#&&. going to different countries to find the baddie and beat him

[storybounded]

Okay, but I will put it out here. Bolt is just a higher budget "s.py kids" show and you cannot change my mind.

[infinitegalahad]

GENERATION KILL: COMFORTING THERE PARTNER

"This is just me formally submitting a request for that gk boys offering their own forms of comfort fic/ headcanon/ thoughts wtevr. Lol just as a reminder. 😀"@theboardwalkbody

Gif Credit: @ymagor

A/N: You're wish is my command, homes❣️ Here's a little change of pace! @theboardwalkbody inspired this post (and asked it!), so thanks for the Inspo friend! 🤩 I'm doing this for BoB and TP because I'm going through a slight writer's block and instead of thinking about long descriptions, I just wanna so head canons that get a little out of hand. I hope this isn't too ooc😔 Reader has *inserted mental illness* btw, it's up for interpretation! ALSO GN! READER! Enjoy!

Taglist: @theboardwalkbody @contrabandhothead

Masterlist

NATE FICK-

Nate's a calculated person. He can see the patterns in people, things, etc. Like how his father's eyebrows wrinkle when he's excited, or when his mother likes to prep a meal from vegetables to the main course. So when you're happy, sad, whatever-he knows it, and you don't even have to tell him.

He'll come home and see you. He knows that you've heard him calling you're name, but you don't move. He looks all over the house and finds you inside of your tub, just sitting there with no response. The water is running, and your clothes and hair are soaked.

So in an attempt to not disrupt your peace, Nate climbs in and sits next to you. You look over and he's stares at you. Just as your about to speak, he beats you to it.

"I'll get you a towel and some clothes."

And then, he just leaves. You hear the door quietly shut, and you blink for a few seconds. What the hell just happened? It snapped you out of your depressive trance. Now instead of feeling sad-you just were confused.

So you hear the door lightly open again and then close. After a few more minutes of soaking, you get out and see a towel and a set of clothes that are most certainly not yours. It's Nate's Dartmouth Lacrosse sweater and a pair of underwear-he knows you too well.

So you exit the bathroom and you see Nate, putting two cups down of you're favorite tea

And he's got that face. You know the face were he's like ☹️

"Hey, c'mere."

The two of you climb into bed with eachtoher. He throws one of those ugg blankets over you. You rest his head in his chest and he pats your head. There's a silence, until Nate says, "Do you wanna walk about it."

Normally, you'd say no and he'd read you a book you're reading or hold you as you cry, but this time, it's different.

"Yeah, I do. You won't judge, right?"

Nate tilts you chin up, and he's got a tired smile on his face.

"Why would I?"

BRAD COLBERT-

Brad may appear horrible with emotions and reading the room...in which he isn’t

Okay, scratch that. He tries to understand them, it’s just hard for him to give advice and use words to comfort you. He feels like he’s walking on glass, But sometimes, you just need him psychically more then anything.

When you storm out of a room when Chaffin makes a comment on your weight, Brad takes a few minutes to think what he should do.

Normally, he’d just leave you be, but he’s gotta do something. Getting up, he follows you down the hallway. You’re not far, and he’s calling you’re name.

You stop in the hallway, wiping the tears coming down toye face. Brad turns you around with his hands on your shoulder. He’s got a blank face on as he looks at you, seeing your red face and the tears.

While you sob and stutter, he fixes the collar of your shirt, tucks your hair behind your ear, which is normal. He likes to neaten you up to make you feel better.

But he starts to use his thumb, wiping the tears coming down your face. You shocked as he cups your face, making you look into those icy cold eyes. He looks like the Iceman, cold and emotionless, but what he says very Brad.

“You’re beautiful.”

Then he pulls you into a tight grasp. He’s a whole foot taller then you, and you like the way he snakes his hands around his waist and slightly lifts off you your feet. His sheer presence is intimating, but for you; comforting. 

RAY PERSON-

THIS MAN. although a hick with a big mouth, he does know when to shut up and can read you’re emotions like the back of his hand.

He can just see the sadness swelling in your eyes and the way you pick at the foot at your plate and avoid all of needs for cuddles in bed. Heck, it’s making Ray sad.

So he does what he does best-not shutting up, well-about things he likes about you.

“Man! Look at my hot girlfriend/wife! There reading books by the liberal media, total smartie here! Oh! And they have a degree from-“

Ray will also beg for to your attention and follows you around like a puppy. Like you’ll be sitting on the couch and he’ll come rest his head on your lap. You ignore him, but he starts to twist and quote random movies so you finally give in.

Is Ray annoying? Yes. But did he make you smile? Also yes.

Also Ray is a cook, and knows all of your favorite meals. Of course, he sets the table, lights a few Mantown candles (yes there real google them), and comes to serve your meal with two plates.

“The most beautiful man/woman I have ever seen, the love of my life, the apple of my eye, the Avril to my Bizzy D-you’re hot pockets.”

It makes you laugh, which makes Ray happy. He feeds off of that attention. You sit in Ray’s lap, eating hot pockets, and watching The Best Damn Tour. You lean on Ray’s shoulder, and he leans right back.

POKE ESPERA-

Alexa play Whatta Man’ by Salt-N-Peppa BECAUSE! WHAT! A! MAN!

Poke is one tough mofo. He embodies the meme of “Good morning to my beautiful wife/husband and child everybody else get fucked”.

But like every baddie; baddie’s gotta have soft spots for there bitches. He has two; you and his daughter. And oh god he’s love the two of more then anything in the world.

Poke knows you and his daughter well enough. His daughter first notices that your not as enthusiastic and bubbly, and then she tells Poke. But Poke already knows because he’s observant and very in touch with his emotions.

So when he’s a work; he thinks and does a lot of self reflection. He wonders why you’re upset. Did he cause it? What can he do to make it better? He asks all the guys for advice, and even his own daughter.

An idea strikes! Poke’s got a lot of anger, so his therapist told him to express his emotions by journalling. But Poke learns that it helps him get everything out of system, so he’s a secret writer. Heck, he even likes poetry; and would kill anyone if they’d find out.

While off at work, small letters start to appear across you’re house. Some are long, some are short, but there sweet and make you’re day.

“I held the stars in my arms wen I held you”

“I can’t wait to kiss you.”

“Your eyes stole all of my words away”

And the covers of the notes are done by Poke’s daughter, covered in glitter and Lisa Frank stickers.

You confront Poke about this “mysterious pen pal” and Poke is like “I mean, your lips do sound tempting”

You know it’s Poke, and he knows it, but there’s something about the mystery that is very romantic.

WALT HASSER-

Here comes our favourie country pumpkin

Now let me say. This man LOVES you more then anything the world

Doesn’t wanna show you off (but he does)

So when you’re the slightest bit sad, Walt is even sadder then you are

Walt is someone that lives to receive attention, and also he’s someone that likes to give it. Especially to the love of his life!

Walt gives you things you actually need, and nothing that is materialistic. Growing up, his parents had a healthy relationship, and the apple clearly doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Waits on you hand and foot. A back massage? Done. A fuzzy blanket? Right on it! A specific burger from a joint that is thirty minutes away at three in the morning? Walt’s driving like a manic just for you. You have the man’s undivided attention.

“Walt?”

He stops whatever he’s doing and runs over, getting on his knees, “Yeah, what’s up baby?”

“Can you sing the song? Y’know, our song?”

Walt nods his head, now an eager puppy, and gets his gutair to play the song he wrote especially for you. And this is making me realize how painfully single I am oh my

RUDY REYES-

Rudy has an iv of respect woman/men juice. He always understands the assignment-and desires extra credit.

So whenever you’re down in the dumps, Rudy will drop everything and drag you into the car to go walk on his favorite trail. It’s ten miles long, but Rudy is a fitness freak.

First, you hate doing it. But the more you talk these long walks, the more you begin to enjoy it.

Sometimes there silence. Rudy won’t speak force you to talk. Talking is stressful, and Rudy will wait until you’re ready. The two of you holds hands, and Rudy has such a calming presence. It’s really hard to get angry at him.

You finally speak and tell Rudy you’re problems, and he listens and doesn’t interrupt. He’s got a hand on you’re lower back, or on your thigh. He’s basically you’re emotional support teddy bear and will always be a lending ear, or a total cuddle monster.

Rudy has the best advice as well. It’s always some yoga shit, but damn, those breathing  exercises do actually help.

EVAN “Q-TIP” STAFFORD-

Oh Q-Tip. My feral goblin son😭

I love him, but sometimes-things can fly over his head.

But when you start to ignore him and hide away from him, he begins to notice. And he HATES IT.

Like Christianson will ask him if he’s okay and he’ll literally quote a 2pac song and be like,

“I would drop all my girls for you, Walk barefoot 'round the world for you, Fly around like the birds for you, Thats why I wrote these words for you..”

Lilley is like “Brah we gotta help a homie out”

So the three stooges create Lovegate. The mission? to make Q-Tip’s partner happier.

Q-Tip is very artistically inclined. So with Christenson’s editing skills and Lilley’s camera, Q-Tip writes you a song and does a whole music video.

The man rents out a movie theatre venue just to show you. Of course, you’re blown away. It’s horrible and you can taste the autotone, BUT IT’S THE EFFORT THAT COUNTS. and q-tip has that smile on. you know what i’m talking about!

Doc Bryan walks in on the two of you making out and is pissed since all he wanted to do was see the re-screening of Bridemaids but NO, Q-Tip just had to rent out a theatre to show his partner a music video about them and then make out.

He see’s Lilley, who’s recording and asks to interview what Doc’s opinion on the music video, and this is what he’s says.

“I think my ears bled, but thank fuck those two aren’t acting like emo’s.”

DOC BRYAN-

The gif has a purpose. Trust me. SPEAKING OF THE MAN OF THE HOUR

Bryan, like Poke, is a very observant guy. He’s an angry motherfucker, and even a little insensitive, but ever since dating you; he’s tried to change.

He hates the world. People are shitty, and it makes him feel shitty that you’re sad because when you feel shitty, he’s in a shitter mood then he’s usually in

Knowing that his words might sound a little harsh, Byran knows how to distract you. Without words. After all, he didn’t work out for nothing.

Long hugs are you’re thing. The two of you will run into eachother, find a private place, and he’ll just wrap his arms around you. His big arms are protective, and he’s warm, and you just sink into him.

Sometimes, you’ll fall asleep. Byran sometimes will fall asleep with you, other times he’ll gently lay you down and put a blanket with a gentle forehead kiss.

When you cry in his arms, he’ll wipe the tears away. He can feel them against his arm, and he doesn’t know what to do. Crying girls/guys are not his speciality.

But when you squeeze his arm back, to let you know what your there and that you love him, Byran will freeze. He has no idea what to next with words. He’ll put his hand over yours, and turns out; it works well.

After this is all over, he’ll check up on you and ask you simply if you’re okay. You respond with a smile. Byran isn’t one for smiles, but for you, he shows a subtle smile back. Just to let you know.

[kkeidawrites]

Castlevania spoilers!!!! If you don’t want to know how the show ends in season 4 please refrain from reading the rest of this post because I’m not holding back! Also I’m writing this as I watched so, this is my raw review!

Okay, so first off I want to say personally, I loved how season 4 brought heat to the finale of the show. Although I’m sad as hell that this is the last season for a great show.

Episode 1: Murder Wakes It Up- I thought that it was cool to see Trevor and Sypha fighting again after what happened in S3, obviously they are tired from the long four week journey of fighting night creatures, skeleton zombies, vampires from different countries, etc. but clearly the end game is that humans and vampires alike are working together to bring back Dracula. Like seriously, y’all might not know this but I hate, HATE when children become involved in stupid shit like human sacrifices like I can’t. Not the children. Please, not the babies. Sypha complaining she’s becoming like Trevor, and she’s so cute when she curses lol. Then when they arrive in Targoviste we have some new faces as potential enemies. I thought they were lame honestly lol I couldn’t take Barney-Larney whatever his dumbass was; he was mad annoying.

Then they shift over to Alucard…I have never seen a more broken beautiful drunk man in all my life. Like I had S3 flashbacks. He’s asked for help from a messenger who ended up dying on the way to the castle but his horse made sure he continued the journey and Alucard received the message for help in Danesti. Alucard fights with the horse, I thought that was funny. He was thoughtful enough to bury the rider, that was very sweet of him.

Also, shirtless Alucard will be engraved in my mind for life. Whew, chile that’s one fine man. He’s beginning to talk like Belmont and I can’t help how hilarious that is.

Episode 2: Having the World: Quite honestly this episode to me was meh. Hector talking with Lenore about how he needs this and that to create his hammer to continue forgemastering then Lenore talks with Carmilla and the white haired bat talks about how she is going to rule the world and what not, clearly losing her sanity.

Then it shifts over to Trevor and Sypha and they are fighting in a barn and new character Zamfir. Her character for me was also meh, but it’s nice to see more PoC in the show.

Episode 3: Walk Away: I liked this episode a lot. Issac altogether was nice enough to sit down and talk with a night creature and tell him/them that they were free of their original program, which was: eating humans, causing destruction, used as tools to forge masters. But man when he received that berry from Issac he realized that there is still some kind of humanity in them.

Issac is contacted by Varney to bring back Dracula but, Issac wants no business with that; he doing his own thing and seeing him being sassy again is so refreshing.

Morana and Striga scenes!!! I loved them, and then there was Striga’s day armor, man listen…I have never felt more closer to watching Berserk again than in that moment. They are hesitant to return back to Styria when Carmilla calls them, and it puts them in a bind to return home to continue through with Carmilla’s plans.

Sypha being annoyed by Zamfir was me the entire time. How you gone run a kingdom again with out a kingdom. Like girl, help the people instead of the royals, my god.

Episode 4: You Must Sacrifice: A cute little Trevor and Sypha scene. They decide to investigate Targoviste more before helping Zamfir. The scene shifts and Alucard is riding towards Danesti, donning a shield and a longer cape. Monsters are attacking the walls of the village, villagers are on the other side waiting to defend themselves. Some Castlevania popular screenshots appear here.

Then we meet Greta…Miss thang…that’s one beautiful woman okay. And she’s the chief of the village, cares for her people? Y’all I present. Her. And the fact that she is sassy too? I rock with her heavy as hell.

Saint Germain meets Alucard and I have a weird vibe coming from him. We see Saint Germain’s backstory or what little it will show us; he had a whole girlfriend, she a baddie too. Apparently she was like him? And she was the silhouette we saw in S3. Cool scene, inside the Infinite Corridor and I liked the library scene a lot too. Now he’s on a rampage trying to find access to the Infinite Corridor again to find his girl and he also wants to bring back Dracula? The fuck?

Refugees arrive at Danesti, and Saint Germain is acting very strange indeed. Like he’s desperate to go to the castle to help with the village “defenses”. Alucard agrees I guess? And he says another Belmont comment which I was happy to see again in the season.

Episode 5: Back in the World: Alucard leads Greta, Saint Germain and the villagers to his castle but, encounter a couple of night creatures on the way. Greta does Saint Germain y’all and I’m with her 100%. Alucard’s powers have definitely improved from last season. It was kind of interesting how Alucard willing told Greta what happened with him and you know who, kind of early in my opinion. Greta is bisexual?!!!! I love her 1000% now! I sense some chemistry between Greta and Alucard. I like that a lot.

Lenore really like annoys my soul, I do not like this mini bitch. I didn’t really care what Lenore and Hector talked about🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️sue me. Bruh Greta, beating that monster’s ass with just a hammer and a sword?! And Alucard impressed by it?! I’m here for it!! Some cute moments between Alucard and Greta got me gushing over here😝😝. Poor puppy😢😢. Alucard decides to “grow up” which I think is a nice step forward. Saint Germain is really making me mad.

They arrive at the castle and here goes Saint Germain acting like a fan boy, I mean who wouldn’t but you know…Greta killed me when she said the castle was ugly as hell lol. Another little cutesy scene between Alucard and Greta. Like I really like their chemistry y’all I’m sorry.

Trevor and Sypha demand that Zamfir take responsibility to help the people and I forgot what it was called but, before that they are attacked and Zamfir has something placed on her neck by a night creature.

Then Issac, he’s ready to fuck some shit up. And I’m here for it. Get em, bitch!

Episode 6: You Don’t Deserve My Blood: Carmilla’s castle is attacked by Issac’s night creatures. Lenore old punk ass running away does not surprise me in the slightest. Hector betrays Lenore and locks her in a cage. Hector has contact with Saint Germain like what? I don’t understand but, Issac comes in and it looks like Hector has given up, wanting to die honestly. Issac decides against killing him and Hector asks for his knife. This boy cuts his ring finger that the Lenore placed the ring, in front of her. That scene was meh, I thought he would get pissed at her for what she’s done to him in S3 but, I guess not.

Issac literally stole this episode, from his fight with the vampires and night creatures to Carmilla that shit was -chef’s kiss- magnifico! I loved the animation the fight scenes, yooo I was hyped the whole episode.

Morana and Striga make their decision to go their own way, living their own lives in the west so, bittersweet ending with them, I wanted to actually Striga fight the main trio but, whatever I guess.

Hector still has plans to bring back Dracula and asks Issac if he’s doing the same. Issac has other plans obviously, and tells Hector that they need to find their path in their lives. I feel Hector never knew where he was supposed to be placed in the world but Issacs words are very inspiring in my opinion. May have woke Hector’s dumbass up a bit.

Episode 7: The Great Work: Varney and the other guy, I really forgot his name found out about the catacombs and head there. Trevor and Sypha demand Zamfir take them underground, which to me I think it’s nothing there but her shit. Sypha gets mad at Zamfir and I’m with her, how you part of the royal guard when the people above need your help girl my god.

The cutest scene ever in this episode, was when the kids from Danesti wanting to play with Alucard and this boy jumps off the highest part of the castle just to show off. There should be more scenes of soft Alucard with children. Saint Germain is placing these weird stones it looks like in the castle walls. What is going on with him?

More Alucard and Greta moments please and thank you. The artwork in the castle is fucking phenomenal work. Saint Germain just gave the location to a vampire it looks like, from episode 4 maybe? He looks familiar.

There is a freaking army coming to the castle…lord Jesus. Like can they catch a break please? The kids just got settled.

Trevor and Sypha go to the catacombs and it’s just as bad as the people above grounds. New weapon acquired for Trevor, pretty dope. The king and Queen are dead and Zamfir is officially insane. She really thinks that the king and Queen will come back alive and protect their people like she’s done them. Sypha tries to talk to her, that puts her in a weird daze, Trevor is just being Trevor. Varney and his lackey, come to the catacombs looking to kill I really do not know that man’s name y’all so I apologize for not giving a damn about him lol.

The castle is about to be under siege, I’m not ready. Having a whole heart attack over here from nerves.

Episode 8: Death Magic: Varney and his partner attack the people in the catacombs, Varney is looking for a giant mirror? Why I don’t know. Poor Trevor and Sypha they are soooo tired, I feel so bad for them. Zamfir is actually not bad of a fighter, I like that. Sypha still the goat, no cap.

The castle is under attack, it’s actually nice to see how diverse the vampires are in this show, you can tell what countries their from and I think that’s dope as hell. And then every time a human dies their souls are transferred to Saint Germaine? So is this another S3 human sacrifice crap again? Omg…I’m so sick of that. Saint Germain uses the key he received from the woman in the Infinite Corridor and it creates the symbol of the corridor’s portal.

Here goes Alucard being a badass again, I never tire of him being one. Greta holding it down too is really cool, I don’t care what nobody say, she is that bitch. Her and that hammer, a force to be reckoned with.

Everyone is overwhelmed and have no choice but to evacuate to the castle, right before those doors closed Alucard nods to her to leave him out to fight and she looks at him like boy bye. Get yo ass in this castle. Greta pulling Alucard in just shows they are compatible for one another. Even the playful banter between them is cute.

The discovery of the stones in the walls leads Greta and Alucard to his childhood bedroom and they find Saint Germain where he reveals he’s opening the Infinite Corridor to bring back Dracula by using death magic. Petty Saint Germain, I do not like him bro.

They have to deal with him later though to fight off the night creatures that got into the castle. Greta still holding it down.

Trevor and the vampire guy is still fighting but, Trevor being so tired he’s slowing a bit, and honestly I don’t know how he’s still able to function at this point. Sypha shows off her powers like a G that she is and Zamfir is doing some great damage with the knives she’s got and that’s crazy how little knives can do to the body.

Did Sypha always have lightning powers? I don’t remember. If it’s new I love it! Trevor’s almost killed but a woman and child save him in time but, unfortunately Zamfir is stabbed in the stomach when the vampire moves to kill them both. I’m going to be honest I didn’t really care for Zamfir’s character she was just…there lol.

Then that scene with Sypha basically incinerating the rest of the monsters is fire!!! No pun intended lol. Varney finds the mirror and steps through it where Saint Germain is. Trevor and Sypha goes through the mirror as well but in a different location in the castle.

