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followmetoyourdoom · 7 years

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Halloweening // Chpt 2 - Changing Face

I kinda rushed the 2nd half of this one so it’d be in time but hopefully it’s okay, it’s meant to be pretty fast paced regardless. For day 2 of Iristo weekend and hopefully i got all the prompts in again, I think I did anyway.

Read it on ao3 or below:

“What are they doing here,” was the first thing that came out of Talia’s mouth as Iris and the twins emerged from the haunted house together. Praxina and Talia raised their hands, magic circles appearing and ready to fight.

Iris quickly stepped between the two girls, lowering both their hands.

“I can explain.” She turned to the twins. “Wait here.” Iris then pulled her friends a little ways away and did indeed explain the situation fully.

Auriana’s face dropped and she looked back at Mephisto. “Aw, poor guy, I almost feel sorry for him.”

“Well you should!” Iris said just as Talia answered in the negative.

Iris sighed heavily. “Look, I know it’s going to be hard, but they’re just teenagers too. They deserve to have a break every now and again. Auriana,” she turned to the redhead, “you remember how excited you were a few weeks ago at the school halloween party?”

“I do!”

“Don’t you think Mephisto and Praxina deserve to feel like that too?”

Auriana bit her lip. “Yes?”

“No!” Talia was frowning. “They’re villains, they’re the reason we’re stuck here on Earth instead of being back home on Ephedia!”

“What’s so bad about Earth?” Iris asked defensively.

“Also,” Mephisto interjecting, having heard Talia’s remark, “you’re the reason we’re stuck on Earth too you know. Gramorr won’t let us go home until we- OW!” Praxina had, rather roughly, stomped on his foot, luckily only using the front of her shoe.

After glaring at Mephisto, Praxina continued for him. “What my brother is trying to say, is that none of us are happy about this. And clearly this,” she gestured between them all, “isn’t going to work. So let’s just forget the stupid truce and fight already!” Praxina raised her arm once again, but this time it was Mephisto who lowered it.

“One night, Prax. Nothing will happen in a night.” He looked at Iris and smiled. “I’d love to try that trick or treating you were on about.”

Eventually, everything got smoothed out, thought Talia refused to even look at Praxina, who did not have a problem with this and refused to do the same. Auriana on the other hand had decided to truly consider the twins friends - at least for the night - and was eagerly telling Praxina all sorts of halloween stories.

Iris and Mephisto walked ahead, Iris explaining the concept of trick or treating to him.

“So all I have to do is ring a doorbell and I get free candy?”

“More or less,” Iris shrugged, “you do have a pretty good costume on. A little bit cliché,” she teased, gently shoving him with her shoulder.

Mephisto grinned, picking up on her tone of voice, “Oh, and what’s yours suppose to be, because I am truly terrified by the change from pink to red, Princess. Definitely an outfit fit for your spooky human holiday.”

“Shush,” she shoved him again. “I’m Ladybug, hence the mask and spots. Costumes don’t have to be scary, you know.”

Mephisto was about to reply to this when Iris’ smoothie human arrived, rushing up to greet the three princess. “And you are?” he asked Mephisto, noticing how close he was standing to Iris.

“He’s one of our fans” Iris put in quickly, then gestured behind her. “And that’s his sister, also a fan?”

Praxina snorted. “You wish.”

Nathaniel chuckled. “Not a fan then. Still, nice matching outfits.” He gestured between the two twins. “Looks good.”

“Nate, what happened to your matching costume?” Iris asked, stepping forwards and flicking the fake cat ears on his head that were the only evidence of him even being in costume apart from the mask he wore. She and Nathaniel had originally planned on trick or treating together as Ladybug and Chat Noir, but clearly she had over prepared.

“Yeah sorry, Iris. The costume I ordered was a little too tight, way too uncomfortable to even try to walk in. Yours looks nice though,” he added hurriedly. “Very uh, fitting.”

Now that the human mentioned it, Mephisto couldn’t help noticing that Iris’ costume was indeed very fitting. He coughed and tore his eyes away, watching the other trick or treaters mill around him instead. He was already thinking about what their teasing had meant, he didn’t need to continue that particular train of thought as well.

