#Caters News Agency | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

justmeinadaze · 1 year ago

Text

Ghost In The Machine (Eddie X You)

A/N: I wrote this a few days ago because I need it more than anything rn.

Title is based off of SZA's song "Ghost In The Machine".

"I give a fuck, I just wanna fuck, eat, sleep, love, happy Can you make me happy? Can you keep me happy?

Can you distract me from all the disaster? Can you touch on me and not call me after? Can you hate on me and mask it with laughter? Can you lead me to the ark? What's the password?

I need humanity You're like humanity"

They do text near the end. Eddie's texts will be in red.

Warnings: Daddy Dom Eddie X Stripper Sub (slight bratty) Fem Reader, SMUT, dirty talk, dry humping, phone smut, slight degrading if you squint, choking), Eddie is kinda mean at first, traumas are alluded to but not expanded on (Child abuse; bad past relationships), light FLUFF with my usual dash of the ANGST.

Word Count: 4060

Being asked to perform at parties like this wasn’t new for you and the other girls. Having the manager of a famous band reach out to your company for some “entertainment” wasn’t odd either. What was odd was that you were told Corroded Coffin had four band members and right now you were looking at three. They seemed content with the girls they had grinding and kissing on their lap so you decided to take a look around the mansion style home you guys had been called to.

It was extremely beautiful with a bunch of rooms displaying different things. Your fingers grazed the wall at the bottom of the bands framed platinum and gold albums. Turning into what you assumed was a game room, you found a billiards table and a PlayStation with a mini bar in the corner. Around the area, shelfs prominently showed off the band’s awards and accolades with MANY pictures of them in different places.

As you walked further down the hall, you passed an open-door smelling smoke and hearing light strumming of a guitar. Pausing, you took a couple of steps back to peer into the room, finding that missing fourth member.

He had headphones on over his long, wavy hair as a half-finished cigarette dangled from his lips. His eyes were closed as his fingers ran across the instruments strings as it leaned against his bare chest. His jeaned leg and barefoot tapped to a beat as he listened to his music.

“Jesus Christ!”, he exclaimed as his eyes shot open feeling a change in the atmosphere. “What the fuck are you doing over here?! You girls are supposed to stay in the goddamn living room.”

“Hey there’s no reason to be rude! Your friends were preoccupied with the other ladies so I thought I’d look around.”

“Uh huh. To steal shit?”

“No! To look. I got bored, ok?!”

“Hm. A hooker who’s bored. That’s something I haven’t heard before.” His tone is dripping with mocking as he rises to his feet.

“That’s no reason for you to be a fucking asshole!”

“You watch your mouth when you talk to me, little girl. I can make sure you and your ‘company’ never get another job again.”

“Oh, Mr. Tough Rockstar is oh no scary. Fuck you. I’ve handled way worse clients than the number 5 band on the billboard charts.”

The man’s held tilted to the side as he finally drank you in. You were visually different than what he expected when his friends had suggested reaching out to an agency to have some women come over to celebrate with since they were nominated for another Grammy. Eddie didn’t care about that kind of thing; he just wanted to play music. When he heard the car pull up, he immediately disappeared to his room to practice and write some new songs. Not that he wasn’t interested in “entertaining a woman”. This metalhead liked a challenge and he enjoyed even more a strong woman that wouldn’t just cater to his every whim. He didn’t want a woman who would get down on her knees no questions asked. Eddie wanted one who would tell him to fuck off but then after a few consensual activities would be dripping and begging for his cock.

Women were offered to him and his friends constantly. He wanted something he had to earn so that way when she finally submitted, it was all the more sweet.

“What’s your name?”, he asked in a much softer tone.

“Y/N. You?”

“Are you asking to be polite or do you genuinely not know who the guitarist of the band who is number five on the billboard charts?”

“Do you always make things this complicated?”

“Yes.” When he grins at you, you can’t help but smile back.

“Some of the other ladies find catering to a man’s ego really gets them going. I find it’s better to ask them questions, Mr. Munson, especially since most of our clients think we don’t care about them.”

“Do you? Care I mean.”

“Sometimes.”, you shrug.

“You’re honest. I like that.”

“I don’t really see the point in lying if I’m probably never going to see you again.”

“Do you WANT to see me again?”

This time it was your turn to tilt your head. He said that with a lot of the sass he had been giving you since he saw you but something else was behind his eyes when he spoke, something lonely. Your palm reached out confidently, landing on the bulge in his jeans. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t notice his size. The part of him that was against your hand wasn’t even all of him and you gulped as you tried to regain your confident composure.

“Do you want me to help you feel better now, Mr. Munson?”

“You didn’t answer my question.”, the guitarist mused as he stepped forward, placing his own palm against the wall behind you and trapping you against it. “I hate when my questions go unanswered.”

“You-you must be used to disappointment then.”

His nose grazed yours, grinning a big tooth filled smile before his eyes flicked down to your hand on his cock.

“You must be to, Y/N.” Slowly, his fingers trace down your arm and take hold of your wrist as he holds it still. “Be honest. Have you ever felt a dick as big as mine?”

You licked your lips as his hips began grinding against your palm, trying to push down the moan that wanted to escape.

“Ooo someone’s confident.”, you jest. Something in his look changes as the hand on the wall behind you slides down to your throat. In most situations with your other clients this would be a time to panic but he wasn’t gripping you violently. When his fingers firmly pressed into your skin, your brain felt fuzzy as your pussy clenched around nothing.

“I’d say I’ve earned the right to be confident. Now, Y/N, this your one warning. Answer the questions I ask you. Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes Mr. Munson. I understand. N-no. I’ve never felt a dick like yours.”

He smirked as he pressed your palm harder against him. “Good girl.” Your let out a sigh when he released his hold on your neck to push some of your hair behind your ear. “You really are beautiful, Y/N. Fuck and your hand feels so good. I can only imagine how the rest of you feels.”

“You don’t have to imagine. You can have me if you want me.”

Eddie’s smirk grows as he bites his bottom lip. “Honestly, sweetheart, I’ve never wanted anything more but…that’s not how I play. I don’t want you to fuck me because you’re paid to.” He leans in till his lips are right by your ear. “I want you to fuck me because you want to…need me to.” You hear his breathing stutter as he moves his hips faster, his grip on your wrist tightening. “Beg me to.”

“Oh fuck…”, you whimpered at his words. His movements become choppy and grunts before you feel dampness on his jeans.

He leans back placing his forehead on yours as he licks his lips and softly smiles. “See, what would usually happen now is I’d make you cum to. I bet that pussy is just aching to be touched but see…you’re getting to paid to make us feel good…not the other way around.”

You’re honestly too stunned to say anything or fight back with your typical brand of sass. Right now, all you can think of his him and how bad you need something from him; anything.

“Can…can I kiss you?”

When he nods, you waste no time connecting your lips to his. You immediately taste the nicotine but that undertone of him has you dizzy. All too quickly, it’s over as he pulls away. He doesn’t just move his head but his whole body as he backs towards his bed, yanking off his now stained jeans and boxers.

“How long are you ladies here for?”, he asks nonchalantly as he sits on the bed and picks up his guitar again.

“Huh? Oh, um, 2 AM I think.”

He glances at his phone before handing it to you. “Time’s almost up. Put your number in there for me.”

Eddie said it like a command and your instinct was to say something snarky but as you looked down at him strumming his instrument without looking at you, you realized there was more to this man than meets the eye. Most men who begged for your number always watched you intently to make sure you actually did it, you assumed. Of course, you gave them a fake number or the number to the agency you worked for but with this man here his head remained lowered. It was almost like he was afraid you wouldn’t…like he really hoped you would and would be hurt if he watched you decline, giving the phone back.

There was something about Eddie that you wanted to know more about. He wasn’t like everyone else you had been around. For some reason, you felt like you could trust him.

After inputting your real number, you placed his device back on his nightstand and sat beside him. “We still have 45 minutes. Can I ask what you’re working on?”

His eyes shoot over to you as he cautiously scans your soft smiling face. “We’re working on this new album and Jeff has this song he wrote but I can’t find the right sound. I was just messing around and recording them to see if it sparked something.”

“May I hear what you have so far?”

“Um, yeah, sure.”

He reached over, grabbing an extra set of headphones and placed them over you head. You grinned as different guitar riffs and melodies began to play.

“This is all you?” Eddie nods. “Wow. Mr. Munson, you are definitely talented.”

When he pauses the recording and you slide the headphones around your neck. “You can call me Eddie if you’d like.”

“Okay, Eddie.” After putting the headphones over your ears again, he pressed play and you both leaned back in his bed.

He couldn’t help but be a little shocked that you didn’t try to touch him again. Anywhere he or his band went, people tried to touch his body whether it was meet and greets, walking through the street, or even on stage when overzealous fans would jump on and run at them. Any girl that was lucky enough to be in his bed would insist on touching him until she left as if she knew this would be the last time she saw him. That’s another reason he struggled to maintain any kind of relationship. Besides the crazy rockstar life, he never was keen on being constantly touched.

He got enough of that with his career and when he was growing up when his dad would knock him around. With his last relationship, they fought constantly because there were times he would come home from a long day and just wanted a moment to decompress alone. He knew she meant well but even after nicely asking her to give him a moment she would still try and wrap her arms around him or try and kiss parts of his body.

What he didn’t know yet was that you understood that feeling all too well. Being in your line of work, men seemed to believe you didn’t even have a line they shouldn’t cross, always touching some part of your body until their time was up. When you were just a stripper at the company you worked for, men were the same but at least you had a bouncer to quickly pulled them back. When times got hard and you told your boss you were willing to sign up for the “side hustle”, it was just you and the girls.

No one had ever gotten too physical like that but after your client came you just wanted them to roll over and crash or just leave you there till the timer was up. Personally, you chose to stay away from relationships knowing most men wouldn’t like your line of business. Men constantly offered to “save you” but you knew it was all talk. They didn’t really care about you.

When you moved to the city, you promised you were only going to look out for yourself. You took care of you and had for a long time. The last time you relinquished control like that, you got burned and ran all the way to a new state.

A small hand tapped your knee and you jumped before realizing it was one of the other girls letting you know time was up.

“Ok, I’ll be right there.” You turn to Eddie and hand him his headphones. “I really like what you have so far. That last one was beautiful.”

“Thank you. Here, um, let me grab my sweatpants and I can walk you out.”

“Oh, Eddie, no. You don’t have to do that. It’s super late and in your gated front yard I don’t think anyone is going to jump us.”, you giggle.

“Ok…I’m going to put on pants anyway though because I want to hug you if that’s alright.” Without waiting for an answer, he finds a pair on the floor and pulls them up just below his hips.

“Do arms not work without sweats?”

“They do but I don’t want to be disrespectful by rubbing my dick on you and making you uncomfortable.”

“Didn’t I just…”

“You made that move, sweetheart. You put your hand on me.”, he grins as he places his body in front of yours. “May I hug you?”

When you nod, he wraps his arms around you and pulls you to his chest as your own limbs cling to his upper torso. This was a new feeling for you. It had been so long since you felt safe in someone’s arms. His hand petted your hair as he kissed the top of your head.

“I’ll talk to you later to make sure you’re alright.”

***

You sighed as you entered your front door, putting away your things, and throwing yourself on your bed as you closed your eyes. A sudden ding on your phone made your eyebrows scrunch as you blindly searched for it on your bed. Swiping it open, you noticed it was from an unknown number but as you read the message, a smile slowly formed on your face.

“Hey, sweetheart. Just checking in to make sure you got home alright.”

“Are you stalking me, Mr. Munson? Lol. I literally just walked in the door.”

Tossing your phone back on the bed, you figure it will most likely take him awhile to respond but as you go to your closet to change you hear that familiar ding.

“Yup. You caught me. I followed you home.”

“Shit. I just realized that’s probably not a joke I should be making in your line of work.”

“I was just thinking about you and wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Lol Eddie! If I thought you were like that I wouldn’t have given you my number : ) “

“I’m alright though. Thank you for checking up on me.”

“Of course. I’ll leave you alone now so you can sleep.”

“I actually wasn’t going to go to sleep just yet.”

You paused for a moment debating on if you should tell him what you were going to do before bed. You were hoping if you did maybe he would talk to you like he did in his bedroom. Hearing him murmur his words and what he said got you wetter than anything else. You could still feel your slick sticking to your legs after you changed your clothes. Hell, it couldn’t hurt, right?

“I just got back from spending some time with this long haired rockstar with a huge cock who got me all hot and bothered so I was going to relieve some of this pressure here.”

You watched the dots on his end appear and disappear. The longer it took him the more nervous you got. Had you crossed a line?

“Don’t talk like that. Be upfront and honest. Talk to me like a big girl. What were you going to do before bed, Y/N?”

