#this isn’t recent btw he’s been dead for like 6 years

[dykeomania]

can i start making dead dad jokes on here are we that level of cool yet

#can i #can we #can i do that #this isn’t recent btw he’s been dead for like 6 years #No? #Ok.

[hohoz]

The ones that suffer the most

I wanted to talk about this for a long time.

I’m a Resident evil addicted, I finished almost every RE game released and I must say that Capcom made some poor choices regarding Jill and Chris, they are EASILY the most mistreated characters in RE Franchise. 

But let’s explain why is that: 

Jill and Chris are survivors, they had to survive in a mansion with a lot of puzzles and zombies, while looking for items that could help them to progress and find a way to reach Brad. 

When they arrive at STARS Office, they are revolted that Umbrella did all that under their noses and innocents were dying because of that and they explained EVERYTHING in a report - but Irons made that go away. 

In the ORIGINAL RE3 we had this special file (Jill’s Diary) 

August 7th Two weeks have passed since that day. My wounds have been healed, but I just can't forget it. For most people, it's history now. But for me, whenever I close my eyes, it all comes back clearly. Zombies eating people's flesh and the screams of my teammates dying. No, the wounds in my heart are not healed yet...

August 13th Chris has been causing a lot of trouble recently. What's with him? He seldom talks to the other police members and is constantly irritated. The other day, he punched Elran of the Boy's Crime department just for accidentally splashing Chris's face with coffee. I immediately stopped Chris, but when he saw me he just gave me a wink and walked away. I wonder what happened to him...

August 15th Midnight. Chris, who has been on a leave of absence for a "vacation," called me so I visited his apartment. As soon as I walked into his room, he showed me a couple of pieces of paper. They were part of a virus research report entitled as simply as "G". Then Chris told me that, "The nightmare still continues." He went on to say that, "It's not over yet." Ever since that day, he has been fighting all by himself without rest, without even telling me.

August 24th Chris left the town today to go to Europe. Barry told me that he would send his family to Canada and then he would follow Chris. I decided to remain in Raccoon City for a while because I know that the research facility in this city will be very important to this entire case. In a month or so, I'll be joining with them somewhere in Europe. That's when my real battle begins...

For some weird reason this file isn’t available in RE3 Remake. 

But ok, here we see that Chris was doing some investigation - in the RE2RMK  you could see this letter that Chris left in a way that normal people wouldn't understand - the only thing that Claire says is that “doesnt look like him” but how normies would understand what Chris is like is he is not well represented in media ??????????????????

And Jill had all the detective work in her wall. 

So far so good - we understand the basics about them - they are Special police force, the elite, they had a traumatic experience and they survived to tell the story. 

Some problems until now:

Jill had a MAJOR personality change in RE3 RMK- I honestly like most of that, she is a badass in the originals and she is a badass in the rmk but I still dislike the fact that she swears all the time (specially because in RE1, RE Rev, RE5 she doesn't do that) 

We can tell a lot about her personality just looking at her room, but I still miss some stuff (I had expectations - so this is not a real problem. but still) like a Vinyl player (since she is probably into classical music), some letters from her father so new players can understand her origin and why is she so good in lockpicking and more about her dog (she had a pic in the original that could’ve been her boyfriend but it was replaced by a dog in RE2 rmk but in RE3 Rmk there in no dog) 

Okay - after you finish the game the only thing we see is this: 

In my opinion this is Chris since he is always associated with Green colors while Jill is associated with blue. 

So my speculation here is that she found him while in the original we had this: 

This is not a major chance but still is important (lore of course - duh) but the problem here is that while Jill is looking for him - Code Veronica is happening. 

So I can only assume two things, they did not show him because they DON’T HAVE A FACE FOR HIM or I am wrong and that is Jill, but if that is Jill so why there is no decent epilogue like the original ? 

Okay, now we are arriving in the real trouble area

I will do RE5 first and the Wii and Rev1 (even tho those two comes first in the lore) 

RESIDENT EVIL 5 

So before the game was release we had some propaganda, including this: 

So have in mind that Jill was dead, I thought that she died and RE5 would explain that shit. 

But in the beginning we see that Chris is looking for her and have in mind that Chris HAD A MAJOR CHANCE IN HIS APPEARANCE, and I’m not talking about his muscles. 

I will not address Chris in CV since he was good in that game but I the team that made CV also made the original, it had CONSISTENCE. 

Here we have Chris, he’s THE classical american soldier protagonist from Hollywood in the 80′s/90′s and he had some omage to TOPGUN

He also shares some traits with his sister

A major trait here is that HE HAS BLUE EYES, typical good looking soldier from US. 

and now let’s have a look at Chris in RE5...

Yeah... I still hate this face even tho I love his Character in this game, this ugly a** monkey looking mf and he had a lot of steroids

So we have some lore to him in RE5, Jill and Chris went to a mansion looking for Spencer (one of the fathers of Umbrella and the one that was behind project Wesker, he wanted to do this Virus so he could live forever, so RE has a good lore, it’s not just about zombies) but when they found him, he was dead and Wesker was by his side, in a fight Jill sacrificed herself to save Chris’s life. 

Chris started doing mission after mission because her body was never found, and he made a name for himself, he became a ‘legend’ inside BSAA and you can see that in the beginning of RE5.

The reason behind the muscles was probably to fight Wesker mano to mano but still is not well made, it really felt weird playing for the first time. 

So now we have a problem here, there is thing that you use in a narrative that is to make someone strong af powerless, and they did that to Jill. (a good example of this is in TWD- Ricky is a fucking legend and Negan made him powerless in the face of a event) 

Jill was used in a Boss fight and that is it... She is not in the game as a character, she is being manipulated and her whole design was changed, she looks like Nina from Tekken. WTF. - BTW, the fact that Wesker had mind control over her created 1000 fics of sex 

 So that is it, my main problem here isnt Jill itself, but it’s the fact that they used her character as a boss even tho she is the heroine, she never appears in RE lore again until some guy inside Capcom said “Well people are asking about Jill so let’s place a file in Rev2 saying that she is in rehab” 

The only time that she appears again is in a 3DS NINTENDO ONLY game, it felt that Capcom simply don’t care about her character. 

By the way Revelations 1 is a great game and was adaptable some years later for PC and consoles

But you think that this is bad, wait until we arrive at RESIDENT EVIL 6 

When I learned that Jill was not in RE6 I was mad... But after I played that game I said “thank you God” that game was bad, transformers kind of bad, it had bad writing, the lore was all over the place and Chris was the one that suffered the most in this game. 

He was responsible for the death of an entire squad, suffered amnesia and people still wanted him in the command 

THEY MADE HIM AN ALCOHOLIC 

The golden boy of BSAA reduced to THIS. 

By the way, the director said that HE WANTED TO KILL CHRIS IN THIS GAME to SUBVERT EXPECTATIONS - so if you liked Piers now that he died only because of that. 

So now let’s analyse what we know: 

The first 2 main characters are not well represented in media until RE6, they don’t know how to re introduce Jill in the games and Chris was reduced to a normal guy at a Russian bar;

But it gets worse... 

Capcom LOVE Leon, we know that. he is always the hero, he is the protagonist in almost every movie and he is always the cool guy so when he get’s a new model, he looks like this:

But When Chris get’s a new face he look like this: 

WHO DAFUQ ARE U, no offense to the model but he has NEGATIVE JAW LINE.

And still he doesn't look like Claire’s brother, there is no blue/green eyes and he looks younger that he was in 6 (and 6 still uses that ugly character model) 

But let’s go in the lore- we HAVE 0 info on Jill in RE6 / RE7 and no sight of her in RE8 

And speaking of which, they tried to make Chris the bad guy in the trailer so when we play we see “Ohhhh he was not the bad guy, that happened and that is why he did that” 

But still... 

If they are going to do that to his character don’t use this character, shit ! Do something with that Wesker’s son that made 0 sense in RE6 but leave Chris out of this - it really feels that they simply don’t know how to treat him right

And you may think that I may be complaining a lot because of his appearance

But this is him in RE8  

(to me this is some random dude from Russia) 

And this is him in RE:Verse (that is going to be release TOGETHER) 

So this tells me that they have 0 clue of how to handle his looks

Jill got RE3Rmk but it felt like a cheap game compared to RE2Rmk where the original RE3 was SO MUCH BETTER

And this is bad because there are so many new fans joining the fandom only to see 2 great characters suffering from poor director’s choices. 

I’m sorry about this rant, if you like Chris face and looks its okay, really, but dont tell me that Chris from 5/6/8 is the same from 1/CV and if you think im wrong about Jill its fine, but she is an amazing character that could have so much more impact in RE universe (I mean, she never even appeared in a RE movie - animations) 

But it’s sad to see so many characters that receive good representation in media and good games/lore while Jill get’s almost none and Chris is handled like random face guy. 

I was going to talk a little bit more about Rev 1 and RE Umbrella Chronicles but there is no need since Im mad right now and it seems that Capcom has 0 interest in making Code Veronica and Umbrella’s fall after that since their fav boy Leon need a rmk in RE4 even tho RE4 is not that old. 

Bonus:

Fun fact: Chris served in the Air force, so yeah, to me even Tom Cruise looks more like Chris than Chris from the games

#resident evil #resident #evil #chris #redfield #Jill #valentine #resident evil 8 #rant #capcom #Claire Redfield #leon scott kennedy #visual #valenfield #topgun #capcom dont know how to handle good characters #directors wanting to kill chris #now he could be a werewolf #for fucks sake #at least #ethan #is being handled better #than they are #good job capcom #very nice indeed #now im going to watch top gun #just for fun #reverse #re verse #resident evil 3

[cblgblog]

So my issues with Irondad are well documented at this point, starting from their very first scenes. Specifically the utter tone deafness of Peter’s recruitment, by both Tony and the writers. Tony starts the movie being blamed for the death of a 20-year-old kid who was in the wrong place, wrong time in Sokovia. That accidental death that can be put down to negligence on his part, is pivotal to what happens next. So pivotal he uses it in his pitch for why the other Avengers need to sign the Accords.

Tony, midway through the movie, deliberately brings a 15-year-old child into this conflict. A child he blackmails into going with him, because if you don’t, I will tell your aunt.

Charles Spencer was an innocent civilian, wrong place, wrong time in Sokovia. He died. That tears Tony up, as it rightfully should. And yet, in the midst of his crusade about following laws and accountability, he lies to May Parker about taking her 15-year-old nephew out of the country and into a warzone. Ignoring some well-established laws about child soldiers.

Tony blackmailing a child who’s had his powers for 6 months into participating in this conflict makes no sense. Ever. It especially makes no sense in the context of Charles Spencer and his mother. Yet neither Tony nor the writers seem to comprehend this. Which is why Irondad has been bullshit from the start. Blackmail and kidnapping are not sweet, father-son moments, even if you ignore the fact, as the MCU wants to, that Peter had a father already, in Ben Parker. He has a loving adult parental figure in May Parker. Both of whom cared about him before he had spider powers that might be helpful to them.

All of this, I’ve said before, so have others. And then I realized that I actually hate Irondad more than I thought. That Feige and co. mishandled it even more than I thought, and why? Because of this.

We know the story. Peter was, supposedly, this kid Tony saved at the Stark Expo in Iron Man 2. Started out as a fan theory, and then was confirmed that yes, this is true, this is exactly what we intended.

Now, we know Civil War had different writers/directors than Homecoming or FFH did. We also know that, for all the lip service of, ‘It’s all connected,’ we know that the creatives in these different franchises do not always talk to each other, and that they often blatantly contradict each other.

Taking all that into account, acknowledging that…the dumbasses at Marvel did not think up the idea of Peter being the Iron Man 2 kid. They heard the theory, thought it was cool, then took credit for having meant that the entire time, yes, that was totally us.

We know this because it is never mentioned in canon. All those Tony and Peter interactions, all those times of yes, Mr. Stark, I just want to be like you, Mr. Stark, and Peter never mentions that? When Tony takes he suit from him in Homecoming and Peter says that he just wants another chance, wants to be like Tony, would he not mention that hey, you saved my life, Mr. Stark. You saved my life and I just wanted to be like you, and now I can be, now I can save lives like you, just please give me another chance.

If the Iron Man 2 theory were true, would he not say that? In FFH, when he’s all guilt-ridden, I didn’t save him, would he not mention that hey, he saved my life before I was Spider-man, before I was special, before I was anyone?

Now I know what you’re thinking. The Iron Man 2 thing isn’t that big a deal. It’s not a crucial thing. And you know what, you’re right. It isn’t, it’s just always annoyed me, in an eyeroll way, that the same people who couldn’t count properly between 2012 and 2017 (8 years later flashing in giant letters across our screens means that Homecoming was meant to take place in 2020), that these same people who let something so blatantly timeline breaking get through then took credit for a kind of cool, kind of clever fan theory. It’s annoying.

I’ve now realized, however, that it is far more than annoying to me. Because TPTB at Marvel did not think of that idea for themselves, but if they had, and if they’d run with that idea? If they had, it would’ve made Peter’s recruitment in Civil War so much more fucked up than it already is, but so much more interesting. So, so, so much more interesting.

I’ve talked about why Spidey’s own movies (as much as you can call them that given the level of Tony infiltration) prove that the theory isn’t true. Now let’s go to Civil War. Different writers, yes, but let’s talk anyway about why we can tell from CW that Peter was not that kid.

He gets home. May is like, look who it is, Tony Stark. Not, look who it is, the hero who literally saved your life. When Tony locks himself in Peter’s room with him (still fucking gross, Jesus Christ), Peter is just, nope, I got no idea what you’re talking about. That’s—no, I’m not a superhero, no. He’s defensive. He’s apprehensive. He’s trying to figure out what fresh hell this is. He’s trying to hide stuff from Tony. If this is the guy who saved him at the Stark Expo, why this reaction? Why not, oh my god, you saved my life, I thought I’d never see you again, not, not up close I mean. When Tony asks him to do a thing, why is it not, well yeah, duh , you saved my life, where do we start? Or even, okay, I don’t really wanna do this, but, you saved my life, I owe you?

So, nobody wrote a fucking word of any of Peter and Tony’s interactions under the theory that he was the Stark Expo kid.

But what if they had?

Tony shows up at May’s place. He does not know who Peter is, in relation to their “meeting” before. He’s expecting to have to do some level of smooth talk to get in here but, nope. May’s just, oh my god, you saved my boy’s life, come in, come in!

We don’t know for sure that Peter was orphaned by the time of the Expo, but if we base it on comics and prior films, he likely was. Most versions seem to have him fall under Ben and May’s care between 2 and 6.  O1’ birthday means he would’ve been around 9 at the Expo. So, more than likely, Ben or May or both were the ones there with him. They may credit Tony with saving their lives as well.

So, Tony starts the movie being called out by a grieving mother. Going down this route, we’re at the midpoint…and here’s a different mother telling him how great he is. How he saved the most important thing in her life. How if Ben were here (May’s wearing her wedding ring around her neck btw, you can see it in the scene), Ben would say the same thing. Shake his hand. Hug him.

Now, Tony’s got a sharp ass mind, when it’s not clouded with booze or drugs or the like. Since he wasn’t wasted at the Expo, there’s a good chance that, given some details, he remembers saving this kid. He remembers how small this little boy actually was. He remembers how light this kid was when he grabbed him. It was a few seconds in a long ass night, that he hasn’t thought about in years, but to May Parker, it’s everything.

So maybe at this point Tony’s rethinking this. He’s remembering that little boy, realizing how young he still is. He pulled that boy from danger. And now here’s this woman who invited him into her house, told him how her husband just passed recently, things have been hard, especially for Peter but God, he’ll love to see you. Maybe Tony’s rethinking this, coming up with a way out, when Peter shows up. And then, aw hell. The kid’s just a mess of excitement and shock, possibly tears…okay now it’s just gotten harder to make an exit.

Let’s pause here to say that May Parker is not fucking dumb (“Cut the bullshit. I know you left detention. I know you left the hotel room in Washington. I know you sneak out of this house every night.”).

May is not dumb. Letting the 50-year-old dude go into her nephew’s room with him, alone? Arguably dumb, even if it is Iron Man. Letting him grab the kid for some Stark…thing, and take him wherever Tony said he was taking him on 12 seconds notice? Even more arguably dumb.  CW as it’s written dumbs down May’s character for the sake of an already questionable plot point. Especially since she literally says she’s not a fan of Tony in Homecoming. Yes, her comment there comes after the “internship,” her noting Peter’s distraction and stress because of it. But still, it’s fucking weird that she’d let this man take her kid out of the country, alone, in CW. It makes her dumb for the sake of plot.

But if Stark saved Peter’s life not so long ago? It at least makes a bit more sense. He’s a hero. Peter literally wouldn’t be here without him. Why would Tony hurt him now?

So, back to the scene. Peter’s probably less paranoid about showing his stuff to Tony. Probably not spilling everything himself, but when Tony notices things, Peter’s probably less panicked over it, more willing to confirm. Yes, he’s got these powers, okay? And he hasn’t had them for long, but he’s trying to do good, like Tony. He’s trying to do the right thing, like Tony.

Now, this kid has such literal hero worship going, and he’s so damn inexperienced, he admits that. And Tony’s still got Charles Spencer’s mom in his head. He’s dead, Stark. And I blame you.