The girls and Nate chatted for a while longer, Praxina slowly drifting over to her brother to express her contempt for the entire situation.

“If you want to do this trick or treating lark so much, can’t we at least do it ourselves?”

Mephisto thought for a moment. “But what if we do it badly?”

“We’re villains,” Praxina deadpanned, “doing things badly is what we do.”

“Still,” the younger twin muttered, “let’s stick with the Princesses for now. Look, stop rolling your eyes for one minute,” he continued as Praxina did just that, “and at least think about all the intel we can pick up from them. Or well, that you can, I’ll be too busy with candy.”

Praxina threw her arms up. “Fine, but I refuse to be friends with them.”

“Your loss.”

Mephisto eagerly ran forwards, slotting in easily into the conversation while Praxina looked on from afar. She grinded her teeth together. It wasn’t her loss at all, Mephisto was suffering, he must be.

“So are we going to the festival first then?” Nate said as Mephisto arrived.

All the girls agreed and began discussing certain aspects of the festival they enjoyed, Iris going over each one for the Ephedians.

“Wait I thought we were trick or treating,” Mephisto put in, concerned.

“We will,” Nate assured him, “just afterwards.”

Mephisto didn’t like the sound of that and was just about to say this out loud when Iris grabbed his arm. “Oh it’s going to be so fun! There’s pie eating contests and apple bobbing and fireworks and…” Iris rambled on, listing off a whole bunch of stuff Mephisto didn’t know about.

But Iris was laughing and smiling, and her eyes were shining brighter than any star he’d ever seen, so he really didn’t mind all that much. Just being near her made him feel excited for this so called ‘festival’. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad.

Iris called to Praxina and then they were on the move again.

Nathaniel subtly dropped back to walk next to Praxina. “Hey, why don’t you walk with everyone else?”

“I am perfectly fine here, I’m only coming along because of my brother.”

Nate nodded. “Sure. But you never know when you’ll get this chance again.” He laughed and Praxina fell silent, thinking hard. “I mean, they are Lolirock!” Ah so that’s what he meant.

Still, he was right in one aspect. They probably wouldn’t get a chance like this again.

She looked up at her brother who was now peering at Iris’ phone and grinning. Maybe they deserved that, Mephisto especially. So Praxina decided to actually make an effort to continue small talk, catching up with the girls after a while. Even Talia smiled at something Praxina said.

Meanwhile Mephisto was squinting down at Iris’ phone, a picture of Chat Noir displayed.

“Okay I got this, hold on,” he clicked his fingers and his costume changed to the one Nathaniel was originally suppose to wear, complete with belt tail, toe bean footprints and a working bell. “See, I told you I could do it,” he said smugly. “How do I look?”

Iris bit her lip and tried to keep her eyes on his face, a mask now covering his features but leaving his dazzling green eyes untouched. Had they always been that vibrant?

She remembered their little team up and Mephisto’s words to her as they’d parted ways. Remembered the way he’d looked at her, with such honesty in those acid green eyes of his, honest that had no business being there.

Yes, yes they had.

And had her heart always thumped so loudly in her chest when she looked in them?

Ever since their team up? Yes, yes it had.

“Purrfect,” Iris finally answered, earning her a chuckle from Mephisto.

They soon arrived at the festival, everyone splitting up to investigate certain attractions. Praxina stuck with Nathaniel, and Mephisto with Iris.

First they visited the pie eating contest and Iris laughed and giggled her way throughout it as Mephisto attempted to win the grand prize and out eat all the other contestants. He came very close to winning and returned to Iris in the crowd with a smile.

“You still have some here,” she commented nonchalantly, wiping the apple pie filling off his face for him.

Mephisto thanked her, grateful for the mask covering up his blush.

Next up was apple bobbing. Iris explained the activity, demonstrating by holding her hair back and sticking her head in the water. She reemerged seconds later with an apple in her mouth and a smile tugging at her lips.

