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#rest in peace grandfather veteran
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Episode 6 was so incredibly touching and poignant. It was heartstring-tugging, moving and absolutely beautiful. I filled an ocean with my tears this episode. This episode will leave you emotionally drained and even thinking about it will make you cycle through all of these emotions again.
This episode was different from all that came before it. Primarily, it was an arc that was told within the span of one episode. This did not lessen the feels in any way whatsoever but I wonder if it signals a shift in story telling going forward. Will the arcs be self-contained within one episode? Will this change the messages that each case brings with it? Will this lead to focusing more on the Grim Reapers themselves? Only time will tell. Secondly, the person they were tasked to save only had a limited time left to live afterwards.
The focus of this episode was an elderly Korean War Veteran. He had the kindest disposition. He reminded me of a polished river stone in that time and life experiences had worn away all of the impulsive emotions and what was left was a quiet enduring wisdom. I think what really got to me is that he reminds me of people I knew who grew up in that generation. The generation that faced unimaginable pain and hardship and who grew up to have this otherworldly patience and outlook. The people who would save every penny but wouldn't hesitate to give you the shirt off of their back if you need it. The people who are givers and put everyone else before themselves. The generation that is quickly passing away. He reminded me of all those I lost and made me miss and treasure them even more. Safe to say, just like Jun Woong, I quickly became attached.
The Risk Management Team took a different approach to this case than I was expecting. They not only told him that they were Grim Reapers but that he had one day left in his lifespan. They gave him all of the facts upfront. You learn that the only reason he was considering taking his life was because he didn't want to die alone. They told him that he could do anything he wanted to do for his last day and all he wanted to do was peacefully do what he did every day. 
You got a glimpse into his life during those twenty four hours. The Risk Management Team saw how he viewed trash as treasure and was grateful for everything. You saw him give all of his hard earned money to the person who ran the dump and told him to use the money for meals for his family. I think seeing his enduring optimism and kindness really moved them. It is so frustrating how easily he was dismissed in the beginning of the episode for his livelihood and how he was used as a cautionary tale by the woman to her daughter. Just seeing how he chose to spend the last day of his life exemplifies that a person’s character is not defined by their job and what they have to do to survive. 
Seeing his backstory really broke me. You learned that he volunteered for the war, that he couldn’t just stand by as people younger than him gave their lives for their country. Watching all that he had to go through during the war from having his commanding officer die right in front of him, to getting reluctantly attached to someone who later yelled at him for saving his life, to returning home to realize his home was destroyed and his mother had died while he had been gone, was absolutely heartbreaking. Seeing how PTSD drastically changed his life afterwards while those who never fought could live their lives successfully felt so cruel after everything he lost. Hearing that he had regretted his choice of joining the war meant that for over eighty years he had carried this burden in his heart hurt. Knowing that he thought his life a waste, meaningless and useless for so many years absolutely destroyed me. It reminds me of so many others who fought in the war and survived the war only to come home and never talk about it again. So many have passed without realizing that there are so many people who are grateful for their sacrifice. 
I am so so glad that Ryeon was able to convey that to him. That in no way shape or form was his life meaningless or useless.  That his sacrifice created the country they lived in now, the bright night lights of a bustling Seoul. Without him, it would not have been possible. I cried as he realized the magnitude of what he achieved through his sacrifice. That he did not sacrifice through war and did not suffer through its aftermath for nothing. 
His last moments really got to me. A man who was scared of dying because he would be dying alone ended up having so many people around him. The Risk Management Team stayed by his side (even though Jun Woong had to step out for a little bit because he couldn’t stand to see Grandfather Veteran in pain). Seeing Joong Gil show up confirmed to me that he could be gentle if the situation called for it. There was a truce in those moments between all of the Reapers because there was something more important at hand - paying respects to a kind soul. Joong Gil told Grandfather Veteran that he remembered the last time he saw his back (knowing that he was there that day also tugged on all of my heartstrings). He gave the comfort that only someone who had been there with you could give. I think he was absolutely vital in bringing peace to Grandfather Veteran’s past. I want to pay my respects to the courage you had for your country so we will all accompany you in your last moment. When you saw Grim Reapers arrive from every direction, you began to feel the importance of this moment. Hearing that it was a special case and the Director must have approved for this to happen means that even the Director softened her heart for this case (despite her firm standing on no special treatment earlier in the episode). The fact that the girls of the Escort Team had never seen this happen before shows just what a kind soul Grandfather Veteran had to make such an impact. An impact so great that the Director herself showed up which made me lose it seeing how many people have come to honor him. 
The Director’s speech to him was so touching. Hearing that he had a gentle face and had lived a kind life. People face choices every moment of the lives. All those various choices come together to make their lives. The choice you made during your youth were honorable. You have lost so much yet you have protected so many lives and brought about the world of today. Thank you for protecting the lives of so many. Seeing the tears in the Grim Reapers eyes and the tears that fell down her face as she helped him pass on peacefully and comfortably really spoke to how Lee Young Chun (Grandfather Veteran) moved them. I was crying alongside them. I am so glad that his soul will be blessed beyond what his life has been worth because he deserves so much peace and happiness in every life to come after having such a difficult life. Thank you for your hard work. 
His send-off was so incredibly moving. I am so happy he saw the scale of his send-off because it just cements that though he thought that he did not change any lives, he in fact impacted the lives of so many (Grim Reapers included). I’ve lived regretting the choice I made that day for a very long time. But fighting for my country was the noblest choice I have made and it was worth it. Thank you for being with me during my final tomorrow. The HUG he gave Jun Woong MY HEART. The salute Jun Woong gave him. The moment of silence for the soul of the fallen hero who protected this country...I could not stop the tears from falling. It was the honorable and respecful send off he deserved and I hope that all those who gave their lives to protect the lives of so many, all those who endured so much pain and suffering, got a send off just like his. They deserve it too.
When the Risk Management Team first approached Young Chun, he was like a wilted flower bush who had not seen the sun of other people’s company or gotten any water of a meaningful life. He was alone and thought his life to be worthless and meaningless. Through the Risk Management Team and Jumadeung and in his final moments, he bloomed because he was no longer alone and everyone showed him just how important and meaningful his life actually was. He was given the sun and water he was deprived of for so long. He spent his final moments with good company and then was escorted to the afterlife surrounded by people. He was surrounded by the warmth of people who cared about him and then reunited with his mother who never stopped caring.
This episode also made me treasure Jun Woong so much. I think he was critical to Young Chun’s final days. He was really the turning point for Young Chun’s perspective on his own life. Up until Young Chun met Jun Woong for the first time, he was struggling to get by, getting bettlitled by people on the street and then bullied by the thugs of the neighborhood. Jun Woong stepping in showed him that someone cared and someone noticed. The Risk Management team treated him with kindness and respect but Jun Woong went one step further and treated him like family. He immediately adopted him as his Grandfather. Family like affection was something that Young Chun hadn’t received since he said goodbye to his mother. It carries a different type of warmth. It was also through Jun Woong, that Young Chun learnt the friend he thought resented him for saving his life actually saw Young Chun as a source of strength and used his words to get him through. The friend was grateful and thankful and appreciative of Young Chun’s actions and he would have gone to the grave not knowing that if it had not been for Jun Woong. The hug they shared gives off very Grandparent vibes which just speaks to the bond Jun Woong was able to develop with him through such a short period of time. The epilogue also shows the softer side of Young Chun that Jun Woong was able to draw out as he persuaded him to get his photo taken. Also, his dynamic with Ryeon and the Director is always such a pleasure to see. He is truly the heart of Jumadeung and its missing piece.
You also get a glimpse into the world of the Grim Reaper and that they can also be moved by humans as well. When Ryeon went to plead with the Director that he be given a peaceful passing, the Director implied that Ryeon was not the first person to ask this of her. Given that Ryeon and Joong Gil met right before and she asked him to escort Grandfather Veteran to the afterlife, you can assume that Joong Gil had gone in first to ask the Director to pull some strings. Which means that Joong Gil possesses some warmth to him hidden under his icy cold persona because he can be moved by the lives and the sacrifices of the living too. Ryung Gu also tells Jun Woong that because of the scale of the war, multiple Grim Reapers were called on to assist people to the afterlife which means they also were witness to the horrors of war and it weighed on them too. You also later learn that the reason that Ryeon only wanted to escort criminals was because she had a hard time watching people in their last moments.  
I think that a greater understanding between the Grim Reapers grew this episode. Joong Gil showing up to accompany Young Chun in his last moments and Ryeon looking surprised to learn that Joong Gil also does not find it easy to watch people in their last moments indicated to Ryeon that Joong Gil has layers and is not unfeeling (and somewhere deep down there is warmth). Joong Gil also saw how Ryeon has changed in that she stayed by Young Chun’s side even though she still found it difficult to watch people in their last moments. They are both more than each other thought they were. I hope that there can be tentative positive growth in their dynamic because they are so much better working together than they are butting heads. It was also nice in general to see the relative warmth that Joong Gil had at Young Chun’s bedside (which I think also speaks to how much Joong Gil respects Young Chun in comparison to the other souls he has escorted). How he softened when he told Ryeon that no one finds it easy, but that is the work of a Reaper. To watch until the very end. I am invested in the complex character of Joong Gil and his many layers (not just the by-the-rules ice cube) and I hope to see more of it on screen as time goes by.  
I think that this episode will always bring me to tears. Always.
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todaysdocument · 6 months
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Statement of John Crosley, Son of Former Slave Prince Crosley Who Served in the Continental Army
Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs Series: Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service
I William Spencer of Lyme in the State of Connecticut aged 54 years on oath depose and say that I am a Grandson of Israel Spencer formerly of East Haddam deceased. My Grandfather was for many years a Justice of the Peace for the County of Middlesex as I have understood. At the time of his death his papers came into the hands of my father. Some years afterwards my father moved into the State of Mississipi and when he went away the most valuable of the old papers in his possession were handed on to me and the rest were destroyed. I have never been able to find among those that were left any record of marriages performed by my grandfather, and if there ever was any it was probably destroyed. I do not believe that there is anything of the kind now in existence. My father has died since his removal. I was acquainted with Prince Crosly before his death and also with his wife Caroline Crosley. Before his death they lived together as husband and wife and I have no doubt but that they were married by my grandfather as is represented by him. She has never been again married. Wm Spencer {State of Connecticut New London County} ss Lyme Sept 24 A.D. 1838 Personally appeared William Spencer signer of the foregoing deposition and before me made oath to the truth of his issue. And I further certify that the said deposant is personally known to me & that he is a credible witness. Richard E Selden Jr Justice of peace
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legion1227 · 3 months
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72 Shows Watched in 2023: Ranked!
72. Titans (Season 4)- 2/5.
As someone who genuinely enjoyed the first two seasons, the fall-off was immensely disappointing. Season 3 was disappointing, but I'm more infuriated with season 4. I did not like the setup or payoff with Trigon, Brother Blood, and any other antagonists this season, or Superboy's character arc. A disappointing, dull slog the entire way through.
71. The Witcher (Season 3)- 2.5/5
I thought the third season started fine. Henry Cavill as Geralt will always be iconic. The rest of the cast, characters like Yennefer, Ciri, and Jaskier are compelling when onscreen but the others feel unmemorable. Episode 5, which focused on Geralt and Yen in the ballroom, was possibly the best episode of the season. But the last three episodes were forgettable enough to bring down my overall enjoyment. I shudder at how Liam Hemsworth will be next season or just how the next season will be. Period.
70. Bupkis- 2.5/5.
Bupkis is a comedy on Peacock, starring Pete Davidson as himself in a slightly more extreme version of his life. It also stars Edie Falco, notable for playing Carmella in The Sopranos and Jackie in Nurse Jackie, as his mother, and Joe Pesci, of Goodfellas and Home Alone fame, as his grandfather. The star power is grand but the jokes are light. There are some engaging stories told from episode to episode, but as a comedy, it could strive to be better. Reel back on your celebrity guests and write stronger jokes for the second season please, Pete.
69. Bel-Air- (Season 2) 3/5
Also on Peacock, the dramatized version of the classic, beloved sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In comparison to season 1, I think it's a bit of a step-down. The actors chosen to portray the iconic characters and add a new spin on them are finely picked and perform solid performances. But the storylines for each character are...eh. Like, Carlton struggles with an addiction to coke for the season and it doesn't feel the most engaging. The character dynamics are enough to elevate it slightly, but it's still just an okay season.
68. Kaleidoscope- 3/5
Kaleidoscope is a Netflix show that spans over 24 years, where a crew of bandits try to steal billions. Part of the appeal of the show is that you can watch the show in any order you want. It's a neat gimmick to tell a linear story, but the story being told could be better. Giancarlo Esposito, known as Gus Fring in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, does well in a role that separates him from the villainous roles he's taken over the past decade. Every other actor and character could stand to be better. I'd like to see another show try this gimmick again, but...in a more intriguing manner.
67. Secret Invasion- 3/5
Personally, I don't find the show to be as horrendous as others attest, but it is easily the weakest MCU show to grace the small screen. Wondering which character may or may not be human or a Skrull was fun, the fight scenes are okay, and Samuel L Jackson is always a delight as Nick Fury. But the political drama they strived for here is uninspired. And the show downright looks ugly at times in comparison to far prettier shows like WandaVision or Loki. Rest in Peace to Maria Hill and Talos for having to die in such a mid show.
66. Bookie- 3/5
Bookie is an HBO Max original starring stand up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco as a veteran sports bookie trying to live his life and keep track of the various clients he has that make sports bets in Los Angeles. The premise itself holds some promise, and the characters are mostly likable. Its comedy is similar to Maniscalco's stand-up but still feels light on the laughter. Maniscalco and Omar Dorsey's characters carry the show enough to cross a threshold into becoming okay. It reminds me a little of Bupkis, but better.
65. Willow- 3/5
Willow is a continuation of the movie of the same name released back in 1988. The actor who played the titular Willow over 30+ years ago reprised his role once more as a powerful sorcerer who encounters a young group of heroes who embark on a dangerous quest. While the movie reminded me of The Neverending Story with its tone, the show does the same, more or less. The action scenes and cast were perfectly okay, sorta carrying itself on a cheesy, endearing vibe that you either rock with or don't. What's most egregious is how the show was wiped away Disney+ canceled and wiped from their platform, making it impossible to view via legal means.
64. Camp Lazlo- 3/5
Camp Lazlo was a show that used to air on Cartoon Network from 2005 to 2008. I used to watch it as a child then and rewatched it in its entirety for the first time in years. The series follows anthropomorphic spider monkey Lazlo and his bunkmates albino rhino Clam and elephant Raj as they look for fun times at Camp Kidney. It's a goofy, fine TV show that I think kids nowadays would get a kick out of, but there are better shows from that time to indulge in. The characters teeter from being likable to annoying from episode to episode, the character design is fine, and the comedy is lowbrow. It's not offensive in any way, but I'm a little disappointed since I liked this show a lot more as a kid than now. For me, it doesn't hold up too much.
63. The Last Kingdom (Seasons 3-5) 3/5
For 5 seasons, The Last Kingdom followed Uhtred of Bamburgh in the Medieval Age fighting mighty European armies and leading armies himself as a powerful warrior who's grown into his own. The first two seasons, viewed in the tail-end of 2022, were possibly the best seasons. Alexander Dreymon's performance as Uhtred was fine throughout, but not as gripping as I would hope. The same principle applies to every character introduced in the past three seasons after season two. A fine story is told throughout, but the best aspect has to be the action scenes. As disinterest took over towards the final season, I take solace that the movie that followed, Seven Kings Must Die, was really good and a great sendoff to Uhtred.
62. Dave (Season 3)- 3/5
Maybe Dave is the slightly better version of Bupkis than Bookie was. Dave stars David Burd, also known as Lil Dicky, as an extreme version of himself looking to boost his rap career. The latest season was a slight step down from season 2. It's always relied on gross-out humor, but it was too much this season. This season was a huge mixed bag with some good episodes and some that were average. Certain characters could use more fleshing out, like his friends, Elz, or Mike. More of that instead of flexing the cameos like Drake or Rick Ross would bring the show up a bit more. Though, to be fair, Brad Pitt in his episode was pretty entertaining.
61. Ahsoka- 3/5
Former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano seeks to prevent the return of the Empire as she investigates and traverses the galaxy. I wanted to like this more than I did. I loved Ahsoka in the Clone Wars show and enjoyed Rosario's performance in the handful of episodes she appeared in Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett. And while Rosario is decent as Ahsoka here, the rest of the cast fails to thrill me. Ahsoka seems like the kind of show that someone would enjoy if you watched the animated show Star Wars: Rebels because it would help make you care more about the characters. Unfortunately, I did not do that so it doesn't help. All I will really remember from this show is the appearances of Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker.