Can Tony really take this kid—actual minor kid younger than Charles was—take him and put him on the field against the goddamn Avengers? That woman out there with the dead husband and the ring around her neck, what’s he going to say if Peter gets hurt, or worse? Sure the kid obviously has skills but, can he risk another grieving mom?

So, maybe Tony’s rethinking this. Maybe he can still get out of this, improvise a Plan B. But then there’s a text from Nat or Ross. Where are you? We’ve only got a few hours, what’s the play?

Special circumstances, nobody in that group is really gonna fight to kill…it’s special circumstances, and he can keep the kid mostly sidelined.

This time, he doesn’t have to blackmail Peter. He doesn’t have to threaten to expose his secret. Peter’s willing, either because he genuinely wants to, or he feels he owes Tony a debt. So there goes the dick factor of Tony literally blackmailing a child. And the lack of questions Peter seems to ask about what he’s fighting for, the acceptance of vague answers, that’d also make more sense in this context.

In this version, Tony is both more and less of a dick. He’s doing less active threatening and manipulation…but he’s also being doubly manipulative. His genuinely good deed gives him an easy in with the Parkers. He’s playing on the credibility of an earlier, at least somewhat better version of himself. One who saved Peter Parker and hadn’t yet ended Charles Spencer.

Look, I won’t lie, I legit don’t know what I’m saying anymore, except that Marvel sucks for taking credit for a thing that they definitely do not have credit for. Which isn’t particularly new for them, and wouldn’t particularly matter if the thing they took credit for (and didn’t do anything with) could’ve offered some interesting story possibilities.

#anti tony stark #anti irondad #iron man 2 #peter parker #may parker #kinda fuck marvel though really #spider-man #civil war

[procrastinatorimagines]

I Want Us Part 1

Fandom: Chicago PD / SVU

Series: I Want Us

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5 // Part 6 // Part 7 // Part 8 // Part 9 // Part 10 (Final)

Character/s: Reader x Carisi

Warning/s: mentions of kidnapping

Word Count: 2,171

Request:  Hi! So, idk if you will be up for writing a kind of crossover, if not it's totally okay. I was thinking reader being a detective in chicago pd but they go help svu with a case and she and carisi (still detective) have something ?? First meeting and stuff or more deep as in long distance relationship and reader gets pregnant so one of them have to leave their city ?? Idk I want you to feel comfortable writing whatever inspires you more. Amazing work btw!!

Summary: When a child abduction case crosses state lines in New York, Intelligence flies out to meet the Special Victims Unit and track down the missing boy. With the clock ticking, both units decide to mix up partners in order to combine their knowledge of the case with knowledge of New York City, pairing Intelligence’s newest member Y/N with Detective Carisi.

“I’m telling you boss, it’s like he’s just vanished,” Adam insisted, leaning forward in his chair as he spoke to Voight, who was standing in front of a whiteboard filled with potential leads and locations of your suspect and his son, Logan, who he kidnapped in the early hours of the morning, none of which had panned out. 

Voight looked increasing frustrated, and you didn’t blame him, the father and your suspect, Ronny had just been released from Statesville for assault and battery of his former spouse and older child. You were all scared for this boy’s safety and well aware of how quickly the odds of survival decreased as the clock continued to tick. 

Jay and Hailey had interviewed the family, the mother Claire and his older sister Josie, and were now at Hailey’s desk going over the statements, with Jay obviously sat on it instead of on a chair. Kev and Vanessa had gone to the prison, talked to Ronny’s cell mate and old friends, the warden, anyone who might have overheard him mention any plans. Leaving you and Antonio to review any surveillance, put out BOLOS and search the bogus address Ronny had given his parole officer. 

You’d all turned up a sum total of nothing.

“There has to be something,” Voight addressed the room, facing his unit with conviction, “go back over what we’ve got so far, we must have missed something, overlooked something, anything.” 

Adam spoke up again and you knew why, he’d already gone back over the witness statements, reinterviewed everyone with Kim who said they might have seen or heard anything in the neighbourhood, it was a dead end. “Listen-”

“No, you listen,” Voight snapped and you winced a little, you might have all been thinking the same thing as Ruzek, but he was the only one who usually ever said what was on everybody’s minds, putting him on the receiving end of Voight’s temper. “Unless you want to go downstairs and tell that terrified mother that her son’s ‘just vanished’, you shut up and do you job, clear?” 

You’d been in the unit a couple of years now and you were damn proud to be here. No matter how frustrating this was, you still had faith that you would catch the bad guy, this unit did it’s job and it did it well, you just hoped you wouldn’t be too late for Logan.

Ruzek begrudgingly nodded and so did the rest of you even though Voight hadn’t waited for an answer, heading straight back into his office. Turning back in your chair to your desk, you looked to where you were midway through re-combing the surveillence in the area for any sign of a vehicle Ronny might have fled in. He only had one registered in his name, and you and Antonio had found it less than a block from the foreclosed house he’d put as his current residence. Someone had clearly been squatting there, but there wasn’t anything useful in the house or in the beat up old car. 

You were just starting to think that maybe they had actually vanished off of the face of the earth when Trudy made her way up the stairs. “CCTV camera just picked up Ronny and Logan, dyed hair and new clothes but facial rec seems to be a match,” she announced, getting all your attention as Voight made his way out of his office.

“Where?” He asked her, noticing the not so triumphant look on Trudy’s face.

“JFK Airport,” she replied, met with annoyed sighs and confused looks. How had he gotten there? You were shocked to say the least, you and Antonio had made sure to call all the airports in Chicago to make sure this guy didn’t flee. 

“He’s in New York?” Hailey looked to Voight, waiting like the rest of you were to be told what to do next. 

“One of his old prison buddies relocated there last year,” Kev told you all, rifling through his paperwork to find the information he was looking for, “yeah, Ryan O’Connell, got a rep for making people disappear, some that want to, some that don’t.” 

“Looks like we’re going to New York,” he decided, aware that the ever ticking clock was now getting faster, you needed to find them now. “I’ll call ahead, get some boots on the ground before we arrive, we’ll roll out as soon as we can. Upton, get the family up to speed, see if they know where he might go in New York.” She nodded.

You all packed up to leave, needing to make arrangements before you could just fly out. “Who’s he calling?” You asked your partner as you headed for the stairs. 

“Captain Benson I assume,” he told you, elaborating when he saw that that hadn’t clarified much, “oh I forget, you weren’t with us then. We’ve done a couple of cases with the Special Victims Unit over there, good people and cops, especially their Captain, this is their kind of case.” 

You nodded, you’d heard about some of the cases Intelligence had done in New York, especially about Nadia Decotis, and you were looking forward to getting the chance to work with them, circumstances aside. 

Voight text you all details about the flight and you left to prepare, you had a job to do and a boy to find, and you were determined to find him.

-

While the flight itself wasn’t actually that long, it felt like forever, ever second ticking past putting you and the unit further behind Ronny and Logan. You knew it would be straight to business the second your feet hit the tarmac, but Voight had assured you all that although he’d only had time to briefly fill SVU in about the case, they had made finding this boy their top priority. If it was good enough for Voight, it was good enough for you, so you passed the time by looking at everything you had on this O’Connell so you had somewhere to start when you arrived. 

There were cars waiting when you arrived, taking you straight to the 16th Precinct and the Special Victims Unit. It was much bigger than the 21st, and nicer too. You had never really spent any time in New York, but it was all just as impressive as you’d heard.

“Hank,” a woman smiled, making her way to greet you all at the entrance of the Unit’s bullpen. 

“Olivia,” Hank shook her hand with familiarity, this must have been the Captain. “It’s Captain now isn’t it, congratulations.”

“Thanks, it’s been an adjustment,” she replied, shaking hands with the rest of Intelligence and welcoming them inside.

“Well, it’s certainly well deserved,” Jay told her as the rest of SVU headed over to introduce, or reintroduce, themselves.

“Thanks Halstead,” she smiled, reaching you and Vanessa last. “We haven’t met, I’m Captain Olivia Benson,” she told you.

“Officer Vanessa Rojas,” Vanessa told her, following after Kev to be introduced to the rest of the Unit. 

“Detective Y/N. Y/L/N,” you continued, “I’ve heard good things.” 

“Likewise, Hank mentioned he had a couple of new members,” she said, leading you further into the main room, “this is Sergeant Tutuola, Detectives Rollins and Carisi, and Officer Tamin,” she gestured around the group as you all shook hands.

You could tell Voight wanted this part to hurry along, eager to get stuck into the case, so you said the generic ‘nice to meet yous’ and stepped out of the way as Voight and Benson positioned themselves at the front of the group. 

“So fill us in,” Voight addressed her as he passed out extra copies of your case files to the rest of SVU. 

“Okay, so we followed Ronny’s tracks as far as we could after he left JFK, but by the time any unis arrived he was in the wind, we’ve got BOLOS out but nothing so far, although a surveillance camera did pick up the vehicle he left in,” Benson explained.

“Plates?” You asked but she shook her head, bringing up a shot of the back of the car on the screen nearest to her. It was a long way away from your whiteboards and blue tac, you thought.

“Stollen, but we’re trying to match the make and model with any recent reports of car thefts,” she answered. 

“Any we’re tracking the names they used to get through airport security,” the male detective, Carisi, continued, “checking for any credit or debit cards under the same names as their fake passports.”

“They must have been good, do we know where Ronny got them from yet?” Hailey asked as Benson got up the images of their passports too, complete with fake names, fake addresses and disguises. 

“We’re thinking this O’Connell guy,” Tutuola told her, “he’s got the connections and experience, and this must have been in the works for a while.”

“Yeah, we’re looking at anyone and everyone he’s been in contact with in prison, seeing if any of them might have sent him any packages or had any New York connections,” Rollins said.

“We’ve already gone through the prison logs,” Jay countered, “we know O’Connell did time with him before he got out last year.”

“Yeah, but since then they don’t appear to have had any direct contact, so we’re thinking there’s a middle man, probably the figure you can see in the drivers seat of the car they took from JFK, O’Connell rarely does business in person, that’s why we only had him in for a minor possession stint,” Rollins grabbed a file on O’Connell’s record and handed it to Jay to flip through.

“Can we get a clearer image on that?” Adam asked, pointing to the blurred image of the car. You squinted at the image, trying to get a better look, but the man was clearly wearing a hat and shades, even if they managed to tidy it up, facial recognition would be a waste of time. 

“Unfortunately not, but we’re doing everything we can,” Benson said.

“So what now?” Antonio voiced up, all of you turning to your Sergeant and Captain Benson.

“We’re in your house, it’s your call,” Voight said to Benson. He had a lot of respect for her, you noted, he never gave up point on a case so easily.

“Well with your know-how on the case, and our knowledge of New York, we though it was best to combine teams, partner up one of us and one of yours,” she looked back at both units, still stood a little apart from one another, and you and Antonio shared the briefest glance, seeing the other partners in your unit do the same. 

You worked well together, all of you did, and let’s be honest, Intelligence had never been very good at sharing, but if it was what was best for Logan, so be it. It hadn’t escaped anyone’s notice that the numbers didn’t add up, so you waited to see who would be moved around. 

“Fin, you mind going with Dawson?” Benson gestured to the two men, who happily nodded and Antonio gave you an encouraging nod before he headed off the join the Sergeant at his desk. 

“Halstead and Rollins, Upton and Kat,” she continued with Voight’s approval and you knew you’d be next, she’d done her best not to split up any of Intelligence’s partners entirely. “Which leaves Carisi and Y/L/N,” you nodded and so did he.

“Well then, let’s get to it,” Voight ordered, “we’ve got a child to find before he disappears.” With that, he and Benson went to go talk in her office, leaving you all with your new partners. 

“First time in New York?” He asked you as he grabbed a chair for you to sit at his desk. You could see notes on the case covering most of the surface, potential locations O’Connell may use and streets that the car may have turned down after they lost it on surveillance, none of which looked familiar to you. 

“I got a connecting flight through here once,” you shrugged, feeling out of your element away from Chicago and fully understanding why Captain Benson thought it best to mix up the units. 

Carisi chuckled as you took your seat, pulling out the files you’d brought with you from Chicago. “We’re on O’Connell,” he explained, “these are all the files on his known and potential locations.”

You leaned closer to take a look at what he’d been doing. “That’s a lot of ground to cover,” you noted, feeling a sense of dread. O’Connell’s file had him as one of the best, and Ronny had a head start, they might not even be in the state anymore. 

Carisi seemed to sense your worry. “We’ve got traffic stops in and out of the city, ports and airports, he won’t slip through again,” he tried to reassure you, but you knew he wasn’t entirely convinced either. 

He handed you one of his files and you handed him one of yours. “Let’s get started.”

#sonny carisi #svu #law and order svu #chicago pd #one chicago #sonny carisi x reader #sonny carisi imagine #sonny carisi imagines #chicago pd imagines #svu imagine #chicago pd imagine #svu imagines #law and order svu imagine #law and order svu imagines #chicago pd one shot #one chicago imagine #one chicago imagines #i want us

[lambourngb]

re: your tags on that one post abt plotholes in rnm: what are the plotholes that make you lose the most sleep?

(this is my main btw, my rnm blog is @curlyguerin )

Hi! Okay... strap in, because there are a lot of little and big things that wiggle into my thoughts and makes me wonder ...am I the only one who couldn't follow that plotline?

In my opinion RNM suffers more from abandoned narratives and continuity errors than plot holes I guess, since we only have 2 seasons, with at least 2 more to go I guess I can hope they come back to these issues... but: [Under the cut plus some spoilers for season 3]

Things I would like explained :

1. What did Jesse Manes fund with family money in 1x08 ? I'm guessing it was surveillance of the town and the search for more aliens that could have escaped the military in 1947-1948. The idea that Jesse funded Caulfield is just laughable to me, along with how he was able to get his Army-assigned son moved from Germany to New Mexico for 5 years and no one noticed?? Caulfield has to be separate from whatever Jesse was doing in Roswell. Clearly there is still an ACTIVE military project focused on aliens because Flint isn't AWOL, Flint also takes Noah's body to Area 51, so where was Jesse in violation of his orders (Alex's threat to Jesse in 1x08 and then shipping him to Niger)? Surveilling citizens and setting up cameras all over town?

2. Did they ever build an Air Force base on the Fosters Homestead Ranch? (1x01-1x02) ...then it's never mentioned again.

3. I am aware I am the only one who cares about this little bit, but the show seemed to set up a narrative in season 1 about the spotlight Roswell shined white victims of crimes - like Katie and Jasmine, that the town of Roswell holds quite a lot of racism regarding justice- vilifying Rosa for over 10 years, ignoring the deaths of people around Ranchero Night, and then Noah kills Wyatt Long's best friend Hank Gibbons in 1x13. I dunno, I was expecting more from Wyatt in season 2 about this than picking a fight with Michael over Mimi's missing persons sheet and showing up with a crossbow in 2x04. And like, there was a theme of people going missing in season 2!! Mimi, Jenna, the weird twins from 2x06, Charlie -- but yet, no closer scrutiny by Sheriff Valenti other than her focus on Max Evans and the story about Mexico- Like this felt not like a plot hole, but a dropped narrative -- to wrap up the fate of Racist Hank in a missing persons sheet in 2x01. To treat him weirdly like all of Noah's other victims (who were women and men of color and poor), but for a few factors like he was white, he had actual lines in the show over a couple of episodes, and he's one of the few townspeople we learn his first and last name still sticks out in my mind as strange. The Doylist explanation is the actor wasn't available for season 2, but the Watson-perspective of this is just someone the in-show universe doesn't care about ...? Okay. I will keep that in mind, and try to ignore the fact that the town of Roswell swings wildly back to caring about white victims again in 2x13 with Jesse Manes.

4. The Alighting from 1x13 - just how far away was it from happening? Noah was ready to stick a sheriff's deputy, the town event planner and Michael (who probably would be been the only one to go missing without much fanfare, except maybe by Alex) into a pod...for how long? Months? Years? What was his endgame? how did he expect to go unnoticed by the town while he waited for his alien salvation/alien UBER to arrive? Could he just mindwarp everyone into forgetting about the pod squad? Since we didn't see any alien ships show up in the six months from 1x13 to 2x13, and no further follow up by any of our heroes about what Noah was babbling about... I'm going to say this should come back into play for season 3, otherwise it's the most egregious plot hole from season 1.

5. Why did Flint want to work with Helena? Jesse had this master plan that Helena knew all about apparently but she never shares the plan with Flint? Jesse never shares this plan with Flint either? Why? As far as I can tell from the plot of season 2, Jesse takes the console piece from Alex, he was going to kill Alex to keep him out of the way, use the console to blow up civilians, he created a paper trail that pointed the finger at Max, and then when everyone knew the truth about aliens, he was going to use HIS atomizer bomb to release the toxin that Charlie had already developed for Project Shepherd to kill all the aliens.... WHY would Flint want to stop that, especially since they fight in 2x11 over how slow Jesse was moving in his plans? Other than objecting to killing Alex, why would Flint turn Alex over to Helena to blackmail Michael into building a second atomizer bomb? He should have just kept Alex out of the way until it was all over and let Jesse proceed with his plans. Flint's desire to work with Helena Ortecho remains a plot hole to me, that is explained in the most flimsy way of he thinks his dad isn't serious about killing all the aliens even though he has the means? And if he takes Alex from Jesse's control so easily, why not steal the bomb Jesse had too?