Episode 9: The Endings: This whole episode was literally the best of the best in any other seasons. The fight scenes, the banter, the main three…oh my God I loved it all. Noooooo, the dolls!!!!!! You bastards!!!! Trevor and Sypha’s entrance was perfect. Muah! Perfecto! The rock monsters really confused me on how they were killed but you know what who cares?

Alucard has wings?!!!!! What?!!!!!!!!! The general of the caravan have brought in the man woman thingy to Saint Germain. Death has appeared. His character design is dope af. Noooo not mom and dad!!! Nooo! Poor Alucard had to witness his parents literally in pain and of course Trevor ends it again, somehow Saint Germain redeemed himself almost?

The four vampires fighting the main trio had me running for my money. I liked the whole scene it was nice to see at least one or two vampires almost have the upper hand on the main trio.

That general vampire? His fight was wild, throwing his arm as it was about to explode and use it against Trevor was genius. And main trio…they don’t need to have a plan to fight they just work so well together that it works out in end.

Trevor vs. Death. Also was that the first time Trevor told Sypha he loved her? I can’t remember. Anyway, back to the final battle. The quality of the fight, the sheer power between both characters, and then he goes and sacrificed himself like Trevor are you deadass? You deadass died? Unacceptable. And then episode just ends.

Episode 10: It’s Been a Strange Ride: Lenore died so lame, and she was drunk as well when she died. I really won’t be missing her because she was just a character I very much disliked. Hector is finally free, little dumbass.

I wanna see what Issac is up to and Morana and Striga seems appropriate. But oh well, I hope they are happy wherever they are.

Tombstone for Trevor, it’s not real. He ain’t dead, I don’t believe that. Omg, Greta and Alucard are together?!!! Whoooooo!!! And the village kids are calling him father? Yasssssssssssss!!!!! I’m here for it. Alucard saying he’s not used to people is 100% me in public I don’t like being around a lot of people and it doesn’t help I have anxiety either. Sypha being pregnant was a given she looked a little thicker in the hips from episode one. She can’t leave…we need her. Really Castlevania creators? Y’all gone play with all our hearts? Thinking Trevor was dead and he gone pop up on a horse?

And look at this⤵️⤵️

He’s smiling, happy, soft, has a boo thang I’m….😭😭😭I’m so happy.

Y’all….all in all this was a great ending to the show…a great ending…

Oh wait…wait…wait wait wait, mom and dad are alive?!!! But how? You know what I don’t care their going to travel to England and their heart shaped embrace is everything. Oh no I’m crying again….

[fandom-blackhole]

A pansexual horndog , an infp turbuletnt mediator. I use she/her pronouns. I don't know how to describe my character because I feel like my existence makes no sense. I'm shy and anxious, literally struggling with GAD and agoraphobia, yet I love being a center of attention, I can be a show off lmao

I'm sure I'm going to hell because of my dark, edgy humor.

I know it's not really a good think but I think I have something of a 'pick me girl' in me, like I prefer hanging out with the boys™ playing games and stuff. I'm hot-headed and live for drama, always shading people and spilling the tea, but only about ppl that wronged me (we don't stan bullying in this household). However, I believe I can be an actual sweetheart, almost like a mom friend for my closest besties.

My fav colors are black and pink. My fashion style is hard to describe, idk man. Like it's either a sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt kinda situation or a cute lil' skirt with knee-high socks. I always put makeup on tho and I always wear my hair down.

My thoughts tend to be rather grim and dark but at the same time my bedroom is literally princess themed and I collect all things hello kitty.

I don't have any talents or passions. I'm an English language major with minor in business. I am fluent in several languages and currently studying more. I'd like to become a sworn translator or interpreter in the future. I love traveling, been to maaany countries already so I really want to be able to work and travel at the same time.

Sorry babe, I'm really bad at this. I'd love to get matched with one of the Buckets and a Clone boi. I know I omitted the appearance, because, uhhh, me ugly, but you know it lmao.

I ship you with Leia!

I know you are probably disappointed but, please, here me out.

I just picture you and Leia being those cool af gay aunties. You are really beautiful so the Princess would fall for you pretty easily.

She's fiesty and protective and so are you. I'll never stop being thankful for you defending me against nasty anons.

Leia is the biggest social justice warrior just like her momma. I can see you both trying to figure out how to help those in need.

You'd never take any bullshit from no man.

GASLIGHT GATEKEEP GIRLBOSS

bonus: visiting her mom's homeplanet, just you and her, somewhere near a remote lake. Just two baddies being softies, holding each other in their arms.

Sorry for all the typos and errors but I'm having a high fever as I'm writing this. I'm not sure if it's even real or I just started seeing things lool. Also sorry for keeping the ship thingy short, I'd love to write a drabble for you in the future if you like my choice for you.

First off, don’t apologize for typos because I guarantee I will have at least one in my answer for you bb. And second of all THANK YOU for being here and bringing life to my blog and dms with all your thots, I love them all!

Now for your ships, first off of course, I ship you with me lmao buuuuuut,

For the bucket bois I ship you with Paz Vizsla!

First off I wanna say that Paz is going to wake up every morning and just shower you in love and affection, telling you how perfect and beautiful you are and how much he absolutely loves and adores you. Paz will constantly reassure you and if your anxiety starts getting the better of you he will pull you away from everyone and whisper reassuring, comforting things to you and do whatever he can to help you feel better. Now Paz also has a darker sense a humor and I personally think that comes with being a mandalorian, so he will always chuckle at your jokes and will return it with one of his own because he strives to see you smile and laugh as much as he can make possible. Paz would find it cute that you are always chasing drama and loves to sit and listen to you recite all the drama to him and spill the tea lol. You say you don't have any talents, but Paz is always blown away at how many languages you can speak and how you continue to want to learn more. He also loves that that gives him an excuse to take you with him when he travels so that he can have his cute little translator with him at all times. Not to mention that he loves cuddling up with you in the tiny bed that he has on his ship, as well as other things.

For your clone ship, I am going to ship you with Commander Fox!

Ok so I wanna say that the two of you some how meet and start a regular meet up at some random shady bar where the two of you will sit for hours passing back rumors and just drama that you have witnessed since the two of you talked last. This goes on for a while before one morning you wake up early to Fox slowly and carefully trying not to wake you up as he untangles himself from you and your bed. After that the two of you start meeting more regularly and usually at your home. Once the two of you really get close and even start a relationship Fox finally relaxes around you. Fox absolutely loves your dark jokes because it is something he doesn't get to hear often with protecting senators and the chancellor almost everyday. Fox has also always loved the way you dressed, whether it be in comfy clothes or your cute skirts, he doesn't care he just likes the idea of wearing something different everyday rather than just blacks and his armor. Fox also likes to play with your hair at any given chance, and he appreciates that you always have it down because it just means that he has easier access too in, especially in certain situations *wink wink*. Fox would be one to stand up for you in any situation, and he may be pretty emotionally stunted and can't quite get the words out most of the time but the second he knows he loves you he will bluntly tell you because he is a blunt man and will not beat around the bush when it comes to you.

How in the world could I ever be disappointed in being shipped with the best princess and general in the Star Wars galaxy?!?!

Now, everything you wrote? Fucking beautiful I am obsessed and I want to steal Leia away from Han and just hype her up and help her take over and rule the galaxy like she deserves

(And if you wrote more than enough for my ship, but if you wrote me a little drabble with Leia I would die of happiness bb)

(14/20)

[noneatnonedotcom]

Wait. Am I The Winner? (sequel to wait are we the baddies)

this was all done useing dice rolls and is based off of a quest on space battles. everything you are about to read was random chance that i gave flavor to

Jaune base stats: 2.62 (limit break 4.19 stat difference=+60) Pyrrha base stats: 2.62

Shielding for jaune =2779 (alright so maybe a bit more than normal) armor 295 (a bit more manageable)

Shielding for pyrrha=253

Jaune rolls: 1d100+10 (two-handed weapon)

Pyrrha rolls: 1d100 Off hand 1d100+10 (sheild)

The third match between Pyrrha and jaune would take place in the vale arena, much like minstrel vale also prized it’s fighters though in recent years Pyrrha had taken much of the attention away from their more homegrown champions. But one man had changed that.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT’S TIME FOR THE MOMENT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!”

The roar of the crowd was defining, there was more than just blood on the line here. This was the two best of their generation one representing minstrel and the other vale. National pride was on the line and whether the fighters had been informed or not the losers country would be dealing with an influx of Grimm from all the negativity they’d be generating.

Minstrel couldn’t afford that. Not in its current state and so Pyrrha had no choice but to win.

But jaune couldn’t afford to lose either.

“IN THIS CORNER REPRESENTING THE KINGDOM OF VALE, MAY I PRESENT TO YOU THE COUNT OF PATCH, THE KNIGHT OF VALE, THE BIG BAD WOLF OF SIGNAL!”

The vale half of the audience went wild. But jaune’s ears picked out his girls easily, his aura enhanced senses cutting through the noise. To focus on them

That’s why he had to win, winning meant power, power could be used to gain whatever he wanted. And what he wanted was to make a better world for everyone. It was his duty as not only the last descendant of the royal line of vale.

“JAUNE ARRRRRRRRC!” But as jaune arc, lover and boyfriend to both ruby rose and yang xiao-long. So long as he was fighting for them he’d win.

He had to.

“AND IN THIS CORNER, REPRESENTING MINSTREL, THE INVINCIBLE GIRL! PYRRHA NIKKOS!”

Both fighters came out to the octagon armor on their bodies and weapons in hand.

Jaune carried eternal luminosity, a lance forged to act as a replacement weapon to crocea mors. It was a fine weapon, ruby had made it for him. Though in reality, it was more of a banner than anything else. The weapon folded out into a deployable banner woven with gravity dust. Useful when he wanted to make a statement and force others to kneel before him.

It had come up a few times in his fights against the organized crime of vale.

The real advantage was that it was highly visible. Making giving orders on a chaotic battlefield just that much easier.

The same was the case with his armor, custos solis. Made with yang in mind, and named accordingly. It was a vibrant set of armor, made up of golds, dark blues, and whites. It’s advantage so far had been that it hid his true power. His semblance having expanded his aura pool into the three-millions at this point. And there was still room to grow.

Without the armor, he’d seem utterly invincible and that’s the main reason why he wore it and compressed his aura as much as he physically could. It tricked the sensors at the very least. When he was ready he’d show the world his true power. But he needed just a little more time.

His third weapon lay on his hip, blackthorn, a sword forged of the purest hard light dust he could find. It wasn’t quite ready yet. He’d been told the purification of the metal had not been completed so it’s true power was diminished, never the less it was an exceptionally powerful tool. If somewhat costly in terms of aura usage. The thing would drain a normal person dry in a matter of seconds.

Jaune could use it all day and never get tired.

“AND NOW, WITH BOTH FIGHTERS READY LET’S SEE IT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY! LET THE FIGHT COMMENCE!”

Roll 1

Jaune: 64+10= 74 Pyrrha: 100 (Pyrrha came for fucking play!” +20=120

Jaune takes 46 damage

Jaune armor reduced to 249

She was on him immediately, her form perfect, her spear striking him from all over, though his armor took the brunt of the assault. He tried to fight back but she was like water bouncing on the balls of her feet jabbing him with her spear like a boxer.

He was sure that a normal fighter would be unable to mount a defense against her but jaune did mitigate the damage she was able to inflict with his own footwork, waiting for the opportunity to strike

Roll2 Jaune: 18+10=28 Pyrrha: 92 (get that weak shit outta here jaune, you’re fighting the champ!)

Jaune takes 64 damage

Armor= 185

She upped her game then, moving faster and fire in her eyes focusing into a single point, she was here to beat him, utterly. Perhaps to show him the power of friendship after their last fight, perhaps simply because her kingdom depended on her. It didn’t matter she had landed blow after blow, jaune needed to do something

Roll 3 Jaune: 94+10= 104 Pyrrha: 80 Offhand: 17+10

Pyrrha takes 24 damage

Shield reduced to 226

THERE!

Jaune saw an opportunity and for the first time since their last fight, the people of the world saw the invincible girl take a blow. Not a major one, but solid as her aura flashed to protect her. Under his helmet jaune sensed the aura she’d used, it was strong. Perhaps one of the stronger ones he’d ever felt. Even in comparison to qrow. But nothing more than a drop in the ocean to him

She was on him again in an instant

Roll 3

Jaune:18+10=28 Pyrrha:45 Jaune takes 17 damage Armor =168

Jaune becomes annoyed activates dust tattoos +20 to combat rolls

And she was somehow faster and stronger than before, gritting his teeth jaune pushed his aura into the dust based tattoos on his body, an unimaginable pain flowed through him but he pushed through using the extra power to thrust into Pyrrha

Roll 4

Jaune: 81+30= 111 Pyrrha: 42 Offhand: 69 (of course can’t have a jaune fight without this (._.) )+10= 79

Pyrrha takes 32 damage, jaune’s armor is removed for the rest of the fight due to 69 roll Pyrrha takes a -25 to rolls due to distraction

Pyrrha’s shielding= 194

The blow landed but to Pyrrha’s credit she managed to bring her shield against him as he hit her. The crowd went wild for some reason but jaune didn’t pay attention to them. Only to the red-faced Pyrrha in front of him. He went after her again”

Roll 5 Jaune:69 (WTF JAUNE!) +30=99 Pyrrha:93-25=68 Offhand: 90+10-25=75

Pyrrha takes 24 damage armor destroyed by the force of jaune’s blow. Jaune takes -20 from distraction, Pyrrha takes -10 from embarrassment

Pyrrha’s shield =170 She wasn’t ready for it for some reason and when the blow connected it hit one of the straps holding up her armor, jaune cursed his luck as the beautiful redhead was stripped naked before him only her boots and weapons to cover her. Trying to shake off the distraction jaune went after her again as the crowd went crazier!

Roll 6 Jaune:75+10= 85 Pyrrha:90-35= 55 Off hand:61-25= 36

Pyrrha takes 30 damage, pyrrha has had enough! Activates semblance +50 to rolls -50 to jaune’s rolls Pyrrha’s shield = 140

The blow struck well as the beautiful woman seemed more concerned with covering herself from the looks of the crowd than from his weapon. He felt bad, he really did but this was for the good of everyone. And she was a warrior she’d understand.

There was no gender on the battlefield

Apparently she agreed because she suddenly glowed with power moving faster than he could track while he felt somehow slower just by watching.

By this point, they were little more than blurs to most people and her nakedness was forgotten in favor of raw aggression!

Roll 7

Jaune:30-40=-10 Pyrrha:74+15=89 Jaune takes 99 damage Jaune’s sheild=2680

A blow that would fell lesser men slammed into him. His eyes unfocused as the flash of his own aura blinded him. He had no time to react to the now greater pain coursing through his body from both inside and outside as she rained down blow after blow on him the crowd having grown silent with awe watching the two pinnacles of humanity battling it out in the arena

Roll 8 Jaune:85-40=45 pyrrha:75+15=90

Jaune takes 45 damage

Jaune’s sheild= 2635

More and more blows hammered into him and he was being pushed back even if he was finally starting to get his guard up it wasn’t enough, he wasn’t enough to fight this goddess on the battlefield

.Roll 9 Jaune:14-40=-26 pyrrha:41+15=56

Jaune takes 82 damage

Jaune’s shield= 2553

Jaune’s angry activates limit break +60 to rolls stat difference

Was this the end? No one could doubt his power as blows that shook the stadium hammered into him both combatants were beyond human, the crowd could see it but for all of jaune’s raw power, it was no match for the skill of the invincible girl. Even so, they felt honored to be able to see this fight. Neither had ever been pushed this far before and even veteran huntsmen were shocked at the levels of power on display.

Jaune’s eyes snapped open, the wolf of signal, that animalistic part of his brain that couldn’t accept defeat that kept going no matter what the cost to himself, equal parts pride and protectiveness. genius, and stupidity.

That’s what looked at Pyrrha when those deep blue eyes opened. And Pyrrha felt small for a moment, the entire world felt small looking at the unrestrained power coming from the boy

This was the apex hunter, the thing that even the Grimm learned to fear.

This was the big bad wolf of signal and he howled his rage as he rushed her his lance thrown aside in the madness his pain brought on. His fist flying for her head

Roll 10

Jaune:1+20=21 (alright not the best way to show off your next to final powerup) Pyrrha:25+15=40

Jaune takes 19 damage

Jaune’s shield =2534

Jaune throws away his lance, draws blackthorn +25 to rolls

Mussels tore as fast as they healed as jaune no longer limited himself by how much pain he was willing to endure and the force from his punch cratered the ground where pyrrha was but a second ago.

Ultimate power vs ultimate skill

The invincible girl vs the apex predator

For a moment skill seemed to win out as she danced around the raging monster his wild swings destroying the arena as he missed. Inching closer and closer to his prey mindless of the damage and pain he was inflicting on himself, his mad howls echoing in the now stunned silent arena

And then she landed and blow

One big enough to snap jaune back to himself and for a moment he simply stood there, his mussels twitching finally aware that Pyrrha had stripped him as well at some point.

The pinnacles of humanity stared each other down nothing between them, perfection for the world to see. The audience held their breath and

Jaune started to laugh

He laughed and laughed seemingly amused at the situation

“Alright Pyrrha, I admit it, you’re more skilled then I think I’ll ever be, you’ve done it you’ve mastered yourself to a point beyond human limits.” he stalked forward and something about the confidence in him made the women (and some men) swoon at the sight.

“You’ve earned a reward,” he said as he picked up the sword that had fallen off him earlier in the fight “something that I’ve never had to do for anyone else, of course, you’ve already seen more of me than I’ve shown to anyone other than my girlfriends so that question is what to show you now,” he said with a wink and a smirk

His eyes grew dark as his sword glowed with golden beauty. A smile like the bared teeth of a predator shown almost as brightly

“Let me show you what true power looks like!”

And they were on each other again. Perfection in motion as far as the audience was concerned. A golden blade fought against the invincible girl and eventually there was only flashes of color as they danced around the arena until finally

The two stopped fighting mid-swing as the alarm signaling the aura of Pyrrha had dipped below 25%

Could she have won if this were a real battle? perhaps, perhaps not. All that could be said in this moment was that the battle was over. Jaune calmly re-sheathed his sword and picked up his lance. The two combatants shook hands both smiling though jaune’s seemed more a smirk

And then they walked out leaving the stunned audience to collect themselves.

It was five minutes before anyone had the presence of mind to cheer

It would be two hours till they stopped.

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In the back room Pyrrha smiled as she listened to her friends gush about the fight, yes it truly was something she supposed. The main difference between jaune and her was the amount of aura they could bring to bear, she would have to look into being more efficient in the future. But later, she wanted to spend time with her friends.

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In the back room jaune coughed up blood as his abused body and soul finally gave in, he struggled not to cry in pain as it felt like his body was being ripped apart from the inside. There was a price for power, always. He could reach levels of strength that none could match but it didn’t mean he could survive using those powers. His anguish was lessened as ruby placed his head in her lap and yang gently rubbed his back

He passed out shortly after.

He wouldn’t wake up for a week.

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The world was shocked in the wake of their fight, overnight jaune and Pyrrha became legends. The fact that they accidentally stripped each other was morphed in the minds of all the watchers to be the fact that both fought with only their weapons and souls. That they had no added advantages or disadvantages. It was pure combat.

Something that came to be common later on as fighters sought to emulate them. Fighting naked against your opponent became a way of declaring your own power.

Jaune’s tattoos became something to emulate as well though obviously no one made their out of dust, the process was immensely painful after all. The world was divided on who was more impressive, jaune, or Pyrrha.

For his part jaune spent most of his time doing paperwork recuperating and spending time with his girls. There would be time to capitalize on his newfound popularity to advance his political career. But later. For now, jaune lay in a field of flowers watching his sister, yang and ruby play with Zwei

Life was good

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Ozpin subtly played with a knight piece as he studied the board, as well as a queen. The arcs were descendants of the bastards of the royal line of vale. The very same line he’d thought he’d ended with his life as the last king of vale during the great war.

He was powerful and would be a key to winning the war, as would Pyrrha

The only question was who’s piece was he?

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here’s the next chapter of accidental villain jaune, based off of the dice rolling system for a quest on space battles. it was all random chance and i think i did pretty good with what the dice gave me. what do you think?