“Just like that.” She tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear, the water shimmering and dripping off her face and melting into the spots on her dress.

Mephisto watched careful as she licked the moisture off her lips and gulped, turning to the bucket of water and shoving his own face in before he gave too much away. Suddenly he realised why the smoothie boy had complained about the costume being tight.

A quick flick of his head and Mephisto also came back up to the surface with an apple in his mouth. His hair was almost completely wet through and Iris found herself missing the white shirt he’d been wearing, knowing full well the water droplets would have left it see through. She collected herself as he grinned at her and she smiled shyly.

Yes, the two were definitely falling fast for each other. Now if only the fall didn’t have such devastating consequences.

#lolirock #iristo #iristoweekend #mephiris #my writing

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tvserieshub · 7 years

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Most people have a very bad habit of classifying large chunks of people in binary terms as either all “bad” or all “good.” But the reality is that there is ALWAYS a mix of good and bad people, as well as good and bad IN people. In The Expanse, many viewers have taken the side of the Belters. Some, because they love certain characters, like Naomi and Miller. Others, because as a class, the Belters are the clear underdogs. Generally, they risk life and limb for rich corporate owners who apparently couldn’t care less about them, either individually or as a group. Fans of Earthers tend to like Holden or, really, Avasarala. They have exposed their imperfections, as well. Amos is a fascinating Earther, beloved and feared all at once. Martian fans like Alex, or more recently, Bobbie. The Mars faction is a little less developed than the Earther or Belter factions in terms of quantities of deep characters or back stories (so far). This episode really digs into the issue of the risk of thinking of a group as all “good” or “bad,” especially if you unequivocally favor Belters.

The recap begins here:

The scene opens on a field and a person who is tending a crop. A little girl waves goodbye to the tender, who is her father. An alert sounds, and the pieces of the destroyed mirror come crashing through the domes protecting the crops from Ganymede’s nonexistent atmosphere. The scientist wakes up among quite a lot of injured people, and immediately he checks on his precious cargo. The injured man is on a Ganymede refugee ship, which is headed to Tycho. A surly Belter hands out supplies, as the man frantically looks for his child, who is not on this ship. Doris (Grace Lynn Kung), another refugee – indistinguishable from any of the OTHER refugees, greets Dr. Praxidike Meng (Terry Chen). It’s clear that Doris saved Prax’s life. Prax is distraught that his daughter, Mei, is not just missing, but feared dead.

On Tycho, Holden (Steven Strait) and Johnson (Chad Coleman) question Diogo (Andrew Rotilio), who clearly views Johnson as non-Belter. Staz (Alden Adair) tries to interfere, but he is held off by Naomi (Dominique Tipper). Diogo says that Johnson should go back to Earth, that Dawes will be the Fist of the Belters. Alex (Cas Anvar) had suggested that Naomi take out someone and Naomi told him that he doesn’t get to decide who she kills. They take Diogo off to a holding cell.

Drummer (Cara Gee) shows Holden and Johnson system information that shows how Dawes escaped and that someone overrode security. Drummer is in charge of security, so there’s a serious question about what happened. They receive an incoming communication from Dawes (Jared Harris). It’s clear that Dawes was the person who sheltered and sponsored Johnson. Dawes feels that Johnson is acting as an Earther, not a Belter and that they have to take drastic action. He tells Johnson he has stolen his secret and is giving it to the Belt.

Doris and Prax discuss their future and what to do. They note that the Belter crewman doesn’t seem to like to be a good Samaritan. Doris wants Prax to come with her to Mars.

Johnson, Drummer, Naomi and Holden discuss that they have more information than Dawes does, and they disclose that Cortazar was aware that there was more Protomolecule than what was destroyed and it was after Eros was destroyed. Drummer volunteers to help Naomi obtain direct access to the antenna so she can collect and analyze the data Cortazar had obtained. There is a degree of concern over Drummer’s loyalty because she is security (which was breached) and she’s facilitating access to the antenna. Naomi goes to check on the sample that she knows wasn’t destroyed. Holden tells Naomi that he’s sorry he didn’t tell her about the existence of more Protomolecule. She’s frustrated and leaves Holden behind.