6. These are more gripes about continuity, not really plot holes, but the fact we have this loose timeline of events but it doesn't match the weather of filming.... Like Heather Hemmens looked so gorgeous in that little silk outfit in 2x01, but she's wandering outside in Dec in Roswell New Mexico looking like that. I get that it was filmed in August/Sept of 2019 but come on... so my main frustration is I have no idea what season and month is supposed to be on screen. Universe timeline says Winter but filming schedule meant it was early fall with still having the heat of summer there...then the show ends in May/June in the universe, but we all know RNM wrapped in Dec 2019/Jan 2020 so they are all bundled up in winter again.

7. Also on continuity, small things like Rosa's birthday being wrong, the fact her astrological sign isn't Pieces for either date, openly letting Greg Manes see Rosa, not seeming to care that Liz's ex-fiance hears that Rosa is alive - like i'm sure her "dead" sister came up in conversation between Liz/Diego

- the show gives us this beautiful conversation with Michael sharing his background with Alex in 1x10, but then Alex completely forgets it in 2x04 by dropping some line like "this is what you do with family" when Michael expresses confusion about a height chart. Also, on the same note- the jabs about the Library being a dive bar, also felt like a drop in continuity because Alex knows that Michael just lost his mom (1x12) , the government IS studying aliens, and his brother is in a pod, so like, he has some very valid reasons to drink if that's what he wanted to do with in his life in early season 2!! but, also he knows Michael is a genius??

- Why Alex never mentions Rosa, Isobel's blackouts/why Michael gave up UNM, or even hint about what happened with his dad in the shed during his conversation with Maria in 2x05 is also beyond bizarre to me. It was an "information" dump conversation that Alex still doesn't share all the information he has about a situation and just ends up looking kind of judgmental in my opinion.

- the truck conversation in 2x06 between Maria and Alex, why Maria prompts a girl's name when Alex says he's never been in a real relationship INSTEAD of addressing the very real elephant in the room, Michael Guerin, that they had a conversation about in 2x05- also feels like a gap in continuity.

8. Science wise- the pathogen that Charlie developed? It was supposed to be so specific that it could kill a leader of Al Quada and all of their direct descendants but leave the rest of the population unharmed. [Which um, that's a war crime, but whatever!] How was Maria affected? the DNA they had at Caulfield to develop it - like, Maria was descended from Louise and Louise lived free. The only person that pathogen SHOULD have affected was Michael (if they used Nora to base it on) Unless you're telling me that there's some protein in "alien dna" that is so specific to aliens, that no other human shares it, but also so completely undetectable that Kyle couldn't find it in Maria's blood... ? I suppose it's possible. I hope we get more explanation about that in season 3. It makes me wonder why Caulfield/Project Shepherd ever let Patty Harris go after she volunteered for some study then, and remained content to just pay her medical bills through a fake insurance company? [But also didn't flag Mimi and all the doctors that Maria took her to???]

9. Michael's hand. I'm going to reserve judgment about this, because some of my salt on this is based on season 3 promo pictures, but I really thought that moment in 2x13 when he takes off his hat, while Alex is singing, you see him without the wrapping on his hand, that maybe he found some peace with Jesse dead and demolishing the shed with Alex. But then it looks like the hand-danna is all over season 3, right up until the finale of season 3, so... was that a mistake in wardrobe AND not a beautiful moment of character growth??? I wish I could extend some grace to RNM about that, but alas... see above for why I have trust issues.

10. Perhaps I wasn't watching season 1 closely, but I thought Noah's madness was brought on by the fact he was stuck in his pod? That it was "lower class travel accommodations" and Isobel's scream at 13 got his attention? I assumed that he stayed in the pod, possessing Isobel on and off, right up until he used her body to kill Rosa in 2008, absorbing enough power to break out. So how did Noah find Jim Valenti so quickly? If it was through Isobel's memories, then why did Jim not immediately have Noah, some random alien approaching him about his recently dead daughter, hauled off to Caulfield? Jim pays $1,000 for Rosa's body, putting her in a pod [Noah's broken pod??] and stores her, waiting for...something? An alien to come along to bring her back. So did Jim know about The Savior? Why would Jim work with Noah and vice versa? Again, I'm hoping we get more about this in season 3.

11. Was there a point of keeping Alex in the Air Force? He arranges a place for them to work on bringing Max back, but I feel like anyone could have done that? Like Isobel had money, she could have rented a storage facility. All of the equipment was borrowed from the hospital, not the military. The information about 1947-1948 was from the drives decoded from Caulfield or the AAR report left by Flint in the Project Shepherd bunker (which again was decommissioned, not an active military installation). I could support the decision if it had provided some richness to the plot or some conflict within the character, neither of which really happened. Alex hacking the government and going undercover in the Air Force to protect Michael is basically fanon. I love that fanon, but alas...

12. Finally, the time jump. What year are we jumping into? 2020? 2021? Why does it make me think none of those questions above will be answered.

#rnm thoughts #season 3 thoughts #very long post #season 2 had tons of important conversations happen off screen #and tons of ooc conversations happen on screen #hopefully that changes in season 3

[mimichan2018]

Drarry recs :)

HAPPY 2021 EVERYONE! 

I’ve been re-reading a number of my favourite Drarry fics recently and thought some of you might be interested in a few recs as I always LOVE yours :) Of course - there are many more amazing ones but I had to choose... 

Some of these are super famous but just so amazing I couldn’t not have them on the list... If you have any to recommend to me - do tell :P. Also, I’ve realised I tend to like long and explicit ones although my two all-time favourites aren’t strangely enough! 

BTW - I’m writing my own fic called Allegiance - 

Summary - A month after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry is a complete mess and everyone knows it. Draco's on trial and has it all figured out - that is, until Harry Potter takes it upon himself to put a spanner in the works and they both get a whole lot more than they bargained for...This is a Post-War story about the War Trials and Dark magic, healing and facing one's fears, understanding and growth, a cottage in the Cotswolds and a can of baked beans, love and a pair of Weasley jumpers. 

Edit - Allegiance is here! finished :) Enjoy! -  https://archiveofourown.org/works/33585556/chapters/83455573

If you like fics that take place at Hogwarts/during school years I can suggest - 

1.The Eclipse by Mijan - This 6th year fic is gold in my books. It’s long and not explicit but a MUST read. 

Summary - "You're dead, Potter... I'm going to make you pay..."Draco swore his revenge on Harry for Lucius's imprisonment, and Harry all but laughed at him. But Draco is planning more than schoolyard pranks this time. The old rivalry turns deadly when Draco abducts Harry for Voldemort. It's the perfect plan, guaranteeing revenge, power, and prestige, all in one blow. But when Draco's world turns upside down, the fight to save himself and Harry begins, and the battle will take them both through hell and back. If they come back.

2.Evitative by Vichen - This is an AMAZING fic - Harry as a Slytherin. A MUST read. It’s long and not explicit. 

Summary - In the summer before his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry is drawn to a room in Grimmauld Place. Like the Gryffindor he is, he enters the room without fear. The room is a library, and Harry is surprised to find that he’s eager to learn.Then he gets the bad news: he’s been accidentally expelled from Hogwarts, and he needs to be sorted again. Everyone is confident that he’ll go straight back to Gryffindor, but with what he's been learning, Harry’s not so sure.

3.Temptation on the Warfront by alizarincrimson - This is a great 7th year Fic. It’s long and explicit. 

Summary - Draco Malfoy is forced into hiding with the Golden Trio and dragged into their search for horcruxes. What ensues is a journey of redemption, unexpected friendships and an unwanted, turbulent romance with Harry Potter. Warnings for swearing, sexual content, and dark themes.

4.Salt on the Western Wind by Saras_Girl - This is a Post War fic, just after the battle of Hogwarts. It is amazing and heart warming, as is almost everything from this author. 

Summary -  When the war isn’t quite as over as it first appears, a guilt-ridden Harry is sent to a mysterious safe-house. Among sandwiches, insomnia, and Mills & Boon, he discovers something quite unexpected.

5.Helix by Saras_Girl - Again... :) this one somehow stays with me all winter every year. Post war - long and explicit but just the right dose :P

Summary -  Seven months after the end of the war, Harry is feeling lost. Fortunately, he is about to be offered an unexpected and sparkling chance to find himself again.

6.Bond by Anna Fugazzi - This 8th year fic is a classic - again, long and explicit. 

Summary - Harry and Draco are the victims of a old marriage bonding curse and have to learn to live together through their school year. 

7.You Look the Way I Feel by yourdifferentoctober - I really enjoyed this 8th year fic - there is a lot of PTSD etc. Again, long and explicit - there’s a trend... :P

Summary -  Draco returns for his eighth year at Hogwarts in an attempt to salvage whatever he can of his future. His plan: sit as many N.E.W.T.s as possible, distance himself from the Malfoy name, and keep out of trouble. Of course, with his father on trial and at risk of unthinkable punishment, not to mention the anxiety-fueled "episodes" that have been plaguing him since summer, the school year doesn't go so smoothly. Especially when Harry Potter keeps seeking him out.

8.Secrets by Vorabiza - this is an alternative to DH so 7th year. Old and brilliant fic - a classic really. Very long and explicit. 

Summary -  Beginning with Draco's unexpected arrival at the Dursleys, Harry's summer after sixth year becomes filled with activity and many secrets. As his summer progresses, Harry generates several unexpected allies as he finds himself actively becoming the leader of the Light side.

9.Written on the heart by Who_la-hoop - 8th year fic - long and explicit. 

Summary - Harry doesn’t mind that so many Slytherins from his year have returned to finish their NEWTs, really he doesn’t. It’s just – do they have to be so friendly? He’s not prejudiced, really he’s not. It’s just – they’ve got to be up to something, right? Unnerved by the attention he’s attracting from everyone – the Slytherins are the least of it, to be fair – and struggling with a raft of changes to Hogwarts itself, Harry wishes he could be happy that one constant remains: Draco Malfoy really fucking hates him. When he’s hit by an illegal love-spell though, Harry finds he has more to worry about than whether or not Blaise Zabini actually wants to be his friend. For if everyone affected has been blessed – or cursed, by the look on Malfoy’s face – with a magical tattoo revealing the name of their soulmate, what does it mean that Harry’s skin remains completely bare?

10.Oath Breaker by GoblinCatKC - 7th year fic - long and explicit

Summary -  At the start of seventh year, the Malfoys perform a dramatic double-cross against the dark lord and Draco educates Harry in an old school of magic. With a wild dragon chase, narrow escapes and an unlikely romance as Draco is forced to reveal to a hostile wizarding world that the Malfoy family is dark.

11.The men who loved Dragons too much by fencer_x, IDoodleForNoodles  - 7th year fic (alternate to DH) - very long and explicit.

Summary -  ‘Kill Albus Dumbledore’ is less a challenging task and more a suicide mission, so when Draco Malfoy is presented with the option to either dispatch his Headmaster or suffer an excruciating and most ignominious death of his own, along with his parents, he reaches deep into his black little Slytherin heart and manages to scrape together enough courage to go with option C instead: Spend Sixth Year secretly studying Animagecraft in the hopes he’ll turn into something sufficiently imposing even the Dark Lord himself won’t be able to keep Draco under his thumb. But just his luck, his Animagus form turns out to be a dragon, and a rather randy juvenile at that, intent on finding its mate: one Harry James Potter.

12.Things worth knowing by Femme - 8th year fic - long and very explicit.

Summary -  After the Battle, Harry thinks he's left Hogwarts for good, but Minerva insists that all students return for an Eighth Year if they wish to sit for NEWTs in the spring, and Harry needs those NEWTs to go into the Aurors. Draco's just grateful not to be in Azkaban. Or the Manor. He's hoping he can steer clear of Potter this year and grapple with his own problems. Unfortunately for him, Potter appears to be one of those problems. And that's not even addressing the fact that Potter's got serious issues of his own, which Draco realises as he's forced to share an Eighth Year dormitory room and several classes with the Gryffindor Git. If only they can make it through the year without killing each other, it should be all right, shouldn't it?

13.Azoth by zetgeistic - 8th year fic - classic! long and explicit.

Summary -  Now that Harry is back at Hogwarts with Hermione for eighth year, he realises that something’s missing from his life, and it either has to do with Ron, his boggart, Snape, or Malfoy. Furthermore, what, exactly, does it mean when one’s life is defined by the desire to simultaneously impress and annoy a portrait? Harry has no idea; he’s too busy trying not to be in love with Malfoy to care.

If you like later years Harry and Draco :P, I suggest - 

1.Turn by Saras_Girl - AMAZING story. It actually gave me the balls to quit my job and start a new career. Anything by Saras_Girl as you will probably know is gold anyway. Long and explicit. 

Summary - Harry is unhappy with his job and life and is given a chance to glimpse into an alternative life. What if he’d helped Draco that day in the bathroom? :)

2.Any Instrument by @dictacontrion  - Another amazing fic. Beautifully written and the emotions are spot on. Long and explicit. Mind Healer Draco.

Summary -  Draco Malfoy wouldn't go back to England for anything less than an exceptional case. Being asked to figure out why Harry Potter can't control his magic might be exceptional enough to qualify. Healer Draco and disabled Harry. 

3.Balance.Imperfect by @bixgirl1 - Same as above :) Long and explicit. It sticks with you. 

Summary -  When Harry sustains an injury in the line of work, he no longer knows how to navigate the life he loved, and finds help and solace from the most unexpected source.

4.The Full Four Seasons by ravenclawsquill - Beautiful fic - fell in love with Harry here... Long and explicit. 

Summary -  Draco Malfoy just wants a quiet life. He has a successful business, a lovely wife, and a delightfully horrible circle of friends. He’s fine. Or, he was fine until Harry Potter thundered into his life with all the subtlety of a blast-ended skrewt and turned everything on its head. Now he’s beginning to wonder if ‘fine’ is enough, after all.

5.Little Compton Street (One Rainy Night in Soho) by LLAP115, Writcraft - Great and original fic, beautifully written. Long and explicit. 

Summary -  Draco is lonely, Harry hates the press and it won’t stop raining in London. Harry discovers a magical street that’s close to disappearing forever and Draco realises he’s one rainy night in Soho away from finding everything he’s been searching for.

6.Light up the night by Saras_Girl - Beautifully written - stays with you like a warm cup of tea (or coffee if you’re from the other side of the pond) :) Long and explicit but just the right dose :P

Summary - Harry loves making fireworks and Draco loves to watch and comment. :P Just read it... 

7.All Life is Yours to Miss by Saras_Girl - Again, warm and fuzzy all over. Long and explicit. Professors Potter and Malfoy. 

Summary - Professor Malfoy's world is contained, controlled, and as solitary as he can make it, but when an act of petty revenge goes horribly awry, he and his trusty six-legged friend are thrown into Hogwarts life at the deep end and must learn to live, love and let go.

8.All Our Secrets Laid Bare by firethesound - Great fic. long and explicit. 

Summary -  Over the six years Draco Malfoy has been an Auror, four of his partners have turned up dead. Harry Potter is assigned as his newest partner to investigate just what is going on.

9.What we pretend we can’t see by gyzym - I loved the take on Grimmauld Place here :) 

Summary -  Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought. He sold 12 Grimmauld place, he doesn’t know to whom and he tells himself he doesn’t care. Until a certain blond is in the picture. 

#drarry #draco fanfiction #drarry fanfic #slytherin #gryffydor #recs #fic rec

[aobawilliams]

First Line Tag Game!!

I was tagged by @idontonlytalkaboutdcmk

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line, then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

I’ll try to go from more recent to older (date of the creation of the doc will be written in MM/YYYY format), but this might not correspond to the time the sentence was actually written. (I might have missed some stuff but, oh well, whatever.)

1- (04/2021) Aizawa meets Izuku AU (MHA, OS in progress)

It was luck that brought Shouta here.

2- (03/2021) Vigilante Yagi AU (MHA, in-progress, either a long-fic or a serie of OS)

All Might has been a hero longer than he has ever been Yagi Toshinori.

3- (02/2021) Dad For All AU (MHA, various blurb on tumblr so far, most likely a longfic)

Izuku was trying really hard not to panic. One second he was fighting a villain with a still unknown quirk, the next he found himself __ years in the past, according to the news report currently going on TV.

4- (02/2021) Midoriya Inko’s Guide To Good Parenthood (MHA, in progress, probably a serie of OS?)

Midoriya Inko isn’t anything special. She's 30 going on 52, has a really bad case of anxiety, can and will cry for any reasons, and has gotten so many grey hair from her son's shenanigans its a wonder she still has green hair.

5- (12/2020) The Kids Will Be Alright (DCMK, spin-off of Sharpen Your Knives)

Ran was running. Fast, fast, faster, not fast enough. She put all her strength in her legs, went as fast as she could.

6- (11/2020) Before the coffee gets cold - The Sisters (DCMK, OS published on AO3)

It was probably foolish of her to come back to this place. But, on the off chance that the rumours were true, she wanted to give it a chance.

7- (11/2020) Sharpen Your Knives (DCMK, in-progress longfic, won’t be published for a long while)

Shinichi has no idea how things could have gone so wrong, so quickly.

