#»— RL. FAMILY - MOTHER-IN-LAW.

[pepperf]

Hiiii :)

I'm currently writing a fic about Diego but I keep feeling like I have to restart from s1 because I forgot how to characterize him (if that makes any sense??) Do you have any scenes that you rely on to characterize him from s1, 2, and 3? (so that I don't have to watch all 30 episodes again lol). I have to get it done by the end of this month and I'm nervous that I won't be able to pull it off. I don't think I'm going to rewatch any scenes from s4 though because although I feel like they got his character right, Lila's character definitely wasn't right and that messes the whole system up lol.

Thanks so much for your input!

Hello! Sorry, I saw this at the wrong point, and then promptly forgot it was in my inbox, lol. I hope you're still writing!

So, yeah, in terms of scenes I go back to: that often depends on the emotion I'm trying to track, or the particular relationship. But in terms of ones where I feel like he's really got some screen time that's worth watching:

Season 1:

Ep 1: the funeral scene/fight with Luther. Bitter but righteously angry Diego at his finest (with the sweet little twist of his concern for Grace at the end).

Ep 3 (Extra Ordinary): the flashback to Grace helping him with his stammer as a child, and then the two scenes with her as an adult - with Diego trying to persuade her to leave, and then finally switching her off (a heartbreaking little sequence!).

Ep 4 (Man on the Moon): The conversation with Luther in the library, before they find Five - Diego connecting with his brother and trying to break through Luther's blind faith in Reggie.

Ep 8 (I Heard A Rumor): The little scene with Beaman - example of how good Diego is at making friends, despite his prickly exterior, and Beaman sees the good in him that he saw in Eudora.

Season 2 (aka the best Diego season):

Ep 1: Him (and Lila!) in the asylum, talking to Dr Moncton, doing arts and crafts, and his conversation/confrontation with Five. And then his escape with Lila - man, this is SUCH a good Diego ep.

Ep 2 (The Frankel Footage): His plan to chop off Oswald's finger, lol, him and Five arguing about whether Reggie is up to something, and his lovely little reassurance of Lila in the darkroom. And then him and Five breaking into Reggie's place and talking about their dad some more, and his fight with Reggie and ultimate inability to kill the mf.

Ep 3 (The Swedish Job): Him and Lila talking about her parents, and...all the rest of that scene. <3

Ep 4 (The Majestic 12): Him and Lila being domestic and cosy in the morning, their dance at the consulate, his conversation with rl Grace (his sheer horror at the thought of Reggie and Grace dating, lol!), the fight with the Swedes.

Ep 5 (Valhalla): Diego's confrontation with Lila. His easy forgiveness of Vanya, and attempt to tell his family about his girl troubles. His "Everyone changes the world" speech.

Ep 6 (A Light Supper): His gleeful little "Team Zero" plan. Being destroyed by Reggie.

Ep 7 (Oga for Oga): Him and Luther phoning poor Olga. Him hugging Ben/Klaus. Taking the time to bury Elliott, and falling for Lila's transparent plot.

Ep 8 (The Seven Stages): Meeting the mother-in-law (instant enemy). Meeting Herb (instant friend). Being the only one to greet Ray like a normal person.

Ep 9 (743): Desperately trying, and failing, to save JFK.

Ep 10 (The End of Something): Him and Five confronting the Handler and Lila, and then saving one another from the Commission army. Talking Lila around, and stopping Luther from stopping her. His brief little moment with Vanya at the end, as they deal with leaving/getting left by their loved one.

I'm gonna come back to s3 bc I have an evening to live, lol. Hope this is helpful!

[beyondmistland]

Hello! I’m a fan of the Alysanne Maegor-Daughter AU!

I wanted to ask what headcanons you have about the women around Alysanne. Her mother, grandmother, ladies in waiting of the court, her Septa, Maegor’s other wives, etc. Female relationships are a bit lacking in ASOIAF. I hope Alysanne has friends.

I know GRRM took some inspiration from Henry VIII for Maegor’s wives, but sometimes it’s a little hard to see? Ceryse’s definitely Catherine of Aragon. So I imagine her to be well-educated, pious, and a have a strong bond with her daughter. With the other wives it’s a little more surface level stuff connecting them to RL figures.

I'll focus mainly on Ceryse, because she's the one I've thought about the most.

I imagine Ceryse as being highly intelligent and highly opinionated. A woman of culture and learning who can talk circles around most people, including her in-laws.

Given the fact Ceryse is ten years older than Maegor I also imagine she didn't put up with his shenanigans and made it very clear from the beginning she wasn't afraid of him, which I honestly think would have impressed him as much as it would have infuriated him. (There is no doubt in my mind Maegor would have bragged about marrying an older woman.)

Beyond that, I imagine Ceryse as being both very proud (or haughty according to Alyssa Velaryon) and very pious (or zealous again according to Alyssa Velaryon), two traits she would very much inculcate in her daughter and only child. ("You are the blood of Old Valyria AND Oldtown. Dragons bend to your will just as the Citadel and the Starry Sept bend to my father, your grandfather. Don't ever forget that, Alysanne. And don't you EVER let anyone else forget that either.")

Finally, I imagine Ceryse as being very adept when it comes to matters of etiquette and propriety (not unlike Alicent in the future). To use a description I came up with for one of the queens in my discarded epic fantasy setting, The Gray Compendium, "she wields courtesy like a lance and woe to the fool who dares to tilt with her."

I imagine, like Catherine of Aragon, Alysanne was close to her mother and that, by extension, she hated her father's other wives (though the bulk of said hatred would be reserved for Alys Harroway and Tyanna).

I also imagine Ceryse would not fail to surround Alysanne with a court and ladies-in-waiting of her own, as much to give her daughter a support system as to one-up Alyssa Velaryon. Naturally, some of those ladies-in-waiting would be daughters of Hightower vassals or personal friends of Ceryse. (The Velaryons and Hightowers being rivals throughout Targaryen history with the Baratheons occasionally shoving their way in-between is one of my dearer alterations to canon.)

Ceryse would definitely leave behind a treasure trove of correspondence for historians (down with the Citadel's monopoly!) to sift through. (I wouldn't be surprised if Ceryse' septa or even Alysanne herself wrote a biography of Ceryse's life.)

Ceryse and Visenya would have a...queer relationship. (Queer in the original sense of the word.) You wouldn't expect them to get along but they do, even if it isn't exactly the warmest of family ties.

Ceryse HATES Alys Harroway. Part of it is the whole polygamy issue but another aspect I imagine is that Alys and Ceryse are polar opposites with little to nothing in common. Ceryse' idea of comedy is a witty word pun or an obscure bit of religious/historical trivia, Alys' bawdy tavern jokes, the cruder the better. When Ceryse wants to display annoyance or anger her voice drops an octave, Alys will shout at the top of her lungs. Whereas Ceryse always maintains a certain amount of distance (befitting her station in her mind) Alys freely mingles with people of lower rank, even (*gasp*) smallfolk. You won't ever catch Ceryse eating with her hands or breaking a nail but Alys will gather firewood for soldiers on the march and bandage their wounds. On the other hand, Ceryse is the kind of person who prefers to keep her charity secret. Indeed, I imagine what drew Maegor's eye to Alys is that she has the same self-conviction as Ceryse while being otherwise completely different, a novelty Maegor obviously couldn't resist.

Ceryse FEARS Tyanna and for good reason. She sees Tyanna for what Tyanna is. The biggest threat to Alysanne (and Maegor).

I don't have much to say on Jeyne Westerling and Elinor Costayne other than that they both would have liked Alysanne and her them (after some initial frostiness of course).

Thanks for the question, anon

[beardedmrbean]

Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva has been jailed for six-and-a-half years by a court in the central city of Kazan on a charge of spreading false information about the Russian army.

An editor for US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) said the mother of two was arrested in Russia last October for failing to register as a foreign agent.

She was sentenced on Friday, court officials said, the same day that fellow US journalist Evan Gershkovich was jailed for 16 years for espionage.

Ms Kurmasheva denies any wrongdoing, and Stephen Capus, RFE/RL president and CEO, told the AP news agency that her conviction was "a mockery of justice".

"It’s beyond time for this American citizen, our dear colleague, to be reunited with her loving family," Mr Capus added.

In a statement to the BBC, her husband Pavel Butorin said: "The girls and I know Alsu has done nothing wrong. And the world knows it too. We need her home."

Speaking to journalists when her custody was extended in May, Ms Kurmasheva said she had not spoken to her two daughters since her arrest, adding that her health was deteriorating.

Ms Kurmasheva, who holds both US and Russian citizenship, works for RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir service. The two languages are closely related and spoken by indigenous peoples in two central Russian regions.

Ms Kurmasheva's work frequently focused on issues facing the ethnic minorities of central Russia.

According to RFE/RL, Ms Kurmasheva, who lives in the Czech Republic, travelled to Kazan in late May last year for a family emergency. She was detained while waiting for her return flight and her Russian and American passports were confiscated.

In Russia it is illegal to fail to declare a US passport.

She was fined, then arrested months later on the "foreign agent" charge. In December, while in custody, she was hit with the more serious charge of spreading false information.

It is believed her conviction may be linked to a book she edited in 2022 entitled Saying No to War, containing interviews with and stories from Russians opposed to the invasion.

Independent Russian media organisations and press freedom watchdogs say repressive laws are routinely used by Russian authorities to harass journalists and stifle independent reporting.

The situation has worsened since the invasion of Ukraine, with the "false information" charge commonly used to stamp out criticism of the war.

The charge was rushed through Russia's rubber-stamp parliament shortly after 24 February 2024 - the day Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time it was "urgently needed because of the absolutely unprecedented information war waged against our country".