You could almost feel his stern eyes through the screen as you rubbed your thighs together.

“I was going to touch myself and think of you.”

His name suddenly popped up on your phone and you didn’t hesitate to answer the call.

“Hey Eddie.”

“Are you still wearing what you had on here?”

“No. I’m naked now.”

“Liar.”

“Eddie, I’m not—”

“Call me back when you’re ready to be a good girl.”

Your jaw dropped as he hung up and you huffed as you called him backed. “How dare you—”

“I don’t play games like that, little girl, and I hate liars. I figured since I got you all riled up and you are no longer on the clock maybe I could help you out. I also thought it would be fucking sexy to hear what you sound like when you cum. But if you want to cop an attitude with me, I can treat you how bratty little girls deserve to be treated. Now…what are you wearing?”

“I’m wearing an oversized t-shirt with my panties from earlier.”

He could hear your pout through the phone and it was making him hard all over again.

“Good. Good girl. Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?”

“I don’t know. I just… I always have to be SEXY; you know? God forbid I show any humanity.”

“Not with me, princess. I imagine you look just as sexy now as you did looking up at me with those big, beautiful eyes against my bedroom wall."

“Thank you, Mr. Munson.”

“Of course. Now tell me, baby. You said you were going to touch yourself and think of me. What about me?”

“I was thinking about the way your lips tasted when you kissed me…so good.”

“The cigarette taste didn’t bother you?”, he chuckled making you smile as one of your hands roamed up your shirt to touch your breast.

“No. Not at all.”, you giggle back, biting your bottom lip.

“That’s good. I’ve had some complaints.” You can hear him smile and your fingers run along your nipple as your exhale heavily. “What are you doing over there, honey?”

“I’m playing with my tits.”

“Mmm. You did have some perfect tits. Well, from what I saw under that tight ass tank top.”

That makes you genuinely laugh and his smile grows at the sound. “What else were you going to think about?”

Your hand slides under the waistband of your panties as your finger slides through your dripping folds.

“I was going to think about your thick cock against my palm and the way you rubbed against it.”

“Yeah? You’re going to imagine me doing that right now between those gorgeous legs? Grinding my dick against your pretty little pussy.”

“F-fuck, Eddie.” Your eyes rolled back as two of your fingers breached your entrance. “Please…keep talking to me…like that.”

“You like the way I talk to you? Was that something else you were going to think about? Picturing me whispering in your ear like I did when you were here?”

You didn’t know but he was leading you somewhere. There was one thing he wanted, needed to hear you say on your own. As soon as he heard it, he was yours and he would do anything to make you his.

“Yes, I liked hearing you say the things you said.”

Eddie could hear you touching yourself and your little moans were driving him crazy as he quickly pulled down his pants.

“Princess, is it ok if I touch myself to?”

“Yeah, baby. Of course. A-are you—mmm—still a bit sensitive?” The sound of him spitting in his hand had you clench tightly as you whimpered.

“Ah, no, baby girl. But with those sexy fucking whimpers and groans I’m not going to last long.”, he chuckled. “How many fingers are you using?” You barely heard him as you thumb began messaging your clit. “I asked you something, sweetheart. What did I say when you were here?”

“If-if—mmm—you ask…me…something I-I answer.”

“Good girl. Tell me how many fingers you’re using.”

“Fuck…two. Two, Daddy.”

Eddie practically growled with pleasure at the word that he had been praying would fall from your lips.

“Jesus, yes. Good fucking girl. I want you to use three. You…you have to prepare that pretty pussy for… Daddy’s big cock.”

As soon as you did as he asked, the English language completely escaped your mind.

“I…your…oh my…” He grunted in your ear reminding you of when he was pressed against you sending you toppling over the edge as you came hard. The sound was almost too much for him as he pictured your cunt spasming around him as you moaned his name just as you had. For the second time that night you made him cum as his spend shot out and hit his stomach.

“Are you ok?”, you mumbled, drunk off your orgasm.

“Yeah, sweetheart. I’m alright. Are you?”

“I’ve never called anyone Daddy before.” You had no idea why you were being so honest with him. That wasn’t necessarily something he needed to know but for some reason you thought maybe the knowledge of that would make him feel special. You wanted him to feel good.

“What made you say it now?”

You scoot your body further into your bed as you curl up into your sheets.

“I feel safe with you. I know that sounds so weird. We barely even know each other but I do…”

You listened to the soothing sound of his breath into the phone as he absorbed what you were saying.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. I can be a bit of an asshole sometimes.”

“I can handle the asshole.” You smile when you hear him softly laugh.

“On Friday, we’re going to be spending some time at the recording studio. Do you want come by and listen to us play?”

“I would love to but I have to work Friday night.”

“How about you come by in the afternoon and then go to work? Are you…um…”

“No, side business Friday. I’ll just be dancing.”

“Ok, cool. Maybe when we’re done, I can meet up with you after.”

“Eddie…I like you a lot but are you sure you want to do this? I strip and I have sex for money. I’m not proud of it but I’m not ashamed of it either. I’m doing what I have to do right now.”

He was silent for a moment as he thought about what you were saying.

“Y/N, I’m not perfect. I’ve been arrested, gotten into fights with paparazzi, and like I said I can be a bit of an asshole. I like you a lot to but I understand that this is all new. You and I lead interesting lives. I’m not…going to harp on you and I’m not going to, I don’t know, offer to fucking save you or whatever other douchebags say.” You laugh making him smile. “But I would like to take care of you…physically, mentally, emotionally…financially.”

“I don’t know how to give up control like that.”

The way you say that makes him want to scoop you up in his arms and cradle you into his chest.

“Do you work tomorrow?”

“No, not tomorrow.”

“Can I come over so we can talk? We’re doing this stupid photoshoot thing but I can come over after and bring some food. Of course, only if you’re comfortable. That’s all that really matters to me, baby girl. I want you to be comfortable.”

You don’t know why but you believed him when he said it. What was it about this man that had you breaking all your normal rules? Not just rules with the business but in your life. You had been on your own for so long that you didn’t need nor want to become involved with someone. However, it would be nice to have someone take care of you for once…

“Okay, Daddy”

456 notes · View notes

fafnir19 · 6 months ago

Note

Wait, so what does Jafar do for one to become a full genie?

A few days after the encounter with Jafar that changed his life, Lex was curious about how Jafar could potentially have turned him into a genie for good. In a composed but serious manner, Declan explained him,

“The next horrifying thing that would likely have happened is that Jafar would have forcibly backed you into a corner of the sofa and used his physical dominance to assert power and control over you. The only move you could make in that vulnerable position is to spread your legs for him - and you most definitely would have done it.

Your submissive gesture, displayed by the parting of your legs for him, is a clear indication of your submission to his control and influence. To guarantee that your fate was sealed, he would have shoot his magic essence also into your second orifice until it dripped down your thighs. The outcome of this act would differ depending on the specific role Jafar had intended for you as a genie:

If Jafar is turning you into a genie's servant, this act symbolizes your submission and willingness to obey his commands. By spreading your legs for Jafar, you are showing your compliance and readiness to serve him. Your role will involve carrying out tasks, performing duties, and catering to Jafar's needs and desires as a loyal and obedient servant. This transformation would involve a total loss of personal freedom and agency for you.

If Jafar intends to transform you into a classical wish-fulfilling genie, this physical act of surrendering to him can represent the granting of your powers and abilities. By spreading your legs, you may be symbolizing your openness to receiving and channeling magical energies. In the case of becoming a classical wish-fulfilling genie, your primary function will be to grant wishes to those who possess your magical lamp or token of power. You will be bound by the rules and limitations of wish-granting, such as the number of wishes allowed or the restrictions on the types of wishes that can be granted.

If Jafar seeks to turn you into an evil genie, the act of pushing you into a corner and forcing your surrender can signify your descent into darkness and malevolence. By spreading your legs for Jafar, you may be succumbing to his control and being corrupted by his influence. As a evil genie, your nature will be characterized by malevolence, malice, and a tendency to harm and manipulate others. You may be tasked with carrying out wicked deeds, spreading chaos and destruction, and serving Jafar's dark purposes through your malevolent abilities.

The specific outcome of your transformation as a genie will depend on Jafar's intentions, the nature of your relationship with him, and the roles and responsibilities assigned to you in your new form. However, this is all just conjecture, as you will never fully understand the evil plans that are brewing in Jafar's deranged head.”

#male tf #male transformation #personality change #mystery #genie #genie's lamp #submision

103 notes · View notes

dailymothanon · 8 months ago

Text

A sketch of Gov in the new episode 🐶! I always kinda imagined Gov to look pretty much how he is portrayed in the episodes tbh so I never bother to make him that much of a separate design 🤔 BUT also this is an excuse to educate y'all on federal land. It will be under the cut for those who wanna learn.

What does Federal Land mean for a state?

Well, this is something I think a lot of folks in here (the fandom) needs to know, because I just see people jump to conclude Gov is horrible towards Nevada. That is not the case.

This is just the basics, but federal land literally just conserves, manages, and protects natural resources and wildlife. For example, national parks are federal lands. You'd notice this because of how western states tend to have more wildlife than the east. And how federal land is mostly administered by agencies such as the BLM, FWS, NPS, and USFS, which all are catered towards handling wildlife and resources.

Federal land also tends to consist of land that states cannot easily manage or utilize, which for Nevada it's pretty easy to notice, as most of Nevada is semi-arid and desert, meanwhile land more available to use, like by rivers and other water sources are not usually federal land.

Historically, up until 1976, you could easily just claim a homestead of hundreds of acres! The Federal Government just ended up taking what nobody else really wanted because they couldn't live there anyways. It's why Nevada has so much Fed Land, and now that land is managed by agencies; and in Nevada's case, most of it is under the Bureau of Land Management. This is why Nevada's population only resides in no more than 20% of the land. Because they bought it as they could use it and live in it, even then they don't use much of the full 20% that is accessible to them.

And it's not as if federal land is completely off-hands, people hunt, hike, camp and fish in federal land all the time! Take Alaska for example, who's 60%+ federal land, in terms of Alaska's size that's a LOT of land, yet Alaska is one of or the best state when it comes to fishing and hunting either way, and Alaska's natural beauty remains largely untouched and unbothered (at least directly).

There is also the fact that if a crime is committed on federal land, it instantly becomes punishable to a higher degree than it would on state grounds, as it becomes of federal interest.

So no, Nevada being 80% federal land isn't bad for him. It's just Gov taking up and protecting what Nevada can't really utilize or manage easily.

#anyways I hope some of yall do something with this knowledge because some of yall really need it #wttt #welcome to the table #welcome to the statehouse #ben brainard #wttt fanart #wttt fan art #wttt headcanons #wttsh #wttsh fanart #wttt nevada #wttt gov #wttsh gov #wttsh nevada #wttt alaska #wttsh alaska #wttt facts #wttt dc #wttsh dc

142 notes · View notes

markrosewater · 5 months ago

Note

As someone who primarily plays commander I really dislike how it's been stapled on to Freerunning. Cards don't need to work in every deck. In fact, it feels much more rewarding when you stumble across cards that only work in the deck you're trying to build. Freerunning as an assassin's only thing would've been great. Cool mechanic, cool flavor, fits the IP. Including commander makes it feel forced and too direct. I get commander is the most popular format and you want to cater to it, but this is the absolute worst way to do that in my opinion. Just make cool cards with niche abilities and have them be legendary from time to time.

Assassin typal is pretty narrow. Note how Outlaws of Thunder Junction had to also attach Rogue and Mercenary and Pirates and Warlock to make it mechanically relevant. (There were only 87 Assassins in the game - not counting Changelings - before Assassin’s Creed released.)

It just isn’t good game design to make a mechanic (the only new one, no less) one that can only be played in under .1% of decks. But it’s Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s in the title. It’s the core role of the game.

So Corey (the lead design of the set) decided to find additional mechanical space to broaden it. Commander traditionally has trouble with aggression (aka not a lot of Commanders attack regularly) so Corey found a way to make the mechanic relevant in Commander.

Even though every Commander deck has a Commander, free running doesn’t push in a way that makes every deck want or need it.

I hear the message that some people don’t want us to design cards for Commander, but it’s a 800-pound gorilla that dominates tabletop play. If you go to many game stores, it’s the only pick-up game you can find.

So to make our new mechanic (again, the only new mechanic in the whole set) something unplayable in our most popular format isn’t very viable.

There is a truism in game design. “You design for the game being played.” You have to understand how your cards will be used by the players and lean into it.

There are so many formats you can play that we (mostly) don’t design for, if that’s important to you. Magic is great in that you the player have so much agency in how you play.

But we’re going to design for the format that dominates tabletop play.

59 notes · View notes

manias-wordcount · 1 month ago

Text

Retreat (Shouta Aizawa, Nemuri Kayama, Toshinori Yagi, Hizashi Yamada)

Kinktober 2024 Day Thirty-One: Service

𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚? ⇒ 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧?