8- (08/2020) The Time Travel Road Trip Case (DCMK, spin-off of Who The F- Is This) (technically not the first lines, but it’s the first part I’ve written)

Shinichi(Conan) felt someone lift him up from the back, he turned his face as he came level with their chest, one look at their face and…

Well, guess he found KID.

9- (06/2020) Who The F- Is This (DCMK, longfic in progress, the first chapters are on AO3)

Shinichi’s head was throbbing. He felt like someone was playing drums with his head. What has happened?

10- (06/2020) Harrinichi Kupotter (DCMK & Harry Potter x-over, longfic in progress)

Shinichi doesn't really believe in superior beings, gods or the supernatural. So far everything in his life could be explained by science and very human tricks.

11- (03/2019) Naobuza & Raphtaku AU (The Rising of the Shield Hero & Naruto x-over, an old baby I keep coming back to)

If you were to ask anyone to tell you about Naofumi Iwatani, those who remember him would tell you that he’s a weird kid. There’s something otherwordly about him, as if he was evolving in a totally different universe from them.

12- (01/2019) The self-indulgent FMA TT au (FMA, an old project that I should go back to, someday)

Somehow, sometimes, Ed felt like there was some being out there, out for him.

13- (01/2019) Nanadaime time travel AU (Naruto, will most likely be an OS, one day I will finish it enough to post it on AO3)

It was a late night In the Hokage office, one of many. As was usual by now, the Hokage was filling paperwork at his desk, his right-hand-man filling his own number of files at his side.

14- (11/2018) Baby Ed saving the world with hugs and punches (FMA, an old project that I will go back to)

On a warm night during the summer of 2005, as the sun left it’s place for the shining stars, Edward Elric went to sleep for the last time besides his lovely wife, in the house he has rebuilt with his own two hands.

15- (06/2018) The roadtrip 03Ed never knew he needed (FMA03/CoS & Fantastic Beasts and where to find them x-over, a serie of OS)

He wasnt sure what brought him back here.

Maybe he just wanted to make sure Envy was dead, one monster less in this world. Or maybe he just wanted to make sure there was no way between both world (no way to go home.)

16- (04/2018) Badass Women Roleswap AU (FMA, I still sometime go back to it, will most likely be a serie of OS)

Ed didn’t have many memories of his father. He could remember a tall man, who always looked sad. A giant who always had trouble when it came to holding him and his brother. A figure always working in his study. A person who always looked sad when teaching them alchemy.

17- (03/2018) FMA TT fic I wasnt planning to expend (FMA, old project, I will get back to it.) (it is, also, the first fanfic idea I got when I got back into writing fics)

Nothing happened as it should have been. No matter everything they’ve done to try and stop him, the dwarf in the flask still managed to bypass it all and, in some way, reach his goal.

And that’s pretty much it for any written stuff I got (anything else is too old)

Bonus: A la recherche du canard (Looking for the duck) - it’s an old assignment I had for french class, where we had to pick an article and write a short story based on it. (When I say old, I mean it’s from 2012 - it’s a good way to see how far I’ve come). It’s honestly really bad but I did have a lot of fun back then. (This is a translated from french version btw) (yes I stole names from Hetalia I was always terrible at finding names for characters)

The sun shined upon the sleeping man face, who opened his bright blue eyes. He got up suddenly, throwing his blanket on the ground. Today would be the day where he, Alfred F. Jones, Yorkville police officer, would accomplish his mission: keeping an eye on the annual fair set-up.

So, observations: You can very clearly see me go through various fandom phases it’s funny. Also my naming skills for the AUs got slightly better (but not that much.) I do tend to drop a name (usually the person from whom the POV is) in those first sentences. The first paragraph tend to get shorter with time (which might simply be because I realised I tend to lose focus when it gets too long.) I also never start on dialogue, generally I go for the POV’s thought uh.

I do quite like the ones for the Vigilante Yagi AU and the Midoriya Inko’s guide, The Kids Will Be Alright too. Badass Women I like it but also am not 100% happy with it.

This mostly made me want to share even more about these stories to y’all.

Anyway! Tagging @whoever wants to do it! I’m not sure whom I follow has already done it/been tagged or not, uuuuhhh, maybe @artistfingers ? If you’re a writer and wants to do it then go for it and tag me I guess.

#cro shouts into the void #tag game #i accidentally lost the first draft and had to do it again and I Am Not Mad #(it's a lie i am a little bit mad) #also if you want to know more about any of those please send me an ask

[donotstopthisdebatenow]

V3 Prologue Replay 0.1- It’s Time to Wake Up

Well, guess this is happening now.

Hello there. I figured I might as well write down things I picked up on during my replays and discussions with others, as well as some translation issues I (and many others from what I’ve seen) have noticed throughout out the game, with some fun trivia along the way too. This is mainly for the sake of my own peace of mind than anything, as I haven’t properly went through the game chapter by chapter in order recently, and I mainly compared translation as bits and pieces than going through line by line.

I will be recording the game both in English and Japanese to compare the lines and comment on differences if they seem of worth to note, which honestly most of it isn’t given that in terms of adapting the language in a natural sounding way -as a localization- they did a pretty good job. Most issues seems to come from lack of communication between the team in terms of context of some lines, but that’s mostly on the management of the team and I don’t have the insider’s knowledge beyond knowing that they were given some characters/sections of the game to translate so I can’t exactly comment on what was going on there.

For the trivia bits, please do keep in mind that it is me being nitpicky as a translator myself, and that I’m only pointing those out as how I would personally prefer those to be translated but at the end of the day, it really does come down to preferences since they do communicate the main thing they are trying to relay and unlike context relevant errors that do in fact cause geniune harm to gameplay and player’s experience (ie. inconsistencies in translation making Trial 5 a confusing mess) they are more what it says on the tin- some extra info/context on things.

All that said, let’s start~

Here we start with a shortened version of the V3 promo we will see in trial 6, as well as the V3 opening. Before I move to the latter though, I do want to note that for the “This story is not over” part, the Japanese counterpart uses “物語は終わらない” which due to the verb tense has a heavier “This story won’t end” vibe, which Monokuma kept insisting on in trial 6 as well.

It is not a big thing but simply a nice touch with the bold claims they make throughout the game on how it will never end.

It is also worth touching on given that one commenter in trial 6 was saying that it’s been three years since last season, so it is a bold “come back” line by whoever the group running this season 53 is.

Beyond that, it is just a nice recap and I personally love how the music blends fairly well together.

Hello there, “Team Danganronpa”. Still love how this spoiler was staring at us in the face entire time.

For the actual opening Tsumugi having a red string (of their fates) at hand and Rantaro being the only one who becomes one with their shadow to have pink eyes open was a nice touch.

The character in that pink blinking eye that for some reason wasn’t translated is the kanji for “lie” (嘘) btw. Also nice touch with Kaede facing the culprits in that blink and you will miss it scene before they dissolve to letters.

Tsumugi and Rantaro being on top of the slot machine just like how Monokuma’s ‘throne’ is between their trial stands is nice too.

The opening, which was supposedly used in-game as show intro as well, having the meteorities and that talent suppressing machine for the Ultimate Hunt plotline is of worth noting too. It is easy to dismiss the Gofer Project plotline for us players now, but the show was genuinely going for that angle before Kokichi’s takeover, hence it is worth keeping in mind while going through first four chapters especially.

For the game name, this is sort of a dead horse at this point but “Killing Harmony” rather than “Everyone’s [Mutual] Killing School Semester” was likely used due to character limit, so they had to get creative with an alternative subtitle. Character limit is a genuine issue translators face with especially with a language like Japanese and why we end up things like Yasuhiro telling us to call him Hiro or Korekiyo saying we can use Kiyo.

It is also interesting that they play the show intro twice in the prologue, one before and after their memories were altered by the flashback light, and given Monokuma when he appears later saying that this prologue was going on too long, it seems like whoever was in charge of that (supposedly Monophanie, if kubs indeed have their own AI, or the person using the avatar of said bear) messed up so they had that version aired unintentionally, hence having to go for an intro again later.

And now it’s time to wake up for one antenna girl.

If this part felt pretentious and weird to you when you first read it, don’t worry it is just usual “Kodaka trying to go purple prose except it comes off really awkward especially in English” and the translator chose to simplify a good chunk of it, going “yeah we ain’t doing that here” and I can respect that tbh.

But just for the sake of having it here: A more literal translation of that part would be “There is nothing here yet. No light, no sound. Nor my form or voice. Nobody knows who I am yet. Who I am? Who am I? I reach out a hand. A hand that doesn’t belong to anyone yet. To grasp my own existence- This is me. My name is Kaede Akamatsu. I finally recognized who I am. ...Nice to meet [you,] me. Miss protagonist of this crazy story.”

Again, a few things are just reworded to sound natural in English for the localization’s take, but if the line “Nice to meet... me” confused you before, that’s because translator went half way cutting out Kodaka waxing poetics on regaining consciousness, so taking off the subject in translation makes it sound weirder when she suddenly seems to start to talk to herself.

Also, the heavy protag framing with her and Shuichi honestly did more harm to the game than good, at this point. It would be better if they started off without that last line, as it would blend better with unreliable narrator we just happened to see events from the POV gimmick way better. Same goes for Demo having her, Hajime and Makoto sharing the “Protagonist Room” and how much hype they caused by actively pushing that angle. Part of that was preserving the twist, yes, but I also get why people do feel like it was meant as a “take that” as well.

It also did not help with people recognizing that we were playing as “side characters” the entire time as far as in-universe story plotted by this TDR was concerned too, since Kiibo was set to be the in game Naegi-expy protagonist of the season.

But enough of that for now, because we have a title card to tackle.

蘇る超高校級

I have to admit, revival probably was the best choice to use there as looking back now, there are a few things this is refering to-

1-) The simpler explanation of how they supposedly had their memories sealed, hence the “restoring/bringing back memories” meaning of 蘇る, which also means “reviving” the title of Ultimate in the Gofer Project plotline universe given how they were supposedly last survivors of the earth and

2-) How this is a revival of Danganronpa, going again with the fact that show stopped for three years/some people were awaiting for a new season for a while now, hence the resurrection/revival of Danganronpa and by extention, the concept of Ultimates by using that meaning of 蘇る in that way too. After all, “Ultimate” is really just “Best in X field amongst other highschoolers” title (as commonly fan-translated and iirc even made it to anime subs as “Super High School Level”), so having high schoolers who are given memories and the title to match with it is reviving that.

Finally out of the closet locker, and before we move on, I want to add another side note that when you invert the UI, pre first flashback light UI turns a familiar pink.

While one reading of this could be that this lie magenta being the inverted version hints at prologue being a lie, I personally take it as due to the inverted color being the one we see, it means the prologue has the “truth” than later parts, since in trial we have blue truth bullet changing color to become pink lie bullet theme, that the color they are inverted to being opposite of what they are simply makes more sense to me.

We will see when we return to this locker again later that our UI changed to yellow which inverts to blue, reverse of truth, which is especially poignant with Tsumugi’s later trial 6 comment on “if they will call fiction a lie, then all their actions and words were indeed all just lies, since they were performed based on things some people wrote, fiction, too.

It changing immediately after we are shown that first light simply felt too relevant to not tack this on here, but moving on-

A mood tbh

Poor girl, honestly. This is not even the only time she will end up hitting her head when we are done with prologue.

A bit of a short fuse there, but also fair.

That’s what we all would like to know too.

Imagine someone goes through the trouble of kidnapping you while you are on the way to school, and brings you to... another school you’ve never been to. It almost sounds funny if you ignore the small big fact that they are brought there to kill each other.

You tried, Kaede.

Also I forgot how much of the prologue was really just “Kaede causes herself physical pain while trying to calm down simulator” wow

Dun dun duun

Insert “Wow, Kaede comes out of her own closet AND brings hat boy out his closet too? Doing Arceus’ work, Kaede” joke.

Also hi, Shuichi.

This is honestly a weird way to phrase it, as what Kaede says is that it is “A boy dressed in a normal school uniform...” than emphasizing on Shuichi’s own normalness, in the Japanese version.

It is also the only line that has a slight change in both takes as in the second take, she says “A boy dressed in a bit weird school uniform...” which due to copy-paste and adjective being used to describe Shuichi than his clothing in the translation, it ends up being glossed over.

On the one hand, still funny. On the another hand, this kid is justifiably terrified...

“Buddy I need some context here I have no clue what’s going on”

“Oh yeah that happened”

Shuichi: Sees a girl in high school uniform, kidnapped by likely people older than them himself

Shuichi:

Shuichi: You are working with them aren’t you?!

10/10 detective work there hat boy. I know he is probably just still too scared to think straight, but it is still funny on hindsight.

That’s one way to calm someone

And both of their names are the same both takes too. Their way of referring to themselves (私 for Kaede, 僕 for Shuichi, which are both used in the Chapter 1 title as well) are same, as well as their general speech patterns too.

Damn, girl.

Also a nice time to point out that Shuichi spends a good chunk of prologue retake and chapter 1 doubting if they can really trust everyone, and it is good to see that he had same tendency to assume he is the only one facing something/that people around must be enemy unless he is explicitly told or shown that they are not.

It makes sense in the situation, really, especially with how Kaede being the one who opened the door to his locker, his experience is that this girl could be working for/with the ones who kidnapped him, but still worth mentioning.

A real flashback time-

Which is coming soon, because tumblr refuses to add more pictures to this post OTL

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #drv3 meta #drv3 translation #drv3 commentary #v3 spoilers #drv3 spoilers #prologue #welp here we go #I could trim off some of the screenshots but #it looks more coherent and follows each other better this way? #I was gonna cut it after this next part anyway #so that works #and just checked how many pictures there are and seems like first take of the prologue will take about three posts #yaaay

[zenosanalytic]

People What Aint From Round Here Is The Problem...

So I just watched Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood and I have THOUGHTS:

Ive read a few reviews&ruminations on this film at this point and I can’t believe that none of them got(or at least, mentioned explicitly) the primary thesis of this movie, spcl given that Tarentino flatly states it out the mouth of his primary protagonist within, like, the first 15-20mins of the film: “...most important thing in this town is when you’re making money you buy a house in town. You don’t rent... Hollywood real estate means you live here. You’re not just visiting, not just passing through. You fuckin live here.” i.e., the most important thing in Hollywood, to Hollywood, is the people FROM Hollywood; Everyone else is just a filthy, trouble-making tourist or profiteer who is “Passing Through” and “Doesnt Get It” and  “Is Fucking It Up”(It being the film industry), and probably “Secretly Hates Movies”. There are places and aspects of this movie that are basically a Nativist Angeleno rant, written by a life-long Angeleno film-nerd-turned-film-maker, against Hollywood’s critics(and his critics which he just totally conflates with the former), and probably non-Angelenos(and non-Californians?) in general.

There are two ways to read this thesis: Straight and Subverted/Satirized.

The evidence for reading it straight is pretty plentiful. Lots of reviews have puzzled at where the line connecting the constant hippie-bashing, the weird focus on knocking Polanski’s Polishness & preference for shooting in London, and the inexplicable pot-shot at Bruce Lee is, and I think this is it. “The Hippies” are repeatedly presented as a corrupting force: digging through trash, living in squalourous filth at the Spahn Ranch dragging members of “Old Hollywood” like its owner into it with them, selling drugs, and using sex to “control” men. And attached to this is presenting “The Hippies” as foreign; not only from another place, but refusing to assimilate with the LA way of life and hostile to it. The Manson family are the only explicitly identified “Hippies” in the film(other than, possibly, the one who sells Cliff an acid cig). The only “positive” portrayals of Bruce Lee in the film are silent ones of him teaching anglos kung fu, which has some fairly obvs and well-understood Implications.

But there’s also good evidence for reading it as subverted and satirized. Both Tate and Dalton are NOT from California, let alone LA, and Booth’s origins are left unclear. Dalton’s the only one of them explicitly id’d as being from elsewhere(Missouri), but Tate’s easy to google and she was a military kid who grew up all over the place. When Dalton returns from Italy, that sequence and his look in it are VERY reminiscent of the scenes introducing Polanski at the beginning of the film. The side-characters around Tate, perennially shown in a positive light, are also non-Angelenos. Doing Spaghetti Westerns revitalizes Dalton’s career, despite his disdain for Italian cinema. Tate and her crew, while not explicitly ID’d as “Hippies” and often shown in Mod and other fashion styles, are also presented in “Hippie” fashion, shown listening to “Hippie” music, smoking the “Hippie” Reefer(Im sorry, but Comedy Demanded this phrasing and I am Devout u_u), and implied to be living a polyamorous “Hippie” life.

It really is difficult for me to say which predominates. On the one entirely metaphorical hand, the ways in which Dalton’s Angeleno chauvinism are subverted and mocked are fairly obvs, but on the other emh, the film is FILLED with LITERALLY GLOWING nostalgia for this pre-Hippy, pre-Lefty, pre-70s, Conservative and Republican California&Los Angeles. Dalton’s focus on property-ownership&the film industry in the opening thesis could easily be seen as resolving these subversive contradictions to allow for a straight read(ie: Tate, Booth, and Dalton are “Hollywood People” who’ve both bought real-estate in LA, and who’ve grown up in film or film-adjacent fields and choose to center their adult lives in the film industry). So much, in fact, that I kinda started to wonder abt QT’s politics while watching it. And, if it WAS satirical, then what’s the point of the knock to Bruce Lee and focusing criticisms of Polanski on his Polishness and shooting in London? Is that just meant to characterize Dalton and Booth as nativists and racists?

