#so i just get so emotional when a character has to assimilate to stay safe and doesnt get to experience their culture

[porcelain-rob0t]

thinking about Serge again

#the Jewish-Romani solidarity is real bc i feel for him so much #to be persecuted for centuries and still have so much hope to follow your dreams im jusg AAUGH #i love serge i love my silly little son #in a perfect world he could have embraced and celebrated his culture more #i would have loved to see him in his cultural clothing or anything like that #my family had to assimilate hard when we immigrated to America to be safe from antisemitism but we lost our culture #so i just get so emotional when a character has to assimilate to stay safe and doesnt get to experience their culture #kaze to ki no uta #kazeki

[serendiquity]

His Pack

Charmaine is an OC of mine, and I’ll be posting more about her later once I get the details down. The tag will be #my OCs, so if you’re not interesting in reading about them, feel free to block that tag! 

tw: character death

When Charmaine first picked up a weak, thin boy bleeding in the snow, she hadn’t thought that he would one day become her protector. 

When she’d heard a rustling in the bushes, her first instinct had been to pounce, to tear apart whatever creature or traveler who had the misfortune to stumble into her hunting grounds. Before she had the chance, she saw what exactly it was. A boy was crumpled on the ground, stubbornly trying to crawl forward despite being malnourished and half-dead. For a long second, they both stopped and stared at each other, the boy’s eyes holding neither a speck of fear nor uncertainty. What are you waiting for? Something inside her urged her to attack, the part of her that saw him as prey, nothing more than a way to keep her pack fed. But the more human, emotional part of her didn’t. 

As she knelt into a silent crouch, she hesitated. She saw herself in his frail frame, abandoned and left to die in the snow. So, after a moment, she simply did what her mentor had done for her. She brought him into the pack. 

In the beginning, he had been like a young doe, struggling to stand on unsteady legs. Still, he had a fire to him that Charmaine quite liked. When she dropped a rabbit at his feet, he snatched it up immediately, afraid it would be stolen away. The other wolves protested. “We barely have enough to take care of ourselves, we can’t afford to have another mouth to feed. Besides, humans can’t be trusted,” they howled. “Once he grows up, he’ll turn on us, just wait and see.” 

Though she knew the others had a point, she chose to ignore them. She wanted to prove them wrong. That the boy could become so much more, if only he was given the chance. She was desperate to have a chance in life, and so was he. Determined, she trained him, taught him how to survive the merciless North. He learned, drinking in the knowledge ravenously, always craving for more. He fell, and he fell often, but he always stood back up. “Teach me,” he asked. “Show me more.” So she did. 

Working relentlessly, he clawed his way up until he soon became the strongest of them all, even able to defeat her. However, contrary to what the pack expected, he didn’t betray them. Instead, he took care of them, making sure they were always sated and content. The wolves who once scorned him now respected him. With his newfound strength and his ability to communicate, he easily assimilated himself into the pack. It made Charmaine proud, but it also brought her a tinge of sorrow. 

There was a harsh glint in his eyes now, void of the innocence that had once rested there. It was the type of look you saw on old, battle-hardened wolves, on someone who had become far too used to death. She could also feel that he was different from the people she’d seen in the past, that he wasn’t completely human. Humans didn’t stand up after having their throat ripped out, couldn’t create fires with a mere flick of their fingers. Humans didn’t stay the same after years had gone by. None of that mattered to her, though. 

Charmaine wasn’t sure when it had happened, but eventually, he stopped being just “the boy” in her mind and became Owen instead. Perhaps it was because she’d taught him everything she knew, or the way she took care of him, keeping him safe from the cold, she didn’t know. Either way, without realizing it, he had wedged himself into her heart, and she began to think of him as the child she never had. 

But every dream has to end. With time, her senses dulled, and her glossy silver coat lost its shine. Owen held her close at night, next to the fire, but still she trembled. When she gave chase to a rabbit, she missed, claws sinking into the snow. He must have realized what was happening. After all, he had seen the other wolves in the pack age. Their breathing became labored, coordination plummeted, and finally, their hearts stopped and bodies froze over. 

Still, he refused to accept her fate. “You won’t die,” he murmured, looking at her helplessly as he clutched her body against his chest. “You can’t.” 

Her eyesight had faded now, and all she could see now was a hazy Owen-shaped blur. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, nuzzling her nose closer to him. Death was inevitable, after all, at least for her. She would age, and she would die, like she was meant to do. “I’m sorry that I can’t stay with you. But… never forget that I love you, Owen, so so much.” 

With everything said, Charmaine felt the edges of the world slipping away around her. Her eyes slipped shut, and she submitted as Death wrapped her into his gentle embrace. She would have to leave behind all her burdens, passing them to Owen instead. It was fine. He was a strong child, it would be hard, but he would make it through. 

Dimly, she felt a few droplets of water land on her face, immediately freezing into solid ice. Her heart slowed. Thump… thump…… thump………  Finally, a silence settled over them, with no noise save for a single heartbeat. Owen remained there for hours, unmoving even as biting winds swept across him and falling snowflakes covered him in a layer of powdery white snow. Soon, everything would be gone, as if nothing had ever happened in the first place, and life would go on, never knowing the story of a boy and his pack. 

#mhyk #mahoyaku #promise of wizard #mahoutsukai no yakusoku #owen #my OCs #tw // character death

[wearecaptaingeorgiou]

Captain Georgiou January - February Day 3′s scheduled creation is by Al @dykekeit​. Thank you to Al for sharing this essay!

Here’s the thing: this story isn’t about me. I’m white and Jewish―not exactly lacking for representation in Star Trek, even if I am a lesbian―not with the ta’al itself coming from the Kol Nidre service, not with Benjamin Sisko’s character more closely resembling Moses than any other religious figure. How many times have I seen myself, loved myself, in Trek? I’ve taken heart in Leonard Nimoy’s Yiddish, in Jim Kirk’s Tarsus IV backstory, in Benjamin Sisko the reluctant prophet and in Kira Nerys, fighting for her traditions amidst pressure to assimilate or die.

And yet, the first time I saw the trailer for Discovery, I almost burst out crying hearing Michelle Yeoh’s voice—her accent, the way she pronounced Shenzhou, seeing her in the captain’s chair—because it felt so much like home.

Like I said, this story isn’t about me. This is a story about my sensei.

I still don’t know what name she was born with, growing up just outside of Hong Kong. When she arrived in the United States, there was no large Chinese community on the east coast in those days; she didn’t speak English, and no one around her spoke Cantonese. She was alone, totally alone. I still can’t fathom the sheer amount of chutzpah it took for her to stand her ground and carve out her place the way she did, but I know what it took: a skill for organization, a love of scheduling, a gift for disdainful silences, and an intense, rigid sense of etiquette. When you stand barely five feet tall, it’s all necessary.

Sensei loves gardening and darjeeling tea, and hates anything sweet to the point that I have gone out of my way to buy her chocolate above 70% grade dark. Oh, and did I mention? She loves Star Trek.

Sensei gravitates towards characters like Spock, like Data: immigrants, constant strangers among new and adopted cultures alike, repeatedly explaining their differences and saving face and proudly, wholly themselves, no matter if people understand them or not. They are characters who defy expectations and use every difference as a strength, no matter if it’s supposed to be a weakness. I wonder, sometimes, as she’s teaching me about the protective properties of jade bracelets and how the good Jewish delis she knew used to serve thinly sliced beef tongue for sandwiches, but not any more—were the stars visible in Hong Kong, growing up? Did she want to escape to the dark sky, to the other side of the world—anywhere?

How did I meet her? Well, when she was thirty-nine, my sensei took up kendo, the Japanese martial art of fencing, and almost twenty-five years later, she had reached fifth-dan (that’s fifth degree black belt!) Into her dojo I stumbled. Picture this: me, a clumsy, skinny Jewish lesbian, never worked out in my life, thought swords were kind of cool, walking into a dojo and finding a sixty-something Chinese woman who, though she barely came up to my chest, could kick the butts of every single much-younger six-foot-plus male student she had.

I guess it’s not surprising I stayed.

Over the next six years, my sensei taught me everything, and not just about kendo. In between correcting my wrist angles, my posture, my follow-through, my footwork, my uniform, my dojo etiquette, and anything else she could think of, there were moments of life coaching: how to focus, how to be disciplined in everything I do, how to help, how to put other people first. When I burst out crying during practice, she reminds me that the dojo is a safe place for emotions. She introduced me to Hong Kong-style diner food, showed me real dim sum and how to order and eat and share it properly, cultivated a lucky money plant for me to bring home and instructed me where to put it in my house for best feng shui, advised me to begin acupuncture for stress, told me to take more initiative when pouring tea for other visiting sensei. On the worst day of my life, I wanted her advice. Once, I managed to get a signed copy of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club addressed to her personally. When I presented it to her and she learned I hadn’t read it, she turned around and gave it right back to me, insisting with a smile that I read it first so that we could talk about it together.

In the middle of all of it, a new Star Trek show, called Discovery, was announced, and soon, a new trailer dropped. The captain’s name was Philippa Georgiou, and she was played by Michelle Yeoh.

I did nearly burst out crying. It was Michelle Yeoh, but all I could see was Sensei, in command and speaking her accented English, proof of a past beyond a Starfleet that demanded “standard” English for assimilation.

Captain Georgiou was concerned with etiquette, both social and honor-bound: Starfleet doesn’t fire first. In the dojo, I am to bow respectfully, I am to shake hands and thank my opponent after every match, I do not hit just to hit or shy away in fear. The only way a kendo match works is with mutual communication; an opponent is not a faceless thing to be beaten so much as a partner to create opportunities. We may strike first, but we are not aggressors.

Captain Georgiou said: the best way to know yourself is to know others. Take care of those who are in your care. I still remember the time I watched a fellow dojo member rush across the tournament floor because someone had the wrong-colored tasuki to change it without a thought—because he had noticed a problem, therefore he must help. I sat there, frozen. I told Sensei this story later with absolute wonderment and shame and she just smiled, patted my hand, and shared some of her favorite raisin walnut bread with me. She knew the lesson had stuck. Other times, she has snapped at me for forgetting to hold a door open for other people, but—

Captain Georgiou: disciplined, teasing, dedicated, setting stars and valuing candor: your confidence is justified. My shock when Sensei first told a few of the other girls and I some dirty jokes late at night before that same tournament was only matched by how funny it was, and how it was immediately followed with a discussion of our weaknesses in shiai combat, and what our approach both physically and mentally would be for the tournament the following day.

I wonder, through fanfiction and fanart and discussion with others, what Philippa shared of the universe with those around her—with Michael, with Saru, with all those under her care.

I once told Sensei that reading The Joy Luck Club and trying to understand all the Chinese cultural nuances from an outside perspective was like looking through a waterfall, or trying to see through a beaded curtain—seeing outlines, but not being able to grasp details. She smiled, and nodded, and said, “yes.” What she meant was, of course I couldn’t, and no one would be able to explain every detail to me―not if I didn’t live it, but more importantly, not if I didn’t ask questions. When Captain Georgiou brought Michael Burnham to the bridge for the first time, she said, “This can be your new home, if you want it to be.” She asked for little but trust and mutual respect from a certain Vulcan-raised human who needed to re-integrate into an all-too-familiar but still foreign culture. The dojo is foreign, and it is my home, and I must always ask questions.

A human who had seen a life of loss, but still chose hope. A mentor who saw everything as a lesson, full of expectations both written and unwritten. And I, or Michael Burnham, watching her set a star.

Sensei: 谢谢, I love you, and I hope to see you in person soon.

Al

#philippa georgiou #star trek discovery #event submission #type: scheduled creation #type: text #author: dykekeit #event tag #food #ds9 #tos #tarsus iv #death mention

[marahope-things]

I think the similarities that people are finding between Adora/Catra and Mara/Light Hope are less to do with the relationships being the same internally (as in, in terms of the dynamics between the two characters) and more to do with the fact that their stories deal with a lot of the major themes of the show, because the two pairings embody a LOT of the major themes of the show between them.

I don’t think it’s an accident or any kind of misrepresentation that the two relationships have parallels, but as someone who enjoys Mara/Light Hope A Whole Lot, while being pleased but more or less happy with how Catradora is presented in the show and not feeling a need to go beyond that, I want to unpick why, and what some of those differences are.

Partly because I think people make broad, thematic-level arguments about why a pairing is attractive to them, and for me, there are a lot of intra-relationship or interpersonal dynamic elements that have more bearing on why I like a ship. And it’s hard to frame in a positive light, but with Catradora, they already engage with some relationship dynamics that I’m a huge fan of (namely, rivalmancy, childhood-friends-to-lovers, and enemies-to-lovers).

The big similarities I see people picking up on are: The mind-control thing, and the "you deserve love too"/"you’re more than what you can give to other people" exchange.

And these are extremely valid parallels! They touch on two Extremely Core messages of the show! They’re very real! And you’re correct—those parallels do mean something about Mara and Light Hope, about their importance to the show and its message. Mara and Light Hope embody many of the show’s core themes, and I am glad people are starting to write about that!