𝙗𝙪𝙮 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚?

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗗𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗢𝗻𝗲-𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘁𝘀: 𝗼𝗻𝗲 || 𝘁𝘄𝗼 || 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲

People say if you don’t like your job, then it’s not for you. That’s what your friends always told you when you would shyly mention your strict office job. The one that would have you coming in at odd hours and never allowing visitors of any kind. It was best that they saw you leave the house every day in a pencil skirt and tights. Because it wouldn’t raise any questions. After all, not many people can handle a lifestyle like this.

But you like your job. Despite all that you know and hear about from other people in the same or similar industries, you’ve lucked out. Because you actually like your job. The agency you’re working for and the clientele that they cater to means that every job complete earns you a very generous paycheck nearly day in and day out. The type of paycheck you would have to hide from your friends, even. But you suppose you have to hide just about everything when it comes to this type of job.

Because when you’re sucking the dicks and sittings on the faces of the highest-ranked Pro-Hereoes in all of Japan, you’re bound to want to keep it a secret from all who know you. Just like they’re bound to want to keep it secret from all of the world that they’ve been booking you for parties and solo sessions in their own apartments and agencies and other places. But that’s just what comes with the territory. It comes with the territory when you’re a hired whore for Japan’s greatest.

So the secrecy is nothing new. Just like the meeting at one location only to be blindfolded and put into a car and shipped off to a second, more secret location is surprising and nothing new either. Just like seeing a set of cabins set up around a well-kept campground in the middle of the mountains when you’re finally allowed to take the blindfold off for just a few seconds is also nothing new. Because You’ve been hired to perform your services on retreats before. You’ve done the whole- service the entire company throughout the day while they’re supposed to be getting buddy-buddy with each other. Usually, while someone is ball-deep inside of you.

So in your mind, this is nothing new. This is nothing special. Nothing to be concerned about.

But then you started hearing voices surrounding you. Voices that you’ve heard before. Voices that you can put faces to. Voices that belong to people who had appeared on TV and in interviews. Voices that belong to people that you’ve serviced before. Voices that belong to a group you swear work at UA High School.

And suddenly, it makes perfect sense now that bodies are pressing up against yours, telling you how pretty you look while thanking some man named Nezu for “bringing out our favorite girl.” It makes perfect sense that everyone- every voice in the crowd that’s starting to mob you seems to know you with just one quick glance, even with the blindfold obscuring part of your face. It makes perfect sense that there are suddenly multiple pairs of lips pressing themselves against your skin in all the right spots, making you moan and gasp out in the way you know all your clients seem to like. Almost as if you're being hired and brought here has more to do with your pleasure than theirs.

Almost.

You know people too well. You know these people too well. You know these people too well to know that they’re not too concerned with the fact that you can easily start calling out hero names of those who start undressing and running their hands all over your body. You know these people too well that they were holding back earlier- because very rarely do your clients not try to jump your bones at first sight. But right now, you’re not concerned about the sore pussy and throat that’s bound to be in your future. You’re not really concerned at all. That said, it’s not like exactly in a position of power right now either.

The current position you’re in doesn’t offer much in terms of mobility. In fact, it’s much safer to say that you can’t move. They won’t let you. After all, you’re not theirs forever. In fact, if the mumbles you heard while you were being dragged away from the car and into the arms and cabins of the first group of people who got to indulge in your for the night were actually true, it sounds like you’re only here for half of their retreat.

It’s a time frame that's just long enough for you to do your job. Just long enough for you to make them cum a few times while running down the clock. But also, just long enough for your clients to maybe consider keeping you for longer than what you’re supposed to be.

So long as you’re not completely opposed to the idea, of course.

But at the moment, nobody is pitching your ideas. Nobody is talking to you about extending contracts or paying you under the counter if you just promise to stay a little bit longer than you’re supposed to. Nobody bringing anything of the sort up. Because they’re far too busy. Because they’re far too busy attending one of their meetings and wishing more than anything about how they desperately wish to have you. Or because they’re far too busy attending to you.

And you’re far too busy being attended to.

Right now, you’re not sure the chair whoever has you got on their lap is all that comfortable. It shifts and creaks and groans under the weight and force and pressure that’s under. It was meant for just one person to sit on, after all. Not one person, the hired whore he had sitting on his lap, and the all people currently surrounding the chair, trying to do anything in their power to have the hired whore help them get the release they’ve been desperately searching for. But things like this come with the job. The possibility of things getting rough. The possibility of things breaking. The possibility of them breaking you.

A very, very very real possibility given this particular crowd who is currently surrounding you. Including the special someone you’re currently sitting on. Although at this point, you’re more than comfortable calling that special someone by name. Because even if you didn’t know the voice right by your ear so well from all his appearances and from listening to his radio show during all the late nights when you would have to find your way home from work, you have a funny feeling that you would still be able to guess that guy with his cock buried in your ass at the moment is none other than Present Mic.

You’ve had a lot of gentle customers before. You’ve had a lot of people who never wanted to do more than just sit you on their lap and let one of your holes flutter and squeeze around whatever they put in their- fingers, strap-ons, dicks, vibrators, etc. You’ve even had a few people who wanted nothing more than to just have you grind against them while they kissed your lips and struggled to hold back their desire to mark you. Ruining the merchandise comes with a hefty fee, after all.

But Present Mic was more than just gentle. He was soft. During all the times you’ve been with him, he’s always made sure that his cock was plenty wet and you were plenty lubed up so he would cause any tears with that surprisingly thick cock of his. He would always give you ample time to adjust to feeling him inside of you and would allow you to move around as much as you needed to in order to get comfortable. But what made him stand out? What made it so you knew this was him? It was the fact that he was always humming and placing small, tiny kisses right behind your ear. Occasionally singing just loud enough that only you could hear about how you’re his pretty girl- his soft, sweet, gorgeous girl who deserves whatever she wants.

And if he could sample your moans just to keep for himself, he would do it in a heartbeat.

But Present Mic and sweet murmurs and subtle rolls of his hips every couple of seconds to stay locked inside of you is just a far cry from the person who’s currently pounding away at your pussy at the moment. Once again- the blindfold keeps you from seeing just exactly who is causing you to whine and squeal as they manage to hits those spots deep inside of you that would have you drooling all over yourself if it weren’t for the cock in your mouth. But you have a funny feeling that it’s none other than Ersaerhead- the Erasure Hero. Because whenever you find yourself with Present Mic, you find that Ersaerhead never seems to be too far behind. Or in this case, in front of you.

And besides, you know those grunts of his a little too well.

“Still so tight for me,” Eraserhead’s low mumble comes just by your ear, sending small shivers down your throat as his heavy tone only seems to add to the godly sensation of his cock dragging itself in and out of your warm, wet walls and keeping you stuffed full. He’s thicker than Present Mic by just a little bit. Such a fact makes it more appropriate for Present Mic always go for anal whenever the two of them get a chance to fuck you together. But doesn’t exactly make it all that easier for you to handle when Eraserhead’s tight grip on your thighs as he pries them up and open so he can fuck you harder than ever also jostles you in a way that has moving around Present Mic’s lap a little too. Something that the Voice Hero makes known to you by the way his own grip tightens around your waist to keep you in place as he tries his hisses and groans of pleasure. “Fuck, you make this who retreat worth it. Don’t you, sweetheart?”

You let out another whine at his words, eyes starting to water behind your blindfold from the intensity of his fucking and from the small wave of emotions rolling over you. To be honest, you didn’t know that. You don’t get very many details about the types of events you’re booked for. For this one, you just knew that someone wanted you to come with them and one of their co-workers for a little bit of morale-boosting during a worker’s retreat. You wouldn’t have guessed that this was a UA-affiliated event before you got here and started to hear all the voices of people who you know are only connected through that school. And you didn’t exactly have enough time to think about what all that entails before a few members of the group started pulling you to the side and pulling off your clothes while the others went to start their first round of meetings.

So no, you didn’t know that. You know about their bodies. You know how they treat pretty girls like you. You know how they like to use the bodies of pretty girls you, too. And sure, you always get the funny feeling that when you’re being booked for events like this, you’re serving as more of a distraction than anything else. But you still don’t know the ins and outs of these types of events and what you do for the people there except to give them an excuse to pull off their clothes and release some stress.

So Ersaerhead’s words inspire something warm inside of you. The feeling of being appreciated. The feeling of being appreciated for a little more than just your body. Perhaps even for your presence. But as much as you wanted to respond be a good girl for the man who’s taking the time to do everything in his power to make sure stuffing your pussy full of his cock feels as good to you as does for him, you can’t respond. You can’t respond to his question. You just can’t.

And it’s all because of that cock that’s currently kissing the back of your throat. The very same cock that in your mind, still seems nearly too large to belong to a human.

Because no matter how much you try to deep throat it- no matter how much you try to find inside of your mouth with your years of experience- you can barely make it down a few inches. You can barely make it past the tip. It’s frustrating. It’s so frustrating that you can’t help but squeeze your eyes shut and control your breathing and just try harder. Try harder to flatten your tongue. Try harder to open your jaw wider. Try harder to get him farther down your throat. But the cock inside of your mouth is not just long- it’s thick. It’s heavy in your mouth and leaves you with nothing to do but struggle and make a mess of yourself as his precum mixes with your saliva and pools all around your lips.

But as frustrating as it is, you know that it’s okay. You’re okay. Because the booming voice of Japan’s number one hero- the booming voice of All Might- still takes the time to remind you that you’re off just how far you’ve gone from when you were first starting out. From when you were first servicing him.

“There you go, sweetheart.” All Might groans deep and low. His voice is still radiant. It still holds clear. But there’s something particularly attractive about how well his low moans and grumbles of measure mix in with the rest of the sounds in the room. In your mind, it’s almost as attractive as whenever he decides to have his large, large hands cup your jaw in an attempt to ease the pain and soreness he knows you’re suffering from just so you be a good girl and do what you’re told for him. “You’re taking me so well this time.”

Naturally, isn’t the first time you’ve sucked off the Symbol of Peace. But this is certainly the longest he’s been down your throat without you having to spit him out and take in oxygen like it was stolen away from you by the trickiest of thieves. And because of that, he takes extra care of making sure that you’re as comfortable as you can be. He doesn’t fuck your throat like you’re sure he wants to.

Though you suppose the fact that the R-Rated Hero is behind standing behind the chair at the moment- reaching around and over the men whose cocks in currently situated in both your ass and pussy in order to hold your hair back and guide your head in a way that would best suck on All Might’s cock like the lollipop she keeps reminding you that it is.

Although Midnight’s help in directing the scene isn’t quite necessary for you to have a good time anymore because years in this service have taught you how to speak up for yourself, you find that it’s much appreciated. There’s still some part of you that get so disoriented when someone ties a blindfold tight around your eyes while someone else forgets that you just can’t magically find the dick in front of you that someone wants you to jerk off. There’s still some part of you that appreciates another woman there, convincing you to push yourself harder and harder- reminding you of what your body’s true limits are too.

That, and the fact that she keeps whispering hushed words about how she promises she’ll take you aside tonight when everyone’s asleep and have you squirting all over her tongue the second she can get her hands on you is also very appreciated. And something you already know you’re looking forward to.

But that’s a couple hours from now. And as good as the future sounds, what you’re dealing with presently certainly comes with its own excitements. Because just now, Present Mic has begun to roll his hips into yours a little faster, now finding it in him to empty his load inside of you. Though the fact that Ersaerhead had just now begun to reach down and let his skillful hands and find your clit- making you moan and whine “so sweetly for him, only” may have something to do with that. And it doesn’t help that Midnight had just guided your lips from All Might’s cock with a lewd and audible pop as she eased your head in a different direction so you could start sucking someone else’s dick. Much to the Symbol of Peace’s displeasure.

But that’s just what you have to deal with when you’re servicing for a group. That’s just what you have to deal with a group has to share you for a retreat. There’s the added promise of having a pretty girl and all her holes open for use as long as she's treated well before, during, and afterward.

But that’s not something you feel the need to concern yourself with. Any issues they have with each other, they can sort out with each other. There’s no need for you to get involved. There’s no need for you to step in at all. Because after all, you’re just the hired whore- the special little sex worker for Pro-Heroes and for Pro-Heroes alone. And besides…this retreat right now? This session right now?

It’s for you as much as it’s for them too.

28 notes · View notes

ssivinee · 1 year ago

Text

✧Cupid✧

Nakamura Kazuha x Le Sserafim! 00' Liner! F reader: Your addition to Le Sserafim was unexpected and so sudden that even the other members weren't prepared. It took a while for you to feel comfortable, but Kazuha was able to help you open up.

