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soul-controller · 3 years ago

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Not All Heroes Wear Capes

In honor of @mrcavanaughtf‘s 28th birthday, I wanted to start his weekend off right with a nearly 7,000-word transformation story for him. Given his status as one of the best writers in the community, I truly cherish his friendship and quite frankly his mentorship as well. As such, I thought it was only appropriate to celebrate his birthday by helping him become one of his favorite hunky actors. So once again, thank you Henry for your friendship and I truly look forward to all of the fun stories we’ll create and conversations we’ll have in the future!

“Alright guys, thanks for checking out the stream and I’ll see you all next time,” Henry Cavanaugh merrily said, giving a smile to the camera before finally ending his Thursday night Twitch stream. After another good yet long Twitch stream, the teacher and part-time streamer was understandably exhausted. Given the fact that he had to teach five lessons early the next morning, Henry had no desire to cook and instead placed a food delivery order at one of his favorite restaurants.

As he awaited his order, Henry took the opportunity to brew up some coffee and sit in his living room scrolling through his emails. Just as he had expected, there wasn’t much in his inbox, but there was one email that immediately caught his eye. Upon reading the subject line that read “Congratulations Henry, you’re a winner!”, he was momentarily annoyed that the email had somehow gotten past the spam filter to end up in his main inbox. Curious though as to what he had seemingly won, the 27-year-old clicked on the email and quickly read through the details.

Congratulations Henry Cavanaugh,

You’ve been selected as the first winner of the Not All Heroes Wear Capes contest, which aims to recognize people like yourself who are underappreciated by either your superiors or society as a whole! Your name had been submitted by a friend who stated that you “needed to be rewarded for his constant hard work”. In association with DC Comics, it’s safe to say that your reward will surely be star-studded. Given our desire to have everyone recognize you for your hard work, the celebration will take place tomorrow morning at your workplace. Do not worry, this event has already been approved by your superiors. We look forward to rewarding you tomorrow!

Sincerely,

S-C Entertainment

Upon finishing up the letter, Henry had several questions running through his mind. Firstly, he was curious about who had seemingly submitted his name. While that was a valid question by itself, he still found himself confused as to what he had apparently won for the contest. He figured it must involve superheroes since DC is involved, but why did they need to show up at his workplace to give him the reward? Couldn’t they have just shipped it to him or had him head to some UK-based DC Comics office? The most important shock of all came from the organizer of the contest. S-C Entertainment was a business he knew well, it was one that his friend and fellow transformation enthusiast Nate ran. While it wasn’t out of the norm for him to use this side business to transform unsuspecting people, it was the first time that Nate had ever used the business when it came to transforming Henry. Usually, these little gift transformations that they did to each other was just some sort of private event (such as when Henry had swapped Nate’s body with his model crush Jordan Torres), so Henry was understandably intrigued by what the man had planned for him.

After his delivery finally arrived, Henry couldn’t resist thinking about his friend’s gift as he devoured his meal. The anticipation soon became too much to bear, so he decided to take a moment to message his friend before going to sleep. As he attempted to grill Nate to find out what he had in store for him, the fellow transformation writer had no intention of revealing any of his apparently well-thought-out plan. Instead, he would only slyly say “You’ll find out tomorrow…” every time Henry attempted once again to get some answers.

Realizing that Nate was fully determined on staying mum on the situation, Henry reluctantly bid his friend adieu for the night, jokingly telling him that his surprise “better be worth all of the secrecy” before finally turning off his phone and heading to bed.

Waking up the next morning, Henry immediately felt bittersweet about his Friday plans. In terms of his day, he found himself dealing with a full five lesson schedule that would surely leave him too exhausted to do a stream to ring in his birthday. But on the flipside, the final lesson of the day meant that he would finally start his well-deserved two-week vacation.

Upon finishing getting dressed, the man took a deep breath and tried his best to mentally prepare for these lessons. Although he had trouble being optimistic, he continued to remind himself that a relaxing vacation awaited him as soon as he exited the school. On top of that, he also remembered that S-C’s transformative birthday gift was supposed to occur during the contest at school today. While he was understandably anxious about what his friend had in mind for him, he was even more concerned about the potential (yet rare) chance of loathing the gift that his friend gave him.

As he finally made his way to school and began to traverse down the hallways with his coffee cup in hand, his anxiousness only worsened while taking in the sights around him. The students were rough-housing even more than usual, so much so that Henry found himself bobbing and weaving around the crowded halls to prevent any collision with any child. Given his already rather low spirits, Henry knew that his day would instantly be ruined if some child rammed into him and caused the cup to spill the still-hot brew all over his dress clothes. Despite the slight time delay due to his desire to be careful, Henry breathed a sigh of relief as he finally entered his classroom with his coffee cup still full and his clothes in-tact. Taking a seat at his desk, the man quickly reacquainted himself with the day’s lesson plans and waited for the final morning bell to ring.

For the first two lessons, Henry found himself struggling to remain focused on the lectures he was supposed to teach. Given his public video statement at the school during Pride month that revealed himself to be an openly bisexual man, the faculty found itself eager to give those LGBT-specific lessons to him to teach. While the teacher was certainly open to teaching these topics and encouraging an open dialogue to help sway students to become more tolerant and accepting, the lingering thought of what kind of gift he would receive from S-C Entertainment kept him from being completely present in the discussion.

Just as he began to settle into his third lesson (this one being a palette cleanser focusing on film) though, his desire for answers was finally rewarded as the door of his classroom suddenly burst open. Upon directing his attention to the doorway, Henry watched as a blonde-haired and glasses-wearing woman casually stepped into the room.

“Uh, can I help you?” Henry inquired, somewhat annoyed by the sudden intrusion.

“Hello there. Mr. Cavanaugh, right?,” the blonde asked, to which Henry wordlessly nodded. “Great,” she continued, “We’re here for the contest. Sorry it took a bit, traffic was absolutely crazy due to all of the press showing up here for this event!”

“Wait a minute, there’s going to be press?” Henry inquired, growing increasingly anxious as he suddenly heard the sound of talking outside begin increasing in volume. .

“Of course! It’s not everyday that a celebrity shows up to reward a local for their hard work,” the woman responded, grinning at Henry with an expression that seemed incredibly forced. Just before her fake smile could falter though, the sudden yet light knocking on the other side of the door allowed her to turn away in the nick of time. “Speaking of that celebrity, it seems like he’s finally ready to see you,” she continued, grasping onto the door handle and pulling it open without any fanfare.

As Henry looked up at the figure standing in the doorway, his jaw immediately dropped upon locking eyes with fellow Brit Henry Cavill. “Holy shit,” he exclaimed, taking a moment to quickly put his hand over his mouth and apologize to the younger students that were still in the room. But upon doing that quick statement, the man’s attention was once again fully devoted to the sight before him. For countless years, his friends and family had told him he had a striking resemblance to the Superman actor, but despite noticing some similarities, Henry was still absolutely starstruck by his surprise. While he wasn’t sure how S-C had been able to convince Cavill to show up for this contest, Henry knew for a fact that he would have to send his friend a very lengthy message thanking him for his birthday surprise.

While still remaining behind his desk, Henry found himself relieved by the desk since it allowed him to fully conceal his immediate boner, which only began to throb harder and faster with each step closer Henry Cavill made towards him. As the actor finally made his way to the other side of the desk, he was quick to make himself at home by sitting on the edge and extending a hand towards the open-mouthed man.

“Hey, the name’s Henry. It’s nice to meet you!” the man merrily said, which only caused more butterflies to emerge throughout the teacher’s stomach as he took ahold of the hand and shook it. Immediately, the man was impressed by the actor’s strength as it was on full display from the strong grip he had around his hand. Instinctively, Henry’s eyes wandered further up Cavill’s arm to take in the sight of his broad biceps concealed within the dark blue sweater he wore. While he tried his best to keep his composure, the teacher’s mind was quick to jump to erotic and incredibly not safe for the workplace areas as he envisioned Cavill ripping off his clothes and taking Henry right there on his own desk.

So, as he began to introduce himself, it wasn’t too shocking that the man found himself tripping over his own words. “Uh, hello there. You’ve uh, you’ve got quite the strong grip there dude! My name is Henry as well, Henry Cavanaugh.” While it was already clear that Henry was nervous, it was still incredibly annoying for him to hear himself talking so strangely. He had never called anyone “dude” or “bro” before unless it was ironically!

Despite the slight annoyance brewing in his head for slipping up already, this wouldn’t be the last embarrassing thing that the man experienced during his conversation with the man. As soon as the man’s eyes darted up and caught sight of Cavill’s perfectly aligned white teeth, angular facial features, and blue eyes, he found himself once again stumbling over his words. “It’s nice to see - I mean meet you. I’ve always wanted to be you - uh, meet you. I meant to say that I’ve always wanted to meet you!” He knew that it wasn’t every day that he got to meet his superhero crush and also apparent lookalike, but goddamn could he at least calm down a bit?! While there was certainly more that he wanted to say, the man opted to instead close his mouth to save himself from further embarrassment. While it was true that Henry had certainly fantasized about becoming Cavill from time to time (who could necessarily blame him?), the constant Freudian slips in his sentences left the transformation writer uninterested in speaking further as his cheeks shifted to a shade of bashful pink.

Although Henry Cavill had more than enough reasons to be uncomfortable around the thirsty teacher, he was able to hide any potential disgust with ease as he smiled back at the contest winner. “Well that’s sweet of you to say,” the actor replied, “It’s always a joy to meet dedicated fans like yourself!” As he put his hands on his hips, Cavill finally took the opportunity to break his attention away from the teacher and look at the shellshocked kids equally excited about being in the man’s presence. “Now, would you kids like to help me celebrate your teacher with some cake and surprises? If you guys behave yourselves, you can even be a part of the photos we take!” the man joyfully said, which elicited plenty of cheers and eager head-nods from the children.

As Henry watched the actor look over towards the blonde woman who he presumed to be the man’s agent and nod his head, the teacher watched as the door of the classroom once again opened. But instead of yet another celebrity on the other side of the door, a mousy brunette wheeled in a gigantic cart that had a large cake and a slew of drinks on it. At a rapid pace, the young brunette girl set up the drink station on an empty desk nearby and began to light the candles in the cake. Before Henry could even ask what was going on, the female agent grasped onto his forearm and pulled him over to the cake. Looking over to her, the woman refused to apologize for her manhandling, instead telling him to blow out the candles. Despite the annoyance at being moved like cattle, Henry complied with the request and quickly blew the several candles out.

For the next thirty minutes or so, Henry found himself giving small interviews to a few local news publications who were covering the contest while everyone else enjoyed the festive food and drinks. Before long though, the female agent was quick to announce that it was time for the photoshoot to occur. As Henry Cavill made his way up towards the front of the room, the teacher also finally began to break away from a journalist and follow the man up towards the front. But just as he was about to make it past the slew of desks, the man suddenly found himself colliding with a nearby student who was frantically running with a piece of cake and a freshly poured cup of soda. Given his speed, there was nothing Henry could do to prevent the cake flying up and splattering against his white dress shirt. The kid’s soda had also made an impact with his clothing, spilling right onto his crotch and down his legs.. Gasping in pure shock from the cold drink’s impact, Henry couldn’t help but clench his fists in anger at the situation at hand. While he wanted nothing more than to take photos with the actor, his outfit was now completely ruined and most certainly unfit for a professional photoshoot. While he stood there in pure shock and anger, his eyes met the bulky actor as if in search of some assistance.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry!” Henry Cavil said sympathetically, taking the opportunity to try and help out the embarrassed contest winner. “Don’t worry though, I have some spare clothes in my trailer that you can borrow if you’d like. I don’t think we’re a perfect match given the size difference, but I think something is better than nothing right?” He said before flashing a charming smile to try and conceal the veiled jab at the teacher’s lacking musculature.

Without even waiting for Henry to say yes, the female agent quickly approached him and grasped onto his arm. “Follow me,” she sternly said, pulling him along towards the door of the classroom.

“Wait, what about the students?” Henry said aloud, worried about possibly getting in trouble for leaving them alone with an actor and a bunch of journalists.

“Don’t worry, I can handle it,” the actor said with a grin. “Everything will be fine, go get changed and I’ll tell the kids some secrets from the sets of DC,” he continued, which caused the entire room to grow silent as they eagerly awaited the information.

While he wasn’t entirely sold on the concept, Henry found himself nodding his head and mouthing “thank you” to the actor before finally being led out of the classroom and into the trailer a block or two down from the school itself. Throughout the whole journey, the woman remained completely silent, refusing to even offer up a name when Henry tried to introduce himself and make himself appear friendly to her. In fact, the only words she said came when they arrived into the trailer. “Head to the back of the trailer into Henry’s bedroom. Pick something simple and change into it quickly, there’s people waiting on us,” she commanded, her voice remaining as monotone yet stern as ever.

Despite his annoyance at her shity attitude, Henry nodded his head and made his way back towards the bedroom. While he wanted nothing more than to curse her out and tell her to stop being an asshole to him, the sticky and wet sensation of his soda-soaked pants left him desperate to change first more than anything. So as Henry entered the bedroom, he was bemused to see that some sets of clothing were already laid out on the bed. Although he had no way of knowing, he assumed these clothes were the unused options for the event’s attire.

Just as he found himself opting to pick one of the already pre-selected options, the sight of a bright red trail of fabric sticking out of the back of a nearby closet caught Henry’s eye. With innate curiosity, he couldn’t help but move towards the closet and slowly peel back the door. As light finally began to shine into the dark closet, the man couldn’t help but gasp as he found himself staring at the actor’s Superman costume. Given his intense enjoyment of cosplay, there was nothing more exciting to Henry in that moment than getting to look closely and touch the very suit that he had seen in countless superhero films. While running his hand down along the slick and high-quality fabric, there was nothing Henry wanted more than to put on the suit and try it on.

Despite his mind telling him that it was a bad idea and that he could get in trouble if caught by the rude woman waiting for him outside the trailer, he couldn’t resist succumbing to his desires. So upon yanking the costume off the hanger, Henry quickly paced into the connected bathroom before shutting the door behind him. Acting on pure excitement, he wasted no time pulling off all of his clothes (even his underwear) and slipping completely into the iconic Superman suit.

Upon securing himself into the suit, the man grasped onto the velvety-smooth cape and pulled it over his back to conceal the eyesore of a zipper. Turning towards the mirror, Henry smiled with child-like wonder as he took the opportunity to flex within the suit and show off his modest muscles. Although they were a far cry from Cavill’s bulky physique, Henry felt content by the fact that his build didn’t look entirely out of place in the suit. Sure there was certainly room for improvement to make the suit skin-tight on his body, but he was still considering it a win that he was able to even properly wear the suit at all.

Henry stared into the mirror for several seconds before reminding himself not to get too transfixed due to the short time constraint he had before the woman would surely check up on him. Eager to document the fact that he had worn the suit though, Henry grabbed onto his phone and unlocked it before opening up the camera app. While he was too busy taking some selfies posing in the suit, he was oblivious to the fact that his continued usage of the suit was manifesting a life-changing transformation.

It wasn’t until Henry caught sight of the red Superman emblem on his chest changing color that he realized that something strange was happening. As he both looked into the mirror at his reflection and through the lens of his camera, he realized that the red emblem was beginning to glow. With each breath he took, this light red color grew in intensity until it looked like his chest had an S-shaped flame on it. Unsure of what was going on yet eager to prevent any sort of injury, Henry frantically pulled back the cape and searched for the zipper to pull down. But as his hands continued to wander, escape seemed out of the question as no zipper appeared to exist on the suit anymore.

Although the concept of a zipper magically disappearing was enough to leave him scratching his head for days, the man’s attention was too busy focused on the sudden heat that was now accompanying the glowing red emblem. It grew hotter and hotter until eventually, his chest felt like a volcano. Gritting his teeth, he loudly growled in pain and unknowingly initiated his birthday transformation...

Immediately, a sudden wave of both relief and tightness began to rock through every inch of the man’s body. Dropping his phone due to the sudden pain, Henry could only stare into the mirror and watch as the changes manifest in front of him. Despite not being able to see his body from underneath the suit, the man watched as the sleeves of the suit suddenly began to expand as much desired bulk began to fill in his already muscular arms. This growth was awe-inspiring, as made evident by Henry’s gasps and wide eyes as he watched the blue sleeves expand like a balloon filling with air. Within no time, the entire sleeves of both arms had reached their limits as he gained the ideal physique to perfectly fill the suit. Taking a moment despite the discomfort, Henry couldn’t help but lift his arm up and squeeze the bulk concealed within the blue fabric of his upper arms. His flexed biceps were rivaling the size of volleyballs, which didn’t look out of place due to the fact that his forearms had also widened in tandem. Every inch of his arms from his biceps to his hands had undergone an incredible change, which only made Henry more intrigued as to what was going to happen next.

The suit itself also seemed eager to find out as well, as the man soon felt the same waves of growth ripple across his entire torso. Looking down in curiosity, Henry watched as each pec began to bloat and grow increasingly firm until he found himself in possession of an above-average but not extreme set of pecs. That ripple continued to move its way down his stomach, causing him to do a series of forced belly rolls that brought forth one-by-one a complete six pack of abdominal muscles. While they were certainly not as emphasized as the suit made them appear to be, Henry was completely overjoyed to run his wider fingers along his stomach and know that he truly did have a complete six-pack now.

Continuing downward, everything from the waist downward began to undergo its changes simultaneously. His thighs were rapidly widening, growing to the point where he strained to make even the slightest of movements in fear of ripping out of the tight fabric that was already constricting his muscles while standing still. Surely after today, he would have quite a problem finding pants that would fit his immense lower body.

While his thighs grew, the teacher’s ass and cock were undergoing their own changes to make him as heroic as ever. Each ass cheek expanded and grew until they rivaled the size of a bowling ball, only being hindered and forced to stop by the constriction from the non-stretchy suit. Moving each hand over his meaty ass cheeks, Henry couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement. He had often had conversations with Nate about their shared appreciation of men’s asses, so it was amusing to find himself now with an ass that would surely receive praise from both of them.

As if to interrupt Henry’s ass-appreciation session though, the front half of his waist began to undergo its changes as Henry felt his already-firm cock grow harder and harder as the intense heat of the emblem made its presence known. His package felt extremely heated now and began to grow until it completely filled out the crotch of the suit. Despite being a fairly average endowed man, the suit was eager to reward Henry further by causing him to grow to over 9” long with a significant amount of girth. With all of these changes continuing to affect his body, the man couldn’t stop himself from beginning to leak pre-cum into the suit as he watched himself truly undergo his own superhero origin story!

While his calves and feet also grew slightly in size to turn him into a more intimidating and buff individual, the heat that had dissipated from his crotch was making its grand return around his shoulders and head. With these sections of his body not having the suit covering it up, Henry was able to watch firsthand as his trap muscles began to rise and fall. Despite the eerie visual that made it seem as if the muscles were breathing, the teacher was overjoyed to watch his shoulders broaden in order to fulfill the appropriate build of a superhero.

But while most of the changes by the suit involved changes in muscle tone, the changes that affected Henry’s head were eager to do more than some simple changes. This was first made evident to him as he felt both the sensation of heat and numbness permeate throughout his entire skull. Given that he already bore a resemblance to Henry Cavill, such as his nose and similar shade of blue eyes, there wasn’t much to change about the teacher. So in reality, the most severe changes came to his jawline and the man’s hair. Even through the narrowed eyes, Henry could watch in disbelief as his features shifted and grew more angular. His jawline stretched and became much more prominent as his face then lost its rounded edge and gained a sculpted shape that looked as if it had been constructed in a lab due to just how perfect it looked. As if to punctuate his new facial structure, the man watched as a dimple emerged onto his chin, which quickly shifted to give the man a modelesque cleft chin. Then from the roots down, Henry could only stare in disbelief as his light brown hair grew shades darker until it resembled Henry Cavill’s own dark black shade, which had suavely slicked itself back to perfect the superhero look.