[halorocks1214]

the law of relativity

AO3 Link

Word Count: 9963

Summary: The Law of Relativity states that each person will receive a series of problems (‘tests of initiation’) for the purpose of strengthening the ‘light’ within. We must consider each of these tests to be a challenge and remain connected to our hearts when proceeding to solve the problems. This law also teaches us to compare our problems to others’ problems and put everything into its proper perspective. No matter how bad we perceive our situation to be, there is always someone who is in a worse position. It is all relative

Previous Parts (in order): Alan | Virgil | You are here! | Gordon

WHY 👏🏼 CANT 👏🏼 I 👏🏼 WRITE 👏🏼 FICS 👏🏼 IN 👏🏼 MO 👏🏼 DER 👏🏼 RATION 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 also just bluuuergh. dont ask about this fic. part of it was written in a dark auditorium, another was written in a different state, another was written on a frickin bus, this fic has been places ill tell you what. half the time i think this is hot garbage and the other half i think its actually decent so im posting this while my head is in a good headspace and then promptly yeeting myself off the internet for a few hours to wait and see what happens. this series is becoming less of a canon divergence AU and more of a straight-up AU because of certain details im trying to worm in there buT IM TRYING MY BEST

thanks once more to @gumnut-logic, because of the length, this time i used three prompts, them being "What do you mean?", crease, and dream (and they werent even used that much sksksksk)

Warnings for both graphic and non-graphic depictions of violence, as well as mentions of torture and other PTSD/panic attack related stuff. I went deep with this one fellas

Orphan.

The word tasted dirty in his mouth.

He can still see the footage in the backs of his eyelids from when he watched it exactly one year ago. He was the only other (living) adult at the time in the family outside of Grandma, so he was permitted to see it. He remembered they originally didn’t want to show him, mainly because of his age, but Grandma was fierce, and she put one hell of an argument on the table.

One Scott refused to let fall through the cracks by breaking down. If only Grandma knew how he cried his eyes out and screamed to high heaven that night in the hotel room after essentially watching his father be blown to bloody smithereens then she was a goddamn saint for keeping it a secret. It made sense, she was the mother to his father. She had quite the line up of stories from Jeff’s childhood. Scott sensed the early-greying of his hair came from her, heh.

The rest of his family eventually saw it, of course, they did. Scott couldn’t shield them forever. What he will protect, selfishly he might add, was how angry he was at how much better they took it than he did. They cried, yes they did, but they never fully broke down like Scott did. Later in life, he wondered if it was jealousy: jealousy at not truly being able to let go. Whatever it was, he made sure to swallow it along with whatever alcohol he chose for the weekend.

Just add it to the ever-growing pile of shit he had to deal with. Nothing new.

Suddenly he’s 20 again and seated in a plane to be taken to his first stint in the Air Force. He said his goodbyes to Virgil, Gordon, and Alan back at home while Grandma and John metaphorically held his hand all the way to the airport. John was… quiet, more so than usual, but Grandma was stuck right in the middle between being a sobbing mess and ecstatic at the fine young man he’s become.

You’re just like your father. He would be proud.

Scott was secretly glad she never physically said it. It gave him plausible deniability in thinking that those words weren’t laced behind her big, bright, prideful eyes.

The first time went well, maybe even great. He stayed for a couple of months, did some flight tests, and while the training was brutal, boy did he learn a lot. When he came back home it was to a family slowly stitching itself back together. Grandma was a full-time house member, Virgil had taken up painting, Gordon talked about potentially going back to his swim meets, and while Alan was still as silent as ever, he was perkier than when Scott last saw him.

It would be on and off for the next few years: a couple of months at home, slowly and painfully taking over the role their father had (he can’t remember when he essentially received joint custody of his younger siblings with Grandma, but hey, he’s not complaining), then a couple of months out at the Air Force base where he slowly climbed up the ranking platform. He became skillful, perhaps too skillful. When he got his rank of Captain he felt it was less of an honor and more of something they owed him.

He was getting cocky. Never enough to be a danger to his fellow men, but enough to be somewhat of an occasional annoyance. Charles smacked him upside the head more than once. It felt like the world was right-side-up for once. Scott made many-a-calls to John and Virgil, the former enjoying his first few rotations up in space and the latter squarely in the middle of college. Gordon was being offered sponsorships to hell and back, and Alan was quietly getting along with the other kids at his school. Grandma was on welcoming duty for Kayo, who was taking her slot in the Tracy family with grace, though, a warning that their family would take custody of her if something were to happen to her parents would have been nice, Dad.

Of course, nothing ever goes right for their family for too long.

Orphan.

Age 24, it was supposed to be a simple retrieval mission of civilians. Scott was put in charge of his squad and then some. At night, they rolled-- well, flew out to get the job done. Scott can’t even remember the country anymore when minding his own business. Australia? Finland? Perhaps Bangladesh? There was a place John was insistent Scott never do rescues in, Virgil tended to agree, and the eldest unhealthily let them banish him from ever stepping foot there without argument. He could never remember the name off the top of his head until John’s familiar International Rescue, we have a situation rung out in the living room followed by the name of the country.

He would immediately forget it later, trauma too strong, too volatile, but the way his heart stopped and his head shattered and the way he felt ice water rush down his back was a good enough reason to quietly leave the room and let John delegate the job to one of his brothers. Sometimes John found him retching in the toilet halfway through the mission. He made sure to always mute Scott’s wrist communicator, even if it was never turned on in the first place.

The plane touched down. Orders sent the ground team out. But then the ground team took longer than estimated. Scott tensely waited where he was told to. It wasn’t the first mission that took a little longer than predicted and knowing humans, it surely wouldn’t be the last. Then, words mixed with heavy static came over the radio. H--p. Co-- ---7--. --nd ba---p --me--at--y.

Scott sat tensely in his seat, remembering his orders and suddenly hating them. Radio back to home if the mission goes south. Well, it didn’t look like they had the radio anymore. Still didn’t hurt to try at least. Scott spoke the familiar protocol that was ingrained into him when trying to call base. Dammit. Nothing. Probably some kind of blocker of sorts. Sitting up straight as a board, Scott looked through his options.

… He was in charge here. If something happened to his team the fault would lie squarely on his shoulders. Going against everything but his gut, he went out to help his squad. He can’t really remember what he exactly did anymore, but he does remember that it made a noise. Like a Looney Tunes scene: he flinched, froze, waited to see if anything or one heard, breathed a sigh of relief, and continued.

He eventually stumbled across one of his closest comrades, Arnold Brigeets. Yes, the name was ironic and half the reason he joined the force in the first place. The guy was one of the people that actually trained Scott and also seemed to be one of the few that was genuinely proud when Scott became a higher rank. It’s why Scott was more appreciative of Arnold than others, that, and well… Scott thought his fatherly abilities were good. The guy did have three kids back home.

Orphan.

Ducking down behind the cover his older friend was semi-situated behind, Scott watched as Arnold jumped at the intrusion before sighing. Scott had run into some enemies that he swiftly took down-- nothing too serious, he didn’t have the time or weapons for such an act, but they definitely would be out of it for a while-- so Arnold must have too on his way to find cover as well, hence why he was so on edge.

“Thank God,” Arnold wiped his forehead, “Glad to see you join us, kid.”

Scott was breathing heavily, but the grin he attempted was still there, “Y-Yeah, so what happened? More threats than we thought?”

Arnold shook his head, “Yes and no. There were a lot more baddies than we thought, but that’s because the civilians weren’t civilians. It’s a tr--”

Boom. The familiar sound of a gunshot.

Arnold fell over. Never got back up. Dropped like a rock in a lake, never to come up to the surface again.

Scott was so caught off guard he couldn’t react to the gun that swiftly beat him over the head, knocking him out cold. The only thing on his mind was oh fuck oh fuck I messed up I shouldn’t have come I wouldn’t have made any noise that way why did I--

They had him for roughly two weeks. Scott always thought the plotline in movies where the villain vehemently denied knowing any important information was dumb as hell. We’re not stupid. We wouldn’t go after someone if they didn’t know something.

The things they did hurt and no amount of I don’t fucking know anything! would help. Those two weeks were lost to Scott in a sea of pain and torment. The only thing he remembered was being captured, then waking up in a hospital drugged up to his gills with his superiors staring at him like he cured cancer.

“You saved the rest of your squad from sharing the same fate as the first half.”

“I-I did?”

“You betcha, son. I only wish I was there to see it! People be saying you were like an animal in how you took ‘em all down.”

Scott’s never remembered, and he wanted to keep it that way.

He was given the highest honors, even the chance to skip a couple of ranks to be at the same level as the big boys, but the night they were going to share the news to the golden boy himself, they found him in one of the bathrooms with a bloody hand and a mirror shattered with no hope of fixing it.

He was honorably discharged to a family that was so thankful he was home. Words like missing in action and POA never stopped haunting their nightmares. Scott was too, God, of course, he was, but sitting around and doing nothing was the last thing his traumatized mind wanted or maybe even needed. After doing what he considered to be the biggest fuck-up of his life, he needed to feel important.

This isn’t the first time he’ll say this and it surely won’t be the last: thank Christ for Grandma.

“You want me to take over?...”

“Yep, it’s about time Tracy Industries received a new pair of eyes. The Board certainly thinks so.”

“But… they’d rather have a crazy, PTSD-infected veteran over you?”

A rough pinch to his ear, “Hey now, don’t call yourself that,” the gentle motherly tone was back as soon as it left, “Besides, that crazy might exactly be what they want. Half of their argument is that I “don’t take enough risks.” They’re getting tired of listening to an old fart like me.”

A moment of contemplation, followed by the cheeky raise of an eyebrow, “So you’re saying you want me to take so many risks they have no choice but to take you back?”

A bark of laughter, “Damn straight.”

He learned the ropes faster than normal (healthy, is probably the correct term), and he immediately won the hearts of both young and old in the company. Instead of flying planes every few months, he worked on business reports and vetoed new ideas every couple of weeks. It felt satisfying for the most part, and his family was just happy he was still alive to enjoy it.

However, there was a slight roadblock on his way to becoming a somewhat stable person.

He became prone to violent blackouts. It had to have started when he blacked out and saved himself from those two weeks of hell, which made the most sense. Something was always destroyed when he came back to life. John was the best at calming him down due to his own experience with panic attacks, however, John couldn’t always be there, and the next rotation for NASA was coming swiftly. Scott swore up and down he would be fine, he could figure something out. John went back into space with an eyebrow permanently raised.

It was just him and Virgil home (Grandma had taken Alan and Kayo to watch Gordon swim) when he, unfortunately, proved John right. Scott wasn’t sure what triggered it, but he vividly remembered coming back in Virgil’s extremely tight hold. The first thing Scott thought to say was damn, beanstalk, when did you get so strong? but then he laid his eyes upon the forming bruise on his younger bro’s face and hasn’t recovered since.

Virgil swore he never held it against Scott. Scott definitely thought he should have.

That night brought sudden clarity to Scott that he was doing this horribly wrong. He was a ticking time bomb, and it wouldn’t be long before something was damaged in a way that couldn’t be fixed. Scott needed an anchor. Something to ground him before he took it too far. John wasn’t going to be earthside forever, Grandma was busy with Kayo, Alan was just a kid, and Gordon was living the dream. None of them were viable.

Then, as he was thinking, he was suddenly aware of how calming Virgil’s arms were around him, how they were preventing the growing panic attack in his chest from getting even bigger.

It was easy.

For once in Scott’s life, his eyes were big and young as he asked Virgil, “Help me, please.”

After a few brief seconds, Virgil gulped, “Okay.”

From then on, Virgil was Stone Number One. Scott’s admiration for Virgil outweighed the guilt of putting the black-haired man in that position in the first place. Virgil was glad to follow his older brother’s leadership, but just as qualified to bring him the hell back when he went too far. From getting too sacrificial to preventing a good punching-out some of the idiots they dealt with, Virgil made sure Scott knocked that shit off.

Time went on, Scott was a top-notch CEO at Tracy Industries, John was having one hell of a time up in space, Virgil was graduated and had so many life opportunities to pick from, Alan was thriving at being a (mostly) stable kid, Kayo was 100% acclimated to the family, and Gordon--

Scott found himself gripping the wooden desk very abruptly. He was shocked he didn’t snap a chunk off in the process. Why was he thinking about this right after a giant business conference? Who knows at this point. If this giant origin story seemed jagged and jumpy, maybe even somewhat vague, good, that’s how it fucking felt.

Back to said story.

Scott always thought he and Gordon would have the least amount in common.

They do, but out of all the things they could have picked to be similar, why did it have to be the PTSD caused by military-related jobs? Scott was 24 when he got his, Gordon was just under 20. It may have been a few years since their respective accidents, but they’re never going to go another day without it feeling like it was just yesterday.

At this point, Gordon was up and walking again, mainly thanks to John and Alan while Virgil and Scott helped in their own ways. Grandma’s cooking was what probably motivated him the most though, ha, the need to get away from it… Scott smiled. Grandma was always a constant. Honestly, if it weren’t for her, the family might have fallen apart. Literally.

What has he been saying throughout this whole shindig? Thank Christ for Grandma.

One day out of the blue, Grandma reserved the entire family (yes, even Kayo and Alan) private plane tickets so they could spend some time on the mainland for a few days. Honestly, even if the island wasn’t getting major renovations, you hooligans need to get out more. Have some fun. Try not to kill anything, especially each other, she all told them while creepily grinning. John and Virgil smacked Gordon more than once on the plane for insisting that she finally snapped, dudes, she’s gonna kill us.

Most of the time during their little vacation, Scott heavily focused on his breathing. He was pretty sure he knew what she was doing. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous, but the same went for his excitement.

Dad showed him these plans the day after his 18th birthday. You’re a man now, Scotty, I need your help making this big boy decision with me.

As soon as they reset foot down on the island, Scott took a deep breath and felt relaxed at the salty taste in the air. It was weird, nothing on the outside was changed, and yet… it still felt different.

“Guys!” Virgil yelled out, “Stop playing in the water! We just got back, aren’t you two tired?!”

Blinking back to reality, Scott looked over to see his two youngest brothers doing exactly what Virgil was yelling at them for. Poor Johnny was a little damp too, which is what probably caused Virgil to shout at them in the first place. The blondes didn’t care. They continued to prance around in the shallow waves with their pants legs rolled up, acting as if they didn’t hear anything outside of their laughter. Gordon shoved his hands down into the liquid and threw some directly at Alan, nailing him right in the face.

Scott exhaled slowly. He couldn’t imagine them doing this 8 years ago.

Regardless, the artist was right, and they couldn’t waste too much time. Kayo was swift in grabbing both gentlemen by the ears and dragging them onto dry land. They all painstakingly trekked their way up to the-- what would you call Tracy Island? Mansion? Over-blown cabin? Well, whatever it was, Scott would always be willing to call it home.

Stepping inside, each brother took in the view, which was underwhelmingly not that much different, except for one tiny thing. John suddenly noticed a figure already standing in the living room and blinked, “No way… it’s--”

Gordon jumped in, both with his body and his words, “Brains?! Dude, how’s it hanging?!”

The scientist in question jumped at the voices before clearing his throat and readjusting his glasses, “O-Oh, hello again, T-Tracys. It’s good to see you all once more.”

Virgil slung an arm around his shoulder, ignoring the blatant squawk, “Man, how long has it been?! What made you finally decide to crawl out of your hole?”

Snickers came from all corners of the house. Brains stood up straighter, “W-Well, I was contacted b-by Mrs. Tracy over here with an offer I c-couldn’t turn down.”

Eyebrows tilted in all shapes and sizes. Someone cleared their throat. Everyone turned to look at Grandma once again, “I think if you all follow me, you’ll swiftly understand what I’m talking about.”

I already do, Scott thought matter-of-factly. John seemed to be understanding it now, Virgil was on the cusp of remembering what his father was hinting at for him, and Gordon was just as lost as Alan. It made sense, Jeff talked to all of them about it, but the oldest had seniority. The two youngest not remembering just by words was expected, especially since that was going to be rectified very quickly.

The hangar under the island was beautiful. Point blank. It smelt of iron and steel and grease and engine and that was the first time since Scott had been in the Air Force that he didn’t gag or flinch at the thought of flying something again. Scott had seen the plans his father drew. He assumed Jeff finished building it, but he never got to physically see it since…

In some ways, he was glad he didn’t. Now he got to experience it with (most of) his family, and that made it ten times better.

After letting them absorb the scenery, Grandma slowly turned around to look at them all, “You remember that dream your father had?”

The four oldest blinked, Kayo simply raised her eyebrows, meanwhile, Alan, being the teenager he was, didn’t read the emotion in the room, “Oh, yeah! Aunt Casey always talked about how he was going to “change the world” and stuff. What did he call it again?”

Scott felt way more confident than he had in a while, “International Rescue.”

Grandma nodded, gleeful at the happy look on her oldest and youngest grandsons’ faces, “Well, I’ve been thinking about some things. I know we don’t exactly worry about money, but after everything your father put into these girls… I’d hate for them to go to waste.”

The Tracy family jumped at that. John’s mouth was wide open in shock, yes, shock, “That station is still up there?”

Grandma sighed, “You mean ‘Five? Not for long. Not if we don’t send someone up there within the next few days.”

John blushed at the grin Grandma gave him. Clearing his throat, his big brain came to a startling conclusion, “Wait… you brought Alan along?”

The other big brothers in the room jumped at that. Kayo was the only one with enough balls to say the truth out loud, “Mrs. Tracy, I mean no offense, but he’s--”

“Just a kid?” Grandma smirked, “A kid that’s topped the VR charts for Intergalactic Fury for weeks straight while simultaneously getting nothing but A’s in his classes?”

Scott nodded slowly in comprehension. He remembered Alan talking about that game for a while. It was some kind of online racing simulator of sorts. Scott caught the prettiest string of words from Alan when going to bed one night. Nearly made him shit his pants. He made the kid promise to keep it PG-13 if he wanted to keep playing.

Still, the elders in the family slowly turned to look at the freckled boy with both shock and pride. Alan blinked with wide-eyed innocence, “But my English class is only at a B--”

“Shh, kiddo, I’m making a point,” Grandma rolled her eyes. The other brothers snickered. Yep, still Alan. Grandma sighed, “Now before you point out that video games are different, I know, but the difference between them and this is that video games don’t have some of the most talented older brothers in the world to guide him.”

Said older brothers jumped at the idea. Before any objection could be made, Grandma continued, “Besides, the GDF seemed to be okay with it. The Colonel was willing to oversee some of his training too.”

John flinched at that, “But IR is supposed to be independent!”

Grandma slightly frowned. She didn’t exactly like it either, “It still is, but in the world of business, compromises have to be made.”

Virgil huffed and crossed his arms, “Well, that’s… rough. Here I thought only Scott would have to deal with the bullshit of business.”

Grandma chuckled at the somewhat un-Virgil-like behavior, “It really is, Virgil. But about that Scott part,” she slowly turned to look at him and him only, “I hate to give you more work to do, but if you want to work within their restrictions?”

Suddenly every pair of eyes in the room was on the head of the family. Gulping, Scott looked down at his feet to think. It was a tense few moments, nobody sure what he was going to decide, least of all him, before the brunette cleared his throat and brought his face back up with a grin.

“Well then,” Scott turned to look at the bright tip of ‘One, chest fluttering with a feeling that became unfamiliar to him over the past few years, “I guess now it’s time to state the obvious.”

From then on, every time he loaded into that cockpit of his girl, he felt lighter than air.

“Thunderbirds are GO!”

Everything was okay again.

Mostly.

Orphan.

Scott took another sip of his whiskey and refocused on his reports.

---

Scott was in some kind of dissociative state the whole way home.

Alan doesn’t deserve this. He’s still a kid, barely an adult, and he’s going to go through utter hell because you screwed up. You were 24, Gordon was just under 20, Alan was barely 18. Alan’s going to get fucked up like you and it’s all your fault.

His movements were robotic and rigid. Anyone with a working eye could tell he was deep in shock and running on autopilot. Mostly Jeff. Especially Jeff. The rest of the brothers all noticed too, but they were also running on their own empty fuel tanks, so the only thing they could do was guilty send their older brother the occasional glance of pity and concern.

Jeff was going to need to talk to them about that. Somehow. Maybe he shouldn’t be the one to point it out since he feels just as bad. His sons were too much like him, sometimes, and that made his guilt burn all the same. He should’ve been there to warn his sons about the dangers of unnecessary guilt. Having that kind of guilt was a parent’s job, dammit, and maybe grandparents only occasionally.

But then he remembered where he’s been for the past 8 years and… who really was Alan’s parents anymore? His gut was screaming it sure as hell isn’t you, but he knew his sons would want him to step back into the role as soon as he was physically fit to do so, not just for Alan, but for themselves as well. They would deny it, but they probably just wanted to be kids again too, even if it was only brief, fleeting moments.

Who was to tell the protective, fatherly side of Jeff no to that? No better time to fix things like the present after all.

He saw Scott go up the stairs when they first stepped into the living room, so that’s where Jeff was going to go too. Footsteps light, Jeff retraced his eldest’s pathway to his bedroom. Only, he stopped before said bedroom. Unfavorable noises were coming from the closed bathroom door, and Jeff could only swallow whatever emotion it made him feel. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened the (unlocked) door to the bathroom and laid his eyes upon the incriminating scene.

Jeff was met with the sight of Scott retching his entire stomach into the toilet, hands aggressively grabbing his sticky, hair-gelled hair and trying to make himself bald from the strain.