It really cannot be said enough that there are REALLY MORE APPROPRIATE CRITICISMS to make of Polanski than 1)begin Polish, 2)possessing boyish effeminacy, and 3)preferring to shoot movies in London instead of LA. Which are this movie’s only problems with him(though it also takes the time to show him bitchily smoking a cigarette in an evening gown while being rude to a dog). Obvsl I dont object to villainizing an ACTUAL REAL LIFE VILLAIN like this shitstain, but I DO object to being asked(albeit gently) to participate in this film’s understated nationalist bigotry.

It’s possible that Cliff’s turning Pussycat down during the drive to the ranch was intended to be this but I highly doubt it. And if it was it’d be misrepresenting Polanski’s misdeeds enormously, considering that Pussycat, the too-young girl, is the sexual instigator in this film. Polanski liked to manipulate, drug, and rape underaged girls(he pulled the same shit with models in Europe before getting busted for it in LA, btw, then continued doing it after fleeing back to Europe); really not the same situation.

There’s another irony in that, while the film goes out of its way to call Polanski “boyish” and imply that makes him feminine and that this is Bad, there’s also a subtle under-current that... Tarentino sees himself in his youth the same way? He’s certainly never been short like Polanski and Jay Sebring are/were, QT’s 6 1, but the actors he cast to play them and the description made of the pair in-film are more than a bit reminiscent of how Tarentino looked&was discussed in the press back in the 90s when he was starting out. AAAaaand the film explicitly calls that Tate’s “Type”; leaving me with the question: would Tarentino be able to stop himself from implying a dead starlet would have been attracted to him? I leave the answer to your imaginations, Dear Readers u_u

Having said all that it IS a really good film, which I liked, I dont think it’d be very hard to set aside this political stuff while watching, the driving sequences are especially emotive&exhilarating, and there’s some seriously great acting in it. IDK if I’d say I liked it more than the recent Emma movie, tho.

I feel like each of the trio, Tate, Dalton, and Booth, were meant to symbolically Embody LA/Hollywood/California? Like Pitt especially seemed to be channeling movie characters and CJ from GTA: San Andreas throughout his performance, while I couldnt help but think of Ronald Reagan watching DiCaprio(spcl given the character’s likely politics). So there’s this sense in which the film is a fantasy of “Old Hollywood”, embodied by these three, Vanquishing its “Enemies”, represented by The Hippies(moralizing, pretentious, gross leftist) and potentially Polanski&Lee(foreign film ppl who refuse to integrate into the LA scene). Again, given the political history of Cali after this era, this embodiment raises some questions for me abt the film and QT’s politics(particularly in re: misogyny and feminism).

Also DiCaprio is totally going to get pitched a Reagan biopic off of this role and I sincerely hope he has the good sense to turn that shit the fuck down.

Circling back to the ranting at his critics, this movie was definitely and consciously a response to them. Like: up until the last 5-15 minutes of the film, and aside from a handful of too-lingering too fetishistic too on-the-nose creep shots of the female cast that Tarentino simply could not stop himself from making, OUATiH is precisely the sort of “Serious” film Tarentino’s critics have been saying he should make for decades now(of course he did Jackie Brown, which was that and which he blew Completely out of the park). And then there’s that bloody, gross-out, exploitation-movie ending. I dont actually think it was as bad as many critics were saying it was? For some reason I was thinking there was gonna be a massacre of the ENTIRE Manson family, which would have been totally out of left-field. But it WAS clearly a stinger of a major tone-shift thrown in as a Fuck You to the ppl who’ve called out his violent and exploitative preferences throughout the years. As for me I generally like his movies and think he’s a great filmmaker but he absolutely does go too far sometimes.

Rick Dalton, in an evening-gown, with a mixer full of iced-margarita in one hand, getting all up in the face of the driver of a loud exhaust-spewing jalope in his PRIVATE STREET was TOTALLY Tarentino himself :| By which I mean NOT ONLY that That’s ABSOLUTELY the sort of cameo he would have given himself 30 years ago and if it made any sort of sense at all in the film(which here it wouldnt have, obvsl), BUT ALSO that I feel 94% confident that Tarentino has actually done that at least once in his lifetime :| :|

I think the monologue&interactions T gives Bruce Lee leading up to the fight were probably more insulting to him than the fight itself. Contrary to popular discussion, it isn’t Pitt’s character totally trashing Lee, he gets in one good throw after Lee repeats a successful attack at his request(which I doubt Lee would have ever done from what little I know about him; not being predictable in a fight was his whole Deal), but rather an even duel between them(most of the fight is just the two blocking each others’ attacks). I dont think the film was trying to say “Lee was full of hot-air”, if it wanted to say that it’d have shown him getting trounced instead of showing him knock Booth down then trade him blow for blow, but more “Lee was pretty arrogant and a bit pretentious”.

OK, that’s abt all that I can think of right now: thanks for reading ^v^

#Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood #Quentin Tarentino #Long Post #Cinema #zA Reviews #Movie Reviews #zA Commentary #zA Opinions #analytic posts

[g00dberry]

this is me asking about your campaign

Anon, I am so fucking glad that you asked. Alight kiddies strap yourselves in and get ready to hear the story of Fortune’s Favor cause this is the hyper-fixation to end all hyper-fixations for me right now. (BTW, all art for the party members was done by @Tallinier on Twitter! She’s amazing and you all should go check her out right now!). Anyways:

See that? That’s Ar’De. The main continent that our D&D campaign takes place on. You might have noticed that huge white sprawl right in the middle there. That’s called The Conflict Zone. That also happens to be the name of our campaign itself, The Conflict Zone.

The Conflict Zone is an area of the continent that has existed since the dawn of recorded history. It has always contained things that do not make sense and is home to creatures not of the material plane. The topography of it is constantly shifting, changing, re-arranging. It is impossible to map out. Portals to thousands of other realms are constantly opening and closing within its borders, and creatures from these other realms have recently begun to take notice of these portals in larger numbers. The Orcs, Humans, Elves, and Dwarves have all made a pact to do their best to contain this threat on their shared borders, but something is happening... While the shared governments are trying to keep it under wraps, The Conflict Zone is expanding. More and more things are coming through those portals, and those who live closest to it have been facing grave dangers and strange occurrences more and more lately.

However, our story doesn’t begin with The Conflict Zone. It actually begins with a man. A man known only as Gaust. 20 years before the events of this campaign, a powerful man known as Gaust led a violent uprising centered in the human country of Empiria that killed many people. Gaust himself supposedly had powers that were evil and astounding. On top of his own abilities, he had the power to give other people arcane abilities. It was said that his mere presence was enough to make those around him just as bad as he was. However, nobody really knows for sure, as nobody ever claimed to have truly met the man in person. That is, until the current king of Empiria, Ryborn Hauzer -

(That guy) - slayed Gaust himself, and put an end to his 5 year reign of terror. Things were pretty okay for 20 years after that, and that’s where our heroes meet each other.

Why don’t we get to know our heroes? They’ve recently started to garner a reputation for themselves, and have decided to call their little group Fortune’s Favor (It’s a miracle none of us are dead yet, so we’ve gotta be somewhat lucky, right? Right?). They weren’t always a recognizable group of heroes though. In fact, they started out sleeping in the haymow of some guy’s barn, just outside the human capital of Union. With only a few coins to their name and a shared goal of joining the legendary Pathfinder’s Guild for various reasons, they decided to team up to try and earn some coin together, attempting to get past the nasty 500 GP application fee to even try out for the Pathfinders.

But enough about that, why don’t we finally talk about these lovable losers?

First up is Sarrali Farseer, a Tiefling Hunter Ranger 5 / Wild Magic Sorcerer 2:

Sarrali found herself designated as the leader of the group rather quickly which was really concerning for her (especially considering that she’s the youngest at the ripe age of 21!). She’s never seen herself as much of a people person. She grew up on the rugged streets of Vandis, Empiria’s military capital in the harsh North. With her human mother in mental institutions, her father completely unknown, and a childhood full of horribly unfortunate mishaps and distrust from others due to her Tiefling blood, Sarrali grew used to the idea that her father might actually have somehow been the god of shadow, twilight, misfortune, and chaos - Vayn. After deciding to ditch civilization entirely at the ripe age of 16 with only a pewter charm of a bird in flight left by her mother to her name, Sarrali fled South to the Northern forests of Empiria with no idea how to survive on her own. She was found and taken in by an old human bounty hunter, Mordecai Swift, who taught her everything he could before he met his untimely demise at the hands of some slaver pirates when Sarrali was 18. Out for vengeance, Sarrali made the unwise decision to try and take on an entire camp of slavers on her own after finding her master’s decapitated head not too far outside the camp. She managed to take down 7 of them all on her own before she was captured. She spent a horrific month in a Port Des’Sali warehouse run by the cruel leader of the slaver pirates, a wretched dragonborn named Bodac the Blue. Sarrali survived many horrible things, including torture and receiving a mysterious brand on her right shoulder blade before she and all of the other slaves were freed when a mysterious man entered the warehouse one day, the right half of his body glowing with red flames. He proceeded to torch the place, ripping Bodac’s head clear off his body, and burning right through the cages holding the slaves. Sarrali ran away from the others and spent the next 3 years working for a morally decent smuggling ring in Port Des’Sali, recovering and steeling herself for the future. She had heard that some people believed the gods themselves might reside within The Conflict Zone, and she finally wanted to confront Vayn. Unfortunately for her, the only ones allowed within The Conflict Zone were high ranking Pathfinder guild members and other decorated soldiers. So, she had no choice but to arm herself with her master’s hunting knife, her trusty bow, and head out to Union to achieve her goals. 6 months down the line and things are going arguably well for Sarrali. She’s got people who care about whether she gets out alive at the end of the day, she’s started learning some ritual magic (including how to cast Find Familiar). She returned to her supposed birthplace, a mountain town named Overlook, in search of her mother and discovered that she has an older sister, a tiefling named Brandia.

She also discovered that she was apparently human when she was born, as was her older sister. She learned that her father apparently wasn’t Vayn, but instead a human man known as Jaxon Farseer. Someone who’s family line is millenia old. Full of heroes, legendary dragon riders, and masterful archers. Her father disappeared shortly after her birth, and her mother apparently made a deal with a tall dark man who appeared in her dreams, allowing him to give her and her children his “blessing” to ensure that Jaxon would one day be rescued. Her mother accepted, and was immediately cast into madness as her daughters were changed in ways she couldn’t imagine. Odd, Sarrali’s been seeing a tall dark man in her dreams as well recently. In fact, he keeps telling her she’ll be the one to end the world someday, and he gifted her the use of Wild Magic... Hm.

Next up is Teael of house Arren, a Half-Elf Grassland Druid 5 / Hexblade Warlock 2:

Teael is the bastard daughter of Chancellor Arren, a noble High Elf who lives down river from the Spring of Len. Teael Is an incredibly caring person, though her childhood was very lonely. Her step mother was kind, teaching her druidic magic like any of her other children, but her step sister was cruel to her and her father was rather indifferent, refusing to tell Teael anything about her birth mother. Tired of spending her life being ignored and mistreated in what was essentially a gilded cage, Teael fled her father’s estate and headed North with something to prove. Through fate or misfortune, she ended up at the same barn as Sarrali and decided to stick close to the rugged tiefling girl who seemed to know her way around a weapon a little better than she herself did. 

6 months later and 24 year old Teael has sort of adopted Sarali as the little sister she never had. The two get along well and care for each other in ways they haven’t really had the chance to experience before. Teael finally has someone who will stand up for her, and Sarrali has someone who cares about how she’s really doing. Someone who wants to help her through the trauma she’s endured. Someone who cares. One of Teael’s main points of interest is that she somehow possesses the ability to summon 2 familiars at once. A grumpy large blue gecko named Nigel and a posh white Weasel named Eloise. On a rather.... improvised trip to the Shadowfell, Teael recovered the mangled body of a Drow servant who called her Lady Velodora (which also happens to be the name of the Goddess of Darkness, Death, Sleep, and the Moon... She’s also one of Vayn’s twin sisters!). After escaping the Shadowfell, Teael paid a good amount of money to have her new friend attended to by a revolutionary doctor and a high level cleric. The Drow has made a decent recovery, but is suffering from horrible amnesia. So, Teael gave him the name Vega. 

He later proved himself to be a rather accomplished wizard. He lives on a plot of land owned by Teael now, and he restored a broken down wizard tower there. His favorite pastimes include listening to Teael sing for him, reading, and studying new arcane affects. He isn’t the only friend Teael’s made recently though. On a mission into Orc territory, Teael recovered a strange black rod. After a dream that the party still doesn’t really know all the details of, Teael’s got a wicked looking new quarterstaff, and seems to have made some sort of deal with a woman (entity?) named Ebony. Before we set off on our latest adventure, Teael wrote to her father for the first time since leaving his estate to boast about how fine she’s doing on her own, and is eagerly waiting to hear back from him. She’s also a complete bi-sexual disaster, but the party loves her anyways. Oh, and one last thing. She also learned that if people found out who her mother was, she’d supposedly be killed on the spot. So that’s fun!

Third up is Rhak,  a Dragonborn Bear-Totem Barbarian 5 / Champion Fighter 2:

Teael and Sarrali met up with Rhak once they were already knee deep in a mission back in Union. They needed some extra muscle, and just happened to see a very stocky dragonborn writing something down in a book and petting a small kitten on their way into the sewers. His common wasn’t that good, but he seemed so happy that someone had offered him work without being mean that he decided to protect his new friends on the spot. He’s been with the group ever since. Rhak was the runt of his litter back in the Dragonborn territory of The Free Isles. Though he still exemplified the traits that the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut, tried to preach. Rhak had never really been one to turn to violence. He preferred to read and try talking through his issues with others. Unfortunately for him that meant that he was bullied mercilessly as a child. Though the kindness of a half elf woman named Lucia, a sorceress in the Free Isles seeking the wisdoms of the Platinum Dragon, inspired him to stick to his own ideals. One day, when he saw some bullies picking on a much younger runt, he accidentally let his anger get the better of him and ended up killing one of the bullies. Thus, he was exiled from his homeland at the age of 15. Forced to wander parts of the world that he was tragically unfamiliar with, places where he was seen as an oddity, and forced to live a cripplingly lonely life. Lucky for both him and us, we found each other though, and he’s finally got true friends that care deeply for him.

Though he had to leave his lovely kitten friend Steve at an orphanage in Union before we set out on a larger adventure, Rhak is going strong today. He has a bear spirit named Ursula that gives him the strength to protect his friends and keep pushing forward. After an untimely demise in the stomach of a Rhemorahz, Rahk was saved by a very close Revivify and brought back. Though, not before he got to have a nice chat with Bahamut himself. Bahamut explained to Rhak that he was Silver Prime, and that he needed to help usher in the era of The New King if the world was to be saved from calamity. We were already carrying a dragon egg with us (taken from a bunch of kobolds months ago in some old mine). But after breaking open an artifact from the Shadowfell, the egg was transformed. After reaching Sarrali’s hometown of Overlook, we learned that it was home to The Roost. The former breeding ground of Empiria’s human-allied dragons. However, The Roost had been destroyed years ago in Gaust’s uprising, and the only dragon left there now was a Silver Dragon named Orphyrah. She gave Rhak her blessing, explaining that she needed to sacrifice herself if he was supposed to reach his true potential as silver prime. She breathed all of her life essence into a single scale necklace, which Rhak now wears and can use to call upon her spirit in times of need. While at The Roost, we were able to hatch the new king of the dragons, a platinum hatchling named Justifax. Rhak has been tasked with protecting him and uniting the other primes, and he seems to be taking that duty very seriously. Only time will tell how Rhak’s destiny affects the fate of the world...

Last but certainly not least, we have Theren Greybend. A Human Knowledge Cleric 7:

Theren is the newest member of our group. We quite literally ran into him while fighting for our lives in the North recently, while on our way to Sarrali’s birthplace. Theren is a cleric of Magus, the God of Magic, Knowledge, and Secrets. The rest of the party doesn’t know too much about him yet, but we were in desperate need of a healer, and he got to witness the hatching of a new Dragon king with us, so he’s kind of stuck with us at the moment. Theren is a huge book nerd. He craves learning about any and all strange anomalies, and agreed to travel with the party on the pretense that we seem to run into stuff involving The Conflict Zone (his research specialty) a lot. We’ve basically become his latest research project, but that’s alright. He seems nice enough, and wants to help in any way that he can. Theren recently revealed that he possesses the odd ability to connect telepathically with a willing creature once a day, but who knows what else this guy can do? As far as we can tell, Theren is from one of the Western parts of Empiria, rather close to The Conflict Zone itself. 

Now finally, you might be wondering: Alright, but how did all that crazy stuff start?

Well, the intro arc was far too long to append on to this post, but let’s just say that in an unfortunate mix up involving Dynamite, Sewer Zombies, and a Burning Lighthouse. Our rag tag group was pinned as prime suspects, and then later were offered a deal by this shady motherfucker - 

Ekkard, the right hand man to the King of Empiria. If we could investigate those three issues for him on the down low, he wouldn’t just waive our Pathfinder application fee, he would ensure that we were accepted, and would become one of the King’s personally invested in teams. Of course, he didn’t give us much of a choice, since he told us we had a month to figure it out or face exile from Union as a cautionary action. 