Upon watching the final step of his transformation occur, Henry was understandably shocked and unsure of what to do. Somehow, his friend had found a way to turn him into a complete doppelganger of the hunky Superman actor. Was his love for cosplay so obvious that S-C knew that Henry would be unable to resist trying the suit on? It was annoying to realize that he had been so predictable, however he wasn’t entirely too upset given the end result staring back at him in the bathroom mirror. In fact, he couldn’t help but smile every time he caught sight of his new self.

Staring at himself in the mirror though, he found himself unsure of how to proceed. Should he be stereotypical and immediately jerk off looking into the mirror like he often had the characters in his stories do after their transformations? Should he just focus on pulling off the suit and getting a closer look at the even more muscular frame he now possessed? While his mind would have surely been able to come up with more possibilities, a sudden banging on the other side of the door caused Henry to stop his train of thought.

“Hey Henry, are you ready yet?” the familiar sound of the female agent’s stern voice called out. “We need to hurry up and get the hell out of here!” the woman coldly continued, which only caused Henry to grow more enraged about the woman’s behavior. He understood that Henry Cavill was a big actor with countless jobs and press that he needed to do, but it was so shitty how dismissive she was of both the contest and him in general. As such, the man acted rather instinctively as he pulled open the bathroom door in anger.

“Why are you being such an arse about this contest?” Henry growled as he stared directly into the woman’s eyes. But as he found himself staring at the reflection of a suited up Henry Cavill being reflected in her glasses, the man instantly stopped what he was doing. Clearly, he had acted irrationally and now his secret transformation had been revealed before he could sneak out of the trailer.

“Uh, because you’ve got to get back to set soon? We only got production to halt for a few hours so you can do this contest,” the woman said, which caused Henry’s face to turn into a look of pure surprise and confusion. Clearly though, the woman was quick to catch on and respond to the expression on your face. “What’s going on with you? From what I recall, you were dreading this idiotic contest this morning too!”

As Henry took the opportunity to comprehend the woman’s words, it quickly dawned on him that the transformation had an additional side effect. Somehow, it caused the people around him to believe him to be the real Henry Cavill! While this was certainly a relief for him to find out, it left him wondering about what will happen once he finds the real Henry back in the classroom. Will reality rewrite itself where the real Henry has some new identity as a twin brother?

Clearly desperate to see what was going to happen, the man’s face shifted into an eager grin as he tried his best to play the part. “Yeah, you’re right. I guess I was just having too much fun that I forgot about returning to set,” Henry responded, trying his best to explain the apparent forgetfulness about his job as an actor. “That teacher just seems like a nice guy, so I want to give him a good party!” he continued, which caused the woman to just roll her eyes.

“Alright Mr. Philanthropy, then let’s get out of the trailer and surprise these kids before giving that poor teacher one last thrill before heading out!”

While he still wasn’t quite a fan of the woman’s snarky tone, he was willing to oblige with her request and thus followed her out of the trailer and back into the school. Upon stepping out of the crowded trailer, the transformed man took the opportunity to roll his shoulders and adjust to his new form before finally following the woman. As he roamed the halls of the building, he couldn’t help but smile instead of frown. When he was Henry Cavanaugh, these hallways were a constant source of dread and impending doom for a career that he wished so desperately to get out of. But now as Henry Cavill, these halls provided intrigue and mystery that left his heartbeat incredibly frantic and eager to see what would happen. Given the fact that these feelings mixed with the extreme discomfort he felt inside the tight suit, it was honestly shocking to him that he didn’t faint as he pulled open the door to surprise not only his former students but also the real Henry Cavill.

However as he walked into the room and scanned it for the hunky actor, he instead found someone else entirely staring back at him. The real actor had somehow undergone his own transformation, because instead of seeing that gorgeous face and buff body sitting in a chair, he instead found a replacement Henry Cavanaugh sitting in his place. While he hadn’t expected to see his old self staring back at him, Henry found himself excited to see the look of excitement emerging on both the children in the classroom and the actor-turned-teacher. Obviously, his thought of reality warping everyone’s minds had been correct, which was a huge relief and insanely erotic concept. With the former Cavill acting so giddy upon seeing the suited-up man, it told Henry that the man clearly had no idea of who he used to be. Somehow, S-C’s contest had made it so Henry Cavill’s transformation into Henry Cavanaugh made the man and the children he was around believe that he had always been the teacher. Indeed this was true, with reality altering so the teacher-turned-actor made his way out to change into his Superman costume rather than get a replacement pair of clothes from a spilled drink.

With the cameraman still in the room, Henry was quick to move things along so he could hopefully get some alone time with his replacement. As such, he took the opportunity to do a quick conversation and photo with every student before sending them out of the room along with his new agent and the journalists to talk alone to the new teacher. Staring back at himself, Henry was quite amused by getting an outsider’s perspective of his innate awkwardness as the teacher adjusted his pants in a poor attempt to conceal his raging boner. While the new Henry Cavanaugh was clearly quite bashful as he made his way up to the actor, the replacement Cavill was savoring every moment of it. That former shame and awkwardness for the obvious thirst he felt had been swapped out for feelings of pure pride and cockiness as he realized that he was now the object of “his own” desires.

“It’s great to see you again Henry, did you have a great time?” the new Henry Cavill coolly stated, taking the opportunity to put his hands on his hips and pull off a heroic-style pose for the now-younger man’s amusement.

“Ye-yeah, I had a fantastic time. How could I not? I got to meet Henry fucking Cavill!” the teacher cried out, blushing as he failed to hide his own excitement about the situation.

“Well that’s very kind of you to say Henry,” the actor responded, smirking once more as a fun idea emerged in his mind. “Say, would you like to feel the suit?” he continued, that grin widening to devilish levels as the man eagerly shook his head yes. All too willing to give his former body something to talk about and remember forever, Henry lifted his arm up and flexed his impressive biceps. Transfixed on the bulging muscle, the teacher’s hands instinctively moved towards the upper arms to take in both the hardness of his body and the slick feel of his suit.

Turning around, Henry Cavill moved his cape out of the way and encouraged the smaller man to take a moment to admire every inch of the suit. With his face turned to the other side, Henry couldn’t help but smirk as the man’s hands traversed across his broad back and even took a moment to graze against the perky ass cheeks that were stretching the suit to the max. “I heard from my agent that you like cosplay, so hopefully getting an up-close opportunity with this suit can give you some ideas to maybe make your own someday,” Henry teased, turning his head and smiling at the young man who was eagerly shaking his head.

“Oh yeah, I’d love to create a suit like this one day. Obviously I couldn’t fill it out as well as you can, but it would certainly be a fun time…” the man said, his words trailing off before he could finish the sentence. Instead, his hands seemed to continue the conversation as the extremely horny teacher found himself unable to resist reaching around the front of the suit to feel the man’s meaty inner thighs and tight bulge constricted within the suit.

While he was clearly enjoying this impromptu muscle worship session, Henry wasn’t wanting things to get too out of hand and thus moved away from the man before turning around. As he looked at the man’s wide eyes and used his peripheral vision to glance downwards at the still-rock hard boner in his pants, Henry knew that he was successfully able to give his old body and the former actor one last thrill that would last with him forever. But as much as he wanted to spend time with his old self, he was even more interested in jumping right into the actor’s life when it came to working on a film set.

“So Henry, I’m sorry but I’ve got to head out and get back to set. I know you understand, but I’ve had a great time here. It was more life-changing than you’ll ever know,” Henry Cavill slyly said, amused by the fact that the new teacher would have no idea what he was truly talking about. Extending his hand out, the new actor was quick to display his new strength after having Henry Cavanaugh grasp onto it. Even as the new teacher gasped in slight discomfort, Henry’s grip remained tight throughout the handshake until he deemed it time to finally let go. Turning on his heels, Henry finally pulled his hand away and made his way towards the door. Stopping at the doorway though, Henry turned and gave one last smile back at the man whose life he had completely taken over. After taking a second to mentally thank him for his sacrifice and apologize for the impending feelings of being ignored and underappreciated, Henry Cavill made his way out of the school and back onto the trailer to return to the site of his newest film production.

* * * * *

Upon arriving at the small home close to the studio that the film production had rented for their lead actor, the man formerly known as Henry Cavanaugh was quite amused by the events of his day. Not only had he essentially swapped bodies and lives with his celebrity lookalike and long-term crush Henry Cavill, but he also got to spend the later portion of his day seamlessly pulling off his role on a nearby film production. The man hadn’t expected the first few takes to be a breeze, but they ended up being just that as he was seemingly able to tap into the man’s innate ability as if it was muscle memory.

After dropping his bag near the doorway, Henry sauntered his way over to a nearby couch and fell back into it. Just as he took a moment to close his eyes and take a breather, the sudden ding of a wall clock caused him to look up. Amusingly, the clock he stared at had just struck midnight, which would have made it Henry Cavanaugh’s official 28th birthday. But despite not being able to celebrate the festivities in his old body, Henry felt quite at peace with his new 38-year-old self. While it wasn’t quite ideal to lose practically 10 years of life over the course of a day, Henry viewed that as simply a small price to pay for a life of success and vitality. In fact, he had never been wealthier or felt better in his life!

Leaning further back into the couch, Henry couldn’t help but chuckle as he thought back to the contest that his friend had awarded him with. While it was true that not all heroes wear capes, Henry couldn’t help but smirk to himself as he thought about how nice it was to know that he actually did now…

* * * * *

In the few weeks since his body swap, the new Henry Cavill was pleased to find that life was still an absolute dream. Not only was he consistently able to seamlessly deliver top-tier acting performances whenever he was on set, but he was only a few days away from celebrating his own 39th birthday on May 5th. While it was true that he was insanely wealthy and could easily purchase anything he wanted, he still found himself eager to get himself a small birthday present for himself.

Despite how the other actors on set joked with him about his “nerdiness”, Henry was all too eager to use the time in-between takes to discuss the custom PC that he had ordered and was spending time putting together in his free time after getting home from set. Although his life was fairly hectic as a global superstar, Henry found himself still devoted to living a life somewhat similar to his old one.

Since the replacement Henry Cavanaugh was still working extremely hard on creating transformation-themed content for his Patreon and Tumblr accounts, the new Cavill felt no desire to return to that realm of writing. To him, he felt as though when you yourself undergo a dream transformation, there’s nothing much more you can write that really inspires you to write anything new and creative. So as such, his focus was instead narrowing in on his new love for streaming. Given his devilish good looks, killer personality, and level of fame, it wasn’t much of a surprise that Henry Cavill instantly became the #1 streamer on Twitch. No matter how hard anyone could try to convince him to host their streams upon finishing, Henry couldn’t resist sending his tens of thousands of followers to support a small British teacher by the name of Henry Cavanaugh…

Like what you read? Please consider signing up for my Patreon to read more stories and support my work.

#body swap #reality shift #mental changes #age progression #Cavanaugh birthday story

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dragoncityinteriordesign · 2 years ago

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One of the underappreciated -- and, I feel, under-used by the production itself -- elements of the whole SID set is how the top of the lab is the back of the library. The iron pole that Shen Wei kuang-kuangs on (thanks to this site for the episode title translations) is actually one of those Dixing-OSHA-compliant ladders that leads up to a balcony that surrounds most of the room. Were you to go up there and walk around it, you would first get to the storage pile where the Guardian Lantern was hiding, and then to the rest of the library itself.

It’s not just decorative, either! There are scenes shot from up there, which indicates it’s the architecture involved strong enough to support a whole camera rig and the crew to run it. The way the room lighting is installed underneath it is also very clever.

It does always seem strange to me how amazing and interconnected this whole set is, and how the production just does not take advantage of that. I guess I’ve just gotten really used to steadycam shots that will follow people anywhere, but it seems like more long shots should have happened while people were moving from one room to the next, or going up or down a flight of stairs -- or at least interacting over different levels. But the most you ever really get is a couple of scenes where people on the balcony are talking to the people on the ground floor of the main room. There should, I feel, have been way more things like Zhao Yunlan’s five-second fire pole demonstration, setups that made clever use of the truly marvelous playground they had to work with. ...Also, I wanted everybody to get a chance to go down the fire pole.

#guardian #zhen hun #SID library #SID lab

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sk1fanfiction · 4 years ago

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the many faces of tom riddle, part 2

-you dislike frank dillane’s portrayal of tom riddle only because you don’t think he’s attractive-

FULL DISCLAIMER THAT THIS IS JUST MY OPINION OF A CHARACTER WHO DOESN’T HAVE THE STRONGEST CANON CHARACTERIZATION, AND THUS ALL THIS IS BASED ON MY CONCEPTUALIZATION (and this time, featuring a bit of armchair child psych from a student).

Wait, don’t clutch your pearls just yet. Compose yourself.

I am about to explain why it’s not actually that bad, and Dillane’s portrayal is vastly underappreciated.

I definitely agree that his portrayal comes off as ‘creepier’. It’s not helped by the stylistic decisions in the scene -- the smeary, green filter gives the scene a sinister quality.

Even Slughorn looks suspect here, which is somewhat appropriate, given that he is complicit in this crime.

Again, this scene is very much intended to be slightly off.

You’ll notice (and I’ll discuss this again when I talk about Coulson’s portrayal) that Dillane is almost always shot from at least slightly below, which makes the lower third of his face look bigger (and thus more menacing). The lighting also makes his eyes glow in a really unnatural way. There’s an echo-y effect to make his voice (and not Slughorn’s) sound unnerving.

People talk about how Coulson would have looked in this scene, and if he was filmed in the same way (monotone, smeary/shadowy filter, and always from below), he’d look a bit creepy, too.

But all of this, imo, is for a pretty good reason. Slughorn isn’t the POV character. Harry is. Harry is learning about how a young Lord Voldemort wheedled the secret of Horcruxes out of an unsuspecting teacher. Unlike in COS, he expects Riddle to be evil. And, so, Harry’s new perception of Tom Riddle literally colors how we perceive him.

Take this shot, for example: he does that head-tilt thing that Coulson does, and it’s actually... kind of... cute???

Imagine Dillane filmed from slightly above, like Coulson usually is, and it looks even more innocent. (I mean, come on, he does not look like he’s killed four people, does he?) It’s not hard to imagine teachers being taken in by this kind of act.

Even that little smirk he does when the camera (aka, Harry’s gaze) pans in, is for Harry’s benefit. No one else noticed that.

However, I still fail to find this creepy, like, at all. Yes, it’s a fake smile, but he’s portraying a different side of Tom Riddle to Coulson. Whereas, in COS, he’s in his vindictive, murderous element, where he’s free to express himself, in this scene, Tom Riddle is doing what he does best -- manipulating and managing appearances.

This entire scene is an act. And because Harry knows it’s an act, it should look a bit stilted.

From the Hepzibah Smith scene in the books: Voldemort smiled mechanically and Hepzibah simpered.

So, Harry is pretty adept at parsing Tom’s fake expressions.

But just look at the expressiveness in his face: he goes from brooding, he blinks, and his entire face changes to this charming (fake) smile.

At the risk of sounding elitist, I’m a bit tired of seeing the word ‘psychopath’, which is not an actual medical diagnosis recognised by any psychological or psychiatric institution, being tossed about, especially with reference to Tom Riddle (and from a neuroscience perspective, it’s doubly annoying). There’s no such thing as ‘insanity’ or ‘psychopathy’ or being ‘crazy.’

-although I use it too a shorthand in conversation to distinguish ‘canon’ Tom from his ‘softer’ OOC counterparts, I really shouldn’t-

Unfortunately, I’ve seen the ‘psychopath’ comment used time-and-time again as an excuse or a full explanation of ‘why Tom Riddle went evil’ (JKR in fact, has made a weird comment in an interview, basically saying that ‘psychopaths can’t be redeemed or learn adaptive coping skills’ or whatever), which really just goes to show the lack of understanding and compassion when personality disorders, especially, are concerned.

But what I like most about the opening of this scene, actually, is that first, listless expression. And this is where we get slightly into headcanon, but Tom Riddle is the opposite of a happy, mentally healthy teenager. By Dumbledore’s own admission, he has no real friends. He has no parental figures, no real attachments. Yes, he might derive some pride or enjoyment from being good at magic and top of his class and all that, but I really don’t think even Tom finds that truly fulfilling. There is nothing that makes him happy.

In fact, although some might perceive it as ‘creepy’, I think that listless expression is an accurate window into Tom’s psyche.

I know people aren’t big on Freud, but I think that he does make some interesting points (also, cut the guy some slack for being relatively open-minded for the Victorian Era, and inventing psychoanalysis and while yes he did say some sexist stuff, good luck finding a field of science that isn’t male-focused and makes crazy generalizations about women, especially back in the day) about the possible origins of thanatophobia, the fear of death.

According to Freud, thanatophobia is a disguise for a deeper source of concern -- he did not believe that people were capable of conceptualizing their own death to that extent. Instead, he believed that this phobia was caused by unresolved childhood conflicts that the sufferer cannot come to terms with or express emotion towards.

Now, I know Freud almost always attributes mental distress to childhood experiences, but I think in this case, it really has some merit.

According to attachment theory, the basis of how we form attachments in adulthood is dictated by learning it from experiences with caregivers in the first two years of life. We know Tom was born in an orphanage, and that he didn’t cry much as a baby, and subsequently, probably received very little attention. Compounded with possible genetic factors and his caregivers being afraid or wary of his magical abilities, he later struggled to form attachments because of this -- I would actually go so far as to say that by the time Dumbledore meets him, Tom Riddle is severely depressed.

And that flat affect and anhedonia, I think, comes over very well in Dillane’s portrayal. There’s kind of this resignation -- a very deep sadness and loneliness to his character.

Of course, he doesn’t derive any comfort or fulfillment from human interaction, because (to borrow the description from the Wikipedia article on ‘Reactive attachment disorder’, which Tom meets all the criteria for) he has a “grossly disturbed internal working model of relationships.” In other words, he is unresponsive to all offers of attachment because of this unacknowledged trauma.

(You could arguably class Tom as having an avoidant attachment style, but I think in his case the trauma and its effect on him are severe enough to call it disordered.)

RAD isn’t particularly well-characterized (especially neurologically) and quite new in the literature, but here are some links if anyone is interested in doing a bit of digging: Link 1 | Link 2 | Paper 1 | Paper 2

And, instead of trying to resolve this conflict in a healthy way, or at least recognize that this is why he can’t be happy and try to learn how to cope from there, he (a) represses the desire for human attachment and (b) funnels that negative emotion into being the fault of Death, the Grim Reaper (again, to borrow Freudian terms).

And we all know how that turned out...

(And now, this should go without saying, but psychoanalyzing fictional characters has nothing to do with assigning a morality to mental disorders. Mental illness is neither a cause nor an excuse for criminal behavior -- in the same way that the cycle of violence is a phenomenon, not an excuse. Tom Riddle did not become a genocidal murderer because, in common parlance, he was a ‘psychopath’ -- he was not necessarily ‘predisposed’ to evil and could just as easily chosen to not follow the path that he did -- instead, he willingly made poor choices. This is a descriptive analysis, not a justification -- a ‘how’, not a ‘why’)

Here’s a Carl Jung quote that articulates it better:

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

Yes, he’s a bit stiff (and a lot more formal than in COS during his *conversation* with Harry). But, and here comes the controversial bit, this is appropriate for a portrayal of a schoolboy in the 1940s. The upright posture is accurate -- respectful, polite -- everything Tom Riddle would have been expected to be (and even Coulson, in that scene with Dumbledore in COS, is quite stiff). Even the way he looks at Slughorn and maintains eye contact is very *respectful.*

And, Dillane (I think he’s seventeen or eighteen here) actually looks like a believable sixteen-year-old. I’m sorry, I love Coulson’s portrayal as well, but he looks around nineteen in COS; so in HBP, he probably would have looked at least twenty-two or so. (Sorry, not sorry).

This may be influenced by my own interpretation of the character (because I imagine Tom always looks young for his age, and Dillane fits that archetype, but I don’t think that’s very popular), but I think young Tom Riddle is supposed to be *cute* and a bit stiff/shy/awkward (being charming and awkward is very much possible), if you consider the way Dippet and Slughorn treat him.