Jeff’s reaction was always based on autopilot, and it will never stop being so.

Ignoring his protesting body, Jeff kneeled and placed a hand on his son’s back, only to abruptly pull back like he touched a hot stove when Scott only got more hysterical at the contact. The brunette clenched his eyes shut even more (and they were already shut as much as possible) while his head became a special kind of crease. Like he was in pain, “God, I wanna go home. Why won’t they listen I swear I’m telling the truth! Please, I just want Dad--”

Jeff was frozen on the spot, heart stopping in the process. His brain shut down while he watched his son continue to mindlessly ramble and panic. His freaked-out mind barely registered footsteps from behind in the hallway, followed by a voice going what’s going-- holy--

Something thundered past him. Blinking once, Jeff guiltily watched as Virgil kneeled behind the eldest and wrapped his arms around the thin man’s shoulders while taking Scott’s hands in his in a protective blanket, “Scott! Jesus-- we’re at home, you’re safe and it’s June 14th, 2--”

Scott only struggled more, panicking at the fact he could no longer yank his hair out. Dammit, it was the only way he could feel in control, don’t take that away too! “No! I swear I’ve said everything! Please--”

Virgil immediately knew that this was one of those attacks that Scott wasn’t coming back down from with pure human intervention. Add-on the sight of his father’s big eyes signifying the man was at a loss at what to do, Virgil had no choice. He snapped loudly, remembering the comms were still on and only feeling slightly bad at the way Scott flinched in his arms, “Shit-- John! It’s Scott! Get the stuff! We’re in the upstairs bathroom!”

Muffled footsteps through a few walls in the house could be heard. Jeff’s mind was only starting to catch up when the brother Virgil called for came rushing into the bathroom (Jeff never remembered it being big enough to hold four of them) and ignoring Jeff (practically shoving him out of the way too, man, this was bad) on his way to the main problem at hand. Landing on his knees in a way that made Jeff wince, John gently grabbed one of Scott’s arms from Virgil’s hold and subsequently pulled a needle from nowhere and injected something into Scott.

The response was instantaneous.

Scott’s breathing, while still labored, got slower. He stopped struggling as well, and the way he sagged reminded Jeff of ice melting into a puddle. The two other brothers’ shoulders also sagged, relieved at the crisis averted. John stood up, knees cracking as he rubbed the back of his neck. Then, he froze at the sight of something in the doorway, “G-Gordon…”

Virgil snapped his head up from where he was looking at Scott. Jeff did something similar. Yup, in the doorway was the strawberry blonde, eyes wide, making him younger by about 10 years. The ex-Olympian in question inhaled, closed his eyes, and soon speed-walked his way out of the entrance to the bathroom. Dammit, neither Gordon or Alan have seen something like that and it probably spooked him more than anything. He’d understand with his own PTSD-related issues, but still, seeing the “never weak” big brother freak out in such a scary way...

John combed a hand through his hair, shaking his head. As he started walking out of the room, he whispered to himself, probably hoping no one heard him, “Dammit, this is all so fucked…”

Unfortunately, Jeff did hear, and the dirty language made the father flinch. John was always the best about making sure Grandma didn’t wash his mouth out with soap, and the fact that he so willingly didn’t care meant that everyone was at the end of their rope. Still reeling at the sight, Jeff couldn’t react to the gentle arms that picked him up off the floor and slowly led him out of the suddenly stuffy room.

With the click of the door shutting, Jeff realized what Virgil did, “W-Wait, Scott--”

“Will be okay for a few seconds,” Virgil finished for his dad, “I know it’s nearly been a decade, but the one part of you I definitely know hasn’t changed is the need to comfort us, just like we hoped.” The small grin that fell over the middle child’s face put Jeff a little bit at ease, but Virgil wasn’t completely done, “So, I’m going to let you take care of this, but I just want to make sure you’ll handle it with grace. Take this slowly, okay? Scott might be doped up, but he’s still… volatile, in a sense.”

Jeff cleared his throat, suddenly choking on the unneeded tension, “Okay, Virgil, I promise, just… what happened? That was… bad, and really bad at that too. I know Scott would never let something that severe willingly come out in front of his family.”

Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not ready for this conversation, “Listen, Dad,” he inhaled sharply, cutting himself off before sighing in a way that said fuck it, might as well get this over with, “As much as it felt like it did, the world didn’t stop spinning because you… well, we had lives we somehow wanted to continue living. We all have lives and stories now, and this is Scott’s story to tell.”

Jeff was getting misty-eyed again. Back when he was just a kid, Virgil couldn’t keep a secret to save his life, mainly in part due to his insomnia-related issues (Jeff has to wonder if he still has them, more problems for the future) and general lack of filter because of sleep-deprivation. Now Jeff knew there was a starch difference between a kid who couldn’t keep his mouth shut and a man who genuinely knew how to respect another man’s privacy, but…

It just hammers home how much he’s missed with his boys. Gulping, Jeff made a mental note to talk with his mom about certain things he’s missed. She’ll know a lot more than he would, “Okay, Virge. Thank you, for stepping up there.”

Virgil’s shoulders relaxed at Jeff’s words, as well as his father’s hand patting him on the shoulder, “Thanks, Dad. Just… go easy on him. I know it’s a little late for this but none of us ever properly talked about things. It was very unhealthy, deep down we all knew that, but…”

“You just couldn’t get the proper emotions out?” Jeff finished for his son. At Virgil’s soft nod, Jeff exhaled, “I’m not going to say that it was a smart decision, but we’re all here now. We can move forward with this.” Jeff squeezed where his hand laid.

Virgil blinked before curtly going, “Yeah. Goodnight, Dad. Take care of Scott.”

Virgil stepped around his father and walked to where his bedroom most definitely was not, but Jeff could deal with that in a little bit. He had another son who he was pretty sure just had a violent PTSD attack of some kind, plus, Virgil seemed to sour at something Jeff said. The ex-astronaut wasn’t sure what it was, so he didn’t chase after him out of worry that--

Wait.

We’re all here now.

Dammit, Jeff. Out of all the sentences you could’ve picked...

Alrighty, just add that to the ever-growing pile of things that need to be talked about later. No biggie. Jeff found himself sighing and rubbing the back of his neck much like Virgil did a few minutes ago. Turning around, he was met with the bathroom door once more. Shaking his head, Jeff slowly crept into the room and saw that not much was different, especially with Scott.

His heart softly cracked, but, again, he can deal with it later.

Sitting down on the ground and grimacing at the way his body ached (was gravity always this rough?), Jeff leaned against the floor cabinets about 2-3 feet away from Scott, who made himself into a nice comfortable ball in the corner next to the toilet, his palm smushed against his forehead. Jeff waited a few seconds. Then minutes. Then he realized he would have to be the one to initiate the conversation. He probably should’ve realized that right when he came back in. He opened his mouth, but his wasn’t the one that words came out of.

“It was… Zambia.”

Jeff’s heart stopped and his mouth snapped shut. He couldn’t stop the way his eyes clearly showed his panic, but hopefully, he guiltily thought, Scott was a little too doped up to not realize it, “Scotty, what do you mean?”

Scott shrugged in a way that spoke he thought what he was admitting wasn’t a big deal. Yep, clearly not with it, “Mission went bad… caught for a couple of weeks.”

Jeff was hoping his first fuck back on Earth, spoken to himself like right now or otherwise, would have been a comedic thing, but the way nausea rose in his throat said this was anything but funny.

Scott wanted to be in the Air Force. Badly. Who was a father to deny his son’s want to be part of such a noble cause? He gave him tips, took him to meet friends in high places, sometimes even sparred with him when he turned 18, but then Jeff was suddenly thousands of miles away with no hope of ever having the chance of sparring with his eldest again. Despite it, Jeff hoped Scott went on to become the best pilot the world has ever seen.

Part of this looks like he did, but at what cost?

As much as it felt like it did, the world didn’t stop spinning because you… well, we had lives we somehow wanted to continue living.

Aw hell, “Jesus, Scott…” Jeff couldn’t tell if it was the brashness or the lack of a nickname that made Scott flinch and he hated it. He immediately softened his tone and brought his 27-year-old child into his arms, “Shh, shh, we’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out.”

Like father like son, old habits die hard, and as easy as it was to still be able to comfort his children, Scott seemed to just as easily take it as he used to 8 years ago, “Alan doesn’t deserve this kind of hell, God, he’s barely not a kid anymore! Why--”

Jeff tightened his hold to keep his son in reality, and because he didn’t like the tone behind those words, “Hey, you didn’t either--”

Scott somehow managed to fling himself out of the hug, focus incredibly on point for someone who was doped up to his eyelids five seconds ago, “But I fucked up! I made the wrong call and then suddenly Arnold was dead and he had a wife and kids-- shit, what the hell did I do?”

Okay.

First of all: way to put him back in that headspace when that’s the exact opposite you were going for, Jeff, father of the year. Second: dammit. Just… dammit. This was a big fat hand grenade in a giant handbasket that they didn’t have time to gently get out while simultaneously not yanking the pin clean off with the grace of a drunk elephant. Jeff was no stranger to Survivor’s Guilt, but there was a whole untapped pile of metaphorical C4 within his son’s head that was ready for someone to push the goddamn button.

He wanted it to be him, desperately, because it sounded like he already failed his family enough, it was all he could do at this point, but he absolutely hated that he couldn’t do it right now. This was going to take a lot of time, which they didn’t have, plus, Jeff thought he had a pretty good understanding of this new Scott and the rest of his kids. Jeff was aware that if he didn’t help his sons find their baby as fast as possible over everything else it’ll lead to a fate nobody wanted.

A shaky sigh, “Okay, Scotty, let’s get you to bed. We’ll talk strategy in the morning.”

Scott simply nodded as his father flung Scott’s arm around his broader shoulders and picked him up. Slowly and painfully but surely, father and son meandered their way to Scott’s room. With a thump a little harder than Jeff wanted, Scott flopped down on top of his sheets and immediately started snoring. Despite everything that just happened, the father couldn’t help but grin at the sight. Well, there was another thing Jeff gracefully passed onto his son.

Jeff only took Scott’s shoes off. He would’ve loved to pull the sheets up around him too, but the father didn’t want to take any chances at waking him up. Slowly tip-toeing out of the room, Jeff gave one last glance back at his son before finally letting him be and gently shutting the door. He had three other sons he needed to console, but his tired joints told him to selfishly take a moment for himself for right now unless he wanted to collapse and give his family more to deal with.

Jeff eventually made his way to his room-- which was sadly unkempt, he noticed-- and sat down on the edge of his unfamiliar bed to think.

He’ll figure something out. If he had to crawl through images of his son being brutally and bloodily tortured then by God he would with the fury of a thousand suns.

He was back and he wasn’t going to throw away any second or even third chance he was given.

---

“I got him.”

Virgil turned his comms back on, and with it, Scott’s heart restarted for the first time in a few weeks. Taking a moment for a breather, Scott leaned against the wall while practically wheezing. They have him back, holy shit, they have him back. Scott vaguely heard Gordon cry in pure relief and joy. He saw John’s side of the comms flutter for a bit before a bright flash happened. Blinking away the white spots, Scott looked at his wrist to see a fully detailed map of the compound.

Gordon spoke what they were all thinking, “Woohoo! First Allie comes back, then Johnny-boy gets us a free ticket out of here! We’re winning this race, baby!”

A very loud moment of silence. John cleared his throat, “Actually, I was going to say glad to see you in one piece, you little shit,” a playful gasp came from Virgil’s side. It was too high pitched to be from the pianist’s mouth. Scott chuckled, but the paranoid part of his brain said John wasn’t done. His brain was right, ‘“But guys… that wasn’t me. Or EOS. We still haven’t found a way to get past the metal they made these walls out of.”

That silence was even more deafening than the last, and before Virgil could utter out his typical what the fuck, a small logo appeared at the corner of their new map. One that was all too familiar. The Chaos Crew wasn’t the only one who could brand their awful deeds.

Son of a bitch.

Virgil’s order over the radio was meant for Alan, but Scott couldn’t help but listen to it too.

“Shit, Alan, you need to run.”

Making quick work of the compound once more, Scott, while booking it even quicker than last time, opened a private line between him and Gordon, “Hey, how would you feel if I said go help Virgil while I cover Alan?”

The first response was stuttering, which Scott expected, but then it was followed up by something completely out of left field for Gordon, “... Okay, just as long as you promise to bring Alan back in one piece.”

Part of Scott wanted to console Gordon, another was questioning why Gordon was so quick to give up, another wanted to say of course, I will, idiot, but the first part that made itself verbal was easy, “You know I will, buddy.”

Scott could physically picture Gordon’s tiny, little, somber nod clear as day, “Sounds good, captain. See you on the other side.”

With a click, Scott was back on the group comm. Suddenly remembering what exactly his job was, he pulled out the map so graciously given to them by The Hood. Looking at all the dots, one was heading towards a prone one (oh if that asshole did anything to Virgil…) while another one was heading right for Scott himself. Actually, in just a few seconds, right as Scott rounded the corner he would--

“Woah, look out there, Tigger!”

Yes, you heard that correctly: not tiger, Tigger. Tigger hadn’t been used since Alan was itty bitty. It always seemed like the kid had endless energy with the way he wouldn’t stop bounding off the walls and furniture. Even as a baby, Lucy had to sit with him for a few hours while he slept in his crib to make sure he would stay there. In fact, their mother gave Alan that nickname herself. She was quite the Winnie the Pooh fan, and the rest of the family figured it would be one of the ways they could keep her legacy alive for the tiny potato.

Wrapping his arms around said flailing potato, albeit much bigger than a baby, Scott thought he would collapse then and there. Alan was here, in his arms, and yeah, the sight of his dirty and somewhat ripped up IR uniform made him mad, but Scott, for once in his life, decided to focus on the here-and-now, aka his precious, alive little brother, who finally stopped struggling at the realization that hey, the person holding you is a good guy, time to turn off fight mode.

Smushing their foreheads together as much as possible, Scott desperately fought to keep the waterworks back, a smile from ear to ear hopefully taking whatever energy his tear ducts had, “You are getting such an ass beating when we get home, little bro.”

Alan jumped back with a look of What the hell?! What did I do now?!

Scott simply rolled his eyes, “Really? “Not important”? You graduated high school, tiny dude! That’s huge! You remember Gordon’s party, right?”

Alan’s mouth gaped before he closed it with slightly puffy cheeks. Those same cheeks tinged with a small blush. Alan wasn’t exactly expecting to be smothered so soon (well, he did cry his eyes out on Virgil’s shoulder, but that was different!). Shaking it off, Alan moved his hands rhythmically and rapidly, To be fair, we weren’t sure he was going to get one for a while.

Scott faltered a little bit at the ASL. Darn, he should’ve seen Alan’s lack of talking from a mile away. Scott carefully hid his disappointment from Alan. Lord knew what the kid would take it as, “Yeah, that’s what he got for barely making it. Imagine what you’re going to get!”

Scott assumed his semi-fake charm worked, as Alan seemed to play along without any kind of suspicion, Oh yeah. Fair enough.

This kid, man.

Then, slow clapping came from a dark corner, making Scott’s heart leap out of his throat as well as push Alan behind himself. Glaring as much as he could towards the invisible evil-doer, Scott didn’t have to think twice, “Alan, take my map and find Virgil and Gordon.”

The youngest looked like he was going to object.

“Go.”

He no longer did. Good.

Listening to the field commander’s orders, Scott felt his wristband slip off his wrist and a warm body leave his vicinity. An inhale. Also good. An exhale, followed by an even darker glare, “What more do you want?”

Short and straight-to-the-point and angry, two things Scott typically wasn’t. Regardless, like a cold gust of wind, footsteps started approaching him from the shadow. Once Scott saw the outline of a body, he tensed even more. Virgil would snap at him for clenching his jaw so much.

A dark chuckle reminded him of what was important. The voice that spoke reminded him of something completely different, “Now then, brother, let’s not be rude to each other!”

Scott’s pupils shrunk at the familiar sight of Gordon stepping towards him. Except it wasn’t Gordon, because Scott knew that Gordon knew better. He also knew Gordon didn’t cheekily smile like that, even after a prank, nor did he walk that straight. He always had a funny walk after WASP, and Gordon wore that fact like a badge of honor.

Oh no, Scott definitely knew who this was, “What the hell are you playing at?”

Fake-Gordon rolled his eyes, like it wasn’t obvious, “I mean if we want to go that route, why did kid insist you being in the military was the coolest thing he’d ever heard you do? Maybe I wouldn’t have been pressured into joining a branch myself in the end.”

Scott’s nostrils flared, and by God, his pupils might have actually slitted like a snake’s, or possibly even a dragon’s, “Excuse me?”

Scott blinked, and suddenly he was met by not-Virgil, “Plus, why was our conclusion after hearing a three-year-old wanting to see snow to go to a ski resort? It had to have been those big, selfish, beady eyes, right?”

“C’mon, Scotty, we gotta give you some kind of calming exercise. There’s going to come a time when neither me or John are going to be there.”

“Hmm… does yoga work?”

A snort, “Well, that’s not too bad of an idea. Maybe the person pissing you off will stop whatever they’re doing at the sight of you spontaneously doing downward dog.”

Laughter, an unfamiliar action, “Yeah, okay, but for real, those breathing exercises I’ve seen you do look okay. Let’s start there.”

Scott was not a liar by heart. He had to admit that those exercises were doing jack shit right about now.

Another blink, another brother. Familiar ginger hair was all Scott could see, “To continue that previous point, why did Dad start International Rescue again? And what led to his demise?”

“Sounds like a piece of work. Why do you keep dealing with these people again?”

“Someone has to pay the bills, Johnny. Grandma’s too focused on making the perfect poison for us.”

A roll of eyes, “Right, because the billions we have saved wouldn’t be enough to last a couple of families a few lifetimes. Glad to see your calming exercises are working at least. How’s that going for you, by the way?”

A pause. A flicker of vision around the room. Someone cleared their throat, probably himself, “It’s probably not as bad as whatever space is throwing at you. You handling it okay up there?”

Another pause, followed by a sigh, “Well, since you asked so nicely…”

Scott wanted to deflect the truth so badly right now more than anything else. Telling him he couldn’t pilot ‘One anymore would be a much more enticing option than what he was hearing.

Suddenly, Scott was looking in a mirror, “Besides, I know more than anybody that he wasn’t wanted. A mistake. I thought we Tracys hated being imperfect?”

The Hood must have known their backstories from internet articles, and being the mastermind he was, it probably took him all of three seconds to see Alan had some hidden self-worth issues. By playing the biggest Guess Who? game of all time, The Hood was most likely able to figure out some less-than-positive ideals Alan thought about himself throughout his childhood and danced circles around his already weakened mind to string together some spineless blame to put on the kid by sheer evilness alone.

Knowing his kid brother, it worked.

Scott wasn’t thinking straight-- maybe even at all when the first punch was thrown.

Just like that, Scott blacked out and was running on terminator mode. John would be disappointed. Virgil would be horrified. Gordon might find it funny. Alan wasn’t here, and thank God for that. Scott wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. All his mind was telling him was make lots of pain hard and fast. His brain also blocked out any hit The Hood was giving him in return. Pain flared for a few seconds, then it was swept away in the puddle of rage his mind was currently being consumed in.

Soon, his out-of-it mind found its target and gripped his-- The Hood’s arm, no disguise would make him have an identity crisis, thank you very much-- nice and rough.

Scott heard the familiar snap of cartilage and felt only partially bad. If he was thinking more clearly, he would be disgusted with himself. Yes, even The Hood didn’t deserve this level of Scott’s fury. Oh, he definitely deserved to be hit by a truck, but not by Scott. It was mostly due to Scott’s sanity. If he could be this graphic and violent at all, even to the worse possible criminals, that meant he could be that way during other moments, and that was not a territory he wanted to cross into.

Welp, he was here now, and he’ll hate to admit it in the future, but the only thing that brought him out of it was a tiny gasp from a few feet away. Snapping his head up, Scott’s eyes landed squarely on a smaller-than-normal Alan, who was currently clutching his arm to his chest in an emotion Scott didn’t want to figure out at the moment. So much for going and finding Virgil and Gordon.

“Allie, help…” fake him grunted out, only making real Scott growl and tighten his hold (and probably making his case worse). Looking up from the person in his arms, Scott felt his heart split in two at the sight. There was fear and uncertainty in Alan’s blue eyes and boy did it hurt. Scott couldn’t tell if it was because even seeing a potentially-fake Scott being beaten up was bad or if it was because he’d never seen big brother be this brutal, even towards their enemies. Whatever the reason, it involved Scott being the main root of the problem.

Wait, that was The Hood’s plan. Shit… make Scott act past the point of no return in a way that was unfamiliar to Alan so the kid couldn’t be fully sure who was who, and Scott fell right into his trap, hook, line, and sinker.