Russia has been accused of hoarding US citizens to use as bartering chips to secure the release of Kremlin allies imprisoned abroad.

Mr Gershkovich's sentencing on Friday raised speculation of a possible swap with Russian prisoners held in foreign jails.

The speed of his conviction led some observers to believe that an exchange was imminent.

According to Russian judicial practice, an exchange generally requires a verdict to be in place already.

But while a possible swap for Mr Gershkovich was mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin during an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson in February, Ms Kurmasheva's fate is less clear.

[scotianostra]

On December 3rd 1894 Robert Louis Stevenson died in Samoa aged just 44.

Born in Edinburgh, Stevenson began writing as a teenager, a passion that eclipsed any desire to become part of the family profession of lighthouse engineering, or the law career he chose and studied but never practised.

Despite frail health due to tuberculosis, Stevenson, who enjoyed a bohemian lifestyle, travelled abroad often, and many of his books were produced during those journeys. He married American Fanny Vandegrift in 1880 and they lived, broke, in California before sailing to Scotland.

Stevenson split his time between Switzerland and Scotland - on medical advice for his ongoing problems with tuberculosis - and during this time began work on his famous novel, Treasure Island, as well as many other published works.

In 1887, by then living in the south of England where he wrote Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it became clear Stevenson’s health could not cope with the climate. He left for New York’s Adirondack Mountains with his wife, mother and stepson where he continued to write and found editors and publishers were willing to offer lucrative contracts.

The following year, Stevenson chartered a yacht for a holiday on the seas from which he would never return and which would result in the publication of in-depth insights about the South Seas.

After visiting a number of islands for extended stays, where Stevenson found a great interest in immersing himself in the local lifestyle, they reached Samoa in 1889 for a six-week stay. After a stint in Sydney, he returned to Samoa and set up life in the Vailima house in what is today the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum.

Stevenson became a popular and well-respected member of the community and continued to write, the climate suiting his health, he took the native name Tusitala ("Teller of Tales"), and he quickly became involved in local politics. Convinced that the European officials appointed to rule the Samoans were incompetent, he wrote A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa - an account of the grappling between colonial powers for control of the island. The book was so incendiary that it resulted in the recall of two officials from the island, and Stevenson feared for a while that it would result in his own deportation.

On the evening of December 3rd, 1894, Stevenson died very suddenly. He had defied his weak lungs for over 40 years, but in the end it was a brain haemorrhage which killed him. The final words of his unfinished novel were strangely appropriate:

'It had seemed unprovoked, a wilful convulsion of brute nature …'

The first pic is of Nantoki, FannyStevenson, Natakauti and RLS a picture called Island Characters. Even in this warm climate, however, Stevenson continued to suffer with his health, and throughout adulthood did much of his writing from his sickbed. In the second pic he is seen composing music on his flageolet. next is a vintage postcard of Stevenson’s grave and a more up to date pic of the tomb. Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial in Portsmouth Square, San Francisco, and finally Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial. St. Giles Cathedral Edinburgh.

I’ll end this post with the verse Home is the sailor, fourteen years earlier, when he was very ill in California, Stevenson had composed his own epitaph, it is on the plaque on his tomb;

Under the wide and starry sky,

Dig the grave and let me lie.

Glad did I live and gladly die,

And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:

Here he lies where he longed to be;

Home is the sailor, home from sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.

[universe-in-the-void-in-the-cube]

💕Positivity prime time! Share five things you love about yourself, four things you're excited about, OR three people you care deeply about and why. Pass this along to someone whose posts make you smile💕

The three people I care about.

My husband - After over 30 years of marriage, both bad and good we still try to make things work. We still love each other and are more accepting now of our faults and weaknesses than when were first married. My nephew - They are trans, born female now male, I still love them to pieces. The fact that he sees my husband and I more like their parents than her own mother (my sister) and father (brother-in-law) I find it touching and very heartwarming since I can't physically have kids of my own, my husband and I unofficially adopted him as our own child. Hell he adopted us before we adopted him. And the whole icing on the cake here is that when they were growing up and even now they had a very similar personality to me with the same likes and interests too. This above all things really pissed off her parents and my mother. My only RL friend Tina - she is older than me by 12 years and disabled like me. She is a good friend to talk to when I have no one to vent to and when I have problems going through various government agencies that I need to work with. She is an old fiend of my husband's family and a distant cousin from my dad's side of the family since she loves doing her family tree. And it is because of that family tree research that I found out she is related to my from her mother's side and my husband through her father's side. Very small world.

[zooterchet]

Treatise on the CIA (Chet's RL)

CIA Systems:

The OSS, in the 1920s, was created by Governor Huey Long, out of bayous and cranberry bog towns, bayous the liberal South, and cranberries the union GOP North, with St. Paul, Minnesota, as the bay station, the experimental command unit, "Chicago", the Commody Polymercantile exchange for national contracts of good; "wampum".

By taking Albert Fish, an orphan from the Kennedy family born from a mother with a sinus tap, post-partum depression (a condition to retain memory after a child's birth, strengthening the woman into a bow shot composite Turkish archer's bow, to raise a Jannissary; as opposed to the womb chemicals sloughing off, preventing dementia in the mother and making the father, hate the child), and placing the orphan, within a check and relay system (preschool), so they would have a method of retaining orders (track Rabbinicals, track Iranian Persel diamond merchants, and track children reading comic books, for a relay system in memory recall), you would have your ideal soldier.

By now, anything police, military, or corporate executive, is this model, in the United States, called "the calling".

The CIA, is an enhanced class, formed in 1953, with linkage of Israel, into the American Mossad.

With the agencies of the MTI (police rights), the NSA (records privacy), the National Guard (military phalanx), Air National (rogue hunter), and ATF (grocer's union), the CIA has four divisions, and methods of raising them.

Fire Union: Marked by the swastika, on the left breast, so the child will be Hitler, if dying (the famous case of Adolf Hitler killing an American agent, duplicated), this is the diplomat, the attache.  These are your embassy personnel, that run numbers to deployed combat forces, in a theater.  Never known to the public, unless Boston Esplanade, has been routed around and back into New York Manhattan, the harbor; the political corruption system of Boston's criminal families, the 19th century Union Army, into New York's SWAT division, the called forces incase of stolen labor, a non-tangible producing a digit on a bank invoice but workers not paid a digit, allegedly for liability or lawful pay; actually, to prevent foreign espionage.

Military Police: Marked by a movie resemblance, "spic", these are soldiers that practice a martial arts form from a movie, and are trained in remedial courses; normally, remedial courses makes one a homosexual, the mark of the sex offense, however the sex offender posture and stance, can be transferred to combat, a lock or hold non-duplicated, with a special designed film, a "firefly", employing a Druid Rom, a "Pikey"; with the split between hero and traitor villain, the same person.  This way, an unhealthy habit of offense, the desire to make the world please the self for convenience of goal, becomes the healthy method of protecting your country's women, and on deployment, the world.

Narcotics Officer: A journalist undercover on domestic soil, this is a felon class of perpetrated lured entrapment, with a deputies handler moving the individual through a State Police missions system while on US Army intelligence, a local soil system to eliminate foreign espionage.  The subject "narc", a DC Comics or Capcom writer, the previous an FBI (federal police penmanship) and the latter a US Navy (formed combat implement) investment, will be placed through famous military veterans failures into "The Mob", an Israeli service, to move quietly, as an American, listed and labeled as a Mossad, however performing hits for a fake "intel"; US Army Intel, a teacher that has been reformed out of pedophilia (the necessary status to become a teacher, a drug dealer seduced into a statuatory rape suit by an underage vice lure), by "April Fool's" and then paired with the partner "narc squad" as the forward range mission intel (a lead actor Juliard's Class, the mirrored hand grip triple set, making Strausser Method impossible).

Field Agent: The highest rank for any executive mission operative, not in authority but in lethality of kill therefore danger to handle, they are impossible to de-escalate out of military utility, hence the Congressional Budget Office, a non-elected Congress panel out  side of the President or Governor's influence must be called and send a future "frog", the Marine NCO, to kill one; with a Luger handgun, in the "State Forest", the tradition for a failed agent.  The field agent, is given a mother's doctor, the famous "Jewish Doctor", to establish transference through the battered women's shelter, "Falun Gong", the international program for field agents.  Codenamed "Glen" or "Gwen", the doctor is actually a hunter of INTERPOL agents; private detectives on hire.  Therefore, the field agents will hunt police mercenaries involved in the wine, heroin, and petty literature market, as the counter-narc, a "saboteur".  This is called, "domestic sabotage", hunting the "saboteur".

Please note, these field functions and ranks and sets can interchange, stack variably, and change in actual ranks of arbitrage, the private or public sector business firm term for a named set of a corporate housing; the corporation's rights, as a "person", for IRS financial purposes.  Namely, default and bankruptcy, to recruit police from the firm producing a track veteran athlete, from a manager, the firm shut down and scuttled for having an abusive culture outside of ATF regulations.  The default, is the cop draft to a housing community, such as Village Green out of Chestnut Realty, and the bankruptcy, is the sales to a bank, the IPO failing being the Chapter 11, the firm is saved and becomes bank traded and the town changes regulations; however, with an IRA raid, the Irish Republican Army, the psychiatric union flips Irish, out of German, since a foreign medical personnel unit has become involved.  That's where your "narc" comes in, as a "field agent", a "borne".

[aalt-ctrl-del]

the puritans are still condemning Ao3 for hypothetical content. Meanwhile, Tiktok has influencer mother Jacquelyn Eleanor who is exploiting her real-life daughter for internet predators and creepy-creepy content.