To support this, he says very few words to Hepzibah Smith (in the book, that scene’s not in the movie), and is very... bashful and coy during the whole interaction? I think yes, he’s charismatic, but he’s not loud, suave, openly flirtatious or particularly verbose. Tom Riddle should have a quiet magnetism, and to me, that came across in Dillane’s portrayal.

"I'd be glad to see anything Miss Hepzibah shows me," said Voldemort quietly, and Hepzibah gave another girlish giggle.

...

"Are you all right, dear?"

"Oh yes," said Voldemort quietly. "Yes, I'm very well. ..."

Even the ‘ugly, greedy look’ described in the books, when Slughorn starts spilling his secrets, is there. This is how he’s supposed to look! Slughorn glimpses it, but doesn’t understand its significance. Harry does.

“Slughorn looked deeply troubled now: He was gazing at Riddle as though he had never seen him plainly before, and Harry could tell that he was regretting entering into the conversation at all.”

Remember the context of this moment, as well: He’s just discovered how to create multiple Horcruxes. Excuse him for looking a bit creepy (if not now, then when?).

Here’s two direct quotes of Harry’s impression of Tom Riddle in that scene:

“But Riddle's hunger was now apparent; his expression was greedy, he could no longer hide his longing.”

“Harry had glimpsed his face, which was full of that same wild happiness it had worn when he had first found out that he was a wizard, the sort of happiness that did not enhance his handsome features, but made them, somehow, less human. . . .”

Tom Riddle’s Horcruxes are a direct metaphor for his refusal to allow himself to heal from his trauma -- instead, he continues to inflict destruction on himself and others.

His desire to continue creating more Horcruxes sort of resounds with the fact that self-harm can also become a compulsion.

I’d also like to digress a bit to discuss the Gaunt Ring, while we’re at it. While we’ve talked about his attachment issues in general, this discussion is particularly pertinent to father figures. And while Tom’s attachment issues are extensive, I think there’s ample evidence that as a child, he craved acknowledgement and acceptance from a father figure -- the man who gave him the only thing Tom truly owned -- his name. He would have had a vaguely defined mother figure in Mrs. Cole, perhaps.

"You see that house upon the hillside, Potter? My father lived there. My mother, a witch who lived here in this village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was.... He didn’t like magic, my father ... He left her and returned to his Muggle parents before I was even born, Potter, and she died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a Muggle orphanage ... but I vowed to find him ... I revenged myself upon him, that fool who gave me his name ... Tom Riddle. ..."

We know that by June of 1943 (COS flashback) Tom has already uncovered the truth of his parentage; he knows he is the Heir of Slytherin via the Gaunt line, and he describes himself to Dippet as ‘Half-blood, sir. Witch mother, Muggle father.’

In Part 1, I discussed the high probability that as a presumed ‘Mudblood’, Tom Riddle was treated rather poorly in Slytherin House. But by this scene in the fall of 1943, he is surrounded by a group of adoring hangers-on. Why?

In my opinion; the Gaunt Ring. We know that Tom stopped wearing it after school, so its sentimental value couldn’t have been that great. We know he likes to collect objects (which I believe stems from his attachment issues -- he seeks comfort in things instead of other people).

Signet rings (such as the one belonging to Tutankhamun seen above) were used to stamp legal documents and such, in order to certify someone’s identify -- like an e-certificate, if you will. Like Tutankhamun’s ring, the Gaunt Ring bears an identifying symbol -- Marvolo Gaunt tells us proudly that it bears the Peverell family crest.

By the Middle Ages, anyone of influence, including the nobility, wore a signet ring. Rings in antiquity were auspicious -- they signified power, legitimacy, and authority. And so, I believe that all the Sacred Twenty-Eight families would have worn these, too.

And so, bearing the Gaunt Ring would have established Tom Riddle, symbolically and in the eyes of the Sacred Twenty-Eight (his future supporters and followers), as the legitimate heir to the House of Gaunt. This is why, I believe, Tom coveted the ring as soon as he saw it -- not just because it was a family heirloom, and not just because he thought it was a pretty toy for his collection.

(He curses it so that no one else but him can wear the Gaunt Ring safely.)

This is why, to make the legitimization literal as well as symbolic, Tom murders his father and grandparents. It’s not just an act of vindictive, murderous rage due to his perception of being rejected by his father (although it is that, too). And so, Tom, abandoning his search for a father figure (and possibly also giving up on the possibility to allow himself to heal from his own personal trauma rather than continue to inflict it on others), ‘cleanses’ his bloodline, to make himself truly legitimate. It’s rather telling that instead of affirming his legitimacy as a Riddle, which would have put him in line for a nice inheritance, and hey -- money is money -- (thus accepting his half-blood status), he simply kills them all. He has done all the murdering he needs to become immortal (and he hasn’t had the discussion about multiple Horcruxes yet); but yet, he does it again. Frightening stuff.

(Just look how the others look at Tom. All but the one to his left -- possibly Nott, Rosier, or Mulciber -- have their torsos turned towards him. Their attention is on him, while he knowingly regards the viewer/Harry. Tom seems a little uncomfortable with the attention.).

“And there were the half-dozen teenage boys sitting around Slughorn with Tom Riddle in the midst of them, Marvolo's gold-and-black ring gleaming on his finger.”

...

“Riddle smiled; the other boys laughed and cast him admiring looks.”

...

“Tom Riddle merely smiled as the others laughed again. Harry noticed that he was by no means the eldest of the group of boys, but that they all seemed to look to him as their leader.”

The ‘gang’ are true hangers-on; Tom doesn’t seem to pay them much attention.

So, if not via careful flattery or charisma, the attraction must be status.

And perhaps yet more telling...

"I don't know that politics would suit me, sir," he said when the laughter had died away. "I don't have the right kind of background, for one thing." “A couple of the boys around him smirked at each other. Harry was sure they were enjoying a private joke, undoubtedly about what they knew, or suspected, regarding their gang leader's famous ancestor.”

That, in my opinion, is as good as we’re going to get as proof that Tom’s shiny new signet ring (and by extension, his new status) made a big impression on his fellow students.

So, when he returns to Hogwarts, he is ‘pureblood’. He is cleansed of his Muggle roots, and becomes the legitimate heir of the House of Gaunt, now well on his way to becoming Lord Voldemort...

Watch the scene again, with a critical eye, and imagine Slughorn’s perspective, instead of Harry’s. There’s nothing creepy about Tom Riddle... unless you know what he is...

Strip away all the effects of Harry’s gaze (and notice, here he’s still looking at Harry), and he’s quite the charmer, actually.

(I will concede that I don’t like the promotional images where they have him looking like he’s up to no good. And I do wish he blinked once in a while.)

My challenge to you: Rewatch the scene with an open mind, and let me know if you agree that Dillane’s portrayal comes off as depressive rather than ‘creepy.’ And if not, why do you dislike his portrayal?

#tom riddle #character analysis #character study #the many faces of #tom marvolo riddle #frank dillane #i literally could not find any pictures other than these #literal crumbs i swear #i know this is unpopular #people really dislike him i guess #watch the scene again with an open mind i promise you'll like it #i seriously do think he did a good job #tw: mention of child abuse #tw: mention of self-harm #i'm not trying to oversimplify things but you can't deny that maybe if tom was hugged as a child it would have helped #say it with me: psychopathy is not an actual medical diagnosis #it's actual more of a legal/criminal justice term #and people just use it as a synonym for 'evil' at this point so the original meaning is pretty much obscured #and personality disorders should not be moralized #people with personality disorders are not 'evil'

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naancypants · 5 years ago

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I wanna talk about Jake Rogers for a sec. I truly think he’s one of the most underappreciated clue-leavers in the entire series, if not one of the most underappreciated characters as a whole. This analysis focuses on the Remastered version of his character, as they expanded his role quite a bit and went much more in-depth with it. (I also want to put a disclaimer than I’m not trying to copy @joons with her brilliant Jake post; I actually started writing this a g e s ago before I realized she had already made a post similar. But the more Jake love, the better, amiright🤷‍♀️)

So Jake was clearly an asshole, but he was well aware of it, you know? He was also astronomically intelligent when & where he wanted to be. Think about the cleverness it required for him to gain the dirt he had on his classmates in the first place - Hal’s plagiarism, Connie’s secret identity, etc. He was doing EXTREMELY shady and underhanded things, such as setting up video cameras inside their lockers and most probably hacking into the school’s security cameras (considering the overhead shot of Hal that he includes on the video tape) in order to confirm what suspicions he already had about them. Jake would have had to meticulously study their behavior, figure out their locker combos, know when & how to confront them, in addition to just being naturally observant and skilled at piecing things together (like his correct deduction that Hulk was using steroids). While Jake was absolutely a bully, his approach was much more methodical than your average high schooler. Aside from the obvious, what was his deeper motivation for ruining these teenagers’ lives? Why did he go to all that trouble to take them down, especially in such a cruel and sinister way...? Because Jake Rogers couldn’t stand a hypocrite. Most high school bullies you see in the media (though perhaps not always in real life) are portrayed as jocks and uber popular kids, but every character in the game will tell Nancy at least once that nobody in school liked Jake - and that’s because Jake had no interest in putting up false pretenses. As I mentioned before, Jake KNEW that he wasn’t a good person. He owned up to it. The kids he was specifically targeting with blackmail - Connie, Hal, Hulk, and Daryl - each maintained a squeaky-clean reputation, yet harbored dark secrets of their own. This kind of hypocrisy, the kind that pretends to be better than they really are, disgusted Jake. He wanted to show everyone that these people, in his mind at least, were just as bad as he was. The entire last semester of his life was spent furiously working to prove that point.

But this boy knew he was playing with fire. He was not only incredibly cunning, but incredibly smart, too - he knew that he may not make it out of all this alive. So in a last-ditch effort to ensure that his twisted justice would be served, even if someone got to him first, this 17-YEAR-OLD KID started crafting a series of detailed puzzles and subtly scattered them across both the school AND the diner. That box with the elements & his video tape inside it served as his failsafe, so that if his suspicion came true and he did wind up dead (which is just another thing he was right about), there was still a chance that someone would manage to find it and bring the other students’ misdeeds to light. It’s super twisted and obsessive, but I think this is an interesting angle on his character that explains why he created this tell-all video in the first place.

Of course, Jake was also a selfish prick who wanted his classmates to do his bidding. That was his other motivation for blackmail 🤷‍♀️ the truth is, Jake Rogers liked to watch people squirm. He liked to feel as though he had power over them, and to watch their reactions as he applied pressure. It’s sick, but it was effective in getting him what he wanted right up until the day he was killed.

Jake Rogers was a terrible human being, but he was a bloody brilliant one.

#secrets can kill #clue crew #jake rogers #cluecrewplaythrough #nancy drew games #secrets can kill remastered #I FORGOT TO POST THIS FOR SCK WEEK #so here it is #*success

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thefloatingstone · 5 years ago

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We’ve gone from Self-Isolation to Quarantine and in some places to gradual relaxation phases, but that doesn’t stop the need for more nonsense you can watch on youtube while you wait for things to get back to normal. And recommending things and making lists are some of my favourite things to do but I have not yet figured out how to start or structure a video myself, you guys get another rambling tumblr post of things you can watch on youtube.

This time I’m once again just gonna recommend individual videos rather than full channels like I did in part 2.

Part 1

Part 2

In no particular order;

LOCAL58: The Broadcast Station that Manipulates You

I recently started watching the Nexpo channel when I went on a binge of creepy youtube videos. Most of his videos are really good although the ones where he himself goes into theory crafting can be a little asinine. However, this video is REALLY good. And before you get nervous, LOCAL58 is not a real TV station. LOCAL58 is a youtube channel created by the same guy behind the Candle Cove creepypasta. This video by Nexpo covers the various episodes of LOCAL58 and discusses them. Just be aware going in that this is abstract horror, and will probably get under your skin regardless if you’re unaffected by certain topics or not. although cw for suicide mention.

I also recommend most of the rest of this channel, although be careful where you tread. I don’t recommend his series “Disturbing things from around the internet” as it can sometimes include real life crime, abuse and such caught on security cameras. Everything else is really good tho. (although I was really annoyed by his 2 videos on KrainaGrzybowTV)

The Search for D.B. Cooper

LEMMiNO has a new video out covering one of the most unexplained crimes in the past century of the US. LEMMiNO is the guy I’ve recommended before who did videos on the Universal S. He is very down to earth and not someone prone to conspiracy or even really that fanciful of thinking. (He’s like the one person I feel covered the Dyaltov Pass incident and was confused by why this was even a mystery because if you read the Russian Autopsy reports and documents associated with the case it’s all pretty logical and easily explained)

D.B. Cooper is the name given to a man who, in 1971, hijacked an airplane with a bomb, asked for a large sum of money, and after receiving it, parachuted from the plane and was never seen or heard from again.

The Austrian Wine Poisoning | Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole also has a new video out, this time covering the Austrian Wine Poisoning event from 1985. A scandal that involved literally the entire country of Austria, affected multiple countries, and forever changed the way wine was made world wide. As someone who is generally pretty allergic to most artificial substances this one made me personally very angry. But luckily, it has a happy ending and a better world for us all... if I could drink wine which I can’t do anyway.

The Turbulent Tale of Yandere Dev - A Six Year Struggle

The Right Opinion is another channel I only recently subbed to after watching his cover on Onion Boy. I put off subbing to him simply because of his channel name and I thought it meant he would come across as smug and elitist. Luckily this seems to merely be one of those “I chose a bad channel name and now I’m stuck with it” type of situations. (IHE has a similar problem).

Anyway, I have a weird interest in bizarre internet personalities, so I’ve been enjoying his channel as he simply discusses and presents a timeline of events of certain individuals. In this video, he covers the developer behind the much maligned Yandere Simulator. It’s a tale of hubris, arrogance, immaturity, and an unwillingness to accept your own shortcomings due to ego.

Oh and there’s a meme game about Japanese school girls with anime tiddies in there as well.

The Most Relaxing Anime Ever Made | Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō

Kenny Lauderdale is a youtube channel which is slowly becoming bigger which I’m very happy to see. He exclusively covers anime and live action Japanese television no younger than the mid 90s (as is the case with YYK) and which usually never saw a release outside of Japanese Laserdisc. I do wish his videos were a little longer, but if nothing else his videos serve as an excellent starting to point to find some older and underappreciated shows... or hot garbage fires. In this episode he talks about the 2 OVA episodes made based on one of my favourite manga, Yokohama Shopping Log. A Post apocalyptic anime about an android who runs a coffee shop outside of her house, and the quiet solitude of living in a world of declining human population, brief encounters with travelers and other people, and just... existing. The anime was never released outside of Japan and is only available on Japanese VHS and laserdisc.... but hey guess what!! Somebody uploaded both episodes, subbed, to Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2HCVOH6DtA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqSTwfkobME

YMS’ slow descent into madness as he uncovers just how bullshit the Kimba Conspiracy is

I’m linking a full playlist for this one.

YMS is busy planning his review on the “live action” Lion King remake as the original 1994 movie is probably his favourite movie all time (and also self declared what made him a furry). As part of the 2 hour review, he decided to what all 2000 hours of Kimba the White Lion just to mention how The Lion King potentially stole the idea. ....until he actually watched all 2000 hours of Kimba and realised that if you actually WATCH Kimba, it has VERY little to do with the Lion King at all apart from having the same animals in them because AFRICA. Watch as one man slowly loses his mind as he realises just how stupid this conspiracy theory is, just HOW DECEITFUL and straight up LYING people can be. People who write BOOKS. People who teach LAW AT UNIVERSITIES. Because NOBODY bothered to actually watch the entire show and just parroted the “Disney stole this” lie which got started by like 2 salty fans on the internet.

The man set out to just mention how Disney stole an idea, and uncovered one of the most infuriating rabbit holes on the internet. Screaming for SOMEONE to provide him with sources or evidence.

YMS will be publishing his full Kimba documentary this month which he has said is around 2 hours long before he continues to work on the Lion King one.

Science Stories: Loch Ness eDNA results, Poop Knives, and Skeleton Lovers

TREY the Explainer has a video giving us some updates in Archeology from 2019. In this video he discusses the findings of the eDNA results conducted on the Loch Ness to see what animal DNA the lake contains which will tell us what living animals currently inhabit the lake, ancient knives made of poop and if this is a real thing that could have existed, and a skeleton couple found buried together which were at first thought to be lovers, then revealed to be both male, and then how in this instance we cannot let our modern sensibilities dictate what we WANT this burial find to be, but to look at the evidence as presented to us and place in context finds of this nature. The worst thing an archaeologist can do is look for proof to a theory they already have.

The Bizarre Modern Reality of Sonic the Hedgehog

Super Eyepatch Wolf is back and he’s here to talk to us about the very very strange existence of Sonic. a 90s rebellious “too cool for School” answer to Mario, a lost idea as the world of video games changes and culture shifted, a meme and punching bag amplified by a unique fanbase and poor quality games, a transcendence into a horrific warped idea of what he once was, and modern day and where Sonic and his fans are now. As usual Super Eyepatch Wolf knocks it out of the park.

Kokoro Wish and the Birth of a Multiverse: A Lecture on the Work of Jennifer Diane Reitz

I don’t even sub to this channel as I’m not entirely sure what Ben’s usual content is about. But every now and then he has a “101″ class, where he explains to a room full of his friends in a classroom setting (complete with Whiteboard) an internet artist and oddity, the timeline, and what it is they have created. (wait... didn’t I say this already?). Unlike TRO however, the 101 classrooms are not a dark look into disturbed individuals (although the CWC 101 is debatable) nor is it a “lol look at this weirdo” dragging. Instead, of the 3 he’s done so far, it’s usually a rather sympathetic look at some of the strange artists on the internet who through some way or another, left a very big cultural impact on the internet space through their art. Sometimes they may not be the best people, but their work is so outside of what we’re used to seeing that just listening to him run you through these people’s internet history is fascinating.

In this episode he talks about Jennifer Diane Reitz. And although it is titled Kokoro Wish, the lecture is more about Jennifer’s larger work back in the early internet when being a weeb was unheard of, how being trans influenced her stories and characters, and her world building that is so rich and in-depth with it’s own ASTRO PHYSICS it puts any modern fictional world found in games or movies to shame.

Jennifer is not exactly a nice person... and in many ways can be seen as dangerously irresponsible, but she created something truly unique in a way that you kinda struggle figuring out if it’s terrible or a work of genius.

Anyway I think that’s enough for now

#Youtube #youtubers #recommendations #Self Isolation playlist #Long post #part 3 #videos #links

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airquietworks · 4 years ago

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Lost at the Summit (IzuOcha) (Part 1)

Summary: Ochako and Izuku have just announced their retirement and are ready for their final days as professional heroes. But as Izuku soaks up the spotlight, Ochako finds her retirement largely ignored. She questions whether she truly did enough as a hero. But with some help from unexpected places, Izuku reminds her that her rescues left their mark.

------------------------- Part 2, Part 3 Chapter 1: Ghost

“Are you ready for this?”

It was a question that should not have made her falter. Ochako had steeled herself for this moment for weeks. Planning, anticipating, rehearsing for every question that could come. She spent countless hours agonizing over this culmination of everything she was and ever had been. “Nope. Still not.” How could she possibly be ready for the end? For the first death knell? To fall from the stars back to Earth? To leave everything she had worked so hard for? How could she be ready for the death of Uravity? How could she be prepared to watch her own hero fall?

"Are you ready for this?"

"Nope. Still not."

How could she possibly be ready for the end? For the first death knell? To fall from the stars back to Earth? To leave everything she had worked so hard for?

How could she be ready for the death of Uravity? How could she be prepared to watch her own hero fall?

"Me neither," the hero in question, still bearing the name she gave him, replied with a sheepish smile. "But I guess there's nothing more we can do about it. Just have to take the plunge."

He had changed so much over the years, and yet his smile remained the same. At 57, Izuku still looked incredible, his physique holding up impeccably well, despite the odd wrinkle on his face, slightly greying hair, and the many scars across his body beneath that costume. Age was creeping up on him, but he was still Deku, however much he was wearing down.

He was holding up a lot better than she was.

"Guess so," Ochako replied. She breathed out a deep sigh and reached out to grasp his hand. It was weathered, but as always, felt right to hold. "Together then?"