Fuck.

Bloody well done, Scott, you absolute moron.

Scott faltered a little bit, “A-Alan, I--”

That falter was enough for The Hood to break an arm out of his grip and elbow him in the face. In the brief second of freedom he had, he tried dashing towards Alan, but Scott was too quick for everyone’s good and soon had the imposter back in his arms, both of them struggling in a way that made them look like they were tied into the weirdest knot in existence.

Then, an earthquake struck.

No, literally.

A big shake of the abandoned compound threw the look-a-likes about and subsequently off the platform they were on. The place was old; it didn’t take a lot of weight for that guard rail they made their way over towards while fighting to snap right off. With a yelp, the two of them gripped the edge as much as they could and held on. Crap, I know we talked with Fuse about potentially setting some stuff off, but--

Blinking, Scott saw a familiar mop of blonde hair come into view. Alan was rather panicked, clearly not sure which Scott was the real Scott. Not only that, he had little time to decide which one to save. Goodie, another reason to despise The Hood: not only has he put Alan through weeks of torment, now he’s forcing the kid to decide to either save his oldest brother and biggest hero or his personal torturer.

And Alan won’t know until he picks.

Holy hell, this was getting worse by the second. Hopefully, big brother charm can work its magic and get them the hell out of there.

“Alan, quickly, over here!”

“I can’t hold on for much longer, Alan, hurry!”

The two Scotts glared at one another in the exact same way, not making Alan’s job much easier. Another shake, another slip down the metal cliff, more screams, and Alan looked ready to tear his hair out. Scott watched as the kid looked around rapidly, probably praying for a miracle in the process. Suddenly, the kid jumped when he must have spotted something important. Within the blink of an eye, he was gone and out of their range of visions to retrieve it.

Whatever the hell he noticed better be important, because if just ended up wasting precious time then--

Another shake, probably the last one. Still, it was enough.

Both their grips gave away at the same time, screams identical (God, did he always sound that wimpy?) as they plummeted to their demises. Scott was briefly able to look up to see his brother pop his head over the cliff like a chipmunk again and grab the (albeit broken) arm of The Hood and save him. Dammit, Scott should have expected that, though, that display of anger was uncharacteristic to Alan. Probably terrified him even more than he already was. Fuck, Scott deser--

Suddenly, a rope wrapped itself around Scott’s left arm and stopped his descent. Hard. Hopefully, it was only torn stuff, they didn’t have time to deal with dislocation--

Wait.

Scott wasn’t dead if he could think about these kinds of things.

Blinking, he looked at his arm to see the familiar rope of his grappling hook around his forearm. Moving his eyesight to look past that, he saw the wide, blue eyes of his baby brother struggling to stay on top. The Hood was using his non-broken side to try and climb his way back up to safety. Huh, that’s weird. When did Alan get ahold of that? Scott must have dropped it during his scuffle with--

That’s when it hit Scott.

Alan saved them both.

Alan saved them both.

And it would be all for jack shit if Scott didn’t get his ass up there to help.

Panicking, Scott gripped the rope and started to ascend. He had two working arms and a smother complex to boot; it wasn’t long before he overtook a struggling Hood, who could only use one arm and a weakened brother (that bastard was so lucky Alan had a literal heart of gold).

Flinging his arms over the edge and pulling himself up-- and shrugging off the extra help Alan offered. Save your strength, baby bro-- Scott was in a much calmer search-and-destroy mode. He yanked his evil look-a-like up, turned him on his stomach, pinned him down, and before he could even watch Alan blink, “Sign something.”

There, now he watched Alan blink.

Scott pulled out one of his best ‘big brother’ smiles ever, “Tell me something in ASL. I don’t think The Hood learned that kind of etiquette.”

The body beneath him growled, making Alan jump and Scott tighten not only his hold but his glare. Further prove big brother’s point, why don’t cha? He lost the angry look immediately to grin at Alan once more, who seemed to be slowly getting the picture. With a gulp, the blonde slowly strung together a sentence that Scott had to laugh at, just a little bit.

Damn, could you teach me to fight like that, Scooter?

Nodding his head, Scott had to concede, “Sure. Consider it a graduation present.”

Alan blinked again, and the immense relief that washed over the boy’s shoulders would be enough to banish nightmares for at least a couple of days. Suddenly, The Hood’s disguise blinked out of existence, making both brothers jump that time. Scott didn’t falter in his grip, however. This man was going down right here and now, Scott thought darkly, staring at the prone body beneath his.

Scott saw Alan continue to sign out of the corner of his eye, You know you look like shit, right?

Scott chuckled. Alan was always able to put a smile on his face no matter the circumstances, “Yeah, well, kindred spirits, little bro.”

Scott was probably as pale as Alan was with such lack of sleep and food. Running on what was essentially a prolonged PTSD attack wasn’t healthy in the slightest, and no doubt whatever kind of bruises and scratches The Hood gave him didn’t help, however, seeing hope fill those deep-blue eyes when Alan learned he was truly being saved drowned everything out, including the way those freckles were getting lost in those eye bags.

Yeah, their entire family probably looked like shit, and the recovery process was going to be even shittier, but they were going to suffer through it together as a family would.

That made it all worth it.

Shuffling himself so one arm was free while the other kept The Hood pinned, Scott held it out towards Alan. The flinch the youngest made tore a hole in Scott’s heart that was only slightly patched when Alan leaned into the warmth and safety of his biggest bro. Long recovery process, remember? Regardless, Alan still took to the hug like a dehydrated zebra did a pond, and that was good enough for Scott.

The Hood groaned underneath them.

Yep, good enough.

[slamsams-blog]

Skyfall - #24WeeksofBond

We are officially past the halfway mark, and what a way to kick off the second half of 24 Weeks of Bond then with “Skyfall”?  It’s hard to place “Skyfall” when it comes to comparisons between all the other Bond films because it is just so unique.  Looking at the entire film collection up to this point you could place these movies in two different sub-catagories, Action Bond & Comedy Bond.  Skyfall falls under its own sub-catagory - Thriller Bond.  This visually stunning masterpiece has a hair raising plot with eerie characters, brooding cinematography and it is topped off with a dusting of humor.  Not only is it incredible to look at, but the writing and directing make you connect with the characters of Bond more so than any other film.  Plus, it’s the film that ties all the classics in together to give us the cast of characters we had been missing prior.  M, Moneypenny, & Q are now all established and everything is right in the world of 007.

Back in 2006 when Daniel Craig first came on, Barbara Broccolli and Michael G. Wilson, the main producers of the Bond series, had decided to essentially hit the reset button, and bring us back to give us the journey of how Bond came to be Bond, James Bond: License to Kill 007. These first three Daniel Craig films are building blocks for the continuation of the world of James Bond that we all know and love.  But that meant 3 Bond movies that didn’t have cool gadgets delivered to Bond by a snarky head of Q-Branch, didn’t have a sassy, flirtaious Moneypenny at the desk of M, and worst of all, had no gun barrel sequences.  That was probably what made me more frustrated than anything, the first three movies with Daniel Craig, and not one gun barrel sequence to open up the film...it’s just not Bond without it!

But by the time you had left the theatre after seeing Skyfall in IMAX, you felt a sense that everything was back to normal.  They even threw a gun barrel sequence in at the end, which didn’t appease me, but when I went to go see “Spectre” in theatres, I was literally PRAYING that they would put the bun barrel sequence in the beginning.  Once I saw that white circle in the middle of the screen, I literally yelled out loud with excitement.

But that is the end of the film, let’s keep with the theme of the film, and go back in time to the beginning of the film.

This is the story of M, and the coldness and callous thats required to do her job, and it’s also the story of how that affects those that fight for her and their country.  Never before has M been so deeply entrenched in the plot to the point where M is the main character.  Her decision making about her operatives who are in the field is quickly highlighted in the pre-title sequence of the film where everyone is out looking for a stolen data base of all NATO agents who are undercover - putting them all in danger of being exposed.  Bond comes across another field agent Ronson who appears to have been shot.  Bond tries to save him, but M directs Bond to “just leave him”.  Then later, after Bond has caught up to the man we will know as Patrice (after a classic scene where Bond jumps to a disconnected moving train car and shoots his cuffs), Bond and Patrice are struggling on top of the train where M directs Moneypenny to take a shot at Patrice - even though M was told it wasn’t a clean shot and that she might hit Bond.  Well, she does hit Bond and Bond dies...(but not really of course).

You will start to notice a pattern with the Daniel Craig movies...he always finds a way to lose his job.  He is either resigning, getting stripped of his license, getting suspended, or dying.  I hear he retires in “No Time To Die”.  lol.

This would be the first out of two movies to be directed by Sam Mendes who wasn’t really known for making action movies.  Sam Mendes is a storyteller and a visual artist and he makes that known here.  Everything about the cinematography in this film is just absolutely stunning.  The shots in Shanghai where Bond is swimming and later catches up with Patrice in a high rise office made of glass (one of my favorite fight scenes).  The shots in the Macou casino, the breathtaking views of the hills of Scotland and firelit shots of Skyfall Manor after it had been blown to smithereens.  All these scenes are just a feast for the eyes, and gives the film a sort of suspenseful energy making this film to be classified as a thriller.

On top of that, we have Raoul Silva who is played by the incredible Javier Bardem.  There was a lot of hype surrounding this casting choice as he was pretty fresh off of “No Country for Old Men” fame.  People waiting on pins and needles to watch his performance...unfortunately we don’t get to see him until halfway through the movie.  But when we do see him, we are introduced with one continuous shot of Silva walking towards Bond and delivering a long monologue about rats and coconuts.  As a former actor myself, that is not easy to do.  Bardem gives Silva a nightmarish psychotic coat of paint, but can also make you laugh with just the slightest look accompanied with a bit of sass.

The story is that Raoul Silva had worked as an MI6 agent who was apparently M’s favorite.  But Silva had gotten caught along the way, and was tortured, but never gave M up. He tried to kill himself with cyanid, to make sure he wouldn’t break and protect MI6 - but the cyanid didn’t kill him.  This left his face scarred for life and left him broken and vengeful that M had given him up so easily.  Now Silva has concocted a master plan to get captured, only to escape because of his forward thinking ability to hack someone who is trying to hack him, and get M into a position where he can get a clean shot to kill her.  Pretty straight forward plot, but to say “This time, it’s personal!” may be putting it mildly here. 

Inserted into this plot, is a slightly confusing run in with a women named Severine, who is ultimately Bond’s gateway to get to Silva.  The reason I say it is confusing is because I don’t know what her directives are for the scene where she gets a drink with Bond. Severine is being controlled by Silva so her job is to be at the casino for Patrice when he comes and cashes in the chip that he had - but it ends up being Bond cashing in the chip. So, was the plan to have a drink with Patrice and kill him too?  Or were they trying to get Bond to let his guard down so that they could kill him easier?  And why were they going to kill him?  So they didn’t have to pay up?  Was Severine still a sex slave or was she merely Silva’s mistress?  Not much is known about her, but she is clearly afraid of Silva and adds to Silva’s build up nicely.

Toward the end of the film, after some cat and mouse between Bond and Silva, Bond kidnaps M, uses her as bait (how does it feel, M?), and lures Silva to Skyfall Manor, which is the house Bond grew up in as a kid.  Bond picks Skyfall because he knows of the gun room they had there, but Kincade, who had been the gamekeeper there since Bond was a boy, tells him that they had sold the guns to someone in Idaho.  So now Bond, M, and Kincade have to get creative and “Home Alone” this house with booby traps.  Any kid who grew up watching Home Alone would have been reminded of that movie right away after watching this.  However, we see M getting shot in her side during the scuffle with the baddies and that will lead us to Silva’s killing, and M gasping her last breath in Bond’s arms.  It sure was bittersweet to see Judi Dench leave the role.  In my opinion, she is the best M of them all merely because of all she got to do with it.  Not Bernard Lee’s fault, he just wasn’t given the depth of character that Dench got.

Between Sam Mendes’ commitment to directing the film, Adele gifting us with her incredible voice for the theme song, Javier Bardem playing the villain, and the 4 years it took to get this film into the theatres, this was one of the most anticipated Bond films ever - and it lived up to, or exceeded, everyone’s expectations.  Skyfall is a beautiful and nerve-wracking action thriller that is just on another level as far as Bond films go.  My only gripes with the film is how it slows down towards the end of an already long film, and all the mentions of Bond getting old...why mention his age when we are always going to have Bond movies?  

But so many fun moments, like Q asking Bond if he was expecting an exploding pen (Goldeneye shout out), and bringing back the famous Aston Martin car from Goldfinger - that got an audible pop from the audience when I saw it in the Theatres.  Skyfall is definitely Craig’s peak as Bond, but of course he has one more left.  Only time will tell if he ends on a high note with “No Time to Die”, or if “Skyfall” was the high note of Daniel Craig’s Bond tenure.  I’m sure there is more to say about this film, but I can’t think of them right now, so I will say goodnight!

What did you think?  Let me hear you!

Reviews from Friends:

Andrew Albertsen

I read that Judi Dench has more screen time in this movie alone than Desmond Llewelyn has in 17 films as Q. I also read that there was talk of Sean Connery playing Kincade. God that would’ve been stupid.

My Mom

This was a fantastic movie. mark recently talked me into surround sound. I now have to look at little black speakers all over my living room. As I sat enjoying this film on my couch my heart was skipping a beat thinking intruders were sneaking up behind me. Turns out to be Daniel Craig and crew ambushing me with sounds of footsteps and guns. Terrifying.

Jake Benrud

Loved this movie. This is one of my favorites. Always a good Bond flick when there's a turned 00 agent.

24 Weeks of Bond Will Return Next Monday With - 

Die Another Day

[the-desolated-quill]

Absent Friends - Watchmen blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. if you haven’t read this comic yet, you may want to before reading this review)

At Midnight, All The Agents managed to set the tone with its cynical and biting critique of superheroes, presenting them as being violent felons or worthless failures indulging in power fantasies. The second issue, Absent Friends, sinks its teeth even deeper as we take a look at the Comedian’s past via flashbacks whilst the other characters attend his funeral and pay their respects.

So lets talk about the Comedian.

Aside from the accusations of rape, the first issue didn’t go into too much detail about Edward Blake, other than that no one besides Rorschach seemed to like him very much. This issue goes into much more detail as we see the Comedian at four major points in his history.

The first flashback is that of the Minutemen back in 1940, where we see Eddie try to rape Sally Jupiter, the first Silk Spectre. It’s a very shocking and disturbing scene, not just because of the fact that he’s supposed to be a superhero, but also because of the sheer brutality of the attack. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons don’t hold back in depicting Comedian’s sickening behaviour, but they also don’t become too indulgent with it. They clearly take no pleasure from depicting this type of sexual violence and there is a legitimate artistic reason why it’s there. Prior to the flashback, we see the two Silk Spectres discuss the Comedian. Laurie is disgusted that Sally would have anything positive to say about Eddie after what he did, but what I find most interesting is a moment during the conversation where Sally shows Laurie a porno comic of her. This, to me, reveals what Moore and Gibbons are getting at here. Namely the role of women in superhero comics.

Female superheroes have always been something of a paradox. They need to be strong and independent, but not too strong and independent. We can’t have Wonder Woman upstaging Superman, now can we? Oh and of course they need to look sexy. Long hair flowing. Plenty of bare flesh showing. Tight leather outfits. High heels. Makeup. Never mind the fact that this getup is not remotely practical or appropriate to fight crime in. 

While this sexist attitude is slowly and thankfully fading away from modern comics, historically there has always been this kind of seediness to how women are presented in comics. They’re not there to empower women. They’re there to appeal to the male gaze. Sexy athletic women with massive boobs beating the shit out of baddies. They are, for lack of a better term, sex objects. Watchmen takes this to its extreme, presenting both Silk Spectres as being incredibly sexualised to the point where some characters, like the Comedian and the pornographer who made the comic, perceive them as being little more than sex objects. Not only that, but Sally and Laurie’s different perspectives on this sexualisation reflects the changing attitudes about women in comics at the time. Sally accepts the porno comics and the attempted rape as par for the course. The reality of being a woman. She even chose her costume herself in order to draw attention to herself in the hopes of jump-starting a modelling career. Laurie meanwhile didn’t choose the sexualised image that has been thrust onto her and is very vocal in her distaste toward how she’s perceived and how her mother is willing to brush it aside. People often have a tendency to write off Silk Spectre as being the weak link, but I don’t think that’s fair. There’s a lot going on with this character and in our current age of MeToo and social media empowering women to open up about their experiences, she’s a character that has become more and more relevant as time goes on.

The second flashback depicts Captain Metropolis trying to recruit the main characters into ‘the Crime Busters,’ only for the Comedian to ruin it with his nihilistic attitude. This mainly serves as a takedown of superhero crossovers like Justice League and the Avengers. Rorschach even comments on it, saying it feels more like a publicity stunt. It also serves as subtle foreshadowing for Ozymandias’ plan, but we’ll come to that in a future blog. But most importantly, it displays the Comedian’s changing attitude towards crime fighting. When he was with the Minutemen, he was happy to indulge in his own violent fantasies by beating up criminals, but now he’s become aware of how pointless it all is due to the Cold War. Capes and masks are useless against the nukes.

The next flashback depicts the Comedian and Doctor Manhattan fighting (and winning) the Vietnam War. This is probably my least favourite of the flashbacks and it’s because of Eddie killing a Vietnamese woman he had impregnated months earlier. Whereas the attempted rape of Sally felt thematically justified, the murder of a pregnant woman just felt like shock for the sake of shock and doesn’t really serve a purpose other than to reinforce the fact that the Comedian is a horrible human being. But it does raise an important issue. Superheroes and patriotism.

America has a few superheroes associated with it. Superman. Spider-Man. Captain America. But very rarely do comics explore the impact a superhero would have on a country’s political standing in the world. Having a superhuman associated with your country could tip the scales greatly in your favour, which is exactly what happens in Watchmen. Thanks to Doctor Manhattan and the Comedian, America is able to win the Vietnam War, turning it into the fifty first state. The United States is much more powerful than any country on Earth thanks to the likes of Manhattan, which is what has escalated the Cold War because the Russians are running scared of the threat America poses.

Morally speaking, any superhero who truly believes in justice and heroism should ideally be completely impartial. Siding with one country over another could seriously compromise the hero. But how, you might be tempted to ask. A superhero serving his country doesn’t sound so bad, right? Except there’s a world of difference between fighting for moral good and fighting for your country. This isn’t the same as stopping a mugger and giving an old lady her purse back. In war, good and evil isn’t so clearly defined. So by sending a superhero into a war zone, you’re effectively demonising a whole nation of people. Because the side with the hero must be good and the side fighting the hero must be bad, right? It imposes a black and white mentality onto a situation that is, to put it mildly, incredibly messy.

Another problem with having superheroes in the army (or any form of law enforcement) is that superheroes are a law unto themselves. They exist outside the chain of command. While, yes, the police and the military are both deeply flawed institutions, there are laws and safeguards that (in theory) prevent officers from abusing their power. Superheroes don’t have that. So with no one holding them to account, there’s nothing to stop them from going too far, as we see the Comedian do many times.

Which brings us to the fourth flashback. The police strike of 1977 where we see the Comedian and Nite Owl try to stop the riots and we hear about congress pushing through the Keene Act to outlaw superheroes.

Like Rorschach, the Comedian is also based on a Charlton Comics character. The Peacemaker. A militaristic superhero who believes heavily in pacifism and wishes to bring peace to the world.... through violence.

Yeah, I don’t get it either. But honestly, it feels like Moore and Gibbons are using the Comedian to take the piss out of Peacemaker. He’s a ‘superhero’ and yet we see him fire rubber bullets and tear gas at a crowd of people, murder a pregnant woman and try to rape someone. It’s as if they’re saying that it’s impossible to be both a hero and violent. We have a romanticised view of superheroes fighting crime, but where do we draw the line? Why is the rape of a woman unacceptable, but the beating of a criminal okay? Is it because the criminal is quote/unquote ‘evil?’ So are we saying that a criminal’s life is worthless the minute they break the law? If that’s the case, then the conversation has turned away from superheroes and toward fascism.

Many people describe the Comedian as a nihilist, which is true, but what a lot of people fail to recognise is that all the characters are technically nihilists. They all believe the world has no morality or meaning, but whereas the other characters of Watchmen impose their own personal morality onto the world, the Comedian does the opposite. He embraces the chaos and amorality of the world around him and uses his superhero identity to indulge in sex and violence. It’s what makes the smiley face logo so appropriate for the Comedian. Like the smiley face, superheroes are supposed to represent all that is good and just about this world. But just as the blood stain taints the smiley face, violence and corruption taints the image of the superhero.

The issue ends with Rorschach breaking into the cemetery to pay his respects and his final monologue I think perfectly sums up the despicable, but fascinating nature of the Comedian. In his journal, he tells the joke about Pagliacci, a clown whose act is recommended by a therapist as a cure for a patient’s depression. Except the patient in question is Pagliacci. 