Thank you to iNabber for censoring the minor in the video refs X.

Really, why do people get up in arms about the Ao3 business, when they need to take that energy and passion to platforms which endanger real kids and exploit minors for views? The priorities are disturbing and... don’t make an equation. It’s all a bunch of “baby takes their first standards and moral stature on an issue uwu”

And family vlogs that depend on child content or their kids, are an ongoing controversy for sites like youtube and tiktok, which use real children for engagement. France has already passed laws regarding this issue, but I feel the idea is more complicated in America (and other countries) despite “child labor laws” because it can be signed off as a source of income for the family, and has its own protections. In some situations, it can be harmless and the individuals who manage the channel do take precautions to protect children - youtube does have some sort of edit tool for a channel to protect it from registered child predators, but I don’t really know the details since it does sound complicated, and does not seem foolproof.

In regards to protecting other children from a family that is exploiting their minors (like the case of DaddyNightmareofFive) for known predatory viewership, that would then come down to the content site such as youtube or tiktok - since the site would need to take over measures when the channel management has failed. This isn’t happening currently unless the content is reported, because everyone who might report child exploitation is over on Ao3 screaming about something they read in a fantasy setting in a dystopia world, or something.

Meanwhile, neither youtube nor tiktok will do anything about the shameless controversy, because MONEY.

Don’t give me the whole, “uwu, if people are doing this bad stuff on Ao3 that I don’t agree with, then they might be more likely to do it in RL”

Girl! They are doing it “FURREAL” They are over on youtubers or Tikclocks doing it FURREAL! GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT.

ᴰᶦˢᶜˡᵃᶦᵐᵉʳ ⁻ ᶦᵗ ᶦˢ ⁿᵒᵗᵉᵈ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᴬᵒ³ ᵐᵃʸ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵖʳᵒᵗᵉᶜᵗ ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡᶦᶠᵉ ᵖᵉᵒᵖˡᵉ ᵒʳ ᵗʰᵉᶦʳ ˡᶦᵏᵉⁿᵉˢˢᵉˢ ᶦⁿ ʷʳᶦᵗᵗᵉⁿ ᶠᵒʳᵐᵃᵗ, ᵇᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᶦˢ ᵃⁿ ᶦˢˢᵘᵉ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵃᵈᵛᵒᶜᵃᵗᵉˢ ᵒᶠ ᶜᵉⁿˢᵒʳˢʰᶦᵖ ᶜᵃⁿ ᵘⁿᵈᵉʳᵗᵃᵏᵉ ᵗᵒ ᶦⁿˢᵘʳᵉ ᶦˢ ᵃᵈᵈʳᵉˢˢᵉᵈ ᵒʳ ᵖʳᵒᵖᵉʳˡʸ ᶠᶦˣᵉᵈ, ᵃⁿᵈ ʷᶦˡˡ ᵏᵉᵉᵖ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᶜᵒᵃˡᶦᵗᶦᵒⁿ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ˡᵒᵒᵏᶦⁿᵍ ˡᶦᵏᵉ ᵇˡᵒᵒᵈʸ ˡᵘⁿᵃᵗᶦᶜˢ.

ᴵ.ᴱ., ᴮᵉᵗʷᵉᵉⁿ ᵖʳᵒᵗᵉᶜᵗᶦᵒⁿˢ ᶠᵒʳ ᶠᶦᶜᵗᶦᵒⁿᵃˡ ᶜʰᵃʳᵃᶜᵗᵉʳ ᵒʳ ᵗʰᵉ ʳᵉᵃˡ ᵖᵉʳˢᵒⁿᵃ ᵒᶠ ᵃ ᶜʳᵉᵃᵗᵒʳ, ᶠᴼᶜᵁˢ ᴼᴺ ᵀᴴᴱ ᶜᴿᴱᴬᵀᴼᴿ ᴬᴺᴰ ᴿᴱᴹᴼⱽᴬᴸ ᴼᶠ ᶜᴼᴺᵀᴱᴺᵀ ᵀᴴᴬᵀ ᴵˢ ᴴᴬᴿᴹᶠᵁᴸ ᵀᴼ ᵀᴴᴱ ᴿᴱᴬᴸ ᴬᴺᴰ ᴸᴵⱽᴵᴺᴳ ᴾᴱᴿˢᴼᴺ. ʸᴼᵁ ᶜᴬᴺ'ᵀ ᴰᴼ ᵀᴴᴱ "ᴱⱽᴱᴿʸᵀᴴᴵᴺᴳ ᴵˢ ᴮᴬᴰ ᴮᴱᶜᴬᵁˢᴱ ᴼᴺᴱ ᵀᴴᴵᴺᴳ" ᵀᴴᴱ ᵀᴼᴾᴵᶜ ᴵˢ ᵀᴼᴼ ᴮᴿᴼᴬᴰ ᴬᴺᴰ ʸᴼᵁᴿ ᴰᴱᴹᴬᴺᴰˢ ᴬᴿᴱ ᴵᴺˢᴬᴺᴱ. ᴺᴼ ᴼᴺᴱ ᵀᴬᴷᴱˢ ʸᴼᵁ ˢᴱᴿᴵᴼᵁˢᴸʸ ᴮᴱᶜᴬᵁˢᴱ ʸᴼᵁ'ᴿᴱ ᶜᴿʸᴵᴺᴳ ᴼⱽᴱᴿ ᴬ ᴳᴿᴬᴾᴴᴵᶜ ˢᵀᴼᴿʸ ᴬᴮᴼᵁᵀ ᴿᴬᴵᴺᴮᴼᵂ ᴰᴬˢᴴ.

[accidentallyadramablog]

Review: Down With Love (2010)

I felt a little nostalgic this week and decided to rewatch Down With Love, a romcom out of Taiwan featuring Ella Chen (from Hana Kimi) and Jerry Yan (Meteor Garden).

This is more of a brain dump as opposed to a real review. More below the cut.

Let me just start with the fact I love dramas with tomboys, gender benders, and gender non-conforming women and girls in general. I'm a 40 yr old gnc bi-woman, so some of these storylines really resonate with me - despite the trend of making those female characters glaringly stupid and pitiable.

Tags: Nanny, Love Square, Tomboy, Male Chases Female First, Sismance, Rich Man/Poor Woman, Pretends To Be Gay, Single Parent, Sisterhood, Boss/Employee Relationship

Our girl Ella Chen plays tomboy Yang Guo. Yang Guo works, has friends, and a shitty boyfriend of 5 years. She acts naïve, but she actually has a lot of life experience due to a *tragic backstory*. After her mother died, her father ruined the family business. Their family plunged from riches to rags and their father abandoned them. Yang Guo is 6 when this happens and it falls on her older sister Yang Duo to raise them both while homeless, starving, and navigating the homeless camps in the parks of Taipei.

Yang Duo (Kelly Huang) has raised her little sister by herself, beginning from poverty and homelessness to having a house and making a life for themselves. They bicker good-naturedly, but Yang Duo is very protective and supportive of her sister. She's managed to earn a job at a prestigious law firm as an admin assistant with strong accounting skills. She is seen as frugal, clever, and competent. Several characters make comments throughout the series about how it was a shame that she didn't go into certain careers because she's so accomplished despite not having a formal education. It's obvious that Yang Duo has put her own dreams and happiness on hold to make sure that she and Guo have financial security. Yang Duo is my favorite character btw. She is a supporting character that is multi-faceted and has her own character arc. I really like seeing her growth in this drama, and she gets some cute side couple action later in the series. Skip the last episode.

Due to growing up in poverty and scrabbling to lower-middle-class, the two girls work nonstop. After Guo is fired from her job waiting tables, Duo gets Guo a job as a nanny for her boss Xiang Yu Ping by lying and saying Guo is a lesbian.

Xiang Yu Ping (Jerry Yan) owns his own law firm and is seen as cold and overbearing. He is raising his dead brother's kids and none of the nannies he's hired have lasted either due to being chased off by the kids (a la the Sound of Music) or by trying to seduce him because he's a rich handsome lawyer. Relieved to have found a nanny who definitely wouldn't seduce him (because he thinks she's a lesbian), he just pays an unreasonably huge salary to keep her there with the kids despite their abuse.

Supporting characters: Amanda Chu as the best friend Yan Ling with the messy dating life is also delightful, but I've enjoyed all her roles. I may rewatch Lion Pride for her, now that I'm walking down memory lane. The office of 'just some lawyer dudes being dudes' are funny. I love when they gather around to watch drama and place bets on what's happening. They're also slackers. I would love/hate to work with them.

So that's the setup.

Honestly, I hate the 'pretends to be gay' plots. It's typically really offensive and this was no exception in a lot of places. (It's not at the same level as Personal Taste, but it's bad.) One of the cases Yu Ping takes on is unlawful termination and blackmail of a gay teacher and he asks for Yang Guo's advice to help the man. Taiwan was trying in 2010, but it wasn't exactly good representation to have a fake lesbian help an actual gay man faced with employment discrimination and blackmail over his orientation. When I compare this with Love is Science (2021 twdrama) that has two out lgbt characters employed in their office with significant roles, I'm just so happy that lgbtq media representation is still progressing.

I don't care about Yu Ping's best friend Qi Ke Zhong or Yu Ping's ex-girlfriend Ding Hui Fan because they're both terrible people that don't deserve forgiveness and their only purpose was to drag out our leads getting together. Since this was a rewatch, I knew how much I hated their scenes and skipped them as much as I could. You're not missing anything. Someone on YT needs to just make a Yang Duo/Xiang Yu Ping cut, tbh. Also? Go ahead and skip the deadbeat father.

