#the issue of the father is the one issue that adam is black and white about. and that is to say fuck them we don't need them

[flower-boi16]

The Problems With Charlie As The Main Protagonist

I've spoken about my thoughts on Charlie as a character before a few times on this blog, but I think it's finally time to discuss why Charlie isn't exactly the best protagonist. On the surface, there doesn't seem to be much wrong with her, she's likable and endearing enough and she's easy to root for. But...once you look deeper, the problems begin to rear their ugly head.

1. Charlie Never Grows

The first major issue with Charlie as a character is how she never really grows over the course of the first season. The show never really gives her much of an arc...? Like, by the end of the season, what does Charlie really learn by the end? The only thing I can think of is that she was right about sinners being redeemed and...that's it.

And it doesn't really make Charlie that particularly compelling as a character, she's entirely stagnant. She does have a conflict with her father, which, while executed fine, isn't enough to make her a developed character. She only gets small tinges of development and that isn't really enough for me.

Charlie doesn't learn anything or grow as a character, which makes her pretty underdeveloped as a character. The show never really gives her any real character flaws to grow from and become a better person, she's always portrayed as in the right anyway and never challenged once. Speaking of that...

2. Charlie is Always Right

This more or less ties back into the "Charlie never grows" point I've said before and I've talked about this several times before, but it's still an issue with Charlie's character; she is ALWAYS in the right. Charlie's "everyone can be redeemed" mentality is never once challenged by the narrative, and anybody who does oppose Charlie in any way is considered as wrong by the narrative.

The reason why this is a problem is because Hazbin Hotel heavily preaches about being against black-and-white moralities, as seen with Heaven and especially Adam. Heaven is meant to be seen as bad because of its black-and-white mindset of "Sinners can't be redeemed and never will". This is put on full display with Adam, and his song Hell is Forever, to the point it literally includes lyrics like "the rules are black and white there's no use in trying to fight it".

You Didn't Know further pushes this with this line "the rules are shades of gray when you don't do as you say and you make the wretched suffer just to kill them again".

So the show wants to push a message of "black and white morals are bad", but...it's rendered moot by the fact that Charlie is purely portrayed as in the right. Charlie is completely correct, everybody can be redeemed, everyone even the most evil people who did the worst possible things can still be good, and anyone who opposes her is wrong cuz she's completely in the right...gee, for a show so heavily against black-and-white moralities...doesn't this all seem very black and white in it of itself?

Charlie's "everyone can be redeemed" mentality is just as black and white as Adam's "nobody can be redeemed", they are both extremes leaning in opposite directions, that are also both wrong in their own ways, yet the show portrays Charlie's extreme as the right one and Adam's as the wrong one.

I've already talked about this before but Adam is a pure straw character; he only exists so Charlie can prove him wrong, he cant have any real character depth beyond being a generic asshole or have a real point because the show is so dead-set on making Charlie purely in the right no matter what; the narrative never challenges her and anyone who opposes her is portrayed as automatically in the wrong.

This is not the only time this happens btw. In episode 5, Lucifer is also portrayed as automatically wrong for opposing his daughter’s goals. He himself says that “Our people are AWFUL. They got gifted free will and look what they did with it!”, and the show…never counters this, despite what Lucifer is saying…being true. The people in Hell ARE awful and it's their own fault, many of them ARE deserving of death because…well, their shitty people.

Charlie is never challenged once throughout the show and its a problem because not only does it fly in the face of the show being so anti black and white, it also wastes an opportunity for the show to develop Charlie as a character; with her learning that some people can't be redeemed because they either are incapable or uninterested in changing.

That would fit more with the show’s anti-black-and-white themes and also have Charlie go through real growth as a character as she learns that not everything is all sunshine and rainbows. But sadly, we can't really have that.

So Charlie's ideals are never challenged by the narrative and thus it not only flies in the face of the show's themes it also wastes an opportunity for Charlie to grow as a character. Now it's best to get into the next issue with her...

3. Charlie is Barely Focused On

Another big issue with Charlie as the show's main protagonist is that the show doesn't really focus on her that much, especially the first half. Now, shows don't need to focus on the main protagonist at all times, obviously giving some screen time to other characters is definitely something shows should do.

But the problem is that Charlie gets very LITTLE focus in the series despite being the main protagonist, and this contributes to the problem of her being underdeveloped. The first half of the show is especially bad at this; episode 1 Is the only episode in the first half that focuses on Charlie, but even then it's overtaken by the B-plot involving the other characters trying to film a commercial.

Episodes 2&3 are entirely dedicated to what characters like Alastor or Angel Dust are doing and episode 4 is completely focused on Angel and his arc. It contributes to the issue of the show not being able to develop Charlie that much as a character because she's constantly being overshadowed by other characters. The second half is better in this regard for focusing more on Charlie but still, for the first half of the show, it feels like Charlie is overshadowed by other characters which is embarrassing because, well, she's the main character, yet she feels like she's barely gotten any actual spotlight.

4. Conclusion

I want to love Charlie as a character. I really do. I mean, she's a part of one of my favorite character archetypes. I always LOVE over joyful optimistic characters because I just find them a joy to watch on screen, but sadly, Charlie doesn't have much depth beyond that archetype. She isn't that developed making her fail to be much of a compelling protagonist, her ideology is never challenged by the narrative wasting an opportunity for her to grow and contradicting the show's themes, and she's heavily overshadowed by other characters despite being the main protagonist.

So ya, that's why Charlie isn't that great of a protagonist...bye.

#vivziepop critical #hazbin hotel critical #vivziepop criticism #hazbin hotel criticism

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 4 - Catholic Character Tournament

Propaganda below ⬇️

John

he’s a priest. he can punch your lights out. he would never hurt a fly. he has connections in the black market. he gives everything he can to the local orphans. he will not hesitate to play pranks on you. he wants everyone to be happy. he has daddy issues probably. he wants a promotion sososososoooooo bad.

I accidentally submitted the last 5actors name but it’s the same guy

Hey everyone please vote for this man I love him he truely is what we need more of in this world the kindest most relatable character has flaws etc etc. Deserves the world

Enrico propaganda

He grew up in the church and became a priest. so devoted to his faith he ended the UNIVERSE to achieve the perfect world aka heaven

Hes Catholic but also so gay for this one vampire that he ended the world for him

He is LITERALLY one big metaphor for the catholic church as a villain. He’s a guy who believes himself to be a martyr on a fundamentally altruistic quest that will better humanity and the world, but in truth hes a destructive force blind to his faults and hypocritical of the atrocities he commits. Even his altruisim is just a lie (that he does believe himself though) because it all just stems from a deep rooted desire he has to alliviate the guilt he feels. Also hes obsessed with ”the world to come” to the point that hes downright nihilistic towards the current world he actually lives in, as well as the other people in it. which i mean. lol. Ultimately hes an insane delusional queen and he should win this because he is just That catholic. also he is a catholic priest :)

his names pussy bc he served cunt (in a catholic god honoring way)

I want my bestie’s guy in bere

No one could feel guilt to this level if not catholic

Religious Allegory mostly woth how his power(white snake) is contradictory it has white to make you think of good things but it contrast with snake a creature that tempted adam and eve. Although he is a Man of faith his stand’s design is far from it being incredibly intimidating and lined with the genetic of dna whihc is scientific compared to faith.

Bro tries to kill a child

serial killer priest bro

HE IS INSANE He spent his whole life believing in fate and when his world turned around Shakespeare tragedy style he made it his mission to bring 「HEAVEN TO EARTH」, which means TEARING AWAY THE FABRIC OF REALITY SO THAT EVERYONE IS AWARE OF THEIR OWN FATE. How does he get there? Simple! By using a half-baked horse to SPEED UP TIME UNTIL THE UNIVERSE RESETS AND LAUNCHES EVERYONE INTO A NEW WORLD. How did he GET this horse??? Oh, as one does - his (dead) best friend’s toe bone grew into a baby made of leaves that vored him, but he survived and grew even more eyebrows than he already had. And that’s without getting into the STUFF that makes him a phenomenal, S-tier, fine wine that EXPLODES and causes you to see VISIONS type of character. That’s just the surface. But, ah, that’s Catholics for ya. Vote Enrico Pucci for king of the Catholic tournament. 👍🏻

#john mulcahy #m a s h #mash #m*a*s*h #cct polls #tumblr tournament #tumblr bracket #tumblr polls #polls #francis mulcahy #FRANCIS JOHN PATRICK MULCAHY #john mulaney #enrico pucci #father pucci #jojo’s bizarre adventure #r4

[philosophicalconservatism]

Interesting blog.

I’ve got a question for you seeing as you seem to be American (and American conservatism is different from conservative movements in Europe etc).

Basically, do you agree that the only value in conservatism is preserving the existing order? Because now I’m seeing many of you claim that you just want equality (of opportunity) for everyone but if we went back in time when some of these conversations about equal rights were taking place, many people who were conservative in those times didn’t support these movements for equal rights. So do you think it’s a big disingenuous to claim that equality is a conservative principle? It seems like defending the status quo is and I don’t even mean that in a derogatory way - it’s just what I’ve noticed. For example, when there was a push to have equality of opportunity in education so that women and black people could equally be admitted and partake, the traditional minded men didn’t support this. When gay people were fighting to have equality of opportunity when it came to marriage, it was the conservative side that said no.

It’s only now that women and minorities have rights and more access/efforts being made to address inequalities that conservatives are talking about equality of opportunity. They had no problem stipulating that only white men could access many positions and schemes for a long time.

Having read the complete version of your question (it of course would not fit within a single post) I would say that your concept of American Conservatism seems to be a caricature of it created by its American ideological opponents.

The first thing that must be noted is that an American conservatism will necessarily differ from a European conservatism in at least one crucial respect. European nationhood is based upon ethnic identity, while the American nation is based upon a particular set of abstract political ideals. What this means is that logically an American political Conservatism will consist of an impulse to preserve that specific set of ideals. One of the most important of those ideals is individual liberty, and so that is where the American conservative commitment to that principle originates. Conservatives do not believe in identity politics or group rights. They do not believe in "women's rights" or "Black rights" or "gay rights". They believe only in individual rights. Therefore If someone wishes to advocate a particular right they must clearly demonstrate that it naturally extends from the notion of individual liberty itself. This goes for the purported right to a state sanctioned "same-sex marriage" which you mention in the full version of your comment.

Now the American president Abraham Lincoln contended in his famous Coopers Union Address that recognizing the universal right of slave holders was not actually a Conservative position. Lincoln stated the following in addressing the pro-slavery side of the country.

"What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried? We stick to, contend for, the identical old policy on the point in controversy which was adopted by 'our fathers who framed the Government under which we live;' while you with one accord reject, and scout, and spit upon that old policy, and insist upon substituting something new. "

The problem with the stance that support for slavery was the "Conservative" position is that slavery was a contested issue from the very beginning of the American republic. The original American Declaration of Independence contained a condemnation of the institution of slavery, but it was removed due to opposition from the Southern states (and the U.S. required the support of every state to prevail in the Revolution). Every single one of America's major founding fathers is on record as condemning the institution of slavery and its morality (including those who owned slaves such as Jefferson and Washington). Here is John Quincy Adams (sixth president and son of founding father John Adams) on the issue.