What hope does America have when the superhero that’s meant to save them is just as corrupt and amoral as them?

[thimblus]

Pegasus

"Remind me why we're out here again?" "I already explained it to you three times. How much did you have last night?" "More than I should have. Just... run it through one more time.".

Jack sighed at his older partner as he rubbed a hand over his face; maybe not the wisest move while driving, but he figured the road was clear out to the horizon anyway, and it was just a back country road to a house in the middle of nowhere.

"Apparently Jerry felt something off with the house just walking nearby." Benson frowned from the passenger seat. "Then why isn't Jerry handling it?" "It's his brother's family. You know the rules; emotional investment weakens resolve, and he doesn't have much of that in the first place." The car's tires rumbled against the gravel as Jack guided it off the paved road, sun glare stinging against his eyes. "Speaking of which, the rest of them are totally inert. So we're on secrecy protocol."

Benson groaned, shaking his head as he squinted in the sunlight. "'Course we get stuck with these yokel assignments. Probably just a stray minder tripping the tiny strings Jerry manages to put out."

"Maybe," Jack said, almost too quietly to hear. "But still, we've got to give it a look at least. We'll stop by that diner we passed on the way in after, on me." Benson grunted in grudging agreement, idly adjusting his tie and rumpled grey suit jacket back into place. Jack wondered if the older man had come off as being so... unkempt, or if it was a look into his own future.

Shaking his head, Jack pulled the car to a stop in front of the house and flicked the keys out of the ignition, tucking them into his pocket as he got out. Benson's door slammed shut across from him. The house was a fairly large one, a looming shadow against the afternoon Kansas sun. The windows were open to let the breeze in, curtains fluttering gently in time with the waves of the grassy plains behind it.

"We're pest inspectors, by the way. Jerry told them he saw some rats around and convinced them to have some people come in to check, so that's what we're going with." Jack adjusted his own tie into place as he approached the door, Benson shortly behind - the old man had gone quiet. Both of them could feel it now, of course; the intangible sense of dread practically radiating from the house.

And yet, unlike most places that gave off such an aura, something differed inside the storm. Something was fighting. With a deep breath in, Jack knocked on the thick oak door.

It opened barely a moment later, and it was all Jack could do not to recoil from the immediate sense of conflict rushing out from inside. Physical walls and barriers couldn't completely hold back mental auras, but they could still mitigate it some. It took him a moment to refocus on the woman in the doorway. "...inspectors Jerry sent?"

Jack nodded quickly, and the woman beckoned them in. "We didn't see any rats, but Jerry was so animate about it, we let him make the call just to get him to calm down. He gets so frantic."

It was hard to focus. Everything seemed fine on the surface, but the place was in chaos mentally; hatred and desperation surged through every door. Jack's bones itched with the need to flee, despite his attempts to fight down the urge and find the source. Benson, meanwhile, pressed forward quickly, the sense of purpose in his stride a harsh contrast to his usual careless demeanor - straight towards the stairs in the hallway behind the entry room.

"You're dressed a bit odd for pest inspectors. Going to impress the rats with those suits?" Jack spared a glance at her. Jerry's sister-in-law, presumably. "Ah. Local business, the boss has an odd sense of distinction and propriety." Only half a lie - their leader did like putting everyone in formal wear for assignments, for whatever reason. "Anyway, we'll just be looking around; don't mind us."

With that, he hurried off after Benson. The pit in his stomach only grew with each step. As he rounded the corner on the stairs, he could hear his partner's soft, but gruff voice speaking to someone unseen. "And who wins in those nightmares?"

A little girl's voice answered. "Pegasus. But she got hurt, and she's... slowing down."

Benson was nodding as Jack entered the room. The old man gave him a look he hadn't seen before - one that told him in no uncertain terms to keep quiet. Then Benson turned back towards the girl.

"And what happens when she loses?"

The girl seemed to shrink back on herself. "Bad things. It'll do bad things if it beats her."

Benson sighed, settling his hand against his knee. "Can you show me where the monster goes? In your dreams?"

She hesitated for a long moment, then nodded and scurried off down the hallway. Benson dropped back to walk beside Jack as the two of them followed, speaking under his breath. "Girl's got a construct. Strong one, too."

Jack blinked. A construct for such a young child? Imaginary friends were common enough, of course, but most were simple ideas; they had no power. If she'd managed to mold a true being out of hers already, then either it had attached itself to her of its own accord, or she was going to be a ridiculously strong will herself. This was Jerry's family? Hadn't he said the lot of them were inert?

"So much for being a stray minder." Jack sighed, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to block out the growing rage, the indignation and malice flooding every fiber of his being. The girl came to a stop in front of another stairway leading up, and simply pointed at the crawlspace door above. "It comes from in there," she said.

Benson nodded and started up. "Well, don't you worry. We'll take care of it, and Pegasus can rest." Jack was less sure - but still, he started up behind Benson all the same. The girl watched, fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve. As his hand came to rest against the doorknob, Benson spared a glance at Jack. "Get ready. She probably doesn't have a good hold on it, so we might end up fighting both her construct and today's baddie."

Jack could only nod, gritting his teeth as he visualized his shield.

The door creaked open easily under Benson's gentle push...

And all of a sudden, the world was a flood of deep, blood red, fighting against a shining blue.

-

It took almost an hour to shatter it; the daemon today was easily the strongest one Jack had ever had the displeasure of meeting. Then again, that title seemed to change with almost every other assignment these days.

Benson took it even worse than he did; Jack had a feeling that the old man had pushed himself a bit further than he should have, trying to keep its focus off of Jack, or - God forbid - the girl. Strong though she may have been, unfocused strength would have been worse than simply being inert. In the end, Benson had had to go out to the car after the daemon was finally destroyed, leaving Jack to explain to the girl.

"Is the monster gone, now?" She tilted her head as she looked up at Jack, the armpits of his suit soaked in sweat from the exertion of the battle. The house itself was undisturbed, of course; the fight was entirely mental today. No cursed objects or manifestations. He nodded slowly as he replied. "It should be. How old are you?"

"Seven and a half."

"You're very talented. You and Pegasus both. Listen; you're going to see a lot of scary things while you're growing up. Some of them won't mean anything by it; some might want to hurt you. If you ever see something that Pegasus can't fight off easy, I want you to give us a call." He handed her one of their cards, wincing to himself as he noted the sweat soaking the corners. "Don't let your mom see that, either. She won't be able to see any of it. We'll come again when you get older, when you'll understand better. Until then, don't pick any fights you can't win, alright?"

The girl nodded slowly. Jack stood with a sigh. They'd have to have someone keep watch on her - even despite what he told her, children weren't the best at following long-term instructions like that, and someone as strong as she was would undoubtedly draw predators and parasites, looking for challenge or stolen strength.

Still, there was nothing they could do but wait and hope for her right now. She was waving goodbye in the windows when they left; Jack could almost see, in his mind eye, the gleaming blue of wings stretched protectively in front of her.

[wingshead]

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT MEME.

FULL NAME:  Steven Grant Rogers GENDER & SEXUALITY: male / bisexual ETHNICITY & SPECIES: Irish-American / Human BIRTHPLACE & BIRTHDATE: Upper East Side, NY / July 4th, 1920.

GUILTY PLEASURES: sweets (cupcakes, cakes, chocolate, ice-cream … it’s steve’s secret weakness bc he tries so hard to eat healthy, sweet babe), sleeping in, show boating (he’s such a fucking show off guys, it’s not even funny), acting Innocent and Unassuming to get out of trouble and frustrate people when he acts like he doesn’t know what they’re talking about lmao.

PHOBIAS: waking up to find himself in a different time era again, losing his loved ones in battle, being unable to help someone in need, becoming what he hates / adhering to modern a/immorality, failure

WHAT THEY WOULD BE INFAMOUS FOR: his Guilt Trips, accompanied by his Disapproving Frown. that, and his sometimes infuriating stubborn nature lol

WHAT HAVE THEY/WOULD THEY HAVE GOTTEN ARRESTED FOR: breaking the law & refusing to cooperate with or work for the government, ironically enough haha

CHARACTER YOU SHIP THEM WITH: steve/sharon (the otp), tony/steve ( the other otp ♡ ), steve/wanda ( !!!!!! ), thor/steve, steve/rachel, steve/sam, steve/rebecca (it was short lived but i loved them so so much)

CHARACTER MOST LIKELY TO MURDER THEM: red skull / baron zemo / zola / the baddie of the week. that and tony for steve being so frustratingly stubborn. also sharon. because she’s gotta deal with his bs on a daily basis lmao

FAVORITE BOOK GENRE: historical / philosophical / sci - fi

LEAST FAVORITE BOOK CLICHÉ: sensationalism / shock factors

TALENTS OR POWERS: peak human strength, agility, stamina and reflexes. eidetic memory. world leading strategist. olympic level athlete. master in dozens of fight styles in martial and mixed martial arts, accelerated healing factor, indomitable will, multilingual, doesn’t age.

WHY SOMEONE MIGHT LOVE THEM: he’s considerate. he’s kind. he’s empathetic, and understanding. despite his large and intimidating stature, and his ‘take no bullshit’ attitude, steve’s just a giant teddy bear, haha. he will do his utmost to make sure people are safe and comfortable, and will help those in need - whether they’re being attacked, or they’re in emotional pain. he’s just basically The Ultimate Mom Friend

WHY SOMEONE MIGHT HATE THEM: he’s stubborn. he refuses to compromise, and therefore refuses to go along or even listen to plans that compromise. so, steve sometimes doesn’t listen to people, even when their plan is better. because of steve’s iron will and steadfast ideals and morals, people see him as holier-than-thou. also, villains hate him ‘cause he kicks their asses, lmao.

HOW THEY CHANGE: he doesn’t. steve over the past 75 years has remained largely unchanged as a whole. he still follows the same set of ideals and morals that he did in the 1940s, and is still the same person. still thinks the same. HOWEVER, this does change from time to time when he’s been betrayed, or when his loved ones are threatened. steve gets really ugly then. he does not rule out doing some bad stuff. he has threatened to kill, has aimed to kill, has let people been tortured. he hates doing it but. he does it. shit’s bad ya’ll. apart from anything to do with his loved ones though, steve changes in his response to the world. he always aims to go bigger, to tackle the next issue. he, eventually, manages to accept guilt and blame when he’s guilty and to be blamed – like how he hasn’t helped the x-men enough.

WHY YOU LOVE THEM: okay … li s t en. i’m going to try not to get too into this and write like, a whole fucking novel on him ok. lmao. but … i’ve been a fan of steve rogers since i was a kid. my father introduced me to marvel comics. i loved him. fell out of comics for a bit in like 2009, picked them back up like two years ago after ca:tws came out. fell in love with steve rogers again and to a whole new level because i could actually understand better what he stood for. fell out of love with comics in 2016 because of the bullshit nick spencer pulled with h*dra cap. got back into it now that it’s been over for a while and the first issue of the waid/samnee run pulled at my heart strings. steve rogers is … he’s an ideal. a lot of people look up to him. i look up to him. he’s a pretty popular superhero, despite many people not seeing him as a superhero since he has no superpowers. he’s not an anti-hero, or a sometimes hero, or a hero on the weekends, he’s a hero. his ideals, his morals, his belief system, they are so simple but pointed true north. protect those who cannot protect themselves, fight for what’s right even if others push you down or refuse to listen, and help one another. steve rogers doesn’t fight for the government, or for the country. he fights for the people. first and foremost. and despite all the shit that the world has thrown at him, despite all of the loss and the death and the grief and the hits he’s taken, the insults, the betrayals, the shocks, the trauma — steve rogers has remained steve rogers this entire time. the world can fuck him up, it can beat him down, it can shove him into the dirt and spit on him, and steve doesn’t let it change who he is. steve doesn’t let corruption touch him, doesn’t let his ideals waver, doesn’t let it stop him from fighting for what’s good and what’s right and fighting for the people who need it. steve could have easily, so easily, been a completely different person. near any other man would have broken and shattered under the weight of everything he’s been through and all of the responsibility that he carries on his shoulders every single day of his life. he could have been the most bitter, jaded, despicable fuck you have ever seen in your entire life.

but he isn’t. he’s kind. he’s compassionate. he sees the flaws in society and the corruption in the government and isn’t afraid to call people out on it. he isn’t afraid to disagree or go against his government if they do something that he can’t morally stand by. steve has trained every single avenger in hand-to-hand combat himself. he considers them family. he gives them the support they need - emotional, physical, mental. a lot of avengers, new and old, are/were reformed criminals, because cap gave them a second chance and vouched for them. he believes people can change. he has a huge heart. that’s been there since before the super soldier serum. steve is just such a good man, who looks for nothing else than the chance to help people, and constantly puts them before himself. he has given up and sacrificed so much of his life and of his own personal dreams in order to keep being what the public and the world needs him to be. he helps people. first and foremost.

and he doesn’t ask for anything in return other than for others to do the same.

TAGGED BY:  no one !

TAGGING: @ukubi / @roikhoi / @armorforged / @decommed / @theimperiusrex / @bestdefender / @gamenu / & anyone who wants to do this!!

[vomiting-out-words]

Boyfriend’s Background Commentary - The Twilight Saga Part Uno

Movie: Twilight

Director: Catherine Hardwicke

Cinematography: Elliot Davis

Budget: 37 million USD

Release Date: November 21, 2008 (Canada)

Watched: August 21st, 2018

Boyfriend: @shiftaria

Part Uno - Part Dos - Part Tres - Part Cuatro - Part Cinco

With very little convincing, I managed to get my boyfriend to watch Twilight, about 10 years later. After all, he’s never read the books or really seen the movies, so, I thought it was about time. Having read and watched the sage myself over the years, I have this entire series implanted in my head, since I am that lame, so, to watch this with someone with fresh eyes is about to be very interesting.

Now this is the first movie, and like these movies, they try to start off like the book, and it’s pretty cool like the visual was welcoming, yet, the lighting was rather bright. With the brightness being as such, it makes this seem like such a fantasy world when it’s really just a teen romance.

Just a heads up, we’ve attempted watching this a while back and never finished. This is attempt number two.

Anyways, we get introduced to Bella Swan, who is off to live with her father that is pretty on the other side of the country, because she doesn’t want to travel around with her mother and Phil; Bella’s mother’s new husband. So, off to one of the rainiest places in the world. Which can totally be relatable, because so do Shifter and myself live literally in one of the rainiest parts of the world, literally twelve hours away from Forks. 

We know a total of four characters, two of which don’t even make any kind of impact to the plot. Now, we are introduced to two more; Jacob Black; who made mud pies with Bella when they were little, and Jacob’s father; Billy Black, Charlie Swan’s best friend. We are then introduced to Bella’s lovely truck that can take a beating, which was rebuilt by Jacob. Bella does the lovely thing by hitting Jacob with the door as thank you.

First day at a new school, where all the guys just want to fuck her. Making friends with Mike, Jessica, Eric, and Angela, though Angela would be the only one that could even be called a friend, then besides Jacob (at least at the moment).

PA Announcement from Shifter: lots of three point mid-length shots, ei: a longer shot that has three different framings with two cameras moved that are transitioned between on an action beat.

This moment now is to lunch, where the Cullen’s are introduced. All of which come walking in white, then he comes Edward; dressed in black. I agree with Shifter that this was very in your face visual metaphor about Edward being the black sheep of the Cullen family. Also, another point that Shifter had pointed out, they don’t focus on it either. Like movies are either blunt about the metaphor or more in the person’s face, this movie is kind of pulling a middle ground, which is apparently throwing Shifter kind of off. Now for me, Edward just makes the scene awkward with staring, borderline glaring.

Back to class, which I now think is Biology. And shoot to Edward with wings behind his head, that once again is a shot at a metaphor. Back to Bella, who is standing in front of a fan, blowing her wonderful scent towards Edward. Jump to Edward very much overreacting. Now, this is where my wonderful boyfriend comments on their acting. This short story of it all is high school students putting on a play with a poorly written script, so their acting is either stiff or overacting.

We now get Buttcrack Santa and Bella getting really awkward with people because she hasn’t really been to Forks in a really long time. Now, I mentioned really shitty lighting with this movie. Thanks to Shifter he made a really good point. The scenes are really graded blue to give the feeling that it was at the risk of raining at any point. Like it’s fitting for the movie but the only issue was, it made the movie too fantasy-like.

Nice Edward, he apologizes for not talking to her when she sat next to him when she first arrived. It’s all way too strange, to begin with. He tries to be nice, only, Bella almost gets killed later that day, risking Edward and his family to be found out just because he went to save her. Back to being old and mean Edward. At least Alice tried to be nice to her. These scenes are just Edward mood whiplash. And she tries to invite him down to La Push as well, to be nice. Bella gets teased, and finds about the ‘Cold Ones’. Now we’re watching a Canadian History documentary, not that it wasn’t appreciated.

If Dr.Cullen might be a matchmaker, but Bella is a good friend and matchmaker herself for her friends. And she goes out of her way to do some serious research on something that shouldn’t be real, yet it’s very much is. Which leads to a very interesting way that might as well equal to coming out. But it was a rather good exchange.

Shifter finds that entire scene good, mainly because of the information dump that was given to him. Like the vampire camouflage, and the white, diamond skin. He was watching the movie with interest. Bella was asking questions, which was really good. The only line that made us cringe, was about Bella being Edward’s own brand of heroin.

Now with the movie slowing down a bit, Bella actually went out of her way for the Cullen’s to not worry about her. She gets a look into Edward’s life, through a music video with a beautiful piano, which goes to Charlie meeting Edward.

Que Charlie’s badass acting skills, especially with a shotgun. Very threatening, and very clever. Edward being very polite and say your daughter is going off the play baseball. Now, if Edward only had told us what Charlie was thinking at that moment.

Baseball! In a thunderstorm! For what reason!? To hide them making a loud boom when the ball hits the bat. Kind of surprised that nothing broke while they were playing since super strength is a thing. Like this scene was another music video, just a bit more fun than it was previously with the piano music. Really shows the family, but it’s a subplot that comes out of nowhere, yet this was pulled from the book since it’s the way to introduce our first three baddies of the series.

Thank god for Alice’s vision because they could have gotten Bella killed. Now, this is where I kind of get salty. They totally had time to get Bella out of there, just put her in the jeep and go, it would have saved like the last 30 minutes of the movie from being a fucking mess of unnecessary drama and Bella wouldn’t have to be mean to Charlie just to keep him safe.

Off to Arizona, Bella goes with Jasper and Alice, kind of putting Bella’s mom at risk. Why are they coming into a hotel during the day in Arizona? No clue, but let’s hope they don’t get found out. Just chill in a room with two vampires until your vampire boyfriend calls to let you know that you both need to disappear for a while. Now, to maybe an hour later, another phone call, but not any phone call, mom is worried about you, only to be a trap. Also, I’m honestly not surprised that Victoria got Bella’s information for James. They’re vampires, pretty easy to figure out a way to hack into a computer or something.

We all know that Bella is a complete idiot, so, she just goes alone, leaving no note or anything for the Cullen’s. Back to her old ballet studio, with glass everywhere, doesn’t that scream very bad things are about to happen. Oh, and smart on James for using a recording to bring Bella to him. Yet, dumb on Bella to use pepper spray, like what is that to do on a vampire?

Bella gets thrown across the floor, head bashing into a corner, and yes, she starts bleeding. Bring in sadistic James, who has a video camera, filming all of this, along with whatever thought told him to break Bella’s leg at that moment. Oh where, oh where is Edward? Oh, he finally arrived, but alone, and Bella is very much hurt. How hasn’t she passed out from her leg being broken is beyond me. Edward tried to get them away, but James has Edward back into a fight. James has the upper hand, Edward is too frantic with concern over Bella and the fact that her scent is filling the air due to the blood, giving James the chance to bite her.

Back to music video mode with inner monologue, and probably a seizure warning. Like I mentioned before, this entire part could have not happened if Edward and Bella just left the field, but whatever. Finally, after all of that, we get Bella frantic in a hospital room due to Edward saying that they shouldn’t be together. Kind of disappointed that we didn’t get to see Bella apologize to Charlie about all of this, it would have been nice to see since Charlie is kind of a huge part of the series, more so than Bella’s mom (I honestly can’t remember her name and way too lazy to even google it).

Father judging Edward scene, it’s very obvious that Charlie doesn’t trust Edward that much anymore for getting his daughter hurt and “hurting” her. But Bella is in a very beautiful dress, even if she’s in a cast. With words from Shifter, I would have to agree they dragged out the ending here a little much, but my main issue was why didn’t they have this nice lighting for the entire movie? It was soft and much more realistic in my opinion.

All in all, it was a good start to this review. Hopefully, I can get the next one out as soon as possible, because I can see this taking off somewhere.