60. Black Mirror (Season 6)- 3/5
The anthology show pushed out 5 episodes this season, and about 3 of them were good. Loch Henry was an uninteresting episode until the final ten minutes, and Mazey Day was the worst episode of the bunch easily. However, the performances and premises of the other three episodes were enough to bring the show as high as it did for me. If you're looking for a random standalone episode that's either entertainingly perplexing, pleasantly thought-provoking, or thrillingly cataclysmic, check out the episodes Joan is Awful, Demon 79, and Beyond the Sea.
59. Doom Patrol (Season 4)- 3/5
Originally a DC Universe Original before becoming an HBO Max original, Doom Patrol was a spinoff of the Titans show about an unlikely group of superheroes with depressing backstories saving the world. This final season really cemented itself that this particular brand of bizarreness, while engaging, was not necessarily for me. The first season was always my favorite, with Alan Tudyk as Mr. Nobody being an excellent foil to the group, but the proceeding seasons never met the same level of love for me as the first. The characters are likable, their arcs are well written, and there's a beautiful sendoff to the cast, but it has a unique sense of weirdness that, while I do admire it, doesn't resonate with me as much as it might for others.
58. AEW All Acess- 3.5/5
The second biggest professional wrestling promotion in America, AEW, showcased a reality show that gave viewers a glimpse into the backstage antics and lives of wrestlers. I'm not big on reality shows, but I love AEW and the wrestlers who work for the company as well. It was an intriguing peak behind the curtain but to an extent for a reality show such as this. Certain elements of drama feel corny as it's somewhat scripted for a "reality" show, there's only so much you can show. And with AEW battling real dramatic bits, like CM Punk fighting people backstage, it feels underwhelming what they show instead. Though, it's understandable they can't show or talk about those instances due to legal issues. Regardless, AEW All Access if a fine product for AEW and reality tv show fans, if there's a correlation.
57. Righteous Gemstones (Season 3)- 3.5/5
The HBO Max show follows the Gemstone family, a bunch of Christian televangelists running their church in the wake of the patriarch Eli's wife's death. The third and latest season is as consistent as the first two seasons. The performances and chemistry of the children, Judy, Kelvin, and Jesse, are a joy to watch. The entire cast is fun with their obscene humor leading to chuckle-inducing jokes. The Gemstones have heart that makes them so endearing.
56. Dexter (Seasons 5-7)
In a long-lasting endeavor to enjoy the original seasons before finally getting around to New Blood, the misadventures of blood-splatter analyst Dexter Morgan bled into 2023. The best seasons, 1-4, were watched in 2022, and this year, 5-7 were enjoyed. The fifth season was a step down from the first four, but the introduction of the character Lumen and Dexter's handling of his grief after losing someone dear to him made for still compelling television. The seventh season was on par with the fifth thanks to a compelling character in Isaak and Maria Laguerta's role. The sixth season is what brings the show down, as the antagonists are underwhelming against the many that came before.
55. Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide 3.5/5
Ned's Declassified was another kid's show I watched growing up that aired three seasons from 2004 to 2007. The show followed middle schooler Ned Bigby and his best friends Moze and Cookie as they tried navigating through middle school, looking to survive. I'm unsure what most kids are like these days, but I'd like to think that this would be something that kids approaching middle school would enjoy. The show became more interesting as seasons went on, the romance aspects were somewhat intriguing, and the wacky supporting characters were mostly likable. The tips and lessons could still apply to kids looking for a guide today. Kids might get a kick out of this today, but should probably stay away from the weird podcast about the show. They really don't need to hear stories about Moze's actor blowing all the other guys on set or whatever.
54. Star Wars: Visions (Season 2)- 3.5/5
The animated anthology series provided a new season with new stories to tell. The animation across the board is gorgeous. Story-wise, the most engaging episodes involve a former Sith and the one where a bunch of people are stuck in a pit they built for the empire. Not every episode is as interesting as those two, but there are neat ideas explored in each episode that one might not see in a star wars show or movie anytime soon.
53. Only Murders In The Building (Seasons 1-2)- 3.5/5
As season three of the acclaimed murder mystery dramedy released this year, I found the time to check out the first two seasons before the year ended. Watching Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin work off one another and try to figure out back to back murders is highly entertaining as their chemistry is off the charts. The special guest stars like Tina Fey or Nathan Lane have helped bring the show as high as it is and it should be commended.
52. Narcos (Seasons 1-2)- 3.5/5
The first two seasons that detail the rise and fall of notorious crime lord Pablo Escobar are as good as they are due in part to the powerful performance by Wagner Moura as the drug kingpin. There were some solid performances throughout the show, but no one gripped me as much as him. (Bit of a spoiler coming here...) When Pablo died at the end of season two, there was little incentive to watch season 3 for me. Others may find this more enjoyable than me, but I recognize that this is a solid, well-made show.
51. Ted Lasso (Seasons 1-3)- 3.5/5
Ted Lasso was a great show for the first two seasons before the quality of season 3 brought it down. Some character arcs with characters like Keely didn't satisfy me. The show's decision to make the episodes an hour long brought the quality down immensely. If season three didn't make such boneheaded choices in its last season, the feel-good comedy would rank higher for me.
50. South Park (Season 26)- 3.5/5
the raunchy, foul-mouthed sitcom still can push out gems, but I miss the old seasons when they were much longer. The latest season pushed out 6 episodes, and while none were bad, if there were at least a few more episodes, the latest season would've been almost great. Two standout episodes for me involve the conspiracy around Japanese toilets, and the episode written by AI like Chat GPT. Nothing as hilarious as previous iconic episodes, but the topics and creativity was sublime still.
49. Disenchantment (Season 5)- 3.5/5
Created by Matt Groening, the same genius mind behind the Simpsons and Futurama, Disenchantment is an animated fantasy series that takes place in a medieval land, following the main characters of Princess Tiabeanie, her elf companion Elfo, and demon buddy Luci. The fifth season was its last, bidding farewell to the zany cast and its colorful multitude of a supporting cast. An underrated show that deserves viewing.
48. Scrubs (Seasons 5-8)- 3.5/5
The classic sitcom about medical students turned doctors peaked with its first 5 seasons. The stories, premises, and character development would not reach the same heights in seasons 6 to 8. Some jokes are funny but don't land as hard for me as they did upon my first viewing as a preteen. Rest in Peace to Sam Lloyd, who played possibly the funniest character on the show and my favorite, Ted. He encapsulated a depressing lawyer swimmingly.
47. Bobobo-bobo-bobo- 3.5/5
Bobobo-bobo-bobo was like a fever dream that I never stopped thinking about as a kid. The bizarre anime about the man Bobobo-bobo-bobo fighting enemies with his nose hairs used to air on Cartoon Network during its Toonami block back in the 2000s. After obtaining a blu-ray disc some time ago, I finally got to watching. It's rapid pace with jokes, insane characters, and wild visual gags wormed it's way into my heart. If I were to let bias get in the way, this would be in my top ten. But not every joke in this comedy lands. I still love this show to pieces tho and wish they'd bring it back.
46. Twisted Metal- 3.5/5
This adaptation of the racing game was the most fun show Peacock produced this year that I watched. The cast is enjoyable with Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz anchoring the show for its duration, but it's AEW wrestler Samoa Joe as Sweet Tooth, while Will Arnett provides the voice of the same character, that capture a special magic. The action scenes could stand to be more thrilling, but the stories and character interactions help elevate the show to be a blast.
45. Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight (Seasons 2-3)- 3.5/5
This Netflix series about the dragon warrior Po was well-made. Jack Black reprising his role as the titular panda was incredibly welcome as he's the best part of the show. Joining Po are an interesting cast of characters that accompany him on a grand journey. Everything from the action scenes and set pieces to somber character moments were perfectly solid. Another fine show for kids or fans of the Kung Fu Panda series to hold you down while waiting for Kung Fu Panda 4.
44. The Mandalorian (Season 3)- 3.5/5
The latest escapades of Din Djarin and Grogu this season were entertaining, but not as much as previous endeavors in seasons 1 or 2 clearly. The decision to have Din and Grogu separate in the season 2 finale and reunite in another show was a poor choice, robbing this show of a gripping emotional return way too soon. But, the action scenes were still decent, the cameos of the likes of Jack Black and Lizzo were cute and harmless, and Bo Katan's arc helped to make the season at least somewhat compelling.
43. I Am Groot (Season 2)- 3.5/5
Baby Groot is adorable. Five short episodes show baby Groot getting into little shenanigans. My personal favorite involves the one where The Watcher gets stressed watching Groot dick around and get into danger. If you're looking for something really cute and wholesome, I Am Groot would make for a fine 20 minute burst.
42. Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Seasons 8-10)- 3.5/5
It doesn't matter how much time passes or how old improv legends Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles or Wayne Brady get, they have not missed any beats. The CW version of the show is not as good as the original, due to its over reliance on repeated games or unfunny special guests, but the performers themselves are comedic geniuses that I love wholeheartedly. The latest seasons on HBO Max have had them trying different games and breaking from tradition and its for the best. One of my favorite comfort viewings.
41. Wrestlers- 3.5/5
Wrestlers is a documentary that follows former WWE wrestler Al Snow trying to keep his wrestling promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling alive. The series focuses on Al, the various wrestlers and workers that he employ as he books his shows week to week, and outside forces looking to work with OVW. Getting to know the wrestlers behind their over-the-top personal and see the struggles of a wrestling promotion nowhere near as big as WWE or AEW was fascinating.
40. Vikings: Valhalla (Season 2)- 3.5/5
Based in the Viking age, the main characters of Leif Erikson, Freydis and Harald remain the most compelling characters in their show. I wish I could say as much for other aspects. The season was a step-down from season 1, but the emotional story beats and cinematography are decent enough aspects to rate it as high as it is for me.
39. Demon Slayer (Season 3)- 3.5/5
The latest season of the hit anime Demon Slayer was fun, but like many other shows on this list, the season to come beforehand...I simply enjoyed more. Mitsuri was an intriguing Hashira to know, and Villains this season were solid. But the lack of presence of other characters like Inosuke are felt and the emotional beats don't work as well as the previous season. But the season finale was stellar enough to bring the season up quite a bit at least.
38. Insecure (Seasons 4-5)- 3.5/5
Insecure remained consistently good throughout its 5 season run. Issa Rae was a great lead for the show as she and her character were extremely likable. The humorous series had a fine cast, but her friend Kelli had to be my favorite as she was seemingly the funniest of the bunch.
37. Food Wars (Season 5)- 3.5/5
The final season to this over-the-top nontraditional battle Shonen anime was a serviceable sendoff to the endearing cast of zany teens. The cooking show anime aired on Toonami this year and as it wrapped up, I felt sad to see it go as I've enjoyed the wackiness many characters provided. But the last episode was a decent sendoff as well. Though not as good as seasons beforehand, Food Wars fifth season is still a treat.
36. Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Season 2)- 3.5/5
The sophomore season of this animated star wars show was as entertaining as its first. Shoutout to Dee Bradley Baker for voicing five different clones and bringing nuance to each character. A ragtag group of clone troopers on their adventures was exciting at times and the season finale was perhaps the best episode of the batch.
35. Total Drama- 3.5/5
Another show from my childhood thats sometimes a gem and sometimes infuriating. Its first three seasons harbored a good sense of humor and a truly sublime cast of animated characters. It was peak. Unfortunately, the following seasons failed to live up to the standards in character work and pacing, among many other issues. However, the season titled The Ridonculous Race, was great enough to bring the show back up. I haven't seen the latest season yet, but the best seasons of this show are worth checking out.
34. Harley Quinn (Season 4)- 4/5
A great season for the books even if it didn't live up the spectacle of its third season. The animation remains solid and the first half of the show was strong. With Bane still hilarious and Harley and Poison Ivy's respective character arcs that focus on their individuality being as entertaining as they were, there's still a lot to like from this season. Even if it lacks in other departments, like, not enough Clayface.
33. Big Nate (Season 2)- 4/5
Huge bias here, but I used to read the Big Nate Books as a kid and I have a huge soft spot for them which applies to this show. The animation is solid, there's a good sense of humor, and the core cast of kids are incredibly likable. If you're looking for 6th grade kid shenanigans that's bound to.make you chuckle, pleas support the show on Paramount Plus so it gets dozens of seasons.
32. My Hero Academia (Season 6)- 4/5
The latest season of teenage superheroes in training focused on two arcs for 20+ episodes. The first arc saw an all out war between numerous heroes and Villains while the second arc saw our main character, Deku, enter an Era of self-doubt and edginess after the events of the first arc. The second arc would've been better if it had more time dedicated to it, but the turns, twists, action scenes, and revelations of the first arc are enough to elevate this season to greatness.
31. Gen V- 4/5
This spinoff of The Boys was a slightly better series that focused on school kids with superpowers than My Hero. It's still got The Boys charm with its signature violence and gore with characters intriguing enough to keep you hooked. Gen V is a great addition to The Boys universe that warrants attention.
30. Avenue 5 (Season 2)- 4/5
An underrated sitcom following a space captain, his employees and crew, and hundreds of passengers on a space cruise trying to.make their way back home. The cast was stellar, the jokes were hilarious, the premise was engaging, and yet it STILL got canceled and I'll forever be mad about that.
29. Blackish (Seasons 1-3)- 4/5
The family sitcom about the Johnson family has picked up for me lately on my first viewing. The first episode and some to follow in season 1 were a bit rocky as the show was finding its footing. But with Seasons 2 and 3 so far, it's proven to be especially funny with a talented cast and thoughtful messaging.
28. Codename: Kids Next Door (Seasons 1-3)- 4/5
Yet another show from my childhood I've been in the midst of rewatching! The Kids Next Door follows children acting as secret agents that fight against teenagers and adults of all sorts. This classic cartoon would fit so well with an audience today, I'd like to think. With an endearing core cast and a truly fun rogues gallery they face off with in episode to episode, I've started realizing how much influence something like this had on me growing up, I love this show.
27. Six Feet Under (Season 1)- 4/5
One of HBO's classic shows has recently come under my radar for the first time, and while it's a bit slow at times to my liking, it's proving to be a unique watch. It's takes on the passings of every day people coupled with a talented cast and stunning cinematography are leaving me to wonder how this show will fare upon progressing into the next few seasons.
26. Wu Tang: An American Saga (Season 3)
For three seasons, Wu Tang followed the rise of Hip Hops most decorated rap group. It's final season was a superb and contemplative sendoff to some of the greatest MCs to grab a mic. Some episodes and storybits were a bit rushed or dramatized needlessly, but the allegorical episodes were incredibly creative sometimes balances out. An underrated gem of a show, in my opinion.
25. One Piece (Live Action)- 4/5
One of the most faithful adaptations of the source material I've seen and I couldn't be happier. The outrageous characters from the anime and Manga look as wild as they do in live action, the set pieces are mesmerizing, and the performances of the Strawhat crew are special. I'm eagerly awaiting season 2 to see how they adapt what comes next.
24. Archer (Season 14)- 4/5
Despite the addition of a new character to the long running sitcoms final season, they didn't stray focus from its core cast of operatives we've gotten to know and love since 2009. Despite wavering in seasons prior, the writing here was on point, the performances did not miss a beat, and the final season was a wonderful send-off to these ragtag of oddballs.
23. Eric Andre Show (Season 6)- 4/5
Hannibal Burress' lack of presence is felt, but the chaotic nature of the show never left and I love that for it. Whether insane bits on the street or at the studio, Eric Andre has still found ways to psychologically confuse and torture strangers and celebrities alike in a manner that still makes my stomach hurt from laughter and absurdities.
22. My Adventures With Superman- 4/5
This take on the beginnings of Clark Kent's journey as Superman was a fun time. Its animation is pleasing to the eye, Clark and Lois Lane's relationship is incredibly endearing and wholesome at times, and the villains introduced are decent foils to Superman.
21. Futurama (season 11)- 4/5
After being canceled and brought back for the umpteenth time, seeing the Futurama cast return again after about a decade (not including that one Simpsons crossover episode from a few years ago) was so welcome. The show tackled more modern topics like Bitcoin and the COVID pandemic to varying degrees of success. Bringing back the entire original cast and still being able to provide solid entertainment is comforting.