"Together to face the world." He squeezed her hand in reply and put on his trademark heroic smile.

"And everything else," Uravity said with a beaming grin as the two stepped forward, partners through it all.

The rapid clicking of camera shutters as they took the stage with a wave was as bracing as ever. They were far more robust than usual today, the reporters eager to capture the rare joint press conference between the iconic husband-and-wife duo. It was only the second time they had done this; the last one had been 35 years ago when they had announced they were starting their hero agency. That attracted less than half the eyes peering at them now.

They each took one of the prepared seats at the table, emblazoned with their agency's star-filled logo. Aides had everything prepared in advance for them: microphones, water, and a wide berth. Absolutely professional.

"Thank you all for coming," Deku began, his smile unfaltering. "It's wonderful to see you all."

"We're truly grateful for your coverage," Uravity said, meeting the eyes of many of the reporters in the room. "We could not do what we do without you."

Charm the press as much as possible before unleashing the storm. That was the plan.

"It truly is a wonderful time for our world." Izuku picked it up, launching into the buildup to their proper announcement. "We have a time of unparalleled peace. I am proud to be part of an incredible generation of heroes that have helped bring crime to a standstill. I am also supportive of the efforts of our governments to address villainy at the root, and slowly move back from relying on professional heroes."

The next generation might be the last, they both knew. They were okay with that. The cycle of violence needed to stop eventually. They had pushed where they could to help bring about real, societal change.

"It is because of the current state of the world that we feel comfortable doing this," Izuku continued, his face suddenly becoming far stonier.

This was it - her cue. With a deep breath, she uttered the words that would change the world forever.

"We're retiring."

The room shuddered with the energy of the statement. "No!" Someone cried, completely losing composure. Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd followed swiftly by the whirring of more camera shutters.

"Now, we know it may be alarming," Deku said with a little more force, his tone shifting to exude calm. "And it won't be right away - we haven't settled on an exact date, but we figure it will be roughly six months. We've given it a lot of thought, and we feel the time is right. We aren't getting any younger, and it's time to leave things to the next generation."

"We've both been able to achieve everything we set out to do when we started." Ochako did her utmost to maintain her composure, but it was difficult as she reflected on everything: fighting villains, saving lives, overcoming it all by Deku's side. The memories of all the battles they fought together flashed rapidly through her mind, culminating at this moment.

She momentarily glanced sidelong at her husband, who was wearing a small smile but doing nothing to hide the tears at the edges of his eyes.

"I'm proud of the legacy we've left behind and all the people we've been able to help," she continued, swallowing back her own tears. "I think we can both comfortably say we can move on without regrets."

She stretched her arms out, leaning slightly back in her chair in an exaggerated motion.

"And finally, get a much-deserved tropical vacation."

That got the desired chuckle out of the room. Throwing out humour to put the media in a good mood; always a good tactic.

"We'll take some questions," Izuku said, causing the room to erupt with pushy reporters desperate to get quotes for their puff pieces.

He pointed to the front row at an older reporter with a thick, white mustache and glasses. "Rupert McGuire, National Hero News. Deku, you've been the number-one hero for so long now - you just surpassed All Might's record two months ago. When he retired, it left a massive void and led to a rise in villainy in our country. How concerned are you that your retirement might do the same?"

"Not at all," Deku replied with ease, maintaining a calm facade. It was always mesmerizing to watch him bat off difficult questions; he had gotten a lot better at it over the years, as he learned to push past his anxieties. "I imagine there might be a villain or two that sees this as an opportunity, but our society is protected by hundreds of incredible heroes, with more bright ones coming. Our country is in very capable hands."

Deku quickly pointed to another reporter, a middle-aged woman in the middle of the crowd.

"Hi, Sakura Ito, Japan Today. Deku, what would you say to the millions of people that look up to you, who are going to be hurt by your retirement?"

"I know it is a tough thing to face. I remember how bad it felt to see All Might get forced into retirement all those years ago." Deku's smile faltered for a moment, the wrinkles under his eyes growing more pronounced at the mention of his fallen idol.

Ochako acted quickly, reaching her hand out to squeeze his over the table. It seemed to snap him back to attention, and his eyes met hers, a grateful smile blossoming again on his face.

"I appreciate everybody who has supported me and cheered me on over these years. But all things must come to an end eventually. You can hang on to your memories of me, but make sure you're getting out there to be the best person you can be. And please, cheer on other heroes, too! I know there are quite a few underappreciated pros out there who could use a few more fans."

Ochako heard approving murmurs in the crowd, a few journalists scribbling into notepads or typing into laptops about the quotes. A telltale sign of a comment well-delivered.

"Hi, a question for Uravity!" A younger woman reporter near the back shouted out when Deku called on her, her short, dark hair frazzled and her glasses eschew. She looked nervous - and forgot to name herself or her station- but Ochako found it oddly endearing. She felt nostalgic for her own younger days, fighting through nerves in her first days as a pro.

"You've said before your husband has been your hero since you were in high school. How do you feel seeing him retire?"

She reeled slightly at the question, the first unexpected one of the bunch. It was a little odd - posing a question to her about him. It also was not something she had given much thought to, so mired in her own retirement and the immediate logistics of it all.

She chanced a glance over at him. He looked at her with a slight grimace, clearly unhappy to have had a question slip through their meticulous preparations.

But Ochako could always improvise in an unexpected situation.

"It's a little hard to think about him retiring. It hasn't completely sunk in yet, to be honest." She smiled gently out to the audience, radiating calm. "I suppose I will miss seeing him out there, doing all the incredible feats of heroism that I always knew he could."

Ochako drew her gaze back to her partner again, whose green eyes were focused intently on her, full of reverence. "But I fell in love with the man behind the costume, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with him, too."

She could practically hear the squeals of fans in the distance at that line, alongside the rapid typing. It was pretty good for something off the cuff, but it was true, too. They had given their lives towards helping the world and their families; now, they could give a little bit more time for themselves.

"I know I'm going to miss Uravity a lot," Deku said suddenly, forcing Ochako to snap back to look at him, his eyes suddenly staring at her with burning energy. "She's been such an incredible hero for so long; it's hard to imagine a world without her helping to lift it. I'm definitely sad she's retiring. But it'll be nice to get away and be together."

She beamed at him, placing a hand over her chest. Leave it to him to surprise her with something so heartfelt, even in a setting such as this. She knew it was going to be tough hearing more of that from people upset about her retirement, but she'd have to get through it.

But questions for her did not come after that. Nearly all of them were for Deku, the press far more interested in the loss of Japan's number-one hero.

"Deku, what is going to happen to your agency?" It was their agency.

"Question for Deku, where are you going to be going on your vacation?" It was their vacation.

"Deku, how have your kids reacted to this?" They were their children.

"Deku, what advice would you give to the aspiring heroes of today?" She could have given that advice, too.

"Uravity, how would you describe your husband's emotions as you've talked about retirement?" Why was she getting asked about him again?

She became bored eventually, sighing and leaning on her hand, not that the crowd before them took any notice. They had expected more questions for Deku, of course, but she did not think it would be this pronounced. By the time they got to the end, she realized the only questions she got had been to get her to talk about him, even if in the context of her feelings. She had never been a hero who cared much for the spotlight, but she had some pride as a professional who had consistently remained in the top-20, often breaking into the top-10 as well.

But it could not be helped. It was hard to shine standing next to a supernova, after all. She always knew that.

"That's all the time we have for today," Deku announced suddenly, snapping her from her melancholy. "But we'll see you around in the months to come. Thank you!"

The two got up in unison, bowing respectfully to their audience before walking backstage, conscious of more whirring camera shudders. They kept up appearances best they could until they were safely away from the prying eyes.

"Well, I guess that went alright," Izuku muttered as they made their way to the back exit of the building, a ride back home awaiting them outside. He glanced towards her as they walked, his lips curling downwards. "How are you feeling?

"I'm just glad it's over with." She groaned, remembering their staring eyes, rarely on her, but still expecting her to uphold a heroic image. "Though I hardly had to do much compared to you. I was starting to feel like I got Toru's invisibility.

He chuckled slightly at that. "I'm sorry about how that turned out. But you did really well when they did ask you a question! And at least we can be a bit more controlled with media appearances from here on out."

"Don't remind me that we'll have to do more of this," she said, giving him a playful bump with her shoulder. "I want at least a 48-hour grace period."

"We can check with our agents. It could be a little hard, though. It may not be possible to escape, with how everyone is going to react."

They stepped outside into the bright day, another swarm of cameras sounding in the distance, though the reporters were held back by a security line.

As they walked towards the sleek, dark vehicle that would carry them away, Izuku stepped in front of her. Under the bright sun, Ochako wondered if the cameras could see her walking in his shadow.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

People bathed the city streets in Ochako's favourite shade of green, her husband's face plastered everywhere she looked.

She smiled as she waited in an alley, looking out over a fairly empty sidewalk. Across from her, she could see a simple convenience store with multiple posters hanging in its windows, Deku's green costume prominent, striking a heroic pose for the camera. Such images spread like wildfire throughout the city - both because people wanted to show their appreciation and stores wanted to cash in.

It did her heart good to witness. Deku had no lack of admiration or respect, but she was glad to see the world truly did love him, just like she did. Even as he ascended to number one, there was always a small part of himself nagging, doubting, wondering if he could truly match All Might and inspire people as he did. The near-mourning the city was in over his impending retirement would hopefully disavow him of those lingering fears.

She felt a low buzz in her helmet, indicating it was time to get into action. She stepped forward, projecting loudly.

"Stand aside, everyone; clear the way! Please, stand away from the street; a runaway vehicle is coming this way!" she shouted, stepping onto the very edge of the barren sidewalk.

The few pedestrians in the area responded, moving away from the road, but stopping to gawk at the heroic work about to take place, a few phones coming out of pockets.

"Don't worry; everything is going to be okay!" she shouted, flashing a thumbs-up.

She glanced toward a corner in her heads-up display on her visor, where a low timer was ticking down.

Their estimated time of arrival was five seconds.

A dark van sped through the streets, approaching her, making its way to the end of the city through side roads in an erratic pattern. It carried three bank robbers, fresh off a heist.

Three.

The van blared its horn to get people out of the way. The vehicle was not losing any speed, ready to run anyone down if necessary.

One.

She stepped forward to tag the runaway vehicle with her Quirk, timing it precisely so she could step back and forth very casually, without any substantive risk other than sore fingertips. With her Quirk triggered, the van lost traction on the road, its occupants screaming as it floated upwards, losing speed as the air dragged onto it.

Uravity shot wires out of her two gauntlets, which automatically wrapped their way around the sky-bound vehicle. With a quick jerk, she ended its forward momentum, yanking the van back towards the earth.

She carefully guided the vehicle back towards her, pulling until it was just above the ground. She peeked into the window to see a driver wearing a dark mask shaking, and someone else on the passenger side passed out from the rough jerk of her maneuver.

"Surrender peacefully, and I won't send you flying again," Uravity shouted forcefully, body tense, ready to move if the perpetrators attempted to flee.

"I give, I give!" a deep voice sounded from the driver, hands going up on instinct. The car's wheels kept spinning fruitlessly, stuck in mid-air.

Uravity quickly tapped a button at the side of her ear, communicating with mission control. "Vehicle stopped. Need some support and medical; one of them might have a concussion."

"Police on their way. Nicely done as always, Uravity."

Backup arrived before long, quickly helping her apprehend the villains and secure the stolen goods.

By the time she finished, the area had already cleared, nobody around to cheer her on and appreciate the flawless takedown. That is the way it went sometimes. With so many heroes doing incredible feats every day, the little stuff could get lost beneath the cracks. Every hero she knew had gone through that at some point or another.

Still, the streets felt a little lonely as she walked around and continued her patrol, keeping an eye out, awaiting any word of someone in need. She went largely unnoticed as she made her way around, the very occasional greeting doing little to counter the strange sense of isolation.

These were the last days of Uravity, but that had changed nothing about the world.

"...Deku once again amazed us today by taking down another destructive villain at the north side of the city."

A small crowd had gathered outside an electronics store where televisions in the window were playing the news, framed by more Deku posters. It had become a widespread tactic; even non-electronics stores might stick televisions in their displays, airing whatever snippets of Deku coverage they could to attract people to glance at their wares.

She stopped to watch as her husband stared down a burly, oversized villain. The foe punched downwards, breaking the concrete, tearing off a large chunk of it with his bare hands and throwing it at the statuesque Deku.

The camera could not track what happened next; Deku vanished, there was a blur, and the villain was face down in the ground, completely incapacitated. Deku stood victorious above him.

"He's so cool!" A small child in the crowd next to her shouted, jumping up and down.

"It's a real shame he's retiring so soon. What are we going to do without him?" A senior said from the back, shaking his head, frowning.

"He was the best hero there ever was. Even greater than All Might, I think."

"He's gonna go down in history!"

"I'm just glad no one was hurt," Deku's voice said suddenly, his face centred in the frame, a pleasant smile etched upon it. "It was a good group effort to keep the damage contained."

"Any words for your adoring fans upset about your retirement?" a reporter's voice asked.

"I've been touched by all the well-wishers lately," Deku replied calmly, scratching at his head. "But, I promise you'll all be in good hands!"

"Well, there you have it. The world's greatest hero still saving lives in his final days. Truly, we are watching the end of a legend. Back to you."

Uravity walked away as the crowd cheered, eating it up. She smiled wistfully, her own heart soaring at seeing her hero do so well and be so beloved.

Yes, soon they would reach the end of his legend. The name she had helped give him would be retired and move to the pages of the history books while they lived out their days in peace, hopefully. They would tell his story, and she was thankful for it. He deserved it.

She continued to walk, a ghost in the streets as people's attention focused on their descending idol.

Nobody would care much as she ended her hero days. That was fine. She had done everything she wanted to as a hero. She could be content. Her story would stay with her family and friends. She could be okay with that.

Couldn't she?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AN: Written for the IzuOcha Discord Server Big Bang Event. Prompt: "Thank you for always saving me!" Thank you very much to Mal for editing this and for Xylveon for the incredible artwork provided for the fic. You can find it at https://twitter.com/Xylveon700/status/1294469669361840129, Please leave a like and/or reblog if you enjoyed it ! ^_^

#izuocha #my hero academia #fanfiction #shipping #midoriya izuku #ochako uraraka #IzuOcha Temple 3rd Anniversary Big Bang #Angst #fluff #romance #It's about Oldchako you can't take that pun away from me #hope you like <3

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bigprettygothgf · 5 years ago

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kayla bigprettygothgf’s halloween recommendation list

I know it’s a little late into October to publish this, and I had wanted to get this out at the start of the month, other things just got in the way of my time. But, I finished it anyway.

I’ve divided this into two parts - First, movies that are available on the big three streaming services - Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. Second, movies that are not available on those services and you’ll have to get via… other means. All in all there’s over 70 films here.

Summaries are either written by me or lifted from letterboxd. Because I’m lazy.

It probably goes without saying that almost all of these come with a CW for violence. Violence will only be mentioned specifically in CWs in more extreme cases.

If I’ve missed any applicable content warnings here, please message me about it! it’s been a while since I’ve seen many of these movies and it’s likely there’s some details I’ve forgotten.

Full list under the cut.

Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Hulu

-Annihilation (2018)

A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don’t apply.

-Genres: Alien invasion, body horror, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: Death of a lesbian character

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

-Apostle (2018)

Netflix original horror tends to be very hit or miss, more often than not a catastrophic miss. While not without its flaws, Apostle is fortunately one of the better releases to the service, offering a very The Wicker Man (1973)-esque story about a man who travels to a remote island in search of his sister who has been kidnapped by a cult.

-Genres: Cult horror, historical period horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-As Above, So Below (2014)

While the dialogue in the film borders on unintentional comedy at times, As Above, So Below is a surprisingly decent found footage flick about a team of explorers delving into the Paris catacombs.

-Genres: Found footage, horror thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2017)

Father and son coroners receive a mysterious unidentified corpse with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to examine the young “Jane Doe,” they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-Blade (1998)

When Blade’s mother was bitten by a vampire during pregnancy, she did not know that she gave her son a special gift while dying—all the good vampire attributes in combination with the best human skills. Blade and his mentor battle an evil vampire rebel who plans to take over the outdated vampire council, capture Blade and resurrect a voracious blood god.

-Genres: Superhero, vampire horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Hulu

-Candyman (1992)

The Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster’s myth.

-Genres: Psychological horror, slasher, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Animal death, R-slur

-Available on: Netflix

-Cloverfield (2008)

Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.

-Genres: Disaster, found footage, monster, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: One of the lead characters, Hud, is played by accused sexual abuser T.J. Miller

-Available on: Hulu

-Constantine (2005)

By all accounts, Constantine is a bad adaption of its source material, taking far too many creative liberties and making many unnecessary changes from the Hellblazer comic. However, despite that, the film is a fun and decent movie in its own right, and worth a watch regardless of whether or not you’re familiar with the comic it’s based on.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, superhero, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Suicide

-Available on: Hulu

-Creep (2014)

Aaron answers an online ad and drives to a stranger's house to film him for the day. The man claims to want to make a movie for his unborn child, but his requests become more bizarre as the day goes along.

-Genres: Found footage, horror thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-Creep 2 (2017)

A video artist who craves shocking stories realizes she has made a mistake when she meets a serial killer in a cabin.

-Genres: Found footage, horror thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-The Crow (1994)

Exactly one year after young rock guitarist Eric Draven and his fiancée are brutally killed by a ruthless gang of criminals, Draven – watched over by a hypnotic crow – returns from the grave to exact revenge.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, superhero

-Content warnings: Sexual assault

-Available on: Netflix

-Event Horizon (1997)

A film that could have been great had it not been marred by interference from Paramount, Event Horizon is still a decent entry into the sci-fi horror genre, even if just for the great scenery-chewing by Sam Neill. It’s just a shame that we’ll probably never see a fully uncensored version.

-Genres: Sci-fi horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

-The Evil Dead (1981)

Bruce Campbell & friends take a trip out to a cabin in the woods. Hilarity ensues.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: The infamous tree rape scene

-Available on: Hulu

-Evil Dead II (1987)

Bruce Campbell & friend takes a trip out to a cabin in the woods. Even more hilarity ensues.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, horror comedy

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Hulu

-The Exorcist III (1990)

Despite the title, The Exorcist III has very little to do with the original Exorcist film, only given connections to it due to studio imposition. Fortunately, this is a rare case where studio interference didn’t actually negatively affect the film itself much at all, and I strongly recommend it, even if you haven’t seen the original.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Ableism

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Gerald’s Game (2017)

When her husband’s sex game goes wrong, Jessie (who is handcuffed to a bed in a remote lake house) faces warped visions, dark secrets and a dire choice.

-Genres: Psychological horror

-Content warnings: CSA, graphic degloving

-Available on: Netflix

-Ginger Snaps (2000)

The story of two outcast sisters, Ginger and Brigitte, in the mindless suburban town of Bailey Downs. On the night of Ginger’s first period, she is savagely attacked by a wild creature. Ginger’s wounds miraculously heal but something is not quite right. Now Brigitte must save her sister and save herself.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Animal death

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Green Room (2015)

A punk rock band becomes trapped in a secluded venue after finding a scene of violence. For what they saw, the band themselves become targets of violence from a gang of white power skinheads, who want to eliminate all evidence of the crime.

-Genres: Horror thriller

-Content warnings: Nazism, racism, N-slurs

-Available on: Netflix

-Hellraiser (1987)

An unfaithful wife encounters the zombie of her dead lover while the demonic cenobites are pursuing him after he escaped their sadomasochistic underworld.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

-Hereditary (2018)

When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry.

-Genres: Drama, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Animal death, child death

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-The Invitation (2015)

Will and his new girlfriend Kira are invited to a dinner with old friends at the house of Will’s ex Eden and her new partner David. Although the evening appears to be relaxed, Will soon gets a creeping suspicion that their charming host David is up to something.

-Genres: Cult horror, horror thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-Lake Mungo (2010)

One of my personal favorite films in the horror genre, the underappreciated Lake Mungo - creatively presented in a faux-documentary style - is an eerie look at the difficulty of moving on from family loss.