Word Count: 2k

Warning: This talks about the bullying scandal; there isn't much.

Inspiration: ➼ Cupid by FIFTY FIFTY

Note: Bold= English, Italics= Japanese. A little something short before the next Bada fic... may post it in a bit.

Character Vision Board

In 2022, HYBE was preparing to debut its first girl group. This caused a massive uproar in the K-pop community as the company was already rising due to the many acquisitions. The former IZ*one members were signing, and now the bullying scandal.

As much as debuting under a massive company was terrific, it came with enormous backlash. The upper ends of HYBE entertainment were still trying to figure out what to do; they were getting publicity from the scandal, but the girl's images were also important.

The company's solution for this is adding a member a month before Le Sserafim's official debut. HYBE was aware these rumors would likely lead to the removal of the young girl, so they needed some backup. Even though HYBE and Somu had difficulty finding the perfect girl, HYBE reluctantly gave one of their top Japanese contenders to Source Music.

Nakashima Y/n, the Japanese-American trainee who had been in Big Hit trainee since September 2018. The agency took her in the right after her elimination from Produce 48 and made sure she became one of their best trainees.

With your experience in freestyle, underground dance competitions, and even personal vocal lessons since age 4, Bang PD didn't waste any time and contacted you. Once HYBE became a thing, the company needed help creating a team with a similar skill set to yours.

So to help cater to you, they moved you to HYBE Japan, and while mixing and matching girls, you were supposed to debut by the end of 2023. That unexpectedly changed when you were called back to Korea. You were clueless and weren't told why they wanted to speak to you at the main building, but without question, you went.

You were led through the large building and made your way to a meeting room. When opening the door, you were met with confused eyes. Everyone in the room wore masks, so you couldn't recognize anyone, well, everyone but one.

"Sakura-unnie?" Amongst the girls, her eyes were the most recognizable, making Sakura's head tilt in confusion.

"Please take a seat," The concept director gestures to the seat next to Sakura, who was a bit skeptical with you next to her, not recognizing anything about you.

"In recent events, everyone on the board has decided to add a new member last minute. Which is where she comes in," she points at you, and as confused as you were, you got the gist of everything and just accepted the new change that was about to occur. "Please introduce yourself to them."

"Ah, Hello," you bow, "My name is Nakashima Y/n; please take care of me." Some of the girl's eyes go wide,

"Y/n-unnie?"

"Wha~ you recognized me with the mask on?" Sakura says, bringing you into a hug, "I'll always recognize Japan's most famous idol."

When you tease her, she playfully hits you, "Ah, Y/n, you remember Yunjin and Chaewon, right?"

"Of course, I'll always remember my produce girls," Yunjin and Chaewon laugh at the girl while giving a welcoming hug. "Y/n, these are the other girls on our team Hong Eunchae, Kim Garam, and Nakamura Kazuha."

Y/n greets the three, and when meeting Kazuha's gaze, you surprisedly say, "Another Japanese member? Cool." Kazuha was pleasantly shocked at the sudden Japanese, but it made her happy knowing there was another member that could make her feel more at home.

"Due to the changes, you guys will have to redo shoots, whether choreography parts in the music video, concept photos, or anything else. So prepare for the upcoming 3 weeks because everyone will be busy. We apologize for the inconvenience, girls; it must be done."

The next day, Y/n had to record her parts for multiple songs on the Fearless album, and nearing the end of the day, she had to do her concept photos and videos. At 5 am, she even had to go to the company to meet the choreographer and learn all the dances for only 4 hours.

You come back visibly tired. Your hair was disheveled, clothes were heavily wrinkled, and makeup was smudging off. You found Kazuha eating some yogurt while watching TV in the living room. "Um, unnie, there is food... in the fridge," Kazuha told her while switching from Korean to English as she struggled to find the words. "Hey, if you're having issues with Korean, you can talk to me in Japanese, and I can help you learn."

Kazuha's head snapped towards you and gave you a thankful smile, "Sure, do you want to join me, or are you too tired? I don't want to bother you."

A hopeless romantic all my life Surrounded by couples all the time I guess I should take it as a sign

"Sure, I'm not too tired. Let me just shower first," you tell her and head toward your room, showering, doing your face routine, and coming back to Kazuha looking refreshed.

You sit next to Kazuha with a bowl of salad and a simple turkey sandwich. "So, how was your day? I heard they make you learn Blue Flame and Fearless, then made you record for almost every song."

"Correction, it was all the songs AND photoshoots, but I managed," you joked with the girl, but she seemed a little worried. "Are you sure your okay, unnie? That's a lot?"

"I'll be okay, Zuha; I just need to get this over with so I can rest a little before the showcase," you reassured the younger. You two sat in silence for a bit, but then a thought came to mind, "Zuha, is it true you did ballet?"

"Oh, yeah, I did it for most of my life and went to ballet school in the Netherlands."

Your jaw dropped, "What made you switch professions then?"

Kazuha thought for a second, "a change of pace." You found the simple answer quite surprising, "and you've only trained for 3 months?" The ballerina nods, making your eyes go wide.

"Vocal training must be tiring for you. No?"

"Well..." Before the two girls knew it, they were talking for hours.

I'm feelin' lonely (Lonely) Oh, I wish I'd find a lover that could hold me (Hold me) Now I'm crying in my room So skeptical of love (Say what you say, but I want it more) But still, I want it more, more, more

There was a week left before the debut showcase, and you found yourself becoming mentally exhausted slowly. On certain nights, you cried in silence, though not knowing why.

You were someone who trained in the industry for over 9 years, and now that the opportunity is knocking on your door, you decide to cry? After a sleepless night, you realize it was due to the staggering workload in a short period.

For you, joining this group was a blessing, but beginning to become a curse. You sat silently in the HYBE dance studio and just stared at the wall. The team was working on final practices before the big day. Even though you were extremely capable, the past few weeks were catching up to your body.

You were getting tired 10 times quicker than before, and your breathing was disturbingly intense, which caused the group to take multiple breaks so you won't pass out.

"Unnie, you need to stay home tomorrow," Kazuha tells her as she sits beside the worn-out girl. "I guess I do need a break," you smiled weakly, leaning your head on her shoulder. "I knew it was difficult, but it feels like... my body is slowly dying," you whisper in Japanese to Zuha.

The younger girl listens, resting her head on top of yours. Kazuha noticed how you ranted about your feelings, which helped you tremendously. "I mean, I've been doing this for years, Zuha, training for almost as long as Kura-unnie's idol career, yet once I'm here, I somehow get weaker."

"Unnie," the ballerina becomes stern due to her self-degrading words. "You aren't weak or getting weaker; you're just exhausted."

"I mean, who wouldn't be in your shoes," Zuha mumbles. She was correct; you were even doing it made Kazuha believe you were one of the strongest and most mentally driven people she knew.

I gave a second chance to Cupid But now I'm left here feelin' stupid Oh, the way he makes me feel that love isn't real Cupid is so dumb

It was a few hours after the comeback showcase, and it was clear that all of your hard work paid off. You felt the audience's love and were happy with the results you showed.

"Zuha, you did amazing out there today," you say as she comes into your room, cuddling into your warm body. The two of you began to become close together and felt safe as you guys were almost always together 95% of the time. "If I did good, you did insane, unnie. Can you teach me how to dance like that?" You laugh and tell her, 'Of course,' even though she was a fantastic dancer.

"I mean, I will, but you have cleaner angles than me when dancing, Zuha, so you have to teach me as well." You two pinky promised, and it warmed your heart.

"Zuha."

"Yes, unnie?"

"You ever think about falling in love with someone while being in an industry as strict as this one?" She tells you, "I mean, I do at times, but I don't usually overthink about it. Why?"

"I liked some people in the idol industry, and they all lead to the same things."

"And that is?"

"Heartbreak," you mumble, but she hears it. It made you think, should you even tell Zuha that she felt like home to you and that you loved her for it?

'That is probably the worst idea you ever came up with, Y/n,' you told yourself.

The promotions were going reasonably well until there was a stage with major sound issues, causing the stage to have almost little to no backing track. Some members did okay, including yourself, but the girls with weaker areas in vocals and less training were freaking out in the waiting room.

"Guys, no need to worry too much; it was our first live vocal performance." Yunjin tried to reassure them, but Eunchae, who was in tears, explained, "No matter the first, second, third, one-hundredth stage and no matter if they take our training periods into consideration, they will still hate it."

Sakura sat in the corner of the room. She's had her fair share of those comments in IZ*one, so she knew the maknae was correct. "Just because you weren't stable while dancing doesn't mean we can't sing. It means we must work harder to do better," you tell the girls.

"People progress at different paces; you can't beat yourselves up for it," as you kept talking, Zuha cuddled her sad self next to you, and you tried to rub her arm in the hug, doing your best to comfort the girl. "And you did well for someone who has only trained for 3 months. You should be proud of what you've accomplished today, Zuha."

You mumbled, and it caused the ballerina to hug you tighter than before, tears welling up in her eyes, "Thanks, unnie."

The group was leaving and going home, and during the car ride, Zuha asked her unnie, "Can I sleep over tonight?" You nodded, as the two of you often did this.

At the dorms, you, Sakura, and Kazuha disperse to your rooms feeling mentally drained.

Once Zuha changed, you two decided to sleep and rest rather than begin overthinking. As you feel that Zuha is asleep. You turn over to face her. "You did amazing, ZuhaI. I hope you know that. I'll always love and protect you no matter what happens," you whisper to yourself as you fall into a deep sleep.

But you didn't know that Kazuha was completely awake and smiled, facing her body towards you as well, "I love you too, unnie," leaving a slight peck on her cheek as she cuddled your body, drifting off to sleep.

A/n: First of the fimmies before my next post in a little bit!

#Spotify #le sserafim #nakamura kazuha #lesserafim x reader #lesserafim x f! reader #huh yunjin #kazuha x reader #hong eunchae #miyawaki sakura #kim chaewon #gxg #wlw #lesserafim #nakamura kazuha x reader #kpop x reader #kpop gg #kpop #ssivinee

310 notes · View notes

that-left-turn · 2 months ago

Note

Do you think they were just trying to change the audience from Carol (and Daryl) fans and bring in a bigger male audience instead? If it is this, what do you think will happen in terms of the show's success?

There are some showrunners who feel like they 'deserve' a certain kind of audience or that their writing is aimed at a specific type of viewer. (Invariable young, straight, white male from a middle class background.) If the actual demographics of the audience don't match, some of those showrunners essentially self-sabotage by trying to change the elements of the show that appeal to their viewership. I don't know that Zabel is that guy because he doesn't write procedural crime or (supernatural) action adventure—physical plotting is a particular weak spot of his and it makes him unsuited to write for TWDU (as envisioned by Gimple) because it focuses on action over character. I assume that's why Keith Staskiewicz was a new addition for TBOC; he doesn't have much experience, but he's written for Dead City, which is an action packed show written by dudebros for dudebros.

There seems to be a tug of war going on about what the tone of TWD Caryl should be, between Norman who wants an artsy exploration of the human condition (more in line with what we saw in S2 of the flagship show) and Gimple who prefers gore and grimes. The horror genre covers a lot of ground, so both of those options are valid choices, but they can't coexist in the same show. Either you aim for more psychological horror (not really what Zabel writes, but I suspect it's what Norman would like even if he doesn't know how to articulate it) or gore with its shock-value violence and novelty zombies. The latter works for Negan, but not for a Carol and Daryl spinoff. They're abuse survivors and the focus should be on psychological terror rather than grossing out the audience.

I think some execs at AMC thought that S1 didn't do well because the plot lacked action and excitement. They expected Daryl to bring in lots of (young male) viewers and the course correction for TBOC was to have him be a more traditional action hero who kills things and kisses inappropriate women. Throw in Carol as the Ripley/Connor stand-in and every gimmick in the "TV Book of Tricks," from riding a motorcycle and a white horse to shooting the crossbow and killing with gardening tools, and surely that big male-skewing audience will show up.

There are primarily two kinds of TWDU viewers:

those who watch for character(s) and/or ships

those who are interested in the mythology of the setting

The external plot of TBOC is incredibly weak:

The religious-political conflict goes nowhere, it's just a lot of characters spouting their life philosophy

nothing is done to move the needle on the walkers/virus

even the story engine, Daryl's quest to get home, doesn't drive the action but is instead in doubt (biggest no-no in TV writing)

The TWD Caryl characters are all stock characters:

the noble soldier driven to his own downfall by his misguided need for revenge

the villain whose lack of control and agency turned her into a power hungry monster and in the end, an actual monster

the madonna-whore representation doomed to be a plot device because she exists solely to service the arcs of the male characters

Carol and Daryl's dynamic is off-kilter and the latter has been turned into a Clint Eastwood lone ranger type of man

TBOC isn't giving anyone anything they enjoy, but it was an attempt at catering to a male skewing audience. I'm not sure what TPTB will do with S3 because, like I said, there are very distinct schools of thought on how to 'fix' the problems.