The nanny bit only lasts three episodes (the kids are adorable), but it's long enough for Yu Ping to catch feelings and think his lesbian nanny is cute. He actually is not cold and overbearing as episode 1 makes him out to be. Yu Ping is supportive and tries to be a good friend to Guo. When he thinks her 'girlfriend' is cheating on her, he absolutely flips out because he feels she deserves to be respected and loved in her relationship. He learns about her family. He learns about her friends. He knows where to look for her when she's upset. He knows how to cheer her up and later, he knows how to make the perfect date. When he finds out she lied about being a lesbian, he's not even mad. He admits it was his fault for making certain demands in the employment contract. He's just upset that he's lost chances to flirt and court her.

Listen. It's a dumb premise in this drama and the misunderstandings suck. But it's so refreshing to see male leads be decent to women that are romantically and sexually unavailable to them. The bar is so low, in RL and in dramas, that Yu Ping belongs in the top tier of male drama leads. This dude was just going to continue in a supportive friendship for an undetermined time, both when he thought she was a lesbian and later when his shitty weasel of a best friend dated her under false pretenses. He didn't burden her with a confession until her relationship was over. And whenever she asked for space, he gave it to her. And when she confronted him on instances of jealously, he apologized and gave her space.

Yu Ping never tries to change Guo. He doesn't give her a makeover. She has a makeover scene that is instigated by another character and all he does is try to make her comfortable when she's so obviously uncomfortable. Then he cheers inwardly when he sees her overcome her awkwardness and have confidence. But by the end of the drama, she is still dressing and acting the same as in act 1. It honestly reminded me a little of Coffee Prince in that the fancy male lead is still just as enamored with his gnc woman by the end and the way she presents herself doesn't have an effect on their romantic relationship. Again, this is content catered to me as a bi & gnc woman in a relationship with a cis-het man. I often am mistaken for a man when I go out with my spouse and he's still super into me so let's normalize gnc people with gc people already it's 2021.

Anyway, if you watch romances for kisses, there's really only a couple of pecks and one nice passionate kiss and they're all in basically the last 3 eps of the series.

The last episode sucks. Stop at episode 15. Seriously. Don't watch episode 16. Why oh why do you let terrible people back in your life? Qi Ke Zhong and Ding Hui Fan are toxic and should but cut out of their lives. The end of ep 15 had a happy ending with a family-style breakfast for our two sisters with their boyfriends. Ep 16 threw in some more misunderstanding, jealousy, and separations followed by a time skip for no reason and brought back my two least favorite characters.

Anyway, I will live in my little world with Yang Duo and her sweet lawyer boyfriend Liang Zhi Hao (Ian Yim/Cyran Yan/Yan Yi En yeah, this actor has three stage names) that supports her interests and self-determination while they save money on mass transit by using his motorbike. And they build her dream home that she designs. Perhaps they put aside funds for her to pursue a degree in what she's passionate about.

[alice1290]

Would you rather;

Marry Katakuri

Or

Show Ace how many people love him

(Including his RL fans AND his family)

Well Anon, now that’s just evil. Evil evil choices.

Ugh! This is a hard one, and I’m basing my decision on two factors:

1. If we’re going on the fact that by canon Ace does end up realizing how many people really love him,

and

2. Big Mom would be a horrendous mother in law,

I’d still have to pick marrying Katakuri. Because the big mochi man needs someone to love him too. I’ve said it many a time. He deserves all the smooches and I will give them to him. Plus, awful mother in law aside, he’d make a damn good husband.

[kuronekonerochan]

go ahead a rant about the worst character ever in a drama

I never got around to making my exit rant for go ahead, which was a drama I adored in the beginning, with its heartwarming and heartwrenching found family plot that was well written and well acted, then lost its way with the confusing and unnecessary love pentagons between the characters (and all those messy romantic storylines went nowhere interesting anyways, a waste of screentime), then got back to being good with the family drama and a great exploration of emotional manipulation and the weight of cultural pressure on family obligation and how that leads to psychological and physical domestic abuse and the trauma it carries, etc.... and then the drama stabs us in the back with that ending by trying to make is sound happy and hopeful and going against everything they have been telling throughout the drama.

I love LX’s sister. She was bratty, but understandably so regarding the circumstances and I hated how the drama treated her. Conversely I viscerally hate LX’s mom. Like I feel angry just by watching her face.

It was a horror movie ending disguised as a happy one bc psycho mom is leaving with only the daughter to focus all her crazy on, after finally giving up on torturing her son, and that girl already has a huuuge guilt complex bc she felt like she forced her brother to stay for her sake bc she asked him to when she knew he was miserable.

 And while that talk with newly “adopted” older brother might have made her feel  better about that since he told her she was allowed to be "selfish" bc she was a kid and couldn't handle it on her own, that talk might actually make things worse in the future bc now she's an adult and if stuff goes wrong she'll probably just try to be a self sacrificing idiot about it and keep it to herself and handle cray cray monster mom on her own bc she feels like she owes enough to her brother as it is.

Also, even if she did have her whole life back in Singapore, she loved having her brother around, got a new older brother, warmed up to her sister in law and was getting a nice and warm extended family, instead of a one member asylum household. The only reason she agreed to go back in the end, after finally settling in a new place,was just to get her crazy mother away from her beloved brother bc she knows it's the only way he'll be happy.

 So she's going back with the parent who just had such a self absorbed psychotic obsessed pseudosuicide attempt that made it all about her son and had zero to say about her younger and already orphaned daughter (that shows how much psycho cares about her). Fuck her and fuck this drama for trying to pass this ending as hopeful and healing when all I felt was terror and dread.

Now, disclaimer that the only reason I feel this way is bc I am 100% aware that this is a work of fiction and their mother is a fictional character and I’d never say this about a rl person. In fact  kudos for the actress bc she nailed the self victimized bitch who is the worst kind of bully but truly believes she is the wronged one, making me actively hating her so much she became the worst ( in a good way) drama character I can remember, surpassing every psycho period emperor, and 2nd lead creep.

But...

After that ending I was like, good for LX to be rid of that bitch, but just so you know how much I hated their mom, my hope is that in canon she eventually and hopefully soon kills herself in Singapore. I mean, her daughter will be traumatized and it will be terrible, but she already is anyways, and neither sibling will ever know true peace or happiness as long as she lives. She is the very definition of toxic.

[bard-of-worlds]

Ladybug the Law is the Law CH9

Sorry this is so late guys, i needed to get past a writer’s block and then i needed to deal with some other stuff, in RL.  and here it is finally and i hope to have a good gift for all of you this Christmas

XXXXXX

Adrien looked at the black pants and a black jacket/vest with dark blue pockets he was wearing before looked at how he looked in the mirror with the rig and smirked.  “You know I look normal with black hair.”

 “You’re just lucky that it’s a cold enough for some people to wear a jacket.” Marinette said as she looked at him holding the arms of the jacket and sighed.  “But it isn’t cold enough for the full piece so……”

 “Yeah, good call with the zipper arms.”  Adrien said and Marinette shrugged.  

 “It was like that when I found it; it did give me a few ideas and it taught me a few ideas about some tricks to try out.” Marinette said with a laugh that caused Adrien to stare at her and blush and he heard Plagg snicker in the jacket vests pocket.

 “Well this is pretty good. Why’d whoever give it to a thrift store?” Adrien asked and Marinette chuckled and smirked.  

 “I had to replace a zipper on one side, there was a stain on the pockets that caused me to cut them away and put in some new ones, that’s why they’re a different color.” Marinette said and Adrien ahhed.  

 “Thanks for this Marinette, I better go before Nadja gets here, see you after where ever we’re supposed to meet up.” Adrien asked and Tikki spoke up before Marinette could.

 “The movie theater in the 17th near the Arc.” Tikki said from Marinette’s purse.

 “Thanks Sugarclub, come on lover boy the sooner we’re done, the sooner we can talk to Fu and the others.” Plagg said from a pocket in the jacket and Marinette looked away with a blush as Tikki giggled.

 “I’ll meet you and the others there, this way we won’t press our luck more then we have to.” Adrien said as he looked at Marinette and took a deep breath.  “And we will have to have a talk before Monday.”  

 “About…..” Marinette asked and Adrien looked at her.

 “Us.” Adrien said and Marinette blushed and looked away.  Adrien bent over and kissed Marinette’s forehead and she blushed harder and he smiled at her as he rubbed her right cheek.  “I’ll see you at Fu’s.”

 “Wait, don’t forget this.” Marinette said as she handed him a slice of cheese breed wrapped up and Adrien smiled at her and hugged her.

 “Thanks Marinette, thank you for being you.” Adrien said before he quickly left through the door and moved along the streets towards a location he could transform and blushed a little bit for what he had done.

 “Nice going lover boy, and what do you want to name your kittens?” Plagg teased and Adrien looked down as Plagg snickered.

 “Plagg, will you keep it down?!”  Adrien said as he looked around, hoping that no one was nearby enough to see or curious enough to investigate.

 “Relax, nobodies close enough to hear us.” Plagg said and Adrien looked around and force himself to relax a tiny bit but kept walking, his eyes looking around for any trace that someone had heard Plagg.  “And if anyone does hear they’ll probably think your phone is on speaker.”

 Adrien kept quiet as he walked through Paris and away from the area of both the school and the bakery, he had to find a place to transform that he wouldn’t be seen.  “We have to be careful Plagg, especially now.  Once mistake and this will be like the time Marinette and I tried to see that movie!”

 “You’re paranoid, but in your case that’s a good point.” Plagg admitted as Adrien walked down a blind alley a few moments later.