-Genres: Found footage, pseudo-documentary, psychological horror

-Content warnings: CSA

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Mother! (2017)

I hesitated adding this one because to be frank I do not care much for it and Darren Aronofsky, while a talented filmmaker, is a bit of a self-aggrandizing prick and this film demonstrates his pretentiousness more so than any of his past work. But, even so, there’s some legitimately great material here, particularly in the third act when everything goes to shit. If you can look past the extremely heavy-handed bible metaphors and clumsy environmental message, you may get something out of it.

-Genres: Psychological horror, thriller

-Content warnings: Misogynistic violence, graphic baby death

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

-Nightbreed (1990)

A troubled young man is drawn to a mythical place called Midian where a variety of monsters are hiding from humanity.

-Genres: Dark fantasy

-Content warnings: Eye trauma, F-slur

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Night of the Living Dead (1968)

A group of people try to survive an attack of bloodthirsty zombies while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse.

-Genres: Zombie horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video (Public domain, so you should have no trouble finding it elsewhere.)

-Possum (2018)

Long stretches of not much happening are made up for by some truly horrifying puppet sequences which are among the creepiest things I saw in any 2018 film.

-Genres: Drama, psychological horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Pumpkinhead (1988)

A man conjures up a gigantic vengeance demon called Pumpkinhead to destroy the teenagers who accidentally killed his son.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Child death

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu*

*Audio is slightly out of sync on both streams.

-A Quiet Place (2018)

A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.

-Genres: Alien invasion, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: Child death

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

-The Return of the Living Dead (1986)

When a bumbling pair of employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to re-animate as they go on a rampage seeking their favorite food: brains!

-Genres: Horror comedy, zombie horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-The Ritual (2017)

A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that’s stalking them.

-Genres: Cult horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-Saw (2004)

Obsessed with teaching his victims the value of life, a deranged, sadistic serial killer abducts the morally wayward. Once captured, they must face impossible choices in a horrific game of survival. The victims must fight to win their lives back, or die trying.

-Genres: Horror thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Hulu

-Saw II (2005)

When a new murder victim is discovered with all the signs of Jigsaw’s hand, Detective Eric Matthews begins a full investigation and apprehends Jigsaw with little effort. But for Jigsaw, getting caught is just another part of his plan. Eight more of his victims are already fighting for their lives and now it’s time for Matthews to join the game.

-Genres: Horror thriller

-Content warnings: Needles

-Available on: Hulu

-Scream (1996)

A killer known as Ghostface begins killing off teenagers, and as the body count begins to rise, one girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the ‘rules’ of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one.

-Genres: Slasher

-Content warnings: Rape mention

-Available on: Netflix

-Society (1989)

Containing what I consider to be the greatest special effects Screaming Mad George ever did, Society is a story about the son of a rich Beverly Hills family feeling like he doesn’t quite fit in. If you like body horror, 80s practical effects, and satire about the west coast upper class, I can not recommend this hidden gem enough. Another of my personal favorites.

-Genres: Black comedy, body horror, satire

-Content warnings: Incest and really gross body horror. In general if you’re averse to sex and nudity you may wanna steer clear.

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Suspiria (2018)

I can’t think of many films I hold such a high opinion on that I was initially ready to hate. When I found out that the Call Me by Your Name director would be behind a remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 classic Suspiria, I rolled my eyes. When official photos started to roll in indicating the film would be gory and desaturated in contrast to the original’s surreal usage of exaggerated colors, I decided I wasn’t touching it with a ten foot pole. Fast forward about a year later, and I eventually decide to give the film a chance. Low and behold, not only do I list it as a top film of 2018, I actually, genuinely like it more than the original. While there’s much to be said about the style and color palette of the original film, I find the remake’s radically different tone and style to be still, in a difficult to describe way, faithful to the 1977 original. But most importantly, the film stands on its own as a visceral, nightmarish, violent, and disturbing experience I still haven't stopped thinking about nearly a year later.

-Genres: Body horror, cult horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Suicide, very graphic gore

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-The Terminator (1984)

In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the “Terminator” back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah.

-Genres: Science fiction, thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, YouTube

-They Look Like People (2016)

While held back slightly by its low budget, They Look Like People is one of the best looks at mental illness I’ve seen in a film, especially a horror film, and I’d easily recommend it to anyone tired of the demonization of mental illness in the horror genre.

-Genres: Psychological horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Available on: Amazon Prime Video

-Train to Busan (2016)

Martial law is declared when a mysterious viral outbreak pushes Korea into a state of emergency. Those on an express train to Busan, a city that has successfully fended off the viral outbreak, must fight for their own survival.

-Genres: Thriller, zombie horror

-Content Warnings: N/A

-Available on: Netflix

-Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil (2010)

Two hillbillies are suspected of being killers by a group of paranoid college kids camping near the duo’s West Virginian cabin. As the body count climbs, so does the fear and confusion as the college kids try to seek revenge against the pair.

-Genres: Horror comedy, slasher

-Content Warnings: Rape mention

-Available on: Netflix

-The Witch (2015)

In 1630s New England, William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life with five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness, exiled from their settlement when William defies the local church. When their newborn son vanishes and crops mysteriously fail, the family turns on one another.

-Genres: Religious horror, supernatural horror

-Content Warnings: Abuse, animal death, child death, implied CSA

-Available on: Netflix

Not Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Hulu

-Alien (1979)

During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.

-Genres: Sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Aliens (1986)

When Ripley’s lifepod is found by a salvage crew over 50 years later, she finds that terra-formers are on the very planet they found the alien species. When the company sends a family of colonists out to investigate her story—all contact is lost with the planet and colonists. They enlist Ripley and the colonial marines to return and search for answers.

-Genres: Sci-fi action, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Altered States (1980)

A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from native American shamans, he explores these altered states of consciousness and finds that memory, time, and perhaps reality itself are states of mind.

-Genres: Sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-AM1200 (2008)

A fantastic little horror short film. Officially on Vimeo.

-Genres: Eldritch horror

-Content warnings: Suicide

-Army of Darkness (1992)

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that Army of Darkness isn’t as good as Evil Dead II. They’re full of shit and this movie fucking rules.

-Genres: Dark fantasy, horror comedy

-Content warnings: N/A

-Basket Case (1982)

A young man carrying a big basket that contains his deformed Siamese-twin brother seeks vengeance on the doctors who separated them against their will.

-Genres: Body horror, horror comedy, slasher

-Content warnings: Attempted rape

-Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)

Deep within the mysterious Arboria Institute, a disturbed girl is held captive by a doctor in search of inner peace. Her mind controlled by a sinister technology. Silently, she waits for her next session with deranged therapist Dr. Barry Nyle. If she hopes to escape, she must journey through the darkest reaches of The Institute, but Nyle wonʼt easily part with his most gifted and dangerous creation.

-Genres: Sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Blair Witch Project (1999)

In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.

-Genres: Found footage, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Five college friends spend the weekend at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.

-Genres: Black comedy, eldritch horror, horror comedy, satire

-Content warnings: N/A

-Christine (1983)

Geeky student Arnie Cunningham falls for Christine, a rusty 1958 Plymouth Fury, and becomes obsessed with restoring the classic automobile to her former glory. As the car changes, so does Arnie, whose newfound confidence turns to arrogance behind the wheel of his exotic beauty. Arnie’s girlfriend Leigh and best friend Dennis reach out to him, only to be met by a Fury like no other.

-Genres: Horror thriller, supernaturally horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Donnie Darko (2001)

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

-Genres: Drama, psychological thriller

-Content warnings: References to CSA

-The Fly (1986)

When Seth Brundle makes a huge scientific and technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly manages to get inside the device and the two become one.

-Genres: Body horror, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-From Beyond (1986)

A group of scientists have developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. But when the experiment succeeds, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms.

-Genres: Body horror, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: Sexual assault

-Get Out (2017)

Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.

-Genres: Horror thriller, psychological horror, satire

-Content warnings: N/A

-Grave Encounters (2011)

I’ll admit that this found footage pseudo-reality show film isn’t all that good, but if you’re like me and you’re a slut for all those dumb Ghost Hunters-type TV shows, this should be right up your alley.

-Genres: Found footage, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Ableism

-Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)

I’m just going to quote my best friend Lars @dracenines:

there is so much shit in this movie that makes no goddamn sense at all but it's so damn fun that i can't help but love it anyways

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The House of the Devil (2009)

In the 1980s, college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret.

-Genres: Cult horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

With the disappearance of hack horror writer Sutter Cane, all Hell is breaking loose…literally! Author Cane, it seems, has a knack for description that really brings his evil creepy-crawlies to life. Insurance investigator John Trent is sent to investigate Cane’s mysterious vanishing act and ends up in the sleepy little East Coast town of Hobb’s End.

-Genres: Supernatural horror, eldritch horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-It Follows (2014)

For 19-year-old Jay, fall should be about school, boys and weekends out at the lake. But a seemingly innocent physical encounter turns sour and gives her the inescapable sense that someone, or something, is following her. Faced with this burden, Jay and her teenage friends must find a way to escape the horror that seems to be only a few steps behind.

-Genres: Psychological horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Sexual assault

-Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

A traumatized Vietnam war veteran finds out that his post-war life isn’t what he believes it to be when he’s attacked by horned creatures in the subway.

-Genres: Drama, psychological horror, religious horror, thriller

-Content warnings: N/A

-Jennifer’s Body (2009)

A newly possessed cheerleader turns into a killer who specializes in offing her male classmates.

-Genres: Black comedy, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Keep (1983)

A great seemingly forgotten horror film that was unfortunately never able to be fully finished due to the death of the special effects supervisor early in post-production, and much more to the film’s determent, heavy studio interference, resulting in shoddy sound design and over 100 minutes cut from the movie. Despite this, I still enjoy this film quite a bit, particularly for its fantastic atmosphere and excellent soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Nazis

-The Lost Boys (1987)

A mother and her two teenage sons move to a seemingly nice and quiet small coastal California town yet soon find out that it’s overrun by bike gangs and vampires. A couple of teenage friends take it upon themselves to hunt down the vampires that they suspect of a few mysterious murders and restore peace and calm to their town.

-Genres: Horror comedy, supernatural horror, vampire horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Marebito (2004)

A fear-obsessed freelance cameraman investigates an urban legend involving mysterious spirits that haunt the subways of Tokyo.

-Genres: Supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Eye trauma

-The Others (2001)

Grace is a religious woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions.

-Genres: Drama, gothic horror, psychological horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Prince of Darkness (1987)

A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world.

-Genres: Supernatural horror, zombie horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Resident Evil (2002)

Look, this movie is not great, it doesn’t follow the games, I know. But it’s a guilty pleasure and Milla Jovovitch awakens homosexual feelings in me. Just don’t bother with the sequels. Or do bother with them. Honestly, you could do a lot worse with your time.

-Genres: Action horror, sci-fi horror, zombie horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Sinister (2012)

Found footage helps a true-crime novelist realize how and why a family was murdered in his new home, though his discoveries put his entire family in the path of a supernatural entity.

-Genres: Mystery, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Child death

-Spring (2014)

Sci-fi horror romance film about a shapeshifting monster girl. That’s all I need to tell you.

-Genres: Romance, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-Suspiria (1977)

From the moment she arrives in Freiberg, Germany, to attend the prestigious Tanz Academy, American ballet-dancer Suzy Bannion senses that something horribly evil lurks within the walls of the age-old institution.

-Genres: Gothic horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)

One of my favorite found footage films and and a great example of how much potential the genre holds when handled by a director who seems to actually give a shit. To top that off, it features a lesbian lead character who doesn’t die. It’s really that easy!

-Genres: Found footage, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Five friends visiting their grandfather’s house in the country are hunted and terrorized by a chain-saw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.

-Genres: Slasher

-Content warnings: Ableism

-The Thing (1982)

Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people it kills.

-Genres: Alien invasion, body horror, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: Animal death

-Trick ’r Treat (2007)

Four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: an everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the one guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a bitter old recluse receives an uninvited guest.

-Genres: Anthology, black comedy, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Child death

-Us (2019)

Husband and wife Gabe and Adelaide Wilson take their kids to their beach house expecting to unplug and unwind with friends. But as night descends, their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some shocking visitors arrive uninvited.

-Genres: Cult horror, sci-fi horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Child death

-V/H/S (2012)

When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.

-Genres: Anthology, found footage, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: Sexual assault

-V/H/S/2 (2013)

While there’s less good to be found in the sequel than in the previous installment, the segment featured in V/H/S/2 titled Safe Haven is easily the best in the entire series and has quickly become one of my favorite horror short films of all time. It alone makes V/H/S/2 a worthwhile watch.

-Genres: Alien invasion, anthology, cult horror, found footage, sci-fi horror, supernatural horror, zombie horror

-Content warnings: References to CSA, eye trauma

-Videodrome (1983)

As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon “Videodrome,” a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.

-Genres: Body horror, sci-fi horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-The Void (2016)

Cloaked, cult-like figures trap a police officer, patients and staffers inside a hospital that is a gateway to evil.

-Genres: Cult horror, eldritch horror, supernatural horror

-Content warnings: N/A

-What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Vampire housemates try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster some of the perks of being undead.

-Genres: Horror comedy, pseudo-documentary

-Content warnings: One F-slur

#horror #halloween

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rwbyconversations · 6 years ago

Text

Why Emerald and Mercury’s scene in Lost is one of the best scenes in all of RWBY

Lost is a really underappreciated episode in Volume 6. It tends to get overlooked because Dead End precedes it and that’s easily the weakest episode of the season, while right afterwards we get the three-parter of the Argus Battle and Adam’s return meant focus was shifted for a hot minute. But I adore this episode, nearly every second of it barring some choices at the end (barring Oscar getting shafted for development- again- and Ruby’s oddball speech of “we didn’t need adults this far” to Qrow), but it’s honestly one of the best episodes of the season in my eyes, and that falls down to one major scene- Emerald and Mercury’s conversation in the first third of the episode, which is one of my favorite scenes in all of RWBY.

I know when people think of character arcs involving Lost they tend to go for the obvious lure of the Pyrrha statue, which, to be fair, is a really solid character moment and I loved a lot about it- especially the small reference to the Volume 1 OP of Jaune looking at the statue, it’s framed with almost the exact same camera angle. But as someone who mains my two murder kids, I cannot stress how hyped up I was going into Lost. Finally, after years of being relegated to background fodder with their one big moment since Volume 3 being their humiliating appearance at Haven where Emerald took a literal dive and Merc was left holding an arm like a numbnuts, Lost was gonna give me the content I’d been waiting for.

The fact that Merc and Em were getting the thumbnail- something neither of them had been in since Volume 3- was something that made my goddamn day when the thumbnail went up on VRV

And ultimately, I think the scene delivered, and delivered with a gusto that makes me unironically call it one of the best scenes of the Volume, one of the best of the show, in fact- and today I’d like to explain why I love Emerald and Mercury’s scene in Volume 6 Chapter 9, Lost.

1) The establishing context, or: a quick breakdown of Merc and Em in V6C4

Merc and Em had one scene earlier this volume, in Chapter 4, “So That’s How It Is.” It chronicles them and Hazel returning from Mistral several weeks after the Battle of Haven, Hazel having contacted Little Miss Malachite and gotten the heads up on where RWBY were going next. Spirits are low as they leave the ship, and an unexpected welcoming party in Tyrian doesn’t lift the mood. Emerald in particular lashes out at Tyrian when he mockingly notices Cinder’s absence, which just gives him all the motivation he needs to get up in Emerald’s personal space and mock her for her weakness.

Fun fact, in the Volume 6 trailer, Tyrian creeping on Emerald happens in Salem’s conference room, presumably to throw people off the scene on when the scene would be happening.

Tyrian proves to be as sharp as his dearly-departed stinger (now resting in Ruby’s cabinet of Maimed Body Parts), mocking Emerald in a delightfully chilling voice that “Cinder isn’t here to protect you anymore.” You know who is though?

This asshole, that’s who. Mercury fucking Black, finally showing the spine he lost after Volume 3 and getting up in Tyrian’s grill to protect Emerald. He even got his eyebrows back just for the occasion!

Never forget Volume 4 and Merc’s penciled-on eyebrows

It’s a short but sweet scene that sets up the duo’s dynamic well- they’ve really only got each other out in Evernight so even if they bicker... a lot... Merc and Em will watch each other’s backs because it’s that or deal with Tyrian, Watts and most importantly Salem alone. And that’s not a thought either of them truly want to consider.

The rest of the Evernight scene in chapter 4 has some small but important moments for them- I especially love Mercury being the first person we see realizing Salem’s about to snap because of his abusive father. If anyone’s gonna know how to read the room and know to get out of dodge before the glass starts shattering, it’ll be him. How he just stands at attention, eyes locked forward when everyone else looks at Salem is also a nice subtle bit of character- eyes forward, since he was probably told not to move without permission. Emerald’s sheer terror for much of the debriefing is just a masterclass in animation- her eyes are these narrow pinpricks that can’t focus on a single spot, she cringes in anticipation of a slap when she rats out Cinder (gee it’s almost as if Cinder is her abuser who conditioned her or something why do people still ship them), how she flinches when Salem touches her shoulder and only relaxes when Salem moves on and reveals that Cinder’s alive. It’s all just great stuff for their characters that you get from looking at their body language.

That’s all that we see of Mercury and Emerald until chapter 9, and unfortunately the last we see of them from there until the post-credits scene, but fortunately, this is a real doozy of a scene.

2) The actual scene

We open with Merc and Em alone in a room, Emerald bitterly noting how much she hates being kept in the dark about Salem’s future plans. Mercury agrees, stopping some training to note that at least Cinder kept them up to speed, before resuming his combat.

Mercury and Yang are two of the easier foils to compare and contrast to in the series, especially in the RWBY/CRME contrasts between Ruby/Cinder, Weiss/Emerald, Blake/Roman and later Adam and Yang/Mercury. Both are close range fights with firearms strapped to their limbs of choice, both have cybernetic limbs and as we learn later this episode, both had fathers with wildly differing views on their Semblances. But something else that connects them is that neither Mercury or Yang stay down for long when they get knocked out. Yang lost her arm and once she got back on her feet, she updated her fighting style to be more acrobatic and all-around, which paid off in dividends when she got to fight Adam and was able to move around his strikes. Similarly, the first time we see Mercury get some free time after Haven, he’s training... except he’s working on his fists, since he was overly reliant on his legs until now. I like this, it would have been easy to have Mercury just working on his legs or even just doing nothing but not only does it give the conversation a more lively feel, but it shows that Mercury is working on covering his weaknesses. And if there’s one thing Mercury hates, it’s leaving a weakness uncovered.

Your daily reminder that Yang vs Mercury is some of the best choreography in the show BTW

Emerald, seemingly out of boredom, decides to pry a bit and asks Mercury why he came with Cinder and Emerald in the Volume 3 flashback. I’ve seen some people criticize that Emerald is only asking this now, but given how when she tried to object to Cinder she got a slap for her troubles, I think it’s safe to say she decided it wasn’t worth Cinder’s wrath a second time for asking too many questions about Mercury.

Mercury tries deflecting with a simple answer “Just made sense,” to which Emerald calls bullshit with one of the most deadpan-laden lines she’s ever uttered. “It ‘made sense.’”

Mercury decides to keep up that path, trying to cover the question with his usual sarcasm and wit. It’s notable that his explanation gives nothing away that Emerald didn’t already know- Marcus trained Mercury to be an assassin, Mercury killed him and right afterwards, Cinder showed up. It’s almost clinical how, despite covering it with his usual wit, Mercury doesn’t let anything slip until Emerald gets under his skin by calling bullshit again, since to her that Mercury joined Cinder for as shallow a reason as “right place right time” is anathema to her- there has to be something in this for Mercury beyond just getting to fight. Mercury again deflects, giving Emerald knowledge she already knows- “Salem’s promised us everything. We win this thing, we’ll be top dogs in her new world.” Again, he’s only telling her what she already knows, and when he asks her what she gets out of this, Mercury manages to throw Emerald off the scent and tricks her into talking about herself- a topic Mercury enjoys because it means he’s not the one under the microscope.