There was a production stop after the scenes set in the UK and the storm at seas were shot, so chances are, there were rewrites in response to the poor reception of TBOC. Any downtime once you've started principal photography is extremely costly, so it's only done when there's a legal obligation, like for an on-set death or if there's a showstopping emergency, like major last-minute revisions. Anything else, the production team tries to shoot around, so there won't be any delay. If you shoot on location, you have to house and feed everyone in addition to the costs of producing the show, so it gets very, very expensive if you don't wrap on time.

TWD Caryl won't be successful if the writing doesn't improve. A good showrunner puts the story first—there's always noise coming from all ends which has to be shut down or redirected. If the nunmance was Norman's idea, Zabel should've nixed it because it's literally his job to control the talent. If it was his own idea, how much hope should we hold that he's learned how to plot better in the last few months? Can Zabel and Richman, who don't write three dimensional women and haven't watched the flagship show, write a complex emotional arc for two traumatized abuse survivors?

My questions to anyone who's still reading this long post:

Do you think Zabel could write a romance you'd find satisfying?

If it's lackluster, would you still watch the show, find contentment in "at least there's finally canon"?

Would it be an okay tradeoff if Caryl's characterization is altered to accommodate Zabel's vision for canon?

Do you trust him not to refrigerate Carol?

#twd caryl #amc marketing #tv production #screenwriting #caryl #twd spoilers

22 notes · View notes

gerec · 1 month ago

Text

For the past couple of weeks I've been part of a small team responsible for the logistics of a prestigious competition/event; last night was the formal Awards Banquet where we were served an amazing dinner catered by one of the city's best restaurants. During the breaks where we weren't running the show/working, I had a very long and in-depth conversation with a young colleague who's worked on this project all the way from the beginning planning stages (i.e. as far back as Feb/Mar this year). She shared her disappointment with the lack of acknowledgement that she's gotten from the agency's management for all the long hours and hard work she's poured into this project, and also the incredible frustration over the poor treatment she's getting from the same. For instance, she flew in from out of town, but because she's contracted to work 4 out of 5 days a week they're not paying her for today's travel day back home (which if you don't know is standard practice for event management - travel time is part of the job). This is just one of a long list of examples she shared with me.

The good news is, she's already decided to quit at the end of her contract (which is soon), but she still had some misgivings about doing so; like asking herself what, if anything, she could have done differently, and feeling like she failed because this is her first job out of uni and she couldn't make a longer go of it. For the record, she's an absolute delight and a superb employee - and if I were in a position to hire staff I would hire her in a heart beat. (Also she's been full time for a year and part time for 2 before that so...she's absolutely not leaving without giving it a go.)

I guess I'm sharing this story because there might be young people like her out there who need to hear what I told her last night. So here goes:

Yes, work can be frustrating and can suck - badly - at times, but you should not hesitate to leave any job where you're crying on a regular basis because of how stressful it is and how badly you're treated.

Yes, you should leave a job where your manager berates you regularly, or sends you emails on weekends/outside of work hours to berate you. If they have an issue with your performance, they should explain what you're doing wrong and help you or give you the tools to do it properly not just yell at you. I know this happens a lot (sadly) but also know that this is NOT normal and NOT something you simply have to suffer in silence over. You have every right to expect to be treated fairly, courteously and professionally at work.

Yes, you should leave a job where people take advantage of you and don't pay you for the hours you work. I read a lot about Gen X and Boomers lamenting the Gen Z's for not being good workers because they're not willing to put in the blood sweat and tears to hang on to their jobs but I'm Gen X and I say that's BULLSHIT. A) Not every Boomer/Gen X feels that way, and B) Employers, no matter how nice they are as people, or how much you might like them will absolutely take advantage of you and SCREW YOU if they can. You can and should fight for your every goddamned hard-earned/well deserved dollar because no one else will do it for you. Same goes for your career - you are the only one you can rely on to make the best decisions for you.

So why am I working with these guys? Well, I'm a freelancer (I'm a Marketing Consultant) currently going project by project so I have the freedom to say no to any job I don't want to take and also to walk away the minute it no longer suits me to continue the relationship. I've also been at this for 28 years, so I imagine there's a bit of reverse ageism going on because they know they can't pull the same crap with me. (So there you go, this one time in this one instance, being older helps lol).

Anyways, the job market is rough, many employers are appallingly rude to job seekers (ask me about ghost job postings some time UGH) and people can be dicks (water is wet ha). Just...know your own worth and don't feel bad about leaving something if it's not working - you owe loyalty to no one but yourself.

#gerec rambles

20 notes · View notes

brf-rumortrackinganon · 3 months ago

Note

A few days ago, you wrote about Harry's (Meghan's) red flags that would make them a security threat. Which got me thinking ... In the past 3 weeks the level of security risk for William and Catherine (and the children, by extension) must have gone up considerably.

When this forat started off as a joke, it was mostly about handling Catherine's privacy and her medical history. And someone somewhere must have realized that the London Clinic would be an easy source of security breach. I'm assuming that the hospital has top notch NDAs and everyone is expected to be absolutely discreet since many many high profile patients get admitted there. Maybe even some, whose medical diagnosis and history, if disclosed, would rightly tilt the world on it's axis.

So maybe that was this angle was not top priority, because the agencies assumed they would be discreet. Everyone also assumed that actual news agencies and media outlet wouldn't print any info obtained illegally from hospital sources, even if they had the capacity to pay the source for the info.

Nobody thought some two-bit Instagram influencers would gleefully pounce on the chance like vultures.

Another angle, and this is very very serious IMO, is that once the conspiracies started all blame was falling on William. He was the villian who had allegedly done dispicable things to C to put her in the hospital and was then hiding things. The number of threats he received from randoms of social media must have been mind boggling. He is the heir, he has to be physically protected and kept safe at all times. And doing that effectively, without addressing the rumours head on would have been very difficult. Especially if they still wanted to maintain Catherine's privacy and dignity while doing so.

(And I said dignity because how you handle your own medical diagnosis is absolutely a matter of your dignity and boundaries and space)

Not to mention, nosy people would have started stalking the kids at the schools and playtimes. If at all that happened it would never be disclosed.

I think the utmost priority for people someone like William and Catherine their safety, merely based on their constitutional significance. And handling a looming PR crisis was not at the top of the palace list. Blaming the "palace" for not handling the PR crisis better is just wrong IMO.

The palace is not some big bad shadowey shady entity. The palace is essentially the principals, their immediate staff who work for the pricipals, and that includes different agencies that work towards ensuring their safety and security at all times.

If the palace was keeping their cards close to the chest, then that means it was Catherine and William who were keeping their cards close to the chest. Mainly because as normal humans their priority was to understand and absorb what was happening, what could happen and how to plan their lives in the immediate aftermath of this devastating news.

Their priority couldn't and wouldn't be to make sure they look nice and are seen doing nice, cute things together just so some lame Karen sitting in a dark, damp, mouldy room likes them. Karens will Karen on. So catering to Karen's sensibilities will never ever be part of the palace PR and crisis management strategy.

What I don't get is why were the British press baying for William and Catherine blood. From what's come out in the last 2 days, it seems that at least some journalists had an idea that this was a very serious matter. That it was absolutely not about W being an violent abuser or a cheater or Catherine wanting to look pretty, nor was it about KP staff giving up on W+C because they are secretive exasperating, inept bosses.

It was simply about a family trying to come to terms with a devastating news that was drastically going to affect the lives of all 5 of them for a long long time. It's something that you never plan for, no matter who you are.

Knowing that, why were they so cruel, so callus. Where was their sense of nationality or even simple human decency?

They stood by Catherine when she was wrong called a racist. So why did they not stand by her when she is going through the worst time of her life emotionally and physically?

They made a mountain out of a molehill, to the point that from a security POV the powers that be concluded that the best way to mitigate the security risk would be breach her emotional safety, to ensure her and his, physical safety. I truly think this was the #1 reason on the list of reasons why they disclosed it the way they did.

Old ask from March 24th.

Simple. It all boils down to whom the press declared their enemy.

When they were defending Kate over the racism claims, they were defending her from Meghan, UK's Public Enemy #1.

When the Waleses were dealing with Kate's health crisis, the press didn't do anything, and even joined in on the attacks, because Kensington Palace was the enemy since KP refused to give updates on or access to Kate, which the press didn't like. So they stood by and piled on.

#waleses

25 notes · View notes

thevikingwoman · 2 months ago

Text

alright so I'm not actively seeking out DA veilguard information, but I also don't have all the possible spoiler tags blocked.

I've had a little excitement build, though my outlook is to keep a wait and see approach, and my interest in Dragon Age in general has been a background simmer - I felt neutral towards the initial announcement of name and date etc.

I admit my interest peaked up with the preview of the character creator, maybe even getting a little excited to create a rook, and to set foot in Thedas again.

now, recently I've seen some news that very few decisions from Inquisition has made it over, and that we can't play / decide what our inquisitor does, and that no decisions from DA2 or Origins matter. And I admit that is disappointing? The game series is tied to meaningful choices - and ofc they have to bottle neck and streamline, but it feels a little hollow.

One thing is the inquisitor, and not just speaking as a solavellan (I never thought i'd get a solas romance scene in veilguard tbh that struck me as wishful thinking), where I feel there's a good deal of difference how to deal with the past romance for the individuals (do you still carry a torch etc), but I'd hoped Dorian would show up and Dorianmancers would get some choice here too, etc. It's also just means it will probably be a short cameo.

Now what I really think of is the lack of matter in choices. If the well of sorrows don't matter, why was it such a big deal? Does it not matter who is Divine? and much more.

Most of all, what makes me (pre-emptively I guess) upset is Kieran. Not only should it matter whether the Old God soul is potentially there in Solas via Flemythal, but Kieran could also just be a regular kid too. He will exist or not exist depending on world state. And given that Morrigan shows up, are they just going to ignore this just because he's what - seventeen? twentyone? years old? Morrigan and Kieran means so much to me, there are very few media I can think of where people are allowed to be parents and still be a person with agency in the plot, without having the plot relate to their parenthood directly (because Kieran can also not exist of course). This is SO incredible important, and if they just - handwave that away it's making me mad just thinking about it.

Mostly, though, I think it was a mistake for them to try and cater to both new and old players in a whisy washy way. It's been 10 years, I get it. They want to appeal to people who was not playing (or shouldn't have been) an M rated when Inquisition, let alone Origins came out. They can't make too many references to old games, they can't confuse players.

But i think - with the time it took to develop this game, I'd much rather they'd done a soft reset instead. Solas succeeded, the veil has come down, it's 75 years later. Or even shorter, leaving room for old favorites to show up, but also having a reason for the decisions to not matter? I don't know. But something that would have made the game accessible to new players, and refreshed everything for old players. I frankly think they are trying to both have and eat the cake, and I fear it's going to fall on it's ass.

Lastly, I don't need a solavellan resolution. They're resolved in my head and been for 8 years. And I'd rather keep that than some halfassed 4 lines that don't fit Iwyn.

#also can we the fuck get hawke out of the fade?#please and thank you #da4 #da4 spoilers #dragon age veilguard #dragon age veilguard spoilers #dragon age critical #da4 critical #dragon age #yeah I'm old and cranky today #maybe it's a psych were not actually revealing everything #but hm #I'm wondering about the marketing blitz and whether it will live up to it

22 notes · View notes

theerurishipper · 1 year ago

Text

Coming back to one of the points I've made earlier but never really elaborated upon, what does it do for Adrien's arc to have everyone lie to him?

Adrien's arc is about finding his self-worth and his independence and learning how to be loved unconditionally. Gabriel is controlling and abusive and only gives Adrien a second's worth of attention if Adrien caters to his every whim. And so, you'd think that part of Adrien's arc is learning that people will love him for who he is without him having to bend to their desires, and that he has the right to make decisions for himself. But this new development as of the Season 5 finale is that, no, Adrien's loved ones actually don't want him to make his own choices. In fact, they would rather support and emulate his abusive father's controlling actions and deny Adrien his agency and his ability to make informed choices about his own life. They would rather dictate how he should feel and would rather decide what's best for him rather than giving him the choice to do so himself. This comes with its large set of very much unfortunate implications.

Under the cut because this is long.

This is a problem that started with Season 4, with the introduction of Ladybug's Gabriel-esque behavior towards Chat Noir, and the subsequent lack of proper resolution. In fact, the resolution was that Chat Noir was asking too much of Ladybug, and that what needed to be done to resolve this conflict of Ladybug keeping important secrets from Chat Noir and replacing him with other holders... was for Chat Noir to suck it up and continue supporting Ladybug. It was for him to put aside his legitimate concerns with her actions and to accept that he would never be treated the way he wants to be. It was for him to push down his own feelings and come to stay by her side even though she had not treated him well, and even though she never actually fixed her mistakes.