But I find myself sometimes feeling like that’s… not quite the reason why I like the pairing. Y’know?

So, with the caveat that this is just my feelings about the pairing, and probably literally everyone who ships either Catradora or Marahope has a different opinion than me in some way or other, I want to discuss the major differences between Catradora and Mara/Light Hope as I see them.

Because we started liking these ships before we saw the themes that they’d be used to embody in the end, right?

Breaking it down

What Adora and Catra have is a rivalmancy, essentially—especially when they’re first introduced.

Even when they’re on the same side, they have a competitiveness to their dynamic, and part of what drives their split is that Catra, on some level, resents Adora for getting all of the things that she wants, but can’t have, because of (basically) Shadow Weaver—and then abandoning both it and her. It’s a rivalry between peers, fellow soldiers, and there’s a colossal amount of abandonment issues and emotional trauma involved as well. They’re also both close to the same age.

And they were raised together. They spent their formative years extremely close, and their split has a lot in common (probably intentionally) with painful adolescent splits that happen as people grow up, change, grow apart, and (sometimes) come back together. It’s quite moving!

Mara and Light Hope aren’t peers in the same sense; you get the sense that they started out more like co-workers, and their eventual split only happens because Light Hope has their mind wiped and their ability to choose taken away from them (Catra, on the other hand, makes a lot of choices that put her and Adora at odds, often intentionally). The two of them work together and depend on each other, and they become friends, and their roles are complementary. Literally neither of them could do the other’s job, and they depend on each other’s skillset and resources to stay safe and fulfill their own duties effectively.

So they meet as fully-formed (relatively) people in a professional context and become closer, rather than being together for those formative years and undergoing a separation as they change and discover they don’t fit the same way they used to.

There’s also an implication that Light Hope may have trained other She-Ras in the past. I don’t know how long Mara expected her tenure as She-Ra to be, but it seems like that could be a lifelong commitment, once she’s been chosen. If so, then that could imply that Light Hope’s "age" (though I don’t know if that’s something anyone would even keep track of for an AI, because they weren’t supposed to change and “grow” like a person) is on the scale of centuries by the time she meets Mara.

And even if you headcanon them traveling to Etheria together immediately after Light Hope was minted, they’re still not really anything like Catra and Adora in their dynamic. The development of their relationship has a lot more in common with interspecies or human-AI relationships in sci-fi—Terminator, Andromeda, and Killjoys come immediately to mind.

I’m also intentionally including platonic relationships here, like John Connor and Uncle Bob in Judgement Day, too, because this is such an established trope, and touches on some of those Core Sci-Fi Questions that exist in the genre—about the nature of life, consciousness, sentience, individuality, and choice. It’s not just in a romantic context that you see humans and AIs ruminating to each other about what beauty is, why people find flowers “pretty”, what it means to have free will, to feel emotions, or to be an individual. Hell, you can even include Data from Star Trek in that list.

But it is also something of a trope for AIs to "fall in love" or develop special bonds with humans that they work particularly closely with, or for humans to fall in love with AIs (sometimes they go more Pygmalion with the latter and cast the human as the AI’s creator).

Which brings me to the core trope being engaged in Mara and Light Hope’s relationship, one that Noelle has actually alluded to in their remarks during the "Exit Interviews" streams:

Relationship makes Light Hope more than their intended purpose.  

Memory and programming

In one of the streams, Noelle states that the writers’ room made the decision that something about Etheria "broke" the people who have tried to conquer it, and kind of made them part of itself (God this show has Star Wars all over it). He uses several examples, including Hordak.

Hordak, however you feel about him, develops a sense of individuality that makes his re-assimilation into the greater Horde impossible. Like Light Hope, he remembers things he isn’t supposed to, and on being presented with a physical reminder of Entrapta and his relationship with her, Horde Prime’s conditioning begins to break down.

Over the course of her arc, Mara comes to realize that being She-Ra means something more than her superiors have told her, and on realizing what her superiors are doing to Etheria, concludes that She-Ra, and all of Etheria, are being exploited and need to be protected from the First Ones. So, by betraying the First Ones (breaking her oath to them), Mara fulfills her role as She-Ra.

And Light Hope falls in love with Mara, something she was never supposed to be able to do. In the end, it is the memory of Mara that allows Light Hope to break through her programming long enough to allow Adora to destroy the Sword.

I know I brought up how AIs gaining sentience and self-will is a trope within sci-fi, but the best recent example that I can think of off the top of my head (and the reason I was able to articulate this at all) is actually The Good Place, with Janet.

In The Good Place, successive reboots are the in-universe mechanism that allows Janet to grow and change—but it’s her relationship with the other core characters that shapes who she becomes and what she believes. In fact, if she hadn’t been stolen and rebooted so many times in the first place, she never would have become who she did at all.

So: Like the rest of the cast, relationship makes Janet more than she was originally intended to be. Relationship makes Janet whole and fully alive. Light Hope’s story is, um, a bit more tragic, but I think the comparison works.

Catra and Adora, on the other hand, are dealing with a separate problem(/s): Catra’s pain and abandonment (and Adora’s self-abandonment) as a result of what they endured growing up, and the angst of childhood friends growing up and growing apart. It fits very squarely within the parameters of She-Ra as a kids’ TV show.

To boil it all the way down, their relationship *is* the problem. And it takes the whole show to fix it.

What’s suggested by the (sparse) textual evidence on Mara and Light Hope is that their relationship followed a more well-worn sci-fi path: By becoming friends with Mara, Light Hope learns how to be in relationship with another person, how to make her own choices, go against her programming as needed—how to have fun and appreciate beauty and being. Her falling in love with Mara is, metaphorically, her learning how to be alive in the world. Through loving Mara, she gets a glimpse of a world beyond being someone’s instrument, someone’s tool.

That’s part of what’s so heartbreaking and beautiful about them: In the midst of a situation that’s that’s built on deception, concealment, and coercion, where both of them appear to have been lied to or denied the entire truth by their superiors, where Mara, Light Hope, and the entire planet of Etheria are considered expendable by their superiors as long as they get their shiny weapon, Mara (who seems to understand that there’s more to life than duty and heroism) creates a space for Light Hope that is free from the constraints of her programming, to a degree. And as a result, Light Hope changes.

If Light Hope is a villain for her role in all of this (and this is complicated by the fact that she’s a programmatic being created for a particular purpose), then loving Mara is part of what makes her redemption possible. Her relationship with Mara makes her more than a weapon. In fact, it breaks her as a weapon.

And there’s certainly elements of that in Catra and Adora’s relationship, but it’s not the throughline that it is for Light Hope and Mara until you get to season 5—a full three quarters of the way through the show.

Love also doesn’t play as positive of a role in Catra’s redemption arc, really (where her parallels to Light Hope would be the most obvious), both because her villainy is something she explicitly chooses, and because her internal conflict and pain regarding her feelings for Adora are so much a part of her villainy. It only becomes redemptive in Adora’s struggle with the Failsafe—i.e. when we get back into the world of the First Ones, where most of the themes of "destiny" live.

So yeah. That’s the breakdown. I want to get into the individual tropes, but I’m going to have to save that for another day.

#marahope #meta #spop

[sendmyresignation]

You Got Blood On Your Money

Question: how do you make honest art? Is this not the eternal conflict as a creator- how to stay genuine to yourself and your art without tripping into the pitfalls that lay within fame or money or popular culture? Every creator must grapple with the fight between being seen and being sold. But very few artists struggle with this quite as visibly as My Chemical Romance has. From the inception of this band, which has always been more art project than musical endeavor, its members have tried desperately to convey a bone-deep sincerity fundamental to their work. From their very first song, the band proclaims itself as a savior to a generation that had been stripped of their will in the face of unimaginable horror. At the same time, there exists within their music a commitment to storytelling, a desire to fill the empty space in rock music with narrative and macabre and emotion that had been absent. Both of these elements manifest themselves into a band that very seriously considered it their mission to save people’s lives, as well as to create deeply meaningful art. But how do you save as many people as possible without being corrupted by the spotlight? And how do maintain genuine storytelling as you get further and further from the basement shows you got your started in?

These are questions that permeate their music at every turn, something that haunted each album and made itself known in each new project. And while there are many ways to dissect this particular struggle in their discography, nowhere is it more apparent than in the dispute between Thank You For the Venom and its reimagined successor- Tomorrow’s Money. These songs are noticeably similar in their structure as well as lyricism and imagery but instead of the latter building off of the other, they are inverses of each other. And they speak to My Chem’s long battle with becoming a legendary band in the midst of also attempting to keep their identities as artists and outsiders. And in analyzing their differences, it becomes reflective of the band’s main career-long conflict between the commodification of their art and the need to create something larger than themselves. And the question remains, were they successful?

Before we answer that, let's talk about Thank You for the Venom. To begin, it's important to note that Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge is an interesting part of My Chemical Romance’s discography because ultimately, it is unconcerned with legacy, but instead is centered on the immediacy of loss and the reactionary pursuit of revenge. In a record overwhelmed with death and grief, there is very little mention of the afterlife for either the living or the dead- characters are murdered but there is very little textual violence. Characters come back to life but there is minimal discussion of how they died or where exactly they were in death. However, that does not mean Revenge is not devoid of mythologizing- it just happens to be about immediate intention rather than a long-term commitment. It is because of this reckless drive forward almost to spite the odds that allows for Venom to exist as the band's declaration- it is their call to arms. Specifically, the track is a pronouncement of My Chemical Romance as renegades fighting against the fake, safe bands writing hits for money instead of survival or purpose: they “won’t front the scene” if you paid them, after all, but are instead running from their enemies. And not only are they an oppositional force, but they are pariahs, targets- something you can try to kill but will fail at. More specifically, in “If this is what you want the fire at will” there is an element of martyrdom, the idea that they are not just a necessary part of the very structure of society but also there is the implication that killing them is to concede to their influence and a necessary part of their lifecycle. Once you get big enough to become a target, you inevitably will be shot down- that is the final step of a great and honest band’s success. This also feeds into the album's wider ideas surrounding revenge as a concept as the greatest revenge is finding success in the aspects of yourself and, by extension, the things you create that other people thought were worthless (I don't think it's a coincidence so much of this album is steeped in comic book imagery and art and mixing punk and metal and theater when those are things the band would get shit on for enjoying). At the same time, this theme exists as the foundation necessary to create an anthem of survival- revenge is the fuel that keeps the protagonist, as well as the band, in motion. Look at the specifics of their thesis- “Just the way the doctor made me” and “You’ll never make me leave” are both reconciliations with the self in spite of the prevailing narrative against them. That connects to the way this song is a statement of a savior and a martyr twofold- “Give me all your hopeless hearts and make me ill” as a representation of the band taking on the pain of others to keep them both alive. All told, in Venom there is perseverance in the face of a large, unimaginable adversary. It is a threat directed at your enemies. It’s living as free and ugly and completely yourself as you can until they shoot you down in a hail of bullets. And then even that end is itself a victory.

Here, at its core, Venom is really the singular instance in the entire album where the band reconciles with an image. And the image the band creates for themselves is as outcasts in opposition to the "scene" and as a revenge plot, proving to their audience the value of authenticity and survival and rubbing it in the faces of those who doubted them. These themes about what My Chemical Romance is and what their goals are is something they wrestle with for the rest of their career- how do you say lives, reach an audience, and remain a fighting force against the societal norm when you exceed your mission and become part of the fabric of popular culture? But that is for later, at this moment, Revenge imagines no future. Only this desperate battlecry.

By contrast, Tomorrow’s Money is dealing with the aftermath. Functioning as a cynical reimagining of Venom, the song is structurally, thematically, and even lyrically reminiscent of Venom to an uncanny degree. First and foremost, the songs are structured the same- a slow build-up into a whispered intro, a multi-part chorus, the exact same chorus-verse layout, and a strikingly similar solo. Looking at the two Toro solos more closely, they both feature more building up as well as tremolos, triples, darker tones, and what sounds like a slide progression just ripping through both of them. Tomorrow’s Money is mimicking Venom pretty clearly here- either as a direct reference or because Venom is so reminiscent of the condensed MCR sound that they’re ripping off to make their point. And looking deeper at the themes present in Money specifically, just like Revenge, there is a clear lack of legacy- “we got no heroes ‘cause our heroes are dead” calling back to the very real disillusionment of Disenchanted that’s placed specifically in a song about becoming part of the machine, being heroes themselves, to nod to the fact that the very mission of the band is dead as well.