Something I adore and hate in equal measure is how musically when Emerald talks about Cinder, the score itself changes to a more whimsical version of Cinder’s theme- as if Emerald’s using her Semblance on the soundtrack itself to paint Cinder in a better light.

Also something worth noting is the lighting symbolism for Emerald in the first part of this scene:

She starts in darkness, surrounded by light.

When Mercury gets a rise out of her, she walks out into the light to confront him, but Mercury moves into the darkness, a barrier separating them. But when Emerald begins talking about Cinder...

The camera pans to put Emerald back into darkness. This scene is loaded with this kind of symbolism on a lighting and musical level, the two dancing around the edges of light and dark, separated usually by the barriers that form from the overhead light.

Regardless, Mercury is perfectly fine to let Emerald prattle on about Cinder, right up until Emerald begins having a crisis of conscience. Not one based on how Cinder used her to stage a terrorist attack, no. Mercury butts in when Emerald’s crisis of conscience is based on how now that Cinder isn’t here, Emerald isn’t sure if they’re doing the right thing. And thus Mercury’s fandom finally got to see the scene they had been waiting years for: Mercury telling Emerald Cinder doesn’t care for them. Emerald gets angry, still caught up in the web of lies that Cinder spun around her, but Mercury doesn’t give a solitary shit about any of that and keeps saying things Emerald doesn’t want to hear- that Cinder never cared about Emerald, let alone either of them.

I absolutely adore how the ever-present smirk on Mercury’s face just melts off while he’s trying to get Emerald to realize Cinder never cared for them- either because he’s done playing nice or because he’s trying to stress to Emerald that he’s not messing around, just this once.

Mercury’s mocking line to Emerald finally sets her off, and she charges him furiously, trying to beat him into shutting up. But it doesn’t work- of course it wouldn’t, Mercury is leagues above Emerald in skill even if she uses her weapons, going in without them is tantramount to suicide. This guy danced around Coco and Yatuhashi and gave Yang and Pyrrha good fights while deliberately throwing both fights. Beating Emerald would take less than a minute if he tried. But he doesn’t. Mercury never actually hits Emerald, focusing on just blocking her blows. It’s only when Mercury finally decides to stop giving Emerald information she already knows and actually give her some honest truth that he begins trying, and immediately Emerald is forced back. But even then, Mercury throws his kicks. Compared to the ones he threw in training they’re sluggish, easily predicted. He’s not trying to hurt Emerald, he’s just stressing his point.

Literal chills went down my back when I heard that line the first time, Yuri killed it.

Mercury basically decides to throw his abuse in Emerald’s face, which I’ve seen some people deride and describe as Mercury basically playing the victim card, but I think this is perfectly in-character for him. Emerald’s locked in her cycle of abuse with Cinder, even though the bitch is on another continent and now is the perfect time for Emerald to break free, to get out before Cinder maims her like Marcus did Mercury... and she’s not. Taking. The chance. Of course Mercury would be pissed, of course he’d get heated for the first time- he’s basically watching Emerald squander one of the only chances she has to get out of this life before Cinder catches her again, and he (and the audience) know if Cinder gets her hands on Emerald again, that’ll be it; Emerald will be ride or die for Cinder all the way to the finish line due to her paternal/romantic love. If it takes Mercury being this most callous and blunt he’s ever been to finally get Emerald to see the truth or even just to make sure where she draws her battlelines, then he’ll do whatever it takes.

As we get an orchestral reprise of I’m The One, Mercury finally gives us a new hint into his backstory- one of the most fucked up of all the cast according to Kerry- for the first time in three years. Marcus didn’t just beat Mercury senseless, didn’t just excuse it as training and potentially even cut off Mercury’s legs to refine him into a perfect killer- he stole Mercury’s Semblance with his own, seeing it as a crutch that Mercury relied on and holding it over his head with the promise of its return once Mercury got strong. To quote the normally Unirkable Merc himself, “So I got strong, but I never got it back!”

Mercury forced himself to get on the level of titans like Pyrrha and Yang without having the safety net of a Semblance like they have- he got strong in spite of his father, not because of Marcus taking his power from him. But that power- that strength that lets him fight at a skill ceiling beyond what Marcus likely thought possible, destroyed this young child. It stole from Mercury, things that he can never get back- a literal piece of his soul was taken from him and the thrill of the fight is the only thing he’s ever found that can fill the hole. That confidence is earned because Mercury was defiled by his father and spat in the face of destiny, he chose to get back up and try and earn back what was rightfully his. And when he got the strength to kill his abuser and burn his house down, just to realize he couldn’t get that power back? In walked Cinder Fall, looking for another lost youth to corrupt and twist the worldview of- and here was one such youth, with all the corruption done complete with a neat little bow on top.

All of this- all of this- goes without mentioning how not two volumes prior we had a different character go through an arc involving her Semblance and a father figure teaching her how to control it and not let it control her.

I’m just saying guys if you still wanna live in denial over Yang and Merc’s foil status and how they’d be the coolest rivals in the show, door’s right there, I’m gonna be here eagerly awaiting their proper rematch (Fuck off and die Volume 5, you mountain of wasted potential).

The kicker (pun not intended) is Mercury’s line at the end of the training with Emerald- “I’m right where I’m supposed to be,” he confidently declares, absolutely sure in himself. The whole dynamic of the scene has been Mercury and Emerald calling bullshit on each other’s excuses, with Mercury dominating once he got Emerald to play the Cinder card. But he gets so caught up in his rage over how he got defiled by Marcus, that he loses sight for a second and forgets that he’s lying to himself as much as Emerald- the difference is he’s gone thought he cycle before and seen it so he can see that Emerald’s in it, but he hasn’t yet realized he’s gotten caught in a different cycle and still can’t see the trees from the forest. Denial is a recurring trait in Mercury and Emerald, and one neither of them are ever truly free from (”Salem promised us everything,” like how Marcus promised you back your Semblance, Mercury?). Emerald attacking Mercury after he mocks her “crisis of identity” can almost be taken as her subconsciously agreeing with Merc that Cinder doesn’t care, but after all she’s done for Cinder, everyone she’s hurt and helped kill, the idea that it was all for less than nothing is something she’s got to run away from- the alternative is just too nightmarish.

Mercury “I’m right where I’m supposed to be” Black, ladies and gents. He’s feeling really confident in these scenes, can’t you tell?!

And who sees this and realizes it, but none other than Tyrian fucking Callows of all people. And of all the people in Salem’s castle, who expected him to be an adept armchair psychologist? Tyrian is blunt, completely unforgiving in his assessment of Mercury and Emerald- they’re trapped in a cycle of violence, pain and misery, and they’re too afraid of what’s on the other side to ever leave it- what’s waiting for Mercury out in the world of Remnant? All he can do is kill, and now that he’s burned his bridges with Huntsmen society, all he’d wind up doing is assassination work like father like son. Granted, Tyrian being the one to break this down to them both is... ironic given how Tyrian himself is trapped in Salem’s web of devotion and has been for so long he couldn’t find his way out if he wanted to, but here he raises a valid point.

After this the scene mostly moves away from Mercury and Emerald and becomes Tyrian informing them and the audience that Watts and Tyrian are going to Atlas to intercept RWBY, but before he leaves, Tyrian leaves some parting advice.

“Do what makes you happy children, please? I’m begging you.”

Reading through the mile-wide lines, it’s obvious Tyrian wants them to run so he can hunt them down himself, even though he denies telling them they should leave earlier when Emerald asks point-blank if he’s telling them to go (of course he isn’t saying that, he wants them to come to the conclusion himself, no fun stalking prey when the hunt’s made easy for you after all). But the scene ends with a somewhat more optimistic note.

Emerald and Mercury, still unsure about a lot of things after this group therapy session, are still standing together, almost more unified than they were before now- no barriers of light and darkness separating the two now. And that should be something that terrifies anyone who crosses their paths, especially the guy who made a point to T-Bag Mercury and basically promise he’ll draw the straw on killing them if they stray out of line.

3) Conclusion

Mercury and Emerald are my favorite characters in the show, and while that’s been a bit harder to maintain in the Dark Times of Volumes 4 and 5 where they got nothing to do, 6 reminded me and a lot of other people why they’re the characters to keep an eye on in future years. They have these wonderfully dark backstories that let them serve as haunting foils for two members of team RWBY each (Emerald and Ruby and Weiss, Mercury for Blake and Yang) that show how far things could have gone if the RWBY girls had been born with a bit less luck. On top of all that, I’m The One is just a killer of a song that excites with its spiteful air, its cockiness only accentuating how horrific these two have had it.

Mercury and Emerald start the Mistral seasons separated by a barrier (the window) but after their conversation in Lost and time away from Cinder, the barrier’s gone. They’re closer than they were before. And Merc got his eyebrows back too, that’s a sign he started caring about Emerald!

Their scene in Lost I feel encapsulates a lot of what keeps them together and what makes for one of RWBY’s best dynamics- they don’t really like each other a lot of the time, but they have each other’s back come hell or high water because they need each other like a lifeline. Mercury does, at least a little, genuinely care for Emerald; he goes about it in a dickish way but trying to recognize Cinder’s abusive behavior is one of the most noble things he’s done all show. And while Emerald did try to attack him, he goaded her into it and she was indignant with rage when Tyrian pinned Merc down. Everything about the scene just works for me, from the small musical cues (alongside the return of I’m The One and Cinder’s theme, I love how right before Emerald attacks Mercury, this beeping starts and then accelerates into this droning sound like a flatline, which really captures Emerald’s temper reaching fever pitch and then snapping, to the lighting symbolism (Merc and Em both begin the scene in darkness but come together in the light at the end after Tyrian leaves, alongside everything I said above) and of course, Katie Newville and Yuri Lowenthal both knocking it out of the park with a home run of a performance, alongside Josh Grelle being his usual self when Tyrian shows up. While it was overshadowed by Jaune’s scene with the Pyrrha statue, I’d be very comfortable marking Emerald and Mercury’s spotlight scene in Lost as not just a highlight of the season, but one of the best scenes of the entire show. Everything came together for this ambrosia of a scene, and I can only hope I sold how much it means to me and how much I appreciate the work that went into it on a technical, writing, animation, acting and musical level.

Keep an eye on Merc and Em is all I’m saying, and if you’ve written them off in the past, I hope this convinced you to take another look at them and hope they get their due time to shine in future.

Thank you for reading.

#rwby #mercury black #emerald sustrai #Tyrian Callows #yang xiao long #salem #marcus black #taiyang xiao long #rwby analysis #yuri lowenthal #katie newville #rwby volume 6 chapter 4 #rwby volume 6 chapter 9 #josh grelle #rwby6 #so that's how it is #lost

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scrapsofsky · 5 years ago

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I have once more (and a very long time ago) been challenged by Ian Sales to join him in our un-named war to come up with the best arbitrary list of films within an equally arbitrarily selected category. You can find previous iterations of this absurdity here, here, here, here, and here. We have, alas, not done this in a long while, which we can both blame on being busy with many other things.

But in the interest of rekindling silliness, I have been loosely challenged by Ian to come up with a list of 10 underrated SF/F films from the last 20 years, which is a direct response to this ScreenRant list. Since this list is in response to a link with a remarkably open prompt, I’ve opted to stick to the 10 item list format. Future challenges will go back to our favorite number: 5.

Ian, of course, has already dropped his list. Go check it out!

With that in mind, the following list of 10 films represent my attempt to put together films that I consider to be overrated. My criteria is fairly simple:

It must be a SF/F film released since 1999.

It must be underrated in the sense that it is underappreciated by the SF/F community or has largely been forgotten. Box office numbers may be part of the equation, but mostly I will go on my own interactions with the SF/F community and sadly arbitrary interpretations of what has been “lost” to everyday discourse.

I literally don’t care if the movies I pick are considered “good” by other people, and so I’ve picked films that I think are interesting for some reason or another. This inevitably means that you will hate my list and wish me to fall into a pit of endless fire.

So, without further adieu, here’s my list:

The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)(dir. Makoto Shinkai)

One of my first academic essay publications focused on this film, which should tell you how much I enjoy it. Kumo no Mukō, Yakusoku no Basho is, in my opinion, Makoto Shinkai’s magnum opus. A story of friendship, betrayal, and love. A story of the Cold War, imperial control, and out of control technology. Shinkai’s method of storytelling is remarkable: low key and vibrant, emotionally tense and freeing. In a world where Hayao Miyazaki is considered the King of Japanese Animation, Shinkai’s work has sadly not received the appreciation it deserves — Kumo no Mukō, Yakusoku no Basho especially.

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)(dir. David Twohy)

I strongly considered putting 2000’s Pitch Black here instead, but I think that film, while perhaps a bit underrated today, has received considerable praise. Its sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, however, has often been derided for one reason or another. Unfairly, in my opinion. From its Gothic (with a side of emo) aesthetic to its expansion of the Riddick universe into a sprawling space opera to its total commitment to the gritty, morally ambiguous treasure trove of dirty, grungy themes, places, and characters, The Chronicles of Riddick is easily one of my favorite science fiction films of the last 20-ish years. Plus, the cast is fantastic. This is a hill I’m willing to die on. (Also: I look forward to checking out Furya and Merc City in the near future!)

Night Watch and Day Watch (2004 and 2006)(dir. Timur Bekmambetov)

I’m counting these as one because it’s my list and I can do what I want. This Russian duology is based on Sergey Lukyanenko urban fantasy novels about the conflict between two supernatural factions who monitor the actions of one another as part of an uneasy truce. Part detective thriller and part dark fantasy, the films pack quite a punch. However, outside of the circuit of foreign film lovers within SF/F, they’ve largely flown under the radar, this despite starring well known Russian actor Konstantin Khabensky. If you’ve never seen these films, you owe it to yourself to watch them, even if for no other reason than to watch someone drive a sports car across the face of an apartment complex!

Sunshine (2007)(dir. Danny Boyle)

I considered putting Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later here instead, but I don’t think that film is actually all that underrated even if it doesn’t get as much play today as it did a decade ago. Sunshine, however, has spent most of its existence floating between general praise for its visuals and premise and general dislike for its second act. And, yes, it is a spectacularly gorgeous film, but that second act is, in my opinion, far more interesting than most people are willing to admit. Turning a space thriller into a horror film as a commentary on the paradoxical frailty and strength of the human spirit is, in my opinion, a gutsy move. For me, that move pays off, and it’s one of the reasons I think this film has remained underrated. It doesn’t follow the pattern these stories usually follow. It’s basically Armageddon if that film took itself seriously and Rockhound actually went insane. And that makes it an infinitely more interesting film.

Upgrade (2018)(dir. Leigh Whannell)

If you didn’t get a chance to see Upgrade, you’re missing out. This sleeper scifi action thriller had some of the most compelling fight choreography and shot compositions of 2018, and yet it flew under the radar. I had the good fortune to see the film in theaters; the experience did not disappoint. Much of the fight choreography relied on some impressive camera trickery to follow the lead actor’s movements, giving the entire film a robotic and wonky feel. It’s truly exciting to watch, and I wish more people had had the opportunity to do so in an actual theater. Because it’s gorgeous on the big screen!

Push (2009)(dir. Paul McGuigan)

I will watch almost anything with Djimon Hounsou in it. Push is one of those forgotten little films that takes a less in-your-face approach to the whole super powers concept. In this world, people with powers are test subjects or hidden in plain sight, monitored by a nefarious organization with equally nefarious intents. By comparison to the typical superhero film we have today, Push is quite restrained, relishing in the quirks and trickery of its list of powers and giving actors like Dakota Fanning the space to place (watching her drunkenly stumble around is kinda fun). It’s an imperfect film to be sure, but one that I still love.

Hulk (2003)(dir. Ang Lee)

I’m going to catch hell for this, but Ang Lee’s Hulk is one of my favorite superhero movies to date. I even prefer it to that other Hulk film by a long mile. Lee does give us some of the stuff you expect from a superhero film (big fight scenes and visual spectacle), but I particularly love the softer focus on Banner and his mental state. It feels more like a film that is trying to say something about human nature than a film stuck in an endless action sequence or caught up in villainy for the sake of villainy. For me, that means the film takes more chances with its performance and themes. And I’m always more compelled by the film that tries to do something interesting and failed than I am by the alternative.

Another Earth (2011)(dir. Mike Cahill)

Independent cinema has a tendency to produce some truly introspective and powerful films. Another Earth is no exception. A film about loss, guilty, love, and second chances, Another Earth‘s science fiction premise (a mirror Earth) is really just background, offering an opportunity in the conclusion and lending weight to the central thematic of loss and guilt as the romance between the protagonists comes head-to-head with a secret that threatens to tear them apart. The narrative is at times quite haunting, but it also commands us to think more deeply about what it means to seek forgiveness, to seek second chances, to live with loss, and so on. And if you like this one, Sound of My Voice (2011) is a far creepier film about cults that also stars Brit Marling!

Dredd (2012)(dir. Pete Travis)

We will never get an adaptation of Judge Dredd that is as good as 2012’s Dredd. A vicious, unrelenting and dark film, Dredd is one of those films that desperately deserves more credit than it has thus far received. Karl Urban’s performance is textbook perfection, and Travis’ direction gives this a brutally honest tone. And unlike its predecessor adaptation, Dredd isn’t endlessly mockable; instead, it is a visually arresting satire that makes most action thrillers look tame. There are few films on this list that I would say are perfect. Dredd is one of them.

The Cat Returns (2002)(dir. Hiroyuki Morita)

Studio Ghibli gets a lot of well-deserved love for its many Hayao Miyazaki films (my favorite Miyazaki is actually Mononoke Hime / Princess Mononoke). But one film the studio doesn’t get enough credit for is the utterly delightful Neko no Ongaeshi / The Cat Returns (or The Cat’s Repayment). It’s an Alice in Wonderland type tale (or tail, heh) about a young girl who gets sucked into the secret world of cats. Calling this film delightful is an understatement. It is downright adorable, and it has been sadly overshadowed by Ghibli’s many other exceptional productions. But if you’re looking for a cute (and sometimes hilarious) fantasy adventure involving talking cats, The Cat Returns is the film for you.

And that’s it. That’s my list. I could add many other films here, but I’ve limited myself to ten.

Now for a challenge to Ian and anyone else who wants to take it: pick your five favorite films featuring talking animals! Go!

It's time for another #FilmChallenge. @ian_sales challenged me to come up with 10 underrated SF/F films released between 1999 and 2019. So here's my list! :D I have once more (and a very long time ago) been challenged by Ian Sales to join him in our un-named war to come up with the best arbitrary list of films within an equally arbitrarily selected category.

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theysoofunny · 5 years ago

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Death of a Comic

RIP John Witherspoon

The Death of a comic is a sad occasion, John Witherspoon is the latest to be called home. Today, many social media timelines are filled with quotes of "Bang-Bang," the infamous, "you've got to coordinate" and other pearls of comedy gold brought to life by Witherspoon's many characters. Mine for some reason is the underappreciated call of "Dar-by" from his character Loyld on "Black Jesus" and the legendary, "Hoe-cakes" from "Hollywood Shuffle" because after all, hoes gotta eat too.

John Witherspoon's Stellar Resume

Witherspoon's affinity for comedy began in the late 1960s, during that time he built a solid stand-up career and forged friendships with legends like Tim Reid (while he was working on WKRP in Cincinnati and The Richard Pryor Show), Robin Williams (also on The Richard Pryor Show), Jay Leno, and David Letterman. Witherspoon has appeared in a number of television shows and feature films including the Friday series, Hollywood Shuffle, Boondocks, I'm Gonna Get You Sucka, Boomerang, Vampire in Brooklyn, The Meteor Man and several others.

Genuine Human Being

As I scan the interwebs for Witherspoon related posts I think of the first and last time we spoke. Though the meetings were 18 years apart he was exactly the same both times, true to himself and his craft. Witherspoon, like most seasoned comics, never tried to make anyone laugh, he simply made it happen. The first time I met the Detroit native was at WJLB radio, in Detroit. Though it was 7:45 am, John had no qualms about finding the nearest liquor store, which I escorted him to.