"The inconsistency of the institution of domestic slavery with the principles of the Declaration of Independence was seen and lamented by all the patriots of the revolution, by no one with deeper and more unalterable conviction than by the author of the Declaration himself....Never, from their lips, was heard one syllable of attempt to justify the institution of slavery. They universally considered it as a reproach fastened upon them by the unnatural step-mother country; and they saw that, before the principles of the Declaration of Independence, slavery, in common with every other mode of oppression, was destined sooner or later to be banished from the earth. ." (1837)

Now racial equality was another matter. Not even Abraham Lincoln believed in that, because the men of this era were genuinely ignorant on this topic. They falsley believed that certain races of men were naturally superior to others, so they were doubtful about whether the supposedly inferior races could fully function as citizens in society. This belief was not really unique to one side or the other. When we fast forward to the era of the American Civil Rights movement in the late 20th century we find Liberals who championed the cause of the working class and of labor unions fighting for racial segregation. In fact the labor unions themselves crafted rules explicitly for the purpose of racial exclusion.

Some on the American Left respond to these observations by still trying to insist that these were Conservatives rather than Liberals, exclaiming that the Conservatives of this particular time were just different from the Conservatives of today. But it means nothing to argue that the Conservatives were the racists of that day if the only evidence you provide for the claim that they were Conservatives is the fact that they were racist. Most of the country (other than the radicalized youth of the counterculture) was what we would today classify as socially conservative. The notion of same sex marriage was of course inconceivable to them, most households were traditional, and pro-life (anti-abortion) candidates like president John F Kennedy flourished within the Democratic party itself (only 5% of the public supported abortion for married couples who merely did not want another child). So this cannot be what one means by calling them "Conservative".

The last thing I should mention on this subject is the Southern Strategy/party switch argument (an idea in American politics which you can Google if you're interested). It is an argument that has been decisively debunked by research that has shown that the American South continued to vote for Democrats with no less frequency than Republicans long after the fight for segregation was lost. The South did not in fact begin to consistently vote Republican until the beginning of the "culture wars" in the early 90's.

As for women's rights, neither party seemed enthusiastic about granting women the vote at first as many feminists concede. The women had to go at it alone for a while, the indifference was not purely a product of ideology. But (as is well known) the Republican party played a significant role in finally getting it done. About two times as many Republicans voted for the 19th Amendment as Democrats, but it was done under a Democratic president. And so again, it isn't clear where the ideological line is here unless you just assume that all those that did not lend enthusiastic support were Conservative by definition (in which case your question about why Conservatives always support these positions is tautological).

Finally, the connection between the idea of Conservatism and political freedom is not entirely a consequence of its American incarnation. Political liberty is a central theme in the writings of the Irish [which is to say European] statesman and author Edmund Burke, the founder of modern Western Conservatism. The idea that Conservatism is the preservation of the status quo whatever it happens to be, leads to a certain paradox. It is a paradox which specifically emerges when we consider the case of the totalitarian state. The head of a totalitarian state is the law. He can dissolve any tradition and nullify any precedent; nothing is sacred. Thus a totalitarian state is in a sense a perpetual revolution. It is actually anti-Conservative. Only a superficial definition of Conservatism would contend otherwise. The first principle of Conservatism is limited government, for without it there can be no grounding social traditions. Burke understood this.

Conservatism does not entirely reject progress, but it is suspicious of the pseudo-progress of utopian ideologies. In Burke's day this was the French Revolution. In ours it is Socialism/Marxism. Conservatives believe that true progress emerges organically within a society, it is not artificially imposed by ideology.

#conservative #liberty #progress

[drsilverfish]

John Winchester - The Road is Paved with Darkness?

Are we really watching John Winchester’s villain origin story?

Are we really watching fate? Knowing how the story ends? 

Are we inexorably heading for Mary’s demon-deal to resurrect John, Mary burning on the ceiling courtesy of said demon, Azazel, and John descending into revenge obsession and neglectful parenting?

Certainly The Winchesters has taken pains to show us the ways in which John Winchester is already messed up:

1) He carries the emotional wound of abandonment (so far as he knew, for most of his childhood) by his father, Henry Winchester (Daddy issues)

2) He carries the emotional wound of losing his best friend (lover?) in Vietnam, and suffers from trauma and flashbacks (PTSD) 

3) He is clearly attracted to hunting, in part, because of the opportunity it provides not to put down the war, claiming “I was born to do this” (Violence)

4) He is already more willing to think blanket “monsters bad” than his companions. John is the one who quickly decides that Ada’s part-Djinn son needs killing in 1x05 Legend of a Mind, rather than being willing not to rush to judgement, and he’s proved wrong (Black-and-White thinking) 

Of course, the Supernatural text presents a complex John Winchester (not simply a villain) someone who is brave (who did not break in Hell) as well as someone obsessive, someone who loves his sons (finally giving his life and soul to Azazel in exchange for Dean’s life) as well as having royally fucked them up. We glimpse (in off-screen hints or in flash-back) a John who drank too much during his kids’ childhoods, who (probably) beat Dean, who frequently left his sons alone in shitty motel rooms without enough food, who definitely abandoned Dean to teach him a lesson for stealing food after not providing enough, who moved his kids around so they were out of school more than in, who had another secret son on the road, Adam, and fucked him up too, as well as Sam and Dean further, when they eventually learned about their half-brother...

The SPN narrative operates on two levels in relation to John. There is an American-hetero-family-values story which fits some classic Hollywood tropes; the man gone vengeful beserker after losing his woman (which is supposed to lend legitimacy to his violence) and a “true love never dies” trope which sees John and Mary lovingly reunited in the alternative timeline of 14x13 Lebanon and apparently also in Heaven together at last (15x20) although we dont see it:

John and Mary in 14x13 Lebanon

And yet, in parallel, is a narrative that tells us John and Mary were, in fact, forced to fall in love by a Cupid as part of an angelic breeding programme, designed to give birth to perfect Michael and Lucifer vessels (Dean and Sam) to bring on the apocalypse. That they were not happy together, but struggled with fights and John’s absences once they kids were born (as Dean tells Sam in 5x16 Dark Side of the Moon);

Mary in Dean’s memory in 5x16 Dark Side of the Moon (John is absent and they fight on the telephone)

Because SPN was so centrally about Fate vs Free Will, because Slaughterhouse 5 was so clearly evoked in SPNWin 1x01 Pilot (which is a non-linear narrative), because Dean is framed as the narrator (which puts him the place previously occupied by Chuck/ God) I do wonder if The Winchesters is not simply earlier in a linear timeline which leads, inexorably, to Supernatural (Fate) but is Holy Ghost Narrator Dean’s dreamscape/ alternative in which he tells a story which saves his parents from their fate (Free Will). 

Are we watching the darkness slowly creeping in, or are we (as Leonard Cohen sings) seeing the cracks in everything, and finding out how the light gets in? 

#Supernatural #The Winchesters #The Winchesters meta #SPNWin #John Winchester #Robbie Thompson

[fizziepopangel]

 “Um, which whore are we talking about this time?”

When he and Valentino first began their relationship, it was solely about sex and using Val to help further his own power, but Vox eventually grew more attached to the moth pimp than he thought he would…. The dick was that good.

Vox acts as Val’s eyes when they’re out together. He’s working on convincing the man to just get some damn glasses, but for now, he just quietly describes things he knows Val might want to see, points him in the direction of whatever he should be looking at, and sometimes even takes pictures to let him look at later.

Being the youngest of the Vee’s, Vox and Val are rather protective of Velvette as if she was their child… So, whenever Velvette is sick and miserable, Vox does what every good father figure does for their chosen adult child: He plays her favorite childhood tv shows and cartoons on his face to cheer her up.

He would never say it but Vox sees Velvette as the daughter he never got to have in his life, he even endured what he refers to as he 'emo phase' (her pilot design)

Vox often turns his being into electric energy to travel through wires connected to modern technology that may be plugged in…. Sometimes, when he wants to get out of doing something, he hides within the wires and just doesn’t take physical form for hours, often doing it when he’s overwhelmed and needs to decompress.

Similarly, when Velvette or Valentino are pissed at him, they unplug cords he’s in when he’s traveling, effectively trapping him in the wires.

In hell, each sinner’s demon form usually ties into how they died, since this is rather common knowledge Vox has put out the story that he was an actor that died after being electrocuted by a livewire on the set of a movie he had been starring in…. In reality, he was an actor who died on set when he had a tv fall on his head while he was throwing a tantrum over something minor in his dressing room during which the ended up tripping over a wire, falling and tangling himself in the cord, and causing the tv that he had just unplugged to topple over onto him as he struggled with the cord.He feels like getting his head crushed by a tv in what sounds like a truly cartoonishly violent way makes him sound a lot less intimidating than his electrocution story.

Having his screen cracked or damaged is physically painful for him, with different damages resulting in different levels of pain/injury. All of the Vees have a repairman on speed dial just in case Vox needs a quick fix after an injury.

Vox only became ‘Vox’ when he ended up in hell, his given name from his time amongst the living was Virgil.

Vox absolutely recorded Alastor getting his ass handed to him in his fight with Adam, and yes he does watch it religiously because he 100% believes that it is better than sex (and yes, Valentino does take that personally).

At the time of his death, tv was still being shown in black and white, meaning that Vox could only see in black and white….In 1965, when tvs began to switch to color, Vox began to have issues with his vision for a time. This time frame came with Vox experiencing migraines, blurry vision, and issues with his screen glitching in and out of color and black and white. During this time, he absolutely thought he was dying a second death.

He’s actually a good cook. He co-wrote one of Alastor’s cookbooks when the two were friends… But the radio demon scrubbed his name and recipes from the book after their falling out. Vox was very upset to find that not only had his contributions to the book he had helped write completely gone, but Alastor used his falling out with Vox to promote his next cookbook: “Eat Your Heart Out: Valentines Recipes & Breakup Pick Me Ups”, claiming that a breakup with a friend was just as bad as a break up with a lover. Vox short-circuited when he saw this, he was livid.

In retaliation, Vox convinced Velvette and Valentino to go in with him on a series of cookbooks of their own… He learned quickly that he was the only one of the three of them that could actually cook.

Vox’s hat controls the wifi wherever he is, which is why his hat has a symbol reminiscent of the wifi symbol. When Velvette is being unusually disrespectful to himself or Val, Vox uses his hat to turn off the wifi in the Vee’s tower, usually resulting in a meltdown from the younger overlord.

Despite having been a tv star in his life, and controlling a good chunk of  Hell’s social media in his death, Vox actually doesn’t watch tv often and usually prefers to read.