[rottenheartedchild]

Bayo OC redesign- Vincent

Next in line is my meme-loving boy Vinnie for my bayo redesin, As always, big thank you to @tradramblings for helping me with this one.

Name: Vincent Farkas or Badrul Zulkarnain

Nicknames: Vinnie, Nines, Baddy, Vin Vin, Memer( by Samson), Nerd.

Age: 40(physically), possibly immortal

Gender: cisgender male

Sexuality: asexual biromantic

Pronouns: he

 Back-story: Unlike his rambunctious brother, Ariel, Vincent spent his time in the solitude of one of the many libraries available, letting his mind wander at written words on the papers. Sometimes he’d be in the forest, studying animals and plants in their natural habitat. Despite his precociousness, Vincent enjoyed the quiet presence of his brother, his parents and his tutor. Outside of his Clan, he would read stories to younger children, enjoying their awestruck expression as he wove vivid pictures with words. Though he was the son of the Commander of the Inquisitors, he had no interest on joining them whatsoever, preferring to spend his time studying the less physical arts of the Lumen Sages. His father, Kaiser, encouraged his son’s pursuit for knowledge and placed him under the tutelage of of an old friend, Salem, who happened to be one of the Clan’s emissaries. Surrounded by intellectuals and other emissaries, Vincent was on cloud nine, eager to discuss anything and everything that he came across. Unfortunately, not many took the young boy seriously as they busied themselves with other matters, leaving Vincent behind. Salem, a big man with a bigger heart cheered him up by telling stories of his travels to faraway lands, laced with a thrilling sense of adventure and exaggeration. That cheered him up as Vincent excitedly bombarded Salem with several questions, which the Sage was happy to answer. Eventually, the rest of the emissaries slowly warmed up to the boy. He did put a smile on their faces, after all, letting them forget the stress of diplomacy.

                     Years later, Vincent became one of the most successful emissaries of the Clan. Poised, level-headed and savvy as he performed his duties with a sense of professionalism, tempered with a talent of of reaching out and connecting to other parties. Occasionally he would bring little gifts, trinkets that he picked for his now-elderly mother and his brother, Ariel from his missions. In one of his diplomatic mission to the Umbran Clan, he accompanied Salem for a meeting when he met a young Umbran assassin who went by the name of Gonzalo. The two bonded instantly over the fact they were the younger siblings of the family and curiosity about inter-Clan differences. When the mission was over, he promised to send him letters, making sure to keep Gonzalo updated with what’s going on. Vincent fell in love with one of the Lumen healers, Balqis, who originated from Palestine. Attracted by her gentle demeanor, humility and a wisdom beyond her years, Vincent sought to woo her by following the best advice: being himself.That meant a lot of questions: where she came from from, what Palestine was like,who taught her those skills…in short he asked everything under the sun about her. Balqis was annoyed at first but grew to find it adorable, and found herself eventually enjoying his company. She admired every small details from his determined green eyes to the awestruck expression when she answers his questions. After years of courting, secret rendezvous and dinner dates, they finally married under the watchful eyes of the Clan Elders, their families and his mentor, Salem. The couple then were blessed with a pair of twins, boy named Haikal Iskandar and a girl named Raudhatul Aisya, everything was right in the world.

                   Alas, those tranquil days were over when news of a child, born under the union of a Witch and a Sage had spread far and wide, corrupting the Elders’ mind with poison as they had banned their kin from ever visiting their counterparts. It also had affected the emissaries negatively, for they were no more playful banter in the air and cheers in the air as they revert to their old ways, cold and emotionless. Even Salem wasn’t immune to this, as he began to grew distant towards his proteges including Vincent, his beloved former student. Vincent understood why his former mentor acted the way he did but it still hurt him greatly, missing his hearty laughs and and cheesy jokes. The tension started to built, and soon, war erupted between the Clans. No one knew what triggered it, but they all saw it coming. Vincent, fought alongside with his fellow Sages to defeat the Witches, albeit with a broken heart as blood, corpses and empty bullets covered the battlefield. Terrified of what became of his family, he rushed back to the Clan only to be greeted with a scene that would haunt him for eternity. Piles of bodies lying on the floor, with signs of terrible battles carved on once pristine walls and pillars, and lost to their Umbran counterpart. He checked every single one of the dead Sages until Vincent found Balqis in the most terrible way. She was leaning on one of the pillars, hanging on for dear life as she struggled to stand up and limped towards Vincent before collapsing, not before he caught her. Tears flown from those hazel beautiful eyes, her hand weakly caressing his cheek, begging to look after their children and told him that their children were taken to safety by his father, Kaiser, and with her last breath, she kissed him goodbye before being claimed by the passage of time. Vincent broke down immediately, despair and anguish filled the atmosphere as he cried for the loss of his love, his comrades and the destruction of the Clan. Doleful, he buried Balqis somewhere nobody can reach before leaving runes, charms and flowers to guard her final resting place before he wailed in pure agony, blaming himself for not saving his family time. Once the war was over, he traveled to his late wife’s birth country, dedicating his life to study the nature of knowledge and it’s limitations.

                   Centuries passed quickly like grains of sand, Vincent who now goes by the name of Badrul Iskandar is a world renowned scholar, famous for his research on religion, humanity and magic. Living peacefully in the outskirts of Salzburg, Vincent reminisce those bittersweet memories, wondering how his family are now doing . Lately, he often frequents at his brother’s restaurant to catch up with what’s been happening, abusing his status as a sibling for free meals, or cracking up dad jokes much to Ariel’s dismay.

Beasts within : Hound within(West Siberian Laika)                           Falcon within(Red-footed falcon)                           Insect within(Asian giant hornet)                           Otter within(Eurasian otter)

Lead Laguna: Seshat, goddess of wisdom, knowledge and writing.

Extra:

Is particularly fond of seafood and tends to bug Ariel to cook a seafood paella just for him.

Every year on a certain summer’s day, he always went back to Vigrid to pay respect for his late mother, Natalia, and his late wife, Balqis. He would leave their favorite flowers on their tombstones so they won’t feel sad.

Because of his height, he enjoys teasing his brother and calls him ‘little brother’ for fun. Occasionally he gets head-butted by the angry Inquisitor for that remark.

Despite appearing serious and what-not, he’s very fond of animals and currently owns two rescue cats, Minerva, an old Maine Coon, and, Surya, a young Siamese.

Extremely allergic of peanuts and would get terrible rashes should he ever ingested some.

He remains loyal to his wife the point where he closed his heart off from love.

Whenever his father, Kaiser, came for a visit, Vincent would store all of his fragile pieces due to his tendency to wreck stuff up unintentionally.

When he heard that his son, Haikal, is having a relationship with a witch, Vincent is worried about their well-being but overall he gave them blessings.

He is brokenhearted when his wife’s home country is ravaged and their people killed in cold blood but he saw ferocity and resilience in those eyes,refusing to let their land be defiled

He taught both of his children the same way his father taught him, with humility, grace and pride.

Vincent enjoys people’s reaction when his daughter, Aisya, is being her unapologetic self, knowing that they often underestimate her.

He treated Gonzalo like his own brother and often enjoys watching his perfomance alongside his family and Samson.

His family are polyglot and it certainly help Vincent every time he traveled abroad for business.

Will beat the ever-loving shit out of people who refused to respect his personal space.

Despite being a Sage, he’s extremely proficient in firearms, able to shoot from glocks to machine guns. He learned how during his time in WW2 when he fought against the Nazis.

Protective of Ariel especially when the older brother gets approached by a very persistent suitor.

Over the time, he began to appreciate the art of memes and dad jokes which Kaiser seems to be proud. Ariel however isn’t.      

[marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer]

MTVS Epic Rewatch #183

BTVS 7x04 Help

Stray thoughts

1) I feel that season 7 had started on the right foot, and Help is one of the prime examples of that. Hardly ever were MOW episodes the most memorable of the show, albeit a few exceptions that include unique premises and/or demons (Hush, OMWF.) But I feel Help is definitely one of the strongest episodes of the season. It is in no small part because of Cassie Newton. And let’s be real, how often is the victim more memorable than the monster? The actress who plays Cassie does a marvelous job of playing the “woe is me” type without being obnoxious, which is quite the feat. Instead, Cassie comes off as sensitive, intuitive, empathetic, and, unfortunately, doomed. But I think the real reason this episode works so well is how Cassie’s predicament mirrors Buffy’s, and ultimately, how Cassie is just yet another person of the countless Buffy feels she failed to help. But more on that later.

2) The montage of Buffy trying to counsel the kids is pretty neat because they kind of nailed their different reactions to being counseled. You’ve got Amanda, who’s honest and opens up immediately and kind of welcomes Buffy’s pieces of advice. Then the douche (who also played a douche in VM, btw…) who is basically just a douche. And the kid who doesn’t want to talk and just stares at her. And then there’s Buffy, who kind of doesn’t know what to do with any of them, regardless of their attitude.

3) 

XANDER I bet she's giving them great advice.

WILLOW Absolutely! Those kids are lucky to have Buffy looking out for them.

That’s sweet! Especially considering Xander and Willow are having this conversation on their own. They’re being 100% honest. 

4) Willow’s timid and insecure demure is such a welcome change from her almighty and overconfident demeanor in season 6. And it’s an arc that eventually pays off.

WILLOW I don't know what I can do. I mean, frankly, I'm scared of what I might do. 

XANDER Yeah, I get that. Figuring out how to control your magic seems a lot like hammering a nail. Well, uh, hear me out. So you're hammering, right? OK, well at the end of the hammer, you have the power, but no control. It takes, like, two strokes to hit the nail in, or you could hit your thumb.

WILLOW Ouch.

XANDER So you choke up. Control, but no power. It could take like ten strokes to knock the nail in. Power, control. It's a tradeoff.

WILLOW That's actually not a bad analogy.

XANDER Thanks.

WILLOW Except... I'm less worried about hitting my thumb, and more worried about going all black-eyed baddy and bewitching that hammer into cracking my friends' skulls open like coconuts.

XANDER Right. Ouch.

WILLOW Sorry. Xander, being back here... I don't know...

XANDER It'll take time. Are you sure you're ready for this?

Also, kudos to Xander because I think he was doing a great job of acknowledging Willow’s concerns while giving her sound advice, you know? He wasn’t his typical “it’ll be okay” self. He was honest. He admitted it would take time and that it would be hard on her, but he didn’t doubt for a second that she would make it. 

5) And then…

6) This is perfect…

BUFFY It sounds like it's difficult for you. Like maybe your sister makes it hard for you to establish your own identity. You said she's controlling, she doesn't let you make your own decisions— 

On a more serious note, though, how does the school allow Buffy to counsel her own sister? I mean, talk about conflict of interest, right?  

7) 

PRINCIPAL  When I was in high school, I had a thing with this guy, right? Real bully. I kept telling everyone that he'd better sleep with one eye open 'cause I was gonna bust his ass. Well, I got suspended. Talk like that is taken pretty seriously where I come from.

BUFFY The hood?

PRINCIPAL Beverly Hills... 

Yeah, Buffy, you know what happens when you assume...

8)

PRINCIPAL Every time there's a threat like this, we do the same dance. Inform teachers, search lockers, but we can't—we can't know what's gonna happen, and we can't search their brains. We just—we just do what we can.

BUFFY It's not enough. I need to fix this. I don't usually get a heads up before somebody dies.

This is what’s interesting about what Carrie represents, both in the show and in real life. Buffy goes into this purely as a counselor, and she soon finds out that her resources as such are very limited. She probably thinks Cassie is having suicidal thoughts, and Buffy finds herself helpless to prevent this. The education system’s red tape makes it impossible for her to take action in a more effective way, and there’s no demon she can kill to prevent Cassie from dying. This is addressed again when she goes to Willow and Xander.

XANDER Buff, you spilled a cup of coffee. I'm not saying you don't have slayer grace, but it's not the first time.

WILLOW I mean maybe, just maybe, you're trying so hard to help that you're seeing paranormal when there's just normal.

9) Wow is this joke dated!

WILLOW Have you googled her yet?

XANDER Willow, she's 17.

Side note: did you know this line right here made BTVS the first TV show to use the word “google” as a verb?

10) It seems Xander took a line from Veronica’s book, right? You marshmallows out there will get what I mean...

BUFFY Wow, that's a lot of poems.

XANDER Poems. Always a sign of pretentious inner turmoil.

11) 

WILLOW I don't know. I mean, a lot of teens post some pretty angsty poetry on the web. I mean, I even posted a melodramatic love poem or two back in the day.

XANDER Love poems?

WILLOW I'm over you now, sweetie.

12) Buffy was really stepping over her boundaries, though…

BUFFY We know you've been picked up by the police a couple of times. We wanted to know if you still—  drink a lot.

MR. NEWTON What's that got to do with Cassie?

BUFFY Frankly, we were worried that you might—drink too much and hurt Cassie. That's all. (that’s all???? you’re accusing this guy of beating up his daughter!!!)

MR. NEWTON Oh. Oh, I see. That's-that's all. You just come in here in the middle of the night, into my home, and start accusing me of beating on my daughter? That's all?

BUFFY We just want to make sure that Cassie's—

MR. NEWTON Well, that's a lie! Who told you this? Did Cassie's mother put you up to this, 'cause I pay my support, OK? To the dime! She just wants to take away the one weekend a month I get to be with my girl.

I’m sure in any other town but Sunnydale this type of behavior would get a counselor fired, right? 

13) And isn’t Cassie Buffy’s mirror image?

 CASSIE You think I want this? You think I don't care? Believe me, I want to...be here, do things. I want to graduate from high school, and I want to go to the stupid winter formal... I have this friend, and it would be fun to go with him. Just to dance and hear lame music to wear a silly dress and laugh and stuff. I'd like to go. There's a lot of stuff I'd like to do. I'd love to ice skate at Rockefeller Center. And I'd love to see my cousins grow up and see how they turn out 'cause they're really mean and I think they're gonna be fat. I'd love to backpack across the country or, I don't know, fall in love, but I won't. I just never will.

This is pretty much Buffy’s plight to a tee, right? The wanting to have a normal life but knowing she won’t be able to. I actually made a parallel set between this speech and Buffy’s in Becoming, but there are so many other examples of Buffy voicing this same concerns and wants (Welcome to the Hellmouth, Prophecy Girl...)

14)

SPIKE Yes. There's evil. Down here. Right here. I'm a bad man. William is a baaad man. I hurt the girl. 

BUFFY Spike, stop it! What did you do?

SPIKE I hurt you, Buffy, and I will pay. I am paying because I hurt the girl.

BUFFY Spike. No. It's not me. It's a different girl, OK? Her name is Cassie Newton. Please, do you know anything specific?

SPIKE Don't—don't leave me. Stay here, and help me be quiet.

BUFFY  I think it's worse when I'm here. 

On the one hand, I think it was necessary to see Spike flogging himself over what he’d almost done. I mean, how do you keep a character who’s done what he did without having him beat himself up for it? And I get that Buffy, as the victim of his assault, needed to be the person to witness how guilty and sorrowful he was. But... on the other hand, the writers had put themselves in a no-win scenario. They ruined Spike’s character development by having him almost rape Buffy, and now the only way to turn things around was to have Buffy, his victim, feel sorry for him. She shouldn’t have been put on that spot, especially when so little thought was given to her own trauma (a few flashbacks in Beneath You, that was it... never again does she flinch from Spike’s touch or get away from his company...) At the same time, Buffy is this type of person, the one who constantly puts the other cheek. Not only does she forgive easily but she also takes care of those who hurt her (think of her comforting Willow right after she almost had Dawn killed, or the oh so many times she tried to help Faith after one of her betrayals...) She is selfless, and I don’t see why this time should have been any different. Still, I can understand why this can make people uncomfortable. It sets a weird - to say the least - example for assault victims. But I don’t think it’s fair to say Buffy was out of character. 

15) I kind of liked this guy until he said this…

BUFFY You aren't mad at Cassie, with her rejecting you like that?

MIKE Nah, she's a girl right? Making boys crazy is like your job description.

Well, your job description is being a stupid dumbass, apparently. And Buffy laughed??? Buffy would NEVER laugh!!!

16) 

PETER Back off. Get back! Get back, you stupid bitch! 

Now that’s the Buffy I know and love.

17) I have nothing to base this assumption on, but I’m guessing they had Spike beat up the douche and get a headache because fans might have bought the previous season’s red herring that he had gone on the quest to get the chip removed, so this was the writers’ way of telling the fans: “Spike still has the chip, he really did get his soul back.”

18) This is so sad…

19)

WILLOW Cassie didn't know? Then it was fate?

XANDER I think she was gonna die, no matter what, wasn't she? Didn't matter what you did.

BUFFY She just knew. She was special. I failed her.

DAWN Uh-uh. No. You didn't, 'cause you tried. You listened, and you tried. She died 'cause of her heart, not 'cause of you. She was my friend because of you. I guess sometimes you can't help.

BUFFY So what then? What do you do when you know that? When you know that maybe you can't help?

It’s kind of odd that Buffy went seven seasons without asking herself this question, though. It is a quintessential superhero question, after all. And it’s very similar to the question that’s brought up on ATS in season 1, although we do get an answer there. So, Buffy, here’s your answer:

If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do.

[tgunn64]

Favorite Villains - Captain Cold (The Flash/DC)

Captain Cold is a character I’ve taken a long trip with--it’s taken my a long time to classify if I feel he’s truly a villain or not--which at the end of the day I feel is the sign of a really strong villain if nothing else. From my earliest days of DC fandom, Captain Cold quickly caught my interest. Looking at art of DC villain ensembles, my eye was always caught by this aggressive looking eskimo fellow in badass looking sunglasses. I did not know until I delved into him that he’s doubtless one of the most complex characters in any comics’ rogues gallery. Leonard Snart grew up poor, he and his sisters enduring daily beatings from their abusive father. With such a shit upbringing, neither really had a chance to be great, and as they got older, they resorted to crime, which became a lot harder when the Flash started to do his thing. Snart had to think of a way to outdo the Flash’s insane speed.

Snart may be no genius, but he knew a thing or two and what do with it. He got to work on a ray that would rob the Flash of his speed--but inadvertently the end result of ‘slowing molecules’ literally froze them in ice. Hey--the Flash can’t be fast if he’s frozen, right? And thus, Captain Cold was born. “No one knows me now,” Snart mused. “But soon the whole country will be talking about Captain Cold!”. Snart was sick of being low profile. Ready to prove to his good for nothing father, and the rest of the world, that he was worth a damn, he came closer to killing the Flash than any other villain at the time, but alas, still to little avail.

By this point, Cold was one of many rogues that just didn’t stand a chance against the Scarlet Speedster in the long run (bad dum dum tss). Gorilla Grodd was the only one that could rise up above the position of an easy to tack villain of the week. Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, Heatwave, the Trickster, Weather Wizard, and Abra Kadabra all cursed the Flash time and time again. It was Captain Cold who first had the idea that the lot of them should team up, forming the Rogues. While most of the costumed baddies weren’t much more than goof offs and selfish crooks, Cold was a truly hardened criminal, and was ready to discipline the criminals. While they started off as a dysfunctional group, Cold ran a tight ship--he was strict as all hell and disciplined the Rogues until they were a well oiled machine that could give the Flash a run (bad dum dum tss) a run for his money. Old habits may die hard, but the group has come a long way beneath the twelve yard gaze of Captain Cold.

Snart could seem simultaneously heartless and compassionate at the drop of a hat. He has zero tolerance for the killing of women and children, and equally so for the abuse of drugs (all of which remind of him of his dad, who his life goal is to run as far away from as possible in his own resemblance). He brutally beat Mirror Master when he failed to overcome his cocaine addiction one day, before taking in the son of Captain Boomerang as a pupil when the first died. He’d just as soon lock his own father inside a barn and order Heatwave to light it up as he would send flowers to the funeral of Sue Dibny, the wife of Elongated Man. Len in general has a huge soft spot for the fairer sex--besides being something of a lecher, it makes sense considering he’s spent his whole life around his horrid father and a bunch of unruly crooks, and his only friend all this time was his sister, Lisa, who would eventually join him as supervillain Golden Glider. Mentioned above are the Sue Dibny situation and his rule against killing women, of course, but he cares about his sister more than anything, willing to go back in time in Legends of Tomorrow and risk making a divide in the timeline if it meant giving her a better life.