Alex catches up with Amos (Wes Chatham), who looks like 5 miles of bad road. Alex asks Amos for help and he says “no,” which shocks Alex.

Dawes’ message is being played to Belters, which incites them.

On the refugee ship, the crappy Samaritan tells the passengers that all the Inners are being transferred to ships to take them back home. Prax decides to go with them, but the Samaritan says he can’t, it is for Inners only. Doris says she can stay, but Prax encourages her to go. They say goodbye through the airlock window, and to Prax’s (and the entire viewership’s) horror, the Inners are spaced. The Belter Samaritan tells Prax that Inners destroyed Ganymede and that he’s lucky he’s a Belter. One technical note. The Expanse is remarkably faithful to what happens in space. Doris suffocates and freezes, rather than exploding.

Drummer explains that Fred has always had the Belters’ best interests at heart and Naomi gets Drummer to explain her background. Drummer worked with Dawes and Dawes rescued Johnson from drinking himself to death after the Anderson Station incident. Drummer says Dawes has a unique view of the Belter situation. They get the data and discover that there is Protomolecule on Ganymede Station. (Viewers who have read the books will note that the sequence involving Prax and Ganymede is not the same as it is handled in the book, but it is faithful to the concept of what was covered.)

Johnson, Holden, Naomi and Drummer discuss what it means that the Protomolecule exists on Ganymede. It was aware when hostilities broke out between Earth and Mars, and it learns.

Prax’s refugee ship arrives, and a crewman advises they will be ID checked and cleared, and he indicates on his handheld that an algorithm is being bypassed.

Prax desperately tries to convince a medic of what happened on the refugee ship, but he doesn’t know the name of the ship. She tells him she knows it was wrong but, without further info, she can’t do anything, to be glad he survived and maybe he’ll know some other refugee.

Holden and Naomi try to figure out who on Ganymede was involved with Protomolecule. They narrow the list of people who were on Ganymede and have the appropriate qualifications and Strickland (Ted Atherton) is identified. They query who was connected to him, and Prax and Mei show up, because Mei (Leah Jung) was a patient of Strickland. Prax is on the station, but Mei’s whereabouts are unknown.

There are a huge amount of people on Tycho, and it’s straining the station. A group of Belters, led by Staz, invade the command room, intent upon deploying the nukes to Earth.

Prax adds Mei’s picture to the wall of the missing. Holden and Naomi see and grab Prax. Prax panics, thinking that they think he knows about the spacing, but they, of course, think that he is involved with Protomolecule. Naomi (FOOLISHLY!!) opens up his container, but it’s just a soy bean.

The Belters who invaded the command deck, kill a crew member and then shoot Drummer, because they won’t give them the launch codes.

Amos is using the system to search for Lydia Maalouf. This is the lady he mentioned when he spoke with Cortazar about his guilt. Alex catches up with Amos and is trying to figure out what his problem is. He says Amos only cares about himself (Amos amusingly notes isn’t that everyone’s problem if we’re being honest?) Alex provokes Amos, and Amos attacks Alex, coming close to killing him, and Alex openly wonders what happened to him! They both notice that the nukes are being accessed.

Prax tells Naomi and Holden about Mei and her health needs. Naomi and Holden figure out the Strickland nexus is really Mei. Naomi notes that Prax should have access to Mei’s monitor feed, and answers “no” when asked if she had any children. Prax accesses the feed on her handheld and sees that Strickland took Mei out of the clinic before the attack. They know that Strickland knew the battle was coming and went to get Mei. Alex calls Holden to tell him about the nuke problem.

Fred tells Staz that Earth will shoot down the missiles and then destroy Tycho. Staz is fine with that because then Tycho will be fuel for the revolution. Amos, suited up, heads outside the station. Holden tells Amos that Naomi has almost overridden the air controls. Amos is there to remotely access the air system. He cuts the oxygen and although Staz tries to kill Fred and Drummer, Fred knocks the gun away and they all pass out.