What is the importance of his relationship with Ladybug? For the first 3 seasons, at least, it was the escape from his abusive home life that Adrien needed, to someone who would accept him unconditionally. But Season 4 introduced the infamous Ladynoir conflict that permanently altered their dynamic. I've talked about how the Season 4 finale only served to reinforce the inequality between them. It begins with Ladybug keeping secrets from Chat Noir and pulling away from him, and it ends by him simply forgiving her because he is used to downplaying his own needs. And I don't feel the desire to rehash all that, but it does beg the question: What is the takeaway from the Ladynoir conflict? Is it that he should bend himself over to be what she needs, but she doesn't need to return the same support? Is it that Ladybug is the Flawless Leader™, and he should learn his place? Because that's the impression it gives.

Now, I've talked before about how Gabriel's abuse has caused Adrien to believe love is conditional and has to be earned by him pleasing the other person and doing whatever they expect of him. And the importance of his Chat Noir persona being more expressive and "imperfect" is that this is the only time he can let loose and have fun, free of the expectations of others. And Season 4 has him return to his trauma responses around Ladybug, the person who is narratively supposed to be the one person who accepts his imperfections and doesn't place any expectations on him. Now, Chat Noir being traumatized is not Ladybug's fault, of course, and if he is fawning over her, certainly it is not her fault. But the narrative frames this as beneficial to her. Ladybug likes when Chat Noir fawns over her as Catwalker. Over and over in the story, she takes advantage of his forgiveness and trust, and never examines herself or her actions, and never tries to fix her mistakes because he always ends up forgiving her due to his belief that his feelings don't matter. Ladybug meets Catwalker, which is literally just Adrien fawning and trying to be whatever he needs to be to please her, and she instantly falls for him.

And in a narrative sense... this is detrimental to the concept of the Love Square, because it reinforces the narrative that Ladybug will never fall in love with Chat Noir, because what she wants is the perfect image, the flawless partner. The rose-tinted glasses she sees Adrien with are not being removed, rather she is putting on a fresh, darker shade. And it doesn't say good things about their development that she falls for the perfect act almost immediately upon meeting him, the moment he swears that he'll take care of her. And I won't go into too much detail since I've covered it in my other posts, but the point is that Marinette only ever seems to fall for boys who don't inconvenience her with their emotions, and instead take care of her needs without expecting anything, and this makes it seem like she is benefitting from Adrien's trauma. And Marinette is never allowed to return the support she gets from Chat Noir in any meaningful way, and it is framed by the narrative as right and wonderful that Adrien is so nice as to put his feelings aside and support her over and over again despite her repeatedly making the same mistakes and hurting him. His trauma response is framed as a good thing because it benefits Marinette.

Season 4 was about Marinette deliberately keeping secrets from her partner, dictating his actions and outright lying to him and taking advantage of his trust at times. Decidedly Gabe-like behavior, even though it was way more toned down and way less malicious (I won't go too far with that comparison, but still). And Season 5 ends up adding more salt to the wound, by having Marinette straight out lie to Adrien about his father, dictating his perceptions and controlling his thoughts and feelings, just like Gabriel would have liked. And in fact, Gabriel asked her to do this to the son she knows he abused, and she sides with him. And it's not just Marinette. The list of people who have denied Adrien honesty just goes on and on. Gabriel, Emilie, Nathalie, Amelie, Felix, Kagami, Master Fu, Luka, Plagg, Tikki, Marinette, Alya, Su-Han... they are all, as those who knew truths about different situations, people who chose to lie to and hide information from Adrien that he was entitled to. And with the exception of Luka and Master Fu, all of these people are complicit in siding with Gabriel and denying Adrien the most important secret of all, the truth of his very existence.

Which raises the question: if Adrien's arc was supposedly about breaking free from a controlling life and finding those who didn't do that to him, then why is it that everyone around him appears to agree with Gabriel? Why does the person who, in the narrative, is supposed to be the opposite of Gabriel and the saving grace for Adrien, parallel him so much in both actions and backstory? Does that not cheapen Adrien's arc? What does that imply for him? That he can never escape the fate of being controlled? That being controlling over a person's agency is fine and dandy if done for the right reasons?

Let's take a look back over Adrien's arc. Adrien's first scene is him rebelling against Gabriel, and we see him come closer and closer to the realization that Gabriel is abusive and cruel. We see Adrien make friends like Nino and Ladybug. We see the trajectory that his arc is going in, one of him learning to reject his father and assert his self-worth and his own identity in the face of the man who has controlled him his whole life.

And yet, there are still some glaring problems that become more apparent as the story progresses, and they come to a head in Seasons 4 and 5. It's shown in scenes like in the episode Felix, where we see that despite everyone getting together to do something nice for Adrien, the moment he acts out of character, their first instinct is to admit that they don't know him very well at all. Almost all the interactions he has with his supposed best friend and his other friends are about setting him up with Marinette. Adrien only matters to them in his role as Marinette's future boyfriend. And this is not addressed by the narrative as something that should be fixed or resolved, or that it is even a problem in the first place.

Adrien's feelings are repeatedly denied in this show. From him having to simply forgive and forget how Ladybug hurt him, to him being repeatedly taken advantage of by Felix without the narrative letting him be upset over it, to his instant forgiveness of Gabriel, the narrative will not let Adrien feel anything negative towards the characters that the narrative actually cares about so as to not inconvenience them. His only purpose is to prop them up and bend to their needs, and anything he might realistically feel against them is invalidated and forgotten because it would go against his role of being their motivation/prop/plot device.

We also see a problem with narrative focus for him. Adrien is not the protagonist of the show, and my criticism is not that he does not get as much screentime as Marinette. The issue is that even the dedicated screentime he does get outside of being shipped with Marinette and being a part of the battle of the episode, the screentime that should be used to develop his character is often cut into by the writers' desperate need to shove Marinette into every single plot and have her be the focus of every episode. Episodes that should have focused on Adrien's loneliness like Puppeteer 2, or episodes dedicated to Adrien's friendships with others like Party Crasher, or even episodes like Gabriel Agreste which should have focused on the Agreste drama, are ultimately about Marinette trying to confess her feelings for Adrien. But this really shows itself in Chat Blanc, where the main plot of the episode is one where Gabriel's abuse of Adrien is ramped up to the max, and one where Adrien undergoes unimaginable and incomprehensible trauma, and the only thing that truly matters about it is... how it affects Marinette.

And as I said, Season 4 takes this to a new level. Ladybug, the one supposed to be Adrien's escape from his civilian life, is also someone who he fawns around. And that inherently is not a bad thing to depict, because it is not Ladybug's fault that Chat Noir is traumatized, and it is realistic that this happens. What is a problem though, is the way the narrative never paints this as a trauma response. Chat Noir pushing aside his feelings and supporting her as she repeatedly hurts him over and over is treated as good and nice of him, without her having to examine herself or realize she's treating him badly. And in the end, he accepts that he'll never be treated like he wants to and comes back to support her in her hour of need, and simply shoves his feelings away, never to complain about them again. I mentioned that Ladybug benefits from Chat Noir's civilian abuse, and this is how. Chat Noir is allowed to be traumatized, but only as long as it doesn't affect Marinette. Then, his trauma response is not only beneficial, but also the romantic and right thing to do. And, as Kuro Neko said, the answer to the issue of Ladybug keeping secrets and making mistakes is for Chat Noir to stop being so sensitive and just push his feelings away to support her. Chat Noir's trauma does not matter.

And Season 5 only doubles down on this. Adrien's rebellion against his father only matters now because the end goal is for him to date Marinette. The issue of him being a Sentimonster only matters because now it's getting in the way of him dating Marinette. But it could have been fine. Development is development, and the scene where Adrien finally confronts his abuser and asserts his right to be an individual and have autonomy over himself will still be an empowering moment that shows him breaking free of abuse-

He is not in the final battle.

Instead, Marinette is the one to face Adrien's abusive father, by merging Adrien's Miraculous with hers, by facing him off in Adrien's home. Marinette is the one who stands up to Gabriel and faces him. Marinette is the one who completes Adrien's arc for him. It was never about Adrien facing off against his father. It was all a set up for Marinette to do it.

As we all know, Thomas Astruc has gone on record on Twitter to say that Chat Blanc was the reason that Adrien could not participate in the final battle. Chat Blanc, which happened in Season 3, two seasons before Adrien rebelled to this extent against his father, before he underwent that little thing in writing called character development. In Season 4, we watched Ephemeral which more or less rehashed the same points as Chat Blanc, and in Season 5, we watched Representation, where Adrien's final interaction with his father was to be sprayed with nightmare gas and be unable to fight in the final battle (even though Bug Noire managed whilst also suffering from nightmares). We saw these ridiculous excuses be used to contrive a reason for why Adrien could not participate in his own arc, in his own story, even though they could have been easily resolved.

Throughout Season 5, we see the parallels being built up between Marinette and Gabriel, about how they both came from the same situations, and how alike they are in that regard. Previous parallels established between them that the show does not acknowledge as much as it should are their controlling streak (though Marinette is nowhere near as bad as Gabe) and them being willing to do anything for the people they love ("love" being questionable in Gabe's case). Marinette is the one who hears the truth of the Agreste family. In the Season 5 finale, Marinette and Gabriel are the ones that face off against each other. Adrienette was rushed up to come to full fruition in Season 5 despite it hampering the development of the Love Square, all in an attempt to connect Marinette to the Agreste plot. Therefore, Adrien was only ever a plot device so that Marinette could have a stake in the Agreste plot. He is there to connect Marinette and Gabriel and give them something to fight over. Their fight is about him and what is best for him, but he has no agency in it despite it being about him. He only exists as the prize for the winner.

I've talked about this before, but the jist of it is that Adrien was never meant to have an arc about breaking free of abuse. He was never meant to confront his father. Adrien's story only mattered so that Marinette could use it in her speech to talk Gabe down. Adrien's feelings only mattered as far as they affected Marinette herself. He was just meant to be there to further her development. His main contribution to the arc with his last name was to give up his agency and step aside for Marinette, and this is what his role has been throughout the show. All his character was meant to do was be the damsel in distress who she could receive as her trophy once she defeated the big bad villain.

Everything Adrien's character was meant to do was to be Ladybug's prop to offer he support when she needed it, to offer her a connection to the main plotline, and to be her prize after she won. His feelings, his emotions, his trauma... they all only mattered in the context of what they meant for Ladybug. If they inconvenienced her, they were unimportant. If they benefitted her, they were good. He took the blame for her mistakes so that she didn't have to be held accountable, he forgave her so that she didn't have to work to fix her mistakes, and he continued to support her when she didn't really return the favor. Because that is Adrien's role, to be Marinette's emotional support partner who conveniently comes pre-abused and ready to downplay his feelings and emotions to cater to hers while not asking or expecting anything of her. He only exists to take care of Marinette's needs, not as his own character.

And this writing of Adrien's trauma as secondary to Marinette's convenience is a really awful way to write an abuse victim. Not allowing him to prioritize his own feelings and portraying it as a good thing when he fawns over Ladybug is a really awful and bad way to portray his trauma stemming from his abuse. But good thing the fact that he is a victim of abuse is respected at least with regards to his relationship with his abuser, right?

Right?

It's been discussed before how Gabriel's actions are downplayed and minimized in order to afford him maximum sympathy, to portray him as just a misguided and lost soul, instead of as a terrorist and abuser (credit to @erisluna35 for their great post on the matter). The show denies Adrien an opportunity to confront the man, and instead, the good ending is that his victim forgives him. One way the show downplays Gabriel's abusiveness towards Adrien is by having Marinette want to work with him to find a solution for Adrien, implying that his only crime was to not think of Adrien's well-being, and that the only intentions he had for Adrien were correct, fatherly ones that he just lost sight of, and that if he had paid attention to Adrien, he would have been an excellent and loving father, instead of it being that he actively mistreated his son and therefore should not be trusted or allowed to make any sort of decision regarding Adrien's future. He was always "just a man who loves his family" deep down, and he always had only good intentions and a pure heart, and he simply forgot about what he had in pursuit of an ideal family for that son, instead of it being that he was an abusive, controlling person who whittled down his son's self-worth and treated him like a possession, like property, like a doll that was made to cater to his wishes, and that he only ever wanted his wife back for himself and not for his son.

And this just suggests to me that Gabriel's actions... are not meant to be read as abusive. His only crime was paying attention to the Miraculous over his son. Not the gaslighting, the manipulation, the lifelong isolation, the controlling, the physical violence in some realities, the fucking sensory deprivation chambers... those were all not abuse, I guess.