 “Plagg, claws out!” Adrien said and within a moment he had transformed into Chat Noir and jumped upwards and began dashing over the Paris skyline.  You know I’m right kid

 Marinette stayed still for minutes after Adrien had left until Tikki moved up and got in her face, grinning at her.  “I told you he would still like you Marinette!”

 Marinette snapped out of her daze and still blushing moved upstairs and got the area ready for when Manon would get here, leaving Tikki to follow behind and giggle as she flew after her chosen.  Five minutes later Marinette was finished putting the last finishing touches on the living room when she heard the doorbell and gestured for Tikki to hide and hurried down stairs and opened the door and smiled when she saw who was there.

 “Some one’s been dying to see you again Marinette.” Nadja said with smiled at Marinette as Manon hugged the designer.

 “Marinette!” Manon called happily as Marinette laughed a little, glad that Manon was still the same given the chaos of the last few days.

 “Hi Manon, my friend Alya is coming over later so let’s hope unlike the first time there isn’t an Akuma attack.” Marinette said and Manon giggled.   “Now I left out a juice box and cookies upstairs, who can I trust to be a good girl and go drink it and eat the vegetable cookies?”

 “ME!” Manon called out and Marinette let her run to the stairs and walked up them carefully.

 “Thanks again Marinette, I’m sorry for bothering you like this all last minute but I was originally going to have the day off but then my boss called me and I had to go in for a surprise interview. So everything is good then I’ll be back before noon.” Nadja said as she handed over a small bag and Marinette nodded.

 “Don’t worry; this is fine. And I might be on hand to watch her during the mornings on weekdays in the future if you need me to.” Marinette said with a smirk as Nadja looked shocked.  “I’m going to be homeschool for the rest of the year at least, so I’ll get back to you about what days I might be able to handle her.”

 “Did something happen at school?” Nadja asked and Marinette sighed.

 “That is a long story that I can’t legally talk about until my expulsion hearing.” Marinette said and held up a hand as Nadja opened her mouth.  “LEGALLY I can’t talk about it, but once I can I’ll tell you the whole story okay.”  

 “I’ll be back in a few hours Marinette, thanks again.”  Nadja said and walked off, a frown on her face.  Why, in the name of everything on this planet would Marinette, Marinette of all the students in that school be expelled, this makes enough sense as….. nothing at all!  I think I have a new subject for my next investigation, the current state of the Paris Education department and schools! She thought as she looked at the school across the street and she hoped that it wasn’t as bad as she feared it was.

 As Marinette moved upstairs she saw Manon as she drank her juice and smiled at her.  “Okay I’ve got a game, there’s a good movie you like or you could play one of the video games your mom brought.”

 “Movie!”  Manon said and Marinette turned the TV on and she laughed as it started.

 Marinette got out a drawing pad and started to work on a dress design as she sighed, happy that this would be easy for once.  

 “Hey Marinette, your parents said I could come up and help…… okay TV and movie, good.” Alya said softly as she came up from below.

  Chat Noir dropped down into a back ally and dropped his transformation and Plagg flew into his pocket that Adrien put the cheese slice and Adrien could hear the kwami eat the food. He moved out the alley and saw Louise waiting by his car and moved towards him.  “Hey Louise!”

 Louise looked up and blinked a few times before he realized who he was seeing.  “That you kid, I wouldn’t have known it was you if I hadn’t heard you!”

 “Thanks, she does good work doesn’t she?” Adrien asked as he smirked as he got into the backseet and Louise got into the driver’s seat and started the car.  As they drove along Adrien looked at the windows and whistled.

 “What’s with the tainted widows?” He asked as he felt Plagg move against him and waited

 “Security feature that I got when my car needed to be replaced.”  Louise said and smirked at Adrien through the review mirror.  “Let me tell you, that modification really help me get my clients around safely.  And at least this way your fans won’t see you in the windows!”

 Adrien laughed lightly as they drove through Paris, letting the radio takeover the small talk.  As they passed by a Limo Adrien went white as he saw the Gorilla in driver’s seat.  As the car passed by and he looked back and saw the limo drive away he breathed easily.  

 “Yeah kid I know, we passed your family’s car.  Don’t react, we’re almost there.  All we have to do is make it a few more blocks and we’re home free.”  Louise said and Adrien sighed as he leaned back. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this car after your mom disappeared and he doesn’t know what my license plate is so we’re golden.”

 Adrien kept silent and Louise looked at him and frowned, not liking how Adrien was behaving.  Come on kid, I know that Gab did a number on you, but I really want to believe that there’s still a way for the both of you to heal.  He thought as he went over everything that he could do to get a rise out of him.  “Hey kid, your dad ever tell him the first time he met your mother she threw up on him?”

 “No, really?” Adrien asked and Louise laughed a little.

 “Okay, let me tell you all about how those two met.  It was college, Gabriel was putting together this fashion show and your mom was between shows at the theater so she decided to give it a try, IE her sis talked her into it.  Of course acting and modeling is kinda different so she was nervous as heck.” Louise said as he drove the car through Paris.  “Unfortunately her sister gave her a cure but it was actually meant to purge her system and well you can guess what happened when Gabriel walked up.”

 “No way!”  Adrien said and started to laugh.

 “Yeah, man o man he had this expression as what the fuck happened and then Emilie was apologizing and then Gabe went and changed into his spare clothing, it was his suit and then he started the show, and since it was high class clothing his complimented it and he got a great review!” Louise said and laughed.  “Emilie worked in a few more of his shows and then they started to date after they graduated and then well you know.”

 “You know they never told me that story.  Any other stories like that?” Adrien asked and Louise laughed and shook his head as he looked into his past.

 “Plenty kid, plenty!” Louise said as he looked into his past and snickered.  “I’ll tell you all about then once we’re inside there.”

 “There? Oh.” Adrien said as he saw they were just in front of a blocky building with a garage door next to a black glass door with a card reader and a keypad next to both doors and he whistled.  “You know, I never noticed that before.”

 “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Louise said with a sigh.  “Strange isn’t it?”

 “Yeah.”  Adrien said as they drove up to the garage door and Louise opened his window and inserted a card into the card reader next to the garage door and put in a code before it started to open.  

 They drove into a well-lit garage with rows of parking spaces and a door on the other side with a card reader next to it.    Louise parked and then parked the car, Louise looked at Adrien and smiled. “Okay kid as we went into the door, it started to close and we just need to wait another minute then we’ll be able to leave.  And don’t worry about anyone talking about you being here, everyone signs a contract of confidentiality and if anyone talks, everyone is punished until the person responsible is discovered.”

 “Oh.” Adrien said and looked at the garage door and saw it closed and then he opened the car door and Louise got out as well.

 “Another fun fact, the door to the waiting room outside turns twice, no way for anyone to get camera shots of inside.”  Louise said as they walked towards the door to the building, it opened and a man in a suit with a face mask and thick glasses walked out and signed a few words to Louise who nodded at him.  “And the doctor is great with people who have particular objections and personal requirements to their treatment, hey man how’s it been?”

 The man signed a few more words and walked away towards a car and got in, not reacting and Adrien looked at Louise who grinned.  

 “Motion sensors, this way the doors out only open when nobody is out of the building.” Louise said and Adrien whistled.

 “They really work to keep their clients identities safe don’t they?” Adrien asked and Louise nodded with a laugh.

 “Yeah they do kid.” Louise said as he opened the door and then walked infront of him into a waiting room with a girl Adrien’s age with black glasses, pink hair and she was wearing a nurse’s uniform with a black hat on.  Adrien noticed that she was wearing a grey choker around her neck.  “Hello, wait are you Sarah’s daughter Lisa?”

 “Yes I am, are you the three 10 o’clock appointment a MERZETH?”  Lisa asked and Louise nodded and grinned at Adrien.

 “And another thing, they give our appointments code names and password.  Yes, I am Mr. Duty.”  Louise said with a smirk. “Kid go with her, she’ll take you and I’ll be here when you get back.”    Adrien nodded and walked after Lisa who led him to a room and gestured for him to enter. As Adrien sat down in one of the chairs Plagg pushed his head out and looked at Adrien.

 “I’m going to poke around a bit; this is about an hour right?”  Plagg said before he darted away, Adrien watching helplessly.

 Plagg flew through the vents and smirked as he saw black cobwebs followed them until he reached a drop and moved down until he found a circle of the black webs on the side and phased through it into a small chamber with a black sphere of the webs that glowed, illuminating the space.  

 “I thought I felt you Webby!” Plagg said with a grin as he looked at who he had found.

 “Don’t call me Webby stinky sock!”  A high pitched voice said as a spider like Kwami with four ‘stick legs’ sticking out of it’s back and it had it’s arms crossed.  “And what are you two doing here?!  I thought you all went with those people to Tibet centuries ago!”

 “The order fell before WW2 Zera.”  Plagg said and Zera looked at him in shock and gasped.

 “Then this Hawkmoth thing isn’t those guys trying to drag us out of hiding?!”  Zera said, shocked.  Plagg looked at her before wincing, remembering a few things the Order had done to get some of their holders to give the Miraculous over to their ‘care’.

 “No, it really isn’t. So how about, want to talk your holder into fighting alongside us?” Plagg asked and Zera looked down, her mind elsewhere.  “What is it; your’s is on the side of the good right?”

 “Yeah, but she’s not one who likes to fight.  I mean my powers are best with a team, my webs can hold foes down or help protect others, and she’s a medic!”  Zera said and then looked at Plagg.  “I’ll talk to her, I’ll say that I found you when I saw Chat Noir on the roof and you detransformed and you swung by while your holder was eating at a restaurant nearby.”

 Nadia walked into the hotel and looked around, trying to find her crew when she spotted someone waving at her from the elevators.