Alex and Holden burst in to help the folks in the control room. Fred says “Drummer first,” because they are besties. Alex helps Drummer out and as they go by Staz, she yanks Alex’s gun and shoots Staz and the other turncoat crewman right between the eyes, and then stumps off. She’s the very definition of badass.

Amos settles Prax into his quarters and ensures he has mag boots. He explains that Prax is a guide, not a guest. And, he says that looking for Prax’s daughter is a good thing. His encounter with Amos leaves Alex to think about his family and what he has done for them.

Naomi asks Jim why he went to Cortazar’s quarters and Jim says he went to kill him. Naomi says that isn’t who Jim is. Jim says he needs Naomi to help him to get himself back when this is all done, and they kiss. Jim has to go to get Fred Johnson’s permission to leave. Fred wants any Protomolecule sample brought back to him, but Jim refuses. Fred says if they don’t, then don’t come back – no free anything. Jim is not sure Fred will still be in charge when he gets back. Fair point. Jim says Fred’s not a part of it anymore, and Fred releases them.

Grade: A

This was a completely packed episode. Although they were always evident, the fault lines between the Belters and the Earthers have deepened to an unsustainable level. It’s provoking the very worst behavior, and every time people do their worst, it just causes terrible repercussions. This episode made quite a few Belters look extremely bad. The Belter on the refugee ship spacing completely innocent people, and the Belters who are willing to send nuclear missiles to blast Earth (despite the fact that there are BILLIONS of innocent people there, as well) honestly represent the worst of humanity. Personalizing the impact of awful actions makes everyone realize the consequences, but it doesn’t seem to be enough to stop people from behaving dreadfully. This episode had room for personal development, as well, as we see Amos still working through his issues resulting from interacting with kids and just how close he is to being out of control. The episode ratcheted up the tension by continuing to provide so many indicators that Drummer was the traitor, only to have her satisfyingly vindicated.

The effects continue to be stunning, as even the lowly refugee ship looks gorgeous. The handhelds are entirely believable and all the displays look crisp and clean. It’s such a pleasure to see such attention to detail, up to and including the poor dying and dead spaced Inners.

Next episode: “The Weeping Somnambulist” airs on Wednesday, March 22 at 10 pm on Syfy.

The Expanse (S02E08) “Pyre” Most people have a very bad habit of classifying large chunks of people in binary terms as either all "bad" or all "good." But the reality is that there is ALWAYS a mix of good and bad people, as well as good and bad IN people.