Simply put, Money tackles similar issues as Venom about fame and audience and creating art while using much of the same language and metaphors to completely invert the claims found in the “original”. To start with, both songs use the verbage “bleeding” to associate with a kind of suffering for your art that was an aspect of their previous band ideology. Namely, it’s the idea that the audience makes the band ill through the “hopeless hearts” as much as the “poison” does. The “what’s life like bleeding on the floor” of Venom is paired with “you’ll never make me leave” is a statement of defiance and survival against the odds while still bearing the burden of other’s pain. Money, on the other hand, explicitly says they “stopped bleeding three years ago” as a rejection of this leftover martyrdom prevalent in Revenge especially.  But it also refers to their newfound luxury of comfort, they have a way to stitch themselves together that they didn’t have before. These implications transition directly into the ideas surrounding health, vitality and living- specifically surrounding both doctors and infection. Speaking of the former, Money has an interesting lines in “If we crash this time, we’ve got machines to keep us alive” and "me and my surgeons and my street-walking friends" because they speak to both becoming a part of the “industry” by mentioning mechanization but also specifically evokes the living dead. In the MCR canon, the idea of the undead (both vampires and zombies) are antagonistic forces that represent the outside world, specifically fake people or the music industry. And zombies, in general, are already rife with allegorical connections to consumerism, like how Dawn of the Dead, a known mcr influence, is directly about materialistic culture. Vampires, subconsciously or not, are often representatives of exuberant wealth as well as beauty and desire. They’re also blood-suckers and leeches that someone in this narrative has fallen in love with, as if colluding with the enemy and allowing them to literally drain them and their life force. Thus, in describing themselves as essentially undead (when they crash, they’re revived) as well as directly collaborating with the undead, they are connecting themselves to the very forces they’ve been fighting. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of this association is how they specifically relate it to survival, the only way of staying alive is to accept them, to allow themselves to be hooked up to the machines that make them undead in the first place. Almost as if you make it far enough not to tear yourself apart, you’ll eventually assimilate into and become part of the industry. 

This idea of unavoidable assimilation is compounded with the multiple references to viruses- “You're loaded up with the fame. You’re dressed up like a virus” then being reemphasised with “We’re gonna give it for free. Hook up the veins to the antibodies, got it with the disease, we’re gonna give it to you”. Both these lines condemn fame but also implicates themselves as part of the contagion that is celebritidom at the same time it depicts this process as unavoidable. Not only that, they’re the ones spreading it at the same time they condemn it. This duality, possibly even exaggerated hypocrisy is buried deep into the foundation of Money. Even the ending line, as angry and inflammatory as it is- still names them as complicit as the "I’ll see you in hell" implies that they're going to hell too. Looking even deeper, there are multiple references to the dilution of their message:  “Choke down the words with no meaning” and “The words get lost when we all look the same'' both representing meaninglessness in the lyrics while “the microphone’s got a tapwire” is reminiscent of wiretapping or even the surveillance company Tapewire, suggesting their words are under scrutiny, they are being monitored and that could be one of the reasons for meaningless words. All of these lyrics reference, with subtly or, in the case of the last one, very obviously about the sellibility and how rigid the label of “emo” is and how they couldn't escape it - they may not have gotten paid to front the scene, but they sure did inadvertently lead a cause. And being put in that position was clearly very stifling, striping them of their artistry. Even looking at the response to Black Parade, it's clear that popular culture at large did not appreciate the record for its genuine message but for the moment in time it represented or the aesthetics it called back too. In many ways it was taken at face value- “words with no meaning” or just another dark, death obsessed emo record. What Tomorrow's money is is a rejection of the glorification of suffering and nativity of Venom in the face of becoming pop culture icons but it's also, in a way, reconciling with a perception of failure and loss of creative control that will haunt My Chem for the rest of their years.

Ultimately Tomorrow's Money is representative of the band's response to the gradual shift of My Chemical Romance, as an entity, away from martyrs to an accepted part of the music industry and culture. How do you reconcile with that? In this moment, in a post-Black Parade era, they try taking everything down with them- becoming a whistle blower to their truth. But perhaps most importantly, this conflict lays the foundation for Danger Days as both critique of industry’s commodification of art, as well as the reutilization of the obsession with legacy and death in their next project -no longer can they let the machines revive them, they have to get out of the city, yell incendiary graffiti at the top of their lungs, and explode in brilliant colors. It was time to return to calls to arms. It was time to return to the power of not just of death but of living on long after it, the album the act of becoming folk heroes for a new generation. And while the bright lights didn't last forever, by scrapping Conventional Weapons and starting over in the name of artistic integrity they truly created a legacy of material unrivaled in its sincerity, reach, and cultural significance. 

As we know, the story didn’t end there. The final chapter used to be closed, and ending with "I choose defeat I walk away and leave this place the same today" as the conclusion of their career. This was not the explosion Gerard wrote about, not the doomsday device but a quiet goodbye, a silent curtain call. It's another round of disillusionment finally fully-realized. And yet, the Reunion seems to be a direct contradiction to their farewell- in some way they did come back because they were needed, because their absence was a gaping hole in music at large which suggests they did change things, that they do have a noticeable effect on the world they inhabit. Looking at A Summoning for even a moment, the picture illustrated to the viewer is that they are an otherworldly power. That they are an entity that you plead for the return of, the hero and the savior on clear display. And regardless of how you feel about the postponement, you can never talk away that fact- some force bodily brought them back in their narrative, that it was human interference that started the resurrection. And that it was primarily through art, especially that video, that they declared their forced-to-be unfulfilled intentions. I've always liked to believe that we've cycled back around, that the cynicism of Conventional Weapons and then later Fake Your Death has had its moment but now it's time to return to that world of rebellion in this era of the desert- the reinhabiting of reckless living and creation. Again, we must ask: what does it mean to make art for the masses? I don’t think we’ll ever truly find the right answer, but I think My Chemical Romance have always tried their best to solve the equation.

#you know the drill. Bibliography Post <33 #yes. i HAVE been thinking a lot about venom recently how can you tell? #my posts #mcr assigned reading

[fyeahwildfire]

Spirit Bound

Chapter 9

Pairing: Mortal Kombat x reader; Bucky x reader; second soulmate x reader

Warning: Angst, death, 

A/n: I do not own Mortal Kombat Characters. Next Chapter will include Mileena! Hope you all like!

You pushed urgently towards Kuai Liang’s location, paying little attention to anything but the branches and twigs beneath your feet. Kuai was in danger and you were so close to reaching him. You hoped you were not too late to save him.

Up ahead there was set of gates that led to who knows where. You pushed urgently towards it, knowing your half brother was in there. Running down the steps you heard the exclamations of pain. Kuai Liang was under attack and you barely reached him in time.

You were nearly crying with relief as you had seen Kuai Liang freeze his enemies. “A pity you could not have cooperated.”

You ran towards him and as he turned in your direction, you slammed into him so hard that the force caused him to stumble backwards. You immediately wrap your arms around his neck afraid to let him go. You could not lose him. Not another brother.

Kuai Liang was taken by surprise as he had not expected this reaction from someone he had never met.

Out from the shadows Cyborg Cyrax appears out of the shadows. “You are ordered to return to the Lin Kuei temple for assimilation.”

Releasing your half-brother, you turn towards Cyrax, a deathly glare evident on your face. You stand protectively in front of Kuai Liang.

“Cyrax?!”

“I am Lin Kuei Unit L-K-4-D-4. You will come with me.” Cyborg Cyrax continued approaching the two of you.

“Like hell he will.” You get into a fighting stance, your hands glowing with green telekinetic energy.

Kuai Liang did not understand why you were so protective of him; he had never met you and yet you seemed familiar. You resemble someone he once loved. Someone who he had been taken away from. Not wanting you to fight his own battles, he stepped around you and faced Cyrax.

“I am sorry for what they did to you…” Kuai Liang gets into a fighting stance. “…But I will not comply.”

The two faced each other in battle and it was clear that despite being turned into a machine, Cyrax still harbored some of his humanity. It was a struggle as the cold-hearted cyber part of him continued to fight. Because of this Kuai Liang was able to easily defeat Cyrax.

“I will face the Lin Kuei when my task is done, not before.” Kuai Liang tells Cyrax, who immediately teleports away.

Kuai Liang then turns around and faces you, his eyes soften as he takes in your features. You remind him so much of his mother. It had been so long since he had last seen her. He wondered how she was. Where she was? Perhaps, maybe when this was over, he could try to locate her.

“You have questions. I can give you answers you seek.” You pause as you hear Jax and Sonya approaching through the tunnel.

“Who are you?” His brow furrows with confusion.

“You’re sister.” You rub the back of your neck. “From the future. Look I know this maybe hard to believe, but I can show you.” You close your eyes and show him images of you and your mother.

Comprehension flickers on his face as he sees you with his mother. So, it was true. You were his sister.  Kuai Liang could hear the laughter and joy from both of you. Before he could see any more, he heard the voices of Sonya and Jax. He yanks you and spins you effortlessly so that you were standing safely behind him. His stands protectively in front of you as Jax and Sonya step out of the dark tunnel.

“The readings were getting stronger and now they’re gone. I…”

Both Jax and Sonya come to a stop when they see Kuai Liang.

“Easy brother, they are friends.” You place your hand on his shoulder and step out from behind him.

“Sub-Zero?! But…you’re dead!” Sonya and Jax approach the both of you.

“I am not the Sub-Zero you speak of. He was my brother.” Kuai Liang looks down to you and notices the frown on your face.

“Your…brother?” Sonya repeats with confusion.

“I’m only here to learn Sub-Zero’s fate.” Kuai Liang sees the exchanged look between Sonya and Jax. Neither of them wants to give the unsettling news of Bi-han’s death.

“He was killed by Scorpion.” You turn your back on the three and whispered sadly. Scorpions betrayal was unexpected. You had befriended him, and he did the one thing you had asked him not to do.

Kuai Liang takes a step towards you. “Where would I find him?”

You place your hand against your head as you began to hear the many souls of Ermac.

“Try the Coliseum. That’s where…”

Souls surround Jax, Sonya, and Kuai Liang, until they sensed your presence and immediately were drawn to you.

“You have disturbed our regeneration process.” Ermac appears out of thin air, his eyes immediately lock on you.

“This one can free us from servitude.” One of the many souls spoke inside your mind. “It is our nature.” “She is bound to another soul.” Ermac’s eyes remained locked on you as he approached you.

Jax disturbed by Ermac’s interest in you approaches him to get him to stay away from you. “Gotcha.” He pulls back his fist and tries to punch Ermac.

Ermac uses his telekinesis to stop his fist mid motion. He then uses his telekinesis to stretch out Jax’s arms. Jax cries out in agony and before you all knew it Jax’ arms are ripped off.

“Jax!” You and Sonya scream in unison as you both rush to his aid. “Stay with us, Jax!”

“We will break you as well.” Ermac says to Kuai Liang as he stands behind you.

“Not if I break you first.” Sub-Zero threatens as he gets into a fighting stance.

The two get into an intense fight. You had never seen a fight like that before. A fight between Ice and telekinesis. You clench your fists as you assess the fight between the two, you had to interfere to keep Kuai Liang alive. Of course, he can take care of himself, but you were not going to risk his life. You lost one brother. You cannot lose another.

With Ermac’s back to you, you use your telekinesis to prevent him from attacking Kuai. Kuai Liang notices and decides to freeze him. “I remain whole, for now.”

Kuai sidesteps Frozen Ermac and stands beside you, his hand on your shoulder as you attempt to help Jax.

“Sonya Blade to Command. Sonya Blade to Command. Do you read?”

“You have stopped the bleeding.” He says to Sonya.

“Yes, but he needs a medic as soon as possible.” Sonya exchanges a look between him and you.

“I must go to the Coliseum.” Kuai Liang removes his hand from your shoulder.

“But I need your help to get him to…” Sonya sits up straighter.

“There is a portal to the south. You can use it to transport yourselves back to Earthrealm.” Kuai Liang informs her.

You had an internal debate on whether you should help Sonya save Jax or stay with Kuai Liang. As much as you cared for your new friends, you could not help but put Kuai first. The thought of something happening to him. No. You could not stomach losing him. And so, you rose to your feet and gave Sonya a look of sympathy.

Kuai Liang walks away from the three of you not expecting you to follow him.

“Mother f…” She sends deathly glares towards Kuai. “That portal better be close…Y/N, come on we have to get him out of here.” Sonya struggles to get him up right.

You use your telekinesis to get him up and off the ground, “I’m sorry Sonya, but I can’t come with you and Jax. Kuai Liang is my brother and he is in danger.”

“Seriously, I’m pretty sure he can take care of himself. I can’t do this by myself.”

You look back in the direction where Kuai had disappeared and then looked South. “I failed to save Bi-han. I can’t…”

Sonya sighs as she knows what its like to live with guilt and regret. “Y/n, Bi-han’s death isn’t your fault.”

“No, but I trusted Scorpion.” You take a moment to pause. “The portal isn’t far away. I can help you get Jax close enough, but from there I have to get back to Kuai Liang.”

You arrived the Coliseum and rejoined Raiden, Smoke, and Johnny Cage, to find Kuai Liang surrounded by several cyber Lin Kuei.

“Sub-Zero?! No!” Smoke’s voice is filled with worry and fear.

You could feel your heart racing in your chest, the blood pulsing hot and fast through your veins. Kuai Liang was being restrained and the thought of never seeing him again, had your emotions and abilities overwhelmed.

Raiden prevented you and Smoke from rushing to Sub-Zero, “You cannot save him! Stay here or they will take you as well.”