20. Superstore- 4/5
Indulging in the entirety of Superstore, the sitcom about employees working in a giant Walmart-esque retail building, for the first time was intriguing. The first season felt too reminiscent of The Office in characters, but as the seasons progressed it slowly started to morph into its own thing. As characters found their own personalities, the show increasingly became more and more hilarious, even with its final season filmed during peak pandemic lockdown.
19. Loki (Season 2)- 4/5
An improvement upon the first season by a margin. Adding Key Huy Quan and Rafael Casal to the cast this season was an excellent choice. The rest of the cast was equally superb, but it's Tom Hiddleston as Loki completing his transformation from a god of mischief to a selfless god was perfect. The finale to the season was bittersweet but also perhaps the best episode of a Disney MCU show so far.
18. Atlanta (Season 4)- 4/5
Donald Glover's experimental series starring himself, Zazie Beets, Brian Tyree Henry, and LaKeith Stanfield, provided possibly the best season of the show. I feel there could've been an opportunity to bring back people from the previous seasons at some point this season, but the episodes this season were pretty remarkable. The final episode leaves one to wonder about the status of our characters but not in a doom-and-gloom manner which I can rock with.
17. Baki Hanma (Season 2)- 4/5
Not since Jojo's Bizarre Adventure have I seen an action anime so ridiculous thrill me almost entirely from start to end. Baki Hanma is a well-crafted, better-written show than its previous series simply titled 'Baki.' Two arcs focus on a prehistoric caveman thawing out of the ice and the world's greatest fighters try to defeat it. While the second arc has our main character try and combat his ultra-powerful dad in a fight that's been built up for years. Both arcs were over-the-top peak that warrant viewing if you live for that nature.
16. Blindspotting (Season 2)- 4/5
The sequel series to the film of the same name is just as great as the film itself. Jasmine Cephas Jones as Ashley, who initially harbored a small role in the film, is good as the lead for the show. Her various family members and friends either helped her or overwhelmed her in ways that made for intriguing television. Combined with fun usage of cameos from rappers and riveting musical sequences, you have another show that gets canceled way to soon and pisses me OFF.
15. Rick and Morty (Season 7)- 4/5
Upon giving co-creator and creep Justin Roiland the boot, the team behind Rick and Morty managed to deliver a quality season up there with some of their best. The new voices for Rick and Morty that replaced Roiland have nestled nicely into the role, and after delivering one of the greatest episodes in the series in 'Unmortricken' any anxieties about the quality of Rick and Morty have been quelled for the future of the show.
14. Jujitsu Kaisen (Season 2)- 4/5
The first few episodes focused on the backstory of a few crucial characters years ago, and while they were sufficient, the meat of the season lies within the Shibuya Incident. As good and evil fight across the city of Shibuya and the bodies pile sky high, JJK has crafted an unforgettable second season with stakes high and memorable moments galore.
13. One Piece (Wano Arc)- 4/5
As the One Piece anime wraps up its longest story arc to date, looking back it's clear to see that the legendary scenes will pang throughout the echoes of time. Despite shit pacing, as One Piece is known to have, it gave us moments of Luffy attaining the Gear 5 form, his jaw-dropping fight with Kaido, and entertaining fights between the Strawhats and the rest of Kaido's crew. Thank god it's over though, and we can finally prepare for the next island Luffy and the Strawhats head toward.
12. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off- 4/5
I think I like this more than the movie, even though it's been years since I last saw the film. But Scott Pilgrim Takes Off took Scott's friends, Ramona's exes, and plenty of other characters with varying degrees of screen time in the movie, amplified it in the show, and made everyone INCREDIBLY likable. With awesome fight scenes and delightful characters, the show has become a must-see for animation fans.
11. The Bear (Seasons 1-2)- 4/5
Who knew how anxiety-inducing a show about a young chef running a restaurant with a hectic kitchen staff could be. The groundwork laid in season 1 elevated season 2 to excellency. The cast is fascinating, and the episodes that involve characters running around frantically, desperately trying to tie shit together have lead to the best episodes on television this year. If you watch one episode from this show, please watch the episode titled 'Fishes.'
10. Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake- 4/5
The spinoff and continuation from yet another Cartoon Network classic is at least on par with the original Adventure Time. Taking the fictional characters of Fionna and Cake and expounding upon them to make them their own fleshed-out characters is amazing. The blossoming relationship of Gary and Marshall was sweet and Simon's existential crisis was heart-wrenching. Eagerly awaiting it's next season.
9. Orange Is The New Black (Seasons 1-3)- 4/5
As I'm currently on my first viewing of this show, as of this writing, I can see how this show about women in prison put Netflix on the map for their original programming. Our leads slow descent into morally questionable behavior is as compelling as every surrounding story with her fellow inmates. The final minutes of the season three finale were powerful imagery for the inmates. And as the depressing dramedy continues forward, I cannot wait to see how the rest of the show shapes.
8. Succession (Seasons 1-4)- 4/5
After binging all four seasons this year, Succession is the closest show I've seen to poetry in motion. The inner dynamics of these deeply disturbed members of the Roy family as they backstab, connive, and try to destroy one another just to reach a comfortable seat of power made for devastating television. I only wish there was one more season to spend more time with the cast.
7. Dragon Ball Z- 4/5
This is the last show on this list that was something I watched as a kid, I promise. The iconic Shonen action show is my favorite anime of all time, but I tried not to let some of personal bias cloud some of my judgment. It's the grandfather of all action anime for a reason, and what prevents it from being my number one is that I believe some of the following shows are just a liiiiiiittle bit more tightly written.
6. The Last Of Us- 4.5/5
Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey managed to put on performances as stellar as the voice actors in the game, it's wild. I thought the adaptation was amazing, with sublime performances across the board, a decent pace, and an exploration of character depth unseen in the game with characters like Bill and Frank. It might've been a little light on zombies this season which I hope they rectify in the future.
5. Castlevania Nocturne- 4.5/5
As someone who adored the previous Castlevania anime series, this season had some big shoes to fill. For the first season, they knocked it out of the park. The animation is more gorgeous than ever, the new characters introduced in this spinoff are intriguing, and they laid superb groundwork for the following season.
4. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Season 16)- 4.5/5
Clearly, the best season that this gang of scumbags has put out in years. The entire season saw the gang at their dumbest which lead to hilarious setups and instant classics in its legacy. While all 5 characters were at their best this season, I want to highlight Danny Devito in Frank Vs Russia and Glenn Howerton in The Gang Goes Bowling and Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day as some of the best comedic chops they've almost ever had. I died laughing so much this season.
3. Primal (Seasons 1-2)- 4.5/5
The story about a caveman and a dinosaur going on adventures and was surprisingly...peak. The storytelling despite minimal to no words being spoken is immaculate, and when the first words were dropped I almost lost my shit. The first season was great, but the second season helped elevate the entirety of the show. It's cliff hangers are jaw-dropping, the arcs in season 2 were grand in scale, and the Primal Theory was perhaps the best episode of the whole show. I wish I watched this sooner.
2. What We Do In The Shadows (Season 5)- 4.5/5
The only show to make me laugh just as much, possibly just a little bit more, than It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is the show about Vampires in Staten Island of course. Guillermo's season long arc of vampirism came to a satisfying conclusion and the rest of the cast were on point, especially my personal favorite character: Lazlo. The cast were on point, and the comedic chops were strong, I just hope it's final season is at least as strong as this season was.
Barry (Season 4)- 5/5.
The 4th season of Barry was excellent. Barry the character and Barry the show has been immortalized with the events that transpire over this 8-episode season. The fate of the characters followed over the past few seasons has been befitting and heartbreaking but understandable in some circumstances. The way the show transitioned into something darker over the past two seasons as this hitman who tried to become an actor influenced the people around him and brought them down into the deepest trenches with him. There is no doubt in my mind that Barry was my personal favorite show viewed in 2023. Thank you for reading my list if you did.
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pudgy-planets · 11 months
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…I need more Tsuyu icons.
But I’m lazy and don’t feel like fetching those lol.
Maybe another day. Also I got invited to an awards ceremony on May 1st.
Furthermore: Im viable for a scholarship because my great-grandfather (rest in peace.) on my mom’s side was a veteran in Vietnam.
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magnumversumplus · 8 months
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Rasvisr IV: Epsilon’s Enigma
Written By Joseph M.
Written In Consultation With writeformeAI: A ChatGPT Language Model By @antienjoys On Poe App
This story is dedicated to my dear lolo (grandfather.) May he rest in eternal peace. I love you lolo.
Location: Mumbai, India
Timestamp: January 17, 2025; 9:17 A.M.
Jairan squeezed through the crowd, his hands grazing the leather seats of motorcycles and rickshaws. Catholic parishioners laughed amongst themselves as they carried their gilded croziers down the street. Men and women wearing glossy black suits shuffled into the entrances of skyscrapers that slashed apart the stuffy clouds. Even humble restaurants toppled over the roads, obscuring the glimmer of the Sun, and the outside areas were fenced off with shiny glass barriers that prevented birds from scraping food off tables.
Jairan left the more industrial area of Mumbai, greeted by the arched gates and mason walls of a mosque. A golden dome supported by steel beams towered over the crowded residential regions. A hymn of melodic male voices beamed out from inside the mosque, a harmonic call to prayer.
Jairan walked into the residential areas, clothespins and drapes hanging over his head. He sat on a shiny wooden bench, waiting for a man named Sergeant Sergeant D'Souza Sergeant D'Souza, who knew the location of Epsilon. Elusive Epsilon–referrewd to only as “Epsilon” by his best friends and worst enemies–was an international weapons dealer that was on the run, hiding somewhere in Mumbai.
On the other hand, Sergeant D'Souza was a member of India’s National Intelligence Agency, a government organization formed in 2008 that currently had its agents dispatched fighting the same threat as Jairan. Sergeant D'Souza was one of the veterans in the agency, a well-known face among his colleagues in the field and the criminals in the streets.
He was so well known that he had rats in the sewers and the biggest crime lords feeding him intel. His assertive, intentful voice and smooth-talking personality earned him many favors, including some goodwill from Jairan.
“I have the intel you want,” Sergeant D'Souza said sharply, sitting beside Jairan. “But I need something in return.”
“Sure, I’ll help you out,” Jairan shot back. “But I’ll need the intel first.”
Sousa sighed, reached down and opened a briefcase in his lap. “Epsilon is with his men on a plane flying around India. It’s currently stopped in Hyderabad before it makes its journey back to the port in Kolkata. I’ve arranged for a plane driven man by the name of Ben Müller to fly you over his private airport, where you’ll wait there and arrest him.”
Sousa handed him the contents of the briefcase: documents containing details on Epsilon’s private plane, photographs of the plane and a map of Kolkata with Epsilon’s base marked among other things. “When you’re in Kolkata, I need your help taking down one of NIA’s most wanted doctors.”
Location: Somewhere In Hyderabad, India
Timestamp: January 17, 2025; 12:15 P.M.
Jairan walked into a bar and started rapport with the bartender, adjusting his outer black suit with hand gestures like smooth silk. He rose from his seat and sat down next to a different man, one wearing a black trench coat and a black top hat: the crazy Dr. Fasilliare, quietly cackling and holding a menacing smile, soberly manipulating even as he gulped down his drink.
Jairan whispered, “I’m here to take you down.” He pulled the outer layer of his jet black apparel back, revealing a pistol in the folds of his garments. “You’re coming with me.”
Dr. Fasilliare grumbled, “I’m not going back to prison. I’ll use my voodoo dolls, my spells, whatever it takes to get me out of here.” Dr. Fasilliare reached into his pocket and showed a rope doll with damp stains, worn beads for eyes and a black suit. “See, it’s you. You’re the doll I carry around, and in my pocket I have a bunch of little pins and needles so–”
Jairan punched Dr. Fasilliare in the nose. He jabbed the elusive doctor in the chest with his fist and kicked him between the thighs, eliciting Dr. Fasilliare’s agonizing squirms and gasps. Jairan made his timely exit from the bar, leaving a doctor cross-eyed and wheezing. He also left a few hundred rupees on the table for good measure, selfishly pleased with his generosity as he approached the Danavi escort helicopter in the parking lot of Sloppy Joe’s American Cuisine.
The blades on the chopper sliced through the air, whipping through the skies so rapidly they blurred into a singular, rotary circle of violent force and mass. The insides of the chopper were worn by tactical air strikes, battles in the skies and extraction missions.
Six leather seats were lined up against the hulls. They had tears, and they smelled like sweat and lavender. Jairan sat down and strapped in, the seatbelts pushing his tie against his spine and suffocating him. The helicopter promptly took off, adrenaline rushed through Jairan’s body as the ground shrunk below him.
The chopper hovered in circles above Epsilon’s private airport; Captain Ben Müller announced that Jairan was free to depart. Jairan gently moved to the door of the chopper and inhaled, and feeling the gale dart past his face, Jairan leapt.
A hurricane-like wind wrapped around his body as he descended the puffy storm clouds, a strong breeze rushing up his sweaty armpits, entering his nostrils and ruffling his matte black hair. A white tarp spread out, wings of a nylon-cloth angel, wrinkles and folds dancing in the breeze, embracing him as he touched down, swaddling him like a blanket.
Location: Elusive Epsilon’s Unnamed Private Airport; Kolkata, India
Timestamp: January 17, 2025; 1:15 P.M.
Epsilon looked over his shoulder. He shooed away a fly, the buzzing little insect darting off. He still heard the buzz, but he couldn’t pinpoint where the droning sound was coming from.
He had a small headache, but it wasn’t a big deal. He could just take some Tylenol and it would be gone soon. He had a broken wrist after he got into a fist fight, he was easier distracted by mundane things and small objects; there was a porcelain soldier miniature, dressed in camo, and sitting on the large wooden desk in his spacious office.
Epsilon didn’t speak to his cronies often–he always got distracted in the minutia of small-talk when he did. Epsilon spoke the most with his tallest bodyguard and closest friend, George. “So, George, how’s your weekend?”
It was just more small talk, and it was something George didn’t usually mind. “My kids and I traveled around France before heading here. After traveling around India, we’re visiting Singapore.”
“That sounds like a nice plan,” Epsilon said, giving George an unusually amiable smile. “Have fun on your vacation.”
“Your plans unfortunately stop here,” declared a quiet voice, prowling through damp corridors and creeping through thin walls. “There’s nowhere left to run, Epsilon. I’ve got you and your gang all rounded up like cattle.”
Location: NIA Underwater Headquarters, Somewhere In The Indian Ocean
Timestamp: January 17, 2025; 1:15 P.M.
Sergeant Maximillian Ravan D'Souza walked through the glass corridors of the NIA’s underwater headquarters, a central glass dome with neon-lit subway tunnels leading to other areas in the facility, such as the foyer, armaments area and janitorial closet, elevator to the above-water lookout post and food depot. He was the proprietor of a technology unit that made such a grand installation leagues below the foamy waters of the Indian Ocean possible: something named by the sergeant’s crewmates to be “D'Souza’s Mirror”.
The device he had created was everywhere, enclosing the premises in what essentially was an AI-powered projection of the deep blue, masking its appearance. The facility, which Sergeant D'Souza endearingly called “समुद्री घर”, which means “sea home” in Hindi, was also invisible to thermal scanners and heat detectors, as D'Souza’s Mirror was equipped with devices that emitted a fake heat signature to blend their camp into its surroundings.
Sergeant D'Souza currently stood at the command center, wearing a camouflaged vest and the baggy camouflaged jeans, the uniform provided to him during his service dashing with pins denoting his accomplishments as a military sergeant and an NIA agents; he stared out at the deep blue ocean, filled with tropical life.
Then, something swiftly brushed past his eye. It swooped around the perimeter of the dome and darted above him, causing him to turn his head. He said into his mic, “Moving object detected. Requesting backup at my location.”
Nothing audible replied to his request, the only noise from his walkie talkie being a low, disturbing whirring noise. “Probably just interference then,” he thought. “I need to see if the other comms still function.”
He felt a large force suddenly thrust against his spine as he pondered, pushing him forward and over the guard rails. Water blasted in from the ceiling, a whirlpool throwing his body around like a ragdoll. The sergeant was almost sucked into a flooded hallway, nearly enveloped in the angry currents thrashing around the ravaged underwater station until he grabbed onto two walls of a corridor, the sergeant’s core strength anchoring him to the hallway entrance.
Sergeant D’Souza saw everything on the news later that night, watching the incident unfold once again on the news and deducing the perpetrator to be the vindictive Epsilon.
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unbiasedph · 2 years
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10 days of national mourning, flag at half staff to honor FVR
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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared national days of mourning and ordered all government facilities across the country and abroad to fly the flag at half-staff in honor of former President Fidel V. Ramos, who helped oust his father 36 years ago.