#Drummer #Holden #Naomi #Protomolecule #The Expanse

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argspapor · 7 years

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The last hurrah

Our last day in Porto is another corker weather-wise and we spend it wandering the nearby precincts discovering little pockets of yet more beautiful buildings, enticing cafes and great shops. One we’d set out to find was Livrario Lello, a bookstore opened by two brothers in 1906. You need to buy tickets next door (refunded upon a purchase) and today it has two mannequins in window decked out in fashion student’s design based on the azulejos tiles and another blooming camellia at its door. It’s camellia week in Porto, it’s flower emblem and together with the magnificent specimens of blossoming port wine (yes) magnolias everywhere, I am in my element and itching to paint one as soon as I can get my hands on a branch or two next spring. Where was I? oh Lello, a narrow building with a Gothic façade whose centre is dominated by a fabulous staircase that winds and curves both left and right from a central landing. A wonderful stained glass ceiling, bearing the store’s motto “decus in labore” (honour in work) and its gothic woodwork inspired the Hogwart’s library. it very Harry Potterish, evidenced by the many excited children poring over books and merchandise. Indeed, JKRowling lived in Porto teaching English in the 1990’s and it’s easy to see how she was influenced by not only places like Lello but also what we notice as groups of young men and women wearing black suits, white shirts and black ties and draped in black cloaks and capes. Apparently they are uni students and the tradition called praxe denoting their status as members of elite groups or fraternities. That reminds me of the couple of times (at the Alhambra and at the Real Alcazhar) of the people on Game of Thrones trails as some filming occurred at both. GT and I, ignorami as we are, had no idea why they were so excited and they looked at us, equally as surprised. The Portuguese, along with the Spanish, (and we observed it in BA as well) missed the emails re smoking and the harms of soft drink. They do both liberally, particularly smoking and it was distressing to see how copiously the children were fed soft drink – I even saw it being poured into a baby’s bottle! Would be interesting to see some statistics on health impacts and compare to other countries. Perhaps we’re not much better as we eat and drink our way along I hear you say? Touche. The other emails they missed were the ones about no carbs, paleo or quitting sugar and re this we say, yay, Spain and Portugal! We’d read an article in NY times about Cantilnho de Avillez, passed it on our wanderings and booked in for tonight. Hip and happenin’ with a modern take on the traditional food, we had a fun waiter, had a great conversation with two English women in Porto for their textile business and the food was fabulous. A fish soup whose broth was rich and smooth, studded with chunks of seafood was intensely good and tempura green beans with a garlic aioli equally so. Their signature is a flaked, braised chunks of cod, sauteed cabbage, olive “explosions” and a crumb of crispy egg (I know) and we had it and a risotto of scallops with porcini mushrooms. “The hazelnut dessert will change your life” says our waiter – very happy with it actually but GT feels the need. Layered in a tin cup is a salted caramel bottom then an hazelnut icecream topped with a feathery foam of hazelnut. No change but it was yum. It’s now a good time to ring my sweet Mamma for her birthday and we do so en route to hotel. Miss her and the family as they gather to celebrate. She tells our children when they ring “you mummy ring, tanks be to God but she never home”. Now, Lisbon, which immediately feels and is the big city, grittier but also boasting some majestic monuments which greet us upon arrival at the Altis Avenida. Great location, we quickly settle in and out for a bite to eat and stumble upon an obviously popular local haunt for a fun lunch and familiarise ourselves with the area. Then on to the hop-on-off for a picturesque tour that is unfortunately delayed due to an accident we pass close by where someone has been run over by one of the ancient trams. Sobering. Sunday and museums, delving into the hilly narrow streets to see some of the stunning art deco and beautifully ornamented shops – frescoed walls, gilt glass cabinets, intricate woodwork. Stepping back in time. Dinner is Cerverjaria Ramiro – a seafood palace of three levels, no booking but a constant line of hopefuls. We join in and there is a numbered system and an outside beer station, operated by token bought at the inside bar so there is fun conviviality making waiting not a problem. We have a lovely chat to an Irish couple before our number is called. The place is heaving but the waiters have this down pat. A limited menu of seafood – freshest lobsters, crabs, langoustines, prawns, barnacles (Boze!) served simply boiled or grilled, some with garlic. All around us people are slurping, bashing shells with little mallets, digging out shellfish flesh with prongs, laughing as shell flys this way and that! We are seated next to two Chinese young girls (can they be 18?) who are assiduously working their way through a huge lobster, large crab and a pot of clams. They do not leave a morsel, indeed one makes an impressive pile of picked meat and asks for a takeaway box. We clap them in admiration and they giggle away. Our own clams, lobster and prawns are sumptuous and we follow it with the traditional steak sandwich (warm roll, garlic butter and the tenderest thin steak) – I know, ridiculous but so good, it works!! What a great night. Our last day and I do a little museum-visiting of my own (wink) while GT visits the Carris museum (trams and transport) then we meet up and do a last nata stop, making a bee-line for the gorgeous glove shop, Ulisses (since 1925 and literally only big enough for one person at a time). I have a lovely time with the elegant senhora choosing a fab pair. A final chug up the hill on the ancient tram (thankfully everyone stayed on the tram rather than…) and that’s just about it. A final drink upstairs in the bar overlooking the square then a piri piri chicken pilgrimage (as recommended by Rick Stein) and that’s all folks! What a ball we’ve had – done so much including sharing a special wedding, seen so many amazing sights, soaked up a great deal of culture, alcohol and great food. We’re both very grateful for our good fortune, very much looking forward to seeing our family and friends and getting back to our already blessed life which has been enriched once again.

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