The sharks in the aquarium in the Vee’s tower were all purchased by Vox. He calls them his babies, and he knows each and every single one by name and personality; picking up on even the tiniest changes in their personalities or swimming patterns. His favorite sharks are two that were fathered by his first pet shark, Vark, that he named Aux and Phono.

Vox absolutely loves dancing. All kinds of dancing, but especially swing dancing since it was the style he had seen his mom and dad dance to the most in his childhood.

Vox 2 Nite has been a late night show hosted by Vox, but it didn't get the views he would have liked, so he began shutting off all other programs at the start of his show and shutting the wifi down all over the city to force his ratings to go up.

#fizziepop thoughts #vivziepop #hazbin hotel #hazbin headcanons #hazbin hotel vox #vox headcanons #hazbin hotel velvette #hazbin hotel valentino #vox vs alastor #voxvalvel #the vees

[thenightling]

The backstories of Morpheus’ Ravens

Matthew-  Formerly Matthew Cable. (Source Swamp Thing volume 2, mostly issue 84).    Matthew worked for the DDI (Department of defense intelligence) and was married to Abby Arcane (who would later be Swamp Thing’s Love interest). Matthew was not a very good man. He was an alcoholic and he was physically abusive to Abby.

Thanks to comic book shenanigans he briefly ended up with God-like powers.  But he ultimately ended up in a coma caused by a drunk driving accident.  While in his coma Matthew ended up in The Dreaming, in the cave owned by Eve (one of Morpheus’s minion, a former horror comics hostess who can look like a young woman, a middle aged woman, or an elderly woman at will). Her cave is not very far from The House of Mystery and The House of Secrets, near the Shores of the Seas of Night (The ocean of The Dreaming).  Eve likes to punish misogynistic men in their nightmares, it’s her specialty.  

 In the cave Matthew learns to not be so misogynistic and every time he becomes abusive toward Eve (who he dreams is his wife), she takes her crone form (which is improbably strong) and turns the tables on him.  

In The Waking World Abby discovers that Matthew was taken to a corrupt hospital that was harvesting his organs while he’s still alive.   She finds him kept only alive by machines.  HIs body ravaged.  Most of his vital organs taken, even his eyes are gone.  Abby goes to turn his life support off out of mercy... In The Dreaming Matthew leaves Eve’s cave, crawling out after having learned his lessons. Morpheus meets him at the mouth of the cave and offers him the chance to serve him as his raven but he has to let go of his dying mortal life.

Matthew briefly wakes up just in time to shut off his life support systems himself so Abby doesn’t have to do it.  As Matthew dies he tells Abby to forgive him and forget him.

As a raven Matthew comes to prefer being a bird to being a man, deciding he makes a better raven than a person.

__________________________  

Jessamy - Not a lot is known about Jessamy’s past.  We know that she was Morpheus’s raven in the 1700s, and possibly earlier.   Her first appearance in the comics is in Thermador. She was very clever and helped to orchestrate the plan Johanna Constantine (eighteenth century character) needed in order to rescue Orpheus from the French revolutionaries. In the comics she’s a solid black raven.

_______________________________   Aristeas - Also known as Aristeas The Raven and Aristeas The Poet.  Aristeas was a poet in Ancient Greece. This one was a real historic figure and figure of mythology.   It is believed that after he died he became a raven and served Apollo.  It’s a running gag in The Sandman comics that Morpheus is repeatedly mistaken as Apollo since Apollo was often believed to be the father of Orpheus and in The Sandman Orpheus is Morpheus’s son.  After serving Morpheus for two hundred and forty years Aristeas chose to return to the human world in the form of a man but found he couldn’t re-adjust to being human so he asked to return to being a raven.

______________________________________ 

Lucien - Lucien (Lucienne in the TV show) is the first raven.  Lucien’s current form is likely not Lucien’s original form.  Lucien can still take raven form at will, as revealed in The Sandman issue known as The Hunt.

  The Dreaming (1996-2002 comics) claimed that Lucien was a white raven who was punished for some offense and made black. And that he was probably also Adam from Adam and Eve but Neil Gaiman has since debunked the notion that Lucien was Adam. And that version of The Dreaming has been de-canonized and ignored.   No other comic has ever claimed Lucien was once a white raven.  He is, canonically, the first raven though. 

That version of The Dreaming also gave Daniel a white raven named Tethys made from the soul of a dead alien who resided in The House of Secrets sub-basement. She was created to replace Matthew after he was accidentally shot by Lucien and chose to stay dead. She does not exist in any other comic. And Matthew is very much alive in current Sandman canon.      

  Delirium believes there have been “eleven and a half” ravens.

All of Morpheus's ravens were once mortal.   And he usually pays them with some sort of boon.  If they ever decide to not be his raven anymore they get the choice to either move on into the afterlife, or become a new dream entity, or become human again or to remain a raven and roam in that form but no longer serving Morpheus.

#The Sandman #Sandman #Neil Gaiman #Dream of The Endless #Morpheus #Matthew #Matthew Cable #Jessamy #Aristeas The Poet

[discosonicdude]

FE OC Week - Day 3 - Backstory

Okay, bit later than usual. I've been busy with work and other hectic stuff that have been happening today, but finally, it's time for the next prompt for @fe-oc-week. I realize that I may have backed myself into a corner with what I was talking about yesterday, but I'll do what I can to go along with what I have in mind. Apologies in advance if I end up sounding like a broken record, repeating what I've already talked about in previous days, but here we go.

Nick was born as the eldest son of Regis in 1162, after his elder sisters barely got the chance. With Matthew born just over a year later, the two brothers watched each other's backs both during their father's lessons in magic, with Nick specializing in Black Magic and Matthew in White, and in general. It wasn't long Nick's childhood that he began to notice something emanating from him. Regis realized what this meant; Nick bore a Crest.

When Regis found this out, he started giving Nick excruciatingly tougher lessons so that his Crest could awaken and he could lead House Umbris to a new age, knowing that he is the first male to bear the Crest. There was one issue though; Nick's Crest was fractured. No matter what Nick did, his Crest would not awaken. Beginning to doubt if it would happen, Nick begins to tire of his training.

After the Insurrection of the Seven, Regis has House Umbris cut ties with the Kingdom to fully support the Empire. Worried that the Kingdom would not forgive them because of this, and House Umbris wouldn't help them in their time of need, Nick tries to convince his father to repair relations with the Kingdom. However, Regis outright refuses his eldest son's requests at every turn, and leaves Nick's hopes just at that. Hopes. And little did Nick realise that his fears would come true. The Tragedy of Duscur.

When Nick found out about this, he was furious and confronted his father about how they did not come to the Kingdom's aid, but Regis was adamant and reprimanded Nick for not focusing on his training and aiding the Empire. A massive rift was formed between the two, and Nick started to shut himself away from his father. Eventually, when Nick wanted to forge a new relation with the Kingdom himself, in 1178, he ran away from home and stowed away to Fhirdiad.

Having come up with the alias "Ezekiel", Nick attended the School of Sorcery so that he can start gaining recognition and, when the time was right, reveal his intentions and try and bring House Umbris back into good terms with the Kingdom. He proves to be a quick learner and uses his knowledge in magic to assist his fellow students. The disguised noble gains popularity with everyone, but catches the wary eye of one student; Lorenz.

One day, the heir to House Glocester confronts "Ezekiel" about he is not who he says is and demands to know the truth. Nick is not the greatest when it comes to making up excuses, so he has no choice but to come clean to Lorenz and reveals who he truly is and what his intentions are for being so far from home, attending the School of Sorcery, and wishes to assist the Kingdom in what ever means necessary. Upon learning this, Lorenz comes to respect his fellow noble and vows to keep his identity a secret. Together, the two promise to assist each other with their magic training and work together as nobles to achieve their goals.

However, it wasn't meant to be. Matthew's intelligence gathering scouts, under Count Umbris' orders, eventually find out that their missing heir to the House is somewhere in Fhirdiad. Eventually, they realize that Nick is at the School of Sorcery. Worried that relations between House Umbris and the Kingdom of Faerghus would become even more strained, Nick decided to come forward and return home. Lorenz protests against his friend's decision to return home and abandon his goals, but Nick reaffirms that it isn't over yet and swears that they will meet again, and he will mend the strained relationship his father broke.

Nick returns home and begins his training with his father again, albeit excruciatingly more difficult to make up for lost time. Nick constantly wonders if this is worth anything, since his Crest would not awaken, and decides to just not worry about it and focus on his magic and newly acquired swordplay. Until one day, House Umbris gets quite the prestigious guest. The Imperial Princess, Edelgard von Hresvelg.

She visits the Count to acquire his House's aid for her ideals to come true in the future. Naturally, Regis agrees outright to help, so that they can help the Empire to be restored to it's former glory. Overseeing the conversation between their father and the Imperial Princess, the brothers wonder what's going on about the Edelgard's plans. While Matthew sets out his plan to find out, Nick falls head over heels for the Princess' charm, grace and beauty.

Regis realises that he may not be entirely needed for the future of House Umbris, and he introduces Edelgard to his two sons, feeling that they would be detrimental to her success. Meeting with Nick, she can clearly see that the future Count is put under strain from his father's faith in his fractured Crest. Edelgard promises him that the new world she is planning to build will not rely on Crests, and people will be free to do as they please, so long as they want to. Hearing this, Nick promises that he will do all he can to help Edelgard achieve her goals.

Upon learning that Edelgard will be attending the Officers' Academy at Garreg Mach Monastery the coming year, Nick asks his father if he can attend as well. With his hope to join back with the Kingdom, master his magic and swordplay, and to meet Edelgard again, Nick goes to the Officers' Academy and is placed in the Black Eagles House. Little did Nick know that what history had planned for him couldn't be farther from his goals.

#fe3h #fire emblem #fe oc week

[dragynkeep]

What also rubs me the wrong way about Blake is the fact that her design was apparently based off a Vietnamese cosplayer. But here’s the thing nothing about her is Vietnamese either. The one who designed her originally probably thought “(pale skin)Asians are hot! Let me base a white character off an Asian person!!”

Granted this doesn’t surprise me because MKEK whitewashed a character that was literally modeled and mocapped after an Asian man.

Blake is so weird ‘cause she really does highlight the issue of trying to figure out races in RWBY’s fantasy setting. Whereas someone like Lie Ren or any of the dark skinned characters is clearly not meant to be white, you got so many who have non-white attributes like clothing and names; such as Yang, Cinder, Raven, Blake, etc.

Especially when the FNDM is so inconsistent with it. If Blake’s weapon and pyjamas make her Japanese, then shouldn’t Adam’s? If Yang’s name makes her Chinese, then shouldn’t Clover’s last name make him Japanese? It feeds into giving RWBY rep points when they’re very much not earned.

Because why are all the Asian characters, especially on the good guys’ side, light skinned? Why did Sun and Taiyang lose a lot of their melanin, with Sun not even being able to keep his black eyes? Why did neither Yang or Ruby at least have somewhat of a tan since their father was darker skinned, instead being designed to look like their white ass mothers?