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HONORS FOR FVR. A military guard stands at attention at Malacanang Palace with the flag at half-mast on Monday. Malacanang Photo “The death of Fidel V. Ramos, the 12th president of the Philippines is a great loss to our country and the Filipino people,” Marcos said in his proclamation declaring July 31 to Aug. 9 national days of mourning. “It is fitting to devote a period of national mourning to pay tribute to an esteemed leader who has dedicated his life to public service and has left a lasting mark on our country,” he added. Ramos and Marcoses are distant relatives, Marcos Sr.’s grandfather and Ramos’s grandmother were siblings making Marcos Jr.’ his “distant nephew” and relative. Marcos also offered his condolences to the family of “Steady Eddie” as he was called, who passed away at the age of 94. Ramos served as the Vice Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and handled the Philippine Constabulary under the incumbency of the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and later on as chief of staff under the Cory Aquino administration before entering into politics and winning the 1992 presidential elections.
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HONORS FOR FVR. Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines fire 105mm howitzer cannons at Camp Aguinaldo as a gun salute for former President Fidel V. Ramos, who passed away Sunday at the age of 94. Malacanang Photo The Ramos family has yet to release the dates when the body of the former chief executive will be available for public viewing and when he will be laid to rest. The Supreme Court also ordered that the Philippine flag in all courthouses nationwide be flown at half-staff “to honor the memory and recognize the services” of the former president. In a statement, the SC said Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo and all justices, judges, and court personnel mourn the passing of President Ramos. “President Ramos was a true defender of freedom and democracy who had shown courage and loyalty to the country with his years in public service, including as a veteran of significant military campaigns,” the Court said. “He was also a visionary President, who set out important social and economic reforms which Filipinos enjoy even up to this time,” it added. “In addition, we in the Judiciary will always remember President Ramos as a proponent of justice and judicial reform. During his presidency, he consistently pledged his support to the Judiciary’s campaign for modernization and judicial excellence. His commitment to justice helped strengthen the Judiciary. Rest in peace, Mr. President,” the justices noted. Read Full News @ Manila Standard Read the full article
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Ranch Hand: Chapter 5
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Farmer!Veteran!Bucky Barnes X Teen!Reader (Small town and Farmer AU)
Series MasterList
Series summary: You ran away from your nightmare of a family, you found a small town, population 200. In this town you meet a retired army veteran turned farmer who hires you as farm hand. Only mystery will you two be able overcome your pasts together.
Chapter Summary: Bucky needs a little time, his sister is worried for him.
Series Warnings: Mentions nightmares, Child abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse, war, swearing, mentions death by cancer, mentions of alcohol and illegal substance abuse. please tell me if you see anymore!!! But do so politely please.
Chapter Warnings: PTSD
A/n: I posted it early since tomorrow's Christmas Eve😁
Divider: @skylightlantern
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You were just getting back on the gator when you saw Bucky sitting on the porch steps. You were relieved to see he was okay. He looked out of it as he stared at the barn. You parked the gator walking up to the porch. Steve's truck was still parked in the driveway telling you he was still there.
"Hi Bucky."
"Hey kid... Steve is making pancakes for you." He started but didn't look at you. "Did you do the chores?"
"Yep! The horses are in the field with food, the cows are eating now I still have to go back and milk them though." You explained sitting by him.
"Alright thank you." Bucky mumbled.
"Is something wrong?"
"No. Just a little out of it today go on in and get some food." He assured.
"Yes sir." You said standing up.
Bucky rested his head in his hands. Some days were easy, but days like today just drag on. He couldn't even bare to put his arm on today. So the sleeve of his shirt was just flapping, a painful reminder.
"Buck! Your sister is on the phone." Steve hollered from the front door.
"Bring it here." Bucky answered. Steve handed him the phone before walking back inside.
"Hey Bec."
"Hey! How is everything?
"Depends on the day."
"Buck... Steve texted me."
"Of course he did... Look I'll be fine this was my first nightmare in a month." A plain old lie, he has one every night just some are worse than others. Some he can wake up from and splash his face with water and act as though it didn't happen. Some, like today just don't let go even after he wakes up he's still having flashbacks.
"You're my big brother I know when you're lying. Bucky I'm coming down to visit help out a bit, I mean Gabe and Winnie would love to see their Uncle."
"I love your kids but Becky. Papa's house isn't set up for your kids, and I'm busy taking care of the farm."
"I'm not taking no as an answer. We'll be there Monday."
"Fine I'll set up our old room for the kids." Bucky sighs.
"Bye Buck!"
"Bye."
Bucky stands up and goes inside. He glares at Steve before making his way up the stairs. Steve doesn't acknowledge it he just hands you a plate of food.
"Is he okay?" You asked again, for like 5th time since going inside.
"Yeah I already told you that." Steve assured.
"But-"
"Kid, just eat up. I'll help you finish the chores." Steve changed the subject. He didn't want to talk about it. Him and Bucky are in the same boat, but he turned to woodworking to distract himself from everything. Bucky inherited his grandfather's farm years before the accident. So after the accident he moved there, his sister was already living there with here husband and their at the time 1 year old, Winnie, so she was helping him out with what she could. But she got pregnant with her second, Gabe and decided to move back to Brooklyn.
Bucky didn't care, he liked being alone. Besides he always spent holidays with them so it wasn't like he never saw them. He liked this farm it was quiet, peaceful, and held so many memories of his childhood, from when he used to visit his grandparents during the summer.
"Mr. Barnes?" You said softly. He looked up from the bunk bed toward you.
"Yeah doll?"
"Are you sure you're okay? You seemed really mad when you come inside." You stressed, scared he was mad at you for some reason.
"I'm fine kid... I had a really bad nightmare last night. Steve called my sister so her and her kids are coming for a visit next week to check on me. I was just upset at Steve, cause I don't need my baby sister worry about me." Bucky assured, helping ease your mind.
"Oh... Okay I'm gonna go finish my chores." You were ready for the day to be over, it was Friday meaning you had two days off. Which meant you were going into town to see if you could get a cheap motel room. You probably wouldn't be able to since you aren't an adult so you have a back up plan. Which is to buy yourself a "home" aka a tent with a blow up mattress so you can stop sleeping on the hard ground. It was still better than living with your mom and step dad.
"Hey kid. You mind keeping an eye on my niece and nephew next week? I'll pay you extra." Bucky asked before you could leave.
"Yeah!" You nodded.
"Alright oh and I have to drive into town to pull out your paycheck so I'll give you a ride home."
"Oh." You would have to make an excuse later.
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Taglist: @rachaelswrites @killerqueenfan @lukajim @lrosenblut26 @lonely-dead-poets @worldssidechick @littleolive24 @cute2043 @skycaliforniaart @idk-whats-happend @mischiefsemimanaged @retiredfromglad @katopotato06 @xennityxen @bucky-boo-bear @thekillingjoke-haha @sunny-the-kitsune @hanainneverland @buckymydarlingangel @ducks118 @rexs-twin-dc-17-blasters @evans-stan-thirstthots @whore-4-thor @i-have-no-life-charlie @babbsissuperblij @buckysbaaee @devilslilbabysblog @amorluzymelodia @buckysdollll @red-soul667
Not super long but it's still pretty good.
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darkstarnight02 · 3 years
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON🎂
So for his birthday I’m elaborating on the headcannon that Jason goes to Valhalla
So, he died in between HoT and SotD
His Valkyrie is a fourteen-year-old einherjar who’s been there for about a decade, named Natalia.  
Most people call her Talia, but she lets Jason call her Nat or Natalia because of his own sister, Thalia
And she’s not one of those people who ‘will kill you if you call me anything else’ like SO MANY characters I know, so yeah
Anyway, Natalia was kinda brought to Valhalla by mistake
Her grandfather is Mars, but she didn’t like being cramped with all the Romans, stuck in New Rome, so she left when she was, like twelve
When she was in Boston, she made friends with another Valkyrie (not that she new that) and when a cyclops killed her, the Valkyrie shoved her knife into her hand and waited for another Valkyrie to come
Which one did
And then there was a whole scandal with trying to cover up the fact someone let a Roman into Valhalla, and they ended up covering it by making her a Valkyrie.  
It’s happened before, where they bring people in from the wrong pantheons, but this time the Norns told them not to call Pluto and have to do all the paperwork to get her back to the Underworld.
Most of the people she brings in are from the Greek/Roman pantheon, and it’s normally not a fuss.
They have a pretty clean system of lying about the person’s parentage, to not cause panic amongst the residents of Valhalla, but the Thanes usually know.
But it’s a lot harder with Jason, because now there’s Valkyrie Vision so they can’t lie about how he died and there was a lot going on when he died so THAT will be hard to explain.  
Natalia’s smart though.  
She pulls a Samirah and has her camera “accidentally” facing the sky instead of the ground, and besides all the noise (which makes Jason tear up) and some explosions and the storm things or whatever, no one see’s anything.  
So they twist their words.
Jason is related to Thor, they say, but they don’t know how
It’s not a total lie.  Thor might be another form of Jupiter, but they aren’t entirely sure what the parallels are.  
He can fight well because he was trained in a military school
Not a lie
And he knows both of his parents, who are both assholes he doesn’t miss
They are satisfied with that, even if he doesn’t say whether or not one of those parents is immortal
Backspace a bit, Jason’s room is on Floor 19, but not in the same hall as Alex and Magnus and those guys, because otherwise he probably would have been mentioned in SotD
Jason’s hall mates consist of a daughter of Thor from medieval times, a son of Tyr who died in the first war of Scottish independence (he just remember’s him as the one who lived through Braveheart, though), a viking girl young woman who is much more muscular then any female he’s ever met (which is saying a lot), and a World War Two veteran soldier.  
They talk about Magnus’s crew sometimes, since they’re on the same floor and preparing for that big quest
And Jason feels a bit antsy because he’s used to being the one going on the big quests and a part of him wants to help
But the rest of him is completely aware that he’s dead now.  He’s not alive.  His time is over, until Ragnorok.  
Sure, he can help out every now and then, like everyone else, and there’s always the games they play (which he fines blatantly annoying because death is supposed to be when you’re at peace) to keep him on his toes.  
He’s still anxious about Apollo and his friends, though it never does occur to him that Magnus, who has the same last name as Annabeth and looks like he could be her little brother, might be related to her, so he never asks.
And Annabeth’s never mentioned Jason.
Even if she has, never enough for Magnus to connect the dots, himself.  
And Jason could always send a raven or something or try to get in contact with them,
But he’s dead now.
He wants them to know he’s at peace.
But then he remember’s Nico
Oh, Nico.
Nico’s probably going insane.
He could feel his death, but he couldn’t feel where he was.
The poor son of Hades was probably arguing with his father about knowing where Jason was.  
So Jason finds Apollo in a dream and tells him he’s okay and acts like a wise dead guy or whatever
Which he mostly is.
And then one day at breakfast, after everything is over, Jason decides to go over to Magnus’s crew and congratulate them for saving the world.  
“Hey,” he says, “I just wanted to congratulate you guys for, you know, saving the world and stuff.  I know how hard it can be and how much pressure it can feel like.  It was really cool what you did.”
And they kind of look at him weird.  
“What do you mean you know?”
And he kind of awkwardly tells them about his own boat trip across the Atlantic with six(ish) friends and how there was some evil earth deity they were trying to stop from rising
And while the others are trying to figure out what deity he’s talking about, Magnus and Alex are like.
Oh.
And that’s all I’ve got for now but I also like the idea of TJxJason but that’s for another time.  
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greyturned · 2 years
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𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄?
how does one deal with a mountain of legacies resting on ones shoulders? for Ben, it’s like a shadow looming over him, an impossible goal for him to reach. and it all starts with his name. Ben, as a homage to the great Jedi Master Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi, who was once his mother’s only hope and who sacrificed himself to save his parents and uncle when they first came together against the Empire, and who helped train his uncle in the ways of the Force and helped him become the Jedi that he was. Prestor, after his grandfather, his mother’s adoptive father, Bail Organa. An esteemed and one of the most respected Senators for many years, and one of the founding members of the Rebel Alliance, the Father of the Alliance. Organa, from the esteemed royal House of Organa of Alderaan, his mother, a princess, senator, rebel spy, General of the Rebel Alliance. all before the age of 20, a fierce and powerful woman admired by many. Solo, a name made up by an Imperial recruiter for his father, the famous smuggler turned war veteran Han Solo. a man who made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs as a young man and later went on to establish his career as one of the best smugglers in the Outer Rim. and then there’s the biggest one of all, one not many at first knew to connect to him: Skywalker. two great Jedi before him had that name, his uncle and grandfather, both of whom were powerful, and arguably the best Jedi of their time. the name Skywalker brought hope to the galaxy, it was the name that restored peace, that brought down the Emperor and the evil Darth Vader.
for a while, Ben liked his name. liked the meaning behind it, even if he never fully understood it or never really knew just how much it meant to others. then, as he got older and more and more expectations were placed on his young shoulders, he grew to dislike it, hate it even. as he reached his teens and advanced further in his training, it didn’t even feel like his. Ben, the name of someone great, and Solo, a name that wasn’t even real. it felt like it belonged to a bunch of other people, whose legacies were treated as his by those around him. the legacy of his mother, the legacy of his father, of his uncle, grandfathers, and his namesake. they all drowned him with impossible expectations, misplaced ideas about him, judgement, uncertainty. his achievements compared to those in his name, his future seemingly already determined based on it as well. by the time the age 19 had come and gone for Ben, things started to get worse from there. he developed a sort of Impostor Syndrome, feeling like his achievements, his abilities, were subpar compared to that of his family’s. at age 19 he spent most of his time studying, whereas his parents, grandfathers, and uncle before him had already achieved greatness at that same age. doubt began to plague his every move, every achievement, his own skill and power. he felt like he was failing to be the Jedi everyone expected him to be, like his uncle, his grandfathers, and his namesake were. he felt like a failure to the Organa, Solo, and Skywalker legacies.
by the time Ben fell at the age of 23, a year older than his grandfather was when he became Darth Vader, Ben had come to loath his name and the legacies attached to it. he had long since began to feel like they were dragging him down, keeping him from reaching his true, full potential. forever chaining him to the legacies that were never his and his achievements and skills forever being compared to theirs. he felt trapped, lost, and unsure of his true self and who he was meant to be. so when he fell, he fashioned himself a new name, a name that had been on his mind for years. Kylo Ren was a name that was his, a name that was clean and ready to be molded to fit him. Kylo, a name he chose, and Ren, a name he earned with his own skill and by his own grace. a name with no legacies attached to it, except for the one that he was going to create. naming himself Kylo Ren was more than just a way to separate himself from the Light and from Ben Solo, it was a way to free himself from the mountain of legacies that had been suffocating him since before he was born.
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The Queer Platonic Love of Aang & Zuko
Friend. What a weighty and intimate word in Avatar The Last Airbender. The series’ “found family” is iconic at this point, and is literally established as a “family” by Katara in the third episode. She pulls Aang back from the outrage of the Avatar state, saying “Monk Gyatso and the other monks may be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka and I, we’re your family now.”
 As I’ve said before, establishing this central safety net of trusted people is essential to Aang’s healing. Still, it’s interesting to me that they insist on this group as a “family” rather than something that might emphasize “friendship.” Something along the lines of ‘we’re your friends and we’re here with you.’ I can think of several animated shows that have done as much successfully. The show withholds the word “friend” for another purpose. I’ll happily admit that Aang and the others describe each other as “friends” throughout the series, but rarely is the use of the word (through pacing, repetition, or emotional context) given a sense of gravity in those moments. 
However, three scenes in the series rely heavily on the word “friend,” and each scene connects Aang more and more profoundly with Zuko, eventually revealing that the show’s entire plot hinges on the friendship between these two boys. In a series so latent with symbolism, what do we make of these star-crossed friends? The relationship between Aang and Zuko, I want to suggest, is meant to explore Platonic Love in all its depth, especially within a masculine culture that not only devalues it, but views its queer implications as inherently dangerous to the dominant power structures of an empire.
Get ready zukaang fans for a long-ass atla meta analysis...
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“If we knew each other back then, do you think we could’ve been friends, too?”