 “Hey Nadia, sorry about calling you in but we really didn’t have a choice.”  The executive said and looked at her with an apologetic look on his face.  “I mean nobody expect that to happen to him, really we didn’t.  I’m sorry; I’ll give you a day off with half pay so please I’m sorry.”

 “We were just lucky that I could get a babysitter, that’s all I will say about this.  So who am I meeting with?”  Nadia asked and he sighed at her answer and bowed to her.

 “An executive from a movie theater that is looking to open a studio nearby, and by nearby I mean outside the range of him.”  The executive said and Nadia looked shocked.  “We need you to well, read off a few question for the preliminaries and hopeful if nothing happens then we’ll have an interview at the studio.”  

 “That’s something; I mean it would be the first new business that’s come into the city in, well since this thing started!”  Nadia said and the executive nodded.

 “Then you see how this could be big, right?” The executive said with a smile.  “And the studio might make a superhero movie first!”

 “That is amazing.” Nadia said and looked up at the clock and nodded.  “But I have to be finished before noon, I promised the sitter that I’d get her before then and this was last minute.”

 “Of course, I promise no more than an hour.”  The executive said as they walked towards the elevators,

 “Nice, and I might have a good story about one of the local school within the next few days.”  Nadia said and the executive looked interested as the doors closed. Meanwhile outside the Agreste limo came to a stop in front of the hotel and pulled to a stop.

 Nathalie got out and looked at the ‘Gorilla’ and nodded at him.  “Go park nearby, hopefully I’ll have Adrien and we’ll be back at the mansion in a few hours.”

 The Gorilla looked at her and grunted and scowled at her, and Nathalie winced and looked down.  “I promise I won’t stop you if at the end of it all Gabriel and Adrien doesn’t make up and fix this, you can take Adrien to the police and testify okay?”

 ‘Gorilla’ nodded and Nathalie looked around at the hotel and walked inside, her eyes looking all over trying to find a clue that Adrien was there.   After a few moments a hand fell onto her shoulder and she turned to see the mayor looking at her with a smile.

 “Nathalie my dear, how are you?  You usually talk to my people over the phone if you need the space, has something happened?” Chloe’s father, André Bourgeois the mayor of Paris asked as he stood there in his usual clothes.  Nathalie looked at him and smiled.

 “No, I just thought I’d hit the café here and grab a coffee.  With everything that happened lately I thought it might be best that I grab one from here.” Nathalie said and Andre sighed and shook his head.

 “I know just what you mean my dear.  With all Hawkmoth and now this newcomer, what’s her name, Karula Zayura….. whatever. First it was how people just needed to feel strong emotions and now what she uses to make monsters, I just don’t know what Paris is coming too.  Thankfully tourism hasn’t fallen too much.” He said with a laugh.

 “I think her name was Mayura, and it’s never a good idea to taunt the crazy Mr. Mayor, I would have the name memorized before any speeches.” Nathalie said frostily and Andre nodded.

 “Of course, but with the special guest I have……opps!  Please forget I ever said anything my dear, and don’t mention it to Gabriel.” Andre said as he looked at her.  

 Nathalie kept silent and looked at him and barely kept a smile down.  “So you don’t want Gabriel to know about it then?”

 “Just until the announcement my dear, a day at most and then go right ahead.” Andre said and he shrugged. “I know it sounds convoluted but that’s what they wanted.”

 “I understand completely, truly I do.” Nathalie said and smiled at in self-thought victory.  “Just for the sack of wondering, is the guest in the ninth Suite, that has nothing to do with this one right?”

 “Oh of course, we were obliged to give that room to them, a point of honor as you can guess.” Andre said and then looked at the clock and then nodded.  “I’m so sorry, but I have to leave, I have a meeting about a concert and well I don’t want to be late.”

 “Of course, I’m sorry that I took so much time from you.”  Nathalie said and watched him leave before taking out her phone.

 Nath; I have two pieces of evidence that he’s here, plan is a go

 Gabe;  Good, I’ll see you with him hopefully, good luck.

 Nathalie walked towards the café and looked around the lobby, she was sure Adrien was here and once Gabriel found the right target, she would have her chance.  Once it started she would go up to the top floor and then she would find Adrien and talk to him about everything as the Gorilla drove them away from the attack.

  “When you have that court date, call me.  I want to have a talk with your nutritionists, a talk involving my hands around his neck.” Doctor Albert Wayzong said with a glare as he looked at Adrien.  When he had seen Adrien’s results it had taken some fast talking before he hurt Louise and then after hearing that Adrien was filling for emancipation and he calmed down a bit after that.

 “Thanks doc, I really appraised it.” Adrien said as he shook Albert’s hand.  Doctor Albert Wayzong was a middle aged man with a bald head and had blue eyes and a small beard.  He was wearing a blue shirt under a white doctor’s coat and black pants.  Adrien leaned against the wall and after a moment he felt Plagg press against him from within his coat and he kept a grin down. “And this place is great; I mean you’ve got great service and well you really take care of your clients privacy!”

 “Don’t thank me my boy, this place was set up after one too many paparazzi broke down my old place. And helping you, well that was part of my weakly charity work.  Keeps my optimism alive and I get to stay in practice.”  Doctor Albert said with a laugh.  

 “Goodbye, come again!” Lisa waved as she sat behind the counter.  As she looked down at her pocket she frowned and looked up at the doctor and cleared her throat.  “Sorry doc, bathroom breaks be right back in a bit.”

 Adrien and Louise walked out and got into Louise’s car and then they were on the road outside of the building.

 “Okay, so where do I need to take you Adrien?” Louise asked and Adrien looked at him.

 “Back to where you dropped me, that’s all I need to get back to my friends.” Adrien said as he felt Plagg push against him from his pocket.  Louise smiled at them and shook his head.  “Anyhow, I’m sure that with how the doc reacted to your physical that part of the case is won, just give me a few more days to look over everything my investigators have found and your own interview I think we’ll win, but I am sorry you had to do this kid.”

 “I know Louise, I know.” Adrien said and looked thoughtful.  This is going to be very hurtful no matter what happens, I guess in the end I have to hope that dad wasn’t this way on purpose. But I don’t understand how he could have done this otherwise. He thought as he looked out the car’s window, not paying attention to anything until he felt the car stop.

 “We’re here kid, are you sure you’re okay?”  Louise said and Adrien nodded and got out of the car and bashed towards the alley, slipping down it and after a few moments he found the dead end he had dropped his transformation before.  

 “Well kid that was hopeful.” Plagg said as he grinned at Adrien and smiled.  “I can’t wait to talk to the others at Fu’s!”  

 “What is it Plagg?” Adrien asked and Plagg grinned wider.

 “Let’s just say that I might have helped us win a victory today, and I really hope I did something right this time!”  Plagg said with a grin.  “But I’ll talk about it later, let’s go kid!”

 “Right, Plagg, Claws out!” Adrien called out before transforming into Chat Noir and then he leapt upwards and moved towards the meeting point.

  “Thank you so much for this Marinette, this was such a blessing.” Nadia said as she held Manon’s hand as she smiled at Marinette.  Nadia looked between Alya and Marinette and then looked between them.  “Are you sure I can’t get you to tell me what happened at your school?”

 “No, I really don’t want to talk about it.  But I will tell you when I can okay?” Marinette promised and Nadia nodded.

 As Nadia walked away holding Manon’s hand Marinette waved as she watched them walk away and Alya looked at him and laughed a little.

 “That wasn’t as bad I feared you know?” Alya said and Marinette nodded.  

 “Manon’s very sweat, either just right or is a complete monster that destroys everything.” Marinette said and then looked at her watch.  “Come on, we’ve got to meet the boys!”

 “Yeah, but you know that she won’t give up right?” Alya asked at they walked away from the bakery. Marinette sighed and nodded.  

 “Being you’re friend taught me that about reporters.  And I hope we get paperwork back after that tells me at least what this will be.” Marinette said with a sigh that turned into a glare.  “My parents and I talked about it; if we have to we will sue the school and or my former principle and trial by public works too.”

 “Ladies, hey!” Nino’s voice kept Alya from reacting and turning towards his voice she smiled and kissed his check.

 “Hey you ready for this?” Alya asked and Nino grinned and looked at them.  

 “Yeah, we’re just waiting on Maxie and his bot?” Nino asked and Alya nodded.

 “Don’t wait for me everyone, I’m here!”  Max said from behind them and Marinette jumped and looked at Max as he stood there and smiled at them.

 “Learning to walk silently bot boy?” Alya asked and Max laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

 “Well, all those times I ran and hide from Akuma’s had to have done something to me sooner or later.” Max said with a smirk.

 “Let’s go, we have a nice walk until we get there.” Marinette said a she walked off, her eyes looking all over until Alya looked at her and cleared her throat.

 “Uh girl, are you looking for someone?” Alya asked as Nino and Max looked at Marinette as

 “I’m looking for Lila, she can’t follow us.” Marinette said and the others looked at each other and nodded, all of them agreeing that if Lila found out anything about this then it would be bad.

  Sabrina smiled at Chloe as they walked through the streets, glad that they had spent the day listing to the bands and having lunch out.  “So think we’ll have to do that after Marinette’s hearing?”

 “Probably yeah.  I mean I wasn’t a great student but they should have called me out on a lot of the stuff I did.” Chloe said with a scowl as she looked away.

 “You really don’t like Miss. Bustier at all, do you?”  Sabrina asked and Chloe got an ugly look on her face.  

 “If there are word that describe how I feel about that bi…..witch I don’t know them in French, English or Chinese!” Chloe said with a growl.   And that’s why I really didn’t think that teacher bitch deserved Marinette’s work like that, sorry Mari but sometimes there is collateral damage. Chloe thought with a frown as she looked away from Sabrina and sighed.