This is confirmed by the fact that Marinette and everyone else lying to Adrien about his existence because Gabriel asked them to do so is framed as a good thing and as proof of Marinette's love for Adrien or something. They are quite explicitly doing what he says, literally following his wishes on how to treat his son. And yet, their actions are not framed as toxic and controlling as they should be, but as selfless and kind towards poor Adrien who won't be able to handle the truth because he's too emotional and weak. Despite this being classic Gabe rhetoric, this is supposed to be seen as sweet and heartwarming and touching, that Marinette is oh so selfless to deny Adrien the information he is entitled to know and to make that choice for him. This tells us that the writers don't really see how Gabriel treated Adrien as... wrong. They don't see his actions are wrong, because when Marinette does it, it's fine! The issue, then, isn't that Gabriel is an abuser who denies his son his autonomy, it's that Gabriel did all these things for the wrong reasons, and Marinette is doing them for the right reasons.

Indeed, the parallelisms, whether intentional or not, between Marinette and Gabriel only serve to further downplay the magnitude of Gabriel's abuse of his son. The problem wasn't that these things are wrong and awful, it's that Gabriel did them because he was Evil and Marinette is doing them because she's Good, and when you're Good, it's okay to gaslight your boyfriend into loving his abuser. There's nothing inherently wrong or abusive about anything Gabriel did. The issue, in fact, is not that he did these things, but his reasonings for them. While it's okay if Marinette denies Adrien the right to be informed of his own life because she feels he is too emotional to be able to make his own choices, because she is Pure and Good and she Loves Him So Much.

And for another example, consider how Emilie Agreste is framed as a perfect and loving and wonderful mother, even though she allowed Adrien to be isolated his whole life and is also heavily implied to have been using the mind control rings on him, since there are two of them. This kinda shows that the writers don't really think mind controlling is abuse or even wrong. It's just wrong because Gabriel is Evil, but Emilie is Pure and Good and therefore allowed to abuse her child this way.

But I don't think the writers were malicious about this. Despite his questionable tweets, I don't think Thomas Astruc doesn't care about abuse. I don't think the writers were deliberately trying to infantilize the abuse victim in the story. I just feel like they don't understand that what they portrayed is abuse. And yet, it comes off as them invalidating the trauma Adrien suffered, but I don't think that would be intentional. The explanation I have for this, therefore, is that Adrien is not supposed to have trauma. Adrien is not supposed to be read as a victim of abuse.

I've mentioned the Marinette-Gabriel parallels, but let me add one more. Adrien is the plot device that furthers Marinette's character, but he also fulfills the same role for Gabriel.

Throughout Season 5, we see Adrien rebel against his father more and more, and it was expected that this would culminate in a final confrontation where Adrien would confront his abuser in his entirety. But Adrien was not a part of this final confrontation, so the arc wasn't about him, and it stands to reason that it must have been for some other character. We see that it is for Marinette, since she was the one who fulfilled what should have been his arc and got the moment that should have been Adrien's. But who was on the other side of this confrontation? Who was the one the speech was directed towards? Who did Adrien connect Marinette to?

It is Gabriel.

Adrien's callout of his father does not matter for furthering his character, but for furthering Gabriel's character. His calling out of Gabriel is less a way for him to finally realize that his father's treatment of him is cruel, and more of a way for Gabe to be seen a tragic, fallen villain. Adrien's callout of his father is not about him, it's about Gabriel and how he feels about it. The finale deals not with Adrien's feelings about being failed by his father, but how Gabriel feels about having failed him. Adrien's increasing rejection of his father is not used to finish the arc he should have had, but it is used in Gabriel's instead. And Gabriel's redemption comes from him being praised by his victim, who aspires to be like him. Adrien was only ever there to progress Gabriel's arc, not the other way around. Adrien had no real agency in the matter, and Gabriel's increasingly cruel treatment of him was only ever there to highlight how far he himself had fallen and was never really about Adrien realizing the truth about him.

And once Gabriel makes the choice to "change," he is rewarded with the forgiveness and love of his victim, who is there to conveniently express to the viewer how we should feel about him. Adrien is there to call out Gabriel when Gabriel is being Bad and Evil and is there to then inform the viewers that Gabriel is Good now by forgiving him and forgetting all his mistakes. Because Adrien forgave Gabriel and isn't Gabriel so wonderful now that he's made up for his mistakes and his victim has forgiven him and even looks up to him?

The main highlight of Gabriel's supposed redemption is the forgiveness of his victim, further highlighting the point that Adrien only existed as a character to push Gabriel's narrative, and not as a victim of abuse who is entitled to decide whether or not to forgive this man. Adrien did not forgive Gabriel because of a natural and believable development in his arc, he forgave him because he is ultimately a plot device to exposit about the current state of Gabriel's arc and to show the viewer what kind of a man Gabriel is, and Gabriel is good now, and so he must be validated through the forgiveness of his victim. Adrien is a prop in Gabriel's arc, who shows us the tragedy of Gabriel's fall and the future redemption of his "selfless sacrifice." His character that of "Gabriel's son," to take us through Gabriel's arc, and not a character of his own.

And since Adrien's ultimate end is to show that Gabriel is a good man after all, it also lends credence to the interpretation that, no, he is not traumatized after all. Nothing actually happened to Adrien himself, because he is only a plot device, not a character. He is there to let us know the tragedy of the man Gabriel. He is just there to let us know where Gabriel is in his arc. We see this in the way his development in just completely erased once Gabriel is "redeemed." His reactions don't make sense in the context of his arc, and it's OOC how he goes from calling out his father for who he is and then reverting back to worshipping him and forgetting all his flaws. But when you consider that the purpose of his character is less being his own character and more about highlighting and pushing forward Gabriel's arc, they make a lot more sense. His reactions don't make sense for the development that he has received throughout the season, but it makes sense if you consider that he is just a cog in Gabriel's story, and that his arc only matters as far as it affects Gabriel's arc. His struggles only matter as far as they affect Gabriel. Just like they only matter in the way they affect Marinette. Adrien doesn't get to learn anything, choose anything or even do anything if it is not about Marinette or Gabriel.

But to go back to the question at the beginning of the post, what purpose does it serve in Adrien's arc to have everyone he knows lie to him?

The answer is that Adrien does not have an arc.

Of course, it seems like he does. He does show some form of growth in calling out his father, so it would appear. But the arc of realizing his father is abusive, the arc of realizing that he deserves to make his own choices, that he deserves unconditional love... does not exist. He is only a plot device in the story, meant to be the motivation for the protagonist and the antagonist. Any arc or character complexity he has is largely accidental. His story about being a victim of abuse is unimportant and non-existent, and the show itself denies him agency and the ability to have any meaningful impact on the story outside of his role in the arcs of the main characters of the show. He has nothing of his own happening for him, he has nothing to do with his own life and family. All he matters for is to be the prop for Gabe's redemption and the prize for Marinette. His only role is to connect these two so that they can duke it out.

He has no autonomy, no agency, no nothing outside of being what Gabriel and Marinette need. We can scream until we're blue in the face about how Adrien feels the need to put on masks to please everyone and has been conditioned into believing his worth is based on pleasing others and that his emotions don't matter, and to be fair I will not stop making those analyses myself, but the fact remains that this is his narrative role. The narrative validates the abuser, both through the actions of the characters around Adrien and the framing of his arc. The characters around him don't treat him as a person as much as they treat him as Marinette's boyfriend, or as someone who doesn't get to make informed choices and should be kept in the dark because he is too emotional. The narrative treats him as a doll who must bend to the needs of the real characters with arcs and a story in the show, as a character who does not have agency and any value of his own beyond being what other characters need. His supposed development is only there to highlight Gabriel's fall. His own feelings and trauma are invalidated in favor of focusing on Marinette. Nothing he does is about him, it's about the main two characters in the show.

The show goes out of its way to remove him from the conflict. There are two episodes devoted to how he cannot ever find out about his father. He gets sprayed with nightmare gas. Fuck, even the only importance of him being a Sentimonster is to make sure that Adrien cannot find a way to break free of Gabriel's control and actually contribute to the plot. The Sentimonster plotline is mainly meant to make sure that there is no way that Adrien would be able to break free of Gabriel's control, hence he cannot take part in the final battle. Its very existence in the story boils down to being a convenient excuse for Adrien to not be a part of the finale. The only importance of the rings is ultimately so that Marinette can have a moment to slide it on his finger while ambiguously either giving him an order or not (I wouldn't be surprised if it was since the show doesn't seem to think mind control is wrong) to show that she's Good and Not Like Gabriel. The Sentimonster thing is textually a plot device to make characters unable to do anything because they physically can't. And it only serves to reduce Adrien into even more of an object, because he's now literally an object. The deeper ramifications of Adrien being a Sentimonster are never explored. It literally only exists to deprive Adrien of more agency so that Marinette can get into the spotlight. The only thing that matters about it is that it is now in the way of Adrienette, once more only focusing on how Adrien's issues affect Marinette.

Adrien is literally reduced to being a part of the magic slave race, because he cannot under any circumstance be a part of the finale and be the one to confront his abuser. And to a smaller extent, this is also the case for Felix and Kagami, two people who have a closer connection to the plotline beyond "fighting the guy who won't let me date my boyfriend." They are also Sentimonsters, and therefore have no choice but to rely on Marinette to save them and cannot fight alone even though Felix had no problem with that in the last season. The Sentimonster plotline is just an excuse to remove anyone with closer ties to Gabriel than his son's girlfriend from the conflict. Either they are working with Gabriel, or they are part of the slave race and cannot fight him, leaving only Marinette to do that for them. But like, at least Felix and Kagami got to make an informed choice about it without being lied to by everyone.

And this denial of abuse and the invalidating of Adrien's trauma leads to some pretty crazy abuse apologism for Gabe. And yes, reducing the impact of Gabriel's abuse, trying to pass him off as "just a man who loves his family," and denying the abuse that Adrien suffered throughout the show is in fact, abuse apologism. And the creators' insistence that Adrien was not emotionally mature enough to fight his father, being that this was the point of Chat Blanc all along apparently, also falls into this same trap of implying that abuse victims are not capable of making sound decisions and having autonomy over their own life, and isn't it so nice that Adrien is now Marinette's doll instead of being Gabriel's. It's victim blaming garbage, and it is frankly really gross. But in the narrative tells us what Gabriel has been telling us from day one about Adrien, that he is too emotional, that he must be protected, that he cannot make his own choices and his autonomy is better left in the hands of others, that his only purpose is to be a doll and a prop for the people around him. He only matters as far as he is useful to them.

And if you want to see the most damning example of Adrien being irrelevant outside his role as the motivation for the two people who actually drive what should be his story, look no further than Chat Noir.

Chat Noir is the only thing that indisputably belongs to Adrien. Chat Noir is him asserting his agency, his freedom, his choices. Chat Noir is his. And Chat Noir is not part of the finale. Not even in terms of physical presence. Chat Noir is an absolute non-entity in the finale. I'm not talking about Adrien; I mean Chat Noir. Chat Noir, who spent nine months fighting Monarch by Ladybug's side. Chat Noir, the owner of the Black Cat Miraculous. Chat Noir in Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir, is missing in both body and mind from this final battle against his father. The one part of his life and the one part of the story where Adrien had any agency and autonomy of his own, was removed entirely from the finale. Chat Noir was reduced into nothing, to mean nothing. Because Ladybug only went there for Adrien and not to finish her and Chat Noir's fight.

Ladybug didn't fight Monarch in order to end their months-long crusade, she didn't acknowledge that Chat Noir was at least there with her in spirit, she didn't come to Monarch to put an end to the battle that they'd fought for so long with any intentions of at least wanting to carry his fight along with her to bring their enemy to an end, she wasn't there for both of them. She came there for Adrien. She came there to look for Adrien. And the symbol of Adrien's agency, Chat Noir's ring, was on her finger throughout her fight with his father over him. Chat Noir did not matter.

I'll say it again. Adrien had nothing. He was only a tool for Marinette and Gabriel. His role was to be passed on from Gabriel's clutches to Marinette's. And it paints a very bad picture that the one reduced to the role of the plot device is the abuse victim. And for anyone who doubts that Adrien is supposed to be Marinette's plot device, Thomas Astruc has helpfully made my point for me by tweeting that Adrien is Ken and Marinette is Barbie, and that we should just deal with it because it's not going to change. And I hope that this also makes it clear that we will not be dealing with the fact that Marinette is siding with her boyfriend's abuser and doing what he wants, because Marinette is always right, and Adrien doesn't get to have feelings that inconvenience her and only exists to prop her up.