So, on the job to clear our names and earn our stripes, we faced down more zombies, a flesh golem, an assassin, terrorist threats, bandits, exploding zombies, a re-kindled uprising of Gaust, and finally a huge bone serpent to save the city of Union and earn our freedom. 

Long story short - we succeed, and thus, Fortune’s Favor was born.

-I’m always down to talk about this campaign, so if anyone has any other questions, please don’t hesitate to send them.

@icarus-undying (Teael’s Player)

#dnd #d&d #DnD 5e #dungeons & dragons #Dungeons and Dragons

[roominthecastle]

Hey Room! Thanks for replying to my Q. But if Illya was that lovesick for Katarina since he was 6, doesn’t it give a stench of classic transference to the Red/Liz dynamic? Like, Illya couldn’t get Kat, so he sees her daughter as his second chance . . . with Kat really. Liz was supposed to be the woman Red “loved and lost” in Cape May, but if Red = Illya, then that description must apply to both girls.

I would see it as such if Red chose to whisper Kat’s name as his final word, or a memory of her flashed across his mind before his impending almost execution, or if he talked about her as the woman he loved/his heart/his life. But it’s always clearly Liz, there isn’t even a touch of ambiguity to this. If he still harbored feelings for Kat, they should have surfaced in these key moments but they didn’t. His past relationship w/ Kat has an influence here, I don’t deny that, but I don’t believe Red sees Liz as a replacement or consolation prize. He sees her as her own person, and if he fell for Liz, he fell for Liz bc she fits his type just like all the other women he has fancied before – 99.9% of whom were not her mother. He’s loved before but not the way he loves Liz now.

And I should have worded my response better re: the lovesick puppy thing bc I don’t think he’s been in love w/ Kat since they were 6 or that it’s some sort of guiding constant in his life. They likely lived separate lives on different continents, for starters, and she wasn’t interested in him that way. And I mentioned somewhere else how I see an inconsistency in his attachment to Kat in “Rassvet”: he isn’t devastated when he thinks she committed suicide, at least nowhere near as affected as he was by Liz’s death, which undercuts the whole selfless lover-hero image that seemingly follows soon after she comes out of hiding to ask for his help. There are no hurt feelings, no stinging sense of betrayal in the way he interacts w/ Kat (it’s almost like “oh, you’re back, good, wanna make out?”), yet it was all there after Liz came back from the dead, which already suggests different depths of emotional involvement.

Ilya’s repeated insistence to honor a pledge he made when he was 6 is the takeaway in “Rassvet”, imo. “My word is my bond” and “loyalty above all else” are still the most important guiding principles in Red’s life (both in business and personal relationships), and this is also what Ilya – or through Ilya, Dom – kept emphasizing as the only reason to help Kat. Treating a childhood promise as a serious, binding contract is a very Red thing, imo. How much actual “in love-ness” went with it remains to be seen since this is Dom’s version of the story and Red is clearly not happy w/ it.

But this signature compulsion is there in Red’s relationship w/ Liz, too. He promised her to keep her alive and safe, to give her the life she longs for, and he is not stopping until he succeeds but he also has his own agenda unfurling in the backdrop of their relationship. So he pledged himself to Liz, too. This compulsive aspect of the “lovesick puppy act” is what I think these two dynamics have in common, that’s why I said that Ilya’s behavior around Kat fits w/ how Red behaves today. This super intense loyalty to a select few stems from who Ilya/Red is as a person at his core, and it’s independent from romantic/sexual feelings but it’s easy to confuse/conflate the two, esp if one is young(er) and/or lonely like Ilya/Red was ~30 years ago.

And all this naturally brings something James once said to mind:

“I think in life, people have this confusion about love. We all want to fall in love so badly that we are almost willing to lie to ourselves, to force ourselves into believing that we are in love when we aren’t. It’s too bad, because in so doing, we cheapen it. I don’t think we recognize the depth of the emotion at all. It’s entirely transformative and we think of it as a blurb on a Hallmark card. When you’re in love, you can’t control it. It’s when you can’t take charge of what you feel, when you are completely powerless in the face of the emotion. When it happens, it happens in spite of you.” [x]

In “Rassvet” Ilya is, in fact, taking charge and Dom emphasizes this by calling him “the architect of this charade”. He gets himself transformed as part of a deliberate plan, a power move, he came up with and had to talk Kat into. Liz, however, is unintentionally yet inescapably transforming him in ways he is 100% unable to control, and she is transforming him back to who he used to be (a lá Beauty and the Beast). She tears right through every design he’s ever come up with, zigs when he zags, and lands him in the most insane situations he had no intention of ending up in (most recently: the execution chamber).

So the first part of the quote above feels more Ilya/Kat atm, and the last bit is 100% what I see when I look at Red and Liz’s relationship and, perhaps not by accident, that last bit is also what made it into actual canon dialog btw Red and Liz, and it’s been repeatedly stated how only Liz can render Red powerless and how she is his kryptonite. Liz.

So I don’t think Ilya/Red truly felt for Kat in the past what he – in spite of himself – ended up feeling for Liz in the present (true, all-consuming love). But he follows the same “my word is my bond” principle in both dynamics.

I can def see him being irritated by how Dom chose to reduce his relationship w/ Kat to some sanitized fairytale, but I still don’t think Dom believed that lying through his teeth was the way to dispense closure here. It’s Dom who warns Red at the end of S5 that Liz is never gonna stop digging for his true identity, then again tells him that she was gonna find out sooner or later anyway, so he did Red a favor by ripping off that band-aid. Liz was desperate to know Red’s real identity and Dom gave it up, hoping/thinking it would be a small price to pay for a way forward. Dom himself is sick and tired of secrets and hiding, living that way has cost him so much already and he knows nothing good ever comes from it, so I don’t think that heaping full-on lies on this issue was his go-to move here. I could be wrong, of course, but for now, I am rolling w/ “most of what Dom said he believes/assumes to be true but stuff was omitted that will end up re-framing things once they are revealed”.

But nothing (potentially) traumatizing was revealed here? things Red wanted to keep from Liz were revealed and he clearly did not like it or the way Dom chose to tell it, but “I know you used to be Ilya who made a huge sacrifice to protect my mother and me” is not quite in the same league as “I know you killed Sam” or “I know I killed my father” as far as devastating revelations go. I think Red’s reaction matched that + he was also still fuming and hurting from the confirmation of her most recent betrayal, so that’s also coloring his response and mood here, imo, making him so tightly wound that only a few twitches escape as he listens to her.

That smartass Popeye remark was not his immediate response, it’s not a response to “I know you’re Ilya”. It’s a deflection that comes when she – sensing an obvious hole in the story – starts questioning why he kept Reddington’s identity once the alleged reason of taking it on was satisfied. That’s when he says, “I am what I am. … Popeye the Sailor Man.” to avoid the topic bc – imo – now she is truly close to knowing everything and he needs to stall to figure out how to handle this entirely new playing field.

I think his reaction to her at the end of “Rassvet” is a unique mix – previous methods of (now half-hearted) deflection w/ an undercurrent of surprise, fear, anger, uncertainty + a touch of “you disappoint yet impress” he also voiced at the end of S5.

#lilyinspiration #tbl spoilers #tbl spec #lizzington #long post

[killmongerkink]

11:37 pm - Part 2.

Summary: You learn about your favorite customer a little more.

Pairing: Erik ‘Killmonger’ Stevens X Black!Reader

Warning: Just a lil fluff.

Length: 3k.

BTW: I wasn’t really planning on making this a series, but why not. I don't really like how I ended this, but it was getting pretty long and I didn't want to drag it out. The next part will feature you and Erik hanging out more and maybe a little smut .. depends on how I’m feeling lol. Let me know if you'd like to be on a tag list for my future stories. Enjoy!

MASTERLIST

"You're awfully excited today. Is there a reason you're in such a good mood darling?" Your co-worker, an older woman named Janette, asked you.

You feigned ignorance, shrugging your shoulders as you turned and set your book bag down on the chair. It was finally Friday, around 5:45 and your shift didn't officially start until 6. You were a little early today, which was a rare occurrence, but you just couldn't wait to clock in.  

You'd woke up on the right side of the bed this morning and spent the majority of your day catching up on some reading for your summer sociology class. After that, you decided to clean up your Uncle's apartment that you were staying at. Last semester when you were deciding how you were going to spend your summer, you had decided to leave your stomping grounds for something new. You loved Cali, but you found yourself quickly growing tired of the same routine with the same people. When your Uncle offered you to spend your break in one of his rentals, you jumped at the opportunity. It was New York for crying out loud, of course you'd be down. Although your days were spent doing schoolwork and ringing up customers instead of walking through Manhattan with your fancy Starbucks drink, you were still happy to be here. Sadly, there were only 3 weeks left until you had to go home and you were finding yourself getting more and more sad as the days rolled by. You were going to miss Janette, your uncle and him.

Since the first time you both had spoken, you and the handsome stranger had been talking more and more. You learned basic information like his name, that he'd recently graduated from MIT, that one of his favorite movies was Belly and a bit about his childhood. Nothing crazy, just that he played basketball 24/7 and had dreams of going pro. 

You paused and sighed. Why were you thinking about him so much? During the past few days, you found yourself wondering what he was doing and where he was randomly. When you were up, was he already up? When you were doing homework, was he working? Or was he hanging out with friends? When you blinked, was he blinking at the same time? You couldn't help but ask yourself these dumb questions. He was literally running through your mind non-stop. 

"Child, I've been on this earth for 53 years. I know a glow when I see one. Just make sure to enjoy whoever or whatever is making you happy while you can." A sad smile graced her face, causing you to grab her hand a give it a little squeeze. Janette confided in you a few weeks after you started working here about her husband’s passing. They had gotten into a fight, which led to her kicking him out for the night and little did she know that would be the last time she would see him. Apparently, some dope boys thought he had money and tried to rob him. When he wouldn't give them what they wanted, it led to a fight and one of the boys shooting him. It was honestly a tragedy and you'd catch Janette reading over the small clipping of the newspaper article every now and then that she kept hidden in her purse.

With a nod of her head, you watched her blink back her tears as she squeezed your hand back.

"Remember what I said, you hear?"

***

The night was going by pretty fast. You barely had time to get any studying done due to the influx of customers paying for gas or random snacks and goods. You were currently explaining the differences between two sets of condoms in depth to a man who looked way too old to be asking such a question, but you weren't one to judge. 

"So, this is the Trojan Sensitivity BareSkin Premium condoms and this is the Ultra-Thin for Ultra Sensitivity Premium condoms. They pretty much do the same thing, except as you see .. this one is extra sensitive."

"They're both sensitive?" The man mumbled, his eyes darting from you to the box quickly as his hand stayed clenched on the counter.

"Yes, but this one is ultra-sensitive and thinner. The other one isn't, see?" You gave him an awkward smile and pointed to the box.

The ringing signaling that someone had entered alerted you, but you didn't have the opportunity to welcome them as the man in front of you rambled on about how he didn't know which one to get. Honestly, you could care less and wished he would just hurry up and pick one. You had spent more enough time talking about condoms than you would've liked and the look he was giving you was starting to make you feel uncomfortable. 

"Which-" He cleared his throat, chuckling. "Which one would you would use? I mean, not like that. Like, if you had to pick which one you'd want your partner to use.. which one would you pick?" 

His question was of genuine interest and you were seriously debating on just telling him to get out and take his business elsewhere, but this was a potential sale and you didn't want to lose out on it.

"You could just get both. You know, that way you can .. try them out for yourself. Want me to ring them up for you?" Barely giving him enough time to answer, you scanned both boxes in lightning speed. "Your total is $33.48 sir, will you be using cash or credit?"

"Have you used these before? Did they feel good?"

The rough clearing of a throat caused the man and you to look up. Your mouth hung open slightly as you stared at Erik. Did he get finer since the last time you'd seen him? His dreads were out and all over the place, but in a cute messy way. The words 'Lost Tribe' joined with the map of Africa were showcased in white and popped against his black hoodie, while a pair of low sweat pants covered his lower half. Yeah .. you were going to need him to never wear those around you again, not unless you want to be distracted every five seconds. He was staring angrily at the man in front of you and you couldn't blame him, but did he have to look so fucking sexy all mad like that?

"Hurry up nigga, people got shit to do."

The flustered man shuffled closer to the counter and pulled out some crumpled bills, not even attempting to unfold them which made you even more annoyed. You grabbed them, counting them out quickly, before cashing them in and placing his change and bag on the counter, purposely avoiding any chances of touching him. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but the heavy sigh from the man behind him stopped him in his tracks.

"Have a good day, come again." The professional worker in you couldn't help but say.

"Or don't." 

You cut your eyes towards him, earning a shrug from his shoulders before the both of you watched as the man hastily grabbed his belongings and damn near rushed out of the store. Some change dropped out of his hand, but he didn't bother looking back to pick it up. Once he was gone you released a breath, suddenly yearning for a hot bath and your bed. Your day had started out good, great even and now you just really wanted it to end. It had been a while since you had to deal with a local creep. 

You straightened back up, adjusting your knock-off polo tee and stayed quiet as he placed his usual donuts and Gatorade down on the table. Everything was fine when started to scan his items, until he added another addition just as you were about to total his amount.

Two snickers bar.

You couldn't help but smile, not even attempting to hide your grin as you scanned and added them to the small plastic bag. Of course he didn't want his change, so you just closed the register back after receiving his money and scooted the bag over to him. You both still hadn't exchanged any words, but it was a comfortable silence. He didn't reach for his bag for a few seconds, instead just deciding to stand there with his hands in his pockets. A part of you wanted to question what was wrong, but you didn't bother and decided to just watch him. Seconds later, one of the snickers bar was sitting in front of you. 

"You trynna take a break?" He asked.

"I can't ... it's always-" The sound of two customers, a father and daughter from the looks of it, entered. The girl ran off towards the chips section while the older man who looked half past dead, sluggishly walked towards the energy drinks. Not even 30 seconds later, a group of teenagers entered loudly. ".. busy as you can see. I'm the only one here." 

He nodded his head, patting the counter a couple times as if to say a silent "okay" and you could've sworn you saw a look of disappointment on his face. Ha, you doubted it. Why would he be disappointed? Or ... maybe he was? Let's be real, who wouldn't want to hang out with you? Shit, you'd be disappointed if you couldn't hang out with someone like you. Too busy with your mental pep talk, you missed most of what he had said and caught him staring at you.

"Want me to get you off?"

"Huh?" You scrunched your eyebrows together, were you hearing him right? Were you losing your mind right now?

"I asked when do you get off."

"Oh .. like in an hour. If you want, we can hang out .. if you're not busy of course. I mean it's Friday night, you probably have things to do, but if you don't' ... we could do something. Or not! I mean, it's not really a big deal or anything."

God, you were so embarrassed. What were you doing? Why couldn't you have just kept your mouth shut. Asking him out on a Friday night? Bitch, who were you? You'd never been one to make the first move when it came to guys. Rejecting rather than getting rejected was more of your thing. You ignored the stares of the other patrons shuffling around the store and nervously watched as he looked at you with an amused expression. All that shit talking you were doing in your head earlier was out the door, you were so lame. He was probably laughing at you in his head right now.

With a lick of his lips, he nodded his head. "I'll see you in an hour then."

***

You nervously picked the small piece of sausage off your pizza, popping it into your mouth quickly. You hated eating in front of guys, especially guys you liked. Who wanted to look like a hungry slob in front of someone so fine? You had asked Erik what was the most interesting thing he'd done at MIT and while he was busy going on about that, you were struggling on how you wanted to eat your pizza. Should you fold it? Should you eat it flat? You didn't want grease all on your lips, so should you break it off in pieces instead? That was actually how you really liked to eat it, but who did that? Only weirdos. Only you. You couldn't believe you were really stressing out over something so insignificant, but your insecurities wouldn't let you live.

Erik pulled you out from another of your infamous self-talks and scooted the plastic plate closer to you. Looking up, you watched as he kept his gaze on you as he chewed his food, his tongue darting out slightly to lick at the few specs of crumbs that garnered on his lips. This man was going to be the death of you.

"You always this quiet?" He inquired.

"No, I was just listening to you talk."

"I stopped talking over three minutes ago." 

Caught red-handed, you finally began to eat and no longer cared how you looked. You needed to busy yourself by doing something. You picked up your slice, taking a good chunk out of it as you racked your brain for a response. A part of you was disappointed at how self-conscious you were around him. Why couldn't you just be chill and relaxed like your girls back home? Your girls that were always getting asked for their numbers. Your girls that had a new date every Friday, which usually led to you getting an earful about how good or bad the dick was Saturday night. It wasn't jealously per-say, you just wished you could be like that. Outgoing, blunt, confident with a hint of cocky. Maybe then would you actually have a life instead of staying in all the time. You sneaked a look at Erik and started to wonder why he was even hanging out with you. He looked like the type of guy that would go for one of your friends, not you. 

You shrugged. "What? I was just trying to process your words. I don't understand all that smart mumbo jumbo stuff you're talking about. I barely made it through physics and pre-Cal when I was a sophomore."

You figured you said something right when you heard him chuckle before mumbling something about your "slick ass mouth".