 “Hey what are they doing?” Sabrina asked suddenly and Chloe looked up and saw Marinette, Nino, Alya and Max walking on the other side of the road and Chloe looked closer when she saw Marinette was looking all around.  “Are they going somewhere?”

 “And they don’t want anyone to know.” Chloe whispered as she pulled Sabrina to a storefront.  “Don’t look at them, look at their reflection, and keep your eyes focused on Marinette.”

 “Chloe?” Sabrina asked before she could see Marinette look all around through the cars passing by the window.  “What is this?”

 “Marinette probably doesn’t want Lila to find them so let’s follow so we can intercept her.” Chloe said as she led Sabrina parallel to Marinette and friends.  “Come on, let’s help her out since we couldn’t during the attack.”

 Sabrina laughed a little and let herself be dragged along behind her

  Chloe looked at them as they followed Marinette and the others, a frown on her face as they

 As the four friends moved turned down the alley Chloe frowned and moved quickly and quietly towards it as Sabrina followed behind.

 “What is it Chloe?” Sabrina asked and Chloe ignored her.  “We saw where they were going, and Lila isn’t around here as far as we know.”

 “This theater, it’s had the same owner for years, they always pay their taxes full even when they have terrible business, dad’s been……” Chloe trailed off as she saw Chat Noir drop down by them and a flash turned him into Adrien with a black cat kwami floating by his head.  Sabrina’s mouth dropped open as Chloe looked from Marinette to Max, Alya and Nino and suddenly Chat Noir flashed and Adrien was standing there with a little creature hovering over his shoulder. “Oh my. god.”

    “Adrien, how was the checkup?” Marinette asked and Adrien frowned a little.  

 “Not as bad as I feared but better then I hoped, I’m getting a bit underweight and well Plagg said that while the Miraculous help us use energy in a balance and heal us, it can’t make things from nothing.” Adrien said and rubbed the back of his neck.  

 A sound from the door caused them to look up and see Master Fu looking out at them and smiling with a look that had a hint of mischief in it.

 “Ahh there you all, come in come in.”  Fu said as he gestured for them to come into the door and then pointed towards a doorway farther down.  “This way my young friends.”

 “I can’t believe it, I mean it’s so obvious.” Chloe said dumbly as she watched them walk into the door and then she ran towards it after it closed and then calmly brought out two pieces of metal and got to work on the door

 “Chloe what are you doing?!” Sabrina demanded as she watched Chloe work.

 “I’m not giving up a chance to give that old man a piece of my mind for throwing Marinette and Adrien at Hawkmoth!”  Chloe said as she unlocked the door and they saw a hallway, a door closing a few feet away.

 Fu led the way into his apartment under the theater and opened the Miraculous Box and let the kwami out, but only those who had partners who went to their humans as they all sat down and Fu brought out a tea set and cups, filling them with tea and.

 “Welcome, one and all.” Fu said as he bowed to them.  “I had lost hope that I would ever sit with chosen of the Kwami again.”

 “Is there a difference between us and Hawkmoth and his blue witch?” Alya asked and Fu nodded before looking at her with a glare and she swallowed.

 “Yes, but I must insist that you keep it from your blog.  If Hawkmoth or anyone else finds out about it!”  Fu said and Alya nodded.

 “Chill, I’ll keep quiet, I promise.” Alya said as Trixx giggled from her place on top of Alya’s head.

 “I told you she was a true Fox!  We know when to find and when to hide!” Trixx said and Alya looked at her.  “And we choose you Alya, we choose all of you.”

 “Indead.”  Kaalki said and nodded.  “Each of you have traits that we Kwami……. The closest word in the common tongue is resonate but it fails to catch a few things.  This was so much easier when people spoke Altantian.”

 “The problem with the wish, as Plagg has said is that it is balance in its purist form.  To make a selfish wish, that causes the universe to deal the same damage to the wisher.” Fu said as he put down the teapot and looked at them.  “To save a life of a loved one, a loved one is struck down.  To cure of a terrible diseases, then they get another one just as bad.”

 “Wait, Atlantis was real!? What happened to it?!” Max asked and Adrien only pointed at Plagg.

 “He did.” Adrien said and every human aside from him, Fu and Marinette stared open mouthed.

 “To be fair, I had no choice.  There was this monstrosity that was part animal and plant, and Tikki’s powers can’t destroy life.” Plagg said and looked down.  “Unfortunately it had it’s roots all under the island and well.”

 “And this wish couldn’t be used then why?” Nino asked and Tikki nodded.

 “My holder at the time, she died before and her body fell into the sea.  I slept for hundreds of years until it made it to shore and I found someone I could see would use it right.  I meet Plagg again about three hundred years later in the early days of Rome.” Tikki said and looked down at the floor.

 “What happened to you Plagg?” Adrien asked and Plagg shrugged.

 “Me and my holder had a fallen out with the survivors and fought our way free and with like-minded people escaped to what you all know as Africa and I spent the next few hundred years fighting against them, and then I found Tikki and a few hundred years later the Guardians found us.” Plagg said with a scowl.  “The survivors really went mad after that.”

 “So what was Atlantis like?” Max asked with stars in his eyes.

 “It had a caste based society, only it wasn’t based on birth but potential and what they would like. They had an understanding of sociology that is still unmatched so their tests helped a lot of people find their passions.”  Wayzz said with a laugh as the Kwami grinned.   “One of our missing siblings was usually partnered with a member of the Healing Caste, and they passed on many things to the Guardians.”

 “Amazing, but back up a bit okay. Then you think Hawkmoth is after the wish to save someone?” Alya asked and Marinette looked down before she nodded as a scowl grew on her face. “Why, what happened?”

 “It was the last time we fought Mayura.” Adrien began and looked at Marinette who was just a s messed up as him.

 “The day that I was expelled and that mass attack fizzled out, Mayura made an appearance.  She tried to trick Adrien with a Ladybug Senti-Monster…… I gave the item that created her to her and Mayura, she just killed her by recalling the energy used to create her.” Marinette said as she hugged her arms and looked down, never noticing that Adrien had hugged her as well or the stormy expression on her face was mirrored on his. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget the look in her eyes as she died!”

 “Oh Mari…..” Alya whispered as they all took in what she had said.

 “Dude….. that’s evil on another level.” Nino siad and even Max with his limited social skills knew that this was beyond anything.  Even Fu looked both mad and sad.

 “In fact, all that I know that shouldn’t have been possible.  Once the Imok has it’s item, you can’t just recall the energy used, and as someone who has created one I should know, you need the item to destroy banish it away, otherwise you can’t.”  Fu said as he looked at the children before him.  “But what happens next is why we think this.”

 “She got sick, like she almost passed out.” Marinette said and looked at them with a haunted look in her eyes.  “And then Hawkmoth appeared and saved her.”

 “Hawkbutt came out of his lair?! Dude.” Nino breathed and Alya looked shocked as Max’s glass slipped off his head.  A gasp caused them all to turn and see two figures at the stairs, Chloe and Sabrina.

 “CHLOE?!?” Adrien gasped and Marinette face palmed as Pollen who had been hovering by the gamohpone shot towards her and hugged her cheek.

 “The puns, how caring Marinette is, I should have seen it.” Chloe said and Sabrina looked out from behind her and waved.

 “How the hell?” Alya asked as Fu looked on and stroked his beard and Chloe shrugged.

 “Sabrina saw you four move along the streets and I saw Marinette looking around and then we saw Adrien transform back and then I picked the lock.” Chloe said with a shrug at the looks she was getting.  “What, I had to do something to pass the time when I was younger and stuck in my apartment while dad was out, learning to break out was something to do, at least until he moved me to the roof.”

 “Come in, the both of you, let us talk for a bit.” Fu said as he looked at Chloe and Sabrina, his eyes on them and with a curious glint in his eyes.  “I have wanted to talk to you for a while Miss. Bourgeois.  And this is as good a time as any.”

 “Good.  I wanted to talk to the person who chooses kids to fight Hawkbutt anyway.” Chloe said as she glared at Fu as he grinned as the others looked at her.

[tonyglowheart]

same anon here. ignoring the fact that he's adopted and so technically not of lan blood, does that make lsz/ljy "incest" or are cousins not really considered incestuous in this kind of setting? thank you for being so patient!

Hello again ^^

I suppose it depends on degree of relation and time period of consideration, for starters. We don't know how closely related Lan Jingyi is to the main family, other than him being a Lan, and that could theoretically be several-times removed. Plus, taboo against cousin relationships/marriages aren't static either, and even in European/US history even first-cousin marriages weren't unheard of:

So is it "incest"? It depends on how incest is defined by the time and setting, I suppose. Is first cousin relationships incest? By modern law and sensibilities I believe the answer is generally "yes," tho not across the board; there are still places - hell, still states in the US - where first cousins can marry. So... kind of, but not always, even still today:

But tbh, as far as, like, shipping goes, I say ship what you want? We are modern people with modern sensibilities, yes, but dealing with fictional characters and constructs. If you ARE trying to imagine how it might be perceived in-universe, then I.. do kind of imagine that it'd be somewhat a taboo, tho not necessarily for "incest" reasons, and more for, like.. the fact that the pairing wouldn't reproduce & further the bloodlines (which is a taboo for filial reasons, I'd say; generally, i.e. this means like if you're not furthering the bloodline then there's no later generations to honor your ancestors & parents, which would then be unfilial), and also potentially bc it's not "increasing" the clan bc you don't have someone marrying in from outside, so you're not increasing clan ties. The wikipedia article on "cousin marriages" actually has some interesting info under "history" which could shed some further light on how marriages would be approached esp wrt to cousins and mother's family vs father's family. I will say though, re: where it mentions Ming Dynasty laws, that Ming Dynasty will be much later than any of the "possible" timeframes for MDZS if we're trying to set it literally at some point within CN history (tho I still think MDZS is not set in a literal historical time period, so much as a vaguely-historical setting with anachronisms that are more of a modern conceit, the way English-genre fantasies tend to be vaguely Medieval, but not literally Medieval. After all, potatos are a New World crop :P), so the section on Ming Dynasty laws wouldn't apply.