The first time the word “friend” is uttered between them, Aang is perched on a branch, waiting for Zuko (who is laid out on a bed of leaves the Avatar made for him) to wake up after his blue spirit rescue. “You know what the worst part about being born over a hundred years ago is?” Aang waxes, “I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had...and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then do you think we could have been friends too?” The scene stood out for me when I first watched it for the melancholy and stillness. We are not given a flashback like we did when Aang talked about Bumi or Gyatso in earlier episodes. We have to sit with Aang’s loss of a male friend. It echoes a veteran’s loss of a war buddy more than anything a western audience would expect in a children’s show about the power of friendship. Instead of simply mourning, Aang invites Zuko into the past with him. He invites Zuko to imagine a time before the war, a land of innocence, where they could live together. And between them there is a moment of reflection given to this invitation (...until Zuko shoots a fucking fire blast at Aang). 
The wistful mood returns when the two boys arrive back to their respective beds. Aang is asked by a loopy fevered Sokka if he made any “friends” on his trip, to which Aang sadly replies, “No, I don’t think I did” before tucking away to sleep. Aang’s mournful moments often stand out against his bubbly personality, but this moment stands out moreso because its the final moment for Aang in the episode. For the first time, he doesn’t receive comfort in his dejection. He doesn’t even confide in his peers. The solemnity and secrecy of this failed “friendship” is remarkable. 
It’s in the next symbolic gesture that I think Avatar reveals what’s at stake in the concept of “friendship.” Zuko, in the next scene, lays down to rest after his adventurous night, looks pensively at the fire nation flag in his room, and then turns his back on it. We realize, especially after the previous revelations in “The Storm,” that Aang’s gestures of “friendship” have caused Zuko to doubt the authority of the Fire Nation.
Now all three remaining nations have misogynistic tendencies, but the Fire Nation celebrates a specific brand of toxic masculinity, and Zuko longs to emulate it even after it has rejected and scarred him. In the episode, “The Storm,” which directly precedes “The Blue Spirit,” we see how Zuko failed to replicate masculinity’s demands. In a room of men, he disregards honorifics to speak out in the name of care and concern for people’s well-being over strategy. Though the war room was all men, we later see that The Fire Nation does not exclude women from participating in this form of toxic masculinity. (Shoutout to Azula, one of the best tragic villains of all time!) This gender parity prevents disgraced men, like Zuko, from retaining pride of place above women. So Zuko’s loving act and refusal to fight his father puts him at the lowest of the low in the social hierarchy of the Fire Nation, completely emasculated and unworthy of respect.
Since then, Zuko has been seeking to restore himself by imitating the unfeeling men of the war room and his unfeeling sister, barking orders and demands at his crew. The final redemptive act for this purpose, of course, is to capture the Avatar, who’s very being seems to counteract the violent masculinity at the heart of the Fire Nation. In most contemporary Euro-American understandings, Aang is by no means masculine. He’s openly affectionate, emotional, giggly, and supportive of everyone in his life, regardless of gender. He practices pacifism and vegetarianism, and his hobbies include dancing and jewelry-making. And, foremost, he has no interest in wielding power. (@rickthaniel has an awesome piece about Aang’s relationship to gender norms and feminism). 
In addition to the perceived femininity of Aang’s behavior, he’s equally aligned with immaturity. Aang’s childishness is emphasized in the title of the first episode, “The Boy in the Iceberg,” and then in the second episode when Zuko remarks, “you’re just a kid.” Aang, as a flying boy literally preserved against adulthood, also draws a comparison to another eternally boyish imp in the western canon: Peter Pan. This comparison becomes more explicit in “The Ember Island Players.” His theatrical parallel is a self-described “incurable trickster” played by a woman hoisted on wires mimicking theatrical productions of Peter Pan. The comparison draws together the conjunction of femininity and immaturity Aang represents to the Fire Nation.
When Zuko is offered friendship and affection by Aang, then, he faces a paradigm-shifting internal conflict. To choose this person, regardless of his spiritual status, as a “friend,” Zuko must relate himself to what he perceives as Aang’s femininity and immaturity, further demeaning himself in the eyes of his father and Fire Nation culture. The banished prince would need to submit to the softness for which he’s been abused and banished. This narrative of abuse and banishment for perceived effeminate qualities lends itself easily enough to parallels with a specific queer narrative, that of a young person kicked out of their house for their sexuality and/or gender deviance. 
I want to point out that Aang’s backstory, too, can be read through a queer lens. Although the genocide of the air nomads more explicitly parallels the experiences of victims to imperial and colonial violence, I can also see how the loss of culture, history, friends, and mentors for a young effiminate boy can evoke the experience of queer men after the AIDs pandemic and the government’s damning indifference. In fact, colonial violence and the enforcement of rigid gender roles have historically travelled hand-in-hand. Power structures at home echo the power structures of a government. Deviance from the dominant norms disrupt the rigid structures of the empire. Aang’s background highlights how cultures based in something besides hierarchy and dominance, whether they be queer cultures or indigenous societies, threaten the logic of imperialism, and thus become targets of reform, neglect, and aggression by the expanding empire and its citizens. Survivors are left, as Aang was, shuffling through the remnants, searching for some ravaged piece of history to cling to.
We begin the series, then, with two queer-coded boys, one a survivor of broad political violence, the other a survivor of more intimate domestic abuse, and both reeling from the ways the Fire Nation has stigmatized sensitivity. But the queer narrative extends beyond the tragic backstories toward possibility and hope. The concept of platonic love proposed here, though it does not manifest until later, is a prospect that will bring peace to the two boys' grief-stricken hearts and to the whole world.
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“Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?”
“Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?” Toph asks before the four members of the group hold hands. Since Toph previously mourned her friendless childhood, it’s easy to appreciate this line for its hopefulness regarding the four central members of the Gaang. They long to appreciate that they’re all connected. As touching as this is, the soul-mated ‘friendship’ concept is actually uniquely applicable to Aang and Zuko.
When does Toph ask the question specifically? It’s after hearing the story of Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin: how their once intimate friendship fell apart; how Fire Lord Sozin began, undaunted, the genocidal attack on Airbenders. After recounting the tale, Aang, the reincarnation of Avatar Roku, excitedly explains to the group the moral that every person is capable of great good and evil. While that moral could easily be ascribed to many people in the series, the connective tissue is stretched directly to Zuko in a parallel storyline. Reading a secret history composed by his grandfather Sozin, Zuko discovers that he is not only the grandson of the empirical firelord but of Avatar Roku, as well. We see how the rift between the Sozin and Roku echoed down across history to separate the airbending culture from the fire nation, and, on a more human level, to separate Aang from Zuko. The two boys find themselves divided by their ancestors’ choices— and connected by Avatar Roku’s legacy. 
This is what takes their “friendship” from simply a matter of the character’s preferences to something fated, something unique from the other friendships. The rest of the found family is positioned as circumstantial in their relationship to Aang and one another. Yeah, it’d be cool if they were all connected in past and future lives, but the audience receives no indicators in the series that it’s necessarily true. Only faith holds them together, which allows room for an appreciation that your “found family” friendships might simply be the trusted people you discovered along the way. 
Zuko’s friendship is characterized differently. Both his struggle to befriend Aang and his eventual “friendship” are explicitly destined by the story of Roku and Sozin. After this episode, the series depends upon Zuko’s ability to mend the divide inside himself, which can only be done by mending the divide between him and Aang. Their inheritance symbolizes this dynamic exactly. As the reincarnation of Avatar Roku, Aang can be understood as the beneficiary of Avatar Roku’s wisdom (he should not, as many jokingly suggest, be considered as any kind of biological relation of Roku or Zuko).  Zuko, on the other hand, has inherited Roku’s genealogy in the Fire Nation. These two pieces of Roku must be brought together in order to revive Roku’s legacy of firebending founded on something besides aggression. 
In addition to making the ideals of Roku whole again, the two boys must tend to the broken “friendship” between the two men. As the Avatar and the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, Aang and Zuko parallel Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin precisely. The narrative of the latter pair places destiny precisely in the hands of the former. And since both Aang and Roku expressed the desire for “friendship,” it falls in the lap of the corresponding royal to give up their imperial dreams so they can gain something more peaceful and intimate. For Zuko, this now can only be accomplished when he heals the rift within himself. 
Importantly, both the previous friendship and the destined friendship between Zuko and Aang are between two men. The coming-of-age genre has proliferated the trope of homosociality (friendship between individuals of the same sex) and its eventual decline brought on by maturity and heterosexual romance. (Check out the beautiful and quick rundown of classic examples, from Anne of Green Gables to Dead Poet’s Society, made by @greetingsprophet ). The story of Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin replicates this established narrative. 
We see them playing, sparring, and joking intimately with one another. The two as young adults were intimately connected, the series explains, “sharing many things including a birthday.” Eventually their intimacy is interrupted by their worldly responsibilities and the spectre of heterosexual romance on Roku’s part.
Now, It’s not a huge leap for one to wonder if Sozin longed for something stronger in their “friendship.” We see no female romantic interests for Sozin. Instead, he continues to demonstrate his platonic allegiance to Roku. When Roku prepares to leave for his Avatar training, Sozin walks into his room and gives him his crown prince headpiece, a gesture of unique devotion that positions his friendship above his politics (which harkens to Plato and EM Forster’s ideas about platonic love that I’ll discuss in Part 3). 
One might note, too, how the wedding between Roku and his childhood sweetheart provides the setting for the escalation of Sozin’s violence. “On wedding days,” Sozin writes, “we look to the future with optimism and joy. I had my own vision for a brighter future...” He then pulls Roku away from his bride for a personal conversation, briefly recapturing the earlier homosocial dynamic with his friend. Sozin describes his affection for their intertwined lives. Then he links their shared happiness to the current prosperity of the Fire Nation. He imagines the expansion of the Fire Nation, which would also expand on the relationship between him and Roku. But the Avatar refuses the offer and returns to his wife, insisting on the value of traditional boundaries (both the pact of marriage and the strict division of the four nations). The abandonment of the homosocial relationship by Roku sets the site for the unmitigated empirical ambitions of Sozin. One wonders how history might’ve been altered had the two men’s relationship been sanctified and upheld. How might’ve Roku persuaded Sozin in his empirical ambitions if he had remained in a closer relationship to his friend? In their final encounter, Sozin reacts vengefully to his former platonic love: he lets Roku die protecting the home the Avatar shared with his wife. Sozin’s choice solidifies the divide between them, and makes the grief he’s experienced since Roku left him into actual death.
Instead of Avatar Roku and Firelord Sozin finding a resolution, Aang and Zuko are ordained to reverse their friendship’s disintegration. Yes, they must heal the rift in the world created by the Fire Nation’s aggression, but Aang and Zuko must also reverse the tradition of lost homosociality within a culture of unrelenting machismo. Despite Avatar: the Last Airbender’s ties to the coming-of-age genre, the arc of Aang and Zuko’s “friendship” counters one of its most prominent tropes. “Some friendships are so strong they can transcend lifetimes,” Roku says, and it’s precisely this platonic ideal that draws Zuko and Aang towards one another in ways that are revolutionary both in their world and in the traditions of our’s. To come together, as two matured boys, to form an adult platonic love that can persist into adulthood.
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“And now we’re friends.”
Which brings us to the consummation of Aang and Zuko’s “friendship.” Having resolved their previous hostilities and having neutralized the outside forces that would rather them dead than together, Aang and Zuko can finally embrace and define their relationship as “friendship.” Now, if we look closely at Zuko’s expression, we’ll notice a pause, before he smiles and reiterates Aang’s comment. My initial response, with my zukaang shipping goggles on extra tightly, was that Zuko just got friend-zoned and was a little disappointed before accepting Aang’s friendship. When I took a step back, I considered that we are given this moment of reflection to recognize Zuko’s journey, his initial belligerent response to the idea of befriending the Avatar. When he accepts the term of ‘friend,’ he reveals the growth he’s undergone that’s brought peace to the world. With these two possibilities laid out, I want to offer that they might coexist. That the word ‘friend’ might feel to Zuko and the audience so small and limited and yet simultaneously powerful. The pause can hint at the importance of “friendship” and signal something more. This reading emboldens the queer concept of “friendship” that undergirds their relationship. That the hug that follows might be meant to define the depth of the platonic love that is at the very heart of the series.
Saving a hugging declaration of “friendship” for the announcement of peace in the series is quietly revolutionary. In the twentieth century, male characters could connect in battle, on competitive teams, and through crime. “In the war film, a soldier can hold his buddy — as long as his buddy is dying on the battlefield. In the western, Butch Cassidy can wash the Sundance Kid’s naked flesh — as long as it is wounded. In the boxing film, a trainer can rub the well-developed torso and sinewy back of his protege — as long as it is bruised. In the crime film, a mob lieutenant can embrace his boss like a lover — as long as he is riddled with bullets,” writes Kent Brintnall. Aang and Zuko’s hug starkly contrasts this kind of masculine intimacy. The show suggests that environments shaped by dominance, conflict, coercion, or harm, though seemingly productive in drawing people and especially men together, actually desecrate “friendships.” Only in a climate of humility, diplomacy, and peace can one make a true ‘friend.’
In situating the’ “friendship” between two matured males in a time of peace, the writers hearken back to older concepts of homosocial relationships in our fiction. As Hanya Yanagihara has described the Romantic concepts of friendship that pervaded fiction before the 1900s. In her book, A Little Life, Yanagihara renews this concept for the twenty-first century with a special appreciation for the queerness that one must accept in order for platonic love to thrive into adulthood. She writes, “Why wasn’t friendship as good as a relationship? Why wasn’t it even better? It was two people who remained together day after day bound not by sex or physical attraction or money or children or property, but only by the shared agreement to keep going, the mutual dedication to a union that could never be codified.” Aang and Zuko’s relationship, despite a history that would keep them apart, reclaims this kind of friendship. Their hearts, bound together by an empyrean platonic love, are protected from the political and familial loyalties that would otherwise embroil them. 
In addition to Yanagihara, another author that coats the word ‘friend’ with similar gravity and longing to Avatar is E.M. Forster, who braids platonic friendship in his writing with homoeroticism and political revolution. In Forster’s novel Maurice (originally written in 1914 but published posthumously in 1971 due to Britain’s criminalization of male homsexuality), the titular character asks a lower class male lover lying in bed with him,  “Did you ever dream you had a friend, Alec? Someone to last your whole life and you his? I suppose such a thing can’t happen outside of sleep.” The confession, tinged with grief and providence as it is, could easily reside in Aang’s first monologue to Zuko in “The Blue Spirit.”
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 Platonic love as a topic is at the heart of Maurice. Plato’s “Symposium,” from which the term platonic love derives, is even directly referenced in the book and connected with “the unspeakable vice of the Greeks”— slang for homosexual acts. For Forster, the sanction of platonic love, both the homosocial aspect and the latent homosexuality, reveals a culture’s liberation. “If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend,” Forster wrote in his essay “What I Believe,”, “I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.” This echoes a sentiment of philial love described by Plato. 
Rather than revolutionary ideals, for Forster friendships, and specifically friendships that disregard homophobia, provide the foundation for peace, equality, and democratic proliferation. When Aang and Zuko embrace, they are embodying this ideal.  Platonic love and the word “friend” have a history intertwined with queer romantic love, and, while I won’t argue that Avatar attempts to directly evoke this, I will suggest that the series consciously leaves room for this association. Now, the show certainly makes no attempt to imply anything romantic between Zuko and Aang within the timeline we witness (nor any same sex characters, which reflects cultural expectations in the 2000s). And for good reason, the age gap would be notably icky, to use the technical term. (You might note, however, that the show actually allows for crushes to extend upwardly across the same age gap, when Toph accidentally reveals her affection for Sokka to Suki in “The Serpent’s Pass.”) Despite connecting queer friendships to the history of ‘platonic love,’ Avatar provides two critiques to platonic love for audiences to absorb. One is the pederasty with which Plato defined his ultimate form of love in his Symposium. Fans rightfully comment on the age gap between Aang and Zuko as something preventative to shipping them together. And beyond the fact of their ages, Aang’s youthfulness is emphatic, as I remarked earlier. Aang and Zuko are prevented from consummating their platonic love until both are deemed mature in the last moments of the series. And even then, their relationship is directed toward future development rather than conclusion. Instead of cutting away, they are allowed to exit their scene together toward a speech about hope and peace. This stands in stark opposition to the permanence of Aang and Katara’s kiss. The platonic love in Avatar, the kind EM Forster cherishes, is relegated to adulthood as opposed to other kinds of boyish friendships. The conclusion of Avatar, at least for me, actually feels especially satisfying because it settles our characters in the “new era of love and peace.” It is a beginning, and it feels more expansive than the actions the characters choose to take in the episode. Even as our characters conclude three seasons of narrative tension as the sun sets and “The End” appears on the screen, it feels instead as if their stories can finally begin. The characters are allowed to simply exist for the first time. Yes, Aang and Katara or Zuko and Mai are allowed to embrace and kiss, but it’s because the pressures of empiricism have finally been banished. They are now allowed to try things and fail and make mistakes and explore. Things don’t feel rigid or permanent, whether that be one’s identity or one’s relationships.