You shake off Raiden’s hand. “The flow of time has been changed. I spared Smoke this fate, only to watch this new Sub-Zero fall.” Raiden states.

Kuai Liang’s eyes lock on yours, tears spill from your eyes as you rush forward. It is as if time slowed and you were unable to reach him fast enough.

“No!” Kuai Liang extends his hand to keep you away from harm. He knew what the Lin Kuei was capable of and the thought of you being in danger because of him, he could not bear to lose you. Not when he just found out you existed.

And just like that they disappeared, taking Kuai Liang with them. 

You drop to your knees and cry out in pure anguish. You had gained the attention of Shao Kahn, his minions, and the other kombatants.

The ground beneath you trembles. Kombatants were thrown backwards and were knocked unconscious. Even the audience sitting in the stands watch in fear as a single massive blast of energy came out of you, causing half of the Coliseum to collapse. The audience screamed in horror and fear as they try to run for their lives. Others had fallen, crashing to the dungeons and debris.

“Ugh…” Johnny rubs his head as he was thrown into the wall behind him. He looks up and assesses the wreckage that you had caused. “Damn.”

Smoke shakes off the ring in his ears, he looks over to your hunched form. He slowly rises on his feet and makes his way towards you. He looks up to the throne room and sees Shao Kahn and his followers had disappeared. 

When he reaches you, he can hear your broken sobs. He kneels next to you and places his hand on your shoulder.

Overcome with rage and emotion, you pull away from him and set off to avenge both Bi-Han and Kuai Liang.

Raiden speaks out loud before you leave the Coliseum, “The fate of the world is in danger.”

You come to a stop, but do not dare turn around. Why was this your burden? You did not ask for this. You tried to save everyone, only to succumb to heartbreak and loss.

“What you seek, will not bring them back. Instead you will only find death.” Raiden tries to get you to see reason.

“He’s right kid. You trying to avenge both of your brother’s…you can die...”

You interrupt Johnny, “I just did. Do you want to know what it felt like?” You see a Tarkatan corpse beside you. You use your telekinesis to rip its dead heart from its body. “It felt like that.”

You leave the three of them stunned. Raiden looked around the Coliseum and he feared for the worst. Death. So much destruction and death. 

Suddenly the words of the Elder Gods ring in his head. “The Champion of Mortal Kombat shall be Earthrealms salvation or the cause of its destruction.”

#mortal kombat x reader #kuai liang x reader #sub-zero x reader #jax x reader #sonya blade x reader #smoke x reader #Mortal Kombat #bucky x reader #angst #fujin x reader

[demicorpse]

My qualms with the Animorphs ending. (Spoilers, duh)

So. Around a week ago I finished all 54 of the core Animorphs books, and like many, I was pretty disappointed by the ending. I’d even go as far as to say I was angry about it. Not angry enough to write a rant tweet at the main author, but angry enough to rant about it on a tumblr post where 10 people might see it and agree with me. I’m going to list some of the main issues regarding the last few books, as well as the final book itself. Let’s take it from the top.

The Auxiliary Animorphs.

On paper? This doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Writing in a bunch of handicapped kids and giving them cool powers, while also slowly developing them and not focusing on just their disabilities? Sounds great! Only Applegate didn’t exactly understand what that meant. The Aux. Animorphs are introduced in book 50, The Ultimate, and after a big battle, they’re almost immediately moved to the sidelines. They’re mentioned in passing as ‘James and his group’ when they’re needed to provide a distraction or maybe fight some kind of battle, but other than that, and maybe some characterization of the kids in book 50, we don’t learn a whole lot about ‘James and his group’. I get it. Balancing so many new faces is hard, especially when your series in ending in 4 books, but maybe you could’ve... I don’t know... lessened the scope of the group? Or maybe you could’ve introduced them earlier, so that we can, at the very least, gain a glimpse towards what they’re like? We know so much about the main Animorphs, but when it comes down to the Aux. Animorphs, all I remember is that James wanted Pedro, his best friend forever, to get a morph of his own (which never really developed into anything? Or maybe Applegate forgot to explicitly state he’s part of the group, but, whatever.), and that in the end, they all die namelessly. Again, as part of a distraction tactic. A bunch of handicapped kids who were told the world is being taken over by aliens are introduced, and all they do is die at the end. No mention of them whatsoever in the ending book, after the war was ended. Not even a single page regarding how brave they were, to just trust the Animorphs despite how crazy they sound, and fight by their side, even LOSE one of their own before they all die a book later.

It’s stupid. The Aux. Animorphs could’ve been so much cooler had Applegate wasn’t so deeply invested in her ‘these books tell a war story!’ thing. They had potential to be memorable, and yet, I don’t even remember the names of the main kids that were intro’d in their book. Just James. By the way, James was a way better leader than Jake by the end. Actually, let’s talk about Jake.

Jake’s character was brutally murdered and replaced with an evil clone. So was Rachel’s.

Reading the last few books was, honestly, a festival of awkward and head-shaking moments for me. You mean to tell me that this is where Jake breaks? Jake, the leader of the Animorphs, the one who’s kept the alive, the one who’s brought them together when they thought they wouldn’t be able to make it, Jake, Marco’s best friend, Cassie’s boyfriend, Rachel’s cousin, JAKE, breaks at the end and sacrifices everything. His cousin? A sacrifice. The Aux. Animorphs and one of the only military officials willing to listen to him and his men? A sacrifice. 

I can’t put it into words how disappointed I am over both Jake and Rachel. Jake turned into a monster. He turned into someone he vowed he never would turn into. Remember when he said, like, two books before the end: “Defeat the Yeerks. Don’t become them.” What the hell happened to that when you flushed down 17 thousand Yeerks into space and let them freeze to death? 

Don’t get me started on his hatred towards Cassie by the end (which is 100% totally fixed when she has a mental breakdown don’t worry guys ahahaha fuck I fucked up their relationship and now I can’t really fix it well enough ok they hugged and they’re ok now). Like, I get it. I get it, Jake. You lost the morphing cube and Tom because Cassie thought she’d do something good. But is he seriously daft enough to just disregard any reasoning for what she did and go around acting like a child who got his toy taken away? Isn’t he the one that’s supposed to move on from things quickly? Just... Jake isn’t the same character by the end, but it’s not even a fluid change. It’s so drastic that when you’re reading it, it’s like a completely different character was introduced into the Animorphs with no explanation whatsoever. Yeah, war changes people, but Marco stayed the same. Tobias, more or less, stayed the same. Ax changed, but that was after the war, and it was for the better. Cassie stayed the same. 

Jake should’ve been written better. Because if he was, he wouldn’t have gotten so many people killed, including himself right at the end. 

And, oh God, Rachel... what have they done to you? Rachel went from someone who likes the thrill of the fight (admittedly, maybe a little too much) and is capable of making smart decisions, to someone who’s willing to drive over a military general even though he’s simply asking her to stop (in a truck full of EXPLOSIVES no less), as well attempt to hit Cassie in anger (good thing Tobias is her moral compass) after she confesses that she let Tom go on purpose. Hey, while we’re at it, let’s talk about her death.

Rachel’s death is stupid.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Rachel is my favourite character in Animorphs, second close being Ax. I’m obviously upset about her death, so I’m sorry if I sound a little biased. 

Rachel’s death is plain dumb and stupid and shouldn’t have happened. It wouldn’t have happened had Applegate not convinced herself that all of her character deserve to suffer and die by the end, leaving a hopeless pit in my stomach after I closed the .PDF to the final book. You’re telling me that one of the most fierce human warriors I’ve read about in my entire life just gives up at the end. She spits out Tom’s body, demorphs, and that’s it. She gives up. Doesn’t even attempt to go down fighting. She just says some cliche line to Tobias and dies. I will give Applegate credit for creating one of the best post-death scenes I’ve ever read (”You mattered.” is so good), but that doesn’t redeem her death in my eyes. She’s killed off because Applegate claims Animorphs is a ‘war story’. A war story in which kids turn into animals, alien slugs crawl into people’s ears and control them, time travel happens on more than one occasion, and Ax is Tobias’ uncle. Sure. War story. Since it’s a war story, there’s no hope for any of the characters. But I’ll get to that at the end.

Anyway, Rachel shouldn’t have died. No amount of convincing will have me think otherwise. I don’t care how reckless she was described as, she’s not reckless enough to go on a suicide mission and die to make the reader feel upset. Plus, if Jake was SO hellbent on winning, why couldn’t he have sent James up there to deal with Tom? It’s not like he cared about the fates of the Aux. Animorphs by that point, so why not have one less trauma on your head and send in someone you see as disposable? At least let Jake retain some of his intelligence, Applegate.

Oh, yeah, the ending.

The ending is hopeless, and if you thought your characters’ struggles will pay off, fuck you.

“Ram the Blade Ship”, Jake says with Rachel’s smile, and seconds later, he and his friends die in a horrible explosion in space, limbs either blown apart or frozen. Oh, and Ax has been assimilated into some omnipotent entity that comes quite literally out of nowhere, so it’s safe to say that he’s classified as ‘dead’. The only one left on Earth is Cassie, who has to live with the fact that she’s the last Animorph left alive. Thinking about it, it’s pretty funny that the only one who lives in the end is Cassie, who always advocated for a more peaceful approach, if possible. Great irony, Applegate. 10/10.

Anyway, this whole thing stinks. Applegate claims the ending is up to interpretation (I think, from what I’ve read in her epilogue it certainly seems that way), but I think it’s bullshit. She claims there’s no happy endings in war. That’s bullshit. I can’t express how... just bullshit the ending is.

These kids who have fought for 3 years, these kids who have shed blood, sweat, and multiple tears across 54 books and several spin-offs, these kids who went through so much and where a ‘win’ barely counted as that, these kids get... nothing. No one is happy. Even Marco, who was relatively happy with his post-war life is dragged into Jake’s suicide mission, only to die alongside him, because poor Jake couldn’t get over the fact that he didn’t think of a better plan to save both his cousin and his brother.

No, thinking on it, they DO get something! They get death and an ‘open’ ending, which is just as open as Chick-fil-A on a Sunday. When you make a reader constantly read through HEAPS of books about how depressed these kids are, about their struggles and their failures and how they never really win anything, they mostly react to their enemies’ movements, it just makes the reader feel hopeless. And so by the end, when you just kill off everyone but a single character that knew better, the reader feels sad, and angry, and upset. And maybe Applegate wanted to go for that. 

Conclusion. Jesus Christ, Applegate.

The job of a writer is to string words together well enough to make people feel an emotion, whether negative or positive. And admittedly, she achieved that. But in my opinion, I’d rather close Animorphs knowing that these kids know at least some form of peace. That Jake rescues his brother and he can live out his life alongside him. That Rachel survives and that she can attend high-end fashion shows. That Tobias and his mother (who isn’t mentioned at all at the end, by the way? Guess she wasn’t important enough to the plot!) make up all the time they’ve lost when Tobias didn’t know she actually cared about him. That Marco does his thing, being a comedian, in peace, and visits Jake and his friends whenever he wants to. That Cassie pursues her own career and yeah, maybe she’s not together with Jake anymore, but at the very least, they’re happy to see one another. That Ax avenges his brother by killing Visser Three/One, and becomes a War Hero in his world, as well as a very good War Prince, and that he doesn’t forget to visit his second home.

Whether you liked the ending or not, this is the kind of ending I was hoping for. Something to ease me at the end. Something that would make me feel good after reading so much about the lives of 4 human kids, a half-bird half-boy, and an alien. But no. I get despair. I get death and I get sadness and I get an empty feeling in my heart that will always remain so as long as I remember Animorphs. Because no matter how much I’ll try and rewrite the ending, it’ll always stick with me, this one thought: Everybody dies and no one is happy. 

Animorphs has war, but it’s not a war story. Animorphs has tactics, strategy, guerilla warfare, espionage, but it’s not a war story. And even if I’m wrong, even if it is a war story, why can’t the characters be happy? Why can’t the characters get the one bit of compensation for their struggles?

Maybe I’m just too much of an optimist, and none of this matters. Maybe I should get used to bad endings, because let’s face it, this isn’t a good ending, or even a neutral one. This is as bad as it gets. Maybe I should suck it up and grow some thick skin.

But God damn, the ending to Animorphs sucked. 

#animorphs #animorphs rant #rant #long post #ive had this sitting for a week #tldr: what a joke.

[northsideblaine-archive-blog]

HOLY SHIT IS THAT [ DARREN CRISS ]?! Oh, wait it’s just [ BLAINE ANDERSON ]. Damn, [ HE ] looks good for [ 18 ], good thing that they’re [ GAY ], I might have a chance. I hear that they call them the [ PRETENDER/HOPELESS ROMANTIC ] of the [ SOUTHSIDE/NORTHSIDE ]. I guess that’s because they’re [ BRAVE ] and [ KIND-HEARTED ]. But I don’t think a lot of people know that they’re also [ INSECURE ] and [ DISHONEST ]. Can’t wait to see what kind of trouble [  M/25+/PST ] will bring.