John Witherspoon was Naturally Funny

We rode the elevator in silence until reaching the ground floor, "Well got-dayumity damn" he shuddered as jack frost whirled from an open door. He was dead serious but it was funny as hell. As-was the moment he remembered the stores' proprietor, "Mo-na" he sang, surprising the middle-aged woman by remembering her name, "You's shole is a pretty woman." What really impressed me was our last meeting in Huntsville Alabama, on his 76th birthday, when he asked about Mona fifteen years after the fact, once again noting how pretty she was. Witherspoon was a genuine human, if he said something, he meant it. Speaking of our last meeting, it was a bittersweet affair. John was performing 5 shows to light crowds in the dead of winter (albeit an Alabama winter), I couldn't tell if he wanted to perform, or had to perform. The latter was worrisome. How can a man who's given so much joy to others be forced to work in such a small town, at 76, on his birthday? Could anybody want to do that? I wanted to ask as we spoke but I was afraid of the answer, either was a heart-breaker. Did he need the money that bad, . . . or the laughs of an audience?

Comics Rock

Comedians are the lifeblood of entertainment. Their stand-up routines humor hundreds of millions every year, as does their behind-the-scenes writing and on-camera performances. Yet, they're some of the most marginalized, hardest working, people in the world. A singer can create one hit and live the rest of their lives touring the world and earning royalties (see Bobby McFerrin, Los Del Rio of "Macarena" or any old school artist collecting checks), an actor can earn enough money from one movie to retire (Keanu Reeves made 30 million for one Matrix movie), and most athletes retire by age 35, none of these things apply to comics.

Respect the Legends of comedy, all of them

Comics dedicate their lives to creating new content while living their lives on the road. They live to make others laugh without the promise of riches or retirement, rarely finding time to truly enjoy family or friends. Even some of the bigger stars are treated like expendable livestock by promoters, agents and clubs (not all, but most). Comedians are usually underpaid and overworked with little respect, and when they die the industry moves on as-if nothing happened. John Witherspoon died with dates on the calendar, as of 10:09 am October 30, most of those dates have been removed from calendars and websites. Some don't even mention his death. No RIP's, no tribute to his accomplishments. And this is a LEGEND we're talking about. We can only imagine how the lesser-known heroes of comedy are treated. Last year another comic who loved his craft and the laughter of complete strangers, died. Tarome "Cool-aide" Wright succumbed to cancer at age 47. While many gave the native Detroiter condolences on the web, few truly understand the grind and sacrifice comedians make to people they don't know. I knew Cool-aide and watched his career progress from his very first dates at "Coco's House of Comedy" to the many rooms he hosted and his travels with Lil Duval, he loved making people laugh. He loved to smile. We once crossed paths at a party completely unrelated to comedy, and he was still cracking jokes. He didn't have a microphone, wasn't offered any money, but he performed. That's the life of a comic, jesters for strangers. Anytime, anyplace.

Comedy is a Labor of Love

Comedy is a labor of love that few understand. It's about working day and night to find a perfect word, phrase or sound to make people laugh, then on to the next one. Whether 77 or 47 years old, comedians perform for the love of comedy and the people who enjoy it. Most couldn't walk away if they tried, and believe me, many have tried to walk away. Need proof? Look no further than Eddie Murphy, with a net worth of $120 million dollars (which seems awfully low for his resume) Eddie is planning a new comedy tour. Does he need the money or hassle of touring from city-to-city? Probably not, but he's doing it. He's jumping back into the world of Stand-up comedy because he loves the game, and smiling faces, and we should rejoice.

Support Live Comedy

We should value the genius of comedians and comedic actors before they die. We should appreciate them while their living, and performing for our benefit. Let's add them on social media and interact while they're still alive. Those who appreciate a good laugh should support comed before it becomes a thing of the past, like good television or great books. Comedy is the last bastion of creative thought, let's support it. Show a comic how much they've enriched your life or turned a grey sky blue, buy a ticket, enjoy a show. John Witherspoon is survived by his wife, Angela Robinson-Witherspoon, whom he married in 1988, their two children, Alexander Witherspoon and John David Witherspoon, and comedy. Read the full article

#blackjesus #boomerang #boondocks #Comedian #deathofacomic #detroit #friday #hollywoodshuffle #JohnWitherspoon #kool-aide #taromewright

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closetofanxiety · 5 years ago

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Fyter Fest: SUCCESS

I liked this show a lot! Not everything was to my taste, but there was plenty to enjoy. Briefly:

* The Cody vs. Darby Allin match was one of the best wrestling matches I’ve seen in 2019. The crowd was a little subdued for long stretches of it, perhaps being accustomed to more of a flashy style, but I loved the whole thing. Cody, who liked like a giant compared to Allin, was trying to wrestle and old-school (dare I say, Southern) style match, while Allin was trying to shift it to a more familiar indie style, which would be to his advantage. It was a genuine collision of two different approaches to wrestling, and it worked incredibly well. Darby took at least two completely insane bumps I’ve never seen anyone do, and after one of them, Cody contemptuously did push-ups in the ring. THAT’S GOOD OLD SCHOOL VILLAINY. I also loved that this was a time-limit draw, another old school story device. Neither guy lost any face in the match, and the crowd was still excited by the end, which they timed very well (Cody hit his finisher with two seconds left, and thus couldn’t get the three-count). Cody, derided in his initial indie run as “The Three-Star General” for his supposedly pedestrian matches, has stolen the show on both AEW events so far.

* I did not love the post-match run-in by Shawn Spears! Without getting into any of the piping hot takes about unprotected chair shots, I thought it pulled focus from the great wrestling match that just happened, with Darby Allin being turned into kind of an afterthought. I get that they need to advance storylines and right now they don’t have weekly TV to do that, but this felt almost Russo-esque.

* The Moxley-Janela match was really good! Going into it, I wondered how much different an AEW hardcore match was going to be from the WWE template. Like, would they go full indie and have shopping carts and pizza graters and barbecue skewers? The answer is no: we didn’t see any items in this match that would be outside the bounds of a WWE match (except maybe the barbed wire), but it was how the two wrestlers used them that made the difference. The barbed wire spots were wince-inducing without being truly gruesome, the tables were swiftly destroyed, and the barefoot thumbtacks spot at the end was a stroke of sadistic genius. What a first match for Moxley in AEW!

* The women’s triple threat match was a little sloppy at parts, but the whole thing was redeemed by Nyla Rose totally playing against type down the stretch and hitting a truly insane flying guillotine knee drop from the top turnbuckle. She then snapped off a truly brutal German suplex to solidify her status as the early badass of AEW. Yuka Sakazaki and Riho looked a little out of step a few times, but mostly they did well in the role of competitors who also have to compete against the monster opponent.

* One thing AEW has managed to do well so far is put on three and four-way matches that don’t get bogged down the way they do so often in other companies. You know: there’s a three-way match and invariably one person spends most of it outside the ring, effectively turning into a two-person match with occasional run-ins. In the women’s match and in the four-way, AEW’s agents managed to produce matches that actually felt like all the competitors were involved throughout the course of the contests. The four-way was particularly good, and should go a fair distance toward making Jungle Boy a breakout star in the company. He’s got a great look, he’s got unique offense, and his friendship with giant dinosaur man Luchasaurus is the stuff of a marketer’s dreams.

* The six-man tag was fine. I know this is going to sound like I’m complaining that a buffet is too good, but I think I’m full up on matches pitting the Young Bucks against the Lucha Bros for a while. They’re fun, they involve incredible athleticism and exhibitions of timing and skill, but you know what to expect. The bright spot of the match for me was the underappreciated luchador Laredo Kid, who got a lot of quality time as the Lucha Bros’ partner.

* I really did not like the pre-show. The three-way tag match was very good, and I was really happy to see people online reacting with astonishment at Private Party. Those guys are fantastic, and they’re so young. They’re only going to get better. Everything after that match was extremely not my thing. I appreciate they’re trying to do something different with the comedy, and it’s going to be important for them to have something that connects with non-wrestling fans or wrestling-curious fans who aren’t going to want to watch two hours of matches every week. And I certainly don’t expect a company that has two shows under its belt to have a foolproof formula in place. But if they’re going to do comedy, they should really hire actual comedy writers, as much as the idea of writers has become a taboo in non-WWE wrestling. The jokes were flat and most of them centered around the Fyre Fest documentaries, which are really yesterday’s news at this point.

* The librarian thing really died a death with the crowd. I don’t watch Being the Elite or The Road to, so I missed the explanation for this gimmick, but it does not come across well. The constant shushing is so bad it feels almost avant-garde after a while, like it’s actively confrontational with the audience over our expectations for a wrestling show. Then Leva Bates cut a heel promo in defense of books and I wanted to check out. Her match with Allie was decent for a match on a Shine midcard, but Leva’s limitations as a wrestler are pretty much what they’ve always been. The match ended with a totally blown spot that was supposed to be the pay off for the whole “the librarians love books” thing. Terrible.

* I hated the last pre-show match. Every once in a while, you’ll see a super local indie show where one of the sponsors gets to “wrestle,” usually meaning the crowd is treated to the owner of a car dealership standing on the apron for most of a tag match, until getting the chance to throw a weak clothesline and cover a hated midcard baddie for the three count. AEW, though, decided they should do that same thing but with the non-wrestler sponsor being put in a 10-minute hardcore match. I’m sure some people liked this. I am not among them. This match inadvertently featured the gnarliest spot of the night (until the Darby Allin coffin drop onto the edge of the apron JESUS DARBY WHAT ARE YOU THINKING DO YOU WANT TO DIE YOU HAVE A LOVING SLEAZY WEIRDO SPOUSE PLEASE THINK OF HER) when the fighting games convention organizer guy did a German suplex that dumped Nakazawa directly on his neck. Thank God Japanese wrestling training involves constant neck bridges! This is why super local indies only let the sponsor guys throw a weak clothesline: because they know that non-wrestlers doing wrestling moves endangers everyone’s safety.

* Other things: Commentary seemed to be markedly better for the most part, thanks to the addition of “Goldenboy” who might be a video game person? (sorry video game people I am no use here) ... JR is really straying into Grampa Gaffes territory with his praise of “Oriental” wrestlers and blurting out that the women wrestlers all seem like his daughters ... the camera direction still needs work, with the director missing a number of big spots ... Kenny Omega running in to pummel Moxley after the final match was good stuff ... the Super Smash Brothers’ “Dark Order” thing is treading perilously close to Black Scorpion territory ... this was just shy of four hours, counting the pre-show, and I found myself wanting more when it was over ... a friend was over watching with me and we found ourselves yelling at the screen in a way we haven’t done with televised wrestling in a long time

#AEW #Fyter Fest #show reviews

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thedeaditeslayer · 6 years ago

Photo

Danny Hicks revisits Intruder 30 years later: The interview.

1428 Elm has published a new interview with Danny Hicks. You can ready the interview above or added in below.

Danny Hicks revisits Scott Spiegel’s Intruder 30 years later with 1428 Elm in an exclusive interview. It’s time to remember a horror classic with one of Sam Raimi’s favorite players.

Danny Hicks has been a fixture in the horror community since he first graced the silver screen in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2. But that’s not the only genre film he has been a part of. 30 years ago, he starred in Scott Spiegel’s underappreciated slasher classic, Intruder.

We were fortunate enough at 1428 Elm to sit down with the legendary character actor to discuss his beginnings on the stage and his successful associations with the persons involved in the Evil Dead universe. Prepare for a retro invasion!

The Interview

Treading the Boards

1428 Elm: Did you always want to be an actor?

Danny Hicks: No, absolutely not. In high school, I was so shy, I couldn’t even read a book report in front of the class. It was beyond me. I got started in acting very, very late. I was 29 years old before I ever set foot on a stage. A friend of mine was involved in community theater. He talked me into doing this tiny role in a film noir. So, I got on stage. I didn’t even think about having stage fright or anything like that. After the show, a film executive came up to me and asked how I would feel about getting naked in a hot tub. I thought, “I could get paid for this.” So, that’s how I became an actor.

1428 Elm: Talk to us about your theater years.

DH: I got on that stage one night and didn’t get off stage again for 5 years. I would do one play, while rehearsing another play, I was making extra money off of it. So, I quit my day job. I had a VERY good day job. I was a union heavy equipment operator making very good money. So, I thought I wonder if I can make a living as an actor? Then I got the part in Evil Dead 2 and that changed the way I thought about acting forever. Because film work is so much easier than stage work.

How to Become a Scuzz Bucket

1428 Elm: How did you get cast in Evil Dead 2? Did you audition?

DH: Evil Dead 2 was my first feature film. I had done industrial films before. I didn’t know Bruce (Campbell) or Sam (Raimi). I had met Ted (Raimi). My agent called me and told me about this horror movie and the character description was “a scuzz bucket.” So, I made myself as scuzzy as I could that morning. I put on these ripped up overalls that I had and combed my hair with grease and rubbed some gravel in it. Then, at the audition, I popped my fake teeth out and smiled at the camera. Sam Raimi loved it. That’s how I got the part.

1428 Elm: Wow! You really did quite a bit of work to get cast!

DH: If you’re playing a character well, people are not looking at you. They are seeing the character. I could basically get away with murder.

1428 Elm: Making that transition from stage to film is always about learning that “less is more.” Did you struggle with that? Because as you know, on stage, you have to be a big presence so as the old adage goes, you can be seen and heard at the back of the theater.

DH: I knew from my work on industrial films that you had to be “small” for the camera. I continue to struggle with that. My face is still too expressive. It’s a constant battle.

1428 Elm: Did you find Evil Dead 2 to be a difficult shoot because we all know Bruce Campbell’s recollections of working on those films?

DH: Physically, it was a hard shoot because it was so very hot. If you watch the movie, you can see the sweat on the actor’s faces. That’s not sprayed on, that’s real. It was brutal. Sam is very, very good at getting a performance out of an actor. He might like Bruce said, torment his talent but I felt it worked very, very well. He is a marvelous director because he can relate to the actors.

1428 Elm: Do you have any anecdotes or behind the scenes tales from making that movie?

DH: There was so much physical work. We really beat the crap out of each other. I was so hot and sweaty that I actually slipped and I hit Bruce in the mouth. They used that take. You can see his lip begin to swell. That was the first time I ever worked with him and I thought that’s kind of cool. You work with the lead guy; the star of the show and you knock all of his teeth out. That’s pretty damn good.

Intruder- 3 Decades of Slicing and Dicing

1428 Elm: Let’s talk about Intruder. It is the 30th anniversary of that film. What was it like working with Scott Spiegel and Lawrence Bender? Because this is right before Bender met Quentin Tarantino and started his partnership with him.

DH: Scotty had actually filmed a smaller version of Intruder with a different name. I met him on Evil Dead 2. After watching me work, he ended up rewriting the part of Bill Roberts just for me. He really wanted me to play that role. So, I got along with Scott very, very well. Lawrence Bender, not so much. It was his first feature film and he would just yell at people, very disrespectful in that way.

1428 Elm: In Intruder, you had a really meaty role (no pun intended) and your performance was top-notch. Some actors enjoy playing evil characters, others enjoy portraying heroes. Do you have a particular preference?

DH: No. I look for interesting characters with something to work with. I don’t care if he’s a hero or a bad guy, it doesn’t matter to me.

1428 Elm: There were so many inventive kills in that movie. Did you have a favorite?

DH: The bandsaw scene. Greg Nicotero and Robert Kurtzman did such a terrific job of FX with that one. What they did for Intruder was just awesome and so real. It looked and felt believable.

Danny Does Cleveland

1428 Elm: You will also be appearing at Retro Invasion Weekend in Cleveland, Ohio, May 31-June 2. It will be a reunion with Robert Kurtzman your colleague from Intruder and countless other films. What can fans expect? Will you guys be doing a panel?

DH: I know they will be showing the film. I don’t know the schedule or how many times they will show it. There will probably be some panels afterward. This should be interesting because I have never really talked about Intruder.

1428 Elm: Intruder has always been an underrated gem for horror lovers. It’s great that you are discussing this production with fans at Retro Invasion Weekend because it truly is a classic slasher.

DH: Thank you. That movie never had a chance. Because somehow or other, Paramount bought it and they had no idea what to do with it. Obviously, it’s too violent for little kids to see it. Not a lot of people saw it. It wasn’t like Evil Dead 2. I watched it when the Blu-ray came out and it was the first time I had seen it in years. I am very proud of Intrude rand I can’t say that about a lot of movies I have done.

1428 Elm: Let’s talk about your latest project, The Blood Hunter about an elite group of vampire slayers. What can you tell us about your role?

DH: It was a small part. I did it in about 2 days. It was a fun role. I’m retired and I don’t do as many movies as I used to.

1428 Elm: Is there anything else on your horizon that you would like your fans to know about?

DH: Other than Retro Invasion Weekend, I don’t have anything planned for the next 6 months or so. I’m just going to take it easy and enjoy life.

Many thanks to Danny Hicks for taking time to speak with us at 1428 Elm. If you want to watch Intruder with him and Robert Kurtzman, check out Retro Invasion Weekend in Westlake, OH at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel located at 1100 Crocker Road.

#Danny Hicks #Intruder #Evil Dead 2 #Evil Dead II

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searchingwardrobes · 6 years ago

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Natural Opposite: 11/16

This chapter has been a long time coming, and I am so excited to finally share it! Though Emma and Killian’s relationship doesn’t escalate in the physical sense yet, some walls still come down emotionally. This chapter is also one of the reasons for the M rating as we find out more of Emma’s back story.

Huge thanks as always to my awesome beta @distant-rose, and a shout out to everyone in the CSBB for the discord chat to help me pick the song for this Halloween dance. Especially @katie-dub who recommended “Dark Waltz” by Hayley Westenra. Be sure to check out her CSBB story, Princess of White Chapel, because it is SO good! Actually, everyone in the CSBB put out exceptional work, so be sure to give them all the love and attention they deserve.

I can not fully express how much I love the chapter art that @optomisticgirl did for this. It was the first piece she made, and I was just blown away the minute I saw it! So be sure to go over to her blog and like and reblog because she deserves all the love!

Here is her other chapter art for this story:Two Four Five Six Seven Nine

Summary: Dance is more than Emma Swan’s career; it’s practically saved her life on more than one occasion. But when it comes to reality TV shows, she’s always danced in the shadows of her twin brother David and her sister Elsa. Her first season as a pro on Dancing With the Stars was a disaster, and she enters her second season determined to prove herself. All she needs is a good partner. Hollywood bad boy and ladies’ man Killian Jones isn’t what she had in mind.

Rating: M for mature themes, steamy dance routines, and sexy times (But NOT smut)

Trigger warnings: discussions of online solicitation of a minor, bullying, statutory rape, and emotionally abusive/controlling relationships; stalking; anti-Rumbelle, anti-Neal

Can also be read on Ao3

Tagging: (let me know if you want to be added to my tag list) @snowbellewells @kmomof4 @jennjenn615 @kday426 @bethacaciakay @teamhook @whimsicallyenchantedrose @snidgetsafan @delirious-latenight-laughs @winterbaby89 @followbatb @onceuponaprincessworld @hollyethecurious @ohmakemeahercules

Chapter Eleven: Dark Waltz

Emma was a nervous wreck arriving at the studio to rehearse with Killian. She wasn’t sure how she should handle the gossip. Should she bring it up? Would he? Should she just pretend not to know and ignore it? Would it make things awkward between them? Killian was always flirting with her, trying to get her to open up, but he had never actually asked her out or made a move. She liked things where they were: friendship with innocent flirting. She didn’t want those stupid pictures to mess up the delicate balance they had struck.

But when she stepped off the elevator on the top floor, the sound of loud shouting from the studio at the end of the hall had all thoughts of paparazzi pushed from her mind. She raced down the hall, along with several other celebs and pro dancers towards the room where Jefferson and Belle rehearsed. Emma was shocked to find Robert Gold on the floor, Liam Jones on top of him. Killian was trying to pull his brother off as he threw punches at the older man. Belle was crying and begging Liam to stop. Finally, Jefferson and Graham joined Killian and the three of them managed to pull Liam back and calm him down. Security then rushed in and ushered Liam, Gold, and Belle out of the room. Jefferson followed along with his partner.