Ideally, within the morality of the series (at least as it appears to us with no regard for whatever limits or self-censorship occurred due to its era of production and child-friendly requirements), “friends'' are maintained alongside romantic partnerships. Both Zuko and Aang’s separate romantic relationships blossom within the same episode that they declare their “friendship.” In fact, a vital plotline is the development of Zuko’s relationship with Aang’s romantic interest. While anyone in the fandom is well aware of the popular interpretation of romantic affection between Zuko and Katara because of their shared narrative, I have to point out that romantic feelings across the series are made extremely explicit through statements, blushes, and kisses. Zuko’s relationship with Katara can be better understood in the light of the coming-of-age counternarrative. While the love interest often serves as a catalyst for separation for a homosocial relationship, the friendly relationship with Aang’s love interest—seeking her forgiveness, respecting her power, calling on her support, etc—is vital for Zuko to ultimately create an environment of peace in which he and Aang can fulfill their destined “friendship.” In fact, we can look at Katara’s femininity as the most important device for manifesting Aang and Zuko’s eventual union. It’s her rage against misogyny that frees Aang from his iceberg, midwifing him into the world again after his arrested development, the complete opposite of a Wendy figure. It’s her arms that hold Aang in the pieta after his death in the Crossroads of Destiny, positioning her as a divine God-bearer. Afterwards, its her hands that resurrect Aang so that they together can fulfill his destiny. It will be these same hands with this same holy water that resurrect Zuko in the finale. Only through Katara’s decided blessing could Aang and Zuko proceed toward the fated reunion of their souls.
The importance of this critical relationship to femininity becomes relevant to a scene in “Emerald Island Players” that one might note as an outstanding moment of gay panic. Zuko and Aang, watching their counterparts on stage, cringe and shrink when, upon being saved by The Blue Spirit character in the play, Aang’s performer declares “My hero!” Instead of the assumption of homophobia, I wonder whether we might read Aang and Zuko’s responses as discomfort with the misogynistic heterosexual dynamics the declaration represents. Across the board, Avatar subverted the damsel in distress trope. There’s a-whole-nother essay to be written on all the ways it goes about this work, but the events in “The Blue Spirit” certainly speak to this subversion. It’s quite explicit that Zuko, after breaking Aang’s chains, is equally dependent on Aang for their escape. And, by the end of the actual episode, the savior role is reversed as Aang drags an unconscious Zuko away from certain death. To depict these events within the simplistic “damsel in distress” scenario, as The Ember Island Players do, positions Aang as a subordinately feminized colonial subject, denies him his agency, and depicts the relationship as something merely romantic, devoid of the equalizing platonic force that actually empowers them. The moment in the play is uncomfortable for Aang and Zuko because it makes Zuko the hero and Aang the helpless object. Aang is explicit about his embarrassment over his feminized and infantilized depiction in the play. And Zuko, newly reformed, is embarrassed to see, on one hand, his villainy throughout the play and, on the other hand, see how his character is positioned as made out as a savior to the person who has actually saved him.
At the heart of the series is not the idea of a chosen one or savior. Instead, we are saved by the ability for one person to see themselves in another person and to feel that same person equally understands their own soul. This is the ideal of platonic love. Platonic love between two matured boys—two boys with whose memories and bodies bare the scars of their queer sensitivities—is an essential part of the future of peace. Many fans have a sense of this, labeling the relationship as “brotp” and “platonic soulmates.” I simply encourage people to acknowledge that platonic love, especially in this context, is not a limit. There is no “no homo” joke here. When we remark on the platonic love between Zuko and Aang (and across media more generally) we are precisely making room for friendship, romance, and whatever else it could mean, whatever else it might become. While I find Legend of Korra lacking and in some ways detrimental to appreciating the original series, it’s finale interestingly parallels and extends this reading of platonic love in a sapphic vein. And most recently, She ra Princess of Power was able to even more explicitly realize these dynamics in the relationship between Adora and Catra. Let’s simply acknowledge that Aang and Zuko’s relationship blazed the trail: that peace, happiness, hope, and freedom could all hinge on a “friendship,” because a “friend” was never supposed to be set apart from or less than other kinds of relationships. For the ways it disregards gender, disregards individualism, disregards dominion, platonic love is the foundation of any meaningful relationship. And a meaningful relationship is the foundation for a more peaceful world.  *Author’s note: I’m just tired of sitting on this and trying to edit it. It’s not perfect. I don’t touch on all the symbolism and nuances in the show and in the character’s relationships. And this is not meant to negate any ships. It’s actually, quite the opposite. This is a show about growth and change and mistakes and complexity. Hopefully you can at least appreciate this angle even if you don’t vibe with every piece of analysis here. I just have no chill and need to put this out there so I can let my obsession cool down a bit. Enjoy <3
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salty-stories · 4 years
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In Love and Friendship, you play as a young lady named Miss Merritt, a veteran of Regency society. The season--a period of year designated for arguably excessive social interaction and wasteful displays of wealth and status--is yours for the commanding. Decide how you want to spend the next few months among society’s richest, well-sculpted upper echelon. Though the outcome of the season may determine the rest of your life. 
Miss (determinable first name) Merritt
A Young Lady
Miss Merritt is one and twenty years of age, embarking on her fifth season in town or London. Being a single child to two well-off parents, growing up in large and covetous property in the countryside, has afforded her the lifestyle to pursue those attributes considered nonnegotiable among respectable young women. And while the Merritt’s hold no title, they are highly regarded as one of the older, settled families in society. 
This season holds particular merit as most young ladies are expected to be attached or actively engaged in searching for a life partner by their third season. Miss Merritt has let that aspect of herself languish in favor of cultivating her skills and experience. But the external pressures do not come alone. A cunning ploy orchestrated by one of the Merritt’s closest(in blood, not attitude) relations threatens to wrest control the Merritt estate unless the young lady can find herself a suitable match by the season’s end. 
“What’s a lady to do?” 
“why...follow her heart.”
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Samantha Renolds
The Childhood Best-friend
Growing up only a half or so from mc’s home in Easton, Sam is Miss Merritt’s first and closest friend. The pair have been nearly inseparable since infancy, engaging in all sorts of mischief and fun as they’ve grown. Sam can be quiet and rather shy, which made her the perfect partner in crime. The pair got up to all sorts of mischief; sneaking away during events, playing the piano-forte in a crowded assembly room, sipping stolen brandy as teens, etc. Not without getting into trouble, of course. While Sam would eventually admit her involvement, most of the time, Miss Merritt took the fall for their shenanigans. The relationship deepened to the point, Sam held off her own debut a year to align with Miss Merritt’s. But the merry times ended rather suddenly with Mrs. Renold’s illness. The family was forced to leave England and seek treatment abroad. This season will be the first time in over five years that the two will have spoken as correspondence to the continent was spotty and Sam seemed to neglect all of Miss Merritt’s letters. There’s no telling what remains of their friendship after such a gap, if anything at all.
Despite only being a year older than Miss Merritt, Sam stands nearly a head taller than her friend. Although her golden waves draw more attention from others than her height. If one were to peer even closer, they’d be struck by the openness of her light-brown eyes and the fullness of her smile. 
Lord Warren Hind
The Roguish Rake
Very few can fascinate and repulse in such equal measure as London’s most infamous, Lord Warren Hind. A second son, no one actually expected Warren to ever hold the title. But the mysterious and sudden death of his elder brother a few years prior has shaken the order of things, leaving behind a solemn widow and infant. Before taking his brother’s position, Warren was known as unashamed flirt, a man for whom all pleasures, carnality included, were welcomed with reckless abandon. Rumors range from his deflowering of several fresh-faced debutantes to swindling thousands of pounds from London’s seediest gambling parlor. Though even the most stanchest of his detractors admit the Lord as been quiet, almost sullen, as of late. To the dismay of wagging tongues, Lord Hind may be better behaved than his reputation claims. 
Wicked green eyes, that accounts for much of the speculation surrounding Warren. But it’s rather unfair to the rest of his equally attractive features, his causally tousled brown locks, his slightly athletic tanned build, his vulpine smile. But with baggage like that, who wouldn’t abandon Regency-sanctioned good sense and take a second look. 
Vivian Fortescue
The Jaded Widow
Vivian’s story is harder to tell. While many in society know her, her family, her husbands(oh yes, plural!) for many years, no one can claim a particular closeness to the thrice-now widow. The charitable bleeding-hearts pity her; to marry and settle down, only to lose it all, again and again. The petty and envious whisper conspiracy and concoct extreme theories, blackmail, murder, and affairs. Everything and anything outlandish enough to erase her unfortunate tragedy. Although one does wonder...three husbands dead in succession. Three very rich, very influential husbands dead. Vivian, for her part, seems indifferent to society’s speculation and grieves, well, maybe a little too much. Since the death of her third and final husband two years ago, Vivian has worn nothing but mourning colors. More ammunition for the charitable and the petty to pick apart. As for the lady herself, no one is close enough to know the truth.
No one in court has the gumption to get close enough to look Mrs. Fortescue in the eye, to peer beneath the black of her lace mourning veil. But if one was brave, one might note the slight curve of her mouth, the sharpness of her dark--near black eyes, the strength behind her stature, the gravity of her voice. But, of course, society only has their eyes on her dress, her black wardrobe colored only by the deepest shades of purple, red, and green. 
Hugh Langley (Platonic Friendship Interest)
The Red Herring Dandy
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Hugh Langley is not. Not in a way that matters, but that won’t stop the hoards of mothers springing their daughters upon him. His income, his family history, his address, all up for public discussion, it seems. The Langleys did not come into their riches through exploitation of tenant farmers but rather through...trade. A horrid concept to the more traditional heads in Regency. But it was Hugh’s grandfather that did the hard labor of building the family business. All Hugh has to worry about is picking which shade of maroon his cravat should be, that and making sure his income doesn’t disappear with neglect. Now he wants to get through the season without entangling himself with someone he cannot stand, and maybe have some fun, if he can find a moment of peace.
A stranger might describe Hugh as a not-so young man in his early-thirties with dark brown skin, effortlessly braided black hair, and striking blue eyes. But a friend could tell you about his obsession with red-colored clothes, or the small scar on his upper lip he hides with his facial hair, or how his cane is more than just a fashion statement. 
PLAY THE GAME HERE
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jordanianroyals · 3 years
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Crown Prince Hussein in an interview with Jordan Television in March 2021, on the anniversary of the Arabisation of army leadership.
The Crown Prince also touched on a number of topics like the state centennial, Jordan’s foreign policies, the repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis and social media.
The video is subtitled & following is the English transcript of the interview:
Jordan Television: In this conversation with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein Bin Abdullah II, we will discuss a number of occasions — the anniversary of the Arabisation of army leadership, the centennial of the state, and a number of other topics.
Welcome, Your Royal Highness.
Crown Prince Hussein: Thank you for having me. Allow me first to send my greetings to all Jordan Television viewers and to pay tribute to all those working to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. May the souls of those who passed away from our families rest in peace, and may God protect everyone. “God is best at guarding, and He is the Most Merciful of merciful ones.”
Jordan Television: Your Royal Highness, our meeting coincides with a dear occasion to us all, the anniversary of the Arabisation of army leadership. The Armed Forces, as we all know, have a major and prominent role in safeguarding our nation. And as Crown Prince, Sir, you have a special relationship with the Armed Forces. Can we talk more about it?
Crown Prince: First, Sir, in the army, I’m not a Crown Prince, I’m a First Lieutenant like any other army officer. The Armed Forces teach us commitment, sacrifice and discipline. Frankly, the camaraderie I have experienced in the army is something I have not seen anywhere else.
And as you mentioned, we are celebrating a historic day in the state’s journey. It is an achievement by my grandfather, Al Hussein, may his soul rest in peace, from whom we have inherited the love of and dedication to the army.
And as you know, my father, His Majesty King Abdullah II, is a military man first and foremost, and he has served for a long time in the Arab Army, rising through the ranks to become Special Operations Commander with the rank of Major General.
And to this day, when I accompany His Majesty, I see how he reacts when he meets with those who have served with him, and I feel how happy he is to reminisce about his time with them.
Jordan Television: Honestly, Your Royal Highness, this is a wonderful legacy, and the relationship between the Hashemite family and the Armed Forces is distinctive throughout history. Just recently, we witnessed the launch of the “Brothers in Arms” programme. If anything, this indicates the deep faith in the Armed Forces, including active and retired personnel, doesn’t it, Your Royal Highness?
Crown Prince: I cannot begin to describe how happy I was when this project was launched, because it touches the lives of our brothers who have served in the Armed Forces.
This programme is a priority for His Majesty, who knows how much [veterans and retired servicemen] have given to this nation, out of his close relationship with them. I hope this programme would meet the aspirations of retired servicemen.
Jordan Television: Your Royal Highness, at the start of this conversation, you mentioned the late King Al Hussein, may his soul rest in peace. You carry his name, and many see a resemblance between you and him. Can we speak further about this?
Crown Prince: It is an honour for me, but the issue is not about physical resemblance, what is more important is to carry forward his principles. My grandfather Al Hussein had a unique personality, and from him we learned to have our own independent approach and way of thinking, within the steadfast principles we grew up believing in. May his soul rest in peace, he was an inspiring leader and close to the people, and since I carry his name, this gives me a sense of responsibility and a deep connection to him.
To this day, when I see my pictures with him, I remember my childhood and the attention he used to give me, and it touches me deeply.
When people remember my grandfather Al Hussein, they remember his speeches and positions, but when I see how Jordan continues to stand tall against all odds, I say that this is the legacy that my grandfather left behind, may his soul rest in peace.
Jordan Television: This is a great legacy, Your Royal Highness. We also always see you by His Majesty King Abdullah II’s side. This closeness must have an impact on your daily experience, doesn’t it?
Crown Prince: These meetings are schools unto themselves, and I am very lucky to be able to learn from him. I always see how His Majesty is firm in tough situations and compassionate in humanitarian situations. He always keeps calm and takes the necessary decisions at the right time.
There is no doubt that the responsibilities on His Majesty’s shoulders are indescribable. Those who have simple commitments may not be able to sleep at night, so imagine what it would be like for someone responsible for an entire country. May God bless him and enable us to meet his expectations and serve the nation as he taught us to.
Jordan Television: Your Royal Highness, let us turn to the COVID-19 crisis and its implications. It has been a year since this pandemic started, which has changed much in the world. Your Royal Highness, do you think we will witness any breakthroughs?
Crown Prince: Of course, Sir, this is a new issue for the whole world, and no one knew what sort of enemy we are facing. Unfortunately, many families have lost loved ones, and the lockdowns and infections have impacted livelihoods and the economy. However, God willing, with the vaccine now available, we will be able to gradually recover from the impact of the crisis.
Jordan Television: Your Royal Highness, God willing, and with the determination of all, we will be able to recover soon.
Crown Prince: Jordan was among the first countries to acquire the vaccine in the region, but the delay in the vaccinations is due to delays from the manufacturing companies. Jordan is working to secure a large supply of vaccines, God willing. It is imperative that everyone take the precautions and register to receive the vaccine. Patience is needed, and “with hardship comes ease”.
Jordan Television: Sir, we must also speak about the economic situation. My question, Your Royal Highness, is how can we bolster our economy in light of the challenges facing us?
Crown Prince: Our core challenge is the economy. Jordan has gone through a series of crises, from the Iraq war, to the cut in gas supplies, to the Syrian crisis, and now the COVID-19 crisis. All these crises have impacted economic reform.
Like other countries, there have been mistakes that we must review and learn from, and there must be a clear goal and institutionalised work, as well as bold decision-making in the state’s approach to various economic issues. Policies must not change with the faces, and this must not delay projects.
Most importantly, we must see the results on the ground, and the only concern for any official must be citizens’ interest. Frankly, we do not have time nor patience for any other concerns.
Jordan Television: So, Your Royal Highness, this is a strong call for hard work. The Jordanian society is usually described as a youthful society. Sir, we always see you around youth. How can we enhance young Jordanians’ opportunities and qualifications to join the labour market?
Crown Prince: Our youths are up to the task, and I always meet with them. They all have the energy, but they need the opportunity, so we must focus on honing their skills.
For example, the Crown Prince Foundation is one of the institutions seeking to reach young people in all areas and to contribute to technical education, through several initiatives, such as Al Hussein Technical University. These skills will contribute to qualifying young people to join the labour market.