The show makes it clear that he is just an object in the story from the way he's written as a damsel in distress who needs someone else to come save him, and this is taken even further by the fact that he is literally a puppet who can be mind controlled. It takes away Adrien's story of regaining autonomy and informs us that he was never supposed to have autonomy and never can, making it clear that he was never really supposed to have any arc of his own. He was never supposed to break out from his father. His end was to become Marinette's boyfriend and to worship Gabriel. Because that is how their arcs end, and their plot device must go along with it regardless of narrative implications or established characterization.

But that is Adrien's purpose in the show. For Marinette to beat the villain, and to receive his son as her prize for doing that. His abuse and trauma are secondary to Marinette's needs, and him being a victim of Gabriel's abuse is secondary to him being the vessel for Gabriel's redemption. He is only there to be a source of motivation for these two characters and to cater to their arcs. Marinette and Gabriel are the only ones who matter, who have agency in the story. Adrien is just a simple plot device to push their arcs, instead of having one himself. There is no arc for the abuse victim. He exists solely as an object, as property, as a damsel in distress, as a doll. There is no agency and autonomy for him in this story. And that is the unfortunate truth.

#MLB #Adrien Agreste #ML Salt #ML Writing Salt #ML Writers Salt #Marinette Salt #Felix Salt #I guess?? Tagging to be safe mostly #S5 Finale #Sentimonsters #Meta #My meta #Abuse tw #Abuse cw #Ladynoir conflict

180 notes · View notes

familyagrestefanblog · 1 year ago

Text

I've tried so many times making whole in depth posts about this, but I never get it done properly. So I'll just keep it very brief for now:

Marinette giving out every miraculous at the end of S5, so making a team of 16 additional miraculous holders now as full time heros she says she wants to help coming into their own as their leader and guardian, is the most hilarious dark red sign I've ever seen in this show

Marinette can barely handle Chat Noir being an individual with his own pov, actual emotions she has to acknowledge in her leadership, agency that isn't just catering to her and having human rights attached to his body (at least that she got better at in s5, although it's questionable how much that was influenced by her literally having no other choice in s5 but to treat him better. I guess s6 will put that into perspective)

and in s5 both Chat and Alya were two halves of ONE PARTNER bc Chat had to accept that he isn't allowed to exist as civilian in Ladybug's leadership, all while both Alya and Chat had to basically take care of her as their main job.

What makes Marinette THINK she can handle 16 new miraculous holders who act as individuals with existing LIVES, and not just being her chosen power vessels who can't act on their own?

Just the thought of it honestly makes me laugh because nothing in Canon implies Marinette's leadership can actually handle heros doing their own thing as individuals. She will have a meltdown when any of them act on their own as heros of Paris in any greater way.

Imagine Vesperia being put on spot by being near a robbery and her using her venom on a civilian person (the robber) and then Cerise has the police go up against her and Ladybug as the team leader for abuse of power?

Imagine Pigella using her powers on people who are having a personal fight and then her getting in trouble because she revealed the private wish of someone to everyone around them.

Imagine Kim and Max training alone by Ladybug's order, and Max making portals so Kim can improve his time to get certain objects from different places, and that resulting in people being pissed at the heros breaking and entering their private homes and taking their stuff however they please as "training"

Look, I don't wanna be mean but I give her a god damn WEEK before she starts giving teammates (100% Kim for example) Chat Noir's rag doll treatment and starting to yell and get angry again bc they're doing something she personally doesn't like at an inconvenient time, or something she gets in trouble for as their leader.

Before this the temp heros has the luxury of only having been ask to do exactly what Ladybug said as her minions and power vessels, but now that they are individuals?

Good gosh, it's gonna be a disaster. Cerise is gonna have the time of her life using the team and city again her lol

#Ml spoilers #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #Miraculous team #Ml season 6 #Marinette thinking she in any way can handle 16 new full time miraculous holders is hilarious #Girl refused to allow Chat Noir a fair treatment as him being an existing civilian person #And is only able to have a partnership with him when she barely has to do anything to actually help him as leader guardian partner & friend #Even in season 5 she only managed a one sided partnership to her benefit #This is gonna be good in season 6 #Cerise is gonna have a blast lol

111 notes · View notes

theoutcastrogue · 11 months ago

Text

The Port & the City

Buenos Aires, photo by lasgalletas (Creative Commons CC BY-NC 2.0)

Introduction

City of witches and of asphalt, port with no exit to the sea! — La Portuaria, from the port of Buenos Aires

Some cities have a port, and some port cities have a port culture. That's how I call it, anyway. It's a very special thing. It's created by the furious economic activity that concentrates around the coming and going of ships, cargo, and people. A port needs to cater to all of that, the ships and the cargo, the shipowner and the dockworker, the captain and the deckhand, the tourist and the sailor and the fisherman. And that transforms the entire city.

Where a port city meets the sea, there's shipping companies, travel agencies, imports/exports, truck companies, posh hotels, shitty hotels, fancy bars, seedy bars, brothels, strip clubs, theatres, restaurants, casinos, bookshops, tool shops, souvenir shops, fishing supplies, and fresh fish. There's peddlers and businessmen, porters and accountants, all sorts of people, and they all mingle. They have to! The port's there!

Port cities have their own landmarks and geography, with docks, wharfs, piers, depots, gates, shipyards, and people can orient themselves by relation to the water.

New York City, photo by Kari Nousiainen (Creative Commons CC BY-NC 2.0)

Crime

My gold watch and my pocketbook and lady friend were gone And there was I, Jack all alone, stark naked in the room — the port of New York City

Port cities attract furious criminal activity. Firstly and obviously, everything that's smuggled will be smuggled through here, from cocaine to counterfeit handbags to guns to oil. (I mean crude/refined oil, though with the prices we've seen lately, olive oil is equally plausible.) Port authorities, customs, shipowners and workers, all can have a hand in the pie, a little finger or both hands shoulder-deep, depending on how high up the ladder they are.

Second, ports are always full of newcomers, sailors and passengers, and all newcomers are potential marks. Con artists, scammers, and grifters of all sorts can ply their trade here. There's also a lot of shilling for more or less legitimate businesses (come buy this, sir! rent a room here, ma'am! oh but you must have a drink there, buddy!), and peddling less then legitimate goods (may I interest you in a fine watch? Rayban glasses, I have Rayban glasses! 100% genuine!). And then there's good old pickpocketing. Although in most cases, pickpockets are not allowed to operate within the port itself: it's bad for everyone else's business, and unlike cops, "everyone else" can actually enforce that.

And third, there's the entertainment sector: the trifecta of night life, sex work, and gambling, all going hand in hand with the sale and consumption of drugs and booze. Expect the port city to be much more entangled in all that than other cities, and the port itself to attract the bulk of it, or the worst of it. Things that are theoretically illegal might be tolerated here, things that are heavily regulated elsehwhere might follow their own rules here, and things that are otherwise unheard of can be found here. What are you into? Step right up but beware: the large print giveth and the small print taketh away.

The upshot of all this is that people in the port's vicinity (not the whole city, though) are more likely to be involved, or at least personally know someone who's involved, in profoundly shady and/or illegal business. And that certainly affects the culture. Breaking the law is more "eh" than "oh my!".

Clydebuilt Museum, photo by Paisley Scotland (Creative Commons CC BY 2.0)

Politics

All my life I've lived beside the waters that they call the Clyde I build the ships and watch them glide down the Broomielaw, sir Trudge to work in sleet and rain, labour for another's gain know yer place and don't complain, that's the rich man's law, sir — Alistair Hulett, from the shipyards of Glasgow

A port displays furious political activity. Unions are strong here, because labour is not only working, it's working hard, manually, in the same spaces (so they can talk about it!), and facing the same dangers to life and limb. Working on the docks, handling cargo containers, and ship-building and maintenance are very hazardous jobs (scrapping even more so, I'd say dramatically so), and under these conditions, it's easier to spot the enemy. Not automatic though. Port cities are traditionally, but not unconditionally, strongholds of the left.

Today, it's extremely important for the left to take the ports, because if it doesn't the fascists will. The workforce here has significant ethnic diversity, coming both from inland (immigrants and local minorities) and from the sea (sailors who go around the world sometimes end up working in random ports). So basically, this either goes "proletarians of the world unite" or "foreigners are stealing our jobs", no middle ground.

By the way, if all your knowledge about port unions comes from The Wire, or worse (for our older readers) from On the Waterfront, please be aware that these are slanted depictions, and you don't actually know anything. [They're not equally slanted, The Wire is nowhere near the other one's level of shameless propaganda, nor so completely divorced from reality. I mean yes, unions can be involved in shady business; so can literally everyone else in the port. But On the Waterfront, without the slightest exaggeration, is to American organised labour what Birth of a Nation is to Black Americans.]

Valparaíso, photo by [o] Rolando Vejar (Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0)

Culture

Amo el amor de los marineros que besan y se van. Dejan una promesa. No vuelven nunca más. — Pablo Neruda, from the port of Valparaíso

The port's culture seeps through the rest of the city. This is where sailor lore gets created and spread, and a port by definition loves travel and the ocean. Many non-sailors fall for it hook, line and sinker, and write poems and sing songs and their heart swells at the mere thought of sailing. But their fascination is often rose-tinted, whereas people who make a living from the sea typically have a love/hate relationship with it.

Maiden voyages are important occasions in shipbulding ports. A ship's last voyage, before it goes to scrap, is also memorable. If the ship regularly docks there, it will be the talk of the town, and if it's a passenger ship [this assumes a geography with regular passenger runs], a whole mess of people will be sharing stories and memories, waving it farewell, shouting, applauding, crying a little. It can get very emotional.

There's also a silly sort of localism/professional pride going on, where even the port's accountants, who've never set foot below decks IF they've actually boarded a ship, feel like they're a different species of accountant, inexplicably tougher and saltier than their more, er, inland colleagues. No matter who you are and what you do, it's badge of honour to say you're from and/or work at the port, like you're automatically endowed with tenacity and street smarts. It doesn't make sense, but there you have it.

Rotterdam, photo by MaxAmy Photography (Creative Commons CC BY-ND 2.0)

Desire

In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who dies Full of beer, full of cries, in a drunken town fight In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who's born On a hot muggy morn by the dawn's early light — Jacques Brel (in David Bowie's adaptation), from the port of Amsterdam

A port is filthy, grubby, and hopelessly romantic. If it faces somewhat west, it's on fire every sunset. Silhouettes of gigantic cranes are framed by red clouds like alien tripods. The sun sinks into the ocean, and tell me, in the whole wide earth, is there a sweeter sight? Ships approach like sea beasts, and dock in their usual place like old friends.

A port carries the whiff of grease and petrol, the cool sea breeze, and the incessant sounds of waves and engines and – most of all – people. A port IS people, passing. And tell me, in the whole wide world, is there anything more exciting and heartwrenching than people passing? A port city can fill you with wanderlust and feel like a prison, or a warm welcome, or a devastating farewell.

And if you point a gun to my head and force me to describe a port in a single word, I'll have to say: desire.

Love me, leave me, hold me tight, walk away, forget. Look at how I broke inside, and how the sea has swelled! It's pouring out a riot of colours, scents, and lights, and in the city's gutter it's building paradise. — Ξύλινα Σπαθιά, from the port of Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki, photo by Arend Kuester (Creative Commons CC BY-NC 2.0)

La Portuaria - Un dia cualquiera (El bar de la calle Rodney) | the port of Buenos Aires

Ξύλινα Σπαθιά - Ρόδες | the port of Thessaloniki

Tom Waits - Step right up

Finbar Furey - New York City girls | the port of New York

The Dubliners - Go to sea no more | the port of Liverpool

Alistair Hulett - The Old Divide and Rule | the shipyards of Glasgow

The Dreadnoughts - Roll Northumbria | the shipyards of Tyne

The Longest Johns - Fire & flame | the port of Halifax

Maria del Mar Bonet - Merhaba | the ports of the Mediterranean

Cesária Évora - Mar de canal | the port of Mindelo

Susana Baca - Los marineros | the port of Valparaíso

Παντελής Θαλασσινός - Άσπρο καΐκι στη Νέα Πέραμο | the little port of Nea Peramos

Jacques Brel - Amsterdam | the port of Amsterdam

Social Waste - Kasbah | the port of Algiers

Πάνος Κατσιμίχας - Ο πιλότος Νάγκελ | the port of Colombo, so far from Lofoten

Ξύλινα Σπαθιά - Φωτιά στο λιμάνι | the port of Thessaloniki

#the city speaks #theory #trs #the ramblin' rover #pirate #booze #booze et al #no tears for the creatures of the night #smuggler #pickpocket #mixtape #prison ballads #ONE of these days I'll learn to be concise I swear #also I ain't translating Naruda to english #the Rogue's school of translation gives exactly zero fucks #but there's a limit #look it up it's called ''Farewell''#also I didn't include a planned section on immigration #because I got too fucking upset to write words

62 notes · View notes