You can’t use Monty as a safe card for this blatant orientalism, because Monty is not every Asian country and still has some issues with colourism in his work, especially with how Emerald was treated in the show when he was alive. 

#rwby #rwde #answered #luke.txt

[anthurak]

Do you think ice queendom will touch on the Faunus and white fang subplots again? We see a mention if his “the Faunus always hated humanity” in the trailer and some promo art shows Blake with a white fang mask

If it is going to be given sone kind of focus……..that could Either retroactively fix some of the problems, or make them worse, and I’m a bit worried the latter is more likely

First off, I think we really need to manage expectations of the 'scale' of topics that Ice Queendom will be able to cover. Remember that this show seems to be, at it's core, the story of Team RWBY's battle with the Nightmare and more specifically, Weiss's battle against her own demons in order to change herself for the better. Any focus on the Faunus/white-fang subplots of the show will be purely through the perspectives of Blake and Weiss. As Team RWBY will be in a Nightmare realm, it doesn't exactly make sense for Sun, Ghira, Kali, Ilia or others to somehow show up (at least, not the REAL ones. More on that later).

It's more likely what we are seeing is in part a continuation of Weiss's and Blake's conflict at the end of Volume 1, and Weiss being faced with the challenge of deprogramming years of bigotry that were ingrained in her by her father and likely a lot of Atlas society. Lets not forget that exacerbating all your worst qualities is what the Nightmare does.

That being said, I do think there is a way that we'll probably get a lot of Blake's side of things. For one, it's very notable that not only did we get the Black trailer in addition to the White trailer adapted into IQ, but the events of those two trailers played out in parallel, which I'd say is a strong hint that Blake's story will get some major focus as well.

I imagine what's going to happen is that at some point, some of RBY will wind up being drawn into and trapped in their own Nightmares and forced to confront their own issues. I can particularly imagine a scenario where Blake gets trapped herself, forcing Ruby and Yang to split up, with Yang going into Blake's nightmare to help her while Ruby stays in Weiss's nightmare.

This means that we could still get some major Blake-focus in IQ, forcing her to confront everything she was running from at the start of the show, particularly Adam. I wouldn't be surprised if we wound up seeing Blake going through something similar to her Volume 4/5 development here.

#rwby #anon ask #rwby ice queendom #Weiss Schnee #Blake Belladonna #Ruby Rose #Yang Xiao Long

[sxgestar]

Suffer with me chapter 1

Summary:

the angel created by God from a feather left behind following Lucifer's banishment reader was created.

I have one task, observe the destruction of Vlad Dracula put upon the earth losing the one thing that keeps him in sanity. I am the past, future and present. Caring less about humans but wanted to see them suffer in person makes me want to be involved. Humans are such fascinating filthy creatures to be bestowed on. Daily schedules including eat, kill, rape, sleep and repeat but there's one that caught my eye a sun kissed dhampir in pain. One's mouth who's begging for a lord and savoir, me.

Adrian 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙨 me

warning: none but fluff for now :)

                              •❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Samael, a man fallen from heaven to punish the ones who sinned. It wasn't always like this Samael loved a beautiful woman; her s/c soft skin glowed in the sun. Flaming h/c/ hair/clothes(if she doesn't 't have hair) flowing behind her like waves. She was a venomous woman and a night monster. He fell for her, she was gorgeous inside and out. 

6'9 body/type to seduce all men and women. Voice soft as angels dominance coursing through her body. God created her for the purpose to marry Adam and live in the Garden of Eden. Until issues happened between Lilith and Adam when Adam tried to push his dominance over Lilith. She believed they were created equal both from the dust of the earth, giving the reason why she shouldn't be dominated after Adam disagreed.

God finding out she doesn't 't fit to be Adam's wife giving Lilith wings and the ability to shapeshift. Growing two white feathery wings she flew out of the Garden of Eden to gain her independence. Weeks, months passed she soon returned to find out her once so-called lover had a new woman who looked similar to her called "Eve".

Out of revenge, she has sex with Adam which bans her from the garden placing her on Earth. That didn't cease her anger, stealing innocent children's lives at night, but agreed not to take the lives of 1000 those who had amulets of either of the three angels. Samael was hypothesized in her independence, anger, attitude, her everything. Flying down meeting her every single day made his heart flutter. His father/mother/Lord disapproved of his/her/their son speaking to a monster who committed sins at twilight trying to use one of their sons.

Lilith and Samael started to have a wonderfully healthy relationship with one another, But God had different plans . Calling Samael up to the clouded heaven, God sat at the huge white thrown looking down on Earth. Samael was a 6'0 thin but built pale man with semi curly black hair and wings.

 completing his look he had a white silky handmade cloth covering his manhood but leaving his v line open for view. He was God's most beautiful angel/creation, "I need you to stop seeing Lilith" Their voice was stern yet so smooth. "But Father/Mother/Lord I feel like a brand new person we're in love. You should be happy that I'm happy!" "But you make the same old mistakes, she's a wicked woman. I shall not sit around and watch my son/creation be manipulated! "

" I don't care, I'm in love....you're going to take away someone I care about so deeply? Everyone makes mistakes! I haven't had a clue what she's done! I refuse to listen to your petty squabbling" Samael's teal eyes glared at God's multicolored orbs " She's a demon who needs to be punished for her crimes. You ignoring my wishes upsets me, my son, I understand you're happy but I -.... I have no choice.

 When you realize this is for the great or good you'll praise me for it." While they spoke Lucifer flew away in anger. (Lilith's point of view) "Darling, is anything troubling you? You seem in the clouds ever since you came back" I love Samael with my heart. I never want to see him like this." I'm fine dear" he gave off a small chuckle I can tell he was lying but I brushed it off "I just can't stop thinking how beautiful you are. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Having so many little angels running around the meadows, I want you to live comfortably .

And if you're not comfortable with me yet I will wait for you, I don't want to pressure you, but just know I'm here for you...if something happens you don't have to deal with it alone but I'll respect your boundaries. I'll always love you Lilith you're the love of my life and I'll stay with you through thick and thin." I closed my eyes breathing in and out.

 Lord knows I don't deserve Samael, I know I'm going to die soon, I committed sins for my pain and pleasure. The view is just beautiful, white clouds covering the sky, sitting on the green meadow field, Samael's head in my lap as I comb through his black fluffy locks. With the wind gently brushing against our wing I want to savor this moment forever, words lingering in my head.

Looking down examining his facial features. Hot tears running down my face dripping onto Samael's, I didn't realize I was crying each horrible thought about leaving him crushed me. At this point, I was shaking just crying and more sniffling could be heard. It's all my fault that he's going to be miserable without me. 

Sitting up he looked worried but gave a genuine small smile and kissed my tears while his thumb slowly wiped away the salty tears." Dear I'm sorry if I upset you I'll do anything to not see you cry like this" mumbling in a deep voice He looked into my eyes. I placed my hands on his face giving out a small giggle but only for it to make me cry harder.

"I'm fine you just make me so happy" I don't want him to worry it devastates me when I don't see a smile on his handsome face. (Normal point of view) Lilith calmed down staring deep into his eyes out of nowhere the lady tackled him pinching his cheeks making them red

 " STOP BEING SO CUTE!" Causing them both to break out in a laughing session. Laying on top of him rustling grass was all that could be heard. leaving a quick peck on Lilith's rosy nose until he started to kiss all over her face, loving, soft lips meeting one another the kiss was slow but full of passion.

Breaking the passionate session, Lilith comfortably laid on Samael's toned chest drawing light circles. "Samael do you have to go back to heaven right now?" "No my love I'm not returning for a couple of days. I want to spend time with you, Do you want me to go?" he whispered in her ear, caressing her hair. " No, I just want to enjoy being in your strong arms " watching the sunset in your lover's arms is what everyone dreams of.

Air getting cold Luci wraps his large black wings over her smaller/bigger figure. Her eyes start to get heavy as they lay in pleasant silences. Time skip to 2 weeks Every morning the angel would fly down to the grassy earth, different varieties of flowers spreading the warm environment to either met his lover sleeping, smelling the flowers, petting the wild animals that would luckily come past her, but more than likely she would be sleeping on her side wings covering her body on the grass as the world goes past.

Hovering over her Samael reached out his pale veiny hand to rest on her sleeping face, stirring in her sleep, she slowly opened her eyes to meet the bright sun's rays, out of reaction she quickly brought her forearm to her face and blocked them from burning her eyes. "I forgot the sun would shine in your eyes, sorry" he whispered in an apologetic voice letting his big wings block her view from the sun "Good morning you're here extra early" rubbing the crust from her eyes Letting out a sigh " Darling....... it's the evening"

"Really why didn't you wake me up sooner, I wanted to show you something this place I found it's really beautiful and I thought that it would be a perfect place for us to go, we don't have to go if you don 't want, I just thought it would be a nice place to go that's why I was sleeping I was searching this place for a while" muttering shielding her eyes away from the man above her "I'd love to accompany you on our mysterious voyage"

showing a reassuring smile "It might take some time to arrive there Samael are you up for the challenge?!" cocking her head to the side eyebrows lifting "Indeed the real question is do I need to fly and carry you there like a goddess you are?!" picking her up to soon twirl her in his arm inches off the ground wings flapping. She smelt of dirt and pine but in a good way at least what Sam thought.

Chuckling lightly she landed small kisses on the bridge of his roman shaped nose. "Or do you prefer for both of us to fly there, I keep forgetting you have some of the most stunning wings I've ever seen". The rear remembrance of her having such dreadful things attached to her form made her face sour slightly. "No!...no that would merely take the fun of our trip, what would benefit us with walking will surely catch up on one another since you've been doing whatever godly things up in heaven without me".

Sliding out of his embrace, thin white cotton stola flowing they were quite dirty at the bottom edges, feet making contact with the long grass. Peering over to the warm brief but indescribably beautiful pink and purple sky "Plus I would love you to know what my future love- Samael! Knows about earth its flaws and all you're the son of God after all" 

extending her arm behind her in his direction still staring off into the sky embarrassed to make even the slightest pep slightly dumbfounded, surprised that she wants to know this information he quickly caught on running to join hands together. "Lilith did I just hear you saying, husband! You want to marry as much as I do!" flustered not noticing his wings flapping behind him.

"Well, you can rest assured that I will never say such things! Not yet at least!" smiling teasingly to the short man "Let's go we don't have all day remember we're walking!" running in union hand in hand . The smell of grass, clean freshwater lakes brushing against their faces. 

Following the small river insects chirping simple songs fireflies making a scattered path for the now walking lovers. Clearing her throat waving her hand in his face "Samuel what charming activities have you been practicing while you've been on they must be excellent" "Well, everything honestly! They made this crazy musical thingies father/mother/Lord is making all my siblings try it at once.