Once they had gone, Emma turned to Killian in shock. “What the hell was that all about?”

Killian ran a shaking hand through his hair. “Apparently Gold has been stalking Belle. Liam came to bring her coffee this morning, and he caught Gold in here with her. Liam said he was touching her somehow, but my brother wasn’t exactly focusing on talking, if you know what I mean.”

Emma’s forehead wrinkled in concern. “Poor Belle.” She reached out and laid a hand on Killian’s arm. He was clearly agitated. “Security will sort it all out, okay? We’ve had crazy shit happen before, believe me.”

“I’m sure you’re right. I just hope Belle’s okay. She has such a kind heart, and she’s good for my brother. I’d hate for him to have to go home so soon over all this.”

Emma just rubbed his arm in silence for a moment. “Do you want to cancel our rehearsals for today? Go make sure Liam’s alright?”

Killian shook his head. “We’ve missed so much rehearsal time already. And aren’t we choreographing the group number this afternoon?”

He had a point, so despite Killian’s obvious worry, they headed back to their usual studio. They jumped right into their waltz, working hard all morning. It seemed to calm Killian to have something to focus on. In the midst of everything, Emma never did bring up the TMZ pictures.

******************************************************

Emma and Killian had been teamed up with two athletes for the group dance: figure skater Aurora Briar who danced with Sean Herman, and NFL football player Lance Knight who was partnered with Gwen Pendragon. They had to dance to the song “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Goyte. Gwen had been on the show almost since the beginning, and kind of took charge. Emma wanted to do a vampire themed paso doble, but Gwen decided that they would do a dance patterned more after the song’s music video. So the number ended up being a combination of a tango and a modern piece, and the story was about three widowers looking at the paintings of their deceased wives. The paintings came to life, and the dance ensued.

Killian argued that after Emma’s incredible choreography with “Heart Shaped Box,” she should have more say. But Emma pulled him aside to talk him down.

“This is supposed to be fun,” she hissed at him.

“Your idea was way better, Swan,” he argued, “and the judges still score this dance.”

“That’s sweet of you to say,” Emma told him, “but Gwen’s been on this show for a really long time. She’s already won the mirror ball twice and gotten three Emmy nominations for her choreography.”

Killian’s jaw clenched. Lance teasingly asked if they were finished kissing in the corner. Emma turned bright red, thinking back to those TMZ pictures they had never discussed.

“Shut up, Lance!” Emma shot back.

Killian deflated and gave Emma a sheepish smile as he scratched behind his ear.

“Sorry, love, I just see so much talent in you. I hate to see it underappreciated.”

Emma felt her heart soar at his words. She had worked so hard for so many years, yet always felt under other people’s shadows. Namely her brother’s and her sister’s. The fact that Killian saw so much in her was both encouraging and terrifying.

They went back to the rest of the group, and Killian behaved himself. He and Aurora were the stronger celebs when it came to picking up the choreography, but Lance was determined, as athletes usually were on the show. Killian provided good balance for the two intense competitors, getting both Aurora and Lance to laugh and enjoy the group dynamic. Emma marveled at his ability to get along with everyone so easily. She wished she had that quality.

The rest of the days leading up to the Halloween episode flew by. They filmed the requisite clips of their team trash-talking the other one and pretending to “spy” on the other group’s rehearsals. In the frenetic pace of everything, those pictures on TMZ never came up. Even the media seemed to lose interest as news that Belle French had put out a restraining order on Robert Gold consumed everyone’s attention. Killian had been worried that Gold would press assault charges against his brother, but when the obsessive content of the man’s texts and emails to Belle became public, the billionaire had other things on his mind. And Emma hated herself for even thinking it, but part of her was glad that the drama with Gold would be at the forefront of everyone’s minds in the studio come Monday afternoon.

*****************************************************

Emma and Killian, for the first time all season, were scheduled to dance first for the Halloween episode. The set department, like every Halloween, had outdone themselves. Emma had asked for a graveyard, and they had delivered. A black iron gate flanked the dance floor, and in between were an assortment of tombstones. Dry ice sent fog billowing throughout the scene.

“Did they have to use my actual name?” Killian whispered in her ear as she took her place in front of the largest of the tombstones. It read in large, block letters: “Killian Jones.”

Emma just shrugged at him. “Better you than me,” she teased, “now go find your mark.”

He squeezed her hand before walking to the other side of the dance floor and taking his place behind one of the iron gates. The premise of their dance was fairly simple: Emma was a bride widowed on her wedding day. The costume department had made her a gorgeous lace wedding gown that was tattered and stained with blood. Black roses adorned her hair, which was down in a messy mass of curls. Killian, the deceased groom, was dressed in a tux that was in similar shape, and the makeup department had rubbed his skin with white foundation. But the truly gruesome part were the bloody wounds they had added to his face.

“The makeup team sort of knocked the handsome out of me,” he had joked to Emma when she first saw him.

Emma had just shaken her head and laughed. “No make-up artist is that good.” She swore she could see him blush through his heavy foundation.

The video package this week was fairly innocuous. It focused more on the storyline of their dance and silly Halloween jokes than on the actual content of their rehearsals. As it wound to a close, Emma knelt before the tombstone, a black rose in her hand. Camera angles would make it appear to the viewing audience at home that Killian’s ghost appeared out of nowhere to dance with her.

The strains of “Dark Waltz” by Hayley Westenra began to play as Emma set the rose on top of the tombstone. As she always did when performing, Emma reached deep inside of her, to emotions that she normally kept buried. My character has lost her lover, Emma lectured herself internally, She’s alone and grieving.

Later, Emma would try to pinpoint exactly what opened the floodgates of pain, but she could never decide if were the first melancholy notes of music or the gentle touch of Killian’s hand on her shoulder. Whatever it was, she danced the waltz with a raw emotion she had never experienced before. It wasn’t just the grieving widow who was desperate to hold onto her lover, it was Emma as well. Killian fed off her energy, and they both grasped for one another in an almost desperate way. It was truly a dark waltz, just like the song said.

At the end, when Emma spun back around to find Killian’s “ghost” suddenly gone, her own choreography called for her to collapse to the ground in grief. It didn’t, however, call for tears. Yet they came anyway. Something about the character being so utterly, completely alone - abandoned forever -tore at Emma in a way she couldn’t explain. Emma choked, attempting to hold the tears at bay, yet they streamed down her face anyway. She put a trembling hand to her mouth, taking deep breaths through her nose, but they wouldn’t stop. Soon, Killian was there, helping her up to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest where her tears wet his shirt.

“Are you okay?” he whispered, making no move to steer her towards the judges.

Emma took a long, shaky breath and nodded as the tears finally stopped flowing. She gave Killian a wobbly smile. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

He gave her a gentle smile in return, reaching up to brush her tears away with his knuckles. “Are you sure, love?”

She nodded, her cheeks flooding with heat. She turned towards the judges with shaky steps, Killian’s arm a strong support at her waist. The judges and most of the audience were on their feet. Marco asked her a question – something about her emotions - and she stumbled over some kind of answer about being swept away by the story. She wasn’t entirely sure due to the roaring in her ears. She barely registered what any of the judges said. Tiana had to deduct points for an illegal lift, but otherwise, the feedback was positive. Upstairs, the roaring in her ears continued as Ashley interviewed them. It mostly consisted of Ashley marveling over Killian’s disturbing makeup. Emma had a feeling her partner was trying to intentionally pull the attention away from her and her emotional outburst because he laughed and teased Ashley for several minutes about his fake bloodied face. Then the scores were announced: two tens and a nine. Emma was still numb as Killian grabbed her in a tight hug, pulling her up off her feet. The second Ashley announced a commercial break, Emma dashed for the backstage area, ripping off her mic as she went.

Emma found a corner behind the plywood sets and lowered herself shakily to the cold concrete floor. She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in the circle of her arms. She felt the black roses atop her head slip down over one ear.

“Please mates,” she heard Killian’s voice behind her, “give her some bloody privacy.”

She felt his hand on her shoulder, and thinking back to the start of their dance, shuddered at his touch. “I sent the camera guys away,” he told her softly, “so if you want to tell me what happened out there –“

“No,” Emma cut him off, “I don’t.”

“I’d like to help –“

“Killian,” she snapped, “leave me alone. Please.”

She heard him release a long sigh, then his hand slipped from her shoulder. It fell silent around her again, and she assumed he had done as she had asked. Then a hand touched her elbow.

“Damn it, Killian, I said –“ Emma’s words died on her lips when she lifted her face to see her brother kneeling beside her. “Oh,” she muttered sheepishly, pushing hair out of her face, “I didn’t know it was you.”

David shifted so he was sitting on the floor next to her, his arm around her. Emma sagged against him, resting her head on his shoulder like she used to when she was a kid. For several minutes, they just sat there. Ariel appeared at the far end of the corridor, her silhouette outlined by the stage lights behind her.

“David, we’ve got a troupe dance in five!”

“Gimme a minute!” he snapped back in irritation. Ariel shrugged and headed back towards the stage.

Emma dug an elbow into her brother’s ribs. “You better get going.”

David made no move to leave. Finally, he leaned over and whispered against her hair. “It was about Neal, wasn’t it?”

Emma stiffened.

“You don’t have to be so tough, Emma,” he told her gently.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Emma groaned, “and the last thing I want to do is talk about this on some therapist’s couch.”

David actually chuckled. “Oh, I think Mom and I have given up on trying to get you to do that. But you know, you’ve got a family of four people. Five, if you count Mary Margaret, which she would. And not one of us would mind being a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear. We may not be a conventional family, but we all love you.”

“David, come on!” It was now Ruby shouting for her brother.

“Go,” she told him, giving him a shove, “before you get fired.”

He kissed the top of her head and left her. Emma yanked the crown of depressing flowers off her head and threw them aside. Black roses. No wonder it brought back memories of Neal.

**************************************************

It was past two in the morning, and Emma couldn’t sleep. And after how the show ended today, she desperately needed to. The results had been a shock to everyone: no one had been eliminated. In retrospect, Emma should have seen it coming. The producers hadn’t given the pros even a hint of what the theme was for the week. Turned out, it was one that always proved dramatic: partner switch week. Instead of dancing with Killian, she had been paired with baseball player August Booth. Emma groaned as she stirred her hot chocolate. Baseball players were notoriously stiff dancers. It could be Leroy all over again. At least the guy was attractive.

Emma shuffled over to the couch and settled down with a heavy quilt draped across her legs. She took a sip of her cocoa as she sagged against the cushions. Retrospection wasn’t one of Emma’s strengths, but she attempted to at least pin down what was bothering her. Knowing she had to dance with a new partner was stressful, so it could be that. Or maybe it was the second dance she would have to do with Killian: a dance off against Elsa and Graham of all couples. They were definitely going for drama next week, that was for sure.

Then Emma remembered her embarrassing meltdown on a live television show. She set down her mug and buried her head beneath the covers. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t sleep because her emotions were too close to the surface. Fear and pain that she had pushed aside for ten years had come bubbling up without warning. Why now?

Emma’s phone, which was lying on the coffee table, lit up with a text message. She snatched it up, curious as to who would be contacting her at such an ungodly hour. She blinked to see a message from Killian.

I’m outside, but I didn’t want to wake anyone up.

Emma’s brow furrowed in surprise. Everything okay?

I’m actually here because I’m worried YOU aren’t okay.

Emma let out a long breath. She gnawed on her lower lip, considering, then rose from the couch with the quilt still wrapped around herself. She opened the door to see Killian on the other side, his gaze hesitant. She was surprised to see him in a baseball cap.

“How did you even know I would be up?” she whispered.

He shrugged. “Lucky guess? You seemed pretty shaken up today.” He shuffled his feet, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “And I couldn’t sleep either.”

Emma gave him a teasing smile. “That worried about switching partners?”

He smiled back. “Maybe I am. I’m sure Jasmine is a fine dancer, but there’s only one Emma Swan.”

Emma felt inexplicably shy all of a sudden, standing there in her plaid pajamas with a ratty old quilt draped over her shoulders. She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Look, Killian, everyone’s asleep –“

“I know,” he interrupted quickly, “I was wondering if you’d come with me.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Not really in the mood for partying.”

He shook his head, his eyes sparkling. “I had something else in mind. You can even stay in your PJs, and . . . are those wookie slippers?”

Emma chuckled as she shuffled her feet, “A Christmas present from Henry.”

“Ah, I see.” She suddenly realized that Killian himself was in a long sleeve tee and jeans, in addition to the cap. It was the most casual she had ever seen him.

“Um,” Emma mumbled, letting go of one end of the quilt so she could tuck her wayward hair behind her ears, “I’ll go change. Just wait here.”

Emma quickly threw on a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt, then pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. She slipped into a pair of flip flops, joined Killian outside, and they headed downstairs to his car.

“Never seen you in a hat,” she commented.

He shrugged. “I didn’t want any more pictures getting out.”

Emma felt herself blush as he opened his car door for her. “So you saw those.”

“Aye,” he said as he slid behind the driver’s wheel, “I’ve gotten used to that sort of thing, but I know you’re not. I hope you weren’t too upset by it.”

“I was at first, but nothing came of it, so . . . “ Emma trailed off, unsure what else to say. The pictures honestly seemed like a whole lot of nothing compared to the memories that wouldn’t quit invading her mind since their waltz that afternoon. Silence settled between them, but not an uncomfortable one. Emma leaned her head against the window, looking up at the hazy LA sky.

“I just want you to know,” Killian said softly, “that I’m doing this as a friend. I can tell your heart is troubled, and I’d like to help if I can.”

Emma turned to examine his profile as he concentrated on driving. She pulled her knees to her chest as she took in the sincerity of his expression. Neal had made her cynical, untrusting, and yet here she was driving through LA with an actor of all people at 2:30 in the morning. She closed her eyes and waited for the panic to set in. She was shocked when it never came.

The rest of the twenty minute drive was a quiet one. Finally, Killian pulled up to a marina on the coast where a row of sleek yachts were moored. Emma got out, eager to feel the sea breeze on her face. Killian came to walk beside her, resting his hand at the small of her back to guide her up the pier.

“You have a boat?”

“Aye,” Killian answered, stopping in front of a yacht with gold trim and the name The Jewel of the Realm painted on the side in navy blue, “and here she is.”

“She’s not The Jolly Roger?” Emma teased as he helped her on board.

“No, but Jewel of the Realm,” he replied, emphasizing the first letters, “see what I did there?”

Emma nodded, “I get it.”

“Now, Swan,” Killian told her, guiding her up a ladder to a deck area on top of the yacht, “I want you to relax while I get us out a little ways from shore.”

Emma looked at the pile of cushions and blankets artfully scattered around. She arched a brow at Killian. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

Killian reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his expression earnest. “I meant what I said in the car. I find the sea calming. That’s all I want to give you, Emma. A little bit of peace from your troubles. If I can.”

Emma swallowed nervously, taking a quick step back. She hadn’t been expecting him to sidestep such an open invitation to an innuendo. This kind offering of friendship was almost harder to deal with than his flirting. Emma masked her discomfort with a joke. “Well that’s good because I may just fall asleep.”

Killian ducked his head with a soft chuckle. “If so, then my work here is done.”

He turned to go down to the wheel, but Emma stopped him. “Wait. You – you’ll come back up in a few minutes, right?”

He smiled softly. “Aye, love, as soon as I lay anchor.”

Once he had left, Emma sank down to the cushions and drew a blanket around herself. The air here on the water was a bit chillier than in the city. She leaned back, tilting her head up to look at the sky. As they headed farther out to sea, she could see stars twinkling overhead. Killian was right; it was calming. The rocking of the boat and the repetitive whooshing sound of the water caused Emma to drift off for a moment. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when the cutting of the engine and a loud splash awakened her. Killian came back up the ladder, smiling softly at her as he settled in next to her. They both lay there, looking up at the clear night sky. Killian said nothing, and Emma appreciated the silence. When she finally spoke, she could only manage a whisper.

“His name was Neal.”

Killian turned to look at her, “Henry’s father?”

Emma nodded, looking away from his gaze and up at the stars instead. “I was sixteen when I met him online. I had a MySpace page, and that’s where we started talking. He said he was eighteen.” Emma fiddled with the edge of the blanket across her lap. “I was young and stupid, shared too much personal information. He wanted to come to one of my dance competitions.” Emma let out a long, shaky breath. “That’s when I found out he wasn’t eighteen.”

Still Killian didn’t speak, but he brushed his hand against hers. Emma grasped it, threading her fingers with his like they always did on the dance floor.

“He was twenty-five,” Emma continued. She chanced a glance at Killian, but his only reaction was a slight clenching of his jaw. “Anyway, Ingrid never knew he was at that competition. He made me promise not to tell anyone about him. He said people wouldn’t understand. He kissed me and told me I was beautiful. Said that watching me dance was mesmerizing. I convinced myself it was love.”

Killian squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to tell me anymore if you don’t want to,” he told her softly.

“No,” she said in a shaky voice, “I want to. I need to.” The next part was the hardest to tell. “It was always at my competitions that we would meet. This went on for a year. When I was seventeen, he asked me for a dance lesson. So I snuck out of my hotel room where the competition was being held . . .“

Suddenly, Emma felt as if a weight had settled on her chest. She sat up, struggling to breath. Killian sat next to her, rubbing her back soothingly. She put her head between her knees, breathing in through her nose, and out through her mouth, the way Ingrid had taught her.

“Did he rape you?” Killian asked gently.

Emma shook her head as she let out a long, cleansing breath. “No, but it was the night I lost my virginity. Like I said, I thought it was love. After that, he . . . changed. He became more demanding of my time, more intrusive, more critical. It became harder and harder to hide things from Ingrid, but Neal kept saying that she would never understand the way he loved me. But Ingrid knew something was wrong. I was skipping rehearsals, my grades were dropping, I was tired all the time. She and I were always fighting. It was the same with David and my sisters. I started pulling away from them. Neal encouraged it. Only now can I see that he wasn’t who he said he was.”

By the time Emma finished, tears were pouring down her face. She turned towards Killian, who let her fall against his chest as ugly sobs tore at her. She hadn’t cried like this in over ten years. His arms tightened around her.

“I’m so sorry, Emma,” he told her brokenly. “Does he know about Henry?”

Emma pulled back, rolling her eyes as she scrubbed at her tear-stained cheeks. “Why do you think he disappeared? I told him I was pregnant, and that was it. I couldn’t reach him; not online, not by phone. It was like he took what he wanted from me, and when things got complicated, just like that, he was gone.”

Killian said nothing, putting his arm around her again and drawing her close. She rested her cheek against his chest and listened to the soothing sounds of the water.

“I guess, that dance. . . Neal left me broken. Somehow, I tapped into that pain today.”

Killian still didn’t let her go, and Emma felt herself go limp against him. She had never felt so safe in a man’s arms before. “Did he go to jail?” Killian asked.

“No,” Emma breathed out shakily, “I was so freaked out, it was weeks before I told Ingrid about the baby. By then, I had deleted my MySpace page. I just wanted to erase him from my life. Maybe his name wasn’t even Neal. Who knows?”

“But you didn’t let him stop you from dancing. You are so strong, Emma Swan.”

“And I have Henry,” she added, a wistful smile spreading across her face. “Being a dancer, and young, I was pretty far along before I knew about him. When I saw his little hands and feet on that ultrasound, I knew I could never give him up.”

“Does he know?”

Emma nodded. “I’ve always tried to be honest with him; explaining things as he was old enough to understand them. And he’s had a heck of an internet safety talk, believe me. Multiple times.”

“He’s a tough lad,” Killian said, “like his mother.”

Emma pulled away from Killian’s embrace, brushing at tendrils of hair that had stuck to her wet cheeks. “Ugh. I’m not acting so tough right now.”

“I disagree, Emma,” Killian told her, “I’ve never seen such strength.”

#csbb #csbb fic #csbb 2018 #cs ff #cs modern au #dancing with the stars au #enemies to friends to lovers #Natural Opposite #searching wardrobes

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