As the conversation finally started to flow, you felt yourself relax. Erik was witty and funny, in a smart ass kind of way. Knowing you weren't from Harlem, he made sure to let you know about all the hotspots when it came to clubs and food, even assisting you with folding your pizza since he couldn't sit back and watch you disrespect the pizza like that .. his words exactly. He even suggested a few good museums that you could visit. Now that made you laugh. He didn't look like the kind of guy to actually enjoy spending a day at the museum, but you were quickly learning not to judge a book by its cover.

"What's so funny?"

You were tempted to say nothing, but it was obvious he knew something was up so you decided to just be honest. 

"You're just different from what I expected you to be. On the outside, you look like the kind of guy that would fuck up a girl’s life and credit, yet every time you open your mouth ... I don't know. You just surprise me. I never suspected you to be the museum-going, woke engineer that you are. Your exterior doesn't match your interior.” 

"Your exterior doesn't match your interior." He repeated, almost like he was trying to digest your words. "I like that. Does yours match? I mean, you come off all shy and shit. You steady looking all innocent and sweet whenever I see you. You know what they say about those types."

"What? That we're all undercover freaks or something?"

"Something like that." 

The tone of his voice awoke the butterflies in your stomach and you kept your eyes averted from his. Somehow, he always seemed to make something sound so suggestive, not that you minded. It was a nice contrast to the way guys usually talked to you. Not that you were looking for every male in a 5-mile radius to run up to you and start talking provocatively, but it was nice to be flirted with. It made you feel sexy, it made you feel wanted. 

Thinking about it, the shy girl stereotype was true in all honesty and if he wanted to find out for himself, you were down to show him.

After your meal, he offered to walk you home and of course you denied. One, you were a big girl and knew the way. Two, you didn't want him going out of his way to walk you to your place. And three, what if he turned out to be some psycho series killer? Your parents always taught you never to let anyone know you address unless you trusted them, yet here you were two seconds away from letting some guy you just met take you home.

"It's late ma. I ain't letting you walk alone when it's this dark outside, especially not dressed like that."

"What's wrong with my outfit?" Slightly offended, you looked down at yourself. A dark blue collared shirt, khaki work pants and some vans. It wasn't cute by any means, but you did just come from work after all. Seeing your shape caused you to suddenly start to feel self-conscious. You had just eaten and now your food baby was making your shirt look even more unflattering than before, it also didn't help that you already had gut before the food. 'You should've said you weren't hungry!', you screamed in your head. The light color of your fitted pants also did nothing to hide the dips and dimples in your thighs, how embarrassing.

"Nothing, but niggas here ain't like the dudes you used to back home. They gonna try some shit if you alone, but if you roll with me then they'll know better."

"But they might think you're my boyfriend or something." And what if someone he knew ended up seeing you two? He wouldn't want that. How embarrassing would that be? You could hear the comments now - "Erik's with the fat girl from the gas station!".

"And what's wrong with that?" He tilted his head to the side and gave you a look, almost as if he was daring you to say something smart. 

"N-nothing."

"That's what I thought." Erik took your book bag off your shoulder in one smooth motion, putting it over his own as he wrapped his other arm around your shoulder, forcing you to walk next to him. A small gasp left your lips as he pulled you into him, his body heat spreading throughout your own and damn did he smell good. Now you knew why girls always talked about stealing their boyfriend’s hoodies. You wondered what you did in your past life to get a guy this good-looking to give you attention, or maybe you were giving him too much credit. So what he looked good? There were a million other guys who probably looked the same or better, but that did nothing to stop your heart from racing.

This man was trouble.

#black panther #black panther fanfic #black panther fanfiction #black fanfiction #erik killmonger #erik killmonger fanfic #erik killmonger fanficiton #killmonger fanfic #killmonger fanfiction #killmonger #michael b jordan fanfic #michael b jordan fanfiction #michael b jordan #mbj #mbj fanfic #mbj fanfiction #fluff fanfiction #poc fanfiction #poc fanfic #black reader #black reader fanfiction #black panther imagine #killmonger imagine #erik killmonger imagine

[red-stick-progressive]

A response to that racist responding repeatedly to my additions to the post on Colonial Genocide

1: “La Hispaniola, in where most if not all of the indigenous population dissapeared. I’m only agreeing partially with you, Spanish colonization was devastating, BUT that just isn’t ALL (as you dare to put, in a kinda of cospirazy-theory way): There were a lot of other factors, in were DID play a part the illnesses and the war the own indians had agaisnt others.”

(Then you talk about the Aztec, unrelated to Hispaniola)

2: “The book you provided to me has taken, unsurprisingly, the highest balance of people (8 million) it supposed to exist in the island of La Hispainola before 1492 (of course, the bigger deads, the better! gets easier to acuse of holocaust and genocide).”

(You misread Stannard, I assume in a preview or something. He mentions the population estimate considered standard by most academia for most of the history of the research of the indigenous peoples of the new world, which was the laughable 8 million in the entire western hemisphere. This is obviously an example of academia being a tool of propaganda, colonialist and yes genocidal propaganda. By diminishing the population they reduce the weight of the colonial crimes and reduce the legitimacy of contemporary peoples to the identities of their ancestors. All which benefits colonial power structures. Currently, the most conservative and still legitimate estimate of populations in Mexico before contact is 25 million. That is just in the region of Mexico. The most current and reasonable estimate for the population of Hispaniola before contact is 1.8 to 2.9 million. That many Taino people may have lived on that island when the Spanish arrived. Less than 1 generation later there were no Taino left on the island. All that survived, less than 50 thousand did so as slaves elsewhere or as refugees in other native nations.

American Holocaust by David E Stannard

https://gsp.yale.edu/case-studies/colonial-genocides-project/hispaniola

http://www.wou.edu/history/files/2015/08/Cain-Stoneking-HST-499.pdf )

3: “There you have the ciphers of people other specialist gives that goes from 60.000 (how they dare!) to 8 million, and the problems actual historians have to put a real number, because, as I’ve been saying, de las Casas simply exagerated the number of deads and the ways spaniards killed indians to make his point (spaniards bad, indians good). You know, census didn’t exist that time in 1492. But of course, that’s not a problem for those who’re appealed to lie. Just put the higher, albeit surreal, cypher to make it more proper to accuse of “genocide”, call you book something as “Genocide in America” or “Holocaust”, and you’ve got it.”

(This is mostly incomprehensible. First of all, no contemporary estimates are done exclusively based on personal accounts. Most population estimates are done by testable evidence like residence numbers in archeological sites compared to a standard model for what local populations looked like. This is still a flawed system constantly producing unreasonably small estimates but even this system far dwarfs what you argue. Cuz you’re a racist who is divorced from reality so much so that you are still using decades-old estimates based on nothing but propaganda.

The second point I have to address is that holocaust is a title, and genocide is a defined term. According to Google, Genocide: “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.” There is no conceivable argument against the fact that what the Dutch, the English, the Portuguese, and the Spanish did in the new world is genocide. Every single European power has dirtied hands. They stole land, erased languages and profited from other people doing the killing even if they didn’t explicitly do so at first.

https://www.google.com/search?q=genocide+define&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS750US750&oq=genocide+define&aqs=chrome..69i57.4815j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 )

4: “how in 1492-1502 spaniards AND indigenous people were both attacked by a same illness, the supposed illness spanish were “using” to kill indians (like 8 hundreds of millions of tHroUsAnDs of hundreds), per your lasts reviews… They were so smart that you know, “used” the same illness to being killed.”

(As for the idea that the same diseases killing millions of Natives were also killing the Spanish, that is very specifically not true. The diseases that the colonizers and conquistadors brought and then weaponized were more or less experientially harmless to them in context. Things like measles and the flu or malaria and typhus. Even the common cold and chickenpox killed and spread like plagues. The things that were periodic plagues in Europe such as cholera, bubonic plague, and smallpox were instantly devastating. Describing how and why is its own post and maybe I will make that post soon but I’ll just say here that Europe was a fucking dumpster fire in terms of sanitation where most cultures in the New World were so socially organized that every early encounter with any given tribe is usually followed with the Europeans marveling at how often Natives bathe and how much soap they use. Another important factor is the fact that Europe had dozens of different livestock animals that lived in immediate proximity to people often sharing water sources to defecate into and drink from. This meant diseases leaped from chickens and pigs and cows and horses to people much more frequently in the thousands of years since domestication. Native Agriculture developed along different paths and so the numerous livestock animals throughout the western hemisphere were fewer and more sanitarily maintained than in the eastern hemisphere. The only disease spread back to Europe during the Columbian exchange was syphilis, though not a plague still terrified Europe. Important detail: it also did not nearly exterminate the entire population of the entire Old World.

The specific example in the first section of American Holocaust was the first such plague event, that made many Spaniards sick and killed thousands of Natives almost immediately. The first plague, unexpected and abrupt, the Spanish took note and it informed the numerous following invasions. It was swine flu, the kind Columbus deliberately spread ahead of himself later on in his return invasions.

As for the argument that the Spanish didn’t know that spread disease and plagues was possible or that they did so accidentally… I mean, to think this you just have to deny or ignore the insurmountable volume of personal; and first-hand accounts of people saying that’s what they were doing. The compilation of accounts and historical sources that Stannard uses often is Harvest of Violence, but Robert Cormack, it is a hard read of historians primarily from Guatemala and Mexico. As opposed to the pure Spanish propaganda you seem to subscribe to, it prioritizes our own voices and is also filled with the accounts from the colonizers themselves which need no special framing to be transparent and genocidal as they discuss leaving the plagued and dead in fields to prevent healthy harvest and piling the dead and debris in the aqueducts and canals of Tenochtitlan to starve and pollute and trap civilians. Just to be clear and definitive though, Europeans definitely knew about plague bodies spreading plague, obviously, they did not understand how or why, but they did. The Spanish had weaponized blood infected with leprosy to poison wine in Naples in 1495, and there were incidents of biological warfare all throughout the Reconquista, which pointedly ended in 1492 before Columbus left Seville.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200679/ : examples of Europeans using infected cadavers to poison arrows and wells and so on many times throughout history and recorded by contemporaries.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1198743X14641744 : the Spanish blood in wine thing, as well as a long list of other biological attacks in Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconquista : this is just a link to the Reconquista from Wikipedia in case you were unaware of the very recent and relevant Spanish relationship with ethnic cleansing and genocide.)

5: “In this article, of course, if you could read spanish,”

(I can read Spanish, and speak it. I used to be pretty fluent but now mi español es limitado y lento, pero es mejor que otras personas, ¿no?)

6: “there were indians that just went to the forest and lived there outside from the cities, and like, nobody had a problem with that. Why they didn’t dissapear? Maybe, because, you know, conquest was not a genocide?or in other words: If it can be considered a genocide, is the worst and most inneficient genocide made ever.”

(I’m going to begin with the weird racist part about living in the forest. I, honest to god, don’t know what to say to explain why that's a laughably dumb claim and fundamentally racist thing to say at all. I was shouted at by some dumb racist in a town hall for my local representative, a Republican who hates immigrants etc. One of the things the racist yelled at me was “Go back to the woods.” I don’t know, figured I’d just mention that. Also, you know, it also just didn’t work either. Natives did flee from persecution and attack, and there are many individual accounts of being hunted down by dogs and soldiers and being brutally killed for it. One of the chiefs of the Hispaniola Natives fled with the few survivors of his people to another island where he identified the wealth and valuables that the Spanish sought and threw them in a river in a desperate attempt to make the Spanish leave them alone. He was known by Hatuey, and the “ good christian” Spaniards crucified him and burned him alive.

Also, I would argue that the relative efficiency of a genocide is not super relevant when measuring its moral value. Odd metric btw.)

7: “You can accuse of spanish colonialism of sclavitude, clasism, racism (even race wasn’t a part in the idea of conquering the indians, was a religious thing) and a lot of other things, really, I’m not even doubting about that, but  “Genocide” it’s not one of them.”

(The Spanish are actually the best case for inventing the notion of race, they applied a lense that mirrors the way American white supremacists measured race and how Nazi’s determined whether someone was Jewish regardless of identity or practice. The Spanish invented “Limpieza de Sangre” during the Reconquista while expelling Jews from Spain and hunting remaining Moors. And we know that Columbus brought it to the New World during colonization.

Again just google the word genocide. https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/659/tracing-the-roots-of-discrimination/ )

8: “even in the ancient spanish colonies there still a lot of indigenous people that survived and thanks to the own spanish colonial politics, instead of being killed in the moment for being considered as “sub-humans” or put in indian reservations and being killed of drunkness or surviving by putting casinos, but it is what it seems when some anglo-american just accuse other countries of doing the same and it shows.”

(Whew boy. Where to start?

“Ancient” Spanish colonies? Ancient?

Indigenous people survived despite colonial politics.

Literally, every account dehumanizes the Natives. Every single one, even the patronizing friars and supposed benefactors who just so happened to still not do anything to help Natives.

Just gonna put this here “put in indian reservations and being killed of drunkness or surviving by putting casinos,” Jesus.

And, ding ding ding, ya fucking idiot; can’t even read. I’m not “anglo-american” I’m Lumbee/Nanticoke, an indigenous eastern woodlands Native American. The Spanish colonized the Lumbee predecessors; idiot.)

@imanopinionatedadult @givemeyourtired @roxas-has-the-stick @givemeamomentortwo @thatmidstea @padawan-thunderairborne

#ndn #racism #native american #native #anti indigenous racism #racist #colonialism #anti-indigenous racism #indigenous #history #genocide #tw colonialism #tw racism #tw violence #tw murder #tw genocide #christopher columbus #columbus #Cortez #colonization

[mkayisinsane]

Another 11/11/11 Tag Game!!

I was tagged again haha thanks @spilledinkpot for the tag, I really appreciate it! Again, sorry I took so long!

Her questions:

1. Are any (or all) of your ocs inspired by real people or other characters?

Not all of them, and much less so as I get older, but in my early writing every character had a real-life counterpart. Most often, my protagonist's best friend or most trusted person is based off of my parabatai. However, I do pretty much always imagine myself as the main character, or sometimes the villain. Also, imagining yourself as your OC aids the writing process SO MUCH I cannot stress that enough.

2. What is/was your inspiration for your current WIP?

I have a lot of current WIPs, I'm gonna go with my most recent, Flirting with Death. My inspiration was kinda morbid, I was literally sitting in the library at my college waiting on my mother to get me so we could carpool to a funeral. And a few guys were walking past where I sat, eyeing me up and down and I thought to myself, "I swear if one of them tries to hit on me right now I'm gonna make them regret it." And then Thana Carmichael was born. And those guys quickly escaped the death glare I gave them.

3. Do you prefer to plan your characters out, or develop them as the story progresses?

I normally have the base of my character and their personality and how they handle things worked out before I start writing them, but for the most part I develop them as the story progresses. I like to write them in such a way that I learn a little more about them as I go, just like the reader would.

4. How do you deal with writer's block?

I don't lol just kidding! It really depends, if I'm writing and I don't absolutely have to continue or get it done right then, I take a break. Listen to musical soundtracks, play video games, watch a film who's genre corresponds with the type of scene I'm writing. Anything with a story. If I do have to get it done right then though, I just keep writing. I write absolute shit that makes no sense and then take it out later. I once wrote a whole page of "blah" over and over again. I free write until I get my mojo back.

5. What/who first encouraged you to begin writing?

According to my earliest childhood babysitter, I've been writing since I learned the alphabet. I remember once when I was six, I wrote a whole six page book with pictures I drew about why I thought birds were pretty and cool (Update: I am now afraid of birds.) It was titled "BIRDS," yes in all caps, and I cried because my name was so long that I couldn't fit the whole thing on the cover. However, I didn't start really writing until about 6th grade. I was reading a book, and the ending was so sad that I got mad and rewrote it, and I realized how much I loved making stories, how much I loved choosing my own ending. In my life as a child, nothing was certain and I never stayed in one place for too long or made any lasting friendships, but writing was always a constant for me. And through writing I made more friends, and they helped me write and it was just incredible. I can't put into words how much writing has done for me.

6. Are you able to write everyday, or need a couple of days intermediate?

For my WIPs, I definitely need a day or two off before I continue the story but I definitely try to write something every day, even if it's just free-writing or ranting about my day or journaling, I write something every day. It isn't progress on my WIPs, but it helps.

7. How long have you been writing for?

In general, since about age 6 or 7. Seriously, about 6th grade, but I didn't like any of my writing until 8th grade, and at times I don't even now. So in general, 12 or 13 years, but seriously only about 7 or 8 years.

8. What inspired your first WIP?

The Percy Jackson series. I was 10 or 11, and I had just finished that series and I was mad there wasn't more, so I wrote myself into the books as like a spin-off type thing with the minor gods (btw in case anyone cares, I'm a Hades kid). Seven chapters in, my OC still hadn't left her house. It was not my finest work haha

9. Who are the authors that you looked up to, to develop your writing?

Lemony Snicket (yes I know that's a pen name, but I mean A Series of Unfortunate Events specifically), Neal Shusterman with his Unwind series, Marie Lu with literally anything she's written, Cassandra Clare with The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments, J.K. Rowling with Harry Potter (I'm a huge Potterhead, Slytherin btw), Rick Riordan with anything he's ever written, Leigh Bardugo with anything she's ever written but mainly Six of Crows, and Oscar Wilde with The Picture of Dorian Gray. Probably many many more, I'll think of them later.