#alucard x angel!reader #alucard x reader #dracula castlevania #castlevania #trevor belmont #castlevania sypha #dracula #lisa tepes #angst #ao3 #poc reader #poc #death #alucard #castlevaniaseason1 #firstbook #fear

[addude]

SCP Biblical First Family

Got bored so gonna post up some ideas I have for biblical first family in the SCP. I intend to add these as SCPs later but gotta write them so that will take time Anyway…

*Adam had three wives, Lilith the first, Eve the third.

* The wives nor the children speak of the second. They will not speak her name, they will not describe her. They will at most acknowledge her as the second wife or simply as her. They aren’t sure if she is alive or dead. 

* Lilith didn’t want to have children, though called their mother she never actually gave birth to any of the kids. 

*Adam insisted that his children all consider his three wives as their mothers equally. 

* The children in order of birth Qayin (Cain) and his twin sister Luluwa (Lulu), Hevel (Able), Awan (Ava), Atzurah (Azura), Set (Seth.)

* Neither Cain nor Able are aware their other siblings have survived to the modern days. Seth is aware that two of his sisters are alive but never speaks to about them to the Foundation so they won’t be contained. He sees no need as they bring no attention to themselves and are no real threat.

* Lulu has some serious issues against Lilith. She adored Lilith like her real mother but as the oldest she remembers when Lilith left not only their father but her. To make things worse, she knows her father essentially named her after Lilith. Luluwa just being a derivation of Lilith.

* Eve did eat fruit from tree of wisdom and the tree of eternal life. Now she has knowledge she shouldn’t reasonably know and simply can’t die. She has mostly spent her time trying to protect humanity from anomalous even before she got involved with the foundation. 

* Eve is not a fan of traveling over water. If you were drowning for 40 days over and over again you wouldn’t be a fan either. 

* No member of the family will ever willing face the Gate Guardian. The picture would give many nightmares. Coincidentally if anyone plays SCP-2137  near them it will begin to speak Sumerian and has caused Eve to have a panic attack.

* Ava is one if not the first magic users,  she’s continued to practice and honed her skills over the centuries. A lot of modern thaumaturgy is based on her discoveries and teachings. 

* Ava looked up to her brother Cain, seeing him as someone she could relate to someone she could connect intellectually with. It broke her heart when she heard about what happened with Able. 

* Ava still loves her father but she fears him. She knows what he became and has actually worked on a spell that might be able to stop him. She is not eager to test it. 

* They all miss Azura, one day when they were children she went missing. No one found a body or found out what happened. Even centuries later it haunts them, they never got closure. 

* Lulu knows the origin of Cain’s arms. 

*Azura has dark blue eyes, to the point of having them look purple, she says the same thing as Elizabeth Taylor. She has black and white hair, she claims its Marie Antoinette  syndrome thing. No one is sure if she knows what that is.

*Azura has a close relationship to the Wondertainments. She calls Isabel Izzy and Reginald Reggie, and sometimes by his real name. Isabel calls her Wow. Their relationship complicated. Azura did pick the name Isabel.

* Ava in the modern era has actually earned multiple doctorates, thought she will admit the history ones are kind of cheat since she lived through history.

* Lulu is a charming and playful young woman. It would be possible to confuse this with some anomalous ability, but she just someone who knows how people work and what to say to get the right reactions.  

*Eve takes special measures to try and protect anomalous children. But in the end she is only one vote of 13.

*Eve actually checks in on SCP-53 regularly, as her anomaly doesn’t affect her being a reality anchor. The council knows this and allow it as they would rather have 53 forming a bond with Eve instead of being solely influence by 682.

* Lulu knew Thomas Edison and  Helena Blavatsky and together were involved with his spirit phone invention. 

* Ava looks down on the Serpent Hand. While she understands their good intentions she believes that world finding out about the anomalous would be disastrous. She also avoids the library, as she’d rather craft spells on her own and just wants to avoid alternate universe stuff.

* Azura actually ends up meeting up with her grandma fairly regularly.

*Eve has fallen in love a number of times. She's married, men and women, and occasionally raised families. It hurts her when they die. She remembers each and every one.

*Eve and Lord Blackwood were a thing, neither getting too serious because they had their own responsibilities and lives to live. Though if they ever stop to talk about it, they would consider slowing down even for a bit.

*Adam might have more children.

#SCP #SCP Foundation #SCP 073 #SCP 076 #SPC EVE #SCP 336

[spring-lxcked]

taking a small break to ramble incoherently abt my portrayal of william in what will be a very confusing post lmao

i'm thinking about how my portrayal, which draws inspiration from two specific characters at times, and how i apply that inspiration to william (which started off as the focus of the post before it derailed how did this get so long i'm sorry)

the first is (and i do hate to make this comparison ngl) my portrayal of kok.ichi over on @takinghisbow. i mean, one of the running themes of the blog is the "mask" kok.ichi wears to conceal his true emotions and i've consistently tried to keep myself from falling into that exact turn of phrase on this blog for the most part. these are two characters who do not want you to actually know anything about them and hide everything from intentions to feelings to expressions (yes hello i have realized in the last year that i mask in public thanks for noticing). the obvious differences between these two are motivation (kok.ichi is motivated by trust issues and self-hatred, william is motivated to try to cover up his misdeeds) and method (kok.ichi acts antagonist/annoying to push people away, but william acts falsely kind to draw people in while still keeping them at an arm's length). kok.ichi has questionable morals, but tries to be good where it counts. william is a terrible person and has no intentions of changing that, although he can be kind to those he likes if it isn't "a burden" to him.

the other character (who i also tentatively write) is hann.ibal lec.ter (specifically the NB.C portrayal). and i've said it before, but "you're not a person, you're a monster wearing a person-suit" is william-coded lmao. they're both monsters, and yet capable of caring. they are not incapable of empathy or sympathy, but choose how to wield it. outside of their very horrific hobbies, nobody would ever think they were killers. both are surrounded by death, and yet not suspected because nobody could ever believe they'd do it (until it's too late).

going into making this blog, i was very adamant that i wanted a complex portrayal that didn't fall too far into generic movie serial killer stereotypes. we don't throw around potentially offensive terms like "psychopath" or "sociopath" here. we don't suggest that lack of empathy = bad person here. i also was very, very loathe to do the whole "evil guy looks Totally Evil and is so obviously creepy" because it quite literally made little sense to me. how is this guy killing so many kids and not getting suspected if he screams "Serial Killer" just by looking at him? if he's antagonistic and creepy and clearly threatening? and in that same vein i wanted to avoid "bad person is bad all the time 24/7, never does anything decent ever" because i live for nuance, not the chr.istian fund.amentalist black/white thinking i grew up in. i wanted him to be irredeemably, unmistakably evil without losing the fact that evil people are humans, and humans are capable of great evil if they choose.

i want the moments where he's being decent—a seemingly good friend, father, or romantic partner—to be almost disarming. because, while william is perfectly capable of caring for people, his actions (both in what he does and what he doesn't do) are intentional. always. his sense of humor with his adult friends or romantic partners is half because he genuinely enjoys joking around and half because he wants to be viewed a certain way. funny. normal. just one of your buddies. him doting on his kids is because he loves them, but also because he needs for everyone—both the kids and the community—to be able to say, "What a good father, he would never hurt anyone (and especially not a child)." when he resists showing anger (whether entirely or just the full extent of it) toward someone he's upset with, this is part of the persona. when he pretends to like someone he dislikes, this is part of the persona. when he agrees to something he doesn't want to do, this is part of the persona.

it's part of what makes sprin.gtrap seem so different from william prior to the springlo.ck incident. william is throwing everything behind his persona. he's a calculating man, even when he's genuinely enjoying himself. he can be truly having a nice time with someone, but the thought of how this is benefitting his persona is always in the back of his mind. you're just another character witness to william. after the springlo.ck incident, there's no longer a point. the persona is gone. get ready to meet the real man beneath it.

#—— ✧ ooc » #˖ ✧ headcanon » ( the demon to his demons ) #not to be self-congratulatory but i think i went off with 'you're just another character witness' #me starting this post: just gonna write a little something abt the character inspirations #me partway through: but consider the NUANCE the PERSONA the—

[tibby]

it's actually so wild saw to me is like this rare subterranean, conceptual, uber genre-specific horror franchise that i feel like any political meaning/relevance to it goes over my head but boy DO THEY KILL A LOT OF DAMN COPS IN THOSE MOVIES lol (which is also why i'm lenient on the cops being heroes in spiral)

the politics in saw are all over the place and i think with the exception of saw vi, it's hard to say that any of the films in the original 7 take a hard stance on any issue. i think it's interesting that people think saw 2004 is some like, post 9/11 america commentary, because james and leigh are australian and that's certainly not what they set out to do. does saw perhaps have underlying political themes/interpretations? sure, just like all art. but iirc that was never james and leigh's original intention.

i think saw ii in particular is VERY interesting because in my take, eric matthews is at no point the good guy. is he one of the protagonists? sure. but i don't think we're ever meant to root for him. we're introduced to him as a shitty father and over the course of the movie we find out that he's got a history of police brutality and framed multiple people over the course of his career. amanda's problems can be directly linked to eric framing her for a crime she didn't commit. i also think it's very...interesting and unfortunately realistic that most of the officers don't really care about eric's past/current behaviour. even kerry, the only one that's genuinely horrified to find out that he framed people and tries to stop him when he goes to attack john, was involved with him in the past.

one of the points of the franchise to me is that the mpd is never able to stop the varying jigsaws in part because most of them are crooked. it's even one of the things that john uses to manipulate hoffman into becoming an apprentice - the justice system fails those who actually need it.

(it's also perhaps worth nothing that the targets of the games become a lot more...deserving when hoffman takes over. john targeted people like addicts and the mentally ill and lawrence and adam. hoffman targets abusers and nazis. just...interesting that even when he's become a remorseless criminal, he's still doing more to take down those who deserve to be punished than the law has ever done in this universe).

even strahm, who is probably the greatest adversary within the hoffman tetralogy, isn't like. a good guy. and i don't think we're meant to see him as one, even if he's the ~hero~ of saw v. he threatens jill with a gun during an interrogation and given how like, relaxed perez was about him unloading it beforehand, suggests he'd done it before. he was also incredibly trigger happy when it came to jeff denlon, and perez remarks that he's always had a bit of a temper. strahm is able to recognise that the mpd is crooked, sure, but he's certainly not playing by the rules.

honestly i wouldn't even say the cops are painted as the heroes in spiral...william believes that zeke is a hero and we get that annoying "only the bad cops" line but like. the movie is also pretty firmly about the inherent issues within the system. zeke is ostracised and harassed by his colleagues for over a decade for turning in a dirty cop (which has added connotations given that zeke is a black man and the cop he turned in was white), william exclusively tests cops who got away with crimes unpunished, and it does bring up the issue of the "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality. obviously the movie still has a lot of issues wrt law enforcement (as does the whole franchise really), but with the exception of zeke, i wouldn't say it portrays cops in a good light at all, let alone as heroes.

anyway sorry didn't mean to go on a whole rant lmao. saw's politics aren't really like...coherent at any given point in time outside of "healthcare for all" so. who knows what their intentions were. all i know is that to me the heroes of the franchise are not, and have never been, the mpd.

