of a relationship, while having a black-and-white beauty that makes the film like the year’s best love ballad.

5. “Mandy”

Like a holy mix of “You Were Never Really Here” and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” as blended with a chainsaw fight and served on an actual dish of revenge, “Mandy” is one of the year’s most visceral proclamations of love and loss. Be not fooled by the howls from its growing cult audience, the best aspects of “Mandy” (directed by Panos Cosmatos and co-written with Aaron Stewart-Ahn) are not its albeit glorious action scenes but its sensitivity: this is the story of a man (Nicolas Cage), a woman named Mandy (Andrea Riseborough, her close-up laughing at macho BS the true face of this film) and the depths of his battling the demons of grief after his loved one is taken away. The late Johann Johannsson’s heavenly score uses synthesizers and heavy metal guitars to grip you from its opening text, and the film’s heavy use of color filters creates a dreamy atmosphere, which only gets kookier as “Mandy” becomes a straight-up hero odyssey with Cage battling phantasmagorical Jesus freaks. But the true beauty of “Mandy” is its intimacy; it’s as beautiful as looking into the eyes of your loved one as you both lie in bed, no one else existing in the world.

“Mandy” also features an unforgettable Nicolas Cage scene, in which he downs a whole bottle of vodka in a bathroom while standing in his underpants. He’s crying, howling, screaming. It epitomizes the appeal of one our greatest screen artists—that Cage is unafraid to tap into the absurd emotions we sometimes wish we could—and it pushes the surrealism of the scene to sincere and complete heartbreak. I’m placing “Mandy” in my proverbial “In Case of Loss, Break Glass” collection, right next to a copy of Philip Roth’s Everyman.

4. “Leave No Trace”

I really love what my colleagues have written about Debra Granik’s story of a PTSD-afflicted father living off the grid with his young daughter, but one of my favorite qualities of this nearly pitch-perfect story is that it’s not what you think: it’s not about them living in the woods, but adapting to our society, a story that takes place after what only seems like the true narrative. The completely soulful performances from Ben Foster and Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie create a family dynamic you don’t want to see disturbed, and through small developments there’s a large unease that capitalism and technology could get in its way. Granik’s script, adapted with Anne Rossellini from Peter Rock’s book, has an incredible rhythm with its bare bones scenes, exploring the greatest of emotional stakes in the most deceptively simple way.

3. “Madeline’s Madeline”

In a sense, “Madeline’s Madeline” is a movie that was made for its debut lead, Helena Howard. You understand, about thirty seconds into the film, why Howard warrants her own project, and why a filmmaker like Josephine Decker would mix her own experimental and primal instincts with the talents of her future young star. “Madeline’s Madeline” is delightfully beyond words—describing it as a film about acting and actors is just scratching the surface—but it’s one of the most year’s most hypnotic movies, especially as Decker’s camera toys with point-of-view and takes an approach to editing that is unlike any other film from 2018.

2. “Shirkers”

I spent much of my Sundance last January recommending to people a little documentary called “Shirkers,” and ramped up that practice when it came out on Netflix this past October. Believe the hype for this movie, which just took our #6 spot on the staff list, and is one of the few docs that has been making waves on #FilmTwitter. It’s both a celebration of and a mystery movie about the lost treasure of a film project that Tan directed as a teenager in 1990s Singapore with her friends, which then disappeared along with her pushy filmmaking mentor, an older white man named Georges, before the film was finished. “Shirkers” has Tan investigating what happened to the project and looking back at her life when she was a teenager making her cool-as-hell film that predates the style of "Ghost World" and Wes Anderson. Perhaps best of all, Tan shares with us the filmmaking daydreams, and the collaborating women, that fueled such an enigmatic passion project.

1. “Hereditary”

I believe “If Beale Street Could Talk” director Barry Jenkins put it best when he once tweeted to “Hereditary” writer/director Ari Aster, “GIVE ME BACK MY PEACEFUL SLEEP,” followed by six crying emojis. Speaking as someone who has now seen Aster’s masterful debut five times (including an experimental, not recommended double feature at the theater with Fred Rogers doc “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”) I can only affirm the lasting power of “Hereditary” and its perfection as a modern American family tragedy that uses horror language in order to devastate its viewers.

There are so many elements to cherish about the film, including its exact creepiness with slow-moving shots and deceptively long takes, a score by Colin Stetson that peacefully conjures the devil, and the way that while a first viewing may inspire one to watch it through their fingers, "Hereditary" only gets more disturbing with each viewing. And all of this for a horror film that’s about a household that doesn’t discuss trauma, or about a family plot that’s a highway to hell. Most importantly, however, is the emotional magnitude brought by the likes of Toni Collette, whose viciousness as the central mother can rival the terror of Joan Crawford proclaiming “No more wire hangers” in “Mommie Dearest,” and Alex Wolff, depicting the shattered, silenced nature of trauma.

"Hereditary" is in the tradition of disturbing films like Kubrick’s “The Shining” or Zulawski’s “Possession"—it's equal parts terrifying and exhilarating, scarring a viewer with the emotional turmoil that's in the foreground. Aster's film messed me up in more ways than one in 2018, and it hurts so damn good.

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