Jordan Television: Of course, Your Royal Highness, especially since the future lies in technical education, and many local studies indicate there are certain specialties that have become saturated. Your Royal Highness, since we are talking about young people, do you follow their comments on social media?
Crown Prince: Sometimes, when I get the chance. Social media platforms are very important, and it is difficult to disregard them, but they do not always reflect reality. This is why I always try to reach out to people directly.
And sometimes, unfortunately, social media platforms spread negative and false news, so we must always verify the news. Sometimes, I check social media on my phone and suddenly find myself “engaged” or “married”, and there are many false stories that we come across. This happens to most people.
Jordan Television: Sir, Your Royal Highness, you studied international history, and you are aware of the domestic and international scenes; how has Jordan been able to safeguard its interests while maintaining its steadfast positions?
Crown Prince: Everyone knows that Jordan, historically, has gone through much more difficult times than the ones we are living through today. Jordan’s resilience is a lesson to be taught, and this year, we celebrate the centennial of the state, a state that has stood firm and prospered in a turbulent region. This is all due to the strong faith of our people and leadership in this nation.
Jordan’s vision is clear — safeguarding its strategic interests, while our positions remain steadfast towards Arab causes, especially the Palestinian cause, our central cause.
And Sir, Jerusalem is a personal cause for the Hashemites, and a red line for every Jordanian.
Jordan Television: Absolutely, Sir, Jerusalem and its holy sites are in all our hearts. To conclude, Sir, what are your aspirations for Jordan’s future?
Crown Prince: If you want to answer this question, I think it is necessary for us as Jordanians to ask ourselves what is the future that we want? What is the role of each official and citizen in building a community rooted in productivity, justice and efficiency?
Jordan Television: Absolutely, Your Royal Highness, this could be a message to all — we must work towards such a future?
Crown Prince: Our country’s human resources are full of potential; it is a museum from north to south, and we have immense innovative energy.
We have all the key ingredients for progress; we need only to roll up our sleeves and work together as one, because teamwork is key.
And this is who we are as Jordanians. We are all one, God willing, and we are unwavering in the face of all circumstances. I view the future with a sense of optimism, and I pray that God protect everyone and safeguard this nation.
Thank you, Sir, and God bless your efforts
Jordan Television: Amen. Thank you, Your Royal Highness.
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whereflowersbloom · 4 years
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Alfred’s farewell
The sky had begun gloomy since even before the sun had the chance to rise. Mist was overshadowing the city of Gotham, and drops of dew are still littering every surface. The birds were unusually quiet, nestling safely under the warmth of their nest. A large group of grey clouds lingering above the place, promising unpleasant weather to deal with later on. Lighting crackled in the grey sky and snatched away any hope of a golden day. Only songs of sadness spread around, feeling the sorrow taking place. Even the world is holding its breath and everything is still, the earth seemed to be mourning as well the unexpected loss. The atmosphere was exceptionally dark and lifeless, each face filled with silent and bitter grief and regret. Tears do not fall, there’s a blackhole forming in place of his heart. This date…this date would be burned into his soul for the rest of his existence, it would be a permanent reminder to himself of how foolish he was, how everything…could change in matter of seconds. Seconds only a few more seconds would have made the difference. The tree that was once full of life, the one Alfred looked after kindly, because he planted it himself after coming to work for Thomas and Martha Wayne, was now barren as the weather grew colder and the icy wind blew the leaves away.
There’s people gathering, familiar faces and unknown ones. The solemn mode had settled between them, and soon the ceremony comes to an end. It’s time to say farewell.
Will I always, from now on, be this cold? Was Pennyworth really gone? He didn’t dare to pronounce his name. He discerned the sounds of footsteps slowly fading away and all that was heard afterwards was the thud of knees hitting the ground. Grayson. Even Dick was so lost and crushed, the man who always looked so high-spirited and brave, so even-tempered and filled with honor, seemed so weak now.
“Alfred, I am so sorry…” Richard whispered with a low-pitched and desperate sob as he caressed the stone with his trembling hand. His face, marred for life, had an even more painful expression plastered on his face as tears started to fall slowly onto the dirt. But it’s not your fault. Damian wanted to let him know. He wasn’t there to stop it. Unlike you his mind whispered.
Jason Todd remained silent. Todd had always been quick to emotion in general, to tears when someone else was sad, to contagious laughter when their siblings were smiling, quick-tempered, choleric when provoked. Surprisingly an empathetic sensitive soul, spent many years alone, hungry for tenderness and familial ties. And yet he was wearing an expressionless mask, but his body betrayed his affliction, shaking so badly that Tim had to grasp tightly at his arms to prevent him from going down. Drake. Tim was clearly having so much invisible burden on his shoulders. His curved jaw clenching tight, and his dark blue eyes cast downwards and unblinking. He didn’t have his daily cup of black coffee. No, he didn’t have a single drop of his precious caffeine today. He kept his head low the entire ceremony, maybe he didn’t have the heart to look up at the crying mess everyone was. Perhaps he thought somebody had to tough it out, specially considering Father’s absence.
Stephanie standing close to him, blonde curls dancing with the autumn wind, biting her lips the entire time. Stephanie who tried to be strong and now, after holding in for too long, the tears break out like a leaking dam. She was devastated and weeped openly, clinging to Tim’s coat as if her life depended on it, as if she were drowning, the sight made the hole in Damian’s chest squeeze around his heart. Guilt. Distress.
Cassandra was hardly moving from her spot. She had a deep crease on her brow, and face as hard as rock. She hugged herself in the arms, shielding her frame from the icy wind, when Duke swiftly placed his Armani cashmere coat on her shoulders, her hands were going cold, and the moment Duke noticed the way she shivers with small movements. He considerately held them between his, providing temporary warmth, trying to find some kind of comfort in each other, but Cassandra avoided making eye contact with anyone, her mind was really blank as a void. Possibly still attempting to process the reality. Duke Thomas, the only one that hasn’t lost his mind amid this consequent emotional instability, drops of tears still hanging from the corner of his eyes, while the rests were slowly drying on his cheeks. Damian wasn’t exactly close to Duke but he wondered how he managed to carry on. Where did he find the strength to persist? Damian walked closer to the tombstone, feeling resignation seep into his bones.
Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth, beloved father, grandfather, mentor, friend, heroic veteran, a talented cook, a man of family, with a great big heart. Alfred Pennyworth had been a man with many facets. He brought balance to this dysfunctional family, he was the peace and voice of reason. Alfred who made Dick stay in bed when he was badly injured and encouraged him to eat proper meals, lectured Jason for his vulgar language, introduced Jason into the culinary arts, trusting him with the top secret Pennyworth recipes, who secretly switched Tim’s coffee for decaffeinated when he had too much, who prepared Stephanie waffles after a night out patrolling, didn’t say a word of the nights she sneaked out with Kara, who enjoyed the company of Cassandra lurking around the manor, when she’s having a bad day he used to watch the stars with her, listening to Cass make up stories about each star, Alfred who never had to fix anything Duke broke because Thomas instantly apologized and offered to fix it himself, Alfred that found intriguing sudden Duke’s interest in gardening. Alfred... who who spend each and every Damian’s birthdays with him ‘every birthday is special and must be celebrated Master Damian’, gifted him a cat because it made him think of him, offered him a cup of hot chocolate or tea sleepless nights. Alfred, who told him he was proud of him. Alfred, who raised him and loved him wholeheartedly until his last breath.
Damian ran his hand down a large polished stone, ‘Wayne’ carved into it expertly. He sighed wearily and stood beside a gravestone, right next to the family stone, he absentmindedly ran his fingertips along the engraved letters.
‘Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth’
August 16, 1943
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October 10, 2019
‘The light of our household is gone. Leaving only haunting echoes lingering in this home. A place is vacant in our hearts, which will never be filled.’
It was indeed fitting. Their light was Alfred and he was gone for good. For good the words echoed in his head like an incessant prayer. He felt a pang of pain surge through him as he recalled his last moments with the man who raised him. It felt as if his life was torn apart just yesterday.
‘I miss him already.’ Cassandra gestured in sign language, a single tear rolling down her cheeks. Damian didn’t know if she was saying it to him or his siblings, maybe she just wished to get the weight off her chest, when he didn’t think it could, his heart broke even more.
“Fuck.” Jason swore with pained voice, his turquoise eyes blurring with angry tears that he wiped away roughly. Not particularly at his siblings but himself. For not being able to protect the man who offered a ray of kindness to him, who nurtured his severely malnourished body to health. He didn’t blame Bruce or the others. He was supposed to be better, strong enough to defend his father. Dick was a fucking mess in the dirt,embracing the tombstone with all his strength, like it would somehow bring the dead man back to life. Steph wouldn’t stop crying. Tim was silently punishing himself in his own way, and Cass had been in a mental limbo until a a minute ago. Bruce wouldn’t leave his room for Pete’s sake. He isolated himself from everything and everyone, he simply existed in his bedroom. Not surprised. He should be here, saying goodbye to Alfred, who dedicate his entire life to help him, instead of retreating to a dark room and lying in bed, brooding over his problems. Damian. Damian was so young, he looked like hell, devastated as everyone else. Jason could detect the shadow of regret in his green eyes. He’s seen it before because he experienced it and he saw it every day in Bruce’s eyes. But at least Damian was here, dealing with the crude reality and his anguish.
It felt unreal, like this was only a horrible slow-motion nightmare and they would wake up any minute, a sharp knife that bore a hole through their hearts yet they kept on standing still.
Perhaps it was time to fulfill Alfred’s wishes. He wanted Bruce to set his thirst for justice aside and find happiness, maybe a companion, spend quality time with the children, who clearly weren’t children anymore. The youngest being Damian, who just turned fifteen a couple of months ago. He wanted Richard to start a family of his own with Barbara. He wanted Jason to come back home and stop fighting with a Bruce. He wanted a Tim to seek professional help, see a counselor, quit drinking that damned coffee in excess. Stephanie to stop denying her feelings for Tim and give their relationship a chance. Cassandra constantly suppressing her emotions, fearing to get attached, she was human not a machine trained to commit murder when ordered. Duke should leave behind any doubts to forge his own path and accept he was loved by their family. Damian who Alfred loved like his own grandchild, no matter what he did or what type of person he decided to become, Alfred would always be proud of Damian. ‘In the end, you makes you. No one else, Master Damian.’
“How are you holding up, shortstack?” Jason asked him unexpectedly, snapping out of it, he didn’t know how long his mind had been replaying fond memories with Alfred, he felt the weight of Jason’s hand falling on his shoulder, wearing a genuinely concerned expression.
A cold wind passed by, gracing the leaves and making some brief sounds. The wind leaving with a trail in the form of chilly, close to freezing air. Damian weighted the question in his head. There was only ever-growing emptiness in his chest. After a long moment he spoke.
“I will live.” Damian answered softly, eyes completely fixed on the stone. “I’ll miss him, too...brother.” The young Robin unreservedly confessed, Jason looked slightly taken aback at the words Damian muttered. Damian’s emotions were expressed with snarky comments, throwing daggers and knives, making deadly threats and intimidating stares. He had an aggressive and confrontational demeanor. Damian has never called Jason brother, but it made his lips curl into a small smile. Yes, he was his brother.
Damian was vaguely aware of Jason’s body heat now at his side, followed by Richard who was helped by Tim to stand up, his chest sore from sobbing, black suit covered in dirt but he didn’t seem to care. Meaningless material assets, nothing compared to the irreparable loss they suffered hours ago. Steph took a couple of steps closer to them, her eyes, twins pools of sadness, red and swollen, soon the Wayne siblings gathered around their youngest brother. Embracing tightly the teenager into a group hug.
They shared the same deep numbing pain, but it's more agonizing for Damian because he had been there when it happened, they all knew Damian was suffering so much. The feeling ate him inside, consuming and breaking every part of him miserably. But he isn’t alone anymore, he has his family with him. Damian’s tears are hot and travel down his tanned cheeks, he didn’t want to cry but he couldn’t hold it in any longer, the heartache, the loss, agony, guilt, everything was hitting him all at once. It hurt so much knowing full well that Alfred won't wake up ever again from this neverending deep sleep, buried under the ground lonely and cold and breathless. His grandfather.
It'll be just the the eight of them and it is frightening to accept the truth, that Alfred wouldn’t be around anymore to look after them like he did after all these years. Ever since he first set foot in the Wayne manor. He would me missed every single day. Rchard’s heart broke at the sight of Damian in such crumbling state, his characteristic composure fallen and so alien after living together so many years. Damian was broken too. Dick did the only thing he could think of, patted him affectionately on the back, rubbing it soothingly, mumbling quietly “We are here, Dami.” Letting him know they were all there for him in every possible way. They would try to carry our Alfred’s last wish, for them to get along, integrate, be an harmonious family. Be true siblings. Always Alfred’s children. Together they sang farewell to Alfred with broken chords.
I am not sure if I want to edit this later but here s the progress. I might add Bruce’s part later or tomorrow. My tribute to Alfred 💜❤️❤️❤️
@sofiii @chromium7sky @deep-in-mind67
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writingwallsblog · 3 years
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Father's Day- A day close to my heart
There are many festivals and days celebrated around the world. As we know, a very special day for all of us is Father's day. A day of fathers. This day is very important for us and for our dads too. It truly fills my heart with love and happiness. I'm glad that I'm writing some words for this special day.
When I was a kid I never paid attention to find the reason why we celebrate this day. What's the reason behind the existence of the particular day for fathers?
After digging a lot I came to know, Father's day is celebrated on different dates all over the world. Many have their own traditional histories behind this. Most commonly it is celebrated on the third Sunday of June. This tradition is started in the USA. It falls on June 20 this year.
According to the European tradition, Fathers Day coincides with St Joseph’s Day.
The origins of the celebrations can be traced back to 1982 in Sebastian County when Sonora Smart Dodd's mother died when she was 16 years old. Dodd and her five brothers were raised by her father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran. Dodd decided to commemorate her father's selfless efforts on his birthday to honor and immortalize them- 5th of June The date was later pushed back to the third Sunday in June.
In today's modern world we celebrate this day with a lot of excitement by giving cards, gifts, and even giving flowers to our fathers, grandfathers, or the person who means a lot to us as a token of affection and gratefulness.
But with the going on the covid crisis, we can see many lose their fathers, grandfathers and many fathers lose their children. It is the hard reality check of these years of covid times. All I can say is May their souls rest in peace.
Every child is so close to their father as well. Because they also know that they are a part of him too. And “the dads”- whatever they do for us is the thing I can’t put into words. They deserve a lot of respect and honor. Heads off to them. The father and children bond is very special. Every child, including myself, wishes to give their father the entire world. I hope that everyone gets the happiness they deserve.
Sending a lot of love and wishes to the world.
How do you aim to celebrate the event?
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magnumversumplus · 8 months
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Rasvisr IV: Epsilon’s Enigma
Written By Joseph M.
Written In Consultation With writeformeAI: A ChatGPT Language Model By @antienjoys On Poe App
This story is dedicated to my dear lolo (grandfather.) May he rest in eternal peace. I love you lolo.
Location: Mumbai, India
Timestamp: January 17, 2025; 9:17 A.M.
Jairan squeezed through the crowd, his hands grazing the leather seats of motorcycles and rickshaws. Catholic parishioners laughed amongst themselves as they carried their gilded croziers down the street. Men and women wearing glossy black suits shuffled into the entrances of skyscrapers that slashed apart the stuffy clouds. Even humble restaurants toppled over the roads, obscuring the glimmer of the Sun, and the outside areas were fenced off with shiny glass barriers that prevented birds from scraping food off tables.
Jairan left the more industrial area of Mumbai, greeted by the arched gates and mason walls of a mosque. A golden dome supported by steel beams towered over the crowded residential regions. A hymn of melodic male voices beamed out from inside the mosque, a harmonic call to prayer.
Jairan walked into the residential areas, clothespins and drapes hanging over his head. He sat on a shiny wooden bench, waiting for a man named Sergeant Sergeant D'Souza Sergeant D'Souza, who knew the location of Epsilon. Elusive Epsilon–referrewd to only as “Epsilon” by his best friends and worst enemies–was an international weapons dealer that was on the run, hiding somewhere in Mumbai.
On the other hand, Sergeant D'Souza was a member of India’s National Intelligence Agency, a government organization formed in 2008 that currently had its agents dispatched fighting the same threat as Jairan. Sergeant D'Souza was one of the veterans in the agency, a well-known face among his colleagues in the field and the criminals in the streets.