#also why i have mixed feelings about rigg bcus i do think he's a very good character to follow in iv #and i think it. could have REALLY hammered home the point of like. #justice isn't being achieved in the way we're led to believe it should so murder traps it is #but his lenience with eric in ii is uh. always on my mind. #which i suppose is probably an issue of the franchise never meaning to go past iii #ask #anonymous

[nasirofmanderlys]

♛ → THE NORTH present(s) NASIR MARWAN MANDERLY, the RULING LORD OF WHITE HARBOR/MASTER OF LAWS. when the dragons danced in the sky they thought the BLACKS would still fly, but in the blink of an eye, they would all die. the THIRTY-TWO year old MALE who was FLEXIBLE & OPEN-MINDED before they saw the first of the flames, is now WITHDRAWN & RELUSIVE after seeing the last. through the ash, now they struggle to find the sliver of scales of a tail within the ocean current, the glistening rings of a sun upon a trident and the smell of dust being blown off ancient volumes  ( fc. alfred enoch)

wanted connections: his wife who he has married minimum six months ago, who is from ashemark, the sister of lord eren marbrand. he also has a brother and two sisters.

nasir has recently becoming ruling lord of white harbor following the death of his father, whilst all were in dorne. late lord hashim was the ruler of white harbor when the late dragon king found himself butchered within white harbor’s walls. his mother, lady manal, continues to live. 

he has been master of laws under king theon stark since the north became independent however, and has been in this role longer than the role of lord of white harbor.

he is of the old way, considering the manderlys once lived in the reach and were exiled by the peakes. he is seen as the protector of the faith of the seven within the north, and takes this duty incredibly seriously. his religious views are more open-minded and lenient, as he does not necessarily believe his northern-folk are damned to seven hells, for they were god-fearing. 

he is not breaking off from oldtown. if there is corruption, it is the responsibility of the other levels within the faith of the seven, rather than the high septon himself. he also does not agree with getting rid of maesters and replacing them with wisdoms, or even just changing the name.

quiet, reserved bean!!! one can often find him near owen’s loud laughter, or brandon’s casual confidence, nasir will be sat there having a quiet discussion and dislikes attention upon himself. 

he is very confident in his beliefs and what he is passionate about however: he is able to talk about it comfortably and with ease, and that often includes the wellbeing and the realm. 

surprisingly, he loves wrestling and has no issue with getting in the mud in that circumstance. it is strange, what he’s comfortable and not comfortable with - one never truly knows until they see him give his response. 

voice of logic, sometimes he can be seen to rely too much upon it and this can make him seem a bit impersonal. he doesn’t mean it, you’ll often finding brandon or adam looking at him like ‘dude’ and he’s like ‘ah, okay, let me reword that’

random beef: rhydian mormont (thinks he is an idiot,) domeric stone, the boltons full stop, eren marbrand, tirius rowan

#introduction. #here he is! ♥

[typingtess]

NCIS: Los Angeles Season 13 Rewatch:  “MWD”

The basics: When a retired Military Working Dog disappears, the team works to return the dog to his owner.  

Written by:  R. Scott Gemmill wrote/cowrote “The Only Easy Day”, “Brimstone”, “Breach”, “LD50”, “Found”, “Borderline”, “Absolution”, “Archangel”, “Tin Soldiers”, “Impostors”, “Cyberthreat”, “Honor”, “The Watchers” and both sides of the NCIS Los: Angeles/Hawaii Five-0 “Touch of Death” episodes, “Recruit”, “Free Ride”, “Wanted”, “Ravens and The Swans”, “Impact”, “War Cries”, both ends of the “Deep Trouble” season five finale/season six premiere, “Inelegant Heart”, “Praesidium”, “Traitor”, “Active Measures” (season seven premiere), “Blame It On Rio”, “Internal Affairs”, “Matryoshka” part one,  "Talion" (season seven finale), “High Value Target”/“Belly of the Beast” (season eight premieres), “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Under Siege”, “Unleashed” (season eight finale), “Party Crashers” (season nine’s premiere), “This Is What We Do” (episode 200), “Các Tù Nhân”, “Goodbye Vietnam”, “Ninguna Salida” (the season nine finale), “Hit List”, “Asesinos”, “Till Death Do Us Part”, “Choke Point”, “The Guardian”, “Hail Mary”, “Kill Beale Vol. 1”, “Alsiyadun”, “Fortune Favors the Brave”, “The Bear” (season 12 premiere), “Angry Karen”, “Love Kills”, “Russia, Russia, Russia”, “The Noble Maidens”, “A Tale of Two Igors” (season 12 finale), "Subject 17" (season 13 premiere) and "All The Little Things".

Directed by:  Suzanne Saltz directed "Outside the Lines", "Murder of Crows" and "Sundown".

Guest stars of note: Peter Cambor is back from “All the Little Things” as Nate Getz.  Kavi R. Ladnier returns from “Pandora’s Box” as Shyla Dahr.  Matt Lasky was Joseph Jones but he played the bartender in the steampunk bar in “Random on Purpose” in season one.  Stephanie Lemelin as Mary Smith, Brent Bailey as Dennis Adams, Cap Peterson as Brian “Buster” Miller, Travis Johns as Nick Reed and Richard Gant as Raymond Hanna (voice only).

Our heroes:  Reunite a retired Gunnery Sergeant and her Master Sergeant dog.

What important things did we learn about:

Callen: Speaking to Nate about his Hetty issues and not in a patient-psychologist way. Sam:  Searching for his father. Kensi:  Crashing the Audi for a good reason. Deeks:  In court today. Fatima: Steering clear of the cyber tower when Shyla is around. Rountree: Leaving the incident with the police to the legal people and moving on.  Until he isn’t Kilbride:  Knows about the Drona project but not in a way that can help Callen.

What not so important things did we learn about:

Callen: Willing to do some deep dives into his memories. Sam:  Selling the Michelle. Kensi:  Married her furry partner. Deeks:  Did show Rountree “Hair” – even sang the songs. Fatima:  Beginning to sound like the Admiral and isn’t concerned about it. Rountree: Didn’t have a TV much as a kid. Kilbride:  Doesn’t like hanging on.

Where in the world is Henrietta Lange?  Telling Nate only what she needs him to know while in Syria.

Who's down with OTP:  Hopefully absence is making the heart go fonder as Kensi works with Sam and Deeks is in court.  Deeks did earn a mention as Kensi’s furry partner.

Who's down with BrOTP:  Mary and Boomer were quite the team.

Fashion review:  Callen is wearing a blue-green button down shirt.  Black long-sleeve tee for Sam.  Kensi is wearing a blue and white sweater.  Deeks is in court.  Fatima has on a white henley over a maroon turtleneck.  Rountree is wearing a beige sweater.  As usual, a dark blue three-piece suit for Kilbride with a light blue dress shirt and a red plaid tie.

Music:  “Oceans” by Svvarms was playing in the teaser.

Any notable cut scene:  No.

Quote:  Kilbride:  “The, request that you filed under the Freedom of Information Act has been denied.” Callen:  “Huh. How did this come across your desk? This was a private and personal inquiry. Why was it denied?” Kilbride:  “Use your imagination.” Callen:  “'Cause of you?” Kilbride:  “No. This is above my pay grade. "Exemption 1, the requested "information is classified to protect national security." “ Callen:  “They're gonna hide behind national security?” Kilbride:  “They're funny that way. I know that this is a big disappointment for you and that you would very much like to speak with Henrietta about her involvement in the Drona program.” Callen:  “So, you do know about it.” Kilbride:  “I know of it... but not to the extent to help you find the answers I believe you're looking for.”

Anything else:  In a nice residential neighborhood, a woman parks her SUV in her driveway.  She has some takeout for dinner.  Walking into her home, the lights are not working.  She starts calling for “Boomer” but finds the living room a mess – glass from a broken window, tipped over desk chair.  Pulling out a gun, she walks through the home like a law enforcement officer would.  A dog toy startles her.  Looking in the dining room, her back door is opened.  Calling 9-1-1, the woman calls in the break in and says there has been a kidnapping.

Working in the firing range, Rountree has fired a lot of rounds.  Dozens and dozens of casings litter the floor.  Fatima arrives and starts talking to Rountree.  She gets mostly one-syllable, one word answers and mentions that to Rountree.  Rountree thinks that sounds like something the Admiral would say.  Fatima agrees.  Rountree asks if they have a case.  With Shyla working with them, Fatima is “steering clear of the cyber tower” (like that) so she doesn’t know.

Fatima asks Rountree if he wants to talk.  As someone who suffered a real trauma, she knows what it is like but Rountree is having none of it.  He’s put what happened behind him.  “I’m good.”  He tells her the incident is someone else’s “legal problem.”  Fatima thinks that’s fine but wonders why the firing range looks like “Assault on Precinct 13”.  Rountree is unfamiliar with the film.  Fatima asks if Rountree even had a television as a kid.  “Most of the time, no.”  Fatima wants to add it to the list of movies he should see.  Rountree is out on that plan.  Deeks made him watch “Hair” and sang every song.  “That was more traumatizing than ‘Get Out’.”  Fatima thinks Rountree will suffer a more traumatizing event if Kilbride sees the mess he made in the firing range.  Rountree goes to find a broom.

A jilted Callen walks into the bullpen.  Sam stood him up but is sitting in the office.  Callen is annoyed he was stood up because Sam arrived to the office early to get the Admiral’s parking spot.  Sam reminds Callen it is nobody’s parking spot but Callen thinks the Admiral does not share that opinion.  Sam has already apologized.  Callen feels Sam hates his driving.  “With every fiber of my being.”  

Callen thinks Sam did not go home that night.  Seems Sam keeping company with an Endocrinologist.  He’s also seeing a stunt woman and a bartender.  He’s not hooking up with any of them, calling Callen a “frat boy”.  Callen and Sam banter before Sam admits he’s selling the boat ($583,000).  Sam’s dad can’t live on his own anymore so Sam is buying a house so they can live together.  Sam has not told his father this so Callen thinks Sam’s doing thing backwards.  Callen asks about Sam’s father, who has “had better days.”  The senior Hanna won’t go in for any testing to see what’s wrong.  Sam calls him stubborn.  Callen thinks like father like son before offering to help.  Sam asks if his father could move in with Callen.

Shyla arrives in the bullpen with news that the Admiral would like to see Callen.  She notices the boat for sale and likes it.  After Sam makes a gentle pitch, Shyla tells him she’s a “city mouse” and is looking for a two-bedroom inland.