10. Is there a book that inspired you to write your own story?

Remember I mentioned that I didn't like the ending of a book I was reading so I rewrote it? That book was Bridge to Teribethia. If you read it, you know why I changed the ending. But also, I drew inspiration from books that made me feel like I was actually in the story, like I could see it all for myself. The stories felt real, and I wanted to be able to tell stories like that. To travel the world without leaving my room.

11. Do you include moral points in your writing, or prefer just the entertainment?

There is always something to take away from my writing, some lesson to be had, whether it be an emotion, a theme, a vice, or a virtue. I can't promise it's always moral, but it's always there.

My questions:

Which of your OCs fits the quote, "those with no vices have very few virtues"?

If you could meet just one of your favorite authors, dead or alive, who would it be?

What is your number one goal as a writer? (i.e. have your books taught in schools as "classics," write a series that makes people cry, get fanmail, mine personally is to create the perfect villain that no one can hate no matter what they do)

Do you project onto your writing?

Favorite ship you've written? Why?

Do you write LGBTQ+ characters? Why?

Do you write characters with mental illness? Why?

Have you ever tried to get published/actually been published?

What keeps you motivated to write?

What is your writing support system?

Do you write book dedications, and if so, are they always different?

And this concludes our 11/11/11 tag game! If I've tagged you and you have no clue who I am, I'm sorry lol I panicked tagging people but it means that either I follow you or you follow me. Rules are simple: answer my 11 questions, ask your own 11 questions, tag 11 people to answer them! Of course you don't have to play if you don't wanna, don't feel pressured to. If you want to tag me back or have me answer my own questions or just random questions, shoot me an ask. Thanks, and good luck!

@r-avenlee @writingmyselfintoanearlygrave @benvolio-writes @illiteracy-is-for-woozles @ill-write-when-im-dead @mercyandcruelty @crimescenedwrites @fictionalthrills @writerofscribbles @els-writes @gaslightwestern

[1800areyouslapping]

Apologies in advance, this is probably going to bombard your inbox! I had a pretty funny dream last night about Chiyo and Babycree being friends. It seemed that Chiyo had a major crush on Babycree, but she was way too shy to do anything about it, so her dragon, who had a lot more attitude, took it into their hands. There were a whole bunch of stupid scenarios that happened that were very anime like, but the main one that I remember at this point was the two of them having a sleepover at the (1)

Shimada’s compound, they’d been out on a small trip because Babycree had just been paid and she wanted to treat Chiyo, and then crashed back at her place. Her dragon follows them literally everywhere (it was about the size of a jack russell, which was freaking adorable), having spent its day tripping Chiyo into Babycree and bumping them so their hands kept meeting, it’s a little frustrated that it’s all just being brushed off as accidents, so it takes things a little further. (2)

The two had gotten some snacks, and just as Babycree was about to take some this jack russell size dragon just lays on her hands. They just kind of sweatdropped at this happy looking lizard whose stopped Babycree from moving, trust me she’s tried, and she really wanted them snacks too! So Chiyo ends up feeding her by hand, red faced the entire time while Babycree’s kind of oblivious. Once that happened the two were going to bed, Babycree turns from getting changed and guess who’s in her bed? (3)She sighed at them and went to pick them up, once again it wouldn’t move, so she just shrugged and went to get into bed to sleep around it and POOF, it’s now a full size dragon that’s taken over her entire bed. “Chiyo, your noodle won’t move!”, Chiyo tries getting her noodle to leave the bed, but after a while they give up and just end up sharing Chiyo’s bed, much to her embarrassment. (4)

The dream ended with Chiyo glaring at a smug Noodle (which started out as a joke between the two and became Babycree’s affectionate nickname for her dragon).Now, this was all hilarious when it happened, but it also got me thinking and I ended up thinking out an entire story for this scenario and how it would happen and continue, and it ended up in yandere territory for poor Baby! (5)

Babycree is like friend!reader in this scenario, she met Chiyo when she was about 16, working her first job and Chiyo being a rebellious teenager snuck out of the compound without guards. I see it as Babycree was raised by her Mama until she passed away the year before, she was never told about her pap, so she’s by herself just trying to get by until she can get a proper job. They would probably meet somewhere like a restaurant so it would make sense that Babycree is a part-time waitress. (6)After about a year Chiyo finally works up the courage to ask her Papa if she can bring her friend home, and after a little persuading he agrees. The two end up spending a lot of their time together, Babycree sees Chiyo like a little sister she needs to protect because she sweet and a little naïve about the real world, but because she’s the first person other than her immediate family to be unconditionally kind to her, Chiyo falls in love with Babycree (7)

whose as charming as her daddy even if she doesn’t realise it. Now, since she spends so much time at the Shimada complex, she meets Chiyo’s family. They’re wary at first but soon enough they love her too, Genji loves her spunk, Hanzo and Sojiro her dedication to Chiyo and responsible attitude and begin to see her as part of the family, Sojiro is pretty upset when he realises he’s missed the opportunity to officially adopt her as she recently become an adult when they realise she has no-one. (8)

But soon after this Daddycree appears. He’d been looking for Baby for years, her Mother moved without a word when she found out she was pregnant, thinking he didn’t want a kid, he was only a fling after all. Having finally tracked his little girl down he’s mad at himself once he realises her Mama’s dead, she’s been alone for a long time and he’s going to make sure he’s there for her from now on, she doesn’t need to be so responsible anymore, Daddy’ll look after her now! (9)

Babycree’s shocked, happy and a little annoyed by his appearance. She’s glad she gets to meet her dad after all this time, but it’s frustrating how he tries to treat her like a baby when she’s an adult now. But he’s having none of it, Babycree is his girl, and he’ll make her see he’s the only one who can keep her safe. (10)

Throughout all of this she’s been visiting Chiyo, sharing everything. From the first excitement of having family again, him moving in (without her permission) to getting nervous over his attitude around her, he’s so controlling she can only leave at night, when she can sneak out, and she has to get home promptly because her Daddy checks on her every few hours. (13? I have no idea anymore…)

Chiyo’s pretty upset that her friend/crush isn’t around much, and the boys are pissed, as far as they’re concerned Babycree is a Shimada, and her Father needs to give her back to her real family, he’s a failure of a Father, but now the only way for her to officially become one of them is for her to marry into the family, and they will do anything to keep their daughter/sister at their sides if it comes to it. (14?)

No certain endings here! It could go any way, does Daddy find out she’s sneaking out, lock her up and ‘punish’ her? Does he go on the run with her once he finds out she knows the Shimada family and realises his baby is in ‘danger’? Do the Shimada gang manage to ‘convince’ her to stay with manipulative words? Do they keep her locked away ‘for her safety’? Does Babycree realise before it’s too late that the Shimadas and her Daddy are as dangerous as each other and run? Is she caught? (15?)

No matter how it ends, it’ll be a game of cat and mouse until the very end, because both sides think Babycree belongs to THEM! 

I have no idea what you can do with this info, if you want you can use any part of it for a scenario but I wanted to share because it’s been in my mind all day!– Tiny annon (16?)

First off, I’m so fucking gay for Babycree x Chiyo. Babycree who’s so much like her daddy and doesn’t even know it. Charm, good looks and all. Chiyo’s dragon is doing the Lord’s work by trying to bring them together.

I can just imagine even more stupid little scenarios. Babycree comes walking out of the bathroom one day with nothing but a towel on. Chiyo’s dragon, being the little shit it is, goes and yoiks the towel from her. Babycree’s so comfortable in her own skin, and around Chiyo, that she just laughs it off. But Chiyo’s heart is thumping out of her chest and she’s so embarrassed because she k n o w s what her dragon is up to, and w o w does babycree look good naked. 

The dragon does the same kind of nonsense to Chiyo as well. It’ll wedge open the bathroom door while she’s stepping out fo the shower so that Babycree can get an eyeful of what Chiyo is working with. It steals the sashes to her robes so that she has to come out and look for it :3 Oh, and Babycree? A total cuddler. It doesn’t matter whether it’s platonic or romantic, she loves to cuddle. So she’s not so sad about big noodle taking up the bed. It gives her an excuse to cuddle up with her best friend, and now Chiyo has Babycree spooning her all night long. Btw, the size comparison to the Jack Russel is perfect! And so, so cute.

I love, love, love Babycree being more learned about the real world, and her being protective over Chiyo. I can just see Babycree sticking up for her, and not letting any of the people they run across take advantage of her. It’s a part of why Sojiro starts letting Chiyo out of the house more because Babycree doesn’t take shit from nobody and she’s quick to let someone know they need to fuck off. The displays of protectiveness just make Chiyo swoon, she loves it.  

Imagine Babycree being a natural gunslinger like her daddy too. So not only his Sojiro upset that he never got a chance to adopt her, but he’s thinking about hiring her to be Chiyo’s official bodyguard. Babycree’s nowhere near disciplined enough, but if Sojiro got her living with them he could have her trained enough to be trusted with the job. 

Then Daddycree shows up out of the blue and he doesn’t like the Shimadas are trying to do what he should be doing. He tells Babycree she doesn’t need to rely on such shady people anymore. They’re bad for her and are only going to stray her down a bad path. Babycree knows what kind of business they’re in and she insists she can look out for herself. But Daddycree insists even more, that no that he’s here, he should be the one doing the looking out.  

I can imagine Sojiro becoming extremely possessive over babycree, and Chiyo being terribly jealous, and that only fuels Sojiro’s fire even more. His little dragon is unhappy, so he’s unhappy. Sojiro feels opposite to Daddycree. He knows that Babycree is fully capable of roaming around on her own. Sojiro’s been more of a father to her than McCree has ever been, or even is. 

I feel like it Daddycree really wants to keep Babycree all to himself he’s going to have to take her out of the country. Because Sojiro won’t hesitate to send his men after her and bring her back to her rightful home. If he did get her away from McCree before McCree ran off with her, then she’s essentially be trading one prison for the other. As long as her daddy’s still in Japan she needs to stay at the estate. It’ll give her plenty of time to train! Sojiro has so many plans for her. At least here she has the boys and Chiyo… right?

And even if Daddycree did make it out with her, they’d still go after her. it’d take Sojiro dying and the empire falling to pieces in order for Sojiro’s men to stop going after them.  

#daddycree #babycree #musings #father/daughter incest #yandere!mccree #yandere everybody? #kind of... #papa!sojiro #chiyo #:3 #tiny anon

[saleintothe90s]

353. The final Cheers (May 20, 1993)

When I was little, I was mildly obsessed with Cheers. I watched it with my parents almost every day in syndication, before the news. I had the expanded TV Guide cover for the series finale on my wall above my bed the week this episode aired. Where they’re all trying to figure out Norm’s bar tab. 

Right before I graduated from Mary Baldwin in 2010, I found a tape at the local library book sale, it was unlabeled. It just had the clip show and the finale on it, recorded off the NBC station in nearby Charlottesville, Virginia. I thought I accidentally got rid of the tape, until I found it again recently:

I uploaded the entire clip show and finale with commercials intact, in 13 parts, because that’s all Streamable allows are 10 minute clips. Although yes you can watch the finale on dailymotion, isn’t it more fun with the commercials? You get that real right before the Summer of 1993 feeling. 

(1 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) 

*note, i’ve been told by my readers that streamable doesn’t work on mobile. I am so sorry about that. for some reason dailymotion doesn’t work for me anymore when I try to upload ?? Anybody else having this problem ?? Multiple question marks. 

Four things about the clip show:

1. I am absolutely dead at the scene with Fraiser and his ivy vest, trying to Cliff Note Dickens with the gang. 

2.  Only Diane would wear giant shoulder pads, a suit, and a lace blouse with a collar almost up to her chin to her (almost) wedding to Sam.

3. Sam has grey hair behind the scenes at rehearsal, but you can tell in the makeup chair that they cover it up. Maybe with the stuff Doris used on Jay Sherman in the first episode of The Critic:

4. At the end, Bob Costas says, “CRANK UP THE VCR, THIS SHOULD BE A KEEPER!” 

Notes for the episode

1. The crowd at the bar is watching the Cable Ace Awards. That was a thing back then, cable shows had its own award show because the Emmys didn’t recognize them -- the awards would be discontinued in 1997. The boys were looking for for Kim Alexis, but instead Diane won a Cable Ace! 

2. “Oh, yes, the beginning of your political career. It started out as a small joke and turned into an enormous one.” - Frasier on Woody being elected to city council. 

3. Rebecca is wearing about 50 yards of fabric. As we all did in 1993.

4. The first episode of cheers began with Champagne, (Diane and her Professor’s botched engagement)  and the last episode of Cheers begins with Champagne (Rebecca and Don’s botched engagement). 

5. The shot when Diane calls Sam looks like it was filmed six states away.

6. Carla’s major freakout when Diane enters Cheers. 

7. I forgot that Diane and Woody knew each other, but they shared about 1 1/2 years together on the show.

8. The scene where Diane and Sam, and their faux spouses eat at Melville’s upstairs was so strange to me when I originally saw this when I was 9. Was this the only time we saw the inside of Melvilles?! I just remember it being so PINK. Rebecca finally said yes to Don, btw.

9. Binging with Babish needs to make the dessert Sam describes to Diane:

You know, it's just that they, uh, they have this great dessert here, but you have to order it for two.

What kind of dessert is it? Well, they start with ice cream.

I love ice cream.

Oh, no, but this is the best ice cream.

It's sweet, rich, creamy.

What do they do to it? Cover it with lots and lots of thick raspberry sauce all over.

All over? They can't stop themselves.

Sounds so sinful.

There's more.

More? What more could they do? Well, they heat up the raspberry sauce.

How hot do they get it? How hot would you like it?

10. Aw, Woody got Norm a job with the City of Boston. 

11. Hanger-oner Paul is in this episode way too much. Paul looks kinda duck-like to me.

12. Sam, ain’t noone curr that you and Diane are getting married. It’s bizarre that Sam would just walk away from Cheers like that so suddenly. 

13. Diane: The screenplay for which I was so extravagantly honored was based on your life. 

Carla: You were my inspiration. Really? 

Diane: Yes.It's the story of a resilient, hard working mother, bucking all odds to raise her six children.

Carla: Six? I got eight.

Diane: Good God! You breed like a fly! 

Carla: Well, uh, this movie- people liked it? 

Daine: They loved it, Carla.People were inspired by the plight of my heroine.

Carla: Yeah? Well, what happens to me? I mean, you know, to her, in the end.

Diane: Well out of the despair and frustration of her unmanageable life, she goes berserk and takes out a few people with an Uzi.

14. Sam and Diane’s airplane seats are gigantic. Sam is manspreading big time here.

15. Does Carla have BABY EARRINGS?! WE NEED CARLA BABY EARRINGS RIGHT NOW. SOMEONE PUT THEM ON ETSY. 

16. Norm: Gonna go home to Vera.

Sam: Vera? 

Norm: My wife.Maybe you remember her? That is her name, isn't it? See ya

17. Sam: Doc, help me out here, man. You want a fine cigar? Huh? 

Frasier: I'd love to, Sam, but Lilith just called and she wants me to bring home Chinese tonight.I I hope she meant the food.She's been really weird lately and you know...

Speaking of Lilith, I wonder why she wasn’t in the final episode.

18.  Aw, the sweetest scene is everybody coming back after pretending to be mad at Sam. 

19. Rebecca’s outfit. She got married in that.

20. “Know what, Sammy, I love that stool! If there's a heaven, I don't want to go there unless my stool is waiting for me.”

21. I watched this with my parents when I was 9, when Sam said, “Sorry! We’re closed!”,  9 year old me began bawling. My mom took me to bed that night, and I was still crying, and she was like, “Cheers will still be on tv!” 

Commercial notes

(for comparison, here are WICD’s commercials from Illinois.)

The Bud commercial with the guys rescuing the baby cows!

Ambush in Waco was a TV movie that was put together just a month after the Waco standoff ended. Tim Daly from Wings played David Koresh! 

Mad About You ran a very special commercial where they watch Cheers, but Paul insists that he has never heard the Cheers theme song. Mad About You came on on Saturdays back in 1993!

There was a promo for the final episode of Saved by the Bell, and the first episode of the college years. Why do the boys look SO much older from the last episode of SBTB to the first episode of College Years? SBTB fans, help.

The reporter in the Channel 29 news report calls President Clinton “Mr. Clinton”... Mister? Look at that janky set. A faux plant and a broken computer.

Just like the Waco movie, there was a movie about Hurricane Andrew, which happened the previous Summer. I’m sure the people whose neighborhoods were blown away by Andrew really appreciated it. 

“THE STARS ARE BACK ON NBC!!” “HEY! I NEVER LEFT!” Oh, yall know that Frasier’s dad, John Maroney was a guest on Cheers?

Oh god, Jay and Branford Marsalis. They didn’t get along. I found the entire Tonight Show episode on YouTube, where everybody gets drunk.

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I want to thank everybody for all the notes I got on this post.  

#1993 #series finale series #cheers #ted danson #sam malone #frasier crane #frasier #shelley long #diane chambers #old commercials #woody harrelson #rhea perlman #george wendt #john ratzenberger #kirstie alley #kelsey grammer #charlottesville #nbc 29 #the 1990s #1990s #1990s tv