He was so well known that he had rats in the sewers and the biggest crime lords feeding him intel. His assertive, intentful voice and smooth-talking personality earned him many favors, including some goodwill from Jairan.
“I have the intel you want,” Sergeant D'Souza said sharply, sitting beside Jairan. “But I need something in return.”
“Sure, I’ll help you out,” Jairan shot back. “But I’ll need the intel first.”
Sousa sighed, reached down and opened a briefcase in his lap. “Epsilon is with his men on a plane flying around India. It’s currently stopped in Hyderabad before it makes its journey back to the port in Kolkata. I’ve arranged for a plane driven man by the name of Ben Müller to fly you over his private airport, where you’ll wait there and arrest him.”
Sousa handed him the contents of the briefcase: documents containing details on Epsilon’s private plane, photographs of the plane and a map of Kolkata with Epsilon’s base marked among other things. “When you’re in Kolkata, I need your help taking down one of NIA’s most wanted doctors.”
Location: Somewhere In Hyderabad, India
Timestamp: January 17, 2025; 12:15 P.M.
Jairan walked into a bar and started rapport with the bartender, adjusting his outer black suit with hand gestures like smooth silk. He rose from his seat and sat down next to a different man, one wearing a black trench coat and a black top hat: the crazy Dr. Fasilliare, quietly cackling and holding a menacing smile, soberly manipulating even as he gulped down his drink.
Jairan whispered, “I’m here to take you down.” He pulled the outer layer of his jet black apparel back, revealing a pistol in the folds of his garments. “You’re coming with me.”
Dr. Fasilliare grumbled, “I’m not going back to prison. I’ll use my voodoo dolls, my spells, whatever it takes to get me out of here.” Dr. Fasilliare reached into his pocket and showed a rope doll with damp stains, worn beads for eyes and a black suit. “See, it’s you. You’re the doll I carry around, and in my pocket I have a bunch of little pins and needles so–”
Jairan punched Dr. Fasilliare in the nose. He jabbed the elusive doctor in the chest with his fist and kicked him between the thighs, eliciting Dr. Fasilliare’s agonizing squirms and gasps. Jairan made his timely exit from the bar, leaving a doctor cross-eyed and wheezing. He also left a few hundred rupees on the table for good measure, selfishly pleased with his generosity as he approached the Danavi escort helicopter in the parking lot of Sloppy Joe’s American Cuisine.
The blades on the chopper sliced through the air, whipping through the skies so rapidly they blurred into a singular, rotary circle of violent force and mass. The insides of the chopper were worn by tactical air strikes, battles in the skies and extraction missions.
Six leather seats were lined up against the hulls. They had tears, and they smelled like sweat and lavender. Jairan sat down and strapped in, the seatbelts pushing his tie against his spine and suffocating him. The helicopter promptly took off, adrenaline rushed through Jairan’s body as the ground shrunk below him.
The chopper hovered in circles above Epsilon’s private airport; Captain Ben Müller announced that Jairan was free to depart. Jairan gently moved to the door of the chopper and inhaled, and feeling the gale dart past his face, Jairan leapt.
A hurricane-like wind wrapped around his body as he descended the puffy storm clouds, a strong breeze rushing up his sweaty armpits, entering his nostrils and ruffling his matte black hair. A white tarp spread out, wings of a nylon-cloth angel, wrinkles and folds dancing in the breeze, embracing him as he touched down, swaddling him like a blanket.
Location: Elusive Epsilon’s Unnamed Private Airport; Kolkata, India
Timestamp: January 17, 2025; 1:15 P.M.
Epsilon looked over his shoulder. He shooed away a fly, the buzzing little insect darting off. He still heard the buzz, but he couldn’t pinpoint where the droning sound was coming from.
He had a small headache, but it wasn’t a big deal. He could just take some Tylenol and it would be gone soon. He had a broken wrist after he got into a fist fight, he was easier distracted by mundane things and small objects; there was a porcelain soldier miniature, dressed in camo, and sitting on the large wooden desk in his spacious office.
Epsilon didn’t speak to his cronies often–he always got distracted in the minutia of small-talk when he did. Epsilon spoke the most with his tallest bodyguard and closest friend, George. “So, George, how’s your weekend?”
It was just more small talk, and it was something George didn’t usually mind. “My kids and I traveled around France before heading here. After traveling around India, we’re visiting Singapore.”
“That sounds like a nice plan,” Epsilon said, giving George an unusually amiable smile. “Have fun on your vacation.”
“Your plans unfortunately stop here,” declared a quiet voice, prowling through damp corridors and creeping through thin walls. “There’s nowhere left to run, Epsilon. I’ve got you and your gang all rounded up like cattle.”
Location: NIA Underwater Headquarters, Somewhere In The Indian Ocean
Timestamp: January 17, 2025; 1:15 P.M.
Sergeant Maximillian Ravan D'Souza walked through the glass corridors of the NIA’s underwater headquarters, a central glass dome with neon-lit subway tunnels leading to other areas in the facility, such as the foyer, armaments area and janitorial closet, elevator to the above-water lookout post and food depot. He was the proprietor of a technology unit that made such a grand installation leagues below the foamy waters of the Indian Ocean possible: something named by the sergeant’s crewmates to be “D'Souza’s Mirror”.
The device he had created was everywhere, enclosing the premises in what essentially was an AI-powered projection of the deep blue, masking its appearance. The facility, which Sergeant D'Souza endearingly called “समुद्री घर”, which means “sea home” in Hindi, was also invisible to thermal scanners and heat detectors, as D'Souza’s Mirror was equipped with devices that emitted a fake heat signature to blend their camp into its surroundings.
Sergeant D'Souza currently stood at the command center, wearing a camouflaged vest and the baggy camouflaged jeans, the uniform provided to him during his service dashing with pins denoting his accomplishments as a military sergeant and an NIA agents; he stared out at the deep blue ocean, filled with tropical life.
Then, something swiftly brushed past his eye. It swooped around the perimeter of the dome and darted above him, causing him to turn his head. He said into his mic, “Moving object detected. Requesting backup at my location.”
Nothing audible replied to his request, the only noise from his walkie talkie being a low, disturbing whirring noise. “Probably just interference then,” he thought. “I need to see if the other comms still function.”
He felt a large force suddenly thrust against his spine as he pondered, pushing him forward and over the guard rails. Water blasted in from the ceiling, a whirlpool throwing his body around like a ragdoll. The sergeant was almost sucked into a flooded hallway, nearly enveloped in the angry currents thrashing around the ravaged underwater station until he grabbed onto two walls of a corridor, the sergeant’s core strength anchoring him to the hallway entrance.
Sergeant D’Souza saw everything on the news later that night, watching the incident unfold once again on the news and deducing the perpetrator to be the vindictive Epsilon.
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Imagine:
Erik is the student and reader is the professor.
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“When you are in my class, you will learn to pay attention and not disrupt me.”
Miss. Baxter.
Professor in Microeconomic Theory II for the Doctorate program in Engineering. People who previously had her as a teacher complained of how much of a hard ass she was but it was for good reason. That’s why Erik decided to get within the woman’s good graces and become her teachers assistant. All he cared about was getting his Doctorate degree at MIT and graduating. If he was being honest, the whole school thing was weighing heavy on him. Noticable dark circles under his eyes, facial hair more filled out, consuming more coffee than he would have liked, overworking his body in the gym to keep fit for his life after college, all of those things played a role in his shutting down.
Miss. Baxter was only nice to Erik in class, maybe it was because he had a way of sweet talking people. Erik was charismatic and Miss. Baxter enjoyed his company while grading papers and in class activities. She looked forward to seeing him, and the older woman couldn’t hide her attraction to him. She was still young, just five years his age. Currently, she was teaching a segment on Supply and Demand. A poin-dexter type who loved to challenge Erik every second felt the need to disrupt Miss. Baxter during her teaching hours. She hated that, no, despised it.
“You want me to have a talk with him, Miss. Baxter?”
Erik looked at the guy who reminded him of Mandark from Dexters Labortatory, squinting his eyes to show him that he wasn’t fucking around. That seemed to work, the Mandark look alike kept his eyes in his books now, good boy.
“No need, Mr. Stevens. I’m sure this is the last time, yes?”
Her Caribbean accent soothes him. Especially when she was putting someone in their place. The class lasted for about an hour and a half and tonight Erik was more tired than usual. He even had to stop from fucking his usual campus pussy to get some sleep. Then here is Miss. Baxter, his professor and crush, sounding and looking all types of sexy. She spoke her final words on the lesson and dismissed the class, everyone except for Erik leaving the lecture hall. Miss. Baxter erases the board, giving Erik a full view of her ass in those tight charcoal grey wide leg pants she wore.
“How was the lesson today, Erik?”
Erik grabbed his things, heading down the steps within the lecture hall to take his usual seat next to Miss. Baxter at her large dark oak wood desk.
“It was pretty good, you know I don’t have any complaints, you teach very well.”
Finally next to her, half empty coffee mug in hand, Erik could make out the smell of apricots and peaches on her skin. Damn, she always smelled fruity. Yesterday he caught a whiff of her pin curled hair. It smelled like strawberries and kiwis.
“Mango slices?” She offered, like always.
“Sure, you must’ve heard my stomach.”
They both share a comfortable laugh before Miss. Baxter handed him her folder of activities that needed to be graded. After that, she would have a pile of Research papers for him to take home and look over. 12 page research papers.
“I’m not going to nag you like a mother, but, Erik, are you sure this is okay for you? This isn’t overwhelming?”
Erik finished chewing on the juicy mango slice before answering, “Nah, I’ve dealt with worse stress than this.”
Miss. Baxter watched the way Erik would sit with a straight back, eyes sharp like a hawk and reflexes so quick it reminded her of the speed of light. He was so structured it made her organized life look less put together.
“Are you a military man?”
“Yes,” He turned his low eyes on her, “Navy first, now Military.”
“Wow,” she pulled some stray hairs behind her ear, “No wonder why you’re so...”
“Intimidating? Was that what you were going to say Miss. Baxter?”
She smiles, picking up her red ink pin to start on her pile of activities, “No, just very structured...and at ease in stressful situations like a Military man. My father is a veteran.”
Erik rolled his tongue over his teeth, nodding his head in acceptance of her response.
“You have a good eye for that shit- sorry,”
“You’re grown, no need to apologize.”
“You just, I don’t wanna cuss in front of you.”
She scrunched her face, “why not?”
“You might use that metal ruler to wack me over my head.”
She couldn’t fight the fit of giggles escaping her. The sound was so peaceful to Erik. None of the other classmates would ever have the pleasure of witnessing this. Such a beautiful and intelligent black woman.
“You’re so gorgeous, Miss. Baxter.”
She stops abruptly, the tiny hitch of her breath causing him to smirk.
“I...Thank you, Erik.”
“Are you married?”
“No.” Miss. Baxter has to double check question five to make sure she marked it correctly.
“Damn, that’s a shame...I would wife you up if I wasn’t so fucked up...”
She gave him a curious look, wondering what he meant by that exactly. She couldn’t see what was so fucked up about him. Maybe he suffered from a little PTSD from being in the Military that she didn’t know about but what else could be so fucked up about him? He seemed so...perfect.
“It’s never good to talk down on yourself.”
“It’s not a talk down, it’s just the truth.”
Erik unwrapped his hair from the head wrap he wore, shaking out his tapered dreads. They framed his eyes, shadowing them from her line of vision.
“I’m finished this pile, give me the rest of yours.”
She handed it over without hesitation.
“So...what’s next for you? After school? Do you plan on applying your Engineering skills in the Military? I mean, you could get into the mechanical aspects of it, or even the computer science bit of it too.”
Erik recapped the pin, adding the finished activity to the finished pile, “Yeah, just for a bit. Then I plan on traveling.”
Miss. Baxter nods before taking a sip of her cold water. What She really wanted to do was tell Erik how handsome he was but then she felt like that was going too far. There was a comfortable silence for a while until she reached out to grab another mango, grazing Erik’s fingers with hers. She could feel that in her skin, her teeth biting down hard on the mango to fight an airy sigh from escaping her lips.
“Shit,” Erik says while stroking back his dreads from his glasses, “I didn’t realize it was 10:00 pm.”
Her eyes looked up at the old grandfather clock on the wall. It was indeed 10:00 pm.
“You’re right, we should wrap this up.”
“Mm,” he hums in approval, packing things away in his carry on. Miss. Baxter took that distraction of his to admire him fully. She stared at the angles and contours of the side of Erik’s face, the pout of his lips so inviting and the curl of his lashes adorable against his masculine face.
“What’s your first name, Miss Baxter?”
She stole her eyes away from him, packing her things, “Mya.”
“Is it cool if I call you Mya from now on?”
She blushed, side eyeing Erik in a playful manner, “Only because your my favorite student, Erik.”
“Cool,” he reached out to squeeze her shoulder gently. It was friendly but it held a certain longing as well. Miss. Baxter grabbed the hand on her shoulder, taking it to squeeze it. She looked down at their hands, body turning from side to side in that swivel chair nervously. Miss. Baxter felt Erik release her hand, taking his pointer finger and thumb to gently grab her chin, making her look up at him.
“Relax, there is nothing wrong with what’s going on between me and you. Like you said, I’m grown...you’re grown.”
“I know but,” She blinked away from him, “I don’t want my attraction to you to interfere with your education, Erik.”
“Oh, I’ll get my education regardless. Only problem I have is how sexy that Island girl dialect sounds rolling off your tongue.”
Miss. Baxter bit down on her lip, closing her eyes to calm her fluttering belly.
“And then you like to wear those fitted bell bottoms...” Erik makes his voice sultry and low, “and you smell like the fruit you eat...”
He was probably wondering if she tasted like it too.
“Erik, I think...I think we should go, it’s late now and...I don’t want to keep you up any longer.”
Miss. Baxter stood, grabbing the handle to her rolling bag, other bag on her shoulder and water bottle in her right hand. Erik stood with her, grabbing his bag from the floor. He walked in front of her, holding the door opened so she could exit first. Their eyes marked similar paths, looking eachother from head to toe.
“Thank you.” She kept in front of him as they walked down the deserted hall of the Science building at MIT. She tried to lessen the switch in her hips but it was too late, Erik was already on it like clock work.
“You ain’t gotta do that,” his words confirmed it.
Finally within the parking lot, Erik walked her to her car, ensuring that she was cool before he made it to his. She placed her things within her trunk, walking back to her drivers side were Erik was leaning against the front of her car, arms folded.
“Same time, Friday night?” Miss. Baxter asks timidly while hanging on to her opened door, not exactly stepping inside.
“Of course, research papers and all, Mya.”
The sound of her name mixed with his West coast dialect made her toes curl in her four inch heels.
“I’m assuming now you’re going to use my name more loosely,” She couldn’t hide her teasing tone.
“You like it so much might as well, right?”
She twirled her key on her finger, “Yes, I like it a lot.”
Before she could crouch down to get into her BMW, Erik grabs her waist, turning her towards him. Her breath hitches, the sudden influx of air burning her lungs. Erik takes both of his hands, grabbing the sides of her face, pulling her into a searing kiss. His tongue rolled with hers, the warm and wet appendage tingling her very own. Sweet from mangos, and sharp in a good way. Miss. Baxter hadn’t had tongue down her throat in a long time. The hardening of her nipples brushed across his T-shirt, her shaking fingers grabbing and twisting the fabric. He was so needy and insatiable. Her back pressed hard against the car, his leg between her thighs keeping them open so he could feel the heat from her crotch against his thigh. She could feel him alright, knocking against her leg like a heavy pole.
“Miss. Mya,” he whispers against her lips, that sly smirk littered with dimples weakening her further, “You sure you don’t wanna see what it’s like to be with me outside of that classroom?”
She bit into her lip harshly, eye lids fluttering. He had his forehead pressed against hers, his hands holding hers at her sides to keep her still.
“Answer me...” He whispers shakily, her head falling back against the car. This gave him access to her neck now, his lips and that tongue of his tasting what he always wanted to taste.
“Answer my fucking question.” He spoke through gritted teeth in her ear, his tongue curling around the diamond stud she wore. His nose was in her hair, hands moving to grab at her hips, rolling his thumbs along her shirt, lifting it from being tucked inside of her pants. Now there was skin on skin contact.
“Yes, yes, I want to,” she spoke rather quickly.
“Forreal?” He was pressed hard against her now. No one could see them so why was she so damn nervous? Maybe it was the fact that a man had showed her interest again.
“Yes, Erik.” She was weakened by this man.
“Fuck. You don’t know what your getting yourself into with me, girl.”
She didn’t know, but maybe Erik could teach her a few things this time around.
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