Arriving in the Admiral’s office, Callen is told his FOIA request was denied.  Callen is surprised that his private and personal inquiry wound up in the Admiral’s hands.  Asking why it was denied, Callen is told “use your imagination”.  Callen asks if the Admiral put a stop to his request but is told it is above the Admiral’s paygrade.  Reading the denial, Callen is annoyed the government is denying it because of National Security.  The Admiral knows about the Drona project but not to the extent that would provide Callen the answers he needs.  

Turning the NCIS business, the agency’s CYBER unit has been working around the clock on Katya’s deep fakes.  There is a now a “security perimeter” around Callen’s digital life so if Katya makes a move, CYBER can shut her down.  Finally, the Admiral wants Callen to see Nate later that day.  With all that is going on around Callen, the Admiral wants to make sure the team is working at peak performance.  Callen says he doesn’t need Nate for that.  The Admiral mentions Nate’s work with Hetty in Syria as a profiler.  With Deeks in court today, Sam can partner with Kensi and Callen can talk to Nate.  “Take as much time as you need.”  Callen is grateful.

In Ops, Fatima and Rountree join Shyla.  On the big screen is retired USMC Gunnery Sergeant Mary Smith, the woman whose home was broken into in the teaser.  Returning from the gym, she found recently retired Marine Master Sergeant Boomer Hayes was kidnapped.  Rountree thinks Boomer has to be a nickname, nobody is named Boomer (CBS Sports Boomer Esiason would disagree).  Putting up Boomer Hayes’s Marine ID on the big board, Boomer is a dog.  

Confused, Fatima isn’t sure why they are looking for missing pet.  Shyla explains Boomer is a MWD – a Military Working Dog.  Rountree thinks he’s being punked.  The arriving Admiral assures Rountree this is no joke.  The team will be looking for someone who kidnapped a Marine Corps Master Sergeant.  Sam and Kensi are about to talk to Mary Smith.  The Admiral wants Fatima and Rountree to check out the crime scene.

In the boatshed, Smith is talking about her relationship with Boomer.  The two worked together in the Marines.  When they both retired, Smith was allowed to adopt Boomer.  The two have worked for the LA  Sheriff’s Department for two years with some private sector jobs.  Smith thinks the MWDs are brilliant.  She also thinks her ex-boyfriend Dennis may be behind this.  Dennis was jealous of Boomer – they never bonded.  Trying not to worry or let her thoughts get away from her, Smith is still concerned.  Kensi asks if he would hurt the dog.  Smith knows of divorces where a fight over the family pet ends with the loser having the animal put down.  With Smith near tears, Sam promises that if Dennis has the dog, they will get Boomer back.

In Nate’s very Zen office, Callen is waiting because a Nate patient needs a pep talk to get on a plane.  Showing off the office, Nate asks what Callen thinks.  “It’s a lot nicer than your old broom closet at OSP.”  He compares the place to a day spa.   Nate likes that comparison.  He wants his patients to feel relaxed and safe.  Sitting, Nate asks how Callen is doing.  Since he’s doing well, very well, Callen is more interested in what Nate knows about Hetty.  Nate warns Callen as he well knows, he only knows what Hetty wants him to know.  Callen knows that.

Looking around Smith’s home, Rountree is figuring how the dognapers got in.  Cutting off the power wouldn’t stop Smith’s security system, which has back-up power.  They had to circumvent the alarm.  This is not a smash and grab thief.   Plus a highly trained “Master Sergeant” wouldn’t be easy to kidnap.  Rountree has an issue with calling the dog “Master Sergeant” but Fatima is only calling him by his rank.   Boomer would have protected the home unless he knew who was coming in and liked who was coming in.  

Rountree posits that some food tossed into the house with a sedative would make Boomer easier to handle.  That makes more sense – get in the house using the window near the desk in the living room but getting out with a sedated dog would be tough.  It would be easier to slide the 60-75 pound dog out the back door.  This would have be to a very strong dognaper or a two person job.  And there would also have to be a muzzle.  Nobody wants a trained military dog waking up mid-kidnapping.  Knowing when Smith arrived home, Fatima is going to backtrack vehicles in the area to see who took Boomer.

While Kensi questions Dennis in interrogation, Sam and Smith watch on the main room plasma TV.  Smith admits that Boomer not liking Dennis was proof he was a better judgement of character than she was.  Dennis explains that Boomer didn’t like him because he was a Taurus and Boomer was an Aries or maybe because he was sleeping with Smith, or maybe because he’s a dog who can’t walk on two feet.  Smith is outraged at what an idiot Dennis is – Boomer is a Sagittarius.  

Back in interrogation, Kensi pushes back, maybe Dennis was jealous of Boomer.  No.  He blames Mary for finding out he had a secret relationship with Boomer and killed him for it.  Sam is annoyed Dennis isn’t taking this seriously.  Smith tells him Dennis doesn’t take anything seriously.  Kensi thinks Dennis used the dog to get back at Smith for dumping him.  Dennis denies Smith dumped him.  Smith tells Sam she kicked him out and he knows it.  

Apologizing for his sarcasm, Dennis points out he is doing all this without a lawyer.  If NCIS is going to keep wasting his time and theirs by thinking he took Boomer, he’s lawyering up.  Kensi asks where is the dog.  Since he’s not “Ace Ventura, Pet Detective”, Dennis has no idea.  With Boomer is a retired MWD, he’s given all the benefits of being a Marine.  Dennis is tired of hearing about Marine Boomer.  Besides, if Boomer as was smart as everyone thought, he probably ran away.  Smith tells Sam that everyone who met Boomer, loved him.  “Except the criminals you’d catch.”

Reviewing the work done by Smith and Boomer, Shyla finds them to be a formidable team.  As a team, they’ve taken over $300-million worth of drugs off the streets.  The Admirals finds this a good reason to kidnap the dog.  Shyla disagrees – it is a good reason to kill the dog.  Poison Boomer, try a drive-by shooting.  With his training, Boomer could be used to get drugs from other criminals.  Shyla points out that so much of any military or law enforcement dog’s success has to do with their relationship with their handler, the Admiral agrees but the dognapers are not “geniuses who will find out the hard way that a Marine is not someone you want to tangle with whether he’s got two legs or four.”    

Sam and Kensi question Smith about her work with Boomer for the Sheriff’s Department.  By getting a lot of drugs off the street, Smith and Boomer cost a lot of criminals a lot of money.  “People have been killed for far less,” according to Sam.  Kensi tries to find a sunnier side – maybe he was just grabbed because he’s a beautiful dog and people steal expensive breeds.  Smith talks about maybe the dog being held for ransom when Sam gets a call from his dad (with the photo on Sam’s phone being the Marine’s logo).  

Taking the call in interrogation, Sam’s father says he got turned around and is lost.  Sam asks if his father is driving.  He’s not in the car now – he’s walking around.  Sam’s dad is lost with all the new construction around him.  He doesn’t recognized any of the new buildings.  Concerned, Sam asks where is Mrs. Ainsley.  Sam’s dad doesn’t know.  Tamping down his anger, Sam tells his father that Mrs. Ainsley is supposed to be with him.  Sam asks if his father has his keys.  After a few minutes, he found them.  Sam tells his father to find someplace to sit, he’ll get someone to him.  Sam’s dad is going to walk around and look for the car.  Sam wants him to stop talking and stop walking.  “Find a place to sit and stay put.”  Sam’s father is offended by Sam telling him to stop talking and hangs up.  Sam tries to call his father but is put to “The Major”’s voicemail.  Sam tells Kensi he’s going to Ops to find his father.  Kensi is fine handling the case.

Saying he got a cryptic message saying “The game’s afoot”, Nate is explaining his last communications with Hetty.  Callen thinks Sherlock Holmes for the quote but it is really “Henry V”.  Hetty is going after Al Kalmira but Nate hasn’t heard anything since.  Callen shares that Harris Keane was with Hetty and admitted he sent someone to look for Hetty.  Nate wants to know who but Callen goes with a general description of a burned spy.  He’d like Nate to call if Nate hears from Hetty again.

Switching subject, Nate asks about the deep fakes.  Callen doesn’t think they have anything to do with Hetty.  Nate doesn’t either but none of this is extra worry helps Callen.  Callen hasn’t heard anything for Katya since he got the film from the vault.  The deep fakes stopped around the same time.  While Callen thinks the film reels they found has something to do with finding her, he thinks they’ll have more luck if she slips up and they can track her down.  

Switching subjects again, Nate asks about the Drona project.  After a question or two, Nate admits the Admiral told him about it.  Callen realizes why he’s really been sent to see Nate.  Callen asks what happens if he walks out.  Nate thinks the Admiral will march him right back.  Callen brings up he has cases and a partner who relies on him.  Nate replies that everyone relies on Callen to operate at the best of his abilities.  

Reviewing the locals, Fatima is sure two of Smith’s neighbors are having an affair.  She jogs at the same time as another neighbor leaves the driveway.  She runs around the block, up an alley and into the neighbor’s house.  But there were no suspicious vehicles around the house.  Shyla is monitoring animal shelters in case the dognapers found Boomer too hard to handle.  Kensi arrives.  They ask about Sam.  Kensi fills them in – they all agree it sounds like Sam’s dad has Alzheimer’s.  They think it is tough for Sam.  

Going up to Ops, Kensi runs into Shyla, literally.  With Sam, she was able to find his dad but she’s racing to see the Admiral because she found a bounty on Boomer on the dark web.  $10,000 if he’s dead, $25,000 if he’s taken alive.  

The Admiral wants CYBER to start tracing who put up the Boomer bounty post.  He also is calling in a personal favor from NSA to get some of their people on it as well.  Kensi points out that finding who posted it doesn’t mean they found who took Boomer.  The Admiral agrees but it will give them the place where the dognapers would take Boomer.  

As Kensi makes her way back to the bullpen, Fatima calls her over.  Using doorbell footage, Fatima found a man pushing a shopping cart a block from Smith’s street.  They think this is how they got Boomer out of the area.  They need footage of Boomer being put into a vehicle.

Recalling what he did as part of the Drona project, Callen talks about flashes of memories, “slivers here and there.”   He admits he’s having a hard time figuring what was real and what wasn’t.  Nate tells Callen he spoke to some professional contacts about the project but just as with Callen’s FOIA request, “they threw this one in the vault.”  Callen asks about Kilbride.  Nate assures him that the Admiral is just looking out for the team.  Callen wants to know why he’s being sent to Nate and not the others.  The Admiral is worried about Callen.  Callen asks why and Nate tells the truth:  “He doesn’t want you melting down when you realize you’re the guinea pig of your adoptive mother – his words, not mine.”  Callen finds it harsh and asks what Nate thinks.  Nate thinks Callen deserves the truth of his existence.  

In Smith’s neighborhood, Fatima is having no luck finding video footage.  Either the neighbors are out or the ones who are home don’t have the doorbell cameras.  Rountree arrives with a plate of cookies.  An older neighbor insisted and according to Rountree, they are really good.  Rountree offers to share but Fatima thinks he should be doing more than eating cookies.  He has – cookie grandma turned over all the video from her surveillance system.