01.  BASICS

Full Name: Blaine Devon Anderson

Nickname: b, bee, bumblee, banderson, b-man, shrimp, hobbit

Sex/Gender: Cismale

Birthday: February 14th

Age: 18

Astrological Sign: Pisces

Occupation: Part-Time music teaching assistant (basically just plays the piano and organizes the sheet music for Riverdale’s choir/band)

Spoken Languages: English, High School Spanish, self-taught conversational Tagalong

Sexual Orientation: Homosexual

Romantic Orientation: Panromantic

Birthplace: Southside Riverdale

Relationship status: Single

02. PHYSICAL TRAITS

Hair Color/Style: Dark brown, well gelled down to tame unruly curls.

Eye Color: Hazel

Face Claim: Darren Criss 

Height:  5′6

Weight: 152lbs

Tattoos: None

Piercings: A secret serpent tattoo that matches his Dare’s, he got long before transferring to Riverdale high and long before he expected to assimilate into the Northside. It’s always covered.

Unique Attributes: back dimples,

Defining Gestures/Movements: Very expressive face, enthusiastic hands. prone to jumping on tables/furniture when excited.

Posture: Generally very proper and upright as though he’s afraid one slouch might give away the fact that he doesn’t belong.

03. PERSONALITY TRAITS

Pet Peeves: Ignorance and people who are rude or cruel just for the sake of being edgy. Having to go to the Southside for any reason.

Hobbies/Interests: Music, acting, cooking and watching movies.

Special Skills/Abilities: taught by Darius to play various instruments, including violin, guitar, and piano. Singing and dancing, though his moves are often outdated.

Likes: Classic music and movies. Football, singing, cooking, a good cup of coffee, pasta, the scent of rain, autumn, the leaves changing colors, clouds. strawberries (though he hasn’t had one in over a decade due to Dare’s allergy), raspberry/cinnamon/warm vanilla scents. people who are kind especially people who are kind for no reason.

Dislikes: the smell of cigarettes or beer. seeing anyone he knows from the trailer park. his dad. his own hypocrisy.

Insecurities: Never truly fitting into the Northside or winning his mother’s approval. Being irrelevant or mediocre. People knowing he’s from the Southside.

Quirks/Eccentricities: very bad at flirting. get flustered easily.

Strengths: Kind. He’s always kind. Imaginative. Selfless and willing to do anything for a friend. Encouraging.

Weaknesses: Always looking so hard at the good in a person that he misses the knife. Falls in love with strangers 100 times a day. Unsure of who he is. People pleaser.

Speaking Style: Soft-spoken and rarely raised his voice in anger. 

Temperament: Up-lifting and encouraging as though he’s afraid to upset anyone for any reason.

04. FAMILY & HOME

Immediate Family: Bruce Anderson [ father ], Pam [ mother ], Darius Anderson [ twin brother ]

How do they feel about their family? Nothing but dislike for his father -- due to his dad’s alcoholism, abuse and homophobia. Admiration and desperation for acknowledgment from his mother since she left him as a child. Mixed feelings for his brother because they used to be so close. When they were younger, Blaine looked up to Darius and felt safe/secure/protected by him, would have done anything for Dare but as they got older Blaine became more insecure being compared to his twin and that grew into mild resentment and guilt.

How does their family feel about them? His father was never a loving man or particularly parental but his anger got much worse after Blaine came out in junior high. He doesn’t have many memories of his mother, so most of how kind and loving she was is something Blaine built up in his head. Darius has always been very protective over Blaine and always the person who was on his side. He was always encouraging, though often stoic, he became the main caregiver in Blaine’s life.

Pets: None.

Where do they live? A very small apartment on the Northside, close enough to walk to work.

Description of their home: Just a step above a studio apartment, Blaine furnished most of his place by visiting yard sales and the second-hand store, trying to pass it off as a hipster/DIY style choice but it’s still a step up from the trailer he used to live in on the Southside.

Description of their bedroom: A platform bed sitting on up-cycled wooden pallets that he painted. A vanity that he repurposed into a desk and decor that he made himself by getting great deals on fabric or odds and ends.

05. THIS OR THAT

Introvert or Extrovert?

Optimist or Pessimist?

Leader or Follower?

Confident or Self-Conscious?

Cautious or Careless?

Religious or Secular?

Passionate or Apathetic?

Book Smarts or Street Smarts?

Compliments or Insults?

Pajamas or Lingerie?

06. FAVORITES

Favorite Color: pale yellow and powder blue

Favorite Clothing Style/Outfit: Blaine took a lot of his style inspiration from the 50′s. He likes things to be form-fitting and cheerful. The bolder and brighter, the better.

Favorite Bands/Songs/Type of Music: Being a music lover, it’s hard for him to pick a single favorite. Generally, anything that speaks to his soul, emotions, and heart tend to make their way into his libraries/playlists.

Favorite Movies: Classic generally but also a sucker for a Nicolas Sparks film or a good romance. Anything as long as it isn’t a horror film.

Favorite Books: Old detective books from the 20′s/30′s. 

Favorite Foods/Drinks: Pasta, always pasta. Loves food in general, especially sweets and coffee.

Favorite Sports/Sports Teams: The Patriots.

Favorite Time of Day: the moment just as the sun is rising.

Favorite Weather/Season: chilly or rainy Autumn days

Favorite Animal: Dogs

07. MISCELLANEOUS

Fears/Superstitions: not wildly fond of bugs, especially spiders.

Political Views: Liberal

Addictions: Does hair gel count? Maybe coffee. Useless before coffee. Also self-sabotage.

Best School Subject: Music and English. But was good at every subject.

Worst School Subject: Didn’t have any subject he was particularly bad at.

School Clubs/Sports: All of them. Literally belonged to every club he could join.

How does he get money? Works as a teaching assistant which sort of pays the bills. He’s also sent money from his brother every month but promptly returns it every time.

How is he with technology? semi-decent. Not a tech genius but good enough to figure things out.

08. PAST & FUTURE

Fondest Memory: The Christmas that Dare brought home a tree and presents to surprise Blaine.

Deepest, Darkest Secret: He’s not nearly as perfect, innocent or put-together as he pretends to be. Blaine puts on a front of wanting to wait for the perfect partner or holding out for his soulmate but he has gone into the woods under the guise of running the trail but it was really to hook up with strangers.

Dream Vacation: Somewhere in the Italian countryside or anywhere outside of Riverdale to be honest.

Best thing that has ever happened to this character: Being born a twin.

Worst thing that has ever happened to this character: His mother leaving. In the 8th grade after Blaine came out, some Ghoulies started targeting him, bullying and eventually ganging up on him in the locker room.

What do they want to be when they grow up? Someone and something important.

Perfect Date: Staying up all night talking and effortlessly getting to really know each other deeper.

#gdhqintro #abuse mention tw #homophobia mention tw #abuse tw #bullying tw #homophobia tw #bullying mention tw #violence mention tw #violence tw #about

[stopforamoment]

Part Five:  But the Tigers Come at Night (Series Eleven, Part 5 of 16)

Series Eleven: It’s uh Movin’ Thing, but Still and All (Sixteen Parts) Part Five:  But the Tigers Come at Night (Series Eleven, Part 5 of 16)

Masterlist

Book: The Royal Romance (After Book Three)

Pairing: Bastien Lykel x OFC Rinda Parks Word Count: 1,678 Rating: M for Strong Language, Start of a Panic Attack/Anxiety, Children Working through Grief with Screaming and Bullying Author’s Note: Obligatory disclaimer that Pixelberry Studios owns the TRR characters and my pocketbook with those darn diamond scenes. OFC with all of her quirks is all mine. My apologies if Tumblr or I do something stupid when I try to post this. The keep reading link shows up on my laptop but not my phone. Ugh.

Thank you @asherella-is-a-dork-3​ for always being my sounding board! Thank you @liam-rhys​ and @silviasutton1989 for still being a part of the journey!

Triggers: There are going to be some dark themes in this series that deal with the consequences of what happens when parents don’t put their children first. I promise I won’t get graphic, and I’ll tag each section accordingly. This will tie in with future events and another aspect of Bastien and Rinda’s personalities—as individuals and as a couple.

Series Summary: It’s the week of October 14th, the sixth week of the school year. Henry and Rinda are staying in Cordonia, which means that Rinda can now begin to move forward, and backwards, with professional and personal aspects of her life.

One inspiration while I wrote this was a quotation from Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God: “Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore.”

The other was these lyrics from the song “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables: “But the tigers come at night / With their voices soft as thunder / As they tear your hope apart / As they turn your dream to shame.”

Chapter Summary: Bastien visits Rinda and Henry that night, and Henry struggles with some anger issues. Bastien helps Henry work through some of it and Rinda is panicked by how much she cares for Bastien.

But the Tigers Come at Night “But the tigers come at night / With their voices soft as thunder / As they tear your hope apart / As they turn your dream to shame.” “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables

During dinner Rinda reassured Henry that he could be honest with Mr. Lykel, just like he could be honest with her. It was just the three of them, and they all solemnly agreed that what they talked about during dinner stayed there. It was good to vent, and no one else had to know—especially since Henry wanted to talk about another kid, and mom could get in trouble if people at school knew what they said. But Henry also looked at Bastien. “Mom says I have to be nice to Stephan Traskas because he’s going through a lot because of his parents’ divorce. So I know what I’m saying is mean, but right now is it okay if I say mean things without you getting mad?” Bastien solemnly nodded and reassured Henry that sometimes he needed to do that, too. It was hard to be polite and professional all day long, so sometimes when he got home it was nice to talk to someone else and say what he was really thinking. But when Henry started, Bastien had to work extra hard to maintain a neutral reaction. He knew Rinda was okay with Henry using swear words when it was just the two of them, and he knew Henry kept his emotions bottled up until he exploded, just like Rinda. Henry was still seeing a therapist to help him with dad’s death and help him develop strategies to deal with his anger issues. But Bastien had no clue how angry Henry could truly get, or how creative he could be when he strung together profanities that he most likely didn’t even understand—even though most of them were incredibly brilliant just because they were so idiotic and nonsensical. And now that Rinda was hanging out with Collin again, Rinda was back in the habit of using Irish profanities—words that Henry quickly assimilated. So Bastien was unsure of how to react when Henry informed him that Stephan Trakas was “a muppet gobshite who needed to just fuck himself into a closet with a shit-faced wombat so Henry could lock the door on that gobdaw eejit gowl and throw away the key.” He’d throw that key so far “that even his wagon of a mom wouldn’t be able to find it.” (Rinda clapped her hand over her mouth at that one, but Bastien couldn’t tell if it was from pure horror or laughter.)

Where the fuck does Henry even come up with this? Rick and Morty is tame compared to this shit spewing out of his mouth!   Bastien followed Rinda’s lead, just letting him shout. Sometimes just screaming random words. And when Henry would stop for validation, Rinda would give it and encourage him to keep going. Bastien knew Rinda was good about helping Henry see when he was in the wrong, or when he needed to take responsibility for his actions, or when he needed to be nice to someone even when he didn’t want to. So Bastien assumed Rinda would start that part of the conversation after the tirade. And she did.   “So Bug, anything else?” “Stephan’s a dick.” “Okay. Fair enough. Anything else?” Silence. “Okay, you did some great shouting and you had some pretty crazy swear words going on there. Remember, we can’t say that shit in public, okay?” Henry nodded. “But now that you’re feeling a little better, I need you to please tell me and Bastien again what Stephan did.” Bastien gave Rinda a grateful smile. He had no clue what Stephan even did to piss off Henry. He had a feeling Rinda wasn’t exactly sure either, although it sounded like Stephan was acting out. Again. Stephan was a bully to Alex Dimitrious at the beginning of the school year, but Alex really started coming into his own after Bastien let Alex help him with a perimeter sweep of the school. Although Rinda didn’t know it, Bastien also took extra time to talk with Alex and show him basic moves to defend himself—but only for self defense. Never to attack anyone. As Alex gained more confidence he became friends with more people, including Henry and Phillip. They often played together after school while they waited for Mrs. Dimitrious to pick up Alex and his older sister, and for Rinda to finish up and take Henry and Phillip home on the nights she didn’t stay late. Stephan had been leaving Alex alone, but now he was being a bully again. He was being mean to his sisters, and to other people at school. And when Henry, Phillip, and Alex told him to stop, he didn’t. He kept being a dick, and they didn’t know how to make him stop. They tried walking away. They got an adult. But nothing made a difference. It was fucking stupid and useless. Henry gave his mom a pissed-off glare. “Mom, I know you said the adults have it covered and you can’t talk about it, but its been a week and nothing changed.” Bastien stepped in before Rinda had a chance to defend herself. “Henry, if your mom says she has it covered, she does. And if she says she can’t talk about it, she can’t. You know that. So tell me more about what Stephan is doing and what you’ve been doing to stand up to him. Let’s figure out what you, Phillip, and Alex can do without getting into trouble, okay?” Bastien listened carefully while Henry explained some of the things Stephan was doing. “Rinda, can I take Henry outside and show him a few things?” Rinda nodded. “Of course. Tell you what. I’ll clean up and take care of dishes. Sound good?” As Rinda did dishes she occasionally looked out the window to watch Henry and Bastien. Henry already knew some pressure points and basic self defense moves from Jameson, but Rinda could see that Henry was explaining the specific things Stephan was doing, and Bastien was walking Henry through the specific moves Henry could use to defend himself or other people. Rinda caught herself flicking her bare ring finger with her left thumb. She wasn’t completely sure if it was because she was flooded with a memory of Jameson and Henry together, or if she was flooded with emotion to see Bastien with Henry. She took a deep breath to steady herself before turning back to the dishes. Bastien said he never wanted her to feel pressured, so no use going into a panic attack about it. Right? Right? God, Jameson. I’m so sorry. I’ve been moving too fast, haven’t I? I should have just put my ring on when Bastien said he was coming over. What the fuck was I even thinking?