But again, as far as fictional shipping goes, I say ship and let ship. Even if there would have been historical taboos re: a potential Lan & Lan relationship, you're already making an AU of the original in which the two are being shipped, which is already a nonspecific vaguely historical but not *literal* historical AU of China anyway, so what's not to say that there isn't a taboo against father's family cousin relationships either :P

Also, sometimes shipping is just shipping and it doesn't have to be that deep. It's fiction, we're not talking about rl people who are literally related in which we would need to debate ethics and legality of a relationship or anything, if ya like em together then explore that ;)

[scotianostra]

On December 3rd 1894 Robert Louis Stevenson died in Samoa aged just 44.

Born in Edinburgh, Stevenson began writing as a teenager, a passion that eclipsed any desire to become part of the family profession of lighthouse engineering, or the law career he chose and studied but never practised.

Despite frail health due to tuberculosis, Stevenson, who enjoyed a bohemian lifestyle, travelled abroad often, and many of his books were produced during those journeys. He married American Fanny Vandegrift in 1880 and they lived, broke, in California before sailing to Scotland.

Stevenson split his time between Switzerland and Scotland - on medical advice for his ongoing problems with tuberculosis - and during this time began work on his famous novel, Treasure Island, as well as many other published works.

In 1887, by then living in the south of England where he wrote Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it became clear Stevenson’s health could not cope with the climate. He left for New York’s Adirondack Mountains with his wife, mother and stepson where he continued to write and found editors and publishers were willing to offer lucrative contracts.

The following year, Stevenson chartered a yacht for a holiday on the seas from which he would never return and which would result in the publication of in-depth insights about the South Seas.

After visiting a number of islands for extended stays, where Stevenson found a great interest in immersing himself in the local lifestyle, they reached Samoa in 1889 for a six-week stay. After a stint in Sydney, he returned to Samoa and set up life in the Vailima house in what is today the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum.

Stevenson became a popular and well-respected member of the community and continued to write, the climate suiting his health, he  took the native name Tusitala ("Teller of Tales"), and he quickly became involved in local politics. Convinced that the European officials appointed to rule the Samoans were incompetent, he wrote A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa - an account of the grappling between colonial powers for control of the island. The book was so incendiary that it resulted in the recall of two officials from the island, and Stevenson feared for a while that it would result in his own deportation.

On the evening of December 3rd, 1894, Stevenson died very suddenly. He had defied his weak lungs for over 40 years, but in the end it was a brain haemorrhage which killed him. The final words of his unfinished novel were strangely appropriate:

'It had seemed unprovoked, a wilful convulsion of brute nature …'

The first pic is of Nantoki, FannyStevenson, Natakauti and RLS a picture called Island Characters. Even in this warm climate, however, Stevenson continued to suffer with his health, and throughout adulthood did much of his writing from his sickbed. In the second pic he is seen composing music on his flageolet. next is a  vintage postcard of Stevenson’s grave and a more up to date pic of the tomb.  Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial in Portsmouth Square, San Francisco,  and finally Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial. St. Giles Cathedral Edinburgh.

I’ll end this post with the verse Home is the sailor, fourteen years earlier, when he was very ill in California, Stevenson had composed his own epitaph, it is on the plaque on his tomb;

Under the wide and starry sky,    Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die,    And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:    Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from sea,    And the hunter home from the hill.

[rk1kheadcanons]

Mother-in-law had a heart attack so that family emergency got real, real fast! Please bear with me as I deal with RL issues with my family.

I'll be around soon again in a couple of days posting for my solace if nothing else.

[penny-anna]

Follow up to that - If she wasn't eighteen when they met, legally she would have had to have a guardian on set with her. So did her parents consent to this? Did they also get to be on the show? If she was a minor and working/living on the show, how did they deal with rules about how many hours a child actor can work?

As per previous post, this isn't relevant to Meryl BUT it is relevant to marlon & there's a partial answer:

^ includes Marlon telling the story of how he and Truman first met. Marlon's mother was the casting director and seemingly on set to introduce them. So re guardians, presumably they hired family groups so any kids on set would have their parents around as part of the show.

Re child labour laws, I'm pretty sure the show would violate all sorts of RL labour laws so I'd assume the law is just different

[xxsealitwithakissxx]

“We’re more ghosts than people.”

After around 5 months (I know that’s basically ages these days, but I wanted to take my time... then quarantine happened) and a lot of patience, boah that’s an understatement, I can say it was worth it.

I figured it was fitting to end on the character we started with.

                                         “Vengeance is an idiot's game.”

I know most post stuff like this on reddit, but honestly I rarely feel comfortable posting there. I’m not exactly a prolific ‘cowgirl’, what long history I’ve accumulated over the course of many months can possibly be said that hasn’t already resulting in hundreds of upvotes? I mean, I’m happy for those people, it simply makes me all the more nervous. Also, ignore the Compendium. Just.... jesus, I can not. 360 is close enough, imo. Anyway, knowing it’s over feels equally like having a weight lifted and leaving a close friend behind knowing you might not see them again. I was literally a day from getting this on my birthday, lol.

Does that sound exaggerated? Probably. Yes, the game managed to hit me in the feels more than once on certain occasions. Ngl, I imagine my day one horse Sauron was probably in horse-y heaven looking down like ‘fuck all you had to do was leave me in the stables but naw fam, you had to be a hero’. That scene had me pissed more than anything. The fact that we left him there, without a grave or anything just... pffft. That actually made me turn off the game for a bit. That and the Lenny plus Hosea bit. And the Molly bit. And Susan bit. And I may have gone back and burned a rat. But you know what? Let’s move on.

It didn’t help that my dear mother had taken to alternating between watching and helping me make decisions throughout the story (*cough*novel*cough*) and became attached to some of the characters, notably Orthor. I spelled that correctly, I swear. She was on the verge of tears more than once, just don’t tell her I said that. :p

What baffled yet continued to draw me in most is watching the downfall of the charismatic, prideful (c’mon look at that gif), and arguably hypocritical leader Dutch and his loyal fanbase gang. By the third chapter’s ending, shit hit the fan so much I wondered how everyone still alive managed to stay within the group, or be relatively sane enough by the 6th chapter. I had never seen such loyalty in a video game before. Seriously. Mind you, I hadn’t played the first game (I will eventually once my recovery period is over, lol) and still knew some of what happened to the ‘Miltons’, so the ending didn’t hit too hard.

Perhaps it’s just my personal rl issue with the ‘blind leading the blind’, but I had a little gripe with a bunch of... mostly capable adults following this one man by word alone from camp to camp while running from the law and not once questioning if they should wake up tomorrow and go, hey, maybe I’ll try to think for myself today. Granted, they were a makeshift family of sorts, I can understand how they all came to trust Dutch after hearing each individual backstory. It’s teetering on the very edge of CULT LEADER I AM A CULT LEADER, but I can still understand the why’s and how’s that came to be the Van Der Linde gang, jokes aside. He is above all, human, and coupled with his inability to ‘fight nature’ I think that is what makes him so intriguing to watch (Not to mention Benjamin‘s phenomenal voice acting...and the whole cast for that matter). I notice a certain theme that people rarely, if ever seem to speak of in old westerns that is sometimes present. One man strolls into some obscure  town and threatens to take over, be it with violence or by other means, with or without a gang of dunderheads trailing his wake, and the townsfolk willingly surrender. Until of course one unsung hero snatches said villain’s glory of badassary from under him and all is right again.

RDR2 isn’t like that. Not entirely. My point is it has elements of this sprinkled inside its storyline. At least, for the first and second half. It both confused and irritated me that most people were so easily brought back then, maybe it’s still like that now at times with Social Media so present in our lives, but I digress. I’m not writing this to step on toes or tell you what to believe, I just wanted to share this experience. A 120hr (hello fellow completionists) or so journey into a redemption story, a remarkably immense detailed landscape, and its colorful yet very complex characters. Despite some plot holes here and there, which I’d expect for a prequel of this size, I think I identify with John the most. Charles as well. Not trying to downplay his shortcomings, but he never really brought into Dutch’s bullshit plans, not truly anyway. As they say hindsight is 20/20. When listening those early camp dialogues and later ones you can tell just how in depth the writing goes, I’d argue that half the specific lines at camp and reading Arthur’s journal are better than what the cutscenes have to spell out for you.

I won’t linger on what’s been said a hundred times, how much a lot of us love Orthor (I’m sorry I’ll leave) and most of the other members, along with the immersive gameplay. It certainly didn’t become boring as I initially thought. I’m not too big on westerns... Roy Rogers, Bat Masterson, Maverick, and of course the Fist Full of Dollars trilogy suffice really. I actually wonder if R* will be able to top it. Two years later and some people are still in their feelings about it like it came out yesterday. With that type of impact, it will definitely be a challenge.

Now what’s left? Oh, a few stranger missions and some places I haven’t explored fully... Hmm. Or maybe I’ll try out 100% on pc...

Ha. The epitome of my humor ends there because I’d rather be hit by that train. How my hands aren’t broken or severely bruised is anyone’s guess. But really, thanks for reading if you made this far. Stay safe, guys. <3