Going through the video, Shyla sees “the puppy poacher” load Boomer into the back of the SUV.  She tries to get a license plate number but only gets a few letters.  She holds a rather extended conversation with God, providing both sides.  Shyla thinks she’s got this.

Kensi is joined by Fatima and Rountree in an auto shop/warehouse area.  The owner of one of the auto shops may be the one who stole Boomer.  If Boomer has cost the drug dealers millions in business, his $25,000 bounty is a bargain.  Joseph Jones is the person of interest, who has more mug shots than the Kardashian has selfies.  His record is mostly for crimes of profit, not violence.  With no back-up except themselves, Kensi, Fatima and Rountree go in.

Walking into Ops, the Admiral is looking for a sit-rep.  Shyla provides it.  He asks if Shyla wishes she was with them.  “Sometimes,” she replies.  “Me too,” he agrees.

Kensi is going in alone through the back, Fatima and Rountree are at the frontgate.  Making her way through a wall of tires, Kensi gets into the auto shop’s work bay.  She asks for Joseph Jones and says “federal agents”.  He comes out with an acetylene torch as a weapon.  Enough with the federal agents.  

As Fatima and Rountree pick the lock to get in through the frontgate, Kensi is struggling with Jones.  The Admiral wants to know what is happening but Fatima gives him a “hang on a minute”.  Exasperated, the Admiral tells Shyla this is what he has to put up with working with the team.  When Jones gets the torch near Kensi, she is able to shut it off.  Fatima and Rountree arrive.  Fatima takes him down with the torch’s cord.  The Admiral asks if he’s hung on long enough.  He has.  Checking for Boomer, sadly, no dog.

Questioning Jones, who isn’t helping, Kensi and Fatima want to know where Boomer is.  Kensi explains he just attacked a federal agent.  He��s been part of the kidnapping of a Marine dog and if that dog dies, Jones will be charged with felony murder.  With his record, Jones is in a lot of trouble.  Rountree is checking out Jones’s house but he says he doesn’t know anything about the dog.  He’s unhappy they broke into his shop with guns.  Kensi threatens to turn the torch back on.  Jones asks Fatima if she heard Kensi’s threat.  Fatima tells Kensi to get some fresh air – she has things under control.  Jones calls Kensi high-strung as she leaves.  Fatima barks “shut up” which Jones thinks is rude.

On the phone with Shyla, Kensi is told there are no big deposits in Jones’s bank account.  Kensi tells Shyla it would be an all-cash deal.  Checking his cell activity, Shyla can’t really use it.  Rountree found some guns, drugs and cash at Jones’s home. While she’s checking the GPS in the vehicles on the lot to see if they can trace where Jones was that day, Kensi wants Rountree to check the cash for fingerprints – the prints may be from the person who put up the bounty.  She sends the GPS files to Ops.

In Jones’s house, Rountree found a package for a dog muzzle, an odd purchase for a man who doesn’t own a dog.  Rountree has some prints and he hopes they aren’t from a bank teller.  The prints belong to a Brian Miller, who is likely muscle for whoever put up the bounty.  Miller has a record of animal cruelty – dog fighting.  Kensi wants Shyla to cross-reference any drug gangs with ties to dog fighting.  Using the GPS locations from Jones’s dognapping SUV, see what gangs are in that area.  Kensi wouldn’t mind getting Callen back in the field when Rountree returns to the auto shop.

While Nate is explaining repressed memories, Callen’s phone rings.  Nate asks if everything is alright.  It isn’t so duty calls.  Callen asks if Nate can help him with repressed memories.  “I can certainly try.”  But “some memories are forgotten for a reason.”  

Driving, Fatima asks a texting Rountree if everything is OK.  He’s texting his sister.  Fatima asks if Jordyn is talking to someone – a counselor.  Rountree isn’t sure.  Fatima thinks if Jordyn knew Rountree was seeing someone, maybe she’d do the same.  Shyla calls.  A gang called “The Ghost Soldiers” run by Nick Reed has been taking some major risks and making big money running drugs for the cartels.  Smith and Boomer have done serious damage to the gang’s business.  The gang is involved in a lot of bad things including dog fights.  They paid to have Boomer kidnapped to get him off the streets to they can fight him.

Callen joins Kensi, Fatima and Rountree outside Reed’s house.  A REACT team is nearby and Kensi has a plan.  Backing the Audi into the vehicle outside of Reed’s house, Kensi causes some major damage.  Pretending to be knocked out by putting her head on the horn, Kensi waits for Reed to come out of the house.  He does, furious that Kensi wrecked his truck.  Callen tells Fatima and Rountree to go into the house.

Kensi is about to call the police, it’s her fault, but Reed doesn’t want her to.  As Fatima and Rountree look through the house, Kensi really pushes for calling the police.  Reed makes it clear – no police.  

Fatima and Rountree come across a meth lab inside the house.  Fatima gets one guy in the lab but Rountree has a runner.  Reed and Miller want Kensi to get out of the car but she’s playing scared.  As they argue, Rountree and his runner come flying out the house’s front window.  That gets Reed and Miller’s attention.  Guns drawn, Callen and Kensi yell federal agents with Callen adding that now would be the time to make smart decisions.  Dropping their guns, Reed and Miller make a smart decision.

The Miller backyard is full of angry, caged or chained dogs.  Master Sergeant Boomer Hayes is found alone in back.  Fatima asks “Are you ready to go home Marine?”

Kensi is waiting in the boatshed with Boomer.  Smith comes running in and the two are happily reunited.  Smith knows people think it is strange she’s so tight with Boomer but Kensi thinks it’s great.  “In fact, I married my furry partner, though he’s more of a mutt.”  She tells Smith it is more of an inside joke.  

In the office, Rountree asks Fatima if he could talk to Nate about what happened.  Fatima tells him that’s what Nate is for.  Callen joins them, complimenting them on their work in the case.  Walking to the bullpen, Callen asks Sam about what happened with his dad.  The senior Hanna drove to the grocery store, forgot he took the car and started to walk home.  He got lost on the way.  Callen and Sam are both sad about the story.  Callen asks Sam if he think he should get a dog.  Sam doesn’t see Callen as a dog person – he never owned a dog.  Callen doesn’t see himself as a cat person.  Sam thinks Callen should think small.  Maybe a goldfish, sea monkeys – “baby steps, G, baby steps.”  

What head canon can be formed from here:  We had Smith the dog handler versus Jones the dog thief – very common name battle today.  Do wonder if Boomer was named after Daniela Ruah’s annual Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials co-star.

It looked like a lot of people were out (Deeks) or only available with limited scenes (Callen and Sam).  Kensi worked well with the newer team members.  The case of the week was another evergreen story – the side stuff with Sam and his father, Callen and his past are all about this season but the bones of this episode and about 90% of the dialogue around the case could work in season two.

They did a good job not making the effects of Rountree being racially profiled not a one and done event.  

Episode number:  This is episode 296 overall and season 13’s 16th episode.

#NCIS: Los Angeles Rewatch #NCIS: Los Angeles #NCIS: LA #NCIS Los Angeles #ncis la

[deepcutdave]

Wrestling lookback: AEW

Looking back at the new kid on the block. I'll say this about AEW, I always felt McMahon was at his best when he had some serious competition and I think AEW handles that role better than Impact (who we'll get to in a bit)

AEW World Championship:

2023 could easily be called the year of MJF. I'll give him this, he does play a heel pretty well, although it does seem they're trying a face turn. I mean, Adam Cole pointed out all the awful things he's done and he isn't wrong. Why shouldn't we cheer him? But Samoa Joe came in at the last minute, so hopefully 2024 will be the year of Joe.

Predictions: I think Joe is going to hold that gold for most of '24.

The AEW Women's title went through quite a few hands this past year. Jamie Hayter kicked the year off and she was alright, but Toni Storm picked it at Double or Nothing. Her reign would be cut short by Hikaru Shida, but her reign would be even shorter as she lost it to Saraya (glad to see her back by the way), she in turn would drop it right back to Shida but lost it at Full Gear to "Timeless" Toni Storm. Got to say, I wouldn't have seen Storm pulling off a Gloria Swanson-ish role but she does it rather well. I love they even shoot her promos in black and white.

Predictions: Storm retains for a but, but I think Kris Stratlander steps up this year.

Moving into the mid card, we take a look at the AEW All-Atlantic title (later rebranded into the AEW International title). All-Atlantic confused me, as the title has flags that are no where near the Atlantic. Orange Cassidy was the champ going into this year, but we had good showings from Jon Moxley and Rey Fenix but Cassidy took into the new year.

I love Cassidy. I mean, another gimmick that shouldn't work at all (slacker) but Cassidy just sells it perfectly. Seriously, hands in his pockets, wrestling with said hands in said pockets, he even carries his belt in a backpack. I think Cassidy will lose the title this year, possibly to Fenix or mabe even Hook.

*insert Cassidy gif here*

The World Tag Team titles stayed pretty consistent too. The Acclaimed (Antohny Bowens and Mx Caster) kicked the year off before the Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn) win them but they lost them in April to FTR (Dax Hardwood and Cash Wheeler) in a title VS career match. They had a good run but lost them in October to Ricky Starks and Big Bill.

Predictions: Starks and Bill are doing ok so far but I don't seem keeping the belts past March.

Now the Trios title. You don't see too many 6 man tag teams in American wrestling. Death Triangle (Pc, Penta El Zero Miedo, and Rey Fenix) kicked the year off but very quickly lost the belts to the Elite (Kenny Omega, Nick and Matt Jackson) but due to backstage issues House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) took over. They were alright but Billy Gunn and the Acclaimed have been champs since August. Have to admit, odd seeing a father and sons winning two different belts.

I think the Elite will be taking the belts back in '24 though.

Back into the lower end of the card, the TNT title. Samoa Joe kicked the year off but Darby Allen briefly held the belt before Joe took it back but Wardlow came in during March to be champ, but Powerhouse Hobbs snagged it a few days later and Wardlow getting it AGAIN in April. Luchasaurus wore it in June before Christian Cage took it and then dropped it to Adam Copeland but Cage regained it in a perfectly worked bit of heel work.

Cage will be champ for a while, but I think Copeland will try one more time to get the belt.

And on the flip side, the TBS title.

Jada Cargil wore it most of the year but her undefeated streak came to end at the hands of Kris Stratlander but she in turn lost it to Julia Hart. Hart wasn't on my radar so I'm curious to see what she does with the title.

And December 30 saw the creation of a BRAND new title-the AEW Continental title. After a long tournament, Eddie Kingston took home the gold. Interesting pedigree, as this is also part of ROH and New Japan. We'll just have to wait and see how this plays out.

And we'll close this out with the FTW title. Not an official title but they do have a belt. Hook was the initial '23 champ but lost it Jack Perry before regaining. I think Hook retains until they phase it out and Hook goes after bigger gold.

#wrestling