“I Dreamed a Dream.” But the tigers come at night. With their voices soft as thunder . . . NO. Not Bastien. Not her Tiger. He was patient, and he was good. To her and to Henry.

Rinda looked at the chocolate chip cookies sitting on the counter. And she thought about the spumoni ice cream in the freezer—he remembered it was her favorite. And when she went into the living room she saw the Clue game Henry set up, and the beautiful vase of flowers that she was going to put in her bedroom, next to her bed, when she went to sleep later. Those flowers were perfect—the kind of flowers you’d find in an English garden.

Fuck.

Every single thing Bastien brought that night was so perfect. It was all of their favorite things. And yet, it was the first time he ever bought Henry an actual present, and Rinda had so much respect for that. Bastien knew better than to try to buy Henry’s affection or spoil him. Bastien knew that he and Henry could only get to know each other better if they spent time together. And they did that. Yes, Bastien did make sure that Henry’s trip to Cordonia was safe—and memorable—with an escort by some of the Royal Guards. But he did it to keep Henry safe and keep her from worrying so much. Yes, there were times he brought pizza or other “restaurant food” for dinner when it was a crazy night and Rinda didn’t have time to cook. But she would have ordered pizza on a night like that anyways, right? And he brought chocolate chip cookies for Henry the night he babysat, but according to Henry, that was just a Mr. Lykel thing. He did that for Drake and Savannah too. And Bastien introduced Henry to Drake, and let them stay at the palace, and took them fishing, and . . .

Rinda sat down and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths as she massaged the inside of her left hand with her right thumb. This was NOT something to get into a panic attack about. A good man who cared about her and her son, who was patient.

And when Bastien and Henry finally came inside, they saw Rinda calmly sitting on the couch reading a book. “So guys, how did it go?”

. . . . .

It was too late to play Clue, but Bastien said that just meant they’d have to play the next time they came over. Henry asked if they could keep the game set up, and Rinda said probably not because the Manikas toddlers would knock it over that weekend. But Henry could set it back up next week if he wanted to, and then it would be ready to go for the next time. And Bastien got an extra long hug from Henry when it was time for bed. “Mr. Lykel?”

“Yes, Henry?”

“Thank you for everything tonight and for helping me with Stephan stuff. I really like it when we spend time together. And I’m glad we’re staying in Cordonia. You are too, right?”

“Yes, Henry. I’m very glad you and your mom are staying in Cordonia. And I love spending time with you, too.” Then Bastien kissed Henry’s forehead and tousled his hair before moving aside so Rinda could “Bis Morgen” her Doodle Bug.

#bastien lykel #choices trr #long post #rinda parks ofc

[cadebentley-archived]

TASK 006. STAR SIGNS.

Libra sun. Leo Rising. Aries Moon.

Libra sun.

Libra natives are generally thought to be sociable, somewhat intellectual souls. They have an almost innocent way about them that makes them very approachable. Generally quite eager to cooperate, Librans spend a lot of their time trying not to rock the boat. In theory, Libras are peace-loving. In practice, they can quietly stir up all sorts of trouble with their ways. Because Libra enjoys balance in their lives, they seek the middle ground. In the process, they may end up trying to be everything to everyone. This is where their reputation for untruthfulness comes from. Generally, their untruths spring from a true desire for peace and fairness--although they may not be comfortable with direct and malicious trickery, they feel totally justified when they lie in order to avoid making waves. Peace at any price! In this sense, they seem harmless. But, what can result is quite a ruckus! People involved with Libras may crib about their lack of directness and their apparent inability to take a stand. Librans are experts at avoiding being the one to blame. When confronted, they'll (calmly and reasonably) say, "What, me? No, I just want peace." "On the fence", "middle ground", "middle road" -- these are all expressions that we can safely associate with Libra. Some more powerful signs may consider Libra a little on the weak side. This is all a matter of opinion, however! Without Libra, life simply wouldn't be as fair. Librans are known for comparing and thinking in relative terms, instead of in absolutes. This weekend is not just a good weekend, it's better than last weekend. These people are always looking for the "best" way or the "right" way to live. Harmony is the ultimate goal, but their idealism and high expectations can mean plenty of discontent. Since life presents all of us with an extraordinary amount of choices, if Libra doesn't learn to live in the moment at least some of the time, they'll be in a constant state of unrest. Society needs rules, and these rules attempt to bring justice, equality, and fairness. On an individual level, Libra represents these laws of civilization. Libra comes across as very civilized and rather refined. She has a great need to be part of a group. She likes to mix with people and seeks partnerships. She likes and respects justice. She approves of society's values. She is level-headed and assimilates quickly.

Leo Rising.

Leo rising people cannot help but be noticed. They radiate a special energy and magnetism that gets others' attention. Sometimes it's because they are loud people who pay a lot of attention to their personal appearance (especially their hair!); other times it's due to a regal manner that simply demands interest from others. Leo Ascendant people are very self-aware and body-conscious. They are acutely aware of others, and how they come across. In fact, these people are especially aware of their personal "backdrop"--they consider what the people they're with, and the environments they are in, do to their own image. Often, Leo rising natives feel as if they are on stage, even in the privacy of their own homes! They are given to rash decisions, temper tantrums, and excesses. However, they have plenty of staying power, drive, and their idealism keeps them from getting into too much trouble. The desire to oversee the goings-on in their circle can sometimes amount to bossiness. If this desire doesn't go too far, however, it can just mean a person who wants to make sure the people they love are all right. Many Leo rising people are managers, either by profession or character. The tendency to overestimate things, and themselves, is generally present. This is due to a natural enthusiasm and optimism about any new undertaking. Sometimes, they are walking commercials. In fact, Leo rising people make excellent promoters. Leo rising people are generally demonstrative, and given to grand gestures. Drama comes naturally to these natives. In fact, some are so caught up in fiction, they're a little blind to fact. They have an unusual need to be admired. Leo Ascendants often have a strong physical constitution. They pay special attention to their personal appearance and mannerisms. Usually, they choose clothing and hairstyles that are youthful. Their manner is authoritarian and strong. Very full emotional life. No matter their age in real-world terms, Leo rising people are kids at heart. They are fun-loving and warm; generous and spirited. Just how magnanimous and outgoing a Leo rising individual is will be modified by the placement of the Sun by sign and house. This is because the ruling planet of a Leo Ascendant is the Sun. For example, a Leo rising person with Sun in Virgo may not come across as strongly as a Leo rising person with Sun in Aries. No matter the placement of the Sun, however, Leo rising natives are quite self-aware and optimistic. They have a natural flair for presentation, an eye for quality, and a hard-to-resist warmth of style. They want to make things happen, and create a stir.

Aries Moon.

Nothing quite happens soon enough with this position of the Moon. There is an inherent impatience with getting what they want. Life is a series of emergencies for Lunar Ariens. They live in the moment and have a hard time waiting for things to happen. Whims of the moment take absolute precedence in their lives. This is a fiery position of the moon. Even if the Sun or rising sign is more low-key, Moon in Aries people possess inner passion and fire. Emotional issues take precedence--there is simply no pussy-footing around when it comes to dealing with the feelings. And, dealing with new sentiments and needs stirs up a huge desire for activity. Moon in Aries has a need for acting out their needs, with no time to waste. It is hard for them to see the long-term, or to wait for things to happen. Instant gratification rules! Oddly enough, this is a very defensive position of the Moon. These natives take things very personally, and they deal with problems by facing them right away so that they can then get on with other things. Their flare-ups generally end almost as quickly as they started. Lunar Ariens have an unmistakable independent streak. They put themselves right out there in the world, and make an impression in whatever they do. Their self-confidence is actually variable. Although a strong personality is projected, Moon in Aries people go through plenty of ups and downs. Their moodiness is not like Cancer or Pisces moodiness--they don't withdraw into themselves or escape the world when they're down. Instead, they are temperamental. Some might say that people with Moon in Aries actually enjoy trouble and confrontations. Indeed, this position is easily bored with environments that are too peaceful. Their homes--especially their childhood homes--are often battlegrounds. They rule the roost, or at least want to, and are not the most peaceful of folk to live with! Moon in Aries people are prone to have plenty of crushes and other short-lived yet intense desires. "Needs" and "wants" are indistinguishable to Lunar Ariens at any given time. In their minds, what they want is so powerful that it becomes an absolute need. In young adulthood, they can be dangerous with a credit card. Whoever offered the advice to freeze your credit card in a container of water, and then let the block of ice thaw before using the card, unwittingly had people with Moon in Aries in mind. The whole idea was to see if the shopping whim of the moment would pass by the time the card was ready to use. Still, with this scenario, I wouldn't be surprised to see Moon in Aries hacking away at the ice. That is, if Aries actually takes the advice in the first place! Others will appreciate that people with Moon in Aries rarely sulk or play any drawn-out games of manipulation. You can pretty much know what they want at any given time. They are generally ruled by their own emotional needs, and they're not always as concerned about others' needs during these "emergencies". Somehow, they have people around them scrambling to help them solve their problems. There's an aura of childlike innocence around Lunar Ariens, even when they're getting their way again, that can be charming indeed!

#aries moon is all types of wrong haha #the other too I can see #124 #ruleandtask

[curious-minx]

On Bob’s Burger’s Gene learns to be a sweeter Mama’s Boy; The Simpsons rediscovers its heart by showing empathy to a struggling teacher.

Mama’s Boy is possibly one of my favorite Ramones song, at least the one I’m most obsessed with.  A track written sporting writing credits for all three Ramones. This fact really answers the age old riddle fo how many  Ramones  it takesto change a light bulb. There’s no question about it if the Ramones were still alive and kicking they probably would be cameoing in all sorts of animated shows and would be a Wonder Wharf regular. Episode 9, “Mama’ Boy” not only focuses on Gene’s wholesome adoration of his Mama,  but also makes a clear point of demonstrating how the Belcher’s challenge conventional gender norms. If I grew up with a dad like Bob Belcher, a man who is more than willing to get into a tub with me for a spa day I’d probably be a more productive citizen. The episode strongly packs in three whole subplots with Gene and Linda’s weekly “Spa Day” ritual being interrupted by Linda joining a Women’s Business Owner Group, Bob trying to be a substitute for Gene, and then Louise and Tina getting transfixed by a clever Rocky rip-off, Ham & Egger. The boys want a seaweed eucalyptus infused face mask and the girls want to brawl, a sweet and subtle commentary that is done with that effortless Bob’s Burgers charm. 

The main conflict between Gene and Linda is fraught with family psychology. Linda emboldening her only son’s clinginess with her gentle form of favoritism that threatens to mutate’s Gene’s cute Mama Boy into an emotional manipulative, controlling and abusive Mama’s Boy. This is one of the rare instances where Gene is essentially the antagonistic force of the episode, a role often bestowed upon every other Belcher but rarely reliable supporting player Gene. Gene’s antics are more than just his usual little stinker business and at moments threatens to veer off into Norman Bates territory when he fears that he’s losing his mom to the Business World. Thankfully, Gene is a thoughtful and lovable boy that experiences flashes of introspection, experiences self-realization and catches himself from going off the deep-end. The episode ends with Gene and Linda still enjoying a slightly inappropriate, but ultimately sweet relationship where boundaries are starting to further establish themselves, but I do worry for whomever ends up with Gene as a partner later in life. 

Ah! My favorite high school based musical, Sunday School Musical

The episode’s subplot with Louise and Tina is a great writing lesson, a clean how-to on writing a quality parody. The whole subplot is basically mapping elements of Rocky and making them slightly cheaper and sillier Ham & Egger versions. The subplot touches upon a very specific experience of childhood when you stumble upon a lesser, knock-off movie on cable before seeing the original version, therefore making the cheaper version the definitive version in your naive mind. The subplot also serves as a fun contrast/reversal with Gene’s arc, two daughters being more interested in rough housing and watching junky TV, whereas the son is clinging onto a more traditionally feminine activity. The show hasn’t been this progressive since its explorations with Tina and her explorations of a healthy sense of sexuality. The reason why these issues work so well on Bob’s Burgers is because the writer’s never draw attention to them or try to pat themselves on the back like other lesser sitcoms tend to do, and because after 11 seasons audiences have been given a lot of opportunities to bond and appreciate each and every Belcher. Every single Belcher is capable of delivering a solid episode and whenever I pick up on whether or not an episode is going to focus on a specific character or character relationship on Bob’s Burgers I am more or less satisfied with the direction the writers and actors make with this beloved TV family. 