So imagine Snart’s rage when Lisa is found murderer. Snart tracked down the killer to another supervillain, Chillsbaine, and leads a warpath to seek him out and make him pay. Basically the only person that made Snart feel anything besides sheer cold was dead, and the one responsible wasn’t gonna just get away with it. Snart tracked down Chillsbaine, held him while he froze over the ground with a sheet of razor sharp icicles, and promptly showed Chillsbaine what it feels like to be a pin cushion. For such a straightforward and simple revenge story, it’s my favorite Captain Cold comic. It’s just a short issue, but you get inside his head, and learn that he’s not so different from the likes of the Flash, who experiences similar grief from the death of his own mother. Captain Cold doesn’t get a ton of media exposure, but you’ll find a prominent and spot on portrayal by the infinitely talented Wentworth Miller in the CW Arrowverse. While Arrowverse is a tad hit and miss with characters, they’ve hit every base with Snart spot on, and he’s easily my favorite character in the universe. They capture Snart at his most ruthless and compassionate. My favorite episode of The Flash is Family of Rogues, which sees Snart’s father return and reveal a trigger that will kill Lisa if Snart doesn’t help him commit crimes, placing him between a rock and a hard place. Len and Lisa need help from the Flash to save her, but the second the deal is done, that doesn’t stop Len from putting an spear of ice through dear daddy’s chest. Snart and Barry have such a great relationship in the show--they’re friends to an extent, but always have one eye open for any funny business. Cold will help the Flash, but the instant a job is fulfilled--it’s back to business.

Snart, alongside his best buddy, Heatwave, gets pulled into Rip Hunter’s Legends of Tomorrow, using his criminal mind to make shrewd decisions when no one else can. When the gang travels back to when Snart is just a child, Snart sneaks out to visit himself and deliver a message in what’s easily the only moment in Arrowverse to make me cry. “ Can I tell you something, Leo? It’s important. Don’t ever let anyone hurt you, ever. Not here points to own head and especially, not here points to younger self’s heart. No matter what, you always have to look out for yourself. Okay? Understand? “ Len’s greatest fear is that he’s becoming more and more like his father each day. That’s why he closes himself off--he protects Lisa and even treats Mick like a brother, but he’s aware how easy it is for someone close to hurt you, and he forbids himself to get close to people because of this. Snart give his life for the team at the end of the first season of Legends, and Mick’s wish is to time travel to a random day in their partnership, just to quickly tell Snart how much he means to him before he dies. Snart lived out his dream, being the farthest thing from a man as selfish as his father.

On a less complex note--I think another level Snart works is that he IS still a criminal and ultimately a supervillain. He’s got a big heart, but he believes in his core that he’s a criminal, through and through. While he’s comparable to Catwoman on a level of morality, he feels much more at home than similar characters in a team of villains, such as the classic Legion of Doom. Speaking of which, while Superfriends obviously isn’t a good show, I find it sort of fun on a day I need to relax, and Captain Cold of course was the best part of the Legion. There’s an episode where he contacts aliens! And Luthor is like HELL YEA BRO. He was totally Luthor’s favorite. Did any of the rest of you bring aliens?! Captain Cold is a delight everywhere he is, and while his ruthlessness and slight avarice makes him a great archnemesis for the Flash, his complexity and nuance makes him an equally compelling character in the bounds outside villainy--certainly an elite among DC’s deviants.

[entergamingxp]

Five of the Best: Villains • Eurogamer.net

Five of the Best is a weekly series about the small details we rush past when we’re playing but which shape a game in our memory for years to come. Details like the way a character jumps or the title screen you load into, or the potions you use and maps you refer back to. We’ve talked about so many in our Five of the Best series so far. But there are always more.

Five of the Best works like this. Various Eurogamer writers will share their memories in the article and then you – probably outraged we didn’t include the thing you’re thinking of – can share the thing you’re thinking of in the comments below. Your collective memory has never failed to amaze us – don’t let that stop now!

Today’s Five of the Best is…

Villains, or baddies as I like to call them. For me, everything revolves around the baddie. They’re the threat, the goal, the quest, and they have to be convincing. If they’re a bit flimsy, the whole thing goes wibbly-wobbly and I’m left thinking what’s the point? But if they’re on point and menacing and, let’s be real, probably quite alluring too, then I’m all in. Take Palpatine in Star Wars: I can’t get enough of him. He’s irresistibly evil and lights up every scene he’s in, sometimes quite literally. His pantomime menace sells (maybe one too many of) the films.

It’s the same for games. If the villain is limp we won’t feel spurred on to defeat them. So let’s celebrate the baddies for a change. Here are five of the best. Happy long weekend!

M. Bison in Street Fighter 2

I broke my fancy see-through SNES pad because of M. bloody Bison. It was in the Street Fighter 2 days and he was the end boss, and whatever I did, I couldn’t beat him. It was that jump he did on top of my head and then the backflip back around. And his spinny forward jump, and the frontflip leg kick – I’m pretty sure I’m nailing the technical terms here. I just couldn’t get a handle on him.

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Actual, tangible proof Bison is evil!

Again and again he beat me, and you know what he did every time he won? He smiled about it. The arrogant bastard. And one day I just couldn’t take it any more. Like a toddler I let loose, jumping up and down on my controller before bending and snapping it my hands like a strongman (or petulant child) bending a metal bar. What a wally. I tried taping it back together but it never worked in the same way again. And it was all M. Bison’s fault. I think.

-Bertie

Darth Traya in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 – The Sith Lords

I almost wrote the Nameless One here, the protagonist from Planescape: Torment, but the more I thought about it, the more I wasn’t sure if he actually was a baddie. He definitely did bad things but he wasn’t really the baddie.

My gut wants to go with someone else, one of the most memorable characters I’ve ever come across in a game: Kreia from Knights of the Old Republic 2. Perhaps it’s no surprise KOTOR 2 and Planescape: Torment come up in the same breath, given so many of the same people were involved in both games, Chris Avellone in particular.

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This a nice, detailed explainer.

Kreia begins KOTOR 2 as your friend. In fact she’s more than that, she’s your mentor. She’s the person you look up to and who teaches you in the ways of the Force. But what makes her so unusual in regards to other Star Wars mentors is she’s neither good nor evil, not for the longest time. She’s the one who chastises you for your charity to a homeless person because they’ll get robbed by other homeless people who saw what you did. She makes you think. She is Obsidian making you question how you approach a game like this, and a licence like this.

It’s not until you deal with the game’s two other, equally memorable villains – Darth Sion, a person whose body is crumbling apart and is in constant pain and rage holding it together; and Darth Nihilus, who’s not a person at all but a wound in the force, sucking everything into itself like a black hole – that the real villain, their former ally, is revealed. And of course it’s she who has been beside you the whole game, steering you. It is Kreia, or to use her Sith name, Darth Traya.

-Bertie

Below is a Making Of KOTOR 2 podcast I recorded several years ago now with members of the Obsidian team and the Restored Content Mod team. There’s an adjoining article too.

Kefka in Final Fantasy 6

I mean, of course Kefka’s on this list. How could he not be? Final Fantasy 6’s villain has every right to call himself video game’s ultimate baddie, a cackling clown who is a thing of pure evil. Psychotic foes are ten-a-penny in games, of course, but Final Fantasy 6’s masterstroke is – spoiler alert – showing you what happens when evil wins out. And boy is it not pretty.

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This is a good explainer too.

Even before that point, Kefka’s wrongdoing takes Final Fantasy 6’s adventure to some surprisingly dark places, killing off an entire kingdom by poisoning the water supply – and that’s him just getting started. It’s like pre-Hays Code cinema, before video game’s burgeoning popularity meant a new kind of morality swept across the medium. Even then, there’d never been anyone quite as evil as Kefka in games – and I doubt there ever will.

-Martin Robinson

Mahatma Ghandi in the Civilization series

Nuke-mad Gandhi endures as the ultimate not-a-bug-but-a-feature of video games. But it was a bug once. In the first Civilization game, the story goes, Gandhi’s hidden aggression value was set to the lowest possible value on the scale, which was 1. But if he adopted the doctrine of democracy, which lowered his hidden aggression statistic by two points, he accidentally became the antithesis of himself. It’s because instead of going falling to -1, his aggression counter would loop back around to the maximum value of 255. (An interesting aside here for the real nerds: 255 is a significant number in a lot of games, like Pokémon’s EVs for instance, if you’re into competitive training. In my admittedly limited understanding, this is apparently down to storage. A single byte stores 256 different values, but because it begins from zero, 255 regularly occurs as the maximum value, as in our good old friend Gandhi’s aggression.)

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Anyway! Gandhi, as a result of this little quirk, became the most aggressive Civilization leader ever when adopting democracy. Ever since, he’s been intentionally programmed to be nuke-heavy as a nod to the bugs of the past, though Firaxis has made him a bit nicer for the rest of the game, which is probably fair enough.

-Chris Tapsell

Loot boxes in everything

Surprise! Or should I say… surprise mechanics?

I bet you weren’t expecting to see loot boxes in the mix here, but can you think of a more hated villain in games history? The backlash to EA’s implementation of loot boxes in Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was so severe that multiple countries eventually banned them. Players have spent thousands of dollars on them without even realising, and even the NHS has weighed in to say they’re “setting kids up for addiction” to gambling. That’s quite the portfolio.

For me, and many other players, loot boxes are so hated because they prey on basic human weaknesses rather than just giving the consumer value for money – if you’re chasing a particular skin, you’ll often end up with duplicates and other guff rather than what you want. Then there’s the fact they often exploit those most prone to gambling addiction, relying on big spenders (whales) to sink hundreds into their favourite games. And if you add gameplay-affecting elements into loot boxes, that pressure to spend becomes even more problematic.

An artist’s impression of an evil loot box.

You might think we’ve started to move on from loot boxes towards other forms of monetisation such as battle passes, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Loot boxes are still prevalent in our games, with a recent study finding 71.28 per cent of their sample were playing Steam games containing loot boxes as of April 2019. The European games regulator PEGI recently introduced a “paid random items” descriptor for game boxes – a good start – but while the UK Gambling Commission recognises a potential risk to children, it argues loot boxes cannot be classified as gambling as no money can be withdrawn. Will loot boxes ever get their full comeuppance? I guess we’re still waiting for that chapter.

-Emma Kent

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/five-of-the-best-villains-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=five-of-the-best-villains-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[badbackgroundscience]

So, what emotion(s) does the Mandarin need to use for his power rings?

You might think by the opening panel to this comic that Iron Man is shrunken by a caricatured* evil Chinese man in this issue.

You’d be wrong.

Some Pentagon generals ask Iron Man (not Tony) to go to “Red China” (It’s always called “Red China”...We get it, Stan, they’re communists...) and gather intel on some character called the Mandarin, who is rumored to be the “greatest single power in that nation”. Iron Man literally drops into the country, takes out some (questionably drawn) guards, and accidentally gets caught by, of all things Iron Man could possibly get caught by, a giant magnet.

[This magnet ray gun thing is powered by one of the Mandarin’s ten power rings, which are very different from what I normally think of when I hear the phrase “power ring”. In this issue, we’re shown four of his ten powers: he can make things vanish (including himself), levitate giant rocks, cause paralysis, emit loud sound waves, and...power a giant magnet. These are obviously expanded upon in later issues, but as of now, we have no idea what the rings are made of, how they work, or what the others do.]

Re: Tony’s speech bubble, there actually are multiple forms of magnetic attraction, though whether or not Stan and Co. knew that is up for debate.

On an atomic level, you have electrons buzzing around nuclei. Sometimes those electrons are involved in bonds, sometimes they’ve been donated into a communal sea and can easily move from one atom to another (This is what makes metals conductive), and sometimes they’re just doin’ their own thing. But they’re all negatively charged, and do you know what happens when charge moves?

You get a magnetic field. This is a consequence of relativity, and we don’t have time to get into it, now. But the important thing to walk away with is that each electron acts like a teeny tiny magnet.

Normally the electrons buzzing around are doing so in completely random directions, so if you have a lump of substance, the teeny tiny magnetic fields are pointing in all directions and cancel each other out, so there’s no net magnetic field. 

Compounds we call non-magnetic actually come in two flavors: diamagnetic and paramagnetic. The effects (”diamagnetism” and “paramagnetism”) only show up when our lump is placed inside an external magnetic field which is why we think of them as non-magnetic.

Diamagnetic materials are repulsed by an external magnetic field - their electrons all reorient themselves so their magnetic fields are pointing the opposite direction. Paramagnetic materials are attracted to the source emitting the field - some of their electrons*** express diamagnetism, but some align in the same direction of the field and express paramagnetism, which is a stronger effect.

[Science demo note: If you cool oxygen gas enough to turn it into a liquid, you can pour it between two magnets and observe paramagnetic attraction in action:]

Ferromagnetism is what we traditionally think of as plain ‘ol magnetism. Unlike paramagnetic materials, they get to take advantage of an additional quirk of quantum mechanics. A group of atoms anywhere from .1 mm to a few mm***** in size will basically walk in lockstep acting as one ‘domain’ with its own (more intense) magnet; many domains make a lump of ferromagnetic material. When domains are randomly oriented, the lump of iron or cobalt or whatever isn’t magnetized. But an external magnetic field will cause each of the domains to point in one direction, parallel to that external field. That’ll produce a much stronger magnet than you would get from paramagnetism.

Ferromagnetic materials are capable of maintaining a permanent magnet field on their own, though high enough temperatures (material-dependent) or whacking it with a hammer (RIP MCU!Mjolnir) will cause many of the domains to randomize their orientations, effectively causing the lump to no longer be magnetic.

But while they’re a magnet, you have your standard “opposite poles attract, same poles repel” effect kids learn about in school or from decades old episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy. Meanwhile, a paramagnetic substance can’t retain any latent magnetism, so it will always be attracted to another magnet, no matter which pole is pointing at it (Likewise, a diamagnetic substance will always be repelled no matter which pole is pointing at it).

Gold is diamagnetic, so the yellow bits of Tony’s suit are (assuming they are gold) weakly repelled by the Mandarin’s device. But this panel does at least tell us the rest of his suit isn’t diamagnetic. Or maybe it is, and the Mandarin violates the laws of physics more than his magic rings already allow him to do.

As for how the Mandarin’s machine may or may not work, magnetic fields don’t have to be made using lumps of matter. We can construct “temporary” magnets that use electric currents. Because all you need is flowing charge, you can take a wire, coil it up so it looks like a spring, and let a current flow through it. You’ll get a magnetic field that resembles the field produced by your traditional iron bar magnet.`* That being said, it’ll be stronger if you have a rod of iron (e.g.) in the middle.

You can also use flat metal plates in lieu of wire, stacking them so they make a helical shape (A hole in the middle is where the magnetic field gets concentrated, and the plates are all stamped with smaller holes all over so they can run coolant through the system).

Other examples of these “electromagnets”? The system that makes maglev trains a thing. The system that allows recording on magnetic tape and computer hard drives. Those magnets that pick up cars in junk yards. Those magnets that make your fake perpetual motion desk toy spin around. I mean, they’re everywhere these days with all the technology we surround ourselves with. Ever wondered how an electric doorbell works? Boom. Electromagnet.

All these are examples of “resistive magnets”. The other type of electromagnet is the “superconductive magnet”, which requires cooling by liquid helium to bring the material the electricity is flowing through to such a low temperature it loses all electrical resistivity. Essentially, the electrons don’t experience any friction as they move, so they don’t lose any energy. That makes superconductor magnets cheaper to operate electricity bill-wise, but you’re paying out the nose for the helium...which the planet is running out of...

The current record for the world’s strongest electromagnet (that can run continuously, as opposed to a fraction of a second) is the 45 Tesla Hybrid Magnet at The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida, a diagram of which you can see above.`** It combines a 11.5-T superconducting magnet with a 33.5-T resistive magnet to get that 45, which is about 30 times stronger than the strongest permanent magnets. It costs $1,452 an hour to operate and takes 6 weeks to ‘warm up’ (during which time it’s actually cooling down).

All this fun science info aside, I do wonder why Stan didn’t just make the Mandarin’s ring powerful enough to generate a magnetic field that could pull Iron Man in on its own.

The magnet ray deposits Iron Man in a granite-walled chamber, whose walls pull a The Pit and the Pendulum - not the heating up part, just the closing in part. Tony claims he can’t make a dent in the rock, apparently having gotten rid of his “diamond drills that can penetrate the toughest rock” from that time he fought a never-dead mummy in ancient Egypt in this new version of his suit (That was a poor decision, Tony). But he just flies out an air vent and fights the baddie for a bit.

Tony tries knocking him out with some sort of high-frequency music (at least it should be music, given the eighth notes in the panel), but the Mandarin cancels that wave out with one of his own.

I’m going to ignore the question of how “high” their frequencies actually are, as well as Tony’s claim that nothing can escape his blast (Sound, you may recall, doesn’t propagate in a vacuum, so there’s a whole class of exceptions, there) and instead focus on the Mandarin’s claim that two high frequency waves nullify each other. That is true...under one specific condition. They have to be the same frequency, and the same amplitude, and one has to be perfectly out of phase with the other (You can play around with different settings here).

If the waves are identical, they’ll just add together, which is something neither of the men want.

This ‘nullification’ is how noise canceling headphones work, i.e. it works for any sound wave, not just high frequency ones. 

This is also how wave interference works in general.

Iron Man loses battle #1, and the Mandarin decides the best way to finish the job is use his karate skills. Because he not only has a bunch of power rings, he’s also the “greatest karate master the world has ever known”.

[Fun fact: while Karate is thought of as a Japanese martial art, it actually comes from the Ryukyu islands, which Japan annexed in the late 19th century. The martial art itself was developed under a lot of Chinese influence, but it’s obviously evolved since then, and there are a bunch of different types. So it’s not necessarily the writer conflating all East Asian martial arts...]

Iron Man beats him with a "built-in slide-rule calculator” (which I find absolutely hilarious) and geometry.

If you want a quick fact check on that “at an angle of 38 degrees, the velocity decreases by 52%” claim, well, we don’t really know what Tony’s talking about. Does he mean the Mandarin’s strike will somehow travel more slowly if Tony raises his arm just a bit higher? Unlikely, as the angle is clearly the important part.`*** I want to imagine Tony really means a glancing blow would be less injurious, which is true. Force depends on a change in velocity, not the velocity itself, so a blow where the Mandarin’s fist doesn’t slow to zero would mean less force gets applied to Tony.`**** That’s more likely to happen if he angles his arm.

Let’s pretend for a moment the Mandarin’s strike wasn’t completely halted, as the bottom middle panel suggests. Say the Mandarin’s hand strikes Tony’s arm (which has been tilted by 38 degrees), and keeps going along it. The Mandarin’s velocity vector would change direction by ~52 degrees (Is that where Stan got the 52 number? 90 minus 38? No Stan, no. That’s not how vectors work...). 

Like so:

Unfortunately, just knowing that angle doesn’t tell us how much the Mandarin’s fist will slow down by. It depends on the kind of collision that happens - how much energy is lost. If it’s an elastic collision and no kinetic energy were lost (which clearly is not the case), we could get the change in impact force just from the angle. It’d be about 88% the original (i.e. reduced by 12%). If you wanted a 52% reduction, the angle of deflection would need to be ~24.25 degrees, meaning Tony would have to rotate 66 degrees, not 38.

But again, that 38 could reference a completely different angle, just one part of a many-step calculation Tony has to do with his head and a slide-rule. Because our weapons manufacturer hasn’t figured out how to shrink a computer down to fit into his suit, yet.

The comic ends on the next page, with Tony catching a plane out of China and showing up late to a party for his employees he’d previously said he wouldn’t be able to make.

That makes him a slightly better superhero alter ego than those that promise they’ll do something and don’t (*cough* Peter *cough*).

* It’s the 60s, so seeing some pretty racist depictions of non-Western ethnic groups is unfortunately unsurprising. Stereotypical negative depictions of the Other** continue to this day, though the ones that propagate mainstream media aren’t usually so...obvious? Is that the right word?

I don’t know how more modern portrayals of the Mandarin (outside of Iron Man 3, which I will acknowledge as...existing) go, but I assume they’ve toned it down. 

** No, not the Others from ASOIAF -- people who aren’t like you, be it because of different culture, ethnicity, religion, gender, orientation, etc.

*** Specifically, the ones that are paired. When you’re dropping electrons into their orbits around an atom’s nucleus, depending on the total number, some of them will pair up (with one having an ‘up’ spin and one having a ‘down’ spin****). Some of them won’t. When two atoms bond with one another, unpaired electrons might end up paired (e.g. water), and they might not (e.g. oxygen gas). 

**** They’re not actually spinning; it’s an analogy.

***** That’s really big when you consider how tiny atoms are...

`* Usually the coil of wire is wrapped around a ferromagnetic material to amplify the result.

`** Despite its size, the bore hole (i.e. the hole you actually put samples in for study) is a whopping 32 mm.

`*** He does say in a later panel “...insuring that his [the Mandarin’s] hand would strike [him] at the wrong angle”.

`**** If an object bounces at too high a angle, >60 degrees, it’ll actually impart more force.

This might be a record for footnotes...

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Tales of Suspense #50 - Writer: Stan Lee, Art: Don Heck

Image Credits:

Paramagnetic oxygen from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt4P6ctf06Q

Magnetic field lines By P.Sumanth Naik, CC BY-SA 3.0

https://nationalmaglab.org/user-facilities/dc-field/instruments-dcfield/resistive-magnets/45-tesla-2