4.5 Spools of Yarn as thick punchable yarn out of 5 thick and punchable slabs of meat. 

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News update in the Bob’s Burgers world: The Belcher family is officially losing its Fox TV status and gaining FX personhood. This ultimately changes both a little and a lot, the biggest impact of the change is that Bob’s Burgers will be removed from adult swim syndication. Bob’s Burgers is ultimately in the clear for however much longer the series wishes to stay on air. This change in syndication is mainly worrisome for the state of adult swim, which will at this point go completely under due to financial straits or assimilate itself into the HBO Max roster. The adult swim brand is still fairly strong one and as long as they have Rick and Morty to cling onto they will still have a cash cow to sustain them. If adult swim collapses we will be losing one of the last bastions for weird and creative TV programming and will be left with nothing but a sea of Disney detritus. 

/////

 Search result for a stock image of a “Sad Teacher” 

Speaking of Disney Detritus, it’s time for another peek back into the Simpsons brood with its 9th episode, “Sorry Not Sorry.” The episode for the most part is the most conventional episode of an exhaustingly highly conceptual season. The quality of the episode is probably due to the fact that the episode isn’t written by another one of the safe old white Harvard guys the series is doomed to forever employ, but instead, this above average episode is written by an  Ivy League woman and  1996 Subrina the Teenage Witch creator Nell Scovell. Go figure, the Simpsons enormously benefits from diverting from the usual white male voice that dominates the massive bulk of Simpsons screenwriting credits. The main reason I got back into watching the Simpsons in the first place was when I saw that slightly problematic Twitter rising start Megan Amram had written a couple of episodes for its 30th season. For me, this indicated the exact type of tone shifting the Simpsons needed to course correct itself from its perennial slump. Both of Amram’s episodes are fantastic, especially “Bart versus Itchy and Scratchy.”

The typical writer for the Simpsons 

This gender disparity in the Simpsons verse led my curiosity over to the Simpsons writer’s wikipedia page. Wikipedia lists 133 writers in total, I was able to tally up 18 different women who have at least one written episode credit to their name. Out of those thirteen women one of them is Conan O’Brien’s sister and Bart Simpson herself Nancy Cartwright. The numbers probably become even more grotesque when looking at anything else that diverts from the White Ivy League Educated paradigm that the Simpsons has firmly established in its endless run. So whenever a show as creaky and conservative, at least in terms of writing room staff, diverts from the white male paradigm I find that the typical Simpsons episode has a noticeable more pep in its step, the show for a brief moment feels more vital, and for me the reason is because of a wider perspective a woman writer can offer in a male dominated workplace. This episode’s title alone is a piece of modern mainstream feminism sloganeering that Lisa explicitly touches upon in the episode, and unlike Bob’s Burgers the Simpsons is the sort of show where it makes more sense for a character to explicitly call out problematic world views. This type of empathy and inner growth only tends to happen in the show whenever Lisa takes over the focus of an episode and it’s that quality of heart that is missing from the large swathe of modern Simpsons where forcing jokes for the sakes of jokes always takes precedent over having any heart or reflection. 

“The Simpsons, a feminist masterpiece” - Matt Groening’s accountant 

Ms. Hoover has always been one of my favorite characters, she’s got a great sense of style and her nihilistic world view and bottomless loathing of her job is especially relatable. Looking at Ms. Hoover’s Simpsons’ fandom Wiki I found disappointing tidbits such as she’s one of the only two characters in 2007 Simpsons Game besides Lunch Lady Doris given zero lines of dialogue. The series writers’ also thought it would be funny in season 25 to have Bart hook up with her in episodes set in the future. In the show’s 32 seasons very little time and space has been dedicated to Ms. Hoover so it was satisfying to get a substantial glimpse into this teacher’s life especially since she’s the only original teacher left filling in the void left by the late great Ms. Crabapple. Hard to imagine anyone having a more hellish year in Covid times than the Ms. Hoovers of the world the women relegated to teaching jobs, because society for too long has deemed a woman’s place is not in a major network animated sitcom writer’s room but silently suffering in the classroom with the rest of America’s ungrateful brats. All of our essential workers should be delivered a deluxe orthopedic vibrating chair from a pawn shop and I won’t accept anything less! 

In order to properly review this episodes I try my best to watch through them at least twice and I found that this episode in particular really holds up on a second viewing not only because its central plot is solid but also because the episode is full of little silent visual gags that make the show feel like a labor of love rather than another episode off of the factory line. 

A real solid PASSING GRADE episode! 

#Bob's Burgers #The Simpsons #TV Reviews #Adult animation #TV Series #Feminism #The Ramones #Mama's boy

[deutscheshausnyu]

Interview with current writer-in-residence, Daniela Emminger

Daniela Emminger was born in 1975 in Upper Austria. She studied journalism & communication science in Vienna, worked as a copywriter in Berlin, and as an editor in Lithuania and Latvia. Since 2008, Daniela Emminger has lived in Vienna and works as a writer and freelance journalist. She received various scholarships and awards and is the author of several books. She was on the longlist of the Austrian Book Prize 2016 with Gemischter Satz and participated at the Festival for Literature in NYC & Washington in 2019 with her most recent novel Kafka mit Flügeln. Last autumn, her first theatre-play Zirkus. Braunau. – a political piece about the latest right-wing-populistic tendencies within Europe – was published, the book-version will follow 2020.

When did you first visit New York and what were your first impressions of this city, especially in comparison with your hometown, Vienna? What characteristics of New York do you find most appealing, especially as a writer?

My first time in New York was in March 2019 when I participated in the Festival Neue Literatur. I spent one week in the city and I really can’t find proper words to describe the atmosphere. I was thrilled. And overwhelmed with emotion. New York is sooooo fascinating from the very first second. There are all these skyscrapers, so you have to look up all the time. There are all these people and everyone is busy and heading towards something. There is this special (heart) beat you can feel in every move, in every place. For me New York is intangible. But I as a writer of course have to make things visible, audible, tangible through words. Also, a foreign place always has a strong influence on a person; the interplay of geography alters the identity of a character. It definitely makes a difference if you live and grow up in Vienna (in Europe) or New York (in the United States). Compared to New York, Vienna is a one-horse town. So I am sure that New York will change me as a person as well as a writer. It will change my way of absorbing and assimilating things, it will change my way of thinking and writing.

Before beginning your career as an author, you studied Advertising Management and Communication & Economics in Vienna – subjects that one might not immediately imagine as the educational background of an author who writes novels, plays, and short stories. How and when did you decide to become a professional author? Do you incorporate any knowledge or skills that you picked up during your studies into your writing?

It’s true that I started my career as a writer quite late in my thirties. But I already knew at the age of 14 that writing is and would be my destiny. I just felt it inside. And I realized soon that in my case the world was defined by words. It was just natural for me to write about my feelings, sorrows, aims and thoughts. Writing helped me to understand the world. I am words. And there are hundreds of untold stories inside me that will come to fruition one day. Though I grew up in a small village and in a family where becoming a writer – as a profession – was not an option. That’s why I studied something ordinary before I finally decided to quit my job in advertising. At that time I had three finished scripts in my pocket and sent them to different publishing houses. There is a point in life – and this might have to do with age and experience – when you have nothing to lose, when you don’t want to waste the rest of your life with half-hearted things.

What authors and/or works of literature have had the most influence on your career, writing, and style?

I love reading. I already devoured books when I was a child. Authors like Mira Lobe, Christine Nöstlinger were the stars of my childhood. Later on I read a lot of Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek, also Russian Literature from Dostojewski to Tolstoi. I am a fan of Daniil Charms and Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz who are known for their surreal style. I try to read contemporary literature from colleagues like Josef Winkler, Laura Freudenthaler, Teresa Präauer as well. I think at Austrian schools and universities the literary focus lies on European literature, but of course I also read American classics from authors like Paul Auster, John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson. 

In fact I really read a lot. The only genres I don’t like are detective/mystery stories and science fiction. And during my own writing process I have to stop reading completely, because the thoughts and the style of another author would definitely influence my own writing. At the moment I have Die New York Trilogie (City of Glass, Ghosts and The Locked Room) by Paul Auster on my bedside table.

In the works that you’ve published so far, is there an overarching theme that you want to explore or a particular question you want to answer that ties them all together? What is your creative process like and how do you come up with ideas for each novel, play, story, and essay?

In general I carry the themes that move me inside – sometimes it even takes years until they come to fruition. My work often deals with „the essentials of life“ – such as love, evanescence, transformation, courage, grief or the search for meaning. The main source of my ideas is my own experience, my own emotion and understanding of the world. Also external sources and influences – a poem I read, a conversation I hear, a person I meet – intentionally play a certain role. For example in Kafka With Wings my inspiration was based upon a number of personal losses, but also influenced by a poem called One Art by Elizabeth Bishop that I discovered at that time. I try to find a way to process these kinds of influences in my art.

I am also fond of mixing different genres. In my mind sometimes a fairy tale perfectly matches with facts and figures, with real things going on in the contemporary world. For example Kafka With Wings is a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. It is a wild and vivid journey through an invented world of imagination but at the same time it mirrors the real historical and recent situation of the foreign and mostly unknown country of Kyrgyzstan. I am hell-bent on giving birth to a story. I am fearless and uncompromising. For example, I recently finished a theatre play about Braunau, Hitler’s birthplace, and the latest right-wing populistic tendencies within Austria and Europe. It’s a political play and I had to spend several months in Braunau to do research. Now this might sound a little bit weird, but I bought myself a gorilla costume and every time I worked on the play I jumped into it. This had nothing to do with Mardi Gras, I used the costume as uniform, like a doctor his scrubs. It helped me to keep distance from the crazy Nazi stuff. Also there was plenty of space in it to lock up the right-wing populistic thoughts and tendencies. The costume enabled me to reflect on them in a safe and concentrated way. Also, gorillas – like apes in general – are very intelligent animals. I guess that the aura of the gorilla costume helped me to find a humane solution to the present and ever-increasing Nazi problem.

In your opinion and experience, what is the hardest part of the writing process? How do you overcome it?

I think being an author has a lot to do with discipline. The writing process is not a romantic one, you have to stay tuned, keep on thinking and writing day by day. I have fixed working hours, preferably in the morning from 6am to noon. Sometimes I have to throw away every single page but still the process of writing helps me to stay in motion. At some point a story gets stuck or complicated – especially when it is very complex and convoluted. Then you have to step back, do some analytic work regarding the plot, the characters, and the message in between the lines. Also research is hard work. For example it took me three years to write Kafka With Wings. After the second year I didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel any more. I thought I ´d never finish this story. But I did. Step by step and day by day. So maybe the secret is to keep on going.

Your most recent novel, Kafka mit Flügeln (Kafka With Wings), follows an Austrian woman who embarks on a search for her long-lost, half-Kyrgyz friend from her childhood, who disappeared in his own search for his identity and origins. What was the inspiration behind this story? Why did you specifically choose Kyrgyzstan as the cultural background for the missing friend?

The idea of the story came to me some years ago in 2015. I felt I had to write about changes, losing things, loss in general. At that time I also discovered a poem by Elizabeth Bishop, called One Art, which had great influence on me. It’s about losing things, places and names and even bigger and more important things like relationships, countries or the own past, the own identity. It’s not that I hadn’t experienced any loss so far, for example my mother died in 2015, but I was luckily never involved in a war or had to flee from my country. So I was looking for a place in the world, where I – like my characters – felt completely lost: lost in translation, lost in space, even lost in evolution. And Kyrgyzstan was the perfect place. 

I really knew nothing about this country, it was just a place on the map, not real for me. I didn’t speak a word of Kyrgyz or Russian. I didn’t know anybody there. It was really a big adventure for me to go there and somehow I was forced to get to know myself in a new way, to discover myself from a new perspective. And all because I wanted to share commonalities with my characters. I think that’s the way I generally work: I always have to be very close to my protagonists. I have to feel what they feel. I have to merge with them. 

Also Kyrgyzstan is a very exciting and inspiring plot location. When I arrived there, I was hit by intense culture shock. But then I quickly dove into the Kyrgyz culture and the way of Kyrgyz living. For example I spent several weeks together with nomads high up in the mountains (at 4000 meters above sea level). Or I travelled through all different regions of the country (from West to East and North to South). Also I had to dive into the world of butterfly research for my book and therefore I joined a group of European lepidopterologists who were looking for rare butterfly species throughout the country. I learnt how to catch them, how to kill them technically and humanely, how to preserve them for observation and study. All these peculiarities finally became part of the story. You learn a lot about Soviet history and a foreign culture.

Without going into much detail about the story, can you explain why you chose the title Kafka with Wings?

The central theme of my book Kafka With Wings is metamorphosis. Butterflies play a central role as symbol for transformation and change. The insect goes through different stages of life until it has reached its final stage of existence. Now in my story I use this process of development in a metaphorical way: also people, things and even countries run through different stages of existence during their lifetime. They change, they become something different, and they sometimes are forced by external and internal circumstances to search for a new identity.

Kafka with Wings also references Franz Kafka, the Czech author, in the title. In fact my book is not a book about Kafka himself, he won’t appear in person in the plot, but still he has a certain influence on my writing. He and his thoughts are synonymous with change, transformation and strange things going on. Let’s consider his novel Die Verwandlung/The Metamorphosis, where his protagonist Gregor Samsa suddenly finds himself transformed into an insect. In German language we even use the word „kafkaesk“ to describe a situation or condition which is really strange and bizarre but also brilliant. So I think this is why I reference Kafka in my title.

If we may ask, what is your current/next project and what do you hope to achieve during your time as the Max Kade writer-in-residence at Deutsches Haus at NYU?

In fact I wanted to start a new project by the beginning of the year. It has to do with “homeland”, with “spiritual home”, with “home away from home”. At first I thought that the story has to take place in Aurach am Hongar, which is my birthplace and a very small village in Upper-Austria. I wanted to reflect on the special structures and relationships within a one-horse town and also write about hidden conflicts, problems and lies within a family. But then I was invited to New York and I am not sure now, if I can start this “homeland”-story here. In a way New York is the very reverse to Aurach am Hongar. But on the other hand: Is there a better place to think about your origin, your country, your identity, than somewhere far away from home? Another idea for my residency is of course to focus on New York, to walk through all the different boroughs of the city, to absorb all kind of people, conversations, impressions like a sponge, to let the city circulate in my veins, my brain, my body. This could end up as a poem, a thriller, a love story – who knows…

[vieuxnoyesrp]

Dani. Katherine Pierce has become infamous not just as a character - but as tool that’s been used time and time again to spice up many storylines - both on the show and in many roleplay spinoffs that stemmed from it. Just like her personality, there’s both a thrill and a danger to that; the former because she’s so fun to have around, the latter because it’s so unfortunately easy to see her turned into a flat stereotype or a poorly-layered plot contrivance. For us, your application was refreshing in that you went back to the basics; showed us the building-blocks of her character and alluded to the links she still has to her past. She felt more human than myth. Your headcanons were totally outside-of-the-box and your writing was impeccable. Most of all, we loved that you showed us who Katherine is as an individual; beyond the overly familiar scope of her connections to the men in her life; to Klaus, Elijah or the Salvatores. You hit the nail on the head with this application and we’re grateful for it!

Dani, thank you very much for applying. As for Katherine… 

                       ⚜ ~ WELCOME TO VIEUX NOYÉS!!! ~ ⚜

Wondering what to do next? Click here and let the good times roll!

⚜ Roleplayer:

⤜ Name/alias: Dani ⤜ Pronouns: She/Her ⤜ Age: 20 ⤜ Timezone: EST ⤜ Activity: I try to be on at least once a day, though replies tend to take a day or two to get done! These last months have been a bit stressful, but after next week’s hiatus a lot of time will be clearing up which will allow me to participate daily rather than every other day, or every other other day. ⤜ Best form of contact: (Skype, gmail, or just here on tumblr, etc.) My twitter: daniellaferri or my skype danidanidani are all good! ParacosmicMuse is also an alternative since it’s my personal. ⤜ Any Triggers? (If so, please tell us how you want the subject to be treated in this roleplay (whether to be tagged accordingly or avoided completely, etc.) Shootings, gun violence, eating disorders, sexual assault ⤜ How did you find Vieux Noyés? Rose was kind enough to recommend it to me at a time I was looking for another writing group. ⤜ What drew you to the RP? Not trying to kiss major ass or anything, but the admins. I’ve known all of you a brief amount of time truly, but the fact that you three are collaborating makes me feel in insanely good hands. The RP itself has so much attention to detail and wonderful people, of course, and that creative take on these characters keeps me motivated to be a part of it all. ⤜ What is one subplot/element from the Plot page that you are particularly looking forward to seeing in this roleplay? I’m really eager to see the Salem and New Orleans witches play, tbh. Like I love everything, but I’m really excited to see how ancestral magic and magic from the earth differentiate and how the covens ( the NOLA one already having major differences and a weak community at the moment ) will co-exist. Also, what will the ancestors say about it? Cause from what I’ve seen on TO they have a lot more dominion over their coven than i think the witches realize, and I don’t see the ancestors responding too well to the possibility of their legacies switching over to a different kind of magic, with a group of foreigners. It all sounds really interesting, I hope I get to see that played out one day.

⚜ Desired Character:

⤜ Why do you want this character?

TVD was a show that took a while, and some effort, for me to get into. I always stopped watching after season 2 simply because I didn’t feel entirely attached to the problems the ensemble faced, nor was I a fan of the ‘love triangle’ trope in my fourteen or fifteen years of age. One of my few favorite parts of the show was Katherine Pierce. I think she was a really underutilized character. In attempts to kind of do something bigger and greater, the writers threw her potential under the bus and the more I think on her character, the more I wonder about her mentality, her development, and what her story would have been where she not pushed into irrelevancy in the middle of the series. I really want to explore that in this new setting.

⤜ What are your future plans for this character?

I  want to test Katherine’s resolve, and her self-acceptance. She’s adamant about no longer running, and yet, she has a slew of enemies in New Orleans, multiple characters who wouldn’t mind killing her or casting her out, and do not owe her any favors. So while she tries to develop a network of defenses as she has all her life, I really want to see where that humanity comes in, and whether or not she’s willing to confront the fact that a part of her genuinely wants to live ( not just survive ), if it means fighting against, not just physical violence against her, but  people’s beliefs about her, and a lot of distrust that has just generally followed her around in all her time running from Klaus.

⤜ Put yourself in your character’s shoes. Give us a few lines to describe a day in the life of your character… Where do they live? Where and how do they spend their time?

Not one for traipsing across the Bayou in heels, or finding comfort in the solitary fields by the old plantation homes, Katherine Pierce has settled down at the heart of the city. Well, sort of. For now, she stays at the Hotel Royal, intent on hunting for real estate only after she’s obtained sanctuary from either of the notorious king pins of the quarter: Klaus Mikaelson or Marcel Gerard. For now, she remains unlisted, under their noses, and the patron of an all inclusive continental breakfast. She knows the constant bustling streets will work in her favor, seeing as she needs to lay low for awhile.

Katherine is always on the go, which means, unless she’s certain no one in her vicinity will go blabbing to some higher-up about her location, she doesn’t linger in many coffee shops or bars. She favors the antiquities shop occasionally, for it’s cluttered space, and luxury finds, gets her morning coffee at the French Market when she doesn’t order it at the hotel, and, should she need to meet someone for a chat, she’ll usually take to some overzealous tourist trap bar on Bourbon Street.

By now she’s noticed a few key players making constant appearances at Rousseau’s and Tulane University. Which is why if she’s ever spotted there, it’s usually because she wants to be found. At the moment her days are spent trying to establish enough formidable connections so that, should things go south she won’t have to flee, again.

⤜ Give us three headcanons regarding your character of choice.

Second to Mystic Falls ( Circa 1800s ),  Île-de-France remains Katherine’s favorite place she’s traveled. She had arrived in the Parisian Region in 1718, and had managed to reside there for as many as four years before continuing the game of cat and mouse Klaus refused to relieve her of. In that brief time, she’d assimilated beautifully to the luxury, the politics, the gambling of the aristocrats. The men found her beautiful, and she basked in the jewels she’d been gifted, and the balls she’d been taken to. The Palace of Versailles has seen blood spilt by her before, and still it retains some of her happier memories of the past. Briefly, the formidable château made her feel safe, without leaving her bored. She resents that it’s more of a tourist attraction now.

Her license is expired, but her IDs are always up to date. With the aid of several supernaturals in the identity theft ring, Katherine has been known to keep herself under the radar with the use of countless false identification cards, all up to date, all dummy-proof. Still, she has no driver’s license, and her current one is a few years past. Usually, she’ll compel her way out of traffic violations, and drive when necessary, but makes use of taxi cabs and compact cities to keep her off foot and unreported.

Katherine has but one keepsake from her past. Too much time on the run, and too little emotional involvement left her taking only what she needed in her travels. And though she’d sooner mock the everyday hoarder, than replicate them, Katherine still holds onto the resin light blue cameo necklace she wore during her time at the Salvatore Estate. Bewitched by Emily Bennett, the pendant became outdated over time, but unlike the rest of her daylight accessories from her past, this jewel was one she carried with her well into the next century. To this day, it remains in her jewelry box, carrying memories of a time in love she’s not willing to forget so easily.

⤜ What are some plots you’d like to explore with your characater?

I’m looking forward to the plot between her and Caroline. This misunderstanding that Elena was the one who turned her seems so interesting to me, and refreshing, that I really want to see how Katherine will attempt to play it all out in her favor, and what her back up plan might be should Caroline discover the truth and redirect her anger to it’s rightful owner.

I also look forward to seeing how Katherine ‘play’s nice’, for lack of a better term, with Marcel. She’s so prideful that I feel like there’s definitely room for struggle there, in terms of how much ass she’s willing to kiss and how much she’s willing to bank on the king of New Orleans. Also, Klaus and Marcel have a very temperamental relationship, so I think it’d be really fun to explore how Katherine keeps up with, and plots around, that unsteady alliance.

In regards to developing her character, I really want to see how Katherine will fight to remain in New Orleans. By that I mean, I noticed a lot of her connections don’t really understand why she’s decided to finally stop running, and stop in New Orleans of all places. And I think the character herself struggles to accept/address how deep that longing for stable ground and love runs, or how long its been festering. Since she’s truly put herself in ‘the lion’s den’, as it were, I want to see her earn that freedom from those that want to kill her, but I also want to see her realize that not all of it is as easy as an endless list of back up plans and manipulation tactics.

⤜ Para sample:

(Retained for privacy.)

————— ⤜ Would you like to be considered for another character if not accepted as your primary choice? No, i’ll stick to just Bonnie. But thank you! ⤜ Have you read the rules? Yes ⤜ Anything else? That’s all <3

#tvd rpg #Nina Dobrev #Nina Dobrev FC #Katherine Pierce #Katherine Pierce RP #accepted

[rerwby]

Negative Emotions: How The Angry Birds Movie Addressed a Problem Better Than RWBY Did

I was illegally watching the Angry Birds Movie last year and I was shocked by its first 20 or so minutes. The cursed film actually managed a strong bit of world building that showed just what made the Angry Birds themselves so special in their setting.

See, they live on an isolated island where negative emotions are pretty much taboo. There’s not much of an indication as to the why of this but you get the implication that everyone just prefers it that way. Red Bird Guy is singled out as being a problem to the community when a baby birb egg is nearly smashed as a result of his actions on nothing more than a bad day. He is eventually brought to Bird Court and sentenced to anger management classes.

This is located in a small hut far outside the village, taught by a very cheery bird. This is where we meet the main characters who all have their own version of, what else, anger. They are taught constructive ways to channel their emotions so that they can be assimilated safely back into the community. What’s funny is, they aren’t entirely shunned by the other birds during this time. They’re still part of society but people are just weary of them.

It’s hardly a totalitarian regime, nor is there a Big Bird Brother in place. It’s just government-ordained therapy sessions for birds who get out of line. It’s really quite reasonable. Now the culmination of the Angry Birds Movie’s third act is that sometimes you have to get angry in order to accomplish things, and they do so in order to steal their eggs back from the evil Jontron Pigs. But that’s besides the point.

What I’m saying is that, in 20 minutes, the Angry Birds Movie built a world from scratch that showed that anger and negative emotions are looked down upon and are dealt with by society to make that society better.

You’d think something similar would happen in a world where, you know, life-threatening giant monsters are literally at your doorstep and attack every person they can find. Especially considering those monsters are allegedly powered and baited by negative emotions.

Even though these assholes for some reason decide to wait and sit on their asses for decades before looking for tasty angry people.

But yeah, you’d think that a society that has evolved alongside the Grimm would have found a way to curb negative emotions, right? I mean Blake gets angsty on a boat and nearly dooms everyone, and in volume 3, apparently things are always so on-edge that it took Penny’s robo-reveal for some beowolves to plow down guards at the edge of Vale.

Shouldn’t Vale, Atlas, etc, have programs that teach you how to be happy? Maybe like, way more than a single annual festival to keep spirits high and celebrate all that good shit? It’s it weird, on a fundamental level, that they value violence and host giant tournaments where students regularly get maimed or die when the Grimm are flying like a mile away from their floating stadium?

Iunno dude. Just seems like someone at some point would address how staying calm and avoiding public outbursts of negativity would be the best possible course of action. Like this civilization had a WAR. Multiple wars I think! Did the Grimm not factor into those at all? Did they really just stand to the side and let people fight? How about those settlements outside the kingdoms that tend to last just a little while? Does no one go “hey, maybe this is a bad idea since negativity appears to be inevitable amongst large groups of people” or “maybe we just need to build a town that parties all the damn time!”

No they just like aimlessly wander into the wilderness with a few pitchforks and hope they don’t die lol.

#rwde #ive wanted to make this for a while and now seems like the best time